At the theater:

Brian: Yep, we're back.

Nicole: With friends. <points to Yui and Natsumi>

Yui: Roll it!!

At 07:50 PM 06/05/2000 -0600, Teknos Warhammer wrote:

[Looking somewhat refreshed, thanks to the wondrous power of sleep,
Warhammer comes forth from the light.]

Nicole: If he was in the light...how the heck could he get any sleep?

Brian: Law of fanfic writers dramatic physics...in other words...don't ask.

WH: I know that this is the chapter you've been waiting for. So, to
satisfy your, and my own, lust for blood, I've written this story,
all
for the fun of it.

Natsumi: <sweatdrop>

Teknos Warhammer
Presents
Shara's Last Gift:
Chapter 2:
Trial and Judgment

*****

        Different characters have been changed throughout their lives
because of the choices they had made. One such example is Tina
Corman.
Operative of the Space Knights. By making the choice to be an
'experimental' Teknoman, the course of history took a rather
significant turn. If only Ms Corman knew what she was getting into.

Brian: <holds up the "Be Nice To Tina!" banner>

Nicole: <holds a "Or Else!" sign in one hand and a Fireball in the other>

                        -Julian Sayers, from the article 'Tina Corman:
The Stargazer'.
                        Used with permission from the Eudora Daily
Star. Copyright 3004.

Brian: <blinks, then groans> Arrggghhh...that was bad, WH. :-)

*****

        The liquid was hot. It was just as viscous as oil, yet Tina
found herself able to breathe within the fluid. The sensation of the
fluid supplying her lungs with oxygen was one that she could not put
any kind of label upon. The closest thing she could describe it was
breathing inside a sauna, but without the burning sensation one felt
with the extremely high temperature.

Brian: Wow...nice description there.

        It was typical of people, that when one was within
temperatures significantly higher than normal, the impulse to sleep
came about a bit quicker than fatigue. So, within minutes, Tina's
eyes
closed and her body fell into an unconscious state. Due to human
reflex, her arms and legs retracted to her body until she was, in
effect, in a fetal position.

        Her eyes squinted slightly at the unpleasant feeling of the
fluid beginning to fuse itself with her body. Despite its protests,
the process continued, and it would not stop for anything.

        Tina had no idea what to expect from this. What surprised her
was when the uncomfortable heat of the Teknopods was replaced by
something completely different. She blinked her eyes to see that she
was no longer inside the makeshift chamber, but standing in the
middle
of a field of wildflowers.

Nicole: There's a switch.

        She looked up to see the sun and her eyes registered it as the
same. What was going on? Everything around her was so... pleasant.
The
breeze, which caressed her hair, had a familiar scent of lilac to it.
The air was slightly moist, as if a spring shower had ended recently.
To anyone else, it appears as if she had landed in a storybook land.
To her, it was peace.

        She slowly closed her eyes, praying that this moment would
last for eternity. Being her made her realize that she didn't want to
return to the real world, where the pain, suffering, and death were.

Natsumi: Wait for it...

        Yet, true to form, the heaven had left her. The moisture had
suddenly left and the spring valley was suddenly replaced with a dry,
barren, desert. The change of atmosphere had affected her
immediately.

Yui: Dontcha just love these sudden shifts? <grin>

She gasped and fell to her knees and searched desperately for
moisture. Whatever she was going through could not have been real,
because the lack of moisture was affecting her many times faster than
normal.

        Aside from the dehydration, the heat had increased
exponentially. Within minutes, her body had been encompassed in a
scorching heat. The pain was so great that she felt as if her body
was
beginning to break apart from the intense burning. First skin, then
muscle tissue, bone marrow, and nerves were burnt to nothing in
Tina's
test of physical endurance.

Brian: So...I guess I could ask if she was well done or medium rare?

Nicole, Natsumi, Yui: <crashbashpowmanglecrushFireballslashcrumple>

Brian: <last week's school food>

Nicole: No, you may not. <grin>

        When Tina felt she could take no more, the heat had left her.
She looked over herself to see that everything had either been
restored to its proper frame, or nothing had happened to it in the
first place. However, her peace was not to last. Within seconds, the
cold had done nearly the same amount of damage that the heat had
done.

        The void that she had been in was now replaced, with near
frozen tundra in the middle of a blizzard. The snow hit her face was
about as solid as golf balls and they continued to pelt her
relentlessly. She couldn't flee anywhere for safety, and even if she
could, she would not have been able to see due to the heavy snow.

Brian: <opens his mouth, but Nicole Fireballs him>

Nicole: Not one popsicle joke out of you!

        Slade was right when he said that this process tested people
to the limits of their endurance.

All: NO, REALLY!?!

*****

        At that same time, Ax, Lance, and Rapier had entered the
chamber from which Saber had emerged.

        Saber couldn't stand the thought of being defeated. Especially
by Slade. He would not let this disgrace go unaltered. He would
destroy Slade and Dagger would be next! Such were his thoughts as he
burst forth from the pod, recovered from his wounds. Stomping into
the
loading bay, he saw his new allies waiting for him, and without a
moments hesitation, made his way to the exit.

        "Saber!" cried a voice from the shadows. He turned to see the
ethereal form of the one who he deemed his master. "You shall proceed
as you would any other time, but with this exception. I want Dagger
left alone."

        Such an order had shocked Saber. "What?! Master, you can't be
serious! Dagger's a traitor."

        Shrugging his objection, Darkon continued, "That matters
little. I want Dagger alive. You are not to kill her, is that
understood?"

Nicole: Bets as to whether he's really going to follow that order?

Yui: Not the the *exact* letter, anyway.

        Resentfully, Saber bowed his head and acknowledged his
master's will. Within minutes, all four of Darkon's minions had left
the Space Ring and sped towards the Space Knight Command Center. To
Darkon, whether they succeeded or failed in this part of his plan, it
mattered not. In the end, the winning move would be his and his
alone.

        "Whether you obey my orders or not, Saber. Dagger will live to
rue the day she betrayed me." He said with a growing smirk.

*****
Time seemed to stand still as the process began. Two hours was all he
needed. If Shara was right and Darkon's new teknomen were on their
way
to their location, the sooner he got out of this, the better.

        Within the small confines of the battledroid, Pegas, Slade
felt the same heat and fusing of the Lahdam based materials fusing to
his body. Unlike Tina, however, he could feel the remains of the
teknopods rebuilding the parts of his warrior form that had once been
incomplete.

        Every time that he went into battle, he could feel it. That
cold, foreboding feeling that seemed to loom just out of sight, and
when it was visible, it was too late to do anything. The best way to
describe that feeling was cold. It was like a sickness. A sickness
that would have eaten him alive; bit by bit.

Yet, when the Lahdam's power flowed its regenerative power through
him, he felt the cold within him vanish. He resentfully recalled how
the pods' original purpose was to break down and destroy. Now, it was
being used to do the opposite, which was to build up and restore.

        Along with his body, Ness felt the memories, long since forced
into dormancy, return to his conscious as if it were yesterday. They
ranged from the earliest events in his life that he could recall from
childhood, all the way to the beginning of the Argos Exploration
Project.

        Even amid all the joy he felt from remembering, a painful
memory came back. From the window, he could see her standing alone.
Watching them all with tearful eyes, his mother could do nothing as
she saw her four children and husband leave her to explore the
universe for the betterment of man.

        Even at this time, he began to wonder how she was... if she
was still alive after all this.

Brian: <looks at original draft> You're keeping her in this version, right?

*****

        In the command bridge of the base, Ensign Miaka Yuuki, working

Nicole: LOL!!

Brian: Wonder how much she costs the base in terms of food.

as proxy for Tina, noticed a blur on the radar screen. She reset the
screen, hoping to see the blurs vanish, but they would not. So,
instead of trying to make them vanish, she switched the frequency of
the radar signals to try and find out what it was that was closing in
on the base.

        Bit by bit, the blur slowly turned into four distinct objects,
somewhat larger than human size. Then the herd of larger objects that
the computer had recognized showed up as well.

<The Bells of Doom toll...>

Nicole: New SFX?

Brian: Got tired of the thunder.

"Sir!" she cried from her control panel. "We got four alien based
units and a lot of spider-crabs heading our way at Mach 5!"

        Turning to "What's their ETA?" Commander Jamison asked.

        "Checking...estimated time of arrival is six minutes and
forty-five seconds."

Nicole: Ah yes...the bad guys always have such lousy timing, don't they?

 "Go to code Red and inform all hands to prepare for a large scale
assault."

        "Yes sir!" Ensign Yuuki said, pushing some of her bangs aside
to link her station with the intercom system. "Attention! Enemy craft
is approaching the base. All hands prepare for large-scale assault. I
repeat! All hands prepare for large-scale assault."

Brian: Is there such a thing as a small scale assault?

Nicole: Nope.  That's called a skirmish.

*****

        In the loading bay, Ringo had turned to hear the siren and
dashed to his teknosuit. Climbing in, he looked to the two other
newly
inducted teknosuit pilots, McPhearson and Ryder. Both relatively new,
they had been transferred to the command center a few months before.
Fresh out of basic training, they had shown quite a bit of promise in
terms of piloting and were recruited to the Space Knights before the
United Earth government could get them.

        "You two ready?" Ringo said to the other pilots, who nodded
their response. "OK then, let's do some bug swatting!" He turned to
his back and yelled, "Hey Star! Maggie! You two ready?"

        The same Z-tron Tank that had thought to have been destroyed
by Saber hovered nearby the three suit pilots and from the
navigator's
seat, Star's voice replied, "Whenever you are. Just show us the way!"

        Ringo was about to reply when across the room, the top of
Pegas' body opened up and Slade, not only restored, but his armor had
become more angular and alien in appearance. Giving Slade the thumbs
up, he commented, "You got some good timing there, buddy." He turned
to their small, yet formidable force and said, "Now that we're all
here, shall we go?"

        They didn't bother to answer him, the reason being that the
other two pilots and the Z-Tron Tank had left already, with Slade
bringing up the rear. "Huh? Hey! Wait for me!"

All: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHH!!!!!!

*****

        Within minutes, the spider crabs had already leveled the force
fields set up around the base. They, along with Darkon's teknomen
assisting with the destruction, it would seem that the base would
soon
fall. Yet, their parade would soon be rained upon.

Nicole: with a 70% chance of the good guys kicking their collective cans all the way back to the moon.

        While Ax and Lance were busy tearing open a section of the
armor plating, a voice screamed, "Hey, you guys!" They both turned to
see Ringo land a few meters away from them. "Yeah! You two! The tall,
dark, and ugly guys!"

        Ax blinked at such brave words uttered by a single man, trying
to threaten two teknoman, clearly twice his weight and firepower.

Nicole: In other words...are you stupid?!?

        "I'm giving you two just three seconds to get lost, before I
do something you two might regret!" Ringo said, trying to sound as
threatening as possible.

Ax and Lance took a second to look at each other, then back to Ringo,
and charged.

"Uh oh!" He said while pulling back as much as his suit could. The
effect failed miserably.

Natsumi: Guess that answered that.

*****

        Elsewhere, Saber continued to tear apart the station
unopposed. "Where are you Slade? Too scared to come out and play?"
With that, the crystals on his breastplate lit up and a teknobolt
flew
forth, blowing open a walkway to the shelters.

        When he was about to continue his work of destruction
elsewhere, his attention returned to see that Shara had been by the
opening. Seeing her brought back the resentful memories of Darkon's
orders. A new thought came into mind. Yes, he would leave her alive.
Raising his lance, he took careful aim and thought, "However, I can't
make any guarantees that she'll be unhurt." With that, he threw his
lance in her general direction.

        When Shara had come to, she saw Saber's lance come screaming
in her direction. She closed her eyes and waited for the end to come,
yet the end never came. She looked up to see that the lance had
pierced the wall behind her, and that turn was something she realized
too late. Saber's large hand had her pinned to the ground and lifted
her up and over the edge.

        She didn't dare look down, nevertheless, she tried to free
herself from her former brother's grip. "Tell me traitor..." Saber
said, "How would you like to go?"

        Shara frowned in response. The one who was threatening her was
never her brother. Cain was dead. She was going to be dead. Just like
the rest of the Argos crew. Without any fear of death, she screamed
back, "Taking you with me!" Within a flash of pale red light, Shara
emerged in her armored form and attacked with as much strength as her
weakened form could muster.

        Sadly, it was not enough. With a block, Saber moved her blow
to the side and stabbed her though the side of her torso. Not
piercing
nothing vital, but hurting nonetheless. Almost casually, Saber
dropped
her from his weapon and onto the ground she had been on before.

All: <wince>

        "What was that about taking me with you?" Saber snapped back.
He would have continued to attack, but from nowhere, Slade's enraged
form crashed into his foe and away from Shara. She looked outside to
see her brothers fighting each other.

        "Just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower, Saber!"
Slade said, pushing Saber into the cliff face nearby.

        "That's just a preview of what I'm going to do to you!" Saber
growled and pushed Slade back to the side of the command center's
steel wall. Before Saber could press his advantage, Slade's foot
pressed up against his stomach and forced him away. Despite the armor
that Saber had to defend himself, it was not enough to prevent the
throbbing pains in his head. He looked up to see Slade in the middle
of a power struggle with Rapier.

        After forcing away his latest opponent, Slade flew up to a
nearby ridge and snapped, "Three more? You should be ashamed of
yourself, Saber!"

        "I should be... but I'm not." Slade's former brother quipped.
"Besides, how do you explain that, traitor!"

Yui: Explain what?

        Jumping down from his higher position, Slade yelled, raising
his weapon high, "Can't have you guys have all the good stuff all the
time, can we?"

Nicole: Heh...<blinks> Waitaminute...Slade...just made a joke?  <mutters> The world is ending.

        Their blades collided, and they sent sparks everywhere. It was
clearly evident that no quarter would be given and none would be
received.

*****

        "Come on! Just fifteen seconds!" Ringo grumbled, looking at
his heads-up display. In order to use one of the newer weapons that
he
had installed, it needed some charge time. Much to his chagrin, it
took longer than a standard z-tron shot.

        His concentration broke when everything got turned upside
down. That occurred from Lance grabbing his foot and lifting him up
over the edge of a very deep canyon.

        "Aw crap!"

        Lance's deep and not too melodious voice rumbled from behind
his helmet, "You made me unhappy human; and you're going to die for
it!"

        "Yeah, whatever!" Ringo snapped back, before pulling out
another secondary weapon that he had installed. Though not as big as
the Z-tron cannon, the Chain rail gun would, as he hoped, distract
Lance enough to get free. In less than a second, fifty zetronic
antimatter slugs collided with Lance's face, causing the latter to
release the former.

        Taking the opportunity, he hovered away a few meters and took
a look at the charge meter on the Zetronic Antimatter Accelerator. It
was full! "All right! It's about time!"

He turned around quickly, took aim at both enemies, and fired. A pair
of green steams of light, both littered with small white spheres,
tore
through Lance's pauldron and Ax's arm plates. Both of them stared in
utmost disbelief at what had happened.

Nicole: Heh...

        "Ha HA! Guess you're not as invincible as you thought you
were, huh?" Ringo chided, adding insult to injury. However, his joy
was short lived as both began to growl murderously, which quickly put
him to silence.

Natsumi: Err...Ringo? Running would be a good idea now.

        Just when they were about to charge again, regardless of the
consequences, another presence made itself known.

        "My warriors! Cease at once!" All four of the Lahdam teknomen
turned upward. Including Slade and Shara, who were not exempt from
hearing Darkon's mental call.

        Saber was quickly to object, "But Master, we have the
advantage..."

        Darkon's voice quickly turned menacing, promising death to
insolence, "You dare question me, Saber?" Saber was put to silence
and
he began to return to the space ring, with his three comrades in tow.

        "This isn't over, Slade."

        Slade said nothing as his former brother and the others left
the area.

        Back on the moon, Darkon had watched the battle with great
interest. These humans had proved to be more persistent than he gave
them credit. However, with the acquisition of some new information,
he
called his warriors back. Staring from his vantagepoint of his ship,
he mused, "Though I know what it can do... I wonder... why is it
called the 'Thunderhawk?'"

Brian: Okay...refresh my memory...the what?

*****

        Within minutes, the small defensive force had returned to the
loading bay. With both the tank and extra teknosuits assisting in the
defense, the spider-crab numbers had been reduced dramatically. In
addition, with Darkon's recall, the spider-crabs had lost their
purpose and had retreated. Yet, the question that still remained was,
why?

        Ringo, walking into the control bridge, met the gaze of
Commander Jamison, Slade, Shara, Maggie,, Mac, and Star, "Hey! Does
anyone have any idea why they retreated?"

        "You got us. Star and I were just blasting the crabs left and
right, and all of a sudden, they turned tail and ran." Maggie
answered.

        "All I was able to get was Darkon telling Saber and the others
to retreat. He didn't say why." Slade said, responding to Ringo.

        "Either way, whatever the reason may be, it can't be good."
Star added.

        Her fears were confirmed when the main screen flared to life
and on the other side of the screen, a man's face appeared "This is
Lt. Macmillan of the United Earth Government Army calling you on a
restricted frequency. I am breaking all regulation and placing myself
in danger by transmitting this plea to the Space Knights." His face
turned more desperate as he continued, "You must stop Galt! He's
going
to launch the Thunderhawk! He doesn't even care of the damage he will
cause!"

        "He didn't listen to me, Macmillan, what makes you think he'll
listen to anyone." Jamison said, recalling the occasion while running
through attack simulations. Galt had interrupted him and announced
his
plans to launch a super-megaton missile into the Space Ring for the
sole purpose of terminating the aliens.

Brian: Oh...that's what it was.

        What Galt didn't realize was that the Space Ring was just an
outpost. In addition, the chain reaction the bomb would cause would
tear apart the space ring at the seams. Resulting in the countless
fragments of the space ring falling to earth like giant bombs,
killing
many. Shara was unfortunately a witness to Galt's insanity. Both of
them tried to reason with what little human decency that was left in
the General, but to no avail.

Nicole: Since when has that jerk cared about the bigger picture?

        "I just got word that he intends to launch the Thunderhawk in
less than half an hour! It doesn't matter how, it is vital that
you..." Macmillan's transmission was interrupted and an unfriendly
face took it's place.

        "Really Lieutenant. Insubordination is not going to be good
for your record." General Galt said with a bit of a smirk on his
face.

Yui: Nor is insanity on yours!

        "General! You don't understand. The aliens are not where you
think they are!" Jamison said, regardless of his past failure to
persuade Galt.

        "Come now, Commander. With the Thunderhawk taking the Space
Ring out, our victory is assured. We just need to keep on doing our
own part and it will be no trouble at all." He said giving them all a
salute.

        "But the aliens aren't even on the..." Jamison said before
Galt cut off the signal.

        "He's serious..." Ringo said in shock.

        Turning to the rest of the Space Knights, he began, "Very well
then. We have less than half an hour to try and stop the
Thunderhawk."
He turned to the ensign and questioned, "Can the Blue Earth make to
the launch site in time?"

        She shook her head. "The Blue Earth can only launch into space
at the speeds we need to get there in time, sir."

        "Is there anyway that Slade or the Blue Earth can make it
there in the time we got left?"

        With an idea, Mac spoke up, "We can equip Pegas with a booster
rocket and Slade might be able to make to the blast site with time to
spare!"

        "Make it so!" Jamison ordered and without another second's
delay, Mac, Maggie, and Slade ran to the loading bay where Pegas was
waiting.

        At that same time...

        "But master. Why? We had the upperhand! How could you order us
to retreat at the height of our victory!" Saber asked again, patience
thinning.

        Darkon, on the other hand, replied rather smugly as his image
walked to the edge of the cliff that his warriors had assembled
themselves on, "Because I decided it was not expedient that you
should
lay waste to this planet when its own leaders will do it for us."

        "I don't understand."

        "You don't need to Saber. Just watch." It was all too perfect
for him. Earth would end up destroying itself, and all he had to do
was let it happen.

Darkon's smile faded when he sensed Slade leaving the Space Knight
Command Center and to the launch pad of the missile. "So... you want
to try and stop it don't you?" He quickly turned to Saber and Rapier.
"Saber! Rapier! Stop Slade! Do as you see fit, but let the bomb run
its course!"

Both of his warriors flew without hesitation towards Slade's
location.
If Saber and Rapier had succeeded in letting the bomb run its course,
he would win. If not, Slade would be at the mercy of Saber and
Rapier,
not to mention the general.

"Master, what are Az and I to do?" Lance inquired.

The question was asked as he began to chuckle, "What else? Watch."

Natsumi: <Darkon> And start on the popcorn!

When the laughter ended, the smirk remained. Not only because
opportunity had smiled upon him, but because of another factor. His
powerful mind could sense them. They were there, hiding amongst this
wretched planet's population.

He could also tell they were scared of him. He couldn't consider them
a threat because of their fear had become a powerful deterrent
against
them. Only if he had personally come to Earth and complete the
genocide would they launch their first and last offensive against
him.

Darkon almost wished they came out earlier. It would have made this
little war of his much more interesting.

Brian: <flips through the eariler drafts> Oh...you mean "them", right?

*****

        "NO!" Slade cried, hoping to stop Galt from pushing the switch
that would launch the ultra-bomb, but to no avail. He was too late,
the bomb was beginning to lift off, and Galt was laughing at his
premature victory.

        Without another second's thought, Slade jumped onto the back
of Pegas and after the bomb. "Pegas! Prepare the anti-matter
warheads!
Set to maximum power and range."

        "AFFIRMATIVE."

        Within seconds, the wings of Pegas moved backward and the
position of the android's arms moved to position the collectors
beside
the pauldrons of Slade's armor. Gripping a pair of handles that had
emerged from Pegas' gauntlets, his pauldrons opened, and began to
gather energy that was in connection with Slade's own power source.

        Despite the bomb being as large as it was, it was beginning to
gain speed and pull away from Slade. In addition, at the current rate
of speed it was going, he would only get one chance at it. The strong
winds that were pulling at both him and Pegas offered no help either.

        "Steady... try and hold it right here!" Slade said, keeping
the bomb within the mental cross hairs he made. The bomb was in sight
and the collectors were almost ready to fire. The energy about his
blaster crystals had then reached threshold and the bomb was still in
sight.

        "Ok! Pegas, FI..." his command had been interrupted by a pair
of unwelcome guests that had rammed themselves against the bottom
part
of Pegas. The attack had sent them both spiraling away from their
hoped target.

Brian: Don't you just hate that?

        Struggling to regain his balance, Slade watched helplessly as
the bomb continued to fly up and out of sight. "No..." he cried
helplessly. Now, millions were going to die because one man couldn't
tell the difference between an outpost and a base. Turning to both
his
attackers, he found that he had no other choice but to take care of
them and try again... if he could try it again.

        Taking a second to look at the fleeting bomb, Saber scoffed,
"Too bad, Slade. Looks like Earth loses this time."

        "I'll show you who's the lose..." Slade said before a rather
titanic wave of blue light screamed past them and followed the bomb's
course.

Nicole: Whoa! Nice...

        All three watched as the wave caught up with the bomb,
regardless of the great distance of the source of the blast. They
then
looked to the direction where it came from, only to see nothing,
despite their enhanced sight.

        Then, an explosion forced them to turn their attention yet
again to see that after the bomb had exploded. The blast had not only
light up the sky, but had created a small hurricane, sending all four
of them this way and that. With what little control Slade could
muster, he flew to and mounted Pegas, and despite the strong winds,
were able to escape.

        "What was that?" Slade said to no one in particular,
nevertheless, Pegas answered him.

        "HIGH LEVEL ZETRONIC ANTI-MATTER SURGE."

        "Can teknosuits do that?"

        "WITH CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF TEKNOSUITS, NEGATIVE."

        Turning back to the storm that had developed from the bomb's
blast, Slade couldn't help but wonder who or what was the reason the
Thunderhawk was stopped.

The upgrade he had received enhanced his physical capabilities to the
point where he was twice as powerful as when he started fighting the
aliens. Not only that, his mind had also been somewhat improved as
well. Whether it was ESP or telepathy, he didn't know; but he had
this
feeling that there was someone down there who had fired that shot
that
was somewhat similar to himself.

Nicole: In other words...another Tekno.

<Bells of Doom>

Whatever it was, it would have to wait, because the others at the
Command Center would be wondering what had happened and they needed
to
know. Plus, Saber and Rapier were nowhere to be found. So now was the
best time to go.

A short distance away from Slade's position, a man sat within a
alcove
at the foot of a cliff. Taking shade from the ruthless Egyptian sky,
he watched the retreating form of Slade vanish behind the mountains.
He smiled and then reset the white robes about his person, but not
before placing a palm-sized blue crystal within his pocket.

        "Someday, Slade... someday..." he said with a rough Arabic
accent, slightly marred from learning english. He then walked out
from
the shade and hopped onto the back of his camel and began his long
trip out of the canyon.

Natsumi: Now...who is this?

*****

        "Impossible!" Galt screamed at the top of his lungs. Seeing
the Thunderhawk destroyed had sent him into a rage that he hardly
went
into. Turing to the council behind him, he growled, "Now you see, by
doing this, he's ruined our only chances of victory over the aliens!"

        He turned to the military police, "I want Lt. Macmillan and
that freak arrested as soon as possible!"

        His orders were cut short by a voice the entire room
recognized, "Galt!" All eyes turned to see the President of the
United
Earth Government, Johan Trier, step in with his bodyguards behind. "I
have had it up to here with you! First you send up our only weapon
against the aliens and now this! From now on, I am relieving you of
command!" He turned to his bodyguards, "Men! Take him away!"

        Needless to say, Galt was not happy about being put into the
brig, but he could do nothing about it.

All: <waves bye>

*****

        Later on, Saber and Rapier knelt before his master's image on
the Space Ring. By the time the storm had dissipated, Slade was
nowhere to be found, and whatever the blast came from, they searched
in vain for its source.

        "Forgive us master. I had no idea where that shot came..."

        "Save your excuses, Saber.." Darkon reprimanded calmly.
"Nothing was lost, yet nothing was gained. Regardless, it is of no
consequence."

        "So, what are we to do now?"

        "For the time being... nothing."

        "NOTHING?! Master! You can't be serious! The traitors will use
this to their advantage!"

        Almost expecting Saber's complaint, Darkon turned to Earth and
smiled, "Yes. In fact, I hope they're at their strongest when I meet
them."

Sensing Saber's anxiety, he continued, "The reason for us laying off
is more tactical than you think, Saber. Also, recent events and
memories have made me more... merciful to this backwater. Things you
need not worry about."

        "What are we to do until you order us to strike?" Rapier
asked.

        "What else?" Darkon replied, then his eyes began to glow
bright and his servants began to writhe in pain as red lightening
encircled their bodies. "You are to recover with the others for
failing me today! I do not accept failure well. And for your sake, I
hope that next time you will your efforts will being forth good
results." With that, the lightening stopped.

Yui: He....certianly has a way with words, doesn't he?

Nicole: <nods>

        Breathing heavily, Saber nodded and began his flight to the
moon, with Rapier following closely behind. Today's events had left
Saber rather miffed. Not only had two perfect attacks against the
enemy had been ruined, his master was now letting his foes gain
ground
after all they had gone through. Something was definitely going on.

        As much as he wanted to know, he could do nothing. All he
could do was continue doing his master's will until victory was
theirs.

*****

        At the control room of the Space Knight command center...

        "…so, after the Thunderhawk blew up, I couldn't find Saber or
Rapier anywhere." Slade said, concluding his report of Galt's
attempted move.

        After some thought, Jamison spoke up, "So far, the only thing
that disturbs me the most was that Darkon was able to learn about the
Thunderhawk. What I want to know is how?" Taking that same thought
further, if the enemy commander was capable of learning about things
going on among the population, he could easily use it to his
advantage.




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Nicole: Huh? that's it?

Brian: Hold on.  Catty's changing the reels.

<tbc in part 2>