Chapter 1       "Believe it or not, the universe is not as we perceive it. We do, however, define it that way. Logically speaking, why shouldn't we? After all, science is based on observation and experimentation. However, we should not assume that because something has been proven, that it cannot be disproved. Remember, there are exceptions to almost every rule." Sterling slowly paced up and down the stage as he spoke, making sure to maintain eye-contact with those to whom he lectured. To his surprise, the blue dress coat he was wearing had not proven to warm to wear. So he still had the option to remove it during the remainder of his lecture without fear of everyone seeing sweat stains on his white dress shirt. To complete the outfit, Sterling had chosen black slacks and shoes, with a matching tie. His brown hair combed to the side, he looked quite presentable as he delivered his controversial lecture on the nature of the universe. "The essential problem with the universe lies in the name itself. The prefix "uni" denotes a singular plane of existence. This is not at all true, a more accurate term for what we call existence is the multiverse. The mulitverse is comprised of several universes which, until now, could not be traversed between. Now some find the thought of 'alternate' or 'parallel' worlds to be difficult to understand. To those people I say, think of the Multiverse as a fabric. And just as fabric is made of many threads, so too is the fabric of existence made of many universes. To cross from one universe to another, all one need do is move from one thread to another. But how to do that? Well, that's what my research is looking into." A soft chuckle emanated from the crowd, indicating that Sterling's attempt at humor was mildly successful. "Seriously though, we know it is possible to move between worlds. This is done by tearing open the fabric of existence, creating a rift in time and space, if you will. Technology used by the homeworld of Eltoria has demonstrated the ease with which it can be accomplished. However, those rifts that were opened never seemed to lead anywhere. Thus it was assumed that there was nothing there to see." Sterling paused a moment to collect his thoughts, "I believe that there is something beyond our plane of existence, and that is were traditional scientific thought clashes with my ideology. I propose that rifts opened in the past were unsuccessful in leading to other worlds because they had not been opened all the way. For a more clear understanding of what I mean lets return to our 'fabric' analogy. What has been done thus far is opening a portal in our plane of existence, and those portals have lead to unspace - a bit of nothingness between worlds. This would be analogous to that minute space between the threads of fabric. Thus, we have successfully created a way out of our thread of existence. But in order to successfully enter another, we need to open a second rift in the next thread. Think of it as sort of a rift within a rift, we open the first, and looking through it, we target and open another rift which should lead us to another world." A young student in the audience slowly raised his hand. Sterling pointed to him, indicating the floor was his. As the young man spoke, the tone of his voice betrayed his nervousness, "Um, I was wondering why you would want to open a door to another world. I mean, what if you let lose something...I don't know...evil?"       Sterling took the question in stride, it was one he had been expecting. "Every experiment has some level of uncertainty involved, and I would be lying if I told you this one didn't. But you can rest assured that we are taking all the necessary precautions." Sterling looked at the young man to see if he had more to say, he didn't. Another student raised a hand, this one a woman. She spoke with more confidence, "Even if you could assure total safety, which you can't, what practical need does this research satisfy?" Sterling nodded his head, "A fair question...which has many answers. There is the potential for scientific advancement. There could be new alloys or vaccines waiting to be discovered. Then there is also the issue of travel. If we can open a rift from one point in our universe that leads to one point on another, then there is the possibility that we could open a rift to our own universe. Such a rift would allow one to travel to any other portion of the universe almost instantaneously." The young woman looked satisfied and so Sterling opened the floor to everyone's thoughts, "Any other questions or comments?" Sterling had been lecturing to about 200 students, most of whom had been forced to attend the lecture for fear of their professors asking a question about it on a future test. The lecture hall was a half circle in shape and had gotten stuffy, bordering on hot. A number of students looked lazily about the room, eventually settling on the clock on the back wall near the exits. It was also 2:30 on a Friday afternoon. This meant that the vast majority of students could have cared less about questions. They had gotten enough notes to review the material for later and therefore wanted nothing more than to be dismissed and commence with their typical weekend activities. Understanding the futility of any further discussion, Sterling clasped his hands behind his back and announced, "Well, seeing as there are no further questions, I thank the University of Chicago for having me and hope you all have an enjoyable weekend." Thunderous applause followed Sterling's closing remark, which he suspected had more to due with the fact he had finished 15 minutes early than with actual content of the lecture.       He stood silently on the slightly raised stage and watched the crowd disperse. A somewhat gruff looking man caught his eye. He sat face down in his notebook, which lay on a small desk that could be folded away when not in use. The man had one arm under his forehead and the other dangling over the side, his pen still in it. Sterling walked over to the man and stared down at his tussled brown hair. "The lecture is over you know, you can leave." No response. Sterling tapped him gently on the shoulder. All he did in response was start to snore. Sterling leaned over him and yelled smartly into one ear "Neo attack!". Wolf Bronski shot bolt upright in his chair and reached for his hip. Realizing he no longer carried a weapon, he looked at Sterling with an annoyed expression on his face. "What's wrong with you? Ya tryin' to give me a heart attack?" he asked. "I tried to be gentle about it, but you wouldn't cooperate. It's just like Torres used to say, 'Its always the hard way where Bronski's involved'." Wolf rubbed his eyes and grumbled some sort of retort under his breath as he packed his notebook away. "Where's my pen?" he said to himself. Wolf's hands dove into the pockets of his blue shorts and the breast pocket of his yellow short-sleeve shirt, "Where'd I put it?" Sterling bent down and retrieved the pen in question from the floor. "You dropped it." he said as he handed it back to him. "It's nice to see you again, by the way. How have you been?" Wolf grabbed his brown backpack and slapped Sterling on the shoulder, "I'm well rested, thanks to you!" Wolf let lose a hearty laugh, Sterling shook his head. "Let's play catch up over a late lunch, I'm supposed to meet Eve at a cafe around the corner. She won't mind seeing ya again." "Sounds good to me." agreed Sterling. As they left the lecture hall, Wolf struck up some conversation. "So, what was this lecture about anyway?" * * *       Alec glanced at the clock, his work day had ended five minutes ago but he had no desire to leave. It had been four years since he had left the exofleet and joined the Homeworld Intelligence Agency (H.I.A.). His duties had been monotonous of late, nothing of real interest had occurred since the end of the Eltorian War. These factors should have made Alec DeLeon want to leave, but what was waiting for him at home kept him at the office. He loved Maggie, that he knew, but certain factors had been wearing their relationship down. Maggie had stayed in Exofleet and was currently in charge of the Maginus City Motorpool. Alec had taken a position at the Martian branch of the H.I.A. so they could stay together, but that was only to be temporary. The military brass periodically would transfer Maggie around amongst the homeworlds. Usually to whatever outfit required the most restructuring, that had become Maggie's specialty. Not only had she proven herself an ace exotech, but she proved to be a natural administrator. No sooner than she wiped one motorpool up to spec, command would transfer her to another assignment. Meanwhile, Alec was getting pressure from his superiors to settle down in one division, on one planet.       It wasn't just the pressures of the job that were getting to Alec. There were other, more biological, factors to consider. The human body that was born as Alec DeLeon died on the moon near the end of the second Neosapian War. At the time, his mind was as much machine as it was man. The machine half of him had stayed in tact, and so Professor Algernon and the Neomega Pratorious decided to clone Alec a new body and transfer the contents of the machine into it. But such a transfer came at a price. Things would not be as they were before his 'accident'. Though he could be there for Maggie emotionally and physically, he could never have children of his own. At the time of his 'resurrection', Alec hadn't cared about such details. He was alive and that was all that mattered. But now, things were different. He eventually planned to marry Maggie. Though they never spoke about it, Alec knew she would want children and much to his own surprise, so did he. But every time he came to look at Maggie, he was reminded of his own shortcomings...his sterility. Usually Alec was able to push such things aside, but he had gotten a phone call from his old friend J.T. His wife Colleen had their second baby, this one a little girl. Marsala had been the godfather for the first child, Kyle. This time around J.T. decided on Alec. Of course Alec had accepted, but it had got him thinking about his life with Maggie too. Thus, he sat pondering what strains existed in their relationship. He took a deep breath, held it, then released it. He then stood and put on his suit jacket. The red blazer covered the hand blaster which hung under his left arm in its holster. He straightened his black tie and quickly inspected his white shirt for any spillage from lunch. Satisfied all was well, his hands fumbled around in the pockets of his black trousers looking for the keys to his hovercar. Having found them he opened the door to his office and headed down the hall to the elevator. "Agent DeLeon!" Alec turned to see a short stocky man running up to him. "Can I help you?" replied Alec. The man caught up to Alec and began to search the various pockets of his own blazer for something as he spoke, "There is someone to see you in the lobby." "Who would that be?" asked Alec. "I had the name written down somewhere, Ah!, here it is!" He fished a piece of paper out of the back pocket, gave it to Alec, and scurried off, intent on returning to his duties. Alec opened the paper and read the familiar name, "Oh." * * *       "Nice to see you again Eve." Sterling took her hand in his and sat down a the table. The cafe was a small out-of-the-way establishment, more of a deli than a cafe really. Eve had gotten a table outside near the street. It would have been a tad warm there if not for the shade provided by the table's umbrella. "Nice to see you again too, Sterling. How's the wife?" asked Eve. "Nara's fine, back on Venus, but fine." answered Sterling. "The distance wearing on ya?" asked Wolf. "A little, to be honest, it wears on her more than me." Sterling picked up a menu and looked it over. "Oh really?" said Eve, not hiding the skepticism in her voice. "Well, I miss her of course, its just that when I get into my work I sort of block everything out until I'm finished. So I don't spend as much time thinking about her as she does me." Sterling shrugged his shoulders, drew the attention of a nearby waitress and ordered a turkey sandwich with an ice tea. Eve already had her meal and had ordered for Wolf before he got there. "So Sterling, since you brought up work, how is it going?" asked Eve. He eyed her a second, causing Eve to wonder if she said something wrong. "We've known each other for quite a while, right?" Wolf and Eve nodded in agreement. "So how about you call me something other than Sterling, I do have a first name you know." Wolf took another bite of his sandwich, Eve smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Cy, its just that's how we have always known you." "Understandable. Now you were asking about my work?" inquired Cy. "Yep, can you do any o' that stuff you said today?" asked Wolf. "So you were awake for some of it?" answered Cy. Eve shot Wolf a scathing glance. Wolf took a sudden interest in the construction of his sandwich. "Just kidding, Eve, he asked a number of interesting questions." said Cy. Wolf looked up from his sandwich, clearly grateful for the save. "We have run some preliminary tests and the results look very promising. We're about ready to try sending something through." explained Cy. "So you've done it?" asked Eve. "Not exactly, we tried to open rift to another dimension, but the data collected suggests that it didn't work." He looked at Wolf, "We opened the primary rift, which gained us access to unspace, but we were unable to to open a secondary rift. But after careful examination of the data from our instruments we determined that the focus for our warp generators was misaligned. We fixed that and Algernon is running some tests as we speak so we can be ready to try sending something through in the coming week." "Warp generators?" asked Eve. "They're engines that warp space, creating a distortion wave that can propel a ship at faster than light speeds." replied Wolf. Eve looked at him, somewhat surprised. "I do pay attention in class, ya know." Wolf continued eating. Cy continued the explanation, "Eltorian ships have used them for years, the exofleet is just beginning to discover them. Modifications to their design have resulted in such weapons as the Sphere, which can shunt an entire planet into unspace. All I've done is borrow from that technology, to warp space at a particular point until reality breaks apart." "Sort of like bending it until it breaks?" offered Eve. "Exactly." said Cy, "And once the initial break is made, we create another inside it." "And bang, you're in another world." finished Wolf. "Ok, sounds plausible, but I seem to remember Chaos being in bad shape when it returned from unspace. How do you intend to send something across without it getting destroyed?" asked Eve. "Easy answer, Chaos is first of all really big, and second of all, spent a long period of time in unspace. Whatever we send will be relatively small in comparison and will spend only a few seconds in unspace. That makes any accidents an event of low probability." explained Cy. "But they can happen?" asked Eve. Cy considered the question carefully for a moment, "Yes, I suppose they can." * * *       A low 'ping' signaled the elevator had stopped. The doors opened and Alec peered cautiously out into the lobby. It was crowded. The walls to the left and right were lined with elevators. People were coming and going from the elevators and a few had stopped in small groups to converse in the lobby. At the end of the hallway there was a security station. Each person that entered and left had to pass through a full body scanner. There was one to either side of the station, which was nothing more than a large desk surrounded by break resistant glass and a low grade force field. Alec moved along the left wall of elevators, making sure to stay behind people. He was hoping to get a look at his guest before they exchanged words. He stood just outside the station. His hand crept towards his sidearm, just in case. The sea of bodies parted and that's when he saw her. She was about 5'11", slender in build. She had red hair that was kept in a braid that went down her back. She also had bright green eyes and wore a blue jumpsuit with a brown jacket. Her uniform was that of an jumptrooper. It was worn and shabby looking, like she had seen a lot of action. In her left hand she carried a large, green duffel bag. Her head darted about, like a predator in search of prey. It certainly looks like her. thought Alec. He darted over to the back of the security station and rapped on the door. A moment later a middle aged man in a security uniform emerged from the station. "Can I help you?" he asked. Alec pulled out his I.D., "Agent DeLeon, H.I.A. You see that young women with the bag?" The guard nodded his head, "She asked to see you, I phoned it in myself. Is there a problem?" "Maybe, but I'm not sure yet." replied Alec. "What's this all about then? I'd be flattered that such pretty face would want to see me." The guard looked to the women then back to Alec and raised an eyebrow. "Its just that she isn't who she says she is." answered Alec calmly. "How do you know that?" asked the guard. "Because I was there when the person she claims to be died. Now keep an eye on her and me, but don't do anything unless I signal you." instructed Alec. "What's the signal?" asked the guard. "If I scratch the back of my head, take her down." Alec turned away from the guard and headed for the exit. Before passing through the exit he checked his weapon, just in case. As he came around to the other side of the station, he moved in time with a large crowd of people, hoping to obscure the line of sight between himself and the woman. When he was sure he passed her position, he emerged from behind the crowd and approached her from behind...or at least that was how it was supposed to go. Alec arrived to find the woman already gone. If she outmaneuvered me then she knows I'm here, so where is she? "Agent Alec DeLeon?" a feminine voice emanated from behind Alec. Alec turned to face the women he was trying to sneak up on. "Yes, that's me. Who are you?" asked Alec. "Lt. Ellen Wright, at your service." * * *       Busy hands are happy hands. That old clichÈ had been a favorite of Mandy Wang ever since childhood. And busy she was, crop output had quadrupled in the past six months. All the experts told her boss not to buy the land to the south, the war had left them unless for farming. But the boss had done it anyway, and with a little fertilizing, and a lot of hope, it was yielding a respectable number of cash crops. Mandy finished the last few delivery orders. One for 30 tons of wheat to Earth, another for 15 tons of fresh vegetables to Mars, and a half ton of Venetian kumquats to be sold at a number of stores right on Venus. The last one was the really big cash crop. Through the subtle manipulations of the boss, these kumquats had become considered something of a delicacy. It was to the point that no self respecting restaurant would consider using anything else. Business was so good that Mandy was assigned an assistant. An assistant to the assistant. the thought made Mandy chuckle. Finished with the delivery orders, Mandy hit a key on her console and logged out from the plantation's mainframe. She got up out her chair and made her way around her desk and to her office's bathroom. She splashed some cold water on her face and watched it drain from it, taking the day's tension with it. She took a moment to straighten her short black hair, and wiped the excess water from around her ice-blue eyes. "You've come a long way girl." Mandy winked at herself in the mirror and headed over to her desk. She picked up her portfolio and left the office. * * *       There was a knock at the door. Nara turned from the window, "Come in." A woman in a white vest and blue pants entered the office. "Hey Mandy, what have you got for me?" The oriental woman fumbled with her portfolio for a moment and pulled a slip of paper from it. "Well Boss, we got orders through the roof, production is on its way there and the money is not far behind." She placed the slip of paper on the table. Nara picked it up and looked over the numbers, "Not bad for a Venus farm girl, huh?" "Definitely respectable, boss." agreed Mandy.       "How's that new assistant working out? I can get you another if you still need more help."       "Nah, she's working out fine. How are things today?" Mandy had a seat in one of the office chairs in front of Nara's desk. Likewise Nara had a seat in the plush chair behind the desk. "OK, I guess." replied Nara. Her tone was mostly nonchalant with a hint of depression. "Thinking about your hubby again?" ventured Mandy. Nara moved her thumb and forefinger over the wedding band on her left hand. "That obvious?"       "When you do that? Yes." Nara looked down at her wedding band, "Yeah I guess so."       "He's only been gone for 8 weeks. He calls you every night. Its not like he's going to leave you."       "I know that. Its just, well, I got invited the Colleen and J.T.'s second christening..."       "And its got you thinking about kids. You talk to Cy about it?" Nara looked about the room, settled on Mandy and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I know what he would say." Mandy held her hands out, palm up. "Care to share, my psychic abilities are on the fritz today."       The response triggered a smiled from Nara. "Its just that he's half human and I'm not exactly human either. I mean, what kind of kid would we end up with? He could be deformed, or have psychological problems, I mean what happens if decides he wants to take over the world only to find he has the power to make it happen?" Mandy started to laugh hysterically prompting Nara to get offended. She stared at her coldly while Mandy got herself together.       "I'm sorry, its just that those are the kinds of concerns every potential parent considers. Deformity, psychological disorders, those types of things can happen to anyone's kid. As for taking over the world, you don't need any kind of genetic power for that. Just ask the parents of Adolf Hitler."       "You think I'm going to give birth to the next Hitler?" asked Nara. "No, no," answered Mandy, "all I'm saying is that these concerns aren't unique. If you want an excuse not to have kids, you or your hubby are going to have to do better than that." Mandy got up to leave, as she reached the door Nara called her, "Mandy?" She turned back to the desk, "Yeah?" "Thanks." Mandy flashed a smile, "Sure thing, boss." * * *       "OK, lets try this again." Alec paced the length of the debriefing room. The small room housed only a table, two chairs, Alec and the woman from the lobby. The room had gotten stuffy and hot, so Alec had removed his red blazer. "Who are you?" The women was clearly irritated by this point, "Listen blondie, I told you. My name is Lt. Ellen Wright, unit commander for Charlie Five." Alec pounded his hands on the table, "No, you listen. I knew Ellen Wright, and you may look like her, but you aren't her." "What makes you the expert?" Ellen asked. Her stare was as hard as Alec's. "Because Ellen Wright was never a Lieutenant. She was in Charlie Five but never commanded it, and most importantly, she's dead!" Ellen's face dropped and silence reigned in the room for the next few moments. After her recovery, Ellen stood and looked eye to eye with Alec. "I'm not dead, I don't even know where I am. The last I remember I was on Mars, near the canyon area. We ran into an Elt patrol. Things started happening really fast. I lost some troopers, we returned fire and then somehow everything disappeared and I found myself here." She turned and looked around the room. She spread her hands out encompassing everything around her. "This shouldn't even be here! None of this should! Mars is a waste land!" Alec raised his hand toward her, "Now calm down." "You calm down!" yelled Ellen, "I came here to get some answers and all I've got is more questions!" "Why did you come see me?" asked Alec. Ellen calmed herself and sat down, "You're supposed to be my commanding officer, Captain Alec DeLeon. I came into the building but couldn't get by the security station, not with what I was carrying." Alec nodded, remembering the duffel bag full of exoarmor she had in the lobby. "So I looked in the directory from the public access terminals in the lobby. I wasn't sure who to contact." "So military training kicked in and you looked for your C.O." finished Alec. Ellen nodded her head quickly. Alec took one last look at her and left the room. The adjoining room was filled with observation equipment and staffed by three men. "Well?" asked Alec. One the of tech's removed his headphones and answered, "Blood pressure is stable, save for the outburst, heart rhythm is the same." "So what are you telling me?" asked Alec. "There's no fluctuations that are consistent with the reactions of people who would lie under similar circumstances." answered the tech. "There are ways to beat those detection methods though." Alec looked at a monitor, it showed Ellen sitting quietly in the next room. "I was hoping to avoid this," he turned his gaze to the tech, "Get a team ready. We'll use the mind scanner on her, its the only way."       "Oh no, you're not using that thing on me!" Ellen had remained calm until she saw the chair. The mind scanner was essentially a sophisticated sensor array that could detect and monitor the unique electrochemical impulses of the brain. In short, it can read brain waves. The initial models were known to have several bugs in them which would occasionally cease all brain activity, resulting in death. Alec had told Ellen that there was one test they could do on her that would verify her story. She jumped at the chance, just to prove she wasn't crazy. But as they walked her to the test site she began to put it all together. She refused to believe it though, rationalizing that humans couldn't be that inhuman. "You agreed to this test." reminded Alec. "You didn't tell me you were going to use that! It will make a vegetable out of me!" Ellen turned to leave but was apprehended by Alec. She started to shake him lose but Alec tightened his grip. "Listen to me! This machine is state of the art. At one time they had side effects like you described, but that's a thing of the past. This one doesn't even hurt. The chances of a mind wipe are almost nonexistent." explained Alec. Ellen seemed to settle down and Alec released her. He walked over to the machine. "Look. All you have to do is sit here." He pointed the metal seat with a 'U' shaped harness that was raised over it. "When in use this harness fits over the person in the chair and keeps them in position. You'll note that the sensory helmet is attached to the harness and fits over the person's head." Ellen looked at the machine as he spoke. The helmet was dome-like on top with sides that came down to below the ear. The front of the helmet stopped at the eyebrow and the rear stopped at the base of the neck. The harness and a simple chin strap that kept everything in place. A multitude of wires came out of the top of the helmet and connected to the computer console which encompassed half the room. The processing computers were then hooked into a holoprojector which could then display what the subject was thinking. The projector was small and squat, being only the size of an ashtray and connected to the processing computers by one wire. It sat on a small table in front of the metal chair. Alec stuck his open hand out, "Well?" "I must be crazy." replied Ellen as she reached for it. "We'll know in a short while." replied Alec. Ellen sat in the chair. The harness descended slowly and locked into place. The helmet was snug on her head. She watched as Alec gave a thumbs up to one of the techs in the room. "Here goes nothing." mumbled Ellen. * * *       The hanger doors opened. Beyond them the vastness of space loomed. Slowly, a number of small vessels emerged from the blackness. The first was an exofighter. Sleek and blue, it turned on its axis and made course for the hanger. As it approached, those that followed it came into view. Next was a red and yellow craft. The cockpit protruded forward from the main body. Its two main weapons stood powerfully from the top of the vehicle. An armature in either direction acted as the craft's wings. The Neo y-wing altered its course and followed the exofighter. Next came another Neo vehicle. Small and sleek, with a humanoid design, it moved gracefully to fall in position behind the Neo y-wing. The frame's gray color blended with the hull of the exocarrier, making it difficult to see. Behind it came a larger exoframe. Its two large legs were extended down for landing. Though designed to carry two, it was flown by only one pilot. The exoframe's purple color would have seemed more appropriate on the converted Neo frame flying in front of it. The next craft was green. Its right arm was ended in a large mechanical hand. Its left arm ended with the three barrels of the craft's main weapon. Next to this craft came a white exoframe. The 'bubble' style canopy was flanked by two massive shoulders. Above the canopy one found a rectangular structure which served as a launching point for missiles. The craft's left arm had an armature similar to the green exoframe. The right arm ended with the barrel of a large cannon. Unlike the other members of the squad, this craft had two sets of markings. One identified it as an exofleet craft. This marking was a circle with a red border. Inside the circle, six triangular spikes radiated out of the center. Three were grouped to the left and the other three to the right. The second marking identified the craft as a member of the pirate clans. It was a simple skull. The last craft could hardly be called a craft at all. It's markings identified it as a member of exofleet though it was of alien origin. Little more than a glorified space suit, Eltorian battle armor sacrificed the heavy armor plating of an exoframe in favor of greater maneuverability. This was a small sacrifice however, as battle armor was organic and synthetic. Allowing it to repair itself and its pilot in the middle of a battle. Its micronized power source and thrusters made it an easy match for any exoframe where speed was concerned. Its offensive arsenal, due to space considerations, consisted strictly of energy base weapons. Called plasma, battle armor could unleash small green bursts from forearm launchers. While relatively weak, they are known to be fast and cause severe damage with multiple hits. Larger, more powerful launchers are found attached to the armor's winged jetpack. They peak over the pilot's shoulders and let lose powerful red packets of plasma. Though slower than green plasma, one was sufficient to disable an e-frame. Two would all but guarantee a kill. On the other hand, the battle armor had its limits. Any missile or energy weapon that could destroy an exoframe could just as easily destroy battle armor, or an elt-frame as they were sometimes called.       As the last craft entered the landing bay its massive doors closed. A safety force field activated and the bay was pressurized. The pilots began to disembark from their exoframes, with the exception of the elt-frame pilot. Another advantage of her armor was its portability. Her jetpack, boots, and forearm cannons seemed to vanish with a blue flash and a wiff of ozone. What they really did was create a partial opening to unspace for the components to slip into. These holes in reality did not go all the way through to unspace. Thus the components remained slightly out of phase with reality, in their own 'pocket universe'. The rest of the armor lost consistency, becoming not unlike a thick liquid, and flowed from the various portions of the pilot's body to her back. Once it had accumulated there, it hardened into a hexagonal backpack. The pilot removed the backpack and carried it to the personnel access door.       Kaz Takagi crawled out of the cockpit of his exofighter and jumped down to the hanger floor. His orange and blue flight suit was wrinkled and faded from use. He watched Able Squad disembark from their own frames. My Squad. Kaz had still not gotten totally used to the idea of himself as Able Squad's leader. When someone would ask to see the person in charge, a small part of Kaz was still ready to reply 'Marsh' or 'Burns'. J.T. Marsh had left the exofleet a year after the Eltorian War ended. His wife, Colleen, had decided to stay. For about a year, they lived together traveling where Colleen's assignments took them. After that, J.T. decided to open a flight school on Earth. Though originally devoted to recreational flying, it quickly attracted the attention of companies in need of skilled pilots for interplanetary transport. Mining companies, space liners, even the exofleet academy would contract J.T. to train people for them. In the meantime, Colleen spent most of her days at work on planet Chaos. The previously undiscovered planet had become the entrance point to the sol system. Large bases had been constructed there to serve as a sort of customs station for the solar system. The facilities on Chaos also needed an extensive planetary communications system, with supporting low orbit satellites and powerful relay stations to keep the whole thing in contact with the inner solar system. Colleen had started as just another worker on the project. Her skill with machines quickly got her promoted to the rank of Commander. As Kaz recalled, she was currently responsible for maintaining the entire satellite support network. What Kaz found truly amazing was that J.T. and Colleen had found the time to have two children and were in the process of raising them properly. J.T. had once told him that all it takes to keep a marriage like his together is some careful time management, and a lot of love. It seemed to Kaz that the last seven months were probably easier on the couple because Colleen had come to live on Earth with J.T. She had gotten leave for the duration of her pregnancy.       Lt. Burns had left exofleet just after she had gotten married to Sterling. That was roughly the same time J.T. got out. She went back to Venus and rebuilt her parents' farm. Sterling went with her. Kaz could never really picture Sterling as a farmer, but he tried it for a year or two. Then he took a job with Professor Algernon. They had to juggle their time a bit, what with Sterling spending time on Earth and Nara fostering a prosperous business on Venus. Sterling and Algernon collaborated on a number of projects. The results were revolutions in medical technology, physics and math. Having secured his position in the scientific community, Sterling decided to take a teaching position at Vesta University, Venus. This put him close to home, much to Nara's liking. Though Sterling still found himself traveling from time to time.       Before Nara left exofleet, she was to recommend the next squad leader. For all intents and purposes, her recommendation would decide who it would be. Kaz was surprised he was it. He had expected Alec, Maggie, or Torres to get it. But all three had either given notice or were moving on to other assignments. Alec went to work for H.I.A., Maggie was put in charge of one motorpool or another, and Torres became a Drill Instructor at Exofleet Academy. Even then, Worthington, Remes, or Thrax still had older commissions. But Nara had explained her decision to him. Worthington and Remes were relatively inexperienced in comparison to Kaz and that, in her mind, was enough to consider Kaz over them. Thrax however was a different story. He had the experience both in action and in command. Nara was inclined to select him but he had specifically requested that she not. His reason was that he just wanted to finish his tour of duty and become a private citizen. J.T. offered him a spot as an instructor in his flight school when he got out and it seemed likely that Thrax was going to except. So with Thrax out of the running, that left Kaz as Able Squad's newest commander.       The tall alien to his left looked unstable on her feet. Her white hair was in its usual pony tail, but her skin was a lighter shade of violet. Not normal for her species. Kaz walked over to her, "Shanita, are you alright?" She turned her black eyes to him, "I am fine, sir. Thank you for asking." "Why don't I believe you?" asked Kaz. Shanita stood there, hands shaking slightly, and replied, "I don't know why." A brown haired man of medium build approached from his white e-frame. He wore a lieutenants strips but still very much resembled the pirate he once was. Kaz looked at him, "Do you have any ideas what's wrong with her, Hallas?" "She's being stubborn as usual." replied Hallas. His voice was mostly flat with a hint of anger. Shanita and he had been dating for a quite a while. Thus, whatever was wrong with Shanita, they had a fight about and Hallas lost...again. "Out with it." demanded Kaz. "She's sick. A bad case of the flu but she's too stubborn to admit it." answered Hallas. "I am not sick!" yelled Shanita. A moment later she sneezed, as she rubbed her nose afterward she realized she had just destroyed her counter argument. Kaz looked at Shanita, "Report to Medical, Lieutenant." The look on his face left little room for argument. Kaz shifted his gaze back to Hallas, "Make sure she gets there." Hallas escorted Shanita from the room. Though she was sneezing and shivering, she still insisted she was fine.       "Poor Shanita." commented Worthington. "You mean poor Hallas, he's got to deal with that crazy alien bitch." retorted Remes. Lt. Sue Worthington shot Lt. Stanley Remes a scornful look. If he were in reach, she would probably have kicked him in the shin for such a remark. But lucky for Stan, she was still in her frame. She had a minor computer glitch that she decided to sort out before exiting her e-frame. With the glitch fixed, she brought one leg over the side of the cockpit, flipped a few last switches to shut down the two legged behemoth that passed for her ship, then brought the other leg over and started to lower herself to the ground. Stan was waiting for her there, his gray e-frame behind him. He had the usual 'what-did-I-do-now' expression across his face. "You know what you did." replied Sue as she lowered herself down the side of her frame. "Lighten up Sue! Its not like she could hear us." Fortunately for Stan, the bangs of Sue's blond hair hide the next stare she gave him. Of course, Stan knew the look was coming and decided to get moving before the angle changed. As he scurried off, he walked past a large Neosapian.       To those who didn't know him, the tattoo on his forehead was the unique symbol that identified him as Thrax. Like most Neosapians, Thrax was about seven feet tall with blue skin and two aposeable thumbs on each two fingered hand. Artificially created in a laboratory, Neosapians were intended as a worker race genetically engineered to be physically superior to humans. Their larger size granted them greater strength. They also had superior eyesight and hearing. They could breath air that would kill humans, lived far longer, and required no sleep. But of course, they had emotions similar to humans and so wanted their freedom. They eventually got it, but not without the bloodshed of the Neosapian war. Bloodshed that was quickly forgotten once the Eltorians invaded, just as when bad blood was forgotten with the pirate clans when the Neos rebelled.       Though Thrax really didn't believe that Neos were superior, he did believe they deserved their freedom. When he got it, he was satisfied. Though others wanted more. They believed that the genetically superior should rule and fought during the war to exterminate (not just defeat) the human race. But the humans had proven that they were not as weak as they seemed by winning the war. And yet, some still insisted that Neos were the pinnacle of evolution. Every time Thrax heard that, he thought of his squad-mate, Shanita. Though she was a foot shorter than him, she could easily snap him in half. This just proved to Thrax that strength does not necessarily mean fitness, and that no matter how strong you think you are, there is always someone stronger.       Thrax had always thought it funny that some Neos would argue that a man made race like themselves was the best nature had to offer. With the start of the Eltorian war, they discovered that they weren't even close. The humans fought it, with little help from the Neos, against a greater foe than the Neos had ever been. The Eltorian war eventually ended peacefully, through negotiation. Some Elts, like Shanita, live and work in the solar system. For Thrax, they serve as a reminder of the strength displayed by both the Eltorians and the humans which stood up to them. He watched Stan walking towards him, "What have you done now?" "Nothing at all, my blue skinned friend." replied Stan as he hurried past. Thrax turned his head back the other way and saw Sue stomping after him. "I see." he replied.       Kaz watched with mild interest as Stan hastily left the hanger, followed by Sue. That's when he noticed Thrax and the newest member of Able Squad, Sargent Anthony Dirk, coming toward him. Dirk was solidly built. His dark brown eyes matched the tone of his skin. He wore his black hair in what he called a 'high and tight'. The hair on the sides of his head had been shaved off, leaving a patch on the top to be shaved down close to the scalp. He wore knee-high brown boots with a green jumpsuit. A side arm was strapped to each leg, with another under his left arm. His yellow weapons belt contained a number of compartments, for various gadgets and supplies. The holster for the sidearm under his left arm was also yellow, contrasting sharply with Dirk's green suit. He also wore tan gloves. Thrax spoke, "The Sargent and I are headed for the lounge, would you care to join us?" "I've got to file a report with Admiral Jamison first, but I'll meet you guys there, okay?" replied Kaz. "Very well." replied Thrax. He left with Dirk. Kaz, in the meantime, made his way to the bridge. * * *       Ellen kept her breathing steady. So far the process didn't hurt but that could change. Alec stood in front of the holoprojector and watched with increasing alarm as Ellen's story was proved true. Various images flashed across the projector: an elderly couple, presumably her parents; troopers from her squad; and an image of Alec DeLeon. He looked older. He had a scar across his left cheek and blonde goatee. The look on his face was of a man who had seen too many battles. Alec collected himself, "Try to focus on how you arrived here." Ellen closed her eyes and concentrated. The image on the projector became one of the Martian landscape. It was rugged and barren. In the background, ruins of what was once Maginus City could be seen. Wright's troops were moving through the ruins. It looked to Alec that they were on some sort of patrol. Then a number of troops turned and opened fire only to have it returned with interest. "Looks like you walked into a trap." commented Alec. "The area was supposed to be clear." growled Wright. Her tone was defensive. "Just an observation, calm down and continue." replied Alec. The battle seemed to continue well for Wright's squad. They were fighting a squad of Eltorian troops in full battle armor. Though caught off guard at first, Ellen quickly regrouped her men and was leading a successful counterattack. The Elts quickly began to retreat, firing a volley of plasma missiles to cover their withdrawal. Ellen gave the command to scatter and she activated the thrusters on her exoarmor and propelled herself to the left. As the missiles impacted the area brightened to a blinding white. When Ellen could see again the Martian wasteland was gone, replaced with a reconstructed Maginus City. Wright apparently landed in an ally not far from the building they were now. "Okay, I've seen enough." said Alec. The techs shut the mind scanner down and raised the harness off of Ellen. She stood up and faced Alec. "Alright, now what?" she asked. Alec shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea." On to Chapter 2