Code of Hero: The Hunt For Jake Grey Part Eight

The Archangel sits in space. Not moving. Only an hour had passed since they escaped the universe that Rita had nicknamed the Dark Universe, a nickname that eventually caught on with the rest of the crew.

The viewscreen fizzles briefly, then a starfield appears on screen. Rita cheers. Carrie announces what all on the bridge can see. "Visual sensors are back! Residual effects of radiation is gone. All systems operating at nominal levels. We are back in business!"

The cloaked vessels inch closer to the Archangel.

Greymoran laughs. "Two pieces of good news in only an hour. First we kill that station which had to put a crimp in Grey's plans, and now the ship is back in tip-toip shape, as she should be. Beautiful day." Jackson nods. He begins to say something but an explosion rocks the ship. "What the hell?" Keith exclaims. Hudzen checks his panel. "Sir we got hit by a torpedo. Our sheilds were down. We have hull breaches all on all decks, 5 sections wide. I've already begun evasive maneuvers." Rita was already at her panel. There was a bright flash registered on visual before the torp hit. Whatever is shotting at us is cloaked." Suddenly a green light lances at the Archangel, but the raised sheilds absorb the blast. Suddenly the lights begin dimming, panels flicker on and off, and the voice of the default ship's computer that Carrie suplanted when she took the Archangel says, "Download in progress." Greymoran stands up. "What?" "Carrie, what's happening?" Rita asked. No answer. keith taps a few buttons. "Aw hell. I don't how they're doing it but they're dumping data from our computer core, including Carrie!" Greymoran's face shows his panic. "Well stop it already!" he hollered. keith Jackson and Hudzen all tried furiously to do so. Jackson slams his panel with his fist. "Dammit! They got her. They got everything, even our personal logs!" Greymoran's fist clench. "Find them."

The sheilds stop glowing as the Disruptor fire discontinues. The two ships that attacked flew away, leaving the Archangel hanging in space, running on auxillary power while the main power source recovers from the 'shock' of the abrupt download.

Rita checks her console. "Hudzen, confirm this for me will you?" She tapped a few buttons and the data appears on Hudzen's viewscreen. He sees what she saw. Two warp signatures heading off in different directions. "Either we were attacked by two ships or one ship with an effective sensor shadow generator." "Could it have been Grey?" Keith asked. Greymoran shook his head. Doubtful. We don't even know where we are. There's no way he could. Plus if it was him he would've taken the opportunity to kill us rather than simply stealing Carrie." Jackson continues to check his console. "Well, it appears that the computers in the science lab Ahz took over were unaffected by the dump. We'll need to link ours into his in order to get the ship back in working order." The sadness in his voice was apparent. Hudzen lowered his head, and reached for the controls to deactivate his emotion chip, before remembering that he did not have a deactivation switch. Rita chokes back her tears. Keith just stares out the viewscreen dumbfounded. A stray tear streaks down Greymoran's face.

Ahz's voice drifts over the intercom.

What's going on up there? A very unpleasant computer tried to read my files. Fortunately for us, they caught a virus, and they should start having problems in a few minutes, depending on how good their anti-virus is. Nothing serious, mind you, just something to make it easier to track them.

My god.. Carrie...
Jackson, in shock, checks his console, searching for the attacking ships
Whoever they were, the made a clean getaway...Hold on, what's this...
Jackson rechecks his console and presses a few buttons
Sir, I'm reading a very faint ion trail...

Greymoran whirls about to face Jackson. he walks over to the console. "I recognize that signature. Cloaked Klingong Birds of Prey with the ability to fire while cloaked." Hudzen looks up at the mention of this. Greymoran looks at him. They both nod. Jackson looks confused. Greymoran faces him again. "Pirates." Greymoran touches a button and hails the lab. "Ahz, Carrie has been hijakced by Extra Dimensional Pirates. They also got the total sum of our computer memory core including personal logs. Your lab seems to to be the only part not affected. The ship is precarious right now. We'll need to hide her somewhere, than take Ryo_O out after the pilots. Jackson's found a way to track them. Our XD sensors haven't gone off which means they're still in this universe."

Ok. I have the perfect place for you to hide, inside Ryo-O.

Ahz closed the channel.

Well, I'm afraid that we will have to continue our work later. Time to step out.

Moments later, Ryo-O appeared next to the Archangel. A tractor beam snared the smaller ship and drew it into a docking bay. Once inside, the crew were beamed out onto the control area of Ryo-O. A series of control panels seemed to melt out of the floor, emulating the Archangel's bridge configuration. The only major differences were that the panels looked like they were made of wood, there was no ceiling, and a small brook ran through a groove in the center of the bridge.

Ryo-O appeared in the middle of the bridge.

Ryo-O: "I have taken the liberty of creating this to make you feel more comfortable. Nearly all of the ship's functions can be accessed from these stations. I will follow any command imputed from them, within reason."

Without so much as a bump, Ryo-O leapt into warp after the Klingon Ship.

Nice setup. I wonder if the ceiling could reflect the current sky situation... Or perhaps duplicate a nice sunny day on some planet...
Is the water drinkable?
Jackson sits at the duplicate of his station and presses a few buttons
Sir, I've got the trail again!

Greymoran looks around still impressed at the site of everything. So impressed he hadn't said a single word since being beamed aboard. Keith and Rita were having the same reaction, but Hudzen and Ahz were hard at work tracking the ships. Keith finally snapped out of his awe. "Which one are we following? And if one is just a sensor shadow, how can we tell?" Greymoran said nothing. Rita spoke up. "I think that at some point both trails will converge again either way. They probably think we won't follow them so they'll be at least a little careless." Greymoran nodded. "Ahz, this is your ship, I'm putting you in charge of the mission for the time being. Hudzen, I'd like to speak with you in private if I could."

The sensor reading that is leaving the ion trail is the one that downloaded data from the Archangel, so we are chasing them. As for the second sensor reading... Ryo-O, I want a deep scan of that entire area.

Several windows opened up in the streaking starfield. One was a close up of seemingly empty space, with the camera traveling at warp speed, one was some kind of color coded map of the area, and the final one was the raw data coming in from the sensors.

The color coded screen shifted formations several times until a silhouette of a Klingon Bird of Prey appeared, dark against a colored background. On the real view, a translucent Bird of Prey appeared.

Ryo-O: "Target is a Klingon Bird of Prey. 32 lifesigns detected. Dimension of origin, unknown. They are shifting course to intercept us at the same time that we intercept their friend."

Very well. Slow to impulse and bring the D-Cannon online.

The streaking stars overhead shank to pinpoints of light, and a deep hum came from somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship.

Ryo-O: "Diverting main power to vortex generator. Targeting Engines. Ready to fire."

Take them them out.

In the Bird of Prey's engine room, chaos reigned as a tear in the fabric of the universe pulled the bulk of their engines out of the Dimension. The ship suddenly found itself floating in space, undamaged and nearly powerless, with emergency life support the only functioning system left.

Ryo-O: "Target disabled, resuming pursuit course."

Amazing.. according to sensors, the engines of that Bird of Prey have been shifted out of phase...
Just what kind of weapon was that, Ahz? Think of all the mischief one could do with it...Not that I want to, of course...

Ryo-O appeared next to Jackson.
Perhaps I should explain.

It is a variation on portal technology. As you know, opening a portal where something is, like a person, would destroy them, since they're literally being torn apart, along with the local patch of the universe.

What I did, was open an unstable portal in the shape of their engines in the same place as their engines were. The hardest part was compensating for their movements. Unfortunately, that weapon is a long range weapon only, since it needs almost all of my power to use it. The Archangel doesn't generate anywhere near enough power to use one outside of the ship in a combat situation. Based on the Archangel's power rates, it would have a range of about three feet from the outer hull.

Keith, Rita, and Jackson, fully armed, beam over to the Klingon bird of prey. The crew is mysteriously gone. Searching through the ship, Keith and Jackson stumble upon a black of portable prison cells. Most of the beings inside these cells are dead, and have been for soemtime. But while looking through the bars, Jackson sees a body move. The man is naked, and Jackson sees a poitned ear. He's pretty sure the prisoner is a Vulcan.

Rita walks around on the birdge, checking every possible hiding place, her phaser rifle on full power. She sees nothing, but find most of the computers hastily destroyed. She finds one that's still operational. She checks the ship's memory. "Dammit!" She yelled in frustration. She hit the siwtch on her comm unit and pulled it from her belt. "Jackson, Keith, we got a problem. I don't know how they did it, but the crew bailed, and the took just about everything with them, including Carrie. And, wait, I found something. Activation of personal dimensional travel devices. Didn't Greymoran once say that the XDCA recently made it illegal to operate a personal dimensional travel device without a license? I certainly doubt any body here had licenses of any kind. What I want to know is how the hell they got out without us knowing. Jackson, Greymoran is busy right now, but do you know of any metal or mineral that could interfere with our dimensional scanners?"

Jackson scans the cage and the person inside
Hmm.. Either Vulcan or Romulan... The readings are somewhat faint...
Any metal or mineral... I have no idea.

Ahz stood near the temporary bridge in the ring that was carved into the floor. Inside that ring, he had a direct telepathic connection with Ryo-O

Ryo-O: "I have been monitoring the situation over at that second Klingon ship. They didn't find Carrie."

Ahz: "Could they have transferred Carrie to the other Klingon ship?"

Ryo-O: "It is possible."

Ahz stepped out of the ring, breaking the connection. He walked towards a hollow tree behind the temporary bridge.

Prepare a Module. I'll take that over to the other ship and look around over there.

Ryo-O: "I will, but be careful. I am detecting some odd readings near that ship."

Ok. If anything happens, get over there as soon as you can. I should be able to take care of myself until then.

Ahz stepped into the hollow, and sank into the floor.

Hmm.. I wonder if Plotonium is a somewhat common... In the LICC universe, it's been used as armor...

I am a Vulcan, I can assure you. And I am in need of medical help.

He passes out.

"Hudzen," Greymoran asks with concern in his voice. "I'm a little worried about the way you acted in RDU-7. It seemed as if you, clenched for lack of a better term every time the Red Dwarf was mentioned. Is there something wrong?"

-

Keith succesfully phasers the lock off the cell, and Jackson runs in to pick up the naked Vulcan. Keith removes the comm link from his belt and fingers the activation button. "Ryo-O, if you have a sickbay beam Jackson and the Vulcan there. I'm going up to the bridge to check on Rita."

Rita continues tapping away at the console. Not much of the ship's memory banks are left, but thankfully the pirates left in such a hurry they forgot an important poiece of imformation. Or at least she hoped it was important. The identity of the cartel responsible. "Rita to Greymoran. I've got some info on our thieves here. They belonged to a Extra Dimensional Pirate cartel named the Blue Fugates." Back aboard Ryo-O, Greymoran heard this while waiting for Hudzen to reply to hsi question. Hudzen looked ready to talk, but when the Blue Fugates were mentioned, both he and Gryemoran's eyes went wide. "I thought they were wiped out." Hudzen remakred. "As did I." Greymoran shivered at the thought that the most dangerous cartel he'd ever encountered still being active. He remembered the first time he'd enocuntered them, and shivered yet again. If it hadn't been for his brother... He grbabed his comm link. "Ahz, we got a big problem. Very big."

Ryo-O's transporter beam took the Vulcan to the medical bay with a "pop." He appeared inside of a tube. The tube filled with a clear liquid leaving the Vulcan suspended in a healing solution.

The Vulcan should be physically healed in approximately thirty minutes. The mental scars will last for much longer.

Ahz was inside a Module, heading towards the second Klingon ship. The tiny delta-winged craft was also alive, and it appeared to be made of the same stuff that Ryo-O was made of. Unlike Ryo-O, the Module was not sentient. It had an extremely limited AI so it did not need a direct link with the pilot. But nearly all commands to the Module were either from the Pilot or Ryo-O, the parent ship.

Ahz sat in a chair that seemed to be floating in open space. He was wearing a small headband that telepathically connected him to the Module since there were no controls present.

Module: "Incoming message from Greymoran."
Ahz: "Thank you, Module. Please play it."

The module played Greymoran's message.

Very well. I will be most careful by the other ship. Try to get everyone back onto Ryo-O as soon as possible.

Ahz: "Module, connect me with Ryo-O."
Module: "Connected."
Ahz: "Once everyone is aboard, head towards that second Klingon ship, maximum speed."
Ryo-O: "You can count on it. Should I just displace them over here?"
Ahz: "No. Let them wrap up their investigations first, unless I am attacked. If that happens, then get over there as quickly as possible."

Kieth and Rita were on the bridge of the Klingon ship. Rita was frustrated at the lack of progress. "They didn't leave enough clues," she exclaims angrily. Kieth rubs her shoulder. "Come on sweety. We need to finish up and get back to the ship."

Greymoran walks up to a panel. "Ryo-O? This may sound like an unusual request, but after the away team is back, I want you to destroy that ship. The Blue Fugates are the most dangerous pirate cartel ever. They were at the center of the first Cartel War, and the reason I joined the XDCA in the first place. We can't afford to make the mistake we obviously made the first time. I'll also need a link to the Spidership in the LICC universe. I need to speak with Rocket Ranger."

Jackson walks over to a nearby console and starts pressing a few buttons
Rita, I think I've got something else... looks like they left the remminents of navagitional data here... not much left of it, but just enough to tell where they had been...

Keith nods. "Yeah, good work. For all the fat lot of good it's gonna do us. All we have here is a brief, damaged list of the planets they hit before they hit us." Keith frowns, then moves in closer to read the list again. "Wait a minute, these planet names sound familiar. Dantooine, Naboo, Thyferra, holy shit! Were in a Star Wars universe!" Jackson smiles. "Good work Keith. Let's get this back to the ship."

The Vulcan is taken out of the tube, and is currently half-lying half-sitting on a biobed.

Module: "We are approaching the Klingon ship."
Ahz: "Are there any lifesigns on board?"
Module: "No."
Ahz: "Good. I want you in a high speed orbit around the ship. If anything happens, I want to have as much speed as possible when we leave."

Ahz stood up and vanished. He appeared inside the Klingon Vessel.

Module, open an channel to Ryo-O and keep it open. I want her to hear everything that goes on.
Module: "Channel open."

Ahz pulled out a flashlight and half walked, half floated down the corridors in the steadily weakening gravity until he got to the brige.

Lets see. The control pannels have been smashed, but it looks like the core is still intact. A little power, and I should be able to download their entire computer core.

Ryo-O gives Greymoran a message from Tacoman. "Ranger is not with us currently. Is there a problem?" Greymoran snorts. "Probelm. The understatement of the millenia." He begins typing a message reply of his own.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the incident that resulted in the declaration of Directive Omega against the Blue Fugate cartel, only certain people in the XDCA and Ranger's organization are allowed to know the full story. What I can tell you is that if Ranger is not one of those aware of the order, perhaps you could get me in touch with someone who does. Simply send a one sentence message. Space Is Blue. Make sure you send it just like that. After that, you're involvement will be at it's end. DO NOT attempt to lend any aid of your own.

The away team is beamed back to the Ryo-O and Jackson hails Greymoran
Sir, the away team is back aboard. We found some interesting things over there.

Greymoran: Give the full briefing to me later Jackson. Ryo-O, have you begun the destruction of the Blue Fugate ship yet?

Keith: What? You're just going to blow it up?

Greymoran: I can't explain it to you Mr. Yeager, as you are not an official member of either the XDCA or the Space Marshalls. Suffice it to say I'm doing this under an order enacted almost three centuries ago. That is all you need to know. Now if you'll excuse me, once destruction has commenced I will go an speak to our rescued Vulcan.

Ryo-O: "Destroying vessel. I must ask, why is it so important that this ship be destroyed? If you step into the ring on your left, I will have a direct neural link with you, so you won't need to tell the rest of your crew."

The close range weaponry extends from the outer hull and fires a single shot, destroying the Bird of Prey. The great ship altered course towards the second Bird of Prey.

Meanwhile, Ahz was connecting portable generators to the computer core. Once he was finished, his computer appeared in the air in front of him.

There. Downloading data from the core.
Module: "Ryo-O is on her way here. ETA in thirty seconds."
Good. I should be finished over here then.

In the middle of the debris of a destroyed planet, the Blue Fugates who escaped the Bird of Prey plug the Archangel's computer core into a portable unti, with no access to their main computer. Carrie's tired face appears on a tiny portable screnn. "Wha-what happened?" she says, confused and disorietnted. She looks around and sees the insignia on the shirts of the men walking around her. She searches her memory banks. When she enters the insignia, a firewall raises, and her "eyes" see a bright red sign saying "CALSSIFIED! LEVEL 11 ACCESS REQUIRED!" Level 10? She thinks to herself. There is no Level 11.

Greymoran shakes his head. "I'm sorry Ryo-O. Sharing the details with you would be a violation of a rule that even Jake Grey hasn't broken. And he's a mass murderer. I'm going to speak with our Vulcan friend like I said before." Greymoran then leaves and heads to where the man has been kept since his rescue. "Hello. Welcome aboard the Ryo-O. I am Greymoran, agent of the XDCA. Who are you?"

My name is Sorik. I was captain of the Olympic-class Intrepid, until I was captured by the Klingon ship.

"Sorik, this may seem unusual but did you by any chance see a man, human, with no hair and brun marks covering the left side of his face?" Greymoran asks, being careful not to press the Vulcan too far.

Captain, I would like to know why we just destroyed that ship. Why not prisoners?

Greymoran sighs. He turns to Sorik. "Pardon me for a moment. Hudzen, come with me." Greymoran walks to where the Archangel is tored. He walks aboard and pulls a small chip out of his personal computer unti in his ready room, which he never used. He handed it to Hudzen. "This contains all the pertinent information of the Blue Fugates and the incidents that led to the Directive Omega declaration. One condition however. You cannot share this information with anyone else. This will be between us, and, depending on how the questioning goes, possibly Sorik. Understood? Even Carrie knows nothing of this."

Jackson sits at the recreation of his console, lookig at the data he got from the destroyed ship
Well Keith, looks like your right, and we are in a Star Wars Universe, but I'm not sure which one.
Ryo-o, connect with the Archangel computer.. or at least what's left of it, and see what unverse we're in.

The progress bar on Ahz's computer reached the 100% line, and the screen flashed "Download Complete." Then the computer vanished.

Excellent. Module, time to get going.

Then, Ahz vanished. He reappeared on the Module, which promptly set a course parallel to Ryo-O's at maximum speed. The much larger ship barely slowed down when it engaged a tractor beam, scooping the module to itself.

Meanwhile, on the recreated bridge, Ryo-O appeared next to Jackson Dupree. She looked a little distressed.

Ryo-O: "I was discussing this with Ahz earlier. I linked to the Archangel's databanks once we arrived, but was unable to determine where we are, exactly. It would seem that we are in an uncharted Star Wars universe. I am sorry."

Greymoran: Don't be sorry. Not yet. Without our computer core, determining will be made difficult.

Ahz: I have good news and bad news. It appears that whole most of the items stolen from your computer core were on the other Bird of prey, it appears that Carrie has been taken elsewhere.

Greymoran: Dammit. All right. I'm going to continue talking with our Vulcan friend. Jackson, Keith, get to work on getting that information back in Archangel's computer. Then try to find out where we are.

Keith: Aye sir.

Before Greymoran rejoins the crew...

Aye Captain, I will tell no one.

Hudzen plugs the chip into himself and reads the information. As soon as he is done, he takes it out and stores it in a small compartment where it where he will keep it until he sees Greymoran again.

Ahz appeared in his quarters on the Ryo-O. It was a rather large, multi-level house built into a tree. He sat down on in a plush chair and rubbed his eyes. Ryo-O appeared near him.

Anything happen around here while I was gone?

Ryo-O: "Well, they went all over that ship and found nothing. All we were able to determine is that we are in a Star Wars Universe. I have been unable to localize our coordinates but I can make a few educated guesses."

Can you get us to a known universe?

Ryo-O: "With enough time I could. Times like these, I hate technology. Blind jumps, and all of that. Its insane."

I know, I know. Was that all?

Ryo-O: "Nothing else."

Ryo-O initiated a telepathic connection with Ahz.

Ryo-O: "There is one more thing to report. I was ordered to destroy that Bird of Prey.

Inside Ahz's head, Ahz saw a replay of the entire incident.

Ryo-O: "Greymoran refused to tell me why, but I still did it. I don't like what's going on with this."
Ahz: "I understand. Anything on board the Archangel that might explain it?"
Ryo-O: "If there was, I would already know about it. I read that primitive computer core right after you arrived."
Ahz: "Ok. I'll look into it when we get back. If you feel that Greymoran is putting you in danger, I want you to pull out."
Ryo-O: "Ok."

The connection was broken.

I'm going to get some shut-eye. Good night, Ryo-O.

Ryo-O: "Good night, Ahz."

And then, the image of Ryo-O vanished.

Greymoran sat on the dark bridge of the Archangel, contemplating every possible event that occure during their time here. Suddenly the lights came back on, and Keith and Jackson stepped triumphantly onto the bridge. Jackson noticed the concerned look on the face of his father. Greymoran stood up and straightened his robe. "Keith, get Rita and bring her to the briefing room. Jakcson, go get Hudzen. I'm afraid that we'll have to leave Ahz out of the loop on this one." Keith frowbned. "You don't think-" "No, Keith I do not beleive he is a traitor. However, his pacifisitic nature could interfere with the misison at hand, especially since as per instructions given to me by my superiors 300 years ago I can't afford any delays. I'm going to explain everything. The Blue Fugates, Directive Omega, the whole deal. Bring the Vulcan as well, Sorik I think his name was. Almost no one surives capture by the Blue Fugates. My brother was the only other person I knew who had done so."

Jackson wanders and locates Hudzen
Hudzen, we need you for a meeting. It's about the Blue Fugates...

Ryo-O: "Ahz... Ahz, wake up."

Ahz groaned and sat up, Ryo-O was standing next to Ahz's bed.

What's going on?

Ryo-O: "I've detected a local ship near here and I've changed course to intercept. I'm going to try and get some of the local star maps so at least we will know what the local designation is for everything."

Several screens appeared in mid-air near Ahz. One had the current courses for both ships, and one had a wire-frame of the target ship in question. It looked like a giant cheese wedge.

Good idea. What about everyone else? Do they know what's going on?

Ryo-O: "No, they are currently in the Archangel. At the moment, all data on the outside world is being piped in from my sensors. They are unaware of our course change."

Good. Greymoran doesn't want us coming in contact with the locals, but we could really use the maps. Keep them in the dark and prepare a Module.

Okay. Let's go.

Hudzen and Jackson enter the briefing room
So, what's going on?

Hudzen holds the chip out to Greymoran

I am finished with it Captain

Sorik enters the briefing room.

I can assure you I am quite capable, and am willing to offer my services. Your question... no, I have not seen any individual which meets your description, but bear in mind I was incapacitated early on in the attack on my ship. Since a person could have been involved without my knowing it. Why did you ask?

Greymoran sighs. Jackson, you are familiar with Space Marshalls of your universe correct?" Jackson nods. "Good. That will make this eaiser to explain." He pulls a vid disk out of his pocket, and slides it into a port under the viewscreen in the briefing room. "I want you to understnad, when you see my brother, this video was made before the head wound that made him go bad. Speaking of which Sorik, I have an idea I'd like to run by you later about that." He hits a button, and a video begins to play.

"If you are watching this recording, it means that my brother and our allies have failed and the Blue Fugate pirate cartel is still active. Some 300 ago, my brother, myself, and a half-elf named Beiror were kidnapped by an upstart pirate cartel that had set up base on our world in our universe. Beiror did not survive the incident, but my brother and I were resuced by XDCA agent Jake Grey. The Blue Fugate cartel, as I said, were upstarts, and not considered a serious threat, until they violated a charter that even some of the more dangerous cartels upheld. No access to the universe of the Space Marshalls. The story is long, but suffice it to say the XDCA and the Marshalls had an arangement. I'm sure you are familiar with an activation of Directive Omega that none of the Marshalls or Agents discus at any length. The Blue Fugates are part of this incident. Somehow, a hacker working for the Blue Fugates was succesfully able to crack Space Marshall codes." Radagast's face is replaced with the diagram of a planet. "Planet XJ-41-Z. A pre-warp civilization of pacifistic scientists were the dominant species here. An innocent planet, which, according to Observers, had not had a major war in 500 years, and no recorded incidents of genocidal cmapaigns, or religous crusades. The Blue Fugates wanted to discredit the Space marshalls, and using the cracked codes, were able to inititate a Directive Omega on the innocent civilians of XJ-41-Z. All Marshall ships in the area levelled the planet, firing with such feroicty that the polar caps melted, the entire planet's surface was cracked, and a piercing weapon blast to the planet's core caused the entire planet to break apart. By the time an XDCA cruiser contain myself, my brother, and Captain Grey, it was too late. Thus a third Directive Omeag was enacted jointly between our two organzations. To prevent embarrasment to the Marshalls, the exsistence of this incident were covered, so to many Marshall's knowledge, the Blue Fugates are the second Directive Omega, when in actuallity they are the third. Only the crew of the XDCA cruiser Gemini, and the crews of the 17 Marshall ships involved know the whole truth. Therefore, if you have encountered a Blue Fugate vessel, or active membner of the cartel, they are to be executed immediately, as per the rules of Directive Omega. May the Gods have mercy on us all."

"As per Directive Omega, we have to destory all Blue Fugate ships, even if they offer surrender. We can leave no survivors." Greymoran says, his face cold and expressionless. "Even though this is may be a Star Wars universe the XDCA has no jurisdiction over, we'll have to get in touch with the government and get their assisstance. An unpleasent prospect as we'll have to violate that many more XDCA charters, but it is neccesary. Any questions?"

Jake Grey watched the footage of the attack, and the appearence of the Ryo-O. "There's that ship again. TorGal, send a few cloaked probes, record mode only, to get as much data about that ship as they can." "Aye sir," the Troll TorGal replied.

Days later, while the crew of the Archangel minus Ahz was watching the Blue Fugate video, Jake Grey listened closely. One of the probes was sensitivley tuned and was able to listen through the hull of Ryo-O. He heard the mention of Blue Fugates and froze. TorGal looked at him with concern. "Sire?" Grey said nothing. "TorGal, prepare the I, Claudius." TorGal looks confused. Grey frowns. "I once swore that I would not rest till the vaacum of space ran red with the blood of the Blue Fugate cartel. I plan to finish where I started with those bastards." TorGal is really confdused now. "Sire, you are no longer an agent. Should we not enlist these Blue Fugates if they are as ruthless as I am hearing?" Jake Grey shook his head. "This is different TorGal. I swore a blood oath to wipe them out. I have NEVER broken a blood oath in my life TorGal. I've broken insignificant promises that didn't matter like useless XDCA charter. I've blown up planets, wiped out whole civilizations, but I have NEVER broken a Blood Oath. And I never will. Where I come from breaking a Blood Oath is worse than genocide or chmeical warfare TorGal. Power up my old ship. We will use force if neccesary to find their base and level it."

Captain, it has been 300 years. Would it not be more just to put them on trial for their crimes? Wouldn't the members of the Blue Fugate today be different from 300 years ago? Can we really hold them responsible for the actions of their predecessors?

Greymoran: I'm sorry Hudzen, but only the three highest ranking officers of Space Marshall command can overturn a Directive Omega, adn then it has to be unanimous. And without a direct line to the Space Marshall command with Ranger being away from the Spidership, we have no choice but to follow it.

Rita: I don't like it.

Keith: Me neither.

Greymoran: I don't blame you. I'm not comfortable with this either, but orders are orders.

-

Coruscant. Center of the Republic. The I, Claudius's appearence is a surprise to the entire planet, having never encountered the sight of an extra-dimensional portla before. Jake Grey hailed the Capital building torGal sat uncomfortably behind him. He had been bothered by Grey's seeming lack of anger over the loss of their largest construction dock. This thing with the Blue Fugates had consumed him. The passion in Grey's eyes reminded TorGal of that do-gooder swordsman that had almost killed him. He feared that Grey was returning to what he was before his campaign. "This Captain Jakob Grey of the Extra Dimensional Control Agency calling for the current leader of this government. I have reason to believe a very dangerous pirate cartel is in your universe." For a short time there was no reply. Suddenly a familiar face appeared on the viewscreen. "I am Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Good day to you Mr. Grey. In fact we have had some bizarre incidents recently. A shuttle holding members of the Jedi Council that were en route to here from Naboo was hijacked. No sign of the ship or the 14 Jedi on board has appeared." Palpatine, Grey thought to himself. In this universe time had moved at a differnet pace. He was inbetween Episodes I and II of the Star Wars series. "I see, Chancellor. I beleive I know where Naboo is. I shall head there and begin searching for evidence. Thank you." The screen goes blank. TorGal grunts. "Sir, what if we run into the Archangel along the way?" Grey takes a deep breath. "Well, that wouyld be a quandry wouldn't it. I suppose we will try to destory them both." TorGal rolled his eyes. He was not comfortable with this. Not at all.

-

Ryo-O and Ahz studied star charts. Suddenly Ahz stumbles across something. An abadnoned ship, small and rounded, painted red, floating in the middle of nowhere.

Hmm, I wonder what that could be. Ryo-O, could you...

Ahz was cut off by a small alarm. A window popped up displaying a star chart with a flashing dot.

Ryo-O: "Dimensional portal detected. Referencing location with local starcharts. The portal opened over a planet named Coruscant, one ship. Attempting to identify..."

Another window popped up displaying the ship in question. Ahz and Ryo-O looked at each other for a moment and then Ahz disappeared. He appeared in the Briefing Room aboard the Archangel.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but the I, Claudius has been detected and we are en route to intercept. ETA: 30 minutes.

Greymoran's eyes go wide. "That's Grey's old ship! Where did it appear?"

Hmm.. I wonder if we can get Tacoman in the LICC universe to invite other members of the Space Marshals onto the Spidership... That way, we could have a direct link to them

Unfortunately, we don't have the local designation for the planet in question yet, but here is where the portal appeared.

Ahz activates a control and a display lights up depicting the local stars, the Ryo-O's current position, and the location where the portal opened.

I concur with the logic of Mr Dupree.

Hudzen thought about Greymoran's orders are orders comment. He thought about how Grey had ordered a planet destroyed without reason. That had been an order. He'd refused. He'd nearly been destroyed for mutinying. He had to make a decision. As Sorik finished his sentence, Ahz appeared in the briefing room and told Greymoran about Grey. Hudzen wondered why Ahz never uses the comm. After Greymoran responded he turned to the rest of the crew.

Battlestations sir?

Greymoran recognized the planet. "Coruscant. We've been there before. And look at the level of technology Ahz registered there. We're clearly in the pre-Clone War era. Yes, Hudzen, battlestations might be in order. We'll go to Courscnat, and see what we can learn about Grey's appearence. What I want to know is, if he knew we were here, why didn';t he come straight for us, and why didn't he attack Coruscant. Jackson, if you cna get in touch with the LICC, tell them to send the request for Directive Omega reversal to the Galactic Order of the Space Marshalls." He sighed. "I don't agree with the suggestion, but I won't deny it flat out."

Jackson sits at the dimensional communicator and attempts to raise the Spidership. He manages to contact them, noticing that they are in a slighty different universe then they usually are.
Jackson Dupree to the Spidership, the Archangel needs your help again. We need you to invite the highest ranking Space Marshal you can to the ship. We'll explain when you get him or her there.
Tacoman's voice over the communicator: Tacoman to the Archangel, I'm afraid we're a little busy right now... And I do mean little. We're in a dimension in which we're the size of an insect. Once we get back to our own dimension, we'll pass the message on. Tacoman out.
Jackson: Sir, we seem to have a problem...
He relates the message to Greymoran

Greymoran, shakes his head: Man I'm glad I'm not them. Continue course to Coruscant.

Rita: Aye sir.

Keith: Sir, what about that abadnoned shuttle?

Greymoran: Oh, dammit, I forgot. Allright, Jackson, Keith, arm yourselves, then take a shuttle, maximum warp, to investigate. We're going to have to work overtime without Carrie. Sorik, what skills do you have? We could use you.

Rita: We should also call on Ahz.

Greymoran: Agreed.

Rita: Rita to Ahz, Keith and Jackson are going out on a mission. We'll need someone to man Keith's station. Can you do it?

Well, technical, Ryo-O runs herself. She doesn't need anyone, to run her. She has a symbiosis with humans. Even now, we are just passengers and she goes where she wants. Not even I could make her change her mind. The telepathic link is there because Ryo-O realizes that we humans dislike the idea that we are not in control of the world around us.

Rita: Uh, that's great Ahz, excpet we're back on the Archangel now. Even without Carrie this ship can run fairly well now that we have the main core back.

Keith: Ahz confuses me sometimes.

Captain, I have been in the engineering and tactical divisions before. Which do you need?

Greymoran: Hudzen usually handles tactical. Without Carrie, we'll need someone to man engineering manually, so I guess you can take that position.

Rita: The shuttle bay is opening. It looks like Jackson and Keith have taken the repaired shuttle.

Greymoran: Are they sure it's fixed properly? I'd hate to lose them.

I will endeavor to fill that capacity well, Captain.

leaves for engineering

Meanwhile, in the shuttle...
Say Keith, I've been thinking about Grey's appearence in this universe...
He was an XDCA officer before going evil, right? That means he would be well versed in the Blue Fugate situation... What if he somehow found out about the Fugates, and felt compelled to help?
Anyway... how about a game?

Keith: Well, remember in the video Grey was one of the agents involved in the Blue Fugate incident. Why he would have an attack of conscience now though...

Keith just kind of drifts off, not finishing his thought.

-

Carrie had no idea where she was. The monitor she was given could not move, but she knew that the access port was behind, as she could feel the pirates trying to download her memory. She fought back hard though, even managing to electrocute one of them. Then, a figure appears in front of her. A tall bald man. "Well, well. An XDCA 7th generation A.I. We hit the motherload on this one boys." "Yeah Boss," one of the other pirates chimed in excitedly. "She been puttin' up one helluva fight though Boss."

And the next question would be "how would he have known that they were here..."
Unless...

Keith puts on the EVA suit and activates the forcefield that will protect the cabin of the shuttle from decompression. "Allright, keep the comm line open Jackson."

-

Carrie growled at the large man who approached her monitor. "Get back you theif! Where am I? Who are you? Get me back to my ship!" The bald man tilted his head. A large scar on the left side of his neck became exposed. He then laughed. "Oh this is lovely. A compuer with an attitude. That can be fixed of course. As soon as we've gone back for your ship, we'll wipe her memory." He turned away. All the underlings were nodding profusely.

How will we find Carrie, Captain?

Greymoran: Well, we'll talk to the people Grey contacted on Coruscant. It seems like he's here for the Blue Fugates as well. Wether he intends to kill them or enlist them however, I don't know.

Rita: Great news! We can shave time off. I've got Grey's warp trail!

*Her eyes go wide with shock*

Rita: Oh hell. He's headed for the shuttle that Keith and Jackson are investigating! Ahz! Use those portal of yours and get them the hell out of there!

I can't open a portal at that distance, but there is one thing I can do... Ryo-O, prepare the D-Cannon.

Ryo-O slowed to a stop, and the a hum started. Within moments, the D-Cannon had charged and fired. Aboard Grey's ship, the Engines were ripped out of the universe, leaving the rest of the ship intact. Grey's ship quickly dropped to sublight speeds and Ryo-O jumped back into warp to intercept.

Jackson checks the sensors while Keith is out of the shuttle
Holy... Grey's ship is almost on top of us!

Grey pounded at the console. "Dammit! What the hell happened? I'm not to miss this chance to take down the Fugates!" TorGal sighed. "Sitr, our warp engines are gone. We need to go back to the Macedonia 1 for reapirs." Grey fumed with anger. "Son of a bitch. All right, take us back. Then we'll grab another ship!" TorGal rolled his eyes.

-

Keith was beamed back aboard the shuttle by Jackson. Keith was holding a small cylinder in his hnad. "I think this was the passenger manifest for the shuttle. I'm afraid I couldn't get anymore information. Why'd you beam me over so fast? I barely had time to grab this."

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

Grey spun around to find Ahz standing right next to him, pointing a glowing rod of light at Grey's throat.

Any movements from either of you, and the execute on sight order will be implemented. I would like to see you brought to trial, despite Greymoran's protests.

TorGal was quicker then he looked. he had Ahz kncoked unconscious in seconds, and shoved him into a near-by escape pod. "I'd kill you, but I tend to take too long when killing someone and the master hates delays." Grey growls. "How did those Archangel bastards find me?" TorGal shakes his head. "Don't know my lord. We must get out of here quickly." Grey nods. Very well. Allow me to blow up the escape pod first."

With a burst of energy, the phaser tears through the escpae pod which explodes in a tiny burst of light.

Greymoran looked confused. "Where the hell did Ahz go?" Rita shrugs. "I don't know." Greymoran groans. "You know to a certain extent, Redding was right. Starting tomorrow I'm giving you all ranks and uniforms. We're gonna put some order in this crew. Ahz can either shape up or ship out." Rita laughs. "OK. But I should warn you, if the uniforms are pastel I'm gettin' out of here."

Keith and Jackson breathe a heavy sigh of relief as Grey's ship disapears off their sensor screen. "Where the hell is he going?" Keith asks confused. "And what was that explosion?" Jackson nervously touches Keith on the shoulder. "That explosion was big enough for an escpae pod. And wasn't Ahz on his way here?" Keith frowns, "You don't think-"

A Module came out of stealth mode near where the explosion was. Inside the Module, several little robots hovered around Ahz's unconscientious form administering medical attention. Eventually, Ahz woke up.

Ryo-O (Speaking through the Module): "You're lucky that I sent a Module out. I managed to beam you off of the escape pod right before Grey blew it up."

Grey... tell me you tracked him.

Ryo-O: "I detected a portal just after the explosion, but I don't know where it went."

Ahz sighed as the Module returned to Ryo-O.

Keith, I'm sure that Ahz's alright. He could have escaped the pod or something.. He can open portals of his own, right?
Hmm.. Keith, was that shuttle flyable? I'm asking because perhaps we can take it back to Ryo-O and study it..

Keith shook his head. It's a floating brick. and it's too unstable for us to tractor it back to the ship. Plus the shuttle bays are too small. Each bay is barley large enough for these shuttles."

"Rita, by the power invested in me as the highest ranking XDCA official on board, I hereby bestow upon you the rank of Lieutenant, with all the privleeges due there to." He pinned the Lieutenatnt's insignia to the collar of Rita's uniform shirt. The uniform was definately not pastel. It was a black denim jakcet, a tight fitting fire-proof water resistant short sleeved navy blue shirt with the offiicla symbol of the XDCA placed on the upper left side, and black pants made out of some alien fabric. The fabric seemed to meld with Rita, fitting her perfectly. They seemed to do this of their own accord. The fabric was untearable, and according to Greymoran were tougher than chain mail. Rita also held a gun belt, with a customizable holster built for holding anything from an 18th century one-shot pistol, to a Jem'Haddar assault weapon. Rita saluted Greymoran with the XDCA salute, pinky, ring, and middle fingers held tightly together and pressed to her left temple. Ahz appeared on the bridge, looking weary. Greymoran noticed a bulging bruise on the back of his head. "By helm Ahz. What happened?"

I think everyone should be given ranks. I was captain on the Intrepid, I obviously must have a grade reduction now I am only Chief Engineer.

I suppose so. Do want to go back and examine the ship some more?

Suddenly, out of Hudzen's mouth came the voice of Bender.
Holy cow! That is one nice fitting uniform. And I do mean nice.
Hudzen's regular voice came in next
Sorry, I'd say the emotion chip got the best of me. I'll shut it back off. Your son's shuttle is approaching Captain.

I don't want to talk about what happened. I just came here to report that Grey detonated his ship and got away.

Then Ahz vanished. He appeared in his quarters about the Ryo-O. Ryo-O herself appeared next to him.

Ryo-O: "You could have been killed."

I know, I know. Did you manage to salvage anything from Grey's ship?

Ryo-O: "There was nothing left to salvage. He destroyed it pretty thoroughly."

Ahz sighed and fell back onto his bed.

Another chance... gone.

*Grey didn't destroy his ship. he loves that ship too much to do that. He just blew up Ahz's pod. He escpaed through a dimensional portal*

Greymoran nodded. "Of course Sorik. I was planning to have your unfirom done next. We'll get you sized for the shirt and jacket, then we'll have the ceremony where you are given the XDCA rank of Lieutenat Commander and permanently assigned to engineering. I'll make jackson my first officer and give him the rank of Commander. I'll make Keith a Lieutenant like Rita nad make him cheif science officer. Chief Hudzen, would you like to be at the ceremony for Sorik, Jakcosn, and Keith?" Hudzen nods. "Good," Greymoran says. Later, I will bestow upon Ahz the rank of Apprentice Agent. I'll teach him everything I know. Of course I've never trained an agent before, but what can go wrong?" Hudzen gives him a harsh look. Rita groans.

the shuttle enter Ryo-O and docks with the Archangel. Keith and Jackson enter the area Greymoran and make their report
Sir, we've found, among other things, a crew manifest for the abandoned shuttle.

Greymoran nods. "Good. I'll download it in a moment. Did you learn anything else? Like what kind of weapons were used in the attack?"

Captain, my mind-meld and neck-pinch abilites might come in useful at a later date. I was also wondering if I could look through the information we have about some of the universes under the Extra-Dimensional Control Agency' jurisdiction, so I can see if there is anything we may wish to take from that Universe anything which might be useful or helpful.

Greymoran shakes his head. "It's a long story Sorik, but the short version is that not all of the universes under XDCA jurisdiction area ctually aware of our exsistence, and those that are, are because of either naturally occuring dimensional accidents, and Extra dimensional pirates. When possible, we avoid contact with the powers of the universe, hiding our exsistence as best we can." Suddenly the ship shudders lightly. "What was that?" Rita was seated at her console. "The engines are back on-line sir. Archangel is now operational. Now, let's see we cut the chatty Cathy routine and find Carrie."

The Blue Fugate had clearly not had sex in sometime, because he was gawking at Carrie's face for hours on end. Carrie tried to ingore him to no avail. Finally she decided to take advantage of this situation. After all, if she were a human instaed of a computer she'd alrady have been seriously vioalted. "Hey there cutie." she says. Why am I doing this? The guy was exicted now, quite visibly. "Oh yeah. She's talkin' to me!" he yips like an anxious schoolgirl. If I were a human I'd be pukigna t this display. "You know, we can't really do anything while I'm just a computer program. I'll need a holoemitter of some kind. You got one?" This is one of my worst idea ever. The guys nods so heavily Carrie thought his head might fall off. He ran out for a few minutes, and came back with a data crystal. "Here. I can transfer yu to the holodeck." Yes! I can get into the main computer of this place! "Thanks sweetie." Now, if I can disable the holosuite safety parameters...

Keith was able to copy some of the computer core of the shuttle... the info was somewhat damaged, but we think the shuttle was attacked by the Blue Fugates...

Greymoran: Well that was pretty much a given. Could you find any warp trails or anythi-

Carrie: Carrie to Archangel. Please tell me you can pikc up this signal.

The entire crew goes stone silent. Rita notices a light on the nearby comm panel.

Rita: Ohmigod! Carrie!

Carrie: Oh it's so good to hear your voice Rita! I managed to get into this bases main computer. They're tyring to find me but the firewalls I put are blocking them out from the system's primary functions. They're vulnerable. I'm sending you a location. Come and get me please.

Greymoran: Yes! This is our chance. All hands to battle stations. We'll get Carrie back, then we'll take out the Blue Fuagtes, hopefully once and for all.

He turns to Keith and Jackson.

Greymoran: We'll have the official ceremony for your ranks and the fitting for your uniforms later. For now, we need to get ready for a relaly big fight.

-

The Blue Fugate base was in chaos. Carrie had distracte dthe Blue Fuagte pirates by blairng loud music over the comm speakers. Boss was very angry, but he was also patient. He looked at the blue bag on the table in front of him. While re-building hid empire in secret, he'd monitored the LICC very closely,. and he knw that this bag, and what ever it's contents were were a threat to them, for them to dump it where they did. He'd lost three ships going to retrieve the bag, and had even almost died himself. Whatever it was, he would find a way to use it against the Space Marshalls, whom he wanted revenge against more than anything.

The Archangel plowed throguh space at maximum speed. Suddenly the ship lurched to a stop. Rita sighed. "That was close." "What is it?" Greymoran asked. Rita activated the viewscreen. A fleet of ships, all with the Republic insignia on them. They were headed in the same direction. "Sir," Keith said excitedly. "They're hailing us." Greymoran nods at Keith, and an image of the fleet's commander came up on screen. "You must the ship Supreme Chancellor Palpatine told us to expect. They said you knew something about this pirates and that you could help us. We had ahell of a time finding an intercept point though. I've never seen a ship move that fast in my whole life, and I've been in the fleet for over 20 years!" Greymoran's smirked. "Well, I'm thankful for the offer sir, but these Blue Fugates are far too dangerous. Fact is, it's entirely possible they might be more powerful than our ship. Your fleet wouldn't stand a chance." The Commander shook his head. "I'm sorry Mister, um, I'm afraid I didn't catch your name." "Greymoran." "Right. Mr. Moran, we have explicict orders to follow you into this battle, with or without your permission. Beisdes, these Blue Fugates of yours have 14 Jedi in captivity. We have to get them out." Jackson walked over to Greymoran. Greymoran could tell from the look on his face that Jackson was going to try to talk Greymoran into letting the ships come along.

Back in their old hiding spcae, the crew of the Revanche anxiously awaited Oakensheild to tell them the news. They had registered Archangel's trip to STU-57, and subsequent disappaernce into an unknown universe. Oakensheild had narrowed it to which type of universe. SWUs. Then more diturbances in the same area made it even easier to find them. But the process was still slow. Derisa Alex, the ship's tatcical officer, had finally been able to leave sickbay on her own a week ago, her injuries fully healed. She sat in her chair, trying very hard to keep her eyes open. She was tired. They all were, except for Redding, who been tkaing stims, and Oakensheild, who didn't need as much sleep as the others. Oakensheild yelped with joy. "Yes! I found them. An SWU outisde of XDCA jurisdiction, but on the records for soem reason I can't seem to find. The problem is I can't seem to find the Archangel, and-" Oakensheild was cut off by an alarm. Redding ordered the viewscreen activated. A fleet of warship began positioning themselves on the other side of the black hole who's gravity well the Revnache had sturggled to maintain as a hiding place without getting sucked in. Redding recognized the markings on the shiups immedaitely, from pictures his mother, a retired Admiral from the XDCA space corp had shown him as a child. It was a Blue Fugate fleet, and it was waiting for something. "Have they spotted us?" he asked. Derisa and Haer'Dalis checked their console simultaneously. "No sir," they both said. Redding frowned. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Ryo-O sat next to the Archangel, undetected while in stealth mode. The entire hull had shifted to black, making it nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye, just about the only thing left that could make it through the stealth mode.

Inside, Ahz was watching the conversation between Greymoran and the Republic fleet Captain on separate screens.

If destroying these pirates are so important, why is he stopping?

Ryo-O: "I have no idea. Should I continue on course for the pirates or wait here?"

Wait here, for now. We will let Greymoran make the first move.

I would think they could help during the final battle with the Blue Fugates... We're a powerful ship, but I doubt we could take on all the pirates all by ourselves...

Captain, we will have to get there soon if we want to wipe out them and their fleet. I doubt that all of the Blue Fugate's ships are connected to the main computer that Carrie has locked out. Most of them are probably independent so if we don't move soon, they will escape.

Redding watched as the Blue Fugate ships disappeared into a portal. "Oakensheild! Track where they're going!" The dwarf nodded, and began hititng buttons furiously. Redding watched as the last of the ships disappeared into space. Where are they going?"

-

The Archangel, Ryo-O, and the Republic fleet hit trouble very shortly after joinging forces. They ran into a pair of old Daedalus-class cruisers that fired poorly targetted shots at the approaching fleet.

The Daedalus cruisers were easily taken down, but a Republic ship was crippled in the process. Ryo-O pulled the ship insid eto keep it and it's crew safe. The Archangel and and the remaining ships plowed forward towards the base. Suddenly a portal opened. Greymoran tensed for combat, but the ship that came through was the Revanche. "Capytain Redding to Greymoran! This is one hell of an emergency. A Blue Fugate fleet has entered this universe." Greymoran smiles, then responds. "We know. We're en route for thier base to rescue Carrie. Care to join us?" "Sure thing, Gryemoran. We'll fall in."

Carrie gained access to the long range sensors. The base was incapacitated, but the ships poutside were free, and disconnected. She couldn't get any of them. She cursed heavily. It was time to get out of here. The firewalls were collapsing. She trnasferred her program to a probe, and launched herself away from the battle, sending a coded message to Ryo-O, the only she felt safe enough to contact without fear of signal interception.

While the Archangel, Ryo-O, Revanche, and the surviving Republic cruisers advanced on the Blue Fugate base, Boss fumed at the loss of the advanced computer program he'd stolen. He watched as the program transferred itself into a probe and laucnhed away from the station. He would've sent some ships to grab it, but communications was still down. Carrie had frozen the program. He knew the base would fall, so he ran towards the protected area where the opening of a dimensional portal would not be noticed so he could escape. Every person he could grab he grabbed and dragged with him. The rest would be left to die. He stopped at a room. He ducked in and grabbed the bag. He had no idea what was in it, but he would find out soon enough. He would open it, right now.

-

"The other Blue Fugate ships are retreating sir!" Keith cheered. Greymoran smiled. "Excellent. Inform Ahz that he can gather up the escapees as soon as we've taken the sta-" The station blew apart in a blinding burst of light. Greymoran and the other son the bridge, except for Hudzen, were quick to turn away and cover their eyes. They turned around. Jackson saw the light begin to form a man shaped being energy, larger than the station itself. His jaw dropped. He knew that shape.

"FREE AT LAST! That acurssed puzzle broke weeks ago! Now I shall have my revenge!"

Jackson turned to the other crew memebers who were looking at him, silently demanding an answer. But all Jackson could say was, "We're so fucked."

To Be Continued...