Worlds and Stars

The human race set forth to explore the realms of it's home. The planets know as the Sol system were slow to be reached in a time when space exploration was the least thing on peoples' minds. But time went on as it always does. Small advancements were made and a man, more correctly a woman, stepped for the first time on another planet. Suddenly, the planet everyone had fought on for centuries seemed small in comparison.

After many tireless struggles this quest had carried them beyond their home worlds and into other systems. They encountered wondrous systems, explored the limits of scientific imagination, found all manner of life to study. In all their times of searching, in all their questing for knowledge, one thing had eluded them. Sentience, intelligent life, another... something. After centuries of searching the human race had found themselves alone in the empty vastness of space.

lit only by the flicker of computer screens and random button flashes. He punches at the buttons giving his own form of retribution to the communication module that woke him. Managing to growl his next query, "Comma, what the heck is that?"

"Yeah, sending off the com packet before orbital insert. One of these days they're going to stop sending military ships on these wild goose chases and I might actually get to stay in bed until a decent hour."

Aboard the Expedition class ship Homer, the crew had just received word of the events leading up to the loss of the Anteries. Sitting in the briefing room the command officers watch in silence as the final reports are displayed, hoping for some clue as to the cause of the disappearance.

The firm voice of the ship's Captain echoed through the room snapping them from their trance. "Dr. Brandy Kytten," Captain Robert Lemming looked up from his chair to the Xenobiologist who had recently joined their crew. "What do we know about the system where the Anteries was lost?"

The beautiful scientist shook herself enough to look around the room. Next to her was the Homer's operations chief, Thomas Chen. Across from her was the crew's "escort." Major Christopher Ren, while handsome, more than made up for that with his contempt for scientists and explorers like herself. Moving her gaze back to the Captain, "The system has several planets capable of sustaining human life. Robot probes indicate various flora and fauna on two planets and one moon but nothing that could have destroyed the Anteries."

"Well then," Lemming grumbled. "I have no choice." Pushing a button on the table in front of him the navigator came on screen. "Plot a course for the Ophion system and engage at transluminal speed."

Brandy stood up from her chair and reached across the table ready to throttle Ren. "You jerk, do you even care about us or do you just want to see a little action! What can we hope to do? An exploration ship and what six soldiers?"

She let her hands drop, crashing on to the table. Her eyes darting from the Captain to the Major. But, who was she kidding? The Major had out witted, out maneuvered and just plain out done the Captain since his arrival. Her eyes were caught by the glint of that stupid.... watch control device. She imagined how sweet it would be to just yank it off his smug wrist and snap it around his neck.... and watch it get tighter and tighter until he turned as crimson as her hair then blue..... then black....

Ren's eyes narrowed at the smile that flashed around the edges of Brandy's tightly clenched lips. The Doctor looked ready to leap across the table and strangle him, and even the hint of a smile unsettled him. She was notorious for her temper.

Looking away from his smug face, she turned to the Captain. "Well, since my input is superficial at this point, I think I'll head back to my little lab, like a good girl." The icicles in her voice made Captain Lemming wince. He didn't like having the Doctor mad at him.

Brandy did her best not to storm out. She didn't want the entire crew gossiping about her losing her temper, again. Breathing in and out, slowly, she took the transport to the area allotted to her for her lab and offices. As she passed the robotics lab, she heard two members of her staff, arguing..... again. Robotics verses biology. Lisa Starfire fighting with Dan Modge. Those two... always fighting. Who needed more lab time, who needed better equipment.... who was smarter. Usually, Brandy intervened, but today, she let it go. Someone deserved the satisfaction of fighting it out today. Besides, she wanted to find those files on the plant life of the planets that the Major wanted to visit. Glory hound.

Major Ren returned to his quarters with a thousand thoughts on his mind. How was he going to find out what happened? What could have happened? What if they have to fight? Why did the doctor hate him so much? This last one startled him. Why did he care? Sticking his hand and wrist into a port on the table next to the couch and growling a bit, "Angel, transfer to home systems."

"Visual Interface" With that command a projection of a lithe woman with dark hair appeared next to him on the couch. "I just don't get it Angel, why does she hate me anyway? I'm only trying to find out what happened. She should be jumping at the chance to find out if there's intelligent life out there."

Brandy sat in her office. Migrating plants, a few large mammals.. no cities or anything humans associated with advanced life forms. Rubbing an aching spot over her left eye, she grabbed the next batch of thin plastic sheets and began reading.

She threw them across the room. Nothing, nothing and still nothing. They would go in blind. No significant information. No real fighting force, except for the Major and his cyber copilot. Why not just conduct long range scans and wait for big guns to back them up? It made some sense, they were the closest ship. They were also the least prepared. Major Ren thought far too much of himself and his little devices.

Walking around her desk, she gathered her documents. Her mind refusing to come unstuck from Major Ren. Dan and Lisa had stormed past her office a bit a go, the calls of "Pig headed fool" and "Ridiculous female" ringing down the hall as they went their separate ways. Doctor Kytten wondered what to do about those two. Their fights were only rivaled by her clashes with the Major.. ack.. back to him again.

Lt. Commander Cassandra Heaven ran down the hallway her fiery red hair falling out of its neatly kept bun. Passing and sometimes pushing her way past other members of the crew, she had a determined look on her face as she ran through them. Her heartbeat raced not just from the running but from the news she had just heard. Buffy's ship was missing.

"How could a ship just go missing?" She thought to herself as she made her way to the command deck. "Why didn't any one know what had happened? Why did this have to be happening to Buffy? What if I never see her again?" The last thought made Cassandra's blood run cold as it sent a shutter rippling through her body.

Cassandra's deep blue eyes fixed themselves on the door to the command room. It wasn't far now but once she got there she would still have to fight to get her way. She didn't know which ship had been chosen to go and find the Anteries but she was sure she was going to be on it, no matter what. Just before entering the command room she straightened her uniform and fixed her somewhat disheveled hair.

Saluting the captain as she entered she hurried to his side. " Captain I just heard about the Anteries. I wish to be reassigned to whatever ship is heading out the search mission. " She said with a determined yet formal voice.

Captain Michael had known Cassandra for many years now a friend of her fathers he had asked for her to be assigned to his ship once she finished the academy. She was just like her father he would always tell her and just like him she had a stubborn side. He knew that when she made such a request like this there was reason and he had better do as she asked or else she would find away to do it herself.

He pulled her into his office so that they could speak a little more freely. He was a good captain and knew not to show his favor for one member of the crew over another. "Cassandra, I know why you want to go on this mission but it might be dangerous and I don't know if you realize that." He looked at her with a father's eye, concerned for her well being and a little scared at what might happen to her if she went.

"Captain, Mike, I know you have always looked after me since dad died but this is something I have to do I have to find out what happen. I just can't stand not knowing what happened to her. I need to know. Can't you understand that?" Her voice was strong but he could hear the desperation in it.

"All right, the Homer has been assigned to look into the disappearance, it's not a military ship so you'll have to watch yourself, but I think I can get you aboard. You be careful though and if you need any help you know who to call, right?" His brown eyes got softer as he spoke to her now more like a dear friend talking then her supporter commander.

"Thank you Mike" she said as she wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly. Then as if all familiarity was gone she saluted once again and made her way to her cabin to pack for the trip.

On the Homer, Dr Kytten wakes with a short from a dream where walking plants were wearing little watch things and taunting her. Where had that come from. Plants with arms and legs, wandering around.... wait..

Scrambling among the reports, looking for..... yes.. Migrating plants. They looked rather like trees, thick middle trucks, branching growth on top.. they grew 2 to 4 root stalks, and frequently uprooted and moved independently along the surface of both planets. There was no explanation in the report. Just a few blurry pictures. Brandy's heart raced, the pain above her left eye receded. She dug around and found the mineral read outs for the areas the plants seem to inhabit most of the time.. Standard minerals found on earth... and a few strange, bio-reactive crystal type minerals that hadn't been categorized yet.

And she was off, racing down the hallways, reports clutched in her hands. This had to be it. Had to be a clue, a hit or IT. Hitting the key pad to Major Ren's quarters, over and over, dancing around with excitement. She'd found it!

Then the door opened. He looked.... different. His black hair sticking up in spikes, his blue eyes softer than the usual needle point focus they normally stabbed her with, and he was naked....... well, okay, he had on boxers, but Brandy felt her knees weaken, for a startled moment. Then she shook herself. She wasn't here to ogle the.... the... ah... brute.

"I found it!" She waved the mess of papers at him. She looked a bit like a deranged scientist, her hair sticking up in front where she'd been resting against her knees in her sleep, her usually neat uniform creased and sloppy. Major Ren blinked several times at her dumbly. "I found it!!"

"Ah. Come in" He moved out of her way and she slide past him, ignoring the warmth radiated from him and scurrying over to a table to spread out her data. "What did you find?" He noticed she was gnawing her lower lip when she whirled to face him.

"Read these!" She stepped over to the side, but he still brushed against her shirt front when he leaned over to read the papers. She managed not to blush, but the contact made other parts of her warm. *I am a deranged scientist.* But, she didn't move as he read. She noticed the fuzzy look fading with each glance, his blue eyes sharpening. Finally, he snorted and turned to face her.

Her temper sizzled to life. "No.. it's hours of research!! Brought before the mighty Ren." She bowed, her head bumping his chest. "The plants, the minerals.. if it's not the answer it's the key."

"Silly?" Her voice rose to a screech. "I try to help you out and you say it's silly?" Her body began to shake, she was over reacting, but he always sent her over the top, it was like a chemical reaction when she was around him. Snatching the papers, she stood on tip toes, and began poking him in chest. "Last time I checked, buster, this was my field, not yours!" He seemed to be leaning down for a moment, she lost her train of thought... "You.... are just a pilot with a gizmo! Listen to me..." And then, she realized that if she strained just a little more.. she could kiss him, then she realized she wanted to kiss him very badly. Then she ran from his quarters, not sure if it was her or him she was getting away from this time.

To watch from the outside it would appear that the Homer had simply blinked back into existence as its transluminal drives powered down. A shining and elegant vessel that looked more like a sleek jet than the bulky cruisers of the Space Force. It's sculpted wings and

Major Ren sat in the cockpit of his fighter, the Run-a-muck. While little more than a piloted missile in respect to armor, it was fast and with the advent of artificial intelligence their maneuverability were increased by ten-fold. That is where Angel came in she was one of

the newer Type IV AI's most pilots still used type II and III's. His rank garnered him to test Angel on the Homer's mission. She... and he, were about to get the best test the universe had to offer.

Still, with all the uncertainties and fears in his mind they always came back to what Brandy had said. Nonsense about smart plants and living metal. Ridiculous. Still, she had come to him, in the middle of the night no less and she looked lovely for a crazy wild-eyed scientist.

"I hate waiting. Angel patch me through to the squad." A flash of instrumentation and his display split into 5 pieces each with a member of his team. A rag tag bunch thrown on this assignment by commanders who were sick of having them. "Everyone set?"

The voice of his Lieutenant, Veronica Izumi echoed in his ears. "All ready, Ren." She smiled back and ribbed him, "We've been ready for hours now. Beginning to wonder if we'll see any action today." She was the only one who had been with him longer than this mission. The only one he trusted with his life, but there was no time for trust. Only the faith that these boys would do their job.

Something stirred deep within the bowels of the planet. The waves crashed over the shore with the new, frenzied rhythm of the planet. Birds flew overhead in deadly silence, while animals skittered about nervously. Something was coming, and it probably wasn't a good thing. It was what had silenced the intruders to the planet, to prevent more of them from coming. It was what now had the intruders locked safely away in a cave. It was on the move.

The ships closed in and the Homer and the fighters listened as Gray 2 neared the debris. "This is Gray 2, I'm approaching the wreck, definitely a Space Force escape pod. My gawd, there appear to be," there was a long pause as she her voice catches in her throat. "Bodies. Floating outside the pods."

Ren turned his fighter around to get a look from his vantage. The light played across the floating wrecks, he saw the outline of the bodies as they hung impossibly in space. The light played across them like metal. Like... crystal. He started and groped for the communications and managed to scream a warning. "Veronica get out of there it's a..."

Brandy bit back her shock, her horror and began analyzing the strange men in space. Her scans ran over them again and again. "Come on, faster.. I need this faster..." Resisting the urge to beat the control panel, but gnawing hard on her lip, brown eyes scanning the numbers flashing across the console, reading and trying to compile the raw data faster than the computer even. Finally, something blipped at her.

"Bingo." She looks at Captain Lemming, "Captain, those things have been created out of a bio-reactive material. Living crystalline metal. The data from inside them is shaky, the crystal structure is interfering with my scans, but what I can get seems to be plant matter with traces of animal like DNA. "

The Major confirmed having heard the data. Brandy worked the numbers still being gathered. "There's some sort of signal being emitted between the suits and that planet." She sent the data directly to Ren's console in his ship. "And that's the source of the life signs too."

The stars moved by so quickly as Cassandra raced through space in the skimmer, a one manned shuttle made for faster then normal travel. Its cool silver haul made it look like a star that had only been then a moment ago and was gone again just as quick. The skimmer was one of her own designs Lt. Commander of engineering with a specialty in design and theoretical construction. She was the Marra's best engineer and though most wouldn't admit in front of her commanders they would always turn to her when things looked grim because they knew she would come up with something to help them out. Though the stars may have been speeding by Cassandra couldn't help but still be impatient. She didn't want to wait, she wanted to be there now she wanted to know what was happening and if anything had been heard yet.

She was still 10,000 secs away from the Homer and that would take at lest an other two hours or so. But before she reached her new ship she wanted to make sure Mike's arrangements had been made solid and that when she finally made it she wouldn't just be turned around and sent back home.

Cassandra began trying to send messages to the Homer and her crew but the messages went unanswered. That only frightened her more, what if when she got there the Homer was gone too? Her heart began to beat faster as she tried different channels and wave lengths. Finally a bit of luck struck when she would hear a bit of radio communication not from the Homer but from her fighters. The messages were scrambled and she could only make a few words of each sentence but she knew for sure they were in trouble and she needed to hurry.

The footsteps were muted by the special acoustic design of the corridor and seem to sink in the muted lighting. The Citadel of the Exploration Directorate was indeed an exquisitely planned craft. It was the seat of the provisionally government of the frontiers which ruled the newly-colonized zones before they could fully join the Alliance of Free Worlds.

Two men walked along the corridor. One was Councilor Grumman, the representative of Terra in this sector. The other was Special Directorate Envoy, second class; his name was Pala Ridd. This latter was visibly tired. He only got here recently on a translum-velocity shuttle, and didn't get enough sleep in the last few Standard Hours.

Grumman snorted. ‘ I tell you there's no reason at all. They're not nearly as important as they would like to think. If little girls and boys want to play at exploration and heroism, let them; but if they run into trouble, I couldn't be bothered with them.’

‘See’, he continued ‘we are too few to push on with this exploration nonsense. The frontiers are really nothing but a way to occupy trouble-makers. Real humanity, now, that resides on Terra, or Sulvesis, or whatever that place you cone from, envoy……’

He glanced at the taller man to see the reaction on his face. If there was any it was difficult to read. Slightly annoyed at this silent Adelphin, the stupid incident with the Homer, and the universe in general, he continued.

‘I don't want to be here, do you see? I don't care about this frontier muck; but I can't decide everything. I'm not the most important person in the Directorate Hierarchy. The Exploration Force just uses you and doesn't ask questions much'

‘Which would you recommend, Councilor?’ said the other in an almost imperceptibly mocking tone. Grumman did not catch the tone; he spread his hands graciously ‘ I don't own bad craft, though the Rainbow is perhaps faster. In any case, do not expect to find much when you get there’

"Let's go kick some ass." The fighters shot off, shaking loose from the flurry of enemies. "Angel, scan for targets and our pilots near the wreckage." Lasers and missiles flew across the stars as the Run-a-muck flew towards the downed ships.

"Target the pod's power core and fire!" Angel, responding to the command, launched two heavy missiles. Ren watched as they streaked to the target and it exploded in waves of energy taking out the metal men near it.

Brandy cleared her head from the knock she'd taken as the ship had reeled from whatever had hit them. "Captain, the outer hulls are on fire... breech is possible." She pushed the display with shaking fingers. "So far, hull temp is acceptable. But we need to get some drones out there with fire fighting equipment as soon as possible."

She rubbed the sticky sweat out of her eyes, wondering why it was so thick, and continued to review the data on the enemy weapons. The screen seemed a bit dark for a moment and the ship seemed to buckle under her, but no new attack or damage reports came in. Then she saw it.. the things out there made no moves unless they were receiving the signal... "Ren, send out a message on the frequency I'm about to send you, it will jam them.. they are puppets, if we jam them it should stop them... " Her babble was cut off, as the information was sent to the Major, and the ship seems to wobble and buckle under her, and sank to her knees. *In just a moment, I'll get up and see what's hit us now.* Unaware that the gash and bump on her head was the cause of the motion. She could hear the rest of the crew, getting ready to evacuate if needed, running emergency procedure, and she rested her head on the hard metal of her station and closed her eyes.

Half listening, half concentrating on dodging fire the Major managed to gasp a reply. "Right... working on it... now." In a moment the fighter was pounced on by half a dozen of the robots or whatever they were. They pulled at the ship's hull ripping his craft to shreds. "I'm tore up here guys. Gray 5 get as close as you can to the planet and jam that signal. Gray 6 switch to EVAsuit. These guys are too maneuverable for our fighters."

As the ship crumpled around him he pushed his arm into a port beside his chair. "Angel transfer to EVAsuit. EVAsuit Online." The chair seemed to surround his flightsuit, encasing him in a shell. "EVAsuit eject" The canopy blasted open shooting him far from the disabled fighter. The craft exploded taking the metal men who had been tearing it apart in the fiery demise. He watched the sensors as Gray 6's pod shot from his craft. The two shells burst open and the two men drifted in space in the armored safety of the EVAsuit.

"Angel, switch to EVAsuit Battle Mode" Thrusters fired and weapons deployed on arm and shoulder mounts. Ren and Gray 6's pilot Jimm rocketed along the hull of the Homer, smashing into the enemies attacking the ship itself. Taking shots at close range to avoid further damage to the ship. They managed to take out quite a few before the machines stopped moving all together.

"Wooohooo.. we did it! Way to go Doctor." Expecting a reply but only hearing static Ren adjusted his communication system and tried again. "Doctor Kytten? Brandy?" In a panic, thinking the bridge destroyed he found a place where the auto repair panels had not been able to repair a breach. He slipped inside and engaged the manual sealer. Then running through the corridors with mechanically enhanced speed, he raced to the bridge. Most of the crew was either unconscious or dead. Commander Chen's body lay in a pool of blood where his head used to be. "EVAsuit Safe Mode" The armor and weapon systems retracted back into the large backpack assembly and he shrugged it off his shoulders, letting it drop to the deck. "Brandy? Captain? Anyone alive in here?"

Finding Doctor Kytten pinned under the Comma console made him wish he hadn't removed the EVA. Pulling it up enough to pull her loose he laid her down on the deck and pulled up her eyelids, which immediately slammed open.

Another blast hit the Homer and it began listing towards the planet's atmosphere. Ren jumped into the navigation seat who's previous occupant was also dead. "We're not going to be able to pull this out... we're going to have to land... or crash. He looked at the damaged Comma and shrugged. "Angel, tell Jimm to get his arse in here or he'll be stuck in space."

The craft righted itself enough to keep it from burning up but not much more. Jimm's EVAsuit darted inside a airlock before it got too hot to approach. Ren slapped the button for the intercom hard. "All hands prepare to ditch!"

Brandy felt a surge of relief. "Let's get him out of the rubble and find the other survivors...." Then she saw Tom... her heart turned into a rock for a few beats, but she swallowed and grabbed at one side of the Captain, and with Ren, began dragging him away from the worst of the wreckage. Even though she staggered and wobbled as the edges of the room grayed now and again, he didn't quarrel with her. He had to be doing most of the work.

Together, they went back. The communications officer, Ashlynne something.. she was alive, but hurt. Brandy managed to pull her out from under her station when Ren lifted it, and carried her to where they had the captain. The pulling made the ache in her head worse and the blood began to trickle from the gash in her head again.

Jimm entered the bridge as Brandy leaned against a wall for a moment to gather herself, head spinning, fresh blood irritating her eye. With a nod, he took over and she began tending to her friends. She did as he asked, preparing to ditch... hoping against hope not to die.

The once elegant Homer fell from the sky tattered and torn. The sleek bird shaped hull broken and smoking, shaking itself apart as it fell barely controlled to the planet. Falling to the planet that had seemingly done all of this to it in the first place.

It was darkness, smoke and pain. Slowly, she became aware of red lights blinking in the haze. Her eyes adjusted. Captain Lemming was moving in his seat, unbuckling and groaning. Ashlynne was also moving a bit. Jimm was actually out of his seat and helping her.

He was holding her hand... and mocking her. She managed to wrestle her hand out of his as Jimm came over and began working on the buckles of her seat. "My sleeping habits are none of your business." Getting out of her seat, proud that she didn't wobble, she moved over and joined Ashlynne staring at one of the few consoles still working. "Any other....... survivors?"

"Yes.. we have crew reporting in from lab sector, med facilities, repair bays, the galley and a few from quarters around decks. It's going to take a while to round us all up." But the sheen of tears belying her calm, professional voice spoke of just how few there were left. They were ravaged.

"Have the ones that are able search for the injured in their section, have everyone head to Med Labs. They are at the heart of the ship, let's hope they are still in good shape." Captain Robert Lemming was six shades of white, but in command as he gave Ashlynne her orders.

Brandy ignored the desire to sit and cry for fallen friends and focused on her mission. Find everyone, get them to Med Lab and get off this planet before it came for them. Her eyes wandered over to Ren, looking proud, even blacked and smudged. She felt a spark of anger. She clung to it. She used it to drowned out any other spark she might have been imagining she felt.

The Rainbow silently appeared out of nowhere above the Nakamura, a surreal pearl-gray shadow with one transcolour line along its length. Councilor Grumman did not own bad craft, that was true. It was a refitted Starchaser, the best light navy craft, capable of insane speeds, refurbished to satisfy a king and safer than a bunker.

Pala was alone inside it. He was sitting in the pilot chair, eyes closed, seemingly resting. He did not touch the control buttons while the ship positioned itself to enter the Nakamura’s gun range zone. Thin wires ran along his arms and into tiny ports that opened on his shoulders and his neck. The entire ship was wired directly into his nervous system. That way he could fly it, even though he had no training as a pilot.

He was currently busy downloading any relevant information into his brain over the UniNet, an ansible communications system that linked all the computers of the Directorate. There was little of use however.

The great matte black crates he brought with him were slowly being auto-unpacked. The Shapeshifter AI troops were being assembled and brought to functionality. No one needed to know of them, not the Citadel, not the Nakamura. Pala wasn't even going to dock; he just needed to report his arrival.

The Nakamura did not respond to his first call. The Nakamura systems must have recorded his message anyway but he wanted to speak to someone living. He repeated the call. The ship was still silent.

Reese laughed harder ‘I should have gone with the rest. I should have gone with the rest. We should have, hear me, Trish? Its all your fault you bitch’ and he laughed again ‘you know envoy, go home. There's nothing for you to do here’

The woman who must have been Trish replied then ‘Envoy, sir, he's drunk, ignore him. Yes we are the only people on board besides captain Carl who is incapacitated and is in the infirmary. The rest mutinied and deserted. The Homer, an exploration vessel, had went down over the planet some time ago.’

‘Well, seeing how the rest of the crew have abandoned ship you may legally evacuate it on grounds that you have insufficient staff to maintain it or return the craft to the nearest base. If you do leave, please leave your beacon satellites here, and activate their tracking systems. I will be going on an unplanned mission to the wreck site.’

As the skimmer came into close proximity to the missing ships last location and the supposed location of the Homer. Cassandra found herself alone in the stars. Running scans she could tell that there had been a battle and the debris that was left over was only of fighters from their side.

They must have advanced technology or just stronger ships to not have taken any damage in the battle. Cassandra's mind raced as she tried to think of where the rest of the ship had gone. Had they retreated? Were they distorted? The planet, Cassandra's eye lit up, as she looked down that the mostly barren planet. That had to be the answer where else could they have gone. Scans of the planet brought back strange readings for life signs. The scans said that most every inch of the planet below had some sort of life sign though the computer could not make out what kind of life form to classify it as. Trying to narrow her search she began to only look for humanoid life signs.

"Captain Michael of the Space Force ship Hades. Do you read me?" The line had a bit of static on it but she could tell it was going through. After a few more calls she began to get concerned but then just as she was loosing hope a familiar voice came over the comm.

"Captain Michael, we need help at the sense of the missing ship. The Homer has went down on the near by planet and I'm only getting faint life signs." Cassandra tried to stay as focused and logical as she could. " Please send help or come yourselves."

Cassandra ended transmission after that last sentence hoping it would show the dire nature of the situation. Her next thought was of how she could get to the planet and hopefully not run into what ever sent the Homer down.

Pala shook his head as he eavesdropped to the woman on the commlink with the Hades. The Hades was a capital ship and no doubt obeyed Grumman or one of the other cowardly councilors. Unless they would disobey orders.

The Rainbow flashed past the skimmer on a high – energy maneuver, and then shot around the moon, ran around it twice and slipped into the atmosphere, fading from view and scan systems as it descended. It headed towards the spot that appeared blank on the radar….

Dr. Brandy finished putting a splint on Lisa's arm. The head of Biological Studies looked dazed. Next to her, sat the head of Robotics. Dan and Lisa had not let go of each other's hands since reaching med labs with two other survivors. "It's not broken, more like a dent. But you still need to be careful. When we get out of here."

How would they get out of here? Brandy feared that any ship coming to their aide would be trapped as well. Unless the jammers were still working. Then, maybe... She swallowed down a wave of dizziness. She had a mild concussion and vaguely remembered her head slamming down on her instrument panel at some point. It had split open a gash on her forehead and blackened up her eye as well. But, there was so much to do. As long as she kept moving, she could ward off the weakness that wanted to over take her. So many of the survivors were too hurt to help, a simple head knock was not good enough in Brandy's mind to make her stop.

She could feel her hand trembling in his firm grip, and she blinked back the tears that threatened. There was no time for crying right now. The panic that had threatened to overwhelm her since the first strike on the Homer was gradually easing.

Her greatest shame was that she had not thought of the ship or its crew. At the first hit and in the subsequent confusion and melee, her only thought was Daniel. What if her last words to him were ones spoken in anger?

That she would have regretted eternally, although eternity seemed to be a very short time here on this planet. She had been at odds with the handsome Robotics head from day one. Forced to share lab space and limited resources, Lisa often felt that her department's needs were overlooked in favor of robotics. She privately admitted that part of her anger toward Daniel was not truly aimed at him, but at the superiors who placed more of a priority on his field of expertise.

But all of that had fled her mind at the screaming vibration struck the Homer. Her heart leapt to her throat, and her first thought was Daniel. Paying no attention to the intense pain in her arm from where she had been thrown against the table, limping on an ankle that barely supported her, she hobbled into the hallway, eyes burning from the acrid smoke. Forever seemed to pass before she approached Daniel's quarters... only to find him unconscious. He was bleeding from a gash in his upper arm, and a piece of jagged metal stuck in his leg.....

Tears filled her eyes as she fell to her knees beside him and stroked his cheek. His eyes, intensely blue, popped open and he stared at her, his expression mingled anger and pain, softening at the sight of her tears.

A static-filled announcement to prepare for crash landing came through on the comm... Lisa helped Daniel to stand and, supporting each other, they moved to the bed alcove. Lying together, bracing as well as possible, the Homer was down before they realized it... staring into each others' eyes, Lisa's green meeting Daniel's intense blue, the rest of the world faded away.

When the last shudders of the ship died away, Lisa and Daniel moved together toward the med lab, supporting each other. They joined the other survivors who hobbled, crawled and walked to the medical facility. Dr. Brandy was there, ready to treat everyone, disregarding her own injuries.

The sensors went blank. Pala sat in the pilot's chair, stupidly staring. He felt he was blind or deaf or something, the tired brain completely mistaking the ship's sensory data with his own. He breathed out and tried to re-establish the course. The sensors went on again, and then abruptly as before failed. And then again.

The scan came to life once again and told him there were no more blank spots on the hemisphere map. Then suddenly it showed two. Then one, but in the opposite direction from where he was heading.

Clearly the Rainbow was blind in the damned place. He then thought if he had made a mistake going here and not signaling the skimmer. Maybe this was something too tough for the Directorate tech to tackle. Maybe…

It was wiser not to panic, he decided, and re-tendrilled himself to the auto-pilot, retaining marginal control over the craft. The tendrils slid in easily along the by-now well defined channels, but it felt like a violation nonetheless. He was used to it, however.

He paused his breath. That the Rainbow was helpless and unarmed was beyond question, but he did bring something just in case something like this would happen. The AI troops were already unpacked, and stood behind him, each an exact replica of himself, equipped in Special Space – Infantry power suits. He was commlinked to all of them, a sort of pilot that flew eight at once. He just had to concentrate on thinking about it, and it would be no problem.

Then the Rainbow's scanners picked up a signal that was clearly a human craft; not a navy craft or a vessel he'd recognize the signature of, but human nonetheless. It must have been the Homer.

He decided to make a run for it, not directly for it but in the vicinity. The Rainbow had to be safe, his only ticket off this place. He ordered – thought, more correctly – the troopers dropped out of the bay door. They flew alongside the ship which was going slowly, the autopilot hampered by faulty scan systems.

Then the dots appeared in the sky, dark silver on purple, and at once an invisible beam of energy struck the reinforced left side of the Rainbow, and then it's side wing. He cursed and set it for a straight – down course that would end in a seeming crash near the Homer. The troopers split in three groups, two guarding the Rainbow, three going off sharply to the left and another three straight for the approaching things. The attackers seemed to be still concentrated on the Rainbow, not registering the danger that the troopers might pose them; the Rainbow shook as another charge just barely missed it.

The first three troopers swept out the plasma whips, a quantum – particle – excitation based weapon, much like what the enemy was using, and attacked first at range and then again closing in. The front two attackers vaporized while a third survived the attack and fired on the trooper closest. The trooper morphed to shrink and received most of the attack on the armors second skin, which smoked away into a wisp. The trooper, unharmed, swept with his weapon once again and destroyed the enemy.

There were four more that he was aware of. He hope to bring the other three troopers to confront them from behind, so to distract the enemy he charged the first three at the nearest one. It shot and missed; the troopers took it out; the other three attackers shot, all at once, at one of them.

A section of Pala’s brain groped and scraped blindly to try to register the trooper that was now ash and pulverized metal. He cursed, and then groaned because he was bringing the battle too close to the Homer. He turned the Rainbow a little to take a wider turn before making contact with the ground.

He quickly recalled the troopers towards his craft, finished his landing maneuver, and then sent the Rainbow's escape pod at max velocity at a direction totally different from where he was heading. He set it to send help calls at the most intense volume at all available frequencies, and then sharply turn its course to head out of the planet's atmosphere. A costly decoy he thought, but perhaps necessary.

He left one of the troopers to guard the Rainbow as it camouflaged itself against the background – one of the things Grumman was very proud of to have on his craft. The rest he took with him as he got into the remaining suit of armor and plasma-jetted towards the Homer.

With Lisa taking over for her, as she had almost fallen on the woman when she asked where she could help, Brandy sat at the data port in the Med Labs, slowly filling the data crystals with as much information as she could claim off the system in it's destroyed state. To sit felt good. Her legs were a bit wobbly.

The computer bleeped weakly and she changed crystals. Then, her chair turned, she put her hand out, suddenly gripping fabric. There was Major Ren with a first aide kit. "Are you trying to kill me?" Her voice didn't sound angry enough to her, breathless and excited..... but she was not breathless to be this close to him after avoiding him since the crash, not excited by his hand on her waist, holding her in her seat. She refused to be.

"Just let me fix that eye up a bit, Dr Kytty, then I'll be out of your hair." He actually knelt before her, his face hovering inches from hers for a moment and she cursed herself for noticing.

He put a covering on it, but instead of standing, he stayed there. His blue eyes digging into her brown ones. "Y-yes. Very lucky. Now I need to get this data saved. So the next ship won't have to be lucky." She realized she still had a handful of his shirt and let go. "Sorry."

Aboard the Scout Ship Anteries a lone body stirred on the dark and lifeless bridge. Despite her broken and bruised body, the blond haired woman rose back to the communications station where she had been sitting. Moaning while trying to focus on the blurred console she joked to herself, "Anyone get the registry on that asteroid?" She paused to look around at the empty bridge, "No. I guess not. Bridge to Captain Vaughn. Bridge to Captain Vaughn." She waited for several moments and received no reply.

"The crew quarters? My gawd, but it was third watch. Everyone was..." Staring in blank horror for a moment then shaking herself back to reality. Her voice came in between light sobs. "Anteries, who's left?"

"I've located 10 distinct life signs besides your own. Most are concentrated in the drive section. I am attempting to reroute communication systems to contact them. It will take some time, however I cannot at this time locate a viable access from the bridge."

"Great! I command a ship of specters. Wait a minute..." She took a moment for the first time to glance out the forward display which Anteries had brought up when he came online. "Where are the stars?"

His head fell and she could see a bit of the hurt in his expression. He sighed and stared into her eyes. "I'm just glad..." He straightened up realizing he'd let the moment overtake him. "Anyway, as for saving your life. You're welcome." Pulling her into his arms he pressed his lips to her own. Her eyes went wide as she was startled not only that he was kissing her, but she was kissing him back.

Brandy felt a sharp stab of disappointment as Ren broke off and left her. The kiss had been so much more than she'd dreamed it could be. His lips warm and firm..... Snapping herself out of it.. She finally heard what he'd said .... she was WELCOME for him saving her life? She was welcome? The data crystals cut into her palm as outrage warred with desire.

But that moment of hurt.. when she'd snapped at him before caught her. Maybe there was more to Christopher Ren than she'd thought. She felt herself softening toward him for a moment, then she shook herself. There was company coming.

Pala was feeling dizzy. The small army of robots he piloted became increasingly difficult to control and he was considering switching them to AI pilot; the Homer was already close, however, so he could hold out a little more.

He could locate the survivors by the results his suit's scans sent him. There were a number of them, too much for the Rainbow to carry outside. That was very very bad. If only the Nakamura was still there he could make a few round trips – what was he thinking that wasn't his mission at all, he thought, and quickly chased the thought away. He long decided that he wasn't going to carry out the Directorate's original plan but instead assist in the rescue.

So, a few round trips. In that space of time the Homer would have to defend itself against an unknown number of dangerous enemies. Even with the technology he was bringing, which could help boost the combat capabilities of those trained as fighters and soldiers, they stood little chance. And Rainbow could well not survive the escape, let alone the return.

Still, he got himself into this and now that was the only thing to do. His travel pack brought him close to the Homer; he landed, his troopers in a semicircle around him; he called the Homer over the commlink. He wanted his arrival to be at least impressive, and maybe even impressive enough to give the Home crew hope.

Brandy watched the ship land. It seemed unharmed but a little out of control. The air outside was thin, but breathable. It was a pretty ship. But it didn't look like a fighter. She heard Christo---- Major Ren curse. Then a few AI suites landed as well. Good, AI suites had jamming capabilities. This could work, this could work fine.

Waiting, she tucked the crystals in her suit pocket. In the middle of the crush of people, she was aware that HE had moved to stand behind her left shoulder. Perfectly ridiculous to be so aware of him. It had been one brief, meaningless, causal, hot and stirring kiss. Anything else was her imagination.

The man getting out of the rescue ship was very unexpected. He was not a fighter pilot. He was clearly a .... well.... bureaucrat. A very handsome one at that. He approached the outer hatch, and Captain Lemming opened it for him, surprising him a bit.

"Doctor Kytten?" Lemming looked for her and she wove her way through the crowd to him. "This man is going to have to make trips to take us off this planet, do you have the frequency to jam the enemies suits on those crystals?"

At the excited announcement of the arrival of the new ship, Lisa looked involuntarily at Daniel, catching him watching her with a smile. She smiled back, ducking her head, quickly finishing the bandage on the last of the wounded and praying it would hold until they got to safety.

"They'll take the most severely wounded first. We won't be until the third or fourth trip at least. Let me grab a few sample containers..." Slipping free from Daniel's arms, Lisa grabbed a small medical bag, filling it with empty vials and dishes. Returning to Daniel's side, she was alarmed to notice the blood soaking through the bandage on his leg.

"The movement broke it open. Dr. Brandy said that the puncture didn't hit the artery. I'll be fine. It doesn't even hurt that much. You wouldn't deny me a chance to see the local vegetation, now would you?" Daniel's tone was mild, but his gaze was challenging. Lisa warred between wanting to demand that he stay here and rest his leg, and wanting him by her side.

Giving in only because to do otherwise would cause an argument that their new-found love might prove too fragile to cope with, Lisa nodded acceptance. She handed Daniel the medical bag, and slipped her shoulder under his arm.

The skimmer shook as it descended at high speeds. The heat from the decent warming the inner haul just a bit above normal but this ship was meant for space travel and not for flying the in the planets atmosphere. Cassandra knew she had to do it though, she had to find Buffy no matter what. The Homer was her only lead so far and she knew she had to get to them if she wanted to have help in finding her beloved.

As she passed the clouds that she could see the Homer's wreckage on the barren ground below. There was another ship as well near it, not a fighter ship or by the looks of it much of a rescue ship either. The ground was coming up quickly to met her and she could just make out what seemed to be people standing waiting for the Homer to open it's doors to them. A semi circle of men in some kind of suits and someone else, a man it looked like though not in the same type of armor as the rest. It didn't matter who was there she was going to make her way onto that ship no matter what. She wouldn't let anything stand in her way.

The skimmer gave a bit of jerk as it landed hard on the rocky ground. The jostle undid the little bit of hair that had been still up on her head. Cassandra fiery red hair now fell down around her, it fell to the mid of her back with it's waves of shinny redness moving like the sea back home. Cassandra made her way to the bay doors and as she opened them the air being let in pushed her hair behind her to relieve her tight fitting uniform. Her well in dowed bosom heaved slightly as she took in this new air. Her long and slender legs carried her well as she moved to meet this another visitor to the Homer. She took with her only what she had to, the documents of her transfer, a small bag of medical supplies that she had and her own equipment for trying to salvage anything of use from the Homer's computer.

Rage. They had attacked her children. The had destroyed her link with them. they had slaughtered them. And now. Now they had set foot here. They dared traverse this place, when it was not theirs to traverse. They pulled her children from her, killing them. The were ignorant of their ways. Leeches. Virus'. Worms. They moved their way across the galaxy. Hurting her sisters. Raping them. Conforming them to their ways. But she was still in touch with the old ways. She knew how to manipulate the forces of the planet to her will. As manipulate she did. So. They dared step on her soil. Lets see how much they enjoy this paradise...

Some unknown distance away, the earth shook under Lisa and Daniel's feet. Slightly at first. So very slight. But the tremors grew until they were in a full blown earthquake, ripping open the freshly sealed wounds. Once again, upseting the crash site. They ran outside, away from the falling debris, using each other for support. Moments later a crack in the ground opened beneath the ship, swallowing it whole. As if supernaturally, it then closed back up; not as if it were new, but enough to know they would never get the ship remains out again. It had been buried.

Pala stared in disbelief as the planet did something he never believed possible; He was still standing in front of his small troop of Shapeshifters. He glanced wildly at the survivors and at the debris lying over the newly-closed earth, then at the running plants;

He turned his Comm unit to full volume and shouted to the survivors and crew; he then ordered the the AI troopers to take off the Space Infantry Suits, so that the people could wear them. If they hurry they could make it to the Rainbow, he thought, no matter the stupid flora and fauna. The Troopers than started morphing, turning into four-limb aircraft, like fantastic star flowers, guns at every arm. The outer layers of their armor hardened to form a surrogate of armor, tougher than their usual skins. They immediately shot off into the air and flew over the plants, frying many with plasma-wall devices, but not many enough, and then going for a second round. The plants seemed to shatter and expand, and then fired energy beams at the craft, which kept evading them, but just barely.

By that time, the Doctor, the Captain,the two survivors from the rest and the military-looking man got into the suits and were helping others worse hurt; seeing they were ready to follow, he shouted once again and plasma-jetted to the Rainbow; The craft went for one more round and then followed him. S6 suits, six survivors, he thought. What a mess

Christopher walked to the small cargo area of Pala's ship. The others heard him mumbling to himself but ignored it. He was always talking to that watch of his anyway. He unloaded the supplies Pala had offered to help and gave them to various members of the crew. Then he found it. "Here it is, Light Environmental Speed Suit Mark... nine?" Clearing away the dust from the old numeral IX to make sure it wasn't a mistake. "I don't know who this guy is... but he has some amazing toys."

The Major didn't respond he was dragging the surprisingly light crate towards the newest ship. He dropped the crate beside himself and managed an official greeting with only a minimal amount of drool. Seeing his rank Cassandra saluted her superior and she had to linger there a moment for his eyes to track back up to her head. With a slight blush he saluted her back. "Hello Commander, I've heard of you though the reports obviously didn't do you justice.. You're an engineer of some merit, correct?"

A bit shocked by the rejection of his charms he straightened and replied flatly, "No, we were attacked rather quickly. A trap in fact. It's a good thing you showed up here. Our last engineer, lost his head."

He turned back to the others and spoke, but they heard two voices speaking in unison. "Get to cover, have Mr. Ridd get his robots to help us." With that Ren's armor shimmered from silver to black and ran off towards the advancing creatures.

Ren plowed into the weird plant creatures with a vengeance and precision to rival any fighter. The armor slid down, past his hands to form long sickle-shaped appendages. Slicing through then at lightning speed. He was aware of all his surroundings from the ships getting ready for lift off to the fighters overhead. He slammed into the enemy hacking them at every front but there were too many. They broke past him and the fighters. He was aware of the wholesale slaughter of his former shipmates, helplessly pinned in by the creatures, blasting and cutting away at the nearly limitless numbers.

"Come on, damn it, you have six degrees... this should be easy.." Hitting some button, the suit came to life around her... Then the plants hit her hard. She managed to find one or two of the guns, and put up a decent fight, but she was untrained and went down... hard under the onslaught.

The suits sensors, Angel and Ren all registered Brandy go down at once. The sum of all his human rage and the pinpoint accuracy of Angel flew out in a massive static discharge from the suitpack. The creatures paused for a fraction of a second, but Ren had already given most of himself over to the link and sprung from the tangle with unprecedented speed. The shadowed form faded to blend with the sky as it rocketed towards the fallen Doctor.

"You Bitch, work!" If she noticed the cursing she was doing, the doctor gave no notice, she used the puny guns she had managed to figure out so far. "Stand UP! ARGH!" She could see the flashes of the warnings, see the little blasts of flame from the damage.

Looking up Cassandra saw the approaching hoards of plants, watching as Major Ren flew into action she herself wasn't far behind. Reaching into her bag of equipment she pulled out the one thing that Mike had insisted she take, her energy riffle. She was one of the best marks man on her ship but then being raised in the military and by a fighter had that effect on a girl. Pushing at the girl who had come up behind Major Ren she moved her behind the line of fire. Standing in front of her Cassandra began to fire at the ever-encroaching plants. Her aim was good, her aim was great taking down everything she hit, but for everyone she took down the vast numbers never seemed to dwindle. As the plants were hit she noticed something strange. The ones not vaporized by her riffle were being pulled back into the plant, their bodies almost becoming part of the ground beneath them.

"That's it!" Her voice was loud and strong as she spoke but still it was feminine some how. Turning back to the young woman behind her Cassandra's eyes were fierce like a storm were flying inside of them. " Get down and find some cover" she told the young woman too late. She had put on one of Pala's suit and was buried under attacking creatures.

Cassandra had one more trick up her sleeve, reaching into her bag again she pulled out what looked like a simple glass ball. Throwing it as hard as she could into the center of the approaching hoard it exploded into a thousand pieces bringing with it a shower of liquid oxygen it's tiny drops of water like liquid freezing everything it touched. Thousands of the plants frozen in place like ice cravings with one last shot of her energy riffle the whole mess of plants exploded into a fiery ball of flames. Nothing seemed to be left but scorched earth before her.

He suddenly realized he wasn't really wanting to die. He was already out of his suit, but he still had the personal armor and the bounce-shoes on. Just good enough for a quick trip outside.

The shoes brought him in great leaps right to where the beleaguered Major was trying to fend off the creatures. Pala used the one-charge plasma whip, withering those closest, threw it away, and hit Ren with the impact of his entire body going very fast.

'You're going to the ship. Now' he said 'i need you to fly the damn thing out of here. If you won't cooperate and will try to stay and die with the rest i will disable you and take you with me and try to fly the thing on my own. And if we ever get to a directorate center, be sure you'll suffer.'

The man was speaking, but Pala didn't listen. He just switched off the suit with his Key control and pulled off the plasma-jet. Strapping it to his back, he grabbed the man and flew towards the Rainbow.

There were enemies blocking his path. His weapons were used up; he breathed deeply, then hoisted the still-helpless Lemming in front of him, and charged at them with the full speed the thrusters could produce. The feeble attack the creatures made was not effective against the armor Ren wore, and the impact knocked them to the ground. Regaining direction, Pala made it to the ship.

Pala instantly made the chair straps bind him. Then he tendrilled the pilot into the ship's system, watching in grim sympathy as the tendril pierced his flesh to bind itself to his nerves. It was painful, Pala knew.

Cassandra had made her way to where one of the disabled suits was. Hitting the outside control the suit opened to reveal a young woman inside of it, a very beautiful young woman at that. Grabbing her hand Cassandra pulled her out from inside the suit.

"We've got to get out of here for now" Cassandra's voice was forceful and she knew it could be hard at times. " I have a ship near by come on and we can get as many of the survivors left that will fit on my ship.

Cassandra knew she didn't have a big ship but it could hold at lest 15 people with most of its cargo expelled. Mike would be here soon, she just knew it and he could take the rest of the wounded crew as she went off to find Buffy. There was nothing more she could do for anyone here but try to get them off the plant and pray that Buffy was still all right.

Slightly dragging the young woman with her Cassandra gathered up all the people she could find near her and put them on the Skimmer. The engines roared as she brought them to life. The flare from the take off took another hundred of the plants with her when she took off. A smile crossed her lips at the thought of them burning and if she thought for a minute that something had happen to her Buffy she would be back to finish off the planet.

Two got destroyed while they transformed and lost their armor; the other four made it. He swore, and ordered them to dive for the suited humans. One just barely missed coming to the aid of the woman scientist – Dr.Kytten her name? – who was rescued by Cassandra. The others were more successful, swooping the survivors from the ground and into the Rainbow's hold.

The Rainbow made a few lazy sweeps over the mayhem, and once all the survivors were picked, soared upwards. The Robots, totally out of Pala’s control, chased the enemies until they were destroyed one by one.

He felt the blood sing in his ears measuring the beat of the universe. He felt elated in a sick, helpless way. He looked at Dan and Lisa, and at the rest, most still dazed, but now getting better. Then his head swam and he fainted, just jerking himself out of control over Ren in the nick of time.

Inside the small skimmer ship, the communications display lit up before Brandy and Cassandra. They were confronted with the face of a young woman. Brandy recognized it as the 'face' of the Major's AI. The eerie dual voice of Christopher and Angel echoed through the cockpit. "Help me. I... We are in danger." The image waivered and seemed nearly as confused as the two viewing her. "You must save him. We have buried my consciousness to protect us." The girl seemed to shake herself and the voice was only the girl. "No, must stay separate. He's hiding in the Rainbow's systems. His mind nearly lost to me. Hurry, please save me." The two voices merged once more into a horrible scream and the communication ended.

Brandy's face went white. "Christopher?" She turned to the lovely young lady who had saved her. "I can jam those damn plants so they won't attack. Then, we take the Rainbow down and get the Major out!" She didn't sound ragged, though that's how she felt as she quickly relearned the console. "No weapons systems, no problem." She cranked the jammers up and watched the plants wilt. "I love being smart."

Cassandra knew her ship wasn't as big as the other but it was faster and it could take just about anything. Flying in close to the Rainbow she brought the Skimmer down on top of the Rainbow, tilting the Skimmers engines up so that they could force the other ship down. It was a bit of a fight to get past the size of the other ship but the Skimmer's engines were stronger and finally brought the other ship to the ground once again. Hitting one of the consoles energy cables shot out of the bottom of the Skimmer locking themselves around the Rainbow in a net form.

"Captain Michael are you out there?" She knew that he would be there, those stupid councilors thought they could tell the military want to do. The military was bound by different rules then politics and if this little diplomat who was inside the Rainbow thought he could get away with kidnapping and not have to stand up for it he was sadly mistaken.

A moment later Cassandra heard a familiar voice over the comm system. " Lt.Commander Heaven are you there? We're in orbit right now, will you be needing assistance?" Mike, Cassandra thought to herself. A soft smile crossed her ruby red lips and her whole demeanor seemed to change, to grow a bit softer. "Well I don't think we need help coming up but we do have some hurt people here and one diplomat who needs to be put in the brig." Her voice was steady as always but then with a sense of tenderness her continued " Thanks for coming".

The flight up was hard on the engines pulling two ships at once but they finally made it up to the awaiting ship. Doctors and military personal swarmed the Rainbow, taking the diplomat in custody and taking Major Ren to the infirmary. But they still didn't know anything more about the Anteries and that worried Cassandra.