Prologue

It is a time of odium and chaos in the galaxy. The human and Navidian inhabitants of the galaxy are locked in a deadly power struggle, each determined to control the galaxy and dominate the other.

The galaxy was not always this way. Millennia ago, when Navidians left their planet for the stars, they found humans already there. From the start, the two races were at odds. The humans did not want to give away their territory; the Navidians did not want to live confined now they had hyperspace capabilities.

Both societies had at least one commonality, though it did little to bring them together. The matriarchal Navidians and male-ruled human monarchies were too different to successfully co-habit the galaxy.

War was the inevitable outcome. Trillions died before a resolution was found. A democratic vote for a leader from each species was held. The two leaders were to govern the galaxy equally. The joint presidents were aided by an order called Galiarches, which consisted of the few skilled in manipulating the Galactic Current.

The royal families disliked this settlement from the start. But it was favorable to everyone else, for a considerable period of time. As happens to every government, its people eventually began to outgrow their peacekeeping administration. When this happened, the human president snatched up more than his fair share of power and once again the galaxy dissolved into bloody war.

The royalty had been waiting for this. With the help of the Galiarches, they returned to power. The Navidian queen and human king married, brining with them an uneasy peace. It worked...for most. After a mere fifteen years of this peace, a group of dissidents staged a royal coup. This militant faction quickly did away with their main opposition, the Galiarches. However, even with only a scant amount of Galiarches remaining, the faction could not hold the galactic alliance. Wars again consumed the people's attention.

But there is still a spark of hope in the hearts of three of the surviving Galiarches. On the night of the coup they were charged with guarding the newborn princess, whose birth was to be announced the next day. They shielded the girl, and sped her away to a place where she would be raised in anonymity, until she could reclaim her birthright.

Chapter One

"Keyarea," whispered Masje Cove, barely controlling his urgency. "Child, wake up. We must leave."

Keyarea rolled over and mumbled in her sleep, yet the slave girl refused to wake even for her master.

"Please, Keyarea, please," the Navidian tried again. "I know you are tried; you spent the day in the fields. But please- Wake up!"

Perhaps all Masje needed was the persistent approach he took to wake his human slave up. But it is far more likely that the exigency inherent in Masje's voice, that unusual necessity, is what penetrated the girl's sleep-fogged mind. Keyarea turned to look her master in the eyes, to see if she could discern why she had been awakened in the middle of the night. When this tactic did not succeed, the girl tried a more direct method. "Master," she asked, "what is..." A terse gesture and glance from Masje halted the child's question. He took Keyarea's arm and led her outside, where they would not be overheard.

Once the pair were outside and deep within the bush surrounding Masje's farm, he nodded to Keyarea to pick up where she had left off. "What's happening? Why did you wake me up? Is there something wrong?"

Masje smiled, a grotesque contortion of his face that would turn any human's stomach if they had not know Navidians long enough to recognize it as a smile. "One question at a time. But later. Now we must leave. I have heard though old friends that Halymede will soon be under attack by the humans. I have a ship waiting to take me from this place, and for reasons you could not comprehend, you must accompany me."

Keyarea gaped at her master, blue eyes disclosing her bewilderment and the many questions waiting to be asked. "No more now." Masje answered the unvoiced queries. He turned towards a meadow, the only place for kilometers where a ship could land, and headed for it. Keyarea almost had to run to keep up with his long- legged stride.

* * * * *

"No! Forget it, it's not going to happen!" Mandi Blanchette shouted at her parents, unable to control her anger any longer. Mandi's brown eyes flashed, and her matching, short hair whirled around her, as if it were a living entity itself. "I won't!" she repeated, tearing up the application for the Human Military Academy she held in her hands.

Mandi's parents, unflappable as always, responded with the same infuriating calm that they used to respond to everything. "Oh, Mandi, of course you will," Tami Blanchette said, the condescending smirk never leaving her face. "What else would a person of your background do with your life?" Her husband, Paul, nodded his agreement with his wife's assessment.

As Mandi saw it, this was the problem with her parents. They were both high-ranking, hard-core military officers, Tami having to overcome many prejudices to become so. For the past twelve years, they had done nothing but fight war with the Navidians. Even now, their two sons, both in the Human Military, were on their way to take a planet for the humans.

The HM was attacking a Navidian planet. A Navidian civilian planet. That was why Mandi could not join the HM. She just simply was not capable of hurting innocent people who had made no conscious decision to fight a war.

And Mandi's parents were beginning to see that. "Listen, Mandi," Paul said, straining to keep his voice calm. "Either you join HM or you are no longer welcome in this house."

Mandi glanced from parent to parent, and saw that they were completely serious. The eighteen-year-old closed her eyes in an attempt to compose herself. It partially worked, and when she opened her eyes, Mandi somberly responded to her parents' ultimatum. "Good-bye," she stated in monotone, and walked out the door.

* * * * *

"I can't take this anymore!" Stephanie Carvalho nearly screamed, as she stomped her foot. "How much longer until he gets here? The waiting's driving me nuts!"

"Steph," her best friend, Ashley Iwaskow giggled, "you're driving me nuts! You are twenty-nine years old, not five. We've been Galiarches since we were seventeen. Our master would be very disappointed in you, acting so childish. And not even running a rebellion can change you! Didn't you learn anything from our training?" Ashley's tone sobered in the last sentences as she looked back upon the halcyon days before this latest war.

Stephanie's look changed to one of mock seriousness- for she had not been truly serious since the day of the royal coup- as she pondered her good friend's words. Earlier that day, just hours before the royal assassinations, Stephanie and Ashley had received their laser-sabers in a ceremony that marked theirs and about two hundred other trainees' elevation to the rank of a full Galiarch.

They had both fought hard for their positions in the graduating class. The gap between the human genders was not so wide as that of the Navidians- only males of the nobility were permitted to train as Galiarches, and even then, they rarely graduated. Female human Galiarches were tolerable when there were no human men or Navidian women left to graduate in that year.

Back then, Ashley was the loud, boisterous one, always eager for a laugh. Stephanie had been quite and contemplative. Being in the royal palace on the night of the coup had changed them both. They had seen life was short and could at any minute, but had both taken the message differently. Ashley no longer wanted to waste her life on ludicrousness, and Stephanie did not want to lose her life to somberness.

Stephanie grinned a grin full of falsified evil. A perfect response to Ashley's comments of not learning anything had just presented itself to Stephanie. "I learnt this." Stephanie drew her laser-saber, and took up a defensive posture in front of Ashley. Ashley likewise drew her own saber, and took up the response position. The best friends briefly parried a few of each other's blows, before dissolving into laughter on the floor.

* * * * *

"Where is he?" Captain Davin Plater wondered aloud. He had sneaked though a war zone to smuggle two passengers back to human space; a Navidian and a human. An odd pairing; though Plater and his co-pilot could be considered just as odd. You did not see many humans and aliens working together outside that rebellion the Galiarches had started.

Then again, the Navidian had seemed far different from what Plater expected. When the aging male had contacted him, Plater's first thought was that the human was a slave. The Navidian, Cove, was quick to assure the smuggler that the human was more than a slave, that she simply a passenger in need of transport. Plater had sighed. There was still one more thing he required before he could settle this deal.

"How do I know I'll come out of this alive?" Plater had asked. "Halymede is deep inside Navidian lines. Only the dumbest, most greedy smugglers go that far in and expect to come out alive. I ain't saying the Zigou and me can't do it, but..."

"Trust in the Galactic Current," Cove had answered. "The Current protects those who believe it will"

Plater had gaped openly. To speak of the Current was treason in both the races' governments. Plater did not, could not believe that a space-time continuum had the capabilities to control himself or anyone else. Plater was no Galiarch- they're all stuck-up snobby good for nothin's. He had no belief that the threads that formed the galaxy and sub-galaxies that made up hyperspace could be manipulated by anyone. Plater had told the old Navidian that, and started at Cove's response.

With a grave tone, the tone of one passing judgment on a lesser being, Cove spoke. "Your parents, Captain Plater, would be very disappointed in your views." With that, Cove had terminated communication.

Davin Plater was not an easily disturbed man, yet this one sentence had not stopped haunting him. He had worked so hard to keep it a secret. He had spent hundreds of hours forging new documents and erasing the old ones. Plater had some of the best computer system slicers do the work and they had covered their tracks with no errors. Yet this Navidian knew who Plater's parents were. In the end, the only way to explain Cove's knowledge was a deadly one if the human or Navidian forces caught them.

"Yo, Cap'n," the voice of Plater's co-pilot and best friend, a Navidian named Ravis Hollop, broke Plater away from his reverie. "Sensors are picking up two life forms heading this way; our fare has arrived," "I'm going to go let them in."

Chapter Two

This was it. The defining moment in Mandi's life, the only time she had defied her parents. Mandi was on the run. Her parents were furious with her, and would force her to join the HM if they ever found her. Therefore, to avoid some malevolent repercussions from her parents, Mandi had caught the first space bus off her home planet, Peligma.

With nothing to her name but a couple of hundred credits and some clothing her best friend Deanna had given her, Mandi had made the most influential decision of her life. She wanted, no needed, to join the Galiarches' Rebellion against the war. The dozen or so Galiarch that had survived the purge after the royal coup had formed a fighting force of humans and Navidians who only cared for galactic peace. The Rebel's mission was to intercept Human Military and Navadian Military forces before the two engaged the other, and attempt to prevent the confrontation before it started.

Unfortunately, the Rebels were outlaws on either side of the galactic war. They were unable to make it uncomplicated for prospective Rebels to discover the location of their veiled bases, because then it would be effortless for the HM or NM troops to locate them as well. Therefore, Mandi was searching for an infamous information broker, Roxanne DelValle, who was said to be the only free person to be able to locate the Rebel bases.

A sudden shriek jolted Mandi's awareness down the isle, to where there was an intriguing spectacle occurring. A short, scholarly-looking teenager was throwing sort of fit. She was screaming, "No, I don't like Kevin Lowen! I don't even no him!" and hitting a forlorn looking young man with a lunch box.

Just as quickly as the tantrum started, it stopped. The girl walked through the rows of seats and flopped down next to Mandi. "Hi," she quipped bubbly. "What's your name?"

Mandi was shocked at the girl's sudden mood swing, though she thought perhaps this would be a good chance to make her first friend in her new life; but even so, Mandi could not tell the girl her real name. In that precise instant, Mandi knew, deep within her soul, that she needed to reinvent herself. Mandi had done things she never thought herself capable of. If that did not merit a complete change of personas, the fact it would hide her from her parents did. "My name is Billie."

"What, no last name?"

Darn, I don't know one to use! "Um, no- no last name," Billie answered, flustered. "Who are you?"

"So, what are you doing here?"

Can I trust this girl? She won't even tell me her name. "Can I trust you?" The girl nodded, and Billie dropped her voice to a whisper. "I want to join the Rebellion, the one against the war."

"Oh. Why?"

"Because. Now you answer some of my questions."

"Bossy. My name," here the girl's voice dropped into a whisper to match Billy's own, "my name is Roxanne DelValle. If you really want to join the Rebellion, I can help you find a Galiarch or one of their rebel bases... And since you didn't dismiss me as just a common idiot, I'll help you for free."

Billie was exceedingly reassured. Her innate curiosity about oddities had saved her this time. Of course, Billie was not about to tell Roxanne that the only reason she was not told to take a hike was that because Billie was inquisitive.

Roxanne told Billie to get off with her at the Oushgow stop, where Roxanne's home and slicing base was located.

Billie was one her way to throwing her lot in with the Rebels.

* * * * *

Ashley stepped out onto the balcony, shaded her eyes, and glared up at the sky, as though it would bring the ship she was waiting for appear. Not surprisingly, this idea refused to work. Ashley sighed, then checked her watch... again. Yes, it was not just Ashley's imagination; he was late. A feeling of dread ran down her spine. He carried with him the fate of the galaxy, and he was late. Ashley had known him better than her own parents from birth, as had Stephanie, and neither had never known him to be late.

"So, you're getting impatient, too, Ash," ventured an understanding, quiet voice from behind Ashley. Ashley smiled at her friend, glad Stephanie was being more accommodating than she had been. "I knew it would happen," Stephanie added.

Ashley sighed. "But he's not that late." She was clearly trying to reassure herself now. "Anything could have held him up."

"Yeah, I'll bet he's trying that new fad of walking from planet to planet." Ashley glared venom at Stephanie, and Stephanie fled the balcony.

* * * * *

Plater was not a happy smuggler. No smuggler is ever content ferrying passengers around, but not under any circumstances, did he deal in slaves. Except now. The human who came onboard was the Navidian's slave. He hated slavers. Of course, there was always the argument in Cove's favour that the girl never said she was a slave, and that Cove treated her better than any slaver Plater had seen treated a slave. But the situation was obvious. Everything about the human said she was a slave in the presence of her master. Plater had been lied to. He hated being lied to. And he would not have let them on his ship now if he had not been paid in advance and already gambled the money away.

Plater was letting Hollop take care of launching the ship, Zigou, and getting them safely into hyperspace, while he examined the passengers. Masje Cove was a typical Navidian; tall, muscular, even in his old age, yellow-green skin, and long flowing silver and black streaked hair. His slave was just a child; meek and scared looking. Plater felt a deep hatred for all slavers well up inside him, and saw the sentiment echoed in Hollop's eyes. The girl was probably about twelve standard years old, tall, and strong from working in the fields all day. Her skin had the pallor of a slightly unripe lemon, and her long, ebony hair with a white streak at each temple caused her to look ill.

Plater's attention quickly to the Zigou as a tinny beep sounded when Hollop tried to jump to lightspeed. The hyperspace sensors said that they were too near a gravity well, such as a planet, to make the jump. But they were already far enough away from Halymede that the planet should not, could not be able to affect the Zigou.

"What's going on now?" the exasperated Plater asked his co-pilot.

Chapter Three

"I don't get it!" replied the equally exasperated Hollop.

"I am afraid that I do." A calm, even Navidian voice answered Plater. "Though some well-informed connections, I have become aware of a new device that has been developed by the Human Military. It is used to trick sensors into detecting a gravity well. The sensors therefore prohibit the ship from entering hyperspace. Then the battleships can move in, and secure their objective. To outsmart the device, deactivate your hyperspace sensors, and reorient them after your jump is complete."

Plater almost laughed at the coolly logical way Cove analyzed their situation and the solution for it. Every human and Navidian, sane and insane pilot in the galaxy considers making the jump to lightspeed without sensors suicide. "Hollop, do we have any other options, and I do mean any?" pleaded Plater, fervently wishing for a positive response.

Hollop never got a chance to answer. Collision warning sirens began blaring as five HM heavy cruisers came out of hyperspace almost on top (relatively speaking, as there is no real up or down in zero-gravity) of the Zigou. The largest one, obviously the command ship, launched a wing of its pincer shaped fighters at the Zigou. Hollop turned away from the cockpit and ran aft, towards the ship's gun ports.

Seconds later, Hollop's voice came over the intercom from the gun ports. "I won't be able to keep this up long, Boss." Plater nodded in agreement. His friend was a good shot, far better than Plater was, but Hollop was still not up to HM standards. "Hurry up, and get us outta here."

* * * * *

Keyarea looked intently around the Zigou, the first starship she had ever seen. Despite her amazement, this was not a joyous occasion. She knew her master well, and he was not easily spooked. Certainly, he would never leave his prosperous farm and masses of slaves on Halymede for without a remarkable reason. That alone was enough to terrify Keyarea, and it was combined with several other things.

The co-pilot was not in the cockpit. He had just run past the passenger compartment, heading towards the Zigou's aft. Keyarea's perceptive eyes had picked up a great amount of tension in the Navidian's stance, as if whatever was going on upset him as much as it did Keyarea. Even more terrifying was the way the ship rocked and groaned and strained, as if a large amount of pressure was being put on the ship's systems.

Every synapse in Keyarea's curious mind ached for answers, begging her to go find Masje and ask him. But Keyarea was a well-trained slave, who had been told to stay put. Therefore, that was what Keyarea would do, and perhaps later, when Masje returned of his own accord, Keyarea would let loose the questions that beseeched for answers.

Why did the waiting have to be so hard?

* * * * *

Admiral Candice Sharawara smiled at her battle monitor. Halymede was a rich and fertile world, one that would be of great asset to the humans. Only one thing soured her mood. She had worked and labored for nearly twelve years to get this far, almost double the time it took a man with her academy marks and determination to arrive at her current position. Even through all this work, Admiral Sharawara's highest assignment was this; take a backwater colony planet, mainly agriculture, with minimal defenses. If Imminent and her four-ship fleet succeeded in this task, they would be given more like it. If, however, they failed, the admiral would be demoted, probably down to nothing more than a lieutenant.

Lieutenant Blanchette, in charge of sensors, suddenly appeared at Admiral Sharawara's side. "Ma'am, there is a ship attempting to escape Halymede space. Sensors indicate four life forms, two Navidians and one human," he reported.

"What about the forth?"

"The scans are inconclusive. We launched a wing of fighters in an attempt to bring them in, but the ship is resisting."

The admiral suppressed a frown. This was highly unexpected. Halymede was supposed to be a quiet assignment, but if this was well dealt with, perhaps the admiral could earn herself a better posting. "Instruct the other ships to each hold half their fighters in reserve and launch the other half to secure Halymede."

Glancing down into the sunken crew pit surrounding her admiral's command chair, Admiral Sharawara was pleased to see her sensor officer's brother, Major Blanchette, already relaying her orders to the other heavy cruisers already.

One small transport against one small HM fleet. This 'battle' would be over soon enough.

* * * * *

Josua Mulligan, the admiral in charge of a small Navidian fleet, studied his display board, making his decision about when to jump in to prevent the HM from taking Halymede. Preventing the loss of this planet was essential to his career. Since before Navidians had started to record their history, they had been a matriarchal society, and being a male, it had been all but impossible to get any command posting at all, let alone one he could actually fight humans in.

Breaking off his train of thought, Admiral Mulligan decided that now was a good a time as any to jump into the Halymede system. An ideal plan, he determined, was having his three destroyers, and Star Crusher, his Salay-class command ship jump into the system near as they could get to the HM ship without crashing. Admiral Mulligan's destroyers were the approximate equals to HM heavy cruisers, and the Star Crusher, at almost four kilometers long, dwarfed the humans command ship by nearly two kilometers.

This battle would soon end in the Navidian's favor.

* * * * *

"Jath, how much longer until we reach the Halymede system?" Captain Tammith Mulligan queried her navigator.

"We'll be out of hyperspace in ten minutes. Moon Star may be a Salay-class ship, but she's hard to maintain, so we can't jump directly into a battle zone," the Navidian answered with a tone suggesting a feeble attempt at wit to lighten the dreary mood he knew would the crew would meet his response with. Jath was by nature a jovial person and had been since birth. In fact, he had been so cheerful his whole life that his parents had seen fit to name him 'happy' in Navidian. Therefore, Jath detested when the crew was dreary and he knew that was how everyone would feel after hearing his report.

"#@!*, we won't be in time to stop the HM and NM!" the Moon Star's human communications officer lamented. As Rebels, this crews main concern was to prevent the humans and Navidians from warring with each other, and not being able to do so was very depressing.

"Calm yourselves," Jacob, the human at the sensor station, ordered the crew. "The HM are fighting a transport ship. The NM are hanging around out-system; the HM doesn't even know that the NM are there."

The Moon Star's bridge crew burst into frenzied arguments and betting over what the Navidians were waiting for. Captain Mulligan let them continue, since it would let off some of the before battle tension. Also, Jacob had just come to stand beside her to speak with her, instead of yelling his report from his station as usual.

"Tammith," he said, as his captain was not one for formalities, "I have some data on the Navidian ships. Three heavy cruisers and a Salay- class"

"A standard class five fleet. And that's so unusual because..."

Jacob bit his lip, a sure sign he did not want to tell her. "Well, it's, umm, the Salay." Jacob squirmed a bit, and refused to meet Captain Mulligan's eyes. "It, I mean the Salay-class," Jacob stalled, "well, it's the Star Crusher."

Tammith paled. The Star Crusher was her twin brother, Josua's, ship. She always knew she might come up against him in this war, and she thought she was ready for it. Now that it came down to it, however, she was not so convinced that she could kill him if need be.

"Hello," Jath called out. "We are about to go in pursuit of war for the life and liberty of subjected beings everywhere... in one minute. So shut up and get back to work."

"As a postscript to that announcement," Jacob quipped, "those pesky Navidians..." at glares from at least five of the Navidian Rebels he changed his wording. "I meant the NM and you know it. Anyway, they just got themselves involved!"

Chapter Four

Billie absently gazed at the computer screen in front in front of her. Flashing across on it so fast, Billy could hardly see it, was an algorithm attempting to decode a Rebel message. Roxanne always left her systems on standby to intercept these things, and, depending on the message's priority rating she would either decode it or not. Being a Guardian code, the message was extremely hard to decipher. Even Billie, who had been considered a computer nerd among her friends on Peligma, could not even begin to comprehend the complex algorithms that the computer program Roxanne had formulated.

Billie's thoughts were neither on the message nor the computer programs as much as they had been in the past day she had been on Oushgow. She was agonizing about how Roxanne seemed to enjoy torturing her. Roxanne, knowing her friend was on the run from something, had given Billie a last name, to supplement for the one Billy herself could not come up with; Boget. Billie Boget. What kind of name is that? Billie cursed Roxanne vehemently, since the other was not around to hear her.

Roxanne had left because a piece of her equipment had broken down, and a replacement needed to be acquired. Billie was sure this meant that Roxanne was stealing; however, so long as Billie got to the rebels.

At that minute, one of Roxanne's automated signals began to beep with an alarming intensity. Billie jumped up and ran to the signaling station. However, with her limited- okay, nonexistent- knowledge of what was going on, Billie could only watch in amazement at what happened next.

When Roxanne returned in half an hour and saw for herself what Billie had witnessed, she smiled. "This is just what we need to get you to the Rebels!"

* * * * *

Plater turned, and asked Cove grimly, "Okay, now what do I do? I've already disabled the navigation systems."

Plater almost missed the first part of Cove's answer as another blast rocked them ship, and another blaring alarm alerted Plater to the loss of another one of the Zigou's energy shields. Plater slammed his head on the control panel, then swore vehemently as pain coursed through his forehead. Completely oblivious to Plater's injury, Cove kept talking. "Jump to lightspeed, quickly, before the HM realizes we can." Cove remained unruffled, even as the lights dimmed as a fighter's torpedoes detonated just off the Zigou's starboard side.

"We can't jump to lightspeed any more. Those torpedoes knocked out our hyperdrive engines. We're now sitting ducks."

Plater swore again. This was just not his day. "You taking tea up there, Hollop?" he yelled at his co-pilot. Whatever he's doing, thought Plater, he's gonna get us killed!

"Be nice," Hollop yelled back. "And just what are you doing that you missed the entrance of four Navidian ships?"

I am never taking my sensors offline again! Plater silently made the solemn vow. Never! "I am getting my sensors back now!"

* * * * *

Blood red and vivid green laser blasts filled the vacuum of space, and nearly blinded Captain Mulligan as she gazed out the Moon Star's front viewport. Her ship's shields were buffeted by astray missile and torpedo blasts, leaving markers of their paths in cobalt blue.

"We're a little late," Jacob observed. "Seems they started the war without us this time. Although the war's been going on for twelve years...hmm."

"Shut up, Jacob." Captain Mulligan's discipline may have been lax on the way to battle, but once they were ready to fight, that was it.

"Two objectives of equal importance today, people. One, save the unaligned transport." If both the HM and NM want it, than so do I. "Second, blow those suckers out there so hard they don't know what hit them! Fire at will!"

* * * * *

Admiral Sharawara grimaced at the scene playing itself out before her. The Navidian fleet matched the humans' equally not in size, but in the most important way; firepower. Either side had yet to capture or destroy the small transport or their antagonist. The admiral intently studied the battle depiction set on the arm of her chair, attempting to find a way out of this mess, when the Imminent abruptly lurched forward, slamming the admiral's face into her screen.

"What the #@!* was that!" Admiral Sharawara had to grip the arms of her command chair so tightly her knuckles turned white, just to keep from throttling the sensors officer.

"A really big missile salvo, ma'am," Lieutenant Blanchette replied tentatively. "It came from a Rebel ship that jumped in-system in the blind spot that our engine exhaust creates. We couldn't see them coming."

* * * * *

Admiral Mulligan witnessed the new arrival's missiles hit the Imminent and had to restrain a joyous laugh. His fleet was equal to that of the humans', and if the new ship of Navidian design were on his side, it would be a much simpler matter to destroy the humans. "Who's the new ship? What's her allegiance?"

"It broadcasts itself as the Moon Star, sir. Our databanks put its allegiance as Rebel," the Star Crusher's sensor officer reported.

The admiral's face took on a doubly grimmer expression than the one he already exhibited. His twin sister, Tammith, was always getting in his way and now he might have to kill her. Mother wouldn't want me to kill my twin sister. But then, Mother is a Rebel sympathizer, so what do her thoughts matter. If Tammith gets in my way, I will kill her.

"All right, then," the admiral spoke aloud. "We will just have to crush that target as well."

Chapter Five

Pandemonium. That was the only word to describe the events occurring in orbit around Halymede that day. When the Rebels jumped into the battle, they conveyed their benign intentions to the Zigou, and Masje Cove wrestled control of the communications system away from Plater. The Navidian quickly spoke a few words to the captain of the Moon Star in his own language, which Plater assumed was a sort of Rebel pass-code, since Plater was certain he heard the word 'Galiarch' in Cove's message.

Hollop's aim had improved tenfold since the arrival of the Moon Star. Captain Mulligan's gunners were designating targets and helping Hollop to track and destroy certain attacking fighters, so that the Zigou could hold its own until some of the fighters from the Moon Star arrived. They would then tractor the Zigou to the safeness of Moon Star's hold.

Starfighters from all three sides imploded in blazing balls of shrapnel, ignited fuel, and other gases. Destroyers and cruisers took hits that caused them to vent decks full of oxygen into space. Already, a ship from each side had suffered such horrific hull breaches that they had simply collapsed in on themselves.

Sufficient starfighters successfully made it from the Moon Star to the Zigou to manage to tractor her back into the cavernous cargo hold of the Moon Star. Both the Zigou and the fighters were fortunate for that happening.

A mere hundred kilometers away, a fierce and deadly mêlée raged between the Imminent and the Star Crusher. The gunners of the opposing ships fought with a deadly commitment to utterly obliterate their arch nemeses. The shields surrounding the two command ships glowed with the absorbed energy from countless laser and missile blasts. The ships were evenly matched, despite their size differences, as the Imminent 's gunners were far better trained. The Star Crusher's shields were now faltering under the unerring, red and blue weapons fire from the Imminent. Occurring so fast that the Imminent 's gunners barely registered it, the aft quarter of the Star Crusher disappeared. It had been blown off by an especially large missile salvo and instantaneously disintegrated. The remaining portions of the ship vented oxygen at an inconceivable rate, and the crumbling remains of the once great ship careened down toward Halymede. Negligible few escape pods jettisoned away from the ship. There were only seconds between the time the missiles hit, and the ship began to burn up in the friction it encountered in Halymede atmosphere. The planet's gravity pulled the ship down into the planet, and the crew into their fiery graves.

With their command ship obliterated, the Navidians quickly lost their combat focus. They deserted the campaign in a hasty, strategic retreat. The Moon Star, seeing the NM fleeing, realized that they had achieved their mission goals, and made rapid calculations for the jump to their base at Chapots. Once the Rebels had made lightspeed, the HM was alone at Halymede, but by no means was it a win for them. When the Star Crusher slammed into Halymede, it released massive amounts of toxic radiation, killing every on the planet and making it uninhabitable for years to come.

Chapter Six

Back on Chapots, Stephanie was still watching and waiting anxiously for her former Guardian teacher, when she saw the Moon Star sweep down for a landing. The dark, ugly scars of war now marred her previously pristine silver hull. Stephanie grinned at her dramatic thoughts.

Stephanie felt the peculiar tingling sensation at the base of her spine, which she had learnt over the years was a sign from the Current alerting her that someone was coming up behind her. Stephanie turned.

"Hey, Steph," Ashley greeted. "Did you see the Moon Star come in? Word has it that they picked up some wanted passengers. I'm getting the feeling we should probably go check them out." Stephanie acquiesced; she had been getting the same feeling ever since she had heard about the Moon Star's passengers right after Halymede, three weeks ago.

* * * * *

Billie Boget fidgeted in her seat, and twirled a piece of her newly blond hair around her finger. She hated having blond hair- on Peligma those with blond hair were stereotyped as idiots. Billie agreed that she did need a disguise. She was fine with the fact Roxanne found it necessary to give Billie blue eye contacts, but why did the hair have to be blond?

After an hour of dispute, Roxanne had finally put her foot down. She had known from the start that Billie did not have enough credits to pay for her entire trip to Chapots, so Roxanne offered to lend Billie what she needed. Unfortunately for Billie's hair, Roxanne told Billie that she would dye her hair blond or Roxanne would take back her offer of a loan. Billie had had to back down.

This was the longest trip she had ever taken on a space bus and it seemed even longer than it was, thanks to Billie's anxiousness to get to where she was going.

Those messages Roxanne had intercepted were a taping of a battle recorded by the Moon Star. The transmission was only semi-complete, but Roxanne was able to discern where it had been sent to; Chapots. Billie surmised that the base on Chapots must be a large one, her reason being Moon Star was a Salay-class cruiser and needed an immense port to call home.

Billie had departed Oushgow on bad terms with Roxanne. Roxanne, as much as she despised the current war, was unwilling to do anything more about it.

A man startled Billie back to the noisy bus and lengthy, monotonous trip by tapping her on the shoulder. When Billie turned to see if she perhaps recognized the man, he whispered some words that sounded like gibberish to her ears.

Billie checked her memory. Roxanne had given her some words that a rebel on the bus would say just before his shuttle that was coupled to the bus. If you gave the correct response, he knew you were looking for the rebels and took you to their base. She was certain the man waiting for her response had given the first part of the phrase, and, slowly, as not to make a mistake, she gave him what she prayed was the proper reply.

* * * * *

Keyarea opened her eyes wide, and examined this milieu intently. She had no intention of letting anything slip by her. Keyarea had only just disembarked the Moon Star, and already Chapots transcended anything she had ever seen. That was not too amazing, considering Keyarea had been a slave on a backwater, farming colony.

She was in Chapots's main shipyard, and all around her lay Rebel ships in various states salvage, repair, and mainly disrepair. It was clear even to Keyarea that the Rebels were taking the heaviest ship and personal casualties in this war.

"Master Cove!" Keyarea jumped at the shriek, which had come from about a hundred meters closer to the yard's far end than Keyarea was. The scream emanated from a woman in her late twenties with wavy ebony hair and a shinning smile. That woman was followed closely by another of similar age. Though she was also smiling, she was more composed.

When the two reached the Moon Star, Masje greeted them by name. The wilder one was Stephanie, and her friend was Ashley. Apparently, they were Guardians and so was Masje; he had instructed them in the Current since they were little girls. He introduced his former students to Plater, Hollop.

Ashley bent down to Keyarea's level, to look her in the eyes. "And who are you?"

"Keyarea," she replied softly.

"Is it her?" Stephanie asked Masje. "Because if you brought the wrong kid..." she added roguishly. Even with the joke at the end, that statement still carried a lot weight. Keyarea heard it, but could not determine what was so important.

Masje had not yet answered, but his students had known him well enough to discern she was the right child. "Oh," Ashley breathed, understanding the confusion she sensed in the girl with perfect clarity all of the sudden. "She doesn't know."

"That was the agreement," stated Masje.

Stephanie opened her mouth to comment, but was interrupted by an exultant shout from somewhere to her right, coming from a girl with short blond hair and blue eyes. "Another new recruit." Stephanie smirked, then continued with what she had originally planned to say.

"It's a darn good thing we gave her to you. Me, personally, I would have told her long ago."

Keyarea still had no idea what to make of this conversation. She was a slave with no family or history; how could that be intriguing enough to merit this sort of discussion? Keyarea was, as mentioned earlier, a perceptive and curios child, and consequently she was dying to know what everyone was talking about, since it obviously had something to do with her. But like always, she waited for the answers. No matter how much Keyarea disliked it, it was the slave's way.

Ashley smiled at Keyarea. "Would you like to know who your family is?" she asked. Of course, Keyarea did. But how does she know who my family is?

"Keyarea," Ashley continued, "you come from a long line of very important and distinguished people. You come from the blood-line of those rare few who could keep peace in the galaxy. It's up to you, Keyarea," Ashley paused to let Keyarea absorb this information before continuing. "It's up to you to finish their work."

Epilogue

The lifepod from the Star Crusher landed with a resounding thunk on the deck of the Navidian rescue cruiser, Mata'ako. The cruiser's captain fidgeted nervously waiting for the escapee to exit the lifepod.

Captain Katry Rosero's trepidation could have been attributed to the fact that this lifepod had been attached to the Star Crusher's bridge. That meant whoever was on-board probably outranked the captain, and could, more than likely would, bring Rosero up on charges of insubordination.

Or it could have been because the lifepod's occupant had just stepped out. "A-admiral Mulligan," the captain stammered. "Reports said you went down with the Star Crusher."

" The reports, Captain..."

"Katry Rosero," she supplied.

"...were greatly exaggerated," the admiral finished. "As for now, I am taking control of the Mata'ako. Your ship will depart from Halymede immediately and proceed to Shalgorda."

"But my mission here..."

"Is no longer important."

Rosero was incensed. "Admiral, this are your crew out there! Are you truly willing to sacrifice those women?"

Admiral Mulligan was rapidly losing his patience. "I have information on a renegade freighter to sensitive for the com-munication net. It must be delivered to the queen on the capital personally." He paused, and added as an afterthought, "I would advise you to remember, Captain, that I have authority to take your command permanently. It would be in your best interests to follow my orders without any further insubordinate questioning." Admiral Mulligan, usually an introspective man of few words, walked away and headed towards the bridge. He motioned for Captain Rosero to come with him.

The captain narrowed her eyes, but took a deep breathed and steadied herself, as if being near Admiral Mulligan for another minute would be physically harrowing. "A man," she groaned beneath her breath. "No man is gonna take over my ship!" Rosero checked her anger, put it away for a time when she could show Mulligan just how stupid it was for a male to anger a superior in such a way. This male was making the largest mistake of his life!

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