Kiyan pulled back in shock as an image flickered through his head. He saw the mechanical drakken fleet. He saw shadow version of the fleet and saw the same flickers of movement. The enormity of the scene before his mind’s eye shocked Kiyan. The vision began to spin and reel. Vast stretches of the universe and not a single life. Fear gripped Kiyan when he couldn’t remember how to get back home. The lifeless shadows were spinning out of control now. Kiyan forgot his fear for a moment when he sensed a life. The swirling universe no longer troubled him as he tried to figure out the mystery of a single life. It felt oddly familiar, like he had sensed it before. Kiyan puzzled over this fact. There was no life in this universe so how could he have sensed it before?
The fear came flooding back with a whisper of a memory, a name. Terra. There was a universe with life. It was Kiyan’s universe, not this one. Kiyan tried to find the source of the familiar life in the hope that whoever it was knew how to get home. There was nothing left of the shadow universe accept for grey and black streaks. The single glow of life drew Kiyan on like a beacon. No matter how fast he tried to move it still stayed just out of reach.
Kiyan’s eyes flashed open and he sucked air into his lungs like he had been holding his breath for hours. The lights in his room slowly came on as he sat up. In the dim light Kiyan could see the frost that covered his bed. Finally able to control his breathing, Kiyan tried to push down the fear that gripped his mind. He understood that he had been walking a razor thin line. Either side of the line and he could have been lost in the lifeless shadow universe.
The drakken are no more. Kiyan shuddered at the thought. The foe that they had been fighting had been replaced as a race with machines. Their warped consciousnesses were now contained within metal bodies instead of organic clones. There was no longer any limits to the numbers the dark one could muster into his armadas.
The prospect had been discussed after the mechanical drakken had struck at earth. The protectorate had assembled every Assurian battleship at the portal in case the unthinkable happened. Kiyan now knew that the worst scenario discussed had come to pass. The only thing limiting the dark one’s conquest of our universe was the portal and the Protectorate.
The battleships were currently distributed around the portal in a spherical formation. The radius was calculated to coincide with the time it took to detect a warp frame and to apply a countermeasure. The countermeasure being sending a warp capable fighter into subspace with a forced point singularity. The resulting subspace collapse atomized every fleet that passed through the portal. The trick was to accurately predict the warp frame entrance trajectory and have the battleship closest to that line launch the subspace implosion. Fortunately this was effective because the portal to ship distance was not great enough for the drakken ships to alter their trajectory sufficiently to avoid the implosion. Sadly this could only continue until they ran out of warp capable fighters.
Alec theorized that it was possible to open a floating warp frame that wasn’t tied to a warp drive. This would eliminate the need for sacrificial fighters. Sure the fighters being poured out of the automated construction bays were little more than a warp drive attached to batteries and maneuvering thrusters with a remote navigation computer. Even if a floating warp frame could be generated Kiyan still didn’t like the idea. Without the pocket universe being tethered to mass of some sort there was no guarantee that it could be controlled. There was even the possibility that subspace could begin leaking into normal space disrupting the balance of matter and energy.
The tactics being used by the drakken fleets were becoming more and more difficult to intercept. They seemed to be experimenting with opening multiple warp frames or only sending a couple ships at a time through. There was always the possibility that the drakken might manage to slip by the blockade. If that happened then the support ships would be sent out hunting after the errant drakken. If enough escaped then a battleship would have to leave the blockade to deal with them but that would leave a hole in the already strained formation. The balance was a tenuous one at best.
It was lost in this train of thought that Kiyan found himself when Terra rang the intercom at his door. Kiyan tossed back the blankets and stood. His uniform flickered into existence before he had managed a step. The door slid open with a thought and Terra walked through.
“I hope I didn't wake you.” Terra apologized before dropping into the couch that was along one wall. Kiyan smiled knowing that Terra could have known whether anyone was asleep or not from across the ship.
“I was awake already. How did you find me?” Kiyan could only recall fragments from the shadow walk but they were enough to tell the story. He knew Terra had been responsible for calling him back somehow.
“For one, you were in your room. It is a logical place to look. Another reason is that I felt your mind organize itself when you woke up.” Terra hugged her knees and looked up at Kiyan with a straight face. It took Kiyan a moment to realize that she was being sarcastic.
“No, I mean, never mind. Do you frequently watch over me while I sleep?” Kiyan laughed when a hint of color crept over Terra's countenance. He sobered after a second. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe that Terra had no knowledge of the shadow walk.
“I couldn't sleep. I felt like something bad was going to happen.” Terra rested her chin on her knees and seemed to stare into nothing. I kept expecting the sirens would go off announcing a break out. Kiyan was combing his hair but turned back to look at Terra. He wondered how much of his worries she had picked up subconsciously. Then again his whole crew knew the fine line that was being walked. Only Kiyan knew that the line was nearly nonexistent.
“I felt the same way. We need to figure out some other way of securing the portal. I wish we could just close it.” Kiyan stretched and yawned.
“That would only let the dark one open a full portal.” Terra shook herself out of her revelry and perked up. “You want to get some breakfast?”
“Can't right now. Have to check on some stuff first.” Kiyan rubbed the last bit of sleep from his eyes, gave Terra a hug and headed for the door.
“See ya in a bit then.” Terra activated the transporters and rematerialized in the mess hall. Kiyan couldn't help smiling when he remembered the misunderstanding that Terra had when she first found out about Sapphire. If she hadn't been so powerful it might have been laughable. As it was, Terra had confronted Sapphire concerning Sapphire’s relationship with Kiyan. There had almost been a fight before Luke managed to explain the circumstances.
“Alec, is it possible to close the portal from the dark universe?” Kiyan queried the ship's AI while he walked to the conference room.
“It is possible.” Alec appeared in holographic form and fell into step with Kiyan. “It would take an insane amount of energy. More even than my temporal generators are capable of.”
“What about getting to the drakken universe?” Kiyan was almost talking to himself.
“That would take nearly as much energy to stabilize the portal to permit organic matter.” Alec had some suspicions but really didn’t know what to expect from Kiyan.
“A temporal fragment would have enough energy...” Kiyan was lost in thought and almost didn’t hear Alec’s response.
“That would probably do it but I can consult Theo or Kendra for confirmation.” Alec was busy running calculations.
“No. I mean, can we keep this between ourselves for now?” Kiyan was forming a plan and knew that his parents would never allow him to implement it if they knew about it.
“Is that an order?” Alec’s hologram raised a virtual eyebrow.
“No, well I guess it is in a way. We are in a stalemate right now. If the wrong side breaks the stalemate terrible things would happen.” Kiyan continued walking in a sullen silence.
“During your sleep your life signs fluctuated abnormally. Would your current course of action have anything to do with a dream?” Alec maintained an expressionless face.
“Does everyone watch
me sleep?” Kiyan tried to evade the question but the look that Alec gave him told him the AI was undeterred. “I think I shadow walked to the drakken universe. There aren’t any living drakken left over there.”
“But that is good isn’t it? That means that they won’t have any workforce to keep building their fleets unless...” Alec trailed off as he examined possible interpretations of the data.
“There aren’t any living drakken because they have all been replaced with machines.” Kiyan let Alec assimilate the information.
“Then we are doomed.” Alec was blunt in his analysis.
“Then you understand that I would want to alter that future and also that some actions I might deem necessary might not be approved of.” Kiyan watched Alec for a sign that meant the AI understood what he meant.
“Indeed. How might I assist you?” Alec waited for Kiyan to reveal any more information or a plan.
“I want to close the portal into the drakken universe from the dark universe before the dark one can affect them. I don’t know how to do that without risking the Avenger or you.” Kiyan knew what he was thinking was probably suicidal and had no intentions of dragging anyone else with him.
“You are quite right about needing the Avenger to implement such a plan. As for me, my source code is backed up on Assuria constantly. Have you any plans for the rest of your crew?” Kiyan was surprised that the AI would even entertain such an illogical plan.
“Can we operate the ship without them?” Kiyan was ready to abandon the plan if it endangered anyone else.
“The boost to my systems that they offer is significant but not impossible to do without. We should be able to move under cloak for the most part eliminating the majority of the battle encounters. I could implement several pretenses for getting your crew off the ship if you wish.” There was a certain eagerness in Alec’s expression that didn’t quite look right on the AI. Perhaps Luke had traded some code with Alec at some point.
“Hold off on that for the time being. I need to acquire some more information.” Kiyan expected Alec to raise concerns for his personal safety and was glad that Alec was silent on the issue.
Arriving at the conference room Kiyan opened a communication link with Kendra’s ship. It took a couple minutes before Kendra appeared.
“Alec already distributed the reports so I’m guessing you called for a different reason.” Kendra took a seat and waited for Kiyan to explain.
“What do you know about the dark one? When we were on the planet he called you a betrayer. What did he mean?” Kendra laughed at Kiyan’s rapidly fired questions.
“I suppose you could say that we are old enemies. We have been through two wars together.” Kendra got a distant look in her eye.
“Why wasn’t he defeated the first two times? It would have saved a lot of trouble.” Kiyan regretted asking the question when he saw the pained expression that came over Kendra’s countenance.
“It is complicated. He was once similar to us. A human even.” The memories were not among Kendra’s favorites.
“A human? How is that even possible?” Kiyan was startled to know that the powerful being from another universe that he had crossed minds with was human. It did begin to make sense though. It would explain why the dark one wanted to destroy earth.
“Reigns was a human life bender. He used his powers to feed off the life energy of other humans becoming a dark bender.” Kendra paused before explaining further. “He tried to gain immortality through feeding off of us a long time ago. During the battle he ascended and Theo banished him from earth. We ascended at the same time and were only just learning our powers. Unlike us he ascended because of other people’s energy. We were able to maintain our powers but he had to feed. He returned with allies and we fought the shadow war. The Assurians revealed themselves and with their help Reigns was banished to the dark universe.”
“But why didn’t you kill him instead of banishing him?” Kiyan was bewildered by the flood of information.
“He can’t be killed even if we wanted to. When existing as energy for too long it is possible to lose one’s self. He has no physical body to kill. To destroy his energy would be like trying to crush a single water molecule in an ocean.” Kendra closed her eyes like the memories she was expounding caused a headache. “There is a prophecy. It states that there will be three wars. This is the third war. Whatever happens will vanquish Reigns for the last time.”
“Unless we do something this last war will go on forever. We can’t interfere with our past actions and the future is uncertain.” Kiyan released some of his frustration but realized that Kendra was studying him intently. Not wishing to reveal any of his plan while she had a chance to stop him, Kiyan held his tongue
“Kiyan, It has been foreseen.” Kendra tried to reassure Kiyan.
“So are we supposed to simply wait for us to accidently win the war? There is a universe with endless resources on the other side of the portal. Their sole purpose is to conquer this universe.” Kiyan caught himself and collected his composure before he continued. “Why did you send him to the dark universe?”
“He was supposed to starve and become too weak to pose a threat let alone escape. I was frankly surprised that there was even enough energy to open a portal out of the dark universe. He must have fed on the dark energy to survive. It should have neutralized him but instead it made him stronger.” There was an element of guilt in Kendra’s voice.
“Why didn’t he open the portal to our universe?” To Kiyan it almost seemed counterproductive to have to open two portals.
“We would have been able to close it from this side and I doubt that there was enough light energy in the dark universe to open another portal. I suspect he chose the drakken universe because of our absence although the drakken have proven to be some of his most effective agents.”
“Can’t Reigns come through the portals? Why send his minions if he could have done it himself.” Kiyan had wondered why such a powerful being only worked through the drakken.
“Our universe and the drakken universe are both primary universes. The dark universe is a sub universe meaning that it has only a fragment of the energy that flows through the time streams in primary universes. Reigns shifted to dark energy to avoid being consumed. He can’t shift back again without consuming enormous amounts of life energy. Existing as dark energy our universe is like poison to him.” Kendra refocused her eyes and looked at Kiyan. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”
“Not right now at least. Thanks for telling me.” Kiyan was making alterations to his plan. This information required several adjustments.
“Then we will speak later?” Kendra waited for Kiyan’s agreement before closing the connection.
“Alec, can you open a long range encrypted com channel with the vault?” Kiyan still needed to acquire the temporal fragment.
“You know I am capable of such an action. Would you like me to open said channel?” Kiyan rolled his eyes at Alec. Sometimes he could be so literal it was frustrating. The last doubts that Luke had given Alec some emotional subroutines evaporated.
“Yes please.” A few minutes passed before a stable connection was established. Baric who was the commander of the vault ship appeared in front of Kiyan.
“Ah, Kiyan how can I be of assistance?”
We have a plan that could give us the upper hand but we need the temporal fragment to execute the plan. Kiyan hoped that Baric would not harbor too many suspicions about his motives.
“And who might we be?” Kiyan’s hopes began to melt.
“Theo, Kendra and myself. I was tasked with acquiring the temporal fragment.”
“You realize how dangerous the fragment can be if mishandled. Only an ascended can properly use it.” Baric wasn’t convinced.
“I was there when it was handed over by the Voth. I know how powerful it is. Besides it is stable unless an ascended uses it.” Kiyan was about to lose hope. “I’m just doing what Kendra told me to do.”
> “Very well. She would not have given you the task without knowing you are capable.” Baric made the arrangements for the transfer and closed the connection. Kiyan leaned back in relief. He had never had high hopes that he could pull off what he intended but he had made encouraging progress.
“We should have the temporal fragment soon if all goes well.” Kiyan directed his speech towards thin air but knew that Alec was listening.
“Rarely does everything execute as expected. If I might be so bold, what is your plan? I know that you want to close the portal. How do you want to go about achieving that result?” Alec’s hologram appeared.
“I want to seal the portal from the dark universe. If what Kendra was saying is right then he should not be able to open another portal. We would have to seal it at the instance when he opened it or else the energy that Reigns siphoned off might permit him to open another portal.” Kiyan mused on what he had just said. “If we succeed then the whole war will never have happened. Otherwise the hordes of mechanical drakken on the other side will overwhelm us.”
“Such a plan has not been predicted by the Assurian collective. If we haven’t considered it a possible outcome why do you consider it?” Alec waited expectantly.
“I just know that I have to do this. I can’t explain it but I know what I saw.” Kiyan let curiosity get the best of him for an instant. “Why haven’t you tried stopping me?”
“You and Luke are prime. I can choose to disobey either one of you but not both of you. Luke has made it plain that he supports you in this endeavor. As such I am bound to protect you to the best of my ability. Beyond that I believe that you are right. The drakken universe has nearly unlimited numbers and will only become more difficult to contain. Our options are limited. On top of that I doubt that the drakken have considered this a possibility.” Kiyan was a little surprised. He had not spoken with Luke concerning the matter yet he knew that the AI had access to his mind.