The Players so far..

Zander Kane, once a trusted and highly decorated general for the United Federation, Kane betrayed not only his own race, but his own flesh and blood to join the Dark Collective, so he could be with the woman he loved. Now, he rides stardust and slipstreams, captaining the Betha, fighting for the collective, in hope of one day freeing the worlds from the federations ruling grasp.

Syin-To-Twenty-Seven (Sin), Betha’s sentient companion, through the link they share Sin can control and communicate between Betha and Zander, as well as accessing and sometimes controlling other forms of technology.

Gadamrie, a Golden Priestess in the Dark Collective and Zander’s lover, before the federation came to power Gadamrie boasted over one million hosts as part of her mind hive, she sacrificed her final host so Zander and her unborn seed he carries would survive.

General Salidazar, an officer in the Dark Collective, who’s loyalties, may lie somewhere else.

Last time on Dark Stars…

After attempting to destroy a vital defense weapon for the United Federation, Zander and his crew found themselves prisoners of High Lord Quinn, somehow, Zander, with the aid of Sin, managed to escape Quinn clutches, but he was badly injured in the process, and his crew save from Sin, perished. Waking from a fevered dream, Zander found himself under attack from Federation soldiers, once managing to defeat the attack squad, Zander found out that General Salidazar had been aboard Betha whilst he was unconscious, and could have a connection to the Federation soldiers gaining access to the ship. Tracking the breach back to Salidazar’s quarters, Zander and Sin were sucked into a vortex and found themselves dumped into darkness, and, as they faced more unknown attackers, assistance come from an unlikely source, an alternative version of himself, also trapped in this other world, with Sin’s help, the other version of Zander has a plan to escape, before the Reaper’s get them, but the plan, required time, and bait.

And so we continue…

“BUT WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?” He yells, but receives no reply, and he knows, he is alone, he feels his eyes well up with tears, as he sits in the darkness, he can hear the Reaper’s gaining, coming closer through the corridors. “What does it have to do with me?” He says softly to himself once more.

“It has to do with me,” her voice says inside his head.

“Gadamrie?”

“Hush my love, these things you do, you do for the greater good, one day, I hope you understand,” she says as he feels a coldness enter the room, he can hear slim dripping from their talons, and then, they are upon him , he tries to scream in pain, but nothing comes out, then a bright light, and she is standing there, smiling, her arms out towards him, and then, nothing, as the Reaper’s tear into him.

“Sir, I fail to understand what is taking place?” Sin says, as he is forced down a corridor.

“Be thankful of that then, just keep moving, those things will be quite for a little while, but not forever,” he says, as he slams a porthole behind them and seals it shut. “Is there anyway you could bring some of Betha’s systems online if she’d suffered a core meltdown?”

“Oh my Sir, that would be the most terrible thing that could happen, surely you understand that Betha is my other, my mate, my….”

“Can the blabbering Sin, could you do it?”

“Well, of course I could bring some systems online, although I would need to be situated within the mainframe, and if she had su…”

“Good, hook in, and merge you’re internal transmitter with her long rang system and direct it to send a message to the coordinates twelve, eighteen dot b, nine, eight, dot L two, three, two, dot D three, three, three, two dot twenty-seven.”

“I’m sorry Sir, what you’re asking could very well fry my systems, I refuse to perforce suc…” He doesn’t get to continue as Zander thrusts him backwards and rips one of his arms from his shoulder.

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME!” He yells. “Hook into Betha, fuse your systems, as transmit this message to the coordinates you piece of junk!”

“Well, Sir, I never, this is totall…” Zander smashes the severed arm across Sin’s head as the porthole door takes the brunt of the revived Reaper’s attack.

“No more stuff around, no more anything, just hook up, for god sake, do it now, before we lose our chance to stop her, please, help me save everything!” Zander says, as the Reaper’s continue their assault on the other side of the door.

A hiss breaks the silence in the room and then the hum of energy fills the room, and lights burst to life in the room, the sound of the Reaper’s screaming can be heard.

“Oh my, Sir,” Sin says, as he looks over the haggard, scarred, worn down Zander, who shields his eyes from the light.

“Don’t. Just record this message to the coordinated, coded with the word sequin-red,” he says softly as he looos into Sin’s eyes as he starts recording. “Zander, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but, it’s all true, everything, I’m you, well not you exactly, another version from another reality, another timeline, but that’ll all have to wait because none of that matters right now. What matters is you don’t let them know about the child, no matter what you have to do, hide it from them, all, it’s important… Don’t trust the  High Priestess, she’s something more than you know, a maker, a first, some crazy cross dimensional being who wants your child of dead, so you have to stop her, come to the coordinates twelve, eighteen dot b, nine, eight, dot L two, three, two, dot D three, three, three, two dot twenty-seven and you’ll see I’m telling the truth. And while you’re at it, kill that weasel Salidazar, he a traitor and deserves it,” then, the room is silent, as they both look to the ground, one deep in thought, the other, lost deep in connection.

“Message uploaded, and sent, although, there is nothing out there Sir, just, well, nothing, so I se….”

“Trust me there’s something, you just have to keep on sending the message, no matter what, just keep sending it until you’re systems shut off, do you understand?”

“I understand, although, judging from the power drain I am experiencing at the moment, it will be short, and then, I will shut down, which, I am sorry for, by the way Sir. But, may I ask what you are going to do?”

Zander smiles, as he clutches a blade in his hand, “Me, I’m going to celebrate the only way I know how,” he says, as he pulls open the porthole door and charges forward, swinging the blade around, ripping and tearing into the sluggish Reaper’s, the light blinding them to the point of total debilitation. Betha lets out a grunting notise as the power dies, and the lights flicker out.

He stands in the centre of the hallways, as he hears movement, and he smiles. “COME GET SOME!” He yells, as they attack.

 

The End?

Not BLOODY likely!