Chapter Three

Jessica Foxx was walking through the corridors of the space station housing the Albert Eienstein School for the Gifted on her way to her next class with her best friend Maureen, when the PA system came on with a chime.

"Jessica Foxx, please report to the director's office immediately. Jessica Foxx, please report to the director's office immediately. Thank you." With another chime, the pa shut off and left Jessi and her friend staring at each other with confusion.

"What'd you do to get summoned to the Dragonlady's domian?" Maureen asked dramatically after a moment.

"Nothing that I know of..." Jessi's voice trailed off in confusion.

"Oh, I know what it is, it must be some really impressive school back on Earth that is trying to recruit you to go there. They must be really impressive if the dragonlady wants to see you right away." Maureen teased. It was no big secret that a few schools were already "courting" her, trying to convince her to go there after her graduation from the Albert Einstein School, which was still three years off in the future.

"One of these days she's going to here you call her that, Maureen...." Jessi glanced at her friend reprovingly. "But, do you really think that Mrs. Ingerson would summon me to her office for that? No... it has to be something different." Jessi answered.

Maureen grinned unrepantantly. "I don't care if she hears me call her dragonlady. She's *such* a stick in the mud."

"Maureen!!" Jessi gasped in surprise.

"Well, if it's not a school that's come to try and recruit you, then you must have won some sort of award." Maureen teased.

"I'm not up for any awards right now, Maureen." Jessi tried to rule that possibility out too.

"I bet one of your teachers nominated you for an award and didn't tell you about it because they wanted to keep it a surprise, and dragonlady just had to tell you herself."

Jessi protested, "Maureen!"

Maureen just grinned and paused as they reached the door to a chemistry lab. "Jess, you'd better get going to see what the dragonlady wants. You know how she doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"I'm going, I'm going," Jessi answered, giving her friend a mildly annoyed stare. "Tell Mrs. Meyers I'll be back as soon as I can."

Her friend nodded, going in to take a seat at one of the workstations.

Jess headed for the director's office, her notebook held up in front of her chest like a protective shield. She really had no clue why she ws being summoned. She arrived at the office, only to have the secretary usher her right in without saying a word.

There was a man in a Ranger uniform standing next to the director's desk.

Jessi had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"You wanted to see me, Mrs. Ingerson?"

"Jessica, yes, yes, I did," the director seemed at a loss for words.

The man in the Ranger uniform stepped forward and said, "Miss Foxx, I've been ordered to provide you an escort to BETA Mountain to see Commander Walsh."

"Oh no, something's happened to my dad, hasn't it?!" Jess paled and clutched her notebook tighter.

"I don't really know for certain, Miss Foxx. Commander Walsh will explain everything when you see him. If you're ready to go, Miss Foxx, we can leave right away."

"Um, yeah, I guess..." she didn't know what to say.

"I'll inform your teachers that you've been called away, and have them transmit your homework assignments to your home, Jessica." Mrs. Ingerson said, getting to her feet to show them to the door.

"Homework? Oh yes, thank you, Mrs. Ingerson..." the last thing on her mind was her homework.

When she got to BETA Mountain, Zach was already waiting for her. He hugged his sister tightly, and broke away. Jessi noticed that his eyes were wet.

"Zach..."

"Jess," he said, his voice choking. "Dad's been captured. Walsh told me himself. I told him that...that the news might be easier coming from me."

"Oh, Zach..." Jessi said weakly, hugging him again. "I don't want to be..."

"Jessi," said Zach, "I'll...I'll try to take care of you, okay. We aren't going to be seaprated."

The ride back to their home was silent. Jessi had burst into tears at one point, Zach handing her a tissue and staring out the window.

They got in the house, GV unobtrusively locking the door behind them. Jessi sat on the couch, arms folded around herself. Zach just continued staring out the window, up into the sky, as if hoping that he'd see a Ranger cruiser land.

Finally, Jessi turned to him, and said, her voice barely above a whisper. "What did the commander say happened?"

"He said that Dad was out with his team, and that they got captured...didn't say by who, though. I walked outside, and heard from the technicians. They didn't think I could hear them but..." he stopped himself.

"But what?" Jessi demanded, almost angrily.

"Jessi, Dad was captured by..." he choked, then forced himself to say it. "The technicians said that he'd been captured by the Queen."

"The Queen?!" Jessi sprung up, as if shocked. "Oh, no...Not...No..."

Zach only nodded.

"I can't believe it. Dad's..." Zach tried to find any words he could, but nothing came.

"With Mom," finished a quiet whisper. Jessi got up off the couch, and hugged her brother. Right now, they were too shocked to cry or grieve.

"Remember what Dad told us..." Zach choked out. "In case something happened?"

Jessi nodded. "Yeah. The disks in the nightstand."

They walked into their parents' bedroom. Zach went to work immediately, while Jessi sat on the bed.

Zach opened the drawer on the nightstand, and found the disks listing the house's title, the bank register, and his father's will.

He brushed away a tear as he worked. They were falling, despite his best efforts to remain in control. Like his father, Zachary Foxx Jr. tried to be stoic under upsetting circumstances, but didn't always succeed.

Brushing away the wetness with his sleeve, he looked up and saw Jessi. She held a large picture in her hands. Zach sat next to her and looked at it with her.

June 8, 2084...Zach had seen this picture many times, but never this way. His mother and father stared back from time. In the picture, they weren't much older than he was. This moment of their lives had been preserved under glass.

And in a way, as far as anyone knew, they were together again, trapped under a different sort of glass.

Zach felt the loss keenly, staring at the picture. *Mom and Dad...why?*

And now they were gone. Pictures and memories were all that remained.

"We need to strike now, before she has all her forces gathered." was Nagata's comment. "If we attack her when she is not expecting it, then it is BETA who has the advantage."

"By sending our reserves on a suicide mission?" Wheiner countered with a sneer.

"Do we just stand here, and let her wear our forces away by attrition, Senator?" asked Ambassador Waldo, the delegate from Andor. "Earth will still be captured."

"Earth won't be captured," Wheiner said. "IF we don't put everything into a crackpot battle. Personally, I think this is a classic case of Commander Walsh exaggerating the threat."

"It's easy for you to say that, living on Earth," argued Senator Cable, a freshman senator from Ozark. "But those of us on the border have put up with these skirmishes and grown worried."

"Sacrifices have to be made, Senator," Wheiner told her with a sneer. "We can't afford to protect the entire League, not with the skirmishes reducing our troops! We need to set priorities."

"You call it priorities, but I call it genocide!" Cable argued.

"This is war, Cable," Senator Asami, Wheiner's toadie-in-training, argued. "We can evacuate some of the border planets. Granna and Nebraska have already filed evacuation plans."

"But the border is still vulnerable!" said Senator Lorel, the representative from Granna. "We can only evacuate a few thousand. There's over two million on Granna. Most of them are in remote areas and won't know until it's too late."

"The Queen is not looking to invade in the immediate future," Wheiner said. "The last time she invaded, BETA decimated her forces."

"She has tried before to invade Earth," Lorel corrected him, "And was stopped, just barely."

"Does anyone still remember," said Ambassador Zozo, the Kiwi delegate, "That only two years ago, she was able to raid Kirwin and capture eighty human colonists?"

"She doesn't have the manpower anymore," Wheiner said. "BETA's forces outnumber her."

"That's why she's been doing these hit and run tactics," said Walsh. "Look at the pattern."

He punched up a star map on the viewer. "Where she's been striking is sectors that aren't necessarily tactically important, but still need to be defended. These border strikes have already reduced our fleet by twenty percent."

Asami said. "There is still the option of diplomacy."

Cable spoke up, "I disagree *Senator* Wheiner," it was clear that she held him in contempt. "From the reports we've seen, the Queen of the Crown is a threat to *all* sentient life. No, I agree with Commander Walsh on this. We need to strike at the heart of the Queen's forces before they can strike at us."

"By marching in there on a suicide run?" Wheiner countered. "On the reccommendation of a commander who lost his best agents by trusting a Crown spy?"

"We don't know for certain what happened to the Series Five team, Senator Wheiner, and until we do, let's not start by blaming someone else." The woman really had no respect for the sniveling little Senator. She wondered how the public couldn't see him for what he was, and not re-elect him to his senate seat.

"And if they were captured, Senator," said the Andorian delegate, Ambassador Waldo. "Then it is all the more reason to strike immediately."

Wheiner's eyes nailed Waldo to his seat. "I'm tired of you, Ambassador. I know how close you were with those...those reckless maniacs of Walsh's."

"Reckless they may be, Senator Wheiner, but maniacs, no. I've seen more rabid people in this room than I have in my time with the Rangers." Waldo countered calmly, fixing Wheiner a stare of his own. "And I will bet, Senator, that if your plan succeeds, you will stay safely on Earth to look after your matters."

"And by the time we put all our eggs into one basket," argued Walsh. "The Queen will have her forces gathered, and it will be even worse."

"And then what if it doesn't work?" Senator Kastren said thoughtfully. The Senator was an pragmatic political independant from the Middle colonies. "BETA's forces have been hit hard by those border strikes. If we fail at this preemtive strike, the border will be evemn more vulnerable. We'd be an even worse sitting duck than before."

"IF we keep at our current plan, then the whole League is doomed. Not just the Border," Walsh was brutally honest. "But Andor, Kirwin, and Earth. The pre-emptive strike may sound rash, but if we sit and do nothing, our chances grow slimmer."

That seemed to quiet the gaggle of hushed voices in the room.

"The Queen won't be satisfied with just destroying the fleet, she wants bodies, live bodies, to fill her Psychocrypt." Walsh continued into the silence.

"The humans will be conscripted," Ambassador Zozo said, the Kiwi uncharacteristically dour. "Her troops have raided Kirwin many times over the centuries."

"Andorians and Kiwi can't be put in the Psychocrypt," Waldo said, backing up his colleague's statement. "Or else we wouldn't have lived long enough to FORM the League. If we fail to stop her before she makes that move, then none of us will have a chance of surviving her reign."

The room was filled once more with murmuring... most of it in agreement with the attack plan.

"The humans will all be enslaved," Waldo continued, the Andorian's voice level. "Andor and Kirwin will be turned to asteroids. And if the Senator still doubts this, he needs to talk to the millions of Andorians and Kiwi who lost loved ones to the Queen. She still doesn't acknowledge the League of Planets as anything but a rebellious fragment of her Empire."

"The Gherkin refugees on Kirwin," Zozo said. "Lost their homeworld, their society, and their pride. Their familes are enslaved in the Psychocrypt, and their culture has all but been destroyed."

"You think we're exaggerating the threat?" barked Walsh. "You can tell that to the Foxx family."

"And if we win, Sen. Weiner, we will have saved the lives of billions of registered voters," Cable added with an acid sweetness.

Wheiner frowned, but sullenly sat in his seat. "Then, it is time to vote. All in here favoring Commander Walsh's attack plan?

The board of leaders stood up and pressed the vote into their computers.

"All in opposition?"

Another group typed in an answer.

"The final vote," said Wheiner, looking right at Walsh as he read the results. "Is Three hundred and two for, fifty-eight against. Congratulations, Commander."

Walsh exhaled slowly.

"This Emergency Session has been dismissed," Wheiner said, ringing the gong in back of him.

The senators filed out, some glowering at Walsh, but most shaking his hand and wishing him luck.

Zozo and Waldo stepped from the crowd, and came to Walsh's side.

"We support you, Commander," said Zozo. "One-hunderd percent."

"I just wish I supported myself one hundred percent, Ambassador," Walsh admitted.

"Your plan is sound. It is a bit rash, but it is based on the best intellegence we have," Waldo said sternly.

"Which is nothing," Walsh said. "Wheiner is a pain in the ass on most things and a rat on most everything else, but he did have a point. If BETA loses this, it will probably be the end of the League itself. Putting most everything we can muster into a pre-emptive strike seems awfully damn foolhardy on some level."

"But you've said yourself, Commander, that this plan is the best hope for the League," said Waldo. "It is not a wise plan to sit by and just let her keep attacking."

"Is it the best hope for the League? Yes," said Walsh. "But, Waldo, if you want to know if the plan's wise, then the answer is no."

"I see," said the aged Andorian. "Well, the decision is made. It is a sound plan. Go back to your home, and pray to whatever God you believe in."

Walsh sighed. "I will, because only God knows how this will all turn out."

The Queen had abandoned her formal gowns for a simple purple robe. She sat cross-legged on a satin pillow in the large room, surrounded by artifacts from many worlds. Books bound in leather, crystals, rich tapestries. Her study was her sanctuary. It was an elaboration of the home she once had.

She repeated a simple chant and breathed deep of the insence smoke in the room.

Her bones ached, and her muscles were knotted. Her head pounded. That little Ranger wench had taken more out of her than she'd thought. She had underestimated Niko. Of course, her attacks had been fueled by a lot of pain. It would cost that little minx dearly, too. Niko's shields were gone, and she was in a considerable amount of psychic pain. In addition to the torture, and the backlash-fever...if she died, she wouldn't be a threat.

*Too bad she decided to resist and die rather than be sensible.* the Queen thought, opening her eyes and pulling herself from the soft satin cushion she had been sitting in. Niko wouldn't be able to survive more than a day or two with that much physical and psychic toll.

Maybe she'd hold a funeral for Niko. Maybe cremate her in the tradition of the Homeworld, and send the ashes out an airlock. Oh, yes...or just send her corpse uncerimoniously to BETA with a list of demands, but not before showing the mangled wreck to Captain Foxx.

The Queen frowned. Captain Foxx would have to be dealt with. Such a strong will, and a powerful life-force...He wouldn't break easily, but he *would* break. She had justified it in a thousand ways. She didn't want him as a martyr, she didn't want him to die without telling her his secrets, he was an honorable enemy who deserved the opportunity to change his mind...but none of those were the real reason.

She hated him. It would give her the greatest pleasure ever known to see his pride stripped from him. To see him cowering at her feet like a dog about to be whipped. It made her lip curl into a smile at the mere thought.

She'd finally achieve victory, not only over him, but over *her* as well.

The Queen opened her eyes and looked into the column before her. Inside the vault lay her most prized Psychocrystal.

"Eliza," she hissed. "By the time I'm through, you'll no longer be a weakness to me. You and your mate will serve as an example to all of humanity."

Oh, but she was still weak! Throwing a cape on over her robes, she called out to a Slaverlord outside the door. The door to her study opened and the wraith-like creature drifted in.

The Queen limped towards it, and with unsteady hands, she gripped the crystal around its neck. Energy surged from it, through her fingers, bringing a pleasant warm rush, and eliminating the aches from her body. Soon, she felt strong again.

The Slaverlord, however, was turned to ash. The crystal shattered, falling into useless shards on the floor.

The Queen took a deep breath. She didn't like the fact that she was having to feed on her Slaverlords, but soon, she would have entire worlds of life-energy to drain.

As soon as the League of Planets was defeated. After all, she had already taken care of those annoying Galaxy Rangers.

There was a knock on her study door. The Queen stormed over to the great wooden door in annoyance and opened it.

Captain Orthallan stood in the hallway.

"How many times," she barked. "Must I tell you NEVER to approach my study, Captain?"

Orthallan cleared his throat and straightened. "Highness. We have...unfortunate news."

"Unfortunate?" the Queen asked. "Tell me, you fool."

"There was a...jailbreak. Surely you know that one of your Slaverlords was lost in the attack..."

The Queen knit her brows.

"One of the Rangers has...escaped."

The Queen smacked Orthallan with a brutal backhand. He fell to the floor, and she grippled him by the neck, fingers digging in like claws. Orthallan strugged for breath.

"You idiot! Which one did you allow to escape?"

She released Orthallan's throat, and he sucked in air. "Ranger...Ranger Niko, your majesty. She escaped with Ranger Gooseman's Psychocrystal."

"WHAT?!" The Queen was turning dark with rage. "Orthallan, you will be murdered for your incompetence!" She turnd to the guards. "Take this fool to Delon. See that he suffers."

"But...but y..Your Highness," Orthallan said, slowly getting up from the floor. "We did capture the other Ranger."

A group of guards dragged their prisoner roughly down the corridor. The Queen approached, and looked over the captive. The torturer had done well.

"Ranger Hartford. How good of you to stay."

She smiled when the unconscious Ranger didn't answer. She'd have to reward Delon for beating the sarcasm out of him.

"Take him to the Psychocrypt," the Queen ordered. "Before he finds his tongue." The guards obeyed, and the Queen smiled at Orthallan. "I may let you live after all. Leave me."

Orthallan nervously bowed and left as quickly as he could.

The Queen walked silently over to a communications terminal and pressed a button. "Head Interragator Delon."

The Dathian man popped up on the screen. "Majesty."

"I want to congratulate you on your handling of Ranger Hartford. I was tiring of his wit."

"As was I, Majesty."

"I would like to know whether you have a holograghic recording of Ranger Niko's session."

"Of, course, Majesty."

"Wonderful. I would like to see you in my labratory in two hours. I'd like to perform a few 'modifications' to it."

"May I ask your reason?"

"I'd like to stage a small 'demonstration' for Captain Foxx. I'll say no more until we meet again."

* * * *

It was nighttime on this side of Xanadau, and watching for danger on night-watch was more a matter of ritual, and teaching Novices dicipline and endurance.

But not tonight.

Novice Kesty was manning her post on the Main tower, watching the stars, and charting them as part of an assignment from her teacher, Mentor Thella. Thella, like Kesty, was Andorian, but Kesty had been abandoned as a small girl by her smuggler parents, and Thella had found her on the streets.

Hers was a common story here. Orphans, street children, foundlings. All of them Gifted in some aspect or another, whether in psychic gifts or extremely high intellegence. Xanadau was a sanctuary. Once you reached here, you would be healed, and protected. In return, you renounced your ties to much of the outside worlds. To Kesty, who had no ties, it was a good way of keeping this place sheltered. After all, once outsiders came here, paradice would be forever lost.

She gazed up at the pattern of stars. the constellation of the Mothmoose had moved East a few degrees. She dutifully noted it on her paper tablet with her stylus.

Now, where was the constellation of the Lovers?

Once she had located the right cluster of stars, Kesty noticed something gleaming.

*That's not right,* she thought. *It doesn't even look like a star.*

But that gleam in the sky...it was getting brighter!

She put down her tablet and picked up her telescope. The light was a shuttle, and it was landing!

Kesty ran over to the warning bell, and pulled the string hard. The loud gong echoed through the villiage. She kept pulling and pulling.

People started to flood out of the Collegum, and the Chambers, pointing and gasping at the light in the sky.

It was in a nose-dive, and almost ready to crash unless something was done.

On the ground, a group had already formed a large circle, and sent their energy to the shuttle, slowing its descent, and trying to guide it gently to the ground.

It still landed roughly, but not crashing, as they had feared.

Rushing over, several Novices were stunned to see a shuttlecraft this closely. Pushing the crowd aside, Master Adept Lannon rushed up to the shuttle, and using his telekenetic abilities, pulled the shuttle door open.

They found the shuttle pilot slumped on the floor. At first Lannon thought she was dead, but when he rushed over, he saw that she was barely alive.

And worse...he recognized her.

"Get a healer!" he barked, "and get Master Adept Ariel! Tell her that it's her student!"

Lannon looked down at the young woman's hand. Clutched in her palm as if her life was depending on it was a bright red crystal. With difficulty, he pried it from her hand, and looked at it, his eyes widening in shock.

Pure psychic energy, with an insense evil aura that seeped into him the instant he touched it. Immediately, he shielded.

"Novice Niko," he muttered. "By the Great Goddess of the Universe, how did you run across something like this?"

Lannon took care to hide it in his vest as the healers came to take Niko away from the battered shuttle.

Chapter Four

Niko was immediately rushed to the Healer's Chambers, and Ariel was summoned. All through the night, and early into the morning. Ariel kept a near-constant vigil over her "daughter," watching as the healers did their best with her.

On the other side of the room, Kahlen and the healers tried to restore the damage done, but something was very wrong.

Finally, Kahlen looked up. "That's all we can do for now. Everyone, get some rest."

They cleared out of the room. Ariel walked over to Niko's side, holding one cold, waxen hand in hers. She was deathly pale, her red hair a shocking contrast to her drained, haggard appearance. A single mage-light flickered in a scone on the wall, giving the room a candle-lit air.

Kahlen entered the room. "Mentor Ariel? May I speak with you?"

Ariel looked up and adjusted her cats-eye glasses. "How is Niko?"

"I'm afraid I don't know..." the healer answered. "She is restored physically,"

"What about her psyche?" Ariel asked.

The healer was hesistant. "It would appear that she's suffered several large psychic attacks recently, and that it has taken a toll on her. She was using that...prosthetic..."

"Niko knew her risks," Ariel shot back, having none of it. "Is her implant the real cause of this?"

"We honestly don't know. What we do know is that she left here barely after Novicehood. Since then, her Gifts have increased in power tenfold. We had warned you both about technology..." The healer's voice was almost accusing.

Ariel's dirty look cut it off. Niko was her best student, and the old mage would hear none of it. "What does this have to do with her implant? And DON'T use that tone. I know what the council thought about it in the first place. Leave your feelings about the technology out of this, Kahlen, and tell me what's wrong with Niko."

The healer flushed, but kept her temper. Ariel WAS a member of the council after all.

"It would appear that the combination of use and her implant accellerated her Gifts to a point where she was barely keeping them under control. She was more than likely using the implant's energy to shield herself."

"How strong are her Gifts that control would be lost?" Ariel asked.

"She left here barely after Novicehood," Kahlen said. "She now has the power of a very strong Adept. Her Gift potentials were blasted open by the implant. Normally, such accelleration wouldn't occur, and when it does, it usually kills the student due to backlash."

"Are you telling me she's dying then?" Ariel asked.

The healer dropped her head and answered, "I- we- honestly don't know..."

The normally unflappable sorceress was starting to get very frustrated. Everyone on Xanadau knew that Ariel was very close to Niko. The young human had always been more daughter than student. "Then what DO you know?" Ariel asked.

"Her natural shields probably had gaps in them, and that's why she was using the implant's power. She's also suffered from some very brutal psychic attacks. Between the attacks and her rapid growth...she didn't have a chance."

Ariel's eyes widened. "An attack?"

"Several at least," Kahlen answered. "It was obviously an attack by someone...If I didn't know better, I'd say her attacker was a Master Adept."

"What do you mean?"

"Her mind is like a large, open wound. Her gifts were starting to go rogue, and then these attacks break down any defense she might have had against it. Her attacker must have channeled a lot of rage into this, and forced her psychic channels open. It's so brutal that even her memories have been damaged. It is the most brutal and sickening case of magical attack that I've ever encountered."

Kahlen was looking down at the unconscious human with a mix of suspicion, curiosity, and pity. "Even if she does wake up, she will have to be retaught shielding."

She straightened, and addressed the older human. "I told you, Ariel, that we've never seen a case before. We can't even begin to measure the damage that was done to her when her shields were shattered. The attack was particularly brutal - an attack on a Gift we never suspected was there. Niko is developing Thought-Sensing very late."

"Thought-Sensing? We never thought she'd develop it." Ariel allowed herself a small smile, "She always did do things her own way, I guess."

Kahlen frowned. "One of the things we read was telepathic trauma. Is it possible that she was...linked to someone? Possibly a Thought-senser?"

Ariel thought a moment. "One of her friends had a latent ability to project thoughts. Not strong enough to bother training, but I know that he and Niko were quite close."

Kahlen frowned. "Niko is a very strong young woman. Between her youth and strength, she may be able to survive this. Have faith, Ariel. The only thing we can do now is wait," she said. "And I'd like you to get some rest as well. You'll do your pupil no good if you collapse on us."

Ariel nodded silently. "I...will rest, Kahlen."

Lannon walked to the other side of the settlement, up to the vine-covered remains of a palace that was once grand, but now had only a large tower, and a small part of the living quarters remaining.

Lannon walked in through the heavy door, and into the Hall. The Old Palace outdated the Circle itself, the work of the Ancient Ones who had once called this planet home. Very little was known of the Ancient Ones, except that their civilization was the one that predated the Circle. Perhaps they once were the Circle, but much was unknown about them.

This was the Old Palace, an archive of precious relics, sacred books, and very powerful magic. Indeed the most arcane and dangerous magics of all the universe were among the ones housed here.It was protected by only one Guardian, the oldest sorceress on Xanadau. For the most part, this Sancutary was forbidden to members of the Circle.

But necessity makes exceptions of everything.

Lannon walked up the stairs and through the candle-lit halls (magic wouldn't work inside the palace, so mage-lights were useless), and into the study at the end of the long hall.

Inside sat the lone keeper and resident of the Old Palace. The alien seer sat behind her desk, scratching notes on yet another vellum scroll. She had a drawn, narrow face, and pale lavender skin. Her face was ageless and beautiful, but with eyes that reflected the centuries she had lived. She was Lannon's mentor, choosing him at an early age and training him under the eyes of his parents.

"D'Len," Lannon said. "This is urgent."

D'Len didn't look up. "Come closer and tell me about it."

Lannon strode up to the desk and placed the large, red crystal in front of her. "Novice Niko crashed here yesterday. She had this clutched in her hand."

D'Len put her scroll and stylus aside as she looked up. As soon as her eyes hit the crystal, she yelped and snatched it in her hand. She brought herself up to her full height, whisper-thin body towering over Lannon. Her eyes registered shock, then narrowed in anger.

Lannon was frozen with surprise. Mistress D'Len never let anything upset her. He couldn't make out the word D'Len muttered under her breath, but the woman examined the crystal, as if trying to memorize every facet.

She looked at Lannon, her normally placid features marred by shock. "Where did you say you found this?"

"I told you that Niko brought it with her, Mistress D'Len," he answered. "And I know why you're shocked. That crystal is..."

"A storage...a prison of dark sorcery...and pure psychic energy." D'Len shuddered, as if freezing cold. "I'm putting this in the inner library. I want to study it for myself. In here, where there's no magic that can be used."

"Mistress?"

"Please, Lannon. Do as I say. How is Niko?"

"With a terrible backlash-fever, physically battered. Kahlen tells me that her mind has been torn apart. She has never seen a case like this before. The damage is quite severe. The healers are not certain that she'll survive."

"Perhaps it's best that she doesn't," murmured D'Len. "If she's run across this."

There was a pause before she looked back up at Lannon. "Forget you ever saw the crystal. Mention it to no one, Lannon. If Niko were to face this enemy again, she would become enslaved in one of these crystals, at the very least." D'len answered. "This appears to be something I will have to take care of myself."

"Mistress D'Len, what is it? Do you know this thing?" Lannon asked.

But D'Len was already gone, with the red crystal pulsing in her hand.

* * * *

**...The study was spacious, and oozing evil. Rich tapestries hung on the wall, illuminated by candlelight, which also glinted off strange objects Zachary didn't quite recognize. The sweet-smelling insence smoke perfumed the air. In the center of the room, a large column seemed to support the high, cathedral ceiling. Zachary could see a shadow moving behind the column. He ran up to it. The Queen had a vault inside the column, and she was holding the contents in her hand. She grinned at Zachary evilly.

"So," she said in an obscene singsong, holding out the large, red crystal. "I see you've come to claim this. Prince Charming has come to awake his sleeping bride."

Zachary raised the blaster. "Hand it over."

"Not so fast, Ranger Foxx."

"Take it - if you can." The Queen laughed and threw the crystal at Zachary.

Zachary fired the blaster, but one of the shots hit the crystal. It flew upwards, shattering in midair!

"NO!!!"**

Zachary awoke to the sound of his own scream. Bolting upright in bed, shaking and sweating, he looked around again.

*A nightmare. Another damn nightmare.*

He should know better than to close his eyes, to let his guard down for an instant.

His "quarters" had a small privy attached. At least he could shower and shave. Too bad that the razor was an electronic model and wouldn't cut anything but hair. Still, he was grateful for the ability to maintain some sort of dignity in the face of all this.

Zachary had just put on the last few touches of his new "uniform" when the door slid open, admitting a lone person.

Kerr Orthallan.

Zachary turned around, and glowered at Orthallan angrily. Immediately, he pinned the Dathian against the camera lens, blocking view of the room. His right arm pinned Orthallan's chest, and the left one clenched around Orthallan's neck.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't break your neck," Zachary barked angrily.

"Because, captain, it wouldn't do you any good. You wouldn't be able to escape this room, seeing as how my voice disables the lock."

Zachary huffed in disgust, then let Orthallan go.

"Are you entirely certain that there's no Andorian blood in you, captain?" Orthallan rrubbed his neck. Zachary then noticed some other bruises there. "I trust it you slept well?"

"My team," Zachary said tersely. "Where are they?"

Orthallan raised his eyebrows. "Well taken care of. You should worry for yourself."

"It wouldn't do me any good," he said. "Either way, I'm a dead man, or a Slaverlord."

"Not necessarily," said Orthallan. "You haven't been tortured. The guards deliver you meals, and see to it that you have a modicum of dignity. You've been treated well given the circumstances."

"Seeing my friends tortured is not my idea of being treated well."

"The Queen sees no point in treating them well," said Orthallan. "But she sees in you what she saw in me. She can be quite generous when she's pleased, but her punishments for disobedience are equally lavish. My advice to you is to cooperate with her."

"When sandcrawlers fly, Orthallan. Tell that to the Queen."

Orthallan shook his head. "You don't understand, do you? Let me put it to you this way. Ten years ago, I was in this very cell, telling the very same thing to another Crown Guard."

Orthallan examined Zachary's face. "I was First-Husband to a noblewoman on Dathia Prime. She had power and influence, as well as great intellect and beauty. Indeed, I was proud to share her with the Second. Her daughters were gaining positions and wealth of their own, and her sons were promised to beautiful and powerful women."

"But, she had no love for the Queen. She and I would shelter Gherkins from the Psychocrypt. Looking back on it, it was the worst mistake we could have made. Those puny things deserved to die."

"Is that you, or the Queen talking?"

"It is of no concequence, Captain, but I will tell you this. I stood on that catwalk above the torture chamber and watched my wife, the Second, my eldest daughter, and her First-Husband tortured to death. The Queen spared me because she saw potential. I tried to escape, I tried to die. I tried EVERYTHING before I got some sense and realized that serving the Queen was my best recourse. I am fed, clothed. I have my freedom, and I am an officer. I am now proud to serve by her side."

Zachary was disgusted. "The Queen butchered your family, and you call yourself proud?"

"Yes," said Orthallan. "I could have easily escaped with you and your team, but I won't. Captain Foxx, you're a man of reason. I know that soon we'll serve the Queen together."

"Let me tell you something," Zachary said. "And you can repeat this word for word to the Queen. I'm not betraying the memory of my team, my people, and I'm definitely not going to betray my wife by serving her."

"Captain," said Orthallan. "Perhaps it's time you learned a little respect for your position."

He pulled out a small box, and pressed the button. The door swished open. Led by a lone Slaverlord, the guards and flooded into the room, a dozen at least. They swarmed Zachary, cutting off his view, grabbing his arms, his clothing...immobilizing him in a corner of the room.

A fist slammed into his stomach...across his jaw. A kick hit his legs...

It took four guards to subdue him as he kicked and struggled. One robot guard was smashed against the wall, but others came to replace it.

More fists, more feet. They came from all angles, and Zachary couldn't block them. His ribs ached, but nothing stopped them. He couldn't breathe, but they continued to beat him, rip his clothes, tear at his skin.

Zachary was forced to the floor, beaten and kicked. A kick to his ribs, the butt end of a rifle to his nose, a heel smashing into his stomach. Fists slammed into his chest and his face.

And above it he *heard* her. He heard the Queen through the Slaverlord.

She was laughing.

He tried to struggle, but an acid-smelling cloth was pressed to his nose and mouth. After two breaths, he was unconscious, but the beating still continued.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Zachary came to on the bed, too exhausted to do much else but just lay there. Oh, he hurt all over. Whatever they had used to knock him out still scorched his throat.

The Queen herself sat on the edge of the bed, silently watching him. Seeing he was awake, she turned and dismissed her guards. She then walked over to the camera, and pressed a series of buttons to deactivate it.

They were alone.

"Why?" asked Zachary, knowing that it wan't the most intellegent thing to say at the moment.

"I wanted to speak to you alone," the Queen said. "There are...things that you have to know."

"I'm not interested in hearing them," Zachary replied.

"I want so much to help you, Zachary," said the Queen. "To stop the nightmares, to end your suffering, to soothe your pain. Orthallan was right. You could serve by my side willingly, and have an eternity without pain."

"No thanks," he said. "I tasted your 'hospitality' once. I served by you once, remember?"

"Was the Psychocrypt so bad, Captain, or do you only wish it were?"

Zachary couldn't quite surpress the shiver. God, this was like playing chess with the Devil. One false move, and it was eternal damnation.

The process was extremly painful. After all, his mind and soul were being torn from his body and deposited in a crystal of pure life-energy. Reviving after his team had found his crystal and restored him also hurt.

But the time *between...*

"Eliza does not suffer," the Queen said gently.

Zachary pulled back. There was something very shocking about her words, or rather, the unusual lack of malice behind them.

But an instant later, the ice-cold eyes stared back at him. "Captain, you are an honorable enemy, so I present you with the choice of capitulating to me on your free will, and you *will* surrender on your free will. Of that, I am certain."

"I'll die first," he stated. "And you know it."

The Queen straightened. "Then I have nothing more to say. Pleasant dreams, Captain."

She turned and left, the door closing omniously behind her.

The Queen took the red crystal from her pocket, and fingered it lovingly. Humans...such a contrast. Strong, yet vulnerable.

She closed her eyes and ran her long fingers across the crystal's face. Looking back at the door, she smiled. *Which memory would destroy you, Captain?*

She concentrated, and looked deep into the crystal.

Contrary to what she had told the captain, she was capable of causing Eliza to suffer. She held the crystal and stared into it, breaking the human's puny attept at resistance.

A smile broke across her face as the right images and memories flitted across her mind.

*Ah, Eliza...thank you. You are a most helpful servant.*

Chapter Five

Two days later, Niko stirred a little on the pillow. She felt almost too weak to move.

For a moment, she didn't know who she was, or where. It was all a grey mist.

Memory came back to her...being captured...torture...the shuttlebay...

A flash of red and an awful feeling of burning washed over the memories.

Where was she? Who was she? Nothing made sense, and it hurt too much to try and remember.

Everything felt raw. Her vision was fuzzy, and nothing made sense. In confusion and shock, she let out a wail.

Kahlen and Ariel had been in the next room, stoically munching a light meal. Kahlen insisted that Ariel at least eat something, just to keep her strength up. It was obvious that the vigil had taken a lot out of Ariel.

"Draven tells me that his colony is doing well," said Kahlen, trying to break the tension. "The bread was made there."

"Really," Ariel was picking at the bread and vegetables in front of her.

"Ariel, you have to eat," said Kahlen. "I wouldn't like to reserve out a bed for you as well."

Ariel looked up and pushed up her glasses. "I apologize, Kahlen. I'm just too worried to really think about eating, that's all."

when they felt the Healer's Wing itself start to shake.

Ariel slumped over. Guilt...rage...anguish. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane, but this was totally composed of emotion, thought...

It assailed her, forcing her to the floor with a moan. Ariel picked herself back up, and attempted to shield herself, but the storm continued, abating only a little.

They dashed into Niko's room to find her standing...no floating in the center of the room. Awful red-purple energy surrounded her, sending off a forcefield, and lighting the room like she was some sort of angry demon-spirit let free.

Her eyes were open and unseeing, and the room literally shook. The objects in the room - the nightstand, the scone, and the bed, floated and swirled around her like she was the center of a hurricaine.

The only noise in the room was her keening, piercing cry. She looked and sounded like a banshee, especially in her loose nightgown and with her russet hair flowing out around her.

What staggered Kahlen and Ariel back the most was the waves of emotion she was broadcasting. Rage, fear, panic, confusion, and an awful, sickening guilt.

Ariel gasped and tried to Mind-Touch Niko herself, only to be thrown out of her mind, and picking herself off the floor. Only one coherant thought could be picked up.

*Dead...all three...dead...Why did I live?*

Kahlen helped Ariel to her feet. "She doesn't know what she's doing."

The whole building started to rattle. Ariel clung to Kahlen for strength. Forgetting her bruises and safety, Ariel dashed into the room, narrowly missing the scone flying at her head.

Picking a blanket out of the air, and doing her level best to shield so that she wasn't picked up herself, Ariel threw the blanket around Niko, the younger woman still convulsing and screaming.

The objects in the room dropped hard, the scone shattering as it hit the floor, the nightstand and bed splintering. Ariel continued to bundle Niko up and force her to the bed.

By now, an entire crowd of healers, mages, scholars, and worried people had bolted to the outside door.

"Shield! Everyone!" Kahlen yelled. "Niko could die from all of you just being here. Now leave, move it!"

Ariel was exerting herself, trying to shield both herself and her pupil. Her glasses were starting to slide down her nose. Kahlen rushed in, and uncorked a vial of something, which she pretty much forced down Niko's throat.

The room stopped shaking, and Niko lay limp on the bed. Ariel also fell back, but Kahlen caught her, and helped prop her up in a corner.

"What did you give her?" Ariel asked, worried.

"Dorith root extract."

"WHAT?!"

"She's burning it off almost faster than I hoped," Kahlen said grimly. "Her Gifts are completely out of control."

"I Mind-touched her for an instent, Kahlen," Ariel said quietly. "She said something about all three being gone...poor child's probably talking about her friends."

"Her friends?"

"Yes," said Ariel. "The three men on her team. The four of them were practically inseperable."

"I met one of them, didn't I? The outsider?"

"Zachary?" Ariel pushed up her glasses. "Oh, yes, Kahlen. He's one of them. Niko talked a lot about him."

"Funny. I didn't read the slightest bit of psychic talent in him, other than a particular vulnerability to psychic attack."

"He's not the one. The one who had the ability...Kahlen, do not spread this."

"Healer's Oath, Ariel."

"The one who had the ability was a young man. Niko's age. His name was Shane. Niko told me that during some emergency, he was able to project a call for help. That's probably what blew open her ability in the first place."

"Lots of emotion, someone completely untrained...it's not unheard of, but not in the case of just colleagues. The bond has to be a lot deeper."

Ariel stood up. "I'm afraid it was, Kahlen."

Kahlen studied her patient, then studied Ariel. "I see..."

Ariel nodded.

Kahlen jerked up, looking at the door. She gasped.

"Mistress D'Len!"

Ariel looked up to see the tall, ancient woman walk silently into the room.

"I sensed the outburst," she said, looking at Kahlen. "Tell me how she is doing."

"Not well, I'm afraid," Kahlen said. "We've a Gift gone rogue, and a lot of psychic damage. The poor girl doesn't even have any natural shields anymore. She was attacked, and from what Ariel can tell, she lost her three comrades."

D'Len glode over to the foot of the bed, moving as swiftly and silently as a cat. She looked at the young human sadly. "She is in a terrible way. I have encountered cases like this. That's why I am here."

"Mistress," Ariel asked. "Can you please help her?"

"When she is awake," said D'Len. "Right now, I've got her under shield myself."

Kahlen was a bit relieved. "Will she be all right?"

Niko was groggy as she heard the conversation faintly.

"There is a chance, but in order to survive," said D'Len. "Niko must stay here until she has recovered..."

Niko's flash of panic drowned out the rest of D'Len's explanation. *Must stay here?* she thought, but couldn't say. *You don't know the danger...*

The herbs Kahlen had given her earlier were kicking in, despite her efforts to keep her eyes open. *No, I can't stay. Before she finally fell asleep, she *I MUST leave...*

* * * *

Hours later, Niko awoke with a start to the sound of distant thunder and raindrops hitting the glass window.

She had been dreaming. She could hear the screams...remember the pain...it hadn't been a dream. She could remember it only vaguely. Part of her mind felt like an open sore, sounded like wailing. There was nothing in her but grief and fever.

She was the last one. The only one. Gods, she was alone...She couldn't save them...She had been too weak...

From some corner of her mind, she remembered that she had to leave. There was a shuttle. She had to leave, either to rescue...

Rescue who? She didn't remember.

Pushing the blankets off her, Niko rose from the bed and frantically dashed out of the Healer's Chambers, dressed in slippers and a warm nightgown, out across the wet lawn, out into the darkness.

Niko ran blindly, rain soaking her. She was dizzy, and practically blind. She fell into the mud numerous times, but managed to pull herself to her feet and dash in whatever direction she happened to be facing.

Niko's feet took her over the hills, down near the creek, and the stone bridge, but the footing was slippery. She was soaking wet, covered in mud, and it was hard to keep her balance or see. Her whole body burned and ached.

But across the creek. There it was! The shuttle waited for her like an old, expectant friend.

*Have to reach the shuttle...have to rescue...before too late...*

The obsession burned through her like the pain, like the high fever, but it didn't matter. She had a mad strength to get back.

But her feet betrayed her, and Niko fell into the creek, flailing and thrashing. She inhaled sharply, and her lungs filled with water. She coughed and choked on it, spitting up mouthfulls of river. Still, she swam for the far shore, finally hefting herself onto the muddy bank, coughing, burning and exhausted.

Sheer willpower pulled her to her feet and kept her going. Niko crossed her arms, and her teeth chattered. Her entire body was soaked, and everything felt cold and wet, or dry and hot because of her dangerously high fever. She was so dizzy, she couldn't keep her footing.

She coughed again. That spill into the creek was still causing her to shiver with cold and sweat with fever.

Just a few more steps. Then, she could rest.

Niko crawled to the shuttle, and pulled the lock with all her strength. The shuttle droor opened, and Niko made it inside, closing the door behind her.

*Have to...Gods, I hurt...have to leave here. Have to warn...*

But she couldn't go any further before exhaustion and fever claimed her. She collapsed in a heap on the floor of the shuttlecraft.

Chapter Six

Far away from Xanadau, the Queen also was meditating. She concentrated on her plans, her rage...

Damn those Rangers! Even though two of them were safely part of the Psychocrypt, the other two were large, taunting questions.

Niko was gone. Either she was dead, or hiding. If she was dead, then a promising prospect was lost. If she was hiding, though, there was a danger that it was in the hands of BETA, or worse. Of course, they would be so cowardly as to make a token offering like that little girl, and call it "aiding" her enemies. The Queen smiled a little. Well, soon the whole universe would be under her command. Andor and Kirwin would pay for their rebellion, and Earth would be her richest feeding ground.

But humans, for all their power, had unexpected entanglements. The Gherkins were a pacifist people. It was easy to destroy their individuality and turn them into part of the chorus. They weren't strong, but they were useful.

Humans were strong, and violent. They resisted. She'd have to break them by torture first. That was her mistake with Eliza.

The Queen's lip curled in distaste. She was every bit as frustrating as her mate, but she proved a most effective weapon against him. Comparing her to the Gherkins was like comparing a searing scarlet to a muted pink.

But soon...soon she would break Zachary and parade him in front of BETA. Then, she'd have no further use for Eliza. She'd crush the crystal herself.

The rage surged through her. The Queen grasped it, and held onto it, meditating and swimming in it.

Oh, yes...soon...

Zachary still ached all over from the beating, but he forced himself to get out of bed and pace the cell to get those weary muscles moving.

He hadn't recieved any broken bones or serious injuries. Just enough bruises to turn most of him black and blue.

He had to get out of here or do something. But with that camera watching him...

] Wait a minute...the camera!

It was recessed into the wall behind clear plastic. But the plastic wasn't unbreakable, and Zachary could examine to confugurations of the camera if he craned his head just right.

*Why,* he thought with a small smile. *It's not much different from GV's internal cameras!*

His mind whirled with plans. Now, what was it that Jessi had shown him? She'd rigged GV's cameras to transmit her science project data. Maybe, just maybe, he could do something similar, or at least trick the camera into thinking it saw something else.

"The camera never lies," the old cliche said, but in reality, the camera could lie like a politician and none would be the wiser.

It wasn't an easy reach, and Zachary nearly got his hands stuck, but he managed to dislodge the camera from its base.

He pulled a wire, hoping to disarm it, but the light started flashing red! Oh, oh. He'd have to think of something - QUICK!

He pressed himself up against the jutting door frame, and waited.

The guards, a robot and a Dathian, came in, rifles drawn. They looked around the room, checking.

"Where did he go?" the live one asked himself as the robot scanned.

Zachary lept out from his spot near the door and whacked the robot at a critical junction. It went down spitting sparks.

The live one whipped around. "What the -?"

Zachary saw a live wire on the fallen android. He dove for it, snatching it a split second before the guard ran near him. Striking quickly, Zachary jabbed the live wire into the crack between the guard's chest and hip armor.

The guard jerked and appeared to dance obscenely for a moment before falling to the floor. Zachary tossed the live wire aside, and proceeded to strip the Dathian guard of his armor. The guard was only stunned. That meant he didn't have much time.

Making sure to cover his face with the helmet's face shield, Zachary picked up the guard's blaster and stole out of the prison.

He walked the corridors, not daring to try and access a terminal or talk to other guards. He tried to blend in as much as possible.

So far, so good. No one was noticing him.

The problem is that he had no idea where the hell he was.

"Hey, you." yelled a junior Crown officer. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Zachary turned, startled. The officer grumbled, "Damn robot. You, come over here. The hyperlink is not functioning right. You'll have to realign the chips."

Hyperlink...communications chips! Maybe a way to get out!

Zachary walked over and knelt by the officer. "Process this. Now, the chips on the top are hyperlink directional chips. I want you to pull out the damaged ones and take them to recycling. I'll be back later. You got that?"

Zachary nodded, and knelt by the exposed panel.

Just what he needed! This disguise was proving useful. Zachary pulled a few damaged chips, and a couple chips that weren't damaged. Zachary carefully concealed them in the cuff of the officers' uniform. They would be needed later in case he didn't make it to the shuttlebay.

Zachary was lost, though and if he spoke to any of the guards here, he'd give himself away in seconds.

He was walking further and further into the palace, relying on memories that were sketchy at best.

There didn't seem to be any guards in this section of the palace. Zachary frowned. This section of the palace practically hummed, as if above some sort of power source.

There were two power sources for here, though. The fusion reactor, and the Psychocrypt. Both of which were below him. What was this?

The only thing here seemed to be a partially opened door. Zachary peeked inside.

It was just like his dream. Right down to the final details. The smell, the candlelight.

And the column in the center that bathed its only occupant in the eerie light of a forcefield.

Zachary stayed silent. Hopefully, she couldn't sense he was here. He watched the scene in the study with rapt fascination.

He almost didn't recognize the Queen. She didn't wear her royal robes and headdress. She silently sat on a satin cushion, wearing a simple, purple robe. Her headdress was gone, revealing close-cropped dark hair that was giving way to silver.

The Queen stood up, then walked over to the column, disabling the glowing forcefield. She pulled out the crystal, and closed her eyes.

Then yelped, and dropped it.

"Damn humans and your stubbornness," she said, putting the crystal back in the vault. "But I can sense you weakening, and I *will* win. Already, your husband is learning who his master truely is. I'll be able to drain your energy soon enough."

Zachary bit back a gasp. So she couldn't drain humans! She could feed on the Gherkin crystals, but not the *humans.*

The information was priceless - and useless. Maybe Niko could use have used the information...

He winced. *Oh, God, Niko...* His team must have been thrown in the Psychocrypt by now, all because of his misjudgement.

He closed the door, then sneaked away. More than ever, he had to find a way to contact BETA.

He didn't get too far before he ran into a familiar face, and a leigon of guards, all holding rifles to him.

"Well, well, Captain Foxx. It's good to see you again," purred Orthallan. "You really didn't think you could hide forever, did you?"

One of the guards came over and pulled the helmet from Zachary's head. Orthallan smiled.

"Take that armor off him, then report to a Slaverlord. The Queen will be...pleased."

They pulled off the armor, and equipment, but they didn't manage to find the chips. Zachary tried not to be relieved.

Two Slaverlords glided in from a nearby corridor, and grabbed Zachary, pulling him away from the guards, and into the Queen's study. The Slaverlords sat him in a chair belonging to a large desk.

The Queen's expression turned into a cold smile. "Attempting escape, Captain? You know, you're proving quite tiresome."

"So," he said. "Why didn't you throw me in the Psychocrypt when you had a chance?"

The Queen's face was unreadable, but her eyes took on the quality of black holes. "Don't insult my intelligence, Captain Foxx, by asking me questions you already know the answers to."

One of the Slaverlords vanished from the room and sealed the door behind it, but the other floated over to the Queen's side. The visage rippled before him, and even though Zachary had expected it, he still gasped with shock.

The ghostly form of Doc stood next to the Queen. Zachary gripped the armrest and glared at the Queen in horror and rage.

"As you see, Zachary," she said in a mocking singsong. "I'm already victorious."

Zachary said the only thing he could think of at the moment. "I don't see Niko or Goose."

"Ah, yes," said the Queen. "I've taken care of the lovebirds quite nicely."

A panel slid open on the wall, and two crystal coffins filled the alcove. Doc on the right, and Shane on the left.

"As for Niko..." said the Queen. "She will serve as an 'example' to my opposition on BETA Mountain, just as you will."

She rose from her seat and gestured for Zachary to follow her.

Two sets of footsteps echoed in the corridor while two wraith-like slaverlords trailed behind. At the end of the hall, the door opened up onto a terrace.

Zachary could remember the Queen standing on that terrace, staring down on him and his team. Usually, she was flanked by Slaverlords. Several times, he had looked and seen that the Queen had Eliza's Slaverlord by her side, just to rub salt into Zachary's wounds, and prove her superiority over him.

Zachary wished for those times. All but a few times, he could still see an escape route back to the ship, and safety.

But there were no escapes for him this time, and Zachary had a bad feeling about that door, as if he were walking into a trap.

The terrace was about fifty meters from the ground, polished to perfection, and with a large throne reserved for its usual observer. Zachary stood to her side.

It was so tempting. He could reach over right now with his left arm and squeeze that witch's neck. No regrets, no remorse. Just a few seconds.

He thought better of it. There were armed guards all around the place, including two still at his back. There was no way he could even reach over. Even if he succeeded, Orthallan would no doubt carry out the orders of his "beloved monarch" anyway.

He learned quite a bit during his short escape. If BETA came to her palace, they'd walk right into a trap. He had to find some way to warn them.

He looked down onto the floor below, then took a deep breath, and nearly backed into the Slaverlord.

"I told you before, Captain," said the Queen calmly. "That your subordinates will pay for any actions you do."

She was battered, brusied, tortured. Her head had been shaved, and there wasn't an exposed inch that hadn't been bruised or cut. One of her eyes had been gauged out. An ear and a couple fingers were missing. She sagged in the restraints, unable to fight her way out. She was barely recognizable, a bloodied human wreck.

All around her, guards were gathered, One, in completely black armor, and a smooth helmet, carried a huge lightsword.

The Queen merely looked on nonchalantly.

"Little Niko here was trying to aid the other two in escaping. They only got as far as the shuttlebay." The Queen's voice was even. "The others...repented, and were given the privilege of becoming Slaverlords. Niko refused. My guards have kept her alive only as an example to BETA...and you."

Zachary felt bile come up his throat at the awful sight. He was too far to help her. Too far to do anything.

Niko looked up, her ruined face staring eerily at Zachary. "I'm sorry, Zach," she cried out. "I tried..."

"Finish her." The Queen ordered.

The Guard's lightsword powered up. Zachary felt a scream on caught in his throat, but no sound came when he opened his mouth. He was ready to beg the Queen...PLEAD with his enemy to spare his friend's life, but nothing came.

The Guard walked up and ran his lightsword through Niko's chest. She howled in mortal agony.

Finally, Zachary was able to scream. "NO!!! NIKO!"

Pulling out the lightsword, the guard finished the job by stabbing through Niko's neck. She convulsed once, then moved no more.

"Prepare her body for transport to BETA Mountain along with a list of my demands," the Queen said.

Zachary couldn't move, his eyes glued to the scene.

"Consider yourself honored, Captain," the Queen said wickedly. "Not many people witness an Imperial execution and can live to tell about it." She turned to her Slaverlords. "Take him to his chamber."

The Slaverlords did as they were told, and Zachary was too shocked and numb to put up a resistance.

The Queen gazed down. "A most effective performance," she smiled down on the swordsman. "Especially from you. You will be promoted. Dismissed."

The guards turned away and filed out. The Queen pressed a small green button on her holoprojector, and Niko appeared again.

"I'm sorry Zach. I tried..." The wounds magically appeared, and she cried out. The hologram shimmered, and the tape restarted.

"I'm sorry, Zach. I tried..."

The Queen cut the projector. "Too bad I couldn't do that to you in real life, you little wench."

The guards pushed him into the room, and sealed the door behind him. Zachary couldn't speak or move for several long minutes, and when he did speak, "Why?" was all he could say. Over and over again. "Damn you, God. Why?"

The door slid open and a guard entered with a small trunk, setting it on the floor. "Here's a gift from the Queen, Ranger."

He opened it up. The Queen's sheer malice was legendary, but her twisted cruelty was even more apalling.

Two things lay in the box. The blood-stained uniform of a female Ranger and a long lock of auburn hair.

Zachary closed the box slowly.

He couldn't get the awful images out of his mind. Like some awful loop, he saw Niko's death countless times, heard himself screaming her name...

*There's no hope, Zachary,* the invading voice spoke again. *She's dead, and they're Slaverlords. You're not going to get out of here...*

There was only one last thing to do...no, two things.

He walked up to the hidden camera, and took the chips he'd smuggled from the communications relay.

The plastic had been replaced with a temporary forcefield that was easy enough to short out.

The camera was linked to the Palace internal communications, and the two chips in his cuff were routing orders, telling the camera where to send the signal. The other chip he'd hidden was a recording of him sleeping.

He prayed that it would work.

Zachary reached behind the camera, and removed its original programming chips. the light at the top of it flashed yellow. If it didn't get a signal in a few seconds, it would alert the guards.

Fortuanately for Zachary, a few seconds were all he needed. The chip was inserted, and the phony image was played for the Queen.

Now HE was manipulating HER, rather than the other way around. Zachary felt a surge of evil triumph at the thought. He placed one control chip in, then another...

And the light turned yellow. Zachary immediately pulled the chips, and the light went to green. He breathed a sigh of relief.

What to do with the chips now? Well, maybe reversing them would be the right thing to do.

He put the chips in the slots, reversing the order. The light turned to a flashing yellow for a few tense moments...

Then turned a steady green.

Zachary could see the lens showing his reflection, and a flashing indicator "Hyperlink relay activated, press destination code."

Using the keypad at the top of the recorder, Zachary pressed in an encryption code for BETA that was close to a Crown frequency. Hopefully, the communications monitors wouldn't recognize it as anything other than a fluctuation.

"Begin." the camera flashed.

* * * *

Two Crown guards sat at their post in the communications tower of the Queen's asteroid palace.

"Two minor malfunctions of camera H-83," one guard reported to the waiting Slaverlord.

"Captain Foxx's quarters. Show me the last known recording."

The camera flashed, and showed Zachary lying in bed, tossing and turning in the grip of a nightmare.

"Well," droned the Slaverlord. "He's not much of a threat. We'll have to fix the camera when the captain is out at a 'session.'"

"Communications are within normal frequency range," said the other guard, "But I am reading a slight fluctuation in our hyperlink transmissions. The antenna may be maladjusted."

"Keep me informed," the Slaverlord said before floating through the open portal.

* * * *

After the message was finished, Zachary replaced the original camera configurations, keeping the false image of him sleeping playing in a loop for the guards. He crushed the metal and plastic chips to dust.

He sat at the desk, and poured himself a glass of congac. It would at least give him a little nerve.

Zachary closed his eyes and thought of his children. Zachary Jr and Jessica...he'd held on so long because of them. He'd never see them again. The thought brought tears to his eyes, and the shot of alcohol burning down his throat.

It really was good congac.

He could remember them as infants...holding them in his arms, trading off midnight feedings with Eliza...watching them grow up...their first steps...their first days at school...the nightmares and monsters in the closet. The family spats...watching them with pride.

*I hope you remember,* he thought. *Remember that I love you both.*

He poured another glass, nursing this one a little.

He closed his eyes, and lingered over memories of Eliza. Her eyes, her smile...the way she felt in his arms...her voice...he panicked as he found himself not remembering a few of the details, but calmed himself in a hurry.

He remembered their first date...their wedding...a few petty squabbles...the mixture of awe and nervousness at learning she was pregnant the first time...kissing her...

Seeing her bound and gagged on the bridge of Kidd's ship, and him being too helpless to do anything for her...

Holding her body in his arms while her life-force crystal sailed upward into the Queen's hand...

The final image brought him enough mad strength to do what he had to do. His bionic hand tightened, crushing the glass.

It was real glass. A large shard rested in his hand, and his palm was cut. Zachary picked up the shard, and turned it until he found the sharpest edge. Turning over his hand, he slashed his right wrist almost to the bone.

He slumped in the chair and just let the blood pool out onto the desk. Even if the Queen was monitoring, hopefully, she couldn't get him in time.

As he lay back and let himself pass into unconsciousness, he felt a small surge of triumph.