Disclaimer: No. I make no claim to these characters....they
are not my preciousssss
Spoilers: If you’ve gotten this
far, there is none
Pairing: Podsters
Pronunciation Guide: Chalsa (Ch - all - sa)
Esmond (Eh - z - mond)
Melete (Meh - LEET)
spuriun (spur - ee - yun)
naxion (nax
- ee -on)
Author’s notes: Queen Fadilia Kedar: Max/Isabel’s mother
King
Alaric Kedar: Max/Isabel’s father
Cian: Max/Isabel’s ancestor, first king
of Antar
Andaria: Tess’
mother
Radim: Tess’
father
Kedrans: race from which Royal Four
descended
Iturians: race from which Khivar descended, and overthrew and killed Zan and the Kedrans
Cerideans: special core ops of
the Iturian army, mostly psyonics
and telepaths
Eshtari: capital of Kel
Abara, location of the palace
Badr: 1st moon of Antard
Cedris: 2nd moon
Pela: 3rd moon
Kaptar’s Jewel: constellation in the Antarian’s star system
Yun’s Garment: Aurora Borealis -
Northern Lights
Saren Dari: desert plain on Antar
dashka
: good luck charm
elkarl :
Iturian hand weapon
capaechea:
long haired woolly creature, with long flanks and a large hump on its back
kii:
location where various endangered animals are kept for protection
Mount
Freiweils: location of Loyalist
secret base
Tir Lamar: sister city to Eshtari
kashkar: slur, equivalent
to witch
plascer:
plasma weapons, compact, length of your hand
mesnya:
Antarian money
spuriun - slur, similar to bastard
naxion - Antarian
element on their periodic table, similar to oxygen, yet denser
Chapter Sixty Seven
***
Time brings all things to pass
-
Aeschylus
***
"After all of these years," Lieutenant Siothrun, a short, dark-haired officer chosen to assist in
their mission, mumbled in awe, as they stood at the foot of Eshtari's
stone foundation. "We find that it
truly does exists."
Michael turned and faced the chosen few that joined
him and Tess on this most important mission; five
members comprised the tactical team whose mission was to gain access to the
Inner Sanctum. He looked upon each of
their faces - they were his age, if not younger - and nodded once. They had been briefed about the sole purpose,
which was to lower the plasma field so that their troops could invade. Everything now depended on Tess' recollection of the secret passage way. "Are we clear on the plan?" he
asked, glancing over at the soldier he did not know other than by name and rank
- Second Lieutenant Essmond.
"Yes Commander," the three soldiers answered in unison.
Tess had
suggested Lieutenant Yasu, who had been quickly
promoted after their semi-successful mission to Saren
Dari; meanwhile General Steren had sent Lt. Siothrun and 2nd Lt. Esmond their
way after a brief consultation.
"First we need to get past the plasma field," Tess declared, pointing to the light pink shimmer of the
protective barrier. "Then we can
worry about the tunnels."
Everything seemed to be coming together so fast. It seemed like there was no time to think,
but only time to react.
"Your Highness," Yasu
bowed courteously. "If we can
locate the plasmatic generator our architects have created a device that would
render it inoperable for several minutes allowing us access to the secret
tunnel system."
Michael unrolled the blueprints on which Eshtari was built.
"If he were to have placed the generator anywhere," he slid
his finger across the white dotted lines of the green parchment and down to a
small squared area that was blocked off - no access in except one entrance,
"it would be here."
"The access to this area is secure and difficult
to reach."
Tess
nodded. She agreed. The lower levels of the palace had always
been off limits and she had heard talk amongst Khivar's
officers about what was hidden in a secret room where they suspected horrid
mind-bending tortures were conducted.
"Well, if I'm not wrong the room isn't that far from
here." She walked due east,
cautiously minding the plasma field, which was emitting a warm energy source.
"How are we going to access the generator from the
surface level?" 2nd Lt. Esmond asked
curiously. "If it is that far below
ground, how will any of our weapons be able to accurately target the
generator?"
"The device Architect Melete
has developed will locate the strongest source of the energy and lock its
coordinates into its system and neutralize it," Yasu
explained, while following Tess. "Therefore we do not have to gain access
to the palace to enter the palace."
Michael glanced over his shoulder, impressed at Yasu's grasp of their scientist's device. He could see why Tess
found him useful and reliable. The
soldier did his research before walking headlong into a situation. "Good work Yasu."
Yasu, who was
technically older than both him and Tess by two
years, seemed to blush, if Michael was correct; he had taken the approval of
his commander with honor. This too, made
Michael's already high thoughts of the young Kedran
even more well-founded. "I think
I've found it." Michael looked on a
head, where Tess' gaze was darting between the steep
rocky slope above to a mound of grey and black slabs of stone and concrete.
"Are you sure?" he frowned, carefully
maneuvered himself around the jagged pieces of stone, as if placed there to
ward off any trespassers. "You're
sure this would be where the room is located?"
"Well there's only one way to find out, isn't
there?" Tess breathed, slipping her hands into
the pockets of her uniform. She had dawned the Loyalist uniform partially; it had been difficult
to reconcile the fact that Tess would join the army on
their attack on Eshtari. General Steren knew
it was inevitable, but Tess had to persuade the
General to allow her to wear pants, destroying the image of what the returning Antarian Queen the people had in their minds. Tess thought it was
a silly notion. It wasn't practical at
all.
"Well, bring it out then," Lt. Siothrun urged impatiently, waving a hand at Yasu. "We do
not have time to dawdle around and twiddle our thumbs, do we?"
All eyes turned to the young, headstrong boy.
"You do not speak to your superiors in that
way," Michael barked, his hackles rising at the arrogance.
Yasu had ignored
it and produced the thin, compact box which had a thin metallic cord protruding
from its otherwise smooth exterior. He
knelt down and began pulling on the cord, finding that it could be protracted
and proceeded to puncture the whitish grey ground. Once he had burrowed several feet into the
hard ground, Yasu stood up and entered the
specifications of the source element they were trying to trace. A soft trill sounded as the device began to
gather its data. "It will take a
few seconds for it to tell us if the generator is even close by," Yasu said quietly.
"We will only have a few seconds to enter the secret passage
way."
"Once we're behind the plasma field, we split up
as planned," Michael reminded, looking at Yasu, Siothrun, and Esmond.
"Yes Sir," they said, saluting Michael.
Suddenly a light trill began to sound from the
device. "This is it," Yasu nodded excitably.
"We've located it."
"Good."
Michael nodded. "Let's get
on with it." He waved his hand at Yasu, who dug into his black canvas pack and pulled out a
small reddish stone. "What is
that?" he asked curiously.
"This is the neutralizing device."
Tess raised her
eyebrows questionably. She was always
impressed by the things their architects were coming up with on a whim. Mentally, she made a note to compliment them,
if they got out of this alive.
Yasu pulled out
a stone out of his pack, holding over the place where the locator had detected
the generator. He glanced up at
them. "Prepare yourself,"
he said calmly. Pressing lightly against
the flat side of the stone, he placed the stone on the ground. "Any moment now."
Michael and Tess exchanged
looks, and their senses were alert for any signs of change in their
environment.
Tess felt a
slight pulse jolt through her body, coming up from her feet. Her eyes darted over to the plasma field; its
pinkish glow still shimmered, but then in a blink of an eye, it wavered and dissolved
right before her eyes.
"Quickly!" Lt Siothrun barked, dashing across the area where there had
once been a barrier.
Michael waved Esmond, Yasu, and Tess through before
jumping through the barrier that had begun to regenerate itself. "We have to hurry," he breathed
darkly, "Khivar is sure to have noticed that
blimp in his defense system."
"This way," Tess
said in a hushed tone, waving the team back to where they had come from. "The tunnels are this way."
~~~
"So you've known this for every year we've raised
you?" Diane stared at Max in
disbelief and agony. How could she have
raised a boy, who turned out to be nothing but this complete stranger standing
in front of him.
"You've know you were aliens...since we met you in that
orphanage?" The word seemed foreign
to her. "Y-you've deceived us every
day, of every night I held you in my arms, tucked you in at night..." Her voice trailed off. Closing her eyes, she stumbled back, feeling
faint at the wealth of information that she had to swallow right then.
Max nodded. It
pained him to see his mother in such complete and utter shock. "I'm sorry Mom," he whispered,
unable to voice the true regret he felt for not trusting them enough with this
information. "But we didn't know
how you'd react." He reached out to
her, but his father held out a protective arm across his wife.
"You didn't know how we'd react?" Philip
raised his voice, unsure of whether it was out of betrayal by his son or anger
at himself. His thoughts flashed back to
his bulletin board of links, events, circumstances that led him to this
point. How could he have been so
blind?
"Dad, please..." Max stared forlornly, trying to find a way to
make them understand that they hadn't wanted to hurt them. He and Isabel hadn't planned on deceiving
them. They, as children, were too young
to know what they were or what they would become. "I never meant for you to find out like
this," he pleaded, holding out his arms in a useless gesture. "You have to understand what we were
dealing with."
"F.B.I.?" Philip
declared angrily. "Sheriff Valenti breathing down your neck, as he was trying to prove
that you were aliens?" He was
looking at his son, but saw only a complete stranger.
"Did I even know you at all?"
Max felt his chest tighten as he recognized the
withdrawn and pale expressions upon both his mother and father's faces. They saw him as an alien. They saw him and Isabel as some kind of
freaks, who had tried to ingratiate themselves into their lives. "Yes!" he cried, finding his cheeks
damp from unexpected tears. "You
are our parents! Don't ever doubt
that!"
"Isabel and I love you. For God's sake, you are
our parents!" Max grasped his hair,
as the emotions came spilling forth, and bent over and coughed, choking on his
tears. "You have no idea how much
we loved you."
"You were our sanctuary. Our safe haven. You made everything all right."
"If we were that to you," Diane asked
softly. "Why couldn't you trust us
with this?" Her big greyish-blue eyes flickered, revealing the anguish swirling
tumultuously within her. "We loved
you and gave you everything..."
Max closed his eyes and let the tears fall. "You have to understand, we didn't know
we were aliens," he said hoarsely.
"We were just kids, who wanted to find a family." As the words came bubbling
forth, every conversation he had with Isabel came flooding into his mind. He looked over his parents shoulders, where
they had laid Isabel's comatose body. "You have no idea how much it hurt
us to lie to you."
"Then why did you do it Max?" Philip didn't buy that he was afraid that
they would turn away from him. Max and
Isabel knew better.
"At first we didn't know there was this 'secret'
to keep from you." Max began pacing
back and forth, as he searched for the right words. "It wasn't until we were much older that
we even realized that these powers we had developed were signs that we weren't
from this earth," he breathed, not sure if any words would bring any
comfort to his grieving parents, who had lost the children they had known. "Within the last three year..."
"Three years!"
Max glanced up at his mother, who looked like she was
about to faint. He nodded. "Within the past few years we've learned
more and more about who we are and what our purpose
was..." He looked up to see if they
were even able to follow what he was saying; they seemed frozen, paralyzed by
the information he was sharing. "It
wasn't until Tess showed up that we truly understood
that we were aliens from a different planet," he licked his lips,
"and they were waiting for us to return and save them."
"Save them?" Philip shook his head, not
understanding how the son he had raised from childhood was expected to...
"I'm their king."
A vacuum of silence seemed to envelop them. Max stood helplessly as his father looked at
him, his mouth agape; while his mother just stood there shaking her head, with
her hands pressed against her mouth, as she would when anything surprised her.
"I'm their king, and they expect me to return to Antar," he continued on, not caring if it came out as
incoherent ramblings. "An insane
man, who killed us I don't know how many years ago, is about to completely
destroy my people and I don't know how long I have been postponing the
inevitable..." Max gasped,
breathing in sharply, trying to stop the pain that was squeezing his heart
right then. He couldn't go on. How could he go on?
Dropping to his knees, he broke down, unable to hold
back the tears any long. He didn't want
to go. He did not want to leave his
family and Liz. Oh how it hurt to think
about how much he needed them and the doubt that had always plagued him.
Instincts took over suddenly and unexpectedly. Diane and Philip rushed to their son's
side. Their hearts ached, almost to the
point of breaking, as they witnessed what he had been carrying within him for
so long. As they now saw their son for
the first time, they could name the cloud of darkness that hovered over for all
these years.
Diane cupped Max's face in her hands and looked down
into those dark soulful eyes that had always had some hidden, unvoiced torment
lingering for the past few years.
"Oh Max," she whispered, unable to explain the understanding
that filled her to the deepest core.
"Why didn't you just let us help you?" Caressingly, she fingered the fine lines that
seemingly appeared overnight on his beautiful face.
"Oh God, you have no idea," Max groaned, wanting
so much to be able to let them handle this whole mess. He just wished he could let them make it all
better, like they had when he was a child.
"You are the closest thing I have to a family, other than Isabel
and Michael." Without a thought he
embraced his mother, knowing it could be the last time he would ever see
her.
"Max, there must be something," Philip said
gruffly, choking down the gut wrenching tears that threatened to brim to the
surface. "They can't expect you to
do this...not after all these years?"
"Zan!!"
Max, Philip and Diane turned to see Larek holding waving him towards a clearing behind the
anomaly that seemed unaffected by the unknown source. "It's not about me anymore," Max
said stiffly, turning to his parents. He
looked past them once again. They
followed his gaze to where Isabel lay.
"They've hurt people I love."
Diane and Philip searched their son's face, which had
suddenly turned stony, as anger flashed in his eyes, and reluctantly understood
what he was saying. "I know Max,
but..." Diane furrowed her brow,
worry etched across her face.
"And Khivar's already killed
hundreds of thousands of my people," Max seethed, his thoughts turning to
the faceless people who were now calling to him. He could feel the urgency of the present
hour. It was like a
thousands of voices calling to him.
Diane exchanged a furtive glance with Philip. They had never heard such menace lace his
words. "I just want to understand
how this happened..." Diane pleaded.
Was she supposed to just accept this sudden fact that her son is some
alien from another planet?
Max shook his head; time was of the essence. He knew that.
The more time passed, the louder the voices became. "Isabel's dying and I have to go,"
he whispered, wishing he had let Isabel explain so many years ago. "If we don't leave..." His voice trailed off. The looks on their faces made his heart break
all over again.
"Valenti
knows." He stared at them
solemnly. "He knows
everything," he said gravely.
"And so do Liz, Maria, and Kyle."
"Although I don't know how much Liz will be able
to tell you in the state she is in."
The words tasted bitter in his mouth.
"And this," Philip pointed to the continuing
flow of white glowing bodies drawn into the void, "is all because of you
and Isabel?" He couldn't believe
that Max had been so important. It
boggled his mind.
Max nodded, walking swiftly past them and picked up
Isabel's cold body.
"Yes." Silently Larek came up along side him; he turned and slipped Isabel
into his waiting arms. "Take
her," he commanded. Their eyes met
in a fleeting glance and an understanding passed between them, as Larek glanced over at his parents and nodded.
"Thirty seconds," Larek
declared, rushing towards the ship, which had suddenly appeared from the cover
of grey clouds.
Turning to his parents, thoughts of what he and Isabel
had always wanted to tell them sped through his mind, knowing that he must
condense them into only a few words.
"I love you," Max explained, reaching out and grasping one of
each of his parents' hands in one of his own.
"I don't have time to tell you how much you have changed Isabel's
and my life."
Diane leaned back into Philip, knowing deep down that
he was saying goodbye - almost a final goodbye.
She bit the inside of her cheek, unable to deal with the probability of
never seeing her son again. "Don't
say goodbye," she whispered, choking back the tears. "Please, it can't be goodbye."
Max squeezed her and his father's hands, his eyes
darting back and forth from the two pale, sorrow-filled faces that he had never
seen during his childhood. It had come
full circle. "You've given me and
Isabel the strength and character to be the people, who could possibly save
this unknown planet." Stepping
forward, he slipped his arms around their necks and embraced them tightly. He memorized the familiar smell of musk and
vanilla that his parents always wore, locking it in the recesses of his
mind. "Know that whatever happens,
Isabel and I couldn't have loved you more than if you were our own
parents."
"And we felt the same way," Philip
whispered, squeezing his son's shoulder tightly.
Diane and Philip felt him slip from their grasp,
leaving their arms as empty as they had been when they had walked into that
orphanage 18 years ago. "Leave the
desert and don't look back," Max instructed as he backed away, his gaze
locked with theirs. "You don't know
what happened and keep it that way."
"Philip," she sobbed. "I lost them." Diane looked up into her husband's face,
which was full of turmoil. "But I only
just found them..."
"I know." He nodded quietly, feeling his own heart
breaking ever so quietly, under the loud crackle of the growing white light in
front of them. The light, which Max now
stole away behind; the pair's shadowy figures enveloped by the intense light in the
desert.
Their children had disappeared as mysteriously as they
had come into their lives.
~~~
"And where is it?" Barak
hissed, leaning over the cowering old servant.
"Where is the Loyalist base?"
The prisoner that had been transferred from Saren
Dari had been less than cooperative.
"You can slip into the deep Abyss for all I
care." Medgio spat into his face.
With swift decision Barak
raised his hand and backhanded the impudent traitor. "You will tell me," he sneered, as
his fingers slipped around the Loyalist's thin, frail throat. Squeezing gently, yet firmly, Barak tilted the old Kedran's
head back with one slight twist of his hand.
"Or you will die like your friend."
The old man's face flushed, almost to a
reddish-purple, his eyes puffing out from the pressure of his grasp. "I have no friends," he answered
determinedly.
Barak tilted his
head. "Really?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly. The prisoner's pulse thrummed against his
thumb, as he continued to press edge of his hand into the Kedran's
jugular. After a breath, he released his
grip, allowing the near-faint prisoner to breathe. He watched, as the chained and collared
prisoner strained forward, coughing spasmodically because of the lack of naxion to his air supply.
A faint smirk crept upon his lips, his own heart pounding slightly. "Then you won't mind a visitor in your
cell with you?" he said casually, snapping his finger once, before
kneeling in front of the prisoner.
Craning his head, Barak looked Medgio in the eye.
"She's still quite lovely you know."
With that, Barak stood up
and walked towards the sliding double doors.
They slid open without command, and a sliver gurney was wheeled in. A shimmering black cloth was draped overtop,
the edges lightly brushing against the smooth grey tile. Barak signaled for
the officer pushing the gurney to leave.
Turning on his heel, he stared somberly at the pathetic excuse of an Antarian, head hung low, with blood trickling down his
temple. He fingered the light-weight
material, rubbing it between his index and thumb, feeling the textured grain
against his skin. "I hope you like
your roommate," he smirked maliciously.
Spinning around, he walked out the door, dragging the sheet behind him
over his shoulder.
Medgio's face paled
and his jaw dropped. "You
SPURIUN."
Barak's face lit
up, as he heard the doors slide closed behind him, laughing delightfully. "So there was a reason for Maia's body to be returned to Eshtari." He jerked his head up and met Nicholas'
steady gaze, saluting his superior.
"Yes. I
felt seeing the dead body of a fallen comrade would bring him to his
senses." Barak
felt Nicholas' eyes study him intently, as if looking for some unknown
factor. It put him ill-at-ease. "Do you approve?" he asked.
Nicholas' gaze raised to meet
with his again, having his full attention.
"Yes," he breathed gravely.
"Of course. You have been doing an excellent
job." A pair of soldiers marched
past them. "Unlike
some of my men."
Barak tilted his
head curiously, as his gaze followed the two officers briefly before settling
upon Nicholas again. "He will break
within the next hour," he announced confidently to Nicholas. "I will make sure of it."
The corners of Nicholas' lips curled slightly, as a
black gleam flashed in his beady eyes.
"I am sure you will."
He nodded. "As you
were," Nicholas said dismissively.
Barak watched
Nicholas turn to leave; the short commander was being meticulous about every
detail - he did not want anything preventing the coronation ceremony of his
liege. When he was sure that Nicholas
was out of sight, he exhaled slowly.
Looking over his shoulder, Barak stared
miserably at the thick metal door standing between him and two of his own. Could he reconcile the outright maliciousness
of his actions?
He closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing the bridge of
his nose with his index finger and thumb.
There is still much to do and a long road ahead.
~~~
The air was thicker than usual. The dense navy sky was alight with the starry
host, constellations as far as the eye could perceive. It was a perfect night.
"My faithful subjects," Khivar
shouted, opening his arms wide to the whispering crowd. His voice echoed into the dark horizon, as
the voice amplification system boomed from the clear oval speakers encompassing
his gathering subjects. "Here we
are at the twilight of the New Moons Festival;" he leaned on the marble
balcony, "to bid farewell to the past."
"Join together with me and let us raise our
voices in triumph!" He smiled
happily, waving his arms in celebration towards the people.
The crowd seemed dazed and unsure to what he was
speaking about. They roared dully, some
louder than others, much to Khivar's chagrin.
Surrounding subjects had been gathered into the
courtyard and open garden to witness the formal coronation that would anoint
him the final and true king of Antar. This night was indeed special, as he had
summoned the Kedran slaves and villagers to come into
the Inner Sanctum to witness this event.
Khivar had seen this night in his dreams and
no sniveling, rag-tag group of 'Cianist rebels', as
he liked to refer to them, would quash the dawn of his new regime. What he had in store for them was
unforeseeable to most, and would surprise the legion before him - the willing
or unwilling.
"Gather together my people - Kedran
and Iturian - there is nothing to fear. Tonight we will dispatch with ancient
prophecies and divinations. As you shall
witness my coronation," Khivar surveyed the
faceless insignificants below with a knowing eye, "an end will be brought
to the rumblings of the Loyalist 'hope' to come."
"I am the hope to the Antarian
world and its conquering ruler!" he bellowed confidently. This brought a wide chorus of approval from
the large Iturian contingent, while a slightly
disdainful undertone intermingled with the uneasy Kedran
minority. "And as such tonight will
be a reckoning of sorts. Our people have
been divided too long."
There was a unsettling murmur
of confusion at this declaration.
"There must be a united show of power to the
neighboring planets and galaxies," he continued, ignoring the expected
movement among the crowd. "As your
ruler and king, I see all other races bowing to us, cowering in our
presence." The voices became
louder, except not in disapproval this time. He raised his arms above his
head. "And I call you now,
to accept your fate, joining me in building this eternal empire that is Antar!"
A brief moment of silence fell on the masses below,
before roaring to life and thundered in approval, shouting out cheers of
support. Voices raised, shouting, 'To
the reigning king!' and 'Long live his majesty, King Khivar!'. This brought a
mile wide grin to his lips, as he waved his arms over his head in acceptance of
their support.
And a party to this empire you shall all be...