_____ _____ _____ /_____ /_____/ /___ _____/ / \ /_____ ____ ____ \ \/ / \ / / \ /____/\____\ L e g a c i e s -=< Here it is. The long-awaited SRE 10 -- Legacies. This story is an epic, and I'm also happy to report that this is our fifteenth and final story in the SRE Text Series. But enough of me.. On to the story!! >=- Prologue Fighters darted through space, to his left and right. Beams of light brightened all of space, as a fantastic battle was taking place. Ultra's forces were clashing with Mace, for what Ultra was sure would be the last time. As reports rolled in to Ultra by the minute, he saw that his forces were winning by a long shot. Then it caught his attention; Mace was getting away! In a final last-ditch effort, he hutled his command ship to the spot he knew Mace was at. Mace's ship had no chance to escape. The two command ships collided. Explosions followed. Massive explosions. But strangely, Ultra didn't seem to be dead. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn't on the command ship anymore. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled. --= 1 =-- Years and years. Years and more years. Krael had spent the past seventeen years as Director of the Cyberian Group. Krael had seen the Universe come perilously close to destruction; he had seen life taken away by the trillions. These things hurt him deeply. But there were lots of years of joy, too. And for those, Krael was happy. After all these years, Krael was going to step down as Director and let Full Admiral Rytek take control of the Cyberian Group. The ceremony was going to be tomorrow. "Full Admiral Rytek, do you completely affirm to lead the Cyberian Group in it's goals towards freedom and peace and protection of the independence of the Universe?" asked Krael. "I do indeed," replied Rytek. "Well then, I make you my successor as Director of the Cyberian Group," said Krael. Thunderous applause arose. Thousands of people from the UEA, the Cyberian Group, and from various empires, were watching the ceremony live. Trillions of people were seeing the ceremony over the VidCom. Just as Krael was about to conclude, a brilliant flood of light drowned the room. Everyone was shaken into shocked silence. "What the hell is going on?" yelled a figure that had not been there an instant before. "What is this?" he demanded again. Admiral Dwool drew in a breath. The man looked strangely reminiscent of someone from his past. He thought he might know who this was. "Ultra?" he asked. The figure swiveled to face Dwool. "Yes," he replied cautiously. "Oh my goodness," said Dwool, "It's the legendary Ultra!" --= 2 =-- "I don't understand. How could Ultra be here?" asked Rytek. Full Admiral Rytek, Inspector Tecouk, and Krael were in a conference. "I don't know, Full Admiral Rytek. All we know is that Ultra died about seventy or eighty years ago. He SHOULDN'T be here," replied Inspector Tecouk. "Options?" demanded Rytek. "I suggest you get the Inspector here, and chief scientist Vedet, on the case," said Krael. Rytek shook his head. "Good idea. Carry it out," he ordered. "It's still hard to believe," breathed Ultra. Dwool nodded his compliance. "I can understand that. What was it like, though? What was it REALLY like?" asked Dwool. Ultra sighed. "It was all difficult. Those were the best years of my life, in some ways. Have you ever been betrayed by people you thought were loyal to you?" asked Ultra. "Yeah. Half the Armada split up during the Kazik War. I certainly didn't expect two Admirals to up and leave their loyalty behind," said Dwool. "Then I guess you can partially understand. I knew Mace wasn't gone, you know? So I became an Underground fugitive; I hunted Mace out. And I was about to destroy him myself when I got zapped here!" explained Ultra. "That's amazing," said Dwool. "You have been my idol ever since I was a child. I always hoped to be as powerful as Ultra.. It drove me to join the military." Ultra could say nothing. Together they sat in joyous silence. It hadn't been three days since the appearance of Ultra, when another figure mysteriously appeared on the opposite of side of the Universe. His name was known by many as Mace. He himself didn't know what was going on, but he did know that he wasn't in the right place. --= 3 =-- Psychia was a stimulating thing. To feel it penetrate your body in small doses was pure pleasure. Aytori, a member of the legendary Feqh-Netur terrorist group, had been fooling around with exochloranide for months. When Ecstatic hired Feqh-Netur agents to steal and utilize exochloranide, or X, as it was called, she jumped at the chance. Well, Ecstatic was dead now, caught by the Cyberian Group. But Aytori had kept X for herself. It was a strange thing, X was. No other substance could do so much. Which is why it was so valuable. The warmth of the psychia caressed her again.. It didn't take Mace very long to learn how to operate the VidTerm. A VidScreen lit up before him, displaying all the information he requested. He had mastered VidCom and AudCom communications, and now he was learning about the place he was at. It surprised him to learn he was eighty years in the future. Mystery was shrouded around him. And he intended to solve it. T'hoj was just doing her job, running sample tests, when an incredible flash of light interrupted her work. "What is this?" began the intruder. "Who are you and WHAT are you doing in this lab?" she demanded. The man looked disoriented. "Hello. My name is Elite. Last thing I remember was the firing squad. Where am I?" he asked. Elite, Elite. T'hoj rolled the name over in her mind. It seemed familiar to T'hoj. "Come with me. Let's go have a talk," she began. --= 4 =-- "Hello, Mace. I see you've discovered how to operate your toys," said a faceless voice. "Don't try to find me. I'm not with you. This is simply an AudCom transmission," it continued. "I know you're a bit confused. I suppose being transported eighty years into the future, after being on the losing side of a battle could be disorienting," it droned on. "But I have a proposition for you: I know how you wanted to kill Ultra. And I also know that you couldn't do it. You were losing. Losing BADLY. But what if I showed you a way to get your revenge, with a fresh start?" it asked. Mace's eyes lit up like fire. Revenge? Kill Ultra? "Tell me more," he replied, coolly. "You were brought here by myself. And Ultra was brought here, too. You have a chance to kill him. I will give you some information regarding these circumstances. It's up to you to do the job. Happy hunting!" "So we now have Ultra and Elite, two legends who died eighty years ago, here with us?" asked Full Admiral Rytek. "Exactly, Director. We were lucky enough to get some readings from the lab which Elite was transported into. We found trace exonitride particles," explained Vedet. "You mean you found traces of X?" exclaimed Rytek. Vedet shook his head. "No, not X. This is exonitride, a stable variant of X. We have no idea what it means yet, but we DID find it," he replied. Ultra had been provided with small living chambers. He had been getting comfortable when his door opened. In the doorway stood Elite. "Oh my lord," breathed Ultra. "How did you get here?" he demanded. Elite walked over towards his longtime friend. "I have absolutely no idea. Have you been to Sree or Sei since you've been here?" asked Elite. Ultra shook his head. "Nope, not yet. From what I hear, ever since this Petros Station became the cornerstone of the Cyberian Group, Sree and Sei's importance has dwindled. There's much more focus on Tejas now," replied Ultra. Everything was still overwhelming. "So that's where we are? The Tejas Galaxy?" asked Elite. "From what I understand. It's on the edge of our Universe, next to the Kazik Universe," Ultra explained. "This is very weird," said Elite. --= 5 =-- Getting passage on a Feqh-Netur attack cruiser had been easier than Mace had expected. Everything he'd read about the Netur had suggested they were reclusive. He had learned that Ultra, and now Elite, too, were in the Tejas Galaxy at Petros Station. He had procured a vastator, which he'd read was the assassin's weapon of choice. Hopefully he'd have the oppurtunity to use it on Ultra. "No! It's the nightmare starting all over, I just know it," said Etano. Etano and Vedet were walking towards the main Chemical Analysis Lab. "Stop overreacting, Etano! It's _not_ X, for crying out loud! Ecstatic is dead and X is gone," yelled Vedet. They both abruptly stopped. "Why? Why me? Exonitride has never been found in nature by itself! Has something changed all of the sudden?" demanded Etano. "No, but then again, we've never encountered time travel have we? This _must_ be a side effect," replied a steamed Vedet. They slowly resumed walking. Krael was minding his own business, packing his personal belongings for transport to his new home, when a bath of light washed over him. Four people stood before him. All four looked at each other in amazement. "Amoko!" "Valiance!" "Zelus!" "Guardian!" were among the things Krael heard. They all lunged for one another. Krael was still in shock when he realized what was going on. He pulled out his personal blaster and fired a shot into the ceiling, silencing all of them. "Anybody make any moves and I'll kill you all!" he screamed. All four obeyed. "We now have SIX people from the past?" exclaimed Rytek. "Strange as it may seem, yes sir," replied Inspector Tecouk. "And the four newest ones are in confinement cells?" he asked. Tecouk nodded. "All these legacies here at once. Incredible. Have you figured out what's causing it?" Rytek asked. "Not yet, sir. Near as we can tell, it could be a chemical reaction of all things," explained Tecouk. --= 6 =-- "So, Mace, this is where we part company. Our mass transport system will send you directly into the chambers of your enemy Ultra. What you do after that is in your hands," explained the Feqh-Netur captain. "Thank you. I hope your mission is successful," replied Mace. Deep red beams fell over Mace as he fell into oblivion and rematerialized inside Ultra's chambers. There was noone else here. Mace walked up to a VidTerm and tapped a green indicator touchpad. "Ultra is walking to the Petros Station Command Center," said the AudCom. Mace went through the VidTerm's memory and pulled up a map of Petros Station and transferred it into a portable VidTerm. "You won't escape me this time, Ultra," he said, taking the VidTerm and walking out of the chamber. Ultra walked past the detention cells quietly. He had heard who was inside and had decided not to go and see them. He knew Zelus, the Galactic Coordinator, very well, and to a lesser degree, he knew Amoko. But he had only known Amoko when Amoko was young in his career. During his reading of Universal history, Ultra had learned of Amoko's role in the grand scheme of things. All of the sudden, somebody jumped out in front of him. "Hello my old friend," he said. To Ultra's extreme surprise, it was Mace. "I see you've noticed my vastator. It's beam is invisible and silent. You'll never know when I fire at you," Mace leered. "Right. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. It seems like everyone ELSE is here," mumbled Ultra. Mace lifted the vastator and pulled the trigger. Ultra dove out of the way. The wall that had been behind him a moment before erupted in spark and flame. The outpour hit Mace, who fell, screaming, to the floor. Ultra scurried out of the way and ran down the corridor. Amoko's cell had just been blown open. He ran outside and saw noone. Thinking quickly, he ran down the hall to the cell-controlling VidTerm and opened Zelus' cell. "We're free!" he exclaimed. --= 7 =-- Valiance was still surprised. He knew Guardian had been killed by his assassins. So how was it he found himself in the future with Guardian? And now that they were here, would Guardian try to kill Valiance? He was thoroughly scared, but knew the protection of the detention cell was good. An alert lighted up on the security board. "We've got a cell break! Detainment Team assemble!" ordered the switchboard operator. Ten armed men passed the operator, on their way to contain a possible escape attempt. Ultra had been running for quite a while. He had stopped in front of the Chemical Analysis Lab. On the verge of collapse, he walked inside. "Help.." he said, weakly. Etano looked up from his work, surprised by the interruption. When he figured out who his visitor was, he was stunned. He tapped the AudCom. "Control Center, I've got Ultra, and he's in shock!" The Detainment Team arrived at the scene to find little. A blown open cell was all the evidence that remained. The commander barked out orders and the men began to split up, each with a seperate job. As they were doing this, two new figures walked up and shot them. Every single security member collapsed. "How'd you do that?" demanded the Galactic Coordinator, Zelus. "I'm not sure.. There was a beam setting on here, and I set it for wide-beam. It was a little wider than I thought it would be," he replied. "What next?" asked Zelus. "Now we leave!" yelled Amoko. --= 8 =-- Traffic through the Tejas Galaxy was heavy, as usual. Petros Station, helm of the Cyberian Group, was knee-deep in trader vessels, private ships, emissaries, and other assorted guests. It was no shock when another ship docked at the hard-dock pylon number fifteen. They probably would've been shocked to learn who was onboard. Aytori left the ship, and entered the Station. Zelus and Amoko walked up to the Detention Cell. It was a privacy cell, with no vidports or defensive grids. It was solid metal.. except for the door. Amoko pulled out his vastator and took careful aim at the door. Zelus did the same at the cell on the opposite side of the corridor. Together, they fired. Smoke billowed out from the explosions, and both men were hurled against the wall. "Valiance, get out here! NOW!" yelled Amoko. Valiance walked out of his now-destroyed cell. Zelus, following suit, brought Guardian out. "Valiance. Too bad I've got to kill you. You will pay for all the people you killed," said Amoko, harshly. Zelus looked at Guardian. "You are the antithesis of good. Your greed, evil intentions, and craftiness will make you die today," he said. Mace, still limping from the wounds he had sustained, had procured a blaster, and was walking down the corridor. Ahead, he saw four people. He clearly recognized one. Valiance, once his comrade. Then he realized something; both Valiance and the other man were being held hostage. Mace took aim with his blaster and fired. The bright blue beam hit the two captors, downing them. Mace ran forward as best he could. "Valiance, you old fool! How are you?" he exclaimed. Valiance looked to his once-leader. Mace didn't know that Valiance had been leading a successful overthrow of the Universe when Valiance had been thrown forward in time. They had a lot to catch up on.. --= 9 =-- "My lord, what happened to you?" yelled Rytek. "I was ambushed! Mace is here; IN THE FUTURE!" replied Ultra. Inside the medical center, Rytek was getting some answers from Elite and Ultra. "He is in the Station somewhere. I hear from your security chief that there have been several more cell breaks. What's going on?" demanded Elite. "From what we can gather, Mace's shot opened up Amoko's cell. Amoko freed Zelus, and then they attacked Guardian and Valiance. We don't know where they are now," said Tecouk. "Isn't someone looking for them?" asked Elite. "Yes.. We are scouring the Station. But it'll be quite some time before we get to them," replied Rytek. Aytori had run into Zelus and Amoko. Being armed with a blaster, Aytori easily captured the two. Now, she had them in someone's living chamber. "The Galactic Coordinator Zelus.. How nice to finally meet you," she said. "You probably haven't heard of exochloranide. But I bet you HAVE heard of exonitride," she said. Zelus' head jerked up. "Exonitride? Where'd you hear about that?" he asked cautiously. "We found it, actually. Your Universal Coordinator didn't do a good job of hiding the residual energy left by the detonation," Aytori replied. Zelus' face lit up. "When the Universal Coordinator destroyed the Old Universe, he used exonitride to cause a cascading reaction," he explained to his fellow captives. "I have discovered that X, which has time-altering effects, used with the Vortex, as we call the residual exonitride, has given us the ability to send people through time," she said. "I don't believe it... YOU sent us through time?" asked Amoko. "Yes. And I control the destiny of the Universe now. The Feqh-Netur will destroy the Cyberian Group, and take control of the entire Multiverse!!" Mace, Valiance, and Guardian had discovered the Feqh-Netur vessel. It was abandoned, so naturally they took it. Onboard, they discovered several weapons which they were debating the use of. "I must destroy Ultra! We can wipe out the Cyberian Group right now by detonating this missile!!" screamed Mace. "Mace, we risk our own lives by doing this," replied Guardian. Mace, infuriated with his partners, slammed his hand on the activation panel. "Damn you, Mace!" screamed Valiance. "Do you realize what you just did?!" "Sir, I've got some strange readings on the scanner," reported the scanning chief. Vedet looked at the readings. "Oh my lord.." he breathed. He groped for the AudCom touchpad. "Command Center! We're reading a build-up for detonation of an X bomb onboard a docked ship, at Dock 7B!" --= 10 =-- "Oh no!" moaned Rytek. "What are we going to do?" he said. Ultra looked to Elite. "We find Amoko and Zelus!" they said in unison. Etano took over the scanning board. "I've got private chambers with personal lock-outs, but I'm reading unauthorized people inside. It might be them," he said. "How far away is it?" asked Elite. "Even if there was no traffic, it would take fifteen minutes to get there on foot," replied Etano. "There has to be another way," said Ultra. "Actually... There is. But it's experimental, and I can't guarantee success," replied Etano. "Tell us!" ordered Admiral Rytek. "Well, the Feqh-Netur have had a matter transport system for years. We have a prototype onboard the Station.. But if it malfunctioned, you two would..." he began. He didn't have to finish. "We'll go," said Ultra, simply. "Hey wait a minute!!" protested Elite. "Look we only have a few minutes! Now toss me a blaster and transport us!" ordered Ultra. A black oval of darkness appeared from nowhere, and crimson beams spewed out. Two men stepped outside and held up their blasters. "Ah! Ultra and Elite! Good to see you're here.. I have something very important to discuss with you!" said Aytori. "There's no time. There is an X bomb ready to detonate in seven minutes. We've got to find a way to stop it," said Ultra. Aytori stepped forward. "An X bomb? Someone must have boarded my ship!" she said. "What do you have to do with this?" Ultra asked her. Elite tapped him. "Time's running out!" he yelled. Amoko kicked Aytori in the side, and Zelus stood up quickly and disarmed her. Elite hit his portable AudCom. "Transport all five us to the X bomb location," he said. Yet another black oblivion opened up, as four people stepped into the room. "Wait a minute. Where's Elite?" asked Ultra. "Ultra, there's no time. This bomb is going to detonate in five minutes," said Amoko. "You! Disconnect this bomb!" ordered Zelus, pushing Aytori. "I don't think so. The Feqh-Netur have been trying to destroy Petros Station for years, and now it's finally going to happen!" she replied. "If I understand correctly, detonating this bomb will unravel the entire space-time continuum! Time will begin to loop into itself, as a result of the exontride-exochloranide reaction!" yelled Zelus. "We have to save the entire blasted history and future of the Multiverse?" screamed Ultra. --= 11 =-- "Who is that?" demanded Mace. "I don't know. Go find out," said Guardian, trying to disconnect the bomb. Mace moved forward cautiously. Guardian and Valiance continued meticulously going over the bomb, psychia penetrating their bodies, as they tried to disarm it. Mace stopped in his tracks. Before him was Ultra, supreme foe of the ages. His sworn enemy. Both looked at each other for what seemed like eternity. "Mace, this ship, if it explodes, will destroy all time as we know it! There has to be some way to stop the bomb!" said Ultra. Mace sneered. "You will die with me," he said. Aytori ran forward, suddenly. Amoko raised his blaster and fired a shot. The blue beam of light lanced out and hit Aytori squarely, who collided with Mace. Both collapsed to the floor, only Aytori dead. Sparks began to spew from a panel of VidTerms and touchpads, the result of the gunfire. "What do we do?" yelled all four. "Where the heck am I?" said Elite, to himself. He was supposed to be inside a ship, helping his best friend save the Multiverse. Instead, he was in a closet of some sort, and unable to get out. "Damn!" he yelled in frustration. He kicked the door, which flew open. "Nice move," he congratulated himself. Ultra hit a pad, and saw some navigational information pop onto the VidScreen. "Hey, I've got something!" he said. The other two looked up. Ultra pushed another touchpad, and heard the clank of docking clamps disconnecting. "Perfect! If we get away from the Station, maybe we can keep it from being destroyed!" said Amoko. "No, Amoko. Unless we jump into subspace, where normal space-time rules don't apply, the bomb will still unravel the continuum," said Zelus. "I think I've got the bomb partially disconnected," said Guardian. Then they lurched forward as the ship began to move. "What is going on? Where is Mace?" demanded Valiance. "Maybe there IS someone else onboard," put out Guardian. Elite ran to the docking ramp. Through the vidport, he could see the ship he was trying to get on; it was moving away from the Station. --= 12 =-- Ultra hit one last pad. The ship swayed and bucked. "It didn't work," said Amoko, frustrated. Then the ship sprang to life and flung itself far away from the Station at incredible speeds. A subspace door opened up and the ship flew inside, beginning the subspace thrustjump. "We've done it!" they yelled. "Well, it was nice to meet you Amoko," began Ultra. Amoko nodded. "Nice to meet you too, sir. Too bad we didn't get a chance to know each other," he said. Ultra smiled. "Too bad I couldn't beat Mace... We died together," he said softly. The ship exploded. The Feqh-Netur attack cruiser had exploded in deep space, not harming anyone. Cheers erupted throughout the Petros Command Center. But when red light poured through space, and an immense ship poked through a rift of oblivion, everyone was shocked. Full Admiral Rytek immediately opened a VidCom channel to talk to the commander of this vessel. When the VidScreen lit up, he was surprised to see Relf Miga. "Miga! You're friend Aytori has been killed, as well as her plot to destroy the space-time continuum," said Rytek. Miga didn't flinch. "THAT was not our plan. We wouldn't stoop so low. THIS is our plan," he said mysteriously. The VidScreen went blank. The mothership fired off two silver plasma bolts. The bolts pierced through Petros' defensive grids and collided with the Station's hull, ripping chunks of duridium metal sheeting off. People that had been in rooms floated into space, and then imploded, screaming silently in the black vacuum. The mothership fired again, hitting Petros' asteroid basal unit. Bits of stone and debris flew off in all directions, and Petros' foundation pillars began to topple, partially disconnecting it from the asteroid. The mothership transmitted a Com package and then zoomed off into space, destroying two defense outposts on the way. Minutes later, when the Center was back in order and a terminal was operable, Rytek reviewed the message. "Aytori became a renegade, a direct result of her overexposure to psychia. She messed up our plan to bring mortal enemies from the past into our present. That makes no difference. If we have to destroy you in a less elegant fashion, so be it. As we've shown you, the Feqh-Netur can easily destroy the Cyberian Group." Stunned silence was all that followed... Epilogue Elite was in his chamber, weeping. Petros had been rocked by Feqh-Netur fire. But more importantly, everyone from the past was dead except him. For some reason, the mass transporter had sent him to the wrong place; a malfunction. Elite was thankful he hadn't been transported into deep space or some other location. But still, his friends had died saving the Multiverse. From what he knew, Guardian had partially disconnected the bomb. It exploded in subspace, but had no effect on any outsiders. Unfortunately, it claimed the life of his dearest friend. Elite rose and looked out the vidport, staring into space, full of ships of all sorts. "Goodbye Ultra," he said quietly. Conclusion SRE 10 will be a story to remember. I loved writing it. It's plot was entirely new and interesting. I also liked connecting all the characters, as well as utilizing parts from all the stories written, like 'SRE X' and 'SRE: The Bribed Justice.' I hope you liked SRE 10 -- Legacies.. Josh Renaud Author