Part 1: Forethought       '(It began at Chaos, the tenth planet of a system that had clearly undergone a great deal of strife in the past few wentons (1 wenton = 2 earth years). The high council authorized the use of any means necessary, and so the sphere was used to slip the planet and its inhabitants into a pocket dimension where it could be dealt with later.)' Taqueza paused and looked out the view port of his domicile. Resting his hand on the port's sill, he watched it and the outer hull glow softly against the blackness of space. After a time, he turned away and continued his dialogue. '(The inhabitants of this system now knew we were coming. Come to think of it, how could they not? The sphere creates an enormous amount of energy when used, even their somewhat primitive technology should have detected it.)' '(By the time our ships reached the next inhabited world, it had been all but abandoned. Only a small fleet of...alien ships remained to challenge us. And so we, the Eltorian Guard, were sent to deal with them. The battle was over in about 2 kiplins (3 hours), though for me it seemed to last much longer. The planet is ours, yet I have never felt this way about any battle I have fought. I have always done as the High Council wished, never once have I questioned their judgment. And yet, now I am starting to feel - no, I do feel that what we are doing is wrong and perhaps...I should do something about it.)' As soon as the words escaped his mouth Taqueza knew he should not have said them, not out loud at least. '(Computer, delete file - No wait, delete all files in my personal data storage unit.)' Maybe it was just paranoia, but when the High Council is involved, paranoia is prudent and appropriate. No one challenges or disobeys them, and lives.       Taqueza then took a moment for himself and paced about the room. It was plain as far as an officer's domicile went, Taqueza never had much use for decoration. The walls were a deep blue and in sharp contrast to the bright red ceiling and floor. The structure of the room reflected the structure of the ship, a mixture of organics and metal. Taqueza rested his hand against the wall, he knew full well that the organic components were not sentient yet he was often compelled to reach out and touch it. It basically looked like metal but could readjust its shape as needed, it could also repair itself to a limited degree.       The hibernation capsule at the room's far end was prepped for his resting cycle. And so Taqueza walked calmly from his viewport to his data access terminal, which lay opposite the capsule. Its various knobs and switches were turned this way and that, set up to record Taqueza's journal. The one he had just erased. He then proceeded to power down the terminal and walked over to the capsule. He stopped a moment to look at his reflection in the capsule's window. For an Elt, he looked normal. That is to say he had lavender skin with no apparent facial hair, including eyebrows but not eyelashes. His eyes were a solid black (like that of a fish) which allowed him and other Eltorians a wider field of vision than humans that included and superseded the peripheral (making it a might hard to sneak up on one). He and most other Eltorians had hair on the top of his head just like like humans do. His was a light shade of purple, lighter than that of his skin. Aside from those obvious differences, on the outside humans and Elts were pretty much the same. '(Then why must we fight?)' Taqueza thought out loud. Something to consider while I sleep he thought. And with that he climbed into the capsule.       Sleep offered no escape for Taqueza, he dreamt of long ago when he was a child. Fragments of his past came back to haunt him. His mother--looked different--taught him to talk different--his father--a being of honor, fallen from grace. He a boy, feared and marked for death. The production plant--guards rounding up all humans - humans? Put in the main cargo bay, father placed with them, mother - a human - is with them. They push the boy into the bay as well. Mother holds him tight, "it will all be over soon Honey, just close your eyes and hold onto me." She says. He - I - listen. The guards are ready to seal the chamber. A voice calls for them to halt. They want me, they tell mother to send me to the voice. I do not want to go. Father looks at me and places a hand on my shoulder, "Always remember my son, your mother and I love you." Mother whispers in my ear, "They will tell you things, and try to make you believe things that are untrue, always remember what I taught you and always remember who you are." I walk to the voice, it seems so far away. The chamber seals itself behind me. I see through the viewport people...mother, father...and others. The others, humans, they are panicking. Mother and father - hold each other - they look at me. The outer hatch opens and ...       With a start, Taqueza bolted upright in his capsule cracking his head against the capsule's canopy. "Ow" Taqueza said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. He got out of his capsule and wandered over to his terminal where he seated himself. Though disturbing, the dream provided the clarity he had been searching for. He had denied his past for far too long, it was time to embrace it. * * *       Lt. Nara Burns gazed out at her fields with a high degree of pride. The crops she had planted had done well, better than expected even. She turned to look at the farm, the buildings were definitely in better shape now then when she had first arrived. True it needed a few things, a couple of new windows here, a new door there. But she had managed to repair the main dome, which lay in shambles when she arrived. That in itself was a significant accomplishment. She turned her attention back to the sapling at her feet, the poor little fellow was looking a bit brown on the edges. "Well lets see if we can fix you up a little bit," Nara gave it a little water and then sat in front of it legs crossed. She really did not care about just the one plant, this was an experiment. Holding her hands to either side of the sapling, Nara began to concentrate. She stared intently at the plant, pictured how it should look in her mind and kept her breathing low and steady. Soon her hands gained an eerie green glow and though see could not see them, she knew her eyes had as well. The sapling then began to green and flower, in the matter of a minute it produced a little plum-sized fruit. Nara relaxed and smiled in satisfaction. She then plucked the fruit from its vine and bit into it. Its sweet juice rolled down her chin and she motioned to wipe it with her other hand. "I'm getting better at this, it even tastes sweet like its supposed to." she said. Dad would be proud she thought to herself, he always said I had a green thumb, if only he knew the half of it. Nara looked over to the far side of the compound where she could see 3 graves and thought to herself, Then again maybe not. I've managed to gain some control, but I still don't know what's happening to me. The seizures are becoming less frequent but more intense when they do happen. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. And now I've heard there's another war to fight. She fished a slip of paper out of her back pocket and looked at it. It was a draft notice. Yes, it appears I've got some choices to make. Why are they never easy anymore? It would be nice to have a little hint now and again. Nara thought. At that moment, Nara's left arm went numb and familiar pain began to rip its way though it. Nara doubled over as the pain seemed to shoot out of her arm and take hold of her guts, twisting them violently. Her mouth went dry and her head pounded until it seemed it would explode. After what seemed like eternity (but was only 2 minutes), the seizure ended. * * *       Alec DeLeon had been seated puzzling over the same piece of exotechnology for over an hour. The rest of Able Squad (minus Nara, J.T., and Marsala) was seated across the way at a table in the hanger of the Resolute II. Kaz, Bronski, Torres, and Weston were busy playing poker. At least that was the appearance of it. In actuality, they were all watching what Alec was doing. Alec, on the other hand, knew full well what they were up to and couldn't help but smirk when he thought about it. His observing friends would see this, get more curious, pretend to be even more into the game, and watch him even closer making Alec's smirk bigger and so on. Finally, unable to play ignorant anymore, Maggie excused herself from the game and made her way over to Alec. "Hey Alec, what have you got there?" she asked. Maggie knew full well what it was but she asked all the same. Alec knew that she knew, but to keep the conversation going, answered, "Its the black box to my old E-frame." "Thinking cosmic thoughts are you?" Maggie teased. "Something like that. I don't know Maggs, I was gone. I felt it. My life was over. I kind of expected something more out of it." "You mean more than coming back," quipped Maggie. "No, that's not what I meant. I always thought there would be something after...well, you know." "Anyway, here I am back in the land of the living and I feel I should be changed by the experience. I don't know...born again or something. But here I am, still in exo-fleet doing what I always have before, there was no change." He looked at Maggie pleadingly. Maggie sat down on the cargo crate next to Alec. She reached over and took the black box from his hands. "I know that this" she motioned to the box, "doesn't have any of the answers you're looking for." "You have to look here to find out", she pointed toward his head. "And by the way, I can recall one very important change in your life," she said as she snuggled against him. "Well, I can't argue with that" Alec said. "You could try, but you'd lose" Maggie said with a giggle. Alec looked into her eyes and then leaned over to kiss her passionately. Their embrace was interrupted by commentary from the poker table. "Way to go, DeLeon!" yelled Bronski. "Slip her the tongue, man!" added Takagi. Torres signed and muttered, "When are you two gonna grow up." Kaz and Wolf then began to shout in unison, "Alec! Alec! Alec!" Alec and Maggie laughed. Alec then turned to her, prompting Maggie to ask, "What are you doing?" "Taking a friend's advice" he replied. * * *       Commander J.T. Marsh tried intently to listen to the briefing he and a handful of other officers were receiving from Admiral Jackson. It was important to be sure, but his mind kept drifting to back to Chaos, and Colleen. Gone in an instant, he mused. Admiral Jackson continued his briefing and J.T.'s mind drifted from one thought to the next. Mars had been taken and loses were heavy, over half the exofleet was gone. J.T. had spent the the battle floating in his E-frame somewhere between where Chaos had been and Jupiter. The alien probe had disabled his E-frame temporarily. After his systems came back on-line, he tried to make it home. However, a damaged E-frame could only make it so far and he lost power just short of Jupiter. He was picked up hours later by an Exosquad on a surveillance mission. In retrospect, he was lucky he had not been there, he would have been killed. None of the forces at Mars escaped. J.T. had taken comfort in knowing his squad wasn't there either. Alec and Maggie had gone to Earth, to see Paris of all things. Kaz was at the Exofleet Academy on Earth. Nara went home to her parent's farm on Venus. Marsala was busy with the Homeworlds Congress. Bronski was spending time with his lady friend, Eve Hanley. And Torres, well, she was busy winning money off the Jumptroops through arm wrestling. That was on the Resolute II, which was in transit between Venus and Earth. The thought of her beating trooper after trooper made J.T. smile and stifle a chuckle. "Do you find any of this amusing, Commander Marsh?" Admiral Jackson asked. Quickly coming to his senses, J.T. answered, "No sir!" "Good, you shouldn't" replied the Admiral, "Now as I was saying, the loss of half the exofleet combined with the capture of Mars and the...loss...of Chaos has put a tremendous strain on our manpower. Though some have suggested that we let the captured Neos fight, not many people are keen on the idea of opening their cells and handing them a gun. As such, any Neo P.O.W.s that wish to fight will have to go under intense physiological screening to determine if their intentions are sincere or if their are just trying to get out of prison. So any way you look at it, the Neos will not be joining the fight post haste. That leaves most of our manpower coming from the remnants of the pirate clans. Simbacca and the pirates have no reservations about fighting another war. The aliens took away their home planet, to say they are out for blood would be an understatement. The aliens at this point seemed to have stopped their advance at Mars. Intelligence seems to think that they are investigating the disappearance of the beacon found there by Commander Marsh's unit. Information about them, as well as their intentions is still sketchy at best. All we can really do right now is mobilize our remaining forces. As such all personal on special assignment have been recalled." Which is why Kaz is back, thought J.T. "We have also drafted back into service all retired officers and are asking all former resistance fighters, and any other volunteers we can find, to join Exofleet. To that end, Admiral Winfield will be arriving aboard the Resolute II within the hour. At that time, he will assume command of this vessel and I will be taking command of the Exocarrier Nautilus. That is all gentlemen, this briefing is officially concluded." And with that Admiral Jackson left the room. Leaving J.T. to return to his squad and tell them essentially what they already knew. On to Part 2