Dawnbreaker Episode II: Shattered Worlds/Part 6

CHAPTER 16

Lord Darkon and the Gatekeeper still wait for an answer, as the Assailant stares out the bridge viewport, his back to them.

"I command you to tell us about this Enemy!" Lord Darkon snaps.

The Leviathan appears beside the Excalibur, out of range of the destruction, after emerging from hyperspace flanked by Decimators, Bastions, Firestorms, and many escort ships, having made their jump at the last moment. However, Patten, Carter, and their personal squad of Guardians are not on board. The fleet is reconfigured into a standoff formation. Suddenly, on the bridge of the Uberweapon, the elite squad uncloaks, having entered the ship in a specially modified cloaked shuttle.

"I would also like to hear about this 'great Enemy'," Patten says.

"An officer calls out to O'Neill, "Captain, we are receiving a transmission. Unknown source."

Captain O'Neill turns to face the communications officer. "Patch it through."

"If you wish to learn why your fleet was brought across the universe to this galaxy, then come to these coordinates. I will explain everything to you, Lord Darkon, and the Gatekeeper once you arrive. And bring the pilot you call Rattler with you."

Captain O'Neill blinks in surprise. The coordinates are right next to the massive ship near the star.

"Contact Captain Anders aboard the Kyushu. He's to take command of the fleet while we investigate the source of this signal. Helm, set a course into the system."

20 minutes later, the TCS Excalibur pulls up alongside the Uberweapon. A shuttle from Excalibur locates a landing bay, and Captain O'Neill and Rattler are escorted to the bridge. Rattler takes one look at both Lord Darkon and the Gatekeeper, and gets the creepy feeling of all creepy feelings. Lord Darkon and the Gatekeeper turn, and see the Terrans for the first time. For a moment, they focus on Rattler, then turn their attention to Captain O'Neill.

The Gatekeeper looks around at the crowd of people on the bridge of his ship, clearly amused. A Corporal walks up to him. "Sir, we have successfully deactivated the hostile energy field that is preventing our ships from moving or attacking. Requesting permission to open fire." "Denied, Corporal. I wish to see how this plays out. Return to your duties. Clear the bridge except for us." "Yes, Sir! You heard the Gatekeeper! Move it!" All of the SE crewman leave, leaving the faction leaders alone on the bridge. The Gatekeeper turns back to the Assailant, and everyone in the room notices the mood change to a much darker tone. "Assailant, tell us what is going on, or I swear to you, on my own grave, I will show you the true meaning of the word 'Despair.' This is your final warning..."

CHAPTER 17

"Point Guard 5-1A to Lady Deathstrike: Sensors are detecting several NEF ships near the Confederation fleet. How in space did they-"

"Ignore them, 5-1A! Repeat, maintain standoff formation. Monitor them closely, but do not engage!"

The Blood Sanctum arrives at the Akates star, coming to a halt less than 2.000 kilometers from the Uberweapon. Not the slightest hint of threat. Deathstrike takes her personal infiltrator ship across, and docks in the main hangar bay. As she makes her way to the Bridge, she comes across absolutely no-one. She enters the bridge, and takes in the assembled group in a single glance. Her tatooed face is a mask of surprise. Lord Darkon beckons her over.

"What is this?! What is happening, my Lord?"

"I suspect we are soon to find out, my apprentice..."

Patten nods at the new arrivals, and continues to wait for a response from the Assailant.

As Lord Darkon continues to stare hard at the Assailant's back, his patience draining rather quickly, Deathstrike turns to Grand Admiral Patten, and whispers: "Well played, Admiral. Your fleet did give my forces an interesting challenge. Mmm... I only wish the entertainment wasn't cut short by the Uberweapon's seeming destruction. I must confess at some surprise at seeing you alive. The last I saw of your ship, it was being ripped to pieces by one of my Kurgarin dreadnoughts." With a maniacal look in her dark eyes, "In any case, I really enjoyed the carnage."

"Ah, never underestimate a blast of pure, hyper-condensed plasma. Tears through anything," The general winks, "INCLUDING Kurgarin dreadnaughts. You also seemingly got your facts incorrect, Atlantea armor is extremely tough, especially on my flagship. Nevertheless, your forces gave me the greatest challenge of my life. I commend your battle skills..." ...although you are kinda freaky...

Rattler can't take it anymore, and positions himself between the Sith woman and Patten. His blue uniform contrasting those of Sith woman and the Admiral.

"ENOUGH! You guys can rip each other apart some other time! Right now we got bigger problems to deal with!"

Captain O'Neill finally decides to speak up, hoping to diffuse the situation before it gets out of control.

"Everyone calm down. Threatening people is not going to solve anything. I'm sure there is a reason we are all here."

As Captain O'Neill speaks, Rattler still can't shake the creepy feeling he's getting from the two opposing leaders. He then turns his attention to the third individual who appears to be the focus of their frustration. Something about this person makes Rattler even more uncomfortable.

The Gatekeeper, his patience also running short, takes a step towards Darkon's Apprentice, and reaches into his pocket... "Deathstrike. We meet at last." He says. "Lord Darkon has taught you well, but as Ty hinted at before he left, after this war is over, he will no longer need you. That, and he will view you as a threat to him." Deathstrike looked confused. "Deathstrike, the Sith are always turning on one another. It is natural for them. They have been doing that since I first created them and put the idea of the Sith'ari in their heads. After this war is over, if you two are still alive, it will come naturally to you to take his power for yourself, and it will come naturally to him to kill you for doing so. It is the way of the Sith. But I am sure you will learn that soon enough..."

Deathstrike's confusion turns to cold anger, and she turns burning eyes on the Gatekeeper. "You fool! You know nothing about the Sith! And I don't mean the mockery the Sith have become under the leadership of treacherous, small minded Sith Masters, as far back as when they betrayed the last true King of the Sith, Akirakon Sin. My master is a True Sith, the one who shall continue the legacy of Akirakon Sin. A legacy that was interrupted millennia ago! A legacy of strength, unity, and supreme power! As his apprentice, I am a True Sith as well. You will never cause dissention between us!"

Lord Darkon is silent, listening to his Apprentice's heated rebuttal. To himself, full of pride: "Indeed. I have taught her well!"

"My intention was not to drive you two apart," The Gatekeeper continued angrily. "I am telling you exactly what is going to happen someday. It has happened with very Sith and Apprentice I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. You Sith are like animals! You have no moral values and in my opinion which greatly outshines your own seeing as I CREATED YOUR KIND, you and ALL of your pathetic Sith followers should save me the trouble and just kill yourselves! You Sith have turned into monsters! Absolute monsters! You do not deserve to inhabit the same universe as the human race, or any other life form in existence! And if I was so tempted, I could wipe you out right now!" The Gatekeeper pulls a lightsaber out of his pocket, Lord Darkon spins around in a picosecond, as the Gatekeeper is about to ignite his lightsaber. In a blur of motion too fast even for the Gatekeeper to see, Darkon's blade intercepts the Gatekeeper's, and a massive blast of pure Force energy sends the Gatekeeper rocketing backwards to the far bulkhead, with an impact powerful enough to rattle the entire bridge. Lord Darkon's anger is almost incinerating.

"ENOUGH, PATHETIC ONE!!! If you blaspheme the True Sith one more time, or if you threaten my chosen apprentice again, I will NOT be as restrained as I am now! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Darkon attempts to send a burst of Lightning at the Gatekeeper, but as he extended his hand, a string wrapped around his wrist and yanked his arm down.

The Assailant retracted the cord into his wrist-device and finally spoke: "Your all idiots, and were clearly not paying any attention to what I was saying." He turns to the Gatekeeper. "I did not destroy the Uberweapon, I have no quarrel with you. More importantly, however, you did not re-create it as it would seem. None of us are really here. I expect our enemy has us all captured in a cell somewhere, and is probing our minds at this very moment." He looks at the rest of the people on the bridge. "This is all an illusion. I'm not sure how long it's been, but that is not important. We need to get out."

CHAPTER 18

Rattler is the first to respond.

"Wait a minute... if this is some sort of trick, then explain why we're here. I could understand if it was just those two," Rattler indicates the Gatekeeper and Lord Darkon. "But the thing I don't get, is us. The Confederation is not even from this part of this galaxy, and slightly more advanced than the TEC, at least from what I saw out there. What possible reason would your enemy have for capturing a Confed Captain and fighter pilot?"

"Earth."

All eyes turn to Captain O'Neill.

"Think about it. Everyone here represents a major military power. What if this enemy, if what you are saying is true, wants to learn about our technology to prepare for an invasion. The most heavily defended places would be our respective homeworlds. Earth is ours. If I'm right, then we are all being used to see how we would react to a major threat. The two of you..." She points to Lord Darkon and the Gatekeeper, "Attacked each other. We showed up, and did not choose sides. Now the real question is, if this is all a simulation, when were we captured?"

The Assailant looks at Rattler and O'Neill."I don't know when we were captured, but that doesn't matter, what matters is that we are captured, together, by any enemy far more powerful than all of us. We need to escape."

He looks back at Darkon and the Gatekeeper.

"When you two escaped the plane during your last battle, you let something out. Creatures far more powerful than this galaxy has ever known. I was here to stop them, but it would seem that somewhere along the line, we all got captured and our subconscious minds reset back to this point.

O'Neill interrupted: "Earth is what we call a Class M Planet, which supports a wide variety of environments ranging from ocean to desert. But if this enemy was interested in us, then where are the Kilrathi? The Confederation is currently at war with the Kilrathi Empire. Wouldn't it make sense to study all possible forces that could oppose them?" The Assailant is about to respond when the Gatekeeper, clearly ignoring the Assailant, seizes the opportunity, and attempts to cut Darkon's arm's off. Lord Darkon pulls back, narrowly avoiding the Gatekeeper's blade while drawing his own. He lunges forward intending to run the Gatekeeper through, but the Gatekeeper dodged, causing Darkon to hit himself against the window.

Rattler smacks his own face at the constant fighting between Lord Darkon and the Gatekeeper. Getting fed up that they aren't listening, Rattler pulls out his laser pistol, and shoots the floor several times around both of them.

"WILL YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN FOR A MINUTE!?! We could be dealing with a 'Fate of the Universe' situation here, and you two are too busy trying to prove who's got the biggest balls! Break it up already or I'm gonna sock someone!"

Captain O'Neill silently agrees with her Wing Commander.

"Captain O'Neill brings up a very valid point." The Gatekeeper replied. "The SE's homeworld is Komm, a massive planet that is roughly the size of 50 Coruscant's. It supports trillions of species of life, as well as every known environment. The perfect home world. When I first created the galaxy and formed the Shadow Empire, long before your times, I decided to create resource-rich Komm. What kind of resources does Earth have left? If my hunch is correct, they could be after resources to prepare for a full-scale galactic-no---Universal takeover. This fighting between Darkon and myself must be exactly what they wanted. Assailant, tell us more about this 'Enemy.' "

Lord Darkon picks himself up, his animosity towards the Gatekeeper momentarily forgotten.

"Interesting point, Captain O'Neill. Korriban, a primordial True Sith world, is mostly a barren wasteland, with not much in the way of natural resources. However, it is literally alive with the mystical energy we refer to as 'The Force'. I suspect that is why the ancient Sith first evolved there, as a species. Leaving aside the Gatekeeper's absurd presumption and delusions of being the 'creator of the universe', if this 'enemy' would plan an invasion of the known universe, the powers contained within Korriban would definitely be a great asset to him. And our infighting would give this hypothetical "enemy" an idea of the methods we would use to repel an actual invasion. However, I still need more evidence before I am convinced that all of this is an elaborate illusion. Assailant, I am open to hearing more."

Ty294 suddenly fades into view.

"A very interesting story assailant, tell more."

Turning toward Deathstrike, who stands quaking in rage at the reappearance of her enemy, Ty294 briefly remarks: "What? Think you're the only one who can imploy force illusions?" As if he did not even notice Ty, the Assailant snapped his head in the direction of the ship controls. "Has anyone else noticed the fleet is gone?" He asked quickly, more to himself than anyone in particular. "We aren't going anywhere, because there is nowhere to go..." He turned back to everyone else. "We need to get off this ship." The Assailant started to leave the bridge. "No... we can't get off the ship..." He turned around. "We need to destroy the ship."