See Part One for Disclaimers

"Galen, are you alright?  You have been staring into space for the last ten minutes."

He had not realised the powerful effects of entering another mind; so easy to lose yourself there!  Dureena still lay inert, the soft rise and fall of her chest the only hint that she still lived, her hand cold where it lay in his.

"I think you should stop for now, let her recover a little more.  We should see improvements over the next couple of hours as the fluids start to replenish her systems and the antibiotics take care of the infections.  And you, Galen, need to eat and sleep; you are out on your feet.  I do not want to have a second bed made up in here."

Just the thought of food made him feel nauseous, but he had to admit that the strain was finally breaking down his iron willed need to stay awake.  Dureena was safe now; he should at least try to replenish his own failing resources.  In the next room Dr Chambers had ordered up soup and some bread, understanding that he might not be tempted to food at that moment.  The smell hit him, turning his stomach and it was with great reluctance that he took the first small mouthful.  The taste was exquisite, warm flavours tickled his palate and within moments he found himself eating ravenously.  Calling up a second bowl, Sarah left him to his meal, a satisfied smile quickly repressed as he glanced in her direction.

If she had hoped he would sleep too, she was doomed to disappointment.  The food had done much to restore his energy levels, and instead of taking time out to recharge, he spent the next few hours annoying the staff who busily worked on Dureena's tests.  Many results were ambiguous.  Nothing seemed to indicate any viral infection outside that to be expected after the privations she had suffered.  Infection ran riot in her system but nothing that had not been encountered previously.  Galen had downloaded all that the Mage society had gathered on the plague that had decimated the Elysian and those poor souls infected by them.  Research that had been done nearly two hundred years before seemed sadly lacking in the details that would now be commonplace.

"Well?" he asked for the umpteenth time.

"Galen, will you stop this.  I understand your frustration, truly I do, but there is nothing I can do to speed up the process.  You will have to wait."

By way of reply Galen laid a hand on the console in front of him.  As he searched the system for its control mechanisms he could hear the muttering of the Lab techs around him.  The computer was fast, yes, but there were a few modifications he could make that would speed up its access and diagnostic programmes.  For a brief moment the whole system lit up, alarms rang and he heard Doctor Chambers swear loudly at his side, then it was done.  Quiet reigned again in the medical Lab, just the soft bleep of monitors still attached to Dureena broke the stillness.  All eyes were on him, some condemnatory, others just a little fearful.

"There, that should make life a little easier for you.  Now, would you kindly continue with your research."

He wandered away, drawn back to the cubicle where Dureena lay.  In the last few hours she had improved dramatically; her vital signs had all settled into a reassuring rhythm, blood pressure had increased to a safer level and her face had lost the gaunt ashen aspect.  Was it too soon to try and reach her?  Should he make that attempt now or wait until she improved even more?  Her hand was moving restlessly against the blue sheet that covered her and he watched mesmerised as it moved toward the amulet.  Swiftly he moved to her side, perching himself on the stool he had occupied earlier, and captured her fingers in his own.  It seemed she had made the choice for him.

The jolt to his mind was becoming less destructive as her condition improved, fear no longer the paramount emotion inhabiting her mind.  He sent his thoughts quickly into hers and again the maze loomed before him; this time he intended to reach the centre, to free her from the prison she had made of her mind.

Many times he was misdirected down dead ends and at each false step he flinched at the cost in lost time.  Synapses snapped and danced around him as he steadily drew nearer the core of her being, electrical impulses dashed against his thoughts as they made slow progress ever deeper until eventually he knew he faced the wall that surrounded her.  He did not know how to approach this task, Matheson could only advise extreme caution, to announce his presence as clearly as he could and to wait, for ultimately she would have to make the move that would release her from her prison.  The techniques he had been taught by the Psi Corp would avail Galen nothing, they were sledgehammer tactics to break a person's will, and no one wanted to see her hurt more than she was already.

He stayed as long as he could, sending his image with as much force as he deemed safe.  Occasionally a flash of repressed memory would swamp him and through her thoughts he saw Cat's brave attempt at rescue and watched as the huge animal was felled with ruthless efficiency attacked by four of the strange blue aliens.  And again, the briefest of glimpses as one of those same alien beings approached with a strange machine.  But those fractions of her thoughts vanished quickly behind her walls and he was left alone in the vastness of her abandoned thoughts.  At least he knew that she did indeed exist within her body and that hopefully, with time, she could be free again.



He was unaware of his drift into slumber, exhaustion left his sleep dreamless and undisturbed until he felt the soothing sensation of fingers stroking the sensitive area at the back of his neck.  He raised his head from the bed where he had fallen asleep at her side and winced as his muscles cramped at the strange angle he had been assuming.  Dureena's hand was resting lightly on his shoulder, her fingers tracing delicate forays against his skin.  Her eyes were still closed, but she seemed somehow more peaceful, more relaxed than she had previously.  Removing her hand with care he sat fully upright, clasping it within his own.  As he did so her face changed, her peace shattered.  Tears began to flow down the pale cheeks, sobs wracked her body and all the while she remained locked in her coma-like state.  Her reaction that of someone suffering a terrible dream.

"No, Dureena, no," he said softly, his fingers wiping the tears away as they cut salty paths into her shorn hair.  His voice seemed to encourage her distress and she began to sob out loud.  Unmindful of the drips and monitors he lifted her up into his embrace holding her close, his arms tight around her as he whispered to her of his love.  And then her arms responded, wrapping themselves around his torso, hugging him so tightly he almost felt his ribs crack with the pressure.

Her body went rigid as her eyes flew open and her scream rent the air.  Putting her away from him he could see the stark terror on her face, her pupils so dilated that little of her natural tawny colouring could be seen.  He caught her face within his hands, forcing her to look at him, to focus on him, his voice hypnotic and compelling drew her eyes to meet his.

"Be very careful."

And for the first time he realised that they were not alone.  Sarah stood in the doorway, alerted by Dureena's distress yet unwilling to intrude.

He only nodded.  How could he willingly harm her, when all he wanted was to see her intelligence bloom again, to be at the wrong end of her scolds or to hold her warm and willing body next to his.

"Dureena," he called softly, his eyes never wavering from the terrified gaze now locked onto his.  She struggled against him, her hands lashing out at his body, striking wherever she could land a blow.  He hardly felt them, so wrapped up in the struggle to break her terror had he become.  Releasing her face he let his fingers trail down her cheeks, softly tracing the contours of her mouth, laying a gentle finger on the parted lips and down, until his hand closed around the amulet that lay between her breasts.  It burned now, hot and glowing against his palm and as he grabbed one flailing hand he felt it begin to sear his flesh.  Pressing her hand between his and the glowing stone he called her name again and again, watching for any sign of response in her black stare.

The minute her hand touched the stone she stilled, giving just the fraction of her attention to the new sensation.  Tears welled again to slowly slide down her cheeks; he brushed them away with his free hand, whispering her name, calling her back to him.

"Galen?" The cracked and broken voice spoke softly into his heart, he felt Sarah move toward them noting the changes and when he turned to her he found her own eyes bright with emotion.

Dureena slumped against him and he cradled her gently, hands soothing her distress as her tears soaked his shoulder.  He felt ready to fly apart with the relief of making the breakthrough.  Inside himself he could feel a bubble of joy storming the citadel of his control, he wanted to yell and cry and share his happiness with everyone on the ship.  But he sat still, his eyes closed as he held the woman he loved tightly against him until she slept.  A natural sleep now; a healing sleep.

"Would you like some good news?" The doctor had finally insisted he leave Dureena's side, and had brought him into her own office.

"Tell me."

"All the tests are finally back and, as far as I can tell, Dureena is free of the Elysian plague."

"So, do you believe they are no longer carriers?" It would make his next task so much easier if he had one less thing to worry about.

"Hard to say.  After this amount of time they may have adapted or even found a cure themselves though that seems unlikely if your hypothesis is correct.  No, I believe Dureena's unique biological system was immune to the virus.  We will still have to take precautions when dealing with the Elysian.  I have read all the data you handed over and I believe that the disease is not airborne as previously thought, but ingested.  Contaminants from the air get into the water and food chain and those susceptible to the changed molecular structure of their diet then begin to make antibodies which in turn attack the host in the same way a viral infection will do.  Unfortunately, very few who were affected this way survived."

As she spoke she was stripping off the contamination suit that had covered her head to foot for the past couple of days.  With a sigh of relief she threw the offended articles into the bin for recycling.

"I have the results back on the child, would you care to see them?" His possible antipathy to the infant had not been lost on her.

She was not destined to hear his reply.  Across the com system Gideon's crisp voice called all senior staff to the bridge.  Galen hurried from the room with just a quick glance at Dureena's sleeping form.  The Captain's summons could mean only one thing.

***

Mareen stared hard and long at the contemptuous face before him.  He had sent his ultimatum to the small planet they now orbited expecting their name alone to instil fear and compliance.  It had not turned out that way.  This specimen claimed no knowledge of the Elysian, actually had dared to scorn the menace his ship posed!

"I suggest you look to your history books, your ignorance is appalling.  Let me tell you that with one strike I can infect your whole world; you will slowly die out, your species will be no more.  Hear me and believe.  If you do not deliver to us one of the Technomage society within two of your days, we will destroy you!"

With a quick movement of his hand he cut off communications, seething at the unexpected turn his plans had taken.  That the Elysian had been forgotten so soon!  How could their superiority have been passed over?  Had the galaxy so short a memory?  But these creatures would soon know, would soon fear the glorious name of Elysia.

The flush of deep blue surged across his skin to be replaced by a paler less vivid colour.  He scanned his hand and arms where they protruded from his soft silver tunic; his colour was beginning to fade, the first signs that the curse was now on him too.  This damn galaxy seemed determined to destroy all that they were.  His fingers tightened into a hard fist and he revelled in the strength that still lay there.  He would not give up the search; he would find the means to help his people.  If he had to die, here in this awful place in order to achieve his goal, then so be it.  Elysia deserved to survive; they would survive.  He glared at the blank screen for a moment, almost willing the thing to brighten into life, for the planet below to answer his demands with the servitude his position and race demanded.  It remained obstinately blank.

Alarms rang across the bridge; they had launched fighters to attack his ship!  He had chosen this place not just because it was the first civilised inhabited planet they had come across, but because they had less firepower than most of the races he remembered.  With the power-draining shields now down, he diverted the energy to weapons.  Streaming toward Elysia's Hope was a fleet of some fifty small ships.  He indicated to his weapons control to fire at will.  As the little ships surrounded his great vessel his concealed weaponry came into play.  The spherical nature of his ship ensured that they could protect themselves from attack from any angle.  Within minutes half the fleet were either destroyed or adrift, the rest had turned and fled back to base.  His smile was self satisfied, replete.

"Open communications."

Moments went by and finally they answered.  The being now before him was older, serious in his contemplation of Mareen's haughty features.

"Have you read your history books yet?"  Mareen thrust his face forward and watched amused as the alien took an instinctive pace back.  "Do you remember us now?  I hold your lives in my hand; give me a Mage and I will let you live, refuse me and I will destroy you like this!"  And he closed his fist around an imaginary world.

"We have sent out a message on all frequencies.  We have no access to the Technomages, no one does.  They arrive and leave to suit themselves, they are not welcome here."

"Well, now is the time to issue an invitation!"  His ship suddenly jolted under him.   "What the --?"

"Fire from the planet, sir.  Long range missiles."

"Take them out, then take out the base they are launching from."  He turned his attention back to the view screen.  "That was a mistake.  You will now see the power of the Elysians."

He cut the communication line and headed to the weapons control, watched with satisfaction as his own missiles found and eliminated their targets.  Tiredness swept through his body like a wave, starting in his head and rapidly reaching his legs, he fell as his strength vanished.  Concerned crew helped him to the captain's chair, where he sat head in hand trying to compose himself.  His time was nearer than he thought, he must make preparations, he must ensure that they were successful.  His thoughts returned to his home, to the wife and only daughter that he had left behind him.  He would not see them again, he knew that now, but they must have a chance to live on.  He would see it through to the end and leave his success as a legacy to all his kind.

***

The group now closeted in the conference room all wore grim expressions.  Gideon called up the star map for the area the Excalibur currently raced toward.  Matheson was already working on a defence/offence plan to cripple the Elysian vessel and had put his tentative ideas forward for discussion.  Galen's abrupt entry to the room halted all talk.

"I hope this means Dureena is not infected, Galen?" Matthew's calm question halted the Mage in his tracks.

"She shows no signs of infection, thank you, Matthew.  However, the doctor does not rule out the possibility that they still carry the plague within them."

He turned his attention to the chart.  "This is where they have elected to make a stand?"

"Yes.  The distress call was routed to us a few minutes ago.  They say the Elysians want a Mage or they will infect the planet with their disease."

Icy grey eyes seemed to drift into a world of their own.  "And they shall have one," he said softly, icy menace trickled through the words.

A commotion on the bridge brought the group out of the room.  Standing in the middle of a security detail stood Alwyn, hands clasped unconcernedly on his stomach as he awaited Galen's arrival, amused glances scanned the unsettled crew.

"Ah, there you are!  Hello, Matthew!" He quirked an eyebrow in the captain's direction, and received an acknowledging nod in return.  Turning his attention to Galen he seemed to find the haggard appearance of his friend disturbing.  "Dureena?" he asked.

"Alive."  Galen's curt answer did not discompose him at all.

"Good, good."

"What have you learned, Alwyn?" He took a step forward until he was almost on top of the projection.

"The Elysian have finally decided to talk to us rather than skulk about trying to steal our secrets.  So far they have destroyed half the Banindi military force and have terrorised the population to such a state that they would hand one of us over on a plate given half the chance.  Of course they won't get that chance."  He huffed a little over the implied ability of anyone to influence a Mage.

"Do we have their frequencies yet?  Can we get on board?"

"They have been randomising their emissions, the Banindi don't have the sort of equipment required to filter them.  How far away are you, Galen?" serious now.

A glance at Matheson and he had the details in his hand.  "Maybe two hours, there is a gate we can use to reach the area quickly.  Alwyn," he hesitated.  " Alwyn, they must not be allowed to continue with this search, and they can not bring the plague back into this galaxy.  I will stop them any way I have to."

"I know, and the Circle, for once, agrees.  If we can escort them back out of our system, fine, if not -- then do what has to be done."

With a nod to the surrounding crew his rotund figure disappeared from the bridge as miraculously as it had appeared.  Those new crew who had not previously had dealings with the Mages, looked at one another in astonishment.



For the next hours Galen haunted the bridge, much to Gideon's annoyance.  Constantly checking the Excalibur's readouts, jibing at the delays, he could feel his emotions on the rise.  Even knowing that Dureena slept soundly in Med Lab did not ease the need to destroy the Elysian.  Briefly he contemplated hijacking the Excalibur's weapons control and blasting the aliens from the sky the moment they came into view.  The satisfaction to his vengeful soul would soon be assuaged; too soon he realised.  His anger demanded more from the encounter than a quick excisement of their being.  Besides, he wanted to know just how they had breached his defences; and if they truly had the technology to dematerialise and reform, then he wanted that from them.  And then he would take the greatest pleasure from exacting his revenge for the terrible acts that had been performed on the woman he loved, who even now carried the results of those same despicable acts within her body.  His jaw clenched involuntarily as his eyes narrowed, hate writhed within him, desperate for release.

***

Ahead of them hung the huge sphere that Galen had last seen on Draken's security recordings.  To finally be this close almost made him dizzy.  Even on his search for Isabelle's killers he had not ached for revenge in such a way.  Months had passed since Dureena's kidnapping, months of continual, unceasing aching within him that even her return had not quenched.  They had damaged her in ways that he could not begin to fathom, only her waking would tell what had been done to her mind and soul.  She would not be the same, could not be the same person she had been before, and for that he would have the satisfaction of seeing them destroyed.

The Excalibur sent out a signal to the ship and for a long heartbeat Galen waited impatiently for their reply.  It didn't matter what they said, just that they opened a channel.  The shortest of moments would give him access to the alien ship.

When the reply finally came, his hand was locked onto a console that, in its turn, was linked to his flyer deep in the bowels of the Excalibur.  Boosting his sensitivity to the utmost, he sent his consciousness back through the link and created a searcher within their ship that could send back images.  He had warned Gideon of his intentions and had stipulated extreme quiet, his concentration must not fail or the link would be lost, possibly irretrievably.

The relay, tiny in size but eminently capable, sped through the corridors searching out members of the crew.  First call had been the engineering section, there he watched from a safe vantage point as the blue creatures hung anxiously over fluctuating readouts.  The activity interested him only in that it confirmed the Elysian ship, for all its boasting of huge firepower, was actually almost depleted of its power source.  Some of the crew seemed pale and almost shadowy compared to the others.  As he watched, the palest of them, almost transparent in its form, fell with slow grace to the floor.  Although it was obvious that the creature had expired, the rest of the engineers paid little attention to the body, except to move it away from their working area.  Back on the Excalibur, Galen frowned his distaste at the apparent lack of compassion, and his resolve hardened further.  He journeyed on, passing very few of the Elysia in the dim corridors.  Their medical facility was full to overflowing with pale wan crew in various stages of the plague.  He now recognised from his research that this crew was being decimated by the same terrible infection that had all but wiped them out two centuries before.  But why did they believe the Mage's longevity could help cure this disease?  Against his will he felt the stirrings of curiosity light his imagination.

He skimmed along the pale silver flooring heading forward, looking for a terminal, a computer port, any access to the systems running the vessel.  Every corridor held bare walls, no outlet relieved the monotony of silvered surfaces.  Ahead, doors swished aside as two Elysians exited what appeared to be the bridge.  Moving his device into the shadows, he surveyed the activity surrounding the man who issued orders from a chair high in the centre of the room.  Around him stood five tall creatures, each listened intently to his orders.  The downside of his viewer meant no sound but that they were preparing an attack seemed certain.  Each creature had strapped to its thin wrist a small round device.  He turned his attention to the others stationed at various points around the bridge; none of the others were so equipped.  Even as he studied them they touched the centre of the device and vanished.

With his mind focused on his searcher only a fraction of his being still acknowledged those around him.  He did not hear the exchange between Gideon and the captain of the Elysian ship, was only vaguely aware of movement around him.  Only a shouted warning seeped through his concentration, snapping the tenuous link between Mage and searcher.

Continued

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