A Thousand Years Ago

The Clive were a warrior race built upon a strong society of wealth and progress. Their only true flaw was weak leadership on the part of the democratically elected President Al’Donyan Meronovic. Meronovic was a weak Clive both physically and mentally. It was believed the only reason he got into office was by rigging the election in his own favor through his warrior-class sons. His rule would lead to the death of thousands through famine, war with outsiders, and disease. Many times they were invaded, but through strong military leadership they won.

It was at one of these invasions that a young warrior named Al’Natar Demovich vowed to himself that he would somehow put someone worthy of power in charge of the Clive. As he marched into battle on his hind legs, claws bared, weapons at the ready, his mind was already going over probable ways to get rid of the weak leader of his people. Knowing he was one against the thousands loyal to Meronovic didn’t help either. There would have to be a way to organize his opposition. They had to work together if they were going to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

All around him, Clive forces were dying. But in front of him it was much worse. Clive forces were destroying the enemy, believed to be some sort of lizardfish creatures. Their skin was weak and the claws on a Clive’s hand tore through it easily. As Al’Natar entered the battle, claws slicing through the enemies flesh, his mind refocused on his task. In space the enemy’s forces had already been defeated. All that was left of them were the soldiers on the ground, and those were dying quickly. Al’Natar cut a path through the enemy foot soldiers towards the leader.

“Dorak nyat kah.”{Now you die.}

“Never, catface.”

Al’Natar let out a ferocious growl from his maw of a mouth and charged forward. The enemy leader sidestepped his first attack, and lashed out with his saber at Al’Natar’s back. He countered by swinging his saber-staff above his head and then down to block. Spinning back around, he jumped and kicked the lizardfish in the chest sending it spinning backwards and into a tree. Its breathing device came off, and it fell to the ground. Al’Natar pounced on the device and tore it into pieces quickly.

“Nyat haj.”{You lose.}

Al’Natar’s saber-staff plunged down into the Lizardfish’s face causing a bluish blood to spray everywhere. The creature quickly died and Al’Natar pulled his staff back to him and looked up to see the tail end of the main fight. None of the lizardfish would be taken prisoner. The Clive took no prisoners, and asked no questions. They only did what they had to do to survive. Al’Natar licked the few wounds he had received on his arms as he walked back towards his commanding officer. Yet again the Clive were victorious in battle. Al’Natar intended to keep it that way.

As he marched, quickly as was the norm for Clive foot soldiers, back towards their base, his mind was yet again adjusting to the problem of figuring a way to get rid of their president. Knowing something had to be done was one of the only reasons that made his mind work towards the goal at hand. There was also the knowing that someone out there besides him had to feel the same way. His orange fur rippled as he walked, an easy sign to those around him that he was thinking. One of his friends, a fellow warrior but of lower rank, noticed from beside him.

“Nyong hat kar?”{What is it?}

“Dra nyat qree ya’ta da ketre zrad da carn Derence?” {Have you ever thought of getting rid of the president?}

“Zar nyat clat?”{Are you crazy?}

“Linign.”{Possibly.}

“Zar nyat cla?”{Are you serious?}

“Ya.”{Yes.}

Ripples of thought passed over the other warrior’s black and gray fur. Al’Natar could only hope that his friend felt the same way as him. If not, he would surely get in trouble for even thinking about doing what he was thinking about doing. It was bad enough he had asked his fellow warrior. Slowly, the ripples settled down on the other Clive’s body and he turned to face him once more. For a few moments, Al’Natar thought the warrior was going to turn him in for planning to get rid of the president.

“Er dra ya’ta da kar. Le hat sa bren da dreden.”{I have thought of it. He is a menace to society.}

“Zar nyat crene fo herod ne ser nun da dim?”{Are you willing to help me get rid of him?}

“Ya. Nyong fer nyat dra na bene?”{Yes. What did you have in mind?}

As they walked back into their command building, the two Clive warriors remained silent except for the ripples passing along their fur. Both of them were in deep thought about the process Al’Natar had just explained. For it to work, both of them would have to work together an underground army of Clive, but they would have to be secretive about it. Should someone they try to recruit say no, that someone would have to be dealt with in a harsh manor. One that would silence any leaks once and for all. Of course then the police could hunt them down. But police could be dealt with as well.

The foot soldiers passed into their respective ready rooms and began to clean themselves off and change into relaxed gear. After a battle of such magnitude, it was customary for the soldiers to receive a large leave. A few weeks to a month was normal for such and the next batch of warriors would go on duty while they were away. Always the Clive were on the alert for a possible attack against them by alien forces. The lizardfish were relentless in their attempts to destroy the Clive, but they always failed. At least they did for now.

“Var naka fo ve karqi naras hist.”{We need to be quiet about this.}

“Er vil saga graf naras hist fo dien.”{I will say nothing about this to anyone.}

Al’Natar nodded that this was good. His trust for the fellow warrior was strong, but anyone could be coaxed into giving up valuable information when they did not want to. Al’Natar doubted that Ar’Cree would give up the information even when put into such a situation. The two had been friends all of their life cycle. Nothing could possibly come between them now. Not even a plot to get rid of an elected president that they had both voted for would break them up.

Licking the last of his wounds put a taste of blood in his mouth, but he ignored it. The last of his battle armor slipped off of his furred body with relative ease and he slipped into a causal leather outfit made from the skin of the lizardfish creatures. Although they were the enemy, their skin proved to be useful. Some may call it sacrilege to use a downed enemy for personal gain, but where one saw something good, one had to act. You couldn’t afford to lose something of such value.

Resetting his saber-lance back to its closed position, he clipped the cylinder to his belt and walked out of the room. The long cylindrical hall he entered into was built for quick use. Dropping to all fours, he ran down the hall fast enough that had he hit anyone it would have crushed his skull. Fortunately he did not come I contact with another Clive until after he exited the building and moved into the city beyond. Here there were many people, and one of those people was his mate.

The Clive were not like the rest of the galaxy. They also, to be realistic on the issue, didn’t know there was a rest of the galaxy. Although they were well off in the area of space exploration, being located in the unexplored territory meant that the only people they knew of were those that came in contact with them. For instance, the lizardfish. They had been, and still were, the only people to come across the home world of the Clive. Something that Al’Natar was glad of. Should more people come, things would get a lot more hectic and he doubted his plans would go through.

Slowing down to a more normal pace, he lifted to his hind legs again and walked slowly down the street towards his housing complex. The children and their mother were supposed to be home from the park at about the same time he got back. The Clive were not afraid of the lizardfish. Hence the fact that most people went about their normal business while a war was going on. No one thought much of the blue-skinned aliens from some far off-planet. They just weren’t scary.

His son, an aspiring warrior himself, would soon be of age to join the military academy and receive his training. The younger Demovich had a lot to look forward to. His father, Al’Natar himself, was widely known as one of the best warriors in the Clive armed forces. No one had, as of yet, beaten him in battle. Al’Natar intended to keep it that way. Walking into his housing complex, he grabbed hold of the mobile pole while standing on a platform moving up. The platforms ascended to the top and back continuously.

He stepped off at his level and walked down the hall a little ways. A few of the neighbors little ones were playing out in the hall and he took the time to give them a gentle scratch behind the ears before walking off again. His own door stood open and the sounds of cleaning could be heard from the inside. Apparently his family had returned a bit early from the park and had decided to do some cleaning. As he entered the room, he smiled at his daughter and her friend who were playing with their dolls like usual.

“Nah gut. Nyat zar har, Al’Natar.”{Ah good. You are here, Al’Natar.}

Al’Natar embraced his mate as she stepped out of one of the side rooms and she returned it with simple elegance. His son exited a room down the hall as he heard his mother say his father’s name. The boy loved to hear his stories and he knew that his mother would ask about his day almost as soon as he got home.

“Don vas carn battal?”{How was the battle?}

Once he had told them both how the battle had gone, he leaned back against the wall. Both of them were still sitting there in amazement at what he had done. His son was as awed as he had ever seen him and Al’Natar appreciated that. Someone at least saw that what he was doing was worthy of recognition. This being because although he was recognized amongst the warriors as a superior fighter, the leaders said nothing and acknowledged nothing. Sometimes Al’Natar just wanted to go right up to them and filet them alive. Just to show them that he was better than they obviously chose to see him as.

His mate stood and mentioned something about fixing some meat. Al’Natar just nodded when she asked if he was hungry. She ought to know that he was after a battle. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last, that he had come home hungry. Every time she made a feast of various meats for him and he always loved it. There was nothing better than raw meat for dinner and his wife only bought the best. There was no skimping on the type and quality of food bought in their household. He had told her when they were committed that there would be no skimping.

The way his son was looking at him and the ripples passing across the boys fur alerted him to the possibility of a flurry of questions before they actually came. Though his son tended not to ask too many questions, there was always a couple he would ask. Al’Natar was more than agreeable in answering them. Anything he knew that his son wanted to know was free information. He wanted his son to grow up and be a better warrior than him. To do that, he had to teach the boy some things along the way.

“Xen fer nyat farlen menas carn battal klev naran?”{Why did you charge into the battle like that?}

“Kar vas carn nien san fo ser fo carn seyen.”{It was the only way to get to the leader.}

“Nah. Naran makan seres.”{Ah. That makes sense.}

“Gut. Dre parancen.”{Good. Go practice.}

“Ya, fanign.”{Yes, father.}

Hours Later in the Neighboring City

Al’Natar walked the long stretch of pavement, pushing through several thousand people as he did so. He had traveled forty miles to get to this city, which, consequently, was the closest one to his own. It had taken him a mere hour to get there on foot. Or, on all fours was most likely the best term. His species had always been fast when it came to running distance. Though they did not know why. They never ran from fights, so their ability seemed kind of pointless. Racing was a fun past time though. It was always fun to beat those athletes.

His purpose for moving between cities was in all actuality quite simple to those that knew it. In order for him and his friends inside the military to overthrow the current government, they first had to recruit people with the right abilities to help them. They would need pilots, soldiers, scientists, spies, and leaders. Not to mention they needed people to secretly house them while they were working on their plans. It seemed like a load, but Al’Natar felt confident that he would be able to make it all come out all right in the end.

Ar’Cree, his longtime friend and fellow soldier, had set them up with a secretive meeting place underground here. Whether this meeting would prove fruitful or not was beyond him. His doubts were high, but so were his hopes. Anything was possible for someone who was determined enough to do what was necessary. Al’Natar was definitely in that category of people. He could do anything if he really wanted to and he believed that. As he walked, he noticed people staring the way he had come from.

“Nyong zar nyat glen neven cla?”{What are you all staring at?}

One of the people in the crowd that pressed into the street pointed and Al’Natar turned to look. The sight that his eyes beheld turned his stomach to ash and his heart to dust. In the approximate location of the city he called home was a huge fireball and mushroom shaped cloud. The president had somehow found out his plans and had nuked the city, hoping to catch Al’Natar in the process. He would pass it off for a reactor failure at the power plant, but nonetheless, all was destroyed. Al’Natar fell to the ground and cried.

Minutes Later

Al'Natar burst into the hide-out he had been going to and looked around. He expected a trap and his expectations were well founded. Four assassins appeared out of nowhere. The steel-claw weapons that they used were at the ready as they quickly converged on him. Jumping, he kicked the first two in their faces as he pulled his saber-staff from his belt and extended it. The other two assassings attacked with their claws and Al'Natar quickly spun his weapon down to block both attacks.

"Tlelan." {Fools}

The other two returned to battle and he dropped to his knees and jabbed the end of his saber-staff into ones knee and then into the other ones knee. They both fell to the ground writing in pain and Al'Natar felt pain himself as one of the steel-claw weapons punctured his flesh. Growling, he stabbed upwards with his weapon stabbing the attacking assassin through the throat. The weapon soon protruded from the top of its head.

"Nyat xal neb teyr." {You can not win.}

The last standing assassin turned and tried to run away. Al'Natar flipped his weapon over and threw it like a spear, catching the fleeing Clive in the back. It dropped to the ground and he walked over to retrieve his weapon. Yanking it out of the now dead Clive's back, he walked over to the last two and made short work of them. He knew who was behind this now. All he had to do was find him.

" Ar'Cree.... nyat vil kah." {Ar'Cree.... you will die.}

The Road to the Capital

The thing that made his people different was that unless you knew someone really well, you couldn't pick them out of a crowd. Ar'Cree's dark fur was common. As he walked along the path to the capital city(running was not allowed on this road because it was dangerous for the dignitaries), he passed a multitude of people that could have easily been mistaken for his one time friend. Al'Natar knew his old friends color patterns, however, and could tell that none of the Clive he passed were the person he sought.

There were many warriors on the road, some still going home from the war, others heading out to man their posts. Al'Natar didn't look out of position while walking along the road. Even the wounds on his shoulder would seem normal with the rest of the warriors he had fought with walking the road. His saber-staff was still clipped to his belt and he had every intention of using it again until the current government was overthrown and a new one, one with a strong and capable leader, was put into place. He still did not know who would be the one to take power. He wouldn't do it, and he had yet to decide who would.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white light. When he turned to look there was nothing there. A prickly sensation suddenly overcame him and he turned around to continue walking. He froze immediately. The road was completely empty. All of the people that had just been on the road were gone. Disappeared. Vanished into thin air. The fur on his body suddenly began to ripple furiously because he had a really bad feeling. The prickling sensation returned again.

The next thing he knew he was stading in a completely white room devoid of any decorations. In front of him was a single seat. It was empty at the moment but he didn't like it. His orange fur continued to ripple as he looked around to see if he was going to be attacked. The white light returned again and the seat was suddenly occupied by a strange looking creature. Al'Natar grabbed his saber-staff and extended it. The alien simply raised a hand and spoke.

"Hold, friend. I mean you no harm."

He was wary, but Al'Natar felt that this alien meant what he said. Lowering his weapon, he deactivated it and clipped it back to his belt. This little alien was hard to describe. It was short in stature, had grayish skin, two large eyes occupied its head, and it had a very small mouth. He wondered what exactly it was. More importantly, he wondered how he knew what it was saying.

"Don xal er donden nyat?" {How can I understand you?}

"Because we wish it to be so. What we want to do, we do. It's as simple as that."

"Xen wan er har? Wenar hat har?" {Why am I here? Where is here?}

"This is the ship Origin. You are here because we took you from your home a thousand years ago and froze you cryogenically. You have just been unthawed. You probably wonder why we did this. Reason 1: We knew your race was going to destroy itself. Reason 2: You held promise of helping the galaxy in this time period. You are the last of your people."

The alien motioned to a view screen that appeared from the floor of the ship. Al'Natar watched as his home city was destroyed. He watched as Ar'Cree overthrew the government and installed himself as the new leader. He saw the uprising come, the nuclear war that followed a few years later. The last thing the view screen showed was his entire planet being destroyed. The wall behind the viewscreen suddenly became transparent and Al'Natar looked out to see large chunks of the planet floating around.

"Your people destroyed themselves and we saved you. You are the only one left. You will represent your people in this galaxy. You will be the turning point in the war to stop the Empire. At least we hope you will. Whether or not that is true all rests on YOUR shoulders."

"Nyong hat hist Zeron?" {What is this planet?}

"The people of this galaxy call it Onyx, I believe. Currently it is occupied by the faction known as the Galactic Coalition. We believe this would be the best possible location for you to re-enter this galaxy."

He stood looking out the window of the Origin at the planet beneath him. His eyes picked up the differences between it. It wasn't his home and it would never feel like his home. Still, he would be forced to live there for at least a little while. At least he was pretty sure that was what was going to happen. He looked at the alien standing next to him for a moment, fur rippling the whole time. He didn't understand these people. Also outside of the window was a massive amount of ships. A thought occured to him.

"Xen zar vem neb moen Erevn?" {Why are they not doing anything?}

"They can't see us. Origin has what is known as a cloaking system. It makes us completely invisible to radar and eyes. They sit out there completely unaware that we are here. Fortunately for us, our ship runs on a different mechanism than theirs so they won't be able to pick up our entrance into the system either."

The alien walked away from the window and took his seat again. Al'Natar watched him with his eyes for a few moments, fur still rippling away. The alien motioned towards a circle that appeared on the floor and Al'Natar timidly stepped over towards it and then stepped into it. The aliens facial features shifted into what he thought might have been a smile once he had stepped inside. He blinked for a few moments and looked down at the circle before he looked up.

"We're about to beam you down to the planet. When you're down there, everything will be alien to you. Whatever you do, do not react violently. If you do so, you might forfeit your life."

A white light suddenly surrounded him and Al'Natar could feel a slight prickling sensation. Suddenly, everything went bright white and when he opened his eyes again he was outside of the ship and standing on the ground. A large city was all around him and so were a large quantity of weird aliens with pinkish skin. His saber-staff suddenly appeared in his hands and clicked open. The aliens around him stepped back and he could smell the fear on them. He didn't know what to do.

"Mommy look at those! I want one of those!"

Jer Grey barely turned his head to glance over at the young boy walking with his mother. About 8 years old if he had to guess just going for a stroll with his mother down one of the many busy streets on Onyx. Jer was a Seargent in the local Police Force and his beat today included the Plaza San Marcos, the street on which he was currently standing.

Suddenly something strange caught his eye and he turned to focus on a strange looking alien standing in the middle of the street looking around. The alien was covered in fur with wicked looking claws and teeth. He'd never seen an alien like that before but that wasn't surprised, hundreds of different alien species visited Onyx, it was no surprise that he didn't recognize them all.

Jer started however when he saw that the alien was holding a....weapon? It was a wicked looking staff with blades on it, the other passerby's must've noticed the weapon because they were beginning to back away from the alien, pointing at the weapon in his hand. Jer jogged over to place himself between the alien and the crowd, drawing his blaster at the same time.

"Put down your weapon!" Jer shouted,pointing his blaster at the alien.