Prologue

Planet Cyranae,
City of Prytan,
Docking Station Beta

“Move it! Those boxes aren’t gonna load themselves!” The yelling in the hanger was deafened only by roars of ship engines prepping to take off. Usually no one knew what the pilots went through, but, having a pilot for a cousin, the young man knew only too well. They were, some said, probably the toughest in the entire military, even tougher than infantry. The die hard pilots knew only one thing, and it was drilled into them: Get to their destination in one piece. At least, that’s what the stories told.
His hands balled into fists, skulking along the catwalks without interest, Desmond Aqil bit his tongue, a bitter taste being his reward. Even with the blaring sounds of the engines, and the primal roaring of dock masters, Desmond needed something to calm him down, somewhere quiet. All he could think of was the calm mess hall- or ‘chow’ hall to the infantry stationed on the planet- and how bitter the nepath was. “Desmond!” Turning, only to acknowledge his name being called, the young man sighed. “What?” He shuffled with discomfort, commanding his voice not to show how tense he was.
Running up to him, green eyes flashing with excitement, the young engineer smiled. “Des, you’re supposed to be going to briefing soon, don’t you want to be there early?”
“No,” Desmond shrugged with a boyish look upon him, the engineer looked puzzled, “But don’t you want to impress--?” Desmond shot the reply back as quickly as a bolt of plasma released from a gun. “No.”
“But,” The engineer paused, thinking it over, and trying to figure out why Desmond wouldn’t want to impress his officers, Desmond just smiled, and before the engineer could even start a new sentence, his answer was out of the bag, “Plain and simple my tinkering friend,” Desmond pat the man on the back for a moment, a childish grin painting across his face, “I just simply don’t care. Now go, I want some nepath from the chow hall,” the engineer didn’t move, so Desmond, taking steps backwards to emphasize he was leaving, yelled out, “I gave you an order, kid, now go, come on, get!”
With the young man tearing away at full speed, Desmond couldn’t help but grin as he walked away with a brisk pace.


* * * *

Planet Tesquamereo,
Outskirts of Clepsydra Capitol
Covinnus Mining Tunnel Alpha



Sounds of dripping water calmly fell to the ground in bursts, the splashes inaudible only over the rumble of mining trucks. Cave walls glittered in the illumination of floodlights, making everything clear to see. The workers, slipping over the wet ground, complained unmercifully, not caring if their boss was going to tell them to shut up or not. All they cared about was getting the hell out of that place.
Ever since the Desert War, the war between the Praeses and the Covinnus (the two inhabitants of the harsh Tesquamereo), all miners, workers, even children, were uneasy. Wars, especially the aftermath, left everyone uneasy.
Miners were the most uneasy, however. They were always working in the cave networks of the Praeses, being watched by them from the shadows and secret passages. What was it the Covinnus could do but mine away into the late hours, looking for something, though they were never told what they were looking for. All they knew was that any resources, oil, diamond, steel, anything really, was useful for their city.
“Sir,” One of the Covinnus miners, their slender, garbed form moving fluidly over the unsteady rocks of the cave, rushed over to the mining captain. The light fur that covered his body bristled, indicating something was wrong, the captain, also a Covinnus, looked at him with steady, cold eyes. “What is it, Cassius?” He shuffled a little, and the captain watched intently. “Sir, one of our trucks broke down.” Great, the captain thought, they put us in a cave full of Praeses history and resources, and our trucks break down… perfect, just fucking perfect. The captain sighed heavily, his fur ruffling a little. “Let’s go and help them out then- Any mechanics on the scene?”
“Not so far, sir, we have Sayth coming to the truck soon, though.”
“Good, I don’t want to be inspecting something without a mechanic around, damn thing could blow up in your face for all we know.”
Scrambling down the rocky slopes of the cave, Cassius and the mining captain rushed to the broken down vehicle. “What the fuck happened here, why was progress stopped?” Obviously annoyed, the captain assaulted the miner nearest the vehicle. “We’re not sure sir,” The miner shuffled, “We were driving down the path, everything was working perfectly. I admit though, the truck’s radio was making a strange beeping noise for a while…”
“Excuse me, did you say beep—” Though the captain didn’t have time to finish his sentence, as the truck, as well as all of the other vehicles and equipment, burst into flame, exploding as if they were commanded by a divine force.
Yes, the aftermath of a war was unsettling; until someone ignited a new one…


* * * *

Planet Cyranae,
Capitol city Sidion,
High Council Board Room


“This was an act of war!” The Covinnus diplomat roared, the old hallways echoing the explosion of his voice. “Calm down, Saul.” Praeses clan representative, Gait Varlis, moved in his sleek chair, his steely eyes resting upon the Covinnus, “The Clans have been at peace with your people since the end of the Desert—”
“Peace?” Saul exasperated, “Your people have been ambushing us, killing us at every turn. First it was every once and a while, and only the criminals thankfully, now? It’s an entire mining team! It had to have been your people—”
“Look,” Gait put his hand up, emphasizing Saul to shut up, “Our Clans stay away from your own, ever since the war ended we’ve all been stressed. We’ve been staying away from you all, and the only reason we attack is because you’re in our territory. No Clan activity was in your mine, we weren’t there; this was an accidental explosion, a gas leak, possibly. It wasn’t an act of war.” Covinnus, Gait knew, weren’t known for their patience, much like the Praeses, who were the opposite. “But that’s the only logical explanation; how else do you explain an entire mining team disappearing, mostly dying?”
“Simple,” The Praeses interlaced his fingers in mock thought, “You take poor care of your people.” “Damn you!” Saul got up before conscious thought could stop him. He was raising his fist, about to punch the Praeses, when suddenly the reptilian feline extended his arm, a short blade coming out under his sleeve, “Are you sure this is the wisest decision you’ve ever thought to make, Krait?” Saul’s eyes flashed with anger as he froze, “You have no idea how much this means to my people—”, The Praeses moved forward, the blade pressing lightly against Saul’s throat, “Your people, what about my people? We are all under one sun, Saul. If we’re always at each others throats, another war may as well ignite. You have no idea how much this conflict wounds the Clans’ hearts.”
“And you have no idea how afraid my people are! Harassed every night and day by your damn predators, lurking in the sands waiting to strike like a cowardly desert snake, your people are nothing but ignorant shameless—” The blade pressed in hard now, not enough to really cause damage, but enough to draw a drop of blood, the Praeses’ eyes burned as they met the Covinnus’ fearful look. “Finish it…” His voice menacing, cold, unforgiving, “I dare you, now, finish the sentence, Saul!” The blade pressed, only lightly, and then retracted from the mechanisms from where it was born. The Praeses’ fingers pressed around the Covinnus’ collar, pulling him toward him, the Covinnus feeling every slow, cold breath the reptilian feline made. “You are the cowards,” his voice was so soft, so light it was like death itself was talking, “You are the ignorant, clearly you don’t know when to stop these petty claims of cowardice, if you did, maybe your people would have thought long enough to win the Desert War…”
“How dare you!” Saul shouted, “Enough!” The Lucaris senator had been watching from the table for a long time. His pointed ears twitched for a moment, and his eyes danced with curiosity, he spoke, softly.
“If you two would stop arguing,” A bad feeling had been forming over the room, “We’ll be able to settle this in peace. I don’t want any activity between your Clans and races for the time being, however. It’s just what’s best. Until we know the cause of these explosions and disappearances, I’m forcing my own power upon your planet; no Covinnus or Praeses is allowed to leave their territories. Not even for mining. Admiral Williams, do you have anything to add?”
The room was bustling with, not only slight excitement, but discomfort. The human diplomat, Admiral Serge Williams, couldn’t help but rake his hands through his hair for a moment. “Well,” He shuffled a little, “I’d like to propose I send in an investigative crew, humans are, after all, neutral in this conflict. We wouldn’t harm either side unless they harm us first—”
“Damn humans, always interfering with everything you see!” Saul yelled, clearly outraged by the thought of a human setting foot on his planet’s sand. The Praeses looked up, annoyed, “Saul, shut up, the humans won’t ‘interfere’ with your business. They’re going to simply look at your mines, to see what happened. It’s an investigation damnit, we need to know who’s responsible—”
“It’s obvious who’s responsible, your people always attack us, isn’t it plain to see?”
“Saul, our people haven’t harmed a hair on your damned heads since the war, that was over five hundred years ago, we’ve been at peace since! Let the humans investigate.”
“The only way those humans will even touch our mines is if they go there unarmed.” Williams looked up at this comment, “Excuse me? What do you expect us to do, bomb your whole damned planet? We’d reduce to rubble if we wanted to! The only thing that keeps us from doing so is—” “Please!” The Lucaris looked around at the races in the room, the Nivalus and Specus weren’t here, nor were the Velox, this wasn’t their problem. “I will allow the humans to investigate the mining facilities, armed, if you don’t mind, Saul. And no Praeses or Covinnus is allowed out of their areas until this conflict is at rest, is that clear?” His voice wasn’t loud, but stern and cold, that was the way to hold the audience, he knew. The races all nodded in agreement, Lucaris were the highest form of authority of the galaxy.
Behind the Lucaris senator, another Lucaris, by the name of Traviss Priestley, smiled with a demonic look across his cold, hard face. I have them in the palm of my hand…


* * * *

Planet Cyranae,
City of Prytan,
Prytan Military Base,
Section IV Delta

Binary, the language of computers, was gibberish to most, but in the eyes of Desmond, they were letters, hidden messages waiting to be seen by trained eyes. Staring at it intently, sipping the hot, bitter nepath, Desmond sighed and shuffled. He was clearly disoriented and annoyed. Prodding the small screen of the portable computer with his fingertip, his eyes narrowed a little, focusing on the numbers.

101010010010001000110 100100010101011001110101010010001011010010 10010011010011 1001111100111010011001011001 10000011010011 1000111100111110011111000100 10000011010011 101010010010001000110 1010011100000110011101000100 10010001000101 1010111100000110011001001011101001010011 10011111001110

Minutes went by, and eventually Desmond had needed to think. When had he first encountered something like this? It must have been when he was seventeen, in the Signal Operations Corps. He knew he’d encountered this puzzle, this cryptogram, before. Though, if he couldn’t figure it out now, where did he see it? Sipping the scalding, bitter nepath, he sighed heavily. An engineer walking by with a tray of food looked at the screen, than looking at Desmond quizzically went on without a word.
Desmond was very confused, very tired, and very overworked. He was the symbol of all that was stressful, he thought. Hazel grey eyes darting across the screen, analyzing each sequence of ones and zeroes, eventually, his mind jumped. “Eureka!” He yelled in triumph, almost everyone around him glared. He tapped in a sequence, his fingertips speeding along the screen. Finally, he’d gotten it.

The Hunter is only as good as the sand he walks on.

Desmond now knew where he’d seen this cryptogram; it was a Covinnus saying the nepacani-hunters passed on to one another. Whooping in victory, Desmond was interrupted by a pat on his back, a man, looking at him with striking green eyes sat next to him, smiling. “Hey Rubix,” The man said, and even though he was a higher rank, Desmond didn’t bother saluting, “Mornin’ Mattias,” Nodding, Desmond replied with a bit of a smile, sipping the nepath again. “Don’t gulp that down too quickly, little bro. You know how it fucks with your system.” It was true if one were to drink the liquid too quickly, it would give that person a stomach ache and fever they’d not too soon forget.
“Well,” Desmond drank the last of it with a stubborn look, “It’s not my fault, needed to wake up a bit, after all.” Mattias glanced at the screen on Desmond’s portable computer, “Playing with your little puzzles again, Dessie?” Desmond’s cheeks flushed slightly as he was addressed in this manner, “Yeah,” He replied sheepishly, “It’s fun, what can I say?” Chuckling, Mattias clapped his shoulder, “Don’t worry, I won’t tease you too much.” While looking down at the floor, he grumbled inaudibly, “What was that?” Desmond looked at his ‘older brother’ with interest, Mattias looked up, “Ah nothing, we have a briefing in ten. Better get yourself suited appropriately and change out of those civvies.”
“All right,” Smiling brightly, Desmond got up and exited the mess hall.


Walking with a bounce in his step, Desmond entered his room. After quickly taking a shower and combing his grown out high-and-tight brown hair, he changed into his black uniform and marched out from his room.
Always looking more serious in his uniform, Desmond’s face had become nearly expressionless. Though he did occasionally smile when a cute female private walked by, most of which ignored him, however he did get the eventual wink from one or two, or at least a smile in return. Desmond was known as a womanizer (much to the dismay of Mattias and some other officers). Desmond did know, however, when to focus on one thing and one thing only; he wasn’t like some of the A.D.H.D. –affected infantry soldiers.
Marching into the shiny white briefing room and taking a seat, winking at yet another cute female private (which earned him an elbow to the stomach by Mattias), Desmond looked ready to listen intently to whatever it was these people had in mind for him. “Look, I’m going to keep this as simple as possible,” the officer, world-weary and old, eyed Desmond and Mattias cautiously “We’ve been called in to investigate the disappearance of a mining team on the desert planet of Tesquamereo. Now I understand there may be an enemy at work here, which is why I’ve selected only the best-possible crew to get the job done. Now I understand that Sergeant Ariand has volunteered his crew, and the Time Bandit to go on this mission, is this correct, Sergeant?” Mattias nodded without a word.
After a quick explanation of the situation on Tesquamereo, as well as a filmed recording of the political meeting on Cyranae, the crew was as ready as possible. Desmond practically skipped into the sleek interior of the Time Bandit, the ship Mattias, Desmond, and the rest of the crew, were to be using for the mission.
Settling himself into a seat, Desmond sighed heavily and looked out the window. Reaching to his back, he massaged the area around his shoulder-blades, which were always tense when he was stressed. Mattias, walking by, pat his back lightly “Try and calm down, Des.” He sounded gentle, like the father Desmond had run from in his younger days. Desmond learned, only now, that he was a fool to run from his father. After all, he was leading to what was best for him. Though, Desmond didn’t think this at the time, he was young, reckless, wanted adventure, Yeah, he thought grudgingly, some adventure.
Beeping was heard throughout the cockpit, Desmond sitting at the comms station, Mattias sitting in a chair, reading reports, and the pilot, Jason Diego was prepping the engine, cursing under his breath. Minutes later they were slowly cruising through space, on their course to Tesquamereo. Silence and uneasiness crept up on everyone, putting them on edge.
Mattias looked up from his papers, “How’s the Time Bandit handling, Diego?” Jason was still cursing in his seat, far from comfortable, and stressed from being hounded all the time, no one knew what pilots like him went through. “This thing doesn’t handle like it used to, sarge, I remember when it was new, it was still the piece of crap we all know and love. But at least,” He hit the panel with an open palm, “It was a functional piece of crap!” Alexander Locke, one of the normal soldiers, and a demolitions expert, walked into the room and took a seat next to Desmond. “Well, at least this ‘piece of crap’ can get us across space in one piece.” He laughed a little, as well as everyone else in the cockpit.
Locke noticed Desmond massaging his own shoulder-blades, his emerald eyes alight with concern. “Rubix, better calm down or you’ll be too stressed to function.” Desmond sighed heavily, “I wish I could, but…” He looked out the small window near him, into the blackness of space. Locke pressed him, “But what?”
“I can’t shake the feeling…”
“The feeling, what do you mean?”
“That this’ll be over before it even starts,”
“Let’s pray that doesn’t happen, Des,” Locke said with a sigh.


Planet Tesquamereo,
Outskirts of Clepsydra Capitol,
Outside Covinnus Mining Tunnel Alpha


Time Bandit landed in a triumphant roar, Desmond and the others getting out, the sand and heat whipping them in the face like angry razorblades. Looking around as they did, Desmond couldn’t help but smile. “You’re right at home aren’t you, Diego?” Diego was one of the few Covinnus to make it into the humans’ military ranks. He was a skilled pilot, always deciding to go with the crew on-world, rather than sit around reading magazines all day while the others blasted their way through buildings and streets. After all, he had training like the rest, so it wasn’t fair to him, he thought.
One of the few survivors stationed around the mine entrance ran up to the crew of the Time Bandit hurriedly, as if running from something. “Thank the Sun you’re here!” Mattias looked him over calmly, “Give me the situation, what happened here?”
“The captain was called in to inspect one of the trucks that broke down, the mechanic was on his way, suddenly the trucks, and everything else at the same time, they just… They just exploded! It was like someone pressed a button or something,” Mattias cut him off, “You’re rambling. Anything in there we should know about?”
“Not that I know of, there’s probably debris, and I’d watch out for any hunters. Some Praeses hang around the caves, though they insist they don’t. Damn liars, the lot of them!”
“Look, we’re a neutral party. We’re going to have our demolitions man with us to assess the cause of the explosions, could’ve been a gas-leak. Something of the sort, we’ll have it cleaned up before you catch your next pig.” Cautiously, the crew trekked into the cave, Locke almost slipping on one of the wet rocks. “Damn,” He hissed, “How do the Covinnus mine in these conditions?”
“Well, they live here their entire life, just about, you get used to it. After all, walking on sand is like walking through gelatin. Though I admit, even I’m having some myself.” Diego replied, choosing his path carefully, not wanting to fall over and injure himself in the process. “Cut the chatter, guys, I don’t want to have any nasty surprises.” Mattias piped up leading the pack, with Desmond flanking him, as it always had been. Locke couldn’t help but smile, “Like the ones you get when you look in a mirror, Matt?”
“Shut it.”
“Hey, not my fault I—”
“No, I mean shut up. I hear something…” Voice dropping to a whisper, he crouched low, everyone following his example without conscious thought. Listening carefully, they heard a voice up ahead in the caves, a female voice. They also heard arguing on another path. “All right…” Mattias said, whispering as low as possible. “Locke and I will take the West path. Rubix, Diego, you take the East.”
“How will we get in contact if—”
“It’s called a com-link, genius.”
“Whatever,” Diego sighed, starting to walk down the East path, almost slipping again. Desmond followed without thinking clearly, his mind felt clouded, unsure. He felt as if he was too focused on the voice, the female they were probably going to run into. Who’d be in these caves, he thought, weren’t they quarantined or something? They had to be quarantined after all didn’t this government want its people to be safe?
Surely, then again, what if the voices they’d all heard weren’t Covinnus, what if they were something else, Praeses, perhaps? Desmond certainly hoped so. Approaching the clearing, Desmond saw a woman standing there, arguing with people. No, not arguing, struggling, she was fighting with two soldiers it seemed, not Praeses though, they were too armoured for Desmond to tell what they were.
“I’m not an outcast!” The woman… No… The girl, Desmond could see, was really arguing now. Fighting for what seemed like her life, or something just as important. “You’re going to the ship whether you like it or not.”
“Who said anything about that?” Diego piped up, walking into the clearing, his rifle raised. Desmond walked near Diego, but kept his distance, it felt like hours before he found the courage to speak. “This place is off-limits guys, what’re you doing here?” The two soldiers looked at the other two, bemused. “I don’t like your tone—”
“And I don’t like your face, but I’m not bitching am I? What’re you doing here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Desmond, shut up, now, before you get us both killed!” Diego whispered frantically. “CONTACT, ENEMY CONTACT!” It was Mattias’ voice on the com-link that filled the room, “Mattias!” Desmond roared into the com-link, the two soldiers, seeing this distraction, threw the girl down, a Velox, and opened fire. Desmond, catching a round in the shoulder screamed in pain, ducking behind a rock. Diego went down, though before he did he pitched a grenade at the two.
A loud explosion filled the chamber, the Velox running past Desmond, “Thank you!” She yelled, tearing down the cave. Desmond, too weak to think properly, spoke into the com-link, “Mattias! Locke!” He yelled, looking over at Deigo’s body, “Anyone, answer me!” Looking down the corridor, the Velox gone, he saw Locke running towards him. Though it wasn’t long before he heard Locke screaming, round tearing through his body from behind, staring at the now-motionless Locke in horror, Desmond attempted to scream, his throat wouldn’t let him. Being lost in Locke’s dead eyes, he couldn’t help but bite his lip.
Desmond’s mind went black.
And it would stay black for a long time to come.