They call me crazy.
However…
No one sane can possibly know the whole truth.
Tomb of Z'ræl - Krasnïer System - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Shielding his eyes against the sun, Katz stared back towards the horizon, knowing that he had left Kyr beyond it, and for all he knew, he'd lost another…
He swallowed as he lifted the TAC to his mouth again. "Cornelius? Come in Doctor Kyr… please respond…"
Galadriel was standing back towards the great carved doorway in a sandstone rockface, Katz's pulse pistol in her hands as she hovered near to it, the model of sanity after her brief brush with nihilistic fatalism.
"There's going to be too much ionization in the atmosphere for the TAC," she called back towards him, peering into the gloom with a torch pulled from the escape pod's emergency supply locker. She glanced back at her friend and fellow officer. "He's going to be all right, he's with Rikard…"
Katz shot her a pained look, "he's not all right, especially if he's with that son of a bitch!"
"The other pod is empty," Lady Tagria reported as she bounded back across the sand dunes from where Lex Talionis's escape pod had crashed. The trail of disturbed sand from his footprints led directly towards the entrance to the Krasnïean underworld.
"You can use that port key to get me back to the shuttle," Katz asked hopefully, looking desperately at the Gorean.
Tagria bristled, "your mate is dead, the sooner you come to accept this, the healthier your perspective on the universe… and the fragility of life will be," she gave Galadriel a meaningful look. "You especially."
Galadriel sighed, "it is just that with Lex Talionis, you just accept certain things as being constant. He is constantly a pain in the arse, he always has something up his sleeve, and things dramatically explode when he turns up. So thermo-nuclear reactor going critical… no big shock… the worry comes with what he has up his sleeve to top that last one."
"All the more reason for me to get back to the shuttle," Katz insisted. "We may need to get out of here in a hurry…"
Tagria shifted her feathers, "your shuttle would be a little small to evacuate all three of us in an emergency. And if it comes to choosing, I fear your twin human votes would result in my being abandoned here to face what ever is up his sleeve… not that it can be very large, he does have rather small arms. Too small to hide a plasma cannon, I am certain of that," she looked warily towards the darkened door. "I am right, aren't I? You humans haven't perfected a way to micronize heavy weaponry so that it fits up your sleeves…" curiously she extended a talon to lift at Katz's sleeve. Somewhat perturbed when he pulled back and away from her.
Katz folded his arms, and glared at her. "If I promise that you get the second seat in the shuttle if we have to evacuate…"
Galadriel stood slowly, "I promise as well, if we have to go, you get my seat. Just… we need that shuttle, if we've any hope of getting out of here."
Tagria nodded, finally, producing the portkey from beneath her feathers and stroking it lightly with her talons to activate the device, configuring it to send only as she stepped out of the ring holding the control device.
"Captain?" she gestured to the middle of the ring of floating stones.
Katz nodded, "hold here," he said to Galadriel, "I'll be back as soon as I can…"
Galadriel smiled lightly, "find the boys, okay?"
Katz returned the weak smile, as he vanished in a rush of light.
"Now that the males are all gone," Tagria stated as she reassembled the Portkey. "Perhaps we can accomplish real work without over-emotional, pheromone driven irrationality."
"The Captain said to wait here," Galadriel said, still covering the entrance.
"This is Z'ræl's temple," Tagria said, her claws sweeping up to demonstrate the carvings around the entrance way. "And there is nothing but malevolence beyond that doorway."
"All the more reason to wait for Katz," Galadriel said firmly.
Tagria drew her aero-foil sword, resting it against her feathered shoulder, "if this Lex Talionis is as dangerous as you say that he is, every second we wait allows him to prepare for us. We must seek to stop him, and quickly."
Galadriel cast a reluctant glance back across the desert dunes, sweeping as far as her eyes could see. The foreboding darkness of the doorway to the temple lay before her, beckoning her into its depths.
"Okay," she said, nodding in agreement. "I'll cover you."
Shuttle - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Katz tottered a little as he slid through the sand, coming to rest against the hull of the battered shuttle he had used to escape from the stricken Lex Talionis. A hand reaching up to rest on his sunburned forehead as his other hand fumbled for the packet of cigarettes in his pocket.
He banged one out, fiddling with his lighter, shaking as he lit it. Swallowing as he slid down the side of the shuttle, his head lolling back, trying his best to retain some semblance of control over his emotions.
Jesse, Ashley, Alessandro and now Cornelius.
It had to be a curse of luck, he was the kiss of death. Doomed to an eternity of being alone, empty and unloved.
Katz chain-smoked his pack, staring shell-shocked at the desert sands, the realization of his loss seeping inwards and crashing down upon him like a wave. He had duties and responsibilities, but he just couldn't will himself to stand up. It was as if his body had rebelled against his rational mind, forcing him down and pinning him there beneath a heavy weight of loss and dejection.
He pulled the TAC-link out of his pocket, turning the flat silver device over and over in his hands, staring at the digital screen that displayed the power gauge and the transmission strength of TAC-net. Another reminder that he was supposed to be in the shuttle, looking for Kyr… but he knew that Kyr was gone, they were all gone.
Hauling back his hand, he skipped the TAC across the sand, throwing it far away from him as he cradled his head in his hands, and caved into his emotions at last.
He just wasn't that strong.
T'zaht - Krasnïean System - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Wheeler was eating a sandwich, curled up on one of the counters in the overturned mess that had been the ships galley. His head resting against a cupboard that had once housed neat racks of plates, now it was home to a pile of broken crockery.
T'zaht was like that all over. If she didn't have holes in her hull, opening compartments to vacuum (like his temporary quarters), the rooms had been completely turned upside down by hard fought battle that had brought her there, sitting in orbit over the planet, unable to get down and reach their crewmates.
"What the hell are you doing?" Hartley demanded as he stalked into the galley, stepping over a colander that sat in the middle of the floor and flipping open the fridge, pulling out one of the few unbroken bottles of beer that had miraculously survived.
"Taking a break," Wheeler said, nibbling on the edge of his sandwich, still staring at the wall.
Hartley uncapped the beer, sitting back against the stove and staring at the young pilot a moment, shaking his head. "You can't take things like that," he observed gruffly, "moping around feeling defeated doesn't get you anywhere."
"Yeah?" Wheeler asked. "Because you're the model of cheerful optimism?"
Hartley took a draught of his beer, "hey after what all I've seen, this is pretty happy for me. At least I'm not painting my quarters black and going at my arm with a rusty razor blade like Killborne."
"What's going on?" Chuck asked, walking into the mess hall and wincing at the state of it. He'd taken a shower in the hopes of freshening up changed into the only clothes he had spare, the Karin raider's jersey tucked underneath his flight jacket, Katz's sabre tooth cat on his arm.
He drummed his hands on the counter top as he fished for the parts to the coffee maker, happy that a bag had managed to make it through the storm. "I'm going to need aerial manoeuvring… controls…" Chuck trailed off as he looked at Hartley next to Wheeler, who was staring almost catatonically at the wall. "Oh shit."
"He's been up for days," Hartley said, a rare note of concern in his voice. "He hasn't got a bed… that was in section four."
"Ahh," Chuck nodded, "put him to bed in the Captain's quarters. The bed's soft there, let him sleep it off."
Hartley bobbed his head, helping Wheeler down and supporting him as he headed for the door. Glad when Chuck took the other side of the small pilot, the two of them carrying him back to the Captains cabin.
It was a bit of a surprise when they saw Killborne dumping couch cushions into a corner by the sickbay doors. Her tunic cast aside as she'd acquired a hooded sweatshirt from somewhere, as she worked. Looking at the men as she sat down, pulling her legs up into the lotus position.
"What's wrong with junior?" she asked, her voice still holding its raspy-dry edge.
"Exhaustion," Chuck answered as he punched a code into the door panel, watching the semi-translucent door panel retract on the messy, but comfortable quarters that the Captain shared with the Doctor.
"Figures," Killborne called. "I have my men stringing hammocks in the hold. But I'm going to camp out here if that's okay."
Chuck emerged from the Captain's cabin and nodded his head, "should be fine, though you can take my quarters if you need a bed…"
Killborne tsked, "I just need a place to meditate, I'll be fine once I compose my thoughts…"
"Meditation?" Hartley asked in disbelief as he followed the Exec out of the cabin and sipping his beer again. "Anger management issues or something?"
"A clear mind and a calm spirit is the essence of a true warrior," Killborne replied, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Oh brother," Hartley rolled his eyes. "We have a warrior nun on board."
Killborne cracked open her eye, "Would you like to spend the night in the airlock? I can arrange for you to get some fresh air by leaving the outer door open a crack…"
Chuck caught Hartley by the collar of his shirt, hauling him away from the sergeant, shaking his head as he tried not to laugh. "I think she like's your sunny disposition Mark."
"Shut up Chuck," Hartley snapped. "You wanted something?"
Chuck nodded as the two climbed back up to the bridge, pausing a moment to stare grimly down at the planet that lay just beyond their reach.
The ship was being prepared for an atmospheric approach, but that took time considering the T'zaht's ravaged state. Also there was the simple fact that they had registered a thermo-nuclear explosion on the surface of the world an hour ago, playing havoc with their communications systems and making it nearly impossible to detect any signs of life on the world.
Hartley took the helm, putting his beer into a nook that was conveniently just the right size for a cup holder, testing the atmospheric stabilizers, as he prepared the ship for its descent. Looking up at the Executive Officer who hadn't moved from his position at the window.
Standing up he walked across to the open panel finally slapping it closed, Hartley cleared his throat as he looked across at the XO. "That's it: that is as much as I can do to get us ready for planet fall, sir."
"Do we have communications?" Chuck inquired, turning a little so that the light from the desert world lit his features.
"Some, but as we get down beneath the ionosphere, we will probably have better luck," Hartley slipped into the communications station, pulling on the ear pieces and beginning to configure the controls.
"Then we have no choice," Chuck surmised, walking back to take the helm, glancing at the repeater displays that detailed so many error messages. Knowing that there was a good chance that once they were down on the planet surface, they wouldn't be able to get off it again. "I'm going to have to take us down."
Temple of Z'ræl - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Dark stalagmites protruded from the ceiling, each etched into ancient patterns of a long forgotten script. Around them was a forest of columns that stretched up to meet the vaulted ceiling bathed in darkness that not even Galadriel's torch could penetrate.
The arc ahead of them had partially collapsed, heavy keystones pressing against each other precariously. Threatening to collapse at any moment and bury everything beneath the ancient rubble.
To the Kardiac Lieutenant's trained eye, there were hundreds places where Lex could be lurking in ambush. And she kept her gun up, sweeping between the pillars as she had been trained to do, careful not to let her guard drop.
She could see evidence of Kardiac's expedition to the place, abandoned and forgotten equipment lying strewn about, undisturbed since the warlord had left the place with whatever prize he had come for.
Tagria was somewhere up in the darkened ceiling, using her powerful talons; she had quickly snaked her way up into the maze of stalagmites that formed the ceiling's lattice like structure.
Galadriel walked forward, swinging about again as she came before a set of tables, untouched with the exception of dust, and preserved by the desert for hundreds of years.
Looking to her right she could see a portable generator, and mindful of Lex's last trick she quickly knelt and checked the device in case it had been rigged to explode.
A cursory inspection of the generator revealed it was still in working order, remarkable considering its age. And she thumbed the controls, bringing the fusion device online, stepping back as portable flood lamps around the temple flickered to life, illuminating the ancient place in bright light.
Tucking her torch back into her belt loop, Galadriel moved forward carefully, looking at the trio of laptop computers that were running through their boot sequence on the table, a fine layer of sand piled about them.
Instinct had her quickly sweep the sand away from their fan intakes, frowning at the House Kardiac logos that span and rotated as the computers prompted for a password.
She moved away from the computers, inching towards the centre of the maze of pillars, stepping out into the central nexus of the temple, where a great book stood open upon a dais.
It was massive, easily as big as a small car, the book was lit by the flood lamps, each of the pages a thin sheet of lead, carved and crafted with ancient Peligian writing, contrasted with Gorean ciphers.
"The Codex of Z'ræl," Lex Talionis stated from the shadows of the pillars. "A Rosetta stone for those that wish to find the lost secrets of the Peligians."
There was a crackling in the air, as another paradox bubble rippled and erupted at the edge of the pillars, the colours on the stone work sweeping back to its original glory, and fading again as the Paradox collapsed in upon itself.
A second and then a third erupted around her, and she found herself stumbling back into the centre of the temple to avoid them, her weapon searching the shadows as she realized she was in the heart of the time storm.
"What happened here?" she demanded, sparing a glance at the codex as an arcing paradox rift crackled and sparked its way between the pillars, the flash lighting Kardiac's face in the darkness.
The android was gone before she could bring her gun to bear, melting back into the shadows again.
"It was here that the Gorean slew the last of the Peligians, but not before he wiped out an entire world of them. Eradicating the great wyrms completely from time, undoing all that they had done," Lex's voice sounded bemused. "Imagine if you could eradicate Rikard from time, it would be as if he never existed. Humanity would flourish…"
"Rikard created the Immortal Emperor," Galadriel stated calmly. "Eradicating him would destroy half the known galaxy, you included."
"True," Lex stated, moving around the inner chamber, like a predator in the darkness circling his prey. "But there are ways to protect yourself from such paradoxes. The Peligians experimented with time, but they were able to shield themselves from such titanic forces as a temporal inversion. Peligia itself, for example, exists beyond time, shielded from its ravages. A sanctuary free from paradox."
Galadriel's eyes flicked to yet another eruption as the paradox storm raged about her. "Is this what happened here? A temporal weapon that has malfunctioned?"
"A long time ago," Lex said moving to the edge of the ring of light, the baton of crystal glowing a pale green in his hands as he spun it lazily in his hand. "A traveller arrived here, seeking refuge from a great war. You see, the Peligians were a mighty civilization, but were too evolved to do their own work; they had created a subservient race to do that for them. The Polians were a worker caste, designed to fulfil the desires of their masters… of course over the generations, that worker caste evolved, and eventually grew envious of the power their true masters held over them, and betrayed them…" Lex smiled, "Does this story sound familiar? I mean, didn't the Amsus do the same thing to your Human race?"
Galadriel kept her weapon trained upon the automaton, easing her finger on the trigger.
Lex smiled chillingly, "well this traveller, Z'ræl, found the Gorean were primitive, limited. They had evolved too large for their eco-systems, and were on the cusp of going extinct, the fate of most giant lizards in the galaxy, it appears… and so, the timely arrival of Z'ræl was a blessing for them. He gave them technology, in exchange for sanctuary. Building the Gorean up into a warrior race that could protect him from the Polians. Giving them great gifts like near immortality, and the ability to genetically alter some of their own young to form the two lesser Gorean races, and the Métis or Demi-wyrms. He was like a god to them…"
"And they, too, turned on him," Galadriel surmised.
"Betrayal is the nature of a snake," Lex stated, the baton ceasing its spin, as he clutched it tightly. "And so he punished them… but it was far too late, as many as he eradicated from time, more continued to come. Finally overwhelming even his great might… they paraded their god from this place, and set him atop of a pyre, burning his flesh, and chaining his soul beneath the sand and rock for an eternity."
"Is that why you are here?" Galadriel inquired, "you're here to free Z'ræl from his prison?"
"Don't be so naive, girl," Lex said with a triumphant smile. "Z'ræl was freed hundreds of years ago."
Shuttle - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
The beeping-warble of the TAC, caused Katz to look up.
He tossed the butt of his last cigarette away as he found his feet, walking across to scoop the device up; he lifted it to his ear in confusion. "Katz here."
"Thank god," Chuck's voice echoed over the radio. "Good to hear your voice Skipper."
Disbelief soaked into Katz as he tilted his head towards the sky, looking at the fast approaching vapour trail of the T'zaht as the Osterberg curled its way downwards, firing its VTOL engines and dropping neatly towards the dune sea a few hundred meters from the survivor encampment.
Katz struggled his way up the dunes, staring down at the rent and twisted hull of his ship, a proud smile on his face as he realized that he had never been so happy to see anything in his life. She'd survived, which meant he was able to survive, and maybe get off of the sand blasted rock that had threatened to become a tomb.
Anticipation edged into relief as the ramp finally dropped and he was able to board his ship, smiling tiredly at the collection of Marines that were assembled there to greet him.
Accepting a flask of water he hurried to the elevator and exited onto the command deck, pushing his way through the fallen cables and blackened conduit debris to make it out onto his bridge.
Chuck was standing beside the Command chair, offering a tight salute. "Howdy Skipper, thought you could do with a ride."
"I see you did some remodelling," Katz said as he took a long swig from the flask.
"Yeah," Chuck rolled his words, "but I didn't have time to paint red maple leaves on the hull. I was figuring on doing that after I confirmed you'd kicked the bucket, eh?"
Katz's smile dipped a little as he rested a hand on the back of the command chair, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "I'd ask for a sit-rep, but I take it from a glance around that we're pretty much screwed. Can we manage a transcontinental flight?"
"We should be able to," Chuck replied. "Hartley pretty much rebuilt the command and control systems from scratch; we've got a damn fine Chief Engineer on our hands with him."
Katz smiled at the young Technical Specialist, sliding into his command chair, and resting his hands on the arms, looking over the repeater displays and wincing at the amount of damage they were faced with.
"Ready us for take off, there should be a weak transponder signal from a TAC-link on the southern continent. Lock onto that and take us in close, and prep the marines, Lieutenant Galadriel is going to need some tactical support." Katz bit his lip, pulling his emotions back into check as he tried to recover from his breakdown. "Just a little more guys." He urged.
Approaching the shuttle - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Kyr crested a dune, just as the T'zaht turned on its axis, already airborne, streaking southwards as its ion drives engaged, boosting the ship to mach one. The sun scorched Doctor stared in abject disbelief for a moment, before he turned back to a rather unimpressed former Chancellor.
"Where are they going?" Kyr asked dumbly.
"South," Rikard replied, shrugging off his tattered sweater and wringing out his sweat soaked undershirt. "Typical though, I survive a nuclear explosion, only to get left behind by a simian brained moffie who doesn't think to check his damned rear-view mirrors."
"We still have the shuttle," Kyr suggested, pointing at the battered shuttle sitting abandoned where it had been left.
"Do you know how to fly one?" Rikard asked folding his arms. "While I am sure it isn't difficult, I'd rather not have to learn the hard way."
Kyr ground his teeth a moment or two, "flying can't be that difficult, right?"
Rikard closed his eyes with a long, mournful sigh. "This is going to be a long day."
Temple of Z'ræl - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
"What do you mean, free?" Galadriel inquired, braced and ready for the inevitable attack that would surly follow once Lex decided that his fun of taunting the human's intellect.
"Come on," Lex urged, a gleeful look painting his artificially projected face. "You really aren't that slow Lieutenant. Why am I here?"
Galadriel glanced towards the Codex, and back towards the android visage of Kardiac. Her eyes sliding down to the glowing shard of crystal in his hands, and back up again. "Kardiac freed Z'ræl…"
Lex laughed, "silly girl, Kardiac was Z'ræl. The war with the Polians," he gestured around him. "A legacy of vengeance that went far beyond time and space that has finally concluded with their total eradication by my hand. I was the instrument of final vengeance, as you will be as well…"
Lex advanced, as Galadriel lifted her gun and opened fire, the sub-sonic rounds smashing uselessly off of the mechs sub-dermal body armour. Kardiac's face grinned at her manically, "and here, now that the Polians are dead and gone, I can finally realize my ultimate purpose, the circle is complete…"
"Cliché doesn't become you," Galadriel replied dropping the barrel of the gun to point at the Codex. "Now I am willing to bet that whatever you are after, this book has something to do with it…"
"Wrong," Lex laughed as he took two long strides and battered her aside, grabbing the gun from her flailing arm and turning to fire a string of shots at the Gorean female that was launching herself from the ceiling where she had perched. "You really need to learn new tricks," he stated as the Gorean crashed to the ground, rolling in a pile of feathers up to her feet, hissing and snapping at the android.
Galadriel slipped around the codex staring at the circling Gorean and the android spinning the crystal shard like a baton in one hand, the pulse pistol levelled in the other. Her hands rested against the tome, surprised when they passed right through it. A hologram.
Lady Tagria lunged forward, as Lex propelled himself up into the air, his feet connecting with a pillar as he launched forward. Sailing over the Gorean he fired a pair of shots, clipping the Gorean's wings as he rolled to his feet again, discarding the now empty weapon.
Tagria struggled, flapping her now useless wings feebly, extending her talons as she readied herself for battle against the android that was now closing in upon her. An unnatural glint in his eyes as he walked forward. "Every action has consequences, and I can see them all. Every move you are planning has played out, again and again in the blink of an eye…" He launched himself sideways, moving in a spiralling dance as Tagria exploded into a flurry of attacks, trying to cut the android down, ducking under her sweeping talons to lunge up catching her by the throat and twisting with a sickening snap.
"And so, another traitorous beast falls," Lex stated, straightening up just as the tramping of Marine feet heralded the arrival of the Imperial Marines led by Sergeant Killborne wielding a large, bell-shaped device in her hands.
"Stop!" Killborne ordered as her Marines fanned out with pulse rifles, encircling the Codex, android and the Kardiac Lieutenant. "Make any more moves and we will open fire."
"What could you possibly do?" Lex demanded, turning from the corpse of his fresh kill to face the von Karin marine, who stared back at him with a defiant tilt to her head.
"This," she lifted the device, "is the reaction coil from the T'zaht's primary rail cannons, in laymen's terms, one big EMP coil, and considering it isn't shielded right now… I am pretty sure that you don't want to find out what it will do to that mechanical mind of yours."
Lex pursed his lips, straightening up and looking around him back towards Galadriel. "Mark me well, Lieutenant, this is far from finished…" he lunged towards Killborne, as the Marine tripped the switch on the device, flashing the EMP weapon, and erasing the android's hard drives in a second.
Inner Sanctum of the Temple - Krasnïer - Gorean Territory
~~*~~
Katz walked down the stairs, entering the small octagonal chamber that lay beneath the holographic codex. He'd changed, and in the simple clothes he looked quite different, more confident.
Galadriel was sitting cross-legged on the floor looking at the small cradle where Z'ræl's crystal baton had rested before it had been uncovered by Kardiac's expedition, and now sat once again. A strange assemblage that resembled a Polian Kabalik staff sat to one side, and a small twisted plant sat upon the other, like a bonsai tree covered in cherry blossoms.
The crackling of the temporal rifts warbled and spat in the corners, held at bay by some unseen force.
"What is it?" Katz asked fishing for a cigarette and taking a moment to light up.
Galadriel glanced in mild annoyance at Katz's troubling habit, before she gestured at the crystal. "Kardiac took that with him, but aside from the staff and the plant, there's nothing else here. Nothing that would explain why Lex would go to so much trouble to come back here. Not even a body."
"Well, what happens when you put the crystal in the staff?" Katz nodded to the cut head of the staff that looked like a willing receptacle for the shard of crystal.
"I don't know," Galadriel admitted. "But I'm wary of it, in case it is the temporal weapon that caused the paradoxes."
"Logical," Katz admitted, picking up the plant and turning it in his hands, "given that it probably isn't the shrubbery."
"That's probably a starship," Galadriel remarked absently. "The Peligians used great trees cocooned in force fields as their ships; at least that is the current theory."
"This little thing?" Katz inquired, turning the tree around in his hands and inspecting it further.
"It would take millennia to grow," Galadriel said as she picked up the crystal baton, and tucking the staff under her arm. "And given that it has already sprouted, I'd say it was a few thousand already. Just a baby one."
"A baby starship," Katz mused. "Well I've ordered Hartley to yank the hard drives out of the android, and pack the whole thing onboard the T'zaht. We might be able to salvage some information from them…"
"They're better off tossed in the sluice," Galadriel shuddered as she struggled to her feet. "but if we can figure out what was going on here, then I think it is understandable." She paused looking at his weary eyes. "How are you holding up?"
Katz shrugged, "surviving. It's what I am good at. Cornelius was…"
"You've gone through a lot this year," Galadriel rested her hand on his shoulder. "I still think they're alive… Rikard doesn't just die…"
"That is what I am afraid of," Katz responded as his TAC warbled again.
"Hey Skipper," Chuck called over the open channel, "we've got an Imperial shuttle on approach, though it isn't the most graceful flight I've ever seen…"
Galadriel smiled warmly, "told you."