An eerie silence had fallen over the cockpit of the Goliath. The ship’s hyperdrive had powered up, and, using the jump coordinates provided by Octavian, the Turncoat was now soaring across the warp line leading into the ‘Omega’ system. The ship had been in hyperspace for about forty-five seconds, in real time, however, it had been traveling for almost a day.

Duke Bullwhip glanced down at the astronavigation computer. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... The stars in front of Duke snapped back into their positions. The Goliath had dropped out of hyperspace, and now the effects of jump shock were setting in. Duke’s head was swimming...

Bleep. Bleep. A message buoy on the comm-screen. Duke lifted his head and pushed a key on the communications console. The message buoy flashed onto the comm-screen.

Tom Hunnicut looked over at his captain.

Duke simply nodded, and Tom flipped a switch on his computer console. The Goliath’s shields dropped

By now, jump shock had faded. Fear, however, had gripped the entire crew of the powerful Turncoat.

Tom was staring at the sensor screens. The entire system was empty. Then, without any warning at all, three gargantuan ships had surrounded the Goliath. “They couldn’t have hyperjumped in,” he said. “I would have detected the spatial distortions.”

“They didn’t hyperjump in,” Octavian replied. “They were cloaked.”

Alert klaxons began to roar in the cockpit of the Goliath -- the warships were charging their weapons! Tom Hunnicut thrust his hand forward, ready to put the Turncoat’s shields back up. Duke Bullwhip grabbed his hand before it reached the ship.

“Relax.”

The ship was tossed about, and Tom Hunnicut looked at Duke and Octavian. They were sitting there, doing nothing, while the ship was under attack! Those huge ships -- that he couldn’t even get a full sensor lock on! -- were firing their cannons at the defenseless Goliath.

In an instant, it was all over. The warships had disabled the Turncoat, and, now that it was entirely defenseless, they had locked on to it with a tractor beam and were dragging it back towards a space station -- Outpost Omega.

A sensor buoy: part of Outpost Omega's Defense Platform which monitors the warp lines leading into the system, allowing the maximum time to prepare for an attack.

Duke Bullwhip opened his eyes. He was surrounded by darkness. The last thing that Duke remembered was the Goliath being tractored towards the space station... After that, he could not recall. Feeling something around his neck, the bounty hunter reached his hands up and felt that there was, in fact, some sort of collar around his neck.

“State your full name,” said a voice that was mechanical, yet, at the same time, still quite human.

“Bullwhip... Duke Bullwhip.”

“Why have you entered this region of space?”

“The Renegades,” Duke replied. “They have discovered this outpost’s existence. We came to warn you.”

“You lie,” came the voice’s reply.

A flash of brilliant blue light filled the room, and electricity surged through the bounty hunter’s body. He roared in pain, but the pain only grew more intense. The blue light faded. The pain stopped.

“Why have you entered this region of space?”

“I told you... The Renegades are going to invade... If they get a hold of any of this technology -- AHHH!” The light returned and its companion, pain, returned with it. “I... speak... only... the truth...” said Duke through gritted teeth as he tried to handle the pain that the surging electricity gave him.

Once again, the blue light faded.

“Why have you entered this region of space?”

Mike Pearson sat huddled in a corner, surrounded by the darkness. Once again, the fighter pilot was in the Voinian Prisoner-of-War camp. Once again, Mike Pearson was in Hell.

The liberation ships... The Goliath... Its crew... Had it all been a dream? A dream of freedom, while Pearson’s body remained in his cell, to be tortured by sadistic Voinians like the guard T’rakh. No... It was all reality... Mike Pearson was free... The war was over... But, if all of this is true, why does the darkness remain?

“State your full name.”

“Pearson... First Lieutenant Michael Pearson... United Earth Space Navy, 54th Division, Squadron 168.” Mike Pearson was back at the camp, reliving awful memories of his past...

The door slowly opened, and light began to pour in. Duke could see the shadows of two figures standing in the doorway. When his eyes had adapted to the light, he could see that the figures wielded blaze rifles.

“Come,” ordered one.

Duke Bullwhip stood, and saw that two barrels followed his every movement. The figures -- both clad in black uniforms -- were both members of Task Force Omega.

The two men escorted Duke into a corridor, where he found that the other crew members of the Goliath were being escorted out as well. The walls were lined with doors which (presumably) led to interrogation cells similar to the one he had just been in. Within one of the cells, he heard noises.

“No!” cried a voice... Mike Pearson’s voice.

Duke then heard the sound of a blaze weapon firing. Two of the black-clad figures carried the fighter pilot out of the cell, one held his legs, and the other held his arms.

“Stun setting?” asked Duke.

The two figures continued on their way down the corridor.

“Walk,” ordered one of Duke’s escorts. He jabbed him in the back with the barrel of the blaze rifle. Duke did as he was told.

The labyrinthian corridors that the black-clad guards led Bullwhip through were so complicated that no one would ever be able to navigate through them without a guide. Any prisoners who managed to escape the custody of the mindless drones that made up Task Force Omega would either get lost and starve to death, dying alone in the dark depths of the station, or get lost and be found hours later. There was no escape from Outpost Omega.

“Duke Bullwhip, Octavian Augustus, Thomas Hunnicut: Admiral Sherwood requests your presence.”

The three men were pushed into a small room, which was decorated with banners and awards from past military campaigns. In the center of the room, behind a desk, sat a short man who wore the uniform of an admiral in the United Earth military.

“Mr. Bullwhip, Mr. Augustus,” he greeted them; “it has been quite some time since I last saw you two.”