Book One of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

Acknowledgements

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Wayne

Leo

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Kimberly Grenfell

Cover Illustrator – JCaleb

This one’s for you, Toots. – JR Castle

For YumYum and all the animals who’ve been friends and family – Jonathan

1

“You’re smarter than you look.”

“Yeah, well, I like to manage expectations.” Frank glanced at his flavor-of-the-week date with a wry grin. He tried a playful line he had used so many times before, intentionally misquoting the saying to get a smile. “I’m just a girl looking at a guy, wondering what—”

A message from Frank’s watch blared a familiar tune as it interrupted the two at dinner and all those around them.

“Umm—sir?” A waiter passing by their table gave Frank a parental look.

“Sorry, I’m on it,” Frank said with an apologetic nod.

“What’s ‘butts’?” the ash-blonde at his right asked, scrunching together her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “Why does your watch say ‘butts’ on it?”

“It’s B.U.T.T.S. all in caps, like an acronym. It’s just work,” Frank said, checking the smooth, black face of the watch he wore on his left wrist. He ignored the message from his boss. “So where were we? We were talking about doing something fun after dinner, right?”

“What’s an acronym?” the blonde asked, a quizzical expression etched on her face. “Is that like two words that are the same?”

“I think you’re thinking of a synonym,” Frank said with a signature smile.

BEEP BEEP BE-DOH BEEP BEEP!

Before he could continue, his watch sounded again. Usually, it wouldn’t have been of any major concern; his Power Rangers ringtone letting him know he had a message from work was standard. However, tonight, Frank had taken his newest date to a rather exclusive, highbrow Italian cuisine experience, where the other patrons didn’t look amused by the constant juvenile sounds emanating from his latest communication tech.

“Can you turn that off?” his date asked as she looked around, her shoulders shrinking as she glanced from side to side, avoiding eye contact with the other diners. Her gaze beneath the curtain of obvious eyelash extensions landed on a table in the corner, where a quartet of brawny, well-dressed men sat glaring at them. Their bodies were tense and unnaturally still within their cashmere, fine-tailored suits. If Frank were to venture a guess, their day jobs weren’t exactly of the legal kind.

“Technically, I can. But the boss doesn’t like it when I switch her to ‘off’ or ‘mute.’ They can track all of that stuff, you know,” Frank said, eyes on the same table as Melony … or was it Susan?

Open concept dining area of the restaurant featured low, cushioned seating around polished, olive-wood tables. A warm, orange glow from table candles and low-hung pendant lamps lit the way for the service staff. The team met their patrons’ needs in swift, unpressured movements; their timing and recommendations were as impeccable as their shirts were crisp. It was the type of place one went for a celebration, where the prices on the menu carried an extra digit and the parking was valet only. It wasn’t Frank’s usual go-to, but he was always down to try anything once.

The light chatter in the restaurant picked up again, after having been disturbed for the second time by Frank’s watch. A cellist filled the air with smooth vibrations from a corner, serenading the crowd with songs Frank could recall but couldn’t name.

“Like, what kind of watch is that, anyway?” The blonde leaned over to Frank, revealing a light pink bralette beneath a plunging neckline. “I’ve never seen a triangle one like that before.”

“Oh, it’s not really on the market,” Frank started. “It’s a—”

BOM-BOM BOM BOM-BOM

This time his watch didn’t send him a message—it rang. The theme music to Terminator thundered through the quiet of the restaurant like a war drum in a church. The interruption was too loud for Frank to ignore. A quick look down confirmed his suspicions: two messages and a call.

The first message said: Frank, report in.

The second: Frank we have an urgent matter for you. Report.

The call was from his immediate supervisor.

“Hey, muscles,” a raspy voice said from Frank’s left. “Time for you and your cell phone to make yourself scarce from my restaurant. You can leave the lady.”

Frank leaned back in his chair to look up into the bloodshot eyes of a bald man with a scar across his throat. He was one of the four who had been glaring at him from the table in the corner. Behind him stood three larger men Frank guessed were his own “muscles.”

“Listen, I’m sorry,” Frank said, shaking his head with a sigh. “I understand my watch going off can be disturbing. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is ruin someone’s tortellini. That’s a fun word, right? Tortellini? Anyway, I’ll take the call outside, and we can all go back to enjoying our night.”

“You must not have heard me.” Baldy grabbed Frank by the collar and dragged him to his feet. “You’re done here.”

“This … this is just escalating so fast.” Frank sighed. Although he was being lifted from his seat, his tiptoes barely touching the ground underneath him, Frank kept his cool. “We’re really going to do this right here? Right now?”

“You have brain damage or something?” Baldy leered down at him.

“Probably. All that time in the Corps couldn’t have been good for me.” Frank placed both his hands on top of the man’s who was holding him up. He looked over to his date. “I’m really sorry about this.”

The blonde’s mouth was wide open as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her. She wasn’t capable of saying anything, though she did manage to grab her phone and begin to record the scene. The entire restaurant had gone quiet; from the cellist playing in the corner, to the chattering people at the other tables, everyone looked on, unwilling to intervene.

“Last chance,” Frank said to the gorilla-sized restaurateur still holding him. “Let me go now, or things are going to get … painful, up in here.”

“You idiot,” Baldy said. “You’re—ahhhhh!”

Frank had kept his temper in check for as long as he was able. A long time ago, he had been taught the lesson that someone’s grip could be stronger than your own, but a single finger of theirs was never as strong as your entire hand.

In one quick move, Frank had grabbed the man’s left pinky finger and twisted it backwards past its normal range of motion.

SNAP!

The phalange cracked with a sickening noise. And Frank didn’t stop. It was his turn to grab the hefty man, who was a few inches taller than his own six-foot frame, by the pressed broadcloth collar. Frank slammed the crown of his own head into the man’s crooked nose—once, twice, three times.

There was another crunch as a shower of blood cascaded over the two combatants, as well as the table Frank had been sitting at with his date. Frank’s chambray shirt was a bloody mess. The front of Baldy’s shirt was white no more.

“Damn. I’m going to need another new shirt,” Frank said, considering himself for a brief moment, rolling his eyes.

Everyone was stunned as the bald man moaned and sunk to his knees. Like some spell had been lifted, the three goons behind their downed leader charged at Frank.

Frank’s plan was simple. When dealing with multiple targets, the best idea was to always put down each enemy as fast as possible, with as few strikes as possible, in order to move on to the next target. Not like in the movies, where the hero fights five different bad guys at once.

The first attacker came at Frank with a wide swing. Frank leaned back, letting the blow glance past his face. The strike was so close, a brief gust of wind rushed past his nose.

Frank struck out with his right fist, which landed across the bearded man’s jaw. Then he slammed into the man with his right shoulder, driving him back into his two counterparts who were trying to get around their comrade and join the fight. Frank grabbed the dazed man behind the head with both of his hands, and at once, he drove the man’s head down and his right knee up into his skull.

The man toppled just as pain exploded across Frank’s eyes. Bright dots played in front of him. Another strike from the dark-suited man on his right split the right side of Frank’s lip.

Recovering, Frank caught the third blow intended for him, twisting the man’s arm completely around by his wrist. The attacker fell to his knees in a scream of pain. As though in one single, fluid motion, Frank slammed his right fist into the back of the man’s exposed arm. His blow landed right over the man’s elbow, shattering his arm in multiple locations.

But it had taken too much time. Frank’s final attacker grabbed a dinner knife from the table and lunged for his head. Frank moved out of the way, but too late. A shallow cut opened at his dark hairline on the left side of his face.

Frank knocked into a table behind him, trying to get out of the path of the man swiping his knife through the air like a crazed orchestra conductor.

Frank reached behind him, feeling at the edge of the table and grabbing a utensil he hoped was a knife of his own. It was a spoon.

“Of course I would grab a spoon,” Frank muttered.

The two men circled one another. Frank’s enemy smiled at him with malicious intent. Without warning, the man charged again.

Inverting the spoon so the handle now pointed up, Frank batted the incoming knife to the side and plunged the handle of his spoon into the man’s left eye.

A collective gasp rose up from the restaurant’s clientele. The man screamed, clawing at the spoon coming out of his eye as he fell to the ground.

“Someone should call an ambulance … or two.” Frank looked down at the carnage at his feet. “They’re going to need some help getting up from this one, and a lot of pain meds.”

Frank looked over at his date. The woman’s mouth hadn’t closed since the fight began. Nor had her phone been put down. A spray of crimson blood from the bald man’s nose speckled her cream dress.

“Hey, Faith.” Frank winced, hoping that was her name. “You okay?”

“My name’s not Faith, Frank!” The woman finally recovered from her shock, looking down at her blood-spattered dress. “And no, I’m not okay!”

“Why was I thinking Faith? Amber? It’s Amber, right?”

The blonde shot daggers at him from her blue eyes.

“Nikki?”

“I’m going to kill you myself!” the woman screamed.

Frank’s watch went off again.

“Well, I gotta run, but … raincheck?” Frank grinned at the woman, his split lip still bleeding. “We should really do this again sometime soon.”

2

Instructions always came the same way: a location destination and a time. Nothing more, nothing less. Transportation arrangements were made for him. All Frank had to do was show up where he was told to and introduce the buyers to the weapons and/or equipment.

B.U.T.T.S. stood for Ballistics United Tactical and Tech Systems. His employer was a technology and weapons manufacturer that primarily sold to the United States government. The company, founded by two Marines who had served in Desert Shield and were originally backed by some smart investors, had earned the leading name in the business of everything from body armor that could stop a high-caliber bullet at point-blank range, to the latest and greatest in gauss powered rifles. Not to mention, they developed and launched items most people have only heard of in futuristic and sci-fi cinemas. They credited part of their continued success to employing Marines who had been in the field, who knew their stuff, and who knew how to execute orders.

A quick flight, and Frank found himself in Nevada. An armed escort picked him up from McCarran airport. Frank wasn’t given details on who the buyer was, but when the soldier approached him, he was pretty sure he knew.

“Frank Wolffe?” asked an attractive, middle-aged woman with shoulder-length chestnut hair and clad in military fatigues. “Are you Frank Wolffe?”

“You already know the answer to that.” Frank smiled with a wince. The act had brought on a stinging sensation to the corner of his lip, which was still recovering from the previous night. “I heard you needed some … goods.”

The woman’s astute gaze darted around the small airport to see whether anyone had overheard Frank’s remarks. “Yes, we can discuss the details later. The products have arrived ahead of you and are waiting for us. Follow me.”

She wasted no time on pleasantries. Simply completing an about-face, she walked away.

Frank was used to the military type. He had served his own obligation as soon as he could enlist. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he had been contracted with the United States Marine Corps. As soon as he had completed his stint, he had been hired by B.U.T.T.S. During his decade or so with the weapons manufacturer, he had worked his way up the ranks to be a salesman of sorts for the company. His amiable personality and ability to magnify the effectiveness of their product made him a perfect fit for the job.

“I’m Major Lucy Lopez,” the woman said, still walking briskly to exit the airport terminal. She extended a hand while she walked, making the handshake awkward.

Frank took it anyway. “Glad to meet you.”

That was it. Frank and the woman strode to the terminal exit, where a desert Humvee awaited, with two more Marines riding in front.

Major Lopez opened the door for Frank, and the two ducked into the back of the Humvee.

A pile of paperwork sat in a bulky, foliage-green seat. The familiar B.U.T.T.S. logo stamped on the envelope was enough to tell Frank the paperwork was for him.

“This came for you a few hours ago with the rest of the equipment,” Major Lopez said, taking a seat opposite Frank and slamming the heavy door shut behind her.

The chill morning air of the Nevada desert was just cold enough to create light puffs of mist from Frank’s breath. He pulled his wool peacoat tighter around him, wishing he had worn long underwear or something other than denim jeans. Though the arid desert climate didn’t cut to the bone like the winds of Chicago, it penetrated clothing layers with a slow, still creep.

“Not used to the cold?” Major Lopez looked amused as the Humvee jerked into motion. “Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.”

“I’m great, take your time,” Frank said, grabbing the manila envelope resting on the seat beside him. Embossed at the top of the otherwise nondescript enclosure was the logo of his employer—a pyramid with the back of a bullet in the center filled the triangle-shaped emblem. A circle surrounded the pyramid.

Frank took the next few minutes to peruse the itemization of equipment and weaponry he would be unpacking and presenting to the United States Marine Corps. The list was extensive; beyond extensive. Frank saw items on the inventory he had previously thought were still in the conceptual stages of development. This order would have totaled in the billions of dollars.

“You all right?” Major Lopez asked across from Frank as the Humvee barreled out of Sin City and into the vast Mojave desert’s rocky red-browns with patches of cactus and grasses. “You look like you’re surprised.”

“What? Oh.” Frank kept his head tilted down, but moved his eyes up to meet the Major’s gaze. “What are you jarheads doing out here in the Mojave? I’ve never seen an order like this before.”

“You know the rules: don’t ask, don’t tell,” Major Lopez said with a twitch of her own eyebrows. It was clear she was aware of her flawless skin and attractive disposition. “Eyes only.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Frank said, shaking his head from side to side as he finished pouring over the manifest. “I’m breaking my own rule. The less I know, the better. I’m going to introduce you and your CO to the goodies then I’ll be off.”

“Sounds good to me,” Major Lopez said.

But the truth was Frank couldn’t shake curiosity that easily. “But seriously, like it’s aliens or something, right?”

“What’s that?”

“I mean out here in the desert, you found aliens. Like Area 51. Don’t try to lie to me about that one. I’ve been there.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.” Major Lopez actually smiled.

Frank leaned back with a sigh. “You’ve told me everything already.”

“I’ve told you nothing.” Major Lopez rolled her eyes.

“Exactly,” Frank said, putting his hands into the pockets of his peacoat. “That’s my point.”

“You’re a nut.”

“Oh, I’m a lot more than that,” Frank said as his mind ran over the vast inventory once more. The Marines had spared no expense. Everything on the list would equip a small army. The only thing missing was the large hyper-beam weapons Frank had seen in development at B.U.T.T.S. headquarters. He wouldn’t doubt that it was only on backorder.

They made the rest of the journey in silence. Frank caught signs on the road to their destination outside the city of Las Vegas, and it was soon clear where the Humvee was headed. The Hoover Dam was getting closer and closer.

Mile markers counting down the span to the man-made structure popped up every few minutes as they approached. Frank’s mind was working on overdrive. To his knowledge, there was no working military branch stationed at the Hoover Dam.

A sixth sense Frank had grown to trust during his own time in the military tickled the back of his neck.

Easy there, hombre, Frank thought. You’re not in the military anymore. This isn’t different than any other job. Get in, play Santa, give the kids their shiny new toys, and get out. Don’t ask any more questions or show more interest than you have to. This is just a job. Tonight, you’ll be back taking Lisa, or Deborah, or whatever her name was, out on a make-up date. Or if not her, someone else.

Despite his own internal pep talk, Frank couldn’t help noticing when the Humvee pulled off the main road. Major Lopez produced a black hood from her back pocket and handed it to Frank.

“Really?” Frank accepted the hood. “It’s not like I don’t know where we are. And the hood’s still warm from your butt cheek.”

“Oh, I know you know where we are, but you don’t know how we get in.” Major Lopez pointed to the hood. “I’m going to have to insist. And I warmed it up for you on purpose. You looked cold.”

“That’s borderline disgusting.” Frank sighed as he placed the hood over his head, covering his espresso brown hair down to his muscular neck, the end resting on his broad shoulders. The cloth was coarse and irritated the cut on his hairline where the steak knife had scratched him the night before. “I’m going to tack on hazard pay for this one.”

Frank felt the Humvee lurch to life again and bounce down an unmarked road.

“I’m going to have to ask you for your phone, smartwatch, and any other pieces of communication you have on your person,” Major Lopez said, her voice drifting past the hood. “It won’t work where we’re going anyway but just to be sure. They’ll be returned when you’re done.”

Frank had been expecting this new development, but he moved slowly anyway. “Rules, rules, rules. Makes me miss my time in the corps.”

“I’m sure we could find you the right paperwork if you want to re-enlist,” the Major said, accepting Frank’s phone and watch. “Maybe even speed up the process for you and get you back in basic by week’s end.”

“I’m going to have to take a hard pass on that.” Frank was going to say more, when the thundering of water—a lot of water—picked up the conversation for him.

Frank resisted the urge to take off the hood and see for himself. It sounded like millions, maybe trillions, of gallons of water escaping somewhere around or below him.

3

The urge to tear off the black hood that scratched at his fair face was nearly impossible to ignore. Frank had to remind himself to behave and keep his hands by his sides, instead of removing the hood that obscured his vision.

For the time being, the roar made by the rush of escaping water drowned out anything he or the Major could say, and for what felt like a few minutes (but in reality, had to be seconds), all there was, was the sound of water being drained to—well, Frank wasn’t sure to where.

After what seemed like an eternity, the sound of the rushing water receded, and the Humvee jerked to life. Frank felt the vehicle moving forward.

“Either we’re entering the world’s largest toilet bowl, or I have a serious inner ear issue,” Frank said through the hood. “Hey, man, we can make this ride a lot smoother if you’ve got the funds.”

Clearly, the major was not amused at his swipe at their older-model vehicle.

“We’re almost there,” Major Lopez answered as the Humvee came to yet another stop.

This time, instead of there being another rush of water, the electric hum of a slow moving elevator filled his ears. Frank felt the military-grade vehicle begin to sink as if being lowered on some kind of oversized lift. A stale, dank scent accosted Frank’s nose through the wool mask.

“Just a few more seconds now, Mr. Wolffe,” Major Lopez coaxed. “You’re doing great.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me.” Frank leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m great over here, sitting blindfolded in a bag you pulled out from your back pocket. Hey, have you guys washed this thing since the last victim you brought down here?”

The only reply he received was the vehicle jolting to a stop again. The hum of the lift silenced. For the last time, the Humvee rolled forward and came to a complete stop only a few seconds later.

“All right you’re good to go,” Major Lopez said, reaching over and taking the hood off Frank. “Welcome to The Den.”

Frank blinked, then blinked again, not believing his eyes. “Did you roofie me somehow, or something like that?”

Frank looked through the window of the Humvee to a massive enclosed staging area loaded with vehicles and aircraft alike.

The major didn’t answer Frank, but instead hopped off the Humvee, exchanging words with the two Marines who had been in the driver and commander seats. The two soldiers saluted and jogged down the vast warehouse.

Frank’s synapses fired like Pop Rocks on cola as he took in the area around him, calculating the details to deduce their possible location. There were no windows in the warehouse; all four walls, floor, and ceiling were the same cement grey.

The room itself was massive with rows of Humvees, JLTVs, and other four-wheeled vehicles on one side of the chamber. On the other side were lines of Apache helicopters, hovercrafts Frank had never seen, and some kind of spacecraft fighter that looked like a stealth bomber.

Running, shouting, and working amongst all of these pieces of machinery were a handful of Marines. They carried large power tools, had vehicles up on lifts, and wore welding masks as they performed their duties. In the center of the room, a giant octagon lift rose to the ceiling, with a hydraulic system that raised and lowered the platform. The rail it rode on started on the ground and followed a diagonal line to the ceiling more than three stories above.

“Pretty cool, right?” Major Lopez said, prying Frank’s attention away from the scene in front of them. “Not everyday you see something like this.”

“Yeah,” Frank said, noticing the water that dripped from the ceiling where an octagon opening had closed since he had arrived. “I mean, the Russians have something like this, but I’m not going to talk about that.”

Major Lopez’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Am I?” Frank said, deflecting his true emotions with humor. In all honesty, he was worried what he was getting himself into. He had delivered dozens of shipments of weapons, armor, and tech to the military, but never in a setting like this.

“Follow me.” Major Lopez motioned to Frank. “The colonel doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Frank fell in line with the major, and the two made their way out of the colossal warehouse room, through a twisting maze of cement and steel.

It didn’t surprise Frank there were no windows. He understood enough to deduce they were underneath the Hoover Dam in a hidden bunker. Why he was being allowed to see as much as he was, was the thing that bothered him the most. Did they plan to wipe his memory with drugs or something else? Worse, did they plan on killing him? No, then why the black hood at all?

Hold onto your huevos rancheros, Frank thought. You’ve been in worse jams than this. Besides, no one has made an aggressive move or done anything to make you think they’re going to axe you at the end of this.

Frank and the major passed a few white lab coated technicians and other Marines on patrol before they came to a stop near a steel door that stood open. The room was once again large, but not as big as the first chamber Frank had seen. This room seemed to be reserved for storage and staging. An enclosed shooting range stood at the far end. Still, the sporadic thud and crack of rifles and the whiz of a piece Frank hadn’t seen previously echoed throughout the chamber.

In front of Frank were a series of familiar-looking crates stamped with the B.U.T.T.S. pyramid logo. Standing in front of the green crates was a dark-haired, middle-aged man who wore the same tan military fatigues as the major. He was running a hand over the B.U.T.T.S. emblem as if he thought the pyramid might come alive at any moment.

“Doctor Agarwal.” Major Lopez walked into the room, startling the man so hard, he actually jumped. “I see you got the notice to assemble.”

“What? Who—I mean, yes. I wasn’t unpacking the goods or anything.” The doctor examined Frank with wide, golden eyes. “Son of a biscuit, man. You’re him, aren’t you?”

“I’m who?” Frank looked back and forth from the major to the doctor.

Major Lopez just shrugged. “Better get your bearings on the gear you’ll be displaying. The Colonel is on the way with the rest of the unit, and he’ll be ready for a briefing.”

“You’re the guy fitting us with the gear and leading us through the gateway,” Doctor Agarwal continued as he gawked at Frank. He extended an open hand. “Doctor Raj Agarwal. Just call me Raj.”

“Hey, Raj.” Frank accepted the man’s hand and shook it firmly before moving to the crates of unopened B.U.T.T.S. supplies. “I think you’ve got your wires crossed. I’m not leading anyone. I’m just here to give a blow-by-blow with the ordered equipment, then I’m out. I have a date waiting for me, I think … I don’t know, the whole thing is kind of confusing actually.”

Frank began hefting the boxes, stacking the crates filled with body armor in one pile, while the weapons went in another. The gauss rifles had their own stack, along with the electromagnetic gauss powered sidearms.

Raj and Major Lopez talked to the side in low whispers. As far as Frank was concerned, he was happy to be left alone with a physical task in front of him.

Lifting the crates and dividing the gear soon left him with a glisten of sweat on his brow. He removed his black peacoat and went back to work. The crates with the weapons weighed over a hundred pounds, and the ones holding the armor even more than that. But all of this was okay with Frank. Throughout his whole life, he found a kind of sick, soothing comfort when it came to physical exercise.

In a matter of minutes, he had divided the crates from B.U.T.T.S. into four piles, with the topmost crate open, displaying the contents. Each airtight, watertight case had been lined up, cupping its contents in a bed of egg-crate Polyethylene foam. In order from left to right, Frank had opened the crates holding: diamond steel armor, helmets, gauss assault rifles, and electromagnetic side arms.

His display in the center of the warehouse looked out of place. All around him, the room opened up to neat aisles of the Marine Corps’ own weapons, before turning into the shooting range. Boxes of ammunition and supplies lined the walls in perfect order as though they were judging Frank’s impromptu display in the center of the room.

It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. Frank turned as the sound of multiple pairs of booted feet struck the cement floor. A dark-skinned man with a square jaw and cold eyes entered the room, along with five wide-shouldered Marines and a petite woman who looked of Asian descent. She was the only one who smiled at Frank as they entered. Her jet-black hair was pulled back into a low bun, allowing Frank to make out the thin tubes leading into her ears usually indicating hearing aids. It was both a gift and a curse for him to note each detail when assessing newcomers.

“Mr. Wolffe.” The dark-skinned man came to a stop in front of Frank. He was a few inches taller, and just as muscular. He extended a hand. “I’m Colonel Solomon Breaker. Glad to have you. Shall we begin?”

4

“Yeah, I mean, I guess so.” Frank grabbed the man’s vice-like grip. He forced himself not to wince under the pressure of the handshake, and instead, squeezed harder on his own end. “Your order’s here. I’ll run through the specs and answer any questions you might have.”

“Perfect,” Colonel Breaker said, moving to the side. Every other Marine in the room made a straight line right behind Frank and the colonel. “Let’s see what we’re working with here.”

“Well, boys and girls, you’ve come to the right place for the latest and greatest in smart armor,” Frank began in his rehearsed speech. At once, the salesman in him kicked in as he reverted into full showman mode. “We have ten suits of our diamond steel armor. These bad boys come with their own cooling systems and can stop a high-caliber bullet at point-blank range. The tech we use allows the force of the bullet to be spread over a greater distance reducing the chance a bullet or shrapnel could actually puncture the armor.”

Frank paused to gauge the colonel’s response. If the man had chosen to be a poker player, he would have been a world champion. Cold, brown eyes looked back at Frank. The colonel’s dark hair was sprinkled with white and grey at the temples. Hidden years of experiences and encounters added to his overall mysterious persona.

“We have ten helmets, as well. Each has built-in communications, enhanced vision, heat vision, and night vision.” Frank pressed on to the weapons. “The gauss-powered rifles are named the Punishers. Each magazine carries twenty rounds of tungsten steel rods. They’ll puncture anything from solid steel to armor plating. The smaller version of these are our electromagnetic side arms. These Reckoners will bring the pain much like their larger counterparts, and will make sure whatever you want dead, becomes dead. Both weapons are equipped with the option of red tracer rounds so you can see what you’re shooting. Top-of-the-line gear, the crème de la crème, ladies and gentlemen.”

That was it. Frank looked over to his audience to see what their eyes told him. Colonel Breaker was much the same—distant—but with the others, Frank read something that worried him. They weren’t impressed like most of his clientele would be after such a presentation; they weren’t even excited. They looked concerned, not afraid—the rigid frame, bugging eyes, resolution one had when forcing themselves not to be afraid. Courage in the face of fear.

“All right, then,” Frank said with a forced smile. He brushed off the awkwardness and forged ahead. “So, if there aren’t any questions, I’ll be on my way.”

“Ammunition for the rifles and sidearms?” Colonel Breaker finally spoke, moving to lift one of the rifles from the crate.

“There’s enough here for a small invasion,” Frank said, motioning to a pile of crates underneath the rifles. “You’ll have more than enough for whatever it is you plan on doing.”

“Good.” Colonel Breaker looked back to his men. “Let’s gear up. We don’t know how long the gateway will remain open this time.”

Immediately, the Marines present moved to obey.

Gateway? Frank thought as he moved to retrieve his peacoat and head for the door. That’s the second time I’ve heard that term. What’s going on here? Nope, I don’t want to know. You did your job. Time to get your nosy behind back home.

“Mr. Wolffe.”

Frank turned around to see Colonel Breaker shrugging on his heavy armor that would protect his torso. “Yes, colonel?”

“Gear up. You’re coming with us.” Colonel Breaker speared Frank with a stare, leaving no room for jest in his words. “In case any of the gear malfunctions, or we have an issue with the weapons, we’ll need someone on site to assist.”

A wave of panic washed over Frank. He quickly bottled it and set it aside. “I appreciate the offer, colonel, but that’s not my job. I’m just the pretty face that delivers the weapons and shakes the hands. If you do have any issues with the gear, you can call our main office, and I’m positive they’ll replace anything, or do whatever they can to make sure you’re happy. You know, have your people call my people, and all that.”

Previously, the room had been a cacophony of sound as Marines moved to unpack armor and helmets and place them on their person. After Frank’s words to the CO, the room quieted. Everyone looked to Colonel Breaker for his response.

The colonel, who had been an intimidating figure before now, appeared even larger after having donned his torso armor. The dark, gun-grey metal gave him the appearance of some soldier out of a futuristic video game.

Colonel Breaker closed the distance between himself and Frank, who stood near the exit. The CO’s eyes were still as hard as ever, but not necessarily mean. He arched an eyebrow at Frank before he started to talk.

“Listen, it sounds like your employer didn’t give you the details you need to comply. I get that. Truth is, we’re going on a mission, and you’re coming with us, Mr. Wolffe. Your time in the corps was decorated with exploits. I’m not trying to give you a big head, here, but you’re what we need right now: a soldier who knows the ins and outs of the tech we’re taking with us.” Colonel Breaker paused. “Gear up, and we’ll head to the briefing where exact details of the mission will be explained.”

“So, yeah.” Frank chewed on his lower lip, immediately regretting it as pain shot from his wound, and he shook his head. “You’re probably not going to like this, but it’s still going to be a hard pass for me. I served my time. I don’t have any interest in heading out into the field again, so just unsubscribe me from all of this, okay? But seriously, good luck with … with whatever it is you got going on here.”

Frank finished his last words by leaning around the colonel and waving a finger in a circular motion to take in the Marines gearing up behind the colonel.

“I see,” Colonel Breaker said. “You’re one of those.”

“I don’t know if you’re trying to be racist right now or something,” Frank said with a shrug, “but I’ll be one of those, if it means I’m not going.”

“Major Lopez,” Colonel Breaker shouted over his right shoulder. “Will you return Mr. Wolffe’s watch to him, please?”

“Yes, sir.” Major Lopez ran to obey, appearing by the colonel’s side a moment later. She was half dressed in her own armor. From the waist down she wore the same gun metal armor and heavy assault boots that lifted her by a full inch in height.

“Sir.” Major Lopez handed the triangle-shaped watch to Frank.

As if on cue, the watch began to ring. The main theme music of the Terminator movie filled the room.

“Hey, I know that!” shouted the petite woman who had entered with the rest of the crew as she struggled with her armor. “That’s from Terminator.”

All eyes looked over at the woman who seemed to wither under their stare. “You know … robots? End of the world? Oh, come on, guys, give me something, here. ‘I’ll be back’?”

While the woman pled her case, Frank glanced down at his watch. Like always, it was a call from his immediate supervisor. His triangular watch buzzed and glowed a dull blue.

Frank answered with a light tap of his finger. “I’m glad you called, Chairman. There seems to be a mix-up over here. They think I’m going with them on their mission.”

“That’s because you are,” said a stern woman with a British accent. “Frank, they’ve paid quite well to have someone from B.U.T.T.S. go with them. You’re the best we have.” She’d pronounced the name of their company with a hard “U,” unlike the way Frank referred to them.

Frank’s mouth went dry. Colonel Breaker and Major Lopez weren’t trying to hide the fact they were listening in to his conversation. Frank suspected the other Marines were doing the same, only polite enough to try to mask their eavesdropping with slow movements and attempts to place their armor and gear without making a sound all the while listening in.

“Excuse me, chairman.” Frank cleared his throat, taking a step back from the eyes of the colonel. “Can you repeat that, please? I could have sworn you said I am going with them, but that can’t be right.”

“Frank.” The chairman’s voice wasn’t amused; it was never amused. “We’re prepared to make it worth your while. We’ll double your normal rate for a delivery.”

Now the chairman was talking a language Frank could understand. He still wanted no part of going on a mission with the United States Marine Corps, especially on a mission where they required so much gear. But money spoke to Frank in the way only someone who never had money growing up could understand.

“Double it, huh?” Frank wasn’t a stranger to negotiations. He understood how these things worked. Chairman would never offer him the most she was willing to give him on the first go-round. She knew he knew that, as well. “I’ll tell you what: triple my rate, and I’ll go. Quadruple it, and I’ll put a smile on my face when I’m gearing up to go—well, to go God knows where these jarheads are headed.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Quadrupling your rate will be fine,” the chairman said over the line. “We’ll deposit your funds upon completion of the mission.”

“You have yourself a deal, chairman,” Frank said, turning his head down to speak into the watch. “And next time, you can tell me in advance. You don’t have to spring it on me the last minute.”

“Would you have gone this far if we told you?”

“Yeah, probably not,” Frank said considering the woman’s words.

“Be careful, Frank,” she said in a tone something less than stern. “We want you back. There … there’s a lot about to happen.

Before Frank could say a word in reply, the line on his watch blinked off. Never before had he heard whatever it was in the chairman’s voice. Worry? Concern? Whatever it was had sent a chill down his spine. In all the years he had worked for the woman, she had never expressed any concern for his well-being.

Everything smells wrong about this. What did you just get yourself into, Frank?

5

When Frank looked up at the Marines after finishing his call, there was nothing but malice in their eyes. For the exception of Raj and the woman who had recognized his Terminator-themed ringtone, everyone glared at him.

“Well, I guess I’m on board, then,” Frank said, ignoring their glares and walking over to the cases of armor. “Oohrah. Am I right?”

No one answered his question, but with a prompt from the CO, the rest of the group continued to gear up for the mission. The Terminator fan struggled with her boots, yet sidled up to Frank as he placed his own upper body armor piece on his chest.

“Hey, I’m Elly,” the woman said, slamming her heel into her boot and nearly toppling over. “You’ve become a fan favorite recently.”

Frank ignored the dark looks from the other Marines. He didn’t have to guess why they were glaring at him.

“Yeah, well, money talks.” Frank worked his hips into the lower body armor pieces before finding his boots. He shook his head. “They had my size ready and everything. They knew days ago I was coming on this mission.”

“Son of a nutcracker, Frank.” Raj had managed to place his body armor on and was now fiddling with his helmet. “Did you have to talk so loud about money? Now every Marine here is going to hate you.”

“I don’t hate you,” Elly said with a shrug. “I get it. Money makes the world go round.”

“Well, money isn’t everything,” Raj said, placing his helmet on backwards.

“Spoken like someone who maybe hasn’t had to worry about money his whole life.” Frank plucked the helmet off Raj’s head and turned it around. “I’m guessing you two haven’t had a lot of field experience.”

“What—” Elly paused to try to wriggle into her upper body armor. Each word came out with a long pause behind it as she grunted and squirmed. “—would—give—you—that—idea?”

The slender woman finally managed to get her head through the hole in the designated section of the armor. Her glasses were askew on her face and her dark bun had managed to make its way to the side of her head. Hurriedly, she wrapped her hair into place to cover her hearing aids.

“Here,” Frank said, motioning to the left side of the body armor, where two thick clasps opened the shell-like gear and offered a much easier means of dressing.

The slate grey armor was thin yet durable. It offered its wearers the best of both protection and mobility. All together, the armor unit only weighed fifty pounds, and that included the boots and the helmet.

“Oh, I … uh, I knew that.” Elly fixed her oversized, wire-and-black acetate glasses.

Frank noticed Elly spoke slowly, making sure to pronounce every word correctly.

“What do you two do, anyway?” Frank asked. He latched his own helmet to a magnetic holder on the left side of his belt. In a series of smooth motions, he equipped himself with a Punisher, Reckoner, and enough ammo to put down a tank. “I’m going to guess you’re not the heavy weapons or demolitions experts on this vacation.”

“You got that right,” Raj said, clipping his electromagnetic, gauss-powered handgun that looked like a marriage between a Desert Eagle and a Nerf Gun to the holder on his thigh. “I have my degrees in aerospace medicine and surgery. Elly is our cybersecurity technician and astrophysicist.”

“Aerospace? Astrophysicist?” Frank looked from Elly, who was struggling to get her helmet on with her skewed glasses and bun, then to Raj who had lifted a gauss-powered assault rifle and was waving the barrel in Frank’s direction while he checked out the safety. Frank lowered the end of the weapon to the ground. “What exactly is the mission?”

“Glad you could be bought into serving your country.” Major Lopez sidled up to the trio. Unlike the others, she had managed to gear up quickly. She had even donned her helmet, which sported a T-shaped glass view shaped like ancient Spartan helmets. “We’re headed out to the briefing before we depart. Let’s go.”

Frank ignored the jab. He had never been worried about what other people thought of him. Growing up, he had always been the kid with shoes too small for his feet, with the jacket bought at the local thrift shop. His parents loved him and had done the best they could, but money had never been plentiful in the Wolffe household.

“Let’s go.” Frank plucked the weapon out of Raj’s hands and placed it across his back, where it magnetically snapped into place. “Easy there, super soldier. Carry it like this and keep your hands free. It’s just an oversized M27 and doesn’t weigh much more. No need to treat it like anything other than a standard-issue weapon.”

“Oh, nice,” Raj said peeking up to look at the grip that sprouted up over his right shoulder. “Thanks, Frank. You probably can’t tell because I’m great at hiding it, but I’m more nervous than I can ever remember being.”

“Nawww.” Frank grinned at Raj. “You?”

“It’s true,” Raj said, missing Frank’s sarcastic tone. “What we’re about to do is … unprecedented.”

“And will someone tell me what that is?” Frank looked around.

“Here we go!” Colonel Breaker’s voice filled the room. “On me, let’s hit the briefing room and the staging ground. Time is sensitive so let’s get going—Oohrah!?”

“Oohrah!” everyone in the room, besides Frank, answered. Even Elly and Raj lifted their voices to join the unit.

Frank found himself trotting behind the group of Marines, who moved with a collective cadence. Along with the colonel, major, Raj, and Elly, there were five muscular Marines who didn’t look like they were on their first mission. The one nearest him met Frank’s eyes with a slow glower. As he turned, Frank saw the familiar dimple scars from shrapnel.

Throughout his time in the Marines, and then as a weapons dealer, Frank had grown familiar with his fair share of hard-nosed soldiers. He could tell these men had been handpicked for the job they were about to embark on, whatever that was. Frank was still uncertain, but he was sure it was dangerous.

“Mr. Wolffe,” Colonel Breaker’s voice interrupted Frank from his train of thought. The colonel had intentionally slowed his gait and allowed his XO to take the lead. He strode side by side with Frank. “I understand you may not be in the position you want to be, but I have my men I need to think about on this mission. I need to know that you’re with us, because if you’re not…”

The colonel let his words trail off. Frank understood everything the man was not saying. He knew the colonel’s type. He was here to look after his unit at all costs. At the moment, Frank was a liability.

“I’m with you.” Frank turned his gaze from the long hallway they were traveling and focused on the colonel. “I know we’re doing this for different reasons, but trust me, I’m here to make sure the mission is a success and everyone makes it home whole.”

“Glad to hear it,” Colonel Breaker said, still not moving his stare from Frank. “I’ve fought and lost more than I care to remember. I’m ready to get in and get out, and get my people back safe. You’re one of my people now, too, Frank. You remember how this works. We have each other’s backs, no matter what the cost.”

Frank silently nodded with the colonel’s words.

The two men didn’t say more as the unit moved through the underground bunker. They passed multiple rooms, taking a right turn at a “T” intersection. The overhead lights bathed everything in unnaturally bright white light. Not that there was much to see; cement walls, floor, and ceiling, with steel doors leading into various rooms and chambers.

Just as they took another left turn and Frank was beginning to feel like a rat in a maze, Major Lopez stopped at a set of steel security doors. Two Marines stood sentry with standard-issue M16A4 assault rifles across their shoulders.

Major Lopez said something to them that Frank couldn’t hear from his location at the rear of the squad. Whatever she told them resonated, because they saluted and moved to the side. One of the soldiers hit an unseen panel on the side of the left door. The pair of double steel doors slid open without a sound.

The unit moved inside. Frank’s heart doubled in speed. He couldn’t see it yet, but he heard Elly, who was at the front of the pack, gasp.

“Son of a gun,” Raj said, standing right beside her. “I didn’t know—what … what is that?”

Frank finally made it through the doors with the colonel. The room they stood in now wasn’t a room at all, more of a kind of viewing ledge. The square chamber was longer than it was wide, with a glass wall looking down into another room.

On both sides of this viewing chamber stood automatic turrets armed with .50 caliber rounds, and another set of turrets equipped with small rockets. A Marine stood at attention next to each turret. Frank guessed that even though the turrets were automatic, the powers that be were not willing to risk they’d malfunction at the wrong time.

Frank took in the tiled floors, the viewing walls, and the turrets in one sweep. The turrets were state of the art and capable of carrying one heck of a wallop, but he was more interested in what the turrets were pointed at.

He joined the rest of the squad at a place near the glass. They were looking down, inhaling quickly and whispering to one another. Frank placed his right hand on the bulletproof glass shield as he looked below. No words came to mind to describe what he was seeing. For the first time in a very long time, Frank Wolffe was speechless.

6

The chamber below did not match the rest of the cement maze they had previously navigated—raw stone with squared-off corners to create a wide room. Frank did a double-take to be sure; it was actually a part of the original dam. This explained the wet earth scent that mixed with the sharp metallic and sterile air.

The upper viewing mezzanine overlooked approximately two stories above the ground floor below. Barricades with armed Marines, lab-coated technicians, and scientists taking various measurements scurried across the room in all directions, clanging, tinging, and trotting.

Though impressive, all of this wasn’t even the most mind-blowing feature in the chamber. The most interesting thing was what the soldiers were pointing their weapons at and what the scientists were studying: the pièce de résistance.

A golden sphere filled with shadows of various sizes hovered above the ground about waist high at the center of the room. From this golden orb, a light projected, creating an archway opening in the cragged stone. The top of the archway came level with the viewing room floor, reaching at least twenty feet high.

The arch, although projected by the sphere, seemed solid in its own right. The golden structure looked as hard as stone, with a foreign sort of ancient or perhaps alien runes chiseled into the edges. Swirling mist flowed within the archway, taking on different colors as it moved and reflected light. One minute it was green, the next cyan-and-yellow.

It was impossible to see more than a few feet into the swirling mist coming from the archway. What was on the other side was anyone’s guess.

“Kinda makes you wish you had asked for more money, right?” Elly asked Frank as she sidled up next to him. “You’re—uh … you should close your mouth before your jaw hits the floor.”

“What?” Frank tore his eyes away from the gateway long enough to give Elly a smirk. “Right, funny.”

“Slap me sideways and call me Sally,” Raj said from Frank’s other side. He was leaning so close to the edge, his breath was fogging up the glass. “I’ve heard about it, even read the reports, but to see it is … is…”

“Keep it in your pants, Raj,” Major Lopez said with a wry smile. She was going to say more, when everyone in the room snapped to attention.

Frank followed their gazes as a tall man with the four stars signifying general emblazoned on his fatigues walked into the room. He was lanky with cords of muscle. His perfectly cut mustache and shaved head made him look like a GI Joe straight out of the box.

“At ease,” the general said.

Frank got a closer look at the man’s name and rank on the patch over the pocket on his uniform. He was General Fox. Frank had never heard of the man, but that didn’t mean anything. The United States Marine Corps was a large branch of the military. After seeing all this, he also considered that perhaps there was a reason he hadn’t heard of the man.

General Fox’s gaze maneuvered around the gathered group. His steel grey stare stopped for a moment when it landed on Frank.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Frank couldn’t help himself waving and smiling.

General Fox just nodded and moved on. “I know you are all eager for answers, so let’s get some.” He motioned to an exit behind the turret on the right side of the room. He took the lead, crossing the room and opening the door.

Frank and the others followed behind the man. They trotted down two flights of steps that led to the ground floor. For the first time, Frank’s mind was catching up to the events unfolding around him. The rhythmic sound of boots echoing in the stairwell became white noise as he got lost in thought.

Frank considered himself and the other nine Marines decked out in futuristic armor courtesy of B.U.T.T.S., the state of the art weapons, and now the massive arch that towered in front of them. Here on the ground floor, it was even more intimidating than looking down at it from the viewing room.

So many questions were racing though Frank’s mind, he didn’t know which one to focus on first. Where does that archway lead? What’s on the other side? Does it go somewhere on this planet? Do they even know where it goes? Elly was right. I should have asked for more money.

General Fox finally stopped just behind the erected barricades and the computers and monitors set up for the astronautics, archeo-astronomers, and physicists to work. He nodded to Colonel Breaker before the general began.

“Project Nebula started when the sphere was found in the 1930’s. We studied it for years, to no avail, until it was logged away for inventory here in the dam. Well, imagine our surprise when the power the dam generates was enough to activate the sphere. When the sphere went live, it projected a gateway. We don’t know what’s on the other side, but we’ve been monitoring it and studying it for months now. Nothing’s come out, so it’s time to go in.” General Fox nodded to Elly. “Major Lopez, you’ve worked with our team of scientists studying the gateway. Care to weigh in?”

Frank’s head swung over to Major Lopez, who nodded and moved to take a spot next to the general and address the Marines. She looked stunning in her armor. She was someone who was used to commanding the room with her presence. With her helmet attached to her belt and her rifle behind her back, she was all business.

“We have a working theory that the gateway acts as a kind of bridge, from Earth to—well, we don’t know where exactly. What we do know is that the drones and robots we have sent in show an ocean and a forest terrain. Tests show us that the air is breathable. We’ve ruled out the gateway taking us anywhere on Earth; it leads somewhere else. It’s our job to find out where.”

“Space Marine Corps One,” General Fox said, taking up the story once more, “your mission is to enter the gateway and get us some answers. Find out what we’re dealing with here and where this gateway leads. Questions?”

Frank was made of questions at the moment, but before he could speak, Raj’s voice filled the void. “Yes, sir. How are we to tell for certain we won’t be walking into some kind of trap? Or worse, what if the readings were wrong and the air is poisoned? I mean, we could be talking about intergalactic travel, here. What about viruses, plagues, flesh-eating bacteria that tears us apart from the inside out?”

“Fair questions.” General Fox nodded to Frank. “That’s why we have you traveling in the very best tech money can buy. You’ll do more tests when you get to the other side of the gateway and before you remove your gear, doctor.”

The Marines around him were nodding in agreement. Frank couldn’t believe everyone was taking this in stride. His head was about to explode with the simple fact that the gateway didn’t exit on Earth.

“I’m sorry,” Frank burst out, “I know I’m new here and most of you guys don’t like me, and that’s fine. But to be clear, we’re talking about traveling to an alien planet, in who knows what galaxy, to encounter God knows what kind of aliens, intelligent or not.”

“Yes, that’s right,” General Fox said without blinking.

“Oh, great,” Frank said, shaking his head and taking a heavy breath. “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting confused.”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Raj said by Frank’s side. “This is really stressing me out here.”

“I already threw up in my mouth—a little,” Frank said, trying to use humor to relieve the stress of the moment. It didn’t work. Raj vomited all over his boots, and he wasn’t quiet about it, either. He projectile vomited onto the ground, and then looked up and sent a hose of greenish grey vomit behind the group. It smelled like sour kale and old cinnamon buns.

Frank had a feeling some of the other Marines would have chuckled, had they not been feeling the same way themselves. The training Frank had received during his own stint in the Marines was already coming back to him in full force.

Sure, he was nervous, but he understood he was equipped and trained to deal with whatever was thrown his way. The main thing was to remain calm. That wasn’t easy right now, as the putrid smell of Raj’s vomit assaulted his nostrils.

“So … sorry about that.” Raj had finally finished his vomiting and wiped his mouth with his gloved hand. “I guess pop tarts for breakfast before going through a gateway to another planet isn’t exactly the smartest idea.”

“That was pop tarts?” Frank looked at the pile of vomit. “Man, they smell a lot different coming out.”

“If we can focus now,” Colonel Breaker’s voice interrupted any further conversation of regurgitated pastries. “I understand we’re dropping a bombshell on you at the moment, but you can understand why something like this has to be kept top secret. You are all trained to handle this. Watch each other’s backs, and we’ll all come out of this together.”

As the colonel said the last bit, he zeroed in on Frank.

Frank looked behind him to see if there was anyone else the colonel was focusing on. There wasn’t.

“Why do I feel like that part was just for me?” Frank muttered.

“It probably was,” Elly said just as quietly. “Not that great on picking up on social cues? You’re kinda the black sheep here.”

“Everything you need to go on a journey like this has been provided on shuttle bots,” General Fox picked up the conversation again. “Godspeed.”

“Last minute checks. Let’s go,” Colonel Breaker said, motioning his unit over to the left of the gateway, where a makeshift staging area had been set up. A path toward the beckoning mist was filled with bots loaded with rugged transit containers made of molded plastic and aluminum in various widths and sizes. “Anything you think you may need, now’s the time to grab it. Speak now, or forever hold your peace, Marines. It’s go time.”

7

The staging area wasn’t much more than a few rows of last minute supplies they’d need on their excursion. Two flatbed remote controlled vehicles had to be what the general referred to as “shuttlebots.” They weren’t much larger than a pallet with a series of four heavy-duty, all-terrain wheels on each side.

Loaded onto the shuttle bots were stacks of supplies. Frank guessed they carried everything from food supplies, to medical equipment, and everything in between.

Now that the mission was clear to the unit, the Marines looked over the stockpiles of equipment at their disposal and made last minute additions to their gear.

Frank’s mind was still spinning, but instead of freaking out, he decided to make sure he was prepared for what came next. A shelf of combat knives caught his eye. He made his way over to the shelf and grabbed a Ka-Bar, testing it for weight.

“You ready for this?” Major Lopez sidled up to Frank, grabbing a Ka-Bar for herself, along with a handful of grenades on the shelf below. “Second thoughts?”

“Second?” Frank shook his head. “I’m having third and fourths, but there’s a sick little part of me that feels excited. This is some science fiction nonsense right here. You’ve known all along, haven’t you?”

Lopez nodded. “The colonel, myself, and Elly have all known. We chose the team we thought would have the best chance of succeeding out there. Even you.”

“Because of my military background, right?” Frank placed the Ka-Bar into a sheath fitted into his right boot. “Or was it my shining personality?”

“It’s because you’re stubborn, Frank.” Major Lopez looked him in the eyes after securing her own combat knife and grenades onto her belt. “You have a knack for pulling through tight spots on willpower alone. We talked to your past CO’s you served under in the Corps. You’re tough and determined. That’s what we need right now.”

“I’m … I’m kind of confused right now.” Frank scratched his dark hair. “Are you giving me a compliment?”

Before the major could answer, Elly walked up to the two with a stencil in one hand and a can of white spray paint in the other. Without asking, she placed the stencil on Frank’s left shoulder and sprayed the white paint for a brief moment.

“Here we go. Now we’re all official. Man, I really feel better now that I’m not smelling Raj’s puke.” Elly leaned back to admire her handiwork. “Perfect.”

She moved on to do the same to the major’s armor.

Frank looked down to see a white emblem emblazoned on his chest. It was a helmet with wings spread out behind it. Around the emblem in a circle read tiny text: Marine Space Corps One (MSC1) .

“Great.” Frank shook his head, wondering if the emblem was official, but knowing that even if it weren’t, he wouldn’t take it off. “I’m back.”

“Welcome back to the Corps.” Major Lopez smiled at Frank as Elly removed the stencil from her own armor. “We get steak and lobster dinners when they pass out bad news, and if you don’t like the orders you’re given, great news—no one cares.”

“All right, Marines,” Colonel Breaker barked. “This is it. I’m taking point with the major. Shuttle bots in the middle with the doc and Elly. Tango and Wilson will bring up the rear.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied in chorus.

Frank eyed the two Marines the colonel had nodded to. Tango was a tall man with shrewd eyes and a short Mohawk. Wilson was a mountain of muscle. Frank was surprised he had even managed to fit into his armor.

“Helmets on, and stay on channel one,” Colonel Breaker said, placing his own helmet on his head. “Mr. Wolffe, anything we need to know about the interface?”

“Yes, sir,” Frank heard himself say. He hadn’t really even meant to call the colonel “sir,” but already old habits were coming back fast. “It’s based on SMART technology. The visor will change to allow for whatever lighting environment it senses. The interior visor tracks your eye movement. On the bottom of the interface, you’ll be able to track through comm channels. On the right, you’ll see the display controlling the temperature in your armor. On the left, you can track through different modes, such as infrared, night vision, and zoom.”

“Very good, that’s why we have you here, Mr. Wolffe,” Colonel Breaker said.

Frank wasn’t sure if the man was being sarcastic or not. One thing was certain, Frank was getting tired of being referred to by his last name.

A tingle of anticipation raced over his body as Frank placed his own helmet over his head. The bucket fit snug, forming an airtight lock with the armor that came up to his neck.

Immediately, the screen in front of his eyes came to life. He was shown the room in front of him in the best lighting possible. Monitors also sprang to life, and options for him to select scrolled on his heads-up display, just like he had explained to the colonel. The eye tracking software meant that he didn’t have to turn his head, it simply followed his pupils and understood where he was looking. If he stared directly at an option for more than a few seconds, the interface sprang to life and gave him options from which to select. From there, all he had to do was stare at his chosen selection to make his choice.

Breathing came cool and clean as the oxygen in his helmet was cycled in and out through filters in the armored suit. Frank fell in line with the rest of MSC1 as they headed for the gateway.

“We have monitors on the other side of the gateway now, showing no sign of danger,” Colonel Breaker reassured his unit. “Still, let’s go into this, weapons hot and ready for anything.”

A series of “Oorah’s” answered the colonel. Even Elly and Raj joined in.

Frank found himself next to Raj as they walked toward the gateway. They were just behind the colonel and the major, but ahead of the shuttle bots. The unit passed the barricades that had been set up around the gateway, as well as the team of scientists and monitoring equipment.

There’s no way this can be good, right? Frank asked himself. Best case scenario: there are unicorns and rainbows on the other side. But we know that’s not in store for us. What if they know what’s on the other side, and that’s why we’re armored to the teeth? What if they know exactly what’s on the other side? It would be just like the military to deem that piece of info a “need to know” topic.

But there was no backing out now. Frank and the others walked to the front of the gateway. They had to maneuver around the golden sphere that projected the arch. The sphere was as large as a basketball, with parallel moving parts like a rubix cube. The rotating parts were etched with ancient runes matching the ones on the archway frame. Now that he knew what he did, he guessed they were alien but also probably ancient.

A low hum came from the sphere as it hovered in place. The technology keeping it steady was not of this world.

The archway was even more impressive, standing right in front of it. Fog-like curls of smoke wove and twisted from the massive structure. The thick tendrils of vapor, like a multi-tentacled monster, grabbed for them, employing different colors as it continued to wave in and out of existence. The ethereal blue, then scarlet, then ultraviolet fog was intangible, and although it left a coldness in the air, it was not wet.

“Here we go,” Colonel Breaker’s voice reached them over the comms in their helmets. “Stay close, eyes open. Whatever may or may not be on the other side of this, it doesn’t matter. We’re the best trained there is, and I’d take Marines in a fight over anyone or anything else everyday of the week. Oorah, Marines! Into the breach!”

With that, Colonel Breaker and Major Lopez walked forward, disappearing from view into the fog. Raj broke the radio silence before Frank had the chance.

“The things we do for our country.” Raj lifted a hand to touch the fog, but it evaporated in his grasp. “I should have been an author.”

Frank’s heart was beating like a war drum in his chest. Instead of giving in to the fear, he focused on putting one step in front of the other. His Punisher gauss-powered assault rifle in his hands, he made sure the safety by his left thumb was turned off. If something unfriendly was waiting for them on the other side of the gateway, he was going to have an answer for it.

One moment, Frank had a clear view of the room around him and the gateway in front of him; the next, he was enveloped by the soupy, clouded atmosphere. He knew Raj was to his immediate right, but all he could see of the man now was a dark shape twisted in fog and shadow.

Visibility, even with the advanced tech in his helmet, was a few feet at best. The heads-up display cycled through different viewing modes, trying to find the best solution for the circumstance.

Frank knew it had to be his imagination, but it felt cold as his feet took him forward through the gateway, an icy chill on the wind.

Wind? Frank thought. When does wind exist in an underground bunker?

It was at that moment Frank noticed the ground had also changed. Instead of the even rock floor that had existed in the underground chamber, a rough, bumpy terrain now met his feet.

The fog was beginning to thin now, but only slightly. Visibility was still so bad, Frank narrowed his eyes as though that would help. It didn’t.

Out of somewhere in the fog to his left, something moved—something far too large to be human.

8

“Ahhh!”

Someone screamed over the comms.

“Contact left!”

Frank brought his gauss-powered assault rifle up to his line of sight and pivoted to meet whatever threat had come their way. The fog was still present, but had thinned even further now. Two things registered with Frank at once.

The first was that a cold wind actually was playing across the unit. The gateway had taken them to a fabricated peninsula or dock. They were on a narrow strip of land that started in the water and led to a lush green landscape no more than fifty yards in front of them.

The second thing that caught Frank’s attention was something moving in the water that surrounded their dock. Something massive rolled under the surface of the deep blue waters, sending ripples in multiple directions. The comms units were going off as multiple voices screamed warnings.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sounds of the gauss-powered rifles filled the air as Marines pumped red tracer rounds into the water. Frank had his target lined up, but his finger hovered over the trigger until he could get a clear shot at the mystery assailant.

“It got Wilson!” an unfamiliar voice Frank figured was Tango yelled over the comms.

“Keep moving forward,” Colonel Breaker’s commanding voice took over the sounds of chaos. “Get out of the fog and off the dock!”

Frank tore his eyes away from the water long enough to see Colonel Breaker waving them forward. “Let’s go—move!”

Frank took off at a run, keeping his eye on the water to his left. Raj ran beside him. Now out of the thick fog, the two men sprinted down the metal dock.

“What the hell is that thing!” Raj yelled. The doctor wasn’t bothering with his weapon; instead, he concentrated on moving forward. “What’s in the water?”

“Don’t know,” Frank shouted, still keeping a wary eye on the water’s surface. “Just run!”

They reached Colonel Breaker, who motioned them forward to solid ground, where Major Lopez waited. She was on one knee with her rifle up and trained on the water where the last sign of movement had been seen.

BOOM! BOOM!

More sporadic bursts from Marines still came from behind Frank. He understood the feeling. More than anything he wanted a target to unload on, but the colonel was right: If the danger was coming from the water, then they needed to be as far from the water as possible.

“Did you see it!” Tango’s voice wasn’t full of fear; rather, one part disbelief, one part hysteria. “It took him in one bite. Its head was bigger than my body!”

“Get a hold of yourself!” Colonel Breaker barked through the comms. “Tango, get off the dock and stop firing your weapon into the water unless you see something to fire at. Hurry, hurry!”

Frank and Raj finally made it off the dock and came to a stop beside Major Lopez. Frank’s lungs were heaving, but he would catch his breath later. Instead of talking, he took up a defensive stance behind the major, training his weapon on the water.

There was nothing—no movement, no ripples heralding the macabre that lurked underneath. Nothing.

“Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic,” Raj repeated behind Frank. He was bent over double with his hands on his knees, trying to regain his own breath. “You’re a strong, independent minority who can get through this.”

In any other circumstance, Frank would have taken the time to crack a joke, but with one Marine gone and others still in danger, it didn’t seem right.

Colonel Breaker was still on the dock, pushing along the Marines who had just come through the gateway. With him were three Marines whose names Frank didn’t know, two of whom were piloting the shuttle bots, Elly, and a still-babbling Tango.

Their unit was running now and was already past the halfway point. In a few more seconds, they would get off the godforsaken dock and reach the supposed safety of dry land.

That’s when Frank saw the monster lift out of the water. Still, his mind couldn’t grasp what he was seeing. A head much larger than the body of a full-grown man, nearly as large as the gateway itself, raced skyward from the water on a thick neck several stories long. Water cascaded down it in droves.

The creature was covered in sapphire blue scales that had made it even more difficult to see in the water. Cords of muscle along its elongated jaw and neck stood out, even under the thick scales. Streams of water huffed out of the creature’s snout. A pair of massive yellow eyes with slitted pupils narrowed in on the Marines still fleeing the dock.

“Bring it down!” Major Lopez yelled.

In moments like this, Frank was grateful for the training the Marines had given him. There was no time to think—just react. Frank zeroed in on the impossibly long head of the beast and pressed the trigger button.

The nonexistent recoil on the Punishers was impressive and built for times just like this, when you needed to put a dozen or more rounds into the target in a single automatic burst.

The air lit up all around the fleeing Marines as Major Lopez and Frank opened fire on the beast.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The tungsten steel rods the gauss-powered Punishers fired screamed through the air, every other round marked with a red tracer. The rounds pierced the air, resembling laser bursts more than steel rods, making contact with their target at mind-numbing speed. The monster roared in pain, a sound that was one part bellow and one part nightmare.

But it wasn’t enough to turn the creature’s attention. With speed that didn’t make sense for its size, it snapped down on the dock, its movements resembling that of a snake snapping down on a scurrying rat. One of the still-fleeing Marines who had not been in control of a shuttle bot didn’t even see it coming. Maybe it was better that way. One moment he was running alongside Elly and the colonel; the next, he was gone.

A wave of cold sweat hit Frank as his weapon clicked dry. A robotic, practiced motion led him to drop the empty magazine in his rifle and reach to his belt for a fresh one.

When the monster had reached down to grab the fleeing Marine, it struck the entire dock, causing the metal structure to buckle and roll. Elly lost her footing. Colonel Breaker saw this and took a protective stance over her, lifting his own weapon to the monster and unleashing a hail of red tungsten bolts at the creature.

“They’re not going to make it,” Frank said as he slammed a new magazine in place and took off toward them at a run. “Cover me.”

Frank darted past the Marines who had now made it to the safety of the ground and were taking up their own firing positions on the beast.

“Frank, don’t!” Major Lopez shouted after him.

But Frank was already gone, sprinting back to the dock that promised death at the mouth of some impossible alien creature.

What are you doing? Frank asked himself, a question he had no answer for. You don’t owe these people anything. You’re not back in the Marines.

He could lie to himself all he wanted, but the simple truth was, he had made an oath a long time ago, and now there was a brother and a sister in need.

Frank skidded to a halt by Elly and the colonel. Colonel Breaker had just lifted Elly back to her feet with his left hand, while his right carried his Punisher and emptied round after round into the sea monster.

The colonel’s aim was true, but the beast was simply too massive for the tungsten rounds to do any serious damage.

The beast swallowed its last victim, turning its attention back on the trio of Marines who stood on the dock.

“What are you doing here?” Colonel Breaker actually sounded mad at Frank. “You were ordered to get off the—”

“With respect, colonel”—Frank lifted his weapon skyward to take aim at the monster again—“can we do this later? The Loch Ness Monster is eyeing us right now like we’re the main course.”

Frank was right. The creature reared back, opening massive jaws. A tongue thick with saliva was set between a maw of teeth, each one as large as Frank’s forearm.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A new hail of weapon fire cascaded all around the sea monster. The Marines who had made it to land were now firing as one at the monster. Their weapons were still unable to cause any serious damage, but the sheer volume of rounds striking it was enough for the beast to bellow in pain. The creature swayed and did its best to avoid the rounds striking its scaly neck and face.

“Run!” Colonel Breaker shouted.

His order was unneeded. Frank and Elly were off at a sprint right beside the colonel. Frank hated himself for looking back, but he had to. Ten yards from land, he glanced behind him just in time to see the monster make one last attempt at finishing what it had started. It lunged with its long neck for the trio of Marines.

Instinct kicked in, and Frank did the only thing he could. He bullied Elly and the colonel out of the way with his right shoulder just in time. The monster’s teeth snapped on Frank’s armor alone, instead of all three of the fleeing Marines, lifting him into the air.

9

“Aghhh!” Frank screamed in pain as the beast crushed his torso in its steel-trap jaw. To B.U.T.T.S.’ credit, the armor held under the immense pressure, though for how long was yet to be determined.

Sharp pain lanced over Frank’s body where the teeth sought to puncture the diamond-plated armor. Chatter came over the comms, but it was lost on Frank. He had seconds to live and figure out a way out of this, or die.

Come on, you’re not done yet, Frank shouted at himself. You got more in the tank. You’ve always got more in the tank.

Then his opening presented itself. Just as it had done previously, the beast tilted its head back and opened its jaws to fully envelope its next meal down its long gulch. Luckily for Frank, he had never lost hold of his assault rifle. The two seconds the monster took to open its mouth and tilt its head back, Frank used to wedge his weapon inside the beast’s jaws. The base of the weapon he planted against the squirming forked tongue and the barrel of the rifle he pointed up to the soft underside of the roof of the creature’s maw.

Frank fought for traction against the sea monster’s wiggling tongue. When the beast’s mouth clamped closed, it stopped due to the rifle wedged inside its mouth. Frank’s right pointer finger squeezed the trigger like his life depended on it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Even with his helmet protecting his ears, the confined space of the creature’s mouth echoed the blasts of his rifle so loudly, all Frank could hear was ringing after the initial rounds were fired.

It was enough. Thick blue scales didn’t exist to protect the inside of the creature’s mouth. Thick, cool, grey blood burst out, coating Frank now not only in saliva, but also alien sea monster blood. Things were going swell.

With a roar of agony, the monster opened its mouth, shaking its head violently from side to side. The last thing Frank remembered for certain was being shot from the monster’s jaws like a stone from a catapult.

The next few moments were like seeing scenes on an ancient projector, with every other slide blacked out. He didn’t remember the landing, but he did feel a numbing pain explode over his body and water rushing over his face as he crashed, with his helmet flying off and landing near him down into the shallows where the ocean met the land.

Black tendrils caressed the edges of his vision for a moment. More shouting rose up around him, but Frank still didn’t understand anything being said.

Blackness took him a moment later.

The next thing Frank remembered was the dream that came with unconsciousness. He was a boy again, sitting at a worn table in a small kitchen. The scene was easily recognizable; one of many one-bedroom apartments his parents had bounced around to while he had grown up.

One thing he had learned from this time in his life was that every apartment was basically the same. There were noisy neighbors above them or beside them, vagrants sifting through the trash bins outside, and cigarette and weed smoke drifting in through the windows at least once a day.

Frank sat at the kitchen table, eating the macaroni and cheese his parents had bought at the local discount food store in town named 99 Cent Bargain Superstore. Frank was confused as to why they called it a store at all and not a warehouse. The food was brought in on pallets, and the workers didn’t even bother stocking the sagging shelves with the products.

Sitting at the table, Frank studied the orange macaroni figures on his spoon while he listened to his parents talk in their bedroom. The one-room apartment didn’t afford much privacy. Even though his parents spoke in hushed whispers, Frank could hear them clearly.

“We’ll be fine. Things will pick up,” Frank’s father reassured his mother. “Ted said there’s a possibility for more hours at the factory. If I can—”

“If you can what, Liam?” his mother’s voice cut in. Although she had interrupted her husband, her voice wasn’t laced with anger or frustration, only worry. “You’re already pulling sixty-hour work weeks. I should be the one who tries to get a second jo—”

The rest of whatever Frank’s mother was going to say was cut off by a series of violent coughs. The noise made Frank wince every time the painful sounds escaped her weak lungs.

“Rose, Rose…” Liam said to his wife. “It’s okay. Here, sit down. You’re doing everything you can. Your job is enough. Besides, Frank loves having you around when he gets home from school.”

Rose’s wet coughing fit finally subsided.

“I just wish my medication didn’t cost so much.” Rose sighed. “I wish we could give Frank more. He doesn’t say anything, but kids can be cruel. I know they make fun of him for wearing old shoes and having that torn backpack. I tried to sew it, but he needs a new one.”

“We’ll figure this out.” Liam’s voice came closer to the door.

Frank shoveled another spoonful of macaroni and cheese into his mouth, then directed his eyes from the door of the room he shared with his parents to the sagging sofa in their small living room.

“Let’s go eat dinner with our son,” Liam said. “Trust me, things will get better. We’ll find a way. We always do.”

A moment later the door opened, and Frank’s father walked from their room. He was a wide-shouldered man of average height. His own time in the military had added on his fair share of muscle, but the lack of exercise and standing while he worked at the factory had made him look large without being muscular.

“How’s the chow, kiddo?” Frank’s father ruffled his son’s hair with a loving hand as he walked over to the rusted, two-burner stove and served himself his own chipped bowl of the macaroni and cheese. “What do we have tonight? Scooby Doo-designed characters for our noodles?”

“Yep,” Frank said around a mouthful of food as he noticed the serving his father had placed in his own bowl wasn’t much more than Frank had been given. “Do you think we can read a book tonight before bed? Maybe about Robin Hood or King Arthur?”

“Yeah, I think we can swing that, buddy.” Frank’s father served a second bowl for his wife, emptying the rest of the macaroni and cheese into a third mismatched bowl. “I mean, that is, if your mom is okay with it. You know how she gets stressed out with those battle scenes.”

Liam winked at his son with this last statement as Rose exited the bedroom. He gathered his hands in front of him with intertwined fingers and bent his head for a moment as he always did before eating dinner, no matter how meager it was.

“That was one time.” She laughed, but the act caused her to wheeze, then cough into her hand. “And you can’t blame me for that one. The final battle when King Arthur is wounded and taken away by the Lady of the Lake? Come on.”

“You were on the edge of your seat.” Frank grinned. “Literally.”

Liam and Rose sat at the table with Frank as the trio started talking about the story and what they would read together that night. Those years were some of the happiest and hardest Frank had had to endure. His parents loved him, there was no doubt. But neither was there any doubt about their lack of money.

Each month was a struggle to get by, each day at school was a lesson in Bullying 101, and every year his mother’s health grew worse.

10

“Don’t you die on me.”

Raj’s voice was the first thing Frank remembered hearing as he came to.

“Don’t you go, you son of a sea serpent.” Raj slammed both hands down over Frank’s sternum with another chest compression as he administered CPR. “Come on, Frank, come on!”

Each chest compression Raj administered sent a new tremor of pain through Frank’s already battered body. It was too early to tell if anything was broken, but Frank knew for certain there would be bruising.

“Ugh.” Frank opened his eyes. “If you press on my chest again, I’m going to hit you back.”

“Thank God.” Raj sighed, falling back on his knees. “I didn’t know if you had punched your last ticket or not. You’re insane, by the way.”

Frank blinked, looking up at the dull grey sky. He licked his lips, to find them sticky and salted from the water. Someone—Raj, Frank figured—had removed his chestplate. He couldn’t have been out long. He was lying on the shore just out of the water, helmet in hand.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Colonel Breaker’s un-helmeted head appeared over Frank. “How’re you feeling?”

“Oh, you know.” Frank winced as he sat up. “Like I got chewed up and spit out by a water-hydra-monster-thing. Ugh, what’s that smell?”

“Easy there. Let me check you out first before you start moving around,” Raj said, kneeling by Frank. He began running his hands over Frank’s sternum, ribs, and shoulder, searching for damage. “Where does it hurt?”

“Whoa, easy there, doc. You’re not going to buy a guy a drink before you get all handsy?” Frank grimaced as Raj examined his rib cage. “Seriously, though, what am I smelling? Did you puke more pop tarts?”

“I think you’re smelling that monster’s blood and saliva.” Colonel Breaker knelt on Frank’s other side. “You’re covered in the stuff.”

Frank looked down at the lower half of his body still encased in the diamond-plated armor. The colonel was right. A sticky film of white-and-grey liquid covered his lower half and the chestplate of his armor, which sat on the ground beside him. The putrid odor coming off the armor was one part skunk, one part Raj’s pop tart vomit, and one part fetid corpse.

“I think you have some bruised ribs and a mild concussion, but I’m not seeing anything broken. Here, let’s take off that shirt.” Raj helped Frank remove the black undershirt. “That armor of yours really did its job. Without it, your body would have been broken by the fall and you would have been fish food.”

“Lucky me.” Frank grunted as he removed his shirt and looked down at his ribs. The armor had saved Frank from the sea monster’s teeth tearing through his body, but the serrated edges of the teeth had applied a massive amount of pressure to the diamond plating, causing a series of angry, deep pink-and-purple bruises to form around Frank’s rib cage. “I’m so black-and-blue, I look like a Smurf in a tux.”

“Yep, I can give you meds for the pain, but the bruising will have to heal on its own.” Raj examined Frank’s back, then shone a light into each of his eyes.

“Any chance I can get that shirt back on?” Frank forced his teeth not to chatter in the cold. “My nipples could cut glass.”

“Oh, right.” Raj helped Frank maneuver back into his shirt. “Sorry about that. Take it easy for the time being. I’m going to grab some meds to help you on your way to recovery.”

“Will do.” Frank stood on unsteady feet as Raj left to grab a supply case on one of the shuttle bots. Frank and the colonel stood side by side, surveying the landscape.

It was the first real look Frank had gotten of their surroundings without having his eyesight impeded by fog or fearing for his life at the hands of some prehistoric water dinosaur.

The dock where the gateway had deposited them led to a coast that spread out on either side as far as the eye could see. There was no sandy beach area; the water simply ended at a place where the grassy land took up residence. The ground felt like soil and turf under his feet. About twenty yards from the coastline, a temperate forest with a moderately dense canopy of broad evergreen leaves opened up, covering a series of rolling hills. He could see the other members of MSC1 moving around just beyond the treeline.

The trees, dirt, and grass didn’t look much different from Earth’s. The only main change Frank could see was the colors looked brighter somehow—the greens on the leaves were more vivid, the red-brown of the tree trunks richer.

“Elly checked out the oxygen levels again while you were out,” Colonel Breaker said, breaking the silence. “They were the same as when we sent the drones in before us. We’re safe. The rest of the unit is setting up a base camp just inside the treeline.”

Frank hadn’t expected a hug from the colonel for saving his and Elly’s life, but he had expected more than just diving right back into the mission.

You didn’t do what you did for a slap on the butt and an “attaboy,” Frank had to remind himself. It’s the way the colonel’s built.

Something tugged at Frank’s mind. Something that had bothered him during his fight with the sea monster. It came to him like a vase crashing over his head.

“Your drones didn’t see that water monster, either, I take it?” Frank looked the colonel in the eye. “What else aren’t you telling us?”

“You’re right. The recon we did didn’t pick up any readings of that monster that took two of my men.” Colonel Breaker glared at Frank. “You think I would lead a unit of Marines into a situation like this if I had known what was waiting for us?”

“I’d like to think not, but I don’t really know you, colonel.” As soon as those words had left his mouth, Frank understood he had pushed too far.

“Well, get to know me.” Colonel Breaker grabbed Frank by his collar and pulled him in close. His deep baritone voice dropped even lower, reverberating in Frank’s bruised chest. “There’s nothing more important to me than the safety of my unit. You get me? I’ve lost more soldiers under my command than you have years in this life. I remember each and every one of their faces. Every night, and sometimes during the day, they come back to haunt me. Don’t you ever think I would lead my unit into intentional harm. You get me?”

Every muscle in Frank’s sore body screamed at him to break the hold the colonel had on his shirt, but Frank understood that would only escalate the situation. He held his temper in check, allowing the colonel’s hands to maintain their hold on his collar.

Frank looked deep into the colonel’s manic eyes. There was rage there, but also a sadness Frank understood firsthand. He knew for certain in that moment, the colonel had had no idea of the sea monster’s existence. Frank wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or worrisome. If the colonel hadn’t known about the presence of the beast, what else did they not know about?

Tension hovered between the men. Frank maintained eye contact with the colonel, not in a sign of challenge, but because he saw something else there, something beyond rage and pain. The colonel was debating telling him something else.

“Hey, Frank, I got the meds. This stuff is going to make you feel great. I don’t mean ‘relaxed’ great; I mean, straight, opium-induced—” Raj cut himself off as he noticed the tense situation between the two men. “I—uh … I can come back.”

“Stay,” Colonel Breaker said, finally releasing his hold on Frank’s collar. The large officer took a step back. “I’m going to tell the entire unit, but you two might as well hear it first.”

Raj’s mouth opened in a large O. He carried a pair of blue pills in his right hand, a canteen of water in his left. Frank took them, downing the pills with more than enough water to see them at the bottom of his belly.

“We had no knowledge that a sea creature that could be waiting for us,” Colonel Breaker said in a hard tone. “If I had, you best believe we would have been coming through that gateway with armor and enough firepower to send that overgrown tuna fish to the bottom of the sea. But we do have other information the top brass decided to keep under wraps.”

Frank wasn’t sure if the meds were kicking in already or if he was so enraptured with what the colonel was about to say next, that pain was becoming easier to endure.

“Colonel! Colonel!” Major Lopez yelled.

All three heads swiveled up to the treeline where the major had been in charge of setting up base camp. She was running toward them with a wild look in her eyes. Her right hand was pointing past them toward the gateway.

Frank’s stomach dropped. He had already suspected what he was going to see when his eyes took in the dock once again. He was right.

Where once the gateway had appeared at the very edge of the dock, allowing a bridge between their world and this one, now there was nothing.

The only thing past the edge of the metal dock was the flat sea that spread out beyond, as far as the eye could see, a deep blue meeting the grey sky horizon.

11

“Wow, great,” Frank said with a sigh. “Almost killed by a water dragon, now there’s no way to get back home. And I don’t even know if Raj kissed me or not while he was giving me CPR. This is turning out to be one heck of a day.”

“I didn’t kiss you,” Raj reassured him.

“Communications are down with The Den.” Major Lopez reached the trio and began giving her report. “I have the base camp being set up, but Elly’s shaken pretty bad. The others are moving, but well … we knew there was a chance of losing soldiers, though no one expected it to be this fast.”

“I get you.” Colonel Breaker nodded. “Let’s go. I want to address everyone.”

Frank grabbed his helmet and the upper half to his armor as he fell in step with Raj and the major. The Punisher assault rifle he had used was gone, lost somewhere in the now quiet sea. They followed the colonel up to the treeline where the other Marines waited.

“I mean, I know the gateway is closed now,” Raj began, trying to make sense of something no one was an expert in, “but they can open the gate from the other side, right? I mean, that sphere opened it up once, so it can open it up again, right?”

“We’ll find a way back,” Major Lopez reassured the doctor without giving any specifics as to how the feat would be done. “We stick together, and we’ll find a way back.”

The meds were in full swing. Frank would probably have kept his mouth shut, but in the moment, it seemed funnier to say: “Or not, Raj. We might never get back. We might be like that guy in the original Jumanji movie who gets sucked into the game and has to find a way to live off the land.”

Major Lopez gave Frank a hard stare, but he ignored it.

The foursome reached the remaining four Marines waiting for them with the shuttle bots. Elly’s fingers were racing over a keyboard she had unpacked from one of the bots. The other three Marines—Tango, and two others Frank hadn’t yet met—were setting up base camp.

No words passed between them, yet Frank saw the look, felt the cold in the air that had nothing to do with the weather. They had lost two of their own. Their training as Marines would carry them forward completing tasks and following orders, but each of them was dealing with the loss in his or her own way.

“I need everyone to circle up,” Colonel Breaker said when they arrived.

The Marines immediately obeyed, falling into file in front of their CO. Elly caught Frank’s eye and mouthed “thank you.” Frank did his best at a smile and nodded back.

“You’ve all seen the gateway closed,” Colonel Breaker began. “We’ve lost two of our own. I want you to know the military had no knowledge of whatever that beast was. We’ll find a way back. I promise you that much. If the sphere got us here, then the team back home is working on reactivating it. In the meantime, our objective to explore hasn’t changed.”

The colonel took a moment to think on his next words. It was the same kind of look in his eyes Frank had seen when he grabbed him by the collar. There was more to this story, and the colonel was about to share.

“When the gateway opened, we sent in drones to examine the oxygen levels, explore the landscape, and determine the threat level.” Colonel Breaker looked each one of them in the eyes while he relayed the information. “There was no sign of that sea creature ever, but we did find something to the north. Creatures there always intercepted our drones and took them out of the sky.”

The Marines looked at one another for answers. Of course they didn’t have any, but it felt like the right thing to do.

“Elly?” Colonel Breaker asked while motioning to her laptop. “Show them.”

“It’s not much. Even the clearest image we managed to capture is only a blur, but as far as we can tell, it’s some kind of winged creature,” Elly said as she grabbed her laptop and clicked through a few images. “We sent a handful of drones in, and they were always intercepted. We are also limited on the range our drones can operate due to the planet’s interference, which we’re still trying to understand.”

Frank didn’t even pretend to comprehend half the words that were coming out of Elly’s mouth as she talked about 2.4 and 5.8 GHz frequencies, quantum fluctuations, and remotes—blah, blah, blah. What he was more interested in was huddling around Elly with the rest of the Marines and taking a look at the blurred images of the unknown beast that had taken down the drones.

One image showed something that looked like a large bird. Another grabbed a pixelated golden-tan body of what appeared to be some kind of feline. The images appeared to be of the same creature, yet showed feathers and fur.

“Whatever that is to the north is obviously alien,” Colonel Breaker said. “We mourn our brothers, but we do so knowing that, when we get back home, there will be nothing but time to mourn. Right now, our priority is securing base camp and getting Elly and Major Lopez the tech they need up and running to study this place. We’re Marines, and we get the job done. Oorah, Marines?”

“Oohrah!” the Marines answered back.

Everyone minus Frank jumped into action. Tango and the two other men Frank found out were named O’Donnell and Spear set up the parameter defenses that included trip cams, motion sensors, and an updated version of a M18 claymore mine.

Raj and the major busied themselves with erecting the tents, while the colonel began unpacking the shuttle bots. Frank found himself beside Elly as the woman set up a command station of her own in the center of the camp.

“I wanted to make sure I said thank you for saving me.” Elly brushed behind her right ear a strand of her dark hair that had come undone during the attack, when her fingers came in contact with her hearing aid. Self-consciously she brushed her hair back to hide the piece of equipment. “I would have been gone if you hadn’t pushed us out of the way. Both the colonel and I would have been gone.”

“You would have done the same thing for me.” Frank ignored the awkward moment. He was horrible at receiving praise and had no desire to make Elly feel like she owed him. “How are your hearing devices working in your helmet? There’s an option to adjust the volume inside the helmet if you need to.”

Elly looked at Frank, surprised that he would have brought up her disability in such a normal way. Her mouth opened, then closed again. Her dark eyes widened, then narrowed as she studied him. It was clear to Frank she had trouble discussing her hearing loss.

“I’m fine—it’s fine.” Elly shrugged off Frank’s question, making it obvious her hearing loss was the last thing she wanted to talk about. She pushed her glasses farther up her nose. “And my glasses are fine, too, so you don’t have to ask.”

“Hey, I wasn’t trying to—”

“I lost my hearing on a training exercise: a detonation went off too close to my head, okay?” Elly said as though confessing something to a priest.

“We don’t have to talk about it if—”

“The hearing devices help a lot, but I still have trouble pronouncing words if I yell or I’m stressed.” Even as she spoke, Elly’s words slurred a bit. She slowed and looked away. “But I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I get it,” Frank said, watching Elly’s fingers fly over her laptop. It was clear she was in her element behind the keyboard. “So how can I help? I don’t have a designated job setting up base camp, but I suck at not doing anything.”

Elly nodded along with Frank’s words as if she understood the feeling firsthand. She looked up into the sky. Since their arrival through the gateway, the sky had been overcast and grey. Now, clouds overhead had begun to dissipate. An orange sun appeared briefly as it surrendered its reign of the sky to the night. With the fall of evening, the air dropped ten degrees, and the scuttling of the forest nocturnal fauna could be heard amongst the trees.

“One of the things we need to do right away is to get our bearings in our galaxy, if we can,” Elly explained. She pointed to an open case where an interactive screen sat in a protective clear sheath. “Turn on the smart pad and you’ll see an icon on the main screen to track star patterns. Point it up into the sky and let’s see if we can pinpoint our location in space.”

“Right,” Frank said, already moving to obey her words. The smart pad looked like a tablet to him, maybe a little heavier, but all in all the same kind of tool he saw advertised on TV every day.

Frank found the ON button at the bottom of the tool. A moment later, the screen brightened to life with a digital blue light, asking for a username and password.

“Elly?” Frank looked down at the spot where Elly sat cross-legged in the middle of camp, typing away furiously at her keyboard with rapid-fire clicking.

“What’s up?” she asked, looking up while her fingers still danced over her keyboard.

“I need the username and password to the smart pad.”

“Username is Yoloasiangirl29—but the o’s are zeros and the I’s are one’s—and the password is craycray hashtag symbol 2000.”

Elly said the words with such a straight face, it made Frank burst into a smile, and even laugh.

“Okay, okay, but seriously,” Frank prodded. “I need the username and password if I’m going to get in.”

“Ummm … I am being serious.” Elly shrugged, going back to her screen. “Don’t judge me, Frank.”

“Hey, you do you.” Frank typed in the provided username and password. As promised, the smart pad gave him access to a main screen where an icon with a star system sat in the upper righthand corner.

Frank tapped on the icon and moved the smart tab up to take a view of the just-budding stars in the sky. Frank was no expert on astronomy, but he knew the scene taking place in the sky above him was nothing like the stars he had seen a thousands times from Earth.

With the sun just gone, already the sky was filling with thousands upon thousands of bright glowing stars. There were so many winking into existence, it seemed that soon there would be more stars filling the sky with glitter than actual black space between them.

Frank lifted the smart pad, allowing the camera to analyze the alien sky. A blinking screen appeared on the smart pad as the tool studied the night sky and sought to provide an exact position.

Frank’s mouth dropped open as he took in the moons now glowing silver to take their place in the sky.

“My God.”

There wasn’t just one moon. There were three.

12

Wow, just when you thought things couldn’t get any weirder, Frank thought. But should three moons really get you all bent out of shape? You were just spit out by a sea monster.

Still the three moons in different waning phases all bunched together behind one another was enough to give him pause. The scene of the banana-shaped slivers was beautiful. Frank rarely took the time to look up into the night sky and admire either the moon or the limited stars he could see from Earth. This scene demanded not only to be viewed, but also to be experienced.

A light beep brought Frank back to his senses as the camera on the smart pad finished studying the sky. Readouts began filling the screen; both numbers and terms popped up and blinked. Frank had no idea what they meant. One line of text caught his eye as it scrolled past the screen: Oberon.

“Hey, Elly.” Frank leaned down to where she sat with her own laptop open. He handed her the smart pad. “It’s doing something. I don’t really know what. It looks like those green numbers that fill all the screens on the Matrix.”

Elly accepted the smart pad, scrunching her brow. Her eyes tracked the numbers and readouts as they relayed information.

“This is … this doesn’t make any sense,” Elly said, placing her own laptop on the ground beside her to give her full attention to the smart pad. She clicked a few buttons, opening a digital keyboard on the screen, and began her furious typing once more.

“What doesn’t make any sense?” Frank considered his question. “And when you explain it to me, use small words us mortals can understand. Like, pretend you’re explaining this to a little kid.”

“So Earth is found in the Milky Way Galaxy,” Elly said, smirking at Frank’s last statement. She brought up a map of the universe on her screen. She pointed her finger to a clump of stars on one side of the screen, then moved her finger to the far opposite side of the screen to another gathering of stars. “This is the Oberon Galaxy that hasn’t even been explored yet. It was sort of discovered this past year via particle dust carried over on asteroid 1102 Hearn. We have a few ideas of what we think it looks like, but that’s it.”

Frank leaned in to get a better view of the Oberon Galaxy where Elly had tapped her finger. It wasn’t anything more than a blank section in space.

“So, uncharted space, huh?” Frank asked, shifting his attention from the pad to Elly.

“Yeah,” Elly said, shaking her head. She placed the smart tablet facedown again, giving the camera access to the night sky once more. “I’m going to let it run a few more times to be sure. We’re on the opposite end of the universe right now.”

“Mmm…” Frank said, looking over at Raj, who jumped after stepping on a branch. “Someone should break it to Raj easy. I don’t know if that guy can take another revelation like this.”

“Seriously, though.” Elly opened a case by her feet. Inside, sitting in cushioned foam, was a series of tiny, flat objects. Paired with each one was a slender, longer, silver piece. “So B.U.T.T.S. isn’t the only one making crazy advancements in technology these days. The military has been stepping up its game, as well. By the way, why did they decide to use an acronym like that? They do realize what it spells, right?”

“Hey, don’t make waves, right?” Frank shrugged. “I’ve asked myself that question a dozen times, but as long as their checks keep clearing, I’ll say on my gravestone I work for B.U.T.T.S.”

Elly laughed out loud. “You’re all right, Frank. I don’t care what everyone else thinks about you. And trust me, they have some rude opinions.”

Frank wasn’t about to ask what the others were saying, so when Elly blushed and moved on, he was fine. He had learned to tune out others’ judgments long ago.

“So, anywho, in the occasion we’re met with any intelligent life here, we have a couple pieces of tech to help us communicate. One round pin goes behind your right ear and the flatter piece goes on the side of your throat.” Elly handed Frank one of each. “It’ll feel like a pinprick, but the tech will translate languages for you as soon as it learns and understands the language. Once that’s done, the throat pieces will translate for you when you speak. In your head, it’ll sound like English, but it’ll come out in whatever language you’re trying to speak.”

Frank accepted the two pins. The circular one to be fitted behind his ear wasn’t larger than a button on the top of one of his dress shirt collars. The slender bar for his throat was about the length of his thumb and as thin as a pen clip.

The circular piece of tech was a dull silver with a single pin on the back an eighth of an inch long. Frank felt the cold piece of metal in his hand, debating whether he really should just shove this thing into his ear.

“Come on, sea monster slayer.” Elly rolled her eyes behind her glasses and took the pin from Frank. “Here, I’ll do it. Don’t be a baby.”

“I’m not being a baby.” Frank scrunched his brow in defense of his manhood. “I just want to make sure I get it in the right place so I don’t have to stab myself twic—Ouch!”

While Frank spoke, Elly rose on her tiptoes and pressed the tech in place, right behind Frank’s right ear. It felt exactly like he’d imagined: a cold needle piercing his skin and tissue underneath.

Frank reached a hand to rub at the spot.

“Easy. Give it a few seconds to let it meld,” Elly warned as she reached for the next metal piece of tech to apply. “You may experience a slight hum in your ear. It’ll go away soon.”

Frank scowled at Elly, not appreciating being caught off guard. He eyed her as she searched his throat for the right place to apply the next piece of metal.

“What, you want to do it yourself?” Elly asked with an arched eyebrow. “Because if you do, be my guest. Go ahead and stab your Adam’s apple unnecessarily, then have me do it correctly.”

“I can see why you were chosen for this mission.” Frank let his hands fall beside his body. “Go ahead, Yoloasiangirl29. Just do it.”

“You got that right.” Elly grinned and pressed the thin strip of metal to the left side of Frank’s throat. It fit just to the left of his Adam’s apple.

To say the feeling was uncomfortable would have been an understatement. It was like getting a vampire bite to the throat. Well, not that Frank knew what that’s like. Yet, it’s what he imagined. A date tried to bite him like that once, but he wasn’t into it. Or maybe he just wasn’t into her. Elly finished up, and Frank winced, but managed not to move. A warm feeling was coming from both pieces of tech now. A metallic taste filled his mouth.

“Don’t worry, it’s all normal,” Elly said, looking at Frank as he worked his tongue over the inside of the mouth. “I’ll check the status on my laptop, but they seem to be working.”

“Hey,” Frank said, noting through the dark that Elly wasn’t wearing the tech herself. “How come I’m the only one wearing this right now?”

“Oh, I’m going to apply it to every member of the team, don’t worry.” Elly looked at her laptop with a nod. “It’s all good. Readouts are fine. I just needed someone to test it on first.”

“So you chose me?” Frank asked incredulously.

“Hey, you don’t have any of the adverse side effects. Calm down.” Elly bugged her eyes and shook her head, chiding him as she picked up the case holding the remaining sets of tech to distribute to the rest of the Marines.

“Side effects?” Frank repeated, taking a look at Elly’s screen. His eyes scanned a small window that had a list of items to look out for once the pieces of technology were administered. “Swollen face, loss of feeling in extremities? Elly, this list goes on and on. What’s bug eye? How am I supposed to know I don’t have bug eye, if I don’t even know what it is?”

“Easy, easy. I’m a professional, Frank,” Elly said over her shoulder as she headed to where the major and Raj worked on erecting the last tent. “I’ll monitor everyone.”

The rest of the night was spent setting a firewatch schedule, cleaning their armor and weapons, and eating a cold meal of beef franks, MREs he had told himself he would never eat again.

Cleaning his armor from the blood and the saliva was almost as bad as eating his MRE. If he was being honest with himself, he missed the corps. Well, not so much the corps as the people who made up the military.

He sat quiet and listened as they ate their meal, reminiscing on the two lost Marines, Smythe and Finn.

“We were deployed to Iraq in 2003. A few months into our tour, our friend got two weeks’ leave. He had been assigned as the gunner on our lieutenant’s Humvee. The night before we go on mission, the lieutenant asked Finn if he’d like to fill in and be his gunner. Man, Finn had a bad habit of running his mouth and didn’t think spending too much time with the lieutenant would be a good idea. So he declined saying, ‘I would, sir, but I hear your driver is so bad, he voids my life insurance policy, and my Suzie would really need the money.’ The lieutenant just laughed and walked away.”

There was more laughter than tears. Even the colonel chipped in with a few happy memories of the two men.

“We do this because we’re the right people for the job,” the colonel said. “But we do it for Smythe and Finn, too, so their deaths meant something.”

A series of somber nods answered the colonel’s words.

“All right.” Colonel Breaker looked at his watch. Without thinking, he massaged his throat where the metal strip now sat, courtesy of Elly. “The major and Frank have first watch. The rest of you turn in for some rack time. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. The terrain won’t be the hardest we’ve met, but it’s not a stroll through a mall, either.”

Moments later, Frank found himself sitting side by side with the major. He had replaced his armor, the heating unit inside keeping his body warm, his nose and ears taking the brunt of the cold that seemed to come from the east. It was frigid without being freezing; barely cold enough for Frank to see his own breath.

He leaned against a tree with the major, Elly’s assault rifle in his hands since his was at the bottom of the alien sea somewhere. His helmet was magnetized to the left side of his belt. He looked out into the forest, a smart pad by his feet.

He and the major each had a smart pad. His showed the cameras and sensors erected around the perimeter. The major’s controlled an updated version of the claymore. Frank was still curious as to how the weapon worked.

Frank and the major made small talk about where they were from, if they’d ever been to Nevada or Las Vegas, how long had each been in the military, and such, until about an hour into their watch when the sound of slumberous breaths from the rest of the unit drifted to them on the light breeze.

“You did good today,” Major Lopez said as if she were praising a student. “I mean, you know you did. You don’t need to hear it from me. But you won over most of the unit.”

“Just doing my job,” Frank said, scanning the dark forest in front of him. Something like a bird squawked overhead as it rustled in the branches. Frank decided to put on his helmet to get a better look.

The heads-up display showed him the forest in front of him as if it were day. To his left and above him sat a fat little bird with three eyes and a flat beak.

“Just doing your job?” Major Lopez repeated. “Listen, everyone heard the conversation you had with B.U.T.T.S. about only coming on this mission for the money. I get that. But you have to understand, the rest of us are doing this for our country and probably aren’t getting half of the money you are.”

It seemed the major thought Frank meant he had only pushed the colonel and Elly out of harm’s way because he was getting paid to do it. That wasn’t at all what Frank meant, but he didn’t care to correct the major.

Something was wrong. That sixth sense he had picked up during his time in the Marines was going off like sirens in his mind. What was it? The animals. Before, the birds and small alien wildlife had been restless, but now they were silent.

A scurry of paws directed Frank’s attention to a family of tiny brown rodents that ran to their left. A few more of the fat birds squawked and took flight.

“And you aren’t even going to respond?” Major Lopez sighed. “Whatever, Frank. At least I know where you stand. But there are more important things in this life than money.”

She was going on and on about money, sounding more like someone who had had enough of it her entire life. Frank heard her voice in the background, but he had caught movement through the trees. Something large. Something that looked like a robed man.

13

“We can discuss your privileged upbringing and good looks later,” Frank cut the major off with a harsh whisper. He sank down to his knees and brought his weapon up to his helmet. “We have company, ten o’clock. I just see one now, but I bet there’s more.”

Immediately, the major fell silent. She was already wearing her helmet, but she, too, sank to her knees in a liquid motion and trained her rifle up to where Frank instructed.

Without the help of their night vision display in their helmets, seeing the figure through the dark would have been impossible. The stars and three moons overhead helped a bit, but not enough to pick out movement two hundred yards away in the dense forest.

Seconds passed as more and more figures made themselves seen among the broad and tall trunks. Frank adjusted the zoom in the heads-up display, allowing him to see the figures at one hundred times zoom if he so desired.

The robed figures walked like humans; even gaits of a biped. The flowing cloth robes hooded the head and over their shoulders, cascading down to the ground. The figures inside even looked human with a few noticeable differences: their skin was a light purple, their hair stark white under their hoods.

If they were friendlies, they did a good job hiding it. Dozens of them came from the forests, each holding either a bulky rifle or a bladed weapon resembling a cross between a machete and a butcher cleaver.

“I don’t know how you want to play this,” Frank whispered. “I know this is a discover mission and all, but if I had to guess, they’re not sneaking up in the middle of the night armed to the teeth for an ice cream social.”

The trap cameras and sensors went off around the camp relayed to the smart pad beside Frank. Warnings blinked like crazy across the screen.

In that moment, Frank didn’t envy the major and her decision. Did they shoot first and let God sort them out, or did they give diplomacy a chance? Frank knew what he would pick, but he also understood that the major was about to disagree with him.

The figures were closing fast. Sooner rather than later, their decision would be made for them if the hooded strangers stumbled upon Frank and the major.

“This is how you control the claymore,” Major Lopez said in a rush of words. “It moves by itself, like a drone. You direct where you want it to go with your finger. I’m going to try to talk with these people. You wake the others, and if things go bad, you light these guys up with the claymore.”

Frank nodded, switching to the open channel and calling out to the rest of the unit that lay a hundred yards to their rear, sleeping. “Rise and shine Marine Space Corps One. We have a few dozen possible—probable—hostiles approaching from our ten o’clock position. Get ready. The major insists on playing nice, so she’s about to extend the welcome mat.”

The colonel’s voice answered so fast, and without the slightest hint of sleep, Frank wondered whether he had been asleep at all.

“Roger that. Gear up for defensive positions, Marines,” Colonel Breaker ordered. “No one fires until the command is given.”

“Hmmm? What?” Raj’s sleepy voice sounded over the comms. “No, I don’t want to dance. I’m embarrassed. You know I’m a shy boy.”

Frank grinned in his helmet and would have said more, had it not been for the major’s position. She rose from her concealed position to his right and walked forward carefully, placing one foot after the other to meet the strangers.

All his focus was on her and the shadowed, robed figures approaching. He maneuvered the claymore on the smart pad just behind the major and to the right. It was close enough now he could see it: a square piece of metal floating on a pair of fans, like a drone.

As soon as the figures approaching them noticed the major, they stopped in their tracks, raising their weapons.

“No, wait,” Major Lopez said, raising her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “We aren’t here to fight you.”

The major had barely gotten the words out before the scene erupted in the unfamiliar sounds of alien weapon fire. The major went down.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

Bright light erupted from the barrels of the weapons being fired on the major. They more so resembled flamethrowers than rifles. Giant spouts of fire raced toward the major, seeking to cook her alive inside her armor.

“Fire!” the colonel commanded.

With a flick of his right finger, Frank brought the claymore up on his right, the enemies left flank. They had begun to form a kind of firing line.

“Eat this!” Frank hit the safety button, and then the fire button.

BAM!

Oh, it was a claymore all right, but an updated version that shredded trees and enemy alike.

“Hell yeah!” Tango hit the floor beside Frank and began opening up on the target-rich environment in front of them. “Get some!”

Frank dropped the smart pad, having spent the claymore’s one-time use, and lifted his own assault rifle. He found a target and squeezed the trigger. A twelve-inch tungsten steel rod shot out at breakneck speed, finding its target in the center of its skull and blowing brain matter and bone fragments out the back end.

The firefight was alive now with the sounds of the gauss-powered rifles taking on the strange flamethrowers the enemy used. Red blaster fire from the Marines was met with even more orange-and-red hoses of fire from the enemy.

“Major Lopez, come in!” Colonel Breaker shouted. “Does anyone have eyes on the major?”

Frank looked over to his right and ahead where he had seen the major duck for cover. All he could see were her feet sticking out from behind a copse of trees. They weren’t moving.

“I don’t know if she’s done for, but I can see her foot from my spot about twenty yards in front of me to my left.” Frank turned with his weapon and took down a charging enemy with two rounds to the head.

Who are these guys? Frank thought as he zeroed in and took down another charging enemy that had nothing more than one of these cleavers in his hand. Willing to charge in head-first with a knife?

“O’Donnell, Spear,” Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded over the comms. “Go with Frank and get the major. Everyone else, covering fire.”

Frank glanced to his left where O’Donnell and Spear looked to him with nods. As one, the trio ran in a crouched position toward the fallen major. Frank took out two more enemies, who ran with abandon toward the Marines.

The warring factions had taken up sides now, the Marines just outside of their camp and their enemies firing gouts of flames no more than forty yards in front of them. For as many of the knife-wielding psychos the enemy sent toward them who were killed, more and more came.

The flames racing over MSC1’s heads and all around them actually came in two kinds of projectiles. One was a hose of fire that sought to cook them like a traditional flamethrower, but there was also another that shot out globs of what looked like heated plasma. The rounds spattered all around and burned through trees, dirt, and anything else unfortunate enough to catch it.

Frank and the two other Marines made it to the major’s side. She was lying on her back, propped up against a rock. She had torn off her helmet, a newly burned scar on her face telling Frank why. It seemed one of the rounds of plasma had hit her in the helmet and had begun to eat through the tough exterior.

Her assault rifle was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she held on to her Reckoner with a tight fist.

“We’re going to get you out of here. You just hold on,” Frank shouted over the sounds of weapon fire.

“How bad is it?” Major Lopez asked, snapping out of whatever stunned state she had been in. “Be straight with me.”

“If you’re asking me if I still find you attractive”—Frank winked at the major, ignoring the scorched marring on the left side of her face—“well, then, yes.”

“We’ve got a problem!” O’Donnell shouted from his spot beside Frank. “We’ve got a big, big problem.”

“Son of a beached whale!” Raj screamed through the comms. “What is that thing!?”

Frank didn’t want to look up to see what had caught everyone’s attention, but he knew he had to.

Please don’t let it be another monster, Frank thought. Just not another monster.

Frank looked up to see what could only be described as a monster hurtling toward their location. A manic cheer went up from their robed enemies as the thing approached.

It was larger than a man, maybe eight feet tall and made of crimson armor. The hooves and face with a snout and large eyes similar to a bull’s, including its long horns, had made Frank think it was an alien animal at first glance, but as it got closer, he realized it was a suit of power armor.

The armor suit carried a heavy sword in the right hand and a minigun in the left. It was closing in on Frank’s position quickly with robotic, hydraulic joints propelling it forward.

“Bring it down!” Colonel Breaker ordered over the noise of their cheering enemies. “Focus fire!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every Marine still able opened fire on the armored beast. Not a single round got through to the armored power suit. Their rounds stopped and disintegrated before they struck, each hitting a shimmering field about five inches from the target.

Splatters of red energy appeared and disappeared anywhere a tungsten round came in contact with the force field. Their weapons were useless. The monster would be on top of them in seconds.

14

“Get her out of here. I’ll cover you,” Frank yelled to O’Donnell and Spear. “Go! These weapons aren’t getting through.”

At the same time Frank yelled the orders, O’Donnell chucked a grenade toward the charging monolith. The explosive sailed through the air and came to a stop right in front of the beast.

BAM!

For a moment, dirt and smoke hindered their view of the mechanical minotaur warrior. The ground shook as a ton of metal hit the floor. Cheering from their enemy died on the cold air. It only lasted a second as the smoke cleared, showing the armored monster regaining his feet and charging again. It seemed the grenade had been enough to slow the power armor, but not stop it.

“Go, go!” Frank ordered, leveling his Punisher with one hand at the charging enemy. He drew his Reckoner side arm from its place on his thigh, adding its firepower to the barrage he sent forward into the colossal enemy.

Frank focused on hitting the same area of the force field over and over again in the hopes that a section of the force field would weaken and he could possibly get a shot through.

You don’t even know how force fields work, Frank chided himself as he gritted his teeth and stared down the rampaging suit of armor. Well, it’s what you got at the moment.

Red globs of smoldering plasma erupted from the power armor in front of him. The minigun weapon spat the rounds at Frank and the rest of the crew so furiously, Frank didn’t even have time to dive for cover.

His own rounds did nothing against the force field protecting the power armor. Now that the piece of equipment was so close, Frank got a better look at his enemy. He was right to have put the unit at eight feet tall. It was more of a mech than anything else. Crimson alloy plates formed an armor that would have looked like a man had it not been for the hooves over the feet and the head that came out in a snout with two long horns.

Ten yards from the charging piece of armor, Frank’s own weapons ran dry. He had emptied his magazines into the force field without even making a dent. The tungsten steel rods simply disintegrated in a wave of red when they came in contact with the barrier.

The mechanized armor lowered its head, its weapon still firing rounds in sporadic bursts. Frank thought he was going to be gored by the horns on the charging monster’s helmet; instead, a round of plasma caught him on the left shoulder, spinning him around.

It felt like getting hit with a sledgehammer. White hot, searing pain exploded where the round made contact with his armor.

“Focus fire, give them cover!” Colonel Breaker was shouting over the comms. “Elly, get me another one of those claymores up and running.”

Frank looked up at the charging piece of bull armor that was now only yards from his supine position. He ignored the pain in his shoulder, focusing on what had to be done next. His hands grabbed the two grenades at his belt. If this was the day he was going to die, he had no intentions of going down alone.

A screech—no, a roar, or some combination of the two—filled the air. Then a being even larger than the mechanized suit slammed down on top of it, clawing at the red armor unit with a razor-sharp beak and front paws of pointed talons. The creature’s wings beat the air, keeping it balanced as it attacked, covering Frank in a rush of dust-filled wind.

Frank scurried back, grunting in pain in the process. His shoulder wasn’t feeling any better. For the moment, the agony his wound brought had taken second violin to the gladiators raging in front of him.

More and more of the winged creature’s battle cries roared and echoed through the night woods. Frank was pushed back by the gale from the massive beast’s wings.

“Hold your fire on the … flying unit,” Colonel Breaker shouted. “They’re attacking the force in the robes. I repeat: do not fire on this new regime, unless you are fired upon first.”

Frank heard the words as he scrambled backwards, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from the wild fight in front of him. The winged creature looked like a giant eagle except, past its shoulders, it took on the appearance of a massive lion. Snow white avian wings sprouted from its sides, and a tan tail like a lion’s grew from its rump.

Frank’s eyes widened in wonder. For the first time, he realized there was someone riding the creature. A soldier dressed in gold-and-pearl armor held a gilded lance in one hand and a coordinating shield in the other as he battled the powered armor unit.

Wisely, the warrior had his winged creature focusing on the mechanized unit’s weapons. The creature’s beak held in check the limb holding the minigun like a vice grip, while its front talons clawed at the opposite arm of the mech that held the cleaver-like sword.

The warrior on top of the winged beast plunged his lance over and over again into the mech unit’s helmet and in between the moving pieces of armor, searching for a weak point.

A horn added its noise to the cacophony of sound. The horn was an obvious sign of retreat by the faction in the heavy robes, and Frank could see why. Droves of the golden warriors on the winged creatures touched down on the battlefield to fight, or merely swooped down, lifting a robed figure off the ground with it and carrying it high into the sky, then releasing him or her to fall. Fading screams could be heard as they pitched down to their deaths. Frank swore he heard a Wilhelm Scream in the distance.

The creature in front of Frank released its opponent and took a step back to see what the enemy would do.

The force field was finally gone around the mech unit; sparks and scarlet flashes of what Frank guessed were whatever powered the things, shot out. The minigun the mech carried was twisted beyond use, its bladed weapon lost somewhere in the struggle.

The warrior riding the winged beast said something in his foreign tongue. The translation tech needed a lot more than what it was given to be able to translate. In Frank’s ears it sounded like, “Hoodie mooshie mcgibbolets.”

The red mech backed away, joining his fellow soldiers in retreat. He responded with a garbled mechanical voice: “Deng hanna tell more, pineapple pizza.”

Of course Frank didn’t actually think the fleeing mechanized suit was talking about his takeout order of deep dish; that’s just how it come across. In the next few moments, the robed force, along with their sparking mech unit, was gone.

Frank struggled to his feet, the burning pain in his shoulder bearable but not fun. That was another thing that came with Frank’s ironclad will: a higher than average pain tolerance.

The warrior atop the winged creature turned his beast toward Frank. The animal’s eagle-like head cocked to the side, taking Frank in with its wide golden eyes. It almost smirked as if it were saying, “And what the heck are you?”

“Teng galla sushi an rice,” the warrior addressed Frank.

“I’ve really got to talk to Elly about this translation tech,” Frank said. He cleared his throat, opening his arms wide in dramatic miming fashion as he spoke loud and slow: “Friend, we are not your enemies. We are friends.”

Frank made sure his hands were open, his gestures smooth and non-threatening. He had already been in a fight with a sea monster and a mechanized bull. The last thing he needed was to be snatched up by the winged beast in front of him.

“Spear and O’Donnell didn’t make it,” Frank heard Major Lopez over the comms.

“Neither did Tango.” A defeated Raj did nothing to mask the pain in his voice.

“Rally at my position.” Colonel Breaker sounded tired. Not a physical toll, but an emotional strain. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else here. Let me do the talking.”

Frank was all for the colonel taking point on the negotiations, only, he wondered how he was going to convey to the warrior in front of him that he wanted him to follow Frank to where the rest of his unit waited.

The warrior could have doubled for a knight out of a medieval times catalogue. Golden armor covered him, from a winged helmet that showed only his eyes, to the ironclad boots on his feet. The silver moonlight shone off a winged tip. A white tunic over his chest showed a symbol of a descending bird, with two bolts of lightning crossed behind it. The shield he bore on his left arm held the same symbol.

“Take noftey tortellini,” the warrior said in a gruff tone. It seemed he was losing patience with Frank.

“Okay, we’re just going to take it easy, here, Kemosabe,” Frank said, remembering a name his father had called him growing up. A throwback to the adventures of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Frank kept his arms up and pointed with a finger to where the rest of his own unit and the winged warriors had gathered. “Follow me.”

Frank moved slowly, not wanting to spook either the creature or the warrior who rode on top. Frank moved toward the rest of his unit, keeping a wary eye on the winged beast and soldier who followed.

The golden-clad warrior seemed content to allow Frank to lead him toward the others, whether or not he actually understood what Frank was trying to convey.

Frank found the rest of the unit—Elly, Raj, the colonel, and the major—in a tight group. They were encircled by the golden warriors and the soldiers who rode them. Frank pressed through the throng to join the rest of the Marines.

The colonel was already speaking to who Frank presumed was their leader, talking in an even tone, with his hands out. The warrior he spoke to rode a winged creature with brown-and-golden feathers.

Frank turned off his comms and sidled up to the major. She had replaced her helmet now that the metal had stopped melting. A long gash on the left side of the armor still showed where the plasma round had eaten through the metal shielding down to her face.

“You all right?” Frank asked without really thinking on his words. “Can we talk to them yet?”

“No, I’m pretty far from being all right,” Major Lopez whispered back. The pain in her voice told Frank exactly what she was talking about. “We lost Tango, Spear, and O’Donnell. I’m pretty freaking far from all right.”

“We’ll be able to talk to them soon,” Elly said, changing the subject in a hushed, yet confident, peep. “Trust the tech. The language translation unit has already been at work learning their language. It’s only a matter of time.”

Frank was sweating despite the cooling system in his suit. The internal system could help maintain his body temperature, but did nothing to help the beads of sweat coming off his brow. In a slow motion, as not to spook the aliens, Frank removed his helmet.

Big mistake. A loud gasp escaped the throats of the alien warriors. Some leveled their lances at Frank, while others looked to their leader for orders.

“What?” Frank asked. “Come on, guys, I’m a solid nine out of ten.”

15

“Brown face,” Frank caught a warrior mutter to his left. It seemed the language translator was finally starting to pick up on a few words.

“That’s kind of racist, man,” Frank said, looking over to the warrior. “I’m going to let it slide this time because you have crazy flying monsters that could probably kill me in a few seconds.”

“Frank,” Colonel Breaker warned.

Frank closed his mouth and instead smiled at the rest of the warriors leaning down to take a look at him.

More hushed tones and whispers rippled over the gathered group. Frank was beginning to pick up words as the translation tech got better and better at recognizing tones and patterns.

“What are they?”

“Strangers from another planet.”

“They look so weird.”

“Are they in armor or is that their skin?”

“May I remove my helmet, as well?” Colonel Breaker pointed to his head.

“Please.” The lead warrior on top of his beast nodded.

Commander Breaker removed his helmet, revealing his ebony skin to those around him.

Another gasp filled the night air.

“This is so racist,” Frank muttered with a grin. “Wait until they see the rest of us. We’ve brought them the league of nations, here; all the colors of the rainbow.”

“Shhh…” Raj pleaded with Frank. “No need to piss them off if we don’t have to with the running commentary. We don’t know how much our vocal translators are already saying to them in their own language.”

Another moment passed as the rest of the Marines took off their helmets. The alien warriors sitting on top of their winged creatures were also wearing their own helmets, the golden protective headgear covered their faces, leaving only room for their purple eyes to see through.

Frank had a pretty good idea already of what they looked like. He had seen their robed assailants clear enough. They were humanoid with lilac skin and wavy white hair. He assumed the golden-clad warriors looked the same.

He wasn’t disappointed when the leader Colonel Breaker was speaking with took off his own helmet. High cheekbones gave way to long, white braided hair and pointed ears. Besides these features, the only other thing to clearly identify him as not human was the hue of his skin; a lavender tone pigmented every exposed section.

The alien warrior’s eyes were solemn without being intimidating. There were wheels turning behind that stare as he decided their fate. They were stern, focused, with dilated pupils. His white brows furrowed slightly, and his mouth remained a straight line though his contemplation. If he chose to kill them there, he probably could. The Marines were outnumbered four to one, and with the half-bird, half-lions the aliens rode, Frank didn’t see them winning in a fight.

“You come with us,” the leader said to Colonel Breaker. “The empress will decide what is to be done.”

As if an afterthought, the lead purple warrior pointed to himself. “Tamar, General to the Empress of Thunder.”

Colonel Breaker nodded along with Tamar’s words. He pointed to his own chest. “Colonel Solomon Breaker, Emissary from Earth, leader of the Marine Space Corps. May I have a few minutes to gather my dead and prepare to depart?”

“You may.” Tamar seemed impressed with the request. “We, too, honor our dead. Our thunderbirds will make the graves.”

Frank assumed by “thunderbird,” Tamar meant the large creatures he and his men rode. A moment later, this was confirmed as Tamar directed a trio of warriors to a small clearing. Immediately, the thunderbirds began to dig deep graves with their front talons.

“Let’s put our brothers to rest, finish this mission, and get home.” Colonel Breaker didn’t look like he was in the mood for questions. There was a deadness to his eyes and a gauntness to his face. Frank had seen the look before, in the eyes of soldiers before they cracked from having lost too much after having given everything.

Frank and the remaining Marines fell in line to obey. Raj and Frank found Tango behind a fallen tree. It seemed he had taken cover there, only to have his helmet melted onto his face by a plasma blast from one of the alien weapons.

Frank removed himself mentally from the moment as he worked with Raj to carry the fallen soldier to his temporary grave. There was no doubt in Frank’s mind that they would be back for the Marines. As soon as a way home was found and the gateway reopened, they would take the Marines home to rest.

The doctor and the Marine from B.U.T.T.S. worked in silence; they lifted their brother and gently placed him into the deep grave made by the thunderbirds.

It was only when they finished their task that Raj looked at Frank’s sweating face and the burn that had eaten his armor and a section of his skin underneath.

“You feeling alright?” Raj asked, squinting at Frank. “That wound looks bad.”

“I’m fine,” Frank lied. In all honesty, it did burn. But the burning sensation didn’t stop at his shoulder. It had raced up to his head where it had begun to grow in intensity. But right now, Frank was more worried about burying the Marines and getting as far away from this place as possible before another attack came. “Stop looking at me like I’m a zombie or something.”

Major Lopez and Elly brought O’Donnell and laid him to rest in his grave. Colonel Breaker refused any help and brought Spear by himself. There was a moment of silence for the fallen Marines. Even Tamar and his unit remained quiet out of respect.

“Your fight has come to an end,” Colonel Breaker said as if he were speaking to himself. “Ours is still at hand. I swear to you, we’ll make you proud. You didn’t die in vain, and those who killed you will feel the wrath of the corps, so help me God.”

This guy has been through a lot. Maybe too much, Frank thought as he wiped another wave of sweat from his face and fought the onslaught of dizziness. He needs to talk to someone. PTSD isn’t a joke.

“Let’s break down camp,” Colonel Breaker said, moving toward the area where they had set up shop for the night. “Raj, Elly, take only what is absolutely required to see the mission through to the end. Major Lopez, Frank, make sure we’re armored with whatever we need if we come in contact with those robed maniacs again.”

Frank’s feverish mind struggled with the lack of so many unanswered questions. The foremost being who the enemy was who had attacked them. For the time being, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

The woods were still dark. Without the help of his helmet, the stars and the trio of moons bathed the scene in silver blue light. It was far from the bright as day scene his helmet had provided through the heads-up display, but it was more than enough to get by.

Frank stumbled again as they made their way back to camp. Raj caught him by his uninjured shoulder.

“All right, sit down, tough guy.” Raj forced Frank to the ground with a gentle tug. “You’re definitely not fine. Let me take a look at that shoulder.”

“Raj, Raj, Raj,” Frank laughed. He was having a hard time focusing. He felt half drunk, half asleep. “That’s a funny name. I mean, no offense or anything, but I like saying it. Raj, Raj, Raj.”

“What’s going on?” Colonel Breaker joined the men as Raj took off Frank’s armor. “Did he get hit?”

“He did, and it’s bad,” Raj said, inspecting the wound.

“Guys, guys, I’m sitting right here,” Frank slurred. “I’m right here. You can talk to me. So, Raj, tell me, is it bad?”

Raj removed his glove and placed a hand on Frank’s forehead. “He’s burning up. Elly, grab my case.”

“I’ll be fiiiiiiiine.” Frank rolled his eyes. Doing so sent him completely off balance, and he fell backwards with his feet a mess over him. “You guys worry too much.”

Frank closed his eyes for a moment, intending on opening them again. Instead, a dream came for him.

“You don’t have to do this, this is too much.” Frank’s father shook his head, trying to understand what was happening. “You’ve done more than enough for us already, son. We got the money you sent to us while you were in the Marines. Just serving your country was enough for us, but sending money back, too, Frank? We’re fine, we’ll be okay, we’ll—”

“You’ll find a way,” Frank finished his father’s thought. “You’ve said that my whole life, and you have found a way your entire life. I’m fine, Dad. I want you and mom to have this money. I have a job lined up already, and they gave me a signing bonus to start. I’m just taking off a few weeks now that my contract has ended.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Frank’s father’s eyes welled with tears of pride. “‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem like enough, son.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Frank grabbed his father in a hug. “Use the money to get a house for you and mom. I know it won’t get anything big but it should be enough for a two- or three-bedroom of your own.”

“She’d love … she’d love to see you.” Frank’s father held him a second longer before letting go. “I swear she can hear us still. The home care you’ve paid for her says the same thing. Do you want to come in and see her?”

Frank stood outside of the upscale apartment complex where his father and mother now lived. The matching fresh paint on the buildings, promotional and color-coordinated flags up front, the security-coded gate, and the model leasing office that served fresh coffee and cookies were a far cry from the low-income apartments of Frank’s youth. With him now paying the rent for them, his father was able to afford better care for Rose.

His mother had slipped into a coma a year previous. Frank still loved her earnestly, only he didn’t want to see her like that. He wanted to remember her as the joking woman who stood waiting for him every day at the bus stop with a smile when he returned from school.

“I’ve got to get going, Dad,” Frank said, clearing his throat. “With the new job, I’ll be able to help out more. I can take care of the mortgage on the new house you decide on, and her nursing bills.”

“Frank, no, you need money for yourse—”

Frank lifted a hand. “You can’t work forever. Start putting your checks into savings. And don’t worry about me. I’m great. I’m a pretty simple animal, anyway. Just give me a stack of books and a gym, and I’m happy. If you can’t be happy with nothing…”

Frank let his voice trail off.

“Then you won’t be happy with everything,” Frank’s father ended the saying.

“You taught me that,” Frank reminded his father. Liam’s once-strong shoulders slumped. His flannel shirt, though pressed, hung thin and rugged on the man’s tired frame. Years of hard labor at the factory, a Standard American Diet, and the stress of caring for Rose had weighed on him. The twinkle of a man full of joy and hope hadn’t dulled in his aging eyes.

“All right,” Frank’s father said, shaking his head. “I’d argue with you some more, but you’re as stubborn as your mother. You get it from her, you know. Just think about coming in to see her next time you visit. It would be great for both of you.”

“Will do, Dad,” Frank lied, turning to go before his father could see the hot tears spill down his cheeks.

16

Frank blinked his eyes open. He was lying in a soft bed with a view of a ceiling fresco. On the ceiling were painted images of warriors in armor fighting various monsters, waging epic wars, and facing down a dark enemy with raging horns, furious glowing red eyes, in a shadowed form surrounded by fire.

“I did die,” Frank said out loud. “Crap, I did die after all.”

“Go. Tell his physician he’s awake,” said an unfamiliar, soft voice from outside Frank’s peripheral vision. “He’ll want to know right away.”

Frank struggled to sit up in the down bed. The effort sent a fiery lance of pain from his right shoulder to his head. He drew in a deep breath of the floral, fragrant air through his teeth.

“Ugh.” Frank grimaced, closing his eyes to see if that would help stem the pain level. “I feel like I have the worst hangover. Like Vegas on a twenty-first birthday and bachelor party, all rolled into one.”

“You should rest,” the same voice said again. “Also, I have no familiarity with the things you mentioned.”

Frank opened his eyes to see the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered. She was slender while still muscular, with the same lilac skin and long white hair of the local inhabitants he had already came across. Her amethyst eyes danced with a mixture of concern and intrigue.

“You’re safe,” she told Frank. “You were wounded in battle. The wound became infected.”

“And I’m not dead, right?” Frank asked. “I mean just to be sure.”

“No.” The woman smiled. “You are not dead. You are under the care of the House of Thunder. Tamar and his riders brought you here after the conflict in the woods.”

“Right.” Everything came back to Frank in a rush. “I’m Frank. Frank Wolffe, by the way.”

“I am called Vega,” the woman said with a smile. She tried to hide her grin, but she failed.

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“No, come on, what is it?” Frank persisted. He looked down at his naked torso. He had a feeling he was completely naked under the thin sheet, as well. “Am I naked? It’s because I’m naked, huh? Did you do this?”

“We had to break the fever, but that is not what makes me smile,” Vega said, giving Frank a rueful grin. “It’s your second name.”

“What? Wolffe?”

“Yes, I’ve never heard that name before. It suits you somehow.”

“Well, I’m glad you approve, because it’s the only one I’ve got.” Frank endured the discomfort and maneuvered himself up into a sitting position. A gasp of pain escaped his lips despite his best efforts. “Ugh.”

“Rest easy,” Vega said, placing a hand on his uninjured shoulder. “Your body has been through much. An infection came with the wound you suffered at the hands of the mercenaries.” Her voice was melodic and reassuring. Upon her approach, Frank realized the gentle flowery aroma came from her. He drank it in, finding peace as his endorphins pumped a natural euphoria, relieving his head and stress.

The seated position gave Frank a better view of the room he was in. It was only about three-and-a-half meters squared, with a door leading out in front of him, a three-drawer dresser, and two wooden chairs. To his right, a floor-to-ceiling window was covered with a thin, white drape. The sun shone in bright, allowing more than enough light to illuminate the chamber.

“Mercenaries?” Frank repeated the word. He couldn’t help noticing Vega had allowed her hand to linger on his shoulder. “Those black-robed cowards who attacked at night were mercenaries? Mercenaries hired by whom?”

“If you believe what Kallion says, they are mercenaries hired by the House of Leviathan. However, there are some among us who think otherwise.”

“Wait a minute. I think I met this Leviathan.” Frank tried to sift through the terms being used to make sense of everything at once. “Does the House of Leviathan have an actual leviath—”

Raj burst through the doors leading into the room. “Frank, I heard you were awake, I—”

As soon as Raj noticed the woman with Frank, he immediately fell silent and bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I didn’t know you were still with him.”

“It’s fine.” Vega rose from the bed with one final look at Frank. “I was the one who sent for you. I’ll speak with the two of you later.”

Frank was too shocked at learning Vega was royalty to give much of a response as she left the room. The best he could manage was a “Later.”

“Son of a inbred hick, Frank.” Raj took up Vega’s place at the edge of his bed. “Did you really just tell the princess of the House of Thunder, ‘later’?”

“Give me a break, here. I’m trying,” Frank said, looking around the room once more. “How long have I been out? Where are we?”

“You’ve been out for a day and a half,” Raj said, shining a pen light into Frank’s eyes. “An infection got into your bloodstream, but you should be fine now. I mean fine-ish. You still have to recover from that burn you got on your shoulder. We’re in a castle. Well, a castle across the universe on another planet, but yeah, basically the same thing.”

“How did we get here?” Frank asked. “And what are you wearing?”

Frank had wanted to save that question for later; there seemed too many other more important inquiries on the table at the moment. However, with the bleached linen tunic draped over Raj’s slim, just-under-two-meter frame, with a pair of wide leg pants and a leather belt, Frank had to ask.

“We rode those thunderbirds back here,” Raj said, leaning in to peel back Frank’s bandage and take a look at the wound. “Well, we rode. You more like … slumped on the back of one of the thunderbirds like a sack of laundry. We had to tie you on and everything. It was kind of funny.”

“I’m glad my unconscious, feverish body could amuse you.” Frank lifted an eyebrow.

“My clothes are being cleaned, so I’m borrowing some of theirs,” Raj said, changing the subject when he heard the edge in Frank’s tone. “Their clothes are super comfortable, FYI. I feel so free. So much extra room in the crotch area. I mean, the last thing I want while we’re here is a rash.”

Raj had leaned over Frank to get to his right shoulder. Raj looked up, and the two men’s faces were centimeters apart.

“Raj,” Frank said with a deep breath. “I don’t ever want to hear you talking about your crotch again, especially when you’re so awkwardly close to me—while I’m naked.”

“Yeahhh,” Raj said, standing up and walking over to the other side of the bed. “Maybe it’ll be better if I examine you from the right side of the bed instead of leaning over you.”

“Good call.” Frank looked down at the open bandage on his shoulder. His skin was an angry red, the likes of one would find on a hot sauce bottle. “Is it supposed to look like that?”

“Believe it or not, you’re healing quickly,” Raj said, replacing the bandage. “When we arrived, Vega and the Neeve physicians took point on patching you up. The medicines they have here killed that infection, cleared the temperature, and are even working on accelerating your healing. It’s truly remarkable.”

“What’s a Neeve?” Frank asked, ignoring the rest of what Raj had said and focusing on the word.

“Oh, it’s the name of their race,” Raj said, getting back up from the bed. “You should be good to go in another day or two. Rest while you can get it. There’s supposed to be an official meeting tonight between the empress and the colonel to kind of sort things out.”

“Right,” Frank said, thinking on the suggestion of sitting in bed and already dismissing the thought. “I’m going to need my clothes back.”

“I’ll see if I can find someone to get you decent,” Raj said, heading for the door.

An unpleasant thought came to Frank in that moment. He had to ask before Raj left. “Are we prisoners here?”

“What?” Raj said, turning with one red brown hand on the door. “No, it’s not like that, but you should still be careful. Trouble seems to follow you.”

“You have no idea,” Frank said under his breath as Raj walked from the room.

17

Clothed in his own garments of jeans, deep brown harness boots, and a plain black V-neck shirt, Frank was beginning to feel like himself again. The pain in his ribs courtesy of the leviathan was all but gone. The burning in his shoulder was still very real, but he pushed the idea of discomfort from his mind and focused on exploring his new surroundings.

Raj had said they weren’t prisoners and there were no guards posted outside of his door, so why not?

Dressing himself had been the hardest part of getting out of bed, but once the shy, young servant girl had delivered his clean clothes, Frank managed. As soon as he opened the door to his room, a low whistle escaped his lips.

“Well, well, Toto,” Frank said to himself as he walked out into the gigantic hall, “I don’t think we’re on Earth anymore.”

Frank’s room was located in the middle of a long hall, each side extending nearly fifty meters. The width of the hall was equally impressive. From wall to wall, there was enough room to have a complete chamber.

The area was spartan, though elegantly configured. Slate stone and mortar made up the floor, walls, and vaulted ceiling. A thick, gold rug ran the width and distance of the empty hall. More doors opened up to other rooms.

Tapestries of cream-and-gold hung on the walls of the hall in decoration. Most of them sported the sigil for the House of Thunder: two gold lightning bolts crossed behind the image of a thunderbird with wings extended.

Frank’s stomach grumbled as he began his exploration of the castle. Food would have to be a main priority on his to-do list, but first, a window at the end of the hall intrigued him. When Frank reached the view overlooking the terrain, his breath caught.

He was on the fourth, maybe fifth, story of an impressive structure. Ramparts and the domed tops of the marble roofs to different sections of the castle opened up in front of him. Beyond that, a town of luscious greenery and carved dwellings lay at the base of the castle, rolling out in every direction until giant walls encircled the city.

The buildings Frank could see weren’t very different from the ones he would imagine seeing in any town on Earth. Single- and double-story homes lined the stone streets. Neeve men and women walked this way and that, all busy to be about their way.

“So you’re the fever boy, huh?”

Frank kicked himself for allowing anyone to sneak up on him. He turned to see an aged Neeve with a wild, grey beard and long hair looking up at him through bushy eyebrows. The man wore a brown cloak with the House of Thunder sigil emblazoned on the right side of his chest.

He chomped on a sort of massive sandwich in his left hand. Frank could smell the odor of spiced meat. His mouth watered.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Frank answered. “Where did you get that sandwich?”

“What’s a sandwich?” The old Neeve asked, taking another bite of his food. “You trying to come on to me, alien boy?”

“What? No!” Frank shook his head, wondering if the language translator he was using had messed up on a word. “What you’re eating. Where did you get it? I’m starving.”

“I bet you are.” The old Neeve chuckled as if he had shared a private joke with himself. “You got to go to the kitchens, two floors down. Or I could always be persuaded to part with my meat pocket in exchange for information.”

“Information?” Frank grinned without even thinking. “Man, are you asking the wrong guy. Information is what I’m in short supply of at the moment.”

“Still”—the old Neeve pressed on—“who attacked your kind in the forest?”

“I don’t have a name for them besides ‘the mercenaries,’ if that means anything to you,” Frank said, recalling the name Vega had used when talking about the robed attackers. “I’m Frank. What’s your name?”

“I’m Heron. But back to these mercenaries. What did they look like?”

Frank didn’t see the harm in telling Heron the physical description of the mercenaries. He assumed it was honest intrigue, or maybe even gossip the old Neeve was after.

“They were robed, with weapons that shot fire and some kind of plasma. A few of them charged with meat cleavers, but one was equipped with a kind of power armor.” Frank thought back to the way his rounds disintegrated off the force field shielding the mech unit. “It was definitely just a Neeve in an armored suit, but it looked like an animal. It was crimson, with hooves and a helmet with horns.”

Heron’s light purple face went white for a quick moment. A look of realization crossed over his eyes. “Alien boy—I mean, Frank, follow me.”

Heron turned, not bothering to wait to see if Frank would even follow. The old Neeve’s robes rustled at his feet. He was already muttering to himself. Frank picked out words like “Lord of Chaos” and “Arilion Knight.”

Why can’t you just have a normal day on an alien planet? Frank thought, debating whether or not he was going to follow Heron or just remain where he was standing. But he does still have that meat pocket he promised you.

“Heron, wait up.” Frank’s stomach had decided to go with the stranger. A quick jog brought Frank beside the elderly Neeve again. “So about that meat pocket?”

“What?” Heron looked at Frank, following his gaze to the food in his hand. “Oh, the sandwich. It’s called a sandwich here, by the way. I was just messing with you and wanted to hear you say ‘meat pocket.’”

Heron handed Frank the sandwich without slowing his short but quick strides. “Now follow me, follow me. We don’t have time to waste. We may be too late already.”

Intrigue prodded Frank on. He followed Heron down the hall and to a stairwell where they descended three flights of stone stairs spiraling downward.

The whole time, Heron kept muttering things to himself. Frank busied his jaws with chewing on the soft bread and spiced meat inside. It tasted wonderful. One thing could be said for certain: the House of Thunder knew how to prepare a good sandwich.

“Hey, what is this, anyway?” Frank asked around a mouthful of food. “And is there more?”

“Hmm … what?” Heron looked up as if seeing Frank for the first time. “Oh, it’s Bakershine. And yes, you can go to the kitchen and stuff your eager face until your heart’s bloated, once you’ve confirmed something for me.”

“Wow, let’s take it easy on the fat shaming,” Frank said, popping the last bite of the Bakershine meat into his mouth. “I have a high metabolism.”

A moment later, the two unlikely travelers came to a set of closed double doors. Each door was intricately carved with a series of runes. Frank would have thought they were just designs, except they looked familiar somehow. He had seen them somewhere before and recently.

Heron withdrew a golden key from around his neck and twisted it into a small lock on the right door. A heavy rumbling came from deep within the doors as they swung open.

A light bulb clicked on in Frank’s head as he remembered where he had seen the runes before. A few of them had been on the sphere that opened the gateway below the Hoover Dam. Others he had seen on the perimeter of the arch itself.

“Hey, what do those runes mea—”

Frank stopped the words coming out of his mouth as he got a look at what was in the massive room. Heron scurried quickly inside, familiar with his surroundings, but Frank took his time walking in.

One foot slowly in front of the other, Frank swiveled his head as he tried to see everything at once. The chamber was a massive circle, something like a library and a museum rolled into one.

Brightly painted tapestries hung on his left. Shelves of books lined the wall on his right. Everything was illuminated by a glass ceiling that allowed the sun’s rays to paint the room in warm light.

In the middle of the room was a series of items under glass cases. Frank did not recognize any of them. There was a scroll, worn and cracked with age, and a dagger that looked as though it had seen better days, with an obsidian blade and a ruby set in the handle.

In the middle of these prized possessions was a pulpit holding a pair of vambraces under a square glass case. He hadn’t seen anything quite like them in real life; they reminded Frank of his Arthurian knight stories from childhood. Something Frank couldn’t describe called to him. Something about the vambraces begged him to step closer.

The boiled leather had a series of crisscross metalwork with riveted buttons at the corners and leather straps to attach to the wearer’s forearms. They began at the wearer’s wrist and extended down up his or her elbow. More runes crisscrossed around the metal.

Frank blinked a few times. Was it his imagination, or were the vambraces actually glowing an ultraviolet black light?

“What the heck did they put in that sandwich?” Frank asked himself as he leaned in closer.

“This!” Heron’s shout nearly made Frank jump. The Neeve hurried toward Frank from where he had disappeared in one of the rows of bookshelves. He held a thick, leather book open in his hands. “Is this what you saw in the forest?”

Frank looked down at the ancient text. The writing was in an alien language and impossible to read, but he recognized the image of the scarlet armor power suit on the left page. The artist had done a great job of bringing the mech unit to life, although there was no mention of the force field.

“Yep, that’s it, all right,” Frank said, nodding.

“Are you sure?” Heron leaned in, looking Frank full in the face. “You must be positive.”

“You need to tone down your intensity a few notches; I’m starting to feel like the sandwich wasn’t worth this. You’re at a nine right now. I need you more like a four.” Frank took a step back from Heron’s crazy stare, his head buzzing at all the activity after being in bed recovering for so long. “But yeah, I’m sure. You can ask the rest of my unit that was in the woods with me. Heck, you can ask Tamar and his warriors. Everyone saw it. Why? What does it mean?”

Heron had traded his wild stare for a look of disbelief. He closed the book without looking at it. “It means everything I have feared has come to fruition. It means the Lord of Chaos has returned.”

18

“Well good luck with that,” Frank said, turning his attention back to the vambraces. “He doesn’t sound like a fun guy.”

“No,” Heron agreed. “That would be putting it lightly.”

“Hey, what are these things?” Frank pointed at the vambraces. He still couldn’t tell if it was the light playing off the metal or if they were, in fact, glowing a blackish purple. “And am I having a mental break, or are they glowing?”

“What!?” Heron ran to Frank’s side staring at the vambraces. He swallowed so hard Frank could hear it. “How can this be?”

“I don’t know.” Frank shrugged, unable to take his eyes from the vambraces that were now not only glowing, but also hovering in the space inside the glass container. “You’ve got a lot of weird stuff in this room. What are you, a wizard?”

“A historian.” Heron tore his eyes from the floating vambraces and directed them to Frank. “You’re him. You’re the next Arilion.”

“Bless you.” Frank grinned, trying to lighten the mood. When that didn’t work, he felt obligated to fill the silence. “It was a joke, Heron. You know, because you said ‘Armilion,’ and I don’t know what that means, so I said, ‘bless you.’”

“It’s pronounced Arilion,” Heron corrected. “And we have so much work to do.”

“I’m just trying to find some more food without being fat shamed.” Frank took a step back from Heron and the floating vambraces. “I have enough on my plate at the moment. You and the Lord of Chaos have a blast, and invite that Arilion guy, too. I’m going to go now.”

Before Heron could say another word, Frank turned and nearly ran into Vega. How long she had been standing in the doorway to the room, Frank had no idea. But she had heard and seen enough. Her mouth was open. She moved her gaze from Frank, to the glowing, floating vambraces, and then back to Frank again.

“You’re … you’re an Arilion Knight?”

The awe in her voice, the way she looked at him, made Frank believe he would be whatever she wanted him to be.

“Yep, yep, that’s me.” Frank nodded, biting his lower lip. “I’m full—fully knighted to be an Armarillion.”

“Arilion,” Vega corrected him absentmindedly. She paused, tilting her head. “You don’t know what that means, do you?”

Vega didn’t wait for a response. She rushed to Heron, and the two stared at the floating vambraces.

“How can this be?” Vega asked Heron. “He’s not a Neeve. He’s not even from this planet.”

“The Arilion Knights are not chosen based on their species or location,” Heron said, lifting with unsteady hands the glass that held the vambraces. “They choose for themselves who is worthy.”

The vambraces floated slowly, almost bashfully, to Frank. They stopped right in front of him, chest level.

“I get that this is all very exciting and wondrous to you,” Frank said, trying to be polite, but failing, “but can someone explain to me what this all means?”

“The Arilion Knights are protectors of the universe,” Vega said, looking at Frank as if seeing him for the first time. “There has not been one on our planet of Atmos for generations. There has been no need.”

“These vambraces are the tools, the very weapons of an Arilion Knight,” Heron said, picking up the lull in the story. “They choose their bearers based on the strength of will of the user.”

“Well, I think they got it wrong this time,” Frank said, shaking his head. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m still having a hard time saying Armillion. I don’t think I’m your protector. You saw me; I can’t even protect myself, let alone a planet. Atmos, did you say?”

Even as Frank said the words, he knew he was lying. There was something he had never felt before calling to him. A sense of purpose he had only ever experienced during his time in the Marines.

Whether he liked it or not, these vambraces, this Arilion Knighthood, was calling to him. But Frank wasn’t going to give into this whole idea that easily.

“What is this, anyway?” Frank asked, examining the vambraces. “Magic, or some kind of alien technology?”

“Some have referred to it as magic, but that is not what it is at all,” Heron said, taking a step closer to Frank. “Arilion is a tool that feeds off the willpower of its user. It’s a good force forged in the universe long ago to fight the evil they faced then. Try the vambraces on.”

In all honesty Frank wanted to, but for the first time in a very long time, he was unsure of what he should do. It was a strange feeling for him. Always the decisive type, he stared at the vambraces, frozen.

“Wait … wait right here,” Heron said, shuffling to the back of the room again. He was soon lost in the rows of books. His voice drifted back toward Frank. “I have something to show you.”

Frank looked over to Vega. She was gorgeous. He estimated she was in her early thirties. Her slender yet muscular body fit her flowing white gown like it was made for her. It probably had been. Frank had to remind himself that she was the princess of House of Thunder.

“Do I have something on my face?” Vega raised a playful eyebrow.

“No—what?” Frank shook his head. “I was just wondering what the princess of House Thunder thinks of all of this.”

“Ahhh, so the good doctor told you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you were going to keep that a secret for long.”

“No, I guess you’re right.” Vega closed the distance between the two. “But right now, you’re the topic of conversation. And if you’re capable of wielding the power of the Arilion Knights, you should try. Put the vambraces on, Frank Wolffe. They’ve chosen you.”

This is crazy. This is beyond crazy, Frank thought as he extended his arms forward toward the pair of floating forearm guards. I didn’t even hold a 3.0 grade point average in high school, and now look at me. Yeah, in your face, Mr. McAllsiter! I did amount to something. I’m a freaking Arilion Knight!

Frank took a deep breath as he pushed his arms forward. The vambraces sensed his movement somehow and immediately slid themselves over Frank’s forearms. The cold steel of the vambraces pressed against Frank’s exposed skin. The pressure wasn’t painful; it felt good, reassuring. The leather ties wrapped around his forearms, fitting so perfect, it was like they had been made for him.

The purple glow didn’t stop; if anything, it grew darker while on Frank’s forearms.

“It’s like they were always meant for you,” Vega whispered. Her purple-laced irises were huge. “Frank Wolffe, do you know what this means?”

“No, actually.” Frank moved his arms from side to side, testing out the vambraces. “I have no idea.”

“Wait.” Heron’s voice reached them from somewhere within the shelves of books. The hurried shuffle of his feet could be heard on the stone floor. “Maybe he shouldn’t put the vambraces on just yet.”

Frank and Vega exchanged looks.

“Oh,” Heron said, huffing as he came to a halt in front of the two. Another heavy book was held in his hands. “I’m sure it’s fine. I mean, I think you’ll be okay.”

“I feel so reassured.” Frank looked to Heron, and then to his book. “What did you find?”

“Maybe you should sit down for this.” Heron waved Vega and Frank over to the far corner of the room, where four chairs carved out of wood with a back made of detailed leaves surrounded a square table with matching vine inlays. “Come on, answers are in here.”

Heron placed the book on the table as Vega and Frank pulled up chairs. The book’s leather binding was oil stained and flimsy at the ends from eons of use. Thick, golden letters made up the title on the center of the cover: The Arilion Knights: A History.

“Frank, to truly understand the importance of this moment, we have to start at the beginning,” Heron said, opening the book and showing a picture of a demonic face in space. Red watercolor stains had been used to give the monster a foreboding aura. Opposite the red face was bright white light that held no image. “From the very beginning of time, darkness has waged war against the light. The darkness has taken on a name: the Lord of Chaos. He’d made his grab for power when the universe was still young, the light forged weapons for its champions using the one thing Chaos could not conquer: man’s will to survive in freedom. Weapons that embraced those who were worthy of the calling, and only those who possessed the very strongest determination.”

Heron turned the page, this time showing an up-close picture of a green, four-armed exoskeleton being with two antenna and a small, angular head with narrow eyes wearing the vambraces. Beside this alien was another heavily muscled brute with short, brown fur covering his body, and wide, round eyes, a medium snout, and floppy ears atop his head, also wearing a pair of purple glowing vambraces. Beside them, another and another different alien race, each equipped with similar vambraces.

“The Arilion Knights forged the vambraces as a way to channel their willpower against the enemy and sent to every planet seeking a champion in order to prepare and combat the Lord of Chaos,” Heron continued. “The war was brutal and long. Both sides suffered heavy losses. But in the end, the Arilion Knights proved victorious. They defeated the Lord of Chaos. Some have thought him dead, while others believed that he had retreated into hiding. Centuries passed with no sign of the Lord of Chaos. The few Arilion Knights who remained have all passed away. Every so often, one hears stories of the vambraces reactivating somewhere to defeat a threat.”

“It’s been two generations since we’ve had an Arilion Knight on our planet,” Vega said, picking up the story. “There’s been no need for one. Until recently, we’ve enjoyed a time of peace.”

“What happened recently?” Frank asked. “Do you mean the mercenaries we fought in the woods?”

Vega’s face turned dark in sadness, and her eyes shifted to the ground.

“Not just who some think are mercenaries, but who we know are the vanguard of the Lord of Chaos’ army.” Heron put a hand on Vega’s shoulder. “We recently lost our emperor to a cowardly attack.”

Frank wanted to press for more information, but he realized what this meant. Vega had recently lost her father. He wasn’t going to make her talk about it.

“I’m sorry,” Frank said, catching Vega’s eye. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you know?” Vega shook her head. Glistening sadness filled her eyes; the fire of anger lit them up. “He’s gone, and there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do, though, is to find those responsible and make them pay.”

19

The hard edge in Vega’s tone took Frank by surprise. There was more to this princess than met the eye. She was beautiful, but her looks were only a shell to the warrior that lay within.

“My father was poisoned by our enemies.” Vega clenched her fists that lay on the table in front of her. “There is reason to believe House Leviathan is to be blamed. It’s only a matter of time before we bring the enemy to rightfully due justice.”

Heron opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Frank noticed the man contemplate his next words, then hold back, unsure of himself.

“My mother hates surprises,” Vega finally said, standing from her seat. “I’ll tell her that the strangers have brought an Arilion Knight with them, whether they knew it or not.”

“Yeah … okay then, I guess we’re doing this,” Frank said, looking down at the vambraces. “Can I take these things off, or are they attached to me forever now?”

“You can remove them like any piece of armor or clothing,” Heron said, looking over to Vega, who moved for the door. “Keep an open mind, princess. Yes, we have cause to suspect House of Leviathan for our emperor’s death, but no hard evidence. Please consider this.”

Vega nodded before she left.

“Well, it’s pretty clear you don’t agree with House Leviathan being responsible for the emperor’s death,” Frank said, undoing the leather binds on his vambraces. They loosened, but it seemed as though they were reluctant to be removed.

“House Leviathan has never been our enemy,” Heron said, drumming his fingers on the table. “‘Allies’ is a strong word, but I cannot fathom them wanting to poison our emperor. He was loved by all.”

“So who do you think’s to blame?” Frank said, finally removing the vambraces and setting them onto the table in front of him. “What other enemies does House Thunder have?”

Heron gave Frank a long stare directly into Frank’s eyes, as if he were trying to glance at his very soul.

“You gotta blink, man,” Frank said, furrowing his eyebrows. “All that staring is starting to weird me out.”

“I’ll tell you exactly what I know for fact, and then I’ll tell you what I suspect,” Heron said, licking his lips. “You’re an Arilion Knight. If anyone needs information, it’s you.”

“Maybe we can do this later?” Frank glanced over his shoulder. “I’m still kind of hungry.”

“Years ago when our current empress was quite young, she was kidnapped.” Heron began, ignoring Frank’s request for food. “She was discovered weeks later, wandering the city outskirts. We never found out what happened to her. She has no recollection of her time gone. There were whispers of maleficence, of sightings of the horned red warrior. When these resurfaced during the emperor’s betrothal to the empress, he declared his love and shut down all talk of impropriety. Now, the emperor has been poisoned and the vanguard for the Lord of Chaos, whom others would call mercenaries, have arrived at the same time? Coincidence? History does not believe in coincidences.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Frank raised his hand, trying to wrap his head around Heron’s story. “So you think the reemergence of the Lord of Chaos and the emperor’s death are linked?”

“House Leviathan has denied any involvement in the emperor’s death, and I believe them. They have nothing to gain from his demise,” Heron said. “There is a party pushing for war between our house and House Leviathan, however. Such are they who have named the attack by the Lord of Chaos’ vanguard an attack of mercenaries. They insist that House Leviathan has hired these mercenaries to further weaken us.”

“And who is doing all of this?” Frank asked, growing genuinely intrigued.

“His name is Kallion. He is the head of the church. More of a cult, if you ask me.” Heron spat the words. “He’s a snake in the empress’ ear. Always has been. The emperor had no love for him, either.”

“So you think this Kallion killed the emperor?” Frank asked.

“No, Kallion isn’t the type to get his hands dirty, but I’ll be a chumpkin’s nephew if he wasn’t involved somehow,” Heron said.

“What’s a chumpkin?”

“You don’t have chumkins on your planet?”

“Nope.” Frank shook his head. “We have munchkins, but I don’t think that’s what you mean.”

Before Heron could reply, there was a buzzing in Frank’s ear. Colonel Breaker’s voice came through the translator unit.

“Frank, this is Colonel Breaker. I’m talking to you through the translation unit installed behind your ear.”

“Yeah, I gathered that,” Frank said, pointing a finger to the unit on his throat to a confused Heron. “You didn’t tell me we’d be able to communicate with these, as well.”

“Yeah, well, the corps is full of surprises these days.” Colonel Breaker didn’t sound amused. “I went to go check on you, and you’d left your room. Raj says you should be resting.”

“All due respect, colonel,” Frank responded, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“Oohrah to that.” Colonel Breaker sounded like he was smiling. It was a weird, unnerving sound in Frank’s ear. “We’ve been requested to join the empress tonight for dinner and to discuss our options for a return voyage. She asked everyone be in attendance.”

“Oh yeah, count me in.” Frank’s eyes drifted down to the vambraces in front of him. “I have some news to fill you in on, as well.”

“Roger that.” Colonel Breaker didn’t sound fazed. “Let’s rendezvous in your quarters in thirty minutes. Think you can find your way back?”

“I’ll be there,” Frank said.

The translator behind his ear buzzed gently again, signaling the transmission was closed.

“Are you on some type of narcotic?” Heron asked, looking Frank up and down again. “Perhaps I misjudged you.”

“No, no. I mean, I experimented in the past, but—” Frank saw Heron’s eye widen. “It’s not like that. The unit installed on my throat and behind my ear allows for communication with the rest of my team.”

Frank once more pointed to the thin slice of metal on his throat, then turned his head so Heron could see the metal stud behind his ear.

“Wondrous,” Heron said, biting his lower lip. “I assumed you were suffering from some kind of disease or deformity that made these items grow on your skin.”

“What? No.” Frank stood, imagining Heron’s expression should he see some of the folks back home with plugs, lip rings, and the bedazzled works. He lifted the vambraces and placed them into his back pockets. “Anything I should know about being an Arilion? I said that right that time, yeah?”

“Yes.” Heron smiled. “Only that you will be bound by the extent of your imagination, that the rest of your life is about to begin, and that your willpower is the only thing that can hold you back.”

“Oh, is that it?” Frank let out a large breath of air, depleting everything from his lungs. “Great. Well, I guess I’ll see you at dinner, then? I can’t wait to meet this Kallion character.”

20

“Wait, are you saying you’re a superhero?” Major Lopez looked around Frank, eying the vambraces in his pocket with a wary expression. “That’s what I’m getting out of this conversation.”

Elly looked on with an open mouth, while Colonel Breaker remained quiet.

“Son of a robbing monkey, Frank.” Raj lifted his hands into the air in defeat. “What are you getting yourself into, here?”

“I don’t know.” Frank shrugged. “I didn’t choose to be one of these Arilion Knights. You have to talk to their historian, Heron. He can tell you about it. All I know is that this is what they think I am. Here, check this out.”

Frank removed the vambraces from his back pockets. Just like before they glowed an ebony purple. The vambraces floated in front of Frank until he extended his hands. As if they understood Frank’s intent, they slipped onto his forearms and tied themselves snugly in place.

“Griffins were just the beginning,” Elly breathed.

All eyes in the room turned to her, confused.

“Oh, come on, guys. You have to realize the thunderbirds are just griffins, like in Harry Potter? Gryffindor? Kind of like the eagles in Lord of the Rings, but just with the bodies of lions? No? Nothing?” Elly stared at their confused looks incredulously, her eyes wide behind her oversized rimmed glasses. “You guys really need to read more.”

“Maybe this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.” Colonel Breaker crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “I mean, if you are this knight they hold in high regard, maybe it will get us home faster.”

“What do you mean?” Frank asked.

“Major Lopez and I had an audience with the empress when we first arrived and you were still unconscious,” Colonel Breaker explained. “Having just lost her husband, she’s understandably wary. She confirmed she has a sphere similar to the one that opened the gateway from Earth. The catch is she’s hesitant to trust us with the object, even if it’s only to get us back home.”

“Oh man, this keeps getting more and more complicated,” Frank said, massaging his temples and eyeing his room for a chair nearby in case he collapsed. “My freaking head is going to explode. I could really go for some coffee right about now.”

“Mmm,” Elly said from her spot sitting on the bed beside Raj. “Caffeine.”

“There’s more,” Frank said, telling the group everything he had learned from Heron about the empress’ kidnapping, how Heron believed the mercenaries in the woods were the vanguard for the Lord of Chaos and the leader of the church named Kallion. “So yeah, we freaking stepped into Game of Thrones here.”

“Nice reference.” Elly winked at Frank.

“I thought you’d like that one.” Frank smiled.

“We’ve really ‘stepped into’ it this time.” Major Lopez ran a finger down the left side of her face where her burn scar ran from the corner of her eyebrow to her lips. “Whatever is happening here, we have to be smart before we take a side, before Earth unintentionally takes a side through our actions.”

Raj was breathing heavy. “Unintended actions … hooooo. Easy,” he whispered to himself. “Slow even breaths. No panic attacks today.”

“The major’s right.” Colonel Breaker frowned. “We have to be careful. There are so many moving parts here, so many factors to be considered. We’re not only representing our country, but also our species. Our assignment hasn’t changed: we’ve come to make allies and we need to find a way back home. If allying with the House of Thunder gives us access to the sphere, then maybe our choice has already been made for us.”

“We’re going to be late for this dinner if we don’t head down now,” Major Lopez added. “Sir?”

“Let’s go,” Colonel Breaker said, moving toward the door.

Frank fell in step beside Elly as they moved through the castle interior. He was surprised to find that the colonel was able to navigate his way to the bottom floor without getting lost—back into the hall that reminded Frank of The Shining, to an open staircase with ornate railings and a plush gold runner, and on to the next landing.

The few servants and attendants wearing similar tunics as Raj, except dyed a subdued grey, who the team encountered as they made their way through the castle, smiled and gave them constrained head bows.

“This is so crazy, right?” Elly said, keeping stride with Frank. “I mean, us being here? If you take a minute to think about where we are and what we’ve been through, I’m kinda freaking out right now.”

Frank contemplated Elly’s words. She was right. They were not only on an alien planet in the farthest galaxy, but they were also encountering alien beasts the likes of which had only ever been imagined before. They weren’t alone in the universe. More than that, there was a history that the universe held, a history Frank was now a part of, whether he liked it or not. He felt small, dwarfed in the grand scheme of the world, yet significant. That an ant could matter in the space of greatness.

“You’re right,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I’ve been so caught up on the next thing and the next thing after that, just tackling what’s in front of me, I haven’t really stopped to think about what all this means.”

“I’ll tell you what it means,” Elly said with a grin. She pushed her glasses up from the end of her nose. “It means, with the sphere, we now have access to an unlimited supply of everything. If the gateway can open a bridge to other planets—which I believe it can—then we’re never going to stop exploring.”

“It’s exciting, but it’s not all going to be rainbows and butterflies,” Frank warned her as the group came around a corner to a set of wide-open double doors. A pair of golden-clad warriors stood on either side of the entrance. They held long lances like the ones Frank had seen Tamar and his warriors use while on top of their thunderbirds.

Turning a corner, they entered a gigantic chamber with smooth stone pillars rising to a ceiling at least three stories high. Three tables over twenty meters long had been brought in for dining, forming a U shape. Tall windows provided light from the many stars and trinity of moons. Lit braziers crackled, lighting up each corner of the room the natural illumination missed. The shadows from the flames danced in the space, creating a celebratory atmosphere among the stars. The slight scent of burning oil mixed with a vanilla-type incense to greet the guests.

Steaming piles of food sat on the table, sending a mouthwatering aroma to Frank’s nose. His mouth began to salivate as if on command. His stomach did a backflip, reminding him he had only eaten the rest of Heron’s sandwich that day.

Frank and the rest of the unit walked in, not being hindered by the guards on duty. It seemed they were the last to arrive. At the head table sat a woman Frank figured was the empress. She was talking with Vega, who sat at her right.

It was clear where Vega had gotten her strong features and beautiful looks. Although older, the empress was still breathtaking. Her white hair fell on either side of her shoulders, nearly reaching her waist. Her lavender skin was firm and dewy, filled with health. Everything about the woman screamed “royal born” except for her eyes. There was that same sad, boiling fury Frank had seen in Vega earlier that day.

To the empress’ left was a Neeve Frank had not yet seen. He was bald with thin lips. He wore a red robe and a necklace of ringed metals. To the stranger’s left sat Tamar. The general wore a long-sleeved tunic with slim breeches of gold fabric with white trim. A leather sash crossed his left shoulder to his waist. The familiar sigil of House Thunder was emblazoned on the right side of his chest.

Servants ran to and fro, carrying silver plates of food and attending to the braziers, while others remained at attention in case they were needed.

Colonel Breaker took command of the situation, crossing the space of the large room and stopping in front of the empress’ table. He bowed his head out of respect. Frank and the others followed suit.

Amongst all the splendor, Frank was beginning to feel underdressed. While the other Marines wore their green military fatigues, Frank sported his boots, jeans, black shirt, and newly acquired vambraces.

Maybe you should have taken these glowing vambraces off after all. You look like an idiot, Frank chided himself. And why do they have to glow purple, of all colors? Red or blue would have been so much cooler.

Frank directed his gaze downward along with the others, avoiding initial eye contact, when the empress spoke. Her voice was strong, unwavering in a way Frank immediately admired.

“Welcome, allies from Earth, and welcome to our Arilion Knight,” the empress addressed the Marines. “My daughter has told me the vambraces reacted to your presence. I didn’t believe it until now, when I see it with my own eyes. No living Neeve has ever seen an Arilion Knight.”

Frank looked up to not only see the empress, but also the focused gaze of all four Neeve at the head table. As she spoke, her graceful arms and hands extended, emphasizing her direction and her welcome, her silvery gown reflecting the many lights illuminating the room. Frank wasn’t the shy type; he just didn’t know what to say in the moment.

Frank opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Everything coming to his mind at the moment seemed silly to say in the presence of such royalty.

“I hope I can live up to your expectations, empress,” Frank finally decided. “Your daughter and Heron have been quite helpful.”

“I’m sure.” The empress cocked her right eyebrow.

Tamar and Vega smiled in approval of Frank’s words. The Neeve in the robe stared at him so hard, Frank thought he would have holes bored into his chest.

“Come,” the empress waved them forward. “Let us eat and discuss the future of our races.”

21

Servants came, escorting Frank to a seat beside Vega at the table to the right of the empress. Colonel Breaker sat beside him, while the rest of the unit was shown to the opposite table to the left of the empress.

Heron, upon entering the banquet hall a moment later, bowed to the empress and the princess, then took a seat on the opposite side of Colonel Breaker.

“You didn’t have to wear the vambraces to dinner,” Vega told Frank with an amused smile on her full lips. “Showing off?”

“No.” Frank swallowed hard. Although the empress was not making eye contact with him, he had a feeling she was listening into the conversation. “I … I guess they just feel natural somehow. I took them off earlier, then put them back on and now … I don’t know, they just fit.”

“As if they were always meant to be yours, maybe?” Heron said from his place on the other side of the colonel. “Fate has a hand to play here. Mark my words.”

Frank was relieved to see the empress and other Neeve starting to serve themselves and eat. If he looked busy enough getting his plate ready and then stuffing his mouth, then maybe he could slide by without having to talk too much.

No such luck.

“I’d give my right eye to see you in combat, brother Frank,” Tamar said from his end of the table. “Stories of the Arilion are legend among the universe. If you’re half of what the legends say you are, I’m already impressed.”

“He’ll need time to train,” Heron chided Tamar around a mouthful of food. “We’re going to start tomorrow, bright and early. I’m looking forward to it, as well.”

“We are?” Frank said, looking at the colonel to see what the CO would have to say about the decisions being made for him.

“If Frank is this Arilion Knight and he is able to help your people,” Colonel Breaker began, “then I think, as allies, we should do so. Perhaps this will bring us closer to earning your trust and allowing us access to the sphere and our way home.”

The empress was about to say something, when the bald man to her left leaned in and whispered something into her ear.

“I agree, colonel.” The empress dabbed at the corner of her lips with a fine linen napkin with lightning bolts embroidered on the corner. “Trust is built over time, but if your intentions are what you say they are, I see no problem in granting you access to our sphere to send you home.”

Frank was piling his plate high with food, trying to dodge eye contact with anyone at the moment. Not because he was trying to avoid everyone who stared at him and his vambraces, but because he was starving.

The grey stuff, the mystery meat on the platter in front of him, even the strange vegetables, all went onto his plate. The food didn’t disappoint. The flavors of tender, savory meat and hot, roasted, seasoned vegetables exploded in his mouth. Frank had to remind himself not to overdo it. No matter how hungry he was, he was in the presence of alien royalty.

You’ve come a long way, Frank thought as he shoveled another forkful of the delicious food into his mouth. You’ve got a long way to go, though, if you’re going to get out of this one alive. So far, so good.

“Frank, I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting yet,” said the bald Neeve in the robe, his tight smile causing his cheek muscle to twitch in pain at the effort. His eyes, however, remained shifty. “My name is Kallion. I lead our church, the Heralds, here on Atmos.”

“Hey, how’s it going?” Frank said, looking up at the Neeve. The alien scrutinized him, anticipating more. “How about that weather out there? Am I right?”

“I imagine hearing this news, the burden of supposedly being an Arilion Knight, is a lot to take in.” Kallion had added emphasis on the word “supposedly.” “Do you believe you are an Arilion?”

It became apparent why Heron didn’t trust Kallion. The Neeve had a certain way of speaking that put him in a position of power. It wasn’t exactly condescending, but Frank guessed that the leader of the Heralds placed everyone on a peg lower than himself.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Frank said, choosing his words carefully. “The vambraces seem to think I’m an Arilion Knight. I guess time will tell.”

“Yes.” Kallion weighed Frank’s words. “I guess it will. If you are what Heron and Vega say you are, then perhaps you will be able to help us with this mercenary threat the House of Leviathan has employed.”

“Mercenary threat?” Heron practically shouted from six seats away. “You know what they are.”

“Oh, yes, of course. The stories of a historian.” Kallion rolled his eyes and sipped a cherry-spiced red wine from a golden chalice in front of him. “Tell us: the Lord of Chaos has returned, and this is his force trying to invade Atmos.”

“For someone who leads a religion, I thought you’d have more faith,” Heron growled.

“For a historian, I thought you’d be less naïve,” Kallion returned.

Frank saw the ancient historian grab the dinner knife in his hand so tightly, he thought the old Neeve was actually going to bound across the table and slit Kallion’s throat. The two men trusted each other about as far as they could throw one another. This passive aggressive sparring seemed like a dinner table ritual.

“Please.” The empress raised her left hand. Frank noticed a six-carat ruby red gemstone ring on her middle finger. “Let’s have one meal that doesn’t end in an argument. Tamar, you battled this force firsthand. What do you make of them?”

The general of House Thunder ran a tongue across his teeth. He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts.

“There have been reports of strangers visiting from time to time. We know we are not alone in this universe,” Tamar started. “I do not know what the force is we found in the forest, but the bodies were Neeve. It’s not uncommon to hear of roving Neeve mercenary bands, but what is uncommon is their weapons. How did they get them, and from where?”

“Atmos is a large planet.” Kallion waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head. “Not everything must be scrutinized to such an extent. The House of Leviathan hired the mercenaries. And as to the origin of their weapons, what does it matter?”

The room quieted again. Frank took the opportunity to try the grey stuff on his plate. It was delicious. It was a gravy mixed with bread chunks. The caloric intake of the dish had to be off the charts, but Frank was going to chalk this up to a cheat day.

“The spheres,” Major Lopez said from the table across from Frank. “If I may ask, who created them, and how many are there?”

“Oh, no,” Vega whispered to Frank, “here we go.” Her nearness and breath on his ear and neck sent more energy up his spine than his first encounter with the vambraces.

Frank turned to her with a quizzical look. The princess motioned with her chin to Heron. The little historian was already wiping his mouth with a smile.

“Well, interesting you should ask,” Heron said, looking at Kallion with a wink in hopes of riling the Neeve. “The spheres were created by the forces of light when the first war with the Lord of Chaos reached its peak. The battlefronts were on too many sides and spans of the universe. They needed a means to gather their own forces and coordinate attacks. Specialists within the ranks fabricated the spheres and distributed them throughout the universe. An exact number is unknown, but some records report a total of seven hundred and seventy seven of the spheres were made.”

Heron paused for dramatic effect before picking up the story.

“When the Lord of Chaos discovered how the forces of light led by the Arilion began defeating him and pushing back his dark forces, he made it his priority to take and hide as many of the spheres as he could on primitive planets.” Heron tapped a finger on his chin. He looked up and right toward the ceiling as if he were reading words written above. “Scholars disagree with this next idea, but I believe the Lord of Chaos was hiding the spheres for his own use. He saw the value of his army being able to travel from one planet to another in a matter of minutes.”

Kallion seethed.

“Thank you.” Major Lopez nodded toward Heron. “When we are able to examine the sphere here on Atmos, it would be extremely helpful if you could tell us how exactly it’s activated and used.”

“All in good time,” the empress said, reining in the conversation again. “Our main priority now is to consider what should be done with House Leviathan. My husband lies in the ground, and no one has yet paid. Tamar reassures me our army stands ready. I’ve sent a final messenger to the House of Leviathan today, asking them about their knowledge of the unknown force in the forests.”

“You give them too many opportunities, empress.” Kallion sneered. “We should be at full-out war already. The evidence found at the scene of the murder should have been enough.”

“Be that as it may, every chance for peace must be taken,” the empress answered. “I will not order the young male and female soldiers from our homes to march to war without absolute certainty.”

Frank wanted to inquire about the evidence found, except at the moment the person nearest to ask was Vega. The last thing Frank would do was question the princess on the details of her father’s loss.

“There were reports of a fleeing figure the night of my father’s death,” Vega said, catching Frank’s attention. Somehow she realized what he was going to ask. “The guards at the gate tried to stop him, but in the end, he got away. During his escape, he dropped a Leviathan dagger. The obsidian-handled, curved dagger is said to resemble the body and deadliness of the Leviathan. It is given to officers in their army.”

“I see.” Frank leaned in closer to Vega. “I know how much you’re hurting. Everyone grieves in their own way, but if you needed someone to talk to or to just be there, I know an Arilion Knight who could do that.”

A smile touched Vega’s lips right before she rolled her eyes. “Are all human men as ridiculous as you?”

“No, that’s a skill I possess entirely on my own.” Frank winked.

The rest of the night was passed exchanging information about Earth and Atmos: schooling, dinosaurs, griffins, organized religion, ruling families, World War I, World War II, Galactic War I, Bieber, and hiphop vs. gangsta rap. Dessert came and went. That is, sweet cakes, crème bruleed custards, and truffles all came to the table and down Frank’s gulch. It was cheat day, after all. Thankfully, there were no more arguments between Heron and Kallion, although it was clear the two men despised one another.

If Frank had known what was in store for him that night, he would have enjoyed his dessert a bit longer.

22

When dinner was over and the goodbyes had been said, Frank had a standing appointment at first light with Heron to begin his Arilion training. The little historian was practically bursting with excitement.

“Of course, I am no Arilion Knight, but I have the knowledge and texts with which to train you,” Heron said, rubbing his hands together as the two men walked up to Frank’s room. “Get plenty of rest tonight. Tomorrow morning, we start at the crack of dawn.”

“What if we started at the crack of noon instead?” Frank asked as the two men reached his doorway. “We shouldn’t underestimate the power of a good ten hours of sleep.”

“At dawn,” Heron repeated, either missing or ignoring Frank’s joke. “Sleep well.”

Frank entered his room with a heavy sigh. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was late. The pain in his shoulder was bearable but still present. It was just strong enough to keep him up. After tossing and turning in his bed for what felt like an hour, Frank decided to further explore the castle.

They never said you had to stay in your room, Frank rationalized, donning his bleached linen drawstring pants, his black V-neck shirt, and the vambraces which beckoned to be worn. Besides, you’re not going to fall asleep with the pain in your shoulder and the weight of being an Arilion Knight on your mind.

As much as Frank hated agreeing with Kallion, the man was right. Frank was worried about what his new banner would mean. Yes, he was sure he would rise to the occasion; throughout his life he always had. This was something different. This was worlds apart from anything he had done before.

These thoughts ran through Frank’s mind as he walked the empty, quiet halls of the fortress. It seemed on his level there were no guards stationed, no servants running to complete late-night tasks. It was still.

Frank soon found himself at a stairwell leading up. He climbed the stairs higher and higher, enjoying the simple rhythmic motion of putting one foot in front of the other. When his legs began to burn, he even found comfort in that. Here was something he knew; here was something simple he could bend his will to and keep going.

By the time Frank finally reached the top story, his legs were on fire and a light sheen of sweat glistened on his brow. The faint glow the vambraces made showed him a mahogany-type distressed wood door in front of him. There were no more stairs to climb, no halls or rooms; just a door.

Frank placed his hand on the cold, bronzed handle and pushed. The door swung outward, emptying into the exterior of the castle. A few hundred yards of ramparts extended out in front of him until it was stopped by another tower.

A silk-robed figure stood on the ramparts, looking out at the castle below and the open indigo sky above. It was Vega. The princess turned to Frank with tears in her eyes. It was clear she hadn’t been expecting company.

“I’m sorry.” Frank moved to step back inside. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Ugh, it’s all right.” Vega sniffed and wiped away the tears. “I’m tired of crying anyway. I’m so tired of crying. Tears aren’t going to bring him back. Come, stand here with me.”

“It’s beautiful up here,” Frank said, joining Vega. He didn’t want to talk about the dead emperor unless Vega started the conversation. “We don’t have three moons on Earth, just one.”

“It sounds like a wonderful place,” Vega said, staring up at the sky. “I’d like to visit one day. Elly was telling us of wonders like Netflix and peanut butter.”

“Yeah, it can be a great place, just like anywhere else, I guess.” Frank tried not to shiver in the cold wind. “We have our own set of problems—religious, political, sports-related.”

Vega laughed. It was a great sound to hear, not just because Frank had discovered a growing bond with the princess, but it also meant if she was laughing, at least for the moment, she wasn’t hurting.

“My father would have liked you, Frank Wolffe.” Vega beamed at the memory. “He never took his title too seriously until it was time to be serious. He was a great emperor, but a better father. I miss him. But listen to me. I said I wasn’t going to cry anymore.”

Frank nodded along with Vega’s words, taking in the scene of the castle beneath them, the walls, and the city beyond. Tiny lights almost like the stars overhead dotted the city below. There were lights in a few windows and candles lit in street lamps lining the sidewalks.

“I know this is going to sound super cheesy, but your father isn’t really gone. His same blood flows through your veins.” Frank hated thinking about his mother and her current condition, but he would if it meant it gave Vega some peace. “My mother is in a coma. In a way, she’s already gone, but not really. What she taught me growing up has shaped me; I carry a part of her with me. And we never really know…” He motioned up to the sky. “Now, I don’t want to talk about this anymore or I’m going to start crying.”

Vega chuckled, wiping away more tears. “I know, you’re right. Thank you.”

Frank only nodded. He was afraid if he looked at her, he would start to think about his mother more and the cold wind would irritate his eyes, causing them to “water.”

Amongst the chill of the night, Frank picked up a strange sound, a kind of cooing in the wind. He cocked his ear to the side, trying to figure out whether or not it was a malfunction to his translator.

“Do you hear that?” Frank asked, looking over to Vega. “It sounds like … like birds, maybe?”

“The thunderbirds have their roost in the next tower.” Vega turned and pointed to the tall stone tower opposite the one Frank had exited. “Come on. They’re calm and playful at this time of night.”

“You know, I have this training thing with Heron tomorrow morning, and—”

Vega grabbed Frank by the hand with surprising strength and led him down the castle ramparts to the next tower. “You’re not getting out of it that easy. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Frank allowed himself to be taken to the tower. In all honesty, standing face to face with a thousand pounds of beak and talon wasn’t on his to-do list, but Vega seemed excited by the notion.

The knight and the princess made their way to the tower. Vega opened the heavy wooden door, granting them access to yet another flight of stairs. The sound coming from the upper floor was louder now. Rustling of wings and more cooing similar to snoring now filled the stair landing and around them.

Vega had no qualms cresting the stairs two at a time. Two more flights up, a wide, circular room with massive windows on every wall opened in front of them. The floor was made of wood planks, while straw mounds were piled to provide bedding. Massive troughs of water sat in the middle of the room.

Along the perimeter of the immense chamber, the thunderbirds lounged and slept on their stray mounds. There were dozens of them. Some asleep, while others cocked their heads and watched the visitors with large, unblinking golden eyes.

Frank immediately knew what a piece of meat at the butchers went through. The smell coming from the beasts and the hay reminded Frank of a stable.

“Here, come on,” Vega said, motioning Frank to the opposite side of the room. “They won’t bite. I want to introduce you to Warrior.”

Frank followed Vega, maneuvering around the troughs. He did his best not to show fear. He understood how animals operated. If they felt like you were a lower member of the pack, then they treated you like one.

The light from the triple moons and stars lit the room just enough to maneuver. Harnesses and various leather tack hung from the ceiling, ready for use.

On the complete opposite side of the room, Vega stopped by a muscular thunderbird with specked snow and tawny feathers on its front half, including its wings, and short, tawny-yellow fur on the back half of its body.

“This is Warrior. He’s mine.” Vega petted the side of the thunderbird’s beak. The creature leaned into her touch. “Go ahead. He’s great. He won’t bite if I tell him not to. Warrior, Frank’s a friend.”

Warrior looked Frank up and down before settling on his faintly glowing vambraces. The thunderbird ruffled his feathers to remind Frank of his position, but ultimately bowed his head to Frank.

Frank reached out his right hand to stroke the thunderbird on the head. The feathers were softer than Frank anticipated. A low, gratifying rumbling came from deep within Warrior. So far, it seemed like the beast wasn’t much different than a horse or dog—just wanting some attention and affection.

A door opening below accompanied by rushed footsteps drew Frank’s hand back. Vega stood up beside Warrior. Frank could feel the thunderbird rustle at her side, ready to protect her should the moment arise.

That same sixth sense the Marine Corps had honed in Frank kicked in. He moved beside Vega and crouched next to Warrior, motioning the princess to do the same.

“No one should be here this time of night,” Vega whispered, crouching behind Frank. “Unless … unless something’s wrong.”

Frank and Vega waited, partially blocked by the night, partially by Warrior’s massive frame. Frank ignored the drop that waited for them if they shuffled back a few feet too far to their rear. They could fall out of the square, floor-length windows set at every thunderbird’s stall, if they weren’t careful.

In the darkness they waited to see who had arrived. Frank could hear his own heart beating amongst the snoring coos of the thunderbirds. A moment later, a cloaked figure appeared. It was too dark to make out exact features, and the deep hood the person wore hid their face.

The figure moved to the left, reaching for a harness that hung from the ceiling. Kallion’s familiar voice drifted to Frank and Vega’s hiding spot. “Easy, easy. We have a very important trip to make.”

23

Vega caught Frank’s eye. She was as confused as he was.

“Kallion never travels on a thunderbird,” Vega whispered close to Frank. Her hot breath tickled his ear. “His position as leader of the Heralds keeps him here.”

Kallion paused his work saddling the thunderbird in front of him to look around the stable.

Frank held his breath, folding his arms behind his back to ensure that no matter how dull the vambraces might be glowing, they wouldn’t be seen.

Kallion threw back his hood, peering into the darkness. Luckily for Frank and Vega, he was staring at a stall to the left of Warrior’s. A moment later, he shrugged and continued his work.

Shortly thereafter, the clergy leader mounted his chosen thunderbird. With a tug at the reins, the flying beast turned, spreading its wings and vaulting out into the night sky.

“Let’s go.” Vega didn’t hesitate, reaching up for her own harness. “Kallion is definitely up to something. No way he’s out for a midnight flight. It has to be early in the morning by now. The way he was sneaking around? Come on, hurry.”

“Listen, I agree with you that there’s something weird going on here, but maybe we should get Tamar and some of the soldiers,” Frank said, catching a heavy leather cloak Vega threw to him as she mounted Warrior.

“It’s going to be cold.” Vega turned Warrior around to the open sky. “Please, by the time we muster Tamar, it’ll be too late. Kallion could be lost to us already.”

What are you doing, what are you doing? Frank asked himself as he threw the cloak around shoulders and accepted Vega’s hand. Instead of an angel and a devil on opposite shoulders, you have a devil on each.

Frank found himself on the back of Warrior a moment later. The beast was solid, so large, Frank almost had a hard time getting his legs around him.

“Hold on,” Vega said, motioning Warrior forward.

“Hold on to what?”

Frank answered his own question a moment later as the thunderbird not only jumped, but also plummeted from the tower. Out of instinct, Frank grabbed out in front of him, wrapping both arms around Vega’s waist. Her long, white hair flowed past his face. It carried her floral aroma.

Wind rushed past Frank’s body, making his cloak flap behind him like a cape. Frigid air accosted his face, making him blink in the second of what he was sure was the moment of his death.

At the last minute, Warrior pulled up, leveraging the air and lifting with his strong, outstretched wings to gain altitude. With a WHOOSH, they were ten meters above the ground and rising with each powerful flap of Warrior’s eagle-like wings.

“Frank Wolffe,” Vega playfully gasped, “while I’m open to exploring the notion of you grabbing me, a girl needs to breathe.”

“Oh—oh, sorry,” Frank exhaled. “It’s just my first time on a thunderbird. Well, I guess second, but the first time doesn’t count, because I was unconscious.”

“I heard,” Vega said as Warrior continued to gain altitude. “There.”

Frank followed Vega’s outstretched finger to a tiny dark speck in the sky to the south. The dark figure was moving quickly.

“We’ll follow him from above.” Vega encouraged Warrior even higher before leveling off. She maintained a healthy distance from her prey. “He’s going south. House Leviathan’s to the south.”

There was no point in asking; they were both thinking the same thing. Rushing off in the middle of the night toward the enemy. Things did not look good for Kallion.

Frank relaxed his hold on Vega even further, feeling more and more comfortable in the sky. If he didn’t think of falling to his death, the idea of being unseated from the thunderbird, or how icy the night air felt, it wasn’t that bad.

From the vantage point on Warrior’s back, Atmos seemed to extend out below him in every direction. Far to the east, a flat body of water marked where his unit had encountered the leviathan. Behind them to the north were smooth rolling lands and the castle of House of Thunder. To the west, a rocky mountain range.

Talking wasn’t exactly easy while riding a thunderbird. Vega would have to lean back and shout to Frank; likewise, Frank would have to lean in and yell in her ear. For the time being, the two remained quiet, each lost to his or her own thoughts.

The speed at which the thunderbirds traveled was truly impressive. In minutes, the castle was lost behind them. After no more than an hour of hard flying, the terrain beneath Frank and Vega was totally different. Lakes pockmarked the ground below, along with giant hills that rose and fell out of nowhere.

Vega had done an excellent job following Kallion, and to their knowledge, he had no idea he was being tailed. He would have to look up and behind him and stare long enough to catch their figure in the dark night sky.

Just when Frank was starting to lose feeling in his butt, the figure they were following made a series of tight circles, disappearing into the wooded area below.

“There,” Vega shouted behind her, pointing to an outcropping with trees a few hundred yards away. “I’ll set down there, and we’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.”

“Roger that,” Frank shouted back.

“Pardon?”

“It means ‘okay, I understand.’”

“Oh, all right.” Vega directed Warrior to their predestined landing spot a few minutes later.

Warrior landed with the grace of a giant cat as he touched down softly on the forest ground.

“Stay here, Warrior.” Vega slid off the thunderbird and placed a gentle hand on its beak. “Do not make a sound. We’ll be back soon.”

Frank followed Vega’s lead, dismounting the thunderbird. He pulled the cloak tighter around his shoulders, as did Vega. Their breath made light puffs of condensation as he and Vega maneuvered through the forest.

“I should probably take point,” Frank said, moving past Vega.

“Why? Because you’re a male and think I’m not capable of protecting myself?” Vega asked, catching up to Frank and walking side by side with him. “Is that what you think?”

“No, because I have military training and tracking experience. Oh, and now I’m this Arilion Knight.” Frank raised his eyebrow at the princess.

“Oh, okay, then. I guess that makes sense,” Vega said, although she didn’t follow behind Frank more than half a step.

Placing each foot carefully on the dense forest floor, the two traversed the cold, dark woods. The thick coverage of foliage overhead made seeing difficult, though the illumination from the moons and stars made it easier to trek the rough terrain.

Hooting, scattering, and the scraping of tiny feet told Frank the nocturnal animals of Atmos were out. He only hoped that they were of the smaller variety. He didn’t know if he could handle more surprises.

“Do you hear that?” Vega placed a hand on Frank’s left shoulder. “Voices.”

Frank stood stock still. He was sure they were going the right way, but in the dark, even he wasn’t impervious to making mistakes. Frank paused, pouring all his attention toward the sounds coming from the forest. Just when he was about to turn to Vega to shake his head, he picked up the sound of voices.

They were only barely loud enough to hear; still too quiet to actually make out the words being said. Frank crouched low to the ground and began moving to his right. The trees were so thick and abundant in this section of the woods, it was impossible to maintain a straight line of vision for more than a couple meters.

Frank and Vega crept forward slowly. As they did, the voices grew louder. It was two men. One of the voices Frank recognized as Kallion. The other, a deep baritone, he did not.

Right when the voices became clear, Frank found himself on a small hill. He stopped, crouching in a stand of thick bushes. Vega squatted beside him. As one, they peered through the rough leaves of the bush.

The ground sloped down below them, opening into a small clearing. The light of the moons showed Frank there were indeed two men and the thunderbird. Kallion stood in his robe with his arms crossed. He had his back to Frank and Vega. The thunderbird lounged in a hedge of grass, looking bored.

The other man was tall and muscular like Colonel Breaker. He wore silver-and-black armor with a helmet in the shape of the head of a leviathan, complete with ear frill and side horns. They were far, too far away to hear the tiny gasp escape Vega’s throat.

“What is it?” Frank whispered. “Who is that?”

“His name is Gars.” Vega swallowed hard. “He’s the general of the Leviathan army.”

24

“You know I don’t trust those creatures,” Gars said in his deep voice. He motioned to the thunderbird with a gloved hand. “Can’t you send it away?”

“Our time here won’t be long enough for it to matter,” Kallion said in a rushed voice. “I must get back to the castle before anyone suspects I’m gone. There has been a new development. We need to accelerate our plans. We must go to war tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night?” Gars asked incredulously. “Why? What’s happened?”

“Strangers have arrived from a planet called Earth. They want to reopen the sphere, and on top of all of this, one of them has been parading around as an Arilion Knight.” Kallion paused for a moment to let his words sink in. “We stand on the verge of victory. We can’t fall apart now.”

“I’m not parading around, am I?” Frank muttered to Vega.

The princess was too wrapped up in the conversation below to answer.

“One of our leviathans came back the other day, injured.” Gars took off his helmet, revealing a long face with the same hue of purple becoming of the people of Atmos, but with short, white hair instead of long. “It must have been these strangers, this Arilion Knight. Is it true? There hasn’t been an Arilion on Atmos in two generations.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it either, had I not seen it for myself.” Kallion sighed. “He must be dealt with before he grows stronger in the ways of his order. The empress told me she sent a messenger to your house with a final attempt at peace talks.”

“I’ll see to it he’s killed and only his head returns to the empress. The king and queen will give the messenger their attempts at peace, but I’ll see to it my men intercept him on the way back,” Gars said, crossing his arms, he stroked his chin. “The king and queen of my house are reluctant to go to war. The messengers they have sent to your empress have all been killed before they could reach your walls. For all the blood on my hands, Kallion, you better make sure I am well rewarded.”

“The Lord of Chaos rewards those who remain loyal.” Kallion bowed his head low. “When my empress sees the head of her last messenger brought back to the gates, she’ll marshal for war. I’ll see to that. With any luck, the two greatest houses on Atmos will destroy one another. The legion in hiding sent by the Lord of Chaos will make little work of the depleted victor.”

“And I’ll take rule of both houses,” Gars said, reminding Kallion of the fact.

“Yes, of course, just as we discussed,” Kallion agreed.

“I have to say, when you first approached me with this plan, I had my doubts.” Gars laughed out loud. “I mean, how many years have you been planning this? The fact that you had abducted the empress and incepted her mind so long ago, that she would one day be triggered to poison the emperor herself and have no memory of it? It’s perfect.”

Frank’s jaw dropped. He looked over at Vega. She was trembling, her eyes glossing over in a storm of rage, confusion, astonishment, and sorrow. Frank grabbed her, pulling her into his arms and placing a hand over her mouth as she screamed in silence.

“Be that as it may, we can’t afford to lose momentum now.” Kallion mounted his thunderbird. “Not even with an Arilion Knight entering the scene. Tomorrow night, we march to war.”

Gars said something in return, but his voice was lost in the rush of wings from Kallion’s thunderbird. Frank held on to Vega, peering through the bush leaves in time to see Gars turn and disappear into the shadow of the woods.

Vega was rocking in Frank’s arms. Hot tears splashed down onto his hand that still covered her mouth. She was still crying, though no sound escaped. She shuddered under the exertion of her sobs. Her heart broke within the protection of the knight’s embrace.

Frank couldn’t begin to imagine what she was feeling. If Kallion was telling the truth, and he had no reason to lie, then he was responsible for kidnapping the empress years before and training her to trigger at a certain time. Vega had lost her father at the hands of her own mother. Now, her people would be marching to war.

A few more moments passed. Kallion was gone and Gars had to be distant enough now where he wouldn’t hear Vega unless she full-out screamed. Frank removed his hand from her mouth but held on to her. Something his mother had taught him: sometimes there were no words. Sometimes the people you care for just need you close.

Frank and Vega sat on the cold dirt-and-moss ground of the woods, Frank holding on to the princess while her heart was torn, her soul broken.

“I—she would never— This has to be lies,” Vega said, battling for composure. “My parents loved each other. If there’s even the smallest chance she could have poisoned my father, she had no idea what she was doing.”

“We’re going to figure this out.” Frank used his thumbs to wipe the tears from Vega’s eyes and cupped her face in his steady hands. “When your mother was abducted, tell me everything you know about what happened.”

“I was a small girl when they spoke about it, so I don’t remember much.” Vega cleared her throat. “As I’ve heard it told, she disappeared for a few days from her home village. My grandfather was the lord over the lands to the east. Everyone suspected she had been kidnapped, but then she wandered into the city with no recollection of the time she was gone. Just a girl, in her family colors, dressed and somewhat confused. The royal family commissioned their physicians to look her over, but she was fine. No damage. No harm. She was fine—until now. Kallion must have had her abducted and brainwashed. No … no, this is crazy.”

“We heard him,” Frank said, biting at his lower lip. “We heard his plan and who’s really behind this. Heron is right. The Lord of Chaos has returned.”

Vega took a deep breath, calming herself with closed eyes. Frank understood exactly what she was doing. She had had her moment to break down. Now, she needed to focus on the treachery revealed. Now, she had to plan her next move before House Thunder and House Leviathan suffered loss at a schemed war.

“You need to train, Frank.” Vega looked deep into his dark eyes. “You need to train like your life depends on it. You could be the deciding factor. People will listen to an Arilion Knight. Even if we are able to prevent the houses of Atmos going to war, you heard Kallion. The Lord of Chaos has a legion in hiding.”

Frank slowly nodded, understanding how much was riding on him now. His success or failure as an Arilion Knight could mean the safety or death of the rest of his Marines, and most of a nation of innocent people. No pressure.

Are you calling them your Marines now? Frank thought. Yeah, I guess they’ve always been your Marines. You can lie to yourself all you want, but the corps will always be your family.

“I’ll talk to Tamar,” Vega said, reluctantly leaving Frank’s embrace and rising to her feet. “Our general can be trusted, I’m sure of that. I’ll also speak to the physicians who saw my mother all those years before. You’ve got to train, and I have to play the political game to get the answers I—we—need.”

Frank rose. Together, the two traveled through the forest back to find Warrior and return to the castle. Frank’s head was spinning with the newly found knowledge. He could only imagine what Vega was going through.

“I hate feeling feelings,” Vega muttered. “If this is all true, how am I going to tell my mother that she was the one who poisoned my father? How—why would she even believe me? I’m still in doubt myself.”

“You’ll figure out a way,” Frank said with no room for doubt in his tone. “If we have to waterboard Kallion into a confession, we’ll figure out a way. In the meantime, until you’re ready to make your move, you have to keep this quiet. If Kallion knows that we know, he’s the type of guy who’d plant a knife in either of our backs.”

“Agreed,” Vega said. “What’s waterboarding?”

“It’s a form of interrogation,” Frank said, trying to think of the right way to explain it. “It’s frowned upon by some. I agree that the act is torture, but sometimes torture is all that the monsters in the world understand.”

“I would like to be the one who waterboards Kallion,” Vega growled. “He’s lied for all these years. He works for the Lord of Chaos. I can’t believe I’m even saying that name right now. The Lord of Chaos is back, Frank. This universe is about to be plunged into full-out war again.”

“We’ll be ready,” Frank assured the princess. “This time around, Earth will be involved. We’ll have Marines in the fight. I’d take a unit of Marines over the Lord of Chaos any day.”

On the ride back, Vega and Frank were quiet, each lost to his or her own thoughts of the impending future. When they arrived back at the castle, their goodbye was brief.

“Sleep well.” Vega kissed Frank on the cheek before she retired to her own quarters. “Tomorrow may be the only training you get before we need to fight.”

Frank watched her go before leaving to find his own room. There was no doubt in his mind a fight was coming. If he would be ready, if he could be ready, with a single day of training, that was yet to be seen. Whatever happened, it sounded like in twenty-four hours, it would all be decided.

25

“You look horrible,” Heron said, rapidly blinking his eyes as he took in Frank’s state. “Did you sleep at all, or in the gutter, or worse?”

“Don’t you worry about me.” Frank shivered in the morning cold. “This is just my normal face. I suffer from a case of RTF.”

“What’s RTF?” Heron asked with concern.

“Resting Tired Face.” Frank rolled his neck on his shoulders and stretched his arms. “I contracted it in the Marines.”

The historian and the knight were in an outside courtyard found at the rear of the palace. It appeared to be a designated training ground. A wide-open patch of square grass a few hundred meters in depth and width had been cleared. On the sides of the square area were dumbbells, barbells, and other weights; targets for arrows and spears; along with training dummies and other pieces of equipment Frank didn’t recognize.

Heron stood in front of Frank in a natural, heavy, cotton robe. In his hands he carried a thick tome of leather-bound work that had to be well over a thousand pages long.

“The top two things on the list I need to learn from you today is how the vambraces protect me and how to go on the offensive. Everything else is going to have to wait,” Frank said, trying to make his request sound as polite as he could. “We’re running out of time.”

“Running out of time?” Heron scrunched his brow. “We only just started. What you need is an understanding of what an Arilion is and practice in channeling your Will. The first few weeks of training should be more book knowledge than practical application. It’s going to take years to master this, Frank.”

Frank stood in the courtyard, arms crossed over his chest. The vambraces on his forearms continued their dark purple glow. The sun rising overheard was beating back the cold, but not fast enough. Frank had anticipated running and drills, not standing still, or he would have worn something over his plain, black shirt.

It was clear to Frank in that moment he needed to tell Heron what he had seen the previous night. He trusted the man fully, and if he was going to have any chance at controlling this new power, he needed all the help he could get.

“There’s a lot you have to know,” Frank said, exhaling a heavy breath. “You may want to sit down for this.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Heron eyed him suspiciously. “Have you been doing drugs?”

Frank examined the area to make sure they were still alone before they started, and even then, he spoke in whispers to be certain. Even if someone was spying on them in a tower, there would have been no way for them to hear what Frank was saying. Frank told him everything—from following Kallion, to seeing Gars and the conversation they overheard.

When Frank had explained the situation to Heron, the historian placed his book down gently and sat down on the dew-laden grass. He was in shock, that much was clear. Frank wasn’t sure how many more breakdowns he wanted to be a part of. That was most definitely not highlighted in the history of the Arilion Knights.

“I can see how this is a lot to take in, but we can’t waste time in this Sixth Sense, ‘he’s been dead the whole time’ revelation. You need to know, so you can teach me what I need right now. I don’t take many things seriously, but family is one of the things I do. I’m always faithful to family, the corps, and saving the innocent against jacked up, power-hungry bad guys—especially those named Lord of Chaos.” Frank kneeled on the ground and placed a hand on the historian’s shoulder. “You know everything there is to know about the Arilion Knights. We have today to teach me just the most important features of attack and defense. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be pretty; we just need to start.”

“The princess. She needs to be careful,” Heron said, blinking wide eyes. “If Kallion suspects she knows…”

“She is,” Frank reassured him. “She’s going to Tamar for protection first and forming her own plan. We need to trust that she knows what she’s doing and focus on what we need to be doing here and now.”

“Right. Of course.” Heron rose to his feet once more. “The first thing you need to realize is that your power comes from Will. That means your strength of will, your fighting spirit. It has nothing to do with how big or strong you are physically. Some of the greatest Arilion Knights have been elderly, handicapped, even a master paralyzed from the waist down. But none of that matters. All that matters is your determination, your strength of will, your desire to get back up. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Frank nodded. Nervous energy made him bring one of his legs behind him and grab his foot with his hands to stretch. “Like Rocky Balboa. Never give up. Unleash the dog in me. Yeah, I can do that.”

“I’m not sure who this Rocky stone formation is, but yes, never giving up is a large portion. Never doubting yourself, willing yourself to victory at all costs.”

“So let’s do this,” Frank said, squatting down and then jumping up and down on his tiptoes, nodding his head side to side. “Where do we start?”

“We start by channeling your Will, your inner strength and creating physical manifestations of it via your vambraces.” Heron reached out with his right pointer finger and tapped the place over Frank’s heart. “Channel from here and use your imagination to create a shield, through your vambrace.”

“A shield?” Frank looked at his vambrace confused. “You mean, I’m going to create things from my mind?”

“Yes, in time, you’ll only be bound by your imagination, free to construct whatever you like. These constructs will be created by your will and remain as strong as your resolve,” Heron instructed. “Close your eyes, reach deep within for the Will that drives you. It’s always been inside, whether you knew it or not.”

“This is some may-the-will-be-with-you meets sorcerer supreme stuff right here,” Frank said, but obeyed by closing his eyes. He took deep, even breaths, focusing on latching on to his will.

It was easier for Frank than he expected. For years, he understood he had a will stronger than most. Others called it stubbornness or obstinateness, whether it was at the gym, completing an assignment, or even during his time in the corps. He always imagined it as a force, a beast that lived inside him, willing him to complete whatever task had been laid out before him.

Frank reached for that now, feeling his heart rate quicken. An exhilarating feeling heated him from the inside out.

“Frank, open your eyes,” Heron breathed.

Frank obeyed, seeing his entire body alive with the dark purple force. No longer was the glowing color constrained to his vambraces. The force of energy surrounded him as if it lived off his very being. It wrapped around him like a protective second skin—his very own force field.

“How does it feel?” Heron asked.

“This is—I mean, it feels great,” Frank said, turning his arms over to see the buzzing energy covering his body. “How—what do I do now?”

“Now imagine whatever you’d like,” Heron said, pointing to his vambraces. “You said you wanted to figure out how to defend yourself and attack. Let’s start with defense. Can you create a shield? A force field? Armor around your body?”

“I do have a pretty overactive imagination,” Frank said, concentrating on his left arm. A moment later, from thin air, a square shield appeared on his arm. Frank laughed out loud. “And it’s solid? How long will it last?”

“It’ll last as long as you command it to,” Heron said, motioning to the ground under Frank’s feet. “As for how solid it is, try it.”

Frank brought the translucent purple shield up and slammed it into the ground. It shivered, sinking deep into the dew-laden soil. Frank ripped it out again.

“The possibilities of what I can create will be endless,” Frank said, willing a sword into his right hand. A moment later, a medieval straight-blade sword with a double-cutting edge over a meter in length sprung into glowing, violet existence.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.” Heron grinned. “You’re learning quickly. You’ll find your abilities don’t only extend to creating these constructs. Your force of Will will eventually be able to make you stronger, faster, more durable, even be able to fly.”

“I can fly?” Frank asked incredulously. “Did you just say I can fly?”

“In time. Let’s focus on defense first,” Heron chided him. “You said something about armor and a force field?”

Frank and Heron trained over and over again until Frank was comfortable creating defensive constructs. By the time they were done, Frank could call the power of his will and form a round buckler shield, a kite shield, and even a ballistic entry shield; liquid armor reinforcement to his diamond plate; and a force field that surrounded him.

The sun was high overhead by the time Heron called a stop. Frank’s stomach was grumbling, but as far as he was concerned, food would need to wait. Half the day was already spent and he had yet to go on the offensive with his new ability.

“We need to rest,” Heron said in a voice that would not tolerate question. “You’ll be no good to anyone if you fall on the field of battle from fatigue.”

“I can keep going.” Frank wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I need to if I’m going to stand a chance when everything goes down.”

Heron turned his head, and Frank’s gaze followed to see the door of the courtyard open. Elly and Raj walked out, each carrying a tray loaded with cold cuts, cured meats, salty bacons, and juicy sausages; sharp, smelly, soft and sweet cheeses; crostinis, rolls and loaves of bread; and dried, stone, and berried fruit; along with a cold pitcher of water.

“Take a few minutes and eat with your friends,” Heron said, jogging to the open door inside the castle. “I have an idea for you to train to go on the offensive.”

Frank was going to ask what he was talking about, but the historian was already gone. The old man could move quickly when he had to.

Raj and Elly smiled at the historian as he vanished into the castle.

“Did we scare him?” Elly asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Naw,” Frank reassured her. “He’s going to grab something for training.”

“How’s training going?” Raj asked as he and Elly placed the food down beside the wall of the courtyard. The trio of Marines took shelter from the heat of the sun under the shade the wall afforded. “You look tired.”

“Yeah, everybody keeps saying that.” Frank started digging into the food. “Training is easier than I thought. I mean, once I wrapped my head around what the vambraces can do, it’s just a matter of what I can create.”

“Create?” Elly asked, popping a piece of fruit into her mouth. “Colonel Breaker sent us to check in on you and report back. He’s going to want to know what you mean by, ‘create.’”

Frank opened his hands, still chewing on a piece of bread. A moment later he was holding a purple M203 grenade launcher.

“My gosh, man,” Raj said open-mouthed. “You can make guns out of thin air?”

“More than that.” Frank channeled his will and exchanged the gun for a brick wall in front of him, then a spear in his hand, followed by his fists covered in boxing gloves.

“I’m not even going to pretend to understand what I’m seeing, but this is awesome,” Elly said, shaking her head in amazement. “Can you do animals? Vehicles? Make me a bicycle, clown.”

“I don’t know, I—”

Frank and the others turned as movement from the castle into the courtyard caught their eye. It was Heron returning, and with him were five of the largest House of Thunder soldiers Frank had yet seen. In their golden armor they appeared to be larger-than-life gilded statues.

“I found you some sparring partners.” Heron threw a thumb over his shoulder. “Meet the Berserkers. I told them not to go easy on you. That’s not going to do anyone any good.”

26

“Dang, those are some big aliens,” Elly said as she chomped into a piece of salami. “Good luck, Frank.”

“If you don’t make it out of this,” Raj added with a grin, “can I have your vambraces?”

“Thanks for that, guys. You’re no help at all,” Frank said, swallowing the food in his mouth. He walked over to Heron and the Berserkers. “And they were just hanging out in the main hall, huh?”

“As luck would have it, they were actually waiting until we were done to use the training field,” Heron said with a large smile. Whether he noticed Frank’s stare or not, he didn’t let off the gas. “So, here we go. Let’s practice those defensive constructs first.”

The five golden-clad warriors ranged from a dozen to thirty-plus centimeters taller than Frank. Though their armor hid their muscles, Frank knew they worked out and trained regularly based on their bulk and movements. The tallest warrior took off his winged helmet and bent his knee to Frank.

His face was scarred, his white, shoulder-length hair braided in the shape of a Mohawk. The other four Berserkers followed the example of their leader, removing their helmets and bowing their knees.

“Tamar told me an Arilion Knight had been chosen, but I did not wholly believe until now,” the Berserker said, speaking to the ground and not even looking Frank in the eyes. “It is the privilege of our lives to help you learn the ways of the Will. We will hold nothing back and give you only the most brutal form of combat we know.”

“Thanks. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Frank scratched the back of his head with one hand. He moved to the lead Berserker, raising the gigantic warrior to his feet. “Get up, get up. You don’t need to kneel to me. We’re on the same side, here.”

“Yes, yes. We are on the side of the light,” the warrior said, placing a hand on Frank’s shoulder. It weighed twenty pounds. “Let us begin.”

“Can’t wait,” Frank said, taking a few steps back as the Berserkers placed their helmets back on their heads. “This looks like it’s going to hurt.”

I’m insane, that’s the only explanation, Frank thought as he watched the warriors jog to the edges of the training ground and open chests of weapons that included war hammers, morning stars, maces, and spears. Well, here we go. Buckle up, buttercup. This is going to get bloody.

“Remember, this is to test your defensive constructs.” Heron stood beside Frank, giving him advice. “If you absolutely have to fight back, try using the will of strength, instead of forming offensive constructs.”

The Berserkers had chosen their weapons now and were returning to the field, preparing to charge.

“You know, the fact that you’re standing with me staring these Berserkers down means a lot,” Frank said, looking to his right where Heron had been a moment before. He saw Heron’s back as the old historian ran off the field to join Elly and Raj. “Right…”

“You can do it, Frank!” Elly cheered.

“Show them how a Marine slash B.U.T.T.S. employee slash Arilion Knight does it!” Raj yelled, one hand cupped on either side of his mouth. “Get it done!”

Frank quieted his mind, focusing on the power of his will. He brought a kite shield up on his right arm, at the same time covering his body in a protective, glowing shell of purple armor. He mirrored the armor of his opponents, the only difference his being transparent and theirs being solid gold.

“No mercy!” the lead Berserker roared, pointing his war hammer forward. “Charge.”

Frank was still trying to wrap his mind around the size of the war hammer the lead Berserker wielded. The head of the weapon was the size of an anvil. The shaft looked like a solid branch.

The ground actually shook as the Berserkers charged Frank. Instead of waiting for the inevitable, Frank ran to meet the threat like a football player after receiving the opening kick off, except he wasn’t trying to get around these opponents, he was trying to go through them, and he didn’t have anyone on his team blocking for him. Actually … it was nothing like football.

Strength, speed, Frank reminded himself. You’re as strong, as fast as your will. Move faster.

Heart pounding, Frank pushed his legs to a full-on sprint. He had to be traveling faster than ever before; within a second of running, he had crossed dozens of meters. The war hammer in the lead Berserker’s hands came sailing down toward his head.

Frank twisted to the right at the same time bringing up his shield.

CRACK!

The brunt of the gigantic hammer striking his shield should have broken Frank’s arm. At the very least, it should have driven him to the ground. Instead, Frank held fast, a slight tremor running the length of his arm.

All Frank could see of the Berserker past his golden helmet were his purple eyes, but in those eyes sat wonder and awe. Frank took this opportunity to try out the strength of the power of his will. He shoved the hammer off his shield with his left hand and planted a fist into the center of the Berserker’s armor.

Frank’s right fist connected with the metal plating on the warrior, creating not only a dent in the breastplate, but also knocking the Berserker off his feet and throwing him into the air.

If the other four warriors weren’t on him already, Frank would have liked to see how far the lead Berserker flew. But his attention was needed elsewhere.

Frank dodged a mace to his head and sidestepped a spear thrust, yet was caught by a morning star at the base of his skull. He felt that. Frank staggered back, blinking past the stars racing across his vision.

Come on, come on, Frank screamed in his own head. You’ve got more to give. Get back in the fight.

The Berserkers truly weren’t holding back. The four still surrounding Frank pressed the attack, striking out with blows to his head and chest.

Frank blocked another blow with his shield, and another, and although the defensive construct he had created was holding strong, there were too many blows coming through to block all of them at once.

A strike landed to the left side of his ribs, another across his neck. Pain lanced across his body as his iron resolve gave way to panic. The strength of his will was being challenged in the face of impossible odds bearing down on him.

“Rawww!” Frank screamed, pushing back the doubts, the thoughts of defeat. He rallied himself, disregarding his shield. “Come on! Bring it!”

With his right hand, Frank formed a towering brick wall that loomed over the two soldiers to his left. He let the construct fall, slamming against the warriors. Already he focused on the other two Berserkers to his left.

Massive purple handcuffs clamped down, one on each of the warriors. Another smaller pair wrapped around their feet, sending them to the ground. Victory was within his reach … or so Frank thought. He had lost track of the lead Berserker he had struck at the beginning of the battle.

Frank was reminded of the warrior’s presence as he was bulldozed from behind. One moment, he was sure of victory; the next, he was flying through the air, gasping for breath.

A numb pain met him as he crashed down to the ground below. Frank struggled to his knees; the air refilled his lungs painfully and slowly. The familiar taste of blood filled Frank’s mouth. He had bit the inside of his cheek some time during being struck from behind and his rough landing.

The Berserkers were already getting to their own feet. Elly, Raj, and even Heron, were all yelling at him to get up.

Get up, Frank, you’ve got more to give, get up, Frank coached himself, getting back to his feet. You don’t want to kill the Berserkers, but you need to put them down for good. Get it done, Frank. Get it done.

This time, when the Berserkers charged, they approached in a closer unit instead of being spread so far apart. Rather than running to meet them, this time Frank decided to let them come to him.

From within his chest, within his being, within his spirit, Frank Wolffe channeled the power of his will. Warmth spread to his fingers and toes as he allowed the power to build in his hands. A glowing, livid orb took shape.

The charging Berserkers did not stop their rampage despite the bright purple light glowing in Frank’s palms.

The level of commitment it took Frank to gather and maintain such a force began to wear on him. It felt like holding his arms out as someone stacked more and more weight onto the limbs.

Frank waited until the Berserkers were nearly on top of him. Feet away, already readying their weapons to swing, Frank unleashed the power he had gathered.

BOOM!

A concussive shock wave ripped forward. It caught all five Berserkers, slamming into them with the force of a clashing grenade, at least that was what Frank had imagined when he created the construct.

The Berserkers were all lifted off the ground, their bodies going parallel with the mossy grass that lined the training grounds. They were flung back, coming to crashing stops like rag dolls on a green carpet.

Frank stood heaving. Sweat dripped down from his forehead. Exhausted, the purple armor covering his body dissipated. He wanted to sit down, even take a knee and recharge his mind and body. Neither was an option. His work had just begun. He was more than an emissary to the people of Atmos now. A mind shift was required. He had to start thinking of what being an Arilion Knight truly meant and how that would inspire hope in these warriors when the fight began.

The Berserkers slowly and painfully picked themselves up from the ground. Heron, Raj, and Elly all stood stunned with their mouths gaping. Elly must have been in mid-chew, because something fell out of her mouth as she stared. Poor girl.

The Berserkers took off their helmets one by one, nursing bruised foreheads, pounding heads, banged ribs, and cuts on their noses and temples. Together, they once more knelt to their Arilion Knight.

27

The rest of the day consisted of practicing offensive constructs with the Berserkers. Frank found it was easy to use and create weapons he was already familiar with; everything from 1911 handguns to the Punisher gauss rifles were immediately created when called upon.

It was only as the sun began to descend for the day that Frank realized his audience had grown. Colonel Breaker and Major Lopez had come to see how he was progressing. Although it made him smile to see the pair slowly nodding approval with pursed lips and arms crossed, as he trained, his mind wandered to Vega, the progress she had made, and how she had decided to handle her mother.

Heron called a water break in the training. The Berserkers’ armor was dented and scraped from Frank’s attacks. On his part, he felt sore and a black eye was beginning to form around his left eye. He had lost concentration when a meaty fist had found him.

Frank wiped the sweat from his forehead and accepted the pitcher of cold water handed to him by the Major.

“Thanks,” he said, gulping down the cool liquid. “It tasted good. Maybe even better than a beer.” She side-eyed him. “Okay, maybe not that good.”

“You’re learning quickly.” Heron grinned, then his face contorted into a frown.

Frank knew exactly why. He was feeling the same thing. He did feel like he was making strides, but would it be enough? War was at their doorstep. Was he going to tell the colonel what he knew? Should he?

“It’s impressive,” Elly agreed, interrupting Frank’s line of thought. “So what’s the over-under in making a kitten or a puppy?”

“I think Frank has more important things to do than create animals with his new powers,” Colonel Breaker said. “Frank, walk with me.”

Frank’s heart sank as he matched the colonel’s gait. In his time with the corps, he understood what it meant when a commanding officer used those words. It was never good. On the other hand, Frank had been debating when and where to tell the colonel about the events that transpired the night before.

“Sir, I’d like to start, if I may,” Frank said as the men put distance between them and the rest of the group. They traveled to the far side of the training field where stacks of shields and targets sat pressed against the stone wall. “There’s something you need to know.”

“Go ahead, Mr. Wolffe.” Colonel Breaker nodded.

“Last night, Vega and I overheard Kallion speaking with the head of the Leviathan army. They are the ones who are behind the emperor’s death. They want the houses to wipe each other out in order to make room for the Lord of Chaos and his army.” Frank bit his lower lip, wondering if he should tell the colonel about the Manchurian Candidate situation with the empress. He had come this far. “Also, you should know, years ago the empress was abducted by Kallion. He incepted her mind and triggered her now, years later, to poison the emperor. She has no memory of what she’s done.”

Colonel Breaker’s eyes danced with the information. He continued to walk with Frank in silence until the two men were on the far side of the field. Finally the colonel stopped, his pressed uniform following every motion of his body perfectly.

“I’m not going to ask what you were doing out late last night with the princess, or why you didn’t tell me sooner.” Colonel Breaker’s jaw muscle tightened in agitation. “How much time do we have?”

“Not much,” Frank said, trying to put his best guess forward. “The empress will receive word sometime tonight that her messenger to House Leviathan was killed. She’ll assume it was the king and queen of House Leviathan inciting war. I’m assuming she’ll rally and march soon after that.”

“You said the Lord of Chaos is behind this.” Colonel Breaker was already forming a plan. It was truly impressive to watch the Marine work. “How many men does he have?”

“A legion,” Frank said, remembering the words spoken the previous night. “I’m not exactly sure how many that is, but it sounds like a lot.”

“It is. It’s five thousand strong. And they’ll wait until the houses slaughter one another to make their move.” Colonel Breaker rubbed at the bottom of his chin. “The empress has to be told. Whether she accepts the hard truth or not, there’s a chain of command.”

“I agree,” Frank said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking back at the castle. “But I believe Vega should do it. It’s her family and her place as next in line. That’s why I didn’t tell you first thing this morning. I wanted to give her the time, the chance to do what needed to be done. I guess I’m telling you now out of respect for your position on this mission. I know how much you want to get your people back home.”

“You’re right.” Colonel Breaker looked Frank right in the eyes. “All of my people are getting back home. That means you, too, Frank. You’re one of us.”

HAROOOM! HAROOOM! HAROOOM!

Ear shattering sounds of horns being blown vibrated across the field. Frank and Colonel Breaker looked to one another in confusion.

Heron was already running toward them, the rest of the Marines looking to the colonel for orders. The Berserkers were grabbing their helmets and weapons and running for the front of the castle.

“War horns,” Heron shouted as he reached shouting distance to Frank and the colonel. “The House of Thunder marches to war!”

Frank and the colonel looked at one another.

“We can’t just sit this one out, knowing what we know.” Colonel Breaker began jogging back to his unit. “We have to do something. We can’t let these people slaughter one another on account of some storm of drivel lies.”

Frank jogged back with the colonel, matching him stride for stride. Heron did his best to keep up. The war horns were dying as the sun settled.

“Orders?” Major Lopez asked, looking only to Colonel Breaker for direction.

“We recently came upon some game changing news,” Colonel Breaker told the others. “I want you three geared up and ready to roll. Bring mine and Frank’s armor with you to the main meeting hall. If we’re not there, call us on the comms and I’ll tell you where to meet.”

It was clear the other three Marines had a million questions to ask, but instead, they only nodded and ran to obey.

“Sir,” they chimed in unison.

“Heron, where would the empress be right now, right when the horns sound?” Colonel Breaker asked the historian.

“I’ll show you.” Heron took the lead into the castle. “Either in the main hall as you suggested, meeting with her advisors, or in the courtyard already preparing to ride to war.”

Frank and the colonel let Heron lead as the men hurried through the halls and rooms of the castle. Servants and soldiers sprinted all around the castle like ants after their hill had been kicked. Excited, nervous chatter died on all their lips when they saw Frank. Every head bowed out of respect.

There was no time to greet them or even nod back. Frank was running down the hall in Heron’s wake, hoping he knew enough to wage the war that was coming.

Heron finally led them to the room they had eaten in the night before. The guards were doubled. Four golden-clad soldiers stood ready with spears twice their height and square shields half their body length. When they saw who approached, they granted them entrance.

Frank was still contemplating whether they had opened the doors for Heron or himself when the trio entered the room. There was a heated discussion taking place as they walked in. The square tables had been removed and replaced with one two-meter-wide circular table. On the table sprawled a map of Atmos as he had seen from the back of Warrior the previous night, with pieces placed on the board representing castles and military units. One piece in particular caught Frank’s eye. It was a black figure of a leviathan just off the coast.

The light of the sun was still strong enough to illuminate the room through the tall windows. The only people in the chamber were Vega, her mother, Kallion, and Tamar. While Kallion wore his floor-length burgundy wool robe, the others were dressed more becoming a time of battle: Tamar in a full suit of gilded armor, save for his helmet which sat on the table; the majesties sported coordinating gold breastplates with their sigil inlaid over brocade, pearl battle gown with matching pants.

The House of Thunder’s general boiled in anger; his jugular vein bulged ready to pop at any moment, his right hand clenched tight on his sword hilt. He had placed himself between Kallion and the two women staring daggers at the leader of the Heralds.

“Vega.” The empress studied her daughter, mortified. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“You must trust me,” Vega said, shaking her head, her white hair falling over the shining vestment. “Mother, I know it’s difficult to believe, but our eyes and ears did not deceive us. The Lord of Chaos has returned, and Kallion is helping him wipe out the houses of Atmos to make room for his return.”

“What?” the empress looked at her daughter, then to Frank and Kallion. Her face was a mask of confusion and weariness. “Kallion was not the one who killed your father; he isn’t the one refusing negotiations. He’s not the one who killed our messenger and sent back his head.”

“No,” Vega agreed, grabbing both her mother’s hands in her own. “He’s working with Gars, the general of House Leviathan, to make all of this happen. They’ve been planning it for years, Mother.”

The empress set her jaw. She turned to Kallion. “Kallion Sef, you’ve been head of the Heralds for years now. You’ve served my husband and myself, never questioning our orders. My daughter seems to believe you have a hand in what is happening here. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Frank looked over to the thin, conniving man in the robe. Kallion should have had a look of worry or fear in his eyes. When Frank saw that the man was as calm as someone waiting for their movie to begin at the theater, he knew they were in trouble.

28

Tamar must have thought the same thing. The loyal general edged closer, inching his blade from its steel sheath.

“I have served you diligently for years,” Kallion said after clearing his throat. “The princess must be confused. Perhaps the weight of losing her father and the stress of looming war. After all, she has no proof.”

“I don’t need proof.” Vega pointed to Frank. “The Arilion Knight saw it, too. We followed you last night. We heard everything.” She inclined her head and scrunched her eyes. “Everything.”

All eyes turned to Frank.

“Don’t look at me.” Frank jerked a thumb in Kallion’s direction. “Everything Vega is saying is true. This guy is the worst. He has got to go.”

The empress’ mouth gaped in shock. She took a step backwards and grabbed at her heart. All eyes shifted once more to Kallion. Still, the man was as cool as a cucumber. He shook his head from side to side. “Tsk, tsk. Vega, oh princess Vega, what have you done? The truth will ruin your mother. Do you think you solved anything by telling her she is the one who killed your father? Do you think this will stop the war? There is no scenario where you win. The Houses of Atmos fall this night.”

“Traitor!” Tamar ripped his sword from his sheath, charging forward. His blade cut through Kallion’s neck. It would have severed the man’s head from his body had he been there at all.

Instead of deathly steel slicing through skin and muscle, Tamar’s blade sliced through a hologram.

“What sorcery is this?” Tamar growled, cutting through Kallion’s lit figure once more for good measure.

“Not sorcery, you idiot.” Kallion grinned. “Science. Go to war with the Leviathan House or don’t. I don’t care. Perhaps Gars will lead the House of Leviathan against you once the king and queen find their son dead at the hands of a House of Thunder assassin. Maybe not. The Lord of Chaos will march on each of you one by one until all that remains of your lineage, of your home, is ash and rubble. The Lord of Chaos is coming, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

A second later Kallion vanished.

“What did he mean, Vega?” The empress turned to her daughter. Her face had gone pale. Her hands trembled. “What did he mean, that I killed your father?”

“Mother.” Vega went to the empress and held her up. Tears did not fall from her face. She was being strong now, strong for both of them, and the truth that had to be told. “It wasn’t you. You didn’t do it.”

“What, what was it that I didn’t do?” The empress looked at Vega with unseeing eyes, her voice barely above a whisper as her subconscious tried to pull forward the memory.

“When you disappeared all those years ago.” Vega swallowed hard. “Kallion kidnapped you. He brainwashed you to trigger at a certain time and poison Father.”

The empress lost strength in her daughter’s arms, slumping to the floor.

Tamar ran to her side and helped Vega support her mother.

“No—I … How could I?” The empress was staring at the far wall, her mind shattering as the truth of her deeds broke the surface like a leviathan through water. “How … how could I not remember? I loved—I love your father! How … how could I have done that to him?”

Vega held her mother close, whispering into her ear.

The empress continued to mumble incoherently. The strong woman Frank had seen before now lost in her own mind.

“General.” Colonel Breaker was the one to end the silence. His voice was soft, but his eyes were anything but. “There’s a young prince in danger at House Leviathan. Whatever is happening here, you can save him and perhaps stop the war between your houses before it begins.”

Rage boiled across Tamar’s eyes. He stood, moved from his spot beside the empress, swallowing hard. “No one else dies at the hands of cowards and traitors. I’ll send my most trusted men.”

“Tamar, you need to go,” Vega said, still holding her mother closer. The empress wore a blank stare on her face now as something inside her mind had been broken. “I don’t trust anyone else with this, save you. Fly hard, get there, and stop this murderous plot. Encourage House Leviathan to march to war and meet us on the battlefield. I have a plan to end this.”

“Encourage them to march to war?” Tamar shook his head, trying to understand Vega’s plan. “I shouldn’t leave your side. Who knows if Kallion has another ploy to end your life?”

“I won’t let that happen,” Frank said, stepping forward and meeting Tamar’s intense eyes. “I’ll die before anyone touches her.”

“All of my Marines will.” Colonel Breaker joined Frank. “Nothing is going to happen to the princess.”

Tamar slowly nodded. He looked back to the princess. “As you command.”

“Get them to come to meet us,” Vega reminded her general, “as quickly as you can. We’ll wait for you on the silver meadow. Hurry.”

Tamar bowed and ran from the room.

Major Lopez, Elly, and Raj ran into the room a moment later. They were suited up in their own diamond-plated armor. They carried Frank’s suit as well as the colonel’s.

“The guards made us leave our weapons outside the room, but we’re ready to rock and roll,” Major Lopez said, handing the colonel his armor. She bowed her head in respect to the princess and empress.

“So … what’s going on here?” Elly asked in a quiet voice, sensing the tension in the room.

Frank, feeling like he was explaining the situation for the dozenth time, brought the rest of the Marines up to speed in as few words as possible as he and the colonel suited up in the room.

“What the f—”

“Our focus right now has to be on helping the princess,” Frank interrupted Elly. He placed the vambraces over his armor. They expanded to once again fit perfectly. “She has a plan.”

“That’s right.” Colonel Breaker attached his helmet to the magnetic bond at his waist before crossing the room to where the princess sat with her mother. Heron stood with them, a hand on each woman’s shoulder, doing his best to comfort. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but your people need a leader in this hour, Princess Vega.”

The princess moved, releasing her mother to Heron. She gave the woman one more kiss on the cheek, whispering into her ear. “It’s not your fault. We’re going to find the ones responsible. We’ll hold them to justice. I promise.”

Princess Vega was tall without towering, toned without being brawny, and in that moment as she released her mother, her persona completely changed. Gone was the simple, young woman Frank had met. In front of him stood a leader. Her eyes blazed with righteous anger. Back straight, she gave her orders without hesitation.

“We have to believe that Tamar will reach House Leviathan in time to save their prince and convince them to march to battle,” Vega said, looking each Marine in the eye. “I’m mobilizing my army to march to war within the hour. I’ll send riders to comb the forests and the woods for the legion the Lord of Chaos has in hiding. There are only a few places where a force that size can hide and still be within striking range.”

“I think I understand your plan,” Frank said, narrowing his eyes as the details came together in his mind. “You’ll convince House Leviathan to join you, and together you’ll fight the Lord of Chaos’ legion. But what if they don’t see it like you do? What if they insist on a fight?”

“I have to have faith that they don’t want to see Neeves slaughter one another,” Vega said, resolved. “I have to trust Tamar will get there in time and convince them to prepare for war against our common enemy.”

“You’re going to try to convince them when you meet them,” Frank said, pursing his lips. “You want them to join you and march on the Lord of Chaos. You’re putting a lot on faith.”

“I’m betting a lot on an Arilion Knight.” Vega smiled despite the hour. “They’ll join us when they know the truth and see an Arilion leading our army.”

“Leading your army?” Raj burst in. “Son of a pigmy, I like Frank probably better than most people, but with all due respect, none of us have ever led an entire army into battle.”

“Thanks. Thanks for that,” Frank said with sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Yeah, no problem,” Raj said, missing the sarcastic tone in Frank’s voice. “We have to play to our strengths, here.”

“You can do it, Frank Wolffe, Arilion Knight.” Vega moved around the large, circular table to stand right in front of him. “They’ll listen to me and follow you.”

So what did you do today, Frank? Frank thought. Oh, nothing much, just led a freaking army of purple aliens into battle, flying on thunderbirds and charging the Lord of Chaos’ front lines. You know, same old, same old.

Frank smiled and winked at Vega. “Sign me up. Where do we start?”

“I need someone familiar with military tactics to advise me.” Vega looked at Colonel Breaker. “With Tamar gone, I could use your skill set if you are willing.”

“We’re with you.” Colonel Breaker looked at his Marines. “Here we go, into the belly of the beast, Marines.”

“Oohrah!” the other Marines shouted.

Frank even joined in. If he was about to go to war on an alien planet, there was no one else he’d rather have at his side than a unit of Marines.

29

The silver meadow had earned its name because it was a wide open field of grass that ran as far as the eye could see. The trio of moons that owned the night over Atmos shone so brightly that here the grass shimmered.

Frank stood beside Vega at the head of the House of Thunder forces. The thunderbird riders had arrived at the meadow in advance of the main fighting force. Stationed at the castle there were more thunderbirds than Frank had realized. It seemed the stable he had been shown by Vega the night before was only one of many stationed throughout the castle and city.

Five hundred of the thunderbirds had been mobilized, each carrying two warriors on its back. They had deposited the first wave of soldiers and gone back for the second. Two thousand Neeve soldiers under the House of Thunder banner would soon be prepared for war.

Colonel Breaker was working with commanders in Vega’s army to coordinate plans should their parley with House Leviathan go sideways. They were also planning a strategy should House Leviathan agree to team up against the Lord of Chaos.

Frank stood in the light of the moons, taking in the unbelievable scene around him. The meadow they were in was an open area hundreds of meters wide before it ended in the forests to either side. House Thunder was an impressive force. One thousand warriors on the ground ready for battle in their golden armor, shields, spears, swords, and bows.

Another one thousand would arrive soon on the backs of the thunderbirds, ready for war. It seemed one way or another they were going to fight someone before the sun rose.

There had been no word from Tamar as of yet. Frank knew that that didn’t mean anything, but they could use all the good news they could get. Neither had there been word from the handful of riders Vega had sent to locate the hidden Lord of Chaos army.

“Don’t look so serious.” Raj nudged Frank. “We’ll get through this. What happened to your helmet?”

“Lopez’s was burned through, so I gave her mine,” Frank said, looking down at his armor. “I guess I don’t really need the armor if I can build constructs to protect me.”

“Hey, it couldn’t hurt,” Raj said, following Frank’s gaze.

Both men looked at Vega. The princess was in the middle of her army, giving orders and checking reports. She wore golden armor with white trim, fitted just for her. A white cape fell behind her. A winged helmet, with the visor raised, sat on her head.

“Even on an alien planet, boys will be boys,” Elly said, approaching the two Marines with an eye roll. “I wonder if Tamar made it—”

Two sounds broke the relative quiet on the meadow. One was a sound like thunder—five hundred pairs of wings flapping at breakneck speed to the battleground.

The other noise was the one that worried Frank. Drums rumbled through the night, rivaling the sound of the approaching wings for dominance of the moment.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Shouts filled the air as soldiers from the House of Thunder ran to find their places. Frank, Elly, and Raj hurried to the front lines. They joined Vega, the colonel, and the major in the center of their force.

“What’s that noise?” Major Lopez looked to the princess. “House Leviathan?”

“They’re here,” Vega nodded, looking across the field to the opposite side, where a wall of trees hid the approach of the other army. “One way or another, this all ends here.”

A moment later, the approaching thunderbirds deposited their second riders, while those at the reins lifted back into the sky waiting for their commands.

Frank did the rough math in his head as the war drums sounded louder. House Thunder had two thousand troops, five hundred thunderbirds, five Marines, and an Arilion Knight. If things weren’t about to end in blood, Frank would have thought it was funny. Counting the troops reminded him of a Christmas song.

All thought of anything else but the present moment evaporated as the army of House Leviathan exited the forest. Hundreds—thousands—of soldiers walked in a straight line. The front lines of the army were made up of warriors carrying round pharmashields and one-and-a-half meter long tridents, their silver-and-black armor topped with helmets shaped like the heads of leviathans.

“Son of an underdog,” Raj breathed next to Frank. “How many of them are there?”

Frank only shrugged. His best guess was the House of Thunder would be outnumbered two to one, maybe more. To the rear of the oncoming force, a cavalry unit made up of stocky, native horses with short tails, elongated necks and long ears like a rabbit, was led by riders carrying a series of banners,the sigil of House Leviathan painted on the fabric: the black, roaring head of a leviathan on a blue field.

Half a kilometer from their own lines, the Leviathan army came to a halt. The war drums also stopped. The ranks parted for a trio of riders to emerge.

Frank’s heart jumped in his chest. In the presence of the adrenaline coursing through his body, the weariness of the day’s events faded. All there was was the task at hand. He couldn’t let anything else cloud his judgment.

The riders came closer, stopping in the empty space between the two armies. The moonlight made them easy to see. One was a grinning Tamar, the other were two Neeves Frank didn’t recognize, but the man and woman in glittering armor looked like they could be the king and queen of the other house.

“The king and queen,” Vega said, motioning to one of her officers. “Thunderbirds, two of them, quickly.”

Immediately, two harnessed thunderbirds were brought forward. The creatures stood on all fours, eyes alert and ready.

“Frank, will you go with me?” Vega asked him, although he guessed she already knew the answer to the question. “The name of an Arilion Knight will mean as much to them as my own. They respect and admire the title.”

“Of course.” Frank jumped up onto the saddle of his thunderbird. Misjudging the jump, he fell onto his back with a thud. Instantly, he rose to his feet again, waving everyone off. “I’m fine, I’m okay. As you were.”

Frank swallowed hard, taking more care this time to mount the beast. This time, he landed on the saddle. Accepting the reins, Frank followed Vega’s thunderbird. Luckily for him, the winged creature he rode seemed content to follow Vega without much direction from Frank.

With each passing moment, Frank was put at ease. Tamar rode his own thunderbird next to the Leviathan king and queen. He was neither chained nor tethered. Unless this was an elaborate trap, things were looking up.

“If this is some kind of ambush,” Frank whispered to Vega, “no arguments, I can build a barrier to protect us. You get back to your army, and I’ll get Tamar.”

“Ordering a princess?” Vega turned slightly to look at Frank. “This whole Arilion Knight thing has really gone to your head.”

There was no more time for banter as the princess and Arilion Knight arrived in front of the king and queen of House Leviathan.

“I don’t know where to start,” the king said, looking at Vega. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize the deception sooner.”

The king looked to be in his fifties, with a thick beard and short hair. An intricately carved trident sat in a sheath near his saddle.

The queen on his left was elegant, with high cheekbones and long hair that fell around her face in curls. A silver horn hung by her hip.

Both of the rulers of the Leviathan House sat atop a creature that looked like it was half horse and half bear—thick, muscled creatures with deep fur, that wore their own armor.

“The prince?” Vega asked, looking at each one of them in the eye and landing on Tamar. “Is your son safe?”

“Thanks to you, he is.” The queen shook her head, thinking on the possibility. “Tamar reached us just in time. We caught Gars red-handed, trying to sneak into our son’s room. If a few more minutes had passed he … he wouldn’t be with us now.”

“I should have come when I heard your father had been killed.” The king looked down, shaking his head. “Instead, I remained in the safety of my own castle once I knew we’d been suspected of killing him. Gars spat venom in my ear that I would be killed if I went to House Thunder in their time of grief.”

“We have both been lied to,” Vega said, refusing to place blame on the king. “What matters the most is what we do now. The past is the past. We have to learn from our mistakes and move on.”

“Tamar tells me we share a common enemy,” the king practically growled. “I have near four thousand warriors ready to draw blood, a thousand mounted on borses, and a leviathan ready to let loose. Let us enter the battlefield as we should, shoulder to shoulder.”

“Agreed,” Vega said with a smile of relief. “I have scouts out who should be returning any moment with news. The Lord of Chaos’ legion can’t be that well hidden, not with so many warriors so close.”

“And the stories are true.” The queen looked Frank over, her gaze landing on his vambraces. “The Arilion are back to fight the darkness the Lord of Chaos brings.”

Frank wasn’t sure if that was an invitation for him to speak, or a general comment. When everyone looked to him, he realized he had to say something.

“I’m ready to fight,” Frank said without blinking. “I’m still learning, but whatever strength I possess, I’ll pour into this battle until I have nothing else to give.”

This seemed to please the Leviathan king and queen. Before they could say more, a faint tremor rolled over the ground, accompanied by a rough shout as if ten thousand voices were barking at once.

“They’re here.” Tamar looked to the west. “The enemy has come to us.”

30

Everyone looked to the west, along with Tamar, but with the trees obscuring their vision a few hundred kilometers away, it was impossible to see anything.

“Infantry should form side by side in the center of the field, if that is agreeable with you.” Tamar looked to the king and queen for consent. “Cavalry unit in reserve and ready to be deployed once we see the enemies’ formation.”

“Agreed,” the queen said, urging her borse to turn around and head back to her own lines. “We’ll meet you in the middle of the field.”

Both the king and queen retreated to their lines, as did Vega, Frank, and Tamar.

“Berserker unit, rally to the princess. Everyone else, take position in the center of the field, facing west,” Tamar roared at the top of his lungs as he returned to his men and women. “We fight alongside the Leviathan House tonight. The Lord of Chaos has returned. Let’s send him back to the hell in which he belongs!”

Pandemonium ensued across the field as everyone moved to obey. Tamar continued to shout orders to his flying thunderbird unit. Frank moved with the Marines and the princess, who was now guarded by the Berserker unit as her personal guard.

In the matter of minutes, both armies had moved to stand side by side. House Thunder infantry units on the ground led by Tamar joined forces with House Leviathan. Frank stood on the front lines with the rest of the Marines.

There was nothing left to be done but wait. The ground hadn’t stopped trembling, and the barking shouts coming from the enemy came every five seconds as if they were using it as a beat to march to. The air sizzled with excitement. The fresh dew of the evening’s falling temperatures filled the air with a crisp, clean scent.

“I think I’m going to do something bad,” Raj said, looking over to Frank and Elly. Raj frantically pulled off his helmet. “Incoming!”

Raj removed his helmet at the last possible second, projectile vomiting forward onto the grass. The liquid throw up came out like water shot from a hose.

“That could have been so bad if I’d thrown up in my helmet,” Raj said, wiping his mouth with his hand. “I would have been scarred for life.”

“I think I’m scarred for life just watching that,” Elly shouted, the words coming out slightly off tone due to her change in pitch. Then Elly realized how her voice must have sounded over the comms. “Sorry.”

Elly cleared her throat and tried to say the words perfectly again without raising her voice. “I said—”

“We got you.” Frank gave her a thumbs-up. “That was perfect.”

“Let’s reign it in, Marines,” Major Lopez reminded the group. “Focus.”

“When the fighting starts, we stick together,” Colonel Breaker said. “Remember what their weapons can do. When they show themselves, we’ll deploy as needed.”

“Roger that,” a series of voices returned.

Each second that ticked by, the morale of the combined forces of the House of Thunder and Leviathan declined. Frank knew exactly what the Legion of Chaos was doing; they were inspiring fear and doubt before they even took the field. Left to its own devices, the imagination could be a horrific place. Right now, each soldier’s imagination was being allowed to wander.

Frank looked to his left, past the major and the colonel, to Vega. She stood on the frontlines, the visor on her helmet lowered, only showing her eyes. But she turned to Frank and nodded.

Though there were no words exchanged, Frank knew exactly what she meant. Right now, in the face of carnage, the warriors needed a symbol. Something to cheer for and look to, instead of being lost in their own fear and doubt.

Frank’s heart pounded wildly in his chest as he stepped forward. Frank was far from shy, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable speaking to thousands of soldiers. All eyes turned to him as he moved to address the warriors.

Major Lopez caught his eye. She was miming something.

“Just tell me,” Frank uttered over his comms. “I can’t make out all your hand gestures. Are you telling me to steal third base?”

“Use your will to construct a symbol,” Elly responded over the comms. “You’re the right man for the job, Frank. Everything that’s happened to you in life has prepared you for this moment.”

“Right,” Frank said. He channeled his newly discovered Will and wrapped his body with the purple power, creating armor constructs. As an afterthought, he created a spear with a rippling banner. On the banner were the sigils for the two houses: a thunderbird and a leviathan.

Though the ground still trembled and the shouts from the enemy raged on, Frank added his own voice to the fray.

“Your enemy comes, our enemy comes. They march on you and your brothers and your sisters. They have manipulated, lied, and laughed at you from the darkness. They come now to take your homes, your futures, your lives!” Frank shouted as loud as he could as he walked up and down the lines. “And I say, let them come. Because they do not know the ferocity of the will to survive that lives in each and every one of us! Let them come—they’ll be sorry they did!”

“Arilion Knight! Arilion Knight! Arilion Knight!” the chant started, slowly rippling through the army as Frank’s words were relayed to others out of earshot.

“I come from a place called Earth, where the very elite of our soldiers are called Marines.” Frank looked over to his unit. “We have our own war cry, it sounds like this: Oohrah! Together as one, yell it at the top of your lungs, stomp your feet, and let your weapons crash. Let them be afraid of us! Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” the gathered force of the Houses of Thunder and Leviathan shouted in one voice. Boots stomped the ground, thunderbirds shrieked. Shields were bashed against swords and spears. “Oohrah!”

The sounds of their own chanting was beginning to drown out that of the enemy. Frank stood his ground, staying ahead of the main force, and turned to see their foe.

Despite the level of noise, Frank could hear the Berserkers guarding the princess, screaming their own war cries: “To the death! Tonight, we join our ancestors!”

Come on, guys, Frank thought. I just inspired these people. Let’s not get so dark. Some of us want to live.

Frank was trembling with the adrenaline coursing through his veins and the promise of a fight minutes away. The first wave of enemy soldiers filtered through the trees. The ground had been trembling, not due to the sheer number of the enemy, although that was a major contributing factor, but a line of power-armored mech warriors who led the charge.

The mech warriors were the same ones Frank had seen in the forest before. There were five of the mechanical beasts now. Behind their hoofed feet and horned helmets, waves of soldiers came.

These weren’t the robed enemies they had met their first night on Atmos. These enemies were clad in bulky red armor. The sigil stamped on their chest and drawn on their shields was a black flame.

Their weapons were the same—the flamethrower and plasma-type weapons, the thick machete-like swords.

There were thousands of the warriors, easily matching Frank’s force for number, but definitely holding the upper hand in firepower.

They’re not going to stand a chance unless you do something crazy. Frank eyed the weapons the enemy was already pointing at him. They’ll be cut down before they reach the frontlines.

As if someone pressed the mute button on the scene, the chanting from both sides ceased. A lone figure emerged from the ranks of the crimson red enemy troops. He wore his own red armor with the sigil of the Lord of Chaos. It was Kallion.

The former leader of the House of Thunder church sneered at Frank. He looked past his shoulder and gave the same look to Vega.

“Kill them!” he shouted to his own forces, turning back like the coward he was and returning to the rear of his army. “Kill them all.”

31

The Chaos army charged with a deafening roar. Weapon fire from their frontlines ripped open as they ran to meet their enemy.

Frank allowed the spear he was still carrying to dissipate in favor of a purple force field, ten feet high, that he placed in front of him. He extended the wall as far as he could to either side, trying to shield as many soldiers as possible.

Rounds from the enemy weapons splattered against his wall, both the plasma-like superheated rounds, as well as those that gushed a stream of flame. When the rounds struck the force field, they sent ripples of energy over the wall like a stone thrown into the water.

Shouts permeated the air as the Lord of Chaos’ soldiers bellowed in rage, firing even faster into the barrier. Likewise, shouts of courage ripped from the Neeves’ throats as they found a shield to take cover behind as they advanced.

“Ahhh!” Frank bellowed at the cost of holding up a construct this large. His arms shook; sweat was already forming on his brow and along the back of his neck. It felt like pushing a vehicle that had run out of gas, up a steep slope. “I can’t—I can’t hold it!”

“You can and you will,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “Push, Frank! Dig deep. We’ve got you, son! Come on, Marines, let’s go!”

Frank had both his arms extended in front of him, trying to take steps to advance the barrier. He moved inches, trying to press the barrier forward despite the onslaught of weapon fire battering him back.

Colonel Breaker grabbed Frank under his left armpit. Major Lopez did the same on his right. Frank felt Elly and Raj’s hands on his back and shoulders.

“Come on, Frank,” Major Lopez said behind her helmet. “You hold the barrier, we’ll push your sorry ass forward.”

Together, the Marines pressed forward, advancing on the enemy. The soldiers from the Houses of Thunder and Leviathan pressed in close to the barrier, ready to charge as soon as they got to the enemy lines, or Frank was no longer able to hold the shield.

“Let’s help him out!” Tamar ordered from somewhere behind Frank and the Marines. “Thunderbirds, drop troops and attack!”

Frank wasn’t sure what the order meant, but he was open to receiving any help he could get at this point. His hands were quivering from the strain.

“Keep it going, Frank!” Elly yelled. “Every second you’re able to keep this up, you’re saving lives. Let’s go, come on.” The last bit slurred a little, but no one, including Elly, paid it any mind.

“We got you, you son of an Arilion Knight,” Raj screamed over the comms. “Don’t give up!”

Frank was heaving his lungs, working overtime to try to provide oxygen to his overexerted body.

Keep it going, keep it going! Frank said to himself. You’ve got more to give. There’s always more to give. You hold this, you hold this barrier. Keep going, keep going!

Frank stumbled; he wasn’t even sure his feet were touching the ground anymore. The rest of his unit was practically carrying him.

The distance between the two armies was closing, but Frank didn’t know if he could hold out the next few seconds, which could mean the difference between hundreds of their own dying from the enemy weapons fire.

“I was wrong about you, Frank,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. The large man still held on to Frank’s shoulder, propelling him forward. “That’s not something I admit often. And if any of you bring it up, I’ll deny I ever said it. But you’re the right man for the job, Frank. You’re not money-hungry; you’re driven to succeed.”

For a moment, Frank wondered if the colonel knew he was about to pass out and decided to take his mind off what he was doing. Whatever the case, it worked.

“Do you think—do you think the Marine Corps has room for an Arilion Marine?” Frank gasped with a chuckle.

“Do we have that on record?” Major Lopez laughed. “Frank, I think you’re lightheaded.”

The unit chuckled despite their current situation. It was what Marines did in the face of adversity. Fear wasn’t an option, and neither was giving up.

Frank’s hands were falling. The dark purple shield in front of the army was beginning to fade. They had crossed nearly a hundred meters, but still another hundred remained.

Frank was beginning to see the black fingers of unconsciousness caress his peripheral vision, when the barrage of weapon fire slamming against his barrier lessened.

Soldiers were falling from the sky.

Frank shook his head, trying to focus on what he was seeing. The thunderbirds had entered the battle carrying soldiers on their backs, as well as another in their front talons.

The thunderbirds swooped down low, depositing the soldiers they carried into the frontlines of the enemy ranks. Next, they began harassing their opponents as they performed raids on the enemy.

What had been thousands of rounds striking Frank’s shield before, had now lessened by fifty percent.

“To me! To me! Riders of the deep! Our country men are dying!” The king of House Leviathan appeared next to the Marines on his steed. His trident crackled with a kind of blue electricity. “You’ve done well, Arilion Knight! Rest now.”

Frank didn’t need to be told twice. His arms fell as he sunk to his knees.

The barrier vanished, allowing both houses to charge the remaining distance toward the enemy.

The ground thundered as the king of House Leviathan led his riders, slamming into the front ranks of the Chaos Legion. Whatever his trident was made of, it shot bright cerulean electricity from its head, eviscerating soldiers left and right.

“Let’s give Frank some cover fire,” Colonel Breaker shouted as his soldiers took up positions around Frank. “Gather yourselves, Marines! This fight is far from over.”

Frank nodded, taking in deep breaths, slowing his heart rate and allowing his body a few seconds to recharge. The scene in front of him was something out of a science fiction novel. Thunderbirds clawed at armored chaos soldiers. The giant enemy power armor units battered both houses with weapon fire from their miniguns.

“We’ve got to take those powered armor units out of the fight,” Major Lopez observed. “If we can neutralize those, we have a chance.”

Frank regained his feet, wobbling as he did. He saw exactly what the major observed. In close quarters combat, the Neeve had the advantage. They would be able to hold their own against the enemy, despite their lack of firepower.

The power-armored units, however, with their force fields, were nearly untouchable. Thunderbirds swooped in, battering against their shields, to no avail. In return, the armored mech units blasted the thunderbirds out of the sky like target practice.

“It looks like their shields are stronger since our last meeting.” Colonel Breaker pointed to the closest armored unit on their right. “What do you say, Marines? I think it needs to be taken out.”

Frank followed the colonel’s line of sight, pausing to witness Vega in battle. The princess wielded a two handed great sword nearly as large as she was. She waded into the battle with the Berserkers around her, swinging her weapon with abandon.

“Are you listening to me, Frank?” Colonel Breaker broke his concentration.

“Oh, gosh. He’s gone into shock,” Raj said, grabbing Frank by the face and looking into his eyes. “Frank, Frank, can you hear me? Do you know who I am?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Frank pulled his head away. “Yes, colonel, I agree, the power armor needs to be taken out. I think I have something for the job.”

Frank channeled the Will, psyching himself up by bobbing his head. “It’s too bad we don’t have any music. I could use the extra pump right about now.”

“Funny you should say that.” Elly looked over at the colonel for permission. “I may have linked our comms to a certain playlist.”

“Go ahead,” Colonel Breaker said, “if it’s going to help him. But Frank, we have to move—now.”

“Got it,” Frank said as the familiar beat of Bad to the Bone, played over his comms.

Frank clenched his jaw, willing his imagination to create the weapon he needed for the job. All around him, the purple energy swirled, forming his construct. Frank grinned as the weapon took shape in his hands. Together with the purple armor still around him, he looked like he was in his own power suit armor.

32

“What the heck is that?” Major Lopez asked. “It looks like an RPG on crack cocaine.”

“No one says ‘crack cocaine’ these days,” Frank said with a grin. “You can just say crack. And yeah, B.U.T.T.S. is working on something like this. I saw the schematics, and well … now here it is.”

“Actually, for your information, crack and cocaine are two different things,” Major Lopez corrected.

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know,” Frank said in a judging tone.

The others were gawking at the weapon Frank held. It was a huge tube, at least ten feet long, on Frank’s right shoulder, with a sight sprouting out of the side for an aiming mechanism. A simple trigger and handle rested in his right hand.

“There’s no time to waste,” Colonel Breaker reminded the Marines. “When Frank opens fire, we can bet the enemy will target our location. When they do, we’re his defense while he takes out the power armor. Oohrah!?”

“Oohrah!” the Marines responded.

Frank aimed down the violet sight of his weapon. He zeroed in on the center of the power armor closest to their location. “Eat this.”

WHOOSH!

An ultraviolet rocket raced toward the power armor, slamming into the force field. A red rippling effect crackled around the armor as Frank sent rocket after rocket screaming toward the mech unit. They hit the target in quick succession.

Frank gritted his teeth with each shot as his still healing shoulder was jerked back with the kick of the weapon.

The third rocket broke through the force field, leaving the armor exposed. The power armor swung its horned head toward Frank, raising its minigun.

“Too late, sucker.” Frank released another rocket that hit the power armor a second later. The helmet on the power armor’s head exploded as the unit sank, first to its knees, then fell face-first onto the pink, blood-soaked ground.

A cheer from both houses filled the sky.

“Nice shooting, but we’ve got their attention now!” Raj said, pointing to the other four power armor units leveling their weapons at Frank and the rest of the Marines. “Incoming!”

Frank understood he didn’t have enough left in him to create another protective barrier, but if there was one thing the Marines had instilled in him, it was how to dig one hell of a foxhole.

An oversized shovel appeared in Frank’s hands, so large it looked comical. He had enough time to get out one deep shovel full of ground, thanks to the power of his will behind the tool.

“In, get in!” Frank yelled as he dove into the hole.

The other Marines didn’t need to be told twice. A rain of red plasma peppered the surrounding ground. Frank kept his head low, cycling through his options. The truth was, he was fatigued. It was the first time using his powers in a combat scenario after a full day of training.

He would give everything he had, but would it be enough?

The answer to his question came in the most unlikely of ways: a horn blast. Not like the horns that signaled the House of Thunder to go to war. This one was different. It was deeper, louder.

ROOOOOOOOM!

“What the heck is that?” Elly asked, keeping her head down as plasma hit the ground right behind her. “What now? Seriously! This is enough!”

Elly stood up from her spot, pulling the trigger on her gauss-powered rifle and screaming at the enemy as she peppered their ranks. A warrior’s bellow ripped from her mouth as she did. “AHHH!”

It was only when her weapon had clicked dry that she returned to her hunched position. It was a miracle she hadn’t been hit.

“Remind me never to piss you off.” Frank couldn’t help grinning.

“My freakin’ ears!” Elly began to explain. “That sound, it—”

ROOOOOOOOM!

The horn came one more time, before the ground shook and a monster’s roar reverberated through the sky. The action on the battlefield paused. The sounds of constant weapon fire and war cries ceased as all the combatants turned to look at the nightmare that approached.

Frank’s blood turned to ice water in his veins as he stood from the impromptu foxhole. Charging across the land was the leviathan he had first encountered when arriving at Atmos. The creature was apparently not contained to the water, it looked more like what Frank had seen of drawings of dragons.

The elongated neck came down attached to a thick body covered in scales, seaweed, and barnacles, with wide, webbed feet galloping across the land, sending tremors into the ground. The body was as long as a blimp, the paws as large as cars.

Frank took a deep breath, wondering if there was any way he could construct his own mech warrior to combat the beast.

ROOOOOOM!

The horn came one last time, answered by the creature’s roar. Frank turned to see the queen of House Leviathan lower a silver horn from her lips. She looked to Frank with a wink.

Frank felt a wave of relief as he realized the leviathan was an ally, not an enemy.

“Lucky for you, we don’t have to go round two.” Frank smirked at the leviathan as shouts of warning came from the Chaos soldiers.

The suits of power armor now lost all interest in the Marines. Instead, the enemy reformed ranks with the four remaining power armor units, concentrating their fire on the charging leviathan.

The hard scales of the monster was enough to hold the first wave of fire from penetrating its hide. For how long the wet scales could endure against the barrage was yet to be seen.

“Let’s go!” Colonel Breaker shouted as the leviathan thundered by. “Push the attack. We can break them right here.”

Frank found himself running alongside the Marines as they fired their gauss-powered weapon at the enemy. Frank joined in, constructing his own gauss rifle and bombarding the aliens in front of him. Purple- and red-laced rounds assailed the egomaniacal enemy before them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The leviathan crushed the first suit of power armor before reaching down with its massive jaws and chomping on a second. There was a deep wound on its snout where Frank had injured it days before. A yellow eye found Frank and glared at him as if telling him, “Hey, I remember you.”

The fight was already over and the enemy was beginning to realize they had lost. Some were even beginning to break and run. Frank was about to move with the rest of the Marines and bombard the force field on one of the last two suits of power armor, when a certain bald head in the mass of swirling red caught his eye.

Kallion was trying to rally his troops for another push. He was screaming at them to turn and fight.

“I have Kallion,” Frank said over the comms. “Permission to pursue?”

“Go, finish this,” Colonel Breaker yelled back.

Frank fought his way forward through the thinning lines of enemy soldiers. He took one chaos soldier right through the eyes; his purple ammunition punctured the red helmet and whatever alien was underneath.

The best thing about his Arilion-constructed weapon was that it didn’t need to be charged or reloaded.

Frank let off another three rounds, catching an enemy in the chest. A moment later, he constructed a shield on his left arm, sheltering himself from a flamethrower blast. He returned a series of short bursts of his own, turning the soldier into Swiss cheese.

“This isn’t over, you impostor,” Kallion said, standing in front of Frank. “You’re no Arilion Knight.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Frank leveled his weapon at Kallion’s chest. “But I know I’m a Marine, and that’s more than enough.”

“You will all die. This was just a taste of the true power of—”

Frank had heard enough. He put a round through Kallion’s left lung.

BOOM!

Kallion sunk to the ground still muttering, “You’re already dead, you’re already dead…”

“Not yet.” Vega appeared by Frank’s side, spattered in blood. She still carried her great sword. “But today, you pay for what you’ve done to my family.”

Frank lowered his weapon, allowing Vega her moment of vengeance.

“He’s coming. The Lord of Chaos comes, and there is nothing you can do.” Kallion pressed a hand to his bleeding side. “He comes for the universe.”

“Then we’ll be ready,” Vega said, swinging her sword down and severing Kallion’s skull in two equal parts.

Frank wasn’t the squeamish type, but even he wanted to look away as Vega planted her boot in the corpse’s chest and pulled her sword free.

All around the battlefield, the last of the enemy soldiers were fleeing into the forest. Cheers of victory filled the air.

Frank was happy the battle was over, but he understood the war had just begun.

33

The conflict had taken place overnight. The sun was beginning to rise as Frank and the others were taken back to the castle and to the sphere that Vega had promised them use of once the battle was over.

Frank felt like a zombie. An exhausted, hungry zombie. But Colonel Breaker refused to take another moment of rest. If the sphere was accessible to them now, then they needed to get back to The Den and give a full report on what had transpired here.

The thunderbirds deposited the Marines, along with Vega, back to the castle grounds. A quick trip inside the castle led them to the meeting hall where Heron stood ready for them. He had brought the sphere, which now hovered in place. He was in the process of turning the different sections and locking in the coordinates for Earth.

“It’s so good to see you all,” Heron said with a childlike grin. “Vega sent word ahead about the importance of your need to return to your home. Elly, if you would assist me with the symbols on the sphere designated for Earth?”

Elly said her goodbyes to Vega before moving to assist Heron. Frank waited as the princess said her farewells to Raj and Major Lopez. Colonel Breaker was next.

“There’s a lot we have to learn from each other.” Colonel Breaker offered his hand. Vega accepted it with her own. “Once we get back to our world and debrief, we’ll be back. With your permission, of course. We’ll need each other’s help to battle this Lord of Chaos.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Vega said, looking over to Heron. “That’s why I want Heron to go with you. He can teach you about the sphere, the gateway, and continue to instruct Frank on the ways of the Arilion.”

“I am so excited and happy to go with you.” Heron peeked up from his spot next to the sphere. He pointed to the corner of the room where a mountain of books and a large pack sat. “If you wouldn’t mind helping me with my belongings. I’ve packed light.”

“Thank you,” Colonel Breaker said with a smile. “He’ll be able to teach us so much. I can’t imagine we’ll be gone for more than a few days before you hear from us.”

A light hum reached everyone’s ears as Elly and Heron locked in the last symbol. The sphere projected the gateway on the far wall. A moment later, the same thick fog appeared, changing every color of the spectrum.

“Come on, let’s go.” Colonel Breaker moved to help Heron with his books. “Everyone lend a hand through the gateway.”

Frank stood by Vega as Heron looked at Frank with concern in his eyes. His nose was barely visible over the pile of books he carried. “Frank, aren’t you coming?”

Raj whispered something in his ear, inclining his head toward Frank and the princess.

“Oh. Oh, my,” Heron said, nodding and following the rest of the Marines through the gateway. A moment later, Frank and Vega were alone.

“So,” Frank said searching for the right words.

“So, yourself.” Vega still wore her armor. Her boots made her nearly as tall as Frank. “Go, but don’t be gone for too long. I like having an Arilion Knight around.”

“Yeah, I was thinking when you come and visit me on Earth, or I come back, maybe we can go out on a date?” Frank asked with no idea if princesses from Atmos were allowed to go on dates.

“Date?” Vega cocked her head and raised her brow. “I don’t understand.”

“You know…” Frank cursed the translator for not catching the right term. “Like, go out to dinner together.”

“Oh, like a meal with friends?” Vega said, still confused. “Should I invite Tamar? We’ll have another banquet.”

“No … no, not like that. It would be just you and me, and—”

Vega grabbed Frank around the collar and drew him in close. Her lips pressed hard against his. A lightheadedness took over Frank before she released him.

“I know what the word ‘date’ means.” Vega gave him a mischievous smile. “Go, and come back quickly. I’ll be waiting for that date.”

Frank wasn’t sure how, but he knew Vega was different from any other woman he had known. Not just because she was an alien, or a princess, but because she was Vega.

“I’ll see you soon,” Frank said as he walked through the gateway.

The experience was just like when he’d arrived on Atmos. Thick fog so dense he couldn’t see more than a foot in front of him, followed by its eventual dissipation and the change of floor beneath his boots. The chill grazed his face. Once-smooth stone at the castle and now the floor tipped down as he re-entered The Den and the ramp that lowered to the ground.

Frank blinked, remembering the underground room where the gateway resided, the turrets, and the Marines guarding the gateway, and the scientists wearing their lab coats. He was back.

“Aw, there he is.” Heron moved to the sphere, turning a few symbols and powering down the device. “That should do it.”

Colonel Breaker was already in a deep conversation with General Fox. Major Lopez and Raj removed their helmets and reassured the scientists and soldiers that Heron was a friend.

“And that’s how you turn it off,” Heron instructed Elly.

The gateway projected by the sphere vanished a moment later.

Frank walked down the ramp to Heron and Elly.

“Now where should I put my books?” Heron asked, rolling his eyes and smacking his hand against his forehead. “Oh no, I forgot my toothbrush. I knew I was forgetting something. I always forget something.”

“I’m sure the US government can find you a tooth—”

Elly’s next words were cut off as the gateway sprung to life once more. The symbols that lined the perimeter of the arch glowed to life. They were an entirely new configuration.

“Heron.” Colonel Breaker looked to the historian. “Power down the sphere, please.”

“I can’t.” Heron motioned to the sphere. “I didn’t touch it. The gateway is being opened from the other side. It’s not from Atmos, either.”

Before anyone could comprehend what Heron was saying, someone floated through the gateway. It was a muscular, green-skinned woman with a patch over her left eye. Two blasts from her own purple vambraces annihilated the turrets standing guard from the viewing room above.

BAM! BAM!

The granite-and-cement cave echoed with the blasts. Soldiers lifted their weapons in her direction. The alien hit the entire room with a concussive blast, just like Frank had used on the Berserkers. A wave of purple energy took everyone off his or her feet, including Frank.

Frank struggled to stand, trying to make sense of what was happening. A ringing in his ears kept him from hearing anything except for what the alien woman said as she floated toward him.

“Frank Wolffe.” She sneered. “Did you think we wouldn’t know? Did you think you were the only one?”

End Book One

Always Forward

Book Two of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Wayne

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Beth

Cover Illustrator – JCaleb

To Leo, Wayne, Babs, Lois, Athena and Kelly. You’re the best wolves a pack could ask for.

-Jonathan Yanez

For those who’ve yet to lose their sense of wonder; who look beyond the stars in hopes and dreams of more; who never give up the fight on possibilities. For those who won’t be blinded by the light. You know who this is for.

- JR Castle

1

“Lady, I don’t know who you are, how you know my name, or why there’re horns growing out of your head,” Frank said, pushing past the fatigue that reached every inch of his body. His ears were still ringing from the concussion blast. “But I’ve just had one heck of a road trip. You do not want to push me right now.”

The green-scaled alien touched down on the stark cement in front of Frank. Her one good eye looked him over like an apex predator examining its prey. Her dark hair gathered between her horns like a Mohawk before falling behind her head in a thick braid. She wore dark leather vest and pants over her physique, sculpted from endless hours of training.

“You don’t look like much for an Arilion Knight,” she said through snarled lips; her disapproval clear on her face.

“Yeah, well, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Frank stood up, preparing himself for yet another fight. Even when he stood, he was still a good six inches shorter than the lizard-scaled woman. At least he figured she was a woman by the curve of her hips, waist, and modest bosom. “Well, we going to do this or what?”

“You’re coming with me.” The woman formed a purple shield in her left hand and a set of manacles in the other using her Will. “You have a duty to perform.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Frank could see the other Marines in the room struggling to their feet from heaps and prone positions scattered in the expansive room carved into the dam and canyon. In moments, they would be ready to help.

“I’m not going anywhere except to bed and then maybe to Starbucks.” Frank willed a gauss rifle construct into his hands. He narrowed down the sights at the advancing alien.

“Insolent fool!” The woman charged forward from the gateway. “You will come with me whether you like it or not.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank opened up with a series of blackish violet rounds that streaked from his rifle toward the approaching alien.

She lifted her shield, blocking the incoming rounds. A sharp “pinging” sound came every time a round struck her shield. She was on top of Frank so fast he didn’t have time to transition to another weapon before she hammered into him with her shield.

Whether it was his lack of sleep, the exhaustion, or she was actually that fast, Frank wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was being bullied backward by the woman. Her crest shield pressed against his chest. His boots lost traction on the sleek floor beneath him. He was forced to give ground.

With her free clawed hand, the alien latched Frank’s left arm with one of the manacles. The cold purple construct clamped on to his wrist so hard, Frank thought he was going to lose blood flow to the appendage.

Frank constructed the first thing to come to mind at that moment. A laser sword appeared in his right hand. A moment later, he severed the chain holding him prisoner. He created separation by pushing her back, driving his shoulder into her, then placed a boot in the woman’s shield smack in the middle of the winged inlay, forcing her even further back. He traded out his sword for a pair of thin boxing gloves.

“Stubborn, but as an Arilion Knight, I should have guessed as much.” The alien woman allowed her shield to evaporate, also placing purple gloves on her fists. “I approve of your weapons of choice.”

“Frank.” Colonel Breaker’s voice interrupted the battle taking place in the underground chamber. “Give us a clear shot.”

Frank looked over to where the other Marines had gathered themselves, taking up firing positions on the alien. He also knew how powerful this distant visitor was. She could create a force field around her, allowing her to wreak havoc on the Marines while rendering their own weapons useless. Their best chance right now was Frank.

“I’ve got this,” Frank said, bounce-stepping and rolling his head on his shoulder, trying to shake off some of the tension. He extended a hand and beckoned for the alien to approach by waving his fingers forward. “Come on, bring it.”

“You humans are so cocky,” the reptilian woman said, squaring her shoulders, looking down to him, and stomping forward. “If we were not on the same side, I would have already killed you.”

“We’re on the same side?” Frank asked, confused.

There was no reply from the alien warrior as she advanced. What ensued next was a series of strikes Frank and the woman traded that had less to do with technique and more to do with power. Frank gave as good as he was given. A blow to his ribs doubled him over, while a strike across his jaw split his lip.

The combatants traded a torrent of blows with one another in a flurry of purple-blurred wallops. A swing to a gut was answered by a jab to the ribs. Dodge. Slam. Dig. Belt. Frank was certain he broke something inside the alien’s nose when lime-green blood oozed from the slits that were her nostrils. He hammered her with a kidney punch that would have felled an ox. She remained on her feet.

A few moments later, both gladiators stood heaving, examining each other for their next opening. They were like two heavyweight boxers in the ninth round of the match.

“You’re a blunt instrument,” the alien woman said, spitting blood. “But you can be trained.”

“We really need to define our relationship here,” Frank said, wincing as he drew in breath through heaving lungs. “Are we enemies or is this some kind of weird hazing ritual?”

Instead of answering, she feigned with a punch before tackling Frank and driving him to the ground. Pain exploded in Frank’s chest as he was slammed to the cold ground.

He didn’t even attempt to halt the momentum the alien had initiated; Frank went with it as he crashed into the ground and rolled to the left. Leveraging the inertia, he straddled the alien woman, grabbing on to her left arm and wrapping her chest with his legs, nailing her down with an arm bar. His whole body wrapped around her single limb. He forced her elbow and shoulder to their breaking point.

“Enough,” the alien ordered.

Upon her voice command, Frank let go of her appendage without thinking twice. He stood from the ground, wiping at a line of blood that fell down the right corner of his lip.

“My name is Sava Sargard. I am an Arilion Knight and I have come here to take you back to my planet and train you in the way of our order,” Sava said, speaking to everyone but looking only to Frank. “Time is short; the enemy is at our doorstep.”

“You could have started with all of this,” Frank said, shaking his head and already feeling a wave of new bruises forming over his tired torso. Deep within, he knew she was telling the truth. Whether it was his own intuition or the Will he now was able to channel, he wasn’t sure. “You didn’t have to take the nuclear option here. We could have talked about this.”

“Talking rarely gets results. Politicians talk. We are warriors; we act.” Sava lowered her hands. She looked over to the group of Marines that trained their rifles on her and Heron, who looked like he was going to burst with questions. “Lower your weapons, soldiers of Earth. It is not me who you need fear.”

When the Marines kept their gauss rifles and M4A16s pointed at Sava, she turned to Frank for guidance.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Frank waved off her stare. “I don’t give the orders around here.”

“Hold your fire,” General Fox said as ranks of Marines made way for him to pass through. His steps steady, he strode toward the Knights, not missing a beat. If he was worried about the situation they found themselves in now, he didn’t show it. The weathered Marine stared down Sava with no hint of being intimidated. “I need to know who you are and your intentions. Until then, we look at you down the barrel of our weapons.”

“As I stated, my name is Sava Sargard. I come from a planet called Brytanna, where we have taken the brunt of the Chaos Lord’s blows for too long while you humans and the rest of the universe remain safe in your beds.” Sava bristled, narrowing her eyes. “When I discovered there was another Arilion Knight, I made all haste to come and recruit him. As Arilions, we carry a burden to fight the darkness.”

“I need to know you’re not going to try anything with those purple weapons of yours. You’re lucky none of my Marines were injured during your little performance when you arrived.” General Fox looked up at Sava. Her green and towering frame did nothing to impact the seasoned soldier. Frank got the sense that General Fox had faced the mercenary of death on more than one occasion and stared him down and won. “If you are an ally, then act like one.”

Sava’s upper lip rose in a sneer, but she managed to beat back her anger. She cleared her throat a moment later. “I apologize. If I seem blunt, it would be because there is no time to banter or debate. I needed to know Frank was an Arilion Knight and now I need to take him back to my planet to fight. We may have a chance now that two Arilion Knights have been called.”

Colonel Breaker appeared at the general’s side and whispered something into his ear. The general nodded without saying anything. Instead, he turned back to Sava.

“It appears we all need to get on the same page here,” the general said, turning to Frank. “You have it in you for a briefing? You look dead on your feet.”

“If you have some kind of caffeine stimulant, I can make it,” Frank said, blinking to try and keep his eyes open. “I want to know what this crocodile is talking about too.”

Sava raised her eyebrow at Frank at the mention of her, but it was clear she didn’t understand the term. “If that was an insult, Frank, Arilion Knight or not, you will be paid for your jab in pain.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Frank said, looking to the general for orders. “Where do you want us?”

2

A strange group made up of Marine SpaceCorps One, Heron, Sava, and General Fox all made their way through the Den. The sound of their collected steps echoed in the hall with swift, long movements mixed with tired or short scampering. General Fox took the lead with Colonel Breaker speaking quickly into his ear.

Major Lopez walked with her gauss-powered Punisher GS2000 in her hands behind Sava along with Elly and Raj. Frank strode alongside the major, ready to jump into action if Sava was going to make a play to turn traitor. He knew she wouldn’t. They shared an unseen link that soothed his worries, gave him reassurance.

Sava took long strides with Heron by her side. He double-timed his steps to keep up with her, his feet nearly catching in the long fabric of his robe. The Neeve historian spat out questions as fast as he could get answers. Frank listened in.

“You said you were from Brytanna?” Heron asked. He looked like a child compared to Sava’s muscular six and a half foot frame. “You’re a Draconian, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Sava said without even looking at Heron. “How did you know that?”

“It’s my job to know,” Heron said, skipping along the cement floor. “When were you chosen as an Arilion Knight?”

“I don’t wish to repeat myself, Neeve,” Sava said as the group reached a set of steel doors. “I’ll tell everyone once.”

General Fox placed his hand on a scanner alongside the door. A light hiss sounded as the metal doors slid open. The group entered a room with recessed lights fitted into the ceiling that turned on as soon as they sensed motion.

An oval mahogany table sat in the middle of the sparsely decorated room. A closed media cabinet sat on the left while a map of the known universe hung on the right.

Frank noticed both the general and the colonel kept their hands close to the sidearms resting on their waists. It was clear they were willing to give Sava a chance but not much more than that.

General Fox motioned them to sit.

Frank took a spot between Sava and a wide-eyed Elly. If something were to go down, he wanted to be close to their alien visitor. His weapons were the only ones that would do any good in a fight with her.

“I have more questions than I can count.” General Fox leaned forward in his chair. “Even with Colonel Breaker getting me up to speed. Sava, I can see you’re in a hurry to get back to your world but we’re new to all of this intergalactic travel. I want you to tell me from the beginning who you are and what you need from us.”

Sava licked the green blood that was beginning to dry on her upper lip. The wounds she suffered from Frank in their fight didn’t seem to faze her in the slightest.

“Brytanna, the planet I come from, is on the edge of the known universe. For the last two years, we’ve heard whispers in the night, murmurs of an evil growing in the dark. My people have listened and prepared. Still, we are no match for him alone.” Sava stared down at the table and her shoulders slackened for a moment, for the first time exuding anything save strength. She looked tired, beaten but not broken. “Then, months ago, he came. The Lord of Chaos who was defeated all those years past, it seems he was never killed. He has been growing in strength in the darkness. Now he’s making his move.”

“You were attacked?” Major Lopez pressed for more information. “I mean, your planet was attacked, wasn’t it?”

“Attacked is a polite way of putting it. The Lord of Chaos and his legions are ravaging us. Our numbers are only a fraction of what they once were.” Sava looked up, turning her head to match her yellow eyes with each person sitting at the table. She stopped at Frank. “But as long as a Draconian draws breath, he will never defeat us. We stand despite our thinning numbers and we fight.”

“If I may?” Heron spoke up, pointing to Sava’s vambraces. “When did you discover you were an Arilion Knight?”

“Five years almost to the day,” Sava answered as if she were expecting the question. “I’ve trained religiously, knowing I was chosen for a reason and that reason would soon be revealed. When the Lord of Chaos made his move, I was ready, but… but there are hundreds of thousands of Chaos soldiers, not to mention the power armor they bring and his own personal Blood Guard. I fight day and night, though it is not enough. It is never enough.”

Sava wasn’t looking anyone in the eye now. The muscles under her jawline twinged and jumped with pressure. Frank understood how she must feel, to be powerful but not powerful enough. To be the only one able to wield the power yielded from the vambraces, to fight day after day without end, must have been a lonely burden, and must have wreaked havoc on her chi.

“When the vambraces chose Frank, I knew there was another,” Sava continued her story. “Something I can’t explain called to me. It directed me here through our own sphere.”

“How is it that you speak English?” Elly blurted out like she couldn’t hold in the question any longer. “I know I can understand because of our module, but the general and… I mean, seriously, is no one else thinking that here?”

“The thought passed my mind,” Raj said from his seat, nodding along slowly.

“We have our own internal implants that allow us to hear and speak different languages,” Sava growled as if the question annoyed her. “Now I’ve given you all of your answers. We need to return to Brytanna. The planet is our first best hope of stopping the Chaos Lord’s march on the universe. With another Arilion Knight entering the fight, we can turn the tide of battle.”

Sava closed her mouth with a click of sharp teeth. Her yellow eyes turned to General Fox.

Everyone in the room followed her gaze. The general leaned back in his chair. He had a stern look of his own on his face. He was lost deep in thought. The pointer finger from his right hand tapped a steady beat on the table.

“If everything you’re saying is true, then yes, we’ll help you.” General Fox looked over to Heron. “Heron, I understand we have yet to formally meet but Colonel Breaker tells me you’re a historian of the universe.”

“Yes, that’s right,” the old Neeve said, sitting up straighter in his seat. “I can confirm Sava’s story as far as Brytanna. The planet is indeed found at the edge of the universe. They are a warrior species known for being forthcoming; there is no room for lies or manipulations in the time of battle. Centuries before, the Lord of Chaos emerged with his Legion, reaching toward the rim of the known universe to pick off peoples and grow his following. Where he is from is not known for certain. Some say he was born from hell itself, some say he’s the offspring of two races gone wrong, others think he’s a power-hungry middle child. During the first Chaos War, it was a Draconian who established the Arilion Knights and led the charge into battle.”

“Saber Sargard,” Sava said, nodding toward Heron, appreciating the acknowledgment. “I am his descendent and I will lead as he did to whatever end.”

As much as Frank wanted to stay awake, after a night out spying with Princess Vega, a full day of training, and then fighting through the night once more, the pull for sleep was too strong.

He felt his eyes close and his chin tilt forward. He wasn’t sure how long he was out. It had to be a matter of seconds.

“Frank,” Colonel Breaker called just below a shout. By the way he said Frank’s name, it was clear this was not the first time he had called him. “Frank, wake up.”

“I can still win the spelling bee, advantageous.” Frank jerked his head up, blinking at everyone. “Oh, it wasn’t a dream after all.”

“As you can see, our people have just returned from an off-world visit,” General Fox said, looking to Sava. “We are going to help you but even you can understand that, with no sleep, they’re not going to be any good in a fight. Give us a few days. We’ll go over details and come up with a strategy. I’ll send a unit back with you to your world.”

“A few days?” Sava jumped from her seat, placing her giant hands on the table and shaking her head from side to side. “My people burn and die by the hour–especially with me gone. We must go as soon as possible.”

“I hear you.” General Fox relaxed the grip on the handle of his weapon. Although he had not drawn his Kimber 1911, Frank understood he was less than a quick second away. “Give me a day then. Give us a day to grab some sleep and form a plan. You as a warrior understand the importance of solid tactics.”

Sava licked a thin tongue over her lips as if she were deep in thought. “I agree. One day. Then we depart.”

“Frank, get some rest; you’re depressing me,” General Fox commanded. “Everyone else, I’d like a debriefing report before you go. Then I’ll meet with Heron and Sava, if that is agreeable with you two?”

“Oh, yes I can’t wait,” Heron said, rubbing his hands together. “I’d like to hear all about this coffee Frank keeps talking about. I hope I pronounced that right.”

“Major, show Frank where he can pass out for a few hours and then rejoin us,” General Fox directed the major.

“Of course, sir.” Major Lopez stood from her seat, waiting at the door for Frank to follow.

Frank rose from his seat, only to feel Sava’s vise-like grip on his right arm.

“Rest well; there will be no comfort for you once we engage the Lord of Chaos,” Sava warned with solemn eyes.

“Great, now I’m going to have nightmares.” Frank jerked his arm free. “I’ll see you all on the other side.”

3

“I was kind of surprised when the general offered you sleep, but you do look like death,” Major Lopez said with a sideways smile in the elevator as they were lowered deeper into the secret underground bunker. “I bet Colonel Breaker suggested that to him after seeing you fight through the night.”

“We all fought through the night,” Frank sighed, remembering the previous night’s events. “We’re all tired.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t train all day with magical gauntlets or steal away the night before with an alien princess,” Major Lopez ribbed as the steel box lowered them smoothly below. “What happened between you two anyway? You have a girlfriend now?”

“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“I don’t see any of those here.”

“Good call,” Frank said with a grin and a yawn. “I don’t know what we are. I guess that mystery will have to wait until next time we visit Atmos. Hey, how big is this military bunker anyway?”

Frank concentrated on the bright row of floor numbers on the elevator control panel. There were twenty floors displayed. It wouldn’t surprise Frank if there were even more than that remained hidden to all except a select few.

“It’s a city underground.” Major Lopez shrugged as the elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open. “We have our own floor for chow, PT, bunks, storage and weapons range, and more for the civilian scientists working here.”

Frank let out a low whistle as they walked down a long hall featuring doors to their right, each opening up into large rooms with bunks. To the left were washrooms with enough showers and heads to keep an army clean and relieved.

“This is you.” Major Lopez led Frank to the end of the hall and turned right at the T intersection. Another row of rooms on their left marked the chambers of higher ranking Marines. The major opened the first door. “Welcome back to the Corps.”

Frank looked into the tiny room. There was enough floor space for a twin-sized bed, a three drawer-dresser, and a small desk with a chair.

“This looks great,” Frank said, entering the room and throwing himself face first on the bed. “I could sleep on a leviathan right now.”

“Too soon.” Major Lopez shut the door.

Frank was out in seconds. To his relief, no dreams came with this sleep; just the complete and utter blackness of giving in to exhaustion.

Underground with no windows to tell the position of sun or moon, it was impossible for Frank to know how many hours he had slept. All he knew was at some point through the night, he had kicked off his boots.

Vaguely, he remembered removing the vambraces from his forearms. The dark purple glow had made it hard to sleep, like a child’s night light too close to his face.

Frank smacked his dry mouth and looked for water when he again heard the shout that had initially woken him come once again. It came through the wall to the right of his room. Frank lay in his bed staring up into the darkness, listening for it one more time.

If this place is haunted on top of there being intergalactic travel, I’m out, Frank thought to himself. Really, an Arilion Knight can only take so much.

The sound came again. It was more like a tortured cry. Frank rose from his bed, reaching for the vambraces on the floor. He slipped them on, not bothering with his shoes.

When he opened the door to his room, bright lights from the hall assaulted his retinas; he blinked in an effort to adjust his pupils. Frank could smell himself. The showers called to him, whispering that whatever was going on wasn’t his problem. His stomach growled, reminding him that the last time he had eaten was on Atmos.

Still, there was something familiar about the sound. Frank reached the closed door next to his own room. He leaned in closer, listening for the cry.

It came again, this time like a wounded animal.

Frank reached for the Will, channeling a shield around him. Without wasting another second, he opened the door in front of him.

It was a room exactly like his own, except for the photos of a handsome woman with the colonel, a young man in a graduation cap, and a group of Marines. Colonel Breaker lay on his bed in white boxers and dog tags. He was sweating as he wrestled with the nightmare plaguing him that night.

“Colonel,” Frank said from the doorway. “Colonel, wake up; you’re having a dream.”

Thick beads of sweat showed across the colonel’s tense body as he turned back and forth, moaning something now. Frank could barely make it out.

“No—Sam—get back—they’re dead—they’re all dead.”

Frank couldn’t leave him like that. He released the construct protecting him and strode into the room. He placed a hand on the colonel’s bulky shoulder, gently shaking him. “Hey, you got to wake up.”

The reaction was instant. Colonel Breaker reached under his pillow for the standard issued Marine Ka-bar. In the next heartbeat, he launched himself at Frank, slashing for his throat.

Frank backpedaled, tripping as both men went to the floor. Frank constructed the first thing that came to mind, a net. A purple net caught the colonel as he reached out with the knife. The weapon stopped inches from Frank’s throat in the violet glow of the otherwise dark room.

“Hey, Colonel, can you hear me?” Frank said, forcing the net back as he rose to his feet. “It’s me; you were just having a nightmare.”

Colonel Breaker stopped struggling. He blinked a few times, trying to bring a hand up to wipe the sweat from his face. The net still holding him refused him this act.

“Frank—I was—I—did I hurt you?” the colonel asked, looking down at the combat knife he still clutched in his hand.

“No, you didn’t.” Frank lowered the colonel to his bed and allowed the net to dissipate. “Must have been one hell of a nightmare. Were you stuck at the DMV or were they all out of pumpkin spice latte at the coffee house?”

“No—no nothing like that.” Colonel Breaker placed his Ka-bar on the bed and looked at his watch. “We better get going. Showers and chow, and I’ll have the major come get you in twenty minutes.”

Frank was about to leave the room. He had used comedy to dance around the very real issue of PTSD he understood the colonel was suffering from. Frank took a closer look at the pictures around the room. They showed a very different Colonel Solomon Breaker than the one Frank knew. He was smiling with his arms around other Marines, throwing up peace signs and thumbs-ups. There was a light in his eyes that Frank did not see in the man before him.

“I know we still aren’t that close or anything,” Frank said, looking back at the colonel as the muscular man dressed in his dark fatigues. “But I also know I can’t just walk out that door and pretend everything’s fine.”

“You going to offer to talk to me or hear my deepest, darkest woes?” Colonel Breaker paused, buttoning up his shirt to raise an eyebrow at Frank. “I tried going to a counselor, even attended a few of those meetings for military members suffering from PTSD. I quit after a few rounds. There was an ex-Army officer there complaining about his kids. He was going on and on how they were misbehaved and some other nonsense I don’t have time to listen to. The point is, I don’t suffer from what they suffer from. I’m an old war dog who’s seen more than most can imagine. All my kids have died in the field.”

“You fear being alone the most because that’s when your mind has time to wander,” Frank said, leaning against the doorframe leading from the colonel’s room. “What most people don’t understand is that rest is the worst thing you can do when you have memories branded into your thoughts of brothers bleeding out beside you. How hearing any helicopters overhead takes you right back.”

The room was quiet. Each man thought on Frank’s words, weighing the truth there was to be found there.

“Exactly.” Colonel Breaker stared at the pictures on the wall.

“Four years in the Marines and a stint with the Raiders was enough to scar a few memories nice and deep.” Frank let out a long breath as images of friends and brothers lost during his own time in the military raced past his thoughts. “It’s not my place to tell you what to do. You’re a colonel, but if we were friends, I’d tell you that you aren’t alone, and if you ever did need an ear to listen… you could go talk to Elly or Raj.”

A grin spread over Colonel Breaker’s lips. “I heard Elly and Raj are good listeners.”

Frank nodded, then left the room for his own quarters, the brief conversation already bringing memories from his own past from the pit of his stomach, past the mask of sarcasm, and burning in the front of his mind.

4

Stepping into the hot shower felt like stepping into a new body. Frank didn’t realize how dirty he was or how wonderful the refreshing and unwinding of a dozen tiny jets of water against his body would feel.

He had more scratches and bruises than he thought. His body was sore, but no serious injuries hindered his movements. There was no one else in the shower area; either he was way late or super early. Either way, it was okay with him having the locker room to himself.

Frank had to force himself to turn off the steaming shower spout. He probably could have spent an additional ten minutes in the shower if he had his own way. For a final moment, he allowed the cleansing waters to drench his head, roll down his face and shoulders, and down his back to the drain below, taking the past few days of loss, betrayal, and battle with it.

“Wow, full frontal,” Major Lopez said, interrupting his moment and tossing Frank a towel. “Got some clothes for you that you’re going to love.”

Frank grabbed the towel out of the air, patting himself dry as he followed the major out of the shower section and to the adjoining locker room. The room was wide with aisles of beige portable lockers and thick maple finished benches.

“You didn’t strike me as the shy type.” Frank wrapped the too-small towel around his waist. “I know I’m not.”

“I’m not shy, just offering you some privacy that you’re clearly not interested in.” Major Lopez pointed to a stack of neatly folded charcoal and grey utility uniforms. They matched her own, a pair of hot black Danner Reckonings with charcoal and grey trousers. A black belt, standard issue skivvy undershirt, and blouse. The good old Eagle, Globe, and Anchor stared back at him.

“Here we go again,” Frank said, dropping his towel and beginning the act of dressing. “I’m back in the Marines, aren’t I? I mean, all I’m missing is just the signature to make it official.”

“You said it, not me,” Major Lopez answered.

While Frank dressed, he noticed the major go over to a mirror and dab at the makeup she had placed on the burn scar that ran down the left side of her face, the souvenir from Atmos, courtesy of their first encounter with the Chaos Legionnaires.

She hadn’t made a big deal of her injury when it happened or since, but Frank could surmise it bothered someone like her, even if she wouldn’t admit it. The major was attractive in every sense of the word. Her curvy shape, full lips, and big brown eyes were enough for any man to look twice.

“You can probably get that removed,” Frank said as he took a seat on a bench and laced his boots. “I mean, I know right now you probably can’t get time off since the Lord of Chaos is coming and all, but when this is all over.”

“It’s silly,” Major Lopez turned from the mirror. “Stupid thoughts really, I should be concentrating on how our engagement plans look like not what I look like.”

“I get it,” Frank sighed, tucking in his undershirt. “It takes a lot of work to look as good as we do. I mean, this just doesn’t happen.”

“Are you ever serious?” Major Lopez rolled her eyes and headed for the elevator.

“I try not to be, but every once in a while, it still manages to happen,” Frank said, following her as he ran his fingers through his still damp hair before strapping on his vambraces. “Food? My stomach feels like an empty grave.”

“Yeah, we’ll hit the mess hall floor before we go to meet the rest of the unit.” Major Lopez glanced at the ebony watch on her left wrist. “We’ll have to pack it in. We only have a few minutes until the briefing starts.”

“Say no more,” Frank said, nodding to a pair of Marines that gawked at his glowing vambraces as they passed. “Hello, humans.”

They looked at one another in disbelief as Frank and the major passed them.

“You shouldn’t tease like that.” Major Lopez chuckled. “They’re really going to think you’re an alien.”

“I can live with that,” Frank said, remembering the last conversation he had had with his employer before he handed over his own comm watch. “Do you think I can use a computer while I’m here?”

“Frank, we’re about to embark on a journey to another alien world that’s under attack by an ancient evil known as the Lord of Chaos.” Major Lopez paused to let the words sink in. The pair reached the reflective steel elevator doors. She pressed the button to go up. “What can be so important that you need a computer? Got to check your profile on match.com?”

“Close; need to make sure my employer knows that I’m back and deposited my funds as promised,” Frank said as the elevator doors slid open and he and the major entered the steel box. “I have responsibilities outside of this. Payments still need to be made, the world keeps running.”

“You’re incredible.” The major rolled her eyes as she pressed the circular button for their floor. “Intergalactic war is at our doorstep and you’re worried about paying your rent and cable bill.”

Frank didn’t feel like he owed the major an explanation. It was none of her business that his money went to take care of his mother, who had fallen into a coma, and his father, who was too old to work despite the fact that he still had to make ends meet. They had no retirement funds and hardly enough money to meet their needs living paycheck to paycheck.

“Whatever.” Frank shrugged as the elevator moved to take them to the chow level. “Not all of us went to a fancy college and officer training school.”

“What would make you say that?”

“The way you carry yourself, intuition.” Frank again shrugged. “I’ve known my fair share of officers from elite families while I was in the Corps.”

“It doesn’t matter where I’m from or my background,” Major Lopez snarled. It was clear Frank had hit a chord. “I’ve clawed and bled for everything I have.”

“Sucks when someone thinks they know you, but really, the truth is more than they could assume, huh?” Frank didn’t wait for an answer. At that moment, the elevator doors dinged open. He stepped out onto the floor and made a right turn. “Now let’s get something to eat if you can stop judging me for two seconds.”

“Uh, Frank?” Major Lopez said from the elevator.

“What?” Frank didn’t mean to raise his voice, but the word came out loud anyway.

“The mess hall is the other way.”

“I knew that.” Frank turned around and headed down the corridor to the mess hall.

The tinny, soggy scents of canned vegetables and salty meat, which probably also came out of a can, hit Frank’s nose at once. In that moment, he would have eaten anything, but to be fair, he actually didn’t mind military food. Maybe that was because he hadn’t been eating it day in and day out for years.

The mess hall, longer than it was wide, held sentinel rows of cafeteria tables with a serving counter along the wall furthest from Frank. Food service specialists stood behind the glass partition at the ready to ladle their wares.

There were a handful of Marines sitting down, along with half as many scientists. The room was quiet as all eyes were directed to a table in the middle of the room where Heron sat with Raj and Elly. It seemed the purple-skinned alien was enough to give even the most hardened Marine pause.

“There they are.” Heron waved manically from his bench. “Your Earth food is delicious. I’m already learning so much and it’s only day one. Do you think there’s a way I can package these biz-kits and send them to Atmos for research?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.” Frank grinned as he headed for a stack of clean trays on the left of the counter and made his way through the line. His smile grew at the sight of the food being piled on his plate.

When he got to the specialist serving slabs of tri-tip, Frank couldn’t help but give some words of encouragement. “Keep it coming, there you go, I’m a growing boy.”

The specialist smiled, then his eyes landed on Frank’s vambraces when his mouth turned into a large O shape.

“We only have a few minutes left,” Major Lopez warned the rest of the unit as she and Frank joined the group at the table.

“Roger that,” Raj said, looking at Frank as he wolfed the meat down. “Easy there, partner. You’re going to give yourself a case of the meat sweats.”

“I’m not worried about it going in,” Elly said with wide eyes as she witnessed Frank power down the pile of food in front of him. “But I mean, not to get too graphic, but that’s going to have to come out and we’re about to go on a mission here. Those diamond-plated armor suits from B.U.T.T.S. aren’t exactly potty-friendly.”

Elly said the words as Frank shoveled in another forkful of seasoned, medium rare meat into his gulch.

“Oh, god,” Raj said, dry heaving into his hand. “Elly, stop. Come on; heck, I’m not even hungry anymore.”

“This stuff is delicious,” Heron said, taking another bite of the meat and biscuit sandwich he had made himself. “Do you think I could get the recipe?”

5

After a hurried meal, Frank found himself beside the others in the armory. It was the same large room filled with the echoes of boots stomping, weapons firing, and tires screeching to which he had delivered the cases of weapons and armor to the Marines mere days before when his reality was still normal. Or whatever passed for normal these days.

General Fox was present as MSC1 geared up to travel to Brytanna and assist in the coalition against the Chaos Lord. While fitting on his chest plate, Frank noticed a circular clamp on the front of the armored chest piece. It looked like it held something, although at the moment, there was nothing in the hollow, circular indentation.

“Elly, what’s with the addition to our armor?” Frank asked as he snapped his helmet to the magnetic hold on the left side of his belt. “It looks like that thing in the center of Iron Man’s chest.”

“Oh yeah, well, I was thinking, when we fought the Chaos Legion, their weapons ate through our armor like nothing, no offense to B.U.T.T.S. and their quality of gear.” Elly raised two open hands in sign of surrender.

“None taken,” Frank responded, checking his gauss rifle, the Punisher GS2000 model that roughly resembled an M27. “Go on.”

“But I also remembered how the large, power armor the Chaos army has is equipped with their own shields.” Elly’s pitch spiked as she tried to recalibrate her hearing devices amidst the din of the room. “So if we come across any more of these power armored suits, I think I can use their own tech on our armored suits. Having our own personal force fields could save lives.”

“No doubt.” Frank nodded along with Elly’s words. “Good thinking, Wong.”

“Alright, listen up.” General Fox strode into the room. “You’ve had time to rest, shower, and get a hot meal in your stomachs. In the meantime, we’ve come up with a strategy that will advance our mission on multiple fronts. Heron, you’ll be returning to your planet explaining everything that you’ve heard here and our plans to go with Sava and assess the threat level. The sooner we can get the Neeve to stand with us and the Draconians, the sooner we can coordinate to form a defensive front.”

“Of course,” Heron said, smoothing down his tan crushed velvet robe near the deep side pockets where he had stuffed dozens of biscuits. “I’ll go right away. I know Princess Vega will be willing to lend her aid to you and the Draconians. She understands what the reemergence of the Lord of Chaos means to all of our planets.”

“Good.” General Fox turned to Colonel Breaker. “Colonel, your team will head back with Sava to determine the strength of the enemy and our next steps. Mr. Wolffe, I know you’re in a tough spot right now. Technically, you’re not even an enlisted man at the moment. Moreover, you have a mantle that’s been placed on your shoulders as an Arilion Knight. Sava has high expectations for you.”

“All due respect, sir,” Frank said, sliding his Reckoner P7, the electromagnetic handgun into a holster on his right side. “I’ve never stopped being a Marine. That’s something I’ve only recently figured out. I can sign a paper if you want me to make it official again. One thing’s for sure, I’m not walking away from this.”

“Oohrah to that, Wolffe.” General Fox seemed pleased, but there was more he wanted to say. “I trust that you’ll follow Colonel Breaker’s order to a T despite your being chosen as an Arilion Knight. You’re responsible to the United States of America and the Earth first and foremost.”

“I’m with you, sir.” Frank had given General Fox his full attention.

“Good to hear.” General Fox looked over to Heron. “Heron, I hope you’re smuggling biscuits back and that’s not some kind of alien growth you have coming out of your pockets.”

“Oh, no.” Heron looked embarrassed.

“Good.” General Fox nodded to Colonel Breaker. “Godspeed.”

He about-faced and left the room a moment later.

Colonel Breaker filled the silence in the room. “We’ve done this once before, but that doesn’t mean anything. We’re walking into a war zone this time. Yes, we’ll help where we can, but our mission this time around is to assess and gather information. If the events are as dire as Sava claims them to be, then it’ll take a lot more manpower than our unit to get this resolved. We stay close, remember our training, and we’ll get back together. I can’t lose—we all get back home safe.”

“Yes, sir,” a chorus of voices answered the colonel’s words.

“Yes, sir,” Heron said a half second too late.

“All right.” Colonel Breaker took the lead through the Den. “Let’s move.”

Frank fell in line beside Heron. The historian looked up at him and opened, then closed his mouth before opening it again.

“What are you going to say?” Frank asked with a raised eyebrow. “You look like you’re going to explode.”

“Oh, it’s nothing; I really shouldn’t say anything on speculation. I need facts before I spread slander.” Heron shook his head and wrung his hands.

“Whatever you say—”

“Okay, I’ll tell you if you must know,” Heron interrupted Frank. “It’s Sava, and not just her; her people. They are warriors through and through, Frank. Their tactics may not be as honorable as our own. Or so I’ve heard.”

“You think she’s lying or something?” Frank looked down at the historian, confused. “Just tell me, Heron.”

“No, not lying; it’s just that they’re a brutal race.” Heron chose his words with care. “Keep in mind you may see things on their planet that have no place in war. Don’t compromise yourself for the sake of the Arilion Knights. True Arilion Knights would never ask that of you.”

Frank had a dozen questions to ask. However, it seemed as though they would have to wait. Colonel Breaker led them into the square viewing room. This chamber overlooked the room where the sphere rested below. Frank stood in awe as though seeing it for the first time again.

On either side of the bulletproof glass showing the room below were twisted hunks of metal that had at one time been turrets. Sava’s grand entrance through the gateway had led to the destruction of the battlements.

There were a handful of technicians that were in the process of replacing the hunks of steel. They looked up at Frank and Heron with matched awe.

Colonel Breaker led them to a door on the right of the room where a steel staircase led down to the ground floor. The ground level was a combination of barricades, should the sphere be activated and enemies enter, and computers monitoring the gateway with a crew of scientists. Though the barricades had proven hardly effective against Sava just yesterday.

Sava paced back and forth in front of the sphere. Her hands were clasped behind her back, spine straight as she waited for the Marines to join her through the gateway and to her own world.

Her reptilian head snapped up when she heard the boots on the ground. Her eyes roved over the band.

Frank heard Heron’s words of warning in his mind as they approached the Draconian. What was it he was so afraid of?

She can’t be that bad, Frank told himself. She’s a warrior, an Arilion Knight just like you. She was chosen for a reason.

“Finally, we can be away,” Sava said, nodding to Frank and the rest of the crew. “I will set our coordinates on the sphere for Brytanna.”

“Oh, teachable moment, teachable moment.” Elly ran up to stand next to the Draconian. “Walk us through the dial-up process again. Heron showed me once, but you know what they say about practice.”

Sava blinked with the side, then outer eyelids over her yellow eyes at Elly, who stood a full foot and a half shorter than her. “No, what do they say about practice? And who is ‘they’?”

“They are just people, just random people,” Elly said, shaking her head. “And practice makes perfect. It’s a saying here.”

“Interesting.” Sava turned back to the sphere. “Well, you know what they say about death?”

“No, I don’t think you understand how to use—”

“It comes for us all,” Sava finished with a satisfied head nod as if she were patting herself on the back.

6

The sphere was no larger than a basketball and hovered just feet off the ground. It was bronzed gold and let out a soft hum with its faint glow. The surface of the sphere contained seven movable rows, which could be tuned independently of one another, such as the dials on a codex. On each of these rows were a series of ancient markings resembling runes, some of which Frank had seen on Atmos.

Sava turned each row methodically, stopping the segment to align a series of seven symbols in the center of the sphere. She then pressed the top portion of the sphere and the bottom of the sphere together at the same time to lock in her destination coordinates.

The light grew brighter and projected on the canyon wall before the sphere. An archway two stories tall began to appear in front of them. On the perimeter of the gateway, the same seven symbols that Sava had chosen illuminated. A deep opening appeared to fill the space of the arch with a loud WHOOSH sucking in air.

Thick, rolling fog tumbled out of the opening as tendrils of the frigid air curved outward like a kraken’s tentacles. Within the dense interstellar cloud, lights flickered, transitioning between every color on the spectrum, from magenta to aqua, yellow to emerald.

“How will we know where this is going to take us on your world?” Frank asked, remembering the last time they had walked through a gateway and been deposited on the leviathan’s doorstep.

“When dialed correctly, the spheres only open gateways from sphere to sphere,” Sava explained, already making her way up the ramp to the gateway. “It’s only when you misdial are you in danger of opening a gateway anywhere in the universe, on a random planet or even in space itself.”

With that, the Draconian walked through the gateway. A moment later, even her braid-covered head and massive shoulders were lost in the multicolored swirling fog.

“Does that mean the sphere was misdialed before?” Raj asked what they were all thinking. “We could have walked into the vacuum of space or an uninhabitable planet?”

“Don’t think about it too much,” Frank said, only half teasing. “You might throw up in your helmet.”

Raj looked over to Frank, a mask of horror on his face as he paused in putting on his own helmet.

“Let’s get our minds right, Marines,” Colonel Breaker warned them as he took the lead. He pressed his own helmet down on his head, removing the safety from his weapon. “On me.”

Frank also placed the diamond-plated helmet on his head, although he thought the act was silly now. At a moment’s notice, he could form a protective barrier around him or his own armor. But old habits die hard.

The heads-up display popped up on the screen, giving him readouts of temperature in his suit, sight recommendations and more. Frank ignored these options for the time being, following the colonel through the gateway.

Fog swirled all around him. It wrapped his limbs in its embrace, drawing him deeper and deeper into the abyss. The lights reflected in the fog were almost non-existent now as Frank went deeper into the unknown.

Seconds ticked by before the fog began to clear.

“Watch your step,” Colonel Breaker warned his crew. “Eyes open.”

Frank lifted his Punisher GS2000 and sighted down the barrel. The fog was beginning to clear. What waited for him on the other side was anyone’s guess.

The first thing he made out was a line of Draconian soldiers pointing their weapons at Frank and the rest of MSC1. The heavy rifles the Draconian soldiers carried looked like bulkier versions of his own Punisher GS200 with three barrels instead of one. The body armor covering their emerald scales was drab green. They were helmetless at the moment. Sava was talking, rather commanding the Draconian officer in charge to stand down.

Once the Draconian leader and the soldiers got a look at Frank’s glowing vambraces, they all lowered their weapons and knelt on a single knee.

Frank relaxed his own gauss rifle, moving his eyes from the soldiers in front of him to the scene around him. A golden sphere connected this gateway to their own. They were in a room enclosed in sheets of riveted metal with detonating cord and various wiring running to the gateway and sphere. It took Frank only a moment to realize the room was rigged to explode.

“What the heck is that?” Raj asked as he joined Frank. His eyes were directed behind the group to the archway. “A barrier of some kind?”

“Precautions should our enemies get their hands on a sphere and attempt to invade our world,” Sava said, sidling up to Frank and Raj. “It’s made of our strongest alloy. It opens and closes by our command. If the sphere were to be dialed and we do not recognize the location, we close the barrier, refusing them entrance.”

Sava walked to the left side of the room where a control panel stood. It came up to her chest. Bright red and blue lights glowed on the screens. Sava pressed her finger to the pad. At once, there was a thick metallic ring in the air.

Frank looked back to see dense metal sheets overlap the gateway entrance. A moment later, Sava turned off the sphere itself and the projection vanished.

“I think I get it,” Elly said excitedly. She placed her Punisher GS2000 across her back on the magnetic holder. Her hands moved as she talked as if they were the ones making the sounds. “This barrier always stays in place where you keep it closed. The sphere projects onto the barrier and you open it when you want to travel somewhere. Likewise, you can keep it closed if the sphere is being opened from the other side and you want to keep those houseguests out.”

“That is correct,” Sava said, motioning to the cables and cords running from the sphere to the control panel where she stood. “We also have explosives connected to the sphere in case we are compromised. The sphere would be buried in the rubble of this whole building along with whoever was trying to invade our world.”

“You guys—you guys can get up now,” Frank said to the Draconian soldiers, who were still kneeling.

“They honor the Arilion code,” Sava said. “You are only the second Arilion they have seen since I was chosen to bear the mantle.”

The other Draconian obeyed Frank, rising to their feet. Their green and yellow reptilian eyes were huge. A few had their mouths open as if they were about to take a bite of some massive sandwich.

“And where are we now?” Colonel Breaker lowered his weapon but kept his right pointer finger close to the trigger.

Frank looked around again, trying to determine their whereabouts. It was a wide-open cubed room whose bright lights set in the ceiling reflected off the dull metal panels that lined the walls. There were no windows to give away where they might be in relation to the rest of Sava’s home world.

“You are inside our main military base,” Sava explained, motioning them to follow her. “We are in a military safe building designed specifically for housing our sphere.”

So far so good, Frank thought to himself. Everything Sava said checks out. There’s no leviathan waiting for us or Chaos army ready to take off our heads. Things are looking up.

A loud siren cut through the calm a moment later. It started low, then quickly crescendoed, wailing like an air raid siren of World War II.

You had to say something Frank chided himself. Technically, you didn’t even say anything. You thought it.

“What’s that siren?” Major Lopez asked as the other Draconian soldiers in the room jumped into action, securing the barrier and the sphere.

“Air raid,” Sava said, turning her walk into a run. “The Chaos army is taking another run at the city. Hurry.”

The cacophony of the sirens grew as Frank and the others ran to keep up with Sava’s strong strides. The group exited the room, entering a fifteen-meters-long corridor that ended with a pair of wide double-doors guarded by another squad of Draconian soldiers.

Someone must have notified the guards ahead of time because they were already opening the thick reinforced sliding doors to allow Frank and the rest of the group access to the outside world.

Sava didn’t slow her run as they exited the building.

Nothing Frank could have done would have prepared him for what he saw outside.

7

The surface of the military base they were on and the city immediately beyond were a post-apocalyptic nightmare. All around, the crumbled remains of buildings were still smoking. For every building still sprouting from the ground, there was another in various stages of decay.

Rubble lined the would-be streetways like broken dreams, the only clearings being the deep scars and craters from the impact of death-dealing bombs. The perpetual smell of ash hung in the air. The sky was choked with the blackness of smoke spirals of smoldering past and incinerated futures.

Sava led them across a field of dead grass to where a hangar had managed to remain erect. There were Draconian pilots everywhere inside the hangar, readying themselves and their crafts for takeoff.

The ships weren’t like any fighter ship Frank had ever seen. Like a Frisbee with the center hollowed out, a cockpit was attached to the center of the circular wings. Twin cannons mounted over the front of the circle. A sea of aligned disks in various shades of green and black, they resembled the scales of the Draconian people. An emblem of a roaring dragon was depicted in red on the left side of each ship.

“Commander Monty.” Sava grabbed the attention of a large Draconian who shouted orders in the middle of the chaos. He wore a dark khaki green military battle dress uniform with black triangles on his sleeves. “What’s our situation?”

The commander turned and did a double take at Frank and the rest of MSC1. Every pilot and soldier in the colossal hangar was doing the same. Apparently, not everyone had received the information that Sava had returned with not only soldiers from a different planet but another Arilion Knight as well.

“Focus,” Sava barked at the commander. “What’s the situation here?”

“Right,” Commander Monty said through a throat that sounded like it was filled with gravel. “Two squadrons of Darts incoming and a Behemoth. We can bet their fighters are only providing cover for the ground troops the Behemoth will unload. Reports have them two minutes out.”

“Let us handle the ground units.” Colonel Breaker removed his helmet so he could meet the gaze of Sava and the Commander. “We’re not pilots, so we’re not going to do you any good in the air.”

Sava looked to the commander and then to Frank. “Agreed. I can assist with the fight in the sky. I’ll have our comm units linked so we can coordinate and share information. I’ll get you a pair of Crawlers. When the Behemoth lands, it’ll be close. The Lord of Chaos has already made a few runs on capturing our sphere. That’s probably what he’s after now.”

Communication was getting harder as the Draconian spacecrafts whined to life. Frank was so involved in the conversation and plans being made, he didn’t realize the rest of the Draconian pilots had formed a half circle around them. Each one of them bent their knee.

Elly shared a confused shrug with Raj and Frank.

Lucky for him, Sava understood exactly what to do. As one, every Draconian bowed their head out of respect. The siren and the sounds of the fighters were the only things that could be heard now.

“If today is the day we die, then let us do it without fear,” Sava said over the surrounding commotion. “If this is where our bodies lie, then let it be as we roar into the faces of our enemies. The Draconian line is made of warriors and legends. Let’s make our ancestors proud this day and soak the field of battle in the blood of our enemies.”

The gathered pilots stood, all nodding and slapping each other on the back. A few stayed to speak with Sava. It looked like she was blessing them before battle.

“Wow,” Raj said under his breath. “I thought the Neeve were intense.”

“Would you bless me, sir?”

Frank turned to see a young Draconian pilot who looked to be still in his teens. It was difficult for Frank to place his exact age through the scales and short horns, but his voice featured the tenor of a boy, not the baritone such as the other Draconian adults.

He was dressed matching the others in a khaki green jumpsuit with the emblem of a roaring dragon sewed onto his sleeve.

“You don’t have to call me ‘sir.’” The words tumbled out of Frank’s mouth on instinct. “I work for a living.”

The Draconian youth looked at Frank, uncertain what to say. “Was—was that the blessing?”

Frank caught Sava out of the corner of his eyes, placing her hand on the foreheads of the Draconian pilots before they flew to battle.

“Oh—I’m not sure if I should be handing out blessings,” Frank said, trying to turn the boy down with a grin. “Maybe Sava would be better at that.”

“But you’re an Arilion Knight as well,” the boy insisted. “We look to you in our hour of need.”

“Okay, then, when you put it like that,” Frank said, understanding it wasn’t the words the blessing contained that meant something to these pilots. It was the mantle worn by the person giving it to them.

Frank removed his right glove and placed it on the boy’s bowed forehead right between his horns. The scales felt cold, smooth, and bumpy under his palm.

Frank blanked on what to say; the harder he tried to think of something meaningful, the more it escaped him. All that was running through his mind at the moment was trying to think of something to say.

“Haters, gonna hate, hate, hate, hate and players gonna play, play, play, play, so shake it off, shake it off.” Frank recited the song lyrics that came to mind. “Amen.”

Frank removed his hand, hoping that would be enough.

“Amen.” The Draconian pilot stood up with a smile of gratitude on his face. He extended a hand. “My name is Rex. Thank you for the blessing. I have never heard that one before.”

“Frank Wolffe,” Frank said, accepting the offered hand. “The blessing comes from a famous—a famous warrior on our planet.”

“I am proud to be blessed with it, Frank,” Rex said.

Shouting from someone took Rex’s attention from Frank for a moment. He smiled again, running to his craft. “Thank you again!”

“Did you just recite Katy Perry to that kid?” Major Lopez cocked her head and raised an eyebrow to Frank.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s Usher,” Frank tried to convince her.

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Hey.” Frank wagged a finger at her. “What did we say about judging?”

Frank and the others moved with Sava over to the far end of the hangar bay as the fighters began their takeoff from the ground.

Sava pointed at her mouth, to her head, and at the helmets all the Marines had already removed. Frank slipped the helmet back onto his head with the rest of MSC1. Sava’s voice rang loud and clear inside.

“I sent an order to our techs to link our comms,” Sava explained. “I’m going to the sky with our Dragoons. I’ve ordered two Crawlers to be delivered just outside the warehouse doors. As soon as we have a projected landing area for the enemy Behemoth, I’ll send you the coordinates. If you need backup, let me know.”

“Roger that,” Colonel Breaker agreed with the plan. “Marines with me.”

Adrenaline began to seep into Frank’s system. He grew more acutely aware, all senses becoming sharper. Even after days of little to no sleep, war keeps us vigilant. The steady rhythm of boots pounding their way to position, the air sealed snap of cockpits locking into place, the series of clicks as weapons were checked and snapped into place, the low breath each soldier released to set themselves at the ready; this was all music to Frank’s ears.

The unit moved to follow Colonel Breaker from the roaring hangar to outside where the Crawlers waited. The Crawlers were actually twin giant vehicles that looked like a hybrid between 4×4 jeeps and an armored truck.

A cab in the front of the over two-meter tall vehicle offered cover for both the driver and a passenger. The back of the drab vehicle was open with two fifty-caliber barrels mounted on a swivel and a place for a gunner to strap his torso into for stability. The full nine-meter length of the vehicle was protected by impervious plates.

High-powered jet engines blasted from their right, shaking the ground and causing rubble to rumble as the Dragoons fighters took to the air. The circular fighter had the appearance of disks with guns as they cut through the sky. A purple flash in the smoke-stained sky marked Sava as she took off alongside the Dragoons to meet the enemy.

“Whaaaaaaaaaat?” Elly said, admiring Sava before looking to Frank. “You’re going to be able to fly with jets one day? That’s some wild comic book stuff.”

In all honesty, the thought of racing through the skies excited a part of Frank he hadn’t known lived inside. Something that had always been part of him was beginning to awaken as the days grew and his knowledge of the Arilion followed.

“All right.” Colonel Breaker doled out orders. “Let’s assume we get the coordinates from Sava any minute now. We need to be ready to roll out. Let’s take what little time we have to familiarize ourselves with the vehicles. I’ll drive one with Elly in the front seat and Major Lopez on the guns. Raj, you’re the wheel man for the second vehicle with Frank behind you.”

“Oohrah!” Everyone nodded and moved to obey; everyone except Raj.

“Sir, do you really think I’m the best one behind the wheel?” Raj asked.

“Your driving skills were off the charts if I remember correctly.” Colonel Breaker didn’t slow his stride to his own Crawler. “Take a few deep breaths. Think of happy thoughts.”

“Did he just crack a joke?” Raj looked over to Frank.

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Frank said, hopping in the back of the Crawler. “So you’re a wheel man, huh?”

“I don’t like to brag.” Raj opened up the side door of the Crawler, taking in the steering wheel, brakes, and switches with wide eyes and a childlike grin. “But I’ve put my fair share of hours into games like Grand Theft Auto.”

8

On the back of the Crawler, Frank found himself on a two-by-three-meter platform. A turret was mounted on the back with a plate of metal armor on either side of the weapon to serve as shields. Twin barrels pointed out, attached to a harness that would brace either of his shoulders in the face of the gun’s recoil.

The barrels were a dirty olive green and looked as though they’d seen more than a few tours of combat. The whole Crawler did, for that matter. The vehicle was pockmarked with rounds and scorched from explosions.

Frank felt the vehicle below him rumble to life.

“I think I’ve got it running,” Raj said from the inside of the cab.

Frank was looking over his designated weapon when the first sounds of combat filled the sky. It was hard to tell the exact time of day with the perpetual haze of smoke in the air, yet with this much light still available, Frank surmised it was possibly midday. High above them to the south, the Draconian pilots in their Dragoons intercepted the Chaos army’s Darts.

White and green lasers peppered one another in the air as ships went down and explosions sounded. They were nothing but small specks to Frank’s eyes, but it looked like the Draconians were outnumbered at least two to one at the start of the battle.

“How’s it looking back there?” Major Lopez asked Frank from her position to his left on the other Crawler. “Seems pretty straightforward, like a pair of fifty cals duct-taped together.”

Frank tore his eyes away from the battle overhead and concentrated on what he was supposed to be doing. The major was right. Frank stepped into the shoulder harness that would support his chest and under either armpit.

The triggers were easily accessible under the barrels of the weapon. There were two triggers, one for each weapon. The entire turret moved with an ease Frank wasn’t expecting. He could swing the weapons left and right without him having to fight against it and even push the back of the gun down to raise the long barrels.

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll have a problem,” Frank said, looking now to see where the weapons would be reloaded. “How do you think we’re supposed to reload these suckers when we run dry?”

“Beats me.” Major Lopez sounded confused. “Maybe the battery packs at the base. Mine’s glowing a kind of weird greenish vomit color.”

“Behemoth incoming.” Sava’s voice sounded strained, barely audible over the gush of wind coming from around her comm. “To the south descending fast.”

Frank followed her instructions, looking just past the dog fight to see a ship wider than it was long approaching fast and low. Like the head of a hammer, it approached to nail the Draconian forces. It was crimson with a massive sigil of the Lord of Chaos on the bow of the ship, a black burning flame.

“Other ground units are on the way, but you and your team will get there first,” Sava warned.

“We’re on it,” Colonel Breaker answered back. “Raj, it’s go time.”

“Drive it like you stole it,” Raj said in a very unlike Raj way. He almost sounded cool.

Colonel Breaker took the lead, gunning his engine before peeling out. Elly popped her head out of the passenger side window, readying her Punisher GS2000 while Major Lopez crouched low behind her own weapon, knees bent so as not to fall.

Frank’s Crawler jolted to life following the colonel’s. He nearly lost his footing in the back of the vehicle as it jumped forward.

“Son of a wrench monkey, Frank.” Raj’s voice sounded excited over the comms. “Sorry about that; just getting a feel for her.”

Frank stayed low in his stance, bending his knees to absorb the impact of the bumps from the Crawler. Raj stayed close behind the colonel as they headed to where the Behemoth was landing.

“How big is that thing?” Major Lopez asked in awe.

Frank understood everything she wasn’t saying. The Behemoth had earned its name for a reason. It was easily three kilometers long and ten stories tall. The craft had begun its final descent, lowering in a straight line to the ground below.

The place the enemy had chosen as their landing zone was a section of the Draconian military base that had been bombed out in a previous run. There were multiple one-story, austere buildings that may have at one time been barracks. On one side stood a multileveled structure, which had caved in on one side. What was still standing remained a breath away from crumbling in on itself.

The rest of the terrain comprised of trails in disarray and other buildings in various levels of destruction and devastation. Any semblance of streets or organized routes were lost in the debris.

“Let’s create a kill box,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “I’ll set up on the west side of the street. Raj, you and Frank take the east side. Stay behind as much cover as you can.”

“Roger that,” Raj said, maneuvering the Crawler around a corner. The nose of his vehicle barely stuck out to give Frank a clear shot of where the Behemoth was preparing to land.

The Behemoth was seconds away from resting on the ground below. The single story discipline-factories underneath the craft crumbled under its weight in a cloud of dust and ruin.

Frank took one last look around before being willing to commit solely to the enemy in front of him. The Crawler was sided up to a corner of a building on the left of the vehicle. They were in a cross intersection with the Behemoth landing in front of them, long roads to their back and left, and the other Crawler a block down on their right.

As far as Frank could tell, there were no safeties on the weapons in his hands. He gripped the handles tight in each hand, ready to hose the off-loading enemy when the time came.

The Behemoth’s engines finally turned off as it touched down on the ground below. The sheer size of the ship was staggering as Frank saw it up close. There could be hundreds, maybe even a thousand troops in the ship. With all the urgency of an AOL dial-up, a section of the ship in the center of the craft began to come down like a drawbridge lowering in a castle.

“As soon as you see them leave the ship, you unleash hell,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “Raj, if you can, use your rifle out the side of your window until you have to move. Frank and the major will take out the bulk of the enemy while we pick off the ones that manage to get by the initial onslaught. Pour it on ‘em. Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” everyone including Frank shouted into the comms.

At this, the adrenaline soaked Frank’s veins in excited jitters as he leaned in, squinting his eyes to see the lucky first of their enemies. The square section of the ship lowering had to be at least five meters wide and maybe thirty meters tall.

As soon as the metal door banged to the ground below, crimson soldiers poured out from inside the Behemoth. There were hundreds of them all running forward, searching for anything to point their own plasma and flame thrower rifles toward.

“Get some!” Major Lopez roared.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat! Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat!

The rounds leaving Frank’s weapon looked like green lasers as they tore through armor and enemy soldiers. The weapons vibrated in Frank’s hands, making him press his upper body harder into the harness to keep his aim on target.

The vibration of the guns in his hands felt great. An intoxicating feeling of power enveloped him as he went to work.

“Oohrah!” Raj yelled.

Frank and the major tore into the group from two sides, making it nearly impossible for any of the crimson-clad enemy soldiers to disembark the craft unscathed.

The exceptional few who did make it off the ship and to the paved road in front of them were wounded, barely capable of crawling, much less mounting an offense. For a moment, it seemed the Marines were going to send their enemies home with their tails between their legs.

It was impossible for Frank to count how many Chaos soldiers they had already put down, but if he had to guess, they were already in the three figures. Round after round of buzzing death dealing green light tore through the enemy ranks with some rounds even passing straight through a sternum or skull and striking the unit behind.

War never changes. It’s us or them, Frank reminded himself as he gritted his teeth, pumping round after round into the enemy. They’d kill you if you gave them half a second. It’s us or them!

The weapons were starting to heat in Frank’s hands when the first power armor unit walked forward. It waded through the corpses of its own soldiers without giving their bodies a second thought. Massive red hooves crushed armor and bones.

Frank and the major’s green blaster rounds slammed against the power armor’s personal force field, only to disappear a moment later.

“If there’s any way to capture that tech, we could use it against them,” Elly reminded the group. “Just saying.”

The power armor unit was three meters tall and as wide as a tank. It spread its arms wide, offering as much of a barrier as possible for the Chaos soldiers who gathered behind it for cover.

Already red plasma rounds were beginning to find their way to the Crawlers as the chaos soldiers found a respite from the incoming weapons fire and room to find their own opening for shots.

The sounds of the enemy fire joined the air as Frank gave up with his own weapon. If something was going to take the power armor down, it was going to be him through the channeling of his will.

Here we go, here we go, Frank, Frank coached himself as he reached for the power within.

9

“Frank,” Colonel Breaker shouted through the comms. “Time to dial it up.”

“On it,” Frank shouted back, covering his grey diamond-plated combat armor in another layer of purple shielding. The power channeled from his vambraces fed off his strength of will. He was the weapon for all intents and purposes; the vambraces just helped him channel what already lived inside.

Frank had already taken out a suit of Chaos power armor with explosive rounds back on Atmos. If Elly wanted the power armor unit somewhat intact this time, Frank would have to do it up close and personal.

In his left hand, he formed a square scutum shield to provide coverage for his entire body as he ran forward. It belonged more so in a Greek or Roman museum than on an alien battlefield.

His other hand gripped a sword handle with a laser beam shooting out of the end. Without overthinking what needed to be done next, Frank sprinted forward.

“Is that a lightsab—I mean, I guess we could call it a laser sword?” Elly asked from around the gunfire.

“Frank, you’re going to be sued for major copyright infringement,” Raj added.

Frank didn’t have time to respond; already his shield was being pummeled with rounds from the enemy. Individually, each round striking his shield wouldn’t be an issue. Dozens of rounds hitting the barrier at close proximity made him feel off balance and sent tremors through his arm.

Instead of relying solely on how fast his legs could take him, Frank remembered what Heron had taught him about his strength and speed. His strength of will could also be used to make him stronger and faster.

Frank focused on that now charging forward. His feet barely touched the ground before lifting off again and propelling him forward.

“Let’s give him some cover, Marines,” Colonel Breaker shouted over the comms.

The unit or power armor providing a shield between the Marines and the Chaos army spilling out of the Behemoth turned its attention on Frank. It leveled a cannon, the barrel the diameter of Frank’s head.

BAM!

A rocket streaked toward Frank, catching him dead center. The shield Frank held in front of him protected him from the worst of the damage, but the force sent Frank flying back through the air and crashing into the side of a building.

The building, already weak from previous damage, fell inward on Frank.

Frank’s lungs burned. His heart was pounding faster than it ever had before. All around him, all he could see was black as the heads-up display in his helmet adjusted to night vision. Slabs of the building’s walls pinned him down.

He could move his fingers and toes, but any other movement was useless. Frank was staring up into a slab of the building’s wall that had pinned him to the ground below.

“Frank, can you hear me?” Colonel Breaker shouted over the comms. “Frank, are you all right?”

Anger was starting to build inside Frank as he realized how stupid he had been charging the power armor unit. Rage gathered in his chest as he realized he was trapped like a helpless child.

Get up, you’re better than that, get up! Frank screamed to himself in his head.

Frustration seethed in Frank. This new power didn’t have a place in overtaking the years of strategy and experience he had. He knew better. Though he was brash, he wasn’t entirely hotheaded. Now he was trapped to sit with his mistake.

Radiating force began to gather around Frank’s entire body. The purple energy came off him in waves. The rubble entombing him began to vibrate and shake. With a herculean push, Frank extended the energy gathering on his body away from him in a concussive wave.

The building exploded out, sending fragments in every direction.

“I’m good.” Frank answered the calls from the other Marines over the comms. “I was just getting cocky. Time to stick with what I know.”

A .357 Magnum Taurus Model 608 Revolver appeared in his right hand. For a second, Frank thought about conjuring a twin for his left hand, but that wouldn’t be anything more than showboating once again.

In the space of the few minutes, Frank had been pinned to the ground under the fallen building, the battle had already changed. The power armor unit was advancing on Colonel Breaker’s Crawler, absorbing the incoming fire from Major Lopez on the heavy guns.

Raj was in the process of reversing his Crawler to try and avoid the enemy fire.

When Frank entered the fight again, he was on the enemy’s right flank. The cannon in his hands blared to life, sending echoes into the air that would have intimidated even the most stalwart soldier.

Moreover, Frank made sure the rounds he was firing were explosive.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Everywhere Frank looked, there were enemies, and everywhere he pointed his weapon, a single shot rang out with a kill to follow. The beauty about Frank’s chosen weapon was that it packed a powerful punch without the need to recharge. As long as his will held, he could continue to pump the enemy full of rounds.

A half dozen enemies had fallen in as many seconds. Already the power armor advancing on the Colonel’s Crawler was turning to address the new threat.

Chaos soldiers still pouring out of the Behemoth did the same, sending a spray of fire at Frank.

“Frank, watch out!” Major Lopez screamed.

Frank didn’t worry about shielding himself this time. He trusted that the purple energy coating his armor would do that for him. The only thing he concentrated on now was taking out the Chaos soldiers and destroying the power armor unit.

Plasma rounds from the enemy guns hit Frank, tearing at his energy and will to continue on but did not penetrate his armor. It did not waver his will to not fail again. Frank stalked forward toward the power armor unit, killing as many of the enemy as he could along the way.

The massive red mountain of armor in front of him leveled the cannon on its arm at Frank once more. This time, Frank was ready. He sprinted forward, putting his left side toward the open Behemoth entrance.

The rocket from the power armor unit streaked through the space between them, missing Frank by a few inches. It continued on, racing through the open ship’s doors and detonating somewhere deep inside the Behemoth.

“Oohrah!” Major Lopez shouted.

“Get it, Franky!” Raj bellowed.

Frank remained focused, continuing his sprint toward the force field protected enemy. He exchanged the Magnum in his hands for a Kestrel anti-tank rocket launcher. The act took the space of a heartbeat.

Another rocket from the power armor whizzed past Frank’s head. It detonated on the outside hull of the Behemoth ship in a shower of smoke and torn metallic shards.

Frank skidded to a kneel, lifting the rocket launcher on his shoulder and staring down the sights.

His own purple rocket left the barrel of the tube with a trail of whitish purple smoke trailing behind it. The rocket exploded against the power armor’s force field. A temporary opening showed itself as the red force field surrounding the power armor struggled to remain in place.

Once more, Frank chose the right weapon for the job like a surgeon selecting a specific tool when faced with an issue in front of him. Frank began his run at the power armor again and again switched his weapon. This time, the gauss-powered Punisher GS2000 appeared in his hands.

Frank felt plasma rounds battering at his body and Will on every side. He was tired and he could taste blood. He realized the wound must have come from the blast that had sent him under the building that crumbled on top of him.

Frank held his finger on the Punisher GS2000’s trigger, sending blackish-purple tungsten rods at the power armor’s center mass and helmet. The unit was clearly wounded and whoever was inside having issues controlling the suit. Sparks flew out of the helmet along with a trail of smoke.

Allowing his forward momentum to carry him into a leap, Frank landed on the power armor’s chest, still firing into the helmet. He looked down the sights of his Punisher GS2000 at point blank range, firing like a madman.

The power armor fell backward with Frank riding it down to the ground.

“That’s what we do!” Raj was yelling like he was possessed. “That’s how we do!”

“Oohrah! Major Lopez screamed. “Kill them all!”

Colonel Breaker revved his engine, turning his defensive retreat into a forward push.

Frank turned his attention from the still power armor in front of him toward the enemy that didn’t seem fazed. Frank’s heart fell in his chest and his heavy meat meal grumbled in his bowls as a second power unit appeared from within. The fresh suit of armor started its run on Frank.

This one was bulkier; its horned helmet looked as large as Frank’s body. Twin cleavers were gripped in either hand of the armor as it put its head down and raced toward Frank.

10

“Frank, look out!” Elly shouted.

Her warning wasn’t needed. Frank had already seen the approaching hulk; it was impossible to miss. He had seconds to figure out a game plan. It was already racing across the street and would be on Frank much too soon.

BAM!

Out of nowhere, Raj slammed his Crawler into the right side of the power armor. The impact of such a collision was enough to twist metal and rent steel. The clash sent both vehicle and armor unit careening into a single-story building twenty yards down the street.

The Crawler pinned the power armor unit against a grey stone building wall. The wall crumpled around them without completely caving inward.

Soldiers on both sides of the engagement stood stunned.

“We’ll cover you, Frank.” Colonel Breaker was the first to find his voice. “Get to the doc.”

“Roger that.” Frank was already sprinting to where the power armor and Crawler rested in a macabre embrace of metal.

There was no movement from the front of the vehicle, but the power armor’s red eyes, which showed through the helmet, were beginning to blink on once more.

Frank constructed the laser sword in his hand. He jumped over the Crawler in a single long leap. Both hands held the hilt of the weapon with the blade pointed down. Frank drove all the force he could muster as he landed on the destroyed hood of the Crawler. The laser blade found the top of the bull-headed armor’s helmet. Frank drove the weapon down through the interior of the armor, hilt deep.

Whatever alien was in the armor was dead. The power armor twitched. Its eyes went dull, then expired.

Frank was too concerned about Raj’s wellbeing to see what was happening with the other Crawler and enemy units behind him.

“Raj, Raj, can you hear me?” Frank jumped down to the driver side of the vehicle, dismissing his laser sword. The front of the dashboard, including the steering wheel, had been crushed inward on Raj.

Frank tore off the handle of the vehicle with strength channeled by his Will. Raj was motionless. The front of the vehicle had crushed him into his seat.

“Come on, come on,” Frank said more to himself than anyone listening. Once more, he willed himself to be stronger than he ever could. Frank grabbed the dashboard and the back of the Crawler and pulled the two pieces apart with all of his might.

Slowly, metal began to rend. Frank’s muscles burned; his hands shook as he refused to give in to what his mind said was impossible.

“Rrrrrrr!” Frank growled as he twisted the metal parts back.

Raj sat motionless in his seat as Frank performed the feat. As far as Frank could see, there were no signs that Raj’s helmet had been punctured. Frank’s eyes traveled down Raj’s torso, arms, legs—his eyes stopped on a piece of metal sticking out of Raj’s right leg. No, not a piece of metal; the power armor’s arm holding the sword had managed to penetrate the front of the Crawler. The very tip of the sword had gone through Raj’s armor where his shin met his knee.

A vulnerable part of the diamond-plated armor was where the plates met, giving the wearer’s joints the ability to move. The crimson red sword had found Raj’s right kneecap. A thin line of blood dripped from the armor.

“You’re alright, you’re alright,” Frank kept saying out loud. Time slowed. The chaos and thrill of the battle had diminished, leaving a heavy despair in the atmosphere. Somewhere behind him, he was aware of engines roaring to life and the sound of weapons exchange diminish. But right now, he had to focus on Raj.

Frank gently removed Raj’s helmet. Underneath, thick jet hair was matted to the doctor’s skull. His reddish-brown skin was flushed, eyes closed. Frank removed his own gloves, pressing two fingers to Raj’s neck. There was a pulse.

Far from claiming to be any kind of doctor himself, Frank hoped against hope it was only a concussion that had turned Raj into his comatose state.

More jet engines screamed through the air just overhead. Frank was forced to turn from his wounded friend and look above. The Draconian pilots had returned from their dog fight above and were now spraying the Behemoth with blaster fire.

The Chaos soldiers must have realized the fight was over because the Behemoth fired its own engines and was now retreating back into the atmosphere.

“We’ve got them on the run,” Colonel Breaker said through the comms. “Frank, how’s Raj?”

“I—I don’t know.” Frank hesitated, trying to look for the right words. “He’s breathing and has a minor wound on his right leg… he… he’s unconscious.”

“We’re on our way to you,” Colonel Breaker responded.

Frank waited by the open door of the Crawler. He wanted to remove Raj from the vehicle, but he thought it was better to wait for the others. He’d need a hand when removing the sword that stuck into Raj’s armor like a needle in a pin cushion.

A moment later, Sava touched down next to Frank. She was glowing with the purple energy. She looked tired, though other than that, none the worse for wear.

“You have done well,” Sava said, nodding to Frank. She looked into the Crawler with furrowed brows, a discerning eye, and pursed lips. “What is his status?”

“He’s alive, but we need to get him out,” Frank said, pointing to the power armor’s weapon, which had pierced the front of the Crawler.

Screeching brakes sounded a second later as the rest of Marine Space Corps One arrived on the scene. Colonel Breaker, Major Lopez, and Elly all jumped off the vehicle, rushing to Frank’s side.

“We need to get him out of here and to a medical center,” Elly said, placing her Punisher GS2000 on her back and removing her helmet. “Let’s get him out—”

“There is more here than you realize,” Sava said, leaning into the vehicle to get a better look at the sword tip entering Raj’s leg. “Certain power units coat their blades in poison. I’m afraid this is one such mech.”

“Why the heck would something this big bother with poison?” Major Lopez said angrily. “The sword is nearly as long as a person.”

“The Chaos soldiers revel in watching their victims die slowly when possible,” Sava said, shaking her head. “He’s still breathing, which means he stands a chance. I can take him to our triage center faster than any of you. But you have to trust me.”

“We can take him; he’s one of ours.” Colonel Breaker pushed his way to Raj’s side. “We’ll get him into the other Crawler. Just tell me where—”

“Not only do I know exactly where to take him, but I can fly.” Sava placed a hand on the colonel’s shoulder as if she sensed the anger in him. “Let me help him. I have a chance at saving him.”

The colonel paused, uncertain. Not only was this uncharacteristic for him; it confirmed what Frank had already suspected.

“Sir, Sava is right,” Frank said, putting his emotion aside. “She’s Raj’s best chance.”

Colonel Breaker nodded dumbly and moved aside. Frank was glad the colonel still wore his helmet; he was afraid he’d see too much in that face at the moment.

Sava wasted no time. A purple gauntlet coated her right hand as she gripped the sword entering Raj’s knee and pulled it straight out. A spurt of black blood followed the motion. Frank didn’t need to be a doctor to know that black blood was not a good sign.

Sava pressed her hand to the wound and lifted Raj out of the Crawler. She lifted off the ground, hovering in the air. She looked down at the others.

“I’ll have a tech send a schematic of the base to your helmets and mark the triage center,” Sava said before she took off in a flash of purple light.

Frank and the others looked on helplessly as their friend, their brother, was taken away to meet his fate.

11

“I hate waiting,” Frank said, pacing the floor in the roofless machine shed as Elly worked. “We should be there with him.”

“You heard what Sava said,” Elly reminded Frank. “He’s stabilized and we can see him soon. He’s going to be alright.”

“Yeah, and how do you know that?” Frank said with more venom than he intended. “I’m sorry, none of this is your fault. I just want to be angry right now. He didn’t need to do that. I could have figured out a way to protect myself. Ugh, why did he have to go all GTA on that thing??? Good initiative, bad judgment.”

“We’re Marines, Frank,” Elly said, looking up at her spot over the worktable she was hunched over. “Looking out for each other is what we do. Might as well be part of our DNA.”

Frank mouthed Elly’s words behind her back, rolling his eyes.

“Are you mimicking a deaf girl behind her back?” Elly asked as if she had eyes in the back of her head.

“What?” Frank stopped his pacing. “No.”

“Mmm hmm,” Elly said, clearly not believing him. “Listen, worrying isn’t going to help. Find something to do and focus on doing that. Colonel Breaker’s reporting back to General Fox, Major Lopez is meeting with Sava, and I’m hijacking the force field tech from the power armor we salvaged. Just find something to keep you busy like we’re all doing.”

Frank looked around the warehouse, chewing the inside of his lip. Sava had directed them to a workshop that had seen better decades. It looked like a greenhouse with a retractable roof that was now open. The warmth of the day beat down through the layers of smoke and ash on the wind.

The workshop itself was a massive mess of racks, tables, and workbenches full of tools and scrap items Frank wasn’t sure what to call. Some of the tools were obvious—a hammer, a circular blade—but others evaded even Frank’s wildest imagination.

His eyes were roving over the area when he caught movement to the left. An upturned box the size of a child’s tricycle rustled across the floor. Frank jerked back out of surprise; instinct sent a Colt 1911 into his right hand.

“Listen, I don’t open up much, but I’m going to now.” Elly kept talking with her back toward Frank as she worked. “Maybe it will help you focus on something else right now. I’m insecure about my hearing loss and these hearing devices I have to wear now. I know, I know; it’s hard to believe an independent woman like myself could be insecure about anything, but it’s true.”

“No, really?” Frank breathed, keeping his eyes on the moving box. It was ten meters to his right. “What the heck?”

“We’re all broken people in this life trying to find our way, meeting other broken people as we do.” Elly sighed. “It feels really good to open up to someone. I mean, just the fact that we can have this conversation is liberating. Finding a guy that’s willing to listen these days is like spotting Waldo in one of the impossible books. Those things really piss me off.”

Frank let Elly drone on as he tiptoed to the box. Hopefully, her voice would cover the faint sound his footsteps made on the ground. Frank reached out with his left hand to grab the carton and reveal whatever it was underneath.

Just as his hand made contact with the container, it rustled again. A low-pitched whine reverberated from inside the box.

“Frank, let it out,” Elly said, finally turning from her work. “It’s okay to cr—”

Elly’s voice abruptly stopped as Frank pulled off the box and shoved his weapon at the creature underneath.

“What the—” It was Frank’s turn to allow his words to be lost in the moment.

A black and grey wolf pup with big, honey-brown eyes and wings folded on its back alternated between growling at them and whining. It couldn’t have weighed more than nine kilograms with its furry hindquarters in the air and its front paws flat on the ground. With its tiny teeth, it did its best to look intimidating.

“Oh my gosh,” Elly squealed, throwing her hands up in the air. “A puppy—with weird alien wings but still, a puppy!”

Frank wasn’t sure what to do. Pointing a weapon at the alien puppy seemed wrong, but who knew what the creature would do. Who knew if blades would come out of its wings or fire from its mouth?

“Easy, boy.” Elly put her hands out to calm the tiny beast. “Easy there; no one here is going to hurt you.”

The small creature seemed to raise an eyebrow as it focused on Frank’s Colt, still pointed at it.

“Oh come on, Frank. Really?” Elly asked, shaking her head. “You think this little guy’s a threat? He’s more scared of us than we are of him.”

“I don’t know.” Frank lowered his weapon a fraction of an inch. “I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff since we’ve been planet hopping. What if it has alien rabies or something?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Come here, boy,” Elly said to the little fur ball, holding her hands out for the creature to sniff. “Look he’s harmless.”

“If you contract some kind of weird fungus, I can’t be held responsible,” Frank said, letting his weapon disappear. “I tried to stop you.”

“What’s that sound?” Elly asked, sitting by the creature and stroking its soft fur. “Did you hear something?”

“Nope, just the occasional whine or kind of mumble from the winged puppy there,” Frank answered, looking all around the workshop to make sure they were the only ones present.

“I could swear I heard a voice.” Elly shook her head with a confused expression. “Frank, this is going to sound crazy, but I think—I think this little guy’s talking to me.”

“No—just no.” Frank threw his hands up in sign of surrender. “I can handle dragon people and poisoned blades, but winged puppies communicating with us telepathically? This is too far.”

Elly burst out laughing as the tiny wolf creature flopped into her lap.

“No, no, he’s not that bad once you get to know him,” Elly crooned to the creature. “He’s just a blunt instrument, like a hammer.”

“I’m standing right here,” Frank said with a deep sigh. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”

Footsteps on the ground grabbed everyone’s attention as all three pairs of eyes swung to the left where the door to the warehouse had been closed. Sava walked into the room, watching Elly and her new companion.

“I’ve come to tell you that you can see your friend now.” Sava constructed a thin knife in her left hand. “Is the Momo bothering you? I can quickly dispatch it.”

“Momo? No,” Elly said, wrapping her arms around the creature. “He’s fine.”

A tiny growl, directed at Sava, came from deep in the beast’s chest.

“It’s called a Momo?” Frank asked.

“Yes, they are creatures common enough on our planet.” Sava allowed the knife to evaporate from her palm. “During peacetime, they are trained and raised as pets.”

“How about not during peacetime?” Frank asked, the question lingering in the air.

“They can be used as messengers should our network fail or an alternative food supply,” Sava said without blinking an eye.

“Earmuffs,” Elly said, placing her hands on either of the Momo’s soft fluffy ears that pointed up like triangles. “That’s horrible.”

“It’s necessary.” Sava waved both Elly and Frank over to the door. “Raj has stabilized enough to see you. Follow me.”

Frank, Elly, and the Momo trailed behind Sava.

Elly was carrying on a conversation with the creature as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Sava took them on a course through the military base that led them down a wide street with bright lights that fought back the coming night. Crawlers and trucks drove by with wide-eyed Draconians taking in the unlikely group of Sava, the Marines, and the Momo.

“You fought poorly today,” Sava said without looking at Frank. “Your use of Will is primitive at best.”

“Jeez, thanks.” Frank bit back a harsher reply. “How would you know what I fought like? I thought you were pulling a Wonder Woman, zipping around in the air.”

“We have cameras that monitor every inch of the compound,” Sava explained. “As for this wonderful woman you speak of, if she is a merciless warrior, then yes, I was very much like her today.”

“I’ll learn,” Frank said, channeling his anger into something useful. “I’ll get better.”

“For everyone’s sake, I hope so.” Sava gave Frank a piercing stare. “I hope so.”

12

“There he is,” Raj said with a stupid grin on his face. “We did it, Frank. Frank and Raj. Raj and Frank, we were like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid out there.”

“Didn’t they both die at the end of that movie?” Frank took a closer look at Raj, who lay on a stark hospital bed propped up with a mountain of pillows behind him. “Why are your pupils so dilated?”

Frank and Elly had been shown to Raj’s room in the medical center. Elly had decided to stand outside with Momo and Sava. It seemed she didn’t trust the Draconian after her statement of eating her little friend. Once Frank came out, she would go in to see Raj.

“Of course my pupils are dilated.” Raj rolled his eyes. “I’m as high as a kite right now, Frank, and you know what?”

Raj paused, looking at Frank to answer his question.

“I have no idea,” Frank answered.

“It feels great,” Raj said, smiling as he interlaced his hands behind his head and looked round the room. “I mean, look at this wonderful bed and breakfast. They have cable television, a snack bar, and what’s that door lead to? Dare I think a private balcony?”

“That’s a monitor checking your heart rate.” Frank pointed to what Raj had claimed to be a TV. “Your snack bar is a desk full of medical supplies, and I think your private balcony is a bathroom.”

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Raj said, shrugging. “Man, we were great out there. I took out that second power armor unit like a linebacker sacking a quarterback.”

“Yeah, why did you do that?” Frank said, shaking his head, trying to sound grateful. “You could have been seriously—more seriously injured. I would have found a way to defeat it.”

“I saw my brother in need,” Raj said, explaining to Frank like it was the simplest concept to grasp. “I just reacted. You would have done the same for me.”

“Yeah, but I have these crazy vambraces that protect me when I do stuff like that,” Frank said, starting to feel irritated. “Just—you have to be more careful out there man.”

“Frank, are you worried about my wellbeing?” Raj said, sitting up in bed with a silly smile on his face. “Are we becoming best friends right now?”

“No, stop it.” Frank rolled his eyes.

“I think we need a friendship hug,” Raj said, opening his arms wide. “Come on, come on, get in here. You know you want to.”

“No way,” Frank said, shaking his head. “There is no way I’m giving you a hug; maybe a high five.”

“How about a side hug?” Raj insisted.

“We can do a fist pound,” Frank countered.

“A brief embrace, patting each other on the back,” Raj pushed.

“Three pats, that’s it.”

“Done.”

Frank awkwardly walked to the bed and bent in to pat Raj on the back.

Elly opened the door the exact second Raj and Frank began performing their agreed-upon three pats.

“Hey, I’m just going to bring the Momo in here with me. Sava keeps looking at him like he’s tonight’s din—what are you guys doing?” Elly asked as the Momo trotted into the room and began sniffing around.

“Nothing.” Frank pulled away from the hug.

“We’re sharing a moment,” Raj said at the same time. “I’m sharing a moment with my best friend.”

Colonel Breaker’s voice came over the comms the next second. Even without their helmets, the translation tech administered by Elly while on the planet Atmos still allowed them to communicate. “Marines, I just got off the horn with General Fox and have reports that Raj is healing and ready to take visitors. I want you all to meet me in Raj’s quarters in the medical section and we can go over next steps.”

“Roger that,” Frank said, listening to Elly and Major Lopez give the same answer.

“What’s your flying wolf cub’s name?” Raj asked as if seeing the creature hadn’t even fazed him in the slightest. “What is he?”

“He’s a Momo, and I don’t have a name for him yet,” Elly said, reaching down again and scratching the animal behind his ears. “We need to think of something cool.”

“Oh, like Mr. Fluffy McFlufferson?” Raj asked too enthusiastically.

“No, I said something cool.” Elly shook her head. “Oh, also I don’t think I’m hearing random voices and going crazy after all.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Frank said under this breath.

Elly waved aside the snide remark. “I thought I was hearing voices in my head, but I actually think my hearing devices and translator are able to pick up the Momo’s sounds and translate them for me.”

“I know I’m high,” Raj said, pointing to Frank. “But, Elly, what have you been smoking?”

“No, I’m serious,” Elly said, looking back and forth from Frank to Raj for some kind of support. “I don’t know exactly how it all works, but I know I can understand what he’s saying.”

“What who’s saying?” Major Lopez asked as she and Colonel Breaker walked through the door. “What is that thing?”

“Ms. Wong over here thinks she’s the Momo whisperer,” Raj said, twirling a pointed finger around the right side of his head.

“What’s a Momo?” Colonel Breaker asked.

“That is a Momo.” Frank pointed to the tiny winged creature who lifted a leg and peed in the corner of the room.

“Oh no, I’m sorry I knew you said you had to go, but I thought you could hold it longer.” Elly grabbed a towel off a supply cart and placed it on the pool of urine as she talked to the animal. “No, I don’t think they’ll think any less of you; you had to go. It’s a natural thing.”

“All right,” Colonel Breaker said over Elly’s mother-like pampering. “Let’s stay on point here. I spoke with General Fox and he’s taking our findings up the chain of command. We’re to post up here and offer what support we can until we have further orders. One thing’s for certain. Sava wasn’t lying about what’s going on here and everything points to an actual invasion by the Lord of Chaos.”

Colonel Breaker took a large breath before he continued.

“The Den has already had word from Heron and the Neeve. They’ll support whatever way they can. Both Houses on Atmos are united against the Lord of Chaos. They’ll be offering aid and arriving through the gate tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll be coordinating with the Draconians here to understand their defensive positions and find out how best to deploy while we wait to hear back from General Fox.”

Something inside Frank stirred at the mention of the Neeve. Images of Princess Vega crossed his thoughts as he pictured the woman he had met on Atmos. The way she smiled at him when they jumped on her Thunderbird, Warrior. The jasmine and cedar wood scent of her hair while she sobbed in his arms after learning about her father’s demise and mother’s brokenness. The blood on her sword after she dispatched justice on the man who betrayed her family. She was unlike anyone he had ever come across in his life.

Don’t kid yourself, Frank, Frank reminded himself. She has a kingdom to run. It won’t be her traveling through the gateway. She’ll send some of her men and an envoy, nothing more.

“In the meantime, Raj, you’re on bed rest. Sava said the poison has left your system weak. I’ll give you a day or two before I need you in the field. Elly, keep your dog from pissing on anything else and get those force fields working on our suits. Major Lopez, you’ll run point with the Neeve. I don’t think they’ll butt heads with the Draconians. It’ll be up to you to see that they don’t.” Colonel Breaker turned to Frank. “Frank, you and I are going to pay a visit to the Draconian leader. Sava has already requested time with you to teach you in the ways of the Arilion order.”

“Of course she did,” Frank said, shaking his head. As usual, his stomach was already reminding him when his last meal had been.

“Let’s get to work,” Colonel Breaker said, looking each of them in the eyes. “We’re up against something Earth has never seen: the Lord of Chaos. But he’s never run into Marines until now either. Let’s prepare so we can make sure we properly introduce ourselves when we finally get the chance.”

13

Dinner was a rushed affair of canned food and water. The lumpy meat and green stuff inside Frank’s tin tasted like old meatballs and tuna. He wasn’t going to complain, not when he saw every other Draconian eating the same thing he was.

After the short stop for food, Sava led them to a two-story building with reinforced metal walls and an arched dome. They passed three security checkpoints before they were allowed inside.

“Our Prime is given every security measure the Draconian people have to offer,” Sava said, pulling her calf-length robe around her. The coffee wool wrap contrasted with the brightness of her green scales. “If he were to fall, we’d be lost. He holds us together, gives our people hope in time of despair.”

Frank exchanged glances with the colonel.

The way Sava carried on about the Prime was strange. In the brief time Frank had known her, she didn’t hand out the slightest bit of praise.

The two Marines followed Sava through a building made of marble with pillars raised to the ceiling. Most of the glass had been replaced with see-through shutters. The skeleton staff that did remain in the building saluted Sava and did their best not to gawk at the humans.

After two left turns, Sava led them to a closed door of reclaimed lumber with an iron knob. She knocked twice.

“Come in, come in,” a rather old yet strong voice said from the other side. “Don’t keep our guests waiting.”

Sava opened the door, ushering the men into a room with a thick carpet underfoot, leather-bound furniture and enough books to make Heron happy for the rest of his life. Each wall was lined with volumes upon volumes of dense texts.

To the left stood a wide desk and two brown chairs. In the center of the room was a comfortable-looking sofa and two more high-backed chairs around a wooden table.

A hunched Draconian walked briskly over to the door, extending a scaled hand. He was older, but his age did not dictate the fire in his eyes or the strength of his handshake. He wore a black and white pinstriped suit with a monocle hanging out of his breast pocket.

“Colonel Breaker, Frank Wolffe,” he said, nodding to each of them in turn. “My name is Clav Kirkhoden. I’m the Prime here leading the Draconian people through our darkest hour. I’m so very glad you’ve decided to come to our aid.”

“Sava was more than convincing,” Colonel Breaker responded.

“Please, come in and sit.” Prime Kirkhoden moved to the side and ushered them to the sofa and chairs gathered around the wooden table. “May I offer you a drink? We don’t have much, but I’ve managed to save some Seppukarian whisky that does the job.”

Frank took a seat in one of the armchairs beside the colonel. Clav Kirkhoden sat with Sava on the sofa. Without waiting to hear the answer to his question, he began pouring a dark amber liquor from a glass decanter into four short glasses.

“Thank you,” Frank said as Prime Kirkhoden passed him a glass. One whiff of the potent substance and Frank fought back the urge to cough.

“To new friendships, alliances bound in the Light, and free species joining together.” Clav lifted his glass.

“To victory,” Colonel Breaker agreed.

“And the death of our enemies,” Sava added.

All eyes turned to Frank.

He stopped with the glass halfway to his open mouth. “Dilly, dilly.”

Frank saw Colonel Breaker crack a grin out of his peripheral vision. The two words seemed enough to satisfy the Prime and Arilion Knight sitting across from him.

The whisky was like drinking liquid fire. It burned its way down Frank’s throat. It took everything in him not to gag. Immediately following the alcohol hitting his stomach, a warm relaxed feeling flowed to every finger, every toe of his sore body.

Prime Kirkhoden smacked his lips and set his empty glass down on the table. “I wish we had more time to get to know one another, but the hard truth is that we are pressed for every hour. I understand one of your allies, the Neeve, has agreed to aid us in our fight against the Lord of Chaos.”

“That’s right.” Colonel Breaker swirled the remnants of his whisky in his glass. “They’ll arrive tomorrow morning.”

Prime Kirkhoden cracked a huge smile full of sharp teeth in relief.

“I believe this may mark a turning point in the war,” Prime Kirkhoden said with his gruff voice to everyone in attendance. “You see, we’ve lacked manpower, not the hunger, not the tools, to win this conflict. We are well-equipped with weapons of warfare! But our numbers… They have been whittled down by the constant attack of the Chaos army. Their constant barrages take more of our soldiers. With your and the Neeve’s aid, I think we can not only defend this planet, we can take the fight to the Chaos Lord himself!”

“Do you know where he is?” Frank asked. “I thought he was hiding somewhere past the known universe.”

“You’re correct.” Prime Kirkhoden stood from his seat, nodding, and walked over to one of the many bookcases lining the wall. He reached up to a brass tube that hung off one of the higher shelves. In one smooth motion, he pulled down a map of the galaxy. “Our planet, Brytanna, is found in the Sanctum Galaxy.”

Prime Kirkhoden pointed to a tiny planet on the topmost part of the chart. Beyond the planet was nothing except black on the map. The Draconian Prime pulled a white pen from his jacket inside pocket and formed lines coming from the blackness of space toward Brytanna.

“We’ve kept track of every single attack on our planet,” he explained drawing lines from a central part of the dark universe to the planet of Brytanna. Although the locations where Brytanna was attacked spread out across their planet, the origin points of the attack all came from a shared point. “Of course we don’t have an exact location as to where the Chaos Lord has grown in power, but we have narrowed down the section of space to explore.”

“The enemy’s strength would have to be confirmed in any scenario in which we go hunting for him.” Colonel Breaker swigged the last of his whisky as if it were water and returned his glass to the smooth wood table in front of him. “And you’re sure you have the ships that would be needed to go on such an offensive?”

“I agree: a scouting force would have to be dispatched to find where the Lord of Chaos has set up his base. But I think he’s smart. I think he has remained just out of eyesight for all these years, understanding that when he was ready to make his return, he would already be within striking range.” In an odd way, Prime Clav Kirkhoden seemed to admire the enemy lord’s strategy. He then looked over to Sava. “I’ll let Sava run you through our military stores at the moment.”

“We’ve been preparing for war since I found out I was an Arilion Knight and sensed this darkness coming,” Sava explained to Frank and the Colonel. “We stocked supplies and built our warships twice as fast as normal production. What we didn’t plan for was the ferocity of the first few waves of attacks. We lost more than half of our military in those initial months.”

Frank could see the pain in her face. Though she tried to remain focused on the task at hand, her jutting jaw, clenched fist, and the distant stare in her eye gave away the emotional battle that still waged within. Somehow, she contained herself and continued.

“We are prepared for a deep space assault. We have a titan class warship, transport ships of our own, as well as two wings of Dragoons ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.” Sava looked over at the Prime. “As Prime Kirkhoden has explained, we lack not the resources but rather the manpower to put our plan into motion.”

“With the aid of two planets and their warriors as well as two Arilion Knights, we will succeed and push the darkness back,” Clav said, pounding a fist against the wooden bookshelf he stood beside. “We can do this and win the war together.”

“How come no other races have joined you?” Frank couldn’t help but ask. “I’m sure you’ve reached out to them.”

“Most don’t believe us.” Sava shook her head in thought. “The Lord of Chaos is a myth on all but a few planets. The devastation of the Chaos War was all too real to us and others nearby. Others, like your Earth in the Milky Way, had no idea. Too primitive or self-involved to know the suffering experienced at the hands of the madman. Yet we considered traveling to other planets with envoys if we could only spare the manpower. I can only imagine the Light chose me to be an Arilion Knight to prepare for this time. It was waiting for you too when you arrived on Atmos, Frank. Whether it has chosen others across the universe, I do not know. What I do know is that we were selected for a reason.”

“You’re talking about the Light like it’s alive,” Frank said, trying to understand what Sava was saying.

“Isn’t it?” Sava cocked her head to the side. “It is alive in me. A fire has burned bright inside of me my entire life and now I know why. This is a lesson left for tomorrow when your training begins.”

Why does everybody want to train me? Frank bit his tongue and thought to himself. First the United States, then Heron, and now Sava. It could be interesting, though. Sava actually is a Knight; maybe she can teach me how to fly.

“I see the value in your plan,” Colonel Breaker said, standing up from his seat. “I’ll relay it to my superiors.”

“Thank you,” Clav said, looking at the map were Brytanna stood as the first planet against the darkness of the universe. “If we give the Lord of Chaos a foothold in our galaxy, other planets and possibly other galaxies will fall soon thereafter. The battle for the universe has begun anew.”

14

Frank was shown to his own room with a shower and a surprisingly soft bed. The mechanical motions of undressing and entering the steaming embrace of the water were second nature. His mind was going a hundred miles an hour as he thought of everything from the slim possibility of seeing Princess Vega the next day to learning to fly, but mostly the over/under on seeing Vega once more.

If he was honest with himself, he had thought about her every day since leaving Atmos. Frank turned off the shower and dried his body and hair. He looked at himself through the square bathroom mirror. The man he saw looking back at him he still recognized, but there was no denying a change was taking place.

A few days’ stubble grew on his chin and his eyes were tired; still, an intensity burned there. Frank’s will had always been ironclad, but now that he knew what it truly was, it gave him even more strength.

Frank walked into his small room in his towel and let himself fall onto his bed. He was asleep in less than a minute. Memories of his childhood would not let him rest well.

“Why are you so poor, Franky Woof Woof?”

“I heard his mom is dying.”

“I heard his dad is so poor, he eats trash.”

Frank was ten again, being pinned against a cold, rough brick wall in an alley after school. His thin arms and scrawny legs, swimming in the clothes that were too big for him, even beyond the popular baggy style, were nothing like the mounds of muscle he had packed on in the Marines and thereafter; all the brawn of today did him no good at the age of ten. Frank was trapped in his dream, looking at the scene in front of him without power to change a single thing.

Two boys towered over him and held him to the hard brick wall as a third boy went through his tattered backpack. The tow-headed bully rummaging through Frank’s bag pulled out a worn copy of Legionnaire Frank had checked out from the library.

“No, don’t, leave my stuff alone,” Frank said, struggling against the larger boys’ grasp to no avail.

“No don’t,” the bully mimicked Frank, tearing open the book and ripping out a few pages, then flinging the book to the ground. “You’re so poor, Franky Woof Woof, you can’t even buy your own books. You have to get them from the library.”

The other two boys chuckled; the thick, ruddy one on his left squeezed Frank’s arm tighter in order to make him flinch. Frank didn’t give the bully the satisfaction. Instead, he bit the inside of his cheek so hard he drew blood.

Watching this version of himself without being able to do anything was torture. Frank had relived this moment dozens of times. Somehow, now it was different; now he hated seeing how weak he had been even more.

“Do something; they’re going to beat you up anyway,” Frank said in his dream as he looked at the younger version of himself.

“I don’t know why we bother with this poor piece of waste,” the boy on Frank’s other arm sighed. “Let’s just kick him around and get going. We should try to grab one of the kids that actually has something to steal next time.”

The lead bully dropped Frank’s bag and walked over to him with a clenched right fist. He was only a grade older than Frank, but at this stage of his life, he might as well have been a titan.

“If you kneel and lick my shoes, I’ll make it easier on you,” the bully sneered at Frank, lifting one of his shiny basketball-style high tops with the emblem of a man dunking that was smeared in mud. “Eat some of the mud off the top, poor boy.”

For the first time, Frank was beginning to see something in his memory he never had before. He noticed how the younger version of himself hadn’t cried out when his arm was twisted. A grin touched Frank’s lips as he looked on at his younger self and what he knew the kid was about to do.

The boys on either side of young Frank shoved him to the ground. The little scrawny kid with shoes a size too small for him fell to the poorly paved alley floor.

“That’s it.” The main bully lifted his shoe and pressed it into younger Frank’s face. “Eat it like you eat the garbage every night for dinner your dying mommy makes yo—”

A sharp inhale from the bully that sounded more like a small girl gasp escaped his lips as Frank planted a right fist into the boy’s groin. Smaller Frank jumped on top of the fallen bully, landing wild punches.

“Don’t you ever talk about my family, don’t you ever talk about my mom and dad, you Neanderthal,” younger Frank screamed.

Younger Frank got in a few wild blows before he was dragged off the boy. The once towering bully had now assumed the fetal position on the ground.

Frank watched as his ten-year-old self was kicked and bloodied by the other two larger boys. He was impressed that, at such a young age, he had known what the word Neanderthal had meant. He was glad he had hit the bully in the ball sack even if he did take a pounding for it. Pain would heal, but memories lasted forever.

The other thing he noticed was that spark of defiance, that will to fight against impossible odds that lived inside him now.

Before, as a scrawny kid, it had been an ember barely glowing in the light of bullies and his family’s financial and health situation. In the Marines, it was a fire, pushing his body to do whatever his mind told him needed to get done. If he was going to live to see the end of the Lord of Chaos, this same will would have to be stoked and turned into a raging inferno.

For the first time in his life, he could begin to understand. The pain of a child who held no control over his circumstances, could only try to grow his character and hope one day it would all be fair. That life would continue to be unfair. Also that good could come of it. His determination allowed him to provide for his parents now. It would seem his determination might also help save the universe. At least the Draconians for now.

Frank began to wake up. His view of younger Frank dissipated until he lay staring at the dark ceiling above his bed.

Someone was knocking on his door. The sound wasn’t soft, but neither was it jarring.

“Yes,” Frank asked, suddenly aware he had fallen asleep in his shower towel.

“I’ve left some training clothes for you outside your door.” Sava’s cold voice found its way through the barrier. “I’ll wait for you outside the building. Hurry, time is precious.”

Frank listened for the tall Draconian to walk down the hall before he rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. The single window that looked out into the military base showed a dark sky.

“Is it just me or am I being put through the meat grinder?” Frank asked himself out loud as he opened the door and brought in the clothes waiting for him. “If I’m not fighting, I’m training or being pulled into awkward conversations about feelings.”

Frank examined the clothes. They were familiar enough: black ankle-height cross-trainers with drawstring mesh shorts and a matching dri fit shirt. Frank quickly dressed, wondering who had chosen the clothes for him. They fit perfectly. He added his vambraces to his outfit. It was second nature to him now to take them wherever he went.

A few minutes later, he was traveling down the long hall of the barracks to the door that led outside. On either side of the hall were dozens of doors leading into more sleeping quarters. Soft snores and mumbles reached Frank through the doors, teasing at his own lack of slumber.

Frank opened the door leading outside as an icy wind took him by surprise. He shivered, looking at Sava, who was still wrapped in her long brown cloak, a deep hood pulled over her head.

“Wait a minute, how come I don’t get a cloak, robe thing?” Frank laced his arms across his chest, trying not to shake. “Something feels wrong, maybe even speciesist about this.”

“You worry about such insignificant thing, Frank. The whole universe lies before us awaiting protection against a pending darkness,” Sava chided him.

“Look, all I’m saying is, it’s frickin’ freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth,” Frank muttered through chattering teeth.

“I do not know this Mr. Bigglesworth. Come, our exercise room is not far.” Sava rolled her eyes and motioned Frank to follow.

“Frank, I have been preparing for the battle with the Chaos Lord for several turns around the sun. You may even say, I have been training since birth. My ancestor founded the Knights Order generations ago, but our people and my family have always honored the way of the Arilion Knights. When the vambraces illuminated and found their way to me, I uncovered all the tomes I could acquire to my possession. I poured through each page, searching for instruction, for wisdom, and for knowledge on how to channel and honor the Will.” She turned to Frank, allowing him to see her face hidden by the hood. “Do you understand?”

“I think I’m starting to. Tell me more about this obsession,” he replied.

“Obsession indeed. I learned through the Magnum Opus of Arilion Knight Oday how Will can be focused through the vambraces to extend further. That it comes from within a Knight. It was said that at the end of his life, he no longer required vambraces to channel Will. It was from his exegesis that I first learned flight. After the first waves of attacks, our Prime knew I would need a space to train future Knights.” As Sava spoke, her mind seemed elsewhere, far from the chilly, ash-strewn walkway they traversed.

“How did you know there would be more? You said you knew about me. Were you stalking my Facebook?”

“You know nothing, Frank Wolffe.” She shook her head. “The Will. It revealed to me in a vision where to find you. The Accounts of the Great Scourge of Mekelmor stated that the Light had ignited the Knights who could harness the power of the Will to triumph over the darkness. So, naturally, as this Chaos blitzkrieg continued, I knew it was only a matter of time until more Knights were called forth.”

“Visions, Great Scourge of Mekelmor, Light and darkness…” Frank mulled over Sava’s words. “This stuff is so crazy. I think I’m only just starting to scratch the surface of what it means or has meant to be an Arilion Knight, but I do know one thing. I know I have no tolerance for bullies – be they cyber, dictators, or freaky ancient shadowy guys. I’m ready to fight. Show me how. Sign me up.”

“Your training starts now. I’ll be honest with you, Frank Wolffe, I’m going to try and break you. Your strength of Will, will be what your enemy seeks to carve from your soul when they realize your power. The Lord of Chaos will manipulate and lie to you if he thinks he cannot physically overcome you.”

“Sounds like a fun guy,” Frank replied. “Can’t wait to meet him.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Sava said, leading Frank to a single-story circular-shaped building. She placed her hand on a security reader by a pair of steel double doors. There was a slight click before the doors swung open. Frank wasn’t prepared for what he saw inside.

15

The entire circle-shaped building was no more than two rooms. A circular hall ran the perimeter of the building. Separating it from the inner portion were glass walls. Everything was stark white.

“Walk with me,” Sava said, placing her hands behind her back as she made her way down the stark hall. “When I was first chosen by the Light five years ago and knew I was an Arilion, I understood this was all happening for a reason. The Prime and I began building not only weapons of war, but we created this training room to prepare me for what was to come.”

Frank listened to what Sava was saying, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the huge circular room to his left. The glass walls let him see inside. As far as he could tell, there was nothing in there. It was an empty room whose perimeter had to span a full city block.

“This training room has forged my will into something that I know will never be broken,” Sava went on to explain. “What I’ve learned, what I’ve accomplished here has changed my life and I know it will do the same for you. We won’t have as much time as I’d like, but any time spent in the Proving Ground will be of value to you.”

“The Proving Ground?” Frank looked at the back of Sava’s head. “Are you trying to not make me want to get in there? What is it anyway?”

“You’ll see,” Sava said, slowing her forward momentum. “Here we are. I’d like to introduce you to Laloid and I believe you know Ms. Wong.”

“Oh hey, how’s it going there?” A Draconian with a goatee and glasses stood up from a desk full of buttons and monitors. As far as Draconians went, he was short, just touching a six foot height. “Oh, wow another Arilion Knight. May I shake your hand? I have to say it is a true honor to be working with you.”

Frank extended his right hand, which was soon enveloped by the Draconian’s palm. He thought Laloid was about to ask him for his autograph next, when he actually did.

“Hey, so I know this may not be professional, but would you mind signing my chest?” Laloid asked, producing a black pen from his back pocket and pulling down his light brown jumpsuit. “Sava wouldn’t do it, but I believe in good luck and I think having an Arilion Knight sign my body will be a metric ton of good luck.”

“There is no such thing as luck.” Sava narrowed her eyes at Laloid. “We need you to get back to work.”

“I don’t mind.” Frank accepted the pen and wrote his name on Laloid’s chest. “There you go. Now you can’t take a shower for the rest of your life or you’ll be out of luck.”

Laloid accepted the pen, but then the corners of his mouth drooped as he considered Frank’s words.

“He’s teasing, Laloid,” Elly stood up from her chair, where the sleeping Momo was curled up in a ball. “They got me up earlier than you. You better kill it in the Proving Grounds.”

“Hey, why are you here?” Frank looked at Elly, confused.

“Colonel Breaker asked if someone from Marine Space Corp One could be present during training.” Elly took off her glasses and rubbed at tired eyes. “Because I’m the resident genius, I got the job.”

“Lucky you,” Frank said, looking down at the monitors, buttons, and dials at the control desk where Elly and Laloid sat. “So what exactly is the Proving Ground?”

“It’s like boot camp on futuristic meth,” Elly said, giving Frank a sorrowful look. “It’s one of those ‘it’s going to hurt you more than it’s going to hurt me’ types of deals.”

“Let’s begin,” Sava said, walking around the technicians to a door set into the wall that would provide access to the giant white room. A series of locks unclasped, followed by a hiss as she opened the door. She looked over to Frank. “After you.”

“What a gentleman,” Frank said, walking into the room expecting anything. His heartbeat was racing as fast as the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

It was even brighter inside the white room. Frank blinked a few times before his eyes got used to the illumination.

“Easy there, Frank.” Elly’s voice came through speakers somewhere overhead as Sava locked the door behind him. “Your heart rate is spiking.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.” Frank looked at Sava as she double checked to make sure the only visible entrance to the room was sealed tight. “I wonder why.”

“Oh man, this is epic, this is history,” Laloid said over the speakers. “I mean, not one but two Arilion Knights training together. This is legendary. I grew up on stories like this.”

“Laloid, we can hear you.” Sava sounded annoyed.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Laloid said.

“Tell me what you think you know about Will and being a member of the Arilion Knights means.” Sava removed her hood, exposing her horns and the long hair that fell between them. “There are no wrong answers, not yet.”

“Just what others have told me.” Frank tried recalling details he’d learned from Heron. “There was a war between the Lord of Chaos and the Light thousands of years ago. The forces of Light forged the vambraces and founded the Arilion Knights. The vambraces are powered by the user’s strength of Will. We can construct whatever we want using them.”

“Better than I expected,” Sava said, looking back to Elly and Laloid at the control booth. “Laloid, play the origin story, please.”

“Right away,” Laloid said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice and failing.

“Do you guys have coffee or anything like that here?” Frank heard Elly ask before the speaker was turned off again.

A growing whirring of a foreign machine powering up could be heard before the white room went pitch black. The act was followed by millions of lights and faintly glowing clouds blinking into life. Frank understood it was a holographic view of the universe with more planets and stars than he could imagine.

There were galaxies with no more than a single orbiting planet around a star to ones with dozens of planets, all various shapes and sizes. Every color was represented in the map in front of him, from pale blues to bright oranges and reds based on the gases that made up each celestial object. Asteroid belts and fields caught Frank’s eye as well as suns and supernovas.

Frank extended a hand to a bright orange star in front of him. His palm passed right through it.

“This is the universe as we know it,” Sava began to explain. “Even with our superior technology, it is impossible to have a full map of the universe. As far as we can tell, it is never-ending and always expanding.”

The hologram all around Frank transitioned from stars to a group of alien men and women. They stood shoulder to shoulder, all various sizes and shapes. One of the aliens looked like a fish on two feet and another an insect with a pair of legs and four arms.

They all wore different variations of the vambraces on Frank’s own forearms. Some were short; others long to perfectly fit on the aliens’ forearms. Each vambrace was slightly different as well. The alien runes etched on their vambraces varied from wearer to wearer.

They all wore the same uniform: a fitted, sleek armor to cover potentially vulnerable areas of their bodies with additional protection on their shoulders and torsos. The main color of their uniform was black and dark purple outlining, with the torso section matching the color of their vambraces. On the left side of their chest was an emblem that was different for each member. Frank guessed it was the planet they fought from or the military corps they served under on their unique planet.

One thing they all shared in common was the intensity that lived in their eyes. Frank had seen the look before in the faces of Marines when facing down an enemy. It spoke of violence, determination, and victory no matter what the sacrifice.

“During the Chaos War, every planet was called upon to aid,” Sava began. “Thousands answered the call. The forces of Light forged vambraces to represent every planet willing to fight. Only one from each planet was chosen as worthy to don the vambraces and take up the mantle of an Arilion Knight. It was not and is not a power taken lightly or haphazardly. Although there are only two of us, we carry the torch for a clan of very real warriors. It will be up to us to fight in their name.”

The army of Arilion Knights in front of Frank changed again. This time, he was standing in the middle of a frenzied battlefield. Frank actually moved to the side as a Chaos soldier drove a lance into the shield of an Arilion Knight. In every corner, the forces of the Chaos Lord met the combined armies of the Arilion Knights and all the soldiers from their planets. Added to the scene were sounds of war booming all around him.

Somewhere in the back of Frank’s mind, he understood he was still in a safe room. The images were only projected for him to see and the noise of warfare just pumped through the speakers.

Still, it felt quite real to Frank. The floor even shuddered under his feet as a rocket exploded. A group of hairy aliens with clubs were vaporized by the exploding projectile.

“This is what we face,” Sava said just above a whisper.

A shadow was falling over the battlefield. The Chaos army parted, allowing something or someone to pass through their own ranks. The figure was massive, easily as large as a power armor unit. The monster was made up of armor like a man, but Frank understood there was no man underneath. Black wings made of fire and darkness more than flesh, feather, and bone spread out on either side of the beast. A horned helmet revealed a pair of burning red eyes underneath.

Frank couldn’t help but take a step back from the monster bearing down on him. The Lord of Chaos was more than just a giant physical specimen to fear. He carried the sense of doom with him. A voice in Frank’s head was already talking him down from even trying to fight the monster. He felt empty, without hope.

How can anything stand up against this? Frank thought to himself. How can anyone even have a chance at fighting this demon?

The Chaos Lord loomed closer, reaching out with an open hand for Frank.

16

Frank was rooted to his spot. The Marine inside him would not allow him to turn and run. Frank still understood this was a simulation, but the question stood boldly in his mind.

How are you going to beat this thing?

“All right, Laloid,” Sava shouted over the sounds of war still playing out in the holographic scene around them. “That’s enough.”

Frank blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust back to the bright white of the room’s original state.

“Did you feel it too?” Frank asked, remembering the hopeless feeling that had stolen his will to fight. “It was like—it felt like—”

“It feels like every ounce of good in you has been sucked out of your soul,” Sava said, staring hard at Frank. “The Chaos Lord will use this tactic when we strike. Everyone on our side—Human, Neeve, and Draconian—will feel it. When they do, they will be looking to us for guidance. We must be their light in the dark.”

Frank licked at his dry lips, thinking on Sava’s words.

“When all hope seems lost, we will stand,” Sava said, repeating an ancient oath. “When the universe is on the brink of annihilation, we will pull it back. The Arilion Knights will find a way.”

“I need you not to hold back during training.” Frank snapped out of his daze. “I need you to beat me down over and over again so I can learn. I never want to feel that hopeless again.”

“Let’s go to work.” The left corner of Sava’s mouth turned upward in a grin. “Laloid, load the pressure cooker program.”

“Understood,” Laloid said from over the speaker.

“Why do you have to have all these hopeless names?” Frank stretched his arms on either side of his body and jumped up on his toes to warm up.

“Hey, Frank—Frank, it’s Elly.” Elly’s voice came through the speakers.

“Yeah, Elly, I knew it was you.” Frank looked back to the window where Elly and Laloid sat.

Elly waved. “So I took it upon myself to make you a little training mixtape. You said you work better with music. Enjoy.”

Frank couldn’t help but smile as the boom-boom-clap of “We Will Rock You” by Queen emanated from the speaker system in the room and into his chest.

To Frank’s surprise, Sava didn’t say anything. Holograms popped to life in the circular room. This time, the room stayed lit; an orange sun shone overhead. Frank stood beside every member of Space Marine Corps One as well as a handful of civilians, men, women, and children. Even Sava stood with her arms crossed against her chest with the group.

The group’s backs were to a hard wall that extended to the ceiling. Another stone wall stood across the room in front of them, being pushed forward slowly by a dozen Chaos power units.

“No!” a woman screamed, running to the approaching wall, slamming her shoulder against it and trying to stop its forward movement. “They’re going to crush us! Help me!”

Panic washed over the group as some screamed in hysteria. Colonel Breaker’s hologram and the rest of the unit ran to the wall slowly coming forward, throwing their weight behind it and trying to keep it back.

“Frank, help us!” the holographic version of Raj yelled.

Frank didn’t waste time joining the group as they pushed together. Frank reached deep inside, adding Will to his strength, both hands on the cold stone surface sliding toward them. Frank fought to find his footing.

“Don’t give up,” Frank yelled. “Push!”

Frank’s feet slipped on the hard dirt ground no matter where he placed them. The wall pushing in on them rose to the ceiling. The only way Frank could see the power armor units was through a translucent panel in the stone wall that showed their helmets and glowing red eyes.

No matter how much Will Frank forced into his arms, no matter how hard he battered his shoulder against the wall, he couldn’t stop the momentum of the sliding slab of rock. Panic and fear inked their way into his body with shallow breaths, heart racing and ice in his veins.

“This is how it’s going to be.” Sava lounged against the far wall. “You can handle a war zone, but can you handle a war zone in the face of impossible odds, when everything hinges on you?”

“Raaaaaw,” Frank growled, screaming in anger that he couldn’t stop the wall. He only had five yards to work with before he and all the holograms would be crushed between the two slabs of stone.

Frank constructed every kind of brace he could imagine from steel rods that stuck into the ground as well as those that touched both stone walls. It was useless; the purple constructs all snapped under the pressure of the coming wall.

Steel weights, beams, even a purple power armor unit Frank managed to construct of his own weren’t strong enough to push back the wall.

“Come on, Frank, time is running out,” Sava said from right behind him.

Within moments, they would be crushed between the stonewalls. The Marines beside him never gave up; the civilians were already screaming in panic.

“The answer isn’t over or through,” Sava said as if she were reading Frank’s thoughts. “It’s your Will against the end of the universe. It’s just you against them.”

Frank’s lungs burned, his hairline matted with sweat, the muscles in his arms aching from trying to push back the wall.

“Everything you are, Frank, everything you have in you right here, right now,” Sava encouraged.

“It’s—it’s impossible,” Frank breathed hard. “I’m not giving up, but is this scenario even a battle that can be won?”

The wall was feet away now. The hologram Marines and civilians kept shouting; some in fear, others in determination.

Sava moved from her spot against the back wall, shrugging off her brown cloak and revealing the leather vest and pants underneath. She pressed both her palms against the wall sliding toward them. The purple glow in her vambraces burned bright.

Veins popped on her muscular arms, her feet slid across the ground, and then, as if by magic, found traction. First, the barrier stopped sliding toward them, then it began to move back as Sava channeled her will into strength.

The units of power armor on the other side of the translucent wall threw their shoulders into it. Steam shot from their joints to no avail. Sava walked the wall back just as doggedly as it had been brought forward.

The civilians and Marines in the hologram program cheered for her as she pressed on. A moment later, Laloid shut down the program.

A wave of embarrassment mixed with determination rushed to Frank’s face. Sweat poured down his forehead and back, and with it, a desire to try again and again until he could live up to the Arilion name.

Sava walked back toward Frank without the slightest sign of perspiration on her brow.

“You have everything you need here.” She reached Frank, tapping with a finger to the area over his chest. She then raised her finger to Frank’s temple. “Now know it here. I see inside of you. Don’t think you can; know you can. Anger left free to roam will destroy a warrior. However, it can be a powerful tool if you are able to channel it into something useful. Do you believe everything happens for a reason?”

“Yeah, yes, I do,” Frank said, thinking back on his life. “Maybe I don’t see the entire plan yet, but I’d rather believe I live in a universe with order than with random chance dictating my every move.”

“Good.” Sava nodded with approval, moving to Frank’s side. “Every challenge you’ve faced, every bully you’ve overcome, every life circumstance you’ve pressed on to endure has laid the foundation for this point in your life. Let’s build on that foundation, Frank.”

“Again,” Frank said, nodding along with the low octave riff as “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes played over the speaker. “Laloid, run it again.”

“Can do, boss,” Laloid’s excited voice came over the intercom. “Oh, this is so exciting.”

17

Frank failed again and again and again. Every time the wall pushed him back, pressing the holograms into the wall behind them, his dogged will to succeed only burning brighter.

He lost track of the time, but he knew it was breakfast when Sava paused the simulation, and Laloid, Elly, and the Momo walked in. They brought large jugs of some kind of liquid with them. Elly had a mustache of whatever was in her container all over her upper lip.

“Oh, you gotta try this stuff,” Elly said with a wild grin on her face. She spoke so fast, all her words sounded connected to one another. “It’s like a protein smoothie laced with energy. It’s a prenergy drink. I need to patent that. “

Frank used the front of his shirt to clean the sweat from his face before accepting his drink. It tasted amazing. The cold crushed alien fruit drink puckered his taste buds while the stimulant gave him enough energy to move forward with the training.

The Momo sat beside Elly’s feet, cooing and growling at her.

“Memphis Toby Steven Eric Grey Lykos Colby Magnus thinks you need to get pissed for this to work,” Elly said, looking from the Momo to Frank.

The Momo bared his teeth at Frank as if he were showing him how to be mean.

“What is that whole thing you just said? Is that what you named him?” Frank asked, draining the last of his drink. “You’re going to confuse the poor guy.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still deciding.” Elly shrugged. “But seriously, get angry. Whatever it is that does motivate you, you gotta use it now, man. You’re making the Marines look bad.”

Frank scowled at Elly before realizing what she was doing. “Are you just trying to get me mad?”

“You suck, Frank,” Elly prodded him. “And your perfect hair and muscles and, well, the whole package you have going on, it’s disgusting.”

Frank shook his head before handing his mug back to her and turning back to Sava. “Let’s do it again.”

“Again,” Sava agreed, giving her mug back to Laloid.

Laloid, Elly, and Momo left the Proving Ground area and made their way back to their chairs on the other side of the glass wall.

Frank bobbed his head to the beat of the guitar as the music came on once more.

“I pulled your file and added in some extra holograms this time,” Elly said over the sound of the music. “Get pissed. You’re the worst!”

The simulation started a moment later. The same line of power armor moved a translucent wall forward. The same members of Marine Space Corps One stood beside him and the same civilians, except now Vega, his mother, and father all joined him.

Frank shook his head as the first shouts washed over the gathered crowd.

They’re not here; it’s just a simulation, Frank reminded himself.

Frank’s father held his mother. She clung to him for support. Vega ran with the rest of the Marines to push the wall back.

“You can do it, son.” Frank’s father looked at him with a grim nod. “I know you can do this.”

“We’re with you,” his mother added, smiling at Frank with her energy that remained.

Frank hated Elly for adding his parents to the simulation, but he understood why she had done it.

Once more, the Arilion Knight turned to face down the wall. He clenched his fists, setting his jaw and allowing every emotion he felt channel into force. The vambraces on his arms glowed brighter. Frank walked, then began to run forward to meet the looming wall. Anger at himself for not being able to perform the task raged inside. Instead of fighting back the feeling, he allowed it to build and fuel his actions.

Frank ran, then sprinted to the wall, slamming his body against the barrier so violently it made his teeth chatter. The wall hesitated for a moment, maybe even slid back an inch before coming forward again.

Did he imagine the halt in the forward movement of the wall or had he actually done it?

“Oohrah!” Elly screamed over the speakers, confirming Frank’s thoughts. “Get some, Frank!”

Power like he had never understood pumped through his body. Heat that boiled from somewhere deep within stoked his internal desire to succeed.

“There you are.” Vega’s hologram grinned at him from his right. “Together?”

“Together.” Frank dropped to all fours like a defensive end ready to rush the opposing team’s quarterback. He slammed his right shoulder against the barrier, turning his head to the side. Both hands gripped the wall and he pushed. “Rawww!”

Hesitation in the barrier was obvious this time. Frank dug his feet as hard as he could into the flat floor surface, and for the first time, actually began to push the wall back.

Cheers from the holograms filled the room as they rushed to help.

For all the years he was bullied, for his mother’s failing health, for Vega’s murdered father, for all the things he couldn’t control, against the fear of failure, Frank pushed.

In under a minute, Frank and the rest of the holograms had succeeded in pressing the power armor units back and crushing them against their own back wall.

“Wow, Frank, I’d say that’s really good.” Laloid ended the training simulation. “Pat on the back, yeah?”

“Thanks,” Frank panted, putting his hands on his waist, trying to regain his breath.

“How did it feel?” Sava asked.

“It felt great,” Frank responded, trying to put his emotions into words. “It felt like accepting what was inside me, who I am instead of fighting it.”

“The toughest metal is forged in the hottest flames, Frank Wolffe,” Sava said, taking in the room with her right hand. “And I intend for you to be the absolute strongest. However, physical strength is not the only attribute you’ll need as an Arilion.”

“This is where I learn how to fly, isn’t it?” Frank couldn’t keep the wonder out of his voice.

“No, you idiot, that takes years of practice.” Sava shook her head as if he had just asked the dumbest thing he could have. “We need to make sure your strength and speed are on point. I reviewed the footage from the battle you fought yesterday, and I don’t think speed will be as difficult for you to manage compared to strength. You outran those rockets the power armor fired on you with ease.”

Sava paused to look over at Laloid, who sat on the other side of the glass. “Laloid, load the Despair program.”

“Another great title for a training program,” Frank muttered.

Two holographic figures appeared on the opposite side of the training room. One was a human girl no older than three or four. Her huge brown eyes stared up at a Chaos soldier in crimson armor pointing a plasma rifle at her.

“We don’t have to do it like this.” Frank looked over to Sava with disgust. “I can learn to be fast without having to do it like this.”

“Is that anger?” Sava said with an approving nod. “Good, use it. Laloid, begin.”

Frank was off like a round from a gauss-powered rifle. He didn’t need further prompting as to what he was expected to do next. The two figures on the other side of the training room had to be five meters away. Doubt told him he didn’t have a chance of rescuing her in time.

You’re faster than you know. Will yourself to be faster, Frank screamed inside his head. You got this. Frank. You can do this.

Everything moved in slow motion. The Chaos soldier took aim. The brunette girl looked over at Frank with a scream on her lips. Frank dove for the girl at the same time he heard the rifle blare a single shot.

BAM!

Frank grabbed the girl, twisting midair to put his back to the round the chaos soldier fired.

She felt so small in his arms as he skidded across the ground. Frank looked down to see a hole in her stomach, her little eyes staring at his with fear. Frank felt hot tears invade his eyes, a lump welled in his throat. The child breathed one last time and died in his arms.

Memories of fallen brothers and sisters in the Corps grabbed at his thoughts. Tears fell from Frank’s eyes without sobs or cries. He gently placed the small child on the ground beside him. He closed her eyes; hologram or not, it felt right.

“I hope you understand why this—”

“Laloid, run it again,” Frank said, tears falling down his face as he stared promises of revenge into Sava’s eyes. “Run it again!”

“Do it,” Sava said.

“You want to see what I can do?” Frank felt feral as emotion he had buried for so long raged once more. “This is what I can do.”

Laloid started the program once more. The same girl appeared with the same Chaos soldier on the other side of the room. Frank poured his anger into Will, reaching the Chaos soldier as the villain raised his rifle to take aim at the child.

Frank brought a purple Ka-bar into his right hand, slamming into the Chaos soldier and knocking him over. Frank sawed at the space between the helmet and the rest of the armor.

Holographic blood splattered the air and his own face and hands as he cut through bone and skin. He stood a moment later with the Chaos soldier’s helmet in his hands. The bucket dripped gore and blood.

Frank threw the helmet toward Sava. It rolled to a stop at her feet.

The training program ended. The rock music in the background died.

“There you are, Frank Wolffe.” Sava nodded with approval. “This is who you need to be. Our enemies will have no mercy. Neither can we.”

18

The ash laden sky was already darkening once Frank had finished his training. More strength and speed drills had finished the day with a brief break for lunch.

Frank’s entire body was sore. He walked back to his barracks with Elly and the Momo.

“You did great,” Elly said, uncomfortable in silence. “Laloid made me swear I wouldn’t tell you, but he said you’re learning way faster than Sava did when she first started.”

“I wonder what insane training program she has in store for me tomorrow,” Frank let out a deep sigh. “I—”

A graceful figure was walking toward them from their left. The curves and swaying caught his eye. Someone Frank was surprised and at the same time excited to see.

“I heard there was an Arilion Knight training somewhere here on the grounds.” Vega beamed at Frank. “I was on my way to find him. Do you know where he could be?”

Vega was stunning as usual. Her light purple skin, pointed ears, and simple pearly gown were out of place in this desolate and burning Draconian military base. She looked perfect.

“I don’t know. I heard that guy was kind of a weirdo.” Frank smiled. “Maybe you should keep your distance.”

“I’ll keep that under advisement.” Vega turned to Elly. “Hello, Elly.”

“Hello, and I uh—I just remembered I left something in the oven,” Elly said, eyeing Frank like an older sister. “You two behave yourselves.”

Elly didn’t wait for a response. She took off down the road toward the barracks, the Momo in tow.

“Is it proper Neeve etiquette for an Arilion Knight to give a princess a greeting hug?” Frank asked, closing the distance between the two. “Do I need to ask permission first or get down on a knee or some—”

Vega rolled her eyes, stepping in toward Frank, and grabbed him tightly. The familiar scent of her hair was a mix between vanilla and jasmine. She fit into his arms as if they had only ever been meant for her. It refilled the good in his spirit after that ghastly training exercise with Sava.

“If I had known how sweaty you were,” Vega’s words tickled at his left ear, “I would have thought twice about the hug.”

Frank laughed before letting her go. “How are you here? I knew Heron took word back to you and you agreed to help, but shouldn’t you be back home taking care of House Thunder? I mean, after everything that happened?”

The conversation was more difficult to navigate than Frank had initially anticipated. Vega had just been through a nightmarish few months, losing her father and then having her mother mentally break down. The kingdom was under her care now.

“General Tamar is watching things while I am away,” Vega said, understanding everything in Frank’s question. “My mother’s still not well. She’s under the care of our physicians. With peace between House Leviathan and my own, the threat lies here now. I couldn’t send my warriors to fight a battle I was not willing to fight myself.”

“But if you’re the empress of House Thunder now,” Frank pushed a bit further, “shouldn’t you be with your people?”

“My people are in good hands,” Vega said, arching a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “If I’m not mistaken, you owe me a date.”

“Do I?” Frank teased.

“That’s what you told me when we last parted.” Vega shrugged.

“That doesn’t sound like something I would say.” Frank tapped a finger to his chin. “I’ll tell you what, since you asked so nicely, I’d love to go on a date with you.”

It was Vega’s turn to laugh. “Only you, Frank Wolffe. Okay, well something has to be done with that stench coming off you before we go on this date.”

“Agreed.” Frank pointed down the road to where the single-story barracks sat in the middle of the military compound. “Give me ten minutes.”

“I can do better than that,” Vega answered back, beginning to walk with Frank. “I can go with you.”

“Wow, I’m not that type of guy, Empress Vega.” Frank raised his eyebrows.

“Do you ever stop?”

“I try not to.”

“I’ll go with you and tell you all that’s transpiring while you get ready,” Vega explained. “I fear our time here is going to be cut short.”

Vega had Frank’s full attention already. With her last words, he looked over to her with concern. The two walked back to Frank’s barracks as she explained.

“There’s a plan in formation to take this fight to the Chaos Lord himself and extinguish his flame before he can grasp a foothold in the universe,” Vega said as they reached Frank’s barracks and went to his room. “The Draconians have the ships required for a scouting mission and a siege on the Chaos Lord once we find him. The Neeve will provide ground support and your own Marines, well, they have you.”

Frank and Vega walked into his tiny room. Someone had washed and replaced his military fatigues, folding them nicely and placing them on his bed.

“Frank, come in.” Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded in Frank’s ear courtesy of his translation unit.

Frank pointed to his ear, making sure Vega understood what he was doing. “Yes, Colonel, I’m here.”

“There’ve been developments in our situation here on Brytanna. I’ve heard back from General Fox,” Colonel Breaker said in the same sure tone he normally carried. “We’re going to meet with Empress Vega and Prime Kirkhoden to go over details. Meet outside your barracks in two hours.”

“Roger that,” Frank said, sensing the Colonel wanted to say more. “Is there something else?”

“Just be ready, Frank,” Colonel Breaker said as if he were snapping out of a trance. “Things are about to accelerate quickly.”

“Understood. I’ll be ready to rock and roll, sir,” Frank said, entering the bathroom and starting the shower. The longer the conversation took, the less time he would have with Vega.

“Is that running water?” Colonel Breaker asked. “Are you in the shower?”

“No, no nothing like that. That would be weird,” Frank said, stopping in the process of removing his shirt. “I’ll see you in two hours.”

The channel clicked and went silent.

“Sorry about that. Work, you know. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” Frank cracked the door so he could still talk to Vega while cleaning up. “So I’m not sure if our options for dinner are going to be up to par for an empress, but they have this juice stuff here that’s amazing, and if we get really hungry, Elly found that Momo thing that I’ve heard is delicious.”

“That adorable winged creature with Elly?” Vega asked from the other room. “I’m not going to touch him. He’s cute, reminds me of someone I know. Is everything all right with the colonel?”

“Yep.” Frank wasted no time in the shower lathering himself with a soapy spongy grooming tool used by the Draconians. “He said we’re all meeting tonight to go over the plans, but you already knew that. I’m guessing we’re leaving soon to go hunt down the Lord of Chaos.”

“If by ‘soon,’ you mean tomorrow, then yes,” Vega said, her voice much closer to the door now.

“Are you being a creeper right now?” Frank turned around, looking at the cracked door where Vega stood with his clean clothes.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been called a creeper,” Vega said, placing Frank’s cleaned clothes inside the bathroom. “Hurry up; you still have soap everywhere, but it smells great. You smell like a newly blossomed flower.”

“Crap, you’re right.” Frank rinsed off the suds, trying to get rid of the smell to no avail. He gave up, turning off the faucet and toweling dry. “Well, I guess better a flower than a sweat stain.”

“You do have a way with words,” Vega responded. “So what shall we do with our first date? A romantic meal in the Draconian food hall followed by a walk around the military base?”

“Something like that.” Frank came out in his pants, still pulling on his shirt. He made sure to flex when Vega looked. “Leave it to me. I have it all planned out.”

19

“Why do you continue looking over your shoulder like we’re about to be party to an illegal activity?” Vega asked like a child who was misbehaving and could get caught at any moment. “Are you about to do something we could get in trouble for?”

“Are you kidding me?” Frank shook his head while he looked from side to side. “You’re an empress and I’m an Arilion. I think we’re untouchable.”

After a quick trip to the Draconian mess hall, Frank and Vega had each taken a meal to go. A brown paper bag was clutched in each of their arms as Frank led the way back to the training room building.

It was dark now, the streetlamps providing the only dim, orange illumination beyond the smoky sky. A unit of Draconian soldiers were traveling behind them just loud enough for Frank and Vega to pick up their conversation.

“Hey, isn’t that one of those new aliens who came to help us out?”

“Yeah, it is, and by the look of that body, I think I’m going to enjoy our new alliance.”

“Hey, Legs, wait up.”

“I hate when all they see in me is my perfect calves and toned butt,” Frank sighed before he turned around. “Why can’t they just love me for my mind?”

Vega laughed as she too turned to see the Draconians approach. They would be easy to make out now. A streetlamp shone directly above them. There were six Draconians, all wearing the same military uniform of drab green trousers and button-up blouse.

They all stopped in their tracks in front of Frank and Vega with open mouths.

“You’re the—the Arilion Knight.” One of them licked his lips with this thin tongue, avoiding eye contact with Frank. He shifted his weight side to side. “I’m so—so sorry.”

The Draconians looked to one another in fear.

“You don’t have to apologize to me.” Frank shrugged. “Despite my vanity, I know you weren’t talking about my perfectly shaped lower half. Unless you were.”

“No, no,” one of the front Draconians said, shaking his horned head furiously. “We were talking about the Neeve.”

Two things struck Frank. One, it was obvious these Draconian soldiers had no idea who Vega was. The second thing was that out of the six Draconians in front of them, all save one seemed afraid. There was a tall thin one in the back who stared at Frank, unblinking.

“You should really learn better manners,” Vega said with a sigh. “If we were on my planet, I’d challenge you all to combat and beat you soundly. For the sake of our new alliance with your race, I’ll overlook the comments directed toward me. I only give warnings once. Next time, I’ll make sure you pay. Do you have anything else to say?”

Five Draconians looked down shamefully, slowly shaking their heads. The last one, the tall one in the back with dark green scales, scoffed. “It’s easy for you to talk like that when you have an Arilion Knight next to you. I don’t see what the whole fuss is about. Without his glowing vambraces, he doesn’t look like much to me.”

There was a shocked inhale from the other Draconians.

“You’re out of line, Miriam.” One of the Draconian soldiers looked from Miriam to Frank. “I’m so sorry for our friend. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying and I mean it.” Miriam pushed to the front of the group, staring down at Frank. “Without the Will, you’d be no match for me.”

“Hold up.” Frank winced at the tall Draconian, who stood a good foot over him. “Are we just going to glaze over the fact that your name is Miriam?”

The Draconians looked to one another, confused.

“That’s a girl’s name.” Frank looked over to Vega with a grin.

“No it’s not,” Miriam said with a snarl.

“Um, yeah, it is.” Frank shook his head with a smile. “You should look into changing that.”

“And for the record, Frank is more of a warrior than you could ever be, even without the power of the vambraces and channeling the Will.” Vega took a step forward, looking up at Miriam. “He holds more power in his pinky than you do in your entire body.”

“Wow, easy there.” Frank placed a hand on Vega’s shoulder. “I just trained all day and I thought we were going to go on our da—”

“If it weren’t for his title, I’d challenge him to a fight right here,” Miriam roared.

“Challenge him, then.” Vega raised her own voice. “He’ll set aside his mantle to kick your rear end. Rank or title is of no meaning at this point.”

“Hey, hey.” Frank reluctantly placed his meal on the ground. Other Draconians were beginning to take notice of the conflict below the streetlamp and make their way over. “This is escalating quickly. Why don’t we just all go our separate ways? We have our date. I’m sure Miriam has some deep-seated issues to work through with his name.”

“Coward,” Miriam growled.

Another huge inhale of wind from the gathered Draconians’ throats. There were enough Draconians present there to form a circle around the group.

“Are you going to let him call you that?” Vega looked at Frank with wide eyes. “He just called you a coward.”

“This is just like high school.” Frank shrugged off Vega’s concern. “I’ve been called a lot worse than ‘coward’ in my life. Believe you me, if you heard some of the other things I’ve been referred to, well that’s a story for another time.”

“Look, look at the Arilion Knight you all practically worship.” Miriam folded his massive arms over his chest. “He’s nothing.”

“If you don’t fight him, I am.” Vega clenched her fists so tight by her sides Frank knew she was telling the truth. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Okay, okay,” Frank finally agreed. “I’ll fight Miriam. Man, I never thought I’d say those words in the same sentence.”

The crowd around the group was a mixture of hushed whispers and cheers.

Vega took Frank by surprise, pressing her lips hard against his own. A lightheaded feeling that started at his lips and spread to his skull took Frank by surprise.

“Teach him a lesson,” Vega said, pulling away. “It’s your title as an Arilion Knight on the line now.”

“No pressure,” Frank said, removing his military jacket. He turned to Miriam, who was swinging his arms and cracking his neck. A sadistic grin was on his face. “So what are the rules here, Miriam? No crotch shots, eye gouging, biting?”

“There are no rules. We fight to the death,” Miriam said, beginning to circle Frank.

“Well, that’s taking it a bit far,” Frank said, also circling his much larger opponent. “Okay, if you win you can kill me, but if I win, you have to change your name to Frank Junior.”

“Stop talking and fight.” Miriam lunged at Frank, the black nails on his green-scaled hands as sharp as knives.

Frank side-stepped, allowing Miriam to crash into the first line of spectators. The Draconians jeered at him as they pushed him back. It seemed most of the crowd was cheering for their Arilion Knight.

“I’m going to kill you!” Miriam regained his footing, pushing away from the crowd.

Frank was used to dealing with larger opponents. He understood the mechanics of fighting. It was Miriam’s speed he was worried about. The Draconian out-matched him for size and strength, but he was also faster than Frank had anticipated.

Although he made it look like he side-stepped Miriam’s lunge easily enough, he was actually anticipating the Draconian would be slower.

Easy. Pick your opening and don’t get caught, Frank coached himself as Miriam came in again.

Miriam swung high with a wild right. Frank ducked down and sent his fist into Miriam’s gut. It felt like striking a cement wall. Frank had not been expecting the Draconian’s scales to be so hard.

In the fraction of the second it took Frank to process this information, Miriam followed up with a left-right combination to Frank’s face.

Pain exploded over Frank’s right eye and left jaw. He stumbled back, shielding himself from any other blow and falling to a knee. His vision blurred as unconsciousness grabbed at him.

20

Somewhere in the background, Frank heard the crowd gasp. Miriam was jeering at him.

You’re better than that, Frank said to himself, angry he had let the fight go downhill this fast. You’re better than that, Frank. Get up!

Frank relied on his Marine training to focus past the pain and look only at what had to be done. His face throbbed; he was on his right knee. A trickle of warm blood fell into his right eye from a shallow cut that had been opened.

“This is the Arilion Knight we will all turn to in our time of need?” Miriam had his back toward Frank, speaking to the other Draconians. “We must look to ourselves, not some alien. We are our only hope.”

There was a gasp and cheer as Frank fought his way to his feet.

Miriam turned with a sneer.

“I can do this all day, Frank Junior,” Frank said, raising his fists in front of him. If his new plan was going to work, he had to give Miriam every indication he was seriously wounded. He needed his much larger opponent to commit everything he had in his next attack. “Come on, we got to solidify that name change for you.”

Miriam pulled back green lips from sharp teeth in a predator growl. He lifted his own meaty green fists, coming in toward Frank.

As hard as it was, Frank stood in the same spot and waited.

Miriam juked from side to side, trying to throw Frank off. It was unnecessary. Frank didn’t plan on moving out of the way.

Miriam threw punches at Frank’s head and body. Frank dodged what he could and used his arms on either side of his face to protect himself from the worst of the blows. The strikes that did land made his whole body shudder.

The first few punches were the worst, but as Frank guessed, the more and more the Draconian threw, the less power they had behind them. A being with so much muscle would have a hard time with stamina and maintaining force behind his blows as time went on.

Frank didn’t throw any punches in return, not yet. He started to move around Miriam now, making the Draconian miss as many punches as he landed. The ones that did land racked Frank with bruises to his torso and face. He absorbed each blow with his arms and hands that protected his body. Each strike came weaker than the last.

Miriam was breathing hard after the initial twenty to thirty strikes.

“Come on,” Frank coaxed him, spitting blood from a cut lip. “I’m just a human, remember? Come on, Miriam, you have more to give. Come on.”

Hate crossed Miriam’s face, starting at his mouth and traveling to his eyes. He tried a lazy kick Frank easily sidestepped, then tried to tackle Frank. Frank telegraphed it a mile away.

Frank kept moving, making Miriam move to follow.

“Coward,” Miriam gasped. “Fight me—”

If there was more the Draconian was about to say, Frank didn’t allow him the opportunity to finish. The Marine chose his moment well and sent a strike to Miriam’s throat. The punch was awkward at best. Since the Draconian was so tall, Frank had to send his fist up over the alien’s collarbone but below his chin.

CRACK!

Miriam stumbled back, grabbing at his throat. Frank didn’t think he had broken anything, not with the Draconian’s thick scales protecting him, but it sure didn’t feel good.

Frank ignored the blood coming off the knuckles on his right hand and pressed forward. It was his turn to put his cards on the table and it had to be enough. Frank couldn’t afford the fight continuing. His body was too fatigued from the training he had already endured that day.

Charging forward, Frank jumped, cocking his bloody fist back and superman-punched Miriam, who was still coughing and gasping for breath. Frank definitely felt the nose passage on Miriam’s face give way under the pressure.

The Draconian toppled to the ground under a shower of bright lime blood. Wasting no time, Frank jumped on him, applying a rear naked choke. With his forearm under Miriam’s throat, Frank squeezed with every ounce of strength he could find.

Although he did not have his vambraces, the principle of where his strength came from still applied. He was still as deadly without the power of Will as with it. Anger, rage at having to fight at all to be put in this position boiled inside.

With everything he had, Frank squeezed. Miriam, still dazed from the strike to his nose, grabbed at Frank’s arms and tried to extract himself, but it was no use. Frank was a pit bull with a bone.

Seconds later, Miriam went limp in his arms.

“Frank, Frank!”

It was Vega’s voice among the shouts of the crowd that brought him back to the moment. Frank released Miriam, pushing the massive Draconian over to the side.

A cheer rose from the throats of those around. Vega came and offered Frank a hand. Frank accepted, looking to his right where Miriam lay unconscious, his chest still rising and falling.

“Kill him,” someone shouted from the crowd.

“It was a fight to the death.”

“He would have killed you.”

“If we kill each other, who’s going to be left to fight the Lord of Chaos?” Frank asked the crowd. “When he wakes up, tell him he should focus on our true enemy instead of allies. And someone remind him of his new name, ya?”

There was a chorus of laughter and shouts as the Draconians present began to chant, “Arilion Knight, Arilion Knight, Arilion Knight.”

Frank waved, leaning down to pick up the bag holding his dinner. Vega joined him as they made their way through the crowd. Frank took the lead once again, directing them to the training facility.

“You really need to take less hits in a fight,” Vega said, her voice one part playful and one part concerned. “We need our Arilion Knight around for a long time to come.”

“I’ll be fine,” Frank said, reaching the closed doors of the training facility and hoping his plan would work. “I’m tougher than I look.”

Frank placed his hand on the wall scanner. It beeped once and the doors opened. Frank said a silent prayer of thanks; either the doors recognized Arilion Knights or Sava had programmed the door to open for him as well. Either way, they were inside.

“Why do you keep looking over your shoulder?” Vega asked, following Frank down the circular hall that ran the perimeter of the building. “And what is this place?”

Lights sensing their presence flickered on as Frank made his way to the control panel he had seen Laloid and Elly use that day.

“No, we’re good,” Frank said, reaching the control panel and searching over the many switches and buttons. “This is the training building and the room in front of us is called the Proving Ground. Ah, here we go.”

Frank flipped a switch that turned on a monitor displaying a variety of training programs. A few names jumped out at him, including Burning Planes, Gut Ripper, and Make My Day. Frank ignored these, wondering who came up with the titles, before finding the program he was searching for.

After activating the program, he moved to the station where Elly had sat and did the same, activating the mixtape she had loaded into the program.

“Frank, we should really do something about that cut above your eye before we go any further,” Vega said, studying his face. “It hasn’t stopped bleeding.”

“Once we’re inside. Come on.” Frank opened the door to the Proving Ground. He took Vega’s hand in his own and led her inside.

The holographic training program displaying the entire universe shone in front of them as they entered. Rock and roll music played overhead.

Frank led Vega to the center of the room, where they sat together. “Perfect, right?”

A smile played on Vega’s face as she nodded to the music. The glow of the many stars and planets made for the perfect ambiance, like dozens of candles shining for them.

“It’s beautiful, like being part of the sky, inside space itself.” Vega tore off a piece of her dress and pressed the cloth to the cut over Frank’s eye. “And your choice of music makes me want to tap my foot. What was it called? Rock and roll?”

“That’s right.” Frank allowed Vega to attend to his wound. “When you come visit me on Earth, I’ll take you to a concert. You’re going to love it.”

“I’m sure I will.” Vega pressed on Frank’s wound harder, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. “Tell me more about you, Frank.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything, I want to know everything.”

Minutes felt like seconds as Vega stopped the bleeding on Frank’s wound and the two shared their simple mess hall meal. Frank couldn’t remember being happier. He would hold on to these memories during the dark days to come.

21

“What happened to your face?” Colonel Breaker asked as Frank and Vega entered the designated meeting room in the capitol building.

“What?” Frank feigned confusion. “It’s just me. I just look like this.”

Colonel Breaker did not seem amused.

“Oh right,” Frank said, pointing a finger all around his face. “I cut myself shaving, and then fell down the stairs and ran into a door.”

Vega actually laughed out loud. She slammed her right hand over her mouth to stop any more noise from coming out.

Colonel Breaker gave Frank a long stare before turning to the empress. “It’s good to see you again, Empress Vega.”

“You as well, Colonel.” Vega recovered.

Colonel Breaker and Major Lopez were the only other members of Marine Space Corps One present. They wore their fatigues and jackets. Sava and Prime Kirkhoden were speaking in hushed whispers on the other end of the room, Sava with her long brown cloak and the Prime in a sharp suit.

The narrow room featured no frills, just business with a spiral staircase leading to a higher floor. An extended table and chairs filled the plain chamber, making it feel like a conference room.

“You look like you got into a fight.” Major Lopez pushed the subject. Her hair was pulled back, the scar on the left side of her face fully exposed, no makeup to try and cover her wound.

Frank was saved from any further interrogation by Sava and the Prime.

“I’m so glad you are all here and we have agreed to a course of action,” Prime Kirkhoden began. “With the strength of our alliance, I know we can seek out the Chaos Lord and end his campaign before it begins. With the quick and decisive leadership of your two planets, we are ready to depart in the morning and finish what has been started.”

“We are of one mind,” Vega said, transitioning from the woman who kissed him and cared for his wounds to a strong leader of her people in an instant. “My warriors are ready. We’ve lost much—too much at the hands of the Chaos Lord and his followers already.”

“We understand the threat a dictator like this poses to the universe.” Colonel Breaker agreed with the other two leaders in the room. “We’ve seen it firsthand. We’re ready to help in whatever way we can.”

“It does my heart good to hear you speak these words.” Prime Kirkhoden beckoned for the group to follow. “The hour is late and our time is short. You should all get a good night’s rest. Before you do, I wanted to introduce you to—something.”

Frank didn’t mishear the Prime. The Draconian had most definitely made the effort to say “something” and not “someone.”

The group followed the Prime together up the winding stairs to a floor at least three stories high.

“Does anyone know anything about this?” Major Lopez asked under her breath. She looked over at Frank. “Anyone?”

“Why are you looking at me?” Frank shrugged.

“Because you have a knack for finding things out and getting into trouble while you’re at it,” Major Lopez responded.

“I don’t know anything, I promise,” Frank said as he placed one booted foot after the other on the steel steps. “Scout’s honor.”

The stairs opened up into another wide open room, this one decorated with cushioned chairs and short tables. It made Frank think of a study room or library even.

The Prime motioned them toward a wall of windows that looked out over the military base. Something large loomed on the dark horizon. Over the buildings surrounding them and out even further to those structures that had been destroyed by the Chaos army, something massive approached.

Frank squinted, trying to make out what it could be. The dark night and lack of starlight from the haze of smoke and ash made it impossible to discern details. All he knew was that it moved slowly and it was bigger than an apartment complex.

“It took our engineering team years to build,” Prime Kirkhoden breathed with a sigh of pride. “It’s capable of holding a crew of just over one thousand, with every amenity you can imagine from state-of-the-art mess halls to hangar bays. It can hold two squadrons of twenty-four fighters each as well as a twelve-ship squadron of transport crafts. We have dual ion torpedo mounts along with laser turrets and a rail gun capable of reaching the enemy in the blink of an eye.”

As the Prime continued to rattle off facts about the ship like a proud papa, the craft came closer and closer. A thrum of engines could soon be heard. Before long, it was close enough to make out more distinct details.

The front reminded Frank of pictures he had seen of the Titanic. Midway through the body of the craft it expanded into a cube. Toward the stern of the ship, a command tower rose from the base of the craft. There were thrusters on either side of the ship as well as four more to the rear.

The Draconians painted the entire vessel the same greenish khaki of their uniforms.

The ship was much too large to set down anywhere inside the military base. It came to a halt, hovering in front of them.

It was a massive warship with guns protruding out of the deck at varying intervals. It was hard to tell exactly how long the ship was, but if Frank had to guess, it was at least as large as the training building where he had trained that day; two hundred meters, probably even longer.

“It’s magnificent,” Vega breathed. “What have you named the warship?”

“We actually do not have a name for it yet.” Prime Kirkhoden looked between Vega and Colonel Breaker. “We were going to offer our new allies the opportunity to name the vessel.”

“If I may?” Vega looked over to Colonel Breaker. “I think I have the perfect name.”

“Of course.” Colonel Breaker nodded in her direction.

“I’d like to name the warship after my father, who was murdered through a ploy of the Chaos Lord himself. The Chaos Army was going to use our planet as a staging area and the spheres to bring more of their army through the gateway.” Vega’s eyes were hard, unwavering. “I’d like to name it the Ryker.”

“Ryker is an excellent name,” Sava said from her place next to the prime. “We will make the enemy pay, Empress Vega. We will take everything from them as they have from us.”

Sava used her single good eye to hold Vega’s gaze for a moment.

“The plan is to leave at first light.” Colonel Breaker looked over to Frank. It seemed he was the only one that needed to be told the details of the mission. “The Draconians will send four hundred staff, pilots, and crew for the ship. The Neeve have six hundred foot soldiers. Marine Space Corps One will be taking care of the equipment for the soldiers.”

Colonel Beaker said the words as if Frank was supposed to speculate what was going on.

He had no idea, but instead of saying such, he replied with a simple, “Sir?”

“Elly’s found a way to give us a leg up in the fight.” Colonel Breaker didn’t say more.

A moment of silence passed as each warrior was left to ponder on the future.

“The last time races came together to combat a threat, the last time more than a single Arilion Knight fought side by side was the first Chaos War,” Sava said to no one and everyone. “Together, we’ll end this.”

I hope you’re right, Frank thought to himself as he stared out the window toward the Ryker. I hope you’re right.

22

Sleep came quickly for Frank as usual. Morning came much too quickly.

“Marines, up and at ‘em,” Major Lopez said through the comms. “Meet at the front of the barracks in twenty.”

“Just, just five more minutes, Mom,” Frank said through the comm unit Elly had placed on his throat during their first mission.

“Yeah, I know you’re out of practice with life in the Marines, but the Corps waits for no man,” Major Lopez said, way too alert for someone who had just woken. If Frank had to guess, she had already been up for a good hour. “Let’s go, Oohrah, we have a war to win.”

“Freaking morning people,” Frank muttered to himself as he swung his legs out from under the warm blankets and psyched himself up to start his day.

Getting dressed was easy. Frank made a trip to the bathroom to ensure his short dark hair wasn’t too crazy and use the water-pressured oral care device Draconians had left for him. The water shot hard and the stuff they used for cleaner tasted like a middle school science experiment gone bad.

Frank opened his door to see Raj across the hall. The Marine was closing his own, preparing to leave. He wore his own fatigues and walked with a cane in his right hand.

“Hey, good to see you’re up and at ‘em,” Frank said, eyeing the cane in Raj’s hand. “You trying to look more like a gentleman?”

“Hey, Frank,” Raj said, looking down at the ebony cane with the silver handle he leaned on to move. “I wish. It would be cool if there were a sword in it or something. The poison has left my leg a little weak. I’ll need the cane’s support for a while to get around. How about you?” Raj leaned in to get a better look at the cuts and bruising across Frank’s face. “Did you get into another fight?”

“Naw, I just fell. I’m all thumbs these days. Come on.” Frank waved his friend over. “We better get outside before Major Lopez lays into us.”

“Right,” Raj said, following Frank down the hall.

When they opened the door that led them outside, the morning chill brushed against Frank. Major Lopez, Elly, and the Momo were already outside waiting.

“Good morning,” Raj said with a smile, looking down at the Momo. “Good morning, Magnus.”

“Magnus?” Frank looked over to Elly, who now wore her hair back, exposing her ears, which she was usually self-conscious about.

“Yeah, I finally decided on a name,” Elly said, running a finger over her right ear. “And it’s confirmed. The sound waves emitted from the pitch in which the Momo speaks is detected by the microphone of my hearing device, then the electrical signals are relayed to our translators implanted behind my ear, thus enabling me to not only hear what he’s saying but understand his alien language.”

Frank’s eyes glossed over. “One more time in English.”

“I can talk with the Momo thanks to my hearing aids,” Elly said, leaning down to ruffle the creature’s ears. “Ahhh, I’m glad I found you too, Magnus. No—I’m sure no one here is going to eat you.”

“Colonel Breaker is waiting for us on the Ryker. He wanted to get an early start,” Major Lopez said, throwing a thumb to a vehicle parked beside the barracks Frank recognized. It was another Crawler, just like the ones they had used to fend off the most recent attack. “I’ll drive. I don’t trust Raj not to pull another kamikaze stunt.”

“Too soon, too soon,” Raj said, shaking his head as he limped over to the passenger side seat. “And I’m calling shotgun.”

“Looks like you, me, and Magnus in the back,” Frank said to Elly as they all made for the Crawler.

“I think the little guy wants to fly,” Elly said looking down at Magnus, who padded along next to them.

Magnus whined and chattered.

Elly looked down at the animal as if she was listening to what he was saying. “What? No, I don’t think so.”

Elly sniffed the air, looking to Frank. “Are you wearing perfume?”

“What?” Frank reached the side of the Crawler and leapt inside. “No, it’s the soap in my shower. It makes me smell like this.”

Magnus whined and growled. Elly burst out laughing.

“What’s he saying now?” Frank asked as the tiny alien spread his feathery wings and took to the air.

“He says you’re lying and he bets you love to wear flower-scented perfume.” Elly giggled as she too climbed into the back of the Crawler.

“Yeah, well, tell him I might eat him after all if he keeps that up,” Frank said, staring hard at the little Momo, who soared into the air and headed through the military compound.

Major Lopez gunned the engine to life. The Crawler jerked forward. On their street of the base, things had been rather quiet. As they made their way through the Draconian military base, they realized this was the exception rather than the rule.

The compound teemed with vehicles and Draconians alike running to and from various buildings like one track minded ants building a nest or bees gathering pollen. Open bed trucks piled with wooden crates stenciled with “rations,” “ammo,” or other supplies lined up like dominoes filling the street. The smell of burning fuel made Frank scrunch his nose in the cold morning.

The sun had begun to rise; however, due to the ash in the air, it hung barely visible behind a veil of grey. Looming in front of them, towering higher than any of the buildings, sat the Ryker. Frank could easily see it over any of the structures’ rooftops. It looked like a mountain of steel.

Major Lopez maneuvered around the lines of vehicles to where the Ryker sat on the outskirts of the base, where a dozen or more buildings had been previously leveled by enemy attacks.

“Let’s go,” Major Lopez said, pulling up beside the Ryker. “Colonel Breaker wants us to report to the bridge ASAP.”

Frank jumped out of the Crawler, trying to look at everything at once. As they entered the ship, there was something new to see in every corner. The unit moved up a wide ramp set inside the left side of the ship.

It looked like some kind of storage bay. Everywhere Draconians and now Neeve were preparing for their trip. When either of the two races noticed Frank or even the rest of the Marines, for that matter, heads were bowed and looks of admiration passed their way.

Magnus swooped inside the high-ceilinged room. He came to a stop beside Elly with a flurry of grey wings.

“When did the Neeve arrive?” Raj asked, turning his neck so hard from side to side that he was in danger of giving himself whiplash. “When’s the ship taking off?”

“They got here just a few hours ago through the gateway,” Major Lopez answered over her shoulder. “We’re scheduled to leave within the hour.”

“All this is going to be stored and cleared within the hour?” Elly asked, looking around at the dozens of soldiers still loading the ship. “It’s a warzone down here.”

“They’ll find a way,” Major Lopez said, directing them to the rear of the large storage bay.

A silver elevator took them up to a higher floor, where they were let out once more.

Frank took the opportunity to consider how quickly three races had moved to unite as one. They all understood exactly what was at stake. They had all seen it firsthand. Still, three interplanetary races working this quickly and efficiently together boggled Frank’s mind.

Well, I guess staring in the face of annihilation makes people do funny things. Frank found himself wondering what it would take for the people of Earth to come together. If three species can do it in the matter of days, we should be able to as well. You’re thinking in circles again, Frank.

Frank tore himself out of his deep thought, bringing him back to the present. The group walked down the wide grey halls of the ship. Steel surrounded them with recessed lighting in the ceiling of the ship as well as the lower halves of the walls.

Not that he had any idea of what craftsmanship of an intergalactic spacecraft should look like; however, what Frank did see impressed him. Clean lines spoke of the experts’ work on the ship.

Soon Major Lopez reached a set of large steel double doors leading onto the bridge.

“Hold onto your butts,” Major Lopez said with a wink. “This is the cool part.”

23

“This is so cool,” Raj said, looking around with the others. “This is some Star Trek stuff right here.”

Frank couldn’t argue with the doctor’s assessment. The ship’s bridge looked like a small amphitheater. The half-circle-shaped room had three levels separated by a few steps each. The upper level had three seats on each side for the Draconians piloting the ship.

The second level just below held an empty captain’s chair. Ebony leather made up the body, headrest, and arm support, with jade details accenting the stitching and curvature of the plush seat. Control panels were stationed on each side of the arm rest for the user’s convenience. The third and lowest level had another display of seats and monitors lined up in a row in groups of two or three. Directly in front of this was a massive glass view screen portraying the deck of the ship and beyond.

The amount of screens, buttons, stitches, and levers at each station baffled Frank. Only a trained group of naval officers would be able to pilot a ship like the Ryker. Frank hoped they were ready.

“Oh, hey, guys,” a familiar jovial voice said from Frank’s left.

Frank looked over to see a smiling Laloid, who waved hysterically at them. “Hey, Laloid.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you could all make it.” Laloid beamed with pride, his pressed drab olive uniform hugging his reptilian body like a glove. “We’ll be taking off soon and I just want to say how awesome this will be. Flying into the unknown, to find and fight the Lord of Chaos, everything on the line, the universe in the balance. I mean, wow, just wow, guys.”

“Oh, I think I’m going to be sick,” Raj said as he hung on to each of Laloid’s words. “Why does the universe always have to be in the balance?”

“Sir.” Major Lopez cut off Laloid from saying anything else that might cause Raj a panic attack as Colonel Breaker and Sava walked up from the lower level on the bridge.

Colonel Breaker wore his usual dark combat uniform with Marine Space Corps One’s insignia on the right shoulder. The Spartan helmet with wings extending out from either side insignia was as unrelenting and stoic as the expression on the colonel’s face.

Sava stood beside him. She had abandoned her brown robe and even the leathers she usually donned underneath. Today she wore a uniform just like the other Draconians all around her. Boots, a drab green single-buttoned uniform with triangles indicating her rank on her shoulder, and an emblem over the right portion of her chest. The tan field was the shape of a spear tip and inside was an army green Draconian skull.

“Marines.” Colonel Breaker addressed the group, even looking at Frank with a nod. “We don’t have much time until lift off, so let me get you up to speed. Elly, Major Lopez will assist you as you fit the Neeve army with force field units and weapons. I believe Empress Vega has some of her people willing to assist you as well. We need the job to be done by the time we reach the Lord of Chaos and his planet.”

“Yes, sir.” Elly and Major Lopez both nodded and turned to leave.

“Doc.” Colonel Breaker turned his eyes to Raj. “How’s the leg feeling?”

“It’s a long way from my heart, sir,” Raj said with a grin. “I’ll be fine. Where do you want me?”

“Familiarize yourself with the medical bay.” Colonel Breaker looked over to Sava. “Can you spare someone to show him the way?”

“Of course.” Sava motioned to Laloid. “Laloid, will you please take Lieutenant Agarwal to the medical bay?”

“Oh great, this guy?” Raj said under his breath.

“Oh, you know it,” Laloid said, practically jumping from his seat. He extended a hand to Raj. “I don’t think I’ve met you yet. The name’s Laloid and I’m so glad you are here today.”

Raj looked over at Frank and mouthed the words, “Help me.”

“You’ll be fine,” Frank whispered, shooing him off with one last jab. “Just don’t look him in the eyes.”

Raj gave Frank a bewildered glance, unsure if Frank was teasing or being serious, before following Laloid.

“Mr. Wolffe.” Colonel Breaker looked at Frank, studying his still bruised face. “Sava has requested to continue your training on board the Ryker. I’ve agreed. You two will be our best weapons once this final fight begins. The stronger and better trained you are, the more our chances of victory increase.”

“Yes, sir.” Frank nodded.

“We’ll remain in the bridge until take off,” Sava explained. “After that, I will be handing control of the Ryker over to Colonel Breaker and you and I will continue our training.”

“Come again?” Frank said, glancing between Sava and the colonel. “No offense, sir, but do you know how to fly one of these things?”

“Absolutely no idea,” Colonel Breaker said with a hint in his voice that sounded strangely like excitement. “However, there will be a crew of Draconians here with me on the bridge. I’m beginning to learn now, but I’m sure it will take years before I could ever pilot one of these ships.”

“Colonel Breaker’s experience in warfare will be more important on the bridge than his ability to actually pilot,” Sava said, turning back to the crew sitting at the control stations and running through checklists. “He’ll also have the ability to reach me through comms, since our technology has been linked.”

Frank nodded along with the words. If Colonel Breaker only had to lead and make the tough decisions, he knew the man could do that well. It was the rest of the job he was worried about. To Sava’s point, he had an entire crew with him who had been trained to perform their tasks and run a ship.

“I think it’s about time we address the Ryker,” Sava said, motioning for Colonel Breaker to follow her. She chose a place right in front of the captain’s chair. Turning to a Draconian on the middle level, she asked, “Miriam, will you please send a ship wide broadcast?”

Frank grinned so hard, his face hurt as he leaned over to see who Sava was speaking with. As he suspected, it was the same tall Draconian he had gotten into a fight with the day before.

“Certainly, sir,” Miriam responded, clicking a few buttons on his control panel. “Ready to broadcast no—”

“Excuse me, what name did you respond to?” Frank caught the Draconian’s attention. “I could have sworn you answered to Miriam, but that would be really weird. Isn’t your name—oh it’s escaping me right now, what was it?”

A couple Draconian officers on the bridge stifled laughter. A few others looked at each other, confused.

Miriam looked down at his control panel, half ashamed, half embarrassed. “It’s Frank—Frank Junior.”

“Oh, that’s right, Junior,” Frank said with a satisfied nod.

Sava stared daggers at him.

“Sorry, sorry, my bad.” Frank lifted his arms into the air and stepped back. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“Broadcasting in three,” Miriam resumed his duties, “two, one.”

“Neeve, Humans, and Draconians,” Sava began as she stared into a screen that popped up on the glass window in front of her. The image reflected back on her, showing what everyone else on the craft would see. “We are quickly approaching the maiden voyage of the Ryker. I will be taking command of the ship to begin with. However, as my duties as an Arilion Knight demand my attention, I will be placing the ship in Colonel Breaker’s care. The colonel has decades of experience leading men and women into warfare. Backed by our own trained crew, we will lead you to not only discovering where the Lord of Chaos hides, but to crushing his flame of dominance before it can begin.”

Sava took a moment to pause. In the interim, the bridge erupted in an unexpected wave of applause and shouts in support of her words. Frank joined in, clapping his hands as hard as he could.

“As one, with a single goal in mind and purpose,” Sava continued, forcing the applause to subside to be heard. “We will find this would-be destroyer of worlds and we will be victorious!”

24

“Engines are go,” Laloid reported to Sava, who sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Ryker. “All systems are go.”

Frank stood beside Colonel Breaker on the upper deck of the bridge. The ship’s inertial dampeners would afford them the opportunity to stand while the Ryker ascended into the sky or at least that was the nonsense Laloid had told him.

The Ryker trembled as the thrusters lifted them from the planet of Brytanna. Guesstimating exactly how many tons the warship weighed was pointless. It had to be over two hundred tons, but exact numbers were irrelevant.

“Ever think you’d be an astronaut?” Colonel Breaker asked without taking his eyes away from the main viewing window at the front of the bridge. “Ever think you’d be flying into space?”

“There were times I didn’t think I was going to make it off Atmos when we were fighting leviathans, Chaos soldiers, and power armor suits,” Frank answered as the Ryker picked up speed, transitioning from a purely vertical ascension to one that now took them forward and upward. “I never even dreamed this would be possible.”

The two men stood quiet as the ship rose higher and higher. The smoky barrier surrounding the military compound finally dissipated, blocking their view for only a moment longer before bright sunshine blinded their eyes.

Frank lifted a hand to his face to give his pupils time to adjust. The sun over Brytanna was beautiful, more orange than yellow. The view screen adjusted to avoid blinding the crew. The view was breathtaking. Still the Ryker rose, even now gaining speed as it raced toward space. All around Frank, technicians at chairs monitoring system functions were reporting in to Sava.

“Engines are good,” Laloid said.

“Hyper drive is ready and standing by,” Miriam said from his station.

A tiny tremor ran across the ship’s bridge as they passed away from the sun and headed into the blackness of space. Frank didn’t have words for the moment. He had seen stars far overhead before; even now they were still distant, but somehow it was as if they were within reach.

All around them, the light of the sun died, giving way to the blackness and vastness that was space; thousands of lights twinkled and shone, just waiting to be explored. Faster and faster, the Ryker rocketed forward.

“Laloid,” Sava said from her seat. “Let’s track our route one more time.”

“Yes, sir.” Laloid clicked a few buttons on his control panel, bringing up a map of their current vector on the giant window in front of them. “Up now.”

Frank watched as it showed where the many attacks on Brytanna had originated. They all started at a common location, funneling outward toward the planet. Sava’s path led straight through the funnel and to whatever lay on the other side.

“All the reports, all the intel they’ve been able to gather from traders and mercenaries that have traveled past the known universe, say the Lord of Chaos lies in this direction,” Colonel Breaker told Frank. “Intel varies from a few days of hyper speed travel to a week. The Draconians think that’s due to ship speed.”

Frank nodded along with the colonel’s words.

How crazy does your life have to get before you’re having serious conversations about hyper speed and space travel? Frank thought to himself. Well, at least we won’t have to wait in traffic.

“Thank you,” Sava said, touching the keypad on the right arm rest of her chair. The plotted route from the main screen disappeared once again, showing the immensity of space. “Miriam, prepare for hyper speed on my mark.”

“Preparing for hyper speed, sir,” Miriam said from his station.

Frank gripped the rail in front of him, feeling his heartbeat pick up in speed. He had no idea what hyper speed would feel like if anything at all; it just felt better to hold on to something.

“Here we go again.” Colonel Breaker looked over to Frank. “You ready for this, Arilion Knight?”

“Let’s do it,” Frank said.

“On my mark.” Sava’s voice filled the bridge. “Start the countdown.”

“Entering hyper speed in…” Miriam’s voice paused for a moment. “We’re getting energy spikes on the screen. Something’s exiting hyper speed.”

“What is it? Can you confirm?” Sava asked.

“It’s another ship,” Laloid’s voice was panicked. “I have it on long-range scanners. Miriam is right. It’s coming out of hyper speed now. It’s an enemy warship; my gosh, I’ve never seen anything that large.”

“Bring it on-screen,” Sava said, not missing a beat. “Shields up and notify Hammer and Viper squadrons to stand by.”

A series of “rogers” followed her words as the technicians on the bridge began carrying out her orders.

“Coming—coming on screen now,” Laloid said, fighting back the concern in his voice.

The next moment, the screen on the bridge showed an expansive craft just as large as the Ryker if not wider. Obsidian with sharp jutting edges that caught light, exaggerating their sharpness. Two wings came forward like pincers from a gigantic insect’s maw, and red lights shone on the ship.

“I think I just messed my pants,” Laloid whispered in his seat.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have brought the enemy ship on the main screen,” Frank said, shaking his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the size.

“We’re being hailed,” Miriam called out from his seat. “Shall I open a comm channel?”

“Put it on the main screen,” Sava said, looking behind her for the first time to Frank and the colonel. “I’d bet my life we’re about to enter a fight. Be ready.”

Neither Frank nor the colonel had time to answer before the screen transitioned from the blackness of space to the image of a menacing alien whose face seemed nothing more than a scowling skeleton covered in alloy sinews with small tusks protruding from his cheeks, all made more hateful with dead eyes. He, or it, stood on his own bridge. Nothing was immediately visible on either side of his large head. The top of a red-collared uniform was the only other part of him their view afforded.

“This is Commander Belvil Trask of the Destroyer,” the alien commander said, narrowing his white eyes. His voice sounded like a cross between a cement truck and nails on a chalkboard. “I would normally not waste time opening a link with an ant, however, your ship is intriguing. My scans show it as being unknown. Now I see you are very clearly Draconian filth.”

“I am Captain Sava Sargard and this is a ship from the Republic of Brytanna,” Sava said without any hint of trepidation touching her voice. “I am ordering you to surrender yourself, your crew, and your ship immediately.”

The enemy commander began uttering a sound that had to pass as a laugh for him. To Frank, it sounded like a gravelly wheeze.

“The Lord of Chaos has ordered the death of you and your entire race,” Commander Trask said as he finished his laughter. “You and your kind will be the first species wiped from the universe like the unclean abomination you are. A new order is rising in the universe, a pure order that has been born to rule.”

If Sava took offense at the commander’s words, she showed none. “I’ll take your answer as a refusal to comply.”

“You think because you managed to build a single warship, you have a chance at defeating us?” Commander Trask scoffed. “I will annihilate you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Sava responded, as cool as ever. “We’ll see how the Lord of Chaos’ navy fares in this battle. The Will is with us and so are the Arilion Knights.”

Sava lifted her right forearm, showing the glowing vambrace to the screen and the enemy commander beyond. She held her forearm there, staring directly into the monitor as if she were begging the commander to mock her further.

For the first time, something other than hate showed on Commander Trask’s broad alien face. He seemed uncertain for the briefest second. It was clear he knew exactly what an Arilion Knight was and just as clear he had not expected to encounter one so soon.

Sava took full advantage of the enemy commander’s uncertainty. “The Light has broken the darkness before. We will do so again. If you test us, we will end your life. I promise you this.”

“Arilion Knight or not, I will rend you. I will break you,” Commander Trask sputtered. Saliva flew from his small mouth. The pincers on either side of his jaws coated in saliva. “Death is com—”

“What about two Arilion Knights?” Sava said, rising from her seat. She waved Frank over. “Are you prepared for that?”

The psychological game Sava was playing on the enemy commander was beyond impressive. Not once, but now twice, she had stopped the commander mid-sentence, making him rethink everything he thought he knew.

Man, Sava must make for one brutal ex-girlfriend, Frank thought to himself as he joined the ship’s captain. I feel sorry for whoever that guy is.

“Hey, hi there.” Frank waved at the monitor, making sure the Chaos commander was able to see his own vambraces. “I don’t—I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you have spit hanging all around your face. Like, all over the place; that can’t be hygienic in this army or the Chaos army. Just FYI, I thought I’d throw that out there.”

Commander Trask was shaking with rage. He opened his mouth to say something.

“Cut the feed,” Sava said, turning away from the monitor. “All crews to battle stations.”

25

The bridge erupted in chatter as the Draconian techs doled out orders to the rest of the crew via their comms. An alarm warning sounded, notifying everyone that battle was imminent.

“Attention, all hands, general quarters. Battle stations ready!”

“Clear the line for 1MC. Captain’s orders only.”

“Lieutenant Rangar, report on 4MC.”

“Redirecting all unnecessary electrical control to cannons and shields.”

The bridge doors slid open. Vega rushed inside. Even in the heat of battle, the Neeve empress blended function with beauty as she wore a simple alabaster uniform of a double-breasted jacket trimmed with gold. The front ended at her trim waist and the back tails extended to the top of her thighs. Gold pencil-tailored pants led to gold boots. She looked to Sava, then Frank. “What can the Neeve do to help? I heard the broadcast and—”

Frank did a double take before he understood what he thought was happening, was actually transpiring on the bridge. Chaos soldiers in their bulky crimson red armor were materializing all around the bridge. At least a dozen of them appeared out of nowhere.

Everyone on the bridge stood stunned for a moment. Colonel Breaker was the first to find his voice and take action.

“Down!” the Colonel warned, throwing himself into Frank as hard as he could.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The plasma rifles the Chaos soldiers carried fired in all directions. The sounds echoed off the small compartment of the bridge. Draconians yelled out in their last moments of death.

Frank landed on his back, the colonel still on top of him. The wind had been knocked out of Frank, making it hard to breathe, much less regain his feet.

Colonel Breaker gritted his teeth, rolling off Frank. The colonel’s right arm was missing from the shoulder down. He held on to the wound with his left hand, already applying pressure to the wound. The superhot plasma had eaten right through his arm.

“Stay down!” Frank knelt next to Colonel Breaker, calling a shield forward from his left vambrace. An oval shelter popped up, protecting them both from another wave of fire. “How is it?”

“I’m not going to be clapping anytime soon,” Colonel Breaker shook with the words as he forced them out through his closed teeth. Speaking with the fierce toughness of a Marine, he moved to a sitting position beside Frank. “Get me a weapon.”

Frank didn’t understand how the colonel was still conscious, given the pain he must be experiencing, but there was no time to focus on the meaty stump where his right arm had once been. All around the two Marines, the bridge was in pandemonium.

The Chaos soldiers had killed half the crew with their surprise attack, but the other half were fighting back. Only Frank and Sava had access to weapons, but that didn’t stop the rest of the crew.

To his left, Vega was holding her own. She straddled a fallen Chaos soldier, ripping his helmet off his head and bringing it down over and over again on the alien skull.

To his right and below him, Sava had called a protective barrier around her while dealing out death to the enemy one after another. She flung deadly curved purple blades that sank into her opponents, one moment bringing death and the next disappearing as if they had never been there to begin with.

Frank pushed forward to where Laloid was grunting as he tried to wrestle away a plasma rifle from a Chaos soldier. His attempts at grunts actually sounded like whimpers, like a small child trying to pull something impossibly large across the room.

“Ugh, Ugh,” Laloid said, holding on to the plasma rifle for dear life.

Frank ran forward. Discarding his shield, he summoned a Desert Eagle in his right hand. He squeezed the trigger as he pressed the barrel to the Chaos soldier’s red helmet.

BAM!

The Chaos soldier staggered back, releasing his hold on the weapon.

Chatter over Frank’s comm was coming in so fast he couldn’t make sense of the words. He was sure he heard Raj, Elly, and Major Lopez, but there was no time to make out their words. He couldn’t stop now, not until the bridge was clear.

Frank grabbed the plasma weapon from Laloid’s shaking hands and threw the weapon to Colonel Breaker, who grabbed it with his good arm and sent a spray of plasma bolts toward two Chaos soldiers running onto the bridge from deeper in the ship.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The colonel caught one in the head and the other with two rounds to the chest. The superheated plasma ate through their armor in seconds.

“Frank,” Miriam shouted from somewhere on the bridge. “Behind you!”

Frank turned in time to see one of the last standing Chaos soldiers bring his rifle to bear on Frank. Frank snapped his arm out, holding the Desert Eagle, and fired two more rounds before his enemy was able to press the trigger. The shots slammed into the alien’s red helmet, tearing through bone and brain matter before exiting the other side.

Just as fast as it started, it was over.

Dead chaos soldiers slumped on all three levels of the ship’s bridge. Along with them were most of the Draconian technicians. Besides Frank and the colonel, the only ones still breathing were Sava, Vega, Miriam, and Laloid.

“Raj, I need you on the bridge ASAP,” Frank yelled into his comm as he ran to the colonel and skidded to a halt beside the man. “Colonel Breaker’s been hit.”

“Reports coming in from all over the ship,” Sava said to everyone at once. “They’ve somehow beamed in across all levels. There’s fighting in the cargo hold, hangar bay, and barracks.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Frank heard all of this, but what was important to him now was the man who had saved him. The wound on Colonel Breaker’s arm had been all but cauterized shut by the plasma round. Only a small pool of blood had been allowed to gather below his charred stump.

“You’re going to be all right, you’re going to be all right,” Frank repeated to the colonel. “Stay awake. Raj!”

“I’m en route!” Raj said over the comms, yelling to be heard over the weapons fire on his end of the comms. “Son of a Baptist preacher, Frank. Where are they all coming from?”

“I don’t know,” Frank answered. “Just get here.”

“Go, help them,” Colonel Breaker said with no room in his voice for argument. “I’m not going to die today. Even if I were, there are thing worse than death. You can’t do anything for me. Go help those who you can.”

Frank could see the pain in the colonel’s eyes even as he said the words.

“Oohrah to that, sir.” Frank turned fighting back the voice in his head that said he should stay with the wounded officer.

Vega had taken up a defensive position just inside the bridge. She held a plasma rifle, aiming down the barrel at anyone or anything that might be approaching.

“I need a damage report, I need to know how they’re doing this, and I need all of that now,” Sava growled from her command chair where her fingers raced over her own keyboard. Her one good eye scrolled over information as she continued to dole out orders. “Get me in contact with the officers we still have standing.”

“Aye, sir,” Miriam said as he shoved a dead Chaos soldier from his terminal.

“Laloid, on your feet!” Sava screamed.

The Draconian technician sat on the ground with his knees curled up to his chest. Both his arms wrapped around his knees as he muttered something in his state of shock.

“Hey, Laloid, Laloid,” Frank said, crouching down to eye level with the Draconian. “Snap out of it. Come on, come on.”

Laloid looked at Frank through unseeing eyes as he continued to mutter and rock back and forth. “I’m not a soldier like you. I’m supposed to deal with system malfunctions, shields, and reports.”

“Hey.” Frank slapped the Draconian across the face harder than he had anticipated. “Sorry, sorry, that was a bit rough.”

The strike did its job. Laloid gave Frank his full attention. His rocking stopped.

“What happened is in the past,” Frank said, pulling the larger Draconian to his feet. “This is all behind you now. There’s nothing we can do about this, but there are other soldiers you can help right now. There are soldiers that you can save. Pull it together. We need you, Laloid.”

As Frank spoke, Laloid slowly began to nod as he realized the truth in Frank’s words. The next moment, he brushed past Frank to take his seat once more at his terminal.

“No reports of exterior damage,” Miriam said from his station to the left of the captain’s chair on the middle level. “Patching in officers now.”

“Understood,” Sava said, glancing quickly behind her she gave an approving nod to Frank before looking at Laloid. “Laloid, I need to know how they’re transporting aboard and how to stop it, now.”

“On it,” Laloid said.

Sava returned back to her comm unit, ordering her officers and organizing an offensive move against the chaos soldiers.

Frank took the time to join Vega by the door. The empress’ uniform was spattered with blood. She didn’t look at Frank as he joined her. Instead, her attention was solely on the movement approaching them from down the hall.

26

BOOM!

Vega fired a wild shot down the hall that nearly took off Raj’s already injured leg.

“Easy, easy,” Frank warned the trigger-happy empress. “It’s Raj.”

“I come in peace!” Raj screamed down the hall at the same time. “You almost gave me a peg leg.”

“Oh, sorry.” Vega lowered the barrel of her weapon. “I’ve never shot one of these things before.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing or Raj would have to get a job as a pirate,” Frank said as Raj hobbled his way onto the bridge. In one hand, he held his cane; in the other, a heavy medical bag.

“Where is he?” Raj, in a very unlike Raj way, moved past anxiety at his own safety and focused on the colonel.

“There,” Frank said, pointing to Colonel Breaker, who still sat slumped by a control station.

Raj hobbled over, shaking his head as he began examining the colonel.

“They’re using a cloaked form of teleportation technology to beam on board,” Laloid reported to his commanding officer. “We didn’t even know they were capable of this.”

“Yes, yes.” Sava sounded annoyed. “How do we stop it?”

“Why do I always get the hard questions?” Laloid furrowed his brow as he hunched behind the control panel. “Maybe if I can find the frequency they’re using to teleport, we can send a signal to disrupt it.”

“Do it,” Sava said, rising from her chair and looking over to Frank. “We need to buy Laloid some time. More and more Chaos soldiers are being teleported onto the ship as we speak. They’re congregating in the hangar bay and the weapons hold in the midsection of the ship.”

“The weapons hold?” Frank kicked himself mentally for not checking in with Elly and the major sooner. “I’ll go.”

“Empress, if you would—”

“I’m going with you to the hangar bay.” Vega cut the one-eyed captain off. “That’s where my people are. That’s where I need to be.”

“Very well, the empress and I will go to the hangar bay,” Sava said as she built armor constructs over her body that looked like football pads. “Frank, head to the weapons hold.”

Frank nodded, catching Vega’s eye as she left. There was more he wanted to say; this just wasn’t the place or time.

“I know,” Vega said, throwing all caution to the wind. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

Frank didn’t care what anyone thought while his lips were pressed to hers. He knew the bond between them was real and unbreakable. When she let him go, there was a small smile on her lips and she exhaled slowly.

“We have to stop kissing like this. Be safe,” Vega said as she walked out the door with Sava.

“You, uh, you too,” Frank said, still relishing the rush of dopamine he felt at the touch of her lips.

“Urgh.” Colonel Breaker’s grunt brought Frank back to the moment.

“Easy, you’re going to be alright,” Raj said as he wrapped the wound. “The pain killers should be kicking in now. You’re going to be fine.”

“Fine is a case of circumstance,” Colonel Breaker said. He was gaunt, and a sheet of droplets fell down his forehead. “I’m missing my freaking arm and my Marine’s girlfriend is an alien empress.”

“Girlfriend?” Frank repeated, shaking his head. To be honest, he liked the idea. Nevertheless, he couldn’t say that in front of the other guys. “Whoa, whoa whoa, we haven’t established that.”

“You two look like a couple to me,” Miriam said from his seat.

“No one asked you, Junior,” Frank said.

“You two are definitely in a relationship whether you know it or not,” Laloid chimed in. “If you want my opinion—”

“No, I don’t want your opinion.” Frank stalked from the room, heading for the weapons hold. “I’m going to check in on Elly and the major. You all just stay out of my personal life.”

Frank ran out of the room, as if the more distance he put between himself and the bridge, the further he could press the idea of being in a relationship out of his mind.

“Elly, Major Lopez?” Frank tapped into their shared comm link. “I’m on my way to you. Apparently, there’s a gathering of chaos soldiers near your location.”

“No, crap, Sherlock.” Elly’s voice came over the comms near hysterical. “We’ve been trying to reach you.”

Loud booming sounds came from Elly’s end of the comm. It sounded like a battering ram was being used to knock down a steel gate.

“I just need directions from the bridge.” Frank slowed his run down the empty hall. “I just realized I don’t know where you are.”

“Two floors down and make a right.” Major Lopez joined the conversation. “I barricaded the door, but they’re blasting at it with their plasma rifles. I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last.”

“On my way,” Frank said, running to the elevator. He said a silent prayer they were still operational.

Sounds of weapons fire and explosions echoed throughout the ship. Screams of warriors dying melded with shouts of soldiers in combat over and over again. War was hell. Frank understood that first hand.

You should have gone with her. What if something happens to her? Frank’s mind continued to run wild as he waited for the elevator. She can handle herself, yes, still it wouldn’t hurt for you to be by her side. Secure the weapons hold first, then you can go to her.

The elevator opened in front of Frank, letting out a Chaos soldier right in front of him. The soldier lifted his plasma blaster to send a round into Frank’s chest at point blank range.

“Not today.” Frank grabbed the barrel of the weapon with one hand jerking it to the side as the forearm of his other arm came down on the weapon, ripping it out of the soldier’s hands.

The Chaos soldier let his weapon fall in favor of wrapping his gloved hands around Frank’s throat as he drove him back and slammed him against the wall. Frank’s skull cracked off the back of the barrier behind him.

Instead of panicking, he materialized a Ka-bar in each hand, driving them toward one another through the enemy’s head in front of him. The deep purple blades forged from his vambraces cut through the crimson steel helmet like hot irons through Styrofoam.

The Chaos solder dropped to the ground, releasing Frank.

“You really got to work on this whole Arilion Knight thing.” Frank leapt over the corpse and into the waiting elevator. He clicked the level for the weapons hold.

Frank used the time in the elevator to form armor around him. The midnight purple color of the vambraces wrapped around his body from head to foot. Frank chose something simple, something that he knew. The diamond-plated liquid armor fit on his body like a glove. The helmet with the T-shaped visor covered his face.

In his right hand, Frank brought to life a Punisher GS2000 gauss rifle. These were all gear and weapons he was familiar with. They formed instantly from his vambraces and drained very little of his energy to maintain.

“Frank, hurry. They’ve breached the door!” Elly screamed through the comms as the elevator came to a halt and the doors began to open.

Frank felt the flow of adrenaline touch his body as his frame began to twitch with the promise of a fight. His head bobbed as he gathered the storm of intensity inside of him and channeled it into what had to be done next.

The elevator doors opened all the way to reveal a hall full of armored Chaos soldiers. They looked at Frank at once as if they had been expecting to see anyone other than an Arilion Knight.

“Oh, snap,” Frank said, leveling his weapon at the enemies. “It’s that human Arilion Knight. Oogie boogie.”

27

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank stalked forward as he hosed the gathering of Chaos soldiers in front of him. Elly had been right; they had just broken through the doors to the weapons hold, but whatever Elly and the major were doing inside was still prohibiting the enemy from entering.

That meant that at least two dozen crimson red soldiers gathered around the hall like massive targets. They yelled, pointing their own weapons at Frank, but even if they had been prepared and staged a strategic defense, the hall was only wide enough for three of the bulky armor suits to stand shoulder to shoulder.

In their pandemonium to find a firing lane without hitting one another, Frank only had to ever worry about two of the soldiers getting clean shots at him. With his armor on, he didn’t worry about being hit at all. He knew in that moment that his drive to save his friends was stronger than anything the Chaos soldiers could throw at him.

Right now, outnumbered, the fear he could instill in his enemies was as strong a weapon as anything he could construct. Sava understood this same idea when she spoke with the enemy commander.

Frank focused, changing the level of noise his weapon made as it dispersed death down the hall. He added his own voice to the madness as he continued his dogged walk forward.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“Come on! Come on!” Frank roared, pumping round after round at the soldiers, catching them in their helmets, torsos, even ripping limbs from their bodies. “RAHHH!”

The plasma rounds that did find him felt like being hit by paintballs. They came with a brief sting against his constructed armor, but Frank moved past the pain. There were worse things in this universe than physical pain, one of which was letting his friends down.

“Oohrah!” Elly and Major Lopez screamed over the comms as they added in their own weapons fire from inside the breached weapons room. “Get some!”

The Chaos soldiers now receiving fire from two sides began their retreat. Tripping over their own dead, they shoved and pushed their way back down the hall.

Frank remembered Colonel Breaker slumped on the floor of the bridge, his useless arm beside him. In that moment, Frank couldn’t find it in his heart to allow the enemy to retreat. It was him or them.

“Ahh!” He burned up the anger and hatred for those that dared harm the people he cared for.

“Your mother’s so fat!”

BOOM!

“Your mama’s so ugly.”

BAM!

Frank pushed the attack. By the time he reached the rent doors to the weapons hold, only a handful of Chaos soldier had made it down the corridor. They disappeared around the corner.

“I’m coming in, don’t shoot,” Frank said before entering the weapons hold. The memory of Raj’s near castration at Vega’s hands was still too fresh in his mind to ignore.

“Roger that,” Major Lopez responded.

The weapons hold was more like a combination workshop and storage warehouse. The room was as wide as the bridge and twice as deep. On the far right, rows of equipment and tools filled rows of bakers’ racks. On the left side of the room were a line of tables and benches to work on.

Elly and Major Lopez had formed a defensive barrier from the benches in the middle of the room. They stood behind the barrier with their own rifles. Elly’s Momo peeked out around the left side of the defensive structure, baring his teeth.

“No, Momo, he’s a friend,” Elly calmed the small beast. “Yes, the one that smells like flowers.”

“Am I glad to see you, Wolffe.” Major Lopez checked her weapon before swapping out the magazine. “Raj checked in. The colonel’s stable.”

“Good news.” Frank looked around the room. “Where’s everyone else? I thought the Neeve were helping you mount those force fields Elly created.”

“Yeah, we could use those force fields right now.” Elly shook her head in disgust. “Another hour and I could have had them operational. The only good news is there hasn’t been reports of enemy power armor units teleporting on board the ship, so at least for now, it’s a fair fight.”

“There were Neeve here helping us, but as soon as the Chaos soldiers started teleporting on board, they went to help.” Major Lopez picked up the story.

The Marines paused their conversation to listen into the chatter coming through on their shared comm channel. It was Sava.

“Laloid, tell me you got something,” Sava yelled over the noise of conflict on her end of the comm. “There’s more and more of them teleporting into the hangar bay. They’re trying to destroy our fighter crafts.”

“Yes, I was able to isolate the frequency they are using to teleport onto the ship.” Laloid sounded excited. “I just need time now to create a code to interrupt their frequency and—”

“There is no more time,” Sava yelled back. “Do it now!”

“Right, right,” Laloid answered back.

“I’ve cleared the weapons hold,” Frank said, speaking into the comm line in his helmet. “I’m coming down your way to help.”

“We could use it.” Sava sounded out of breath. “Elly, if you could help them on the bridge, I’m sure they can find a job for you.”

“On my way,” Elly said, lifting her rifle and running for the door. She shouted over her shoulder. Her words came out off-tone, but it didn’t seem to bother her. “You two keep your heads down.”

Magnus ran at her heels, yipping something.

“Yeah, this place is bananas,” Elly addressed the Momo. “We’ll have to get you some armor or something soon.”

“I’m coming with you, Frank.” Major Lopez was strapping on her own armor suit of diamond-plated armor. “Give me two seconds.”

“All right,” Frank said, focusing on the torn doors of the weapons bay. “Let’s see if I can do something about this in case our friends come back.”

“You know, Frank, I’m going to be honest with you. I never really liked you.” Major Lopez grabbed a belt to fit over her dark armor that carried an extra eight magazines for her Punisher GS2000. “I thought you were cocky, self-centered, and your loyalty could be bought.”

“Well, that’s sweet of you to say,” Frank responded, busying himself with channeling his Will to lift the broken weapons hold doors and set them back in place. “Go on.”

“I had a chance to look at your file before we left Brytanna. I mean, really look at your file. I dug deep and I understand now why money means so much to you. I had you wrong. You’re the right man for the job, Frank Wolffe,” Major Lopez said, attaching her helmet to her magnetic belt. “I just couldn’t see that before.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Frank went to an aisle holding thick metal plates and carried four out of the room, “I still don’t really like you.”

The Marines shared a laugh as Major Lopez joined Frank outside the doors.

Frank closed the battered metal doors to the weapons bay. Next, he lifted the thick steel plates, placing them in a square around the perimeter of the door. He constructed a welding torch and went to work securing the doors. Major Lopez helped hold the pieces in place while he worked.

“You look good without makeup,” Frank said, glancing up to the major while he worked. “You’ve held your own no matter what your upbringing was. I’d fight by your side any day of the week, besides Tuesdays.”

“Why not Tuesday?” Major Lopez asked, holding the last steel plate in place while Frank worked.

“Because Tuesday is for tacos.” Frank stood examining his work. “Well, it’s not a permanent fix, but if they come back, it’ll take them a while to get through again. We can send a unit to intercept them if that happens.”

“Roger that.” Major Lopez slammed on her helmet. “Let’s go kill some Chaos.”

28

The hangar bay was a nightmare. Frank and Major Lopez walked into the middle of a war zone. The Chaos soldiers had taken up positions all around the Draconian fighters, making it difficult for the Draconians and Neeve present not to fire on their own ships. Already half of the Draconian Dragoon fighters were either smoking or marred by scorch marks on their hulls.

There were hundreds of the Chaos soldiers in the cargo bay with more being teleported in by the minute. Frank and the major kept low as they ran to a spot where Vega crouched behind a pile of crates.

The acrid smell of burning flesh and the screams of war filled the hangar bay. Frank ran and slid next to Vega. She held a plasma rifle in her hands. In that moment, she wasn’t using it; she was screaming into her comms for Laloid.

“Tell me you got it already,” Vega was yelling. “We can’t let them keep coming like this.”

“And…” Laloid’s voice trailed off for a moment. “There! I got it; the transmission is blocked. They shouldn’t be able to teleport any more soldiers onto our ship.”

Frank peeked his head over their defensive position. As far as he could see, Laloid was right; there were no more enemies being transported to the hangar bay.

“Where’s Sava?” Frank had to yell into Vega’s ear to be heard over the booming rifles. “Is she here?”

“She wanted to get close to avoid causing damage to our own ships.” Vega peeked over, pointing against the far corner. “There.”

Frank followed Vega’s finger to where Sava was in the process of skewering a Chaos soldier through the chest with the end of a purple spear. A force field lit the air around her, but how long she could maintain the force field was yet to be known. Already dozens of rounds were slamming against her constructed barrier. Chaos soldiers were focusing on her, peppering her barrier with rounds of heated plasma.

“We’ve got to help her out,” Major Lopez said, looking at Frank and Vega. “Ideas?”

“Empress.” A Neeve warrior dressed in his own golden armor arrived beside Vega, handing her her own armor and greatsword.

“Thank you,” Vega said, moving to buckle herself in the golden chest plate with the Thunderbird emblem emblazoned on the front. She looked to Frank while she prepared herself. “We’ve tried rushing them over and over again, but their weapons eat through our Neeve armor.”

“Leave it to me,” Frank said as an insane idea cultivated in his mind. “I’ll get you and your men close enough for hand-to-hand combat.”

Vega and Major Lopez exchanged looks.

“Trust me,” Frank said. “There’s no time. Vega, have your men form four columns behind me and get ready to run.”

Vega nodded, already ordering the Neeve who had brought her armor to gather the surrounding men.

“What are you going to do this time, Frank?” Major Lopez peeked around their barrier, lining up a shot on a Chaos soldier. She squeezed her trigger, catching the enemy soldier center mass. “Want to share with the rest of the class?”

“No time, let’s go,” Frank said, looking over to Vega, who gave him a nod.

There were a dozen or more Neeve soldiers wearing their golden armor and helms ready to be led.

Okay, Frank, let’s do this, just like pushing back the wall, just like what you did on Atmos but better this time. You can do it by yourself now, Frank coached himself as he channeled his Will to create something he had never constructed before. You got this.

Deep violet matter erupted from his vambraces, covering his hands and the area in front of him. It expanded, growing larger and larger. Frank pulled more Will from deep within, fighting back the fatigue, refusing to let into even the idea he wasn’t strong enough.

“Frank, is that pong?” Major Lopez asked, confused.

“Just get behind me and let’s go!” Frank rushed out into the open with his construct in place. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

Major Lopez, Vega, and the other Neeve soldiers formed columns behind Frank and his construct as they waded into the fierce fire from the enemy Chaos soldiers.

Frank had managed to construct two barriers that moved parallel to one another, reflecting back the weapons fire that touched their surface. It was the first thing that popped into Frank’s mind as he considered a barrier that could return the rounds back on the enemy.

Behind the moving pong barriers, Frank and the others rushed forward. It was a relatively short distance through the hangar bay as the two Marines and other Neeve rushed forward. It looked like a light show as the super-heated plasma rounds struck Frank’s pong shields and reflected back on them.

Chaos soldiers yelled warnings to their counterparts, but it was too late. Frank and the company behind him were already on top of the Chaos soldiers before they could try and mount their own defense.

Frank crashed into four soldiers with his barrier, sending them flying backward into Draconian fighters that stood in rows on the hangar bay floor. With one quick motion, he allowed his pong barriers to evaporate while bringing his Punisher GS2000 gauss rifle into his hands.

Everywhere he turned, his finger tapped the trigger, sending death in its red laser wake. There were so many targets clumped so close together it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

The Neeve soldiers bellowed their war cries, slicing at the Chaos soldiers with their swords and spears. Kept at bay for so long by the Chaos soldiers’ rifles, and now let loose, they tore through the enemy like a gilded wave slicing through dandelions.

Vega fought beside Frank on his right, Major Lopez on his left. Together they formed the spear tip that sank deep into the enemy lines.

Out of the corner of his eye, Frank witnessed Vega swing her sword sideways and disembowel the Chaos soldier in front of her. Major Lopez to his left sent two tungsten steel rods through the breastplate of a Chaos soldier who had pretended to play dead.

Frank fought his way to the far corner of the hangar where Sava knelt catching her breath. She held on to her spear for support. The force field encircling her dissipated at his approach.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Frank took a defensive stance beside Sava, shielding her while she caught her breath.

Sava’s dark green scales were covered in various colors of blood, spit, and other questionable body fluids. Her chest heaved. She looked up at Frank through her own good eye. “Glad you could make it.”

Frank took a charging Chaos soldier through the head as he tried to blindside Major Lopez. Although Laloid had made it so the enemy couldn’t teleport additional soldiers on board, there were still enough to carry the fight.

“We need to draw them away from our fighters,” Sava said, standing on her feet and creating her force field wall once more. “We can’t afford to lose anymore.”

“Ugh, Frank, I think we have a situation here,” Major Lopez said through her comms as she made her way to Frank’s side. “The remaining enemy soldiers are grouping for something.”

Frank followed her gaze. She was right. There were still about a hundred Chaos soldiers left and they were gathering for one final assault on what?

“Are they really going to charge us?” Frank asked in disbelief. “Do they not realize their weapons can’t penetrate our shields?”

“Not us,” Sava said, stepping in front of Major Lopez and absorbing a new spray of incoming fire. “They’re going to try and open the hangar bay doors and force field. We’ll all be sucked out into space.”

Frank looked behind them to the corner of the hangar bay where a control panel sat in the thick grey wall. Sava had been protecting the corner and controls this entire time.

“They’re going to try one last push,” Major Lopez warned. “Get ready.”

“Um, guys?” Laloid sounded in their comms.

“Not right now, Laloid,” Sava growled as she traded her spear for a short range rifle.

“But you should really hear this.” Laloid sounded panicked.

“For the love of all that’s holy.” Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded haggard. “We have incoming. The Chaos warship has deployed its fighters once they realized we stopped them from transporting soldiers. They’ll be on us within the minute.”

There was no time to process the news. The remaining Chaos soldiers in front of them charged forward like an erupting volcano spewing lava over the ground.

“Stop them!” Sava ordered. “We can’t let them get to the control panel!”

29

The Chaos soldiers charged with a manic frenzy Frank had seen before. It was when a soldier understood there was no way out. The enemy had resigned themselves to an end where surrender was not an option. They were all willing to die to get to the control panel, opening the hangar to the cold vacuum of space.

Vega led her mix of Neeve and Draconian soldiers from the flank charging into the enemy, but it would be up to Frank, Sava, and Major Lopez to take the brunt of the blow.

Frank moved forward to stand next to Sava, giving Major Lopez more cover, although offering the major may have been unnecessary. The charging Chaos horde was less interested in picking careful targets and more interested in covering the ground between them and the control panel.

A few wild shots slammed into Frank, leaving the promise of more bruises and welts, but his Will held.

“We can’t let a single enemy pass,” Sava said, holding down the trigger of her rifle and hammering the enemy with purple rounds. “Not a single one.”

Frank pulled on his knowledge of weaponry, searching for the right tool for the job. In both his time served in the Corps as well as working for B.U.T.T.S., he had handled hundreds of different types of weapons. The key now would be finding one that would eviscerate the enemy without tearing apart the hangar bay.

That might be overkill, Frank thought to himself as a weapon sprang to mind. Ah, what the heck.

Frank brought a M134 minigun with six rotating barrels into his hands. The beast was capable of firing up to six thousand rounds per minute. If he was lucky, he would get a fraction of that time before the enemy was on top of them.

Dat-dat! Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat!

The minigun spit black flames from its mouth like some ancient dragon resurrected from legend. It sounded more like a saw than a long range weapon as it cut the enemy in half.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Major Lopez added her own weapon to the mix, picking off any soldiers who tried to run and flank them.

Sava understood what was happening and constructed a waist-high wall between them and the approaching soldiers, just tall enough to provide a problem for the advancing army while still allowing Frank to tear them apart.

Twenty yards from their defensive location, it looked like Major Lopez and the Arilion Knights would prove victorious. The chaos soldiers were being turned into bloody pulps. Trying to vault the wall Sava erected along with their own dead was proving too much.

As soon as hope blossomed in the hearts of the defenders, it was ripped away.

A rumbling began under their feet, then the floor buckled. The enemy fighters had arrived and were pounding the Ryker’s shields.

“What’s going on out there?” Sava yelled into her comm. “We’re almost—”

BAM!

The entire hangar bay rocked, throwing everyone into the air. The lights in the bay flickered off and on. Frank was tossed to the left, his head slamming into the hard ground ten feet from his previous position.

“Enemy ships opening fire,” Colonel Breaker said through the comms. “Their warship is also in range for long weapons fire. We’re engaging now.”

The hangar bay controls. Frank reminded himself. You have to get back to the hangar bay controls.

The lights still flickered between their normal on position to a bright green color as the backup generators took over control. Frank’s constructed helmet tried to negotiate the light differential for him, alternating as quickly as the flickering lights around him.

Screams and weapons fire carried through the hangar, the lack of visibility only adding to the madness that came with the battle.

Frank rose to his feet, looking over at the control panel. His stomach clenched in his gut. A group of Chaos soldiers were already at the panel. Major Lopez was the only one there now. Sava was nowhere to be seen.

The major had lost her Punisher GS2000 rifle. In her right hand, she held her Ka-bar, in the left her Reckoner P7. She fought like a woman possessed, sending a spray of rounds at point blank range into the lead enemy soldier, then rolling to the left and plunging her Ka-bar hilt deep in the base of another enemy’s skull, but there were at least eight soldiers still on their feet and they overwhelmed her.

Frank sprinted forward. Too late. One of the last remaining Chaos soldiers slammed his gauntleted fist on the control panel, turning off the force field that separated the hangar from space and opening the bay doors.

Everyone in the room was sucked out toward the pull of space. It happened so fast, Frank wasn’t even able to hold on to anything or create a construct to anchor him in place. One second, he was racing toward the control panel, the next, he was flying through the air toward the lung-exploding, vessel-rupturing, body fluid-boiling pressure of space that awaited.

Screams of Chaos, Neeve, and Draconian soldiers alike flying through the hangar were soon silenced as they were sucked out into the dark landscape of death. Bodies slammed against the steel doors of the hangar in the darkness, breaking with a hideous crushing sound.

Frank lashed out with his right arm, constructing a chain he anchored into the floor of the ship.

The lights finally turned on, allowing Frank to see the state of the hangar. Bodies were airborne in every direction, the mad pull of space now only a matter of feet from where he managed to cling. Not only bodies; as the doors slid open, the circular Draconian fighter ships were beginning to slide out like frisbees.

Vega flashed by Frank so fast, he almost missed her. At the last second, he grabbed her with his left hand. She clamped on to his wrist with both of her own hands.

“I got you!” Frank yelled over the rush of escaping air.

The pull on Frank’s shoulders was beginning to add up. His muscles burned as he tried to figure out a way to close the doors.

A purple glow appeared by the control panel a moment later. Sava was flying, battling past the pull of space. She did it. She reached the controls. The hangar bay doors were beginning to close. The shield would be up a moment later.

Frank looked down, expecting the rush of wind to stop at any moment. Bounding off the windshield of Dragoon, Major Lopez scratched and clawed to grab hold of anything. Her helmet missing, her head careened into the tail fin of the Draconian aircraft and her body went limp as she was sucked out of the launch bay.

All went silent and slowed in the moment Frank saw Major Lucy Lopez’s limp body tumbling away. He was too stunned to utter a word.

A second later, the bay’s energy shield was back up and Frank’s ricocheting body slammed into the floor, galvanizing him from his stupor.

30

“No!” Frank allowed his constructs to dissipate. He jumped to his feet alongside Vega. “Sava, you have to open it! Open the doors. The major got sucked out!”

Even as Frank said the words, deep down, he knew the major was already gone. She didn’t have her helmet to offer any supply of oxygen, and even if she did, Frank understood Sava wouldn’t open the shuttle bay doors while they were being attacked, not until they had their own fighters ready to respond.

Still, he couldn’t keep himself from trying.

“Open the doors; I can get her,” Frank said, trying to push past Sava.

The Draconian Arilion Knight bled from a deep gash on the side of her head. Green blood dripped down her brow. She didn’t move to wipe the sticky substance from her eye. She redirected herself between Frank and the control panel.

“She’s gone,” Sava said with no emotion in her tone. “We have an enemy warship bearing down on us with our own fleet of fighters depleted.”

“Out of my way.” Frank shoved at Sava. His rational mind told him Sava was right. However, the heat of battle still boiled too hot in his veins for logical thought to take place.

Sava stood her ground, shoving Frank right back. She was taller than he was and nearly as muscular, but Frank understood her strength had nothing to do with her physical power.

Frank’s anger reached a tipping point. He held Sava’s stare.

“Frank.” Vega grabbed his left shoulder and spun him around. “You know what she would have wanted. What would she say if she were here?”

Tears pooled in Frank’s eyes. He didn’t give them the satisfaction of falling. He had been through this too many times before not to know exactly what to do. He buried his feelings deep, hiding them away to haunt him at a future date.

“Give me something to do,” Frank told more than asked Sava. “Give me something to do before I go crazy.”

“All remaining pilots report to your ships.” Colonel Breaker’s voice came over the main circuit.

The hangar bay rolled and tossed again, threatening to throw the soldiers once more into the air. Sparks flared and burned as wires were torn out of their socket and circuits fried.

“I know you don’t know the first thing about flying, but you understand how to lead and organize,” Sava said, ignoring Frank for the moment and setting her eyes on Vega. “Can you get any pilots we have left into whatever ships still remain?”

“I can.” Vega gave Frank’s hand another squeeze before rushing off.

“Shields at fifty percent and falling.” Colonel Breaker’s voice came through Frank’s and Sava’s comms this time. “We can hold our own against the fighters or their warship but not both.”

“I have a plan,” Sava spoke into her comm, eyeing Frank. “Laloid, I have a pair of Arilion here that would love to get their hands on an enemy commander. Can you teleport us onto their bridge?”

“What?” Laloid’s voice entered the comms, incredulous. “You want me to beam you to their ship? Just the two of you?”

“Can you do it?” Sava asked.

There was a pause. Frank took the time to consider how wild Sava’s plan was. Just the two of them on a ship full of targets? He liked it.

“I don’t know,” Laloid said warily. “I’d have to scan their ship and make sure they aren’t using the same jamming tech—”

“Already scanned them and, no, they aren’t using the same jamming tech we are. They don’t know we can do the same thing to them as they did to us.” Elly’s voice cut off Laloid. Elly continued with a hard tone unfamiliar to her nature. “Get some for me, Frank, for Major Lopez.”

“We heard what happened over the comms,” Raj said quietly.

“Kill them all and let God sort them out.” Colonel Breaker’s cold voice sent chills down Frank’s spine.

“Oohrah, sir,” Frank said, choosing a weapon the Marine Corps had taught him to use so well it felt like an extension of himself, the M16A4. “For Lopez.”

“Stand by,” Elly said over the comms.

“When we get to their bridge, we won’t know what to expect.” Sava summoned a curved blade in one hand and a Draconian handgun in the other. “Kill whatever moves. I’ll head to the doors of the bridge and make sure they’re shut. You kill the enemy commander.”

“I can do that.” Frank swallowed hard, forcing himself to focus past his loss. His heart rate doubled; every muscle in his body was poised to move at the slightest command.

“Here we go. I don’t know how this is going to make you feel or if there are going to be any side effects. You should be all right,” Elly said in a voice that sounded like even she didn’t believe her own words. “In three…”

“Should be all right?” Sava repeated the words, looking to Frank with concern.

“Two…”

“Welcome to my world,” Frank told the Draconian.

“One…”

Nothing happened.

“Are we supposed to go on, ‘one’ or is there ‘go’ coming anytime soon?” Frank said, straightening up and looking to Sava for answers she didn’t have. “Elly?”

“Oh, sorry, forgot to add a decimal in my calculations,” Elly said over the comms. “Go!”

Frank’s entire body felt tingly, like he had chugged a double serving of espresso mixed with pre-workout BCAAs. One moment, Neeve and Draconian soldiers ran across the hangar climbing into ships and making last minute repairs to the still salvageable Dragoon fighters, the next minute, Frank was on the enemy bridge. Unlike the Ryker’s, the bridge was only one square level. A total of eight crew members sat in their seats with the enemy commander in the center. Their chairs and workstations were black, while bright white light made everything easily recognizable.

Unlike the Chaos soldiers Frank had become so accustomed to battling, these bridge members did not wear either armor or helmets. Frank got to see exactly what their faces looked like up close.

Most of them looked like the same species Commander Trask hailed from: tall, thick humanoid creatures with short mandibles on either side of their faces. But a few were different. There was an alien with four arms with a hardened exoskeleton to his left and a hairy thing with massive black eyes to his right.

As soon as they were transported onto the enemy bridge, Frank pointed his weapon at Commander Trask’s head. He didn’t actually think the situation would end with the enemy surrendering, but he had to try.

“Hey, there,” Frank said to the stunned enemy bridge. “Any chance you want to give up?”

“Kill them!” Commander Trask reached for a sidearm at his hip.

“Didn’t think so,” Frank said, squeezing his trigger.

At the same time, he was struck from his right by the four-armed bug creature. It spat ooze green and slime from its horizontal-shaped mouth.

The blow was just enough to turn Frank’s aim, sending his round into Commander Trask’s right shoulder instead of his chest.

The bridge that had been still just a second before now erupted in a riot of violence.

31

Commander Trask fell. As fiercely as Frank wanted to finish the enemy leader, he had his hands full as the entire bridge reached for the sidearms that hung on each of their belts. The insect alien to Frank’s right kept spewing at him with green rounds of slimy vomit. The substance burned and hissed against Frank’s constructed armor, yet wasn’t strong enough to break through.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

The enemy weapons actually make a pewing noise, Frank thought to himself as he rolled out of the way, bringing up his own M16A4. Let’s introduce them to how Earth weapons sound.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank opened fire on the bridge, sending rounds into two enemy soldiers bringing their weapons to bear on Frank. Out of the corner of his eye, Frank saw Sava gun down a Chaos soldier running for the exit. She slammed her knife into the control panel next to the bridge doors.

With a steel WHOOSH sound, the doors slammed shut. Sava turned and opened fire on the remaining crew members alongside Frank.

Again, Frank was hit from behind by the slimy green vomit the alien insect continued to hurl on him. He was covered with the stuff now from his helmet to his boots.

“That’s so disgusting!” Frank stood up, ramming the end of his rifle into the insect’s mouth and double-tapping the trigger. “Stop puking on me!”

Sava made short work of two more enemies until there was only the furry one with big eyes and the wounded commander on the ground. The hairy alien soldier still holding his weapon dropped it and lifted his hands into the air. “I surrend—”

Pew!

His head exploded into a million pieces of rank blood, skeletal bits, and matted fur. Frank and Sava aimed their weapons at Commander Trask, who lay on the ground. His own weapon still pointed toward where his subordinate just stood.

He lowered his weapon, chuckling to himself as if he had just realized some inside joke.

“Give up,” Sava commanded. “Your ship belongs to us.”

Banging and shouts came from the bridge door as Chaos soldiers tried to rush in to aid their comrades.

“This vessel may belong to you for the time being,” Commander Trask sneered, the pincers on either of his cheeks vibrating with rage. “But you cannot stop the Lord of Chaos. This ship is nothing compared to his true might. I will make good on my promise and kill you all.”

Commander Trask reached for something on his left wrist, some kind of control panel built into his gauntlet.

“Weapon!” Frank shouted, once more squeezing the trigger on his M16A4.

The shots buried themselves deep inside the bridge floor as Commander Trask disappeared, teleporting to safety.

“Son of a teleporting commander,” Frank said at the same time thinking he was spending way too much time with Raj. He looked over to Sava. “What now?”

The banging on the bridge doors was getting louder. Weapons hammered against the closed steel barriers as soldiers outside tried in vain to enter.

“Make sure they can’t get in,” Sava told Frank as she ran to a workstation. “Elly, Laloid, come in.”

“We can hear you,” Laloid said frantically. “Sava, Frank, you have to get off the ship now. We can teleport you back.”

“No, why?” Sava answered. “We’ve cleared the bridge. We can take this ship.”

“The fighters harassing us have broken off and are heading back your way,” Elly told Sava. “I don’t think they plan on allowing their ship to fall into our hands. Let us bring you back.”

Sava looked up to Frank.

“I’m with you,” Frank said, looking at the array of screens and monitors on the enemy ship’s bridge. “But how are we going to fly this thing?”

“You know you’re covered in green goop, right?” Sava asked.

“Yep, thanks for reminding me.”

“Colonel Breaker, what’s the status of the Ryker?” Sava asked over the comms.

“Shields are nearly depleted, but we’re not the ones we should be worrying about right now. You have an army of fighters bearing down on your position,” Colonel Breaker answered. “I suggest getting Laloid or Elly over there via teleportation ASAP.”

“Great idea,” Sava said. “Send Elly; Laloid will be more use to you there since he knows our ship inside and out.”

“Roger that,” Colonel Breaker said. “Laloid, send Elly over.”

“Wait.” Elly sounded panicked. “I don’t think—”

One moment, she was just a voice over the comms, the next, she materialized in front of them. Elly immediately fell to her knees, hyperventilating.

“Ugh, I–I hate that.,” Elly fought to her feet, only to see the corpse of the four-armed alien with his head blown apart, and bent down with her head between her knees, gasping for air.

“I’d hold your hair and construct a bag, but we need you to suck it up right now,” Frank said, running over and pulling Elly to her feet. “Come on, you got this.”

Elly pushed herself away from Frank, not even looking at his green-splattered armor. She let out a slow, low breath getting a lay of the Chaos ship’s bridge. Next, she pushed her glasses further up her nose, adjusted the tuning on her listening device, and chose a station near the center with an exceptionally large monitor, and began working.

A second later, the entire ship rocked.

“Fighters have arrived,” Colonel Breaker said through the comms. “We can’t help you out with the batteries on the Ryker because we’ll risk shooting you. We’re still working on launching the Dragoon squadrons. The good news is that your shields are up from fighting with us.”

The pounding on the bridge door intensified as larger weapons were being used to try and break into the bridge.

“Elly?” Sava asked.

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Elly said, shaking her head. “It’s not as easy as it seems. Everything is different here. There’s no manuals or how-to guides. It’s not as easy as I make things look.”

The pounding on the door intensified.

“Hey, Elly,” Frank said, joining her at her monitor. “You think you can patch me through to the rest of the ship from my comms? I think I have an idea on how to at least get them to stop hammering on the door.”

“Give me a sec.” Elly worked frantically, trying a few different combinations on the monitor in front of her. Her finger flew across the controls in a blur. “Here, try it now.”

“Hello, Chaos boys and girls,” Frank said. He knew Elly had done it. A brief pause in the hammering on the other side of the door told him as much. “This is a public service announcement from your friendly Arilion Knights. We teleported onto your ship and took over the bridge. We’ll use the teleportation to drop all of you into space in a second if you don’t stop trying to break in, courtesy of your leader, Trask. Who, by the way, has abandoned ship. So… there’s that.”

“Are you really prepared to do that?” Sava asked. “Can we even teleport that many beings at once?”

Frank double checked his comm unit was off. “I don’t know, but they don’t know that I don’t know.”

“And what if they call our bluff?” Sava asked, shooting out a hand to stabilize herself as the ship rocked under the fire of its own fighters. “What then?”

“Then we wait for them to—to—I don’t know, then they break in and we kill them all anyway.” Frank was beginning to feel heat rise to his face as fatigue and anger mixed inside of him. “I’m making this up as I go.”

“Okay, it looks like shields can still buy us a few more minutes of—”

Elly’s next words were lost as the ship rolled again, this time, so violently that Frank lost his footing and stumbled into the wall. Sparks from wires snapping out of place sizzled in overhead compartments.

“All right, maybe a minute,” Elly said, working furiously. “Those fighters are making strafing runs on us unopposed. I need to get the defensive ship turrets up. In the meantime, I can at least let us see what’s going on.”

Frank bit his tongue. He understood Elly was working as fast as she could. Him harping on her wasn’t going to help anything.

Blaster shields rose from the front of the bridge in front of them, revealing three giant windows reflecting the scene in front of and around them out into space. Frank’s jaw dropped as he witnessed the mayhem taking place outside.

32

The Ryker looked like a tiny dot in front of them. Against the expanse of space, even the mighty Draconian ship could look like a penny in a fountain. All around them, the Chaos fighters swarmed like an army of flies on a dying carcass.

The enemy fighters were narrow like a dart. The wings they did have extended from the back of their black ships and came out like triangles. The many points of their jagged fins helped them to remain light and whiz through the space around the ship. Frank estimated there were forty, maybe fifty of the swarming crafts firing on them.

Electric yellow laser rounds peppered their own warship in a constant barrage, lighting up the screen like a Fourth of July fireworks finale. If it had not been for the dire situation Frank found himself in, it might have even been beautiful.

“We may need to start thinking of a plan B,” Sava said, looking to Frank. “We cannot just give this ship back to them. We should set an explosive large enough to annihilate the bridge and then teleport back to the Ryker.”

Frank knew Sava was right. His stomach still twisted and cringed at the idea of handing back a warship that belonged to them at the moment. In the coming campaign with the Chaos Lord himself, having two warships instead of one could make the difference between victory and defeat.

“She can do it.” Frank looked Sava right in the eyes. “Elly will find a way to make it happen.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Sava asked.

“I’m right here, you guys. I can literally hear everything you’re saying,” Elly said, working furiously on the colorful monitor in front of her. It was a miracle at all that she could understand any of it.

“She will.” Frank nodded at Sava. “Trust me.”

“Still here,” Elly said, not taking her eyes off the screen. “The added pressure’s not helping. Wait a minute. Bingo!”

The ship’s defensive turrets came to life, screaming as they pumped rounds of white-hot laser fire back on their own ships. The blackness of space looked like a light show as dozens of duel turrets mounted on the Chaos warship added their voice to the battle.

Explosions rocked the view in silent victories all around them as the Chaos ships were taken by surprise. They had been free to fly as they wanted, making their strafing runs without fear of being fired back on one moment before. Now they began evasive maneuvers as they were targeted by their own warship’s cannons.

“Great job, Elly!” Frank said, standing behind her and placing a hand on her right shoulder. “I never doubted you—well maybe just a tiny bit, but I mostly didn’t doubt you.”

“Uh, thanks, I think, but don’t get too excited yet.” Elly cleared her throat. “So, uh, our shields may be toast. Another round of hits and we’ll be taking more damage than we can endure.”

Frank felt his heart drop in his chest. He knew Sava would make them pull out. They had been so close to seizing the ship only to have it lost now.

“I feel the same emptiness of defeat as you,” Sava said, staring at the front display screen to where the enemy fighters looked to be gathering. “We can’t let that cloud our judgment. We’ll still strike a harsh blow to the Chaos army by destroying this ship.”

The black Chaos fighters were indeed grouping in front of their ship, forming ranks just outside of the range of the defensive turrets. They were preparing for their final attack run.

At that moment, the most unexpected chant came over the comms. It was a voice Frank knew he recognized but couldn’t quite place at that moment.

“Haters, gonna hate, hate, hate and players gonna play, play, play but shake it off, shake it off. Amen,” the voice said over the comm.

“What the french toast!” Elly said, gawking at the screen before them.

Frank went from coming to terms with the sickening dread in the pit of his stomach at having failed to capture the Chaos warship to a giddy high of elation. He realized where he knew the voice from now. It was Rex, the young Draconian pilot he had met when they first arrived on Brytanna.

“Awwwww yeahhhhh!” Frank yelled into the comms, his voice nearly cracking.

The remaining Dragoon fighters along with those pilots still able to fly appeared to the right, flanking the enemy. They still had to be outnumbered at a minimum of three to one. Still, that wasn’t stopping the pilots.

“Hammer squadron and Venom squadron reporting in,” Rex said through a rush of excitement. “Leave them to us!”

If Frank had thought the scene in front of them had been chaotic when just their ship was fighting off the Chaos fighters, he didn’t know what to think now. The world in front of their eyes lit up like a rave show. Flashes of lights and blurred visions of ships pitching in and out and round in a frenzied dance. Enemy fighters partied in a hysteria, some unable to escape the wave of Draconian fighter pilots. Neon green laser blasts from the Draconian fighters slammed into multiple enemy ships, making them explode on impact, adding deep oranges and reds and grey of fire and smoke to the show.

Even with the arrival of their fighters, Frank understood victory was not guaranteed. The Dragoons were outnumbered and therefore outgunned. It would take something more to tip the battle in the favor of Frank and the unlikely alliance of Draconians and Neeve.

“We’re nearly in range to use our forward cannon without fear of striking you or our own ships,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms.

“It’s okay; I have an idea,” Frank shouted back.

“Oh no,” Laloid said in a muffled voice.

“Hey, I heard that,” Frank said running to the wall separating them inside the bridge from the mayhem outside. He looked over at Sava. “You think you have enough in the tank to construct one of those guns that sits in the back of your Crawlers?”

Sava eyed Frank with her one good eye. A slow grin spread over her lips. “I always have more to give.”

The Draconian Arilion joined Frank at the front viewing screen. “We’ll have to augment the guns slightly to shoot farther and more powerfully. DO YOU think you have enough Will left to construct such a weapon?”

“Yut! I’m a Marine,” Frank said, pounding his chest. “I’ll get the job done.”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” Colonel Breaker, Elly, and Raj joined the ovation.

Sava nodded back.

Frank closed his eyes, allowing his M14A4 and armor to vanish from his body. If he was going to do this, it would take every ounce of his Will he had left.

Here we go, Frank coached himself. It’s the twelfth round. Who has more to give? Who gets back up?

Warmth spread to Frank’s chest. He kept his eyes closed in order to better concentrate on seeing the weapon he had used on the back of the Crawler in his mind. Only this time the barrels of the cannon were larger and deadlier.

“You two are something else,” Elly breathed from behind the Knights. “Good thing I figured out the comms. Here you go.”

“Like a true nature’s child, we were born, born to be wild. We can climb so high. I never wanna die…” Mars Bonfire’s lyrical anthem “Born to be Wild” gave Frank the galvanization he needed for another epic feat. The steady clash of the cymbals and drums and the exhilaration of the guitar from Steppenwolf blared over the ship’s speakers. A grin came to Frank’s lips as he wondered what the Chaos soldier still on board made of the sound.

“Born to be wild!” Frank exclaimed as he opened his eyes.

Wonder washed over him as he stood in front of the weapon he had created. Like all his constructs, it glowed in a dark electric purple, almost black. The weapon was placed halfway through the front panel with the barrels of the guns outside of the glass and the chest harness inside.

Frank looked over to Sava, who had created nearly the same model, only larger. She grinned over at Frank with a shrug as she examined his gun’s smaller form.

“Hey, it’s not the size that matters,” Frank said, going back to his own weapon. He pressed his chest against the harness and grabbed the trigger. “Let’s do this.”

Frank sighted down the crosshairs and went to work. Over and over again, he led the Chaos fighters, sending a barrage of weapon fire their way. Sava did the same right next to him, their ultraviolet laser fire slamming into the fighter one second, producing balls of fire space snuffed out the next.

It was more difficult than Frank anticipated, nothing like Star Wars when Han and Luke manned their own turrets and took down the enemy tie fighters. Frank picked his shots, making sure to lead his target while not putting any of the Draconian fighters in jeopardy.

After he got his third kill, Frank looked over to Sava. “Not that I’m keeping count, but that’s three for me and two for you.”

“Are all humans this cocky?” Sava growled, keeping her eye forward.

“What!?!” Frank shouted over the music. “I can’t hear you. I’m too busy racking up more kills than you.”

As quickly as the fight had begun, it ended. Between the combined fire power of the ship’s defensive batteries, the Dragoons, and Frank and Sava, the Chaos fighters didn’t have a chance.

The last remaining Chaos Darts fled into the bleakness of space.

“Let them go,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “We did what we needed to do.”

A series of rogers answered him back via the comm line.

“We did more than what we needed to do,” Elly said to Frank and Sava from her seat at the monitor. “I just found their star log. I know exactly where they’ve been.”

Frank exchanged looks with Sava.

“That means we know where the Lord of Chaos has been hiding.” Sava grinned, displaying an array of sharp teeth.

33

Frank stood between Colonel Breaker and Vega on the hangar bay floor. Everyone who was not needed to man the bridges of the Ryker or the captured enemy battleship was in attendance. They stood at attention, all facing a simple podium on a raised platform.

Three species of unlikely allies waited for Sava to speak. The Draconian wore her uniform under her brown cloak. The wound on her head was bandaged to stop the flow of blood. It was hard to believe that it had only been yesterday they were under attack, still harder to believe Major Lopez was gone.

“The sacrifices that were made both in space and on this very ship, in this very hangar are ones whose memory we will carry with us for the rest of our lives,” Sava began. She clenched the podium with both of her hands so hard Frank could see her forearm muscles bulge. “It’s up to us to make sure they didn’t die in vain. Today we make the jump into hyper speed and take this fight to the Lord of Chaos himself. Remember and hold close to your hearts what happened here. Use that anger and rage you feel and fight for the freedom of our universe.”

There was no applause when Sava was done. Rex, the young pilot that led the charge on the enemy Darts, stood next to the raised podium and played an instrument that looked like a trombone and sounded like a bugle. It was a slow, sad song that evoked more emotion in Frank than he’d ever admit.

We’re almost there, Frank said to himself. The end is in sight. Find the Lord of Chaos. Kill the Lord of Chaos.

When the instrument finished playing, those in attendance were a mixed bag of tears and soft conversation. Frank turned to the colonel, who was neither.

“The surviving Chaos soldiers on the enemy ship have been rounded up and are being held prisoner in their own brig,” Colonel Breaker breathed. The odor coming from his breath was a cocktail of hard alcohol and turpentine. “I think they would have fought to the last man if it weren’t for your threat to teleport them into space. Maybe we should’ve done that anyway.”

Frank nodded along with the colonel’s words. The man standing before him was a shell of the CO who entered this fight: his eyes were bloodshot and glossed over with years of repressed pain taking over. His right suit jacket arm hung limp by his side.

“Raj and Elly assure me the Draconians have new tech on a robotic prosthetic.” Colonel Breaker followed Frank’s eyes to his arm. “I’ll be fit with one by the time we reach the next fight.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare,” Frank said, thinking back on how the colonel received the injury in the first place. “Thank you for pushing me out of the way. I don’t think I’ve said that yet.”

“You never have to. I’ve seen enough of my Marines die. If there’s any chance I can take their place, I’m going to every time.” Colonel Breaker shook his head, already moving on to the next topic of conversation. “Reports show we lost a hundred and twenty-seven soldiers in the fight and twice as many wounded. When we do hit the Chaos Lord, it’ll be with two-thirds of the fighting force who left Brytanna.”

“But we have another warship now.” Frank weighed the odds in his mind. “I’d still bet on us.”

“Me too,” Colonel Breaker said, eyeing Vega, who stood quietly by waiting for the men to finish. “I don’t want to keep an empress waiting. You did good, Frank.”

Frank relived the moment Major Lopez flew through the hangar bay doors. “Not good enough.”

Colonel Breaker slowly nodded and walked away.

“I’m worried about him,” Vega said, joining Frank. “I don’t just mean the fact he reeks of alcohol. It’s like with every death, he’s losing a part of himself.”

“The colonel won’t let anything, not even himself, stand in the way of solid leadership,” Frank said, trying to convince himself as much as Vega. “If he felt he couldn’t lead, he’d step down.”

“Word is Sava plans on giving command of the Ryker to me and command of the Lucy to Colonel Breaker,” Vega said thinking out loud. “We discussed it this morning.”

“The Lucy?” Frank repeated.

“The colonel’s idea.” Vega motioned for Frank to follow her as they walked from the hangar bay. “It’s fitting, though, don’t you think? When we rain down fire on the Chaos Lord, it’ll be from vessels holding names of the ones we’ve lost along the way.”

Frank remained silent, contemplating Vega’s words.

She led him to an elevator, opening the doors and selecting an upper level. Vega wore her hair up in a braided mound, her white jacket with gold trim and slender pants hugging her body in a way that wasn’t seductive but firm and commanding.

“Where are we going?” Frank finally asked as the elevator started to rise.

“You’ll see.” Vega laced the fingers in her left hand into Frank’s right. “Trust me.”

When the elevator doors dinged open, they were on one of the highest levels of the Ryker. An empty viewing room with an open glass dome showed them the stars burning brightly overhead.

Vega led Frank by the hand to the edge of the room, where a window showed them space beyond and the ship extended below.

“It’s the only viewing room on the ship, but I thought it would be the best place to watch from as we enter hyperspace,” Vega explained.

She stood so close, her body pressed against his own. The smell of her cinnamon-vanilla hair was intoxicating.

“Sava will take control of the Ryker as we make the jump,” Vega explained. “Colonel Breaker, the Lucy. With the coordinates Elly found, we should reach the Chaos Lord in a matter of days.”

Frank loosened his hand from Vega’s, placing an arm around her and drawing her close.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Vega asked as they both looked out the window.

“Of course,” Frank answered. “Especially if it’s embarrassing.”

“No such luck there.” Vega chuckled. “I feel safe with you. In a situation where I’m expected to lead, be strong and decisive, it feels nice to have someone I can be—be like this with. And I like the way you can make me laugh without even trying.”

“I feel the same way,” Frank said, trying to navigate the conversation.

Is this where you’re supposed to ask her if we’re boyfriend and girlfriend? Is that school age stuff? Frank racked his mind, debating the question. Maybe it’s just called being exclusive now without titles? Why are you so bad at this?

“Crews both on the Ryker and our newly appointed warship, the Lucy.” Sava’s voice over the ship’s speakers saved Frank from putting his foot into his mouth. “We are preparing to make the jump into hyperspace. The ship’s inertial dampeners should make the transition smooth. There is no need for concern.”

The elevator doors onto the viewing station chimed as Draconians and Neeve alike joined Frank and Vega. It seemed they weren’t the only ones eager to get a view of the events taking place around them.

Frank nodded to a few familiar faces, releasing Vega from the warmth of his arm. In turn, he lost the warmth from hers. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for the Empress of Atmos to be seen under the arms of a Human.

A second later, Frank felt Vega wrap her warm slender fingers into his own once more. The chatter on the viewing deck quieted as the Ryker trembled.

“Preparing to engage hyper speed in, three,” Sava said, pausing for a moment, “two, one.”

One moment, Frank was looking out into the blackness of space dotted with millions of tiny lights, the next, those lights seemed to lengthen and then blur as the ship rocketed forward.

A colorful stream of light twisted and turned all around the ship. It reminded Frank of the many colors that played in the fog when the sphere opened a gateway. Every color of the spectrum was represented, from vivid yellow to deep green as lights rushed by.

There were oohs and awwws on the ship viewing platform as those in attendance marveled at the scene in front of them. Frank felt his own happiness come and leave as his thoughts turned toward where they were headed.

They had already lost so much. Now they were hurtling through space to meet this threat head on. How many more lives would be lost before the Chaos Lord was finally killed? How many lives would be saved?

Frank tightened his grip on Vega’s hand as they raced through space.

34

“It’s actually not that complicated.” Elly tried to explain the controls of the Lucy to Frank and Raj. “Systems have their unique coded algorithms that check things like thrusters, inertial dampeners, and shields. The most taxing part of the new warship was familiarizing myself with the—hey, are you guys even listening?”

“You lost me at complicated,” Frank said with a shrug. “Come on; you know me well enough at this point. What in the history of our relationship makes you think I can follow along with what you’re saying?”

“Fair enough.” Elly pushed the glasses sliding down her nose back up and skewered Raj with a stare that could turn people into stone. “But you, Lieutenant Raj Agarwal, what’s your excuse?”

“Oh, she used my full title,” Raj said, looking to Frank for help. “I’m in trouble.”

Frank let Raj and Elly talk their scientific engineering lingo as he glanced over the bridge of the Lucy. Only days ago, he was fighting and nearly capturing the enemy commander on board. Commander Trask had managed to teleport away just in the nick of time. Since he wasn’t on board with the rest of the Chaos prisoners, they had surmised that he teleported to a Dart and fled before the battle was even over, coward.

Now the ship was manned with a makeshift crew of Marines, Draconians, and Neeve. Colonel Breaker sat in the captain’s chair, stretching and examining the new prototype limb that glistened every time the light caught it.

The robotic limb didn’t look like a machine at all. When Frank heard that Raj was administering the limb, he had expected to see a terminator-like arm on the colonel. It seemed the Draconians were far past that. The metallic appendage on the colonel looked like a regular arm in every way, down to the muscles that moved under the metallic surface when the colonel flexed.

The only thing that separated the arm as robotic at all was the steel color and parallel thin black bands that connected the moving parts.

Aside from the colonel, there were eight other stations, including Elly’s. Four Draconians trained to pilot their own ship and three Neeves who were getting on-the-job training.

Both the Ryker and the Lucy were working with skeleton crews. There were only one or two Draconians actually trained at doing their jobs on the ship for every section. They had spent the last few days instructing the Neeve on how to perform duties around the ship.

“Earth to Frank—oh, I guess that saying doesn’t really make sense anymore,” Elly said, reeling Frank back in. “We’re about to exit hyper speed. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Frank lied. “Just getting lost in my own head.”

“Sounds like a scary place to be,” Raj added.

“You have no idea,” Frank said.

“All right, well, we’re seconds away from exiting hyper speed and seeing where it’s taken us,” Elly said, pushing a few buttons on her control monitor. “Colonel Breaker, we’re at the thirty-second warning.”

“Very good,” Colonel Breaker said, staring out the window in front of him. “I want shields up and weapons ready to fire. We could be walking into anything. Be prepared for evasive maneuvers.”

A series of rogers answered the colonel in return.

“Frank, I don’t know how much you can do from aboard the bridge, but depending on what we find, we might need more fire power.” Colonel Breaker turned to look at Frank.

“Yes, sir.” Frank strode forward to stand next to the colonel. He was only a few yards from the front screen now. If need be, he could run there and construct a weapon within seconds.

“Here we go,” Elly said, starting at five. “Five, four, three, two, and show time.”

The Lucy and Ryker exited hyper speed at the same time. The Draconian-shaped vessel on their right flew beside them, matching them for speed. But the massive ship was not what caught Frank’s eye.

They had been deposited in a section of the unknown universe where the stars all round them seemed duller. Frank was used to the stars surrounding his view being bright and vibrant. These stars carried a darkness with them, barely glowing in the presence of the planet that stared Frank in the face.

Frank was no expert on planetary mass or gravitational shapes, but he knew something was wrong as soon as he saw it.

“Elly?” Colonel Breaker asked. “What are we looking at here?”

“It—it’s a small moon,” Elly said, her fingers tapping on the monitor.

Whispers from the rest of the crew bathed the bridge in mystery.

“Why’s it shaped like an egg?” Frank finally asked.

“Not all moons are perfectly round,” Elly explained.

“Can you get us a little closer?” Colonel Breaker asked a Draconian Frank had not met yet.

“Yes, sir,” the Draconian female answered in a steady voice.

Frank was still trying to wrap his mind around what his eyes told him he was seeing. The small moon was in fact shaped like an oval or an egg. The landscape of the moon was black with glowing red veins like one massive volcano had erupted and bathed the ground in a perpetually hot lava.

“It looks like hell,” one of the Neeve said under his breath.

“I have an incoming transmission from the Ryker,” Elly said.

“Put it on the main screen,” Colonel Breaker answered.

Sava’s familiar face appeared a moment later. Her one good eye was hard, her tone harder. “No enemy force waiting to meet us, not yet.”

“I take your meaning,” Colonel Breaker said. “You think they’re waiting to draw us in closer? Maybe even waiting to ambush us once we land?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t put anything past the Lord of Chaos,” Sava turned and said something to someone off screen. “I’m scanning the moon now to see if there are any life signs and where they might be.”

“Understood,” Colonel Breaker said, deep in thought. “If and when we find these life signs, we should have a serious conversation about bombing them from space before we put boots on the ground.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Sava said, once again turning to talk to someone off screen. “We have affirmative on life scans on the other side of the moon. I’ll send you the course now.”

“Understood.” Colonel Breaker looked up to Frank. “Something doesn’t feel right. He has to know we’re on our way. I’m sure Commander Trask sent back a warning message before he engaged with us. Even if he didn’t, if the Chaos Lord is half as strategic as everyone makes him out to be, he has to be patrolling his own airspace.”

“No argument with you there.” Frank crossed his arms over his chest, racking his mind for answers. “Ambush, or is he that cocky he doesn’t care how close we get?”

Colonel Breaker was silent. He tapped his metallic fingers on the armrest of his chair. The sound reminded Frank of a horse galloping.

“I’ve received the plotted course from the Ryker,” Elly said.

“Let’s go,” Colonel Breaker said.

As one, the two giant warships maneuvered around the egg-shaped moon. The moon itself was in orbit around a much larger planet that looked blue and white from their vantage point in space.

What is he planning? Frank asked himself. There’s no point wondering. You’re trying to get into the head of an ancient being hell bent on dominating the universe. Why even try?

“I’m picking up life scans now as well,” Elly reported from her monitor. “Hundreds, no thousands of them.”

Frank had to keep himself under control as the ships rounded the small moon. The landscape of the moon didn’t change, it remained black and red as if it were angry. The fractured ground looked like molten rock and lava. From various points, the lava gave off the appearance of a spider web as it reached out with hundreds of tiny fissures.

“There; I see something,” Raj piped up from his spot, standing beside Elly. “Do you see it? It’s black right where the red lava stuff stops.”

Frank saw it too. As they got closer and closer to the moon, the angry red lava section ended, and in its place, a giant black pyramid rose to the sky. To be this large from space, the pyramid had to be massive up close.

“Can you zoom in on the pyramid?” Colonel Breaker asked.

“On it,” Elly said in awe as she tapped on her monitor.

A moment later, a larger view of the structure filled the main screen.

Frank craned his neck, trying to figure out what exactly he was seeing. The giant black structure shone as if it were made of some kind of smooth, polished alloy. Crimson carvings ran outside of the building with ancient runes etched into the sides.

35

“He’s in there waiting for us,” Sava growled at the meeting. “I can feel it.”

Frank sat with Sava, Colonel Breaker, and Vega in a meeting room aboard the Ryker. The two ships remained in orbit a safe distance from the strange onyx pyramid while they planned their attack.

“It is strange that there are no enemy warships or fighters in the area,” Vega said, pursing her lips in thought. “We know he has them. He has to be waiting for us to descend. I can’t think of any other reason.”

“So now that we know what he wants us to do,” Frank said, looking around the room for an answer, “what do we do?”

“I say we pound the hell out of that pyramid.” Colonel Breaker brought his metal arm down on the table. A loud crash told the room he had struck the table a little too hard. “We hammer it day and night until there’s nothing left and then we go in. We’ve lost too many lives already.”

“An attempt to make contact with the pyramid and engage in a conversation of surrender should proceed such an act, but other than that, I agree with the colonel,” Vega said from her seat. “I want to go in once we form a strike team.”

“A scout team first,” Frank added. “I agree with everything being said here, but after we try to FaceTime the Lord of Chaos and after he ignores us or refuses to answer and after we bomb the living crap out of him, then we should go in with a small scouting team. To Colonel Breaker’s point, we don’t know what may be waiting for us. Better to risk a few than our entire army.”

“Then we are in agreement,” Sava said, rising from her seat. “I would rather be done with this sooner than later. If it is agreeable to all of you, I want to attempt our transmission now.”

“Let’s do it,” Colonel Breaker said, standing from his seat.

“Laloid, can you teleport the colonel and Frank back to the bridge on the Lucy?” Sava asked through her comms unit.

“Roger that,” Laloid answered back.

Frank caught Sava’s eye and gave her a wink.

She grinned and winked back.

A moment later, Frank felt warm and tingly as pin prickles crossed his skin from head to toe. In the space of a heartbeat, he was back on the Lucy’s bridge. Colonel Breaker assumed his seat in the captain’s chair.

“We are going to attempt a transmission in conjunction with the Ryker,” Colonel Breaker informed the bridge. “Bring it up on the main screen.”

“Roger, that,” Elly said as the front display screen separated into three parts, the largest side on the left black with two boxes on the right. The top was Sava and the bottom an image of Colonel Breaker.

“Here we go,” Sava said, waiting.

Frank felt the pit of his stomach drop in on itself. Who was going to pick up the call on the other line? Did the Chaos Lord really communicate like this?

Nothing.

They waited for what seemed a full minute with no response.

“I have movement from the pyramid below!” Elly said frantically. “Ships, lots of them coming out.”

“Show me on the screen,” Colonel Breaker ordered.

A moment later, the screen went from Sava and Colonel Breaker shouting orders to a view of the pitch pyramid. The structure had opened from its pointed top in four equal parts that slid back.

From the darkness within the pyramid swarmed hundreds of Dart-style fighters. Approaching along with the smaller crafts were three massive warships.

“Battle stations!” Colonel Breaker roared.

End Book Two

Chaos Sieged

Book Three of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

Acknowledgements

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Beth

Cover Illustrator – JCaleb

For the wolves who I like to think of as our own Arilion Knight Corps – Jonathan Yanez

Debbie Blevins

Athena Lee Brown

Josh Seitz

Michael DeChirico

David E Smith

Kelly O’Donnell

Ron Gailey

Stu Fletcher

James Tucker

Roy Morgan

Sheila Baker

Taking a beat to acknowledge some good guys who turned out to be some crazy good men. – JR Castle

SSG Freddy Castillo

LCpl Mark Escobar

CPT Gustavo Madrigal

SGT Christopher Ocampo

TSgt Roger Perez

SGT Norman Robert “Buddy” Taylor, III

SSgt Andy Vitale

SGT Albert Yanez

1

The three Chaos warships advancing on them would have been enough to instill fear in their own right. The hundreds of Chaos Dart fighters were enough for anyone to abandon hope and give in to the whispers of fear and defeat. They had come into the enemy’s zone and the Chaos army couldn’t be more prepared.

Even Frank heard a voice in his head that spoke of doubt and hopelessness.

How are you going to stand against these odds? How could anyone? You’re one Marine not a miracle. Frank raged against the thoughts as soon they entered his mind. No, you’ll find a way. You’re an Arilion Marine. If anyone can find a way, it’s you.

“Evasive maneuvers,” Colonel Breaker shouted. “I want everything we can put into the shields done now. Open fire as soon as they’re in range.”

“Understood,” Elly said from her seat behind the colonel, her speedy fingers ready at her command board. “Incoming transmission. It’s Sava.”

“Put her on the small screen,” Colonel Breaker answered.

A moment later, Sava’s familiar reptilian face from her station on the Ryker, which was on its inaugural run, showed on a small square on the lower right of the main view screen. Her one good eye not covered by her patch was hard as stone. Frank had wondered about her eye, but now didn’t seem like the time to ask.

“We have seconds before they’re on us,” Sava said as calm as if she were talking about the designated time anticipated dinner guests would arrive. “I’m going to try something. Empress Vega will have command of the Ryker. Frank, I know you can’t fly yet, but do what you can.”

“Roger that,” Frank said. He wanted to thank her for reminding him of his shortcoming and maybe to get more details on the plan, but the transmission ended.

“Here we go,” Elly said from her seat at the control panel. “Hold on to your butts.”

The Chaos Darts arrived first. The smaller, single-seat fighter jets had long bodies with small extensions near the rear of the ship that looked like triangles more than wings. They were infinitely faster and more maneuverable than the three enemy warships also approaching.

The ebony pyramid on the moon’s surface slid closed after releasing the warships into the sky above. The four equal parts that had opened at the utmost top of the pyramid and slid down along the sides now moved closed again.

The Chaos Darts arrived with a pepper of bright yellow laser fire. The Lucy’s defensive turrets fired back in return. Since the commandeered Chaos vessel utilized the same firepower technology, their laser fire seeking out the incoming ships matched, causing some confusion. The Chaos Darts swarmed the much larger warship like a cloud of wasps on a massive brute that had disturbed their hive.

“Keep those turrets firing. I want those ships floating in pieces,” Colonel Breaker said. “Open a line to the Ryker.”

“Line opened, sir,” Elly reported.

Vega’s lavender face appeared on the lower right square monitor. She wore her white hair back, and her gold and white Neeve uniform jacket hugged her torso.

“I’m not too worried about the smaller fighters,” Colonel Breaker said to the empress. “They’ll be able to beat through our shields eventually, but it’ll take more time than they have alone. However, I’m more concerned about the three Chaos warships bearing down on us. Once they get into firing range, we’ll be in trouble.”

“Agreed,” Vega answered. “The two squadrons of Draconian Dragoons the Ryker carries suffered heavy losses in our last engagement. I have maybe, maybe, one full squadron I can launch between Viper and Hammer squadron survivors. I don’t think it’s prudent to send them out yet, not like this.”

Frank understood the hesitation in her voice, even through Elly’s translation chips. Sending out a single squadron of fighters against these odds, no matter how good they were, was a sure death sentence.

“What if they weren’t alone?” Frank asked as a crazed idea came to mind. “What if I went with them?”

“You’re a lot of things, but you’re not a pilot.” Colonel Breaker looked up at Frank from his captain’s chair.

“I’m not talking about flying a ship,” Frank said with a crazy gleam in his eye.

“Son of a sloth, Frank,” Lt. Corpsman Raj Agarwal said from his spot on the bridge, where he observed and waited for his aerospace medicine skillset to be needed, hoping it wouldn’t. “You heard Sava; you can’t fly. Who knows if she can even fly in space? Wait, can she fly in space? Is that something we even know?”

“I have to try something, sir,” Frank said, looking over to the colonel for permission. “We can’t win in a head-to-head fight; not against three Chaos warships and their Darts. You know the odds. Let me try. Please, let me do what I was chosen to do.”

“Go.” Colonel Breaker clenched his robotic right hand into a tight fist. “Don’t get yourself killed either.”

“Wasn’t planning on it and thank you,” Frank said, running from the bridge. He winked at Elly and Raj as he made his way to one of the ship’s exit points. “Can you clear the hangar bay for me, Lieutenant Wong?”

“Roger that,” Elly said. She spoke to him now via the comms they shared as he traveled to his exit point. “I don’t know how long your armor will last out there.”

“I’ll make a construct covering it,” Frank said with more faith than he had at the moment. “I’ve got this; this is why I’m here. This is what I was born to do.”

He said the last part so quickly he was surprised he had even said it himself. Was that how he really felt?

While Frank made his way down to the hangar bay, he checked his armor suit. Manufactured by Ballistic United Tactical and Tech Systems, or B.U.T.T.S., his current employer, the armor was state of the art. The dark steel plating was equipped with liquid technology underneath, allowing impacts to be less effective by spreading it over a greater distance.

He snapped his helmet, which hung by the side of his belt with a magnetic brace, on his head. Once on, the suit was airtight. The familiar heads-up display danced in front of his eyes. The lack of oxygen in space was going to be a huge problem. His suit recycled air to a point. If there was no air around him to be filtered, he was going to have to come up with something on the spot. They were out of time.

“I heard you were about to do something crazy.” Sava’s hard voice came through Frank’s comm. “I would advise against it.”

“Like you’re not going to try your hand at flying in space right now?” Frank said, running down a flight of stairs that would lead him to the hangar bay on the massive ship. “I saw that look in your eyes—eye—over the monitor. You’re going out with the Dragoons. Well, so am I.”

“And what do you think you’re going to do?”

“Help.”

“You can’t fly,” Sava reminded him again. “You’re going to get yourself killed out there.”

“Yeah, I know, but I can float,” Frank said, finally reaching the launch bay. He’d grown short of breath from running while talking. “Have you ever played a game called Asteroids?”

“Yes,” Sava said to Frank’s surprise. “The game where you take turns striking one another in the face until someone becomes concussed? I am very familiar with that game, but what does that have to do with our current situation?”

“What? No, that sounds like a horrible game. Why is that even called Asteroids?” Frank stopped by the controls to the deployment bay doors and force shield. A tingle ran up his spine as he recalled the last time he was in the hangar. The last time he saw Major Lopez. He looked around to make sure Elly had in fact cleared the deck. He was alone.

“Each player forms his fist into the shape of an asteroid,” Sava explained. “Listen, there’s no time for this now. We can play later if you’d like. Stay on your ship. You’ll be no good to us out there. That’s an order, Frank.”

“What’s that?” Frank asked, doing his best confused impression into his comms. “Sava, you’re—you’re breaking—up. What was the last part? You want me to go and help? Well, okay, if you say so. I’ll be right out.”

“Frank! Don—”

Frank terminated the link.

Well, here we go, Frank thought to himself as his finger hovered over the button to open the hangar bay doors. How hard can it be, right?

2

How hard can it be, was a phrase that had gotten Frank into more than his fair share of trouble. These same words ran through his mind when he ran with the bulls in Spain, taught himself to ride a motorcycle, and simply walked into Mordor. Wait, what?

As he paused for a moment to rethink his current course, Frank wondered why he wasn’t more scared. He was about to walk out into space with nothing more than his diamond-plated armor suit and the ability he now wielded as an Arilion Knight. He should be terrified.

“Ahhh, screw it,” Frank said, slamming his hand down on the button before he could second guess himself any further. “We’ve all got to die someday.”

Warning lights and alarms went off in the bay area, signaling the doors were being opened.

A pair of ominous steel doors standing eight meters high and a meter thick opened in the center of the hangar bay. The machine reeling them back on their tracks hummed as it pulled the metal slabs apart. Frank hit the button again as soon as there was enough room for him to squeeze through the pair of massive garage bay doors.

Frank walked to the opening. Through the translucent red force shield protecting the hangar bay even when the doors were open, he looked into space. Chaos Darts raced by his field of vision as they maneuvered around the much larger Chaos warship.

Drawing from his strength of Will, channeled through the glowing purple vambraces he wore on his forearms, Frank contracted a force field of his own. He had seen Sava do it multiple times before. It was a perfect circle that stretched out three meters all around him. As long as he could hold the construct, he could also hold the air inside of it. At least that was the logic that made sense in his own mind.

For a moment before stepping forward, Frank lost himself in the bigness of space. He recalled the powerlessness and ferocity he felt the last time he was in the bay aboard the Ryker. He remembered the fighting, the dying, the smell of burned meat as the Chaos plasma rifles did their job annihilating Draconian and Neeve alike, and of course he again remembered Major Lopez. He remembered her limp, unconscious body being sucked out into the vacuum of space without being able to do a thing about it. He remembered exactly what her face looked like: beautiful, determined, and scarred from their first encounter with the plasma-wielding Chaos army.

Frank shook his head free of the memory that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He took the burning pain in the pit of his stomach and the tightness in his throat and buried them deep inside in exchange for the Will to bring an end to the Chaos menace. Before Frank could come to his senses telling him he was doing something insane, he passed through the ship’s force field and floated out into space.

His plan worked. Frank could breathe and although he couldn’t quite move like he wanted to, he did have a degree of control. It felt like he was trying to walk through chest-high water. He could manage a few inches at a time if he concentrated, but right now, there was no time to hone this new ability.

Chaos Darts were already beginning to pick up on his presence and flew in to attack. All around Frank, the Dart fighters formed wings. They went on strafing runs as they pummeled the Lucy’s shields.

In front of Frank, the three larger Chaos warships made their approach.

Bright white laser fire screamed past Frank, pulling his attention back to the fighters zooming by. Apparently, he was a target now.

Frank created the easiest thing he could remember at the moment: the same A-shaped ship from the arcade game of his youth, Asteroids, complete with the single heavy blaster at the tip of the triangle.

The energy it took to make the force field construct allowing Frank to breathe taxed him. The triangular weapon around him wore on his resolve. A more sane man would have felt like an idiot as a tiny 8-bit triangle in the middle of expansive space among massive ships. Not Frank. He couldn’t stop now.

“Frank, what are you doing?” Vega asked, trying to keep concern out of her voice and just sound pissed. “You can’t go out there alone.”

“I hope your will is as strong as your need to commit suicide,” Sava growled over the comms. “I’m coming to you.”

Frank heard this and more chatter on the comms. He would have come back with a witty reply, except there was no time. Chaos Darts were zeroing in on his position and beginning their runs on his triangle-shaped ship made of translucent purple energy.

“Here we go!” Frank screamed at them as they approached. “Bring it, Space Invaders!”

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

Frank sent a stream of violet laser-like fire at the oncoming ships. He took two of the Darts down in a shower of sparks and explosions before being slammed by an enemy beam from his left.

The air was knocked out of him as the force collided with his construct. Frank saw black for a moment as he was thrown through the air.

Hold it together, Frank screamed inside of his own head. Hold it together. You can control your movement. Find a way.

Frank managed to right himself and stop the spiral trajectory he had been sent on by the blast. He was sweating to maintain the construct around him. How long he could keep this up, he had no idea.

Something with a purple tail whizzed by on Frank’s left, not just striking an enemy Dart but going right through it. The Chaos ship exploded as Sava came out the other end. She was covered in sizzling purple energy that raced all around her body. It came to an end in a comet’s tail.

“I had things under control,” Frank said with a grin. “Actually, that’s a lie. It’s good to see you.”

“Try not to get yourself killed,” Sava said, racing off to join the squadron of Draconian Dragoon ships exiting the hangar bay of the Ryker on their right.

“Wow, cool man. This so awesome.” Laloid’s voice entered Frank’s comms. “Vega assigned me to spot for you since it doesn’t look like you’re too good at moving out there yet. You’re like a baby Draconian still dripping with sack fluid, who’s taking his first steps.”

“Thanks for the analogy,” Frank said, zeroing in on a Chaos Dart. He led his target and opened fire. A second later, he was rewarded with a short-lived explosion as the vessel erupted in flames, then surrendered its flames to the coldness of space. “Tell me where they’re coming from and I’ll shoot.”

“Yeah, ahhh, this is the best. Humans and Draconians working together to give evil a kick in the pants,” Laloid said with more enthusiasm than Frank was feeling at the moment. “Alright then, you have two boogers on your left and one on your right.”

“I think you mean bogies.” Frank turned his cannon to the left first, dispatching the Darts, and then to the right. His construct was hit again by enemy fire. This time, Frank managed to hold his ground.

“What’s that?”

“You’re saying ‘boogers,’ but I think you mean ‘bogies.’” Frank changed the construct of his single cannon to include a pair of missile launchers on either side of the main weapon. The act was nearly too much. Oxygen was already starting to run dry. Frank could feel his lungs ache for more air, but there was none coming.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty sure Raj called them boogers,” Laloid said, confused.

Frank was over the conversation. It was funny how fast the lack of available oxygen could change one’s priorities. He started to make his way back to the Lucy. Due to the hits from the Chaos Darts he had taken pushing him out into space, the ship was much farther away than he would have liked.

All around Frank, the battle raged. The Draconian Dragoons, outnumbered at least four to one, were fighting a losing battle. Despite their inferior numbers, they were making the enemy pay a heavy price. Their green direct energy rounds contrasted against the enemy’s as they danced through space at dangerous speeds.

Sava moved like death incarnate. She zipped around the battle, plowing into enemy Darts. She didn’t bother firing her own constructed weapons; instead, she used her body as a weapon, traveling right through the enemy ship as she moved from one to the next. A wake of destruction lay in her path in the form of floating debris and dead corpses of her enemies.

Frank saw all of this at a glance as he struggled to get back to the Lucy. It was moving slowly, but still the hangar bay door he had left just barely open was more than a football field to his right.

How do you get yourself into these situations? Frank asked himself. You need to start being more responsible and make better life choices.

Frank dug deep and threw out a blackish-purple line from his right hand. His anchor sank into the rear hull of the Lucy. He did this again and again, working his way back toward the hangar doors as he pulled himself up the lines. All around him, the air was showered with blaster fire.

“I’m redirecting some Dragoons to keep the enemy Darts off you,” Laloid sounded in his ear. “You’ve got it. Keep going; you’ll be fine.”

BOOM!

Frank was struck by a laser round from behind. The blast was so powerful it shattered his asteroid construct as well as his force field. Frank’s head snapped back as he was propelled through the air and toward the hangar bay doors.

The lack of oxygen was taking a toll on his mind. Dark spots were clouding his vision when he slammed into the right hangar bay door, then slid inside.

His momentum sent him sliding across the hangar bay floor on his left side. Pain exploded in his head and back.

“Oops, my bad,” Laloid said. “That one’s on me. I didn’t see that Dart sneak up on you until it was too late.”

Frank lay gasping for breath on the launch bay floor. When he tried to move, a savage pain raced around his back so intense it made him want to laugh or cry.

“Frank, Frank, are you dead, man?” Laloid asked over the comms.

“I think so,” Frank answered, managing to roll over on his back.

“Well, then take a breather, yeah?” Laloid said. “I’ll let you know—”

Something huge struck the Lucy, sending a tremor through the entire ship. Frank was rocked from side to side. Another violent claw of pain ripped across his lower back.

“What was that?” Frank asked, already guessing what the answer would be.

“Well, do you want the bad news or the not-so-great news first?” Laloid asked.

“Surprise me,” Frank answered.

“The three Chaos warships are in weapons range. We’re exchanging fire with them now.” Laloid paused. “And now for the worse news. Two of those warships are targeting the Ryker.”

Terrified shouts from those around Laloid came through the comms.

“Shields are almost down,” Laloid said in a panicked rush of words. “Incoming!”

3

Not only was the other ship full of a crew made up of his allies, but Vega was on the Ryker as well. Frank fought to his knees first, breathing hard. Despite the stabbing pain in his back, he managed to stand.

Nothing’s broken, Frank said to himself. Probably just sprained or pulled. You got to go. Time to go, Marine.

Frank limped his way back to the bridge, trying to raise someone on the comms.

“Laloid, Laloid, come in?” Frank said.

“I’ve—got to go,” Laloid said hurriedly. “They need me over here.”

Frank understood as much as he wanted to know exactly what was going on; Laloid, Vega, and the entire bridge on the Ryker should be worried about survival at the moment, not giving reports.

Fear once again gripped at Frank’s heart, a pang he had only limited experience with in his lifetime. What if the ship was destroyed? What if he never saw Vega again? He thought she knew, though he had never told her how he really felt about her. How did he really feel? The timing seemed inopportune, but that was the way it always seemed to be.

Oh, man. You fooled around and fell this time.

Making his way back to the bridge was a lesson in pain. Frank recognized the aching feeling in his back that spread down to his right leg, then ignored it. He moved on, finding a place in his mind past discomfort.

The bridge on the Lucy was a scene of order amongst mayhem. Colonel Breaker kept a cool head; still, his strained voice revealed how he had been shouting orders, possibly since Frank left.

“Everything, and I mean everything, besides weapons power I need fed into the shield,” Colonel Breaker ordered. “Concentrate all fire on that first Chaos warship that is targeting the Ryker.”

“Sir,” a Neeve operations specialists called from his spot at his control station to the Colonel’s left. “Shouldn’t we be concentrating on the warship that’s firing at us?”

“We can take the damage from a single ship for a bit longer. The Ryker can’t take the fire from two warships another minute,” Colonel Breaker said, eyeing Frank for the first time since he had returned to the bridge. “If you’ve got any more of what you just did, we can use it.”

Frank removed his helmet, smiling past his pain. He knew the colonel didn’t want to hear about his aches or pains. To be honest, he didn’t want to make them any more real by acknowledging their existence.

“I’ll get a turret constructed in the front, like Sava and I did when we first took the ship,” Frank said, limping his way to the front screen separating the bridge from space on the other side.

“The Ryker’s not going to hold much longer,” Elly said from her monitor. “I—holy bananas, what the heck is she doing?”

All eyes swung to the view screen in front of them. Directly in their way was an enemy warship painting them with blinding weapons fire. To their right, two more enemy warships unleashed a doubled barrage on the Ryker. All around this scene were the smaller fighters from both factions zooming back and forth dogfighting in the pandemonium. Everything happened so fast, yet in the moment, slowed like the calm before the storm.

What had caught Elly’s eye was Sava’s purple comet-like form streaking through the air toward one of the two enemy warships that was engaging the Ryker. She was descending from above the Chaos warship, gathering momentum as she rocketed toward her target.

“Frank!” Sava screamed into her comm past the wind roaring around her careening frame. “If I don’t make it, it’s up to you. You defeat the Chaos Lord!”

“No, what are you doing!?!” Frank screamed into his comm channel. “DON’T!”

Panic seized Frank shoulders, pulling upright. A cold sweat dampened his forehead. All sense of pain dissipated as dread took over.

Sava looked like a fallen angel plummeting from the heavens. She had gained so much speed, it was nearly impossible to track her. One second, she was racing toward a warship, and the next, she struck it.

For a split second, nothing happened. Then the colossal black warship collapsed in on itself as explosions crossed its hull. Ripping through the entire ship, the blasts rolled and buckled the Chaos ship. A moment later, a massive explosion tore the ship apart from its claw-like front wings, which extended forward to its bulky ebony rear half. Amongst the wreckage, Sava was nowhere to be seen.

Shouts went up over the comms. Frank didn’t blame them for their moment of relief and excitement. Sava had sacrificed herself for exactly that: so that others could rejoice and live another day.

Frank only felt grief in his heart. Losing Sava struck a chord still too raw within him. How many more would he lose in this war he never wanted to enlist in? He left the military in part due to the carnage and loss he experienced. Working at B.U.T.T.S., he was to sit fairly pretty and peddle the latest in weapons and defensive tech. Yet here he was, following his heart to do the right thing and rise to the occasion; to use the greatest weapon he owned–his fighting spirit.

Yet now he was alone again as the only Arilion Knight. Sadness turned to anger, anger to rage in the span of a single heartbeat.

Rawww!” Frank slammed his hands against the glass separating the bridge from their view of space. He roared as he created a construct of a weapon he had only ever seen a picture of before. It was an electromagnetic rail gun capable of hurling twenty-three-pound projectiles at Mach 7.

Frank had seen a prototype of the weapon while working for his employer, B.U.T.T.S. He remembered the meeting distinctly as he was ushered hurriedly away from the prototype as if he were never meant to see it in the first place.

He had never seen it fired or even tested. The barrel of the purple weapon extended out on the opposite side of the window, the translucent construct nearly taking up the entire viewing area.

All the pain and all the anger boiled over and out of Frank to flow into the construction of the weapon. The Will needed to hold together a weapon of that size was the most Frank had used since his induction into Arilion Knighthood.

Frank pointed the long barrel of the weapon to the right, where the second Chaos warship still fired on the limping Ryker.

Fires had broken out all along the Ryker’s hull. How they were still afloat was a mystery.

VRRROOOM! VRRROOOM! VRRROOOM!

Frank pumped round after round from his giant weapon into the left hull of the Chaos ship. A bright purple bolt started at the thick base of the weapon before traveling down its square barrel. He wasn’t sure whether that was the right sound a rail gun would make in reality, but it was his construct and that was what it sounded like. To be honest, as long as it dealt the damage to vindicate his mentor’s sacrifice, it could have sounded like a beeper going off for all Frank cared.

His rounds hammered into the Chaos ship, ripping holes the size of tanks in the side of the ship. Frank didn’t let up. All the physical pain in his body was numb. He had one job at the moment and that was destruction. Sava had offered herself as a kamikaze for Vega, Colonel Breaker, Elly, Raj, Laloid, and all of them to have a chance at survival. Frank was going to make sure she didn’t die for nothing.

The red lights of the Chaos ship in front of them blinked off and on. Fires broke out on the enemy ship, only to be snuffed out by the coldness of space as soon as they began. A second later, the wing on the right of the Chaos warship that came up like a pincer tore free and began to float apart from the rest of the craft. The entire ship went dark as its engines died. It hung in space like the useless hunk of metal it now was.

Frank wasn’t finished. He turned his weapon now on the third Chaos warship before them. There was so much debris floating in the space between the crafts, it was hard to get a clean shot.

As it turned out, there was no need.

The last warship was in retreat, as were the remaining enemy Darts. Frank had no intention of letting them go. He held his finger down on the trigger, rotating the giant barrel to follow his target. Fatigue crawled all over and through his body, threatening exhaustion past the point of consciousness; still, Frank refused to let the enemy retreat now, only to ambush them another day.

“Keep on them!” Colonel Breaker shouted to his crew on the bridge. “Let’s give Frank some help. Fire all weapons!”

The rounds coming from Frank’s rail gun at Mach 7 speeds traveled too fast for the eye to track. The hail of candent blasts shooting from the Lucy was easy enough to see as it raced toward the enemy ship and splashed against its red force field.

In seconds, the enemy ship’s protection field was done. Within a minute, it was torn to shreds. Much like the other two ships, fires broke out all over, only to be stifled a moment later.

The space immediately in the front of the Lucy looked like a graveyard of black oxide metal fragments, cables, and indiscernible shrapnel. Frank didn’t realize he was still holding down the trigger of his constructed rail gun until Colonel Breaker put his metal hand on Frank’s right shoulder.

“That’s enough. We did it. The three enemy warships are down. The fighters are in retreat,” Colonel Breaker said. “Let go, Frank. Let go.”

Frank’s chest was heaving. He was bathed in a coat of sweat. A deep sense of loss surprised him. He had only known Sava for a few days, but the bond they shared as Arilion Knights had been carved deep; deeper than he realized. He was on his own again.

Frank released his hold on the construct, sinking to his knees. One look out the main window confirmed what the colonel had said. The remaining enemy Darts were in full retreat back to the egg-shaped moon and the pyramid.

“The Ryker is coming on the main screen,” Elly whispered with hesitation, as though not wanting to interrupt the moment.

Vega appeared—shoulders back, chin up—in the midst of panicked voices shouting all around her on the Ryker’s bridge.

“Colonel, I’m requesting Hammer and Viper squadrons return to the hangar bay on your ship. We’ve sustained heavy damage, primary systems are failing. We need to set down immediately.” There was no fear in Vega’s voice, but the tension on her face spoke another story. “I’m also requesting you teleport as many Draconians and Neeve onto the Lucy as possible. The bridge crew and I will remain on board the Ryker. We’ll set him down below.”

“Understood.” Colonel Breaker looked over to Elly. “Give the order to open the hangar bay doors. Begin evacuating the Ryker.”

“Yes, sir,” she confirmed as fingers scrambled across her command screen followed by her voice providing orders over the radio.

“Vega, if the ship’s not going to make it, you need to let us bring you and the bridge over as well.” Frank rose from his knees, digging deep to find the energy to move past Sava’s downfall. “There’s no need for anyone else to…to die.”

“We can set it down.” Vega nodded to Frank with a determined smile. “The Ryker has supplies we’ll need for the campaign once we lay siege to the pyramid. We can’t abandon it if there’s a chance. If we can’t pull it off, I’ll give the order to teleport as well. I have to go.”

“Godspeed,” Colonel Breaker said. “We’ll see you on the ground.”

4

Frank looked out the bridge window to the right of the Lucy to try and gauge the Ryker’s status. The structure of the Ryker reminded Frank of a flying Titanic. The thrusters on either side of the ship were sparking and firing sporadically while the main engines in the back lay dead. Multiple breaks in the hull showed exactly how much damage the ship had taken.

The warship limped along, headed in a descending route to the moon below.

“There’s too many soldiers to be able to bring them all over before their ship enters the lunar atmosphere,” Elly observed after calculating their trajectory. “I can get a few hundred at the very most.”

“Let me go.” Frank grimaced past the pain in his back. “If anyone has a chance of helping them land, it’s me.”

The look Colonel Breaker gave him was worth a thousand words. In the older man’s eyes were understanding, brotherhood, and duty.

“Elly, send Frank over.” Colonel Breaker gave the order. He turned his attention back to Frank. “You get them to the ground safely. That’s an order. We’ll cover you from above, make sure you’re not blindsided by another attack. Get it done, Frank. Oohrah!”

“Oohrah! Sir!” Frank shouted, trying to psych himself up for the next leg in this never-ending struggle for survival.

A moment later, his body tingled and he was on the bridge of the Ryker.

“Oh wow, hey, man,” Laloid said, looking up to Frank with everyone else on the bridge. His eyes were red, tears still pooled in them now. He had been the closest to Sava, having helped her train and prepare. He sniffed. “Good to see you.”

Frank understood the impact such a leader could have. Laloid was an Arilion super-fan since birth–whatever that looked like for Draconians–and volunteered his exceptional tech and computer engineering skills to help Sava construct the training grounds where she learned to master her skills and Will. And where Frank had trained.

“You too.” Frank placed a hand on the Draconian for a moment. “I should have been able to help her. I–”

“You couldn’t,” Laloid started.

“Next time, I won’t let us down.” Frank nodded before making his way down a level to where Vega sat in her captain’s chair.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Vega said through clenched teeth. “We can handle this.”

“I’m just here to help,” Frank said, understanding everything she wasn’t saying. He returned her stare. If they did go down, she didn’t want Frank anywhere near. Likewise, if they were going down, there was only one place Frank wanted to be, and that was by her side. “What can I do?”

“For the moment, hold on.” Vega looked out the front window as the Ryker continued to descend toward the Chaos Lord’s small moon hideout. “We’re saving everything we have in the two thrusters to slow our descent once we enter the moon’s gravity. With the force field gone, we’re going to burn on reentry, but Miriam says the hull will hold.”

“Who’s Miria—oh, you mean Junior?” Frank looked over to the tall Draconian behind a screen to their left. Miriam looked up at hearing his name. Frank still managed a bit of satisfaction, even in this dire moment, at the acknowledgement of the new moniker given after losing a bet with Frank.

“The Draconian steel will hold,” Miriam agreed, nodding with confidence from his seat. “I’m not worried about reentry; I’m worried about the landing.”

“We’ll make it,” Vega said, furrowing her eyebrows. “We’ll make it if for no other reason than the Chaos Lord cannot be allowed to win. Miriam—I mean Junior, with as much control as you have, set us down out of weapon range from the pyramid but not too far away. We’ll need to get there quickly once we make the ground assault.”

Vega’s sure tone was inspiring to Frank. She was still looking ahead, making strategic moves as she navigated their current life-threatening situation. There were so many things Frank wanted to say to this amazing woman, but this was not the time nor place.

Frank looked out the front window as the ship entered the planetoid’s atmosphere. The bleak landscape was depressing at best, nightmarish at worst. They were headed to a hunk of land to the left of the ebony pyramid, where a ravine had been carved into the charred ground. It looked like some giant had taken his pick and dug a trench through the dead soil in the distant past.

The Ryker shuddered and rocked as flames bit at the front of the ship upon its entry into the moon’s atmosphere. Who knew what gases made up the surrounding vacuum; they could ignite into a flaming wreck at any moment. Frank didn’t have a seat on the bridge. He wasn’t about to leave Vega’s side either. He knelt on one knee, placing his left hand on the armrest of her captain’s chair. He constructed a brace around his waist that anchored him to the floor.

“Vega, I need to tell you something,” Frank said, ignoring the flames racing across the front view. The entire craft rocked back and forth. A deep rumbling came from all around them as they raced toward the surface.

“I know,” Vega said, looking down to Frank from her chair. “I know, and I feel the same way. Tell me once we make it to the ground safely.” She nodded with sure, deep eyes.

Frank nodded, directing his focus once more to the moon that rushed to meet them. The ground was coming too quickly for Frank to even imagine they had a chance of stopping the herculean ship before it crashed against the surface.

“Junior? Laloid?” Vega asked as the inertial dampeners were stressed to their breaking point. “How are we looking?”

“We can’t hit the thrusters, not yet,” Laloid said, clawed hands at his control monitor behind them. “We only have one shot at this. Not yet.”

Frank clenched Vega’s armrest tighter as the ship spasmed like a Chaos soldier in his death throes. The moon was only miles below now. The Ryker broke through a thin layer of clouds as it raced to impale itself on the black ground below.

“If we don’t do something soon, we’re only going to be able to haunt the Chaos Lord,” Frank shouted past the roar of their descent.

“And… Now!” Laloid said, engaging the two remaining thrusters on either side of the ship.

Miriam used the stabilizing force to bring the nose of the ship up from a direct descent. The Ryker groaned as it was drawn parallel with the ground.

Frank felt his stomach hit his lungs and then fall back down again like he was on some poorly maintained carnival ride. The Ryker skidded against the dark ground and then lifted once more. Frank experienced that same feeling when his airplane was about to land, that anticipated moment the wheels hit the tarmac.

“Hold on!” Miriam said as he clenched his teeth.

BLAM!

The entire bridge rocked so violently, it was a miracle everyone remained strapped in their seats. An abysmal rending sound came from somewhere deep in the ship as they continued to slide along the dead ground.

All around the ship, the carcasses of old trees and foliage were smashed into the ground or pulverized on impact. The immense size of the Ryker was enough to demolish anything in its path, or so Frank thought.

Out of the front window, a monumental mountain rose from the ebony ground. The side closest to them was a sheer black cliff of hard rock and loose soil.

“Brakes?” Frank asked as they raced toward impact.

“Kill the thrusters!” Miriam shouted to Laloid.

“Done, but we won’t stop in time!” Laloid shouted back.

Frank understood what he needed to do. At the moment, he felt like he had been rolled over by a cement truck, then stuck back together with duct tape to then be run over by a tank. Despite how he felt, he needed to take action.

The Ryker rumbled forward in a dead slide. Frank released his hold on the construct anchoring him to the ground and walked on unsteady feet to the front window.

“Frank!?!” Vega shouted.

“I can do this,” Frank said, trying to keep his balance as he stalked forward to the window. “Everyone, cover your eyes and brace yourselves.”

Frank created another construct from the front of his hands. He shot a solid beam out through the window. Glass shattered all around the bridge. Hot wind laced with the rotten egg scent of sulfur whipped through the front window, slamming against Frank’s face.

Every muscle in his body ached. He thought he had given everything he had when constructing the rail gun. Somehow, he needed to find a way to give more; he had to find a way. He would find a way.

The purple beam of energy shot from his hands rocketed over the distance between the approaching Ryker and the looming mountain in front of them. They had a mile, maybe two at the most, before the Ryker would slam into the mountain, rendering them all dead or close and the ship a useless hunk of smashed rubble.

Come on, just like the training program Sava had you endure over and over, Frank screamed into his own head. He didn’t need the projections of his parents or of Vega calling out to him to hold back the pressing wall; it was real this time and the people needing him to save them were right beside him now. You can do it. If not for yourself, then for them.

The beast awoke inside Frank. The Will to succeed no matter how much effort he had to put behind the task. All doubt had to be removed and faith remained. There was no more if or but, only do and get it done.

Frank bent his knees, putting his head down and his arms extended in front of him with a calm knowing that he would succeed. Slowly, he began to stalk forward. He refused to slip on the smooth bridge floor underneath his feet. With every step he did take forward, he slammed a boot into the ground, making sure he wouldn’t be pushed back.

Step by step, he moved forward. The pressure of the beam in his hands beat into the mountain. Slowly, the forward progress of the sliding Ryker began to lessen.

Memories of the last laugh he had with Major Lopez in the Ryker’s armory, Sava’s rough yet wary admonitions, even Colonel Breaker throwing himself in harm’s way to protect Frank and losing his arm all flashed across Frank’s mind, giving him more fuel to add to his fire. Frank’s arms felt like they were going to snap under the pressure. In seconds, time would tell if he had done enough.

5

“Come on!” Frank poured everything he had into the force pounding the mountain in front of him. A deep roaring growl grew from the deep recess of his being.

A moment later, the Ryker came to a halt. The bow of the ship lightly bumped the front of the mountain, sending a rough tremor though the craft. Frank lowered his hands, looking at the smoking hole the force of his energy burst had carved out from the side of the mountain.

Frank’s mind and the relentlessness of his Will were the only things forcing his body on. He had learned an important rule while in the Marines during specialized training. The body would do whatever the mind pushed it to do. He had undergone multiple hellish drills and conditioning exercises where he was deprived of sleep and food and pushed to keep going. He pulled on all of that now as he stood on his feet and turned around to face the bridge.

The white-haired Neeve and the green-scaled Draconians all shared the same look of utter amazement across their eyes. Laloid’s eyes were beaming and he nodded an amazed approval like a proud papa.

“What?” Frank looked back at them, swaying with fatigue as he walked. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Frank, Vega, come in,” Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded through their comms rather than the ship’s destroyed transmission systems. “Ryker, this is the Lucy, come in.”

“We’re fine.” Vega was the first to find her voice. “Thanks to Frank, we made it.”

“Understood,” Colonel Breaker responded. “There’s no more activity from the pyramid. The Darts retreated back inside. The top of the structure closed. We’re not picking up any lifeforms between you and the pyramid either. It’s about eight klicks due east of your location.”

Frank was so utterly worn out, he had to remind himself to pay attention. He felt drunk with fatigue. He’d never fallen asleep standing up, but if there was ever a time for a first, he imagined that wouldn’t be difficult right now.

“Understood,” Vega said, already moving on what needed to be done next. “I’m going to check for wounded, set up a perimeter, and then assess the damage to the ship.”

“Roger that, we uh—” Colonel Breaker hesitated in a very unlike Colonel Breaker way. “When you’re ready, we should talk about next steps. The Lucy will provide an overmatch position until you’re ready to move. Contact me then. And, Frank, get some rest. We’re going to need everything you’ve got before this is all over.”

Vega exchanged a questionable glance with Frank, indicating she too had picked up on what Colonel Breaker wasn’t saying.

“Understood,” Vega said over the comms.

“Yes, sir,” Frank said through dry lips.

The communications channel clicked closed.

“Where do you need me?” Frank asked, walking over to Vega, stumbling like the town drunk as he did so.

Vega caught him in her surprisingly strong arms. “You need to rest. You’ve done more than your part today.”

“I can—I can do more.” Frank tried to stand on his own. His mind was giving out as utter exhaustion won over. “I can help.”

“You’ve done everything you needed to do,” Vega said.

Frank vaguely remembered Laloid and Miriam helping Vega take him to a room off the bridge and laying him in bed. The sweet scent of Vega’s jasmine and lavender hair mixed with the steely dirt smell of battle were a perfect lullaby for the depleted Knight.

Darkness came quickly.

“Frank Wolffe.” A not unkind male voice woke Frank from his sleep. “Frank Wolffe, wake up.”

Frank opened his eyes to find himself in a three square-meter room with a bed, desk, and dresser. To his left, a door stood cracked, leading into a bathroom area. The voice he had heard was nowhere to be seen, yet it came again.

“Frank Wolffe, Earth Marine and Arilion Knight, I would speak with you,” the deep commanding voice said again.

Frank sat up, feeling a rush of soreness cross his body. He swung his feet off the bed to the chill ground below. Someone had taken off his armor. He was in his charcoal military fatigues.

“Who are you?” Frank asked the empty room.

“You know who I am.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. “I am the one you so misguidedly seek. Knock, knock, Frank.”

“What?”

Someone tapped twice on the door to his room.

Frank stood from his bed, feeling a rush of dread-laced panic. His vambraces were gone. Where? He had no idea. Trepidation practically emanated from the door as everything inside Frank told him not to go near it.

“You don’t have to fear me,” the voice said once more. “There is another way. Leave this place on your remaining ship. Go and I will spare you and your Earth.”

“And the Neeve and Draconians?” Frank asked.

“They have a debt to pay,” the voice said with a hint of malice. “They have sins to atone for.”

“You mean they helped defeat you in the first Chaos War.” Frank filled in the blanks.

The door to his room rattled like an ominous monster was on the other side, shaking it off its hinges. It subsided a moment later.

“Do not speak of things you do not understand, boy,” the voice spat. “I’ll make this offer once. You are the only Arilion left standing. The Light has forsaken you. When I was banished before, it was at the hands of thousands of Arilion Knights. You cannot defeat me alone, not you, not like this. This isn’t your fight. You never wanted to join; just to take your money and time and move along. You owe them nothing.”

“I’ll find a way,” Frank said, clenching his fists so hard by his sides that they shook. “You don’t know me that well if you think I’m going to back down from a fight.”

“I know enough!” the voice shouted. Something slammed against the door again; a rending sound came from the metal as fist-sized indentions popped out on the side of Frank’s door. No, not fist-sized—much larger, the size of sledgehammers. “I know who you love, I know who you care for. Stand against me and I will make you watch as I make them burn. Abandon your hope, Arilion Knight. You are alone.”

Apprehension ate his resolve like a school of piranhas feasting on a carcass.

How can you fight him alone? Frank asked himself. Sava’s gone. A third of your force is depleted. How are you going to defeat the Lord of Chaos on his own planet?

Frank shook his head, shutting out the voice of terror growing inside.

“This story has been told over and over again throughout history.” Frank swallowed hard. He spoke with resolve he was finding by the moment. “How a self-appointed ruler poisons the minds of his followers. How a tyrant rises and tries to snuff out the light of freedom. Well, I’m here now. Try to snuff me out.”

Everything Frank said, he meant. The strength in his voice surprised even him. Whether it was the thought of already having lost so much or the possibility of losing more, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that no matter the odds, he would fight.

“Then you will die!” the voice raged.

The door separating Frank from the Chaos Lord blew open, breaking off its hinges under some incredible force. The only thing Frank could make out on the other side of the door was darkness. A massive figure as large as the doorway itself stared at him.

Every good memory Frank carried withered and died at that moment. The air was stifled by heat making it difficult to breathe. The sharp, choking sulfur made it even worse. Flaming eyes stared him down from a horned head. Black vapors twisted and rolled over the monster’s muscular body in menacing summoning waves. Ebony wings crested on the Lord of Chaos’s back.

Frank’s heart was pounding out of his chest. He couldn’t move; he was rooted to the spot. The Chaos Lord held his gaze and reached for Frank.

“Ahhh!” Frank bolted upright, waking from his dream.

“Ahhh!” Raj screamed from where he sat in a chair by Frank’s bedside. Raj’s scream was like a high-pitched shriek from a small, frightened child.

Frank breathed hard as he realized it was only a dream that had sent him into such a panic. He was sitting on his bed, dressed in his military fatigues. His armor was gone, but his vambraces sat on a desk in the small room.

It was a dream, Frank told himself, looking to the door in his room to make sure it was still on its hinges. How did it feel so real?

“Frank, are you all right?” Raj went over, producing a pen light from his front chest pocket and inspecting Frank’s pupils. “You’re safe. They took you to your room to recover after the crash landing. They called me in to take a look at you.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Frank lied, wiping at the sweat on his forehead with his right hand. “Just remind me, no more scary movies before bedtime.”

“Here take this.” Raj handed Frank two red pills and a water bottle.

The red pills that fell in Frank’s palm reminded him of the red eyes he had seen in his nightmare.

“What is this?” Frank asked, tossing back the pills and washing them down with the entire bottle of water.

“The Marine cure for everything: Ibuprofen,” Raj said, taking the opening to inspect Frank. “I didn’t want to get all handsy with you while you slept, but let’s take off that shirt and see how you’re faring.”

Frank complied, maneuvering around muscles that felt like they had been individually beaten with an aluminum baseball bat. His fairly muscular chest and torso were a crisscross of bruises.

“You’ve got a fair amount of swelling and bruising going down your lower back as well,” Raj said, shaking his head and inspecting with his pensive dark brown eyes as he felt Frank’s spine and ribs. “Nothing looks broken, though. I’d love to have more time to study how your anatomy is changing. As an Arilion Knight, it seems you’re more durable somehow.”

“Great. Well, poking and prodding me in a lab will have to wait.” Frank rose to his feet, heading for the shower. “What’s the status out there?”

“Colonel Breaker wants you to report in after a shower and some chow.” Raj stopped himself before he said more. “It’s better if you hear it from him.”

6

“You’re telling me she’s still alive?”

After a hot shower, Frank ate a quick meal on the go that consisted of protein paste substance, perhaps a Draconian-style MRE. Frank was then teleported back to the Lucy, which had remained overhead from where the Ryker landed.

He sat in a conference room with Colonel Breaker and Vega as they decided on their next course of action.

“One of the Dragoon ships from Hammer Squadron found her floating in space,” Colonel Breaker said, moving to answer Frank’s next question before he could ask it himself. “She is alive, but she’s in a coma of sorts. I’m not sure how her—your powers work exactly, but she managed to cocoon herself and protect her body from most of the blast.”

“Raj says she’s stable. He’s been working with the team of Draconian medical specialists,” Vega added. “There’s just no way to tell when she’s going to wake.”

Frank nodded. As much as he wanted to go see Sava, there was nothing he could do for her now. He would make the time once the meeting was over. He needed to keep his head in the game, and right now, that meant planning their strike on the pyramid.

“Since the Darts retreated back into the pyramid, there’s been no sign of activity from the Lord of Chaos,” Colonel Breaker said, narrowing his eyes as he considered what that could mean. “Our fighting force is down to just over six hundred soldiers and a handful of Dragoons. We have enough to make one smart assault on the pyramid, but not much after that if we fail.”

“The colonel and I have decided to try an orbital strike on the pyramid,” Vega said as she sat straight-backed in her chair. “It’s obvious the Chaos Lord wants us to go to him. We’ll bomb him and then send in our infantry units when we reduce his pyramid to ash.”

“It sounds like a great plan, but these things are never that easy.” Frank sighed. “I don’t want to be a downer here. Let’s try it. I’m just saying he has to be expecting that. He’s let us into orbit unchallenged. He knows what we’re going to try. It’s not like we’ve done anything but an all-out assault up till now.”

“Still, we have to try.” Colonel Breaker stood from his seat. “Vega, if you’re in agreement, I’ll have you teleported back to the Ryker. All infantry units including your own Neeve troops are preparing for the assault.”

“When we move against the pyramid, I’ll be leading my force,” Vega said with so much determination Frank opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t expect either of you two to understand or like it, but it is not my people’s way for their leader to simply send them into battle. I am a leader because I lead.”

Vega skewered both men with intense glares, begging them to challenge her.

“Hey, whatever you say.” Frank lifted his hands into the air in a sign of surrender. “I’m not going to try to stop you.”

Vega turned her eyes to Colonel Breaker.

“You’re an ally, not an officer under my command.” Colonel Breaker nodded along with his own words as if he were convincing himself as he spoke. “If that’s the way of your people, then go and be safe. Elly has shown a few of your more technically savvy soldiers how to mount personal force fields on their armor. She deconstructed the tech from a Chaos power armor unit that we captured.”

Frank understood what he meant. They had captured the enemy Chaos warship and renamed it the Lucy. Along with the massive craft, they had captured a portion of the enemy crew as well as all of their armor and weapons. They would come in handy in the coming campaign.

“I appreciate that,” Vega said, moving to leave the room with the others. “I will begin preparation for the assault; however, I will wait to consult with you before we make our move.”

Vega’s eyes caught Frank’s for a moment. “I’m glad you’re on your feet. You saved all of us back there on the Ryker.”

“Ahhh… it was nothing.” Frank winked at her. “I’ll see you soon.”

Vega nodded and walked down the hall to the left while Frank and Colonel Breaker took a right toward the bridge. On the inside, the Chaos ship wasn’t too different from the Draconian Ryker. The halls and rooms were black with plenty of lights built into the ceiling and walls. The halls were wide with doors that slid open from the middle.

Frank and the colonel made their trip in silence, each man left to wonder how the next few minutes would evolve.

“Vega has been teleported back to the Ryker and we are sending all available infantry units there as well,” Elly said from her control station on the bridge.

“Very good.” Colonel Breaker moved to take a seat at the captain’s chair in the middle of the bridge.

Out of the front window, Frank could see they were still in orbit high over the Ryker. To their right and not that far away was the pyramid. Up close, it was the largest building he had ever seen. It dwarfed things like coliseums or even the Empire State Building.

“Sal, get us in range,” Colonel Breaker said to the Draconian female on his right. “Let’s prepare an orbital strike on the pyramid on my command.”

The ship moved slowly toward the black pyramid. Frank moved his eyes from the colossal structure to the Ryker, which rested about five miles away. The Ryker had dug a deep trench through the planet’s dark soil, eventually coming to rest at the foot of the mountain.

“We’re already in range to fire,” Elly said from her seat. “Whenever you are ready, Colonel.”

“Fire!” Colonel Breaker gave the order.

Frank turned his attention back to the pyramid as the ship’s guns opened fire on the building below. Laser rounds fired from the ship’s main guns raced toward the black monolith. The heated yellow rounds came short of the pyramid stopped by a red force field that domed just above the pyramid’s tip and came down, encompassing the structure.

“That’s why he wasn’t worried.” Frank said what he and the colonel were both thinking. “The Chaos Lord knew we couldn’t get to him from above.”

“Let’s test the force field on all sides just in case,” Colonel Breaker said, giving direction. “Pepper the defensive barrier a bit longer.”

Frank and the rest of the bridge watched as the yellow laser fire that could pound through an enemy ship and hull was held at bay by the pyramid’s protective shield.

“Alright,” Colonel Breaker said after another round of fire splashed against the force field, doing nothing to penetrate.

“Looks like you’re going to need a small unit to do some recon on that shield,” Frank said to the colonel. “I’m in.”

“I volunteer as tribute,” Elly said, standing from her seat.

“This isn’t the Hunger Games,” Frank said with a grin.

“She should go with you.” Colonel Breaker agreed with Elly’s request. “You’ll need someone to assess the force field and find a way inside.”

Frank was about to ask Elly why she was so eager to put herself in harm’s way, but there would be plenty of time for that later.

“Yes, sir,” Frank said out loud. “I’ll get a small unit together and we’ll see about cracking this egg.”

7

“Every time I pass out or get knocked unconscious, I keep waking up in different clothes,” Frank said, checking his armor with the others as they prepared to travel to the enemy pyramid on foot. “It’s a weird feeling. I mean, who keeps getting me naked?”

“Is he always like this?” Vega grinned from her spot in the armory, where she donned one of the dark-plated armor suits the rest of the Marines wore over her strong and curvesome form.

“Most of the time, but he grows on you,” Raj said as he checked his Punisher GS2000. “That is, if he’s not trying to take you on another sure-death enterprise.”

“Oh, look who’s talking, Chunky Monkey,” Elly said, suiting up next to Raj.

“One time, that was one time, and you’re labeled for life,” Raj said, shaking his head and running a tan hand through his jet black hair. “I told you, I had a bit too much to drink that night. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Frank shifted his stance from where he stood in the ship’s armory as he placed his vambraces over his forearms. He looked quizzically to Elly with a toothy grin.

“Well, you see one night, one of the very few nights we were allowed outside of The Den back on Earth, the good doctor here got shmammered and I’m not talking in a cute way either. I mean just sloppy and started to—”

Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded in their comms, saving Raj from having to relive memories he clearly wanted to leave in the past. “Both Sava and the ranking Chaos officer from those we captured when taking over the enemy ship have been teleported down to the Ryker.”

“Thank you,” Frank answered.

“Godspeed,” Colonel Breaker said.

“I’m going to go check in on Sava. I’ll meet you in the holding cell to question the prisoner,” Frank said to Vega.

It had been decided that Sava should be on the Draconian ship receiving care since there was equipment there to monitor members of her own species. The prisoner had been teleported down for interrogation. Any piece of information they could get might mean the difference between life and death.

“I’ll meet you there,” Vega said, already heading for the door.

“Hey, hey, what should I do?” Raj asked.

Before Frank could answer, Elly piped in. “You can help me out, Chunky Monkey. I have a project for us to work on.”

“One time and I’m labeled for life,” Raj groaned.

Frank left the two, heading for the medical bay. It was strange, the feelings he held for Sava. Not of romance or even friendship. It was something that went even deeper. The bond they shared as Arilion Knights was something Frank had only experienced with Marines he had been in combat with, those he had fought and bled beside.

She’s in your very own army of two, I guess, Frank thought to himself. She’s the only one who knows exactly what you’re going through. Sure, Heron can give you answers from a book, but she understands first-hand.

Frank was lost in his own mind. By the time he walked to the medical wing, he still had no idea what he was going to say, much less whether Sava would even be able to hear him. She was in a coma after all. He had intentionally avoided this coma business for so long, even with his own mother.

The medical bay reminded him of a scene from a military film. A long, open room with beds pushed up against either wall and enough medical cabinets stocked with supplies to make any hospital envious. The smell of chemical antiseptic solutions tickled Frank’s nose. A few doctors in fatigues marked with medical patches on their drab olive uniforms tended to patients. When they looked up and caught Frank’s eye, they nodded out of respect.

On his part, Frank dipped his head back, hoping he could get to Sava without being drawn into a conversation. Those he saw left him alone for the time being.

Sava was easy to spot. She had her own curtained-off section of the medical bay near the left corner of the room. Frank drew back a white curtain to see her long, scaled body lying on a bed. Numerous monitors tracked everything from her blood pressure to her breathing patterns.

She wore a crisp white gown. The soft, bright material looked out of place on the one-eyed horned warrior. She still wore her vambraces, although there was no purple glow coming from them now.

“I don’t know what to say,” Frank said out loud. “I don’t even know why I’m here besides the fact that it—it just feels right.”

Frank paused, searching for his next words.

“He came to me in a dream.” Frank fought back a shudder at the memory of the winged creature who had barged into his room. “He tried to intimidate me like a schoolyard bully. Don’t worry, I’m not backing down. I’m going to use what you taught me and I’m going to take it to him. I promise you. I’m not going down without a fight, no matter the sacrifice I have to make.”

Frank placed his right hand on Sava’s right vambrace, covering her forearm.

“I still have a million questions about the Arilion Knights, the Light that formed the vambraces, and so much more. I don’t know if you can hear me. If you can send a prayer to the Light that started all of this for me, we’re going to need all the help we can get.” Frank squeezed the cold hard steel Sava’s vambrace was made out of before turning to walk away.

8

“So how are we going to do this?” Frank asked Vega as the two stood outside the metal door that would lead to the prisoner’s cell. “Good cop, bad cop?”

“What is a cop?” Vega lifted a single eyebrow.

She looked like a futuristic female badass in the diamond-plated armor. Her mid-back-length white hair was back in a ponytail and her purple pointed ears stuck up on either side of her head.

The pair stood in a near empty cell block. The Chaos officer teleported to them from the Lucy above was the only prisoner on their ship; the rest had been kept in orbit onboard the Lucy.

“A cop is—” Frank stopped himself. “It doesn’t matter. Basically, the way we do this is that I’m the hard one threatening him with physical violence and drooling at the mouth and you come in offering to protect him from me in exchange for information.”

“Alright, we can try this your way,” Vega said, entering a six-digit code into a keypad by the cell door. “Bad cop, bad cop.”

“No, not—”

It was already too late; the door swung open and Vega stalked inside.

The interior of the cell was smaller than Frank expected. There was no bed or toilet, just a simple square room with a light overhead, barred in case the occupant tried to reach the electric current used to power the light.

The Chaos soldier inside the room was the same species Frank had seen before. The enemy commander who had escaped the Lucy had been the same kind of alien. It was tall and lean with a sloped face and short tusks coming out of either cheek curved in toward its mouth.

The alien was dressed in a bleached jumpsuit with a barcode on his left shoulder as were all Draconian prisoners. He sneered at them as they walked in. “I will tell you nothing.”

Vega slammed her left boot into the alien’s chest, sending him sprawling back into the steel wall on the other side of the cell.

“Tell us what you know now, or I’ll rip the tusks from your cheeks and then you can tell us.” Vega stalked into the cell, pulling the alien to his feet. “Tell me, do you like pain? I will redefine the very meaning for you.”

Frank blinked, trying to rethink his tactic. He had always been the bad cop in these scenarios.

The Chaos P.O.W., whom Vega now had pinned up against the wall, was both wider and taller than her, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Neeve empress. He looked down at her and grabbed at her with his hands, trying to fight back.

Vega pivoted, throwing him to the ground before he had a chance. She sent a kick to his ribs that doubled him over and another to the side of his face.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Frank rushed in, pulling Vega off the alien, who had assumed the fetal position on the cold cell floor. “We need him to be able to talk to us when this is all over.”

“Give me minute with him alone.” Vega allowed herself to be pulled back. “He’ll talk. He’ll scream!” She spoke with the ferocity and vinegar of a woman on the edge.

Vega was doing enough to win an Academy Award at the moment. Now it was up to Frank to do his part. He released his hold on Vega.

“Just let me talk to him. Cool off,” Frank said with a wink.

Vega looked at him, confused.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry about that. My partner is a bit wound up right now. She’s off her meds at the moment.” Frank knelt beside the alien, helping him to his feet. “What’s your name?”

The alien looked at Frank’s vambraces, recognizing him as an Arilion Knight. His eyes fell. He had to understand he had no hope of defeating them now. His eyes traveled to the open cell door.

“I wouldn’t,” Frank cautioned, reading the alien’s thoughts. “If you know what I am, then you understand I can have you chained to the ground and gagged in a second. What’s your name?”

“Ash,” the alien said, defeated. “My name is Ash.”

“Listen, Ash,” Frank said, taking a seat next to the alien. “I know you don’t like me—heck you might even hate me—but things can go a lot easier for you if you can give us some information about the shield over the pyramid.”

Vega stared at Ash, drool dripping from the left corner of her lip. Her right eye twitched like a maniac.

“My counterpart here is a little rabid…apparently,” Frank said. “Honestly, I don’t want to see you tortured. Just give us something we can use.”

“There is nothing I can give you that you would believe anyway.” Ash shied away from Vega, who began to pace up and down the short cell. As he continued, his sunken holes for eyes never left her. “The force field covers the entire pyramid. The source of the force field’s power lies within the structure in a secure server tower surrounded by an electromagnetic cage. There is no way to get in. Is she—is she going to eat me?”

“What?” Frank looked up to Vega, who was licking her lips as more drool fell from her mouth. He did his best not to laugh or eye her. “Not if you give us what we want. You’re doing great, Ash. Give us something we can use.”

“I have nothing,” Ash said, shaking his head as he kept a wary eye on Vega. “Please, you have to believe me. Don’t leave me alone in here with her.”

“I believe you, buddy, I believe you,” Frank said, searching Ash’s eyes. “And I’ll make sure nothing happens to you if you let me know the patrol patterns around the pyramid and where they get in and out.”

Ash looked up at Frank, panicked. It was enough for Frank to realize his shot in the dark had worked.

The Chaos army would likely have a perimeter security, and if that was the case, there had to be an access point where this patrol entered and exited the pyramid.

“I never—was never put on patrol,” Ash stuttered.

Vega lunged at him.

Frank stood just in time to restrain her. This time, she pulled harder to get at Ash.

“But—but—” Ash held up his three-fingered, sinewy hands. “I do know the access point lies to the rear of the pyramid.”

Vega stalked out of the room.

“You need to make better life choices.” Frank looked down at Ash with a shake of his head. “Maybe listen to some Doctor Phil or read some Paulo Coelho.”

Ash stared back at Frank, lost in bewilderment.

Frank closed the cell door behind him, jogging to catch up with Vega.

“Hey, great work back there. You’re an amazing actress,” Frank said, reaching her side. “You had me fooled for a second.”

“Who was acting?” Vega asked back with a blank expression.

“Oh, very funny—you’re—you’re kidding, right?” Frank pressed. “I mean, you were slobbering back there.”

“Come on, we have the intel we need.” Vega ignored the subject, picking up her pace as she headed back to where they had left Elly and Raj. “We can’t afford to waste any time.”

“Right,” Frank said from behind her. “But seriously, you were acting back there, weren’t you?”

9

Frank and Vega reached the armory again. Elly and Raj had Magnus, Elly’s Momo, on one of the tables, buckling him into a small harness.

The harness fit around the Momo’s wolf cub shape and saddled between his wings. For whatever reason, he still seemed to trust Elly putting him in this contraption. Perhaps he was just happy to have a friend and not be eaten by the Draconian. Using a combination of her hearing aids and the translator units the squad wore behind their ears and at their throats, Elly was able to communicate with the creature to enlist him in this task.

Right now, Magnus was making low, guttural sounds in his throat.

“No, I don’t think there are any female Momos on this moon,” Elly was saying to Magnus. “I have no idea what is on this moon actually.”

“There, got the last strap on,” Raj said, standing back to admire his work.

Magnus was wearing flat black armor plating that covered his head all the way down his back. Apparently, Elly planned on him going with them on their scouting mission.

“Elly, I don’t know if taking him along with us is the smartest thing.” Frank looked at the tin animal with a raised eyebrow. “He’s kind of small to be used in a fight.”

“Oh, I agree with that.” Elly ruffled Magnus’ ears gently. “I’ve attached cameras to him here and here.” Elly pointed to the Momo’s helmet and then again to the underside of his belly, where the straps came together. “We can use him as recon. The camera on his head will show us what’s in front of us when he’s on the ground and the camera under his belly will show us a bird’s eye view while he flies.”

Frank still wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea. Maybe a drone would be better. It was clear Elly had worked hard getting the gear set up. Instead of shutting her down, he decided to roll the dice on the Momo acting as their forward scout. So far, her crazy ideas had worked. Her tech and coding engineering had done her well.

“Alright,” Frank said, grabbing his helmet from the armory and clipping it on to his magnetic belt. “We just have to make sure he doesn’t give a bark or yip at the wrong time.”

Magnus looked at Frank, cocking his head to the side. The animal let out a small whine and woof.

“He says, ‘Roger that.’” Elly grinned.

Frank led the way out of the armory with the rest of his unit. They all wore the same diamond-plated liquid armor. Their dark suits would blend in perfectly with the black terrain. The helmets they wore were made up of the same protective gear from B.U.T.T.S. A T-shaped visor on the front of the helmet gave them access to the heads-up display in their helmets.

Elly and Raj carried their Punisher GS2000s on their backs. The smaller Reckoner P7 attached to their hips. In addition to this, each of them carried a backpack; Elly’s with tech gear and Raj’s with medical supplies.

Frank forewent the physical weapons, knowing he could summon whatever he needed at a moment’s notice. He did, however, carry a backpack with supplies.

Vega was the oddball out. The empress insisted on not only carrying a Punisher GS2000 on her back along with her pack but her great sword as well. She looked like a fantasy assassin from the video games Frank played back home with her dark armor and wide blade.

She would never admit it, but Frank noticed her hesitate as they walked through doorways. She was clearly struggling with the weight, yet it wasn’t like Vega to complain.

“You need a hand with that?” Frank asked as they arrived at the hangar bay doors where they would exit the Ryker. “You’re carrying enough for two people right now.”

“I’ll be fine,” Vega said. “We should get going. The pyramid lies eight kilometers to the east. It’s night out there now. We should be able to arrive by morning without a problem.”

“Roger that,” Elly said, taking out a data pad from her pack and scanning the lines of information scrolling across her screen.

Vega went over to the hangar bay door control panel. She pressed a button, opening a small access door that was set near the larger hangar bay doors. “The Ryker experienced heavy damage; still, we have all primary systems running now besides the engines. The Ryker isn’t ready to fly yet, but we can use it as a base at least.”

Frank stepped outside with the others; Vega in front of him, Elly, Raj, and Magnus bringing up the rear. The scene in front of him was brutally breathtaking. The land was scorched and burned in every direction. The mountain that rose up in front of them eventually gave way to a dark night sky dotted with stars. Looming so massive it almost looked fake was a planet of dark blue and white clouds. Behind them, a tiny moon fought for its place in the night sky.

A cold wind stroked Frank’s short, dark hair. He looked to his right. The eight-kilometer distance to the pyramid made it difficult to see the structure in the night, but he knew it was there. An icy finger raced down his spine as he prepared himself.

“I’ll take point with Vega,” Frank said, lifting his helmet off the magnetic clip on his belt. “Elly and Raj, watch our six.”

The helmet’s heads-up display immediately recognized the level of illumination. It transitioned to a night-vision mode that made the planet in front of Frank reveal its secrets.

“What kind of magic is this?” Vega asked, placing her own helmet on her head. “I can maneuver around the screen with my eyes?”

“Oh, right,” Frank said, motioning to Elly. “Elly, can you give Vega a crash course on the heads-up display?”

“Roger that,” Elly said.

“I do not wish to crash on a course if at all possible,” Vega said, turning her head this way and that. The barrel of her weapon followed her movements.

Frank extended a hand, catching the end of Vega’s Punisher GS2000 and pointing the barrel down to the ground. “It might not be a bad idea to go through a quick weapons tutorial as well.”

“No offense, Empress Vega, but do you know how to use one of our weapons?” Raj said, taking a step back. “You almost castrated me with a plasma rifle not too long ago.”

“You are correct, Lieutenant Agarwal,” Vega said, relaxing her grip on her weapon and lowering it to the ground. “I do not mind confessing my shortcomings. I’ll gladly listen to instruction.”

“Great, let’s get going,” Frank said, heading toward the pyramid. “We can get there before the sun rises if we hurry.”

The unit moved out with Frank in the lead. Magnus joined him, sniffing the air as they made their way from the Ryker, deeper into the alien landscape. Thanks to the heads-up display in his helmet, Frank could now see the terrain around him as clear as day.

Their path would take them down a steady incline and into a ravine. Thus far, they were alone; no wildlife, not even birds called on the wind. One thing bothered Frank the most. It was that the Chaos Lord was allowing this. He had made no move against them despite the fact that he had to know what they were doing.

He had anticipated their strike on the pyramid. He would also be aware of their scouting mission against him. He was waiting for them to come to him. The nightmare Frank experienced the night before invaded his mind again: the massive looming figure, the dread he felt in the pit of his stomach.

An hour went by with Elly talking with Vega, answering her questions, and giving careful instruction. In that time, the unit had moved away from the Ryker and down the incline. In front of them now was the ravine. The ravine itself seemed to be nearly two kilometers wide. The easiest thing would be to go through it. The safest might be to skirt the ravine altogether, though that would cost them valuable time.

“You think Magnus is ready for his test run?” Frank said, looking behind him at Elly.

“Oh, you know it,” Elly said, so excited her tone went off by a few decibels. She looked down at the Momo, who walked beside Frank. “Let’s go, buddy. It’s your debut flight.”

The Momo chittered something.

“No, if you see something, don’t kill it. We just want to see what we’re getting into,” Elly said.

Magnus dipped his head and took off at a sprint. His grey wings extended from his back, and a moment later, he was soaring through the air.

Frank and the others continued forward. The ravine was as lifeless as the rest of the moon with one notable difference. There were charred trees rising from the dead soil in various states of destruction. They were all skeletons of their former selves, some still managing to stand upright while all that remained of others were blackened stumps.

Frank’s boots crunched over the soil as Vega joined him.

“Something does not feel right,” Vega said, scanning the ground as they continued forward. “And I do not mean the fact that we have a flying wolf pup overhead.”

“No, I know what you mean,” Frank answered. “My spidey senses are tingling. I feel it too.”

“I knew I should have brought a bag to breathe in,” Raj said over the comms as he brought up the rear. “I feel like we’re being watched.”

“More like being hunted,” Vega answered.

“Guys!” Elly ran to the front between Frank and Vega, staring down at her pad. “You should really see this!”

10

Frank wasn’t sure what he was looking at initially. It was an overhead view from the camera on Magnus’ stomach. It showed the floor of the ravine. The soil was still black with burnt alien trees rising to the sky in sorrowful, twisted shapes.

Movement caught his eye. Something long slid over the ground. It was too far from the camera’s point of view to make out exact details, but it looked to be a giant snake or worm slithering over the rocky terrain below.

“I knew my spidey senses were tingling,” Frank said, coming to a halt. He constructed his own Punisher GS2000 in his hands, staring at the screen. “We should go back. We just entered the ravine. We can go back and go around.”

Elly tapped Frank’s shoulder. She placed a hand on his helmeted chin and lifted it up, directing it the way they had entered the ravine.

“Wha—” The question died on Frank’s lips. He saw exactly what had grabbed Elly’s attention. There were dozens of worm-like creatures coming down from either side of the ravine. Their path back was already blocked.

The alien worms varied in size from short and stocky to long and thin. The longest one was approximately five meters in length. Apparently, disgusting deathworms came in all shapes and sizes. The pale brown skin on their backs extended from their nub-like ends to the hole filled with teeth that must have been their mouths. There were no eyes as far as Frank could see, just teeth and whiskers.

“I don’t want to be the negative one here,” Raj lifted his weapon at the creatures, “but should we run? I feel like we should start running sometime soon or wake up from this nightmare.”

“Vega, you lead,” Frank said without hesitation. “I’ll bring up the rear and take out any of them that get to close. Let’s move!”

The unit didn’t need to be told twice. As one, they began running deeper into the ravine.

Frank ran, doing his best to backpedal as much as possible to keep an eye on the worms. The creatures immediately followed. Some of them skidded along on the surface, while others burrowed just below the soil line, creating a low wave of broken, charred earth, which allowed Frank to still track their movements. If they had gone another meter or two deeper into the ground, they would have been lost altogether.

Frank’s lungs burned as he moved so unnaturally for such a length with the weight of his armor and the pack on his back. Neither one of these things was enough to provide a problem on their own; even together, they were manageable, but adding in backwards running to the mix was enough to wear down any soldier.

“Cardio, why does it always have to come down to cardio?” Elly huffed as she kept pace with the others. “Girl, you’re having too many cheat meals these days.”

After a few minutes of running, Frank realized what their pursuers were doing. The worms were remaining content to stay out of range yet close enough to provide that moment of panic and encourage their prey to run.

Frank had seen the Discovery Channel enough to understand the strategy behind their tactics. They were content to allow the unit to tire themselves out. Only when Frank and the others were exhausted and could run no more would they pounce.

Screw that, Frank thought to himself. I’m not going to play their game.

Frank stopped, turned, and sighted down the summoned Punisher GS2000 that appeared in his hands. This happened all in the space of a quick second. He squeezed the trigger on his constructed weapon, sending a burst of rounds into a worm on his right that looked like Jabba the Hutt and a parasite had a love child.

The rounds struck the creature, sending a spray of white liquidy stuff into the air reminiscent of popping an aggressive pimple. The result was just as satisfying. The worm squealed and writhed on the ground.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank sent a few more rounds in the creature just to ensure it was indeed dead. The other worms chasing them all paused for a beat. As soon as the moment came to an end, they rushed Frank en masse. Sliding over and just below the ground, they came at him without regard for their own well-being.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank sent another burst into the gaping maw of one of the closest creatures to his left. Each razor-sharp tooth lining its mouth was at least as large as Frank’s pointer finger.

Realizing he would be overrun in a matter of seconds, Frank turned and ran with the rest of the group. He hated the idea of running from a fight, but if that meant keeping his unit out of danger, he would make that call. Besides, he wasn’t retreating; Marines didn’t retreat. He was advancing away from the enemy.

Frank channeled the power of his Will and sprinted forward. Within a few heartbeats, he caught up to the rest of the group. Vega was in the lead, her weapon up and ready. Raj followed close behind and Elly was last running while trying to look down at her smart pad at the same time.

If they could keep their current pace, they would be able to stay ahead of the pack of worms. Frank chanced another look behind them. They had a good forty meters on the worms who didn’t necessarily move quickly but were unwilling to give up the chase.

“Ugh, my lungs, my lungs burn,” Elly said, coming to a stop and holding up the smart pad. She tried to explain something to them between pants. “Wait, there’s—there’s no point in—in running anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Raj asked, grabbing her arm to try to pull her along. “We have to keep going.”

“No, look,” Elly said, shoving the smart pad in all of their faces.

Frank’s heart dropped.

Elly was right; there was no point in running. The data pad showed an aerial view of the events below. They appeared on the screen as four tiny red dots. Behind as well as in front of them, dozens of squiggly lines raced toward them. They were already surrounded; they just didn’t know it yet.

Before hope could be taken, before fear could even get a foothold, Frank doled out orders.

“We need to put our backs to one of the ravine walls.” Frank pointed to their left, already moving in that direction. “They’ll go down with a few rounds to their mouths or head area. They just have the numbers on us, nothing else. We can take them. We got this, Oohrah?”

“Oohrah,” Elly and Raj said, jogging to the wall of the ravine with Frank.

“Worms, I hate worms.” Vega joined them at their defensive position.

Every member of the unit took off their packs and set them behind them against the ravine wall. Frank placed himself in the center of the half circle with Vega on his right, Raj and Elly on his left.

Without prompt or warning, the worms came. Frank didn’t have time to count the slithering creatures, but he would guess their numbers had grown to nearly a hundred. There were so many of them now, they traveled on top of one another. Their wide-open mouths clicked shut over and over again as they raced toward their next would-be meal.

“Give ‘em hell!” Frank roared as he opened up with his Punisher GS2000.

Vega, Elly, and Raj did the same, sending a spray of the tungsten rods into the mound of flesh streaking toward them. The red tracers in their weapons painted their rounds maroon, making it look like crimson laser fire was being pumped from the barrels. Frank’s weapon looked like dark purple lasers burning into the worms.

Each round striking the worms sent a shower of white liquid onto their pale skin. The air soon smelled like scorched flesh and stale vomit. The air-conditioning unit built inside of their suits cycled in cool air, but it was pulling the air from outside to do so. Frank revisited the urge to maneuver around his helmet’s heads-up display and turn off the air conditioner, but there was no time.

The scream of the dying worms sounded like high-pitched squeals of some kind of small animal in Frank’s ears. The sound was almost pathetic, almost. If the worms had not been racing toward him with open mouths full of razor sharp teeth, he might feel something for them.

When Raj stopped to put a new clip into his weapon, Frank saw the worms surge forward. Elly was holding her own, but Vega couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a rock if she was standing right in front of it.

Her aim was all over the place as she put two rounds into the air or in the ground for every round that found a target. The worms were closing in every time one of them had to stop and reload. They were ten yards from Frank, who had taken the foremost position of their defensive semicircle.

“Ugh!” Vega shouted in frustration as her weapon clicked dry. Instead of trying to reload, she drew the great sword from her back. “I’m going to do this my way. I’m no good with your weapons.”

Frank didn’t have a chance to talk her out of it; the Neeve empress was already stalking forward, swinging her blade across in a low arc, severing a pair of worms in two. More white pimple juice sprayed from their bodies.

“Thank God,” Elly whispered.

“I heard that!” Vega yelled again as she drove the end of her weapon down, pinning a bulky worm to the ground.

One of the worms grabbed on to Vega’s foot another on to her left elbow. Vega used her free foot to smash down on the worm grabbing at her leg. The smaller worm’s head caved in, in a shower of white fluid. She turned her blade sideways and swiped the steel against the worm grabbing at her arm, slicing it in half.

As if their leader had ordered a silent command, the horde of worms suddenly stopped climbing over their own dead and retreated.

Frank looked to the others for an answer. He lowered his Punisher GS2000, inspecting the carnage. A rough semicircle of the dead worms lay feet in front of them. An ocean of their white liquid blood spilled over their boots.

“We did it,” Raj said with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to have nightmares about this for a long time. I think I might need therapy after we’re done, but we did—”

“Shhh…” Elly cut him off. “Do you hear that?”

11

Frank heard the intensity in her voice. Elly had her head cocked to the side, leaning in as if she had heard an important whisper. It was impossible to tell the expression on her face with her helmet on; however, Frank could imagine it was inquisitive, brows knitted together.

Frank along with Raj and Vega quieted.

Nothing.

Frank was so still, he could hear his own heartbeat in his head. Still, nothing. Right when he was about to say something, Elly broke the silence.

“It’s coming from the ravine wall.” Elly pointed to the wall that had protected their rear while battling the worms. “It sounds like tiny teeth or—or burrowing? Maybe I can just pick it up because of my hearing aids, like the way I can understand Magnus?”

“Wait.” Vega walked toward the hard-packed dirt wall of the ravine and placed a hand on it. “I think I hear something as well.”

The soil in front of Vega erupted in a shower of dirt and rock as something slammed into her, throwing her into the air. Vega bashed against a dead tree five meters to their right and didn’t move.

An insect-like monster wove its way out of the ravine wall. It looked like a monstrous centipede with multilevel plating on its back and hundreds of tiny legs. The head had a pair of antennas with onyx bulging eyes and pincers the size of Frank’s forearms.

“Ahhh!” Elly opened fire on the monster with the others as she screamed into her comms. “Why do they all have to look like bugs I hate bugs!”

Frank brought his weapon up just in time to fire off a few rounds that struck the beast on its long plated back. The rounds he scored failed to penetrate the monster’s hide, as did Raj’s and Elly’s.

Before Frank had a chance to adjust his strategy, the monster was on top of him. It rose up on its long body, high enough to place its pincers on the same level as his face, and lunged forward.

Frank grabbed the pincers in his hands. His arms shook as he strained to wrestle the gigantic centipede. The creature twisted back and forth, trying to take Frank off his legs. A mouth full of tiny teeth opened and shut behind the pincers.

“Shoot him!” Frank yelled, calling on his Will to make him stronger. The centipede had to be twenty meters in length. The way it was thrashing back and forth made Frank pour everything he had into keeping his grip on the pincers inches from his face.

The back end of the centipede slammed into Raj, sending him tumbling backward.

Elly ran forward, sticking the barrel of her Punisher GS2000 into the underbelly of the centipede, where Frank held it up and unloaded on the monster.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

She pumped round after round in the beast, spraying her and Frank both in a shower of chunky guts and sticky blood. Elly didn’t stop firing until empty clicks filled the air.

The creature was writhing in Frank’s hands as smoking holes made by Elly’s Punisher poured life out of the monster. The stench was horrible, like barbequed, rancid meat.

Frank threw the centipede to the ground. At the same time, he brought a Reckoner P7 to his right hand and placed three rounds in the inky eye of the monster, just to be on the safe side.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“Son of a RompHim, I think he’s dead.” Raj appeared next to Frank and Elly a moment later. “Where’s Vega?”

Frank turned from the corpse of the centipede and followed the others as they raced to where Vega lay on the ground. She was moving, trying to take off her helmet at the moment.

“Are you okay?” Frank asked, skidding to a stop beside her.

“All I see is bright light,” Vega said, trying to unbuckle her helmet.

“No, don’t go towards the light,” Elly warned. “Stay away from the light.”

Frank helped Vega remove her helmet and waved Elly back.

“I’m fine,” Vega said, sitting up. Raj knelt beside her to inspect her. “There was a malfunction in the helmet. The heads-up display just went bright white after I landed. What are you two covered in?”

Frank followed Vega’s eyes, looking down at his armor. There was inky goop from the centipede covering both his and Elly’s armor like a second skin.

“Oh, I might throw up.” Raj gagged, taking off his own helmet just in case he actually did.

Motion above caught Frank’s eye. Magnus circled and landed next to Elly with a short bark as he shook his head from side to side.

“Yes, I know what I smell like,” Elly said. “We could have used your help. We’re taking on nightmares over here. Where were you?”

Frank left Elly and Magnus to have their conversation while he helped Vega to her feet. Raj gathered himself through slow breathing out of his mouth and holding his breath for a few seconds, and joined the unit as they headed back over the pile of worms to gather their packs.

“Is it just me or does this stuff remind you of pimple juice?” Frank asked as his boot sank into the corpse of a worm. The act made a wet squishing noise and he smiled with a mischievous sneer.

Raj had made it to the packs. He turned away and vomited his last meal.

“Oh, sorry, Raj,” Frank said, picking up his pack. “We almost made it out of this one without you getting sick.”

“Ugh,” Elly moaned. “I’ll pay you when we get back.”

“What?” Raj said, looking up as he wiped his mouth on his hand. “Are you two taking bets on whether I’m going to throw up or not? I cannot believe this collusion.”

“Nothing personal,” Frank said with a shrug. “Come on; let’s get going. We don’t know what we’re going to encounter.”

12

On the way to the pyramid, Frank and the rest of the unit made great time. Magnus scouted ahead, and although the terrain wasn’t perfect, they kept a steady pace. The nearest sun was just beginning to rise when they spotted the first patrol circling the pyramid perimeter.

The pyramid loomed in front of them, gigantic in both height and width. The sunlight gleaned over a sharp edge, outlining the mountain that rose up with perfect lines and a solid foundation so otherworldly, even in this bleak landscape. If Frank had to guess, it was well over a hundred stories tall. Its base was as large as four football stadiums lined up in a perfect square.

The terrain around the pyramid was made of the same coarse black sand. Sprouting up in sporadic intervals were craggy rock formations, ranging from large enough to hide a jeep to so small they would barely hide Magnus. The dismal territory threatened further peril with tiny, bubbling volcanoes that oozed steaming hot lava interspersed with the rock formations every few yards.

Frank took cover behind a particularly sizable rock configuration. The pyramid was still a good kilometer out from their position, but he didn’t want to chance being seen. The others crouched down low, removing their helmets. They took in water and protein bars from their packs while they could.

“Well, this is the back of the pyramid,” Frank said out loud to himself. “And there’s the patrol.”

Frank sighted in on a pair of Chaos soldiers in their heavy armor. One of them carried a plasma rifle, the other a flamethrower with a hose that connected from the rear of his weapon to two tanks he wore on his back. They had their backs to them, already walking away from the spot where Frank and the others hid.

“I still don’t see where the force field would allow entrance,” Vega said, peeking over the rocks. The patrol must come in and out of the force field somewhere.”

Just as the words left Vega’s lips, the pair of Chaos soldiers stopped beside two tall, thin rock formations that looked almost like pillars. They touched one of the rocks on the right pillar. A red force field appeared between the two pillars, shimmering at first, then revealing an entryway. They spoke to someone Frank couldn’t see, then were allowed in. A second later, the force field vanished again.

“Cool,” Elly said around her protein bar. “Not only do they have a force field, they have a secret cloaked entrance.”

“Yeah, it’s cool, but how are we going to get in?” Raj asked the question they were all thinking. “I mean, it’s not like we can just, ‘speak friend and enter’.”

“What if we could?” Frank wondered out loud.

Everyone turned to Frank with confusion written across their faces.

“I mean, Vega and I will grab the next two that come around and we’ll use their armor to disguise ourselves.” Frank laid out the plan. “Once we get to the doors, we’ll take out whoever is on the other side and you can wear their armor. Magnus is going to have to sit this one out… Elly? Where’s Magnus?”

“What?” Elly said, looking around. “He was just right—”

“Ummm, guys?” Raj said, looking over their rock barrier. “I think we have a problem.”

Frank followed Raj’s eyes to where Magnus had lifted a leg and was peeing on one of the rock pillars that acted as a door to the cloaked force field.

The force field shimmered again as shouting could be heard from within the pillars. Although the pillars were a good fifty meters from the pyramid itself, no enemy soldiers could be seen in the space. It was as if a cloaking device had been added to this section of the force field, camouflaging the soldiers stationed at the entry and exit points.

A pair of Chaos soldiers ran out from between the pillars, taking aim at Magnus. The Momo barked at them and then began to run back to Frank and company in a zigzagging trot.

The two Chaos soldiers gave chase, firing their weapons at the fleeing Momo.

“Don’t discharge your weapons,” Frank warned as he crouched even lower and brought a purple ka-bar to his right hand. “We can’t chance anyone hearing us this close to the pyramid.”

“How are we going to kill them then?” Raj asked, missing the knife in Frank’s hand.

“Leave it to us,” Vega whispered as she removed the great sword from her back. She gripped it in her right hand, the blade parallel to the ground.

“Kill it,” one of the Chaos soldiers said only feet from the hiding spot where Frank and the others crouched.

Magnus flashed by, a blur of grey and white. The next moment, both Chaos soldiers rushed past their hiding spot. Frank took the second one with a ka-bar across the soldier’s throat. He tackled the soldier, driving his blade into the base of the soldier’s neck between his helmet and breastplate just to be sure.

Vega was a step behind. She rose, spinning her sword in a full arc; the act was so perfect, so precise it was art. The Chaos soldier had time to turn and realize what was happening right before his head was removed. His full helmet fell by his feet. Blood spurted from his neck like water from a broken sprinkler as his heart gave out the last bits of life. The rest of his body sank to its knees, then toppled over.

Everyone looked at Raj, who had removed his helmet just in case. He swallowed hard but didn’t expel his protein bar.

“What?” he asked as he realized everyone was looking at him.

“And I’ll be taking that money back,” Elly said to Frank.

“You win some, you lose some,” Frank said, already dragging the dead Chaos soldier behind the rock formation. “Help me get these guys out of their armor.”

The unit quickly worked to remove the two dead Chaos soldiers’ armor. Raj gagged a few more times but didn’t get sick. In the space of a few quick minutes, Frank and Vega were already wiggling into the Chaos soldiers’ armor.

“Hey, now I know how whoever has been changing me feels. Kind of invasive, guys,” Frank commented and shook his head with disapproval.

The aliens inside the armor were the same species Frank had previously encountered. They were humanoid, tall with a muscular build and short tusks that came out from their cheeks.

The armor was large for Frank and two sizes too big for Vega. The fact that they put the armor on over their own suits helped but made walking and flexibility a problem.

“I don’t think we’re going to get their helmets over our own,” Frank said, removing his black helmet in favor of the red Chaos helmet. “This thing smells like a skunk.”

The Chaos helmet was wider and round at the base. Two eye holes looked out with no visible heads-up display. Frank took a careful step in the heavy armor. He would be able to make the trip through the pyramid, but if a fight broke out, there was no way he could maneuver around in the tank-like armor.

Luckily, his vambraces were hidden by the bulky Chaos armor. In favor of taking his own weapon or constructing one of his own, Frank was forced to wield a plasma rifle. It felt cumbersome in his hands, almost comically so.

“I wonder what these aliens are, I mean, who they are and where they came from?” Elly asked, inspecting the dead bodies. “Most of the Chaos soldiers we captured were this same species with a few randoms thrown in.”

“They are called the Abrocky,” Vega said, wiping blood from the helmet of the Chaos soldier she had decapitated. It came off thick and goopy like syrup. “It is unknown for certain their true origin. Some think they are beyond our known universe, some that the Chaos Lord creates them himself. Heron has mentioned that they are descendants from the planet of the Chaos Lord himself. He overtook them and genetically modified the survivors for his own malicious purposes. The first people to always be invaded by a tyrant are his own.” Vega sniffed the helmet before moving to place it upon her head. “The other non-Abrocky aliens answer the call of the Chaos Lord from a variety of different planets in the universe.”

“I can’t even imagine an entire army made of these guys conquering the universe,” Raj said, shaking his head. “It’s amazing it was stopped in the first place.”

“And that is exactly why we have to end the Chaos Lord here and now.” Vega nodded along with Raj’s words, her voice echoing inside the headpiece. “He has not regained his full power. Where it once took an army of Arilion Knights to take him down, Frank can do it on his own.”

“No pressure,” Frank said, shrugging his shoulders inside both sets of armor. “Come on. Let’s go before the detail at the pyramid is missed. Elly, Raj, wait for our signal and then come running. We won’t have a lot of time to—”

“You there, who said you could leave your post at the force gate?” a rough voice asked from behind Frank.

13

Vega was in the process of adjusting her own helmet when the two new Chaos soldiers came into view from their own route around the pyramid. From their vantage point, they could only see Frank and had a partial view of Vega. Raj, Elly, Magnus, and the two dead bodies were hidden behind the rock outcropping.

Frank didn’t say anything. Instead of words, he turned and waved.

Vega joined him, and together, they did their best to casually walk toward the other two Chaos soldiers.

“I asked you a question, grunt,” the same Chaos soldier spoke in his rough, gravel-filled voice. “Why aren’t you at your post? It’ll be lashings for you unless you have some kind of miracle of an answer. You know things are on lock down since the rebels arrived on the moon.”

“Oh, right,” Frank said, trying to buy them more time. If they could close the distance and get in front of the soldiers, they could take them out quietly. “I, uh—everything’s fine there—we thought—we saw something so—so we checked it out, but situation is normalish—normalish, good.”

“Why are you walking so funny?” The Chaos soldier shook his head. “Why does your voice sound like that?”

There was a brief pause as Frank and Vega finally made it to the other pair of Chaos soldiers. The tone of the soldier talking to Frank told him he was seconds away from realizing something was off.

“There’s something wrong,” the other Chaos soldier finally spoke up. He raised his weapon at the same time. “I don’t think—”

Frank had seen enough. He was close enough now to act. He produced a ka-bar in his right hand and shoved it up into the chin of the soldier in front of him. Both men fell down into the dirt ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, Frank saw Vega disarm her target and attempt her own takedown. The dirt flew high into the air as the Neeve empress struggled with an opponent that outweighed her by nearly a hundred pounds. Not only was she at a disadvantage in size against her opponent, but her own armor weighed her down and made her movements sluggish.

Frank twisted the ka-bar free from his target. He struggled to his feet as he fought to get himself up right in the heavy Chaos armor.

Vega fought like a hellcat, trading blows on the dirt ground with her opponent. She was ripping away at his helmet, trying to pry it off. In return, the Chaos soldier reached for a thick blade in a sheath behind his lower back. He pulled the blade free.

Frank channeled the Will inside of him, summoning a throwing knife in his right hand. This was a situation were neither his speed nor strength would help. The clumsy movements in the bulky armor wouldn’t be fixed through physical exploits.

In one liquid motion, Frank lifted the knife and sent it flying end over end.

It caught the Chaos soldier in the left side of his ribs in between a section where two of his armor pieces came together.

“Ugh,” the Chaos soldier groaned. He paused his own assault on Vega, grabbing for his side.

Vega took the opportunity to wrestle away the Chaos soldier’s blade and shoved it deep into his neck. He grabbed at the knife, but Vega wasn’t letting go. She twisted to the left, rolling over at the same time.

Frank arrived a moment later to help, but the Chaos soldier’s body was still.

“Tell me all this killing is for a reason.” Vega’s shoulders rose and fell as she sucked in huge lungsful of air. She gripped the knife so tight in her left hand it shook. “Tell me this is coming to an end soon.”

“We’re doing what needs to be done to save entire planets,” Frank said, standing beside her. “It’s almost over now. Stay the course.”

Vega nodded along with Frank’s words. She cleaned the knife on the black dirt. Frank wished he could see her eyes at that moment. Only months prior, Vega was a princess enjoying the flourishing freedom of her family’s dominion. She had spent her days with Warrior, her griffon, with her father, who was alive then, and learning with Heron. The sudden jar into a ruling position in the midst of a galactic assault would have broken a lesser person. Frank wanted to see the same light she had when he first met her on Oberon. When he had first fallen for the empress.

Raj and Elly ran out from behind cover and helped Frank and Vega carry the dead alien bodies to their hiding spot behind the rocks. As Raj and Elly changed into their Chaos armor, Vega went back and smoothed over the black dirt where signs of conflict were easy to read on the ground.

“We need to get going now,” Frank said as soon as Raj and Elly were ready. “We need to get in, find whatever is controlling the shields, and let Elly do her thing before we’re found out.”

“Roger that.” Raj took a step, then fell over in his cumbersome Chaos armor. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”

“You stay on watch here and out of sight.” Elly scratched the underside of Magnus’ chin.

“You did good leading those first two Chaos soldiers this way,” Frank said to the Momo. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Magnus grinned. Or so it seemed.

The four newly sworn-in Chaos soldiers left the safety of the rocks and made their way to the entrance to the force field. The pyramid loomed over them like a monolithic giant made out of smooth lines and expert craftsmanship. As far as Frank could tell, the structure was made out of one solid piece of stone.

Crimson runes were etched into the corners of the pyramid as well as the upper fourth section of the gigantic structure.

When they reached the two stone pillars that marked the entrance to the force field, they were surprised to see a black control panel hidden in the recess of a rock. The protective shield was still open from the first set of guards having run out to catch Magnus.

On the other side of the stone pillars were control panels. The force field was a good half kilometer from the pyramid itself. Once on the inside of the camouflaged force field, they could see that a rough walkway led from the pair of stone pillars to a door set into the pyramid that was only just recognizable in the morning light.

“Alright, school’s in session,” Elly said as she began examining the inside control panel on the pillar rocks. “Tell Mama how you close.”

“Can you not talk out loud?” Frank half teased. “It’s kind creepy when you start calling yourself ‘Mama.’”

“Sounds like someone is peanut butter and jealous,” Elly said as she pulled out a small data pad and went to work. “Let’s see here.”

Frank watched the pyramid door while Elly worked. Raj and Vega watched the entrance to the pillars they had just walked into.

A feeling was still growing in Frank, a feeling that told him something was very wrong. All of this was too easy. The Lord of Chaos knew they were there, yet they only had to take out four guards to get in? The Chaos Lord had an army at his command. But what else were they supposed to do, sit and wait?

“And…” Elly said from her spot at the pillars. “Got heem.”

Bvvvvnnnnnnnn…

The force field closed with a faint hum as the space between the pillars shone bright red for a moment, then vanished altogether.

“Way to go, Elly Wong,” Vega said.

“Thanks, and not only that, but I managed to get into their network.” Elly looked down at her small smart pad. “I think I know where their control room is powering the force field.”

“Way to go.” Frank took the lead. “We’ll follow Elly as soon as we get in. Let’s be in and out as fast as possible. The less talking or interaction we have to do with the soldiers inside, the better.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t do any of the talking once we’re in there,” Vega said to Frank. “You were kind of a stuttering mess when we confronted the second pair of guards.”

“Let’s agree to disagree,” Frank said, approaching the pyramid with the others. “I thought I did pretty well.”

Soon the three Marines and empress were approaching the rear side of the pyramid. The structure slanted away and up in a long, smooth slope. A thin line in the pyramid’s wall told them a door would let them through if they knew how to open it.

Elly moved to stand beside Frank at the front of the group. Her hands traced the outline of the double doors, searching for a place for a control panel to hide.

“It should be here some—”

Elly’s hand stopped as a portion of the wall opened to reveal a screen on the right side of the door about chest height. A DNA scanner revealed itself a moment later.

Elly wiped her gauntlet-covered hand on the collar of her armor where a thin splattering of blood still clung onto the crimson suit. She swabbed the liquid on the scanner.

DING!

Approval sounded a moment later and the doors to the pyramid slid open. A dark hall bid them enter.

14

Frank walked in first, his plasma rifle by his side but ready to be brought to bear at a moment’s notice. A T-intersection awaited their decision as soon as they entered. Wide halls opened to their right, left, and in front of them, leading deeper into the pyramid with unknown tests waiting. They could hear light chatter taking place, the echoing footfalls of heavy boots, but they couldn’t see anyone yet.

“Lead the way,” Frank said to Elly.

“Okay,” She took a deep breath. “Follow me.”

Elly started down the left side of the hall, walking as if she had been in the pyramid a hundred times before and knew exactly where she was. She surprised Frank with her sure, steady strides, despite the cumbersome armor. At first, it seemed like they had finally run into a strain of good luck. The Chaos soldiers they did see were down halls or side rooms that Elly led them around.

Some of the soldiers wore the same crimson armor as their own while others featured a similar diversity in rank and role as their own fleet: officers, techs, and specialists could be identified by their single-breasted, brass-buttoned frocks and slacks with patent black shoes. Their uniform were the same crimson as the armor with black thread and bordering. Ranks and insignias were fixed on their shoulders and chest.

Most of the aliens featured the same flat, humanoid face with tusks protruding on each side of their cheeks. There were also the exceptions. Walking past a side room, Frank caught a glimpse of an officer that looked like a walking fish. Striding down the hall in her uniform, to Frank’s surprise, was a purple-skinned Neeve with her white hair pulled back above the collar of her frock.

None of these soldiers took notice of Frank and the others. As Elly led them deeper and deeper into the pyramid, Frank found himself wondering when their luck would run out.

Be optimistic, in and out, in and out. Frank kept willing the words to be true in his head. You were already attacked by a serious case of oversized lice, invited for dinner by a giant centipede, and you’re surrounded by the enemy in their HQ. Things can’t get too much worse.

Frank was wrong.

“Almost there,” Elly said, looking down at her smart pad one more time as they rounded a corner.

Elly nearly ran into Commander Trask, the same Chaos officer whom Frank had nearly killed on the bridge of the now renamed Lucy. Frank was still steaming over missing his mark when the Chaos leader had managed a narrow escape by teleporting himself off the bridge. They had figured he managed to get to the aircraft’s garage, where he commandeered a fighter craft and made his escape.

The tall alien was in the middle of chewing out a pair of shorter Chaos soldiers when Frank and his unit stopped in their tracks.

“Stop me when this starts sounding familiar to you,” Commander Trask spat at his two underlings. “You are to see that the Blood Guard is prepared for battle. It is only a matter of time before the rebel filth make their move. The Blood Guard must be taken through their rituals and prepared.”

The two officers nodded furiously.

“And you? Who are you?” Commander Trask looked directly at Frank. “Kind of short for a Chaos soldier, aren’t you, runt? What is your business in this section of the base?”

“I—ugh—I—mean—I had to go to the bathr—”

“Ignore this idiot,” Elly cut off Frank. She did a great impression at mimicking the rough way the aliens spoke. “He’s a simpleton, bullheaded, and pissed himself just the other day.”

“Huh, is that so?” Commander Trask looked Frank up and down. “Well, what business are you on in this section?”

“Helping to check the defenses with some new tech.” Elly flashed her smart pad in front of Commander Trask’s eye too fast for him to follow before she hid it under her arm again. “With your permission of course, sir.”

“It takes four of you to check the defenses, does it?” He leaned down, looking at Frank. “Why is this pants-pissing idiot with you if you’re doing technical checks? Seems to me he’d be better fodder for the Blood Guard.”

Every muscle in Frank’s body tensed. If there was going to be a fight, he wanted to be the one to throw the first punch. All the talk about him being a bedwetting idiot was starting to pick at old wounds from his childhood.

“Oh, I’m trying to teach this moron the ropes, but he’s as dumb as a pile of pyramid stone.” Elly threw an elbow into Frank’s ribs. “You’re right; this is his last chance. If he doesn’t show us something soon, I’m sending him straight to fodder town, if you know what I mean.”

A wicked grin spread over Commander Trask’s face. A smile that did not touch his eyes formed across his lips. “Fodder town, huh? Alright then, carry on.”

Frank followed Elly past the commander with Raj and Vega in tow. As soon as they were safely out of earshot, Frank turned to Elly. “You could have lightened up with all that moron-talk.”

“Sticks and stones, Frank,” Raj said. “I’m sure she didn’t mean most of it.”

“Yeah, like ninety percent of it I’m sure was just for show,” Vega chimed in from behind.

“You guys are the best,” Frank growled.

“Here, here we go,” Elly said.

The unit had reached a closed door on the left side of the wall. There was another control panel to grant access to the room set beside the door on the right. Elly immediately went to work with her smart pad.

Frank and the others kept watchful eyes on the hall, making sure they weren’t seen by any passing soldier. Seconds ticked by; each felt like minutes.

The pap-pap-pap of Elly’s fingers on the tablet began to eat away at their patience. Each continued tap meant she wasn’t done. It meant they were going to be in the enemy’s lair that much longer.

“And bingo was his name-o,” Elly said as the door slid open. She put her hand up for a high five. “Yeah, guys, give me some skin—er—armor glove.”

“Why are you raising your hand to strike me?” Vega asked, eyeing Elly’s upturned hand.

“No, I’m not going to hit you,” Elly said in a rush of words. “It’s a high five. It means—oh, never mind; just get in.”

Frank was already inside the room. The temperature dropped; apparently, all server rooms required the cool temperature to prevent their systems from overheating, even alien ones. It was dimly lit and full of rows of machines two meters tall that hummed low in unison. On the far side of the room was a podium with a control panel that glowed a faint red. The keypad featured a three-by-three table of foreign characters.

Elly made her way to the structure.

“Raj.” Frank motioned to the door. “Let us know if anyone is headed our way.”

“Roger,” Raj said, taking up a casual position just inside the door.

Frank joined Elly and Vega down the room where the control panel stood. Both women had removed their helmets. A gleam of sweat ran across each of the women’s brows.

Elly went to work pushing her glasses further up her nose. Her fingers transitioned between her smartpad and the alien controls in front of her as she saved the alien tech to her smart pad.

More pap-pap-pap.

Frank and Vega looked on, seeing but not understanding a single thing Elly was doing.

“I could explain to you what’s going on here, but—uh, no offense—I’m not sure it would make sense to you,” Elly said without even looking up. “I’m not trying to talk down to you or anything like that. I mean, why do you need to know anyway?”

“Using as few words as possible,” Vega said, trying to follow Elly’s movements on the smartpad. “Like you are explaining to a child, tell us.”

“Draw it out in crayon for us,” Frank added. “You know, in case something happens to you…”

“What?” Elly gasped, but her fingers never stopped moving. Her smartpad was black with a dark screen and white text scrolling across. The alien control screen was steel grey with a wide screen displaying a series of different options, much like one that could be found on the enemy ship. “Basically, I need to gain access to their system via my smartpad. First I need to translate the code to mimic it using our keys. Then I’ll learn their algorithms for commands. Once I’m in, I’ll be able to shut on and off their force field remotely. It’s like I’m leaving myself my own garage door remote or when you mess with the Nest thermostat on your parents’–uh, roommate? When we’re ready to make the assault, I’ll be able to shut down the force field and give our assault a chance.”

“Simple enough,” Vega said, nodding along with Elly’s words.

Behind her back, Frank shook his head in confusion, to which Vega rolled her eyes.

“And… I’m in!” Elly shouted with a wide grin. She put her hand up for a high five again. “Yeah, who’s the woman, who’s the woman?”

“She wants you to slap your hand against hers,” Frank explained to Vega. “It’s a human sign of celebration.”

“Oh right,” Vega said, raising her open hand and slamming it against Elly’s open palm so hard the smacking sound echoed in the room.

“Son of a—” Elly’s right hand recoiled into her chest. Her face was an expression of one part shock, one part pain. “Why would you do that? What’s the matter with you? I still need that hand.”

Vega looked from Elly to Frank, confused.

“Maybe just a little lighter next time.” Frank removed his own helmet with a smile. “Elly, are we good to go?”

“Yeah, hold on. I’m just getting feeling back in my hand.” Elly looked down to her smartpad one more time. “We’re good to go. Their force field belongs to me.” She steepled her fingers together, then tapped them for added drama.

15

The trip back through the pyramid was an uneventful effort–for once. Round trip from “borrowing” the Chaos armor to exiting the pyramid had only taken twenty minutes. The alarm would be raised soon for the missing soldiers, but it seemed for the moment they were in the clear.

Frank and the rest of the unit redressed the dead soldiers back in their own armor and did their best at staging a scene to look like the soldiers had gotten into a brawl on their own that had ended in their deaths. One had his hand gripping the plasma blast. Another, who had his hands around the other’s throat, collapsed. The soldier with the knife pulled looked like he had done the most damage. Never mind the fact that rigor mortis made some of the positioning awkward and that they had all in fact died from blade wounds. It was a long shot, but at the very least, it would confuse whoever found the dead soldiers long enough to keep their attention off Elly’s backdoor bug.

The group skirted the ravine of nightmares on their way back to the Ryker. By the time they returned, the sun was already descending again, marking yet another thirty-six-hour period where Frank had not slept. He was going to take a coma after all this Chaos fighting. Or a vacation to Tahiti.

I wonder if Vega would like Tahiti. Frank lost his mind thinking of how astonished folks would be seeing the purple empress in a bikini on the island.

Once back, it was business as usual. Frank sat in a meeting room on the Ryker with Vega across from him and Colonel Breaker at the head of the table to his left.

“You’ve done a great job, both of you.” Colonel Breaker nodded to Vega and Frank in turn. “I wish I could offer you more rest, but you understand the time-sensitive situation we find ourselves in. We have to strike as soon as possible. If there is any chance the enemy can discover the backdoor Elly worked into their system, well, we can’t give them that time.”

“I agree.” Vega asked the question Frank was wondering. “Has there been any improvement in Sava’s condition?”

“Unfortunately not.” Colonel Breaker laced his fingers together in front of him on the desk. The fingers on his robotic right hand moved just as adeptly as the fingers on his left. “I wish we could wait for her. Prime Clave Kirkhoden is aware of the situation as well. He sends his highest regards to you, Frank, and for all of us, strong-speed. I have reports in from the Dragoon fighter units as well as our infantry. Between Hammer and Viper squadrons, we have fourteen ships ready for flight. If we leave only a skeleton crew on the Lucy and the Ryker, we’ll have just over five hundred Neeve and Draconian warriors on the ground. The good news is we have all the tech we could ask for available to us, including a full platoon of power armor suits that were on board the Lucy when we captured her.”

“I wish we had a better idea of how many Chaos soldiers we are going up against,” Frank said out loud. “A structure the size of the pyramid has to house thousands. They’ll have power armor of their own as well as a company called the Blood Guard, and of course, the Lord of Chaos himself.”

“We’ll be all right,” Colonel Breaker said with so much resolve it made Frank sit up straighter. “Before Elly left, she had some of our best and brightest working on fitting the force field tech the power armor units carry onto each Neeve and Draconian warrior’s armor. We’ll have the edge.”

“With the Lucy and the remaining fighters protecting us from above, we will be able to win the day,” Vega said through bloodshot eyes. “This is it. All of it will end soon one way or the other.”

“He knows we’re coming,” Frank said, shaking his head. “All of this has been way too easy. We’re walking into a trap.”

“Maybe. Probably.” Colonel Breaker crossed his arms over his chest. He let out a long, tired sigh. “But what other choice do we have? It’s our duty to run toward the sounds of tyranny, injustice, and despair. And this Chaos Lord is shouting at us. We can only plan as best as we can and adjust when the time comes. We’ll prepare through the night and attack tomorrow, midday.”

“I want to go in first,” Frank said under Vega’s disapproving eye. “I’ll go in and spring whatever trap they have in place. You can see what they’re doing and adjust accordingly.”

“Frank, don’t be silly. You’re our greatest asset.” Vega shook her head furiously. “We can’t risk you at the beginning of the battle.”

“I can handle whatever they throw at me,” Frank reassured her, turning to Colonel Breaker. “I can take whatever they dish out, sir.”

“Frank, Sava had been training for years and she–” Vega started and stopped herself before saying too much.

“When Elly kills their shields, the Lucy will send an orbital strike against the pyramid,” Colonel Breaker said. He looked past Frank’s shoulder as if he could see the battle playing out in front of him. “They’ll counter with all assets they have capable of flight. I agree with both of you. Frank, you should go in first but not alone. We’ll send the power armor platoon with you.”

“Colonel,” Vega said, exasperated. She was obviously not ready to commit to the plan so readily.

“Empress Vega.” Colonel Breaker licked his lips, searching for the words to address an ally and not a soldier under his command. “Allies must learn to trust one another in war times more than ever. Please trust that we know what we’re doing.”

Vega nodded slowly, clearly not happy but unwilling to argue further.

“Thank you,” Colonel Breaker said. “You two get some food and rest. I don’t know when you’ll be able to grab either once the fighting starts.”

Frank and Vega left the colonel sitting in his chair doling out orders via his implanted comm unit. Frank took the lead with Vega beside him. She didn’t say a word; still, Frank could feel holes being bored into the side of his head from her stare.

“You’re pissed.” Frank stated the obvious.

“You’re perceptive,” Vega replied.

“I have to be, it’s my job.”

“You can lead without being reckless.”

“Reckless is the only way I know how to lead,” Frank said with a grin Vega did not return.

The two entered the mess hall on the Ryker where boxed meals stood ready with large, green containers of drinking water. There were long tables set up with stools that slid out underneath. A handful of Neeve and Draconian soldiers sat scattered around the room. Everyone looked tired, but at the sight of the empress and the Arilion Knight entering, they nodded and smiled.

Frank grabbed a square box of rations. The container was just under half a meter squared. He had no idea what was inside, but it was heavy. He handed the first box and a water to Vega. She took it, still staring at him hard with piercing amethyst eyes.

Frank grabbed a box and water ration for himself, trying in vain not to make eye contact with her.

“Do you want to eat here or find somewhere a little more romantic?” Frank wiggled his eyebrows, trying to pry a grin from Vega’s stone stare. It didn’t work.

“Follow me, Wolffe,” Vega said.

Frank was taken aback. She had never called him by his last name like this before.

You really pissed her off this time, Frank thought to himself. Great, the day before you make your assault on the Chaos Lord and you’re having relationship problems. Is this why I never did relationships?

Vega led Frank through the Ryker in silence. The soldiers they did come across all had quick nods and eyes full of respect for the two. The Knight did his best to smile and nod back. He thought it best if everyone thought he and Vega were on good terms and had their minds focused on the fight with the Chaos army, not each other. Though Frank wished Vega would say something, it seemed she wasn’t ready to talk quite yet.

Eventually, she led them to her private quarters. Her room was twice as large as any other Frank had seen on the ship. There was actually enough space to walk around her bed with a large five-drawer dresser to his right and the commode further down. Next to her bed was a nightstand, and above it a window that showed a holographic picture Frank recognized. It was Vega’s home planet, Atmos. Every detail was how Frank remembered; even the mighty palace of House Thunder lay in the distance. Thunderbirds flew in the light of the setting sun.

“It’s beautiful,” Frank said.

“It’s home, and the only one I’ve got.” Vega placed her food and water on her dresser. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pale cloth. “Just like you’re the only one I’ve got.”

The words took Frank by surprise, although maybe he should have expected them. Since his insistence in leading the charge the following day, an angry sadness had fallen over Vega.

She came to him, unfolding the cloth in her hand to reveal a necklace. A gold chain held a thick black talon.

“It was my father’s,” Vega said, looking on the object with love in her eyes. “When he was taken from us, he left it in his will to me. Legend has it that it belonged to the very first Thunderbird ever tamed. I don’t know if that’s true, but it was special to him. The few times he did have to ride to war to quell a rebellion or put down a wandering band of enemies, he knew I would worry. He told me the talon would protect him, that he would come back to me no matter what.”

Vega looked so deep into his eyes, Frank wanted to turn away. There was so much there. So much hurt, anger, fear, and hope.

“You come back to me,” Vega said, pressing the talon into his hands. “Do you understand, Frank Wolffe? You come back to me.”

Frank dropped his own rations, clutching Vega in his arms and holding her close. He could feel her hot breath near his face. The smell of her dirty hair was strong yet somehow not unpleasant. All the callousness and barriers they had put up over days of battle, all the pretense for public morale, and all the questions holding them back melted away in her room, in his arms.

“I’m coming back,” Frank said to her. “You mean more to me than anyone I’ve ever met. You’re different in a way I can’t explain and I’m not just saying that because you’re an alien empress—okay, maybe a little bit because you’re an alien empress.”

There it was. Vega finally cracked a smile despite the tears in her eyes she had held at bay.

“We’ve only been on one date,” Vega said, gently pressing the talon of the Thunderbird into Frank’s palm. “I’d like to go on many more with you, Frank Wolffe.”

“We will,” Frank promised. “You mean more to me than you know. I adore your smile. I have so many more jokes, so many more smiles to see.”

“I think I have an idea, because I feel the same way.” Vega leaned in with her eyes closed and mouth slightly parted.

Frank pressed his lips against hers, relishing the moment of pure bliss.

I’ll come back to you, Frank repeated in his head. I swear, I’ll come back.

16

Frank spent the night with Vega, laughing and finding out more about one another as they ate. For the time they shared before they fell asleep, it was as if they had erected a barrier against the circumstances surrounding them. There would be plenty of killing and dying to come, but for that evening, they stayed the hand of fate for one more night and lived within their own force field of sorts.

After dinner, they took turns showering and gave in to exhaustion. Sleep came for them as soon as their heads hit the pillow. If Frank did dream, he didn’t remember what it had been about. For this, he found himself grateful. Wakefulness came much too soon as it did most days. Raj sounded in Frank’s ear through his comms.

“Up and at ‘em, Frank,” Raj said. “Hey, how come you’re not answering your door? I’ve been knocking for like two minutes.”

Frank stood up from the chair he had spent the night in and walked over to where Vega slept in her bed. She was beautiful like a secret treasure only he knew about. To everyone else, she was the stalwart Neeve empress; to Frank, she was Vega. He brushed a fair strand of hair away from her lips.

“I’m on my way,” Frank answered, leaving the room and closing the door quietly behind him.

“On the way?” Raj asked, confused. “You didn’t spend the night in your room? Or did you get up super early for—Oh, oh my. Son of a Lancelot…”

Frank didn’t bother spelling it out for Raj; eventually, the doctor would get there on his own. It wasn’t like anything had happened anyway. Vega was different; she was worth waiting for. How much had he changed? Frank found these foreign ideas and thoughts he would have scoffed at a few weeks before running like sugar-high Minions through his mind.

“Well, uh, there’re some clean clothes by your door and breakfast is going to have to be eaten on the go if you want to see our new toys,” Raj said as if he were going to leave the goods and walk away.

“Hold your horses.” Frank turned his brisk walk into a light jog. “I’m on my way.”

Frank ran down the corridor and turned a left corner. He saw Raj outside his door with a pile of clean clothes at his feet and a ration box in his hands.

“Thanks for this,” Frank said, leaning down to grab the clothes on the ground. “Give me two seconds.”

Frank entered his quarters, already throwing off the clothes he had slept in and changing them for his clean military fatigues. The night’s sleep was better than he had ever remembered getting. The clothes smelled clean and fresh. His stomach growled at him, but that soon would be remedied. If they weren’t going to embark in a battle to end all battles that day, it would have been a great morning.

“So, uh, do you want to share with the rest of the class where you were last night?” Raj whispered on the other side of the door. “Maybe give me a hint?”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not like that,” Frank whispered back, opening the door as he laced his black Danner boots.

“Oh, really?” Raj whispered. “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“Why are we whispering?” Frank whispered back, not answering Raj’s question.

“I don’t know.” Raj shrugged, handing Frank his meal ration along with the familiar Draconian drink Frank had come to love while he was involved in Sava’s training program. “Here, eat up. Got to keep you healthy.”

Frank chugged the fruit drink that tasted like manna from heaven. The kick of energy it gave him sent goosebumps down his arm while making his heartbeat raise in tempo.

“Come on, follow me to the hangar bay,” Raj said. “I can’t wait to show you this. You’re going to lose your hipster mind.”

“I don’t think you’re using that word right,” Frank said, opening his ration box to see a kind of breakfast sandwich. If he squinted at it just right, he could pretend it was an egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich from his favorite fast food joint. It didn’t taste like it.

“What, ‘hipster?’” Raj asked, turning to Frank as they made their way down the hall. “It’s a kind of person, right? Like a subculture, like a millennial?”

“Yeah, but I’m not—” Frank stopped shaking his head as he chewed around his sandwich. “I don’t have time to explain this to you right now, but let’s just say that word doesn’t mean what you think it means.”

“Huh,” Raj said to himself. “I’ll have to look it up.”

The breakfast sandwich tasted like sawdust in Frank’s mouth, but his mind told his head it was what he needed to keep going. Food at this point was only a source of fuel. If he made it out of the end of the day alive, he promised himself a double cheeseburger with curly fries and a cherry Pepsi once he got back home. He so loved cherry Pepsi.

The men walked into the massive hangar bay of the Ryker that opened up in front of them like an empty warehouse. The area usually reserved for the fighters was bare. What was left of the Hammer and Viper squadrons were aboard the Lucy, orbiting from above.

There were a handful of transport ships that had not been used yet. Their forest-green hulls were scarred by the battle that had taken place in the hangar bay when the Chaos soldiers teleported onto their ship.

Had that really only just been a few days ago? Time was flying by so fast it seemed as though the event had taken place last week. It was as though it was yesterday Frank was fighting a leviathan on Atmos. He missed those times, when things were so much simpler and hungry leviathans were the worst of his problems.

“So, check these babies out,” Raj said, leading Frank over to the right corner of the hangar bay where three rows of power armor suits stood. “Cool, right?”

Despite his nearly ten years to earn his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree, and his countless hours to serve in the Aerospace Medicine field, upon seeing the suits in the hanger, Raj seemed to be as happy as a six-year-old at a monster truck rally.

There were ten armor units in each row. Instead of the bull horns on their helmets, the domes were smooth. The crimson red of the Chaos armor no longer marked the metal armor. The suits were now painted an emerald green. All but two of them bore the Draconian symbol of the Draconian skull inside of a brown spear head.

The two power armor units that did not bear this symbol held the emblem of the Marine Space Corps 1: an ancient helmet with wings sprouting out on either side.

“They wanted their own colors on the power suits,” Raj said in awe as the men looked up at the three-meter mechanical beasts. “We could have done a lot more, but with our limited time, this had to be enough. The Draconians will pilot twenty-eight of them. They’re more accustomed to using the tech than the Neeve. Colonel Breaker and I will be in the other two.”

Frank looked over at Raj with wide eyes. “You and the colonel know how to use these things?”

“We had a few hours training last night and this morning,” Colonel Breaker said as he joined the men in the hangar bay. “We’ll have to learn as we go, but it’s not too different from operating a Crawler, or so Raj tells me.”

Colonel Breaker’s strong physique became more pronounced in his sleek black shirt with hunter green combat pants, which finished with his freshly polished Danner laced boots. His metal arm draped behind his back and laced with his left hand as he stared up at the power armor with respect.

“So, two questions, sir,” Frank asked. “How come I don’t get one and, with all due respect, shouldn’t you be running the show from the Lucy?”

“You have everything you need in those vambraces.” Colonel Breaker eyed Frank’s glowing forearms. “And I need to be on the ground to coordinate. Elly will be with us over the comms and in command of the Lucy.”

Frank nodded along with the Colonel’s words, once more admiring the metal strength of the power armored suits. They would be outnumbered and walking into a trap, but these would help even the odds.

“The Neeve infantry will be our real game changer.” Colonel Breaker motioned to the opposite side of the hangar bay, where a dozen or so lean and strong purple-skinned warriors maneuvered around the chest pieces of their golden armor. They were too far away to see exactly what they were doing, yet Frank knew they were mounting force field generators on their own armor. Previously, the Neeve had been at a disadvantage. Their lack of projectile weaponry had handicapped them when fighting the Chaos army on their home planet of Atmos. Now, with each warrior having his own personal force field, they would have the opportunity to get up close and personal when the fighting started.

“They look like Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor, right?” Raj asked, still admiring the power armor units.

“What?” Frank asked. “Oh, right, yeah.”

“Let’s suit up and get ready,” Colonel Breaker said. “This is all about to come to a head.”

17

The armory was a controlled mayhem of soldiers rotating in and out as they prepared for battle. The Draconians wore their drab olive uniforms with helmets that covered the tops of their heads and pieces of armor that covered their chests, forearms, and shins. The Neeve, on the other hand, donned their bright golden armor plating that covered them from head to toe.

The weapons they each chose were as different as their armor. The Draconians were equipped with a variety of blasters, grenades, and knives. The Neeve carried war axes, maces, massive shields, spears, and the occasional bow.

While Frank prepared himself in his own dark diamond-plated armor, he caught sight of the Neeve Berserker unit. He had run into them while he trained on Atmos. Memories of how fiercely they fought in the first battle with the Chaos army came to mind.

“Hey, guys.” Frank waved to them when he caught their leader’s eye, a mountain of a warrior with long, white dreadlocks. “Long time no see.”

“Arilion,” the leader of the Berserkers said, taking a knee in the middle of the hectic armory. The men under his command did the same. “It will be an honor to bleed and die by your side.”

“Or we can live,” Frank said, walking over and lifting the warrior up by the shoulders. “Let’s try living through this one; Maybe a little bit of bleeding will be all okay.”

“We would follow you into the depths of hell itself.” The warrior regained his feet, dwarfing Frank. “I swear my warriors will not surrender this day until we attain victory or see the faces of our fathers.”

Frank looked into the solemn eyes of the leader and the four other Berserkers with him. They were scarred, battle-hardened veterans and Frank believed every word they said.

“I know you will,” Frank said, placing a hand on the Neeve’s massive shoulder. “I don’t think I know your name.”

“I am Argon Tamer.” Argon bowed his head once again.

The armory room had quieted. Neeve and Draconian alike looked to Frank. They wanted to catch every word, every move he made. Everyone understood what they were walking into. Most realized it would be the power of Frank as an Arilion Knight that could be the deciding factor whether they were the slayer or the slain at the end of the day.

“Well, Argon,” Frank said, looking at all the warriors around him. “And everyone else whose name I don’t yet know. We’re brothers and sisters today. We’ll survive not because we’re strong alone but because we’re watching out for one another. We’re going to beat the Chaos Lord today and we’re going to do it together.”

Intense looks mixed with heads nodding and grunts of approval rippled across the room. The ranks in the overcrowded armory parted for Vega. Frank hadn’t seen when she arrived, but she had been there long enough to don her own golden armor. She held the winged helm in the crook of her right elbow. The sigil of House Thunder emblazoned on the center of her chest, a Thunderbird with wings extended and a pair of lightning bolts crossed behind it.

“We’re with you, Arilion Knight,” Vega said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “For all those we’ve lost along the way, for a brighter tomorrow, and for the Light.”

There was a pause as every mind pictured loved ones they’d lost. For Frank, it was Major Lopez as she flew by him out of the hangar bay doors out into space. He would never forget her face; that was something he realized as soon as he saw it. Her expression had been determined, accepting of her fate as she fought the Chaos attackers at the control panel. Frank hoped that when his time came, he greeted death with the same kind of grit.

“Let’s keep moving.” Colonel Breaker broke the spell that had fallen over the room. “Report to your squad leaders in twenty minutes.”

The armory burst into action once more as soldiers donned their armor and grabbed their weapons, whether they be blade or blaster.

Frank placed his vambraces over his forearms and clipped his helmet to the magnetic holder on his belt. Raj and Colonel Breaker were making last minute additions to their own weaponry. The power armor they would be wearing left little room for additional fire power. They would have to remain content with their Reckoner P7 electromagnetic rail guns and their good old fashioned ka-bars.

“There is a holo display in the hangar bay,” Vega said, shrugging her shoulders as she redistributed the weight of the great sword resting on her back. The blade was so massive, the handle peeked over her right shoulder while the tip of the blade reached her left boot. “We should go over the plan of attack once more before we begin.”

“Lead the way,” Colonel Breaker said, motioning with an open hand for Vega to exit the armory. “We’re with you.”

Vega nodded and moved out the door with Frank, Colonel Breaker, and Raj in her wake.

“This is Overwatch reporting in to Marine Space Corps 1,” Elly’s voice came through Frank’s comms. “Come in, Marine Space Corps 1.”

“Go ahead,” Colonel Breaker responded. “Add Empress Vega to the channel as well.”

“Roger that,” Elly said as she made the adjustment on her end of the channel and added Vega to the line. “Good morning, Vega—errr—are we allowed to say ‘good morning’ if we’re about to go to war?”

“It’s going to be a good morning for us, not for them,” Vega said in a hard tone Frank was getting used to when she was preparing to lead. “Good morning, Elly Wong.”

“Reporting in as requested from the Lucy,” Elly said over the comms unit. “There’s still nothing to report on the pyramid: no troop movements on the screen or scanners. We’re standing by for further orders. Oh, and I left Magnus to provide a visual reconnaissance on the ground. He’s going to do more good to you there than he would on the Lucy. Also he wanted to stay.”

“Roger that,” Colonel Breaker responded, glancing over the report on Magnus. “We’re still set to march within the hour.”

“Roger, sir,” Elly said with hesitation. “Be careful all of you, especially you, Frank.”

“Why does everybody keep telling me that?” Frank asked.

“Because we know you,” Raj answered.

The group reached the hangar bay that teemed with both Draconian soldiers entering the power armor units as well as the golden-clad Neeve infantry, who tested out their personal force field apparatuses.

Vega led them to a portion of the hangar bay on their right. Past the power armor was a waist-high table set into the wall. It reminded Frank of a square chess table.

Vega waved her hand over the table, bringing a green holo projector to life. She maneuvered around the options as she explained what she was doing to the rest of the unit.

“Laloid told me about the holo display and gave me the rundown on controls. It was created for this very purpose, to give an accurate display of the terrain on a planet or in space itself,” Vega said, bringing a holographic miniature map on the table that mirrored their current position.

A tiny Ryker lay on the ground in front of a mountain. To their right stood the bug-infested ravine and the pyramid beyond. The proportions appeared to be to scale.

“We should most definitely avoid the ravine,” Raj said, pointing to the piece of terrain where they had nearly been eaten the previous day. “Son of a nightmare, I think I’m going to be dreaming about bursting pimple juice for the next few years.”

“We have to anticipate the Chaos Lord will move to either spring a trap at the very least or counter our approach,” Vega explained as a tiny power armor platoon appeared on the map with a miniature purple dot representing Frank. “If you are insistent that Frank should go first with the power armor, then I suggest we skirt around the right side of the ravine.”

As Vega spoke, the miniature unit left the Ryker and approached the pyramid from the right side of the ravine. Two more squad units appeared on the map just outside the Ryker. Both were of equal size.

“I’ll lead the main infantry force behind you while my Berserker unit takes the other half around the opposite side of the ravine. I’ll equip Argon with a comm unit to stay in constant contact,” Vega explained. “Along with this, we’ll have the Lucy reporting troop movements to us. If you Marines insist on going in first, then I’m not going to be far behind.”

Frank understood what Vega was doing, even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud. He found yet another thing he respected about her. Instead of trying to argue the fact that Frank and the power armor platoon shouldn’t be going in first, she was offering a plan that would allow her not to be far behind.

“It’s a solid strategy.” Colonel Breaker pointed to the Berserker unit on the left side of the ravine. “We’ll make sure we’re not out-flanked with the Berserkers and ensure that your unit is close behind our armor platoon when the Chaos Lord makes his move. We’ll be ready no matter what he has planned. We’ll adjust and adapt to survive.”

Everyone by the holo display looked to one another in agreement. Frank found Vega’s purple irises. “Has there been any word on Sava?”

“Still the same,” Vega said, shaking her head ever so slightly. “It’s like she fell into a deep sleep. As if somehow her power as an Arilion Knight protected her by putting her into a physical and mental cocoon when she destroyed that warship.”

It’s up to you, Frank, Frank told himself in his head. It’s you. It’s always been you. What you have burning inside of you will be enough. It has to be enough.

18

Standing in front of the dark green power armor platoon felt like walking among giants. Frank looked up at the three ranks of ten machines. Colonel Breaker and Raj were in the middle of the first row.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Pent-up energy demanded an outlet. Frank’s hands shook, and he tried not to pace or stretch his arms, but he had to let out the energy somehow. More than anything, he wanted to be the example, the Arilion Knight everyone needed him to be at the moment.

The sun was already up and approaching its midday zenith. If they pushed hard, they could make it to the pyramid by noon, maybe longer since they had to go around the ravine. In all honesty, Frank just wanted be doing something. He wanted to complete his mission. If fighting and killing had to be done, then let it be done and over.

Directly behind the power armor platoon stood Vega with half of her Neeve warriors. Immediately to her left, Argon and his massive Berserkers waited at the head of the other half of the Neeve army. Most of the infantry was made of Neeve with the random Draconian sprinkled in. All but a few of the reptilian creatures were manning the Lucy or in the power armor. Their familiarity with alien tech compared to the Neeve made them better suited for manning the mechanical weapons.

This was totally fine with the Neeve warriors, who wanted nothing more than to plunge their bladed weapons into the Chaos soldiers up close and personal. It was clear Frank wasn’t the only one feeling the tension in the air. Neeve warriors moved from foot to foot, some even hopping up and down, mentally preparing for the bloodshed that lay ahead.

“I’ll address the troops now,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “They’ll need words from you once this begins.”

“Understood,” Frank said, moving to the side while Colonel Breaker’s power unit stalked forward and turned to address the army.

The power armor hissed open. The helmet unhinged at the chin, opening up to reveal Colonel Breaker’s face. Likewise the entire chest piece unlocked at the waist and was moved upward by a pair of hinges on either shoulder. Colonel Breaker jumped to the ground as the army quieted to hear his words.

“Some of you know me, all of you know of me,” Colonel Breaker shouted, moving up and down the lines. “What you don’t know is that, first and foremost, I’m a Marine. That means I don’t run away from a fight. That means I run toward it. That means when a dictator kills and slaughters his way to rule, soldiers like me rise up. Today, you might not all be Marines, but that same fighting spirit lives in you.”

Colonel Breaker paused to let his words sink in. It was clear what he said was resonating with both the Neeve and Draconian soldiers. Shouts of approval filled the silence.

“What we do today shapes the future.” Colonel Breaker pounded his chest with the fist on his metal arm. “We give everything we have inside of us today and it will be enough. I promise you it will be enough. In the Marines, we have a saying: everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. It means that everyone wants freedom, but few are willing to make the sacrifice needed. The funny thing about freedom is that it is not free at all. It’s ransomed from tyrants, paid for in the blood of soldiers like you and me. Well, I’m here to tell you today that I’m ready to bleed for my freedom. Are you?”

ARROOH!

The shouts echoed the colonel’s words as he finished his speech. He pounded his chest once more and roared with them before climbing back into his power armor unit.

“Geeze, good luck following that,” Elly’s voice sounded in Frank’s ear. “He didn’t make it easy on you.”

“Thanks for that,” Frank said, still feeling the goosebumps from Colonel Breaker’s speech race across his skin and pound in his chest.

Colonel Breaker’s power armor unit closed. Frank led the way at a light jog with Colonel Breaker at his side. The day progressed much slower than Frank would have wanted. They made their way to the pyramid by way of going around the right side of the ravine. The silence was uncanny. Chatter was kept to a minimum. Reports from Elly of all clear and good to go were the only thing breaking up the monotony of the day.

Frank and the power unit platoons trudged over the black dirt and made their way through the bleak landscape of dead trees that seemed to wither in pain and random corpses of mutilated shrubbery. Everyone kept their eye out for any kind of albino alien worms or killer mutated centipede. As far as Frank could tell, the coast was clear.

Maybe the bugs are leaving you alone because they know something worse is coming your way? Frank couldn’t help the thoughts of doubt invading his mind. Maybe they’re burrowing deeper into the ground because they sense the Lord of Chaos coming.

His Arilion powers were still so new to him, Frank couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but he felt a growing presence, a feeling that went past fear. An outside force was trying to intimidate him, as if a phantom menace was trying to suck the very hope and will to fight out of him before the battle even began.

It wasn’t until the top of the ebony pyramid pierced the sky that Elly’s voice broke through the comms hysterically.

“Heads up,” Elly said over the comms in a rush of words. The normal cheer to her voice was gone, in its place something hollow and cold. “We have major activity at the pyramid. I’m seeing hundreds of units marching out in ranks. They’re—they’re erecting barriers and defensive positions in front of the pyramid. It looks like you’re going to be storming Normandy if they keep this up. I’m seeing something that looks like sand bags, heavy machine gun turrets, barbed chains, the works. Orders?”

Frank and the forward unit were close enough now to hear the distant shouts and machinery used to erect the defensive structure.

“So this is his plan all along,” Frank thought out loud. “He wants us to come to him. He wants us to charge right into his main force.”

“Give me the word and I can kill their force field or start a strafing run on the soldiers outside the pyramid,” Elly offered.

“Wait,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “As soon as you make a move, he’ll order the rest of his ships to intercept you. I’d bet my right arm on that. We’ll start the battle in the air when we make our move on the ground.”

“Roger, that,” Elly answered.

Frank felt cold inside. Along with the pent-up energy that the steady flow of adrenaline gave him came something new. He thought he was imagining it at first, but Elly confirmed his worst fears.

“I’m seeing, I’m seeing something else on the scanner, but it doesn’t make any sense,” Elly said uncomfortably. “I don’t understand this.”

“Hold yourself together,” Colonel Breaker coached. “What is it?”

“There’s something big, something the scanners are reading moving toward you, but my visual display is only reading it as black smoke,” Elly said, confused.

“It’s him,” Frank said, unsure how he could be so resolved of his answer but knowing all the same he was right. “It’s the Chaos Lord.”

“Frank Wolffe!” The bellow came a moment later.

Frank stopped. He couldn’t see the Chaos Lord yet, but the voice was close. He’d arrive soon.

“Frank Wolffe!” The challenge came again. The voice was deep, unyielding, and sinister in a way foreign to Frank. The command came more so from within his own head than hearing with his ears.

The power armor platoon that accompanied Frank stopped behind him. A small rise in the terrain offered the perfect barrier that obscured their vision. A moment later, the Chaos Lord himself crested the hill. He was nearly three meters tall with inky black armor that covered him from head to toe. A pair of burning eyes showed through a helmet. Jagged horns and wings added to his menacing appearance. The two most disconcerting things about him were the piercing eyes that burned eternally in his helmet and the vaporous blackness that covered any part of his body not protected by armor. It was as if, under his armor, he was made of smoke and fire instead of flesh.

Frank swallowed hard, standing his ground. He could practically feel the fear eating away at his will to go on.

“Frank Wolffe, the Human Arilion Knight of Atmos, no less.” The Chaos Lord looked down at Frank. “We have only met in your dreams. You refused my offer then. I will not make it again. All you and yours can wish for now is a merciful death and I will not give you that. I will torture you like I tortured the once inhabitants of this world. I will turn you into the worms that infest this planet now like I did to them because worms you are.”

“Stand down and surrender yourself,” Frank said with as much ferocity as he could muster. “This all ends today.”

“For you, it ends today.” The Chaos Lord laughed. “You all are nothing but a speck on the radar of time. I have been alive for millennia and I will not be defeated by you or anyone else. What makes you think that if an entire army of Arilion Knights could not defeat me before, that you stand a chance?”

Frank was starting to feel angry at being spoken to like some kind of second-degree school kid. This tyrant had gone on bullying long enough. Sava’s words echoed in his mind, that anger could be used for good if he harnessed that energy and turned it into something productive.

“Rumor has it that you’re only a shadow of what you once were,” Frank said, squaring his shoulder and staring into the crimson eyes of the Chaos Lord. “You were defeated at the top of your power before. Now in your weakened state, I’m more than enough to do it again.”

“I will choke you on those words,” the Chaos Lord said as his smoky image evaporated in front of Frank altogether. In a second, he was gone, only his lingering words on the wind. “I will kill you this day.”

19

“Well done.” Colonel Breaker walked up to stand beside Frank. “Let’s move forward with caution and get eyes on target.”

Frank licked at his dry lips and nodded.

The platoon crested the hill the apparition of the Chaos Lord had used a moment previously. Still far ahead of them but now within eyesight was the pyramid. Frank placed his helmet on his head, activating the heads-up display and zooming in to get a closer look at exactly what was going on.

Elly had been right. Hundreds of scarlet-clad Chaos infantry and power armor units moved around the perimeter of the pyramid, placing barricades and stationary weaponry. The rock outcroppings around the pyramid made for perfect natural barriers as well.

“We can’t just give them the time to prepare; we have to go now,” Frank said, shaking his head. “We let them dig in, it’s going to be harder to take this position.”

“Agreed,” Colonel Breaker said, opening the channel to include Elly and Vega. “Overwatch, we’re go. Take down the force field around the pyramid and give us some cover going in. Be ready for the enemy to send whatever airborne assets they have left at you. Vega, we’ll go in first and provide as much cover as we can. You’re right on our heels. Have your Berserkers move into a flanking position. It’s time to go to work.”

“Oohrah to that, sir,” Elly said.

“We’re with you,” Vega answered.

“One more time, Marine?” Colonel Breaker’s helmeted head looked down at Frank. “I think it’s time the unit heard from their Arilion Knight.”

“Oohrah!” Frank shouted, preparing himself mentally for the insanity that was about to take place across the battlefield. Frank looked back at the thirty power armor units that would be leading the charge. “I’m going to make this short because we have a date with destiny! Pain heals, and victory doesn’t come without sacrifice. If it’s our time to go, then it’s our time to go! But I swear to you I’m not going until I kill every last one of them and the Chaos Lord himself! Because this is my life, this is our universe, and he’s just another cranky tyrant, and ain’t nobody got time for that!!!”

The roars and clanking sounds of steel against steel as the power armor platoon slammed their fists against their chests thundered through the air.

A moment later, Elly, with the Lucy, appeared overhead, sending an opening volley of white-hot laser fire on the entrenched enemy troops.

PEW! PEW! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The ground shook as the eardrum-bursting rounds whizzed by and struck the ground in front of the pyramid. There was a slight shudder in the air of red gleam as the pyramid force field went down. The top of the pyramid opened up once more. Four separate parts slid down off the top of the structure, letting out a swarm of enemy Darts. The smaller fighter crafts raced to intercept the Lucy just like the colonel had predicted.

Smoke filled the air in front of Frank. Overhead, yellow blaster fire streaked from the Lucy toward the Darts and vice versa. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Frank’s mind was still trying to keep up with the events surrounding him as he charged forward. He was going to make sure he took the brunt of whatever the defenses had to offer before he let anyone else.

A burning sensation like ants covered his body as Frank called on the power that set him apart as an Arilion Knight. He sped forward, far outpacing the power armor platoon.

“Slow down, slow down, Frank,” Colonel Breaker’s voice sounded in the comms. “We can’t keep up with you.”

Frank ignored the order, pouring even more of his energy into his run. His feet flew over the dark, dead dirt of the planet as a rogue thought entered his mind. Had the Chaos Lord actually turned the inhabitants of his small moon into those worms? And his team had killed them in an effort to save themselves? What kind of monster did something like that?

Righteous anger lent Frank even more determination to his task.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank found himself within weapon’s range of the enemy a split second later. Explosion erupted from the ground around him. So much incoming fire struck him and the ground around him, it felt like he was walking into a hail storm if hail storms flew parallel to the ground.

A purple shield already coated Frank’s body, but that didn’t seem like enough. There were hundreds of weapons pointed at him, getting more and more accurate as the smoke on the battlefield began to clear.

“Frank, Frank, just give us a minute. We’re almost there,” Raj yelled over the comms. “Don’t be a hero.”

“I can take it!” Frank yelled back. “I can take it!”

Frank immediately regretted those words as an explosion went off near his left foot. He was forced to a knee as the concussive blast took away his footing.

A massive circular shield appeared in Frank’s left hand as he regained his stance and hunched behind it. Although the shield was translucent, as all his constructs were, he couldn’t see anything past the barrier. There was so much incoming fire against his shield, it looked like a solid wall of an emblazoned steel wall. The enemy fire felt manageable, like rain on an umbrella. The explosive rounds that struck his shield were the problem. Each explosive round was a sledgehammer to whatever it hit, whether it be his shield or a boot that stuck out just too far.

Let’s go, Frank, let’s go, Frank yelled inside of his own head. It’s not going to get any easier; it’s only going to get harder. You got more to give. Show them you have more to give.

Frank heard Colonel Breaker and the power armor platoon before he saw them. War cries ripped through the comms and even the air itself despite the cacophony of weapons fire.

Apparently, Frank’s willingness to act as the punching bag had inspired those in the platoon. Weapons fire now streaked across the battlefield as the fight intensified. Everywhere Frank looked, there was an explosion detonating.

The enemy fire had now transitioned from only Frank to the other thirty targets across the battlefield. The incoming fire Frank felt was nominal at best. He abandoned his shield for a weapon of his own. The Punisher GS2000 snapped to life in his hands. He took cover behind a thick rock ledge to his right. He scanned the battleground around him.

Friendly power armored units flanked him on either side. The small arm flamethrowers the enemy used were still out of range, leaving the Chaos foot soldiers using their plasma rifles. The rifle rounds were easily absorbed by the personal force fields each power armor unit wore. What was proving a problem for Colonel Breaker and the others were the enemy power armor units and the large turrets the Chaos army used.

BOOM!

A green power armor unit with the Draconian emblem on it went down in a ball of flames. Its personal force field had taken too much damage and was out for the count.

“We’re coming!” Vega said over the comms. “I didn’t travel this far to sit on the side and watch.”

“Use the rock outcropping and our armor for cover,” Colonel Breaker yelled.

Frank understood exactly what he had to do. All around him, it was a game of hide and seek. His armor units popped out from behind cover to send a hail of blaster fire at the enemy while the Chaos army did the same. In a stalemate like this with the enemy, given the numbers, they couldn’t win.

The front line of the Chaos army was still a half klick away. Frank had to do something before Vega and the rest of her unit with weaker personal shields arrived. They’d be cut down if they tried to charge the distance.

Breathing heavy, Frank started nodding his head, pumping himself up to do the dumbest—one of the dumbest things he’d ever tried.

Should have added some tunes on a playlist, Frank thought to himself as he opened his jaw and rolled his neck on his shoulders. Here goes nothing.

Frank bounced from the protection the rocks gave him. A purple sheen of armor still coated his own diamond-plated armor as he ran forward, choosing his marks down the scope of his Punisher GS2000.

Pouring everything he had into his run, Frank chose his targets carefully. The enemy power armor units would have to wait for the time being, but Frank could do something against the turrets spraying his allies with white hot rounds.

The Chaos turrets were made up of four long barrels with a seat right behind it for the operator. The entire weapon swiveled on a platform giving the gunner access to the battleground. Frank saw three such weapons within his firing range. There was one directly in front of him and one on either side. All that stood between him and the first turret were a handful of Chaos soldiers with plasma rounds.

In one hand, he began constructing the projectile weapon to take out the turret; with the other, he managed an oversized expandable chrome baton. He swung with everything he had and felt the crunch of their kneecaps give way to the blows. They were down in agony before they knew what hit them.

Frank concentrated his will and selected plasma rounds of his own to be dispersed from his weapon. With any luck, a few well-placed rounds each, and the turrets would be impossible to use with holes bored through the barrels.

Frank closed out the insanity all around him and squeezed the trigger as he zeroed in on the first turret. His run made his accuracy pay, but the turret was large enough to provide a target the size of an SUV.

Violet rounds ate through the turret, melting steel. The Chaos soldier jumped out of the control chair, giving Frank a perfect shot. A second later, his target was on the ground with the dissipating ka-bar knife where his face used to be.

Seconds later, the other turrets were steaming and smoking from Frank’s heated rounds eating through their barrels. Before Frank could mount another plan of attack, he had reached the Chaos army’s front lines. He jumped into a long foxhole with a dozen or more Chaos soldiers hunkering inside for cover.

“Should I even try to get you guys to give up or are we past that at this point?” Frank asked.

A dozen plasma barrels swung in his direction.

20

Frank threw himself into the soldiers’ ranks, unwilling to give them clear shots. He traded in his Punisher GS2000 for a M1014 semi-automatic shotgun.

Bada tat bada tat! BOOM!

Frank went to work clearing the foxhole and the twelve Chaos soldiers trying to kill him. The shotgun at close range was deadly. He put down the enemy as they tried to find their own lines of fire one by one. In as many seconds, the twelve Chaos soldiers in the trench had been dispatched.

“Frank, we’re here,” Vega said over the blasts. “Where are you?”

“Clearing their front lines,” Frank said, peeking out of his foxhole to get his bearings. Past the enemy lines, he saw a wide square tunnel open in the pyramid, ranks of power armor marching out joining the enemy lines.

“We’re giving as good as we’re getting out here,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “Taking out those turrets has gone a long way. Now I need you to do something about their power armor before we make our move.”

“Roger, that, sir,” Frank said, already racking his brain to find a way to disperse so many of the enemy units at once. “Suggestions on how to go about that?”

“I read you had an— incident while you were at boot camp.” Colonel Breaker paused for a moment. A series of shots rang out through his comm line before he came on again. “Your file said you were—inventive—with some C4. Time to get inventive again, Frank.”

“Yes, sir.” Frank cracked a smile under his helmet as he understood exactly what the colonel was talking about. “I’m picking up what you’re putting down.”

Frank was far from a demolitions expert, but he had his fair share of time with the plastic explosive known as C4. He had burned it, molded it into clay animals, and used it for extracurricular activities during his time at boot camp.

“I think I have a way to even the odds a bit more,” Frank said, ducking back under cover as a hail of blaster fire tried to take his head off.

“Roger that,” Colonel Breaker said, already forming his plan. “Vega, as soon as Frank makes his move, have your unit fall in line and get behind the armor for cover. This is going to happen fast. Frank?”

“Yes, Colonel,” Frank answered.

“Blow something up.”

Frank’s plan was two-fold: distract the enemy power armor and take down, or at the very least, weaken their shields to give his own armor unit the upper hand. Frank jumped out of the foxhole, constructing a square case of C4 as large as a mini fridge. He made sure to shield his bomb from the random fire all around the field of battle.

He raced toward the convoy of power armor units still piling out of the pyramid, when a better idea hit him. Why settle for main corps of enemy armor filing out of the pyramid? Why not choke their exit point at the same time?

As fast as Frank ran through the enemy lines and to the tunnel, his journey still took too long. Enemy spotters yelled at his approach, turning their weapons on the purple streak that sped toward the pyramid.

Frank was running so fast, everything was happening in slow motion. He saw the three-meter-tall metal giants start to turn in his direction. There were more than a full platoon of the power armor units. Just the ones that had already exited the tunnel had to number in the three digits. The one advantage Frank had on them now was speed.

The bulky armor giants were built for durability and would never be called fast. Frank was among them a moment later, weaving through their numbers as he carried his C4 mini fridge to the opening of the pyramid.

Those armor units willing to take the chance of firing into their own ranks trained their weapons on Frank and opened fire. To say it was a mess would be an understatement. Half the armor units tried to get out of the way of friendly fire, half tried to gun down Frank, and a portion were still too confused to decide what to do. These were soldiers preparing to run to the front line, not confront a crazy Arilion Knight hellbent on dragging his mini fridge to their front door. Frank could see now why Commander Trask spoke so lowly of this grunt force.

As the first few blasts whizzed by Frank’s head, he reached the entrance to the pyramid. There was no time to set a fuse or even think about how he was going to detonate his constructed mound of C4.

Blaster rounds hammered into his right shoulder and left calf. He placed his precious cargo at the feet of a pair of confused armor units just inside the pyramid tunnel. There were hundreds more of them inside waiting to file out.

“Housewarming present from me to you,” Frank said, already turning to go and race the way he came. If his luck would hold out for a few more seconds, he could run out of range of the blast and turn to fire an explosive round into the C4 himself.

Frank was reminded there was either no such thing as luck or it hated him and avoided him at all costs. Still, much too close to the C4, a rogue enemy round meant for him struck the mini fridge bomb.

KAABOOOOOOM!

Frank didn’t remember being lifted from the blast. He didn’t remember being flung into the air. He didn’t even remember the landing. All he remembered was running one second and then lying on his stomach somewhere back on the enemy front lines the next.

He gasped for air as his lungs protested the lack of the precious substance. A ringing in his ears hinted at what just happened as he tried to force oxygen back into his lungs. His mind was trying to form ideas, but it was like he was putting thoughts together in slow motion, underwater in the flashing darkness.

Frank forced himself up into a sitting position. He had landed smack dab in the middle of the Chaos army’s front lines. For once, he wasn’t the main target of enemy fire. Colonel Breaker led the charge as the power armor units slammed into the enemy barricades. Each suit of armor had been equipped with a long range weapon as well as a sword or blade of some kind.

He sat with his head ringing when a blast like a weak punch smacked him in the back of his head. Since he still maintained his protective ultraviolet shield, the round was more of a nuisance than a detriment. He turned with his gauss rifle in hand to find himself face-to-face with a small grunt of a Chaos soldier who shrugged. Without a second thought, Frank fired point blank.

If Frank were able to hear, he could imagine there would be sounds of rending metal ringing through the air. Power armor units from both sides clashed across the Chaos army’s hastily constructed lines.

Right behind the power armor units, Vega sprinted at the head of her infantry unit. She was running directly for Frank. Maybe she was even talking to him, but the ringing in his ears hadn’t stopped.

Vega was in front of Frank a moment later. White enemy fire pinged off her personal force field, showing where the small red orb of protection offered her cover. Vega swung her great sword high over her head, bringing it down on Frank.

Why is Vega trying to kill me? Frank had time to push the idea through his muddled mind. Am I that bad of a kisser?

21

Vega’s blade came down not on Frank, but just behind him, splitting the helmet and skull of another Chaos soldier who had been sneaking up on Frank. The Chaos soldier shook once, dropping a thick blade into the black dirt before he slumped to the ground.

Vega turned off her force field, dropping her sword. She shook Frank violently. He couldn’t see her lips moving past her golden helmet. The only thing he could see were her eyes, worry etched clear as day in each one.

“Are you hurt?” Vega yelled at him. He could tell she was screaming because of the pitch of her voice, but her words still sounded distant, like she was calling to him from the end of a long hall. “Frank, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, barely.” Frank let Vega help pull him to his feet as her Neeve infantry rushed all around them, forming a protective barrier around their empress. “What—what happened?”

“You did something careless and almost got yourself killed.” It was clear by the tone in her voice Vega was not amused. “You were thrown like a stone from a catapult.”

Frank turned, still dazed, to see what had become of his explosive mini fridge efforts. Smoke still rose from the collapsed tunnel that had provided entrance to the pyramid minutes before. The C4 had done its job once again. A massive crater now gave way to a fully caved in outlet. Broken and bent power armor scattered all around the scene like confetti at a bad New Year’s Eve party.

“Are you hurt?” Vega repeated her question.

“I mean, I don’t feel good, but I’ll live,” Frank said. Vega’s voice was still muffled. The noise of war that should have been deafening all around them sounded like someone had put a quilt on the whole thing.

Frank created the protective purple barrier around himself once more before he took off his helmet. He touched a finger to his right ear. It came back with blood.

“Frank, report in,” Colonel Breaker said somewhere deep in the madness of the battle.

“I have him,” Vega responded. “He’s having a hard time hearing but otherwise doesn’t seem to be injured.”

“Good to hear,” Colonel Breaker said. As if it were one thought, he continued. “Elly, report.”

“The Lucy is holding strong. I don’t think they have any more warships or they would have used them by now. They’re just harassing us with their smaller craft. There’s a lot of the little buggers, but their fire power isn’t strong enough to break through our shields,” Elly said. “I think they’re out here more as a deterrent than anything else.”

“Roger that,” Colonel Breaker said with a grunt. “Stay in orbit and take out as many of them as you can. As long as we own the sky, we’ll be able to make whatever moves we need to on the ground.”

“Yes, sir,” Elly answered.

Frank put his helmet back on his head examining the ever-changing battlefield once more. Colonel Breaker’s power armor unit was taking on the enemy’s armor in a heavyweight duel. They looked to be evenly matched for the moment.

The Neeve, however, having finally been allowed to enter the battle, were overwhelming the superior numbers of the Chaos infantry. The personal force fields they all wore not only gave them much needed protection against the Chaos army’s plasma blasters, it allowed them to get within striking range. The Neeve army were brutal close quarter combat warriors and they unleashed all their skills on the enemy now.

“Oh my gosh,” Raj said through his comms as his power armor walked up to Frank. “Did you see what that Neeve warrior just did to that Chaos soldier? This just isn’t fair, but, hey, I’m not going to complain. They’re on our side, right?”

Frank was about to respond, when Magnus, Elly’s Momo, swooped in beside Frank, barking something furious.

Magnus was in a frenzy. He was clearly trying to relate something to Frank with his manic yelps. He still wore the armor Elly had made him, his two cameras intact; one mounted on his forehead, the other to the bottom of his stomach for an aerial view when he flew.

“Listen, Magnus, I have a headache right now. Your barking isn’t helping. I can’t understand what you’re saying like Elly can,” Frank said, looking down at the Momo.

The Momo rolled his eyes, shaking his head and continuing on. The urgency in his tone was clear.

“Hey, Elly, can you listen to this?” Frank asked, leaning in low to pick up on some of what Magnus was barking.

“Wow, he’s teaching me a ton of new curse words,” Elly answered. “He says there’s something—no, not something—an entire group coming from around the opposite side of the pyramid. Hold up, I’m bringing it up on my main screen now. Holy Toledo.”

“What is it?” Frank asked, already summoning the strength to meet this new threat. He placed his helmet back on his head in preparation. “What’s coming?”

“It’s Commander Trask leading a—a cavalry unit of some kind,” Elly said, asking her next question out loud. “I wonder if that’s—if that’s the Blood Guard. They’re riding, some kind of monsters.”

“Elly, I need you to get it together and give us an accurate report right now.” Colonel Breaker’s no nonsense voice filled the comms. “I need enemy strength, position, and time of arrival.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” Elly said.

“I don’t need you to be sorry, I need you to be better,” Colonel Breaker answered.

“There looks like a platoon of enemies riding four-legged alien animals. They’re approaching from your northwest, from around the opposite side of the pyramid. I estimate their time to you under two minutes.” Elly rattled off the facts post haste.

“Colonel Breaker.” Argon’s gruff voice entered the comms for the first time. “I would request you let my Berserkers and the rest of the Neeve reinforcements meet the attack. We will not fail you in turning this foe.”

“Granted, move to intercept,” Colonel Breaker answered. “Frank, Raj, go with them to offer support. Vega’s unit is more than a match for these Chaos soldiers and our armor already has the upper hand on the enemy at the moment.”

“Thank you,” Argon practically roared into the comms. “We will crush their bones and drink from their skulls before the sun sets this day.”

“I’m just going to go with a simple, ‘roger,’” Raj said.

“Oohrah!” Frank answered. He looked over at Vega. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Take your time.” Vega swung her heavy sword to rest on her right shoulder. “We’ll finish off the Chaos soldiers here.”

Frank nodded, moving away to where Argon and his reserve unit were already marching forward to meet the new enemy threat. They had been on the left side of the ravine and now moved up close to where the fighting was taking place.

Raj maneuvered his power armor beside Frank as the two raced across the front lines of battle. Everywhere they looked, the Neeve infantry was the deciding factor. Even when power armor units clashed in battle, the Neeve infantry soldiers were hacking away at the enemy despite their smaller size.

Frank and Raj skidded to a stop as they met Argon and his advancing unit. The hulking Berserker Neeve was practically a power armor suit in his own right. His golden armor shone in the midday sun. He held his massive circular shield in his right hand and a lengthy spear in his left. His Berserkers flanked him on either side and the second half of the Neeve army closed ranks behind him.

“The Arilion Knight is with us!” Argon bellowed into the air as Frank and Raj approached. “We cannot lose!”

A massive war cry rose from the throats of the men as Frank fell in line at the front of the unit. Raj did the same as soldiers stepped aside to make room for his power armor suit.

“We should find some cover and dig in,” Frank said to Argon, who stood beside him. “They’re a mounted Cavalry unit, so we should be able to pick off a fair amount before they reach us.”

“It would not be our way,” Argon said in a low, respectful voice. “We meet our enemies head on.”

“They’re a mounted unit,” Raj reiterated. “They’re going to plow right through us. Well, I mean maybe not me, since I’m in a walking tank, but Calvary versus infantry isn’t exactly a fair fight. I’ve read my history books.”

“Let them come and we will rewrite your history books, Lieutenant Agarwal,” Argon said with such faith Frank almost believed he could do it.

“Argon,” Frank tried again. “We think this is the Blood Guard, they’re the—”

“Uh, Frank.” Raj tapped him on the shoulder with one giant finger.

“In a minute,” Frank answered, shrugging off the finger. He turned back to Argon. “Think of your men’s lives if—”

“Frank, you’re going to want to see this.” Raj nudged him on the shoulder again.

“What’s up with all the touching?” Frank turned, annoyed to see the same thing that had caused Raj’s interruption.

Raj pointed with his other colossal hand to something in front of them. “What are those? And since when did this planet have dinosaurs?”

22

Frank understood that the creatures galloping toward them were not actually dinosaurs but rather some extrinsic monsters resembling prehistoric beings. However, Raj’s choice of description was spot on.

The creatures’ sable scales covered a broad body with four sturdy legs that propelled them toward Frank and the men by his side. They zeroed in with wide heads and three horns pointing forward, threatening a good impaling with each heavy gallop forward followed by strong tails, sharp teeth gnashing at the bits in their mouths as they came.

Atop the beasts were the Blood Guard. The vermillion of their armor was just as threatening, though slightly lighter in shade than the hue worn by either the infantry or the power armor units. One of the lead riders held up a long lance with a crimson banner carrying the Chaos Lord’s sigil of a smoked flame on a crimson field. From what Frank could see, each rider was equipped with a plasma blaster and lance.

“This day keeps on getting better and better,” Frank mumbled, constructing a Punisher GS2000 in his hands and taking aim. “Raj, the more we kill now, the less we have to kill once they reach us.”

“I’m with you,” Raj said. In his right hand, he held a massive blaster that looked like a handheld AK-47. In his left hand, he carried a war mace with thick spikes protruding from its head.

“Glory in death!” Argon roared as he set his shield in front of him and pointed his spear over the top of the protective barrier. “We hold as one!”

All around Frank, the Neeve soldiers shouted and took up the same stance.

This is bananas, Frank thought to himself as the first rounds of the enemy soldiers’ weapons reached them. How do I get myself into these situations?

TAK-KA! TAK-KA! TAK-KA!

The familiar sounds of gas escaping the barrel, bullets going hypersonic, and metal action parts hitting each other clanged through the air. Raj’s weapon discharged, taking out an approaching beast and rider.

Frank followed a moment later, shattering a rider’s helmet as his target sank, dead in his saddle.

They were charging too fast for Frank and Raj to take out more than a few of their targets; still, before they slammed into the Neeve frontlines, Frank had downed three and Raj another two.

The force with which the Blood Guard struck the Neeve frontlines was beyond brutal. Frank steeled himself as the charging cavalry unit lowered their lances. One rider in particular targeted Frank. He aimed his red lance at Frank’s chest with one hand as he arrived. With the other hand, he sprayed a hose of plasma fire.

The alien mount bored down on Frank, lowering his three horns in hopes of also gutting him like a shish-kabob on a three-pronged skewer.

The ground shook under Frank’s feet. His heart rate increased as yet another ridiculous idea came to him.

Might as well give it a shot, Frank thought to himself. You already blew yourself up today with a C4-sized mini fridge and you’re still standing.

Instead of rolling to the side or trying to avoid the incoming attack, Frank held his ground. He gripped on to the force of Will that lived deep inside him and created a pair of constructs for his feet. The heavy anchors held his boots to the ground and drilled down deep for extra insurance that he would not move.

Glowing purple, energy wrapped around Frank’s body from his legs to his arms. Although it was impossible to see the enemy soldier’s face about to strike him due to his red-horned helm, Frank could imagine the surprise he wore. It was insane for anyone, even an Arilion Knight, to stand his ground against a charging beast of such size.

All around him, the Blood Guard were crashing against the Neeve soldiers. To his right, Raj was wrestling with one of the monsters. Right now, all Frank could focus on was channeling his strength.

The creature looked even bigger up close. It was roughly the size of a rhinoceros and just as thick. The lance directed at Frank’s chest shattered against the protective shielding coating Frank’s body. The beast hammered into Frank next, horns first.

Frank grabbed on to the two larger horns on the top of the alien triceratops’ head and lifted. The momentum created by the beast’s charge carried it forward as it somersaulted over Frank’s head.

The muscles in his entire body strained and bulged as Frank catapulted the animal over his head. The fiend weighed nearly a ton. Even for Frank, who was still discovering his strength as an Arilion Knight, this was an impressive feat.

The beast sailed over his head, rider included, and came crashing down in a heap of thick legs and red armor.

Frank allowed the anchors holding his feet in place to dissipate. Both rider and steed were already gathering themselves from the dirt for another attack. Dismounted from the alien monster, the Blood Guard rider had lost his helmet. Frank got a look at Commander Trask’s familiar face.

“Well, look who it is,” Frank shouted over the screams of battle. “I was hoping I’d get to see you again.”

“Kill him!” Commander Trask roared to the three-horned beast by his side.

Without hesitation, the creature lowered its head and ran at Frank.

Frank had a second to do a brief inventory in his mind, to choose the right weapon for the job. He understood he had to act fast. The monster would be on top of him sooner than he would have liked.

Instead of a weapon, Frank changed the ground right in front of him to a substance he remembered preparing for as a child. Apparently, quicksand wasn’t that large of an issue as he had anticipated it would be during his adult life. He recalled having jumped from couch to chair in his house to avoid the deathly sand during his youth. Another thing he had prepared for but had yet to encounter: lava. Young Frank had been an expert at not touching the engulfing lava floor while hopping from chair to chair or staying the tightrope line on the sidewalk in front of their apartment.

Faced now with a dinosaur-type creature reminded him of the ones he had read about as a child. So, as much as Frank could kill the animal—which had been trained to maim and maul if it came to it—if he didn’t have to, he wouldn’t.

The alien dinosaur, beast, creature thing fell into the ultraviolet quicksand that rippled over the black ground. It sank fast, lifting its head and bellowing its anger. The beast’s large, panicked eyes looked around at its master.

“Move, you idiotic whelp!” Commander Trask urged the beast. “You useless beast, we should have culled you from the herd. Do what you were born to do and kill him!”

The creature strained forward, now only feet from Frank, but the more it struggled, the quicker it sank. Now only the top of its back and its head, which it lifted up, remained visible.

Frank removed the quicksand from the ground, trapping the creature in the solid black sand of the moon.

“You worthless meat sack, so be it!” Commander Trask raged. “I will kill you myself. You will burn before the sun sets on this day.”

Commander Trask stalked forward, brandishing his broken lance. The weapon had shattered on Frank’s protective shielding, but the lower half remained intact, coming to a sharp end about a meter from the handle from where the steel had snapped.

“If I burn, then you burn with me,” Frank said, proud of himself that he had thought of something so cool to say. He created a Reckoner P7 in his right hand.

“So typical of you, piece of filth, to bring a gun to a knife fight,” Commander Trask taunted as he closed the distance. “Can’t kill me with only a blade in your hand, I see.”

“I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not going to fall for it.”

“Oh, really? Do tell me you, Arilion cull, what am I doing?”

“First, you need to wash your mouth out with soap; so many dirty words coming from you is going to cause an infection and you’re hurting my tender feelings over here,” Frank said, allowing his weapon to dissipate from his hands. “Second, I know you want me to throw away my advantage of fighting you with a projectile weapon. Well, you’re in luck. I’m going to, I’m going to tear you apart with my bare hands.”

Commander Trask grinned.

Frank and the enemy commander rushed one another. Frank ducked below the lance swinging for his head. Continuing his forward momentum, he crashed into the larger Chaos enemy.

The two opponents rolled on the pitch black ground. Something like a Mack truck hit him; Frank wasn’t sure what was happening. One second he was locked in combat with Commander Trask rolling across the black sand, and the next he was struggling for breath as one of the alien beasts pinned him to the ground. Another Blood Guard was on top of the animal, trying to find an open shot down the barrel of his plasma rifle.

Frank’s arms were stuck to his sides under the massive head of the alien beast. Its horns pinned him to the ground just outside either shoulder. The animal’s third and lower horn just missed impaling Frank’s huevos rancheros.

“No.” Commander Trask appeared in Frank’s vision. He tore the plasma rifle out of the Blood Guard’s hands. “He’s mine!”

23

“What about that whole thing about a fair fight?” Frank struggled to get out from under the massive beast’s hold. “I have a new word for you: hypocrite.”

“Be that as it may, I’m not the one looking down the end of a rifle.” Commander Trask smiled as he pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

Frank felt the blow strike his head. Covered by not only his Arilion shield but his own diamond-plated helmet as well, the blow at even this close a distance felt like someone punching him in the face; not pleasant but it wouldn’t kill him either.

A thin line of smoke rose from Frank’s helmet as the heated plasma rolled off him and into the blackened soil.

“Why won’t you die!” Commander Trask asked as he held his finger down on the trigger.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank could feel his helmet shatter under the pressure of the blasts. Commander Trask was walking forward, putting the barrel into Frank’s face at a point blank range. The noise was so loud, Frank could feel a fresh wave of blood ooze down his ears. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as his helmet cracked, but his protective purple barrier fueled by his Will held.

Enough, you’ve taken enough. Your whole life, you’ve taken enough, Frank screamed in his own mind. This isn’t it. You’re just getting started.

“Rawww!” Frank screamed as he twisted first to the right and then to the left. The harsh movements made the alien beast who had him pinned let up ever so slightly. The room was enough for Frank to free his arms and grab on to the creature’s two longer horns. With a violent jerk, he channeled his Will and cracked the alien creature’s neck.

SNAP!

The whole animal fell over, crushing its rider. Frank was on his feet a moment later, ripping the weapon free of Commander Trask’s hands and grabbing the alien by his throat.

“I shot—I shot you a dozen times at point blank range,” Commander Trask gurgled, clawing at Frank’s grip around his throat. “How—how are you alive?”

Frank didn’t offer a reply. He simply pressed the end of the plasma rifle into the Commander’s gut and returned the favor.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank dropped the lifeless body on the ground, spitting blood that gushed from a split lip. He didn’t even want to think of what his face looked like. He tossed the smoking plasma rifle on the ground and removed his twisted helmet. Despite the beating it had taken, the armor had held up well. He’d have to tell his boss, the Chairman, at B.U.T.T.S. about that when he returned.

In every direction Frank looked, the Chaos army was being routed. The Blood Guard had taken out half of the Neeve infantry, but led by the Berserkers, the Blood Guard were still no match for the expert fighting style of the Neeve army.

The ground was littered with Neeve, Blood Guard soldiers, and their alien steeds. A forest green power armor unit marked with the helmet and wings of Marine Space Corps One ran up to Frank. Despite the fighting still going on around them, the unit hissed open. Raj jumped out, his face full of concern.

“Son of a boxer, Frank,” Raj said, reaching for a small black pouch that hung on his hip. “You look like you’ve been through fifteen rounds with Muhammad Ali.”

“What? You don’t think I’m pretty anymore?” Frank cracked a smile and then winced at the action. “I’ll be all right.”

“I’m sure you will but not bleeding like that.” Raj produced a bottle of sterilizer, gauze, and bandages from his bag. “What happened?”

“Oh, you know,” Frank said, allowing Raj to go to work. “Classic story of bullies in the schoolyard, just on a galactic level. Get me patched up quick, Doc. I need to get back in this fight.”

“Chaos army is on the run,” Colonel Breaker said over the comms. “I think their Blood Guard was their last hope. When they saw that foiled, their fighting spirit went with it. Empress Vega, Argon report in.”

“I agree.” Vega’s voice came over the comms as strong as ever. “They are routed and in retreat. Should we follow?”

“Hold off on pursuing,” Colonel Breaker said. “Argon? Argon, are you there?”

“I saw him go down under the horns of one of the Blood Guard’s beasts,” Raj said, his voice heavy. “He didn’t make it.”

“Understood,” Colonel Breaker said after a brief pause. Frank realized he had to move on, that he more than most would feel the loss of another soldier. Still, there was no option but to continue what they had started. “Elly, report?”

Frank looked up into the sky at the ships still swarming around the Lucy. Green and white blaster fire were traded back and forth between the smaller ships. The Lucy didn’t look the worse for wear.

“We’re good to go,” Elly said, troubled. “It’s like they know they can’t take down our shields, so they’re just harassing us, not letting us get close. They’re waiting for something.”

The ground trembled at that moment. A sense of heaviness attacked Frank’s Will to continue.

“Not something, someone.” Frank looked over to Raj. “Get back inside your power armor. He’s coming.”

“Who—Oh,” Raj said, placing one last bandage on the right side of Frank’s forehead before hurrying to obey.

“They’re regrouping on the west side of the pyramid where we snuck in before,” Vega said. “He’s coming. The Chaos Lord is calling to them.”

“All units are to regroup on my position, in front of the west side of the pyramid,” Colonel Breaker said. “This is it. Let’s take out their leader and the army will fall.”

Frank moved with the rest of the Neeve infantry to coordinate a final attack with the forces still standing. The Blood Guard had extracted a heavy toll on their numbers, but Vega’s unit had fared better.

A quick look around told Frank for the first time that day they had the numbers on the Chaos army. A few hundred Neeve and a dozen power armor suits made the little grouping of Chaos soldiers in front of the pyramid look pathetic in comparison.

Despite their numbers, the Chaos soldiers roared with anticipation. Somewhere deep inside the pyramid, there was a booming noise like some ancient titan woken from his slumber.

“All available power armor units on me,” Colonel Breaker said. “Empress Vega, if you would form your soldiers in ranks. This is it.”

Frank knew his place. He tried to find Vega as he made his way to the front of the army, but with so many bodies in the mix, it was impossible to make her out. If he saw her still standing, he knew he’d feel all the better. Instead, he had to trust her word and that favor would be on her side.

The echoing booming continued as the Chaos soldiers made a lane in their own ranks for their leader to arrive. When he did exit, he looked exactly like he had in Frank’s dream and the apparition that had spoken to him earlier.

Two and a half meters towering over everyone save the remaining power units, black armor with inky smoke underneath, he wore his massive wings on his back like a king wears his robe; his crown a horned helmet, and in his right hand, he carried a club made of black steel. On the end of his weapon was a skull with red eyes.

“Chaos is the true state of the universe.” The Chaos Lord moved through his ranks. His voice carried over his soldiers, and to Frank’s mind, like waves over the ocean. “When the Light stole the rightful state of the universe from me, He did so with an army of Arilion Knights. I tell you today, I will crush our foes in front of you and prove once and for all that Chaos, not Light, was always meant to dominate both space and time.”

24

A cheer erupted from the Chaos soldiers as they witnessed their lord make his way from the pyramid to the front of their lines.

Frank held his Will firm against the onslaught of fear and trepidation that wafted from the Chaos Lord. All around him, Neeve and Draconians were mumbling to each other, casting their eyes downward in favor of looking at the ground instead of meeting the sight of the Lord of Chaos in his horrendous glory. Even Raj in his power armor took a step back.

Frank couldn’t blame any of them. Every fiber in his body was telling him to run and hide. This was the real deal. This mad titan in front of him wasn’t an apparition of nightmares; this was the Chaos Lord himself.

Colonel Breaker and Vega both moved to stand beside Frank.

“We’re with you,” Colonel Breaker said, training his weapons on the Chaos Lord.

“We can do this,” Vega said, raising her great sword in both hands.

Frank grabbed on to his Will, clenching his fists on either side of his body. He steadied his heartbeat. The Chaos army was fifty yards away, though still close enough to continue to hear the Chaos Lord taunt his enemies.

“I will crush our enemies with you,” the Chaos Lord continued on and on. “This poor excuse for an alliance is nothing. I am a god.”

Frank realized what the Chaos Lord was doing. He was buying more time to intimidate Frank and his forces. The longer he was allowed to drone on, the more time Frank and the others would have to second guess themselves.

“You ready for this?” Colonel Breaker asked, looking to Frank in his power armor. “Marine, are you ready to be the leader they need you to be?”

“Oohrah to that, sir,” Frank said. His entire body was sore. He was beyond tired and blood still fell from multiple cuts across his face, but this was his time. He was fairly certain there was no calling a timeout and picking up where they left off tomorrow. Right about now, he was wishing they had a leviathan on their side to sway the odds, but it didn’t seem like that would be happening anytime soon. It was up to him and him alone.

Frank wasn’t sure he had another epic speech in him. He would have to make it short. The Chaos Lord had finished his pep talk and was now walking toward them in no apparent hurry. His army flanked him on either side.

“Embrace your fears. Look your terror in the face and yell in one voice: We will not be beaten!” Frank said, yelling to the Neeve and Draconian soldiers behind him. “What we do today will matter for an eternity to come! Oohrah, warriors! Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” Colonel Breaker and Raj shouted with Frank.

“Oohrah!” Empress Vega and the Neeve yelled, wrestling themselves from their fears.

“Oohrah!” the Draconians roared.

Frank began his charge forward. He was never much of a fan for walking to meet enemies. He set his path straight for the Chaos Lord, allowing the purple energy to ripple around his body and construct another layer of armor over the physical suit he wore. A violet translucent helmet wrapped around his face.

Enemy fire began slamming into the power armor units led by Colonel Breaker. Their personal force fields absorbed most of the smaller fire; it was the rounds from the few enemy power units that remained upright that did the most damage.

Weapons fire volleyed on all sides. The space around them looked like a meteor shower through a mirror with white blaster fire flashing through the air from both sides.

Frank was still a dozen meters away from the looming Chaos Lord. He wasn’t sure how he was going to defeat him or whether his weapons would have the same effect as fighting a regular Chaos soldier at all. All he knew was that he would find a way.

WHAAM!

A rocket from a power armor unit exploded right into Frank’s left side. He was propelled from his path to land in a hard patch of ground twenty meters from where he started. For the hundredth time since he had donned the mantle of Arilion Knight, Frank picked himself up.

I need to look into better health insurance, Frank thought as he went to a knee, trying to catch his breath. Maybe an HSA or a PPO. Not that any insurance company would cover me if they knew what I did for a living. Wait, am I even getting hazard pay for this?

The last thing Frank wanted to do was push himself to his feet and attack the Chaos Lord, but sometimes life isn’t about what you want or not want to do; sometimes you just do what has to be done. That was exactly what Frank did.

Sharp pain lanced down his left side, telling Frank there was something definitely wrong. There was no time to examine the wound further. If he could walk, he was going to.

The two enemy factions had reached one another and the fallout was brutal. Even though the army made up mostly of Neeve now outnumbered the Chaos soldiers, the Chaos Lord himself more than made up for the loss in numbers. Frank saw the brutality in slow motion as he gathered his bruised and not quite yet broken self. The Chaos master swung his skull-tipped mace back and forth as he waded into the power armor and Neeve ranks. Every time his mace landed in a wide swing, it sent two to four soldiers flying backward, despite their force fields.

The rounds that did strike the Chaos Lord had no effect on him. The blasts actually seemed to disappear into his armor. The Chaos Lord howled at those who dared to approach. With a backhanded swing, Raj’s power armor unit was flung into the air like a discarded toy. The Chas Lord swung his mace down on Colonel Breaker’s unit.

The Colonel caught the weapon by the shaft, just below the top of the skull-shaped mace. For a moment, the two stood staring at one another. For the briefest of moments, an unmovable object met an unstoppable force. Then the Chaos Lord won out.

Ripping his mace free, the Chaos Lord swung his weapon like a baseball bat, striking Colonel Breaker’s power armor square in the chest. The metal dented before flinging the heavy power armor unit through the air.

“No!” Frank heard himself bellow, more than he intended to let out as he tried in vain to get to the head of the pack. The way the armor around Colonel Breaker had been rented inward made him feel sick. “Colonel Breaker, Colonel Breaker, come in.”

There was no response.

“I’ll—I’ll get him,” Raj said.

Frank looked to where the doctor’s power armor had landed. It was smoking and sparking from a handful of locations. Raj opened the hatch and stumbled out.

As much as Frank wanted to lend a hand to both of the Marines, he understood that duty was ordering him to keep moving forward toward the thing every fiber of his being wanted to avoid. Even as he made his way back toward the fight, he could see the Chaos Lord swinging his war mace back and forth like a farmer harvesting wheat with a scythe.

Neeve soldiers and the few remaining power armor units fell before the Chaos Lord like dominoes. The rest of the Chaos army was feeling emblazoned by their leader’s actions. They made a surge to break through the Neeve lines. Vega held them back.

“Hold!” she yelled through her helmet as she cleaved a Chaos soldier’s head in two. “Hold the line!”

Frank was running forward now, all thoughts of his own safety and wellbeing the furthest thing from his mind. He saw what was about to happen. The Chaos Lord came for Vega and the Neeve empress held her ground.

Even pouring his Will into his speed, Frank would arrive a second too late.

The Chaos Lord swung his hammer low. Vega jumped over the blow, dancing around the thick instrument of death. Again the Lord of Chaos swung his ebony war mace. This time, Vega ducked low, driving her great sword forward like a spear. She plunged her sword into the Chaos Lord’s chest. It stuck in his armor, unable to penetrate the blackened steel.

“You think you will be the one to silence the roar of Chaos!?!” the Chaos Lord yelled, grabbing Vega’s sword by the blade with his free hand and ripping it from his chest. “I was alive before your species drew breath.”

The Chaos Lord squeezed the blade of Vega’s great sword in his left hand so tight it bent the metal.

“Your men need you,” Frank said, reaching Vega’s side. It was the only thing he could think of saying that might make her back down from the Lord of Chaos. “You can’t do anything here; I can. You CAN help your men and save some lives. I got this. This is what I’m meant to do.”

Vega’s golden helmet made her eyes the only thing on her face visible. In those eyes, Frank saw the conflict. She grabbed his hand a moment later and gave him a hard squeeze. “Kill him, Frank.”

25

Frank had enough time to release her hand before the Chaos Lord bellowed a war cry and charged forward. Frank understood the power the Chaos Lord wielded. He had seen multiple soldiers as well as power armor suits go sailing through the air. Instead of trying to meet the enemy head on, Frank formed a shield in his hands and used it not to stop the incoming blows but allow them to glance off his barrier.

Over and over again, the Chaos Lord swung at Frank, and over and over again, Frank allowed the blows to glance off his purple shield.

Tire him out, Frank said to himself as the two battled across the war zone. Let him use all of his energy and then you strike.

There was one fatal flaw in Frank’s plan: the Chaos Lord did not tire. Over and over, the blows came. If anything, the skull war mace got closer and closer to hitting Frank each time. It only took one misstep for Frank to let the war mace hit his body or even strike his shield head-on.

Each glance that came with the war mace sent a shudder through Frank’s arms until they felt like Jell-O. The Chaos Lord laughed out loud a moment later.

“You still think this is something you can win, Arilion Knight?”

“I know I can.” Frank braced himself as he turned yet another blow. “You could always just give up right now and we can save ourselves some time.”

“Why the Light chose you, I have no idea.” The Chaos Lord shook his horned helmeted head. “Your tactic is useless. I do not tire. I will not stop.”

“Neither will I,” Frank said.

The Chaos Lord reared back for another swing but instead hammered his mace into the ground, sending a thick crack toward Frank and causing the entire ground to rumble and roll.

It was the last thing Frank was expecting. He faltered for only a moment. The Chaos Lord jumped at the opportunity. He vaulted into the air, showing speed Frank had no idea he possessed. With his war mace overhead in a two-handed swing, he brought it down on Frank.

There was no time to roll out of the way. There was barely time for Frank to lift his shield and protect his head.

BLAAAM!

A concussive wave washed over the battlefield. Soldiers on both sides having seen the combatants engage in their fight gave them a wide berth. Watching the Arilion Knight and Chaos Lord go head-to-head drew almost more attention than the fighting itself. Still, the shocking blast was enough to rock them from their feet and send them rolling on the black dirt ground.

Frank’s shield construct held, only just barely.

Well, you’re not going to rope-a-dope this guy, Frank regained his footing as the Chaos Lord charged yet again. The best defense is a good offense.

Frank didn’t bother with trying to construct any kind of mechanical weapon this time. Instead, he aimed both his fists forward and let the purple energy glowing across his vambraces shoot forward. It struck the Chaos Lord in the center of his chest, detonating on contact.

BOOM!

The blast was enough to stop the Chaos Lord for a moment. He lifted an arm to shield his face. His armor smoked, but as far as Frank could see, it was neither damaged nor torn loose in any place.

“You still refuse to see the simple truth that the most natural state for the universe to reside is a state of Chaos,” the Chaos Lord said, walking toward Frank. “It belongs to me. I am only reverting it back to its truest form.”

Frank growled as he held his hands close to one another, forming a purple ball of energy. He had seen it done a thousand times before playing his favorite arcade game, Street Fighter, while growing up. He’d gather as much of the raw energy as he could hold before releasing it on the approaching enemy.

“My rightful place in the universe was taken from me by the Light who calls himself my father,” the Chaos Lord said, still walking forward. He was now within ten meters of Frank as he continued his sermon. “And where is this Light you fight for now? It has abandoned you and you are too stupid to see you are only a pawn in His game.”

Frank’s hands were shaking. A purple orb the size of a basketball had gathered in his palms, ready to be released. This was it. This was his last best shot. Already he could feel his body begin to shut down on him. His legs were shaking, and sweat rolled off his bruised face in tiny rivers.

“Eat this!” Frank shouted as he pressed his arms forward and sent the massive force of energy against the Chaos Lord. Even after the explosive force was hurled forward, he poured more energy, keeping a steady stream of humming purple light toward his enemy.

The Chaos Lord once more did nothing else but shield his face when the weapon exploded on him. A cloud of dirt and smoke hid him for a moment. The next instant, Frank’s heart knotted in his chest. Still, the Chaos Lord came. Parts of his armor this time were actually pitted and cracked, though still not broken.

The beam of purple energy continued to strike the Chaos Lord in his chest. If it bothered him at all, he didn’t show it. Still, he came.

Frank sank to his knees, pouring everything he had left into the force exiting his fists. It wasn’t enough. The Chaos Lord stopped in front of Frank. His nearly three-meter frame towered over him, blotting out the sun. Red eyes blazed deep within his horned helmet.

As if he were taking a small child by the hands, he placed both his black gauntleted palms over Frank’s hands, shutting off the purple energy that flowed from them.

Frank’s palms felt like they were being pulverized. He gripped as tight as he could, but there was just nothing more to give. He was lifted to his feet and then into the air to dangle in front of the Chaos Lord.

“You will be made an example of,” the Chaos Lord said, staring deep into Frank’s eyes. “I will beat you within an inch of your life and then I will parade you around. I will turn you into an abomination as I did the inhabitants of this moon and then, when you are begging me to kill you, I will make you take your own life.”

“As long as you brush your teeth at some point,” Frank said, trying to work out a plan that would be worth trying. “Because your breath’s going to kill me before anything else. When was the last time you flossed?”

“Fool!” The Chaos Lord flung Frank to the ground, following up the action with a kick to his ribs.

Frank saw spots for a moment as he was lifted off the ground again. Instinct took over. All the training the Marines had given him was enough to push him on. He couldn’t see much around the blood on his face, but he threw punches at the Chaos Lord even as he was pummeled in return.

Raj is going to be pissed you ripped off all his fancy bandaging, Frank thought to himself as he received a blow to his stomach and then his jaw. At least I went down swinging.

With hardly enough breath left in his chest, he grabbed at his jaw to ensure it wasn’t broken. So far, so good. With no time to linger on the wound, he attempted to fight fire with fire.

Frank landed a blow of his own across the Chaos Lord’s throat. The angle was difficult since he had to aim up, but he managed to find the spot where the black breastplate met the underside of the helmet.

Nothing. It was like the Chaos Lord was toying with him now.

His left eye was swollen shut to the extent he didn’t see the knockout blow coming. Frank wobbled on his feet for a moment, unsure what happened before he fell into darkness.

26

“Oh, crap, I’m really dead this time, aren’t I?” Frank asked as he stared up into a bright white ceiling. The clean scent of nothing and yet everything warm and fresh and good filled his nose and head. “And I forgot to take those books back to the library. The fees are going to be outrageous.”

Frank took a deep breath, wondering how the others, how the universe would fare without him. Comedy was his way of trying to bury the deep sense of failure that ate at his insides. It didn’t work. Frank had been chosen to do a job and he had failed everyone.

“Do you want to be dead?”

Frank bolted upright, trying to figure out who had spoken. There weren’t too many options, as there was only one other person in the stark white room with him. An unfamiliar man with greying hair and a muscular build under his button-up shirt and jeans looked over at Frank with deep eyes filled with strength and warmth. The stranger smiled the kind of smile one reserved for seeing an old friend.

“Am I dead? Who are you?” Frank asked, looking around to examine the room further. It wasn’t a room at all, or at least if it was, he couldn’t see where it started or stopped. There were no walls or ceilings, just white, the light giving the scene illumination came from everywhere and nowhere at once. “Where am I? What happened to me?”

“Oh, Frank, always so many questions.” The gentle man walked to where Frank still sat on the ground and offered his hand. “You’re unconscious right now in the real world. Kraymar has beaten you pretty badly.”

“Kraymar?” Frank asked, accepting the man’s firm grip. “What’s Kraymar?”

“Oh, come on,” the man chuckled. “You didn’t actually think his name was the ‘Lord of Chaos,’ did you? He feeds off fear and hate. The name Kraymar doesn’t exactly inspire that, but the title of the Lord of Chaos, on the other hand, has plenty of people shaking in their boots.”

“Who are you?” Frank asked again, trying to make up his mind whether he was dead or having some kind of hallucination.

“You know who I am, Frank.” The man waved him over to a door that had not been there a second before. He opened the doorway to a balcony set over a field of rolling hills. A vineyard attended with faithful perfection covered the landscape as far as the eye could see. An orange sun hung high overhead, casting its warmth on every creation below.

“Why did you choose me?” Frank asked, following the stranger outside. “I wasn’t the right man for the job.”

“You are the perfect man for the job, even if you don’t realize it yet.”

Frank felt frustration build in his chest. He was getting nowhere fast, and if this was some kind of hemorrhage in his brain, he had nothing to worry about anyway. The worst was already done.

The man in front of him walked over to the wooden railing on the balcony and leaned forward, breathing in the fresh air. He acted as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Listen, all this cryptic talk and non-answers is getting us nowhere,” Frank said, moving to stand next to the man. “I’m either dead or unconscious and this is all a dream.”

“I’ll ask you again,” the man said, turning to Frank. “Do you want to be dead?”

There was something in his dark brown eyes that caught Frank; wisdom beyond comprehension. Frank thought on the question. Images of Vega, his Marines, and the others still fighting on the small moon flashed through his mind. Pictures of his father and mother ill at home came next.

“I’m not afraid of death, but no, I’m not ready yet,” Frank answered.

“Still don’t understand why you were chosen?”

“The Chaos Lo—Kraymar, he’s too strong.” Frank shook his head. “In the first Chaos War, there were hundreds, maybe thousands of Arilion Knights to fight him. There’s just—right now, there’s just me. I’m alone.”

“He’s weaker than he wants you to know,” the man said, scratching at the stubble on his jaw. “He can’t even take on an actual solid shape; that’s why he wears his armor to keep the little he has managed to recover over the years intact. You are enough, Frank Wolffe. And you are not alone. You’ve never been alone.”

“It sure feels like that down there as I’m getting beat to jelly,” Frank sighed.

“I bet it can feel like that at times.” The man tapped Frank on the spot of his chest over his heart. “With this, Frank, you can move mountains. Everything you need is inside of you. I promise, you are not alone. I’ll ask you one more time, do you want to die?”

“No,” Frank said as a feeling of resolve filled his heart. “No, I have work to do.”

“Yes, you do. I’m rooting for you.” The man smiled again before a shadow fell over his face. For the first time, something like sadness crossed his pearly white smile. “When you see her again, she’ll be confused with hate, but she is not out of reach, of saving. There is hope for her. Remember that.”

“Who?” Frank squinted his brows. “Again with the vague speech. Who are we talking about?”

Frank gasped, breathing hard. He was back on the moon, staring up into the open sky. Every inch of his body either ached or felt numb. In time, Frank was positive the numb parts of his body would begin to ache. Breathing was harder than it should have been. His right eye was so swollen. He was sure he looked like Sloth from The Goonies.

With a groan, Frank managed to prop himself on an elbow to get a look at his surroundings. If he had to guess, he had been out for only a few seconds, possibly less.

Kraymar stood in front of him, adjusting his armor. Their fight had taken them away from the main battle almost to where the ravine began.

“I was hoping you hadn’t died so easily,” Kraymar said to Frank in a tone oozing with hate. “I want you to see the death of your comrades. But first tell me, how does it feel to be alone? How does it taste in your mouth to be abandoned by the Light?”

“Who said he was alone?”

Goosebumps raced across the parts of Frank he could still feel. He knew that voice. It wasn’t the man he had seen in his dream either; it was Sava.

Both Frank and Kraymar looked up to see the Arilion Knight floating in the sky above them. Energy blazed in her clenched fists and wrapped around her body. Even her eyes were alight with the purple flames of her Will.

“You took your time.” Frank struggled to a sitting position, finding the Will inside him burning like an ember. He pointed to his face. “My moneymaker is all messed up now.”

“I’ll kill you both then,” Kraymar shouted at Sava. “I will see both of you turned into—”

Sava bolted from her position in the sky like an arrow let loose from a bow. She slammed into the Chaos Lord in the space of a heartbeat. The ground shook under Frank as the Arilion Knight collided with the Chaos Lord at a speed that left a crater in the ground.

Watching Sava and Kraymar fight was like watching two opponents battle one another on fast forward. They were so quick, sometimes Sava was no more than a blur of purple. The Draconian knight constructed a double-bladed spear, which she twirled with deadly accuracy. Kraymar used his own war mace and the two parried and traded blows at a dizzying speed.

During the time Frank fought Kraymar, and even now, he could hear chatter on the comms. Raj’s voice finally woke him out of his daze.

“Frank, do you copy?” Raj paused for a moment and then repeated himself. “Frank, this is Raj. Do you copy?”

“I’m—I’m here.” Frank rolled onto his hands and knees, looking for the strength to make it back on his feet again. Memories of Colonel Breaker’s power armor unit being demolished crossed his memory. “Colonel Breaker, how’s the colonel?”

“I’ll live,” Colonel Breaker grunted over the comms. “Vega, Elly, report.”

“We’ve got them routed,” Vega answered. “There are a few pockets still holding out, but we will finish them soon.”

“Same here,” Elly said over the comms. “We’re cleaning up the last of the Chaos Darts. They’re not as willing to sacrifice themselves to keep us busy. We should be available to provide air support soon.”

“Frank?” Colonel Breaker asked.

“Oh, I’m peachy,” Frank lied, finally getting into a position with one knee on the ground as he witnessed the fight in front of him turn in Kraymar’s favor. “We’re too close to Kraymar for Elly to help with an orbital strike.”

“What’s a Kraymar?” Raj asked.

“I’ll explain later,” Frank said.

Sava was a demon on the field. Multiple times, she struck Kraymar, sending sparks into the air as her constructed blade scraped against his armor; still, she couldn’t pierce it.

Vega had taken a few blows of her own and now bled through her nose and a shallow cut on her right shoulder.

“I can send reinforcements to you,” Colonel Breaker said to Frank.

“They aren’t going to do any good,” Frank said, rising to his feet. “This is something the Arilion Knights have to beat. I could use some tunes right about now, Elly, and maybe an Oohrah or two.”

27

“I can do that,” Elly said as music flowed through Frank’s comm unit.

The familiar backward harmonica and bluesy guitar riffs that accompanied the boom-boom tap of the drums for Led Zeppelin’s When the Levee Breaks grew into a steady blare into his comms, but not loud enough to keep him from hearing Raj and Colonel Breaker.

“Oohrah! Get some, Frank!” Raj yelled.

“If anyone had to be picked to be an Arilion Knight, it makes sense it was a Marine,” Colonel Breaker said. “Oohrah, Frank, give him hell!”

An intensity so animalistic, so raw grew in Frank. He fed it more and more, strengthening it with resolve. The ember of Will was flaming inside of him, turning into a roaring fire. Anytime he lifted weights at the gym or set his mind to do something, Frank focused his will. This was similar, only on overdrive now.

Frank rose to his feet, the music giving his actions life.

Kraymar was pushing Sava further and further toward the ravine with the bug-like atrocities that had once been inhabitants of the small, oblong moon. Something the man in Frank’s dream said sparked in Frank’s mind.

He said Kraymar was weaker than he let on, that his armor was giving him form, Frank thought to himself as he constructed a ka-bar in his right hand. He can’t fight if he doesn’t have form.

How he was walking was a miracle, how he started to run was something Frank couldn’t explain. Past the pain and fatigue, he knew Sava needed him. Somehow he reached deep and discovered he had more to give.

Ultraviolet and black sparks erupted in the air as Sava and Kraymar traded blows. Sava was doing less offensive work now as Kraymar pressed down on her. She was bleeding almost as badly as Frank.

Kraymar had his back to Frank as he brought his war mace down on Sava’s double-bladed staff over and over again. If Sava saw Frank approach, she didn’t give away his position. Instead, she pressed her attack harder.

As Frank ran forward, a stupid idea came to mind. For all the many reasons he knew he should silence that voice in his head telling him to give it a shot, he knew it would work.

Frank sent a chain with a purple clamp on the end, grabbing on to Kraymar’s left wrist. The other end wrapped around his own left arm. Frank jerked back on the chain as hard as he could, sending Kraymar off balance.

“Kraymar, yeah, cat’s out of the bag. I know your birth name isn’t the Chaos Lord,” Frank said, gripping the chain and ka-bar in his hands. “What kind of a name is Kraymar anyway?”

“Why won’t you die!?” Kraymar jerked the chain, sending Frank struggling to keep his footing. “How do you know—”

Sava wasn’t in the mood to stand around and give Kraymar the time to talk and gather his thoughts.

“Rawww!” Sava lunged forward, stabbing her double-bladed spear deep into the back of Kraymar’s left kneecap.

“You will not defeat me!” Kraymar shouted.

What ensued was a brutal game Frank would remember as “who wants it more.” For the first time, he saw the signs of weariness descend on Kraymar; the Chaos Lord’s movements weren’t as fast. His reflexes slowed just a half second.

“Together,” Sava shouted to Frank.

“Together,” Frank said. “His armor, tear off his armor.”

Elly decided to keep the party going by picking up the pace with a Whole Lotta Love. The irony was not lost on Frank. The fast-paced beat helped keep time with the tit-for-tat sparring taking place.

Frank and Sava worked as a team, diving and slashing with their blades as Kraymar moved to intercept them. The inky black wings made of more shadow than physical form extended out on either side of him as the defamer moved to strike them with his appendages.

Early on, Frank realized chaining himself to the Chaos Lord was a bad idea, but that ship had sailed. Instead of trying to fight the idea, he embraced his situation. Frank pressed in closer, meeting a slash from a black wing that made his entire left arm go numb.

With the ka-bar he still held in his hand, Frank lunged forward, slamming it hard into the spot where the Chaos Lord’s left vambrace connected to his gauntlets. Frank wiggled the knife’s blade deeper and deeper.

“Ahhh!” Kraymar shouted, trying to shake Frank off, even beating him with an outstretched wing.

Frank was a pitbull with a bone. If all he had to do was hold on and pry off the gauntlet, then that was what he was going to do it and pour everything he had into the task.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sava ducking a blow and slamming her purple spear into the area between the Chaos Lord’s breastplate and his right shoulder. She drove it so deep, the foot-long end was lost in the blackness under the armor.

Kraymar grabbed her around the throat. Sava only drove her spear deeper, tearing at her weapon with all her might to open a hole in his armor.

Frank kept one hand on his ka-bar in Kraymar’s left gauntlet; with the other, he constructed a new chain that wrapped around the Chaos Lord’s opposite hand, which choked Sava.

The three were locked in a brutal game of who was going to blink first. Frank’s muscles shook with fatigue. His right hand still holding onto his ka-bar, his left on the chain, he pulled his arms together with every ounce of strength he had left.

“Raaarrrrr.” A roar escaped his lips as he uttered his rage at the Lord of Chaos.

Sava channeled a beam of purple light that exploded from her weapon and tore through the opposite end of the Chaos Lord. The light shot out of his back, lost into the day’s light that was just beginning to set.

“Ahhh!” the Chaos Lord screamed. His hold on Sava fell away as he stumbled back.

Frank capitalized on his one weapon burrowing into the Chaos Lord and tore away the gauntlet covering his hand. The piece of armor clattered to the ground, exposing a swirling mass of nothing.

Sava fell on all fours, gasping for breath.

Frank hunched over, trying to keep himself upright.

The Chaos Lord staggered back, screaming in rage. His left hand was gone from the wrist down. Black smoke escaped from the front and back of his armor where Sava had done her damage.

“No! No! Not by you! Not again!” Kraymar howled in rage. He lifted his head as if he were talking to someone else altogether. “I hate you. I hate you!”

Frank limped his way to Sava. He still couldn’t feel anything in his left arm from his shoulder down. With his right hand, he helped her to her feet.

“This whole Arilion Knight thing should come with a warning label,” Frank said to her. “I mean a real long and in depth one.”

“We can talk about that once we finish here,” Sava croaked as she massaged her throat. “We are almost done.”

Frank caught motion behind Kraymar, who still roared to the sky talking with someone or something the rest could not see. Hundreds, no thousands of white worms, long centipedes, and other insect beings Frank had not seen before gathered in the ravine below.

“I have a plan,” Frank said, looking over at Sava and furrowing his eyebrows. “Stop staring at me like that. It’s a good one this time.”

28

“If I die, then you will die with me!” Kraymar roared at Sava and Frank. Black spittle flew from his mouth. His red eyes were wild with rage.

This time when Frank and Sava attacked, they only had one goal in mind: to push Kraymar back. The wounded Lord of Chaos fought like he had everything to lose. He struck out with both wings and his right, remaining arm. Frank tackled him, driving him back while Sava constructed a club and swung at his helmet.

Kraymar slammed a closed fist on Frank’s back, taking him to his knees.

Sava struck their enemy in his helmet with so much force it broke her construct and sent the Lord of Chaos reeling back. His feet touched the edge of the ravine. His arms flailed to keep balance as his wings spread out on either side of him in preparation to take flight.

Frank sent a purple energy blast from both his hands into one of the flailing black wings of the Chaos Lord. The purple energy blast tore a hole the size of a watermelon right through the unarmored wing. Their massive enemy tottered one more time, unable to right himself, and fell backward.

Sava and Frank hobbled to the edge of the ravine. Below them, the Chaos Lord was getting to his feet yet again. He chuckled out loud, still unaware of the army of insects behind him.

“You fools, your Will may not be broken until your miserable deaths, but I will never stop.” Kraymar looked up at them as he regained his feet. “I am eternal.”

“Well, then have fun living out your eternal life in the stomachs of those you tormented, because I don’t speak worm, but they look pissed,” Frank said, pointing a finger behind Kraymar.

The Lord of Chaos turned as the first worms grabbed on to his boots with their gnashing rows of teeth and reared up to wrap their slime-covered, pus-oozing bodies around his torso. The insects were crawling over one another in their anticipation of reaching the one who was responsible for their current state.

“What, no, you filth, cannot—get off me!” Kraymar screamed. “You will not defe—”

He was silenced by a thick worm that wrapped around his head. Despite his best efforts, he was reduced to one hand, and for as many of the insects he pulled away or tore apart, two more replaced their numbers.

A moment later, the Lord of Chaos had disappeared under the wriggling mound of flesh.

His black gauntlet reached out of the mass to grasp at the open air in a final feat of desperation. It was enveloped a moment later. As much as the idea of compassion welled in Frank’s chest, he just couldn’t have pity on Kraymar. He was being finished now by monsters of his own creation. The people of the moon he had turned into these insects would have the last laugh.

“It kinda looks like spaghetti down there, right?” Frank asked Sava, not looking up to her from his kneeling position. “I mean, it’s gross, but I can’t look away.”

“Is there a word for whatever it is that is wrong with you?” Sava asked, looking over to Frank.

“The jury is still out on that one,” Frank sighed. Even breathing hurt. “Are all the bad guys we have to fight as Arilion Knights going to be this tough?”

“Who knows?” Sava shook her head. “If this was the threat the Light activated the vambraces for, then our time as Arilion Knights may be over.”

Frank found himself looking down at the glowing purple vambraces on his forearms. If he was done as an Arilion, they didn’t show it. They still glowed as strong as ever.

A rogue thought surprised him. He realized he would miss being an Arilion Knight if this indeed was the end of his enlistment. He couldn’t help but share this thought with Sava.

“If this is the end for us—I mean, if we’ve served the Light’s purpose and we’re done being Arilion, then—well, that would suck. I’m just getting the hang of all of this,” Frank said.

“I would miss it as well,” Sava said, moving to Frank and helping him up.

“Ugh.” Frank winced. “Everything hurts. Even my hair hurts.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to recover soon,” Sava said, holding Frank up and draping his good arm over her broad shoulders. “Let’s get you back to the main group.”

Frank and Sava leaned on one another as they made their way back to the rest of the unit as if they were participating in some kind of sad three-legged race.

“When you woke from your coma,” Frank asked her as they walked, “what was it like? I mean, did you see anything?”

Sava was quiet for a long minute. Frank was sure she had heard his question. For some reason, the Draconian was having a hard time putting her thoughts into words. It was a first for Frank to see his Arilion mentor struggle to grasp the right words.

“I saw the Light,” Sava said quietly, seeming to struggle to remember a vague dream. “At least who I think was the Light or some embodiment of it.”

“What did he say to you?” Frank asked.

“How do you know it was a he?”

“Because I saw him too.”

Sava quieted again. “He told me I wasn’t alone. He told me it was time for me to wake up. He told me that we—you and I—are not alone.”

Sava stopped perhaps to say more, then thought twice of it and closed her mouth again.

“What else?” Frank pushed.

“The rest of what he said is for my ears only,” Sava stated so definitely Frank understood there was no point continuing the subject.

The words of what the Light had told him also came back to him. The cryptic words of meeting someone again, a woman not being lost echoed in his mind.

29

“You look like death warmed over,” Elly said to Frank as Raj used a heated machine that looked like a glue gun on a cut on his scalp. “I mean, Kraymarerar or whatever his name was did a number on you.”

“His name was Kraymar.” Frank winced as his skin felt like it was melting under the heat of the tool Raj was using. “Raj, are you fixing me or making it worse up there?”

“It’s a cool new toy I picked up from the Draconians,” Raj said as he continued to work. “It’ll close your wound, leaving only a faint scar if you hold still and stop being such a baby about it.”

“Do you need me to hold him down for you?” Vega walked into the medical bay aboard the Ryker. “He can be rather stubborn at times.”

After Kraymar had been killed by the combined efforts of Frank, Sava, and the worm inhabitants of the moon, the rest of the Chaos army had either surrendered or ran in retreat to hide in the pyramid or the terrain of the moon.

Colonel Breaker had ordered what remained of their force to stand down, secure the prisoners, and take care of their wounded. It was night by the time Elly transported them back to the Ryker. She had come down from the Lucy, leaving Laloid in charge of the alien spacecraft.

“I’m fine. I can take a little pain; it makes me feel alive.” Frank winked at Vega.

Vega still wore her golden armor, spattered with dirt and blood from the fight. Gore hung off her left boot in a dirty clump. She held her dented helm in the crook of her right arm.

The medical bay was filling by the moment with the wounded. All around them, those still able aided their brothers regardless of their species. Male and female, green scales or purple skin took care of one another.

“You’re not going to be talking about a little pain being good when I set that dislocated arm of yours,” Raj said, removing his tool from Frank and examining his left arm. “This is going to get worse before it gets better.”

“Maybe—maybe we should just leave it like that,” Frank said, wincing as Raj placed his hands on Frank’s useless arm. “I mean, it’s not so bad.”

“Here we go, three.” Raj started the countdown, gripping a firmer hold on Frank’s shoulder. “Two.”

“Maybe we should talk about this first,” Frank only half teased. “Maybe—”

There was a sick wrenching noise as Raj pulled on Frank’s arm.

“Son of a bee’s knees!” Frank groaned, grabbing on to his shoulder with his right hand. “What’s wrong with you? What happened to one? You never counted to one. It’s three, two, one then go.”

“Hey, I’m the doctor here,” Raj said, picking his skin gun up again and moving to a cut on Frank’s lip. “Let me see that laceration on your lip.”

“I’m good, Doc,” Frank said through gritted teeth as he hopped off the examining table. “There are other soldiers here who need you more than I do.”

“Is that a—is that an eyeball?” Elly asked, looking at Vega, ready to vomit. She pointed with an outstretched finger to an eyeball hanging from Vega’s left shoulder. It was wedged in a crack in her armor.

“So it is,” Vega said, plucking the item from her armor and looking around for a trash can. She spotted one across the room and left to drop it into the trash receptacle.

Frank exchanged looks with Raj and Elly and shrugged. The act made him wince. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”

“Right. I’m sure you all have important strategy sessions and next steps to plan,” Raj said over his shoulder as he went to a wounded Draconian soldier on the next table. “I need to get to work.”

“Frank, Vega, Elly, come in,” Colonel Breaker said through the comms unit behind their ears. “I need you all on the bridge as soon as you are able.”

“Roger that,” Frank said, forcing himself to move one foot in front of the other. He should have known getting back to the ship didn’t mark an end to his responsibilities.

The trio made their way back to the Ryker’s bridge together. Colonel Breaker and Sava waited for them. They had foregone the stint in the medical bay despite the wounds they both received in the fight.

Sava moved with a limp and had dried blood on the left side of her face. Colonel Breaker had removed his helmet and his loosened shirt showed where he had wrapped his own broken ribs.

“You all did one hell of a job out there today,” he said as they entered the bridge. “I mean that. I’ve worked with the very best and I think they’d be hard pressed to provide a better result than what we accomplished on the battlefield this day.”

“Thank you,” Vega said, moving to lean against the left wall of the bridge. “Any loss we could have received would be too many, but they gave their lives for a purpose we have seen fulfilled. The Chaos Lord is no more.”

“He is no more,” Sava said, looking down on her own glowing vambraces. “However, it seems the Light still has need for us. We have neutralized this threat, but others, it appears, still remain.”

“With two-thirds of our force KIA or wounded, we need to return back to Britannia and the gateway.” Colonel Breaker rubbed at his bloodshot eyes. “We’ll take the Lucy. Once we’re back there, we can open channels back to our home worlds, and discuss a new course of action and next steps.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Let’s use the time we have on the return trip to rest and lick our wounds,” Colonel Breaker said, looking at Frank. “Unless I’m wrong, we’ll be needed again soon.”

Later that night, after the triage wounds had been treated and most had bathed and changed, the ship held a moment’s celebration and reverence for all who fought and gave their life for the victory. Amidst the Draconians who stood with a fist over their chest staring into the starry sky, Frank saw Laloid and Miriam, who wiped a single tear from his eye. Vega, in her golden and ivory robe, led the Neeve at full attention with their arms straight at their sides and heads held high. The four remaining members of Marine Space Corps One saluted for Major Lucy Lopez.

In the dark sky, a twenty-one gun salute of exploding showers of laser fire punctuated the ceremony.

30

Frank took the colonel’s advice on the trip back to Britannia. He slept as much as he could and ate a month’s worth of rations. The time he had with Vega was more precious to him than any amount of money he could imagine. The two spent as much time as they could with one another when Vega wasn’t fulfilling her duties as the empress and Frank wasn’t studying with Sava.

Something was bothering the Draconian Arilion Knight. It was the morning that they were supposed to arrive back at Britannia that she finally told him what it was.

The two were practicing creating constructs less common in a training room aboard the previously-owned Chaos warship. The room was a ten-square-meter space with training equipment stations along the perimeter of the room and a coal colored exercise mat in the middle.

“You’re quicker with your constructs now,” Sava said as Frank brought a sword to his right hand and a crossbow to his other. “The more you practice with weapons you are unfamiliar with, the better and stronger you will become.”

“Yeah, I just have to learn how to fly now and then we’ll be cooking with gasoline.” Frank grinned.

Sava cocked her horned head to the side and blinked her single eye.

“Gasoline,” Frank said to her, as if by repeating the word, it would somehow make her understand its meaning. “It’s a liquid that fuels vehicles of—never mind. But are we going to address the elephant in the room anytime soon? I’ve waited for you to tell me on your own, but we’re reaching your home planet in the next few hours and you still haven’t said anything.”

“What would you like to know?” Sava said, constructing a Punisher GS2000 into her hands with a satisfied grin.

“Come on,” Frank prodded. “I don’t know if it’s because of the bond we share as Arilion or it’s just that obvious to me; either way, it’s clear that when you were in a coma, the Light said something to you.”

Sava moved to open her mouth.

Before she got a word out, Frank lifted his hands in sign of surrender. “If you don’t want to tell me exactly what it is, I’m okay with that. However, if it’s something that’s going to affect both of us, I’d like to know what we’re about to step in.”

Sava allowed the rifle she was practicing with to evaporate from her grip. She crossed her muscular arms over her chest in deep thought. She stared at Frank with an eye full of contemplation before she began.

“You are right. What the Light told me is for me alone, but if I seem worried, it is because I am. The universe is a large place, always expanding. Then there is what lies beyond our known universe. If our vambraces still glow, then we are still needed to combat other growing evil that no one else can.” Sava stopped to pace around the room. “You and I are not enough to police the universe, Frank, as ferocious as we may be. We will need to find more. Other vambraces will have activated around the universe on planets, calling on others who are worthy to carry the mantle of Arilion Knights.”

Frank stopped what he was doing, his own constructs starting to vanish as he realized what Sava was getting at.

“You want to start our own intergalactic army?” Frank asked, trying to wrap his mind around what that would even look like. “Our own corps?”

“When the Chaos Wars began, the Arilion Knights formed their own force,” Sava explained. “They conducted themselves much like you Marines. They had their own headquarters, their own rank structure, their own training guidelines and rules.”

“And you want to do the same thing?”

“It’s not so much what I want anymore as what needs to be done,” Sava corrected. “When we arrive on Britannia and you return to Earth, I fear we must not linger long. There is work to be done. A new order of Arilion Knights must rise to combat any and all threats that exist in the universe. It is left to you and me to find these Arilion Knights spread amongst the stars and train them.”

Frank thought on Sava’s words for a few moments. The task of finding, training, and housing an intergalactic fighting force was daunting to say the least. Anyone in their right mind would have second thoughts. Frank understood he should be worried, but a sick little part of him was excited to take on the challenge. Plus, if left without guidance from other Arilion Knights, the new members would be lost, alone, and possibly a target for other adversaries of the Light.

“You are uncharacteristically silent, Frank Wolffe,” Sava said, studying him with her one good eye. “Feline rip off your mouth muscle?”

“It’s ‘cat got your tongue.’” Frank smiled as he corrected his mentor. “Where did you hear that anyway?”

“I heard Elly say it to her Momo,” Sava answered. “What are you thinking?”

“I think that I need to visit my parents,” Frank said, remembering his father and his sick mother he had gone without seeing for far too many years. “Then I think it’s time we build an army.”

Sava grinned a sharp, toothy smile of approval. “It is good to hear you say those words. Now you said you wanted to learn how to fly?”

31

Out of respect, the sphere room on Britannia had been given to Frank and Vega to bid their farewells. The archway swirled with multicolor fog, providing an entrance back to Vega’s home world of Atmos. Her Neeve warriors had already gone through and were waiting for her on the other side.

As soon as she left, Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps One would travel back to Earth, but for now, in these last few minutes together, they were alone. Frank was trying to get at something, but he was having a difficult time doing so.

Why is it so hard to talk about your feelings? I feel like it’s physically difficult to say what I feel, Frank thought to himself as he cleared his throat. It’s like I’m walking through emotion mud.

“You look like you want to say something to me, Frank Wolffe,” Vega said with a playful smile on her full lips. “What is it?”

She wore a dress of white trimmed with gold thread, the sigil of her house, House Thunder, expertly crafted into a necklace that hung just below her collarbone. A scratch on her left shoulder and a bruise under her right eye were the only remnants of the battle on her body; her armor had kept her well protected during the battle with the Chaos army.

“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” Frank breathed a deep sigh.

“Why would I do that?” Vega grinned. “It’s far too amusing to see you like this. You didn’t look this scared, even when you were facing down a towering Chaos Lord made of black smoke and hate.”

“Fair point,” Frank said, taking Vega’s hands in his own. “I just want to say that when I get back to Earth, I’m not going to be seeing anyone else. And that I plan on coming to see you as soon as I can.”

You blurted those words out way too fast, Frank thought to himself. Are your hands sweating? What, are you in high school?

“I don’t plan to date anyone besides my boyfriend,” Vega said, squeezing Frank’s hands in her own. “We’ll figure this out. We’ll find a way for an empress and a knight to have a relationship worlds apart.”

Frank drew in Vega, kissing her first on the lips, then placing a final soft caress on her forehead.

“I can’t wait to see what the future has for both of us,” Frank said as he held Vega close, taking in the scent of her hair, the shape of her body against his, and the warmth shared between them once more.

End Book Three

Epilogue

Traypock Galaxy, Planet Nova Prime, District Six.

Why the shining purple vambraces had chosen someone as old as he was, Yur’l had no idea. Why they had activated now, what exactly he was supposed to do, or if he was alone were questions that plagued his aged mind since they had appeared to him the day before.

Of course he had heard the legends of the Arilion Knights. They were the military corps of intergalactic heroes that patrolled the galaxy. After defeating the evil seeking to consume the universe in what was now referred to as the Chaos War, they were looked on as heroes, made up from every planet.

This was all something that happened so long ago, even the history books on Nova Prime were phasing the stories out of their required reading. Yur’l had been sitting in his overstuffed recliner staring at the picture of his wife and daughter that hung on his main quarter’s room mantel, their spirit and beauty evident in their matching sparkling eyes as they embraced in a shared laugh. They had been his everything in life, and as much as it pained him to think about them, he refused to let the memories of his girls fade into oblivion.

One second he was twirling the pencil in his hands as he worked on his crossword puzzle looking for a slang word to describe the Gleason’s taloned feet six characters across while he sat in the same cozy, thick chair, since the doctor had told him keeping his brain occupied would be good for his health in his advanced years, the next he was being accosted. The purple vambraces burst through his apartment window. The alien symbols that crisscrossed the pieces of leather-laced armor were foreign to him, although they did tickle at the back of his mind, begging some recognition in the deep recesses of his memory.

Great, Yur’l thought to himself. I not only groan every time I get off the couch now, but I’m going senile. Are there really glowing vambraces on my arms or am I imagining all of this?

There was no getting-to-know-you phase; they just slipped onto his forearms. Yur’l worried about what the appearances of the vambraces could mean for a full day. He read every article or book he could find on the Arilion Knights in his personal library, but they all chronicled the Order. There was no how-to guide on actually becoming one. There was no Arilion helpline to contact either.

After a day of worrying about it and not getting any answers Yur’l decided to contact the local authorities. Maybe they would have a suggestion, or at least an idea on what he was supposed to do. The Gleason pressed his white-feathered head against the receiver. He looked past his orange beak and marveled at the vambraces once more.

They fit perfectly on his forearms as if they had always meant to be there.

“District Six, field office, how may I direct your call?” a female voice squawked on the other end of the line.

“Oh, yes, hello.” Yur’l took a moment to gather himself. “How are you doing today?”

“I’m fine, sir. Is there something I can help you with?” The voice on the other end didn’t sound appreciative of Yur’l’s polite opening to the conversation. She removed the receiver from her mouth to yell at someone nearby. “Oh, for crying out loud, get him in the cell before he pees all over the place, K’arl.”

“One of those days, huh?” Yur’l asked, finding it rather nice to have someone to talk with. “You know, when you start getting up there in age, your bladder isn’t what it used to be.”

“Sir,” the female voice asked again, drawing out every word, “we are very busy over here at the office, and if you don’t have an emergency or at least a question, I’m going to have to let you go.”

“No, no.” Yur’l ruffled the white feathers covering his body and clicked his beak together. “I do. You see, err—I’ve come into possession of a—of some glowing vambraces, and I’m not sure what to do.”

“Mmm hmmm,” the woman said, unfazed in the least. “Sir, I’m going to ask you politely, and with all due respect, have you been prescribed medication, and if so, are you taking the recommended dose of said medication?”

“Oh, you think I’m loony?” Yur’l said, taken aback for the slightest moment before he chirped laughter. “I guess I can’t blame you. I’d think the same thing if someone called and told me what I’m telling you. The truth is, I think I might be an Arilion Knight or most likely there’s been some kind of mix-up.”

“A what now, sir?” The woman sounded in disbelief. He was sure she was about to hang up at any second. “A what kind of knight?”

“What’s your name?”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong talon. What’s your name?”

“I’m Officer Athin.”

“Thank you,” Yur’l said, gathering himself to start over. “Officer Athin, my name is Yur’l Ol and I’d like to come in and show you what I’ve found. Or rather, what has found me. I just need some guidance, and if they are what I think they are, I believe I should turn them over to the authorities.”

“Mmm hmmm,” Officer Athin said, hopefully thinking over the proposition. “Okay, sir. You come on in and we’ll see what you’d like to turn over to the field office.”

“Oh, thank you,” Yur’l said, trying to get a chuckle out of Officer Athin before he hung up. “I’ll bring a mop and a bucket of hot soapy water to wash down your floors too.”

“Mmm hmmm,” Officer Athin said. “You do that, sir.”

The line went dead. Although Yur’l didn’t get exactly what he wanted out of the conversation, it felt good to talk to someone on the other end of the phone that wasn’t one of his many doctors. It seemed as the years piled on, so too did his list of physicians and never-ending rotation of making and going to appointments. There was his general physician, then the one who helped with a growth on his right talon, then the feather specialist, and of course where would he be without the cardiologist.

“Well, there we have it,” Yur’l said out loud to himself as he looked down at his purple glowing vambraces. “If you are what I think you are, then the authorities should be the ones wielding your power, not an old geezer like me. If you’re a figment of my imagination, then they’ll set me right at the field office as well.”

Yur’l went to the small closet in his not-much-larger single-room apartment. After the death of his wife and daughter, there had been no need for a large home. Yur’l was a simple being, a creature of habit, and he didn’t mind that.

He went to the closet right off his dining and living area and pulled out an old leather case. The cracked leather reminded him of himself; too many wrinkles from a life he did his best to endure. He remembered vividly when his wife had handed him the briefcase at his promotion celebration. It was also the night she had told him she was pregnant with their sweet Karl’yn.

Memories such as these were a double-bladed knife that pierced his heart on a daily basis. They were painful beyond any level of physical pain he had ever endured, but what was the other option? To forget his girls altogether? That wasn’t an option at all, not to Yur’l.

Yur’l knelt on the floor with a pop of his left hip. Carefully, he removed the vambraces from his feathered forearms, a few greyed feathers falling in the process, and placed them inside the briefcase. The entire act seemed wrong. His Irys would have told him he was crazy for doubting fate. “You can never outrun fate or time,” she’d say. Somewhere deep down, he knew the vambraces were intended for him. Why, was still an unanswered question, but the way they called to him was undeniable.

“You’re being silly,” Yur’l said, talking to himself out loud again, something that had become a daily habit. He closed the sable briefcase on the vambraces, clicking the bronze clasps shut. “You’re doing the right thing here. Better get going before the sun goes down.”

It was already late in the day when Yur’l left his little apartment and started the trip to the field office. It would take him just over an hour to reach the field office walking, but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t exactly as if his calendar was filled with important dinner parties or invitations to go out with friends these days. Or even with casual events, for that matter.

On the agenda that night was a cold dinner and maybe another crossword puzzle. The start of a new sci-fi western called Darklanding if he was feeling especially frisky.

Yur’l left his apartment with a long, tan coat and the briefcase. If he held a steady pace, he would make it to the field office before sundown. More than likely, he would just call a cab to take him back home or maybe he would walk. Who knows, maybe a night stroll would do him some good.

Yur’l left his apartment building block and made his way through the streets of District Six. There was little foot traffic on the sidewalks and even less shuttle traffic. Since his city was one of the major locations on his planet where technology had grown by leaps and bounds, the citizens of District Six had been early adopters.

Means of transportation now were mostly through teleportation devices. Large cargo that needed to be hauled from point A to point B was mostly done so through the air by large vehicles controlled by machines. Anyone who was walking these days was either too poor to afford a teleportation device, wanted to exercise, or for the very few, like Yur’l, who actually just wanted to walk.

The city was as safe as any other; bright street lamps took over for the twin suns in the sky as they fell past the horizon. Shop signs helped to illuminate the darkness as well. Yur’l had never seen or been part of a physical confrontation in his city. That was why he was more than surprised when he heard a muffled scream for help.

He could have passed it off as a trick of his ears, the sound of the robotically flown ships overhead, or the electrical flickering of the street lamps, but he knew what he heard. It sounded like the beginning of a woman’s scream before a hand was clamped over her mouth.

Yur’l gripped his briefcase closer. A glance up and down the street told him he was alone for the moment. No pedestrians were present, just the light hum of vehicles traveling overhead. The field office was still a good forty-minute walk from where he stood. If anything was afoot, it would be up to him to resolve the situation.

“Let go of me!”

The shout was unmistakable this time. Yur’l stood at the beginning of a street corner. A tall brick building on his right was interspersed with a wide alley before the next building rose to the darkening sky above. The woman’s voice came from this backstreet.

Yur’l calmed his nerves. The woman’s voice reminded him of Karl’yn’s. He knew it couldn’t be her; his daughter was long dead. Anyone who has lost someone close to them can understand that at any given time, a stranger’s face, a passing laugh, or comment can remind you of your deceased loved one. The mind will assure this cannot be the case, but the heart will always skip a beat and still beg a glance of reassurance.

Yur’l’s taloned feet crossed the building on his right. He peered down the dark alleyway. Near the rear, past the garbage receptacles, he could see a group of young Gleason men cornering a young female. Her dark feathers were shining bright, and her fitted exercise clothing told Yur’l why she would be out in the first place.

The group of four Gleason cornering her wore a mix of old tattered clothing. One of them was missing patches of feathers from his face and head, another’s beak had been broken in a few different places and never set right.

“Hello there, friends,” Yur’l said, clearing his throat and making his presence known. “Is there something going on here I might be able to help with?”

All four of the male Gleason’s necks jerked to look over at Yur’l along with the female. She was the first to find her voice.

“Yes, they won’t leave me alone. And won’t let me leave the alley,” she pleaded with Yur’l. “I told them I don’t have any money.”

“Who are you?” One of the poorly dressed males walked over to Yur’l, shaking his tail feathers. “You some kind of field employee or something?”

“Who, me?” Yur’l looked down at his tan trench coat and briefcase. He did look the part. It suddenly came to him that a lie in this particular instance might not be the worst thing he could offer. “Yes, that’s right. I’m a district employee. Now what’s going on here? I need you to stop harassing that young lady and move along.”

The woman tried squeezing by her group of assailants, but they weren’t convinced yet.

“Aren’t you kind of old to be a district officer?” the Gleason with the broken beak chirped.

“Yeah, where’s your badge?” the lead Gleason asked.

“Well, ummm…” That was all the bluffing Yur’l had in him. If he was honest with himself, he was surprised he had gotten this far on the initial lie. He looked at the young woman. “Run!”

Courage Yur’l had never possessed before sprang to life in his chest. He did the most heroic and stupidest thing he could think of. He lunged forward, putting his own body between the four male Gleasons and their prey.

The victim sprang forward as if she had been waiting for him to do something like this the entire time and hightailed it out of the alley. Yur’l, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. The only thing he had going for him was the element of surprise. As feather hands reached for the female Gleason, Yur’l batted them away with his arms and the briefcase he still held in his right hand.

With practically no effort, Yur’l was knocked to the hard ground. His head bounced off the gravel, breaking his thin skin and sending a gush of blood down the right side of his face, staining his dappled feathers. He saw the back of the young female Gleason as she disappeared out of the alley’s mouth.

At least she got away, Yur’l told himself as he was hauled to his feet. Karl’yn would have been close to her same age if she were still alive.

“Get him to his feet,” the leader and balding Gleason told the others. “He’s going to pay for making us lose our score.”

Two of the other Gleason roughly grabbed Yur’l and hauled him to a standing position. Each one held an arm fast, their grip more than enough to pin back the elderly birdlike being. The Gleason with the broken beak picked up his brown briefcase and began opening the locks.

“No.” Yur’l was surprised by the strength in his voice. “That’s not for you.”

“Shut up, you old windbag.” The Gleason in front of him struck him across his short beak and then again in his stomach.

Yur’l sagged like a bag of bricks, sucking in wind. He was sure he had heard something crack in his ribs.

“Ummm, you birds might want to take a look at this,” the broken-beaked Gleason said to the others.

Through the pain and blood in his eyes, Yur’l could see the faces of his four attackers bathed in the purple light of the vambraces. Their eyes were wide in wonder as they looked to one another and then back to the vambraces.

Yur’l wasn’t sure where the fight came from; maybe it had always lived inside of him, maybe it was something that had developed over the years at the loss of his wife and daughter. Whatever it was woke inside of him now and pushed him back to his feet.

“Those aren’t yours,” Yur’l said, extending his feathered arms forward. The vambraces lifted from the case, maneuvering around the Gleason, and came to rest on his forearms.

“Are you all seeing this or am I high off those mulch crystals?” the lead Gleason asked his accomplices.

“I’m seeing it too,” the broken-beaked Gleason said. “Whatever they are, I bet they’re valuable. Get him!”

Yur’l wasn’t really sure what he was expecting. That the vambraces would automatically protect him, that he would be impervious to the oncoming blows? He wasn’t.

He tried to shield himself with the vambraces as well as he could, but after a pitiful few strikes to his head and body, he was bleeding more and on his knees again. Yur’l spat out a mouthful of blood. Breathing came hard and the soreness his body had already sustained was incapacitating.

“Just kill him and get this over with,” one of the other Gleasons said.

“You’re right.” The broken-beaked Gleason produced a shank from somewhere deep in the rear of his pants. “Time to die, old timer.”

Yur’l knew he had to have a concussion. Through the sweat and blood matted in the feathers around his eyes, he looked past the group of four Gleason down the mouth of the alley. A sort of large female reptile stood there. She glowed in purple light with vambraces of her own, and only one eye looked back at him. A metal patch covering the other eye reflected the ultraviolet light

The shank descended on Yur’l in slow motion. The thing was, it never reached his throat. Someone stopped it. An alien with short dark hair wearing jet black armor and leather vambraces of his own intervened. The stranger stopped the killing blow with his right hand clamping down on the Gleason’s.

The Gleason shrieked in pain as an audible popping sound accompanied the breaking of his hand in the newcomer’s grip.

“He’s with us,” the stranger said.

Jonathan Yanez Author Note

Well, we did it. I’m talking about you reading all three novels and myself along with JR Castle writing them. I’m sitting here at my kitchen table trying to think of the right words to write to you. I just finished my final pass of book three and the feeling is one part exhaustion the other peace. I guess that would be the right word.

I’m a raging force of “give me something to do” and when I’m working on a book, I drive myself to finish by channeling my will and getting the job done. You like what I did there? I’ve been working seven days a week along with training at the gym four times a week and taking care of my little Arilion Knight fulltime and I am ready for a break.

Hold up. Actually, I am going to go back and write an epilogue piece for this book to give you a little teaser of what is in store next for Frank and the gang. After that, then I’ll take a breather, maybe watch some shows I’ve been putting on the back burner like the Shannara Chronicles season two or Jessica Jones season two, or sleep, yeah, sleep would be nice.

Knowing me, I’ll be bored of TV or video games after a day or two off from writing and get back into it. Next on my writing hit list is a free short story to give away. I want to do a free short in the Gateway to the Galaxy series showing what the first Chaos War looked like or maybe other Arilion Knights and how they trained.

One of my good author friends has expressed interest in writing in this new universe. She brings a huge following with her. She’s an amazing person and writer and I hope everything goes well and we can get her books out soon.

I have another book I want to write in this universe with the Arilion Knight from Earth. If you remember, Frank is the Arilion Knight chosen on Atmos. Wouldn’t it be cool to see who is protecting our world? I think so too.

Those projects will keep me busy for a few months, but then I have to dive into the second trilogy in our main series. What would books four through six look like in Gateway to the Galaxy? Maybe a rival Knight faction would emerge? Maybe a different color vambrace could be forged? You didn’t hear that from me. Shhhhh…

Life outside of writing right now is redoing our yards and preparing for my daughter’s two year birthday. Jo (Josephine) is going to have an old school circus themed birthday. Not freaky clowns, but old, old school like when the circus first started with the strong man and the guy with the red coat and top hat.

I installed sprinklers in the backyard and we’re going to put in new grass. When we first moved into our home just over two years ago, we wanted to work on the inside before doing the backyard and front lawn. I suffer from the disease of not wanting to pay someone else for something I can do myself. Yeahhhh, about that. Putting in sprinklers was a beast. Chopping down, digging up the tree in our backyard was a test of my own will. I did both, but I think I’m going to bite the bullet and pay for someone to lay the sod in the backyard and mulch my front yard. I’d rather spend that time with my family and working on our next book.

If you’ve been reading my author notes, you know I always end with the same invitation to connect. Without readers and friends like you, I’m a writer trying to support his family. With my pack, I’m able to do just that. I have two options for you to stay in the loop.

1) I have a private group on Facebook I created for all of us to hang out. There are over a hundred likeminded readers who enjoy everything you do. We’re there just sharing cool new books, movies and the occasional meme. Join The Pack here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1944447962437071/

2) I know some readers don’t like using Facebook and/or would rather just receive an email with info when new books are out. I totally get that. If you’d like to be part of The Pack via our newsletter, you can go to www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the ranks.

Well, I’m off to tuck Jo in and pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow. I’m grateful for you wolves out there. It’s because of you supporting my writing that I can do what I love for a living.

See you on the other side,

Jonathan

JR Castle Author Note

There’s no such thing as a one-man army. It takes a village to raise a child (finding this out the not-so-easy way). And apparently, it takes a team to break some Amazon records.

With the diligent work of my co-author, support of family, artwork from one talented artist, fastidious editors, and the enthusiastic help of some fantastic Reading Wolves, Gateway to the Galaxy’s first series has had books in the top of the charts for these first few weeks. Not going to lie, I’m impressed.

Want to know something even crazier? I was on Amazon’s top 100 Kindle Sci Fi authors. Me. With my first series. Because of YOU. Fantastic, guys! You made my year epic and it’s only March. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

So what’s next, you may ask. Well, my crazy co-author wants to hit the grind again. I tried to explain that I can’t remember the last time I showered or slept. He insisted I smelled fine and handed me another cup of coffee. After some negotiation, we agreed to draft the next three books in Frank Wolffe’s story to have them released soon. All is right in the world.

Well, if we’re being honest, all is NOT right in the world. I won’t wax poetic on the state of the United States, of world politics, of the great divide in the Human Development Index, human trafficking, or the environment. But, what I will say is that I’m thankful for the brief moments we can escape to faraway lands and galaxies. Whether it be Middle Earth, Oberon galaxy, Jumanji, Coral or even streets of pure gold, we can take a moment to be somewhere else–or be someone else–before jumping back to reality and maybe do one thing to make the world around us just a little better.

Frank had to grapple with a similar personal conundrum. Would he dismiss the possibilities that lay beyond the life he knew and had created, would he say, “Not my monkeys, not my circus” and leave the edge of the galaxy to the hands of the Lord of Chaos, would he fall ninety-nine times and stay down? Or, would he rise up on that 100th round and say, “Send me–I’ll be the difference maker”? Fortunately for Frank, this battle was a classic light-versus-dark story. It won’t always be that clear cut. Life isn’t clear cut.

We hope to put him through the wringer in this next series arc. I’m looking forward to the suffering, perseverance, character, and, ultimately, the hope to come. I know you are too.

We’ve shared so much. If you’d like to stay in touch, I’d be honored. Connect with me via email here.

Goodbye my loooove,

jr castle

The Academy

Book One of the New Arilion Knights Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Kimberly Grenfell

Cover Illustrator – Christian Bentulan

For everyone who has gotten knocked down and refused to stay there. This one is for you.

- Jonathan Yanez

Prologue

“We have to go now.”

“She knows that. For pity’s sake, give her a moment.”

Tistan Duel ignored the arguing voices of her two companions. All that was in her blurred vision was the sight of her newborn daughter. Compared to the small miracle she cuddled in her arms, the rest of the world fell away into a quiet oblivion.

Her daughter was asleep and perfectly content, her tiny chest rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm. How a blanket so small could contain something so pure was lost on Tistan. How a being so helpless and fragile had the power to brighten her day or fill her heart with hope for the future was a mystery.

A war was being waged deep inside Tistan. On one side, what she knew she must do. On the opposite side, motherly instinct begging her to abandon all reason.

If not for a simple truth, her decision would remain deadlocked. But the truth was glaring her in the face: her daughter would have no place amongst her mother’s people. She would be looked on as a half-breed. What kind of life would she have? It was only Tistan’s inability to say goodbye that made her still embrace the bundle in her arms.

“I’ll always be watching over you,” Tistan whispered. She nuzzled the baby’s tiny nose with her own. “I love you with everything I am, my star.”

The warrior spirit living in Tistan was humbled and then broken in that moment. What dozens of enemies and battles failed to achieve was accomplished by the most unsuspecting of infants. Hot tears fell down Tistan’s cheeks and onto chubby feet below.

Further words were unnecessary. If they were, Tistan didn’t have them. Tistan understood it was time. She pulled the soft, pink blanket over the exposed feet of her daughter.

A hollow feeling, as if her insides were being carved out, consumed Tistan. She placed her daughter in the crib. Leaning over the railing, she kissed the baby on the brow one last time.

Tistan’s lips left the soft forehead of her daughter. The baby released a contented sigh from her tiny lungs, followed by the tiniest fart that ever existed.

No one had to tell Tistan; she would never be able to love another being like this again. Perhaps she would be capable of love one day, but not like this. Never like this.

“The sleeping potion we gave her mate will wear off soon,” Drown’s harsh voice came once again. “Our window of opportunity is closing.”

“Tistan.” Slain placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder. “We must be going soon. Take comfort that you are doing the best thing for your daughter. She’ll grow up in a world she understands, with a father who loves her.”

Tistan turned from the crib, abandoning not only her newborn daughter, but also the very best part of her. “Let’s go.”

Without another word, the spies exited the home and disappeared into the night.

1

Fifteen Years Later

I need to talk to you. I’ll meet you tonight, where you gaze at the stars.

That was it. Emma stared at her phone, half confused there wasn’t more to the message, half in shock anyone had texted her at all. Mrs. Debbie Drawls, the English teacher, carried on, oblivious to any snoozing student or side conversations taking place in the classroom.

Emma swallowed hard. She could list on one hand the number of names in her phone and one of them was her own. What was more concerning was the number the text message had been sent from. A “0” was the only clue to the identity of her mystery person.

How did this person know where she looked up at the stars? Not even her father knew how many times she stole to the top of their roof, wrapped in a blanket to enjoy the wonder that came with the night sky.

Sweat dampened Emma’s palms as she texted the number back. The phone was inconspicuously placed in her lap below her desk, barely visible if she tilted her head down at just the right angle.

Sorry, I think you have the wrong number.

There. That should be the end of that, right? Emma took a deep breath, surprised by how a single text could pull her into such a state of panic. Emma licked dry lips. She took a deep breath, readjusting her attention on Mrs. Drawls. She moved to place her phone back into her pocket. Before she could, it vibrated again.

I know this is confusing, Emma. Trust me, I’m a friend.

A gasp escaped her lips, bringing all eyes in the room zeroing in on her. Emma felt heat rise to her face. What she wouldn’t give to sink into her seat, or better yet, become invisible altogether. So far this year, she had managed just that. But not now.

“What was that Miss… Miss…” Mrs. Drawls hesitated while she searched her databanks for Emma’s last name.

How much of an outcast did you have to be for your own teacher not to remember your name?

“J-Jackson.” Emma cleared her throat. “It … it’s Emma Jackson.”

“Of course.” Mrs. Drawls shrugged off the topic as if she’d remembered her name all along. “Miss Jackson, did you have something you wanted to share with the rest of us?”

“No … no, ma’am.” Emma wished for the hundredth time any kind of public speaking required of her wasn’t accompanied by shaky words. “I-I’m sorry.”

Snickering rolled through the class just above a whisper.

“You’re a good student.” Mrs. Drawls turned back to her famous rant that followed the final exam of the year. “Don’t ruin it on the last day of class.”

Out of her peripheral vision, Emma caught sight of Amber and Christina, the two girls who sat next to her who were now sharing a quiet laugh. The latest form of cyber bullying to wash over Triton High School was seeing who could snap a picture and create a cruel meme the fastest.

Amber was openly showing her latest meme—a picture of Emma taken only seconds ago while she spoke with Mrs. Drawls. The image was of her side profile, her uncharacteristically pointed ears peeking through long, blonde hair. The caption read, “Um … um, my ears are s-sorry, too.”

Emma took a deep, internal sigh. What was better: to be bullied at school, or not to have anyone take notice of you at all? For the longest time, Emma had prayed for the latter. Now that she had achieved anonymity, she wasn’t so sure. There were only two days left of freshman year and Emma hadn’t made a single friend. None who would last. At least there was always the janitor, Alan, who had a smile for everyone, or the obligatory lab partner who spoke only when spoken to.

The school bell rang, drowning out Mrs. Drawls. Students who seemed almost catatonic while school was in session now moved like lightning to pack up their books and head for the door.

“Remember,” Mrs. Drawls said closing her own book, “even though you are done with my final, you still have one more day left of class. Study diligently and apply yourselves.”

Emma gathered her belongings and moved into the current of swarming students mobbing the school halls. Everyone was in a hurry to meet up with friends. Dozens of conversations erupted all around Emma, most on who planned to do what for the coming summer vacation.

As always, Emma walked by herself, catching bits and pieces of passing chatter.

“Did you hear Julie Anne’s parents have a timeshare on the river…”

“Donna and Shirley are coming, too. I wonder if their boyfriends will make it…”

Emma had a clear view of the front doors. She was a half-head taller than most girls her age, yet another reason she had been singled out at the beginning of the school year to be the brunt of jokes.

Before she knew it, Emma was outside. Hot California sun beamed down on her. Her sneakers carried her down the sidewalk to her home, undisturbed. She still couldn’t tell whether she enjoyed living three blocks from her high school or not. The short trip made for extra sleep in the morning but allowed for little excuse if she was ever tardy.

Her mind wandered back to the cryptic text messages she received while in class. If it was a mistake, how had the person known her name? Could that also be a coincidence, that they’d guessed her name? What were the odds of that?

For a brief moment, Emma thought about sending another text, but her father’s voice interrupted her train of thought.

“There she is. How was school today, Killer? Did you crack a few skulls?”

“Oh, yeah, Dad, that’s exactly what I did.”

“That’s my girl.” Mr. Jackson straddled a ladder near the front door, a power drill in one hand, a small camera in the other.

“Trying to catch your mystery man?” Emma stopped by the ladder, placing both hands on a chest high rung to steady her father’s slight sway. “You know, it could be a woman. You should just invite her in. When’s the last time you went out on a date?”

The whirl of the drill brought a pause to the conversation.

“There.” Mr. Jackson looked down at his daughter with a mischievous grin. “How do you know I haven’t been sneaking off on dates? I’ll have you know, Miss Starling thinks I’m quite a catch.”

“Our ninety-year-old neighbor, Miss Starling?” Emma returned her father’s playful grin. “I think that’s just her cataracts talking, Dad.”

“I know.” Mr. Jackson climbed down the ladder and took a step back to admire his work. “If only she were fifty years younger.”

“Ewww, that’s so gross.” Emma shook her head, her previous grin twisting into a grimace. “Too far.”

Mr. Jackson shrugged. “Well, my dating life aside, if there’s anyone creeping around here at night, we’ll catch them now. I installed a light on the other corner. It’ll go off if it detects motion.”

“Cameras, motion-detecting lights … what’s next, a home security system?”

“Don’t tempt me.” Mr. Jackson had that look on his face again, the one not exactly worried but intrigued.

“You thought you saw a shadow a few times.” Emma walked to the front door. “But that was all. It was probably nothing.”

“Maybe.” Mr. Jackson crossed his arms. “But you said you felt it, too. Like someone’s been watching us.”

Emma’s hand paused midway to the door, a snarky remark already on her lips, though the truth in what her father said had silenced her.

2

“Have you given any more thought on how you want to spend your summer?” The question Mr. Jackson asked was the beginning of an ongoing debate between father and daughter, one that still had no peaceful conclusion. “There’s plenty of hip camps, or you could always get a totally cool part-time job.”

“You’re butchering the dialect of my youth.” Emma looked up from her desk where she sat, studying for her finals. “I don’t know yet.”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Mr. Jackson said, walking into his daughter’s room and flopped, face-up, on her bed. “But you need to get out more. I can’t believe I’m saying this, maybe get into some trouble.”

“Wait, what?” Emma turned in her seat to give him her full attention. The image of her bearded, muscular father lying on her pink down comforter brought a smile to her lips. “You want me to get arrested?”

“Hey.” Her father sat bolt upright as if Emma’s words had sent a current of electricity through him. “I didn’t say get into trouble with the law. I’m just saying get out, make some friends, come home an hour later than curfew. Heck, who are we kidding, Em? At least stay out until curfew.”

“Oh boy, here we go.” Emma turned back to studying. “We’re about to embark on the whole ‘making friends is good for you’ talk, aren’t we?”

In a small, circular mirror she kept on her dresser, Emma could see her father get up from her bed and walk toward her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the back of her head.

“I love you, kid, but if you don’t bring a friend or two home soon, I’m going to start having to make some for you.” Mr. Jackson caught her eye in the mirror with a sly smile. “And who knows how that will go? I might even get arrested for trying to befriend high school freshmen. Just tell me you’ll give some serious thought to a camp or a job this summer. It’ll be good for you, Em, trust me.”

“I’ll give it a shot.” Emma placed her right hand on top of her father’s. “Oh, and Dad, can you promise me one thing?”

It was clear the request had caught her father off guard. The silly grin disappeared from his lips and his eyes met his daughter’s, full of concern. “What is it, Em?”

“Can you let me do the cooking for tomorrow night’s dinner? My colon could really use a break from your famous Shepherd’s Surprise.”

“I would if ‘doing the cooking’ meant something other than calling for a pizza.” Mr. Jackson gave his daughter another kiss before walking to the door. “You’re lucky you’re cute, kid. You’d starve without me.”

“If I call for pizza, I am technically making dinner.”

“Debatable. Don’t stay up too late studying. You’re going to ace the tests anyway.” Mr. Jackson left the room.

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re Emma Jackson,” her father said, his voice carrying down the hall behind him.

3

It was late before Emma closed her final book. Tired eyes focused on the impossible time glaring back at her from her phone: 11:15. Emma stood and stretched on tiptoes, extending her arms high overhead, and let out a deep sigh only hours of studying can bring.

Despite her body’s call for slumber, Emma walked toward her window. It was a clear, warm southern California night, one of those rare nights where the stars were bright despite the suburban city lights. Emma grabbed a light blanket from the foot of her bed for comfort rather than warmth.

She unlatched her second-story window, which provided her a bird’s-eye view over her neighborhood and into the secret lives of her neighbors. Emma’s mind wandered to memories of the neighbor across the street, Mr. Calhoon, a widower who sat with a bottle of whiskey and his wife’s picture almost every night.

Or there was Mrs. Buchterdon, a large woman who lived next to Mr. Calhoon and insisted on wearing the smallest workout outfits she could find while doing aerobics with the blinds open.

Emma felt a shudder race across her body that had nothing to do with the weather.

“Some things you just can’t unsee,” Emma said out loud as she stepped out onto the roof tiles.

Many people would be frightened to journey onto a roof after the sun went down. Footing was tricky; visibility, worse. Emma would be one of these people if she had not followed this exact routine for the last five years.

She was quiet so as to not wake her father, although Emma had a sneaking suspicion that he knew all along. It would be just like him to allow her time to herself and act surprised if and when she ever decided to tell him.

Emma could find her favorite spot on the roof if she were blindfolded. The dark grey shingles protecting the roof from the elements were a welcome sight. Emma reached her favorite spot, a perch just above her own window, where this section of the roof met the brick chimney.

The firmness of the chimney was a comfortable reminder she was safe despite her precarious position. Emma sat down, the blanket loosely over her shoulders. She let out a deep sigh as she stared out into the night sky.

From her childhood, Emma had had a fascination with stars and planets. As she grew older, the solar system on her bedroom ceiling and the pop-up books of the cosmos in her bookshelf were left behind, but the intrigue of the unknown was as strong as ever. Emma felt the social anxiety of school and the stress of exams melt as her eyes played over the many constellations she knew by heart. Even her father’s insistence she find friends, or something to do with her summer, paled in comparison to her view. Emma loved her father and knew he was only trying to help; still, her introverted disposition registered these topics of conversation as tension.

Emma was so wrapped up in the stars above, she failed to notice the figure next to her until it was too late.

“Don’t panic, or you’re going to fall off the roof,” spoke a woman’s voice strangely familiar to Emma, from somewhere to her left.

Despite the warning, Emma felt her body jolt. Fear raced down her spine as her heartbeat intensified. The fight-or-flight conundrum was realized and satisfied at once with an answer of flight.

Streetlights and illumination from the moon and stars provided just enough light to see a tall figure wrapped in shadows.

Emma rose on shaky legs, her back pressed so hard into the brick chimney, she thought she could feel sharp edges digging through her blanket and clothes and into her skin.

At once, the memories of the cryptic texts she received earlier that day flooded back. She should have taken them more seriously. How could she have forgotten them altogether?

“Who … who are you?” Emma managed to say over the sound of her own racing heart. “You were the one texting me today.”

“I did send you those messages.” The woman took a small, nonthreatening step forward. “As for who I am, showing you would be better, but you have to do your best not to scream. If not for your sake, then for your father’s.”

Emma got a better look at her visitor. The woman wasn’t wrapped in shadows; rather, it was a long, hooded cloak. The material was like nothing she had ever seen. It remained still, only adjusting when the woman moved forward. Its color was impossible to tell, but it seemed to change and blend in with the colors around it.

Something the woman had said bothered Emma, to the point she felt anger rise in her chest. “What do you mean, ‘for my father’s sake’?”

“Only that it would be difficult to explain my presence to him. I mean him no harm.”

“Well, who are you?” Emma repeated, her mind already racing to find an escape route. Would it be best to try to make it back into her room? A fall from her roof if she had to jump wouldn’t kill her, would it? “What do you want?”

The woman in front of her reached up and removed her hood.

Emma’s mouth dropped open despite herself. Her legs felt weak. Before she knew what was happening, she was sliding back down the chimney wall.

The woman in front of her wasn’t human at all. Light orange skin covered sharp human-like features. Pointed ears even more severe than Emma’s poked up through a mess of dark orange hair.

“My name is Tistan Duel. I am your mother. I’ve come to take you home.”

4

“You are … I am…” Emma put a hand to her stomach where a deep gurgle erupted. “What did my dad put in that shepherd’s pie?”

“Excuse me?” Tistan took another step forward.

“Nothing.” Emma swallowed hard before regaining her footing. The woman was taller than she’d first thought; six, maybe six-and-a-half feet tall. Dark eyes stared back at her with intrigue.

“I understand this must be a shock for you.” Tistan took a deep sigh, searching for words. “I will explain things to you later. Right now, we must return to—”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Emma’s voice came out higher-pitched than she would have liked. “Are you even human? Why would I believe that you’re my mother? I’m still asleep, aren’t I? This is some kind of mental breakdown or nightmare. Maybe my dad was right. Maybe I need to get out more.”

“I am not human. I am a Halyna from the planet Renia. Sixteen years ago, I was sent here along with two other infiltrators to assess Earth. I fell in love with your father. We were married despite my understanding it was forbidden. When the mission was over and I was called back, I made a decision to return, a decision I have regretted every single day since then.”

“Well, you just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Emma felt the return of the anger she had experienced when she thought her father was being threatened. “My mother was human. She left just after I was born, without so much as a letter.”

Tistan Duel touched her own pointed ears, then pointed to Emma’s. “Yes, I did. And you are every part my daughter, from your features, to the warrior spirit that burns inside you now.”

Emma’s mind was doing cartwheels. This couldn’t be possible, but what other options did she have? Could she—would she—open her mind to the unthinkable truth that this orange-skinned woman could be her mother?

“I’ve played this scenario through in my mind a million times or more.” Tistan shook her head. “None of them work out with your forgiving or believing me right away. Do believe this: that I have come to check on you and your father whenever I can, that I do care for you, Emma, and that I’m here now to protect you.”

“Protect me? Protect me from what?”

“An enemy known as the Shay has taken an interest in Earth. When they come, your planet will fall. Your military is not equipped to handle the invasion. I’ve secured safe transportation to my planet for you.

“Well, that’s just way too much for me to process right now.” Emma shook her head against the oncoming migraine, but the action only made the pain intensify. “Wait, what about my dad? You’re not taking him, too?”

“I can only take one of you at a time.” So far in the conversation, Tistan was nothing short of commanding and blunt. She faltered now, looking down as if suddenly there was something interesting on the roof tiles. “I’m still securing an exit strategy for him.”

“No way.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving my father or—I can’t believe I’m even saying this—my planet.”

Tistan Duel narrowed her eyes at Emma. She crossed her own arms in a similar fashion. “I’m the Captain of intelligence for the Alliance forces, Emma Jackson, a multi-planet coalition formed to combat the Shay. I am not used to my orders being denied or even second-guessed.”

“Well, that sucks for you.” Emma met Tistan’s stare head-on although she couldn’t stop her voice from trembling. “E-Earth’s not part of this alliance, and I’m not one of your minions. I’m not going with you, even if you are my mother.”

The two women stood staring at one another. Emma could tell Tistan was capable of overpowering her if she desired. Even though the cloak covered most of her body, it did not soften the hard lines of a muscular build. It did nothing to mask the intensity in her eyes.

“You are impossibly stubborn, Emma Jackson.” Tistan shook her head. “Forcing you to come with me will do neither one of us any good.”

Emma was revisiting the thought of throwing herself off the roof and hoping for the best, when another idea crossed her mind.

“I get Earth isn’t in this alliance of yours, but why don’t you come and defend us from the Shay?”

“Planets and their inhabitants must be able to defend themselves.” Tistan dismissed the question as if it were one she had already thought of and had to answer herself. “It must be humans who defend their own home.”

“I … I can do it,” Emma spoke, without actually thinking about the repercussions her words would bring.

“That would be unlikely, although I do admire your spirit. The Arilion Knights are the only ones powerful enough to combat the Shay empire in a direct confrontation. Word of their return to the universe has only just reached our ears.”

“I can learn,” Emma said a little too loudly.

Both women halted the conversation to listen for any sound from within the home signaling they had been heard. In the interim, Emma could hear the steady gallop of her own heartbeat. What was she doing? Volunteering to fight for Earth, when she couldn’t even make a single friend all year? Her body was made for unicorn frappuccinos and video games, not training to defend an entire planet.

The silence lengthened until Tistan spoke again.

“You are stubborn like your father.” Tistan held Emma’s eye until it passed from ordinary to uncomfortable. “However, there may be a way.”

Emma’s brain felt like a beehive of activity. There were so many emotions coming and going, and coming again, she couldn’t hold on to more than two or three at a time. Foremost among these were fear, anger, and confusion. At the moment, fear and anger were taking a backseat to confusion.

“If … if I believe this crazy story you’re weaving … I can’t even believe I’m saying this … that you’re an alien and my mother, I should be pretty pissed at you.” For the first time that night, Emma was allowing herself to believe Tistan Duel’s explanation of things. “Growing up without a mom has been hard. I’ve played this scenario out in my mind a thousand times, and none of them allowed for you being orange, but most of them end with me yelling at you, a few where I even say a curse word or two to show you I mean business.”

“I’m not here asking for forgiveness.” Tistan reclaimed her stoic, commanding voice once more. “But if you are willing to fight for your planet, I have a way this can be done. When the Shay attack, they will send a minor reconnaissance team. This team will be small enough for one well-trained warrior to turn. If the Shay deem Earth too costly to overtake, they will move on to another planet.”

Emma swallowed hard. This wasn’t the first time her mouth had landed her in a corner. Already she was having second thoughts. What was she thinking? That she alone could stop an alien invasion?

“There is a place called The Academy where those seeking to defend their planets and the universe from threats such as the Shay learn to hone their skills. Now that the Arilion Order has returned perhaps a few Arilion will even be chosen from the Academy’s ranks.” Tistan tilted her head skyward as if she could see past the visible stars into a much larger universe. “If you begin your training immediately, you should know enough in time to turn the invasion.”

“Okay w-well maybe I spoke too soon, there,” Emma said, trying to keep the stutter out of her voice. “I’m no warrior, I … I don’t even like talking to strangers. Even ordering fast food gives me anxiety.”

“You seemed fine up until now.” Tistan returned her gaze to her daughter. “Perhaps you are only remembering to be frightened and insecure because it is what you imagine you should feel.”

“Nope, nope, I’m pretty sure I’m actually feeling it.” Emma racked her brain for the many reasons she couldn’t go. Despite her efforts, she was surprised to find the possibility of traveling into space exciting. “I mean, I have my last day of finals tomorrow. My dad wants me to get a job or go to a summer camp. My schedule is actually pretty full, now that I think of it.”

“Your finals end tomorrow. I will come collect you here the day after tomorrow. Eight a.m. by your time. Your father wants you to join a camp for the summer? That is the perfect cover for your training.”

“You’re talking like you didn’t hear what I just said.” Emma shook her head furiously as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Emma felt sick to her stomach. “I can’t go. Even if I did, I’m not a fighter.”

“Of course you are, Emma.” Tistan slipped one slender hand from her cloak, revealing what looked like a thick, metal watch on her wrist. “You don’t know how great you are, because you’ve never been required to be. As my daughter, you hail from the most brutal warrior line on Renia. I’ll send you information tomorrow to a space camp your father will approve. The day after tomorrow, don’t be late.”

“No … no that’s not the end of the conversation. I—”

Tistan swiped the pointer finger of her right hand over the watch on her left wrist. There was a brief moment where a soft light twinkled around her, and then she was gone.

Emma stood on the roof by herself, stunned by the course of the night, hating herself for what she had already decided had to be done.

5

“Space camp, huh?” Emma’s father poured himself a generous amount of coffee into a travel mug. “That’s wonderful, Em. This is what I’m talking about. Get out there, have some fun. Where is it?”

Emma sat at the kitchen table, shoveling her sugar-laced cereal into her mouth like an engineer feeding coal into a train’s furnace while the conductor screamed for more speed.

“Oh, it’s not too far. I’ll send you all the information today so you can look it over. I’m running late for school.” Emma said a silent prayer that her years of being a good daughter would pay off now. She hated lying to her father, but wasn’t willing to put him in harm’s way. “If you think it’s okay that I go, I’ll have to leave tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow?” Mr. Jackson’s eyes lit up in surprise, and for the first time, suspicion lined his words. “Why do you have to leave tomorrow, Em? This is kind of sudden, isn’t it?”

“I know.” Emma took a steady breath, reciting the answer she so carefully planned. “I just discovered the program last night. Trust me, I was surprised myself that it existed. It’ll give me a chance to study the stars and galaxies. You know how much I love that stuff.”

Mr. Jackson shrugged on his own backpack. Despite being a history teacher at the local community college, he still preferred the backpack over a briefcase.

Emma knew he was taking the time to think on his daughter’s words. Mr. Jackson turned and held Emma’s gaze.

More than anything, Emma hated having to stare into his eyes, knowing she had told a lie. It wasn’t a total lie, though. Tistan did appear last night, and she was surprised to find out what the alien had to say. She was going to study stars.

Mr. Jackson finally broke the silence. “Send me the info. If everything checks out, I don’t have a problem with you going. You’re a good kid, Em, better than I was. I want you to have a great summer.”

The words were like knives slicing through her soul. Emma broke her father’s gaze by getting up and taking her bowl to the sink. Her breakfast felt like a lump of guilt in her stomach.

“Thanks, Dad.” Emma turned on the sink to rinse off her bowl and spoon. “It means a lot.”

“You got it, Killer.” Mr. Jackson opened the front door. “Want a lift to school?”

“It’s three blocks.”

“I’m just trying to be polite.”

6

Emma’s final day of exams passed in a hazy fog. Gone was all of the anxiety of knowing answers or finishing within the allotted time. Emma’s brain was fixated on other things now, like a mother she never knew and an alien force coming to assess Earth’s defenses.

During the few minutes Emma had between her math exam and her science test, she received a text message from the now not-so-mysterious, yet still far from normal number “0.”

A façade for a summer youth camp focusing on the universe has been created. You can direct your father to the attached link without hesitation.

That was it. No “Hey, it’s your alien mom who scared you on the roof last night,” or “Sorry about abandoning you at birth, but here you go.”

The part of Emma that wasn’t grappling with the hundreds of questions that still needed answers was debating whether or not to text Tistan back. Instead, she copied the link and sent it to her father. Hopefully, he would approve, and then Emma’s problems could really begin.

The rest of the day dragged by. Emma was more than prepared for her exams, but the nagging question of any of this really mattering kept prodding at her. If she failed and aliens came to the Earth and destroyed it, then what would it matter if she got an A or an F in science?

Finally, her day ended, and like any other, Emma found herself walking home alone. Over and over again, the events of the previous night played in her mind. How Tistan had seemed so matter-of-fact and not motherly at all. How she had told Emma she heralded from an ancient line of warriors, and about this Academy.

If the Academy was anything like high school, Emma guessed she could learn quickly. The social and physical aspect of the equation was anyone’s guess. Could she adapt more gracefully into an alien school than her own suburban high school?

“You look like your mind’s a million light years away.” Miss Starling, their ninety-year-old neighbor, was outside talking to her father. “Must be all that late night talk with the orange woman that’s got you in a fuss.”

Emma opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

“Orange woman?” Mr. Jackson looked from Miss Starling to Emma. “Is that some kind of inside joke you two have?”

Emma’s jaw worked up and down, but still no words escaped. The best she could do was a shrug and an awkward laugh.

“Oh, you know the youth of today, Richard.” Miss Starling ran a hand that resembled more a claw with acrylic red nails down Mr. Jackson’s shirt. “Into all kinds of strange things. But enough about that. When are you going to come over and take a look at my stove, like you’ve been promising?”

Panic evaporated, then was replaced by nausea as Emma got a handle on what Miss Starling was implying. Since the conversation changed, Emma got a look at the low top the woman was wearing.

“Well, you know I’ve been so busy with work, I—”

“Hey, Dad, can you come inside? I really need to talk to you about that camp I mentioned this morning.”

“Oh right, the camp.” Mr. Jackson waved apologetically to Miss Starling. “Got to get going, but it was great seeing you. Maybe I can check on that stove another time.”

“Well, don’t take too long, honey.” Miss Starling waved with her red nailed claw. “This stove isn’t going to stay warm forever.”

Emma entered the house, followed by her father. He closed the door and locked it, as if he half-expected Miss Starling to walk through behind them.

“I owe you one.” Mr. Jackson smiled. “That was perfect timing.”

“It was either save you or disown you as my father.” Emma turned a mock frown of disapproval at her dad. “Or did you want to be saved at all?”

“Hey, I’m not interested in working on any stove made in the 1920’s.”

“Yuck. Okay, enough of this.” Emma couldn’t help laughing as she shook her head. “Did you get a chance to look at the summer camp?”

“Sure did. Even gave them a call and checked all their references.”

“Oh. Really, you did all that, huh? What, ah—what did they say when you called them?”

“Only that you were being way too modest.” Mr. Jackson headed to the fridge, looking for a snack. “You didn’t tell me you were requested by the camp. What was it? They choose a few students every year and invite them to participate?”

“Uh … yeah.” Emma fidgeted with the tip of her right ear. It was a nervous habit she had picked up over the years. Always self-conscious about her appearance, she did her best to hide her ears behind a curtain of blonde hair. “Crazy, right? So everything checks out?”

Emma continued to play with the tip of her ear, only because her father had his back turned at the moment. He knew just as well as she did she performed the action when she was stressed or telling a lie.

“Yeah, you’re free to go. I feel safe knowing you’ll be able to check in every day and the camp is accredited for its program.” Mr. Jackson emerged from the fridge too late to see Emma’s hand fall to her side. “It’s only a few hours away. I’ll be there in no time at all if you need me.”

“Great, thanks, Dad.” Emma wrapped her arms around her father, heaving a huge sigh of relief. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you will, Em. One last thing.”

Emma stiffened under the weight of her father’s words. She hoped it would be a question she could answer.

“I couldn’t quite place the accent of the staff employee I talked to. Mr. Slain, was it?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Emma removed herself from the hug. She shrugged her way to the stairwell. “I’d better get packing, though. You know how teenage girls can be.”

And she left her father behind with a bewildered expression on his face.

7

That night, Emma’s dreams were invaded by what her subconscious imagined as the Shay. Dark figures full of teeth and nails chased her in an inky-black sky. Pinpricks of light were the only things giving off any glow. Stars too distant to do any real help illuminated her impossible run through space.

At every turn, Emma was met with long arms reaching for her. A voice like a hundred people whispering hounded her as she ran. It was a voice she had never heard, yet one she knew as well as her father’s.

“Do not interfere with our plans for Earth,” the haunting whispers said in unison. “Flee Halyna, half-blood, and your demise will be swift and painless. Stand in our way, and suffer an eternity of torment.”

To Emma’s surprise, anger at the audacity of the voice brought her run to a jog, then to a standstill. Yes, fear was very much present as she stood in space, confronting the coming Shay, but fear was outweighed by a courage she had only ever imagined.

A single, inky figure, more reptile than human, was barely visible in the darkness of space. It was taller than her, with yellow eyes. Large wings splayed out to either side of its menacing shoulders.

Again, Emma was impressed by the idea that she should be more frightened than she was. Whether it was terror rooting her to the spot, or some kind of courage, she stood her ground.

“Well, well, you truly must be Tistan Duel’s daughter to be so foolish.” The large reptile walked around her, examining her as one would a car for sale. “So much like your mother, even down to the pointy ears. I wonder what she’ll do when your plan fails and you die at the hands of the Shay?”

“I … I won’t die.” Emma’s hands clenched. “And neither will Tistan.”

“Still unwilling to call her your mother?” the shadow teased, still walking in a slow circle around her. “Not much of a mother at all, I suppose. More of a stranger who brought you into this world and then abandoned you.”

“What … what is it that you want?” Emma grimaced. Even in her dream, she was having a hard time not stuttering. This was a dream, wasn’t it?

“As I said, all I want is for you to stay on the sidelines during the coming invasion. You and your father will be spared the fate that Earth is destined to.”

“That’s, not going t-to happen.” Emma’s mouth was dry. Trying to get out words was not only difficult, but it was also downright painful. “I’ll s-stop you.”

A roar of laughter tumbled out of the Shay’s mouth. Emma cringed at the horrible sound, then forced herself to stand tall. She understood how bullies operated. They poked and prodded until they found vulnerability. As soon as they detected a chink in your armor, there was no stopping them.

The laughing finally faded into the vast openness of space. Without warning, the Shay lunged at her, grabbing her arms and pinning them to her sides.

“I will consume you, then. Your father first, as you watch, and then piece by piece we’ll take your body until what remains will be tossed aside like an empty husk.”

Despite herself, Emma let out a scream, half in terror, half in frustration. The creature’s grip was too strong for her to break free.

“We are coming, half-blood.” The Shay lowered its head to her own until she could feel hot breath against her cheek. “And we will destroy your planet.”

At once, Emma woke. Her father was sitting beside her bed, shaking her.

“Emma. Emma!” Mr. Jackson’s face was lined with worry. “Wake up. It’s okay. It’s me.”

Emma panted as if she had just run a mile. Her shoulders shuddered at the memory of the nightmare. The dream had felt so real, even though at no point had she ever actually believed it was going on.

“I’m … I’m okay, Dad.” Emma took a long, deep breath to compose herself. “It was just a bad dream.”

“You’re telling me.” Mr. Jackson let go of his daughter’s shoulders and stroked her wet hair. “You were sweating and everything. Must have been one heck of a dream. Too many late night zombie movies?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Emma reached over to her nightstand and lifted her phone. It was twenty minutes to the agreed upon time when Tistan Duel would be coming to collect Emma. “Aren’t you late for work?”

“I was headed into your room to say goodbye, when you started screaming.” Mr. Jackson pulled his daughter in for a hug. “Are you sure you’re okay? You still feel up to going to camp?”

Her father’s embrace, much like her rooftop view, was one of the few places Emma felt at peace. She hugged him back, her arms feeling so small in the space of his wide chest and torso. She needed to remember this moment. Drawing on her father would be important if she was going to go through and succeed at the Academy.

“I’m fine. I’m still going.” Emma finally released her grip and looked into her father’s green eyes. “You need to get going, too.”

“I know.” Mr. Jackson leaned in to kiss his daughter on the forehead one final time before turning to leave. “I love you, Em. Check in every day, and if you need anything, you know all you have to do is ask.”

“I love you, too, Dad.” Emma waited to hear her father’s footsteps going down the stairs, then the door open and close behind him, before she whispered, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

8

In the minutes that remained before Tistan’s arrival, Emma jumped into the shower then dragged her suitcase and backpack downstairs. She wasn’t sure what to bring to an interplanetary school teaching students to become cosmic warriors, but she guessed she would need clean underwear and a toothbrush. These thoughts led to shirts, pants, sweaters, shoes, boots, and so on.

Emma heaved her belongings down the stairs. A nagging feeling itched at the back of her mind, telling her she’d forgotten something though refusing to admit what it was.

A figure moved to her left. Emma gasped. She released her suitcases, allowing them to fall to the floor with a heavy thud.

Tistan Duel stood in her father’s study. It was Emma’s first look at the woman not masked by shadow or wearing a cloak. She was tall, with hard edges of muscle running across her arms. She wore her orange hair back in a ponytail. Long ears slanted up and behind her head.

“What are you doing here?” Emma placed a hand on her chest. She could feel and hear the unhealthy tempo of her heart. “You gave me a heart attack.”

“Unlikely.” Tistan held something in her hands. It was her father’s prized possession: an ancient Greek helmet. “You’re in fair physical health. That, coupled with the fact you house my DNA, and heart attacks are pretty much out of the question for you.”

“Okay, from now on, you have to start knocking.” Emma stalked forward, took the helmet from Tistan’s hands, and placed it back on her father’s desk. “No more showing up on my roof or in my house. Did you know our neighbor saw you last night?”

“The old whore?” Tistan didn’t seem off-put at all by either Emma’s comment or the fact Emma took the helmet from her hands. “Yes, but instead of killing her, I thought her word would be considered that of a senile senior citizen. Should I have killed her?”

“No, no.” Emma shook both of her hands out in front of her as if warding off the thought. “All I’m saying is, you have to stop appearing like this.”

Tistan ignored the request. Instead, she busied herself with reaching for a worn leather bag resting at her feet. Her clothing was simple, something Emma expected to see in a renaissance fair more than from an evolved alien species. Tistan wore what looked like heavy boots, leather pants, a steel-and-leather vest with the symbol of a red bird, and gloves that showed her fingers.

When Tistan found what she wanted from her satchel, she extended them to Emma in an open palm—two pills and two small needles.

“No thanks, I don’t do drugs.” Emma couldn’t help smiling, pleased by her own wit. Apparently, the joke was lost on the stoic Tistan. “What are these for?”

“One of the pills will turn your skin pigmentation orange like our people the Halyna. The other pill will interpret your own language into the common tongue of whatever species you are communicating with. And the needles are for two small microcomputers to be injected behind your ears. They will allow you to understand other species when being spoken to.”

“Nobody said anything about needles.” Emma stared hard at the tiny syringes, debating her options. “I hate needles.”

“You’re willing to be taken to an alien space academy, sign up to fight an alien invasion, and do all of this on two days’ notice, but you won’t allow yourself to be injected with a small needle?” Tistan’s left eyebrow rose in mock disbelief. “This should be the least of your worries.”

Before she could second-guess herself, Emma reached for the two pills, palmed them, then threw them into her mouth. She swallowed hard. The two pills slid down her throat without hesitation.

“Hurry up, let’s get this over with.” Emma motioned to Tistan. She lowered her head and brushed her hair to the side. “Talk to me to get my mind off what you’re doing.”

“The pill you took to change your skin tone is very similar to the one I ingested when I came to Earth. It changed my skin to the color of your own.”

Why was it so hard for Emma to think of Tistan as her mother? If she thought of the woman as just an alien, it was easier for her to accept. A mental block kept pushing away the idea that Tistan could actually be her biological parent. Whenever she did think of the idea, anger boiled deep within.

“Ouch!” Emma jumped forward, rubbing a spot right behind her right ear. “No countdown? No, one, two, three? Not even an ‘are you ready’?”

“Three.” Tistan advanced so quickly on her daughter with the second syringe clenched in her right hand, Emma didn’t have time to process the movement.

By the time Emma realized what Tistan was doing, the alien warrior was already behind her. For the second time that day, the familiar sting of a needle pierced Emma’s skin.

Emma clenched her jaw against the brief pain. Whether Tistan thought she was being clever or comical was irrelevant to Emma.

As fast as Tistan had moved to inject the microscopic hearing device, she was done. In a blur of motion, the tall warrior was back beside her satchel, placing the two empty needles carefully inside.

“How long until all of this starts working?” Emma was still angry at being used as a pincushion, but at least it was over now. “How will I know if it’s working?”

“The effects will be immediate. Can you understand what I’m saying to you now?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, I’m speaking in my native tongue, so if you can understand me, and I you, then the transition is complete.” Tistan stood from her bag. “Between your ears and the pill, you’ll pass for a Halyna. A bit short, but that can’t be helped without extensive surgery.”

Emma took a moment to register the words before she looked down at her skin. What she saw shocked and amazed her. A light orange hue identical to Tistan’s now covered her arms and hands.

“You’ll need to study books on the history of the planet Renia. If you’re going to pass as one of us, then we need you to—”

Somewhere in the back of Emma’s mind, she knew Tistan was still talking, but the idea of seeing her face completely orange seemed a higher priority at the moment. Emma ran for the bathroom. Tistan’s voice came to a halt behind her.

Emma threw open the downstairs bathroom door and flipped on the lights with wonder. What she saw in the mirror made her mouth drop. True to her word, the pill Tistan had given her had changed her appearance completely. Not only was her skin the color of an orange jolly rancher, but her hair and eyes were also different now, as well. Her hair was a deep shade of orange, like the peel of an orange. Her eyes were closer to the color of her skin, maybe even a bit lighter.

Emma lifted her left hand and ran carrot colored fingers through her dark orange hair. At the moment, her ears weren’t noticeable at all. Was this how she could have been born?

“As I was saying.” Tistan joined Emma in the bathroom. “You’ll need to spend your time at the Academy reading up and learning about Renia. In the meantime, try not to talk about the planet you’re supposed to be from. I think it goes without saying that if you were to be found out as a human, both you and I would be executed.”

Emma stopped brushing her hair and batting her eyes in the mirror. Suddenly, the full weight of what she was doing pressed down on her. Since Tistan visited two nights before, it seemed Emma had been caught up in a rush of events. Now, time slowed as Emma looked into the mirror at the very stoic face of Tistan Duel.

“I understand.” Emma cleared her throat. “I’ll be sure to hide the fact that I’m studying the world of Renia, as well. What about contacting my father?”

“What about it?”

“I mean I’ll be in space somewhere. He’s going to expect a call, or at least a text every day. How’s the reception on Mars?”

“Mars is a desolate wasteland. These are the kinds of remarks you should stay away from at the Academy.” Tistan looked down at her left wrist. “We’ve mastered teleportation, travel faster than the speed of light and intergalactic coalitions. We can manage reception to your father. Now we must be going. Slain is expecting us. He’s waiting to debrief you.”

“Slain?” Emma turned to Tistan with a raised eyebrow. “I thought no one else was supposed to know?”

Tistan pressed buttons on a brace she wore on her left wrist as she spoke. “Besides you and I, there are two others who already know about you. Slain and Drown were the other two spies who were sent here with me sixteen years ago. They know what I’m doing and why. It’s our luck that both of them now work at the Academy—Slain as the dean, and Drown as the combat instructor.”

Emma massaged her temples, trying to keep track of everything. “So, don’t tell anyone I’m human, outside of us four. I need to study the planet I’m supposed to be from. I’m at the Academy to learn how to protect Earth from the invading Shay. What else am I missing? Do I get a pet wookie or something during all of this?”

“No, I don’t know what that is.”

“Are you kidding me? How are you from space and you’ve never seen Star Wars?”

“Try not to vomit.” Tistan ignored Emma’s outburst. Instead, she placed a firm hand on Emma’s right shoulder. “Everyone’s first time is rough.”

“Wait, what?” Emma felt panic seize her stomach and work its way up to her chest. “I still need to grab my—”

“I’ll come back for your belongings so as not to make your father suspicious,” Tistan interrupted. “You won’t be able to use any of your things where we are going anyway.”

The next moment a light glimmer enveloped Emma. Her head tingled, then felt weightless. Her dinner from the previous night demanded to be returned.

9

Emma fell to her hands and knees, dry heaving. Spit flew past her lips. She was forced to fight the urge to throw up, or surrender to the urge and be done with it. The choice was decided for her as pepperoni and jalapeño pizza painted the floor in bright reds. Why did it have to be jalapeños?

A hand gathered her hair behind her, while another rubbed her back.

Emma heaved again. So far, space wasn’t as glamorous as she had dreamed. So far, her view of the great unknown consisted of white marble-like flooring and her own puke.

Emma’s eyes watered. She spat out the last remaining flecks of jalapeño, doing her best to keep her coughing to a minimum. Her throat and mouth still burned, but the worst of it was over.

The entire time, Tistan had kept her hair gathered up and out of the way. At the same time, she had rubbed Emma’s back in wide soothing motions. Maybe Tistan wasn’t as horrible as Emma had first thought. Maybe she had done what she had to do to save Emma and her father.

Finally, Emma felt well enough to stand up. Confusion, and then the familiar sense of anger, filled her. Emma looked into the eyes of Tistan Duel, who stood lounging against a heavy desk. Her arms crossed, eyes full of something worse than disdain, disapproval.

“I warned you, teleports can be rough the first time around.” Tistan shrugged.

“Take it easy on her, Tistan,” spoke an unfamiliar male voice directly beside Emma. “I recall a similar occurrence happening to the mighty Tistan Duel her first time out of Renia. What was it you kept spitting out? Dryslex Eggs?”

Tistan grimaced. “I still can’t eat them to this day.”

Emma turned to thank the man she had at first thought was her mother. His hand fell away from her back as she looked him over. He was a Halyna. A good six inches taller than a human male, with dark orange, almost black, hair, long and swept up behind pointed ears. His face was strong but kind. The type of person you wanted as a friend, but would fear as an enemy.

“Don’t mind the floor, Emma Jackson.” The Halyna extended a hand from beneath the folds of the long cloak he wore. “I am Dean Slain Extile. Slain, when we are alone; and for the sake of our ruse, Dean Extile when we are in public.”

Emma shook the Halyna’s hand, finding herself drawn to and already liking Slain. She chided herself for ever thinking Tistan had the slightest inclination to help her once she’d teleported.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Emma released her host’s hand. “I’m s-so sorry about your floor. I can clean it up if you have a mop or a towel.”

Slain lifted his hands. An easy smile played across his lips. “I already said don’t worry about it. If a little bile is the worst thing that has come out of this venture so far, then let us consider ourselves lucky.”

Emma nodded along with Slain’s words. For the first time, she took in the room where Tistan had teleported them. The chamber was massive, with ceilings so tall, they didn’t end, the top simply vanished. Bookshelves lined the walls, with a dark brown desk in the center and relics displayed throughout the room.

Statues of species of animals Emma couldn’t even dream of sat on mantles or rested on tables. One in particular caught her eye. It was a bust of what looked like a sabertoothed tiger. At least, that’s as close as she could get to putting a finger on what it reminded her of.

“Oh, you’re a fan of the predators, I see.” Slain pointed to the bust that had caught Emma’s attention. “You’re in luck. Instructor Textul has been breeding them for our bestiary class. You’ll be in time to see them born.”

Tistan coughed from her position perched on the table.

“Right, but we have more pressing things to discuss. Some of us are not as patient as others.” Slain shot a disproving look at Tistan. Before she could respond, he had moved on. “Tistan’s explained everything to me. You’ll be able to use my office as a safe place to call your father while you’re at the Academy. The new recruits are just arriving now, so you’ll be able to slip right in.”

Slain paused, taking the time to look Emma up and down.

“What?” Emma said, still tasting the aftereffects of her teleportation adventure. “Do I have something in my teeth?”

“No, no, not at all. It’s only you’re a bit short for a first-year Halyna, but no sense bothering what can’t be changed without extensive surgery.”

“I have to be going.” Tistan began making her way to a large set of double doors. “You’re in good hands with Slain and Drown. My duties to the Alliance forces brings me to the Academy from time to time. I’ll be able to check in on you, but only able to speak with you in secret. It’s not normal for an officer of my standing to converse with a recruit, much less a first year.”

Emma clenched her teeth. It was taking all of her willpower not to make a smart retort to the woman who’d abandoned her sixteen years ago. Then her willpower dissipated and she just couldn’t help herself.

“That’s fine. Go ahead and go. I can take care of myself. I’ve had a lot of practice at it over the years.”

Tistan hesitated, her long strides pausing for the briefest of moments. She half-turned as if she were going to say something, then thought better of it and continued toward the doors. In the next moment, she was gone, leaving Emma and Slain alone with the stench of vomit.

10

“You should really be easier on her.” Slain motioned for Emma to follow him to a seating area in his office. A comfortable-looking couch sat next to a long, glass table and two fluffy chairs. “She loves you very much.”

“Well, maybe someone should tell her that,” Emma mumbled. She followed the Academy’s Dean, choosing one of the two chairs, sank into the material as if she were seated on a bed of clouds.

“Tistan Duel is a warrior. It’s not in her nature to be motherly or nurturing. How she shows affection may not be what you expect, but know she is trying.” Slain seated himself on the couch. He spoke to Emma as he would a friend, not preaching nor judging, just talking. “I’m not here to convince you one way or the other.”

Emma nodded, biting her lower lip. She was pushing down emotions just as she had her entire life. Whenever the subject of her mother or lack thereof came up through the years, this is how she dealt with it the best: repressed in silence.

“There’s still a lot to cover. I understand how overwhelmed you must feel, having all of this thrown at you at once. I’ll try to be as quick as I can before I let you settle in. Some of this may have already been explained by Tistan.”

Emma locked eyes with Slain. She ignored everything else and gave him her full attention.

“You’ll need the required curriculum for all first-year recruits. I’ve already had the texts send to your holo band. You’ll be bunking with two other first years, as is customary. I’ve also provided a new wardrobe for you.” Slain looked at Emma close, shaking his head. “You’re about as inconspicuous as a black hole right now.”

“What?” Emma looked down at her converse, blue jeans, and black top. “I thought this was pretty neutral, all things considering.”

Slain’s face lit up with a smile. “You use comedy as a means to cope. Not the worst thing in life, but be sure it’s not the only means you employ when dealing with serious situations.”

“Noted.”

“Good. Here at the Academy, we are proud to train species from all three planets in the Alliance. I’ll give you a brief glimpse at them now so you can mask your surprise when you meet them.”

Slain waved his hands over the glass table, where a display panel appeared. The language was foreign to Emma, although the symbols reminded her of Egyptian hieroglyphics she had seen in movies.

With a few flicks of his wrists, Slain maneuvered through the display.

“Here we go. Let’s start with what you know. The Halyna from the planet Renia.” Slain moved his hand again in a lifting motion. A hologram of a Halyna male popped up through the glass table. Alongside the rotating figure was a small orb that looked like a planet covered in green landscape. “My home world, as well as your mother’s. We are the founding species of the Alliance. We understand there is strength in numbers and peace to be had across the galaxy.”

“Your planet looks beautiful.” Emma’s eyes never left the tiny circulating globe of green land and light blue sea. The landmasses were nothing like Earth; the southern- and northernmost points on the globe were completely covered by water. Most of the land was located at the center of the planet.

“Thank you.” Slain’s smile, the way his own eyes never left the planet, spoke of a deep love for his home world. He motioned through the display again. This time, a large, bulky human-like figure emerged from the table. Muscle covered most of the figure’s body. Strong features and long, dark hair gave it an intimidating disposition. Even at its miniature size, Emma could tell it was far larger than the Halyna.

“The Ree are from the planet Brimly. As you’ve probably guessed, they are not only taller than the Halyna, but stronger, as well. They were the second planet invited to join the Alliance.”

Emma looked from the giant-like figure to a planet covered in red crust. It took her only a moment to realize what was so off about what she was seeing.

“They don’t have any water?” Emma looked at Slain, then back at the small orb that represented the home of the Ree. “How do they survive?”

“A fair question.” Slain pointed at the planet of Brimly, his finger piercing the hologram. “Their water source is located underground. A wonder unlike anything I had seen before. Giant lakes and vast oceans hidden beneath the surface.”

“Cool,” Emma breathed.

“Finally, we have the Bracka from the planet Brewit. Physically, they are the smallest members of the Alliance, but don’t let their stature deceive you. They are among the most feared warriors in the galaxy.”

Slain was right. If it weren’t for the beards and the braided hair, the Bracka in front of her could have passed for a stout child. It was hard to guess how tall they might have been in real life, but the hologram showed a figure far shorter than Emma. Their planet was the closest to resembling Earth, with landmasses on both the northern- and southernmost points.

“But enough with all of this.” Slain motioned to his desk as he headed for the door. “Your clothes are in the upper left hand drawer of my desk. Replace it with the clothing you have on now. I’ll wait outside. Join me when you are done.”

Emma was still enchanted by the hologram display. Her mind was still soaking in all of the knowledge, questions stacking one on top of the other. By the time she understood what Slain had said, he was already gone, waiting for her on the other side of the door.

“What have you gotten yourself into this time?” Emma asked herself. She stood, heading to Slain’s desk. Alone for the first time since her arrival at the Academy, Emma took a moment to admire Slain’s office. The many shelves of books grabbed her attention. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of volumes lined his office bookshelves, making her wonder how much knowledge of the universe lay secretly waiting for her behind the thick book covers.

Emma finally made her way to the large desk. As instructed, she pulled open the designated drawer and reached inside. Cool cloth met her fingertips. Emma pulled out a cream sleeveless top, long pants of the same color, and a pair of simple brown boots. Emma had no idea what was going on with the latest fashion trends, but neither did she have a burning desire to be dressed like a monk.

A look to her left, then one to her right, confirmed what she already knew: she was alone. The only eyes in the room were those belonging to aliens in pictures or unmoving in the sockets of busts. Emma slipped off her own clothes with a reluctance she was only just able to overcome.

The new clothes fit her perfectly, the soft, sturdy material light and easy to move in. Her boots were taller than she had at first thought, their laces ending just below her knees. As told, the newest addition to the Alliance folded and placed her sneakers, socks, jeans, and shirt inside the drawer. They looked so out of place in the present environment, Emma almost laughed.

The thought of Slain waiting for her brought her back to the present moment. With the last anchor to life on Earth safely tucked away in the desk drawer, Emma crossed the office, stepped over her puddle of vomit, and opened the door.

11

“Your classes will start tomorrow. You’ll be taking all the normal first-year courses: Beast Prevention, Combat Training, Elixirs to Live By and Entry to Arilion.” Slain interrupted his own train of thought with a slight chuckle. “Oh yes, I’m sorry. Please take a moment.”

Since leaving Slain’s office, Emma’s eyes were presented with amazing and impossible sights one right after the other. As soon as she stepped through the doors, the impact of being in an alien environment hit Emma, full force.

The doors to Slain’s office were actually covered by a waterfall on the opposite side. As soon as she opened it to let herself out, the fall of rushing water parted to provide her a dry exit.

The same strange effect of there being no ceiling still boggled Emma’s mind. Light was overhead, but like the sky itself, it was just there, never ending. The floor rippled slightly with every footfall, like sand, although it appeared as solid as any ground. To her right stood statues of Halyna, Ree, and Bracka, imposing and strong. Giant entrances offered corridors and halls deeper into the Academy.

All of this paled in comparison, though, to what Emma was witnessing to her left. The entire left side of the walkway wall wasn’t a wall at all; instead, glass from rippling floor to unknown ceiling had opened, showing Emma her first look into space. A black background showcased thousands of lights and colors. In varying brightness and shades, planets, stars and moons Emma had never seen greeted her now.

Emma could hear Slain talking, but she was too dumbstruck to process what he was saying. When he repeated himself, she heard him again, but her mind was still struggling to fully comprehend her new surroundings.

“The Academy is a space station orbiting the planet of Stardox.” Slain joined Emma, and together they walked toward the glass, staring into the vastness of space. “Stardox was chosen because it’s uninhabited. We can run training operations without fear of harming the planet’s inhabitants. Also, it’s located between Renia, Brewit, and Brimly. A fair place to create a lasting bond between our species.”

“I can’t … I don’t have words for how beautiful it is.” Emma took another step closer to the glass, placing her right hand against the cool surface. “I always knew there were an infinite number of stars and planets, but to see them like this is … is…”

“Breathtaking.” Slain finished her thought. “Wonderful and dreadful at the same time. So many species to recruit, others to protect; some, who will not see reason, to fight.”

For the first time since she had met him, Emma sensed a deep sadness in Slain. As soon as she detected the modification in his voice, he seemed to notice his own change and altered the course of the conversation.

“Well, Emma Jackson … saying your name out loud reminds me that your new identity also comes with a change of name. I’ve chosen something easy for you to remember, something that will fall in line with the dialect of the Halyna. You’ll be known as Em Duel.”

The use of Tistan’s last name was enough to finally break the spell space held over Emma’s attention. She turned to Slain with a frown. “Won’t that be kind of obvious?”

“Duel is a popular family name on our planet,” Slain explained as they continued to walk down the hall. “No one will think twice.”

Emma wasn’t a fan of the idea, but it seemed petty to argue over it now.

“There are multiple levels to the Academy, all of which are open to the recruits, so feel free to wander and explore.” Then Slain stopped with a heavy sigh.

Emma followed his gaze to a large figure hurrying toward them. Even at this distance, whoever it was seemed gigantic. An outfit much like her own flapped in the wake of the approaching alien. It was a Ree; its size made no mystery of that.

“Ahhh, good.” Slain’s tone did nothing to make his words believable. “You’ll get to meet one of your instructors now.”

With every footfall of the coming Ree, waves rippled in the floor until the Ree finally stood in front of them. She was a good foot taller than Emma and had to outweigh her by over two hundred pounds. She had wild brown hair and a pair of thick goggles that made her eyes look twice their normal size.

“Oh, I see you’ve already begun welcoming the first-year recruits,” said the giant in front of them. She gave a slight nod to Emma. “I’m Talisha Tescot, your Elixirs to Live By instructor.”

Emma began to lift her hand, then caught Slain’s large eyes and slight head shake. Emma immediately abandoned the action and mimicked Talisha’s head movement instead. Panic grabbed Emma. What was the appropriate way to address an instructor? Why didn’t she bother to ask Slain before she was face to face with one?

“This is one of the new recruits from Renia.” Slain stood to the side and motioned to Emma. “Her name is Em Duel. I was just showing her to her barracks.”

“Of course,” Talisha said with a smile, displaying thick, square teeth the size of playing cards. “It’s very nice to meet you, Em Duel. Welcome to the Academy.”

“Th-thank you,” Emma managed.

As luck would have it, Talisha Tescot was not looking to have a formal conversation with a first-year recruit. The giant turned to Slain with concern etched deep in her goggle-magnified eyes.

“Might I have a word with you in private, Dean Extile?” Talisha mumbled the next few words, but Emma was able to pick out the words “accident” and “panic.”

Whatever news the Ree instructor relayed to Slain had an instant effect on the Dean.

“Em, if you follow this corridor down and take the third entrance on your right, you’ll be able to find someone to take you down to your barracks. I’m sorry I cannot personally guide you, but it seems a very serious matter has arisen, and I must see to it right away.”

“Of course.” Emma looked to Talisha with a respectful nod. “It was very nice meeting you.”

“Likewise, Em Duel.” Talisha forced a hurried yet genuine smile. “I look forward to having you in class.”

Then the dean and the instructor were gone in a rustle of cloaks, Talisha slowing her strides to match the dean’s.

Emma watched them go down the hall until the corridor eventually curved and they were lost to sight. Her imagination had a field day on what Talisha had whispered to Slain. One thing was certain, with the words “accident” and “panic” in the sentence, it was not pleasant news.

So far, Emma’s first day at the Academy had not disappointed, and things were about to get a lot more interesting.

12

Emma followed Slain’s directions down the corridor. She turned into the third entrance and slammed into someone going the opposite way. Her left shoulder absorbed most of the impact, striking the other Halyna in the chest.

“Wow, easy there. Combat drills haven’t even started yet.” The young male smiled. He was taller than Emma, with deep orange skin and piercing eyes that made Emma want to both stare and look away.

“I-I’m sorry.” Emma rubbed her shoulder, wondering if she could still blush with orange skin. “I’m trying to find my way down to the barracks for the first-year recruits.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m lost, too.” He put out his right hand. “My name’s Daylon.”

“I’m Emmmmmm.” Emma remembered at the last second not to use her real name.

“Well, Emmmmmm…” Instead of grabbing her offered hand, Daylon clasped the portion of her wrist just below her palm, making her do the same to his. His grip was firm. “Let’s find someone to take us to our barracks. I’ve heard horror stories of what they do to first-year recruits who are late to check in.”

“Perhaps I can provide some assistance,” chimed in a mechanical voice from somewhere behind Daylon.

Daylon turned, allowing Emma a view of a robotic figure walking toward them in short strides. It was the size of a human with white metal arms, legs, and torso. Its head reminded Emma of a cyclops; a single red light shown through the otherwise seamless steel plating.

For what seemed like the dozenth time that day, Emma was at a loss for words. In her new reality, where she was a member of an intergalactic space academy, the existence of a walking, talking android shouldn’t have seemed that out of the ordinary.

“Uh, hi.” Daylon either didn’t pick up on Emma’s surprise at seeing the machine, or he was as awed as she was. “We’re looking for directions to the first-year recruit barracks. I think it’s down below somewhere.”

“You are correct, Daylon Allbright.” The machine turned to Emma with a tilt of its metallic head. “It will be my pleasure to escort you and Em Duel to your quarters. Please, follow me.”

Without waiting for a response, the android started down the hall. Emma exchanged a look with Daylon, who shrugged in return.

“After you.” Daylon motioned to Emma.

Emma and Daylon didn’t have to follow the android far. Within the space of a few yards, the trio stood in front of a cylinder-shaped hollow in the hall wall, brightly lit and large enough to accompany five or six people.

“Please, step inside, recruits.” The android motioned them forward. “Using the display on the inside wall, you’ll be able to teleport yourself to whatever level of the Academy you’d like. The barracks for first-year recruits is located on level two.”

“Thanks.” Daylon stepped inside the hollow, already maneuvering around the keypad, searching for their level. He looked up, a question on his lips when Emma didn’t follow. “Are you all right, Em? You look … sick.”

When the android mentioned the word “teleport,” the taste of pepperoni and jalapeños flooded her mouth. Not only did Emma have no desire to relive that experience, but now there was also an attractive-looking Halyna to impress.

If it was strange to think of someone with orange skin, eyes, and hair as attractive, the thought was lost on Emma. She would consider that later, but not in front of those piercing orange irises.

“I’m fine,” Emma lied. “I think I’ll take the stairs, though. You know, want to see as much of the Academy as I can.”

“The sweat on your brow and the way you’re rambling indicate you are lying, Em Duel.” The android shifted its head to the side as if trying to understand why she would be so against teleportation. “Are you afraid of something?”

‘”Okay, well, that’s enough out of you.” Emma waved away the android. “Thank you for showing us the teleportation thing, but—”

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fine.” Daylon reached out, grabbed Emma by the wrist, and gently pulled her in. Before Emma could stage a protest, Daylon pushed a holographic button.

The same feeling of sickness overwhelmed Emma. One second, she was nervous and afraid in front of the android and Daylon; the next instant, she was stumbling out of the teleporter, dry heaving, too sick to feel much of anything else.

Emma fell to her hands and knees. Luckily, she had expelled everything from her stomach the first time. Only dry hacks and spit erupted from her stomach now.

To her credit, Emma recovered much faster than the first time around. Apparently, her body was getting used to being transported from point A to point B.

“Hey, that wasn’t so…” Emma stood up to find herself in a crowded hall. Eyes from members of all three species in the Alliance looked her up and down. Snickers and smiles already rippled through the crowd. “…bad,” she said. “No, now this is horrible.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Daylon reached her side and placed a hand onto her shoulder. His eyes spoke of his sincerity. “I didn’t know you’d react like that. I thought you were just being shy.”

“Well, I was feeling kind of shy. But I also throw up when I teleport, so there’s that.” Emma watched as those passing in the hall went along their way, most laughing, others giving her looks of apathy while they shook their heads in amusement. “Well, I’d better go now.”

“Of course.” Daylon pointed to the left side of the hall. “Girls on the left, boys on the right. Don’t worry, there’s so much going on, I’m sure everyone will have forgotten about the whole incident soon.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Emma waved as she started down the girls’ corridor. “That sounds just like a group of adolescents—quick to forgive and willing to accept.”

The hall was simple, the same impossible ceiling dimming now as the day progressed toward evening. Four sliding brown doors opened from the corridor into rooms that would be shared by the first-year recruits.

Emma passed recruits from all three species as she traveled the halls. Everyone seemed eager to learn their room assignments, friends were being made, with general pleasantries exchanged.

Emma got her first look at a Bracka. The girl had long, thick, red hair, and she was short, only reaching Emma’s chest. Despite her size, Emma couldn’t imagine anyone picking a fight with her—the girl was built like a tank, her arms and legs as thick as Emma’s torso.

As Emma wondered how she was going to find her own room, she noticed three names were written in copper on each door. Emma looked for her own but didn’t find it until she reached the very end of the hall. A door on her right had been etched with the names:

Layga Sunkissed

Jeba Warbreath

Em Duel

Emma took a deep breath and opened the door. The instant she stepped into the room, something large was on top of her, and as Emma struggled, whatever it was consumed her.

13

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m at the Academy, and now I’m meeting my very own roommate!”

Emma struggled to breathe, hugged by the Ree. Her feet dangled above the floor. Emma got a glimpse of a large space with three beds, but everything else was obscured by the fabric of the girl holding her.

“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” The girl placed Emma back onto the floor. “I’m so sorry. I’m just excited to meet you. My name’s Layga, and we’re going to be best friends here at the Academy, I just know it.”

Emma regained her breath, trying to keep up with the energetic Ree, who shook her hand so furiously, it made her teeth chatter.

“I’m Em,” Emma managed after the handshake. She flexed her palm, trying to regain feeling. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Layga.”

Layga reminded Emma of the Elixirs to Live by instructor, Talisha Tescot. Layga was a foot taller than Emma, with long, dark hair, large teeth, and a broad back.

“Well, come on in.” Layga moved so Emma could get a better look at their room. “Our third roommate hasn’t arrived yet. I started putting my things away near the left bed, but if you’d rather have that side, I don’t mind moving. It wouldn’t be much to move, just a few pictures and things to remind me of home.”

“No, no, I’ll take the middle one.” Emma stepped into the room. It was circular, painted in white, no windows, and three pairs of matching furniture: a bed with drawers underneath, a desk, and a chair.

On top of the middle bed were two stacks of clothing. One pile consisted of duplicates of the pants and the sleeveless shirt she wore now, while the other pile had black stretch pants and tops intended for the bane of Emma’s existence: physical exercise.

“Oh, an android dropped those off for you a few minutes ago.” Layga joined Emma, looking down at the clothes. “I’m so excited to have such great teachers instructing us this year. I’m sure we’ll both do well. What with the news of the Arilion Knights re-emerging across the universe maybe we’ll even be selected as Arilion to represent our own home worlds.”

“Selected?”

“Well, of course, silly. Not just anyone who wants to be an Arilion Knight gets to. We have to be chosen by the vambraces of our own planets and admitted into the Arilion Order.” Layga made her way over to Emma’s desk as she spoke. She swiped over a display with one large hand. A similar holographic interface as the one Slain had used in his office popped up. “Now, what shall we pick for a display? Something bright and cheerful, I think.”

Layga scrolled through a few options of what looked like scenery before deciding on one. She motioned from the desk to the wall with her hand, and at once, all four walls in the room came alive with the most beautiful blues and whites of the sky and clouds.

Emma heard her own gasp, but she didn’t care. There was nothing plain about their room anymore; all of the walls had been left blank in order to act as projection screens. Instead of a room, Emma was now standing in the middle of the sky, with a green sun clearly not belonging to her solar system hovering to her right.

The door to their room opened.

Layga was the first to move. For someone her size, she was surprisingly swift. In the space of a heartbeat, she crossed the room and opened her arms to embrace the third and final member of their party.

“Embrace me, Ree, and it will be the last thing you attempt in this lifetime.”

If the words coming from the short Bracka weren’t so harsh, Emma would have thought the scene comical. Despite the bold words, though, Emma was having a hard time keeping a smile from her lips.

The Bracka had deep red hair, and she wore the same tunic as Emma and Layga. Her right arm was extended, but even lifted high, it only came up to Layga’s chest. Placed firmly, it stopped Layga’s forward momentum. Despite the obstacle, Layga still had the arm range to hug the much smaller Bracka, although she moved instead off to the side with a smile.

“Welcome to our new home, sister Bracka. I am Layga Sunkissed, and this is Em Duel.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Emma waved from her spot next to her bed. “Don’t worry, I won’t try to hug you.”

“Well, it’s too early to tell if it’s really going to be nice to meet one another.” The Bracka moved into the room, carrying a satchel over her left shoulder. When she reached her desk, she dropped the bag with a loud slam. “My name is Jeba Warbreath. I suppose we should act cordial to one another to make the time we spend together less uncomfortable.”

“I totally agree, and I know where you’re going with this.” Layga dragged the chair from her own desk into the middle of the room. “Let’s play a get-to-know-you game.”

Emma and Jeba exchanged confused looks.

“No, giant.” Jeba didn’t make a move to join her. Instead, she began unpacking her belongings. She removed a heavy jug of dark liquid, a knife with runes carved into the handle, and a box. “There will be none of your ‘get to know you’ games today.”

Jeba turned to Emma as she placed her belongings in her desk drawers. “You must be the Halyna I’ve heard of.”

“You’ve heard of me?” Emma looked to Layga for clarification.

The Ree shrugged, trying to hide her disappointment as she dragged her chair back to her desk.

“Yes, you were the one vomiting out of the teleporter, were you not?” For the first time, Jeba cracked a grin. “I must say, that was quite amusing. The entire floor is talking about it.”

“Oh, great.” Emma flung herself onto her bed. Somehow, she had already made a reputation for herself and classes hadn’t even started.

“It will be all right, Em.” Layga came over and smiled down at her new friend. “I’m sure it will be forgotten soon.”

“I wouldn’t give the weak stomach such counsel, giant.” Jeba came over to look down at Emma from the other side of her bed. “They already have a nickname for you. They’re calling you ‘The Retch.’”

Jeba couldn’t contain her own laughter any longer; a deep, booming laugh came from the Bracka, and she threw her head back, roaring with unbridled restraint.

The nickname had more imagination than Emma had first thought, and the chuckling from Jeba was intoxicating. Whether it was from her own exhaustion or something else, Emma also started to giggle.

Layga, seeing that Emma was okay with the action, joined her two roommates, and all together, their room boomed with laughter.

14

“Well I’m off to explore this structure.” Jeba was already heading for the door.

The girls had spent a few hours unpacking, projecting different displays of various planets on the walls, and as the hours passed, there was little talk from Jeba and too much from Layga.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to do the same.” Layga edged toward the door, waiting for an invitation to join Jeba. “I’ve just been waiting for a friend to go with.”

“Well, I wish you luck in finding such a friend, giant.” Jeba turned, her hand already on the door. “However, your incessant chatter may prove such a task difficult.”

The next second, Jeba was gone, leaving a disappointed Layga in her wake.

“She’ll warm up.” Emma said, consoling Layga. She was lying on her bed, head propped up by pillows. Her stomach rumbled loud enough for Layga to hear.

“I know she will, but what we need now is some food to put in that tiny stomach of yours.” Layga opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a bag full of dark red, dried meat. She offered it to Emma. “Here. You are welcome to have as much as you like.”

“What is it?” Emma tried to hide the grimace from her face. The meat looked wrinkled and old like the cleavage of her neighbor, Miss Starling.

“It’s Rethark,” Layga replied, as if that simple explanation would be the end to their conversation.

“Oh.” Emma took a piece of the large meat out of the bag. The smell wasn’t that bad; not too far from beef jerky.

“Well, dinner will be in a few hours.” Layga collected a few more items from her desk. “I do need to look my best to make a good impression on the other first years and instructors. I’ll be in the restroom if you need me.”

“Sounds good.” Emma smiled at the Ree as she left the room. Her focus turned back to the meat strips when the door closed. “What are you?”

With breakfast missed, the previous night’s dinner displayed on Slain’s office floor, and the lunch hour already late, Emma decided to try the Rethark. The consistency was softer than she expected, the meat a perfect mix of spicy and sweet. Emma settled in with her bag of Rethark and the projection device that allowed her to light up the room with otherworldly scenes.

The interface was simple—a scrolling list of planets that moved along her desk’s surface when she touched it. Luckily for Emma, the list was in alphabetical order. She found herself swiping through the A’s then the B’s, C’s, and D’s. Planets with foreign names like Atmos, Brytannia, and Creete passed her wandering fingertips.

Emma paused her scrolling when she came to Earth. She tapped it, making a scene of her planet fill every wall in her room. She was able to zoom in and out of countries to ridiculous degrees. Although her hands were busy playing with the projector, her mind was on the reason she had come to the Academy in the first place. A tiny voice was poking at her.

Are you really going to be able to learn everything you need to know to save Earth? You can’t even teleport without vomiting. What makes you think you’re going to be able to repel an alien invasion? I mean, you can’t even do a pull-up.

Emma was so lost to her own thoughts, that time and the bag of Rethark passed unnoticed. It was only when Layga entered the room with a massive towel wrapped around her that Emma realized she had eaten almost the entire bag.

“I’m so sorry.” Emma pulled herself from the depressing thoughts. She closed the bag of meat. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

“No need to apologize, friend Em.” Layga accepted the bag from Emma with a smile. “The Rethark are plentiful on my home world.”

Emma was about to ask what a Rethark was, when her stomach bubbled with contentment. She decided her intestines had been through enough for one day. Instead of ruining the feeling, she turned her thoughts on other things.

“You should be preparing yourself soon, Em.” Layga dropped her towel to change. “We should be leaving for dinner shortly.”

“Oh, yeah.” Emma turned to look at the wall, avoiding eye contact with the naked Ree.

At the same time, the door opened, and Emma could hear Jeba walk in. She couldn’t see the Bracka’s face, but she could imagine all she needed to. Jeba’s strong, sure voice filled in the missing gaps.

“If this is some alternate method of welcome in your culture, I am not interested. Save your scandalous ways for another who might embrace you as friend.”

“What?” Layga sounded shocked. “No, I’m changing for tonight’s dinner.”

“Clothe yourself quickly, then.” Emma could tell Jeba was walking across the room by the sound of her voice. “You’re making Em blush, and my eyes cannot withstand much more of your puckish nudity. Have you no shame?”

Emma knew she needed to jump in before Layga’s feelings were hurt further. She turned around, still avoiding Layga’s form. All she could see from her peripheral vision was a mass of cloth and arms.

“Did you find anything cool on your excursion?” Emma fixed Jeba with a disapproving stare.

“I did. I traveled to the class where our combat training will take place. The space is most impressive.” Jeba winced past Emma’s shoulder, as if she were trying to get a sneak peek at the sun. “Oh good, the nudist is clothed. Come, let us break bread and eat hearty. I’ve heard the opening dinner is one to remember.”

15

The mess hall was breathtaking. Two gigantic steel doors opened to a room that could fit three of Emma’s houses. The ceiling was the same as everywhere else, reflecting what she guessed was the time the Academy operated on. A dark sky opened overhead, with bright stars giving off enough light to see by.

Four massive circular stone tables sat crowded, with chairs all around. On each table, a banquet had been provided. Every piece of food looked mouthwatering, although Emma had no idea what any of it was. There were baskets of what she guessed were fresh bread, platters of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and trays of steaming meat. The aroma that tickled Emma’s nose reminded her how little she had eaten that day.

Past the round tables was a raised platform where a long tabletop sat. A dozen high-backed chairs waited for whom Emma guessed would be the Academy’s dean and instructors.

“The first-year recruit’s table is over here.” Layga motioned to the table on the left side of the hall. “I hope we’ve come early enough to get a good seat.”

Emma followed Layga and Jeba to their table. Spots were already filling up with wide-eyed first-year recruits. There were three seats together facing the raised platform.

Emma sat next to a gorgeous Halyna girl. From her perfect posture to her manicured nails, she looked every bit the entitled elitist Emma was so used to avoiding from high school. Despite her own presumptions about the girl, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Emma tried to make eye contact, but it seemed the girl had other plans. She turned away from Emma to give her full attention to the person sitting on her right.

On the other side of the Halyna girl was the familiar face of Daylon. He looked bored. Arms crossed over his chest, eyeing the food in front of him instead of his companion to his left. When his eyes did stray Emma’s way, a smile spread across his lips.

“Em Duel.” Daylon leaned back in his chair to look around his companion, who was sure to take offense at the action. “I was hoping I’d see you at dinner tonight.”

“Me?” Emma cleared her throat looking to her right and left. “Why?”

“Why, indeed.” The Halyna between Emma and Daylon lifted an orange eyebrow. “Aren’t you the one throwing up everywhere? The Retch?”

If Emma wasn’t so taken by the Halyna girl’s beauty, she would have shot back a sarcastic remark. Despite the wheels in her mind turning, it was difficult to come back with an insult. The girl beside her had high cheekbones, flawless skin, and eyes that sparkled.

“It wasn’t her fault. I didn’t know she was still getting used to the teleporter. I brought her in behind me.” Daylon moved from addressing the Halyna girl to looking at Emma. “How was the teleport up to dinner?”

Even the mention of the journey to dinner brought back the taste of Layga’s meat snack. She had managed to keep her food in her stomach this time, but just barely. The meat had fought its way up to her mouth but instead of vomiting it all over the ground, she had swallowed it back down.

“It was … manageable.” Emma ignored the girl beside her and smiled at Daylon. “It’s really all right. You don’t have to apologize for the whole teleportation thing anymore.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” Daylon pursed his lips and scrunched his brow in a way Emma found strangely attractive. “How about we go on a—”

“Recruits!” A booming male voice filled the room. “Your dean will address you.”

“Thank god,” the Halyna girl sitting between Emma and Daylon whispered. “I was about to retch myself, if I had to listen to any more of that.”

Emma ignored the comment and turned her attention to the long table on the raised platform where the instructors and dean sat. Some time during Emma’s conversation with the two Halynas, the teaching body had entered the room and taken their seats.

The booming voice belonged to another Halyna with a dark orange skin tone and darker eyes and hair that were almost black. Emma had a hard time breathing all of a sudden as she realized he was staring directly at her. His gaze wasn’t inviting, either. Jaw set, he glared at Emma with such intensity, other recruits began to take note and look from Emma to the instructor and back again.

Emma withered beneath the stare, wishing for the second time that day she was anywhere else. It was Slain’s voice that saved her.

“I want to take a moment to greet both our returning students and those who have just begun their journey. From our fourth-year recruits who have endured and overcome: remember, graduation does not mark the end of learning. The wise realize the advance of knowledge is a never ending pursuit.”

Emma looked to her right, past two tables to the fourth table, where the fourth-year recruits sat. To her surprise, the table was less than half full. Out of the twenty-four seats, only nine were occupied. Those who sat at the table all looked resolved and determined. Each table leading down to her own was also missing students. Emma’s table of first-year recruits was the only one that remained completely full.

Before Emma had time to wonder further about the wellbeing of these missing students, Slain continued. “To our first-year recruits, bright-eyed and ready to begin: remember your enthusiasm this day, and always understand there is no shame in taking a position outside of being a warrior. Our coalition exists because thousands of our brothers and sisters work everyday over hundreds of titles. Combat is not for everyone. Who knows? We may have a few instructors, or even our next dean, sitting right here.”

Slain paused, looking over the room. He smiled at both the familiar and unfamiliar faces at the tables. Unlike the previous instructor, he did not linger on Emma.

“Eat well and sleep better.” Slain raised a glass in salute.

Immediately, all hands at the tables fumbled to do the same. Emma almost dropped her goblet.

“Because tomorrow,” Slain added, “the work begins.”

The liquid was cool and refreshing like the most perfectly chilled water Emma had ever tasted. After the toast, Slain took his seat, and dinner began.

The food was better than it smelled, which was saying something, because the aroma that came off the spread was mouthwatering. Emma threw caution to the vacuum of space and ate until she was full.

“Perhaps you should think about the ride back down to our barracks.” Layga’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I’d hate to see you sick again.”

“Seriously.” Emma put down a loaf of warm buttered bread. “You’re probably right. The upside is, I’m going to lose a ton of weight if I keep throwing up after meals. I’ll be in bikini shape in no time.”

“‘Bikini shape’?” Layga repeated the words as if hearing the term for the first time. “What is that? Is it something on your home planet, Renia?”

Not for the first time, Emma’s mouth had gotten her into trouble. How could she respond accurately, when there were two Halyna sitting next to her, who were from the planet to agree with or contradict her answer?

A deep burp saved Emma from having to say anything at all. Every head at the table turned to Jeba, who tore a large piece of meat off the bone of some recently deceased animal. “This food is delicious,” Jeba’s voice boomed across the table in response. She turned to her left, where a Ree male sat who was twice her size. She pointed at his plate. “Are you going to eat that?”

The table returned to private conversations and chatter. Emma found herself grateful for her burly roommate’s intrusion. It seemed Layga was content to let the previous subject go. Instead, she addressed one more complicated.

“How do you know Instructor Drown? What did you do to make him so angry with you?” Layga popped a red tart into her mouth.

“That’s who that was?” Emma shivered, remembering the uncomfortable stare. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“Well, he looks like he knows you and you owe him a debt,” Layga said around a mouthful of dessert. “Or maybe he was just having a bad day. He’s notorious at the Academy for being the strictest instructor.”

Realization hit Emma like a sledgehammer. Drown was the third spy who had infiltrated Earth sixteen years ago. Along with Slain and Tistan, he was the only one who knew of Emma’s reason for being at the Academy and her true heritage.

“I guess we won’t have to wait long to find out why he was looking at you like that.” Layga pushed the normal-sized chair, that she made look like a piece of child’s furniture, away from the table. “I should get to bed. We have an important day tomorrow.”

“Wait.” Emma grabbed Layga. Her hand didn’t even close halfway around the Ree’s wrist. “What do you mean?”

Layga patted Emma’s hand before gently pulling away. “I mean he’s our instructor for combat training. We begin with his class first thing in the morning.”

Emma felt something worse than the urge to vomit fill her stomach; anxiety and dread for the next day.

16

“I’m surprised you didn’t lose your breakfast, Retch.” Jeba looked over at Emma with a broad grin. “Perhaps you’re getting used to the teleport experience. That’s good for me. It’s embarrassing when your roommate paints the floor in such awful colors of reds and—”

“Okay, okay I get it.” Emma shouldered her satchel as they exited the teleporter and made their way down a long corridor to their first class.

Breakfast had again taken place at the main hall. Unlike the previous night, Emma had found if she concentrated she was able to keep most of her food where it belonged. With any luck, Jeba was right and she was getting used to the experience. Hopefully a few more days and she wouldn’t even have to re-swallow the food that came up into her mouth.

Emma, Jeba, and Layga maneuvered down the long hall with the rest of the first-year recruits. For the most part, staying with one’s own species wasn’t an issue; it seemed aliens from all three planets were getting along fine, with some laughing and others nervous, talking quietly about what to expect on their first day.

Everything was going well until Emma caught sight of the Halyna girl she sat next to the night before. She was walking with the two other Halyna first-year recruits. Emma tried to hunker down and slow a half-step to hide behind Layga. It didn’t work.

“Hey, look who it is, Dana,” one of the Halyna girls addressed Emma’s dinner partner from last night. “Isn’t that the girl you told us retched all over herself yesterday?”

Apparently the story of her trouble with the teleporter had not only spread, but had also been blown entirely out of proportion.

“Yep, that’s the Retch.” Dana stopped her own forward progress and waited for Emma. “Take a good look, Triv. You, too, Lisha. This is what we don’t want our species becoming—weak-stomached and ready to drop out before classes even start.”

Emma felt the heat of anger reach her face. She expected to be made fun of from her previous incident with the teleporter, but being accused of quitting was something she couldn’t have foreseen.

Emma zeroed in on Dana. “What are you talking about? I’m not quitting.”

“Really?” Dana raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Well, by the looks of last night, Instructor Drown has it in for you. You’ll be quitting soon, and until you do, hands off Daylon. He’s mine.”

Before Emma could get a word out, Dana had turned away, followed by her grinning lackeys as she strode down the hall.

Emma was boiling with frustration, mostly from being accused of quitting, but if she was being honest with herself, it was also that Dana had taken an interest in Daylon. It seemed the queen bee was already sinking her talons into him.

“Are you okay, Em?” Layga put a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Don’t listen to them. They give your species a bad name.”

“I’m fine.” Emma began to move forward, motioning to Layga and Jeba. “Come on, let’s hurry or we’ll be late for class.”

The three girls jogged along the corridor until they reached a stone archway on their right.

“Is this the place?” Emma examined the worn entryway and the dark room beyond. “Stone is kind of a weird thing to have on an orbiting space station.”

“This is where we are supposed to enter,” Jeba confirmed without hesitation. “Come, comrades, let us begin.”

Jeba walked inside, followed by an apprehensive Layga and Emma. The entryway was poorly lit, but as they continued inside, the way became illuminated with blazing braziers and torches along the walls. In a moment, they had been taken from the bright lights and high walls of the Academy corridor and dumped into a medieval castle.

Soon, Emma and her friends reached a square room with padded flooring. The walls were lined with every kind of weapon Emma could think of, and most she couldn’t. Swords, bows, spears, axes, and hammers of all shapes and sizes had been mounted carefully. Blades caught the fires’ light and gleamed bright and dangerous.

Twelve girls and twelve boys from the first-year recruits stood nervous but ready.

“I’ll make this as simple as I can for you.”

Students in all directions jumped as their combat instructor walked in behind them. He met the preconceived mold of a Halyna: tall, orange skin, eyes and hair so dark they were almost black. What made him different was his muscle tone and the scars he carried across his arms. One scar began just above his right eye and continued down to his cheek. Whatever had cut him had been centimeters from taking his eye with it.

“I’m not your friend, I’m not your mentor,” Drown began. “I’m here to separate the wolves from the sheep, so the sheep don’t get slaughtered in the years to come.” He moved to the center of the room and stood on the mat, looking each one of them in the eyes. The silence was uncomfortable. Every student shifted or turned from his gaze.

Emma was ready when it came her turn. She was done being singled out. If he wanted to stare at her, she would stare right back. Drown held her gaze for only a moment, though, not longer than any other student this time. Emma set her jaw and glared into his black eyes.

When Drown had made his sweep of the room, he motioned the recruits forward. “The best way to learn a new skill is to practice until you can perform the motion in your sleep. Two lines, facing each other.”

The students ran to obey. Emma paired up with Layga, Jeba with the Ree boy she sat next to at dinner the night before. Emma could see Daylon and Dana square off on the opposite side of the mat. Daylon looked less than pleased about his sparring partner, though Dana couldn’t have looked more happy with herself. She shot a smug smile at Emma.

What came next were two of the most difficult hours of physical exercise Emma had ever participated in. High school PE class seemed like a leisurely walk around the block compared to Drown’s instruction. Emma was far from the athletic type, and her muscles and lungs reminded her of this over and over again.

Drown’s methods in hand-to-hand combat were peppered with cardio exercises like box jumps and sprints, along with muscle-building routines like push-ups and sit-ups. When they weren’t working out, they were preforming jabs and punches, while their counterparts blocked the strikes. Layga was apologizing for the dozenth time for hitting Emma when Drown asked for a volunteer.

“Break,” Drown barked across the room. Sweat-laden faces looked to one another in relief. “Who can tell me why we’ve been practicing these movements all class?”

“Because you hate us,” Emma whispered to herself at the same time the large Ree boy, Jeba’s partner, raised his hand.

“Yes, Alexon?” Drown stood, hands behind his back, staring at the Ree.

For a moment, the boy looked shocked Drown knew his name. He teetered as if he were going to faint. Sweat matted his sleeveless Academy uniform. “Can we … can we have water, Instructor Drown?”

Emma could see the muscle on Drown’s jaw twitch as his stare turned into a glare. Instead of speaking, Drown retreated to a corner of the training room where a narrow door was set into the wall. He opened the door and came back a moment later, carrying a small table in one hand and a large clear pitcher of water in the other.

The glass container was cold with condensation. Emma’s dry throat silently screamed at her to attain the water by any means necessary.

Drown placed the table behind him and set the pitcher of water on top of it, then he stood between the students and the water. Emma could guess what was coming next.

“I’m glad you asked, Alexon.” Drown motioned him forward. “Why don’t we turn this into a drill? If anyone would like water, you may have your fill … if you can get past me.”

Emma and the rest of the students exchanged uncertain glances. Was he serious? No one in their right mind was going to take on Drown no matter how thirsty they were. Emma was actually in the middle of this very thought, when Drown’s dark eyes zeroed in on her.

“How about you, Em Duel?” Drown motioned her forward. “You look thirsty.”

Emma looked at Drown, dumbfounded. He knew who she was, what she was. He should be among the last calling attention to her.

“I … uh, I—” Emma mentally kicked herself for stuttering, but there was nothing she could do about it now. “I’m good, actually. I drank a lot at breakfast.”

“Probably vomited it all up on the way here, though,” Dana muttered to her giggling friends.

Emma ignored the girls. Something inside her was stirring, something only recently discovered when she found out who she was and her true heritage. It was the same feeling of unbridled courage that had brought her here in the first place.

“Come now.” Drown smiled a predatory grin at her. “I’ll level the playing field for you. We’ll only use the strikes and blocks we went over today.”

The thought that he was trying to make a fool of her, perhaps even undo her before she had a real chance at learning how to protect her home world, burned at Emma. After all, this was why she was here, wasn’t it? To learn and practice? If she didn’t have the courage to stand against her instructor, then how would she have the courage to stand against the Shay when they came?

You’re an idiot, and you’re going to regret this if you live past the next few minutes, Emma told herself. Despite her self imposed-warning, she advanced.

17

An audible gasp came from the students as they witnessed one of their own make the ultimate sacrifice. Emma placed herself square in front of Drown, her stance the one they had just been taught—knees slightly bent, chin in, hands up and ready.

Drown looked her directly in the eyes, his hands down by his waist, chest out, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “What are you waiting for, Em Duel?” he asked, his voice thick with disdain. “If you wait any longer, the water behind me is going to evaporate, or we’ll all die of old age.”

The warrior spirit inside of Emma burst forward. She was sick of Drown’s attitude and his bullying way of teaching. She struck first with her left hand, already following up with her right fist, before the initial blow landed.

Drown was so fast, he was a blur. One moment, he was standing, hands by his sides; the next, he was batting away her punches with open hands and sending a strike to her stomach.

Emma was too slow. His blow landed full force. Pain first, then a feeling of suffocation as all the air in Emma’s lungs was sucked out of her, like a vacuum had magically stolen all of her oxygen in the space of a single moment.

Another gasp came from all the students behind her. Emma staggered, hating herself, and she dropped to one knee, coughing and gasping for air.

“Let this be a lesson to you all.” Drown moved beside Emma and offered her a hand. “Practice will bring you speed, and speed will bring you victory. That is all for today.”

Emma didn’t know what Drown was thinking. If he thought he could force her to be his own punching bag and then be friends after, he was wrong. She ignored him altogether, lifting herself off the mat and joining her friends.

Her insides felt like she had been forced to lie on her back and allow a tank to roll over her stomach. Emma gritted her teeth against the pain. She didn’t allow herself to slouch; back straight, she waited for Drown’s next words.

“You are all dismissed,” he spoke without looking at her. “You can pick up your homework assignments on the way out.”

“Are you okay?” Layga’s eyes were full of concern as the girls joined the rest of the recruits in exiting Drown’s classroom. “He shouldn’t have struck you like that.”

“I’m fine,” Emma lied, knowing, come morning, there would be a bruise to accompany the pain she felt. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Upon exiting Drown’s classroom, an android greeted all the students handing out metallic silver wristbands. Thinner than a watch, it was cool to the touch. Emma followed Layga’s example as she slipped it onto her wrist. At once, the metallic material shrank to fit her wrist perfectly.

“And what am I supposed to do with this?” Emma looked over to Layga for assistance. Where her own band had shrunk to meet her needs, Layga’s had grown to fit the Ree’s muscular wrist. “This is our homework assignment?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Layga grimaced as the pair maneuvered through the busy halls to their next class. “It’s a holo band. I thought the Halyna were familiar with this technology? In fact, weren’t they the ones to invent it?”

Emma felt a wave of panic wash over her as she looked into Layga’s large, curious eyes. Why hadn’t she just waited to see how her classmates interacted with the band instead of asking questions?

“Well … I…” Emma began, searching for the right words that would get her off the hook.

“Em.” The voice was Alexon’s, the Ree boy who’d asked for water in Drown’s class. “Em, hold up.”

Emma said a silent prayer of thanks as she used the interruption to redirect the uncomfortable conversation. “Hi, Alexon.”

Alexon came to an awkward halt beside the girls. His tunic, although gigantic, was still a tad too small for his frame. Muscles bulged from beneath the fabric. To Emma’s amusement, she noticed Layga staring. Her Ree friend was anything but inconspicuous as her eyes roamed over Alexon’s frame. In any other scenario, Emma would have been terrified to look up at such a large being. It was amazing what one could get used to in such a short time.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” Alexon looked down at Em with true regret in his dark eyes. “If I hadn’t asked Instructor Drown for water, he wouldn’t have started that whole exercise. How are you feeling? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, and it’s not your fault at all. We were all thirsty.” Emma motioned to Layga with an open hand. “Have you met my roommate, Layga Sunkissed?”

“I don’t think I have.” Alexon gave a short bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Layga’s normal tanned features were a hot pinkish red. The smile on her face was one part awkward, one part afraid, and one part shy. She nodded as if that were a normal response. It was the first time Emma had seen her friend with nothing to say. Usually, she couldn’t get the Ree to shut up.

Alexon smiled back. He looked to Emma with confusion.

“Well, we all better get going to our next class now, and grab some water on the way.” Emma snagged Layga’s elbow and pulled her along. “Don’t want to be late for whatever it is we’re doing next.”

“Oh, we have Beast Prevention next.” Alexon hurried alongside them. “I heard there’s a new teacher. There was some kind of horrible accident with the last one.”

“Great.” Emma smiled, still steering along a speechless Layga. “Can’t wait.”

18

As it turned out, Beast Prevention wasn’t at all as safe as it sounded. Emma sat in a large room lined with single-person desks. Brightly lit, the ceiling was once again open as if they were outside on a warm summer day. Instead of brick walls like Drown preferred in his classroom, lush vegetation sprouted on three sides. Lively red grass gave way to thick trees made of green trunks and yellow leaves. Although the colors were far from what Emma was used to, the plants and trees themselves brought a sense of familiarity.

“I heard the last teacher was mauled to death,” Dana said, loud enough for the entire classroom to hear. Her two accomplices, Triv and Lisha, sat beside her. “It just happened yesterday. He got too trusting with a saberling.”

Murmurs rippled across the room. If Emma had any idea what a saberling was, she might have had an opinion on the matter.

“I’m glad you are plain and boring, not one for attention, like your counterparts.” Jeba leaned in from the seat on Emma’s left. “I think if I had been bunked with one of them, I wouldn’t last more than a week without strangling someone.”

“Thanks.” Emma frowned for a moment, trying to decode the Bracka’s words. “Wait, are you insulting me, or giving me a compliment?”

Before Jeba could respond, a familiar voice filled the room. “Welcome young recruits from all three Alliance planets. I am so glad to have you in my class.”

Heads turned as an android walked into the room. The voice had belonged to the android that had greeted Emma and Daylon the day before when giving them directions to the teleporter. Its face was different now.

Yesterday, there had only been a single red light inside a square to represent any kind of facial features. Today, an actual face looked back at them. Granted, the skin was stark white, so the illusion of talking to an actual person ended there. Beyond the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the android, black-and-white metal plating made up the rest of the body.

“Wait until I tell my parents a bucket of metal is teaching our class.” Like before, Dana didn’t try to whisper. “This is ridiculous.”

Whether or not the android heard her and had decided to ignore her or he missed the comment altogether, he went on.

“My proper name is Android 040816. But you may call me Instructor Andy if it is more comfortable for you or easier to remember.” Andy took a spot at the front of the class, a wide smile on his white lips. “I do regret to inform you that Instructor Zhou suffered an accident yesterday, but he is alive and recuperating in one of the most advanced health facilities. He is expected to regain full use of his bowels and digestive tract.”

Emma looked from her right to left to confirm she was actually hearing what she thought she was. Layga was staring at Alexon. When Emma caught Jeba’s eye, the Bracka shrugged and patted her belly.

“I’ll be filling in as instructor while the Academy searches for a full-time replacement. But let me be clear, with the knowledge base of the entire library at my disposal, I am more than qualified to teach, and my metal body guarantees an accident such as the one that befell Instructor Zhou will not occur. Please consult your holo bands and turn with me to page one of Mastering the Beast.”

Emma peeked over at the students around her to understand how the holo band worked. For all intents and purposes, it was like having a phone on your wrist, if a phone projected whatever you were doing in a small beam of light.

In a matter of minutes, Emma was scrolling through different functions. Everything was in the holo band, including a map of the Academy, curriculum for every class, and of course, homework assignments.

Emma would have spent more time exploring the technology, but Andy was already halfway through page one by the time she brought up the textbook. Once displayed by the holo watch, Emma was able to move the floating book and position it in front of her or on her desk. Although there were no actual pages to feel, it responded to her fingers when she wanted to turn a page or maneuver the book itself.

The class passed quickly, not because Andy was a particularly energetic teacher, but because everything was so new and wonderful to Emma. They passed over chapters of best practices for safety when encountering alien animals, proper care for them, and danger signs.

“I know your young, inquisitive minds must be itching for some practical application.” At the front of the class, Andy closed the holo text he was reading from. “Before we end the day, let’s all get acquainted with the first animal we will be studying: the saberling.”

A gasp from the first-year recruits filled the room. After what Dana had said, it was obvious everyone was having second thoughts about Andy’s suggestion.

Andy disappeared into the dense foliage a moment later, his sleek legs carrying him forward as smoothly as any species.

Emma felt a twinge of fear. If this was the same creature responsible for the previous instructor’s accident, should they even be interacting with it at all? Instead of joining the panicked whispers, Emma decided to consult her copy of Mastering the Beast.

What she found wasn’t heartening.

An image displaying the saberling dropped Emma’s jaw. The creature reminded Emma of every picture she had seen of a saber-toothed tiger, except the saberling was larger, almost the size of a horse, and instead of short fur, its coat was a bit longer and much thicker like that of a wolf’s.

Emma was still processing what she was seeing on her holo band, when rustling in the forest trees silenced the entire room. Breaths were held as a low growl began. It gathered volume into a deep, predatory snarl. Twigs snapped under the pressure of paws; tree branches were broken.

Emma traded concerned looks with Layga and Jeba. A moment later, the monster emerged.

Andy exited the trees, holding a soft pile of orange-yellow fur. Two comical spikes descended from the upper jaw of the baby saberling. The growl it made was more of a purr, and the snapping tree branches were from the android, not from the alien feline.

“All who would like to see a saberling up close are welcome to come and pet him. I promise you, he is safe. In my vast records of the known history of the galaxy, there has never been a report of a baby saberling attack.”

Most of the students looked to one another for courage before getting in line to say their hellos. Emma noticed out of the corner of her eye that Dana and a few others remained in their seats, ignoring the android.

When it was Emma’s turn to pet the saberling, it looked up at her with large, green eyes. It nuzzled her extended hand, pushing its entire small body against her with purrs so loud, it made even Andy take note.

“It seems he enjoys your scent more than anyone else’s.” Andy looked Emma in the eyes, holding her gaze for far too long. “Strange, he has smelled other Halyna and did not have this same reaction.”

“Oh, well … you see…” Emma retracted her hand despite the saberling’s cries of protest. “It’s probably this … this new body wash I’ve been using.”

“Body wash.” Andy repeated the words as if it was the first time he’d ever heard them. “Yes, well, all students who have had their chance to pet the saberling are dismissed. You’ll find your homework assignments on your holo bands.”

In the wake of the saberling’s protests, Emma speed walked out of the classroom. So far, she wasn’t doing a great job of blending in. Layga was on to her lack of knowledge of Halyna technology, and now the saberling knew she smelled different.

To make matters worse, her holo band had begun to blink a bright red. A message popped up from Dean Slain. The subject line was simple: Come to my office. We need to talk immediately.

19

Anxiety twisted in the pit of Emma’s stomach. This time, it wasn’t even from the teleportation trip to the Dean’s level. On Earth, Emma had never been called into her principal’s office. She was sure Slain wasn’t calling her in to scold her, but the thought still sat at the forefront of her mind.

What if I already messed up somehow? Emma pushed back the queasy feeling that told her she was walking to her doom. What if something’s happening with the Shay?

Emma’s thoughts were beginning to spiral into ridiculous assumptions, when she reached the Dean’s office. Stepping into the room was nothing like exiting. The outside of Slain’s office was covered in the most beautiful waterfall Emma had ever seen. From somewhere so high it was lost to sight, crystal clear water rushed down, protecting the door, only to disappear into a carved hole in the ground. Whether the water traveled down to the next level or somewhere else entirely was left to the imagination.

The sound the rushing water emitted made Emma want to relax and go to the bathroom at the same time. While Emma was wondering if there was time to find a restroom before her meeting with the Academy’s Dean, the waterfall parted, revealing the Dean’s door and stealing her opportunity to relieve herself.

With a heavy sigh, Emma reached for the door’s wet handle and stepped inside.

“There you are.” Slain’s smile immediately put Emma at ease. “I’m sorry to pull you during your lunch break, but it seems your father is a very suspicious man.”

Slain sat behind his large desk. His fingers laced behind his head, he lounged in his chair. Emma crossed the gigantic open room, once again impressed by its size.

“What do you mean?” Emma took a seat in front of Slain. “Does my dad know about the Academy?”

“Oh, no, no.” Slain leaned forward and, with an outstretched hand, motioned to Emma’s holo band. “Only that he’s anxiously pacing. He’s tried texting and calling you on your cell phone. Instead of having you come here every time you need to speak with him, it will be easier if I link your holo watch to your phone.”

“How do you know he’s pacing?” Emma obeyed, removing her band and handing it to Slain.

“Because I’m having him watched, of course.” Slain accepted the holo band and began tinkering with the display as he spoke. “Nothing sinister. I just want to make sure everything transitions smoothly. Your stay here at the Academy is unprecedented. If anything were to go wrong and your human identity found out … well. It would be both our heads.”

There was that familiar twinge in her stomach again.

“That’s … that’s just a saying, right?”

“What is?” Slain handed back her holo band. “Oh, that it would be our heads? Of course, the Alliance would just have us both incarcerated for the rest of our lives. Sent to a tiny hole in the middle of the worst planet to live out our remaining days in such extreme solitude, we’d go mad.”

“Oh.” Emma placed her band back on her wrist. “I feel so much better.”

“Good. Now, when you scroll through the functions on your band, you’ll see an option marked ‘Extra Credit Homework.’ I don’t think that will be of interest to any student who may get his or her hands on your holo. You’ll be able to talk and text with your father through that function.”

Emma opened the display on her band and a small hologram popped up. She ran her finger down the options until she came to the one marked “Extra Credit Homework.” With a tap of her finger, the familiar screen and keypad of her cell phone popped up.

“It should go without saying that you are only to use this option when you are absolutely positive no one is around.” Slain stood and moved across the room to the seating area, where he made himself comfortable with a large, blue book entitled The Guide to Caring For Dragon Eggs. “I suggest you call him now before he gets into his vehicle and tries to go find you.”

“Right.” Emma tapped an icon on the hologram of her father’s name. She touched the phone symbol next.

Her father picked up on the first ring. “Hello?” She could hear the relief in his voice. “Emma, are you okay?”

“Hey, Dad. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Oh, good.” Her father blew out a long, pent-up breath. “Sorry, you know I’m not usually like this. It’s just weird not having you here.”

“I know, it’s … it’s a lot different here than at home, but I’m liking it so far. You were right. I did need to get out.”

“Did you get to meet your new teachers yet? How are they?”

Emma’s mind fixated on being punched in the stomach by Drown. She searched for something she could tell her father that wouldn’t be a total lie. But what did she have to choose from so far, an instructor who was okay with hitting students, and an android?

“Emma, are you there?” Her father’s voice brought her wandering mind back.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Emma cleared her throat. “My instructors are passionate about their work.”

“That’s great to hear, Killer.” All of the tension from her father’s voice was gone now. “Have you made any friends yet?”

“I have actually. My roommates are pretty cool. I think things are going to work out here.”

“I’m so happy for you. You know how much I miss you, but I’m glad you’re having a good time and learning about something you’re interested in.”

“I am. Thanks for pushing me to do this.” As she spoke, Emma was reminded of why she was at the Academy in the first place. The Shay were coming for her father, for Earth. “I need to be here.”

“Well, go have fun. I’ll try not to worry too much and keep my stalking-like texts and calls to a minimum. I love you, Emma.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

20

“Where did you disappear to?” Layga caught Emma’s eye from across the room.

Recruits were already finishing their midday meal. All around her, seats were being pushed back as they began the walk to whatever class called their names next.

“I, uh … I had to go to the bathroom.” Emma winced under the flimsy excuse. “It was bad.”

“We’ve all been there.” Layga nodded as if she were recalling a recent experience. “We’ll grab something quick. We have Elixirs to Live By with Talisha Tescot next.”

Emma ran to a long table loaded down with a variety of foods she didn’t recognize. She chose an orange piece of fruit shaped like a pear and what she guessed was some kind of protein bar, though there was no way for her to be sure.

The Ree girl waited for Emma, and the two speed walked to their next class.

“I’ve been looking forward to being mentored by Instructor Tescot.” Layga slowed her walk so Emma could keep up. “She’s a Ree from my own home city.”

“Cool.” Emma spoke around a mouthful of the protein bar that wasn’t a protein bar at all, but a piece of chewy mass that felt like peanut butter in her mouth but tasted like eggs.

A quick teleport ride and a near-vomit experience later, the two girls stood outside of a clean, white door. The last students were just making their way into the room.

Emma stepped inside, not sure what setting to expect. To her surprise, it was the closest room to an actual classroom so far that day. No torches lit a dungeon-like atmosphere. Neither were there forests to obscure their view.

Talisha Tescot had chosen a very simple layout: white walls and floor, with lines of desks and stools. Each desk mirrored the next, and three stools stood behind each one. On top of the desks, a variety of tubes, beakers, and burners were ready for use.

The instructor herself was already in the room. She sat comfortably behind a small desk, smiling and nodding to students as they came in.

Jeba motioned for Layga and Emma to join her at a desk near the front of the room.

“Thank goodness.” Jeba breathed a sigh of relief when her roommates joined her. “I thought I’d have to socialize with two more boring recruits.”

“Oh, I’m glad we could help.” Layga sat on Jeba’s right with a genuine smile.

“I’m not sure that was a compliment.” Emma lifted an eyebrow in Jeba’s direction. “Was it?”

Jeba shrugged.

“Good morning class.” Talisha stood, showing off her impressive size. As a Ree, she stood nearly eight feet tall. “I see everyone has made it on time. Let us begin.”

The next hour was spent going over safety habits when handling dangerous substances. The second hour was a detailed course overview on what they would be learning the next few months.

Emma found herself liking the Ree woman. Talisha was kind, and she welcomed questions as she explained the curriculum. In a way, she was the exact opposite of Drown.

Despite Talisha’s pleasant demeanor, Emma found her mind wandering off-topic. The conversation with her father earlier that day reminded her of the true reason she was here. She had a finite amount of time to learn what she needed to know. Then it would be up to her to defeat the incoming Shay scouting party. What did she really know about the Shay anyway?

Emma made a mental note to take advantage of the library the Academy offered. The more she knew about her enemy, the better off she would be.

“Over the course of the class, you’ll be able to create healing salves, sleep potions, and accelerant elixirs.” Talisha’s voice brought Emma back to the class. “For those of you who are chosen as warriors and maybe even Arilion Knights, these will prove invaluable. For those of you who choose other positions in the Alliance ranks, the information you gather here will still be helpful in your everyday workings.”

Talisha glanced at a plain, white digital clock on the right side of the wall. It was the only piece of decoration in the Spartan room.

“If there are no other questions, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Talisha gave the entire classroom a broad smile. “Homework assignments will be light and can be found in your holo bands.”

Much like her own high school, as soon as the okay was given to leave, the room erupted in a bustle of scooting seats and quick exits.

“Oh, she’s everything I could imagine and more.” Layga sighed. “I’m going to talk to her before heading to our last class.”

“Suit yourself, giant,” Jeba shrugged, motioning to Emma with a short wave. “Come along, we’ll need good seats for this last class. I’ve heard stories of Instructor Grimm before he took up his position as a teacher. He was a god on the battlefield. Perhaps we’ll see some blood spilled today.”

“Oh, great,” Emma followed Jeba from the room, touching a tentative hand to her still-sore stomach. “I can’t wait.”

21

“Can anyone tell me what the alliance warrior’s greatest weapon is?” Instructor Grimm asked from his cross-legged position in front of the class.

The classroom was different from the other three yet again. Instructor Grimm chose a mountaintop view. The students sat on a grass-softened mountain peak. On every side, the terrain sloped down. Unnatural sun shone on the group, with an ever-so-slight breeze ruffling their robes now and again.

“Yes, Jeba Warbreath.” Instructor Grimm nodded in her direction. “Do you have an answer?”

“I do, Instructor.” Jeba stood from her place on the grassy ground. “It’s a combination of speed as swift as the wind and a physical force unequaled in the universe.”

“Both necessary to any alliance warrior,” the Bracka instructor played with his long, grey goatee, “however, that is not his or her most important tool.”

Jeba sat down with a confused look at Emma as if her entire world had been shattered.

Emma gave her roommate a shrug. She was seated between Jeba and Layga, once more at the front of the class. From her close vantage point, Instructor Grimm didn’t look like much of a warrior. As a Bracka, his stature was short and bulky. A small belly protruded from his brown robe as if he were smuggling a watermelon from a grocery store. His face was wrinkled; his eyes were alert, not quite kind but passive.

“Yes, Daylon.” The Instructor’s gaze focused past Emma. “Do you know what an alliance warrior’s greatest tool is?”

Emma took the opportunity to shift from her seated position and look behind her. Daylon sat two rows back next to Alexon and, to Emma’s disgust, Dana. The latter looked at Daylon with fluttering eyelids and leaned in as he spoke.

“Alliance warriors, much like the Arilion Knights draw their power from harnessing their will,” Daylon explained, making eye contact with Emma. A smile passed over his lips as he did. “The more focused and determined an alliance warrior is, the stronger he or she becomes.”

“Very good.” Instructor Grimm stood. “You are correct. Although we as alliance warriors are held to a stricter set of rules than Arilion Knights, we can still reach our full potential. And as I am sure you all have heard, the rumors are Arilion Knights are once more appearing across the universe. I’m getting off topic now. I am a visual learner myself, so allow me to demonstrate.”

The teacher reached into the folds of his robe, producing two fist-sized rocks and a dagger the length of his forearm. He handed the items to Jeba as he continued to explain the exercise.

“Test the strength of the stones, as well as the sharpness of the blade. Though be cautious; the dagger is recently sharpened.” The Bracka instructor took a wide stance with a straight back. “The power you channel, the will and determination that is required to perform the impossible, comes from here and here.”

Instructor Grimm placed two fingers to the spot over his heart, then moved them to his temple.

Emma bit her lower lip as she was handed the stones and the knife. The rocks were solid, unwavering to anything short of a sledgehammer. She tested the knife-edge on a tuft of grass beside her, and it sliced through the green blades like a scythe.

Emma carefully handed the items to Layga. She didn’t want to miss any of what the instructor was demonstrating or had to say. All along, Emma had been wondering what the power of the alliance warrior actually was. This was all of utmost importance for her to learn if she was expected to repel the Shay’s attack on Earth.

A few silent moments passed as each student was allowed to examine the items. Eventually, the rocks and the knife made their way back to the front of the class. The instructor accepted them from Jeba with a polite nod.

“This is only a small example of what an alliance warrior can do when his or her mind, and spirit, are united by the bonds of practice and focus.” The instructor placed the stone at his feet; throwing the knife high in the air, the blade spun in a blur. It twirled high into the space above Instructor Grimm’s head and came down just as quickly. He plucked it from the air like a feather floating down to the ground.

An audible gasp escaped from the students. A high-pitched scream more befitting of a child than a giant came from Alexon, although no one made a move to make fun of the Ree. Everyone was amazed, eyes locked on their instructor.

“My body is impervious to blade, blaster, or blows when my mind tells it to be.” Instructor Grimm exchanged the dagger blade from hand to hand, squeezing the sharpened steel blade until his knuckles whitened under the pressure. No cuts showed on his skin when he opened his hands for the recruits to see. “Not everyone can channel their focus into a direct physical manifestation. You all showed signs of unnatural willpower, and that is why you are here at the Academy.”

Grimm threw the dagger to the ground. It stuck in the soft grass, buried to its hilt. Next, their teacher leaned over and picked up a rock in each hand.

“Just as focus and speed are tools of the alliance warriors, so, too, is physical strength.” A tiny explosion of pebbles and dust spewed from his right hand as he crushed one of the stones without showing any sign of exertion. “With practice, you are all capable of great and wondrous things, as long as you apply yourselves.”

Instead of crushing the last stone he held in his left hand, Grimm balled his right hand into a fist and struck it. Just like the first stone, this rock also cracked under the pressure. It turned into a handful of pebbles and dust that fell to the ground.

Emma was speechless. Thus far, she had been amazed by what the Academy promised, but durability and strength like this was something she had not expected. Again, something inside of Emma stirred. The warrior she never knew she was capable of becoming yearned to be set free. Already Emma was accepting the forthcoming challenge.

“We’ll begin with durability and strength, but do not think these are the only tools of an alliance warrior. There is so much more to be mastered.” Their instructor shook off his hands in a small cloud of grey dust. “We’ll begin with strength in focus. Everyone choose a stone from the side of the mountain and let us begin.”

For the next hour, Emma strove with the rest of her class to perform the same act of strength as their teacher.

Instructor Grimm walked up and down the lines of students, offering advice and encouragement. By the time he arrived beside Emma, her hand ached from gripping the stone so tightly. Tiny beads of sweat had formed on her brow.

“Em Duel.” Instructor Grimm folded his hands inside his robe. “How goes the training?”

“I can’t … I can’t seem to make any progress.” Emma opened her right hand in which she held the baseball-sized rock. Her palm was wet with sweat and red from the pressure. “I can’t do it.”

“With that mentality and those words, you will never be able to do it.” Instructor Grimm’s words were blunt, but not unkind. “Don’t think you can’t. Know you can, and with practice, I promise you will. If you are determined, there is nothing inside or outside of being an alliance warrior that you can’t achieve. There are only two choices here, Em Duel. Either you will succeed, or you will give up. You decide what you can and can’t do. No one else; not even this rock.”

Emma was still digesting his words when Grimm stepped away to offer his advice to a struggling Layga beside her.

By the end of the class, everyone’s hands were sore. A few students even managed to draw blood from gripping their stones too hard.

“Do not be disheartened. Trust that, in time, you will succeed.” Instructor Grimm gave a slight bow. “Homework can be found in your holo bands. You are free to go.”

Emma filed from the room with the rest of the class. She moved from the mountaintop view to the door that emptied out into the pristine white halls with nonexistent ceilings.

“So do we wait until after dinner to look at our homework, or are we masochists and see what’s in store for us now?” Daylon had caught up to Emma, flexing his hand. “Or do we take a third option and go ice our hands?”

“Oh, I, uh … I don’t know,” Emma said, stumbling over her words. “I guess we look now?”

Together, they examined their holo bands. The groans around them were already being voiced as other students also examined the amount of work in front of them.

“Are you kidding me?” Alexon’s voice could be heard from somewhere up ahead. “Ten laps around the track after the workout he already had us do? I’m convinced Instructor Drown is trying to kill us.”

“Ten laps sounds easy compared to what Instructor Andy has written down.” The voice was new to Emma, gruff and raspy. She looked over to see a Bracka boy scratching his head as he looked at his holo display. “He wants us to clean up after the animals? Like muck out the poop?”

“I’m not doing that.” Dana walked by the group, her head held high. “If he thinks I’m caring for those little beasts like a servant, that android has another thing coming. Let’s go to dinner, Daylon.”

“I’ll catch up with you,” Daylon answered, still keeping stride with Emma.

Dana turned to sneer at Emma. She looked like she was about to say something, but instead, she pivoted on her heel and walked away, her two Halyna lackeys in tow.

“At least our other two assignments don’t look too hard.” Daylon scrolled down his holo. “For Elixirs to Live By, we only have assigned reading, and Instructor Grimm’s homework is only a single word long.”

“Meditate.” Emma looked down at her own holo, reading the solitary word that came under the class title of Entry to Arilion. “That seems easy enough.”

22

After dinner, Emma decided to dig into the books of her alien home world included in her holo band. Layga had taken off to run her laps, while Jeba was still enjoying her meal at the mess hall. The night’s dinner was something that smelled like chicken but tasted like fish; the entire meal was delicious but confusing to Emma.

She was lying on her bed, flipping through pages of Renia history; the more she knew about her planet, the easier it would be to fit in. There was also no denying that she was genuinely curious about her heritage. For her entire life she had been content to think she was one hundred percent human, and why wouldn’t she? Now, an entire culture had opened up for her to explore.

Emma started with the first book entitled Renia, The Planet of Power. Page after page showed bright greens and blues—the planet was mostly forested with beautiful oceans and rivers. The Halyna were known as the founders of the Alliance, their expertise on technology, and their fighting spirit.

Unlike Earth, one governing body ruled the entire planet of Renia. Civil wars had broken out across their history, but every time, it was dealt with swiftly, the vast majority of the population banding together and supporting one another.

After her eyes ached from reading, Emma decided it was time to start Instructor Grimm’s homework assignment.

She sat in her room, still alone, cross-legged on her bed, like Instructor Grimm had been in the classroom. Emma closed her eyes and tried to block everything else out, but random thoughts kept pushing to the surface like a dozen floating buoys she struggled to keep under water.

First and foremost was the pressure to succeed. Earth, along with her father, was counting on her.

Next, was the nightmare she had before she left for the Academy, where her dreams had taken on the form of the Shay. Although she hadn’t told anyone of the dreams yet, she had a feeling she had not seen the last of them.

Finally, Daylon kept popping into her mind. Those orange eyes of his, the way he looked at her, and his strange relationship with Dana, as though he didn’t want to be around her but was forced to be by some invisible bond.

Ugggghhh! How am I supposed to meditate with so much going on? Emma thought. It looks so easy in the movies. I just have to channel my inner Buddhist monk.

Emma let a long, slow breath move from her lungs to her lips. Again, she breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth.

She ignored the many possibilities in her near future. Instead of focusing on the negative, she allowed herself just to be present, and a calm, freeing sensation unfamiliar to Emma settled on her shoulders.

Until the door to Emma’s room swung open, banging against the wall, the sound loud enough to wake everyone in their hall.

“I ate too much, Halyna.” Jeba stumbled into the room, holding her stomach. “That third serving of the Triton Fish was not a wise choice.”

Emma snapped out of her newly discovered meditative trance in time to see Jeba fling herself face-up on her own bed.

“Jeba, do you mind? I was med—”

“I need a shower.” Layga stepped into the room, sopping sweat. “Ten laps around the track is enough to make you feel like you’re swimming in your own clothes.”

The Ree wasn’t exaggerating. Her black, tight-fitting exercise clothes clung to her body like one large leech. Along with the Ree came a distinct smell. Emma wrinkled her nose at the odor, a familiar stench that reminded her of her own high school gym.

Emma reconciled herself to the idea that meditation for the night was over. Instead of complaining to her roommates, Emma rose and began changing into her own exercise uniform. She fumbled with the clothing, ignoring that she was getting undressed in front of other people in the room. It was something she knew was silly but hadn’t been able to shake, even after a year of high school. She hurriedly pulled on the black leggings, the plain, black tank top, and the running shoes provided for every recruit.

“I’d offer to go run with you, but I think I may need to allow dinner to digest a bit further.” Jeba lifted her head off her bed to address Emma. “Also, your pants are on backwards.”

Emma’s unfamiliarity with the alien clothes had again hinted at her human heritage.

“How do you know?” Emma looked down at the plain black pants. There was no tag on the inside of the material, and neither was there a design to hint at a front or a back.

Jeba exchanged glances with Layga as the latter gathered shower supplies.

“The stitching always goes in the front.” Layga cocked her head, examining Emma as if this was the first time she had seen her. “Are you all right, Em?”

“Oh … oh, yeah.” Emma felt heat rise to her face. She ripped off the pants, turned them around, and pulled them on again. “Sorry, it’s been a long first day.”

Without waiting for their response, Emma slammed her feet into her black shoes that didn’t require laces. Instead, they adjusted snugly once they were on. The shoes surprised Emma, but since she was in the presence of her roommates, she masked her amazement. As a Halyna, she probably should be used to the melding foot ware. Emma gave Layga and Jeba a brief wave and a smile before she left.

“I’m going to go knock out the rest of these assignments before it gets too late,” Emma said over her back. “I’ll see you two in a few hours.”

Emma hurried down the girl’s dormitory hall, to the teleporter, hoping her roommates wouldn’t read too much into the scenario.

She stepped into the cylinder-shaped cove in the wall, consulting her holo band for the correct floor to visit. It would make the most sense for her to perform her beastly duties before running the track.

The Academy schematics popped up on her holo band—the entire orbiting space station looked like a pinwheel, with dozens of levels on the diagram, including levels designated for dormitory, teaching, exercise, library, mess hall, storage, and more. One level with the plain title of ”Observatory” caught Emma’s eye. She made a brief mental note to explore that section of the Academy when she had a chance. In the meantime, she waved her hand over the teleporter’s control panel and selected the appropriate option to take her to her Beast Prevention class.

She had to clean up after a few baby animals. How hard could it be?

23

Emma would have rather slept with Layga’s sweaty clothes as a pillow than to clean up after the saberling. One hand over her mouth and nose, the other holding a shovel, she examined her furry friend.

The saberling was on his hind legs, tailing wagging furiously. He licked his giant feline teeth, sniffing the air and making tiny purring noises. He leapt over and over again, but was always short of vaulting over his pen wall.

Emma glanced over at the homework list Instructor Andy had placed on a tree; a scroll with detailed instructions had been set on one of the many trees surrounding the classroom. On the list was each recruit’s name with a duty to be performed. Alongside her name, Em Duel, was a clear message: Clean the saberling’s pen and feed him his evening meal.

Emma looked down on the energetic ball of short, orangish-yellow hair. It wasn’t that she hated animals; to the contrary, she loved dogs and cats. But this little creature was going to hint at something off about her; it was practically doing cartwheels sniffing at her and purring non-stop.

“I think he likes you,” a familiar voice called over Emma’s shoulder. “He didn’t even get up when I walked into the room.”

Emma turned to see the Bracka boy who had been walking alongside Alexon when the conversation of homework had come up.

“I think you’re right.” Emma studied the saberling again, with his large pen and the piles of stinking excrement she was doomed to encounter. “This little guy really has it in for me.”

“Well, at least you don’t have to trim the Mamothons’ tusks.” The Bracka boy sidled up next to Emma with a pair of long shears in his hand. “You know how that can be.”

“Oh, yeah, Mamothons,” Emma repeated uncomfortably, already looking for a way to steer the conversation away from things she wasn’t sure if she should or shouldn’t know. “I’m Em, by the way.”

“Jaymore Hammerfist.” The Bracka boy moved the shears to his left hand and extended his right. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Both recruits shook hands. There was a shared wince as the raw skin on their palms reminded them of Instructor Grimm’s class.

“How’s your gut feeling after Instructor Drown’s lesson?” Jaymore asked hesitantly. “A lot of us thought it was wrong of him to pick on a student. I mean, especially the first day, when we’re all so new and still learning.”

“I’m fine,” Emma lied. Truth be told, her stomach felt as though it had been forced through a hundred sit-up workout routine. “Thanks for asking, though.”

“Of course.” Jaymore scratched the underside of his jaw with the shears. “We all have to stick together. These next four years are going to be tough. If we want to be alliance warriors, maybe even Arilion Knights one day and protect our home worlds, we’ll have to help each other out.”

“Oh look, isn’t that cute.” Dana’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Emma’s ears. “Shouldn’t you two be mucking out the stalls and trimming tusks right about now?”

“Oh, hello, Dana.” Jaymore turned with Emma to address their classmate, his cheeks already rosy red as blood rushed to his face. He hurried off into the forest, mumbling an excuse. “Yeah, you’re right. I was just about to start.”

“Don’t you have chores to do, too?” Emma examined the list of recruits’ names, along with the coinciding tasks to be performed. Sure enough, Dana’s name was there alongside the chore of feeding the turlock.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me.” Dana flipped her orange hair over her shoulder. “I have an allergy that keeps me from shoveling manure. All I have to do is throw a few pieces of fruit to a stupid beast and I’m done.”

“I should have known you’d find a way to get out of work.” Emma shook her head. She could be in an orbiting space academy millions of light years from Earth, but students would always be the same. There would always be bullies and slackers.

Students carrying out their own assignments hurried around the two girls, chancing sideways glances and whispers.

“By the way,” Dana said, hands moving from folded across her midsection to her hips. “Stay away from Daylon. He’s mine.”

“Or what?” Emma felt anger burn in her chest, the possibility of a physical confrontation exciting her in a way that was both surprising and unexpected. Emma had never been in a fight before in her life.

“Or you’ll regret it,” Dana growled.

“I’m sure.” Emma waved her free hand at the Halyna girl. “I’ll talk to whomever I want. You can’t claim people. Now get out of here. Some of us have real work to do.”

Emma could practically feel holes being drilled into her by a seething Dana, but she didn’t care. She was too proud of herself at having directly confronted the bully and without even stuttering. Maybe Tistan Duel was right. Maybe she was cut out for this warrior stuff after all.

Emma heard Dana stalk off into the forest as she climbed over the waist-high fence and into the saberling pen. The baby saberling attacked her in a series of jumps and nuzzles, its muscular body causing Emma to stumble more than once.

“Okay, okay, little guy.” Emma bent down to scratch the creature behind his ears, the odor of the pen making her gag in the process. “Let me clean this place up, then I’ll give you all the pets you want.”

While cleaning out the saberling’s pen, Emma held her breath until she felt light-headed and saw spots in front of her eyes. The poop was easy enough to scoop up in her shovel. The ground was nothing more than dirt with a thin layer of hay-like straw.

A few minutes of almost making herself pass out and Emma was finished. She closed the trash bin where the poop was held, refusing to look inside. She placed the shovel back in its stand next to the fence, all the while trying not to be tripped by the enthusiastic saberling.

“Okay, come on.” Emma dropped to her knees.

The saberling took her cue, launching itself in her arms. It seemed to like her face the most. Its soft, pink tongue slid back and forth between its comically huge upper two front canine teeth.

“Oh, you’re a sweet boy.” Emma wrestled the saberling on his back, where she gave him furious scratches to his belly. “You need to stop sniffing me so much, though. You’re going to get me in trouble.”

The saberling opened one eye as his tongue lolled out the side as if to say, “Okay as long as we both know you’re not fooling me.”

Emma found herself laughing out loud at the expression.

“Okay, kiddo.” Emma forced herself to her feet. “You need your dinner, and I have a track to run.”

On the other side of the saberling’s pen was a food receptacle bin and a water supply. Emma scooped a healthy serving of red meat from the bin and placed it inside a black bowl. She did the same with the water.

The saberling chomped down his meal, all thoughts of Emma and her human scent lost as he went to work on his dinner.

“Okay, buddy.” Emma stroked his back one last time. “Have a good night. I’ll be back tomorrow for class. I’ll come and say hi, I promise.”

Emma climbed over the gate pen, her mind already thinking of the ten laps around the track that waited for her, when the ground trembled and hysterical screams from the other students in the forest classroom ripped though the air.

24

The ground shook again, not like an earthquake, but like a herd of some large creatures had been let loose. It was too difficult to see what was going on through the trees, but a handful of students ran from somewhere deeper in the forest.

Emma caught sight of Jaymore pumping his short legs, shears forgotten somewhere in his panic.

“Jaymore”—Emma waved at him—“what is it?”

“Run, Emma,” Jaymore labored past heaving lungs. “Someone let out the turlocks.”

Emma was still processing his words when she got her first glance at what was causing the mass panic. A creature the shape of a rhinoceros but with shaggy hair and twin horns that resembled a bull’s, charged through the forest.

It was massive, like a Volkswagen bug made from muscle and bone, hell-bent on destroying anything in its path. Right now, its red eyes were zeroed in on Jaymore and a group of other students who were running for the classroom door.

Through the dense trees, Emma could have sworn she caught sight of a grinning Dana, but confirming seeing the Halyna girl would take more time than Emma had. She needed to make a quick decision—turn and run, or stay and help.

The same warrior spirit recently awoken from hibernation screamed inside her to take action. Without thinking what she was going to do, Emma ran toward the charging animal.

Shocked looks of confusion passed over the other students’ faces as they ran in the opposite direction.

“Emma,” Jaymore huffed past her. “No—run!”

In the next few minutes, Emma was either going to call on what Instructor Grimm had taught them that day, or become the galaxy’s largest shish kebob. Her body was traveling toward the infuriated animal, but Emma’s mind was somewhere else entirely.

Foam flecked from the alien beast’s mouth as its hooves struck the forest ground like hammers on an anvil.

If Emma had taken the time to concentrate on these details, fear might have overcome her. Instead, she harnessed her will. Emma felt heat from a reserve deep within warm her body.

Arms outstretched, Emma gripped the turlock’s horns, one in each hand, as recruit and alien animal clashed.

It was hard for Emma to imagine who was more shocked by the outcome as they met with a mind-numbing force. The two combatants struggled against one another, so evenly matched, they stayed rooted to the same spot, grunting. Emma’s arms trembled, and her mind refused to allow herself even a second to be amazed by what she was doing.

The turlock stared at her with wild, frightened eyes. The glare she had mistaken for rage a moment before was actually fear. But there was no time to wonder why the animal was terrified, and this became painfully true as the turlock changed tactics. Instead of focusing all of its effort in pushing through Emma, it began to shake its massive head from side to side.

First to the right, then to the left, it dug its hooves into the soft forest ground, trying to throw off Emma.

Emma gritted her teeth as everything around her dulled except for one thought: If I let go I’m dead.

She tried refocusing her willpower, but whatever miracle she had initially stopped the turlock with was fading. Emma’s hands began to sweat. Her feet churned, struggling to find balance as much as the turlock was.

Then her right hand slipped off the creature’s pointed horn, followed by her left. Up close, the horns looked like spears more than anything else. Emma fell to her knees, exhausted. Defeat meant death.

The turlock snorted, spraying mucus from its nostrils as it lowered its head and bore down on its target.

A roar—no, a growl—unlike anything Emma had ever heard interrupted the last few seconds of her life. Instead of the turlock impaling her with its horns, it threw its hind legs back, and the alien animal bucked like a rodeo horse, desperately trying to throw something off.

By some unknown miracle, the saberling had escaped his pen and hung onto the turlock’s back, both gigantic fangs stuck into its skin. With its front and rear legs, the saberling clawed like a rabid wolverine.

Emma was instantly aware of all the screaming and shouting from fellow classmates; the cacophony accompanied her struggle, like music playing in the background of an action scene.

Emma fought her way to her feet, her hands slick with not only sweat, but also blood. It seemed the turlock’s horns weren’t only sharp on the ends.

“Em, get back!”

“Run, Em!”

She heard all of the pleas for retreat, and a part of her even wanted to run. But Emma Jackson was discovering something about herself: she had no desire to run from a fight. It wasn’t in her nature to leave a friend, even an animal, behind.

Beads of sweat rolled down her brow. Emma ignored the pain in her hands, clenching them, hoping it would somehow trigger what she knew was inside.

Specks of red flew in the air as the saberling punished the turlock. One particularly violent buck dislodged its hold on the animal’s rough skin and sent the saberling flying. Two heavy rear hooves kicked out just in time to connect with the baby feline’s ribs in a sickening sound. The saberling came to a skidding halt in a heap, unmoving. The turlock lowered its head in its tiny attackers direction, preparing to charge.

“No!” Emma shouted, light-headed but still running forward, not quite sure if her power had returned, but unwilling to stand by and do nothing. “Leave him alone!”

Out of her peripheral vision, Emma saw Instructors Grimm and Andy. The former was like a bullet speeding toward the turlock, the latter running on his bionic legs as fast as he could.

Faster than any human or alien species Emma had witnessed to date, Instructor Grimm was there. He grabbed the behemoth around the midsection, lifting it as if it weighed no more than a thin textbook.

The scene looked almost comical, with the short Bracka Instructor holding the thrashing turlock above his head. Slowly, the thrashing diminished and the wild snorts turned to pitiful moans.

Emma dropped to her knees, exhausted in a way she never knew. Her hands were drenched in her own blood. Her vision began to blur.

“Em, Em Duel are you injured?” Instructor Andy skidded to a halt next to her. He placed both hands on her shoulders, his nearly human face etched with concern.

Emma opened her mouth to answer, but she never got a word out. Unconsciousness came for her faster than vomit rose to her mouth after teleporting.

25

“The Arilion Order is returning but is that what we witnessed? It is possible for an Arilion to use their power without the aid of the vambraces but unlikely. The vambraces help channel the strength of will. For a newly chosen Arilion Knight it would be unlikely. Plus she’s not even on her home world of Renia,” Emma heard Instructor Grimm’s voice as she swam up from the silent darkness. “As long as I’ve been an instructor at the Academy, I’ve never seen something like this. There are so many questions. Not the least of is why wasn’t there the familiar purple glow that comes from a knight using his or her power?”

“You don’t need to remind me, old friend.” Slain’s voice sounded soft and mellow, despite his words. “Trust me, we’ll figure out what is going on. With the emergence of the new Arilion Knights perhaps some of the rules have changed.”

Bright light made Emma blink as she took in her new surroundings. She was lying on a clean, white bed in a gigantic room with empty beds to her right and left. Likewise, a row of beds mirrored her own on the other side of a wide walkway.

Along with the discovery of her new surroundings came two things:

First, she felt like she had been run over by a tractor. Every muscle in her body ached, and her hands felt like hot, stabbing pokers had been inserted into each palm.

Second, she wasn’t alone. Three faces looked at her. Dean Slain’s familiar orange hue and pointed ears; Instructor Grimm’s bald head and long beard; and a female Bracka she didn’t know.

“How are you feeling, Em?” Slain asked, leaning in a bit to show his concern. “You’ve been through quite a first day.”

“Where am I?” Emma tried propping herself up but her entire body protested, making her submit after only moving a few inches. “I feel like one big sore.”

“You’re safe in the infirmary, child.” The Bracka woman stepped up to her side with a smile on her wide lips. “You’re going to be okay. Once you get some rest and elixir into you, you’ll be up in no time.”

Emma knew nothing about the Bracka woman, but she found herself immediately liking her honest words and kind face.

“Yes, we’ll be quick, so as to not keep Madam Cherub from her work.” With a slight head tilt, Instructor Grimm addressed the woman. “I just wanted to make sure you’d be okay and to find out how you managed to master the first two lessons of Will so quickly.”

The honest truth? Emma had no idea how she had accomplished channeling her will into physical power. A guess would be that somehow being a hybrid human and Halyna had helped her, but there was no way she could tell Instructor Grimm that.

“I … I don’t know. I had to, so I did.” Emma slid a glance toward Slain, asking for help. “How did the turlock get free in the first place?”

“We’re working on that now.” Slain steered the conversation in the direction of the previously loosed animal. “All locks were secured when Instructor Andy left the classroom. It had to be one of the students when they were caring for the animals.”

A vision of Dana smiling in the forest flashed in front of Emma’s thoughts. Ratting someone out wasn’t exactly Emma’s style, and even if it was, she had no proof.

“Yes, turlocks are naturally peaceful animals. We’re working on what infuriated it, but that doesn’t answer the question of how you became a master of strength and durability in one day.” Instructor Grimm looked hard into Emma’s eyes, searching. “Unless there is more here than meets the eye.”

Emma looked away. Instructor Grimm’s gaze was like staring into the sun. Obviously he realized something out of the ordinary was at play, here.

“Well, I didn’t exactly master the lesson.” Emma raised her hands, only realizing now how heavily they were bandaged. “I wish I was some savant. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or something else.”

“Turlock horns are among the sharpest in cataloged history.” Instructor Grimm stroked his beard. “The shallow slices on your hand I’m sure are painful, but the turlock horns should have cleaved them in two.”

Emma shrugged, wincing at the action. She could only speculate, herself.

“That’s enough interrogation for one night, with all due respect, Dean and Instructor.” Madam Cherub started shooing Slain and Grimm away with her thick hands. “I told her roommates she wasn’t allowed visitors, and I’ve made exceptions for both of you long enough.”

Instructor Grimm looked like he was about to open his mouth to protest, when Slain placed a gentle hand onto his shoulder.

“Come along, old friend. Cherub is right. Em needs her rest.” Slain gave a sideways look to the Bracka woman one last time. “And we both know how she can be.”

Instructor Grimm allowed himself to be ushered from the infirmary under Slain’s steady hand.

“Layga and Jeba came to see me?” Emma smiled at the thought. “I guess I’ve managed to make some friends already.”

“I dare say you’ve made quite an impression at the Academy.” Cherub drew up a stool to sit by Emma’s side. “And not just your two roommates. There was a handsome Halyna boy named Daylon and a Bracka boy and Ree boy, as well. I think they said their names were Jaymore and Alexon. Not to mention all the gossip spreading like wild fire now calling you an Arilion Knight.”

Emma’s smile widened. A strange feeling came over her when she thought of the idea of having friends. It was so foreign, it was both exciting and wonderful at the same time.

“Now, now…” Cherub reached inside her white apron, producing a long, corked vial of bright blue liquid. “Let’s not get too carried away with ourselves. Arilion Knight or not you’ll be needing a solid night’s rest. This elixir is called Dreammend. It’ll accelerate your healing factor while you sleep. If all goes well, you’ll be ready to continue your training tomorrow.”

Emma opened her mouth as Cherub poured in the serum. It was actually the best thing Emma had ingested since her stay at the Academy had begun. Her taste buds puckered at the flavors of orange and lemon.

As soon as she had drunk the elixir, her eyes began to close. If the potion was indeed that strong, or if the idea of the potion being that strong, was the reason, Emma would never know. Sleep came for her quickly, and with it, nightmares.

26

Her home was alive with bright red-and-yellow tongues of fire. Not just her own home, her entire neighborhood, her entire city, maybe the world. Smoke curled up toward the cold night sky, becoming lost to the darkness.

Emma stood in the middle of the street, shivering, wearing a black compression suit outlined with purple stenciling.

A sound beyond the roaring fires dominated the scene for supremacy—a heavy buzzing sound, high overhead. Emma looked up in time to see the night sky’s stars blotted out by giant airships. These massive floating fortresses patrolled the sky, surveying the destruction.

Bright lights from the ships spotted her. Emma blinked against the illumination, her eyes dancing with black spots as she raised a hand, trying to focus. Thuds hit the ground all around her, accompanied by a whoosh of wings.

Before Emma lowered her hand to address her assailants, she already knew what she would find. Courage fought back the wave of fear that rushed down Emma’s spine.

The Shay were all around her. Impossible serpent-like humanoids standing on two feet, wings folded against their backs. The black uniforms with steel armor they wore made the aliens even more intimidating.

The warrior will rose up in Emma like a comet streaking for the surface. Heat not from the multiple fires tingled across her skin.

“Bend your knee, human.” The Shay in front of Emma took a step forward, raising a long rifle in her direction. “These sheep are not worth saving. Join us and be our ruler of this world.”

Somewhere deep in Emma’s consciousness she knew she was in a dream, maybe even a premonition of what could be if she failed to protect the Earth. Never had she imagined she would ever be given the option of ruling the world.

“Your father will be spared,” the Shay continued, taking Emma’s silence for intrigue. “Even your mother, with her many sins against our kind, could be spared if you surrender the Earth now.”

“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” Emma realized what had been bothering her during her parlay with the enemy. “You wouldn’t be asking me to join you, if you could just crush me.”

The Shay lifted his weapon to his shoulder. Those around him did the same, leveling their giant blasters on Emma.

“Last chance, Halyna mutt,” the Shay roared in anger. “Will you yield?”

“Never.”

27

Emma woke, remembering her dream vividly. She had kept her first nightmare encounter with the Shay a secret—it felt childish to do anything else—but if this was becoming a trend, she needed help.

With no windows or clocks to offer the time, Emma turned to the ceiling to determine the hour. The space above her where the ceiling should have been, glowed light grey, as if the sun was just starting to dominate the day.

Next, Emma forced herself to sit up, and the pain that followed was nothing like she had experienced the day before. Her soreness was reduced tenfold; her hands still wrapped in gauze stung only the tiniest bit when she flexed them.

“Dreammend works wonders, doesn’t it?”

“Oh!” Emma jolted in bed. “Cherub, I didn’t see you there.”

The Bracka woman was sitting two beds down in the long infirmary room. Her white uniform and apron blended into the bed’s covers as if intended.

“I’ve lived a very long time.” Cherub stood and made her way to Emma’s side. “I’ve seen many strange things.”

Emma took a moment to study the Bracka’s face as she spoke. Cherub wasn’t lying about her age. Her rough features were lined with wrinkles, and her hair was pulled back in a tight, white bun. There was even an ever-so-slight hobble when she moved.

“But I have never seen a human in the Academy.” Cherub crossed her arms, peering down at Emma. “Much less a human-Halyna.”

Emma’s mouth fell open. What was she supposed to say? Cherub wasn’t even asking; she knew the entire truth already. Somehow Emma had been found out while she slept.

“I … I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emma sputtered. “I—”

“You can save your lies, child. Someone as brave as you doesn’t deserve their name tarnished with excuses. I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s obvious you couldn’t have gotten here without help. It’s even more obvious from last night’s meeting that Instructor Grimm has no idea and Dean Slain is helping you.”

Emma literally bit her tongue.

“I did a blood sample to make sure your bloodstream wasn’t infected from the turlock’s horns.” Cherub reached under Emma’s bed to produce a folded Academy uniform. “Like I said, your secret is safe with me. I know right and wrong when I see it. It’s a gift that comes with being too old.”

“Thank you.” Emma didn’t think offering gratitude to the woman was admitting anything. “I feel much better.”

“You take care of yourself, young lady.” Cherub patted her gently on the wrist before walking away. “You’re playing a very dangerous game. If the Alliance finds out…”

Cherub didn’t finish her sentence, and Emma thought she meant to leave the words to her own imagination. One thing was certain, Emma needed to get to the bottom of her dreams, and there was only one person she had access to who could help.

28

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” Drown growled, looking up from his place on the practice mat in his classroom. “At the very least, you should be eating breakfast with the others. Our class doesn’t begin for another hour.”

“You know who—what—I am. Tistan told me,” Emma said so loudly, she almost shouted out the words. “I want answers.”

Drown raised a pointed finger with a scowl, signaling her for silence. He rose from the mat. Drown crossed the room before looking down the long stone hall connecting his dungeon-like area to the rest of the Academy. When he was satisfied they were alone, he turned back to Emma.

“You need to watch your volume and what you say. This place has ears of its own.” Drown glanced down at Emma’s wrapped hands before addressing her again. “Why don’t you go to Slain for answers?”

“Because he’ll try to protect me.” Emma scowled at the tall Halyna Instructor, remembering the strike he landed from the day before. “I know you’re not pulling any punches.”

“Babying you while Tistan and Slain entertain this stupid idea of you protecting Earth isn’t doing you any favors.” Drown scowled so hard, the scar on his face seemed to deepen. “What is it you want to know?”

“I’m having dreams of the Shay.” Emma hesitated, trying to decide if dreams were the best way to describe them. “Nightmares, maybe. Maybe even glimpses into the future. I don’t know.”

“No one knows, Emma.”

For the first time since Emma had met the Halyna instructor, Drown’s voice was something other than commanding. Not soft, but a hint of concern was buried somewhere deep in his words.

“You’re the very first of your kind. A hybrid of Halyna and—” Drown grimaced as if a bad taste had entered his mouth and taken up permanent residence. “Human. You’re operating in uncharted territory. I heard of your advanced learning to harness the first two tools of being an alliance warrior. That turlock should have trampled you and shredded you in the process. It seems having a mother from my own race and a father from the humans has positioned you to live a very interesting life. Some are saying you’re even an Arilion Knight. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that though. I’m chalking up your accelerated learning to your mixed DNA.”

“Yeah.” Emma hadn’t meant for so much sadness to sit in that word. She hated showing weakness to anyone, especially to a teacher like Drown. “Well, thanks for nothing, I guess. I’ll have to figure this out on my own.”

Emma turned, her mind already at work on where next to look for answers.

“Like I said, you’re the first of your kind, so there are no other cases to learn from.” Drown’s voice followed her down the hall. “But if you go to the library, you may be able to track down some special cases of recruits who were quick learners here at the Academy.”

“Thanks,” Emma called over her shoulder. It seemed if answers were to be found at all, it would be up to her to find them.

29

“I bet it was Dana.” Layga stared across the mess hall to where Dana sat uncharacteristically quiet with the other two Halyna girls and Daylon. “I should go over there and give her a piece of my mind.”

“Easy, giant,” Jeba said around a mouthful of oatmeal-like gruel. “There are strict rules of no fighting in the Academy. I mean, no fighting outside of practice.”

“Plus, I don’t have anything to prove she actually did let the turlock go.” Emma shoved another spoonful of the breakfast mash into her mouth. Apparently, being nearly killed by a turlock created quite an appetite. “For now, we’ll just have to be careful around her.”

The three girls nodded in unison.

The rest of Emma’s day passed in a blur of concerned friends and questions as to her health. It seemed the word had spread quickly of her encounter with the turlock. Emma was surprised to see nearly all of the first-year recruits worried for her well-being; all, that is, except for Daylon, Dana, and her clones.

It didn’t surprise Emma that the other Halyna girls refused to talk to her, but she did feel a stab of pain when Daylon failed to even look her way that day.

The classes were all what Emma had expected. Another brutal sparring session with Drown, mixing healing elixirs with Talisha, and a nervous Andy reiterating beast safety.

Emma was happy to see the only injuries the saberling had endured were a set of mild bruises where the turlock had struck. After class, Emma hung behind to give the creature some special one-on-one time.

“It’s obvious he enjoys your company.” Andy wiped the homework assignment board clean with a rough brush. “Saberlings aren’t known for their attachment to anyone, Halyna or otherwise.”

“Well, if we didn’t share a bond before, we do now.” Emma ruffled the saberling’s ears with her left hand. “What’s his name, by the way?”

“Oh, he was only just born when the last instructor suffered his injury. He hasn’t been named yet.” Andy extended his mechanical pointer finger. A cap opened and the tip of a pen protruded forward. He began writing down homework assignments for the evening. “I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had a chance, what with all the curriculum to keep up with and turlocks running about. Perhaps you would like to name him, Em Duel?”

“Me?” Emma stopped stroking the saberling’s soft fur amidst loud purrs of protest. “Are you sure?”

“It seems most fitting.” Andy took a break from writing down the class homework assignments to fix Emma with a sad smile. “Besides, I may not be here much longer. It seems some of the recruits have parents who don’t appreciate their children being taught by an android.”

“Who?” Emma didn’t have to ask, but she did anyway. “That’s horrible. You have as much right to teach as anyone else. Your knowledge and ability, not what you are, should define you.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Andy snapped out of his defeated state. He went back to work on his list. “What does matter is that you give your new friend a name.”

“Too bad you’re not more like a dog,” Emma whispered into the saberling’s ear. “I’d call you Wolf.”

“What was that?” Andy asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Emma got up, covered in saberling hair. She dusted herself off, winking at her four-legged friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

30

Instructor Grimm’s class was last, and Emma caught him eyeing her on more than a few occasions. Her ability to harness the skill of durability and strength were still at her disposal. Emma crushed a small rock in her right hand, and her skin didn’t even redden under the pressure of a dull knife.

When Entry to Arilion was over, Emma wasted no time in heading for the exit. The last thing she wanted was another awkward conversation with Instructor Grimm.

“Hey, where are you going?” Layga asked as they left the mountaintop classroom. She pointed an outstretched hand to where all the students were headed like a herd of turlock. “The mess hall’s this way.”

“Oh, I know,” Emma said, preparing to use her premeditated excuse. “I’m going to go to the library to get a head start on our homework for Elixirs to Live By. I’ll grab something later.”

Jeba and Layga exchanged looks with one another that said anyone willing to miss a meal should be committed to an asylum, then left.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. She hated lying to her new friends, but she needed to do this on her own. If there was the slightest chance she could find out what she was or why she was experiencing this link with the Shay, she needed to take it.

Her holo band told Emma where the closest transport was. It also gave her a detailed schematic of the library on a higher level. Emma managed to teleport to the library level with minimal nausea. Either she was getting used to being teleported around, or her mind was too inundated with the survival of herself and her world to care about upset stomachs.

When Emma stepped out of the cylindrical opening in the hall marking the teleporter, she stood still for a moment, stunned. The library was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Impossibly tall shelves rose three stories, where long walkways connected overhead, forming arching patterns along the second and third floor. Chairs and tables were clumped together here and there, allowing studying students to take their pick of reading spaces.

Trying to do the math in her head of how many volumes had to be contained in the Academy’s library was pointless. Most of the recruits were at dinner, save for a handful of third- and fourth-years who barely gave her a second look.

Emma chose a random hall between two massive shelves. It felt like walking into a canyon. She didn’t have the first clue of how to find what she was looking for. Was there a librarian to ask or computer to consult? If there was either one, was it worth putting out into the open what she was looking for?

“Emma.” Her mother’s soft voice had caught her off guard.

Emma whirled around and looked up to where the voice had drifted down. Tistan Duel stood on a second-level walkway near a supporting pillar. She wore the same long cloak that blended with her surroundings perfectly.

In one graceful move, Tistan vaulted over the chest-high railing and landed next to her daughter. Her moves were like a cat, and Emma found herself admiring the performance.

“What are you doing here?” Emma whispered, looking up and down the aisle to make sure they were alone. “I thought you said we couldn’t be seen together.”

“I needed to talk with you.” Tistan moved a finger to her lips, then motioned with an outstretched palm for Emma to follow.

Emma bit back the barrage of questions begging to escape her lips. Instead, she followed her mother through a winding maze of bookshelves. Hugging the corners, they stayed in the library’s limited shadows. Soon, Emma found herself lost in the twists and turns with the smell of old books tickling her nose.

Finally, Tistan called a stop in a hidden reading corner buried deep in the library, where two overstuffed chairs sat next to a lamp. There was only one way into the secluded reading corner and only one way out.

“We can talk freely here.” Tistan sat in one of the chairs. She opened her robe to cross her legs. Underneath the fabric was a black-and-red uniform emblazoned with the symbol of a winged creature that reminded Emma of a phoenix.

“So, what are you doing here?” Emma repeated her previous words. “You said we couldn’t meet.”

“And I was correct to say that.” Tistan cleared her throat, searching for the right words. “If we’re found talking, it will only raise questions neither one of us want to answer. I came because Slain said there was an accident, and Drown is worried about you.”

“Drown?” Emma gave her mother a sideways look. “I can understand Slain letting you know what happened with the turlock, but … Drown’s worried? I thought the only thing that goes through that guy’s mind is training exercises and drills.”

“Life experiences have shaped Drown to be a blunt instrument when it comes to peacetime, but underneath the rough exterior is a loyal … friend.” Tistan tried to hide the hesitation between the rest of what she said and the last word she’d chosen.

It didn’t work. Emma was an expert when it came to picking up on the subtle ways girls spoke about men. It was her unique power to be able to binge entire seasons of TV shows. Hours of show watching while snacking on sugar and fats had taught her there was a history between Tistan and Drown.

“Secrets aren’t going to help me.” Emma plopped down onto the seat next to Tistan. “I already have enough to deal with.”

“What are you talking about?” Tistan leaned forward, concern in her eyes. “Is this about the dreams you’ve been having? Drown told me about your conversation.”

“No, no, no, back up.” Emma frowned. “You’re not going to get out of this that easy. What’s going on between you and Drown?”

“Nothing is going on between Drown and I.”

“Really?” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “Because it sounds like he hates humans, and you’re the only reason he’s helping me in the first place.”

“It’s true, Drown has no love for humanity. When we were stationed to assess Earth’s inclusion into the Alliance, we saw some very disturbing scenes. Humans are capable of some very evil acts, as well as some very loving deeds. It’s a shame Drown chooses to focus only on the worst one is able to achieve.”

“And … ?” Emma wasn’t exactly sure why she was so positive there was more. Maybe it was the level of disdain Drown had for her, or perhaps it was some intuition Emma was only beginning to understand.

“And,” Tistan went on, “perhaps there was a time I knew Drown had a personal interest in me, but that was a very long time ago.” She took a deep breath, as if every word from this point on in the conversation required some physical effort. “That was before I met your father. Drown knew my choice. Since then, he has not so much as hinted at feelings for me. Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. My heart already belongs to your father.”

“When you came down to Earth to see if humanity was ready to know about the Alliance and other species, about all of this,” Emma waved her hand around at the Academy, “you voted that Earth should be told, didn’t you?”

“I did. I was able to see humanity for what is was: primitive, capable of evil, yes, but it holds a capacity for so much good. In this way, humans are no different than Halyna, Bracka, or Ree.” Tistan’s gaze fell from her daughter as if she were recalling a vivid memory, long past. “I was outvoted. It seemed Slain and Drown didn’t feel the same way I did.”

The conversation between mother and daughter paused as a wandering student came close to their alcove. The lost student muttered something about finding a sleeping elixir book, and Tistan waited for the light footsteps to fade before continuing on.

“Now, I didn’t come here to talk about my past.” Tistan opened the folds of her cloak, pulling a small book from her belt. “I came here to help you with your future. Since you’re the first of your kind, a hybrid between human and Halyna, there is no way to be sure what the dreams you’re having really are.”

“That’s reassuring.” Emma accepted the book from her mother. It was new, and a soft, black cover with two simple words etched in the front read: The Shay.

“Until we know otherwise, I’m going to operate under the assumption that your dreams are a physical manifestation of the stress you’re under.” Tistan stood, reminding Emma of how tall her mother really was. “I understand bearing the fate of Earth can’t be easy.”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me.”

“Maybe if you understood exactly what you’re up against, it would provide some comfort.” Tistan ignored Emma’s last remark, moving to the exit of their reading nook. She paused on her way out leaning down to tap Emma’s holo band. “I’m going to add a function to your holo band. You’ll be able to contact me whenever you need me.”

“Tistan.” Emma still wasn’t willing to call the woman her mother. The name was too intimate. If she was honest with herself, she still harbored a grudge against the woman who’d left her. “Thank you.”

“I understand it will take some time for you to trust me.” Tistan turned. If she was hurt by having her daughter refer to her by her first name, she didn’t show it. “But we have time now. I’m not going anywhere. I’m very proud of the woman you are becoming, Emma Jackson. I just want you to know that.”

31

“I hate feeling feelings,” Emma muttered in the wake of her mother’s departure. Like any good teenager her age, Emma bottled up the raging emotions battling inside of her, to address at another time … or never.

Right now, she needed a quiet place to crack open the book she held in the crook of her right elbow. The library seemed like the obvious choice, but Emma was having a hard time concentrating with random students walking the halls, muttering about finding books.

Instead of trying to find another nook to read in, Emma opted for traveling to the observatory. It was marked on her holo band as the highest level in the Academy. Since she’d first discovered it, she’d wanted to once more make a trip to see the stars and planets surrounding the Academy.

A short ride through the teleporter and a queasy stomach later, Emma stepped onto the observatory floor. If she thought the library level was something special, she had no idea what to think of what lay in front of her now. It was one wide-open room with glass walls and an actual ceiling. A glass dome opened up to the galaxy beyond the Academy.

Across the floor that hummed with light were recliners, tables, and the odd potted plant added for decoration. It was clear this level was meant for a single purpose: to gaze up into the stars with awe.

Emma wasn’t surprised to find the massive room practically empty. Students would be studying for exams and finishing homework, not traveling to the observatory to waste time.

The rogue idea that she, too, should be completing homework entered Emma’s mind. As soon as it had voiced its opinion, though, Emma silenced it. She would complete her assignments after she studied her enemy. If Tistan was right, then maybe, just maybe, learning about the Shay would answer her questions and put her mind at ease.

Emma chose a dark brown recliner in the middle of the observatory. Before opening the volume in her hand, she took a moment to admire the view.

The glass walls and dome provided the perfect view to a breathtaking scene, where thousands of lights and swirling masses marked the planets and stars. The multitude of colors amazed Emma. It reminded her of how small she really was in the grand scheme of the universe. The planet Stardox, which the Academy orbited, reminded Emma of Earth—vast bodies of water separated by massive landmasses.

Emma allowed herself one last look before she turned to the book in her hands. The table of contents organized it more as a resource guide than a novel. Each section was titled with words like: origin, weaponry, physical attributes, political structure, etc.

Without a second thought, Emma turned to the section of the book about the Shay’s physical appearance. What she found made her stomach do a backflip: a detailed drawing of the same creature from her dreams—tall and lizard-like, with a long snout, wings and a tail.

This had to be something more than a coincidence. How had she accurately imagined what the Shay looked like in her dreams, without ever having laid eyes on one before?

“Shouldn’t you be doing your homework?”

Daylon’s voice startled Emma. She shoved the book between herself and the recliner seat cushion.

“Sorry.” Daylon took the recliner next to her. “I didn’t mean to scare you. What were you reading?”

“Oh … uh … uh … it was a book on the Shay.” Emma mentally kicked herself not only for telling Daylon about the book, but also for stuttering. “Trying to keep informed, you know?”

“Keep informed on the Shay?” Daylon lifted his brow. “They’ve given every Alliance planet a wide berth. I don’t think you have to worry about them.”

“Right.” Emma licked dry lips. Trying to maintain eye contact with Daylon was nearly impossible. “So what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, actually.”

“Me? Really?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for not asking you about the incident with the turlock yesterday.” Daylon looked down as if he were actually ashamed. “It’s just the Academy and all of the politics have me in a weird headspace.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, well, that’s kind of embarrassing.”

“You’re talking to the girl who still has to fight back her vomit when she rides the teleporter.” Emma couldn’t help smiling. “How much more embarrassing can your story be?”

“Good point.” Daylon took a long breath, trying to figure out where to start. “Well, my family isn’t very well-off. No, I’m lying when I say that. My father and mother work hard, but we’re poor.”

Daylon paused to search Emma’s eyes for any judgment.

Emma’s gaze remained vacant. She never had to worry about food being on the table, but at times she had seen her father wait to buy a pair of shoes he needed or drive the same vehicle for the last decade instead of taking on a car payment he couldn’t afford.

“My father works for the company Dana’s father owns.” Daylon couldn’t make eye contact with Emma now. “I thought if I made a good impression on her, maybe word would get back to her father and somehow things will get better for my family. I know its weird and stupid, and it might not work out, but I thought it’s worth a shot.”

“It’s never stupid to try to help your family.” Emma could practically feel her heart warm with compassion for Daylon.

“No…” Daylon agreed, sinking deeper into his recliner. “But I also shouldn’t use people or neglect friends because I’m worried about what other people think.”

Emma felt her heartbeat quicken. Her palms began to sweat as if the temperature of the recliner she was sitting in had risen by ten degrees.

“You’re my friend.” Daylon sat up, gently placing his hand on top of her bandaged palm. “I ignored you today because I knew Dana was going to, and she’s an attention magnet. I’m not going to ignore you anymore. I felt horrible when everyone was going up to see how you were doing, and I hung back.”

“It’s … it’s okay,” Emma managed, grateful her hand was still wrapped in gauze. Hopefully, Daylon wouldn’t be able to feel the sweat. “Thanks for letting me know. That means a lot that you came here to talk to me.”

Daylon removed his hand and leaned forward. Emma felt herself doing the same. Her heart beat like she had just chugged a large vanilla mocha. She closed her eyes and leaned toward him.

“What are you doing?”

“What?” Emma opened her eyes to see why Daylon had leaned in. His holo band was open with their homework assignment for the day. “I—I don’t know. What—what are you doing?”

“I was going to see if you understood Instructor Tescot’s homework assignment for us tonight.” Daylon turned his head, giving her a sideways look. “Why were your eyes closed?”

“My eyes weren’t closed.” Emma swallowed hard. “I was just blinking.”

“That was a long blink.”

“Yeah, well, I have a condition.”

“What?”

“Anyway.” Emma stood, grabbing her book on the Shay. “I’d better be going. We have all that homework, you know. See you later.”

Emma was already on her way to the teleporter, speed walking like she was in dire need of the restroom.

“Okay, see you tomorrow in class,” Daylon shouted behind her.

“See you tomorrow.” Emma reached the teleporter, pressing the button for her floor as she muttered, “Really, a blinking condition?”

32

At the Academy, life took on a pace all its own. Days turned into weeks, and before Emma knew what was happening, a full month had passed. She was first in her class in both Entry to Arilion and Combat Training. Beast Prevention was a bit more challenging, as was Elixirs to Live by, where Emma couldn’t get the sleeping elixir exactly right and kept knocking herself out halfway through class.

She spoke to her father nearly every day, and he couldn’t wait to see her at the end of the summer. If she was honest with herself, Emma felt the same way. The only thing that made being apart from her father bearable was what she knew she was preparing to save him from.

All things considered, everything was running as smoothly as it could … when you’re a teenager preparing to defend Earth from an invading alien force. Everything was fine that is, until the end of the first month, that is, when Emma was told the news.

“You’ll be leaving tomorrow morning on your first training mission to Stardox.” Drown looked at his line of recruits with a wicked grin. “While you’re there, you’ll be able to test everything you’ve learned over the course of the last month.”

Drown’s classroom, which usually lived with a sense of fear from the recruits, suddenly burst into wide-eyed whispers.

Emma looked around, confused. No one had told her about any training exercises on the planet the Academy orbited. She was one part scared, one part excited, and one part worried.

She looked over to Layga, whose eyes were as large as her own. Jeba just shrugged with open hands. Seemed they weren’t the only ones taken off guard.

“Yes, Daylon?” Drown motioned to the Halyna boy. “Do you have a question?”

“Yes, Instructor.” Daylon lowered his hand. “I was under the impression that the Stardox drills began after the second month of classes, and with more notice.”

“That’s how things have been done in the past.” Drown placed clenched fists on either side of his waist. “This year we decided to mix things up a bit. It’s not much of a test if you’re able to plan and prepare, is it? We want to see what you know now, not what you can learn, with a deadline in place.”

Every student stood stunned. Emma would have been more worried had she known exactly what a trip to the planet Stardox entailed. For now, she was left wondering what waited for her on the alien planet below.

“Your combat training has improved over the last month.” Drown walked up and down the line of recruits, looking everyone in the eye. He paused when he got to Emma. “But strikes, kicks, and throws, no matter how proficient you are, will do you no good against an enemy with a solid grappling technique. We’ll begin mat work today, and for those of you who survive Stardox, we’ll continue the lessons when you return.”

Every day, the twenty-four students rotated training partners. It was just Emma’s luck that today she was paired against Dana. The other Halyna girl grimaced when she realized what Emma already knew: it would be a long class.

“You sweat like a Bordou,” Dana said, completing a ground move that sent Emma to the mat with Dana on top of her. “You should really change your deodorant. It’s not working.”

As the two girls reset their stance, Emma fought back the anger. Incredible strength, thanks to Instructor Grimm’s class in Entry to Arilion, was at her call at a moment’s notice. She fantasized for a brief second what it would look like to hip-toss Dana through the opposite wall.

“I think you’re smelling yourself.” Emma threw Dana to the floor a little harder than she had to, and the air escaped from Dana in a loud whoosh that left her coughing.

Emma felt a twinge of regret as Dana struggled to regain her feet. She extended a hand to help the girl up.

Dana slapped away the offered hand. “I don’t need your help. But thanks to Stardox, there’s no need to worry about you anymore. There’s no way a clown such as yourself is going to make it off that planet.”

“Why are you such a bully?” Emma assumed the starting position again. “Does it make you feel better about yourself, putting other people down?”

“Actually, yeah, it kind of does.” Dana threw Emma to the ground violently. “Lower class filth like you is everything that’s wrong with the Academy. They’ll let in anyone who shows even a hint of spirit. You should be removed, just like the android.”

Dana’s last throw would leave a bruise. Emma jumped up from the mat, showing Dana she was more than fine.

“What are you talking about?” Emma’s voice rose louder than she’d intended.

Dana smirked. “You’ll see.”

“Is there a problem over here, ladies?” Drown walked over, his hands held behind his back.

“No problem.” Dana walked backwards with her own hands in the air. “I was just giving Em a little lesson in where she belongs in life.”

33

Talking to Dana was so infuriating, Emma chose to put her head down and just make it through the rest of the class. It felt like an eternity before Drown called an end to the lesson.

Emma filed from the room with the rest of the recruits, joined by Layga and Jeba. She made herself forget about Dana, and instead, focused on figuring out exactly what a trip to Stardox entailed and why everyone was so frightfully anxious about it.

“Well, like Daylon said, usually the first live exercise on Stardox doesn’t come until after month two into the program.” Layga waved her hands in the air, speaking as if she had just been injected with an elixir of pure caffeine. “There must be a good reason why they’re letting us go now. Maybe they think we’re ready.”

Emma shoved back the idea that the mission’s timetable was being pushed up for her. She had just over a month before she was supposed to be defending the Earth from the Shay. Instead of voicing this opinion, she asked, “What happens on Stardox? I mean, what are we supposed to do once we get there?”

“That’s why everyone’s so nervous.” Jeba grunted beside them. “We won’t know until we get there. Every year, the mission parameters change. Sometimes it’s as simple as a game of capture the flag or seek and evade. Other years it’s … a bit more fun. Oh, I hope we get to use weapons.”

“Weapons?” Emma looked at Jeba, trying to discern if she was joking or actually serious. It was impossible to tell.

“Whatever happens, we’ll be fine.” Layga sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than her friends. “We’ll be monitored by the Academy. No one has ever died on a training exercise to Stardox; they’ve dropped out afterward, but not died.”

“Some have been brutally maimed and disfigured, as well,” Jeba added, reaching into her pocket and pulling out what looked like a stick of dried meat. She crunched on it thoughtfully. “But you’re right. I can’t think of anyone who’s actually died.”

This uplifting conversation was all the girls had time for before they reached their next class.

Once all of the recruits were seated in Beast Prevention, Instructor Andy addressed them.

“It is my sad duty to inform you that this will be my last class.” Andy’s eyes lowered in a sign of depression. “I do not know who will be replacing me, but I’m sure he or she will be an adequate teacher for Beast Prevention.”

A series of groans erupted. Emma shot a hate-filled glare at Dana, who sat with her entourage, giggling at the android’s misfortune.

“We’ll write a petition,” Alexon said from his seat. “They have to keep you.”

“We can all go and talk to Dean Slain,” Jaymore added amongst the growing outcry.

“No, no!” Andy waved his mechanical hands at the outraged class. “It’s already been decided. I’m just grateful for the time we’ve had together. Besides, I was informed that tomorrow you begin your first mission to Stardox. We’ve covered saberlings and turlocks, both of which you will encounter there, but we need to go over zurlocks, as well. I won’t have my students wandering the jungle of Stardox with green fever and swollen toes.”

34

Elixirs to Live by and Entry to Arilion were much the same as Beast Prevention, with instructors scrambling to inform their recruits on what they might encounter. Talisha Tescot had them practice a cure for poison, as well as a simple recipe for cloaking their scent.

It wasn’t a surprise that Emma was all thumbs, fumbling with her burner and overheating the solvent. Her elixir intended to mask her scent ended up smelling like a cross between Jeba’s workout clothes and turlock poop.

“Any good elixir requires patience.” Instructor Tescot sidled up to Emma, lowering the flame on her burner. “You have all the knowledge on how to prepare the recipe, without any of the desire to wait.”

“I know.” Emma let out a deep sigh. “I guess I feel like I don’t have a lot of time to learn.”

“You have plenty of time, child.” Talisha patted Emma’s hand. “Slow down and try again.”

Emma wished Talisha’s words were true.

35

“Well, the upside of having to go to Stardox early is that there’s no homework tonight.” Layga was lying on her bed, looking up into a three-hundred-sixty degree view of the planet Stardox. “Right, guys?”

Emma was lost in replaying the day’s Entry to Arilion class over and over in her head. When the class was over, Instructor Grimm, who had kept a close eye on her ever since the turlock had gotten loose, had asked her to stay and talk.

“You’re special, Em Duel,” he’d said, searching for any hint she would tell him what she was hiding. When she didn’t, he continued. “You’ve mastered, in a month, what it will take others an entire year to do, and some may never reach the height you’ve already managed to achieve. With this power comes a responsibility to look after your fellow recruits.…”

“Em, Jeba, are you listening to me?” Layga sat up from her bed to look over at her two roommates.

“What?” Jeba snorted, clearly waking up from an impromptu nap. “No, I fell asleep. Your voice is like a never ending lullaby.”

“Sorry, I was lost in thinking about tomorrow.” Emma sat up, giving Layga her full attention. “Yeah, I’m glad we don’t have homework tonight.”

“It doesn’t look so bad, does it?” Layga looked at the walls and floor of their room, taking in the lush greens of Stardox projected on their wall. “We’ll be fine, as long as we stick together.”

“I hope so, Layga.” Emma lowered herself back to her pillow, thinking about the possibilities the next day would bring.

Emma tossed and turned all night, her brain on overdrive, imagining every kind of scenario from Dana finding a way to kill her in the jungles of Stardox, to letting herself, her friends, and her father down in not being able to complete whatever was asked of them on the planet.

It was dark and uncharacteristically free of snores in their room. Emma had no idea what time it was, but she knew it had to be in the very early hours of the morning.

“Em,” Layga whispered from her bed. “Are you awake?”

Emma’s eyes were already open, gaze drifting through the dark room. A dull light came from the floor, providing just enough illumination to make out outlines of furniture.

“I’m awake, Layga,” Emma whispered back. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you … are you scared at all?”

“Yeah, nervous, scared, anxious. I feel like an advanced elixir from Tescot’s class. I’m a bubbling mass of it all.” Emma was surprised to feel a hint of relief at having voiced her feelings. “You?”

“Yeah, of course.” Layga hesitated uncharacteristically, while her normal, bubbling optimistic tone took on a burden of doubt. “I have a lot riding on my success at the Academy. I don’t really get along with my family at home. If I drop out or get cut, I don’t think I can face them.”

“I’m sure they’d welcome you back, Layga.” Emma tried to choose her words wisely. The last thing she wanted was to open any wounds from Layga’s past. “The Layga I’ve gotten to know would be welcome anywhere.”

“Thanks, Em. And they would allow me back it’s just … do you ever feel … I don’t know. Forget it.”

“No, what were you going to say? I want to know.”

“It’s stupid.” Layga exhaled slowly. If Emma had to guess, the Ree was fighting back tears. “Do you ever feel like you’re a stranger to your own family? Like they don’t even know you at all?”

“I can relate to that.” Emma thought about the mother she’d never known and the father who still didn’t know she was half alien. “But we’re a kind of a family here.”

“What do you mean?” Layga sniffed.

“She means the experiences we’ve shared, and the experiences we will share, are forming a bond amongst us all, giant.” Jeba’s gruff voice filled the room. “I’ve tried to resist, but even I can feel the pull to befriend you two.”

“Jeba, you’re awake?” Layga asked.

Emma could make out Layga’s large silhouette as she sat up in her bed, her massive head tilting over to try to get a glimpse of Jeba.

“How could I not be?” Jeba sat up, tapping the light board beside her bed. She increased the illumination from the floor just enough so they could see each other. “I’m sorry about your family. I can’t empathize with you, but I can sympathize. I don’t form bonds very well myself. My mother is a high-ranking official in the Alliance. We moved a lot when I was younger. It just got easier not to get to know people at all instead of losing friends over and over again.”

It was Emma’s turn to sit up in bed. She looked at her roommates one at a time. She hated lying, but she would get as close to the truth as she could without putting them in a compromising spot.

“I guess I’m somewhere in the middle,” Emma started, trying to figure out what she was going to say next while she was saying it. “I never knew my mother until one day, recently, she just pops out of nowhere. Usually, I’m just a magnet for bullies. Friends have never been easy for me to make until … until I got here and made two really great ones.”

Layga got up from her bed, rubbing at her eyes. She sat down beside Emma, making Emma’s bed groan in protest. With one muscular arm, she wrapped Emma into a hug. Her other arm reached to Jeba’s bed, pulling the Bracka over to join them.

Emma was sure Jeba could have fought off the embrace. Instead, she allowed herself to be guided from her bed onto Emma’s.

“Just for a minute,” Jeba mumbled as the three girls embraced in a quick hug. “Okay, that’s enough.”

Emma felt like a weight had been lifted from her soul. The three girls sat on the same bed, talking about their lives before the Academy, Emma heavily edited her version but kept the core elements the same. The more they talked, the more Emma felt she was in the right place. Somehow, everything would work out. Then the sirens started.

36

The blare was earsplitting. Emma surged to wakefulness, not even realizing when she had fallen asleep. They were still all in Emma’s bed. Layga rolled off, hitting the floor with a heavy thud when the alarm began. Jeba was still snoring like a hibernating bear.

Along with the alarm, red lights began flashing on and off. Emma rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out if this was all part of their mission to Stardox or if something darker was at play.

“First-year recruits are to report to the teleportation level immediately,” Instructor Grimm’s voice spoke through the intercom. “The Stardox training mission begins in fifteen minutes.”

“Jeba. Jeba, wake up.” Layga shook the Bracka. “It’s time to go.”

“Five more minutes.” A line of drool traveled down the corner of Jeba’s lips to the cover beneath her head.

“We only have fifteen.” Emma climbed out of bed. She helped Layga shake Jeba until the Bracka’s eyes were open. “Come on, it’s time to do this.”

The three girls raced to wash up and change into their Academy uniforms before joining the rest of their level at the teleporters on their floor.

The air was filled with excited chatter. The last vestiges of sleep were fading from recruits’ eyes as they waited their turns to enter the teleporters. There were two teleporters on their floor, located between the girls’ and boys’ wings. The fact each could only teleport five recruits at a time made for a short wait.

“Did you sleep at all?” Daylon got in line behind Emma and her roommates. “I think I might have gotten a full hour in somewhere between all my tossing and turning.”

“I’m just ready to start.” Emma felt the warrior inside her tremble with anticipation. “I’m tired of waiting and stressing. Let’s just get this done.”

“After you.” Daylon smiled, extending his hand to their position now at the front of the transporter. “The transportation level is pretty far below us. It’s one of the last levels on the Academy.”

“Oh, okay,” Emma said. Emma, her roommates, and Daylon were joined in the transporter by a grinning Alexon.

“He’s telling you that so you can prepare yourself,” the Ree said, standing sideways so both he and Layga would fit. “The farther you have to be teleported, you know, the more likely you’re going to throw up.”

“Wait, what?”

Everyone tried to shy away from Emma as Daylon pressed the button for the transportation level.

A second later, every one was rushing out of the transporter as Emma doubled over, wincing. Luckily for her, there was nothing in her stomach. Two dry heaves later, she joined the rest of the recruits on the teleportation level.

This floor looked a lot like many of the others in the Academy. Emma was getting a strong feeling that whoever had designed the space station had an inclination for massive rooms, with as much open space as possible. In front of her was a giant glass window overlooking the vastness of space. On the other three walls were teleporters of varying sizes and shapes, some only large enough to teleport a single person, while others looked like warehouse doors capable of teleporting a tank or an aircraft.

In the center of the room stood Instructor Grimm and Dean Slain. In front of the two veterans were neatly stacked piles of clothing and supplies.

“Good morning, recruits,” Dean Slain said. Dressed in a light-colored cloak, his hair pulled back to show off his pointed ears, he struck quite the figure. “If I can have your attention for just a moment, we can begin.”

Everyone immediately stilled, the silence in the large staging room palpable. Emma could hear her heart beating in her ears as she made eye contact with Slain. To his credit, he passed over her quickly.

“The entire purpose of this training exercise is to test yourself on what you know and what you still need to learn,” Slain began. “We’ll be monitoring your progress every step of the way. There are supplies and a uniform for you here to take with you before you teleport to the surface of Stardox. Once there, you’ll receive detailed instructions on how the mission will be accomplished. Take care of one another out there, and remember that the strength of an alliance warrior comes from harnessing the power of your spirit. Through this, anything can be achieved.”

Slain stepped aside, motioning for Instructor Grimm to continue. For what he lacked in height, the much shorter Bracka warrior made up for in presence. “Teleports to the planet’s surface begin in five minutes. Change, gather what supplies you think you might need. Remember your training and you’ll be fine.”

As soon as it registered to the recruits that the instructor was finished, the teleportation level became a scene of chaos. Emma was jostled from side to side, not maliciously but in pure pandemonium, as recruits raced to find a uniform their size. To Emma’s dismay, the uniforms were black-and-purple. Not only the exact colors of the uniform she had been wearing in her latest dream, but the exact pattern.

Black combat boots, pants, and a leather-like jacket with gold stitching. The purple raced down the side of each pant leg, as well as bordered the front of the jacket where the buttons and zipper overlapped.

Emma was aware of familiar faces all around her. There was no time to stop and think how awkward it was to strip down to her underwear in front of the opposite sex to put on her uniform. Emma raced to a corner of the teleportation level that was somewhat secluded and began to disrobe.

It seemed to be the unspoken rule as she was joined by more and more female recruits. The boys on their end did likewise, running to the opposite side of the level, some already ripping off shirts or stumbling with their pants at their ankles.

“Four minutes until teleportation to Stardox,” Instructor Grimm’s voice boomed around everyone.

Emma jammed her feet into boots that, despite their size, were surprisingly comfortable. Her pants and jacket were also deceptively flexible. The material was thick but pliable when Emma made any type of movement.

“Three minutes,” the warning came, jarring Emma from her thoughts.

“Come, Em.” Jeba ignored the jacket that hung open to reveal a kind of sports bra. “We’ll need food for the journey.”

Emma ran to the mound of supplies. Layga was already there with the first group of hastily dressed recruits.

“Backpacks, food, shelter, tools.” Layga pointed out individual piles of supplies as she loaded her own sack with items. “Hurry.”

“Two minutes,” Instructor Grimm shouted.

Emma snatched a black backpack from a pile on the floor, loading it first with water and food. She could live without most things, but hydration and nutrition would be essential. She had to make a split-second decision on how much of each to bring. They wouldn’t leave them out on the surface of Stardox for more than a few days, would they?

“One minute!” was all Emma received for an answer.

Recruits crowded one another as alarm spread throughout the room. As far as supplies went, Emma had just enough time to grab rations, water, a compressed sleeping bag, a small metal survival kit, and before she realized what she was stuffing into her backpack, a travel-size elixir kit.

“Time!” Instructor Grimm shouted across the room. “All recruits report to the teleportation bay, on the double!”

Emma ran with the other recruits who thundered out like a herd of nervous turlocks. Instructor Grimm extended a hand to the right side of the room and the largest teleportation cylinder Emma had seen. There was enough room in the hollowed space in the wall to fit a small army, much less twenty-four nervous recruits.

“As soon as you arrive, you’ll see a beacon with instructions.” This time, Slain couldn’t keep his eyes from traveling to Emma and staying on her for a second too long. “Use this time to learn.”

That was it.

The next second, Emma felt the lightheadedness that came with teleportation travel, a dull light, and then she was on her hands and knees dry heaving again.

37

Her mouth filled with the sour taste of bile. Her stomach burned, forging a blazing path of pain up to her throat. Emma spat out saliva.

There was movement all around her, but all Emma could do at the moment was struggle to her feet. It was the second worst teleportation Emma had been a part of, the first being from Earth to the Academy.

Alexon was right. Emma could handle teleporting over smaller distances fine, but she would have to work on her long distance travel.

“Come on, Retch.” Jeba helped her to her feet, with Layga pulling her up by the other arm. “We’re going to miss the beacon’s message.”

Emma wiped her mouth with the back of her uniform’s sleeve. She steadied herself. Trying to get one’s bearing after teleporting to an alien planet wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

The recruits had been sent to what looked like the only field on the planet. From the vantage point the small hill provided, Emma could see a blanket of thick trees and shrubs in every direction. Somewhere to the east there was a mountain range, but that, too, was covered in dense vegetation.

The heat felt like a good ninety degrees, with humidity. Emma’s ears were already picking up the foreign clicks of insects and caws of birds.

“You’re going to need this.” Daylon appeared next to Emma, handing her the backpack she didn’t even realize she’d dropped. “Feeling okay?”

“Oh, I bet she’s fine now.” Jeba made an obvious wink that Emma was sure she thought was tactful. “Come, you two.”

Daylon jogged a few yards with Emma and her roommates to their right, where the rest of the recruits had gathered around a metal podium. Jaymore was already there, accessing the user interface.

A moment later, a hologram of the planet appeared in baby blue light. A generic male android’s voice greeted the recruits.

“Hello, first-year recruits. In front of you is a holographic map of the planet Stardox. All of the information I’m about to share with you, along with the hologram itself, will be sent to your holo bands.”

A red dot appeared on the hologram planet as it zoomed in for a closer look. Along with the red dot came a highlighted rectangle of the planet’s surface.

“The highlighted portion of the map is the pre-designated safe zone where this training mission will take place. Recruits are ordered to stay within this zone for your own safety.”

The voice was flat and monotone enough, but Emma was already wondering what lay beyond the safe zone. Her imagination conjured images of killer alien animals and insects the size of Layga’s boot.

“The training mission is simple.” The android’s voice brought Emma back into the present moment. “Two teams will move from point A to point B.”

A broken line moved from the red dot marking their location and traveled the length of the safe zone to another red point.

“The first team to reach point B will be declared the winners. The exercise should not take more than two days, one night. If all teams fail to reach point B by the end of the second day, the mission will be counted as unsuccessful. Choose your leaders wisely, and be safe, recruits.”

That was the end of the transmission. As the hologram from the podium vanished, a series of beeps sounded from everyone’s holo bands, signaling the incoming file.

Emma swiped her holo band open, scrolling past the coded link to reach her father and the other coded link to reach her mother. Her scrolling stopped on a new file that read: Mission to Stardox.

Just like the bodiless android’s voice promised, a miniature rotating globe of Stardox erupted from the holo band, with a red dot designating their location, a broken line showing them the path to travel and another dot marking the end.

“Well, it seems pretty obvious to me who should be our leader.” Triv stood next to her other female Halyna counterparts, motioning to Dana. “Dana should lead one of the groups. She’s the head of our class in Elixirs to Live By.”

There were a few scattered approvals of applause, but the body of the recruit group remained silent.

“Well, if Dana is going to lead one group because she’s the best in a class,” Layga put a crushing hand on Emma’s shoulder, “then Em should lead the other group. She’s already mastered the first two lessons in Entry to Arilion, and she’s the best fighter in Instructor Drown’s Combat Training class.”

Emma lowered her gaze to the ground as all the recruits looked to her. She prepared herself for the laughs, the looks of distrust and jokes. She was used to it by now. Growing up too tall for her age, with pointed ears and a stuttering problem had made her an easy target. The strangest thing was, that when her classmates did look at her, most of them had smiles in place. A roar of approval Emma had never heard before accompanied a thunderous applause.

She could practically feel Dana and her two cronies glaring at her. But she didn’t care. Not now.

“Fine, then,” Dana interrupted the applause, unwilling to let Emma bask in her moment. “Who wants to be on the winning side and come with me? We’re going to get there first.”

Like an unspoken gun had been fired to signal the start of a race, the group of recruits ran to choose sides. When the dust had settled, Emma clearly had the larger company.

On Dana’s side were her two shadows, along with all of the Halyna boys minus Daylon. A large Ree boy Emma didn’t know and two Bracka boys rounded out those who’d chosen to side with her. It was clear to some Dana’s attractive physique counted for more than her personality.

“Well, I only have nine in my group.” Dana maintained eye contact with Daylon. “I still need three more.”

“The instructions said two groups.” Emma crossed her arms, stepping between Dana and Daylon. “It didn’t say the groups had to be evenly numbered.”

Rage curled Dana’s upper lip. There was a vein in her neck that pulsated just under her orange skin. “Fine, then.” Dana rotated on her heel. “The winning group, follow me.”

There was a scuffle of feet as Dana and her admirers fell in line behind her. Emma, too, felt the need to hurry, but not before she addressed those who had chosen to follow her.

“I … I, uh, thank you for choosing me.” Emma cleared her throat, not used to leading anyone, much less public speaking. Her heart hammered in her chest like a turlock was bearing down on her. “According to the map, the destination is twenty-six miles away. If we can average thirteen miles a day, we’ll reach it tomorrow before nightfall. Everyone stay hydrated, and if you need a break or help, just ask. No one’s getting left behind.”

A series of nods followed Emma’s words, and just like that, they were off. Emma took the lead at the front of the group, not because she wanted to, but because these fourteen other recruits had put their trust in her. If anything was going to harm them, she would meet it first, at the front.

“Great speech back there.” Daylon ran to join her at the head of the pack. “I just want to make sure you know it won’t be easy as trekking thirteen miles a day.”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, looking at Daylon, who she now had a new respect for. He had publicly chosen her over Dana no matter what the fallout. It was a subject they both understood, but didn’t know how to broach.

“I mean—” Whatever Daylon was about to say next was lost beneath the screaming coming from the jungle ahead.

38

Everyone stopped to listen. More screaming echoed through the forest, but not like someone was being tortured, like the yelling; of more than one voice on the field of battle.

“We just started.” Alexon came up behind Daylon and Emma. “They can’t have set the holo warriors this early in the mission.”

“The what?” Emma turned to look at the tall Ree boy.

“You can’t tell me you’ve never heard of the holo warriors.” Alexon’s eyebrow shot up as he examined Emma’s face for any sign of sarcasm. When he saw she was one hundred percent serious, he started again. “There are tests the Academy has put in our way. The holo warriors are a classic. They’ll judge our spirit and combat training.”

More grunts and yells came from the forest.

“Come on, you’ll see.” Alexon waved them forward.

A few more yards into the thick jungle overgrowth, Emma’s party came upon the smallest stream Emma had ever seen. It was more of a line of water trickling through soil than a babbling brook. On one side of the stream, Dana and her company were trying to get across, on the other side stood nine translucent red warriors wearing battle gear. Every time one of Dana’s company tried to cross the stream, they were dealt a series of harsh blows and pushed back. Along with them being beaten back came a cry of victory from the red holo warriors.

“See?” Alexon didn’t take his eyes off the warriors. “Holo warriors. I’ve only ever heard of them before. They’re so lifelike.”

The rest of Emma’s party filed out of the jungle to see what was causing all of the noise.

“Once we defeat them, we’ll be allowed to cross.” Alexon motioned Emma to the side. “Only one party can try to cross at a time. We have to wait until Dana’s company needs a break, or crosses themselves.”

“How do you know all of this?” Emma found herself looking at Alexon with a newfound respect.

“My brother is one of the fourth-year recruits at the Academy.” Alexon beamed with pride. “If he completes this last year, he’ll be a full-fledged alliance warrior and sent out to protect our home world.”

Emma was going to say more, but was interrupted as Dana’s company defeated one of the holo warriors. The Ree boy in her company had somehow managed an incapacitating blow to the warrior he fought. The warrior fell to the ground, blinking off and on like a pair of hazard lights before disappearing completely.

The roar of approval that followed his action was short-lived. The remaining holo warriors were able to rally, throwing their targets back over the stream and converging on the Ree boy. He was powerless against so many. Soon, he, too, sailed through the air to come to a crashing heap beside his colleagues.

“This is insane!” Dana screamed. She pressed a hand to her forehead, where a lump was already beginning to form. “They made the holo warriors too hard this year. It’s not our fault if we can’t pass an impassible test.”

“It’s not impassible.” Alexon’s voice was friendly and informative. “The holo warriors are the same every year. They even made you only compete against nine since there are only nine members in your party.”

“Well, feel free to do better than we did, you fat piece of flesh.” Dana motioned her team to move aside. “Please, show us how it’s done.”

“I’m not fat,” Alexon mumbled, shuffling his feet. “I’m just organically armored.”

“We’ll take a chance.” Emma jumped in, waving her team to the line, a plan already forming. “If you can’t defeat your opponent, hold on to him until someone can come and help you. We lose if we let them gang up on us.”

The heat of the jungle was already intensifying. Emma felt beads of perspiration form on her forehead and trickle down her back.

As her unit stepped to the line in a long row, holo warriors appeared on the opposite side of the water line, matching their number.

Emma took in a deep, cleansing breath. She looked inside herself for the will to succeed. She channeled this into every part of her being, and warmth soon spread from the center of her body to her fingers and toes.

“I’ll go first.” Emma fought back the warrior inside of her begging to race across the stream. “When they come for me, you all jump over the line. Remember, if you can’t defeat your opponent, hold on to them until someone comes to help.”

Before Emma could give the tiny voice inside her head any more time to convince her that her plan was stupid and doomed to fail, she leapt over the stream.

39

When Emma made her jump, two things happened simultaneously: First, all of the holo warriors moved to push her back, running for her without hesitation.

The second was all of the fear, anxiety, and doubt left Emma like she’d shed a soaking wet cloak.

Weeks of training, both in combat class and Entry to Arilion, took over at once. Instead of hulking, red figures bearing down on her, Emma envisioned Drown and Instructor Grimm putting her through drills.

Emma was finally able to see the holo warriors up close. They were all identical, about six feet tall, no face under their helmets. Their armor reminded Emma of the many pictures she had seen of ancient Roman soldiers.

The first holo warrior tried to grab her—bad idea. Ignoring its helmet, she leveled the warrior with a punch so strong, it could have felled a charging turlock.

The warrior dropped, blinking off and on and off and on until it disappeared totally. Emma’s victory was short-lived as the other holo warriors converged on her at once. Unfortunately, there was no room to maneuver, so her blows weren’t as effective as she was dog piled. Strong arms grabbed her hands and legs.

Emma fought to be free, twisting and grunting. It was useless as more and more red hands reached in to grab her and throw her back over the line.

Then, instead of red bodies all around her, Emma began to see familiar faces. Daylon tackled a holo warrior, forcing it to release its hold on Emma. Jeba was there, roaring like a bear as she threw punches. Layga, Alexon, and all of the others waded into the battle until only one holo warrior was left dragging Emma to the stream.

Emma reared back, planting her feet in the loose soil and stopping the warrior’s forward momentum. Breaking free of his grip, she turned the tables on him, lifting him from his shoulder harness and his belt.

With a deep grunt, Emma raised the flailing figure over her head and threw him past the stream. As soon as the holo warrior made contact with the boundary the stream signified, it disappeared.

“If you can’t defeat yours, throw it back over the stream,” Emma yelled to the rest of her struggling compatriots. “They can’t cross the line!”

Mayhem ensued as Emma got her closest experience to what a real battle would be like.

Instinct took over as Emma ran to help wherever she could. The weapon Instructor Drown and Grimm’s training had turned her into a wrecking ball. Already the conflict was turning in her favor. Jeba and Layga managed to also wrestle their opponents over the stream. Alexon had pinned his to the ground, waiting for help. Jaymore was being dragged like a baby as his holo warrior brought him closer and closer to the stream.

Even as Emma turned in his direction to help, Jeba and Layga were on the holo warrior, freeing Jaymore and sending their holographic nemesis into oblivion.

Daylon was trading blows with his opponent, ducking and weaving strikes. Sweat from the heat of the day and the exertion from the fight poured down his face while his uniform clung to his wet body.

“Need a hand?” Emma walked over to where Daylon took a blow to the chin and another to the stomach. “I mean, I don’t want to step on your toes if you feel you can do it on your own.”

“Are you kidding me?” Daylon landed a kick to his enemy’s torso. The red holo warrior didn’t even flinch. “Please, step all over my toes. Come and help me out, Em.”

Emma smiled to herself. Grabbing the holo warrior around its right wrist, she flung it to the ground. The move was simple and elegant. With all her might, Emma raised her right boot and brought her heel down onto the holo warrior’s helmet.

The impact vibrated up Emma’s leg.

The red holo warrior blinked twice, then vanished.

A cheer rose up all around her as her team came to clap Emma on the back. If it wasn’t for the heat’s painful reminder, Emma would have thought she was dreaming. Never in a hundred years did she think she would be in a position to successfully lead a group of her peers in anything.

“You cheated,” Dana shouted from the other side of the stream. “How did you do it, Em? I know you cheated.”

Dana and the rest of her company were all on their feet. They were still in the shaded cover of the forest trees, but all of them were keeping a close eye on Emma and her group.

“She didn’t cheat.” Layga waved a large finger in the air. “We all saw it. Half of us were in the middle of it.”

“You must have cheated, and I’m—” Dana took a step toward the stream, reactivating the red holo warriors.

Emma retreated with her group, now on the other side of the line of water.

“Let’s go.” Daylon shouldered his pack, looking away from Dana and her company. “It’s their turn to figure it out.”

Emma took the lead once more, forgetting about Dana and her accusations. If they had just begun the mission and the holo warriors had already been sent to test them, what could they expect next?

40

“I’m dying. Oh, I’m dying, Em.” Layga trudged on beside Emma as the sun began to set. “My body wasn’t made for this.”

“You’re going to make it.” Emma ignored the ache in her own feet and the way her back screamed in pain from her pack. “We all are.”

“It would have been easier if they set another obstacle in our way.” Layga nearly stumbled over an outcropping. “At least then we would have had a break from this heat.”

“That’s exactly why they didn’t give us a break.” Emma moved her right hand to her forehead to wipe off the beads of sweat. It was a pointless act, one she had repeated over a dozen times that day. “We’re almost to the halfway point. We’ll stop there for the night. Hang in there.”

“I will.” Layga took a deep breath. “You were great back there, by the way.”

“Who? Me?”

“Oh, don’t be modest. You were a goddess incarnate on that battlefield.”

Emma had never been referred to as a goddess before, but if she was honest with herself, she didn’t hate the idea.

“Wait.” Emma lifted a solid fist, signaling the caravan of travelers behind her to halt. “I think I hear something.”

“Oh, it’s probably just my stomach.” Layga patted her hefty midsection with an open hand. “Ree aren’t meant for the jungle life.”

“No.” Emma peered into the coming darkness. “Listen.”

Emma knelt with the Ree in the thick foliage of Stardox. The last rays of the day were playing with Emma’s imagination. All around them, the alien trees and shrubs that grew from the black soil caught the fading light and twisted shadows. Emma’s imagination was on overdrive as she swore she saw multiple moving figures in the areas in front of them.

“What’s holding us back?” Jeba joined her roommates at the front of the pack. “I need to relieve myself soon.”

The smell that wafted off Jeba was an odor in its own category—one part urine, the other sweat. Emma wrinkled her nose as she tried not to vomit.

Layga coughed like toxic fumes were gassing her. “Jeba, you smell horrible.”

“What?” Jeba stood, lifted both hands into the air and took deep wafts from under each armpit. “I smell nothing but excellence, giant.”

Emma couldn’t help chuckling as she waved a hand in front of her nose.

“But you didn’t answer my first question.” Jeba crouched beside them again. “Why have we stopped?”

“Listen.” Emma pointed a finger from her ear into the jungle beyond.

All three girls remained still. Emma slowed her breathing, focusing all of her effort in hearing what she swore was a deep rumbling.

There it was again—constant, like the steady white noise of a freeway.

“It sounds like a lot of feet moving around on the jungle floor,” Layga breathed after a moment more of silence.

“Not feet.” Jeba’s eyes were large in the light of the oncoming stars. “Hooves.”

Emma rose, giving the motion to those behind her to follow.

“Here.” Layga reached into her backpack and pulled out what for all intents and purposes looked like a giant flashlight. “Jeba, get yours out, too. I saw you snag one before we left.”

“Right you are.” Jeba reached into her backpack and produced the same black square box with a light that shot forward. “Em?”

“Sorry. I didn’t even know what those were when I saw them in the pile, or else I would have grabbed one.” Emma winced as soon as the words came out of her mouth.

“How did you not know what brightlamps are?” Layga let her light play over the forest foliage as they walked closer to whatever was causing the noise. “The Halyna invented them. They’re used all the time on your home world.”

Emma could feel both Layga’s and Jeba’s eyes on her now. This time, when she licked dry lips, it had nothing to do with the lack of her hydration.

“There.” Emma pointed into the dark, strangely happy for spotting an immense creature at that moment.

Panic came and went just as quickly as Emma realized what was making the deep rumbling sound. In front of them spread out a wide clearing, where a large herd of turlocks had taken up residence. Hundreds of the large, shaggy animals roved about, complacent in chewing shrubs, grass, even trees. If the light from the brightlamps bothered them, they didn’t show it. Instead, they were content to be left alone.

“Wow.” Layga’s brightlamp traveled across the herd, all thoughts of their previous conversation forgotten. “How are we going to get through that?”

“We aren’t going to try tonight.” Emma breathed a sigh of relief at her friend’s line of questioning. “Let’s find a place to camp and tackle this problem tomorrow morning in the light.”

41

“Are you sure you made that right?” Daylon knelt beside Emma and her small fire. “It’s supposed to be a dull blue, not green.”

Emma frowned, looking into her beaker. Daylon was right, she had somehow managed to ruin yet another elixir.

The group had found a small clearing under two gigantic trees just to the left of the turlock herd. Everyone was grateful for the break. Tasks were soon doled out, such as watch scheduling, inventory and distribution of foodstuffs, and of course, the task of making the masking elixir Talisha Tescot had taught them to ward off any roaming saberlings or flying zurlocks.

“I’m useless at this kind of stuff.” Emma leaned back on the soft grass. “I don’t know where I went wrong.”

Daylon stirred the beaker with a long, thin, metal spoon. Emma didn’t realize it until then, but he had unzipped his uniform, providing a view of his toned upper body.

“Emma, are you listening to me?” Daylon leaned down to catch her line of sight. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah … yeah, I’m fine … I’m fine.” Emma cleared her throat, trying to remember what they had been talking about. “What did you say?”

“It’s just that you’re not that far off from the correct recipe. Did you use wormwood?”

“Wormwood?” Emma repeated his words. “No, I used Trampson Clover.”

“There’s where you went wrong.” Daylon rose, leaving a slight indention in the grass. “I’ll be right back.”

Before Emma could agree, he was already gone in search of the right ingredient. As if her holo band knew they were alone, it beeped green with an incoming message. Emma placed her right hand over the holo band, hiding the flashing light. She looked around, but everyone was too busy in his or her own designated task to pay much attention to anything else.

Emma removed her hand and motioned with an outstretched finger through the holographic list. Just as she’d suspected, a message from her father. It read: Hey, just thinking about you while I eat this entire gallon of ice cream by myself. It feels less guilty when you’re here eating it with me.

Emma couldn’t help smiling. She looked around one more time before she responded: I’ll be home sooner than you know. Camp is great. Save me some of that ice cream!

No promises, was her father’s quick reply.

Emma heard Daylon before she saw him. She quickly closed her holo watch display, standing at the same time to greet him.

“Looking at the distance we still have to travel tomorrow?” Daylon asked, glancing to her holo band. “We’ll make it. We can start early and be there before sunset.”

“Oh, yeah.” Emma decided to go along with the idea. “It’s still a long trek, but we’ll be fine. We can scout a way around these turlocks tomorrow. We have to anticipate at least one more roadblock, though.”

“What do you mean?” Daylon bent over the beaker, adding in the dried bits of wormwood. He stirred the elixir gently. “You think they’re that cruel?”

“You bet.” Emma pictured a grinning Drown in her mind. “They’ll get us so tired we can’t think, then hit us with something horrible at the end.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The elixir Daylon stirred was already changing color back to its intended shade of light blue. “Why does Instructor Drown give you such a hard time, anyway?”

“Beats me.” Emma shrugged with her prepackaged answer ready. “Every bully needs someone to pick on. I guess this year that someone is me.”

“Yeah, it just doesn’t seem fair, though.” Daylon stood, handing the metal stirring spoon to Emma. “You just need to let it cool and put it into a spray container to use on the perimeter of the camp.”

“Right.” Emma accepted the stirring instrument from Daylon as she tried to remember the exact way Instructor Tescot had explained to administer the protective spray.

“Your eyes are worth a thousand unspoken words,” Daylon teased. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

Daylon retrieved his own backpack a few yards away. He unzipped the black material, reaching inside for his own elixir kit. Inside was a bottle that reminded Emma of a hairspray container.

“Here. This is it. Get yours from your kit,” Daylon urged as he blew on the beaker of light blue elixir.

Emma obeyed, handing him her spray container.

Daylon poured the elixir evenly into each container.

“Let’s get to spraying.” Daylon handed Emma back her now-full can of blue elixir. “We can start on one end of the perimeter and work our way around in a circle.”

Emma and Daylon traveled to the edge of their encampment, right where the light of the fires and brightlamps lost their battle to the darkness.

Emma couldn’t help feeling a tingling sensation run up and down her spine. She was alone with Daylon, again. Granted, the two were spraying what smelled like skunk on the outskirts of their camp, on an alien planet. Regardless, they were together.

Most of their time passed in silence as they worked together to coat the perimeter of their camp. It was either Emma’s imagination or Daylon was sneaking glances at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

To be honest, she was doing the same. Despite his orange skin and long, pointed ears, she found him just as attractive as any boy she had ever seen. Maybe even more so, given his carefree personality.

The two were finished much too quickly. When Emma turned to go back to the camp, Daylon caught her hand in his own.

“Before we go back…” Daylon stood inches away from Emma, his eyes bright, catching all of the light offered by the hundreds of stars in the sky. “I just wanted to say how much I admire your warrior spirit. I know one day you’ll be a full-fledged alliance warrior protecting the Halyna people. I’m glad you’re leading us.”

Emma’s heart raced like a horse pounding down the track. Her lips were dry all of a sudden. Daylon leaned in, his eyes already closing.

“Daylon.” Emma turned away, not by instinct. More than anything, her mind was telling her heart to shut up and just kiss the boy already, but something he said found the guilt inside of her. “I’m … I’m not what you think I am.”

“Really?” Daylon gently turned her chin toward him with the tips of his fingers. “And how do you know what I think you are?”

Emma became lost in his eyes. She didn’t know how much longer she could resist the urge to feel his lips on her own. At least one more time, she had to try.

“There’s … there’s a lot going on here you don’t know … know about.” Emma once again hated the stutter in her voice, but for the first time she was grateful for it. It was giving her precious seconds to reconsider her options. “I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Lie to me?” Daylon inched closer, so close now, Emma could feel his warm breath on her skin. “Lie to me about what?”

“I’m … I’m not fully Hal—”

Daylon pressed his lips to hers with a kiss she knew she would never forget. Not because it was the first time she had kissed a boy, but because something awoke inside her. A warm tingling sensation originated at her lips and ran down her body to the tips of her fingers and toes. She was lightheaded in a way she loved.

Their lips broke contact much too quickly for Emma’s liking. They stood there for a moment longer, not saying a word. Emma’s eyes, still closed, finally opened.

“I’m sorry.” Daylon smiled for a moment, lost in thought. “No, I take that back. I’m not sorry. You have to get out of your own head every once in a while. Whatever it is that’s burdening you, it can’t take away the Em Duel that I’ve come to know.”

Emma didn’t trust herself to respond. She had almost told him her secret.

“Sleep well, Em Duel,” Daylon walked past her, toward the rest of the camp. “When you’re free of whatever it is that’s bothering you, I’ll be here.”

Emma gave Daylon a head start, then made the short trip back to camp herself. Her mind was racing with possibilities, some she knew belonged in fairy tales, while others were closer to the truth.

The rest of the night went quickly with a shared meal, then sleeping bags were arranged. As soon as Emma closed her eyes, she was out. It was one of the best night’s sleep she could remember, until the screaming started—again.

42

Emma woke with a jolt, ripped from a dream where Daylon was able to come back to Earth with her. All around camp, recruits were jumping to their feet, frantically searching the area for the high-pitched screams as the sounds echoed through the night.

As soon as Emma’s eyes opened, she registered two things: First, that it was still night; the stars had just begun to fade as the whispers of another day caressed the horizon. Second, just as soon as the screams had begun, a thundering rush of hooves overshadowed them. The turlock herd was on the move, and if it was on the move, it could be headed for their camp.

“It was Dana and her company.” Layga came running to Emma’s side, yelling over the sound of hundreds of pounding hooves. “They ran by us, screaming at the turlocks in order to start a stampede.”

Fear grabbed at Emma’s heart for a brief moment as memories of her first encounter with a charging turlock revisited her. Just as soon as the thought came, she pushed it out of her mind. Already the sound of stomping hooves was diminishing. Whether it was by pure luck or something else, the turlock herd had run the opposite direction.

“I’m sorry. I was the one on watch.” A panting Jaymore reached the girls. “As soon as I saw Dana and her company pass camp, I was going to come tell you. Then they started screaming at the top of their lungs to start the stampede.”

“Dana and her group couldn’t have passed the holo warriors right after us, or we would have seen them following close behind,” Emma thought out loud. “They either got an early start, or they’ve been running part of the night.”

“Or both,” Alexon agreed as he pushed the last of his belongings into his backpack. “But we have rest on our side. I think we can catch them.”

“With Em leading us, I know we can.” Daylon was already strapping on his backpack, some kind of protein bar in his hand. “Shall we eat breakfast on the way? I want to see Dana’s face when we pass her again.”

There was a flurry of grins and nods as everyone broke camp and began the hike once more. Once again, Emma took the lead. The map on her holo band was easy enough to read. If they stayed within the safe zone, there was really only one way to go. An area up ahead did worry her, though—a place where the safe zone bottlenecked into a thin passage. Emma could only guess what waited for them there.

The rest of the morning passed much like the day before, except now, everything hurt more. Their water stores would be fine, if they were careful. Dry lips and a parched throat were manageable. Emma took a drink only when she thought she needed one. Her feet and back, on the other hand, were aching with pain.

She didn’t even want to look at her feet; she could already feel blisters forming on both of them.

The only sign of Dana and her group was the path they had forged through the underbrush. Emma, who had no experience at tracking, could easily see where they passed.

Emma set a quick walking pace, just under a jog. She wanted to catch Dana, but just as much, she wasn’t willing to leave anyone behind.

Toward midday, just when Emma was beginning to think they would need a rest soon, she saw a rock formation that jutted up from the jungle floor. Emma checked her holo band. Sure enough, it was where the safe zone bottlenecked. They would be forced to climb whatever that rock was.

“I bet they’re watching us, laughing right now.” Daylon joined Emma at the front of the pack as they neared the giant rock. There was no awkwardness or hitch in his voice; he was the same easygoing Daylon from the night before. “You were right.”

“Hopefully, this is the last obstacle before the end.” Emma looked down at her holo band one more time. “After we scale the wall, it’s only a couple of miles to the end.”

“I hope we brought enough rope.” Daylon’s eyes never left the massive rock formation in front of them. “We’re going to need it.”

When Emma’s company did reach the wall, they were staggered by how massive the barrier really was and surprised to see most of Dana’s company lying at the base of it.

“Hey, Davos.” Daylon nodded to one of the Halyna boys. “What’s going on? You guys look horrible.”

It was true. The members of Dana’s company were all present and accounted, except for Dana herself and her two Halyna shadows, Triv and Lisha. They looked as though they had been put through a meat grinder, and then run over by a tank, then the tank reversed and ran over them a second time just for good measure.

“She’s a madwoman.” Davos didn’t even get up from the spot where he lay, using his backpack as a pillow. “No offense, Em Duel, but my raging adolescent hormones were blinded by her long legs and full lips.”

“No offense taken. What happened?” Emma took off her own backpack, stretching her back. “Where did the three of them go?”

“They thought it would be faster to go around the rock face,” another of the Halyna boys volunteered. “When we refused, they took off on their own.”

The rest of Emma’s company reached the rock face now. Everyone was listening to the story.

“She ran us all night like a slave master,” Davos drawled on. “This is the most rest we’ve gotten.”

“If they went around the wall, then they’re out of the safe zone,” Layga thought out loud. “I don’t like any of them, but what if something bad happens?”

“Good riddance, then.” Jeba threw down her pack, already pulling out the coil of rope from within. “Hopefully they will have a quick death. I’ve heard there are manticores and scyths in the jungles of Stardox.”

Everyone took a brief moment to think on how they felt about the subject. Emma herself had no love for any of the other Halyna girls, but neither did she want them dead. Exhausted, maybe a twisted ankle or a scar to blemish their pretty little faces, maybe, but not death.

“Can we join your company, Em?” asked one of the three other Rhee boys Emma didn’t know. “We’ll pledge our undying love to your banner, I swear. We’ve learned our lesson.”

“Of course you can.” Emma didn’t even give the question a second thought. “Do any of you have rope? It looks like we’ll need all we can get.”

Emma was right. The rock wall in front of them had to be at least five stories tall. Everyone threw what rope they had into a pile. Tired hands began unraveling the ropes and securely knotting them together.

Emma worked with the others, getting a close look at how worn the deserters from Dana’s group really were. Deep bags hung under their eyes, and most of them were limping or favoring a wound from what she guessed was the aftermath of the holo warrior fight.

“Do you think it’s a trap?” Layga stood next to Emma, her hands on the ropes everyone was unraveling and knotting, her voice just low enough for Emma to hear. “I wouldn’t put it past Dana to try to pull something like this.”

Emma kept her eyes down, her hands at work. “I’ve thought about that, but look at them. I mean, they look horrible. I don’t know how far you can fake that.”

“Just be careful.” Layga rested a heavy hand on Emma’s shoulder, almost sending her to her knees. “If anything happens, we’ve got your back.”

“I know you do.” Emma regained her balance and looked up at the Ree. “And you know the same is true for you.”

“There we go.” Daylon looked down, admiring their work. “I’ll go first.”

The one long rope resembled some kind of thin jungle snake. It looked like it would be long enough, but looks could often be deceiving. Daylon removed his black-and-purple jacket uniform, revealing his bare chest.

Emma’s cheeks burned as she looked, then looked away, and repeated the process again.

Daylon began looping the rope around his elbow and his hand, over and over again.

“You’re not going up there,” Emma said, louder than she’d intended. “I volunteered to lead the group. It should be me to go first.”

Everyone stopped to listen.

“Yeah, can’t argue with you there.” Daylon continued coiling the rope around his arm. “You are our elected leader, but how much rock climbing experience do you have?”

Emma swallowed hard. Instinctively, she looked at the rock face. It seemed like it had somehow grown in the time since she had looked at it last. The rock was slate grey, with tiny handholds and a slick surface.

“I don’t have any.” Emma kept her eyes on the rock, trying to think of a point that would win her the argument.

Nothing came.

“Daylon here is a champion rock climber.” Davos clapped his friend on his bare back. “Don’t let his good looks deceive you. He’s got some real talent when it comes to scaling things other people would just walk around.”

“I can do this, Em.” Daylon caught Emma’s eye as she turned around. “Trust me, I might not be able to channel the power of a turlock in my fist or take a punch from Instructor Drown but I know how to climb.”

“Okay,” Emma conceded, though she hated the idea of putting anyone other than herself at risk. If Daylon was as good as he said he was, there shouldn’t be much risk at all. “Be careful.”

“I will.” Daylon slid his head and right arm through the thick coil of rope, letting the bulk of it rest on his shoulder. He saluted Emma with a wink. “I’ll secure the rope onto something when I get up top, then lower it for the rest of you. I’ll have it done before you know it.”

Emma didn’t say anything. As Daylon began his ascent, a swell of something Emma had never felt before grabbed at her: she was very worried for Daylon.

He’ll be fine, Emma told herself as she watched him move up the rock wall. Man, you care about this guy more than you realize.

Daylon was halfway through his ascent, moving carefully, testing each handhold before he placed his weight on them, when the sound of something crashing through the underbrush came from the group’s left.

“Oh, by the gods.” Jeba stood from her seated position next to Layga and Emma. “What now?”

At once, two figures burst through the foliage, so dirty, Emma almost didn’t realize who they were. Triv and Lisha, Dana’s shadows, looked like creatures born on Stardox. Their normal pristine hair and flawless orange skin were caked with layers of sweat and mud. Even their pointed ears looked like they had been brushed with a coating of dirt. Their clothes were ripped in a dozen different places, what was even more disturbing was the fear that sat in their eyes.

“It’s got her!” Triv ran into the clearing, shouting to anyone who could hear. “It’s got her. We tried to help, but couldn’t. We did everything we could. We didn’t want to leave her, but I knew we needed to get help.”

After the outburst, Triv fell to the jungle floor, unconscious. As if a spell had been broken, everyone jumped into action. Some ran for their elixir kits, while others propped up Triv’s head and tried to feed her water.

Lisha stood, still in shock from whatever they had encountered while trying to go around the jutting rock wall.

While others attended to Triv, Emma made her way to the silent Lisha’s side. All animosity for the girl evaporated when Emma saw the tears in her eyes.

“You’re going to be okay.” Emma reached to place a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder like Layga had often done for her, though she second-guessed herself at first and pulled her arm back, then forced herself to do it. She rested an awkward hand on Lisha’s shoulder. “What’s happened? Where’s Dana?”

“Those eyes…” Lisha spoke slowly as if in some kind of trance. “We should never have strayed outside the designated safe zone. It’s got her now. She’s probably dead. How did it have those eyes?”

“What eyes?” Emma tried to keep pace with the broken information. “Whose eyes? Did someone take Dana?”

“Not someone.” Lisha turned to look at Emma, grabbing Emma’s arms and fervently shaking her with despair in her eyes. “Something, Em. Some creature has her. You have to go help her, please.”

Emma had already made up her mind to go. Not only was it the right thing to do, but a plan to help multiple people in the process had already begun to form in Emma’s mind.

“You’re going to go, aren’t you?” Lisha pleaded, tears freely falling from her eyes. “Please, help her.”

“I’ll go.” Emma freed herself from Lisha’s grip. “But first, what did you see? What has her?”

“A monster.” Terror washed over Lisha’s eyes as she was forced to remember the incident. “A monster has her.”

43

“I’m going.” Emma was already walking away from the group at the base of the rock wall.

By now, Daylon was more than halfway up and would be lowering the rope for the rest of the company soon. Triv had been revived and was in good hands.

A group of Layga, Jeba, Alexon, and Jaymore were following Emma into the jungle, protesting.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” Alexon warned with a heavy breath. “You heard what Lisha said was out there.”

“You all need to get up that wall and to the finish.” Emma stopped to look at each of her friends in the eye. “You didn’t protest when Daylon was the best choice to go up the rock wall. I’m the best choice to go get Dana. If there’s something out there, it can’t hurt me. And I’ll be strong enough to overpower it.”

Emma’s four friends looked to one another, helpless.

“I’m not going to the rally point without you.” Layga placed her hands on her hips with a look of defiance Emma had never seen in the Ree. “I’ll stay here and climb the wall with the rest of the group, but if you’re not back in an hour, I’m not going to the rally point. I’m—we’re coming to find you.”

“We?” Jeba raised an eyebrow in Layga’s direction.

Layga turned a gaze on Jeba that would melt stone.

“Yes, Em.” Jeba cleared her throat. “We’ll come find you.”

“Me, too.” Alexon stepped forward. “I’m sure Daylon and the others will wait, as well.”

“We’ll all come for you,” Jaymore agreed. “If you’re not back in one hour, we’ll find you. Turn your holo band’s tracking feature on. We’ll use that to pinpoint your exact location.”

Emma looked down at her holo band to obey.

“It’s under ‘maps,’ then ‘position,’ then ‘share tracking,’” Jaymore instructed as he watched Emma scroll through the holo band’s features.

“There,” Emma said, doing her best to push down her fear, not trusting herself to stay with her friends any longer. If she remained with them, she would crack and tell them the truth: that she was terrified, and that them showing so much worry meant everything to her; that she had never dreamed of having friends like them, that she didn’t know if she ever would again. Instead of any of this, Emma said, “I’ll see … I’ll see you on the other side, don’t … don’t worry.”

“You’d better.” Layga opened her arms and scooped Emma up into a big bear hug. “Be safe.”

Emma hugged her Ree friend back. She knew everyone must be watching by now, but she didn’t care. If this was the price of having friends, then Emma would gladly pay it.

When Layga finally released her, Jaymore and Alexon awkwardly stood by, unsure of the appropriate goodbye.

“If you’re waiting for a embrace from me, Em.” Jeba crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ll be waiting for a long time. But hurry back. If you don’t, I’m afraid the giant will assault me in a similar fashion.”

“I’ll see you in less than an hour.” Emma turned to go, poking at her as she went was the idea she was lying to all of her friends who genuinely cared for her well-being.

Emma pushed the guilt of her human heritage out of her mind. She had bigger, scarier things to worry about now. The heat in the Stardox jungle was just as brutal as the day before, and Emma had to weave her way through the dense undergrowth as she followed Lisha’s specific instructions.

In all honesty, finding Triv and Lisha’s path wasn’t difficult. The two must have bulldozed their way through the jungle.

Fear at every sound, every animal call or every insect chirp ate at Emma. True, she should be able to channel her spirit to protect her physically like she had done with the charging Turlock but that was only once. Would she be able to do it again? What about her mental state? Could the monster have some kind of psychic hold on her? Triv was so overwhelmed by what she’d seen, she’d fainted while Lisha could only give a brief description of the monster: “It has eyes like I’ve never seen before, and a huge, green body that blends in with the jungle.”

The second part was more disturbing than anything else. If it could blend into the jungle, then it could be anywhere.

It was impossible to tell if the feeling of being watched came from her own overactive imagination or if she was, in fact, being stalked by a camouflaged predator.

To her left, a tree bursting with orange leaves shook as if it had been brushed by something large.

Emma’s heart pounded harder than she could ever remember. She stood still for a moment, trying to see anything out of the ordinary. The problem was, in an alien jungle, everything looked out of the ordinary.

Whatever had caused the tree to sway was either gone or camouflaged so preciously to its surroundings, she couldn’t pick it out.

All there was left, was to move forward. Emma concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, but ever since the tree had moved for no apparent reason, a growing feeling of being watched ate at her.

Emma’s skin crawled. It felt like someone or something had noticed her presence, and despite the incredible heat, a chill ran down her spine.

Easy Emma, she coached herself as she continued to follow the obvious path made by Triv and Lisha. Whatever it is can’t hurt you. You’re stronger than you have ever been before. You can do this.

The internal pep talk continued until a break in the dense jungle foliage met her impatient feet. A muddy section broke the monotony of the forest, and her boots squished into the muck, sinking an inch into the brown goo. To Emma’s right, the mud rose into a wall. To her left was a steep drop into a hole.

Emma made her way over to the hole. She lifted one slow leg at a time, deliberately taking her time to traverse the sticky mud floor. She peered down into the pit that ended a good ten feet below.

Dana was there, filthy, face streaked with tears. She opened her mouth to say something, but before words could come out, a harsh ticking, like a playing card in the spokes of a slow-moving bicycle, came from somewhere in the jungle.

“Hurry.” Dana stood waist-deep in a mire of mud. “It’s coming back.”

44

“I know you were the reason he was fired. Your prejudice against androids shouldn’t be the reason he loses his job. I need to know you’re going to get Instructor Andy his position back.” Emma looked around the perimeter of the clearing as she spoke to Dana. Still no sign of whatever was making the ticking, but it was growing louder. “And put in a word with your father for Daylon’s family.”

“Are you crazy? You’re making demands? It’s going to kill us!” Dana made it to the wall of her pit closest to Emma, reaching out for her hand. “What’re you talking about? I’m covered in sweat and my own pee down here. Lift me out!”

“You heard me.” Emma reached her own hand into the pit just too short for Dana to grab. “Andy’s a great teacher. He doesn’t deserve to lose his job just because he’s an android. Daylon’s father works for your father. If you have enough pull with your dad to get someone fired who doesn’t even work in his company, maybe you can help out Daylon’s dad somehow, too.”

“Fine, fine.” Dana’s eyes flashed with anger, then melted to fear as the clicking came again, so close this time, it sounded as if it were already on top of them. “I’ll tell my father to reinstate the android and see what I can do for Daylon’s family.”

“Good.” Emma clicked a button on her holo watch to stop the recording. “In case you have second thoughts on our agreement, everyone will know you pissed yourself and how much of an android hater you are.”

Emma lay down on the muddy ground, stomach first. With effort, she strained to reach down as far as she could.

Dana couldn’t quite jump from her suction in the mud, but she managed a short hop, bringing their hands together. Emma lifted Dana from the pit easier than she would have anticipated. It was amazing what a month of training and exercises could do for one’s physic.

Dana came up and over the edge of the pit in a shower of slick, wet mud. Both girls struggled to regain their feet.

Only now did Emma realize the clicking had stopped.

“Oh no.” Dana turned to look at Emma, except she wasn’t looking exactly at her. Her orange eyes were focused over Emma’s right shoulder.

“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?” Emma felt strangely calm even as the ground shuddered beneath her feet.

Dana didn’t have words. All the girl could do was nod as she slowly began to backpedal toward the jungle.

The warrior spirit raged inside Emma, so fierce, she could feel an intense urge building in her chest to fight whatever it was behind her.

Slowly, Emma turned in the mud to examine the monster. In the space of a breath, she understood why all three girls were so terrified. The creature looked like a giant insect. A dozen ink-black eyes stared at her from over a mouth edged in by two wicked-looking pincers. Six long legs lifted its bloated green body from the floor.

From its mouth came a streaming supply of drool, the mystery as to why this section of the jungle was made up of mud was solved in an instant.

For a moment, the creature merely examined Emma. It shifted ever so slightly, causing the hot sun to catch its body in a different light. Immediately, the color of its body transitioned from green to mud brown.

“Easy, easy there… insect thing. Nice, massive, impossible bug creature.” The fact the insect hadn’t immediately charged Emma gave her hope. She took a tentative step back, never losing sight of the monster. “I’m just going to go now and leave you to your drooling.”

Emma took another step backwards. The act clearly upset the insect. In a second, it closed the gap between them, issuing a massive, bellowing series of clicks. Its head moved closer, now inches from Emma. Drool flew through the air like soapsuds at a cheap carwash, only in this instance, the insect’s drool was the soap and Emma was the car.

Emma cringed as hot, gooey excrement covered her face and body. Emma coughed, raising a hand to wipe the insect juice from her face.

“Fine, then!” Emma yelled, still wondering why she wasn’t more afraid of the monster in front of her. “We’ll do it the hard way.”

Instinct took over for Emma as she moved forward. She threw her weight behind her blow like Drown had taught her. The will to succeed was as bright as a new star inside her as her fist connected with the left side of the bug’s face.

Emma heard something snap as her blow landed. The insect staggered, wounded and clearly surprised by the power in something so small. A few seconds passed where the bug battled consciousness, trying to make unsteady legs feel stable again.

Anger added strength to Emma’s cause. She was not only hot and covered in drool-laced mud, she now also wore a head-to-toe bodysuit of the insect’s drool.

“Well, come on, then.” Emma breathed heavy, her chest rising and falling with the anticipation of a fight. “Come on.”

The bug charged without warning. One moment it was struggling to stand, and the next it sprung into action, jumping to bite Emma’s face.

Emma brought up her right arm just in time to shield her face from the grasping pincers. Her arm felt like it was caught in a serrated vice clamp. The force was crushing.

It only took a moment to realize that if she allowed the bug to bear down on her arm much longer, it might in fact pierce her skin. Her body was rising to the occasion as it did with the Turlock but for how long it would, was anyone’s guess. Where Emma wasn’t worried about her fighting spirit, she was concerned about what happened if she got too tired in a fight.

Right arm stuck in the creature’s pincers, Emma looked around for something to use to pry it out. It wasn’t a surprise there was no sign of Dana. The Halyna girl had made a run for it as soon as she saw the opportunity present itself.

There was nothing to use to pry her arm free. All around there was only mud. The creature bore down on her, and Emma lost her footing in the slippery landscape.

Air escaped her lungs. Forced onto her back, the pressure in her right arm grew.

For the first time, Emma thought about what would happen if she lost, if she died in the jungle of Stardox. Images of her father, of her home of Earth raced past her mind.

Not today. Emma gritted her teeth. She grabbed the insect’s right pincer with her left hand and twisted with every ounce of strength she could muster. I’m not dying here.

The pincer felt like a stone horn in her hand. Emma ignored the pincer’s texture, disregarded the pain and the incredible force she felt in her right arm.

All of her thoughts, her entire will, were bent on one goal: to rip that pincer off this bug’s stupid drooly face, and nothing was going to stop her.

The giant insect must have realized a second too late what was happening. One moment it was letting another mouthful of saliva cover Emma’s forearm, and the next it released its hold. It tried to backpedal but lost its grip in the mud.

With one giant roar, Emma ripped off the insect’s left pincer. Blue blood oozed from the gaping wound as the insect shook its head in agony.

“Are we done here?” Emma pushed down any empathy she felt for the insect, reminding herself it had tried to kill her moments before.

Whether the insect understood her or not, it was indeed done. It scrambled back into the jungle amidst a series of pain-filled ticks.

Emma ignored the throbbing in her right arm. Her eyes caught sight of the path Dana had made through the jungle. She was going back to the rest of the group, but she was going back, following her original plan, around the rock face.

The rules of the mission echoed through Emma’s mind: the first to bring their company to the designated extraction point would be the winner. There was no way she was going to lose this mission to a pee-stained Dana.

45

Adrenaline still fresh in her veins, Emma ran, following Dana’s path, fighting off fatigue. She crashed through the jungle brush as if it were another insect trying to bring her down in the muddy pit.

The heat of the day was beginning to subside. With every stride, more and more of the mud and drool either fell off or dried onto her skin.

A burning came to life in her lungs as Emma struggled on. PE had never been her favorite subject in school, and neither was it a favorite pastime at the Academy, but she found herself grateful for the conditioning now.

Emma’s arms pumped; her feet flew over the jungle path. The pain in her lungs was getting harder to ignore, with each breath coming shorter and shorter.

In front of her, the jungle ended. To her right was the sloping hill that led to the rock surface the others had had to climb over. To her left, the finish line.

Still half a mile away, Emma could see Dana’s back. The Halyna girl was content to walk the rest of the way, confident she was back in the safe zone and away from the insect’s pincers.

Yells from the rest of the recruits drifted to Emma’s ears. They had caught sight of her now. True to their word, they were camped out just before crossing the line to the extraction point.

Dana did a double take as she looked behind her. Her expression was priceless.

Emma was so focused on breathing at the moment, she couldn’t smile, but she took a snapshot of Dana’s face to save in her memory bank for later.

Not to be out–done, Dana picked up her pace to match Emma’s when Emma reached her along the path.

Neither girl said anything to one another, both focusing on the run ahead.

In the background, Emma could hear the cheers for her. The shouts were coming from just about every single one of the recruits near the finish line. It made her feel cared for, even loved, to hear their cries of encouragement.

But as much as her spirit soared, physically, her body wanted to fall over and assume the fetal position. Pain lanced up her right arm; the blisters on her feet had already burst, soaking them in puss and fluid. Emma could smell herself, still not quite as bad as Jeba, but bad enough for her to notice. Her stomach ached with lack of food. Her cracked lips sucked in air as fast as they could. Her lungs felt like they were on fire.

Through all of this, one thought more than any other pushed her forward: Dana was still right beside her. Her nemesis, usually pristine and primped, looked like a filthy, half-insane person.

Side by side, the mud-and saliva-covered recruits ran for the line. The last thing Emma remembered was seeing everyone step over the line, still cheering for her victory. Emma willed herself forward. Whether it was in her own mind, or she actually did get a burst of speed, Emma pulled forward. Steps ahead of Dana, Emma crossed the line.

Amongst the cheers of her friends, Emma fell flat on her face. Embarrassment was a distant memory as she lay on the hard, dirt-packed ground of the Stardox jungle.

One moment she was gasping for air; the next, a beep came from their holo bands and Emma was dry heaving on the floor of the Academy’s teleportation level.

Her friends still whooped and hollered around her, none louder than Layga and Jeba. Emma fought her way back to her knees, managing a smile at the crowd surrounding her.

“What happened to you?” Layga knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder, then removing it again, pulling a slick string of saliva that connected her hand to Emma. “What is this?”

“It’s saliva from a mantis. A mantis that’s located in the restricted zone you were clearly instructed was off limits during the exercise.”

As if noise itself had become obsolete, the room’s celebration died. Emma joined everyone as they looked to see who was talking. Instructor Drown was standing next to Instructor Grimm and Dean Slain. Grimm and Slain had expressionless faces, while Drown looked as though he was fighting back a grin, something so uncharacteristic and disturbing on his part, Emma found herself missing his normal scowl.

“Em, Dana.” Dean Slain picked up the conversation. “I’d like to see you in my office, please.”

“She had to do it.” Layga moved forward from the rest of the group. “Dana had gone off course and was—”

“Enough out of you,” Instructor Drown said, resuming his normal seedy disposition. “The dean said he wanted to see Em and Dana, now let’s move.”

“We’ll all tell them what happened.” Jeba helped Emma to her feet. “You’re not getting in trouble because of this.”

Emma nodded, grateful for the encouragement. Slowly and painfully, both Emma and Dana followed the dean and the two instructors to the dean’s office.

“I’m not going to let you get us both expelled,” Dana growled under her breath. “Just keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking in there.”

46

The odor still coming from her uniform made Emma want to retch more than the teleportation experience from Stardox. Dana didn’t smell much better. The two girls stood side by side in front of Dean Slain’s desk.

Neither Instructor Grimm nor Instructor Drown had accompanied them inside the dean’s office. Emma was trying to figure out if this was a good sign or a bad sign, when the dean started talking.

“Not that either of you would even entertain the idea of lying to me, but you should know we have everything that happened in the designated safe zone on record.” Slain leaned forward in his chair, both elbows on his desk. “We will also do an interview of all the recruits to double check our facts.”

Emma didn’t bother to look over at Dana. She imagined the girl’s face was similar to her own—stoic and agreeable.

Slain didn’t seem like he was treating Emma any different from any recruit in the Academy. He stared them both down until they shifted on their feet or looked away uncomfortably.

Under the pressure of his gaze, Emma moved her eyes around the large office. She was feeling dirtier by the minute. The office was immaculate, besides the small puddle of dirt and still-wet mantis saliva that continued to drip off her uniform.

“Dana.” Slain leaned back in his chair, his posture firm, not relaxed. “Why did you decide to go off into the restricted zone? Not only did you blatantly disobey the parameters of the mission, but you also left most of your company behind.”

“I was doing what I thought best to complete the mission as quickly as possible.” Dana held both her hands behind her back. Her eyes looked straight ahead. “During a mission, a leader will sometimes have to improvise for the good of her or his company.”

“Oh?” Slain actually sounded intrigued. “You did it for your company, did you?”

“They were exhausted, sir. I did what I thought was best for the group at the time. I was mistaken.”

“I can assume the rest.” Slain waved a hand over his desk. A holo screen popped up with the footage of Triv and Lisha stumbling upon the rest of the group just as they were preparing to climb the rock face. “So you disobeyed orders doing what you deemed was appropriate, ran into a mantis, and almost got yourself killed.”

The room was still. Emma was biting the inside of her lip so hard she thought it might bleed. Dana’s meek, even submissive, demeanor was all a show for the real vindictive girl underneath. If Slain knew how she really acted, Emma wondered if this conversation might have been different.

“And you, Em.” Slain turned his orange eyes toward Emma. “You also deemed it your duty to make a decision that disobeyed the mission’s instructions? You ran off to save Dana, battled the mantis by your appearance, and returned to not only complete the mission but win.”

“That’s correct, sir.” Emma tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. “When I heard Dana was in danger, I chose to disobey the mission’s rules.”

“Well, Dana, I think you understand why we have these rules.” Slain rose, looking at the girls in turn. “Stardox is still a very dangerous planet. Em, you might very well have saved Dana’s life. How you did it, I’m intrigued to know. Not many come face to face with a mantis and live to tell about it.”

Emma felt a beam of pride at the praise. She wasn’t sure how this was going to play out, but things were beginning to look up.

“However, you both broke rules.” Slain waved them to the rear of the room, dismissing them together. “Dana, I want a detailed, twenty-page report on why recruits are required to follow mission instructions to a ‘T.’ This project is to be on my desk by the end of the week. Em, you’re to eat a large dinner, shower, and go straight to bed, no questions asked.”

Both girls didn’t think they heard Slain correctly. His tone had never shifted from commanding to teasing while he doled out the punishments for each girl.

Emma chanced a sideways glance at Dana. The other Halyna girl was furious. Her hands clenched in and out of fists. The muscle by her jaw trembled under her orange skin.

“Go.” Slain settled back in his desk, his hand already scrolling through the holo menu. “Before I change my mind.”

Emma followed Dana out of the room, a grin she couldn’t help pulling at her lips. If she knew what the night would bring, she wouldn’t have been smiling.

47

Usually, Emma ate the Academy food with a bit of hesitancy. After all, everything was new to her. They weren’t exactly serving burgers and fries. But this night was different. Emma stuffed her face with all kinds of exotic textures and flavors.

The rest of the recruits had just eaten and left for showers when Emma entered the mess hall. Dana had opted not to share a meal with Emma and had retreated to her quarters.

Although the brooding Halyna hadn’t said a word to her as they left the dean’s office, Emma found Dana eyeing the holo band on her wrist.

Good, Emma had thought. Let her remember what I have on her so she follows through with her end of the bargain.

After Emma had forced down as much food and drink as her stomach could hold, she took a shower, and not just any shower. Peeling off the uniform from her body and entering the steaming embrace of the water felt heavenly. Emma took her time washing every part of her body twice.

“There you are,” Jeba said as soon as Emma walked into their room. “The large one was trying to convince me to go out and look for you. I knew you’d be fine.”

“Em?” Layga rose from her bed, ignoring Jeba. “I thought you might have gotten in trouble, or been moved or something.”

“I’m fine,” Emma lied. In reality, she couldn’t walk without a limp on her sore feet, her right arm still throbbed like someone had taken a baseball bat to it, and she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

“What you did, the way you led the company and saved Dana…” Layga shook her head, letting her wild brown hair shake behind her. “It was awesome!”

“Thanks.” Emma changed out of her towel into her Academy-approved pajamas of simple white bottoms and shirt. “I think I need to sleep for about the next one hundred years, though.”

“Likewise,” Jeba yawned from her bed. “Although you should know, there’s a certain Halyna boy who can’t wait to talk to you, if you know what I mean.”

The thought of Daylon made Emma smile as she threw herself on her bed. She placed her holo band on her nightstand right next to her as she did every night before closing her eyes.

“I mean, everyone wants to hear what happened with Dana and congratulate you, but Daylon, especially,” Jeba went on to explain. “He likes you. Like, more than a sister.”

“Yes, yes.” Emma threw a pillow at Jeba. “I know.”

“What did happen?” Layga asked from her bed. The Ree was sitting cross-legged, like a child waiting for a bedtime story. “Did you fight a mantis?”

Emma told them the story from the moment she left them to the time she reemerged behind Dana running for the finish line.

Somewhere at the end, as Layga and Jeba asked questions, Emma fell asleep.

Emma wasn’t sure how long she was out. Vague memories of the Shay visiting her dreams were just out of reach of her thoughts. What she did know was that when she felt the hand clamp over her mouth, she was wide-awake.

48

“Shhhh…,” Drown’s voice slipped through the darkness like a snake on a grassy field. “If you care for Jeba or Layga at all, you won’t make a sound. Nod if you understand.”

Emma was still trying to wade through the cobwebs of sleep. She managed to nod.

Drown removed his hand.

The light in the room was too dim to see his expression, but his voice was full of concern.

“What … what’s wrong?” Emma whispered, moving to a seated position. A horrible thought came to her. “Is it Tistan? Did something happen to her?”

“The Alliance has discovered you’re human. I don’t know how, but they’re here for you now.” Drown moved to the door and cracked it open a half-inch. “We have to get you to Slain’s office and to his teleporter. Once you’re on Earth, it will be much harder for them to get to you.”

Emma’s mind reeled. A hundred thoughts went through her brain, accompanied by the sound of Jeba’s heavy snoring.

Pants, shirt, and shoes were all pulled on in seconds. When Emma reached for her holo band, it wasn’t on her nightstand.

Panic was already knocking on the door, but when Emma couldn’t find her holo band, it broke in completely.

“She took it,” Emma whispered to herself as she went down on all fours searching around her nightstand. “I should have known she would take it.”

“What?” Drown was beside her. The door to her room was cracked just enough to let an adequate amount of illumination seep through. He wore no shoes, loose-fitting pants, and a sleeveless shirt that showed off his muscular arms.

“I recorded Dana admitting to being the one getting Instructor Andy fired.” Emma paused, feeling sick to her stomach as she realized all the implications of Dana going through her holo band. “She must have found the communication link with my father, maybe even the option to contact Tistan directly.”

“This changes nothing.” Drown motioned for her to follow him from the room. “We still need to get you out of here. Your mother is a smart woman. She can take care of herself.”

Emma took one last look at the sleeping forms of Layga and Jeba. Would they hate her for lying to them? Would they be able to tell that their friendship had really meant something to her? These questions and more were left unanswered as Emma ran to keep up with Drown.

The two stole through the dormitory hall. Everyone was still asleep. Emma had no concept of time, except by the light of the never-ending ceiling. Judging by its dull grey, it had to be somewhere in the very early hours of the morning.

“Do you still do that vomit thing when you teleport?” Drown asked as they reached the level’s twin teleporters.

“No—I mean, I’m fine over short distances. Long distances still mess me up.”

“Great. At least I don’t have to worry about being puked on while I commit treason.”

“I can go myself.” Despite her predicament, Emma felt anger rise in her heart. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

Drown ignored her anger. “No. You’re too much like your mother to do that. When we get to the dean’s level, the Alliance is sure to have—”

Drown’s words were cut off as the teleporter on their left shone with light. Before Emma could even register what was happening, Drown was in the teleporter where two Alliance guards had just appeared.

Drown placed a strike to the temple of the guard on the left so fast Emma didn’t even see his fist make contact. As if his motions were as fluid as water itself, he wrapped the second guard around the neck, turning him to face the inside of the teleporter. There was a brief struggle before the guard went slack in Drown’s arms.

“Did you—” Emma stood stunned. She had never seen anyone move so quickly. “Did you kill them?”

“No, but they’re not going to wake up happy.” Drown moved to the second teleporter, motioning for Emma to follow. “Whatever happens to me, you get to Slain’s office and into that teleporter to Earth.”

Emma felt a cold numbness wrap around her. Despite this, she nodded in compliance.

One moment, Emma and Drown were standing in the teleporter, facing her own dorm level; the next, they were standing in the same teleporter, but on an entirely different floor.

“I’m not sure. Frankly, I’m just as surprised as you are.” Slain’s voice drifted down the open hall. “That a human could gain access to the Academy is something quite disturbing.”

Drown put out an arm to keep Emma in the teleporter. He lifted a finger to his lips.

The act was unnecessary; Emma had no desire to see who Slain was talking with. All she wanted at that moment was to hear what the person or persons said in return.

“Dean,” a harsh female voice answered. “I’ve already dispatched soldiers to every level of the Academy, searching for the girl. You can be sure there will be an extensive investigation as to how this could have happened.”

“Well, I hope there is.” Slain didn’t miss a beat. “I would be more than happy to assist in the search, myself. If you and your men would follow me, we can start at the very uppermost level of the Academy and work our way down. If there is a human in here, we’ll find them.”

Emma waited with pent-up anticipation for the woman’s words. It was becoming harder and harder not to peek around the side of the teleporter to get a glimpse of the woman Slain was speaking with and the number of soldiers with her.

“That will be most helpful,” the woman agreed. “I’ll leave two of my soldiers stationed here, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

Emma could practically see Slain’s emotionless eyes as he played his part to perfection.

“Well, this way,” Slain began again. “We might as well search this level, since we are already here.”

Emma could hear footsteps die off in the distance. She looked to Drown for direction. As she did, she could hear the conversation of the two soldiers left to guard Slain’s office.

“Do you know what this is all about?” the first guard asked as he let out a thick fart that echoed down the hall. “Sorry about that.”

“My God man, do you need to change yourself? No, all I know is it’s something about receiving word from a recruit here that another recruit is half human.”

“Half human?” The guard started to laugh. “That’s a new one on me.”

“I don’t know. I just keep my head down, do what I’m told, and don’t ask questions.” The other soldier coughed. “Uh, I can taste it. You should really get that checked out.”

“Keeping your head down is a smart move,” the flatulent guard said, ignoring his partner’s recommendation. “A smart philosophy when you’re under the authority of Commander Kull. I think half the unit is terrified of the woman.”

The two soldiers continued on, but Emma’s attention was on Drown. He opened the menu on his own holo band, scrolling through the options.

“What are you doing?” Emma whispered so quietly she could barely hear her own words. “Why don’t you take them out like you did the other soldiers?”

“Because even I’m not that fast. I’d be seen by the time I got out of the teleporter, turned the corner, and rendered them unconscious.” Drown tapped a final button on his holo band before it disappeared. “Don’t worry, help’s on the way.”

“Who?” Emma asked, racking her brain for a person besides Slain that would be willing to help them here at the Academy.

“You’ll see.” Drown almost smiled again. “She said she knew your secret, and that she was willing to help. We’ll find out how serious her offer is.”

49

Much sooner than Emma would have thought, the teleporter next to theirs hummed to life. Emma felt the muscles in her body tense.

Instead of another pair of Alliance soldiers, the bent figure of Cherub, the head nurse, passed by their hiding spot. The old Bracka woman was dressed in fluffy, blue slippers and a matching robe. She winked at Emma and Drown as she passed.

At once, Emma remembered the cryptic conversation the old woman had had with her while she was recovering from her first encounter with a turlock. Even as the memories replayed in Emma’s mind, she heard Cherub shuffling down the hall in her slippered feet.

Emma peeked out of the hollow spot in the wall where the teleporter was located. In front of her the shambling figure of Cherub meandered down the hall as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

As soon as Cherub turned the corner leading to Slain’s office, there was a pause in the two soldiers’ conversation.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” one of the soldiers addressed her, trying to hide the surprise in his voice. “You can’t be here right now.”

“Oh? And why not, young soldier?” Cherub almost sang the words. It was soft and gentle, like the beginning of a child’s bedtime rhyme.

“Because there’s a search going on right now,” the other guard yawned. “Please go back to your room.”

“Oh, but aren’t you so tired from manning your post?” Cherub sang.

Emma could feel her eyes begin to close while the feeling like a warm blanket on a cool night crept over her body. When was the last time she had slept? It seemed like ages ago. She needed to close her eyes, just for a moment. It would be okay, just for a moment…

Emma was shoved hard from behind. Drown looked down at her, shaking his head.

“I’m … I’m a bit tired,” one of the soldiers breathed after a long yawn. “Maybe just a little rest.”

“That’s right, young soldiers need their share of rest.” Cherub’s voice was barely audible now as she lulled the soldiers to sleep. “Sleep well now. Rest your eyes, and when you awake, there will be a surprise.”

Two pairs of snoring, along with heavy breathing, wafted around the corner and down the hall.

“Come on, let’s go.” Drown grabbed Emma’s hand. He set a steady trot down the deserted hall. “These soldiers are sleeping, but it’s only a matter of time before they wake or another patrol passes by.”

“How did she do that?” Emma allowed Drown to lead her by the hand, all thoughts of her disdain for him and his teaching methods gone. “Was that … will, as well?”

Emma and Drown rounded the corner. The soldiers lay sprawled on the floor, their pristine Alliance uniforms now wrinkling beneath their own weight. One of the soldiers had assumed the fetal position, while the other lay on his stomach, his hands under his head. Both seemed to be slumbering as quietly as newborn babes.

“Not will, my child.” Cherub smiled at Emma’s wide eyes as they passed. “There is a large universe out there full of wonders and impossible facts, if one is willing to look close enough.”

Emma wasn’t sure what to say. Drown let go of the grip on her hand. The two kept pace side by side past Cherub.

“Thank you.” Drown nodded as they passed the elderly woman.

Cherub turned her fluffy slippers away from the two. She hummed something that sounded so familiar to Emma, she was sure she had heard it before, although at the time she couldn’t quite place it. The tune itched at the corners of her memory, but no answer as to its origin came.

Drown punched a code into the keypad that parted the waterfall in front of Slain’s office. The water divided, allowing them entrance. As if it could sense once they passed through, it closed right behind them.

“You’ll need to change and take a pill to turn your skin back to its normal color.” Drown ran to Slain’s desk and produced the clothes Emma wore when she arrived at the Academy. He tossed them to her. “Hurry, now.”

“Are you going to turn around?” Emma caught the clothes in her hands. “I’m not going to get naked in front of you.”

“If this were any other circumstance, you’d be on the mat for talking to me like that.” Despite his words, Drown turned his back on her. “You didn’t have an issue when you had to change for your mission on Stardox.”

“Yeah, well…” Emma traded her Academy-approved nightwear for her converse, jeans, and black top. “Different times, my friend.”

To be honest, Emma was surprised she spoke to Drown the way she just did. Had she really changed that much in a month? Before, she wouldn’t dream of speaking to a teacher like she was now chatting to Drown.

“You can turn around.” Emma took one last look around the office. Everything was happening so quickly, she hadn’t taken a moment to think how much she would miss the Academy.

“No time for emotion.” Drown took her clothes from her and handed her a blue pill. “Time to go back to all whitish-tan and get you home.”

Emma accepted the pill. She dry swallowed it, hating the feeling it made as it passed down her throat.

“Where will I end up back on Earth?” Emma braced herself for the answer.

Instead of Drown answering, shouting from the other side of the room’s entrance filled the dean’s office. The words were too faint to be heard through the thick barrier. The waterfall entrance further muddled the shouts, but it was clear from the tone, whoever it was, was not happy.

“You’ll end up right in front of your home.” Drown ran to the far side of the office, ignoring the shouts outside, along with Emma’s open mouth. “Let me set the coordinates and you’ll be off.”

“You can’t teleport me right outside my house!” Emma looked behind her at the entrance to the room as a noise resembling someone pounding on water resonated inward. “What if someone sees me?”

“One crisis at a time.” Drown ran back to Slain’s large desk. He brought up the holo menu, swiping furiously at the pad. “First, let’s get you out of here.”

“But how will I know where to fight the Shay when they come?” Emma couldn’t deny the panic in her voice. “How will I—”

A flash of light and tingling sensation were the only answers to her questions, then Emma found herself heaving on her knees in her own front yard.

A quick look to her right told Emma what she had already sensed: Someone was watching.

50

Miss Starling gaped at Emma. Her acrylic nails, orange spray tan, and low-cut top told Emma her next door neighbor was outside again, waiting to try to corner her father.

Emma spat saliva from her mouth, looking down at her skin. The last remnants of her orange Halyna hue just fading. Sadness swept over Emma as she realized she would never be part of the Academy again.

“You just—you were—” Miss Starling’s wine glass dropped from her left hand. The glass bounced off the springy lawn, staining the blades of grass blood red. “You were … orange.”

Emma found it slightly amusing that, for once, she wasn’t the one stuttering. What was even more interesting to her was that she really didn’t care someone had seen her. When the fate of the world hung in the balance, things like your next door neighbor seeing you teleport and change skin color just didn’t hold the same weight.

“Emma! You’re home!”

The front door to their house was flung open. Emma’s father ran out and scooped her into his arms like she was still a little girl. He squeezed her like she was made of steel, which now wasn’t far from the truth. Her father’s familiar scent comforted her in a way she hadn’t realized she missed.

“How are you here?” Mr. Jackson either didn’t see or ignored the still-awed Miss Starling. “I thought you still had another month at camp?”

“Oh, yeah.” Emma searched for an answer that was somewhere close to the truth. The less she had to lie to her father, the better she felt. “I really missed you, and I’d already learned a ton while I was there. I felt like it was time for me to come home.”

“Well, I’m glad you did.” Mr. Jackson finally let go of his daughter. “Come on, you have to tell me all about it. Are you hungry?”

“I—uh—” Miss Starling finally found her voice again, but it seemed coherent words were now not within her reach. “I think I need to stop drinking.”

Still too excited to see his daughter to fully grasp the situation, Mr. Jackson just waved to his neighbor.

“Pizza?” Emma opened the door for her father, just for a moment enjoying being home. She allowed herself to forget about the repercussions of being discovered at the Academy and the impending Shay invasion.

“Pepperoni and jalapeños?” her father guessed, already reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. “As usual?”

“Oh, yeah. Um…” Emma swallowed back the bile from her most recent teleportation, memories of her first intergalactic traveling experience still fresh in her mind. “Maybe just cheese this time.”

51

There was no reason for her father to doubt anything she said. Lying had never been one of Emma’s shortcomings. For one more night, life had fallen back into a comfortable routine. Dinner with her father, followed by reading side by side in the den, then a movie before bed.

As much as she wanted to tell her father the truth, she knew for his own protection she had to lie. There was no way he would let her turn back the incoming Shay force.

Emma lay awake in her bed, already coming up with plans to continue her training on her own while her father was at work. She still had a month to prepare. Tistan would visit her in that time with details, Emma was sure of it.

The knock on her window was so faint, Emma almost didn’t hear it. The second time it came louder and more pronounced. Through the quiet of the night, the tapping sounded like someone hitting her window with small rocks.

Emma wasn’t sleeping. Her mind wouldn’t stop playing and replaying dozens of different scenarios. There were too many questions battling for her attention. When would she receive word from Tistan? What would her friends at the Academy think of her now that they knew the truth? Was she ready to take on the Shay?

The tapping came again, this time so pronounced, it was impossible to attribute the sound to her imagination.

Emma sat up in bed, squinting through the darkness. A robed figure hunched by her window.

Fear grabbed at Emma. Instinct took over. Adrenaline added strength to her movements. Emma jumped out of bed, ready to defend her home and her father.

Tistan Duel removed the deep-set hood from her head. Her pointed ears caught the moonlight, making it look like batman had come to visit Emma in the night.

Tistan motioned with an open hand for Emma to join her out on the roof, then walked out of sight.

Emma grabbed a blanket. She wrapped it around her shoulders. Like a hundred times before, she unlatched the window and stepped outside into the cool southern California night.

Although Emma couldn’t be sure of the time, the fact that most of her neighbors’ windows were dark hinted at a very early morning hour. The stars were still bright overhead. Briefly, Emma looked up, wondering exactly how far the Academy was from her home, thinking of the friends she’d left behind.

“You were careless.” Tistan’s voice carried on the breeze, harsh and grating. “You were lucky to get out of the Academy at all.”

“I wasn’t … I wasn’t careless.” Emma felt a rush of anger. “My holo band was stolen. What happened to Drown? Did he get caught?”

“Drown can take care of himself.” Tistan looked Emma up and down, searching for the words that came next. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry for ever thinking that sneaking you into the Academy was a good idea.” Tistan’s bright orange eyes narrowed. “But that is behind us now. I’m coming with news. The Shay have learned of new Arilion Knights being chosen across the universe. They’ve moved up their invasion plans. Emma, they’re coming tonight.”

52

Emma understood every word coming from Tistan’s mouth, but her brain was having a hard time processing the information.

“The Shay are coming now?” Emma felt a cold fog settle over her skin. The frigid sensation penetrated her body to the very core of her being. “But you said I had two months to prepare. I need more time.”

“There is no more time.” Tistan shook her head emphatically. “We need to follow my original plan. I’ve secured safe passage for you and your father to—”

“No.” Emma hugged the blanket around her shoulders. The edges rustled like the end of a cape. “This changes nothing. I can do this. I can turn back a scouting party. I stopped a charging turlock, I fought off a mantis. I can do this. I have to do this.”

“Emma.” Tistan’s voice was a near shout. “We’ve tried it your way. I’m trying to be reasonable, but this world is going to die. I’m not going to let you or your father die on it.”

“Well, thanks for deciding to care now. Where was all of this when you decided to leave us? Growing up, I could have used a mom.” The itching sensation of tears began to irritate Emma’s eyes. “Do you know what it’s like to grow up without a mother? Do you know about all the times I would see little girls with their moms and wonder what I had done for you to leave me? Do you know how many times I would imagine what you were like? Do you know…”

Emma’s voice trailed off. Tears streaked down her cheeks, but she refused to wipe them away. Resolve and the will to do whatever it took to keep her father and her world safe raged in her chest.

“There’s already an investigation going on at the Academy.” Tistan’s head was down. She didn’t even try to make eye contact with her daughter, but Emma could guess there were also tears in her eyes. “I can’t stay to help you.”

“I never asked for your help.” Emma took a deep breath. “I just need the time and coordinates of where the Shay ship will land. I’m going to turn back the scouting party and save Earth.”

“They must have an idea Earth has some kind of guardian.” Tistan finally looked up. Her stern features, the sharp edges in her face had vanished. Tears pooled in her own eyes, but she refused to let them spill down her cheeks. “The Shay have a ship landing in an hour. Whatever they are planning, be careful, Emma. The Shay are as deceptive as they are dangerous.”

“An hour.” Emma repeated. Her stomach twisted into a knot. “But, where? Where are they going to land?”

Tistan hesitated. Both of the warriors knew as soon as Tistan revealed this last detail, it would set into motion Emma’s conflict with the Shay.

“If you do care for me at all, you have to let me do this.” Emma sensed Tistan’s hesitancy. “This is my fight.”

Tistan didn’t say a word. Instead, she produced a holo band from her pocket and entered in a set of numbers, then handed the band to Emma.

When Emma reached for the band, Tistan didn’t let go. Instead, she held her daughter’s eye for a moment longer.

Emma almost couldn’t look at the woman. Gone were the pools in her eyes, what had replaced them made Emma shudder—a resolve and a will Emma had never witnessed, as if she were somehow transferring some of her own willpower to Emma just by holding her gaze.

“When you meet the Shay on the field of battle, show them no mercy.” Tistan released the holo band, tapping the one that rested on her own wrist. “Because they will show you none in return.”

Tistan was gone. In a soft shimmering of light, Emma was alone on the roof. Emma slipped the holo band onto her wrist, pushing everything from her mind besides what she knew had to be done.

Emma walked back to her window, catching motion from the corner of her eye. Miss Starling was out in her front yard, staring up with an open mouth. Her hair was disheveled as if she’d just woken from bed, and her silk robe did nothing to stem the cool of the night.

Emma looked down and waved.

Miss Starling ran inside her home as if the devil himself had issued a greeting.

“If I make it through the night,” Emma whispered to herself as she climbed back through the window, “I should make a donation to that lady’s psychiatrist bill.”

53

Emma stood in the doorway to her father’s room. A twinge of regret reverberated through her soul as the snores reminded her of Jeba.

Everything about his room spoke to the man he was. It was simple and plain, with a brown, framed bed and a thick, barn door covering his closet. There was a mirror in the corner of the room, and a nightstand holding a pile of books and a lamp. That was it.

Emma quietly slipped into his room and took a seat next to him on his bed. She understood the chance she was taking. If she woke him, things were too far along to try to explain. But she had to see him one more time. For all she knew, it might be her last.

Emma’s converse didn’t make a sound on the hardwood flooring. Her jeans and black hoodie didn’t give her away. She looked down at her father, the man who had taught her how to be the woman she was today. He had kicked off the top blanket some time in his tossing and turning. Emma lifted it back and tucked him in.

He was the man who was, and would always be, her hero. The first call she would make if she was in trouble, the last person to leave her side if she needed help. But tonight, the tables had been turned. Tonight, she would fight for him. It didn’t matter if he knew it or not.

“I love you, Dad,” Emma whispered. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “It’s my turn to protect you now.”

Emma stood up giving him one last smile, she reached for the holo band on her wrist, preparing to vomit up her pizza at least one more time.

54

Besides the saliva that filled her mouth with nausea, the first thing Emma tasted was the salt on the air. Emma ignored her churning stomach, instead focusing on the scene where her battle with the Shay would take place.

It was a long, deserted stretch of beach. To her right and left were piers far off in the distance. Behind her was a highway, and on the opposite side, a row of either businesses or houses. They were too far away to make out any exact details. The waves crashed gently on the shore.

If, from their conversation, Tistan was correct in assuming the Shay would be arriving an hour, then Emma still had a few minutes left. She walked up the beach, choosing to give her opponent the lower ground. They would have to charge up to her. It was a small advantage, but at the moment, Emma was willing to take any edge she was given.

Fear kept interrupting her battle plans. Every time she banished the feeling to the deep recesses of her consciousness, it somehow managed to squirm its way back up. Emma stood with her back to the highway, looking down the beach at the waves.

Death wasn’t something she thought about a lot, but it was something she had to seriously consider now.

You’re going to do this, she told herself. You’ve already done the impossible. You just have to do it one more time. Their weapons can’t hurt you. You’re stronger than any of them.

Emma clenched her right hand. The spot on her forearm where the mantis had bore down was still sore. As much as she would like to think she was completely invulnerable, there was a limit to her power.

Motion came from her left, ripping Emma from her train of thought—a brief shimmering of light, then three figures, two standing and one on all fours. Emma braced herself for the attack.

“You look a lot different as a human,” Layga’s voice reached her over the waves, “but I like it. It looks good on you.”

The creature on all fours sprinted to Emma, tackling her in a fury of licks and nuzzles. Emma laughed despite the hour. She wrestled with the saberling in the sand.

“How—” Emma lifted the saberling and ran to her friends, embracing them both. “How are you here?”

“Easy, human.” Jeba removed herself from the hug, lifting a package Emma hadn’t seen her carrying. “You’re going to wrinkle your uniform. If we’re going to die together, then we should at least do it in a uniform.”

“No one’s going to die.” Layga threw Jeba a dirty look. “Stop saying that.”

“Somebody answer my question.” Emma accepted the clothes, noticing her two friends were also dressed in their black and purple trimmed uniforms from the Academy. “How did you get permission to come here?”

“Permission is a strong word to use for what we did, human.” Jeba grinned so wide, even in the dull light it was easy to see. “Hurry and change, though. I don’t think we have much time.”

“Okay, I will but start from the beginning.” As much as Emma was relieved to see her friends, the danger they were putting themselves in by standing alongside her had to be addressed. “You two—three—shouldn’t be here. The Shay—”

“Emma, we know what we’re getting ourselves into.” Layga knelt down to control the saberling long enough for Emma to change. “When we woke up, the Academy was buzzing with the news, how Dana had discovered you were part human and your escape. At the same time, there were reports coming in of a Shay scouting ship approaching Earth.”

Emma’s mind raced to catch up with the details as she dressed in front of her friends. Apparently taking off clothes and redressing in front of others was now a common occurrence.

The cold prickled her skin, sending goosebumps racing up and down her spine. The other thing that struck her was how comfortable she was becoming with her body.

“Everyone wanted to come to help you,” Layga continued. “I mean, everyone besides the obvious trio.”

“There was a coup to make it to the teleportation level at the Academy.” Jeba stared out into the dark, crashing waves. “Many lost their lives to get us here.”

“What?” Emma zipped up her jacket with a start. “Who died? What are you talking about?”

“No one died.” Layga released the saberling, allowing him to resume his stance next to Emma. “Jeba, stop being so morbid. You’ve been talking about death for hours now.”

“It just feels like someone is going to die tonight.” Jeba shrugged, lifting a hand to Layga. “Do not judge me, giant.”

“What Jeba was saying,” Layga shook her head, turning to Emma, “was that it was a group effort to get us here. The Academy is swarming with Alliance guards. Daylon and the others really wanted to come, but they were causing distractions and creating diversions so we could get here.”

The thought of Daylon and the other first-year recruits willing to help her even though she had lied to them about being human, warmed her heart. If she was being honest with herself, it was mostly the thought of Daylon.

“How are you not angry with me?” Emma looked from Jeba to Layga. “I lied to you.”

“You had to, to have any chance of saving your planet,” Layga said with a shrug. “Besides, you’re our friend.”

“Trust me, I do not take you lying to me lightly,” Jeba said. Even in the poor light, Emma could make out a scowl on the Bracka’s face. “However, I do hear that Earth has unicorn Frappuccinos. Take me to sample one of these wonders, and all will be forgiven.”

“How did you know we have unicorn Frappuccinos here?” Emma asked, not even trying to hide her smile. “You—”

A distant rumble like thunder cut off her next words. What looked like a falling star was shooting toward them in the dark, clear sky.

“We should have brought weapons,” Jeba said under her breath.

55

The craft landed so quickly there was no time to strategize or even exchange looks of wonder. One second it was a light streaking toward them, and then in the space of a few heartbeats, it was a black alien craft landing on the beach where the water met the sand.

“Layga, you’re more resilient than most first year recruits,” Emma said, not trusting her eyes to stray from the craft that made a noise like a hundred birds flapping their wings at once. “Jeba, every time we spar I’m barely able to best you. Use that to your advantage when the fighting starts.”

“Got it.” Layga moved to stand beside Emma and the saberling. “We’re with you.”

“Whether we live or die this night, and if I had to bet we are all going to die,” Jeba moved to her other side, “I’m glad to have known you.”

“Stop with the death thing already,” Layga said with a sigh.

“Thank you both for coming.” Emma found herself suddenly overcome with emotion. “I’ve always wanted friends like you.”

The alien craft touched down half in the water and half in the sand. The engines ramped down, leaving the massive black ship beached like a silent whale.

It was the size of a large house, with three protruding sections that reminded Emma of a triangle or a pyramid. The three points protruding from the craft came forward like talons from some massive creature’s paw.

A sharp hissing came from the ship as a loading ramp lowered from the middle of the craft.

Emma’s heart was racing so hard, she was having a hard time breathing. One thing she knew from her month of studying at the Academy was that you had to believe. Emma had to believe she could win, or the battle was already lost.

“We can do this.” Emma clenched her hands into fists, so hard they shook with effort. “We will do this. We’ll win. We’ll turn them back and somehow explain to the Academy what happened.”

“Emma?”

Something in Layga’s voice made Emma turn to give her tall friend her full attention. The Ree was smiling down at her. “You haven’t stuttered all night.”

The thought made Emma smile, but her joy was short-lived. Heavy paws on metal drew her attention back to the landing craft.

The saberling growled deep in its chest. Hunched down on all fours, all of its attention was focused on what was descending from the ramp.

Massive figures, not quite as large as Layga but much more intimidating, appeared from somewhere deep within the craft. Huge, winged creatures, like the ones in Emma’s dream, walked forward. There were seven of them altogether.

The Shay were dressed in suits of dull grey battle armor. Dark green-and-black scales covered them from tail to the folded wings that sat behind their shoulders. Each one carried a blaster the size of a folding chair in the crook of their arms. Each one, besides their leader who held no weapons but a blue handle of some kind poked up over each of her shoulders.

The group of Shay stopped yards from the three Academy recruits. Somehow, the air was colder in their presence. Emma clenched her jaw, hoping they couldn’t sense fear, knowing her friends were outnumbered and outgunned.

“Radar shows our presence has been undetected by Earth’s forces, Countess.” One of the Shay flipped open a device on his wrist, clicking buttons with a long fingernail.

The way the Shay spoke sounded like a deep rasp. Each word was over-pronounced and forced past his sharp teeth. Emma found herself wondering if the Shay would be more or less intimidating in the light of day. The stars, moon, and distant city light reflected off their armor and shiny skin.

“Understood.” The voice came from their leader. It was smoother than the others, as if she’d had more practice speaking. She turned to Emma and her party. “I am Countess Rule of the Royal Shay Family. I understand you feel a need to protect this planet. Your need is unwarranted. Under Shay control, your planet will prosper. Step aside.”

“You—” Emma took a moment to steady herself. Her resolve was building. Inside, she could feel the heat she’d come to know as her will bathe her body. Somehow this time it was different. Will to fight and succeed raged inside of her like a blazing wildfire. “You already used the word ‘control,’ and that’s enough for me to ask you to turn back.”

“Lights,” Countess Rule said with a dismissive wave of her arm.

Immediately, bright white light from the inside of the craft lit up the beach. Emma blinked from the shock. Her pupils fought to compensate for the aggressive illumination.

“So, you’re the one my dreams have been touching.” The countess took a step forward, her large paw making a deep impression in the sand. “Emma, you don’t need to die here. I can show you another way, a way those at the Academy would hide from you. There is other power in the universe than just will. Save yourself and learn.”

“How were you in my dreams?” Emma hated herself for even allowing the conversation to go on this far, but she had to know. “What other power are you talking about?”

“You’re not only a hybrid but something more.” Countess Rule extended an open hand. “You are more powerful than you know. The Shay reaches out to those with potential, to teach them the ultimate power that fury, not will, can bring. Come with me. We will spare your friends, as well. I will not offer again.”

“And Earth?” Emma knew she should end the conversation now, but she had to find out for certain. Before any killing started, she had to be sure there was no other way. “What are you going to do to Earth and the people on it?”

“Earth will be a Shay planet.” Countess Rule lowered her hand. “The populace will be thinned as is necessary to our goal.”

“That’s all I needed to know.” Emma bent her knees, ready for the fighting to start. “I’m not going with you. Get back into your ship and get off my planet.”

“Your planet?” The countess laughed. “You’re not even an Arilion Knight. We’ll see how well you can protect your planet, child.”

The will to fight inside of Emma and not give in to the dictator in front of her consumed her.

You can turn them back, for your father, for your friends, for the planet you can make a difference, Emma coached herself in her own head. Her hands shook with passion as her fighting spirit reached an all time high. You can do this! You will do this!

Something purple flashed past her vision slipping onto her forearms as if they were old friends providing a warm handshake.

The countess swished her tail in an upward arc. The six soldiers behind her leveled their blasters, and the night lit up with blaster fire.

The first shot took Emma in the chest.

56

The blast felt lighter than a punch from Drown. By no means was it enjoyable, but after two steps of regaining her footing in the sand, Emma was still on her feet. All around her, her body glowed with a dark purple hue that covered her from toe to head like a second skin.

Emma noticed all of this in a matter of a second. As much as she would love to look at the glowing vambraces on her forearms or take a moment to wonder if this meant she was an actual Arilion Knight, her friends were taking fire. The Shay were advancing across the beach. Even now, they realized she wasn’t dead, and they trained their guns on Emma again.

Emma was done being target practice. She raced across the beach, arms in front of her, shielding her face from the weapons’ blasts. Two more blows struck her before she collided with the Shay warrior in her path. The pain they brought was nothing worse than what Emma had experienced in sparring. She’d have to thank Drown if she ever saw him again.

The protective purple shielding around her absorbed the blows. Her strength was increased as well. Emma grabbed the blaster from the Shay’s hands, ripping it into two pieces.

The Shay soldier struck out with its tail, but Emma was too fast. She caught the appendage in both hands, throwing it to the side. She delivered a right-left-right combination to the Shay’s head, bringing him to his knees.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Blasters added more illumination to the spotlight already pouring from the ship. Hissing zaps followed every pull of the Shay trigger. Emma saw Layga and Jeba holding their own, each grappling with a Shay soldier. Even the saberling was busy at work, playing tug of war with a Shay and his weapon.

The blow that hit Emma came from her right. It connected with her jaw with more force than any of the blaster bolts she had endured thus far. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Bright spots danced across her vision as her skull erupted in pain.

“You stupid girl,” The countess roared, landing another punch to Emma’s head, opening up a cut just below her hairline. “Under my tutelage, you could have been something other than a corpse. What a waste, to die the same night you were chosen as the Arilion of Earth.”

The will to survive raged inside Emma. Blinking past the blood in her eyes, she blocked the next strike and landed a left uppercut to the countess’ jaw. Her long snout snapped back.

Hope was short-lived, as the blow failed to do anything but anger the countess even further. She reached behind her shoulder grabbing onto the handles of the weapons that poked up over her back. A moment later, she unsheathed a sword in her left hand and an axe in her right. It was obvious the weapons were some kind of magic or technology Emma didn’t understand. They both glowed with a dull blue light.

“I’m going to take off your head!” The countess charged, swinging her weapons in wide arcs.

Emma managed to dodge the first few swings, but her attention was so intent on the sharp weapons slicing inches from her, she missed a kick that sent her flying through the air.

Emma collided with Layga, who had lifted a Shay up over her head, and the three crumpled in a mass of wings and legs.

The Shay was the first to his feet. He leveled the blaster point-blank at Emma’s head before a rush of fur and claws tackled him to the sandy beach. The saberling sunk its teeth into the Shay’s leg, viciously jerking its head from side to side.

“Holy Human Halyna hybrid, Emma you’re an Arilion Knight,” Jeba joined the two girls. She was bleeding from her nose and her left hand. “I knew it! I knew you would be chosen as Earth’s Arilion.”

Emma fought her way back to her feet. Chancing a glance at her vambraces. They covered her from elbow to wrists etched with an ancient text Emma couldn’t read. Made of dark metal they felt solid and secure.

As if both sides had approved of an unspoken lull in the battle, the Shay and the members from the Academy stared one another down. Even the saberling had released his grip on his victim and had run to join the girls.

The Shay soldiers didn’t even seem fazed. All six of them, including the countess, were on their feet already. A sick smile spread over the countess’ nonexistent lips. “The Omega weapon—now.”

At once, the six Shay soldiers formed a half-circle, shooting their blue beams of energy from their blaster at one fixed point. Six streams met at a single nexus, building a blue ball of deadly energy.

“Get back!” Emma yelled to her friends, running forward.

Come on Em, she said to herself wishing she knew more about the Arilion Order and what they were able to do. You’re a freaking Arilion Knight you should be able to do something.

The six beams of crackling energy gathered for a moment in a massive ball, then shot forward. Emma extended her hands, channeling her will with every ounce of strength she could muster. At the same time a purple staff formed in her hands. Made from the vambraces she extended the weapon forward to meet the massive blast of enemy fire.

The beam hit her like a charging turlock. Emma grunted under the strain. She lowered her head, fighting to find traction in the sand, but no matter what she tried, she was being pushed backwards. Her hands felt like they were on fire as she maneuvered her fists wider on her staff to avoid being in the direct lane of the enemy blast.

She could feel Layga and Jeba grab her torso and shoulders, trying to stop her from sliding back. The saberling clawed at the sand, pressing the top of his head against Emma’s left leg, trying to steady her. The combined power from the blasters was too strong.

Jeba was right, Emma thought, as sweat poured into her eyes and her muscles screamed with fatigue. I’m going to have to lower this staff sooner or later, and this beam of baby blue light is going to kill us, Arilion or not.

57

As suddenly as the blue beam had begun, it ended. The ground shuddered with a violent impact. Sand kicked up in every direction.

Emma sank to her knees. Smoke came from the purple staff she still clutched in her hands. Exhaustion beat at her consciousness. Still, Emma had to figure out what was happening. The fight wasn’t over yet.

The Shay seemed just as confused as Emma. The dust began to settle, giving them a view of the battlefield. Emma’s heart caught in her chest when she saw the cause for the disturbance.

Tistan Duel stood on top of the broken body of one of the Shay soldiers. Her impact had folded the reptilian creature in on itself. Its tail twitched one last time, then went still.

“Emma, are you all right?” Tistan’s orange eyes never left her enemies. Her cloak settled around her, giving her the appearance of a superhero. “Girls, answer me.”

“We’re … we’re okay.” Emma once again struggled to her feet. “You came … you came back.”

“Kill her!” the countess roared, shattering the moment. “Kill them all—now!”

Just like Drown, Tistan was so fast, Emma had trouble tracking her exact movements. Two things immediately stuck out to Emma as she watched Tistan go to work. First, her mother used the same kind of weapons as Countess Rule. The only difference being Tistan held two dull green swords in her hands.

Second, Tistan was not only strong and resilient, but she was also fast, and one heck of a fighter. Tistan flew from target to target in a blur of dull green light. Her blades found homes in between armor plates and in the heads of the helmetless Shay soldiers.

Tistan was already dispatching the fourth Shay soldier, when the remaining two opened fire on her. The countess stood by, screaming in anger.

“Come on.” Emma motioned to her bloody friends. “She can use our help. One last time, everything you’ve got!”

Layga nodded. Jeba grinned, unaware that she was now missing a tooth. The girls, along with the saberling, collided with the last two Shay soldiers, whose attention was on Tistan as she battled the other remaining soldier.

Emma hooked her arm underneath the slippery neck of the reptile, bringing him to the ground in a choke hold. Massive wings beat the air. His tail whipped back and forth. Strong arms sought to break her hold, but Emma was stronger than she had ever been before and she bent her will to the task.

The Shay’s wings were strong enough to take them both off the ground. The enemy soldier was fading, but not fast enough. They were already five feet off the beach, when the saberling caught the Shay’s tail in its maw. The combined weight of the three combatants, coupled with the lack of oxygen to the Shay’s brain, proved to be enough.

As soon as they crumpled to the ground, Emma released her hold. Jeba and Layga had also dispatched their target. It lay unconscious at their feet.

Sharp staccato sounds of something sizzling directed their gazes forward. Tistan was locked in combat with the countess. Green blades met blue as the two maneuvered around one another. The Shay countess unfurled her wings using her advantage of flight to swoop in and out of range with Tistan.

It didn’t matter, it really wasn’t much of a battle at all. Tistan fought with the ferocity of a mother lion protecting her cub. The countess was fast, but gave ground under Tistan’s onslaught every time they engaged.

Soon Tistan managed to find an opening in her opponent’s guard. One of her swords sank deep into the countess’ left shoulder. Tistan used the pommel of her other sword to hammer down on the countess’ face.

A scream of agony ripped from the Shay’s throat. She half-fell, half-landed on the beach next to her craft. Her weapons rolled out of her grasp.

“Why … ? Earth was not a planet under the Alliance’s control. You know what repercussions will come because of this?” The countess held a hand to her wounded shoulder to staunch the bleeding. Her eyes traveled over the remains of her six broken soldiers. “Why did you interfere?”

“Because I made a horrible decision sixteen years ago.” Tistan maneuvered her self between Emma and the Shay. “A decision I’ve regretted every day since then. Come what will, I’m never making a choice like that again.”

“This isn’t over.” The countess backpedaled onto her ship. Her eyes traveled from Tistan, to Emma and her friends. “I’ll be back.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Tistan said.

As soon as the countess retreated into her ship, the ramp door closed and the craft lifted off the ground. A moment later, it was gone.

“I didn’t think you’d come.” Emma felt numb, mostly because of the physical trauma she had endured, but also because emotion like she had never experienced was building inside of her. “What’s going to happen to you? You disobeyed the Alliance.”

“Come what may.” Tistan sheathed her weapons on two scabbards that hung on her waist. “You are my daughter, and I love you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving that to you. Also it seems like you’ve been chosen as the Earth’s Arilion Knight, Emma. I’m so proud of you.”

Tears, not only from Tistan’s words but also from the fact that she had survived the night, and was the chosen Arilion Knight of Earth, pooled in Emma’s eyes. She closed the space between her and Tistan, wrapping her in a hug. “I love you, too—Mom.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear that.” Tistan embraced her back.

Emma felt hot tears from her mother fall onto her own forehead.

Jeba coughed awkwardly into her hand.

Tistan broke off the embrace, wiping at her eyes. “The Alliance will teleport us back at any moment. You can be sure they’ve been monitoring the whole thing. It’s important that you girls let me do the talking.”

Emma nodded along with Jeba and Layga. One moment, they were standing on the beach; the next, there was a tingling sensation and a dull white light.

58

In the blink of an eye, the dark, sandy beach was exchanged for a brightly lit room with a raised podium in front of them. On the platform was a tall table, where three alien beings sat looking down at them. Only one Emma recognized: Slain. His face was in awe at the sight of the still glowing vambraces on her forearms.

Besides the three pairs of eyes looking down at them from the table, the only other people in the sparsely decorated room were a handful of Alliance guards who’s mouths were in shapes of large “O’s” as they looked at one another and back at Emma.

“I’m assuming you all understand why you are here.” asked the Bracka sitting between Slain and a Ree woman who wore a scowl on her face. It seemed as though she was the only one not struck to be in the presence of a Arilion. “Or would you like me to go over the many, many reasons?”

Emma shook her head, remembering what her mother had said about letting her do all the talking. She stole glances at Layga and Jeba, who looked as nervous as Emma had ever seen them. Even the saberling tilted his head down at the white floor as if he were ashamed of his actions.

“No explanation is needed, Director Trueart.” Tistan fell to one knee, also lowering her eyes. “But let it be known that the events of this night were ones brought on by myself many years ago. I am to blame for this. I am willing to accept my punishment, but please show mercy on the girls. The universe needs its Arilion Knights now more than ever.”

“Mercy?” The Ree woman on Director Trueart’s right had spat out the word. “No mercy will be given this night to a newly chosen Arilion or any other. Not only did you break the rules when you were a spy on Earth, but now you have put us on the brink of war with the Shay. What is more, Earth now knows of our existence. Did you think your conflict would go unnoticed? Already your fight with the Shay is being broadcast around Earth. If I had it my way, you all would be executed for your insolence.”

Emma recognized the woman’s voice. She was the Alliance Commander who had boarded the Academy when Emma was making her escape—Commander Kull.

“And what do you think we should do, Dean?” Director Trueart turned to Slain. “Your past with the accused aside, of course.”

“Of course.” Slain pursed his lips in thought. “A punishment does need to be exacted. But we should consider how valuable these women may be to the Alliance in the future. Emma needs to begin her training as the first Arilion Knight the Academy has ever produced.”

Director Trueart looked amused. His short, grey hair and long beard made him look like a grandfather, while his sparkling green eyes were those of a teenage boy’s.

Emma found herself liking the Bracka, despite the anxiety she felt in the pit of her stomach.

“Tistan Duel,” Director Trueart started, “you are hereby stripped from your rank and discharged from your position in the Alliance army. What else is to be done with you will have to wait until there is a full council meeting.”

Commander Kull smirked down at Tistan with hard eyes. Her glare turned to Emma and her friends as the director continued.

“As for you, saberling, there will be no more treats or rewards of any kind for a full week.”

The saberling slumped on all fours with a heavy sigh.

“Jeba Warbreath and Layga Sunkissed.” The director kept a straight face. “You girls have shown an undying amount of courage. You have stood with your friend and fellow recruit, willing to lay down your life alongside hers. Two days vacation from the barracks.”

“You can’t be serious!” Commander Kull slammed her massive fist onto the table with indignation. “I—”

Director Trueart raised a hand, silencing her.

Slain was doing his best not to smile.

“As for you, Emma Jackson of Earth,” the director continued, “you have put yourself in quite the predicament. You’ve shown that a species we’ve deemed inadequate is up to the task. You’ve managed to protect your planet with barely any preparation. Your consequence will be training at the Academy where you will learn what it truly means to be an Arilion Knight.”

Emma wasn’t sure she’d heard the director correctly. She looked around at her mother and her friends, trying to mouth words of thanks.

“Don’t thank me yet,” the director spoke with an edge in his voice that commanded everyone’s attention in the room. “As Earth’s first Arilion Knight, there are thousands of hours of work ahead of you. Your journey is just beginning.”

End Book One

Jonathan’s Note

Yep, yep, I know what you’re thinking. No, JR Castle on this one? Don’t worry JR is alive and well. For the sake of sanity we decided I would tackle this section of the Gateway to the Galaxy story.

For those of you who don’t know, JR Castle is actually my wife. Oh yeah, you heard that right. She took a pen name instead of using her real name while writing books.

So I’ll be writing the New Arilion Knight series while we work on the main Gateway to the Galaxy series together.

The vision is to release a Gateway to the Galaxy series on an alternating schedule with the New Arilion Knight series. Frank and Marine Space Corps One are scheduled to have at least a six book story arc and that’s on paper since our audiobook publisher (Podium Publishing) has that in writing.

Emma and the New Arilion Knights will at least have three books with the possibility of more. It’s going to be so much fun seeing Emma and Frank interact with one another. I can’t wait for that.

As a writer I enjoy writing what I would actually like to read. I can’t wait to see these two characters meet and fight side by side.

On another note I’m working with the amazing Apryl Baker to bring you another series set in the Gateway to the Galaxy universe set to release late this year. Apryl is an amazing author who’s hit the USA Today Bestseller list and has one of her series being made into a movie by Sony Pictures.

On the non book related front Jo’s two year old birthday is this weekend. Yeah, she’s already two. I literally have gray hairs growing in but that’s okay I think I’ll be able to pull off the look. She’s worth every grey hair I get.

The other day we were in her room and one of her toys that runs on batteries wasn’t working. I flipped it over and told her we needed to change out the batteries. I pointed to a tiny screw on the back and told her, “Daddy needs to get his tools so we can open the toy and get new batteries.”

I was confused when she looked at me like she understood every word I said. She nodded furiously before running out of the room saying, “Uh huh, uh huh, tools.”

I was laughing at her serious expression and determination on her chubby cheeks when she ran back into the room carrying a tiny toy tool set that was given to her as a present.

The tool set didn’t even have a toy screw driver but she put two and two together. She ran back into the room presenting me with the solution to our problem saying, “Tools, tools.”

And the crazy thing was, she wasn’t wrong.

Anyway, with your support and the awesome tribe I’ve found of readers who can’t get enough of Gateway to the Galaxy I’m able to share these moments with my daughter and for that I am forever grateful.

All right well that’s enough out of me. This is starting to get too mushy mushy. I need to go write an epic battle scene or have someone roar into the abyss.

It’s almost eleven PM here. Next on the writing agenda is my section of the book Apryl and I are working on together and then a special short story introducing a new villain. I mean the Lord of Chaos is gone for now so someone needs to give Frank a run for his money, right?

If you’ve been reading my author notes, you know I always end with the same invitation to connect. Without readers and friends like you, I’m a writer trying to support his family. With my pack, I’m able to do just that. I have two options for you to stay in the loop.

1) I have a private group on Facebook I created for all of us to hang out. There are over a hundred likeminded readers who enjoy everything you do. We’re there just sharing cool new books, movies and the occasional meme. Join The Pack here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1944447962437071/

2) I know some readers don’t like using Facebook and/or would rather just receive an email with info when new books are out. I totally get that. If you’d like to be part of The Pack via our newsletter, you can go to www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the ranks.

Not in a weird way but in a brotherly kind of “I got your back” way, I love you wolves. No matter what you’re facing in your day to day lives know that you’re not alone.

Until next time,

Jonathan

Face Toward Enemy

Book Four of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Beth

Cover Illustrator – Rob

This one is for my family. The crazy, wonderful people who loved me first, who have encouraged me in so many ways, who have shown me various aspects of life, and who understand me in ways it seems no other could fully comprehend. Castles and Flamingos forever.

- JR Castle

To all my author friends who have supported my work, shared information and been my brothers and sisters in arms. I love you animals.

- Jonathan Yanez

1

“She seems nice. I mean, stern but nice.”

“Yeah, she’s nice. I’ve seen her take on an entire Chaos warship by herself and she’s a trained killer,” Frank said, turning to Yur’l. “But she’s nice.”

Yur’l’s beak dropped open. He stared at Sava as she demonstrated constructing and reconstructing different weapons with her vambraces.

Frank stood beside the newest Arilion Knight. He offered advice on best practices for channeling one’s will to form a physical construct.

“See it in your mind first. Choose something easy that you’re familiar with already. Don’t come out of the gate trying to create something extravagant.” Frank looked the bird-like Gleason up and down. Yur’l was clenching his feathered hands so hard, they practically shook. “You’ll get it. Don’t worry.”

“What if—what if this was a mistake?” Yur’l looked over at Frank, shaking his white and grey head, a few flimsy feathers falling loose. “I mean, I’m not a warrior like you or Sava. The only thing I’ve ever crunched was some numbers. I was retired when the vambraces found me. To be honest, I was sitting in my recliner watching my favorite game show. I have to be twice your age; well, I don’t know how you humans age. But let’s just say I’ve had more life in these tired feathers than you’ve had in the lot of you.”

“The vambraces don’t make mistakes,” Frank said, thinking back on his own journey of becoming an Arilion Knight. He tapped Yur’l on the chest with a covered finger. “You got plenty left to give. I saw that first-hand in the alley on your home planet when you were taking on those thugs by yourself. And for what?”

“For that girl, all alone. I’d like to believe she’s safe now. And they almost killed me,” Yur’l reminded him.

“Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Frank repeated an old mantra he had heard. He wasn’t sure where he had gotten it from in the first place, probably his father.

“I don’t comprehend that terminology.” Yur’l cocked his head to the side. “Is it like a rubycocks?”

“What?” Frank shook his head. “No, I mean, I don’t really know how to answer that, since I don’t know what rubycocks is, but it’s an old saying that means ‘almost’ doesn’t mean anything. You didn’t die, you’re here now, no sense on focusing on the what-if’s in the universe. What’s rubycocks anyway?”

“Oh, it’s a game the youth play on my planet where they steal a friend’s transport and park it somewhere else so that person has to go out and find it,” Yur’l explained, his eyes traveling from Frank to Sava and back again. “It’s kind of like a practical joke.”

“Oh, we have a name for that here on Earth too; it’s called grand theft auto and comes with two to three years in prison,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I know that’s probably confusing for you too, but what that means is—”

“If I’m not interrupting your social hour, I’d like to see what you can do, Yur’l.” Sava stalked up to the two Knights. Her one good eye gave Frank a disapproving glare before moving to Yur’l. “I hope you were paying attention.”

Yur’l looked over to Frank for help, the whites of his eyes visible in his wide stare.

“Good luck.” Frank gave Yur’l a thumbs-up and a hopeful smile. “Go get ‘em, bird man.”

Yur’l followed Sava to the middle of the training area. A section of the secret dank military base – code-named The Den and located under the Hoover Dam in Nevada – had been repurposed for the training of the Arilion Knights. For now, it started with Yur’l from Traypock Galaxy, Planet Nova Prime, District Six.

Already under construction was a holographic training chamber much like the one on Sava’s home planet of Britanya. Until that area was complete, they had been provided with a large room and a black sparring mat set in the middle for martial arts training. Along one wall, a plethora of hexagonal free weights filled a rack; along another, a line of cable machines stood like centurions made of weights and pulleys .

Frank watched as the Gleason followed the Draconian to the middle of the mat and faced her. The avian and reptilian intelligent beings before Frank in an underground secret bunker would have seemed impossible just months ago. Yet now, Sava began coaching Yur’l when her words were lost on Frank as the circular comm unit built into the back of his ear went off.

“Frank, come in.” Colonel Breaker’s familiar voice filled his head.

“Yes, sir,” Frank said in a low voice. He didn’t want to break Yur’l’s concentration as he tried to manifest his own construct.

“I need you to report to the War Room. There’s been a… development,” Colonel Breaker said in a tone Frank understood. It was everything the man wasn’t saying that was sending warning flags in his head.

“I’m on my way.” Frank started to walk out the door, then stopped abruptly.

Are you supposed to tell Sava you’re leaving or just go? Frank asked himself as he witnessed Yur’l construct some kind of butter knife in his right hand. Maybe it’s better just to not interrupt her, but she’ll be pissed if you just take off.

“Uh, excuse me, Sava?” Frank said, raising his voice so she could hear him, though trying not to shout. “Colonel Breaker asked to speak with me, so I’m going to head out if that’s cool with you.”

Sava waved a dismissive green-scaled hand behind her back as if she were warding off a fly.

Frank shrugged and made his way for the doors. He journeyed down the hall of the massive underground base. Grey cement and steel met his eyes wherever he looked. The Marines weren’t exactly known for their decoration skills, but the spartan halls with fluorescent lights built in overhead and steel grey doors that opened up at sporadic intervals could really use some flair, in Frank’s opinion.

“Would it kill them to get a few flags up on the walls or some music playing on speakers?” Frank asked himself out loud. An elevator ditty about a girl from a beach in Brazil echoed in his mind.

“It might.”

A door slid open to Frank’s right and Elly Wong, the team’s science and technology specialist, poked her head out. Technically, she was a Cyber Security Technician & Astrophysicist who had spent some time with the Chinese Space Program, but Frank didn’t like getting too formal. To him, she was Elly.

She pushed her glasses up her nose with the pointer finger of her right hand. Unlike Frank, who was dressed in plain black PT clothes, she wore her dark grey Marine Space Corps One fatigues and boots. She had created the emblem of their unit, an ancient helmet with wings to either side, across the right side of her chest, when they first crossed through the Gateway portal.

“I’ve been requesting we get plants or art or something to spruce up the place, but you know how it is in the Corps,” Elly said, falling in line with Frank. “So how’s training the new guy going? Can we call him a ‘guy’? Is that disrespectful? I mean, he’s a grandpa and all that. My mom would kill me if she heard me being disrespectful to elders. But I’m not trying to be ageist or anything–”

“As best as can be expected.” Frank shrugged, thinking back to Yur’l constructing a purple butter knife as a weapon. “He needs some work, but we all do. How’s Magnus?”

“Magnus is an animal,” Elly said with a heavy breath. “He wants – no, he needs – to spread his little Momo wings and go and run around outside. Of course, I can’t get that clearance from Colonel Breaker. I understand that. We can’t have winged wolves from Brytanna flying around the deserts of Nevada; still, I wish there was some way to get him out.”

“So you’re still able to communicate with him, back here on Earth? That whole hearing devices-comm units-translation audio stuff still working?” Frank asked.

“Oh yeah. I mean, that’s how we’ve been able to have this conversation so many times. I keep trying to reason with him, but you know kids… or puppies… or whatever.”

The heaviness in her voice told Frank the subject was one Elly had been struggling with for some time. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Really?” Elly looked at Frank sideways. “I’m not trying to get kicked out of the Corps. I don’t want to do anything illegal here.”

“I didn’t say anything about doing something illegal.” Frank frowned at her. “Why does everybody think I’m up to no good?”

“You just have one of those faces.” The voice came from Lieutenant Raj Anguwar, the squad’s doctor. “And most of the time, you are up to something.”

“Fair enough,” Frank answered his squad mate, who had become like family to him more than a friend. They all had. That was something Frank hadn’t anticipated when he had agreed to reenlist in the Marines. “I see the whole gang has been summoned. Anyone know why the colonel is calling us in?”

“No idea.” Raj shook his head. “I’m guessing another mission through the Gateway. We haven’t been since we returned from our date with the Chaos Lord.”

“Ugh, if I never hear another Chaosism again, it will be too soon.” Elly groaned as the group passed a pair of xenoarchaeologists in knee-length white lab coats. “It was always Chaos soldiers, or Chaos ships or Chaos Lord. Super random: the Chaos Lord’s real name was Kramer, right?”

“It was Kraymar, but yeah, I get your point,” Frank said as the group turned a corner and stopped in front of the large steel doors that would lead them into the viewing room. A pair of Marines stood sentry on either side. “Well, here we go. Into the breach?”

“Naw, we did that already,” Raj said with a smile. “Let’s just go in and hope for the best.”

Frank jutted out his lower lip and nodded.

The trio that made up Marine Space Corps One was allowed entry into the viewing room. The room overlooked the alien sphere and gateway that stood two stories below. The golden sphere that opened an Einstein–Rosen bridge via gateways to other worlds across the universe hovered in its usual place monitored by a team of Marines and astrophysicists.

A new addition to the room had been implemented upon their return from battling the Lord of Chaos. Steel railings had been erected along the outline of where the sphere would project the archway. The physical metal archway would extend steel sheets that met in the middle of the opening to inhibit any unwanted force from traveling through the gateway. It wouldn’t do to just allow anyone who felt like it access to the Den, such as their first encounter with Sava. This was one of two improvements General Fox had ordered built.

Along with this was a light blue force field that now hummed quietly over the steel closed doors. On top of all the added protection, a squad of heavily armed Marines stood ready to defend the base at a moment’s notice.

The viewing room overlooking the sphere below had been converted into a meeting area with a long oval table in the center, replacing the monitors, trackers, and computers that were once part of the system that tried to activate the ringed orb. Six chairs placed around the table offered its occupants a place to sit. Just as their knowledge of the orb and universe had grown, the Den evolved from discovery to home base.

Colonel Breaker stood at the head of the table where General Fox would usually be found. He wore crisp fatigues with, to Frank’s surprise, the four stars of a general shown on his uniform. His uniform covered the right arm that had been lost in combat and replaced with organic steel. Only his hand remained visible, its dark metal color reminding Frank of the sacrifice Colonel Breaker had made to save Frank’s life.

It wasn’t only the sacrifice that struck Frank. It was the fact that Colonel Breaker had sacrificed his own body and never brought up the act again. More so it was like he didn’t even want to talk about it.

“General?” Raj asked with a questioning salute.

Frank and Elly followed, each with a salute of their own. It seemed strange yet appropriate to salute the newly promoted General Breaker.

“I’m as surprised as you are,” General Breaker said, returning the salute and motioning for them to take a seat. “General Fox has been called away for the time being and the powers that be have seen fit to put me in charge of Project Nebula and what we’re doing here at the Den. It seems our universe is getting larger by the minute. Reports of an alien encounter on the California coast and a young girl fighting with purple weapons have reached our ears.”

Frank had just taken a seat and perked up at the mention of the news.

An Arilion Knight, here? On Earth? Have the vambraces chosen Earth’s Arilion Knight already? How did Sava not sense this? Frank’s mind went wild with this and a hundred other questions. Who were the aliens that attacked?

“Colon—I mean, General Breaker.” Elly was on the edge of her seat. “Do you want us to go and find out what’s going on?”

“For the time being, no,” General Breaker said with a slight shake of his head. “Eventually, we’ll bring in this new Arilion Knight, but the initial meeting is being handled by General Fox. We have orders to solidify our alliance with both the Neeve on Atmos and the Draconians on Brytanna. There are an unthinkable amount of threats in an infinite universe. We are stronger together. Marine Space Corps One will travel first to Atmos and then to Brytanna. We have teams stationed on both planets now, but it’ll do our relationships good for them to see not only Earth emissaries but the Arilion Knights ready, willing, and able.”

“Sava and Yur’l will be coming with us?” As much as Frank wanted to meet this new Arilion Knight that had been chosen by Earth, he understood the importance of concrete bonds between themselves and their allies. If he was being honest with himself, he was also eager to see Vega again on Atmos.

“No, Sava has requested time to train Yur’l.” General Breaker skipped a beat. He looked directly into Frank’s dark eyes. “I won’t be coming either. Frank, you’ll be leading Marine Space Corps One.”

2

Frank blinked dumbly a few times. He had heard exactly what the general had said, but he was still having a hard time understanding.

“Uh—” Frank cleared his throat, even though nothing was in it. “Sorry, did you just say I would be leading the team? Like me? Recently reenlisted, former weapons salesman Frank Wolffe?”

“That’s right.” General Breaker refused to say more, studying Frank and allowing him to stew in the news.

“Sir, I understand there are a lot of moving parts here, but are you sure— I mean, I’m more of a lone wolf than a leader-type.”

“Frank’s right,” Elly said, shaking her head. “I think what he’s trying to say is that he’s still a mess. He has some deep issues he needs to have resolved. I mean, the guy’s a ticking time bomb.”

“Hey.” Frank looked over at Elly with a frown. “Easy.”

“She’s not wrong,” Raj said from his seat across the table. “You have a lot on your plate right now. I mean, back in the Corps and an Arilion Knight. I don’t know if you’re up to it.”

“What’s going on here?” Frank raised a brow at his friends. “Are you guys trying to use reverse psychology on me right now?”

“The Corps has made its decision, Frank, and placed the rank of major on your shoulders. I read your file. I know what you did. I know what you turned down. Though out of the ordinary, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities. We’re dealing with flying dragon women from alien planets now.” General Breaker paused again as though he were trying to decide whether he should say more or not.

“You read my file?” Frank bit back the accusatory tone the best he could.

“Wait, what’s in the file?” Raj asked.

“That’s above your classification level, Lieutenant.” The general cut him short.

Frank noticed Elly mouth “I’ll tell you later” to Raj from behind her hand. He could only roll his eyes and shake his head. He looked back to General Breaker, whose deep pools of brown eyes met Frank’s, revealing there was more.

“Being so new, with enemies potentially lurking around any galaxy, we think it would be prudent to give the Order a strong foundation of structure. We can’t think of a better model than the same ethics and same fighting spirit of the Marine Corps. We think as both a Marine and an Arilion, you can bridge that gap, Frank.”

“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.” Frank reined in his shock. He tried to remain as respectful as possible. “I’ll just rebuild a corps of alien knights while battling threats across the universe, then.”

“Glad to see we’re all on the same page.” General Breaker rose from his seat. “Marine Space Corps One will be leaving for Atmos within the hour. Empress Vega has already been notified and will be expecting you. You’ll find everything you need at the staging ground below. Gear up.”

Elly and Raj took their cue to stand from their seats and head for the side door that would lead them down below via two flights of metal stairs. Frank remained in his seat, still soaking in the news.

“Oh my gosh, he’s in shock,” Elly said, moving to Frank’s side. “Frank, Frank, are you all right?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” Frank said, also standing from his seat and waving away Elly. A rogue thought entered his mind. “General, may we have permission to take the Momo with us? Elly’s equipped him with surveillance equipment. He’ll be able to help us. Plus, cooping up a flying alien animal underground for too long probably won’t be good for anyone.”

“Agreed,” General Breaker said, looking at Raj and Elly. “If you two would give Major Wolffe and me a few minutes?”

“Major Wolffe?” Raj looked confused for a split second. “Ohhhh, riiiight. I mean, yes, sir.”

Raj and Elly left the room, heading for the staging area of the gateway.

Once they had left, General Breaker turned to Frank. As if it were a nervous tick, he flexed his metallic right hand open and closed. The two men sat in silence for a brief moment. Unlike most silences with a superior officer, this one was comfortable. Being in combat with someone created a bond in a way Frank couldn’t put into words.

“I’ll be straight with you, Frank,” General Breaker said with an amused expression on his face. “I’m still wrapping my head around the idea of an interspecies universal corps of knights. We all are. Anyone who tells you different is lying. I don’t know Arilion Knights, but I do know soldiers. I know what makes a man tick, I know leaders when I see leaders. You’re the right man for the job, Frank Wolffe. If you can see that now or not doesn’t make it any less true.”

Frank swallowed hard and slowly nodded.

“Thank you, General.” Frank looked up from the spot where his gaze had landed on the boat-shaped walnut table in front of him. “The Arilion Knight that was chosen by Earth, do we know anything about—did you say it was a young girl?”

“I did,” General Breaker said, nodding along with Frank’s words. “I’ll tell you all I know. Her name is Emma Jackson, she’s a teenager from California. She was involved in repelling an enemy alien attack from the California coast. That’s it. You know how these things work, Frank. Even at my new rank, I’m still on a need-to-know basis. We’ll have more information shortly, and if she is an Arilion Knight, I’m sure you’ll be meeting her soon.”

Not just another knight, but another human knight, Frank thought to himself. How much are you going to have in common with a female teenager, though? Who knows, maybe more than you think. You do like reality TV and frappuccinos.

Frank stood from his seat feeling determination wash over his body like a physical mist. The purple vambraces that shone ever so dully on his forearms increased with intensity, as did his resolve.

“I won’t let you down, sir.” Frank saluted before heading to follow Elly and Raj below. “And congratulations on the promotion.”

“Thank you and the same to you, Major,” Colonel Breaker said as Frank walked out the door.

Frank took his time descending the two stories of steps leading down to the sphere and gateway area. To the left of where the gateway had been set up was the staging area; racks and tables full of open crates, grey heavy duty storage containers, and cubbies offering equipment, weapons and accessories, armor, tech gear, and supplies. Elly and Raj were already there, shrugging on their light diamond-plated armor. The team grabbed and packed what they needed like elves loading up Santa for his Christmas trip.

Since they weren’t going on an expeditionary mission and instead to a planet inhabited by their allies, the squad was able to wear lighter armor compared to their full suit diamond-plated uniforms and helmets from Frank’s previous employer, B.U.T.T.S. (Ballistic United Technology and Tech Systems).

Frank changed from his PT clothes into the dark black and grey uniforms Marine Space Corps One wore, right in front of a red-faced Elly.

“Jeez, some warning would be nice,” Elly said, turning around with a blush.

“What?” Frank asked, taking off his shorts and sliding one leg at a time into a pair of dark grey pants. “I’m wearing boxer briefs; it’s not like you’re going to see me in my tighty whities before I put my gear on.”

“Son of a Momo, Frank, those are some white, hairy legs!” Raj remarked.

“Well, Raj, not everyone could be born with the same beautiful, brown, smooth body you have,” Frank replied as he fastened his belt.

“This is true. Speaking of gear,” Raj said, placing medical items in his backpack, “did you ever have the break-up talk with your former employer? What was it – B.O.O.T.S.?”

“B.U.T.T.S.,” Frank corrected. “And no, not yet. I imagined they would try to get hold of me, then the government would make up some story to tell them, probably that I was dead or something.”

“Hmmm,” Raj said.

“Why are you putting on body armor anyway?” Elly asked, quickly glancing at Frank to see if he was decent before giving him her full attention. “You can create whatever you need from your vambraces.”

“I know. Habit, I guess,” Frank said, lacing his boots. “I just feel naked going into the field without any kind of gear. It’s a mental thing. Or maybe it’s a ‘what-if-we-get-surprise-attacked thing. Like the Boy Scouts, always be prepared.”

“Same thing with weapons?” Raj asked, choosing a Reckoner P7 that he holstered on his right hip. “I know we’re going to meet with allies, but I’m still going to take something just in case.”

“Yeah, same thing with weapons. Always at a state of combat readiness,” Frank agreed as he also holstered a Reckoner P7 on the right side of his belt and took a larger Punisher GS2000 from the rack and checked the sights. “I mean, we’re Marines, the deadliest fighting force on this planet. Heck, I’ll take Marines over any other elite force on any planet, for that matter. We’re bad to the bo—”

“Oh, there he is!” Elly squealed as Magnus came swooping down from the viewing room on outspread wings. “Who’s Momma’s good boy? Yes, you are, you’re such a good boy.”

Frank and Raj looked at one another.

“You were saying?” Raj grinned, shouldering his pack.

“Don’t let her fool you,” Frank said with a grin of his own. “I’ve seen the Devil Dog come out in her when you grab the last slice of pizza.”

Elly was too caught up in ruffling Magnus’s ears and equipping him with the head and chest harness she had built for him to pay attention. The harness allowed the flying wolf pup to carry a camera on his forehead and another on the underside of his stomach. A smart pad then let Elly see everything the Momo saw from his superior vantage point in the air.

“Ready to rock and roll?” Frank asked his team.

Your team, this is your team now, Frank told himself, looking at Elly, Raj and even Magnus. He knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to them, no matter the cost to himself. They were his team, his friends, his family.

“Good to go,” Raj said. “And for the record, I was trying to use reverse psychology on you up there. I’d follow you into the DMV on a day you didn’t have an appointment.”

“I would too, but I’m going to be honest with you, Frank,” Elly said, shouldering her own backpack and holstering her Reckoner P7. “I was being dead honest. You are kind of crazy or crazy just gets drawn to you like a magnet. Either way, I’m with you, but I just want the record to be clear: you a little cray cray.”

Frank grinned, motioning them to follow with his head. “Thanks for being honest, Elly. Let’s go.”

The three humans and one Momo that made up Marine Space Corps One headed to the floating sphere that would project a gateway for them to enter the cloudy bridge across infinite galaxies and take them to Atmos.

“Gateway ready to initiate,” an astrophysicist reported from behind a computer screen.

“Lowering force field and barrier,” another voice answered.

In front of Frank, the metal sheets receded into the steel archway outlining the gateway entrance. Next, the light blue force field and its hum faded.

The golden basketball-sized sphere that floated in front of them was approached by a white-coated lab technician. He pressed the corresponding symbols on the sphere that correlated to the sphere in the Oberon Galaxy on the planet Atmos.

A golden light projected from the sphere, creating a golden archway gleaming with alien runes. Inside the two-story high archway, a thick mist ebbed and flowed. The complete spectrum of colors dimmed and brightened in the clouds as Frank ascended the ramp and led his team through the gateway.

The feeling of entering the cold mist and another planet would never become normal for Frank. His vision adjusted and re-adjusted to the lights and coloring; it was a kaleidoscope of space all around them. The fog moved without sound or wind and seemed to touch and roll around them, but they could feel nothing. One second he was in the Den, the next he was surrounded by swirling fog and multicolored mist.

A few seconds later, he was through. A completely new scene met his eyes as the mist faded from his vision. He was on Atmos, inside the palace of House Thunder. A large room opened up in front of him decorated in white marble. Thick pillars held up a vaulted ceiling and banners with House Thunder’s sigil on them, a golden thunderbird with two crossed lightning bolts behind it, were mounted along the walls.

To Frank’s left, a long line of tall windows let in the day’s bright sun. Despite all of this splendor, he had eyes for only one vision in the room. In front of him, approaching quickly, was Vega. The empress and the woman who had taught Frank more than he understood he didn’t know held a playful smile, revealing her pearly white teeth as they locked eyes across the room. She wore a robe of white and gold that moved with her slender, strong form, the fine material glimmering in the sunlight.

On Vega’s right was her own general, Tamar, adorned in his golden armor, which covered him from his shins to the winged helmet on his head. On her left was Heron, an old historian and friend who couldn’t contain himself at Frank’s arrival. The old man speed-walked from Vega’s side, his feet swish-swashing in his long robe, with a massive smile practically splitting his face in two.

Frank caught movement out of the corner of his left eye. There was no time to shout a warning or to act as the missile impacted the side of the palace.

BOOM!

3

Frank was blown off his feet before he could even attempt to think to make a construct to protect those in the room. One moment he was exiting the gateway with his team, the next his ears were ringing as he picked himself up from the far right side of the palace interior.

He didn’t remember being flung into the air, but his body reminded him of the landing. Screaming and shouts sounded so faint past the buzzing in his head. He understood how loud they must be for him to be able to make them out.

The left side of the palace where the windows had once lined the wall was now a massive blown-out circle. Rubble and debris had been tossed into the room, a section of the floor above them even caved in right where Heron had been running toward him. There was no sign of the old historian.

Frank’s heart sank and his leg went cold as he searched the clouds of smoke and dust for his team and for Vega. Raj and Elly were picking themselves up from the right side of the palace where they had been thrown just a few meters from Frank. Elly quickly turned to Magnus, who seemed unhurt. Vega, Tamar, and the rest of the approaching Neeve contingent had fared the best out of the group. Vega was still on her feet, smoke smudged across her face and dress, pointing and shouting something to Frank.

He couldn’t hear her, of course, but he followed her finger toward the newly agape palace wall. The cloud of marble dust settled, revealing what looked like a flying motorcycle hovering in midair. An alien Frank had never seen before, with two thick antlers or antennas stemming from its head, stood up and pointed at Frank.

What caught Frank’s eye past the explosion, past the flying vehicle, and past even the alien himself was what the alien wore on his forearms. Dark orange vambraces glowed just like the purple ones the Arilion wore on his own arms.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

Twin cannons folded out on either side of the floating motorcycle. They opened up, firing black laser beams on those still making their way to their feet.

No time for answers, Frank told himself, pushing everything out of his mind but one thought. Get up!

Frank bounced to his feet, ignoring the pain that lanced across his bruised body. Both his Punisher GS2000 and Reckoner P7 had been lost in the blast. He channeled his strength of Will into physical form. A dark purple glowing barrier formed around him. The next instant he was racing toward the newly made exit in the side of the palace.

The alien on the motorcycle wore black armor of his own that reminded Frank of something a S.W.A.T. team would be decked out in before a raid. The assailant also wore a black mask that covered his face but allowed his antlers to poke through.

The enemy fire focused on Frank, striking him a dozen times. The laser blasts were nothing Frank couldn’t handle; they felt like someone pegging him with ping pong balls. His fighting spirit channeling into the vambraces and creating the shield around his body was more than enough to hold off the dark beams of energy.

Frank sprinted across the hall and launched himself into the air, choosing an arc that would send him slamming into the motorcycle. As he sailed through the space between himself and the terrorist, he formed a Ka-Bar in his right hand. The purple blade took shape and streaked down on the enemy alien.

To Frank’s surprise, a hooked orange blade resembling a creature’s talon more than a knife sprang to life in his opponent’s right hand.

Frank landed on top of the motorcycle on unsteady feet, bringing his blade down on his enemy. The alien parried the blow as the two combatants fought for footing on the small craft. The flying motorcycle couldn’t have been more than a meter wide and twice that in length.

Frank’s weight on the vehicle along with the momentum he carried with him as he landed was too much for the flying vehicle to hold. It began to sink from its place hovering in midair. Twisting and rocking back and forth, it began dipping and spinning.

“Who are you!?!” Frank yelled past the whipping wind. He constructed clamps on the bottom of his boots to keep him from falling off the vehicle that might as well have been a bucking bronc.

“You don’t even know who I am,” the alien said in a deep voice dripping with hate. He did the same, forming orange constructs on the ends of his boots to anchor himself to the spinning vehicle. “That’s everything that’s wrong with you and your Arilion!”

The landscape spun all around them as they were taken further from the palace and into the wooded areas that surrounded the city.

Trying to concentrate while exchanging parries and blows with the masked alien was near impossible. Frank wasn’t a stranger to hand-to-hand combat but fighting on a spinning craft that felt like a roller coaster gone wrong while dodging his enemy’s knife wasn’t exactly easy.

Frank used his Ka-Bar like an expert, slashing and attacking whenever he could, blocking and parrying whenever he had to. His purple blade arced through the air in unison with the orange blade of his enemy. His assailant now also mirrored the purple armor that coated him from head to toe.

Frank received blows to his head and torso while dealing out a wicked right elbow of his own that struck his enemy across the jaw.

What’s going to happen when this flying crotch rocket finally crashes? Frank asked himself. I guess you cross that bridge when you come to it.

Frank didn’t have to wait long to find out. They were over a wooded area now so far away from the palace it was only a tiny dot on the horizon. The vehicle was flying so low over the forest it skimmed the tops of trees. All of a sudden, it dawned on Frank that the flying motorcycle wasn’t spiraling out of control at all; it had taken them to a predestined spot.

Any location decided on by his enemy did not bode well for Frank. Instead of playing into his enemy’s hands, he decided to throw a wrench in the works. Frank released the constructs on his feet that held him to the flying vehicle.

The antlered enemy in front of him realized what Frank was doing at the last minute and flung himself on top of Frank. Together on the spinning vehicle, they slammed into the ground with so much force that even with his defensive construct in place, Frank’s teeth rattled.

He rolled away from both the ruined hovercraft as well as the masked alien. A moment later, he sprang to his feet, shaking his head to clear the spots he saw in his vision.

His enemy was already on the move. The alien produced a black cube from a holder on the right side of his pants leg and threw it up into the air. Lights scanned the area all around the cube as it slowly descended to the ground.

“It’s going to cloak us, so when your friends come looking for you, they won’t find you. It’ll jam your comms too, so don’t even bother trying,” the alien said, rolling his shoulders. “You can run if you want. It only holds a cloak for a short distance.”

“Running really isn’t my thing.” Frank cracked his neck as he prepared for what was to come next. He had fought his fair share of enemies. It was clear to Frank that this alien was highly trained. This wasn’t an average run-of-the-mill Chaos soldier. “I’m not a big fan of cardio.”

The alien reached up a four-fingered claw and unclasped a latch on the right side of his mask that opened it up like it was some kind of mold. Brilliant in color, his skin was mostly a rust red with a splattering of yellow and cyan blue dots that looked like freckles covering his plate-like lizard skin. He would have been a wonder to behold had he not been trying to kill Frank and everyone he valued.

In the depths of his icy blue wide set eyes echoed hate and fear. His narrow chin and mouth were downturned in disgust toward Frank. His nose was nothing more than two holes in the middle of his forehead seething like a bull’s nostrils.

The alien was just slightly taller than Frank, although the slender antlers on his head made him look a full foot taller in height.

“Who are you?” Frank asked as he circled his enemy, trying in vain to remember if he had ever seen any of this alien’s species before. He was coming up blank. “How did you get those vambraces?”

“Besides your executioner, you mean? Who I am is unimportant; who my wife and son were are more relevant to your story.” The alien clenched his jaw and spat the words more than said them. “You have failed as an Arilion Knight. You and your order parade around as heroes while the rest of the universe does your dying.”

“You’re not making any sense right now.” Frank shook his head. “Where did you get your vambraces? I didn’t know they came in orange. If I had my choice, I probably would have sprung for red myself, but that’s just me.”

“Before I drag out your death and torture you, I’ll tell you my story so you will know why your agony will last so long.” The alien brought the same hooked blade to his right hand. In his left, he constructed a heavy blaster. “But before I do any of that, I want to make you bleed a little.”

Fear wasn’t present inside of Frank, but surprise was. Even though the being before him resembled a two-meter-tall praying mantis, he had faced seemingly impossible adversaries before. However, he had never spoken to someone so full of anger, so full of hate. The closest he could remember was the Lord of Chaos himself; still, this was different. This level of animosity was something else. It was laced with pain that all the killing in the world would not soothe.

“You attacked my allies,” Frank said, remembering the pile of rubble where Heron had been before he left. He said a silent prayer the old historian was still alive. “You attacked my friends. You’ll be the one doing the bleeding today.”

Frank constructed a Ka-Bar once more in his right hand. In his left, he chose a Kimber 1911: it wasn’t the sexiest weapon he could have chosen, but it was one he was more than familiar with. For a single enemy in close range, it would do the job well.

Without further words, the two combatants leveled their weapons at one another and charged to engage.

4

The woods surrounding the palace of House Thunder were thick and lush this time of year. The thick, smooth branches covered in silver dollar leaves shivering in the breeze provided shade from the planet’s suns. The animals scurried and spoke to one another in excited gasps as the terrorist and knight clashed.

They were ten meters away from each other when they opened fire. Frank refused to offer himself up as a target without sending his own hail of weapons fire at his enemy. Dark purple and orange rounds lit up the space between the combatants like a neon frantic game of Pong as they raced toward one another.

The horned alien was a trained shot. He landed a series of hits to the center of Frank’s body mass, including his head. It hurt. It more than hurt; it was a punishment Frank had only ever felt once before, when he was fighting Sava the first time she had come through the gateway, before they were allies.

The purple armor covering Frank was enough to fend off the worst of the rounds that struck him, but every blast that did hit was a new lesson in pain. The only thing that kept Frank aiming and firing his own weapon was the fact that he understood his enemy had to be feeling the same effect.

Frank wasn’t sure if he had been hit two times or ten by the time the two met in the middle and began trading blows with their blades. At this close of a range, Frank traded in his Kimber 1911 for a glove-like construct that wrapped around his fist. It was the meanest-looking take on brass knuckles Frank could think of and he didn’t plan on pulling any punches.

His enemy also abandoned his blaster and chose a short, orange construct shaped like a baton. The two men went to work on one another. Frank gritted his teeth, accepting the punishment from the baton while refusing the alien to land a blow with his wickedly shaped hooked blade.

Sweat raced down Frank’s forehead as he went down to one knee from a strike of the baton across his left leg. He blocked the blade with his own Ka-Bar before rising up to land a series of punches to the alien’s ribcage and face. The speed at which his enemy moved was impressive and worrisome at the same time.

You can’t let this drag out too long, Frank told himself as he ducked a blow and slashed out with the blade in his right hand. The longer you fight, the weaker your constructs will get, eventually opening you up to serious injury.

The dogfight was brutal in that neither combatant gave ground or tried to sidestep an attack. They blocked or absorbed each other’s blows and kept striking one another. Then it happened, with so much force being thrown at one another by their weapons, each combatant’s own defensive constructs began to weaken.

“Argh!” Frank felt the blade of the hooked knife breach his armor and rip into his right shoulder with searing agony.

Embracing the pain quickly and looking past it, Frank abandoned the Ka-Bar in his right hand and instead reached up and grabbed on to one of the antlers on his opponent’s head with both hands. As violently as he could, he pulled the alien’s head down and slammed his right knee up into the alien’s face.

Stunned for a brief moment, the alien stumbled back. Frank brought a fully automatic SAW M249 to his hands and let loose with a stream of fire.

The alien recovered just in time, bracing himself behind a square, orange riot shield. He hunkered down, fighting for traction in the dirt as Frank advanced.

“Come on!” Frank was giving himself into full battle rage at the moment. His veins pumped dangerous amounts of adrenaline into his body as he stalked forward, pouring round after round into his target. “You wanted a fight, you got one!”

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The alien wearing the orange vambraces slowly began to give ground. A moment later, he vaulted into the air using his ability to jump higher than any living being had the right to. In mid-air, he constructed two heavy blasters of his own – one in each hand – and came straight down on Frank, firing his own weapons.

Blood oozed from Frank’s right shoulder, and with it, fatigue came. He abandoned his SAW and lifted his own shield to absorb the incoming rounds. Orange fire rained down on his circular translucent shield, but his construct broke under the sheer weight of the alien when he landed.

Both combatants toppled to the ground. The alien on top of him, Frank brought a blade to his right hand and stabbed upward, catching his opponent in his mid-section just to the right of his navel. The alien groaned but didn’t stop. The last thing Frank remembered was looking up as a massive orange constructed fist came down on his face.

He was there again, at school. Hiding among the deep, quiet rows of the dusty books. He had quickly grabbed some hot lunch items that came with his discount lunch, which he paid for with his after school job laying brick for one of the local construction companies. A guy his father knew paid him under the table to help with hard labor.

Sophomore Frank Wolffe did his best to lie below the radar and out of sight for the many larger, meaner kids looking to have a good time harassing him. Frank could see his young self, still scrawny, not yet the strong brawny guy he was today. He could fit into a few of his father’s old shirts and pants, but they still fit him a few sizes too big and hung just a little too thin. Unlike the other families, there was no back-to-school shopping for the Wolffe family. If he needed something, Frank’s mother would barter with a friend or head to the local thrift shop.

From where Major Wolffe saw, sort of hovering over the image of his young self, Danny Cooper – outfielder of the high school’s varsity baseball team – along with a couple of his teammates, caught sight of Frank near the Ancient Civilizations section. What they were doing in the library, Frank had no idea. Probably were looking for some girls.

Thump. Thump thump thump.

Thick tomes began falling on Frank from the other side of the rack of books.

“Hey, poor Frankie pup. Still can’t afford books of your own?” Danny sneered.

“Hey, Danny. What do you want?” Frank responded.

“I want the rest of your lunch money. I know you have some from that work you’ve been doing. You obviously aren’t using it all for lunch because you’re so skinny. Or maybe it’s just those sad clothes you’re wearing.” Danny turned to his friends for affirmation of his insults.

“There is no more money,” Frank lied. He had been saving up to get his mom a birthday gift. He had seen a scarf in a window near a shop downtown. It was next to his favorite bookstore, 1888 Center. He figured the gift could keep her warm, maybe help her coughing, and would look good with her light brown hair.

“Give me the money, Wolffe, or else.” Danny Cooper now grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Slowly, it started to tear.

Frank stood in shock. He had ruined another shirt. He didn’t have much left. Rage built inside him. He had promised his mom no more fights, but he hadn’t started this one.

Frank woke with a start. Immediately, he was aware of three things: it was still daylight, meaning not much time could have passed, he wasn’t wearing his vambraces, and his entire body felt like one huge aching mess. Most of the fiery hot pain came from his face and shoulder, but every inch of his being felt like he had been put through a grinder.

He was sitting upright, propped up against a thick tree with his arms stretched behind him. He was secured by his wrists with a chain.

“There you are,” his assailant said, holding Frank’s vambraces, one in each of his own hands. The purple vambraces tugged as if they wanted to return to Frank; still, the alien held them in check. “I was hoping you’d come to your senses before I left. Your people are searching the woods for you now. Even my camouflage cube won’t keep them fooled for long or from walking through it.”

Frank could taste the familiar tang of blood in his mouth. Instead of playing into what the being wanted, he spat the crimson substance on the ground.

Sava would be so pissed at you for losing to this guy. Frank shook his head as he realized the truth of the matter. You should be disappointed in yourself, but how were you supposed to know different-colored vambraces were floating around the universe? Sava never mentioned that at all.

“My name is Jarl Balder and you should know why you will be losing everything you hold dear before I kill you,” Jarl said as he produced a dark net from a side compartment on his crashed vehicle. “I am the executioner of the Arilion Knights, you and the Draconian both. But before I kill you, I will expose you for the lie that you are. I’ll take everything you love from you just like you did to me, and then, then when I allow you to die, you will.”

While Jarl spoke, he anchored the four sides of the net to the dirt ground, trapping the vambraces in place. The vambraces glowed with bright rage as they struggled against their bonds, trying in vain to return to Frank.

Frank strained his pounding head up against the tree, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone who might be flying overhead. Maybe even Magnus with his cameras. No such luck.

“You talk a big game,” Frank said, testing his bonds. The chain was so tight around his wrist, he was already losing circulation. “We can just finish this here and now.”

“No, not yet,” Jarl answered as he lifted the light armor he wore from the left side of his torso and examined the wound Frank had gifted him via his Ka-Bar. It was deep and bloody against the alien’s rust-colored skin. Bright green blood oozed from the spot. “It would be a waste to kill you or the Draconian where there is no one to see you fall. When I do end your life, it’ll be in front of thousands, maybe even millions, to witness the event.”

Both Frank and Jarl paused their conversation as a massive winged creature flew overhead. Frank recognized the exotic animal as a Thunderbird, a beast with the body of a lion and the head and wings of a bird. Vega had no doubt ordered a sweep of the surrounding area until he was found.

Just as soon as the beast flying over Jarl’s camouflaged area appeared, it was gone.

Jarl gritted his teeth as he constructed a heated iron in his right hand and pressed it to his wound. A slight sizzling sound could be heard as the iron melted the scaled skin. To Jarl’s credit, no sound of pain escaped his throat.

“You said you lost your wife and son,” Frank said out loud, trying to use the conversation to find out as much of his enemy as possible. “And I’m guessing with your level of misplaced anger, you blame me, or rather, the Arilion Knights for this?”

“The Arilion Knights are this universe’s greatest lie.” Jarl allowed his construct to dissolve before replacing his shirt and armor. “Your kind are supposed to stand to fight the darkness, to help those in need. You’re paraded around as saviors when you’re no better than anyone else; worse, in fact.”

“I’m not trying to be better than anyone else.” Frank slowly shook his head. “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself I can. I didn’t choose to be an Arilion Knight, but when it chose me, I was willing to fight. We saved thousands of lives in the process and a few planets as well. Heck, we saved millions of lives by putting our own on the line to stop the Lord of Chaos.”

“Yes.” Jarl shook his head with a laugh full of disdain as he moved to his hover-type motorcycle and began repairing the damage. “You fought the Lord of Chaos here, you fought him on Brytanna and even took the fight to his planet just outside of our known universe. I know the story well. But what about all the other planets he sent incursion teams to destroy? What about all the lives that were ended there? What about my family and all the families like mine? Where were you and Sava Sargard then?”

“Are you mad because we can’t be everywhere at once?” Frank furrowed his brow as anger and disbelief filled his mind. He was careful not to mention the Arilion Knight’s newest member. If Jarl was unaware of Yur’l’s inclusion to the Arilion Order, maybe he could use that in the future. “I’m sorry about your wife and son. I really am, but bad things happen to good people every day. That doesn’t give you the right to go on some kind of terrorist spree sending missiles into civilians. You look like a strong kid. Why didn’t you save your own family?”

That did it. Frank had struck the nerve he was looking for. Jarl rose from tinkering with his hover bike and stalked over toward Frank. His crystal blue eyes danced with anger. The orange vambraces on his arms flamed to life.

Frank took the opportunity to remember everything he could about his enemy’s vambraces as he got a closer look. They were made of a darker steel than his own, black like ink. Orange alien runes were carved into them. Trying to remember what all the runes looked like would have been impossible. Frank focused in on one, a single repeating rune that stood out from the rest. It looked like two J’s; one turned sideways right on type of the other.

“I tried to save my family,” Jarl growled, squatting down and lifting Frank’s head by his hair with his right claw. He leaned in with his hateful blue eyes. “I fought with my city protectorate to fend off the attacking Chaos scouting party and we did. A rogue missile meant for us passed our defenses and exploded in the city. I wasn’t strong enough to protect them then, but with these vambraces, I am now. Now I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.”

“Really?” Frank ignored the pain in his scalp from having his hair practically pulled out of his head. He leaned in as far as his chains would let him. “Because you seemed scared to me.”

“You and I aren’t so different.” Jarl shook his horned head with disgust. “The vambraces chose you and I chose the vambraces. In a different scenario, the roles we play in this story could very likely be reversed.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bambi.” Frank held Jarl’s gaze.

“Are you willing to die for your cause?” Jarl asked, still holding Frank by his hair.

“Are you?” Frank refused to back down. The rebellious streak in him won over the sound advice that told him he should keep his mouth shut. He had held back too many times in his past.

The anger that burned in Jarl’s eyes was enough to tell Frank he had pushed the alien too far.

Here we go, Frank thought to himself as the first blows landed across the left side of his jaw and right temple. You should really know when to just keep your mouth shut.

Blackness came a moment later.

5

“Frank! Frank!”

The voice ripped Frank away from some dream that had visited him in his unconscious state. He couldn’t remember what he was dreaming, but he remembered feeling angry and torn in his dream.

“Frank!” It was Raj’s voice sounding in his head once again. “Frank, can you hear me?”

Frank winced as he opened his eyes. As the light streamed in through his retinas, the back of his brain throbbed against his cranium. The area around his right eye was puffy and bruised. If he chose to focus on the pain, he felt it most in his face and right shoulder, where he had taken the knife wound from Jarl’s hooked blade.

“Let me get these chains off,” Raj said as he maneuvered around Frank. Into his comms, he started calling in backup. “Elly, Vega, Sava, I found Frank, northeast of the palace about two klicks out. Hone in on my signal.”

“Comms—comms are being jammed by that little black box,” Frank told Raj as he motioned to the camouflage cube in front of them.

Raj nodded, running to the cube. Instead of trying to figure out how to disarm the piece of technology, he placed a right boot straight through the top of the cube, crushing it.

Raj hurried back to Frank, repeating his report via his comm link.

Frank couldn’t hear the answers, though he figured reinforcements were on their way. His arms stretched behind him around the tree were numb from his biceps on down.

“I can’t get the chain loose; I’m going to have to shoot it,” Raj said, running back around the tree to look at Frank. “You with me?”

“Do what you got to do.” Frank groaned as a new wave of pain raced across his jawline at the words. “I’m going to need some morphine or some of the good stuff to get over this one.”

“I got you covered, buddy,” Raj said, producing his Reckoner P7 from his holster on his hip and lifting it to an area around the tree. “Fire in the hole.”

BLAM!

The Reckoner fired a round scorching the tree and burning a hole through the chains holding Frank still. Frank’s arms slumped forward. His right shoulder, released of the chain, fell to his side. Another piercing hot lance of agony coursed through his shoulder from front to back.

“I’m here, I’m here, buddy; you’re going to be okay.” Raj holstered his weapon. Next, he unslung his med kit from his back. “Just stay with me.”

“I’m not going to die.” Frank looked up at his friend, already searching for his vambraces. They were there, still under the black net where Jarl had secured them. “Stop talking to me like I’m on my deathbed. Help me up.”

“Son of a singing bard, you shouldn’t be walking, you—”

Frank grabbed Raj with his left hand, using the medic’s right shoulder to help him get to his feet.

“OK, alright, I guess we’re doing this.” Raj aided Frank the rest of his way to a standing position before leaning him against the tree behind him. “Give me a second to get something in you to relieve the pain and close that wound.”

Frank’s head was still clearing from all the blows he had taken. As much as he wanted to go and retrieve his vambraces, he waited for Raj to finish.

Why? Why had Jarl left me my vambraces? He could have stolen them away as easily as he had escaped. Frank thought on the subject as Raj inserted a needle into his arm. But that wouldn’t be what he wants. What he wants is to dethrone the Arilion Order in front of everyone in the universe.

Frank placed a hand on Raj’s as he pressed the plunger of pain killers into his arm. “Not all of it. I still need to be able to speak in complete sentences, as much as I’d like to have you hit me with a double dose.”

“Got it.” Raj placed the needle back into his backpack. He came back with a glue-gun-looking tool. It was the same one he had used on Frank after the fight with the Lord of Chaos.

Frank remembered exactly how much the tool used to close wounds hurt but was also reminded of how fast the recovery time was with the medical item introduced to them by Sava’s race. Their advanced technology came in handy for communication, securing the gateway entrance, and healing Frank from his ever repeated bruises.

“Time to arts-and-craft my body?” Frank asked, eyeing the medical device.

“The Draconians know how to heal a wound quickly,” Raj said, tearing a larger hole in Frank’s shirt around the wound to gain better access to the area. “Ready to be bedazzled?”

“Let’s get it done,” Frank answered.

“So, who was he?” Raj asked, trying to get Frank’s mind off the pain that was about to scream across his shoulder. “What happened here?”

Frank understood exactly what Raj was doing; still, he didn’t mind. In all honesty, he was grateful to have someone to hash out the events he was still trying to understand. “He lost his family in a Chaos attack. He blames the Arilion Knights for not stopping it.”

The feeling of someone cauterizing his wound and the smell of his own burnt flesh filled his nostrils. Instead of grunting in pain, Frank was reminded of how Jarl had basically done the same thing to his own wound. He thought about how the alien didn’t even tremble at the action. This was what he would be up against.

So much hate, so much anger, and whether Jarl would admit it or not, fear. Frank had looked into the alien’s eyes. He understood fear when he saw it. Jarl was only lying to himself; he was afraid to admit to himself that he had failed his family, not the Arilion Knights.

“So he’s decided to try to kill you and Sava and Yur’l?” Raj asked in disbelief. He took a step back, admiring his work. “There you go, as good as new. You’re not going to win any beauty contests, but it works. Maybe Vega is into scars and such.”

“Hey! Thanks for ruining my chances at the next Miss America pageant,” Frank said as he looked down at his shoulder. A bright pink scar now covered the area on his shoulder where his open wound had been moments before. Just another scar to add to his collection. “He doesn’t know about Yur’l yet. At least I don’t think he does and I want to keep it that way.”

Frank was going to say more, but at that moment, a shadow blocked out the last light of the suns and descended on Frank and Raj. An entire squadron of Thunderbirds flapped just above them. The gusts of wind made by their enormous wings buffeted Frank and played with his dark messy hair.

The clearing they were in was too small for all the Thunderbirds to descend. Instead, one landed on the ground in front of Frank and Raj, carrying Vega. The Empress descended from her mount while the other soldiers of her army made the leap from their own Thunderbirds to the forest ground below.

Vega wore the same singed white and gold dress over her light purple skin. Despite the sullied adornment, she still appeared radiant and regal at her people’s hour of need. Her white hair flew in the wind as she ran to Frank and embraced him. If she cared at all that someone of her title should be seen in a hug with an alien species, it didn’t show.

“Easy,” Frank groaned, only one part teasing as Vega crushed him with a ferocious clench. “I still need those ribs.”

Vega ignored his playful words, holding him tight. Frank returned her embrace, all his aches and pains subsiding for a moment. Her familiar scent, the way she felt in his arms, did more to relieve his pain than the pain killers Raj had injected him with a moment earlier.

“I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him,” Vega said, finally removing herself from Frank. She took a step back and cupped Frank’s bruised face gently in her hands. “I’m going to make him bleed.”

“And I don’t doubt that you will.” Frank held both her hands in his own. “I’m fine. How’s Heron?”

“Not well.” Vega tried to hide the angst in her eyes. It didn’t work. Frank knew her too well. “He was crushed underneath the rubble that fell. Our physicians are looking after him now.”

“I can go and see if there’s anything that I can do to help,” Raj volunteered.

“Thank you.” Vega motioned to a pair of her soldiers who had descended to the ground with her. It was General Tamar and another soldier Frank didn’t recognize. “Tamar, will you see that Raj gets back to the palace safely?”

“Of course.” The tall Neeve soldier bowed, issuing orders to the other soldier to carry out the task. “Our forces are combing the area as we speak, still searching for the terrorist.”

“He’s long gone by now.” Frank looked over to Tamar as he made his way to the net holding down his vambraces. He released his armor with a quick tug of one of the spikes securing a corner of the net to the ground. “My guess is he had a small craft hidden somewhere nearby. He could be on the other side of the galaxy as we speak.”

“Frank, come in, Frank.” Sava’s familiar hard voice filled the comm unit in his ear.

“Glad you can join the party,” Frank answered.

“When we heard what happened, I came through the gateway straight away, along with a retinue of your own Marines.” Sava’s no-nonsense way of speaking contrasted with Frank’s carefree nature. “You’re speaking, so I take it you are well. I am searching for any trace of our enemy, but I do not anticipate I will find anything. I’ll rendezvous with you back at the palace to exchange information.”

“Understood—” Frank strapped his vambraces on his forearms, feeling whole once more. “Sava, he was wearing orange vambraces. I didn’t know any others existed.”

A very unlike Sava pause descended over the comms to the extent Frank thought he had lost the Draconian all together.

“Sava, Sava, come in,” Frank said over the comms.

“I’m here,” Sava responded. “We’ll speak more at the palace. I was not aware of the existence of other vambraces either, Frank. I am not keeping anything from you.”

“I didn’t think you were,” Frank said, turning back to the group around him. “I’ll see you back at the palace. I’m headed there now. There’s an injured friend I need to go see.”

6

“He’s resting now.” Raj closed the door to the room where Heron had been laid. “Besides making him comfortable, there’s nothing else to be done. His spine was crushed at his waist from the falling debris. We shared his scans with the Draconians, who came up with the same consensus. He’ll never walk again.”

Frank heard the words like someone speaking to him down a long hall. He stood dumbfounded as he thought of the grinning, friendly Neeve historian. How he had offered Frank a sandwich from his pocket the first night they met. How he had helped Frank to understand the Arilion Knights. The old man was a beacon of light, and if he was a little off in the head, it only added to his congenial personality.

“Vega wanted an update as soon as I had one,” Raj said, rubbing at tired eyes. “I should go report to her.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Frank said, swallowing hard. “I’m going to stay here a bit longer.”

“Understood.” Raj was about to leave but placed a hand on Frank’s shoulder in passing. “It’s not your fault. If you’re thinking that at all, you’re wrong. No one could have seen this coming.”

Frank nodded along with the words as his friend released his hold on his left shoulder and continued down the hall.

“General Breaker will need to be updated with all of this information,” Frank said, turning to Raj as if in afterthought. “I’m still getting used to my position in the squad. Can you have Elly send him the latest update? If he needs to talk to me, he can reach me over the comms.”

“I’ll let her know.” Raj nodded and continued down the wide hall.

Frank scratched at the back of his head, wondering why going in and talking to the old historian was so difficult for him. He was still dirty, dried blood on his shoulder and torn uniform. Something just seemed wrong about cleaning and changing when someone he was so close to lay wounded in the next room.

You’re not that close to him. Frank shook his head, trying to sift through his feelings. You haven’t known him for that long, so why are you making such a big deal about this?

Frank knew the answer, but he was done wasting time on how he felt about the matter. He knew he had a special place in his heart for Heron because the old historian was the first one to believe in him as an Arilion Knight. Heron had faith in him from the very beginning, even before Frank had.

For someone who had grown up poor and alone, that meant the world to Frank. Sure his mother and father had offered that backbone of support for him. It was different, however, when someone not related to him with no vested interest showed the same kind of belief in him.

Frank shoved all of this aside and walked into the room where the historian lay in a large, white down bed. The bed was pressed against the left side of the smooth stone wall next to a giant window that let in the cool night air, carrying the scent of jasmine with it.

The frail Neeve looked even smaller against the size of the bed. His light purple face was cut at the lip and bruised at his brow. He cracked a grin, smiling at Frank as he heard the door open.

“I don’t know which one of us looks worse,” Heron said with an upturn of the corner of his lips. “I was buried alive and you look like you got the losing end of a whipping.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Frank found himself smiling in return. “When the rematch is scheduled, I’ll be ready.”

“I have no doubt you will be.” Heron grinned again. “I’m going to give you some money so you can put on a bet for me. I’ll take you over anyone else, any day of the week—except for maybe Empress Vega. I have a feeling she can put you in your place.”

Frank looked at the historian’s unblinking eye for a split second before both men couldn’t hold it in anymore and the room erupted with laughter.

Frank immediately stopped chuckling, holding his ribs. Heron did the same with a wince.

“I’m glad to see that you’re awake and well.” Frank took a seat next to Heron on his bed. Panic washed over Frank as he realized he had no idea if Heron knew he was paralyzed or not.

“What is it?” Heron turned his head from side to side. “You look like you saw a speeider or something. Wait, is there a speeider about to crawl on my face? You’d tell me, right?”

“There’s no speeider.” Frank shook his head, struggling to find the words he didn’t have.

“Oh, you must be trying to figure out how to tell me I’ve lost the use of my legs,” Heron said as simply and matter-of-factly as if he were telling someone the time of day. “I know. No one has to spell it out for me. I was crushed under a ton of stone. I’m lucky to be alive. I can’t feel anything past my waist. I’ve put two and two together.”

“I’m sorry,” Frank said, kicking himself mentally for saying something so meaningless. “I mean, I’m sorry I didn’t act sooner. If I—”

“Stop it.” Heron spoke the two words with so much authority Frank immediately obeyed. “There’s only one person to blame for what happened to my legs and he’s not here now.”

“How can you be so calm at a time like this?” Frank shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the strength the old historian possessed. “How are you so matter of fact?”

“Do I have a choice to be anything else?” Heron groaned as he propped himself up with his elbows. “Would it help to cry in frustration, to scream obscenities, to feel sorry for myself? Would any of that help?”

Frank moved to assist his friend, placing pillows behind his back and propping him up. “No, I guess you’re right; none of that would do much good.”

“The universe is a large place,” Heron said, patting his still legs. “If there is a way for me to walk again, I’ll find it. For now, let me do what I’m best at. Tell me what happened between you and this terrorist?”

Frank told Heron everything. From the moment he leaped on the hovercraft, all the way to when Raj found him in the woods, chained to the tree. Heron sat quiet with his fingers steepled and pressed to his nose. The historian was deep in thought, soaking in every detail Frank relayed.

When Frank finished his story the knight and historian sat in the comfortable quiet that only existed between true friends.

“Vambraces of varying creation are not unheard of,” Heron said, finally breaking the silence. “During and after the first Chaos War, they were looked on as instruments of power. There are cases of vambraces trying to be forged by various parties. I have a book on that in my library if you ever want to read it. But in the end, none of them succeeded, resulting in death or varying degrees of failure to those trying to harness the power of one’s spirit.”

“Harness the power of one’s spirit?” Frank repeated the words as if he had never heard them placed in that order before. “What do you mean?”

“There are multiple emotions on the spectrum,” Heron explained. “When the Light formed the vambraces to beat back the Lord of Chaos, it chose to draw from the good power of strength, determination, and will. Of course, there are other emotions, such as fear and hate.”

“Somehow, he figured out a way to harness the power of hate,” Frank said, remembering the look in Jarl’s eyes. “Hate or something very close to it.”

“You figure out how he was able to succeed where so many before him failed and I guarantee you’ll find him,” Heron said, waving Frank away from his bedside. “Now go away. I’m old and now I’m crippled and I need my rest.”

“You’re going to walk again,” Frank said, rising from his seat on Heron’s bed. “And I’m going to find the person responsible for this.”

“I know you will,” Heron said to Frank as he exited the room. “Just don’t lose yourself in the process.”

Heron’s words stayed with Frank as he walked down the hall. He was taken aback at how easy it had been to get past the situation and focus on the problem with Heron. Seeing him in the bed like that reminded him of his mother at home on Earth. He had only gone in to see her once before she slipped into her coma. He couldn’t bring himself to go in if he couldn’t talk with her. Before she was unconscious, she had the same tenacity as Heron. Never felt sorry for herself or her lot in life. Even before Frank had gone through the gateway and across the universe, she knew that life was bigger.

Where do we start? Frank asked himself as he crossed the white marble floor on his way back to the gateway room. He knew focusing on what’s next would help keep his mind right. Jarl had hurt Frank and his friend. He would be found and he would be brought to justice. We start at the beginning, understanding Jarl and where he came from.

“Oh, there you are,” Elly said, turning a corner and nearly running into Frank. “General Breaker is requesting that we return to the Den.”

“Right,” Frank said, joining Elly as they continued down the hall. He caught a shadow pull back from a hall coming down the left side to intersect with the one they were on. He quickened his pace, hurrying to see who it had been. “Hey, hey, you!”

Frank brought a Punisher GS2000 into his hands. The constructed gauss power rifle glowed with a brilliant deep purple.

Elly ran right behind Frank, drawing her own Reckoner P7.

“Stop or I’ll tear you apart!” Frank ordered the figure as he turned into the hall. He sighted down the barrel of his weapon, his finger already on the trigger. “Turn around!”

The cloaked person was difficult to see in the dark hall. A line of windows allowed the moonlight to enter on the right. All Frank could make out at the moment was that the fleeing figure was tall and slender. At his warning, the person stopped but did not turn to reveal their identity.

Frank estimated his target stood no more than ten meters in front of him. Frank wasn’t a sniper, but he knew he could place a pair of rounds into his target before he or she could form any kind of threat.

“I said turn around!” Frank shouted at the figure.

“OK, OK, I’m here, I’m here.” Elly stood beside Frank with her own weapon drawn and ready. “What should we do? Call in for backup?”

“Get Raj and Sava here,” Frank said, slowly moving forward. There was something familiar about the shape of the person in front of him. A memory he couldn’t draw to the surface teased at the fringes of his mind. He addressed the figure again. “Turn around slowly.”

This time, the person complied. A dark robe with a deep hood still hid her face, but he could tell now that it was a woman. Her slender shape and dark purple skin showed she was Neeve. Frank lowered his weapon as he finally realized who the female Neeve was and why she seemed so familiar.

The former empress and Vega’s mother sank to her knees, trembling. Frank allowed the weapon in his hand to deconstruct. He ran to her side.

“I’m sorry, hey, I’m sorry, it’s OK.” Frank skidded to a halt by the woman. He went down on both knees, sending a spasm through his ribcage and placing his hands gently on her shoulders. Even beneath her robe, her shoulder felt like skin and bone. “Are you all right?”

The woman didn’t answer Frank at first. She just sat there rocking gently back and forth, trembling.

Frank tried remembering everything he knew of the woman, which wasn’t much. She had been the ruling empress when Frank first arrived at Atmos. Shortly after, she had suffered a mental break after she realized she was the one responsible for her husband’s death.

Somewhere in the background, Frank could hear Elly speaking over her comms, but at the moment, he was concentrating on the husk of the woman who sat beside him.

As gently as he could, he drew back her dark hood. A beautiful, mature Neeve sat in front of him, the resemblance to her daughter uncanny. Add in a few healthy pounds and take away a few years and she could have passed for Vega’s sister.

Hollowed cheeks and empty eyes stared down the hall at nothing. A slow rhythmic rocking flowed over the Neeve as if she could hear a rhythm only meant for her pointed ears.

She began to whisper something just too soft for Frank to hear in the silver glow of the moonlight.

“It’s going to be OK,” Frank said again. He was so far outside his comfort zone at the moment, he had no idea what he was even supposed to be trying to do. “We’ll get Vega here; she’ll know what to do.”

“Fear not hate,” Vega’s mother said loud enough now for Frank to hear. “So many times, hate is mistaken for fear. Fear leads to hate, yes, but fear is what lies beneath. What was that?”

“I—I didn’t say anything,” Frank answered.

The woman ignored Frank altogether, looking out the dark window as if she were having a conversation with someone outside. “No, don’t be silly; he couldn’t have done it by himself. I know you helped him create them.”

Goosebumps raced across Frank’s arms. A cold chill caressed his spine. He turned to follow the woman’s gaze out the window, half expecting to see some ethereal figure floating in midair. There was nothing.

“You shouldn’t have helped him. Now Heron is injured. Poor, poor Heron.” Vega’s mother still rocked back and forth. If she knew Frank was beside her at all, she showed no indication. “And now so many more will die; so many, many more!”

What had started off as an inaudible whisper now rose in volume until it was a cry so loud it made Frank wince. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he held on to her. Frank wrapped both arms around the feeble woman who still screamed at no one, at everyone.

“So much fear, so much hate!”

“Shhh… this is going to pass.” Frank rocked with her back and forth. “Whatever this is, it’s going to pass.”

Vega, Tamar, and Raj, along with a contingent of House Thunder soldiers, found them like that on the floor, Frank holding the woman as she cried about fear and hate.

7

“I know you have to go,” Vega said to Frank as they stole a moment alone before Frank returned back to the Den with Marine Space Corps One. “At times like this, I wish I weren’t an empress or at the very least a selfish one so I could steal you away to myself without feeling a sense of guilt.”

“We’ll make time,” Frank said, removing a strand of white hair from her face.

The two stood in the gateway room alone. The rest of Marine Space Corps One along with Sava had returned through the gateway. Vega had asked Tamar and her bodyguards she now traveled with to wait outside the gateway room and give them a moment of privacy.

The rubble that had fallen on Heron still filled the room; the giant opening created by the missile in the side of the palace stood as a gaping memory of what they had endured. It was late now. The cool night air rustled in, playing with Vega’s hair and dress.

For the hundredth time, Frank thought about how beautiful Vega was.

I hope she never comes to her senses and realizes what an animal I am, Frank thought to himself. Or maybe she already knows and the animal in her still chooses to be with me.

“Thank you for staying with my mother while I came,” Vega said, standing close to Frank and taking him in her arms again. “She has care both day and night. Still, there have been instances where she’s able to slip away. You saw her during one of her episodes. She’s not always that bad. Sometimes I can even have a conversation with her and it’s like it was before.”

Frank thought about telling Vega what her mother had said. The bits and pieces of what she rambled that very nearly made sense. He decided against it. Speaking about her mother’s condition was obviously difficult for Vega. There was no point in having her discuss an issue he wasn’t even sure he understood.

“You’re a good daughter,” Frank told Vega as he rested his chin on her head. “We’re going to get through this together. I’m going to take down the alien responsible for this.”

“I know you will,” Vega said, nestling her head in Frank’s chest. “Our alliance with Earth is stronger than ever. I’ll address my people tomorrow and explain to them what has happened. You know you have our full support. If this attack was meant to tear us apart, it has only done the opposite.”

“Two days.” Frank gently placed Vega at arm’s length so he could see into her lavender-colored eyes. “In two days, come see me on Earth.”

“I’d love to,” Vega said, leaning in for a kiss.

Frank pressed his lips to hers, feeling a tingling sensation rush through his body. He was lost for a beat as his soul rested in the moment.

Much too soon, the moment was over. Vega gently lifted her full lips from his own before playfully pushing him toward the gateway. “Do what you have to do, you Arilion Marine, but make sure you come back to me.”

“I will,” Frank said, turning back to the gateway that still fogged with its multicolored mist. He was through and back at the Den before he could force himself to look back.

“And gate is clear,” a lab-coated scientist said as Frank walked through.

I really need to make an effort to start learning their names, Frank thought to himself as he walked down the ramp and entered the Den once more. He looked at a short scientist with a balding scalp and a friendly smile. Despite his worn look and the fatigue he felt, he still tried to be friendly.

The scientist looked at Frank with huge eyes as he passed.

“Hi—Dan.” Frank guessed at the man’s name with a wave.

The man turned around and looked behind him as if Frank were speaking to someone else.

Frank shrugged and exited the gateway staging area and joined his team as they waited for him. Apparently, Magnus had already turned in, having had enough of adventure and open space for the time being. Elly and Raj stood at the foot of the stairs that led back up to the viewing room, the same room Frank had sat in that morning when he received his promotion.

Has it only been a day? Frank thought to himself as he trudged up the stairs. It feels like two days at least. I need a coffee and maybe some tacos, oh—a Cherry Pepsi sounds great right about now.

Frank entered the room with Raj and Elly in tow. The pair were as tired as Frank. They kept talking to a minimum. When they entered the room, to everyone’s surprise, Yur’l was there waiting for them. The Gleason wore a black uniform over the many feathers of his body. The pants covered his legs, down to his hyper-extended knees, with reinforced protection over his ankles, leaving the pads of his toes and his claws exposed so that he could still walk silently and swiftly like a cat.

His broad chest and full, long arms were also covered, except for the elbows where his longer feathers jutted out between the sleeve and his vambraces, which shone a dull lavender. Dark purple outline completed the markings of an Arilion Knight’s uniform.

His beak parted into what Frank guessed was a smile. The twinkle in his somewhat squinted eyes confirmed the welcoming gesture.

“I’ve been instructed to wait for you here and escort you to where Sava and General Breaker are waiting for you.” Yur’l motioned to the table in front of him, where a line of cups held cold coffee. “I was told your species enjoys this invigorating beverage called coffee. I have to admit I enjoyed it as well, but it makes my heart go fast.”

“I don’t care what anyone says about you, Yur’l,” Frank teased the Arilion order’s newest recruit. “You’re all right. But do be careful with that coffee: other people here on Earth of a certain, um, age tend to avoid coffee with caffeine at a certain age. It could also have some digestive system effects, if you will.”

“Oh, I see. I think I had that happen to me once. See, we went out and I ate–”

“No, no.” Frank put up a hand. “That wasn’t an invitation to exchange bowel stories. Come on; you were going to take us somewhere?”

Frank grabbed a cup along with Elly and Raj as they drained the contents.

“OK, where to now?” Elly stifled a yawn despite having drunk the caffeine-laced beverage. “I’m so tired, I’m starting to see two of you.”

“Perhaps that is a brain hemorrhage,” Yur’l cocked his head to the side. “And I must have misspoken. Only Major Wolffe is instructed to come with me. The rest of you may return to your quarters for sleep.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Raj said to Frank as he breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

“You are getting paid for this?” Yur’l asked with large eyes.

“Oh good, I can smell myself and I’m starting to have serious second thoughts about my deodorant of choice,” Elly said as she followed Raj out the door. She turned back and waved over her shoulder. “See you later, Major Wolffe.”

As Elly and Raj walked away, Frank could hear Elly muttering something about “told you” and “cray cray.”

Frank heaved a heavy sigh of weariness, then drained the rest of his cold coffee. He motioned with an extended arm to Yur’l. “Lead the way, good knight.”

Yur’l led Frank through the Den to a room on the far end of their same floor. The room he showed Frank to, much like the training room, was still under development. It was smaller than the training room. The far wall looked like it was made entirely of screens and monitors all spitting out various reports and data with pictures of planets and other intelligent species.

The room was brightly lit with halogen lamps overhead. Sava sat in a fancy high-backed leather chair. She rested at a monitor, her thick reptilian fingers maneuvering over the keyboard, clumsy and unpracticed.

General Breaker stood on her left, his metal hand on the headrest of her chair as he leaned in to get a closer look at what Sava was typing. Upon entry to the room, Sava and General Breaker looked up from their work.

“Glad to see you back.” General Breaker nodded toward Frank. “I’ve been briefed by Elly over the comms and then Sava when she returned. It seems we have a new threat to face. How’s Heron?”

“He’s laid up and paralyzed from the waist down,” Frank answered. “He’s tough. He’ll make it.”

“There are options we can explore that may be able to see him walking again,” Sava said, returning to her task at the keyboard. “Right now, that cannot be our main focus. Right now, we need to find out as much as we can about our new enemy.”

“What’s all this?” Frank asked, jutting his chin out to take in the plethora of screens and monitors. “U.S. military have a fire sale on computer screens?”

“With so much new information for us to digest about the universe, the Draconians have offered to set up a data bank here in the Den.” General Breaker motioned down to Sava. “It’s basically a computer packed full of streaming data and information about planets, galaxies, species, military unions in the universe, everything.”

“Oh, so it’s like the internet for the universe,” Frank said, leaning in as Sava’s large fingers made another missed keystroke and she had to go back and delete her last entry. “Want me to take over, sausage fingers?”

“This keyboard was made for human fingers,” Sava growled under her breath. “Elly, should be the one trained on using the tech.”

“She will as soon as it’s officially up and running,” General Breaker answered. “Until she’s given the crash course, you’re the only one that knows how to use the system.”

“Understood,” Sava said, looking up at Frank. “I have reports from the Neeve present during the attack, but you are the only one who saw the alien up close and without his mask. Spare no detail.”

“I can do better than that,” Frank said, remembering the alien’s name. “His name is Jarl Balder. He was part of his planet’s or maybe his city’s protectorate. I think that’s the word he used. Chaos Soldiers came and attacked his city, killing his wife and son in the collateral fallout. He blames the Arilion Knights for not stopping the attack.”

“What did he look like?” General Breaker pushed.

“His chest and arms were somewhat humanoid, but his face and legs were like an insect’s. Like a praying mantis. A little taller than we are.” Frank scratched at the stubble under his chin. “He had rust-colored skin splattered with bright blue and yellow highlights. His round eyes were wide set and the same bright blue with beady pupils. Antlers, not horns or antennas, came from the top of his head. His chin was narrow and his nose was two holes set between his eyes.”

“Alf,” Yur’l said quietly from his spot beside Frank.

All eyes in the room turned to take in the Gleason.

“Sorry,” Yur’l said, looking at everyone in the room. “Am I not supposed to say anything?”

“No, you’re welcome to speak,” General Breaker encouraged the Gleason. “Do you know the species that Frank is describing?”

“I think so.” Yur’l rubbed his beak with his right hand, an act Frank guessed was like a human rubbing his chin. “On my planet, we have a fair number of a species called Alf. They have the same slender antlers Frank is describing, the same body type, and facial features as well.”

Sava went to work with her sausage fingers, pounding the keyboard in front of her like it stole something from her. A moment later, the largest screen, a giant sixty-inch monitor, sprang to life with her search. A series of images crossed her screen. The images were of the same colorful species as Jarl.

“Yep, this is them,” Frank said as images of different Alf showed on the screen in front of him. Although their colors varied slightly, there was no mistaking the antlers or the bright blue eyes of the species.

“Well done, Yur’l,” Sava said, moving from a search of the species to one of the planet and reports of any kind of Chaos attack in the near past. “It seems as though the race resides on a planet called Chesha in the Oberon galaxy. A Chaos scouting party attacked them about the same time you were fighting off the Chaos from Atmos and I was busy in Brytanna.”

“I know I wasn’t even a knight at this time. I know we can’t be in more than one place at a time, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing we could have saved his family,” Yur’l said softly.

The room quieted until the only thing that could be heard was Sava’s manic typing.

Frank bit his tongue and then couldn’t hold back any longer.

“He crippled one of my friends,” Frank said, staring into the Gleason’s eyes. “I can’t take pity on him for anything now. I’m going to find him and I’m going to put him down.”

Yur’l looked like he was going to open his beak again, but the look on Frank’s face made him think better of it.

“We’ll try to bring him in,” General Breaker corrected. “If he resists, then that’s on him.”

“It looks like we’ll be going to Chesha,” Sava said, doing more maneuvering around her keyboard. “The planet has an active sphere that will get us there in no time. Let’s get some rest. We’re going hunting.”

8

“Have you read Yur’l’s file?” Sava asked Frank the next morning as the two sat across from one another in the mess hall located in the Den. “Do you know what happened to his own family?”

Freshly showered and rested Frank felt like a new man. His body was still sore, but that was just part of life at this point. He sat down on the bench-style seating in the mess hall with something like oatmeal in front of him with two hard boiled eggs on the side, and a large mug of coffee.

“Nope,” Frank said, shoveling an egg into his mouth whole and chomping down into the protein-laden food. “Sava, you know I don’t read.”

Her only response was to stare at him with a straight face. Maybe she was still a little too tired for his usual shenanigans.

“OK. With the way you’re looking at me, I’m guessing I should have.”

“I sent you the file and told you to read over it before we went to his planet to bring him on board.” Sava glared at Frank with her one good eye.

“Oh, that’s what that email was.” Frank shrugged. “I’m not one for homework or chain emails.”

“Yur’l lost his own family, a wife and daughter,” Sava said. Mimicking Frank, she chose a hardboiled egg from her own plate and threw it into her mouth. She shrugged and nodded with approval for the taste. “Remember that next time you go opening your mouth about family being collateral damage.”

Frank was about to respond but decided against it. This was one of the times he had to remind himself to just stay quiet and think before he spoke. They had all been through a lot. Being sensitive wasn’t Frank’s strong suit, but he could try to not be a jerk either.

“Jarl mentioned killing you and me in front of the universe plenty of times but never mentioned Yur’l once.” Frank decided to change the subject. “That could be the ace up our sleeve when this all ends.”

Sava nodded slowly, eating her last egg and then looking at Frank’s remaining one. “Are you going to eat that?”

“Yes, I am.” Frank grabbed his egg like it was the last one on Earth. “Stop eyeing it like that.”

Sava shrugged like she wasn’t going to even address how ridiculous Frank was acting.

“Good morning, friends,” Yur’l said as he took a seat with the other two knights at the breakfast table. The Gleason wore the same purple and black uniform Sava did, the clothing of their new order of knights. “I hope everyone had a restful night.”

“I slept like someone slaughtered on the battlefield,” Sava casually responded with what was perhaps a common saying on her world. “I fell asleep thinking of the orange vambraces you reported, Frank.”

“What about them?” Frank asked, his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Besides that one symbol I found that no one knows, there haven’t been reports of anyone ever successfully making their own vambraces.”

“Right,” Sava answered. “Still, we might find some kind of clue of how Jarl Balder was able to craft these orange vambraces while we’re on Chesha. Yur’l, I’d like you to remain at the Den and continue your training. Jarl Balder is a dangerous enemy, and with the limited training you’ve had, it would be foolish to put you in harm’s way.”

“I understand I could be a liability in the field, but I can hang back or offer support at the very least.” Yur’l looked at Sava imploringly. “I can help. I’ve been chosen as a Knight for a reason. I can do something.”

“And you will,” Sava said, staring right back into the Gleason’s eyes. “You will do many great things. Right now, your job is to train and to learn. Practice what I have already taught you. Very soon, we will call on you, just not today.”

“It’s probably going to be boring anyway.” Frank tried downplaying the excursion. “The chances of Jarl actually waiting on his planet for us are slim to none. This is going to be a lot of door knocking and pounding the pavement looking for clues or information. Now that I’m talking about it, I don’t even want to go.”

“You’re coming, Frank,” Sava growled.

“But I guess I’m going anyway,” Frank said.

“You two ready to roll?” Elly asked, showing up at the table where the Knights ate. She looked over to Sava and extended a hand for the Draconian to high five. “I heard you’re coming with us this time. It’ll be good to have another woman on the team.”

Sava looked at Elly with her one eye, unfazed by anything she had said. Neither did she raise her hand to return the gesture. “Why would it matter that I am a female joining your party?”

“Oh, you know, it’s just for the sisterhood, the whole girl power thing. I mean, it’s not like I live and die by it and I’m always talking about girl power. I was just trying to be optimistic and welcoming to you on the team.” Elly slowly lowered her hand, reminiscent of a small child who had just been refused access to a roller coaster ride. “Just—just glad you’re coming.”

“I do not know of this girl power, but I know of power in general, Elly Wong.” Sava rose from her seat. “And I am also ready to be going.”

“Well, uh—I don’t really know how to respond to that besides saying, OK then.” Elly shrugged. “Raj and Magnus are already waiting for us by the sphere.”

“Copy that,” Frank said, shaking his head at Sava as he placed the last hardboiled egg into his mouth. “No, I’m still going to eat it.”

“Be safe,” Yur’l said to the three members of his team leaving the mess hall. “If you need reinforcements, I’ll be ready.”

“I know you will,” Sava said to the man with a nod.

As the three made their way to the gateway, Frank was reminded of how uncommon it was still for other humans in the Den to see an alien in their presence.

When they walked down the halls with Sava, bewilderment was clear in the eyes of each Marine, specialist, and scientist as they tried to be polite and give salutes or head nods and not stare. Frank couldn’t blame them. Sava’s race was taller and wider than humans, her green-scaled skin and the short horns that came from her head didn’t exactly scream normal.

Sava wore the same black uniform with purple outlining that Yur’l wore. It had been made for her upon request and now stood to identify Arilion Knights. Frank had politely refused the get-up, remaining in his Marine Space Corps One uniform of Danner lace-up boots with dark grey pants and a button-up shirt. The vambraces he wore set him apart as an Arilion Knight to anyone who knew what the vambraces meant. He was a part of the Order, but he was a Marine first.

His body armor, on the other hand, the diamond-plated armor he wore, was black with purple outlining. The symbol of Marine Space Corps One displayed proudly over the right side of his chest.

On Sava’s chest was the emblem of her own planet’s fighting force, a Draconian skull inside a diamond-shaped spearhead. Yur’l also wore a patch of his planet’s elite fighting force. His patch was an iron cross topped with a brilliant heptagram and a saying in his language that meant “Duty over all.”

Before he knew it, Frank and the others had arrived back at the gateway floor. The familiar musty scent still hung in the air. Raj was kneeling on the ground, patting Magnus’ furry head when the rest of the team descended the stairs and joined him.

“Perfect timing,” Raj said, standing with a grin. “They were just about to begin the light show.”

Frank looked over to the team of astrophysicists who managed the sphere. One of the white-coated women lifted the golden sphere from the ground and activated the device by pressing a symbol toward the top of the orb. A faint humming filled the room as the orb began to hover in place all on its own.

The defenses placed in front of where the gateway would be projected were also lowered. The force field disappeared and the steel shielding receded into the steel arch frame.

The scientist then proceeded to turn the rows of alien symbols on the sphere like a Rubik’s cube. When she had the seven symbols she wanted lined up in the middle of the sphere, she pressed the bottom-most section of the sphere up with a click.

“Gateway activating,” she warned loud and clear.

A light shot out from the top of the sphere, landing on the raised ramp in the room. A golden archway whose hue matched that of the sphere itself appeared as if by magic. A moment later, thick rolling mist appeared in the archway. The fog filled with all the colors of the spectrum dimming and raising in intensity from emerald greens to vibrant yellows and crimson reds.

“The other sphere this one is connecting to on the planet Chesha isn’t categorized,” Sava warned as she adjusted the vambraces on her own forearms. “When we walk through, we should be aware of that.”

Elly adjusted the glasses slipping down her nose. She was in the middle of making sure her weapon was secure when Sava gave the warning. Her finger raised to her ear as though to adjust her hearing aid. “What—what does that mean? Did I hear that right? The sphere on Chesha isn’t categorized?”

“Not all the planets that hold spheres are aware of their use. Some have been lost over time, others placed in museums, still others guarded. The sphere on the planet Chesha is one that is not in use.”

“So we could be walking into a cave or a forest?” Raj asked.

“Or a swamp or a hornet’s nest?” Elly asked with wide eyes.

“Why do you guys have to be so negative?” Frank took the lead, already walking toward the archway. “Maybe the sphere was placed and forgotten behind a candy store or a fast food restaurant.”

“Wishful thinking, but it is possible,” Sava said, joining Frank. “We should be on guard. It would be best if Major Wolffe and I go through first.”

“Who’s Major Woll—oh, right,” Raj said with a grin. “Son of a gun, Frank, I’m going to have to get used to that.”

“You and me both,” Frank said, passing the scientists monitoring data from their screens and the Marine security detail on duty who watched the gateway with unease.

“Marine Space Corps One.” General Breaker’s voice drew the attention of all in attendance.

Frank followed everyone’s gaze as they turned back to address their superior officer. The general wore spit polished black shoes and a uniform that looked like it had never seen a wrinkle in its life.

“Remember your mission; you’re going to Chesha to find out as much as you can about our new threat. If he is there, you are to call for backup. Try to bring him in alive, but at no cost to your own safety. If he insists on a fight, then we’ll give him one.” General Breaker took a moment to look each team member in the eye. “Get it done, Marines, Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” Frank, Elly and Raj shouted before ascending the ramp. Sava nodded along with their words.

Here we go again, Frank thought to himself as he took the lead with Sava just behind him on the right. Elly, Raj, and Magnus brought up the rear. Please, let’s have some good news and not be sent into the middle of a war zone or some villain’s lair. We’re due for some good news.

9

Frank tensed, already constructing a Punisher GS2000 gauss rifle in his hands. He had forgone the option of carrying an actual model with him into the field. It would push him and make him stronger as an Arilion Knight if he was going to have to form every weapon he used from his vambraces.

What haunted him already was the power Jarl Balder had harnessed when they met. It was clear the Alf was drawing an immense amount of energy from his vambraces that channeled his hate. Or was it his fear?

Frank was still trying to figure that out, but now was not the time. He lifted the weapon to his eyes, aiming down the barrel. His legs were slightly bent as he walked forward. Out of the corner of his right eye, he could see Sava beside him, her own translucent purple weapon in her right hand.

The Draconian had also chosen a Punisher GS2000 mirroring Frank’s own. She had been practicing with every kind of weapon she could encounter: Draconian, Human, Neeve, Chaos, and more. Frank had seen her construct the weapon in their still being built training room; he just didn’t know she felt comfortable already taking the weapon into battle.

As the fog thinned, Frank mentally prepared himself for anything from raging hordes to a leviathan, dinosaurs to an immense monster from his darkest nightmare.

You’re the tip of the spear and there is no one in this universe better equipped for this than a Marine, Frank told himself. Oohrah!

The gateway let out into a small room with a circle of chairs and Alf sitting in these seats. The room was dark, only illuminated by the color coming from the gateway and a bright green sign that glowed over a door to the right. Boxes and shelves lined the walls laden with what looked like clothing or house supplies.

A moment later, Frank realized what he had first thought were actual members of the Alf species sitting in the dark room were nothing more than their own versions of mannequins.

Frank kept his weapon up and ready, but a sense of mystery was replaced by one of foreboding. The sixth sense he had developed in the Marines told him something was very wrong.

He walked deeper into the room as the rest of Marine Space Corps One filed in behind him.

“What the—” Raj breathed, realizing what Frank already had. “Guys, I told you no more interventions. I’m fine.”

Frank maneuvered around the circle of Alf mannequins in the small room. They were all made of some kind of pale plaster. They were completely naked from the antlers sprouting from their head to the bottoms of their narrow feet.

“This is so disturbing,” Elly said, clearing her throat as Magnus whined by her feet. “Where are we?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Frank looked over to Sava in the dull light. “No clue on coordinates besides on the planet of Chesha?”

Sava constructed a light on her rifle, bringing more illumination to the scene in front of them. A damp smell in the air like recent rain began to build as the initial shock of the statuettes wore off.

“Exact coordinates weren’t found; that’s why I gave you that warning before we entered the gateway,” Sava explained as she shined her light on the plaster Alf. “Elly Wong might be able to tell us more.”

“On it,” Elly said, whipping out a data pad and going to work on the display screen. “Lucky me, I went to my room last night and had a freaking encyclopedia of information waiting for me on the new information system the Draconians have shared with us. This thing is like Wikipedia and the darkweb had a baby. Give me just a sec.”

Frank heard everything Elly was saying. At the moment, he was too busy shining his own light from his rifle on the figures. A symbol he had missed at first because it was so thin was carved into the chests of each of the mannequins. It was the same symbol that had stood out to Frank on Jarl’s orange vambraces.

“Something’s wrong,” Frank warned, searching the room again. “The two J’s carved into the mannequins. That symbol, I recognize it from Jarl’s vambraces.”

“Are you sure?” Raj asked.

“I’m sure. It looked just like this,” Frank confirmed. “It was a J with another J turned sideways just above it.”

“We’re in a city called Renmo, somewhere on the outskirts,” Elly said, still not looking up from her data pad. She had taken up a position next to the floating sphere on this side of the gateway. “Renmo, Renmo, I’ve heard that name before. Where have I heard that name?”

“It’s the city Jarl Balder was protecting when he lost his family,” Sava answered, taking a knee next to one of the models to get an even closer look at the marking. “What are the odds that the sphere would be in the same city where Jarl’s family was killed?”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Frank said, gripping his construct even tighter. “He wanted us to come here. He knew we’d follow this lead. We need to figure out what this symbol means.”

“If he knew we were coming here, he could have set a trap or an ambush,” Raj said, looking around the room for the dozenth time, trying to find any hidden threat. “What is he doing?”

“He’s getting into our freaking heads, man,” Elly said.

“He’s not going to kill us where no one can see.” Frank remembered Jarl’s words. “He wants us to suffer and then he wants to take us out in a public place. Elly, report in to General Breaker.”

“Roger that,” Elly answered.

“He’s doing all of this on purpose,” Raj said, talking to himself out loud. “If this is all premeditated, then everything means something. How many mannequins are there? Do they all look the same?”

“What?” Frank asked, trying to figure out what Raj was getting at. He didn’t wait for an answer; instead, Frank joined Sava in the middle of the ring of Alf mannequins. There were six of them all together. Each wore the same symbol carved with a thin blade in the center of their chest.

Frank knelt by the mannequin closest to the door. He shone his light as close to the plaster creation as he dared. He searched it from the tip of its slender antlers to the very bottom of its feet. There was nothing.

“If he’s trying to get into our heads, mission successful,” Elly said, following the others as they took a closer look at the mannequins together. “Paint me disturbed.”

“Don’t think there’s more to find here,” Frank said, rising from his position and heading for the door. “I do think the six mannequins mean something, but there’s nothing else here to tell us what.”

Frank approached the door with the bright green sign glowing over it. He couldn’t read what the sign said since it was in a different alien language, but he could guess what it meant: exit.

“Sava, protect the others in a barrier.” Frank allowed his own Punisher GS2000 to disappear before calling on his constructed armor. A translucent purple barrier of armor covered him from a helmeted head to heavy boots. “If there is some kind of trap yet to be sprung, we have to be prepared.”

“Agreed.” Sava created a circular force field of purple energy from her vambraces. Elly, Raj, and even Magnus grouped close to Sava to take advantage of her shield-like construct. “We’re ready.”

The Will that lived inside Frank to succeed burned hot and ready. He felt warmth spread to his fingers and toes as he held on to the feeling and examined the door.

From what he could see, there were no wires or devices attached to his side of the door. The handle was a flat latch and appeared uncomplicated and normal in every way. Before continuing, Frank decided to take the extra step to see if he could get a look at anything on the other side of the barrier. Recalling every movie he had ever seen when it came to searching for traps or bombs, Frank constructed a thin wire with a camera on the end of the device. A light shone bright as he knelt and fed the wire under the door.

Creating something so unfamiliar and complex used more energy than he would have liked. If it meant he could spot a bomb before it detonated or keep his team out of harm’s way, it was worth it. Frank hooked the feed from the camera coming out of his right vambrace to the display screen in his constructed helmet.

A square window appeared in the right side of his heads-up display, showing him a view of what the camera was seeing.

Here goes nothing, Frank thought to himself. We really need to bring gear like this with us from now on.

Frank maneuvered the wire with the camera under the door, then twisted the wire up to see what he could of the view on the other side of the closed barrier. What looked like a foundry or some kind of metal-working warehouse opened up on the other side of the door.

Whatever it had been, it was abandoned now. Dust and decay covered the massive machines. Although daylight spilled through a few windows on a far wall, the windows themselves were either filthy or broken.

No noise, no movement came from the other side of the door. Frank rotated the camera looking for any kind of device that could be set to go off once he opened the door. There was nothing that he could see.

“Alright, we’re going to do it,” Frank said, allowing his camera construct to disappear. He stood up and faced the door. “Fire in the hole.”

He gripped the handle slowly. Ever so gently, he pulled then eased the door open. There was no clicking of a switch or tension; the door didn’t trigger anything. It just opened.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding. For the second time that day, he constructed his gauss-powered Punisher GS2000. The weapon felt familiar, even comfortable in his grip. At the moment, it was the only thing that felt familiar.

He was right; the room he walked into now was a steel worker’s warehouse of sorts or at least at one point had been such. The place was abandoned with alien vermin scurrying through the piles of trash and rusted metal machines now cold and lifeless.

To the left, the long building ended in a pair of double doors. The high ceilings were held up by massive pillars with furnaces worked into the structure every ten meters or so.

“All clear,” Frank said, sweeping the massive room.

Sava led Raj, Elly, and Magnus from the smaller room to join Frank.

Frank didn’t want to worry anyone unnecessarily; he was sure they could all feel it anyway. A hollow sensation was beginning to fill his stomach, an eerie sense he only got when he was being watched.

“I’m going to need some therapy after this.” Raj started to breath hard. “I’d take a straight fight over this weird wandering around any day of the week.”

“Easy there, my hyperventilating friend,” Frank coached Raj. “Keep that panic attack in check. We’ll be all right.”

“What’s that at the end of the room?” Elly pointed to the far end of the warehouse building to their right. Her pitch went up as her voice rose. It was a tonal issue coming from her hearing aids, something Elly was self-conscious about. It only happened if she was yelling or scared. “Do you see it?”

Frank followed Elly’s gaze to a pile of something in the far right corner. As he got closer, the familiar odor of death touched his nostril. Frank cringed but forced himself forward.

It wasn’t a single pile of something; it was numerous smaller piles of the most random items: a pile for clothing, rotten food, even jewelry and technical supplies.

Frank swallowed hard as he finally found the source of the decaying smell. It was hard to tell exactly how old she had been or what she had died from, but what appeared to be an old Alf woman lay on the ground in a pool of her own dried blood. Her body was bloated and lifeless. Dark eyes looked to the ceiling, her mouth twisted in a grisly cackle.

Elly put her hand over her own mouth and cringed.

Sava and Raj joined Frank to take a closer look.

“She was elderly, but it wasn’t old age that killed her,” Sava said, kneeling down beside the body to examine the corpse. “It looks like her skull, maybe her neck is broken.”

“Finally, something I can do and no more of this creeping around.” Raj slipped his hands into light blue gloves with a snap to inspect the body. “Based on the somatic structure’s status and external wear and tear, I’d say Sava’s right. She was old, but there’s blunt trauma to her skull. Her mandible seems to have sustained a crushing blow and I could determine duration of death with some time to test insect succession and decomposition pat—”

Magnus barked, unfurling his wings and taking off to soar in the space the high ceiling of the building allowed. He barked again, this time panicked.

“Elly?” Frank looked over to the only member of Marine Space Corps One who could understand the Momo.

“He says they’re coming.” Elly looked over to Frank. “He says to get ready.”

10

Deep purring and rumbling reached Frank’s ears a split second later. The repeated waa-ooo of a high-to-low frequency digitized siren accompanied the rushing sound. Faint at first, the noise grew in intensity with each passing moment, soon causing the room’s machines to jingle and creek. Sava lifted up into the air to get a better view out the broken windows along the wall. Her ability to fly was seamless: something Frank was still working on. It would take time to perfect; at the moment; the best he could muster if he had to was an awkward hover.

“It looks like the city protectorate coming from the east,” Sava reported. “They’ll be here in under a minute.”

“How did they know we were here?” Raj asked, looking to Frank for direction. “Did we trigger an alarm or warning?”

“I don’t think so,” Frank said, running through his options. “We could run back through the gateway, but we came here to find answers and all we’ve done so far is pile on more questions. Sava, how’s the city aligned? I mean, are they friendly to outside races and Arilion Knights?”

“You didn’t read the reports I left for you?” Sava raised her eyebrow with a growl. “I had Yur’l leave a drive at your door to be read last night before you fell asleep.”

“Well, for argument’s sake,” Frank scratched the back of his head under Sava’s savage stare, “let’s just say I didn’t.”

The sound of the traveling vehicles outside was so loud now it was beginning to become difficult to hear each other talk. Frank could practically feel Sava’s stare.

“If you had read the report on the planet and the local populace, you would know that a large majority of the planet, including its major cities where we are now, are welcoming of visitors,” Sava repeated as if she were instructing a child. “As far as their receptiveness to the Arilion Order, your guess is as good as mine. Arilion are still only just beginning to reemerge in the universe.”

“I’ll go out and talk to them,” Frank said, making up his mind on the matter. “I’m not leaving this planet without answers. Stay here until I give you the all-clear order.”

“Be careful, Frank,” Raj said, peering out a dirt-stained window. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

“It’s going to be OK. I’m just going to speak with them.” Frank squared his shoulders and headed for the doors. “If things get bad, head for the gateway. I’ll be right behind you.”

The sounds of the vehicles coming to abrupt stops rippled through the air. The sirens were shut off now, though green and yellow lights flashed through the windows.

Frank opened a double door in front of him and walked outside with his hands in the air. A maelstrom of activity greeted his appearance. There were no less than a dozen bulky vehicles unloading armor-clad Alf from their gull wing doors. The Chesaian vehicles resembled hovercrafts: absent of wheels, each vehicle rested on rubber bumpers on the ground. Their armored cabins sat behind three flat windshields and boasted crowns of their flashing green and yellow lights.

The aliens wore black uniforms under light body armor. The weapons they carried were sleek blasters. At his appearance, shouting carried over the sounds of running feet.

“Stop right there!”

“Don’t come any closer!”

“Hands in the air!”

Frank couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the last request. He looked up at his arms that were so straight over his head he felt like an orangutan doing a side to side walk.

“They’re up. I can’t raise them any further,” Frank shouted back with a smile. “I’m not your enemy. My name is Major Frank Wolffe, I come from a planet called Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy.”

More Alf ran still to get into position covering the building. Those who had their weapons trained on Frank looked to one another in confusion.

Finally, a female Alf with a long, elegant neck, thick blue lashes, and subtle feminine curves with a ring on her right antler moved forward. She wore a long, tan sleeveless coat with a single collar over a button-up shirt neatly tucked into pants with tall boots that were practical yet with some added height. A weapon was leveled at Frank’s head. She meant serious business. “Put down your weapons.”

“Oh, they’re vambraces not weapons—I mean, I guess they kind of are weapons but not in the traditional sense.” Frank kicked himself for sounding like an idiot. “I’m also an Arilion Knight. I’ll say it again: we are not your enemies and we mean you no harm.”

At the words “Arilion Knight,” a mummer rippled through the gathered Alf. Some glared at him even harder while others lowered their weapons half an inch as they darted their eyes off Frank and to the ground.

“You said ‘we’.” The female Alf showed no sign of taking it easy on Frank, even after he had conveyed he was an Arilion Knight. “How many of you are there?”

At this point, Frank had two options: either he could lie, which didn’t exactly scream friendship, or he could tell them the truth and put all his cards on the table.

Well, what’s it going to be, Franky? Frank asked himself as his shoulder muscles began to fatigue, having his hands still in the air as high as he could. How are you going to expect them to trust you if you’re not going to trust them?

“My team is inside,” Frank said, choosing to be honest with the female Alf. “Two humans like myself and an Arilion Draconian.”

Magnus yipped from inside the warehouse.

“Oh, and a flying wolf puppy creature thing,” Frank added in a rush. “He’s called a Momo, a species from Brytanna.”

“Tell them to come out with their hands in the air,” the female Alf ordered.

“I will,” Frank said, trying to bridge the gap between being bossed around and move over to having a conversation they so desperately needed. “I’ll even have them surrender their weapons and we’ll go in with you. I’m just asking that you lower your own weapons and hear me out. What’s your name? I’ve already told you mine.”

“My name is Captain Atla Alvain.” The female Alf eyed Frank sideways before giving her answer. “Why don’t I hear you out and then I’ll decide whether to lower my weapon or not?”

“OK, fair enough; let’s just take it easy. Half of your men look like they’re a hairsbreadth away from squeezing their triggers.” Frank eyed the surrounding city protectorate unit. “My allies and I were attacked yesterday by an Alf wearing orange vambraces. He wounded many and crippled one of my friends. We tracked down his last known affiliation to the city protectorate. His name is Jarl Balder.”

Murmurs rippled through those gathered. It was enough to wipe clean any doubt Frank had as to whether they were in the right place or not.

“I’m going to have to call this in.” Captain Alvain slowly lowered her weapon. “Tell your people to come out and surrender their weapons. If everything is as you say it is, then we’re on the same side.”

Captain Alvain disappeared for a moment into the inner cab of the vehicle she had just used for protection.

Frank groaned as he slowly let down his arms, rolling his shoulders to work out the stiffness. He looked behind him into the building and spoke into his comm. “It’s clear to come out. Put down your weapons.”

Raj came first, placing his weapon on the ground with a sheepish smile. That guy, with his smooth tan skin, big brown puppy eyes, and perfectly clean dark hair cut; no one could ever take him as a threat.

Elly came next doing the same with her Momo in tow.

Sava was last, emerging from the warehouse amongst the murmurs of wonder as the Alf in the city protectorate looked on with wide eyes full of curiosity.

“They must not see very many Draconians around here,” Frank said out of the side of his mouth. “Don’t take it personally.”

Sava ignored him, staring down the Alf who surrounded her.

Atla appeared a moment later from the inside of one of the vehicles. She looked around at the gathered city protectorate that in turn looked to her for direction.

“I just received the order to bring them in. Lower your weapons,” Atla commanded in a voice that held no room for argument.

To her credit as a leader, nearly every single one of the gathered Alf obeyed. Frank breathed a sigh of relief. His shoulders carried the tension he felt in the moment.

“I gave you an order, Corporal.” Atla directed a glare at a shorter more russet, less blue Alf who stood behind a heavy vehicle to Frank’s right. “Stand down.”

“Captain, if these are them, if these are the Arilion Knights, where were they when we needed them?” The Alf sounded young. Past his armor and helmet, it was hard to tell. His voice was unsteady. “Where were they when we were fighting and dying when the Chaos scouting party came to our doorstep?”

“I’m not going to ask you again.” Atla pointed her own blaster at the corporal. “Lower your weapon. That is an order from a superior officer. Do you understand me?”

The city protectorate standing next to the young corporal placed a gloved hand on his comrade’s shoulder.

“Yes—yes, Captain, I’m sorry, Captain.” The corporal slowly nodded and lowered his weapons. “I’m sorry.”

A moment passed where a sneaking suspicion told Frank that more than one Alf surrounding him would have liked to do what the corporal had but knew better. It was clear to see that for as many protectorates that were eager to see the Arilion there were just as many ready to pass judgment on them.

Atla holstered her blaster and made her way forward toward Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps One. Her trench coat rustled behind her in the wind almost like a cape. She stopped and stood in front of the group, pausing a moment before giving Frank a not welcoming but not unfriendly nod.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t give you a warmer welcome. We’re usually better mannered than this.” Atla paused, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “We received a call about a dead body, armed assailants, and a disturbance here at the old foundry. You can imagine we were expecting the worst; instead, we found you.”

“Who gave you the call?” Elly asked, cocking her head to the side. “I mean, you said you got a report about a dead body and so on here. Who was it?”

“It was an anonymous tip,” Atla said, taking Elly’s meaning. “Maybe not so anonymous right now. Maybe someone wanted us to get off on the wrong foot.”

“I think so,” Sava growled as she arched her brow. “By the way, there is a sphere in there with the ability to open gateways to other worlds across the universe.”

“Oh, oh, and a dead body. We should probably tell you about that too,” Elly chimed in.

“We didn’t kill her.” Raj picked up the story despite Frank shaking his head and giving his teammates the cut it out sign with a straight hand across his throat. “Even if you don’t believe us, I’m certain an autopsy report will confirm she’s been dead a very long time.”

“Is that so?” Atla turned back to Frank with a raised eyebrow. “Nothing but good news with you people.”

“Lady,” Frank shook his head while scratching the back of his neck, “you have no idea.”

11

“Stop your growling,” Frank whispered to Sava from his seat inside the Alf vehicle beside her. “They let us keep our vambraces. If things go bad, we both know there’s no stopping us.”

Sava didn’t look at Frank; she only nodded, staring down at the metal clamps Atla had used to handcuffed them before they entered a large utility vehicle. The gull doors came down, sounding a hiss as the hydraulics closed. Inside seemed fairly standard as far as vehicles went. It wasn’t until the motor started and they moved did Frank experience the Chesaian technology.

The engines rumbled and Frank recognized the whirring sound as they lifted from the ground. Releasing a gradual burst of pulsing energy, the vehicle lifted, leaving only empty space beneath them. They hovered a few feet over the ground as they made their way with a convoy of city protectorates back to their headquarters.

Frank and Sava sat in the middle row of the carrier, Raj, Elly, and the Momo behind them. In the front, an Alf driver manned the controls, sneaking peeks at Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps One via a screen that acted as a rearview mirror.

Atla rode shotgun, her long fingers touching a data pad.

Frank reexamined the handcuffs holding him in check. They were two large manacles held together by a steel square connector piece. The handcuffs were heavy and firm without being overly tight.

“That’s right, I want a full report done and get a team out to the foundry to catalogue everything,” Atla said as she pressed a hand to her right ear. “This one goes all the way up the chain. We can expect the government involved soon. Secure the sphere and don’t allow anyone nearby.”

“I’m telling you the handcuffs aren’t necessary,” Frank repeated, looking out the vehicle’s darkened windows. “We can share knowledge. It’s better to have friends than enemies.”

“I agree and I’ll take them off of you once we reach the city protectorate headquarters and you are secure,” Atla said, turning in her seat to get a look at the entire team. “You’ve come at a very delicate time for our city.”

“How so?” Sava asked.

Atla made a quick glance at the driver beside her and shook her antlered head. “You’ll be debriefed when you reach headquarters.”

What did you step into now? Frank thought back to the young corporal who had kept his weapon aimed on Frank when he was first ordered to stand down. There was something going on here, even with the city protectorate. Who knows whose side Atla is on.

Instead of more chatter, Frank kept his eyes open and mouth shut. It seemed the foundry where the gateway had led them was on the outskirts of this retro futuristic town. Their vehicle, sandwiched between two other large hovering units, made their way up a long, single-lane road to a city on the horizon.

Blue-green overgrown grasses and foliage overlapped the boundaries of what appeared to have been tin homes and a couple of run down pit stops. Not a soul was in sight in this forgotten area of town. Soon the gravel and grass lane gave way to a paved road.

Even from this distance, Frank could tell the city was massive. Buildings hundreds of stories tall rose into the sky, blocking out as much as they could of the clouds and twin suns.

The buildings reminded Frank of the New York skyline; there were just more of them and they were brightly colored. No dull, tempered steel or prosaic concrete jungle here. Each building was a different shade of green, red, orange, or blue. The bright colors reminded Frank of the Alf’s skin tone. Most of the city protectorates’ skin was covered in a uniform or helmet besides Jarl and Atla. From what he had seen of the species, they too were a colorful race embracing the full spectrum of hues.

As they approached the city, more and more hovering vehicles began to clog the road. These were much smaller, also with the gull wings of a DeLorean. Where first the road was one single lane heading toward the city, it seemed to open wider and wider with each passing kilometer they traveled.

Soon they were part of a four, five, then six-lane highway heading into the city.

“Let’s hit the lights and get to headquarters as quickly as possible,” Atla instructed her driver. “We don’t want to get caught out here if word gets out on who we have in the vehicle.”

“Understood,” the driver said, sneaking another open-mouthed glance at Frank and Sava through the rearview mirror.

“All units,” Atla said, touching the earpiece at the round hole on the right side of her face. “We’re going bright from here on out. Let’s get to headquarters ASAP.”

Their driver hit a button on the flat panel console on his right a moment later. Emerald and duck yellow lights flared all around them as well as a low sound wave that sent a tremor through everything around it, warning anything and anyone of their approach.

Frank could feel the vibration touch and leave him like the pulse of a siren.

“There’s something so wrong here,” Elly said, leaning forward from her seat behind Frank and Sava. “I’ve seen enough of these movies and read enough of these books to tell.”

“Son of a Congressional hearing, Frank.” Raj also leaned in, keeping his voice low. “They’re scared of something here and when the law is scared, that’s a bad spot to be in.”

“We’ll be all right,” Frank instructed his team. “We get to their headquarters and we talk this thing out.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Frank?” Elly teased. “I’m not complaining, but I’m surprised you’re putting up with all of this.”

“You’re not wrong.” Frank took a deep sigh. Images of Heron lying in his bed, of Major Lopez flying out of the hangar bay doors into space, of so many others they had already lost flashed past his thoughts. “More blood may have to be spilled when we catch Jarl. For now, if we can save a few lives, I feel like we should.”

“You have my vote.” Raj nodded, sinking back into his seat.

Sava eyed Frank with her yellow and slit-pupiled eye.

“What?” Frank asked, shaking his head. “I don’t have any more eggs.”

Sava bared her pointed teeth at Frank.

“Why are you snarling at me?” Frank shied away.

“I was smiling.” Sava immediately erased the look on her lips and went back to her normal stoic glare.

A few city blocks later, hovering vehicles of varying shapes and colors pulled to the side to allow the convoy to pass. Between the lights and the pulse that vibrated Frank from the inside out, the message to Alf civilians was clear.

Massive buildings rose up, adding a darkness to the city streets that made Frank feel like he was in a canyon more than traversing a city. Fading city lights offered neon glows to the dark corners of the vibrant city superstructures. When their driver turned the final block, two things grabbed Frank’s attention at once.

First, the protectorate headquarters looked like someone had air dropped a fortress in the middle of the city. Tall cement walls rose at least four stories into the air. The tops and edges of the walls were lined with a neon blue and emitted a light blue glow that Frank suspected was a force field but was not quite sure.

Alf protectorates roamed the walls, carrying heavy blasters and wearing their own body armor. Unlike everything else in the city, the building lacked color and instead had been painted a dark greyscale.

The second thing that held Frank’s gaze was the mob outside the protectorate’s headquarters. Hundreds of people lined the streets. The sidewalks were packed with compact vehicles sporting numbers or symbols on the side of their doors. Alf dressed in business wear and other more seemingly casual options crawled out and over each other like paparazzi.

“What the hag is going on here?” Atla barked into her comm unit. “I want a secure path cleared to the courtyard now.”

The blacked out utility vehicle at the head of their caravan came to a slow halt. Alf protectorates jumped from their hovering vehicles, beginning to clear a path through the oncoming horde of locals.

“Hey, look they’re here!” someone shouted in the throng.

Like a mass of zombies, the horde descended on them. There were dozens of Alf holding small semi-circular orbs he guessed were cameras at the end of what resembled selfie sticks. Others had sleek glasses with only one lens with tiny cameras affixed and used hand gestures to point and detail what was taking place.

Another group mixed in with the reporters appeared to be nothing but onlookers who were there to gawk and see what was going to happen. Still more Alf citizens wore masks over the lower half of their faces. They carried signs Frank couldn’t read and shouted in anger.

It was impossible to hear the mob at once, but as they ran to his vehicle, Frank began to make out certain individuals.

“Tifta Tanth with Sidewinder News Media and Outlet,” a slender Alf with jewels at her throat shouted into her wireless lapel microphone. She ran up to the window where Atla sat. A heavyset Alf ran behind her carrying another black orb that captured stills of her interview. “We just want a statement. Are you harboring Arilion Knights and is it true these are the same Arilion Knights that refused us aid during the Chaos raid?”

“They should be held accountable!” Shouts from the mob reached the inside of the vehicle.

“I thought they were heroes!” Frank heard a man yell.

“Will somebody think of the children???” a woman wailed in between the madness.

Frank felt his own blood boil as the yelling grew in intensity.

Hold it together, hold it together, give them a chance, Frank told himself. Just give them a chance.

“I want this convoy moving now,” Atla shouted into her comm unit. “You move ahead and if they get in the way, then you arrest every single one of them.”

The protectorate at the wheel nodded, slowly easing forward.

Two giant gates leading into the courtyard around the headquarters slowly swung open. A squad of protectorates came out to assist in holding the mob in check.

CRACK!

A rock bounced off the window closest to Sava. The window’s material didn’t damage under the blow, though the sound made it seem as though it had been shattered.

Purple energy glowed in Sava’s hands as she formed a heavy blade.

Things are about to get crazy up in here, Frank thought to himself as images of Sava tearing the vehicle in half in her attempt to find whoever was hurling rocks at them touched his mind. Control the situation.

Luckily for Frank, he didn’t have to; Atla was already on top of things.

“All units, converge on the headquarters. We have a mob ready to break out into full riot mentality. I want arrests on anyone throwing projectiles,” Atla shouted, spurring the driver beside her on with an outstretched arm. “We’re coming into the courtyard hot. I want the doors closed right behind us.”

The vehicle picked up speed, double-timing its crawl as more Alf protectorates moved to escort the vehicle inside. Fists from the rioters pounding at the windows, doors, and rear were soon stilled and moved back as the vehicle rolled forward, finally arriving inside the courtyard.

With a loud clang, the giant doors to the courtyard swung shut behind them.

“Who tipped them off?” Atla asked into her comm unit. She twisted in her seat. “They were prepared and waiting for us. Do you know anything about this?”

Her eyes went wide as she took in the purple blade sitting on Sava’s lap.

“We don’t know for sure who’s doing this, but we have a pretty good guess,” Frank redirected Atla’s attention back to him. “Get us out of these handcuffs and let us help.”

12

“Comfy… I’m not sure if it’s the cement walls or the reinforced windows, but you really know how to make someone feel at home.” Frank looked around the small office where the rest of Marine Space Corps One piled in along with Atla. “We need to start working together. Jarl is playing us like a fiddle right now. He’s orchestrated all of this.”

“Yeah, did you see those news cameras? They were like selfie sticks. I don’t know; I just can’t get behind selfies,” Raj commented.

“Have you ever taken one?” Elly asked.

“Yeah, I did, but then I immediately felt kind of dumb,” he responded.

Frank turned and eyed Elly, hoping she would sense that this was not the time or the place. No such luck.

“But have you ever used like a selfie stick?” Elly continued.

“No, I have really long arms,” the doctor answered with a smile.

“Alright, enough.” Atla took a seat behind a metal desk. A holographic screen popped to life in front of her. She typed in a few commands before turning to Frank and the others.

“The fact that you’re standing without handcuffs in my office should tell you something.” Atla cracked the knuckles on either of her four-fingered hands. A tired look came over her then, as if for a moment a mask had slipped. Just as fast as Frank saw her weariness, she hid it once more. “There’s a lot going on right here, more than meets the eye. Thanks for bearing with me. My force is divided and there are as many feelings about you as an adolescent female feeling for a male.”

“You really work in here?” Frank looked around the plain office he had thought was an interrogation room at first. “This is depressing. You need to add some color or something.”

“Frank.” Sava reeled him back in. She crossed her arms and looked down at Atla. “Continue.”

“You have to understand.” Atla frowned, searching for the words. “It isn’t that you’re from another planet. We get visitors from other planets often enough, maybe not humans or Draconians, per se, but often enough that it’s not unheard of. What we have never gotten are Arilion Knights. A force of Chaos soldiers attacked our city when the Chaos Lord was trying to make a reemergence into our galaxy. Our city protectorate met them on the field of battle and we won at a cost that has been too much for this city to bear. The Alf you search for, Jarl Balder, was our highest trained city protectorate and a friend. He lost his family in that attack, and with them, his mind. He blames the Arilion Knights for not being here for us when we needed them the most. Others under my command feel the same way.”

“And how do you feel?” Frank held Atla’s gaze, searching her eyes for any sign of lying in her words. So far, there was none. “What do you think of the Arilion Knights?”

“I think you’re an army of two and an army of two can’t cover the entire universe.” Atla shrugged. “I lost a lot of good men in the attack and honest civilians, but we turned them back. The only ones I blame for the deaths of my people are the Chaos soldiers and the Lord of Chaos himself. We heard you—fed him to worms?”

“It’s a long story, but yes, yes we did,” Raj piped up, accepting responsibility for the action. “It was a team effort.”

“Back to Jarl,” Atla continued the conversation. “He took leave to get his mind right and mourn. He never came back. The Jarl Balder I knew died that day along with his family. He’s twisted now; anger has a hold on him like I’ve never seen, and believe you me, I’ve seen some pretty messed up stuff in my time with the city protectorate.”

“And the vambraces?” Sava asked.

“We followed the bodies Jarl left in his wake,” Atla said, shaking her head, remembering each life Jarl had taken in his blind rage. “He stole a substance from a precious metal shop and killed the owner. What he stole was called starbone. It’s a meteorite so rare the value of it is unknown. Trust me, I’ve looked into it. I thought he might have stolen the alloy for money. But no… Legend says starbone has the ability to hold and intensify emotion itself. Again, this is all old wives’ tales, but not so long ago. So were the stories of the Arilion Knights.”

“So Jarl gets the starbone and then what?” Frank asked out loud, trying to figure out what had been his nemesis’ next step. “He forges the material into vambraces, and all of a sudden, he has the same power as the Arilion Knights?”

“No, if it were that easy, there would be vambrace-wearing aliens all over the place,” Sava said as she tapped a black fingernail on her chin. “What about the symbol you recognized from the vambraces he wore? The same symbol etched into the mannequins we ran into as we traveled through the gateway.”

“What symbol?” Atla looked from Frank to Sava. “What did you find?”

“Do you have something I can write with?” Frank asked Atla.

“Here.” The Alf captain rotated the holographic monitor on her desk for Frank to be able to see. “You can draw whatever you want on the screen with your finger. The technology will hold it on the screen until I choose to erase it.”

Frank used the pointer finger on his right hand to trace the symbol he had seen. A J with another J above it and moved sideways. It almost looked like a calligraphy T except there was a space between the upper and lower portions.

Atla pivoted the screen again so she could see the symbol. She furrowed her brow and shook her head. “I don’t recognize it, but I’ll put my team on it right away. Between this symbol and the crime scene we uncovered, we have more to go on than ever before.”

“The sphere.” Sava asked about the key to opening the gateway. “The sphere has to be protected at all costs. If Jarl were to recapture it, he could move in between worlds as he pleased.”

“Why would he have left it for us to begin with?” Elly asked out loud. All eyes in the room, even Magnus’, looked to her. “I mean, he set it up for us there, knowing that’s where we would go. He practically gave it to us. He orchestrated this meeting.”

A silence filled the room. Frustration burned deep inside Frank. Ever since the beginning, they had been a step behind Jarl Balder. From when he ambushed Heron, to his battle with Frank, and now him setting up the trap for them on his home planet of Chesha.

“We should call in for back up on this one,” Sava finally broke the silence. “Yur’l is as much a part of this as anyone else. His presence here could tip the scales in our favor. He is working on mastering his constructs, but that is a task we will all practice as Arilion until the day we meet our maker.”

“Sava, get Yur’l and secure the sphere. Elly, report back to General Breaker; Raj, you’re with me. It’s time to start looking for Jarl.” Frank eyed his team. “He’s here in the city. He’s just playing with us, setting us up for something.”

“And what should I be doing, Major Wolffe?” Atla cleared her throat and stood from her desk. “You know, since this is my headquarters and you are a guest in my city and all.”

“Right. Sorry.” Frank kept his temper in check. More than anything, he wanted to get out and start searching the city, but he understood the sensitive situation they were in. “With your permission, Captain. And we would look to you on where to begin searching for him. We can coordinate with your team.”

“Who is this guy?” Raj whispered into Elly’s ear.

Atla slowly nodded. “Not everyone in the city or the protectorate thinks the Arilion Knights are villains in this story. A large portion of my protectorates would follow the Knights of ancient stories into a war itself. I’ll begin setting up a citywide search, though I’m afraid it will be in vain. Jarl knows this city as well as any of my men.”

“Maybe that’s why he chose this to be his theater of operations,” Frank said. “That’s what I would have done. We should start where this all began for him, at the site of the battle with the Chaos force and at his home where he lost his family.”

“Give me a few minutes to begin our own search,” Atla said, running a thin tongue over her top of her narrow mouth in thought. “It will put everyone at ease if they hear the news coming from me before they see you walking around without handcuffs.”

“Understood.” Frank moved aside as Atla crossed the room and left out of the only door in her office.

“So the rabbit hole goes further,” Elly said, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. “Does anyone else get the feeling we’re the deer in the middle of a hunter’s crosshairs?”

“If Jarl’s plan was to get us into a shootout with the city protectorate, he’s failed,” Raj speculated. “If that was his plan. Hey, is anyone else hungry? I feel like we’re skipping lunch time.”

“Let’s focus.” Sava uncrossed her muscular reptilian arms. “We need to find Jarl and put him down. Yur’l is an advantage and so too is our new alliance with the Alf.”

“We’re putting on a manhunt in a city we’ve never visited before with a search team we don’t know.” Frank shook his head, trying to find the silver lining. His stomach growled. “Maybe Raj is right, maybe we need to grab some food and think this over.”

Before Sava could protest, the door to Atla’s office swung open and the captain reentered. A worried frown lined her face. “You’re going to want to come out and see this.”

Frank exchanged confused looks with the rest of the group before obeying and following the captain out of her office. The city protectorate headquarters was one massive room leading to the front doors and smaller offices breaking off from the center room, forming a perimeter around the square room.

Square metal tables and folding chairs lined a larger wall, with protectorates working on holographic displays, booking offenders, and speaking via their comm units, which were placed inside their ears.

The room was full of more than two dozen protectorates as well as civilians who had come to the office for multiple reasons. A woman with a crying child, a wide-set man in the same steel cuffs, and a taller, lean man with paperwork were some of the locals keeping the place busy. Everyone was still, every throat silent as they stared at the monitors on the displays coming up from the desks. All the monitors were tuned to the same image, a black figure in front of a burnt orange background.

It was clear that the figure was Alf by the eerie orange that illuminated his antlers. His entire body was dark minus the orange glow that came from the vambraces he wore on his forearms.

“Most of you already know who I am,” the voice said. “For those of you who do not, my name is Jarl Balder and I am one of you. I battled and bled for my city until my family was murdered and I had nothing left to give. While we fought and died, those sworn to protect our universe did nothing. Sure, they will say they were fighting on other fronts, but what good does that do us? What good was that to our brothers and sisters, husbands and wives and…” There was a brief pause. “... and children that we buried?”

Then there was a long pause. The Alf in the room looked over to Frank and the rest of his team; some out of the corners of their eyes, others out right. Just like Atla had shared, the expressions were a mix of anger, respect, fear, and admiration.

“Well, I tell you this,” Jarl picked up his speech once more. “A Knight has not been chosen from our own ranks and I will not wait. I forged my own vambraces. I make my own destiny now. It starts with the purging of the Arilion Knights and a new order being built. One that equips every planet with a protector. I am your guardian now and I will be here when attacks threaten our people. Join me as we erase the second era of the Arilion Knights before it can begin anew. There are two of them in our city now. The city protectorate is holding them. I say true defenders of our city would not harbor these individuals. I say it’s up to us to end their so-called rule, now. Rise up, Alf! Rise up and help me dethrone these false prophets! Rise up and be the change we need. Rise up!”

As Jarl’s voice grew in intensity, so too did his actions. With his last words, he raised his right hand into a fist and formed a long orange blade radiating with his powersource.

The broadcast ended, changing each hologram screen back to the program, tracker, report, or memo the user had onscreen before the interruption.

Next, a massive blow struck the outside of the building, so intense the floor shook under Frank’s boots and rattled his teeth.

Here we go again, Frank had time to think to himself before the screaming started.

13

The lights flickered on and off inside the building. Shouts and screams came from the Alf protectorates and the civilians inside the room alike.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

The sounds of weapons fire Frank was all too familiar with echoed into the building from somewhere outside.

“I want a report now,” Atla demanded into her comm. “What’s happening out there?”

Frank looked over to Sava.

“We’ve stayed out of this fight for long enough,” Sava said, returning Frank’s stare. “It’s time to do what we came here to do.”

Frank called his purple armor around his body from his boots to his helmet, which sported a T-shaped visor. In his hands, he chose to bring up a long riot shield for the moment until he had a better reading on what they were up against.

“They were bringing in the sphere to put in the armory when it was activated in the middle of the courtyard,” Atla shouted over the incoming echoes of fire. “We have extremists following Jarl pouring out of the gate. I don’t know where they’re accessing it from.”

“Probably somewhere off planet,” Frank yelled back over the sounds of fighting coming from outside. He motioned to Elly and Raj behind him. “We’re going to go stop them. My people need their weapons back.”

Atla hesitated for the briefest of moments before nodding. She looked at Raj and Elly. “Come with me.”

“We’ll be out there to join you in a second,” Elly shouted, getting that crazy gleam in her eye. “Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” Frank pounded his chest and roared in return. He glanced over to Sava, who wore a force field around her. A sword in her right hand shone with a wicked purple light. It wasn’t her normal weapon, but she had been practicing with other constructs since she had seen the Neeve fight against the Chaos Lord’s soldiers.

Frank and Sava stalked through the main floor of the city protectorate shoulder to shoulder. Chesaian officers and locals scrambled to get out of their way. No one moved to offer a word of warning or to try to stop them. It seemed whether they were supported by those in attendance or not, everyone in the building was grateful to have them on their side.

In front of them, a set of wide double doors led outside to the courtyard and the fighting taking place beyond. Each door had a square window set in the upper half of the barrier.

Frank could only catch glimpses of the fight outside, but what he did see didn’t give him the warm and fuzzies inside. The sphere was projecting a gateway in the middle of a ripped utility vehicle. From the gateway, masked Alf were pouring through. They were armed to the teeth with laser-powered weapons.

The city protectorate on guard in the courtyard were doing their best to try to contain the enemies pouring out, but they were fighting a losing battle. More and more armed Alf poured through, some returning fire on the Alf protectorates in the courtyard while others ran to the courtyard gates and began opening them for another larger force outside.

“I’ll take care of the gates,” Frank told Sava as they ran for the doors. Instead of his square riot shield, he chose a baseball bat. Not just any baseball bat: a Louisville slugger. “You see how many lives you can save. We need as many protectorates on our side as possible.”

“Understood.” Sava transitioned her weapon back into a Draconian blaster. She had just enough time to perform the act before the two Arilion slammed into the doors and out into the mayhem beyond.

The inside of the courtyard was a simple gravel parking area thirty meters by thirty meters that also ran alongside the right and left of the main building. The outer wall was four stories tall with a catwalk that ran around the inside.

The protectorates wearing their dark armor took cover wherever they could: behind vehicles, around the catwalk railing, or simply on a knee returning fire. Blaster rounds filled the air and pinged off Frank’s constructed armor as soon as he showed his face.

The enemy Alf were dressed in their own battle armor with orange highlights and the same two J emblems Frank had seen on Jarl’s vambraces painted on their chests.

Frank raced to the courtyard gate but didn’t pass on opportunities to use his bat when they came.

CRACK!

Frank slammed his bat into the helmet of a terrorist to his right. The Alf crumpled in on himself like waving inflatable tube man with the air taken right out of him.

CRACK! CRACK!

Frank took another soldier at the knees who tried to swing at his head with the butt of his rifle. Another terrorist’s arm broke under Frank’s placement of his bat on his upper arm.

There were four masked assailants at the courtyard gates. They had already succeeded in unlocking the massive steel doors. Now the doors were beginning to swing open as others helped push from the outside.

Frank was among the four Alf on his side of the gate the next instant. He swung for the fences, connecting with heads, ribs, and knee caps. Every time he landed a blow, bones were cracked.

The power he channeled as an Arilion burned bright inside of him. Every time he saw the orange symbol the terrorists wore, he was reminded of who was really behind the attack. Jarl was brave enough to show up behind a screen but not brave enough to do the fighting and dying for himself.

In as many seconds, the four Alf on his side of the courtyard gate were dispatched. But the few seconds were enough for the invading forces on the opposite side to swing the doors open and rush inside.

Frank got a brief view of citizens and news crews running for cover beyond the incoming group of orange armored Alf. This group of twelve enemies was different and Frank understood what made them so with a single glance. Each one of them carried a much heavier weapon than the blaster their counterparts did on the inside of the gate.

Frank wasn’t exactly familiar with all the weapons they held, but he knew a rocket launcher when he saw one. At least two of the incoming Alf carried the large tubes on their shoulders.

“I’ve got to shut down the sphere; they keep coming through,” Sava screamed over the comms.

“Roger that!” Frank rolled to his right as one of his oncoming enemies took a knee and fired the tube-like weapon in his direction. A black laser beam scorched the air where he had been a moment before.

Frank wasn’t sure if the weapon could penetrate his purple constructed armor and he wasn’t going to take a chance. When he came up from his roll, he carried his trusty Reckoner T9. The gauss-powered electromagnetic handgun roared to life in his hand as he sent two rounds into the Alf who had fired on him.

BAM! BAM!

His aim was on target. One of the antlers on the Alf shattered at the base where it met his skull. Frank’s other round went through his bright blue left eye.

The new unit of Alf terrorists that had just entered the courtyard targeted Frank with their hefty unfamiliar weapons and opened fire.

A variety of rounds hit him, including another laser beam, a few explosive rounds that felt like a heavyweight boxer was taking body shots to him, and an electric net. The square net opened as it flew through the air, wrapping around him. It sizzled blue as the electric current ran over it and Frank’s body. It felt like being wrapped in an uncomfortable hug by a wide, rough carpet.

Fiery numbness spread around Frank as his arms were forced to his side. He sank to his knees under the onslaught of weapons fire.

Past the pain that raced down his hair to his toenails, Frank held on to his Will to continue on. More blaster fire buffeted him from side to side as the black laser beam hammered into his head, causing stars to explode past his vision. Unquelled, a flashback darted across his thoughts. He was a poor kid of twelve again, wearing clothes a size too small for him. Bullies forced him to his knees, jeering at him to get back up. Every time he tried, they shoved him back into the dirt.

Not yet! Frank screamed in his own mind. You’re not close to being done yet. Come on, I can take it! I can take it!

Frank tried rising to his feet, but the net had him wrapped tight from his boots to his helmet like a massive tortilla and he was the inside of a burrito.

Then the strangest thing happened. And that was saying a lot since there were antlered aliens running around trying to kill him with electric net guns. A flying fur ball streaked through the sky, attacking the Alf with the ebony laser cannon on his shoulder. Magnus tore at the Alf’s face with fangs and claws. The tiny fur ball was a force of nature as it growled and barked as if he were a creature three times his size.

With the arrival of Magnus came the rest of Marine Space Corps One. Atla also joined the fight in the courtyard, leading the rest of the city protectorates from the inside of the headquarters.

“Get some!” Elly screamed, giving into her blood lust as she and Raj fired their weapons into the terrorist ranks. The two made their way to Frank’s side. “Oohrah!”

“I’m never going to get used to how crazy she gets when we get into a fight,” Raj said, taking a knee next to Frank. He took a Ka-Bar from his boot and worked it through the nets, holding Frank in check. “You with me, brother?”

“I’m not out of this fight yet.” Frank wobbled on his feet, still feeling the effects of the electricity running through his body. “It’s time to get medieval up in here.”

Frank placed his hands together, using the opportunity to perform a move he’d been thinking of ever since he saw a crane take out a building on the Discovery Channel. His hands gripped a thick, ultraviolet chain that ended in a brilliant construct of a wrecking ball as large as his own body.

“What the French toast…?”

“Cover me,” Frank ordered before Elly could finish her thought. “I need to get some momentum going.”

“You son of a nutcracker, you’re crazy, but I like it!” Raj shouted as he sent another hail of rounds into the attacking Alf. “There’s the Frank we know and love!”

Frank didn’t use the rest of his energy to talk. He was already running forward. He passed the ball section of his giant wrecking ball, allowing the chain to trail behind him as he ran forward. The incoming weapons were still pounding at his body, but Magnus had taken out the last rocket and Elly and Raj had eliminated the two net gun wielders from the fight as well.

“Raaaa!” Frank used all of his forward momentum to lift the wrecking ball off the ground. One second the chain went taut, the next he was skidding over the ground as the massive ball lifted from the floor. It arced from right to left, lifting off the ground only a few feet. It broke the bodies of five of the Alf terrorists wearing Jarl’s mysterious orange symbol.

Frank grunted as he continued the circular movement over his head, ready to bring the ball around for another pass. The few remaining Alf carrying the heavy weapons in front of him broke in the face of the Arilion Knight. Panicking, they tried to retreat back through the courtyard doors. They met Elly’s and Raj’s weapons instead.

Frank relaxed his hold on his construct, allowing it to dissipate. His lungs burned from the exertion. For the time, it seemed everything would be all right.

“Frank!” Sava yelled as she made her way to the gateway, firing her weapon inside the projected arch. “There are still more coming. Shut it down!”

14

“On it!” Frank yelled back. As much as he’d kill for a cherry Pepsi at the moment and his favorite Netflix show, he had a job to do.

The courtyard was littered with bodies, both of the terrorist unit and that of city protectorates. Frank sprinted to the orb as weapons fire peppered the ground all around him.

His violet-constructed armor held under the onslaught as rounds bounced off the defenses that were powered by his Will. The sphere hovered above the ground in front of him. The light humming sound the sphere made was masked under the constant sound of weapons being discharged in the battle taking place in every corner of the courtyard.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Alright, you know how to do this, you know how to do this, Frank repeated to himself as he studied the golden sphere that created the gateway. The truth was he had no idea how to turn on or off the sphere. He had always run into the gateway never having actually been the one to create it. Come on; you can create wrecking balls with your Will and imagination; you can turn off a glowing basketball.

In front of Frank, the seven rotating bands that made up the sphere were locked on to a specific coordinate. The symbols shone as if they were on fire. Frank reached out to try to turn one of the seven dials to a different emblem, hoping that would break the specific coordinates that were locked on. The dial turned with a click, but the gateway in front of Frank was still as alive as ever.

“What are you doing over there?” Sava howled as she grabbed an incoming Alf terrorist by the throat at the same time kicking out with her right foot to strike another in the center of his chest as he came through the mist.

“Give me a second,” Frank yelled back, turning dials like a maniac. After a moment of frustration, he constructed a sledgehammer in his arms. He lifted it over his head, poised to strike. “Oh, screw it.”

“Frank, don’t you dare!” Elly shouted over her comms. She ran up beside him a moment later. She pulled apart the top and bottom of the sphere. The two bowl-shaped parts opened, and at once, the gateway disappeared. She looked up at Frank with the eyes of a reproachful parent. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see you about to sledgehammer a priceless ancient alien relic capable of intergalactic travel.”

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds bad.” Frank grinned, allowing his sledgehammer to deconstruct and disappear.

All around the courtyard, the terrorist faction was surrendering. It seemed as soon as they saw their hope of both reinforcements and escape vanish, their fighting spirit went with it.

As the sounds of weapons being discharged died, the cries of the wounded filled the air. It was an eerie sound Frank had heard before. One minute explosions and rounds filled the air, shattering all sense of peace. Next moans and screams of the dead and dying filled the void. Not quite as eardrum-shattering, though just as unsettling.

“Raj,” Frank said into his comms, already looking for the medic.

“I’m on it,” Raj responded. “I’ll do everything I can, but we can use some support and extra supplies.”

Frank examined the courtyard once more and understood exactly what his friend meant. There were more than a dozen bodies lying still with twice that many wounded or still in shock from the events that had just taken place.

“Copy that.” Frank scanned the courtyard again and found Atla kneeling next to one of her own injured men, trying to stanch the flow of blood to a wound on his sternum that bled like water from a leaking pipe. “I’m on it.”

Frank jogged over to the captain of the Alf protectorates. He knelt on the gravel ground next to her.

“Get pressure on this and call into the other field offices and request all the medical support available in the city,” Atla ordered one of the young Alf protectorates who stood in front of her, stunned. It was the same one who had hesitated in lowering his weapon from Frank. “Listen to me! Go!”

“Yes, yes, ma’am.” The young Alf stumbled backwards, then ran to obey.

Atla tore off the brown trench coat she wore, using the cloth to stanch the flow of blood on the wounded Alf she was working on. Her hands were already covered in his thick, lime-green blood.

“Stay with me, Tarnu,” she spoke gently to the Alf. “We’re going to get you home to your wife and those babies. You fight right now. This is the most important battle of our life. You fight for them, do you understand me? That’s not a request, protectorate, fight!”

The tenderness while at the same time the ferocity in which Atla spoke was one Frank had never heard before.

“We can help,” Frank said gently. “Let me open a gateway to my planet and we’ll send medical supplies and aid. Trust me and let us help.”

“Do it,” Atla said with the same mix of fervor in her voice.

Frank jumped to his feet and nodded over to Elly as he spoke the command into his comms. “We’re a go; create the portal and contact the Den.”

“Roger that,” Elly said, already turning the dials on the sphere to the combination that would project a gateway to Earth. “Stand back, gateway coming online in three, two…”

The golden sphere hummed to life again, hovering in front of Elly. A light shot from the sphere creating a golden archway that misted with multi-colored light.

“Gateway is up and comm link open,” Elly reported.

“Den, this is Marine Space Corps One, come in,” Frank said, pausing for a response on the other end of the line.

“Marine Space Corps One, this is the Den,” an operator answered. “We’re reading you loud and clear.”

“Frank—Major Wolffe for General Breaker,” Frank said, reminding himself of his new rank. “It’s urgent.”

“Copy that, requesting the general now,” the operator answered.

Frank understood they were only seconds that ticked by as he waited to hear the general’s familiar voice, but each tick of the clock seemed to be the difference between life and death for the beings now scattered about the compound.

Elly had abandoned her stance at the sphere to help Raj as he cared for the wounded Alf. Even Sava, the brutal Draconian warrior, sat with an Alf protectorate, wrapping a sling around his left arm.

Anger once again burned in Frank’s heart.

All of this for what? Frank thought to himself as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. So much pain and death for the delusions of a soldier fighting the wrong battle.

“Frank, this is General Breaker.” The general’s familiar hard-edged voice came through the comms while Frank was just about to move to assist the wounded. “How come you haven’t reported in? We lost comms with you a few hours ago. I was going to assemble Marine Space Corps Two to go and find you.”

“We made contact with the Alf and were attacked by Jarl and the forces he managed to assemble.” Frank saved the gritty details for later. He was sure a blow by blow would be required, except the wounded needed help post haste. “We are whole, but the Alf allies we were fighting side by side with have suffered injuries. I’m requesting medical support and a squad of Marines probably wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Understood. We’re mobilizing now,” General Breaker answered back. “Is Jarl there on the planet?”

“Everything points to that as an affirmative, sir,” Frank answered. As if it were an afterthought, he added, “Perhaps bringing Yur’l as backup now wouldn’t be a bad idea. I know he’s far from trained. Still, we could use any edge we can get at this point.”

“Copy that. I’ll have him mobilized as well,” General Breaker answered. “If you require additional support, let me know. We need to catch this guy, Frank. He’s attacked our allies. If we don’t deal with this decisively, we’ll leave ourselves open to God knows what kinds of other attacks. We have an entire universe of danger to think about now.”

“Yes, sir,” Frank said, forced to remember Heron again and how close Vega had been to the attack. “We’ll get him.”

“Good,” General Breaker said. “I’ll have reinforcements to you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” Frank answered, hearing the comm unit click.

The next few minutes Frank spent feeling useless. He followed Raj’s direction to a T, but he had no idea what he was doing, trying to stem the flow of blood from the body of an alien.

He wrapped tourniquets to quell the bleeding. He held the hands of Alf just as hard as they squeezed his own in pain, their crazy light blue eyes tearing in pain and fear looking to him for answers. He had none for them.

For what? Frank thought again.

It wasn’t until Frank was kneeling over a heavy-set Alf in the right-hand corner of the courtyard that he truly understood his position on the planet of Chesha. The Alf was large with a cheerful round face, perhaps tall-tale of how much he enjoyed the taste of food. His helmet was removed, a wound on his right thigh hidden by his gloved hands as he tried to stop his own bleeding.

Frank skidded to a halt beside him, trying to assess the severity of the wound despite it being hidden by the hefty Alf.

“Let me see what you have going on here, partner.” Frank held the same healing tool Raj had used on him the previous day in the Neeve forest. Although he had never used one himself, he understood the idea. It was going to hurt like hell, yet it would close a wound and stop any bleeding or sign of infection.

The Alf didn’t move his hands. His blue eyes full of angst told something else. He heaved a sigh, shaking his antler-horned head from side to side. “It was easier to believe you didn’t care about us.”

“What are you talking about?” Frank sat back on his haunches, trying to figure out what the Alf was getting at. He raised two fingers in front of the Alf’s face. “How many fingers am I holding up? Anything lower than twenty is fine.”

“I have my wits about me.” The Alf winced in agony. “I was almost convinced by Jarl Balder that the Arilion Knights abandoned our city. It’s easy to point fingers instead of taking responsibility for yourself. I could almost hate you when you showed up. But now, after what you’ve done here. After what you’re doing, well, you’re making it hard on me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly known for my easy going nature.” Frank gently lifted the Alf’s hands off the wound he was holding closed on his leg. “Let’s get you patched up, brother.”

The wound on the Alf’s leg was twice as wide as he had estimated. A sizable chunk of meat had been taken out of the inner thigh. A pool of lime-green blood soaked his pants, gloves that had been holding it shut, and the gravel rocks below.

“Your face isn’t exactly reassuring.” The Alf protectorate laughed, a deep barking thing. The act abruptly stopped as a new wave of pain crossed his red face. The hue that covered his colorful face paled as he dealt with the pain. “Is this the part where you tell me it’s not going to hurt at all and reassure me everything is going to be all right?”

“I’m not that kind of girl.” Frank removed the Ka-Bar he always wore at his side and offered the blade handle first to the Alf. “It helps if you bite down on something. Trust me, I’ve been there plenty of times myself.”

The Alf swallowed hard before accepting the blade and bit down on the dark handle of the knife.

“Stay with me; this is the first time I’ve done this.” Frank leaned in with the tool. “And that’s not a joke.”

“Whath dith you say?” The Alf tried speaking around the blade. His eyes were alert at once.

15

Frank stood up, examining his handiwork. It didn’t look half bad. There was a deep scar that now stood in the place of where the wound had been minutes before. It was an angry scarlet red, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

The Alf had spit out the knife. Exhaustion etched into his face. He looked at Frank with a death threat mixed with a sigh of thankfulness. “You’re all right, Arilion. If I’m honest with myself, you’re all right.”

“Are we having an interspecies bonding moment?”

Before the Alf could answer, more shouts and voices filled the air around the courtyard. A unit of Marine corpsmen appeared through the gateway, already taking their cues from the wounded around the area and getting to work.

Yur’l strode from the gateway next, his white and greying feathers smoothed around his body, the calm and seasoned coloration a contrast to the bold, energetic black and purple Arilion uniform. Only he and Sava donned the purple and black.

He caught Frank’s eye and trotted over to Frank.

“What can I do to help?” Yur’l looked around, ready to jump into action. “I don’t have experience stitching wounds or applying bandages, but I’ll do whatever I can. I’m a quick learner.”

“I know you will.” Frank wiped sweat from his own forehead. “But the wounded are being taken care of by the professionals now. It’s time for us to go hunting. Ready or not, Yur’l, it’s time.”

The elderly Gleason bobbed his bright orange beak up and down. “I understand. Whatever power lies in me, I’m willing to help.”

“You pair ready to go on the offensive?” Atla asked, sidling up to the two Arilion. “I’ve had enough of this. Jarl wants to attack us with his followers while he stays hidden in the shadows? I don’t think so. It’s time to hunt down this scumbag.”

The words she used, even the tone of voice coming from the captain, was different. She had never spoken about Jarl with much affection; still, this was straight contempt. Frank liked it. It was exactly how he felt at the moment.

“He’s here in the city. I can feel it,” Sava said, joining the trio. “The same way I can tap into the Will, I can feel something uneasy about this city.”

“You mean the same way you sensed me?” Yur’l asked as he adjusted the vambraces on his forearms he was still getting used to. “You can also sense another?”

“The force is strong with this one,” Frank said as if he expected everyone to understand the reference. Three pairs of alien eyes turned to him for an explanation. “It’s from a movie—it’s—well, you see it’s kinda like—oh, never mind. Sava, can you sense where in the city Jarl is?”

The Draconian concentrated for a moment. She closed her eye not covered by the eye patch. She was still for a moment as if she had fallen asleep on her feet. From the short pair of horns that came from her head to her scaled skin and black taloned hands and feet, she was a reptilian statue.

“I cannot,” she finally answered, opening her eye. “I can only sense a dark force growing near us. The best idea would be to split up and search the city.”

“That’s exactly what he’ll want,” Frank said, shaking his head. “No, we get answers as to what this symbol is he put on the mannequins and on his followers’ armor. We start there and that will lead us to him. Atla, where do you find someone in your city who would have knowledge of what this Alf symbol is?”

Atla scrunched her brow deep in thought. She ran her narrow tongue over the inside of her mouth again. “We could go one of two ways: a professor of iconology and symbology or a back alley informant who might know who or what is dealing in symbols such as this.” She stopped and shook her head. “Scratch that. Jarl killed our informant who would have known about this.”

“Looks like we’re going back to school,” Frank said to the others. “Atla, if it’s alright with you, the sooner we go, the better.”

“Agreed.” Atla motioned a protectorate officer to her side and began giving him orders as to what to do in her absence. “I want the city locked down. The wounded are our first priority, but after that is the city. No one comes in or out of the headquarters. And I mean no one. Now is not the time for us to show leniency of any kind. We provide a solid front to the civilian population.”

“Understood, Captain.” The officer hesitated. “What do we do about the crowd outside and the reporters?”

The events of the conflict had been so loud Frank had completely forgotten about the hubbub outside of the headquarters. The mob that had gathered must have run at the sounds of a fight, but they would be back soon if they weren’t reassembling already. They would be brave now that the fighting was over, carrying their signs and pickets.

Chants demoralizing the Arilion would begin again soon despite the fact that Frank and Sava had just put their lives on the line to protect these same people.

Story of every world, I guess, Frank thought to himself. The few put themselves in danger for the many. In return, the many decide they get to judge the few.

Atla finished speaking with her subordinate, pointing over to the left side of the courtyard where a hulking ebony armored transport still stood. Out of the dozen or so vehicles inside the courtyard, half had been struck with the heavy duty weapons and were damaged to the extent they would not be able to be used.

The other half of the vehicles had managed to repel the blaster fire in the courtyard and get away with scorch marks or chips in the windows.

“Gather the people you want to take and I’ll meet you by that vehicle in five,” Atla said, jogging off to give more orders in her absence.

“What’s the plan?” Elly asked, joining the three Arilion Knights. Magnus trotted by her side. The Momo didn’t look the worse for wear.

Raj joined the group a moment later, extending his hand to regain the tool Frank had used to mend the Alf’s wounds.

“I think you should stay here and help,” Frank said to Raj. “As much as I want you with me, you can do more good right now, right here.”

“I get that,” Raj said, looking around the courtyard that now more so resembled a triage station than a staging ground. “I’ll be on the comms if you need me. Watch your backs out there. I have a bad feeling about what Jarl has planned for us next. And I won’t be there to patch you up, so Frank, no cray cray moves. Did I use that right, Elly?”

“Sure did, doc!” She patted him on the back.

“I think we all do,” Frank agreed with his friend. “You too. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Keep the sphere open and connected with the Den so there are no more surprises. Jarl would be an idiot to attack us here now with the extra help General Breaker sent.”

The Momo barked and turned in a circle, eyeing Frank with a raised brow.

Elly sucked in her breath, surprised. “Magnus, why would you say something like that? That’s way over the top, young man.”

Magnus barked again, looking at Frank.

“Do I want to know?” Frank asked.

“He says, and I’m going to edit this. He said you’re welcome for having your back out there. He could have taken a round in one of his wings,” Elly translated for Magnus. “Sorry, I think he’s still a little feral. Instinct kicking in and all that.”

“No, he’s right,” Frank said, crouching down and opening his arms for Magnus to approach. “Come over here, you weird little wolf puppy, winged creature thing.”

Magnus trotted over, allowing Frank to ruffle his ears.

“Thanks for having my back out there, little brother,” Frank said half teasing, half serious. “Looking forward to returning the favor.”

“With Jarl as unpredictable as ever, perhaps it would be better if Magnus and I followed from above,” Sava suggested. “We can have eyes in the sky and follow far enough overhead that we are not noticed by the civilians on the ground.”

Frank stood up, nodding along with Sava’s words. “It can’t be bad. We get to the professor Atla is talking about. We figure out what this symbol is that Jarl is putting everywhere and we find him.”

“Copy that,” Elly said. She looked over to Magnus, who had lifted his rear right leg up and began to urinate on Yur’l’s leg. “Magnus, no! What did we talk about? People aren’t to be peed on.”

“Oh my.” Yur’l moved to the side, shaking off his wet limb. “I thought the sun was warming my leg.”

“Alright.” Atla rejoined the group. She had on a new tan coat that traveled to her boots. A navy armor vest covered her torso. Along with the handgun that hung on her right hip, she carried a long blaster with three barrels. “If we’re done peeing on each other out here, we’re ready to go.”

As discussed previously, Sava and Magnus took to the air above while Frank, Atla, Yur’l, and Elly rode in the hovering personnel rig. When they exited the courtyard, the reporters and civilians who had amassed outside the protectorate headquarters were still working up their nerve to return after the battle.

A handful of the bravest or stupidest protesters and reporters ran after their vehicle, shouting things that Frank understood they meant as hate but just sounded funny in his ears. There was clearly a breakdown in his translation unit when trying to figure out the Alf method of cursing.

“We don’t want your Arilion kind here, you high heel runners!” one of the Alf screamed.

“Go back where you came from, dead butts!” another voice echoed.

Atla took them deep into the city where a normal flow of traffic had not taken up yet. The suns were beginning to set now as Frank’s stomach rumbled. He sat in the front passenger seat next to Atla, looking out the window on the alien planet and the world that paralleled his own in so many ways.

For as many ways as their worlds were the same, they were different. Here on Chesha, the vehicles hovered instead of rode on wheels, the people were thinner, longer, and generally more lean compared to humans, and had antlers on their heads. Aside from the bright colors of their buildings, they built structures similar to Earth. Metal domiciles lined up to create city blocks with windows to see out into the city. Each structure provided plenty of space for working or living. Their city infrastructure was comparable as well with streets divided by lanes forming blocks. Parts of it seemed reminiscent of years past and other aspects possible future outcomes for Earth.

“Would anyone like a snack?” Yur’l asked from his seat behind Frank and next to Elly. “I assumed we’d need sustenance on the trip, so I took the liberty of grabbing a pack before we left.”

“You’re amazing,” Elly said to Yur’l. “I’m starving. I officially title you the team mom.”

“I don’t know what a team mom is, but since I’m a male, I don’t think I’d be able to fulfill this role adequately,” Yur’l said in all seriousness as he passed out protein bars and water. “Frank?”

“Yeah, thank you. I could eat a whole turkey right now,” Frank said, immediately regretting his choice of words. Mentioning consuming any kind of fowl in the presence of the beaked Gleason probably wasn’t the best idea.

“Why would you do that?” Yur’l asked, disgusted and wounded. “Turkeys are my cousins.”

The rugged multi-passenger vehicle quieted as Frank looked back to Yur’l. He worked his jaw without any words actually coming out.

“It’s a joke.” Yur’l winked at Frank as he tossed him a brown-wrapped protein bar and a bottle of water. “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I can’t be funny.”

16

The sun had disappeared behind the tall city buildings when Atla finally came to a halt in front of a stone structure that looked more like a museum from Rome than any kind of structure on an alien planet. At least, not this brightly hued planet. The building’s plain white color and columns in the front set it apart from the rest of the city like day from night.

A gravel path led up to the front of the building and plant beds of teal and aqua native greenery created mazes of geometric patterns along the wide landscape. Star-shaped yellow flowers popped up here and there while tiny translucent bulbs seemed to float like dandelions in a still breeze. They waved above the shrubbery attached by thin aqua vines.

Sudden movement to their peripheral right caught the team off guard. When Frank turned to face the figure outside the window, he was met by a procession of lightning bugs swirling in the dusk before diving back into the cover of the bush. He had to shake himself up and force himself to focus. It’s just some bugs, man.

“There’s a professor here by the name of Kal Laggis who has helped us with cases in the past,” Atla explained as she checked the area around her for any sign of danger before she exited the vehicle. “He’s an expert in linguistics and iconology, including ancient runes. He splits his time between the museum here and the university in the center of town.”

Frank listened to all of this as he too studied the quiet street in front and behind them. There were a few nonthreatening vehicles that passed in the growing darkness; just a woman and child talking to one another in one and an aged Alf holding the wheel with both fists, drawing forward to concentrate on the road. Two citizens walked down the sidewalk in a brisk pace away from them on the opposite side of the street.

“Sava,” Frank opened up the comm channel between the two Arilion, “from our vantage point, all looks clear.”

“Understood. Magnus and I have not been able to pick up anything from above either. However, the feeling of unease has not subsided in the least; on the contrary, it has only grown inside me,” Sava reported. “Look to your left and above the building you will be entering.”

Frank followed Sava’s directions, glancing across the street to where the museum building’s roof came to a point. Sava stood atop with her purple vambraces glowing in the night like two beacons of hope in time of turbulence.

“As much as I’d like to have you in there with me getting these answers,” Frank said, “I think it’s best we have eyes outside in case Jarl tries anything.”

“I concur,” Sava answered. In the dark, Frank could see her take to the sky again. “It would make sense that we have our most powerful asset outside to make first contact with Jarl if he tries anything again.”

“I think you mean second most powerful,” Frank corrected Sava. “But I knew what you meant. It’s all good.”

“No, I meant I am more powerful than you still,” Sava said without a hint of humor in her voice. “You can’t even fly yet.”

“Yeah, well, maybe if I had more time to train, I could get it down—”

“You float like a newborn bubble without the aid of the breeze,” Sava interrupted Frank. “It’s humiliating.”

Yur’l squawked laughter, instantly covering his beak with both his hands.

Frank turned to glare at him as he answered Sava back. “Alright, we can talk about which one of us had to be scooped out of space because they were floating around unconscious.”

“That was because I had destroyed an entire Chaos warship on my—”

“What’s that?” It was Frank’s turn to interrupt as he made the static sound with his mouth over the comms.

Atla turned to Elly with a questioning look. “Is it always like this?”

“Always.” Elly shrugged. “Actually, this is pretty tame. Usually, we’re talking like this while battling leviathans or someone’s getting knocked unconscious, usually Frank.”

“Come on, coast looks clear. Let’s get on with this,” Frank said. Ignoring Elly’s last comment, he reached for the handle on his door. “Keep your eyes open; Jarl’s a terrorist. He’s not above anything for his cause.”

“Roger that,” Elly answered.

Frank exited the vehicle, taking the lead as the foursome walked from their parked car, across the street, and up the long steps of the museum. The last visitors were just being ushered outside by a particularly short Alf with spectacles so thick they made his eyes look twice as large as they actually were.

The museum’s last occupants looked at Frank and Yur’l with dropped jaws. Their eyes went from their vambraces back up to their faces.

“Hello.” Yur’l waved.

The Alf hurried on as if Yur’l’s polite hello had been a spell cast on them and perhaps even the rest of their lineage.

“Captain.” The squat Alf inside the museum doors surveyed Atla and the rest of her band with awe. “Your office called ahead, but I—I didn’t know you’d be bringing the Arilion Knights with you.”

“I hope that’s not a problem, Professor Laggis,” Atla asked, standing in front of the small Alf. She towered over him by a full foot. “We need your help. We can be in and out. We don’t want to bring you unneeded grief from the reporters around the city.”

“Yes, of course, please, please come inside.” Laggis ushered them in.

Frank wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Kal Laggis didn’t appear menacing or untrusting; still, a sense of nervousness radiated from the professor he didn’t understand. It was enough to set him on edge.

Frank walked inside with the others as Professor Kal Laggis shut the doors behind them and locked them with a key fob from his right pants pocket.

The inside of the museum opened up in an extensive ground floor with exhibits lining the walls as well as displays in glass cases running the length of the center of the room. The pieces affixed to the walls appeared to be of an ancient armor and weapons sort. A military history of the Alf people displayed on the wall in the forms of long lances with axe-like ends to primitive pieces of metal and hide armor marked with their own runes. Yet none of them matched the symbol left by Jarl.

“The last of the museum visitors have left for the day,” the professor said, clearing his throat and offering head bows to Frank, Yur’l, and Elly. “I apologize for being rude. I wasn’t expecting to see you all here. I imagined only the captain would be coming. I am more than pleased to have you here, of course.”

“No reason to apologize,” Frank said, nodding in return. “Do you have somewhere we can talk?’

“Yes, yes, of course.” Laggis motioned them to follow him through the museum. “I have an office where we can discuss your concerns. There’s only a skeleton staff working the museum as we speak, a few guides wrapping up the day and security guards keeping watch. It seems as though present times don’t allow for much in terms of knowledge and the appreciation for those who have come before us. The next generation is more interested in the latest entertainment intellectual property that has come out to dull their inhibitions and rot their brains.”

“Oh yeah, we have reality TV on our planet too,” Elly chimed in with smile.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure,” Laggis said courteously as though he understood what TV was. It was more probably he was only being polite. “Just this way.”

Frank and the others followed Professor Laggis over charcoal polished floors that caused their footsteps to echo, and up another set of stairs and to the right of the museum where a hall led to a variety of closed doors made of thin steel and stained glass patterns. Placards with names on the front hung on each one. Kal stopped by the second door on the left with a plaque that would have been eye level for most but only touched the top of his slender antlers. The plaque read “Professor Kal Laggis.”

Kal led the way into the room, turning on the lights that showed the group a cluttered mess of books, maps, and charts. To their left, a mountain of books looked as though it was ready to avalanche at any moment. On their right, a chalkboard that took up the entire wall was marked with runes and strange markings. An ancient desk stood in front of them with old food containers.

The place made Frank’s nose wrinkle on its own. It smelt like a cross between a frat house minus the booze and a moldy library. There were no windows in the room nor any kind of second exit.

“Please take a seat,” the professor said, motioning around the room where no seating was to be found. “Tell me how I can help you.”

Frank shut the door behind him, choosing to stand, while Elly and Yur’l found makeshift seats on stacks of books.

“No doubt you’ve been following the news and understand that one of our city protectorates, Jarl Balder, has taken it upon himself to make his own vambraces and challenge not just the Arilion Knights but those who protect our city as well.” Atla took up the story. She walked over to the massive chalkboard and pointed a slender finger to a black piece of what looked like chalk. “May I?”

“Please.” Laggis nodded along. “I am aware of the events surrounding your arrival. I heard of the attack on the protectorate headquarters. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“We all are.” Atla selected the piece of writing material. With two strokes, she made the rune Jarl had left for them to find on the blue board. “This is the symbol Jarl had emblazoned on his vambraces; it’s the same one his force used when they attacked our headquarters. Do you know what it means?”

All eyes turned to Kal Laggis as the professor scratched his right finger on his antlers in thought. It looked strange in Frank’s eyes, but if this was how the professor thought best, who was he to stop him?

The short professor bit his lower lip deep in thought. “It’s not one I immediately recognize, but I have seen the symbol before somewhere. Let me look for a moment.”

The professor walked to the other side of his desk laden with empty wraps exuding the smell of cheap food. He shuffled through a few papers and then pulled books from the drawers, all the while muttering to himself.

“Where did you see that now? It’s not a word, rather a meaning. It would predate our own language.” Laggis rambled on to himself as though no one were in the room save himself. “If it is an idea rather than a letter. Who would have communicated in such a way and when?”

Frank looked over to Atla with a raised eyebrow.

Atla just shrugged.

“Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see.” Laggis produced a thick hardbound volume from somewhere in one of his desk drawers. He plopped it on his desk without care for anything underneath. The tome looked as though it could be hundreds of years old with weathered pages chipped at the edges. “We are on the hunt. Where are you?”

The professor turned pages like a madman as he searched for their mysterious rune. He turned the pages quickly, squinting through his large glasses in thought. Just when Frank was going to ask if they could help search in any way, Laggis’s manic turning of the pages came to a sudden halt.

A look of sheer terror came over the professor’s face. If it were possible, the color drained from his cheeks and his eyes drooped as the muscles slacked, leaving his crystal eyes wide behind his coke-bottle glasses. Frank had seen the expression on soldiers’ faces before, usually when they saw their first dead body. The blank numbness came next in most cases, or the vomiting, but for the professor, there was only an expression of utter horror.

The professor looked up from his page, shaking his head as if that were enough to tell the others in the room what he had discovered. His eyes were so big now it looked as though they would bulge out of his head.

A sick feeling of anticipation reached into Frank’s stomach and grabbed at him. The Marines had beat the idea of fear so far from his mind it was only something realized one moment and looked beyond next. With no clear enemy or objective in sight, it was difficult for Frank to move on. He hated sitting in fear almost as much as he hated bullies.

“What did you find?” Frank asked, moving forward and looking at Laggis’s unblinking eyes. “Professor, what did you find?”

Kal Laggis stood stunned, his lips moving, his jaw opening and closing with no words coming out.

Do something, Frank thought to himself. Do something now before fear spreads to the others.

“Listen to me, professor, professor,” Frank made his way to Laggis’s side, looking down on the text the short professor had opened. It was written in Alf language, so Frank had no idea what the inky lines of text meant, though he did see a picture that took up half the right side of the left page.

The picture of a demon stared back at him; the love child of a primordial creature of the past resembling Gollum from Lord of the Rings and an Alf. The creature was sickly and naked with slender antlers coming from his head. A wicked grin creased the monster’s mouth. Teeth like tiny triangles lined up in rows on the top and the bottom of the creature’s open maw. The look in its bulbous eyes was disturbingly familiar.

Frank had seen the same manic expression of anger laced with fear in Jarl’s eyes when they had fought in the forest of Atmos. A single symbol sat below the image of the creature. The same one Jarl had on his vambraces.

17

It was Frank’s turn to stare stunned at the image for a moment. He had no idea what the text meant; nonetheless, the fact that this creature was near the symbol was not great news.

Here we go again, Frank thought to himself. It can never be easy, can it?

“I was already kinda weirded out when the professor went all deer-in-headlights, but you’re really creeping me out right now, Frank,” Elly said, bringing Frank back to reality. “What is it? It’s clowns, isn’t it? I hate clowns.”

“No, no. Nothing like that.” Frank tore his eyes away from the image in front of him. He placed a hand on Laggis’ left shoulder and squeezed. “Professor, what is this?”

Professor Laggis still didn’t say anything at first. With more pressure coming from Frank’s grip, the professor finally winced, the pain bringing him back from his own dark thoughts of fear.

“I—it’s the ancient Alf god of fear.” Kal swallowed hard. Each word was difficult for him to push past his lips. He finally turned, looking back up at Frank through his massive spectacles. “Frank, I—I don’t know if you’re going to like what I have to say. I don’t even know if it’s all going to make sense.”

“Tell us everything you know and we’ll decide,” Atla said from her spot next to the pale turquoise chalkboard. “Spare no detail. We need to know it all. The more knowledge we’re equipped with, the better chance we have of finding Jarl and taking him down.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Laggis ran to the right side of the room, immediately lost in the mountain of books piled against the wall. He began digging through the tomes as he explained what he had uncovered thus far. “Like many cultures, Alf have our own stories of gods and legends who resided here on Chesha long before the introduction of us mortals. Even then, depending on the doctrine, some stories say the gods lived side by side with our Alf ancestors before disappearing from the history books and living on only in stories. Yet, even today, there are small groups of believers that worship the old gods.”

While the professor explained what he knew, the rest of Frank’s unit as well as Atla took the opportunity to glance down at the open book on his desk. To her credit, Atla looked no different. Elly and Yur’l swallowed hard while sick expressions crossed their faces.

“Each ancient god manifested a particular attribute,” Laggis finally freed himself from a section of the book pile and joined everyone around his desk again. He opened a new book and placed it next to the other. He turned the thick pages with care to an image of a diverse group of Alf all joined at a feast. Draped tunics, capes, and cloths covered the Alf, who varied greatly in shape and size from one to another. A slender, seductive Alf with clothes falling off her body lounged near a proud warrior fully armored, carrying a heavy broadsword. At the other end, a tall Alf spoke into the air above him with hands extended in soliloquy above a rounded-belly Alf being fed small fruit by two beauties. “These attributes ranged from anger, to hope, from love to courage.”

Frank’s eyes stopped at the corner of the picture where the same thin, grotesque Alf sat with its massive eyes staring at all the others as it tore into a chunk of meat.

“The legend says that Tal was the Alf god of fear.” Laggis pointed to the image of the creature once more. “The symbol about which you are inquiring belongs to him. It’s the ancient word for ‘fear,’ the attribute he is most known for.”

“Why would Jarl choose fear as his sigil?” Yur’l asked out loud as he began pacing back and forth in the small room. “Wouldn’t anger or vengeance or even hate have been his first choice?”

“Excuse me,” Atla said to the others, lifting a hand to her ear as her comm went off. “This is Atla, go ahead.”

“I think we may be asking the wrong question here,” Elly answered Yur’l as Atla spoke softly just outside the room’s door. “Maybe we shouldn’t be asking why he chose this symbol but rather how his vambraces were made in the first place.”

“My knowledge of the Arilion Knights is admittedly lacking, yet I know enough to tell you no other vambrace other than those the Arilion use have been formed before.” Laggis went back to his digging. “Others have tried throughout history and failed.”

“So how did Jarl succeed and how is he connected with the ancient Alf god of fear,” Frank questioned for all to hear. “The rabbit hole is only getting deeper.”

“I don’t know if this is going to provide more answers or questions, but I just got off the line with headquarters,” Atla said, walking back into the room. “The body that was found in the abandoned foundry, the one near the mannequins with the markings. She was a gypsy known to follow and worship the ways of Tal. I deal in fact, but if I had to speculate, maybe she was the one that aided Jarl in forming his vambraces?”

“What did you say was stolen the night Jarl went rogue?” Frank asked the captain. “Starbone?”

“That’s right,” Atla agreed. “It’s a substance valued by multiple galaxies for its rareness and durability.”

“Maybe this gypsy who served Tal was somehow able to reform the starbone and magic it all up into vambraces for Jarl,” Elly said as she pulled out her smart pad and began hitting keys and search functions. “The database Sava has given us access to should have something on this.”

“Here, here is another book I have that may be able to tell us something about the followers of Tal and their ability to transfer power.” Laggis emerged from his pile of books yet again. “I’ve never heard a story of what goes on in their ceremonies. Perhaps it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they can channel part of the dark art and manipulate solid objects such as this starbone that was stolen.”

“I’d call all of this talk about magic and ancient gods a joke, except I’ve had my own run-in with the Lord of Chaos, and well…” Frank took a minute to think about where he was willing to draw the crazy line. “I guess I’m ready to believe just about anything now. I’m standing next to a bird man after all. No offense, Yur’l.”

“No offense taken,” Yur’l said.

“Frank, come in,” Sava said over their comm line. “I have a figure approaching from the east in a hurry.”

Frank’s heart skipped a beat. Had they just walked into yet another trap?

“Just the one?” Frank asked, already moving to leave the room. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Sava answered. “You should be able to see it on Elly’s smart pad now. Her flying rat has it on his camera.”

Frank stopped himself from leaving the room and gathered around Elly with the others. A moment later, Elly’s smart pad showed a dark scene of the street where the museum was located. It was completely dark outside now. The stars and the city lights gave enough illumination to make out a single hunched figure in a long cloak and hood making its way to the museum.

The way the figure was doubled over, the fact that it shambled with a limp, made Frank remember the devious Tal.

No way, Frank thought to himself. This is too far for even you. No way this Alf god is on his way to meet you. You have to rein in that imagination of yours.

“I can intercept it before it reaches the museum,” Sava offered. Her voice sounded elevated, even excited at the idea of a fight coming her way. “Give me the word.”

“We’ll do it together,” Frank said, tearing his eyes from the screen in Elly’s hands. “If Jarl is behind this, we’ll take him down right now. He doesn’t know we have three Arilion on the planet.”

The group followed Frank with Yur’l, Elly, and Atla right behind him. Laggis followed a step behind, his shorter gate making him travel in the wake the warriors provided.

Atla and Elly brought out their weapons, checking safeties and ammunition. Yur’l rubbed his hands together, nervously cracking his old knuckles. The Gleason Arilion Knight was ready; still, it was clear he was anxious.

“Take my lead,” Frank told Yur’l as they reached the front doors. “If it’s trouble, let Sava and I take the focus from him. When you see an opening, you take it.”

“Copy that,” Yur’l said, using the lingo he was beginning to learn serving beside the Marines. “I’m not going to let you down.”

Laggis maneuvered between the men unlocking the door with a shaking hand.

“I know you won’t,” Frank said, to Yur’l, grabbing one of the front doors to the museum. “Here we go.”

Frank swung the door open, channeling power into each of his hands via the vambraces. Both hands glowed with a dark purple power that wafted around his fists like flames from a fire.

The night touched Frank with a chilly hand as he stepped out of the museum. He could hear the others follow him, even see them out of his peripheral vision. Right now, he had to rein in his focus on the lone figure in front of him.

At the bottom of the stone stairs leading up to the museum stood a shadowed figure not much larger than Professor Kal Laggis. Frank was almost positive that whoever was under the thick cloak and hood could not be Jarl. The person’s frame wasn’t right; too small and sunken in on itself.

The cloak was a dingy brown. The deep-set hood hid any and all facial features. Likewise, the cloak masked any hands or even feet.

For a moment, Frank stood quietly, staring at the thing in front of him.

Sava touched down from the museum’s rooftop and came to a landing behind the mysterious figure. She brought a heavy blaster to her hands and drew a bead on their visitor.

Something else touched Frank then, a coldness that had nothing to do with the chill of the night. It was more like a feeling of being weighed and measured. As if there were large eyes below the hood of the stranger that were not just taking him in but stripping him down to his soul to have a look inside.

“Who are you?” Frank asked, summoning his courage. “Take off your hood and show yourself. If you try anything, so help me God, I’ll blow you into the next life.”

Another quiet moment came where the only thing that could be heard was the city sounds of hovering crafts and the white noise of city life.

The figure finally moved. Gnarled hands came out of the cloak and drew back the hood. Frank had to remind himself not to show any kind of reaction as the creature’s horrible head came into view.

18

The creature before them matched the Alf god Tal except for its antlers and coloring. Where once antlers had come from its head, now only two sickly stumps remained. The Alf’s coloring also resembled its species with a rust-colored red covering its face and hands. Smatterings of gold and cyan were sprinkled across its face like freckles.

Bags hung from the creature’s eyes as well as enough wrinkles and creases around its face to speak volumes of its age. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but Frank guessed it was a female Alf.

The fear he felt, the level of unease that floated in the space between him and the creature shook Frank more than he anticipated.

“I am Tashla Tell,” the creature began in a voice resembling brittle paper being rattled by the wind. “It seems we share a common foe. You can tell the Draconian she can lower her weapon.”

How Tashla knew Sava was behind her, much less pointing a weapon in her direction was beyond Frank. All he could discern at the moment was the ancient Alf had no visible weapons. If she was going to pose a threat, it wouldn’t be from her strength or tactics.

“Tashla, if you’re being truthful, you have no reason to fear us,” Frank said, still pointing his arms in her direction. If she did try anything, he was ready to send a double beam of oh-no-you-didn’t straight into her aged sternum. “Why have you come?”

“My sister was found dead today. I understand the one responsible for this is the same Jarl Balder who once acted as a hero to this city,” the old Alf wheezed. She coughed into her hand with a deep hack that sounded more like dry branches ripping than anyone coughing. “I’ve come to tell you everything you need to know and all that you still don’t understand you will need to know as you hunt this man.”

For a brief moment, Frank allowed himself to breathe. There was no reason to doubt this woman. It seemed silly for two Arilion Knights, a pair of Marines, and an Alf captain to be pointing their weapons at her.

Frank finally allowed his own arms to fall by his side. For the first time, he looked over to see what weapon Yur’l had constructed. The newest addition to the Arilion Knights had little training yet was doing his best to hold and maintain a purple construct that looked like a fishing pole.

“Stand down,” Frank said to the others. He looked over at Yur’l. “We really need to get you some more time training.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” Yur’l said with a sigh as he allowed his impromptu weapon to dissipate. “My heart is willing; just the knowledge of my new title is weak.”

Frank looked back at the aged woman standing on the museum steps. Her appearance was enough to give anyone nightmares, but whether she was dangerous was yet to be seen.

“I’m going to give you fair warning, Tashla.” Frank motioned the Alf forward. “If you try anything, I mean anything, I’ll let the Draconian split your head open like whatever passes on your planet for a ripe melon.”

“I understand your position,” Tashla answered, ascending the steps slowly. “If you feel it best, the Draconian can keep her weapon on my back. What I have to say will not take long. I’ve only come to tell you the information you need to find this Jarl Balder and take revenge for my sister’s death, then I will take my leave.”

True to Tashla’s words, Sava followed the Alf up the stone steps of the museum with her massive Draconian blaster construct still in her hands. The unlikely group of aliens entered the main museum hall together.

Tashla moved like someone of her age with a grunt here or a pop of her hip there. The entire time, Sava kept her dead to right in the sights of her weapon. When the group was inside, Professor Laggis moved to close the doors.

Frank got a better look at Tashla under the filtered lights of the museum parlor. She leaned forward with a hitch in her step. While aged and decrepit, she was clean with a navy blouse underneath the cloak with tan slacks and shoes. A necklace hung around her neck, lost then reappearing in the folds of skin that fell from her frame. Perhaps the strangest thing was the removal of her antlers.

“My antlers were taken from me when I refused to follow the ways of Tal,” Tashla said as she noticed Frank eyeing her stumps. “The ancient ways are unforgiving.”

“I understand that Jarl’s victim was your sister, but how did you know where to find us?” Atla got straight to the point. “How did you know we would be here?”

“I didn’t at first,” Tashla admitted. “When I found out my sister was killed and about the attacks of Jarl Balder, I bet my money on the idea you would go searching for answers. The leading minds of such things would be here at the museum or perhaps the university. I decided to try here first. And here you are.”

There was something off about the woman’s explanation. Something Frank didn’t trust. It was all too simple, too perfectly packaged and rehearsed. If she were lying, there was no way to disprove her, not yet. One thing about liars, if she was one, sooner or later, she would contradict herself. Until then, Frank would have to give her the benefit of the doubt, providing just enough rope for her to hang herself.

“Tell us what you know, please.” Yur’l walked to the end of the room and arrived with a chair for the old woman. “Anything you know may be able to help us bring Jarl to justice before anyone else becomes a casualty.”

“Yes, tell us before my finger slips and I put a bullet in your head.” Sava grinned her awkward grin.

“Thank you, Gleason,” Tashla said, sitting in the chair Yur’l had brought. She ignored Sava’s words as she grunted, placing her rear end on the cushioned seat. Her eyes took a faraway look as she began her story. Perhaps it was the Alf version of cataracts in her old age. “My sister and I were close growing up. We loved to read stories about ancient knights and battles of gods and mortals. You could say our fascination bordered on the unhealthy as we grew up searching for those who could teach us more about the gods of old. It was fun and almost mysterious until it became dangerous.”

Tashla paused for a moment, licking her thin, dry mouth. Her eyes moved past everyone to the museum wall behind them as if she were telling them about the events she could actually see from her past.

“My sister and I fell in with a group that worshiped the god Tal. It was friendly at first. They welcomed us in like family. Like most cults do, they embraced us and wound their lives with our own until we were so deeply embedded with them it was impossible to get out.” Tashla coughed again, waving away Yur’l as he offered a bottle of water. “I’m nearly done, Gleason. I thank you for your polite nature. Your Order will need you in the coming days.”

“What happened next?” Atla asked not impolitely. “I mean, with you and your sister?”

“I saw what she couldn’t,” Tashla said as tears sprang to her eyes. “They began teaching her the dark side of Tal. How the god of fear can manipulate and give power to those while extracting a price that can never be paid in return. I begged her, I pleaded with her to come with me when I left, but she was too far gone.”

Tashla reached up and touched her right antler, which had been removed from her head. A stump no more than an inch or two at the most grew from the top of her head now.

“They disgraced me when I left,” Tashla continued her story. “Over the years, I lost contact with my sister. I resigned myself to the fact that she had been lost to the darkness of Tal and the fear that came with him. Until today when I was notified as her next of kin about what had happened.”

“This dark magic that your sister performed in Tal’s name,” Frank filled the silence in the museum. “Could it bind itself to another and somehow form vambraces like the ones we wear?”

“So many factors would need to be present. In good conscience, I can’t discount the idea; to say something is impossible would be a very bold statement of me indeed,” Tashla wiped her eyes from the tears of her past. “A substance strong enough would have to be found to bind the spell, a caster with the knowledge, and above all, a wielder with the fortitude to withstand the process.”

“He’s strong enough.” Frank massaged his jaw where he had been struck by Jarl in their conflict the day before. “I guess we have our answers.”

“So Jarl finds the starbone and a caster with the ability to meld vambraces for him that feed off of his fear,” Elly said, recapping what they all knew for her sake as well as the sake of everyone else. “But why did he choose fear over any other emotion? What does he fear?”

“Fear more than anger is a driving force; so much of anger is provided by fear,” Tashla answered, rising from her seat with a grimace. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

“He fears losing his family,” Yur’l said in such a quiet voice it was almost missed by the others. “He’s afraid he was to blame for their deaths. Deep down, he blames himself, not the Arilion Knights. It’s just easier for him to take out the fear that lives inside of him on us rather than any other.”

Tashla shambled over to Yur’l, placing a wrinkled hand on his shoulder. “Spoken by someone who has had to look the same demons in the face. Do not lose yourself, Gleason. There was nothing you or Jarl could have done for your families. You choose to bear your burden every day and move forward. Jarl has decided to ignore his and embrace hate.”

Yur’l blinked at the woman, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

How Tashla knew all of this was beyond Frank, but what he did know was where to start looking for Jarl. With all of the new information at their disposal, Frank believed Jarl would go back to his old home where his family had died. He would be there now waiting for them.

“If you’re not going to put a round in my head, I should probably be going now,” Tashla looked at Sava and then to Atla for permission. “May I?”

“I can’t think of any laws you’ve broken,” Atla answered. “Thank you for finding us and giving us what we need to find this monster.”

“Indeed,” Tashla said, moving toward the door of the museum. She placed a hand on the handle before stopping to turn and address the group one more time. She confirmed what Frank had already determined. “Fear eats at Jarl. It will be most natural for him to return to the spot where the battle took place or where his family passed. I would bet my antlers on that.”

With that, the Alf was gone.

Professor Laggis hurried over and closed the door behind her.

Sava finally allowed her constructed blaster to dissipate.

Frank rubbed at tired eyes as his stomach groaned again. No matter how weary he felt or how much his stomach insisted on playing a rendition of AC DC in his gut, he had to take the next step forward.

“We should set up eyes at both the location where the Chaos soldiers attacked and at his home where his family died.” Frank nodded along with his own words. “Jarl will either be there or show up soon. I agree with what our nighttime visitor said. I’ll take his home. Sava, you and Yur’l should post up at the sight where—”

“I see how bloodshot your eyes are.” Atla crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll send my best protectorates just to observe both locations. You and your team need to get some food and rest. If my men spot anything, they’ll notify me right away and we can mobilize.”

Frank was about to open his mouth to argue despite the fact that he knew Atla was right. She didn’t give him the opportunity.

“As much as I hate to say it, Arilion,” Atla interrupted him with an extended arm and a palm face up, “when we come in contact with Jarl again, you will be our best chance at bringing him in. We’ll need you rested, fed, and ready to go, not dead on your feet because you insisted on an all-night stakeout.”

Frank closed his mouth without saying a word. He understood there was wisdom in her words. When the next fight between Jarl and the Arilion came to pass, it would be their last, one way or another.

19

The headquarters of the city protectorate wasn’t exactly set up to house people for the night. A shared locker and shower room would have to do and cots set up in a few empty offices were the best Atla could manage.

Still, the hot water hitting Frank’s battered body in the shower pod felt like heaven on Earth, or in his case, heaven on the planet of Chesha. Frank lathered himself as steaming water struck his still bruised body courtesy of his first run in with Jarl.

The showers were shaped similar to egg pods and captured the water to recycle and heat for the next user. An adjoining locker area for the men comprised of dull green lockers was set up around metal benches. Frank had been provided with plain black cargo pants and a shirt with Chesaian letters across the front courtesy of the city protectorate. He was the only one in the shower until a noise made him look over. Raj approached in a towel, looking bone weary and ready to keel over.

“I’ve maintained eye contact the whole time,” Raj said, staring dead straight into Frank’s eyes. “I don’t have any desire to see your junk. Maintain eye contact, Frank, maintain eye contact with me.”

No matter how tired he felt, Raj could always make him laugh. Instead of staring Raj in the eyes any longer, he turned back to rubbing a bar of what he believed to be soap over his body that made him think of Vega and his date. Their first non-date was after his shower in Brytanna for their evening stroll, where he encountered Frank Junior, AKA Mariam.

You told her two days, Frank reminded himself. Two days is tomorrow. You better wrap this up soon or you’re going to have to call her explaining why you haven’t been able to track down the alien responsible for the terrorist attack on her palace.

Frank realized all his focus had been on finding Jarl Balder. He hadn’t put any thought to what he would do with Vega on their date. He had to step up his game: no generic Italian joint with crooners in the background and lasagna on the special menu would work. She was an empress; she had traveled through space and could fight like a champion with a broadsword. Maybe Dave and Busters…

“Elly gave me the low down about what you found,” Raj said, turning on a shower pod two units down. “Son of a wizard, Frank, are we really dealing with some kind of dark magic here?”

“There are only two people who could tell us for sure,” Frank said. Not finding anything resembling shampoo, he used the bar of soap on his short dark brown hair. It seemed fragrant enough and did the job on the sweat, dirt, and muck on his body. “One of them we found dead when we arrived here, the other we’re trying to hunt down. Something tells me even when we do find him, he’s not going to be willing to hand over the information.”

“Yeah, maybe some truth serum or a little waterboarding will get him to talk,” Raj said in a voice darker than Frank was used to hearing from his friend. “I guess we have to catch him first.”

“How are things here?” Frank asked, rinsing the last suds of soap from his hair. “Morale, the wounded, anything I should be aware of?”

“I think we were less welcomed than we thought when we first arrived,” Raj said. “Up until the attack, I think some of the protectorates were buying into Jarl’s propaganda. He was a hero to this city. He’s served alongside these officers for the better part of 15 years. After repelling the attack, I think we won a lot of heart and minds here. I mean how pissed are you going to be at us while we’re plugging wounds and offering aid.”

“Right,” Frank said, turning off his shower. Water from the four panels all around him faded then stopped. He walked to the other side of the showering area where the lockers were set up and began toweling dry. “What did they do with the sphere?”

“The game plan for now is to keep it connected to our own on Earth. As long as the gateway is connected to another, no other sphere can open it from another location. It’s a temporary solution while Elly and Sava work with Atla and her tech unit to construct a barrier or force field that will act as a defensive barrier next time the sphere here is opened.”

“Elly and Sava are working with her now?” Frank began dressing hurriedly. A wave of guilt was already washing over him as he realized he was showering and about to eat while others worked. “Where are they? I should be there.”

“Easy there, fearless leader,” Raj answered. “They were just going to provide the specs and Atla’s team is going to work on it through the night. She’s called in backup from the surrounding cities. This place is a fortress now.”

“Right,” Frank pulled on his boots. “Well, I’m off to make sure I’m not needed and grab some food. My stomach feels like an empty chamber. And maybe catch up with Yur’l. Is he going to, you know, shower?”

“He mentioned something about a ‘bird bath’ so I think we’re good.”

“Starting to wonder if showering near a bird man would be less awkward than near you,” Frank commented. He couldn’t even begin to wonder how Sava would react to Elly in the women’s space.

“Frank, look at me,” Raj said in a voice so commanding Frank’s initial reaction was to look up at his naked friend. He had to remind himself to avoid the act and look past him. “Frank, look into my eyes.”

“Nope, I think I’m good,” Frank said shaking his head. “You’re being super weird right now.”

“What?” Raj asked incredulously. “I’m just trying to share a moment with you and tell you to be careful. I’m not going to hug you or anything.”

“Yeah, well okay,” Frank waved over his shoulder. “You watch yourself out there too.”

Frank walked out of the locker room hearing the rumbling his stomach was making for the dozenth time that day. As much as he wanted to sit down, eat twice the calories necessary, and then pass out in a coma of cheese whiz and pickles he knew he needed to make sure his unit was taken care of first.

The protectorate headquarters wasn’t a massive building. It was single story structure and Frank could guess he had already seen most of it. The expansive room in the center where most of the protectorates worked made up the bulk of the facility. The smaller rooms that made up the perimeter were storage areas, offices, cells and showering rooms and lockers.

Frank walked out from the men’s locker room adjusting his vambraces. He caught Sava’s bulky reptilian frame on the opposite side of the chamber. She stood in a doorway offering direction to others Frank couldn’t see deeper in the room.

“Follow the instructions to a T and all will be well,” Sava was saying as Frank walked up. “This should really be in a better fortified place such as your capitol’s main building or an underground military bunker; however, I suppose this cement building will have to do.”

Frank stood behind Sava standing on his tiptoes to get a look into the room. Elly, Atla, and a team of Alf were clearing an area where the sphere was set up. The golden ball projected a gateway that reached to the room’s ceiling. If their ceiling were any shorter it would have been destroyed by the archway. The fog continued to roll in and out of the gateway though never making it out further than a few feet. The lights inside interspersed all the colors of the rainbow, reminding Frank of a slow motion rave.

All around the gateway, the Alf worked in setting up equipment and machines; Frank could only imagine their purposes or set up. When he worked with B.U.T.T.S., the techs would show him the configuration and lose Frank in the details mumbo jumbo. He would always ask for the bottom line and show him how to shoot so he could sell the bells and whistles only. The buyer could contact them for more details after he made the sale.

“Earth will stay connected with your sphere as long as possible,” Elly stifled a yawn. “I got the word from General Breaker they will only disconnect if they have to use the gateway for another purpose. You should be able to get your own steel barrier around the projected gateway tonight and a force field shield up in the next few days. That will stop any forces, Jarl, or any of your other enemies can send at you via the gateways.”

“Thank you.” Atla blinked her weary eyes. “I’ll have fresh teams work on it around the clock until it is complete. You all have done enough.”

Sava turned bumping into Frank. She sniffed the air hard. “You smell like a newly born Draconian babe.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Frank said, stepping back to let the other woman out. “Is everything in place? What else needs to be done?”

“We’re good here,” Elly said, removing her glasses and rubbing at the bags under her eyes. “I’m in for a shower and some chow and then I feel like I could sleep for a year. Right, Magnus? Magnus?”

She looked around to find the pup curled up asleep in a corner. His head was half covered by a box leaving his backside visible.

“Oh, I see how it is. So much for ride or die.” She shook her head and stifled another yawn.

“I’ve prepared rooms for you in my office and the adjoining offices.” Atla beckoned them forward. “It’s not much but I’ve also ordered food brought for you. The food compared to the accommodations will blow you away. You’re in store for a treat.”

Atla opened the door to the small office next to her room. Inside were a pair of cots pressed against either side of the room’s walls. Thin drab blankets were folded at the foot of each makeshift bed. Packages of food that sent aromas into the air making Frank’s mouth water sat atop the cots. He didn’t know which he wanted more: food or sleep. Maybe he could fall asleep while eating. He began to wonder if there was such a thing as sleep eating. He was too tired to maintain control of his wandering thoughts. Frank was punchy.

“There’s another room like this opposite my office with three more cots inside.” Atla motioned them to the other room. “I believe Yur’l is already fast asleep, something about being old and needing his downtime.”

“Frank and I will take this room,” Sava said quickly as though she had been waiting for a chance to jump into the conversation. “I have something to discuss with him.”

Frank looked at her tilting his head forward and looking up at her expecting a little insight to their conversation. She only stared blankly in return.

“I’ll notify all of you as soon as we get anything from the two teams I have stationed watching for Jarl,” Atla said, turning to Elly and saying something Frank couldn’t hear. The two woman continued down the hall.

“I’ve already showered so you’re clear to go next if you want,” Frank said, entering their room and taking the cot on the right. He had no idea what time it was; based on the hours that had passed and the dark of night, it was most likely in the early hours of the morning for him. “I’ll eat and wait up for you.”

“Draconians never bathe,” Sava said, plopping on her own cot. The piece of furniture gave a groan under her weight. Her heavy backside nearly touched the ground within the frame of the cot. She picked up the package of food sniffing it with a grimace. “I want to talk to you about Yur’l.”

“Really? Never? Come on, I’m sure I’ve seen you coming out of the ladies’ bathroom in the Den,” Frank was still trying to get over the fact that Sava had never seen a bath. “What about in space when we were coming back from defeating the Chaos Lord?”

“Never,” Sava said, looking at what looked like a piece of fruit she had freed from the package Atla had left for her. She took a bite shrugged and then popped the entire piece of fruit in her mouth. Juices dropped down her maw as she talked around it.

“Then why are there showers at the barrack in Brytanna? Draconians use them, don’t they?”

“Those are for the convenience of visitors. Our kind don’t sweat unlike some other fleshly beings.” She looked at him down her snout. “But enough of my bathing habits. We need to talk about Yur’l.”

Frank pulled his mind from how dirty Sava had to be and how she kept it hidden. Instead he dug into his own package with abandon, liberating what looked like a cross between a pita and a sandwich. It really didn’t matter what it looked like. Frank was prepared to eat anything moving or not.

“What about him?” Frank opened his mouth as wide as it would go and chomped down on the meal in front of him. The food tasted like thin sliced, spiced meat and sharp cheese. A leafy vegetable resembling lettuce gave it a nice crisp element. “He seems to be doing fine.”

“He needs more training.” Sava wiped her forearm over her mouth. “He’s not prepared for what we are about to ask of him. Don’t misunderstand me, I do believe he should be here; only, if he is called into action, he won’t stand a chance against Jarl. We must help him, Frank.”

20

There was something abnormal in Sava’s voice that made Frank pause mid-chew. Frank had fought side by side with the Draconian warrior against the Chaos Lord himself and had not seen this amount of concern in her hard reptilian eye.

“He’ll be fine,” Frank said, trying to reassure his friend and mentor. “Look at me; I didn’t have any formal training and I turned out great.”

“You survived,” Sava agreed, draining a plastic water container. “But Yur’l is not you, Frank. No formal military training, no killer instinct. He was a civilian when the vambraces chose him. I have no doubt his Will to go on is sound; however, there are different kinds of forces of Will. Events in his life have shaped him differently.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, your will has been forged over the years. You have picked yourself up physically and, yes, emotionally and mentally, but primarily physically.” Sava chewed with her mouth open.

“It’s true: I am a pretty physical being.” Frank winked at Sava. She did not give him the satisfaction of acknowledging him and only continued.

“Yur’l’s force of Will is one tempered in the flames of emotional and mental pain. After losing his wife and daughter, he has continued on when others would have given in to depression and perhaps even suicide. I’ve heard of such things before. He found the will to live on for himself – for something greater than himself.”

Frank had never thought about it like that. Growing up poor had equipped him to deal with things emotionally; always pushing forward was a mental game followed by physical. Yur’l’s story was different. The Gleason had endured what few on Earth had to go through: the loss of a spouse and their only child. Still, he had endured without bitterness and was still willing to help others.

“I guess I understand what you’re getting at,” Frank said, finishing his sandwich-type food and moving on to his own piece of fruit. It was shaped like a pear but tasted like a mango met a grape and had a mashup party. The juices that exploded in his mouth nearly tasted like a dessert more than a fruit. “If we aren’t woken up in the middle of the night to go hunt Jarl, I’ll take him out in the courtyard first thing in the morning. Maybe I can teach him a few things.”

“Yes,” Sava said, patting her reptilian stomach firmly. “That feels much better. Now I may pass into what Elly calls a food death.”

“I think you mean food coma,” Frank corrected her.

“Why would food make me slip into a coma?” Sava asked, perplexed.

“No, it’s—it’s not that—why would food cause—you’re missing the point, never mind, food death it is,” Frank agreed, reaching for his own water bottle. He remembered something that had come to him while they were at the museum. A question he had saved for a later time. “Sava, you said you could sense when I became an Arilion Knight. You did the same thing when Yur’l was chosen. Do you still sense Arilion being selected across the universe?”

Sava stood up, stretching. Her giant mouth cracked wide showing a row of short, sharp teeth on the top and bottom of her jaw.

“I do sense other Arilion both in this galaxy and others.” Sava remained thoughtful. “Faces and names are beyond my sight, but not their power. Jarl must be dealt with first, then we must go to them. Most will be confused, even a few frightened. Perhaps a message sent out to the universe via the technology the Draconians possess will be enough to reassure them. Perhaps we need to offer them a location to meet us. New Arilion Knights coming to us will be faster than us having to track them down individually as we did Yur’l.”

“Good idea. After Jarl is captured. We can’t pinpoint them for him or drop them in his lap to slaughter,” Frank said, removing his food wrappers, fruit core, and empty water bottle from his cot and spreading out the thin blanket that had been provided for them. A small, square pillow sat at the top of his cot for his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sava begin to remove her clothing. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

Sava looked at him with a shrug. “I am preparing for sleep. I always sleep in the nude.”

“How do I not know these things about you?” Frank jumped off his cot and ran to turn off the lights in the room. Frank quickly sought a new subject to talk about besides the huge reptilian female’s nudity. “Speaking of the need to train, you still have to show me how to fly.”

The only illumination now came from the faint violet glow of the vambraces coming off both Frank and Sava. It was barely enough to see by, however, Frank refused to look at Sava and instead lay on his cot on his left side, eyes inches from the wall.

“Our abilities, our speed, flight, strength, durability, stamina, and so on will not all be directly the same,” Sava said with another creak of her cot as she lay on her own bed. “Their levels would be as different as athletes who train together. Yes, these attributes will all be present and strong, but they will vary from one to another, depending on what we choose to train in, what we were already prepared with before we were chosen as Arilion and our natural abilities.”

“So I may never be able to truly fly?” Frank asked, thinking about his ability to float over the ground versus soar through the air. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“No.” Sava yawned, clacking her teeth together as she finished. “I’m saying it may be more difficult for you. We’re Arilion; we don’t believe in the word ‘never.’”

“Good point,” Frank said, staring hard at the wall. It was difficult for him to open up to anyone. Outside of his parents, he had Vega, who he knew he could talk with, and even that was a new experience. Raj and Elly were his friends but they didn’t know what it was like to be an Arilion Knight and the pressures that brought.

She’s not going to laugh at you, Frank told himself as he worked up his courage to address Sava. Besides Yur’l, she’s the only one who knows how it feels.

“Do you ever feel like—like everything that has happened in your life has been for a reason? Like, all the bad stuff, the trials you’ve endured, the blood you’ve spilt, and the tears you’ve shed have finally meant something?” Frank struggled with putting his feelings into words. Talking about feelings was the last thing he was comfortable with. “Like you can feel yourself changing into something better. I think I’m finally able to take a step back and look at my past and present in a single glance and realize there has been a plan for my life—I don’t know… Does any of this make sense? Uh—Sava?”

The loud snoring of the Draconian was enough for Frank to know his last words had fallen on deaf ears. He didn’t dare turn around to see if she was in fact sleeping either.

Don’t want to have that image burned into your memory, Frank coached himself. Maybe it’s better she didn’t hear. Maybe it’s better you carry this burden you’ve been dealt on your own.

Frank fell asleep that night worrying about his present situation in light of his past. As does so often, with his stress came dreams.

“You’re me, whether you want to admit that or not,” Jarl said, pacing back and forth in front of Frank. “You’re a turn away from being what I have become. Give you a wife and child you cared for and slaughter them and here you are.”

Frank looked at the scenery in his dream. He was staring at Jarl, who strode back and forth. Beyond the Alf a sheer cliff edge dropped off to crashing waves below. The sky was cold and overcast, providing a grey backdrop to the scene around them. Frank couldn’t move his feet or arms. A quick look down showed him a key part of the puzzle he had been missing. Vines snaked their way up his lower half and torso, pinning his legs and arms in place.

The burnt orange glow of the vambraces on Jarl’s forearms had created the vines snaking their way over the short teal grass and holding Frank in place. Frank’s own vambraces were gone. He struggled to free himself from the vines.

His arms burned, his lungs heaved for more air to fuel his effort. Frank shook from the exertion. It was pointless.

“You’re nothing with or without those vambraces.” Jarl approached him, still wearing his black body armor, the same worn by the city protectorates. “I beat you before and I’m going to do it again. But I told you, I’m going to do it after I take everything from the Arilion Knights and I’m going to do it in a very public format.”

“You talk so big.” Frank shook his head, saving his energy for another time. “But you’re nothing more than a terrorist. And as much as you’ll deny it, we both know it’s not anger that drives you, it’s fear.”

“You know nothing!” Jarl’s lips curled, showing his teeth. He closed the distance between himself and Frank, sneering into his face. “What do you know of loss and abandonment?”

Frank felt the orange constructed vines tighten around him. He grunted but wasn’t going to back down; it wouldn’t have been his style.

“I know you’re afraid that it was your fault your family died. I know you blame yourself for their deaths. I also know it’s not your fault.” Frank barely managed to get the last part out as the vines constricted around his entire body, cutting off his air supply.

“Shut your mouth!” Jarl screamed, grabbing Frank by the back of his neck and dragging him toward the edge of the cliff. “This is what I know. I know you will suffer more than your friends did and I will be the last thing you see in this life.”

Frank couldn’t say anything if he wanted to. All his effort was going into breathing. The vines wrapped around his torso so tightly he thought his ribs might crack or his chest would fold in.

The cold wind beat at his face. The salty spray on his lips was so real he could almost taste it. He was taken to the edge of the cliff and then tilted over as the orange vine constructs gave him a view below.

About a kilometer down was a rocky beach the angry waves crashed against. There, dashed below them, were the bodies of Frank’s friends. Flung below like so much confetti at a parade were Sava, Elly, Raj, Atla, General Breaker, Heron, and Vega. His head spun from loss of oxygen and vertigo. More bodies appeared on the rocky terrain; he could see his mother, father, and his eight-year-old self. With each cynical laugh, more figures appeared. There was no end to Jarl’s bloodlust.

A scream of rage tried to work its way up Frank’s throat, but it was choked down by the vine around his neck.

“This is your future.” Jarl squeezed the back of his neck. “This is what’s coming. Because you failed, Arilion. And now there is nothing you can ever do to bring them back.”

Frank woke from his nightmare without the cold sweat. The sheer panic of his dream made him forget all else except to remind himself that this was all a dream and that he was not going to let his friends or family die. This was no longer just about Frank seeing retribution; he had to stop this maniac because no matter how many lives he took, it would never be enough to quench the hole, the pain, he felt at losing his wife and son.

Frank looked to his left and immediately looked away with a shake of his head. Sava was in her birthday suit spread out face down on her cot.

“You’re never going to be able to unsee that,” Frank mumbled to himself, rubbing at his eyes. “You’re probably not going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon either.”

Instead of forcing himself back down, Frank laced his boots and left the room. The main square room outside was alive with protectorates working at their desks or speaking on their comm lines. Lines buzzed, figures appeared on the display screens, and officers exchanged information to and fro with a constant whispering like worker bees. Frank received a few head nods and even a smile. It seemed Raj’s assessment of the Alf was correct. They were allies now more so than ever before.

Frank made his way through the wide space to the courtyard outside. Through the windows, he could see the morning approaching. Something blurred past his vision. Immediately, Frank’s hands clenched into fists as he caught the movement again. Whoever was outside in the early morning hours of the day was fast.

21

Two long panels of glass set into double doors that led outside afforded Frank a view of the courtyard. Frank’s heart rate slowed its pounding, his tenseness subsided, and the adrenaline slowed as he caught a glimpse of Yur’l flashing by again. The Gleason’s purple vambraces glowed on his forearms as he ran back and forth across the courtyard, faster and faster each time.

The old man’s training. The thought brought a grin to Frank’s lips. Yur’l already understood what needed to be done for him to become stronger, and here he is, up before anyone and practicing his craft.

Frank opened the doors leading to the cool morning air outside. The temperature sent goosebumps up his arm and made him think twice about going back inside for a jacket.

The courtyard buzzed with activity for being so early. On the catwalks and by the gates, a double contingent of city protectorates stood sentry. It seemed Atla had no desire to have the blanket pulled over her eyes yet again.

The bodies from the battle the day before had been taken away, as had the vehicles that had not survived the fight. Burns, char marks, and what appeared to be blood stains did remain, however, as memories of what was taken from them by the terrorist Jarl Balder and those who followed him.

“I didn’t think you were going to be up this early,” Frank said, walking over to Yur’l, his boots crunching on the gravel ground beneath him. “I thought you got to sleep in once you retired.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Yur’l’s chest heaved as he came to a rest from his morning sprints beside Frank. He placed his arms over his head and laced his feathered fingers behind his head. “The thing they don’t tell you is that after you become used to getting up at a certain hour for work so many years of your life, it kind of sticks. I couldn’t sleep in if I wanted to.”

The Gleason wore black pants and boots just like Frank. His black shirt was torn at the sleeves to allow his feathers on his arms more room. The vambraces that covered his forearms from wrists to elbows glowed the same dark purple as Frank’s. The vambrace itself sported different runes from Frank’s and was fashioned in a different material and style.

When I have more time, I need to figure out what the runes on everyone’s vambraces mean and why they are different, Frank thought to himself. What they are made of too.

“Did you wake up early to get some training in as well?” Yur’l asked, stretching. “Or maybe you just couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Frank said, moving his own head from side to side to loosen his neck. “I thought I’d come out and check on you. I know we haven’t had a whole lot of time to talk since we found you on your planet. Seems like just yesterday we were in that alley. Things with Jarl kind of ruined the whole training and initiation party we were going to throw for you.”

“It’s quite all right. And it wasn’t yesterday; it was a couple days ago.” The corners of Yur’l’s beak twitched. “If you celebrated my arrival, I’m sure you’d only be that much more disappointed. I have a long way to go before I’m going to do anyone any good with these vambraces. Half the time, I’m still wondering if they made the right decision. I’m old even for my age, Frank. Maybe these vambraces were meant for someone else.”

“You’re not exactly a spring chicken,” Frank said, looking over at the Gleason with a smile. “But Sava told me the vambraces have never been wrong, ever. I thought they had pulled a big oops when it came to me, but now even I’m thinking they weren’t wrong. They’re not wrong for you either, Yur’l. The very fact that you’re up training while everyone else is asleep should tell you something.”

“Sava had me begin with exercises of speed, strength, and durability,” Yur’l said, interlacing his fingers and cracking them with loud pops of his old joints. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of those, it’s the constructs that have my head in a mess. I can see what I want to create in my mind and sometimes even bring them to my hands in physical form but holding them there, it’s just too much for me to handle.”

“Maybe you’re trying the wrong kinds of constructs.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Frank lifted his right hand, constructing weapons as fast as the seconds ticked by. First he brought a Glock 21 to his palms, next a M16A4, next the Punisher GS2000 gauss rifle his previous employer was known for, and next a Remington 870. He ended with his trusty Ka-Bar, which he then splashed through the air in a few standard exercises for emphasis. “I’m used to handling these kinds of weapons, so it takes little effort on my part to imagine and create them. If say I conjured a sword or a spear, it would be harder for me to do so because I’m not as familiar with using them.”

“I see what you’re saying,” Yur’l agreed, rubbing his finger across the bottom of his chin. “I’m afraid I don’t have any training nor am I familiar with any kind of weapons of my home world. I mean, sure, I know of them. I’ve seen them before, but I only ever shot a weapon once in my life and that was at a carnival.”

“What did you do?” Frank asked as politely as he could manage. “I mean, what did you do before you retired?”

“I was an accountant,” Yur’l said, blinking his dark eyes. “I sat in an office all day crunching numbers, compiling data, and creating spreadsheets.”

“I see.” It was Frank’s turn to rub the stubble on the bottom of his jaw. A thought popped into his mind so ridiculous it might actually work. “So let’s try this. You know what sticks look like, right? I mean, of course you do; everyone knows what a stick looks like. Let’s start there.”

Frank constructed two steel rods in his hands. Each baton reached just under a meter in length. He twirled them in his hands, remembering one of the first weapons he had ever trained with. The weapons could simulate pipes, wrenches, baseball bats, even knives if used appropriately. They were the best training tool to show someone unfamiliar with weapons or tactics.

Yur’l furrowed his brow, examining Frank’s rods and then bringing two to life in his own hands. He smiled with satisfaction.

“I’ll show you a few moves; however, the fastest way you’ll get the hang of this is practice,” Frank warned Yur’l. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

“I’m ready.” Yur’l rolled his shoulders, following Frank’s movements of the sticks as he began to practice his base techniques.

Frank was pleasantly surprised with Yur’l. The Gleason learned quickly, always listening in and correcting himself immediately when Frank called anything out. Even as the two sparred, what Yur’l lacked in raw strength, he made up in strategy.

Sava had already reviewed body position, balance, striking and blocking stances, and bodily awareness with the novice Knight. Frank focused their time on movements, bringing the baton across, up, and over his key attack points: head, neck, and torso. With violet lights streaking across leaving a trail of light like Fourth of July sparklers, they then explored arcs and full strength swings that would overwhelm an attacker with a barrage of linear and curved strikes.

The two Arilion Knights worked back and forth, Frank going at fifty percent to match Yur’l’s pace. When the rods struck one another with heavy impact, a spark erupted from the spot of contact, showering them both with dark purple flare showers.

The Alf protectorates manning the gate and the catwalks made no effort to hide the fact that they were watching with keen interest. A few times as bursts of sparks erupted from the sticks striking one another, gasps from the Alf onlookers echoed around them. It seemed to spur Yur’l on, so Frank didn’t hold back.

Time and time again, Frank put Yur’l on his back or rapped his knuckle holding the stick. Time and time again, Yur’l picked himself back off the ground or grimaced at the pain in his knuckles. Never did he complain or ask for the lesson to be stopped.

Over an hour after Frank had entered the courtyard, he called a stop. “You’re going to be all right, old man.”

Yur’l heaved, wiping at the feathers on his forehead. He allowed his sticks to deconstruct before making for a water bottle he had carried outside with him. Before he drank, he offered it to Frank.

“Age before beauty.” Frank shook his head, pushing the bottle back to Yur’l. The Gleason took a long draw before handing it off to Frank.

“Thank you for taking the time to teach me,” Yur’l said, looking Frank dead in the eye. “I mean, I think I should say thank you. You threw a senior citizen to the floor a dozen times and I can’t feel my hands.”

“You’re going to make a great Knight for Nova Prime, Yur’l.” Frank grinned after swallowing the cool water. “Keep practicing and Sava and I will help you as much as we can.”

“I do have one more question.” Yur’l furrowed his brow. “What if the conflict calls for a long-range weapon instead of something hand-to-hand?”

“You construct the biggest thing you feel comfortable with and throw it at them,” Frank said in all seriousness. “I mean, just until you feel comfortable constructing a rifle or something like that.”

Before Yur’l could say more, the door to the headquarters banged open. Atla rushed outside, still fixing her armor vest to her chest. Her face said it all. “We have a positive ID on Jarl Balder. He’s returned to the location where the Chaos soldiers first touched down, right outside the city.”

22

Adrenaline already began to force itself through Frank’s veins as he opened his comm line. “Elly, Raj, Sava, we have a positive ID on Jarl Balder just outside the city. It’s go time.”

“Understood,” Sava said.

“Mmm? Okay,” Elly mumbled.

“Just one more, just one more minute, Mom,” Raj’s sleepy voice came over the comms. “I just need one more minute.”

“I’ll get him,” Elly said.

“Ten minutes,” Frank yelled into the comms. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll have transportation ready to roll for us in five,” Atla said, already shouting orders to her protectorates around the courtyard.

Frank ran back inside the protectorate headquarters and to the armory where Marine Space Corps One had placed the extra weapons they had brought.

Frank strapped a Reckoner T9 to his right hip and grabbed a Punisher GS2000 that he carried extra clips for. Sure, he could summon either one of these weapons to his hands in a second, but Marines always prepared for the worst. Jarl had already removed Frank’s vambraces from him once. The nightmare he had had the night before where he found himself without vambraces once again was still too fresh in his mind. He wouldn’t be caught unarmed again. A Marine first, a Knight second.

Elly and Raj joined him in the armory gearing up alongside Frank a minute later. Raj was still trying to pull on his boots. Elly’s hair was a mess. Magnus trotted in a moment later, yawning and growling something as he did.

“Do we even want to know what the fur ball is saying?” Raj asked as he checked his weapon’s chamber. “More cursing?”

“He has a filthy mouth.” Elly shook her head with a sigh. “We really have to figure out how to fix that.”

“Right. About last night…” Raj started.

“No.” Elly stole a quick side-eye glance at Frank. “Not right now.” She dismissed Raj and walked toward the door.

“Do I even want to know?” Frank hazarded an inquiry to Raj.

“It was an accident. I mean, I was tired. It was dark. She had her hearing aids out to rest her ears or charge a battery, so she couldn’t hear me…”

“Buddy, don’t make me get HR in on this,” Frank said.

“Oh! Son of a judge, jury, and executioner, Frank! No. I accidentally started to crawl into her bed…when she was in it sleeping. I lay down and we were nose to nose for a moment. She even draped her arm around me until…” Raj recounted his harrowing tale.

“How are you still alive?” Frank teased.

“We both realized what was going on. I didn’t know if she was in my bed, if I was in hers. She kicked me and shouted so many crazy-pitched obscenities. At least I think that’s what they were. She wants to know where that Momo gets his potty mouth from–I’ll tell you exactly where he learns those words.” Raj shook his head, making eye contact only with the ground, and ran a hand through the top of his head.

“Well, I’m glad you made it out alive. After the Chaos Lord and Jarl Balder, I’d hate to lose you to one pissed off Elly Wong.” Frank slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps One were outside in the courtyard under ten minutes. True to her word, Atla had two black SUV-type vehicles waiting for them.

In one sat a tactical squad of vigilant, stoic Alf, all wearing black armor toe to long necks and helmets with screened visors. Atla referred to them as the “best she had.” The other vehicle was ready for Frank and the others.

The pair of blackout vehicles were allowed out of the gates and through the crowd that was just beginning to gather outside of the protectorate headquarters for another day of demonstration.

“Got to love ‘em.” Raj shook his head and stared at those with signs and megaphone-type tech outside of the windows. “They’ll show up to yell and spit in our face but won’t lift a finger to do anything about the actual problem.”

The inky convoy sped through the city with their yellow and green lights flashing off and on in the early morning hour. The vibration the vehicle sent out instead of the siren was just as alarming. The lanes on the city streets were beginning to clog with traffic, making their journey more difficult. The driver swerved around civilian vehicles that didn’t get out of his way in time.

“I’m going to link you into our comm channel so you know what’s going on in real time,” Atla said, turning around in her front passenger side seat. “Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate all of your help, but let’s make one thing clear. Jarl Balder is responsible for his crimes against the Alf people and the city protectorates first. When we bring him in, he stands trial to us first, and then if there’s anything left, you can do with him as you see fit.”

“As firm as you may be,” Sava said. leaning forward from her seat next to Frank, “the Arilion take precedence over any planet or even galaxy authority, for that matter. He attacked one of our own and is a wider threat than just your city or planet. If he survives long enough for us to bring him in, we will be taking him into our custody.”

For a moment, an immovable object met an unstoppable force. The Draconian Knight and the Alf captain glared at one another.

“Holy crap, I wish I had some popcorn right now,” Elly breathed from her seat between Raj and Yur’l.

“You know things are bad when I’m playing peacemaker,” Frank said, clearing his throat and sitting up straight in his seat. “Maybe there’s a way we can both get our way. Jarl Balder will pay for both his crimes against the city and the universe. Come on, ladies; we’re on the same side here. Are we really going to argue who gets to punish our bad guy first? And let’s not count our Gleason before they hatch; we have to actually capture Jarl first.”

Both women directed their attention at Yur’l.

Yur’l frowned, looking uncomfortably back at them. “What? We don’t really hatch from eggs. Frank’s just trying to lighten the mood.”

“As long as he pays for his crimes,” Atla said, turning back in her seat. “That’s what should be most important to all of us, that justice has the last word this day.”

“He’ll pay,” Sava agreed. “On my scales, he’ll pay.”

The rest of the conversation was cut short as chatter came over the comm channel. It was a gruff female voice reporting in from the area just outside the city where Jarl had been spotted.

“We have visual on the target,” the voice reported in. “He’s wearing a coat with a hood over his head, but there’s no mistaking the orange glow coming from his forearms. He seems to be just walking around and examining the sight.”

“Roger that,” Atla said. “We’re four minutes out. You are to hold and wait for our arrival.”

“Understood,” the female said.

“He’s alone out in the open?” Frank asked, feeling a cringe reach his mouth. “He knows better than this. There’s something wrong. We’re walking into another trap.”

“It’s not like he’s given us much of an option,” Atla responded, sitting straighter in her own seat. “When we get there, I’ll have my men form a perimeter. We can reassess the situation once we’re there.”

“This is Sergeant Moon for the captain.” A new male voice entered the comms. “Come in, Captain.”

“Go ahead,” Atla answered.

“Captain, I’m positioned at the target’s home and I have visual on the target. He’s wearing a long cloak and a hood, but I can see the orange glow from his vambraces coming from his forearms.”

Frank looked at Sava. The large Draconian lifted her lip in a toothy growl.

“Understood, there’s no way this could be someone masquerading as Jarl?” Atla asked into her comms. “I need a one hundred percent confirmation on this one, Sergeant Moon.”

“I understand, Captain,” Sergeant Moon’s voice sounded strained, as if he were leaning in further to get a better look. “Confirm glowing vambraces; it’s definitely an Alf, but the hood he’s wearing is covering a confirmed facial recognition.”

“He’s dividing us on purpose,” Yur’l spoke from the back seat. “He understands he can’t take all of us, but maybe he thinks he can defeat half of us in a fight.”

Frank turned around, impressed that Yur’l had spoken up and more impressed that he had said exactly what Frank was thinking. “Not bad for a retired accountant.”

“It’s just numbers.” Yur’l grinned. “Numbers, I can understand.”

“We split up then and take him and whatever accomplice he has roped into this with him,” Sava said, clenching her fists. “All of this sneaking around and games has made me thirsty for blood. Let’s find him and be done with it.”

“I’ll go back with Yur’l and Space Marine Corps One,” Frank decided. “Sava, you Atla and the rest of the Alf keep going forward. Whoever has the real Jarl, the rest of the team will link up with them when we find out for sure. We can’t afford to lose him this time. If he wants us divided, he’s still going to get more than he bargained for.”

Atla nodded, ordering her driver to pull over as she issued her orders over the comms. “Elly, I’ll send you the coordinates of his home in the city to your smart pad. You use this vehicle with our driver.”

Both their vehicle and the vehicle that followed them pulled over as one. As Atla and Sava left their SUV, the latter looked at Frank with concern in her eye. “I’m going to fly the rest of the way to the site right outside of the city. We’ll know in a few minutes whether it’s Jarl we face there or an imposter. I won’t be far behind.”

“Understood, but every minute could count,” Frank said, feeling frustration well in his chest. “We need to catch this guy, today.”

“Be careful,” Sava said. Not waiting for a reply, she took to the sky in a burst of purple energy.

“Well, I guess she’s not waiting for a ride,” Atla said over the comms.

The next few minutes were brutal as Frank and his team, made up of Raj, Elly, Yur’l, and Magnus headed for the city location of Jarl’s home. Atla’s vehicle followed after Sava’s purple streak that marked her passage in the sky.

Their driver whizzed through the traffic with expert ease, making up ground faster than Frank would have guessed.

“I’m nearly there. I’m—”

Sava’s voice stopped abruptly as if she had all of a sudden been put on mute.

“Sava, Sava, come in,” Frank said into his comms. A feeling of dread descended on him like morning dew. “Elly?”

Elly punched her data pad furiously, not even looking up from her screen. “This is still all new to me, but if I’m reading this right, it looks like there’s been a large EMP blast from the location right outside the city.”

“Atla, can you hear me?” Frank asked.

“I can,” Atla’s voice sounded hard over the comms. “Sava was ahead of us, so if it was an EMP blast, her comm must have been fried before our own. We’re less than a minute out now. We’ll have answers soon.”

Frank was torn; should he go back and make sure Sava was all right or should he trust the Draconian could handle herself and move on? His decision was made for him as, in the next moment, two things happened at once.

“We’re here.” Their Alf driver pulled onto a deserted street where all the houses were charred skeletons.

The street was abandoned, save a lone black vehicle parked around a corner. An Alf – Sergeant Moon, Frank figured – exited his vehicle along with his partner.

The houses on this street were in various states of disrepair; the ones in the middle of the block had received the worst of the damage, practically annihilated. The houses on the outside edges showed fewer signs of being burnt. Charred trees and shrubs dotted the area, giving the neighborhood an eerie feel.

As soon as Frank was able to process what he was seeing in front of them, a blast went off somewhere nearby.

BOOM!

Immediately, their comms went dead as well as the still running vehicle their Alf driver manned.

“My smart pad is dead,” Elly said from her seat. “Another EMP must have—”

“Watch out!” Raj yelled from his seat.

A burnt-orange missile streaked toward them from somewhere down the block. Frank had no time to form any kind of plan; all he could do was react. His first instinct was to put a protective barrier between them and the approaching missile.

The orange missile collided with a purple brick wall Frank erected right in front of their vehicle. The result was an explosion that sent purple bricks and a shockwave of force into their transport, upending it and throwing it across the street.

One second Frank was sitting in the protectorate vehicle behind the driver trying to throw up a barrier in time, the next thing he knew he was bleeding from a cut across his forehead and sitting upside down.

The vehicle now lay on its roof. The smell of smoke choked the air. Dark clouds of smoke came in through broken windows from the engine that flamed with bright red fire. Frank was still trying to make sense of what was happening. His mind felt muddled and slow as he tried in vain to form a plan.

“Is, is everyone all right?” Raj gasped from his seat in the rear of the vehicle.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

Sounds of weapon fire being traded echoed somewhere behind the smoldering unit. Smoke was now beginning to pour into the vehicle, making the occupants cough in panic.

Move, just start moving, Frank told himself. You have to get them out of this ticking time bomb and to cover.

Ignoring the pounding in his head, Frank reached for his seatbelt and let himself fall to the roof of the vehicle “Come on, Elly, Yur’l, Alf driver guy who I should probably know the name of, we have to get out of here.”

“My, my arm, I think it’s broken,” Elly coughed.

“We’ll get her,” Yur’l said from his spot on all fours in the rear of the SUV next to Raj. “We’ll get her out if you get the driver.”

The thick smoke made Frank’s eyes tear. He placed a hand over his mouth as the sounds of screaming started, then immediately stopped outside.

“We got to get you out of here, buddy,” Frank said, crawling on all fours to the area next to the driver. One look and Frank knew the driver was unconscious. His eyes were closed and a welt on his forehead already forming into a knot.

This close to the Alf, he also realized he knew the protectorate. It was the same one he had helped after the attack on the headquarters. The same Alf he had used Raj’s healing gun on.

Frank coughed again, his lungs filling with smoke. The flames licking at the roof of the upside down vehicle had grown to double their size. Still Frank unbuckled the driver, allowing him to fall from his seat, and began dragging him out of the front passenger window that had broken when they landed upside down.

He was a big guy but a good guy, and Frank hated to see him like this. He had already suffered once at the hands of Jarl and yet here he was again, driving right into the fray once more.

Frank’s oxygen level was dangerously low, to the point that thinking was out of the picture. He only had time to react, relying on his instinct and intuition. Calling on his strength, he dragged the driver out of the burning vehicle and placed him a safe distance away.

Coughing racked his body as Frank wiped his burning red eyes over and over again. A new wave of blood drenched his vision from the head wound he had received in the accident.

“Frank!” Raj’s yell was followed by a spattering of weapons fire. He recognized the weapon. A Reckoner T9 was being fired on the opposite side of the burning vehicle.

Elly screamed.

23

Frank pushed himself to his feet and ran around the burning vehicle in a shell-shocked haze. The smoke coming from the vehicle rose to the morning sky in dark angry grey billows.

It didn’t matter now that Frank’s eyes stung so bad from the smoke he could barely see. He ignored the pain in his head. The fact that his lungs burned all the way up to his throat became irrelevant as well; his brothers and sisters needed him now.

His Punisher GS2000 was lost somewhere in the accident. Frank had his Reckoner T9 at his hip and his vambraces thrummed with pent-up aggression. Frank brought a weapon he was familiar with to his hands. Constructed from purple energy, a M16A4. Frank sighted down the barrel as he turned the corner around the smoldering SUV.

Elly was across the street from the vehicle, cradling her right arm. Her face contorted in a mix of pain and fear. Her helmet was lopsided, smoke stained her horrified face, and her teeth were clenched as she grimaced though the pain. Magnus stood in front of her, baring his teeth.

Across from them and standing in the middle of the T intersection was Jarl Balder. He wore his standard tactical protectorate uniform with a bloody Yur’l in the crook of his left elbow. Yur’l’s head was bowed, his body unmoving. Frank could see the blood dripping off the Gleason’s head.

Across from them and opposite Elly, Raj stood with his Reckoner T9 pointed at Jarl. The vehicle holding the other two Alf protectorates was still there. The two city protectorates who had been sent to stake out the building lay motionless on the ground.

“I told you I’d take everything from you,” Jarl yelled to Frank from his position five meters away. Jarl motioned over his shoulder to a floating onyx orb hovering in place. The orb was just like the ones the reporters had used at the entrance to the city protectorates’ headquarters. “This feed is live and going out to the entire city. It’ll go out to the galaxy and the universe beyond in the next few hours.”

“Let them go.” Frank ignored the bait Jarl had laid for him. Anger needed to be harnessed and used right now, not allowed to run wild. “You and I started something. Let’s you and I finish it.”

“Oh, we will,” Jarl said through clenched teeth. He pointed to Elly and then Yur’l. “Your friends are already paying for the crimes of the Arilion. I didn’t know you had initiated another follower in your ranks, a Gleason no less. You should have taught him better. When I attacked, he tried to fight me off with sticks.”

Frank caught movement from Yur’l. Ever so slightly, Yur’l angled his neck to his right half an inch, putting his beak in line with Jarl’s left rib cage.

“I think our Gleason knows exactly what to do,” Frank said, zeroing in on Jarl’s antlered head. “Yur’l, now!”

Yur’l opened his honey-orange beak and chomped down on Jarl’s exposed left side. At the same time, Raj opened fire with his Reckoner. Frank thought about doing the same; instead, he allowed his weapon to dissipate and used his Will to channel everything into his speed.

“ARGH!” Jarl screamed in pain as Yur’l came away with a mouthful of meaty flesh.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Raj walked forward, sending well-placed round after well-placed round at his target’s head and center mass.

Jarl had just enough time to erect a burnt orange shield in front of him with his right arm. Raj’s rounds bounced off the energy shield like rocks being thrown at a tank.

A bloody Yur’l was released and fell to his knees.

Frank saw all of this as he charged like a linebacker with a free shot on the opposing quarterback. Both Yur’l and Raj had afforded the distraction Frank needed. With every ounce he could put forth, Frank crossed the paved street and slammed into Jarl with so much force the two combatants flew down the street and into an incinerated house on the right side of the street.

Frank had played football. He understood that just like punching someone, the intent should be pushing through them, not stopping once they’ve been hit. The same thing applied if he really wanted to pile drive someone with a tackle. All Jarl had accomplished with his attacks on him and his friends so far was fueling Frank’s desire to see an end to Jarl’s maleficence. Using this tackling method while channeling the pent-up power coming from his vambraces made Frank a battering ram.

Driving Jarl across the street and into a house was just the beginning. The house, already weakened by the fire, crumpled in on the two men. The air in Frank’s chest was forced out of him as he drove Jarl to the ground amongst the debris and ashes rising to meet them.

Frank could feel Jarl’s body grow slack the moment after impact. Frank wasn’t the forgiving type, especially when his friends were the target. Walls and the rest of the roof of the house were still caving in as Frank lifted himself off the ground, throwing a wall that had fallen on him to the side.

“You wanted a fight, come on.” Frank looked down at Jarl, taking a step back. “Well, get up. You have a fight.”

Jarl gasped for air as he gathered himself. His left side still bled. He looked dazed as if Frank’s move had been enough to give him a serious concussion.

“You’re—you’re so cocky.” Jarl spat blood to his left. “I beat you once. I’m going to do it again.”

“You blindsided me once.” Frank lifted his fists in front of him, channeling energy into each hand from his vambraces. They glowed with power. “Let’s see how you like it.”

Frank was done talking; in his animalistic frenzy, he abandoned all words as he closed the distance, pummeling Jarl with his fists.

Jarl’s own fists lit up with orange energy as the two combatants went at it. With fists of glowing fury lighting up the dark skeleton of a home, burnt orange and violet comets flew through the air slamming into each combatant. After a few moments, Frank knew his adversary would have to try a different approach if he wanted to pull out a win.

Frank connected with a right to Jarl’s slender jaw and a left to his eye socket; each blow made stronger by the force channeled through his vambraces. If Jarl had not been defending himself with his own orange protective covering over his body like a second skin, each blow Frank landed would have been more than enough to break bones and tear muscle.

Jarl understood he was on the ropes as Frank stalked forward, connecting with shots to his ribcage. Frank then witnessed his enemy’s desperate move as he formed an orange globe of energy between his hands. The next moment, he hurled the basketball-sized ball of force at Frank’s chest.

Frank telegraphed the move, allowing him to prepare for the blast and form his own counter. Instead of being blasted back, Frank caught the stream of orange energy in his own outstretched hands. The orange beam battered at Frank’s outstretched palms. Sparks crackled and hissed to life as Frank stopped the force, then created his own beam of force raging against Jarl’s.

Not this time, Frank shouted to himself in his head. Not this time!

“Raaaaaaa!” Frank clenched his teeth and roared as he beat back the counter beam of energy with his own. His feet skidded back in the debris-covered ground as the force required to maintain the energy being doled out took its toll.

Frank fought for footing in the midst of the battered home. He couldn’t see Jarl past the fantastic light show they were engaged in creating. But he imagined the Alf was in the same position; muscles burning, arms quivering.

A fantastic bloom of blinding white light erupted from where the orange and purple beams met, blowing through what was left of the room.

“Is that all you got!?!” Jarl screamed over the distance that had opened between the two contestants. “Is that all you got, Frank!??”

The way Jarl spoke, the gasps he used to taunt him, Frank understood Jarl was even more gassed than he was. The play now was to try and get into Frank’s head.

Like so many times before, music began to play in Frank’s mind as his body burned and his Will pushed him to new feats he never thought possible.

“I’m a survivor. I’m not going to give up!” Frank roared. From his fingers to his shoulders, his arms quivered. Still, he put one foot in front of the other as he recited the lyrics. “I will survive. Keep on surviving!”

BOOM!

Jarl had had enough. His orange beam of force failed him and Frank’s burst caught him in the chest. The violet stream slammed Jarl back through the backyard of the house and into the opposing house on the other side.

Frank let his arms fall to his sides, breathing hard. Sweat dampened his brow. He swallowed, except he didn’t have enough spit to perform the act properly. Already he was gearing up to go another round if that was what would be required.

Jarl was on his knees, his head tilted down. His body armor had been shredded from his torso to his waist. A steaming mass of flesh now stood in its place. Tendrils of smoke and steam rose from his body.

Frank squared his stance, ready for anything.

“You’re going—going to need more than that.” Jarl pushed the words past his lips as he struggled to his feet.

If it was possible to want to kill someone and yet admire their fight, Frank felt that in this moment. Jarl was clearly done; still, he was pushing his way back to his feet. The Alf would have made one heck of an Arilion Knight if things had happened differently.

“I’ll kill you,” Frank warned Jarl as the Alf finally succeeded in gaining his feet. “Whether I want to or not, if you keep pushing this fight, this will be your end. Is this what your wife and son would have wanted for you?”

“I’m going to rip your tongue out of your mouth for even mentioning them,” Jarl screamed, spittle, drool, and blood flying out in his rage, and gathering more of his fear energy around him in waves. “I’m not done yet. I’m not—”

Jarl’s next words were ended by one of the strangest things Frank had ever seen. A giant electric violet egg as big as a blimp standing on its side appeared out of nowhere and crushed Jarl beneath its weight.

Frank followed the lines of energy to his right where a bloodied and beaten Yur’l stood on his feet, straining to maintain the construct.

“You—you told me if I got into a fight to create the biggest thing I was comfortable with and throw it at him,” Yur’l said, his chest heaving with the exertion of maintaining a construct this size. “I lied; Gleason are hatched from eggs.”

“My man.” Frank grinned despite himself. “You can relax now. I think you crushed him with your giant egg.”

“Oh good.” Yur’l released his hold on his construct, slumping forward. “You and Sava make that look easier than it really is. My hip is about to go out again.”

Frank looked over, ready to laugh at the Gleason, only he wasn’t sure whether that was a joke or not, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he looked over to where a crumpled Jarl Balder lay on the ground. He was unmoving for now, but whether he was playing possum, actually dead, or just unconscious was yet to be determined.

Raj and Elly joined the group a moment later. Elly’s right arm was in a sling, while Raj supported her from the other side. Magnus followed beside Elly.

“Was that Destiny’s Child you were singing a second ago?” Elly slurred her words a bit. A smile on her face and half closed eyes told Frank Raj had given her a happy shot for the pain. “I swear I heard someone singing Destiny’s Child a minute ago.”

“Yeah, well, the lyrics were spot on. Don’t judge me, Wong.” Frank teased his friend calling her by her last name. “You two should stay back until we know he’s done.”

Frank crossed the distance between himself and the prone figure of Jarl Balder. The Alf’s vambraces still glowed their orange hue, but his body was unmoving. Frank constructed a Glock 21 in his right hand, ready to unload his clip in Jarl’s skull if the terrorist that cost Heron his legs tried anything.

Yur’l sidled up to Frank, looking down at Jarl’s still body. “Did we—did we kill him?”

“First, there’s no ‘we’ here. You’re the one that dropped a giant Cadbury Egg on his antlers,” Frank said out of the corner of his mouth. “I think he’s still alive. I can see his chest move in time with his breathing. Slide off his vambraces. He’ll still be dangerous without them but not nearly as much as before.”

Yur’l licked his beak, reaching forward to tear off the vambraces with one pull. He stopped short and took a step back. “Maybe you should do it, in case he wakes up from being knocked out or something.”

“I can’t, I’m covering you.” Frank motioned with the weapon in his hand. “Just pull it off quick, like a band aid.”

Yur’l swallowed hard, and to his credit, the Gleason knelt down and slipped first one and then the other vambrace off of Jarl’s forearms. The Alf didn’t make a move. Frank knelt down next to his foe to make sure he was in fact still breathing.

Jarl’s shallow breathing was still present. Blood dripped from the bite mark at his side as well as the battered and raw chest where Frank’s beam had struck him. A dozen other smaller wounds crossed his arms and face.

“Let’s find Sava and Atla and head back home,” Frank said, already thinking of how they would imprison such a threat.

24

Convincing Atla that Jarl should be held at the Den took a small miracle. The Alf captain had only been swayed when Frank promised her he would be held for crimes first against Chesha and the trial would take place on her own world. Only after Frank had crossed his heart was Atla willing to allow Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps One to travel back to the Den via the gateway.

Jarl had been placed in a maximum security cell deep within the Den Frank didn’t even know existed. His vambraces were kept on a completely separate floor in a state-of-the-art container Elly helped design.

Unless someone brought Jarl his vambraces, there would be no way for him to regain his power. Through the entire process of transferring him to his new cell, Jarl was medicated courtesy of Raj with a sedative that would ensure he stayed compliant while they transferred him.

Sava, Frank, and General Breaker stood in the War Room overlooking the gateway below. It seemed it was Frank’s lot in life to always be tired and hungry.

“The cloaked figure we thought might have been Jarl at the location outside the city proved only to be one of his misled followers,” Sava said with a shake of her head. It was clear she was angered at having missed the fight. “I made easy work of Jarl’s disciple. The orange glows on his forearms were nothing more than light sticks he had fastened to himself. Pathetic.”

“Atla’s team also confirmed there were small EMPs that went off at each location frying out comms,” Frank told the general. “We should set up an emissary between the Alf and the Den. They’re smart allies to have and I promised Atla Jarl would stand trial on her planet before any other.”

“How generous of you, Major Wolffe,” General Breaker said in a hard tone. “I agree the Alf should be counted among our allies in this ever-expanding universe we’ve discovered. The Neeve, however, are going to want to take their pound of flesh for what happened to Heron.”

“Trust me, I agree.” Frank nodded along with the general’s words. “But Jarl killed his own people first. Or maybe we need to start thinking of something more unilateral; one trial to stand accountable for the total actions. Ah, I don’t know. I’m too tired and too hungry to think. How’s Elly?”

“Her bone is set and with the advanced technology we have at our disposal now, thanks to Sava and her people, she’s going to heal quickly.” General Breaker drummed his metal hand on the table in front of him. There was quite clearly something bothering the general.

“Are you going to make us ask, sir?” Frank held himself in check. “What’s wrong?”

“The fact that Jarl Balder was so brazen in his confrontation with you.” General Breaker breathed heavily through his nose as he struggled to place puzzle pieces together. “He knew he was going to go up against tremendous odds and still he lured you out.”

“He divided our forces,” Sava reminded the general.

“I know. Still, even with your forces divided, he had to know his chances of victory were still in jeopardy,” General Breaker responded.

“Well, I guess we can ask him what he was thinking when he wakes up.” Frank rose from his seat, stretching his aching muscles. “I have a date tonight with an Empress. If it’s okay with you, General, I need a shower before she arri—”

Motion from the room below them where the sphere hovered in place cut off Frank’s words. A gateway appeared with its golden arch shimmering to life. The steel barricade and the blue force field inside the Den covering the gateway would keep anyone out that was unwanted.

“This is Empress Vega from Atmos requesting entrance to the Den,” Vega said as her lavender-hued face appeared on a monitor both next to the sphere in the chamber below and on a wall in the War Room.

“Wow, this is new.” Frank raised his eyebrows. “Tax dollars hard at work. I like it.”

“Permission granted,” General Breaker answered. He directed his attention down to the engineers manning the sphere below. “Open the barricade and lower the force field.”

A crisp “yes sir” followed his command as the steel plates guarding the entrance to the Den receded into their metal arch that mirrored the gateways. The blue energy field also lowered on command.

Vega stepped through the gateway a moment later. Frank looked over at General Breaker, who nodded to him, even though he had yet to ask his question. “Go ahead, Frank. And good job.”

“Thank you, sir,” Frank said as he made for the door and down the pair of steps leading to the floor beneath.

As Frank rounded the corner to the landing, Vega caught his eyes. She wore a simple slim white suit with gold details. The lapels were open to reveal a hint of neck line and décolletage. Frank could see a line of gold curve around her collar bones and down her chest. Her house sigil of a thunderbird in front of crossed thunderbolts emblazoned on the right side of her chest. Her hair was pulled back to reveal her pointed ears. Her petite frame was held taller by the pointed toe ankle boots she wore. The most beautiful part was not what she wore or didn’t wear.

She beamed at Frank a smile that gave him strength and made him smile in return. They embraced one another, not caring who saw or didn’t see. Their relationship wasn’t a secret. Frank pressed his lips quickly to hers in greeting.

“You look like you’ve just gotten back yourself,” Vega said, taking a step back to observe him while still holding his hands. “Did you catch him?”

“We caught him,” Frank nodded. “How’s Heron?”

“That historian never ceases to impress me,” Vega said with a sad smile. “He’s already insisting we create a means of transportation for him so he can get back to his books. He insists that there has to be a way in the universe to let him walk again.”

“I’m sure there is.” Frank grinned at the thought of Heron chomping at the bit to get out of bed and begin researching a means to walk again. “If you think he’s ready, I’m sure General Breaker can send a team to get him set up with a wheelchair for now until we figure out a way for him to walk.”

“I think he’d like that very much.” Vega grinned. “But he’s sleeping now and there’s nothing we can start on till morning. Right now, I’d like to spend time with my boyfriend.”

“I feel like a kid again when we call each other boyfriend and girlfriend.” Frank looked around the room at everyone trying not to stare. “But as much as I’m not afraid of public affection, we should probably go somewhere more private. You know, Las Vegas isn’t that far away from the Hoover Dam. We can go to a show or dinner, maybe do some gambling.”

“I doubt General Breaker will be keen on me leaving the Den.” Vega laughed as Frank’s boyish charm rubbed off on her.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Frank grabbed Vega’s hand as they ran up the steps to go back through the War Room and find an elevator to the upper levels. “Just let me do all the talking.”

When Frank and Vega entered the War Room, General Breaker and Sava rose from their seats to extend a welcome. That is, they were about to before General Breaker paused and touched a finger to his ear.

“What’s that? He’s awake?” A scowl crossed the general’s face.

Half of Frank wanted to keep going, to pass an easy smile, and sneak out of the War Room.

What if Jarl is awake? Frank tried to reason with himself. You did your part; you brought him in. It’s time for judges and juries to step in.

Frank could feel Vega’s grip on his hands tighten.

“I understand,” General Breaker said into his comm unit. “We’ll be right there.”

The general’s face said it all. He didn’t even have to open his mouth and Frank would have bet his paycheck for the year he knew what was coming next.

“Hello, Empress.” General Breaker nodded in her direction. “I’m glad to see you again. I’m afraid your coming coincided with a time we need Major Wolffe. It seems Jarl Balder has woken and Frank is the only one he’s willing to talk to.”

25

The cell Jarl Balder had been placed in was unlike any kind of cell Frank had seen before. The Alf was in a five-meter-square room with another square cage set in the middle of the chamber. Thick blue beams of light ran parallel to one another, making up the cage that restrained Jarl.

The square was a ten by ten cell with a bed on one side and toilet on the other. Frank was let into the room by a single steel door where a pair of Marines stood on the opposite side. There were cameras mounted in each corner of the room to gain every angle possible.

“Look at this.” Frank motioned to the laser beams keeping Jarl in his cage. “I didn’t even know we had this tech. I need to find out whoever’s in charge of improvements in here and give them a hand. I mean, a laser cage? That’s some science fiction stuff right there.”

Jarl rose from his seat on his bed. He approached the laser wall, smiling at Frank as he did. “You think you’ve won, haven’t you?”

“I mean, you got squashed by a giant Gleason egg.” Frank shrugged, walking around the cell. “I don’t think we so much won as crushed you. How’s your chest, by the way?”

“I like you, Frank.” Jarl laughed, shaking his head. “I like you because you’re a true believer. You’ve been drinking the punch for so long, you actually think you’re one of the good guys when the truth is staring you right in the face. You’re the problem.”

“Listen, I have a hot date waiting for me,” Frank said, cocking his head to the side and lifting an eyebrow. “You said you’d only talk to me, so talk. And I don’t have time for one of your sermons. If you have something to say, say it or I’m gone.”

“Easy, Frank,” General Breaker said via his comms. “If he has anything we can use, we want to get it out of him before he’s turned over to the Alf.”

General Breaker, Vega, and Sava were all watching the interaction between Frank and Jarl from a separate room that played the camera feeds.

“Oh, I do have something to tell you, Frank Wolffe,” Jarl said, intentionally using Frank’s full name and emphasizing letter to rattle him. “It starts with a question really. Do you think I’d do this all alone?”

“Well, I wouldn’t peg you as the sharpest tool in the shed.” Frank shrugged. Frank disdained bullies, hurt or not. Jarl was no different from any other tyrant who lashed out. “So yeah, maybe you would. I mean, outside of those mercenaries who wore your orange symbol of fear.”

Jarl gave Frank a look that sent a chill down his spine before he met it with a sneer of his own. If Jarl wanted to try to scare Frank, he was barking up the wrong Marine.

“I understand the odds I’m up against taking on a pair of Arilion Knights, let alone three now,” Jarl said, catching Frank’s attention as he turned to leave the room. “You see, I’ve been recruiting, Frank. There are others out there the Arilion Knights abandoned, others willing to take up the cause and wear their own newly forged vambraces.”

“You couldn’t do that. There wasn’t enough starbone, to make more.” Frank hated the fact that he had to turn around and play Jarl’s game; still, he knew that every ounce of information he could get from the terrorist alien could prove useful, maybe even save lives in the future. “How did you even form them? You murdered the Alf follower of Tal who made yours for you.”

“What if there was enough starbone to make two, even three, four, or more vambraces?” Jarl grinned, folding his arms over his chest. “What if I memorized the old Alf’s spell and the item she used so I could perform my own binding. What if you even know the person I chose to bind them to?”

Up until now, Frank had been trying to figure out if Jarl was lying. But there was a resoluteness in his tone of voice, an insanity in his bright blue eyes that told Frank that wasn’t the case.

“Who?” Frank felt anger building in him like a volcano, then exploded. Without thinking of the consequences, Frank formed a slender purple rope from his right vambrace. The rope snaked through the laser bars holding Jarl in his cell and tightened around Jarl’s throat. Frank squeezed, in a mix of anger and fear of who Jarl was speaking of. “No more tricks; who is it!?’

Jarl grabbed at the purple rope, trying to pry the construct from his throat as he choked on his next words. “You—know—who.”

“Frank—Frank, let him go,” General Breaker’s voice sounded over the comms. “Frank, we need him!”

“Who, tell me who!” Frank screamed as he choked the life out of Jarl. The most disturbing part of the whole thing was that somewhere in the back of Frank’s mind, he knew he was fine with killing the Alf right there and then. He was tired of the games. He thought he had saved everyone he cared for and now this lunatic was promising more pain. “Who, who is it, you piece of filth? Who did you lie to?”

Colonel Breaker’s voice still sounded in the comms, but Frank was beyond all reason or rational thought. It was a very short list of who Jarl could have equipped with a pair of orange vambraces bearing the symbol of Tal. There was only one face he still remembered so full of fear.

BANG!

The cell door burst open. General Breaker ran into the room alongside the two Marines who had been outside on guard duty. Sava and Vega followed in their wake.

“Frank, stop,” General Breaker ordered.

Jarl’s face had gone from his normal rust-colored red to a light shade of blue. The Alf fell to his knees, unable to breathe, let alone talk.

“OK, that’s enough. Get him off,” General Breaker ordered.

Each Marine grabbed one of Frank’s arms and tried to wrestle him away. Even with their combined strength, Frank was too much for them. They didn’t even succeed in pushing him back, let alone make him release the hold on his rope construct.

General Breaker grabbed Frank’s right arm, holding the construct, and pulled, trying to release Frank’s hold around Jarl’s throat. “That’s an order, Major Wolffe, let him go!”

Sava stood in the corner of the room, content to let Frank kill Jarl.

“Frank, Frank.” Vega ran to stand in front of Frank. She grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “You have to stop this. We kill when killing needs to be done. But right here, right now, you’re crossing a line.” Her radiant orchid eyes full of ferocity and tenderness pierced his. The animal in her recognized the animal in him, and for an instant, his rage focused. “And I will follow you over that line. We’ll kill Jarl. We can fight our way out of the Den. We can start a new war. We can kill our prisoners. But is that what you want?”

Vega’s voice was so firm, so unwavering, Frank was stunned by the honesty of her words.

She’d die for you right here, right now, Frank. This is the kind of woman you have in your life. What kind of man can you be for her?

Frank dropped his right arm, his construct evaporating. Tears stung his eyes. “I’m—I’m sorry.”

Jarl fell to all fours, heaving in huge lungfuls of air.

“I would have been fine letting him die.” Sava shrugged from her place in the corner of the room. “He’s a dead man already. If the Alf don’t execute him after a trial, the Neeve will.”

“You get yourself together.” Colonel Breaker grabbed Frank by the back of the neck. “I need you, Major Wolffe. We all need each other if we’re going to survive the coming future.”

A strange wheezing chuckle came from Jarl as he rolled onto his back. “I think—I think Frank might have already figured out who it is, but the rest of you still have no idea. This is just the beginning. A new order of knights has begun.”

“Who, who’s he talking about?” Vega searched Frank’s eyes for understanding.

Before he could answer, Sava cocked her head to the side and concentrated on the incoming message along with General Breaker. For just the two of them to be contacted over the comms, Frank assumed it had to be something big.

“We’re on our way,” General Breaker said as he followed Sava, who had already run out the cell room. He glanced over his shoulder at the Marine still holding Frank. “Let him go. Frank, Empress Vega, you two should come with me.”

The sharp tone in his voice, the fact that Sava didn’t even say a word and instead fled the room confirmed something was quite seriously wrong. His stomach dropped and his face fell cold as the icy realization of the truth of Jarl’s words began to come to fruition.

Jarl’s voice followed them down the hall as they ran to catch up with Sava. “Your day of reckoning has come, Arilion! Your day of reckoning has come!”

Frank raced through the Den with Vega right behind him. They followed General Breaker to the information room Sava had set up to connect them to the universal database.

The Draconian already stood there with broad, forest green shoulders to the doorway, staring up at one of the massive screens containing a live feed from a news station on her home planet of Brytanna. Frank came around to watch alongside her. She wore a look on her face Frank had never seen. Usually, one could count on Sava to be a fearless, savage leader. Fear was plainly on her face now.

Sava ran to the control desk and raised the volume on the main screen. A male Draconian was speaking into a camera. Behind him, a massive building went up in flames.

“I repeat, the Capitol Building is under attack. We’re unsure at this point if it is from an external force or an internal one. My sources tell me the left side of the Capitol erupted in a ball of orange flame just a few minutes ago. We’re first on the scene and there—hold on a minute.”

The reporter pressed his thick clawed hand to his right ear just below his horn. Behind him, people were running and shouting; further behind them, an iron fence hedged in by bushes guarded a stonework building alive with fire.

“There has been no word about the Prime; he was in the Capitol Building when the attack happened—”

BLAT! BLAT BLAT! BLAT! BLAT!

More screaming followed the sounds of gunfire as the reporter ducked low out of frame. The cameraman turned his attention to the Capitol Building. Rabid flames consumed the four stories of the square structure; Draconian men and women could be seen scrambling out between a series of pillars at the front.

Soon, the left side of the building caved in. Foreboding smoke billowed from the blistering flames that licked at the structure. Weapons fire was being traded from a force on the ground to an unseeable assailant.

The Draconians on the ground pointed their weapons skyward at an orange streak flying through the smoke.

Frank’s heart dropped as the image of a woman came into view. At first she darted around too quickly to see anything other than an orange flash from her vambraces. She returned fire at the ground forces below.

Jarl’s warning echoed in Frank’s ears as the news reporter’s voice came back panicked. “There seems—we seem to have a visual on the terrorist attacking the Capitol—this—this isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen.”

The cameraman tried to zoom in, to get a better view of the woman flying through the air. For a split second, she stilled as she constructed what appeared to be an orange M16M4.

Her short brunette hair covered her face from the wind whipping around her, yet there was no denying her uniform. She wore the same charcoal fatigues with chest plate armor featuring the same ancient helmet with wings on each side as Frank; the same uniform all of Marine Space Corps One wore.

“We are—” The off-screen reporter sounded like he was hyperventilating. “We’re getting confirmation now that the Prime, our leader, has been killed in the attack.”

A deep growl so intense Frank could feel it in his own chest emanated from Sava.

Frank’s interaction with the Draconian Prime had been fleeting, but even he understood the Draconian people and their alliance had suffered a heavy blow.

A brief lull in the battle on screen allowed the woman with the orange vambraces and Marine Space Corps One uniform to readjust her attention toward a new target. For the first time, the camera captured the face of this ruthless terrorist.

Major Lucy Lopez stared with a scowl the likes Frank had never seen amidst plumes of smoke and blood-curdling screaming. Like a wrathful ghost from the past, she hovered in the air. There was no mistaking her fierce eyes or the scar she wore on her face.

Frank felt Vega’s hand reach for his. He held on to her now like a drowning man on a lifeline.

An orange flash passed over the cameraman’s screen as he and his camera were annihilated from a bolt sent their way from the newly returned Major Lopez.

End Book 4

Jonathan’s Note

I know, don’t shoot the messenger. Hold your fire. Let me explain at least. I didn’t know it was going to be this much of a cliffhanger once I wrote the book. I came to an ending and was like, “Oh, they’re going to go on a rampage after this one.”

The good news is that we’re releasing a book every four weeks, so that means you won’t have to wait long to find out what happens next. OK, are we good? Still friends?

This book was a blast for me to write because it felt like a book one to a series even though it’s a book four. I mean that I get to introduce a new villain and a new story arc that will let us get to know our characters better.

If you haven’t guessed yet, the overarching story is Frank transforming from a selfish, money-hungry playboy to something this universe desperately needs. Alongside this, we’ll get to see the New Order of Arilion Knights being built and shaped to protect the universe.

If you’re also reading the New Arilion Knights Series, you know I’ve introduced Earth’s Arilion Knight already. Very soon, we’re going to do an epic team-up book with Emma and Frank. I’m so looking forward to writing that book, you have no idea! Maybe Frank goes and helps Emma with a problem. Maybe he mentors her a little? You’ll have to wait and see.

On the not-book side of things, I had E.coli. Yep, you read that right. It came during the editing phase of this book and pushed me three days behind schedule, but I’ll make it up. Word to the wise, stay away from the salad bar at questionable restaurants; stay very, very far away or you might find yourself living inside your bathroom.

I’ll spare you the details, but, yeah. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. I’m back now, though, getting into the groove of things once more, playing dress-up with my daughter during the day and writing during her naps and at night. She’s sleeping as we speak, it’s 10:00 PM here.

Just thinking of her right now brings a smile to my face. At two years old, she’s a beast. I mean that in the best way. One day Gateway to the Galaxy and everything you and I are building will be passed down to her and her children and her children’s children. That’s kind of mind-blowing. I feel like I’m giving myself a therapy session right now. Thanks for listening.

To wrap things up, we have a lot of goodies coming down the pipeline. We just launched our clothing line for the Gateway series. We even got stickers and mugs being made. You can find links on my site or Facebook group I’ll invite you to join.

Podium Publishing will begin work on bringing the Gateway series to audiobook very soon. They have a great team working for them and we’re excited to have our Intellectual Property available in audio format as well as print and digital.

We have a custom timeline that will drop to our newsletter subscribers and Facebook group soon. It’ll show where all the stories in the Gateway Universe fall in comparison to one another.

If you’ve been reading my author notes, you know I always end with the same invitation to connect. Without readers and friends like you, I’m a writer trying to support his family. With my pack, I’m able to do just that. I have two options for you to stay in the loop.

1) I have a private group on Facebook I created for all of us to hang out. There are over a hundred likeminded readers who enjoy everything you do. We’re there just sharing cool new books, movies and the occasional meme. Join The Pack here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1944447962437071/

2) I know some readers don’t like using Facebook and/or would rather just receive an email with info when new books are out. I totally get that. If you’d like to be part of The Pack via our newsletter, you can go to www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the ranks.

From the bottom of my recently free of E.coli heart, thank you for joining us on this journey. Something tells me if you’ve stuck with me this far, you have a little Arilion Knight in you too.

Best always,

Jonathan

JR’s Note

Well, wasn’t that unexpected? It’s crazy when past mistakes or lost opportunities come back to haunt us. But all things balance. Nothing goes unaccounted for – if not in this life, then perhaps the next.

I think this one hurt so deep because Major Lopez had become like a chiding older sister to Frank. Is it better to know she’s alive and following a dark path, or better to be gone while still good? The whole MSC1 team has become like family. Even to me!

I mean, when I’m not in the story developing, there’s a part of me wondering what they’re up to. What are they going to do next? I hope you’ve come to enjoy Frank, Elly, Raj, Heron, Vega, and Sava as much as we have. We appreciate that you keep reading because we get to keep justifying getting to develop and know these characters more. If no one was buying or reading the Gateway books, it would get real awkward real fast if I wrote just to hang out with them… 😜

When the convoy is attacked and Elly screamed at the end of that chapter, I had to sit back in my chair and process what had just happened. I couldn’t just go on to find out what happens next. Had to prepare myself for whether or not she’d be OK.

That’s what happens when we let the characters be true to themselves and let their M.O. drive the story along. Even when Frank and Jarl keep duking it out. Part of me was like “Alright, enough already!” but part of me also completely understood: these guys are warriors, fighters. They won’t back down. You could stand them up at the gates of hell, but they won’t back down. (Any Tom Petty fans?)

So, what’s next for the family? In my experience and in my opinion, there’s a good redemptive story for everyone; it’s just a matter of whether there’s enough time in their lives to see that end. Perhaps we’ll get to see Jarl come to peace with the death of his family; perhaps Yur’l will help him get there. Perhaps Lucy Lopez will get her mind right. Perhaps Frank can rise to the occasion to be the patriarch or older brother leader that the Order and the MSC needs. Though, if he does, it won’t be pretty.

Family isn’t always pretty. But they’re pretty awesome. Family isn’t always the people with the same last name or those from the same Ancestory.com DNA tree. It can be the ones with whom we choose to align ourselves. Families are the ones we create, the ones we find, or in Frank’s case, the ones who find us.

Speaking of DNA trees. My mother recently shared her results with us. You see, I come from a big, big family. Thirteen aunts and uncles on my maternal side and five on my paternal. There have been rumors and speculation as to whether we’re from Mexico, Spain, Germany, Poland or who knows. Turns out, it was what none of us expected. Though one of the most unexpected results was Southern Europe – as in Greece. So when I told my husband his wife may or may not (read: may) be a Spartan Queen, he was quite delighted. I know, right?

More research to come. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe you and I will find we share a branch on the tree, who knows!

For all the cool findings and new information, it doesn’t impact my family or the way we love, honor, and respect each other. Nor does it change the ways we can grind each other’s gears. I figure, there’s no growth without friction. And no love without grace.

If you loved the story even a bit as much as we enjoyed writing it, please give that Leave A Review option a minute to let us know what you think.

This has been fun. No need for the party to end. Head on over to this secret location to keep in touch. There’s a cornucopia of good stuff to come and I don’t want you to suffer from FOMO. Just a sneak peek: more Gateway Universe stories in two upcoming anthologies, logo apparel, and I may or may not be working on some solo content soon.

Ciao, la mia famiglia!

jr castle

Burn the Night

Book Two in the New Arilion Knights Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Beth

Cover Illustrator – Jamie

Kiki and Ian, thank you for trusting me. I promise you, your faith is well placed. I won’t let you down.

1

As soon as he stepped out of the black vehicle with windows so dark Emma wondered how anyone could see out of them, she knew she was in trouble.

He wore a military uniform with so many medals on his chest, Emma wasn’t sure how the fabric was able to support the load at all. She looked down on him from the second story window of her room as he crossed her lawn to the front door.

Did you really think you were going to keep an alien invasion under wraps from the government? Emma asked herself. You knew this was coming sooner or later. Just be glad Dad’s already gone to work. He doesn’t need to be involved in this. He’s done enough for you. He’s done everything for you. It’s up to you to protect him now.

Three solid knocks on the door below echoed inward to Emma’s house. She looked down on the vambraces on her forearms that were now as much a part of her as her own fingers or toes. Instead of removing the lightly glowing purple pieces of armor, Emma donned a thick black hoodie. With the sleeves rolled down over the vambraces, they hid the glow of the armor nicely.

The knock came again. Still not hurried or too loud, just deliberate, as if it were saying, “Open up, Emma. I know you’re in there.”

“Easy, easy, let him do all the talking. You don’t know how much he does or doesn’t know,” Emma whispered to herself out loud as she descended the stairs. “No reason to freak out, not yet at least. That might come later.”

Emma reached the ground floor that led from the kitchen to the front door. She hesitated before her hand touched the doorknob. “Who is it?”

It sounded like a dumb question, even in her own mind. She knew exactly who it was. She had seen the man walk up her lawn. Truth be told, she was just buying time, any time to think of a better plan than playing dumb.

“Miss Jackson, my name is General Fox.” The man’s voice was strong without being unfriendly. “I’d just like to talk with you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really supposed to answer the door to strangers.” Emma played the kid card. Even though she was sixteen, it still came in handy when she needed it. “Maybe you should go.”

“If I went now, I could come back later, but then your father might be home,” General Fox answered. “If we have this conversation in front of him, it’s going to be a lot more complicated for all of us. I’d rather not do complicated at the moment.”

Emma’s mouth was dry. She worked up enough saliva to finally swallow. She understood everything General Fox wasn’t saying. Her father knew nothing of her being Earth’s Arilion Knight or the Academy or her reintroduction to her alien mother, for that matter.

Emma turned the deadbolt on her door. It clicked with a sound that told her things were about to change. She slowly opened the barrier between herself and General Fox.

“So, yeah, I guess now would be a good time to talk after all. I’m old enough to talk—to talk to strangers.” Emma tried to keep the stutter out of her voice that came with anxiety, but it was no use. “What can I do for you, General?”

General Fox smiled at Emma. He was tall with a square jaw and short haircut that looked as though not a single strand of his dark hair was out of place. He extended his right hand. “I know trust has to be earned. I hope in time we’ll get there.”

“Soooooo…” Emma accepted the offered hand, her own palm enveloped by that of the much larger man. “Is this where you bring in the guys with the biohazard suits and we quarantine the place?”

“You’ve watched ET too, huh?” General Fox gave her hand a brief squeeze before releasing. “No, no things are quite different these days. I’m part of a secret government task force, codename Project Nebula. We’re in charge of a sphere that allows us to travel throughout galaxies and the universe itself. On our travels, one of our own was selected as the Arilion Knight of a planet called Atmos. We’re still learning all we can, but one thing is clear. We’re stronger together than we are alone.”

“There’s—there’s another Arilion? Here? Here on Earth?” Emma asked, forgetting her own plan to play dumb and see what the general knew. “Who? Who is he?”

“His name is Frank Wolffe, and I’m sure he’d love to meet you.” General Fox grinned, understanding he had broken through at least the initial wall Emma had in place. “In part, that’s why I’m here.”

Emma’s mind was going wild with ideas and possibilities of training and fighting alongside another Arilion Knight. Thus far, she had been instructed by fearsome warriors from several species, but not one of them an Arilion.

These thoughts were crashing through Emma’s mind when the familiar face of her next-door neighbor, Miss Starling, appeared around General Fox’s shoulder. Miss Starling was widely known as the neighborhood snoop.

She wore a fluffy pink robe open at the top to show off what she imagined every male wanted to see. In her right hand, she held a wine glass of orange juice that Emma guessed was infused with a healthy dose of alcohol.

General Fox noticed Emma staring around him. He turned to take in the woman. If he was startled to see her, he didn’t show it.

“Ma’am.” General Fox nodded toward Miss Starling.

“Oh, he has manners too.” Miss Starling batted her long fake eyelashes. She smoothed her bleached blonde hair with her free hand. “I love a man in uniform. Emma, you didn’t tell me we were going to have company today.”

“Uh, that’s because I had no idea he was coming.” Emma scrunched her brows, stuck in the constant debate when Miss Starling came around of being annoyed and amused. “What, did you say ‘we’? He didn’t come to visit both of us. Just me.”

“Yes, yes.” The elderly woman dismissed whatever Emma was saying with an outstretched hand that looked more like a claw, thanks to her overly long acrylic nails. She turned back to the general. “Anyway, I wanted to invite you over for a liquid breakfast. Maybe a mimosa or two to take off the edge?”

“I need to keep my edge,” General Fox politely declined. “Besides, it’s o-eight hundred hours. A bit too early to be indulging.”

“Oh, it’s nine am somewhere.” Miss Starling winked at the general. “Well, I’ll be right next door when you’re done doing whatever it is that you’re doing here. What is it that you’re doing here?”

“Just a house call. Emma showed interest in joining the armed forces after graduating high school,” General Fox said with a smile. He turned back to Emma. “Emma, you were just inviting me inside so we can talk about your future in the military.”

General Fox pivoted so fast with the lie he had constructed, Emma was caught off guard.

“Uh, right, I’m joining the military?” Emma said in a tone that asked more than told. General Fox gave her an upturned eyebrow. “I mean, yes, please come in and sign me up.”

“Okay, well, I’ll just be next door when you’re finished.” Miss Starling winked at General Fox. “Don’t be long.”

General Fox followed Emma into her home. Emma smiled at Miss Starling and closed the door behind him.

“Is she always like that?” General Fox asked with an amused smile on his lips. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or to grab my sidearm.”

“That?” Emma raised her eyebrows. “That was nothing. You should see how hard she hits on my dad. Sometimes I feel like I need to get some pepper spray or a taser for him.”

“How old is she?” General Fox asked, watching through the window as Miss Starling made her way back across the lawn to her home.

“Can’t be sure exactly.” Emma took a moment to think. “All I know is she was telling me stories of how she was a little girl and electricity was invented, soooo…”

Emma let her voice trail off as she realized this could all still be a trap of some kind. One of her teachers in the Academy in particular, Drown, was always drilling her with the idea to trust no one. That everyone was a potential enemy no matter how they posed themselves.

Emma created distance between herself and General Fox just in case. The vambraces on her forearms sensed her fight or flight instinct and burned brighter under her dark sweater.

General Fox took a step back as if he sensed what Emma was thinking. He pointed to a chair at the kitchen table. “May I?”

“Yes, sorry.” Emma relaxed herself, taking a long breath. “Please, take a seat. How did you find me anyway?”

“In this day and age, it’s harder than ever to keep a secret,” General Fox said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. He crossed his legs and relaxed into his chair. “When you fought the Shay on the beach of California, our satellite picked up the whole thing. We did some research and consulted with an ally we have who is well-versed in the goings-on in the universe. She told us everything we didn’t know.”

Emma slowly nodded along with the general’s words. “And now you want me to come and fight for the government? Or Project Nebula?”

“Not exactly.” General Fox shook his head. “We don’t want to stop what you or the Academy are doing. We’d rather partner with you and the alliance that already exists within the Academy. We believe our goals for a safe universe are the same. We’d like to come alongside the Academy and help in any way we can. We can offer our own technology, the Arilion Knights that are already training in our branch of the military, and more.”

The pieces of the puzzle began to fit in place for Emma as she put together what the general was getting at.

“You want me to set up a meeting for you,” Emma said, crossing her arms over her chest. She lifted an eyebrow. “You want me to be the bridge that fills the gap between The Academy and Project Nebula.”

“I told you I was going to be honest with you so we can begin to build trust,” General Fox said, staring at Emma, right into her eyes. His stare was unnerving but not intimidating. “Like it or not, you bear a very heavy mantle being the Arilion Knight of Earth. It’s on you, Emma, to be the warrior Earth needs you to be. From everything I’ve read about you, from everything I’ve heard, you have it in you to be everything you need to be. All we want to do is come alongside and offer our support.”

“This is some pretty heavy stuff.” Emma blew air out between her lips. “I mean, I’m still learning how to drive. I don’t even have a job.”

“This is your job now,” General Fox interrupted her. “We can start off slow. The first step would be to set up a meeting between me and the leaders at the Academy. We can move forward from there.”

“Yeah, well you have to meet my mom first.” Emma cringed at the idea of her warrior alien mother speaking with the general. “Then we can get you in front of the Academy and then you’ll still have to convince the Alliance you want to help.”

“‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step’,” General Fox said. “And eventually, Emma, we need to tell your father. You shouldn’t have to sneak around. Being honest with him will free your time as well.”

Emma felt a hole in her stomach open. She felt sick. Telling her father was something she wanted more than anything but what came with the truth would be painful for him. He would have to find out that the woman he loved was not only an alien all along, but she had lied to him, that she had left him and worse. Emma knew all of this and hadn’t told him either.

“What’s that?” General Fox turned in his seat. He tilted his head to the ground as if he were talking via some internal comm Emma couldn’t see. “Yes, when? We’re on our way.”

General Fox stood from his seat looking down at Emma with regret. “Emma, Earth is going to need you sooner than we anticipated.”

2

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, confused. “What happened to ‘the first step was setting up a meeting’?”

“That was the plan until right now,” General Fox assured her as he made for the door. “We’ve been monitoring a situation here on Earth, hoping to address it at a later date with your help. Time doesn’t seem to be on our side anymore and things have accelerated. We need your help now.”

“What are we talking about?” Emma remembered the battle on the beach when she had turned back the Shay invasion. She was stronger now after another month of training but still not where she needed to be. “Are the Shay back?”

“No, not the Shay; a new threat.” General Fox opened the door, ushering Emma outside. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll explain everything.”

Emma’s sense of duty drove her to follow the general out the door without further question. Her foot had just crested the threshold of her house when the air behind General Fox shimmered.

A moment later, her mother, Tistan Duel, appeared on her porch. The teleportation technology at her disposal would allow her to teleport from the Academy to Earth in the matter of seconds.

General Fox reacted to the threat immediately. He pulled his side arm from a holster at his back. Emma had missed the weapon due to the fact that it was hidden under his coat. He had his weapon pointed at Tistan Duel’s head a moment later.

Not to be outdone, the Halyna warrior batted away the handgun with her left hand, drawing one of the two long swords that rested in sheaths on her back.

“No, wait!” Emma yelled at her mother and General Fox, hoping her warning would be enough. The combatants were moving too quickly to be able to stop them with words.

General Fox moved with surprising speed for a man of his age, side-stepped the blade, and put a boot into Tistan’s midsection. Tistan grunted but absorbed the impact, only taking a step back into the house before pivoting. She slashed low with her sword.

General Fox lifted his foot off the ground to ignore the strike. Tistan rose up quickly from her hunched position, She sent a strike to the general’s forehead before he could level his weapon at her again. A thin line of blood came from a small graze by his right eye.

Tires screeched as two blacked out SUVs converged on Emma’s home. Doors opened. A flood of heavily armed Marines began taking up positions around General Fox and Tistan Duel.

Emma realized she had to do something quickly before her mother killed someone or weapons began discharging in her neighborhood.

“Stop!” Emma channeled the power in her vambraces, constructing gloves over her hands that started at her fingertips and traveled up to her elbows. Using her advanced speed, she moved to stand between General Fox and her mother. With her right hand, she held the blade to Tistan’s green sword. She grabbed General Fox’s handgun with her left hand, obstructing the barrel.

A dozen heavily armed Marines had taken up positions with large assault rifles Emma could only guess at. They ranged from crouched positions to a few assuming a stance on a single knee. Every one of them waited on the order from the general.

The scene was still for a moment as Emma turned from first her mother and then the general, imploring them to cease their attacks. “This isn’t right. We’re on the same side. Stop before someone does something they can’t take back.”

Tistan stared at the general with malice in her eyes. Despite this, she relaxed her stance and took a step back.

General Fox did the same, looking over to his men and giving them a signal with his hand that Emma guessed meant “stand down.”

The Marines covering her front yard lowered their weapons, but it was clear they were ready to move back into action at a moment’s notice.

“We’re not done,” Tistan said as Emma released the hold on her sword as well as General Fox’s weapon. “How dare you put my daughter in harm’s way. She’s not ready yet.”

“She will be.” General Fox holstered his weapon, ignoring the thin line of blood that fell down the right side of his face. “We aren’t sending her in alone.”

“The Vilmar are beyond her power at this time.” Tistan sheathed her blade. It looked like the act actually disappointed her. “She needs more training.”

“So you know.” General Fox held Tistan’s stare. “How long have you known they were operating here on Earth?”

Emma’s mouth was open as she pivoted back and forth between her mother and the general. It seemed like she was the only one out of the loop on this.

What the heck? Is everyone keeping secrets from me? Emma thought, trying to keep up with the events taking place around her. Why am I always the last one to find these things out?

“Ummm, hi, guys. I’m here too.” Emma couldn’t keep her frustration pent up anymore. “What are we talking about? Who’s here? What are Vilmar?”

“The Vilmar.” Tristan breathed a deep sigh as if she were having to physically extract every word coming out of her mouth. “They’re an alien race that’s been operating here on Earth. They’re inconsequential at this moment.”

“Inconsequential?” General Fox frowned as he repeated the word. “People are disappearing in the city of Los Angeles every night. This is an alien incursion, a declaration of war as far as we’re concerned.”

“You seem to have enough warriors at your disposal.” Tistan took a moment to look over the gathered Marines. “Next time you come for me, you should bring more men.”

“This isn’t helpful,” Emma chided her mother. “Now someone please start from the beginning. Explain to me what a Vilmar is and what they’re doing here.”

“I can explain on the way,” General Fox said, eyeing Tistan. Before the orange-skinned warrior could protest again, he added, “You’re welcome to come with us as long as you promise to keep your sword in its sheath.”

“If it’s a threat against Earth, I need to go,” Emma said, allowing her purple gloves to dissipate. “I’ve been chosen as the Arilion Knight of Earth for a reason. If I just sit this one out, why am I a knight at all?”

Tistan clenched and unclenched her jaw so hard Emma could see her facial muscles twinge. “All right; let’s go.”

General Fox nodded in agreement, already heading down Emma’s lawn to speak to his men.

Tistan pulled the hood of her cloak up and over her face to hide her orange skin. It was still morning, just after most people on Emma’s street had gone to work for the day. Lucky for her, only a few of her neighbors were there to witness the events. Miss Starling was the only one to actually come out of her house.

“Oh, oh my, is it my lucky day?” The elderly woman winked at the group of Marines now disbanding from Emma’s lawn. “Why, General Fox, you didn’t tell me you had so many young and strapping men at your command. I do declare, I feel like I’ve won the lottery.”

“We’ll have to take a rain check, ma’am,” General Fox said, trying to be polite. He turned back to his men, issuing commands. “I’ll travel in the sedan with Emma and Tistan. Anspach one and two will follow and rendezvous at the predetermined location. Eyes open and weapons ready. Oohrah, Marines!”

“Oohrah!” the men answered their commander, already running to obey.

“If you would?” General Fox motioned to Tistan and Emma to follow him to the sedan he had arrived in that morning. “Please.”

Emma and her mother followed the general to his sedan. A wide-eyed Miss Starling looked on, trying to crane her neck and get a better look at Tistan past her cloak.

Her hands were the only thing that were visible in the morning light. They were colored a dull orange like the rest of her body. Miss Starling stared at Tistan’s hands so hard Emma thought she was going to bore holes through her mother’s palms.

The elderly woman upended her mimosa on her own front lawn, muttering something about drinking too much as she made her way back inside the house.

Emma took a seat in the back of General Fox’s sedan with her mother. The interior of his car was also black. He took a seat in the front passenger side, motioning to the driver. “Laloyd, take us to the area of the city where you spotted the disturbance, please.”

Immediately, Emma understood there was something unique about their driver. First, he was much too large to be a human. Second, and she had to lean forward to make sure she was seeing this correctly, he had green scales traveling up his neck before they were hidden by a large baseball cap that hid most of his face.

“Oh right, you got it, General Fox,” Laloyd answered. “Wow, this is so cool to be a part of. I just want you to know I had your back when the Halyna were going to try and decapitate you. I know you could hold your own and you told me to stay in the car, but I was ready to move. I’m not much of a fighter, but I can throw a mean kick to the groin when I have to.”

Laloyd spoke like he had just ingested a double dose of caffeine. He bordered on manic as he chattered away.

“A Draconian,” Tistan sneered. “I should have known you would have brought help with you.”

Laloyd pulled into the street, turning back to address Tistan and Emma for the first time. His face reminded Emma of a lizard. Memories of the lizard-like Shay touched at her memory, but there was no denying this species was different and especially Laloyd. Laloyd’s reptilian eyes twinkled with something like honest joy. Two short horns sprouted from his forehead, making it difficult for the front of his hat to stay balanced. A snout came forward with sharp teeth and a green hue covered his face.

Emma might have been startled had she not already been introduced to her fair share of alien species while at the Academy.

“I just want to say I’m a big fan of yours.” Laloyd looked at Emma and turned his lips up in what she guessed was a smile. “I’ve been able to work with a few other Arilion Knights. I just want to say you, more than the other two, have so much potential to grow starting off as an Arilion at such a young age. Don’t tell Frank or Sava I said that, though.”

“Uh, thanks.” Emma couldn’t help but smile back at the grinning Draconian, even though she was still trying to figure out if she knew what he meant exactly.

“Eyes on the road, Draconian,” Tistan told Laloyd, who was still looking back at them. “We don’t want to have spared one another’s lives just to lose it on the way to meet the Vilmar.”

“Oh right, right, good thinking, Tistan.” Laloyd turned his head forward.

“Laloyd is helping us with technology as we figure out how to traverse this brave new universe,” General Fox explained. “The Draconians have technology that far surpasses ours as part of our own alliance. They are an invaluable partner.”

“Mmm, right.” Emma tried her best to sound interested while a nagging question pulled at the back of her mind. “So is anyone going to tell me what the Vilmar are or am I just going into this blind?”

Emma caught Laloyd looking through the rearview mirror at her with pained eyes full of fear. As soon as he realized she was looking back at him, he moved his gaze back to the road.

“They’re monsters, Emma,” Tistan said. In a very like-Tistan way, she didn’t sugar coat the facts. “They’re the very worst kind of monsters.”

3

“Are you trying to freak me out?” Emma said, staring back at her mother past the deep black hood she wore. “Is this like one of those moments where you’re making it sound like the worst case scenario, so when I actually fight them, it’s not that bad?”

“No, Emma.” Tistan removed her hood so she could better see her daughter. “The Vilmar are known for their lust for blood and their ability to turn others to do their bidding. They’re fast, strong, and have the ability to heal quickly. They can be killed eventually by inflicting many wounds, but the fastest way to make sure one stays down for good is to remove their heads from their bodies.”

Emma was still trying to process the words coming out of her mother’s mouth when General Fox turned around in his seat. He handed Emma a flat smart pad to look over.

“Thanks to Laloyd, we have a means to recognize and track alien signatures on Earth. Most aliens are here hiding doing their own thing, trying to lay low for whatever reason.” General Fox shook his head as he looked down at the smart pad in Emma’s hands. “Not the Vilmar. They’re killing and recruiting the homeless populace of Los Angeles. By our count, they’ve already consumed hundreds, maybe even turned that many already.”

Emma looked down at an aerial view of the city of Los Angeles. The view of the city showed red groupings scattered all over the landscape like a case of pimples. A cluster of dark red patches was condensed around the garment district in downtown Los Angeles.

“What do you mean by ‘turned’?” Emma asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer to her question.

Laloyd maneuvered through the morning traffic, taking them deeper into the city of Los Angeles. He kept his eyes on the road this time but shook his head as he answered.

“The Vilmar have the ability to control a host, something akin to a symbiotic relationship,” Laloyd explained. “They can turn humans and other species into their slaves basically.”

“Swipe the screen,” General Fox instructed, looking down at the smart pad Emma held in her hands. “We have images of what they look like as well.”

Emma obeyed, dragging her right pointer finger across the screen. She immediately regretted the decision. She came face to face with what looked like a vampire.

The Vilmar was tall and lanky with a sunken face and fangs. Pale skin covered its face and long black fingernails made it look like the definition of sinister.

“What the…” Emma allowed her voice to trail off. “You need to call a priest or that guy from The Exorcist or something. These are freaking vampires!”

“Who?” Tistan looked at her daughter, confused.

“What?” Laloyd looked back at her via the rearview mirror.

“You know, vampires.” Emma looked to General Fox for help. “Suck your blood, don’t go out during the day, stake to the heart, and all that good stuff.”

“They do share some similarities to the legends we call vampires,” General Fox agreed. “I wish some daylight or stakes would help us here, but they can walk in both daylight and nighttime. As far as we know, stakes and holy water don’t do anything. These are aliens. Our first course of action is to talk them down and bring them in, but if they refuse, and we have every reason to believe they will, they need to be put down.”

First you’re in space trying not to throw up after being teleported to the Academy, Emma thought to herself. Now you’re hunting freaking vampires in Los Angeles with your mom and the government.

“Do you know how many Vilmar have nested in your city?” Tistan asked the back of General Fox’s head. “Any more information you have will be useful to us.”

“We don’t know for certain,” General Fox answered her without turning around. “Laloyd did a rough estimation that, according to the numbers found dead, there has to be at least one, maybe two at the most.”

“So you have no idea.” Tistan rolled her eyes. “Why was this not found sooner? Even if you weren’t equipped with the Draconian technology before, your city officials had to have been aware of the missing populace.”

“The Vilmar are targeting our homeless population,” General Fox informed her. “Alarms aren’t exactly being raised when the homeless begin to disappear from the streets.”

“That’s horrible,” Emma said out loud, more voicing her thoughts than making a statement. “They already have it bad enough and now they’re being preyed on by vampires.”

“Vilmar, but, yes I know what you mean,” General Fox corrected. “You should know that I meant every word of what I said to you at your house. You have our full support, and even though this mission is taking place sooner than what we wanted, we still have every intention of partnering with the Academy and the Alliance and helping you in your training.”

“One decapitation at a time,” Tistan interjected from her seat. “Let’s see what the Vilmar have in store for us before we begin setting up meetings for you with those in power.”

General Fox didn’t say anything, but from her seat behind Laloyd, Emma could see the general clench his right hand, which rested on top of his left knee. Working with her mother and the general was going to take a small miracle.

“Emma, can you scroll back to the image of the city?” Tistan said, looking over at the smart pad sitting in Emma’s lap. “I want to get a better lay of the land.”

Emma obeyed, swiping back to the image on the screen that showed the aerial view of the garment district in downtown Los Angeles.

“Tistan,” General Fox said in a commanding voice. “If you’re thinking of teleporting there by yourself, let me tell you we can—”

Before the general could even finish his thought, Tistan had locked coordinates on the teleportation band she wore on her left wrist. She grabbed Emma around the shoulders. A moment later, they were standing on a street corner in downtown Los Angeles.

Emma felt her stomach roll, but she was getting used to teleporting by now. Before, she would have fallen to her knees, retching her last meal. Now her stomach protested, but she was able to keep herself together.

They stood on a street corner in the bustling downtown area of Los Angeles’ garment district. In all four directions, business warehouses had been transformed into stores that rolled their wares onto the sidewalk to lure in shoppers.

A diverse mix of races and people intermingled with one another as they haggled for the best prices on everything from boots to jackets.

It seemed their arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed. A few people pointed and shouted in surprise. One elderly Asian man in particular stared dumbly at Tistan as she maneuvered her hood once again to cover her features. The elderly man had an ice cream cone in his hand that stopped halfway to his mouth, now long forgotten.

“This is all in your head,” Tistan told the man as she began walking down the street in the crowd. “You should go get yourself checked out by a mental physician.”

“Do you think we should have gone with them?” Emma asked her mother as she moved to keep pace with her. “I mean, they’re the government. They wanted to help.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t use your own teleportation device sooner.” Tistan looked down at the band Emma wore on her own wrist. “I would have.”

“What?” Emma shook her head like her mother was crazy. “You know the Alliance told me it was strictly only for teleporting to the Academy and back or for emergencies. I’m not supposed to use it just whenever I want.”

“You’re right. I guess after the Alliance disavowed me, I’ve been a bit bitter.” Tistan spat the words. “You were right not to use it, but you didn’t have to. I used mine instead.”

Emma thought about her mother’s words. Ever since the Alliance had learned that Tistan was aiding Emma in her training at the Academy, they had released Tistan from her rank in the Alliance. Her mother had taken a job at the Academy as head of security, but she knew her mother still harbored a grudge against the Alliance.

Mother and daughter continued their journey in silence. Emma remembered her training at the Academy. She made sure she remained aware of her surroundings at all times. The white noise of vendors shouting their wares and traffic drowned out most anything else.

Looks were still directed at her mother as those not engrossed in their phones or examining the wares of the garment district noticed the tall hooded woman walk with purpose down the sidewalk.

Emma’s stomach grumbled, the walls of her mouth gathering moisture as a street vendor selling tacos came into sight.

No focus, Emma told herself. Kill the alien vampires first, then tacos.

Tistan came to such a harsh halt in front of her that Emma nearly ran into her mother. Emma followed her mother’s gaze to an open storefront across the street. The store looked like any other. A few racks of clothes out front to catch the eye of potential buyers and an open door leading inside the shop.

Upon further inspection, Emma realized the storefront sold wedding dresses. Something pulled at her deep inside, some predisposition to like things with silk and lace.

Raised by her father, Emma was free to like anything she wanted to. For the most part, she had chosen to follow her father’s lead. She was more of a football and muscle car fan than one to go all googly eyed over a wedding dress.

Maybe it was being beside a mother she had never known while at the same time in the proximity of something so savagely feminine that she felt this innate draw to the dark side.

“Emma, did you hear anything I just said?” Tistan asked, looking down at her daughter with concern in her eyes. “Are you well?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Emma lied. “What’s the plan? Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, last time I looked, neither aliens or vampires or alien vampire hybrids owned wedding dress shops.”

“This is where General Fox’s intelligence pointed.” Tistan motioned with her chin toward the shop. “It would be smart for the Vilmar to hide in plain sight. They are known for their cunning and tactics. I’ll take point. You watch my back.”

“I should be the one doing this,” Emma said. She was surprised to hear the conviction in her own voice. “I’m the Arilion Knight of Earth. I was chosen to protect it.”

“Yes, but you’re still learning.” Tistan had already begun moving across the street. “You’ve only had two months of training. It will take years of practice for you to master your abilities.”

Before Emma could argue, her mother was halfway across the street. Not using a crosswalk or lights, a white sedan screeched on its brakes as Tistan crossed right in front of its path. The vehicle came inches from hitting her mother.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” the car’s middle-aged male driver yelled from out of his rolled-down window. A thick Mexican accent laced every word. He stuck his head out to continue his tirade. “What’s you problem, lady!?”

Tistan stopped and turned to face the man. She raised both her clenched fists and slammed them down on his car’s hood so hard her palms left indentations in the metal.

“If you continue to scream, you’ll be my problem,” Tistan snarled, reaching for one of her sword handles that poked over the top of her shoulders. “In fact, I think this world would be better if I cut that tongue from your mouth, human.”

“Wow, wow, wow.” Emma ran into the street, grabbing her mother’s arm. She waved away the driver, who had sunk back into his car and gone a pale white color. “Sorry about that; she’s on a sugar high all those coco puffs this morning. I don’t know how they can claim it’s part of a complete breakfast.”

Emma pulled her mother to the other side of the street. The entire time, Tistan’s eyes never left the frightened driver. She used her right pointer and middle finger to motion to her eyes and then back at the driver.

“Hey, you can’t be doing that here,” Emma said, releasing her mother’s arm as the two women crested the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.

“I wasn’t going to cut out his tongue,” Tistan reassured her daughter in a voice that made it sound like everything was okay. “I was just going to rough him up a bit, maybe take an ear or an eye.”

“I hope you’re joking,” Emma said to her mother.

“We’ll never know now,” Tistan responded as the white sedan pulled away. She looked at the store they stood in front of, moving her right hand to the hilt of the sword once more. “Let’s go.”

4

As much as Emma thought she should be the one taking the lead inside the shop, she realized arguing with her headstrong mother wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

The inside of the store had a high ceiling and plenty of light to put Emma at ease. Unlike the tomb she was expecting to enter, the store was cheerfully decorated with pictures of flowers and cathedrals on the walls.

The musty scent of hundreds, maybe thousands of wedding dresses filled the room. Rows upon rows and racks upon racks lined the majority of the room. Mannequins were set up at intervals displaying wedding dresses that ranged from sleeveless with a plunging neckline to more conservative and layered.

A man stood behind a waist-high counter to the right rear of the store. A closed door stood across from him on the left.

“Welcome, welcome,” the man said in perfect English. “How may I help you today?”

If the man was one of these Vilmar, Emma couldn’t tell. He was older with square glasses. His bald head, narrow shoulders, and average height didn’t exactly scream threatening to Emma. Still, she remembered what her mother said. The Vilmar were masters at strategy. If someone did want to lure Emma into a sense of security, this was the perfect way to do so.

Emma clenched her fists, feeling the warmth brought on by her power. In a moment, she could use her vambraces to summon a shield or sword. Other items she was less familiar with could be brought to life as well.

“We’re not here for dresses,” Tistan said, stalking toward the man. Her right hand clenched the handle on one of her weapons. “I’ve seen your kind before. You’re nothing more than a turned human. I would like to speak to your mistress or master.”

The man ran a thin tongue over his lips, blinking up at Tistan as if he didn’t understand what she was saying.

“Do you understand me?” Tistan finally made it to the counter where the man stood waiting. “Where is your master? Is he here?”

Emma was half afraid they were in the wrong place, half too worried about what her mother was about to do to this man at the moment to care.

Motion behind Emma drew her attention to the entrance they just came through. Dozens of men and woman of all sizes and ages walked into the room. They didn’t seem to be in any apparent hurry. They moved as one, filing into the store until the entrance was clogged with bodies. One of them closed and secured the door behind them.

The look in their eyes as they stared at Emma and Tistan was unnerving. Their eyes were open, however they looked dazed, as if they weren’t actually seeing anything at all. They looked as though they were under some kind of spell.

“I think we’re in the right place,” Emma said as the horde of newcomers began slowly moving toward them and forming a circle around the pair. “I don’t think they’re all here looking for wedding dresses.”

The older man behind the counter smiled before motioning to the door that stood on the other side of the room. It slowly began to open. A dark figure stepped into the room. He was thin and tall, just like the pictures of the Vilmar Emma had seen on General Fox’s smart pad.

Oh, why didn’t we wait for backup? Emma kicked herself in her mind. A dozen Marines would come in handy right about now.

The man stood behind the circle of people who had entered the store and now surrounded Emma and Tistan. His dark eyebrows and eyelashes contrasted his pale skin and grey eyes. When he spoke, the fangs on his upper teeth were unmistakable.

“I wondered when you would come,” he said with the slightest hint of an alien accent. “I hoped you would come. An Arilion Knight. I heard your kind have made a reemergence in the universe. Your order was only legend to me until now.”

Tistan ignored the Vilmar’s cordial welcome and unsheathed both her weapons. The blades on her slender swords that reminded Emma of katanas glowed with a green sheen. The weapons she used were more than just metal swords. They were coated in what Tistan had described to her was something like a magical liquid that heated the blades and allowed them to cut through other weapons like a warm knife through cold butter.

Emma tried to keep her cool. This was much harder than she had anticipated while being surrounded by two dozen men and women with dead eyes. Still she refrained from constructing her own weapons, just for now.

“Your presence is new to me as well,” Emma said, her words slow and deliberate. The last thing she wanted to do now was start to stutter. It was a problem that came from years of being nervous around others that had begun from being bullied in school. “What are you doing on Earth?”

“I’m glad you can see the reason in having a conversation instead of immediately resorting to violence,” the Vilmar said with a smile as he looked at Tistan’s weapons. He stepped forward to take a place at the front of the gathered circle of his turned humans.

Emma was able to get a better look at him. He was dressed nicely, in an expensive-looking black suit. A gold chain hung down his neck and stood out against the black button-up shirt underneath his jacket.

“My name is Desmond Delshire. I’m just a traveler looking for a new home,” the Vilmar said, glancing over at Tistan again. “Much like the Halyna here.”

“I’m nothing like you.” Tistan bent her knees, ready to spring. She tossed her head back, removing her hood. “I’m not changing the DNA in humans, turning them to fulfill my greater plan.”

“Oh, that’s what you think I’m doing?” Desmond chuckled with laughter as he shook his head from side to side. The sound made Emma cringe inside. It was empty, devoid of any actual mirth whatsoever. “I’ve only turned those who have come to me. I’ve only taken the ones the humans have cast to the side like trash. I’ve given them better lives.”

The gathered group of men and woman didn’t look like homeless to Emma at all. Each one of them was clean, groomed, and wore normal, everyday clothes from new jeans to clean polos. Besides the glazed-over look in their eyes, they seemed to be like anyone else.

Emma did a double take as she recognized a face in the crowd. To her right was the elderly Asian man who had been eating his ice cream when Emma and her mother first teleported into the garment district. He looked at Emma now like a trained animal waiting for the cue from its master.

“This isn’t a life at all,” Emma said, moving her gaze back to Desmond. “If you really think that, you’re just lying to yourself.”

“They have food, shelter, clothing; they’re clean and healthy,” Desmond said, opening his arms to take in those gathered in the store. “We don’t have to be enemies. We can come to an understanding. I’ll lay low while I’m on Earth and just take those your society doesn’t want anyway. Agreements such as these have worked on other planets.”

“I think I’ve heard enough.” Emma brought a purple sword to her right hand. Unlike her mother’s katana-shaped weapons, her blade was heavier. Similar to a long sword, it could be held in a single palm or as a double-handed weapon. “Leave my planet or turn yourself in. Those are your two options.”

“I wish we could have been friends.” Desmond drew back into the crowd of the humans he had turned around him. He gave a signal with his right hand. “Good-bye, Arilion Knight.”

The next instant, the lights in the store went out. The only window in the store was next to the front door. A pair of Desmond’s turned threw dark drapes over the window, plunging the room into inky blackness.

Fear rose in Emma’s heart as she pressed her back to her mother’s. She held her sword in front of her with two hands. Fear, however, wasn’t the only thing rising in Emma. Deep inside her, the will to live, the will to fight the bullies of the world that preyed on the weak rose as well.

The only light now came from the dull green glow of Tistan’s blades as well as the purple light of Emma’s vambraces and weapon.

The gathered group of turned around them seemed to snap out of their daze at once. Instead of their stoic stance, they now crouched low, their dead eyes full of bloodlust and rage where emptiness lived a moment ago. They moved around looking for an opening to attack like a pride of lions ready to pounce on their cornered prey.

“Remember, severing their heads from their bodies is the fastest way to put them down,” Tistan said, still pressing her back to her daughter. “Hold your training close and you’ll be fine.”

“We really need to start practicing constructing guns,” Emma shouted back over the growling sound coming from the turned. Along with her sword, Emma also constructed a purple bodysuit of thin armor that would protect her from any offensive blow the turned would be able to muster. As far as Emma could tell, they didn’t carry any weapons with them.

One second they were staring down the turned in the light of their blades, the next all hell broke loose in the wedding dress store. As if the coven of turned were given the green light, all of a sudden, they swarmed Emma and Tistan in one mob.

The elderly man they had talked to first that stood behind the counter sprang forward, leaping first on the counter and then into the air in a flying attack. He moved like a trained gymnast half his age.

Emma saw him coming from the corner of her left eye. At the same time, she had three more turned charging her head on.

And this is why I don’t come to bridal stores, Emma thought to herself as she moved to engage.

5

Emma dispatched the first three attackers, charging forward with a wide swipe from her sword that moved from right to left in an upward arc. In this way, she hoped to take out all three charging turned in front of her and pivot all the way through to meet the elderly shopkeeper who descended on her like a trained chimp.

Emma swung hard, channeling strength into her arms. Her long sword cut through the torso of her first attacker, the chest of her second, and the head of the third. Before she could finish her stroke and turn to the man leaping at her from above, one of Tistan’s green blades swiped up and opened a wound on the man’s face from the bottom of his chin to the crown of his head.

His forward momentum still carried him straight at the two women, but instead of a manic grin and eager eyes, his body was limp. Emma pushed hard off her mother’s back with her own, opening a space for the dead shopkeeper to sail through before slamming into yet another turned who charged forward.

Emma struck out over and over again with her purple blade. The proximity they fought in was so close Emma used the pommel of her sword to crack against a skull and placed a booted foot in the sternum of another turned who lunged at her.

It was like she was stuck in some kind of nightmare. The glow of her armor and sword lit a dozen hungry faces that lunged at her with mania in their eyes.

“Down!” Tistan shouted.

Emma didn’t even have to think about what to do; she just reacted. Immediately, Emma went to a knee and ducked. Her mother rolled over her back with her own kicking out at the same time and catching a turned square in the face with a heavy boot.

“The drapes,” Tistan shouted as she slashed her way forward.

“I’m on it.” Emma allowed her sword to dissipate. She constructed a helmet over her face and took off like a running back on the way to a game winning touchdown.

Hands and teeth reached out for her from every corner. Instead of trying to fight them off, Emma rushed forward, making her way to the drapes. The turned hung off her like children. In vain, they tried to bite and then claw at her, but her constructed purple uniform held under their onslaught.

Emma reached the drapes, ripping them off the rod they were attached to. Instantly, the room was filled with brilliant midday light. She squinted in the sunshine, giving her pupils time to dilate and compensate for the amount of light.

The turned on her were more annoying at this point than anything else. Emma shook them off, striking out with her fist and legs, breaking bones as she went. One turned in particular was trying to bite at her left leg.

Emma leaned down and lifted the man, pressing his back to her chest. She placed him in a headlock. He struggled like his life depended on it, but his strength, even as a turned, was no match for Emma.

She poured her will to fight into her vambraces, which gave her all the strength she needed. As long as her will to fight and win was alive, her vambraces could construct whatever she wanted as well as give her all the strength and speed she required.

A moment later, the turned in her arms went still. His limp frame dragged against her body, a sure sign the lack of oxygen to his brain had rendered him unconscious. Instead of holding on longer and risk killing him, Emma let him drop to the ground.

Emma kicked herself for not asking sooner if the result of being turned was reversible. The bodies around her screamed that it was way too late to be thinking about that now.

The store was littered with bodies. Blood soaked the tile floor and poured from a dozen wounded turned. Tistan stood over one who was trying to crawl on her hands and knees to the rear door Desmond had escaped through. She lifted a green katana over the turned’s head.

“Wait,” Emma said, allowing her helmet to deconstruct. “Is what Desmond did to them irreversible? Is there a way they can be normal again?”

“Nope,” Tistan said without sympathy in her voice. She plunged her blade down through the woman’s head below her. “Once the Vilmar get their hands on a host, they can control them. Even when they’re not controlled the turned need to feed. That means more blood, more victims. There’s no bringing them back.”

Emma’s guilt doubled for feeling a sense of relief. She had to get better at this Arilion Knight thing and fast. What if the turned had been able to be saved? She would have already killed half a dozen of them.

“This is your first real battle, isn’t it?” Tistan said as she went through the Vilmar corpses one by one and made sure they were dead. “You did well.”

“There was the fight with the Shay on the beach,” Emma said numbly as she looked at the carnage at her feet. “But this—this wasn’t like that.”

“Stay focused,” Tistan warned as she moved over to the door that Desmond had escaped through. “The fight is just beginning.”

Emma nodded. She took a deep breath, calming the sick feeling that grew in her stomach.

You had to do it; it was self-defense, Emma told herself in her head as she forced herself to look at the dead bodies. Doing this is saving hundreds, maybe thousands of other lives.

Emma knew everything she was telling herself was true. Still, it didn’t mask the regret she felt at ending life. On one hand, she knew she would get used to it the more she did it; on the other hand, should she ever want to get used to it?

These questions would have to wait as Tistan disappeared through the brown wooden door in the rear of the shop. Emma took a deep cleansing breath before following her mother. She had to be careful where to place her feet as the bodies and the slick floor made a morbid obstacle course for her to traverse.

When Emma finally reached the door, she discovered that instead of an extra room, a flight of stairs led upward to another level. Tistan’s glowing green swords lit the way for her as she used them for light in the dark passage.

“Why does it always have to be dark?” Emma muttered to herself. “Vampires aren’t bad enough? They have to turn out all the lights?”

Emma brought a glowing purple sword to her hand again. The contrast felt comfortable in the present moment. Emma knew it was just a weapon, powerless without her; still, it felt familiar in a way that she needed right now.

Deep inside, Emma felt the will to fight grow. It was still a new feeling for her. Only a few short months ago, she was the stuttering high schooler with no friends, the victim of bullying by pretty much everyone in her school.

Now she was the Arilion Knight of Earth. A wild sense of power, the will to be everything she could be had been growing in her, like a bear woken from a deep hibernation. Emma knew she was different now. The thought terrified and thrilled her at once.

Even now, while she crested the steps to reach her mother, who stood at the top of the stairs, an excited tingle of anticipation raced up and down her arms.

“It’s over,” Tistan said to someone as she stood on the last step and turned to address the dark room. “Let’s be done with your games. Today, you die.”

Emma joined her mother as she reached the top step. She turned to look deeper into the dark room. As far as she could tell, the room was long with wooden floorboards. Windows lined either wall but were covered over with paper so no sunlight could come in.

On the far side of the room, a large window covered the wall. The window was also covered with newspaper and tape with the exception of a single pane about a foot in length and height. Golden sunlight spilled into the room in a beam of glorious illumination.

Desmond lounged in a leather chair with his black dress shoes propped up on an ancient-looking wooden table. It was difficult to make out much past his figure in the lighting.

“You are so naïve,” Desmond huffed as though the conversation was boring to him. “You think you’ve won and this story is over, but in actuality, it is only beginning.”

Desmond pulled something from his pocket.

Emma tensed, shifting her sword to her left hand and constructing a much shorter blade meant for throwing in her right. She was still becoming proficient with throwing knives under Drown’s tutelage at the Academy. The distance between where she stood and where Desmond sat had to be at least ten yards. If she was perfect, she could make the throw.

Instead of any kind of weapon, Desmond pulled out a square black something from the inside of his breast pocket. He tapped the screen a few times, lighting up his face, then placed it on the table in front of him.

The phone began to play “Fur Elise” by Beethoven. The familiar sound filled the room.

“There.” Desmond waved them forward. “Now that you’ve gotten some of that blood lust out of your veins, let’s talk.”

“We have nothing to talk to you about,” Emma said, remembering the people she had just brutally murdered because Desmond had turned them into monsters. “You took everything from those people. You’re coming with us. If you refuse, we will kill you.”

“The Arilion Knight has bark with her bite.” Desmond twirled his right pointer finger in the air around him as if he were conducting the music. “Honestly, I’ve never killed an Arilion Knight. No one alive today has to my knowledge. I wonder if an Arilion can become a turned? Imagine that? An Arilion Knight working for me and doing my every bidding.”

Desmond jumped to his feet like he was struck with a lightning bolt. “Yes, I love it! That’s what we’re going to do.”

“Enough of this mindless chatter!” Tistan roared, unable to keep her temper any longer. “You die, now!”

Tistan sprinted forward, hurling one of her own glowing swords at Desmond. He was beyond fast, or maybe it was the lighting in the room that played with Emma’s eyes, but he looked like a blur of black motion.

Desmond moved to the side, allowing the weapon to spiral past him and shatter a section of the covered window pane behind him. The sound of cracking glass filled the room as brilliant light traversed the chamber’s every corner.

Emma had been still long enough.

Tistan was already in front of Desmond, trading blows with the Vilmar.

Emma allowed the throwing knife in her hand to dissipate, instead placing both her hands on the pommel of her long sword. She threw herself into the fight as she and her mother slashed out with their purple and green blades.

Tistan was a trained warrior and Emma as an Arilion Knight was no pushover herself; still, they failed over and over again to land a hit on Desmond. He moved so quickly it was impossible to try and strike him where he stood. He stepped back at the right moment, ducked and sidestepped while he had to, avoiding every strike Tistan and Emma sent. What was worse he wore a sick smile on his lips that told Emma he was just playing with them.

Tistan came down on the crown of his head with a two-handed strike. Desmond caught the pommel of her sword right hand before sending a forward kick into her gut that threw her across the room.

Emma used the momentary distraction to gather herself and form her own attack. She feinted forward, making sure Desmond thought she was going for a straight strike with her sword. He turned in a circle, allowing her weapon to hit nothing but air. His fist came down on her face with so much force it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer.

Emma’s vision went blurry as unconsciousness came for her.

6

No, not yet, not yet Emma, Emma screamed in her head as she shook her head to clear the cobwebs of the coming concussion.

Desmond struck her again. Emma managed to construct a helmet over her head before his fist collided with her face. Her timing was just off. Desmond saw her helmet and pulled back on the force of his punch so as to not injure his own hand. The force from his blow was still enough to send her to her knees.

“Did you think it would be that easy?” Desmond asked from above her. “You were fighting turned before and newly turned at that. They were nothing more than babes. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into here. I’ve experimented on others. Others that are so much stronger than what you have seen here today.”

Desmond lifted a foot to bring down on Emma’s head.

Instead of his foot crashing down on her face, Desmond jerked to his right as Tistan pounced on him with her remaining green sword. Her blade cut a shallow line across his left cheek. A thin sheet of black blood gushed down his cheek.

Desmond grabbed Tistan around both of her wrists with each of his own hands. Tistan was moving noticeably slower after Desmond had kicked her across the room and into the wall.

The Vilmar pinned Tistan’s hands to her sides and lifted her off the ground.

Tistan screamed in pain as he crushed her wrists in his hands. Her right hand still holding her blade was forced to open and release her grip. The green katana fell to the ground with a thud.

“You’re going to pay with your life for making me bleed this day, Halyna,” Desmond screamed at her as he held her in place.

A snap from Tistan’s right wrist brought another scream to her lips. As much as it was filled with pain, her roar held anger and rage inside.

Emma worked her way to her hands and knees. Seeing the amount of pain her mother was in gave her all the will to fight she needed. Her vambraces grew in brilliance as they glowed with the rage of her fighting spirit.

Instead of acting out in pure emotion, Emma formed a plan. As soon as the thoughts came to her she reacted. With her right hand Emma formed a purple net she threw forward as hard as she could. The construct hit Desmond covering him in thick purple ropes and weighted corners. Desmond lost his hold on Tistan, who kicked away. She landed on her back in a heap.

Desmond was in the process of ripping free from the construct when Emma moved again. She formed massive hulk-like fist constructs over her own actual fists. With every ounce of strength she could muster, she began pounding Desmond over and over again as he tried to free himself from the net.

Tistan struggled to her knees as Emma watched from the corner of her peripheral vision. There was nothing she could do for her mother now. The best thing she could focus on at the moment was taking Desmond out of the fight.

The will and energy needed to hold the net in place as Desmond sought to rip free, as well as hold her helmet and continue to pound on Desmond with the massive fists was beyond taxing.

Sweat poured down her face and her back as she struck the Vilmar over and over again. Her attack was succeeding in keeping the Vilmar at bay, but it wasn’t going to take Desmond out of the fight for good. The amount of energy the vambraces were sapping from Emma was going to run her dry in the matter of minutes. The fight needed to end now.

Emma allowed her massive fists to deconstruct. She took a step back, placing her in a position with her back to the wall and stairway she had come up with her mother.

Desmond finally succeeded in freeing himself from the net that disappeared a moment later. He was bleeding not just from his cheek but from his nose. His right eye was already beginning to swell.

“Impressive, yet nowhere near what you needed to accomplish to take out one of my kind,” Desmond straightened his suit jacket and dusted off his sleeves. “Your mother is out of the fight unless she’s going to try and kick me to death. Her wrists are shattered.”

Tistan ground her teeth, focusing past the pain as she fought her way back to her feet. True to Desmond’s words, her hands lay limp at her sides.

“So tell me how much do you have left in that little body of yours?” Desmond asked Emma with a smile. “How much longer can you fight?”

“Long enough.” Emma constructed a hose in her arms that she held at her hip. She braced her feet against the wood, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

“Really? Really?” Desmond looked at her like a disappointed teacher. “You’re going to spray me to death?”

“Not to death,” Emma corrected him. “Just out of this building and maybe off this block.”

Emma allowed the energy she channeled into the hose to build while they were talking. At once, she unleashed the beam of purple power right into the center of Desmond’s chest. For the first time that day, she caught Desmond off guard.

It was clear the Vilmar wasn’t expecting much from her at this point in the fight. He had anticipated her energy would be running low, that the ability for her to construct an effective attack was nonexistent. He was wrong.

Emma hit Desmond dead center in his chest. Her attack was so strong it lifted Desmond off his feet, sending him flying backwards into what was left of the glass window. One of Tistan’s katanas had already shattered a sizeable hole in the glass panes. This was nothing compared to the hole Desmond left in his wake.

The last thing Emma saw as the Vilmar was lifted off his feet and sent out the window was a look of utter shock and amazement over his face. The next second, he was gone.

Emma’s chest heaved up and down as she sucked in long draughts of oxygen. She allowed her hose, helmet, and armor suit over her body to dissipate, giving her a break from having to keep her energy channeled on the constructs.

Allowing the constructs to disappear was like having a weighted vest lifted off her both physically and mentally. Emma allowed herself to relish the feeling for a moment before she was by her mother’s side.

Tistan’s eyes were full of pain; however, the hardened warrior wasn’t about to complain. “You did well, Emma. Earth is lucky to have you as their Arilion Knight.”

“Thanks.” Emma didn’t mean to shrug off the compliment, but the sound of sirens in the distance began to fill the room. “We need to get you help and be out of here before the cops show up. I’m not sure how we’re going to explain a wedding shop full of dead bodies to them.”

“Agreed,” Tistan grunted as she tried to maneuver one of her hands across the holo band she wore on her wrist. “We should be gone.”

“Here, let me,” Emma said. Lifting her own arm, she touched her holo band on her left wrist. She adjusted the coordinates for the Academy.

The next instant, a tingling sensation filled them as they were teleported from Earth to a space station that orbited around the planet of Stardox in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Emma and her mother were taken from the upstairs of the bridal shop in the garment district of Los Angeles and deposited to the teleportation room in the Academy.

The teleportation room reserved for receiving incoming travelers was plain white with a half circle chamber constructed for arrivals. Across from the receiving teleportation bay was a control panel with two stations for whoever was on duty.

“Emma, Emma, is that you?” The familiar voice of her friend Layga immediately put Emma at ease. “Are you hurt?”

Truth be told, Emma was exhausted with a pounding headache that felt like a shovel was being whacked against her skull every other second thanks to Desmond Dalshire. She wasn’t about to tell her friend any of this when her mother was suffering from not one but two broken wrists.

“I’m fine.” Emma motioned to her mother. “Tistan needs help. We have to take her to the infirmary right away.”

“Right, lucky I was on shift at the teleportation room.” Layga moved over to lift Tistan into her large arms. As a member of the Ree, her race was one of giants. She was easily a head taller than Emma, even though they were the same age. “Here, Tistan Duel, let me carry you.”

“I can walk myself, Ree,” Tistan growled. “I know the way.”

Layga visibly recoiled as if Tistan had slapped her.

“Come find me before you leave,” Tistan told Emma before she left the room. “We should discuss our next moves with both our would-be allies and our new enemy.”

“I will,” Emma said as her mother disappeared around the corner.

“What happened?” Layga asked, looking Emma up and down. “You look horrible.”

“Thanks, thanks for that.” Emma took a seat beside her friend. “I feel horrible. I need a Tylenol or something.”

“Wow, who pissed on Tistan’s leg?” Jeba walked into the room with the two other girls. “I just passed her in the hall and she looked like a mad saberling. I swear, if she wasn’t Emma’s mother, I’d—”

Jeba was a Bracka from the planet Brewit. In every way, she was the complete opposite of Layga. She was short and stocky with a temper legendary among her people. That the three girls were best friends was nothing short of a miracle.

When Jeba saw Emma, she immediately changed her tune. “Oh hey, Emma, your mom—looks nice today.”

The three friends immediately broke into a fit of laughter. Emma was so tired, Jeba’s words seemed funnier than they should be at the moment. Each chuckle brought a new pang of pain to her cranium.

“Ugh, don’t make me laugh,” Emma said, doubling over in her seat and holding her head. “It’s been a wild morning.”

“What happened?” Jeba asked as her eyes widened in size. “Does something or someone need killing? Please tell me we need to go kill something.”

“Well, kinda.” Emma spent the next few minutes explaining her morning to the girls. She told them everything from meeting General Fox to fighting Desmond Delshire.

When she was finished, both Layga’s and Jeba’s mouths were open. Layga’s was so wide she looked like she could fit an entire turkey inside in one bite.

“So we do get to kill something.” Jeba nodded with a smile. “Perhaps things are beginning to look up.”

“Is that all you heard?” Emma shook her head incredulously. “I have to get back to Earth and try to smooth things over with the general. And I have to hunt down and kill this Vilmar before he can turn anyone else.”

“Right, right.” Jeba grinned, making her eyebrows jump up and down. “But we have a fight on our hands. The giant and I love fighting.”

“Actually, you love fighting,” Layga corrected her friend. “I’d rather talk things out if we can.”

“Yes, yes.” Jeba waved her hand, dismissing what her friend said. “Talking, fighting; same thing.”

The comm link on the desk in front of the girls lit up and Dean Slain Extile’s familiar voice filled the room. “Emma, I was notified that you have returned to the Academy. Will you please come to my office for a moment? Layga, Jeba, thank you for performing your task and notifying the office when anyone teleports in or out of the Academy.”

The link clicked dead.

“Woops.” Layga winced.

7

“And he wants to ally himself with the Academy and our own Alliance?” Dean Extile ran an orange finger over his orange chin. “He already knew of us?”

“Yes,” Emma said from her seat in front of the dean’s desk. “He said they’ve discovered spheres that have allowed them to travel from planet to planet in the universe. He also has the help of his own alliance he has been building on behalf of Earth. They had a Draconian with them. He looks like a human lizard or dragon. He has access to technology way beyond Earth’s.”

Slain nodded along with Emma’s explanation. His carroty-colored eyes took in every word she was saying with care. Slain wore a simple black robe that touched his feet. He was tall like her mother, a trait indicative of the Halyna race.

The office they sat in was spacious with books lining the walls in massive shelves. His office was divided into two parts. One was where they sat now at his dark brown desk. The other area was part of the same room. A few steps descended into a sitting area with cushioned chairs and busts of various alien animals.

Emma knew the office well. It was where she was first taken when she entered the Academy under the disguise of a Halyna. It was where she had her first teleportation experience and threw up all over the dean’s floor. Pepperoni and jalapeno pizza, if she remembered correctly.

“I’ll have to run this by Director Trueart, of course.” Slain broke the silence. He spoke out loud as if he were talking to himself. “The Alliance has been open to including more races into the coalition now that the Arilion Knights have returned to the universe.”

“Have more Arilion come to the Academy?” Emma asked hopefully. As much as she knew she could go the distance alone if she had to, she also realized having another Knight to share experiences with would help lighten a load. It was a burden she had felt on her shoulders since she was chosen by the vambraces.

“Yes, we’ve had a newly chosen Arilion Knight reach out to the Academy and ask for guidance.” Slain lifted a hand to quell Emma’s excitement. “He needs time to adjust. Not everyone has been so eager to accept the role of champion of their planet as you, Emma.”

Emma’s smile died on her lips.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, confused. “He doesn’t want to be an Arilion?”

“He’s coming to terms with his destiny,” Slain said in a way that reminded her of how politicians spoke. “Give him some time and then I think it would be a great idea for you to speak with him. In the meantime, I want you to know you have the full support from the Academy in protecting Earth. I know your planet hasn’t fully been accepted into the Alliance yet, but I feel like it’s just a matter of time. And you’re already part of the Academy, Emma. You’ll always have a home here.”

Not for the first time, Emma marveled at how Slain was able to put her at ease. He reminded Emma of her father; not quite as playful but just as kind and strong.

“So what do we do now?” Emma asked, trying to figure out what next steps she should take. “I have a feeling General Fox is going to be waiting for me at home and he’s probably not going to be too happy with the way we teleported out of his car and didn’t wait for him.”

“Agreed.” Slain stood from his seat behind his desk. “I’ll contact Director Trueart immediately and get something for you to give to this general when you return to Earth. In the meantime, why don’t you check in on your mother and get something for your headache.”

Emma’s face must have given her thoughts away.

“Please, the number of times you winced and touched your head was enough for me to tell you didn’t get away unscathed from the fight with the Vilmar,” Slain said, motioning with his chin to the door. “Go take care of yourself. Your planet is going to need you ready and healthy in the coming days.”

“Right.” Emma rose from her seat, then hesitated as she made for the door.

“Is there something else?” Dean Extile asked as he noticed Emma’s hesitancy to leave. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Emma bit her lower lip, then decided to ask the question that had been on her mind since General Fox had recommended it that morning. “Do you—do you think I should tell my father what I am? I mean, about all of it and what’s going on here?”

Dean Extile took a moment to think about Emma’s question.

“You’re just going to answer my question with another question and let me figure this out for myself, aren’t you?” Emma sighed. “You have that look on your face.”

“Do I?” Slain smiled. “If you know all of that, then maybe you already know what the answer to your question is. What do you think?”

“I think raising me as a single parent, he’s given everything to me. I think I love him and I want to keep him safe. That means keeping him as far away from all of this as possible.” Emma hesitated. “And then there’s the whole mother thing who left him and ended up being an alien. He’s gone through enough.”

“And yet for all those reasons, one remains that rivals what you have shared.” Slain continued Emma’s train of thought. “He’s your father and you love him and you hate lying to him.”

“I do,” Emma agreed. “More than anything, I wish I could share this part of my life with him. But is that selfish of me? Just because I want to tell him to make my life easier doesn’t mean I should if this knowledge is going to put him in harm’s way.”

“Emma Jackson.” Slain approached her and placed a gentle hand on her right shoulder. “You are the most unselfish person I know. Trust me, that’s saying a lot. I’m the dean of an intergalactic academy. Be true to your instincts, be sure to think with your head, but only after it’s consulted with your heart.”

Emma smiled at Slain. He hadn’t given her the answer she wanted. What he had given her was something to think about.

“Go, go get something for that head.” Slain removed his hand and made his way back to his desk. “I have an Alliance to contact.”

Emma obeyed, leaving his office through a large door. On the opposite side of the door, a waterfall paused briefly to allow Emma to exit without getting wet. The waterfall was one of her favorite things about Slain’s office, that and the ceiling.

The ceilings in the entire Academy simply didn’t exist or at least didn’t seem to exist to her eye. The space above her simply went on and on like the sky. It also changed colors from bright to dark when the Academy’s daily cycle changed from daytime to night.

The waterfall that existed over Slain’s door came seemingly from nowhere. A long sheet of water fell into a groove in the floor and was carried away to where? Emma had no idea.

I hope they’re not recycling toilet water for the waterfall. The idea popped into Emma’s head making her grin. Or drinking water, or both.

These thoughts traveled with Emma as she made her way to the infirmary. The pounding in her head had not intensified, but neither had it subsided. It was annoying now more than anything else.

When Emma reached the infirmary, she was met with the familiar sight of white beds lined up neatly on either side of a long room. Only one bed was being used at the moment about halfway down the aisle.

Tistan Duel lay on her back. Both of her wrists were in a kind of metal cast. Beside her bed was a short Bracka woman named Madame Cherub. Emma had interacted with the head of the infirmary twice before. Once when she was injured from a charging Turlock and once when she and Instructor Drown needed to get to Slain’s office to return Emma to Earth. The woman had shown up out of nowhere to assist them.

Scenes full of mystery still touched at Emma’s mind. She remembered the two Alliance guards Madame Cherub had lulled to sleep simply by the tone of her voice.

“You can come in,” Madame Cherub said without turning around. “Your mother is sleeping now while the Bone Builders do their work.”

“How did you know I was here?” Emma asked as she entered the room and made her way down the aisle of beds. “I didn’t make a sound.”

“Sound is only one way to realize you’re not alone.” Madame Cherub rose from her seated position. She turned to smile at Emma. Her face was wrinkled with the passing of time, but still full of joy and life. “Now what injuries did you endure during your fight with the Vilmar?”

“Just, just a headache.” Emma grimaced as she touched the spot on her face where Desmond Dalshire had landed his strike. “I didn’t realize Vilmar were that strong or quick. I’ll be better prepared next time.”

“I know you will.” Madame Cherub gave her one of her signature wide grins. “Please, come and sit. I’ll mix the elixir to take away that headache you must have.”

At the last part of her words, Madame Cherub looked down at Emma’s glowing vambraces. When not in use, they shimmered with a dark purple energy.

Emma caught the Madame eyeing her vambraces.

“Have you ever seen them before?” Emma asked. “I mean, a pair of vambraces.”

“I’m old but still not that old.” Madame Cherub made her way around the bed Emma sat on to a short table. She opened the doors to the table and began gathering the supplies she needed. “The Arilion Knights have only just begun to reemerge in the galaxies. Before that, there were millennia when the universe was left without its knights.”

“Why do you think they’re—I mean, we’re back now?” Emma asked, not sure if the Madame would have an answer but hoping for some pearl of wisdom. “I mean, why now?”

Madame Cherub pursed her lips as she produced a small tray with an empty beaker. Next, she brought out three separate vials all holding a different color liquid.

“I imagine there are threats that have entered the universe that would require the aid of Arilion Knights to vanquish. You see, the Light hates the dark. It will not abandon us to it. You had to turn back the Shay from attacking your own planet. You turned their attack but did not defeat them. Now the Vilmar are seeking to infiltrate Earth.” Madame Cherub poured the first vial of light blue liquid into the beaker, followed by the next vial of dark green substance that reminded Emma of some kind of vegetable-based smoothie.

When the liquids combined, the contents of the beaker bubbled.

“I wouldn’t normally gossip, but you’re an Arilion and I think you should know.” Madame Cherub paused to look at Emma.

There was something dangerous in the old woman’s voice that made Emma hold her breath.

“There have been reports of Arilion Knights being chosen around the universe. But as always, when heroes are called, villains move to meet them.” Cherub lowered her eyes, pouring in the final vial of dark red liquid that looked like blood. It fizzed as it hit the other two in the beaker. “I’ve heard of a new order of Knights. A dark order emerging to combat the Arilion. You need to be careful, Emma Jackson. I fear for your life.”

8

Madame Cherub held Emma’s gaze past the point of it being comfortable. Emma felt a sense of dread descend on her. She had always known the Madame to be cryptic but in a kind of loving and jovial way. This was something very different.

“I don’t mean to frighten you.” Madame Cherub cleared her throat. “I just want you to be aware of the many forces working against you in the universe. The Light will not let you down.”

“I don’t know what you mean by Light,” Emma confessed, trying to figure out if the Madame meant the forces of good by using the term or an actual being or maybe just the goodness that lived inside of others. “I’ve never seen this Light. Even when I was chosen.”

“That doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist.” Madame Cherub tried to grin. “Here, drink this elixir. It’ll take away the pain in your head.”

Emma accepted the glass beaker, looking down at the liquid.

“It’s best not to overthink this one or smell it,” Madame Cherub warned. “Just down the hatch.”

“Down the hatch,” Emma repeated, bringing the beaker to her lips and swallowing the liquid. It tasted like old fish if the fish had been infected with a zombie virus that rotted it from the inside out.

“Nope, no,” Madame Cherub coached as Emma brought a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes, fighting every fiber in her being that told her to spit it out. “Swallow it, Emma.”

By some miracle, Emma gagged down the liquid, shaking her head. Tears came to her eyes as her body was racked with coughs.

“Oh man, maybe I should have just stuck with the headache.” Emma licked her lips and fought the urge to spit. She looked over at the slumbering form of her mother, making sure she hadn’t woken her from her peaceful state.

Tistan’s eyes were still closed. Her ample bosom rose and fell with every breath she took.

“Don’t worry,” Madame Cherub told Emma. “I slipped your mother a sleeping aid to help speed her recovery.”

“You ‘slipped’ her something?” Emma looked at her mother, then to the Madame of the infirmary with shock clear on her face. “What does that mean? You roofied her?”

“No one went on anybody’s roof.” Madame Cherub shook her head. “I’ve known Tistan Duel long enough to understand she wanted to get back into the fight as soon as possible. Your mother is a woman of action, as you well know. She’d be up and running around the Academy with the Bone Builders on her wrists if I hadn’t given her something to sleep.’

Emma nodded along with Cherub’s assessment of her mother. She wasn’t wrong. Tistan would be meeting with Slain or coaching Emma on how to handle the events coming her way if she were awake.

She took a closer look at the metal cases around her mother’s wrists. They were identical and clamped on to her like manacles. A display on either one showed a read out in green and red lights that Emma didn’t understand.

“Bone Builders are exactly what they sound like,” Madame Cherub sidled up to Emma. The short Bracka was twice as wide as Emma but only came up to her chin. “They’ll assess breaks or fractures in the bone and repair it within a few hours’ time. Tistan will be up and raging to go very soon.”

“I see,” Emma said, looking down on the alien mother who had only reentered her life a few months before. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

“And you?” Madame Cherub asked. “How’s the head?”

Emma had completely forgotten about her own headache. It was gone like some distant memory that had happened yesterday or the day before.

“I feel great, thank you,” Emma said, giving Madame Cherub a sideways look. “You didn’t slip something in there to make me sleep too, did you?”

Cherub shrugged before she shuffled around the bed to return the vials and beaker she used to administer Emma’s medicine. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. We’ll never know.”

“Uh, no.” Emma grinned, realizing the Bracka was teasing with her. “I’ll know if I wake up all of a sudden drooling on your floor.”

“No, I refrained.” Madame Cherub motioned with her head to the doors of the infirmary. “You have a visitor. I wouldn’t want you to miss out.”

Emma moved her gaze over to the open doors of the infirmary where Instructor Drown stood. The Halyna teacher of combat was a longtime friend of her mother. He and Emma had gotten off on the wrong foot when she first started at the Academy, but when she had needed him the most, he had come through for her.

He was dressed in a long robe, his orange skin a shade darker than either Tistan’s or Slain’s. Stubble ran over his jaw and his shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

He waited there at the door, his eyes on Tistan’s still form only. Emma thought he might enter the infirmary to speak with them. He didn’t.

“You should go to him,” Madame Cherub whispered. “Like most warriors who have seen and lost too much, he wants to take the first step, but he won’t let himself, maybe even can’t allow himself.”

Emma didn’t bother with asking the woman what she meant. She was getting used to Madame Cherub’s cryptic way of talking.

Emma crossed the infirmary and made her way to the door. It wasn’t until she was only a few feet from Drown that he moved his gaze from Tistan to Emma.

“How is she?” he asked, skewing her with one of his signature cold stares. “What happened to you two?”

“She’s fine,” Emma assured the instructor. “Her wrists are broken, but Madame Cherub administered the Bone Builders and drugged her. That last part sounds bad, but it’s so she can sleep.”

Drown sighed relief, his muscular chest actually descending as he did so. The hardened warrior had a soft spot for her mother that Emma suspected went further than friendship.

Drown caught Emma’s eye as she witnessed his sense of relief.

“And how did it happen?” Drown changed the subject quickly allowing no chance that Emma would be able to ask him how he felt. “Who did this?”

“There’s an alien race trying to infiltrate Earth called the Vilmar,” Emma explained. “We discovered a coven including humans the alien turned and the alien himself. Those he turned were easy enough to get rid of, but he was stronger than I thought.”

“You’re stronger than he could ever be with those vambraces,” Drown growled at her. “You should have been able to take him easily.”

Heat rushed to Emma’s face as she caught the tone in his voice that said he blamed her for what had happened to Tistan.

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m still getting used to being an Arilion Knight and the whole mother back in my life thing and aliens running around freaking Los Angeles.” Emma didn’t mean to shout, but her voice filled the infirmary. “Why don’t you go and fight the Vilmar? I’m sure you’d do a much better job than I could.”

“You need to train harder.” Drown ignored her words, looking down at her with an intensity she would have shied away from two months before. “You need to be like the Arilion Knights of old. You can be like them if you push yourself past your limits. Don’t hold back.”

“I’m not holding anything back,” Emma said through clenched teeth. Anger burned in her heart.

Just go before you say or do something you regret, Emma told herself. You have better things to do than argue with Drown.

“So, hey, it’s been really great catching up with you, Instructor Drown,” Emma lied and gave the Halyna a fake smile. “I’m going to be going now.”

Drown didn’t respond to her. The only indication he gave of hearing her at all was moving his gaze back from her to her mother.

Emma cooled off by traveling through the Academy. She headed down to visit the Beast Prevention class taught by the newly appointed Ree named Instructor Low. The Academy had found a suitable replacement for the position, reassigning the android who had previously taught the class in a lateral move to assist Emma’s mother in her duties as chief security officer at the Academy.

Emma walked the halls as the students of the Academy were released from their classes for their midday meal in the mess hall. Emma did her best to smile at familiar faces, but there was no denying things were very different now.

As much as she wanted to be one of them, just another recruit at the Academy, she wasn’t. She had entered the Academy under a disguise and had to lie to her class of recruits. Then she was chosen as an Arilion Knight. This separated her even further.

Now her former classmates weren’t only wary of her being half human, they were in awe of her being a living, breathing Arilion Knight. It was the double-edged sword of not fully trusting her while still being amazed by her that drove most of them away.

Taking one on one classes with the instructors to further hone her abilities as an Arilion Knight drove the wedge between her and her former friends even further. Layga and Jeba were the only ones that had remained by her side.

As Emma walked down the stone hall, Jaymore and Elexon caught her eye. The Ree and Bracka boys noticed her looking. They smiled and waved but did nothing to slow their progress as they hurried past.

Daylon’s familiar face came next. The Halyna boy had shared something with her they were only beginning to explore when Emma’s identity as half human, and an Arilion Knight at that, was revealed.

“Oh, uh, hey, Em—I mean, Emma,” Daylon said with a boyish grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I didn’t—I didn’t know you’d be here. I thought you trained in the mornings now and were back on Earth in the afternoon.”

The entire time he spoke to her, his eyes shifted from her vambraces to her eyes and back and forth. To most of the recruits and even to some of the adults, the glowing vambraces were legendary.

“Yeah—I—well, there’s a lot going on right now on Earth, so the schedule has been kind of bananas lately.” Emma cleared her throat, trying to make the conversation as least awkward as she could. “How are classes? Jeba and Layga tell me Instructor Grimm is really getting into some tough—”

“Come on, Daylon,” a familiar voice that made Emma cringe inside said from behind her. “You’re going to be late for our lunch date.”

Emma turned to see Dana, one of the other first-year recruits. She was a Halyna girl who fit the bill as your typical bully. It seemed even in a floating space station in orbit, mean girls still existed.

Dana refused to look at Emma. Instead, she craned her neck to look past Emma at Daylon.

“Good to see you too,” Emma said to the Halyna girl.

“Shouldn’t you be training or protecting your planet or something?” Dana rolled her eyes, looking at Emma for the first time. “Or maybe telling more lies about your purity of race.”

“You know the really cool thing about these vambraces?” Emma constructed a drill the size of her arm in her right hand. In her left, a purple axe appeared in her palm with a wicked-looking end. “I can make anything I want, anything.”

Dana took a step back. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then closed it again. She turned on her heel a moment later and stalked down the hall.

“Oh, that’s really going to piss her off.” Daylon whistled behind Emma.

“I know.” Emma sighed, allowing her constructs to disappear as she turned back to Daylon. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“Well, I should be going now, but…” Daylon’s voice trailed off like he was going to say something more. He looked at her with a gaze that said there was more if he could only bring himself to say it. “But good luck, Emma.”

“Thanks,” Emma said as Daylon walked by. There was more she was going to say too. So much she wanted to tell him.

You got to say something, you got to say something before he leaves, before it’s too late! Emma screamed at herself in her head. This is the perfect time. If not now when?

Emma turned to say something to Daylon’s retreating figure. The hall was nearly free of recruits now as they made their way to their midday meal.

Emma opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. The growling she heard behind her cut her off.

9

Emma closed her mouth slowly, turning as she said good-bye to Daylon under her breath. She recognized the low growl-type purring. It was coming from the classroom to her right where Beast Prevention was held. It was the reason she had come down here to begin with.

Emma walked through the doorway to the inside of a classroom where chairs and desks were set up, surrounded by an alien landscape of trees, grass, and a bright never-ending sky overhead.

At the head of the classroom, a giant Ree male stood looking down at his desk as he leafed through papers. The growling came again even louder and more manic.

“Hush now, good boy.” The Ree instructor looked to his left past the trees at where the sound was coming from. “We’ll be along soon to get you your lunch.”

He looked up to see Emma standing at the entrance of his class.

“Hi, sorry,” Emma said with a wave of her hand. “I think Fang might be getting a little excited because he smells me.”

The Ree instructor stood eight feet tall, built like a small brick building. When he saw Emma, his eyes filled with wonder. He immediately dropped to a knee, causing the ground to shudder. He bowed his head. “Arilion Knight, my classroom is yours.”

“Oh, you can—you don’t have to bow to me.” Emma hurried into the room and grabbed the Ree’s left arm to lift him to his feet. “Please, you can get up.”

“My name is Master Low, Instructor Low here at the Academy,” Instructor Low introduced himself. “I am forever in the service of the Arilion and what they stand for. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

Standing this close, the Ree instructor reminded Emma of how large he actually was. The robe he wore could have easily acted as a covering for a small car. His long dark hair and beard made his face look even larger than it actually was. Emma had to crane her neck upward to look him in his eye.

“Thank you, Instructor Low.” Emma bobbed her own head. “I’m just here to visit a friend.”

As if on cue, the whining purr coming from just inside the wooded area sounded again.

“Of course, please.” Instructor Low extended a massive arm to his left. “I assume you are speaking of the saberling? I was told you share a common bond with him.”

“Yeah, at first I think he just liked me because of my scent.” Emma smiled as they made their way through the line of trees to an enclosed pen where Fang sat waiting. “But we’ve been through some trials together now that have brought us closer.”

Emma’s grin turned into a Cheshire cat smile as she saw Fang jumping up and down in his pen. The saberling looked like a small wolf and sabertooth tiger hybrid with enormous fangs coming down from the top of his mouth. He was still an adolescent but was growing every day. Even now he was about forty pounds and came up to Emma’s thigh.

“There he is,” Emma unlocked the gate to the fence that kept Fang in his designated area. “I missed you too buddy.”

Fang jumped on her, licking any and every piece of her he could get his pink tongue on. Emma scratched him around his ears and played with him by ruffling his cheeks and stroking his chest and sides.

Fang closed his eyes and smiled as if he were in heaven.

“Amazing,” Instructor Low commented. “I’ve never seen a saberling take to anyone like this. At least not after knowing them for such a short time. Saberlings have been domesticated, of course, but never this quickly.”

“We’ve been through an alien invasion together,” Emma said, remembering the night the Shay came to attack Earth. “Maybe that’s why we’ve bonded so quickly.”

“Perhaps,” Instructor Low said from his spot outside Fang’s pen. “If you would like to take him with you, I could speak with Dean Extile. I’m sure for an Arilion Knight, things could be worked out.”

Emma laughed out loud at the thought. She imagined her father’s and Miss Starling’s faces as they saw Fang for the first time.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m not laughing at you.” Emma sank to her knees and hugged Fang. “That’s very nice of you to offer. Thank you. I don’t know if Earth is the best place for him at the moment. He wouldn’t fit in.”

Emma heard her own words as she spoke them. It seemed neither of them were doing a great job of fitting in.

“Ohhh… I see.” Instructor Low nodded along with his words. “I know changes can be harsh and colleagues less than understanding. You’re not the only Arilion Knight to face these problems.”

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, looking up from her playing with Fang.

Instructor Low didn’t say anything. Instead, he pointedly looked to his left. A jerk from his chin told Emma he wanted her to follow his gaze.

Through the multicolored trees, Emma caught what the Ree instructor was hinting at. A dull purple glow emanated from a pair of vambraces somewhere deeper into the woods.

Emma couldn’t make out exact details of who was wearing the vambraces, but she could tell that whoever it was, was large with dark fur covering its body. Slain’s words that another Arilion had come to the Academy for guidance tickled the back of her memory.

You’re not as alone as you thought you were, Emma said to herself. Maybe things are finally starting to look up.

Emma rose to her feet. She dusted off her pants, giving Fang a final scratch behind his ears.

“When did the new knight get here?” Emma asked, approaching Instructor Low from the opposite side of the fence. “To the Academy and then to your class?”

“He arrived late yesterday afternoon at the Academy,” Instructor Low said, opening the gate for Emma. “He came here just before my class started. He stayed hidden during my lecture. I think the landscape here reminds him of his home.”

Emma nodded along with Instructor Low’s words. She tried to get a better look at the new Arilion Knight, but the trees where he stood were too dense, his distance too far. To get any kind of a good look she’d have to get closer.

“I should go talk to him,” Emma said out loud even as she thought the words. “I know how he feels.”

“You do as you see is fit.” Instructor Low cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Emma, not every Arilion who is chosen will be so accepting of the mantle. I fear our new knight is perhaps a bit overwhelmed, even bitter at being chosen.”

“I get it,” Emma said, already walking away from Instructor Low. She made her way deeper into the forest. “Thanks for the heads up.”

Fang ran alongside his pen and gave off one of his growl purrs.

“I’ll be okay, buddy.” Emma looked over to the worried saberling with a wink. “I’m tougher than I look.”

Emma made no effort to mask her presence. In fact, she made sure to place her feet a little heavier on the ground so the new knight would know she was coming. The last thing she wanted to do was sneak up on the latest addition to her order.

Emma’s heart rate picked up in tempo as she neared the creature. With every step, more details became visible. All of these details told Emma to run the other way.

He was in a small clearing on a large rock. His head was down, eyes closed as if he were sleeping or meditating. Black fur ran over his body. A long bushy tail and pointed ears made him look like an animal. His body was in the shape of a man. He sat like he could walk on two feet. His mouth and nose protruded from his face in a muzzle.

On his forearms, dark brown leather-looking vambraces so different from her own metal ones glowed with a vivid purple. He wore the uniform of the Academy, black with purple outlined trim. The only exception to his uniform was that he had torn off his sleeves. He wasn’t quite as large as Layga, but he was muscular and much taller than Emma.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” the new knight asked, opening his eyes to reveal a pair of yellow orbs. “They send you to tell me everything’s going to be all right?”

“What?—no,” Emma said, shaking her head. “No one sent me. I’m here on my own. My name is Emma Jackson. I was just chosen as Earth’s knight two months ago.”

“Lucky you.”

“What’s your name?”

“Is this the part where we become best friends and you reassure me I’m not alone?”

Emma was starting to get annoyed with the knight’s bad temper. His voice was deep but didn’t sound like an adult in her ears. If she had to guess, she’d put him in his late teens.

“We don’t have to be friends,” Emma said, moving forward to take up a standing position in front of him. “But even acquaintances know each other’s names.”

“I’m Jace Hunter from the planet Raze in the Milky Way Galaxy,” Jace said, looking up at her and fixing her with a predatory glare. “What else do you want to know, or can you leave me alone now?”

“You have a really bad attitude about this,” Emma said, unable to keep a lid on her own frustration. “You’re an Arilion Knight. The road is about to get a lot tougher from here. You’re going to have to deal with it.”

Jace stood from his seat. His muscular frame towered over Emma. His biceps were nearly the size of her leg. He stared down at her, baring his teeth.

“I am dealing with it,” Jace growled at her. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve come to the Academy to learn how to use these powers.”

“How did your vambraces choose you?” Emma asked. “I mean, what were you doing?”

“I—it doesn’t matter,” Jace said, catching himself before he was about to open up to Emma. “What matters now is that I learn how to use these things whether I want to or not. Are you going to teach me or what?”

“Sure, they have instructors at the Academy that will help you as well, but I can tell you what I know,” Emma said, extending her own vambraces to show Jace. “I know that the vambraces feed off our warrior spirit. We were chosen because we have the very strongest will amongst those who live on our planets. With our minds, we channel our will into energy. We can create anything from weapons to defensive construct to armor, you name it.”

As Emma said the words, she constructed a sword, then a shield, and then a purple helmet over her face.

Wonder washed over Jace’s wolfish features for the briefest moment before he bottled his awe. A look of contempt spread over his face once more.

“It’s probably easy for you to be so in love with the idea of protecting your planet because it was kind to you.” Jace spat the words, looking Emma up and down with disdain. “Not all of us have had the same privileged upbringing as you.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” Emma raised her right eyebrow, refusing to back down. “You think life’s been easy for me? Listen, you don’t know a thing about high school. Especially for a tall, pointy-eared human who has a stuttering problem. Let’s also throw in the fact that I grew up without a mother.”

Emma was practically seething.

Who the heck does this furball think he is? Emma thought to herself. He comes in here like he’s owed something, throwing out judgment on me like I’m some kind of one percent elitist.

“Emma? Excuse me, Emma?”

Emma turned to see Instructor Low a respectful distance from the two Arilion. He nodded to them both before continuing. “I don’t mean to intrude on official Arilion business, but Dean Extile is requesting your presence in his office. He says it’s urgent.”

10

“The good news is that the Alliance sees the benefit of including Earth into the coalition,” Slain explained to Emma as she once again sat in his office. “Honestly, they were voting to include Earth even before General Fox showed up at your doorstep. They see the advantage of allying with the Arilion Knights and thus their planets as well.”

“Why am I sensing a big ‘but’ coming up?” Emma asked. She sat rigid in one of the overstuffed chairs in the dean’s office. Truth be told, she was still heated from her conversation with Jace. Only second to bullies, she hated those who were so quick to pass judgment on others. “This is way too much good news. What else is coming?”

“Emma, for one so young, you are developing at an astonishing rate.” Slain leaned against his desk. He folded both arms over his chest. “Not only your fighting ability but your discernment. You should consider a position in politics.”

“Yeah, well there’s this whole Arilion Knight thing I’m kind of destined to do.” Emma wagged her brows. “But you were saying?”

“Right. The Alliance has agreed to meet with General Fox here at the Academy to discuss the Earth joining the coalition. However, your little teleportation trick away from the general didn’t sit well with him.” Slain winced as he brought up a holo image on his desk of Emma’s house and a black sedan parked outside. “He’s waiting at your house. With your father arriving any minute, I can only imagine he plans to tell him of your identity as an alien hybrid, Arilion Knight, and protector of your planet.”

Emma’s eyes went wide as she scanned the holo display. The holographic images popped up and hovered over Slain’s desk in light blue pictures. There was no mistaking her two-story home and the black sedan sitting outside.

Her heart dropped to her stomach. If she had to tell her father what was going on, this is not how she wanted to have to do it.

As she watched, the passenger side of the black sedan opened. Out walked General Fox. He made his way methodically to her front porch, where he sat on one of the two rocking chairs as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“He’s obviously waiting for your father,” Slain said, drumming the fingers of his right hand on the desk. “I would offer to have him removed, but now that we are about to extend the offer for Earth to join the Alliance, perhaps it’s better if we deal politically with our new alliance member.”

“He can’t—” Emma stopped. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of her father hearing the truth from anyone but herself. “I need to get there right now. I have to be the one to tell my dad the truth.”

“I agree.” Slain straightened from his position leaning over the holo display. “You should be the one to tell your father. You can also tell the general we are granting his request for a meeting. Good luck, Emma Jackson.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, rising from her seat and maneuvering her right pointer finger around the teleportation band on her wrist. “I’m going to need it. See you soon.”

A moment later, Emma felt a tingling sensation race across her body. One second she was in Slain’s office, the next she was standing in her kitchen, the door to her house to her immediate left.

Emma glanced at the clock that blinked green in the display portion of their kitchen stove. The time read four forty-five. Her father would be home from his job as a college history professor at the local community college any minute now. There was no time to try to come up with a plan.

Emma raced to her front door and flung it open. To her right, General Fox sat in his uniform, slowly rocking in his seat. He ignored her presence, keeping his eyes resting on the street where her father would pull up at any time.

“Listen, I know we should have waited for you,” Emma said so fast it sounded like one word coming from her mouth. “We just thought it was best to teleport there ahead of you and take on the Vilmar before you or any Marines could get hurt. I’m sorry, but you can’t do this. My father isn’t a part of this.”

“I accept your apology, Emma,” General Fox said as he slowly rocked in his chair. He even gave her a smile. “But your place isn’t to tell the United States Marine Corps our job. Putting ourselves in harm’s way is what we’ve signed up for. It’s what we’ve been trained to do.”

General Fox paused for a moment, still slowly rocking back and forth in his chair. The sun was just going down now behind the tops of the roofs, painting the general in a golden light.

Emma could tell he wasn’t happy with her, but there was still no anger in his voice. A hint of disappointment and blunt speech was the most he was willing to show at the moment.

“I know you haven’t received any training.” General Fox held her stare. “I get that you’re not a Marine or a member of the armed forces. But one thing I think you can agree with me on is that for any team to be effective, there has to be a level of trust. The Marines preach this day in and day out until it’s so ingrained into your soul there is no question that the Marine beside you has your back. The trust we have for one another goes far beyond words. My men know that whatever comes, we’re in this together. When you and Tistan Duel used our information to teleport and took it on yourselves to face the Vilmar alone, you broke that trust.”

“I know—I know and I feel horrible for that.” Emma cringed as she grasped the full magnitude of the position she had put General Fox in. “I’ll prove to you that I can work as part of a team, but right now, please. If you’re serious about us moving forward, please don’t do this.”

“I’m not one to hold grudges.” General Fox reached for a cigar in the front of his shirt pocket and a lighter. He bit into one end of the cigar and spat the edge into the bushes in front of him. “I address issues, we learn, and we move on. I know you haven’t known me long enough to see that’s how I operate, but you will.”

“Okay, okay, good.” Emma heaved a sigh of relief. “I wasn’t sure how pissed off you were going to be about the whole thing. Thank you. I spoke with the dean at the Academy, who contacted the Alliance, and they want to meet with you to talk about Earth joining the coalition. But seriously, if we could talk about this later? My dad is going to be home any minute.”

General Fox still didn’t move. He sat puffing on the end of his cigar as the yellow flame from his lighter stoked the tobacco inside the rolled husk.

“That…” General Fox spoke slowly, exhaling the smoke and enjoying the flavor. “…is some seriously great news. We can build trust from this point going forward, Emma. As far as me not telling your father a thing about this? I give you my word. You can tell him.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw movement from the street. Her father’s black sedan that was already nine years old with a white scrape on the passenger rear side where someone had opened their door too fast pulled into their driveway.

A light bulb clicked on in Emma’s mind as she understood everything the general wasn’t saying. He was prepared to forgive her and move on, but not before she paid for what she had done. Technically, it was Tistan who had teleported them to fight the Vilmar, but Emma was guilty by association.

The general was going to be true to his word and not tell her father. However, he wasn’t going anywhere and that would force Emma to tell her father everything anyway.

You can just grab him with your vambraces and force him to leave, Emma thought to herself as her wild imagination took off. You could grab him and teleport him away right now.

11

For all the reasons Emma wanted to escape, she understood why she couldn’t. She was part of something so much larger than herself right now. And if she was honest with herself, she had wanted to tell her father from the beginning. He was her best friend. She had shared everything with him, even the embarrassing stuff. There wasn’t a moment in her life when he had let her down.

Richard Jackson exited his vehicle holding a battered backpack he used to carry his teaching materials at the college. The plain jeans and button-up shirt made him look as though he could be a student of one of his own classes instead of the teacher. His short hair and a shorter dark beard covered his face.

His eyes sparkled when he saw his daughter, then transitioned to confusion as he caught sight of General Fox.

“Hey, Em.” Richard Jackson smiled at his daughter, then looked over to the general as he approached. “Hello.”

“Hello.” General Fox stood from his seat and extended his hand. “General Fox. I’m pleased to meet you, sir.”

“Uh, me too, I think.” Emma’s father shook the man’s hand, looking over to his daughter for direction. “Is everything okay here?”

“Yeah—yeah, it’s—it’s great,” Emma lied, trying to think of how to even broach the subject. Her stuttering would be a telltale sign to her father that she was lying. Instead of lying to him further, she word-vomited the truth. “Dad, I love you. I haven’t been honest with you over the last two months. I never went to a science camp. I’m half alien. I went to a place in space called the Academy to train. There was an alien force coming to invade Earth and I fought them back. Along the way, I discovered I’m part of a universal protection corps known as the Arilion Knights.”

Emma paused to take a breath, unwilling to look her father in his eyes. Instead, she pulled up the sleeves of her dark hoodie to reveal the purple vambraces on her forearms.

Finally, she looked up at her father. Richard Jackson’s mouth was open as he marveled at the pieces of armor on his daughter’s forearms. He looked at Emma, then to her forearms, then to the general, and back again. More than once, he looked like he was going to say something but didn’t.

“Are you okay, Dad?” Emma asked, biting her lower lip. “Sorry, I know I kinda dumped on you right now. Say—say something.”

“I—did you say you were half alien?” Richard Jackson shook his head, beginning a nervous laugh. “Emma, is this some kind of joke? It’s a joke, right?”

Emma just shook her head. She couldn’t imagine what was going on in her father’s mind right now. She had turned everything he thought he knew upside down in the space of a few sentences.

“It’s not a joke, Mr. Jackson,” General Fox looked over at Emma. “You really laid it on him thick, kid. Maybe we should go inside, sit him down for the rest.”

“There’s—there’s more?” Emma’s father licked at his dry lips. “Emma, what’s going on?”

“Yeah, good idea. Let’s go inside and get you to sit down.” Emma guided her father into the house while the general put out his cigar. The sun was setting fast already, ushering in long shadows that would herald the approaching night.

Emma led her father inside, her hand gripping his own as it had for so many years. This time was different. This time, she was leading him, the calluses on her father’s palm whispering promises of her own future as she continued to train as an Arilion Knight.

Emma, her father, and General Fox huddled around the kitchen table in silence.

“And you?” Richard finally spoke, looking over at the general. “How do you fit into all of this?”

“I spearhead a movement codenamed Project Nebula. We’ve been tasked with exploring the universe using ancient spheres we’ve uncovered. I’m here on behalf of the government to extend a hand to your daughter. We want to help in whatever way we can.” General Fox leaned back in his seat before motioning over to Emma. “You should be very proud of Emma, Mr. Jackson. She’s not only turned an alien force back from invading Earth, but she’s been training every day to be the Arilion Knight Earth needs her to be.”

“The who?” Mr. Jackson furrowed his brow. “The Armadillo Knight? What’s an Armadillo Knight?”

“Arilion, Dad.” Emma placed her arms on the circular kitchen table. “These vambraces choose one Arilion Knight on each planet to serve as the planet’s protector. They select the people whose will is the strongest.”

Mr. Jackson sat quiet, trying to process all the news coming at him at once.

“You should be proud—”

“I am proud of my daughter.” Mr. Jackson interrupted the general before he could finish his thought. “I’m proud of her every day. I don’t need her to be some kind of intergalactic Jedi Knight for that.”

“It’s more like being in the Green Lantern Corps, but I guess Jedi Knight works too,” Emma said under her breath. “I’m fine, Dad. I have great teachers and now more Arilion Knights are being chosen by the day. I’m not alone.”

“You’re never alone, Em,” her father corrected her. His eyes widened as a light bulb clicked in his head. “The attack on the beach, last month. That was you, wasn’t it?”

“That didn’t make it on the news; we made sure of that,” General Fox interjected. If he was angry at being cut off by Mr. Jackson before, he didn’t show it.

“No, I saw it on my news feed on Facebook,” Mr. Jackson said, staring at Em again. “That was you, wasn’t it? I mean, all there was, was a few blurry images, but it was you.”

“That’s when the vambraces first chose me,” Emma agreed. “I think they picked me because they knew I wasn’t going to stop. They felt the fighting spirit within me. They knew I needed to turn back the invasion to protect our planet.”

Mr. Jackson slumped back in his chair. “Aliens.”

“Aliens,” Emma agreed. She rose from her seat and went to the counter to get her father a glass of water. The hardest part of their conversation was yet to come. “You’d like them though, Dad. They’re not all bad. I made some really great friends while I was at the Academy. I want you to meet them.”

“Right, alien friends.” Mr. Jackson accepted the glass of cold water his daughter brought him.

“You should tell him about reconnecting with your mother,” General Fox coaxed Emma.

Mr. Jackson coughed and spit out a spray of water as he choked on the general’s words.

Emma cringed inwardly. Outwardly, she glared at the general.

“It’s best to get it all out now.” General Fox motioned to Mr. Jackson. “You said you wanted to be the one to tell him. So tell him.”

Emma spent the better part of the next few hours telling her father everything. How her mother had been an alien spy that fell in love with him, married, and conceived Emma, then was called back to her home when the mission was over. She went into detail about the Academy, the battle with the Shay, and now the Vilmar. Her training, her instructors, how the vambraces worked; everything.

General Fox chimed in here and there with more information Emma didn’t even know. He told them about their own growing corps of Arilion Knights, their headquarters underneath the Hoover Dam at a place called The Den, and their run in with the Lord of Chaos.

For the most part, Mr. Jackson remained quiet, soaking in his new world. Things he had been taught as a child about the universe were being redefined and reshaped by the minute.

When the topics of conversation had been exhausted, the table quieted once more.

“And here I thought you were missing out on some of the best years in your life.” Mr. Jackson looked at his daughter with a shake of his head and a wince. “But here you are making friends with aliens, acting as savior to our planet, and—and reconnecting with your mother.”

The last part of what he said looked like it actually caused him pain. The way he pushed the words past his lips with the pain in his eyes was everything Emma feared.

“I don’t ever know if I’ve truly ever experienced a state of shock before, but this is the closest I’ve gotten to it.” Mr. Jackson forced air out of his lips as if he wanted to say more, but no words he could create could do the moment justice. “I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s a lot,” General Fox agreed. “The best thing you can do is take time to come to grips with the truth. It’ll take time to accept all of this.”

“I’m—I’m sorry, Dad.” Emma shook her head. She wasn’t a crier, but seeing her father going through so much emotional anguish felt like an ice-cold dagger digging into her heart. “I wanted to tell you so many times before. I just wanted to protect you from all of this.”

Tears pooled, then fell down Richard Jackson’s face. There was no sobbing or crying; just salty streaks of water making tiny rivers down his cheeks and into his beard.

“We’ll be all right, we’ll be all right,” Mr. Jackson said over and over again as if he were convincing himself of his own words. He rose from his seat and moved over to where Emma sat. “I get it. I’m not happy about you lying to me, but if this isn’t some kind of crazy dream, I get why you’ve kept this a secret.”

At the sight of her father crying, the familiar sting of tears also touched Emma’s eyes. She refused to give them the satisfaction of making their way down her face.

Emma rose from her own seat. She embraced her father, burrowing her face into his chest. His familiar smell was comfortable, something like worn clothes that weren’t quite dirty but carried his scent.

Emma and her father broke their hold a moment later. General Fox jumped up from his seat, sending his wooden chair skidding across the tile kitchen floor.

His eyes were wide, a hand already at the small of his back where Emma knew he kept his sidearm. She followed his gaze to the kitchen window. There was nothing out of the ordinary that she could see.

They had been talking long enough at the table where the night had shifted from a descending sun to a full moon showering the neighborhood with its silver light. It looked normal enough. A view of their front yard let out to the street and the houses on the opposite side. No one was in sight.

“What?” Mr. Jackson looked over to the general. “What is it?”

Instead of answering the question, General Fox lifted a finger to his ear. “Laloyd, come in.”

Emma couldn’t hear the Draconian’s voice on the other side of the conversation, but she could guess what he was saying as she listened to General Fox.

“Nothing? You’re sure?” General Fox moved to the window, looking out to the dark night beyond.

Footsteps reached their ears from somewhere on the second floor of their house. So faint, Emma had to look at her father to confirm he had heard the same sounds.

Mr. Jackson furrowed his brow; instinct took over as he pushed Emma behind him. He placed himself between her and the foot of the stairs.

General Fox joined Mr. Jackson and Emma, removing the black Remington 1911 from its holster at the small of his back. “I take it you’re not expecting any visitors?”

“Nope,” Mr. Jackson said under his breath.

As the two men spoke, Emma caught movement from her peripheral vision. Her father had installed motion-detecting lights around their house as an added safety precaution only a few months prior.

The light at the front of the house that reacted to motion went bright. For the briefest of moments, Emma caught sight of a thick man with blood-red eyes staring at her from the front window.

He was gone a moment later.

“The turned, maybe Desmond himself is here,” Emma said, channeling a sword into her right hand and a dagger she held blade down in her left. “How did he find us so fast?”

Without waiting for an answer, she placed herself alongside her father and the general.

More noise came from the back of the house. It sounded like someone scratching long nails across their back door. Multiple steps could be heard overhead as more feet hit the floor above.

Emma could hear Laloyd’s excited voice talking to General Fox via his implanted comm unit. What he was saying was lost on her, but she could imagine.

“Yes, we’ve gathered that.” General Fox placed himself at the foot of the stairwell, aiming down the sights of his weapon. “Call in backup and stay in the vehicle.”

The handle to their front door jiggled as someone or something tried the lock. Emma exchanged her position beside her father and the general to meet the attack from the front door and the kitchen window if necessary.

Like an old friend calling for a visit, fear tingled down Emma from her head to her toes. Her heartbeat picked up as she had to remind herself to breathe.

Easy, Emma warned herself. Easy.

The fear that came for her this time had an extra edge. Her father was with her now. If anything happened to him, she didn’t know how she would be able to go on.

“Does, does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Mr. Jackson asked.

There was no time. The sound of breaking glass as the kitchen window exploded inward accompanied General Fox’s discharging weapon.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

12

Two turned stumbled into the house via the wide kitchen window as the front door shuddered from the impact of others. Emma didn’t have time to see how many were coming down the stairwell. She had her hands full at the moment with the turned in front of her.

Compared to the other turned she had faced earlier that morning, these were very different. There could be no mistaking these beasts for humans. Sharp teeth and red eyes gave them away as something far more sinister than the average Joe.

They moved faster than the other turned as well. Emma could only assume that with this ability of speed came enhanced strength.

Emma charged her pair of enemies with abandon.

You’re not getting to my dad, you’re not going to lay a finger on him, Emma roared in her head. I’ll kill every last one of you if I have to.

Emma slashed at the charging turned on her right. He was a hulking beast of a man that could have easily been a body builder in his life before being infected by the Vilmar.

He caught Emma’s blade in both hands, ignoring the pain the sword must have caused. Rivers of blood fell down his hands and arms as he pushed forward. Instead of trying to force her opponent back, Emma took the opportunity to plunge her purple dagger into the right side of her enemy’s head near his ear over and over again.

The turned fell on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

This took only a matter of seconds. Even as Emma was falling backward under the dead turned, she saw her second opponent race past her and lunge at her father.

This enemy was already out of her reach. If she was going to save her dad, it would have to be with her vambraces.

Emma shot her left hand out, constructing a purple rope that wrapped around the turned’s left ankle. She jerked hard, sending it flying backward as it tried to swipe with a clawed hand at her father’s face. It was only inches away from taking off his nose.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

General Fox’s sidearm continued to roar in the space of the small kitchen. Emma’s eardrums were screaming at her as her hearing took a beating.

“Get over here,” Emma grunted as she used the strength channeled by her vambraces to pull hand over hand on the rope and slide the protesting turned across the tile kitchen floor to her place, pinned underneath its comrade.

The turned shrieked and spat. It directed its attention from Mr. Jackson and looked at Emma. It came at her in a high leap, descending on her prone form with all of its force.

It looked like it had at one time been an average-build housewife. A blood-encrusted pearl necklace was on her throat and a pair of designer jeans rode on her hips.

“Sorry, not sorry about this.” Emma transitioned from her rope construct to a short spear. She placed the bottom of the spear on the tile floor. The sharp point she directed at the turned’s gapping mouth.

She caught the descending monster with perfect aim. The tip of her purple spear went into her mouth and out the back of her head, leaving her quivering on the end of her spear only a foot away from her face.

Blood dripped down on Emma, nearly covering her own mouth. At the last minute, Emma constructed armor for her head that looked like a motorcycle helmet to shield her face.

“This is so gross.” Emma took a quick breath before jerking her spear to the side and laying the woman beside her.

“Emma, Emma.” Her father skidded to a halt by her side, helping to free her from underneath the heavy mass of a man that lay dead on top of her. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yeah, just another day at the office,” Emma lied to her father, trying to ease the panic in his voice and the sheer terror she saw in his eyes. “I’m great. This is what I do now.”

BAM!

The front door broke off its hinges as three more turned fell into the house.

Emma had a brief moment to see General Fox reload and open fire once more. The stairwell was a heap of bodies where at least four more turned were either dead or in the process of dying.

“Stay back,” Emma instructed her father, already moving to meet the new threat. “I’ve got this.”

The three turned that had just broken down the front door bounded for Emma and her father like a tidal wave seconds from crashing on the beach.

Emma took a brief moment to construct armor around her, the likes of which a medieval knight would wear into battle. She charged her opponents, battering into them so hard she took them from the kitchen into her father’s study. The dividing wall that separated the two was no match for the force Emma gathered. As one, they eviscerated the wall and slammed into the ground.

Emma tried to separate herself from the pile of arms, legs, and teeth that snapped at her. Demonic red eyes from her darkest nightmares glared so intensely, it was as if they sought to burn holes in her.

To Emma’s chagrin, her father was there a moment later. He had picked up a chair from the table and decided to use it as a weapon. One of the turned grabbed on to Emma, trying to sink its teeth into her purple armor.

Mr. Jackson raised the chair over his head, and with a roar that would have made even Instructor Drown proud, he began beating the turned with it.

His heart was in the right place, but there was no way her father was going to be able to fight a turned and live. A plan was still forming in her mind as she threw the first turned off her, then punched another across the jaw, when the sounds of a child screaming filled the room.

Even past the general’s blaring firearm, the screech was clear. A blue light akin to a laser beam hit the turned Emma was grappling with. The heated laser round missed her by a few inches. It met its target, annihilating the chest of the turned Emma was grappling with. A hole the size of a basketball appeared after the explosion of blood and gore washed over Emma.

Emma turned in time to see Laloyd thrown backwards through the air as he discharged some kind of futuristic type rifle that looked like a long water gun toy. He fell back into the kitchen with a crash.

As much as Emma wanted to help him, she still had one turned struggling underneath her while another grappled with her father.

Mr. Jackson was trying to fend off the attack of a turned as it reached for him with long claw-like nails. To his credit, Emma’s father batted away each blow with his chair, fending off the worst of the attack.

“Emma, hold still! I got him!” Laloyd screamed from his spot where he had picked himself off the ground. “Ughhhhhh!”

Laloyd screamed in that same high-pitched squeal that reminded her of an adolescent youngster trying to pull something heavy.

A second blue laser beam streaked by Emma, popping the head of the turned her father was wrestling with like a balloon. Blood went everywhere, coating her father from head to toe in the sticky red substance.

Emma held on to the turned grappling with her tightly. She stared into its lunatic eyes as it wriggled to try to get free of her, doing everything in its power to toss her off.

Refusing to let go, Emma assumed a dominant position atop the turned, slamming its head over and over again against the wood floor of her father’s office.

“I got it, I got it.” Laloyd had picked himself up from the floor once more and raced over to stand in front of Emma. He aimed the massive rifle down on the turned’s head. “Stay clear.”

“No—don’t. You’re going to—”

Emma didn’t get the rest of her warning out as Laloyd pulled the trigger.

“Ughhhhhh!” The impact of the weapon’s blue laser beam at this close a distance bucked Laloyd so hard he was lifted off his feet, slammed into the ceiling, and fell down on his face.

The only thing that saved Emma from receiving a blood bath like her father was the purple armor that coated her body. The red substance flew at her and painted her like a Pollock. She was a picture of red and purple from her helmeted head to her waist.

“I think that’s all of them.” General Fox walked into Mr. Jackson’s office. “Everyone okay in here?”

“I think—I think I swallowed some of the blood.” Mr. Jackson spit over and over again, trying to free his mouth of the taste. “I think I might be one of these vampires now.”

“They’re not vampires and neither is their condition transferred by blood,” General Fox said, checking the number of rounds he had left in his weapon. He swapped out the magazine. “We’ll get you checked, but you should be fine.”

“I’m okay too.” Laloyd jumped up from his prone position on the ground. “Wow, that was crazy! I was like vroom vroom with my Master Blaster and Emma’s dad was all like ‘No, it’s going to eat me, help.’ Then I was like, I got you! Then I came over to help Emma and she was like, ‘what no!’ And then I was like ‘Not today, you Vilmar turned piece of garbage.’”

“I’m not really sure that’s how it went,” Emma said, rising to her feet and allowing her armor construct to leave her body. All around her, a sheet of blood fell to the ground. “Why didn’t you warn us they were coming?”

“And I told you to stay in the vehicle.” General Fox turned to Laloyd with a stern glare. “What about that?”

“I messed up.” Laloyd allowed his rifle to sag to the ground. The smile he had on his reptilian face a moment later now swapped with a look of horror. “They must have entered through the backyard and around the far side of the house. I didn’t see them until they were already breaking in. I had to come and help, General. You’re my family. When my family is attacked, I can’t just sit by.”

“You’re a noncombatant and an important member of our team on diplomatic loan to us from your planet,” General Fox reminded Laloyd. “You obey your orders next time.”

“Yes, sir.” Laloyd looked like a little boy who had just been chided by his hero. “I will, sir.”

Sirens sounded in the distance.

“Wonderful.” General Fox holstered his sidearm and smoothed down his uniform. “The local authorities will be here in a matter of minutes. I’ll speak with them. The rest of you stay inside. Laloyd, where’s our backup?”

Laloyd placed his weapon on the floor and reached inside his jacket. He pulled out a smart pad a moment later. “Sixty seconds out, sir. They should reach us just ahead of the local authorities.”

“Wonderful,” General Fox said without actually meaning the word. “We’ll have a party.”

Without another look, General Fox made his way outside.

Emma took it upon herself to pick up the broken front door and prop it up against the entrance to her house. If the idea was to keep aliens and the turned hidden, giving someone a view into the house and the wreckage within was not the way.

Emma secured the broken door as best she could before taking a look at the inside of her home. A pile of dead bodies fell down the stairs where General Fox had defended the first floor. The kitchen was a mess of broken chairs. Their table was upended and glass shards from the front window sprinkled the ground.

Blood soaked the kitchen floor leading into her father’s study, where an entire wall had been destroyed. Her father’s books were askew all over the ground, a bookcase had been demolished, and in the middle of all of this, her father sat staring at Laloyd as if he were the Ghost of Christmas Past.

“Oh right.” Laloyd waved to Mr. Jackson with a hand covered in green scales. “First time seeing an alien, huh? I promise I’m not going to pop out of your chest or anything. I come in peace and all that. Are you all right, Mr. Jackson? You look pale.”

13

“So this is what a government safe house looks like, huh?” Emma strolled around the small confines of the dilapidated condo on the outskirts of town. “I thought it would be—be…”

“Less mildew-y?” Mr. Jackson finished her thought.

“It’s only a very temporary location,” Laloyd assured them as he pulled his black jacket tighter around him. Although it was the middle of the night, he didn’t want to draw attention to any prying eyes who might be able to see past his hat and hood. “As soon as General Fox meets with the Alliance and irons out the details, I’m sure we can use the Academy as a headquarters.”

Emma took a second look around the rundown neighborhood. She wasn’t sure if it was the late-hour darkness or if the area actually looked this bad in daylight. After General Fox had spoken with the local authorities and his team had arrived to contain the area, Emma, her father, and Laloyd had been given directions to the safe house.

The idea was General Fox would use Emma’s holo band to communicate with Slain and arrange the meeting with the Alliance. In the meantime, she was stuck on Earth. The safe house Laloyd had taken them to looked like it had seen better decades. A wrought-iron screen door and iron bars over the windows gave way to a white one-story house whose paint peeled off it like a snake shedding its skin. The lawn looked like it hadn’t seen a lawnmower in months and the waist-high chain link fence that surrounded the property was already beginning to rust.

“It’s a—a—well, I’m just going to be honest with you. I was expecting more too.” Laloyd shook his reptilian head. “We’re in good hands. There are two squads of Marines stationed around the neighborhood, in vehicles, rooftops, and surrounding buildings.”

Emma looked up and down the street, trying to spot their silent guard. She couldn’t spot a single one. They were hidden well. It looked like any other street in the middle of the night, deserted and alone.

“Let’s see if the inside looks any better,” Laloyd said with a hint of hope in his voice. “I mean, the inside can’t be as bad as the outside. Right?”

Emma followed Laloyd with her father as the three unlikely companions entered the porch. The wood beneath their feet groaned as if the house itself were complaining about having visitors at this time of night.

Laloyd produced a black chip from the inside of his coat and waved it in front of the wrought-iron gate as if he were wielding a magic wand.

To Emma’s surprise, there was a click and a soft female voice welcomed them.

“Welcome to Haven.”

“This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Mr. Jackson looked down at his daughter with a fatigued smile. “Maybe it would be easier if you were in a gang or ditched school or something.”

“Sorry.” Emma shrugged with a smile as she followed Laloyd into the house. “Just intergalactic relations and fighting the forces of darkness across the universe. You raised me too well to drop out of school.”

“I should have fed you more processed foods and let you stay up late watching TV as a kid.” Emma’s dad grinned at her. He waved a dramatic hand in front of him. “After you.”

Emma gave her father another smile. After all he had been through that day, he was still the same joking, caring father she always knew. There was a tiredness in his eyes now that hinted at more than physical fatigue. Something there told Emma he hadn’t come to grips that her mother was back in the picture. That was going to be something only time would be able to heal.

Emma walked into the house, where an empty room met her. The carpet was ripped in a dozen places. Dusty blinds hid the windows and the smell of something long dead made her gag.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Laloyd said with a cheerful smile as he glanced down at the smart pad he held in his hands. “I knew Haven had to have a few tricks up her sleeve. Watch this.”

Laloyd went to a crumbling brick fireplace to their left. He looked back down at his smart pad for a minute, then used the same black key fob he had used to open the door to pass across a specific series of bricks.

“Oh, so it’s actually worse inside than outside,” Emma’s father said behind her. “I didn’t think that was possible. But on the bright side, we don’t have vampires here trying to rip out our throats.”

“Haven,” Laloyd said, speaking to the chimney. “Enact protocol zero, four, zero, eight, seventeen.”

“Protocol zero, four, zero, eight, seventeen recognized and executed,” the female voice that seemed to come out of the very walls themselves answered. “Please make sure all exits are secured.”

“Oh, right,” Mr. Jackson said, closing the front door behind him. “Sorry, Haven.”

“No need to apologize, Richard Jackson,” Haven answered back. “Please remain standing where you are for a brief moment.”

Shimmering green lights descended from the ceiling down to the floor as if they were peeling away a layer of reality. The house transitioned from dilapidated and condemned to state-of-the-art and high tech.

The walls transitioned from stained, and in many cases, riddled with holes to plain white and without blemish. The old flooring underneath their feet turned to lush grey carpeting, sleek furniture filled the room, and even the fireplace moved from crumbling brick to a steel fixture showing four large screens that monitored the exterior of the house.

“All right, yeah, guys, now we’re talking.” Laloyd removed his deep hood and the baseball cap that sat awkwardly on his horned head. “Now it’s time to just kick back and wait. I wonder if this place has any food or Netflix.”

“Yes.” Haven’s voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. “The kitchen is fully stocked and we have access to over two thousand channels and apps.”

“Anyone want anything?” Laloyd placed his smart pad on one of the cushioned chairs in the room. “Since coming to this planet, I’ve become a big fan of pickles dipped in peanut butter.”

“That’s just wrong.” Emma shook her head while waving away Laloyd’s offer. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

“Papa Bear?” Laloyd looked over to Mr. Jackson. “Something to help cope with the events surrounding your day?”

“No, thanks,” Mr. Jackson said with a weary smile. “I think I just need some sleep.”

“Cool, cool, I’ll be in the kitchen getting my pickle and peanut butter sandwich on.” Laloyd did a body roll dance move before venturing deeper into the house.

Emma and her father were left alone for the first time since Mr. Jackson had discovered the truth about his daughter.

“Dad, I—”

Emma didn’t get to finish her words. The space next to her shimmered for a brief moment before the familiar figure of her mother appeared next to her.

It was like Emma’s body had turned to stone. Her eyes doubled in size as her father saw her mother for the first time in sixteen years. Not only that, he was seeing her in her true form.

Tistan Duel’s orange skin, hair, and eyes clearly set her apart as an alien. While on Earth, she had been disguised to look like a human with a pill that altered her true pigmentation.

She wore a brown cloak with a hood that fell behind her back. A black and purple uniform clung tight to her muscular body. Her swords were sheathed in a holder behind her back. The handles poked up on either side of her head.

Emma wanted to say something. She even tried to break the silence between her mother and father, but no words came out. It was like she had been struck dumb and paralyzed at the same instant.

“Intruder detected, activating initiative Cole,” Haven’s voice filled the room.

“What’s going o—” Laloyd rounded a corner with a half-eaten pickle smeared in peanut butter. His mouth was full as he spoke. “Oh—oh my. Haven, retract that order. She’s a friendly.”

“Understood,” Haven obeyed. “Retracting order Cole.”

“Riley?” Emma’s father looked at Tistan without fear. “Riley, is that you?”

For the first time since Emma had met the brutal warrior she knew her mother to be, the woman was silent. Tistan opened her own mouth as if she were going to say something, then thought better of it and closed it again.

CRUNCH!

Everyone looked over to Laloyd, who stood in the doorway munching on his pickle. He stared on wide-eyed as the drama unfolded in front of him.

“Maybe we should give you some—some time to talk this out,” Emma said, finally finding her voice.

“No,” Tistan and Laloyd said at the same time.

“You should hear what I have to say,” Tistan told her daughter while shooting Laloyd a dirty look. “I want you to be here.”

Tistan took a step toward Richard, opening her hands as if she were going to start speaking.

“No.” Richard extended his own right hand out palm forward. “No, you don’t get to walk back into my life and have the first word after you left me with our daughter. You don’t get to do that.”

Tears raced down Emma’s father’s face. For the first time she could ever remember, her father choked on the tears he shed. Growing up, she had seen him wipe away tears, blaming them on allergies or lint in his eye. They were always there one second and gone the next. Her father wasn’t one to allow himself the luxury of crying, at least not in front of her.

“You lied to me,” Mr. Jackson said, fighting back the tears so his words could come out. “You lied to me for years; you lied to me about our love together and then you left our daughter to grow up without a mother in her life.”

“No, I didn’t—I didn’t—I didn’t lie about us,” Tistan stuttered as her own eyes filled with tears. She took a half step forward, then stopped herself. “I was here as a spy for my planet. I didn’t expect to fall in love with a human. But I did. I do—I still love you.”

CRUNCH!

All eyes turned to Laloyd, who had gone to the kitchen and now returned with the entire jar of pickles. His eyes were as large as silver dollars as he munched on his favorite food, eager to hear every word.

“If you don’t stop listening to our conversation, Draconian,” Tistan snarled like an animal thirsty for blood, “I will remove each of your fingers and feed them to you instead of your pickles.”

“So dark,” Laloyd gasped, retreating backwards into the kitchen.

“I do love you, Richard,” Tistan said with more resolve now that she had already said it once. “I love you and OUR daughter. It is because of this love that I left you.”

“No, you can’t have it both ways.” Richard shook his head, taking in a deep breath and wiping his eyes dry. “You can’t abandon us, then show up sixteen years later, orange and apparently some kind of warrior, and tell me you lied and left me because you loved us.”

“My people would have sentenced you to death if they knew I had a family on Earth,” Tistan pleaded with Richard. “I couldn’t take you with me. When I was called back to my planet, it was the only way. If I had refused, I would have been hunted down and they would have found you and Emma.”

“So you decided for us,” Richard finished her thought. “You don’t get to decide these things for the people you say you love. You’re honest with them, you tell them the truth no matter how hard it is, no matter how much it tears you up inside, and you get through it together. You don’t get to run off on your own and do as you see fit.”

Emma sucked in a silent lungful of air. She had never seen anyone talk to Tistan like this before. By the way she saw her mother’s jaw muscle clench and unclench beneath her skin, this wasn’t going to end well.

14

“Hey, so it sounds like you two have a lot to go over.” Emma took a step toward the kitchen. “I should probably go and keep Laloyd company before he decides to eat pizza with ketchup or something crazy like that. Seriously, that guy, am I right?”

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Emma’s father said to her. “It seems like you’ve already had time to come to grips with all of this and forgiven your mother. You’re a better person than I am, Emma.”

Guilt racked her from the inside out. She had lied to her father as well, not only about her being an Arilion Knight, but about her mother’s true identity.

“You either forgive me or you don’t.” Tistan shook her head as tears still fell down her orange cheeks. “I can only say I’m sorry so many times.”

“I need time,” Emma’s father answered. “I feel like I’m going to have a mental breakdown. You’re orange, for goodness sake. Riley, you’re an orange alien spy, maybe warrior now. Am I taking crazy pills or something?”

“It is a lot and I have much to atone for, but I’m not going anywhere.” Tistan reached out again as if she wanted to touch her husband as if by coming into contact with him, she could comfort him in a way her words weren’t able. She retracted her hand yet again. “You won my heart and have kept it these many years; whether you believe that or not does not make it any less true. I’ve traveled the universe, defeated countless foes, and I’ve never stopped thinking about you or our daughter.”

“I don’t have anything else to say to you right now,” Mr. Jackson said, shrugging. “I have to figure out for myself what I need to do.”

“I understand.” Tistan whipped the tears from her own face and cleared her throat. She turned to Emma. “Emma, I’ve also been instructed by the Alliance to tell you that Earth has been accepted into the coalition. You’ll need your holo band to teleport back and forth. General Fox has agreed to bring another Arilion Knight to the Academy with more training using Will to aid you with dispatching the Vilmar from Earth.”

Tistan reached into her cloak. She handed Emma a black holo band that would slip onto her wrist. True to Madame Cherub’s words, her mother’s wrists were completely healed. Emma accepted the piece of tech and the news, the whole time wishing her mother and father would spend more time talking out their feelings.

Her mother was beyond stubborn and she had never seen her father act like this before. He was usually calm and cool-headed with a heavy dash of good nature. The man that had spoken with Tistan was hurt, maybe beyond repair. It was a side of him she had never seen.

“I’m supposed to take you to the Academy now, but—but I’ll give you time to say good-bye.” Tistan looked over at Richard one last time, then hit her own holo band. She shimmered for a moment and then disappeared.

“Can I come out now?” Laloyd asked from inside the kitchen.

“Yes,” Emma’s father said, sinking into one of the heavily cushioned couches. “Bring some of those pickles with you but leave the peanut butter.”

Laloyd obeyed, handing the oversized jar of pickles to Richard. He accepted, choosing a large, salty specimen and biting into the vegetable.

Richard’s eyes looked bloodshot. His face was worn and drawn. Emma went to him, sitting beside her father. He moved to allow her room, handing her the jar of pickles without looking at her.

“I know I already said it, but I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I—”

“I already forgave you.” Emma’s father looked her in the eyes with a tired smile. “That means you don’t have to apologize for this ever again.”

“Does that mean you’re going to forgive her?” Emma asked.

Laloyd leaned so far forward in his chair waiting on Richard’s next words, he fell on the ground with a thud.

“I don’t know,” Emma’s father said with an amused smile at the Draconian. “I’m going to try, but the lies run so much deeper than keeping a secret for two months, Emma. It’s different.”

“I get that,” Emma said, crunching her pickle and enjoying the way the salty food coated the inside of her mouth. “I want you to know that whatever you do decide, I’ll still love you more than anything.”

“Thanks, kid.” Emma’s father leaned into her, pushing her shoulder with his own. “I’m an emotional wreck right now. I just need some sleep, and I’m sure things will be clearer in the morning.”

“I don’t know about that.” Laloyd shook his horned head. “I mean, you might have some clarity, but you have a lot to work through. I mean, I don’t envy your position, Mr. Jackson. Your ex-wife is an alien warrior that now proclaims her love for you but left you and your daughter high and dry without any explanation? I mean, if you can forgive her for that, it’s going to take some time.”

“Laloyd.” Emma’s father looked at him with a blank stare. “You just reiterated, literally, everything that took place here.”

“I know.” Laloyd shook his head. “You couldn’t write this stuff. I’m still trying to process it all myself.”

The last thing Emma wanted to do was leave her father. She was more than Emma Jackson, though. She was an Arilion Knight. It wasn’t about what she wanted anymore. She had to get to the Academy to train—sleep first—but train to be what the Earth needed her to be.

“Go ahead, I’m a big boy.” Emma’s father brushed a strand of her blonde hair behind an unexpectedly pointed ear. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Emma asked, holding on to her father’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “You’ve been through a lot today.”

“Ugh, Em, you’re crushing my hand.” Mr. Jackson winced.

“Oh, sorry.” Emma released her father’s hand, forgetting the power she wielded now as an Arilion.

“It’s okay. The feeling should come back soon,” her father teased as he flexed his hand open and closed dramatically. “I’m good. Go. I’ll be fine. I have Haven, Laloyd, and a team of Marines looking out for me.”

The sounds of deep snoring that reminded Emma of a bear gone into hibernation distracted the two for a moment. Laloyd had fallen asleep in his chair, a half-eaten pickle held tightly in his right hand.

“I think you’re going to be taking care of each other.” Emma stood up from her seat by her father. A wave of fatigue washed over her.

Has this really only been a day? Emma rubbed at her burning eyes. Did I just go and fight Desmond this morning?

So much had taken place it seemed impossible, but it was true. It was a funny thing that on days packed with so many events that morning could feel like another day altogether.

“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Emma told her father as she adjusted her holo band. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Em.” Her father stood up with a smile on his face. “Be careful.”

Emma tapped her holo band, sending her from a view of her father inside the safe house named Haven one second to the stark white teleportation room in the Academy the next.

A second year recruit Emma recognized by his appearance but not by name pulled his feet off the desk in front of him as she shimmered into view.

“Emma Jackson, the Arilion Knight.” The tall Halyna boy jumped to attention. “I’ll notify Dean Extile that you’re here right away.”

“Sure.” Emma waved to him not dismissively; she was just too tired to care at the moment. “Tell him I’m going to my old room to sleep. If he needs me, he can get me on the holo band.”

“Yes, ma’am, of course.” The Halyna boy hunched over his console, already opening a channel to the Academy’s dean.

Emma didn’t wait around to find out if Slain wanted to see her now. It was well past midnight and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Placing one foot in front of the next eventually brought her to her old quarters in the barracks level where the rest of the recruits slept.

As an Arilion Knight, Emma had been granted access to a suite of her own on a level that was being repurposed especially for the Arilion. It was spacious, her very own quarters, and held every amenity. What it didn’t have was her friends.

Emma traveled down the hall, stopping at the door of the room she, Layga, and Jeba had shared. Whistling like the air being pushed hard out of someone’s nose penetrated the door.

Emma stepped inside to see Layga’s massive form on her bed. Her nose played a steady tempo of sending whistling air through her nostrils in time with her rising and falling chest.

Jeba blinked and sat up in her bed as Emma entered. One second she was trying to process where she was, the next she reached for the blade beside her bed.

“Layga, get up! Get up! We’re under attack!” Jeba shouted, still trying to get her bearings.

“Who? What?” Layga rolled off her bed with a heavy thud that reverberated through the floor.

“No, it’s just me, it’s just me.” Emma flipped on the lights, putting her hands into the air. “Take it easy.”

Jeba blinked at her, slowly lowering the knife. With her free hand, she wiped the line of drool coming from the right side of her lip. “Emma, you should be careful when waking me from a deep slumber. I nearly ended your life. Arilion or not, my blade is as fast as a lightning bolt in space.”

“Can lightning exist in space?” Emma squinted, trying to remember what she knew on the subject.

“Mine do.” Jeba sat down on her bed, placing the knife beside her.

“Why do you have a knife next to your bed?” Layga picked herself off the floor and moved over to give Emma a hug. “Hey, Emma.”

“I am always prepared,” Jeba stated flatly, as if that answered everything.

Emma found herself grateful for her friends not for the first time since she had met them. Layga’s warm embrace and Jeba’s personality were exactly what she needed.

“Sorry to wake you,” Emma said, releasing Layga and heading over to her own bed. “I just didn’t want to be by myself tonight.”

Emma changed into her shorts and plain black shirt. She told her friends everything they had missed up until that point. Jeba tsked at times, shaking her head. Layga sucked in her breath when she heard about Emma’s parents being reunited.

“Your family politics are a mess.” Jeba shook her head once Emma was done. “Your father should leave Tistan for good.”

“Jeba,” Layga nearly shouted. “That’s not what Emma needs to hear right now.”

“It’s okay.” Emma yawned, closing her eyes. “I can’t worry about any of that. Worrying isn’t going to help. I just need—I just need to sleep.”

15

Emma fell into such a deep sleep, dreams didn’t even bother to pierce the depth of her slumber. It seemed like she had just closed her eyes for a second when Layga and Jeba were trying to move quietly around the room and dress for their day at the Academy.

Even though Emma’s life had drastically changed when she was chosen by the vambraces to be Earth’s Arilion Knight, life at the Academy for everyone else was business as usual.

Emma was just mustering the courage it would take her to sit up in bed and start her own morning when her holo band blinked off and on, signaling an incoming message.

Emma brushed away the blonde strand of hair in her eyes. She read the message. It was from Slain. The Human Arilion Knight working with General Fox has arrived. He would like to meet with you in the mess hall when you are ready.

“Holy crap!” Emma jumped from her bed, searching for her Academy uniform like a wild woman.

“She finally went off the deep end.” Jeba shook her head. “The stress of being an Arilion Knight proved too much for her feeble mind.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” Emma felt a tingle of excitement race toward her stomach as she pulled on her boots and buttoned her shirt. “I mean, I’ve been excited to meet this guy for a long time, but I didn’t know it would happen so soon. Should I shower? Do I have time to shower?”

Layga smoothed down her own black and purple Academy uniform. “How much did you sweat yesterday?”

“What?” Emma asked, trying to wrangle her hair into something presentable.

“That’s how I gauge the necessity of a shower,” Layga explained. “If I sweat during the day, I know I need a shower for sure. If I didn’t, then I feel good about skipping the shower for the day.”

“That’s disgusting, giant.” Jeba shook her head as if she were disappointed in her friend. “You need to bathe, especially your nether regions every day. Sometimes even twice if they begin to feel unclean.”

“Ugh, I just don’t have time.” Emma stopped her manic process of getting ready and stood in the room, debating a shower. “He’s already there waiting for me.”

“Here.” Layga ran to the dresser by her bed and came back with a spray bottle full of black liquid. “It’s a perfume I usually save for special occasions, but it’ll help with masking any scent. Just be sure to take a shower before you go to bed tonight.”

“Okay, okay, cool. Thanks Layga.” Emma approached her friend with her arms open.

As Layga applied the first spray from her bottle, Emma understood how horrible of a mistake she had just made. The odor of the perfume hit her nostrils like a batch of newly cooked bbq, which wasn’t a necessarily horrible smell to Emma. She liked bbq; she just didn’t want to smell like it.

“Whoa, that’s enough,” Emma said to her friend as Layga applied a second spray, this time moving from her torso to her face. The liquid hit her tongue as she said the words.

Emma spat, working her tongue in and out of her mouth as the taste of chemical and old meat entered her mouth.

“You poisoned her with your sultry feminine wiles of perfume.” Jeb shook her head. She waved her right hand back and forth in front of her nose to clear the air. “Now she smells like a meat buffet.”

“What are you talking about?” Layga placed her perfume back in the drawer by her bed. “This stuff smells great.”

“I don’t have time to try and change again.” Emma shook her head, trying to spit out the last of the meat chemical taste. “We have to go.”

The three girls speed-walked to the teleporter on their level that would take them to the mess hall. All the other girls on the barracks floor had already made their way to the hall for breakfast.

Emma, Layga, and Jeba were teleported to the level a moment after they stepped into the cylinder-shaped teleportation device that acted as a kind of elevator around the Academy, if elevators teleported people.

Emma felt a nervous wave of excitement wash over her again. Not only was she going to meet someone who knew what it was like to be an Arilion Knight, but he was a human.

Jace Hunter was the only other Arilion she had met and he wasn’t exactly the chatty type. If this new Arilion Knight could teach her more, if he could just talk with her, it would be something she hadn’t had before. Only someone also chosen by the vambraces could truly understand what it meant to be an Arilion.

As soon as the girls walked into the mess hall, it was obvious as to who the Arilion was. Not only was he the only other human in the room, but everyone was sneaking peeks at him; the boys in admiration and the girls in a completely different kind of admiration.

He sat facing them with a plate of food in front of him. It was hard to tell how tall he was from his sitting position, but he was muscular with short dark hair and tan skin. His facial hair wasn’t quite a full beard but more than few days of stubble began to add together.

His uniform was also black and purple with an emblem of an ancient helmet in the middle of two wings that sat on the right side of his chest. The vambraces he wore glowed softy with warm purple energy. He looked kind enough, but as Emma approached, she could tell he was thinking about something. A furrow of his brow told Emma all was not well.

When he looked up, his dark brown eyes found the girls. The expression of worry and sadness faded as a boyish grin touched his lips. He stood with the smile on his face and worked his way around the table.

“He’s a god,” Jeba said under her breath.

“You must be Emma Jackson. I’m Frank Wolffe.” Frank extended his hand. “It looks like we have a lot in common.”

Emma swallowed hard.

Play it cool, play it cool, she repeated like a mantra in her own mind. The feeling of talking to the most popular kid in high school filled her as she tried not to stumble over her own words.

“Hi,” Emma managed as she shook his hand. “It’s—it’s so great to meet you.”

“Ehum, Ehum.” Jeba coughed hard into her hand, not trying to mask her intentions whatsoever.

“Oh, right.” Emma released Frank’s hand and introduced her friends. “This is Layga and Jeba. They’re some of the best recruits the Academy has. They also helped me fight off the Shay when they invaded Earth.”

“Hello.” Layga’s hand enveloped Frank’s like an adult holding a child’s hand.

“Hi.” Frank smiled, looking from Layga to Jeba. “Any friend of the Arilion protecting my home planet is a friend of mine.”

“Are you wed?” Jeba asked as Frank removed his hand from Layga’s and shook Jeba’s.

“What?” Frank asked, sniffing the air. “Does anyone else smell bar-b-que?”

“Don’t avoid the question.” Jeba smiled as she released Frank’s hand and smoothed down her wild red hair. “Are you betrothed?”

“I’m not married, but I have a girlfriend if that’s what you mean,” Frank answered Jeba, still sniffing the air he turned his head this way and that. “I swear I smell cooked meat. Do they serve that here for breakfast?”

Emma took a half step back to try and carry the smell with her. She just couldn’t bring herself to admit that she had sprayed meat perfume on herself before meeting him.

“Good, girlfriends I can work around.” Jeba wagged her eyebrows at Frank. “So how long will you be with us at the Academy?”

Things were going downhill fast. Emma knew she had to lasso in Jeba before she made an awkward first impression worse.

“Layga.” Emma looked over to her friend for help. “Maybe you and Jeba want to grab some food before your day of classes starts.”

“Huh?” Layga looked to Emma, then to googly-eyed Jeba. “Oh, right, yes.”

Layga went over to Jeba and ushered her along with her.

“Excuse us, Frank,” Layga said, practically pushing Jeba along. “We should grab a bite to eat of whatever delicious meat they have cooking. It smells wonderful.” Layga gave Emma a huge wink, Frank was sure to see.

“Oh man,” Emma said under her breath.

“So, they seem nice,” Frank said, redirecting Emma’s attention back to the table. He motioned for her to take a seat. “Do you want to grab anything to eat while we talk? They have an assortment of—of strange alien food that I’ve never seen before, but hey, it beats an MRE.”

“No, no. I’m good,” Emma said, taking a seat on the opposite side of a small circular table where Frank sat. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure if her stomach could take introducing anything into it at that moment. Old habits of anxiety touched her like unwanted advances.

Emma knew it was all in her head, but that didn’t help. So far, Frank had been nothing but friendly. Still, her anxious nature and old habits didn’t take that into consideration.

“So the good General Fox has told me all about you. He gave me a file and everything,” Frank said, taking a seat across from Emma. “Not that I read it. I figured I was going to meet you anyway. But if he asks you, I read every word of that report.”

Emma felt a smile and a small chuckle escape her. “Deal, I won’t say anything.”

“Good.” Frank looked down at his tray of oatmeal-like porridge. “Do they have anything like coffee here?”

“I wish.” Emma shook her head. “I could really go for a unicorn Frappuccino right now.”

“You and me both.” Frank grinned from across the table. “So I’m going to be as honest as I can with you. The truth is I’m new to this whole Arilion thing too. But anything I can share, if there’s any way I can help you, I’ve got your back. We’re not only Arilion, but we’re the only two Arilion humans, so our bond goes deep.”

“Right, thank—thank you,” Emma said with a heavy exhale. She took a moment to look around the room. As soon as she did, everyone who was staring at them immediately turned their heads away.

“It’s weird, right?” Frank leaned back in his seat, examining the mess hall. “It’s like we’re the cool kids in high school now, but the high school is the universe.”

“It’s super weird,” Emma agreed, trying to figure out how she felt about being the one with all the attention. “High school on Earth, I mean, just regular high school wasn’t going too well for me.”

“I hear that.” Frank nodded along with her words. “I grew up dirt poor. My experience before I joined the military wasn’t exactly glamorous either.”

“I stuttered a lot. I mean, I still do, but it was worse before,” Emma admitted. She pulled back a lock of her blonde hair and pointed to her ears that came up at a point due to the fact she was half Halyna. “These didn’t help either.”

Frank smiled, placing a boot on the table. He rolled up his pant leg, pointing to a deep scar on his left shin. “Courtesy of a bully named Liam Tatum. I know, right? Who names their kid Liam Tatum? Anyway, I got beat up all the time. I rarely had money, but I think I just made a good target for bullies. I was small as a kid, always wore second hand clothes too big or too small, funky cheap haircuts—the whole nine yards.”

Emma’s anxiety began to fade as she realized the thirty-something-year-old man in front of her shared more in common with Emma than anyone she had ever met.

“Maybe that’s why the vambraces chose us,” Emma said, thinking out loud.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we’ve been beaten down, bullied, made fun of, put through the wringer, and here we are,” Emma said as she had a moment of self-realization. “Wow, sorry for getting so deep on you. I’m usually not like this.”

“It’s a special occasion when a Jarhead and the savior of Earth get together.” Frank looked around, making everyone staring at them immediately turn back to what they were doing at their own tables. “Hey, let’s get out of here. I know a place.”

16

“Do you think we’re going to get in trouble for being in here?” Emma asked, looking wide-eyed around the training room that was still under construction. “I mean, I know this level of the Academy is being repurposed for the Arilion Knights, but that sign on the door clearly said to keep out.”

“Naw, we’re fine. I checked it out this morning.” Frank walked to the far side of the room. “Besides, what are they going to do? Fire us?”

Emma looked around the wide open circular room. The level set aside for the Arilion Knights was the uppermost of the Academy. The center room had a glass roof that opened up to the universe beyond. Construction supplies and building tech alien to Emma’s eyes lay strewn along the side of the walls. A half completed control console sat on the right side of the room.

“Is this—is this going to be like our danger room?” Emma asked out loud as she envisioned what the room would look like when finished.

“Did you just throw out an X-Men reference?” Frank looked up from fiddling with something on a tall box. “Nice.”

A moment later, music Emma recognized but didn’t know the name of filled the half-finished room. The repeating lyrics were “Whoa, black betty, bam-la-lam.”

“I think better with music most days.” Frank approached her, bobbing his head and stretching his arms. “I know you’ve already been training here at the Academy. How are your constructs holding up?”

“Pretty good, I think.” Emma channeled her Will, imagining her sword in her right hand, then transitioned to a knife, then a circular shield.

“Not too shabby, Jackson. Check this out.” Frank lifted off the ground, floating in midair before a purple Tyrannosaurus Rex construct took shape around him. Frank drifted in the middle of the monstrous beast as if he were in a suit of armor. “I’ve been working on this one since I watched Jurassic Park for the hundredth time. Pretty cool, right?”

“So cool!” Emma laughed out loud. “I didn’t know we could fly.”

Frank touched down, allowing his construct to fade. “Yeah, apparently, we’re all predisposed to certain physical attributes like speed, flight, strength, durability, and so on. I still can’t really fly, more like float. I need more time to practice.”

“You don’t have time to practice now?” Emma asked innocently. “That’s all they make me do here.”

As soon as Emma asked the question, she knew she had pushed a button. The same worried, sad expression came over Frank’s eyes. He stood quiet for a moment, trapped in his own thoughts.

“I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about training or time or anything if you don’t want to,” Emma said, trying to recapture the levity of the moment. “We can keep training.”

“No, it’s nothing you’ve done.” Frank shook his head, freeing himself from the thoughts that haunted him. “There’s a friend; she’s in trouble. When I get back to the Den, I have to find a way to save her.”

Emma was surprised Frank had said so much. He didn’t seem like the type to spill his guts. In all honesty, Emma didn’t know what to say. Instead of trying to offer a solution, she did the only thing she knew how to do.

“I’m here for you if there’s any way I can help,” Emma said, hoping this would be enough to cheer up her new friend. “We’re Arilion Knights; we have to stick together.”

“Oohrah to that,” Frank said as he transitioned from thoughtful to cheerful once more. “How do your long-range constructs look? I know you’ve got the bladed weapons down, but what do you do when you need to take out an enemy at range?”

“Honestly, I haven’t gotten that far yet.” Emma thought back to her fight with the Vilmar and his turned. “I used throwing knives or a rope.”

“No guns?” Frank asked.

“I haven’t trained with any. The instructors leading my drills aren’t exactly familiar with them themselves,” Emma admitted. “Can you teach me?”

“For sure.” Frank approached her, constructing a medium-length rifle in his hands. It looked sturdy with a long barrel and a magazine at the bottom. “It’s an M16A4. It’s reliable and comfortable for me to construct because I’m so familiar with it. The more knowledge and time you’ve had with a construct, the easier it is to build and the longer you can hold it. Do you have any kind of familiarity with a long-ranged weapon? Even if it’s not rifle or handgun?”

“My dad owns a revolver, but he keeps it in the safe,” Emma thought out loud. She didn’t want to disappoint Frank. “I’ve been to the shooting range with him a few times, but—”

A light bulb went off in her head.

“I used to take archery lessons when I was a kid,” Emma said excitedly. “I was pretty good at it too.”

“There we go.” Frank extended his right arm, creating a round target for Emma to shoot. He pushed the construct out a good thirty yards and looked over at her expectantly. “Let’s go, Jackson. Let’s see what you got.”

Emma concentrated, bringing the familiar shape of a recurve bow into her hands. The bow was nearly as tall as she was. A purple arrow appeared between the string of the bow and the bent wood itself.

She pulled back on the string with her right hand. Her left hand out straight provided the anchor for the act. She took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. Her right hand came up to her right cheek, holding the taut bow string and the feathered end of her arrow.

Aim small miss small, aim small miss small. She repeated the mantra her archery instructor had taught her.

She released the arrow with an audible thrumbing sound. It sailed through the air too fast for the eye to track and buried itself just to the right of the bullseye on Frank’s construct.

“Not bad, Jackson, not bad at all.” Frank grinned, looking at her handiwork. “With a few hundred hours of practice, you’ll be an ace.”

Emma’s smile faded to disbelief. “Did you say a ‘few hundred’ hours?”

“Practice, Jackson, practice, practice, and more practice until you can form constructs in your sleep and you’re just as deadly with them,” Frank preached. “If the Corps instilled anything in me… okay, they instilled a lot in me, but one of the things we always did was practice. Day in and day out.”

As Frank was going on about the importance of practice, Emma caught movement by the doors to the training room. She turned to look, noticing Jace lurking by the entrance to the room.

She was still too unfamiliar with his mannerisms and facial features to tell for certain, but he didn’t look like he was eavesdropping. He had an unsure expression across his long snout as if he were deciding whether to come in or not.

“You can come in if—”

“Give the fur ball some time,” Frank said to Emma, not looking over at Jace. “He’ll join us when he’s ready.”

“How do you know?” Emma asked with curiosity in her eyes. “Have you spoken with him?”

“No, but I’ve seen enough Marines with the same look.” Frank’s own expression went solemn. “You get familiar with it after a while when you’ve been with guys who’ve seen serious action. They get stuck in their own heads. The fur ball is an Arilion Knight chosen by the Light and given the vambraces. He’s one of us. He’ll be fine.”

“The Light?” Emma asked, repeating the word. She had heard mention of it before from books and her own instructors at the Academy, but Frank said the word as if it were a person, not a thing.

“There’s a balance in everything,” Frank told Emma as she stared on wide-eyed. “The Light’s with us and fights the darkness. I’ve experienced it first hand while I was playing a game of ‘beat the crap out of each other’ with the Lord of Chaos. We’re not alone, Jackson. Everything that has happened to us has happened for a reason. Man, listen to me. I don’t even sound like myself anymore.”

Emma wanted to ask more questions. She was stopped from furthering the conversation as Jace walked into the room. He wore the same black and purple uniform she had seen him in earlier that day with his sleeves ripped off. His vambraces shone the same as hers. He stopped just inside the doorway.

“Look who decided to come in and stop playing stalker.” Frank grinned at the Arilion from across the room. “I thought you were about to offer me free candy and puppies, maybe a ride in your van.”

Jace skewered up his face. “Why would I offer you treats and small animals? What is a van?”

“Never mind. It’s a bad human joke.” Frank went with it. “I’m Frank Wolffe.”

“Jace Hunter,” Jace said, folding his arms awkwardly over his chest. “What’s that noise?”

Emma stopped to listen. Frank’s playlist had moved down the line a couple of songs. At the moment, it was playing a tune she had heard before but couldn’t name.

“Oh, that’s ZZ Top, ‘Le Grange,’” Frank answered, bobbing his head to the beat. “Good stuff, right?”

“Z Tops,” Jace repeated, nodding along with the beat. “I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“Oh, we’ve got plenty more where that comes from.” Frank motioned to Emma. “We were practicing our archery skills. Do you have bows on your planet?”

“Not bows,” Jace said, opening his arms and constructing an axe with a sharp half-moon edge on one side and a hammer on the other. In the middle of the two sides was a rifle muzzle.

“My man.” Frank grinned. “I think I’d like your planet.”

“Probably not,” Jace said, approaching Emma and Frank. He didn’t offer more explanation to his words.

“Cool.” Emma broke the growing silence. “Let’s see what we can do.”

The next hour was spent honing their skills with the weapons they had chosen. Emma and Jace took down targets Frank constructed and did the same for him when it was his turn.

Seeing Frank transition from his own constructs was like watching a musician play his favorite instrument. Without hesitation, Frank flowed from one weapon to the next, sending a few bursts of his purple construct into his target before deconstructing and reconstructing and doing it again. In this way, he moved from handguns to rifles and even a heavy hand blade.

For his part, Jace was mostly quiet, but Emma saw it as a huge improvement that he was even there.

Just when Emma’s throat was telling her it was time to grab a drink, her holo band went off. It was a message from Slain that read, “Please meet us in my office. Director Trueart and General Fox would like to have a word.”

At the same time Emma received her transmission, Frank walked a few steps to his right, speaking to someone over a channel only he could hear. “Yes, sir. On our way.”

Frank looked at Emma and Jace with a grim smile. “I think it’s time to go on the offensive.”

17

“Frank, Emma, Jace.” Director Trueart stood from his seat on one of the dark couches in Slain’s office. He said the last name with a hint of surprise. “It’s great to see you all. Major Frank Wolffe, it’s a privilege to meet you for the first time.”

“Director Trueart.” Frank nodded with a smile. “Thank you for allowing Earth to join the Alliance.”

“We’re stronger together.” Director Trueart waved them over to take seats. “Earth and Jace’s own planet of Raze are welcome additions to the Alliance. I’m sure it will only become stronger as more and more planets join our cause and their Arilion Knights come here to train.”

The short Bracka man beamed with pride. A cheery playfulness raced across his wide face and large features. The only time Emma had interacted with the Bracka before, was when she had first been chosen as Earth’s Arilion Knight. The events of that night had placed her in front of the council, led by Director Trueart. The council also consisted of Slain and the leader of the Alliance militia, Commander Kull.

Emma found herself grateful that the Ree woman was not there. Past her physically intimidating size, the commander was less than polite and seemed to have a vendetta against Emma despite her having no history with the woman.

Inside Slain’s office, General Fox, Slain, and the director had been sitting on the couches. When the Arilion walked in, they all rose. General Fox nodded to Frank and Emma and extended a hand to Jace.

“I’m General Fox,” he said with an up-twitch of his lips. “I’m always glad to meet another Arilion Knight.”

Jace looked at the extended hand for a moment, then accepted it. He didn’t say much besides a low grunt of approval.

If the general took offense, he didn’t show it.

“Well, thank you all for coming.” Director Trueart looked to the entrance of Slain’s office as the door opened and the waterfall outside parted. “Ah, Commander Kull arriving right on time. We can begin.”

Emma must have let out her sigh just a little too loud. Frank looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Do we not like Commander Kull?” Frank whispered.

“I don’t know. Do you like being stubbed in your toe over and over again?” Emma said, fighting back another wave of unease. “You’ll see.”

“Greaaaaaat,” Frank whispered back.

Commander Kull entered the room, all eight feet of her with broad shoulders and a black and gold uniform, marking her as a member of the Alliance forces. Her dark hair was braided and pulled tight behind her head in a Mohawk-type style. Both large and muscular, she had to weigh close to five hundred pounds.

“Commander Kull, welcome.” Director Trueart waved her forward. “You’re just in time. We were about to begin talking about the situation on Earth.”

Commander Kull’s eyes wandered around the room. She nodded to Slain, grimaced at Emma. Her gaze didn’t get to Frank or the general before landing on Jace.

“Director, with all due respect, the Were should not be here.” Commander Kull shook her head as she judged Jace as if he were a pile of dough that needed to cook longer in the oven. “He’s not mentally stable. You know his past history of being a sla—”

Jace let out a low growl. Standing straight, he was still much shorter than the Ree woman, but that didn’t seem to bother him. A purple construct was just beginning to form in his right hand when Slain stepped in.

“Jace is an Arilion Knight,” Slain said, physically stepping between the two. “He’s welcome in my office whenever he would like.”

Commander Kull looked over to Director Trueart for support. The Bracka man ignored her gaze. “Well, it looks like we’re all here. Commander, I don’t think you’ve met General Fox and Major Frank Wolffe as of yet.”

While Commander Kull, Frank, and the general exchanged pleasantries, the commander’s words weren’t lost on Emma. The commander was about to say that Jace had been a slave. Emma eyed the Were up and down.

He had calmed himself enough now to allow the construct he had begun to prepare in his hand to dissipate. He still stared ill will through his yellow eyes at the commander.

“Please, everyone take a seat and we can begin,” Director Trueart said, placing himself once again on the couch in Slain’s office.

Slain and Frank brought over the two chairs that sat in front of his desk. Jace stood behind the group, leaning against an over-stuffed bookcase. Commander Kull for the most part ignored him as she did Emma.

“Now that the council has voted to include both Earth and Raze into the Alliance, we can begin moving forward with details of our new partnership.” Director Trueart touched the holo table that sat in front of his couch like a coffee table. “The first order of business should be the plan to convert a portion of the Academy to a facility to welcome, train, and offer guidance to the New Arilion Knights, appearing all over the universe.”

Emma caught Frank’s obvious stare at General Fox.

“Our location on Earth, the Den, isn’t equipped to handle thousands of new recruits,” General Fox said, looking at each of the gathered members in turn, including Jace. “We can send out broadcasts informing every galaxy that the Academy is the new headquarters of the Arilion Knights. The Den will act as more of an elite team of Arilion Knights as we take on specific missions to protect the universe.”

“The Academy will be like the proving grounds and the Den will be our strike team.” Frank reiterated the general’s words as if he were mulling over the thought himself. “But there has to be thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of habitable planets in the universe. Will the Academy be able to house that many Arilion?”

“As of today no,” Slain said, leaning forward in his seat next to the general. “But we’ll grow with the demand. The Academy is an orbiting station that will evolve to meet the need.”

This seemed enough for Frank.

“We’ll start broadcasting the signal as soon as possible,” Director Trueart stated. “Now to the more pressing matter at hand. It seems Earth has a problem and that means the Alliance has a problem. We’ll send a team to assist you with the eradication of the Vilmar from your planet.”

“The Vilmar?” Jace said from where he leaned against the bookcase to the rear of the group. “What about the Vilmar? Have they invaded Earth?”

Commander Kull rolled her eyes, about to open her mouth and no doubt say something rude or demeaning to the Were.

“As far as we know, it’s just a single Vilmar that has come and infiltrated one of our main cities,” Emma said before the commander could get a word out. “He’s turned dozens, maybe more of our inhabitants. We need to stop him before he can turn more.”

“I’ll come with you,” Jace said with no hesitancy in his voice. “I’ll go to Earth and fight for your planet.”

What the heck? Is this the same guy that I just met yesterday that didn’t even want to talk? Emma thought to herself. What’s happened to him? Who is this guy?

“Your enthusiasm is appreciated,” General Fox said with a kind but firm tone. “But we have Frank and Emma on the job. With a few units of Marines, we should be able to control the situation ourselves.”

Jace’s wolfish face twisted into a mask of frustration.

“We all know your people have a deep feud with the Vilmar,” Commander Kull added. “But this is not the time to let your emotions get the best of your actions. Besides, you have no training as an Arilion.”

Frank raised his hand like a small child in class waiting for the teacher to call on him. Everyone in the room stared at him as if he had gone crazy.

Emma couldn’t help feel a small smile cross her lips.

“Major Wolffe?” Slain finally asked.

“Oh, yes, thank you,” Frank said clearing his throat. “For the record, I had no idea the werewolves and vampires had a blood feud. Second, if Jace wants to come, I would like to respectfully tell the adults in the room that we could use his help. Especially if he’s familiar with our enemy. I’ll take responsibility for him.”

“Like you took responsibility for the member of your own Marine unit that bombed the Draconian capitol and killed their Prime?” Commander Kull asked.

Emma had no idea what the commander was referring to, but she could guess as the words hit Frank like a physical punch to his gut. Anger raced across his features like Emma had never seen. The normally good-natured Marine clenched his fists so hard they shook. The purple energy that glowed from his vambraces brightened in intensity.

For a moment, Emma thought he was going to bound from his seat and knife the commander to death. Even though she had to weigh twice his own weight, right now Emma would give the edge to Frank in a fight.

“Frank,” General Fox said in a low tone that carried so much force Emma was confused. How a single word spoken so softly could command that strength was foreign to her.

Frank unclenched his fists. A vein in his neck jumped up and down like a child in one of those inflatable jump houses.

“Commander Kull.” Director Trueart picked up the conversation. “Major Wolffe is one of the most experienced Arilion Knights that exists in this universe as of now. If he sees fit to include Jace in his plans, I feel like we should seriously consider the request. He also brings up an important point. If Jace knows this enemy, he could be a great asset in the fight for Earth.”

Commander Kull didn’t respond. She held Frank’s death stare with a stone face of her own.

“Well.” Emma felt obligated to fill the silence. “This is going great. So we’ll head back to Earth to take on the Vilmar. Three Arilion and Marines to have our back. Great plan. Let’s do it.”

“I agree wholeheartedly with what is being said.” Slain’s orange eyes twinkled as he looked over to Emma. “Perhaps in the spirit of the Alliance, we can include a few members of the Academy to join the unit. Maybe a Bracka and a Ree could be found to accompany the strike team.”

Emma immediately picked up on what Slain was hinting at. How the man could be so thoughtful even at a stressful time like this was beyond her. Emma didn’t have an uncle, but if she did, she imagined he’d be something like this.

“Jeba and Layga both have training on Earth fighting alien forces,” Emma volunteered. “They’d be a great addition to the team.”

“Oh, you can’t be serious,” Commander Kull huffed. “Sending two first-year recruits to fight the Vilmar is insanity. A contingent of my own warriors should be part of this fight before any first-year recruits.”

“No need; we’ll have the Arilion Knights there,” Frank said with a wild grin. “I’d take an Arilion Knight over one or two of your own warriors any day of the week.”

“Oh no,” Director Trueart said from his spot next to the commander.

“Well, why don’t you put your body where your mouth is?” A wild gleam came over Commander Kull’s large dark eyes. “That can be arranged. Why don’t we settle this with action instead of words?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Frank said, rising from his seat. “We can use the training room right here, right now.”

“Now let’s all calm down here,” General Fox said, rising from his seat. “We’re all on the same side.”

“There’s nothing wrong with friendly sparring to make one another better,” Commander Kull said with no sign of friendship on her face. She turned to Frank. “Me and my best against you and yours.”

“Yippee ki yay,” Frank said, turning to Emma. “I’ll take Jackson to be my second.”

“Wow, hey.” Emma rose from her seat since it seemed like everyone was doing so now. “As much as I’m all about beating one another to a pulp, Earth has a very serious problem.”

“This won’t take long,” Frank said, grinning at Commander Kull. “Let’s do this.”

18

Events were moving so quickly, Emma was having a hard time keeping track. One minute they were in a meeting, the next the party had been moved over to the danger room inside the Academy.

Emma, Frank, and surprisingly Jace were on the far side of the room while General Fox, Dean Extile, and Director Trueart conversed in the center. Commander Kull had gone to get her second.

“Why didn’t you choose me?” Jace snarled. “I would have ripped them apart.”

“Well, I think you just answered your own question,” Frank said, rolling his neck around his shoulders. He stretched out his quads by lifting his leg behind him and grabbing his foot. Next he left his legs straight on the ground and reached down to touch his toes, stretching his hamstrings. “We’re trying to prove a point here, not kill them.”

“And what point would that be?” General Fox asked as he joined the Arilion Knights. “Frank, we just formed an alliance with these people. What are you thinking?”

“You know me, I don’t really care what people think about me or that whole respect business,” Frank said, jumping up and down on his toes. “But I think if we can prove to them what we can do, we’ll solidify our bonds of trust.”

“And that had nothing to do with the mention of your friend?” Emma lifted an eyebrow. “The one Commander Kull prodded you with?”

“Naw, nothing at all,” Frank lied with a grin. “Aren’t you going to stretch and warm up? We have a tag-team match coming up soon.”

Truth be told, Emma wasn’t afraid to fight, but neither was she looking forward to facing down the Ree and whatever other champion she decided to be her second. Earth needed them. The Vilmar could be spreading with Desmond Delshire at the helm. Who knew how many more he had already turned.

“You ease up if you’re winning.” General Fox stared lasers into Frank’s eyes. “Yes, you beat them, but nothing more. This isn’t a stage for you to work through your issues.”

“I understand, sir.” Frank gave the general the thumbs-up sign. “You know me.”

“I do know you and that’s why I’m worried.” The general turned on his heel. He returned back to his place with Dean Extile and Director Trueart.

“Why does everybody always say that?” Frank wondered out loud.

Without warning, the door to the training room swung open and in walked Commander Kull followed by the largest Ree Emma had ever seen. He was a mountain of a warrior, a true testament to his race. Emma had seen Ree before. She had become accustomed to their size. This one was unlike anything she had ever witnessed. He had to be nearly ten feet tall. His black and gold uniform fit like a glove, showing off his massive arms and legs. Dark hair held back by a ponytail and a thick beard hid most of his features, but there was no denying the intensity in his ebony eyes.

Whatever Commander Kull had told him was going on must have sparked something close to his heart. He held a double-bladed axe in his right hand whose sharp edges looked like they could be the width of the door leading to her house.

Commander Kull also carried a weapon. A curved blade rested on her right shoulder. She had donned a black helmet that reminded Emma of something a boxer would use when sparring, except hers was metal.

Emma felt an empty sensation touch the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t going to back down, but neither was she eager to run into either Ree.

I thought having other Arilion Knights on my team was supposed to be a good thing. Emma began preparing herself mentally for the fight about to take place. I didn’t realize I was going to be picking fights with giants.

“I’ll take the big one—the bigger one,” Frank said with a rueful grin. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help when the fighting starts. Use your speed and range weapons. I don’t think they’ll be able to move as fast or as long as we will. This is going to be fun.”

How the Marine could smile at a time like this was beyond Emma. She shook her arms, stretching the joints and ligaments that ran from her shoulders to her fingers.

“You and I have different definitions of fun,” Emma said, stepping forward with Frank to meet the pair of Ree in the center of the room. “And you don’t be afraid to ask for help either.”

“There she is.” Frank nodded with her words. “You know what they say, the bigger they are.”

“We’ll keep Alliance rules.” Director Trueart joined the combatants in the center of the ring. “The fight will be over when both members from each side submit or are no longer able to continue. I don’t need to remind you that we are now allies. Killing blows will not be tolerated. If anyone tries to inflict permanent damage on the other team, they will forfeit the match for their side. Questions?”

Frank was locked in a staring contest with the giant Ree Commander Kull had brought with her. Frank craned his neck almost completely up to look into the giant’s eyes.

Commander Kull wore a sadistic smirk across her large lips. She stared down at Emma as if she were nothing short of an ant to be stepped on. There was something about the way the commander looked at Emma that stoked the fire already burning inside her.

The look reminded Emma of the way so many bullies, mean girls, and even some teachers had treated her in the past. It was a glare of loathing.

“You can still give up now, little knight.” Commander Kull eyed Emma up and down. “I will show you no mercy.”

“I’m going to break you.” Emma stared back at the Ree. There was no hesitation or stuttering in her words. The truth was she was half surprised she had found the words to begin with. But there was no denying she was changing day by day. She wasn’t the victim she had been just a few months before.

Commander Kull clearly wasn’t ready for that type of response. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.

“Back to your ends of the sparring room, then come out ready to engage,” Director Trueart said as he retreated back to the edge of the room. “May the best warriors win.”

“Nice comeback; was that from a Rocky movie?” Frank asked as he and Emma retreated to their end of the room. “I was staring down the Jolly Green Giant, but that sounded like it was from a Rocky movie.”

“Rocky IV,” Emma said as they reached their end of the arena where Jace stood waiting. “My dad loves those movies.”

“Slaughter their fighting spirit and you will win even before their bodies give in,” Jace said to them as he extended his right hand in a closed fist. “As one.”

“Well look who’s coming around,” Frank said, extending his own right arm and placing his vambrace on top of Jace’s. “You’re going to be all right, fur ball.”

Both knights looked over to Emma.

“Boys.” Emma rolled her eyes. She also placed her right arm on top of theirs. For a moment, as all three vambraces touched, the glowing of their armor picked up intensity and bathed the room in violet light.

Emma turned and looked down the training room to where the Ree had already made it to their end. Both Commander Kull and her second’s blades shimmered with green light, much like her mother’s blades had done. Together, the Ree began trotting forward. The weight of their combined steps gently shook the floor of the orbiting space station.

“Let’s get some,” Frank said as he constructed a rifle Emma didn’t recognize.

There was no time to focus on what he was doing now. Emma had a charging Commander Kull to worry about. The Ree had almost reached the halfway point of the training floor.

Emma focused on bringing the recurve bow she had used just earlier that day into her hands. The wish of having more time for practice descended on her, but there was no changing that now. Emma placed her left foot forward and stood sideways.

She notched a translucent purple arrow in her constructed bow. She pulled the string taut, the end of her arrow caressing her cheek. Commander Kull was crossing the halfway mark. The commander made for a massive target. Her blade was held in her right hand as she closed the distance.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Frank opened up beside her with his own weapon as he screamed at his enemy. “Come on! Bring it!”

Emma pushed the noise from her mind as she took one final breath, then exhaled, allowing her arrow to fly. Her target was the commander’s left leg. She imagined an arrow in the Ree’s thigh would be painful but not life threatening.

The purple projectile whizzed through the air. Before coming into contact with the commander’s leg, the large Ree slashed sideway with her sword, breaking Emma’s construct and protecting herself at the same time.

Oh, no I didn’t see that coming, Emma said to herself as she readied another arrow. One more chance, then this is going to suck.

Emma lined up the shot once again, this time drawing the bolt back as far as it would go. Trying to remain calm in the face of the charging Commander Kull was no easy task. Every fiber in Emma’s body screamed at her to get out of the way. Commander Kull was only yards from her now.

The one thing that kept Emma rooted in her spot was the fact that the closer the commander came, the less likely of a chance she was going to be able to block the incoming arrow.

A rogue idea hit Emma. Before she could talk herself out of it, she constructed two more arrows on her bow, bringing her grand total to three. She had only ever seen the act used in cartoons, but what the heck? If she could imagine it, she could do it.

THRUMB!

Emma let the arrows fly as the whites of Commander Kull’s eyes came into view. The three purple bolts raced toward her in the space of a half second. To attest to the commander’s credit even at point blank range, she managed to bring her block across her body and block two of the three bolts.

The last arrow struck her high on her left hip. The force was enough to make the commander falter but not completely stop her forward momentum.

Emma abandoned her long-range attack in favor of her own blade. At the last instant, she sidestepped the attack, avoiding the charging behemoth.

Commander Kull regained her momentum, swiping to her left. The arrow that struck her in the hip deconstructed, along with Emma’s bow, but the wound remained very real. If the commander was hampered at all from the attack, the only thing she showed was a slight limp.

Emma danced around the commander’s attacks using Frank’s suggestion to play to her own strength of speed and endurance. The commander was quick for her size. She moved to block Emma’s retreats and swung out with her sword over and over again.

Emma blocked and parried where she could, but eventually, she had to meet the commander’s force head on. It happened while the commander brought her sword down on Emma’s head. Emma raised her purple blade in a parallel move to block the attack. The two weapons sparked as the commander brought her weight to bear on her opponent.

Emma gritted her teeth as she absorbed the impact. A tremor of pain ran down her arms as they extended over her own head to hold her weapon sideways and keep the commander’s blade at bay.

Noises from the battle Frank was fighting played somewhere in the background. Emma could see shapes and movement from his own struggle but nothing more. At the moment, she had larger problems to think about.

“Submit,” Commander Kull ordered Emma as she muscled down on the handle of her own sword, adding more pressure to Emma’s defense. “Contrary to what you might think, I do not have a desire to kill you, only to humble you in the presence of your betters.”

19

Oh no she didn’t, Emma growled to herself in her own head. A second later, she was forced down to a single knee as the pressure from the blade above her head grew. Think, don’t try to meet her power for power, be smarter. You can construct whatever you want.

Just like the idea to add multiple arrows from her bow came a random image. Emma rolled to her left, allowing the commander’s blade to come down on the spot where she had crouched a moment before.

Commander Kull’s sword bit deep into the ground. Emma rose to her feet, but instead of an attack, she called a familiar vehicle to mind, constructing it from her vambraces as she remembered its details to the chimney stack.

WOOT! WOOT!

The life-size version of Thomas the Train Emma had constructed barreled into Commander Kull so hard, Emma almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

A line of energy ran from Emma’s vambraces to the rear of the train as she brought it to life. The sheer will to bring something that large and powerful to existence felt like she was lifting a hundred-pound weight on her shoulders.

Sweat trickled down her brow. It was enough to convince Emma to allow the construct to evaporate. Commander Kull was struggling to her feet on the far end of the mat, spitting a mouthful of blood beside her.

Even hit by a train, the Ree was dazed but not out of the fight.

“Oh come on.” Emma rolled her eyes in frustration. “Stay down!”

Emma was over playing nice. This little show of who had the bigger muscles in the newly formed Alliance had to end. Earth needed saving. At the moment, she felt like she was the only one that cared.

“Submit,” Emma ordered the Ree as she brought a piano to life in the air above the commander. “Submit or I’m going to go Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote on your alien butt.”

The commander fought to her hands and knees, shaking her head. “You’ve won nothing yet with your tricks. You’ve—”

Emma allowed the piano to fall on the Ree.

I hope I don’t break any bones. Okay, well, at least no major bones—or Madame Cherub has those Bone Builders she used on my mom, so maybe a few bones wouldn’t be that bad, Emma thought as the piano crashed down on the commander’s back.

The sight looked more painful than Emma would have liked. The baby grand piano slammed into the commander, flattening her on her stomach. As soon as her construct hit, Emma allowed it to deconstruct instead of leaving it on Commander Kull. She had no desire to cripple the woman.

Commander Kull lay motionless on her stomach. Emma approached slowly in case it was some kind of trick. It was no trick. A line of blood ran from the Ree’s temple down the side of her face. Her torso still rose and fell, signaling she had only been knocked unconscious by the piano.

Emma let out a silent praise of thanks. If she had killed the Ree, she didn’t know how she would be able to move on.

“Nice, work, Jackson,” Frank said from his spot on the opposite side of the training room. “I might have to steal that move and use it later.”

Emma turned to see one of the most disturbing things she had ever witnessed in her life. The gigantic Ree Frank had been fighting was swaddled like an overgrown baby. A purple blanket wrapped him from feet to neck. A pacifier was in his mouth, cutting off any moans or yells. All the Ree could do was glare murder at Frank.

“You—you swaddled him?” Emma asked, raising her right hand to wipe a thick sheen of sweat off her forehead. “How do you know how to swaddle things?”

“One of the members of my team adopted a baby flying wolf creature,” Frank said as if it were all supposed to make sense. “His name is Magnus and he loves to be swaddled. I just imagined the pacifier myself. I’ve seen plenty of movies where they give it to the baby to keep him quiet.”

“What kind of movies are you watching?” Emma raised a brow.

“The Hallmark Channel has some really quality storylines, especially around the holiday season.” Frank nodded his head along with his own words. He caught Emma’s raised eyebrow. “Don’t judge me, pointy ears. We all have our skeletons in the closet.”

“Can we be done with this now?” Dean Extile approached with the others. “It’s clear who won. I say we allow Frank and Emma to take their selected team to Earth to deal with the Vilmar issue.”

“I agree.” Director Trueart motioned to Frank and his giant baby. “Major Wolffe, will you please release our colossus of a Ree?”

“Of course,” Frank said, dismissing his purple constructs. “I think he might need a changing, though, maybe a burping too.”

Director Trueart nodded and moved over to speak with the livid Ree who had just been forced to relive his childhood. Emma could hear parts of what the director was telling the giant warrior like “Let it go” and “Your commander needs you.”

“Well, if we’re done with this, it’s time to head to Earth and engage in the real battle,” General Fox said, voicing what they were all thinking. “We’ll make up our strike team of the three Arilion Knights, and the Ree and the Bracka Emma has worked with in the past. We’ll have our Marines on standby for added support.”

“Have you been able to locate where this Vilmar ran?” Jace asked, joining the group. He gave both Frank and Emma approving nods. “Seeing all this fighting taking place around me has me itching for some blood.”

“We have a location where he retreated to,” General Fox informed the group. He gave Emma a long stare. “My Marines will form a perimeter and allow our strike team to go in. If you flush him out, he’ll have nowhere to go this time.”

“Brilliant.” Director Trueart rejoined the group. He addressed Dean Extile. “If you can, inform the other two recruits they will be leaving on a mission. Have them meet the rest of the team at the teleportation room. I think I should stay here for when Commander Kull comes to her senses. I don’t think she’s going to be in a particularly cheery mood when she comes to.”

Emma looked over to where the titanic Ree bent over his commanding officer, bringing her to. Emma wasn’t particularly eager to be in the same room when the commander regained her senses either. It appeared she wasn’t the only one.

“Roger that,” General Fox said.

“I agree,” Dean Extile said at the same time.

“Well, let’s go.” Jace led the way from the room. “There are Vilmar and their turned to kill.”

Emma, Frank, and General Fox followed while the dean went to collect Layga and Jeba for the mission. While the three Arilion Knights and the general made their way to the teleportation room, General Fox gave them further details.

“We still don’t know for certain if Desmond Dalshire is the only Vilmar in town, but we have to assume for the sake of this mission that he’s working with someone else,” General Fox explained, using his hands to demonstrate his words as the group traveled through the orbiting space station. “We’ve tracked him to an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles called The Linda Vista Community Hospital. It was abandoned after being transitioned from a hospital to an insane asylum.”

Emma nearly tripped on her own feet as the general relayed the news. “I’m sorry. I thought you said insane asylum.”

“I did,” General Fox said with unblinking eyes. “Is that a problem, Miss Jackson?”

“You’re not afraid of a few ghosts and demons, are you?” Jace chuckled in his raspy way of speaking. “You just took on one of the best Ree warriors.”

“I don’t even like watching scary movies.” Emma swallowed hard, trying to imagine what they would face at an abandoned asylum. “Come on, Frank, back me up here. You’re watching the Hallmark Christmas Channel. You can’t like scary movies either.”

“What? Who—me?” Frank gave an awkward chuckle, shaking his head at General Fox’s stare. He looked at Emma and addressed her in a low whisper, “I told you that in confidence.”

“Sorry, how was I supposed to know that?” Emma shrugged. “Next time, you have to tell me when you’re letting me in on a secret.”

“Humans,” Jace mumbled under his voice.

“You’ll infiltrate and bring Desmond out and whatever accomplices he’s working with if there are any at all,” General Fox told them. “We’ll teleport directly to our base outside the asylum. It’s time to take care of this vampire alien once and for all.”

20

“This food is delicious. Is it a present from the gods of your planet? Such wonderous sustenance must be in response to years of prayer and yearning.” Layga patted her ample stomach area. “What do you call it again?”

“Uh, you’re eating a cheeseburger,” Emma said, stuffing fries into her mouth even as she did so. “They’re all over the place in this city.”

“I love cheeseburgers,” Layga said, chomping down on her third one. “And I also love these things you call fries.”

Emma, along with Layga and Jeba and the other two knights, had been teleported to an abandoned building two blocks from the asylum. The idea was to wait for the sun to go down, then advance on the building and Desmond Delshire.

Emma sat with Layga, Jeba, and Jace in an open room with no furniture. The walls were flaking and the floors looked as though they were going to fall through at any moment.

Frank and General Fox were discussing tactics while they checked in with the rest of the team coordinating the assault.

A fast food meal had been brought for the rest of the unit, then they were left alone to await the coming darkness.

Right now, the last rays of the orange sun were descending past the tall buildings of downtown Los Angeles. The area they were in was rundown and mostly deserted. Weeds sprang up around chain link fences and windows were boarded up on every other building.

It was strange that in a city as alive and full of people as Los Angeles, there were pockets where no one dared to travel. Perhaps this pocket was uninhabited because of the alien resident who had claimed the asylum as his own.

“Do you eat all your meat like that?” Jeba asked Jace as the Arilion Knight tossed his wrapper of raw meat in the corner of the room they were using for trash.

“I do. I usually prefer to hunt my own food, but that is a privilege I have not had for a very long time,” Jace said, walking over to the open window.

“Is that because you were a slave?” Jeba asked without a hint of remorse.

Emma and Layga froze. They glanced at one another with large eyes.

Emma had guessed Jace had a past he wanted to keep secret, but she never would have imagined Jeba would know what it was, much less confront him with it.

All eyes turned to Jace to see what the Were would do. He had his back to them at the moment. Reading his expression was impossible. His body language seemed to sink for a moment. His shoulders lowered and his furry black back arched as if he were letting go of a secret that had burned him for a very long time.

“How did you know?” Jace asked, still not turning to look at Jeba. If he was angry, his voice didn’t give off a hint of malice. He sounded curious. “I’ve hidden my scars.”

“Your world lies within traveling distance of my own,” Jeba said as she sat cross-legged on the far end of the room from the window. “I’ve heard stories of the planet, Raze. How they’re a brutal people who enslave their own. From what I know of you, it was a guess. You don’t strike me as a carefree elite member of your society.”

Jace turned his head to the right. He revealed only his profile. His yellow eye shone bright, and his long wolfish snout and mouth wore an uncharacteristic grin in place.

“When the vambraces chose me, you can imagine the looks on my masters’ faces.” Jace’s grin grew wider. “The pack that owned me and my parents before me finally got what they deserved. I made their exit from this world far too quick in retrospect. The years they beat me pale in comparison to what they did to others.”

Everything began to make sense to Emma. She was forced to wrap her mind around something so foreign to her she wasn’t sure if she would ever fully understand. How someone could own another person and take it a step further by beating and killing them was an impossible idea to her.

“What did you do then?” Layga asked. “I mean, after the vambraces chose you and you freed yourself?”

Jace finally turned around. His muscular arms were crossed over his chest. He leaned backward against the window. The next words he spoke as if they had a foul taste as they exited his lips.

“With the vambraces, I was suddenly like a celebrity to my kind. The same ones that would have whipped me to do their work wanted to parade me around like their hero.” Jace lifted his left upper lip in a snarl. “They wanted me to stay and be their champion. I refused. They’re not worth saving.”

“What about the other slaves?” Emma asked, thinking of the injustice being done to them at this very moment. “What about those who are in the same position now that you found yourself in before?”

“Why do you think I’m here in the first place?” Jace asked, directing his eyes toward Emma. “I’m here to learn and train. I’ll need to be the very strongest I can be before I return to Raze. I will free the slaves, I’ll change my planet, but to do so, I need to be more than I am at this moment. I’ll need to be prepared to take on the army the elite faction on my planet has at their disposal.”

“So your people think you’re here to learn how to protect them and become a full-fledged Arilion Knight,” Layga began.

“But really you’re here to learn and go back and slaughter all those slave owners,” Jeba finished with an approving nod.

“Exactly,” Jace said, his eyes not leaving Emma’s. “You don’t like that plan, human?”

“I didn’t say that.” Emma dusted off her pants as she rose from her place on the floor.

“Your eyes say everything,” Jace countered.

“I’ve learned that when a fight comes my way, I’m going to see it through to the end. That’s the only thing to do.” Emma sighed, thinking of the Shay and more recently her battle with the Ree commander. “However, if there is a way to stop the fight and come to terms before the blood begins to flow, then maybe that’s worth looking into.”

Jace didn’t say a word. Instead of speech, he began to disrobe. He pulled his arms through the black and purple Academy uniform he wore. Although he had torn off the sleeves, it still covered his torso from his neck down to his waist.

“I’m flattered that you find me attractive, but my heart belongs to another.” Jeba waved off what she guessed were his advances. “Besides, it wouldn’t be appropriate. We’re not alone.”

Jace ignored her words, removing his shirt and dropping it to the floor beside him.

Layga audibly gasped.

Emma felt her combination lunch-dinner gurgle in the pit of her stomach.

Jace’s torso was covered in scars. Long white marks rose from his skin where his black fur refused to grow back. His upper body was a crisscross of painful lesions that interwove with one another like some massive spider web built on his chest and stomach.

Layga lifted a hand to her mouth.

Jace turned around slowly to make sure they could all see what he had endured. His back was worse than his chest. Only sporadic clumps of black hair grew at all amongst so much scar tissue rising from his back.

“The leading families of Raze prefer not to mar the faces of their slaves,” Jace explained as he finally turned full circle and began placing his shirt on once more. “They want us to bleed, but they don’t want to look on their actions. I will return one day and I will free my people. Those in the ruling class can submit or die. I’m not interested in talking with them, not anymore.”

Emma was so shocked, she wasn’t sure what to say. The pain that Jace had endured for the entirety of his life had molded his hate into something not easily swayed.

Emma was trying to come up with the words, but trying to change his mind in the moment didn’t seem right. As much as Jace would deny it, he just needed someone to understand him right now, not preach to him how he should or shouldn’t feel.

“You’re safe now and with a new family,” Emma said, moving forward to stand in front of Jace. “I think I’m just starting to learn that myself. We can agree and disagree how to handle things, but we have to have each other’s back no matter what. It’s a big universe out there and if we’re going to survive, we have to do it together.”

Jace slowly nodded.

That would have to be enough for Emma at the moment. It seemed that was all the Were could offer..

Jeba started a slow clap that picked up speed as the seconds ticked by.

“Why are we clapping?” Frank asked as he entered the room.

Jeba immediately stopped and began batting her eyelashes at Frank.

“What’s the word?” Emma asked as she redirected her attention toward the Marine. “Can we go in?’

“I thought you were afraid of confronting the Vilmar?” Jace asked with a grin. “Eager to begin now?”

“Still not eager to run into an abandoned asylum at night filled with vampire-like aliens,” Emma corrected. “I’m just ready to get this over with. I hate waiting.”

“Well you’re in luck.” Frank motioned to the window and the last rays of the setting sun beyond. “We’re ready to gear up and head out. We were just waiting for the cover of night. General Fox and his team have designated an entry point for us. We travel with myself and Emma in the lead, Jeba and Layga in the middle and Jace bringing up the rear.”

“All due respect, I feel as though I would be better suited to remain by your side.” Jeba sauntered over to Frank, swinging her hips as she did in a way Emma had never seen her do before. “I can help protect you.”

“Thanks for the offer.” Frank slowly backed out of the door as if he were retreating from a slumbering bear. “But I’ll manage. Come on; follow me. It’s time to get this done.”

Emma and the others traveled with Frank through the interior of the building. Two rooms and a hall later, they came to an open chamber that had been converted into a kind of mission control room.

Marines stood at attention at hastily erected work stations, near a wall of weapons and equipment. General Fox hunched over Laloyd’s right shoulder as the Marine and Draconian examined a map on a large screen.

“I think we’re geared up as much as we need to be.” Frank lifted the vambrace on his right arm to prove his point. He motioned Layga and Jeba over to the row of equipment. “Dean Extile had weapons and uniforms sent for you.”

The Ree and Bracka nodded and went to gear up before the fight.

“Oh hey, Emma.” Laloyd turned from his seat and gave her a warm smile. “You should know your father seems to be in good spirits after a long night of sleep and a heavy breakfast I made him. You know, all the fixings to help him out. He’s going through a rough time right now. I made him pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, potatoes—”

“I’m sure Emma is grateful to hear the news,” General Fox interrupted. “However, we have a job to do here right now.”

“Oh right.” Laloyd turned back to his monitor and brought up an image of a city block. There were a half dozen or so smaller buildings around one main structure that had to be the abandoned asylum. “So here’s what we’re looking at. Man, I’m glad I don’t have to go out there. I mean, I’m no coward, but I have absolutely zero desire to go into an abandoned crazy house while it’s dark and hunt down a…”

Laloyd’s voice trailed off as he looked at the four pairs of eyes staring him down.

“You’re not helping right now.” Frank patted the Draconian on the shoulder. He motioned to the monitor with his right pointer finger. “Where’s our incursion point?”

“Right.” Laloyd struck the keyboard a few times, narrowing in on the rear of the massive asylum building. He zoomed in to a pair of closed double doors. “This is the rear entrance. It was used for waste management. It should be easily accessible.”

“Great, waste management,” Emma said under her breath.

“Like poop?” Jace asked, catching on to where Emma was headed. “We have to go through the poop chute?”

“No, like trash.” Laloyd scrunched his reptilian brow. “I wouldn’t send you through excrement. That’s gross.”

“We have two units of the very best with a perimeter around the grounds along with some tech the Draconians were willing to share with us,” General Fox said as Laloyd zoomed into the view of the grounds once more. General Fox drew a triangle around the asylum grounds. “Reaper One and Two are in position. Trust me, if Desmond tries to escape this time, he won’t be going very far.”

“Understood,” Frank said, looking to Emma and Jace. “Questions?”

“I have a question if I may?” Jeba asked, rejoining the group. She wore black and gold Academy light infantry armor that hugged her body. A sword hung on the right side of her hip. “What if we do find this Vilmar? Are we supposed to bring him in or kill him on the spot?”

Layga also rejoined the group. She wore a similar suit to her counterpart’s. The Ree carried a heavy axe on her shoulder. The blade of her axe shone with a dull blue light.

“We should kill them,” Jace said without hesitation. “They’ll have no mercy on us.”

“Capture if you can, but not at the risk of your own safety,” General Fox instructed the team. “You all come back safe. That’s an order.”

21

“I just want to make sure we’re not going to split up at any point,” Emma whispered to Frank as the group left the perceived safety of their command building.

“What?” Frank frowned at her through the dark. “Why would we split up?”

“I don’t know; they just do it in all the horror movies ever made. The group at some point thinks it’s a great idea to search a large space individually and nothing good has ever come of that in the history of movies, like ever,” Emma said to Frank as she kept her eyes open, her head on a swivel. “Just tell me we won’t split up in there.”

“No worries, young padawan,” Frank reassured her. “We’ll stick together.”

“Good,” Emma whispered back.

Frank and Emma took the lead with Layga and Jeba in the middle and Jace bringing up the rear. As soon as they left the building, Emma could sense something was very off. It was possible the feeling could be in her head, but it felt like something was present. It was more than the feeling of being watched. It was in the unnatural cold of the night, in the ways the shadows played out against the stars and recently emerged half-moon.

In the city of Los Angeles, stars weren’t exactly visible, but even the crescent sliver of moon seemed to give off little light compared to other evenings in the city of angels.

Emma and Frank led the way down the left side of the sidewalk. Emma could hear General Fox providing Frank with updates via the earpiece she and the others on the team had been given before they left.

“Radio silence from here on out,” Frank whispered through the comms.

“Roger that,” General Fox answered.

Emma’s heart raced as she squinted into every dark recess, every deep shadow that seemed a little too black. There was nothing.

“These Marines holding the perimeter are hidden well,” Layga observed as they made their way forward. “I have not been able to spot a single one yet.”

“That’s their job,” Frank reassured the group. “It’s nice to know that they’re out there and they have our backs just like we all have each other’s. We’ll get through this and joke about it one day.”

I hope he’s right, Emma thought to herself. For the first time, Emma found herself worried not for her own safety or even that of Frank and Jace, but for Jeba and Layga. Not only were they not Arilion, but they were still recruits. What had she been thinking to allow them on this mission?

It was too late now; they were there together for better or worse.

Frank sank to a single knee using the building to their left for cover. He lifted his right hand in a closed fist, signaling them to stop.

“What is it?” Emma followed his lead, dropping to a knee. She couldn’t see anything, but her hearing was either playing tricks on her or someone far off was whistling in the night.

“Listen,” Frank whispered.

Sure enough, the sounds of a rather merry tune drifted on the night air. Where it was coming from was impossible to tell for sure, but Emma could guess. They were on the corner of their own block, ready to travel past the smaller outlying buildings to the asylum. Right now, the only thing that could be seen of the main structure was the top two stories of the five-story building that rose up into the night. It looked like a kind of altar to some long-forgotten blood god or maybe that was just Emma’s imagination getting the best of her once more.

“The Vilmar is playing mind games with us,” Jace said in such a low tone it was nearly impossible to hear. “They are known for their trickery and tactics such as this. They’ve been an enemy of my people since history began. We should move forward and not stay out here in the open.”

“Agreed.” Frank stood up, motioning them forward.

“Emma, if you die tonight, may I have your vambraces?” Jeba asked.

“No, what? No.” Emma looked back at her friend, one part amused one part annoyed. “Jeba, this is not the time for this and I’m not sure it works like that anyway.”

“Oh great, here we go.” Layga hunched low, trying to make herself a smaller target in the night.

“What?” Emma asked.

“Do you remember when we fought the Shay on the beach?” Layga asked. “Jeba was going on and on about someone dying that night too.”

“I can’t help what I feel.” Jeba shook her head, sending her red ponytail whipping back and forth behind her head. “I have the same sense again this night. One of us will fall.”

“Enough with the prophecies, Nostradamus.” Frank pointed across the street with his right hand. “On me, we’re going to cover the open ground fast.”

Emma nodded, following Frank’s lead. The Marine sprinted across the street taking a path along the sidewalk that would make them pass the outlying asylum buildings on their left. The route would eventually give them a straight shot to the rear of the main building and their entry point.

“Still clear,” Laloyd’s familiar voice sounded on the comm channel. “Nothing to report.”

“Roger that,” Frank breathed as he moved forward.

It felt great for Emma to finally have something to do rather than sneak around and let her fear grow. She pumped her legs underneath her as she stayed on Frank’s tail. The glow of her vambraces and those of Frank’s in front of her were like beacons of hope in the darkness. It was as if the vambraces themselves fought, burning the night in favor of the light.

Emma stopped behind Frank with the rest of the group behind her. They were near a long white building with peeling paint. Along with the eerie whistling that stood out in front of the white noise of Los Angeles like a sore thumb came a stench.

Jace coughed, working his nose around like a dog. To Emma, it smelled like rotting meat. She pressed her body up against the wall to her left, trying to figure out where the smell was coming from.

“Giant, did you relieve the gas from your bowels again?” Jeba asked Layga as the two recruits joined Emma against the building.

“A hard left around that building and you’re there,” Laloyd’s excited voice sounded over the comms. “Wait—I see something. Back entrance.”

The whistling came to an abrupt stop.

“You can just use the back door.” The sound of Desmond Delshire’s voice traveled to where Emma waited with the rest of her group. “Or don’t. It’s up to you.”

“Wait here,” Frank said, looking back at Emma. “You’re in charge.”

Before Emma could voice her concern, Frank stood up straight and walked around the corner.

Emma swallowed hard, peering around the side of the building. In front of her, a lawn of dead grass traveled to the front of the asylum. To the right was a group of skeleton trees and to the left the asylum itself.

In the light of the moon, it was difficult to make out exact details, but Emma could make out the figure of a man just outside the rear asylum doors. She knew it had to be Desmond; there was no one else around.

Frank traveled past the wide building he had been hiding behind a moment before. He stopped at the corner of the gigantic asylum building. The structure was enormous. Not only towering five stories in the sky, but its strange giant shape like a large twisted L added to its mystery in a macabre way.

The number of broken or dark windows had to be in the hundreds while the overall degenerating look of the building told a story of abandonment all on its own.

“I don’t know you,” Desmond said to Frank. “Where’s the girl? I want to talk to her. I know her. She shot me with a hose.”

“You can talk to me,” Frank said, squaring his shoulders. “You’re going to come with me. Surrender now or we’ll put you down. I’m not going to make that offer again.”

“I already told you, I’m not speaking with you,” Desmond said. This time, his voice carried a hint of venom with it. “As far as putting me down, you have no idea what’s waiting for you in here. Now let me talk to the girl. I know her. We share familiarity. I don’t know you.”

“Let Emma speak to him, Frank,” General Fox’s voice sounded over the comm unit. “Maybe there’s a chance he’ll slip up and give us something useful. Keep him talking.”

“All right,” Frank said out loud to the Vilmar. “If you try anything, imagine the most painful death you can wrap your mind around, then double it.”

“Promises, promises,” Desmond purred through the darkness.

Emma rose from her spot behind the corner and squared her back like she had seen Frank do. Her lips were dry all of a sudden. She clenched her fists at her side and forced herself to walk forward.

“There she is.” Desmond waved at her. “We didn’t get to finish our conversation yesterday.”

“Conversation?” Emma asked incredulously. She stopped next to Frank. “You mean when you were trying to kill me?”

“Well, all relationships have their ups and downs.” Desmond sighed. Emma could practically imagine him rolling his eyes. “Anyway I wanted to talk with you because you’ve seen what I can do. You know I’m capable of giving you a run for your money and—oh, we should probably talk about me sending my turned after your father. How is he, by the way?”

Emma felt heat rise to her face. Anger boiled inside of her, burning her vambraces from a dull violet to a bright shining indigo force that glared in the darkness.

“It’s what he wants,” Frank warned her. “He wants to play on your anger so you’ll make a mistake. Don’t give him that. You control that.”

“You know he’ll never be safe now,” Desmond chuckled. “Never. I’ll send turned after him now over and over again until he’s one of mine. I’ll watch the transition torment him and, who knows, keep him for a pet or maybe experiment on him. I’ve been doing some great things with experimentation these days. I should show you.”

It took everything inside of Emma not to charge the Vilmar right there and then. A thought of an ancient knight wearing full armor riding a war horse came to mind. She could construct that, lance and all, and ride down Desmond, pinning him to the cold ground with a lance twice the size of his own body.

Frank’s right, Emma thought to herself. Desmond wants me to attack. It’s all a trap. If I give in to his cruel shenanigans now, he’ll have won. No way I’m giving True Blood that satisfaction.

Desmond clucked his tongue. “Oh well, it was worth a shot. I thought you’d bite for a minute there. Guess I’ll have to use the Were you have with you. Were, I know you can hear me. I watched you approach down the street. Tell me, are you one of the elite families on your planet doing the whipping and whole enslaving thing or were you the one being whipped with the rest of your pathetic pack?”

Emma’s eyes went wide at the words coming out of Desmond’s mouth. She already knew trying to stop Jace with a warning was out of the question. General Fox shouted through the comms while Jeba and Layga yelled from the side of the building they were still behind.

It was difficult to make out all of their words, but Emma definitely caught a “No!” and “Stand Down!”

Jace ignored them all.

Emma turned to see a hurtling blur of black fur, yellow eyes full of rage, and purple vambraces sprint toward them.

22

“Jace, don’t give him what he wants!” Emma put herself in the way of the Were as he made a beeline for Desmond Delshire. “Stop!”

Emma was fully prepared to tackle Jace, even wrestle him to the ground if that was what would keep her new friend from sprinting head first into the Vilmar’s trap.

This is going to suck, Emma told herself as she constructed purple football pads and a helmet around her.

Jace was on all fours tearing up grass underneath his paws with such ferocity a trail of dirt littered the air around him. Emma had never seen eyes like his. They were full of some primal animal bloodlust that held on to him in a way Emma could never understand, in a way she never wanted to.

Right before the moment of impact, he sprang on his back legs, vaulting over her like an elite running back in the National Football League. Emma was fast, but in that moment with the anger fueling his body, Jace was faster.

He was over Emma and streaking toward Desmond like a demon of speed had possessed him.

Desmond was laughing, retreating into the building.

Jace might have caught him outside if Frank hadn’t tried to stop him. While Emma had tried to block him with her body to hold him back, the Marine took a different tactic.

Frank used his vambraces to create a rock golem that rose in front of Jace like some zombie rising from his grave. For what the creature lacked in definition, it made up for in sheer size. The golem was as large as a Ree and twice as thick. A pair of bright eyes shone as it moved a massive hand down to catch Jace by his chest.

Jace faked right, then cut hard to his left, sending the golem over reaching, off balance. It crashed down to the ground in front of him. Jace disappeared into the asylum a moment later after the still laughing Desmond Delshire.

“A golem, really?” Emma looked over to Frank, shaking her head.

“Easy there, varsity linebacker,” Frank said as both Arilion allowed their constructs to fade. “I had a second to decide what to construct. I should have gone with a dragon blocking the entrance to the asylum, but oh well.”

“What—what do we do now?” Layga asked as she and Jeba ran to Frank and Emma. “He’s walking right into Desmond’s trap.”

“We’ll probably be following right behind,” Frank said, walking forward with the rest of the group. “General, I take it our orders remain the same?”

“That’s right. Jace’s comm unit has gone dead. He’s in trouble,” General Fox said over the channel. “If Desmond has something to interfere with our comms, you have your orders. If you need the cavalry, you send us a sign: break a window, break a wall—I don’t care what you just tell us—and we’ll send in the Marines to take care of business.”

“Roger that,” Frank said as the group reached the rear doors of the asylum.

“Oohrah! Marine,” General Fox said with a ferocity Emma had never heard from him. “You all come back home safe.”

“Oohrah!” Frank said in such a deep tone Emma took a step back for a moment. She had to remind herself it was Frank, the same guy who was on her side of this fight.

The four members of the strike force stood at the rear entrance to the asylum. The most disturbing part for Emma was the lack of sound. The dark building rose up in front of them like some ancient mountain in a mythological land. The double doors that opened in front of them did so in a way that made Emma think of a mouth of a cave. Inside, she couldn’t make out more than a wide wall with cheap laminate flooring.

“Sorry, Jackson,” Frank said as he constructed a large-lensed flashlight in his right hand that shot a purple beam of light into the dark interior of the building. “I told you we weren’t going to split up, but Jace had other plans.”

“If we’re walking in there, we need as much light as we can get.” Emma imagined a torch in her right hand that flamed with a brilliant purple fire illuminating a circumference of a dozen yards in front of her. “Here we go.”

Layga and Jeba had their weapons ready. The blades of their chosen weapons were each shining with a dull blue glow.

“We’re with you, Emma,” Layga encouraged her friend. “You too, Frank.”

“Until the death,” Jeba added.

“I like your friends.” Frank smiled at Emma as he bought a handgun to his right palm. “They say sweet things.”

Emma followed Frank, considering bringing her bow to life in her hands in exchange for the fire she acquired but deciding against it. At the moment, they needed light. When the fighting started, she’d be able to construct her bow within the space of a heartbeat or so she hoped. The construct was one she was familiar with but also one she still needed a lot of practice with.

You’re a freaking Arilion Knight, Emma said to herself as they walked up the short flight of stone steps leading into the building. They crested the threshold. Whatever’s in here better be worried about you coming for them.

Frank led the way with Emma a half step behind, Layga and Jeba bringing up the rear.

The inside of the asylum was quieter than the outside, if that was even possible. A chill fell over Emma as if she were entering some long forgotten tomb. There was a musty odor in the building of a room that had been shut up for too long.

Frank moved forward in a slightly crouched position, his flashlight seeking the darkest corners while Emma’s torch lit up the rest of the area around them. Old towels, utensils, and rotting clothing lay in clumps along the hall. Doors with glass windows lay closed or half open on either side of the wide hall. Nothing moved.

“I heard a slight static buzz when we came in,” Layga told the others. “At least I think I did.”

“There’s some kind of jamming device in here,” Frank said, not taking his eyes from the path in front of him. “At the moment, we’re giving Desmond everything he wants. It’s starting to piss me off.”

“We may be in his trap at the moment, but his trap exists in our much larger trap,” Jeba said in a moment of clarity. “The Marines surrounding this building will not let him flee. This is it for him.”

Emma was about to agree, pointing out that Jeba was being positive for once and not talking about people dying when an old square intercom on the wall to their right crackled to life.

Frank raised his weapon toward the speaker. Emma lifted her torch, ready to transition to her bow if the need came. Instead of any attack, Desmond’s silky smooth voice filled the hall.

“By now, you’ve realized that there is no communication beyond this building,” Desmond said so cheerfully he could have been reporting the morning news at a high school. “Your little wolf is either dead or down for the count. I’ll let you discover which it is. It’ll be more fun for me that way. Oh, this is about to get so fun, I can’t wait! Come please, hurry and come. I’m waiting for you on the top floor, the fifth level. Emma, nice touch with the torch, very medieval. Good luck.”

The static line clicked dead.

“How’d he know you were carrying a torch?” Jeba asked, her head on a swivel as she searched the dark passage for an answer. “Witchcraft?”

“More likely he has cameras set up to monitor us,” Emma said as a shiver ran down her spine. “We’re being watched.”

“Let’s find the stairs in this place and get going,” Frank said, moving deeper into the building. “He said he was on the fifth floor.”

“He could be lying,” Layga warned.

“Could be, but I don’t think he is,” Frank said without turning around. “He’s that arrogant. He thinks he’s already won.”

“Well, he’s wrong,” Jeba snarled. “I don’t have any kind of love for the Were, but if he did in fact harm Jace, I’m going to—”

“Shhh…” Emma halted. She lifted the torch that burned in her right hand higher to get a better view of the open foyer their hall was spilling into. “I heard something.”

Emma’s senses were on overdrive. The group stopped, looking into a circular room with a line of elevators on their left and a staircase on their right. In the center of the room was a ring of desks that must have acted as some kind of check-in station when the asylum operated. Past all of this, in front of them was another hall and a pair of double doors, the entrance.

The scurrying came again, tiny pairs of feet running quickly across the floor.

Emma caught sight of a long hairless tail slip behind one of the desks in the center of the room. Judging by the size of the tail, it was an animal the dimensions of a small dog.

“Now would be a good idea to armor up,” Frank said, constructing a purple suit around him that looked like he had stepped out of a sci-fi video game. Along with the change he made, he also transitioned his flashlight and handgun to a heavy assault rifle with a light attached under the barrel.

Emma nodded, constructing her own armor. Hers was similar to Frank’s, but she relied more on what she knew. Her armor was sleek and simple, like the kind Iron Man wore. A visor formed over her face comparable to that of an ancient knight.

“Here.” Emma transitioned her torch into a ball of light. She threw it up into the middle of the room. A purple tendril of energy connected her right vambrace to the orb of energy providing the light.

The purple light painted the room, exposing every corner of the building’s floor from dark corner to blacked out doorways leading deeper into their waking nightmare.

Black beady eyes glared at them. Hairless rodents that came up to Emma’s knees stood completely still mesmerized by the light. If Emma had to guess what the creatures were, she would say they had to be rats. They were like giant hairless rats whose skin wrinkled at their neck and on the joints of their limbs. Their long snouts gave way to a bush of bristling whiskers. Crooked teeth that ranged from urine yellow to rotting black filled their mouths.

“Rats,” Frank said just above a whisper. “Why did it have to be rats? They look like those swamp things in Princess Bride except without any fur.”

With no warning, the rodents that had no right to be such a size snapped from their trance-like state staring at the orb. They charged Emma along with the rest of the unit.

23

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank wasted no time painting the scene with lavender rounds as the rodents streaked toward them.

Her right arm still holding the ball of lavender light in place, Emma used her left to construct a blaster from the top of her left forearm’s armor. She had no idea what she was constructing, but she had seen enough sci-fi movies to get the idea that a blaster was a cylinder weapon that shot energy bolts.

Unlike Frank’s weapon that roared into the room proclaiming violence, Emma’s sounded like dry smoker’s hack when it went off.

Round after round of her purple energy blasts found the skinless rodents as they scrambled to get to Emma and Frank.

“Have at thee!” Jeba yelled as she and Layga took up a forward position in between and just ahead of Frank and Emma forming a kind of triangle.

How many rodents there had to be in the room was beyond Emma. Definitely dozens maybe hundreds of the creatures poured from every open doorway. They came from every hole in the floor and walls.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go,” Frank yelled over his booming weapon and Emma’s blaster that had transitioned now into a wet flu-induced cough. “Emma, on point. I’ll bring up the rear!”

Emma forced herself to move forward. Sure she had been in a fight before but not like this, not while using her powers up against hundreds of enemies.

Emma bottled her fear and made for the left side of the giant room, where a stairwell hugged the wall, leading upward into yet more darkness.

The rodents were relentless as they scurried toward her. A single blast from her weapon was enough to take one out, but more kept coming. Emma waded through the dead bodies of the rodents as a musky rotting odor filled her nose.

Layga swung her axe like a trained professional, not once allowing a rodent to get within biting distance of her. Jeba wasn’t so lucky. With her shorter legs, it was hard for her to find her footing over and around the dead bodies of the rodents as they made their way to the stairs.

Jeba slipped on the blood-soaked floor, sending her down to a knee. The two closest rodents to her zeroed in on her disadvantage. Their nails clicked on the floor as they made their manic attempt at her throat. Jeba caught the first one as it leaped at her left arm with the top of her sword. She skewered the creature right through its open mouth, sending her glimmering blue blade out the back of its skull.

While she shishkabobed the rodent on her left, the other one on her right lunged. It chomped down hard on her right forearm.

“Rawww!” Jeba screamed in pain.

Emma looked behind her just in time to see Frank take out the rodent crunching down on Jeba’s arm with a single shot to its chest.

BOOM!

The rodent fell limp. Jeba cradled her arm, looking at Frank in admiration. “You saved my life.”

“It’s nothing,” Frank shouted, drawing a bead on another rodent and making swiss cheese out of it. “Let’s go.”

“No, I owe you my life.” Jeba looked like she was going to drop her sword and go and kiss Frank. “I am yours now as you are mi—”

Layga slapped her friend across the face as gently as a Ree could.

Emma wanted to roll her eyes, laugh, and scream at Jeba to keep moving all at the same time. She would have done one, maybe all of these if she hadn’t spied the stairwell to their right teeming with turned humans.

They were so close now, only yards from their destination when Emma saw the front runners. But these turned were different from the normal humans Emma had come across. It was as if these humans had been baked too long in whatever it was that turned them in the first place.

They were hunched over with arms longer than they should be. They were losing the hair on their heads and they trotted down the steps more like monkeys than men.

“Um, Frank!” Emma shouted over the noise. “Stairs aren’t an option anymore.”

“What?” Frank asked, dispatching another rodent. “Why no—”

Frank’s words died in his mouth as he looked over at the stairs filled with the monsters slowly descending on them. The only silver lining in the cloud seemed to be even the rodents wanted nothing to do with these new creatures. Where once the furless animals were eager to throw themselves at Emma and her team, now they retreated back into the darkness.

“New plan.” Frank pointed to the opposite side of the room, where a row of ancient elevators sat with their sleek rusted silver doors closed. “Elevators, move!”

Emma obeyed. She had no desire to fight the horde of mutated humans descending the stairwell, but neither did she want to sit in a steel box in a building that for all intense and purposes Desmond Delshire controlled. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one.

“Is it wise to enter an elevator?” Layga asked, bounding over the husks of dead rodents with the rest of the unit. “Who knows if it’s working. Who knows if it’s a trap.”

“We’re not taking the elevator.” Frank winked at her. “Trust me, I have a plan.”

“Why don’t I feel any better?” Layga asked.

While they hurried over to the opposite side of the room, Emma noticed Jeba cradling her right arm to her chest. It wasn’t in the Bracka’s nature to complain or show pain, but it was obvious there was something wrong.

Emma glanced behind them. The creatures descending down the steps, unlike the rodents, moved slowly and deliberately, swinging their unnaturally long arms like orangutans.

Frank and Layga went to work on prying open the elevator doors, giving Emma the time she needed to inspect her friend. With one eye on the turned monsters still coming down the stairs, Emma channeled her best motherly voice. “Let me look at your arm, Jeba.”

At first, Emma thought her friend would protest. But the paleness in her complexion and the pain in her eyes forced her to obey Emma’s orders. Slowly, Jeba retracted her right forearm for Emma to see.

The rodent hadn’t managed to puncture the lightweight yet durable armor but it looked like it had crushed Jeba’s arm.

Emma slowly rolled up her friend’s sleeve, trying to be as gentle as she could. Jeba’s arm was a series of black and blue bruises. No bones were sticking through her skin. For that, Emma was grateful. She was no doctor, but it was clear something was very wrong.

“There,” Layga grunted. A metallic screeching sound accompanied the word as she and Frank tore open the elevator doors.

Inside, the elevator was bare. A pungent order of urine and feces permeated the air, telling them all the rodents had figured out some way to infiltrate the steel container and leave their mark.

Emma dry heaved.

“Hold them off. This is only going to take a second,” Frank ordered Emma before he got a look at what she was doing. His eyes followed her own down to Jeba’s arm. “You good, Jeba?”

“I’ll make it,” Jeba said, withdrawing her arm from Emma. “I can make it.”

“This is going to be over soon.” Frank nodded in her direction. “Emma, buy me some time.”

Emma turned back to the main threat headed toward them from the winding stairwell. The first of the turned beasts had made it down to floor level. They were now plodding their way along the ground floor toward the opposite side of the lobby and the elevator doors.

A distance of twenty yards separated them now.

Emma was starting to fatigue under the weight of not only holding her constructed armor around her but also the purple orb that illuminated the room. The mental strain on her was like her brain was being forced to hold a one-pound weight in place without moving it. It was easy at first, almost comically so, but as the minutes ticked by, the weight felt heavier and heavier.

Well, there’s no way I’m going to kill the light and plunge us into nightmares with these knuckle-dragging gorilla-looking monsters, Emma thought to herself, considering her options. Or maybe it’s time to make it rain.

A plan formed quickly in her mind. Frank stepped inside the elevator with some kind of constructed saw. He went to work cutting through the elevator ceiling. Emma wanted to find out what his plan exactly entailed, but there was no time.

Emma took a deep breath preparing herself. At once, she allowed the armor around her to dissipate as well as the purple orb providing their only source of light.

“Ummm, Emma?” Layga asked with bated breath. “I don’t want to tell you how to do your job or anything here, but now we have a hundred monsters walking toward us with no light.”

“Give me a second.” Emma gritted her teeth. She extended both her arms forward and upward, imagining in her mind what she wanted to construct. The force of her will channeled by her vambraces turned her thought into reality. A moment later, thousands of long purple icicles formed in the air above them. Their razor sharp edges pointed at the monsters ever diligent in making their way towards them.

The light the thousands of icicles let off wasn’t as bright as the orb Emma used before, but it did the job. The lobby was once again glowing in a dull purple glow.

Sweat gathered on Emma’s forehead. Tiny pinpricks touched her body as the heat she was exerting from her Will overtook her. A roar built in her throat until she couldn’t hold it in any longer, “Rawww!”

Like an army given the order to attack, the purple icicles floating above Emma’s head sped to meet their targets.

The monsters shambling toward them had made their way to the middle of the lobby. There were so many of them that the end of their procession still couldn’t be seen. They formed a solid line from the middle of the lobby all the way to the top of the stairs and beyond where the light didn’t penetrate.

Hungry red eyes fell away to soft noses and a mouth full of sharp teeth. The vanguard of Emma’s icicles met their lines, ripping through flesh, skin, and muscle as if they were paper. Emma kept constructing more and more icicles to send at the wall of approaching enemy.

Even more disturbing than the amount of blood and gore spilling to the floor was the fact that these turned monsters didn’t say a word. There were no screams of pain, no grunts of discomfort. They just continued to push forward like a silent zombie horde. Where one died, another stepped over its body. Where a leg was severed or even two legs, it crawled along the floor toward its target, burrowing through the gore of its brothers and sisters.

Constructing and sending thousands of icicles over and over again took Emma to her knees. Arms up, she clenched her jaw. For the moment, her assault seemed to be working. She had brought the monsters to a stale mate as those in the front died and those behind them were injured. How long Emma could keep this up was the question.

24

“Whoops,” Frank said over the rush of Emma’s icicles. “Well, that’s not good.”

Emma wanted to yell at him in that moment, but all her concentration had to remain on keeping the monsters at bay.

“What? What are you talking about?” Layga asked, poking her head into the elevator. “We need to go, now!”

“Yeah, well, I was going to see if I could get us a ride up, but I guess we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Let’s go. Emma, come on.”

Emma finally lowered her hands, gasping for breath. She felt weak and disoriented. Layga helped her to her feet as the four members of their unit entered the elevator.

Frank had been busy. The entire ceiling of the elevator had been cut and bent back like a tin can. Looking up now gave them a dark view into the elevator shaft and the darkness beyond.

“Everybody get ready. I’m going to get us to the fifth floor.”

“You can fly?” Jeba looked over at Frank with admiration. “I knew you had to be an angel the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

“More like float, but thanks, I think,” Frank said as he constructed a purple base with chains at each corner that he held in his hands. “Hop on.”

Emma was regaining her breath as Layga released her from her hold. The girls stepped on Frank’s oversized scale. A quick look to her right, through the open elevator doors told her the turned monsters had continued to advance. Empty eyes stared at her as long hairless arms reached toward her. The nails on each hand were black and pointed like talons or knives.

“Hold on.” Frank lifted from the ground holding the chains in his left hand that brought the platform the girls stood on with him.

Layga swiped down with her axe, severing a grasping hand of the lead monster that tried to get a hold on the purple platform Frank lifted slowly from the ground.

“Hey, does this thing go any faster?” Emma asked as she constructed her bow and sent a shaft through the skull of the next turned beast that stumbled into the elevator. “We’re about to pick up some hitchhikers.”

“Working on it,” Frank wheezed as he lifted them higher and higher. To his credit, he was making progress, but his speed was akin to a motorized shopping cart grocery stores offered patrons who had difficulty walking.

Layga hacked at another hand, severing it clean from its wrist. The hand fell on the purple platform, still wiggling in its death throws.

“Ewww, gross,” Emma said as Jeba stomped on it like it was some overgrown spider, then kicked it off the platform. “I’m going to need so much therapy after this.”

Finally, they were out of reach of the grasping hands of their enemies. Frank lifted them higher and higher. Soon they were passing the closed doors for the second and then third level.

“So very very impressive.” Desmond Delshire’s voice seemed to come from the very walls of the elevator themselves. “However, I wonder if I should disqualify you. I meant for you to have to fight your way up the five stories of the asylum. This feels like I’m being cheated.”

“What have you done with Jace?” Emma asked, feeling anger burn in her chest. “Where is he?”

“Don’t worry, Emma Jackson, I haven’t killed him. That would be such a waste. As you can probably tell, I’m somewhat of an academic, studying and manipulating alien DNA with human hosts. It’s my calling in life,” Desmond said, taking time to pause as if he were reflecting on the size of his brain. “I’m so much looking forward to cutting into an Arilion Were and seeing what I can create.”

Emma’s stomach twisted in her gut as images came to mind of Desmond hunched over Jace, using a scalpel to remove his tissue. Another image flashed across her thoughts of what Desmond had done to create the hairless rodents and the monstrous turned that chased them to the elevator doors.

“I guess it’s for the best, though,” Desmond sighed. “Better you get here quickly and I dispose of you so I can get to work. So much research and so little time, you know. Once you exit the elevator on the fifth floor, make a left. I’m all the way down on the right. You can’t miss me.”

At the same time Desmond’s voice went quiet, Frank reached the fifth and top floor. The doors to the elevator were open, showing them a dilapidated narrow lobby where the elevators let off their patrons before they continued down the halls of the floor.

“I don’t—I don’t think Jeba should go on,” Layga said, looking down at her pale friend as they gathered in the room. “I’ll stay with her.”

“What?” Jeba scowled, hiding the wince of pain that came to her face. “Absolutely not. I’m going. I’m fine.”

“Maybe this is where we call for the cavalry?” Emma looked over to Frank, who was trying to raise General Fox on the comms. “We can call in the Marines.”

“Comms are still jammed,” Frank said, looking at Jeba with pursed lips. “We could call in the Marines, but how many of their lives would be lost as they fight their way up the levels of the asylum? Who knows what Desmond has waiting for them on levels three and four.”

“Don’t call them.” Jeba took a seat on the floor cradling her arm. “We’re almost done. This is almost over. If me sitting out keeps lives from being lost, then I can do that. I think my arm is broken, but I can take the pain. Go get Jace, kill Desmond Delshire, and let’s be done with this.”

Jeba’s words were so finite, her resolve so firm, Frank and Emma practically jumped to do her bidding.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Layga said, gripping her axe. “But hurry. She’s in more pain than she’s letting on.”

“We’ll be right back.” Emma nodded toward her friend. “Hang in there.”

“Frank, Frank, come over here,” Jeba whispered. “I have something only for you to hear.”

“You’ll be all right; this is about to come to an end.” Frank kneeled next to her. “We’re going to end this right now.”

Jeba leaned in and whispered something in Frank’s ear.

The only light came from the vambraces Emma and Frank wore and the blue glow from Layga and Jeba’s blades; still, this was enough to see Frank blush deeply. Whatever Jeba had told him had turned the tanned Marine’s cheeks rosy.

“Um, right, well.” Frank rose to his feet, motioning to Emma. “Let’s uh—let’s get this done.”

Emma and Frank made their way down the hall, following Desmond’s instructions. Frank constructed a heavy machine gun while Emma went with an arrow notched in her bow.

“So did Jeba say she wanted you to have her babies?” Emma couldn’t help but ask. She made sure she kept a straight face.

“We’re about to walk into the lair of a real life villain, with more than half our unit down, and you’re cracking a joke?” Frank looked over at her with a frown that slowly turned into a grin. “Yeah, yes she did.”

Both Marine and teenager broke into a light chuckle. Their mirth was short lived as a wide door down the hall grew closer and closer with every step. Emma was exhausted from her work with the icicles, but she was beginning to understand that Arilion Knights weren’t allowed to get exhausted. It was time to go again. She had no other choice but to rally or give up. It wasn’t in her nature to give up.

“Does it ever get any easier?” Emma asked as the two stood in front of the closed door that presumably would lead them to Desmond Delshire. “I mean, all of this. Does it get easier?”

“It does,” Frank said slowly. “Some things get easier; other obstacles will come up you’ll have to face. You’ll always get a bit nervous before a mission, but that’s life. You’re mother-freaking Emma Jackson, an Arilion Knight. We’ll take what life give us, make the best of it, and move on, because giving up isn’t an option. It’s never an option.”

Emma felt goosebumps race down her spine in light of Frank’s words.

“I’ll go in first with a shield,” Frank said, constructing a circular barrier as tall as he was and twice as wide in his left hand. In his right, he held his rifle. “You come in a step behind me with that bow of yours.”

“Got it.” Emma nodded.

That was it. There was no more time to plan, no more chances to turn back. Frank lifted his heavy right boot and slammed it into the door. The aged piece of wood splintered and swung inward before breaking off its hinges. Before the door even hit the ground, Frank was through the entrance, Emma right behind him.

Emma had her bow pulled taut. Her heart raced quickly for what felt like the millionth time that day. A life such as hers meant she was constantly getting spikes of adrenaline and this situation was no different.

The fight or flight sensation embedded in her DNA told her it was time to run or get in the fight. Emma chose the latter.

As soon as she was in the room, two things were immediately evident. The room was empty save two tables on the far corners of the room and a line of windows along the right wall. On one of these tables, Jace lay on his back under a light. His chest rose slowly as he gathered, then released breath.

The second thing Emma noticed was the opposite table on the far side of the room with some kind of electronic alien device that looked like a metal stereo.

“That’s how he’s been jamming us.” Frank looked over his right shoulder to Emma. She saw the warning in his eyes before he could even get the words out of his mouth. “Emma, get do—”

Frank shoved Emma out of the way at the same time a short whistling sound penetrated the relative quiet. A steel barb embedded deep in Frank’s neck as he used himself as a shield for Emma.

Emma looked up to see Desmond emerge from the shadows in the right hand corner of the room. Whether he had used the darkness that already existed there or some kind of alien tech that rendered him invisible Emma couldn’t tell. What she did know was that Frank was already falling to his knees while Desmond reloaded his weapon.

He held a steel tube in his right hand. With deft fingers, he placed a dart into the end of the tube and brought the weapon to his lips again. A wild menace lived in his eyes. It was a look of a child as it tortured an insect.

Emma lifted her bow, drew her string back, and let her arrow fly.

At the same time Desmond blew through his own weapon, sending the steel barb at Emma. The two projectiles collided. Emma’s much larger construct eviscerated Desmond’s smaller barb continuing its forward momentum and striking him across his right cheek.

Desmond shrieked, dropping his weapon as he stumbled backward. He lifted his right hand to his cheek as the black blood from his wound ran down his finger.

A cry like a wounded animal left his lips as he charged Emma faster than she could draw a bead on him. Emma had enough time to construct another shaft and draw back her bowstring, but no time to aim.

Desmond collided with her as she loosed her arrow. He slammed into her, carrying her backward and across the room until they were stopped by the table Jace was lying on.

Emma felt blows landed to her right jaw and left temple before she could gather herself enough to bring her own forearms across her face and block Desmond’s strikes with her vambraces. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. The substance covered her left eye from a deep cut Desmond opened on her temple.

A better option came to mind as deja vu set in. Instead of trying to simply defend herself from his blows, Emma lowered her arms, giving Desmond a free shot at her face. The Vilmar looked on her with wild eyes as he reared back with his right fist. He brought it down on her face with all the power of a trained martial arts master.

At the last second, Emma constructed a steel helmet across her face similar to the ones she had seen the ancient Spartans use. Desmond’s fist hammered the helmet so hard Emma still felt the blow, but not as much as Desmond.

A crack sounded as the Vilmar’s hand broke on her helmet. He screamed in agony as he brought his right hand into his chest like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Emma seized her moment of opportunity. She was wet with her own sweat and blood, more tired than she could ever remember being, but this was her chance. This was her moment to rise up.

Alongside the right wall of the room, the filthy window showed very little moonlight coming through. Emma positioned herself with Desmond between herself and the glass windows.

“You have no idea the game that is being played here.” Desmond shook his head with a sick laugh. “You have no idea what’s really going on. You’re like a lost, frightened puppy.”

“Well, this puppy’s got an arrow with your name on it,” Emma said, constructing her bow again and aiming it at Desmond’s chest. “Give it up or this is where you die.”

“I can’t wait to see the look on your face once the Shay come to your planet again,” Desmond said with a wicked smile. He turned away from Emma, speeding toward the glass window. He jumped.

Glass shattered all around him as he was lost to view. Emma stood stunned by his words and the fact that he had just committed suicide. Thinking quickly, Emma aimed her bow at the alien piece of tech next to her that jammed their comms. She released her arrow, sending a short burst of sparks from the unit.

Instantly, her comms came alive with chatter. There were the sounds of weapons being fired from the Marine units outside.

“General Fox.” Emma ran to Frank’s side, pulling the barb from his neck. He was still breathing. “Desmond jumped from the fifth story. I have wounded. Send help from the top of the roof down. There are too many enemies on the lower floors.”

“Emma! Emma, it’s good to hear your voice,” General Fox said, relieved.

Emma could hear Laloyd chattering excitedly from somewhere close by. General Fox’s voice came over the comm unit again. “We got him, Emma. We’re sending help via the roof top right now. We got him!”

25

Within the next hour, Emma and her team were extracted by helicopters from the roof of the asylum and deposited safely back at the group headquarters.

A very wounded and unconscious Desmond Delshire had been apprehended by the Marines guarding the perimeter. It seemed he had broken a leg in the fall as well as suffered a severe concussion.

The only member of Emma’s team that seemed to have gotten away without a scratch was Layga. Frank and Jace were getting over their medically induced hangovers, Jeba was having her fractured arm placed in a cast, and Emma had the lacerations on her face looked at by the field medic.

Once Emma was cleared, General Fox walked in with, to her surprise, her father. Mr. Jackson rushed to his daughter’s side, squeezing her in a tight embrace.

“Sorry, he insisted,” General Fox said with a shrug. “He was hell bent on going into the asylum after you, but we met halfway. I had my men bring him here.”

“I’m glad you did,” Emma said, reassuring her father she was fine. “I’m tougher than I look. You taught me that.”

“I know, I know.” Mr. Jackson took a step back with his hands open in a sign of surrender. “No father wants to see his daughter’s lip split open.”

“You should see the other guy,” General Fox said with a grin.

“Speaking of the other guy,” Emma asked, her memory picking up on the words Desmond had told her before he jumped. “Desmond said something about the Shay coming back to invade Earth.”

“Probably just messing with your mind,” General Fox reassured Emma. “I’d say we can go speak with him, but you did a number on him and the fall sent him into a coma. He’s been treated for a broken hand, a shattered leg, and a concussion, among other things.”

Emma nodded along with the general’s words as she tried to convince herself that Desmond was lying about the Shay, that the winged alien creatures were not planning to return to Earth.

A shimmering light appeared on the far end of the room. General Fox drew his weapon. Emma constructed a blade and stood in front of her father. A second later, Tistan Duel appeared at her daughter’s side.

“Emma, Emma, are you all right? Slain told me the mission was a success, but there were injuries.” Tistan ignored General Fox. She gave her ex-husband a quick look, then turned back to Emma.

Unlike her father, Emma’s mother didn’t embrace her. It wasn’t in her nature, but that didn’t mean she cared any less. She wore the same concern in her eyes her father had a moment before.

“I’m fine, I’m good, I mean I could eat a cheeseburger and Dr. Pepper at the moment, but I’ll make it.” Emma allowed her sword construct to disappear.

“Well I guess everyone’s invited.” General Fox holstered his weapon. “I’ll leave you to it.”

General Fox walked out of the room, leaving Emma, her father and her mother together for the second time in as many days.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were well.” Tistan cleared her throat uncomfortably, trying not to make eye contact with her ex-husband. “I guess—I guess I’ll be getting back to the Academy.”

“Ugh, this is so awkward it’s killing me,” Emma said, unable to bear being caught in the middle again. “Is this what it’s going to be like every time the two of you are in a room?” Emma asked.

Her father shook his head and let out a deep breath. “No, it shouldn’t have to be.”

Emma knew her father well enough to recognize that tone of voice. He was having a hard time pushing the words past his lips, as if he were digging and searching for every syllable. Her dad was about to talk about his feelings.

“Tistan, I mean, I guess that’s your real name.” Emma’s father swallowed hard.

“Well, this is going to get even more awkward if I’m here, so maybe I should go.” Emma made for the room’s exit.

“No,” her father said with a raised hand. “You should be here for this. I, uh, I had the night to think about it. Who am I kidding? I had the night and the entire day. It’s all I’ve been able to think about.” Emma’s father looked Tistan in the eye as he bared his soul. “I can’t promise you things are going to work out. I’m still angry and hurt. I still have so many questions. But—I guess I’m willing to talk with you and try and understand all of this.”

Emma’s eyebrows shot up as she looked from her father to her mother. Sure, it was exactly what she had hoped for, but her father being so willing to speak with Tistan after only a single day of giving things thought was moving faster than she could have hoped.

Tistan broke into a rare smile. It was the first time Emma could actually remember seeing her really truly smile. She was beautiful.

“I can’t promise you anything.” Emma’s father saw the same smile and shook his head. “I don’t know if this will or even can work.”

“It’s enough,” Tistan said with an even wider smile. It was hard for Emma not to smile herself seeing her mother so happy. “Just talking with you is enough.”

“Pssss…” Emma looked to the doorway where Laloyd stood with a bag of microwavable popcorn alongside Frank. “This is where you should give them some space.”

If Emma’s father and mother noticed the Marine and the Draconian in the doorway, they didn’t show it. The lovers long separated were locked in eye contact, sharing a moment they had each dreamt about for many years past.

Emma couldn’t stop grinning, even as she made for the door to join Frank and Laloyd. Laloyd gave her a sidewise grin and offered her some popcorn.

Emma dipped her hand inside the bag and came out with some of the popped buttery salty goodness. “Did you have anything to do with this?”

“Maybe.” Laloyd looked at her sideways, then broke into a grin of his own. “I made your dad breakfast while we were at Haven this morning, remember? We spoke for a long time. The heart wants what the heart wants.”

Laloyd said the last part as if that were all the explanation he was prepared to give. For the moment, it was enough for Emma.

“Thank you,” Emma said to Laloyd as she looked over to Frank, popping another piece of popcorn into her mouth. “How are you feeling?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Frank said, massaging the spot on his neck where the barb had knocked him unconscious. “It feels like a crazy weekend in Vegas, but I’ll live. You did great back there, Jackson. You’re the Arilion Knight the Earth needs. I mean, if I can’t be here all the time, I’m glad they have you.”

“Please.” Emma walked with her two friends from the doorway of the room where her mother and father stood talking by a window looking out onto the orange horizon that heralded the morning of a new day. “Even if you were here, the vambraces would have chosen me. You’re lucky you got yours on another planet.”

The Marine, the Draconian, and the teenager looked out the window, each lost to his or her own thoughts for the moment. As much joy as Emma felt at completing her mission and her parents speaking to one another in the next room, a sense of dread touched her mind.

Desmond Delshire had no reason to lie. His voice ran over and over again in her mind. “The Shay are returning.”

If they come, I’ll be ready, Emma promised herself. I’ll be ready.

End Book Two

A Note For You

From Me to You

Hey you. Here we are again, another book finished and another chance to get to tell you all the craziness going on in the Gateway Universe and my own life. Okay, Gateway news first.

Emma and Frank have finally met! It was such a great time to look and see how Frank has grown as a character. I didn’t even realize how far he had come until he started speaking to Emma.

I think we can agree that Frank from book one in the Gateway to the Galaxy Series to Frank now is a very different person. If he and Emma had met and spoken in the first book, I don’t know how much help he could have been to her.

Exploring Jace’s character was interesting as well. I didn’t realize how dark his past was until he delved into his back story. There’s so many different ways to go with his character. I guess I’ll have to wait until New Knights three to see what happens to him.

Speaking of New Knights, I have about a dozen different ideas for other Arilion to come and train at the Academy, I have to figure out how I’m going to do them all justice. It would be easy to introduce an army of them, but I’m not sure that’s the way to go. I want to do right by them and their stories instead of just having you accept that there are a ton of Arilion coming to train at the Academy. I have to figure out that piece.

Okay, so that’s enough about the universe now. What’s been going on with me? I never used to get sick. Maybe once a year I’d get a cold or something like that, but in the past six months now, I’ve had a fever, E coli, and now strep throat. I need to take better care of myself. I eat healthy and work out like a beast, so I think it’s coming down to rest. That’s what I’ll be trying to juggle as I write the Gateway five book. How to thread the needle between writing a book every 28 days and getting enough downtime for my body to keep up with me.

A piece of really cool news is that one of my previous series got picked up to be shopped around by a production company. As many of you know, Gateway is my second go at writing in the science-fantasy arena. My first trilogy is called War Wolves.

Last Thursday, a production company reached out and asked for permission to pitch it to studios and gain interest. They believe in the product enough to spend time doing that, so that’s a great sign.

I’ve been down this road once before when my books the Elite Series were optioned for film. It was never made into a movie, but I understand the process a book has to go through to get to the big or small screen. There’s still about a hundred and one things that have to happen for War Wolves to be a movie or TV show, but hey, it’s a start. I’ll keep you all updated as I know more.

If you’ve been reading my author notes, you know I always end with the same invitation to connect. Without readers and friends like you, I’m a writer trying to support his family. With my pack, I’m able to do just that. I have two options for you to stay in the loop.

1) I have a private group on Facebook I created for all of us to hang out. There are over two hundred likeminded readers who enjoy everything you do. We’re there just sharing cool new books, movies and the occasional meme. Join The Pack here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1944447962437071/

2) I know some readers don’t like using Facebook and/or would rather just receive an email with info when new books are out. I totally get that. If you’d like to be part of The Pack via our newsletter, you can go to www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the ranks.

From the bottom of my recently free of E.coli heart, thank you for joining us on this journey. Something tells me if you’ve stuck with me this far, you have a little Arilion Knight in you too.

Love you animals (Not in a weird way, in a family kind of way),

Jonathan

Rise Up

Book Five of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Kimberly

Cover Illustrator – Rob

I am the wind

the driving rain

the thunder

the lighting

The crashing waves

Your ship will break before me

You will drown in a sea of sorrow

as I break the Ship called your heart.

For I am the Storm called Heartbreak.

We were suppose to live to 150 years old together. God needed you sooner. I love you And miss you Sandi.

-David Smith

1

“Son of a honey badger, Frank! You’ve really done it now.”

“Hush up and run faster!”

“Agh! I’m not going to make it!” Lt. Raj Agrawal grunted, trying with all his might to keep his legs pumping and keep up with his friend.

“Come on, man,” Frank shouted as his left boot stuck in another pile of what he hoped was mud. “Don’t make me carry you, because you know I will!”

“You guys should stop talking and maybe save your breath. Have those boots hit the pavement faster, Marines. They’re right behind you.” Frank heard Communications Specialist Elly Wong chime in through the comms attached behind their ear via a bone conduction hearing device of her own making. “Hey, I don’t see Yur’l.”

“Oh no—he was right behind us.” Frank was running with everything he had in him. He dared to steal a glance to his left and right searching for the old bird. Nothing. Only the sparse, red land with white cloud grass puffs that swayed in the non-existent breeze around them. A hint of fear clenched his stomach.

The heads-up display on his helmet began to alert him that it was picking up a signal. He darted his eyes toward the blinking light to investigate, when a blurred motion caught his right peripheral. A purple streak just under two meters tall shot past Frank and toward the Jumpship, which stood awaiting them just under fifteen meters ahead. They were at the home stretch of this eighty-meter dash.

“Was that–? How did he?” Raj panted in his helmet.

“Show off!” Frank shouted and sprinted the last ten meters to safety. Upon reaching their ship, he dove into the open rear hatch landing with a thud. He looked up to see Yur’l standing there smiling down at him.

“Oh hey, Frank,” the Gleason Arilion Knight said.

“A little help?” Frank extended a hand and Yur’l took it, pulling him up.

Frank peered back the way they had come. Raj was about to reach them. Then, Raj tripped.

Long limbs that made up his five-foot-eleven frame flailed and his upper body hit the red caked ground, sending a spray of ruddy dust in the air. He tumbled and came to a halt at a collection of waving white grasses. The horde of scarlet, slender salamander-like beings gained ground. Their tiny black eyes narrowed in on the one who strayed from the pack; their six wiggling arms waved with threats. Some of the beings even held spears at the ready.

“Uh, Frank? Help!” Raj scrambled to his feet. Beneath his thick, brooding brows, deep brown eyes pleaded for a lifeline.

“I guess we should help him, huh?” Frank said to Yur’l.

The two Knights then lifted their arms with hands up and palms flat forward as though pushing an invisible wall. Violet crackling energy zipped from their vambraces, out of their hands, and past Raj to form a barrier wall between him and the oncoming tribe.

Dozens of members of the angry tribe slid to a halt on their seven pairs of legs, the momentum of their comrades behind them slamming some of their white underbellies into the purple wall constructed from the Will that Frank and Yur’l had summoned. Frank winced as one stuck another with long spikes that protruded from their backs.

“Hurry, Raj, get in. We gotta blow this popsicle stand.” Frank ushered in the red-dust-covered Marine with a nod of his head.

“Sure thing, Major Wolffe.” Raj skidded and jumped up into the hatch. The Jumpship had already been energized in preparation for takeoff and now hovered about a meter above the ground.

“All clear, Elly,” Frank called to her in the cockpit. “Let’s jam.”

Frank and Yur’l released the wall and turned to take their seats inside the transport ship.

“Copy that. Engines at the ready,” she responded over the comms.

With the hatch shut and sealed, oxygen was released into the ship’s cabin. The air around them cooled. A faint hiss sounded as the previous atmosphere’s air flushed out of the Jumpship’s cabin. Frank, Raj, and Yur’l removed their helmets and strapped into their seats.

Frank sat behind Elly, who rode shotgun at the navigation control panel. The other two team members sat behind them in bucket seats set stadium-style.

Frank clapped a hand on the shoulder of the Draconian who sat in the co-pilot seat next to Elly. “Ready, Frank Junior?”

The bulky being stared hard at Frank with slitted eyes that sat below a thick, furrowed brow line. Though his species didn’t have eyebrows, his displeasure at the nickname was still quite apparent.

“Ah, just checking, Miriam.” The Arilion Knight laughed and secured himself in his seat. Frank still reveled at the memory of beating the Draconian in a hand-to-hand, no powers bout and winning the bet.

It was the first time he had taken Vega out on their own. That night, he caught a glimpse of how extraordinary and crazy she could be. Beneath the regality and pomp of being the Empress of a Neeve nation and leader of its army lay an intense, battle hungry woman. He was captivated by it.

“Confirmed. Systems are set for departure; only awaiting the coordinates,” Miriam reported through sharp teeth.

“On it,” Elly said as she keyed the location input on the panel in front of them. Looking over her shoulder toward the returned ground team, she asked, “What was that about?”

“Frank told me to train. So while we were on Chesha, I started running again. I remembered that it was something I had been quite adept at in my youth. I figured I’d pick it up again. Turns out, with my Arilion enhancements, I’ve become even faster,” Yur’l responded.

“Oh, that’s cool, but I was asking about that.” Elly’s fingertips tapped in quick succession over the lit panel in front of her. The viewing screen to the craft recalibrated to show the tribe of Tardigalos up in arms below the departing vessel.

As the ship lifted and pulled away toward the atmosphere of the dusty rose sky, the beings below appeared to be a huddle of red and white worms with flailing arms.

“What was that about?” Elly clarified.

“Oh, that? Right,” Frank acknowledged but did not answer.

“Major Wolffe here insulted the tribe by decapitating their sacred statue,” Raj blurted out.

“It was an accident!” Frank threw his hands up in exasperation. He shot an accusing glance at Raj and shook his head in disappointment. “Listen, they were coming at us and I thought they were going to eat us. Or at the least eat Yur’l. I’m still getting used to this intergalactic, interspecies stuff. Sava said they were more of the savage, aboriginal type on this planet, so I couldn’t be sure. They looked hungry.”

“How does a creature with only blacks for eyes look hungry?” Raj asked.

“How dare you judge another species, Lt.” Frank feigned offense. “I didn’t mean to knock it over. I reacted quickly to save your life and happened to knock over the sculpture. Had it been constructed better, the head would have stayed on.”

Yur’l chimed in, “And we didn’t want to do any harm in our search for your friend Major Lucy Lopez. An offensive strike would have been too much. I think the shield was a good idea, Frank, in theory. Maybe next time, we’ll consider our surroundings first.”

“But that would require thinking before acting.” Raj joined in the Frank-bashing with a snide jab.

“Alright, I get it. It’s a growth opportunity. Why anyone thought it would be a good idea to send me as the leader for these diplomatic emissary trips beats me,” Frank complained.

“Yeah, you’re not so good with the talking to people and getting to know them first stuff,” Elly said. “You’re more of a shoot-first-and-ask-what-happened-and-who-did-you-kill-later kind of guy.”

“Uh, thanks, Elly. Super encouraging.” Frank rolled his eyes.

The ship broke through the atmosphere and was now amongst the stars and the vast space between them. The viewscreen adjusted to show a projection of the dark cosmos before them. Bright dots speckled the screen at different sizes with numbers above each projecting the star’s distance. Other debris scattered in the expanse appeared on the screen to help the navigator pilot to their destination safely.

“Wow…” Frank breathed in wonder. “I still can’t believe we get to travel like this.”

“Yeah. I’ve been a pilot for years and the view doesn’t get old,” Miriam chimed in.

“Hey, what’s that smell?” Elly asked.

Frank looked down at his boot. The bottom rim was caked in a mustard-brown goo. Turned out that wasn’t mud.

Miriam righted the ship and they were prepared for trajectory toward Brytanna, when the beeping came overhead, signaling an incoming appeal. Sava Sargard’s stern, green-scaled face appeared on the bottom left corner of the view screen.

Frank recognized his fierce mentor. Her eye patch and black mohawk told of the battles she had endured saving her planet and people from the Lord of Chaos’s years of attacks.

“Sava’s hailing us from Brytanna,” Elly alerted the cabin.

Frank tensed.

“Wait, before we answer that, let’s get our story straight.”

2

“You did what?”

“We were under attack. All of these tall, wiggling… beings with tiny arms were closing in on us at once. I saved the team – without fighting back so as to do no harm like we agreed,” Frank explained.

“Attack? Frank, that’s their protocol for greeting newcomers. Did you read the brief?” Sava was pretty much shouting at this point.

“They do what?” His confusion punctuated the question in a high tone.

“They go in for what Elly Wong calls a ‘group hug’ type of greeting. If the visitor receives them, the Tardigalos will offer an accord. If not, then they will run the visitors out of the village. When you decapitated the sacred idol of their deity, Frank, it is no wonder you felt they were being hostile.” Sava did not hold back her irritation.

Raj was right; you have really done it this time, Frank mentally kicked himself.

“Did you even read the brief?” she asked again.

“Yes, well, partly. I skimmed it. That has to count,” Frank answered with a classic Frank Wolffe smoldering look, but it held no sway with her. “It said they were savage, so I didn’t know if we were just food to them. And the translator was still catching up. It told them we were terrorists; not that we were looking for a terrorist.”

“It said primitive, not savage.” She rubbed the short horns that extended from the top of her forehead with her right claw and closed her good eye in thought.

“Oh.” It was all Frank could muster at this point. He felt like crap.

He hadn’t wanted to be promoted to major. The vacancy for leadership was the sum of a number of worst-case scenarios adding up: Major Lopez’s death, the near collapse of Brytanna after the demise of the Prime, and an alien invasion in Los Angeles, California that took away General Fox from the Den.

“Frank…” she began.

“I know,” he cut her off.

“You can’t–”

“I have to do better. I’ll get better at this. Just like being a Knight and using the power of Will,” he attempted to convince her – and himself.

“I can’t go with you. I’m still trying to pick up the pieces here on Brytanna. The gaping hole Prime Kirkhoden left when he…” She paused. “…when he was murdered. We didn’t work this hard to save the planet from the Lord of Chaos to see it implode now. The Draconians need a leader, and right now, I’m all they have. You must not fail, Arilion Knight.”

“I’ll do my homework for the next planet. So far, we’ve visited four of the six other inhabitable planets here in the Sanctum Galaxy and still no sign of her.” Frank changed the topic.

“Nothing of Lucy Lopez found on Sparsa or were you unable to discern due to the incident?” she asked.

“It was evident that we were the first alien beings they’ve seen in a long time. Possibly ever,” he clarified.

“I see,” Sava mused aloud as she walked to the visual board on the wall to their right. It held photos and notes of Major Lucy Lopez, Jarl Balder, Prime Clav Kirkhoden, and the attack.

Names and faces of the Draconians who lost their lives that day were listed down one side: twelve in all. A Draconian woman who had worked at the Office of the Prime since she was quite young; she had served under three Primes. Two whelps visiting for the first time; one had long, black hair and wore a thick braid and the other had glasses with fangs too big for her growing smile. An up and coming leader also stood out among the many long faces of the dead. His slitted lizard-like eyes still held warmth and determination. Arvi Eryk had run back into the building to rescue some of the other workers. He made two rounds before that last area of the building collapsed in on him.

The Prime stood at the top of the list looking as ebullient and determined as the first, and last, time Frank saw him.

Anger buzzed within the Marine. He had to steady his breathing and his mind to prevent the energy from making its way to and through his vambraces. Such tragedy at the hands of someone who had once been a fellow Marine; a sister in arms. The anguish that burned in Frank’s chest was one he had intended to leave far behind when he left the Marines the first time. It had found him once again. The powers of an Arilion Knight didn’t make him immune to this harrowing pain.

“We’ll keep searching.” Frank rested a hand on Sava’s broad shoulder. He could feel her stiffen.

“She’ll pay. As soon as the election is held and the government is stabilized, I’ll find her,” Sava half promised herself, half spoke to Frank.

“We’ll bring her to the right justice. She didn’t seem like herself. We don’t know what Jarl did to her. What he told her. Or how she survived the time in space after the airlock incident on the Ryker. And we won’t know until we find her, which I intend to do,” he assured his mentor.

For a moment, they both stood there in the barracks headquarters office staring at the details of the tragic incident before them. The room was sparsely furnished: a simple metal table serving as a desk and two aluminum folding chairs were all the furniture included. Even the walls were painted a drab color. The buzzing of the fluorescent light overhead was the only sound that could be heard. Their silence filled the space.

Everything Frank didn’t say about his guilt, his confusion, or righteous indignation over the criminal and debase Jarl Balder filled his thoughts. The helplessness and loss for her leader weighed down Sava. Frank could sense it in her shoulders like an unseen burden. She was a warrior; playing in these politics was a silent torture.

He was growing weary with frustration. Sava wanted blood. Though Frank couldn’t argue with her reasoning, he knew it wouldn’t be so easy to put Major Lopez down. She had been the one to bring him into this new world when she met him at the Las Vegas airport. She was the one who took him to the Den just months ago. But it was he who let her down when he didn’t save her from being sucked into the vacuum of space.

“Well, you had better report in to General Breaker.” Sava let out a deep breath through her small nostrils on her blunt nose.

“Right.” Frank shrugged off the heaviness and let out a cleansing breath of his own. Then he realized he would likely get another chewing out from the general once he heard what had happened on Sparsa. “Let’s get this over with.”

They walked out of the room and down grey-blue corridors that were lit by meager pendant lights, each giving off just enough light to cross the next one and still see. Most of the Draconian who rushed past them held smartpads and files in their arms. Frank smiled politely at one person passing by, only to receive a half nod in return as they turned a sharp right to enter a door for a packed meeting.

“It’s pretty busy around here, huh?” Frank made awkward small talk with Sava.

“Of course. We are trying to rebuild a ruling body for the people of Brytanna and avoid corruption or a power vacuum for any predatory opportunists in the meantime.” She looked at him matter of fact.

“Right…” Frank began to wish he had been captured on Sparsa.

“Here we are,” Sava said, extending a salute to the soldier who guarded the door.

A slender Draconian male stood sentry in the olive drab uniform the military wore. The emblem of a brown spearhead with a green Draconian skull inside rested on his right shoulder. The soldier returned the salute and opened the door for the two Arilion Knights to enter.

Frank’s team was seated around a rectangular metal table. The same basic folding chairs as the first office lined each side of the table and one capped the head. A monitor faced the long side of the table.

“Ready to dial in when you are, Major,” Elly said.

Frank took the head seat and nodded to her in affirmative.

Click click clack

Elly entered her passcode and the screen came to life. The communications specialist at the Den answered.

“Major Wolffe for General Breaker,” Frank spoke to the monitor.

“Copy that,” the man responded.

Then the screen shifted to the symbol of the Marine Space Corps task force; an ancient helmet with wings sprouting on each side. After a moment, the placeholder billboard gave way to General Breaker’s face.

“Major Wolffe, what’s the update?” The general wasted no time with pleasantries and rather got straight to the point.

“No signs of Major Lopez on Sparsa, General,” Frank reported.

“Did you make contact with the locals?”

Frank hesitated a moment. He made eye contact with Sava then looked back to the general. “We did. They were a primitive group, but it was clear they had not encountered the Major. Based on their technology and societal development, it would not behoove us, or them, to further engage at this point, sir.”

“Understood. Anything else to report?” General Breaker eyed Frank through the screens and crossed his arms over his chest. One ebony-skinned arm and one metallic prosthetic, both in the charcoal digital camo button-down. An eight-point Marine Cover sat atop his head.

Frank didn’t hesitate. “No. Nope. All is good.”

“Fine, then get ready. MSC-1 is headed to the next planet posthaste. Gate open at 1600,” he instructed.

“Copy that, sir.” Then the transmission closed.

“Great,” Frank said. “We have just enough time for some chow and to pack before deploying to the gate. See you in three hours, crew.”

Frank turned to Elly before everyone left. “Hey, do you think you could dial Atmos?”

“Oh, did you mean the Empress?” Elly asked with a silly smirk.

“You know what I’m asking. Don’t make me pull rank, Wong.” He gave her a downward glance.

“Alright. Here you go.” She tapped some keys faster than Frank could follow and slid the smartpad over to him. “Just press this.” She pointed to a key that looked like an upside-down L. “Then when you’re done, press this.” She pointed to the key next to it.

Just then, the monitor came to life and a purple Neeve with pointed ears and long white hair that was braided on each side of his head appeared on screen.

“Greetings,” the Neeve hailed.

“Greetings. Frank Wolffe for the Empress. Please,” Frank responded.

“Of course, Arilion Knight,” the Neeve responded, his sheer delight at having encountered the famous Arilion Knight plain on his face.

He ran to the side and disappeared around a marble wall corner. Frank waited for a moment. Then a moment longer. The anticipation grew and Frank became anxious awaiting his, well, his Vega.

He heard the clip-clop of steps approaching the screen on the Neeve side. Vega swooped around the corner on steady boots. Seeing her slender form approach him felt like Christmas morning.

A silken blouse with strong shoulders adorned her top and tucked into high-waisted pleated pants. A gold sash tied around her waist like a bow, the emblem of the House Thunder embroidered on the end. Her long white hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, revealing her strong pointed ears. She was a warrior angel in white and gold.

Upon seeing Frank on the monitor, she quickened her pace. The ear-to-ear smile splitting her cheeks revealed she was just as delighted to see him. Somehow, this made Frank even happier.

3

“You should eat. You get, what’s that word? Hangry?” Vega teased.

“Yeah, I know. I had to see you first, though. We’re about to head out on another search. I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone. Tell me: How’s Heron? Still getting along fine in his chair? Running over anyone yet?” Frank longed for good news of his friend, the elderly Neeve scholar.

“Just the one physician. I wouldn’t even dare to get in his way when he’s hot on the trail of another lead for a new Knight. I’m so thankful to Sava and the Draconians for the system they installed for him. It’s a great way to keep him busy and on the same floor. A good distraction from the loss of use of his legs.” Vega smiled with her mouth but it did not reach her eyes.

“I’ll go see him soon. And you. I owe you that date, you know,” Frank said.

“I know. You have many responsibilities, Frank Wolffe. You caught the madman who attacked us here on Atmos. You will find Lucy and bring her in. You’re a Marine Knight; the universe needs you now more than ever.” Her fierceness was electrifying.

“How about a dinner on one of our most beautiful coasts? We’ll order one of everything off the menu just so you can try it. Then, when the restaurant kicks us out for closing after we’ve stayed the whole night talking and watching the sun set and moon and stars fill the sky, we’ll walk along the beach with our shoes off so we can feel the wet sand beneath them. I’m sure you’d love the warm sand after a hot day in the sun. It will be just you and me beneath the sky full of a universe at peace.” Frank painted a picture of more promises to come.

“I think that would be–”

“Oh, hold please.” Frank winced as a call came in over his comm. He inclined his head to the right as he concentrated on the incoming message.

“What is it, Frank?” Vega asked.

“I–I’ve got to go. So sorry, Vega. Incoming message from General Breaker. Reports of a female human on Auriul. We’re headed out now. They’re already preparing the gateway,” Frank apologized. “Goodbye. Talk with you again soon.”

“Yes. Soon. Goodbye,” Vega replied. Though she tried to sound strong, Frank could still hear the disappointment in her voice.

He looked up at her with deep longing pooled in his bloodshot eyes before hitting what he hoped to be the right key to end the transmission.

Staring up at the blank screen where Vega had been for an extra moment, Frank nodded his head in frustration before slamming his hands on the table and walking away. That two-minute conversation had been their longest since she left Earth after Jarl Balder’s capture.

There was so much he wanted to tell her. So many things he had encountered – in the universe and in himself – that he wanted to speak with her about. He had never wanted to share a bit about his life with someone before. Here he had found someone so amazing, someone worth telling everything, and yet he couldn’t get a moment with her alone.

They kept promising that it would happen soon. That this thing with Jarl and Lucy would come to an end and they’d finally get that first date. Frank knew there would always be something. There was no way a Marine was ever off duty. A life for an Arilion Knight rebuilding the Order in the midst of emerging enemies was a full-time undertaking. Wanting to spend time away and with his alien girlfriend was simply selfish. A leader couldn’t be selfish; this Marine Knight had to be selfless.

Empress Vega handled the duty and its responsibilities with such grace. It only made Frank long to be near her more.

All of this and more flooded his mind and crashed around like a tsunami. He had to let the gates down and the worries flow out with each step closer to the gateway room. He would need to suit up and keep his head in the game to lead his team through the gateway.

“Yur’l, this is Frank,” he called through the comms.

“Errr…” Yur’l responded.

“Can you grab me a burrito from the mess?” he asked.

“A what?”

This pained Frank. The last thing he wanted to do over the team’s main communications channel was spend time explaining a filling Mexican dish consisting of delicious beans, beef, and cheese rolled up in a tortilla. He couldn’t even fathom explaining what a tortilla is.

“Never mind. Just bring food. Lots of it,” Frank replied in hunger and exasperation.

He had approached the door to the gateway room. He would need to start doling out orders and didn’t want to do so while hangry. Then he’d really end up shooting first and asking questions later.

Inside the room, Sava stood talking with three Draconian techs in stern, hushed tones. Their drab battle dress jackets bore a symbol like a T with two titles over it to signify their specialty. Frank recalled seeing them the last couple of times Marine Space Corps 1 traveled through the Draconian Gateway.

Frank watched Sava out of the side of his vision while he donned the multilayers of diamond steel protective wear. She seemed calm yet still direct. The calmness was what threw Frank off. He didn’t want to be suspicious of his comrade, yet felt she was hiding something. He’d wait it out. For now.

With a snap and a click, he latched on his Punisher GS2000 and Reckoner P7. As he was adjusting his vambraces over the armor, Raj, Elly, and Yur’l came in. Magnus the Momo poked his head in. After seeing all was clear, he flew the rest of the way in with his blue and grey wings. They already had on their diamond-plated armor. Yur’l’s fitted only to his elbows. A gap of feathers were exposed between his black vest and his boiled leather vambraces. Leather straps wrapped around padded sleeves covered his wrist to his elbow.

Whereas Frank’s vambraces were leather with metal plates, Sava’s were steel tubular guards with rivets along the edge. Each Knight could wield a different style. And no two were exactly the same; much like the abilities of the Knights themselves.

“Marines, let’s get ready to move out,” Frank instructed them.

“Here you go, Frank.” Elly handed him a wrapped object. It was warm, heavy, and dense and smelled wonderful.

“What’s this?” he lifted it toward her.

“Your burrito,” she said, then gave an awkward wink. Elly nodded as though she had a seizure and then closed both eyes. It looked more like an I Dream of Jeannie glitch.

But she had given him a burrito, so she could have stopped to do Napoleon Dynamite’s dance to Jamiroquai right now for all he cared.

“Oh, thanks!” He began to unpeel the wrapping. “You guys might want to look away. This is about to get personal between me and this burrito. It won’t be pretty.”

“Uh, yeah, we’ll go ahead and get our materials for this trip. Anything in particular, Major?” Raj asked.

“How does one get personal with food?” Frank heard Yur’l ask Elly.

“You don’t want to know. It’s not normal. Here, take this firearm. Clip it to your belt.” Elly handed him a Reckoner P7.

“Yeah, grab thome nonlethal thuff,” Frank instructed with a mouthful of savory, warm food.

Sava walked over to the team.

“We can offer some of the Draconians as support if you’d find that helpful,” she suggested to Frank with a look of concern on her face.

Frank was shoving the last bit of the burrito into his mouth. He needed a moment to breathe as he chewed with full cheeks and braced himself to swallow.

“Thank you, Sava. This is a reconnaissance mission. We’re to find Major Lopez, assess, and report in to General Breaker. He’ll keep you up to speed, I’m sure. Based on our report, we’ll determine next steps. If at any time we assess that she’s a threat unwilling to come in on her own accord, we will not hesitate to call for backup – be it human, Neeve, or Draconian. She’s one of our own and we need to make the first move,” Frank responded.

“I understand.” The six and a half foot tall Draconian warrior inspected him with her good eye.

“I won’t keep you in the dark.” He returned her gaze. “I know how important this is to you, to all of us.”

“We received a transmission that the Den has sent you, the brief on this planet and the details of her whereabouts. They’ve also forwarded a copy to Elly Wong – as a precautionary measure.” Sava nodded to the petite Asian woman reaching up to place another crate on the cargo transport.

Frank watched painfully as it slipped and took her down with it. From the outside, his team was hard pressed to pass as a top-notch task force. Raj had worked his way up to lieutenant years after earning dual bachelor’s degrees in medicine and surgery and excelling in aerospace medicine. Before the coalition with the Marine Space Corps, he had spent several years with the Integrated Space Cell of India. MSC took in only the best of the best in their field and Elly Wong of the Chinese Space Program was no different. Frank had to remember that. His team was the best and they deserved a leader to bring them together to succeed.

The Light only chose the most deserving in character and strength of Will. Yur’l’s being here was no accident.

If the Light and the Marines had chosen Frank, he too would believe in himself. As crazy as the task was before him, he’d find a way to bring Lucy Lopez in.

“Gateway is ready when you are,” a tech called from beside the golden orb. “All rings have been rotated to the coordinates. The shuttle bot entered relaying breathable atmosphere. No hostiles reported.”

“All clear,” another technician announced.

Frank looked to each of his team members, meeting their eyes with a steadfast gaze before popping on his helmet. Each time entering the breach was like taking their lives into their own hands. Their first time through the gateway resulted in casualties at the hand of a leviathan. A freaking leviathan. That was not something one could forget easily. And fallen comrades Wilson and Smyth were painful reminders of the quite real perils that could await as one crossed galaxies to an unknown planet.

The gateway entrance stood two stories tall. Frank gazed into it and stared it down. His gateway encounters had been fifty-fifty up to this point. He was ready to tip the scales in his team’s favor.

“MSC-1, move out,” Frank commanded through the comm. He approached the gateway and stopped. “Hey, when we get back and this whole thing is behind us, you can still teach me how to fly,” Frank said to Sava before turning around.

Frank stepped through first. The kaleidoscopic mist enveloped his legs like slithering tentacles. Each step took him further into the wormhole, the psychedelic experience heightened by the loss of contact with solid ground.

The light on the other side seemed brighter, nearly blinding. He continued through the ethereal cloud toward the other side. His visor adjusted to the piercing light.

The incorporeal ground gave way to solid flooring covered in a gritty film that crunched beneath his size ten boots. Looking up, his eyes came upon rows of square windows lining wall to wall and ceiling to midway down the two-story height. Beyond the windows, the brightest blue sky Frank had ever seen extended as far as he could see.

To his right, a sliding barn door was slid askew. Beyond it, rolling hills painted in rows of technicolor orange, rose pink, and sunshine yellow rose up to meet the horizon.

Frank was taking in the scene before him when the sound of Yur’l’s and Raj’s feet scraping the ground tore him from the vision in front of him.

“Den, this is Major Wolffe. We have arrived,” Frank called in their status.

“Whoa. We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Raj breathed at the sight.

4

“Where are we?” Elly asked after she arrived. “Finally, someplace beautiful.”

“Looks like an old factory of sorts,” Frank said as he inspected stacked and open crates, some with lids askew.

He nudged a wooden lid with his boot to get a look at the markings. Three quatrefoil, one on top of the other two, enclosed by a circle were burned into the weathered wood. A series of Y groupings creating various symbols was listed beneath the emblem. He noticed each lid featured a different sequence of the Y denotations. A number of the open crates contained wood shavings.

“Maybe a storage warehouse?” Yur’l observed. “Look, that door might be a loading space. And those sequences look like they might be numbers.”

“Why do you think the orb was in here?” Raj asked, dusting off the orb from a pile of the wooden crates.

“I bet they didn’t know what it was. Probably was left behind,” Yur’l responded.

“You guys ever see Indiana Jones?” Elly piped up.

“Oh yeah, maybe this was their secret warehouse,” Frank said, clipping his helmet to his side belt.

“What’s an Indiana Jones?” Yur’l asked.

“Dr. Jones is an archaeologist professor and he goes to find the Ark of the–” Elly began before Magnus cut her off with short, high-pitched barking. “Excuse me, rude. I was talking. A nest? I didn’t think you needed a nest, but yeah, sure, I’ll ask if we can take some of the shavings home so you can build a nest.” She looked at Frank with wide eyes and shook her head in exasperation.

“Elly, can you set up the systems so we can check in with the Den? We’ll check the area for a secure perimeter,” Frank said, indicating Raj and Yur’l with a nod of his head.

Raj held his rifle at the ready in both hands. Frank pulled his Reckoner P7 with his right hand and held his left hand at the ready, already buzzing with purple energy. Yur’l held constructed batons in each hand in front of him; they served as a shield and attack option. The batons were his next evolution of sticks following his encounter with action on Chesha.

The confrontation with Jarl Balder afforded Yur’l the insight and defeat he needed to understand what they would be up against on future excursions. It would take a harsh lesson to teach this seasoned accountant what the face of battle and action would look like as an Arilion Knight. Frank was glad for it; not that Yur’l was hurt, not that he had dropped an egg on Jarl Balder, but rather that the Gleason could own his training.

Since then, Yur’l had spent his free time running and drilling in the simulator. When Frank couldn’t train with him, Yur’l spent time studying. He was like a sponge, taking in every bit of knowledge of Earth, of the Marine Corps, of the Den, and of Jarl Balder. When his body required rest, Frank could find the old Gleason happily watching The Price is Right.

“Look alive,” their leader called out through the comms.

“10-4,” Raj responded as he moved toward the other side of the pile of crates toward the rear.

“OK,” Yur’l said, moving to the right. “Are we looking for anything in particular? If I knew what I was looking for, it might be helpful.”

Frank was headed to the open door ahead. He turned to look back at Elly to exchange a glance with a smirk.

“Just anything that might give us clues to where we are, where other beings are, if there might be any threats, and maybe any sign of Major Lopez,” Frank instructed, turning back to head through the open barn door.

“You got it. Lucy Lopez, come on down.” Yur’l chuckled at himself for the last part.

Frank just shook his head as he spied through the opening with his left arm partially extended out in preparation for a shield and his right holding his firearm close to his chest.

Down the way, he could see a line of sporadic buildings facing the same rolling hill. The dotted row of factories was comprised of cement slab squares forming each wall. Wear and water stains trickled down the checkered sides. The structure reminded Frank of half a modern A-frame structure; a steep sloped roof bridged the wall facing the brightly striped scenic view with a short wall on the opposite side. The only windows were the three-by-three-meter windows that lined the top of the two-story side. Some structures featured smoke stacks.

He began to round the corner of the building, finding nothing but weeds and remnants of metal barrels and more pistachio-green wooden crates. He was nearing the other corner, taking care to not disturb the area around him or cause any unnecessary din to give away their location among the peaceful squawking of birds sitting atop the roofs.

The ground beneath Frank’s boots began to tremble. Soon, the trembling developed into shaking. The building rattled. A deep whirring could be heard in the distance.

“MSC-1, report. Do you have eyes on the cause?” Frank called.

“No, I can’t see what it is from my side of the building,” Raj responded. “There’s just overgrown grasses and a dirt road.”

The drone grew deeper and Frank could feel it in his chest. He ran back toward where he had come to see a freight train like a bullet coming toward them. Looking down, he noticed for the first time that there was a set of parallel lustrous rails in the grass. With a click and a hiss, two arms extended and came up from the ground. As the silver convoy whizzed past, the wind blew hard against Frank, causing him to shield his eyes from the force.

Once the train passed through the arms, they dropped back down. Ahead, Frank saw another set come up until the speed train passed. As the train disappeared in the distance, so too did the ground rumblings.

“Whoa, did you see that?” Elly had come out with eyes wide behind her red-rimmed glasses.

“Yeah, kind of hard to miss,” Frank replied.

“That was an electromagnetic train!” she screeched. “There have only been prototypes on Earth. I built a mini with some coil when I was a little girl. And I heard Tesla is working on one in the U.S. That thing was going over 700 miles per hour. Imagine being hit by that!”

“Do you need a moment to yourself, fangirl?” Frank teased. “So we’re definitely dealing with a technologically advanced species here. Good to know.”

“Just need to find out the status of their social progress,” Raj said, coming around to join them. “Hopefully, they’re not all gadgets and no humanity. Well, what would that be here? Speciesism?”

“No, opposite. Species egalitarianism,” Frank said, looking Raj straight in the face.

Elly and Raj faced each other in surprise. Elly started opening her mouth to say, “How–” when Frank winked and cut her off.

“Don’t underestimate me. Not all looks.”

“Um, Elly?” Yur’l’s voice came through the comms with some wavering.

“Yur’l, everything OK?” she responded, checking her surroundings for the Gleason.

“Team, Magnus found something.” He gulped, sounding as though he might be sick.

“On our way!” Frank shouted and they took off to the left side of the building.

It was there that they found Yur’l standing over the twenty-pound Momo. Magnus sat flipping his grey tail side to side, staring back up at them. Frank peered closer to see that he had something in his mouth.

“Hey, boy, what have you got there?” Elly coaxed with a sugary voice. “What’s that?”

“I just can’t, I mean, it’s not right.” Yur’l wobbled back a couple of steps.

Raj reached out a hand as insurance in case the man should topple over.

“Let me see.” The petite woman reached out a hand, taking care not to startle the pup.

Magnus half-growled, half-murmured back to her with a mouth full. A marigold feather fell out between two sharp teeth.

“Oh my.” Yur’l turned away.

“Memphis Toby Steven Eric Grey Lykos Colby Magnus… You open up right now. Give me that creature or so help me I’ll turn you into a birthday piñata!” Crazy Elly came out.

Magnus stared her down. At least, he attempted to.

“You want to go back to Brytanna, where they eat Momos?” she threatened.

He didn’t budge.

“Fine. No more nest. You can just forget about those nice, woodsy shavings for your new home.” She crossed her arms across her chest.

He whimpered, then slowly opened his mouth and let the thing fall out. A creature the size and shape of a tennis ball rolled around before spreading its cyan feathered wings. Its bottom half was canary yellow, top portion a vibrant blue, then topped off with a small red head and orange beak.

“Hello, sir, so sorry about that.” Elly bent down close to the rotund bird.

It said nothing. The native bird only hopped around, shaking its head.

“Yur’l, can you get anything from him?” Frank prompted.

Yur’l came over and inspected the being. He cocked his head to the side.

“No. I’m afraid not. He’s not the leading intelligent species here,” Yur’l shared after a few moments.

“Yeah, I’d say so. The fact that he’s staying around in front of Magnus after his near death incident would say he’s a french fry short of a Happy Meal,” Frank commented.

Yur’l reached forward to shoo the little guy away. Magnus responded with some short yips and a low growl under his breath.

“Oh, young man, how dare you. We’ve really got to work on your attitude problem.” Elly wagged a finger at him. “And no, I would never hurt you. You’ve just been so frustrating lately. You’re better than that – don’t be eating the local beings. You more than anyone should be sympathetic to that.”

“Elly?” Frank interrupted.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“The communication systems?” Frank raised a hand toward the factory building in which they’d arrived.

“Right. All set.” Elly started walking back toward the entrance, the rest of the team joining.

“Let’s dial the Den,” Frank instructed.

As their communications and technology specialist, Elly had packed the screen, zero-client computer, and long-range satellite system on the shuttle bot. While Raj, Yur’l, and Frank had been surveying the area, she set up the network and tapped in to the mega server hosted by the Draconians on Brytanna. This was the same database used at the Den.

The dark screen came to life and the communications operator from their connection on Brytanna greeted them.

“Major Wolffe for the Den,” Frank hailed.

“Report?” Sat Comm Marine Jenkins responded.

“We’ve arrived on Auriul via the gateway from Brytanna. No hostiles. No natives met. And no sign of Major Lopez. We’ll check in at 1600 barring preventing circumstances.” Frank checked his watch to ensure the timing was accurate. Traveling across the universe and to planets whose axis, gravity, and time around their sun could differ from Earth had a habit of affecting his ability to tell or keep time.

Not to mention how busy he had been. Too many times he had gone without food or sleep in order to meet the mission, or to stay alive. He had heard of the people near the poles who went crazy from insomnia due to the endless days. Sometimes he felt he could empathize with them. Most days, he was too tired to care. He just kept moving along.

“Copy that. Major Wolffe, I just received a notification that General Breaker would like to speak with you. Transferring you now.” The young and matter-of-fact Marine’s fingers struck the keys before the screen switched to the stern face of General Breaker.

“General,” Frank acknowledged his leader.

“Frank, I’ll make this quick. We’ve received word from Heron that there may be another Knight on Auriul. He picked up some signals and triangulated the estimated area of origination. He’ll send the coordinates to Elly’s smart pad.” General Breaker compressed his lips for a moment.

“Understood,” Frank said but hesitated. “General?”

“Frank, he hasn’t said anything. He won’t talk. He won’t release anything about what he did to her.”

Frank’s blood began to boil at the mention of Jarl Balder, their prisoner. After Frank nearly choked the last breath out of him, Jarl Balder was kept in isolation. He was to stand trial for his crimes against the Neeve and the Alf. Marine Space Corps 1 and their allies across the universe couldn’t yet transport him. Frank and Sava would be needed and they currently had other assignments.

“We’ll find her, sir.” Frank looked his mentor dead in the golden eyes, knowing the pain of his loss. A flash of the night Frank had encountered Solomon Breaker in the heat of a night terror brought on by his severe post-traumatic stress crossed his mind. He knew Major Lopez’s death nearly broke the then Colonel Breaker. He could feel the electric energy seething from his vambraces and up his arms. “We’ll bring her home safely,” he added, releasing a slow, cleansing breath. The purple glow subsided.

“I know you will. Keep your team safe out there, Marine.” The general released his hands from across his chest before the transmission ended.

5

“Another Knight?” Yur’l puzzled, wonder lacing his voice.

“Son of a black mamba, Frank. We have to find and secure Major Lopez, who most likely has no idea who she is or absolutely has gone off the reservation with the ability to kick our butts and we have to find a new Knight?” Raj ran both hands through his jet black, messy, textured hair.

“Easy there, big guy,” Frank patted his shoulder. “Don’t get overworked on this. I actually read the report this time. The planet is not that big. There is one major metropolis nearby. The people are generally docile. The power of Will has a weird way of pulling us together, so the Knight won’t be too hard to find. And, please, Major Lopez can’t kick our butts. I’m here.”

“Frank, she was already pretty intense before she got powers. Luckily, she was on your side, so you never got the bad end of her takedown. You can’t even fly,” Raj blurted out, his voice growing higher and he spoke faster.

“Hey, that’s below the belt.” Frank threw up both hands. “You–”

Movement near the unhinged door caught their eye. Two, three, four little furry heads popped into view. Sand and white fur triangular faces with flat pointed ears watched the MSC-1 team with beady black eyes.

“Hello,” Elly called out with a wave.

This seemed to startle the beings. They scurried around each other and dropped an object with a heavy thud. It rolled half a meter into the opening of the door, gold glistening in the day’s sun.

“Hey,” Elly said.

“Is that–” Yur’l pointed a feathered hand toward the basketball-size golden object.

Woooooooot!

A sharp whistle coming from the distance drew everyone’s attention; the visiting creatures seemed to recognize it. They scampered, grabbed the orb, and took off running.

“That’s our way home!” Frank shouted in a panic. “Get them!”

The little creatures just over a meter or so tall left in a furry blur out the door and over the tracks into the rolling fields of flowers. Frank could see them cut through the fields as little ripples in the tops of the flowers gave way to their path.

“Take that way; I’ll take this,” Frank instructed the team. Raj and Yur’l cut to the right; Frank cut to the left. To his dismay, the lines in the field split into four. Raj and Yur’l would hopefully be able to take two on the right. He had to decide which trail on his side to pursue. Any delay in a decision would put their way back across the universe to their home planet further out of reach. He chose the one he thought might have the orb.

“Elly, stand guard. Send Magnus – send an airstrike!” he belted to his Cyber Tech.

“OK. Magnus, hunt, don’t hurt. Go, boy.” Elly shooed Magnus, the winged wolf, out to hunt.

The tall blooms hit Frank’s chest and petals filled his vision like birthday confetti of red, yellow, and brilliant orange as he ran with everything he had in the tank for fear of never returning home. He darted left and caught sight of the creature with pointed ears before losing it once again beneath the canopy of petals. They doubled back, heading further away from the group. Frank followed, closing the distance. He saw Magnus circling overhead sniffing the air and then dive down about five meters up among a patch of crimson flowers.

“Does anybody have eyes on their target?” Frank asked into the comms.

“I’ve got nothing. Lost all motion,” Raj reported in.

“Yur’l, what’s your status?” The purple blur of Yur’l flashed through the field. Frank could see him over the tops of the flowers, darting to and fro. “I had him but lost him,” Yur’l replied. “All I have to show for it is a mouth full of petals and a tiny brown vest.”

“Elly, anything on Magnus?” Frank asked.

“I–I think he has somebody,” she answered.

Frank looked up to see the flying scrawny, awkward teenage wolf fluttering through the air with what looked like a tan, upright fox in his teeth. He carried it by the scruff of its neck.

“Good boy, Magnus. Way to go. You can get a treat later on,” Frank celebrated. “I don’t care what Elly says; we’re going to keep you.”

“Hey, what the heck. Magnus, don’t listen to him. I never said anything like that,” Elly barked at them.

“Everyone, rendezvous back at the factory–at our base,” Frank instructed the team.

When they arrived, they found Magnus sitting proudly in front of Elly with his prize still secured in his teeth.

The small being struggled against him in defiance. He tried to pull away, yet did not show any fear.

“Oogalagh miraf fidesh!” he said with venom and angry fists.

“Hello,” Elly said again with a small wave.

“Oogalah don’t have it. Now let me go!” He took a swing, which ended with him wrapped up in his blouse as he hung from Magnus’s hold.

“I’m Frank. This is Elly. What’s your name?” Frank said.

“Name is Aziz and I’m not telling you fleshy aliens anything, so let me go.” It seemed the translators had picked up the local language now.

“Hey, Aziz, we don’t want any trouble; we just need that orb so that we can get back home to our planet of other fleshy aliens – or feathered,” Frank looked at Yur’l.

“Not my problem. Tell your creature to put me down.” Aziz crossed his arms.

“I can ask him to let you go, but you have to promise not to run.” Frank opened up negotiations.

“Umph.” The little Oyan remained defiant.

“I’m going to ask him to let you go, but if you run, do know that he likes to chase little creatures. We had to pry one from his mouth earlier. And I also have special powers: I will scoop you up into a cage before you can make it to the door. I would prefer not to but will do it if you make me. Understood?” Frank said.

“OK, just let me go,” Aziz agreed.

“Magnus, let him go,” Frank instructed.

The Momo’s warm brown eyes shifted to look at Elly for confirmation. She nodded. He opened his mouth to release the boy’s collar.

Aziz righted his shirt blouse and looked back at Magnus with a shrug. He took a step to his left and Magnus followed. True to Frank’s threat, Magnus stuck to him like a dog on a hunt.

Frank flexed his arms forward to ignite the power of his vambraces to show Aziz just what he meant and in preparation to construct restraints for the boy should he decide to run. He felt a bit disgusted with having to display such a show of force; he also hoped that he might pique Aziz’s interest enough to keep him here.

“Listen, Aziz, I have no wish to detain you any further. However, we need to know where your friends took that orb.” Frank tried a more diplomatic approach.

Nothing. Frank’s patience was growing thin. He suppressed the agitation that grew up his neck.

“Young man, you seem like you might be hungry. I have a treat here. Would you like it?” Yur’l offered, reaching into his pack.

“Uh, Yur’l, that kind of behavior is sort of frowned upon: old man offering little boys candy… Bad idea,” Frank cut in.

“Wha–I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just have a nut and seed bar.” Yur’l looked at the team, confused, with a bar in his hand.

Aziz ran up and snatched it. “Oh yeah.” He tore it open and took a large bite. “Thanks, Yur’l,” he said through a mouth full of food.

“You’re quite welcome. You seem famished. Let me know if you’d like another,” Yur’l offered with a wink.

“Please, sir, may I have another?” the little boy asked. It was then that Frank really took in the details of their new associate: his fur was a bit dusty and his long-sleeved buttoned linen top had patches on the elbows, as did his wool trousers on the knees. Aziz’s cheeks rounded with the big bites of nuts and seeds and he grinned in bliss. His little eyes closed into horizontal crescent moons from the roundness of his cheeks when he smiled.

“So, kid, what’s your deal? Do you have family around here or are you just out with your friends?” Frank asked, taking a knee to be on his level.

“I don’t have parents, if that’s what you’re asking. Just us. Sunni takes care of us.” His response was followed by another crunch.

“Who’s us? And who’s Sunni?” Frank looked at Yur’l and indicated to give the furry friend another treat to keep him talking.

“Us, the kids who work at the factory down the way. Sunni is one of us, except she’s the oldest. And the prettiest.” Aziz passed on the third bar. He took the few bites that remained of the second and wrapped it up before placing it in his pocket. “For Sunni,” he said to Yur’l with a wink.

“Hey, do you think maybe we could meet Sunni?” Frank opened his hands in a posture of reception. “Maybe we could even take a few of the bars for the other kids to share.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s a great idea. I’m sure they’re hungry without food from the factory today!” Aziz started heading out the back door, then stopped when he realized Magnus stuck to him like a shadow. He eyed Elly, seeking permission.

“Down, Magnus,” she commanded. “He can go.”

The wolf-pup flopped to his belly in obedient defeat, sending dust and grey fur in a puff around him. He watched the creature walk away with his snout between his front paws and a tail that flip-flopped in disappointment.

Aziz led them down the back road about two kilometers, passing a handful of rundown warehouses and factories along the way. Most had broken windows, boarded up doors, and rust spilling down the cement walls from the tin roofs. Splashes of pale green patina had taken over the copper details of the buildings. Frank listened for an ocean nearby.

The hard-to-miss salted scent didn’t immediately catch in the air. The freshness of the surrounding greenery and sweet fragrance of the flower fields gave the air a crisp floral cheerfulness. He could almost taste the fruity bouquet in the back of his throat.

At the midway point, another train hurtled on by, loudly whispering its whirling vibrations through the air and ground. Aziz paid no mind to the rumblings, evidently familiar with the event.

Yur’l and Elly walked ahead with Aziz, whose hands were flailing in the air as he told them stories and tales. Which were true was yet to be known.

Frank and Raj hung back just out of earshot.

“Frank, I’m concerned,” the doctor confided.

“Yeah, well, what’s new? Give me details, man. Other than the fact that if this shifty little kid doesn’t help us get the orb back, we’re stuck on this planet for God knows how long,” Frank replied in hushed tones.

“He has signs of malnutrition, Frank. I noticed some scarring on his back when Magnus had him by the nape of his shirt. Someone has been abusing that kid,” Raj said, lowering his head and looking up at Frank with deep concern in his brown eyes. “It’s no wonder he didn’t trust us adults.”

“Why would someone do that…” Sadness hinted in Frank’s voice despite his attempt to play it down.

Though he grew up with a family in a less than average American home, he hardly went hungry and never went without an abundance of love. The clothes that never seemed to fit him right, the hand-me-down school supplies, and the borrowed books were all just things. The care and attention from his parents were memories he hadn’t taken for granted; whether it was the family time at each dinner to recap each member’s day or the many teaching moments Frank spent with his dad and his toolbox. To imagine someone older, someone in power neglecting or abusing this child, or any, set Frank’s blood boiling within.

As Frank thought about it, he found it cruel. Such an enchanting land where orphan children were worked and beaten. He couldn’t yet know too much of this civilization’s tolerance and acceptance of such behavior, but it was the reality for these Oyan children either way. To live in a land with hills of bright beauty among a civilization capable of electromagnetic technology, yet lead the lives of indentured servitude. No work, no food. Not the kinds of pressures a child of no more than ten should be concerned with. This was something Frank could attest to first-hand.

He knew if he thought about it any longer, he’d be seething with purple energy.

6

The group of Marines, Knights, and the young Oyan came upon the worst of the dilapidated buildings stationed between the dirt road and the electromagnetic train tracks. The upper left corner had crumbled, leaving an opening to the elements. Wild grasses encroached the entryway and tendrils of invading vines carved their way up the building.

“This is it.” Aziz pointed to the hovel.

“Home sweet home, eh?” Frank asked.

“Sure. Something like that.” Aziz shrugged. “I’ll get Sunni.”

“Oh, do you mind if we come with you?” Frank prodded, not wanting to lose sight of their only tie to the orb.

“I guess… though, she might get mad. The last fleshy visitor we had kind of caused trouble for us…” Aziz hesitated.

“Major Lopez? You saw a woman with short, brown hair and orange vambraces similar to these?” Frank nearly jumped out of his skin. At last, some hard intel.

“Yeah, Lucy she said was her name. She was looking for our boss. Hey, can you fly like her?” The boy was easily distracted.

“Um, no. Not yet. I can hover, but I’m working on it.” The Knight’s voice dropped in disappointment.

“Oh, she said it was pretty easy. I wonder–”

“Hey, Aziz, shall we go see Sunni now? I’m sure she’s been worried about you.” Yur’l prompted the boy back to the task at hand.

“Oh yeah, you’re probably right. OK. This way.” He led them to the side of the building.

Aziz slid a piece of rotting plywood that blocked a makeshift entrance to the right. A window that had long since been removed left a gaping hole in the edifice. They climbed through and the board slid back into place.

What they saw inside brought both awe and sorrow. Seven of the Oyan children sat around a broken mill wheel that lay on its side as a table. Tiny pieces of old apples, wilted greens, and cups of dirty water sat on it. A broken vase was filled with the dual leaflet blooms from the field of a yellow brighter than the sun. They held brown furry hands and bowed their heads, each with foxlike ears, about to partake in their meager meal.

Two of the Oyan were slightly smaller and perhaps a few years younger than Aziz, with long woolen skirts and pale blue bows on their heads. A taller boy wearing glasses, a wool newsboy flat cap, and pants with suspenders over his button-down shirt stood upon seeing the MSC-1 team enter their quarters. The tall boy grabbed a round little guy and stole away behind a shabby curtain to the right. The girls ducked below the table, pulling an even smaller boy who held a ragdoll in his arms with them.

With the five of them ducking away into hidden corners and crevices of their quarters, only two girls remained. One stood with her head held up haughtily and hands on her hips. The attempt to dress properly was evident in the neatly tucked shirt that was capped with a scarf in a bow around her collar. The other, not so much.

“Aziz, what have you done?” the oldest of the group demanded. Her voice was stern, and unlike the other girls in the group, she donned pants like the males.

“Sunni, it’s OK. They have food.” Aziz ran to her. “They said they’d share.”

“Aziz, go with Gerti and Goss. Take Peetie too.” She turned to Frank and the group. “What is it you want?”

“What makes you think we want anything?” Frank responded.

“Grownups always want something. People don’t offer free food for nothing,” she said, eyeing each of the team members with her hands across her chest.

“Fair enough,” Frank replied. “We want the orb so we can get back home.”

“Always something,” she said.

“Listen, we don’t want to cause you or the others trouble; we’re just here to take back what was taken. Oh, and to ask if you’ve seen another person like us but a woman.”

“Hey,” said Elly, “I don’t count as a woman?”

“You are, you do, but, Elly, that’s not what I meant. Help me out here.” Frank stumbled over his words. He hadn’t meant to discount Elly’s femininity.

“Sunni, is it?” Elly said. “We’re looking for our friend and for our way back home. That’s it.”

“I can’t give you back the orb. Our boss would beat us if he knew we got something that special then lost it – even worse, gave it away.” Sunni shook her head.

“No one should be beating you guys; you’re a bunch of children,” Frank jumped in.

“No kidding. This guy.” Sunni pointed a furry thumb toward Frank. “Obviously, no one should be treated like that. But that’s our lot in life. We make the best of it by sticking together as a family here. We do our best to not make Boss Mardat mad; don’t give him a reason to fury. And all is well. So the best way we can do that is for you to leave and pretend you never saw us.”

Aziz peeked his head out from a loft up to their left. “What about the food, Sunni? No work today means no food.”

“Here.” Yur’l grabbed a handful of bars from his sack and offered them to the girl. “No strings attached. Just share them amongst the children as you see fit.”

She glared at Yur’l with blatant distrust, awaiting his next move.

“Go on, take them.” He took a few steps forward.

After initially drawing her body back, she took a step toward him and extended a paw with just enough reach. Then another step. Her gait was uneven. A limp in her right leg became evident as she neared Yur’l. She grabbed the offering and walked backwards, never turning her back to the group.

“Thanks, old man,” she said to Yur’l.

“You’re welcome, young lady,” he responded.

“So what’s the deal with the orb?” Sunni asked, handing out the treats to the children who had crept out of their hiding places.

“It opens a portal, a gateway, to another planet or universe. Two orbs connect to each other to allow us to pass through.” Frank kneeled down to help the one named Peetie open his package.

“I saw her,” Peetie said, looking up at Frank with eyes wide and round and dark like a baby seal’s. He was lighter than the rest with a stripe of dark brown down his plump face.

“Saw who?” Frank asked.

“Saw the woman like you before you came. She came through the hole. She flew away into the sky,” he said, pointing through the hole in their building.

“Do you know what way she went? Maybe you could show us?” Frank couldn’t let their lead go cold.

“No, you’re not taking him anywhere.” Sunni had hobbled over to them and grabbed Peetie’s paw, pulling him back to the safety of the table as a barrier.

“You want us out, right? Want us to stay out of your way so you can keep your heads low? Well, we need to find our friend and get back home. Then we can be out of your way forever. Capisce?” Frank stood.

“Not sure what ‘capisce’ means, but yes, I understand,” she replied.

“So show us where she is. Let us use the orb to get home. And if we can, we’ll help you too. If this Mardat is hurting you, maybe we can talk with him, if you want.” He added in the last bit somewhat for himself, doubtful she’d take the help. He could sense the stubbornness in her; it was part of her self-preservation.

“No, you can’t. Boss Mardat is too strong. Too powerful. There’s only four of you. Plus, if he’s gone or kicks us out, we have no work and no food. We’re as good as dead out here on the streets. You have no idea what happens to orphans around here.” Sunni walked back over to the table to make sure everyone had a piece of bar to eat.

Frank made eye contact with Yur’l and Raj but didn’t expand on their combat abilities. He wasn’t trying to raise a coup d’état for the orphans on Auriul. Their mission was to secure Major Lopez and he had made promises to succeed.

“So you’ll take us to her?” Frank was as persistent as a dog with a bone.

“Yes.” Sunni was exasperated. “I’ll settle the group here and we’ll leave. It’s nearly dark, which means bedtime for the little ones.”

While Sunni tended to the group of orphan Oyan children, Frank gathered his team.

“Yur’l, you nailed another homerun with those bars. Perfect timing. Like a Marine, always prepared. Thank you,” Frank commended him.

“Son of a tyrant, Frank, this Mardat guy is probably the one who has been hurting Aziz,” Raj commented.

“I don’t know, they’re on the streets. Maybe he has just been in some street fights,” Elly tried to reason. She hardly sounded convinced herself.

“Elly, Yur’l, why don’t you stay here. Keep an eye out and contact us if you see or hear anything.” Frank ignored the chatter and instead kept focus on getting closer to Major Lopez’s tracks. She had eluded them for three planets over three months. This was the closest they’d been. “Yur’l, be ready to construct defensive shields as needed. If Major Lopez comes back, she won’t know you. She’ll see the vambraces and go for blood if she’s been drinking in Jarl’s lies. And get as far away from the children as possible.”

Yur’l nodded.

“Alright, doc, you ready to hit the trail once more?” Frank asked Raj.

“You know it, brother. Only don’t come crying to me when she kicks your–” Raj started then stopped when Sunni approached.

“You ready or what?” Sunni didn’t look amused.

Frank scanned the area one last time before heading out. The caved-in corner had actually allowed for sunlight in the space. Lush creeping vines made their way in creating a hanging garden in the space. Each child had their own sort of room created by boxes and curtains. The younger children creeped into their beds – the twins went in together.

He saw no sign of Lucy Lopez or of the orb. He’d have to venture out to search for more information. Why had she come to this planet and how long would she be here?

“Hey, wait for me.” Aziz stumbled over a box to join them.

“No, Aziz, you stay here.” Sunni redirected him by placing a hand on his shoulder. “You and Prim need to get everyone to bed and keep watch while I’m away. You know Peetie gets scared.”

“But I want to go help you, Sunni. I’m not scared. I can help,” he pleaded.

“You will help. You help by keeping everyone here safe. We’ll be quick. And when I get back, we can finish our plans like we started. OK?” she said.

“Sure. Yeah, then we’ll finish our plans for when we’re all grown.” He nodded, kicking a toe in the floor. Then he looked up with enthusiasm as though he had just come up with a new idea. “Hey, Sunni, did you see their arms? Maybe they can tell you about–”

She cut him off. “Don’t forget to tell Peetie his bedtime story!” Then she turned to leave.

7

Dusk had already faded into the indigo haze of night. Insects buzzed and chirped a symphony of the local night tune all around them. Even the bi-petal blooms closed up for the day, leaving the world around them in a duotone of blue and black. A chill breeze brushed the back of Frank’s neck.

“We’ll travel on this side of the tracks.” Sunni beckoned them over the rails.

The other side dropped off a meter on a slow decline, bringing the railway to Sunni’s shoulders. Frank and Raj were only half hidden, though it seemed something was better than not. In a pinch, they could dive for cover. Cover from whom or what was yet to be known.

“Sunni, what did Major Lopez tell you? What was she looking for?” Frank whispered.

“Lucy? She wanted…” Sunni hesitated a moment too long for Frank to believe the next thing that came out of her mouth. “She wanted to know about a knight. Said there was one here. We told her we hadn’t heard of such a thing. Then she talked with her partner and he told her to get the device. Not sure if the knight and the device are the same thing.”

“Why did she share this with you?” Raj asked.

“She didn’t. Well, not all of it anyway. She said everyone would know if there was a knight. But there is no knight. If there was, wouldn’t the children of the streets be saved instead of being taken and shipped off as workers? Seems to me that’s what a true knight would do, anyway. After we couldn’t show her where to find the knight, she contacted her partner right there. It was a sort of hologram device. I overheard her. The others didn’t,” she explained.

The ground began to buzz then rumble. Another train would be whizzing by soon. They stepped further away from the tracks, not wanting to get too close to the flow field of the high speed train. It whooshed by in a low roar, tousling Frank’s and Raj’s hair and Sunni’s tan fur.

Frank made a mental note of the hologram communicator to ask Elly about those later. He also considered the partner. If Jarl Balder was incarcerated, who was Major Lopez working with? What if she wasn’t alone here. Maybe he should have brought Yur’l with them.

Frank eyed Sunni, who trotted along with haste in front of him. She was rather quick for having the limp. Perhaps she was in a hurry. Or just used to the injury by now.

“Pssst, Frank. Do you think she’s in league with Major Lopez? What if she’s in cahoots with Major Lopez and we’re walking into a trap? I mean, did we just expect to be taken to her last known location and find her waiting for us inside?” Raj tugged at the distrust already toying at Frank’s mind.

“We just need to be smarter about it, then,” Frank answered.

Raj only stared up at him from a downturned head. “You know what, I’m not even going to say it. I don’t have to. You know that’s ridiculous. So what’s the real plan?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, confused.

“You? Outsmart Major Lopez? She’s the brightest, the fastest, and the deadliest should the need arise. Why do you think she had been the XO for General Breaker for so long? She survives when no one else does. She takes the hard hits and gets her hands dirty so he doesn’t have to. That didn’t stop him from being the best out there, but it kept him sane.” Raj evidently was in awe of Major Lopez. “Son of a preacher man, man, you gotta come up with something better than that. I’m not ready to head in to face down two bloodthirsty, double-crossed vambrace-wielding fighters, Frank. I don’t even have a mech suit.”

“Alright, alright.” Frank held up his hands, trying to soothe his worked-up friend. “Let me come up with something. And in the meantime, you want to rethink waxing poetic about Major Lopez? Yeesh, you went on and on about her. Didn’t realize you had a thing for her.”

“What? I don’t have a thing for her. You have a thing for her.” His tone pitched in defensiveness.

“Uh, I’m kind of in something with Vega at the moment. You know, the Empress of a nation. She’s the stunning purple one who’s deadly with a broadsword,” Frank rebutted.

“Well, Major Lopez isn’t my type. She can just be a little scary. That’s all.” Raj dropped his voice to nearly a whisper.

“Hey, are you guys done? Because we’re here.” Sunni was staring at them with her arms crossed – again.

“Oh,” Frank said.

Facing them from the other side of the rail line stood a wide, single-story stone building. Ten pillars holding up circular arches lined up like sentries on the long side closest to the trio. Water stains and moss shrouded the stonework, casting an eerie green glow from the reflection of the light of the moon overhead.

“Shall we?” Frank extended an arm forward, gesturing Sunni to lead the way.

She scrutinized him out of the side of her eyes, yet she continued forward and pulled herself up to the tracks. The Oyan girl couldn’t put her full weight on her right knee. This caused her to stumble over the silvery track in the dark.

“Oooaaahh!” Sunni uttered as she headed for the ground.

“Got ya.” Frank caught her by the arm before her head hit the ground.

She shrugged her arm away. Without glancing up at him, she said, “Thanks.” Then she kept moving forward. This time, a little slower.

Frank turned around to Raj, who responded with a shrug. This kid, he thought to himself. He had thought he was stubborn; this girl was showing him next-level doggedness.

Now just three meters away, the structure loomed more ominous than before. The series of circular archways created enclaves against the outer wall where the light did not reach. Openings in the stonework cast irregular shadows. The water had carried soot, staining the building like dripping blood.

It was then that Frank noticed the chirping and chatter from the evening’s insects had all but silenced. Another chill ran across Frank’s neck, but this time, it was not the wind.

“That way.” Sunni led them to the side nearest an entryway.

“Great. Just great,” Raj sighed under his breath.

“What is it?” Frank asked.

“Of course she would be in the creepiest building on the block,” he responded.

“Raj, you’re complaining a lot. We’re going to need to talk about your attitude. Now, are you in or not? Because I can’t be worried about you when things go down. I thought you had my back,” Frank goaded, stopping just before the walkway.

“You’re right. I’m in. You think that seeing you put yourself through hell over and over again doesn’t hurt, Frank, but it does. Not just your body. I can patch that up, though over time, you’re doing some major damage. But each time I patch you up, a little piece of me dies.” Raj laid it all out on the table.

“What the–?” Frank shook his head. “Thanks, buddy. Maybe we’ll put this conversation on ice; you know, not when we’re possibly about to walk into an ambush. OK. Now get ready.”

Frank brought to mind his last memories of Major Lucy Lopez: her silent and limp form drifting beyond his reach and toward the hangar bay door into the black expanse, her full bodied laughter at him near the armory racks, the first time he saw her at the airport in her Marine fatigues, and the last time he saw her flying across the screen above a crumbling, burning building on Brytanna. In that moment, pain tightened his throat and he set his jaw. He used the deep regret and loss, and the fiery vengeance at Jarl, and pushed it all down with a deep breath. As the last of his cleansing breath escaped his nostrils, his forearms burned with a deep violet.

“Ready?” He looked at Raj.

Raj grabbed his Punisher GS2000 in both hands, tilted it to get a visual of the twenty tungsten steel rounds, then nodded back to Frank.

“You stay here. If you hear any fighting, you run like mad back over those tracks and as far away from here as you can get,” Frank instructed Sunni.

Her round eyes were even wider than usual and fixed on Frank’s vambraces. She said nothing, only nodded.

The purple glow covered Frank’s body like a second skin over his diamond steel armor.

“Raj, go around the right. I saw some crates there. Take that up to the roof. With this amount of wear, I’m sure there’s an opening up there. Take the high ground to cover me. But be ready in case she takes flight. I’ll go in low and slow.” Frank pulled his Reckoner from his side clip with his right hand. He held up his left hand and emitted a light similar to that of an LED flashlight on low.

“Oohrah. See you on the other side.” Raj kept his head low as he ventured through the tunnel of arches and around the building.

Frank came up close to the building and spied around each outlet to reach the door. There he waited until he received Raj’s signal.

“In position,” Raj communicated through their comm device. “Hey, Frank?”

“Rah?” Frank responded.

“I’m seeing something a little strange here. There’s a gaping hole in the earth nearby. I’d say it’s about three meters across,” Raj reported in with a hint of unnerving in his tone.

“Can you see the bottom or into it?” Frank asked.

“No. I shined a light down and it just keeps going. And it reeks!” Raj gagged.

“Keep it together, man,” Frank chided him. “Improvise, adapt, and overcome and all that stuff. You ready?”

“Yeah, yeah, 10-4, I’m ready,” Raj declared.

“Going in,” Frank responded.

He used his left hand to peel the door open, taking precautions not to go too fast to break it. It appeared to be holding on by the rust on its hinges. Muffled silence and patchy darkness greeted him.

Opening the door just enough to fit inside, he guided it shut behind him. The purple light from his hand grew to illuminate the space enough for him to make out shapes of wooden crates and a massive furnace in the center. Cautious to not overlook anything, he swept his light across each corner of the building and stopped to listen for any movement.

Keeping his firearm and light steady, he advanced, placing one foot in line with the other to the other side of the building, careful not to disturb the setting.

Using the light, he searched the floor for evidence of footprints. His military combat tracking skills would be of minimal use. Though the ground was coated in a blanket of ash and dust, there were no prints to be seen.

There’s always a sign, he told himself.

He swept the ground once more when he saw a set of boot prints near a stack of crates. Gotcha.

Without a word, he crossed to them. The pentagonal lugs of her size eight Danner boots were undeniable. Heavier on the toes, the depression indicated she was leaning forward. Training his light up the crates before him, he came to the top surface.

Wilted and weathered notes and prints scattered the area. He clipped his firearm back to the side magnet and began reviewing the documents for anything legible.

“Raj, no one is here. I’ve located a sign and am looking through some docs,” Frank whispered into his comm.

“Roger that. All clear up here. I have eyes on you,” Raj reported back.

Frank peered through a stack that seemed less worn and still showed its original ink markings. From what he could tell, these were a series of plan drafts. There were similarities between each sketch and the serial numbers on the bottom right corner seemed sequential. Though he couldn’t tell what the symbols were, he noticed the repetition and slight variance.

“What are you making?” he wondered aloud.

I’m going to need Elly for these, he concluded, knowing her mind was more equipped for deciphering the code and the engineering plans depicted on the yellowing sheets.

He grabbed a few that weren’t falling apart and rolled them up to stick them in his boot. Figuring it would be good to get one more case of the area, he headed for the kiln to search for anything she might have disposed of in the heat.

The kiln door was rusted shut. Nothing had been incinerated in there for years. As a last effort for signs of where she would go next, he examined the drawings once more, this time taking note of the pieces outlined. Perhaps some of them were stored here in the crates.

CRACK, one of the lids came off with a tug. Only decaying and moldy wooden chips remained within.

CRACK, another lid from a crate two meters away. This one was completely empty.

CRAAASH!

Frank turned to his far left in a blur. The light from his hand became a blinding ultraviolet and his Reckoner P7 was drawn and trained on the corner. He held his breath, ready to fire.

8

Grating the hairs on Frank’s skin, an unseen being scraped against the splintering wood crate. It took its time, uncaring or unable to move with haste around the stack. Frank waited in silence.

He heard Raj shift overhead at the ready should Major Lopez, her partner, or any other unmet foe present a threat.

PRRRRrrrr prrrr

Frank’s sight held deadset at head level. He now trained it downward nearer the ground. There he found the cause of the commotion. A teal feline stared at him with three yellow Puss in Boots eyes; pupils full and pleading. She rubbed her spotted blue body against the ankle of his boot, claiming her territory, and finished off by wrapping her two blue tails around in a final caress before moving on.

“False alarm.” Frank lowered his weapon and released a frustrated breath.

“Was that a…?” Raj started.

“Yep. Sure was. Major Lopez was here, but she’s gone now. She’s leaving little trace by flying.” Frank headed for the door. “We had better head out; I’ve found some plans I’d like to run past Elly.”

Raj met Frank at the hall of circular arches.

“That cat scared the bejesus out of me. I thought we were about to throw down with Major Lopez,” Raj sighed.

“A cat? Did it have pointy ears and two blue tails?” Sunni had been waiting for them.

“It did,” Frank answered.

“That could have made dinner for a few days for us. Do you think it’s still in there?” Sunni started heading for the door.

“No… No, I think it’s gone now,” Frank did his best to restrain himself from judging as he held out an arm to prevent Sunni from going in. He knew the orphans would do what they needed to in order to survive. And that folks of all cultures ate different things. Still, it irked him a bit.

Sunni stopped when Frank extended his arm. Her eyes focused on his vambrace.

“So let’s see those plans.” Raj reached to Frank with grabby hands.

Frank retrieved the rolled-up parchment from his boot and handed them to Raj. He pointed to the serial numbers and the different parts outlined on the prints.

“I think they’re building something, but I can’t tell what. Sunni, can you read this for us?” the Marine Knight asked their local guide.

Sunni peered over Raj’s arm to investigate the documents. She was on her tiptoes to view, even though he had lowered his arms and tilted the papers toward her. Something caught her eye.

Lowering back down, she remained silent under the moonlight. Her head was cast down and brows furrowed in confusion and contemplation.

“What is it?” Frank asked.

“I can’t,” was all she responded.

They waited for a moment.

“You can’t read or can’t say?” Raj wondered out loud what Frank didn’t know how to ask.

“I can read. I’m not an absolute urchin. I’ve taught the older children as well,” Sunni replied, insulted that Raj would insinuate otherwise. “I know a bit about what that is, though, I can’t say for certain what it does. And I can’t take you to it.”

“If Major Lopez is after this…whatever it is, I can tell you it’s not for any good. Let me put it this way: the last time we saw her, she had just laid to waste an entire Capitol building. With innocent people still in it, including the Prime of Brytanna. She had previously been allied with him and now he’s dead. So I’m going to need your help, Sunni. Where can we find the pieces or the thing she’s looking for?” He thought that would convince her.

“Maybe he wasn’t innocent. Maybe our leaders here aren’t innocent either. They allow children to be swept up and sent off to lands across the ocean to work in mines. Our little family stays safe because we work and hide, moving building to building to remain hidden.”

“You think she’s here to save you? No. Sorry. She’s searching the universe for vengeance. Some cynical, deluded former protectorate has her convinced that she was abandoned by her friends to die. She’s out for blood. The way I see it, this thing is probably a weapon. And it’s not meant to save the urchin children of Auriul, and not to save the group you’ve banded together either.” Frank’s tough love came across a bit meaner than he intended, but the thought of another person so easily convinced to take up arms on the wrong side struck a chord within him.

He hated bullies. He hated what they did to him as a boy. He hated that Jarl would spew lies to himself and to a vulnerable Lucy, and that these lies resulted in the death of good men on Chesa, in nearly crumbling a rebuilding commonwealth like Brytanna, and in severely injuring a great man like Heron.

Frank studied Sunni. Her cheeks twitched from her clenched teeth. Her breathing deepened. He could see her fighting back indignant tears.

“Listen, Sunni. Here’s the thing: if you have an upper hand over someone else – be it physical power, intelligence, or even gifted powers,” he held up his vambraces, “you should use them for good, to help others. Not to hurt them. Someone did just that: he hurt a lot of good people and now he’s convinced our friend to do the same. But that’s not her. She’s a hero. A warrior. We want to help her get back to the right side of things before more people get hurt. And if we can help you and the children along the way, we will. Because we should.”

Sunni nodded, slowly at first, then agreed. “Alright. I’ll take you. We’re going to Boss Mardat’s factory. On the other side, near his office, he’s been building something. We don’t get to see it, but he’s been sending us out looking through the abandoned warehouses to find the parts. I recognize some of them.”

“Thank you,” Frank nodded, grateful he had gotten through to her.

“But it won’t be easy. He keeps it guarded. He has a team of goons. They’re the ones who watch us when we’re working the mill,” she warned.

“Oh, well, you haven’t seen Frank in action.” Raj winked. “And that was very brave of you. You don’t know how much you may have just helped.”

Sunni beamed, even though she tried to hide it.

“Way to leverage the moral imperative against her, man.” Raj extended a fist to Frank for a bump as the group moved on once more. Sunni in the lead. “Hard to argue with pure reason.”

“I just told her it’s the right thing to do.” Frank shrugged as though it were no big deal.

“Right.” Raj nodded. “It’s all about moral absolutism and not pragmatic ethics, though if Sunni really did think she could benefit from this, say saving her people, then it would be somewhat driven by consequences.”

“Uh, Raj?” Frank interjected.

“Yeah?”

“It was just the right thing to do,” Frank said.

“OK. Yeah, sure.” Raj nodded and tousled the top of his hair with his right hand.

They went back to the other side of the tracks. This time, Sunni took care when stepping over. The ground rumbled from the force of the oncoming train. Exchanging quick glances, they dove to the low side and rolled toward the fields away from the tracks. A shorter red train flew by.

“The mill is just a few buildings up, around the bend,” Sunni shared, walking more in line with Frank and Raj this time. “Tell me, what are those devices on your arms? Why do they glow?”

“My vambraces? Oh, wow. How long of a walk do we have?” He considered how much he really needed to tell her. “They’re like armor. They can be made in different sizes and of different materials, depending on the combat style. But these are the vambraces made by the Arilion Knights, imbued with power that’s fueled by strength of Will. The Light provided the means and inspired the Knights more years past than I can count. Over the decades, each set chooses the person most worthy from each planet. You know, to protect those who can’t protect themselves from really, really bad guys.”

“You mean like the man who is corrupting your friend?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’d be a good example. And the Lord of Chaos, he was pretty bad too.” Frank recalled the fallen Kraymar.

“So there could be a pair of those vambraces here on our planet?” Sunni’s curiosity continued.

Frank and Raj made eye contact but said nothing of the message they had received from Heron via General Breaker.

“Perhaps,” Frank led, “but they choose the wearer. Arilion Knights are known for their tenacity, their determination, and will to go on when all others might quit. They’re the ones running into the fight against all odds.”

“Yeah, they’re the ones I have to continually heal.” Raj chuckled and pointed a thumb at Frank. “One time, Sava – the Knight from Draconia – used her body like a kamikaze to take out a warship. She was in a coma for weeks. These Knights…”

“Wow, Raj.” Frank chided his friend’s insensitivity. “Sunni, is that it? Is that the mill on the other side of the red train car?”

Everyone looked to where Frank pointed. The silhouette of a three-story mill with a tall smokestack stood black against the starry blue of the sky. On each side, two figures of tall Oyan guards could be made out. There were no figures on the roof nor above where Frank suspected he’d find Lucy.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Sunni nodded.

“We’re going in. Stay behind. Keep safe,” Frank began instructing. His heart beat hard against his chest at the prospect of finding their target. Or at finding anything. They were close on her tail, he could feel it.

“No. I’ll go with you to show you where. You could get lost or caught going the wrong way.” She was as stubborn as ever.

“Fine. Let us clear first. When you see the signal, join us on the right side. Stay low,” he conceded. “Raj, oohrah?”

“Oohrah!” he responded.

The two Marines stayed low and approached the building. Raj went right and Frank strayed left. Using the cover of night, he stayed in the shadows until he reached the train. Coming around step by silent step, he came up close to the tall Oyan watchman. Sizing him up, Frank ran up and slipped his right arm around the being’s neck, grabbing his own left bicep. To secure his chokehold, he maneuvered his left arm over his right wrist and secured it on the target’s head.

The watchman, taken by surprise, had no time to react. He scrambled to his feet and reached at Frank’s arms in vain. Within moments, the kicking subsided as he fell into unconsciousness. Frank had no specific beef with these guys, but he couldn’t have them in his way to reach Lucy. To hide the evidence, he dragged the senseless Oyan by his suspenders to a dark corner.

One more guard stood between him and his and Raj’s rendezvous point. Dodging behind a stack of crates, he rolled to a crouch near a wheelbarrow before jumping up and constructing an obnoxiously large boxing glove and effectively knocking out the blindsided watchman, sending his bowler hat rolling away. Frank looked down at the man with the broad chest and shirt collar open.

“That’s going to hurt in the morning,” Frank half-whispered to himself.

Tapping into his storehouse of Will, he sent a spark like a shooting star across the sky. He waited on pins and needles for a minute, anxious to make the next move. Eyes fixed above, knowing his comrade would leverage her flight ability to make her entrance. Or perhaps she had already come and gone. He wouldn’t be sure until they looked inside.

“Raj, do you have Sunni?” he called into his comm.

“Affirmative. Headed to you now,” Raj responded.

Within a couple moments, Frank heard some scuffling as Raj and Sunni came to meet him.

“On what floor is Mardat’s office?” Frank asked, eyeing the building before them and analyzing each entry.

“The second floor. The area he keeps covered is just to the left of that window.” She pointed with her small paw.

“Looks like that’s the best entrance, too. Follow up.” He waved them after him.

He took care as he stepped onto the crates, deliberate to keep his footing before shifting his weight for fear of cracking the damp wood. The salty ocean air was thick here, even though the crashing waves were a distant sound.

From there, he shimmied up a pole about three meters, then reached out with one foot to step onto the tin roof of the first floor. He avoided making too much noise by staying on the beams that reinforced the roof. Sunni and Raj slowly followed.

Sidestepping to the window, he peered in. No one was on the second floor landing. Dim lamps illuminated the floor below, leaving the rest in darkness. Deep voices in hushed tones could be heard below. Slipping his right foot, then left, he pulled himself through the window and against the wall.

9

Scanning the landing below, the only person he could see was a quite round Oyan man wearing a worn tan suit over a shirt whose buttons were straining to keep closed over the man’s rotund belly. The man’s dark fur and features made him all the more domineering as he doled out orders to the three other Oyan bruisers near him, each with wide chests and light collared shirts worn thin.

“They’ll be here in just three days. We have to have this piece finished! The little rats have brought you all the parts, now get it done!” he seethed, spittle punctuating his displeasure at the noted delays.

“Sure, Boss Mardat, but what about the stones? How are we going to power it?” the one with a scarlet handkerchief around his neck asked.

“You leave that to me. I’ll get the rest of the stones from the quarry if I have to work each of those urchins to death!” Mardat’s garbled voice quivered in rage and greed.

“Oh, no he won’t!” Sunni whispered and held up a righteous fist as she stepped forward.

“We won’t let that happen, OK?” Frank reassured her and motioned for her to stay.

Sunni shook her head and glared down at Boss Mardat and his goons. Frank could see the battle that waged behind her round eyes. The tension over her zeal and the patience over taking action, trusting someone else to step in were all new to the girl who had been on her own for so long.

“Fine,” she finally gave in.

“Let’s wait here to see if they– Shhh what was that?” Frank had caught a glimpse of movement across the second floor. The center of the area was open to the floors above and below. A four-meter path made up the perimeter of the landing with the exception being the left side, which was a semi-enclosed office.

Through the windows of the office, Frank could see a sheet covering a long object on a table. It was near this table he saw a low orange glow.

Could it be her? he hoped to himself.

Seeing that the office window nearest them was cracked open, he crept to it and slid it open. His heartbeat was loud in his ears. Years of training and experience had taught him to remain calm under pressure, but this was personal. As he inched his way through the office of an increasingly convincing racketeer to be dealt with, he wondered what he’d say to Lucy.

Hey, sorry I let you die? Or, Glad to see you’re alive. Maybe a simple, Hi, Remember me? We used to be friends before you flew into space, somehow survived, then came back and killed a ton of people.

He’d find out soon enough. Upon reaching the open door, he made his way through and stood up with open hands.

“Psst, Lucy, is that you? It’s me, Frank. I’m sorry.” Turned out it was a bit of everything.

Nothing.

“I think you’re there. If you are, I don’t want to hurt you. If you’re not, this is awkward because I’m talking to myself,” he whispered into the dark.

The orange burned brighter yet deeper. Her svelte, slightly taller than average form emerged from the shadows. The orange glow intensity increased, illuminating her face. Lifting her head to return a hateful gaze, her scarred cheek became visible behind the curtain of her chin-length chestnut hair. Her fists remained clenched at either side of her hips.

Every move was controlled. Though Major Lopez could always brandish a fierce stare, Frank had chosen to remember the one filled with warmth and incredulousness at his remarks; even the determined steadfastness when she ran into the fray. The icy coldness that now filled her big brown eyes sent a chill down his back.

“Arilion Knight,” Lucy Lopez addressed him, her tone almost mechanical.

“Oh, good. You remember,” Frank said in an attempt to seem casual.

“Oh, I remember. I remember how you left me to die so that you could save your precious Vega and the rest of the impuissant Draconian and Neeve forces. You and Sava Sargard played god to determine who to save; just like the Arilion Knights always have.” She spat the words with disgust seeping off every accusation.

“Well, I’m not sure what that means, but I’m pretty sure it’s not nice. Or true. You have no idea how sorry I was – I am – that I couldn’t save you. It killed me. It near broke Colonel Breaker to lose you. Please, Lucy, come back,” Frank took a half step closer.

“Don’t move again. Or I’ll incinerate this place like I did the Draconian Capitol,” she threatened.

That struck a chord. He was able to rationalize to himself that Major Lopez wasn’t herself and may not have known or realized what she had done. This shattered that facade.

“Alright.” He stepped back. “We just want a chance to talk.”

“Like you spoke with Jarl Balder? Your brutality is becoming known, Frank Wolffe. You’re not so far from the bullies you hate. A broken man, crushed by the loss of his family and you bind and beat him? Nearly choke him to death while he’s chained?” Her voice grew deeper. Now her disgust was pointed at him personally.

“You’re right.” He knew there was no sense denying it. She would see right through any pretense. “I was wrong. We’ve done wrong, but that doesn’t make us bad.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Arilion Knight. The time of the Knights is near an end. We’ll have the ability to quench your powers. Then you’ll pay for the lies you’ve told, all of you. We don’t pretend to be heroes, lying to ourselves and the sad people who look up to us. We’re honest and free.” With that, she flew up to the third floor and stared down at Frank.

“Wait!” He ran and jumped to the metal stairs leading up to the next landing. He hit the railing from the underside with a thud, nearly knocking the air out of his lungs. Scrambling to secure a hold, he pulled himself up and ran up the last three stairs. She hovered just above him and turned to go through the sky-window, when he shot out with a purple rope and latched it on to her right ankle. He held tight to the construct, trying to keep her from flying away.

“Ability? How? What about your own vambraces?” Frank pushed his luck. Her threats seemed idle, unless this device she sought offered to do more damage than Frank had anticipated.

“So many questions, so little time for me to care. Looks like your friends need you again, Frank. Will you let them down too?” She nodded toward the floor below with a raised brow. “What are you going to do, Frank?”

She shot upward, taking him with her.

He glanced down to the second floor landing to see Sunni caught in the bulky arms of one of Mardat’s goons. She must have let her spirit get the best of her. Raj stood facing them with his Reckoner P7 aimed at the assailant, but two more thugs were coming up the stairs carrying batons and chains. Raj couldn’t take them all and save Sunni.

Frank released his construct and instead devised a parachute to slow his fall. Landing on the roof, he dove into the skylight and rolled to a stop on the third story on the opposite side of Raj and Sunni. This gave him full view of the two men coming up from the first floor.

“Let her go!” a shout erupted from a stack of crates and a brown ball of fur launched at the man holding Sunni.

The man batted him away but not before Aziz scratched at his face, taking a few patches of fur with him. This momentary distraction allowed Sunni to dive away. She scrambled toward where Aziz lay in a heap.

“Aziz, what are you doing here?!?” She scooped him up into her arms.

“I wanted to help.” He rubbed his head. “See, I saved you.”

“We’re not safe yet.” She pulled him to the side.

Frank heard commotion below him as Raj struggled against the two men who had taken him from below. He took that moment to release two body shots from his Reckoner P7 at the original strong-arm who held Sunni, sending him flying backward to the far wall. He ran down the stairs to help Raj, fighting off two more thugs along the way. One he sent plummeting back to the first floor with a shoulder shove into the banister, a left low kidney punch followed up by a solid hit to his jaw.

The second brute grabbed Frank from behind. He leveraged the rail again, this time to launch his feet and push himself backward. For the shorter stature of the Oyan thugs, they were solid and strong with a rage ferocity. His attacker’s thick skull slammed into the wall, hardly fazing him. The force was strong enough to chatter Frank’s teeth. He sent a purple shimmer over his body to ignite his armor covering, then let it begin to expand to break the enemy’s hold.

Breaking free, he turned and grabbed the man by the red kerchief around his neck and a bunch of his button-shirt to lift him and toss him over. He landed with a crunch below and across the way.

Frank turned back to where Sunni and Aziz were hiding. They were gone. He looked down to see Raj recover and pick himself up after his skirmish with his own opponents. Raj nodded at Frank, confirming he was fine. He pointed up, directing Frank to the third story where Aziz and Sunni had run to avoid the fighting.

Wanting to get to the young Oyans, he started to head back up the stairs. That was when the hefty boss called out to him.

“So you’ve arrived, Arilion Knight, just as they said you would.” Mardat stood next to the covered table.

“While I’ve got no direct complaint with you, you’ve earned your way to my radar with the way you’ve treated these children. It’s best for you to stand down while you still can.” Frank gave him the opportunity to do the right thing, though it seemed inevitable this wouldn’t end well.

“You have no idea who I am or who I work for.” Mardat nearly choked on his own cackle. Dust flew in the air around him as he pulled the canvas from the table, revealing what lay hidden.

He picked up a contraption with a metal cylinder with two polished wood handles extending down. The front, which he aimed at Frank, was wide with an open dish about thirty centimeters across made of eight grated fins. Frank waited, but nothing happened.

“Get after them!” Mardat yelled to one of his henchman. The man had come down from the roof and was inching in on Sunni and Aziz.

“Bad choice,” Frank warned him. He extended an arm, but nothing happened. He focused his power and disgust with the man, yet no purple energy erupted from his vambrace. “What the—?”

“Ahhhh!” Sunni squealed and the villain grabbed her just above Frank.

“Hold on, guys!” Frank called to them. He started up the stairs. Since his powers wouldn’t work, he would do it the old-fashioned way.

He saw Sunni and Aziz squirming. Raj followed behind him up the stairs from the first floor. Aziz managed to get an arm loose. He took a bite into the brute’s forearm.

The thug belted in anguish. “Aaaargh, you little!” He grabbed Aziz by the collar and held him out over the landing opening.

“Just be done with him! We have to go!” Mardat growled, still directing the device at Frank as he backed away.

“Fine,” he said as he threw Aziz.

“Noooo, Azeeeeeezzz!!!” Sunni released a blood-curdling scream from where the assailant still held her. She had managed to get her hands free and reached out to try to stop him.

Frank pivoted and reached for Aziz, but he was out of grasp. Raj dove off the platform to try and catch him, but the force with which Aziz was flung put him out too far.

He fell nearly three stories, landing on his back. He bounced and skidded. Then he lay motionless.

An audible crunch sounded in the dead silence of the moment. With a lurch, his stomach tightened and a sour tang hit his mouth.

Fire burned in Frank like he had never felt. He shot up the last step and took the man by the throat. The Oyan henchman released his hold on Sunni, but this time, Frank caught her on the way down to the second floor. They landed and rolled, Frank using his body to take the blow.

When he looked up, both Mardat and his goons were gone. With all the hope he possessed pooling in his eyes, Frank looked to Raj, who kneeled next to the unmoving form of Aziz on the ground.

Sunni clawed her way out of Frank’s grasp and to the limp form below. She held Aziz’s head in her lap and cradled it close to her chest. To the sound of a low, mournful whimper, she rocked back and forth.

The doctor held a hand on the young boy’s chest and returned Frank’s sorrowful gaze with the stoic expression only a trained physician could wear. Then he shook his head.

10

Of all the constructs Frank had fathomed he’d create with his vambraces, a shovel to dig a grave was never one of them, especially not a grave so small. The events had left him feeling utterly deflated. He had failed to secure Lucy, let Mardat get away with a weapon that could dampen his powers, and worst yet, lost another life.

No matter what people might think of the unhinged persona of a Marine, every life mattered to them; they each mattered to him. Killing an enemy in combat was part of the job and it had been the part Frank had happily given up when he first left. Each life lost or taken ate at his insides, chipping away at his soul. He knew the darkness that followed, and General Breaker knew it, all too well.

There they stood, Frank, Raj, and Sunni, in the middle of a field of sealed away flowers. Resting for the night, their vivid blooms closed, leaving a sea of blue tones almost as though in melancholy homage to the boy now buried among them.

Suck it up, Marine. The mission isn’t over yet, Frank tried convincing himself. Though it didn’t quite work, it was the truth. He could only honor Aziz’s life and end by finding and securing Mardat and Major Lopez.

The trek back toward the orphans’ makeshift home passed in mostly silence, the exception being Sunni’s suppressed sniffing and Raj’s brief explanation to Frank.

“The fall was too long for his frail body. All the abuse and malnutrition made his bones brittle. His ligaments couldn’t keep…” He hesitated. “There was nothing we could have done.”

“Thanks, Raj, but it should have never even happened.” He nodded toward Sunni ahead of them. “I don’t even know what to say to her. She’s stubborn and smart, but also like a mother to those kids. What do you say to a guardian, a big sister, who has lost someone on their watch?”

“I don’t know. But I imagine it’s like what any CO must go through when they lose a soldier. It’s still personal,” Raj whispered and shrugged.

“Right. I’ll give it a go when we get back. Not sure how she’ll break it to the others,” Frank replied.

They passed the cement building with round archways and continued past it. Frank knew that Major Lopez wouldn’t return there or stay long after seeing Frank’s tracks. It was just a short while before they would reach their destination.

Frank held open the plywood door and Sunni crawled in, Raj behind her, then Frank entered the dark space. Elly and Yur’l were waiting for them.

“Oh my gah,” Elly exclaimed when Raj and Frank told her what happened. She held her hands to her chest and her mouth opened in shock.

“May he rest in peace.” Yur’l sighed and closed his eyes. “Sounds like securing your friend is going to take a little more work.”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Frank replied.

“Hey, Frank, you had better get General Breaker the update. We’re late, but at least we know why,” Elly reminded him.

“Good call. Thanks.” He nodded and threw back some water.

“Yeah, I got bored waiting for you, so I got the materials set up. Vega says ‘Hi,’ by the way,” Elly chattered away as she set up the communication system.

“Elly, you can’t–” He started to remind her about laying low and conserving energy.

“I know, I know. OK. Here, we’ll report in now. Ready?” She set up quicker than Frank could process in his exhaustion.

“Yeah. Let’s get this over with.” Frank let out a deep breath and stretched his arms with his hands crossed behind his head.

The screen lit up to a lighter grey before Sat Comm Marine Jenkins’ matter-of-fact face appeared.

“Jenkins here. Please report.” Jenkins’ expression never changed. This time, he was not wearing his 8-point hat, leaving his bald head exposed.

“Fr– Major Wolffe reporting in for General Breaker,” Frank said.

“Copy that. Hold for transfer,” Jenkins instructed.

The screen changed to the black field and white MSC logo that was the screen saver.

“Man, does that guy ever smile? I don’t think he has ever been happy to see me. I mean, how many calls do they have coming in on this thing?” Frank began, but then he stopped and actually wondered what other secret groups had access to the line. There had been chatter about a MSC-2 or even MSC-3 being organized, but he was too busy tracking down Major Lopez to learn more.

“No. And neither does his brother. You’d think they’d at least be nice to another comm specialist and maybe grab a drink together, but noooo…” Elly said.

“His brother?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, his twin. Martin Jenkins.” She looked at him as though he was crazy.

“Wait, you mean I’ve been talking to two different guys?” Frank had never realized. He felt like a fool, or at least a little bit like a jerk.

“Yeah, why?” Elly responded.

The screen brightened and General Breaker appeared.

“Frank, what’s the update?” The general was dressed but had dark circles under his eyes. Frank wondered whether he had been waiting for the call or had been woken up.

“Sir, we’ve made contact with Major Lopez. She recognized me. I don’t know how much she remembers, but…” Frank explained.

“But what?” General Breaker pushed.

“But she got away. She flew away.” It crushed Frank to disappoint General Breaker.

“You couldn’t stop her? Not with your powers?” The tension was rising.

“Sir, there were children. We made contact with a group of locals and one of them was serving as our guide. She encountered Major Lopez and knew where to find her. Also, there’s a device. We believe she’s on the search for it. She didn’t get it,” Frank continued. “It’s our intent to secure the mechanism before she does. Then she’ll come to us.”

“Tell me more about the device.” The general scratched his beard in thought.

“It dampens my powers, sir. I couldn’t use the vambraces during this confrontation. We’re not yet sure how it works. I have some of the plans to share with Elly for her input and expertise. We’ll keep you posted on them.” Frank constructed a 1911 in his right hand to show the general he still had his abilities and also a little bit to prove it to himself.

“Understood. Go. Report in when you have an update. Sava and Heron will want to know about this. We’ll keep the line open for you.” General Breaker nodded before ending the transmission.

That was it. No salutations. No affirmations. Just go and get the job done. Which all sat fine with Frank. The less guff, the better. It allowed him to focus on the next task.

Tonight’s focus would be going over the schematics with Elly in hopes of understanding what Mardat’s apparatus was and how it worked. As he reflected on it, he had an idea.

“Elly, take a look at these. Study them. Find any patterns or indication of how this works. Then maybe we can use it to track it back to the origination point.” Frank raised his voice more than he intended in his excitement.

“Sure. I can do that… As soon as I translate the language.” She stood with her hands on her hips, looking at him as though he had asked her to learn Greek overnight.

“Right. About that. Maybe we can ask Sunni, but not right now.” He looked over to the building where the orphans slept inside.

It was silent. Sunni had probably fallen asleep by now. Perhaps it was best to let her sleep for a while and process Aziz’s… well, his passing.

“I’ll start digging and perhaps something will come up. Maybe the universal database might contain some answers,” Elly replied, backpedaling her tone a bit in light of the situation.

“No. I want to help,” Sunni said, approaching them. Her eyes watery and sad.

“You should be in bed with the other children.” Frank meant it kindly.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” Elly reached for Sunni to give her a hug.

Sunni resisted but did return the gesture with a weak smile of gratitude.

“Nothing can change the fact that he’s gone. But if there’s anything I can do to help catch them, then I will. It’s the only way I can honor him right now.” Her voice was soft yet resolute.

“Alright.” Frank nodded.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Elly pulled out all her documents and donned a headlamp so they could see the plans together. Her voice pitched in her excitement over data and puzzles.

Sunni looked to Frank, questioning the situation. Frank nodded back to her, sympathetic yet encouraging.

Elly, don’t make this weird, Frank thought to himself.

“I’ll hang out here while they get this sorted out,” Frank commented to Raj and Yur’l. “Why don’t you guys head in with the others and grab some chow and rest for a bit.”

“Roger that,” Raj said. Yur’l nodded and they walked away.

Frank inspected the gear and took account of the inventory while Elly and Sunni spoke over the document. Elly entered everything into her data pad and Sunni called out what the notes and marks indicated on the thin parchment plans he had found.

“Did your friend used to be nice?” Frank heard Sunni ask Elly.

“Yeah, she was the best. We kind of stuck together like sisters these past few years. See, she was the second in command to our leader, then Colonel Breaker. They had been through some pretty gnarly campaigns together. While some of the men in their command didn’t make it, they did. She was a fierce Marine. You know what?” Elly looked to Sunni. She adjusted the headlamp to stop blinding Sunni before she could answer.

“What’s that?” Sunni asked, shielding her eyes from the light.

“A lot of men in our company didn’t like her. They didn’t like her taking the roles or the place she did. But she wouldn’t back down. In my department, it was all guys. Only guys wanted to be computer data geeks. I didn’t mind, though. I got to go and see things few other women had. Being on those lines cost me my hearing, but I don’t mind too much. I met Lucy in, well, I can’t say. It was a secret mission. But ever since then, we’ve been close. She would even invite me to her family’s house for holidays if I wasn’t going back to China to see my family.” Elly released a deep sigh, recalling the many memories she had with Lucy.

Even in the dark, Frank knew Elly was heartbroken recalling the death of her friend. Perhaps having Sunni and Elly work together at this time would be best for Sunni. No one could understand the loss of a friend like Elly. She was always wanting to talk about feelings and such.

“If you two are all right here, I’m going to get some rack time in,” Frank interrupted.

“Yep. All good here. I’m on first watch?” Elly asked.

“Sure are,” Frank said as he walked away waving goodnight.

11

Sleeping that night was an act of pure will. Frank tossed and turned until he was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. The team was on watch with Elly taking the first shift, followed by Raj, Yur’l, and finally, Frank.

Frank found himself thinking about the tiny grave he had dug. Of how many people had been killed, injured, or maimed since he had found the vambraces. He thought of how many more would meet similar fates.

The hard ground under his back reminded him of the many wounds he had suffered, of how he had been patched up time and time again by Raj. He had never stopped to think about what that was doing to the doctor.

Uncomfortable sleep came to Frank and with it nightmares of what could be.

Frank was in a void of blackness. All there was in front of him was the gateway, its multicolored swirling lights beckoning him forward like a familiar friend. One by one, images emerged from the gateway. Vega’s mother, the previous Neeve empress, mentally broken by what she had done to her husband. Heron in his wheelchair. Sava flowing forward in the state of unconsciousness she had been in after her heroic act taking out the Chaos warship. General Breaker showed up next missing his arm. Finally, the Draconian Prime murdered by a manipulated and confused Lucy Lopez.

Frank swallowed hard. None of the images said anything to him; neither did they need to. He realized what it all meant and why he was dreaming such things. Sadness carved a hole in his stomach with an icy knife.

He swallowed hard, but there wasn’t enough spit in his mouth to complete the act. All these people and more had suffered so much, some even losing their lives.

“I don’t know,” Frank said to them as they stared at him in silence. “I don’t know why you and not me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry; I’d trade places with you if I could, but I can’t.”

Motion from the right corner of the gateway silenced Frank’s confused pleas. A tiny furry figure walked forward to stand with the rest.

Aziz, with his tiny little clothes and his childlike features, took his place with the dead and wounded.

Frank was at a loss for words. All he could do was repeat himself as his mind asked the age-old question over and over again.

“Why you and not me?” Frank said to Aziz. Hot tears spilled down his cheeks. “I’m sorry, buddy. I’m so, so sorry.”

“And you should be, because there is a time for sorrow and sadness,” a gruff voice Frank didn’t recognize said from somewhere deep in the gateway. “But sorrow must be a passing ship. Soldiers like you and me will always carry this burden, but to do what we were meant to do, we must look past this and to our duty.”

One by one, the group of images in front of Frank faded away until only the gateway and the colorful mist within remained.

“Who—who are you?” Frank asked, squinting to try and see more of the figure speaking with him. “I can’t see you.”

A moment later, a hulking figure began to take shape from the mist within. Greying white short fur covered its massive body. It wore a black uniform that looked old and tattered with age. For all intents and purposes, it looked like some kind of ape or gorilla to Frank.

It was clear this was no primitive creature. Purple vambraces covered his forearms and glowed with an energy so dark it was nearly black. The talking creature’s eyes spoke of an intense active wisdom Frank could only marvel at.

“My name is Sergeant Clinton Claymore. I’m an Arilion Knight just like you. My story is different from that of the new Knights showing up all over the universe. I am from the original Corps when the first Chaos War sought to rip our galaxies apart. You must seek me out, Knight. The final fight is at our doorstep,” Sergeant Claymore said in a deep rumbling voice that reminded Frank of Vin Diesel. “I know you have your hands full at the moment, but once you are done here, once you find your friend and bring her back to the Light, you must find me.”

“Where?” Frank shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything he was hearing. “Where do I find you?”

“The one you know as Heron, even Sava, will recognize my name.” Sergeant Claymore pointed to the spot over his chest that covered his heart with a massive right hand. “This, you use this before anything else and you’ll find your way. You were chosen because you have more heart than ninety-nine percent of all beings in the universe. Use it, Frank.”

“I will.” Frank sifted through the many questions he had, ultimately deciding on one. “How are you still alive? How am I supposed to find someone who’s been dead for so many years? I thought the Chaos War took place thousands of years ago?”

“You’re right, they did,” Sergeant Claymore said with a serious nod. “It’s only now when I am needed the most that I am to be awoken. The founding members of our Order knew this day was coming when one of us would be needed to fight the deciding battle in the future. I was selected. Since then, I have lain in a cryogenic dream state. It’s up to you now to wake me and we will meet our final foe.”

“And who is our final foe?” Frank said, trying to make an intelligent guess. “The Chaos Lord is dead, Jarl Balder is behind bars, it can’t be Lucy Lopez or this Boss Mardat guy. He’s a bad dude but not universal intergalactic bad.”

“No, none of them, but one who is connected to each of the names you have listed whether they know it or not,” Sergeant Claymore said, confirming the dread ahead with a grim nod. “It’s an enemy that’s been alive ever since my own days when I trained Arilion Knights for battle. I’ve met them a few times, most notably when I faced them while I instructed a new squad of Knights. You’ll understand all of this soon enough. Find your friend; find me.”

“Right; save the cheerleader, save the world,” Frank said, remembering a tagline from one of his favorite shows. Before Sergeant Claymore could ask what he was talking about, Frank lifted a hand. “Sorry, that has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. I will. I’m going to save Lucy and these kids and then I’m coming to find you.”

“I know you will,” Sergeant Claymore said, crossing his beefy arms across his chest. “I’ll see you soon.”

Frank woke with a start. He sat up, breathing hard. He looked around the dilapidated room to see what had woken him up. He was lying in the far corner of the room. Tiny snores rose to his ears as the children slept.

The ground trembled again ever so slightly as if a minor earthquake had chosen the spot right under Frank to manifest itself.

Frank looked to the crates in the room, the chairs, the table; anything that would tell him that he wasn’t going crazy. He finally settled on a chipped glass cup on the table where the children had shared their meager meal.

He narrowed in on the water in the glass. A tremor raced from the ground through his body once more. The water in the glass rippled ever so slightly.

“No, no, you’re a pretty girl,” Raj mumbled in his sleep on the opposite side of the room. “Okay, okay. Mmmm…”

Frank looked through the dirt-stained windows. The sun was just beginning to rise. Yur’l would be on lookout, with his turn coming any minute now.

Sure enough, Frank looked over to see Elly asleep with her data pad in her arms like a safety blanket.

“Yur’l, come in,” Frank said over the comms channel. “Are you feeling that?”

“I am,” the older alien’s voice responded. “I’ve taken up a position on the top of the roof. I think you should get up here.”

“Copy that, on my way,” Frank said, grabbing his weapons and helmet.

He was already on his feet and halfway to the hidden door, when Raj stirred. The doctor’s eyes opened as he wiped a line of drool from the corner of his right lip.

“I’m going to go check something out,” Frank said, offering what he could as an explanation. “I’ll get you on the comms if I need back up.”

Raj gave him a lazy thumbs-up as he pushed himself to a seated position.

Frank left the room, entering a world of faint light. The air was cold with a dampness like mist. The sun was barely coming over the horizon. Insects chirped through their morning routines.

Frank channeled his energy and slowly he drifted upward to the top of the building where Yur’l stood sentry. Flying wasn’t in Frank’s wheelhouse as it was for Sava and Lucy. The best he had managed to do was an awkward hover in the air.

Yur’l had his back to Frank when he crested the lip of the rooftop. It was a wide open square with dingy roof aluminum plating that didn’t look as if they’d make it through the next heavy rainfall.

Despite not seeing him, Yur’l waved Frank forward. He was staring to the east toward the center of the abandoned town.

Frank sidled up to the Gleason, following his gaze.

“There.” Yur’l pointed a feathered talon. “I think it’s her. I think she’s destroying buildings. Why, I’m not sure.”

Frank leaned in. In the distance, he could see a faint orange glow. A moment later, there was another tremor. Now that he was outside, the ever distant sound of something heavy falling also reached his ears. A rooftop fell into itself in the distance as if a wrecking ball had torn the structure down.

“That has to be her.” Frank decided he had to at least follow the lead. He switched over to the open channel. “Raj, Elly, come in. Gear up; we have a lead on Lucy.”

“Roger that,” Raj said, his voice less groggy, leading Frank to know he hadn’t gone back to sleep once Frank had woken him.

“Hmmm? Oh, right,” Elly said with a yawn. “I’m up.”

Frank and Yur’l kept their eyes on the mayhem that slowly seemed to be coming their way at the moment. Every few minutes, another building rooftop would crumble in on itself. Soon there were faint shouts. Still too far away to hear who the voices belonged to, Frank didn’t think any of them were female.

Elly and Raj appeared below Frank and Yur’l a moment later. Elly’s Momo came outside with her flapping into the air. The two Arilion Knights joined them on the ground.

“What’s going on?” Raj asked.

“Not sure,” Frank said honestly. “Looks like buildings are coming down in a hurry further into the city. There’s an orange glow there as well.”

“Hey, where are you guys going?” Sunni asked, popping her furry head around the corner. She limped to the unit. “Why’s the ground shaking?”

“We’re going to go figure it out,” Frank said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Sunni had been through enough. “Stay here and protect the kids. We’ll be back.”

Sunni gave a hurried nod.

Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps-1 began their trek into the city. The streets were wide and the buildings that rose on either side of them old with broken or dirty windows. It was clear the place had been abandoned by any caring or invested inhabitants for some time.

Frank buckled on his helmet and gripped the assault rifle in both of his hands. Yur’l followed across the street with Raj behind him. Elly was behind Frank, her Momo in tow.

Another building fell, this one much closer. Frank turned a corner to his right to see dust-filled air choking a town square. Lucy Lopez hovered in the air with an unconscious body in her right hand.

12

They were still about a block away from her. She drifted a full story in the air. Who was slumped in her right hand was a mystery to Frank.

He trained his weapon on her before deciding against it and lowering it to his side.

“Lucy, no,” Elly breathed.

Frank realized it was Elly’s first time seeing her friend in the flesh since her supposed death. He trusted her to keep her emotions in check, but he also understood it was going to be difficult for her.

“I know you’re in this city,” Lucy said, scanning the buildings around her. “I know you can hear me. If you won’t show yourself even for the life of one of your own, I will kill him. Give me the device now.”

There was no movement from any of the buildings in the square. Two of them lay in shambles already. Lucy let the figure in her hand drop to the ground below her. It lay there motionless.

“Let me try to get through to her,” Elly asked as Frank considered his options. “Let me try and speak with her, please, Frank. We go way back.”

“All right,” Frank said, considering his options. “We’re right here if things go bad.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Elly said as she passed Frank, showing herself to the hovering Lucy Lopez.

“Lu, Lu, it’s me, Elly,” Elly said, her arms wide open, still carrying her weapon but not pointing it at Lucy. “I—I just want to talk.”

Lucy whirled to face her, taking in both Elly and the rest of the team. She sneered before shaking her head. Her orange vambraces flared to life as if they were alive with fire.

“Elly,” Frank warned.

“Give me a chance,” Elly said to both Frank and Lucy. “I just want to talk.”

“I’m sure you do.” Lucy shook her head, her hair getting into her eyes. She didn’t try and move the locks from her vision. “I’m sure you all want to talk now that you want something from me. Where was all of this interest when you left me for dead in the cold blackness of space? Where was all of this care when I could have used you the most?”

“What?” Elly shook her head. “We thought you were dead. It was a battle and you got sucked out into space. I cried for you. You were—you are my sister, Lucy. How are you alive?”

“There was a time I would have called you sister as well.” Lucy lowered herself to the ground. “That was another lifetime ago. I’m a different person now. When you abandoned me, I was sucked out into space. The last thing I remember before I lost consciousness was being afraid of dying. I was found by scavengers who had followed us to reap the spoils of the battle. They were outside of the fight waiting, but when they sensed life forms being ejected, they used their long range beams to pull us in. They pulled us in like scraps.”

Lucy Lopez paused here, seeming to attempt to remember the exact events of what happened. Yet it was as though she were reading the events from someone else instead of remembering them for herself.

“If we had known you were still alive, we would have searched for you.” Elly shook her head, trying to will her friend to believe her. “We had a funeral for you. I told your parents what happened to you. Lucy, we do care about you. We love you.”

“I spent the next month confused and treated like a slave.” Lucy smiled darkly. She tapped a finger to her head. “Being unconscious in space for so long scrambles your head a little. Lucky for me, I remembered enough of my previous training to kill my way out of indentured servitude. Jarl found me and the rest is history.”

Frank stood by listening to the conversation and biting his tongue over and over again. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to apologize for, but that was in the past. If Lucy didn’t have her full memory back, then she was missing parts of the puzzle. That had to be it. She wasn’t fully gone; she was confused and didn’t remember.

“We can take you home now,” Elly said, taking a few steps closer. “Your family is here with us. Give us a chance to remember it all. Please, Lu, just give us a chance. You remember our nights at the base? You remember the chocolate overload ice cream and Hallmark’s Christmas in July? Remember how much you hated them until you watched a couple and then we couldn’t stop? We laughed at how everyone wanted to be an author or in advertising and there was always snow!” Elly laughed a little in spite of herself.

Lucy Lopez tilted her head to the side. Her eyes narrowed as memories were brought back to the surface of her mind.

You did it, Elly, Frank thought to himself. I can’t believe Hallmark Christmas in July jogged her memory, but you did it.

Just as fast as the look of realization touched her face, it vanished. Lucy constructed hundreds of rock-shaped projectiles, hurling them at Elly and the rest of the unit.

She was so quick in her construct and the ferocity of her attack, Frank only just had time to bring up his own shield and reach for Elly. Too late; a rock the size of a basketball hit the petite technician in the chest, sending her flying backward in the air.

“Nooo!” Frank screamed, rushing forward. His heartbeat picked up tempo as a voice in his head told him this was his fault.

A quick glance to Yur’l ensured the Gleason was defended with his own construct of a wall he had erected in front of himself and Raj.

Magnus barked something into the air. Then the fearless Momo darted toward Lucy. There was murder in his eyes, a snarl on his lips.

Frank knew Magnus was dead if he didn’t do anything. Rushing forward, he had a quick moment to shout into his comms.

“Raj, check Elly. Yur’l cover me,” Frank shouted. He brought his weapon to bear on Lucy, yelling to her to stand down. “Lucy, stop, now!”

Lucy grinned as she darted forward in the air. She backhanded Magnus to the side as if he were nothing more than a pesky fly. The Momo slammed against the unforgiving wall of the building to her right.

“Don’t make me shoot you.” Frank drew a line on her, his finger already pressed against his trigger. “Lucy, I don’t want to have to do this. Don’t make me do this.”

Lucy touched down on the ground twenty meters in front of Frank. She constructed a square riot shield in front of her right arm. It came down to her knees and rose as tall as her shoulders. She hunched behind the defensive construct with a sick smile.

“Go ahead, Arilion Knight, do your worst,” Lucy smirked. She charged forward, heading straight at Frank.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Frank’s shots crashed through the air like thunder as he unloaded on Lucy’s shield. He was caught in a scenario he didn’t have an answer to. How far did he go to bring Lucy in? And if she refused? How far was he willing to take this fight?

These thoughts raced through Frank’s mind as he sent round after round of bright purple energy into Lucy’s orange shield. Every time his own bursts met her construct, they erupted with a roar of sparks.

Lucy pressed forward and was on Frank in a matter of seconds. All of a sudden, she was trading blows with Frank, using her shield as a weapon.

Frank’s rifle was battered to the side in the first onslaught. She was fast and brutal with her strikes. So fast, Frank took a blow across his chin so hard, it threatened to twist the helmet he wore on his head.

She’s good, maybe even better than you, Frank thought to himself. You have to fight smarter.

He hated to admit that Raj had been right after all.

Each blow she landed sent a shockwave of pain through his body.

A beam of bright purple energy slammed into Lucy from her left. Yur’l entered the fight, keeping the same intense beam on her as she was bullied backwards and sent reeling into a unsteady brick wall. The wall fell on top of her, burying the orange vambraces and Lucy Lopez in an avalanche of rubble and dust.

“Are you all right?” Yur’l came over to Frank to check on his friend. “Your helmet’s cracked.”

“What?” Frank asked, shaking the cobwebs of a concussion from his mind. Sure enough, a thin line ran down the left corner of his visor, showing exactly how hard Lucy had battered him with her shield. “I’m fine. Elly?”

Frank looked behind him as he asked the question to where Magnus had retreated back to his master’s side. Elly was sitting up with Raj next to her.

“She got the wind knocked out of her and maybe a few bruised ribs, but she’s whole,” Raj reported via the comms. “Be careful, Frank. Lucy is packing a lot of power behind her attacks.”

“Noted,” Frank said, rolling his head from side to side.

The pile of rubble where Lucy had been lost to sight began to shift. A moment later, she emerged with her orange vambraces glowing a mad vibrant tangerine hue.

“You’re going to pay for that, old man,” Lucy said with a sneer. “I wonder what color you bleed?”

Lucy constructed a mini-gun in the blink of an eye. Leveling it at waist level, she unloaded on Yur’l and Frank.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

Yur’l went to a knee behind a shield of his own.

Frank had enough of the defensive fight for the moment. Creating a thin layer of purple protection over his armor, he waded forward. Calling burning purple fireballs in each of his hands, Frank let loose with a barrage of his own. One by one, he hurled the fire balls at Lucy as he stalked forward.

“I know you’re in there!” Frank screamed, accepting the beating Lucy’s minigun was putting him through as he doled out his own punishment. “You’ve got to fight this, Lucy. You’ve got to remember.”

Lucy took one, then two steps back as she was struck by Frank’s fire balls. In the blink of an eye, she took to the air, zipping so high Frank had a hard time tracking her movement.

Lucy rocketed to the ground, slamming into Yur’l, who had just enough time to lift his shield to face her. She hit him with enough force to lay him flat.

Frank rushed over, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in her defense to grab her and pin her left arm behind her back.

Lucy pivoted, freeing herself from the grip, then striking out with her wicked right hook. It was the same blow that had cracked Frank’s helmet the first time and he was ready for it. With a quick jerk of his head, he leaned back, then as quick as he could, he sent a blow to her kidney and then her right jaw.

Lucy staggered back, momentarily stunned.

Frank kicked out with a blow to her stomach that sent her to her knees. Frank tackled her, assuming a dominant stance on top of her, lifting his right fist back to rain down hell.

His blood was pumping through his veins and his adrenaline flowed just as quickly. Still, he hesitated. The rage of battle hadn’t gotten a total hold of him yet.

Lucy bled from a cut on her lip. Her eyes fluttered as she gained awareness.

“This is why you’re going to lose everything,” she said, looking up at Frank. “You’re not willing to do what needs to be done for total victory.”

“No.” Frank lowered his fist. “This is why we’ll win, because we know when to stop. You’re coming back to us. Whether you know it yet or not, there’s more of you left in there than you think. You’re starting to remember. You could have killed Magnus with that blow or constructed spears or knives to impale Elly, but you chose rocks. You’re starting to remember.”

She answered him with a sneer and spit out blood to her side in defiance.

“Lucy, please. You worked for this. You put in the work and the effort to become the Marine. You put in the work and the effort to become the execution officer on a leading innovative product. No one else. You earned it; you laid your life on the line when it mattered. Don’t let him take that away from you. You’re not a victim; you made this choice and saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers that day on the Ryker.” Frank tried to tap into her core values, recalling the talks they had on Atmos and on the warship.

“I won’t be a victim to the Arilion crimes. Those who claim to be heroes,” Lucy replied through gritted teeth.

Frank wouldn’t give up. “Lies he tells you to feel better. People want to be victims, throw pity parties. The universe is calling out for heroes to rise up. To stand out amongst the jealousy, hurt, hatred, and bullies, to be the champion of the defenseless. It’s a simple equation of light versus darkness and you can only serve one. Be a warrior of one. Which will it be? You have to decide.”

A moment as quick as a flash in a pan crossed over Lucy’s face. A deep hard look like something was coming to the surface. Frank was sure she was about to have a mental breakthrough when she shoved herself out from under Frank using her flying ability to skid across the ground and take to the air. A moment later, she was gone.

13

Frank was at his wit’s end.

He stewed in the devastation at having lost Lucy not only once, but a second time. He had the shot; he could have ended or subdued her then and there. But that wasn’t how he wanted it to go. How would she forgive him later if he threw salt on already the raw wounds of their recent past?

Dang it! was all Frank could muster to himself. He was beyond practical words.

Normally, when Frank found himself wound up in his thoughts or antagonizing emotions, he would work them out at the gym weights or sparring in the ring. That wasn’t an option at present. His body was sore and beaten, like tenderized meat. He marinated in his umbrage nearly the whole way back to their base camp. The only thing distracting him at the moment was Elly.

“Hey, Doc, how’s she doing?” Frank asked Raj once again.

Raj supported Elly on one side. Magnus stuck to her other side, his ears back and tail tucked in his concern. The creature didn’t look the worse for wear despite the blow he had taken.

That Momo had grown so close to Elly. In fact, it made all the sense in the world, no the universe, given that she had essentially saved his life.

“I wound her up pretty tight. Should help keep any broken ribs in place. I didn’t detect any puncturing of the lungs. She’s going to be bruised for a while.” Raj paused and looked to Elly. “No cheat days for you. Your liver is also likely bruised, so we’ll need to watch the toxins. Let’s get you back so you can rest.”

Raj’s deep brown eyes glistened. Though he used his doctor voice, Frank had never seen so much concern in his eyes. There were no tears in the doctor’s eyes, not now anyway. He kept his might right and his focus clear.

“How are you doing, buddy?” Raj asked Frank.

“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me; just another day in paradise.” Frank winked at Raj. Though he half attempted a smile, no joy twinkled in his eyes.

“Wait,” Elly grunted. “Does this mean chocolate overload ice cream when we get back home?” Her breathing was somewhat labored and she held the right side of her sternum in pain.

“I’m not certain about the sugar content of that, but the words ‘chocolate’ and ‘overload’ sound like they would qualify as cheating and toxins, Ms. Wong,” Yur’l chimed in, then added with a smile, “But when you’re healed, I’d love to try a bowl of that iced treat with you.”

At that, Frank found a bit of respite. Their road back would be long, but at least he was in the company of friends, of a band of brothers.

Arriving back at their base, Frank found Sunni eagerly awaiting. She hopped up the moment she saw them approaching and hobbled over to the quartet. The young Oyans were out playing. Elly encouraged Magnus to join them, but to keep his teeth to himself, while she rested. Reluctant at first, he ended up bounding over to follow in the game of chase among the flowers.

“Did you find your friend?” Sunni asked.

“We did,” Frank answered but giving no additional information.

“What happened to Ms. Elly?” Sunni eyed her as Raj and Yur’l escorted her inside.

“Collateral damage. Another mistake on my part.” Frank sighed.

“Oh,” was all Sunni replied as Frank walked away.

Frank saw to it that Elly was safe and sound asleep after a dose of pain reliever from Raj. Then he turned to the satellite communications unit with dread. A lead ball of angst sat in his stomach. It was time to face the music; time to tell General Breaker the news.

Elly had given him the dial instructions and codes, which he now entered. The familiar series of screen changes appeared. While he awaited the solacing icon of Marine Space Corps-1 to appear, he thought about what it represented.

The helmet was reminiscent of the few warriors who stood up to many when the ancient Greeks’ way of life was threatened by a tyrant. They dared to go and face the unknown and certain death when no one else would.

The wings meant they could go beyond where mankind previously had. No longer bound to Earth, the possibilities were endless. Now, Frank didn’t know whether she had come up with the symbol or not, but he did know it was Elly Wong who emblazoned it on their armor that first day, a stencil in one hand, a can of white paint in the other.

While getting lost in his head, Frank realized the screen had yet to appear. Maybe I entered it wrong? he thought.

He checked the notes, then tried again. Nothing.

His throat tightened and that old familiar feeling of panic iced its way up his neck.

Once more, he entered the codes and waited. Immediately, his mind raced to the infinite possibilities of what could be going wrong at the Den. Had Jarl escaped? Were they under attack? Or possibly even worse, under water?

With a deep breath, he cleared his mind and tried to reason, You are calling across a quadrillion light years of space, man. Could be a connection issue. That’s all.

As his mind settled for a beat, the screen changed, and Jenkins appeared.

“Jenkins!” Frank sounded more eager than he meant.

“Sir, report?” Jenkins asked without a smile.

“Uh, is General Breaker around? And I tried calling in, but no response on the first couple rounds. Is everything OK?” Frank thought he was starting to sound like a paranoid mother. He hated himself for that. The Den could take care of itself. It was a hidden fortress of the United Marine Corps after all.

“Major?” Jenkins’s normal poker-face gave way to confusion.

“Never mind.” Frank brushed away his previous outburst. “As of ten hundred hours, we have made contact with Major Lopez. We encountered hostility, though I believe we’ve found a way to continue tracking her. We now know enough information to track her down. Next time, we’ll bring her in.”

Frank sort of embellished the truth a little. He suspected he knew how to find her and he technically knew the measures he’d have to take to bring her in, only he wasn’t sure he was ready to do it.

“Is that all?” the Sat Comm Marine asked, squinting at Frank as though sizing him up for more information before hanging up.

“Oh, and Lt. Wong sustained some injuries. Non-life-threatening at this time. Physician Agarwal has tended to her.” Frank waited for a reaction. He received none. “How are you?”

Frank couldn’t resist. His mouth continued before his tired brain could shut it off.

“I’m fine, Major. General Breaker is… unavailable,” Jenkins responded.

“OK. Copy that. And your brother, uh…” Frank kept going.

“Marty Jenkins, Major.” He answered the awkward question Frank couldn’t get out.

“Right, yes. Marty.” Frank slid his hands deep in his pockets as he fumbled for a way to now back out of this conversation, not sure what he was thinking, maybe hoping to get some information for Elly. He couldn’t be sure.

“Sergeant Jenkins is also fine.” Jenkins reached to end the transmission but then hesitated. “Major? Next time, maybe double-check the codes? Or have Lt. Wong help you?” He inclined his cocoa-brown head forward with concern.

“Right. I’ll definitely use Elly next time. Thank you, Sergeant,” Frank responded.

“Please send my regards to her,” Jenkins added.

“Will do!” Frank didn’t hold back his excitement. Bingo.

With that, they ended the transmission.

Frank figured he’d leverage his little bit of respite to bite the bullet and contact Sava. He had promised to keep her posted and it had already been more than a day. She would be chomping at the bit for an update.

This time around, Frank made sure he entered the right combination of digits and letters, though he did seem to recall doing it right the first time for the Den too. He was sure of it. Who could say at this point.

Within seconds, a Draconian face appeared on the screen. The yellow eyes, long snout capped with small nostrils, and snarling teeth stared back at Frank. A gruff voice demanded a response.

“Brytanna comm channel. Mikkelsen here. Please code in.” His tone left no room for civilities or awkward questions. So Frank decided to keep it professional.

“Major Wolffe of Marine Space Corps-1,” Frank identified himself and followed up with the code Sava had given him.

“Copy that. And stand by for Prime Sargard,” the reptilian commanded.

A couple beats later, Sava’s angry face appeared.

“Frank. Did you get her yet?” Sava was always so direct.

“Hey there, Sava. Good to see you too. But yes, we found her,” Frank said.

“Found her? But did you catch her?” the Draconian Knight asked.

“No. Not yet. We’ve been able to track her down – twice. We made initial contact for context at first. Then the second…”

“The second time what?” She drove into him.

“The second time, we were able to break through to her a bit more. She recognized us and I think she’s coming around,” Frank explained.

“I see.” Sava studied him with her eye. “Frank, who got hurt?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything about anyone getting hurt.” He wasn’t going to lie to her ,but he hadn’t planned on telling her outright what happened; it would only add fuel to the fire of her rage for vengeance.

“She’s dangerous. And she’s out for blood, Frank. No one encounters her and walks away clean. I know her type – we are her type.” His Arilion mentor was known for her keenness even more so than for her reputation as a ruthless warrior.

“Elly. It was Elly,” he confessed. “There was a construct. She was fast; I wasn’t fast enough to stop it. But, hear me out; she hesitated. We came to blows, but she stopped. I know she’s in there. And if we can bring her home on her will, then she could be on our side. So I’m really just trying to save an asset here.”

“You know as well as I do there’s only going to be more loss. Cut bait, Frank. You know what to do. Do it before anyone else gets hurt.” Sava’s voice was cold yet laced with pain.

He understood. Frank had hoped against hope that there was a chance to bring Lucy Lopez back around for forgiveness and a chance for everyone to get back to rights. He knew that possibility was quickly slipping away.

“I’ll keep you updated. We’re going back out soon.” He was tired wrestling with this in his own mind. He didn’t want to argue with her either.

“Fine. Do the right thing. An Arilion Knight doesn’t get to choose what’s right for him; his responsibility is to the universe and those who can’t fight for themselves. Your way failed. Time to change up the game.” With that, she nodded and grunted then terminated the connection.

“Yeah… Great talking to you, too…” Frank muttered to himself as he rubbed his temples with his right hand.

Here goes nothing, Frank brooded, entering the codes for the Neeve connection link.

At this point, Frank became especially anxious. He waited, trying not to think too much about hearing Vega’s voice, which was like a favorite Christmas song to him, or about her smile, more stirring and fantastic than fireworks.

A Neeve guard appeared on the monitor, his countenance and salutation a stark contrast to that of the Draconian.

“Greetings, Arilion Knight,” the man stated through a grin.

“Greetings, friend,” Frank responded.

“Have you news?” the man asked.

“Not exactly. No news yet. Is Empress Vega available in the castle?” Frank had his hands back in his pockets and rocked onto his toes a little. It reminded him of a young man asking a girl out for a first date. He felt a bit silly but he didn’t mind too much.

“Apologies, Knight. She’s at the perimeter at present. A skirmish at the border was reported. She and General Tamar led a troop to investigate and put it down. Rumor has it they’re nomads left from the Chaos Army.” He leaned in for the last part as though sharing a secret.

“Oh. OK. Thanks.” Frank did his best to hide his disappointment. “Would you please inform her that I tried to reach her? Let her know all is well. And…”

“Yes?” he prodded.

“Well, never mind. It’s not like you’re our personal messenger. I’ll try again at a later time.” Frank shook his head to refocus.

“Oh, but I am. I’m Empress Vega’s personal communications liaison. I’m here to liaise all messages to and from our intergalactic allies,” the Neeve communications specialist reassured Frank. “I’ll be sure to share your word with the Empress. It would be my honor and my duty, Arilion Knight.”

“Er, thanks,” Frank said.

They nodded to each other in affirmation and that was it for Frank’s last outreach.

He hadn’t gotten any answers. No one practical to bounce off his thoughts or plans. He would be left up to his own devices. The whole series of calls left him feeling even more dejected, unequipped, and frustrated.

Frank walked around back away from the building just beyond earshot. He needed some space to clear his head.

While he walked, he tried some cleansing breaths in and out. At one point, he considered trying Tai Chi after having recalled reading as a boy that Iron Fist would do that to clear his mind and chi. Frank was no monk.

“AAAAAARRHHHHHH!” Like a wild animal, he released his emotions into the sky.

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” a small voice called out from behind Frank,

He spun around to see Sunni standing among an especially tall patch of purple flowers.

“Hey, there. Sorry about that. What are you doing out here?” Frank ran a weary hand through his thick hair.

“Um, I wanted to show you something,” Sunni piped up, lifting a box toward Frank.

“OK. Shoot, kid. What do you have?” Frank eyed the water worn, flimsy box, wondering what was inside.

Sunni pulled away the lid and a purple glow flowed from within.

14

“You have vambraces???” Frank nearly lost his mind. “You’re the Arilion Knight?” His words came out almost accusatory. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

This whole time…? he questioned himself. Then he realized she hadn’t said anything.

“Sunni?” he asked.

“Yes?” She looked up at him with eyes almost ashamed.

He decided to start at the beginning. “Where did you find those?”

“We were at the warehouse where you came in. Aziz and I were digging around for the parts Boss Mardat needed. Aziz found them and thought they were gloves, so he saved them. When he gave them to me to keep warm, they started doing this. We didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t want to put them back in case I could turn them in to Boss Mardat for more food or something,” she said.

“So why didn’t you give them to him?” Frank asked.

“Because… Because they called to me. They felt like mine, but I didn’t know why. Do you know why?” The girl faced Frank with round, imploring eyes.

“I do. It’s because in all the space, in all the universe, and on this entire planet, you, Sunni, were selected by the Light of the Universe to be the Arilion Knight.” Frank knelt down to face her. He lowered his voice so she had to lean in ever so slightly to hear him.

“What? Why me?” Her voice was just above a whisper, but the denial was clear.

“Ha. I sometimes ask myself the same question.” Frank extended an arm and rotated it a bit to examine the glowing purple armor piece. “But I trust that there is wisdom and power even greater and older and experienced than myself who knew what they were doing when they chose me. So I think, somehow, we have to trust that they chose you for a reason too.”

Indignation furrowed her brows. “But I’m nobody but an orphaned Oyan. My parents either didn’t want me or didn’t care enough to try to keep me. I can’t even walk right, thanks to bad men like Boss Mardat. And the awful thing is, I go back! I don’t have any other choice if I want to live – if we wanted the children to have food. How about the Light or the Universe take care of that first? How about the Universe save Aziz first!”

She stomped away after throwing down the box at Frank’s feet and headed back toward the tall blooms.

“Sunni, wait!” Frank reached out toward her. He channeled his Will and created a taller patch of vibrant purple wild flowers. The petals erupted and rained down all around her.

Sunni stopped and turned to Frank. Their eyes met, then both focused on what stood between them.

The vambraces she had dropped glowed brighter and floated up toward her. She walked back to them, not touching the Arilion armor. The hesitant girl hobbled around one side of them, then turned to move around the other way. The vambraces followed her movement.

“Could I have used them to save Aziz?” she finally asked.

“I wish. Oh, how I wish. But no. Mardat used a device that dampened the powers of the vambraces. That’s why I couldn’t save him. It’s the device my friend is after,” Frank answered with a deep sigh.

“Oh,” Sunni mustered.

She reached out and touched one of the pieces with an uncertain finger. Reaching out slowly at first, then quickly tapping it, she then pulled her hand back.

The vambraces spun, the light catching the bronze plating that ran up the center part of the arm coming to a point and rounded the knuckles. Copper buckles fastened brown leather straps to the black leather sleeve.

“Sunni, is there something inside of you screaming to live out loud? Something that won’t let sleeping dogs be?” Frank dared to explore.

Eyeing him with skepticism, she didn’t say no. Frank could tell he might be onto something.

“It’s that voice that shouts, leading you to move out loud. We can sometimes hear it so loudly, we can’t think of anything else. That is the wheel that drives: that Will that makes you a Knight chosen to protect the people around you from bullies big or small, smart, mean, or secret; local or intergalactic. A voice calls you.” He nodded along with his words, also reminding himself that in his current plight, he wasn’t alone.

“So then what do I do with this? With these? How do I save everyone?” She took the vambraces in her hands.

“Well, we can’t save everyone. We can try. But it’s not always possible. Trust me, I’ve tried.” His shoulders sank heavily at recalling the faces from his dream.

“Then what’s the point?” She stared at Frank, waiting for an answer he still questioned.

He struggled for a moment, racking his brain to know what to say. Then for some reason, Sergeant Claymore’s voice echoed in his head. He used his heart.

“Because every life matters. Each one we save, each fight we face, each time we stand up to darkness is a victory. If we have the ability to save a life, we should. We give it our all with our whole heart – with all the Will that won’t back down – and it will mean the world and more to the people helped.” Frank wasn’t sure that was all from him. “I think.” He shrugged.

“No. It’s good. I understand.” She nodded. “So now what?”

“Now what what?” Frank was still processing the words that had come out of his mouth.

“What do we do to make me a Knight?” she asked.

“Oh, well, you’re already a Knight. Here, let’s put them on.” He reached out to help her put on her tiny purple armor.

“Thanks.” The hint of a grin played across her mouth and cheeks. Excitement danced in her dark eyes.

“OK. Ready?” Frank stood, placing his hands on his hips.

“Ready for what?” She examined the vambraces on her arms.

“Now we train,” he said, matter of fact.

“Is there official training?” Her curiosity was piqued.

“Not really. I sort of make it up as I go, but I did learn from someone really powerful. She’s fierce and sometimes reckless, but a warrior through and through.” Frank spoke of Sava.

“Will I be able to do everything you can do?” Sunni prodded.

“Yes and no. It’s not a set bunch of power. It’s like fuel; it gives the machine the ability to do more of what it’s made to do,” Frank explained. “For example: Yur’l can run super fast. He used to run races as a uh–younger bird. With practice and his powers, he’s nearly a streak when he runs. Lucy couldn’t be stopped. She pushed herself above and beyond what was expected of her, beyond what others thought she should or could do. She was fearless. Was…”

“Is that why she can fly?” she asked, inspecting the vambraces and jiggling the buckles to make sure they were on securely.

“Yeah, I think so. OK, so let’s try the first exercise. See if you can make a ball in your hands. Just imagine it’s there and it will flow out of you, through your arms, to your hands, and into your palms. Then just hold it.” As he spoke, Frank demonstrated with dramatic gestures for emphasis. If he could help her visualize the process, maybe it would help.

“OK. A ball…” Sunni grimaced and held her hands inches from each other, holding an imaginary ball. She quivered and concentrated. But nothing happened aside from her arms glowing brighter. She stopped, then looked up at Frank. “It didn’t work.”

“It didn’t work yet,” he corrected her. “All that talk about making a difference and hungry for life and that’s all the effort you have?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Right.”

He was sure there was a name calling happening in her mind. He was OK with not knowing what kind of name a twelve-year-old Oyan would come up with. A chuckle escaped his lips.

“OK. OK. Think of it this way: you know what it’s like to be hungry, right?” He tried another tactic.

“Hello. Yes, a homeless orphan here.” She didn’t hold back her preteen sarcasm.

“Right, so it’s like being hungry. But not for food. Be hungry for something deeper than food. You can feel it in your gut, not your stomach. Feed it. Answer that call. Bring it to your hands and offer it out to the world.” Frank stood with his arms bent at the elbows and close to his torso. With his hands cupped toward each other, he put them together, then pulled them apart and pushed them forward slowly. As he did so, purple energy intensified in his hands, forming a ball.

He opened up and sent it flying into the sky.

“Wow… Show me more!” Sunni jiggled with glee.

“I’m not here to put on a show, kid.” He laughed. “OK, I’ll show you a couple of things so you get the idea.”

He constructed a gauss-powered rifle with a folding stock and cheek rest, rubberized grip, and an added reflex sight with laser pointers. It held on to his body with a bungee sling. Ultraviolet light shimmered across his body as he brought his shield covering up. Finishing off the show, he brought up a massive long sword and swung it around from his back into an arc in front of him, accidentally beheading some of the flowers along the way.

“Whoops. I’m not as familiar with a greatsword as Vega.” Frank let his construct disappear and dusted his hands.

“That was amazing. Who’s Vega?” she asked as she tried again to create the ball.

“Vega is the Empress of Atmos in a galaxy or two away. And, she’s my girlfriend.” At this, Frank beamed.

“The empress of a nation is your girlfriend?” She did not sound convinced.

“Hey, listen. I’m kind of a big deal in certain circles. I’m not just a blunt instrument of good looks.” Frank looked at her with a raised brow.

“Yeah, but you kind of messed some things up. And by Auriul’s standards, you’re not that good-looking.” Sunni let loose a giggle.

Though not pleased to be the brunt of her joke, he was glad to see the girl loosening up a bit. Having had to be the adult for so long, she likely didn’t know how to be a child.

“Alright, you’ve really got to get some practice in and I’ve really gotta get some food in. There are a couple MREs with our names on them. You ready to go?” Frank led the way back to the old structure.

15

“Again,” Frank said as he walked around Sunni. The two had been at it for hours, training outside the building Sunni called home while Elly figured out how to reverse engineer the item Boss Mardat had and find him.

“I’m—I’m tired,” Sunni said slamming her arms forward. “I—I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can.” Frank pushed forward, refusing to let the girl quit. “You were born for this. The two greatest days in a person’s life is the day he was born and the day he finds out why. Those aren’t my words either. Those are from a famous author on my planet named Mark Twain. Why are you looking at me like that.”

“That sounded really smart.” Sunni eyed Frank with a sideways grin. “I didn’t know you knew stuff like that.”

“Wow, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” Frank waved off his indignation. “Now come on again. You need to learn how to defend yourself before you can fight. Concentrate, see the world around you, and then channel your Will to make it happen.”

Sunni closed her eyes again, baring her teeth. The furthest she had been able to come so far in creating the protective bubble around her was sparking purple lines that raced in the air around her. She still hadn’t held the construct long enough for those lines to solidify into a barrier.

The heat beat down on the pair as Sunni stood in a patch of grass between the train tracks and the weathered structure in which she and the other six children resided.

Sunni trembled from her concentration, shaking as she tried once more to construct her first force field as an Arilion Knight.

“Everything that has happened to you up to this point has happened for a reason,” Frank told her as he willed his own energy into her. “Use it. Remember what you’ve been through, remember how far you’ve come. You’re a survivor, Sunni. All the bad things that have happened to you have made you the warrior that stands in front of me now. Don’t forget the trials you’ve endured. Use them to push forward.”

A purple sphere glimmered for a moment in front of her, then disappeared again.

The young woman shook her head from side to side as her dark eyes opened once more.

“I can’t. It’s too hard,” Sunni moaned. “I’m not a soldier like you. You’re so much bigger. I’m not strong enough.”

“What happened to your leg?” Frank asked, changing the subject.

“What?” Sunni asked.

“You heard me. What gave you that limp?” Frank lifted an eyebrow. “Or who? Where are your parents?”

“My leg was crushed under a rock when I was scavenging for pieces for Boss Mardat.” Sunni scowled at Frank. “I never had parents. They never wanted me. Are you trying to make me angry?”

“Who’s looked after you all this time?” Frank asked, ignoring her own question. “Life can’t be easy with that limp.”

“I’ve taken care of myself and all the others,” Sunni growled. “It’s been me. Only me.”

Tears pooled in the young girl’s eyes as she was forced to recall life with her limp, without parents, and having to provide for others. She wiped them away with the backs of her paws and leather of her vambraces. The brave thing resisted a crying pity party.

“It’s always been me,” Sunni said, swallowing hard. “I’ve never had anything. It’s always been me.”

Something came over Frank, a feeling that told him she needed him now more than ever. Sunni was something else besides a fellow Arilion Knight at the moment; she was a young girl in need.

Frank went up to the near sobbing girl and placed an awkward hand on her shoulder. He wasn’t exactly the nurturing type, but he knew she needed him right now.

Frank stroked the back of her head. “You have a family now. Everything you feel, all the hate, pain, anger all of it. Let it go or use it.”

Sunni pushed herself away as if she were embarrassed by the fact she had let tears fall in front of Frank, or at all.

“What-what do you mean, use it?” Sunni asked, wiping the back of her paw across her eyes. “How?”

“Anger can be fuel for you to accomplish your tasks,” Frank said to her. “You can use all of that pent-up aggression toward something good. And I’ll teach you.”

“And I’ll help, if that’s OK with you, Frank,” Yur’l said as he walked toward the pair. “I still have a lot to learn myself, but like Frank said, we’re a family.”

“We all have a lot to learn.” Frank waved Yur’l over. “We’re all apprentices in a craft where there are no masters. I don’t even think Sava would claim to know everything about our powers or to have mastered them herself.”

“Let’s try again,” Frank said, motioning for Sunni to take a step back. “This time, use it all. Remember everything you’ve been through, and use those emotions to power your Will. Does that make sense?”

“I think so,” Sunni said, clearing her throat. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out once again through her mouth.

The furry girl kept her eyes open this time with an intense scowl, staring down the demons of her past.

Purple energy sparked and crackled around her. Lines of translucent violet power held, then formed a protective sphere around Sunni. The girl beamed with pride, marveling at her vambraces and what she had constructed.

“This is just the beginning,” Yur’l told her. “Over time and with practice, you’ll be able to construct more and more items. What you know and are familiar with will come the easiest to you. The larger or more foreign the construct, the harder it will be to bring to life and maintain.”

“Agreed,” Frank said to Yur’l before turning to Sunni. “You’re doing great. We’ll practice this time and time again. At least in a fight, you’ll be able to defend yourself. We’ll get to the fun stuff next time we practice.”

“The fun stuff is weapons, isn’t it?” Sunni looked up with a mischievous smile reaching her eyes. “Let’s learn that now.”

Frank was about to give in to the girl’s request. She reminded him a bit of Emma Jackson, the Arilion Knight protecting Earth. He saw the same fighting spirit in her.

“Frank! Frank, I think I got it.” Elly ran out of the building, lifting her data pad over her head. A grimace replaced her shouting a moment later. She lowered her arm and clamped her free hand around her ribcage. “Ugh, that was a bad idea.”

Frank knew the only way to get Elly back to Earth for rest would be to drag her kicking and screaming. When he first brought up the suggestion, she wouldn’t even hear it. It was her love for Lucy Lopez that refused to give up on her.

Elly hobbled the rest of the way to the group with a grimace. “I was able to create a program that recognized and decoded the vibrational patterns erupting from the—”

“English, Elly.” Frank lifted a hand to slow her down. “Speak English to us.”

“Oh, right.” Elly cleared her throat and showed the trio of Knights the data pad in front of her. A blue screen showed a map of the area with a green dot pulsing somewhere deeper in the city. “With the schematics you found and Sunni helped me translate, I was able to create a program that listens for the vibrations Boss Mardat’s special dampener thing creates. We can track him now.”

“Boss Mardat will have an army of his guards with him now that he knows you’re in town,” Sunni warned them. “He’ll call all of his goons in. Without your vambraces, it’s going to be a tough fight.”

“How many men do you think he has all together?” Yur’l asked with a finger tapping his beak. “Twenty? Thirty?”

“Try more like fifty,” Sunni said, shaking her head. “They’re dispersed in this city and those surrounding, but I’ll bet he already put out the call for them to return. He doesn’t like taking chances.”

“Fifty men against our five,” Frank said, moving his head from side to side, weighing the odds in his mind. “And no vambraces and we have a wild card in Lucy…”

“How do you know she’ll show?” Elly asked.

“She’ll be there; she wants that damper as much as we do,” Frank said, remembering how she had been looking for it both times they saw her. “I bet she wants it to free Jarl.”

“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Yur’l said. “It seems she had a misplaced loyalty she feels she owed him for creating the orange vambraces and giving her this power.”

“You think she wants this piece of dampener tech to free Jarl from the Den?” Elly asked with a wide open mouth.

“It would make sense,” Frank said, knowing what he needed to do next but not being eager to do so. “I think I need to go talk to our friend back at the Den. I’m sure he’ll have some information we can use.”

“Last reports were that Jarl was refusing to talk,” Yur’l reminded Frank. “It may be an act of futility.”

“He’ll talk to me,” Frank said.

“Oh no, are you going to strangle him again?” Elly asked.

“We’ll see,” Frank answered.

16

The sphere that projected the gateway was set up inside the building on the other side of the table where the children had had their meager meals. Their eyes doubled in size when they saw Sunni wearing her vambraces, then nearly popped out of their heads when the gateway was activated.

It was agreed Frank would speak with Jarl and bring back food and supplies for the orphans.

Frank walked through the gateway back into the Den and was heading for Jarl’s cell when he was intercepted by General Breaker. The large man was leaning against the wall opposite the room where Jarl was held.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Frank said with a grin to his CO. “I was just going in to have a chat with our favorite villain.”

“I’m sure you are.” General Breaker’s eyes were hard. “I read Elly’s report. You’ve done a great job locating Lucy and I don’t disagree with you that she’ll be there when you make your assault on Mardat and his dampener weapon, but you have to see there is more going on here.”

“Like what?” Frank decided against moving around the general to gain access to Jarl’s quarters. “I’ll bring back-up with me. I’d take a squad of Marines over what Mardat has any day of the week.”

“It’s not that,” General Breaker said with a shake of his head. “We need to know more about who Mardat is working for. I don’t know him, but I know his type. I don’t think he needed to construct a weapon like this.”

“And if Lucy is trying to steal it to free Jarl, then he didn’t order it made either,” Frank said, following the general’s train of thought. “So who did?”

“Right,” General Breaker agreed. “When you go in, you’ll need to take this Boss Mardat alive. If someone else is trying to create weapons that would eliminate the effectiveness of Arilion Knights, we need to know who it is. They’re not looking to have a minor impact; they’re making big moves.”

“Roger that, sir,” Frank agreed. He motioned to the door opposite the general. “Can I go and have a tea party with our friend now?”

“That depends, Marine.” The general lifted an eyebrow. “Are you going to control yourself? I can’t have you in there again choking the life out of him. I need your word as a man, a Knight, and a Marine that all you’re going to do is talk.”

General Breaker eyed him hard, as if he were actually seeing for himself the truth in Frank’s eye.

“You have my word.” Frank nodded. “I’m not going to let him get into my head this time. I think he’ll talk to me about Lucy now that I’ve seen her and I know a bit of how she’s still alive.”

“Alright, then.” General Breaker waved him forward. “I’ll be watching in the next room with a team just in case.”

“Thank you.” Frank moved toward the metal door, where a small square glass window stood eye level. Frank looked inside as he waited to be buzzed in.

The interior was a wide open square room made up of a cement floor, walls, and ceiling. In the middle of the square room, another square was created to form Jarl’s prison. His prison was made up of a series of closely spaced parallel blue laser beams.

A bed was on one side of the cell and a toilet on the other. Jarl’s form lay on the cot with his head away from Frank. The antlers on his head poked up like something that belonged on a reindeer.

General Breaker disappeared into a door next to Jarl’s cell. A few seconds later, an electronic beep followed by a loud click told Frank he was clear to enter.

“So what’s on the dinner menu tonight?” Jarl said, mistaking Frank for the person who brought him his meals. “If it’s another round of turkey sandwiches, I’m just going to call this cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Well, look at you, all fat and comfortable off taxpayers’ dollars,” Frank said, entering the room. “Comfy enough? Need one of those squishy donut pillows for the toilet or maybe something to read? I hear they’re coming out with some great sci-fi nowadays.”

Jarl immediately moved to a sitting position, then rose from his bed. A sick smile crossed his thin lips.

“Frank, I knew you’d be coming back for more information.” Jarl’s muscles bulged under his light blue prison uniform that was made up of a single piece of clothing. “Tell me how much have you figured out so far? I’ve been wondering myself what stage of the game we’re in now.”

“I know you’ve sent Lucy to steal a piece of tech that diminishes the power of the vambraces. I know she’s not as far gone as you think she is. I know that there’s no way in God’s great universe that you’re ever getting your freedom back,” Frank said, walking toward the lines of blue lasers that kept Jarl in place. “Now I showed you mine. How did you get to Lucy Lopez in the first place?”

Jarl rolled his eyes. “You think you’re just going to walk in here and I give you everything you want?”

“I think I could just walk out of that door and you can go back to daydreaming about the open sky and fresh air again or we can have a conversation.” Frank shrugged. “Up to you, sweet cheeks.”

“Your bravado is sickening.” Jarl lifted his upper lip in a snarl. “You have no idea what’s coming for you. I’ve laid plans within plans.”

“Great, so tell me how you got to Lucy, then. How many of the vambraces did you make?” Frank pushed.

“Your truth serums don’t work on my species, and I won’t break to your torture techniques when you begin to use them.” Jarl shook his head. “What makes you think I’m just going to tell you?”

“You’re right; this was a waste of time.” Frank turned and headed for the door. “Have fun hanging out with yourself and eating your turkey sandwiches. I’ll tell them how much you love them and see if they can put it on the menu for the next few years.”

“Wait,” Jarl said as Frank reached the door that would allow him to exit the room.

Frank turned, grateful his bluff had worked. He couldn’t leave without any information; he needed something he could work with to bring Lucy’s memories back.

“Lucy Lopez is a creation of your own hand,” Jarl said as if the words he said actually tasted bad. “As am I. The vambraces found her when she was a slave to the scavengers. It was only then she came to me, confused and broken. You made her that way. You turned her to me and she had been a valuable asset. If you can’t see that this is all of your doing, then you’re blinder than I thought.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Frank said through clenched teeth. Anger was beginning to boil over. “You keep shifting the blame to others for your own actions. Whatever helps you sleep at night, right?”

“Oh, there he is,” Jarl prodded Frank. “There he is, the hero we know losing his cool and showing how angry he is underneath. You might have everyone else fooled, Frank, but not me.”

“I am angry.” Frank kept his cool. “I’m angry at terrorists like you, I’m angry about people who manipulate my friends, and most of all, I’m angry that there’s about to be a turkey sandwich shortage, because, brother, that’s what you’re going to have for every meal from here on out.”

Frank turned and pounded on the door to be let out.

As the buzzer sounded and the door clicked open, Frank left Jarl with one last parting thought.

“And I’m going to use all of that anger,” Frank said to him as he walked through the door. “I’m going to take it out on your plan. No one is ever going to come for you, Jarl. You are alone and that is a world you have created for yourself.”

Frank walked out, allowing the metal door to close behind him. He didn’t take pleasure in pouring salt on the wound of the man’s murdered family, but Jarl often forgot or pushed back the notion that his actions were causing the same heartache for others across the universe.

“Woooooolffe!” Jarl Balder could be heard screaming in anguish as the steel door closed behind Frank.

General Breaker exited the door to Frank’s left that adjoined the rooms.

“You did well,” General Breaker told Frank. “I’ll make sure we throw in a few more meals of turkey sandwiches too.”

Frank grinned at his CO.

“I need to get back to my team,” Frank said, remembering the others waiting for him. “I need to get some supplies together. Maybe a care package for the kids back on the planet. They’ve been through hell and they’re doing it all with a smile on their faces.”

“We’re already on it,” General Breaker said with a sharp nod. “Supplies will be ready for you to take back at the gate along with a squad of Marines to help bring in Mardat and Lucy Lopez.”

“About that,” Frank asked, trying to pick the right phrasing that might give him a chance at his suggestion. “In the spirit of working together and cementing the bonds we have created with our allies, maybe it would be prudent to call on the aid of some of them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word ‘prudent’ before.” General Breaker almost cracked a grin. “Do you know what that means?”

“Yes, why is everyone so surprised when I say smart things?” Frank asked, exasperated. “But seriously, maybe a call to an ally including them in this would be the best idea right now.”

“And would that call be to a certain empress?” General Breaker asked the question to which he already knew the answer.

“Well, hey, you said it, I didn’t.” Frank shrugged with his hands open in surrender. “I mean, I was thinking Sava and the Draconians since she’s so hot on this case, but if you really want me to contact Vega to see if she can bring a unit of Berserkers to help with Mardat, I can always ask.”

“You’re lucky you’re the Arilion Knight of Atmos, and your girlfriend’s planet.” General Breaker moved past Frank, waving him to follow. “Come on. I’ll make the call. I doubt she’s going to say no.”

17

When Frank arrived back at Auriul, he brought four giant crates with him filled with food, water, clothing, and toiletries. Seeing the Oyan orphans gobble up MREs and taste toothpaste for the first time were memories Frank knew he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

“Tastes funny. What’s this food?” the more round boy asked with a tongue sticking out with creamy peanut butter on it.

“Here, let me show you.” Elly giggled and reached out to him to show him how to spread it on some bread.

“Oh, it’s so sweet!” The twin with the blue bow smiled with furry cheeks full of cinnamon oats.

Frank laughed in spite of himself, and in spite of the battle that was sure to come.

The plan was set. Vega would arrive with a squad of her private warriors the following night and the attack on Boss Mardat would commence.

Before they arrived, it was up to Frank and the rest of Marines Space Corps-1 to do reconnaissance and find out the best way for the group to attack.

Elly would go with them but stay behind to coordinate their movements via the comms. It would be up to Frank, Yur’l, and Raj to get the info they needed on Boss Mardat’s compound.

“Thank you,” Sunni said to Frank. She came up to him as he squatted down eating a can of beans. “Thank you for all of this.”

Sunni waved a paw out in front of her to take in the Oyan orphans giggling as they brushed themselves with the combs that were brought and stuff their faces with protein bars.

“It wasn’t just me.” Frank motioned to the rest of his team. “It was them and everybody we work with back at the Den. It was a group effort.”

“Are all humans this kind?” Sunni stopped herself for a moment. “I mean, all humans besides Lucy Lopez.”

“I wish that were the case,” Frank answered the innocent child. “We’re just like you. We all have our issues; some of us choose to take up the burden of doing the right thing. Others do what’s easier and give in to their selfish sides.”

“Were you always good?” Sunni pressed the conversation further. “Did you always choose to do what was right?”

“Not always.” Frank was reminded of the time when he worshiped money. When he worked for B.U.T.T.S. and would sell whatever high-end weapon to whoever his company sent him to meet. He made as much as he could not only for himself and his dates for the week, but also for his parents, for all the medical bills related to his mother’s illness.

He had hoped that after catching Jarl Balder, he would go see her finally. That he could show his father the man he had become after all. But time waits for no man and even no Knight. Sergeant Claymore mentioned a final battle. The finality of it still stuck to Frank’s stomach like a bad burrito.

“No one is ever good all the time. What sets us apart is the effort to do the right thing and when we fail to get back up and try again,” he continued.

Sunni stood beside Frank, slowly nodding.

“I want to go with you tomorrow when you scout Boss Mardat’s place.” Sunni raised a paw to fend off Frank’s answer for the moment. “I know the place better than anyone else. Besides, by now, I’m sure Boss Mardat is sending his guards into the city to look for you. You’ll need to keep Raj or Yur’l behind to watch the sphere.”

Frank weighed the girl’s words in his mind. She wasn’t wrong.

“We’re not fighting tomorrow,” Frank thought out loud as he studied Sunni. “Maybe you’re right. If you know how to stay out of eyesight, we can use you, Arilion Knight.”

Sunni beamed at the name.

“No, that’s not to put in your hair,” Raj said, capturing the attention of everyone in the abandoned warehouse. “It’s toothpaste you put it on a brush and clean your teeth.”

Two of the younger Oyan children were smearing toothpaste from the tube into one another’s fur as if it were some kind of lotion. Their chubby full bellies trembled as they giggled.

“No, here; like this.” Raj took a toothbrush from the crate of toiletries. He carefully squeezed a small portion of mint toothpaste from a tub onto his brush then dropped a few drops of water from his canteen on the brush. Next he began working it around in his mouth. “Thee wike dis.”

The Oyan children giggled again. They grabbed their own toothbrushes, squeezing so much toothpaste on the bristles that it gooped all over the floor. They splashed water on the toothbrushes, then proceeded to eat the paste instead of actually brushing their teeth.

“Lika dis?” One of the smaller Oyan boys looked up at Raj with big brown eyes. “Rwight?”

“Sure, yeah, yeah,” Raj said, shaking his head in exasperation while unable to tell the innocent child he was doing it all wrong. “Something like that. Just keep practicing; you’ll get the hang of it.”

A thought scratched at the back of Frank’s mind as he and Sunni watched Raj try and teach the Oyan orphans how to brush their racoon-like mouths.

“Sunni, I get that this town is abandoned and Boss Mardat has taken it up as his place of business, but why is it again you don’t leave?” Frank shook his head, trying to remember what she had said before. “There have to be cities with officials and a police department and the like to help care for you.”

“Not on this planet,” Sunni said, shaking her furry head. “We could go into the city, but it’s even worse than living here if you can imagine that. We’d be put to work at a factory under constant supervision. We’d be like convicts; at least here, we have our freedom to come and go, and when we need food, we go work for Boss Mardat.”

“Right,” Frank said, remembering the girl’s explanation from before. “And why was this part of the city abandoned to begin with?”

“The planet’s unstable structure.” Sunni shrugged. “Every so often, the ground became unstable and a hole to the center of the planet opens up. Well, I’m not sure if it goes all the way to the center of the planet, but it goes far enough.”

“Like a sinkhole.” Frank nodded along with her words. “I get it.”

“A sink who?” Sunni asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Like a hole in the ground that opens up because there is empty space beneath the surface.”

“Yeah, yeah, like that,” Sunni said, agreeing with his words. “Hey, do you think it would be okay to train some more? Yur’l said he’d show me some moves with the vambraces when I was ready. I want to try them now.”

Frank looked outside at the fading light. The plea in her eyes made him change his mind. “Sure, kid, just stay close.”

“Thanks, I will.” Sunni raced past Raj and the two small Oyans. Having exhausted their time with the toothpaste, the two small furry children were now taking turns wrestling with Raj like they were in some kind of tag team tournament.

As Sunni passed, she ruffled the hair on all of their heads, including Raj.

“You should be careful,” Elly said, walking toward Frank with a raised eyebrow. “You’re going to become a mentor or maybe a role model if you keep this up. I know Emma Jackson already looks up to you.”

“Seriously, I need to make more bad decisions.” Frank grinned at his friend as they watched Sunni and Yur’l head outside for more training. Their purple vambraces glowed through the window like a soft light show. “Or maybe I’m just making up for all the bad decisions I’ve made in the past.”

“We should get some sleep soon,” Elly said with a yawn. She stretched, then winced at the action, grabbing her ribs. “We have a long day of scouting tomorrow and then a longer night when Vega gets here with her squad and we assault Mardat’s base.”

“Copy that,” Frank said, hoping this night he wouldn’t have any more dreams of gorillas or the dead and wounded he had met on his way since becoming an Arilion Knight.

18

The night passed without nightmares or the ground trembling. Frank was woken for his shift as the sun began to rise and the rest of Marine Space Corps-1 rose a few hours later.

Frank, Elly, and Sunni left Raj, Yur’l, and the rest of the Oyan children at the warehouse with the sphere as they headed north to Boss Mardat’s main hub for business.

Sunni instructed them that it would be best to make a side arc around the desolate area and come up behind the fortress Boss Mardat called a home.

The three ate a quick meal of MREs and water. Frank carried Elly’s equipment. It was clear her ribs were far from being healed, but she refused to be left behind.

The landscape they traveled was wide open on every side, something that bothered Frank. They would be sitting ducks if there was an ambush in place.

Fields full of bright red, orange, and yellow flowers and native insects with vibrant wings rose up like something from a picture. The scent the wind carried was aromatic and Frank had to admit it was the most beautiful planet he had seen yet. The fullness of the lush spectrum that covered the landscape and sky all but maximized his mammalian eye cones. He wondered what the world looked like to a being such as Sunni or even Yur’l.

“We’ll follow this for an hour, then swing wide right,” Sunni reminded them as she led the way forward. “We’ll travel through a shallow line of trees that lets out to the back of his compound. He’ll have guards posted there, so we’ll have to be careful once we exit the wooded area, but we should be good to go until then.”

“Roger that,” Elly said as she traversed the field of knee-high flowers.

“Who’s Roger?” Sunni asked as she too waded through the field of multicolored blooms that rose up to her waist. “Is he a Marine too?”

“Oh no, roger isn’t a person.” Elly stopped herself short. “I mean, it can be a person’s name. I dated a Roger once in high school and I’ll never forget him. He had a unibrow that looked like a cater—”

“Stop!” Sunni shouted, coming to a halt.

She traveled a few meters in front of them, but the warning in her voice was enough to bring both Frank and Elly to a standstill in their stride.

“What?” Frank lifted the gauss-powered rifle to his shoulder. “Do you see something?”

The ground rumbled, then rocked so hard Frank was thrown from his feet. The ground spasmed as if it were suddenly a rippling wave instead of solid ground.

A sound like crumbling reached Frank’s ears. He looked up from his back, sitting up to see over the flowers. Elly was there in front of him, staring wide-eyed behind her thick red glasses frames one minute, then gone the next.

Elly screamed as she disappeared. Frank could hear panic tear through her voice as it fell away and echoed.

“Elly!” Sunni yelled, shooting both hands forward a stream of purple energy shot emitted.

Everything in Frank told him he needed to help, but from his seated position, he couldn’t see what was happening.

No, not her again! The thought raced through Frank’s mind as he jumped to his feet, peering to the spot where Elly had vanished. Wonder and awe reached his eyes.

A hole had opened up no more than ten meters in diameter. It went down so far, it was like the planet had revealed its mouth, and with a black throat, led down as far as the eye could see.

What was more terrifying was Elly had been standing right in the middle of the opening. It was only because of Sunni’s quick thinking that Elly had been saved.

The young Oyan girl had thought quickly and acted, creating a protective sphere around Elly. She lifted her from the gaping maw of the unknown and lifted her to safety in an iridescent purple bubble.

Sunni deposited a frightened Elly on the ground beside her a moment later.

“Th-thanks,” Elly said, swallowing hard. It wasn’t lost on any of them how close Elly had come to being lost in the blackness. “What-what is that?”

“A sinkhole.” Frank looked over to his friend. “Are you all right?”

“Thanks to Sunni,” Elly said, looking over at their friend with a genuine yet still shaken smile. Pieces of her crown of braided hair had come undone and were flowing in the breeze. “Thank you, Sunni.”

“No problem; we’re a family now. Families have to look out for each other,” Sunni answered.

Frank heard the child’s sweet words, but his attention was directed down into the hole for a moment. Something moved in the dark. Frank lowered his Punisher GS2000 into the dark cavity, shining a purple light with his vambraces.

The day’s bright sun penetrated the ebony expanse for about twenty meters and his light a few dozen yards after that where blackness then reigned once more. A tail, a thick slug-like tail, wiggled into the light and then out again as it disappeared into the dirt wall of the hole.

“Uh, Sunni?” Frank asked, concerned. “You said sinkholes open up every now and again. Would the sinkholes opening up be due to slug-like ground monsters?”

“What?” Sunni looked down in the hole with him. “No, no, I’ve never seen anything like that. People just have disappeared into those before, but that’s just the unstable ground in the planet.”

“How do you know?” Elly asked, also gazing down into the hole. “None of those people ever came back, did they?”

“No,” Sunni admitted.

An angry screech like an animal having missed out on a promised meal met their ears from the hole.

“But then again, no one has ever been saved from a sinkhole,” Sunni said out loud as she followed her own thought process. “Maybe there has been something doing this and they just always got their food.”

“Except for this time,” Frank finished her thought. “And now this thing is pissed.

The ground rumbled and shook again.

Frank didn’t think; he just reacted. Although he couldn’t fly, he knew he could float, and what’s more, he could carry others while doing so. Frank wrapped the girls in purple ropes that shot out from his vambraces and took to the air not a moment too soon.

The ground beneath his own boots disappeared a moment later. From his vantage point just above the hole, Frank peered down just in time to see a creature that reminded Frank of one half giant slug, one half octopus. A sharp, deep orange beak snapped at the air. A dark penny-brown, long and slimy body followed. On each side of the body, a pair of wet tentacles reached forward.

The creature was massive with no eyes Frank could see, but a body that spanned as long as a school bus.

“Oh, no,” Elly shouted as she pointed her rifle at the creature and opened fire. “Why can’t we ever catch a break?!?”

Rat-dat-dat rat-dat-dat her rounds fired at the beak and area around it.

“What do I do?” Sunni shouted to Frank, her eyes wild with fear.

“Stay clear of the tentacles! Throw the balls of energy at its face!” Frank instructed as he started to unleashed heck on the creature with his constructed rounds.

YEEEEEEEEEEECH! the creature screeched, batting away the onslaught of tungsten rounds that hit its hide.

Sunni dove and hopped around, surprising Frank with her nimbleness, considering her injury. Elly did well to shoot from afar, having less mobility but plenty of range via her weapon of choice.

Frank knew they’d eventually tire out and Elly would run out of rounds. The ruckus was more than enough to alert any guardsman or patrolling goons for kilometers. He would need to put an end to this.

He released the girls, landing three meters away, and planted his feet into the ground using constructed boots with clamps. Then, just in front of him, he created a purple Gatling gun to release its rapid fire of .58 caliber rounds from the cannon. He concentrated on one section to create a tear in the thick hide.

After a minute, murky brown blood oozed from a slit to the right of its tangerine beak. The life-liquid marked his next target. A quick glance over his shoulder and to his right let him know Elly and Sunni still stood safe.

Releasing his current constructs, he channeled his Will to gain as much momentum to his hovering as possible.

“Elly, on my word, shoot to his left. I need you to distract him,” Frank said into the comms.

“Got it!” she acknowledged.

He got in close enough to inhale the putrid stench of dirt and death that came from the beast.

“Now!” Frank yelled.

Upon his word, Elly shifted her fire to the being’s left, giving Frank the opening he needed. Bringing a Damascus steel sword to his hands, he launched straight for the open wound and plunged it deep. Preparing to slide it down to deliver certain death, the light of the day suddenly gave way to a shadow.

Looking up, Frank saw a fat tentacle descending on him. He pushed his way back to solid ground to avoid the slimy swing, landing with a thud. He rolled around and held his pistol in front of him with both hands, ready to shoot should the arm come around again.

EEEEEEEK! the foul creature called out again.

“Oh, he hangry, Frank. What are we going to do?” Elly called out intentionally using her ghetto slang.

“We’ve got this. We have to take it out so we can get to Mardat, then to Lucy,” Frank huffed as he got back up to his feet. “Sunni, can you get hold of one of those arms?”

“Yes, I think so,” she replied.

The Oyan Knight created a massive boulder, dropping it on the being’s right tentacle. As she concentrated on the left, Frank shoved a spear and drove it into the right. With the limbs pinned down, Frank took a knee and seized up a SMAW Mod 2 and launched the rocket at its beak.

Smoke filled the space around the hole in the ground. It gave a final shriek and pulled its way down the hole, leaving a splatter of blood around the ground and spraying into the air.

The ground fell still. The air was quiet. Only then did Frank, Elly, and Sunni release pent-up breaths.

“I swear, it’s like I have a ‘kick me’ sign on my back or something,” Elly blurted out.

“Why would you put a sign for people to kick you?” Sunni looked at Elly, utterly confused with her hands up in question.

“It’s a practical joke thing. I’ll explain later. I’m just tired of gross worms trying to eat us. Like I know we’re an exploratory group and Marines are likely to encounter conflicts but yeesh. I need a vacation,” Elly continued to vent.

“Yeah, maybe you and Raj should just both go,” Frank muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes, remembering the doctor’s similar complaints.

“What? Who said anything about Raj? I’m not going with Raj! Why, did he say something?” Elly shouted to him.

“Whoa, whoa.” Frank held his hands up in protest. “Easy there. Never mind. He didn’t say anything. Let’s get going before anyone comes to see what all the noise was about.” He could kick himself for forgetting his comms.

19

The sun had not yet reached the high point of the sky, so the trio had plenty of time to wait for darkness to fall. This would serve as the best time to steal into the compound undetected. Or so they hoped.

Frank had packed some MREs for the evening meal. After finishing their BBQ beef sandwiches and cherry turnovers, Frank and Sunni practiced a few more constructs. After seeing what she could do in a pinch, the girl was inspired to try more.

“What kinds of weapons should we try?” Sunni asked.

“Fighting is a lot more than just weapons,” Frank told her. “You have to know how to protect yourself. Have to know how to use the weapons. And how to know when to go for the kill and when not to.”

“Yeah, I pretty much just treat everything like a spider,” Elly said, looking up from her data pad where the blue light illuminated her face. “I go all Hulk-smash on it. But that’s because if at that point it’s coming after me, it’s coming for blood.” She shrugged then went back to work.

“So on that note–”Frank started.

“Hey, guys, I think I’ve got something,” Elly called out.

“What is it?” Frank asked as he and Sunni walked over to her and bent over her shoulders to see her screen.

“Hey, back up a little. Give a girl some room, yeah?” Elly said with a whole lot of attitude. Even her neck got into the groove.

Frank just stared down at her with deadpan eyes and a less than amused expression across his pursed lips.

“Right, sorry. Allow me to show you, Major.” Elly’s straight, white teeth showed in her grimace.

“So what is it?” Frank asked for a second time.

“I’ve been tracking these little dots here.” She pointed to some red dots with orange radiating off them. “These are Mardat’s guys. There’s like forty of them in here. But this one hasn’t moved out of this area.”

Again, she pointed on her data pad screen to a slightly bulkier dot that moved around in a square space on the far side of the screen.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Boss Mardat’s workroom,” Sunni said.

“I think so too.” Elly nodded. “Here’s the interesting thing: this dot just appeared. I didn’t see it come in the screen; it just appeared. Like out of thin air.”

“Are you sure?” Frank squinted and concentrated on the scene before him. “Are you trying to say it teleported in?”

“No. I’m not trying to say what happened, just pointing out what didn’t happen. I’m not sure how it got there. Maybe via another gateway?” Elly replied.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Frank’s eyebrows danced up and down.

“You’re going in?” Elly asked, looking up at the bright sky above. “Now, while it’s light.”

“You know it? We have to check it out while whoever it is is still there,” Frank replied.

“We? I’m going too?” Sunni tapped Frank on the shoulder.

“Elly, you be our eyes. Sunni, you be my guide. But stay low. I’ll go in to see what I can spy with my little eye.” Frank doled out instructions for all. “Oohrah!”

“Oohrah!” Elly echoed.

Frank led the way with Sunni close behind. Exiting the woods, they finished the tour around the right hook toward the compound. Coming upon a three-meter-tall wall, they hid among some shrubs that touched the perimeter.

“OK, Elly, we’re here. Where are the guards?” the Marine Knight whispered into the comms.

“K. There are two approaching from the east. You want to head north, so…” she replied. “Wait for it; there might be a quicker way in if you can do your flying-sorry-hovering trick again. The guard patrolling the wall is about to turn away and head in the other direction. Man, this is just like playing a video game.”

“Yeah, a video game where you have one life and that life is your friend’s,” Frank said without humor in his voice. “Focus, Elly.”

“Right, right. I got it. On my count, you go up the wall. You’ll see a large building in the middle of the compound. Go to the roof and find cover there,” Elly said as she reined in her excitement. “On my go.”

“Roger, not the guy’s name, but the term Marines use,” Sunni said, looking to Frank with serious eyes that told him she was one hundred percent committed.

“Okay, three, two, one, go!” Elly said into their comms. “Go, go, go!”

Frank lifted off the ground, reaching for Sunni. To his great surprise, the young Oyan Knight formed a purple ball of energy around her and lifted off the ground right alongside Frank.

Holy Toledo, can every Knight fly besides you? She’s learning so fast, Frank thought to himself. Wonder faded to pride. She’s doing great and she’s going to make one heck of an Arilion Knight.

More thoughts of how well Sunni was progressing in her training would have to wait. The two Knights rose into the air and touched down over the wall without a sound.

The sun was only beginning to descend. Anyone could see them if they were to look in the right direction. To their left, a guard walked down the catwalk no more than a few meters away from them. He carried some kind of rusted-appearing rifle in his hands. In front of them, the compound opened up into a large square with multiple buildings dotting the interior. Two watchtowers stood on the opposite wall that faced the main entrance.

Frank and Sunni crouched. There were guards in the courtyard speaking to one another and another pair on the catwalk to their left. All any one of them had to do was look up and toward the catwalk where Frank and Sunni crouched and the game would be over.

“Elly, you have got to give us better directions,” Frank said, eyeing the numerous buildings in the courtyard. “Which building are we supposed to go to?”

“On your right there should be one that looks like the shape of a U,” Elly coached them. “Go there; there should be a glass dome where you can see Boss Mardat undetected.”

“Got it,” Frank said as his mind fought to come up with a way to reach the rooftop unnoticed. It would require them to hover over the distance of more than a dozen meters.

“Frank,” Sunni said, kneeling down and pointing to a pile of barrels in the far corner of the compound. “I think I can hit it.”

Sunni constructed a violet slingshot in her hands. A tiny pebble sat in the pouch.

“I think you can too,” Frank said to the Oyan girl. “Go for it. As soon as they head over there, be ready to move.”

“Roger, not the guy’s name, but the term you use as Mar—”

“Sunni,” Frank interrupted her. He gave her a smile so she knew he wasn’t mad. “You can just say ‘Roger.’ I know what you mean.”

“Oh, right,” Sunni said, turning her attention back to the task at hand. She pulled the strap of her slingshot taut. She took a deep breath and nodded to herself for a final vote of confidence, then released her grip. The pebble sailed through the air and over the distance, striking a barrel square.

Bump-budda-bump

It hit a barrel and ricocheted off the top and to a nearby barrel. The goons patrolling the area converged on the scene to investigate. They looked to one another, inquiring for witnesses.

“Now!” Frank whispered before jumping into the air toward the target structure.

Sunni did the same and kept up with him as they neared the building. Knowing a handful of guards stood directly below them and a half dozen just five meters away had Frank’s heart drumming in his ears.

Almost there. He mentally did a fist pump.

“Hey! What you doin’ here?” a gruff man below bellowed.

We’re screwed! Frank thought before he dared a gaze down.

About to construct a shield and grappling hook to pull them out of harm’s way, Frank almost laughed to himself when he took in the scene below. An Auriulian cat, not unlike the one Frank had encountered at the creepy kiln where he found the plans, was walking around the barrels. With a languid rolling of its body against the top of barrels then pouncing down to rub along the barrels, it put on a display of how much it didn’t care to hurry or care for whose compound this was.

When Frank and Sunni reached the building, the feline had already begun to meander away. They ducked behind a smoke stack for cover. In the distance below, Frank could hear two thugs fight over who would get to eat the teal cat.

“Elly, we’re here. Head north?” Frank checked in with his girl at the computer.

“Yes, but be careful. Some of the areas of the building have skylights, so they’ll be able to see your shadows below. Oh, and don’t fall in. I saw that in a movie once. They fell through the turning window,” Elly guided.

“Alright. We’re headed out now.” Frank disregarded her last comment and nodded to Sunni, signifying for her to follow him.

Keeping a crouched stance, he placed one boot after the other with his weapon ready, careful to not make a sound. Sunni was quite light on her feet but had more difficulty following, given her knee.

“Sunni, we’ve made it this far because of you. Tell me what else you know of the office or Boss Mardat. I’m thinking that it may be safer for you to stay hidden once we reach that chimney there.” Frank pointed to the stack of bricks just three meters ahead. “If he has the device to use again, I won’t be able to protect you with my powers and you will be vulnerable too without yours.”

While her eyes shifted to the right and she let out a sigh, Sunni didn’t argue. “Alright,” she said after a beat. “I know he has been working and scavenging the area for a while. He made his money originally selling the parts he found back to the factories in the city. When no one would come out to the warehouses and the mills due to the sinkholes and the city becoming more technologically advanced, they still wanted some of the scrap metal.”

“So he’s scrappy, huh?” Frank wondered aloud.

“I’ve heard that when others did try to come out, he’d send his bruisers after them, making people think it was too dangerous for the average Oyan at the shore houses,” she continued.

“So there is an ocean nearby?” Frank stopped, remembering the salty air he had encountered two days before.

“Yeah. The flowers go and go, but on the other side, there’s a cliff to the saltwater. The lime-green crystal minerals he wants are always near the ocean,” Sunni replied, matter of fact.

“OK. Sorry, so have you ever seen or heard of who might want the device he’s created?” Frank dug further, hoping something might stand out.

“I’ve never seen or heard them. I’ve only heard Boss Mardat say that this would be the best payout yet. It would near set him up for life. One time, we couldn’t find a piece he needed and he got so angry. I thought he was going to beat one of the kids. So I told him I’d get it. He told me I had better or it would be my life before his.” Sunni cast down her head for a moment. Then, raising her face to meet Frank’s eyes, she said with pride, “But I found it. I found the coil after all.”

“Sounds like his life was on the line to deliver. I wonder who could have a guy like him so antsy…” Frank mused mostly to himself.

“There should be an oval skylight coming up on your right,” Elly said via the comms. “The signature is coming from there.”

“Understood,” Frank whispered as he and Sunni walked forward in a low crouch. He looked over to the young Oyan knight. “Remember, we’re only here to observe. Don’t let your emotions get in the way. We’ll come back tonight with a squad of Neeve Berserkers led by their empress. Tonight, we fight.”

“Roger,” Sunni said with a brisk nod.

Together, both Arilion Knights peeked through the dirty skylight glass below them.

20

The glass was difficult to see through. It was hard to imagine it had ever been cleaned in its existence. There were bird droppings, water stains, and other gunk Frank didn’t want to guess at covering the surface and caked at the perimeter of the glass panels.

Frank and Sunni had to lean in to get any chance of a decent view. A room opened up below them two stories down. It looked like a dirt office. A dark-colored rug on the floor, bookcases along the wall. A large desk stacked with papers and a chair on either side.

Boss Mardat’s frame barely visible on one side of the desk, he spoke with someone in a dark cloak sitting on the other side.

Voices began to drift up to where Frank and Sunni listened. Frank could tell one was Boss Mardat, while he had never heard the other. The stranger’s voice was mechanical somehow, but not purely robotic; he or she spoke haltingly.

“I delivered on what you and your entity asked for,” Boss Mardat said in a voice free of any power. He leaned back in his chair, minimizing his hefty size. It was strange to hear the gruff man speak to someone as though he were afraid of them after learning of the man’s background and having encountered him previously. “The terms of our agreement are met.”

“Not yet,” the mechanical voice answered.

Frank still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman in the cloak. He leaned in closer, his left ear nearly pressed to the glass.

“With all due respect to you and the entity you serve,” Boss Mardat said. He was flustered. “The dampening weapon works. It was even field tested.”

The creature demanding the weapon stood up. Though from above it would be difficult to be sure, the being seemed to be approximately two meters tall, towering over Mardat. It extended a covered arm from within the cloak. Its hand got lost in the murk of the window, but he could tell it reached the round man across the desk.

It lifted him up and pulled him close to its shadowed face. Mardat pulled back with no result. The being was too strong.

“You created a weapon that when pointed at a being wearing power vambraces nulls their ability to use them. What we want is a weapon that will send out a signal in all directions to do the same thing. We are looking for a bomb if you would – a weapon of mass destruction – while you delivered us a gun,” the halting mechanical voice said, over- pronouncing every word. “Make your adjustments to the weapon so it will be able to sound out the frequency in all directions. Then the terms of our agreement will have been met.”

Releasing its hold on the Oyan boss, it withdrew its arm to the coverage of the cloak. Frank caught a slight reflection, though he couldn’t be sure what kind of armor it wore beneath the cape. Mardat attempted to smooth out his ill-fitting suit jacket and shirt with weak buttons to compose himself.

“But-I-we—” Boss Mardat sputtered before thinking better of his words and cutting himself off. “Yes, of course. I’ll make the changes and have the adapted weapon ready for you in two days. And it will be double the price. Double the parts, double the price.”

“You have until tomorrow night,” the mechanical voice said.

“And the money?” The Oyan racketeer pushed his luck.

“Money matters not to the organization,” the caped being responded without interest.

Sunni leaned in further toward the glass, her furry face pressed against a dirty pane just a bit too hard. She couldn’t resist the urge and caused the grime to give way slightly. The glass didn’t break, only it creaked loud enough for those below to take notice.

Frank got a parting glance of whoever was in the hooded cloak standing opposite Boss Mardat as he pulled his head from the window. It was a robot. Silver metal and red eyes looked back at him. A face like a skull emerged from the shadow. Whether Frank and Sunni had been spotted was anyone’s guess, but Frank wasn’t going to risk Sunni’s life.

“Let’s go.” Frank waved Sunni back from the window the way they had come.

“I’m sorry.” Sunni winced as the pair of Knights backtracked away from the skylight and to the edge of the roof.

“It’s OK; we got what we needed,” Frank said, motioning for Sunni to remain low. “We know what he’s doing with the weapon now and we know where it is. Do you have any idea who he was speaking with?”

“No,” Sunni said in a rushed breath. “I’ve never seen or heard that thing before. What was it?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said, moving his mind away from who the robotic figure could be and toward escaping the compound. “Elly, do you read?”

“I’m here,” Elly said. “You’ll have a clean break for the wall as soon as the guards move back. Hold.”

Frank and Sunni made it to the edge of the roof, where they crouched behind a smoke stack. The metal pipes weren’t letting any smoke into the air at the moment, but they provided the perfect cover.

“Ready to move in three, two, go!” Elly called.

Frank and Sunni launched themselves into the air, floating across the yard once again. Their luck finally ran dry as they touched down on the catwalk attached to the inside of the perimeter wall.

“Hey, you!” a foreign voice screamed. “Hey, they’re on the catwalk.”

Are you really surprised someone saw you? Frank asked himself as he turned to assess the threat. You were trying to sneak around in the middle of the day. It was bound to happen.

Below them, a guard was shouting to the others around the courtyard and catwalks. He might as well have been ringing an alert bell.

Frank ignored the man for the time being, glancing to his left, where the guard closest to them was turning around.

“Over the wall and to Elly,” Frank said to Sunni with no room for arguing in his voice. “That’s an order.”

He didn’t wait to see Sunni obey; instead, he brought his Punisher GS2000 to his shoulder and released two rounds into the center body mass of his target.

BOOM! BOOM!

The Oyan guard had been raising his own weapon to fire on Frank and Sunni when the rounds hit him in the chest. He fell with a scream off the catwalk and to the unforgiving dirt ground below.

Frank turned to head over the wall and came face-to-head with one of the bruisers. The top of his bowler hat came to Frank’s nose. What the being lacked in height, it made up for in bulk and muscle. Even his shirt couldn’t fully cover the broad chest and threatened to tear at the biceps. The Oyan gave Frank a crooked jack-o’-lantern smile before slamming his forehead into Frank’s chest, knocking most of the wind out of his lungs.

“Ooofff,” Frank let out as the air escaped him and surprise covered him.

The grunt came at Frank, swinging wildly. Stumbling back a couple steps, the Marine Knight managed to avoid another oxygen-depleting blow. After taking in a few painstaking breaths, he was back in the game.

Tapping into his recreational days showing off in the ring, Frank bounced off his toes, shifting weight from one side to the other. The attacker came in with a bulky swing with his right and Frank dodged and connected a left punch to his ribs. The brute didn’t take the punch well.

He grunted and his nostrils flared as he stared Frank down with pure menace in his eyes. Below the catwalk, the shouts grew louder and a couple of rounds flew past him.

Time to end this big boy, Frank screamed to himself.

Another swing and miss by the beefy being gave Frank the opportunity he wanted. Calculating the timing just so, Frank side-leaned to avoid the punch. Then, when he charged Frank, he took the assailant’s hand, bent it, twisted his wrist, and grabbed it to hold him in place. Using his own force against the Oyan, he brought his arm behind him and pinned him face down. The next part had to happen quickly; he had to act fast. Leveraging the awkward angle and his strength, he snapped and broke his arm with a sickening pop.

“Aargggh! Aaaarrrrghhhh!” the Oyan thug howled at Frank. He took another frenzied swing as he broke free from the hold and rose to his feet. He tripped and toppled over the wall.

More and more shouts added to the chaos rippling across the courtyard. With the shouts came return fire from the Oyan guards. Their weapons were crude at best, but their blasters did the job as metal rounds struck the catwalk and wall around Frank.

Sunni was already over the wall. Frank threw himself over the wall as well. There was no point in staying and fighting; they had everything they wanted and then some. Their position had been compromised and Mardat knew they were on him. Soon the mystery robot would too. No sense waiting to fight it now. Not with Elly injured and Sunni so new to the vambraces and the power of Will. He wasn’t willing to risk their lives for an unnecessary standoff.

Intel had been collected. They knew what the compound looked like and what to expect from Boss Mardat. The only missing piece of the puzzle now was who he was creating the weapon for. Answers for that riddle would have to wait until Boss Mardat was in custody.

Frank floated to the ground on the opposite side of the wall where Sunni waited for him. Together, they sprinted for the tree line, where Elly waited.

“Keep running. I’ll cover you,” Elly said via the comms.

Elly was still a hundred meters in front of them, where the first few trees stuck out as the vanguard of the forest. She knelt on her right knee, aiming down her own rifle at the top of the wall.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Elly let loose with a barrage of tungsten steel rods as she unloaded on the wall in front of her. Each one released with a series of grunts of pain from their injured friend.

Return fire sounded behind them. Frank created a barrier over his armor of purple light and ran right behind Sunni to protect her from any fire.

Spat spat-spat whiz

Rounds hit the dirt near their feet, sending dust and shells rebounding into the air. A couple came too close for Frank’s comfort. He focused on getting to the coverage ahead.

The Oyan girl maintained her purple orb of protection from her own vambraces, but Frank wasn’t going to take any chances. He had lost enough. If there was even the slightest chance a round could get to her, he was more than willing to put his own body on the line.

A few seconds later, Frank and Sunni made it to the tree line, where they and Elly disappeared into the forest.

21

“And then Elly was like ‘Noooooo.’ And I jumped in to save her like, ‘Elly, I got you!’” Sunni reenacted the events of the day for the third time to the delight of the other Oyan orphans. “And then Frank was like ‘I need your help, Sunni.’ And I was like ‘I’ll get the monster!’”

Tiny fur hands clapped and they looked on in awe as Sunni replayed the events. She constructed props from her vambraces for full effect.

“I don’t sound like that,” Elly said with a raised eyebrow as Sunni did another Elly impersonation.

Yur’l smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.

“What? I don’t,” Elly said.

“Let the children have their fun.” Yur’l squeezed her shoulder gently before letting go. “They haven’t had much to laugh about in too long of a time.”

“OK, well, I guess.” Elly went back to her data pad. She looked up at Frank.

“Are you sure, Frank?” Raj asked for the third time. “You’re not hurt? No bullet wounds? No broken…anything?”

“No, I’m fine. It was reconnaissance. There was a robot, but we left before encountering it,” Frank repeated himself.

“I know. You’re concussed.” Raj nodded his head exceptionally high, then low. “You’re seeing robots, so you must be concussed. Here, let me see your eyes.”

Frank batted away Raj’s tan hands as they groped for his face.

“Raj. Raj?” Frank said in all seriousness. “I’m fine.”

“Son of a bionic baddie, Frank. I’m just worried.” Raj sat down in defeat.

“Ready to see Mrs. Wolffe? She’s en route with her squad of Berserkers.” Elly glanced side-eyed at Frank.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” Frank shot Elly a hard stare, then smiled to show her he was teasing. “Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Elly nodded in the affirmative as the golden sphere in front of them came to life. A moment later, it hovered in place, then projected a tall archway. Soon multi-colored fog rolled through the doorway.

Sunni and the orphans paused their show long enough to come and stand with the rest of Marine Space Corps-1. Their little mouths dropped into small O shapes as they witnessed the magic of the gateway.

Frank felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. All his anxiety and fear was gone for the moment. The fact that he was shot at earlier that day and went head to head with a burrowing alien monster faded to the far recesses of his mind.

His heart was happy when he first caught sight of her. Empress Vega was tall and lean, her white hair braided behind her head like an ancient Viking warrior goddess. She, along with the squad of Berserkers behind her, wore dark gunmetal grey armor. The sigil of House Thunder was stamped on their breastplates.

A sword nearly as tall as Vega rested diagonally on her back. The helmet held in the crook of her left elbow had a pair of wings painted backward at its temples.

Vega’s eyes caught Frank’s. She smiled and nodded to everyone, yet she went straight to him.

“So this is what an Empress has to do to get a date with the Marine Knight these days? Agree to go on a raid on an alien planet?” Vega teased him. “You’re lucky I’m that kind of girl.”

Frank wanted to say something witty back—he had a line or two in mind—but more than anything, he just wanted to hold her and kiss her. He did. Frank didn’t care who was looking. He grabbed her to himself and pressed his lips against hers, surrendering the bliss that moment brought.

“Yeah!” The little ones clapped as they saw the act unfold in front of them.

Frank broke off the kiss. He wanted to show affection without putting on a show for anyone.

“Yeah, well, I might have put the idea in the general’s mind to call on a specific ally to help with this raid,” Frank said to Vega with a wink. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“If it’s OK with you, I’d like to get my men settled and go over the plan for tonight,” Vega said, waving to Raj, Elly, and Yur’l. “It’s good to see you, friends.”

Elly went straight to Vega and gave her a hug. “It’s so good to see you too, Empress. I wanted to give you and Frank a minute together but I couldn’t wait to say ‘Hi.’ How are Heron and your mother?”

Frank let the group say their hellos. Raj also gave Vega a hug while Yur’l, less familiar with the Neeve empress, gave her a firm handshake.

Frank took the time to look over the Neeve Berserkers. There were ten of them altogether. Large purple-skinned Neeve, muscular and ready for combat. On their planet more than any other, Arilion Knights were to be respected. They showed this respect by bowing their heads low when they saw Frank and Yur’l. After a moment of shock, they did the same for Sunni.

“We’re glad to have you by our sides,” Frank said to the Neeve Berserkers. “The last time I fought by the Berserkers, we were assaulting the Chaos Lord on his own planet. Were any of you there?”

“I served with you in that battle.” A scarred Neeve berserker walked forward, looking at Frank with admiration. “I’ll be a hundred years old on my deathbed still remembering the way you and Sava Sargard went toe-to-toe with Kraymar. I’m happy to serve by your side again.”

Frank wished he remembered the Berserker’s name. He did look familiar, but Frank couldn’t bring the Neeve’s name to the surface of his memory.

“You’ll have to forgive me.” Frank extended a hand. “I don’t remember your name.”

“Nothing to forgive. I’m not sure you ever knew it.” The Neeve Berserker accepted Frank’s offered hand and shook it firmly. “My name is Aros Tamar. My brother Argon, led the Berserkers that day on the Chaos Lord’s planet. He fell and now I lead the troop as their captain.”

Realization struck Frank immediately. He had never met Aros, but he did remember the fearless leader his brother had been.

“It was an honor to serve next to your brother.” Frank held Captain Tamar’s eye. “He was a great man, leader, and warrior. He never hesitated. I know that same blood runs alive and well in you. I couldn’t ask for a better captain to lead the Berserkers into battle once more.”

The words from Frank nearly floored the Neeve captain. Frank was afraid he had said too much. While he meant every word he said, perhaps it was too much for Aros at such a time as this.

“Thank-thank you, Arilion Knight.” Aros cleared his throat. “That means more than you know to me and my family.”

Frank nodded, opening his arms to take in the building. “It’s not much, but you’re welcome to our rations and to make yourselves ready until we leave for the assault on the compound.”

“Thank you,” Aros said to Frank. He looked back to his men and began doling out orders.

Frank joined the rest of his own team as Elly began going over the plans for the assault with Vega.

“Oh good,” Elly said, motioning Frank over. “I wasn’t sure who you wanted on the strike team. I know someone needs to stay back with the sphere. I’m guessing you’ll want Raj with you in case someone is injured.”

Frank braced himself to make the call he knew he needed to. It was going to be an unpopular one at that, but it was what had to be done. The squad leader didn’t make calls based on what others wanted; he put into action what was necessary to get the job done without risking lives.

“Sunni and Yur’l will stay behind to guard the sphere this time,” Frank said, looking at both the Knights as their mouths dropped in unison. “Mardat will have the device working, which will cancel out our vambraces. After we were spotted leaving his compound today, I’m sure he’s been working on it. Without that edge, you two are civilians. Yur’l less so because you’ve been training with us the last few months but still. Elly and Raj have years of Marine training.”

“But I can still help.” Sunni shook her head as Yur’l remained silent, his years over her showing. “I can show you the way even without my powers. And I can still do stuff.”

Frank remembered back just hours before when they were under fire. He and Sunni had both used their vambraces to protect themselves. Tonight, if Boss Mardat had his weapon working, there would be no such cover.

“I’m sorry, Sunni, I really am. I’m not just saying that. I get it and if you need to be pissed off at me, I get that too.” Frank kneeled down to be eye level with the Oyan girl. “You just have to trust your family right now. That you are needed here where your powers work not only to protect the sphere but the other orphans. They’re your family too.”

Sunni swallowed hard, then nodded, remembering her first responsibility.

Frank rose to his feet to look at Yur’l. “Nothing from you?”

“If I tried to argue, would it help?” Yur’l asked, eyeing Frank sideways.

“No, no. I guess it wouldn’t,” Frank agreed.

“Besides, as much as I still want to go, I see the wisdom in your words,” Yur’l said, motioning to the Berserkers around him. “You have trained warriors with you. You don’t need some old bird who has a few months of training under his belt to worry about. Besides, who’s going to stay here and watch Magnus?”

Frank looked over to the winged wolf creature who had taken a liking to the Oyan children. He was nuzzling one of them at the moment. Still recovering from the blow he took from Lucy, it was safer for Magnus here as well. He had remained behind earlier that day and would do so once more.

“Thank you,” Frank said to Yur’l. He looked over at Elly and Vega. “Shall we go over the plan?”

“Right.” Vega motioned for Captain Tamar to join them. Elly put her smartpad on an old wooden crate for everyone to gather around and view the layout. “Here’s what we’re looking at.”

Frank crossed his arms, looking down at the display screen with Raj, Elly, Vega, and the captain. There were close to fifty of the little dots on the screen now. They would be outnumbered four to one. What they did have at their advantage were better weapons, training, and surprise. Frank would take those key elements over a larger force any day.

Even if Boss Mardat did expect an assault on his compound, he had no idea of knowing how, when, or in what numbers they would come. Frank peered down again to see where the dots were congregating. It seemed there were at least eight guards on the catwalks over the walls and twice that many patrolling the grounds.

“We’ll cause a distraction here,” Frank said, pointing to the rear of the compound where he and Sunni had floated over the wall hours before. “Once we do, Vega and her Berserkers will have a free run at the front gates. We’ll converge on the main building where Boss Mardat and his new toy will be. We bring him and his weapon in. Keep your eyes open. Lucy Lopez will probably show up as well, trying to steal the dampener. We need to bring her in as well. Questions?”

Frank looked up to see everyone who had huddled around the data pad raise their hand. Raj raised both of his like he was surrendering.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Frank shook his head. “What is it?”

“They’re going to expect an attack from the rear,” Elly said.

“With no powers, how are you going to get all the Oyan guards’ eyes on you?” Raj added.

“We can assault the front gates by going over them with ropes and grappling hooks,” Captain Tamar, said rubbing a hand over his chin. “But it might take us longer than you have to cross the compound and get you some help.”

Frank looked over to Vega, who lowered her hand. Her lips twitched the slightest bit. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with your plan except for the part where you charge in alone creating the distraction.”

“Don’t worry, I got this covered,” Frank said with an easy smile. He threw a thumb at Raj and Elly. “I won’t be alone; Raj and Elly will be coming with me. Marine Space Corps-1 is on the job.”

22

“I’m not saying I don’t trust you,” Raj whispered in Frank’s ear. “I mean you’ve never led us wrong. We’ve faced down leviathans, a Chaos Lord, and a terrorist bent on our destruction, but this one is bananas, Frank. Like son of a banana, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Frank crouched deep in the wooded area behind the compound Boss Mardat called a base. Raj was on his right, Elly on his left. The three Marines wore their black diamond-plated armor. Their helmets were yet to be secured. Each one of them held a Punisher GS2000 gauss-powered rifle in their hands.

It was dark with a pair of distant moons overhead. The stars shone bright in the sky but had difficulty penetrating the forest canopy.

“We have a more pressing problem,” Elly breathed from her position next to Frank. She brought up the data pad to show the pair. “Mardat took the extra precaution to send patrols into the forest.”

Frank followed Elly’s line of sight as she studied the data pad. She was right. Two blue dots were walking side by side as they patrolled the opposite side of the forest closest to the compound.

Frank bit his lower lip, taking time to think out the tactics that should be used instead of just rushing in head first. It was new for him.

The forest of alien trees and strange chirping creatures added to the level of unease he felt. It had been a long time since he had had to fight without his vambraces. While they still glowed now, he knew it was just a matter of time before he lost the edge and they dulled to fancy armor for his forearms as they had before when he first encountered Boss Mardat.

You’re a Marine, Frank, he reminded himself. You’re a trained machine and you’ll find a way.

“It doesn’t change our plan,” Frank told Raj and Elly. “We move within eyesight of the targets and take them out, then it’s business as usual while we create the diversion. I’ll take point. Oorah?”

“Oorah!” Elly and Raj answered.

They crept up close to where the two guards patrolled the area. Seeing they were close, Frank and Elly took to the trees while Raj put himself in a position to grab their attention.

Frank pressed himself against the tree closest to him, smelling the bark’s dampness in the night. His vambraces acted as they had before. Without warning, the dim glowing light faded and then extinguished altogether.

It was a disconcerting thought as to the kind of technology that could interfere with the powerful apparatuses. One minute, he was a superhero, and the next, those abilities were pulled from him like a kid’s loose tooth.

Frank looked down at his vambraces that now stood disenfranchised on his forearms. A low whistle from Raj took his mind off his missing powers and directed them to the task at hand.

Frank turned to see around the trunk of his tree with the barrel of his weapon pointed in the direction the pair of Oyan guards would be using to travel back down the path.

He stared at the edge of the forest, a clearing, and after that, the Boss Mardat’s compound. Almost as bright as daylight, countless lights emitted from the compound. It appeared Boss Mardat had ordered more installed for the night. He was ready for the raid, of that Frank had no doubt.

Raj’s call came again, low and deep. It sounded as though a gaggle of birds had a throat problem. Frank glimpsed to his left, where the pair of Oyan guards had come into view. He would take the one on the right; Elly the one on the left.

She was kneeling beside the tree next to his, carefully taking aim. Frank let out a deep breath. He sighted down the barrel of his weapon and let out a heavy sigh. As soon as the shots went off, all hell would break loose from the compound.

The Oyan goons got closer. They were bulky creatures, around one and a half meters tall. They wore tattered clothing and carried metal rifles of their own.

“So what does a guy have to do around here to get caught?” Raj asked as he stepped out of his hiding place in front of the pair of Oyan guards. “Seriously, I’ve been making some horrible owl noises.”

BOOM! BOOM!

The Marines roared into the night and not a second too soon. The Oyan guards were lifting their weapons at Raj, ready to take their own shots.

Instead, they were both neutralized, as puffs of blood appeared in the air. The two went down without another sound: still, it became immediately clear that the blasts from their rifles had not gone unnoticed.

Raj ran back into the tree line, drawing his own weapon and taking aim at the wall.

Shouts too far to make out exact words yet close enough for the yelling voices to be heard drifted toward the tree line.

“Remember, lights first and keep it on them until Vega and her Berserkers can get over the wall,” Frank reminded Elly and Raj. The night vision mode on his heads-up display gave him a clear picture of the compound wall. “Let’s show them that Marines don’t need extra powers to be a force to be reckoned with.”

“Oorah!” Elly and Raj said in unison.

Figures along the wall appeared a moment later. Two giant mobile spotlights were rolled over and shot into the forest tree line, seeking the culprits and illuminating the area for the advancing mob.

“Pour it on them!” Frank yelled.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Marine Space Corps-1 lit up the night with sounds of thunder. Frank went after the spotlight on his right, sending a pair of rounds into the glass and shattering the bulbs. The other spotlight erupted a moment later due to a round from either Raj or Elly.

Return fire peppered their position, but it was clear the Oyans still didn’t have a hard bead on the unit’s exact position. Rather, they were firing blindly into the forest, hoping to hit one of their targets.

Frank kept himself calm, ignoring the random scattering of enemy fire that hit the ground and trees around him. He drew a bead on an Oyan guard who kept popping up over the wall with his crude weapon firing off a few shots and then crouching down again.

Frank waited for his shot. As soon as the lean, snarling furry face appeared again, Frank send two rounds into his target. The head didn’t pop up again.

The weapons the Oyans were using reminded Frank of the bolt action rifles used in Earth’s first World War. They shot metal projectiles with most of them needing to be re-cocked before another round could be fired into the fray.

Frank and the rest of his team kept at it for what felt like a full minute. Every second that passed, the Oyan guards were getting closer to locking down their position.

“Vega, what’s your status?” Frank rolled behind the cover of a tree to his left. “How close are you?”

“Just crested the front wall,” Vega whispered into the comm unit Frank had given her before they began. “Eliminating the threat here then we’re headed into the compound itself. When we reach the far wall I’ll have a ladder sent down for you.”

“Roger that,” Frank said. “We’ve got all eyes on us at the moment. See you soon.”

Frank rolled down onto his belly, ready to sight back on the wall and take a few more shots. Enemy weapons fire hit the ground all around him until a round found his left shoulder.

The diamond-plated armor turned the round into nothing more than a nuisance, though it still didn’t feel good. The hot piece of metal struck his shoulder like someone with a ballpoint hammer taking a cheap shot.

“They’re starting to get closer,” Elly said to his left.

“What’s that?” Raj asked from his opposite side of Elly.

Frank zoomed in with his heads-up display to see what Raj was talking about. The bruiser guards were moving four larger machines in place. Two looked like bazookas on wheels and the other two resembled heavy machine guns.

“Let’s not wait to find out,” Frank ordered. “Concentrate fire on their larger weapons. Whatever they are, they can’t be good for us. Let’s bring the noise!” Frank shouted to inspire the other Marines.

Frank, Raj, and Elly let loose on the menacing artillery as they were being secured into place and loaded. Frank knew he had taken out at least four of the Oyan guards trying to man the bazooka-like weapon on the far right, but still they kept coming.

SHHHHROOOOM!

A rocket erupted from the wall with a white smoke tail streaking towards it. It detonated meters in front of Frank. The force of the impact wasn’t enough to blow him back, but it was harsh enough for him to feel the heat even through his armor. The acrid smell of smoke washed over his nostrils. Bark, soil, and forest foliage rained down on him as he struggled to see through the smoke.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

The sounds of weapons fire from the .50 caliber barrels lit up the night as Frank rolled behind cover.

“Elly, Raj, report in,” Frank said as rounds struck the trunk of the tree he hid behind as well as the ground in every direction. It was clear the enemy had found his exact spot.

“These guys know where we’re at now!” Elly yelled into her comms.

“I took a few rounds to my shoulder and arms, but I’m good. Our armor stopped the worst of it,” Raj answered. “Orders?!?”

“We need to find a new position,” Frank yelled. “There’s too many of them to fight like this. Get ready to advance to the rear and reposition. On my go!”

The zooming crescendo and crackling of rockets and heavy machine guns from on the wall striking all around them made it nearly impossible to be heard. Frank hoped Elly and Raj had heard him.

Just like that, an eerie silence crept over the scene, followed by shrieks and screams from Oyan lips.

One second the night sky was alive with the sounds of weapons being discharged and rockets being fired, the next blood-curdling screams reached into the air.

Shots rang out once more a moment later, but these rounds weren’t directed at Marine Space Corps-1.

“We’re in; hurry,” Vega said over the comms.

Frank chanced a glance around the thick trunk of the tree he had used a shelter. Sure enough, the rounds that were being volleyed now were not meant for him or his team. They were being exchanged inside the compound walls.

It was Frank’s turn to play cavalry now and rush in to help. Vega, Captain Tamar, and the rest of the Berserker unit would be taking the brunt of the gangsters’ blows at the moment.

“On me.” Frank waved to Elly and Raj. “Run like hell to the wall!”

Raj and Elly crossed the open ground with Frank. Elly did her best to keep up, but there was no denying her ribs were killing her. Frank could only imagine the type of pain she was in. Above all else, above the innocent look on her face and her joking personality, Elly Wong was a force to be reckoned with.

The trio made it to the wall without incident, the cacophony of carnage raging in the night.

It took Frank a moment to find the rope ladder that had been dropped for them. It hung in the middle of their side of the wall.

“I’ll go first to make sure it’s secure. Follow behind me in thirty seconds,” Frank said, placing his Punisher GS2000 on the metal clip on his back and starting up the ladder.

Hand over hand, he climbed. Every time he got closer, the bellows of bloodshed grew. Shots still rang out from Oyan weapons but not nearly as frequent as before. Neither were the sounds of the weapons being discharged as close as they had been.

Frank threw himself over the top of the wall a moment later to see carnage and death along the catwalk. Oyan bodies filled the path to the extent it was difficult to walk without stepping on one of them. A pair of Berserker soldiers also lay motionless.

Frank paused his glance for a second longer on them, acknowledging and honoring their sacrifice. Orchid blood seeped out from holes in their armor and under the helm of another. Warriors to the end, the Berserker fighter would prefer an honorable death in battle over anything. Yet it didn’t escape Frank that part of the reason these men lay dead here was because he had asked for Neeve aid.

“They’re retreating into their main compound,” Captain Tamar said, running up to Frank from the far side of the catwalk. His call pulled Frank back to the moment. In his grey armor, he carried a lance and a shield nearly as large as he was. “I can show you.”

“Thank you,” Frank said, reaching for his own weapon again. As soon as Elly and Raj appeared over the wall, Marine Space Corps-1 followed the eager captain down the catwalk to the ground floor.

Every step of the way was soaked with Oyan blood. Frank didn’t number them, yet he figured there must have been over twenty bodies down for the count.

The sounds of fighting were a close memory as they entered the ground of the compound itself. Vega waited for them in front of a pair of double doors that led into the largest building where Boss Mardat would be waiting.

Vega removed her helmet. A gleam of sweat covered her face from brow to chin. She glistened under the lights of the compound. Her sword was soaked in the blood of her enemies. It stood beside her propped up on a column of oil drums.

“We have two men down and twice as many injured.” Vega motioned behind her to where four injured Berserkers stood around a circle of unarmed Oyan thugs who had given up. “I have two more Berserkers at the rear exit of this building just in case.”

“Got it,” Frank said to Vega. He turned to Elly. “Elly, what are we looking at?”

“I see nine more signatures inside the building,” Elly said, taking out her data pad, which rested in a carrier at the small of her back. “This is almost over.”

“I’ll send Captain Tamar to hold the rear doors while we assault the front,” Vega suggested, looking over to Frank for approval. “If that sounds good to you.”

“Let’s do it,” Frank said.

Vega doled out the order to her second in command, who did not look pleased at watching the rear door, but neither did he offer an argument.

The next moment, Captain Tamar saluted his empress, then took off at a run to obey. He was soon lost against the side of the compound building as he turned the corner.

“Elly, can I take a look at that schematic again?” Frank asked as the assault team of Marine Space Corps-1 and Vega stood ready.

“Sure thing,” Elly said, handing Frank the plans to the compound.

Frank studied the building up and down, orienting himself with the structure before looking down again. There were two main entrances and various windows around the perimeter. Vega’s Berserkers, led by Captain Tamar, would be able to round up any of the goons that tried to flee.

“I think they’ll be expecting us to go through the front,” Frank said, pointing to the double wooden doors that led into the compound. “Instead, I think we should drop in from the skylight and take them by surprise.”

“You would think that.” Elly shook her head. “There are nine of them in there, though. We’re still outnumbered two-to-one if we did that.”

“No, just Vega and I will drop in,” Frank said, handing Elly back her data pad. “Our armor can stop most of their rounds. We’ll have the element of surprise. We’ll take out half their number before they even know what’s happening and if I can get to the device that’s dampening my power, then it’s game over. You and Raj will guard the front door and take out anyone who tries to make a run for it.”

Elly and Raj both looked down at the data pad. The single blinking blue dot that signified who they thought to be Boss Mardat had not left his office.

“We can get in and out,” Frank said to them with a reassuring smile they couldn’t see past his helmet. “No one else needs to die tonight.”

23

Frank and Vega made the climb to the roof thanks to another rope ladder with grappling hooks. The pair crouched as they ran to the skylight window. The shadows across the rooftop playing with their movement created sinister beings from their imagination.

“When we get in, I’ll grab this Boss Mardat while you destroy the piece of equipment he’s made that neutralizes your vambraces,” Vega said. “I don’t know what it looks like and you may be able to just shoot it.”

“Agreed,” Frank said as he looked at her in the moonlight. The woman who had done what no other could. The woman who held his heart. “Hey, maybe we should take a vacation after all this Jarl-Lucy Lopez business is done with? I mean, just you and me.”

Vega turned her head, giving him her full attention. Her eyes were full of curiosity. “I’d like that more than you know, but I’m not sure if either one of us can make that a possibility with your work on Earth and my duty to my people.”

“What if we could?” Frank asked, not believing his own words but realizing how much time they were spending apart and how much he actually cared for her. “What if we rewrote the rules and decided to be together forever.”

“Frank, did you suffer a concussion?” Vega asked, trying to look past his visor. “Why are you talking about this now?”

“Because I’ve waited long enough to tell you,” Frank said. “I’ve waited long enough to tell you that I’m in love with you, and you’re right, this isn’t the time nor the place, but unless I do it now, I’m afraid it will never be the time or place.”

A smile spread over Vega’s lips so wide, Frank could see all of her teeth.

“I love you too, Frank Wolffe. If we weren’t wearing our helmets right now, I’d kiss you long and hard.” Vega’s eyes sparkled. “Let’s pick up this conversation as soon as we finish capturing a racketeer and murderer and restore your super abilities, and then find some place to be alone, my love.”

“I like the sound of that,” Frank said, leaning forward as he tapped the front of his helmet to her own and made a kissing sound. “That’s the dorkiest thing I’ve ever done, but it’ll have to do for now. Ready?”

“Ready,” Vega said as the two leaned over the skylight to get their bearings of the ground below.

The floor was about two stories down. Table lamps lit up the same room Frank had seen previously. Nothing had changed much; still a woven red rug, wooden bookcases, a polished wood desk with pair of carved chairs on either side.

Boss Mardat was the only one in the room, pacing back and forth in his office. He wasn’t an especially tall Oyan. This time, a dark blue suit over a white shirt covered his seemingly average height and impressive bulky frame, both muscular-wise and girth-wise. From this height and Frank’s last face-to-face encounter, Frank figured he couldn’t be more than one and a half meters tall at the most. At the moment, he didn’t look like he was carrying anything. The contraption that dampened Frank’s powers was nowhere to be seen.

“You grab him and I’ll secure the door to the room,” Frank said, pointing to the only door in and out of the office he could see. “Then we’ll find his device or make him tell us where it is.”

“Let’s do it,” Vega said. Standing up, she drew her great sword and prepared for the jump. The fall would be nearly two stories down.

“Three, two, one,” Frank said as he stood up and took a few steps back.

Following a violent swing of her sword, as one, the Knight and the Empress sailed through the crashing glass. A shower of twinkling shards descended with them as they landed hard. Both warriors rolled to absorb the impact coming up within a meter to Mardat.

As soon as they landed, Frank could tell there was something very wrong. Boss Mardat was smiling at them.

“Glad you could make it. You didn’t think you were the only ones with fancy tech, did you?” Boss Mardat chuckled as he pressed a button on a strange watch he wore.

Out of thin air, the room was alive with Oyan brutes. There were dozens of them – far more than what Elly had suspected. A pair of them were on top of Frank before he could get a shot off. Three more tackled Vega, wrestling her to the ground.

Frank’s helmet was ripped off and his face battered over and over again. He managed to break one of the Oyan’s noses and was pretty sure another wouldn’t be able to have kids in his lifetime, but there were too many bodies pressing in on him.

A moment later, his face was a bloody mess with cuts on his lip and above his eye. His hands were forced behind his back and tied tight.

Vega didn’t fare any better. There was screaming as she removed the left arm of the first Oyan who rushed her, but she too was soon captured and forced to her knees.

“You think you’re so smart.” Mardat shook his head and rolled his eyes. “You don’t think I can create tech too? Tech that could scramble the number of guards I really had in here and cloak their visibility? You’re a fool; ignorant fools and you’ll die today. But not before I see you all rounded up so you can die together.”

One of the lackeys handed Boss Mardat Frank’s sidearm, his Reckoner P7.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with,” Boss Mardat said, eyeing Frank with eyes hungry for a fight. “The ones who requested I construct this weapon are so far beyond you, if you knew who they were, you’d piss yourself.”

“I know enough,” Frank said, holding Boss Mardat’s gaze defiantly. “I know you’re a piece of trash who uses kids to do his work. I know you’re the kind of scum that kills kids. And I’m not done with you yet.”

“That’s a lot of talk for a guy who’s about to get all his friends killed. I bet there’s a trail of bodies from anyone who gets close to you, starting with any sorry soldier who followed you into war and up to that sorry sack of fur that fell to his death the other day. How about this pretty thing here?” He stalked over to Vega with pounding, deliberate steps. Then he ran the barrel of Frank’s Reckoner P7 up the side of her cheek. “I’m sure she’d go through heaven and hell for you. Are you ready to say goodbye?”

Vega remained resolute, not giving Mardat the satisfaction of fear or pleading as the gun ran up her face and the barrel rested on the top of her head to the side of her warrior braid.

Frank began to quiver with rage. He had just professed his love to her. He was most definitely not ready to say goodbye.

“You’re a coward and a waste of space. A lot of space. Of course you couldn’t face me open. I’d tear you apart bit by wasted bit, you piece of–” Frank was cut off.

Boss Mardat growled as he reached back and struck Frank across his jaw and cheek with two quick right hands.

Pain exploded in Frank’s head as stars lit his vision.

“Leave him alone!” Vega roared as she struggled to regain her feet. She was pressed down by a pair of Oyan toadies.

“It’s OK, it’s OK.” Frank spat blood and chuckled because he knew it would infuriate Boss Mardat and maybe he would make a mistake. “He hits like the kids he takes advantage of.”

“Gag them and then get them on their feet!” Boss Mardat roared. “We’ll take them to the front and have their allies surrender and then we kill them all.”

Rough hands stuffed filthy rags into Frank’s and Vega’s mouths before hauling them forward and following Boss Mardat. The contingent wove their way down a sad, bare compound. Boss Mardat stopped in front of a pair of closed wooden doors.

“This is Mardat. We’ve captured your friends. We’re bringing them out. Don’t shoot or else they’re dead.” The tone of his gruff voice was almost cooperative. It sickened Frank the way this man could be so conniving. Boss Mardat pushed Frank forward with the barrel of his own sidearm pressed against the back of his head. It grinded on the short hairs of his head, pushing into his skull.

Another Oyan brute shoved Vega forward with the muzzle of Frank’s Punisher GS2000 in her lower back.

Frank walked forward, blinking past the blood that dripped into his eyes. More than anything, he wanted Elly and Raj to open fire. Vega’s armor might be able to take the round from the Punisher GS2000. She could roll away to safety.

Elly and Raj stood in front of them behind a line of barrels and crates. To the rear of them were the four injured Berserkers standing guard over the Oyan prisoners.

“Let my men go and drop your weapons or you watch your own die,” Boss Mardat said, shoving Frank to his knees. Then his tune shifted and grew darker. “I’m not going to ask twice.”

Don’t do it, Frank yelled in his own head. Don’t you do it; they’re going to kill you anyway. You know that.

Frank caught a motion on the upper catwalk in the right front corner of the compound. He could only glance once before looking away so as to not bring attention to what he saw.

A dark-cloaked Sunni stood next to Lucy Lopez. The latter held a cannon in her hands that resembled a cross between a grenade launcher and a double-barreled shotgun.

“OK, OK, don’t hurt them,” Raj said, lowering his weapon. “We can work out a prisoner exchange. Just don’t do anything rash.”

“You mistake me.” Boss Mardat laughed, pressing the barrel of his gun so hard against the back of Frank’s head that Frank thought he’d start drilling a hole in his skull. “You have no power here. Throw down your weapons, or so help me, I’ll put a hole in the back of your friend’s head the size of my first.”

Mardat then lifted the handgun and fired off two shots. Frank’s heart seized, terrified at who the rounds could have been meant for. One of the captured Oyan fell to the ground, dead.

Frank made eye contact with Raj, who looked as though he just saw his life flash before him. Silence filled the air as bewilderment settled in.

“He was one of my own. But I have no tolerance for failure, or weakness. Any one of your lives is even more worthless to me. My patience is at its end. Surrender,” Mardat ordered.

Frank did his best to keep his head straight and look only with his eyes to the upper corner of the catwalk.

He heard it before he saw it.

24

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Lucy Lopez rained down hell on the Oyan brutes alongside Boss Mardat. Her rounds hit so close to Frank, he was thrown forward. Hands still tied to his back, he rolled and rolled until he crashed into a stack of barrels.

Disoriented, blood still dripping into his eyes with sweat, Frank tried to regain his feet.

There was a heavy ringing in his ears from being so close to the explosions. He still didn’t know if Lucy was aiming for him or the Oyan guards or both.

Sunni was in front of Frank a moment later, removing his gag and going to work on the knots behind his back.

She was speaking to him, but his ears were rebelling at the moment, refusing to let him hear what she had to say.

All around him, the courtyard was a maelstrom of battle. Elly and Raj were returning fire as they reached Vega and dragged her to their lines. Captain Tamar and the two Berserkers with him who had been watching the rear exit to the compound joined the battle, wading in with their long swords and spears.

“See, I told you I could help,” Sunni shouted into Frank’s ear. ”I told you—”

Frank saw what happened to Aziz take place all over again. Boss Mardat was heading toward them. He lifted the Reckoner P7 and aimed it at Sunni’s back.

There wasn’t time for thought, only action. Frank wrapped Sunni in his arms and put his back to the on-coming Boss Mardat.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The rounds struck Frank’s back over and over again. His diamond-plated armor dented and dug into his skin. His body wrenched at the impact of each projectile slamming into him; still, he didn’t relinquish his hold on Sunni. Frank was prepared to put his life on the line.

The last one hit his shoulder just inches from his head. Though thick-headed, he knew his skull wouldn’t take a round from the advanced weapon.

“Oh, heck no!” Frank heard a murderous roar as Raj barreled into Mardat.

Though Raj’s slender frame couldn’t topple over the underworld kingpin, it was enough to halt the assault on Frank and Sunni. Mardat lost the firearm in the onslaught.

Boss Mardat grabbed Raj by the front of his armor and lifted him off the ground. Glaring at him straight in the face, he then brought him in close and headbutted Raj, sending a spray of blood from the doctor’s nose over both of them. Crimson stains blotted the front of Mardat’s shirt.

Raj stumbled back, reeling from the blow.

“AAAAAGGGH!” Frank charged Mardat with all the aggression he’d been holding back.

It felt like ramming into a brick wall. The man was solid muscle. But Frank’s determination was stronger; this piece of garbage wasn’t getting away. This was the end of the line.

Mardat took two steps back, then came at Frank with arms flailing faster than he could initially block. Each slam of fist against his body was like a sledgehammer. Frank caught the third strike and slammed his elbows down into the crook of Mardat’s arm.

This brought the crime lord’s face downward. Frank then made contact with his left knee. The Oyan’s head flew backward, but Frank caught it by the back of his head and brought Mardat’s face forward for another blow.

An irregular sickening cadence of flesh and fury slamming into each other added to the din around the compound.

Mardat’s black eyes glowered at Frank and maintained a steely hold on his mark. Another onslaught of gorilla-like swings came at Frank. He only managed to thwart a portion of the impact, using his arms to block the fists that came at his head. Again, he found an opportunity to get under the blow and come at Mardat with an uppercut, using both hands.

Mardat broke through and grabbed Frank by the neck with one arm. Driving back, he slammed Frank into the ground. They scrambled. Frank was overpowered by the man’s brute force. Mardat held his head in his arms and squeezed and pulled. Frank’s legs kicked in front of him and the light began to fade around his vision.

Frank was struggling for breath and slamming up with his fists when he heard the distantly familiar war cry from Lucy Lopez.

“Huuuuaaaa!” she exclaimed as she brought down a fist to skull punch Mardat in the back of the head.

Mardat’s grip on Frank loosened, giving Frank the moment he needed for air and to capitalize on the fight. He wrenched his neck free of Mardat’s grip.

Mardat moved from his place on top of Frank to face this new threat. Lucy Lopez sent a kick out with her right leg that the big man telegraphed. He caught her limb with his left meaty hand and hammered her with a wicked right blow with his right. The strike connected with Lucy’s solar plexus, doubling her over before Boss Mardat threw her leg he still held hard, slamming her to the ground.

“Hey, ugly,” Frank said after regaining his feet. “I thought you were going to save me the last dance?”

Spittle fell out of Boss Mardat’s maw as he turned to rush Frank again.

This time, Frank was ready for both his power and speed. The pain in his back was excruciating, but like all good Marines, he put that to the side and focused on what he needed to do right now in this moment.

Boss Mardat bellowed an animalistic roar and charged Frank once more, swinging his thick arms in a frenzy. This time, Frank let him come. He planted his right foot in the Oyan’s chest, grabbing Boss Mardat’s suit jacket as he fell backwards in a roll.

Boss Mardat got in two more good licks while he sailed over Frank, crashing to the ground yards away. Frank was already on his feet, racing toward his enemy even as the man struggled to his feet.

Frank cocked back his right fist as he jumped into the air. He let loose a wicked right as he landed, bringing all his weight to bear on Boss Mardat’s jaw. A loud crack accompanied a tremor down Frank’s arm as his fist made contact.

It was over from there. Frank threw in a few more blows just to make sure his opponent was really down and not playing possum, but Boss Mardat had had enough.

The fight all around them was over seconds after the Oyan gang leader fell. The few Oyan brutes still fighting gave up. Captain Tamar came over to secure Boss Mardat with a set of manacles.

Elly began searching the compound building for the signature Boss Mardat’s dampening weapon gave off. Raj attended the wounded while Vega and her men secured the remaining prisoners.

Frank took the opportunity to address Sunni and Lucy. The former stared daggers at the secured Boss Mardat as if she was about to go over to him and rip apart his face with her bare hands. The latter stood in the courtyard as if she were still deciding what to do next.

“What happened to you staying back with Yur’l and guarding the sphere?” Frank asked Sunni as he picked up his Reckoner P7 from the ground and reloaded the weapon with a spare magazine he held in a compartment in his armor. “Remember that little order?”

“I knew you’d need me,” Sunni said without taking her eyes off Boss Mardat. “I found Lucy along the way. I told her to come, that she needed to help you.”

“Really.” Frank looked at Lucy sideways. “That’s all it took for you to change your mind and join our side again?”

“I don’t know whose side I’m on, to be honest.” Lucy frowned. “My memories are so confused at the moment. I do remember my past, but that doesn’t erase my present or what I’ve done since then. I need time to figure all of this out.”

“We can give you that time, back at the Den—”

“No, I’m not going back with you.” Lucy shook her head. Her long dark hair fell over the side of her face where the scar colored her skin. “Not after what I’ve done. I don’t know who I am anymore. Or what I am anymore, for that matter.”

“You’re Major Lucy Lopez and you’re our friend,” Elly said, emerging from the inside of the compound. She held the piece of technology Boss Mardat had created in her hands. “I found it. You can try to fight us now and take it back to Jarl for whatever he had planned or you can come back with us.”

Frank tensed.

Elly was playing a dangerous game with a still confused Major Lopez. If she made a move for the dampener, Frank would have to stop her.

Lucy took a step toward Elly. She stretched out her right hand as if she were going to move to take the weapon. She recoiled at the last moment, a look of pure concentration on her face.

“No, I’m done being used by Jarl Balder,” Lucy said, shaking her head. “You should know that he wanted me to steal this weapon and use it to free him. You should also know that there is another who wears the orange vambraces. Jarl forged three all together and the third wearer is a brutal force to be reckoned with.”

“We’ll be ready for him when he comes,” Frank said, looking over to Elly and giving her a nod. “You can turn it off.”

Elly’s deft fingers maneuvered over the controls powering down the dampener. The machine’s light hum came to a stop. Frank’s and Sunni’s vambraces immediately glowed a faint purple while Lucy’s turned a burnt orange.

As if this was what she had been waiting for the entire time, Sunni made for Boss Mardat.

Mardat squirmed in Captain Tamar’s deadlock grasp. His hands secured behind his back, the thug Boss wiggled with his shoulders and belly like the worm he was.

Sunni faced him with a raging ball of purple energy in her hand, threatening to lob it at his head. It buzzed with electricity the longer she held it.

“He has to pay!” she shouted. “He must pay for all that he’s done to all these innocent children.”

“That’s fine and he will pay, but not like this,” Frank said, teetering on impatience.

“No, you don’t understand. He hurt people; he hurt them when they couldn’t even protect themselves. I couldn’t protect them from him,” Sunni continued.

“You’re right, Sunni, and he will pay, but what do you want from me? What is it you want right now? What will let you move on?”

“Eye for an eye payment in death.” The words fell from her mouth as she glared at him with near hatred in her eyes.

“Is that what you think you want?” Frank nearly whispered.

“That’s what he deserves,” she replied indignantly.

“We aren’t judge, jury, and executioner.” Frank pulled out his Reckoner P7 and pressed it to the man’s temple. Mardat began to sweat and his round furry face quivered almost unnoticeably. There was sternness and meanness in his eyes as they dilated in sure anticipation of payment in death, payment in blood. Regardless of a man’s crimes, there comes a point when he knows he’s about to meet his maker and be held accountable for all his actions; all of this and more was written on his resigned face.

Frank turned and grimaced, anger and all of the passion in purple energy crackled through his arms. He stared, pressing the gun hard into his opponent, causing him to wince from the pain.

“Is this what you want? Is this what you think it is to be in charge – to be judge, jury, and executioner? You are no better than any of them if you use your power to become a bully.” Frank all but condemned Sunni for her actions.

“Frank, Frank, what are you doing?!?” Elly screamed out at him. She raised a hand to his arm and he swatted it away.

“No, this is what she wanted. Isn’t it, Sunni? Isn’t this what you wanted?” he asked her.

“Frank, I–I don’t think this is the right way. That’s not what we are about,” Yur’l edged in softly, looking first to Frank and then to Sunni.

Sunni’s black eyes widened in terror; she turned her head, not knowing which way to face, realizing she was on the verge of becoming a monster. “No, this is not what I want. It won’t bring them back.”

Frank withdrew some of the applied pressure but did not remove the firearm. “Are you sure? You were so adamant before,” he asked.

Sunni looked up at him, tears running down the curves of her furry face. “No, I don’t want this. I don’t want any of it.”

Tears spilled over, gently stroking the girl’s rounded cheeks as they made their way down to their final fall off her chin. All the while, she held her head high and chin out in defiance; defiance against tears she had been used to seeing as a weakness against the loss of her friend, against the mourning of the childhood she never got to have.

Frank saw her, truly saw her, and understood the battle she raged with, then he grew uncomfortable with its familiarity. He turned to Elly in hope of aid. She only prodded him to take initiative.

He opened his mouth to speak but knew no words could make this right, so he abandoned words. Taking action instead, he extended a hand; the friendliest of gestures toward a friend.

Then the unthinkable happened: she took it. She took Frank’s hand and rushed him with all the strength her little being could muster and wrapped her arm around his waist and buried her face into his abdomen. She shook from the power of the tears that left her body as she began to release hold of all the anger she held within. He squeezed her back.

“It’s not your fault,” he reassured her.

“Frank!” Lucy took to the air, shattering the moment as a hard buzz sounded somewhere in the night air. “The other who wears Jarl’s vambraces. He’s here! He cannot get the dampener!”

25

The events that followed transpired so quickly, Frank had a hard time tracking in what order they came. One second he was pushing Sunni away from the red laser fire that came from a single seated craft, the next he was forming a dark purple protective shield around his own body.

Explosions ripped through the air as the dark grey and orange craft lit up both sides of the previous conflict. The ship was shaped like the head of a shovel with two prongs extending forward that let loose the barrage.

A short ramp from the bottom of the craft lowered, revealing a hulking figure both in height and girth. Unlike Boss Mardat, there appeared to be nothing on its body besides muscle. A mouthful of teeth and sharp fangs showed past a skull-like face. The alien wore dark orange vambraces of his own.

“No! Frank! The dampener!” Lucy screamed as she constructed a barrage of missiles and flung them at the craft. “You can’t let him have it!”

The ship’s forcefield shivered under Lucy’s onslaught. The alien on the ramp created his own orange construct of a long arm reaching for the dampener.

Elly had dropped the item in exchange for her rifle as she pumped round after round into the enemy craft.

Frank had a split second to make up his mind. The alien reaching for the dampener would have it soon if he did nothing. Frank constructed his own weapon, a M16A4. He sighted down the barrel, releasing a quick breath, and sent three rounds directly into the dampener at Elly’s feet.

The alien’s orange constructed hand clenched on nothing but a few shattered pieces of metal. The creature roared its frustration, giving Frank a look that spoke of death.

Warning lights flashed across the ship as Lucy changed her tactic and now constructed her own orange railgun and began assaulting the alien.

Seeing that all was lost, the alien retreated into his craft. The short ramp closed behind him, and a moment later, his ship was pointed in the opposite direction, speeding for the emptiness of space.

Frank wanted to chase after the third member of Jarl’s unholy trinity, but in what? Lucy was the only one who could fly, and at the moment, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure she wouldn’t be coaxed over to the other side.

“Are you good? Is everybody whole?” Frank said, moving his thoughts from the ambush to his team.

“We’re good, but that dampener isn’t,” Elly said, looking down at the remains of the weapon. “You could have shot me too. That thing was at my feet.”

“But I didn’t.” Frank grinned.

“I’m good,” Raj said as Vega and Sunni reported the same.

“He’s not,” Lucy said, touching down to the compound ground. She pointed at what was left of Boss Mardat. “I’m sure it was collateral damage. They would have wanted him to create another.”

Frank looked over to Boss Mardat’s smoking corpse and the only connection he had to finding out who the true buyer was for the dampening weapon.

“Why does she have to go?” Sunni asked as Lucy Lopez stood with Raj and Elly, saying their goodbyes. “And you’re just going to let her?”

“She has to figure things out for herself,” Frank said, looking down at the Oyan Arilion Knight. “How about you? There’s an open invitation to come back with us. Or I know Emma Jackson and the New Arilion Knights training at a place called the Academy would love to have you.”

“I think I should stay here,” Sunni said as the two moved inside to the warehouse where Vega and her team prepared to depart. “The orphans still need me. I want to learn more and I want to train, but I have to see to them first.”

“Maybe there’s time for one last session before we go?” Yur’l asked Frank as he joined the pair. “I mean, if you think we have time, Major Wolffe.”

Frank caught Vega’s eye. Memories of a conversation left unfinished touched his mind. “I think we have a few minutes to spare.”

“Yippie!” Sunni said as she headed back outside with Yur’l.

The Gleason knight stopped beside Frank for a moment. “I know you didn’t ask me, but what I shared with my wife was real. We shared a bond the likes of which I know I will never experience again. You and Vega have that same bond. Take care of it and treasure it.”

Before Frank could respond, Yur’l was gone and Vega stood in front of him.

“I think everyone is finding somewhere to be to give us a moment, so we might as well not disappoint them.” Vega smiled past her split lip. A bruise over her right eye showed where an Oyan guard had struck her. “I think last time we were about to jump into an ambush, you were telling me how much you love me.”

“Really, was I?” Frank teased, leading Vega over to a corner of the large warehouse away from the playing Oyan orphans and the Neeve berserkers. “That doesn’t sound like something I would say.”

“Oh, you were caught up in the moment, my love,” Vega added emphasis on the word “love.” “And words spoken can’t ever be taken back.”

“I wouldn’t take back those words if I were being tortured,” Frank said as he pulled Vega into his arms. “I know I want to be with you.”

“And I you,” Vega said, kissing him gently with her cut lip. “We understand the love we share, and for the time being, that will have to be enough. You have one final fight to attend to, it seems.”

The words Vega chose brought back memories of the dream Frank had of Sergeant Claymore’s warning and instruction to go find him for the final conflict.

End Book 5

A Special Message For You

Gateway 5 Author Note

Well, here we meet again, old friend, at the end of another book. I want to thank you for trusting me with your time and following this crazy story, of adventure, friendship, love, hate, anger, retribution, growth, and absolution. You are the very best and I’m grateful to call you a friend.

JR Castle actually took the lead in writing this book. Usually, I take the first pace and she follows, adding in depth and detail. We reversed roles and it was a lot of fun getting to be one another for a book. She’s been a blast to write with and I know it’s just a matter of time before we start talking about our next series together.

She created Sunni and the world Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corp One found her on. I did the tremors-like monster, in case you were wondering. She straight up called me out on that one from the kitchen table with a “Hey, are you doing tremors in our book?”

Seeing Lucy Lopez come back to herself was a powerful section to write. I know I kind of left you hanging at the end of book 4, but I wanted it to mean something when she came back. She still needs time to find herself, but she’s a friend once again instead of an enemy, and for that, I’m grateful.

This is the part where I ask you to take a few minutes to pen a quick, honest review of the book. It helps more than you know and it’s the best kind of compliment I can ask for.

I’m sitting on the couch in my family room writing, you know. The laptop is under a pillow and my daughter is sleeping in the next room. Life has been crazy hectic since we last spoke. Podium is about to release the first box set of Gateway to the Galaxy, which will include books one through three. I’m so excited for you to be able to hear Frank’s voice and listen in on the adventure that thus far we’ve only been able to read.

An opportunity for a Gateway to the Galaxy mobile game presented itself and it’s underway as we speak. I was also approached by a production company to turn my other Science Fantasy series into a TV show or movie, which is very exciting. None of this could happen or all of it could happen, but one thing remains the same. I’m going to keep on writing because that is what I was created to do on this Earth.

Lately, day to day, looks a lot like working on our front yard, writing every day, and training at the gym six times a week. For those of you who don’t know, I used to be a personal trainer and I still train three clients twice a week at the gym. It’s a great way for me to get out of the house and from behind the screen. It give me some real life face-to-face interaction with living, breathing human beings instead of the characters in my head.

I’ve been working seven days a week to get these books out on time, but I think I’m close to going back down to six days a week and giving myself time off to spend with my family. My little space Marine is two and already I can see how quickly time passes with her. I never want to look back at these years and wish I had played with her more or spent more time with her. The next book will always be waiting to be written, but she will be this age once.

The other day, we were at a friend’s house and she fell so hard on the cement outside, she actually bounced. Her mother and I looked at one another, ready to run to her, but waited to see what she would do. Jo lay there for a moment. She pushed herself back up and then ran to go play with the rest of the kids. That was the perfect picture of the father I want to be in her life. I want her to fail and fall and get back up. I want her to know I’ll always just be a call away if she needs me.

Anyway, I don’t want to make myself cry, so I’m going to stop talking about this. I get strangely emotional when it comes to Jo. Don’t tell anyone I said that. Here’s an update on work in the Gateway universe.

I’m working on the last book in the New Arilion Knights series next and then I’ll go straight into the sixth and final book in the main Gateway series. Don’t worry; Apryl Baker and I are working on another Gateway trilogy as we speak, so the door on the universe is far from closed. We’re hoping to drop the trilogy for your reading pleasure later this year.

Well, that’s it from me. If you’ve read any of my other books, you know I always end with a personal invitation to stay in touch. I have two options for you below.

1) I have a private group on Facebook I created for all of us to hang out. There are over two hundred likeminded readers who enjoy everything you do. We’re there just sharing cool new books, movies and the occasional meme. Join The Pack here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1944447962437071/

2) I know some readers don’t like using Facebook and/or would rather just receive an email with info when new books are out. I totally get that. If you’d like to be part of The Pack via our newsletter, you can go to www.jonathan-yanez.com and join the ranks.

As always you are the very best. Know that you’re valued and your pack is with you,

Jonathan

Strength in Struggle

Book Three of the New Arilion Knights Series

Acknowledgments

If you think this book is awesome at all it’s only because I have a pack of rabid ARC Wolves, a wonderful editor and a talented cover artist. Thank you for your help.

ARC WOLVES

Kelly

Athena

Eagle Eyes

Lois

Editor – Kimberly

Cover Illustrator – Jaime

1

The Shay descended on Earth and chaos followed. They came not in a single ship but by the hundreds, the thousands. Massive carrier crafts that blotted out the sun accompanied by smaller fighters shaped like beetles with fat bodies and two pincers came forward from the bow.

Emma was rooted to her spot. There had been no warning, no time to contact the Alliance or even the Academy. Yes, they were sure to come, but right now, it was up to her to take action.

Laser blasts peppered the city of Los Angeles around her. Screams, car horns, explosions, and more mixed into a white noise encompassing Emma. She had never heard what death sounded like before, but this must be it.

It’s on you, Emma told herself. It’s on you. It’s always been on you. This is it. This is your time. This is what you’ve been training for.

A beam shone in the street in front of Emma’s house. A moment later, a large reptilian creature with wings appeared in front of her. The creature was tall and broad-shouldered. Emma recognized the alien as a Shay. Not only was the alien in front of her a member of the Shay race, it was a Shay Emma had spoken with before.

“I told you I’d be back, human.” Countess Rule shrugged her boulder-like shoulders, which bulged from her black uniform. Her reptilian jaw opened, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “You should have taken my offer that night on the beach.”

“You mean the night the Light chose me as the Arilion Knight of Earth?” Emma stepped off her porch clenching her fists. Purple energy raced up and down her arms, courtesy of her vambraces. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, well, well.” Countess Rule’s leathery wings fluttered on either side of her back. “The child has become a warrior. Too bad that will do you no good in the fight to come. You’re hopelessly outnumbered. The full force of the Shay Empire is at your doorstep. Not you, your academy, or even the alliance you belong to will be enough to stop my family’s might.”

“You’re testing me,” Emma said as a light bulb went off in her head. A moment of clarity revealed to her she was in a dream; no, a nightmare. A familiar feeling she had before touched her mind. “You’re reaching out to me through my dreams again. I’m not telling you anything.”

The countess shrugged as if everything Emma was saying was inconsequential to her. Moving to her left, the Shay began to circle Emma. Her long, green-scaled tail swayed behind her like a metronome keeping a perfect beat.

“You’ve already told me everything I need to know.” The countess’ tongue snaked out thin and red. “You still think you have a chance in all of this? You caught us off guard once. How were we supposed to know that after millennia of silence, the Arilion would return and that the vambraces would choose a human on Earth? We were admittedly unprepared. There was no way we could have known what was coming. We are prepared now, not just with a single craft, but with the bulk of our militia numbering in the millions.”

“Why?” Emma shook her head, trying to get as much information as she could out of this meeting. “Why would you waste so many of your own resources on Earth? I thought your race probed planets for weak civilizations.”

“Hmmmm.” The countess narrowed her yellow eyes. “How much do I tell you? I am having fun playing with you, so I imagine just a bit more. We’re making an example of Earth. That’s all you need to know. You and everyone you love will roast in the fires of your own making. You should have submitted when you had the chance. Now your only option is a painful death beside the planet you hold so dearly.”

Even though Emma understood she was in a dream being invaded by the countess, she still wanted to fight. The warrior spirit she had known and come to love rose inside of her like a maelstrom of power. Over her jeans and hoodie, a violet armored suit encased her from head to toe.

Her purple translucent construct was one she had become used to. Frank Wolffe had told her to practice, practice, and when she was tired, to practice again. She had taken his words to heart. Her armor clung close to her body, thin but durable. The helmet she wore was likewise slender. A mirror visor gave her all the vision she could ask for while the grate at her mouth reminded her of an ancient knight’s helm.

A purple bow appeared in her left hand, an arrow in her right with a broad tip created for one purpose: to cause as much damage as possible.

“You’ve been busy.” Countess Rule didn’t reach for any weapon of her own. “You said yourself you understand this is only a visit in your dreams. We can’t hurt one another, not really.”

“I get that.” Emma strung her bow. Standing with her side exposed to the countess, she placed her left arm straight in front of her. She notched the arrow to her bow and pulled back until the fingers on her right hand touched her right cheek. “But I still want you to feel the fear you’re going to experience when you come to my planet. When you arrive, I’ll be waiting with an arrow for you just like this. But then, it won’t be a dream. It’s going to be real. Come for my planet. It will be the last thing the Shay do before they’re wiped from the universe.”

Countess Rule furrowed her brow in malice, clearly not expecting this talk from Emma.

Honestly, Emma was half surprised herself. Five months ago, she was a stuttering mess screaming in fear of her nightmares, friendless and bullied. Today, she was standing toe to toe with an alien twice her size and spitting words that would have made Frank Wolffe and Jace Hunter proud.

Wow, you’re a bad mamma jamma now. Emma internally grinned at her words. I’m a bad mamma jamma.

Countess Rule recovered a moment later, chuckling to herself. She lifted her head high into the sky, revealing her neck. The alien crafts still flew overhead, the sounds of destruction only too real.

“Wake up now, Emma Jackson, and disregard your false bravado. It will do you no good when the killing and dying starts.” Countess Rule redirected her narrow yellow eyes at Emma. “Wake up!”

Emma opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep on the living room couch. The TV they had owned for the last ten years was on, showing some idiot adult struggling to put toilet paper on the roll. The infomercial then moved to a smiling woman placing some kind of plastic contraption on the toilet roll holder that was supposed to help make the task somehow easier.

Emma wiped the drool from her mouth. She sat up. Memories of her nightmare came back to her at once. A smile twitched at the corner of her lips but only for a moment. She was proud of herself for not backing down. She was only just beginning to realize how far she’d actually come, not only in her training, but in her growth as a person.

This all took a backseat to the real issue at hand when she remembered the countess’ warning. The Shay were going to come again, and this time, they were bringing an army.

Emma’s head swam with the possibilities of what the event could mean. A rogue idea that it was only her own imagination and fear playing a trick on her caressed her thoughts. Or perhaps the countess had in fact invaded her dreams again, but maybe she was lying about everything altogether. Maybe the ploy was to plant the seed in Emma’s mind and make her go crazy worrying about it. Either way, Emma needed to report what she knew to the Alliance.

At that moment, the front door opened. Hushed whispers carried through the dark kitchen and the family room, where Emma sat on the couch. She remained motionless with a smile on her lips.

The sounds of her mother and father reached her ears. Their whispers were like a balm to her heart. Little by little, her father was opening up to talking to her mother. It had been nearly three months since her father was given the whole truth, that her mother was an alien, that she had lied to him and left.

He had been angry at first and had every right to be, in Emma’s opinion. However, he was slowly spending more and more time with her, talking as if he were getting to know her for the first time.

Emma’s mother was nothing like the warrior Emma had known her to be, at least not around her father. Around her ex-husband, Emma’s mother was happy, shy, almost another person altogether.

It was the strangest thing Emma had seen to date, and Emma had seen some pretty wild stuff, including aliens that looked like wolves, a Marine able to construct a golem, and a giant with perfume that smelled like meat.

“Shhh, do you think she’s asleep?” Emma’s father’s voice traveled through the kitchen and to Emma in a hushed whisper.

“Maybe we should be quiet,” Emma’s mother whispered back. “She’s been training harder than ever at the Academy. It’s been a heavy burden to bear upholding the mantle of an Arilion Knight as well as keeping up with her own studies.”

Emma heard the legs of the kitchen table’s chairs move ever so slightly over the wooden floor as her parents took a seat at the table. She remained motionless. She didn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but she knew if she let them know she was awake, their attention would turn to her. It was nice listening to her parents talk. For the moment, she slouched in the couch and just let them be.

“I wish—I wish there was something I could do to help.” Emma’s father sighed. “She has so much pressure on her day in and day out. It shouldn’t be like this for her. She’s a kid. She should be allowed to goof off and have fun.”

“I can speak with Slain,” Emma’s mother said. “Perhaps he can give her a lighter work load this week or even offer her a weekend off. But there is a fire in her. I’m sure you’ve seen that by now. It’s no mistake she was chosen as Earth’s Arilion Knight. She rises to every occasion. A primal joy touches her eyes when she spars in the danger room.”

“I’ve seen it,” Emma’s father agreed. In a playful voice, he teased, “She gets that from you, by the way.”

“Oh, please, Richard.” Emma’s mother almost laughed out loud. “She gets it from both of us. I’ve seen the madness in your eyes before.”

“No way, not me.”

“Yes you.”

“When?”

“Oh, let me see. It’s been a while, but I should be able to remember a few instances.” Emma’s mother paused. “When we were at the movies and there were people talking.”

“Everyone gets angry at that,” Emma’s father said.

“Traffic,” Emma’s mother listed off. “Or the time that company wouldn’t take you off their call list and the telemarketers kept on you for months on end.”

“I can’t believe I ever lived in an age without caller ID.” Emma’s father laughed then muffled the noise with his hand. “We should really try and be quieter. Em could use the rest.”

“You’re right, but—”

Emma’s mother didn’t get the opportunity to finish her thought. The holo bands both she and Emma wore went off simultaneously.

Emma was forced from her act of playing possum. She stirred, looking at the message coming to her from the device on her left wrist.

Oh man, Emma thought to herself. Whatever this is can’t be good. Both my mom and I being messaged this late at night.

Emma was right. The message that popped up like a hologram from her holo band was from Director Trueart, the leader of the alien Alliance that oversaw the Academy. All it said was, “Meet at the Academy at once. Urgent news of the Shay has called our attention.”

2

Emma’s nightmare played back in her mind over and over again as she waited for the meeting at the Academy to take place. Once she and her mother arrived, they had immediately been shown to Dean Slain Extile’s office while they waited for the others to assemble.

Emma wore the black and purple uniform given to her by the Academy. Her mother wore the same with the exception of a long robe and insignia that looked like a pair of swords crossed behind a black landscape. The symbol designated her office as the head of security at the Academy.

The dean’s office was like two rooms cut in half and smashed together. Half of it was a step down from the rest. A seating area like Emma would expect to find in a cozy family house had couches and stuffed chairs, a worn wooden table, and various pieces of decoration placed strategically about like a tall circular table with the bust of an alien creature on top.

The second half of the room was more of a traditional office one would expect to see in a principal’s chamber. There were bookcases lining the walls with a heavy desk and chairs set about. The ceiling to the room was nonexistent and reached as far as the eye could see. It mirrored the time of day on whatever planet one was from. For Emma, the ceiling showed a starry night full of planets and suns.

“You have that look on your face,” Emma’s mother said to her as she walked over to the sofa and took a seat. “That look you get when you’re trying to decide to tell me something or not.”

“I don’t get a look.” Emma denied the idea. “You have that look that says you’re happy. I’m still getting used to seeing that on you.”

“I knew your breathing pattern was a bit too quick. You weren’t asleep at all while I was speaking with your father, were you?” Tistan already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

“Nope, you two make a cute couple, by the way,” Emma added, shaking her head free of her nightmares and giving her mother her full attention. “You have my blessing. He’s happy with you. Just don’t hurt him again.”

Emma’s mother had been an alien spy. She had infiltrated Earth with a pair of others. While she was there, she fell in love with Emma’s father. The two were married and Emma came along a year later. Tistan had been recalled from her mission and forced to leave Emma and her father without an explanation. It was only seventeen years later when the Earth was in peril she had returned to right her wrongs.

“I’ve been meaning to have a serious conversation about that.” Tistan’s orange eyes grew solemn. “How are you dealing with me courting your father again? I know it’s a lot to have in your life at once.”

“Well, when you call it ‘courting,’ that’s super weird. Nobody uses that word anymore.” Emma tried to keep a straight face as the mother she was still getting to know asked if she could date her father. It was something she had dreamed about ever since she could remember. “And yes, you have my blessing. But if you hurt him again…”

Emma allowed her voice to trail off. She was only half joking on the matter. On one hand, it was impossible to imagine her mother leaving her and her father a second time, not after the promises she had made. On the other hand, Emma didn’t want to see her father hurt again. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt the man that meant everything to her—not now, not ever.

“I won’t, I promise you. I’m here to stay and I know those are just words, but you will see the weight they hold in truth as the months and years pass.” Tistan smiled at her daughter. It was something new for her. The hardened warrior that was Tistan Duel did not grin easily. “I’ll prove that to him too. However long it takes.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” Emma grinned down at her vambraces. The purple light from her celestial armor glowed with a brilliant light. “I’d hate to have to show you how far I’ve come in my training.”

“Please.” Tistan rolled her eyes. “I’ve been trained in a dozen arts of war, as an insurgent and assassin. I’ve killed hundreds.”

“But never an Arilion Knight.” Emma wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “What do you say, Mom? Think you can take me?”

It was the first time Emma had ever referred to Tistan as her mother either in her own head or out loud. It was still too new to her, or was it?

Emma was saved from her embarrassment as the doors to Slain’s office opened and in walked the leaders that made up the Alliance council. Dean Slain Extile led the way, followed by Director Trueart, Commander Kull, General Fox, and a dark brown Were Emma didn’t recognize.

The Were was a good six and a half feet tall with a wolf-like snout and ears that stuck up on her head like tiny triangles. She wore brown and grey armor across her ample chest. Despite the layer of fur over her body, Emma could see the tight muscular physique below. Her furry brown tail swayed as she walked.

Her yellow eyes caught Emma’s as she entered. She nodded low as a sign of respect to Emma and her station as an Arilion Knight.

Emma returned the nod, remembering what Jace, the Were Arilion that came to the Academy to train, told her of his kind. They were a brutal race with a clear elite and servant divide in their culture. The elites treated the lower half like slaves. Jace was one of those slaves until the vambraces chose him as an Arilion Knight. A deep anger boiled in him against those that had kept him and others like him under their heel. Emma guessed it was no coincidence that he was not attending the meeting.

Pleasantries were exchanged as those in attendance made a semi-circle around Slain’s desk, where he operated a holographic display. The display beamed with a dull blue light.

General Fox stood on Emma’s right. He smiled at her with a look one-half professionalism and one half pride. “How’re you holding up?”

“Oh, you know.” Emma rocked back on her feet from heel to toes. “Training with my vambraces, getting nightmare messages from the Shay. I can almost fly now; did I mention that?”

“You don’t say?” General Fox smiled to himself. “Frank still can’t fly. He’s going to be so pissed when he hears that.”

“Where is Frank?” Emma asked, fighting back what the major’s absence could mean. “Is he okay?”

“Frank’s a survivor like you, Emma,” General Fox said, easing her worry. “He’s more than okay. He’s been through the wringer recently dealing with an old friend, but he’s coming out of it stronger than ever. He’ll be here when we need him.”

“Good.” Emma breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s nice having another human that’s also an Arilion to talk to. Wow, I never thought I’d be saying those words.”

“I see you haven’t made up with the commander yet?” General Fox asked, lifting his eyebrows past Emma to the massive Ree on her left. “In dark times, we’ll be looking for each other in the night. It wouldn’t hurt to solidify those bonds before the sun sets on us.”

“Riiiiiiiight,” Emma said in a low voice as she snuck a peek at Commander Kull. The commander belonged to one of the three original Alliance races, the Ree. The Ree were a race of humanoid giants. She was eight feet tall, weighing an easy five hundred pounds, although Emma had never asked her to step on a scale to verify.

The last time Emma was this close to the Ree commander, a disagreement as to who was the better warrior had ensued. The dispute had been decided in the danger room where Emma constructed, then dropped a piano on Commander Kull’s head.

Commander Kull caught Emma looking over and glared at her.

Emma instantly turned back, ignoring the stare.

“I wish we had more time for introductions and pleasantries, however, the news I bring must be addressed sooner rather than later.” Director Trueart stepped forward. His short, stocky appearance contrasted Commander Kull’s. As a member of the Bracka race, he was shorter than Emma, with thick arms and legs and a round torso. “I think everyone knows everyone here, with the exception of Emma and Alpha Browning.”

The Were female looked over to Emma with her golden eyes. “It is indeed an honor to meet an Arilion Knight of your stature. Any Arilion Knight at all, really.”

“I’ve heard of you from Jace,” Emma spoke coldly, reminded of everything he had told her about the ruling sect of Were on his planet. “I’m surprised he’s not here to greet you.”

The Were alpha was taken aback for a moment.

Commander Kull actually chuckled.

“Emma,” Director Trueart tried to rein in the conversation, “Jace was sent on a short mission or else I’m sure he would be here right now to greet the emissary of his planet.”

“Of course,” Emma said, willing to drop the subject now that she had made it clear she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t know exactly what Alpha Browning was. “Please, go ahead.”

“The Alliance has news of the Shay mobilizing their entire army.” Director Trueart looked at each of them in the eye. “The last time they did this, they attacked a coalition of planets and races wiping them from the universe.”

“That is in the Shay’s nature.” Commander Kull shook her massive head. “They are a warrior race. They have always been a warrior race. They conquer planet by planet. They are slow and methodical. Our Alliance has chosen to let them be as long as they stay away from us.”

“With their last attack on Earth a failure, they will target another planet,” Alpha Browning chimed in. “It’s what they’ve always done. They send in a small force to probe. If their force is met with an effective defense, strong enough to turn them back, then they move to an easier planet to dominate. They aren’t interested in expending their own forces unnecessarily.”

Emma was about to speak up. As much as she didn’t want to tell everyone about her nightmare, she knew she had to. She could already hear Commander Kull laughing at her for worrying over a dream. Still, she had to tell them.

Before Emma could get the words out, General Fox spoke up.

“Do we have any evidence to point to the target their army is mobilizing to attack?” he asked, rubbing his right hand over his jaw. “Anything at all that would suggest their move would be against the Alliance?”

“In fact we do,” Slain said to everyone’s surprise. He motioned to his table, where he pressed a few buttons on his holographic display. A moment later, a blue screen appeared over his desk. “We have a final report from a spy we have inserted on the Shay planet. I should warn you that what you are about to see is disturbing.”

3

Slain tapped a few controls on his desk and a screen floated to life above his desk. The blue image showed a thin Shay. His reptilian face was gaunt, and his eyes were nothing more than black oval pupils. He was too close to the screen to make out much else behind him, but it was clear there was something very wrong at the moment.

His eyes darted this way and that. Shouts and sounds like a door being broken down somewhere nearby permeated the air.

“This—this will be the last transmission I will be able to send,” the Shay said hurriedly. He was speaking so fast the words spilled out of his mouth at once, making it difficult to understand. It was a miracle they could hear anything at all between his own harsh accent that bit every word and the banging from somewhere behind him that grew in tempo as the seconds passed.

“The Shay Empire is mobilizing against Earth and the Alliance in an attempt to teach the universe a lesson,” the Shay said, looking away from the screen to his right for the first time. As he turned, a thick trail of blood could be seen falling down the left side of his scaled face. “They plan on making an example of Earth. Since Earth fought them off and the Alliance has added two more planets to its coalition, the Shay Empire has decided they need to be crushed.”

The Shay looked back into the screen, his eyes full of desperate hope. “Do not let them win or everything we have sought to accomplish will be for naught. They must be stopped. This history of violence stained to the name of the Shay is not the wish of the many but the greed of a few.”

BOOM!

More shouting echoed into the screen as dust and smoke filled the room. The Shay on the hologram bit his lower lip. He tapped the controls on whatever device he was using to record his last message.

Right before the screen went blank, one last image came through. The Shay spy stood tall and proud before being cut down by weapons fire. Emma saw a pulse rifle bolt take him high in the chest and another in the head.

The screen went blank.

“I had no idea you had Shay spies working for you,” Alpha Browning said, disregarding the show of courage from the Shay informant. “What else don’t I know?”

“I suspect there are a great many things you don’t know as a newly welcomed member to our Alliance. For years, we have been working to keep one another safe,” Slain said, narrowing his orange eyes. “But that’s not the issue at the moment. What we need to discuss is a plan.”

“Have you told the other spies in the Shay Empire to stand down?” Tistan asked, looking to Director Trueart. “There’s no need to risk more lives. Not after we know a war is coming.”

“We have.” Director Trueart looked to General Fox and Alpha Browning. “It grieves me to call on our Alliance to prepare for war when you’ve just agreed to join, but it seems I must. Although it’s true the Shay will more than likely refuse to meet with us for peace talks, I’d like that to be our first move.”

“It could still be a mistake.” Commander Kull lifted open palms to stay any rebuttal just yet. “I’m not questioning the integrity or courage of our Shay spy, but perhaps the Shay are mobilizing to strike a different planet. Perhaps they fed him false information.”

“He was telling the truth,” Emma said, gazing at the far wall as she remembered her nightmare frame by frame. “I was visited by the Shay in a dream today. I didn’t tell you because I was questioning the validity of it, but, well, I don’t believe in coincidences. The Shay are coming. We have to be ready.”

The room quieted as all eyes looked on Emma. Her mother’s glance was approving, Commander Kull’s indifferent, but they were all thinking the same thing. A war was about to break out.

“I don’t think there’s any need to question Emma’s words,” General Fox said with a hard look. “I agree with you, Director, that we should start with peace. We should also mobilize our forces to meet such a threat should the Shay be in fact preparing an invasion.”

“Peace talks with the Shay would be a mistake.” Alpha Browning shook her furry head from side to side. “They know only one way; that is the way of the blaster and blade.”

“Be that as it may, we still must try,” Director Trueart said with a heavy sigh. “I cannot in good conscience order our alliance of five planets to unite in a defense if we have not tried to pursue peace talks first. I would like the feeling to be unanimous.”

“You know I’m with you,” Slain said, nodding to the others. “Peace has to be our first option.”

“It was only a matter of time,” Commander Kull said. She ran a thick tongue over the teeth inside of her mouth. “Sooner or later, they were bound to see our alliance as a threat to their empire. The Ree are with you.”

“Then it’s agreed,” Director Trueart said with a heavy sigh. “We will—”

The door to Slain’s office opened. In stalked a ferocious Jace Hunter. The first thing that struck Emma was that the Arilion Knight was not wearing his vambraces. He wasn’t dressed in his Academy uniform at all. From the lupine creature’s waist up, he was bare, showing off the many crisscrossed scars from the beatings and lashings he had taken as a slave.

He wore tight black compression shorts on his lower half. Muscles bulged from his athletic frame. In his yellow eyes, there was talk of death and murder.

Tistan placed herself between Jace and the others in the room, as did Emma. As Tistan’s position of head of security at the Academy, it was her job. Emma moved to action because Jace, in a very short time, had become a close friend.

“Easy, Jace.” Tistan moved one hand to grasp the handle of her blade that peeked over her right shoulder. “Think about what you’re doing.”

“Oh, I know what I’m doing.” Jace clenched and unclenched his fists. Spittle ran down the side of his mouth. “I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to kill the person responsible for the death of my pack. I’m going to kill Alpha Browning.”

All eyes, including Emma’s, turned to the Were emissary. If she was frightened, she didn’t show it. Instead, a look of contempt rolled over her face in a smug smile.

“Jace Hunter, you are an Arilion Knight now, whether you or I like it or not. You are responsible for protecting our planet.” Alpha Browning said the words in a way that sounded as if she had repeated them more than once. “Whatever happened in your or your family’s past is over now. We all have to move on. You’re an Arilion Knight for the pack’s sake.”

“I am,” Jace growled. “But not today. I left my vambraces behind. What I’m going to do to you is not in the name of my new order, but in the name of my family.”

“Jace, we need to talk this over,” Dean Extile said, moving to stand beside Emma and Tistan. “We can work this out.”

“Whatever happened to you and your family, this is not the way to deal with it.” General Fox joined the dean’s pleas of peace. “Think about how this is going to end.”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it,” Jace said while lifting his upper lip and showing off all of his teeth. “I’ve thought about it for years and today is the day I act.”

There was no way Emma was going to hurt her friend. With that said, she couldn’t stand by and let him murder the emissary of his own planet in front of her.

Emma had zero time to come up with a plan. One second Jace was bounding on all fours towards her and the next he was leaping over both her and Tistan to get at Alpha Browning.

Tistan also leapt into the air to meet his attack. She drew her blade using the handle of her sword to strike at Jace’s face instead of the blade. Jace accepted the punishment of her blow, kicking out with his two back legs. He connected with Tistan’s midsection, forcing the air out of her lungs.

Emma constructed four heavy metal clamps. Two went over Jace’s wrists and the other two over his back legs.

He landed hard, ignoring Emma’s constructs for the time being.

For her part, Alpha Browning lounged against Slain’s desk as if the events around her were the most boring thing in the world.

Commander Kull moved to intercept Jace next. The massive Ree didn’t have a chance against the much faster Were. Jace spun around her in a move that would have made any NFL running back green with envy.

Jace was only yards from Alpha Browning. General Fox, Slain, and Director Trueart were all moving too slow to catch him.

I hope this works, Emma thought to herself as she constructed the giant U shaped magnet in her hands. Why did you go with a magnet? Wouldn’t ropes or chains have made more sense?

It was too late now. Jace was already making his final jump with extended claws and an open mouth at Alpha Browning.

Emma braced her feet. The U-shaped magnet felt comical in her hands. It was as large as her torso, but it was the first thing that had come to mind and it was easy to construct since she was familiar with the item.

A rush of purple light emanating from her vambraces lit up the room around her. Emma channeled her will into powering the magnet. The purple clamps around Jace’s wrists and ankles suddenly felt the pull of the magnet. It stopped his forward momentum only a few feet from Alpha Browning.

The pull of the magnets did two things. First, Jace’s limbs were stretched out to his sides as he touched down on the floor. He gave ground at first, just a few feet before he arched his back and pressed forward.

The second thing that happened was Emma felt the pull of the magnet herself. Jace was stronger than she expected even without his own vambraces. The raw determination that made him the perfect candidate as an Arilion Knight was also causing him to be the perfect opponent in this magnetic tug of war.

Emma fought to keep her feet from sliding down the tiled floor. Her hands ached as she gripped the magnet with all of her strength. She heaved on the purple construct.

“Any time now,” Emma grunted as the others stood in awe for a moment.

Emma’s words snapped them out of their stupor as they moved to restrain Jace.

Snarls and animalistic howls were coming from Jace as he bullied forward. Muscles and veins popped out where his hair was less thick. His many scars that covered his back and torso seemed to stand out even more pronounced as he willed himself forward.

Commander Kull and the others grabbed him by both his arms and legs.

“Holding on to the past makes you weaker not stronger.” Alpha Browning removed something from an inside pocket of her armor. “You came from nothing and you will be nothing if you refuse to move on. Move on.”

Emma was so angered at the words coming from Alpha Browning’s mouth, she had half a mind to release her hold on Jace’s magnetic clamps altogether. The effort she was having to use to hold him back had diminished in light of the others restraining him. Then she wished she had in fact released him to do as he would with Alpha Browning.

Before anyone could stop the Were emissary, she turned Jace’s head to the side with one hand and plunged a needle into his neck.

4

“No!” Emma shouted, releasing her hold on Jace. She had no idea what Alpha Browning had injected Jace with, but whatever it was wasn’t good.

Jace had an immediate reaction to the substance used on him. Before, he was straining against both Emma’s hold on him as well as Commander Kull’s on his left arm and Slain, General Fox, and Tistan on his right. Within seconds, he slumped to the ground in a daze. His body folded in on itself. His eyes fogged over.

“Jace, Jace, can you hear me?” Emma ran to his side, placing an arm around him while searching his unseeing eyes for recognition. “Hey, hey, I’m sorry I had to stop you, but I couldn’t—Jace—Jace, can you hear me?”

“What did you inject him with?” General Fox kept his tone in line, but there was no denying the sharp edge to his words. “What was it?”

Emma blamed herself for it all. Jace began to spasm. His bulky frame would have been too much for her to hold had it not been for the strength she channeled from her vambraces.

What did she do to him? Emma asked herself in her own head. What did she do? I should have just let him kill her. If it’s Jace or the Alpha, I should have had his back. This is my fault. This is my fault.

“Answer the general’s question,” Director Trueart said in anger. Emma had never heard the Bracka use that tone of voice with anyone before. “Alpha Browning, what did you inject Jace with?”

“If we cannot control the Arilion Knight of our planet, then he is to be disposed of. The vambraces will then be able to choose another in his place,” Alpha Browning said as if she had zero respect for life whatsoever. “Jace Hunter had every chance to comply. He was either unable or unwilling. It doesn’t really matter. He’ll be dead in minutes.”

Emma was on her knees. Jace trembled and leaned against her. Tears of anger filled her eyes to the point she couldn’t contain them. Emma began to shake with her own rage. What had she done? Jace was more than just another Arilion. He was a friend.

“Emma, don—”

Tistan knew her daughter well enough to realize what was about to happen. As fast as Jace moved, Emma lowered him to the ground and turned her rage on Alpha Browning.

Her eyes saw purple. Her rage so complete, her body burned with energy, pleading to be let loose on something, anything.

“Give him the antidote!” Emma roared as she slammed into Alpha Browning. She wrapped her left hand around the Were’s throat. With her right, she held on to the Were’s left arm. She pressed the alien emissary hard against Slain’s desk. “I swear to you I will snap your neck if you do not save him.”

“I don’t—have—an—antidote,” Alpha Browning wheezed. She struggled for only a moment under Emma’s hold before realizing it was useless. “I—swear.”

“Then I guess your time in this universe has come to an end,” Emma leaned in and whispered in the Were’s ear.

Unlike moments ago when everyone tried to stop Jace, not a single member in the room moved to aid Alpha Browning. Not even Tistan, who was the head of security at the Academy.

“Slain, Tistan, get Jace to the infirmary at once,” Director Trueart doled out orders. “If anyone can save him, it’s Madame Cherub.”

Emma heard the noise of feet on tile behind her as they moved to obey.

“Not like this,” General Fox said, moving to stand beside Emma. “As much as I want to tell you to go ahead, not like this.”

Alpha Browning’s eyes were bulging out of her head. Her ragged gasps for breath had ceased as Emma squeezed tighter and tighter. Broken blood vessels in her eyes were beginning to explode.

Emma was so lost in her anger, all she could think of was Jace dying in the infirmary.

“Let her go, Emma.” Director Trueart placed a gentle hand on Emma’s right shoulder. “General Fox is right. She’ll be dealt with, but not like this. Please, let her go.”

It took everything inside of her to release the Were. Emma took a step back. So much adrenaline was emptying into her system, she felt sick. Her body was on fire. Her heart beat like a galloping stead. Finally, her vision shifted from purple to normal once more.

“Thank—thank you,” Alpha Browning coughed as she sucked in lungsful of air.

“I didn’t do it for you.” General Fox didn’t even look at the Were as he said the words. “And I think we’re going to have to have a meeting with the leaders on your planet.”

“I agree; this is not how we operate in the Alliance,” Director Trueart said with a scowl. “Commander Kull?”

The Ree, who had been silent up until now, gave Emma an approving nod. “Alpha Browning, you should come with me. I’ll escort you back to the teleportation room and you can return to your planet. I think you’ve overstayed your welcome.”

“You can’t be serious.” Alpha Browning placed her right hand on her throat as she massaged the tender spot. She stared daggers at Emma. “He was a slave. He’s trash.”

Emma had heard enough. She grabbed Alpha Browning’s left hand and squeezed. There was a popping sound like kernels being made into popcorn.

Alpha Browning screamed in agony.

Emma seized the right side of the Were’s head. She slammed it down and to her right. The Were’s skull bounced off Slain’s desk with a sound that reminded Emma of a baseball making contact with a bat.

Alpha Browning slumped to the ground in a pile of brown fur.

“You probably shouldn’t have done that,” General Fox said, still making no move to aid the downed Were or stop Emma if she planned to continue her assault. “Things are going to get interesting with the Weres now.”

“I’m not a fan of yours,” Commander Kull said, eyeing Emma. She moved to drape the unconscious Were over her shoulder. “But I’m glad you’re on our side for this one. I was about to do the same thing to her.”

Emma was surprised to hear the Ree speak to her with anything in her voice besides disdain. To be honest, it was a bit strange.

“Commander Kull, if you’ll see that Alpha Browning gets back to her people and reiterate where the Alliance stands on this subject,” Director Trueart said to the leader of the Alliance militia, “I’ll start the peace talks with the Shay.”

“Of course.” Commander Kull put Alpha Browning over her right shoulder. The Were looked like a child in her arms, which was no easy task. Commander Kull turned around as she was about to exit Slain’s office. “And where do we stand on the subject?”

“Any attempt the Alliance experiences on one of our Arilion Knights is an open act of war. If the ruling Were families support Alpha Browning’s actions, then the Alliance has no place for them and we will count them amongst our enemies,” Director Trueart said, slowly nodding as he mouthed the words. “If, however, she acted on her own, then we’re open to speaking with another emissary and hope she will be dealt with as she deserves.”

“Understood,” Commander Kull said, turning and disappearing through the door.

“I’ll see to the Earth’s defenses and report to my superiors,” General Fox said, moving his gaze from the director to Emma. “I’ll call in the cavalry for this one. I think Frank would like to be involved if Earth’s in the balance.”

“We could use his help, that’s for sure,” Emma agreed. Thoughts of her Marine mentor made her smile. Just having another experienced Arilion present could tip the scales in their favor.

“I want you with us if the Shay agree to a peace talk,” Director Trueart said to Emma. “However, for now, you’re free to go. Keep your holo band close. I’ll use that to get hold of you. Go see him.”

Emma knew exactly who the director was referring to. Jace was fighting for his life this very moment in the infirmary.

Emma nodded, taking off at a run. Thoughts of what could happen to Jace, the very worst of what could happen to him, spread through her mind like ebony ink through water.

Her mind went wild with the possibilities as she sprinted through the Academy. When she passed staff or students in the halls, they gave her a wide berth. Whatever they interpreted the look on her face to be, they wanted no part of it.

In minutes, Emma skidded to a halt at the doors of the infirmary. Tistan and Slain stood at the entrance, speaking in low whispers. They quieted their talk when Emma approached.

Tistan’s eyes were the same cold eyes of the killer the Alliance had forged her to become. There was no reading that mask of a face. Slain, on the other hand, was less adept at hiding his feelings, not when he didn’t need to. The Academy’s dean’s brow was furrowed, his expression downcast.

Emma peeked into the long hall-like room at the rows of white beds that lined either side of the wall. About halfway down the room, Emma could see Madame Cherub bent over Jace.

“Let her work. Give her a moment,” Slain said, placing a hand on Emma’s left shoulder. “Madam Cherub is the very best this universe has to offer. If anyone can bring Jace back, it’s her.”

Emma nodded dumbly. She couldn’t make out much, but it was clear to her Jace wasn’t moving. “I should have just let him kill her. I shouldn’t have held him back.”

“You had no idea what Alpha Browning was going to do.” Tistan shook her head. Her gaze was serious with no room for debate. “None of us did. If you are to blame, then we are all to blame.”

“I should have seen this coming.” Slain squeezed Emma’s shoulder gently. “I had no idea Alpha Browning was the one who owned Jace and his pack. I should have done more digging, more research.”

Slain’s hand came off Emma’s shoulder. The trio stood in silence outside of the infirmary door, each lost to his or her own thoughts.

Shuffling feet interrupted their thoughts a few moments later. Madam Cherub approached them with a grimace across her broad face. As a member of the Bracka, she was short and stocky with strong arms. Her age was beyond Emma’s ability to guess. Emma knew she was old, thanks to the wrinkles across her face, but how old was anyone’s guess.

Emma held her breath as Cherub told them the news.

“As far as I can tell, Jace Hunter was injected with a symbiot that is altering the structure of his DNA.” Madame Cherub paused, trying to find the right words. For a woman who always knew what to say, to pause like this, Emma knew it wasn’t going to be good. “He’s dying. He should be dead already, but I’ve been able to slow the process.”

“No, no.” Emma shook her head, refusing to give in to accepting Jace’s death. “There’s always a way. Don’t tell me in a reality where werewolves exist and space vampires and the Green Lantern Corps that there isn’t a way to save him.”

“There may be one.” Madam Cherub bit her lower lip. “But that path is dark and full of pain.”

5

“What is it?” Slain asked, searching Madame’s eyes. “We have to try.”

“Jace’s DNA is being broken down. I can’t stop that, but I can slow it,” Madame Cherub said, walking them through the process. “There is a chance that if I were to introduce a new DNA signature into his body, the symbiot he was injected with would accept the signature and bond to his remaining DNA. It’s only a chance and a painful one, even if it does work.”

“Do it,” Tistan said, speaking up for the first time. “Jace is a warrior. He’ll make it.”

“I’ll need your help to restrain him,” Madame Cherub said, already turning her back on the trio to return to Jace’s side. “We must do it now. I don’t know how much time he has left.”

Emma walked with the others down the long hall to the bed where Jace Hunter lay. It seemed like Emma was always making trips to the infirmary. She had been there her own fair share of times and more recently for her mother. Tistan and Emma had taken on Desmond Delshire, a Valmar, on their own. They had sent him running, but Tistan had broken both her wrists in the process. Thanks to Madame Cherub and the aid of a pair of machines called Bone Builders, Tistan had made a full recovery.

It didn’t look like Jace was going to get off that easily. The black-furred Were was moaning something. His eyes were closed. His head turned back and forth as he groaned in pain.

“Tistan, Slain, his legs. Emma, his left arm,” Madame said as she went to the opposite wall where a glass cabinet stood. She reached for one of a hundred vials lined in rows, ready to be deployed. “When I inject him with the new DNA, he’ll spasm and shake. Hold him still.”

Emma gripped Jace’s left arm. She could feel the muscles under his fur. He was exactly how she would imagine a werewolf would look like, if they were real. His arm was like her own with the exception of short fur and fingernails that were more like claws.

Madame Cherub returned with a device that looked like a white handgun. Instead of a barrel, it held a needle at the end. The vial of DNA was screwed into the top of the injection tool.

“Here we go.” Madame Cherub plunged the needle into the right side of Jace’s neck. “In the name of the Light, may this work.”

The result was immediate. Jace arched his back, roaring into the room with a bellow that made Emma’s ears ring.

Madame Cherub dropped her syringe and held on to Jace’s right arm with both hands. Emma did the same fighting the swaying motion as Jace’s body twisted.

Slain and Tistan held on to his legs as the Were bucked and thrashed like some wild horse being broken for the first time. The roars of pain that escaped his throat and the screams of agony were nearly too much for Emma to take.

Through it all, Jace never opened his eyes. He dealt with his demons in the dark. Soon his fur dampened with sweat, making it difficult for Emma to maintain her hold on his left arm. She had to channel strength from her vambraces to maintain her hold on the Were.

Then, as soon as it began, it was over. Jace’s body went still. His breathing evened. His massive chest rose and fell in a steady rhythmic beat.

“Did it work?” Slain asked, finally releasing his hold on Jace’s leg. “Did his body accept the DNA?”

“It seems as though it has,” Madame Cherub said, taking a deep breath as she too released her grip on Jace. “We’ll know for certain when he wakes. His body needs time to recover from the trauma it’s been through now.”

“We should go,” Tistan said. “Director Trueart will need us as he arranges the meeting with the Shay and the defense of Earth.”

“Go,” Emma said, feeling the bond she shared with Jace manifest once more. He was the first Arilion Knight she had met. What he had told her of his past as a slave, the information he had entrusted her with meant something to her. “I’m going to stay until he wakes up. I have my holo band if you need me.”

Slain nodded and made to leave the room.

Tistan hesitated for a moment before turning to her daughter. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Tell that to Jace,” Emma said quietly.

“He’s going to be more than fine.” Tistan followed Slain out of the room. Before she left, she turned. “Like I said, he’s a warrior.”

The room was quiet, Jace sleeping with Emma by his side and Madame Cherub cleaning up after herself. The Bracka woman didn’t say anything, even when she brought a chair for Emma to sit in. No words were needed. They both understood what was at stake.

Emma sank into the white-cushioned chair Madame Cherub brought for her. What time it was, was beyond Emma. She arrived at the Academy while the sun was already down on Earth. Her best guess was it was somewhere around midnight, maybe one o’clock in the morning.

The adrenaline that kept her going was starting to wear off. Emma’s eyelids felt heavier and heavier. As much as she tried to fight the oncoming sleep, it wouldn’t be denied. Like the inevitable rising tide of the ocean, slumber came for her.

Emma was grateful to not have any dreams this time around. Her sleep was deep and warm. Emma would have slept longer had it not been for the strange sounds that woke her from her rest.

It sounded like someone chewing on something right next to her ear. Voices penetrated the darkness of her sleep next.

“Shhh, you’re eating too loud. You’re going to wake her up.”

“Don’t you hush me, giant. You eat twice as loud as I ever could. Besides, aren’t we supposed to wake her? Isn’t that why we came down here, to give her breakfast?”

Emma blinked her eyes open. She was slouched in the white chair Madame Cherub had brought for her. A line of drool ran down the left corner of her chin. Next to her, her friends Layga and Jeba sat with a tray of food in their laps.

Jeba was a Bracka, her short stature not to be mistaken for her warrior spirit. Her fiery red hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

Layga was a Ree. Her size and stature were the polar opposite of the Bracka. They both wore the black and purple uniforms of the Academy.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Jeba said as if she actually thought Emma woke up on her own and not because of their voices close by. “We brought you breakfast.”

“Is it—” Emma covered her yawn with her right hand and wiped away the drool. She stretched next. “Is it morning already?”

“Yeah, you were in the infirmary all night,” Layga said, passing her a mess hall tray that smelled absolutely delicious. “Word is spreading all over the Academy about what happened. Did Jace really kill his own emissary?”

“He tried,” Emma said, accepting the food. She looked down at Jace’s still form. He was breathing. For the first time since she had known him, he looked peaceful. “We stopped him, but the Were emissary tried to kill him with a poison. Madame Cherub gave him something to combat the deadly serum and we’re waiting to make sure he’s okay.”

“My stars, Emma Jackson.” Jeba stuffed a pastry into her mouth like a piece of clothing into an overly full luggage carry-on. Her next words came out muffled. “It’s always an adventure with you.”

“Yeah, not by choice.” Emma bit into a piece of bright red fruit that tasted like a combination of peach and orange. “Wait until I tell you this next part.”

Jeba’s mouth fell open, dropping a part of her half chewed pastry as Emma told them about the Shay invasion and Director Trueart’s plan to engage in peace talks with them. Layga sat on the edge of her chair as if she were fearful of missing even a single word.

“The Shay Empire versus the Alliance.” Layga breathed the words. “I never thought it would happen. I didn’t think they would merit us as a threat at all.”

“With the inclusion of the humans and Weres into the Alliance, maybe it was enough to threaten them,” Jeba guessed as she dug back into her breakfast. “Plus, using the Academy as the rallying point for all the Arilion Knights across the universe. That has to draw some attention. I mean, since the Academy was announced as the home of the Arilion they’ve been pouring in.”

Jeba was right. The Academy had put out a transmission with Director Trueart welcoming all the new Arilion Knights across the universe. All those that were chosen by the vambraces were invited to the Academy to train and learn about their new abilities and responsibilities.

Emma would have liked to spend more time getting to know the new Arilion, but her own days had been eaten with trying to keep up with her own training and the ever-evolving responsibilities given to her.

“What is it, Emma?” Layga asked. “You have that look on your face.”

“What look?” Emma asked.

“You know, the look,” Layga repeated.

“Oh, yep.” Jeba nodded along with the Ree’s words. “You definitely have the look.”

“You two are going to drive me crazy.” Emma put down her piece of fruit and lifted a brow. “What are you talking about? What look?”

“The deep in thought about something dark and foreboding look.” Layga used the pointer finger on her right hand to make a circle around Emma’s face. “You have that look on you right now.”

“I had a dream about the Shay,” Emma said, giving in to her friend’s perceptive nature. “I thought it was only just a nightmare, but it’s more. Gosh, I wish it were only just a nightmare. How many times have I said that? The Shay want to use the Earth as an example. After we successfully defended Earth from them, they’re afraid of other planets offering more resistance against them in the future.”

“It’s going to be one heck of a fight.” Jeba placed her tray on the floor and patted her belly. “Normally, I would say that the Shay Empire would wipe us off the map of the universe like a Ree hand swatting away a small, insignificant insect.”

Layga and Emma looked at one another.

“But with the inclusion of two more planets into the Alliance and a handful of Arilion Knights, we may stand a chance.” Jeba pursed her lips.

Emma was about to tease her friend about how inspiring she was, when movement from Jace’s bed drew her attention in a different direction.

Something was happening to Jace. He arched his back, screaming in pain once more. This time, it wasn’t an animal’s roar; it was a human’s. His eyes popped open. Gone were his yellow orbs of a beast, and in their place, brown human eyes stood out.

“Ugh!” Jace gritted his square teeth against one another, screaming again. “What—what’s happening to me!?”

The hair around him began to shed. His legs transitioned to human limbs. The nails on his hands receded. The long snout on his face disappeared. A moment later, a man not much older than Emma lay on the infirmary bed.

He was panting, his brown skin bathed in a sheen of sweat.

All three girls were on their feet.

Layga dropped a half finished cup of tea from her hand. It fell to the floor.

6

The cup shattered into a hundred tiny white pieces. The tea she had so gently sipped on a moment before cascaded across the floor like a small dam had burst from some invisible lake.

Emma couldn’t believe what she was seeing, yet there he was lying in front of her. Jace the Were that was some alien lupine creature from a distant planet. The more animal than man who had reminded her of some play on a werewolf was now fully a human man, or at least he looked like he was.

If she hadn’t seen it for herself, Emma would have laughed at the idea of Jace becoming a human. But it was him, there was no denying that. The same white scar tissue that covered his chest and back like some kind of haunting reminder of his violent past was still present. His eyes. His eyes were a different color now, but still, the same deep sadness lay inside of them of someone who had lived through too much at such a young age.

“What—what happened to me?” Jace asked in a voice that was his own but out of a mouth that did not belong to him. Jace rose on his elbows, looking down on his tan skin and black hair. “What—is this a dream?”

The same black compression shorts covered him from the waist to his knees, but they were two sizes too big for him now. His body rippled with muscles upon muscles like some weight lifter who was training for a competition.

“Before we go any further, I just want to make sure everyone is seeing the same thing I’m seeing and I’m not having some kind of mental break,” Emma said out loud, still unable to take her eyes off Jace now for more than one reason. “Jace—our Jace, is a human, right?”

“And he’s ripped, jacked, I mean, look at those muscles,” Jeba said, shaking her head. “Who would have known what was under all that fur.”

“I—I should go get Madame Cherub,” Layga said, already running from the room. “I’ll be right back!”

“Emma.” Jace’s hands were shaking not from anger or another seizure, but something of panic and fear. “Emma, the last thing I remember was trying to get at Alpha Browning. What—what happened to me?”

“You’re safe.” Emma went to him and hugged him tight, his head pressed against her chest. “You’re okay. Trust me, you’re okay. I’ll explain as much as I can. Alpha Browning injected you with some kind of symbiot poison that changed your DNA structure. The only way to save you was to inject you with another DNA and hope it bonded to your own. I—I didn’t know until right now that the DNA Madame Cherub injected you with was human DNA.”

While Emma spoke, Jace turned his hands around in front of his eyes. He looked down at his chest and legs. He touched his skin instead of his fur and marveled at it all.

“Jeba, stop staring at me like that,” Jace said as he focused on the Bracka. “Close your mouth at least.”

“Oh, right.” Jeba shook her head and let out a huge rush of air. “Well, if things weren’t complicated enough, am I right?”

Before anyone could answer, Layga ran back into the room with Madame Cherub at her heels. For a person of her age, Madame Cherub moved especially fast. Layga’s legs were four times the size of her own; still, the Bracka was only a few steps behind her when they reached Jace and Emma.

“Well, I see you made it.” Madame Cherub accepted Jace from Emma like a small child and placed him back on his pillow. She stared into his eyes then took his pulse. “It was touch and go for a while there, but you’re a fighter, Jace Hunter. Things must be confusing for you right now, so don’t try and understand it all at once.”

“I’m human now?” Jace said the words as if he were trying to comprehend a dream. “Forever, I mean?”

“To be honest, I’m not entirely familiar with the poison Alpha Browning injected you with. I didn’t even know for sure if this would work.” Madame Cherub pressed her ear against Jace’s chest and listened to his heart. After a moment, she pulled away. “You’re not going to like this next part, but the honest truth is I’m not sure if you’ll be human forever or how this will change you. You’re the first of your kind, as far as I can tell. Half your DNA is still Were and the other half human.”

Jace sat in shock, still trying to comprehend what had happened to him.

Emma’s holo band beeped once. A message from Director Trueart showed in her inbox. As much as Emma wanted to wait with Jace, to be there with him to talk through things, she understood she had a duty to the Academy. This duty rang truer than ever before as they teetered on the brink of war.

Emma took a step back, allowing Madame Cherub to continue to speak with Jace, and opened her message. It read: Emma, the Shay have agreed to speak with us regarding our concerns that they plan to invade Earth. We have chosen Stardox as a neutral site. Please meet me in the teleportation room. – Director Trueart

Emma closed her holo band wondering if there was some way to get out of it and stay with Jace. As soon as the idea came to mind, she knew she couldn’t. The Arilion Knights were needed now more than ever.

“I have to go, but I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Emma said as she returned to Jace’s side. “‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t seem enough, but I am.”

“Sorry for what?” Jace asked, moving to a fully upright seated position. “You didn’t do this to me.”

“I stopped you when you were trying to go after Alpha Browning.” Emma swallowed hard. “If I knew she was going to do this to you, I—”

“Are you kidding me?” Jace shook his head, rolling his new brown eyes. “You did exactly what you were supposed to do and exactly what I suspected. I knew what I was doing when I made up my mind to take her out. That’s why I left the vambraces behind. What I was going to do to her was something an Arilion Knight would never do. I’m not worthy of wearing those vambraces. Those are for the good guys like you and Frank.”

“Don’t say that.” Emma shook her head so furiously, she felt her blonde hair whip behind her from side to side. “The vambraces never make a mistake. You were chosen by the Light to wear them. We all make bad decisions. And honestly, I can’t blame you for yours. Not after knowing why you went after her and what she did.”

The room fell quiet.

Emma’s holo band beeped again reminding her of the unanswered message in her inbox.

“I have to go,” Emma said, regretting the words coming out of her mouth. “I have to go, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’re in great hands.”

Jace nodded, looking over at Madame Cherub, who began administering tests with a small metal device in her right hand.

“We’ll stay with him,” Layga consoled her friend. “Go and do your Arilion duties.”

“We won’t allow anything to happen to the Were man,” Jeba confirmed. “We’ll even go and get him some clothes. He’s one pantsing away from being in the nude.”

Jeba’s last words brought a smile to Emma’s face as she jogged from the infirmary. For once, she had a sneaking suspicion that Jeba knew exactly what she was saying. The Bracka was trying to be funny to cheer up her friend.

In all honesty, the words of Layga and Jeba put her at ease. At least Jace wasn’t dying. If he was going to be human or half human and half Were, he was alive and that was something.

Maybe he’ll even stay all human and smooth and muscly, Emma thought to herself. No, what are you saying? What? No, it’s Jace. The big furry wolf guy. Get a hold of your hormones, woman.

Emma was trying very hard to not think about Jace’s dark smoldering brown eyes and failing when she reached the teleportation room on the Academy.

Director Trueart, along with Emma’s mother and Instructor Drown, waited for her. Drown was the instructor at the Academy in charge of combat training. He had also known Emma’s mother for a very long time. He had been one of the original three spies first sent down to Earth all those years before to assess whether it was ready to be included in the Alliance or not.

Drown and Emma had their differences, but there was no denying the fact that the Halyna was one tough warrior. If things got bad during the peace talks, Emma was glad he would be on their side.

While Director Trueart wore his traditional robe; both Drown and Tistan were in light armor suits. They were mostly black and a dark grey with purple trim around the outside. They were armed to the teeth. Tistan carried her dual swords on a sheath on her back and blaster on her right hip.

Drown was prepared for anything. He also carried a weapon on his back, some kind of heavy repeating rifle Emma had never seen before. Drown had two blasters, one on each side of his waist. He carried another large rifle in his hand that reminded Emma of a shotgun.

“Wow, are we going on peace talks or are we going to war?” Emma asked as she entered the room. “Shouldn’t we be going to Stardox without looking like we’re prepared for the apocalypse?”

“That’s loser talk,” Drown said with a raised eyebrow. The stubble on his chin and the scar across his eye made him look like something out of a superhero movie. “This is what the Shay we’re talking about. We’re going to be prepared for anything.”

“Peace or some kind of agreement is the first priority.” Director Trueart gave Drown a firm stare. “Yes, caution is not to be thrown to the wind. I’ll do the talking along with Emma. The two of you are only there as a precaution.”

“I’m sorry, did you say I was going to do the talking with you?” Emma wiggled a finger in her right ear. “I could have sworn that’s what you said, but that can’t be right. I’m not a leader in the Alliance.”

“No, but you’re an Arilion Knight and not just an Arilion Knight.” Director Trueart gave Emma a reassuring smile. “You’re THE Arilion Knight who turned back the Shay invasion from Earth and one of the very first of your order to wear the mantle.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have any training in negotiations.” Emma looked to her mother and Drown for help. Why she looked at Drown was beyond her. The Halyna soldier was more likely to throw her under the bus than offer aid. “I don’t even like ordering at Starbucks. There’s so much pressure to know exactly what you want and order the right thing, even though it has like ten parts to the order. Do I want skim milk or almond milk? I don’t know.”

“Easy, Emma.” Director Trueart motioned her to join them in the teleportation bay. He signaled to the Academy recruit on duty to begin the process of beaming them down to Stardox. “I’ll take the lead in the talks. You’re there as a symbol and to assist in anything I may have forgotten. You’re going to do fine.”

Emma took a deep breath, joining the other three members of their party. Before she could second or third guess herself, they were being teleported to Stardox.

7

Emma had been to the planet of Stardox numerous times to practice. The Academy orbited the planet and used the uninhabited world to train the Academy recruits. Emma herself was supposed to lead a training exercise for the new Arilion Knights that were flocking to the Academy.

Strangely, it was something she was looking forward to doing. There was a bond she felt with the other Arilion. Even before meeting them, there was a brotherhood amongst them. They were the same at the core. The Light had chosen them before anyone else on their planet because they had the will to fight on.

Emma and the rest of the peacekeeping team were set down in a familiar jungle area. It was the same spot Emma arrived the very first time she had gone to the planet to train.

The hot sun shone bright overhead. The smell of moist soil and damp bark growing off the jungle trees hit her nose like a familiar friend. Alien animals cried to one another and chittered away as they observed the newcomers to their world.

“I’ll be in constant contact with Slain and the Academy,” Tistan informed the group. “If things get bad, we can either teleport back or Slain has a company of Academy guards standing by.”

“Let’s hope we don’t need either of those options,” Director Trueart said, smoothing down his robe. “If we can stop a full-out war here and now, we owe it to everyone, not just the people of Earth, to do what we can.”

Emma took a deep breath. She knew Earth was in trouble but really thinking about the subject was something entirely different. Her home was in danger of being invaded; millions maybe even billions of lives would be lost in a full-out war with the Shay.

Maybe that was why she hadn’t allowed herself to stop and think what it would mean if the peace talks failed. It would herald the end of the world as Emma knew it.

“I’ll walk to the clearing with Emma.” Director Trueart shook Emma from her fears. “Drown, you and Tistan will follow.”

“Understood,” both Halyna said at once.

Emma caught her mother’s eye and gave her a nod. Tistan returned the motion with a jerk of her chin.

“I am not admonishing you for your action with Alpha Browning,” Director Trueart said to Emma as they walked slowly down a jungle path. “I was about to do the same thing to her for what she did to her own planet’s Arilion. Jace has a good heart, even if he doesn’t know it yet himself.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Emma said as she watched her footing down the dirt path.

“Yes, there are many ways a negotiation can take form. If the Shay are hostile, I would like to remind you that they may try to aggravate you to the point of making a move of violence.” Director Trueart paused here, choosing the right words for what he was about to say next. “If they do and you make a move against them, they can justify the entire invasion on being attacked during peace talks. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yep, hands off the Shay, even if they call me and my friend mean names.” Emma simplified the director’s words. “I’ll keep my anger in check. I promise.”

“Good.” The director stopped where the path they were on opened up into a natural break in the thick jungle interior. “They should be here any moment.”

The clearing was half the length of a football field and just as wide. The thick jungle around them full of exotic trees, vines, and brush made the perfect terrain for an ambush.

Tistan and Drown stayed just outside of the foliage so they couldn’t be accused of hiding, but each fanned out to either side to keep an eye on the surrounding jungle.

Emma and the director took a few steps forward, waiting. Emma knew there was something wrong almost as soon as they entered the agreed-upon rendezvous.

The usual chirping of the birds and the normal everyday sounds of jungle life had ceased. Sweat gathered on Emma’s brow as the hot sun beat down on her. Everything inside of Emma told her something was very wrong.

“I’m getting reports of a Shay battle cruiser in orbit,” Tistan warned from her position ten yards behind them and to the left. “A teleportation link is being opened.”

A moment later, not one but three Shay aliens were teleported into the clearing. Emma immediately recognized the Shay on the left. It was Countess Rule. She, along with the Shay beside her, wore no armor or weapons. Their black uniforms opened in the back to make room for their giant wings that rested on their shoulders. Their crocodile-like heads moved this way and that, sniffing the air and staring down Emma.

The other two Shay were male as far as Emma could tell. The one directly next to Countess Rule was about her same height and weight. His green hue was healthy with a hint of yellow splashed in on his throat and on the underside of his scaly palms.

The third Shay stood in front of the other two. He seemed older. His skin was a bit wrinkled, his scales not as bright as the others. He wore a dark red and black tunic that fell behind his shoulders. His wings were drooping; the one on the right misshapen as if he had been in some kind of accident years before and never properly healed.

They didn’t make a move from where they had been teleported on the field in front of them. They were still a good twenty yards from Emma and Director Trueart when the lead Shay began to speak. His voice was that of an elder. He spoke clear and crisp, the deep gravel pitch so dominant in his kind barely noticeable. If Emma didn’t see for herself that it was a Shay in front of her, she could have mistaken the voice for an older man with a deep voice.

“I have many names, but the name you know me by is Emperor Shalnak. I am the leader of the Shay Empire. I have come at your request to speak on a matter of which I can only presume to know.” Emperor Shalnak shifted his gaze from Director Trueart to Emma and her brilliant violet vambraces. “I was informed you are growing an army of Arilion Knights, but I have never seen one for myself.”

Emperor Shalnak’s eyes perused and prodded Emma in a way that made her stomach turn.

“Thank you for coming.” Director Trueart bowed. “My name is Johan Trueart and I speak on behalf of the Bracka, Halyna, Ree, Human, and Were Alliance. It is true we are providing the Arilion Knights with a place to train and learn, but we are by no means building our own Arilion army. They belong to their own planets.”

“So you say.” Emperor Shalnak’s reptilian eyes left Emma and strayed to where Tistan and Drown stood behind them. “If this is nothing more than talks, why did you bring your warriors?”

“For the same reason you brought yours.” Director Trueart looked at the two Shay behind the emperor’s shoulders.

Countess Rule lifted the left side of her lip in a snarl. The male Shay opposite her made no indication he was being spoken of at all.

“These are the next generation of leaders in the Shay council,” Emperor Shalnak said without looking back at the two Shay behind him. “They are here only as students to witness and learn. Now let’s get down to the bones of the matter. What is it that you and your Alliance want?”

“We have heard rumors that the Shay are mobilizing their forces to invade Earth,” Director Trueart said as he held the much larger Shay’s stare. “If this is true, we would like to stay the bloodshed that would bring.”

“You’ve heard rumors or have you heard reports from your spies on my planet?” Emperor Shalnak’s eyes narrowed. A deep rumble came from his chest as he spoke the words. “We know what you know. There is no point playing this useless game of words. Speak direct to me as I will to you. Yes, we are mobilizing our army. Yes, we will take Earth as we have taken so many planets before, and yes, if the Alliance interferes, we will destroy you as well. Your best chance at survival is kicking the humans out of your alliance and letting them die on their own.”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Emma said so low it was barely audible to the others. “You’re scared that the Arilion Knights and the Alliance are growing too strong.”

“The Shay Empire has existed for millennia; our warriors are fearless, our armies as vast as the stars in the universe,” Emperor Shalnak said as he worked his slim snake-like tongue in and out of his mouth with a hiss. “We fear nothing. But you, you humans, have everything to fear.”

“There must be a way we can still the hand of violence,” Director Trueart said, shaking his head slowly. “Imagine how many people will die. How many of both of our own kind will perish in the conflict. We will not cut ties with our allies, but there must be another way.”

“There is no other way!” Emperor Shalnak roared, his voice rising in strength and volume for the first time. It was as if someone had flipped on a switch inside of him from calm to furious. “As of this moment, the Shay Empire is at war with the Alliance and all of its members. There is no hope for you, no shred of even the thought of winning you can hold on to. It is over for you and your kind!”

A moment later, the three Shay in front of Emma shimmered and then were teleported back to their ship. The last thing she saw was the stupid grin on Countess Rule’s face.

“Well, that went well,” Emma said with a deep sigh. “That guy has some anger issues.”

“We have a problem,” Tistan said as she tapped a few buttons on her holo band. “Communication with Slain and the Academy has been interrupted. I’m not getting anything and we can’t teleport anywhere. We’re being jammed.”

“Into the tree line!” Drown shouted. His eyes scanned the area in front of him as if he expected an ambush at any second. “Move, move, move!”

Even as Emma turned to obey the Halyna soldier, she caught shimmering out of the corner of her eye. All around the open area, Shay soldiers were being teleported down from their ship.

Emma didn’t have time to count. She reached for the will to fight that lived deep inside of her. Dozens of the winged aliens popped up all over the jungle clearing.

Emma and Director Trueart were still five yards from the jungle tree line when the weapons fire started going off around them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat!

Emma’s ears rang with the sounds of war. In front of her, Drown and Tistan were laying down cover fire. Drown fired with his pulse rifle. Tistan aimed down the barrel of her blaster as she took cover behind a large tree on her left.

They were almost there. They were almost to the relative safety of the tree line. Director Trueart was keeping pace on her right.

Emma had constructed a suit of armor around herself through channeling her will via her vambraces. Next she was going to create some kind of shield for the director.

She never got the chance.

A beeping silver ball with a blue light that pulsed off and on landed right in front of her. The grenade exploded.

8

Emma didn’t remember the explosion per se. Neither did she remember being lifted into the air or even the landing. The next thing she remembered after seeing the blinking blue light on the round silver ball was having the air sucked out of her like someone had just punched her in the jejunum.

Emma tried lifting herself off the ground. She was disoriented on top of fighting for breath. Her lungs ached. Hearing wasn’t happening for her either. A high-pitched tone was all she could hear at the moment.

The grenade had lifted her off her feet and flung her to the far side of the open field and into the jungle tree line. Emma could see a squad of Shay soldiers marching toward where Drown, Tistan, and the prone figure of Director Trueart lay sprawled on the opposite side of the field.

If the director was still alive, he wasn’t moving.

The blue laser beams of the Shay soldiers hosed the area where Tistan and Drown ducked for cover. Their own green beams shot back sporadically.

For the time being, it didn’t seem like the Shay soldiers were interested in either Director Trueart’s limp body or where Emma had been sent into the jungle.

Emma worked her jaw up and down. She wiggled a finger into her ear to try and chase the ringing away. Her finger came back sticky with blood. There was so much adrenaline coursing through her body, pain was now an afterthought.

Her mother needed her along with the other members of their party and Emma wasn’t going to let them down.

Flying was still very new to her. She had only picked up the ability a few weeks before. One thing that was immediate to Emma was the value of air superiority and the ease that an elevated fighting location provided.

Emma lifted into the air now, albeit unsteadily. She formed a purple ball of energy around her like a force field. Violet energy crackled in her hands, and for the second time in as many days, her vision went a shade of purple.

Emma’s hearing was gone for the moment, but she knew when the Shay soldiers caught sight of her. Their mouths moved up and down and they pointed upward.

Lifting into the air even higher, Emma made herself a smaller target.

You want to ambush us!? Emma started smack-talking the Shay soldiers on the ground in her own head. You want a piece of me!?

Blue energy beams began striking her circular force field. They made contact then were absorbed by the shield. Emma felt the drain on her that the construct demanded, but she had plenty of gas in her tank for the time being.

There had to be two, maybe three dozen of the soldiers on the ground. Emma struck out at them one hand at a time with crackling purple energy that looked like lightning more than energy blasts.

One after the other, she cut down the Shay below. She extended her hands as she chose the targets closest to the jungle tree line then worked her way back.

Tistan and Drown took the opportunity to send a new barrage of bright green fire into the enemy ranks as they made their way to the still unmoving Director Trueart.

Emma wondered if she should feel something as she cut through the Shay soldiers like some kind of mythical Valkyrie. Her strikes tore through their black armor, and in some cases, even through their bodies exiting the other side.

They were getting smarter now as they saw more and more of their numbers being cut down in front of them. Instead of assaulting Emma head on, they spread their own wings and took to the air.

Emma had gone through half of their number before they decided to switch tactics. They continued to hit her shield with their blue laser beams. Emma was beginning to sweat as it took more and more of her to hold her shield in place, fly, and fire her own offense all at the same time.

Flying Shay were also a lot harder to hit than ones on the ground. Before, Emma’s accuracy was nearly perfect. Now she was lucky to strike one hit for every four lightning blasts she sent from her hands.

Stay still you little crocodile people, stay still, Emma repeated to herself in her mind. Not that they could hear, and even if they did, they wouldn’t obey.

As Emma was beginning to consider a new tactic and how much more that would drain from her, green fire began to light up the daytime sky.

Emma knew her hearing was coming back because she could make out the noise this weapon made. It was louder and slower than any of the sounds that came before. With each roar of the weapon, a Shay fell from the sky. Unlike her, however, the soldier firing the weapon had years of training behind the trigger.

Emma glanced down to see if it was her mother or Drown, but the guilty party was hidden by the lush canvas of the jungle interior. In the matter of minutes, the last Shay fell to the ground with a scream of pain.

For the second time, Emma wondered if she should feel some pang of regret at having to have killed all the Shay soldiers. Below her, they lay broken and bleeding. Most of them were already dead. A few struggled to find any kind of cover as they dragged their wounded bodies across the ground.

But this is how it had to be, Emma reassured herself as she touched down to the ground in search for the rest of her party. It was you or them. If you did nothing, you and everyone else would be in their place. You didn’t ask for this fight. All you’re doing is surviving.

The purple globe of energy around her dissipated as soon as her feet hit the ground. She made her way to the section of the jungle where she had last seen Director Trueart’s body.

“Come in, come in; can you hear me?” Emma heard her mother’s panicked voice repeat over and over again. “I repeat, the Shays are hostile. The director needs immediate medical attention. Can you hear me?”

Emma stepped into the shade the jungle canopy provided. All around her, the scars of the battle lay new and deep. Trunks from trees were still smoking at the place of impact from the pulse rifles.

Just inside the tree line where a tree had fallen years before, the rest of her group took shelter.

Drown was crouched with the rifle Emma had seen on his back. An extendable barrel and scope had been mounted on the weapon. He still looked through it now, ensuring all of their enemies were down.

His left shoulder was charred and raw. An energy round had found its way through his armor, burning his orange skin underneath. Drown didn’t give the wound a second thought.

Instead, he fired another round at one of the downed Shay, who was stupid enough to move within his sights.

“Hang in there,” Tistan told the director. “You hang in there. We’re going to figure out what’s jamming this signal and get back to the Academy, do you hear me? Madame Cherub is going to make you drink some sick tonic and you’re going to be better in no time. You just hold on.”

Emma was afraid of what she was going to see. Still, she forced herself to look past Drown where her mother and the wounded director sat. The two were a few feet back behind the trunk of a thick tree whose branches drooped down as if it were providing a curtain of shelter for them.

Tistan’s face was streaked with sweat and dirt. As far as Emma could see, she wasn’t wounded. When her eyes fell on the director, her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.

Director Trueart’s torso was ripped open like a piñata at a hyperactive child’s birthday party. Blood seeped through the fabric and the makeshift tourniquet Tistan had made for the worst section of his chest.

The director’s face was pale, his white hair and beard stained with his own blood. His lips were blue. Shallow breaths were the only thing that told Emma he was alive.

“I repeat, this is Tistan Duel on the planet Stardox,” Tistan said again into her holo band. “Anyone at the Academy, do you copy? The Shay attacked us. We need immediate evac. Do you copy?”

Emma found her mother’s eyes. She wished she hadn’t. Tistan was a warrior trained for situations such as this. Fear was not present in her gaze, but a foreboding inevitability lay deep in her orange irises. Tistan shook her head.

“Em, Emma,” Director Trueart said just above a whisper. “Emma.”

Emma swallowed the lump in her throat. Tears were working their way to her eyes as she knelt on the jungle floor beside the dying Bracka man.

“We’re going to get you help.” Emma took his large, bulky hand in her own. It dwarfed hers in a way that would have been comical if the situation was any different. “Just hold on. You hold on.”

“Listen,” Director Trueart breathed. He winced as a wave of pain racked his battered body. “Listen, you must listen.”

“I’m listening, I’m here,” Emma said. With her free hand, she cupped the side of the elderly Bracka’s face. “I’m here.”

“Lead these Arilion Knights. The war is coming. It’s already started. They will look to you to lead them. You can lead them, Emma. It’s what you were born to do.” The director paused as if the words had cost him too much. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes. “You will be the savior of your planet and that of the universe. Defeat the Shay, Emma. Be the woman I know you are.”

Emma couldn’t speak. The words she wanted to say, even if she knew what they were, wouldn’t come. There was no way she was going to be able to push them out now. Instead of words, she nodded furiously. The hand that cupped the old man’s now wiped away the salty tears that fell down his cheeks.

Director Trueart died in her arms. A small smile crossed his lips as he breathed his last.

Tistan was only a few feet away. Although she was witnessing everything happen in front of her, she busied herself with the holo band, trying over and over again to get a signal to someone, anyone to respond to her calls for help.

“We’ve got incoming,” Drown said, oblivious to the death that had just taken place feet from his position. He looked at the director’s still body, then without blinking, turned to Tistan and Emma. “We need to move. The next wave is coming in and they’ll flank us out here. Let’s go.”

“We have to—we have to take his body with us—or—” Emma was at a loss for words. She couldn’t just leave him there. It seemed wrong on so many different levels. “I can take him with us.”

“No time; let’s go,” Drown said, checking the ammo in his weapon before slinging the long rifle over his shoulder and grabbing his standard pulse rifle. “We’ll come back for him.”

Shouts permeated the air in the clearing a moment later. There was no missing the low, guttural tones of the Shay soldiers. If Emma had to guess, there were more of them now. How many she had no idea, but the sounds of boots, wings, and voices made it sound as if they were surrounded already.

9

“I’m not leaving him,” Emma growled, her shock finally finding an emotion to evolve into; not surprisingly, it chose determination.

“Emma.” Tistan gave her daughter a stern gaze. It softened a moment later. “We will come back for him. I promise you. We will come back for him. Right now, he would want us to survive. We’re not leaving him. We’re just doing now what we need to do to get him home.”

Emma felt sick. She nodded dumbly, realizing how immature she must look in the eyes of the two Halyna warriors in front of her. Honestly, she didn’t care.

“Let’s go,” Drown said, trying to look up through the canopy of branches and get a better idea of where their enemy was. “The canopy is thick enough. We shouldn’t have a problem staying hidden from above. They’ll have to find us the old-fashioned way. On me.”

Emma followed behind Drown with her mother bringing up the rear. She took one last long look at Director Trueart. He almost seemed like he was taking a nap, the same little smile on his lips Emma couldn’t understand still there.

“Keep going. I’m going to set up some surprises for our friends,” Tistan said, motioning to Drown. Without missing a step, Drown turned sideways and tossed Tistan a pair of grenades. “I’ll catch up.”

“Mom.” Emma said the word the second time to the woman she was still getting to know. “I’ll come with you.”

“I can move faster alone, my daughter,” Tistan said, winking to Emma. “Follow Drown. I’ll be with you again in a few minutes.”

Before Emma could agree or disagree with her mother’s plan, Tistan was gone. She blended into the jungle terrain in the space of a few seconds like some kind of ghost.

“Let’s go,” Drown said, already heading deeper into the jungle. “We know this planet better than anyone in the universe. The Academy has been using Stardox as a training ground for years. We know exactly where to go and where we should never stray. Isn’t that right?”

How Drown could keep up a normal conversation as the two ran at full speed through the jungle was an alien concept to Emma. She nodded, using her breath to fill her lungs instead of speaking.

She understood exactly what Drown was saying. There were portions of Stardox where monsters lived. Monsters that were best kept to themselves. During her training exercise on the planet, Emma had gotten to know their names, where they lived, and what to look out for.

There hadn’t been an incident with any of these alien beasts since her first trip down to the planet something like five months before. Emma did a quick check to see if she could guess where Drown was taking them. They had teleported in at the head of the Trigon canyon. If they were headed north like she suspected, that meant that they were going to the sand sea.

“Drown, Drown, hold up,” Emma gasped as her combat instructor refused to stop. He continued dodging around trees and ducking under branches. “You’re not taking us to the Verocki, are you?”

“We are,” Drown said, sidestepping a rock and still running forward. “They won’t know what hit them and the Verocki will be big enough to kill them no matter how many they number.”

“Ugh, yeah, but we’re going to die too,” Emma said incredulously. “I think you forgot about that little part; none of this matters if we all die in the process. The Verocki are going to kill us too. They don’t play favorites.”

“It,” Drown corrected.

“What?”

“You said ‘they,’ but you mean ‘it’. As far as we know, there is only one Verocki on Stardox,” Drown explained. “There wouldn’t be enough food to sustain a populace. The monsters are too large.”

“You’ve been lying to all the recruits, then?” Emma asked. She wiped a sheet of sweat from her face. “We’ve always been told they were monsters that lived in the sand sea.”

“Oh, it’s a monster all right,” Drown said, pushing their pace even harder as they came to an incline. “I’ve only ever seen it once and that was enough to give me nightmares for a month.”

“Wonderful.” Emma shook her head. “And how are we going to make sure it eats the Shay and not us?”

“I’m still working on that part,” Drown admitted. He came to a halt so fast Emma nearly ran into him. “Shhh… listen.”

Emma was having a hard time hearing past her own beating heart that sounded like someone had been let loose on a pair of bongo drums. Still, she obeyed.

There was nothing at first, then faint shouts and a buzzing coming overhead. Something like the sounds of jet engines but deeper penetrated the jungle interior.

“Air support.” Drown chewed on his lower lip. “Plan stays the same. We stick to where the jungle is the densest for cover and we take them to the sand sea.”

BAM!

An explosion rocked the jungle from somewhere far away. Shouts could be heard and blaster fire soon followed. Emma’s thoughts immediately went to her mother.

“Your mother is the toughest soldier I know,” Drown said with a hint of emotion in his voice. “I’ve seen her take out a handful of armed soldiers with nothing more than a spork. She was brutal as a spy as well. Nothing is going to take Tistan out. Not even the Shay. Let’s get moving.”

Emma nodded, hoping that Drown was right. What else could she do but go on? They still had miles to cover before they made it to the sand sea. Then they still needed to come up with a way that the Verocki was going to kill the Shay and not them.

The hours passed without any more explosions in the jungle interior going off. Emma’s legs felt like Jell-O, her lungs ached nonstop, but still they pressed on. Emma’s stomach was rumbling from the lack of food. The bleeding in her right ear had stopped, leaving a trail of crimson red down her ear.

If Drown was tired, he made no sign of his weariness. Day turned into night. Although there were no more explosions from the jungle depths, the sounds of aircraft could be heard overhead from time to time. It was never enough to make Emma or Drown duck for cover but close enough to remind them they were still being hunted.

“So no chance you have any food with you, huh?” Emma asked, partly because she was hungry but partly because they had been traveling for hours in silence. “Sun’s going down now, which means I’m two meals behind.”

“Here, it’s all we got.” Drown pivoted for a moment, tossing Emma a dark green canteen. “We’ll find water again as soon as we get these Shay off our back. It’s not far to the sand sea now. Tistan should be meeting us soon.”

“How do you know that?” Emma gulped down the water, letting the cool fluid wash her dry throat in its wonderful glory. “And thanks for the water.”

“She’d do what I would do,” Drown said, waving his hand at Emma in a sign to keep the canteen.

“Which is?” Emma asked as she clipped the canteen to the right side of her hip. “Go Rambo status on them in the jungle?”

“I don’t understand half of what you said, but she’s leading them away from us.” Drown said the words as if he were sure of the matter. “She’ll take them out, as many as she can in the process. Then she’ll double back.”

Maybe it was Emma’s imagination, but the way Drown was speaking of her mother, there was more than a level of respect. It was a hunch she had had for a long time. That underneath the scarred husk of a soldier, Drown cared for her mother.

Tistan would never have accepted his advances if Drown had ever even tried, that she was sure of. Tistan was in love with her father. How difficult it must be for Drown to know they were back together. Emma decided to use the opportunity to find out more.

“So you and my mom were in what like basic training together? I mean, before you her and Slain were sent on the mission to Earth?” Emma tried the best she could to make her tone conversational. “Did you two grow up together too?”

“No,” Drown said to Emma’s surprise. She had half expected him to shut her down right then. “I met Tistan in boot camp when we were about your own age.”

Emma couldn’t believe her pointed ears. Was Drown actually having this conversation with her? Maybe it was the fatigue setting in on him or maybe he had wanted to talk about it all along and didn’t know how to broach the subject. Either way, Emma was glad to be having the conversation.

“So you guys have known each other for a while,” Emma mused, trying to figure out how to get to the next level of the conversation. “Did you guys ever, you know—date?”

Drown stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Emma. In the light of the fading sun, he was an imposing figure. Broad-chested and muscular with the scar on his face made him look like something out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Past the weapons he wore and his imposing build, his eyes spoke of a different man. Of someone who was tired of fighting, someone who had loved and lost. As soon as the look came over his face, it was gone again, so quick, Emma wondered if she had seen it there at all.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, kid.” Drown spat on the ground next to him. “Just ask.”

“Okay, I guess I’m just trying to get to know my mom better and you in the process.” Emma thought about what she really wanted to know. “I haven’t had a chance to sit down with my mother and talk. I mean, really talk about memories she has of her past. Of what my grandparents on her side are like. What she liked playing with as a kid, where were her favorite places to go.”

Emma quit trying to put her words in order in a way that would make sense. “I guess I just want to get to know her. You know her a hundred times better than I do.”

Emma paused again. She thought for sure she had said too much. She had never had a long conversation with Drown. Most of the time in weapons training, he was trying to land a punch to her head or gut.

“Tistan Duel is the most loyal, trusting, caring person I know out of any species,” Drown said to Emma’s surprise. He shook his head. He spoke as if he couldn’t even believe he was having this conversation. “When she left you and your father, it ripped her up inside in a way I’ve never seen. I’ve witnessed her take bullets, knife wounds, endure broken bones and ripped muscles. When she left you, it was something different. You and your father mean everything to her.”

Oh crap, Emma thought to herself as she found herself in a conversation she didn’t know how to get out of. I wanted the truth, but this is some heavy stuff. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“And yes, I like, maybe even love your mother. I tried once after we left Earth years after she said goodbye to you and I knew then what I know now, that her heart belongs to you and your human father,” Drown said, shaking his head. “I haven’t tried again. I won’t. There’s no point. I’m married to being a soldier now. It’s my lot in life. I’ve accepted that.”

Rustling to their right took Emma to a crouched position with her right arm extended and ready to blast a beam of purple energy. Drown hunched, raising his pulse rifle to his line of sight in one smooth motion.

10

Emma’s heart picked up tempo. She remained perfectly silent as a dark figure moved in the jungle. A noise like some kind of low bird call traveled to Emma’s ears.

Drown lowered his weapon and stood upright, returning the same call from his lips. It sounded like a small bird chirping.

“Easy,” Drown said to Emma. “It’s your mother.”

“Well, I bought us some time, but there’s an entire platoon of Shay out there,” Tistan said, walking forward. She was covered in a dark black sticky substance that splattered over her torso, face, and boots. “Are you—are you two okay? Are you guys crying?”

“What? No.” Emma shook her head furiously, as did Drown.

“Blood.” Drown motioned with his chin to Tistan.

“I took a few out on the way.” Tistan patted one of the handles from the blades that poked over her shoulders. “Still no word from the Academy. What’s the plan?”

“Verocki,” Emma said with a shrug. She was still getting used to the idea of heading toward the sand beast. “We’re going to lead the Shay to the Verocki and let it take care of them for us.”

“I’m betting you came up with this plan?” Tistan looked over to Drown. “How are we going to make sure the Verocki only goes after the Shay?”

“That’s what I asked,” Emma said.

“I’m still working on it.” Drown motioned for them to begin moving again. “I think I’ve come up with an idea. The Verocki hate the—”

Before Drown could finish his thought, a massive explosion rocked the side of the hill they stood on. Emma felt the shudder travel up her feet. It was close.

“I set another booby trap on my way in,” Tistan explained with large eyes. “They’re close. We need to move!”

There was no time to finish hearing Drown’s plan. The trio moved on in a sprint. As soon as they crested the hill they were on, Emma could see exactly how close they were to the sand sea. A mile in front of her, the jungle began to thin, slowly transitioning from lush vegetation to open land.

Somewhere in the distance, miles and miles past the open stretch of sand, a scraggy mountain range rose from the ground. Emma had time to process all of this as she sprinted with her mother and Drown for the open sea of sand.

The whine of engines in the air above them reminded Emma of the need to form a plan post haste. If they reached the sand sea and the Verocki out in the open, they were doomed. If the sand monster didn’t get them, the air support the Shay had brought with them would.

“Plan!?” Tistan shouted. Apparently, she had been thinking the same thing.

“Remember that time we had to go to the Oberon Galaxy?” Drown asked as he vaulted over a bush.

“No, not Oberon,” Tistan said with no hesitation in her voice. “Figure out something else.”

“No time,” Drown said, skidding to a halt near the last line of jungle trees. Ahead of them, the sand sea stretched on as if welcoming them with open arms. “Help me find some dackfruit. They hate that stuff.”

“What, what happened in the Oberon Galaxy?” Emma asked as she tried to ease her aching leg muscles.

“We were hard up for a way out,” Tistan explained as she worked alongside Drown to remove pumpkin-sized fruit from one of the trees in the jungle. Emma was aware of the dackfruit from her many training exercises on Stardox. It was a pulpy fruit, inedible and absolutely horrendous to smell. “We were being chased by the locals. To camouflage ourselves, we were forced to hide in the muck of a swamp until they passed.”

“We were invisible to them.” Drown produced a blade and ripped open a dackfruit. “The Verocki hunt by their sense of smell.”

Emma dry heaved from the pungent odor the dackfruit made. She had to remind herself not to vomit again as Drown and Tistan began covering their bodies with the goopy green slime inside the fruit.

Tistan had to even stop herself from vomiting. Instead, she spat on the ground, continuing to smear her body with the inside of the dackfruit. Both Halyna drenched themselves with it from their hair to their boots.

“Listen, guys.” Emma shook her head, unwilling to douse herself with the gore of the dackfruit just yet. “Maybe it’s just our time to go. You know, let’s just make an epic last stand here. I’m at peace with that.”

Drown cut through an especially large dackfruit. He held one side like a bowl and flung the contents of the fruit at Emma. It hit her across her face and torso like a wet slap.

Emma closed her eyes as the slime ran down her neck and into her shirt. The smell of the dackfruit was like rotting meat mixed with spoiled eggs.

“Let’s get a move on,” Tistan said, handing Emma another opened dackfruit. “Mind over matter. We’re just soaping up in a shower.”

“I don’t know what kind of messed-up showers you’ve been taking.” Emma stopped breathing through her nose and began smearing the insides of the dackfruit across her legs and arms. “But this is nothing like that.”

The slimy insides of the dackfruit oozed through Emma’s fingers as she smeared the sticky substance over her arms and as much of her back as she could access.

Shouts from the top of the hill they had just descended woke Emma from her concentration on not throwing up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Blue blaster fire from the Shay pulse rifles showered the area around them.

“Times up!” Drown shouted as he motioned for the others to follow. “Time to hope a monster wants to have nothing to do with us.”

Emma tossed her opened dackfruit to the side and once again sprinted forward. Fatigue was beginning to set in and running once again was more difficult than she thought. She traded the firm soil of the jungle for the soft sand of the planet’s changing landscape.

The sand played murderous games with her calves and quads, making her want to fall with every step.

Let’s go; one more step and then one more step after that, Emma told herself. She held on to her will with a strong grip as she channeled power from her vambraces into her legs. Don’t give up, keep going.

Blaster fire struck the ground to her left and right. Overhead, the sound of the aircraft the Shay had brought with them took over. A sound like flapping wings also filled the air. It seemed like now that the Shay could see their prey out of the cover of the jungle, they were more likely to take flight.

Then, a half mile into the sea of sand, the ground shifted under Emma’s feet. At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but then, she was nearly tossed to the side. The ground shifted and something impossibly massive moved under the surface.

For a moment, the idea of being so close to a creature of this size without really knowing their plan was going to work touched Emma’s mind. Fear budded like a rose as it asked the many questions of what could go wrong. Emma stomped on that flower of fear as she concentrated on running.

Drown screaming from her left tore her from these thoughts. He was on his back, gripping his right leg in both hands. His armor had once again saved him from losing a limb, but the round had struck the back of his leg. The armor covering the limb smoked.

“I’ve got him,” Tistan said to her daughter as she pulled Drown to his feet. “You get a barrier up!”

Emma constructed a large translucent square shield around them. The Shay that had taken to the air were closer than those on foot. They descended on Emma’s barrier, firing their blasters over and over again.

Her strength beginning to wane, Emma fell to her knees. She kept her hands outstretched, holding the barrier in place. It was like holding one side of a door closed as someone twice her size pounded over and over to get in.

The aircraft that had been searching for them finally came into view. It was a small dark ship not much larger than a helicopter with a cockpit in the center. On either of its short wings was an armament of rockets.

It advanced on them, drawing a bead on their location.

Emma gritted her teeth, preparing for the onslaught while at the same time considering if she had enough in her to form some kind of offense on the flying craft. She didn’t have to.

The surface of the sand broke as easily as the top of water would give way for someone emerging from its depths. A creature so large it was difficult for Emma to fathom lunged forth.

The thing looked like something crossed between a whale and an octopus if whales and octopuses were as large as this creature. Its body was a dull cream and red color, allowing it to mix in with the sand perfectly. The front of its face was mostly made up of a circular mouth, opened to show, to Emma’s surprise, no teeth at all.

Despite its lack of bicuspids and incisors, it timed its high lunge perfectly and swallowed the Shay aircraft in a single bite. One moment the craft was there and the next it was simply gone. The sand monster hit the surface of the desert again so hard, it caused a minor earthquake.

Emma knew her mouth was open, but she didn’t care. The whale-like creature disappeared into the sand once more, its many long tentacles following behind it until they were nothing but a recent memory.

An unofficial pause was called in the battle as both parties struggled to deal with the reality taking place in front of them.

“That—that helicopter thing just got Jonah’d,” Emma breathed. With her tongue, she licked a line of sweat that gathered on her upper lip. “What—what happens now?”

The Shay all around them were flying or running about, shouting to one another and trying to figure out their orders when the Verocki came again. This time, the sand monster changed tactics. Instead of emerging in a lunge and disappearing again, it only allowed half of its body to poke through the sand. With its many tentacles, it began plucking the Shay from the sky and the ground alike and tossing them into its open mouth like Emma would throw popcorn into her gullet at the movies.

The Verocki was only fifty yards away, but the awesome wonder it instilled in Emma would follow her for the rest of her life. The Shay turned their full attention on the monster. Blue laser blasts no longer struck the construct Emma had erected. Now the Shay were fully engaged battling the sand monster.

Soon Emma felt confident enough to lower her shield and give herself a rest. One by one, the Shay were being grasped and eaten until only a handful remained to retreat into the jungle interior.

“Maybe, maybe we should get moving and not push our luck,” Tistan said. She had Drown’s right arm wrapped over her neck. “Let’s go.”

Emma nodded dumbly.

Up until now, the Verocki hadn’t made a noise. As the last of the Shay retreated into the jungle, it let out a monstrous bellow that rattled Emma from the inside out. It didn’t sound angry like a challenge but more of an imploring plea for its food source to return.

Emma trotted alongside Tistan and Drown as they headed away from the beast. Looking back was a bad idea. The Verocki’s head, if you could call it a head at all, was turned toward them now. Its eyes were massive and glossy on either side of its face. It looked at Emma, cocking its head to the side, then lunged after them.

11

“I thought you said this thing wasn’t going to have any interest in us because we smell like death warmed over!” Emma screamed as she ran.

“It was a guess,” Drown answered through gritted teeth. He moved as quickly as he could with Tistan’s help.

No matter how fast Emma could run, they were not going to outpace the sand monster. There was nowhere to hide either. The sand stretched out for miles and miles in every direction. The Verocki was between them and the jungle at the moment. There was no going back. To their right and left was only sand. In front of them, barely visible on the dark horizon, was the mountain range, but it was much too far to be of any help.

Emma understood what she was going to have to do. She would have to find it in herself somewhere to pick up both Drown and her mother and lift them to safety out of the reach of the Verocki. It was either that or turn and fight the behemoth and Emma didn’t see that going well.

The sounds the Verocki made as it swam through the sand after them was like a bulldozer pushing its way through a pile of dirt. The monster let out another roar as if it were asking, “Hey, where are you guys going? Come back. I won’t hurt you.”

Emma began stoking the fire that lived inside of her. The reason the vambraces and the Light chose her was going to come into play right now. She wasn’t a quitter; she was a survivor.

Something squawked on her holo band. It was Slain’s voice.

“Emma, Tistan, is anyone there? Can you hear me?” Slain asked with panic in his voice. “We’ve got communications and the teleporter back online. Can you hear me?”

“We’re here, we’re here,” Emma shouted into the holo band, feeling a sense of relief for the first time that day. “Teleport us in. Get us out of here!”

Emma’s voice carried all the urgency one would have when being chased by a colossal alien beast.

Emma felt a tingle as the teleportation sequence initiated. She turned just in time to see the Verocki lunge at them with a pair of its creamy red tentacles. The tentacle had a spade-shaped end on it with something akin to suction cups. It descended on Emma.

The next instant, Emma, Tistan, and Drown were in the teleportation room aboard the Academy. The spade end of the tentacle about to grab Emma had made the trip as well. The appendage that was as large as Emma herself fell to the floor, wriggling amongst the trio of survivors. A spray of grey goopy liquid painted the room as the end of the tentacle came to a squirming halt.

“I need a raise,” Drown said as Tistan let him stand on his own power.

“Wait.” Emma looked from Drown to Tistan. “You guys are getting paid for this?”

Slain, along with Jeba and Layga, were behind the control panel in the teleportation room. They all ran forward to help the three survivors.

Layga aided Drown while Jeba kicked at the dead tentacle piece just to be sure it was actually gone.

“Where’s Director Trueart?” Slain searched the eyes of the survivors for an answer he already knew. “What happened to him?”

“He’s dead,” Tistan said, waving off Drown and Layga. “Go, get him patched up. I’ll take care of this.”

“The body.” Drown winced in pain as he put pressure on his injured leg. “I promised Emma I’d go back for the body.”

“We’ll get it, of course,” Slain said, swallowing hard at the words coming out of his mouth. “I’ll send in a team immediately to retrieve his—his body.”

Drown looked over to Emma as if he were asking if this would be acceptable. Emma nodded along with Slain’s words.

Layga and Drown left the room, heading for the infirmary.

“The Shay never had plans of peace talks at all,” Tistan said, trying to wipe off the combination of Shay blood, dackfruit, and Verocki juice from her body then decided not to bother with it. “They were there to kill us from the beginning. Although I assume their main targets were the director and Emma. I couldn’t save him, Slain. I tried, but we couldn’t save him.”

“They blocked communication and the ability for us to teleport on and off the planet via their destroyer,” Slain said with anger. “We tried everything on our end to break through their signal. It wasn’t until the Alliance forces mobilized and our own fleet arrived did the Shay retreat. That allowed us to bring you back.”

“We’re at war now,” Emma said to herself as much as everyone else in the room. “They’re going to come soon. They’re not going to just give us time to regroup and rest. The Shay will attack Earth.”

“You need rest and food,” Tistan said to Emma with motherly eyes. “Before you protest, realize that’s what your body needs to keep going.”

Emma nodded. Arguing wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Her mother was right. She needed both of those things, but for the moment, just food would have to do. She made Director Trueart a promise. She told him she would train the Arilion that had come to the Academy for guidance. That was what she was going to do as long as she could before the Shay arrived on Earth and it was her time to go and fight.

“I’ll get the director’s body,” Tistan said, misreading her daughter’s pause. “Eat and rest. The Earth will need its knight soon.”

“I will,” Emma said, already heading for the door. Jeba fell in line with her. “I have my holo band if you need me.”

That seemed to be enough for Emma’s mother and Slain as the two began discussing their return to Stardox. Emma felt only slightly bad about lying to her mother. She knew Tistan was right. Her body needed fuel found in food and sleep to recharge but not yet. She needed to do something first.

“You have that look in your eye again.”

Emma glanced over to Jeba. “Which one?”

“The crazy one.” Jeba grinned. “It’s my favorite of all of your looks. Count me in.”

“Don’t you want to hear what I plan on doing first?” Emma asked Jeba with a raised eyebrow. She probably would have grinned if the events surrounding the past few hours hadn’t been so dire. “You’re just going to hop on board like that?”

“You’re my friend, Emma Jackson.” Jeba shrugged as if that explained it all. “I don’t have very many friends. I mean, real friends that I can call on to die on the field of battle beside me. I should also tell you I have a nagging feeling that one of us will die when the Shay attack Earth and we stand to oppose them. Don’t tell me to be more optimistic. It’s only a feeling.”

“All right,” Emma said as her brain formed a plan. “I need you to—”

Emma abruptly stopped. The two girls had traveled down the hall in the Academy to the teleporters set inside the walls like elevators. The cylinder-shaped chambers would send them to any floor they wanted inside the Academy in the blink of an eye.

It wasn’t the teleporter that caught Emma’s eye, it was who had just teleported to their level. Emma had to remind herself that this was the new version of Jace Hunter. He was tall and dark-skinned with ebony hair and deep brown eyes. He wore the same black and purple uniform as Emma did, with his violet vambraces glowing on his forearms.

Jace mistook Emma’s and Jeba’s open mouths for something else entirely.

“Oh, she tried to keep me in the infirmary. Madame Cherub is a stubborn woman, but I need to get back in this fight,” Jace said to the girls. “How can I help? Where are you two headed?”

“Hubba hubba,” Jeba said, batting her eyes at Jace. “I take everything back I ever said about you, furball.”

“What did you say about me?” Jace’s face turned into a frown. “I don’t remember you saying anything about me.”

“That’s because it was all behind your back,” Jeba confirmed. “But like I said, I take it back.”

“Where are you going?” Jace gave Jeba a firm scowl before turning to Emma. “I’m sick of lying in that bed all day. I want to do something.”

“Good. You can help,” Emma said, finally getting over the initial shock that Jace’s new form brought with it. “I need you to round up all the new Arilion that are here in the Academy and have them meet me in the danger room. I need to talk to them.”

“Is everything all right?” Jace asked before he moved to fulfill Emma’s request. “That’s a stupid question. What’s wrong?”

Emma thought back to the director’s death, the Shay invasion, and her own part to play in all of it. “There’s a lot wrong. If it’s okay with you, I’ll just tell you when I tell the rest of the Arilion.”

Jace nodded slowly. He left them, reentering the teleporter. He was gone a moment later.

“I’m going to get you some food. You look horrible,” Jeba said to her friend. Not willing to take no as an answer, Jeba walked into the empty teleportation chamber. “Some of that coffee you like should do the trick and some kind of a hearty meal. I’ll see what I can scrounge.”

Emma would have argued with her friend if she wasn’t so dead on her feet. The putrid smell of the dackfruit still assaulted her nose. She had dried sweat on what felt like every inch of her body.

“Thanks, Jeba,” Emma said with a soft smile. “You’re the best.”

Jeba disappeared, leaving Emma alone for a brief moment. If collapsing in on herself from exhaustion was an option, Emma would have done so in that moment.

Now’s not the time to give up. It’s never the time to give up, Emma told herself as she entered the teleporter after her two friends. You need to be strong right now, if not for yourself, then for everyone else. They need you right now, to lead.

Emma leaned against the cold metal of the teleporter’s white walls and allowed her a few moments to herself. Tears she needed to shed fell down her cheeks. She didn’t sob, but a small quiver escaped her lungs. She cried for the director.

Her emotions were short and fierce. After a few moments, Emma took a deep breath in and out, composing herself. She wiped her eyes dry and moved her focus from what had happened to what she needed to do next.

Emma set her jaw, slowly nodding along with the plan she had set in place. Anger channeled to resolve in her heart. The vambraces on her forearms shone bright with the power of Emma’s will.

“If the Shay want a fight,” Emma said to herself as she touched the controls on the teleportation panel in front of her, “then we’ll give them a fight they will never forget.”

12

Emma scarfed down the massive burger Jeba had brought with her. The mess hall didn’t take special requests, but neither did Jeba take no for an answer. Emma felt sorry for whoever was on duty having to deal with her loyal friend, but she was more than happy with the outcome.

Along with the burger, Jeba had brought her a giant cup of coffee. Usually, Emma would cringe at the thought of biting into a cheeseburger, then following the bite with a swig of the steaming caffeinated beverage. The combination didn’t exactly taste wonderful. It did, however, do the job. It was what she needed to get through this next part before she could finally sleep.

Emma and Jeba waited in the large white circular room designated as a training area for the Arilion Knights that found their way to the Academy. There were new knights coming in every day from every corner of the universe. Since the Alliance had agreed to send out an open transmission that the Academy was welcoming all new Arilion Knights to train, the response had been overwhelming.

Talks now were that the Academy would be solely used for the training of the Arilion Knights. The recruits that were there before would get a new station to train out of. The Alliance still needed their soldiers.

“How many knights do you think are here at the Academy all together?” Emma asked between mouthfuls of her dinner. Her eyes crossed the large training room. The ceiling was made of some kind of glass and showed them the brilliant universe and the millions of twinkling stars beyond.

“Last I heard, we were close to twenty, but who knows how many have joined since then.” Jeba shrugged as she pursed her lips. “But all of them are newer than even you. They’re not trained yet.”

“I know.” Emma sighed. “The Shay aren’t going to wait for us to be ready either. I think we have a day maybe two at the most. How am I going to ask these new Arilion Knights to come and fight and maybe die with us?”

“If they are truly Arilion Knights, you won’t have to ask,” Jeba said, punching her friend playfully in the shoulder. “Don’t be so gloomy.”

“Ouch.” Emma massaged her shoulder with the back of her hand that held her cheeseburger. “You’re the one always talking about death.”

“Hey.” Jeba stuck out her lower lip. “I feel what I feel.”

Talking reached their ears from somewhere through the open doors of the danger room. A moment later, Arilion Knights from the four corners of the universe began to pile in.

They were of every skin color, height, weight, age, and creed. Jace led the sleepy-eyed knights into the room. It was all of their bedtimes and no doubt they were tired from their day of training.

When they saw Emma and the look on her face, their stifled yawns ended. The dull chatter quieted as well.

Emma recognized most of them, although there were some that must have just traveled to the Academy in the last few days because she had never seen them before. The one common thing that bonded them together were the vambraces on their forearms that glowed with the purple power of their order.

Each vambrace was slightly different from the rest, even if it was curvature at the top of the metal piece or the material from which the armor was fashioned. Emma saw some that looked like solid rock; others that reminded her of thick fabric wrapped around their users’ forearms.

Whether Jace had told them to wear their uniforms or they had done so on their own didn’t matter. They were there looking at Emma for direction, all waiting with bated breath to find out why they had been called.

Emma cleared her throat as she reluctantly placed her dinner back on the plate. She walked towards them licking her lips as she thought about how to begin. Five months ago, she’d have been a stuttering mess. Now she was about to give the speech of a lifetime.

Ten yards from where the group stood, Emma stopped. She tried to make eye contact with as many of the knights as she could.

“I know most of you, but I’m not sure how many of you know my story.” Emma placed her hands on her hips. The nervous energy she felt at public speaking demanded she do something with her hands. “I was bullied, friendless, and couldn’t get words out while I was under pressure to save my life. I was a stuttering mess. This place changed all of that for me. It gave me friends that feel more like family. It showed me direction for my life and now that’s all being threatened.”

Emma paused to let her words sink in.

“The Shay have declared war on the Alliance, and more specifically, on Earth. Director Trueart was murdered by the Shay as he tried to negotiate a peaceful compromise. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes.” Emma swallowed hard, trying not to recall the memory of her dead friend. It came back anyway.

Shocked whispers were traded back and forth between the assembled knights. One smaller alien that looked like a lemur lifted his hand to his tiny mouth as if he were going to cry.

“I know you’re all new to this,” Emma said, refusing to give orders to the gathered crowd. She wasn’t about to tell knights with a month to no training they needed to help her protect her planet. “But that doesn’t mean anything to the Shay. They’ll be attacking soon. I’m going to train my butt off getting ready. When they come for us, I’m going to make them pay for what they did to Director Trueart. I can’t—I won’t ask you to put your lives on the line for a planet you don’t know. I just wanted you to hear all of this from me.”

“You don’t have to ask anything,” Jace said, walking forward with a look of pure determination on his face. “We’re brothers and sisters in an intergalactic order bonded by fate. Any of us get into a fight and all of us get into that same fight. If the Shay want to come, then they come for us all.”

Jace stopped and stood beside her with a nod of his head.

“We’re with you, Emma!” a voice shouted from the ranks of the gathered Arilion.

“The original Arilion Knights stood tough and so will we!” another voice yelled.

“As one,” a gruff voice chimed in.

Somewhere deep inside, Emma hoped this would be the response she would get from the rest of the knights. If she dared to allow herself to dream, this was what she wanted to hear. She had a feeling they would be with her until the end because that was what she would do for any of them. They shared an alliance now, and even stronger than that, they shared a bond.

With the relief also came a sense of fear so deep, Emma was forced to pause. There was no way they would all make it out alive. Even if they did manage to overthrow the Shay, there would be casualties.

The gathered group of Arilion Knights was beginning to talk amongst themselves now. There was a nervous energy in the air, foreign to such a late hour.

“I—I don’t know if I can let you let them,” Emma said to Jace in a low tone. “Okay well, maybe you, but a lot of them can barely form their first construct.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing it’s not up to you whether we fight or not,” Jace said, grinning down at her with those new brown eyes. “We’re going. We’re all standing together whether you like it or not. That’s our choice.”

“Then we’ll need to train to be ready,” Emma said, looking out at all the Arilion still so new in their calling. “Even if we have a day or two, we should begin now. If we can teach them a strong defense and then some kind of offense, it’s something.”

“I heard there was going to be an intergalactic fight with the bullies of the universe,” a familiar voice shouted through the noise. “You know, odds stacked against us, backs against the wall. Maybe outgunned, probably outmanned. Where do I sign up?”

The ranks of the Arilion Knights parted to let Frank Wolffe through. More whispers were passed from one Arilion to the other. The ones that knew who he was passed the information in excited murmurs to others who did not.

Emma felt a smile spread over her lips so huge she knew she must look ridiculous. She didn’t care. She forced herself to walk to meet Frank and not run.

He was tall with broad shoulders and stubble across his jaw. The boyish grin that spread over his own face told her that everything was going to be okay, that somehow they would find a way to make it through this.

Emma stopped in front of Frank. She had never had an older brother, but she imagined this was what it must feel like after not seeing him for far too long. She wanted to give him a hug but was tied up in the politics of the moment.

Am I not supposed to hug other Arilion in front of the new knights? Emma thought to herself. Is that weird or awkward? Don’t be weird, Emma, don’t be weird.

It didn’t seem Frank minded being a bit weird.

“No hug, Jackson?” Frank said, going to Emma and wrapping her in an embrace. He held her in his arms for a moment before letting her go. “I heard about what happened to the director. They’ll pay. I promise you they’ll pay.”

Emma took a step back, thinking how safe she felt in his arms. It was the same feeling she got as a child when she hugged her father. Here was someone powerful willing to do whatever it took to keep her safe. Even though she could take care of herself now, it was still nice to know someone had her back.

“How’ve you been?” Emma asked, trying to remember what Frank had been going through months ago, the last time she had seen him. “You said you had a friend in trouble?”

“Oh, yeah, that went as well as could be expected,” Frank said with a sad smile. “She’s taking some time to figure things out at the moment. Now we have a whole new set of problems, but they can wait. First things first; we have an alien invasion to stop.”

“Hello, Major Wolffe,” Jace said. He stood next to Emma and tipped his head to Frank. “It’s good to see you again. I’m sure we’ll bleed together once more before this is all over.”

Frank took a step back, trying to figure out how a third human could be an Arilion Knight. “And who are you? How did you get your vambraces? Earth already has its knight.”

“Oh, right,” Jace said, looking down at his new appearance. “My DNA was poisoned by the emissary of my planet. Madam Cherub had to introduce new alien DNA into my system in hopes it would repair that which was already destroyed. It did. She injected me with human DNA and it brought about a physical change. The science behind the events is actually—”

“I’m just going to stop you right there,” Frank said, massaging his temples. “You lost me at DNA. I understood a quarter of what you just said.”

“It’s Jace; he’s gone full werewolf on us,” Emma stepped in to assist. “We’re still waiting to see if he changes back into a Were or not. Time will tell.”

“Oh, he’s a werewolf now?” Frank stopped rubbing his temples with a nod of his head. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

Jace looked from Emma to Frank, lost for words.

“So what’s the game plan here?” Frank asked, directing his attention to all the other recruits who looked up at Frank, awestruck. “Time to kick around the newbies and show them a thing or two before we get into this fight? We don’t have much time.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Emma said with a grin. “Also, did I tell you I can fly now?”

“While I’m still floating around like an idiot.” Frank sighed. “Well, I can’t win them all. Good job, Jackson. Let’s get to work.”

13

The training that night was brutal. Emma was so tired she couldn’t see straight. Frank insisted he would finish another few hours of drills with the new Arilion Knights and sent her off to bed.

Emma didn’t even remember walking to her room. She was dead on her feet. There was not even a second thought about a shower no matter how filthy or smelly she remained. No dreams came to reach her that night. The next thing she remembered was someone shaking her awake.

Distant memories of a dream where she was flying not just through the air but through space itself tickled at her mind and begged her to return. Someone slapped her hard across the face, immediately pulling her from that dream.

“Jeba!” Layga’s voice was full of shock. “Don’t slap her!”

Emma blinked tired eyes as she pushed herself to a seated position. She was on top of the blankets and sheets of her bed. She hadn’t even made it underneath them or changed or even taken off her boots, for that matter. Stains from the dirt, sweat, and dackfruit were still all over her uniform and now bed.

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Jeba asked, moving to take a seat next to Emma on her bed. Her nose wrinkled and then she thought twice of it and decided to stand. “She’s awake.”

“What—what time is it?” Emma worked the stale saliva in her mouth. She was already looking forward to brushing her teeth.

“After breakfast,” Layga said, handing Emma a protein bar and another mug of coffee. “The knights are training already. I wanted to let you sleep longer, but Jeba was insistent.”

“You need to whip these new Arilion into shape,” Jeba agreed. “My love and Jace are already training them, but they can use all the help they can get.”

“‘Your love?” Emma stretched, trying to free herself from the brain fog. “Oh, you mean Frank?”

“Yes, that’s what I said,” Jeba answered.

“I need a shower and then I’ll head up to the danger room,” Emma said, gratefully accepting her breakfast from Layga. “I should pay you guys something for always bringing me food.”

“Yes, that would be nice,” Jeba said with a serious nod.

“No, we’re your friends; that’s what we do, look out for each other.” Layga pulled at Jeba’s right arm. “Come on; we have our shift at the teleportation room in a few minutes.”

The girls waved good-bye, leaving Emma alone to take a shower, eat her food, and head up to the danger room with the rest of the knights. To say the shower felt good would be a disservice to the shower itself. Emma leaned against the shower wall, soaking in every precious second. The hot water massaged her aching back in a hundred tiny hoses. The soap she used fought away her sweat and the scent of the dackfruit like the morning sun beating back the darkness.

A quick dry and a new uniform later saw Emma back into the danger room. Her wet blonde hair was wrapped behind her pointy pink ears. Her body was sore in a dozen different areas thanks to the events of the previous day, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from giving everything she had to training.

As she entered the danger room, she could hear Frank instructing the recruits on what to do when the battle started.

“Things are going to happen fast and there’s going to be no time to react. When artillery strikes, it’s going to be like being caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. Fear will try and immobilize you, but you’re Arilion, so you’ll find your way past that. When you do, you’ll need a go-to defensive and offensive construct.” Frank walked up and down the two rows of knights in front of him. Ten to a row, they stood shoulders back at attention. “Your offensive construct will be determined by what kind of weapon your planet uses and which one you know the best and feel most comfortable constructing. Your defensive construct will be this.”

Frank stopped in front of them, using his vambraces to channel his strength of will and bring a translucent second skin over his body. The layer was no more than an inch thick, but it covered him totally.

“This will be your armor, so to speak.” Frank caught sight of Emma from the corner of his eye. “Go ahead and begin to practice.”

The Arilion Knights in front of him began working on their constructs under Jace’s supervision as Frank joined Emma at the entrance to the room.

“Not bad if I’m being honest,” Frank said to her with an approving smile. “A lot of them can already form a construct or two. There’s only a handful so new they’ll need extra work, but all in all, I think we have ourselves a pretty solid corps of knights. Maybe you can help with some offensive training once they’re done with this drill.”

“Sure,” Emma said. There was something tickling the back of her memory. Something about the Shay invasion she knew she should remember, but for the time being just couldn’t bring to mind. “Let’s do it.”

When the new knights were done practicing Frank’s move, they could all bring a thin layer of purple energy over their body to one extent or another. There was a huge bull-like alien in the back row who had perfected the move within a few tries and was helping others figure it out.

“That’s your homework,” Frank said, interrupting their training. “We can’t take you into a fight unless you can defend yourself. Now we get to work on the fun stuff. Emma has agreed to show us some moves.”

Frank looked over at Emma, giving her an open wave of his hand to take center stage.

“Right,” Emma said, taking her place next to Frank. “Like Frank said before, construct a weapon that you are familiar with. That will be the easiest weapon for you to create. If it’s a baton you practiced with in a class or a bow you’re accustomed to using for recreational purposes, imagine that in your mind, see it in your hand, and call on your power of Will to create it.”

As Emma spoke, she extended her right hand. Energy from her vambraces rippled past her outstretched fingers, making a solid purple bow.

The twenty mouths in front of her dropped open, some even smiling at the possibilities. Then the real work began. It was much easier creating a defensive construct that was basically a shield over their bodies. It was something that didn’t take a lot of imagination. Weapons, on the other hand, especially those who were unfamiliar with weapons, would be more of a struggle.

Emma, Frank, and even Jace walked up and down the two lines of ten knights as they worked to create offensive constructs of their own. The images appearing in their hands were everything from typical blasters to large axes on poles.

Emma stopped by the end of the line where a woman not much younger than her mother worked to produce a pair of thick blasters in her hands. She was tall with thick rope-like hair; her skin was light blue and nearly translucent. Just under her skin, lights shone and played inside of her body like some kind of extravagant extraterrestrial display.

At her left boot, a small creature looked up at Emma, wagging its tail. It looked like a Corgi, if corgis had wings.

“Hi,” Emma said, introducing herself. “You’re one of the newer knights, right? Was it Hydi?”

Hydi smiled with a wide grin. She looked down at her feet. “That’s right, and this little guy is Baka. I couldn’t leave him on my planet when I came. I didn’t see any rules against animals in the Academy.”

“Oh, you’re fine,” Emma said, waving away any thought that Hydi would be in trouble for allowing her pet to come aboard. “We have animals here too. But that’s not why I came over. What are you constructing?”

“Oh, right,” Hydi said, looking down at her hands. “Growing up, my father would take us out shooting. I’m used to holding repeating blasters. I thought I could use those as my primary weapon, but it’s harder than I thought.”

Emma looked down at the woman’s palms holding the blasters. She had already constructed them. They looked like two thick revolvers with wide handles and short barrels.

“You’re doing a great job,” Emma said. “It will get easier and easier the more you practice. I know you feel a drain now keeping your constructs up, but it’ll become second nature to you soon.”

Emma turned and pointed down to the opposite side of the danger room. The area was designed for long-range weapons to be tried and tested. A digital display on the wall would allow any knight to go and select what training method they would prefer. Once selected, that environment would appear, thanks to holographic technology.

“Go ahead and start practicing with them,” Emma told Hydi. She looked down at the little creature with wings, who smiled up at her with big eyes. “You go with her too, Baka.”

The small creature nodded furiously and took off with Hydi to the opposite end of the danger room. His short legs scurried ferociously to keep stride.

All around Emma, knights were beginning to create their first weapons. The way many of them already knew exactly what they were going to construct told Emma they had already been practicing. Jace worked with the large bull-looking creature in the corner of the room as the two squared off in a sparring session.

“I think we’re going to be all right, Jackson,” Frank said, sidling up to her with his arms crossed over his chest. “They’re new. This is the most Arilion I’ve ever worked with. They’ll be ready. They’re Arilion Knights..”

“We’re Arilion Knights,” Emma said, swallowing hard. “We don’t know how to back down from a fight.”

“And we never stay down,” Frank added. “So you and Jace, huh?”

“What? No,” Emma sputtered as she caught herself staring at him again. “I mean, he’s nice and everything, but he’s got a lot—we all have a lot going on right now.”

“You can’t stop living,” Frank said in a very serious, unlike Frank tone.

Emma looked up at the Marine knight. His boyish smile was gone, and there was a serious look in his dark eyes. If Emma had to guess, he was talking to himself at the moment as much as he was talking to her.

“I mean, if you don’t like the dude, then you don’t like him, but if you do, then don’t let timing stop you,” Frank continued. “In this line of work, I don’t know if the timing will ever be perfect for our own personal lives and relationships.”

Both the knights were silent for the time being, each lost to his or her own thoughts of the present.

14

Training continued for the remainder of the day. Emma and Frank led the new Arilion Knights through sparring sessions and drills. They had them construct their defensive second skin along with their weapon of choice over and over again. To Frank’s chagrin, a few of the new knights were already showing the ability to fly.

It was after dinner that Frank and Emma were asked to meet with the leaders of the council. With Director Trueart gone, Slain was taking charge of the situation. There was to be a small ceremony for the deceased director later that same night.

Emma and Frank sat in Slain’s office along with General Fox and Commander Kull. There had been no official word from the Were nation as of yet. If they would apologize and send a new emissary or would pull out of the Alliance altogether remained to be seen.

Slain’s face was already haggard. He looked as though he hadn’t slept at all since assuming his new position as leader of the alliance. Bags hung under his red eyes and he stifled a yawn. Despite this, his brow was knitted in a line of concentration as he began.

“We can’t wait for the Bracka to send another leader or the Were to give us an official response,” Slain said, narrowing his eyes at the four others gathered in the room. “We’ve received word that the Shay fleet is on the way to Earth.”

Emma’s breath caught in her chest. She had always heard of this happening, but it had never happened to her. It was as if she had forgotten how to breathe all of a sudden. She recovered as well as she could with a slightly too loud exhale that earned her a disconcerting look from Commander Kull on her left.

They’re on their way already? Emma thought to herself as her mind raced with the many questions that came with an impending alien invasion. Of course they are. How long did you expect them to wait? Did you think they were going to give you time to prepare?

“When will they arrive?” General Fox asked the next question they were all wondering. “How long do we have?”

For this, Slain looked over to Commander Kull. He nodded to her, giving her the floor.

“We estimate they’ll be outside of Earth’s orbit in twenty-four hours,” Commander Kull crossed her incredibly large arms. She drummed the fingers of her right hand on her left arm. “Whether they attack right away is another question as well as where they choose to attack. Nevertheless, we should be prepared that they will strike as soon as they are able.”

General Fox chewed on his lower lip. “Time will always be our enemy, but right now, I’m more concerned about figuring out a way that we could anticipate their attack. If we have to defend the entire three hundred and sixty degrees of the globe, our forces won’t be able to handle that.”

“They’ll come back where they first sent that scouting ship,” Emma said with so much finality in her voice, everyone in the room looked over to her. “They want to prove a point. They’ll descend on the California coastline just like they did before.”

“The trajectory of their armada is headed for that same location,” Slain said, pressing a few buttons on his desk. A light blue holographic display appeared, showing a rotating planet and a gigantic fleet of ships headed for it. “The only uncertainty is if they will break their attack force into smaller parties and send them to strategic points across your planet once they are in orbit.”

“Maybe there’s a way to encourage them to strike only one section of the planet,” Commander Kull said, pointing a sausage-like finger to the globe that represented Earth. “We can divide our own forces, using our ships to funnel them into a single location.”

“They’re smart,” Frank said, speaking up for the first time. “They know exactly what we’re doing. We have to sweeten the pot for them. We’ll need some bait.”

General Fox looked over at Frank along with everyone else. “Go on, Major Wolffe. If I know you well enough, you already have an idea in mind.”

“The Academy,” Frank said, looking up at the room around him and taking in the structure. “We set the Academy right above the coastline and draw them in.”

Emma opened her mouth to tell Frank that was impossible but then closed it again. As far as she knew, the Academy was a rotating space station that stayed around the planet Stardox. It did not have the ability to travel through space on its own.

“That would be impossible.” Commander Kull eyed Frank as if he were insane and she liked it. “The Academy does not travel. It’s a space station.”

“But what if it could?” Frank pressed the question. “If we were able to move it and place it above the California coastline, would that be enough of a prize to draw the Shay force to us?”

“If it were possible, yes, I think so,” Slain said, rubbing once more at his tired eyes. “The Shay understand how vital the Academy is to the Alliance and now to the Arilion Knights.”

“We can teleport it,” Emma blurted out without giving doubt time to anchor in her mind. “I mean, I think we can, right? The technology exists. We’re always teleporting ourselves from one planet to the next.”

“Yes, but the sheer size of the Academy would make it more than impossible,” Commander Kull insisted with a scoff. “I know you’re trying to help, but we should spend our time thinking on other strategies that might actually work.”

“Why won’t it work?” Frank pushed the subject. “Just because it’s too big? That’s it?”

“I’m not part of our engineering team, but, yes, I’m guessing the sheer size of the structure would keep it from being able to be teleported,” Commander Kull said. Her eyes darted to Slain. “I know that look on your face, Dean Extile. Don’t tell me you’re actually considering this!?”

“I think we need to consider everything,” Slain said. He tilted his head to the ceiling and looked up as if the answers they needed were etched somewhere above. “If we could manage to teleport the Academy, it would make a great defensive structure from which to fight. Its always had its own shield and defensive capabilities.”

“If there’s anything we can do to help,” General Fox added in, “we will. Just tell us what needs to be done.”

“This is insane,” Commander Kull grumbled.

“Commander Kull,” Slain said, after a brief pause. “You’ll take point on rallying our own fleet and meeting the Shay force outside Earth’s orbit. Your goal will be to engage but also to filter their forces toward the Academy. General Fox and I will work out a way to get the Academy to Earth.”

“Understood,” Commander Kull said with no more argument. She was a soldier first and foremost. When given an order, she would obey. Emma didn’t even doubt this.

“The rest of us have to figure out a way to get a giant space station from point A to point B,” Slain said, pushing himself up from his seat behind his desk. “Before any of that, it’s time to say goodbye to a friend.”

A moment of silence crossed the room as everyone understood what Slain was talking about. Emma tilted her head to the floor, thinking about the director and the way he had been so violently taken.

I’m going to be the woman you wanted me to be, Emma thought to herself. I’m going to do it for you.

15

Most meals Emma found herself eating on the go or even having food brought to her, there was so much to do. It was a rare occasion when she actually was able to sit down in the mess hall and enjoy a meal. Enjoying a meal these days usually meant stuffing food in her face for the duration of fifteen to twenty minutes.

Right now, the mess hall was in between shifts. Emma found herself at a table alone in a nearly empty hall. There were a few other Academy guards, and instructors Emma didn’t recognize; otherwise, she was left alone to gorge herself with much needed calories. Training was taking a toll on her body along with the stress of her position.

Emma’s cheeks were full with a cheese substance she had discovered and grown to like at the Academy when Jace sat down across from her.

Her eyes went huge as she realized how she must look at the moment. A sweaty mess from training, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk’s.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Jace asked.

Emma shook her head, not trusting herself to open her mouth at the moment. Food was more apt to fall out than were words. She speed chewed the cheese-like food as fast as her jaws could work.

“You’re stronger than anyone I know,” Jace said to Emma with those deep brown eyes.

Emma finally swallowed and laughed at the compliment, not trying to make fun of Jace but not knowing how to accept such high praise from the Were. It was also extremely blunt and out of the blue.

“No, I mean it,” Jace said, taking a step closer to Emma. “You were given this power because, even at a young age, you possessed what your planet needed the most. The fighting spirit that lives inside of you has been through a lot and even now you’re acting as a leader. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, swallowing hard. “Thanks, Jace. That’s really nice of you to say.”

“I hope you don’t think I’m just being nice,” Jace prodded with a silly smile before he sat down across from her. “If I hated you, I’d just tell you.”

“I know you would.” Emma burst out laughing. “I’ve seen how you treat those you don’t like.”

Emma halted, immediately regretting her words. The events that had transpired with Alpha Browning were still too recent. Plus referencing the woman who was in charge of enslaving others of his own kind and turning him into a different species might not be that great of an idea. To her relief, Jace smirked then laughed himself.

“Yeah, I guess I’m not great with hiding my feelings.” Jace looked down at his human body. “Things could have been worse, though.”

“How so? Emma asked.

“I mean, I could have been transformed into a Dalick.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“You’ve never heard of a Dalick?” Jace asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Nope,” Emma responded.

“Green slimy creatures mostly made up of goo, I guess, and have a mouth hole that oozes with pus?” Jace searched her eyes for recognition.

“Ewww, no,” Emma said with a frown.

“Oh well, trust me, it could be worse; being in a human form is a better choice than a lot of the options out there,” Jace said in all seriousness.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Emma shuddered, pushing out the images of the alien slime species from her mind.

“Are you as popular on your planet as you are here at the Academy?” Jace asked.

“Ah, man, do you have the wrong impression of me.” Emma looked down at her plate, wondering if she could take another bite without acting like she was dodging the question. “I’m not exactly the coolest kid in school.”

Emma took another bite of her food before pulling back her blonde hair and gesturing to her pointy ear. Courtesy of her mother’s side, she had inherited the Halyna gene that pointed her ears to a comical degree. It seemed funny now, but while she was in school, it had made her an easy target along with her stuttering problem.

“I don’t see anything wrong,” Jace said, taking a large bite out of some kind of meat on his tray that was too rare for Emma’s taste. “You’re forgetting you’re talking to the guy who had hairy pointy ears up until a few days ago.”

“Right.” Emma leaned back with a twist of her lips as she tried to decide how to word her thoughts. “So imagine if you had the ears you do now, but in your Were form and you couldn’t howl.”

“I’d be the laughing stock of the pack,” Jace said with his eyebrows shooting up to ceiling. “That would be miserable.”

Emma gave him a deadpan stare, pointing to her ears.

“Oh, I’m so sorry; that must have been so hard,” Jace said, shaking his head. True concern showed in his eyes. “See, you’re stronger than you think. You endured all of that and all the training to become an Arilion Knight and you’re our leader.”

“You’re going to give me a big head,” Emma said with a grin as she took another bite of her meal. “I’m not used to getting so much praise. It’s more of Drown and the other instructors pushing me harder.”

“They only do that because they know what you are capable of,” Jace said with a shrug as if it were a matter of fact. “They see the same thing I do.”

“Well, thank you,” Emma said, raising her own eyebrows. “Do you want something from me? You’re being super nice.”

“No, no,” Jace said, pushing the food on his plate around with his finger. “ I—I just want to show you how grateful I am to have found a friend—to have found friends in the Academy.”

The words came from Jace like someone was prying them out of his mouth one at a time with a crowbar or some kind of torturous dental instrument.

“You’re home now,” Emma reassured him. “I know you’ve been through a lot. I won’t pretend I can relate. But you’re safe now and you have a new pack that won’t let you down. You’re an Arilion Knight now and forever.”

The words made Jace smile. That in and of itself was reward enough for Emma. He looked even more handsome when he let his guard down and opened up. His pearly white teeth contrasted against his tan skin in a way that made him look kind of like a movie star.

The two ate the remainder of their meal together talking about their pasts and their plans for the future. Emma made a mental note to spend more time with Jace. Talking to him was comfortable in a way that made her feel like they had known each other for much longer than they actually had.

16

The service sending off Director Trueart was one Emma would never forget. The floor was full with nearly everyone in attendance besides those who were on duty. Emma stood with Jace, Layga, Jeba, and the rest of the Arilion Knights. They stood facing a massive window that let them see out into space.

The view was perfect. Director Trueart would go to levels on the Academy that offered views like this and stare out into the vastness of space to relax. Emma had found him here in this very room once. The older Bracka man had waved her in and patted the seat next to his when she tried to leave.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you,” Emma said. “I can go.”

“If you were bothering me, I wouldn’t have motioned you forward.” Director Trueart smiled at Emma with the warmth a grandparent would have for one of their own grandchildren. “Come sit awhile and gaze on the stars with me.”

Emma joined the short Bracka, sitting on his right. The director was dressed in a plain black shirt with a dark cloak over his shoulders. His thick white beard was groomed, the long white hair that fell from his head tucked behind either ear.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a moment. Emma stared out into the beautiful coldness of space. Thousands of points of light twinkled in the ebony canopy in front of her. There were so many. Emma was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea that there was so much life outside of her own world. Events had grabbed her and taken her on a wild ride that had not let go of her yet.

If she stopped to think too long, it was overwhelming. She was sitting next to an alien right now and that fact alone should have been enough to floor her. It was strange what one could get used to in such short amount of time.

“Life goes by us so fast, sometimes I think we’d be better served to walk fate’s road a bit slower,” Director Trueart said without taking his eyes from the stars in front of him. “I come up here more and more often these days.”

“It’s beautiful,” Emma agreed, sensing so much more in the director’s voice that he wanted to say but hadn’t.

“Do you believe that you’re here for a reason?” Director Trueart asked Emma. He turned to her, looking deep into her own eyes in a way that seemed like he was searching for the answer somewhere in her head.

“I—I think so.” Emma held his gaze. It was amazing how far she had come as a person. Months before, she would have stuttered her way through a conversation like this and been unable to hold the stare of someone so important. “I mean, I want to.”

“That’s a good start.” Director Trueart released his hold on her and looked away. “That’s where we all start. One day you’ll realize as I have that life isn’t a random cycle of events that come and go. You were chosen for a reason. You are the Arilion Knight for a reason; even this very conversation is happening for a reason.”

“And what’s that reason?” Emma asked, finding herself wanting to have as much faith in matters as the director but coming up short. “I mean, what is the reason why we’re here talking now?”

“I don’t know, and we may never know, but that doesn’t make it any less true,” the director said with a silly grin. “Or on the other hand, I may say something profound in this conversation that will mold and shape you into the woman you need to become.”

Emma caught herself grinning then quickly dismissed the smirk on her face in case the director was being serious.

“Oh, it’s okay; you can smile,” Director Trueart said. He looked at her sideways. “That was a joke.”

“Okay, good,” Emma said with a wide-open grin. “I thought so, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to laugh if you were being serious.”

“Life is too serious,” the director said, leaning forward to look out the window at the great vastness of space. “Most days, I need to be serious, but in my down time, I try not to be. I’m grateful to have friends and students like you where I can just share a moment with, laugh, and be as unserious as I want to be.”

“Me too,” Emma said.

The director and knight sat with each other talking and laughing for the next hour as they viewed the incredible scene in front of them. It was a night Emma knew she would never forget.

Emma snapped back from her memories to the present day. Slain had taken the raised podium in the ceremony. He wore a black cloak with a gold insignia on his right shoulder. He looked so tired, he could fall asleep on his feet. When he spoke to those gathered, there was no weariness in his voice.

“You must all know by now that Director Trueart was murdered during peace talks with the Shay. He went to try to stay the very actions that ended his life.” Slain paused as emotion choked his voice.

Emma had never seen the dean anything but composed. He always had a plan. He led with decisiveness while being firm. He was never emotional until now. Out of respect, those gathered in the large viewing room stood quiet. There were hundreds in attendance, from teachers to students and other Arilion Knights. Not a peep could be heard from the throng.

Dean Extile cleared his throat.

“He was my friend and a great leader. Unlike many these days, he led by example, always volunteering to take on more. He insisted on being the type of leader that led from the front. I’ll miss him as a friend but also as the Director of the Academy.” Slain stopped again to take a deep breath. He looked out over the sea of those gathered. “Tonight, we mourn our friend, but we do not hold that sadness in our heart. He’s gone now and nothing will change that. If he could speak, I’ll tell you what he’d say. He’d say that it was his time to go. He’d tell you to look toward the future and do your job. There is a fight coming this way the likes of which this universe has not seen in a great many years. And we will be ready.”

Slain stepped away from the podium as other teachers ended the ceremony. There was no body to see or casket to send off. His corpse would be taken back to his own world where they would also mourn the death of their leader.

More words were spoken and music was played by strange instruments that sounded like violins. Emma would have been more interested in the sounds the musical instruments made had it not been for the occasion. They were low and sad. The tune was one unfamiliar to Emma.

After the ceremony had come to an end, Emma found herself in the middle of a crowd, unsure what to do next. Small groups formed, speaking in low tones. Some cried for their beloved leader while others stood angry with clenched fists.

“We’ll avenge him,” Jeba said with a firm nod.

“We all will,” Layga agreed.

“The Alliance verses the Shay Empire,” Jace said, shaking his head. “This is going to be one for the history books.”

The group quieted as Slain walked over to Emma and her group. He dipped his chin politely to the others before addressing Emma. “Emma, if you have a moment, I’d like to introduce you to someone.”

Emma followed Slain through the dispersing crowd of mourners. It was strange to see so much anger and sadness in so many eyes at once. Her own insides were a maelstrom of different emotions. Past the worry, sadness, anger, fatigue, and anxiety, she felt she also sensed something else growing in her. It was the rising tide of justice. Revenge was there too, of course. She had seen a friend gunned down in front of her. But more than any of that was the need to put a bully in their place. The Shay needed to pay for what they’d done. Emma would make sure they did just that.

Slain wove his way through the crowd nodding hellos and smiling where he had to. Soon he and Emma were in the back right corner of the room where Frank and General Fox were already in a deep conversation with a Halyna woman.

The woman wore a black and purple uniform of the Academy. Her high cheekbones and angular face made her more than pretty.

“So it’s just the amount of power that’s the actual problem?” Frank asked the woman.

Before the woman could answer, Slain introduced Emma. “Emma, I want you to meet the head of engineering here at the Academy. Tian is the very best we have. We’re going over ideas now, on how to teleport the Academy to Earth.”

“Hello.” Tian extended a hand to Emma. “I’ve heard so much about our first knight here at the Academy. It’s a pleasure to know you.”

“You as well.” Emma accepted the woman’s firm handshake.

“To get back to your question,” Tian said to General Fox with a shake of her head. “It’s a problem of power. If I were able to cloak the entire Academy in the ray needed to teleport us to a different location, the sheer amount of energy required to make the trip possible would be mind-boggling. I don’t know an energy source in the universe that would be able to power such a move. Perhaps in a few months, we could make something, but not in a day.”

Emma caught Frank looking at her from the corner of her eye. She looked over at him. He had a dangerous smirk on his lips. He looked from his purple vambraces to hers.

He’s smiling, Emma thought to herself. That’s probably not going to be good for us.

“You thinking what I’m thinking, Jackson?” Frank asked her.

“Probably not.” Emma found herself smiling despite the situation. “Unless you’re thinking we can draw the energy needed to move the Academy from our vambraces.”

“I know we can,” Frank said.

“I’ve seen you both do some incredible things.” General Fox looked back and forth between the two. “But we’re not talking about constructing armor or weapons here. We’re talking about moving tons of matter through space.”

“I’m not going to say you’re not capable,” Slain said, rubbing his chin. “But can you generate that much energy? Have you ever tried it before?”

“We’ve never had to, but we can get it done,” Frank said with so much sureness in his voice it spurred Emma to speak up.

“If it means defending the Earth and beating the Shay back, then we can do it,” Emma said, agreeing with Frank. “I’m with you.”

The group stood quiet for a moment as all minds rolled over the pros and cons of the plan.

“Tian, what do you think?” Slain asked the lead engineer. “Can it be done?”

“I’ll need all the help I can get constructing inputs strong enough to take in that amount of energy.” Tian chewed on her lower lip. “If we take in too much, we could blow, and if we take in too little, nothing will happen. You two sure you can do this?”

“We can,” Emma answered. “I don’t think it will just be the two of us.”

Emma turned to take in the room behind her. The Arilion Knights dispersed amongst the gathered group were easily recognizable with the faint glowing vambraces on their forearms.

“They’ll all want to pitch in to help,” Emma said. “We’ll get you the power you need.”

“It’s the only plan we have,” Slain said, looking over to General Fox for consensus.

“I think we might have someone who can help with calculations and constructing the receivers for the power,” General Fox said. “He gets a little excited though, so fair warning.”

17

“Oh, Emma, this place is great, like whoa, I’m in love,” Laloyed said as he looked up from his work.

Emma had woken from a much-needed night of rest. A quick breakfast later and she was headed down to the engineering level to see if there was any way she could help.

The person General Fox had been talking about was of course their Draconian contact, Laloyed. Laloyed was a member of the Draconian species. As such, he was a full head taller than Emma. Green scales covered his body like a Shay, but that was where their similarity of appearances stopped. Laloyed didn’t have wings on his back and instead of a smooth Shay forehead, a pair of horns sprouted from his temples and curved back.

Despite his appearance, Laloyed was one of the kindest and smartest friends Emma had gotten to know. He was hunched over his work now, leading a small group of Academy engineers. They were in a wide room with a series of machines on the far wall. The machines hummed. There were screens cranking out data and gauges Emma couldn’t read, but it all looked very impressive.

Laloyed was giving instructions to his fellow engineers when Emma entered the room. The item they were working on looked like some kind of rooftop pipe that let out smoke.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to come to the Academy to check out their tech and to think here I am now.” Laloyed rubbed his hands on a rag before coming to Emma and giving her a tight hug. “When General Fox said there was a teleportation experiment going on here, the likes that had never been tried before, well, I came running.”

Emma hugged the large Draconian, grateful to see his always smiling face once again. Laloyed seemed to be able to see the best in scenarios and this was no different. There was no fear in his eyes; just wonder and the excitement for the project he was working on now.

“So how’s it coming?” Emma asked, looking over at the chimney top on the square pipe. The opening was about five feet across and two high. “This is the input section where we’re going to pour our energy into?”

“Well, that’s kind of an over simplification of things but, yes.” Laloyed showed Emma how the energy input regulator worked. He pointed to the chimney. “We’ll have an angle adapter that looks like an elbow fitted on top of it. You’ll be able to pour straight into the teleportation engine Tian is working on. She’s constructing the adapter now that will connect our valve here straight to the teleportation drive.”

Emma looked around the room. It seemed large enough to fit all the Arilion Knights with room to spare. She hated asking her next question, but she knew she had to. “How much more time do you need?”

“We’ll be ready to go soon.” Laloyed winked at her. “We’ve been working around the clock. I know that time is short. General Fox told me the Shay are arriving at the doorstep of your planet tonight. We can do this, Emma. We’ll get the Academy there in time.”

“And how much power do you need?” Emma asked the next question that was worrying her. “Tian said if we don’t have enough, we’d fail, and too much would make us explode.”

“She wasn’t wrong.” Laloyed pointed to a gauge that stuck out from the input device. “I’ll be monitoring the power we need to make the trip. I’ll give you the word when we’ve hit enough and you can shut off the juice. It’ll be a herculean amount. We’ll need you to pour everything you have into this, but I have faith. I’ve seen what a single Arilion Knight can do, let alone an entire Corp.”

“Plus you’re freaking Emma Jackson,” Laloyed said, offering a closed fist for her to pound. “You bring your A game and there is no one that’s going to be able to stop us.”

Emma pounded Laloyed’s outstretched fist, grateful to have friends like him. Her holo band went off a moment later. It was a message from her mother.

“Sorry, I need to take this,” Emma said.

“Go ahead. I have a few last minute checks to make yet.” Laloyed waved Emma’s apology away. He turned back to assist the crew that worked to construct the energy input device.

“No, that’s the manual override valve that goes in the back,” Laloyed said as Emma turned to read the message from her mother. It read: Emma, I was going to reach out to your father to tell him of the impending invasion and our part in it, but I thought he should hear it from you first.

Of course Tistan was right. Emma’s father was bound to hear of the invasion on the news later that night or the next morning, whenever the Shay chose to make their move. She could only imagine what the government was going to say to its citizens. There would be no hiding a full-on invasion. The world was about to know what Emma already did, that the universe was more like a crowded DMV instead of a barren desert.

Emma pressed a few buttons on her holo band, then spoke into it. “Got it. I’ll call him now.”

Emma sent the message to her mother before dialing her father. Since his inclusion into the goings on in Emma’s life, he had also been given a holo band to communicate with his daughter. Technically, it was for emergencies, but Emma gave herself a free pass. The world was about to be invaded. That sounded like an emergency enough.

A moment later, the holo band on Emma’s hand projected a tiny view of her father above her left wrist. He looked worried.

“Em, are you okay? What’s going on? I thought we were only supposed to use this thing in case of an emergency?” Emma’s father’s voice matched his face, etched with concern.

“I’m good, Dad, I’m okay,” Emma said to reassure her father. “I just wanted to let you know what’s about to happen. The Shay are going to invade Earth and we’re going to stop them.”

It sounded so simple when she said it like that. It was so matter of fact. The Shay would try to take the Earth; Emma, the Alliance, and the New Arilion Knights would stop them.

“When?” Emma’s father asked.

“They’ll enter Earth’s orbit tonight,” Emma answered. “We think they’ll attack right away. There’s no reason for them not to. Stay inside and you’ll be fine. We have a plan. We’re not going to let them take Earth.”

The line was silent on the other end. Emma looked at her father’s face. His brow was knit in rows of worry. She could tell the internal debate he was having at the moment.

“I guess it has to be you and there’s no way I’m going to talk you out of this.” Emma’s father stared at his daughter through the holo band for a moment longer. “Maybe I shouldn’t talk you out of this at all if this is what you were meant to do. Be safe out there, Em. Don’t take risks you don’t need to. I wish there was something I could do.”

“It’ll be over soon,” Emma reassured the man who was always there to kiss her bumps and bruises. “I’ve got this, Dad. I’m going to be okay. We’re going to teach the Shay that they aren’t the biggest and meanest in the universe anymore.”

“You let me know if there is anything I can do,” Emma’s father said. “I know you have bigger things to think about right now, but call me or send me a message when it’s all over and let me know you’re safe. I love you, Em. I love the woman you’ve become. Now go and finish this fight. Plus if we keep talking about our feelings like this, I’m going to start crying.”

“Yeah, I think I might be tearing up already.” Emma laughed as she blinked back the liquid coming to her eyes. “I love you, Dad. I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you, Em,” her father said.

The holo band blinked closed. Emma was left to think about her father and how much she loved that man. Up until recently, it had just been the two of them. He had raised her on his own. Memories of the two of them playing outside, coloring in her pony coloring books, and constructing robots from blocks touched her thoughts.

She was going to save the world since that was the right thing to do because it was her home, but also because she wasn’t going to let anything happen to her father. When things got hard in the fight to come, she’d hold on to his memory to push her forward.

“You okay?” Jace’s familiar voice asked behind Emma.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Emma lied, making a quick wiping gesture across her eyes. “I’m good. How are you feeling?”

Jace looked down on his human body with a shrug. He extended his hands and rotated them.

“I’m grateful to be alive,” Jace said, trying to find the right words for what he was feeling. “I guess I’m just still getting used to this body. It’s like I’m the same Were on the inside, but I don’t even recognize myself anymore. Looking in the mirror is like staring at another person. Madame Cherub isn’t sure if it’s permanent or something that I’ll be able to change back and forth from.”

For one of the few times since Emma knew him, Jace was really opening up to her on his own. He had done so once before when he told her of the history of slavery on his planet. But this was different. The facts he gave her now were completely on his own. He continued to tell her what was plaguing him.

“Dean Extile told me that the Were Nation got back to him,” Jace continued. “The official word is that they had no knowledge of Alpha Browning’s actions.”

“Well, that’s good, though, right? I mean, if they don’t stand behind her, then they support you as their Arilion Knight—right?” Emma asked.

“That’s what it sounds like,” Jace said with a nod of his chin. “I hope that’s the case, but they could also be denying her actions because she failed. They’re standing with the Alliance in their fight with the Shay, which I guess is the most important thing right now. They’re sending our fleet to help.”

“We’ll have time to figure all of this out,” Emma said, surprising even herself as she moved closer to Jace and took his right hand in her own. “You’re not alone anymore, Jace. You have a home here and family that has your back no matter what.”

Jace looked at her with his deep brown eyes. A rare smile turned his lips. “Thank you, Emma; it’s been a long time since I’ve had friends that I can count on.”

Emma swallowed hard. She was still holding his hand. The thing that worried her the most wasn’t that she didn’t know how to let go; it was that she didn’t want to.

“When this is over and the Shay are beaten back, I’d like to get to know you better, Emma Jackson,” Jace said.

“I’d like that too,” Emma said with a grin of her own.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Laloyed came up to the two from behind Emma. He paused as he noticed Emma still holding Jace’s hand.

Emma immediately released her hold and turned toward Laloyed, red-faced.

“Oh sorry, I was just going to say that we’re ready here, but—am I intruding on something? I can always come back.” Laloyed looked from Emma to Jace and then back again.

“No,” Emma said.

“Yes,” Jace said at the same time.

“We can talk later,” Emma said to both the Draconian and the Were. “We’re kinda on a time crunch here. What is it, Laloyed?”

“Oh, I was just going to give the thumbs-up on our first run,” Laloyed said, motioning over his shoulder to the machine. “Time to rally the Arilion Knights and take this baby for a test run.”

“Great,” Jace said with an approving nod. “You have it up and running.”

“Yeah,” Laloyed said. “More or less.”

“More more or more less?” Emma asked.

Laloyed shrugged. “More more, I think. Either way, we’re about to find out.”

18

Emma stood shoulder to shoulder with Frank, Jace, and the rest of the Arilion Knights in the engine room. Laloyed was next to the energy receiver that he had constructed along with his team of Academy engineers. Tian, grease-streaked and sweaty, had also joined the group.

Emma caught the engineer leader’s words as they went over last-minute checks.

“We’ll know how close we are with the gauge,” Laloyed said, tapping the glass cover over the readout that would monitor how much raw energy the knights were able to force into the teleportation drive.

“Everything looks good from my end,” Tian said, glancing down on a data pad she held in her right arm. “I’m in direct contact with the teleportation room via my comm. They’ve entered the coordinates to a place just inside Earth’s atmosphere. We’ll be right above the planet and in the direct path the Shay will attack.”

The two engineers went on checking, double-checking, and even triple-checking their work. Emma stretched the tight muscles in her arms as she waited for the go ahead. There was a nervous energy in the room as the knights gathered waited for the go ahead from those in charge.

Some of the Arilion knights stood calm, composing themselves and preparing mentally. Others like Hydi and her pet, Baka, jumped up and down on their toes, readying themselves for what came next.

“You should probably say a few words before we begin.” Frank nudged Emma with his shoulder.

“Me?” Emma asked incredulously. “You’re the one with military training. Maybe you should say something.”

“They don’t know me like they know you.” Frank shook his head. “You’re the first Arilion Knight here at the Academy. I’m just some guy they’ve seen a few times. This is your home.”

Emma knew he was right. It wasn’t the fact that she thought he should be the one to speak that kept her back. It was her own fear of public speaking. Ever since she was little, she had a stuttering problem when anxiety fell on her shoulders. In the time she had been an Arilion Knight, it had gone, but the fear of it coming back was always present.

Emma steeled her resolve. She could do it, if not for herself then for Director Trueart.

Those who had been talking quieted as Emma stepped forward to face them. They all had been made aware of what they were about to try and do. They all understood the consequences if they failed and what could go wrong. Not a single knight backed down.

“This is it,” Emma said to the group, trying to find the words she would want spoken to her if she were in their position. “We’re going to make this happen. We’ll teleport the Academy to Earth and we’ll fight the Shay and win. I wouldn’t want to have anyone else by my side than the knights in this room.”

The engine room was dead quiet now except for the faint humming emanating from the machine Laloyed and Tian worked on. Even the engineers had halted their conversation to hear what Emma had to say.

“No matter what happens, you have my promise that I will never give up.” Emma thought about the director and what he would say given the opportunity. “I don’t know who here believes that your life has a purpose, but I do. I believe we are all here for a reason. I believe the vambraces chose us for a purpose. Right now, our purpose is to get this teleportation engine moving and to beat back the Shay. Whatever drives you, whatever motivates you, hold on to that now. Do it for yourself, do it for the knight beside you.”

There were no cheers from the knights as Emma took her place in the front line next to Frank and Jace, but she knew she had done her job. The intense eyes and looks of raw determination coming from her compatriots was enough to guarantee her that much.

“Good job,” Jace said from her right.

“Okay, party people,” Laloyed said, taking a step along with Tian to the right of the group of knights. “When we give you the go ahead, pour as much energy into the receiver as possible. We’ll tell you if you need to let off. I’ll be honest; we’ll need an exorbitant amount of energy to make this happen, so at the beginning, don’t hold back. We’ll tell you if we’re getting close.”

“Aim for the opening in the receiver and try not to miss it,” Tian reminded the Arilion Knights. She pointed to the square opening as she spoke. “We’re monitoring everything. Don’t worry; this is going to work. We’re ready when you are.”

The Arilion Knights spread out, giving one another an open line toward the receiver. They formed a kind of half moon around their target.

“For Director Trueart!” Emma shouted as she channeled power to her vambraces and let loose on the target in front of her. A purple beam of pure energy shot out, making contact with the square input twenty yards in front of her.

All round the room, Arilion Knights followed her lead. Arms were lifted and the power of their will channeled by their vambraces into a physical manifestation of raw energy. Twenty-two purple beams shot forward, all converging on their target.

Emma had to look away. The light coming from their streams was so brilliant, it made her see stars. The entire room was alive with purple light. The humming the machines used was gone and now a distinct crackling sound could be heard as a mind-boggling amount of power was fed into the machine.

Emma held the memory of the deceased director close as she poured on the beam of energy going forward.

“Twenty percent!” Tian yelled above the noise. “We need more power!”

“Come on, you knights!” Jace roared from his spot on Emma’s right. He leaned forward. Both arms extended out in front of him, palms up, he poured dark purple energy from his vambraces. “Give it all you got!”

There were grunts of determination from nearly every knight in the room. Emma closed her eyes, willing more and more power to flow through her vambraces into the receivers.

“Forty! No, fifty percent!” Tian yelled again.

The square entry point where all the power was being poured into hissed and sparked.

“The teleportation receiver can’t take it,” Laloyed said to Tian. “If we overload what it’s able to handle—”

“It’ll take it!” Tian answered back.

The two engineers spoke to one another using more technical jargon Emma didn’t understand. At the moment, it was all she could do to keep up the energy stream from her vambraces. Usually in fights, she had to call on this level of power for a very short time or at least use her powers off and on, providing herself time to rest. What she was doing now drained her more and more as the seconds passed.

The familiar prickles of sweat raced across her arms. Her limbs trembled as she forced her body to meet and pass its own limits. All around her, the other knights were feeling the same pull. The large bull-like knight Emma had seen before fell to his knees in exhaustion. Unwilling to admit defeat, he still poured power into the receiver.

“Let’s find a way!” Frank yelled past the crackling sounds coming from so much energy being dispensed into the teleportation engine. “After they attack Earth, whose planet are they coming after next? This fight isn’t only for Earth; it’s for the universe. Now search your heart for the will to go on and give it everything you’ve got!”

“Eighty percent!” Laloyed had to yell over the sound in the room.

The receiver in front of Emma was smoking now as more and more sparks exploded from around the entry point. Her entire body was numb from exertion. Sweat ran into her eyes. Emma felt lightheaded as she pushed her body further than she ever had before. A moment later, her vision went purple, as if the lavender-colored energy was consuming her body and her very sight itself.

“RAWWWW!” Hydi screamed from somewhere behind Emma. At least Emma thought it was Hydi. Her vision was narrowing and all her other senses were beginning to dull.

“Ninety percent!” Laloyed screamed. “We have to back off. It’s going to blow!”

“No!” Tian interrupted. “We’re so close! Don’t stop now!”

As much as Emma respected Laloyed, there was no way she was going to quit. They were so close now. Emma was reminded of all the Star Trek episodes and movies she had seen in the past. Every time the ship was attacked, sparks and fires would break out on the bridge, along with indiscriminate hoses being let loose and filling the room with smoke. That was what the area looked like now.

The entire chamber was shaking from the amount of awesome energy being created in the small chamber. A pipe somewhere overhead had broken, pouring a deluge of hissing steam into the room. Sparks exploded into sight and somewhere Emma smelled smoke.

Emma experienced all of this from a numb state. She was physically past her limit. Only her heart and sheer determination of her will was holding her body upright at this point.

“One hundred percent!” Tian yelled. “Laloyed, now!”

Emma collapsed in on herself. She finally allowed the stream of energy she had been pouring into the receiver to calm. A tingling sensation that accompanied a teleportation trip washed over her body. Every knight in the room either fell to their knees or bent over double trying to regain their composure.

Emma’s heart was racing. She was on her hands and knees trying to regain her breath as fatigue drove her to dizziness and threatened to take away her consciousness.

To her right, Jace wiped at a bloody nose. Frank was on a single knee, panting hard. He brushed away the sweat on his brow. The noise in the room had dulled without the multiple streams of energy being shot into the receiver.

Emma looked over to Tian and Laloyed for an answer. “Did we do it?”

Tian was working her right pointer finger around her data pad like a madwoman. Everyone waited with bated breath for their answer like students waiting to see if they had passed an exam.

“We have fires and damage all around the Academy, but we did it,” Tian finally said with a beaming smile. “You did it.”

Emma sighed a huge breath of relief. The knights in the room all laughed with insane exhaustion. Some rolled on their backs sucking in lungfuls of air and smiling. Others struggled to their feet.

Frank was the first to find his footing and offer Emma a hand.

Emma felt as weak as she could ever remember, but she wasn’t going to admit that now. She accepted his hand and forced herself to her own feet.

“The work is just starting,” Frank reminded all those gathered. “You did great, but this was the easy part. We have a battle headed our way. Rest up and do what you need to be ready to fight tonight.”

The excitement in the room died with Frank’s words. Jace struggled to his feet beside Emma. The Were human hybrid was grinning from ear to ear despite the draw of energy that had been taken out of him.

“That was fun, right?” Jace almost laughed.

“There’s something seriously wrong with you,” Emma said with a shake of her head.

“I think there’s something a little wrong with all of us for doing this,” Jace said, taking in the knights around them who helped one another up, still smiling and clapping one another on the back despite the warning of the fight to come. “I’m just glad we’re all on the same side.”

19

Emma was supposed to be using this time to rest and prepare herself for the fight with the Shay. Although there was no guarantee the Shay would attack as soon as they arrived outside of Earth’s orbit, they had to be ready for such an event.

The rest of the Arilion Knights were sleeping, eating, a few meditating or even taking showers to wash themselves from the sweat that had accompanied their last endeavor.

True to Laloyed’s words, there was damage all around the Academy. Teleporting something the size of the platform had never been tried before. Although everyone had made it in one piece, there was damage to the space station that had to be seen to.

The Academy was about to be used as an orbiting battle station. Its defenses would make it a formidable opponent, even if it weren’t armed with over twenty Arilion Knights.

Emma stood on the same level as the night before when Director Trueart’s ceremony had taken place. Outside the large viewing window now, she witnessed a familiar sight. Below them and stretching out as far as the eye could see was the dark blue water of the Pacific Ocean.

Thanks to Tian and Laloyed’s precise calculations, the Academy had been teleported to the exact spot where the Shay had first attacked Earth, just past the California coastline.

Emma could only imagine the hubbub taking place all over social media. The public had to be having a field day with the sudden appearance of a space station high above the California beach. General Fox had been coordinating with Earth’s defenses and Emma did not envy him the task of keeping the general populace calm.

Emma breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. She walked over to the glass wall, resting her forehead against the cool surface. Her eyes studied the placid top of the ocean water that looked like it could be a blue sheet, it was so still.

The sun was in the middle of its zenith, telling Emma there was only half a day left to enjoy before she would be called to duty again.

“How are you feeling?” Tistan’s voice filled the room behind Emma. “I heard the knights put on quite a show to get us here.”

Emma didn’t turn to see her mother, but she did lift her head from the glass wall in front of her.

“I feel ready,” Emma said, almost surprising herself. “Is that weird? Six months ago, I was a stuttering mess who couldn’t make friends with normal human high schoolers and now I’m ready to take on an alien invasion.”

Emma finally turned her gaze to her mother, who stood next to her. Tistan wore a battle suit with body armor covering her from boots to a heavy chest piece. She held a helmet with a mirror visor in the crook of her right elbow.

“That’s not strange at all,” Tistan said to her daughter. “You have the blood of a warrior in you. You always have. Now you just have the training and the mental preparation to act on it.”

Yeah, I guess she’s right, Emma thought to herself. Every part of this hasn’t come easy, but it has come naturally to me. The last six months have been a crash course in training and discovery, but all in all, I think I’ve handled it well.

“I want you to know that—that I’m proud of you, Emma,” Tistan said. She looked as though she was almost going to offer Emma a hug then decided against it. “You’re a warrior my bloodline would respect and welcome into their family should you ever desire to visit my—our home world.”

The thought of having alien grandparents and uncles and aunts on her mother’s side had crossed her mind from time to time, but there had been no opportunity to ask her mother about them, until now.

“Maybe once this is all over, we can visit Renia,” Emma said. Her father was a single child and had a small family on his side. Emma had always wanted cousins and uncles and aunts. “Do you have a big family?”

“Ten brothers and sisters and, well I’ve lost track of all my nephews and nieces,” Tistan admitted. “They would welcome you and your father knowing what you’ve done. I’m sure of it now.”

“Yeah, and I guess after today, the Earth is going to know about all of this anyway,” Emma said, waving a hand to take in the Academy. “Maybe it’s time for a change not only on Earth but on other planets as well. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even start like a foreign exchange student plan with other planets.”

Tistan smiled at the idea.

Emma thought how wonderful it was to see her mother smile. She had changed so much from the hardened warrior Emma had first met on her rooftop. Tistan was every inch the same killer, but there was another side to her now. A side that had always been there, but she was only just rediscovering. It was the side that allowed her to care and Emma and her father were responsible for nurturing it back to life.

“When the Shay come, they’ll come hard and fast,” Tistan said, maneuvering the conversation in a direction she was more comfortable with. “They’ll know exactly what we’re doing and they won’t care. They’ll allow our forces to funnel them in toward the Academy.”

“The Alliance fleet will be in space to meet them and guide them in toward us, right?” Emma asked. “It’s going to be like we’re the Death Star.”

Tistan ignored the reference despite not understanding it.

“All the Alliance forces will greet the Shay and take out as many as they can while funneling them here. General Fox has coordinated with Earth’s defenses to provide support for the Academy with their own military assets. He has ground forces ready as well in case any of the Shay make it that far.”

“They won’t,” Emma said. “We’ll make sure of that.”

“The Shay pride themselves on their hand-to-hand fighting and close quarters combat techniques,” Tistan told her daughter. “Expect that when they come. They’ll look to board the Academy instead of simply destroying it.”

Emma nodded along with her mother’s warning.

“We’ll be enough between your Arilion Knights and the Academy Guard that I’ll be leading,” Tistan said with conviction in her voice. “We’re not going to let them take the Academy without a fight.”

“They won’t take it at all,” Emma said, searching her mother’s eyes for agreement. “We won’t let them.”

“We won’t let them,” Tistan said, extending a hand to Emma.

Emma ignored the hand altogether. She took a step forward and hugged her mother for the very first time in her life. She clenched her jaw to keep back the tears this moment insisted on.

Tistan stood there for a moment as if she were just enjoying being held by her daughter. The next second, she wrapped her own arms around Emma. Mother and daughter stood there for a few seconds in peace.

“I forgive you for everything,” Emma said, taking a step back. Her arms fell by her side as she blinked away tears. “I get you did what you had to do. I’m just glad you’re back now.”

Tistan swallowed hard. A single tear from her left eye fell down her orange cheek. Instead of trying to wipe it clean, she allowed it to remain. If she were ashamed of crying, she didn’t show it.

“Thank you, Emma,” Tistan said with a heavy sigh. “You don’t know what that means to me.”

Tistan looked as though she was going to say more. She didn’t get the opportunity, as both of their holo bands blinked off and on. Emma looked down at hers. It was a message from Slain asking the women to meet him in his office.

Without waiting, both Emma and her mother made for the teleporter set in the wall that would take them to the level of the Academy where Slain’s office was located. Along the way, they passed engineer teams, soldiers, and Arilion Knights. All unneeded personal had been teleported off the Academy.

A few minutes later, Emma found herself in the dean’s office. Slain was going over plans with Frank as the two men leaned over his desk. A holographic image of the Academy hovered in the air between them, slowly rotating. The Academy was shaped like a pinwheel with both sides pointy and narrow.

Slain waved the women forward when they entered the office. “Perfect timing. I was just explaining to Frank what the Academy offers in form of a defense, where we’ll be the weakest and where we should deploy our troops.”

Emma and Tistan joined Frank and Slain around the table. To Emma’s surprise, Frank looked rested as ever. He held a protein bar in his right hand and a steaming cup of coffee in his left.

He winked at her before looking down at his own food. “Make sure you carb up. Once it starts, it’ll be a long time until lunch break.”

“I will,” Emma promised, eyeing the coffee with envy.

“The Academy is equipped with the strongest force field known to our alliance,” Slain explained, pointing to the space station. “With that said, it’s not invulnerable. If the fight drags on, sooner or later, they’ll break through our defenses. The Shay favor a ground assault. They’ll off board their shock troops using shuttle crafts as soon as they can.”

“And they won’t be able to teleport on board?” Emma asked the obvious question.

“We have a jammer that will interrupt that signal,” Slain explained. “As long as the signal holds, they won’t be able to teleport on board.”

“We’ll make sure the signal holds,” Frank said before taking another sip of his coffee. “I’ll make sure of that.”

“If and when they do break through the force field and board the Academy, I’ll have my unit of Academy guards ready,” Tistan added. “Drown and I will coordinate with one another.”

“Good,” Slain said, moving his hands around the hologram of the Academy to zoom in on key sections. “The Academy has been built like a floating fortress. The architects had the foresight to realize that the Academy could be assaulted in the future. As such, they have mounted turrets, rail guns, pulse cannons, and ion torpedoes around the exterior. I’ll relay direction from the command center. Right now, I think we’ll be able to keep a constant volley of fire on the incoming enemy if I allow the top and bottom sections of the Academy to rotate while leaving the middle in place. This way, the Shay will be met with a new defensive front as time goes on, giving our weapons time to be reloaded and cool down.”

“Perfect,” Emma breathed as she witnessed the top and bottom section of the tiny holographic display of the Academy turn ever so slowly. “It’s like a giant pinwheel of death.”

“I like the way that sounds.” Frank grinned.

“Frank, Emma,” Slain said, looking to each of them in turn. “Along with the Academy defenses firing on the incoming Shay, we will also have the support of Earth’s militia. I’d like you and Emma to divide the Arilion Knights and aid however you can. Long range weapons will be needed as the enemy crafts come in, but when they board the Academy, it’ll get much closer. We cannot afford to lose our teleportation jammer. If we do, the Shay will be able to teleport in as many shock troops as they wish.

“I think we can handle that. I’ll be in charge of defending the jammer. They won’t get through, ” Frank said, nodding over to Emma. “What do you think, Jackson?”

“I think we have enough fire power on this thing to blow a hole in the Shay army that they’ll never forget.”

“Good,” Slain said, reaching into his desk and coming away with two small black ear pieces. “I’ll leave the details to you two. Use these to keep in contact. We should get ourselves into position now. The Shay will be here in a few hours.”

20

Emma and Frank had divided up the group of twenty Arilion Knights. She was in charge of leading ten and Frank would take the other ten. Their mission was to aid in the defenses of the Academy wherever they were needed. Emma’s group would take the top half of the Academy and Frank would defend the bottom where the teleportation jammer was located.

Lucky for Emma, she had a few familiar Knights with her as well as Layga and Jeba, who had insisted they stay aboard the Academy. The two girls had pleaded with Slain until he eventually gave in. They were there only as support and aiding Madame Cherub with wounded, but Emma expected they were eager to get their own hits in on the Shay.

Not surprisingly, Emma chose the top level of the Academy, where the large window looked out into the darkening sky. The view point would give them access to the way the battle was progressing and let them know when they would be called upon to unleash their own attack on the Shay.

Emma stood on the floor along with her ten knights, Jeba, and Layga. Jace was the first to ask what they were all thinking.

“So how exactly are we going to shoot out at them when they come?” Jace ran a hand through his dark hair. “I mean, I want to get at them as badly as anyone, but they’ll be in ships and we don’t have weapons that will fire through the window.”

“Maybe we don’t need to fire through it, just on the other side of it,” Emma said, pulling from a story Frank had told her. “Here, watch.”

Emma traveled to the window and focused on the pane of glass. She placed her hands on the cool, clear barrier then brought a purple arrow to life on the opposite side. With another thought, she shot the arrow forward through the air. It rocketed out over the water as far as the eye could see before disappearing.

“Oh, cool,” the Arilion Knight that looked like a bull said in a gruff voice.

“I didn’t know we could do that,” Hydi added.

“Go ahead; give it a shot with whatever you want to try and use during the fight,” Emma encouraged the others. “We won’t have long to practice, but anything is better than nothing.”

The Arilion Knights went to work, each trying out his or her own variation on Emma’s arrow. The bull knight constructed a huge sledgehammer with an impossibly long shaft he swiped out on the other side of the glass.

Jace put his hands on the glass, forming a pair of blasters on the opposite side and let loose with a hail of purple rounds.

All around her, the Arilion Knights were getting the hang of the new technique, keeping their constructs simple.

Emma felt a hole growing in the pit of her stomach as day transitioned to night. Very soon, the Shay would arrive and the killing and dying would start. Once again, she was faced with the impossible necessity to take another life. She knew what she was doing was right. She was protecting the Earth and millions of innocent lives by taking a few. Still, the anxious nausea that came before a battle of this size wrapped around her gut.

“You look sick. Do you need anything?” Layga asked as she came to stand next to Emma. “Did you eat?”

“I’m good,” Emma lied, looking at how peaceful the water seemed as the last rays of the sun’s light touched its calm surface. “As much as I want it not to have to start at all, I just want to get this over with. The waiting is worse.”

“We’re here with you,” Jeba said, joining her roommate. Both she and Layga wore the uniforms of the Academy, black with gold trim. “For the first time before a big fight, I don’t feel like someone is going to die. I mean, that has to count for something.”

Jeba’s comment made Emma laugh out loud in a time when she had no right to do that. It was a mark of a great friend. Emma had a moment to enjoy the feeling before her ear piece went off in her ear.

“We have confirmed reports that the Shay have entered the Earth’s orbit. They have not engaged with our forces yet.” Slain’s voice came through Emma’s earpiece loud and clear. “Stand by to engage.”

“They’re here,” Emma said to the room of warriors. “The fight hasn’t started yet, but it will soon.”

A series of determined faces looked back at Emma.

Emma moved to the glass to take her place at the head of her knights. Jace stood on her right, his face a mask of how he truly felt. Emma was grateful to stand shoulder to shoulder with a group like this. Warriors from across the universe who stood as one, refusing to back down to a bully.

“When they come, they’ll come fast, and they won’t stop until it’s over,” Jace said from his spot. He spoke to everyone in the room without moving his own eyes from the glass wall in front of him. “How many of you have been in a fight like this before?”

Surprisingly, Hydi was the only one to raise her hand. “My village was attacked by a war monger years ago. I helped defend the city, but it was nothing like this.”

“The fear will be similar. It will paralyze you if you let it,” Jace coached them. “Concentrate on what you need to do next. They’re targets; don’t hesitate to neutralize your target. Don’t panic and fire over their head because you don’t want to hurt them. I promise you they will show you no such mercy.”

Emma’s mouth was dry. Sweat gathered on her palms as the unit of Arilion Knights waited, anxious and frightened to begin.

“The Shay have engaged with our forces in orbit,” Slain’s voice told her via her ear piece. “Stand by.”

“Understood,” Emma said, unsure of how she was supposed to respond over the comms.

“Roger that,” Frank said.

“Standing by,” Tistan responded.

In each of their words was a tightness Emma understood. They were all coiled like a spring, ready to explode with energy. Despite the effort powering the teleporter had taken, Emma knew that she along with the rest of the Arilion Knights were ready.

A squadron of jets screamed by the front of the glass. The United States Air Force was getting into position around the Academy.

Ooohs and awwws from the other knights sounded throughout the room. A sense of comfort touched on Emma. They were not alone. The United States Military was present and ready to engage the enemy alongside the Arilion Knights.

“Be careful not to hit our own side when the fighting starts,” Jace warned the others unfamiliar with warfare. He turned his head from side to side to catch all of their eyes. “I know that might seem obvious to you, but when the fighting starts and things are happening faster than you can react, be cautious where you’re pointing your weapons.”

Head nods answered him back.

“Here we go,” Slain said in Emma’s ear. “We have incoming in ten seconds. As soon as the Academy’s batteries begin firing, that will be your signal that the enemy is in range and you are clear to engage. General Fox has instructed our Earth allies to keep the Shay contained. They’ll hunt down any stragglers. It’ll be up to us to act as the hammer.”

Emma knew her mouth was open, but in that moment, she didn’t really care. Through the dark sky, she could see the moon far off and the stars even further. They twinkled in the night like tiny diamonds. She had to blink to make sure what she was seeing was in fact reality. Hundreds, maybe thousands of red lights were winking into existence.

As they came closer, it was clear to see the lights were ships. A variety of different-sized crafts came into focus right before chaos ripped loose. Emma had enough time to register at least three different-sized craft. They were all black with the smallest resembling an oval cockpit with hook-like pincers coming from the front. There were heavier square-looking ships Emma guessed were what Slain had warned were the Shay transport ships they would use to try and unload their soldiers on the Academy. Lastly, there were massive behemoths of ships. They reminded Emma of the pictures of actual war ships used on the seas, except these traveled through the air. They were vast, at least as long as the Academy itself.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

White enemy fire splashed over the force field providing protection for the Academy. At the same time, the Academy’s own defenses began to fire in green bursts from hundreds of different mounted turrets.

“Let them have it!” Emma screamed over the impossibly loud sounds coming from the opposite side of the glass. Emma was sure the knights beside her couldn’t hear her, but they could see her.

Emma pressed her hands to the glass. Her vambraces glowed a violent shade of purple as she constructed a cannon barrel on the opposite side of the glass. Seeing in her mind’s eye what she wanted to construct, she let loose with a barrage of her own as the enemy craft came into range.

Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat

Down the line, the Arilion Knights were bringing their constructs to life, peppering the enemy with purple rounds. The light show taking place in front of Emma burned her irises as white, green, and purple rounds were exchanged. Every time the Academy force field took a round, the light blue shield briefly came into view, adding to the color spectrum.

The Shay swarmed on the Academy with their smaller fighters first. Emma had never been attacked by a hive of bees, but she imagined it would be something like this. The crafts whizzed by at an impossibly high speed as they made their runs on the Academy.

There were so many, it would have been enough to take the fight out of any soldier. Lucky for them, Emma and the Arilion Knights weren’t just any soldiers. They were chosen because their strength of will set them apart from the rest.

Emma didn’t realize she was clenching her teeth so hard until her jaw began to hurt. She pumped round after round into the swarming crafts. Explosions across her field of vision rewarded her efforts. Whether she had been the one to down the enemy or not was impossible to tell.

There was too much weapon fire being exchanged from both sides for Emma to tell for certain that her rounds had been the one to take down specific targets.

Along with Emma’s cannon, the other Arilion formed their projectile weapons as they added their own will to their cause. War cries were let loose as the fighting intensified. For the moment, the Academy’s force field was holding. Shay ship after Shay ship was taken down in orange flames of burning brilliance.

True to Slain’s words, the top and bottom of the pinwheel-shaped Academy rotated, bringing fresh weapons to bear on the enemy.

One thing that did concern Emma was the fact the Shay held their transport ships and their larger destroyers to the rear of the fight. These much larger crafts had not entered the battle yet. What they were waiting for, Emma could only guess at.

“Kill them all!” the bull Arilion Knight boomed in his gravelly voice.

“Don’t stop!” Hydi’s voice joined in.

BAM!

The Academy shook, sending tremors up and down Emma’s legs. A few of the knights at the glass even stumbled, releasing their hold on their weapons. It felt like an earthquake.

“What was that?” Jeba asked.

Emma saw the larger battleships approach before Slain’s voice confirmed her suspicions. They came like Juggernauts in the dark.

“We have Shay destroyers inbound!”

21

A feeling of dread descended on Emma as the massive war ships approached. There were four of them that Emma could see. Although they weren’t as tall as the Academy, they were just as long. Huge cannons sprouted from the bows of their ships, dealing white hot energy rounds to the Academy’s force field.

“Shields aren’t going to hold against the onslaught the larger ships are unleashing,” Frank said as calm as ever. “We need to target in on them.”

“Shields are at eighty percent and decreasing rapidly,” Slain confirmed. “Target the larger ships. We need to take a few of them down if we’re going to have a chance.”

“Got it!” Emma said over her comms. She turned to the rest of the knights. “We need to take down their larger ships before they bring down the force field. Concentrate your fire power on the ship on your right!”

Emma zeroed in on the enemy Shay destroyer with the rest of the Arilion Knights. Outside of the glass, the night sky was alive with the smaller enemy ships zipping this way and that. The massive war ships trudged through the sky, dealing critical blows to the Academy shields.

Manic aggression spurred by fear lit inside Emma as she turned her weapon on the warship. Voicing her rage, Emma let loose on the ship with everything she had. Her constructed cannon laced the ship with a steady stream of purple fire.

The larger Shay warships had force fields of their own. Emma’s fire scorched the enemy force field, bringing a dull yellow glow to the night sky where her rounds made contact.

“Bring it down!” Emma spurred her knights on as they focused fire on the Shay destroyer. “All you got, come on!”

The sounds coming from the Arilion Knights beside her were bellows of pure determination Emma would never forget. They raged as one, each of them putting everything they had into bringing down the battleship that loomed ever closer.

“Shields at fifty percent!” Slain said over the comms. Although he yelled the information, there was no panic in his voice.

The Academy rocked again as all four Shay destroyers zeroed in on the space station.

Emma pumped round after round from her constructed cannon at the destroyer. It was difficult to gauge exactly how far it was out from the Academy, but one thing was for certain, with every second that passed, it grew closer.

Finally, something went their way as the rounds that were hitting the Shay destroyer a moment before, splashing against the force field, started to go through and strike the actual ship itself. Ripples of explosions and fires opening up all around the ship choked a cheer from the Arilion Knights.

Fires burst into existence as explosions rocked the Shay craft from bow to stern. The entire ship shuddered. Smoke filled the night sky as it began to lose altitude and sink toward its inevitable watery grave.

“We did it!” Hydi shouted. “We actually did it!”

“Save the celebration. That was one. There are three mo—”

The remaining trio of Shay ships were close enough now to open up with their heavy guns. The wall of fire that struck the Academy’s force field was so thick, it was hard to see past it at all.

The structure shuddered, rolling as if it were in its own death throes. Emma was taken to her knees as she lost her construct on the opposite side of the glass. The lights in the room flickered, then went out altogether. A moment later, green emergency lights flashed to life in the room.

Emma fell hard in the initial rocking of the room, striking her head on the ground. Pain exploded into her vision in bright white stars. It took her a moment to realize that Tistan was talking over the comms.

“We should expect the Shay boarding crafts soon. Once the shields go down, that will be their next move,” Tistan told the others.

“The shields can’t take much more.” Slain echoed her own thoughts. “We’re at twenty percent. They can hold against one more volley then they’ll give.”

Emma looked around the room to the others as they struggled to their own feet. Jace was the only one already fully recovered, using his duel blaster construct on the opposite side of the window.

Outside, the three remaining Shay warships had come to a halt in front of the Academy. They still fired with their smaller weapons. Emma guessed they were taking the time to recharge their main batteries before completely taking down their force field.

The smaller Shay aircraft still zipped in and out of their field of view as numerous as ever. The sheer number of the enemy still in the sky poked at Emma’s resolve.

How can there still be so many? Emma thought to herself. We must have taken down hundreds of them between the weapons on the Academy and our own efforts not to mention the ones downed by the Air Force.

“Brace for impact,” Frank said as the Shay destroyers moved into firing position.

Emma fought to her feet and pressed her hands on the glass again. Even if she could get a few more rounds off, it would be something. She wasn’t just going to sit there and take it.

“Major Frank Wolffe, this is General Fox. Do you read me?”

Emma had to make sure she was hearing right. A far as she knew, the general was on the ground somewhere, coordinating the Air Force.

“I read you, sir.” Frank’s voice came back stressed. “We could use some help. Maybe a miracle or two if you have any handy.”

“I have a miracle called the United States Air Force. Stand by while I coordinate with Slain,” General Fox said.

“Roger that, sir,” Frank answered.

The comm line clicked closed, telling Emma she had been privy to a private transmission.

“Hang in there,” Frank said over the open channel. “Help’s on the way. Don’t stop firing.”

Emma readjusted her focus on the fight in front of her. She thought she hit her head harder than she realized when streaks or blurry lines crossed her vision. It took her only a second to realize the streaks were jets entering the fight.

Seeing how outnumbered and outgunned the Academy was, General Fox had moved his squadrons in to engage as opposed to remaining on the fringe of the fight and containing the situation.

Explosions ripped across the battlefield as trained pilots took on the Shay fighters. A group of dark metal jets made a run on the Shay destroyer to the left of the line. Rockets zipped from the fighters, slamming into the Shay shields faster than the eye could travel.

All around the field of battle, the Shay pivoted to meet this new threat.

A second later, a Shay destroyer burst into flames.

A cheer rose up into the room. Emma joined them, shouting a celebration with her own voice. The joy turned to ashes in her mouth as she looked at the remaining two destroyers. The enemy opened fire on the Academy.

The room buckled and rolled for the third time, this time harder than ever. Explosions ripped through the Academy as their shield was finally taken down. A crack in the glass in front of Emma spider-webbed in a dangerous pattern. She was thrown to her back. The wind was knocked out of her lungs. She lay on her back, looking up at the ceiling, gasping for breath.

“Shields are down,” Slain said over the comms. “Shay shock troops incoming!”

“Help! I need help!” Hydi screamed from across the room. She cradled an Arilion Knight in her arms. A line of blood spattered the back of his head where his skull made contact with the floor.

Layga and Jeba ran over to assist. In a moment, Layga had the knight in her powerful arms, running to the infirmary and Madame Cherub. Jeba ran along with her. She hesitated at the door, looking back at Emma.

“Go,” Emma told her friend. “I’ll be fine. Take care of yourself.”

Jeba nodded before hurrying after her Ree counterpart.

The Academy rocked again and again. With the shields now down, the Shay had free rein on targeting the turrets embedded in the space station’s upper and lower sections. The glass in front of Emma cracked again, sending thin lines racing across the window pane from top to bottom.

“Watch out!” Jace yelled just in time for Emma to place a forearm across her face.

The window pane exploded into a million tiny shards. The glass flew into the defenders. Emma constructed a thin layer of shielding across her body that negated any injury.

The cold wind of the night air whipped around Emma, threatening to take her off balance once more. The sounds of the dogfight outside reached her ears louder than ever. It was like standing in the middle of a thunderstorm, only louder.

The whine of the engines, the sounds of weapons being fired imprinted on her brain as noises she would never forget, that she could never forget.

The remaining two Shay destroyers now turned their attention along with the smaller fighters on the squadrons of jets dealing out damage. A line of long square enemy ships moved into action. The Shay transport ships moved to land on the Academy and empty out the Shay shock troops.

“To all those still defending the space station.” Countess’ Rule’s raspy voice interrupted Emma’s thought process. “We have intercepted your communication link. We have destroyed your defenses. We are about to board your space station now. Surrender yourselves to the Shay Empire and you will keep your lives in return. Resist us and you will be annihilated. Earth is now the claimed property of the Shay Empire.”

Emma heard Slain’s voice crackle once, twice, then get cut over the comms. She guessed his earpiece was having difficulty. Why Frank or her mother didn’t respond back Emma didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to let the Countess think they were intimidated.

“Earth doesn’t belong to you,” Emma said, allowing the rage she felt to come out in her tone. “And there is no surrendering for you now. You and your entire Empire are going to pay for what you’ve done, not just to us, but to all the planets you’ve consumed.”

Countess Rule laughed. It was a sound devoid of any true happiness.

“This is the young Arilion Knight I’m talking to,” the countess stated rather than asked. “Are you the mouthpiece for the Academy now? I guess you have to be since we killed that stupid old Bracka director you called a leader.”

Anger the likes Emma had never felt boiled inside of her. She felt hot as her rage took on a physical manifestation.

“You’re going to pay for what you did to the director, you coward,” Emma said over the comms. “You shot him down in cold blood when he was just meeting with you to try and talk.”

“We will see,” Countess Rule scoffed. “We’ll see whose story ends this night.”

The line went dead.

Emma looked out of the blown-open window to the cold night. More than a dozen troop transports floated toward the Academy, ready to unload the shock troops it carried.

“Get ready!” Emma rallied her troops, pointing to the approaching transport ships. “Remember your defensive constructs and use whatever weapon you feel the most comfortable with. Here they come!”

Jace brought a large sledgehammer to his hands. Hydi favored her dual blasters. In the space of a single thought, Emma brought her bow to her hands with a purple arrow poised, ready to fly.

Not today, Emma thought to herself. Maybe if this played out a hundred times, you’d win ninety-nine of those, but not this time.

22

Emma saw the square-shaped Shay transport ship approach in slow motion. Hydi and some of the others let loose with a barrage of fire, but their constructs weren’t strong enough to pierce the tempered metal of the enemy hull made for space travel. Emma held her bow taut.

If Emma was honest with herself, she felt sick to her stomach. She had trained plenty of times, but she had only been in real combat a handful of times, first with the Shay when they attacked Earth the first time and then with the Desmond Dalshire when he sought to infiltrate Earth.

I wonder if this ever gets easier. Emma fought back the nausea as she prepared to fight again. I wonder if I should ever want killing to be easier.

The Shay transport ship turned, revealing its right side, and floated close to the open Academy window. The dark metal was riveted and plain. No doors were placed on the side; neither were there engravings or emblems of the Shay Empire.

Purple projectiles from the gathered Arilion Knights bounced off the metal or stuck in the side, scorching the ship. The flank of the Shay transport craft that faced them now reminded Emma of the long side of a large dumpster.

“Armor!” Emma yelled. On top of the layer of purple energy that coated her body like a defensive skin, Emma imagined a suit of armor. She had been working on a design one part Iron Man, one part what a medieval knight would wear into battle.

A moment later, she wore the protective covering, from greaves on her shins to a sleek breastplate and a helmet on her head. All around her, the Arilion like Jace that could construct better defenses, were doing so.

The craft in front of them hissed, expelling a wall of steam and smoke. The side of the Shay transport ship opened from the top down, creating a ramp for the soldiers inside.

Emma and her line of Arilion Knights stood twenty yards from the doors. They were close enough to see the first line of Shay shock troops charge from their ship. The smoke made them more menacing than they were already. Huge reptile-like faces wearing their own helmets snarled war cries of their own. They wore their own dark armor. Each soldier was equipped with a blaster as well as a wicked-looking curved sword they held on their waist.

There had to be twenty of them in that first wave as they charged through the room. A moment later, weapons from both sides of the fight were being fired at one another.

Emma let loose with her bow, releasing the arrows just as fast as she could draw and aim. She took one soldier in the helmet with an arrow. As far as she could see, her projectile punctured the Shay steel and buried itself deep in brain matter. She couldn’t afford to grab the exact details. All she knew was the soldier went down and she was moving on to her next target.

A blaster round took Emma in the stomach. It felt like someone punching her. It was enough to double her over for a brief moment before she regained her composure and continued to fight. The glowing purple armor around her body was enough to protect her from any blaster or blade, but she felt the sheer force of the blows.

Another wave of the Shay exited their ship, wading into the fight behind their brethren. The fighting was so brutal in the wide-open room, Shay and Arilion Knights both fell under the onslaught.

The first line of Shay to have exited the transport craft were nearly annihilated when they decided to charge. Jace and the bull knight took this as a chance to meet them with hand-to-hand weapons. Jace constructed a war hammer, on one side an axe head and the other a sledgehammer. The bull knight settled on a long pole with a thick blade on one end and a spike on the other.

Emma fired a series of rounds at a Shay, punching three holes in its chest plate before it went down. She pivoted to her left, where a Shay shock trooper was tackling Hydi to the ground, and sent another arrow through his ear.

Everywhere she turned, there was a target ready to be met. Worse, the second wave of the Shay shock troopers had reached their lines and fighting was taking place at close quarters. Long-range weapons were being abandoned in favor of swords and other constructed weapons.

A pair of Shay soldiers charged Emma with their swords, swinging for her head. Emma took a step back, calming herself as much as she was able. She released her hold on her bow and instead constructed a sword. She blocked the Shay’s attack on her right, leaving herself open to the attack on her left.

The Shay blade struck her on the left shoulder. Her armor held, but a painful tingling sensation raced up and down her arm.

Neutralize one threat first and fast, Emma said, remembering her training from Instructor Drown. Come on, Emma, do it!

Emma accepted another blow across her helmet from the Shay on her left. The Shay shock troops were much taller than she, offering them a distinct advantage. The blow struck her across the left side of her face, splitting her lip as her helmet construct was batted against her face.

Emma ignored the pain, parrying the Shay on her right. She used her strength to bully his sword back and give her an opening at his midsection. With one clean swipe, she severed the Shay’s armor and sent him to his knees. The shock trooper grabbed at the hole opening up over his stomach.

Next, Emma turned to her left. Ducking low, she struck out with her blade. The purple steel sank deep into the Shay’s right leg, cutting through its armor and skin like butter.

With an otherworldly scream, the Shay fell to all fours, giving Emma a clean shot at its head. Her blade sank deep, sending her enemy crashing to the ground.

Emma looked up to see the fighting had spread to every corner of the large viewing room. If each Arilion Knight were as trained and ready as Emma and Jace, the Shay shock troops wouldn’t have stood a chance. The honest truth was that the newly appointed Arilion Knights were still too green.

Already a pair of knights had fallen, with double that number injured but still holding their ground. The bull knight bled from a wound on his shoulder. Despite that, he fought back to back with Hydi.

Emma had lost track of Hydi’s small pet but caught sight of Baka again when the ferocious ball of energy snapped out from between Hydi’s legs whenever a Shay trooper got too close.

“The Shay are unloading their transport ships on levels two, seven, and nine.” Tistan’s voice sounded rushed over the comms as if she were in the middle of fighting herself. “They’re concentrating the bulk of their force on the top section. Emma, you have two more ships incoming.”

Emma’s heart sank. The new Arilion Knights were already outnumbered six to one and barely holding their own. With two more transport ships inbound, they would be forced to retreat.

“Understood—er—roger, I mean,” Emma said, releasing her sword once more in favor of her bow. She backed into a corner and let loose with another volley of fire. “We’ll retreat and regroup with—”

“Negative,” Frank interrupted her. “Those two inbound ships just unloaded on the floor below you. They’re trying to trap you. You have enemies coming up from the floor below.”

“I can get to her.” A new voice Emma recognized sounded over the comms. It was Drown. “I’m only a few levels down near the bestiary. I can get to her.”

“Go,” Tistan said with a grunt.

Emma was forced back to the fight in front of her. With Drown and his Academy guards on the way, a new rush of adrenaline hit her system. She waded back into the fight, sending arrow after arrow into the incoming enemy.

Another blaster round caught her right leg, sending her down to a knee. She grunted with pain, never losing sight of her target. She drew the bow back and sent a shaft forward, impaling her enemy through the torso.

“Hold your ground!” Emma shouted, working her way to where the rest of the Arilion Knights had grouped in a tight circle. An overturned stone table acted as a kind of barrier for them. “Reinforcements are coming. Hold your ground!”

Jace walked through the battlefield like a wild man. The rage of battle had taken full hold of him now. Right in front of Emma’s eyes, she witnessed the impossible. Whether it was the adrenaline, his alien DNA mixing with the human DNA, or something else altogether, he transitioned back into the furry lupine beast Emma was used to seeing.

With a roar, Jace’s body grew, adding muscle to it as if it were second nature. His mouth lengthened, black fur and a tail sprouted from his body. The next instant, Jace was on all fours, tearing apart the Shay with his bare hands and teeth.

For a moment, the remaining Shay shock troops were taken off guard. Their numbers were dwindling by the second. Just as soon as hope reared its coveted head, despair arrived in the form of Shay reinforcements.

The Shay transport ship blocking the viewing window on the level moved out of the way. A new ship teeming with another full squadron of Shay shock troops took its place. At the same time, the Shay reinforcements Frank had warned of were arriving on her level via the teleportation alcoves in each level of the Academy.

“Don’t stop!” Emma screamed, releasing her hold on her bow for a weapon that would do more damage to more enemies at once. She settled on a construct she had been practicing with for such an occasion. “Hold the Shay coming in through the viewing window. I’ll get the ones teleporting in from the bottom level. Just hold on; help is on the way!”

Emma brought a massive laser cannon to her hands. It was so heavy, she had to hold it at her hip instead of down her line of sight. The weapon was something she had been saving. Constructing the weapon was nothing compared to having to use it. It drained her will to fight as she pressed the trigger.

A solid beam of purple laser erupted from the cannon, severing the Shay who were charging her from the left where the teleporters let off on this level. Emma saw her too late. Countess Rule led the Shay coming up from the bottom floor. She made eye contact with Emma, followed by a smirk.

Emma was about to turn her weapon on her enemy when a green flash flew through the air. Pain unlike Emma had ever experienced raced down her body, breaking her concentration on her construct.

Emma fell to her knees with a scream. The flash Emma had seen was Countess Rule’s own shimmering green blade sticking out of her left shoulder. The weapon had pierced her constructed armor somehow and dug deep into the meat of her shoulder.

“Advance!” Countess Rule ordered her troops. “Kill them all! No mercy!”

23

Emma’s armor was gone. She struggled to get back up. The pain was unbearable. She knew she had to remove the weapon from her shoulder if she was going to keep on fighting. Even the idea of pulling the blade free tormented her thoughts.

Get up, Emma, Emma told herself in her head. This isn’t over yet. Get up!

Emma struggled to her knees. She grabbed the hilt of the blade sticking out of her left shoulder with her right hand. Before she could think of how much agony she was about to cause herself, Emma tore the blade free of her shoulder.

“Rawww!” Her scream added to the sounds of battle around her. Her vision blurred. She rocked on her knees, trying to stay upright.

The bloody green blade fell to the ground in front of her. A wall of Shay shock troops led by a grinning Countess Rule charged Emma.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A new sound from a weapon being discharged filled the room with thunderous booms. Countess Rule was protected from the incoming rounds by the wall of Shay around her.

Drown led a cohort of Academy guards along with Layga, Jeba, and to Emma’s surprise, her saberling named Wolf.

The saberling was a creature that Emma had befriended on the Academy. It looked like it was part saber tooth tiger and part wolf, hence his name. Its golden fur wrinkled with muscle. The size of a large dog, it tore at the Shay closest to Emma, taking it to the ground by its throat.

In the commotion, Emma lost sight of the countess. Drown led a dozen Academy guards toward her location.

Taken by surprise, the Shay force coming up from the lower levels was decimated. All the defenders now looked to the new wave of Shay shock troops entering the fight from the new transport ship.

Drown fired two more bursts from his rifle before kneeling next to Emma. He looked at her wound. For the first time since Emma had known the hardened instructor, he looked worried.

“You’re going to be all right. We have to stop the bleeding,” Drown said without hesitation. “Bite down on something. This isn’t going to tickle.”

Emma could barely hear Drown’s words as the instructor let loose with another hose of fire from his blaster. Instead of stopping after a few rounds like he had before, he kept tapping the trigger on his weapon until the barrel of his rifle smoked with heat.

The end of his weapon turned a bright red as the steel was warmed from the dispersion of his round.

Without warning, Drown pivoted and pressed his weapon against Emma’s bleeding shoulder.

White-hot pain sizzled her flesh, scorching her wound closed. A wave of cold sweat drenched Emma as she fought to stay conscious past the pain.

Drown held it to the front of her wound for a few seconds, then did the same to the back of her shoulder. The length felt like a short eternity as Emma screamed until her lungs had nothing to give.

“There you go, you’re as good as—”

Countess Rule came out of nowhere. She slammed into Drown so hard, Emma heard something crack inside the instructor as he was thrown backward into the far wall. He slumped there, unmoving.

“And this is where it ends for you all,” Countess Rule said with venom lacing every word. The countess lifted her blaster, ready to fire on Emma’s exposed head at point blank range.

A gold furball leapt through the air, tackling the Shay countess with a flurry of teeth and claws. Jeba and Layga descended on the countess from her blind spot. Layga tore the blaster from her hands as Jeba struck out with the end of her blaster crushing the Shay’s knee inward.

A hiss of agony escaped the Shay countess. As soon as the cry of pain escaped her thin lips, she moved into action. She backhanded Jeba so hard, a spray of blood flew from Jeba’s mouth as she fell backward.

Countess Rule’s face was a mix of bloody scratches as the saberling ravaged her from her neck to the crown of her head. The countess finally managed to grab the saberling by one of his front paws. With a press of her massive hand, a crunching sound like someone stepping on a pile of dried leaves came from the saberling. A cry ripped free from the beast’s jaws as the countess tossed it to the side.

Emma saw all of this as she struggled to her feet. Fatigue mixed with pain still sought to convince her to stay down and give in to the open arms of unconsciousness.

Layga was the last one on her feet and the only one that rivaled the countess for size. Both warriors stood seven feet tall. If Layga had been a few years older, she would have dwarfed the Shay as a member of the Ree race.

The Shay and Ree warrior battered each other with shots to their heads and bodies. Layga didn’t give up, but it was soon clear she was outmatched. The countess had years of training the Ree did not. With a swipe of her thick tail and the aid of her wings, the countess made short work of Layga, beating her down to the ground.

She fell on the Ree, wrapping her scaly hands around her throat.

“Hey!” Emma shouted, barely able to stand much less fight. “I’m not done with you yet, you overgrown crocodile!”

The insult immediately caught the countess’ attention. She rose from a gasping Layga, limping toward Emma. Blood fell from a dozen cuts across her face. Her movements were slower, but her eyes still spoke the same level of contempt and pure mania.

“You dare insult the successor to the Shay Empire!?” Countess Rule raged as she limped closer to Emma. “I will kill you with my bare hands and then take your vambraces as my own!”

“Yeah, it doesn’t really work that way,” Emma said, focusing her strength of will on making one more simple construct. A purple knife appeared in her right hand.

Think smart, Emma told herself in the precious few seconds she had before the countess descended on her. She’s wounded just like you. Her movements are slower. How is she going to attack? How would you attack if you were her?”

The countess came at Emma like she expected. With her right leg wounded courtesy of Jeba, the countess relied on her hands and wings to do the fighting. Emma was past exhausted. She realized she had to conserve her strength for the strikes she did need to land and those to avoid.

Countess Rule whipped out with her right wing. The appendage was hard bone making up the frame of the wing and leathery skin forming the webbing in between.

Emma brought her knife up just in time to make contact with the wing.

The countess roared in anger as dark blood spilled over her wounded wing. The Shay countess struck out with her right and then left hands. Emma made no attempt at her own attacks; instead, she remained content to simply place her knife in position to connect with each of the countesses blows.

More blood spattered the floor beneath the two warriors. Emma’s earpiece was going off like crazy. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew her mother and Frank were both speaking to her, but she had no time to listen, much less form a response.

It took everything inside Emma to channel what will she had through her vambraces and focus on the speed she needed to meet each new attack from the countess. In the space of a minute, blood dropped from every limb the countess had to offer. Thick slices were taken out of her wings and tail.

Normally, this would have been enough to discourage anyone from fighting further or at least retreating to reconsider their tactic. The pride the countess held in her heart as well as the anger that burned in her chest were enough to look past that.

“You are a child playing a game you do not understand.” Countess Rule licked at her bloody knuckles with a thin tongue. She leaned down to pick up the sword with the shimmering green blade she had impaled Emma with minutes before. “I hope you’ve prepared yourself to die this day. A pity you will not be alive to see your planet fall.”

“Lady,” Emma spat blood. “The only thing that’s falling is your ego once I take you down a few notches.”

Without warning, the countess charged again. Her movements were slowed even further, her strike easy for Emma to telegraph. Despite Emma being just as worn and injured as the countess, she was able to channel her fighting spirit to pick up the slack.

The countess swung her blade sideways, looking to take off Emma’s head. Instead of trying to dodge the blow, Emma stepped into it, impaling the countess’ forearm with her blade. With the grip on her own weapon weakened, Emma took the opportunity to rip the sword free. She turned the green blade and drove it deep into the countess’ chest.

Countess Rule staggered back, looking down at the sword hilt that sprouted from her chest like some random flower that did not belong in rocky soil. The countess crumpled in on herself, falling to her knees. Her breathing came out in labored gasps.

“You had no—you had no chance of beating the Shay Empire,” Countess Rule looked up at Emma, her eyes already glossing over. “You don’t—you shouldn’t have been able to beat me.”

Emma stood over the countess, shaking her head. “You should have let Earth be. You should have left the Academy and the Alliance alone. Director Trueart sends his regards.”

Countess Rule looked up at Emma one more time before she fell sideways. Her chest stilled.

More than anything, Emma wanted to rest. She wanted to curl up into a ball and just sleep for the next year. Her friends on the ground around her told her what she had to do next.

“Emma! Emma!” Tistan screamed over the comms. “Can you hear me!? We’re coming to you now.”

“I’m here,” Emma said, hearing her own exhaustion in her voice and not caring to mask it. She slumped next to Layga, who was massaging her throat, already getting to her feet.

Emma examined the war-torn room. Drown’s reinforcements of Academy guards had bought them more time, but a Shay transport was already unloading troops into the room. It seemed Emma had been given the lucky task of defending the desired landing zone of the Shay Empire.

“I’m fine. We should help them.” Layga got to her feet, hurrying over to Drown’s still body on the far side of the room.

Emma half walked, half limped over to where her saberling had crawled to Jeba’s side. It whimpered past the pain in its own crushed forepaw and licked at Jeba’s bloody cheek.

Fear froze Emma’s heart. Jeba’s chest was rising and falling, but her eyes were closed. The side of her face where the countess backhanded her was already forming a nasty bruise.

“Good boy.” Emma ruffled her saberling’s ears before turning to Jeba. “She’ll be okay. She has to be okay.”

Emma shook Jeba gently, wondering if she should call for aid or if it were as simple as waking Jeba up. Before she had to make the decision, two things happened at once. The next Shay transport ship arrived, sending yet another wave of Shay shock troops into the room.

At the same time, purple light pierced the transport ship like some kind of lance. Explosions rocked the Shay ship as it shook and trembled. A second later, it descended with a groan as a massive explosion tore through its hull.

Frank Wolffe appeared in its place, levitating the ten Arilion Knights under his command. Somehow he had taken them outside of the Academy, destroyed the next transport ship, and now entered the room.

The method he used to transport his unit of knights looked like a square shoe box. As soon as the knights touched down into the room, they began to fight the now surrounded Shay.

The battle was over in minutes. Frank and the rest of the knights tore through the surrounded Shay like a buzz saw. Bodies lay everywhere, twisted and mangled in a way Emma would never forget. There were so many dead in the viewing level of the Academy, it was difficult to walk.

Frank made his way over to Emma, a constructed armor suit over his uniform and a rifle in his hands. He looked like he was about to say something, when the Academy quaked again. Not just shook but trembled in a way that made the entire orbiting space station take a dip in its place in the sky.

“We have a problem,” Slain’s voice said over the comm. “We have a big problem.”

24

“Tell me about it,” Frank answered, looking around the room. “We secured the viewing room. Tistan is guarding the jamming signal. Emma is okay. Drown—”

Frank looked over to the downed Halyna warrior. A pair of Academy guards were beside him, rolling him over to his back. They looked over at Frank and nodded. “He’s still breathing, but he needs medical attention.”

“Get him to Madame Cherub,” Emma said without taking her eyes off the blown-out glass wall in front of her.

With Frank’s entrance into the fight, the Shay transport ship that had blocked her view of the fight beyond was gone. She had a clear look at the battle raging outside. Ships darted around one another. Two of the remaining three Shay destroyers were on fire and limping along as they sought a better tactical position.

Emma had no way to tell if they were winning or not.

Winning? Emma thought to herself as if it were the first time she was hearing the word. Who wins in a battle like this? Maybe one side just loses less.

“We’re clearing the last of the Shay shock troopers off the lower levels,” Tistan’s voice sounded over the comm. “The jamming device is secure. We have more transports incoming. Heads up!”

Emma swayed on her feet, looking out the window once more. Tistan was right. Three more square transport ships were making their way toward the Academy. The few working turrets on the Academy peppered them with enemy fire, but their shields held.

“You going to make it, Jackson?” Frank asked, looking down at her.

More than anything, Emma wanted to say no. She wanted to lie down and not get up until a full week had passed. Doggedly, she formed her bow in her hands once more.

“I’m ready,” Emma said.

“Director Slain Extile,” a new voice said over the comm line. “This is Sava Sarguard with the Draconian militia. Clear your forces from around the Academy. We’re coming in hot.”

“Understood,” Slain said over the comm line. “But we have a bigger problem on our hands at the moment than the Sh—”

The rest of his words were cut off as Emma witnessed the single greatest thing she had ever seen in her life. A Draconian warrior wearing purple vambraces of her own fell from the heavens like a meteor. She dove straight through one of the transport ships, annihilating the shield and the ship itself as it broke in two.

In one deep arc, she turned and shot upward, expelling purple power from her hands so violent, it consumed the next transport altogether. The last transport ship stood no chance under her violent onslaught. It tried to maneuver and turn what turrets it did have on her. It never got the chance.

With a roar the likes Emma had never heard before, the flying Arilion Knight slammed into the transport. She grabbed the craft by the front, crushing the steel between her fingers to find a grip. She hurled the ship to the water below like someone throwing a baseball.

“Show off,” Frank said over the comm. He looked over to Emma, shaking his head. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s a lot stronger now. The first time she took on a ship by herself, she knocked herself unconscious.”

“It’s good to see you too, Frank.” The Draconian female entered the blown-out section where the glass had previously been. “I got your message just in time. The battle will turn in our favor now. The Draconians are here to stand with your Alliance.”

“Emma Jackson,” Frank said, motioning with his hand to the fierce warrior in front of them. “Sava Sarguard; she’s the one that taught me.”

Emma was about to thank the ferocious soldier, when the Academy buckled again. This time, a massive groan accompanied the act, as if the structure were moaning in pain.

“What’s that?” Jace asked. “Something’s wrong.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Slain said through the comm. “The Academy has taken too much damage. Laloyed and Tian are trying to keep us airborne, but they said they can only buy us a few more minutes. We’re going down.”

“We need to get everyone off the Academy before we sink into the ocean,” Tistan said.

“Wait,” Frank interjected, looking over at Sava and Emma with a wolfish grin. “I think I have a plan.”

“This is not good.” Sava shook her horned head. “Your plans always end with people vomiting and exhausted.”

“That’s not true.” Frank frowned. “What about—there was that time—nobody’s thrown up today.”

“I feel pretty sick.” Hydi lifted her hand into the air.

“Put—put your hand down.” Frank waved her off. “Hear me out. We can take the Academy and place it on the beach. There are enough of us left to do it.”

“I was afraid you were going to say something like that.” Jace looked to Emma for her thoughts on the plan. “You have enough left in the tank?”

“Always,” Emma said, despite the way her body felt.

All eyes turned to the fight outside of the Academy. It seemed that the Shay had more than their hands full with the entrance of the Draconian fighters. For the first time since the battle began, it looked as though the Shay were on their heels.

Explosions rippled across the night sky. More and more Shay ships fell from view as the Air Force and the Draconian pilots coordinated their attacks and worked as one to defeat their enemy.

The floor beneath Emma’s feet shuddered again, reminding her of where her attention needed to be focused at the moment.

“Well?” Frank looked around. “Are we going to do this or what?”

Emma held Sava’s eyes for a moment. She nodded to the Draconian Arilion Knight.

“How far is it to the beach?” Sava asked, looking out the window.

“We’re about a mile away,” Emma said. “I think we can make it.”

“Slain,” Frank said through his comm. “Tell Laloyed and Tian to buy us as much time as they can. We’re going to guide the Academy to the beach.”

“Understood,” Slain said.

“All you Arilion Knights that can fly come with me,” Sava said, pointing to the window. “The rest of you construct whatever means of propulsion you can and move us to the beach. We’ll make sure we stay above water.”

Emma placed her fatigue in a mental box. She ignored the pain coursing over her body and followed Sava and Frank to the blown-out glass viewing wall.

Sava and Emma both looked at the Marine.

“What?” Frank ignored them. “I can fly—ish.”

“You can float,” Sava corrected him.

“We need all the help we can get,” Emma said. “I think we’re the only three that are going to have to keep the Academy from falling to the ocean.”

“We’ll get you there fast,” Jace said, coming up to the trio with the rest of the surviving Arilion Knights behind him. There were a dozen all together, each one of them injured to one extent or another. “Just keep us from sinking for a few minutes. We’ll push us to the beach.”

“We can do it,” Emma said as she channeled the will to go on that lived inside of her. She concentrated on lifting off of her feet. She floated with Sava and Frank outside of the window.

“Slain,” Frank said over the comm. “Tell Laloyed and Tian to put whatever they have in keeping this thing in the air. We’re going to help from the bottom while the rest of the knights push us toward the beach.”

“I will,” Slain said. “Hurry.”

The cold air felt wonderful across Emma’s brow. The fighting was taking place further and further away from the Academy as the Shay were routed. If that battle was not won, it would be over in the space of a few minutes.

Only a single Shay destroyer remained in the air and it limped in retreat against the combined might of the Air Force and Draconian fighters.

Emma descended outside of the Academy with Sava on her right and Frank on her left. Each of them glowed with a purple hue that emanated from their vambraces and covered their bodies.

The pinwheel-shaped Academy was larger than Emma remembered. She realized she had never actually seen the outside of the Academy. Usually when she was teleported aboard, she landed inside.

The pain in her shoulder reminded her of what she couldn’t do. The blood loss whispered in her ear of how weak she was. The Academy looked bigger and bigger as the three knights lowered themselves to the underbelly of the space station.

The light grey metal of the structure was interspersed with dark glass on every level. Emma knew her mother was on one of these levels, looking at her with pride and willing her to go on.

The water below them was black. The waves lapped, almost welcoming the Academy to a watery embrace. Already the Academy had sunk to only a few yards above the water’s surface. Emma guesstimated that they were two, maybe three stories from the water now.

The California beach looked an impossible distance away. A military unit was already clearing a wide area on the beach for the Academy. Slain must have told General Fox what they had planned.

Much too soon, Emma, Frank, and Sava reached the underbelly of the Academy. The bottom of the structure, true to its pinwheel shape, came down in a point.

“We should position ourselves evenly around the dome end of the Academy,” Sava said, already moving to take her place. “It’s going to take each of us giving everything we have if we’re going to make it to the beach.”

Emma noticed Frank wobble a little as he also flew to his place. Emma didn’t think it was the right time to make fun of his flying abilities. She would save that for later.

BOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the Academy, sending a shower of debris from somewhere above. The Academy trembled and sank another few feet.

“We’re running out of time,” Slain said over the comms. “If this is going to work, we have to go now!”

Emma didn’t need to be told twice. She, along with Sava and Frank, formed a triangle at the bottom of the Academy’s base. Emma positioned herself with her shoulder on the Academy. Each of her hands pressed upward on the structure, her head tilted down.

Sava and Frank assumed similar positions in front of her, Frank to her right and Sava to her left.

Everything you have and it will be enough, Emma said to herself as her shoulder screamed in agony. Everything you have right here and it has to be enough.

“Here we go,” Sava said. “Frank, this is where you say something encouraging.”

“It doesn’t matter what we’ve already done,” Frank started. “It matters what we do right now. We can make it if we work together. I believe in you, I believe in the Arilion Knights. As One!”

Emma didn’t need a countdown; she knew it was time to lift. The purple color coming from all three of the knights flared with such brilliance, Emma would have been blinded if she wasn’t already used to the glare the vambraces were capable of emitting.

Purple light shone all around her as the three Arilion Knights heaved for all they were worth. More debris fell from the space station around them. Ever so slightly, the space station altered in its descent.

Emma pressed with her shoulder and her hands against the space station so ferociously, the hardened steel meant to withstand the brutality of space dented and dimpled under her body.

The Academy groaned again, as if it were a high school student complaining that it did not want to get out of bed. The thrusters that still worked fired, aiding the trinity of knights holding it afloat.

From somewhere up above, the war cries sounded from the remaining Arilion Knights that worked on creating momentum for the craft. Slowly, the Academy began to move toward the beach.

Emma’s body was numb to the extent that she really didn’t feel that much pain anymore. It was if the nerves in her body had given up telling her she was in agony and now settled back to see how long she would last.

The thing Emma did feel was the burning in her chest as she fought to take in enough oxygen to fuel her body.

“Rawww!” Sava bellowed in front of her. The Draconian’s muscles bulged underneath her suit.

“Come on! Come on!” Frank roared just as loudly from his spot next to her.

The thrusters aiding the knights in carrying the Academy died, putting the full force of the structure on their shoulders.

Emma was shaking. She didn’t even have enough oxygen in her to yell. Sweat fell in droplets to the ocean below. The Academy was moving forward, but it was also falling toward the ocean inch by miserable inch. The beach was still a good half mile away.

Somewhere in the background of pain, Emma could hear shouts and cheers as the military force on the beach urged them on.

“We’re almost there!” Emma shouted. She was surprised to find the power to make even the slightest sound, but the noise of those encouraging them on the beach spurred her on. “Don’t stop!”

The rest of the journey to the shoreline taught Emma new limits to her ability. The truth was, she had no idea how strong she was or the feats she was truly capable of achieving. With renewed determination and the sounds of those cheering for her growing in her mind, Emma used all the rage and anger she felt as fuel.

For all the times she had been bullied, for the insecurities she had felt, for the anxiousness, the hardship of growing up without a mother; for all of it, she fought on. The Academy’s weight was slowly crushing the three knights, but they were moving fast enough forward now that they would be able to make the safety of the beach before they touched down.

Emma’s, Frank’s, and Sava’s feet met the California beach right where the water reached the sand. As gently as they could, they rested the Academy on the shoreline. The monstrous structure came to a rest amid a billow of smoke and sand.

Cheers echoed across the beach as the military raced to help in whatever way they could.

Emma was on all fours. Frank lay on his back, heaving. Sava leaned against the Academy, looking at Emma with newfound respect.

“I knew you would be strong as an Arilion,” Sava said to Emma. “But you have truly done your planet proud this day.”

Emma nodded gratefully. Already chatter was coming through her comms of reports of the Shay in retreat and the Alliance forces pursuing. They had won. Emma felt a sense of joy wash over her.

She was soon joined on the beach by the rest of the Arilion Knights, including Jeba and Layga. Her Ree friend enveloped her in a massive hug, lifting her from the ground. Jeba settled for an awkward pat on the back.

“Drown, the saberling?” Emma looked to her friends for answers.

“They’re both with Madame Cherub,” Layga explained. “Drown is still unconscious, but he’s stable.”

Emma nodded, about to say more, when Jace walked up. He was in his human form again, somehow having shifted back after the altercation.

“I know,” Jace said, looking down at his body. “I’m still trying to figure it out myself. I must change into a Were when the war rage hits me or my adrenaline spikes and then back again once it wears off.”

“Whatever it is, I’m glad we made it,” Emma said, looking over the rest of the knights.

Tistan came to her next, embracing her daughter in a hug that was very unlike Tistan Duel altogether.

“I wanted to come to you when you needed help.” Tistan swallowed hard. “I wanted to come, but we were holding the lower levels and Drown and Frank were closer.”

“Mom, Mom,” Emma repeated. “It’s okay. We made it. It’s okay.”

Tistan snapped out of her near panic. Emma understood her mother’s concern stemmed from the fear that Emma would blame her for not coming to her aid. The truth was the exact opposite. Emma understood her mother had made a difficult call sending aid without going herself. It had been the right call and they had won the day.

Slain was still in the Academy that rested on the beach like some oversized whale. Along with the US military, he helped make sure all of their own forces were evacuated from the downed space station safely.

His voice reached their ears over the comm unit.

“We did it,” Slain said, unable to mask his own weariness. “We did it. Somewhere up there, Director Trueart is looking down at us with a smile. We did it despite our many differences, forming lasting bonds in the future and new allies to fight the battles to come. Tyranny was trumped by the forces of freedom this day and we owe that to each other. Well done.”

25

The day had been won through the sacrifice of many. Emma understood that better than anyone. She had been where the fighting was the most brutal in the Academy. Against all odds, they had prevailed against the Shay Empire.

Reports were coming in that the Shay were crippled, retreating to their own home world. Talks from the Alliance and the Draconians were in full swing as to what they should do with the threat. Some wanted to attack the Shay while they were weak, others wanted to mourn the dead and sue for peace.

Emma found herself torn on the subject. Already she had seen enough killing and dying to last a lifetime. On the other hand, if they let the Shay regroup and recover, they would only be allowing history to repeat itself some day in the future.

It was the day after the battle. Emma had been treated for her wounds, eaten and showered, then fell into a deep sleep. Being tired wasn’t even the right way to describe how she had felt. It was like she was a zombie, only going through the motions of eating and showering. The food had no real taste; she only ate because she knew she needed the fuel. The shower that would have been blissful and comforting was only an obstacle she had to complete.

Emma was in one of the military tents erected on the beach. The entire area had been cleared of civilians, from the coast into the city. An evacuation had been ordered before the fighting began. It was a small miracle the military had been able to clear the area in such a short amount of time.

Emma was on a hard cot inside the tent, dead to the world, when she felt the presence of someone beside her.

Her eyes fluttered open. She yawned, wiping away the line of drool coming down her mouth. Her father looked down at her with relief and love in his eyes.

“Em.” Mr. Jackson moved a lock of blonde hair from her eyes. “I’m so proud of you.”

Emma sat up, holding her father tight. The two of them rested there for a moment. Emma gave herself permission to let her guard down inside the embrace of the man who had acted as her protector for the vast majority of her life. She was still smaller than him, but size meant nothing now between the power of being an Arilion Knight along with her training.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.” Mr. Jackson laughed as he pulled away. “Why am I so emotional?”

“It’s okay, Dad.” Emma laughed too, wiping at her own tears. “You’re not the only one. This was a—this was a tough one.”

The tent flaps to the room rustled. Both Jacksons turned to see Tistan in the doorway. Like Emma, she had been treated for her wounds and bathed. Her left arm was in a sling, a laceration on the right side of her forehead. Despite her wounds, she looked tentatively at the two.

“Oh, sorry, if you need more time, I can come—”

“No.” Emma’s father beckoned her forward. “I was coming to see you next.”

Tistan walked into the room awkwardly. It was clear she was still finding her place in the family. Emma reached out and pulled her mother onto the bed with them and wrapped both her parents in a hug.

The Jackson family remained there for a moment, just enjoying being a family once more.

This is how it should be, Emma thought to herself. This is why I’m an Arilion Knight. To make sure families have this opportunity. This is why I fight.

Emma committed that moment to memory forever. She smelled her mother’s damp hair. She remembered the way her father’s firm yet gentle hand felt on her back.

Not surprisingly, it was Tistan who finally broke the embrace. She cleared her throat and straightened her Academy uniform.

“There’s still so much to be done,” Tistan said, looking from Emma to her ex-husband. “We need to get the Academy off the beach, establish a new elected leader of the Alliance, not to mention what will be done with the Shay Empire.”

Emma’s mind swam with ideas on each one of the topics her mother had brought to mind. That was a good place to start, but there was still more.

“I don’t want to interrupt family time,” Frank said, popping his head into the tent. “I was wondering if I could steal away the youngest Jackson for a moment.”

Emma’s mother and father nodded.

Emma got to her feet. Her entire body was sore, from her toenails up to the tips of her hair. At least that was what it felt like. She wobbled to the tent and outside.

The sun was high overhead, making Emma blink in the bright rays. Shouts from the military units echoed across the beach. As far as Emma could see, there were tents, large military vehicles, and of course the massive Academy that lay on the beach like some future monument erected for an unknown god.

“You’ll get used to being sore every day.” Frank looked Emma up and down with a grin. “You did good, kid. Earth is in great hands.”

Emma nodded, realizing where Frank was heading. “You’re leaving,” she said more as a statement than a question.

“This isn’t my story,” Frank told her. “I’m just making a cameo. The Earth has its knight and you are more than enough. I have my own fight waiting for me.”

The way Frank said the words, the fire in his eye told Emma he wasn’t kidding. There was something troubling him.

“What’s going on?” Emma asked worried for her friend. “Do you need help?”

“Naw,” Frank said, but Emma caught the hesitation. “I can manage. I’ll have Sava and Yur’l with me. You haven’t met Yur’l, but imagine a wise old bird and you’re pretty close.”

“You know if you ever need my help, I’m there,” Emma said, hoping her words would sink into the stubborn Marine. “You don’t even need to ask for help if that’s it. I’ll just come.”

“I know you will, kid, and I appreciate that.” Frank gave her a genuine smile. “We’re the only two human Arilion Knights. We have to stick together. I mean, the only two if you don’t include your werewolf boyfriend, who shifts back and forth.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Emma rolled her eyes. “We’re just friends.”

“Famous last words of a single person.” Frank nodded toward the beach. “You should tell him that because he keeps looking this way to see if we’re done talking and then looking away again because he doesn’t want us to think he’s waiting for us to be done talking.”

Emma shaded her eyes against the brilliant sun to see Jace was in fact looking at them. As soon as she caught his eye, he looked away.

“See,” Frank insisted. “I told you. Go talk to him. I’ll be seeing you around.”

Emma embraced Frank in a quick hug. “Thanks, I mean for everything. For being a mentor and a friend when I needed one and for coming to help.”

Frank grinned, patting her back. “I’ll always be around to help. Now go.”

Emma left Frank, turning toward Jace. Back in his human form, the Were wore military fatigues. Having shredded most of his Academy uniform when he transitioned into his Were form during the Shay invasion, he had been provided with a dark green military uniform. In Emma’s eyes, he didn’t look half bad.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Jace said, walking up the beach to meet Emma. “I checked on Instructor Drown. His sternum is cracked, but he’s conscious now and on the mend. I came to check on you too, but you were sleeping.”

“You came to check on me?” Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into her. She wasn’t the flirtatious type at all. Maybe it was her near brush with death or that fact that Frank had already told her Jace was interested.

“Well, yeah, I knew you were pretty banged up after the battle, so—”

For one of the few times since Emma had known him, Jace seemed uncomfortable. He swallowed hard and looked away from her as she made eye contact. Like he was giving himself an internal pep talk, he turned back and leaned down.

Emma rose on her tiptoes, tilting her head back to place her lips on his. The feeling was wonderful. At once, Emma felt lightheaded and giddy. Her lips tingled and she felt at ease for the first time in a very long time.

“Ehem,” Jeba coughed from somewhere to Emma’s left.

“Jeba, leave them alone,” Layga whispered.

Emma’s eyes were closed, but she could imagine the looks on her friends’ faces. Jeba would have her hands on her hips. Layga would have an awkward expression on her face, pulling at Jeba to go and leave Emma and Jace alone.

Emma pulled back with a goofy grin on her face. She looked over to her friends. Sure enough, Jeba’s hands were balled into fists and firmly planted on either hip. Layga mouthed the word “sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Emma said, grateful to see her friends in one piece.

“I hope you plan on making an honest woman out of her,” Jeba said, skewering Jace with an intimidating stare. “I think the expression on Emma’s planet is put a ring on it?”

Emma burst out laughing despite herself. Jace and Layga looked at one another confused, clearly missing the reference.

In that moment with her friends beside her and her mother and father in her life, she knew she could tackle anything the universe threw in her path.

End Book Three

Epilogue

General Fox looked at the phone in his hand. He allowed his mind to wander as to the nature of the call, but if he were being honest with himself, he already knew. General Breaker was a great man. When he was appointed as General Fox’s successor at the Den, the general couldn’t think of anyone better suited for the job.

He sat in his newly appointed office inside the recently reconstructed Academy. Since the inclusion of Earth into the Alliance, he had been given full access to the Academy, even granted with his own quarters when he decided to stay.

It was a large room, much larger than he needed with white floors and walls. The ceiling extended as far as he could see, or at least that was what the illusion had him believing. He was still getting used to that piece of alien technology. It was strange to look up and see the sky during the day, when he knew he was on an orbiting space station.

While the Academy was getting back on its feet, it was decided by those in charge that it would revolve around the Earth. The purpose was twofold. Earth would be protected from another possible Shay attack. Although that was not considered as an immediate threat, it was in the realm of possibility that another opportunistic alien entity could see they had a chance at the weakened defenses of Earth and swoop in.

Second, the Academy was still being repaired and was not in condition to travel back to its place, orbiting Stardox, even if they could teleport it again.

The world was changing as the universe they knew became larger and larger. Earth was aware of the existence of not only aliens but of Arilion Knights. Emma Jackson was as much a star in the eyes of the world as the hottest celebrity in Hollywood.

Despite this, she was handling the pressure like a champ. She knew what she was and what she was there for. The universe would need more like Emma Jackson in the future as new threats would raise their inevitable heads.

General Fox waited for the call, almost willing the phone to go off in his hand. Emma had asked him numerous times how Frank was and General Fox had answered with the same smile to ease her young mind.

“He’s doing great,” or “I’m sure you’ll see him soon,” were some of the phrases General Fox had used to calm her concerns. They needed Emma focused on getting stronger at the moment. It left a bad taste in the general’s mouth when he had to bend the truth to meet the needs of all those in the conversation. It was a necessary evil that came with the rank.

Finally, the phone went off in his hand. General Breaker answered the call, pressing the device to the side of his face.

“I’m here,” General Fox said.

“He won’t admit it and maybe he doesn’t really need her help, but it’ll do him good to see her,” General Breaker said on the other side of the call. “This one’s not like the Chaos Lord. This enemy is getting inside of his head.”

“She’ll come; just tell us where and when.” General Fox thought about Emma, how powerful she had become, and the fierce loyalty she had for Frank. “And God help the person who stands in her way.”

“Oohrah to that,” General Breaker said over the phone. “They’ve both come a long way. I remember when Frank wanted to get paid to come with us through the gateway.”

General Fox smirked, recalling the young salesman from B.U.T.T.S., their weapons manufacturer who had delivered their supplies. After that, he was then requested to accompany them through the gateway.

“Once a Marine always a Marine,” General Fox said. “He never really left the corps whether he realized that or not.”

“We’ll find a way to be the last man standing,” General Breaker said. “We always do. Tell Emma to stand by.”

“I will,” General Breaker said, thinking about the Arilion Knight under his own watchful eye. “She’ll be ready.”

Do or Die

Book Six of the Gateway to the Galaxy Series

To Kelly Melim, who is a warrior in every sense of the word, keep fighting. – Jonathan Yanez

To anyone who’s ever lost someone. May they find hope and light and leave themselves open to a future filled with love. – JR Castle

1

Frank stood in front of the stone pyramid rethinking for the hundredth time how crazy this plan seemed. He was tracking down a talking gorilla from an ancient magic knight order that had spoken to him in his dreams. If that didn’t qualify as a ticket to the looney bin, he didn’t know what did.

The pyramid in front of him was layers of ancient square stone, each level narrower than the last. The ancient individual layers stacked one on top of the other created a stone pyramid reminding Frank of those he had seen in Mayan pictures. Historical photos of the Mesoamerican pyramids from Central America flashed through his mind. Deep green vines serpentined their way down the steps of the ceremonial creation. Clinging to the stone with undetectable grips, leaves and tendrils sprouted off in new directions, trying to mislead a viewer’s gaze in the blue-green cloak. Alien plants formed roots as they nestled in deep cracks of the pyramid.

A thick rolling mist obscured the ground around the jungle. Echoes and cries of strange animals brought a chill to Frank’s skin despite the hot, sticky tropical air.

“You sure you don’t want us to come through with you?” Elly asked from the comm unit Frank wore. “We can be through that gateway in a few minutes and to your position soon after.”

“No, thanks but no,” Frank said, clenching his fists together tightly in determination. “This is something I have to do as an Arilion Knight. Yurl’s checking out the opposite side of the pyramid now. We’ll call if we need backup.”

“Roger that,” Elly said with a hesitant hitch in her voice. “Be careful, Frank. I don’t have a good feeling about this one. If anything happened to you, Vega would kill me.”

“Roger that,” Frank said with a grin. A flash of her playful smile and the vanilla and jasmine scent that carried in the long white hair of the woman he loved came to mind. The memories of Vega warmed him from the inside out.

The comm unit clicked, signaling Elly had ended her transmission.

Frank hadn’t lied to Elly. This mission was something he and his Arilion counterpart had to do. He didn’t suspect anything nefarious at play; even so, why did he feel so uncomfortable?

Frank looked over his left shoulder back into the shrouded jungle interior. The dense shrubbery coupled with the clouded haze made it impossible to see more than a few meters into the foliage.

A sensation as though someone were watching him tickled the back of his neck, leaving his short hair on end.

Easy, Wolffe, Frank coaxed himself. You’re here for a reason. Stay focused. Anything that wants a piece of you will have more than it can handle.

His confidence left little room for fear. Yet each time he ventured into another uncharted mission he knew his life and those of his team members were at stake.

Frank looked down at the vambraces he wore on either forearm. The dark, almost black purple glow comforted him the same way holding a weapon would have. The vambraces were in fact weapons, yet so much more.

Frank shifted and flexed within the dark tactical armor created for members of Marine Space Corp-1. His uniform was flat black and fitting to his athletic form. The dark purple edging matched the glow emanating from the powerful vambraces on his forearms.

As a final gesture of galvanization, his left fist met the emblem of their unit, an ancient helmet with wings on either side, emblazoned on the right side of his chest.

Without giving fear time to find a foothold in his mind, Frank began climbing the stone steps.

“Not much to see on this side of the pyramid,” Yur’l said over the comms. “I’m circling back to you.”

“Understood,” Frank said. “I’m ascending the pyramid now.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Yur’l said in a rush. “Perhaps it would be prudent to wait till I arrive. We can ascend the pyramid together.”

“Right,” Frank said, continuing his climb. “I’ll do that.”

Yur’l was quiet on the other end of the comms. “You’re not waiting, are you?”

“Nope,” Frank said. “Just get here when you can. You run fast for an old guy.”

“I prefer to be called ‘seasoned,’” Yur’l said.

“Right, a seasoned old guy,” Frank responded as he continued up the pyramid.

He wasn’t trying to leave Yur’l behind to be rude. However, if it were possible for Frank to enter first and meet any unforeseen threat, he would. There was no way he would put his friend in harm’s way when this had been his vision and his mission to accomplish. The only reason Yur’l was there at all was because General Breaker insisted Frank take backup. Yur’l, as an Arilion Knight, was the obvious choice. The general had chided him about the balance and responsibilities of being the leader of a team versus taking the solo missions.

Frank had lost enough friends in his time. If anything happened to any one of them now, including his Gleason comrade Yur’l, he didn’t know if he could handle it. Such a place of fear wasn’t a place he could live in. It could eat up a man inside and leave him in paralysis. Thankfully, Frank was crazy enough to push past it.

His next step crunched into a weak area of stone held together by the entangled vines. A sidestep led him up a sturdier section of the triadic structure.

The stone pyramid rose a quarter kilometer into the planet’s brisk morning air. He was thankful for the coolness in the alien environment. Sweat glistened on his forehead and the dark hair on the back of his tan neck was damp. So far on his climb, Frank hadn’t encountered any opening in the stone structure; door, window, keyhole, or other.

Frank’s eyes were set on the top of the pyramid where four stone pillars held a slab on top, creating four corners and a simple roof. The hard edges of the canopied top contrasted the pure blue sky overhead.

Just as Frank was about to reach the top of the pyramid, Yur’l made it to his side huffing with exertion. The Gleason’s appearance reminded Frank of a humanoid eagle. From the tip of his sharp beak to the talons on his bird-like feet, Yur’l wasn’t exactly the team member Frank envisioned when he had reenlisted into the Corp.

“I should have never guessed that you’d wait for me given the opportunity,” Yur’l said through his thick orange beak. “I know you’ve been part of MSC-1 for longer than me–”

“By only a few months. Hasn’t even been a full year,” Frank said, feigning innocence.

“Right, but I’m not going to let you go in there alone,” Yur’l said, looking to Frank with an arched eyebrow. “We’re a team.”

Although Yur’l wasn’t the typical soldier, he was everything Frank wouldn’t have thought to ask for. The Gleason was older in years, with wisdom that balanced out Frank’s impromptu nature. He had been through more than Frank could ever imagine after losing his wife and daughter. A steel will set Yur’l apart. It was the main reason he was chosen as his planet’s Arilion Knight.

Yur’l extended a closed fist for Frank to pound. It was an act Raj had taught him back at base. Now Yur’l was using the gesture every chance he got.

“We’re a team,” Frank answered back, lightly striking Yur’l’s fist with his own. “Well, I think we’re here.”

The two Arilion Knights had finally reached the top of the pyramid. The utmost top level was a meter wide by a meter long, more than enough room for the two knights to stand side by side. The four pillars holding up the limestone ceiling above them were aged and weather beaten like the rest of the pyramid.

Frank leaned in close. He ran a hand across the rough edifice. Under the cool, intertwining layer of vines and greenery covering the rocks were patterns cut into them.

“It looks like someone took great care when constructing this pyramid,” Yur’l said as he examined one of the other supporting pillars. He ran his own hand over the cragged surface. “The designs and craftsmanship are extraordinary.”

“Is it—is it writing or hieroglyphics of some kind?” Frank asked as he cleared his stone pillar of thin vines and small leaves. There were definite markings; only he couldn’t quite make them out.

“I think both,” Yur’l answered, leaning in to get a better look at the pillar nearest him. “My eyes aren’t what they used to be, but I think it’s a pattern of symbols. Vambraces maybe… with a skull and—and another symbol I can’t quite discern.”

“A skull, huh?” Frank asked, going to a knee. He caught sight of what Yur’l was talking about as he brushed away some spiraling vines. In the grooved crevice, a beetle bearing a black and blue spotted back emerged. The shape that was left did look like a skull, but one not of a human; rather of a gorilla. Its protruding brow, deep hollowed eye sockets, and long mandible with deadly fangs made the resemblance obvious in the shining day’s sun.

“Why does it have to be a skull?”

“Excuse me?” Yur’l asked.

“I mean, why can’t there be a pair of crossed vambraces on the ruins and a steaming cup of coffee or a smiley face at least,” Frank answered. “Don’t you ever wonder that?”

“No, not really,” Yur’l said as he moved from the pillar he had been studying to the one beside him. He cleared the vegetation. “Ah, here we go. On this rock, we can see the third symbol clearly. It looks—it looks like an arrow.”

Frank rose from his position and joined Yur’l. The Gleason was right. Midway down the stone, almost eye level, were a series of the repeating symbols Frank could read. Crossed vambraces, a gorilla skull, and an arrow pointing down.

Frank tore off the shrubbery concealing the place on the stone where the arrow pointed. To his surprise, there was a dark circular opening large enough to fit his arm.

Yur’l hurried to the other three stones, cleaning off the same spot on their surface. In a few seconds, four dark openings were revealed, one on each rock.

“Vambraces, monkey skull, arrow,” Frank repeated, peering into the dark circular hole on the stone closest to him. “I think I’m going to regret this, but I’m guessing we’re supposed to put our vambraces in the circular openings on these rocks.”

“It’s a good thing I came along,” Yur’l said, eyeing the four openings. “It seems two knights are needed to enter the pyramid.”

“Let’s find out,” Frank said, turning to the two pillars closest to him. He swallowed hard.

The thoughts of flesh-eating alien bugs or weird small creatures in the shadowed openings played with his imagination. The simple truth was that he wouldn’t know what was in there or whether this was even the proper way to enter the pyramid until they tried.

“On three?” Yur’l asked from behind Frank.

“Three!” Frank said. He balled up his fists, extending his arms to either side, and thrust them into the stone pillars.

“Oh, well, I thought we were going to do a countdown, but okay,” Yur’l said from behind Frank.

As soon as Frank placed his forearms in the stone pillars, he knew it had been the right move. Bright purple light radiated from the openings. A series of heavy thuds from deep within the pyramid soon followed.

“I think something’s happening,” Yur’l said over the noise.

More sounds reverberated up to them; heavy pounding and clinking gears turning.

The next instant, the ground beneath their feet shuddered as if an earthquake had struck. Slowly the platform began to descend, sending pebbles and broken fragments of foliage tumbling.

Frank removed his forearms from the circles in front of him. He stood back ready to tackle whatever the strange pyramid had in store next for them. Yur’l did the same beside him.

The stone platform on which they stood descended into the belly of the pyramid. Blackness greeted their eyes as they traveled below the surface. Frank channeled his Will through his vambraces, bringing to life a purple torch he constructed in his right hand.

Yur’l constructed a glowing purple baton in each of his feathered hands. The light from his weapons was enough to act as a flare illuminating the space around them. The two knights lowered into the inside of the alien pyramid for what felt like an eternity. On all four sides, nothing but stone walls enclosed them in the dank and dusty air.

Finally, the stone elevator touched down in a billow of dust and dirt. In front of them, a room opened up, lost to darkness.

Frank stood side by side with the Gleason as they stared into the dark room. At this vantage point and based on the echoing of the fallen debris, all Frank could tell was that the room was massive. His torchlight only reached a few meters into the cavernous chamber.

“We did it,” Yur’l said, offering his left knuckled hand for Frank to hit.

“Yeah, we did something, all right.” Frank tapped the Gleason’s offered fist with his own. “Oh, hey, you need to really cut back on the fist pounds. Save them for special occasions, you know?”

“Oh, right,” Yur’l said, retracting his fist. “I just wanted to celebrate our discovery into the pyramid.”

“Oh, I get it,” Frank said, stepping from the platform into the chamber. “It just kind of loses its appeal the one hundredth ti—”

Frank’s next words were cut off by the whooshing sounds of torches flaring to life and igniting the air around them. Along each side of the room, a row of torches lit themselves into existence revealing a massive square space. A giant coffin lay alone at the furthest end of the chamber.

2

“Before you ask,” Yur’l volunteered, “I didn’t touch anything.”

“I didn’t either,” Frank said, looking around the room at the walls, floor, and ceiling. “It must have sensed us, maybe a pressure-sensitive floor underneath our feet or set to go off once the platform lowered to the ground.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Yur’l said as he joined Frank. “A remote planet, in a distant galaxy, ancient ruins with intricate carving and a floor that reacts to our touch. It doesn’t feel right.”

“I’m not going to argue with you there,” Frank said, studying the room now that there was enough light to do so.

The massive chamber ran the length of the base of the pyramid, although it didn’t seem quite as wide. There were no decorations on the grey stone walls or furniture besides the coffin on the far end of the room.

“If the floor is pressure-sensitive, perhaps we should avoid the floor altogether and make our way to the coffin through the air,” Yur’l suggested.

“Or we can send out a test dummy,” Frank said. He channeled his willpower, which was hampered only by the limits of his imagination. The next moment, a purple toy remote-controlled monster truck appeared at their feet. Frank held a purple translucent remote control in his hands.

Yur’l remained content to wait and watch as Frank pressed the joysticks on his remote-controlled vehicle and moved it forward. With a whir of its small engine, the monster truck took off down the stone path in front of them.

The little monster truck knew no fear as it continued forward, crossing the chamber’s floor brick by brick.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid, Frank thought to himself. Maybe there’s nothing here to fear. The torches along the wall were just on a timer.

These thoughts were immediately erased as the toy monster truck crossed the center of the room. A skeletal hand erupted from the ground like a zombie rising from the grave. The hand clenched the truck, holding it firmly in its hand as it rose from the stone floor.

Chips of stone and mortar broke and fell away as a robotic figure made itself known. What Frank had mistaken for a skeleton was actually some kind of humanoid robot. It stood on two feet with two long arms and a head.

Rust covered the robot’s figure. Two menacing red eyes looked at the monster truck in its hand then back to Frank and Yur’l.

“I know we’re more than capable of neutralizing this threat on our own, but perhaps it would be prudent to inform the others?” Yur’l asked, gripping his twin batons firmly. “There may be more of these mechanized soldiers around the gateway.”

“Go ahead,” Frank said, never letting his eyes stray from the robot. He released his hold on the monster truck, allowing it to dissipate from reality.

The robot remained stock still. If it was worried that its prized truck had disappeared, it didn’t show it. It stood staring at Frank and Yur’l as if it was daring them to approach.

“Elly, this is Yur’l,” Yur’l said over the comms system. “Elly, come in.”

There was nothing on the other end of the channel, not so much as static.

“Elly, this is Yur’l, I say again, this is Marine Space Corp One requesting aid. Do you read me?” Yur’l said again.

Still no reply came over the open channel.

“We’re too far into the pyramid,” Frank said, rolling his neck and cracking his knuckles. “It’s just us on this one, birdman.”

“Perhaps we should go back up to the top of the pyramid where we will be able to get a better signal.” Yur’l said the words as if he didn’t believe Frank was going to take him up on the idea at all.

“Or we can just go through this hunk of rust and get to that coffin,” Frank said.

“Remind me why the coffin is so important?” Yur’l asked. “You had a dream of another Arilion Knight?”

“A dream or a vision, whatever you want to call it,” Frank agreed. “He told me to find him. Sava had known who he was and gave me the coordinates to where he supposedly slept. He’s more of a lost legend of the Arilion Order if he really does exist. In my vision, he said he has important information for us. I didn’t come all this way listening to strange talking gorillas to turn back now.”

“If this is what you want to do, you know I’m with you,” Yur’l said, examining the still robot. “How do you want to play this?”

“I say we try to get around it, but if it comes after us, we blow it to kingdom come. We don’t have time to play nice.” Frank brought a pulse rifle to his hands. It was a construct he had been working on all his own. One part super soaker, the other fashioned out of a Punisher GS2000. It would serve him well in making Swiss cheese out of robots, alien, human, or anything in between.

Yur’l remained content with his batons.

Frank took the lead, separating himself from the Gleason so they made two individual targets. As one, the two knights advanced on the robot.

Frank felt his heartbeat pick up in speed. He would bet money that the robot wasn’t just going to let them pass. It had taken offense with a toy monster truck; it was most definitely going to stop them.

Ten meters from the robot it moved its head in Frank’s direction.

“I don’t know if you can hear me or if someone controlling you can hear me or what,” Frank said, sighting down the barrel of his weapon as he advanced. “But I’m ordering you to stand down.”

As if that were a command to do the exact opposite, the robot eyed Frank through its amber eye slots. It jumped into action, sprinting for him.

There was no time for words, only time to react. Frank gritted his teeth and let the charging robot have it.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Time seemed to slow down as Frank unloaded purple rounds on the ancient robotic sentry. The robot itself wasn’t much larger than he was, but as fate would have it, it could take a beating and still press forward.

At this close a range, Frank’s aim was deadly accurate. His rounds slammed into the center body mass of the robot without so much as hindering its progress.

Before he could change his offense, the robot was on top of him. Reaching back with an incredible right hook, it slammed its metallic fist at Frank’s face.

Frank had just enough time to duck. The rusting metallic arm sailed over his head.

Yur’l was there the next moment, using his purple batons to hammer at the robot’s left leg. Turning, the robot reached for Yur’l.

“Oh no you don’t,” Frank said. “We’re not done yet.”

Frank used his vambraces to create an oversized drill he held in his hands and pressed forward on the robot. His iron opponent had a choice, ignore the drill and deal with Yur’l, who was pulverizing its leg, or focus solely on Frank.

The robot chose the former. Ignoring Frank for the time being, it struck out at Yur’l. The Gleason dodged the first attack but was caught by the second fist aimed at his temple. Despite Yur’l’s strength of will, he didn’t possess the years of combat training Frank had.

Yur’l sank to his knees, dazed. A line of blood trickled down his orange bill.

In the few seconds it had taken for the robot to deal with Yur’l, Frank pressed the attack. He drove the massive drill forward into the chest of the robot. The purple construct whirred and buzzed as Frank made contact with the robot’s outer metal frame.

The robot tried to gain its footing on the stone floor. Frank bullied the robotic sentry back until it was pressed up against the right side of the chamber wall. The long drill head bit into the robot’s chest.

Despite the robot having been able to pivot to meet this new attack, he had nothing but his hands to try to grab on to the drill and push away. The robot’s metal hands were beginning to shred under the drill’s serrated bit.

Yur’l appeared next to Frank. He placed his hands on Frank’s construct and together they pressed the attack. The purple drill bit sank deep into the robot’s chest. It went completely through their metal assailant altogether and began driving itself into the wall of the chamber behind it.

The menacing red eyes of the robot blinked off and on again, then went out altogether.

The metal husk sank forward, held up only by the drill.

Frank allowed his construct to disappear. Without the support of the drill, the robot slumped forward and fell to the ground with a thud.

“You okay?” Frank asked, looking over at Yur’l, whose beak was bleeding profusely. “You look like you took one heck of a hit.”

“I’ll be fine,” Yur’l said with a wince. “That machine packs one serious punch.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Frank said, examining the robot once again. “My rounds didn’t seem to faze it either. With all the rust covering its body, it’s been here for a long time.”

“I wouldn’t want to have to face it when it was brand new,” Yur’l said, moving his eyes from the downed robot over to the coffin on the far side of the room. “Seems like we’re in the right place. Whatever is in the coffin only wants to be found by an Arilion Knight. Between our vambraces activating the entrance and now this robot sentry, of that I have no doubt.”

“Let’s see if we can get the rest of the way to the coffin without any more traps,” Frank said, constructing a long board that spanned the remaining fifteen meters to the coffin.

The wooden plank hovered in the air over the empty space for a moment, then came down with a light thud to rest on the stone floor.

Frank half expected another robot to emerge from the ground or saw blades to erupt from the wall like an Indiana Jones movie. To his relief, neither of these things happened.

The purple board came to rest on the ground and that was it.

“I guess you’re right,” Frank said, looking over to Yur’l. “We must have passed the test.”

The two knights made their way across the room. Frank still placed each step carefully. The last thing he wanted to do was activate some kind of sleeping booby trap. He followed the exact same path the board had been laid across just to be on the safe side.

As they approached, more and more details of the coffin were made clear. The torches on either side of the room’s walls gave off more than enough light to make out the stone coffin. There were a series of deep-set carvings on the box. Symbols Frank didn’t recognize and others he did, like the crossed vambraces and gorilla skull, stood out to him.

“Well, here we are,” Frank said, tentatively placing his hands on the top of the coffin. “I’m about to feel really good about myself or really stupid if there’s nothing in here.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Yur’l said, also placing his hands on the coffin lid. “On three?”

“Three,” Frank said with a nod.

Both knights threw their backs into it. Shoving the heavy piece of stone that acted as the top of the coffin over. The stone slid off and fell to the ground on the opposite side with a dull, echoing sound.

You’re about to see something crazy, Frank said to himself. Just be prepared to see something crazy.

Frank looked down at the contents of the coffin, aghast.

3

“Well, at least you weren’t wrong,” Yur’l said. “Is this the gorilla of your dreams waiting for you behind door number one?”

Frank looked up at his feathered friend with an arched eyebrow. He couldn’t quite place the reference, but he knew the Gleason must have picked up that line from another one of his daytime TV game shows.

Yur’l cracked a guilty laugh. His shoulders bounced in spite of himself.

Inside the large coffin, a glass case held a sleeping gorilla. The creature was massive, its tall frame of almost three meters in height to its broad shoulders, powerful muscle made up the hefty form.

“That’s a Gorkope,” Yur’l said. “The figure you described could fit the definition of a few different races I’ve seen or heard of.”

“Not sure what you just said, but it sounds good. We’ll let Elly know so she can update the log in the super database,” Frank said as he trained his eyes over the massive form before them.

The gorilla wore a black uniform, clean and crisp as though it had been able to fend off Father Time’s inevitable grasp. The gorilla’s charcoal-grey fur and pronounced features also seemed to be vibrant and healthy under the glass container.

“Hmmm,” Frank said.

“Is he not the right Gorkope?” Yur’l asked.

“I think so,” Frank said. “He looked older or more white in my dream. But what are the odds there is a different gor– Gorkope here with an Arilion Knight vambrace-triggered entrance to a secret chamber? I mean, am I right?”

Frank shrugged his shoulders with opened hands faced upward. He then held his hands close to the glass enclosure, seeking an opening yet careful not to make contact.

“He’s in—he’s in some kind of sleep chamber?” Yur’l asked, looking down at the glass case. “We should have brought Elly for this one. I’m not familiar with this technology.”

“I mean, how hard can it be?” Frank asked, studying the glass chamber. “We just have to wake up Sleeping Beauty, right?”

Frank stared at the glass case within the stone coffin for another moment. A big oval, almost like a pill, was made of glass save for a metal strip that ran across the center of the case. He let out a cleansing breath.

“Stay alert,” he said to the Gleason.

Frank then reached out and placed a hand on the glass’s cool surface. He ran his fingers over the metal band searching for…anything really.

As soon as his hands made contact with the steel band, a screen popped to life on the glass case. It was mostly text with symbols and words Frank couldn’t read. There were, however, two buttons on the glass next to the instructions. One was red, the other bright green.

Frank shrugged and moved to press the green button.

“Wait,” Yur’l said, grabbing Frank’s forearm. “How do you know it’s the right one?”

“I mean, it’s green,” Frank said, raising an eyebrow at his counterpart. “Green means go, right? That’s like an intergalactic rule.”

“I don’t know,” Yur’l said with hesitancy lacing every word. “Green means halt with caution on my planet.”

“Weird,” Frank mused before pressing the green button on the screen anyway. “I doubt anything on the screen here can harm him. It’s not like whoever left him to sleep in this thing created a kill switch on the outside.”

Frank and Yur’l watched as the screen changed once Frank pressed the button. More readouts passed by the square monitor. The words meant nothing to them.

Then a hiss filled the room as the capsule holding the gorilla began to move and release the air within. The top portion of the glass oval opened first, lifting up and then sliding back.

“I imagine you were right in your assertion of the sleeping pod,” Yur’l said, watching the glass case open. “It doesn’t seem to have hurt him.”

Frank held his breath as the sleeping giant lay motionless. At any moment, he expected the sleeping form to blink his eyes open and rise from his coffin. Nothing.

Now that the dusty glass case was open, Frank had a better view of the vambraces that hugged the creature’s forearms.

They were similar yet different from the ones Frank and Yur’l each wore. What appeared to be a tanned, hard leather encased a thick metal strip on the top of his stout, furry arm. Bronze round rivets dotted the umber leather on each side of the metal guard.

“What did you say his name was in your dream?” Yur’l asked out of the side of his beak.

“He said his name was Claymore,” Frank responded, not taking his eyes off the gorilla-like being.

At the sound of his name, the slumbering Arilion Knight’s dark eyes popped open. He stared first at the ceiling, blinking with his eyes darting side to side, then to Frank and Yur’l. A moment later, he opened his wide maw. With a roar that shook the inside of the chamber, he jolted to his feet. More loose stones tumbled to the ground, echoing in the expanse around them.

Frank and Yur’l took a step back. The familiar purple glow of protection shimmered off their vambraces and over their bodies on instinct.

“Easy, hey, easy there, big guy.” Frank opened his hands in a sign of surrender. “You invited me here in your dreams or something. We’re Arilion Knights too.”

To prove their case, both Yur’l and Frank rotated their arms so that the woken giant could see the evidence. Deep brown eyes set just above a short, seething snout checked each in turn. Frank hoped the fact that the Light had chosen them as representatives for their planets’ protectors would win him over. Otherwise, he did not like the thought of the fight that could ensue.

Sergeant Claymore was an intimidating figure. Somewhere in the neighborhood of five hundred pounds, he stood atop his open sleeping pod staring darkly at Frank and Yur’l from four meters above.

Recollection passed across his face as Frank stated who they were.

“That’s it,” Frank said, seeing Sergeant Claymore’s face furrow in confusion as if he were trying to remember something. “You called out to me consciously or subconsciously. You told me to come here and find you.”

Sargent Claymore’s barrel chest rose and fell in rapid succession. He blinked a few times, glancing around the inside of the chamber. “I remember now.”

His voice was deep and thick. An accent Frank couldn’t quite place laced his words. Though the ancient man didn’t seem hostile at the moment, Frank wasn’t going to take any chances. He remained standing with his arms open.

“You, you need a second to gather yourself?” Frank said, motioning to the open coffin. “I have a list of questions for you so long it could wrap around this planet a few times.”

“You destroyed the tool of the Overlords,” Sergeant Claymore said as he came down off the coffin and sat on the edge of the square box that had encased him for years. “You’ve done well. Tell me, what year is it?”

Frank exchanged looks with Yur’l.

“I mean, I can just go by my own year on Earth. It’s 2018,” Frank said finally, lowering his arms. “Do you remember reaching out to me in my dream?”

“Vaguely, as if it were a dream of my own,” Sergeant Claymore said.

“You warned Frank of a threat coming, of a final battle,” Yur’l said, speaking up for the first time. “What were you talking about?”

“The Overlords, or more specifically, their creations, and who they support in the war,” Sergeant Claymore said, motioning to the lifeless robot as if that were all the explanation that was needed.

“Nope,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I’m going to need a lot more than that. I have no idea why I’m here, who the Overlords are, or what we’re supposed to do next. All I know is that I’ve been diverted from our own conflicts to find you here.”

Sergeant Claymore looked to Yur’l as if he were trying to gather support from the Gleason.

“Apologies; I report to him,” Yur’l said, pointing to Frank. “Plus, I agree with him. We’re still confounded here. Why were you asleep for so long? Why wake up now?”

Sergeant Claymore wrung his massive black hands. He was quiet for a long moment. His eyes stared off in the distance far beyond Frank and Yur’l.

Just when Frank was going to interrupt Sergeant Claymore, he spoke again.

“I come from a time long ago from Judgeon in the Oberon Galaxy,” Sergeant Claymore said, still holding his thousand-meter stare. “After the Chaos War…” He paused again. His brow furrowed and his glazed eyes almost glistened. “There was a time I instructed a new order of Arilion Knights. You see, we had lost so many selfless and strong-willed brothers and sisters in that war against the Chaos horde. New Arilion were being chosen by the dozens – young, old, Gleason, Neeve, the lot. During one particular training exercise, I came across a troop of these tools of the Overlords as they tried to wreck the planet. You fought one of these tools before you woke me.”

“Oh, you mean the Terminator-like robot?” Frank said, throwing a thumb toward the downed piece of rusted steel. “Yeah, we met. Thanks for the heads up, by the way. I love a surprise test, especially one that can possibly kill me.”

“That was a model we captured.” Sergeant Claymore removed his eyes from the far wall and looked to Frank and Yur’l grimly. “The Overlords will have been at work while I slept. I shudder to think what they have created now.”

“And who are these Overlords?” Yur’l asked.

“Enemies of the worst kind,” Sergeant Claymore said with disgust. He spat on the ground next to him. “Weapons manufacturers seeking only to sell their products to the highest bidders. A shadow organization enabling the worst kind of ambition. The crew we found and destroyed were only a sample of the savagery they’re capable of. They had no qualms with their orders to destroy the planet, killing off an entire population. When the Arilion Order discovered the organization, we decided they should be stopped. Their ranks evaded us for years. We kept them at bay and the Arilion’s promise to keep the galaxies safe kept any major threat silent. Yet our leaders believed there would be a time when a faction would rise up and be the undoing of the Order. They believed the Overlords would side with this rival. So I volunteered to be laid to sleep until the time came to do or die against the Overlords.”

“And it’s needed now?” Frank asked, trying to piece together all the information in a way that made sense to their current conflict. “How do you know these Overlords are ready to make their move? Or this new order?”

“I reached out to you and found you during this time. That is reason enough,” Sergeant Claymore said in his definitive way of speaking. “Say, are the Arilion at war with a rival faction?”

“Well, yeah, I guess we are, but a lot has changed,” Frank said, considering where in their current conflict he should start. “It’s a long story. I’ll try and just touch on the most important parts. Ready?”

Sergeant Claymore’s eyes grew in size. His mouth dropped open as Frank recounted about the Arilion fading from history, the second Chaos War, and of Jarl Balder forging the new vambraces.

“A growing alliance of planets have begun training the emerging Arilion Knights,” Yur’l added. “As for these Overlords, we haven’t heard from them at all.”

“You will,” Sergeant Claymore said with resolve. “The rival faction must be this Jarl Balder and the rogue element that escaped capture. It is only a matter of time until the Overlords make their appearance.”

“Well, I’m not going to doubt you,” Frank said, considering his options. “I’ve seen enough crazy stuff over this last year to think anything is possible. So, what now?”

“Now we prepare,” Sergeant Claymore said, still digesting the new information given to him. “We must find the accomplice of this Jarl Balder. He will lead us to the Overlords.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s as good as a plan as any,” Frank said, waving the sergeant over to the exit. “We came in this way.”

“It’s good to be in the presence of Arilion once more,” Sergeant Claymore said, trouncing alongside Frank and Yur’l. “It’ll be good to fight alongside my brothers and sisters again.”

“I’m glad you’re on our side,” Yur’l said as the three squeezed back onto the platform that had taken them down into the depths of the chamber.

Frank and Yur’l each placed their forearms in a pillar. Sergeant Claymore, with the widest reach, placed both of his forearms in the two pillars to the rear of the stone elevator.

With cranks and scattered sand, the lift slowly took them back up to the top of the pyramid and the fresher air of the jungle planet.

Frank and Yur’l stepped off the platform, ready to be off at once.

It wasn’t until Frank had descended a few levels down the pyramid that he realized Sergeant Claymore had yet to place a foot off the lift. He was staring into the distance.

“Hey, are you OK—”

“I think he just needs a moment,” Yur’l interrupted. “Being in such a deep slumber all these centuries must have been strange to him. Who knows how much he dreamed. Who knows whether he dreamed at all.”

Going against his nature, Frank paused a moment for the sergeant’s sake. The massive Arilion was an impressive figure; at the moment, he appeared lost in a world, in a time not his own.

Sergeant Claymore’s large nostrils flared as he soaked in the warmth of the sun and the sound of the creatures taking shelter in the vegetation around them. The breeze made the short fur on his body ripple like grass in an open field.

“We’ll give him a minute,” Frank said, agreeing with Yur’l. “Stay with him. I’ll report back to the Den.”

Yur’l nodded.

Frank took another step down the pyramid. He activated the comm link behind his ear. “Den, this is the Arilion unit of Marine Space Corp-1. We’ve made contact with our asset and we’re coming home.”

Frank waited for a response. There was none.

“Den, this is Major Wolffe. Do you copy?” Frank asked, still not worried.

As the seconds of silence ticked by, the familiar sensation of being watched crossed his skin, leaving his hair on end. Was it a feeling of being watched or the feeling that something was seriously wrong? He couldn’t tell.

“Den, come in, come in,” Frank said, now allowing his fear to sink into his words. “Do you copy? Elly? Raj?”

“What’s wrong?” Sergeant Claymore asked as he and Yur’l joined Frank.

“Our base is not responding,” Frank said, swallowing hard.

“So it begins,” Sergeant Claymore said. His face went from serious to violent. “We must get back to your home base quickly. We may be too late already.”

4

“Why can’t we get through?” Yur’l said as he activated the sphere on the planet where they had found Sergeant Claymore. He pressed the top and bottom of the golden orb together again.

The sphere on the alien planet had been activated near a lush jungle mountainside. Frank and Yur’l had arrived without complication from the Den. Every time Yur’l activated the gateway from this side now, the opposite side of the Den was locked.

“They still have the shield and force field up,” Frank said, thinking to himself out loud. “They’re not responding. Something’s very seriously wrong.”

Sergeant Claymore stood staring at the archway projected by the golden sphere. Despite their situation, there was a comfortable smirk on his thick lips. The ever- changing light coming from the mists wafting through the gateway glowed every color of the rainbow, reminding Frank of a kaleidoscope in fog.

“We’re not going to be able to get through unless they lower the defenses from the other side,” Yur’l said, shaking his head. “What’s happening over there, Frank?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said.

You’re a major; you keep it together, Frank reminded himself. When everything looks bad, you’re the one that makes the decision on what to do next.

“Sergeant,” Frank asked, looking over to the latest addition to their team. “Are there any spacecraft on the planet that you know of? Maybe a civilization we could borrow a ride from?”

“This planet was chosen for its lack of life and secluded location in the galaxy.” Sergeant Claymore shook his head. “There is nothing like that here.”

“Well, I guess we could always—”

“Frank, Yur’l, are you there?” Raj’s welcome voice sounded over the comms. “Do you read me?”

“Raj!” Frank shouted back, never happier to hear his friend’s voice. “What’s going on over there? We can’t get back. The gateway defenses at the Den are up.”

“Lowering them now, “ Raj said in a panicked voice. “Son of an ambush, Frank. It’s bad.”

“What’s bad? What happened?” Frank asked, confused.

“Defenses are lowered,” Raj answered. “Just get back here. You’ll see.”

There was something about Raj’s voice Frank couldn’t quite place. There was a dread uncommon in the good doctor’s tone.

“Let’s try it again,” Frank said to Yur’l.

The Gleason locked in the coordinates for the sphere in the Den one more time. Frank, followed by Sergeant Claymore and Yur’l, walked through the thick mist together.

One second Frank was surrounded by the changing lights and dense rolling mist, and the next he was through. At once, it was clear why no one from the Den had responded for so long. There had been an attack.

Tables were upturned and computers destroyed. The automated turrets pointed toward the gateway to act as a second line of defense should the barriers ever be breached lay in pieces scattered around the room.

Raj ran up to them, soot-streaked and bleeding from a cut on the side of his face.

“What happened?” Frank asked, looking at the room in astonishment. “Were we attacked?”

Raj nodded, trying to get over the fact that there was a stalking gorilla standing next to Frank and Yur’l. “He was in and out before we knew what happened. He freed Jarl from his prison and then they tore through here like a whirlwind. Nearly everyone is injured or—or worse.”

Previous to this instance, the only hostile to ever make it into the Den had been Sava. Since then, both a force field and a steel shield had been placed in front of the gateway. With these two items still intact, the attack must have come not from the gateway itself but from above ground.

“Who’s hurt? We can help,” Yur’l said, already running for the stairs that would take them deeper into the Den.

Frank, Raj, and Sergeant Claymore joined him.

“Elly and General Breaker are helping dig out others,” Raj said in between breaths. “I was looking for wounded down here when I heard you calling. He came so fast.”

“The alien with the orange vambraces?” Frank guessed. “The one that we saw when we were looking for Lucy?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Raj said. The foursome ran up to stairs to the viewing room and traveled further into the underground structure.

Commands and calls for medical care bounded down the halls. Boots pounding gave way to hefty grunts as Marines shifted debris of the cement compound. Portions of the ceiling had fallen in, and further down the hall, Frank could see where a massive shovel created a circular opening.

Frank reached the area on the level where the floor and ceiling were missing. He peered up, unable to resist the sight. Sure enough, thousands of feet through the other levels and Earth itself, he could see blue sky.

It was as if someone had created, or constructed, a monster post hole digger and dug down from the surface deep into the Den, pulverizing everything in its path. Dread gripped his entrails. Internal heat creeped its way down his tense shoulders.

Another blindsided attack from Jarl’s party. The thought raged in Frank’s mind.

Seeking any sign or clue to capture their alien attacker, Frank turned his attention down to see level after level exposed below him. The gaping hole spanned at least ten meters across. To his surprise, a familiar face popped in on the level below him looking up. It was Elly.

“Hey, good to see you. We could use your help around here right about now,” Elly said, shouting upward to be heard.

“Right,” Frank said, trying to sift through rage, friendship, and confusion. “Let’s get these people help.”

The next few hours were spent removing both the wounded and the dead from the debris. Blast burns and coats of pulverized cement obscured names and faces of many. Each Marine Frank helped carry had signed up for this Spec Op; yet none of them could have foreseen the dangerously vindictive enemies they had encountered. Project Nebula had been designated an exploratory mission. Instead, a ruthless enemy hellbent on ending Frank had come to their doors. Had blast right through them, actually.

All of this only infuriated Frank to work harder; to lift heavier pieces and push beyond normal limits. The purple spewed from his armament as he worked tirelessly to find a survivor. Beneath a particularly pulverized piece of wall with only mangled stretches of rebar holding it together, Frank found the lifeless form of a Marine he recognized: one of the drivers from his first day entering the Den. The weight had crushed his lungs, evidenced by the trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth and the sickening way his chest concaved in.

Jarl Balder and his cohort would pay.

Frank got more and more pieces of the story as he worked. The creature they had run into before, the one wearing the third pair of orange vambraces Jarl had created, was to blame. He had bored a hole straight through the Den to the room where Jarl’s vambraces were held.

The vambraces that wanted to be connected to their own wielder took the creature to Jarl’s cell. He was freed and the two went on a killing spree on their way back to the surface. The entire event had taken less than five minutes.

Frank’s mind swam with anger. So much life had been lost in such a short amount of time. Questions piled on top of even more questions. How did the creature know about the Den? How did Jarl’s accomplice know exactly where to dig to find the vambraces? How did he know this was the best time to attack, when there would be no Arilion Knights in the Den to protect the structure?

I should have been here, Frank thought to himself. I could have stopped this if I were here and not running around waking sleeping monkeys up from their hyper sleep.

“I’ve seen that look before.” General Breaker’s familiar voice woke Frank from his festering. He was on a lower level moving large chunks of cement and fallen debris into a pile to then take to the surface.

Frank turned to the general, who walked with a limp in his gait.

“Sir,” Frank said, motioning with his chin to the general’s leg. “You going to be OK?”

“I’ll be more than OK; just a sprain,” General Breaker said. Although his tone was even, his amber eyes were alive with vengeance. “That look in your eye is the same I had in my own a few hours ago.”

“Really?” Frank asked, turning back to his work. He used his vambraces to create a giant shovel and piled the cracked pieces of cement into a mound. “What look do I have on my face?”

“You’re blaming yourself for not stopping all of this,” General Breaker said. “Right now, that mentality isn’t going to do anyone any good. We need to place blame where the blame belongs and find these terrorists.”

Frank breathed a huge sigh. “We will. We’re going to find both of them, and this time, I’m not going to try and put Jarl in a cell. I’m going to put him in the ground.”

“We need to find them first,” General Breaker said. “We need to find them and figure out how they obtained intelligence as to where the Den was and when you’d be gone.”

Frank racked his brain on where to even begin. For beings that could travel through space, they could be anywhere.

“Jarl’s accomplice must have come to Earth in a ship,” Frank started. “Maybe we can track that. Sergeant Claymore has some thoughts on another entity that may be working with them. They’re called the Overlords.”

“The who?” General Breaker asked, flexing his biomechanical right arm.

“The Overlords,” Frank repeated. “They’re a universal weapons manufacturer who sells to the highest bidder.”

“A weapons manufacturer?” General Breaker said. For the first time, his concentrated stare broke and gave way to new interest. His voice even peaked a bit.

“I know, the irony isn’t lost on me,” Frank said.

He took a moment to reflect on his title previous to being an Arilion Knight: a sales agent of sorts to a weapons manufacturer under government contract to the United States. His previous employer had been B.U.T.T.S. (Ballistic United Tactical Tech Systems). Wondering whether he could use them as a lead, he considered trying to make contact with his former handler.

He hadn’t made contact with his previous employer since the first time he traveled through the gateway nearly a year before. It was their doing that sent him to MSC-1 in the first place. General Fox had made the arrangements for the transition, as unofficial as it was.

“I can check with General Fox and the Alliance to see if they have any way of tracking our escaped convict as well,” General Breaker said. “I need you with your head right, ready to roll in an hour. Can you do that?”

“I’ll be ready to go,” Frank said. “I—”

Frank didn’t finish his next words. He was in the process of removing a massive slab of cement with his purple shovel when a moan caught his attention. Frank released the construct with caution and ran to the slab.

General Breaker had heard the same thing. Together, the men moved the grey hunk of concret that was larger than a door from the rest of the wall. A young Marine lay on his side trapped against the corner of the wall and the giant piece of concrete.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me?” Frank asked, kneeling down beside the Marine. He was a kid really. Couldn’t yet be out of his twenties. His eyes were closed. There was no obvious sign of trauma Frank could see. His chest still rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

Frank heard General Breaker already communicating with a medical team over the comms.

“Hey, buddy,” Frank said, taking the young man’s hand in his own. “If you can hear me, it’s going to be okay. You’re safe now. I just need you to hang in there. Help is on the way.”

Frank wasn’t necessarily known for his gentle or caring attitude, but right now, holding the young man’s hand seemed like the right thing to do.

The Marine’s eyes fluttered open. He stared upward then looked over at Frank without moving his head.

“I know, you were wishing for an attractive young medical attendant, but you got me,” Frank said, trying to bring a smile to the young man’s face. “You’re going to be okay. We got you, brother.”

“What, what happened?” The Marine licked at dry lips. “I was walking and then—then I don’t remember anything.”

“The Den was breached, but they’re gone now,” Frank said. “You don’t need to worry about any of that at the moment. All you need to think about is getting better. You’re safe.”

“You’re—you’re the Arilion Marine, aren’t you?” the young man asked as recollection crossed his eyes. He looked at Frank’s glowing vambraces. “It is you.”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Frank said.

“You’re going to get the guys that did this, right?” the young Marine asked. “Of course you are.”

“Oohrah to that,” Frank said as boots pounded down the hall signaling help had finally arrived. “I’m going to make them pay.”

5

Frank, Sergeant Claymore, Yur’l, Raj, and Elly all sat in the viewing room. The room overlooked the sphere chamber below through a wide glass window. Down below, techs and Marines were putting the place back together. Everyone was tired, but no one was complaining.

From the medic who was working to save a life to the Arilion Knight sitting at the briefing, everyone was eager to press on.

From his dark hair to his black boots, Frank was coated in a layer of dust and sweat. He stared down at his hands that had held the young man’s own hand, less than an hour before.

The medic team had taken him away to be cared for. Frank hoped the young man would make a full recovery, but he had other things to think about now as they prepared to go on the offensive.

“Sergeant Claymore,” General Breaker began. “It’s always good to meet an Arilion Knight. I’m sorry it couldn’t be under better terms.”

“Sir.” Sergeant Claymore stood from his chair. It squeaked as the bulk resting on it came off at once. “It is I who am glad to serve. I have information that will be crucial in finding this threat and neutralizing it once and for all.”

“Please, go on,” General Breaker said, motioning for him to continue with an open hand.

“The Overlords are an intergalactic shadow weapons manufacturer that has been active as far back as we can tell. They sell weapons, including robots and advanced tech to the highest bidder,” Sergeant Claymore said in a rush to get the next words out. “I’m positive your enemies will be working with them. They either aided in the escape of this Jarl Balder or their technology was used.”

“That could be the answer as to how the attack was made once Frank and Yur’l were gone and where Jarl’s lackey knew to dig to recover Jarl’s vambraces,” Elly mused from her seat beside Frank. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Something like that could be fashioned.”

“Like a vambrace detector?” Raj asked.

“Something like that,” Elly answered. “It could detect the energy frequencies the vambraces give off.”

“Great, let’s ask these Overlords once we meet them,” Frank said, ready to put action behind all of these words. “Where do we start?”

All eyes turned to Sergeant Claymore.

“The prophecy was foretold by our leader an Arilion Knight named Saber Sarguard,” Sergeant Claymore explained. “He said the Overlords would play a role in the undoing of the Arilion Order if they were not stopped. The Overlords have a symbol they place on all of their technology.”

Sergeant Claymore looked down on the oval desk they all sat around. He used the vambrace on his right arm to burn an image into the desk in front of them.

“We could have just gotten you some paper,” Raj muttered under his breath. “Shame to waste a table.”

Sergeant Claymore either didn’t hear him or didn’t care as he continued to burn the emblem into the table with a dark purple laser beam.

Frank stared down at the emblem being drawn. His mouth dropped open as his mind fought to make sense of what he was seeing. All eyes in the room besides the sergeant’s came to rest on him.

What? No, it can’t be, Frank thought to himself. How can it be? This can’t be a coincidence. Not now, not like this.

Sergeant Claymore lowered his right arm, examining his handiwork. The brand on the table smoked with wispy curls. A pyramid with an eye in the center was surrounded by a large circle. It was the same brand of Frank’s previous employer B.U.T.T.S.

“Am I going crazy or is that the exact same symbol of the weapons manufacturer Frank used to work for?” Elly asked, blinking in rapid succession. “Like the exact same one.”

Sergeant Claymore glared at Frank. “You worked for the Overlords?”

“No… I mean, yes…I mean, maybe,” Frank said, rising from his seat under the stare of the gigantic Arilion Knight across the table. “I don’t know.”

“Easy, easy there,” Yur’l also rose from his seat. “If Frank did work for them at one time, he had no idea who he was working for.”

Sergeant Claymore’s hands were balled into meaty fists.

“No, it can’t—” Frank looked over to General Breaker for answers. “I only worked for them for a few years after the Corp, but they’re a government-contracted organization, not universal gun runners. Am I right?”

General Breaker looked just as confused as Frank.

“I can have their file pulled, but I’m with you on this one, Frank,” General Breaker said, reaching for the data pad beside him. “But this can’t be a pure coincidence either. Something has to tie in here.”

Sergeant Claymore was still glaring at Frank. Frank ignored it for the time being. He was trying to rack his mind for anything he could remember about his former company and their possible inclusion into this syndicate known as the Overlords.

“Can you tell us anything you might remember that seemed shady?” Elly asked.

“Anything weird or alien?” Raj added in.

“I mean, it was all kind of top secret and hush-hush,” Frank said, trying to will himself to remember something that might help. “I was on a need-to-know basis and didn’t really care to know more. They sent me on pitches when I was meeting with government agencies. I would sell our products and go when they were delivered. That was it.”

“How did they get in contact with you?” Yur’l asked.

“They gave me this little triangle-shaped watch that acted like a phone,” Frank said, pursing his lips in thought. “My contact there was a woman called Chairman. She would give me my next assignment and I would go.”

“Did you ever visit their actual business?” General Breaker asked, looking up from his data pad. “Did you meet or talk with anyone there?”

“Just once when I interviewed and did the paperwork,” Frank said. “It wasn’t Chairman, though; it was some middle-aged guy who said I was already hired. That my time in the Corp and my recommendations were enough.”

“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?” Sergeant Claymore asked.

“I can try,” Frank said, meeting the stare of the gigantic Arilion Knight. “This was years ago. I have a hard time remembering what I did last weekend.”

“We have an address here,” General Breaker said.

“Is it in upstate New York?” Frank asked.

“It is,” General Breaker said, rising from his chair.

“Shall I notify Sava or Emma for this?” Elly asked.

“Sava is still filling in at her own home world,” General Breaker explained. “Emma has her hands full at the moment with the reconstruction of the Academy.”

“We’ll be enough,” Frank said, doing a double take at Yur’l and Sergeant Claymore. “You two may have to stay behind. You don’t exactly blend in.”

“Okay,” Yur’l said at the same time Sergeant Claymore crossed his arms in indignation.

“I will not be left behind,” Sergeant Claymore growled. “This is my purpose. This is what I have been waiting for.”

“Maybe we can arrange something,” General Breaker said, arching his brow. “Frank, why don’t you go in with Elly and Raj? We’ll have Yur’l and Sergeant Claymore backing you up from a secure location. They can be inside the building in a matter of seconds if need be.”

“Sounds good to me,” Frank said, looking over at Sergeant Claymore with an arched eyebrow of his own. “What do you say, King Kong? Let me take the lead on this one?”

“My name is not King Kong.” Sergeant Claymore puffed out his chest. “But I understand you have a way of doing things on your planet. I can fall in line as long as the Overlords are brought down.”

“Well, good to see we’re all getting along,” Raj said, slapping the table in front of him. “I’m starved. Shall we grab a bite to eat before we get going?”

“Only you would think of food at a time like this.” Elly rolled her eyes.

“Actually, I am famished,” Sergeant Claymore said, rubbing his belly. “We should get going, but perhaps it would be prudent to eat on the way to this New York of yours.”

A quick jet flight later followed by a ride in a blacked-out supply van to accommodate the bulk of Sergeant Claymore, and the team was parked outside of the address B.U.T.T.S. had provided.

The building was located in a rundown section of Long Island City. Industrial architecture and wide streets were evidence that this had been a hub for industry and exports decades past. Abandonment, faded signs, and broken windows gave way in the city blocks they passed along the way to signs of regentrification: a new brewery here and an artisanal fusion restaurant there.

Reaching their destination they could see, a wrought-iron fence surrounded the massive compound that looked more like some ancient museum than a home to intergalactic gun runners.

It was late in the day with the sun just about to set. The building compound spanned the length of a full city block. As far as they could tell, there were no guards on duty. Not so much as a pedestrian crossed on the sidewalks.

Maybe we have the wrong place altogether, Frank thought to himself. Man, Claymore is going to be pissed if we charge in there and scare the crap out of some innocent receptionist for no reason.

Elly’s Momo had also made the trip with them. The small wolf-like creature with wings was sniffing at the newest member to the team, intrigued by his fur. Sergeant Claymore didn’t seemed to be bothered by the small creature.

“All right,” Frank said from his spot in the passenger side seat of the vehicle next to Raj. He looked out of the darkened windows at their target. “We’ll send out Magnus equipped with Elly’s camera and see what we can see. Raj, Elly, and I will go in next with Yur’l and Claymore backing us up if this is in fact the home of the Overlords.”

“It is,” Sergeant Claymore huffed out of his large nostrils. “Of that I have no doubt.”

“Easy there, Nostradamus,” Frank said, cautioning the Arilion Knight. “Let us check it out first and if it is in fact the home to some extraterrestrial organization, you’ll be free to go all King Kong on it.”

“Who is this King Kong you keep referring to?” Sergeant Claymore asked.

“I’ll show you later,” Frank promised him. “Don’t worry; it’s not necessarily a bad thing. All right, Elly. Is Magnus ready to fly?”

“Roger that,” Elly said, making a last-minute adjustment to the harness Magnus wore on his forehead and stomach. “Ready to fly, little guy?”

Magnus panted with a lolling tongue. The dark grey wings on either side of his body ruffled in anticipation of flight.

“Be safe. Remember, we’re just looking,” Elly told him as she opened the back door to the van just enough for the winged creature to squeeze through.

A moment later, all the eyes in the van were aimed down at Elly’s smart pad. Elly took a seat in the middle of the van so everyone could see. At the moment, they were looking through Magnus’ body camera that rested on his stomach. They had a perfect angle looking down on the B.U.T.T.S. compound.

Perfectly manicured lawns and lush trees made up a perimeter around the building inside the wrought-iron fence. There was a long driveway up to the main building. No vehicles or people were present that could be seen. The building itself was massive with a square atrium in the middle of the main building. Two other smaller structures rose to the right.

There was nothing out of the ordinary besides the lack of people or vehicles. The place looked abandoned besides the well-kept compound.

“Nothing,” Yur’l said.

“Nothing, and that’s strange for a company this size,” Raj said, what they were all thinking. “No trucks to load or unload. No cars belonging to employees, nothing.”

Frank let Magnus do two more flybys until he was satisfied.

“Okay, call him back, Elly,” Frank said, checking the vambraces he wore. “We’ll go in and see what there is to see.”

While Elly brought Magnus back into the van, Raj and Frank prepared to enter the building. Along with Elly, they both wore civilian clothes: boots, jeans t-shirts, and jackets. Raj and Elly carried sidearms in holsters behind their backs. Frank didn’t need one. His vambraces would be more than enough if they ran into trouble. He shrugged on his own coat. The sleeves were wide enough to accommodate the pieces of armor on his forearms.

“Here we go.” Frank looked over to Elly and Raj. “Be ready for anything.”

6

Frank, Elly, and Raj exited the utility van. Frank took the lead, crossing the wide sidewalk to the gate surrounding the premises. The black wrought-iron gate would be easy enough to climb if need be. It couldn’t be over eight feet tall.

The gate was closed now. A long driveway wound its way up to the front door. An intercom unit was mounted next to the gate with a silver button and screen.

“You ever get the feeling you’re being watched?” Raj asked, shrugging deeper into his coat. “Like you did something wrong and the teacher is looking at you from the front of the class?”

“I never did anything wrong,” Elly said with a raised eyebrow. “I sat in the front of the class.”

“No surprises there,” Frank said, studying the intercom.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Elly asked indignantly.

“Nothing, just that, well you’re not exactly the tattooed motorcycle rebellious type,” Frank said, reaching for the button. “You know. You’re like the typical good student.”

“Oh, this isn’t over,” Elly said, raising an eyebrow. “I can be rebellious.”

Frank was just about to press the circular silver button that would connect him with whoever was on the other side of the intercom, when Elly interrupted the action. She pushed his hand aside with her own and jammed her thumb onto the button.

“Hello? I’m here with a previous employee of your corporation,” Elly said firmly. “We have some questions for you.”

There wasn’t an answer on the other side of the intercom, but the entrance clicked open. The twin steel gates slowly swung inward, ushering them inside. The hinges didn’t make a sound as they continued to open.

Frank exchanged looks with Raj and Elly.

“I’ll show you ‘good student’,” Elly said, stalking forward into the grounds. “I’ll have you know I was the president of the math team and the chess club. We stayed up until all hours of the night talking strategy and tactics.”

Frank and Raj followed as Elly took the lead up the long driveway.

There was still no sign of life. Frank understood what Raj had been talking about. There was an uncanny presence of being watched. It was the same feeling he had when they first traveled to the pyramid where they woke Sergeant Claymore.

A chill on the New York wind made the feeling worse. Frank’s nose was cold. The tips of his ears were frigid.

The trio made the long walk up to the main structure’s doors. The building was brick with dual front doors that were easily ten feet tall. The cold dark metal the doors were made from were anything but welcoming to the group.

Elly placed her hand on the door, ready to knock again. Her new assertive nature was almost comical to Frank. It would have been funny if the event surrounding them weren’t so strange.

Frank’s senses were on overdrive. Every creak of tree branches overhead or shadow of a bird in the sky sent his eyes in that direction. All the evidence they had pointed to B.U.T.T.S. being something more than it seemed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Elly wrapped on the door. The sounds echoed inward until they were eventually lost to their ears.

Metal scraping answered the action. The door on their left opened to reveal a middle-aged man with thinning hair and a plastic smile. He wore a perfectly tailored blue suit, white shirt, and tie.

“Hello, Space Marine Corp One. How may I help you?” His energetic British accent added a crisp note to his words.

The smile never left his lips. His pasty white skin said he was a victim of many hours spent indoors.

“How do you know who we are?” Frank asked, taking a protective stance beside Elly.

“Frank, I can take it from here.” Elly cleared her throat and took a step closer to the man. “How do you know who we are? I want the truth. Any lies and I’ll let my compatriot behind me deal with you. He’s not much to look at, but looks can be deceiving.”

“Hey,” Raj said indignantly.

“There’s no use in playing games,” the man said. “Chairman has instructed me to take you straight to her, where she is willing to tell you exactly whatever it is you’d like to know. It seems we are on the same side in all of this.”

“And what side would that be?” Frank asked.

“Frank, please,” Elly said. “I got this.”

She looked over to the man in front of them. “Answer his question.”

“Chairman would be the appropriate person to ask.” The man moved to the side and ushered them in. “I’m just the hired help.”

“And who exactly are you?” Elly asked.

“My name is David Smith,” he said with a welcoming smile. “I take care of the grounds here on our compound.”

Frank didn’t like walking into the building. It felt like he was a mouse being led into a trap. Right now, there didn’t seem like another way to play this. They wanted answers. It just all seemed wrong. Even David Smith himself seemed off, as if Frank had met him somehow before. Frank would much rather be in the middle of a brawl or chasing down the answers instead of having them given to him shrouded in mystery.

Elly looked over to Frank, clearly feeling the same way.

Frank shrugged and the trio walked inside. They followed David into a large well-lit room. The room led down a long hall with tall windows on their left and massive portraits on their right.

The portraits were pictures of a pretty woman with red hair. She wore a gown in the first picture with a neutral expression on her lips. As they passed the series of pictures, each one became more disturbing than the next.

The second picture was of the same woman, but this time, she had a metallic left hand. The next picture showed her with a red left eye, the next with a metal right leg. Pictures went on and on, showing the transformation from human woman to machine.

“You said you came to this place once?” Raj whispered to Frank. “The nightmarish art on the wall didn’t raise a red flag or two or a hundred? What kind of freak show is this?”

“It wasn’t here when I came in the first time,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I would have remembered that, trust me.”

The last piece of art on the right showed a machine with red eyes and a silver body. The outline of a feminine feature was still present, but anything else speaking of her humanity was gone.

“Ahhh, here we are,” David said as the group reached the end of the hall and a closed door. “She’s expecting you.”

“Well,” Frank said after taking a beat waiting for Elly to take the lead. “Want me to take the reins on this one?”

Elly swallowed hard, looking at the wooden door in front of them. She looked to David as if she was going to say something then thought better of it and set her jaw.

“I’ll go through this one and then maybe you better take command,” Elly said out of the side of her mouth. “I mean, you are the major and all.”

“Can’t argue with you there,” Frank answered.

Elly placed her hand on the metal doorknob and twisted.

The next room was the square atrium they had seen from Magnus’ body camera. In the middle of the structure was an outside area alive with grass, plants, and flowers. A cement walkway led to a clearing where a woman sat on a bench. Her back was toward them at the moment.

Frank looked over at David. “You go first.”

“Pardon me, sir?”

“I didn’t stutter,” Frank said. “You go first. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it’ll make me feel a little bit more at ease if you walk into whatever we’re headed toward first.”

David lifted his lower lip as if he were thinking. He removed a piece of lint from the right portion of his suit then walked through the door.

Frank followed at a safe distance with Elly and Raj close behind. Both members of Marine Space Corp One had their right hands poised behind their backs. At a moment’s notice, they could have their weapons out, dealing death.

Unlike his counterparts, Frank’s weapons were on his forearms. He was ready to send out purple beams of energy at whatever was about to happen if need be. He was on a strict shoot first and ask questions later policy, especially now when the rest of his team was with him.

Not just my team, Frank reminded himself. My family.

Step by step, they walked into the atrium. The smell of fresh flowers and nature was nearly overwhelming. Warm sun shone down on them from above.

The woman didn’t turn around at all. They didn’t get a look at her features until they were in front of her. She wore a white skirt suit. She was older with wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. Short red hair and light makeup. She smiled at the group as David introduced them.

“Mr. Wolffe insisted I join them,” David explained to the woman. “I can go back into the main building now if—”

“There’s no need for that, David.” The woman crossed her legs and looked over to Frank. “Besides, we may need you in a few minutes.”

When the woman spoke, Frank knew who she was. He had heard her voice over the phone dozens of times. The same cadence with which she spoke, her word choice, and tone were all familiar. This woman was his contact at B.U.T.T.S. who gave him his assignments while he worked for the company. Usually, they communicated over email or text, but there were times when they had spoken.

“Chairman,” Frank said, speaking the words into existence. His hands clenched, ready for anything. “You’re Chairman.”

“I am.” The woman smiled. The act actually looked genuine. “And you are Frank Wolffe. If I’d known you were going to be chosen as the Arilion Knight of Atmos, I would have never sent you. You were too valuable an asset to us here. When you were chosen as an Arilion Knight, you can imagine our surprise. My organization doesn’t really get surprised these days. From the top to the bottom, you caught us off guard.”

“Who’s us?” Elly asked. “Who’s your organization?”

“Oh, Elly Wong, Cyber Security Technician & Astrophysicist from the Chinese Space Program. Now working with Marine Space Corp One and Project Nebula,” Chairman said, looking over to Raj. “And Raj Agarwal, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Aerospace Medicine. It’s so good to meet both of you.”

“Listen, Chairman,” Raj said, finding his voice, “if that’s your real name. How do you know so much about us? I think it’s time we find out more about you.”

“And you will,” Chairman said with a slow nod. “Events have unfolded around us that will make us allies in the coming days.”

“Did you give Jarl Balder’s accomplice the means to break him out of his prison?” Frank asked.

“No.” Chairman shook her head. “We do not aid or assist any side in any conflict. It’s a strict rule of ours.”

“And by ‘we,’ you mean B.U.T.T.S. or the Overlords?” Frank asked.

“Glad to see you’re following along.” Chairman smiled. “Ballistic United Tactical Tech Systems is the Earthly front of the Overlords. I oversee our assets here as the hand of our organization on this planet. However, Overlord is the proper name for our intergalactic organization. Only recently have events on Earth made it possible to gain the interest of the Overlords. Prior to that, we just kept our ear to the ground and worked as a weapons manufacturer.”

“This whole time, B.U.T.T.S. was just a front to gain information that might have been useful,” Frank said, working out the problem in his mind. “You provide weapons to governments and report anything of interest to the higher ups?”

“That’s right.” Chairman tilted her head to the side as if she were deep in thought. “I imagine Sergeant Claymore isn’t going to take kindly to this new information. He had an unfortunate run-in with technology produced from our company many years ago.”

Frank heard an animalistic growl in his comms.

“That’s a nice way to say they murdered new recruits to the Arilion Corp.” Sergeant Claymore’s voice sounded as if he were on the verge of losing his temper altogether. “They need to pay for what they’ve done.”

7

“Easy, easy, buddy. We’ll figure this out.” Frank turned to the side and whispered back into his comms. “Don’t do anything rash.” He hesitated before adding, “If you knew me better, you’d understand the irony in that.”

Elly rolled her eyes.

“They need to pay,” Sergeant Claymore said in a rush.

“No, stand down. That’s an order, Sergeant,” Frank said.

No response.

“Yur’l, he’s coming, isn’t he?” Frank asked.

“He sure is and he’s angry,” Yur’l answered. “I tried to stop him, but the memories of the men and women he lost is too fresh in his mind. He’s not thinking clearly. I’m on my way to assist.”

“Well, we’re about to have a very angry Gorkope here in a few seconds,” Frank said to everyone in the room. He looked over at Chairman and David. “Perhaps it would be best for you two to leave for the moment while I get my house in order.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Chairman said, motioning toward David. “David here is more than meets the eye. He protects the grounds for the Overlords.”

Frank didn’t have time to process her words or her cryptic meaning. Glass from the ceiling above shattered as Sergeant Claymore came to exact his vengeance.

The furry black Arilion Knight streaked down on the two members of B.U.T.T.S. He held a constructed hammer in his hands, which reminded Frank of Donkey Kong.

Not now, Frank chided himself. Now’s not the time for jokes… but if he constructed a barrel, now that would be perfect.

Sergeant Claymore hit the ground with enough force to create cracks in the cement floor. He bared his teeth at David and Chairman. “You! It was you who created those robots and sent them against my unit of new knights. You who supplied the buckets of nuts and bolts we crushed time and time again as we chased you all over creation. I’ve waited too long for this moment.”

Sergeant Clinton Claymore was truly menacing when he meant to be so. Right now, eyes blazing with rage, a hammer as immense as his torso in his hands, he looked like the spirit of retribution itself.

“I don’t deny those robots were products of my organization,” Chairman said. If she were afraid at all, she did not show it. The gigantic Arilion Knight dwarfed her by a good half meter. “They were purchased by a client and it is unfortunate that the client directed them to the planet where you were training your new knights. I apologize for their deaths. It was unnecessary.”

“You apologize? You apologize!?!” Sergeant Claymore roared. “Honorable knights died on that planet at the hands of weapons you created. You take no responsibility for countless deaths in the universe for a time only you know. You play the innocent card. You wash your hands of the matter once you sell your murderous tools. But there is so much red in your ledger, it cries out to be heard. Well, today, I hear it. Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth? The Overlords will pay for what they’ve done.”

Spittle flew beyond his deadly incisors, each word laced with the bellowing fury of a volcano’s erupting blast.

“Hey, hey,” Frank said, putting himself between the raging Arilion Knight and David and Chairman. “I get it. I’ve lost people too. I’ve lost too many. We do have to figure something out. I’m not saying the Overlords get away scot-free. I am saying that we’re soldiers and, right now, we have a mission. We’ll find Jarl and his sidekick and bring them in. Then we’ll make a decision on what to do with the Overlords.”

Frank hoped his words would be enough to still the mountain of muscle and fangs. Deep down, he knew it wasn’t. Sergeant Claymore was a trained soldier like himself. Yet one who had been in a sleep for centuries with one mission: wake and put an end to the Overlords.

“Get out of the way,” Sergeant Claymore said from between clenched teeth.

“No,” Frank said, shrugging off his coat. His own vambraces glowed with dark purple light as he prepared to fight. “Stand down, Sergeant Claymore. That’s an order.”

“You haven’t even been an Arilion Knight for a full year yet.” Sergeant Claymore crouched, preparing to spring into action. “You don’t know what it’s like.”

Man, Sava and this guy might really get along. The thought crossed Frank’s mind.

Before Frank had a chance to try and form a response, Sergeant Claymore sprang into action. Much faster than he had any right to be at his size, he leapt over Frank. It was only through Frank’s quick reflexes that he was able to construct purple chains from his vambraces and lash them around the Gorkope’s body.

Frank jerked back as the enraged Arilion Knight landed on top of David. It was too late. Sergeant Claymore crushed David with the sheer size of his bulk. An unnatural sickening crush emanated from beneath massive black feet. The sergeant’s hands were secured to his sides thanks to Frank’s chain, but the damage had been done. He stood atop David’s limp body, glaring at Chairman next.

Once again, the much smaller woman who had no weapons of her own merely looked at the Arilion Knight charging her sympathetically.

Frank pulled on the chain, channeling his power of Will into strength as he sought to secure the sergeant and pull him back.

Sergeant Claymore leaned the opposite way, stepping off David and putting his back into tearing free of the restraints. Yur’l appeared a moment later from the ceiling above. He pointed his vambraces at the sergeant, creating a square box of glowing purple cement around the angry Arilion Knight.

The square container covered Sergeant Claymore from the bottom of his feet all the way up to his neck. The sergeant looked like one of those jack in the boxes but not nearly as happy.

“Rawr!” Sergeant Claymore bellowed as he struggled to be free. “I will have my vengeance. You will pay!”

Frank understood the rage of battle when he saw it. Sergeant Claymore only saw red at the moment and, to be honest, Frank didn’t blame him. He had seen his brothers and sisters die at the hands of the weapons the Overlords produced. No, they hadn’t pulled the trigger, but they were responsible for manufacturing the weapons. It had been his late life’s mission to end this organization. He had waited long enough.

Well, then, what about you? Frank thought as he fought for traction on the cement ground. You worked for B.U.T.T.S. delivering the weapons. Does that make you as guilty as them?

Frank shook his head free of these thoughts for the time being. He had a job to do right here and now. He could wrestle with his guilt later. There was always plenty of time for that.

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold him,” Yur’l gasped from Frank’s left. “He’s stronger than either of us.”

Frank’s mind worked on overdrive as he tried to come up with a plan to calm their raging friend.

The answer came in the most unexpected form. David, who had been landed on by Sergeant Claymore seconds ago, was rising to his feet. He should have been dead or, at the very least, completely pulverized. Having a five-hundred-pound gorilla drop on top of them wasn’t exactly something a person just shook off.

Despite this truth, David regained his feet. His suit was rumpled and ragged and half of his face was torn off. Frank did a double take. Yes, his skin on the left side of his face was gone, revealing a metallic structure underneath. The skin on his right hand was also askew, like a glove that had half been frayed. Metal fingers clenched and released underneath.

“We won’t interfere unless you ask us to,” Chairman said above the thrashing of Sergeant Claymore. “If you need assistance, David will be able to help.”

“We got it,” Frank said through clenched teeth. It still wasn’t easy holding back the raging sergeant, but his initial surge of attack had calmed for the time being.

All three knights were breathing hard. Frank’s lungs burned almost as bad as his arms as he held on to the purple chains.

“Perhaps if I tell you exactly what happened and what we are willing to do to help, it will assure you that we are on your side this time around,” Chairman said, looking up at Sergeant Claymore.

“This time,” Sergeant Claymore repeated her words. “What about the first time we met, the last time, and most likely the next time?”

“A tool was stolen from us by Jarl Balder’s accomplice. This tool was used to locate certain power sources from one of our warehouses,” Chairman began. “This instrument allowed him to lock on to the frequency used by the vambraces. That is how he figured out where Jarl Balder was located and we have an idea where they are going next.”

“Where?” Frank asked, allowing the chains in his hands to go a bit slack. Sergeant Claymore was far from happy, though he wasn’t trying to break free of his confines at the moment. “Where are they going?”

“We have a refinery on Epsilon Nine,” Chairman explained. “There are reports of a Damnaught fighter ship orbiting the planet. Since Jarl’s associate is of the Damnaught species and their home world is galaxies away, I assume it is Jarl.”

“So you’ll let us do the dirty work and clean up your mess,” Elly said from her spot behind Frank. “How generous of you.”

“We will give you whatever information or weapons you need,” Chairman said with a smile. “Perhaps you should take David with you. He’s quite durable in a fight.”

“No way,” Sergeant Claymore grumbled. “No way am I working with one of those.”

“As you wish.” Chairman shrugged. She looked over at Frank. “You should know we never stopped transferring money into your parents’ account, even when you left to work for Marine Space Corp-1. We still honored our agreement.”

Frank went dead cold in his tracks. The realization that his parents, who he had been taking care of since he first enlisted, were at the hands of the Overlords pierced him to the core. Although he didn’t see them more than a few times a year, less after his mother slipped into a coma, he made sure they were always taken care of. Money was automatically transferred from his paycheck to his parents. Even after he was back with the Marines, he arranged for the transfer directly from his account. If Chairman was telling the truth, his parents had been getting paid double for nearly a year.

He swallowed hard before continuing.

“Thank you,” Frank said, studying Chairman’s eyes. “We’re not done here. Jarl and his buddy take priority, but the Overlords staying on Earth are going to have to be something that we discuss in the future. We can’t let you have free rein here, selling god-knows-what to god-knows-who.”

“I understand. Now that you know of our existence on your planet, things will have to change.” Chairman bowed her head. “But for the time being, you have a plant on Epsilon Nine that will be under attack at any minute. I suggest you hurry. We have defenses set in place there of course, but against two vambrace-wielding enemies, I’m not certain the defenses will last long.”

“You ready to behave yourself for a little longer?” Frank looked over at the sergeant. “You can let all of that aggression go as soon as we meet up with our orange-vambraced friends.”

Sergeant Claymore nodded. The look of pure hate was gone from his face. Both Frank and Yur’l released their hold on him with caution. Frank half expected the enraged knight to lunge at Chairman again, yet he kept his temper in check.

“Back to the Den?” Raj asked.

“Back to the Den,” Frank answered. As an afterthought, he looked over to Chairman. “What kind of plant exactly is on Epsilon Nine? What are the Overlords making there?”

“Epsilon Nine is known for its rich levels of denium,” Chairman said without blinking. “It’s the main ingredient we use to make our weapons.”

“Not just any weapon,” Sergeant Claymore said. He spat on the ground next to the Chairman. “It’s the ore used to create their killer robots.”

8

A jet was waiting for them to take them back to the Den once they reached the airfield. In a matter of hours, they were once more back at the Den preparing to go through the gateway again. This time, they were headed to Epsilon Nine to confront Jarl Balder and his accomplice.

Colonel Breaker wanted to send in a platoon of Marines with Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corp-1, but Frank had talked him out of it. Three knights against two would be more than enough. It should be more than enough. With Raj and Elly acting as logistical backup, they would find a way to get it done. There was no need to put anyone else’s life in danger.

“I heard you speaking with the Overlord filth.” Sergeant Claymore came up to Frank as he chugged his water. “So you did work for them.”

It wasn’t a question. His shoulders squared a bit in defense. He didn’t make eye contact with the hulking knight.

Frank and the rest of the squad were on the same floor as the gateway itself. To the right of the gateway, a supply station had been set up for them to use to gear up before missions. It reminded Frank of how a small gas station would be shelved and stocked. Instead of Cheetos and Doritos, there were items like pulse rifles and knives.

“I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on myself,” Frank said to the large Arilion Knight. “Now that we have hard facts, yes, I did work for B.U.T.T.S. They turned out to be the Earth extension of the Overlords. Do you feel like we need to fight about this or are you going to be able to control your temper this time around?”

As Frank spoke to the ancient leader, he turned toward him to look him square in the eyes. Frank had to tilt his head up to stare at Sergeant Claymore. Although his words bordered on hostile, his objective was to get this squashed here and now. If Sergeant Claymore was going to bear a grudge toward him, better they fought now instead of during a mission.

“No.” Sergeant Claymore actually looked ashamed. “I lost control. That won’t happen again. You were lied to. You had no idea. My actions at the compound were out of line. I shouldn’t have broken rank.”

“I get it,” Frank said, thinking back to what he would have done if it had been him. “I don’t blame you. And the Overlords will be dealt with. I don’t know if we take the fight to them exactly, but we can’t allow them to be running around Earth collecting information and doling out alien tech. We’ll come up with a plan. We just need to deal with the Jarl situation first.”

“Understood,” Sergeant Claymore said with a grim nod.

“We have activation from the orb,” a technician said from his spot behind a computer screen. “It’s coming from Atmos. It’s the empress’s code.”

Frank’s heart skipped a beat. Every time he got to see Vega, their time together was too short and it left him wanting more. He had mixed feelings at the moment. He was excited to see her; at the same time, he understood she would insist she come with him to Epsilon Nine.

Vega was a vicious warrior. She could hold her own, Frank was sure of that. Still, the love he held for her in his heart demanded he try to shield her from any harm.

“Powering down the force field and retracting the shield,” another white-coated technician said from his keyboard.

The light blue glow that covered the area the sphere would project the gateway on disappeared. Large steel plates acting as a secondary shield to the arch retreated into the archway frame itself. A moment later, the golden sphere in front of them rose to hover in midair about waist high.

It projected the gateway, a tall archway about two stories high. Mist rolled from the opening as a rainbow of different colors ebbed and flowed in the doorway to another galaxy.

Vega walked through the mist. It parted away with each of her sure steps. There was no denying she had come for a fight. She wore the golden armor of the Neeve people. The helmet with wings in the crook of her right arm reflected the light in the room. On her back was a broad sword so large the handle poked over her right slender shoulder. The end of the blade nearly touched the floor.

She was beautiful in the same way a flower with its thorns could be. Her light purple skin was flawless, her long white hair braided and pulled back from her fierce eyes.

A second figure came through the gateway in a hovering wheelchair. It was Heron. The aged Neeve historian had been the first one to discover along with Frank that he was an Arilion Knight. The elderly Neeve was all smiles and grins as he came through the gateway despite his inability to walk.

The hover chair was a gift from Sava and the Draconians until they could discover another means for Heron to walk once more. The chair was white and long at the bottom with a cushioned seat and a control board.

Frank partially forced a smile as he greeted his industrious friend. Heron’s joyful eyes and countenance always brought warmth to Frank. However, the painful memories of nearly losing him when Jarl Balder made his first appearance with his attack on the Neeve palace made Frank seethe. The terrorist had unleashed a volley of explosives on the palace, crushing the aged historian.

Frank moved forward toward Vega and his smile widened.

“I’m going to guess this isn’t a coincidence,” Frank said to the woman he loved. “I mean, us about to leave and you showing up in your battle armor and all.”

“Nothing is a coincidence,” Vega said, coming over to Frank and embracing him before she planted her lips on his own. “You should know that by now.”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Heron said, opening mouthed as he stared up at Sergeant Claymore. “You—you must be—”

“Sergeant Clinton Claymore,” the Gorkope said, nodding toward Heron. “How do you know me?”

“Books—from books and legends and legends that were turned into books,” Heron said with a wide grin. “There are stories of a knight that slept to wake for a day of battle when the universe would need him most. I always thought there was more truth in that story than naught and now here you are.”

Sergeant Claymore nodded as he took in the scene.

“How are you feeling, Heron?” Elly asked as she came forward with Raj and Yur’l.

“Better and better every day,” Heron said, patting his hover chair. “This little dandy from Sava has been so nice.”

Frank was struck by the raw power Heron held. Here was a man who had lost the use of his lower body still smiling and being grateful. That was true strength in Frank’s eyes.

“Oh, hey, Vega,” Elly blurted as she went over to embrace the empress. “Are you coming with us too?”

Vega looked over at Frank with a raised eyebrow. “Am I?”

“Would it stop you if I said no?” Frank asked.

“No.” Vega grinned with a mischievous smile. “When the report of the attack at the Den went out to our allies, I knew I was coming. Somewhere in the back of your wild mind, you knew it too.”

“Those warnings were just a precautionary measure to let our allies know that they might be attacked as well,” Frank reminded her. His eyes darted to Heron and back, calling attention to the recent assault on Atmos soil.

“But I don’t think my planet is in any danger of being attacked.” Vega looked around the assembled group with piercing eyes. “I think you’re going to take the fight to Jarl Balder. I want in.”

“She’s so smart,” Raj said, shaking his head. “Frank, she’s a lot smarter than you. I hate to say it, but you’re in over your head, buddy.”

Raj patted Frank on the shoulder a few times, each getting harder until Raj pulled away.

“And I’ve come to warn you of what you’re up against before you go into battle,” Heron said. He reached into the compartment of his hover chair where his legs rested. He came back with a leather bound book that appeared to be as old as time itself. Heron gently opened the tome to a marked page.

Frank leaned in to get a better look. The page was yellowed with age. Markings on one side he couldn’t read fell down the page in two columns. The opposite side of the page was a picture so faded he had to squint to make out what he was seeing.

The image was of an alien like the one he had seen on Sunni’s planet. Chairman had called them Damnaughts. The rough sketch showed the same hulking body, the same sickly green skeleton face, and a maw rowed with teeth. The drawing also had the right arm of the creature removed with an arrow pointing to and from the stump where it had been before, as if it were some kind of action figure whose arm could be taken and put back at will.

“The Damnaught you are going after is called Karn,” Heron said as everyone leaned over to get a better look. “His race is rather interesting in that it can grow back limbs at will.”

“Say what?” Elly wiggled a pointer finger into the inner part of her ear. “He can grow back body parts?”

“Yes,” Heron said with a twist of his lips. “I know it sounds strange, but his specific species is known for their long life spans due to this trait. You should know this before you go into battle with him. Simply removing a limb won’t kill him. You must find an alternate means.”

“Oh, we’ll find a way,” Sergeant Claymore said, cracking the knuckles on both of his gigantic fists. The sound echoed in the chamber. “We’ll find a way if we have to try over and over and over again.”

“Karn is also a mercenary feared by even his own kind,” Heron said, stroking his white beard. “He’s not to be taken lightly. He has a history of crime that would span from here to Atmos and back.”

“Do you have any suggestions on how to defeat him?” Yur’l asked.

“The Damnaughts were in a war a few centuries before with a race called the Pine. The Pine never defeated them but were able to fight them to a standstill by using water. They drowned the Damnaughts.”

“Thank you for bringing this information to us, Heron,” Frank said, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder. “You’ve given us a heads-up on this one. If you hadn’t told us, I’m sure we’d be in for a nasty surprise when Karn didn’t go down.”

“Of course.” Heron grinned past his thick white beard. “You all come back safe now. We have much good to do for the universe still. The new order of the Arilion Knights are just coming into their own.”

Frank wished he could spend more time with the man who had believed in him from the beginning. Right now, there was work to do.

Frank looked up at the window that oversaw the gateway chamber. He couldn’t see him, but he knew General Breaker would be above looking down on the proceedings.

“General, permission to launch with Empress Vega?” Frank asked over the comms.

“Permission granted,” General Breaker said without hesitation. “Stop Jarl and Karn. Bring them back dead or alive.”

“Roger that,” Frank said as the technicians powered down the orb and readjusted the destination for Epsilon Nine.

The gateway the orb projected faded then came to life again as the new set of coordinates were placed on the sphere.

“Weapons check,” Frank reminded the group. “We’re not exactly sure what we’re walking into, so stay alert, eyes open. I’ll go first with Yur’l and Claymore behind me.”

Frank didn’t make eye contact with Vega when he gave the order. He knew the woman he loved would prefer to take the lead with him. If he gave her the slightest opening, she would.

Instead of giving her time to voice her opinion, he moved up the ramp that led to the projected archway.

Well, here we go again, buddy boy, Frank said to himself. Here we go again.

9

The mist swirled around him in an almost comforting way. Frank had used the gateway so many times now there was no fear or uncertainty in the intergalactic means of transportation itself. The questions came regarding what he would find on the other side.

For the moment, as he traveled through the gateway, the cool mist pricked at his skin, and the multicolored lights ebbed and flowed like an ocean.

Frank used the few moments he was in the mist to channel a protective covering of energy around him. He had become so good at the action, the armor from his vambraces acted like a second skin and fit just as well.

In his hands, he created a Punisher GS2000. It was his weapon of choice. Now that he could alter any weapon he wanted via the power of his vambraces, he used the weapon to shoot white-hot energy rounds. The rounds would be able to penetrate anything from armor to tough alien skin or whatever the heck might be waiting for him.

Frank was the first through the gateway. He had no idea where the sphere would let them out on this planet. Epsilon Nine was a question mark besides being a location for the Overlords to create their weapons.

“I’m getting multiple life forms,” Elly said via the comms.

Frank stepped from the mist into a wide dark room. Rock covered the ground, walls, and ceiling above him. It was almost pitch black in the chamber. A faint red light showed in the distance as the ground rose and curved to the right.

Frank, along with Yur’l and Sergeant Claymore, moved into the room, sweeping the area for any enemies. Sergeant Claymore created a bright purple orb in his right hand and then threw it upward. The light illuminated the room, hovering in open space.

There was a ticking noise all around them as creatures moved away from the light just out of range of the bright ball of illumination.

“I really wish your light was brighter,” Raj said as he moved in a tight formation behind the knights.

There was scurrying in the dark. It sounded like hundreds of hard feet were running across the rock. Frank caught motion and even various body parts of the creatures that ran in the dark.

“Elly, talk to me,” Frank said as he trained his weapon into the blackness beyond the light.

“The location Chairman gave us says we’re east of their facility. Epsilon Nine is more of a moon. It’s small. We’ll be able to get there in a few hours. The read out is telling me there are hundreds of these creatures.”

“Easy, hold your fire,” Frank said, edging forward toward the opening of the cave and the red sunlight beyond. “They haven’t attacked yet. Maybe they’re just checking us out. We’re in their house after all.”

Step by step, Frank slowly moved up the sloping hard ground to the light he hoped was daylight.

The group moved with him. Everyone had their weapons out and ready to engage. Vega wielded her two-handed great sword poised above her head, ready to come down at any angle.

The clicking around them didn’t stop. Neither did the creatures dare venture into the light shining from Sergeant Claymore’s orb.

“Any chance you can shine a little more light on the area?” Raj asked.

At the same time the words left his lips Yur’l formed a purple sphere in his right hand and threw it up into the air.

The scene around them was something out of a nightmare. Elly was right. There were hundreds of them. Scaled bodies that looked like something between a lion and an insect clicked as the light disturbed their eyes. Their bodies were feline despite the scales that covered them. Their six legs ended in points more than paws. Their ebony-black eyes and the clicking pincers on their mouth were the part that reminded everyone of an insect.

“Oh, I really wish I hadn’t asked for more light,” Raj whispered.

“Easy, easy,” Vega said, still holding her weapon above her head. The group moved in a circle toward the entrance as the creatures once more retreated out of the light. “We can still get out of this without having to kill them.”

Everything inside of Frank told him to open fire on the strange alien creatures. The fact that there were so many of them in such a small space meant they could give the knights a run for their money. They had to be smart about this.

Slowly, the group made their way to the mouth of the cave and the red sun above. The creatures continued to click and maneuver around the group until they were left in the dark once more.

“We should have taken a ship or something,” Elly breathed. “I don’t want to go down there again.”

“I second that,” Frank said, looking out over the desolate planet’s terrain.

Epsilon Nine looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. There were rugged mountains to the north and east, dark grey and black rock was everywhere to be seen with not so much as a blade of grass to break up the terrain.

A distant red star sat in the sky overhead, giving off enough warmth to dampen Frank’s brow.

“This way.” Elly pointed to the east and a desert-like landscape in front of them. “Well, I can see why the Overlords would choose this place as a base. Not exactly a tourist attraction.”

“Let’s get going,” Frank said, motioning to Yur’l and Sergeant Claymore. “You two think you can arrange a mode of transportation that would fit both you and a passenger?”

“Indeed,” Yur’l said.

“Yes,” Sergeant Claymore said.

The next few seconds were made up of Frank, Yur’l, and Sergeant Claymore all constructing a vehicle on which to move across the barren landscape.

The easiest constructs were ones the user was already comfortable with. Frank had driven a motorcycle for years while he was in the military and for a while after. He constructed a 2017 Ducati Monster. The motorcycle shone dark purple as he lifted a leg over and extended a hand to Vega.

“My lady,” Frank said.

Vega sheathed her sword. Her eyes twinkled behind the golden helmet she wore. She accepted his hand and easily fit behind him on the bike.

“I’m not sure about this,” Raj was saying to Sergeant Claymore. “Have you ridden one of these things before?”

Frank looked over to see what means of transportation the other two knights had constructed. Yur’l’s looked like a cross between a Pegasus and a rhinoceros. The creature’s body was built like a tank, but thick wings stuck out on either side. Yur’l was helping a grinning Elly on at the moment.

Sergeant Claymore, on the other hand, had created what looked like a demolition derby cart. There were seats for two, with large wheels and a metal frame. An assortment of weapons from turrets to what looked like flame throwers came off the vehicle.

“Is it safe?” Raj was asking as Sergeant Claymore jumped behind the driver’s seat. “I mean, you’ve done this before with someone, right?”

“Would it make you feel better if I said yes?” Sergeant Claymore asked.

“Yes,” Raj said.

“Then yes.” Sergeant Claymore gunned the engine. “I have done this many times before.”

“But is that the truth?” Raj asked as he got into the vehicle.

“Come on.” Frank grinned back at his friend. “We’re burning daylight.”

The convoy of the three constructed modes of transportation made their way across the rocky landscape toward the Overlord base. The three knights traveled quickly over the open area, making good time as they sped forward. Frank and Sergeant Claymore drove side by side while Yur’l took his creature to the air.

Under two hours of hard traveling and Frank heard Elly in his comm unit.

“We’re just a few kilometers out now,” Elly said. “I can see smoke on the horizon. I think we’re too late.”

Frank gunned his engine, traveling faster. Vega gripped him tightly around the chest.

In a few minutes, he too could see the tendrils of smoke rising toward the heavens. It wasn’t a single fire. Multiple fires were breaking out across a compound at the base of a mountain in front of them. High walls reminded Frank of an ancient castle.

Towers sprouted around the structure with turrets spaced strategically across the fortification. The compound was larger than the B.U.T.T.S. building back in New York. It rose multiple levels with circular roofs around the tops of the buildings.

It was the turrets that were smoldering. The fires were new and still going, giving Frank hope that Jarl and Karn were still inside.

The main gates of the compounds were bent, their hinges broken inward as if some giant battering ram had demolished them with a single blow.

“Yur’l, Elly,” Frank shouted over the rushing wind. “Can you see them?”

“That’s a negat—holy shnikeys, Frank!” Elly yelled through her comms. “We have incoming through the main gate!”

Frank squinted, willing his eyes to see what Elly was seeing from her vantage point.

He didn’t have to look long. Jarl Balder walked forward in front of an army of silver robots. He was easy to pick out between his orange vambraces and the antler-like horns that came from his head. He wore a black armored vest and pants.

“We’re too late,” Sergeant Claymore growled. “Good, I was hoping for a fight.”

Frank stopped his motorcycle a good fifty meters from Jarl and his army of robots. Karn was nowhere to be seen. That was something that made Frank wary. Were they walking into a trap?

Frank dismounted with Vega. The other two knights along with Elly and Raj joined them.

Frank tried to count the rows of robots, but there were too many. There had to be hundreds of the machines, maybe more. They stood upright like humans with hands and feet like his own. Their skull heads shone with a pair of bright red eyes.

“Those don’t belong to you,” Frank shouted at the distance between the pair of factions. “I would tell you to stand down, but I don’t think you’re going to do that. I hope you’re not going to do that.”

Jarl Balder smirked. “You and I, Frank Wolffe. You and I are more alike than you’d like to think. You know I’m not giving up until you’re in the ground. You, your friends, and all the Arilion Knights that act as false saviors of the universe.”

“Where’s Karn?” Frank asked, ignoring the pointless banter Jarl was so good at. “Where’s your little friend?”

“Oh, he’s around.” Jarl cracked a grin. “Lucy Lopez would be around too if you hadn’t gotten to her first. She was confused when I found her, but I guess the hold you have on her is stronger than I anticipated.”

“It’s not a hold; it’s called friendship and loyalty,” Elly yelled. “You should try it.”

“I see you’ve added to your ranks,” Jarl said, ignoring Elly. He motioned over to Sergeant Claymore before waving toward his own steel army. “Well, so have I. I imagine this balances the odds a bit.”

“Surrender now!” Sergeant Claymore said, constructing a massive weapon in his hands. It looked like a grenade launcher on steroids.

Frank couldn’t help but notice a name etched into the weapon. It read “Lori.”

“Surrender has never been an option. Haven’t you been paying attention?” Jarl asked, cocking his head to the side. “You should really see the new models the Overlords have contracted. So durable and so strong. One on one, they would prove a nuisance for beings of our power, but in great number, they are quite difficult to kill.”

“I’ve heard enough.” Frank constructed his own weapon. He brought the butt of the Punisher GS2000 to his shoulder. “Last chance.”

“I wonder what your parents would say about this?” Jarl grinned. “Oh wait, I don’t have to wonder. We can just ask them.”

Frank’s mouth went dry.

Jarl opened his right palm, where a circular holo device showed a giant screen. Karn was in the midst of a ruined building. He towered over two cowering figures in front of him. It was Frank’s mother and father.

10

A strange feeling took hold of Frank in that moment. Fear, anger, and despair engulfed him all at once. His mouth went dry as he tried to rein in his emotions and come up with a plan that would see his mother and father saved.

He hoped the image in front of him was a trick, but the features on his parents were too real. His now elderly father sat on the ground beside his mother, a protective flannel clad arm over her as he stared down Karn with courage, not fear.

His mother was bleeding from a spot on the right side of her hairline. She looked dazed. He had heard she awoke from her medically induced coma, but with all his attention focused on hunting down Jarl, he couldn’t take a chance leading him to her. He found them anyway.

“Nothing to say now?” Jarl barked with laughter. “You’re always so quick to respond.”

Vega was the first to find her voice. “I’m going to kill you, you piece of shi—”

“Uh, ah, ah.” Jarl waved a finger, cutting off Vega. “One word from me and Mr. and Mrs. Wolffe will be pulverized.”

Vega had taken a step forward, brandishing her sword. She stopped at Jarl’s threat.

“I’m linking in General Breaker now,” Elly whispered through the comms via Frank’s head unit. “Get him to keep talking.”

Frank was so lost in his own mind over what could happen to his parents if he didn’t play this exactly right that he nearly lost the meaning in Elly’s words altogether. His mother’s sweet face, always a light to her son, even in the toughest days of bullying and need, now seemed confused and shocked. Her doe eyes glistened over as she took in the horrific alien standing over her in her nightgown.

“You coward!” Sergeant Claymore bellowed. “Hiding behind hostages instead of facing us in open combat is a pathetic move.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, Gorkope.” Jarl looked over at Sergeant Claymore. “Your time will come as well.”

“Frank, what’s going on?” General Breaker’s voice came over the comm unit.

Frank shook himself away from the horrific image of his mother and father in front of him. The ten-year-old boy who would read to them at the dinner table, seeking their approval and pride, began to wash over the warrior, the leader he had become. Shaking his head slightly, he focused on what he had to do to save them.

“So you’ve had Karn capture my mother and father in what?” Frank asked, trying to relay all the information out loud in a way that would sound somewhat natural. “You captured them in my mother’s care facility? What kind of animal are you?”

“Roger that,” General Breaker said to his credit, picking up on what was going on quicker than even Frank expected. “I’ll get Jackson en route.”

Jackson? Frank wondered for a moment. Then he recalled that Emma Jackson was the Arilion Knight that protected Earth. She was currently aiding in the reconstruction of the Academy space station. Unsure how long it would take her to get to his parents from the training ground for the New Arilion Knights, he figured he’d have to stall as much as possible.

“If you do what I say, maybe I’ll let them live,” Jarl said, closing his hand over the image of Karn looming over Frank’s parents. “You along with your two knights will remove your vambraces. The rest of you will lower your weapons.”

Frank lowered the rifle from his eye line. His arms rested by his side. He needed to figure out a way to buy Emma enough time to get the message from Colonel Breaker and get over to his family in time.

Emma Jackson was much better at flying than he was, but even she would need every second she could to reach his mother and father. She was on the west coast in California; his parents were in Chicago. Even if she took the fastest ship from the Academy, it would be close.

“Do you think I’m playing with you!?” Jarl screamed, losing his temper. “Do you need Karn to remove a limb or two to be assured that I mean what I say?”

“No, no.” Frank looked over at his team and nodded to them. “Drop your weapons. Remove your vambraces.”

“Jackson has the coordinates,” General Breaker said over the comms. “She and Jace are headed there now via the teleportation technology at the Academy. We’ll need a few more minutes.”

Frank breathed a sigh of relief. He had forgotten about the teleportation technology employed by the Academy. With any luck, Emma and Jace would be there to stop Karn soon. A glimmer of hope washed over Frank: Jace, another Arilion Knight training at the Academy, was a formidable warrior. Frank hoped the two of them would at least be enough to battle Karn to a standstill.

Vega dropped her sword to the ground with a defiant clang. Elly and Raj did the same with their firearms. Frank, Yur’l, and Sergeant Claymore removed their vambraces. The vambraces were tied to their owners like a magnet. Even in Frank’s hands, the vambraces pulled against his grip to be reunited to his forearms once more.

Removing the pieces of armor was like taking away a piece of himself. His ability to construct was gone. His shielding dissipated.

Sergeant Claymore let out a low, deep breath carrying a bit of a growl with it. He had worn his vambraces for centuries. No doubt he would make Jarl pay for this affront.

“Vambraces in here,” Jarl said, throwing them a weighted bag. “Gleason, you collect the vambraces and put them inside.”

Yur’l looked over at Frank.

Come on, Emma. Hurry, hurry, Frank said over and over again in his mind. Outwardly, he nodded to Yur’l to continue with Jarl’s orders.

To his credit, Yur’l moved painstakingly slow as he gathered the three pairs of vambraces and deposited them into the weighted bag that looked more like a cage than a piece of luggage.

“If you think stalling for time will help them, you’re mistaken.” Jarl grinned as the vambraces were secured in the crate. “This is where it ends for you. You were outmatched from the beginning.”

Yur’l took his place beside Frank again.

“They’re in Chicago, converging on the building,” General Breaker said low over the comms. “Stand by.”

“I’ve been waiting so long for this.” Jarl constructed an orange pistol the likes of which Frank had never seen and pointed it at him. The scarring on his face from their last encounters seemed angrier than before. His eyes burned with hate. “On your knees. I’ve cooked up something special for you.”

Frank didn’t blink. He took a step forward and just glared at Jarl. If this was how he was going to die, he was going to do so on his feet with his eyes open. “No.”

“Frank,” Vega said as though she had more to follow, but the words to come next had gotten lost in her throat. He didn’t turn to look at her. He couldn’t.

“I told you I’d take your family and friends from you first so you could suffer like I did.” Jarl moved the pistol from Frank at the last minute and pointed at Yur’l. “Here’s number one.”

“No!” Frank screamed in sync with the shot ringing out.

BAM!

Frank saw it happen all in slow motion. He tried to dive to his right to shield Yur’l. Without his vambraces to afford him the extra speed he needed, there was no way he would be faster than a round from Jarl’s weapon. Ice flooded his veins. He felt as though he had just been punched in the gut.

Yur’l crumpled to the floor, sending a few grey feathers into the space around him.

Vega and Sergeant Claymore screamed in a helpless rage. Elly sank to her knees with tears in her eyes alongside Raj. Shock rendered her speechless.

Frank dropped to the ground beside Yur’l despite his act of attempting to become a human shield lost. The round had taken Yur’l in the chest. The armor he wore had taken the impact of the bullet, but whatever the round was made of ate through his armor and entered his body. A steady stream of blood ran from the wound.

Yur’l was on his back, looking up into the sky and coughing.

“Yur’l, Yur’l, stay with us,” Frank said, gripping the knight’s hand in his own. “That’s not a request; that’s an order. You hear me! You stay with us!”

Elly lifted Yur’l’s head in her lap while the others crowded around. Raj was already inspecting the wound.

Yur’l’s eyes were open but unseeing, his breath labored and slow.

“We need to stop the bleeding,” Raj said, talking to himself out loud as he opened his pack and began reaching for his tools. “I don’t know what kind of weapon hit him. Elly, I need pressure here.”

“Do what you will, but he’s already dead,” Jarl said with a smile. “I cooked up something extra special for you. A toxin is delivered into the blood stream with each round. It shuts down internal functions organ by organ. It’s a slow, painful death. He should be out of his misery in a few days, maybe longer if we’re lucky.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Frank’s gut twisted inside him. All the blame for Yur’l’s pain sat heavy on his soul. “I should have gotten to you sooner. I shouldn’t have…”

“They’ve engaged with Karn.” General Breaker’s voice cut through the moment of sorrow. “Frank, your parents are safe.”

“Go, finish this,” Yur’l said through a gritted beak as his body spasmed in pain.

Sadness turned to anger as Frank squeezed his friend’s hand one more time. He rose to his feet with his back toward Jarl.

“Who’s next, who’s next?” Jarl teased. “Shall we continue with the love interest or the Gorkope knight recently woken from his slumber?”

Frank turned, clenching his hands into fists. His vambraces were only a few meters in front of him, still hovering in the weighted bag, trying to push free of the confines. He reached down and picked up Elly’s Punisher GS2000 then handed Vega her own sword.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” Jarl smirked. He pointed his weapon at Vega’s head. “Bullets and blades aren’t going to do you any good in this fight.”

“Give me some cover,” Frank told Vega out of the side of his mouth. “It’s going to happen fast.”

“I’m ready,” Vega whispered back. Despite her low tone, there was an edge of violence in her voice that made even Frank shudder.

With a quick torquing motion, Frank twisted his body to stand sideways behind Vega. He leaned out just far enough from her to send a spray of rounds into the bag holding his vambraces.

At the same time, Vega also turned sideways and brought up her wide broadsword to act as a shield. Standing sideways with the flat side of the sword exposed created a shield for them that nearly covered them entirely.

BAM!

Jarl sent out another round from his weapon that struck Vega’s sword near the hilt. Whatever the round was made of began to eat through the steel just like it had eaten through Yur’l’s armor.

Vega dropped the weapon before the substance penetrated to her. Jarl lifted his weapon. He fired another round at Vega’s exposed right side.

The round connected with a purple shield. In the few seconds it took Jarl to fire his round, recover, and fire another, Frank had been reunited with his vambraces. The dual pieces of armor tore the rest of the way through the bag where the rounds from the rifle entered. They landed on Frank’s forearms not a moment too soon.

Frank moved in front of the Neeve empress, staring down Jarl. “It ends now.”

11

Jarl shook his horned head with hate. He looked down to his right hand, where he held the holo device. Whatever he saw brought a grimace to his face.

“Sending in the Arilion Knight from Earth to do your dirty work.” Jarl crushed the holo tech in his hand with the ferocity born of hate. “I knew you’d send for help, but I misjudged the timing. They got to Karn a minute too soon. Another sixty seconds and you’d all be dying along with the Gleason.”

“Enough talk!” Sergeant Claymore roared. He too had taken back his vambraces. The same deadly weapon he had constructed before named “Lori” was held in his hands. “Now you die!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Sergeant Claymore sent out a hail of exploding rounds that detonated on impact. A moment later, Jarl disappeared behind the explosions and smoke brought on by the weapon.

Why not? Frank asked himself as he too opened fire with his modified Punisher GS2000.

He exchanged the shield he had used a moment before for his weapon. He hosed Jarl with Fire Breath Rounds, a term he had coined himself. They were incendiary rounds that went off like a dragon breathing fire from the muzzle of his barrel.

Frank and Sergeant Claymore stalked forward maintaining a steady stream of fire on Jarl’s position. Although they couldn’t see him anymore due to the level of explosive debris and smoke, they knew where he had been a moment before.

It wasn’t until Frank heard Raj screaming in his comms that he let up on the trigger.

“Frank, we gotta get Yur’l back to the Den,” Raj was saying trying to rein in his panic. “I need my tools there to treat him.”

“Roger that,” Frank said as both he and Sergeant Claymore came up short of Jarl’s position.

Both knights waited for the smoke to settle to see what had become of their target. As the greyish-black smoke drifted away on the planet’s cool breeze, Jarl Balder was revealed.

He was still intact. His own burnt-orange vambraces constructed a shielding of second skin around his body. Smoke tendrils and steam still came off him in thin wisps.

He was grinning.

“Well, I guess you’re faced with yet another dilemma.” Jarl licked at his thin lips the way a predator would having cornered its kill. “Stay and fight while your friend behind you dies or go and get him the help he needs. I know you so well, I already know what you’re going to do. You’re too stupid to realize he’s already dead, so you’ll travel back to the sphere, leaving me to go my way and kill you another day.”

Frank hated every word coming out of Jarl’s stupid mouth, mostly because he was right. He had already decided to get Yur’l back to the Den and get him the help he needed. He or Sergeant Claymore could do this on their own, leaving the other one to face Jarl Balder and his robot army alone.

“I’ll make this easier for you,” Jarl said, turning his back to walk away. “I’ll leave you a taste of what’s to come. I’ll see you and the woman you love soon.”

Everything in Frank wanted to rush forward and take the fight to Jarl. The only thing keeping him back was the labored gasps of Yur’l and Raj’s insistence they get back through the gateway.

“Frank,” Raj said, trying to control the intensity in his voice. “Son of an alien virus, Frank, we’ve got to go now.”

“Coward!” Sergeant Claymore screamed. He lifted his weapon again and sent another volley after Jarl.

Instead of Jarl turning to fight, the first wave of robot soldiers that stood so still until now moved forward to intercept. Their own forearms opened, revealing a compartment where their own blasters were stored.

Frank realized what Sergeant Claymore had not. They needed to go. The fight here was over before it had really started.

“Sergeant,” Frank said, backtracking to the rest of the group. The robots advanced on their position. “Fall back to the gateway. I’ll take the others. You cover our retreat.”

“Roger,” Sergeant Claymore said through gritted teeth as he engaged with the oncoming robots.

Frank walked backward, constructing a wall of purple shielding that would hinder any rounds the robots shot at them from striking his team members. Vega picked up Raj’s Punisher GS2000. She stood over Yur’l protectively while Raj and Elly did their best to comfort him.

Frank constructed the first thing that came to mind. He needed something that could travel fast with a wide base so Yur’l could lie down. It would have to be simple and something he knew well. Already the fatigue of employing his will for so long was beginning to take effect on his body.

Frank wasn’t even really sure of the proper name of the vehicle he constructed, although he had seen it a dozen times before. It had a flat base with four wheels and a teeter-totter handle that rose up from its center for riders to pump up and down on a train track.

There were no complaints as Raj and Elly lifted a groaning Yur’l onto the construct.

Vega and Sergeant Claymore covered Frank, firing rounds into the approaching robot soldiers.

“A handcar?” Elly asked as she jumped on board beside Yur’l and Raj. “Really?”

ZZZT! ZZZT! ZZZT!

Blue blaster fire from the robots struck all round them as Marine Space Corp One readied to be off. Frank stood on the rear of the handcar, still maintaining a shield for those aboard. Raj and Elly sat on his left, holding on to Yur’l, who lay flat. Vega was on his right, roaring at the enemy as she pumped round after round into their ranks.

Despite the number of rounds she sent at the oncoming robotic soldiers, she was unable to put them down for good. When her rounds struck them, they were buffeted back for a moment, but then kept coming. Whatever their outer armor was made from was beyond the ability of the Punisher GS2000 to penetrate.

Sergeant Claymore was only having slightly better luck on his own. He traded in his explosive rounds for full-on rockets that detonated on impact. The rockets streaked from his weapon, leaving a trail of white smoke in their wake. The explosions rocked the robots, flinging them backward either into their own or across the battlefield.

Frank understood how much raw power Sergeant Claymore was expending to send dozens of these rockets into the enemy ranks. He wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, but maybe he wouldn’t have to.

“Claymore!” Frank yelled as he moved the handcar forward. “We’re out of here.”

Sergeant Claymore nodded. Now that he didn’t have to carry anyone, he used his will power to channel strength into his legs and travel with them, using incredibly long leaps to keep pace with the handcar.

Between his rockets and Vega’s steady stream of fire, the robots were kept at bay as they made their escape. Within minutes, the metallic soldiers were lost to sight in the post-apocalyptic terrain of Epsilon Nine.

Frank poured everything he had into propelling the vehicle forward. He released his hold on the shield behind them, using his efforts to concentrate on the handcar alone. The way the energy was drained from him felt like he was running a marathon while wearing a weighted vest. He concentrated on one meter at a time, following Elly’s directions back to the cave where they first arrived on Epsilon Nine.

Yur’l’s breathing was shallow. His eyes closed as Raj and Elly comforted him as best they could.

“He’ll pull through,” Vega said to Frank as she slung the Punisher GS2000 over her shoulder. “He’s going to make it.”

Frank wiped away the sweat from his eyes. The red sun overhead didn’t help his efforts. He nodded along with Vega’s words.

“Heron will know of a way to heal him,” Vega continued, realizing Frank was still stuck in his own head. “Or Sava will have an answer from the Draconians.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Frank said finally, looking over at Vega. “I know. I know we’ll figure it out. I know that it’s Jarl’s fault, not my own this is happening. I know all of that, but I still feel like I should have done more. How many more people have to pay at the hands of Jarl Balder?”

“We’ll find him,” Vega said, removing her helmet and wiping the sweat from her own face. “There’s nowhere he can hid, no rock he can crawl under that will keep him safe. We’ll have the Alliance out looking for him. It’s just a matter of time.”

While Frank and Vega spoke, Raj was on the comm with General Breaker, informing him of their arrival and to prep the medical bay.

“I’m not sure what’s in his bloodstream, but it’s not the actual wound that is killing him; it’s the toxin,” Raj said over the line. “We should get Heron on board with this. Maybe he knows what Jarl used.”

“Understood,” General Breaker answered. “Frank, you should know your parents are well. They’re confused at what they’ve seen, but I thought you should be the one to explain things to them. Emma and Jace fought Karn all over Chicago. He got away but not before they got a few good licks on him.”

“Roger that,” Frank said, finding something to be grateful for even in this time. “Tell them thank you for me.”

“You can tell them yourself when you get back,” General Breaker said. “Well, at least Jackson. She’s staying on until we get Jarl Balder into custody.”

The corner of Frank’s left lips came up in a smile. He had never had a sister, but he imagined that was what Emma Jackson would have been like. She was still a teenager but as strong and unrelenting as any knight.

He acted as a kind of mentor for her. When she realized who she was as an Arilion Knight, it had been a lot to comprehend. It was a lot for anyone to comprehend.

Seeing her again would be good. Explaining everything to his parents, on the other hand, would be difficult. What was he supposed to tell them?

Frank pushed these thoughts out of his mind once more as he concentrated on getting Yur’l help as soon as he could.

Hang in there, bird man, Frank said to himself as he looked down on Yur’l’s still form. Hang in there. Help is on the way.

12

Frank sat in the bleak waiting room of the Den’s medical wing. The familiar chill of the sterile atmosphere nipped at his exposed skin and chilled him within. Waiting for news of a loved one’s health was something he endured far too many times in his life. He had gone through the process with the ailing health of his mother, Sava, Heron, and now Yur’l. Would it ever stop?

Frank sat alone for the time being in the small area that acted as a reception room. Lamps hung overhead with a handful of chairs and a short table as an attempt to make the space welcoming. Raj and Heron did their best to preserve his friend and fellow knight’s life alongside the rest of the medical team beyond sealed doors.

Elly had waited with Frank, then General Breaker pulled her away to run frequency tests as the hunt for Jarl continued. Vega returned to her home world on Atmos to report and extend the Neeve search effort for the terrorists. She promised she would be back as soon as possible.

Sergeant Claymore had gone to meet Sava and coordinate search efforts for Jarl and Karn with the Draconians. All teams were a go to find the terrorists across numerous galaxies. Frank was depleted and knew he shouldn’t wallow when there was work to be done. That was the plight of a man of action: right now, there was no action save for waiting.

“You look like you could use a coffee or maybe just a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart,” a familiar female voice said from outside of his view.

Frank turned to see Emma Jackson entering the door from the main hall like a light breeze warmed by the sun. Tall for her age, her slender form matched with her quick moves made her just as deadly as the rest of the Arilion Knights. Long, blonde hair hid her pointed ears courtesy of her mother’s alien heritage. She dressed in a black uniform with purple trim similar to his own. Her lavender vambraces glowed on her forearms, giving a purple tint to her face. Then Frank got a better look as she approached.

A bruise welled on the right side of her face.

“Who do I have to kill?” Frank asked, standing up and pointing to her mark.

“Oh, this?” Emma said, coming over and embracing the man who had taught her so much of what she knew. “Some massive muscled alien. I think he goes by Corn? No, that’s not right—Karn, he wants to be called Karn.”

Frank wrapped his arms around the young woman in a brief hug. Though short-lived so far, their time together safely brought them to hugging status. In the time he knew her, she had made leaps and bounds as a powerful Arilion Knight. Even hugging her now, he could feel how sturdy she was. She embraced the physical training portion of their routine like no other. Her body, even outside of the power of being an Arilion Knight, was a weapon in and of itself.

Emma pulled away, pointing with her chin at the door. “Any word on Yur’l?”

“Not yet.” Frank rubbed at tired eyes. “Not yet.”

“He’s going to pull through,” Emma said. “He’s going to find a way to make it. He’s an Arilion Knight. He’s not going to stop fighting. I hear we have some crazy Will power and stuff.”

“I know,” Frank said, looking at Emma with a slight smile.

“What?” she asked, rubbing at her face. “Do I have ketchup from my lunch or something?”

“No, it’s just funny to see how things go full circle. There was a time I was reassuring a young Emma Jackson in hiding from everyone who knew her and now you’re here doing the same for me,” Frank told her.

“We’re family,” Emma said, lightly punching Frank’s shoulder. “That’s what family does.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” Frank said letting a huge blow of air slowly out of his lips. “I’ve had enough emotions flow through me for one day. How’s Jace? The fight with Karn, was he injured?”

“Naw, nothing like that,” Emma said with a shake of her head. “Karn was no joke, though. Jace went back to the Academy to help search for him. We almost had him when we were fighting in Chicago. He dazed me with a sledgehammer to the side of my face. Jace had him in an armlock. The two tore away from one another so violently, his freaking left arm came off in Jace’s hands.”

“Gross,” Frank said, getting a visual.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Emma said. “I guess he belongs to some kind of species that can grow back their limbs, though, so he’ll be whole again when we fight him next.”

“They have an army of killer robots with them,” Frank said, thinking back to the hundreds of robotic soldiers Jarl now had under his command. “They’ll be back, sooner rather than later.”

“Not if we find them first,” Emma said. “We’ll get him, Frank, we’ll get him.”

Frank was about to say more when the doors leading deeper into the medical wing opened. It was Heron gliding in on his hover chair. The elderly Neeve historian looked like Frank felt: red-eyed and fatigued.

“How is he?” Frank asked.

“Yur’l’s giving the toxin one heck of a fight,” Heron said, shaking his head. “If it were anyone else, I’m not sure they’d make it. That Gleason has the heart of a giant. Not literally, though. I mean, he’s got that Arilion Will. He’s holding on. We’re still trying to determine precisely what is in the toxin. As soon as we do, we’ll be able to fashion the proper antidote. We have the best minds in the Alliance on it now. We’ll figure it out.”

Frank swallowed hard. It wasn’t the answer he wanted; still, it wasn’t the worst news either. There was nothing Frank could do for his friend in that moment besides be with him.

“Can I go in?” Frank asked, looking past Heron.

“I think so,” Heron said with a grim nod. “Raj is with him now.”

Frank left the waiting room, traveling through the door Heron just exited. On the opposite side was a long, stark hall with doors lining the left and right. Frank hadn’t asked which room Yur’l was in, so he traveled down the hall, hoping to find someone to ask.

Raj exited the third door on the left before Frank saw anyone else to speak to.

“Did Heron give you the news?” Raj asked.

“He did,” Frank answered. “We have to figure out what toxin Jarl introduced into Yur’l’s system to find a cure.”

“That’s right,” Raj said with a heavy sigh. “We’ll figure this out. Once we know the composition of the foreign contagion, we can reverse engineer the structure to counterbalance it. Though there are two things working against us. Well, against me. I’ve never provided care for a Gleason before. I had to say it, but I’m no veterinarian or ornithologist, man.”

“Wait. I’m not sure what most of that means. And maybe I’m too out of it. But did you just refer to Yur’l, our fellow fighter and knight in MSC-1, as an animal, like a bird?” Frank said.

“Son of a foreign species, Frank. I’m a human doctor, not a– a– well, I don’t know!” Sweat glistened on the doctor’s tan forehead as the sheer stress began to overcome him.

“Hey, you just saved his life. If it weren’t for you and Heron, another non-human I should add, then Yur’l would have died from blood loss or worse. He’s alive because of you, Doctor.” Frank placed a hand on Raj’s shoulder. “You’re one of the smartest people I know. You know biology and have a ton of medical degrees. I have faith in you. And I’m sure Yur’l does too.” He looked at the worried man in front of him straight in the eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I just don’t want to let him down…” Raj said. “Yur’l’s in a lot of pain, but I gave him medication to help with that. We just need more time.”

“I know. Can I go in to see him?” Frank asked.

“Yes, just keep it short,” Raj reminded him. “He needs to rest. His body is in a fight right now.”

“Roger that,” Frank said, leaving his friend in the hall and entering the room.

Yur’l’s compact room featured a closet on the right and a bathroom on the left, leaving room in the center to house the fallen knight. In front of him, a curtain opened, showing the Gleason lying on a crisp, white bed.

Machines of all sorts with wide display screens monitored his vital signs, reporting out line charts, beeps, and bar graphs tracking levels. An IV stood sentry over the bed; a line for fluids and other clear liquids fed down a thin tube. The too familiar scent of sterile air filled with antiseptics greeted Frank.

Yur’l’s eyes were open when Frank walked in. His soft feathers ruffled around a white and light blue gown provided for him by the medical team.

“Shouldn’t you be out hunting down a terrorist or two?” Yur’l asked when he saw Frank. “I heard they have a robot army under their command.”

“There’s enough people out hunting them now,” Frank said as he moved to the Gleason’s side. “How are you feeling?”

“I can’t feel much with all the pain medication Raj gave me,” Yur’l said with a dopey twist of his beak. “I suspect I’m in an incredible amount of pain without the meds. It feels—it feels like I’m dying inside.”

At those last words, a tightness seized Frank’s throat. His body stiffened as he focused to gain control. He knew he had to be strong for the man. Yet everything Frank thought to tell Yur’l now sounded so canned or cliché. He wanted to give the Gleason something more. He wanted to give his friend the words he needed to inspire strength and hope.

“You’re going to make it,” Frank said, leaving no room for anything save finality in his voice. He had to believe it as much as Yur’l. “You will live through this.”

“I know,” Yur’l said to Frank’s surprise. “When Jarl first shot me, the back of my head hit the ground so hard I thought I was unconscious. It couldn’t have been more than a second or two, still, it felt like a few moments in my mind. In that time I saw—I saw my wife and daughter again.”

A moment passed in the room during which Frank decided to keep his mouth shut and let Yur’l share what he had experienced. It was clear the Gleason was having a hard time putting the events that transpired into words. Frank had been knocked unconscious enough times now to understand that things aren’t always what they seem and that the brain and mind can do amazing things. He recalled the time he met Jacob of the Light during their encounter with Kraymar the Lord of Chaos as exhibit A.

“I saw my wife and daughter sitting on a wooden bench in a beautiful green park. They looked—they looked so happy, Frank,” Yur’l said as tears pooled in his grey eyes and fell down his feathered face. They left a glistening trail down around his orange beak before falling on his thin gown. “They were smiling and waving to me without a care or pain in the universe. I wanted to go to my beautiful girls. More than anything, I wanted to go to them, hug them, touch them, have them in my arms once more. I miss my girls so much, every day.”

Yur’l’s voice quivered. He took a moment to calm himself, inhaling a long breath and exhaling slowly, painfully.

“My wife smiled at me. Ah, I always loved the way her eyes would light up when she really smiled at me. She told me it wasn’t my time yet. Irys was always right, you know? Even when she was wrong, she’d find a way to be right.” Yur’l swallowed hard. “My sweet daughter Karl’yn said she was proud of me. Sitting there next to her mama, simply beaming. She said we’d be together soon, just not yet, that they would save a place for me. She was so smart. I don’t know how I was so lucky to have such a smart daughter. I know I don’t talk about them much, Frank. It just hurts so much sometimes,” he said after another steady breath. Clearing his head, he focused his eye back to Frank. “And that was it. So I’m going to get well again. I’m going to recover from this because my girls told me to. I’m going to come back stronger and I know I’ll see them again one day soon. We’re going to find Jarl and Karn. We’re going to bring them to justice.”

“I thought I was going to have to come in here to give you the pep talk,” Frank said, blinking rapidly to fight back his own tears. “I didn’t know I was the one coming in for the pep talk.”

“You’re still young,” Yur’l said with a chuckle that was followed by a wince. “You’ll learn. So what now?”

“Raj and Heron are leading a team to decipher what exactly is in the toxin Jarl infected you with. Once they do that—”

“No, I know what’s next for me,” Yur’l said. “I mean, what’s next for you?”

Frank took a moment to think about it. He wanted to go on the hunt for Jarl and Karn along with everyone else, but he knew right now he owed his parents an explanation. He couldn’t imagine how terrified and confused they were at the moment.

Frank had been in the Marines, then left, then rejoined without word. His parents suddenly had the cashflow to up his mother’s treatment for her chronic respiratory disease and have enough airflow and energy to awake from her coma. The next thing they know, their son has magical space powers and terrifying aliens are threatening their life. If that wasn’t a shocker, he couldn’t think of what would be.

“Right now, I have to go and try to explain all of this to my mother and father,” Frank said, crossing his arms over his chest. “General Breaker has them in a secure location under protection. He thought I should be the one to tell them what’s happening.”

“From a father’s point of view, I’m sure they’d appreciate that,” Yur’l said. “They’re going to be so proud of you, Frank.”

“Thanks,” Frank said, glancing at the Gleason sideways. “You sure you don’t need a motivational talk or anything? I feel like I should be the one making you feel better instead of you reassuring me.”

“I have a little thing called perspective that comes with age,” Yur’l said, wiping away his own tears. “My time has not come yet. Go ahead. Go to your parents and let them know you’ve become a knight that protects the universe.”

“It sounds crazy when you say it like that,” Frank said, shaking his head. “I think I’ll start by telling them I’ve reenlisted.”

“Probably a good idea,” Yur’l said with a grin.

13

General Breaker surprised Frank. Instead of moving his parents to a safe house to guard them against any further attack from Jarl, he planned to move them straight to the Den. Frank was in a tailspin as he prepared for the two parts of his life to collide.

On one hand, he was grateful to see his parents and overjoyed they were safe. On the other, it was a lot of out-of-this-world information to drop on a civilian. He had withheld the truth from his parents. He couldn’t foresee how they could take this news well. However, if nothing, he had learned lately that anything is possible and people can always surprise him with their strength.

After a quick bite to eat, a shower, and some much needed rest, Frank paced in his room waiting for the arrival of his parents. His quarters at the Den was a compact, square room with a bed, chair, desk, and a dresser for his clothes; that was it. He hadn’t really taken the time to decorate. He was off world so much anyway he usually only used his room for sleeping.

Right now, he was looking at his vambraces, trying to decide if he should remove them when he saw his parents again or if he should keep them on. The pieces of armor on his forearms glowed with dark purple authority that fed off his power of will. He knew they would want to stay on his forearms, but what would be easier for his parents?

“If you look at those vambraces any harder, you’re going to bore holes through them,” Vega said from the doorway into his room. “May I come in?”

“Empress, I’d be honored,” Frank said, looking up from his armored arms. “What do you think? Should I keep them on when my parents come or take them off?”

“I think you’re thinking about this way too much,” Vega said playfully. She walked into his room and sat on his bed, never taking her eyes off him. “Frank Wolffe, are you nervous?”

“No, I mean, not for me,” Frank said, leaving his vambraces on and peering at Vega. Her creamy white dress with gold trim contrasted with her velvety lilac skin and the sandals on her feet reminded Frank of a far-off exotic place. She looked great.

“Focus, Frank.” Vega laughed like silver bells. “What’s going on?”

“It’s just a lot for anyone to take in,” Frank said, tearing his mind away from the gorgeous woman in front of him and refocusing his efforts on what he was going to say to his parents. “It’s nearly been a year since I’ve seen them. We’ve talked a few times and texted, sure, but this—this is going to be entirely different. My folks are simple people. They haven’t seen the world let alone worlds. I know they’re proud of me and much of who I am is from them. And I want them to meet you.”

“Ahhh, I see.” Vega stood from her seat and went to Frank, wrapping her arms around his waist. As she pulled him closer to her, the scent of her hair was intoxicating. “You’re nervous about introducing your new girlfriend to your parents.”

“That makes it sound like I’m a teenager.” Frank couldn’t help but grin as Vega gazed up at him with her purple doe eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“Well, it’s not often I get to see my ferocious Marine Knight uncomfortable and vulnerable. It’s cute,” Vega said, placing a tender peck on his lips. “Besides, I’m looking forward to meeting the man and woman who brought me the love of my life. I should thank them.”

Frank grinned back down at her, grateful to have found such a strong, loving woman, even if he had to cross a universe to discover her. Although they had only known each other for a year, Frank knew Vega was different in every way. It wasn’t just the fact that she was an alien empress; it was her strength of character, her leadership ability that inspired him to be a better man. It was the fact that neither one of them needed one another, but they so desperately wanted to be with each other that made their love so strong.

You want to be with her forever, then what are you waiting for? Frank asked himself as he became lost in Vega’s eyes. She’s the one. There’s no one else for you ever again.

“Are you OK?” Vega grinned. “Your eyes are going all cross-eyed.”

“I’m fine,” Frank said, leaning down to kiss her again. “You have that effect on me.”

Frank pressed his lips to hers once more, lost in the lightheaded feeling that came with the touch.

“Oh, so this is awkward,” Elly said, clearing her throat at the entrance to Frank’s room. “Sorry, I wasn’t sure if I should give you some time or just interrupt you now. If I had given you time to finish the kiss, I’d just be standing here like a creeper.”

“It’s OK,” Frank said, pulling away from Vega, an act that was much harder than he’d anticipated. “Are they here?”

“Yep,” Elly said with an excited grin. “Mr. and Mrs. Wolffe are present and accounted for. I came to get you right away. They’re in the mess hall right now.”

“Right,” Frank said, clearing his throat. He ran a hand through his hair and straightened his uniform. “Are they OK?”

“Yeah, why?” Elly said.

“He’s nervous,” Vega whispered to Elly, who was looking at Frank as though he had grown an extra head.

“Oh, I’ve never seen him fix his hair before,” Elly said with a shrug.

“OK, enough, enough,” Frank said, walking from his room with the two women beside him. “Let’s get this taken care of.”

The trio made their way through the Den and to the mess hall, where Frank’s parents sat at one of the many tables. A pair of Marine escorts stood sentry against the wall should they need anything. His father had his back to him, but Frank could pick out that man from anywhere. A frame similar to Frank’s except grey, worn, and slightly taller, helped himself to the cafeteria-like food while his mother looked around nervously.

Frank caught his mother’s familiar singsong voice as they entered the room.

“How can you eat during a time like this, Liam?” she asked Frank’s father from where she sat with her hands folded in front of her at a table facing the entrance.

“I mean, we got to eat no matter if we’re under an alien invasion or not, right?” Frank’s father answered between a mouthful of food. “Rose, honey, you should try some of this meat. It’s delicious.”

“Frank!” Frank’s mother nearly erupted when he entered the room.

It was a miracle seeing her standing and talking again, a petite woman with shoulder-length curly brown hair that bounced when she popped up to walk toward him. She was wearing worn jeans, a pressed sage green blouse under a khaki jacket with an old broach. Frank could tell her old habits of secondhand store shopping hadn’t gone away. Her little sneakers squeaked as she made her way to him.

His father turned around then. Not necessarily muscular but broad in his shoulders from his own time in the military, he wore glasses with a button-up shirt tucked into his khakis and his own pair of tennis shoes. The spitting image of an old-school dad.

They were exactly as Frank remembered. So much so, it hurt for a moment when he considered how long he had evaded going to see them.

“Mom, Dad,” Frank said, going to each of them and giving them a hug. His mother felt so small and fragile in his arms. His father was a few inches taller than him; despite this, he also felt small in Frank’s arms.

Part of him felt like the twenty-three-year-old returning from oversees for the first time. Being a Marine had changed him in ways his parents couldn’t truly know. They would still be a part of him, yet more different and distant. It had been near impossible to reconcile his two worlds then; he had no idea how he would do it now. In this case, he was especially thankful for grace that was by his side in Vega.

Frank’s mother blinked, trying to decide what to look at first; the glowing pieces of armor on her son’s forearms or the purple-skinned woman who entered the room with him.

“This is my… um, girlfriend, Empress Vega from House Thunder of Atmos in the Oberon Galaxy,” Frank said, jumping straight into it with a shrug and deep breath. “And Elly Wong of the Chinese Space Program. She now runs cyber security and astrophysiology for Marine Space Corp-1. Vega and Elly, these are my parents, Liam and Rose Wolffe.”

“Hell—hello,” Liam said, offering a hand to both women after wiping it on his pants leg. “Sorry if we seem a bit caught off guard. We don’t mean to be rude.”

“Not at all,” Vega said, accepting his offered hand then extending her own to Frank’s mother. “I understand it’s a lot to take in.”

“Girlfriend?” Rose shook Vega’s hand as she glanced back and forth between her son and the alien woman before her.

“We should start at the beginning,” Frank said, motioning the group toward the tables to take a seat.

He told them everything he could. From the time he went through the portal the very first time to his meeting with Vega, the Chaos Lord, Sava, and now hunting Jarl Balder. His parents listened quietly, open mouthed at the tale woven in front of them.

Good thing they don’t have clearance for all the dirty details, Frank thought to himself.

At the more gruesome moments, his mother would squeeze his hand from where she sat on his left. Vega and Elly would chime in when Frank missed a part or to emphasize something they deemed important and in need of further attention.

Frank’s father continued to eat his meal in front of him although he listened with wide eyes. Every so often, he would peer to his left or his right to take in the input from Elly and Vega or ask for their perspective on an incident. Frank’s mother stared open-mouthed, her neck craned forward, eyes full of concern for her son.

When Frank finally finished his story, he leaned back in his seat, waiting for their final reaction. After stopping along the way to make sure they were following and not overwhelmed, he was sure they had gotten through everything pertinent.

“Frank’s been a great leader, the best I’ve ever served under,” Elly added. She beamed at Mr. and Mrs. Wolffe. “He’s more than a Marine or Arilion Knight. He’s the best of both.”

“So you say these Armarillion Knights are chosen by their strength of will?” Liam Wolffe was still trying to get his head around the new reality he found himself in. “One is chosen per planet?”

“That’s right.” Vega then gently corrected the older Wolffe. “It’s pronounced Arilion.”

“With the recent goings on at the west coast, we knew the presence of alien beings was possible now, but we never imagined they’d come for us.” Mrs. Wolffe turned her head to cough.

Frank knew what she meant. Emma had recently had a run-in with an alien force bent on invading Earth. Frank had assisted and the invasion turned. The world, however, was now privy to the knowledge that they were not as alone in the universe as they had once imagined.

“The alien who tried to intimidate you was Karn,” Frank explained as his mother recovered from her coughing fit. “You’re safe now. That’s why General Breaker moved you here to the Den. The aliens we’re hunting won’t be able to use you to get to me anymore.”

“I’m proud of you, son,” Liam Wolffe said, looking on at his boy with admiration. “I always knew you were meant for great things but this—this really takes the cake.”

Mrs. Wolffe was about to say something before she fell victim to another round of coughing. The hacks came out in loud, sporadic staccatos. Vega rose from her seat to get water for her. Frank’s father placed a hand on her hands to comfort her.

“Not getting any better?” Frank asked.

“The doctors don’t know what it is.” Mrs. Wolffe accepted the cup of water gratefully from Vega. “I’ll be fine. Now tell me more about you and Vega.”

The rest of the conversation went as well as Frank could have hoped. His parents were surprised of course by their son in a relationship. Adding to the mix that it was with an alien might have tipped them over, but they were polite and respectful. Frank blushed as his mother told Vega and Elly of Frank’s childhood. He was grateful she didn’t have pictures to bring out there and then.

Elly excused herself halfway through. She said she had to go check on some tech and information they were receiving from an ally.

Vega and Mrs. Wolffe were in a conversation about Vega’s home world when Frank’s father caught his eye. He looked at Vega then back to his son and gave him the thumbs-up and a wink.

“You’ve done well for yourself, son,” Mr. Wolffe said with a wide smile. “You do too much. The entire time you were going through all of this, we had no idea. The money you send back to help us is really more than enough.”

“We’ve been over this,” Frank reminded his father. “Thanks, Dad, but I don’t really need it. I mean, especially now. My rent and food are basically free.”

“You work hard for what you’ve earned. We’re easy. Save for your future, son,” Liam said, clapping his son on the back.

“Um, Dad?” Frank said. “What’s going on with Mom’s coughing? I thought she was better now. It still sounds as bad. The money should have helped, no?” He tried to hide the concern in his voice but failed. His father knew him through and through, even at this age.

“It has. If it weren’t for the help you’ve provided, we would have lost her long ago. The sleep made it so she could rest and not expend as much energy on the cough and instead allow her to heal. We ran tests for pathogens, toxic environments, and internal inflammation. She was just born with weak lungs and maybe the conditions of her childhood caused the scarring on her lungs. Don’t worry; she’s better than before. But I should get her some food then to bed to rest. It’s been a big day and she’ll want to overdo it.” He gave Frank a wink as he made his way around to Rose.

“He still does that,” Vega said, chuckling. The sound of her laughter drew Frank back to the present conversation.

“Do I even want to know?” Frank asked.

“Your mom said when you were little, you were always so caring about her and others around you.” Vega’s eyes sparkled. “I guess some things don’t change.”

“Riiiiiiight,” Frank said, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin. “Can we talk about something else?”

“There was one time when he wanted to try on my high heels.” Mrs. Wolffe laughed. “I mean, he was only three or four, but—”

“Um, Mom,” Frank interrupted. “I don’t think Vega wants to hear about—”

“I’d love to hear about it, actually,” Vega cut Frank off. She looked at Mrs. Wolffe with a wry smile. “Please go on.”

His parents went on to tell of the time he wanted to be a knight, so he collected as many cardboard boxes as he could find from the neighborhood to build his own castle. He had loved it so much, he fell asleep in there and was woken when the flimsy pieces fell in on him. The stories went on with the near empty mess hall rotating other Marines in and out. There was a break in the conversation when Frank and his mother stood up for food.

“I like her,” Mrs. Wolffe said alongside Frank. She put her arm on his own. “I like her a lot.”

“You’re not bothered by the, you know, fact that she’s not from this planet?” Frank asked.

“I mean, it’s not what I expected for you, but she’s beautiful inside and out. And anything less than that didn’t seem like it would do for you, my son. Aliens aren’t exactly a secret here on Earth anymore. I just didn’t know I’d be able to meet any of them,” Mrs. Wolffe said. “You two are going to make beautiful grandchildren for me.”

“Mom,” Frank said, almost laughing. “Give me some time.”

“Time for what?” Mrs. Wolffe said with a grin. “It’s clear you two love one another. I knew that after a few minutes of seeing you together. You do love her, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“It’s just bad timing right now with everything going on,” Frank explained.

“If you wait for the perfect time, it may never come,” Frank’s mother cautioned.

They shared a brief meal with more laughter and tales before the rest of their time together went quickly. Though Frank’s mother’s words never left his thoughts.

14

With Frank’s parents safely at the Den, Frank was free to focus on what was needed next. General Breaker called a meeting with Marine Space Corp One. At the time, the team consisted of Emma, Frank, Vega, and Elly. Raj was working with Heron on a cure for Yur’l. Sergeant Claymore was in the field hunting for clues along with Sava as to the whereabouts of Jarl and Karn.

General Breaker sat at the head of the table. It was the same viewing room where the meeting right before Frank had headed out to the New York BUTTS headquarters had taken place. The general’s face was stoic. He leaned back in his chair with the fingertips of each of his hands pressed against one another.

A dangerous look lived in his eye.

“The Overlords have reached out, more specifically the woman calling herself Chairman,” General Breaker said, explaining the reason for the meeting. “She said they have information for us as to where Jarl and Karn have holed up as well as a weapon that will aid us in deactivating the robot army they’re using.”

“And we trust them?” Elly asked from her seat across from Frank. “I mean, and we trust them, sir?”

“I don’t trust them at all, but the intel they gave us as to where Jarl and Karn would be the first time was correct.” General Breaker rubbed at the bottom of his chin with his left hand. “The enemy of my enemy, right?”

“And of course they don’t actually want to get involved,” Vega growled from her seat next to Frank. “They want us to clean up after their mess.”

“That’s about right,” General Breaker agreed. “I don’t like it any more than you do. And something will have to be done with the Overlords here on Earth, but right now, Jarl has to take priority. Chairman offered to come here and I declined her entrance into the Den. I’ve chosen a neutral ground where she can deliver both the intel as well as whatever this weapon they have is that will help us. Emma will stay here to protect the Den from any further attack while the rest of you go.”

“What?” Emma sputtered. “With all due respect, I’d like to go on the mission with Frank and the rest of the team.”

“I know you would, but we need you here so there’s no chance a repeat of what happened to us before could occur again,” General Breaker said. “You’ll be stationed here with a unit of Arilion Knights from the Academy. You’ll lead them.”

Frank made eye contact with his protégée. It was clear Emma was let down. She wanted to go along with the team and help in whatever way she could, not be left behind and play babysitter. Frank felt her frustration.

“My parents are here now, Jackson,” Frank said to her from across the table. “I know you won’t let anything happen to the Den or to them.”

Emma was much too smart to not know what Frank was doing. She decided not to fight the general on this one and play along. “I won’t let anything happen to the Den or your parents, Frank. You know that.”

“I do,” Frank said with a smile. “Thank you.”

“All of our allies are searching for Jarl as we speak. They’re spreading the word across the universe,” Vega added in. “It’s only a matter of time before someone talks.”

“Thank you,” General Breaker said. “I thought it prudent to leave Sergeant Claymore out of this meeting with the Overlords after what happened last time. I’ll have Sava meet you at the predetermined location. She should provide more than enough backup if things go awry.”

Frank grinned at the thought of seeing his mentor again. Sava Sarguard was one of the very few who could match him for power. If there was a fight with Sava and Frank on the same side, Frank felt sorry for whoever their opponent might be. If the Chaos Lord himself didn’t stand a chance against the two of them, he wasn’t sure who did.

“And where will we be meeting them?” Frank asked the general. “The Academy? Their B.U.T.T.S. facility?”

“I’ve decided to set up the meeting on a Draconian Destroyer Sava will bring into our orbit,” General Breaker said. “With the teleportation technology we now have, we can send you up in a matter of seconds. Sava has agreed to let Chairman meet you there.”

“We have teleportation technology here at the Den now?” Frank asked incredulously.

“Thanks to yours truly.” Elly smiled. “Well, I mean, I had help from the Academy, but we have a teleporter here at the Den now.”

“That will come in useful,” Frank thought out loud.

“You have no idea. Those things are great, but watch out for the aftereffects of travel.” Emma patted her flat stomach. “I lost my lunch the first dozen or so times I traveled that way.”

“Noted,” Vega said, looking over to Frank. “You go first.”

“Why are you looking at me?” Frank asked.

“You eat like a human garbage disposal,” Elly chimed in. “If that’s all coming up, I don’t want to be near it.”

“Questions before we begin?” General Breaker asked, leaning back in his seat. “Anything running through your mind, I’d rather hear it now than later.”

“Yur’l,” Frank said, thinking about his friend. “When we figure out what it is that we need to cure him, I want to volunteer to go and be the one that brings it in. Whatever ingredient it may be.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” General Breaker answered. “You can be assured that someone will go as soon as we figure out what is needed. If you’re the best candidate, then it’ll be you.”

Frank understood everything the general was saying without actually saying it. He was making sure Frank knew that Yur’l would be getting all the care he needed as fast as possible. General Breaker needed Frank in the field taking down Jarl, not traveling to a friendly planet to search for whatever ingredient was needed to cure Yur’l.

“I have a question,” Elly asked, raising her hand.

“Yes,” General Breaker asked.

“I know you said we’d deal with the Overlords once the Jarl crisis is over, but what exactly do you think we can do to them?” Elly asked, adjusting the black-framed glasses on her nose. “I mean, they’ve operated in the shadows all of these years. We don’t know where their main base is, their actual strength, or anything more about them really than they’re a group of intergalactic weapons manufacturers selling to the highest bidder and collecting information.”

“I’ve already spoken with the Alliance and they’re coming up with a strategy to deal with the Overlords as we speak,” General Breaker said, rubbing at red eyes. “It’s not going to be an easy conversation for sure, but we think we can reach an agreement with them.”

“Something like you don’t sell to our enemies and get off our planet?” Frank asked.

“Something like that.” General Breaker nodded in agreement. “I can guarantee it’ll be a lot longer and more complicated than that, but that’ll be the gist of it. Anything else?”

The room remained quiet this time.

“Well, let’s get started.” General Breaker stood from his seat. “Elly, if you’d make sure the teleportation room is in working order, Emma, Jace and a few other knights from the Academy will be arriving soon to secure the Den. Vega, your new gear was sent over as requested. It’s ready for you now.”

Frank looked over at the empress with a raised eyebrow. All three women in the room rose from their seats to begin work on their tasks.

“You’ll see.” Vega winked at Frank.

Frank stood up to follow them, realizing his name hadn’t been mentioned. He guessed General Breaker had a reason for that.

“Frank, if you’d stay behind a moment?” General Breaker asked.

Frank traded shrugs with Emma as the female Arilion Knight exited the room.

“Of course,” Frank said as the door to the room shut behind the women. “What is it now? Another alien force coming to invade Earth? A comet about to come and wipe us out? Wait, don’t tell me; we have underground Earth dwellers drilling their way to the surface?”

Frank knew he was being sarcastic. He just couldn’t help himself. It was one of those days. To his surprise, General Breaker actually cracked a grin.

“I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep or something else, but that was kind of funny.” General Breaker shook his head free of such thoughts. “But back to business. If we want to catch this monster, we have to start thinking like him. He has an army at his back, he’s too smart to be caught out in the open, and he wants to kill Arilion Knights and hurt as many people in the process as possible. What would you do if you were him?”

Frank took a moment to think. He crossed his arms and paced the empty viewing room. Besides the oval table and chairs, there was the large window looking down on the gateway chamber; that was about all. It was the perfect space to pace back and forth.

“He’s always been about surprise attacks, hitting us where we least expect it. When we’re alone.” Frank squinted in thought. “He hit the Den when we were gone and the Overlord facility with a backup plan to kill my parents if we interfered. He was going to pick us off one by one, starting with Yur’l, and going on to Vega next if we hadn’t stopped him.”

“Right,” General Breaker agreed. “So if you were him, knowing his strategy, what would you do next?”

“I’d realize that I united my enemies against me and I’d need to divide them again, get a few of them off by themselves to kill before…” Frank’s voice trailed off as he finally arrived at the conclusion the general already had.

“You think he’s waiting to ambush us when we discover whatever it is we need for Yur’l’s cure?” Frank asked.

“That’s what I would do,” General Breaker agreed. “When we figure out what it is we need to heal Yur’l, we’ll need to send a team in. I’d bet my next vacation that he’ll be there waiting.”

“If we know all of this, we can turn the tables on him.” Frank clenched his hands into fists. “We can finally stick it to this guy.”

“Meeting with the Overlords to get the information and the weapon will be the first step.” General Breaker nodded in agreement. “As soon as we get the location as to where the ingredients for Yur’l’s antidote is, they’ll be there waiting for us.”

“Except this time, we’ll finally be ready,” Frank said with grim determination.

15

“You did all of this in a day?” Frank looked around the teleportation room inside the Den with awe. “We haven’t even been back from Epsilon Nine for more than thirty hours.”

The newly constructed teleportation room was on one of the higher levels of the Den. It was a repurposed supply room with wide double doors leading into a room that was as large as the mess hall.

On one side of the room, cylinder-like grooves were carved into the wall. Each was a different size, ranging from large enough to accommodate a single person to large enough to take an entire tank. On the opposite side of the room was a command area complete with multiple screens and readouts. Everything was clean and white.

Elly was working with a team of techs behind the monitors now.

“I wish I could take credit for all of this, but the truth is it’s been in the works ever since we discovered the Draconians had teleportation technology,” Elly said with a grin. “It’s just taken us this long to get it up and running. Well, kind of running. We’ll be the trial run.”

Frank did some quick math in what that actually meant.

“We’re the trial run? As in if this thing doesn’t work, if a decimal point is one numeral off in the mathematical equation to get us off Earth, my leg is going to be teleported where my head is?” Frank asked, swallowing hard.

“No, that would be silly. This isn’t a cartoon,” Elly shook her head. A wisp of her black hair fell down between her eyes. She ignored it as she continued to pound at the keyboard in front of her like it owed her money. “Your body’s particles wouldn’t come together at all if this failed. You’d just be deposited as a lump of meaty goo.”

“Was that a pep talk?” Frank asked, confused. “That didn’t sound like a pep talk. And if it was, I don’t feel any better.”

The rest of the conversation was cut off as Vega entered the room. The Neeve empress wore her new battle armor specially designed for her to accompany Marine Space Corp-1 on their next mission. Prior to this, Vega wore the armor of her home world, Atmos. She had donned golden metal armor reminiscent of what knights would use in years long past on Earth.

Now Vega wore dark gold, nearly black body armor mirroring Frank’s own. Except where his had dark purple outlining, hers was gold. Crossed thunder bolts decorated the right side of her chest, signifying her people and home world. Despite her change in armor, she still had her favored weapon of a broadsword strapped to her back. The same winged helmet sat in the crook of her arm. Instead of the shiny gold color, it matched her armor now with a dark gold matte finish.

At times like this, Frank wasn’t sure what was more compelling: how impressed he was by how fierce she looked or how beautiful. Probably a combination of both. She was as deadly with her words and the sword as she was alluring.

“Very fancy.” Frank grinned at Vega. “You didn’t tell me you asked for new armor.”

“Have to keep you on your toes, don’t I?” Vega winked at Frank.

“OK, enough flirting you two,” Elly said, removing the strand of dark hair from between her eyes and placing it behind her right ear. “It’s a little weird. I mean, who gets so excited about going into battle with alien rage monsters? And you’re making me jelly.”

“Do you mean jealous?” Vega asked, confused.

“Yeah, jelly is the new hip way of saying jealous,” Elly responded. “Like you and Frank acting all cute is making me jelly that Raj—”

Elly cut herself off too late. Her eyes bulged behind her thick rimmed glasses.

“What did you just say?” Frank asked with wide eyes.

“Nothing.” Elly’s red face was all Frank needed.

“You said Raj.” Frank went over to the tech and poked her in the arm. “What about Raj?”

“Nothing,” Elly said, avoiding eye contact.

Frank thought about pushing the line of questioning, but right now wasn’t really the time. They had a meeting to attend with the Overlords.

Instead of poking her again, Frank shrugged and was about to turn away.

“Fine—fine, if you absolutely must know,” Elly said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, if you’re not going to let me go until you get it out of me.”

“Actually, Elly, if you’re not comfortable talking about it, we can—” Vega started.

“I mean, I might as well tell you so we can continue on with our mission,” Elly said, throwing her hands into the air. “Raj and I have decided to go out on a date once this is all over.”

Elly looked over at Frank and Vega as if she expected them to say something.

Vega prodded Frank in the ribs with her left elbow.

“That’s great, that’s perfectly natural,” Frank said, grabbing back at Vega’s elbow, which had nudged him. “I don’t know why you’re acting all weird about it. You guys are good together.”

“You think?” Elly asked, tilting her head sideways.

“Yes, you and Raj are peas in a toilet,” Vega said with a sincere grin. “Two birds killed with a single stone.”

“There’s a lot wrong with that,” Frank said to Elly, trying to clear up any confusion, “but you get the point.”

“What was wrong with that?” Vega asked. “Aren’t those the common terms used here on Earth?”

“Almost.” Elly couldn’t help but crack a grin. “Almost. I get what you’re trying to say.”

“Excuse me, Miss Wong?” a technician said beside Elly. “I think we’re ready to begin.”

Elly turned her attention back to the monitor in front of her, studying readouts and numbers. Frank and Vega looked over her shoulder as if they would be able to tell what they were seeing.

To Frank, the digital content on the monitors were slopes cross-backed by green coding the likes of which he had seen in the Matrix.

“If you look at it hard enough, it almost makes sense,” Vega said, glancing over to Frank.

Frank caught the twinkle in her eye. They both burst out laughing.

“OK, I think we’re ready to go,” Elly said, stepping back and ignoring their bout of laughter. While the cybertech didn’t take too many things seriously, her digital engineering was a whole other business. “Everything checks out to the T with the instructions sent to us by both the Draconians and the Academy. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Frank and Vega followed Elly, who shrugged on her backpack of equipment. She double-checked her rifle, which waited for her, propped up against one of the cylinder-shaped caverns in the wall. An awkward, lanky rush of grey fur and wings crawled on Elly’s leg. It seemed Magnus was determined to join her.

“Sorry, buddy, I’m going to have to fly solo on this one. It’s a bit too dangerous and most likely open, exposed fighting. To be honest, when the you-know-what goes down, I’ll probably freak the heck out. Then, after convincing myself out of hiding, become a rage monster and shoot everything I see,” Elly said, scratching the soft fur between his pointy ears.

He barked a reply only Elly understood, thanks to her hearing trauma and devices coupled with the new communication beacons she helped develop.

“Oh, that’s sweet. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.” By now, she had bent down with his joyous face in her hands and had her nose touching his wet wolf-like snout.

“Uh, Elly?” Frank said. “This is getting awkward.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. OK, Magnus. Wait here. I’ll be back,” Elly said, giving him a final scruff and pat before the Momo trotted away to find a place to curl up and wait.

Elly turned to choose one of the teleportation bays in the middle of the room. The white cylinder reminded Frank of an elevator with no doors. It was white both on the floor and ceiling. Lights pulsed dimly from within.

“Emma said something about getting sick when she used these to teleport the first few times,” Vega reminded them. “Frank, if you have to return your breakfast burrito, please look to the side.”

“How did you know I had a breakfast burrito?” Frank looked at Vega with a grin.

“Just a hunch,” Vega said as she stood in the tight space between Elly and Frank.

“We’re ready to go in ten,” the same technician called out from his spot behind the keyboard. “All systems are go.”

“Green light to go,” Elly said with a thumbs-up.

Frank wasn’t really the nervous type, but after Elly had given him the image of turning into a sack of hot meat if anything went wrong, he wasn’t so sure about the teleportation thing anymore.

“Coordinates are locked in to send you to the Draconian ship in orbit,” the tech said. “Nine, eight, seven…”

Frank had the feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had to use the bathroom. He knew it was his nerves; it didn’t make the feeling go away.

“Six, five, four,” the technician counted down.

The lights in the cylinder shaped teleportation tube shone brighter by the second. Frank wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or his skin was beginning to tingle from the machine.

Easy, slow breath, Frank steeled his determination. You’ve been attacked by worms, fought the Chaos Lord, and captured by Jarl Balder. This isn’t going to kill you.

“Three, two, one,” the technician finished.

Frank felt warmth all over his body as his view of the room in front of him changed. One moment, he was staring into the white teleportation chamber of the Den; the next, his stomach was doing backflips as he was teleported onto the Draconian ship in Earth’s orbit.

Frank felt sick; still, he wasn’t going to lose his breakfast burrito.

Vega had a hand on her stomach as she steadied herself, but she didn’t look like she was going to puke either. Elly, on the other hand, was a different story altogether. She fell on her hands and knees, depositing the remains of her last meal on the ground in front of her with a surprisingly loud lurch.

Vega kneeled down and held her hair while she patted her back.

Frank was going to go over to offer a hand when a familiar reptilian face appeared in front of him.

Sava Sarguard, the very first Arilion Knight chosen by the vambraces when they made their reemergence into the universe. As a Draconian, her tall green scaled figure complete with slitted eyes, and a long snout lined with razor sharp teeth reminded Frank of every picture he had seen of a dragon in the fantasy novels he had borrowed from the library as a boy. She always seemed to be stalking as she trounced on her two heavy feet. A patch over her right eye and a Mohawk emphasized her savage warrior nature. Frank had come to find all of it endearing, much to her chagrin.

Wearing the dark brown uniform of her home world’s military, she stood with a pair of soldiers in their local teleportation room. Dark grey metal and exposed wires made up the area; a stark contrast from the clean, white room in the Den.

Frank hadn’t realized how much he missed the stoic Draconian warrior until he saw her there again. Smiling wasn’t exactly in her nature, but she nodded toward Frank and extended a hand. “Frank, it’s good to see you again.”

Shaking hands with the person who acted as his own mentor just didn’t seem right. Instead, Frank crossed the distance between the two and gave her an embrace. Sava was rigid in his arms. Her muscular frame coupled with her scaly skin made Frank feel as though he were hugging a rock.

“It’s good to see you,” Frank said, recognizing how awkward Sava must feel in his embrace. He didn’t care. “I’m not going to let you go until you at least pat me on the back.”

Sava cleared her throat. She lifted her right hand and gave Frank two firm claps on the back.

“There,” Frank said taking a step back. “Was that so hard?”

“Our time apart has seen you go soft,” Sava said with a disapproving tilt of her head.

“Just given me perspective,” Frank countered.

Elly had recovered, and she and Vega came to say their hellos to Sava.

“I heard you’ve taken on the mantle of your home world’s Prime,” Vega said, shaking hands with Sava. “It’s a great honor and I couldn’t think of anyone else better suited for the task.”

“Thank you, Empress Vega.” Sava tipped her horned head in a bow. “It’s a title I’ll only hold until an official elected by the Draconian people can be put into place. I’m a warrior, not a politician. It’s an unfortunate outcome from an even worse tragedy.”

“Why am I always the last to know?” Elly said, shaking her head and wrapping Sava in an enormous hug. “I had no idea, Sava! I’m so happy for you!”

Frank stood back and enjoyed his mentor’s awkward facial features for the second time that day. As if she was working in slow motion, the Draconian reached out with her right hand and patted Elly on the back twice.

Elly looked like a child giving a dragon a hug. The technician from Marine Space Corp-1 stood on her tiptoes just to reach around Sava’s thick neck.

“I didn’t know either,” Frank chimed in. “That’s great news, Sava. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you,” Sava said, extracting herself from Elly’s arms. “Again, it’s merely at the hands of terrorism that led me to accept the title for now. We’ll elect the proper and suitable officials to replace the seats of the Draconians we lost. Ones we will remember. No thanks to Jarl Balder’s manipulation of your former Marine Major.”

Major Lucy Lopez had at one time been a leader of Frank’s team. Right now, she wielded a pair of orange vambraces of her own. It was a good thing she was nowhere near Sava, who for all intents and purposes, wanted blood for revenge. Frank hoped she could find herself and remember her true nature, wherever she was.

“I can show you the way to the cargo hold, where we’ll be meeting with the emissary from the Overlords,” Sava said, waving them forward through the ship. “She should be arriving soon.”

Frank followed Sava along with Elly and Vega. The pair of Draconian technicians gave them crisp salutes as they passed.

The Draconian ship was everything Frank remembered from his time when they were fighting the Chaos Lord; the dark metal and wide halls that led deeper into the ship, Draconian crewmembers that saluted as they passed.

Sava caught them up on events surrounding the hunt for Jarl Balder as they followed her to the cargo bay.

“Sergeant Claymore, as well as the rest of our allies, are out hunting for Jarl and Karn now,” Sava said as they walked down a pair of stairs. “The universe is a big place, but it’s only a matter of time before we find them. Jarl Balder is not the patient type. Sooner or later, someone will talk, they’ll see him, or he’ll make a mistake.”

Frank appreciated Sava’s optimism, but he knew Jarl. Perhaps someone would see him and give away his location, but Jarl slipping up on his own would be a lot to ask for.

Sava wound them through the ship and finally to a massive room on one of the lower levels. The cargo hold was one giant chamber lined with Draconian fighters and transport ships. There were dozens of soldiers going along their way performing tasks, from inspections to maintenance.

Every time one of them caught sight of Sava along with Marine Space Corp One, they paused to stare in admiration. If they were close enough, they would salute.

Frank guessed that many of them had been Draconian soldiers he had fought alongside during the second Chaos War. He was lost in these thoughts when a red light began to flash. A steady blaring went off in the hangar bay.

Sava looked to the others with grim eyes. “The Overlords are here.”

16

The giant metal hangar bay doors slid open. A translucent blue force field kept the space atmosphere from traveling into the cargo hold. Outside the force field was a world of dark night sparkling with tiny stars so far away.

A maelstrom of activity ran across the cargo bay. An entire squadron of Draconians in full battle gear marched in, leveling their weapons at the colossal hangar bay door. Two turrets were wheeled in from somewhere further into the hangar. Each turret had twin blasters the size of Frank’s leg.

If the Overlords wanted trouble, they had come to the right place to find it. Frank was reminded of the ferocity that was the Draconian warriors. Still filling their ranks from the battle with the Chaos Lord, these soldiers would be more than enough to deal with anything the Overlords had to throw at them. At least Frank hoped that was true.

“Reports that a single unidentified ship is approaching,” Sava said to the others as she pressed her right hand to her ear. “Initiating an open channel with them now.”

Vega placed her helmet on her head and unsheathed her sword. Elly brought the butt of her weapon to her right shoulder. She assumed a firing stance.

Frank hoped none of this was necessary. He had been through enough to know that hope was well and good, but so was being prepared for anything.

Frank channeled the will power in his vambraces, bringing a purple shell of armor around his body that looked like his very own iron suit. He took a step forward from the rest. If anything was going to come at them, it was going to have to go through him first.

“Comm link open,” Sava said, tilting her head to the side so the others could hear. “It is the Overlords. We’re only seeing one life form on board as of this moment. We should have visual on the craft any time now.”

Frank strained his eyes to see any sign of the approaching ship. Through the darkness of space, a sleek silver craft came into view. It was smaller than any of the spaceships he had seen to date. More aerodynamic. Fancier, for the lack of a better word as well. Up until this point, Frank had become accustomed to seeing military-type fighters with blasters and intimidating features.

The craft that slowed down as it entered the hangar bay now was long with a pointed front and a wider back, making it look like a double-sided knife. The shiny metal constructing the frame reminded Frank of a mirror. There were no weapons Frank could see.

It entered the cargo bay slowly. Three metal landing gears extended from the bottom of the craft. The ship gently touched down on the cargo bay floor.

“No one is to open fire unless directed,” Sava said into the room that had grown as still as a tomb. Minus the sounds of the engines in front of them powering down, all was still.

A ramp at the rear of the craft descended. The same redheaded woman Frank knew as Chairman strolled down the ramp. She wore a white skirt suit with no visible weapons. Her white high heels clicked on the floor as she approached. She kept her hands open on either side of her showing she wasn’t carrying or trying to conceal any kind of weapon.

“You must be Sava Sarguard, the famous Arilion Knight turned leader of the Draconian race,” Chairman said, stopping in front of Sava. “On behalf of the Overlords, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“You have information for us?” Sava said, not even trying to feign the idea she wanted to be polite with the woman. “That’s what you said. That you have information and a weapon that can help in the fight against your own robot army you allowed to be stolen.”

If Chairman was thrown off by Sava’s cold disposition, she didn’t show it. Instead, she looked over Sava’s shoulder to Frank and the rest of his team. “It’s great to see you again. I assure you all, there is no need for weapons. As Sava stated, I’m just here to bring news. Something that will assist you.”

Vega lowered her sword as Elly did the same with her blaster. Frank didn’t think Chairman was going to try anything now. Even if she did, she had over two dozen blasters and a pair of turrets pointed at her at the moment.

“Do you have somewhere we can speak?” Chairman asked politely. “What I’m going to tell you is best for your ears only.”

Sava remained calm for a moment. She looked like she might even decline the request then thought better of it. The intimidating Arilion Knight motioned to her left. “After you.”

Chairman bobbed her head and walked across the cargo bay floor followed by Sava, Frank, and his team. Sava directed them to a pair of double doors along the inside of the cargo bay that was used for storage and extra parts. It was more of a warehouse room than anything else.

There were tools hanging from the walls. Racks and rows of parts and pieces Frank could only guess had to do with various maintenance duties for the ships.

Chairman eyed the rows of equipment for the first time, seeming anything but calm and collected.

“Well, I have to admit not what I had in mind, but it’ll do,” Chairman said, choosing to stand as Sava found a seat on a black crate.

Frank leaned against the wall as Vega and Elly also decided to stand.

“Do you have information about what is killing our friend?” Elly asked, unable to contain the question any longer. “We sent you the sample of what we collected.”

“We received them, and yes, we know of an ingredient that will be able to counteract the toxin introduced into Yur’l’s bloodstream,” Chairman said with a grim expression. “Your friend was injected with a toxin we know as the Dreyus Strain. The toxin systematically shuts down organs until the victim is rendered dead from the inside out. There is a flower on the planet Sunni that will be able to counteract the effects of the Dreyus Strain.”

The room was silent. Frank thought back to Sunni, the youngest Arilion Knight he ever encountered. Her planet was one he had visited recently in his hunt for Lucy Lopez.

“I sense a big but coming,” Elly said from her place next to Vega. “This all sounds too easy and way too much of a coincidence for the vaccine Yur’l needs, to be on a planet we’re familiar with.”

“I would have to agree,” Chairman stated simply. “It all seems too well planned out. I leave it to you to do what you will with the information. In the meantime I’ve brought a weapon in my craft to use against the robot horde Jarl is assembling.”

“What is it? A bomb, a laser beam of some kind?” Sava asked.

“Not quite.” Chairman pointed through the door they had just come through. “On my ship, I’ve brought a virus of our own making. It’s a techno organic virus that will eat though steel like acid.”

“How long does it take to work?” Vega asked.

“Minutes, once it’s introduced to the host,” Charmin said. “We’ve brought enough that it should do the job. You’ll have to spray them or get the robots to come in direct contact with the liquid. It’ll be easy to handle, as it is completely safe to the organic material.”

“So we spray this stuff on the robots and they get eaten alive like acid would go through steel,” Frank said out loud as he played the events through his mind. “The models we encountered on Epsilon Nine were basically terminators, super durable, strong, and equipped with weapons of their own. What else do they have hidden up their sleeve?”

“The terminators, as you call them, are actually models T29,” Chairman said, reaching into her jacket pocket.

Immediately, Sava had a translucent purple blaster in her hands. Vega lifted her sword. Frank extended a fist of purple energy that could send a beam of pure plasma at Chairman in a split second. Elly was the only one slow on the uptake.

“Oh, riiiiiight,” Elly said, lifting her weapon to point with the rest of her team. “Because she could be reaching for a weapon. Got it.”

“I am not reaching for a weapon at all,” Chairman said with her right hand just inside her jacket pocket. “I’m removing a smart pad. If you’ll allow me, I’ll show you the diagram of the T29, its strength and weaknesses.”

“Proceed slowly,” Sava rumbled.

Chairman obeyed, gently tugging a sleek black tablet from her coat pocket. It was paper thin, not much larger than Frank’s cell phone.

Chairman pressed a few buttons on the screen and pointed the device at the group. The smaller pad’s screen came to life with an image of a T29 model, readouts, abilities, and a 3D view.

“I’ll, of course, leave this with you as well as any other information you require,” Chairman said, showing them all the screen. “The T29 is our most advanced model. It contains alloyed armor taken from a dead star. Its power, durability, and twin blaster cannons on its forearms are its strengths, with speed being its only weakness. They were created as defensive weapons not meant to travel long distances or go on the offensive.”

“We did outrun them pretty easily back on Epsilon Nine,” Frank said out loud. “We can be faster when we meet them again. Exactly how many of these T29s did Jarl steal?”

“Nine hundred and twenty-seven,” Chairman said without blinking.

“Nine hundred and twenty-seven!?” Sava stood up from her seat as if she were going to rush Chairman and slap her across the face. “How did you allow nine hundred of your T29s to be stolen!?”

“Our kill codes were overridden by Jarl,” Chairman said without flinching. “The outer defenses of our structure are formidable; however, against a pair of powerful warriors equipped with vambraces, it was only a matter of time before they broke through.”

Frank could see how Jarl had broken though the defenses and even how he had managed to take control of the T29s. What didn’t make sense to him was how come Chairman and the Overlords didn’t send more resources to stop him. The only thing he could think of was that they didn’t want to waste their own resources trying to stop him. They’d rather sit back and let Marine Space Corp One do the heavy lifting.

Chairman lowered the screen in front of her, showing the T29 model. “On behalf of the Overlords, I want to apologize for this whole misunderstanding. We are working to do everything in our power to make sure events such as this do not happen again.”

“Events such as this?” Elly asked through her teeth. “Our friend is lying in pain, maybe on his deathbed, because you couldn’t keep a terrorist from stealing from you.”

“It was Jarl that wounded your friend,” Chairman reassured Elly with a smile. “Not us.”

“Don’t you smile at me, you bit—”

“All right,” Frank said, placing a hand on Elly’s shoulder. “Thank you for the intel and weapon. Yur’l needs the antidote, so we should be preparing to go quickly.”

“Of course,” Chairman said with a smile as if dealing with hostility was second nature to her. “Once again, we apologize. If there is anything we can do to cooperate, just let us know.”

“We will,” Vega said, arching an eyebrow. “You do realize this marks a new method of trade for the Overlords, don’t you?”

Frank was surprised by the venom in Vega’s words.

“What do you mean?” Chairman asked.

“The Overlords can’t continue to operate the way they have before,” Vega explained. “The Alliance won’t stand for it. More and more planets are joining our banner behind the Arilion Corp.”

To Frank’s surprise, Chairman looked as though she actually expected this as well. The woman was incredibly poised and professional.

“We have considered this. We agree,” Chairman said. “After this is done and said, we will have to meet and discuss terms of agreement. I—”

Chairman stopped talking and looked down at her smart pad in her hand. At the same time, Sava pressed her right hand to the comm in her ear. “Say again?”

Frank looked back and forth between the women, trying to figure out what could have caught both their attention from two very different intelligence networks. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

17

Chairman looked concerned as she studied her smart pad. She turned it around for everyone to see. Jarl Balder was on the screen. His familiar hostile face and orange horns were a dead giveaway it was him. The unknown room he was in was plain and cream-colored, nothing else to give away his location.

“No, we have a smart pad in the room,” Sava said over her comm unit. “We’ll watch it here.”

Chairman pressed the column key on her smart pad, allowing the others to hear what the terrorist known as Jarl Balder was broadcasting.

“As many of you know, the Arilion Knights have reentered the universe,” Jarl said. He stared intensely into the screen. “These so-called saviors decide in their own time who they choose to save and when they choose to save them. They police us now, joining a force known as the Alliance. Every day, more and more of these knights are chosen and grow in strength. Well, I say, who is policing them? Who is keeping them accountable?”

Jarl paused, shaking his head.

“My family was killed in an attack and where were the knights then? And not just me, brothers and sisters; thousands of you have lost loved ones, thousands of you are losing loved ones now, and where are the knights?” Jarl said the word “knights” as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “I tell you, they are a false hope. We can only rely on ourselves. And I will be the one to bring these knights to justice before they can grow across the universe in power. With these words, I submit an open challenge to the Arilion Knights. If they care so much about saving others, then prove it by not putting soldiers in harm’s way. Come and do the dirty work yourself. If you are truly serious about saving others, then you will not allow them to fight and die for your cause. Stop being cowards for once and come and face me. In two days’ time, I will give the Arilion Knights my location. If they are what they say they are, they will come alone. If not, they will let their alliance come and fight and die for them. Two days!”

The screen went blank.

“That was a broadcast sent out to every galaxy capable of picking up a signal,” Chairman said, staring at her smart pad with a shake of her head. “He’ll have enemies of the Arilion Knights and fanatics flocking to his banner. It’ll be more than just the T29s you’ll face when the final battle with Jarl takes place. Much more.”

Frank heard the Chairman’s words but didn’t respond. He was too lost in his own thoughts.

Maybe he’s right. Frank thought back to the ones he had lost; from SOO Campbell the young Marine in the rubble, to Yur’l battling for his life through immense pain. Maybe it’s time I do the suffering and dying instead of everyone else.

“Frank!” Vega studied him in concern. The sharpness and severity of the way she said his name told him it wasn’t the first time she had said it.

“Sorry, yeah,” Frank said, shaking his head free of these thoughts.

Everyone in the room was looking at him through scrunched, scrutinizing eyes. Even Chairman had a look of consternation on her face.

“I don’t think this is a decision that we’ll be able to make alone,” Frank said, working through the steps that would have to be taken. “The Alliance will probably have the final say. If he wants a showdown with just the knights, I’ll be happy to give him one.”

“It’s a trap; it’s always a trap with Jarl Balder,” Vega warned. “You’ll be giving him exactly what he wants.”

“But possibly saving hundreds maybe thousands of lives in the fight.” Sava nodded to Frank. “I’m with you. Let’s end this already.” Her knuckles crunched as she jammed one fist into the palm of her other hand.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Elly said, shaking her head. “Pump the brakes. You don’t get to decide who or for what I risk my life for. That’s my choice. I’m not sitting this one out. I know an entire Marine Corps who would feel the same way.”

“Nothing is being decided yet.” Frank raised his hands in sign of surrender. “Like I said, it probably won’t even be our call. The Arilion Knights are part of the Alliance now. They’ll decide.”

The room quieted for a moment as everyone present was lost to his or her own thoughts.

Frank couldn’t shake the fact that Vega knew exactly what he was thinking. The way her lavender eyes rested on him, seeing right through him to his innermost thoughts. It was unnerving.

“What?” Frank tried to play off the seriousness of the moment. He wiped at his mouth with a lazy left hand. “Do I have something on my face?”

Vega shook her head, letting the conversation go for the time being. Despite her silence, Frank knew she was onto him. The savvy politician in her was just waiting for the right time to bring up the subject again. Right now, in front of everyone else, Vega had decided to be patient.

“I’ll get the weapon off-loaded from my ship and to your men,” Chairman said to Sava after a brief pause. “Unless there’s anything else you need from me, I’ll be on my way.”

Sava moved to the side and extended a hand to the door. “This way. Elly, perhaps you can help us.”

“Riiiiiiight.” Elly let the word stretch out from her lips far too long as she took Sava’s meaning. “I’ll join you two.”

Sava and Elly left the room with Chairman in tow. The redhead looked to Frank and Vega with a slight nod before leaving the chamber. The door was nearly closed behind them when Frank reached for the handle to follow.

“Don’t even think about it,” Vega said, placing both fists on either side of her slight hips. She glared at Frank.

“Think about what?” Frank asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Frank Wolffe,” Vega said without a hint of playfulness in her eyes or tone. “You want to go by yourself to fight Jarl. It’s suicide.”

She knows me way too well, Frank thought to himself. How can someone know me that well?

“Jarl’s right, though. As much as I hate to admit that horned psycho is right, he is.” Frank sat down on a black pelican crate, staring at the dark floor. “Enough people have died. If I don’t go now, the universe will think the Arilion Knights are weak, hiding behind the Alliance.”

“Since when do you care what other people think, my love?” Vega said beside Frank. She moved his chin up and to the side with a gentle hand until his eyes were locked on hers. “Don’t lose all that cockiness now. That’s one of the reasons I love you so much.”

Frank leaned in, and with the gentleness of a spring breeze, kissed her on her tender lips, on her nose, then her eyes until the Empress of the Neeve House of Thunder giggled. He leaned back, admiring her strength. She knew exactly what to say and when to say it.

“What did I do to deserve someone like you?” Frank asked.

“Neither of us deserve one another.” Vega reached for his hand and held it firmly in her own. “It’s a gift we’ve been given.”

Frank took a moment to think about how true those words were. They had found one another across galaxies. At the time he met her, she was basically an orphaned Neeve princess and he a weapons dealer.

Frank hadn’t planned it. At least not at this moment, but life was short and he knew he loved Vega. His mother’s words echoed in his head, overcoming the loud thumping of his rapid heartbeat. Frank dropped to a knee from his seated position beside the woman, still holding her hand.

“What’s wrong? What are you doing?” Vega asked, mistaking his posture. “You don’t have kneel to me, Frank. I am an empress, but you don’t owe me fealty.”

“What if I wanted you to be something more?” Frank asked, still staring into her eyes. “What if I wanted to be with you for the rest of our lives?”

Vega’s face changed from a silly grin to a surprised expression. Her full lips made an O shape as she realized where Frank was going. “Oh! Oh, this is an Earth custom, isn’t it? I saw this in a movie Elly made me watch once.”

“Vega, I know we’ve only known each other for just under a year, but will you marry me?” Frank found the courage to ask. It was one of the scariest things he had ever done. He would have rather faced a Chaos horde, Jarl Balder, Karn, and the army of T29s in that moment than risk the woman he loved reject him. Or possibly worse, be embarrassed if she had declined due to her position. He wasn’t royalty or even the same species. Then he considered whether there were other customs the Neeve had on Atmos for getting married and he was so rude to bypass all of them. He had possibly finally encountered a moment where he started to doubt his brashness.

The time it took for her to answer felt like an eternity; much too long for Frank to be thinking. His heart thumped against his sternum as he waited for her to respond.

“Yes…” Vega said, sinking to her own knees in front of him. She wrapped her arms around him, tears of joy flowing from her eyes. “Of course, I’ll marry you.”

Her words were muffled in the crook of his neck. The two sat there holding one another. The warehouse, the universe, and its troubles melted away for a moment. It was all lost in the thick of their love.

He took her precious face in his hands to pull her in for another kiss before sliding them down the small of her back to embrace before kissing again. Frank wanted to stay there in the side warehouse room forever just enjoying the woman he loved and the company she provided. It was enough.

“Wait, wait,” Frank said as a rogue thought entered his mind. “I don’t have a ring. You need a ring.”

“What?” Vega looked at Frank as though he were crazy. “I don’t need a ring. We have thousands of them back home in the treasury. Oh, is this another Earth custom?”

“Sure is,” Frank said, searching around the room for anything he could use. “Wait right here.”

Frank lifted himself off the ground and scanned a row of equipment on his right. There were boxes of tubes, tools, nuts and bolts, and finally what looked like thick washers. He lifted one of the circular metal pieces up to inspect.

He held the piece of metal in his left hand. With the vambrace on his right arm, he channeled a laser beam, cutting the metal piece down in circumference until it was a thin ring. He added an “F” and “V” inside the ring before returning to Vega. The impromptu piece of jewelry was still warm as he handed it to Vega. She accepted it in her gloved hands, an amused smile playing on her lips.

“It’s not permanent,” Frank warned her. “I’ll get you a proper ring once we get back to Earth. I just wanted you to have something now.”

“It’s perfect,” Vega said, blowing on the warm piece of metal. She removed the glove from her hand. “It’s perfect, Frank.”

Frank slid the ring on her left hand’s ring finger. The washer was a little too big in circumference, but it did the job.

Frank and Vega held one another, kissing again. They were smiling like lovers without a care in the world. Where they would live, how they would operate, who would know were all details of their future that didn’t matter at the moment. Frank would hold on to this memory during the coming days when the killing started again.

18

There were no half measures as the Alliance descended on Sunni’s planet. The Draconian Fleet entered the planet’s atmosphere at the same time Frank led a platoon of Marines through the gateway.

If Jarl was going to choose this place to spring a trap, he was going to have much more than he bargained for. Sunni, the planet’s Arilion Knight, had been warned beforehand. She secured her planet’s sphere. Sunni welcomed Frank and the Marines to her plant once they walked through the gateway.

A member of the Oyan race, the young girl resembled a cute cross between a raccoon and a fox, which was a contradiction to her fiery personality, one Frank missed since he had seen her last.

Despite or because of her brazenness, Sunni had taken on the care of a group of Oyan orphans. Because of her dedication to survive and care for others, she earned the selection as her planet’s Arilion Knight. She wore shining purple armor on her small forearms much like Frank’s own even now.

“Frank! Frank! Elly! Raj!” The small Oyan orphans waved manically. With wide smiles, they greeted their heroes from a distant planet.

Sunni gently held them back as the platoon of Marines exiting the gateway continued to pile out. The gateway was located in a rundown warehouse. Since Frank had seen it last, Sunni and the orphans had been hard at work. It seemed more like an actual home now, complete with furniture, pictures on the walls, drapes on the windows, and copious amounts of food everywhere.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Elly said, kneeling down and hugging Sunni. “You’ve been hard at work.”

The Oyan girl nodded with a smile so large it could split her face. “Everything changed once I became a Knight and we beat back Boss Mardat. The people of the city have rallied around me and the orphans. They’re helping us with food too.”

The group of old comrades walked away from the gateway toward the heart of the warehouse among the hustle and bustle of happy children. Frank allowed Sunni to set the pace due to her slight limp.

“We have so much food now.” One of the orphans tugged at Raj’s hand and patted his fluffy belly. His smile was so contagious, even Frank found himself grinning.

“Oh, nice. Hey, have you been brushing those teeth like I showed you, kiddo?” Raj knelt down to the boy’s level.

“Oh, yes, Mr. Raj.” At that, he gritted his teeth, showing off his proud work. His cheeks puffed causing him to close his round, black eyes.

“Fantastic work!” Raj said, standing after giving the boy a playful rub on his head. The boy bounded off to the other Oyan children gathered around a table playing a game.

“How’s Yur’l?” Sunni asked, after greeting everyone. “Elly said he was sick and needs the extract found in some of the flowers here.”

“He’s hanging in there,” Frank reassured Sunni as well as himself. “He’s going to be OK. We just need to get him this medicine as soon as possible. Do you know where the—”

“Here.” Sunni reached her paw into a pouch round the belt she wore. “Me and the orphans gathered some for you when we heard Yur’l needed them. I was going to take them through the gateway myself, but you were already on the way.”

Sunni offered a handful of white flowers with orange stems to Frank.

Could it really be this easy? Frank thought to himself. That’s it? No trap? No Jarl Balder here on Sunni’s planet?

“Raj?” Frank handed the coveted flowers to the doctor.

“Got it,” Raj said, accepting the flowers and running back through the gateway to administer them to their dying friend.

Everyone kept their head on a swivel. Step one was complete, but they couldn’t put it past Jarl and Karn to be waiting for them. The other shoe would drop any minute. The key would be to keep the Oyan safe.

“Have you noticed anything strange?” Elly asked the orphans as the Marines set up a perimeter around the warehouse. “I don’t know. Anyone you don’t recognize in the area; a spaceship that doesn’t belong here, anything?”

Sunni shrugged. “No, sorry. We’ve just been finding our new normal since the incident with Boss Mardat ended.”

“You seeing anything up there?” Frank stepped to the side, speaking into the comm channel with Sava. “I’m not getting much down here. Sunni gave us the flowers and Raj is already on his way back.”

“Negative,” Sava’s hard voice answered back over the comm unit. There was anger in her voice Frank knew well. Something was very wrong. “Frank, I’m going to teleport you up to the ship so you can be sure what I’m seeing is correct. I want another pair of eyes on these readouts.”

“Ummm, OK.” Frank played along. He turned back to his team. “I’m going to board the Draconian ship to make sure the area is actually clear before we go back home.”

“Sava can’t do that?” Elly asked, raising a brow. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Frank lied. “I’ll be right back.”

“But you just got here, Frank,” Sunni said, her eyes wide and searching.

“I know. I’ll be back.” He winked and nodded.

A moment later, Frank’s skin was tingling aboard the teleportation room of the Draconian vessel. It was the same ship he had been beamed aboard before when he was meeting with Chairman and proposing to Vega.

“What’s up?” Frank asked Sava.

The Draconian Arilion Knight was the only one in the room. She crossed over to him with a dangerous look in her eye. “I’m sorry, Frank. You’ll forgive me for this once you know what’s at stake.”

“What are you—”

Frank never finished his sentence. Sava swung out with a scaly green right cross so quickly it took him in the temple before he knew what was happening. Blackness came for him before his head hit the floor.

Frank was falling in nothing but darkness. There was no way for him to gauge how far he had fallen or how far he had yet to fall. There was absolutely no light, nothing. He fell deeper and deeper, anxiety and fear building in his body as he went.

Finally, he stopped falling and landed on his feet in a dark room. A purple glowing light–no, many purple glowing lights were coming toward him in the darkness. Frank realized he should be more afraid, but the fear that had been growing inside of him was gone now. A comfort emanated from this place somehow. The purple lights were too much like his own vambraces for him to be afraid.

He had been conditioned to think of the glowing purple light as a force of good, a beacon of hope. There were so many of them now; hundreds, thousands, maybe more. The lights inched closer to him, growing in the darkness.

Eventually, he could make out forms. They were Arilion Knights. He didn’t recognize any of them or their species. They were tall and small, large and thin. He saw some that looked like trees, others four-legged animals, and others still, like floating jellyfish. They were all staring at Frank; most with smiles, others with grim nods.

“Where—where am I?” Frank asked, trying to remember what happened to him to bring him to this place. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Something else? For the life of him, he couldn’t remember how he had gotten here or the events that transpired to see him to this place.

The throng of Arilion Knights parted to let through a tall warrior. He was a Draconian himself, barrel-chested with piercing pale-yellow eyes, one marred by a scar, and muscular arms the size of Frank’s leg. His scales were the green of a wizened, dense forest. He looked down at Frank with a toothy grin and extended his paw.

The vambraces he wore were still purple but different from any Frank had ever seen before. A metal ring encircled his wrist and another around his elbow: metal pieces shaped like lightning bolts connected the two pieces.

“My name is Saber Sarguard,” the Draconian said as Frank accepted his offered paw.

The Draconian gripped Frank’s own forearm firmly instead of shaking his hand. Frank’s hands wrapped around the other knight’s vambrace as well. If he could sense the other’s power, if that was even an option, Frank felt it now. Power coursed from the Arilion Knight in front of him like water running from a shower faucet.

“You’ve come a long way, Frank Wolffe.” Saber released his grasp on Frank’s arm.

Frank was almost sorry to see the link broken. He didn’t have to be told he was standing in front of true greatness. Saber Sarguard was not only Sava’s ancestor but the most powerful knight to ever don vambraces.

“What is this?” Frank asked, finally finding his voice. “I mean, I have to be dreaming, right? This is all a dream?”

“Dream, your subconscious, the power of Will that exists in the universe reaching out to you.” Saber shrugged and shook his horned head. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is what you’re about to do.”

“What?” Frank asked, still unable to remember how he had fallen into this dream state in the first place. “What is it that I’m going to do?”

“To whom much is given, much is required,” Saber said in his gruff voice, placing a heavy paw on Frank’s shoulder. “We’ve talked to the forces of Light and you will soon be faced with a choice. Sacrifice everything to save them all.”

Confusion was clear on Frank’s face as he searched the Draconian eyes for meaning. “I don’t—I don’t understand.”

“You’ve stood your watch well, brother.” Saber removed his clawed paw from Frank’s shoulder. “Others will take up your mantle when the time comes as they did for us when our time ended.”

Saber turned to the side to give Frank another view of the Arilion Knights in front of him.

“I’m not afraid of dying, if it’s my time to go,” Frank said, thinking of his friends, his family, and most of all, his new fiancée, Vega. “But I’m going to give them hell until then.”

Overwhelming emotion channeled through Frank, causing tears to spring to his eyes. Intensity of the fight to come, love for Vega, and the thought of leaving it all behind as he put his life on the line for the greater good washed over him at once. A family he had finally created with his team, reuniting with his mother and father, and the hope of the family he might one day have in Vega may soon be only a memory.

“I know you will,” Saber said, beaming down on Frank with pride in his yellow eyes. “I know you’ll fight to the end. You wouldn’t be an Arilion Knight if you did it any other way. When the pain begins, hold on to what you love in your mind and in your heart. They can break your body, but they can never break your spirit, little brother.”

Tears fell from Frank’s eyes freely now as he understood what was going to happen. He was going to be asked to sacrifice his body in an excruciating form. There was no doubt he would do it if it meant saving others. The tears came not from the thought of death but at the knowledge he might never give his mother those grandchildren she wanted. Vega would have been an amazing mother, of that he was sure, when the time came.

“Don’t be afraid.” Saber misread Frank’s demeanor. “We’re waiting for you on the other side, little brother.”

Frank didn’t bother wiping away his tears. He wasn’t ashamed for the others to see them. Looking over at Saber, he shook his head. He adopted Saber’s own term for him.

“Brother,” Frank said with a grim look in his eyes. “These tears aren’t from fear. They’re from already knowing I will sacrifice everything. They’re for the hurt and pain that will come to those I leave behind.”

Saber nodded sternly. For a moment, he appeared to want to say more. Then a tidal wave appeared out of the blackness to the rear of the mass of Arilion Knights. The sloshing and crashing water reverberated in the foreign space. Frank saw the massive wave of water sweeping toward him through the dark. The gathered knights in front of him didn’t seem to notice or care as it swept them up on its way to Frank.

Saber was the only one that looked at the tidal wave then back to Frank. “Hold the memory of your loved ones close. Whatever you might not be able to do alone, you can do for them.”

Frank wanted to run, but the water was already on top of him. A moment later, it consumed him. It entered his nose and mouth, washing over him as though he were nothing more than so much flotsam.

19

Frank shook his wet head. The first few things he realized was that he was tied to a chair, he was missing his vambraces, and he wasn’t alone in the room. Frank blinked the water out of his eyes as he looked around at his surroundings. He was in a kind of office. It was plain with no windows; just a door leading outside.

He sat in a metal chair tied down so well the bonds cut into his wrists and ankles. Karn stood in the corner of the room. A mass of muscle and tight skin pulled over his skeletal face. He held a dripping bucket of water. His own orange vambraces glowed a brilliant burnt-orange.

The events that brought Frank to this point came back to him in a single giant rush. Sava had tricked him, ambushed him, and given him over to the enemy. But that couldn’t be right. There had to be more. Sava would never have turned. They blackmailed or threatened her somehow. This was the only recourse she had.

Frank was sure of that in his heart of hearts.

No way Sava sold you out. Not the knight you fought side by side with against the Chaos Lord. Not the knight you bled with, Frank thought to himself as he considered why she could have done what she did. She has a plan.

Karn remained quiet, just standing in the corner watching him. Frank wasn’t actually sure the alien in front of him could talk. He had never heard the brute utter so much as a sentence.

“Are we just going to stare at each other?” Frank shook his wet head, sending droplets of water flying around the room. “Trying to kill me with anticipation of what’s going on?”

Karn grinned at him. A smile of so many long sharp teeth, it reminded Frank of a shark’s mouth. Instead of words, Karn walked over to Frank and slammed the water pail he carried so hard against Frank’s left jaw, Frank thought it would break.

The familiar taste of blood filled his mouth. The force of the blow was so intense, it nearly toppled his entire chair over. Pain receptors exploded across Frank’s face as stars did the same across his vision.

Frank grinned, spitting blood on the floor next to him.

“Classic,” Frank said, already moving past the pain. “The whole silent beat-down treatment. You need a pail to hit me in the face with? Too afraid to use your fist and ruin your manicure?”

Karn dropped the bucket with a growl. There was a mania in his eyes Frank had seen before in the eyes of other killers. The massive alien reared back with a right fist.

“Easy, Karn,” Jarl’s voice said behind him. “We want to do this publicly so all can enjoy.”

Karn grinned a toothy smile down at Frank before moving to the side to reveal a very pleased Jarl Balder. The horned alien wore a tight -fitting tactical vest with dark pants and boots. Like his counterpart, he had dark orange vambraces glowing on his forearms. In his right hand, he held a small black ball.

“How does it feel knowing you were sold out by your own?” Jarl asked as he tossed the black orb into the air. It floated by itself, training a camera on Frank. “How does it feel knowing your own precious Corp doesn’t value you? Sava was your mentor after all, wasn’t she? She threw you to the side like trash. That must sting.”

“Great,” Frank said, refusing to take the bait. “Karn won’t talk at all and you’re not going to shut up now.”

“That’s what I love about you, Frank,” Jarl said, walking forward and squatting down so he could look his prey in the eyes. “Even when you’ve been betrayed, your order has turned their back on you, and your friends have abandoned you, you’re still as eager to fight as ever. Most people see that as courageous, but there are those who realize the level of stupidity in that.”

Karn stood behind Jarl, grinning like an idiot.

“Do your followers get a dental plan?” Frank asked, fixating on Karn’s teeth. “If not, you really need to add that in for them. Karn could use a solid treatment plan.”

Karn’s smile faded. He lifted self-conscious fingers to his teeth.

“It’s going to be fun breaking you,” Jarl said with a grin. He stood up, back on his feet. “We’ll broadcast everything live though an untraceable link. It’ll be like an experiment of a kind. What will be the thing to break you? When will you break? How loud will you scream for mercy when you know there is no mercy here.”

“Can we just start already?” Frank rolled his eyes. “Or is this part of the torture already?”

Jarl looked over to Karn with a nod. The large alien left the room a moment later.

“I imagine you’re just refusing to give in to the truth that Sava betrayed you,” Jarl said, turning back to Frank. He lifted his right fist. A thin blade not much larger than a letter opener appeared in his right hand. It glowed with a translucent orange hue. “You think help might be coming or you’re holding on to something deep inside of you for some foolish reason. Accept it, Frank. You’ve been betrayed, there’s no one coming for you, and I will kill everyone you love.”

With those words, Jarl slammed the blade down through Frank’s left leg halfway between his kneecap and hip. The orange blade sank deep, sending searing pain through Frank’s body.

Frank grunted, grinding his teeth. He refused to yell out. He wasn’t going to give Jarl that satisfaction.

Jarl grinned at him, his noiseless face twisting in a wicked expression. For the first time, he looked over at the black orb floating in the air. A single lens zoomed in, recording everything.

“Today is a good day.” Jarl twisted the blade in Frank’s leg, making him writhe in agony. He still didn’t scream out. “Today, we get to see an Arilion Knight not only sold out by his so-called friends but put in his place. To all of you watching, now is the time to rise up and overthrow the Arilion Knights before their numbers swell. Now is the day of our victory, the people’s victory!”

Jarl ripped the blade out of Frank’s leg, sending a spattering of blood across the room. He grinned at the camera before slamming the blade down once more in Frank’s opposite leg.

Again, Frank refused to cry out, remembering Saber Sarguard’s words. Mentally, he removed himself from the position and thought about Vega. She was out there looking for him now. Even if she didn’t find him, the fact that the woman he loved returned the same love to him was enough for Frank to focus on.

“As many of you know, my family was killed by an attack when the Chaos Lord made his reemergence into the universe,” Jarl said to the camera, ripping out the blade in Frank’s leg. “The Arilion Knights let it happen. They were nowhere to be found. They play god, deciding who to save and who to let die. Well, we’re our own heroes now. They’re nothing more than the villains in this story.”

“What happened to your family was horrible and an act of the Chaos Lord,” Frank said, shaking his head. “Your anger is so misplaced it’s not even funny. You should hate the Chaos Lord first and then look to yourself and what you could have done to save your own family. Arilion Knights aren’t all-knowing. Neither are we able to police the entire universe. If we knew about your family and we could have saved them, we would have.”

Jarl stared at Frank with a blank face. The hatred in his eyes never changed. He approached Frank again, this time using the knife construct to trace a shallow line down the left side of Frank’s face.

A scorching sensation racked Frank’s skin as he smelled his own skin burning. Still, he never cried out.

“Is this where you start begging for your life?” Jarl asked. “Beg me, Frank.”

Frank set his jaw, staring into the eyes of Jarl Balder without any sign of weakness.

“Maybe if you won’t beg for your own life, you’ll beg for hers.” Jarl moved to the side to reveal Karn’s arrival. The muscular alien stood right outside the door of the room. Although the lighting out in the hall was poor, it was clear enough for him to see Vega both bound and gagged in the hands of the alien.

Frank’s heart skipped a beat. Vega wore the bright golden Neeve armor of her home world. There were multiple lacerations across the portions of her face, hands, and bare feet that Frank could see. She had been worked over well. She looked drugged or dazed; Frank couldn’t tell which.

“What is it that you want?” Frank looked at Jarl, trying to hide the panic in his voice. “You want me to beg? You want me to say that you’re right and I’m wrong. Fine, I’ll give you what you want, but leave her alone.”

“He speaks!” Jarl threw back his head, laughing to the room’s ceiling. “That’s kind of a disappointment, Frank. I have to say, I thought you’d last a few more hours at least. I wanted to try out some other constructs of torture I had planned.”

Jarl looked at the camera with a wink. “How the mighty fall so quickly. This is your hero giving up and surrendering only minutes into his interrogation. The universe deserves better.”

While Jarl went on to the camera, Frank leaned forward, studying Vega. Her head was drooping as she was supported in Karn’s arms. The long white hair on her head hid most of her face. The dark hall made it difficult to pick out more detail.

Frank strained against his bonds, ignoring the way the leather-like material bit into his skin and drew blood.

Something was off about the whole situation. How had they found Vega and alone? She was guarded and around allies constantly. Why was she wearing her old Neeve armor? She had been so grateful and excited to don the new body armor given to her by Colonel Breaker.

A thought crossed Frank’s mind that perhaps it wasn’t her at all. He couldn’t risk that not being true. Maybe it was just him being wishful at the possibility. His eyes drifted down to the ring finger on her left hand. If she wasn’t wearing the ring he had just given her, he would know for sure. If this was some kind of trick, Jarl would have no way of knowing Frank had asked her to marry him just a day before.

“Vega! Vega! Look at me!” Frank couldn’t free himself from his bonds, but he rocked back and forth in his chair liked a man possessed until the chair fell forward. He cracked his head on the hard ground, sending a warm wave of blood down his face. None of that mattered. All he had to do was know for sure.

Frank twisted to the side, craning his neck upward to get a better view.

“You see how pathetic and weak your knight is first-hand?” Jarl roared with laughter as he spoke once more into the camera. “This is what you put your hope in.”

The muscles in Frank’s neck were screaming at him as he forced his neck up from his place on the ground. He twisted his head to the side trying to get a better look at Vega’s bound hands. They were secured in front of her with the same kind of leathery straps used on him.

20

Karn looked down at Frank with a wicked grin. He adjusted his grip on Vega, holding her up by her elbows now instead of her shoulder. The glow from his vambrace illuminated Vega’s finger, so he could get a better look. Not only was she not wearing her ring, subtle differences only Frank could have noticed took shape. She was a few inches shorter than Vega, her hair a shade darker.

Frank was finally able to place his neck in a position to see all of this. He rested his head on the ground with a smile. Somewhere, Vega was safe. Whoever or whatever was in front of him was not his fiancée.

“Now it’s time to beg,” Jarl said, righting Frank’s fallen chair. He leaned in toward Frank once more to bring his eyes level with his own. His face was only inches away from Frank’s. “I want you to beg for your own pathetic life and that of hers.”

Frank was elated at knowing that Vega was safe; he decided to really let Jarl have it. In a second’s space, he reared back with his head and sent it forward, slamming into the flat nose of Jarl Balder. The act brought a grin to Frank’s bruised and beaten face and then a full-on smile when he caught sight of his enemy. His lip cracked all the more, but he didn’t care.

Stunned, Jarl stumbled a few steps back. Dark blood gushed from the two holes he called a nose. Tears filled his eyes as he stared daggers at Frank. “You fool, you must care nothing for the life of the woman you supposedly love.”

“I don’t think you have the woman I love,” Frank said, still smiling wide. The act was agony on his swollen jaw, but he couldn’t help himself. The relief of knowing Vega was safe somewhere was too much for him to contain. “I’m guessing it’s a hologram or some kind of dummy.”

“You would risk her life on a hunch?” Jarl said, constructing a long blade on his right hand. He advanced on the form Karn held in his grip. “You would risk it all?”

“Go ahead, antler boy,” Frank said, goading Jarl. “I’m calling your bluff. You know, I think you’ve got to be just as tired of standing on your sad soapbox trying to make me suffer.”

Fury boiled in Jarl as he took in Frank’s cavalier words. More blood dripped from his nose with each seething breath. Frank took the opportunity to continue berating him.

“Jarl, buddy, if you want to kill me, then kill me. I don’t care what you do to my body at this point. Every breath is agony; how much worse can it get? Let’s just call it what it is: hashtag nailed it. That’s not Vega. My Vega is safe and sound. Maybe drinking a mojito somewhere. I can’t be sure,” said Frank.

Jarl was in a rage, proving to Frank that he was correct. Instead of advancing on the person who was very clearly not Vega, he ran for Frank. Jarl constructed a pair of tight-fitting gloves on his hands instead of the knife and laid into him.

Frank felt the blows to his torso and face like sledgehammers connecting with his body. Pain exploded in every receptor. Cuts were opened on his nose and swelling began to form over his eyes. Bruised and broken ribs were a certainty. Concussion seemed likely. Any internal bleeding would have to be sorted out later, if he had a later. Right now, he felt like the puddle of meat goo Elly had mentioned in regard to a bad transport.

Through it all, he held on to the fact that the love of his life was safe. He grasped at the hope that Sava had a plan. Above all, he channeled the Will power inside of him to weather the storm and not give up or give in.

A few moments later, Jarl stood back, panting. Frank’s blood and possibly even Jarl’s covered his knuckles.

For all Jarl’s fury, nothing would bring back his murdered wife and son. With all the family Frank now had on the line, he understood how a man could go mad from heartbreak. It was a thin line. Had Karn actually held Vega captive, Frank knew there was a part of him that would be just as willing to go off the deep end with Jarl. Yet that was what made them different. The Will of good channeled in the purple light versus the fear that coursed through the deep orange power that Jarl wielded.

Frank slumped forward in the chair, blood dripping from his mouth, nose, and a cut that had been opened up at his hairline.

“Alone and on the doorstep of death,” Jarl said, still panting from the exertion of delivering the blows. “Laugh for me now, Frank. Smile for me.”

Frank was trying to think of a witty comeback, except pain was getting in the way of coherent thought. Unconsciousness was already trying to suck him into its black embrace once more.

A strange sound filled the room they were in. It was so faint, Frank thought he was imagining it at first. Then it came again and again until Frank understood it was no ploy of his imagination, but the sound of weapons being discharged.

“I’m guessing you weren’t expecting company?” Frank asked, peering up through the curtain of blood across his face and his swollen left eye.

Jarl glanced back to Karn, who had disappeared with the imposter Vega. Jarl himself seemed unsure what to do. He half looked like he was going to lay into Frank again yet thought better of it. He ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The sounds grew louder as they reached closer. There was no doubt they were the noises of dispersing weapons and a lot of them.

Frank worked his tender jaw up and down, trying to come up with a plan on how to free himself and get back into the fight. There was nothing in the room besides the chair he was strapped to and now the black orb that floated above his left shoulder. Although it only hovered half a meter above him, with his wrists so secured, it might as well have been a hundred meters in the air.

Frank lowered his head to his right arm. If he hunched his back and reached as far as he could, he was able to get his teeth at the leather bonds keeping him in place.

Frank went after the bonds like a starved man on a Christmas ham. Whatever it took to get his hands around Jarl, he was willing to do. He gnawed, bit, and chewed on the restraints until its moldy taste filled his mouth. It made him want to gag. He ignored all of this and chewed more.

After a few minutes of chomping and spitting out the frayed material from his mouth, the leather strap began to give way. Either Jarl didn’t think Frank could get his mouth around the substance or it was never the plan to leave Frank alone.

All that mattered right now was bite, spit, repeat. The restraints around his right wrist gave a moment later under Frank’s beaver-like onslaught. He tore his right arm free, quickly working on his left hand and ankles. In a minute, he was free and reaching for the black floating orb that served as Jarl’s camera.

“If this is a live feed and you can hear me,” Frank said, looking into the camera lens. “I’m coming for you.”

With a grunt of defiance, Frank slammed the camera against the wall. The lens and orb exploded in a hundred tiny pieces as it crashed to the ground in a rain of glass.

Frank went to the closed door. His hand shook as he gripped the door slowly, turned the handle, and tried to get a bearing of where he was and how he planned to escape. Each step from his wounded legs was a new lesson in pain. The slashes from the knife Jarl used to skewer his thighs burned. Blood dripped from the wounds, soaking his pants. He could muster through the pain; it was the blood loss from a thousand cuts that might soon be his ending.

Pain was pain. The more he fought it, the more he would expend precious energy and focus. If he could lean into and accept it, he might make it to the next level.

After coming to grips with the pain, Frank opened the door and examined his surroundings. He was in a long hall with doors closed on either side of him. In front of him was another closed door. The sounds of battle somewhere outside or above raged on louder.

Frank limped his way toward the sounds of battle. His boots shuffled unsteadily in the quiet hall as he turned right, traveling down the wall to a steel door. He opened it. Brilliant red light exploded across his vision. He put up his right hand to shield his eyes from the strong red suns. His head exploded from the brightness accosting his retinas.

After a moment, the pounding in his head subsided enough for him to realize they were suns he had seen before. He was back on Epsilon Nine. Not just back on Epsilon Nine; he was on the very Overlord stronghold he had seen on his first visit here when Jarl first took the T29s.

Frank studied his surroundings in depth. He was high in one of the blown-out watchtowers. The fortification had taken a beating the first time around when Jarl and Karn captured their robot army. It seemed Jarl and Karn hadn’t left at all and instead repurposed the compound to serve their needs.

From his viewpoint in one of the two rear watchtowers, Frank could see the courtyard below, the other two front watchtowers, and some of the planet beyond.

His heart sank in his chest as he witnessed the sheer number of T29s waiting to be deployed in the courtyard. True to Chairman’s count, there were hundreds of them, all ready to battle. Shiny rows organized in blocks stood sentry, their red eyes dim in their skeletal sockets.

Worse yet, not just the T29s were present. Dozens of other species, mercenaries or fanatics who had answered Jarl’s call to wage war on the Arilion Knights, milled about, menace and vengeance stooping their brows and shoulders like a pack of hungry dogs on the hunt.

Jarl and Karn were nowhere to be found at the moment. The noises that had interrupted Frank’s interrogation continued to sound. In the two front-most towers, heavy barreled cannons were placed with their barrels aimed to the south, manned by two-meter tall-bat-like creatures who fired booming rounds at will.

The sound was like a grenade going off at a far proximity. Frank couldn’t see what they were shooting at. He sank low and pressed his back to the wall. Trying not to be seen by any of the robots or a member of the ragtag personnel would be near impossible. He needed a plan to escape and quickly before he was found out. Even as Frank’s mind tried to put together a plan for finding his vambraces, a shout was heard in the courtyard.

“There! There!” Frank’s translator mounted behind his ear changed the language for him. “Isn’t that an Arilion Knight?”

Ugh, how can they know? I probably look just as ugly as the worst of them in my state, Frank thought as he glimpsed at his bare forearms. His vambraces were usually a dead giveaway, but they were now nowhere to be found.

Frank checked back to see a group of tactical armored soldiers with four arms and four feet look up at him. He was beyond weak; still, he managed to turn and began to limp his way back the way he came.

He was too late. A pair of the bat-like aliens swooped on him, wrestling him to the ground. The putrid stench coming off of their bodies was truly horrific. Frank gagged as he was first fought to the ground, then carried by the bats down to the courtyard below.

He was deposited on the ground as the bat creatures pummeled him with the wings on their back as well as their compact fists. Talons cut into his exposed skin. Their macabre faces bared deadly fangs.

“Look at the Arilion Knight now,” one of them jeered.

“Not so tough without your vambraces, you piece of—” Frank wasn’t sure where the genitals were on this creature, so he saved the groin kick and settled for an eye jab instead. He stabbed out quickly with two fingers at the right black bulbous eye of the giant bat. His finger sank in deep, piercing the eye like an overripe tomato.

“Ugh!” The alien bat staggered back as his counterpart came at Frank again.

“Easy,” a voice warned from somewhere in the group. “Jarl will want him.”

Frank was reeling on his feet. The crowd of mercenaries closed in on him.

You’re not going down without a fight, Frank told himself. Not now. Not ever. That’s not who you are. That will never be who you are. You’re a Marine and an Arilion Knight!

“Who’s next?!” Frank roared. He lifted his fists in front of him. “Who’s next?!?”

The effort sent him into a coughing fit as liquid, likely blood, caught in his air passage.

“You idiot,” another voice that Frank couldn’t pick out from the throng encircling him said, “you’re alone.”

Frank spat blood on the ground beside him, ready to start swinging, kicking, and biting until he was overwhelmed. If they wanted him, then he was going to make at least the first few who reached for him pay.

Then a streak in the sky caught his eye. The burnt-orange comet headed straight for Frank.

Wonderful, Frank thought already understanding he was going to be powerless to combat such a foe not only without his vambraces but in his current weakened state.

The militia around him cleared as the orange figure flying through the air came to land beside Frank with so much force, the ground trembled. A layer of dust exploded into the air.

Frank’s eyes burned as he tried to see if it was Jarl who would be his end or Karn.

21

“Who said he was alone?” a female voice asked through the cloud of dust.

Frank didn’t believe his ears. He knew that voice.

Lucy Lopez stood beside him, facing down his adversaries. The once-member of Marine Space Corp-1 had been thought dead then reborn as a wielder of the orange vambraces. She wore a long coat, boots, and cargo pants. On her arms were the flaming orange vambraces. Her eyes glowed with the same light.

“If you want Frank, then you go through me!” Lucy roared, not waiting for the group to attack. She extended her arms, unleashing a fiery torrent of orange flames that licked at their exposed flesh.

Screams of the dying filled the air as the skin melted off the bodies of her enemies. Those not immediately in the path of the torrent of energy-like flame opened fire on Lucy.

Frank stumbled back, not knowing whether to cheer for her or tell her to stop as the burned flesh of dozens of militia members rose to the heavens.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Energy rounds bounced off Lucy’s orange shield, which covered her body like a second skin. She transitioned her construct from flames to dual orange pistols. Orange rounds streaked back at her assailants, taking them in their center body mass.

Frank looked around the chaotic courtyard as those militia members still standing ran for cover while returning fire. The unit of T29s in the large open space had taken notice of their enemy. Like possessed children, their heads swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees on their necks. Their bodies followed next. As one, they advanced on Lucy and Frank.

Without gauntlets, Frank wasn’t as powerful as he had been before, but he wasn’t giving himself an excuse not to fight. A heavy blaster with a square barrel lay a few meters in front of him. It belonged to one of the unfortunate souls Lucy incinerated.

Frank limped toward the weapon, diving for it as the T29s opened fire on his location. Blue energy bolts from the blasters in the forearms of the robots streaked toward Frank. Before they could make impact, a giant purple hand appeared in front of him.

Emma Jackson landed on the ground a moment later. She looked down on her mentor with a smile. “I thought you could use a hand. Get it? A hand?”

“I get it,” Frank said with a grin despite the pain he felt in his body. He reached for the weapon, bringing it to his shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Jackson.”

“You too,” Emma said, redirecting her gaze on the enemy in front of them.

Emma brought a purple bow to her hands. She began unleashing arrows at their enemies while she kept the defensive construct in place.

Even with the combined efforts of Lucy, Emma, and Frank firing the blaster, there were too many of the T29s to hold off. When one would fall, two more took its place. They came closer and closer, always firing their weapons.

“We need to find a more strategic location,” Lucy shouted over the sounds of battle. “Now.”

Frank searched the courtyard. There was the tower he had been held in to his left connected to a smaller building. That would be their best bet.

“Come with me!” Frank said, placing his left hand on Emma’s shoulder he began to guide her backward.

Emma kept their shield in place, which looked like a large open hand, while the two worked their way backward toward the building. Lucy took to the air, providing as much cover as she could as the wave of T29s slowly advanced.

With his left hand guiding Emma backward, Frank’s right hand held the blaster. The weapon was bulky. It kicked him in the shoulder every time he sent off a round. On the upside, the weapon was some kind of plasma cannon. His white-hot rounds were striking the T29s and eating through their armor plating as searing hot plasma made contact with their bodies.

The next few moments found Frank within leaping distance of a door. The door led into a small building attached to the much larger tower he had been held in.

Frank slammed his right foot into the door, hammering the obstacle open.

“It’s open,” Frank shouted to his rescuers. “Let’s go.”

Frank dove through the open door followed by Emma and lastly Lucy. The orange-vambraced knight closed the door behind them. She put her back to the door. Weapon blasts rang out, striking the building from all sides.

Emma pushed her hands forward, trading in her shield and bow for a barrier. Her lavender shielding coated the walls and door, absorbing the impact of the incoming rounds.

Frank knew from experience Emma’s act was selfless but not one that could be maintained for long. The amount of energy it would take for her to keep a shield like that up while being hammered on the opposite side by hundreds of rounds was intimidating.

They had a few moments at most to come up with a plan.

“Nice job, kid,” Frank said, looking to Emma first, then Lucy. “Thank you, thank both of you for coming. I’m not sure how you found me, but—”

“We can save the kumbaya campfire for later,” Lucy said, motioning with her chin over to Emma, whose hands were already beginning to tremble as she kept up the barrier against the onslaught of enemy fire. “We need to head deeper inside and find a way to funnel them in to us.”

“Copy that,” Frank said, already heading into the building’s interior. “You read my mind.”

The building was a barracks that opened up into a massive room with beds and trunks used as dressers. There was one way in and another way out that Frank could see. A door on the far wall opened up deeper into the tower area where he had been held.

“Come on this way,” Frank said, waving over to Emma and Lucy. “Drop the shield, Jackson, and lets make a run for it.”

Emma didn’t argue. Beads of sweat raced down her face. She released the shield and retreated into the interior of the building. As soon as she let go of her constructed shield, hundreds of rounds struck the building, flying through the windows of the outer room and eating up the stonewalls.

Frank and the two warriors ran into the barracks room, slamming the door behind them. The trio sprinted to the far end of the room. Lucy overturned a pair of beds along the wall to act as cover.

“How did you find me?” Frank asked them. “What’s going on out there?”

“Sava and Claymore are acting as a diversion outside of the fort to buy us time,” Emma explained as she wiped sweat from her brow. She did a double-take, looking at Frank for the first time. “Man, you look rough. Are you okay?”

“Thanks for that.” Frank glared at her then couldn’t help but smile. “I feel like a million bucks.”

“We need to find your vambraces ASAP,” Lucy said as she crouched behind the bed on the right. “We’ll hold them off here while you go deeper into the tower and find your vambraces.”

Frank had so many questions he wanted answered at the moment; still, he realized the truth in Lucy’s words. He would be able to help and do more good with the power of his vambraces. But where to look first? The tower was massive.

“Here, a gift from the Overlords,” Emma said, handing Frank a square frame with a handle on either side. “I guess they really want to do the right thing here. Maybe not the right thing—that would be helping us clean up their mess—but at least they’re giving us the tools.”

Frank accepted the screen, looking at the display. It showed a map of the area with a purple blinking dot farther into the tower.

“You should know Sava didn’t betray you,” Emma said hurriedly. “Jarl had a plan to blow up the orphans along with you and Sunni and the rest of the Marines on Sunni’s planet if she didn’t give you up.”

“Answers later!” Lucy growled as the T29s reached the doors to the barracks and blew them down. She constructed an orange Mech with a stationary base and twin Gatling guns for arms. “RAWWWR!”

Frank would have loved to stay and see the havoc Lucy Lopez rained down on the enemy, but there was no time. They were offering him an opportunity right now to find his own vambraces and get back into the fight. Frank wasn’t going to waste it.

Blue energy rounds struck the walls and ground around him. Frank ran out of the barracks room through the back door. He looked down at the simple tracking device in his hand. It wasn’t anything extravagant, just a 2D overhead map of the building he was in. The bleeping purple dot was coming from somewhere down the hall to his left.

Frank traveled room by room until he found them. His vambraces were being held in a heavy metal cage. Frank kicked himself for leaving his blaster behind in the room with Lucy and Emma.

Sounds of their battle echoed through the entire building.

Think, think. Frank racked his mind for how to free his vambraces. They floated in the cage in front of him, eager to be on his forearms once more.

Frank looked around the room for anything that might help. There was a small window set higher into the wall. A row of empty lockers on his right.

Out of desperation, Frank went to the window, standing on his tiptoes. He tried to get a look outside. His heart soared at what he saw. Sunni was soaring through the air in a small purple glider she had constructed. The small Oyan performed bombing runs on the T29s below her.

Frank released the lever to open the glass window in front of him, sticking out his arm. He waved like a wild man. “Sunni! Sunni! In here!”

There was no way Sunni was going to be able to hear him over the noise. She must have caught the motion from his waving. She looked over and then made a beeline for his position.

The small Oyan knight transitioned her fighter into a comet. She burst through the ceiling and came to land next to Frank in a pile of dust and debris.

“Frank! Frank, are you all right?” The young girl looked at him with her large raccoon-like eyes. “You don’t look so good.”

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot lately.” Frank motioned to the steel cage beside her. “Think you can help me out?”

“Definitely,” Sunni said, grabbing the crate. She ripped it open with hands strengthened by her power of will.

Frank’s vambraces flew to him. They touched his forearms, sending a wave of comfort down his body. He was a force without them but darn near unstoppable with them. Purple energy crackled in his hands.

“Sava only wants Arilion Knights to enter the fight,” Sunni explained to Frank as his vambraces were returned to him. “We’re proving something to everyone right now. We’re making a statement to the universe that the Arilion Knights are back and we don’t take crap from anyone. Vega and all the other alliance members wanted to come. Sava talked them out of it. She said this was something the knights had to do.”

Sunni was chattering so fast it was hard for Frank to keep up. It was like she had chugged an entire pot of coffee and then injected herself with sugar.

“And all the new Arilion Knights that were training on the Academy with Emma are here too,” Sunni said, excitedly bobbing her head. “They’re just waiting until we get you out safely before the real fight begins. We’re supposed to get you out of here and back to where Sava and that gorilla guy are fighting Jarl and Karn. Are you ready?”

Frank’s pain-stricken head was trying to track everything the small knight was telling him. When she came to a stop in the conversation, blinking her deep brown eyes, it caught him off guard.

“Yes, yeah, I think so,” Frank said, motioning to the door back the way they came. “We have to get Emma and Lucy before we go. Come on; they’re back this way.”

Frank sprinted with Sunni back the way he had come toward the barracks. The pain in his legs dulled as his vambraces channeled power through his body.

Frank and Sunni burst through the back door of the barracks, where Emma and Lucy held the tide of T29s back.

“We’ve got the vambraces,” Frank screamed over the sounds of battle. “Let’s go!”

It seemed as though he and Sunni arrived not a moment too soon. The durable T29s were beasts to try to put down for good. They stalked forward, their red eyes glaring at their enemies. Some were missing arms, others were missing legs; nevertheless, they crawled forward.

“Still have a hard time flying?” Emma eyed Frank with a grin.

“You can’t fly?” Lucy looked over from her constructed turret.

“He can kind of float,” Sunni said, not meaning her words to be an insult. “He’s good at floating.”

“I can manage,” Frank said, shaking his head at the women around him. “Let’s go!”

22

Lucy was the first to go. She created a hole in the roof of the enemy barracks then rocketed into the sky in an orange blur. Emma and Sunni went next, with Frank bringing up the rear. All three of his counterparts were faster. He couldn’t blame his lack of flight skills solely on being wounded. He’d never been a great flyer to begin with.

The higher he rose, the better a view Frank was given of the battle around them. Thanks to Sunni’s strafing runs, the fortress that held him captive billowed with smoke. The bulk of the T29s were still in the courtyard along with the ragtag militia that had flocked to Jarl’s banner.

Out in the rugged terrain of Epsilon Nine, two more battles were taking place. Sava raged against Jarl Balder while Sergeant Claymore engaged with Karn. Their movements were so fast on both sides, they came across as purple and orange streaks in a death dance in the desert. They constructed offensive and defensive weapons, laying into one another with enough ferocity to shake the ground itself.

Frank and the others touched down beside a panting Sava Sarguard. The Draconian knight bled from her left shoulder. A trail of lime green blood trickled down her arm. She was panting hard, a sheen of sweat on her brow.

“Frank, I’m sorry, I had—”

“We can figure it out later,” Frank said, extending a hand to his friend. “Emma told me some of it. The rest can wait.”

Sava nodded her horned head.

At that moment, Sergeant Claymore was thrown backward toward Frank and the others from his own one-on-one fight with Karn.

If he was wounded, Frank couldn’t tell. The tank of a knight rolled to absorb the fall then came to stand on his feet beside the others. He looked over at Frank with an approving nod. “You don’t look so—”

“I know, I know,” Frank said with a knowing nod. “I don’t look so good.”

“Let’s be done with this,” Lucy said with a snarl. “Let’s kill these sons of b—”

“Whoa, whoa, language,” Emma warned as she placed a hand on either side of Sunni’s furry ears.

“It’s over for you,” Sava called across the field of battle where Jarl and Karn regrouped. “Surrender and throw yourself at the mercy of the Alliance. You’re finished. The Arilion Knights were enough to defeat you this day. Not the power of the Alliance. We came for you and we beat you, like we’ll overcome any threat the universe has to offer.”

“I don’t know what’s more pathetic,” Jarl said, wiping at a line of blood dripping down his nose. “That you think this is actually the end or that you think you can win. I have an army at my back.”

Even as Jarl said the words, Frank could see the fortress behind him emptying. A wave of silver T29s came forward, followed by the motley crew of soldiers, dejects, justice warriors, and mercenaries whose aim was to end the Arilion Knights. It was impossible to know for certain, but Frank guessed there were still more than eight hundred of the T29s and about half as many militia members ready to fight.

“Do the math yourself,” Jarl shouted toward the knights. “There are six of you and over a thousand of us. The Arilion Order falls this day.”

“Not this day!” Sava roared back, lifting both arms straight up in the sky as she shot a beam of purple light toward the heavens. “You want one of us, then you fight all of us.”

Frank looked up to see who Sava had signaled. Purple dots of light filled the sky as newly appointed knights training at the Academy came down to land by their side via their ability to fly or the various constructs glowing around them. They were all shapes and sizes just like those in Frank’s dream.

Squid-like tentacles, hooves like Minotaurs’, and wings like butterflies’ were just a few of the unique markers of the various races. Despite how different they all looked, they shared the same common element of Will. Of good will. Purple vambraces glowed on their forearms as they touched down around Frank and Sava.

There were dozens of them, swelling their number to close to fifty. Fifty knights against Jarl, Karn, the T29s, and the militia would even the odds. A moment was given to each side as Jarl’s army arrived and the Arilion Knights touched down.

“I had to give you to Jarl,” Sava said, swallowing hard as if even those words caused her pain. “He had explosives rigged under the orphan warehouse on Auriul. If I didn’t agree to give you to him, he would have killed you all.”

“It also allowed you to find out where his actual base was,” Frank said, meeting the concerned eyes of his mentor. “I get it.”

“There was no time to tell you, Frank. I’m—” Sava diverted her eyes at the ground. “If I could have taken your place, I would have in a moment.”

It wasn’t in her to show weakness or compassion. She had trained herself via the ways of Draconian combat to reach the end goal, no matter the price. Except Frank had been the first one to join her as a modern Arilion Knight after decades of being alone. She trained him then set him up as a sacrifice.

“Hey,” Frank said with sternness in his voice. “I get it. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I didn’t want to be used as a human punching bag, but if it meant saving those orphans and finally bringing the fight to Jarl Balder, I would have told you to do the same thing.” He moved his face to catch her gaze. “What I really want to know is how you convinced Vega not to get in on the fight?”

“A miracle,” Sava said with a rare crocodile smile. “That woman is as bullheaded as they come. I feared I would have to restrain her from tearing out my heart from my chest when I told her what I had done.”

“I bet.” Frank grinned at the thought of his fiancée going after Sava. “What’s the plan now, sir?”

“The plan is we paint the field of battle with their blood,” Sergeant Claymore said, showing his teeth. “Today is the day of their reckoning.”

“And you’ll need this.” Sava reached behind her and unslung a silver canister that hung by her lower back. “It’s the virus the Overloads provided to take out the T29s.”

Frank accepted the canister, placing the strap over his own shoulder. Next he examined the enemy lines. There was one certainty he could plan on. This was going to be brutal. There was no cover on the rolling rocky planes of Epsilon Nine. That would sway their advantage. They would be able to construct shields and barriers where Jarl and Karn were the only ones on their side with that same ability.

“I want Jarl,” Frank said, looking each of his friends in the eye. “I’ll take him.”

Sava slowly nodded. “We’ll cover you and lead the rest of the knights against his forces. I’ll go after Karn.”

“Not alone,” Sergeant Claymore said. “I will assist in the take down. You’ll need help to put him down permanently if he can indeed regenerate his body parts as has been reported. It’ll take us both.”

“You’ll need a lot of help,” Emma added.

“You still do those epic speeches before battle?” Lucy looked over at Frank with a smirk. “I bet you do. Now would be the time for one.”

Frank studied the line of Arilion Knights standing with him. He recognized only a few he had seen at the Academy. These were all newer Arilion Knights chosen within the last year. They were nervous, excited, ready, and scared all at once. He knew that feeling well. He understood what an inspiring leader could mean to them at a time like this.

Frank looked over to Sava, who was the only one present with more seniority.

“He came after you first on Atmos.” Sava waved Frank forward. “This is your time.”

Jarl was on the other side of the battle, rallying his own militia. He worked them into a frenzy, yelling words Frank could hardly make out. He caught things like “False heroes and cowards.”

Frank separated himself from the group. He took a few steps forward before turning around. It was important to him that he looked as many of them in the eyes as possible. They deserved that much if they were going to sweat and bleed together.

These were his people more so than any others. This was his tribe, his brothers and sisters; all fighters in their own right. In different ways, their will was forged into something their own planets had never seen before. Here they were ready to die together for each other.

“Some of you know me,” Frank shouted. “For those of you who don’t, this is who I am. My name is Frank Wolffe, I’m an Arilion Knight, I’m your brother, and I will give my life for you. This isn’t just a battle that’s about to take place. This is a message we are about to send to the universe. This is a statement that the Arilion Knights are here to stay. That we are united. That we don’t hide behind any army. That terrorists who come for us or anyone will be met with violence on any planet. That they will not be able to hide or cower from justice. We are the Arilion Order and the flames that drive our spirits will never be quenched!”

Frank could tell they were ready. Some of the knights nodded along with his words; others bounced up and down on their tiptoes.

“Are you with me!?” Frank shouted.

The roars from the group rose to the sky.

“Are you with me!?” Frank asked again.

Every throat shouted an affirmative.

“As one!” Frank screamed.

“As one!” they roared back.

Frank turned and sprinted toward the enemy. All the pain in his legs and body faded as adrenaline coursed through his veins at an insane pace. Frank allowed the fighting spirit channeled by his vambraces to rage.

The enemy came for him, a wave of metal T29s and alien militia. Jarl, like the leader he was, stood behind with Karn as his force ran to meet Frank.

What a coward, Frank thought to himself. But did you really expect anything else?

The ground itself shook under Frank’s feet. He raced forward at the head of the Arilion Knights. He picked up as much speed as he could, streaking forward in a blur of purple light.

Enemy rounds found him, but not before he constructed a heavy purple shield that went before him and a lance twice the length of his own body. At the end of the shaft was a pointed edge, serrated to do the most damage.

Blue blaster fire pinged off his shield construct. Red, yellow, and white rounds peppered the Arilion Knights courtesy of Jarl’s militia. Frank wasn’t sure where so many scum of the universe had come from, but he planned to put them all in the ground.

Despite his speed, Frank found himself running side by side with other knights who had caught up to him. There was the Arilion Knight that looked like a humanoid butterfly that flew overhead, letting loose a barrage of purple fire from a blaster. Emma and Lucy Lopez flew side by side, darting into the fight.

Frank redirected his attention to what was in front of him. Jarl Balder was lost to view for the moment by the wave of enemies both robotic and organic in front of him. Frank reached for the canister on his back, flinging it into the air at the last moment before impact and hurling his spear to strike it.

The purple spear struck the can, puncturing it through both ends. A fine mist descended on the battlefield and the T29s below. Frank had done the best he could; now it was up to him to wade through the enemies in front of him and find Jarl Balder.

I hope the Overloads were right about this stuff, Frank thought to himself as he constructed his rifle and took aim at the first enemy racing toward him. I hope they’re right.

23

The sounds across the battle field as the Arilion Knights met the enemy was one of war cries, screams of pain, rent metal, and the sickening thuds of bodies colliding with one another. Blaster fire peppered the air and ground in every direction.

Frank brought a Punisher GS2000 to his shoulder, firing at point-blank range into militia members and the T29 robots alike.

The militia members went down easily, the T29s not so much. Frank made a mental note to tell the Overlords they made their products too well. With each round fired into the T29 horde, one of them was pushed back a step or hindered in their forward progress before they recovered to advance once more.

Frank decide to change his tactic. Instead of firing a weapon, he got up close and personal with a constructed Ka-Bar in his right hand and went to work.

The defensive shielding he used as a second skin was enough to stay any blaster rounds meeting his attacks. He ignored the blue rounds from the T29s finding him and went to work.

He moved with surgical precision, slamming the end of his Ka-Bar into the eye sockets of the T29s while avoiding their reaching metallic hands. There were so many of the robots, he was soon surrounded. He tried to fight his way through the throng to Jarl Balder, who stood waiting for him somewhere at the rear of his army.

More and more metallic hands reached for his legs, shoulders, and head. All he could see were the metal frames of the T29s as he slashed out, bullying them backward.

“Hey, Frank, need a hand?” Sunni asked. She floated down toward him in a purple orb of energy. Instead of waiting for the affirmative, she constructed a strange-looking weapon with a wide mouth. It reminded Frank of a vacuum cleaner more than a rifle.

She sucked in one T29 at a time then pointed the weapon toward the sky and shot it upward like a rocket. One by one, she began to send the T29s airborne and out of the fight.

Frank gave her points on creativity, but the process of securing one of the machines at a time before sending them reeling through the sky was slow.

An orange whip lashed out, ripping one of the T29s off Frank. The cord was blazing with wicked hot energy. The whip began to sink through the T29’s armor and cut it in two.

Lucy Lopez appeared by Frank’s side, striking out with a whip in each hand. The weapons almost reminded Frank of light sabers as they cut through the dense steel of his opponents.

“Don’t you have a date with a horned bad guy?” Lucy asked as she cut a path for him through the throng of machines.

“I do.” Frank couldn’t help but grin at the woman. “It’s good to see you, Lucy. I’m glad you came.”

“Uh huh,” Lucy said, wrapping her right whip around the throat of a T29 and letting it burn through its neck. “We can all catch up later. Get going!”

Frank redirected his attention at the battle around him. Sunni and Lucy had made room for him to breathe. Along with their help, the T29s themselves were beginning to slow and weaken. The substance the Overlords provided was beginning to work. The techno organic virus was eating away at them gradually. The effect was barely noticeable now, but they were moving a bit slower, their metallic armored bodies beginning to darken and turn a hue of rust black.

Frank wished he had time to get a better look at the exact change that was happening, but Lucy was right. He needed to find Jarl Balder as soon as possible. Frank channeled his will. Instead of taking to the air, he decided to stick to the ground, where he was best. He launched himself through the air in a jump. His right foot touched down on the shoulder of a T29 and he bounded forward, using the robots as steps.

His eyes found the burnt-orange flames of both Jarl Balder and Karn at the rear of their army. Like the true cowards they were, they stood back while their men did the fighting and dying. It boggled Frank’s mind how anyone could follow these two into battle.

As Frank got closer, he caught sight of multiple black spheres orbiting around Jarl and Karn. They were the same hovering cameras Jarl used in the interrogation room. The maniac was filming the battle, no doubt broadcasting it to whoever would watch.

Frank finally reached the rear lines, coming down with enough force to crack the hard rocky terrain of Epsilon Nine below him. Before he could even speak, Karn was on top of him. The Damnaught opened his maw, howling with rage as he rushed Frank.

Karn tackled Frank with enough force to make his teeth rattle. It felt like being hit by a Mack truck. Frank was thrown back as the two rolled on the ground, maneuvering for control.

Karn clamped his maw around Frank’s left shoulder, biting down like vise grips.

“RAWWW!” Frank hadn’t anticipated the attack or the amount of raw strength Karn possessed. The protective shielding over his shoulder was slowly beginning to dissipate, leaving his exposed flesh for Karn.

Karn landed on top of him, still chomping down on his shoulder. Frank constructed a 1911 in his left hand pressed it to the side of Karn’s head and let loose a volley of rounds.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Karn’s own defensive construct over his body was enough to stop the bullets from entering, but it sure got his attention. Karn roared as the impact of the weapon struck the side of his head. He released his hold on Frank, grabbing at his ear.

Frank seized the opportunity to buck up with his hips. Next, he rolled the brute off of him.

Both warriors fought to their feet again. Karn recovered quickly and came at Frank once more. The battle-hardened warriors swung at one another. Frank slammed a fist into the rib cage of his enemy then thought better of it. He constructed a metal water pail and smashed it against Karn’s face. The beast reeled backward.

“I owed you one for that back when I was tied up.” Frank grinned. “Not so fun when you’re on the receiving end.”

Karn bristled and let out a deep animalistic growl from the back of his throat.

The whole time, Jarl stood watching.

Fighting Karn isn’t the problem, Frank thought to himself as the two combatants circled one another. How much you’re going to have left in the tank once you start fighting Jarl is the real question.

Karn’s dark beady eyes moved from Frank and focused on something over his shoulder. The ground beside Frank quivered as something large landed behind him.

“I’ll be dealing with him,” Sergeant Claymore said, rolling his thick neck around his shoulders. “Go.”

“Are you sure?” Frank asked, remembering that Karn would not be so easily put down. He was a freaking alien that grew back his limbs after all.

“I’m sure,” Sergeant Claymore said with violence in his voice. “Oh, I’m sure.”

Frank back-pedaled as the two largest combatants on the field prepared to engage. There was a tiny part of him that wanted to stay and see the rematch. They had fought one another to a standstill when Frank first arrived after escaping. This was going to be one for the ages.

As much as the burning desire to see what would happen pulled at his mind, he knew he had his own fight waiting for him.

Frank looked over to his right, where Jarl Balder stood with his arms crossed. A hive of the black cameras zipped this way and that around the field of battle, taking in the horrific scenes of death and brutality.

Frank took his time walking over to Jarl to get a better scope of how the battle was faring. The Arilion Knights, although much fewer in number, were a devastating force to be reckoned with. The T29s were also in their death throes. The same dark rust that Frank had seen begin to cover their body was spreading rapidly. Their hulls were being eaten through as though acid had been poured on them. Here or there, a limb was beginning to fall off. It would be a matter of minutes before they were unable to function.

“It’s all crashing down around you,” Frank said, turning to Jarl. “It’s over.”

Jarl narrowed his eyes as Frank made his way toward him. A corner of Jarl’s upper lip rose as he snarled, “Nothing’s over. I’m going to kill you with my bare hands.”

“You can try,” Frank said, flexing the shoulder Karn used as a chew toy. He was in bad shape from the knife wounds in his legs to the multiple cuts and bruises on his face. As the final battle with Jarl loomed, none of those wounds mattered. This was it. No excuses, nothing but victory in his mind.

“No constructs,” Jarl said, closing the distance between the two warriors. “Just you and me.”

Frank sensed a trap. It was always a trap with Jarl Balder. Regardless, he decided to play along with Jarl for the time being. When Jarl decided to show his cards, Frank would be ready.

Jarl ran forward to meet Frank, his hands glowing with orange power.

Frank focused on his own defensive construct before doing the same and channeling the force of his will into his own fists. Dark purple light shone over his body. It gathered in his hands.

Orange met purple as the two combatants began their final battle. Frank’s entire body was warm as he focused on moving as fast as Jarl Balder. The alien wasn’t that much taller than him or bulkier, but his opponent was incredibly swift.

Jarl struck out with the speed of a viper as he targeted Frank’s already wounded areas. He batted at Frank’s right shoulder and legs as he focused on systematically increasing the pain Frank was already in.

Frank gritted his teeth as blows landed on his shoulder and kicks struck his legs. He forced himself to ignore the pain and landed a series of blows to Jarl’s face and torso that sent the alien staggering.

Over and over, the combatants met and slugged it out, trading blows that would have killed an ordinary man or woman. Their defensive constructs shielded them from the worst of the impacts. It was only a matter of time before one of them faltered from sheer exhaustion.

“You can’t win,” Jarl said, surprising Frank with a sideways kick to his injured leg. Frank winced and hobbled for a moment. Jarl sprang at him, wrapping his arms around his neck. “You lack the determination to win.”

Jarl had Frank in a rear headlock. He began squeezing on his neck. Jarl leaned in close, whispering in his ear, “You will die with the rest of your knights today and you will be forgotten.”

Frank clawed at Jarl’s grip, trying to free himself in vain. His windpipe was being crushed at the same time he was kept off balance by Jarl’s position behind him.

Frank reached back to grasp at Jarl’s face. His enemy anticipated this, putting his head down and exposing his horn-like antlers. Frank used what he was given, grasping one of the hard appendages and ripping down with all of his might as his world went black.

The lack of oxygen to his brain was dangerously low. Frank had no coherent thought as blackness caressed the perimeter of his vision.

24

Pull! Was his last fleeting thought. Pull!

Frank put everything he had into the last action. His muscles bulged as the antler he so desperately gripped bit into the skin on his palms. Frank pulled with every ounce of strength he had, then he pulled even more.

A loud ripping tear brought Frank back to reality. Jarl screamed in pain, releasing Frank from his hold. Frank gasped for breath, falling to his hands and knees. In his right hand, he still clutched the bloody antler. A gory stump of skin connected to the bottom, where the root of the appendage anchored to his enemy’s head.

The sounds of pain coming from Jarl Balder sounded more animal than anything else. Blood poured from the wound down Jarl’s reddish-orange face. He lifted a right hand to the area where his right antler had once been, trying in vain to stem the flow of blood.

Frank was still regaining his breath. He tossed the broken antler toward Jarl. It landed at its owner’s feet. “You dropped this.”

Jarl looked up, glaring at Frank with a stare that would have put Medusa to shame. Grabbing his own broken antler, Jarl rushed Frank. He used the weapon as a dagger, slicing in a downward arc.

Frank sidestepped out of the way just in time to avoid the weapon. He did not, however, retreat far enough to avoid Jarl Balder altogether. The two warriors slammed to the ground, trading blows as they went. Fatigue from blood loss was beginning to settle in on his opponent. The hole in his head pumped blood like a broken waterline.

Frank knew this was the last hope Jarl had. He was fading too fast. Jarl would realize the same thing. This was when he would make his move. The two stopped rolling with Frank on top of Jarl. The antler still in Jarl’s hands pointed up toward Frank’s throat.

Frank twisted the antler sideways and pressed it down against Jarl’s own neck. The weight of Frank’s body leaning forward was enough to give him the upper hand. Jarl gasped then made his move. Recanting on his promise to keep constructed weapons out of the fight, he formed a blade in his right hand and swung upward at Frank.

Frank had been waiting for the moment when Jarl would go back on his word. Instead of being caught by surprise, he intercepted Jarl’s hand, with his own slamming it back down to the ground.

The broken antler between the men was cast to the side as Frank took the moment of Jarl’s surprise to lay into him. Sitting on top of Jarl’s chest gave Frank free rein on his face. Frank landed a series of blows, spurred on by his will to win. A tooth flew free from Jarl’s mouth. Frank landed blows in such quick succession as Jarl’s head swung from side to side.

Nine times Frank struck Jarl’s face until it was as battered and bruised as his own. Jarl went limp underneath him. Frank sat back heaving, the exertion needed to send such a volley into his enemy tapping at his reserves. His body had been through too much to do much more.

You could kill him, Frank thought to himself as he looked down at his stunned enemy. You could kill him right now and no one would blame you. He deserves to die after what he’s done. He deserves it.

Frank looked over to his right, where Jarl’s broken antler lay on the ground beside him. Frank reached for it, closing his grip around the hard organic substance. One shove through Jarl’s throat or eye and it could all be over for good.

You’d be doing the universe a favor, Frank continued to rationalize in his own mind. You’d be doing everyone a favor.

“You okay?” Emma asked, coming alongside Frank and looking down on Jarl’s body. “Frank, Frank, can you hear me?”

Frank was ripped from his thoughts. He looked to his left, where Emma stood peering down on him. Her eyes were full of concern. “It’s me, Emma. Frank, say something; you’re scaring me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” Frank lied, clearing his throat. Instead of driving the antler through Jarl’s body, he removed the two vambraces from his opponent’s forearms. They came off reluctantly in Frank’s hands, like a strong magnet begging to stay with its counterpart.

Frank rose to his feet.

“This—this is why you’ll lose,” Jarl coughed. He smiled through broken teeth. “You’re weak. So is your Alliance.”

“You think sparing your life is weakness?” Emma laid into Jarl without restraint. “Letting you live is the hardest thing any of us are having to do right now. There’s strength in that too.”

It wasn’t until Frank heard Emma use the word “us” that he looked around the battlefield. She was right. All around them, Arilion Knights were coming to see if Frank needed help. The battlefield was littered with the last of the T29s crumbling in on themselves thanks to the techno-organic virus. Sava and Sergeant Claymore stood over a still Karn. Whether he was dead or just down for the count was yet to be seen.

Sunni and Lucy Lopez joined Frank and Emma.

“I’ll never stop coming for you and the ones you love.” Jarl spit out blood as he raged. “I’ll always be there in the back of your mind if you let me live.”

“We should kill him,” Lucy Lopez said, glaring down at Jarl. “He’s right. We should end him now and be done with this.”

A black blur of motion passed by Frank’s head. The hovering cameras were still recording, live streaming the events in front of them. Jarl was trying to provoke Frank into showing the universe what kind of saviors the Arilion Knights really were. Frank was never going to kill Jarl but now when he realized there was one final trap Jarl planned, it made him sick.

In the twisted mind of Jarl Balder, he was trying to use his own death to destroy the Arilion Knights in the eyes of the universe.

“Your mother, your father, Vega,” Jarl screamed to the sky. “I’ll come for them all one day. I’ll come for them while they sleep. You’ll never be safe, do you hear me! They’ll never be safe!”

Frank stopped walking away. The orange vambraces tucked in his left arm tugged to try and return to their owner. The antler in his right hand was a reminder that he could still end Jarl Balder if he so chose.

More and more of the Arilion Knights were gathering around their leader to see what would be done next.

“Give me the word,” Lucy said again. She formed an orange blade on the end of her right fist. “I’ll make it fast.”

“You know you want to, Frank!” Jarl raved like the lunatic he was. “You know you want to!”

Frank made up his mind. He turned, stalking back to where Jarl lay on the ground. He gripped the antler firmly in his right hand. As he passed by Lucy, he handed off Jarl’s vambraces to her.

“Frank!” Emma shouted as Frank reached Jarl. “Don’t!”

“There he is.” Jarl grinned up at Frank through swollen eyes. “There you are. See, we’re not so different.”

Frank raised the antler over his head. He drove it down into the rock right beside Jarl’s face. He leaned down to make eye contact with the fallen warrior.

“I am nothing like you.” Frank grinned down at Jarl, staring into his bright eyes. “You’re going away for a very, very long time to stand trial on multiple worlds where you’ve killed so many. You’ll never see your freedom again. On the off chance, by some miracle if you were to escape and come for anyone I care about, I’ll be there to stop you.”

Spittle came out the side of Jarl’s mouth as he was robbed of any hope of victory. “No! No!”

Frank got back to his feet. He left the once mighty, feared Jarl Balder to yell like a spoiled child.

“No! It doesn’t end like this!” Jarl said, trying to rise to his feet. He grabbed at the antler driven into the ground, trying to wrench it free to be used as his own weapon.

Lucy and Emma moved to restrain the lunatic.

“I’ll kill you!’ Jarl went on. “I’ll murder you all! I’ll—”

CRACK!

Frank looked back to see Lucy throw a right cross that knocked Jarl out cold. He slumped to the ground, hitting his head on the hard rocky surface of Epsilon Nine.

“What?” Lucy asked the gathered knights around her. “I didn’t kill him.”

Frank spotted Sava walking toward him. The Draconian had her left arm in a sling. Her nose ran with a light trickle of blood, but she didn’t seem to be injured other than that.

Frank looked over her shoulder to the unmoving husk of Karn. His chest did not rise or fall with the rhythmic act of breathing.

“He wouldn’t surrender,” Sava explained. “We had to put him down.”

Frank only nodded, looking out at the devastated landscape. The virus the Overlords provided did its job. Heaps of rusted black metal that had once been the T29s lay across the landscape. Bodies of the militia interspersed with them. A group of knights stood guard over those militia members that had surrendered. The battle had been short but brutal.

Already, massive Draconian ships were entering the planet’s atmosphere with aid for the wounded and soldiers to collect the captives. They loomed in the sky minutes away.

“How many did we lose?” Frank asked the words he knew he must. There was no real right answer. The only number he wanted to hear was zero, but that wasn’t the reality in this line of work.

“We have four dead and twice that many wounded.” Sava said the words as if they tasted bitter in her mouth. “And all for what? For nothing. Jarl will be put to death for this. I can’t think of any other outcome. He’s murdered too many.”

Frank just nodded. He thought he would feel some sense of satisfaction that Jarl would be dead soon. There was none. A sense of relief did strike him at the thought of others Jarl would have gone on to kill being safe now. He could take comfort in that.

Sava stepped away, coordinating with her military force on where to land. She doled out orders of what needed to be done next.

Sunni sidled up to Frank, looking up at him with those big brown eyes of hers. “What now?”

“Now we lay our brothers and sisters to rest and we keep living in their memory,” Frank said to the small Oyan. “Jarl will be punished and life will go on.”

The knights stood side by side as the Draconian ships landed, the two lost to their own thoughts.

25

It had been a full week since the battle on Epsilon Nine. Jarl Balder was being kept in an undisclosed location by the Draconians until he stood trial. His vambraces and those of the deceased Karn were also being kept in top secret facilities separate from one another.

Life at the Den took on an easier pace. Mr. and Mrs. Wolffe were taken back to their home. Yur’l was up and walking around. Word of Frank and Vega’s engagement spread.

Elly took it upon herself to throw an engagement party for the two of them on Vega’s own home of Atmos. She had coordinated with Heron, who was beyond ecstatic to help create an Earth tradition among the Neeve. His only request was some of his favorite mess biscuits.

Frank was in his room wrestling on his dress blues. The collar always bit into his neck worse than a tie. Raj’s sarcastic tan face appeared in his doorway.

“Wow, you clean up nice! Who would have thought?” Raj asked with a low whistle as he entered the room. Yur’l followed behind.

Raj wore the same navy blue coat and white hat as Frank’s dress uniform. Yur’l, on the other hand, had dressed in a gown of his home world. Frank wondered if the multicolored array was a kilt of sorts or a dress. Either way, it made the scene comical in Frank’s eyes. He tried not to stare or be rude, considering the variance in species and traditions.

“I am well aware of what this might look like to the untrained Earth eye, but it is a custom that a Gleason wear his absolute best to an occasion such as this,” Yur’l said. “Joke if you must.”

Frank fought back the grin on his lips. He reexamined the colorful robe. It was like a coat of many colors. A deep hood rested to the rear of his shoulder. An array of greens and blues transitioned to yellow. The vibrant colors reminded Frank of the gateway they would travel through in a few minutes to the party on Atmos.

“I’m not going to say a word.” Frank bit his tongue. “I’m just glad you’re well enough to come.”

Yur’l extended his right feathered fist to knock against Frank’s. “I’m glad you’re well enough to go to your own party as well. I read the report.”

“Yes, how are you feeling?” Raj asked, examining Frank’s gait. “You seem to be walking better.”

“Better and better every day.” Frank massaged his right shoulder. “Legs and shoulder are still sore, but nothing time won’t heal. Right, Doc?”

“Ah, Frank. I save you so you can be better, not so you can heal and go out and raise the bar on a pummeling. Son of a Rogaine, I’m going to go grey over you. Then I’ll never get a date with–” Raj cut himself off.

Frank and Yur’l eyed him, saying nothing.

The three friends traveled from Frank’s quarters, through the Den to the gateway room. Anxiety built inside Frank as they went. With each step came a mix of eager anticipation and nerves upon seeing the woman he loved.

“You okay?” Raj asked as the men descended the stairs into the gateway chamber. The gateway itself was already active, the projected archway welcoming them as it had so many times before. “You look kind of sick.”

“I’m fine.” Frank shook his head. “Just never been to an engagement party before, let alone my own.”

“You’ll be fine,” Yur’l said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve faced down worse before.”

“Oh, before I forget, here you go,” Raj said, reaching into his pocket and handing Frank a small light turquoise box. “The exact one you wanted.”

Frank accepted the box, opening the lid and looking inside. There was a diamond ring. A gold band with a princess-cut diamond turned on the band so it looked like a kite when he looked down on it.

“I hope she likes it,” Frank said quietly. “It seems weird to give her more jewelry. She’s an empress after all. I bet she has thousands of rings bigger than this in her treasury.”

“But none of those are her wedding ring from you,” Yur’l reassured his friend.

“Right,” Frank said, taking a deep breath. He closed the box and shoved it into his pocket. “Let’s do this.”

Together, the three members of Marine Space Corp-1 ascended the ramp toward the gateway. Technicians and Marines on duty in the room smiled and saluted Frank. They all knew where he was going. Word had spread like wild fire on the engagement of the Arilion Marine and the Neeve empress once word got out. That is, once Elly told everyone she encountered. She had all but blasted out a memo. Thankfully, General Breaker had put the kibosh on that.

Frank entered the wall of multicolored mist with his friends. The next few meters brought him into the gateway room inside the Neeve palace. Golden-armor-clad Neeve soldiers saluted and motioned for Frank and his friends to follow.

“So—so good to see you,” one of the Neeve soldiers stuttered nervously. “This—this way if you please.”

“Oh, he’s not going to bite your head off,” Heron said as he maneuvered into the wide chamber in his hover chair. “Be respectful to your new emperor but not afraid.”

“It’s OK,” Frank said to the soldier. He turned to the elderly historian with a grin on his lips. “Always good to see you, Heron.”

Heron extended a warm hand, embracing Frank’s own. He looked Frank up and down. In his dress uniform, Frank struck quite the figure. He had even done his hair. The purple vambraces he always wore were left behind for the moment.

Leaving the armor on Earth felt both strange and freeing at once. On one hand, a part of him was gone. However, if he could accept that he was safe for an evening, there was freedom in that as well.

Frank and the others followed Heron through the rooms and giant halls of the palace. The Neeve palace was gigantic with raised ceilings and massive doors leading from halls to dining areas and deeper into the palace.

They passed servants and guards, who all took a moment to bow when they saw who was approaching. The savory, crispy, juicy smells of delicious food wafted to their noses.

“I’m about to do some work when we sit down,” Raj warned everyone with a pat to his belly. “I skipped lunch today just to have more room for this.”

Eventually, the group reached the great hall in the palace where everything shone from the marble floors to the giant pillars and shining light overhead. A feast lined either side of the room with mouth-watering foods that smelled of spiced meat and fresh, crusty breads. It was enough to make Frank’s mouth water.

The place would have just been another room if it weren’t for all those in attendance. Everyone was there, from General Breaker, who stood to the side speaking with Lucy Lopez, to Frank’s own parents, who looked on with wide eyes as the gigantic Sergeant Claymore explained something to them with grand hand gestures.

Frank’s eyes searched the room for Vega. He spotted her on the far side near the raised platform and the throne, where she stood talking with Emma and Elly. She was radiant as always. It amazed Frank how perfect she could look wearing anything at all. A slinky golden dress hung off her shoulders, revealing the muscles in her shoulder blades and down her smooth back. The thin gold chain caught in the light, making her seem gilded herself. Gold sandals finished her uncomplicated yet classy outfit.

“I got your six,” Raj said to his friend. “If you need to be saved from any conversation in particular, pretend to choke and Yur’l and I will come running.”

“Indeed,” Yur’l said.

Frank’s mother caught his eye. She immediately beckoned him over to where she stood with his father and the massive Arilion Knight.

“So good to see you.” His mother and father took turns giving him a hug. “Sergeant Claymore was just telling us about the way he finished off Korn.”

“Karn, his name was Karn,” Sergeant Claymore popped a giant piece of meat into his mouth from the plate he held. “I sent him to be with his ancestors. I employed a method on him that involves ripping his throat—”

“Maybe we should steer clear of the details just for tonight,” Frank said to the sergeant. “Civilians don’t need to hear the details, at least not right now.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Sergeant Claymore said with a polite nod.

“We’re so happy for you, son.” Frank’s father gave him another hug. “General Breaker said it was anything but protocol for civilians to enter through the gateway, but to quote him, ‘These are anything but normal times’.”

“I’m glad he let you come,” Frank said, transitioning from the hug from his father.

“We’re so proud of you, Frank,” Frank’s mother said, blinking away tears. “So so happy for you. I knew you were special. You’ve always been special to me.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Frank said, leaning down to embrace the small woman in his arms. When had she gotten so small? “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Frank’s mother said, sniffing. She released her hold on him, shooing him away. “Go, go to your bride. She looks beautiful.”

Frank grinned from ear to ear. He left his parents, taking his time to say hello and greet everyone on his way to Vega. General Fox was present, as well as Sunni, Sava, and Emma. Even a few knights from the Academy were present, including Emma’s own love interest Jace.

The night was one Frank knew he would never forget. The sounds of joy, laughter, and merriment came far less often than they should. For a Marine to take a rest from battle meant a great deal.

Frank was standing with Vega, Sava, and Sunni when he heard Emma shout.

“Yeah, go, Elly!”

Frank and everyone else in the room glanced over to see Elly dipping Raj and planting a big kiss on the tall doctor’s lips. She raised him up, red-faced with a huge grin on her face. Raj looked as though he were just waking from a pleasant dream.

Everyone laughed and cheered for the two.

Vega took Frank’s hand, excusing them from Sava and Sunni. She led her knight to the raised dais where her throne sat. She tilted her head to the giant chair made of intricate gold.

“Do you think you’ll be able to get used to this one day?” Vega asked. “We’ll get a chair for you too. You’ll be the Emperor of Atmos. You’ll be a Marine Knight Emperor.”

Frank grinned at the ridiculous title and took Vega in his arms. “Just words. I’d be a beggar, outcast, vagrant if it meant I could be with you.”

Vega smiled at him and gave him a peck on the lips. “It’s always an adventure with you, Frank Wolffe. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us now.”

Frank and Vega looked across the room to where friends and family laughed with one another. For the first time in a very long time, Frank was at peace.

Whatever comes our way, we’ll deal with it together, Frank thought to himself. That’s how it should be.

End Book 6

The Invasion

Although this is the final book in the Gateway to the Galaxy Universe, The Invasion Series takes place in the same universe.

Here’s a look at The Invasion…

The sphere was in place, the gate accessible.

Freyon Truel looked on at the engineers from the shadow of his ship. They worked with the golden sphere that hovered over the ground. The first phase of their plan was nearly complete.

Their cloaked ship, a T59 Interceptor, hovered amongst a small clearing in the remote mountain terrain known as West Virginia. The godforsaken place was on the planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy.

It had been no easy task securing a sphere from another planet to transport to Earth, but it would be worth it in the end. With this sphere linking to the one on their home planet of Sarka, they could move their invading force en masse. The trip from one planet to the next would take seconds.

Freyon was in charge of leading the inclusionary force that consisted of a small crew of twenty, made up of engineers and a security detail.

Within days, hundreds of thousands of Sarkan soldiers would march through the gateway the sphere created and begin setting up their forward base on this planet. Once they had a foothold on Earth, it would be over. No race in the history of the mighty Sarkan Empire had been able to withstand an attack once the Sarkans had been allowed to claim a foothold.

They had the sphere to thank for that. They were one of the few races left in the universe to use the ancient traveling devices for planetary invasion.

BLAT! BLAT! BLAT!

The sounds of weapons being discharged somewhere close by tore Freyon’s thoughts away from the master plan.

“Report; all units report immediately,” Freyon shouted into the COMM unit implanted in his throat. He gripped the short bulky blaster he held in his hands tighter, searching for a target. “What’s going on?”

“Local’s in the—”

Whatever his solider was going to report next died in a gurgling sound of liquid.

“One…no, two…no, more than that in the woods,” another voice reported in as the sounds of weapons firing grew in volume. “They’re moving like ghosts!”

Freyon studied the surrounding landscape as the engineers behind him continued to link the sphere to the closest one they used for harvesting. They needed to deal with this new threat and then leave before they drew more attention to the area.

Beyond the engineers was a high cliff wall. The other three sides consisted of dense forested mountains. It was difficult to see more than a few meters in any direction given the thick vegetation.

“I need location and exact enemy numbers now!” Freyon yelled into his COMMS.

BLAT! BLAT! BLAT! BLAT!

The thing Freyon found most disconcerting was the absence of any enemy return fire. In any other engagement, there would be the sound of their enemies’ weapons being discharged, but there were none, only the distinct ricochet of his own men’s weapons.

“No more than four. Below the landing site!”

Finally, a voice Freyon recognized. It was his junior officer and second in command behind Commander Brigand.

“What happened to the commander?” Freyon ordered.

“Dead, sir.”

“Why aren’t we hearing any return fire?” Freyon asked, already moving on from the fact that his commander was gone. “What weapons are they using?”

“We think we stumbled on some kind of hunting party. They seemed as surprised to see us as we were them,” the junior officer informed Freyon. “They’re using some kind of primitive projectile weapons that are quiet but deadly.”

“I want them captured,” Freyon said, the decision mere seconds before the command was given. A handful of living specimens would be more than helpful for their scientists to study. If they were going to take the planet quickly, knowing their enemy inside and out would be a huge advantage. “At all costs, I want them taken alive.”

“Yes, sir.”

Freyon could hear the hard tone in the junior officer’s voice. He understood it would be that much more difficult to capture these enemies alive. It might even cost the Sarkans twice their number to ensure the job was done, and if that was the case, then so be it.

A low humming came from the sphere behind Freyon. He looked over his shoulder, where the pair of engineers stood back. The golden sphere was floating two feet above the ground, projecting an archway into the side of the cliff.

Inside the glowing archway, a multi-colored mist swirled. From vivid yellows to bright greens, the hue of the mist shifted back and forth.

The sound of weapons firing was getting closer.

“We have one of them, sir,” a new voice over the COMMS said.

“Who is this?” Freyon asked. “Where is…”

“Officer Bolden is dead, sir. This is grunt level one Akon, sir,” the voice on the other side of the COMMS reported. “We’ve captured one of the locals. He looks like a youngling. His compatriots are fighting like demons to retrieve him. I’ve never seen anything like this. We’re down half our own fighting force.”

“Grunt, you hold your ground,” Freyon said through gritted teeth. “The gateway has been established and reinforcements are on their way. You hold. That is an order.”

“Yes, sir.”

Freyon didn’t allow any of his second thoughts or misgivings to come out in his tone. A leader had to lead without being questioned, and that meant not even questioning himself.

The grunt reported a loss of half their fighting force—that meant ten Sarkans dead in the course of a few minutes. And not just any ten; both commanding officers had been targeted and removed from the fight.

Who are these locals who’ve stumbled on us? Freyon thought to himself. Who has such advanced training to stand toe to toe with our own?

Buy The Invasion on Amazon today to continue reading…

Other Books in the Gateway to the Galaxy Universe

Gateway to the Galaxy

Into the Breach

Always Forward

Chaos Sieged

Face Toward Enemy

Rise Up

Do or Die

The New Arilion Knights

The Academy

Burn the Night

Strength in Struggle

Short Story

Shall We Begin

The Invasion Series

Invasion

Stand Your Ground

Fight Back

Stay Informed

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About the Authors

My name is Jonathan Yanez and I’m so grateful for you. Thank you for taking the time to read my books and follow to the back to read this note. I love connecting with fellow lovers of the written word. I have a site where you can join me: www.jonathan-yanez.com

J. R. Castle Aside from creating worlds worth escaping to, crafting stories to enchant, and sculpting characters to love, I’m also a follower and dreamer of fantastical things. Connect with me on Facebook or join Team Castle