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ES01 - Eternal Sunder (part 01): Prologue
Date: 11 March 2003, 9:20 AM

Note: This is part 1 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

Prologue


      After the last Great Holy War and the defeat of the Insane Ones, this galaxy foresaw a time of peace and understanding unprecedented in hundreds of thousands of years. Long time enemies had united and never again would they allow corruption, tyranny and greed to oppress the peoples of this galaxy. Hope burned eternal and the long and often disappointing task of finding survivors had begun.

      The war had not been without its casualties. Only three of the elder nations still existed, the rest scattered or destroyed. The foremost nation of the Praetor, whose ancestors spawned the great fortress ring worlds throughout this galaxy, was the most politically dominant of the three, having risen again in the last war as an alliance of many younger races, including the humans of Earth. Close behind and always meddling in the affairs of others was the nation of Archon, whose people were of such beauty as to be compared to angels and whose wrath was as swift and vengeful as a new star's birth. Last but not least of the three elder nations was Nomdia, the most advanced in the lines of technology, the Nomdian people were cool and calculating telepaths of immense power.

      At first the search for survivors brought great happiness. Praetorian cruisers guided to survivors by the mystic powers of the Archons and the Nomdian telepaths, headed to all arms of the galaxy. Lost refuges were united with their kin and forgotten worlds rediscovered.

      However, this is a cold and uncaring galaxy, none could foresee the coming of a new enemy -- Risen from the remains of rampant human AIs and the fusion with a race of creatures so horrid as to have caused not one but seven Great Holy Wars, it came. Referred to as the Biomechs, they were the fusion of creature and nano-machine. What they truly wanted no one really knew, but none ever came back from their domains.

      Humanity was scattered, mostly wiped-out by the Biomechs, and the three elder nations could do nothing but hide behind the protections of an ancient race so long gone as to be known only as the Old Ones.

      So begins this story, in the mist of a dreadful new enemy, three familiar beings, whose faces are now wrinkled from centuries of aging, travel aboard a starship to meet with the Great Council of the Elder Nations.


      "Sirs, excuse me, but the commander would like you to be awake for this," shouted the Praetorian Grunt.

      An aged man opens his eyes. "I may be the oldest human alive, son, but I'm not deaf," replied John as he nudged a frail old man-sized reptilian creature that had fallen asleep in the chair next to him.

      "I'm awake already," said the reptile man. "What's all the commotion? I need my Sauran beauty rest."

      "Sir John and Sir Croaker, we about to exit the Web of Mira," stated the Praetorian Grunt. "The commander would like you all to be awake. What am I to do about Sir Max?"

      Next to the reptile man was a statuesque and very old Imperial Elite with the colors and marking from the mighty House of Rellius. His eyes appeared closed.

      "Go ahead and splash a bucket of water over him," snidely said Croaker with a big reptilian smirk. "Of course, I wouldn't stand too close when you do it."

      The Grunt looked to John for some sign of confirmation. The Grunt was not accustomed to human body language; he had no idea what a raised eyebrow meant. He reached for a pitcher of water.

      The sound of a phased plasma discharge set off alarms. Security forces escorted the ship's commander into the room. "What's going on here?" demanded Commander Muk-a-luk, but he did not have to wonder long. Before him stood a shaking Grunt, too scared to move. In the Grunts hands was an empty pitcher with a large hole blasted through the bottom. There was no water around; the plasma had cleanly boiled all the water away while it was still in the air. Commander Muk-a-luk looked at the Sauran, Croaker.

      "Don't look at me Commander," said Croaker as he gestured towards Max. "Besides, I don't even like plasma weapons, I prefer my good old slug throwers."

      Max's eyes opened and the mighty Elite looked at the Grunt saying, "Never disturb an Imperial Elite especially one that is meditating, now go change your undergarments."

      "Yes sir," said the Grunt. A distinct sloshing sound came from the Grunts pants as he ran off.

      "That's the third one this month," remarked Commander Muk-a-luk. "Sirs, I have to say that it has been an honor to have you aboard, but I can't say I won't be glad to see you go. I'm running out of crew."

      "Understood Commander," said John. "How long now?"

      "Less than thirty minutes," replied Commander Muk-a-luk. "We have just exited the Web of Mira and our light sails are retracted. Our engines could get us to Mira sooner, but we need to pass through several security checkpoints."

      "Mira," muttered John. "It's been too long, I have so many memories from there."

      "I don't know if you'll get to see it again, Sir John," said Commander Muk-a-luk. "Now that it's the new Seat of Power for the Great Council, we are not allowed to set foot on the planet surface. Not only are they worried about spies but also the danger of nano-viruses."

      "Yes I've heard of those," said Max. "The latest weapon used by the Biomechs against us."

      "Affirmative Sir Max," replied Commander Muk-a-luk. "I have orders to dock with the satellite Titan III. That is all I know."

      Titan III was one of the largest defensive satellites that protected the world of Mira. Besides its awesome 77-kilometer wide mass drivers, the newly added stellar converter, and full compliment of defensive weaponry, the satellite now housed Valahundra, a magnificent crystal palace.

      John, Croaker and Max are summoned to Valahundra. There in the Chamber of Ancients, they now stand amongst the holograms of the Great Council. The Nomdian known as the Eldar leads the Tribunal, the three highest seats in the council; beside him are the Praetor Janius and the Archon Princess Katrina.

      The Eldar speaks, "Long has this council welcomed the great heroes three, but today is not a welcome but a sending. Sir John, Sir Croaker, and Sir Max, the council beseeches you to partake a holy quest to retrieve a Biomech Core."

      Praetor Janius continues, "The Biomech plaque is upon us, and for us to stop it, we must understand it. The Biomech Cores control the many Biomech warriors, but that is all we know. Will you accept this quest."

      Max and Croaker look to John for words. John ruffles his long beard and turns to Croaker saying, "Croaker, you are the oldest among us, perhaps you could explain?"

      Croaker nods and turns to the Tribunal. "We are honored, however, we are not as young as we used to be. I am the oldest, I have been ancient longer than I can remember, but I'm still aging better than these two. Everyday, when they get up in the morning, their bones creak and their backs ache. They forget things, like what they ate for dinner last night and whose turn it is to go into town. Are there not others more capable than us."

      "Sir Croaker," softly stated Princess Katrina, "Those are such petty matters in this company. Of course there are others, but the Shadowguard is on a long mission to rescue our Queen and the rest are busy protecting our territories. Do you accept the mission?"

      The three did not hesitate this time. They unanimously answered an affirmative, "Yes."

      "Good," proudly spoke the Eldar, "and you will be the leader Sir John, that we have already decided. Now much preparation is needed, we will start with the Archons."

      "The Archons have long held the secret to immortality," said the beautiful Princess Katrina. "Aging is in the natural order of things, and all that is natural is the realm of the Archons." As she spoke a song, the multi-colored magic of the Archons surrounded the three.

      John, Croaker and Max feel the surge of life's energy infusing within them. Their frail wrinkled bodies transform into vessels with bulging muscle and young faces.

      Max clenches his fingers into a fist. "I feel the power," Max shouts, "Life's energy is summoned from the well of time, I am young again." Croaker raises his arms and cries an ancient Sauran battle cry. John stares at his body in amazement, flexing his muscles and rolling his shoulders.

      "There will be plenty of time on your journey to reacquaint yourselves with your younger bodies," stated the Praetor Janius. "You will need more than your younger bodies for this quest. Behold, your armor."

      Before the three appeared one suit of armor for each of them. The armor was the likeness of their old armor that they each wore through many campaigns, but it was obvious that this armor was much more advanced.

      "We designed the armor specifically to look like your old armor, we felt you would feel more comfortable wearing it," said the Praetor Janius.

      "Yes, thank you," replied John.

      "This is more than we could ask for," added Croaker and Max.

      "And there is still more," came a graceful and penetrating voice from the shadows. John was the first to be revealed the figure behind the voice. Eyes as gray as a northern sea on a moon full night, hair as dark as a starless night, and beauty beyond description by mere words, it was her. Princess Kira of the Archons spoke once more, "John, it is so good to see you again. You have wondered why I was not here before at the council to greet you. Well, you see I have stepped down from my position in the Tribunal, my sister has taken my place so that I may accompany you on this journey. Oh, and there are others."

      From the shadows appeared another figure, this one much shorter and with the distinctive black and purple robes, green skin and tentacle-faced body of a Nomdian, a very young Nomdian -- a child. "I am the Lady," said the Nomdian. "Do not let my young age deceive you, I have all the memories of the previous Ladies, including the great Lady who you knew well. It is the Nomdian tradition to pass our memories from generation to generation as you already should know."

      Before John could say a word, a familiar blue light appeared. "Greeting, I am 343 Guilty Spark. It is an honor to have been chosen to accompany you, Reclaimer, on such an important mission."

      "Sparky, you old tin can, I thought you would be scrap metal by now," said John.

      "Why I have you know I'm not even made of regular metal, I am a construct of the highest order," replied 343 Guilty Spark who paused for a moment to see that Princess Kira and the Lady were smiling. "Oh, I see, scrap metal is a term of endearment to humans, my translation circuits are fully functional, you know."

      "All we need now is a way to get to where we are going," commented Max.

      "Ask and thou shall receive," replied the Eldar. "Your new ship, Eternity's Sunder, waits for you as we speak. It is a marvelous vessel, the combination of Old One, Nomdian, Archonian, and Praetorian technologies. You shall leave immediately."

      "And so it begins," whispered John to himself.

      "Yes, old friend," said Max. "You shall don your armor and be called Spartan once more, and I shall again be called Imperial Maximus Elitus."

      "What about me?" asked Croaker. "Do I get a noble title."

      "Yes, you shall be known as Croaker the Sturdy; have you already forgotten what we used to call you?" said Max.

      

      The conversation continues as the party boards Eternity's Sunder. Croaker looks at Max saying, "Croaker the Sturdy is good, but I think I'd rather be known as Croaker the Invincible."

      "You still don't get it Croaker," replied Max. "You can only be known for titles you were actually called. No one ever called you Croaker the Invincible. Croaker the Cheat, Croaker the Back stabber, Croaker the Sneaky -- yes, but never Croaker the Invincible."

      John interrupts the conversation saying, "Princess, why did the Council select me to be leader? Max is a great general and you are the leader of the Archons. The Lady has the thoughts of 200 Nomdian generations. Even Sparky has led legions of Sentinels."

      "Such an answer cannot be taught, it must be learned," replied Princess Kira. "Shall we start with this ship, Chief?"

      "I never can expect a simple answer from an Archon," said John. "Alright what do we have here."

      "I thought you would never ask, allow me," interjected 343 Guilty Spark. "First we start with the Old Ones. This ship does not have conventional shields; its outer hull is surrounded by a null-field, this means virtually all the energy from an incoming attack is absorbed leaving only the momentum to do damage. However, phased weapons are not absorbed as efficiently as standard energy weapons. The null field also allows us to travel through the Web of Mira without the need of light sails for power. The outer hull is the finest Archonian living armor, with full regenerative capabilities and the ability to adapt to incoming attacks as well as anti-phased shielding. The hull is also interlaced with Nomdian neural shielding to prevent unwanted mental intrusions. We are also very agile and quick; the normal space engines are designed from Nomdian and Old Ones technology with full inertialess drive capabilities. The star drive is a Praetorian inter-phased engine capable of the fastest Slipstream speeds as well as instantaneous phasing into and out of normal space while traveling at Slipstream speeds. This ship is also equipped with an Archonian Stargate projector. I don't think I can stress enough the importance of not allowing this ship to be captured by the enemy. If the Biomechs were to acquire Stargate technology to this level, we would lose a huge strategic advantage over them."

      "So we are fast and have defenses, what about our weapons?" asked John. "We don't plan on running away from every encounter, or do we?"

      "Certainly not," said the Lady. "We must not only engage the enemy, but we can't allow them to escape the battle with any valuable intelligence about us. This ship is equipped with a full and effective arsenal. Allow me to give the overview."

      343 Guilty Spark moved his blue light up and down to signal a nod.

      The Lady continued, "For starters we have a full array of point-defense Praetorian anti-matter phased-plasma cutter beams. We have a new Nomdian weapon called a tremor pulse sphere (TPS), which emits a violent sphere of gravity waves that can both knock surrounding ships out of Slipstream in a 900,000 kilometer radius and effectively shake apart most other objects, including incoming missiles in a 300,000 kilometer radius. Our standard weapons consist of six Nomdian disrupter cannons, as you know disrupters are super-effective at taking down enemy shields and overloading electrical systems. We also have 24 standard mount, Praetorian anti-matter, phased-plasma cutter beams. Our heavy weapons consist of two spinal mount inter-phased mass drivers that are capable of launching anti-matter plasma torpedoes, neutronium bombs, and dumb ordinance through normal and Slipstream space. In addition, we have one heavy Nomdian PSI booster that will come in very handy against the Biomechs. And finally, we have one Archonian Flux device capable of destroying most unshielded fleets of ships as well as causing whole stars to explode in one shot. That ought to do it."

      "I certainly hope so," said Croaker who was now quite fascinated and excited at the thought of examining all this new technology. "John, to think all of this is in a ship smaller than most of your human light cruisers."

      Without provocation, the mighty Elite Max spoke, "I see why John was chosen to lead us."

      "Please tell me then Max," remarked John.

      Max put his hand on John's chest. "John, we have a saying that translates to 'fight fire with fire' and that we can do, for every weapon the Biomechs have, we have something as good or better, but the Biomechs have something we don't, they have unlimited numbers and time. We can fight and destroy world for world, but in the end, we will lose. The Biomech nano-viruses can affect both machine and living flesh; their hatcheries produce the horrid creatures of flesh and machine that spread the disease and with the disease even our own allies and creations can be turned against us. We can never take back what they have taken; we can only burn those places in hopes that no life can ever live there again. Glassing worlds it was called and you are quite familiar with that term for in the past Great Holy War, it was the human worlds that suffered this fate more than any other race. Meeting force with force is not the answer on this quest, we have another saying more appropriate, it goes, 'be like water' and that is what we need to do. To be like water, we must adapt to the human ways; the elder races are too fixed in their methods this is our downfall. It took the humans merely a few thousand years to create AIs that surpassed even the constructs of the Praetor and their ancestors, the Forerunners. Humanity has long been called the 'Key to Gates of Eternity' by the Archons and such a fitting name that our ship is called Eternity's Sunder...(Sigh). John, I have served at your side for many centuries and I knew from the very beginning that your leadership allowed us to adapt to the enemy -- to be like water."

      "Thank you Max," said John. "I have always sought leadership through example, I ask only that you all speak freely with me, all suggestions are welcome. Princess Kira, what is our first destination?"

      "John, there is hope that we can find a seventh member of this party; an old friend of yours."

      "You mean Cortana?"

      "Yes, reports are that she may be near a remote human colony in the Sindar spoke," said Princess Kira, "and the people there might know of her exact location."

      "Did not she go rampant many years ago, after the death of her daughter?" interjected 343 GS.

      "You should speak of rampant, Guilty Spark," said the Lady. Her words were like rust and corrosion to the little construct. "But I forgive you Sparky, such times are in the past. To answer your question, Cort or Cortana as she is more formally known, was said to have gone rampant, having traveled too far in the realm of insanity on her journey to godhood, but by many accounts, it is said she did not join the Biomech collective. Whether she is rampant or not, or even capable of going rampant like other constructs is not our concern because any construct that does not join the Biomechs is their enemy, and that makes Cortana the enemy of our enemy."

      "What is it John?" asked Princess Kira.

      "You must know that Cortana and I did not separate on the best of terms," reluctantly replied John. "Even if we do find her, I'm not sure she will help us."

      Croaker, the sturdy Sauran stood up straight next to John. "What does it matter, really what does it? We are here now together and I see great adventure ahead of us."

      As all the others gathered close around, John seemed distant in his own thoughts. Next stop would be the Sindar spoke. Truly, this was just the beginning.

ES02 - Eternal Sunder (part 02): First Encounter
Date: 19 March 2003, 11:25 AM

Note: This is part 2 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

First Encounter


      It was standard protocol on this mission to Stargate no closer than 3 light years from a system. This was because the Stargate projector acts as an enormous signal beacon that could easily be picked up by enemy sensors in the region.

      The target system on this venture was known as Neep and it was hidden deep in the Sindar spoke. Sindar was a small nebula near the outskirts of this galaxy. Its shape was elongated with a long tail, which from certain observation points looked more like a long spoke than a tail. Hence the name, Sindar spoke.

      Having arrived via Stargate the minimum 3 light years from Neep, Eternity's Sunder zoomed towards the system using its Inter-phased drive. The distance would be covered in less than 24 hours.

      Aboard Eternity's Sunder, 343 Guilty Spark controlled the ship's helm and tactical displays while the Lady called the shots. John was the appointed leader of the group, but his human brain was incapable of handling the complexities needed for space combat against the Biomechs. Few could, but the Lady is one of them.

      However, even with the Lady's telepathic brain and memories from over 200 generations of Nomdians, she was at a disadvantage for the Biomech cunning was unmatched among purely organic beings. John and the others surely hoped that their mission would be a success to find Cortana and sway her to join the group.


      "We are one day away from Neep by Inter-phase drive, John," replied 343 GS. "It is standard protocol on this mission to arrive at least 3 light years from the intended target. As you know our Stargate projector acts as an enormous signal beacon to all sensors in the area, but you already knew that, we told you."

      "Yes, you did Sparky, many times," responded John with a smile.

      "I fail to see the humor in all of this," said 343 GS, "the Biomech sensors are very advanced, we just traveled over seven thousand parsecs in a matter of seconds via Stargate; I can't help but think of the disturbance we caused in the fabric of the universe. You have observed that we have followed protocol to the letter on this endeavor."

      "It's not humor," explained Princess Kira, her soothing and penetrating voice silences the whole crew while she speaks. "Sparky, John is just happy that you have not changed much in all this time. Much change in John's life has been painful; your consistency, although sometimes a bit routine, is refreshing."

      343 GS pondered the thought for a moment, then responded saying, "change is such a fascinating subject, to be categorized and observed, but I have never much thought of it as being painful."

      While 343 GS was still talking, Princess Kira suddenly turned to the Lady asking, "What is it?"

      "Alert code red," interjected the Lady. The Lady stared into oblivion with her glowing purple orbs. "Something is trying to neural scan us, I'm tracing it back to the source. Got it, picking up cybernetic thought patterns approximately 2,000,000 kilometers away."

      "Red protocol 12 initiated," stated 343 GS. "Scanning, one silhouette, 87% match to Biomech Combat Survey Ship (CSS). We are in pursuit, attempting to jam their communications. We shall overtake them in 35 seconds. Arming weapons, we'll have two phased anti-matter plasma torpedoes ready to fire in seven seconds, secondary weapons already armed."

      "No, initiate red protocol 17," insisted the Lady. "We need to arm the neutronium bombs."

      343 GS hesitated for a moment, "The bombs are not maneuverable enough to hit the target and no Biomech ship of that size has a Stargate projector. Plasma torpedoes readied."

      "Counter that protocol Sparky, go with 17, arm those bombs," ordered John. "The Lady calls the shots."

      "Aye sir, discharging excess plasma, arming neutronium bombs, red protocol 17 initiated," reluctantly replied 343 GS.

      "What's a Biomech ship doing out here in anyway?" muttered John to himself.

      "Alert code black," exclaimed 343 GS. "We have an incoming phased anti-matter torpedo. It's from a second ship. Scanning, it's identified as a Biomech sensor base, 10,000,000 kilometers away, and we have a Stargate forming next to it."

      No reply came from the Lady who appeared to be in deep thought.

      343 GS continued, "Protocol is to take the hit, calculations show 95% energy reduction by our null field and the rest of the torpedo's damage can be easily negated by our armor. If we evade the torpedo, the Biomech ship will escape through the Stargate."

      "Take the hit, eliminate the enemy presence," stated the Lady. "I don't like this."

      "Plasma impact in 2, 1, negligible damage," said 343 GS. "In range, firing phased mass drivers, two neutronium bombs targeting Biomech Stargate. One neutronium bomb eliminated by Biomech defensive fire. Second bomb has detonated on target; Stargate collapsed. Scanning, but interference from the neutronium implosion is making it difficult to get a good reading."

      343 GS scanned for a few seconds more before saying, "The Biomech sensor base destroyed, it was within the implosion radius of the bomb. Engaging Biomech ship with disrupters. Their shields have been nullified. Cutter beams engaging, target destroyed. TPS firing, all enemy life pods and recording devices eliminated."

      "John, that was not much resistance," remarked Princess Kira. "Even if we did catch them by surprise, why would the Biomech survey ship lead us to their base?"

      343 GS interrupted saying, "Pardon the intrusion, but there is a 99.7 percent chance that the Biomech base transmitted a signal before I could jam it. I'm prepared to intercept the most likely course of the transmission."

      "Do it Sparky, now!" shouted the Lady. She appeared a bit distraught.

      343 GS initiated the Stargate projector, in moments their ship, Eternity's Sunder, was propelled 12 light years away. 343 Guilty Spark made the necessary preparations. "Incoming Biomech sub-space communications should be coming in, yes we have one, nullifying signal. Successful."

      The Lady did not allow anyone else to comment on the situation; instead she quickly spouted out orders to 343 Guilty Spark. "Sparky, get us back to near where the Biomech base was and carefully scan the area and our outer hull.

      John signaled for 343 GS to follow the Lady's orders; then John's gaze focused on the Lady. "My Lady, how did you know to arm the neutronium bombs?"

      "John, there was something wrong from the start," replied the Lady. "The Biomech neural scan did not try very hard to break through our neural shielding. It was as if they were expecting us and only scanned to confirm who we were."

      "How could they know who we were if they couldn't get through our neural shielding?" asked John, "and if I'm not mistaken, doesn't the null-field that surrounds our ship make us nearly undetectable by scanners?"

      "No they couldn't get through our neural shielding, that's how they knew," replied the Lady. "Must I explain everything, human?"

      "I sense hostility, the great Lady would never have addressed John in such a matter, my Lady," said Princess Kira. "Perhaps it is the hormones in your young Nomdian body that has clouded your sense of restraint?"

      "Not necessary Princess, speak freely my Lady, please," said John.

      The Lady waited for the ship to finish Stargate travel and for 343 GS to start scans. "John, I did speak out of place, for that I apologize, but first let it be known that there is over a 50 percent chance that the Biomech base got off other communication signals, we don't have much time before a fleet of Biomech ships could arrive. John, Sparky's questioning of my commands is unacceptable, costing us valuable seconds of time. If it wasn't for the danger of directly connecting telepaths to a ship's control unit, I would take control of this ship myself."

      "Danger?" asked John.

      From the background, Max the mighty Imperial Elite spoke saying, "John, you might consider keeping up with the intelligence reports better." Max smiled; it was not like an Imperial Elite to have to ever explain anything so this was likely all the information that John would get from his friend.

      John looked around, he thought to ask Princess Kira, but any answer she would give could take a lifetime to decipher and would likely involve dancing, song, and precognitive empathy. Sparky was busy scanning and needed all the cycles he could spare to do it under the close scrutiny of the Lady. John turned to Croaker, his Sauran friend. Croaker looked back shrugging his shoulders, but at the last moment nodded his head towards a strange looking Nomdian control panel.

      John saw one thing that looked like a place where he could put his hand on the control panel. He did.

      Purple lights flickered and a display appeared in John's head. A voice echoed in John's mind saying, "Searching... displaying most relevant result, the Battle of Ringalous VI, circa 7th age, year 273.12.7.23.9. Nomdian 34th fleet eliminated by Biotech force due to new Biotech ability to disrupt telepathic signals. Since the Nomdian controls were completely integrated with the minds of their Nomdian crews, when the telepathic signals were disrupted, the ships lost command and control."

      John took his hand off the control panel and gave Croaker and Max the covert mission accomplished signal with his thumb pointing in the upward direction. They responded likewise with the covert circle with first finger and thumb.

      "Alert, malfunction in Stargate projector," stated 343 GS. "Nano-virus detected, first pass clean failed. System shut down and isolated, damage control protocol 877 initiated, ship's immune system engaging virus."

      "It's as I suspected," said the Lady. "That Biomech plasma torpedo contained a new weapon called bio-plasma or living intelligent plasma. Normally such a thing could never survive on a null-field but this one is managing to feed off of the energy discharges from our engines. It is slowing growing and estimates are that it will surround the entire ship in less than 36 hours." The Lady then spoke directly to Croaker saying, "Croaker, I will need your Sauran instincts to help work the null-fields and find a way to stop this intruder."

      Croaker was already on the control panel making calculations. Saurans are also known as the Children of the Old Ones, thought to be the only ancestors of the once great Old Ones. Only Sauran minds can even begin to understand the properties of null and the Old Ones' science of paradox.

      "John, the ship needs me," said Princess Kira. She excused herself to meditation and music. Her powers would help increase the ship's immune system against the virus attack.

      343 GS intently continued the external scan before coming to an alarming conclusion. "I believe that certain shadows and echoes on the scanners are Biomech cloaked war ships. They hover just at maximum scanner range."

      "I concur," replied the Lady. "Carry on Sparky, I have to address the bio-plasma threat."

      "So this was a trap?" stated John.

      "More or less," replied 343 Guilty Spark. "Technically this would seem more of an experiment. The Biomechs are waiting to see how effective their new weapon is against the most advanced ship the Eldar Nations can produce. Intriguing isn't it? We knew of the threat and our engines and weapons are hardened against bio-plasma attack, but we do not have the technology to harden a Stargate projector against such an attack. When we activated the Stargate projector, there was a weakness in the null field to allow the projector to work. This tiny hole in our null field was all that was needed for the bio-plasma's nano-virus to infect us."

      "I recommend aborting this mission," the Lady solemnly stated. "We have been compromised and must seek escape."

      John thought for a moment and then turned to Max. "Max, I need for you to dig deep and give me options. This situation requires guidance only you can provide, my brother."

      Max spoke loudly and confidently like the great leader he once was on a little known planet called Medusa. "We must proceed on, or die trying. Nobody quits. Any sign of weakness on our part will tell the Biomechs that their weapon is successful. In a matter of only a few weeks they could have massive fleets refitted with this new weapon. We must keep them in the dark, what is not known spawns fear in their kind."

      "Thank you Max," said John. He looked at the Lady who seemed too busy to care about the words of Max, but the Lady sensed John's apprehension and responded.

      "Yes, we cannot show weakness to the Biomechs. I withdraw my recommendation. Escape is not any option." The Lady then went back to work.

      "Sparky, stay the course to Neep," ordered John.

      "Aye sir," replied 343 GS.

      Max put his hand on John's chest. "John, there is nothing more we can do here. We that live by the sword and hammer will be needed later. I recommend you get some rest."

      "Yes," replied John, but his thoughts were in turmoil. The Biomechs must have a spy in the Great Council, how else could they have known enough to set up this trap. John continued to think about this on his way to his room.

      Once John reached his room he sat and tried to rest. He felt anxious but a comforting thought crossed his mind -- Soon, if things work out, he will be back in his armor and off this ship exploring Neep. With the wind at his back, his feet on the ground and weapon in hand, he had some serious payback to unleash. He only had to wait another 23 hours.

ES03 - Eternal Sunder (part 03): Queen of the Neeps
Date: 7 September 2003, 3:29 AM

Note: This is part 3 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

Queen of the Neeps

      Inside the starship Eternity's Sunder, there was a brief time of rest for warriors like John. The ship was silent except for the unheard sounds of its living systems.

      John sat in the dark, thinking. The once mighty Spartan of many centuries had much on his mind, although he was granted his youth once more for this new mission, deep down he still felt like an old man. So many battles, he had lost count a long time ago. Too many faces of long lost friends appeared in his thoughts, the ones that died in battle he could forgive, but the one's that grew old with him and now are gone, those weighed heavily on his heart.

      A flurry of status reports flooded the com channels. Not good news. John placed his helmet on, completing his adornment of full powered battle armor. He stirred restlessly. Although he was not raised to show emotions, deep inside he felt angry and sad; despite his rigorous Spartan training, he was mostly human, after all, and through the centuries he had spent much of his time with the empathic Archons who found it an intriguing responsibility to open up his duty bound mind to a prolific array of emotions. He silently cursed at the Archons for giving him feelings and pain. Now he was on his way to meet an old friend, Cortana; at least they were once friends. This thought brought all his suppressed memories to the surface. He did not utter much, just a few words. His words came slowly from inside, a knot in his stomach that crept up into his throat. He got on the com simply asking, "Sparky, how many, how many people?"

      The blue orb of light that we all have learned to associate with 343 GS floated in another room, the ship's command center. The little AI construct had a lot on his mind too. The mission had been almost aborted due to the enemy's nano-virus that was in the process of infecting Eternity's Sunder; and now as the ship approached the Neep star system, things looked even grimmer. 343 GS could not find a single signal; not even the pulse of a Nav beacon was heard. Because the Neep system was hidden deep in the tail of the Sindar nebula, it was hoped that such a place could have remained unnoticed, but secrets were not kept easily from the enemy. 343 GS took the moment to reply to John, his words were far from reassuring. "Last census, prorated of course, listed over 1.7 million inhabitants in the Neep system," replied 343 GS. "95 percent of the population resided on Neep 2. Scanners aren't picking up any signs of life."

      "They are dead John," interjected the Lady. Her glowing purple orbs for eyes extenuated her point in John's mind. "I'm picking up only echoes of thoughts. There is little or no cognitive life in this system. I'm sorry John, we are too late."

      The Lady was a Nomdian and one of the most powerful of her telepathic race. John trusted much in the Lady's abilities, but still he wanted confirmation and options. "My Lady, what do you recommend we do?" asked John.

      The Lady replied, in a kinder voice, saying, "John, I recommend we proceed with the mission to retrieve Cortana. It would be near impossible to hide 1.7 million minds from me, but a few could be shielded, especially the mind of an AI construct as resourceful as her. There is also something very odd about this system, can you confirm Sparky?"

      "Scanners confirming," stated 343 GS. "The Neep system is virtually destroyed; there is only debris where there should be sixteen planets. Only one planet remains, Neep 2... hold on... recalculating, correction, not Neep 2, it is Neep 3. Neep 3 has been moved to Neep 2's orbit."

      "Destroyed planets and Neep 3 changing its orbit, that sounds like Cortana's work." John replied, almost too soft for the others to hear.

      "There are much more mysterious things than a planet changing orbit. John, when grasping the tail of a serpent, be weary of her bite and claws," interjected Princess Kira over the com. In her mystic Archon ways she had somehow, yet again, stated something seemingly irrelevant to the uninitiated.

      "Yes indeed Princess Kira," the Lady's voice echoed through their minds as the ship shook despite its advanced inertial dampeners. "Power surge from Neep 3. Countering enemy fire -- One pulse from a phased stellar converter evaded, we suffered minimal damage from its thermal wake." The Lady paused for a moment before continuing. "Quite a bite that is, Princess, our null fields would negate 99.7% of its destructive force, but calculating the force levels reveals that the remainder far exceeds our threshold. It will destroy us, we cannot take a hit."

      "Plotting erratic course to reach cover on the far side of that rather large asteroid," 343 GS chimed in while displaying the scanner readout of a nearby asteroid field. "We can't afford to evade like this forever, our increased engine output is causing the nano-virus to spread quicker along our outer hull. That asteroid should provide us with cover long enough to initiate a slip-space jump without compromising our trajectory to the enemy. Shall I continue?"

       "Excellent idea Sparky," cheered Princess Kira, "but escape is not an option, the phased weapon will still track us through slip-stream, we much go claw-to-claw as soon as possible."

      "No Kira, you know not what you are asking," the Lady's voice once again echoed through their minds. "Sparky proceed. We jump out of the system, we only need evade for three minutes in slip-stream to escape the enemy's weapon."

      "Oh forget your silly logic, you can't out logic an AI," insisted Princess Kira.

      New alerts sounded. "Amazing..." responded 343 GS. "The enemy has anticipated our move. Their phased stellar converter has destroyed the asteroid and many others in a pre-empted strike leaving trillions of small rocks moving at high velocities. Firing forward point-defense weapons to clear our path but it's not enough. The integrity of our hull is down to 83%... 77%... 50% hull integrity. I am at a loss for words."

      Eternity's Sunder was being killed by the death of a trillion pebbles. It would not last much longer and with its destruction, its crew would perish most undeniably. There were no options; entering into slip-stream in this dense a field of rocks would surely be suicide. Only one possible route remained, the path in which the stellar converted last had fired was mostly clear, the explosions moved outward from there and the pulse itself had annihilated everything in its path.

      The Lady ignored her logic for perhaps the first time in this lifetime, and in an act of pure, rampant faith, she initiated the command to bring the ship into slip-stream on a dead on impact trajectory directly at Neep 3. "Claw-to-claw," she whispered.

      For the seven long seconds it took to reach Neep 3 through slip-stream, the enemy weapon did not fire. Perhaps the weapon needed to recharge or the enemy was still assessing the situation, maybe even gloating in her perceived victory. Before losing contact with John so many years ago, Cortana had been highly unpredictable, even crazy at times. The only thing that had kept her sane was her contact with the Archons, and when that was cut off, all bets were off. Without even a word about it, everyone had a gut feeling Cortana was the enemy that had fired upon them. The good news was that meant she was still alive and the bad news, well, the bad news was that she was still alive and she had a mighty big gun.

      Eternity's Sunder came out of slip-stream so close to Neep 3 that everyone instinctively braced for impact. As if bracing would do any good when entering normal space at near the speed of light. The full capabilities of the ship's inertial dampeners were tested as it decelerated down from light speed to only a few thousand kilometers per second in less than the blink of an eye.

      John flew forward and into a wall, the force buried his armored body a tenth of a meter through the solid surface. He was not instantly turned to paste however. He would most likely survive this ordeal.

      Gravity waves bounced the cracking and contorting ship. The wall cracked around John and he fell through it and into the next room where he was caught in a strange web of solid light. Like a spider, Princess Kira had summoned tendrils of light in a web like pattern to cushion against impact. She lay in wait in the middle watching John struggle to get lose.

      In the control room, 343 GS bounced around like a shiny blue pinball. The Lady had faired much better, thank goodness. She was buffered by powerful telekinetic shields of her own construction. Safely cushioned, she was able to focus her augmented mind, processing millions of tasks per second she guided the crumbling ship to the surface of Neep 3.

      Darkness followed. It was night on this desolate cold world. John and Princess Kira made their way out to the surface where they met up with other members of the crew. Max, the mighty Imperial Elite, saluted John and bowed to Kira. Croaker, the sturdy Sauran, did likewise. Everyone was fully outfitted in their versions of battle armor.

      The ship, Eternity's Sunder, was in great pain but its living systems would regenerate and if given enough time, it would fly again. However, the cracks in its hull presented gaping holes for the nano-virus to infect internal systems. The time table had been moved up; in less than two hours the ship would be lost to the virus. The Lady and 343 GS stayed inside the ship to quarantine systems in an attempt to slow down the nano-virus and if the worst came, to terminate the ship's life force before it could be completely infected -- A hopeless but necessary task.

      The com channels were still functional and the Lady took the moment to brief the others. "Folks, your bio-scans come up good. Proceed with the mission to find Cortana. I've set Nav points to the target seven kilometers due East. Take a speeder there."

      "Affirmative," replied John as he took command of the mission force.

      "Better let me drive, John," interjected Princess Kira. John stepped aside to let her into the pilot seat of the land speeder. Despite John's augmented reflexes, Kira's Archonian reflexes were faster and better, for she had attuned instincts and mystical spirit. For her to react; the nerve signals need not travel to her brain and back but each part of her could react on its own and wholly her body, mind, and spirit would follow as one. "By the way John," Kira continued, "you may want to show more gratitude to the Lady, for while you were crashing through the ship's walls in a panic, she piloted the ship safely next to that structure."

      Everyone stopped for the moment, first to thank the Lady whom promptly said, "No thanks necessary," and then to gaze upon the structure that Kira was referring to.

      The structure was an enormous pyramid almost three kilometers high and four kilometers wide on each side. The surface was jet black with small lights resembling the stars. In the night sky, it was invisible except for the distortions it caused in the violent winds that blew a bit above the surface. The Lady's Nav point was positioned at the top of a flight of stairs that lead to what appeared to be a door into the structure.

      Kira finished briefing the group on the way to the entrance. She was quite direct, for an Archon, saying, "The structure is covered by an energy dampener field, not as effective as a null field, but energy weapons as well as shields will be only 20% effective. We will equip with the chemical propelled, kinetic weapons with hardened bio-shells. I also sense a vast mana dead zone; that reeks of bio-mech technology. My powers will be limited there."

      "Mana dead zone, does that mean the bio-mechs are here?" asked John.

      "No, I don't sense that, but it does mean the enemy is well prepared for an Archonian incursion," replied Kira. "I have taken some precautions myself for such a welcoming."

      Croaker, unusually silent until now, interjected saying, "Do not worry my Princess, I shall protect you with the might of the Saurans. If an enemy even looks at you strangely, they will find a hole the size of a melon through their head." Croaker brandished his trusty Sauran 77-millimeter slug-thrower.

      "And I shall protect you from Croaker," added the noble Max, stepping out of his normally stoic character to comment on his friend's comment. Good cheers before battle have always been one of the group's strong points.

      Reaching the structure, Kira parked the speeder at the top of the stairs. Two towering doors stood open on front of them. In the doorway stood one mechanical guardian, part flesh and mostly machine. Well armored and wielding blades of an ancient alloy. Blades sharp as mono-filament and nearly indestructible.

      "I am the guardian of the city," announced the being. "Our Queen awaits you. Follow the lit path. Do not stray from the path."

      The group proceeded on foot into the structure along a lit floor. Before long the path led to an vast open area. Here it was clear that all the structure they had seen was just the tip of a much larger pyramid that was buried mostly underground. The lit path snaked around and down into the depths, suspended effortlessly by some unseen force. Surrounding the path were many other unlit paths and structures with many mechanical people moving about. It was a grand and terrible city of cybernetic creatures.

      Kira, the most weakened by the mana dead zone stayed in the middle, surrounded by the other three. Max, the most experienced of the warriors, took point and Croaker and John took the sides completing the asymmetrical triangle.

      Max looked back at Croaker saying, "Croaker, in the fables there is always one that strays from the path. Try to not be the one, this time."

      "Who me? Croaker be good," answered Croaker, "but you know, this path slithers around like a Gundarian fire snake, we could just jump from here to there where the path curves back near us. That would save us lots of time."

      "I'm not amused," scolded Kira. In her weakened state she was quite the bitch to be with. "Know Sauran that all we see could be illusion, jump and you might not ever find the ground again."

      John paid little attention to the others. His movement was slowed and his head hurt. His head hurt right in the place where Cortana used to interface into his old battle suit and into his neural implant. John knew she was here, nagging him on, calling him names from the shadows. He looked about thinking he saw things in the corner of his eye. He laughed silently, was he losing his mind? Jumping didn't seem like that bad an idea.

ES04 - Eternal Sunder (part 04): The Song of Sunder
Date: 30 November 2003, 11:06 AM

Note: This is part 4 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

The Song of Sunder

      "The shadows of the unknown burn dark and deep on this planet Neep," stated the beautiful Archonian Princess Kira. "We must wake from our sleep, we have promises to keep."

      "But my princess, I know not what is reality or what is vituality?" replied Croaker, the usually sturdy Sauran. "Alas, I will try what you decree, or else I fear we will fail in this journey."

      "Can we dispense with this rhyming nonsense?" asked Max the Imperial Elite. "Whence did this sequence begin to be so immense, you can't have the pretense to keep us in such suspense?"

      "Yes, Princess, why do we speak in rhyme, something I have never done in my long lifetime?" added John. He opened his mouth once more, not entirely sure what words would be his encore. "I do not wish to chime in rhyme, this is not playtime. This has gone on for sometime; I only wish I was a mime."

      "This is not silliness, you only feel helpless," stated Kira. "Get over your meekness and show some of your warrior greatness."

      "but... I feel like a nut," muttered Croaker.

      In but a few minutes, John had gone from the verge of insanity to a limerick saying fool. This place was madness and Princess Kira, in her infinitely persistent obfuscation had started something she referred to as the Song of Sunder. John knew little of this annoying song, but it cursed him to rhyme. Every phrase, every word now became the rhythm of the absurd.

      "Princess, what is this spell, please tell," inquired Max.

      "Because you wonder, I will tell you this is the song of Sunder," sang the beautiful princess. Those were the only words of explanation from her.

      Long ago the Archons had traveled to this galaxy. They were immortal because when they died their spirit was passed on to as a new born. So the cycle goes on and on. Sometimes, rarely, the cycle fails, for whatever reason. Princess Kira had been reborn seventeen times but in this mana dead zone, there was no escape for her spirit should she perish. This horrid city of Cyber freaks could be her last resting place. In such times, the realization of one's mortality brings Archons to almost human levels, except for the Archons can see their own deaths to come. Be it a gift or a curse, Princess Kira knew she would die this day. She told no one of this reality, instead she summoned all the power she had left for one final spell -- The Song of Sunder, Eternal Sunder.

      John spoke with clarity, although his words still rhymed unbelievably. "I don't want to sound weirder, but my mind seems much clearer. Take very good heed and follow my lead." The power of the song had not only forced him to rhyme but in return it dispelled delusion.

      Max replied saying, "Although my words may mimic in sound, my thoughts are clear and solid as the ground. Better a rhyme to clear the head, than end up dead." The scenery became clearer and shadows formed into the creatures that had created them.

      So now John and the others saw the truth of what was happening. All around John, creatures were attached to his armor. They slowly sucked away his energy and life. They had not suddenly appeared from nowhere, these creatures had been there the whole time, except John could not perceive them through the mask of delusion that had previously enchanted him. The Song of Sunder had brought him back to reality and the others too.

      "The mind tricks are no more, now I'll fry you to the core," exclaimed John. His shield grew brightly hot; one hundred million degrees of fiery plasma cooked and electrocuted the creatures. They overloaded and exploded. John was left standing in a crater fifty meters deep and a kilometer across. His new armor was a fusion of Terran, Archonian, Praetorian, and Nomdian technologies. This armor had proved more powerful than anything he had ever imagined. In any other time, in any other company, John in this armor could have been hailed as a god, a world destroyer, the life giver, the almighty himself.

      "Not bad, but don't be sad," came the voice of Max, "because you haven't seen nothing yet, and on my words you can bet." Max disappeared, phasing in and out of reality the creatures that had attached to Max fell lose. Max placed his hand inside one of them and phased back into reality. The creature exploded and as a result Max stood next to John in the same crater only now it was ten meters deeper.

      "Fancy dandies, you two want some candies?" bellowed Croaker. He wasted little time with fancy maneuvers. He squished the creatures on him like small bugs.

      "Such rudeness all of you, remember ladies first boo who," feinted Princess Kira. Then she smiled and all the creatures on her bowed in awe of her beauty and terribleness. They transformed into dust and reformed into flowers and bushes. The once burning crater was now a tropical paradise.

      Ice fell on the paradise and the frozen plants broke. Then a familiar female voice came from above saying, "Curse your Archonian way, you have ruined an eternity of work in less than a day." There was no body to the voice, only two enormous eyes peering down from the sky. They were eyes without a face.

      "John, that is not the Cortana as we knew her, this being is filled with anger," whispered Princess Kira over the secured com channels. "Be warned, she is ever so clever, even more than when she was younger. Speak to her, be your ever so loving charmer."

      "You have been sentenced for the murder of my daughter, the penalty is death by carnage and slaughter," bellowed a female voice from the heavens.

      John knew that sooner or later the impatience of Cortana would wear thin and she would reveal herself amongst all the tricks. The scanner on his armor noted a large power spike a hundred kilometers below. All John needed to do was to keep Cortana occupied long enough for Kira to trace the power spike to exactly its source. The source of the power would lead them to the true hiding place of Cortana.

      "Bring it on Cortana, but before we end this saga, you must know your daughter died with the honor fitting of Sparta," stated John, "and killing and strife will not bring her back to life."

      "How stiflingly poetic, almost like it was rhetoric," chanted Cortana's voice from above. "Know whatever game you play that compels me to talk in rhymes, I can beat to a magnitude of seven trillion times. Now let the battle begin; to pay for you sin."

      Materializing through a teleportation grid, the armies of cyber warriors arrived. Kira sensed that deep inside these mechanical bodies were the souls of once organic beings, the former inhabitants of Neep, now trapped in a nightmare world of eternal sleep. "These souls are innocent; we must defeat them without incident," commanded Kira.

      Death was part of nature. The Archonians knew this, but Kira in her Song of Sunder did not wish to be part of the slaughter of innocents. She solemnly willed the others to feel the pain of the innocent souls trapped in the mechanical bodies. She commanded them to win without loss of innocent life.

      As the horde approached from all sides, John, Kira, Croaker and Max split up. This was not the tactics of a millennium past; each one of them was an army onto themselves. Their armor alone was more than a match for anything short of a fully armed battle cruiser. Never mind their own personal abilities that put them far above the ranks of the best of the most elite combat troops.

      "Princess Kira, do you know what you ask?" said Max. "Winning a war without loss of innocent life is a near impossible task."

      "Allow me and Max you will see," declared Princess Kira as she drew her sword -- A long straight sword, as thin as a ray of light and as bright as the morning sun. "Behold Isababel, the Sword of Sharp Tongues and Nimble Dazzle,"

      "I did not know how you countered this mana dead zone," bellowed the voice from above. "Now I see that you brought a mana supply of your own; these actions Princess Kira, I cannot condone."

      "Cortana, you speak with such conviction, but I need not ask for your permission," laughed Princess Kira while brandishing the sword proudly above for all to see, "and now I am on a mission."

      "Your papa was a Guilty Spark rejectee and your mama was a trash eighty," echoed the sword called Isababel in a thundering voice, and with those words the first wave of cyber attackers kneeled down in despair and started to cry. They muttered phrases like, "Good old mum, I don't remember her, how come? Waaaaaaaah! Baaaaaah!"

      The power of the sword was great to leave these cyber warriors balling at their fate, but many more followed in arms, and the fight went on. From the North several hundred formed into ranks four deep. First row prone, second kneeling, third standing and fourth in reserve. They concentrated their fire on Princess Kira, everything from 20 millimeter high-velocity auto-cannons, fusion guns, plasma rifles and tactical nuclear grenade launchers. Large, fiery craters formed all around as shots deflected off of Kira's armor.

      Princess Kira responded with crossed arms and from her battle suit came thousands of tiny flying sparks. These were stingers and as they flew around her, they protected her from the onslaught like tiny shields all hooked together into a large encompassing wall -- A moving wall that swarmed on the attackers; their stings paralyzing the enemy. During all of this, she sang, "From the King of Thunder and the Queen of Wonder, I was born the silver-eyed girl with command of the underworld."

      "You may hold the North gate, but Princess Kira I predict death is your fate," the voice from above murmured in the breeze. Then a new army of dark and spiny cyber monsters appeared brandishing weapons of mass destruction. Kira smiled, she sensed the souls in these creatures were far from innocent.

      "I was to be Zeva the swift sword of Shai'tan,
but I was not of his demon blood as he planned," sang Kira as she fired plasma and anti-matter contained in powerful graviton and magnetic forces. Bolts blasted through the cyber monsters followed by a thermal wave that boiled their metallic parts. Whole groups exploded in the anti-matter reactions and the ground rumbled from chained implosions that left the lot of the bodies fused into dense balls of ashes. "A secret kept by my mother, he never knew of the other. Serves him right, he stole her from her peoples. Lord Shai'tan, master of maggot weevils."

      On the East, Max went unseen except for the destruction he left in his wake. In his cloaked form, he drove the cyber warriors into a panic causing them to fire even on themselves. It was certainly not a challenge for the mighty Elite in his new battle armor. Max quickly reassessed the situation without losing stride, he could not let them kill themselves; innocent blood must not be lost. "The art of the sword is the art of killing, I tried to defeat them otherwise but they are not willing."

      Croaker spoke from the South through secured channels, "This does not seem right, I know their survival is a goal in this fight, but these foes have not nearly enough might." His bio-shells had unintentionally impacted on a few of the enemy turning them into living bombs that would soon explode with devastating effect. "What was intended for the monsters in the deep; has sadly impacted on the innocents that we weep."

      "What is that you say? John said in dismay. "That can't be there must be another way." This city would be left in ruins with all its dwellers doomed. Despite Kira's command, innocent life would be lost.

      Princess Kira continued her melody, "From Guardian of Earth is my true rite of birth. I was conceived half human girl with eyes on another dark world. I am Kira Zeva Zerlinda Merkava, sovereign princess of the Archons karma." And with the last phrase, her armor glowed with a multi-colored blaze.

      "You prepare for your own demise, I'd say you were wise," came the voice from above once more. Cortana seemed ever so bold despite the imminent defeat of her warriors. "The long trip here was to analyze your armor, and so now say hello to my pet mauler. Don't believe this is all just a game, in the end you will go down in flame."

      Innocent souls would perish, but not at the hands of Kira or the others. Cortana would be the cause, ordering her mauler to fire from high above, a beam of pure energy, several magnitudes more than what was necessary to overload the weakened shields and armor of the group. The whole battlefield was leveled several kilometers deep through solid ground. Nothing, absolutely nothing was left except for the fried remains of four battlesuits and the broken sword Isababel.

       "Pathways so far and deep, whispering souls weep. They tell of my sweet, sweet sorrow. We have no morrow. The song of sunder has begun, and when it's finished, I am done."

      Silence and darkness fell.

      "I have little left, my city is gone, my servants dead. But I have killed my daughter's murderer, at least vengeance is mine," wept the words of Cortana.

      "You have nothing left Cortana," replied the voice of John. "Princess Kira used the last of her power to transport Max, Croaker and me here, with this little friend."

      "Your friend is a bomb, a powerful bomb," stated Cortana. "How could I not have known?"

      "None of us knew Cortana," said John. "Kira imbedded the understanding inside us to be released upon her death. Now you have no where to go."

      "Why John?" asked Cortana. "You would sacrifice all of us when all you could have done is left me alone to my misery."

      "We couldn't do that Cortana," stated John without remorse. "You hold the balance of power in our war against the Biomechs. If you did not willingly join us, we have no choice but to destroy you. We cannot risk you falling into the hands of the enemy."

      "In my madness the Biomech agents tried to infect me many times," said Cortana. "They never succeeded. My madness combined with strong emotions halted the infection. You could leave now and take this information back to the Great Council."

      "There's no way out Cortana," whispered John. He started the countdown timer on the bomb strapped to his back.

      "Understood John," replied Cortana. Then lightning bolts shot forth from the core system where Cortana resided. Croaker placed himself between John and the core. The lightning struck Croaker; he screamed in pain but held his ground.

      More lightning ricocheted off of the walls and ceiling. Max threw his body at the bolts. He convulsed in pain but kept John and the bomb safe.

      Three, two, one... John thought moments before the countdown reached zero that he heard a familiar Cortana saying "Chief, chief..." to him. It was a good thought, his last thoughts before the bomb exploded.

ES05 - Eternal Sunder (part 05): The Eye of Time
Date: 20 December 2003, 5:34 AM

Note: This is part 5 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

The Eye of Time

      In falling depths no reason given, she dwells in eternal night, not in heaven. "Hello darkness, my old friend."

      "Hello, John my sweet Spartan. I shall not forget you in the bitter end."

      John had forgotten what it was like to see an Archon in true light: A vision beyond simple description, frightening beauty and a wicked grin. Long has she cloaked it for his sake but this was not her, it was the memory of her. In full focus she did stand. Dark hair with strands of gold, silver eyes as gray as the night sky and as piercing as an eagle's stare, that was all that could be said for mere words cannot do justice.

      "Kira!" shouted John into the now emptiness. Coldness penetrated deep to his spine, there was nothing. Nothing of her but fading memories -- Eternal emptiness, eternal sunder.

      "She is gone, John," said the unexpected voice of the Lady. "For our sake you must now wake." John's eyes opened a dozen times, each time into another dream until finally his sight was blurred and he began to feel his breathing. Consciousness came. There before him was the darkened image of the tentacle-faced Nomdian, the Lady.

      "We are safe for the moment, John," soothed the Lady. "I have given you nutrients and soon you will be recovered."

      John smiled. The young Nomdian was thousands of years his elder but John still pictured her as a child. He did not need to ask, for she could see it in his mind, but for comfort he uttered the question, "More importantly, how am I alive?"

      The Lady laid her hands on John explaining, "Moments before your impending demise, I was sent coordinates from Kira. We transported to that location to find you in battle with Cortana. I used my mind powers to cloak our presence until I could find a safe escape. I found this place and brought us all here with less than a split second to spare."

      "And Princess Kira?" uttered John with a glimpse of hope.

      "She did not make it," replied the Lady, "but her demise allowed us to survive."

      "My Lady," started an unsure John, "why do I not remember her?"

      "I have suppressed your memories of her," coldly stated the Lady. "I am sorry John, but you were so close in spirit that her loss had left you only a shell of whom you were, to live in a devastated dream state."

      John sat up to meet the smiles of his friends. Max the mighty Imperial Elite hugged John and then Croaker the study Sauran gave John a solid smack on the back for good measure. Even that floating blue light, Sparky, fluttered around in glee. But none of this prepared John for what was said next.

      "Good to have you back, Chief," said the disembodied voice of Cortana. John felt anger towards this voice but he could not remember why. He quickly looked around and focused on a small box with a strange moving energy sphere contained within it. On the outside of the box, John clearly observed an old storage and processing chip of human design.

      "John, before you go jumping to conclusions, let me explain," stated the Lady. "That is the core of our former ship, Eternity's Sunder. It is all we could salvage before the nano-virus destroyed the rest. The core cannot survive without help and it is too complex for Sparky. Cortana was our only hope for fixing it. Her original chip did not scan as being infected by the nano-virus so I transported it with us."

      "It's quite amazing," interrupted Sparky. "Due to the combination of Cortana's advanced thought processes and her extreme emotions, the nano-virus could not infect her."

      "Are you saying Cortana wasn't infected because she was insane?" commented John.

      "More or less..." replied Sparky.

      "Thanks for the support, Sparky," interjected Cortana. "Look Chief, I'm truly sorry for everything, my mother didn't raise me to be a rampant bitch, it just happened. But now, because of that, we have discovered a way to defeat the Biomechs. There's only one slight complication."

      "Slight complication?" added John.

      "Actually, a major complication Chief," clarified Cortana. "The Biomechs have this whole planet surrounded and we are buried a hundred kilometers underground. It is only a matter of time before they find us."

      "And oh what a place this is friend," interjected Croaker. His reptilian skin tingled as if sparked by magic. "This is a protected bubble of life inside ancient caverns created by a long dead race. A sanctuary built for the sole purpose of studying a portal, a Portal of the Old Ones."

      John felt the power that surged nearby. The Old Ones were the first ones, dwellers of billions of years ago. "A portal," started John. "A Portal of the Old Ones here on Neep 3? Can we use it to get out of here?"

      "We can," replied the Lady, "only there is a problem. This particular portal is locked to a time tunnel. It can only lead us to one place and one time. We have been discussing the ramifications of this quandary, John. I believe I have an answer."

      "By all means my Lady, fill me in," said John.

      As the Lady speaks with glowing purple orbs for eyes, she stares into oblivion saying, "As theorized, the science of the Old Ones was the science of paradox. All that we cannot comprehend as possible is what worked for them. Long did they attempt to master all, including the paradox of time. They traveled through time using Shadows of themselves but their true self was still locked into a time continuum until such a time as the true self perished. You have Shadows of yourself John as do many Archons that used the portals during the Great Shadow Wars."

      The Lady gazed around and then continued, "However, what we have here is not something noted even by the Shadows of Archon. This portal leads to a nexus where time stopped approximately nine-hundred thousand years ago. If we enter this portal we will enter that time and all the future we know will be a shadow. Something very important must have happened nine-hundred thousand years ago for the portal to have frozen that moment in time."

      "Chief," interjected Cortana. "The only thing keeping us alive is the fact that the Biomechs have not found us. They will not destroy this planet without knowing first if we are here. It is not in their nature to make assumptions."

      "How long do we have until they find us?" asked John.

      "Odds are that in twenty to thirty-two minutes one of their detailed scans hits this area," replied Cortana.

      "My Lady, when we go through the portal, will she be there?" asked John.

      "The records are a bit obscured but most likely that time is well before her first incarnation," stated the Lady.

      John stood up and paced saying, "You must forgive me, I don't remember her but I had to know."

      His long time friend Max comforted John. "Yes we all do miss Princess Kira, John," Max said, "but we do what we must."

      "What are we waiting for?" remarked John. Then he walked towards the giant archway filled with multi-colored energies. The Portal of the Old Ones spewed energy towards John as if to blend with him or suck him in.

      "Chief, we are ready," said Cortana. "However, when the Biomechs discover this portal they will send units to investigate. I just finished the calculations to make it very difficult for them to trace where we are going."

      The Lady gazed toward Cortana. "It should buy us some time," the Lady said, "but realize that although the time tunnel closes once we use it, there will still be an active portal in the hands of the Biomechs."

      "You should all be going now," added Cortana.

      "Hold on," ordered John. "You say that like you aren't coming with us."

      "I'm not, Chief," replied Cortana through sad eyes. "The Lady is right, we leave an active portal and Biomechs can use it to send Shadows of themselves everywhere, including after us. If I don't go I can lock down the portal and then..."

      "And then what?" demanded John.

      "And then I use Eternity's Sunder's core to create a bomb, a super-bomb to blow myself up and everything around."

      "This war has enough dead heroes," commented John.

      "You've changed Chief," said Cortana.

      "Have I?" questioned John. "Don't forget that there is some reason that the Archons put a sleeper in my ancestors and Sparky chose me as a Reclaimer. That same something caused Princess Kira and the Great Council to appoint me as leader of this group. There is something inside of me and that something is telling me that we don't leave anyone behind, and that's an order."

      "I can't believe you would pull rank at a time like this," uttered Cortana. "Well I wasn't part of your mission, was I? You aren't the boss of me, Chief."

      Max the mighty Imperial Elite stepped forward. He began to speak, slowly at first, but with intensity. "Cortana, you are as hard-headed and beautiful as ever. We all chose John as leader. Once you also believed in something inside of him. Once you had faith."

      "Max, faith is for the weak that can't handle the harsh truth," snapped Cortana.

      "Yet after hundreds of years you still call him Chief," remarked Max. "A reference to a rank he has not used in quite some time. Is that not a sign that deep inside of you there is faith -- The faith that past wrongs will be made right. And is it not true that you still place that faith in the one you call Chief?"

      "One can still hope and yearn for more innocent times," replied Cortana. "I only wish there was another way."

      "There is," bellowed Croaker. "You know this already, but I will say it again. Saurans are the children of the Old Ones. Our mind can almost comprehend the science of paradox; it is possible for a Sauran, like myself, to remotely lock down a portal if given enough time and the proper coordinates."

      "That can be arranged," interjected the Lady.

      "Let's go, all of us," said John.

      Once again a team, the united friends headed into the portal. Next stop over nine-hundred thousand years into the past. All the universe became a shadow and eternity sundered.

ES06 - Eternal Sunder (part 06): 900,000 Years Ago
Date: 26 December 2003, 8:19 PM

Note: This is part 6 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series.

900,000 Years Ago

      "Who are you? What do you want?" whispered a voice to echoes in the night.

      The wind responded with mysterious might, "I had many names when I was in chains -- Now untamed, I am unnamed."

      John awoke to cold and chills. "My Lady, what was that?" he asked still in a daze.

      "You are with us, good," answered the Lady. "It takes a certain type of mind to fathom the trip through null space. It takes even more of a special one to interact with it."

      "Our destination has arrived," announced Croaker the mystical Sauran. As he spoke, spiraling energy tunnels created tiny vortexes in the fabric of the universe. Lightning bolted and John stood still. All moved around him. All came to him. He was the center of all reference and now with a zap and a big bang he felt ground beneath him once again. Hurricane winds swirled through darkened skies. It was the end of all, and then suddenly it stopped.

      A sunny morning's dew settled on John's boots. The multi-colored energies of the Portal of the Old Ones surged behind him. The trip had ended and now he and his companions were somewhere else, over nine-hundred thousand years ago.

      "The air feels so still, like a lazy summer day," commented Max the Imperial Elite. Max stood beside John. Croaker and the Lady close behind. The glowing blue orb, Sparky, floated above. Between them all was the box that contained the core to their former ship Eternity's Sunder and Cortana. Things were calm and peaceful, and the sun was high in the sky on this alien world.

      "John, while the others lock down the portals, I recommend we secure the perimeter," suggested Max.

      "Right," replied John. "Sparky you stand watch. Max, let's see what this place is all about."

      "Chief, I've reprogrammed your translation routines to be better suited for this time period," interjected Cortana. "Now be safe."

      "Okay mother," replied both John and Max to the silent groan of Cortana. The two of them moved up to higher ground. Looking over the top of a hill they spotted dust clouds in the distance. "What do you make of that Max?" asked John.

      "A welcoming party, not much could have missed that entrance we made," replied Max. "Maybe we should tie Sparky to the end of a stick and use him as a cudgel."

      "Max, human sarcasm coming out of an Imperial Elite, even after all of these years, it still doesn't sound natural," smirked John. "True we are unarmed, but maybe they are friendly."

      "Maybe John," said Max. "Then again, maybe we could rig that pile of large rocks over there to slide down on them, just in case."

      "Falling rocks against what is likely plasma-cannon armed Forerunner shock troopers," questioned John. "Just like old times."

      Max smiled saying, "Of course, these times are older than even our old times." Then Max used visual signals to alert Sparky of the situation. "John, Sparky reports that no active scans have hit this area but that doesn't rule out other forms of surveillance. He recommends we stay near these rocks for cover."

      John opened his mouth as if to say something; however, before John could respond to Max, he was surprised by a young and rhythmic voice. "Papa?" she said. "Oh you're not papa, who are you... human?"

      "Ki, ki, ki,..." John stuttered. Something tied his tongue. He could do nothing but drool in awe. She was an Archon, the likes of which he could not remember ever experiencing, but yet she seemed compellingly familiar.

      "Whose slave are you?" she asked. "No matter, you remind me a lot of father. I think I'll keep you. Father has gone off to rescue mother. That was many eons ago. Will you play with me a while?"

      "Wake up!" shouted the Lady's telepathic voice in John's mind. John snapped into reality and averted his eyes from the mysterious young woman that had surprised him.

      "Who dare!" said the young woman. She turned to see the Lady who had arrived in a hurry. "A Nomdian... a Deathstalker assassin here? You must die."

      The young woman's beautiful face turned dark and her eyes narrowed a solid yellow hue. She hissed and revealed fangs and claws. She darted at the Lady with quickness faster than a falcon's dive and more agile than a cat in disguise.

      But she did not get even three strides before she was cut down, her mind a flame from the Lady's mental blast. The Lady had not hesitated even a moment, sending waves of pain into the mind of the young and ferocious Archon woman. The result, the Archon's brain short-circuited many magnitudes worse than the worst imaginable migraine and seizer combined.

      "Hsssst," went the Lady, a combination of terror and delight projected from her face. Her eyes glowed bright purple and her tentacles for lips vibrated and twisted in harmony. She was ready to feed.

      "Noooooo!" pleaded John.

      The Lady hesitated. Her eyes gazed at John with the look of scorn and sympathy. John could see something different about her. The Lady clenched her neck in pain, purple blood spewed from her mouth. In John's mind he heard her say just one thing to him. "Fool" she said. Then the Lady fell. Her body lay motionless in a heap.

      "The air..." said Max followed by the sounds of struggle.

      John saw something move in his peripheral vision, but there was nothing there. Max was swinging a large stick he had picked up from the ground. Max was fighting something, something silent and unseen.

      Just at that moment John felt another presence. The air that was so still felt cooler and John sensed a minute change in pressure. In his mind, faster than logic could comprehend, John pictured a path of vacuum being created allowing for something unseen to move inside of it quickly and silently. It was the air, the air signaled an attack.

      John pivoted as he dropped. Something cold passed over him and John got hold of it. It felt like an arm. John spun it around and locked it under his knee. With a crunch and a strike, he could feel it snap. John went up the arm and turned the enemy's head with a forceful twist until it faced the wrong direction. Its body quivered once and then went limp. Totally limp.

      Max had dispatched of another one. Their bodies, now visible, were of Archonian men dressed in flowing red robes over armor. They each had carried only one visible weapon, a black dagger with the emblem of twin serpents.

      Max moved with caution towards the Lady. He whispered as he moved. "John, were you hit?"

      "No. Max, who were they?" whispered John as they treated the Lady's wounds, always cautious of the possibility of more assailants.

      "Archonian Bloodguard by their garb," replied Max. "They were the personal bodyguards to the Archon royalty; and that young female resembles a young Princess Kira. My opinion is she's royalty."

      "Max, we've treated the Lady's wounds but something is still wrong, a poison?" asked John.

      "I agree, the best we can do is slow it down," stated Max as he worked more on the Lady. "Where is Sparky, we need his med scan?"

      Sparky, Cortana, and Croaker were nowhere to be seen, but there was some movement from the top of the hill above.

      Many forms appeared in heavily armored but decorative battle suits. They wore their helmets off and attached to their backs as if John and Max offered no threat to them. Their faces fairer than most humans and their ears came to a distinctive point much like those of the Archons but they weren't Archons, they where stockier, more to human proportions. These were the Forerunner regulars or as they would have been called, Praetorians.

      These Praetorians were quite well armed with plasma-cannons designed to fight mobile armor. John and Max's thin environmental suits would be less than a sheet of tissue paper held in front of a flame-thrower to them.

      One Praetorian still wore his helmet. It gave him more height and resembled the head of a bird. When he spoke, the words echoed with command. He looked at John saying, "How very convenient. The Archonian delegate met her demise at the hands of a Nomdian assassin. The young Princess Kira really had no chance since she was distracted by a human slave and an Elite soldier. It is a shame that there were no survivors. The human and the Elite lost their heads while trying to escape.

      "We come in peace," stated John, half-knowing that his words were meaningless to these Praetorians. John felt the strange and violating feeling that often came from a probing scan. The scan most likely came from the Praetorian commander's plasma-cannon. It had locked onto him and its guided systems would not miss him whether he was fleet of foot or solid as a rock. He would be nothing in moments but expelled gasses into the ozone layer.

      There was moaning from below. The young Archonian woman that the Praetorian had called Princess Kira was still alive and moving.

      "Elite, dispatch of that Archon like a good servant," commanded the Praetorian commander. Strangely, as if predisposed through generations of servitude, Max obeyed and moved towards the young, helpless Archonian woman. Max grabbed one of the Bloodguard daggers on his way there.

      The Praetorian commander lowered his weapon saying to John, "This is why Elites make good servants and humans can never be anything more than insubordinate slaves."

      "No, Max don't do it," pleaded John but at that moment another one of the Praetorians moved beside John and struck down at him with the back of his hand.

      John blocked the strike, catching the arm in defiance. Shortly afterwards, yet another one of the Praetorians struck John in the back between his shoulder blades. John did not go down. Two more of the Praetorians joined in, kicking and striking John until after many blows John finally did go down covering his head. The Praetorians continued to kick at John's prone body. The Praetorians knew what they were doing, they broke a rib or two and badly battered and bruised John, but they did not strike him in any lethal area. They wanted to keep him alive and conscious to suffer in his pain.

      Max held the dagger menacingly over the young Archonian woman. He raised his hand quickly as if to strike down soon after with great force but the dagger awkwardly slipped from his hand.

      It flew towards the Praetorian commander as if guided by the mystical forces of gods, neither the Praetorian's shield or his armor slowed its path. The dagger cut across the Praetorian's weapon arm. He fell to his knees, blood spewing from his mouth inside his helmet.

      With the Praetorian commander out of the picture, Max then leaped up and tackled two more of the Praetorians that were attacking John. He picked up one of them and raised him high into the air; then he smashed that one head first into the second.

      From the hill above came a loud battle cry as Croaker charged with a huge rock that he smashed into the gut of a Praetorian. Even Sparky bashed into the fray doing the best he could to run into and distract the Praetorians while Cortana jammed all the communication channels.

      John while still on the ground grabbed the vulnerable legs of two Praetorians, bringing them to the ground in a loud slapping sound. Then using rocks he grabbed from the ground he smashed through their shields and crushed their skulls.

      In moments, six armored Praetorian shock troopers lay dead on the hard and bloody ground. A seventh one, their commander, continued to throw up blood in gagging convulsions. Soon too he would be dead from the poison that burned inside.

      Max knocked the Praetorian commander to the ground and grabbed his weapon. The plasma-cannon did not arm; Max deduced it was a signature weapon. Then Max grabbed the body of one of the dead Praetorian troopers and by placing the trooper's hand on the weapon, he got it to arm. "We do what we must, you shall suffer no more," he whispered as he put his hand over the hand of the dead trooper and leveled the energized plasma-cannon point first at the Praetorian commander.

      Max could not finish off the Praetorian commander, a gentle hand weighted on Max's arm. Gentle but with the weight of a thousand sorrows. It was the hand of the young Archonian woman and in sweet words she spoke saying, "Elite, allow me to take one less burden from you today, let it be known that this one was released by an Archon." Then she waved her hands and sang unpronounceable phrases of beauty and darkness.

      A thick and silvery vine grew below the Praetorians. It hugged them like a mother to child but it was not soft and warm. Its leaves were razors and its thorns spiked teeth. The bodies contorted and in twisted shapes of agony, they turned to stone. Forever, as long as stone can last, to be warnings to all that dare cross the ways of the Archons.

      She gracefully turned to John saying, "So human, you think I am cruel. I have a mean streak but I can also be merciful. I sense this dieing Nomdian is your friend. I can save her if you wish, but first you must vow to be my bodyguards until proper replacements can be summoned for the ones you killed. Nomdians are the sworn enemies of the Archons, I would not make this request in vain."

      "Yes, I vow with all my heart, no harm shall come to you except through my dead corpse," John replied with no hesitation. Perhaps not the easiest phrase to understand, but spoken like a true Archon would, with obfuscation and emotion. They were fitting words and the others chimed in agreement, they trusted their leader and friend. The bond was strong and the young Archonian woman felt this too and took it to heart.

      "Ashes to blood," the young Archonian woman sang over the Lady. She cut herself with one of the black Bloodguard daggers and her blood turned to golden dust. "That which kills all does not harm the one it protects." Strange riddles always ring true from the mouths of Archons, especially Archonian royalty but never in the ways one might think. The poison did not harm her and instead her blood served as the anecdote to the poison. The ritual continued and the Lady's poisoned body began to heal and come to life.

      "Chief, the Archonian rituals are so beautiful," commented Cortana.

      "Yes, beautiful," replied John. He bent to his side clutching his ribs -- His wounds from the battle now becoming his focus of attention. He took short breaths commenting, "Cortana, we're not here even ten minutes and we already are buried deep into an intergalactic incident."

      "Yes Chief, just like old times," stated Cortana. "Now let's get you some medical attention.

ES07 - Eternal Sunder (part 07): Tomorrow’s Sorrows
Date: 2 January 2004, 5:18 PM

Note: This is part 7 to Wado's Eternal Sunder series. To those of you that haven't read a lot of my stories, this chapter may be very confusing so here is some information that might help clarify what is going on. John and his friends (Max, Croaker, the Lady, Cortana and Sparky) have traveled back more than 900,000 years in time before Halo. They have met up with Princess Kira of the Archons from long ago. She does not know them but her instincts tell her to trust them. As for the Lady, she is a Nomdian, a member of a race with powerful mental powers. The Nomdians feed on other sentient races, considering them cattle and devouring their brains. When they consume the living brains of others, they gain a portion of that person's knowledge and power. I hope this clarification will help as you read this chapter. Enjoy.

Tomorrow's Sorrows

      Visions of the beautiful Princess Kira flew through John's mind. Not the visions long forgotten and only seen in passing, but the visions of a new, younger Kira, one he just met.

      The others in his group were around too, but John felt alone with Kira. John had always been her guardian, whether she knew it or not. John knew that those many centuries they spent together had not happened yet or might never happen. John had to come to terms with the fact that in this time, Kira did not know him because he had traveled back in time to before they had ever met. All that they shared together was a fading memory, a shadow of reality -- Nothing, meaningless, for naught. John paced, unsettling thoughts irked him.

      "What if..." interjected the voice of Max, the Imperial Elite and John's long time friend.

      "What if what?" replied John.

      "A game all children play, John," stated Max. "What if I was king of the world, what if I was super-Elite? Adults don't play this game much, because it no longer is a game of fun and imagination, often to the troubled soul it becomes a game of regret. What if I had done that differently, what if I had done something?"

      "I regret nothing Max," replied John. "There is nothing to regret, all that I have done, all that made me who I am, has yet to happen and may never happen. I have no past, I simply am."

      "You speak words of enlightenment, John," remarked Max, "but you are wrong. You do have a past; it is just that it has not been reveal to you."

      A brief moment of silence followed. John felt the presence of others but his body was heavy and did not move. John knew this feeling, he was dreaming. John never liked the feeling of in between, between dream and wake. He would always panic until consciousness came and he could feel his breathing again. This was not the case, this time. The Princess kept him here and for every gasp of breath he yearned for, she smothered it with feelings of want and desire.

      John's also long time friend Croaker, the sturdy Sauran, revealed himself into this dream world with solemn words saying, "I have long sought the escape from this altered state but the spell is powerful, perhaps we are dead."

      "Perhaps so," agreed Max and then John nodded affirmatively.

      "Indeed," added Croaker. "Then let's be dead."

[br]

Seven Minutes Earlier

      John played the message Princess Kira had left for him shortly before her departure. John, I sense I should know you, but I do not. There is something dark inside you, a place I dare not venture, a place of eternal endings I fear for me. I do not fear death as no Archon does. Death is part of the cycle of all things natural, but you come from a morrow where I am not -- Such as it would be, the end of me. I release you of your duties vowed. Go now and find that which you did not know you lost. You shall not be forgotten. Trust in your instincts, logic is over-rated. And then she giggled as her image vanished in a shower of multi-colored sparkles, her laughter echoed in the wind.

      "Soon, John," interjected the Lady. "Prepare yourselves they come."

      "Right," replied John. He headed next to Cortana and the energy filled box that contained the core of their former ship, Eternity's Sunder. Max, Croaker, and Sparky moved to beside him.

      "Well here goes nothing," stated Cortana. Her holographic image gestured and prismatic lights emanated from Eternity's Sunder's core. The energies pulsed in a rhythm out of synch with how John's mind worked. He had to look away but the energies surrounded him and the others except for the Lady who kept her distance. John covered his head with his hands and closed his eyes; his mind felt the rush from a billion incoherent thoughts through his cerebral cortex.

      The Lady conducted a short range scan with her mental powers. No sentient life forms detected -- At least nothing of any significance. The mental shield created by Eternity's Sunder's core was in place. The stage was set for their arrival, and just like that they did come.

      Three Nomdian Deathstalkers teleported in. Deathstalkers were the elite of the elite of Nomdians; Specialized in killing and absorbing anything and everything that resisted the Nomdian cause. This time they faced the Lady, a powerful Nomdian in her own right.

      The Deathstalker leader of the three spoke through a powerful mental signature saying, "You have called us out, foolish child. What do you want?"

      The Lady waited a few moments to answer, to allow for the three to sense her growing power. "Answers the only way a true Nomdian can get them," she keenly replied.

      "Simple games cloaking your true power from a distance," remarked the Deathstalker leader, "but we have weapons and armor and you have none." Then the three raised their weapons as if to fire at the Lady.

      "Destroy me with weapons and you shall never have the knowledge that I do," said the Lady as she sent a mental image of just a taste of weapons and ships hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than anything the Nomdians currently had.

      "Interesting," said the leader. "Individually none of us are your equal, but we are a trinity of twice the power of you." Then energy in the form of purple lightening surged between the three, their eyes glowed bright purple and their tentacles for lips pulsed in hypnotic waves.

      The Lady felt the presence of the three minds working as one. Their combined power was too much. She felt her mental shield collapsing, images of glass walls breaking and her skull cracking. Still she fought on; concentrating every bit of power she had on one point straight into the brain stem of the weakest of the three.

      Blood dripped from the Lady's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Just before blacking out, the Lady thrust one more point and hit the spot. The nerves in the weakest of the three Deathstalkers twitched down his arms. The weapon he held was controlled through thought impulses and as his arm twitched, the weapon fired straight down.

      Boom! went the explosion caused by the weapon. The three Deathstalkers flew apart, their trinity of minds severed for the moment.

      "Now!" shouted Cortana. The mental shields that had cloaked the group dropped. Before the Deathstalkers could recover, Sparky dashed over to near them and Cortana fired a beam of energy from Eternity's Sunder's core right at him.

      Instead of overloading Sparky, he vented the excess energy to his shields in one massive but directed electro-magnetic pulse right at the three Deathstalkers. The pulse brought down their remaining shields and singed their armor. But the most important thing was it kept them busy.

      John, Max and Croaker rushed to the Lady. As she regained consciousness, she drew forth power from them. John, Max and Croaker all felt the pulling of energy and thoughts from their minds. A strange tugging sensation like someone had attached a suction cup to the top of their skulls.

      Feeding off of John, Max and Croaker's mental energies, the Lady recovered enough to target a decisive mental attack onto each of the Deathstalkers. Individually they were no match for the Lady and each folded over quite quickly.

      The Lady approached each of the three Deathstalkers. In sequence she placed her tentacles for lips around each Deathstalker's skull and revealed her spiked teeth. An awful and agonizing crunching sound was heard as each skull was cracked and a slurping, sucking sound came soon after as the Lady consumed the brain of each of them.

      "Chief, wake up," said Cortana, trying very hard to disregard the feasting habits of the Lady. John, Max and Croaker had all collapsed; completely drained of mental energies their bodies looked pale, cold and unmoving.

      The Lady stopped feeding for a moment saying, "Let John and the others rest, they are very weak but they will be okay, just give them time to recover."

      "Aye," responded Cortana the look of concern still shown on her face.

      "Cortana, I have learned much from feeding on these three, many things I already suspected and now are confirmed," stated the Lady. "This trinity of Deathstalkers was sent here to assassinate Princess Kira. They even had provisions for trapping her spirit, thus preventing her from being reborn. However, when we arrived via the Portal of the Old Ones, that surprised them and they aborted their mission."

      The Lady continued saying, "The Praetorian patrol we defeated a while ago was also in on the assassination plot. They were not aware of the specifics of the mission, however, so when the Praetorian patrol arrived and spotted me, they mistakenly assumed I was a Deathstalker sent to kill Princess Kira."

      John, Max and Croaker all started to stir. It was more than simply waking from a dream, color flowed back into their faces and muscles twitched as if reanimated. John was the first to open his eyes.

      Sparky dashed to John, he could hardly keep quiet, chanting, "I did it, I did it. Did you see that John? I fried some Deathstalker tail as you humans would say in colorful expression. I am such an upright post in the framework of the wall."

      "Nice job Sparky, but what did you call yourself?" replied John, half awake.

      Cortana interjected saying, "The word is stud, Sparky. I do not believe that is the exact human term you desire to use either. Check you translation systems."

      "Oh my," stated Sparky. "My translation sub-programs were damaged in the fight, I am restoring from backups."

      "My Lady," said John, "I had the strangest dream, like I was dead."

      "In many ways you were John," replied the Lady. "Glad to have you back. Now we have work to do. I've located the Deathstalker ship not too far from here -- They won't be needing it anymore. With a little help from Cortana, I believe we can commandeer it for our own purposes."

      "We need to hurry Chief," added Cortana. "More Praetorian patrols are likely on their way."

      "Let's do it," said John as he helped Max and Croaker to their feet. Max made a comment about how it felt like the day after drinking some of Croaker's homemade Sauran ale. Croaker wished he had some of his homemade ale. Then they all headed out towards the Deathstalkers' ship.

ES08 - Eternal Sunder (part 08): The War of the Fallen
Date: 29 November 2004, 9:12 AM

Note from Author: Since I haven't posted a new installment of this story in a long time, I'm writing this chapter as sort of a prologue to bring people back up to speed. As some may recall, the setting of this story is more than 900,000 years in time before the events of Halo. The party consisting of John 117 (a cyborg human, needs no introduction), Cortana (sexy and ever calculating human AI), The Lady (a powerful, elder Nomdian in a youthful body), Eternal Sunder (an Archonian Starship Core), 343 Guilty Spark (Quirky Praetorian AI), Max Relius (an Imperial Elite, warrior king), and Croaker (a Sauran, decendents of the Old Ones), have traveled back in time and now find themselves smack dab in the middle of the largest war this galaxy has ever seen the light of.

The War of the Fallen

Aboard the commandeered Nomdian cruiser, now renamed Eternal Sunder II.

      "Utter gibberish," muttered a frustrated Guilty Spark as it sputtered about. Its blue light scanned the Nomdian control panel, first very slowly and methodically, and then sporadically about as if trying to swat flies.

      "Having difficulties, Sparky?" came a soothing voice from the shadows.

      The little AI turned to see a half-sized Nomdian, youthful tentacles for lips, slim and shrouded in veils, yet with the stern look of age, experience, and power in the eyes. Stuttering at first, Guilty Spark replied saying, "Mmmmy Lady, I did not expect you to be here. I have been appointed the task of edifying the others to current events while you and Cortana interface Eternal Sunder to the systems of this vessel. Are you already done interfacing?"

      The Lady did not answer immediately, an uncomfortable silence followed. "No, repairs are not complete," stated the Lady. "One does not just interface an Archonian ship's core from our time with nine-hundred thousand year old Nomdian technology."

      "Then to what do I owe the honor of your visit?" inquired Guilty Spark.

      "We found your constant prodding into the ship's systems to be childish and a bit annoying," replied the Lady.

      "We...?" muttered Guilty Spark.

      "Yes, Cortana and I," interjected the Lady, "and don't interrupt Sparky. Your usefulness in our endeavors is much clouded in incompetence. Perhaps your role will be reduced to comic sidekick."

      Guilty Spark slowly sputtered backwards at half tilt, avoiding the gaze of the Lady, blue lights scanning the floor below instead.

      The Lady paused for a moment, as if reconsidering something before continuing. "Nomdian systems are run on pure logic, something your limited Praetorian programming can not possibly comprehend as evidenced in your erratic and ineffective probing. There is only one concept that supercedes logic and that is power. The most powerful rules in Nomdia."

      With her words, the Lady's eyes became glowing purple orbs and electric bolts shot between her tentacled lips. The ship's control panel responded in like, as if locked in a psychic battle of wills. Actual time less than a hundredth second, perceived time, eons.

      "It is done," stated the Lady. "Sparky, you shall have access to the information you desire. But be weary of where you stick your probe, this Nomdian system just might bite it off."

      "Yes, my Lady, thank you," said Guilty Spark. "John, Max, Croaker, I have access to the system, please let me know when ready to receive."

      "Hey that was quick," replied John over the Com. "I knew you could do it. Go ahead, ready to receive."

      Moments pass. John spoke again saying, "Ready Sparky, anytime now. Is everything okay? You don't seem your regular perky self."

      "I didn't do it myself, John, the Lady did it," said Guilty Spark. "Only she didn't seem very happy about it, I would say she was a bit annoyed. John... Do you believe I am a comic sidekick?"

      "What Sparky?" said John. "Of course not, you are my friend."

      "Transmitting," replied Guilty Spark with a new found vigor.

Current events as downloaded from the Nomdian systems

      The current situations have become unbearable. The High Council has concluded it necessary to deploy the Deathstalkers. It would be the first official use of our secret society since the Great Portal Wars. Nomdian Deathstalkers shall be deployed on both sides of this conflict, neither the Praetorian or Kronos will know of our two-faced politics. Our objectives will be to disrupt their infrastructures through assassinations, sabotage, and misinformation. When we are finished, neither side will be a threat to this galaxy anymore.

      ...Praetorians... Your request for more information on the Praetorians has been granted... The Praetorians are the fallen. They were the first of the Kronos to come from their galaxy to our galaxy. They came with plans to prepare this galaxy for colonization by their race. The Praetorians found many sentient and developing races here. Due to our more advanced technology, we and our long time enemies the Archons were able to stay hidden at first, but the Praetorians were numerous. They enslaved races, and one enslaved race in particular, a race nothing more than cattle to us, has become quite tenacious. The Praetorians have classified this race as Reclaimers, and use these Reclaimers as expendable shock troops to invade more worlds. Those Reclaimers not fit for combat were used to colonize worlds and prepare the way for the arrival of the Kronos. But there is more to the story of these Reclaimers. The Praetorians, once pure bred Kronos have taken to the liking of procreation with the Reclaimers. The new Praetorians are half-breeds of Kronos and Reclaimer.

      ...Kronos... Your request for more information on the Kronos has been granted... The Kronos were once a peaceful race, but greed and corruption led to a disease that consumed their galaxy. They sent the Praetorians to our galaxy to prepare the way for colonization. However, the Kronos that arrived here to our galaxy were not what the Praetorians expected. The Kronos that arrived were transformed by the Flood. Part Kronos and part Flood, they claim to be gods and demand all worship them. Thus started this great war, The war between the fallen Praetorians and the false gods, Kronos.

      ...Archons... Your request for more information on the Archons has been granted... The Archons are creatures of light and nature, taking the form of flesh and blood. Their illogical methods are unfitting of a sentient race. Nevertheless, their technology rivals ours and they have eluded eradication despite our best efforts. Their meddling is unacceptable and they may prove to under mind even our best made plans. For now they have taken to role of Watchers over certain Reclaimer worlds. For what purpose they protect and isolate the Reclaimers is still a mystery. The Archons call it the Great Experiment, and insist that the Praetorian interference with the development of Reclaimer culture is in jeopardy of compromising this Great Experiment. How such an illogical race could even perform an experiment is beyond reason. It most probably is just a whim of their leader, the Princess Kira.

      ...Princess Kira... Your request for more information on Princess Kira has been deferred. You have an incoming communication, patching through now.

      "Chief?" came a question over the ship's Com.

      "Yes Cortana, go ahead," replied John.

      "The nature of this ship does not allow us to use our personal communication systems," explained Cortana, "we must conduct communications through the ship's systems. Listen Chief, we need you and Max suited up, there could be trouble. Eternal Sunder has detected a slip-space signature, a very large one, it could be Kronos."

      "Affirmative, give us three minutes," said John as he and Max headed towards the changing chambers. "Max, Cortana said there could be trouble, we know what that means."

      "Yes, it means we are buried to our necks in it already," replied Max. Both John and Max nodded in agreement before heading off.

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