Sara Gynovus's Story

A young woman sat in the shady corner of the room. She had a youthful look to her, and strange enough, she seemed to be scanning the room as well. Probably looking for a handsome man to take under her wing... like me. He smirked to himself, then got up, straightened his collar and walked over to where the girl was. Among other things, Abraxas was a notorious flirt with the fairer sex. Unfortunately, his so-called charm and panache often got him slapped in the face or kneed in the crotch. (Thank God for genital sheaths.)

"Why, hello there, young lady," Abraxas said as he slid into the seat across from her. "What could one ssssuch as yoursssself be doing in ssssuch a dangerous place?" He grinned maliciously at her.

The girl seemed distracted for a moment. He took a moment to examine her features. She was quite youthful, maybe 23 at most - not much younger than he. She was quite shapely, with lovely brown eyes, fair skin, golden hair like silk...

Wait a minute. He took a double-take. Indeed, he was correct; her skin was a color almost akin to alabaster. This he found odd, since most people here had tanned skin due to the weather conditions of Blackrock. The color of her hair wasn't so uncommon, but the way it cascaded like water poured from a bottle... Most people had ratty, gnarled hair and didn't bother to fix it, because the sand and dirt would just make it messy again. Only the Nobles would do such things, but they had their hair in intricate piles, like flatjacks piled high on a platter. She's either an outsider or a corrupt noble, he decided.

The girl turned to him, still smiling at her. "Are you the one they call Abraxas?" Abraxas started at her blunt question. She hadn't even tried to tell him off. "Uh, yeah, that'ssss me. Who are you?" "That's not important," she stated with her bluntness again. "You need to come with me."

In a normal situation, if a girl of her looks asked him to come with her, he would have gone off gladly. But this didn't feel right to Abraxas. There was something about this girl that he couldn't place... "Ssssorry, honey, no can do. I might be able to come with if you tell me what this is all about."

"No. There's no time. We must go," the girl said, and this time Abraxas detected a hint of urgency in her voice.

"Look, whatever is going on, jusssst tell me sssso I know what I'm getting int-" The girl cut him off with a frightened expression. "GET DOWN!"

She threw herself onto Abraxas, knocking him to the floor. Behind him, the eastern wall of the Dusty Hog exploded. Upside down, he could see armored troops with powerful scientific weaponry. The Militia! Damn! Abraxas swore, and climbed to his feet.

A Militian soldier aimed his plasma shotgun at him. "STAY WHERE YOU ARE," the soldier droned in a robotic-sounding voice. "MOVE AND YOU WILL BE ELLIMINATED."

"Yeah, like I don't know you'll do that to me anywayssss," Abraxas sniped at the soldier. He began reaching for his bow...

A Roman Fell Soldier heard the commotion and ran in and saw the Militia man aiming a weapon at the snake-like man. He had to act fast, he shortly decided to hit the man hard with his safety baton (Usually used on misbehaving slaves, or robots). He swiftly knocked out the Militia man and picked up the shotgun. Once he had cuffed the man he suddenly jerked to alertness when a man walked in.

"What happened here, unit 9520?" The Emperor asked with a delicate smile and laugh as he saw the Militia men lying unconscious on the ground. "This man... possibly Militia, attacked what I can only assume were 2 civilians." squawked the soldier. Rome looked at the 2 of them still on the ground and looked around, knowing that he made quite a seen, wearing clean, non-wrinkled clothes, accompanied with cloth pauldrons of black and gold with the Roman fell Empire crest showing off on them.

"Go back to your business citizens. You two" Rome said. Looking toward them on the ground "Come with us"

"I am sorry to disappoint, but that shall not happen. He is to come with me." It was the girl speaking in her usual blunt way.
"Yeah, uh, kid, I don't think we really have a choisssse." Abraxas whispered to her.
"No. I am sorry, but you must come with me. Good day." She started walking towards the door.
The five other militia members blocked their way. "PARDON TO YOU, EMPEROR OF ROMAN FELL, BUT THEY ARE TO COME WITH US, ON ORDERS OF HIS SUPREME DICTATOR GAVAX. STAY WHERE YOU ARE, AND LET US TAKE THEM, OR THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED."
"Was that supposed to be a threat?" The girl asked coolly. She looked serene, but there was something odd about her posture.
"IT WILL NOT BE A THREAT UNLESS YOU MAKE IT ONE." The Militia soldier said.
She gave him a cold look. "I personally think that it would be quite foolish to try such a thing, don't you?" She took a step towards the soldier.
The soldier suddenly gave a start. "WHY NOT?"
She took another step. "There is currently the emperor of Roman Fell here, along with who knows how many Roman soldiers, who want to take us with them. I am quite certain there will be a fight here if you refuse, but it will be one you lose."
The soldier was now actively squirming nervously. He shakily held up his gun. "I-I ORDER YOU T-"
"Run."
It was a simple word the girl said, but it sent the Militia soldiers running.
Abraxas' mind was reeling. He'd tried to flirt with a girl, but then she said to come with her. Then the Militia came, and then the Emperor of Roman Fell! What was going on?!
"How did you do that?" Abraxas asked the first question on his mind.
"It involved much training back on my home planet. We Haveners have learned to master our psionic arts through many years of meditation."
"'Havenerssss'? Wait, you're from New Haven?" He was referring to the isolated planet in the Kreios system, inhabited by mystic peoples. He'd always believed their powers to be legend.
"That is not important. You're coming with me, regardless." With that, she left the Dusty Boar, dragging a very confused Abraxas along with her.

Speeding up to the two of them, still smiling. "So I assume that was your group that slowed us down?" Rome asked the girl. He looked at her wearily, as he did when they were in the bar. Walking next to the girl pushing her subtly, trying to make her not notice it, towards the direction of the Roman Fell Fleet. The Roman Fell soldiers Stayed back at the bar to secure and drink, so the Emperor only had 2 soldiers and 1 Emperor's Guard.

"I apologize, but I do not know what you are talking about. The Protectors do not busy themselves with petty squabbles between planetary groups." She shoved back at Rome, causing him to stumble a bit, and moved on.
Abraxas looks at him and gives him an apologetic shrug. The girl has an iron grip on his collar, and despite her petite form she is quite strong. He might have tried to break free, but there was... something, something that made him not want to; to follow this strange girl and do as she said. To please her in any way possi-
Abraxas gave a firm shake of his head, and the notions went away. "Hey, girl," He muttered, "I'd prefer if you DIDN'T play your mind trickssss on me?"
Her lip curved up in a smirk. "Please. It is quite logical that if I did, you would escape. Besides, you have something that we - the Protectors - need."
"Who are the Protectorssss? What issss it that I have? I'll give it too you if you let me go."
"Nice try. I know your type; you almost always have some sort of trick up your sleeve. Now, come along..."
They approached a dark grey space shuttle, with indigo highlights, powerful-looking thrusters and turrets, and a large glass window. "Get in." She ordered, and Abraxas grudgingly got in.

The sleek form of the shuttle soared through the atmosphere of Blackrock and into outer space, where stars dotted the void like the sprinkles on a nobleman's cake, and where Abraxas could make out the distant forms of the planets of the Kreios system.

"Where are we going?" Abraxas asked.

"That is not of concern right now. We better move quickly, in case the Militia or the Roman Fell empire decides to give chase. So spare my mind and-"

She was cut off by the blast of a proton laser. It hit the shuttle, but did no damage due to the ship's force generator's shielding. Abraxas looked back, in time to see a squadron of twenty Battle-Fighter 301 spacefighter shuttles coming towards them, plasma cannons a-blazing. He could make out a red circle with a white star with a diagonal slash going through it. The symbol of the Militia.

"Dammit, I was hoping to get out of this scotch-free." She swung the ship into full speed. "I advise that you hang on to something."

With that, the space shuttle took off at near-light-speed, the Battle-Fighters following closely behind.

75,000km Above Blackrock


The blackness of space was once again torn asunder by the appearance of not one, but a dozen starships, with the lead vessel nearly thirty kilometers in length. They seemingly winked in out of nowhere, flickering in one by one between the lone shuttle, the Militia, and the blackness of space.

Admiral Whitcomb had brought the fleet to full readiness prior to jumping in, having been alerted by Imperial scouts of Xenos activity around Blackrock.

Silently, she stood like an imposing guardian over a massive three-dimensional projection of the Blackrock system.

"Unidentified craft moving in at speed, three nine one carom one six three!" The XO reported. "I've got unidentified contacts in pursuit, and additional unidentified contacts all over the system!"

Whitcomb frowned, while her own ships moved into position, showing up as flickering green icons on her strategic projection, that frown quickly turned to a growl as she drew breath to issue a series of orders.

"Bring us to condition one, full combat readiness, I want Raptor Talons and Condors to intercept that ship, neutralize it's pursuers." Whitcomb ordered.

"I want secondaries on that Xenos fleet on the far side of the planet, Task Group beta will make flanking maneuvers and draw them out for the Reverence's big guns to take them out." Whitcomb ordered, keying in several tactical commands into her console.

The thirty-kilometer Reverence II shuddered, and broke from it's formation as it's massive engines roared to life, culminating as a brilliant blue-white fireball on the rear of the vessel.

As the Aschen ship moved forward, Whitcomb grabbed the communicator, per standard procedure.

"Attention unidentified vessels, this world is the sovereign territory of the United Aschen Empire; Identify yourselves and state your intentions at once, or be destroyed."

The order was stern, callous even, and broadcast on multiple frequencies to all parties inside the system, all while the Aschen fleet began to move into combat position.

Not thirty seconds passed before hundreds of Raptor Talon starfighters shot fourth from the belly of the Reverence, their appearance little more than their engine flares, which quickly flickered out as stealth systems engaged.

The Militia's Battle-fighters would be the first to go.

The peppering from the MEC-A10 25mm Thraxon Kinetic Weapons would hit hard, slicing through shields, and hull alike, like a hot knife through butter, the first of the fighters would likely not stand a chance, as it was chewed to pieces by one of the hundreds of Raptor Talons that entered the fray.

Roughly a dozen broke off from the main group to chase the shuttle that was making an attempt to exit the system, and the occupants would quickly learn that these strange Aschen star-fighters could easily keep pace.

The Aschen Empire had returned.

"Uh... what'ssss going on?!" Abraxas cried. The girl ignored him, and kept driving forward despite the Starfighters following them in close pursuit. Farther back, the Militia Battle-Fighters were being massacred by their new friends - or were they foes? "Sssshouldn't we jusssst sssstop and do what they want ussss to do?!"

"No. We must get you to the Protectors, and quickly before -" The girl paused, quickly looking back towards the lead Militian ship. "Oh no..." Abraxas squinted, trying to see what she was seeing; a lone figure, standing on top of the roof of the lead Militian ship. They wore something that looked like a cross between a void survival suit and medieval knight armor. They wore large, silver gauntlets. "Not her... no, no, no, we have to move." The girl sped the ship up quickly.

The figure moved their palms apart from each other, and then clapped them together in a thunderous boom. Immediately, there was what seemed to be a sudden short-circuit; the engines, blasters, and shields of all the ships immediately turned off - including the ones on the space shuttle. "Dammit!" The girl cursed, as the figure turned towards them with hand extended, from which a bright light was coming.

The girl turned back towards him, speaking hurriedly. "Listen to me, Abraxas. I know you do not know me, but trust me. I am about to send you out a space pod. That laser Captain Ashia is about to blast will destroy this ship, and you if you don't get out. But whatever happens, you must promise that you will find the Protectors no matter what, do you understand?"

Abraxas slowly nodded. "Then, Godspeed to you, and don't die," She said, and he became enveloped in darkness.

He was shot out in a space pod. The Classis I Sector Langara could do nothing but watch as the figure fired their laser, blasting through the space shuttle in a massive explosion, while the space pod containing Abraxas spiraled away into darkness.

* * * *

A moment after, the ships rebooted, and became at full functionality.

The Roman Fell Fleet sped to power. The emperor hurried and got in to the main fleet ship smiling a holy smile. He entered the large star cruiser that was fully repaired. The large 10 kilometer fighter class ships were the first up, with a brilliant blue and red light, were up in the atmosphere within seconds. Large craters were left from were the ships had taken off. Rome sent a transmission to the Aschen Empire, knowing it would reach them, and that they couldn't ignore the giant capital ship trying to reach them.

"If this reaches you, I want to let you know, we are not the enemy. We were attacked by a large, unidentified, bandit capital city ship. If we have intruded in you're territory, we will leave" Rome said in his light, charming voice that he has always had. "OH! and please ignore our capital ship, along with the others, you see, we do not have a planet to call home, so we travel and live on ships. Our fighter ships are just a precaution in case wear are attacked without warning, but do not attack unless they are shot at." And with that, his transmission ended.

Once he was sure it was not recording anymore, he had a pained face. Was this the end of the newly formed Roman Fell Empire? The question haunted him, as he waited for a response.

Abraxas was cold. Being a reptile, he was cold-blooded and thus relied on his surroundings for heat. In this cramped egg-like escape pod - which was barely big enough for his seat, let alone him - there was not much heat, except for a heater unit that seemed to be on the fritz. Probably from that giant explosion, he thought.

His mind turned back to the attack. He was still confused. To him, he'd just gone to a low-key bar for a drink, met this strange girl, got attacked by the Militia, was saved by the newly-formed Roman Fell Empire's ruler but whisked away by said strange girl on a space shuttle, and then they got attacked by the Militia again! Some other people came to their rescue, but some random guy blasted it apart along with, presumably, the girl, but not before she'd saved his life by putting him in here.

She'd saved his life, and he didn't even know her name.

Abraxas looked at Firecracker, his yew bow which was covered in glowing green runes. He'd never known how the runes got there and what made them glow. Hell, he didn't even know if it's abilities to make his arrows more harmful was magic or high science. Could this be what the girl said her group, the Protectors, wanted? Or, perhaps, the Quiver of Infinity, a quiver which never ran out of arrows? Certainly, both would be quite useful; however, he'd learned that their separate powers were only possible if used in tandem with each other. That would be quite the liability, indeed, if they only wanted one or the other.

Suddenly, there was a large amount of bumping, and Abraxas could see clouds through the viewport in front of him. There was a great amount of turbulence, and he most certainly would've cracked his head on the ceiling if not for the heavy-duty straps keeping him in his seat.

I'm falling through the sky! He panicked and tried to keep himself calm, even as the pod fell at breakneck speed down into the planet below...

* * * *

Sara awoke upon an operating table. She did not know whether she was on the Militia's ship or their newfound allies' - likely the former, as the Militia would've just killed her. It drained her quite considerably to keep her body in a stasis for so long in the void of space, and she had blacked out eventually.

Abraxas of Blackrock, stay safe, wherever you are, she thought to herself, as the door to the room opened and people filed in. The interrogation was in session.

A very small craft. Possibly the smallest one person craft to be seen within eighteen star systems with jump drive capabilities.tumbled out of a jump on a powerless collision course with one of the freshly destroyed ships in the area Although it likely would have wound up continuing towards Blackrock if the wreckage had not been there. the angle had it heading towards a bare section of the hull as the craft twirled and span doing flips that made it's sole occupant too dizzy and disoriented to do anything about her predicament besides fumble with the power system frantically swiping at the switch to turn on the emergency power bank.

"... I hate space travel" the occupant grumbled to herself as she finally managed to catch the switch, Power temporarily returning causing the inertia dampening system to kick in. Immediately the gyroscope sprang into action stopping the spinning while the ion thrusters blazed to life. Shining like a plasma cutter in a display that would be blinding to any crew without a polarized viewing port. Barely slowing down enough to bounce mostly harmlessly off the hull of the larger craft. Harmless to the hunks of metal. The small crafts occupant however was not so lucky. Her disoriented state preventing her from even thinking to brace herself resulting in her slamming head first into a wall sending her quickly into unconsciousness. Thus leaving the craft to finish slowing down as the power bank was greedily eaten up by the Ion thrusters preventing the craft from surrendering to the gravitational pull of the nearby planet. This system was only ever meant to keep the life support going long enough for aid to arrive for whoever might be within.

The Raptor Talons closed quickly on the Militia's fighters, technologically superior in every way to these local vessels, the Raptor Talons made short work of their foes, as small projectiles chewed through ship hulls and shields alike.

"This is Orthros leader, i've got... all fighters break!" The Squadron captain shouted into his comms as they picked up the energy surge from the impending psychic attack; an attack which washed over the fighter craft relatively harmlessly and without too much fanfare.

Aschen Technology was the culmination of years of research and understand, into both magical sciences, and of psychics, years of combat both tooth and nail against adversaries that were leagues ahead of even the mighty Militia; to the Aschen, this was a cancerous tumor that had been allowed to fester because of inaction, this was a mistake that Admiral Whitcomb intended to rectify.

She watched the readouts silently safely aboard the CIC of her ship, the three-dimensional holographic projections bobbing, and weaving about the battlefield.

She didn't say anything for a moment, a powerful surge of energy followed, and the small shuttle appeared to have been destroyed.

"Alpha team, capture any survivors and bring them aboard, have them prepped and readied for interrogation." Whitcomb ordered, before switching frequencies to address the Romans.

"Disengage your weapons, and your engines, and surrender." She ordered coldly. "You will remain where you are until we can ascertain the intent of your people; if you are truly vagrants, then you will have little to offer us, but resist our demands at your own peril." Whitcomb replied.

Her lips pursed into a thin frown, before turning to her tactical officer.

"Sitrep.."

The young officer checked his readouts, before nodding and offering his report.

"Sir, it appears from our intelligence sources, that our lack of influence in this sector has lead to the rise of several independent entities on this world. This 'Militia... is but one of many factions on Blackrock.. the Chairman will not be pleased at this development..."

Whitcomb nodded in agreement. "The one that we captured... prepare a psychic inhibitor, and antimana containment cell... the survivor from the shuttle... transfer them to Holding cell B-3... place them in the Aurora Chair..." She said, nodding to her XO.

"Colonel Ronson; you have the Conn."

With that, Whitcomb turned to leave.

---

Captain Ashia would find herself, once apprehended placed in a small room, a metal collar of some kind affixed to her neck, and her armor stripped from her, leaving only a simple red colored prison jumpsuit, the metal collar was a peculiar device, and she would likely find herself unable to access her psychic abilities, nor any magical abilities that she may posses.

The holding door chimed with an odd crystalline sound, before opening to reveal a pair of Aschen soldiers, clad in a powered Cuirasse exoskeleton and armed with rather sleek looking MC-1 assault carbines. Standing with the pair was a woman, slender in build and wearing all black.

She took a step into the room and the door snapped shut behind her, then she tossed a small stack of files to the Militia captain's feet.

Her only words were. "Who are you people?"

---

The young woman, Sara wouldn't awaken on an operating table, and though it would seem she was in some kind of lab, she was in fact seated in a device the Aschen came to know as the Aurora Chair; she would be strapped in, hands and ankles restrained to the chair as Admiral Whitcomb stood over her.

A technician moved slowly to affix electrodes to the girl's head, the Aurora Chair was designed to forcibly and painfully map the victim's psyche, forcibly extracting memories and displaying them on a screen.

---

A squadron of Raptor Talons quickly reoriented themselves to the arrival of the small alien craft, along with a Condor transport, they moved quickly to intercept.

"I already told you," Said Ashia in a smooth tone, "I am no psychic, and have never possessed any such abilities."
"If you weren't a psychic, then, how precisely were you able to manifest such abilities? Were they magical? Were they technological? It's clear this Militia has been allowed to fester without our presence here. Tell me more about them." The women demanded, glaring down to the Captain.

"I speak the truth that, when I used those powers, they were not of my own caliber. I possess no psionic, nor magical, powers whatsoever. As for the powers themselves, I'm afraid I cannot tell you of their nature without giving away top secret information to our cause. Surely you would understand."

The woman grinned, and then leaned forward. "You're not exactly in a position to decide what to tell us, and what not to tell us, Captain." The IIA Agent said calmly. "We have ways of extracting information from you; you can either profit from this... or we can consider the alternatives..."

At that moment, a door opened up behind them, and two marines stepped inside carrying a bright yellow briefcase of some kind, they pulled up a table, and placed the briefcase upon it.

The Interrogator, Erin Solis stood up from her seat, and moved towards the briefcase, where several torture implements were housed. She snapped it open, and looked down at the assortment of instruements.
She turned to regard Ashia for just a moment.

Ashia Nova was a tall woman in her mid-twenties. She had a regal bearing, and somehow managed to look haughty even as the prisoner of those who destroyed her fleet. She had an olive complexion, a youthful yet cold face, long black hair and brown eyes.
Despite the thoughts of her captors, she was telling the complete truth. She had never possessed psychic abilities, but her true secret was that those powers came from her silver gauntlets. Known as the Gauntlets of Doom, they had been created by four psions who wanted to see if they could pass their abilities on to others. The result was a set of gauntlets that allowed her to short circuit technological devices, generate extreme amounts of cold, move things from far away, and fire blasts of intensely hot plasma.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.
Solis chose a small baton, and she picked it up, while the two Marines pulled the table away from Ashia.

"Now, I'll ask you again, who are you; and who do you work for?" Solis asked coldly.
Ashia managed to keep her fear under control. To give in was to be humiliated. She could give some ground, but not grovel like a dog. "My name is Ashia Nova, and I am Captain of the Militian Fleet of the Kreios Galaxy. I have offered my services to the Supreme Leader, Khorelan Gavax VII, and my loyalty cannot be swayed."

Solis offered a slight, malevolant chuckle, before she moved to bring the baton swiftly across Ashia's knees. Ashia took the blow, grunting but otherwise alright. "Hey, I did what you bastards asked."

"How did your Militia come to power on this world, especially without the Empire noticing?" Erin asked, squeezing the baton in her hand, and bringing it down on the table with a deafening snap. "What is your military strength? Where is your home world!?" Solis shouted. Her shrill voice and thick Aerilonian accent filled the room, drilling a brief moment of tension with the marine guards.
"Alright, calm down, I'll tell you. God, you guys are more insane than us." Ashia flashed a quick, sly smile, then continued. "We are on Blackrock, we're quite strong, and considering you guys were apparently semi-dormant for quite some time, it's really no surprise how we came to power."

Solis offered a slight nod, while her assistant took notations. "This world is the sovereign domain of the Aschen Empire, your Militia will not be able to rule this world for much longer."
"Well, you know what they say; finders, keepers."

Solis chuckled, and then moved to swiftly bring the Baton across Ashia's face. This time Ashia cried out, her nose crinkling with a sickening crunch. "Mind your tongue, Xenos!" She barked, and then she moved back to the bright yellow case. "As easily as you cracked... this world will be retaken easily." She said, nodding to her Marine.

"Take her back to her cell, no food rations, we'll implement the tantalus torment on her, and she will learn her place." Solis ordered, and the Marines nodded.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.

* * * *

Sara grit her teeth against the pain as the Aurora Chair sifted through her memories like grains of sand. Currently, the Admiral was watching one of her sessions of meditation with her grandfather, from a long time ago. What right do these people think they have to look through my personal life like this?! She thought.

"Come now, my girl, make me happier with your mind, like I showed you." "Grandfather, I can't!" "Yes you can, when you put your mind to it." "Grandfather, I CAN'T!!!" "Trust me, my dear, please. You did it before, you can do it now. All you need to do is concentrate."

The woman stood in silence as she watched the display in front of her, glancing for a moment towards the Technician operating the Aurora chair, while sifting through the memories it was extracting.

"It will take some time to map this prisoner's neural pathways." The Technician said.
Whitcomb nodded. "The IIA Is interrogating the other prisoner..." She said, before she turned back to Sara.
"Go... to... hell... " Sara growled through the pain.
Whitcomb simply huffed, then she turned to the technician, and gestured with her hand. The Technician nodded, and turned up the machine.
The pain intensified, and Sara screamed.

* * * *

The escape pod smoked in the ground. It had burrowed about halfway down, and the door out was stuck. Abraxas couldn't get out.
"Help! HELP!" He screamed from within the pod. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the other side. It was a young girl with sandy hair and dark eyes. She wore an outfit consisting of a leather jacket, a loose shirt underneath and khaki pants with plastic kneepads. There was a forest green bandana tied around her head.

She took out some sort of club-like weapon. She bashed hard of the door. It started to crack. She kept going until the glass part shattered, with a hole big enough for Abraxas to squeeze throught the result.

Abraxas clambered out, in a daze. The girl stood before him, arms crossed, club on a sling around her shoulder.
"Could somebody explain what the hell all this fighting is about?" She asked him.

Sorry, there's a lot of it. Anyways, thanks for all your help!

He ordered the entire fleet to disengage and return to the ships. Once they reached the ships, they were to shut down all engines. As all of them floated in space, the emperor waited.

"What is happening on their ships that could possibly stop their leader from speaking with me?" He wondered. Not to intent on finding out, he decided, that he where to speak with the woman, he would not ask. It was mostly for the better of securing ties with the Aschen Empire, that he does not interfere with their work.

Soon, all of them were docked and off, waiting.

Sara wept alone in her cell.

They knew all about the Protectors. They had taken this information from her by force; location, lore, everything. Hopefully, since they'd attacked the Militia, they would see the Protectors as friends rather than foes.

Sadly, deep in her heart, she felt that this may have been just wishful thinking. These were heartless people. They had searched through her memories without a care for her well-being. And thus, she wept.

The cell door opened, and a bright light shone into the cell room. Sara shielded her eyes. She was tired, hungry, depressed and her neck hurt from the iron collar that suppressed her powers.

"Surprise. You have a cellmate," Said the guard mockingly. He tossed somebody in, then closed the door. With a start, she recognized the figure as Captain Ashia.

"You survived," Noted Ashia as she saw Sara.

"So did you."

"Did they interrogate you, too?"

"It was less an 'interrogation' and more of a 'forced memory revelation'."

Ashia nodded, then sat next to her against the wall. Sara felt a bit confused. Here was the commander of the group which hated the Protectors for God knows how long, and yet she was not trying to kill and/or demean Sara.

"Why are you doing this?" She finally asked.

"Doing what?"

"Trying to befriend me. We both know that under normal circumstances, we'd be at each other's throats."

Ashia chuckled. "Hey, there's not really much else to do. Besides, we got sort of a mutual need."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you heard me right. We've got to work together if we're gonna get off of this ship."

Ashia leaned close. "Do you see a guard out there?" She whispered.

Sara moved to the door. She was surprised to see no guard posted near the door. "I see nobody."

"Good. Now, turn away for a moment, I need to slip out of this outfit and get something."

Sara, despite not knowing her intent, respectfully turned around as Ashia did whatever she had to. When she turned back, the Militian Commander was holding a large, partially feces-stained bag. She flinched back, disgusted.

"I've made a rule to seize every advantage I can manage. I'm just glad they didn't do a cavity search." She reached into the bag and pulled out some tools, including a screwdriver and pliers. "Now, let's get that collar off of you, shall we?"

Sara had to hand it to Ashia; she really was quite a resourceful woman. Her collar off, she could now perform her empathic abilities. She sat down on the floor cross-legged, in a trance while Ashia worked on her own collar. She tapped into her psychic pool, the part of her brain that gave her psionics. She used this to heighten the levels of boredom in everyone, making them less observant and more relaxed. That way, they could escape easier.

"Done," Called Ashia as Sara got up. Together they pulled the door off it's weakened hinges and propped it against the wall.

"We shouldn't have to worry about anyone watching us through those cameras. I made everyone less observant."

"Good job. We'd better hurry, though." They approached a door. They quietly opened it. Inside was a bored-looking guard with a gun and a box with Ashia's armor in it.

Sara made the guard go unconscious while Ashia put on her armor and gauntlets. "Alright, let's go."

They sneaked along the hallway, knocking out any guards who happened to be there. At last, they approached a small hangar with a couple space shuttles. Perfect.

As they moved towards the shuttles, they heard the movement of many feet. They turned to see a troop of Aschen soldiers with lethal weapons.

The troop opened fire on them. Ashia and Sara dove for cover. A bullet grazed Sara's ear. From behind a shuttle, Ashia clapped her hands together. Immediately, the lights went out, and the guards weapons stopped firing. There was shouting.

"Why did you do that?! Now we can't use the shuttles!" Sara whispered harshly.

"I'd never planned on using them." Ashia walked to a rack of parachutes and brought back two. "Put 'em on quickly, there's not much time."

No sooner then they had them on, the lights came back on. Ashia blasted a wave of cold that jammed the guns and froze them to the ground. She opened the bay doors, and together, they jumped out of the ship and through the sky.

* * * *

Lilith and Abraxas had been wondering why the ship had suddenly stopped when they saw two figures jump out and float safely to the ground via parachute. One figure he recognized.

"Abraxas! We must hurry!" The girl cried, running towards him. Abraxas looked behind her and saw the Admiral of the Militia behind her.

She noticed him looking. "Don't worry, I'm with you guys for now." Abraxas was still suspicious, however.

"There's not much time. We need to leave, and quickly."

Rome sat there, in his throne, watching in awe of what happened. He saw guns being shot within the ship. He laughed with glee! (One of his features is that he is crazy, but most don't know) "Now how did anyone get out in that big ship?" Rome laughed hysterically.

He was beginning to like watching a bit more (But would still help if asked or if it was needed) But in all honesty, he would not save whoever it is on that ship, at least, if it meant endangering his people.

At this point Lillith reached into her Cloak pulling out a fist sized black cube with green glowing circuit lines on it's surface all leading towards a circle at the top. Staring intently at it. "Should I contact Dawn?...." She looked towards the nearby planet of blackrock. Then turned her gaze to the battle between the Aschen fleet and the militia, finally turning her gaze to the stars. Thinking deeply on the situation. She put it away, looking back to the fight. she stayed where she was, Well out of the crossfire until either it ended or something happened to change her mind.

Meanwhile, the others were running for cover. "Come, we must hurry!" called the girl. Abraxas hurried after, with the Commander close behind.

Suddenly, there was a shot, and Ashia cried out. Abraxas looked behind him to see that the Militian Commander had fallen to the earth, a bullet having pierced straight through her calf. "Go on!" She commanded. "I'll hold them off! Go!"

"But..." The girl started to say.

"Go, Sara!"

She hesitated, then ran off. Abraxas followed off, confused. He'd thought the Militia hated the Protectors, according to the girl, Sara. Funny, he'd known her for probably known her for maybe an hour, and he hadn't learned her name until now.

Ashia blasted away at the ship with her gauntlets, but they didn't seem to do much damage. Lilith just stayed where she was. Abraxas hoped she'd be alright, as he ran through the desolate deserts of Blackrock.

* * * *

Unfortunately for them, they did not know that while Commander Ashia blasted at the Laranga, she simultaneously contacted Supreme Leader Gavax to come in full force. Hopefully, with all their troops together - maybe 50 times the number of ships from the first encounter with the Aschen Empire - they could fend off this threat; while at the same time capturing the girl from the Protectors and the snake man. And possibly whoever that other woman was.

Ashia's lips turned upward into a cruel smile. Their mutual need had expired. Like she said, she seized every advantage she could.