Germanica...

***

In a hurry, I exited my office, a short, stubby, and kind of awkward man to my right. Grant Michaels, his name was. He was a rather mean man, and had never made as much as a nice gesture, never even said a nice word, to myself. In fact, he'd been rather abusive to me. But now his planet was under attack and they needed our help, and who do you think he came through first.

Me, and the Germanican Grays, of course.

A waste of time. I wasn't going to help him, not after what he's put me through. I wouldn't dare do it. Plus, it was probably a trap of some sort to give him an advantage over me.

Didn't matter. He wasn't going to get any help out of me.

"I'm sorry," I lied, repeating what I must have told him two dozen times,"We are busy at the moment and cannot help you. Besides, Vadaar is a wealthy planet. You have everything you need there, we have nothing you don't."

"Damn you!" the little man shouted, whipping around towards me and pulling a blaster out of his pocket. "This is nothing like we've ever encountered before, and we can't handle it alone. We need you!"

I almost laughed at his attempt to extort me into helping Vadaar, but I knew that would only make him angrier and didn't. Instead, I simply let my two bodyguards, who were trailing behind us, pluck it from his fingers.

"Please don't do this Grant, it's not easy to say I can't help. Believe me, if me and the Grays could we would, but we're stretched too thin right now as it is," I told him, trying to calm him down. The lie felt good, as if I was taking a warm bath after a hard day of working under Germanica's hot sun.

"Damn you..." Grant snarled back at him, "Help us you bastard..." the hate was almost seeping from him. If he was got madder he'd likely explode and spew hatred all over the place.

"I'm sorry Grant, we can't," I repeated. I turned to my guards. "Escort this man to his ship please, and have a pair of Cloakshapes escort him back to Vadaar."

"Yes sir," one of them replied, a rather husky chap named Vance, "Come along you," he ordered grant, grabbing him by the neck and turning him towards the hangar where his ship, a brand new Sorosuub Yacht, was parked.

After being assured he was in hyperspace I did an about-face and returned to my office. Sitting down in my large, black well padded executive's chair, I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Twice a day for the past four days either Grant or another similarly ranking government official from Vadaar showed up and pestered me to send part of our fleet to go assist them with something until I had them thrown out.

And it wasn't just Vadaar. For the past month representatives of all sorts of planets had been coming to him, begging for the exact same thing, to send out a detachment of Germanican ships to help them.

I smiled as I remembered what Leonodas had said about him only a few days ago, "Come on, let's kill him. Scum like Grant doesn't deserve to live."

Right now it felt like the way to go, but he knew it wasn't the right thing.

That's why he was putting up with him.

Vadaar. General Excellis held it in contempt from his place on the bridge of the Indignity. The scratch-built warship would have seemed strange and out-of-place, even crude when compared to the glories of galactic engineering, but the vessel still held a measure of elegance and was resplendant in finery. Statues of great heroes and deities dotted the surface, amongst turreted towers and thick bastions of armor that gave the vessel the appearance of the warships used by medieval humanity.

About it, lesser ships of similar design swarmed like attendant drones about the queen bee. The glory of the Domination was not to be denied, even in the general's modest detatchment.

General Excellis himself watched the approach of his fleet from the vaunted command tower, which rose as a church steeple. He was a man appearing in his late forties, with his head shaved and scars clearly indicating a military career. If that wasn't sufficient, he dressed in the manner of ancient warlords - plate armor supported with technical augmentations, and a fur-lined winter coat secured with magnetic locks.

Below his position, work-pits filled with servants of the Domination toiled ceaslessly to operate their warship, the picture of grimy and grubby in their dark holes. The men of worth to the General's force stood by his side, their rank denoted by their own sturdy armor and detatched demeanor. All in all, it was a sight to give even the most pompous Imperial aristocrat pause.

"Tell me, servant," said Excellis to one of the work-pit crew. "What word of the defenders? Have they offered any resistance yet?"

"Little as such, my Lord," the man replied, keeping his head bowed. "Our sensors did report the escape of a single ship from the blockade, however. Our tactical readouts suggest he was seeking help from another minor power in the region, the Germanican Grays."

Excellis ground his teeth in dissatisfaction at the news, saying "Why was I not informed of another power in the region? What can they field?"

Nervously, the servant continued. "My lord, the Grays are not allied with the people of Vandaar and are unlikely to come to their aide. They were left out of the original tactical estimates because of-"

"Silence your infernal prattling, servant, and answer my question!" Excellis spat in contempt. "What can they field?"

"We... we do not know, my lord. They are seen as a minor power only and unworthy of your esteemed attentions."

Irritaited by the man's mewling, Excellis drew his sidearm and without another word fired point blank into his face. There was hardly a scream, and indeed, the execution hardly stirred a reaction. "I do not tolerate members of my crew second-guessing my judgement. All information pertaining to war is worthy of my time!" He replaced the sidearm and added "Have someone clean away the mess."

With the distraction dealt with, general Excellis returned his attention to the planet Vadaar, which continued to grow in his viewport. "Nevermind the Grays for now... soon, we shall have conquest to satisfy our appetites."

They had told him he should have stayed behind.


But what man may truly lead his men if he is not shoulder to shoulder with them?


They told him honor came from Victory, not combat.


But what soldier would respect a man who didn't have blood on his spear and a scalp in his hands?


They tried to convince him that he was too old for war, that he should retire to one of the many planets in the first galaxy they had conquered- there he could have many slaves, much land, and wealth beyond imagination, they had assured him.


But he could sense they wanted to steal the honor he would earn from for themselves.


Incompetent fools, he though to himself, smashing the Vrelp hound in front of him. The creatures, anatomically similar to Howlrunners and Vornskyrs, but with an extra pair of legs, were used by warriors such as himself for training. His flagship, the nine kilometer long Glorious Conquest carried over ten thousand of the beasts as well as an entire breeding nursery to serve the hundred thousand men on board. The creatures were extremely smart and used group tactics to try to take down larger foes with minimal casualties, making them a tough opponent even for the best of soldiers.


Making them even harder still was their limited but definitely present intelligence. The leader, a blood red member of the species, who's color normally ran from grey to blue, barked several times and the four still facing him (the fifth was now rolling on the ground pawing it's face) spread out so one was facing him every ninety degrees.


Many lesser warriors would have succumbed to such a strike, but not him. He was too good for that.


Suddenly, they struck. They had a damned good sense of timing, too. Foreclaws extended, they all leaped towards him. At the same time, he sidestepped to the left and then swung his staff around to smack one in the side of the skull and another along the body at the same time. With a yelp, on of them backed off as the other two sailed past.


Several quick twists of the staff later it was all over, the Vrelps pulling themselves away to lick their wounds, his wide eye subordinate officers standing in perfect formation around the walls of the huge duel room, normally reserved for duels of honor, but used here to teach them a lesson.


And now, with his heart racing, his hormones surging, and his spirit keen, would the lesson truly begin.


One by one, he pummeled each of them until they could stand no more, and then pummeled them some more. None of them flinched, none of them looked him in the eye. None of them tried to resist. And none of them coward from his imposing presence. Each one was, by the end, battered and bloody. And hopefully more of a warrior than he was before the beating.


"Let this be medicine to your spirits, you fools," he shouted at them, returning to the front of the room. "Let your weakness be gone, you doubt be vanquished, and your insubordinate thoughts be swept away by the wisdom I have bestowed to you just now.

" Now, prepare yourselves for battle, my minions, for the beginning of our conquest begins here!"

I sat up in my seat.

What was that sound? Max thought. Max rushed up and continued to the door to the hallway.

Whap!
Whap!

There is was again, it sounded like a tilk beasts' wings flapping. This time Max opened the door. With his sword in his hand he ran down the stairs checking everything as he went down to the bottom of the steps.

Bzzzzz!
Bzzzzz!

"Help me! Oh mercy Gero! Please help me!" screamed a voice from above Max.

In the building? How? I checked everything! All of the sudden a large black blur hit Max in his face. The only thing that left his lips during the hit was a whimper.

*********
Razr
*********

"Sir, there are no responses from Germanica, it seems as if the whole planets' communication arrays have shut down... or have been destroyed." Gavin Thane reported to his commanding officer, Fleet Admiral Dorn Velvok.

"Gavin, take a squad of SpecOps and find out what is the problem. Report to me if you find anything." the Fleet Admiral replied. He was worried for his brother.

"Yes sir. I assure you, I will!" Thane said with a promising smile. He was a great person, a very great one indeed, at least he was honest, and he also was one of the SpecOps best.

A few hours later

"Leaving hyperspace now sir." Tock said to the squad of Cloakshapes. Tock was second in command in the SpecOps, and that is why Thane picked him for the mission. Tock's real name though was Tom Clark.

"Alright. Be ready for anything, hopefully there is nothing in the space..." Gavin replied to the squad.

And if there is, may Gero guide us to victory. Gavin thought to himself. If we'er lucky, everything will be alright, and it wil just be an technical problem with the communication arrays. And if we aren't lucky... then I sure as hell hope we don't die.

Gavin looked out the bridge of the Valiant-class Frigate, they were just now entering the planet's atmosphere.

Now they were closer, near the ground now... closer.

"Gavin, you may take the shuttle down to the surface now, we will be right behind ya!" Tock and the others promised. They didn't need to, Gavin trusted them, whether they promised or not.

Thane entered the shuttle and peeked out one more time, he didn't want to die, but he didn't know what Gero had in store for him, be it death or life. "Goodbye," He muttered.

And with a blast Thane's shuttle to the planet's surface shot down. It was very hot in the shuttle, and Gavin was constantly wiping off sweat, but he was sure the heat wasn't the only reason he was sweating. Then there was little bump and the shuttle stopped. "Time to go sir." The pilot said walking back to the area Thane was in.

Gavin exited the shuttle. He looked up in the sky to see a few more coming down, all on different lading pads. "Hey man. Almost down, damn it's hot in here!"

Gavin looked at his comm unit and got an idea. He put in the Germanica's land defense channel. "Hello, this is Special Operations leader Gavin Thane. Please answer."

There was silence for another few momets and then an reply. "Hello Gavin. Land Defense here, please report your siuation."

I thought there was somehting wrong, it must have been a glitch! Thought Gavin as he replied. "How are the communications here?"

"Hold on a second sir, as we check." There was silence again for a few more moments on the other line. "They are alright sir. Why do you ask?"

It must be Razrs' communication arrays! Gavin thought as the answer dawned on him. "Thank you land defence. Now for the real thing. Contact all Germanican and Grays units that are near Razr, have them check the planet."

"Why si-" was the reply on the other line, but it was disrupted by Gavin.

"Now!" he hollered into the comm unit disrupting their sentence. Thane rushed off into the other's shuttles. He needed to warn them.

Sarce's mind preyed on the many tasks that had to be accomplished before the day ended. His work never seemed to end. Constant bulks of paperwork that needed to be reviewed or signed, communication and planetary inspections had to be carried out and Germanican forces had to be reviewed. It was all in a day's work.

Sarce looked towards the open window that shed little light as the moon sat in the beautiful night sky and the stars around it danced with a mystical glow that often distracted Sarce from his duties. He wondered why it was that he could not accomplish his tasks.

He was typically organised and finished by this time yet a strange instinct had triggered in his mind and it set upon his mind, constant feeding thoughts into his mind. He wondered why his comrades had not contacted him with the status reports from Razr and Germanica, yet he did not worry. Worrying would only cause problems later on.

He set the strange sense of trouble away from him and sifted through documents, searching for those that needed immediate attention yet his work was distracted once again from that very same thought. It was time to solve this problem. He would contact Razr and order status reports from all divisions.

"Razr communications, this is General Livial asking for switchboard connections to all of the Naval and Armed divisions." Sarce asked in a polite manner.

"Very well...please hold..." The automated voice told him and Sarce waited patience. "I offer my apologise but the communications systems seem to have failed. Would you like me to try again?" The automated voice asked.

"No. That is all." Sarce said before he disconnected the line.

And it seemed that the instinct and thoughts that had preyed on his mind were true. Razr had trouble. He wondered whether his superior knew of these problems. Sarce decided to contact the Special Operations division to assess the problem.

"Special Operations division? I need a squadron of fighters to travel to Razr." Sarce said in a mannerly form.
"Sir, a squadron of fighters has been sent to Razr beforehand under the orders of Max Reem." The officer said.
"And what is the status of this mission?" Sarce asked.
"There have been no reports but it has been but a few hours. I will contact you in the instant that a status report is produced." The officer said before disconnecting the line.

Sarce knew that such actions were not typical of this division. He wondered what had caused the communications array to be down and for the fighter squadron to not transfer a status report. Sarce would have to travel to Razr himself.

Pegasus, Audacia

A female voice rang out from the bridge.

"Captain, we have an emergency transponder from Defence Sector One-Eight-Two-Niner. There's a recorded mission requesting Commodore Lucerne's presence."

"Very good Lieutenant. Launch a rescue flight," replied the officer, who in turn turned to a white-armored trooper,"rouse the Commodore."

"That won't be necessary," stated a figure emerging from the foyer.

"Com-"

Corise waved his right hand.

"Who is it?"

"Ah, someone calling himself Max Reem."

The Jedi from Almas? That's absolutely wonderful. He glanced at his chrono. And the fleet's scheduled to assemble in an hour to make an escort run. This had better be good.

"Any craft verification?"

"It's a small fighter of some sort. It kind of reminds me of a ship the Jedi used in the Clone Wars."

It's Max.

"All right," stated the Contegorian officer, "send him up to my cabin. Unless he is hurt. I'll meet him in the med bay then."

"Yes sir."

Max rubbed his head, it was very sore. He put his hand in front of his face and saw blood on it.

Max ignored this and boarded the large ship, after getting permission. The hangar bay was large. Especially compared to the small fighter.

All of the sudden there was a bump from under the small fighter. He had landed.

Then his eyes slowly blurred up and his mouth dried up. He fainted.

Pegasus, Med Bay...

*****************

Max slowly blinked his eyes, they were watery. But he didn't know from what though. He then evaluated his situation, he appeared to be in a medical bay of some sort.

"Pegasus..?" he muttered, trying to lift his head further.

"You are wanted in the Commodore's quarters." a unfamiliar voice said. "Can you walk?"

Max lifted his body up. "Yes.. I think so." Max stood up and stretched his arms. "I don't feel like talking with the... Commodore at the moment."

"He wishes to speak with you though." The female's voice insisted. "I doubt very much he will be pleased if you disobey his request."

"I am sure he would understand if he knew the reason, now please, tell the Commodore that I am heading to my homeworld of Germanica. Something is wrong and it needs to be fixed." And with that Max turned around limping.

"You won't be able to fly if that is what ou are trying to do!" the lady cautioned in an matter-of-fact voice.

"I am Max Reem... you would be surprised at what I can do!" Max hollered back ending the sentence with a whmper.

Space Above Germanica....

Max watched the space go by his Aethersprites cockpit. It was amazing how this space once had been uncharted... just a lonely wonder waiting to be explored. Max just could't believe only being restrained to one planet. Not to have space travel ridiculous to Max.

Max turned the hyperspeed drive off as his ship reached it's destination.

Home. Germanica.

"Max, where have you been?" The space command souned off in Max's comm unit. "Dravin has been kidnapped, an the other SecOps member are missing too.

Everyone thought you were gone too and we were ready to have search parties made!" the space protocol officer sounded in the unit. "Civilians are horrified, get down here now!"