Cry of the Ambra

Prologue :



black hole: tech: an area in outer space into which everything near it including light itself is pulled.

It’s cold...Lieutenant Tarria thought staring outside the window. A shiver painfully made it’s way up his broken spine. His body ached from multiple wounds of various degrees received in a fierce battle mere moments ago. He closed his tired eyes and with a blood crusted hand, wiped the sweat that trickled down his brow. Barely made it out alive, he whispered. Something has to be done with the Ambra...
As he fell into a deep sleep, images of the past eighteen hours haunted his mind. The nightmare began onboard the mother ship, the Grandeur. Lieutenant Tarria stood in the cargo bay with a clipboard in his hand, keeping track of the contents. His heavy footsteps echoed through the hollow sounding room as the young Lieutenant paced. Thump, thump, thump..... His head began to throb with each step.
Kuri, a young, short oriental man and Tarria’s long time friend and comrade in battle stepped into the room with a wide grin spread across his face.
“What’s up Ri?” Tarria asked.
Kuri approached his friend, the grin never leaving his face. “We’re having one of those upstairs,” he replied. Tarria was all to familiar with the habits of his fellow crewman and knew that whatever his friend was up to, it wasn’t allowed and he was doing it in the name of fun. “So if you’re interested...”
“One of those?” Tarria said narrowing his eyes at Kuri. “You know how drinking is prohibited....”
“SSHH!! Keep it down!” If the Admiral hears us, we’ll be pulling off double time for the next three weeks!
“Alright, you guys are gonna need someone there to make sure things don’t get out of hand,” Tarria said. “I want you to keep Belle away from the punch. Remember what happened last time.”
The last time the crew had the nerve to have an alcohol party was only a few months back. Belle Thorp, the most promiscuous woman on board at the time, phoned the high Council and voice to their secretary her desire for one of the Admirals.
“Hahaha!!” Kuri laughed slapping him on the back. “You should have seen that look on her face! Damn, that was priceless. So... does that mean you’ll be there tonight?”
“You better make sure the Admiral doesn’t find out or I will rip you apart myself!”

A short walk later, through the twisting metal corridors of the Grandeur, Kuri and Tarria arrived in the lounge. It’s gray walls reflected the soft light giving the room a white, hazy atmosphere.
“Oh there’s Lieutenant Laris.” Kuri, after spotting his latest love interest, one of the female Lieutenants, rushed for the punch in preparation for ‘courting’ her. Tarria chuckled as he saw Kuri run off in his desperate attempt at courtship.
Suddenly, the pleasant feeling of soft, warm arms wrap around his shoulders. He turned around to see who it was that would give him such a warm welcome.
“It’s... so good to see you, Belle,” he stuttered. “Who- why are you dressed like that?!”
Belle’s appearance shocked him somewhat. Her usually neat brown hair was unkempt, her dark eyes slightly rolled back. Her normally neatly pressed navy blue sleeveless evening gown was wrinkled and had a small stain of red wine on the back. Wonder how that got there...
“It’s just wonderful to see you tonight Kuri...” she said with half closed eyes and a dumbfounded smile.
“It’s Craig, actually,” he replied. “Craig Tarria?” She continued staring at him with no response. “You’re drunk, Belle.”
“NO! I’m just so happy...”
“Come here, Belle,” Kuri interrupted grabbing her by her elbows and lying her down on a large sofa. “You’re drunk and you should put yourself to some good use in this state.” He smiled at Tarria who responded with a parental look of disapproval. “Lieutenant Laris is married.”

An explosion so strong that the shock shook the walls sounded somewhere outside in the hallway. Tarria’s trained eyes scanned the room only to find the people surprised and somewhat panicked. An even closer explosion blew open a section of the wall, tossing people like rag dolls across the room. As the smoke cleared, Tarria could make out the silhouettes of human like creatures standing in the newly created hole in the wall. The bore the humanoid figure with a torso and appendages. But it was there that the similarity ended. They bore a remarkable resemblance to early man. However, he knew better. These were the Ambra, a mysterious, ruthless race rumored to have stemmed from an alternate dimension.
The next thing he knew, Tarria looked toward Belle and Kuri on the couch and noticed that both of them had been viciously murdered. Kuri had numerous knives and other dining utensils stuck into his back. Belle lay with her face fixed in a mask of horror, while her stomach revealed torn flesh and internal organs.
The escape pods! Tarria remembered. They were his last hope. Tearing his eyes away from his now dead friends, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, towards the escape pods. A few Ambra soldiers were in hot pursuit. They were so close, he could hear their breathing, making him run even faster.
BAM!!! He slammed his palm into a large red button in the corridor which started closing, in hopes of cutting of the pursuit. There were still a few warriors who made it through and continued chasing him. Perhaps I could take them out...
Without warning, he spun around and extended his arm in a vicious back swing, catching one of the soldiers in the jaw, shattering it like glass. Tarria then struck the warrior behind the fallen one in the chest with an open palm, breaking his chest into three pieces. Their broken bodies were thrown backwards, into the oncoming Ambra warriors in pursuit, giving Tarria a two second window to get farther ahead. His legs and arms pumped faster and faster.
Just beyond the corridor was the escape pod, the doors already opening, his only way to escape. It was metallic gray on the outside and had black leather seats on the inside......like a coffin...He jumped the remaining three feet with all the strength left in his legs and thrust his body into the seat. Tarria pounded on the red button found to the right of the wall and the doors began to close rapidly, just in time to see the face of the first of his pursuers slam against the circular window in the middle of the door with a sickening splat and a splash of saliva. To his left, was a control panel with a big yellow button saying “eject”. Driven by the adrenaline coursing through his body, Tarria used his remaining and slammed his open palm onto the button.
The escape pod, like a bullet from the barrel of a gun, shot out of the hull of the ship. The Ambra warrior that slammed up against the window of the pod still clung on. Bastard, Tarria thought, still haven’t given up? The warrior was no longer alive, the vacuum of space having sucked all the air out of his lifeless body. It’s mad, grinning face was the last thing Lieutenant Tarria saw before he blacked out.
“AAHH!!” he screamed waking up from his nightmare. He looked around, panting heavily, eyes wide from shock. He was still in the escape pod, drifting aimlessly through space. He shuddered, the images of the nightmare still fresh in his mind. Unfortunately, this nightmare was real. “Gotta head to the nearest colony,” Lieutenant Tarria said to himself. He punched in the commands into the pod’s console. “Colony 6421 is the nearest one.”
As the plotted the route, Tarria noticed a ball of gas only a few thousand kilometers from his current position. It looked strangely familiar. The image took him back to when he was a recruit in the academy. They’d been put through innumerable videos showing the lifecycles of stars and planets. Tarria had seen too many of those videos to not be able to recognize what this was. “A planet is forming!” he exclaimed silently. But this was a little strange. Planets formed gradually over millions of years. But this ball of gas before him was going at super speed! It was as though he was watching a recording of a forming planet in fast forward. The planet glowed brilliantly, in a hypnotizing manner, brighter and brighter. Without warning, the pod was filled with it’s immense light. Tarria could also feel the temperature rising. The pod instantly exploded into a thousand pieces of flaming metal.



Chapter 1:



As brilliant streaks of light raced across the heavens, a man stood in awe at the beautiful sight before him. “I haven’t seen a meteor shower in years,” the doctor said to himself. He stood at the giant glass windows of the science facility in Colony 6421 admiring the night sky. Brilliant streaks of light danced around the sky illuminating the surrounding mountains of the colony. But enough was enough. He had to get back to work.
He stared ahead at the white walls of the room, hoping they would keep him awake. Dr. Lance Grayson removed his glasses and rubbed his baggy, tired eyes, realizing how good it felt. He went for the mug of fresh coffee in front of him. The thirty five year old astrophysics researcher grasped the cup and was surprised to find it cold to the touch. Taking a sip, he spat it out bitterly, displeased with it’s cold stale taste. I just brewed it...... he thought to himself, then he realized...an hour ago. Dr. Grayson glanced at his watch. It was one in the morning. I’ve got to give my self a break.
Lance was a scientist serious with his work. He always had an obsession with the cosmos. There was never any leisure time for him because his work was his leisure. With his never fading interest in the cosmos and his superior calculating skills, it didn’t take him too long to work his way up the hierarchy of astronomy scientists in the galaxy. As a person, we has overall a nice guy. Never one to offend, the respected researcher tended to throw bigger tantrums than a two year old and usually comes off as more offensive than he intends to be.
Ironically, although astro physics was his passion, it was the main cause of his deteriorating health and was stressing him out. Ugh, thirty-three and this is my fifth gray hair in two years, Lance thought and he pulled a graying strand of black hair from his head. And that jackass Dr. Ross isn’t helping me much either.
Dr. Ross was the local astronomer. His sense of vision was so acute, it is said that he could tell the difference between a red giant and white dwarf star in the sky with a naked eye. He, too, was good at what he did and was well respected for it. However, he had the personality that many of his co-workers referred to as ‘anal’. Dr. Grayson wasn’t the type of person to take and form of abuse from anyone because he, too, had his share of pride.
He shook his head and focused his attention on the pile of papers in front of him. He had no time to be worrying about sleep, especially at a time like this. But he was tired and stressed. The report that lay in front of him was given to the astrophysics department by Dr. Warner Ross, head of the astronomy department of colony 6421, in which Dr. Grayson worked. Lance didn’t mind that he received the report. But it was at around six in the previous morning that Dr. Ross handed over the report, saying that it was some kind of an emergency.
Apparently, a black hole had opened up not far from the planet on which the colony was established. Unsure of whether they were safe or not, Dr. Ross rushed a report over to the astrophysics department right away. It was not received in a very good manner because Warner Ross had a reputation of being the colony’s troublemaker. His attitude and way of speech wasn’t accepted among the people but his astronomical calculations were phenomenal. It was solely because of that skill that the higher ups allowed him to stay.
“Dr. Grayson isn’t it time for bed?” a female voice asked sweetly. Lance lifted his gray, tired eyes and saw his co-worker, Angela Morrow standing in the doorway to the giant dining room.
Angela met Lance when they were moving their supplies over to Colony 6421. The people referred to the establishments based on it’s location on the astronomical map, the number of the star, and the number of planets in the entire solar system. These numerical figures came together to form a code. The 6 stands for the sector six section of the galaxy in which the establishment was located. The 4 symbolizes the number of planets in that particular system. The 2 stands for which planet the establishment is located on. In this case, the planet is the second planet farthest from the sun. The 1 means that this colony is the first to be established in the sector 6 region. Angela and Lance were the first people to step onto the new colony that was 6421.
She sure was a sight for sore eyes. Angela’s blonde shoulder length hair glowed even in the dark room they were in. And, just as always, she stood in the position.
“Angie,” he said smiling, “I don’t recall asking you to be my mother.” She sighed and came down and sat beside him.
“Well somebody has to be,” she said. “After all, you get so engrossed in your work you can’t even bother to take five minutes off.”
“I enjoy what I’m doing,” he muttered trying to convince himself.
“You enjoy pouring your brains over some report Dr. Ross types up?”
“Don’t you have some work to do, Angela?” Lance interrupted.
She continued, ignoring his comment. “It’s been only one day and you look like a mess. You shouldn’t have taken the job as head scientist of this department.” Angela assumed the position that consisted of her standing with her hands on her hips, shifting her weight onto her right foot. It drove him nuts and she knew it.
Slightly frustrated, Lance shrugged it off, got up and headed towards the main computer. “I’m gonna scan the area of anything that might have caused this hole to open up,” he said. “Black holes are formed as a result of a star collapsing on itself. But I mean, there was no star to begin with! How was this hole still able to be formed? That’s what I want to find out.”
Angela rolled her eyes, sighed outwardly, and began her lecture. “Really, you haven’t changed since I met you. For gods sake it’s been five years since we colonized this planet and you’re stubborn as ever!” She put her hand on his shoulder, forcing Lance to acknowledge her presence. “Can you please start taking care of yourself?”
“Uh huh...” Lance mumbled in reply with a distant voice, his eyes glued to the computer screen.
“Ugh, there you go again. You know, I don’t ever seem to get through-”
“Oh my god!” Lance cried out, cutting her off suddenly.
“What?! What happened??” Angela said in response.
“Look at this.” He motioned for her to go over the computer screen.
“What did you find?” Angela asked.
“What does that look like to you?” he asked pointing at a spot on the screen which appeared dangerously close to the black hole.
“I think it could be an old peanut butter stain,” Angela replied light heartedly, smacking him with her clipboard.
Lance returned the favor and hit her lightly on the arm. “Oh come on, you know damn well what that is. The camera never lies, Angie,” he said.
Dr. Morrow looked closer at the screen and adjusted her glasses. “You’re right, it’s no stain. But something’s definitely right there! How...?” She took a quick glance at her co-worker to see a wide grin spread on his face from ear to ear. Like an annoying brat who just got what he wanted, she thought bitterly.
“Told you so,” Lance said.
Angela frowned. “You’re not funny.” Returning her attention to the monitor, she said, “Run a scan on this thing. I wanna see what it is.” Lance grabbed the mouse and entered a series of formulas, commanding the computer to analyze the object near the black hole.
“Oh my god,” Lance said.
“What?” Angela demanded to know. “Tell me what it is.”
“That dot on the map is a planet.” The horror of the situation settled in a brief moment of silence.
She finally gathered up the nerve to ask, “Is it....inhabited?”
“I don’t know. I don’t recall Dr. Ross ever mentioning anything about a planetary body in that region before.” He scratched his head. “I don’t get it, Angie. Listen, can you do me a favor? I want you to call Dr. Ross. Ask him if what the deal is with that planet. Find out if he’s ever noticed it before. This colony may be new but by now, we should be totally aware of what’s in the solar system.”
She gave him a dirty look. Dr. Warner Ross was famous for being the prick of the colony. She reluctantly went to the phone and called Dr. Warner Ross, putting him through to Dr. Grayson’s line.
Nobody picked up for the first four rings. Lance and Angela made eye contact, both praying secretly that Warner would pick up. If you’re gonna do something nice for once in your useless life, Angela thought, pick up the goddamn phone.
Click! “What the hell do you want at this time of the night?!” came a harsh, angry voice from the other end.
Angela retained her composure and took the polite, professional approach. “I’m sorry for such a late call, Dr. Ross, but this is Dr. Morrow from the astrophysics department. I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. You see, we discovered -”
“Can this not wait till the morning?!” Dr. Ross interrupted rudely. “What an unearthly hour you chose to call me at! I don’t have the time to listen to you right now. Call me tomorrow morning!”
Dr. Ross was so angry, that Lance could hear his voice projecting from the speaker. Aggravated by his tone towards Angela, he got up and snatched the phone from her hand, ready to give Warner a piece of his mind. “Listen asshole!” Lance screamed. “How can you call our department and six in the morning and expect us to run your stupid tests and not return the favour when we need it? I’ve been wasting the whole day here in this lab for you and your damn report so I think it’s time to return the favour. Not to mention there may be lives in danger if you don’t do it now!”
Angela said nothing but stared at her co-worker in shock as she heard the words come out from his mouth. A moment of silence followed. Angela figured that Dr. Ross just found out the hard way that it’s not good to get onto Dr. Grayson’s bad side when he’s stressed. “Thank you.” She smiled, certain that Warner Ross had learned his lesson.

Bitterly, Dr. Ross asked, “What is it you wish to know about the situation?”
“Today, we have been investigating the legitimacy of your report,” Lance said. “We have found it to be true”
“Of course my report is legitimate!” Dr. Ross interrupted.
“Shut up, I’m not finished!” Dr. Grayson snapped. He took a deep breath and continued. “We also discovered a planet near the location of the black hole. We suspect that in a few days, this planet will be within the powerful gravitational pull of the hole. We understand your astronomical calculation skills are phenomal. I’ve transferred the data observed from our main computer over to a file in yours. I hope this information will be useful in determining why the mention of this planet was never brought into the official records and whether it’s possible for this planet to be hospitable to life.”
“To be honest,” Dr. Ross began, “I’m very surprised that you’ve found a planet. I’m reviewing the data you’ve sent. I can’t find any clues as to how it managed to escape our detection. The distance from the sun is good enough for it to be hospitable to life. Geez, it’s more capable of having life similar to us than the planet that we’re situated on.”
“That’s odd. So, assuming there is life there, would you think it has intelligent life?”
“That’s totally hypothetical. There’s no way of finding out unless we actually investigate ourselves. But what if there was life? What do you plan to do if we did locate life?”
“We’d have a rescue mission for the defence department. No way am I gonna sit down and let another life form perish when we can do something about it.”
“Assuming there was, how would you even know if our environment will be able to support them as well?”
“You said it yourself, Dr. Ross. Their planet is more capable of suiting our kind of life than this one.”
“I guess you may be right,” Warner said in reply. “But as for your first question, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that planet before. I’m accessing the data recorded about this star system before the colony was established. I see no signs of this new planet.”
“Dr. Ross says there is was never a planet in that area. I gave him the co-ordinates and he checked. Until now, it seems this planet has never existed. That’s not all. I was just taking a closer look at the planet with our computer and it turns out that there are people living there!”
“How can that be?” Angela asked. “I thought we were the only humans in this area. What is the designation of their colony? Why haven’t we noticed it before?”
“Who knows?” Lance replied. “Whatever it is, we have to get over there and rescue those people. Seems that the gravitational force of the hole is pulling them in and they don’t seem to have an anti gravitational field system on their planet. We’re the only ones who can save them. I’ll inform the mayor right away.”

Chapter 2:



The next day started before the sun rose. The dark blue sky was stilled dotted with the faint glow of the closest stars. Far in the eastern horizon, a small source of bright light established a place for itself in the heavens.
The leader of settlement 6421 had been contacted by Dr. Morrow and wasted no time in alerting the military about the situation. Lieutenant Ceros Aminen secured his troops in darkness. He was a smart man with a quick wit, not wasting a moment to embarrass any of his disobedient students. This earned him the nickname of ‘the Friendly Instructor’. Physically punishing his cadets was hardly his style. Utter humiliation was the best punishment. None of the soldiers never attacked him for humiliating them, not even the most rebellious. This was because Ceros had more bulk than somebody typical of his height may suggest.
During his years at the Elban Orbit’s training facility, the instructors were harsh, hardly pausing for a breath while drilling to the core of their cadets. Ceros had been one of those cadets when he was younger. His parents enrolled him into the army because they felt he needed to be disciplined. As a young teenager, he was very rebellious. His brown hair was dyed red and spiked into a mohawk while his fingers bore the weight of ten rings. As an added touch, he always carried a cigarette either behind his ear or in his mouth.
Just days after joining the army, he was ready to clean the mud off any shoe without so much as a word. Training in the military was that tough. After receiving the opportunity to leave, Ceros took a long time to think and eventually decided against it. As much as Ceros didn’t want to believe it, that army had changed his life for the better. It made him more physically fit and had permanently fixed his view on life. Ceros wanted to continue his training to not only inspire less fortunate people to be optimistic, but for his own health reasons as well. Seven years passed when he was offered a position on Colony 6421. He was ready to make the colony’s first batch of cadets to start the tradition.
However, he didn’t think very highly about this bunch of cadets. Though the colony had an excellent team of fighter pilots, the infantry were young and inexperienced. At the same time, they were the closest thing to soldiers at the time. In the darkness, he could faintly make out their silhouettes. Every single one of them slouched with eyes half open. They lacked the discipline of the ideal soldier. Ceros believed strongly in top-notch infantry. He wanted this group of children to have the ability to kill with one strike, to know the pressure points of the human body and use that knowledge to their advantage. Day after day he would preach about the importance of working in a team and as an individual to a group of cadets who would rather talk about teenage matters. He would train them to become stronger one day at a time. He was the perfect drill sergeant except for one very important flaw.
Ceros never asked for feedback. As a result, he never had any idea if the cadets were learning or not. Everyday, he would continue with training. At this point, he was completely unaware what his cadets were capable of doing.
Now, the situation called for their effort and discipline and he hoped they would find it within themselves to understand the seriousness of this matter.
“Alright listen up!” he said sternly. “This is a rescue mission. The pilots already have the ships up and running. You have prepared yourselves physically for this task but you must also think for yourselves on the field today. Our objective is to rescue as many civilians as possible. You may meet some resistance on the planet but you are to take them by force if they do. I will be in charge of this operation and any decision on what we do will be made by me except for the situations on the battlefield. I know it’s early in the morning but as one of your first missions, you have do your best to make me, but most importantly, yourselves look good! Good luck. Dismissed!”
The cadets did their salute and packed into the ships in a quick orderly fashion. The entire courtyard of the military compound was cleared within a half hour. Thousands of ships carrying dozens of soldiers divided into their platoons in each were to land on the uncharted planet and pack as many civilians in the ships as possible.
Among one of the soldiers was a sixteen-year-old boy named Rait Truden. He was small sized and very quiet, more of a brainiac than anything else. Physically, he was weaker than his peers but did posses fighting skills although they were limited. Despite this, he was accepted because the colony was desperate. And if they succeeded in making him a better soldier, the colony would have a good reputation of training soldiers well. However, this seemed to be a problem. Rait sat with the other soldiers looking nervous. They were all older than him, the youngest of them by three years.
Despite the age gap, none of them ever really treated him with disrespect except for the oldest, Sean Wyrebrook. Every group had its bully and in this group, it was Sean. His brown hair was kept in a constant mess as he never bothered to comb it. On his face, he always wore a look of cockiness, and thrived on making others feel inferior to him. He was a very bitter twenty year old, living proof that age didn’t necessarily mean maturity. Rait wasn’t as quick as the others and was about half as strong and a little short. Because of this, when his platoon got into trouble, it was usually because of him. The others understood his situation and they knew that with every mission, he put everything he had in him to help out the team. But Sean would not take Raits physical attributes into consideration and would pounce on any given opportunity to talk down to Rait. The others have tried explaining Raits situation but Sean let his ego get in the way of thinking clearly, as always. He strongly believe that Rait was a mistake that the military made when recruiting and scaring him out of the army was one of the many things on his ‘to do’ list.
Rait never allowed Sean to get the better of him. But nonetheless, Sean was quick in giving the teen bad looks. His favorite thing to do was to corner the runt and stand right up to him, face to face, so that Rait would have to look up at his bully. Although everyone else generally treated Rait with respect, nobody ever dared to oppose Sean. However, one of them, a light haired, hulking nineteen year old named Christian Torassis was always the first to defend him when he couldn’t defend himself.
It had all started when the platoon had first been formed, the boys were just getting to know each other. They were packed into a comfortable dormitory, separated by numbers. These cadets were going to be the first military soldiers on Colony 6421. Sean first laid his eyes on Rait and laughed.
“Who’s this little runt?” Sean said to him, but loud enough for the others to hear.
Rait returned a nasty look and sternly replied, “What’s it to you?”
“Mouthy too, I see.” Sean backed his victim into a corner and then grabbed him by the collars, nearly choking him. “Listen, you don’t know me so I’m not gonna hold it against you this time. I take crap from nobody. The next time you ever talk like that to me again, I’m gonna plant your little face into the floor so damn hard, they’ll have to scrape it off!!”
This was when Christian stepped in and gripped Sean firmly by the shoulder. “Leave the guy alone,” he said nicely. “Come on, we all just met and I don’t think anybody wants to start any grudges now, especially when we’re gonna working together for the rest of our life as cadets.”
As the group dispersed, Christian remained with Rait, calming his shaken nerves. “Don’t let that guy bug you,” he said. “I’ve known him for awhile, since we were in high-school. Sean always had a reputation of being a bully. He may be a real bastard outside but trust me, he’s got a real insecure past emotionally so you probably wouldn’t want to piss him off. When he says he’s gonna beat you up, it’s an understatement. He’ll leave you alone if you don’t let him get the better of you.”
Rait smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m in the army to do something brave for myself. It’s people like Sean that I’m here to learn how to protect myself against. I’ve never really had much courage to do anything so I figure this is a good way to get a start. But judging from that bully, I don’t think it’s gonna do much.”
“If it makes you feel better, the others don’t like Sean much anyway. In fact, they’ve always wanted to teach him a good lesson but they knew that if they didn’t succeed, he would come back at all of them ten times worse. You don’t have to worry, I won’t let him do anything.”
From that day on, Christian and Rait were good friends. That was two years ago, and Sean still hadn’t gotten over his little grudge. Even on this important mission, he still let his personal feelings affect his role in the mission. He kept thinking to himself, no way in hell am I ever gonna work together with that sorry excuse for a soldier. I won’t have it! How dare Ceros put me in the same platoon with such ignorant novices?
Just then, the ship started slowing down. The captain came on the speakers. “Okay gang, we’re here in orbit over the uncharted planet. It’s time to buckle up cause the landing’s gonna get a little rough.” The ship shook violently as it slipped through the atmosphere. Everybody on board could feel their stomachs creeping up into their throats. Sean threw up during the decent. Christian turned to him. “I thought you said you loved it if one of these things crashed to make the adventure more exciting! This should be at least a little pleasing to you!!” Sean looked at him, rolled his eyes and threw up again as the ship continued its great decent.

Chapter 3:



Ceros landed on the surface of the uncharted planet with a thud. He looked around at his surroundings. The planet’s atmosphere was similar to that of Colony 6421. He was surrounded by strange vegetation that was mostly purple in colour. The soil was a mixture of orange and brown, the result of an unknown mineral present. In the bluish pink evening sky, Ceros could see the sun, perhaps a little brighter than what he was more used to. How strange the universe looked from a different orbit in the solar system.
The familiar rumble of the other ships got louder and louder as they descended slowly onto the orange brown surface. The cadets he had trained so hard were now on their first important mission. Hopefully, they wouldn’t disappoint him, especially in a mission like this one. It seemed to take them forever to simply touch down.
Ceros gazed off into the pastel coloured horizon and squinted. There was a black line stretched across it. Curious as to what it was, he took out a pair of binoculars from his backpack, put them to his eyes and adjusted them carefully. Gradually, the image came into focus. They were hardly alien. They looked like people! It looked as if they were fighting in a war and were running towards them as fast as they could with looks of anguish on their faces. By the time he noticed this, the first few hundred of the ships had already touched down.
He spun around and immediately started shouting orders as soon as the first doors opened. “Take battle positions immediately!” he ordered. “Spread the word! We are about to be confronted by the locals. They could be hostile and I don’t want to take any chances!” As the ships slowly landed, a soldier would run to the entrance and scream the order. Guns pointed, ready to be fired at the first sign of hostility. They were almost there.

The sound was like music to her ears. Their efforts on developing a form of distress as a signal finally payed off. They were saved! Ira called her people from their hiding places within the surface of the planet. Ira was the ruler of this tribe of people. They were a primitive band without the latest technology to make their civilization an advanced one but they were happy. These people lived by expanding their populations over the planets. Now, here was the opportunity to be saved from the wrath of the black hole, and a chance to send their kind into other parts of the universe and these rescuers were their only chance to do both of their intentions.
The sounds of ships had finally arrived. Uncertain exactly where these rescuers would land, they waited for awhile until the first one landed. Once it did, Ira was surprised to find that it wasn’t very far away at all, only about half a kilometre from their current location.
“My people,” she declared. “Our saviours are here. We will survive to send our populations to the areas of the universe we’ve always dreamt of reaching. We must get to them as fast as possible for we know not how long they will stay. Spread the word and make haste!” Loud cries of happiness filled the canyon in which they lived. It was time to head out to the plains where their only hope of survival lay.

“Don’t come any closer!” Ceros ordered, holding up a hand. He didn’t know if these people could speak the same language as he. His first impression of them was not high in the slightest bit. But they were the closest any human could ever be to an animal. The bulk of them were large and covered with brown fur. The males had a lot of facial hair around their mouths and the sides of their heads. The females had less hair on their bodies and none on their faces. Everyone of them were hunched slightly resembling cave men. The leader of the animals appeared to be female. Her brown hair tied into a bun, surprisingly neater than the rest of them. On top of her head, she sported a gold crown, with faded jewels over the many years of use.
Ceros didn’t know anything about them but if these animals tried anything nasty, they would be shot on the spot. The entire rescue operation specialists of Colony 6421 were surrounding him with guns pointed at them. “We are here to take you to our planet where you will be safe.” These words were accompanied by sad attempt at physical language which sent the savages and the soldiers into a fit of laughter.
“This is pretty hilarious,” Rait whispered to Christian, who smiled and nodded in agreement.
Just then, the leader of the group stepped up and greeted Ceros. “My name is Ira,” she said. “You have come to our planet at a good time as we are facing a crisis.”
Ceros was shocked. For such creatures, they were fully capable of speaking English. He wasn’t sure how to begin his questioning. “Uh, yes that’s good. Uh, Can you....will you please tell us who are? It wasn’t until just yesterday that we discovered your planet existed. We want to know why throughout all this time your planet didn’t appear on our scanners until now, if you could help us with that.”
“These are my people,” she said. “We are called the Ambra have been living on this planet for our most of our recorded history. We spread out population by means of outsiders. We need to expand our population and to also be rescued from our predicament.”
This was odd. What did she mean by spreading the population by means of outsiders? “We have many questions,” Ceros replied, “But I think that should be done elsewhere as there is a major threat to your planet as we speak.”
“Ambra are already aware of that threat,” Ira said. “We are willing to go with you as our people’s survival depends on it. On behalf of everyone on this planet I thank you.”
“Alright, then please come aboard our ships. Our soldiers will escort you inside and the medics will tend to any health complications you might have.”

Chapter 4:



Lance struggled with his tie that always seemed to slip off his neck at the most urgent of times. He was angry at the mayor. Why on such short notice?
And why such a goddamn fancy suit??
A dinner for the guests was organized and to be held at the dining hall which was when they planned to get any information they needed. Tomorrow, there would be an official questioning session with the Ambra.
“What’s taking so long?” Angela asked poking her head through the doorway. What a sight she was to see. Angela spent most of her time in her lab uniform and her pajamas. To see her in a spaghetti strapped white satin gown reaching down to the ground with the tips of her stilettos pointing out from under the dress was just amazing.
“It’s this damn tie,” Lance said fumbling. “Won’t go on properly.” He slipped and yanked it so hard in frustration, he almost succeeded in choking himself. Angela laughed and assumed her trademark stance which irritated Lance even more.
“You know I hate it when you do that,” he said bitterly. “I’d chew off your hands myself if I had to.”
“If I didn’t, where would the balance in your sarcastic life lie?” she said. He frowned at her and went back to fixing his suit, this time, actually getting his finger caught in a knot.
“Here let me help you with that.” Angela approached him and assisted him with his dressing. “You gotta calm down. I wouldn’t want you dying of high blood pressure and stress. Cause then, who else would I work for?”
Lance smiled. “Thank you, Angela. What would I ever do without you?”
“You’d be complaining of gray hair.”
“Hilarious,” Lance replied sarcastically.
“You know I don’t exactly feel comfortable about having these newcomers all of a sudden,” Angela said, changing the subject.
“What?” Lance was surprised. “Why not? I’m excited that I’m finally gonna know how they managed to elude our sensors the whole five years since this colony was established.”
“They seem a little too primitive to elude our sensors. There’s something wrong with the way they expand. Lieutenant Aminen told me Ira said something about sending their kind off to other worlds and inhabit them. So how would they manage to do that if they can’t even get off their planet that’s being sucked into a black hole? And if that is true, then are there more of them out there scattered throughout the universe? Does that mean that since they’re here, will they start expanding their population here? What if they’re a political thorn in our sides?”
“You’re just being paranoid. But not to worry. If they do try anything, they’re nothing but a bunch of primates, like you said. We have military strength so we can crush them if we have to. OW!! You’re pulling on that tie too hard!”
“Stand still. Did you stay up last night drinking coffee again?”
“I’m fine. It’s your fault, not mine.”
“Just gimme a second. You yanked it so hard this knot’s become a major obstacle. There, your tie is done.”
“Alright,” Lance said, “let’s get to that dinner. I’m hungry.”

The dining centre was lit brightly. It had white ceilings accented with golden designs along the sides of the wall. Potted plants stood six feet tall in each corner of the room. In the middle was a huge dance floor. A professional orchestra played. People were dressed formally, some of them dancing and others eating at the tables. Christian and Rait sat at a round table with the rest of their platoon eating heartily. This dinner wasn’t only to greet the new guests but to congratulate the cadets as well. Despite the cheerful atmosphere, clearly something was bothering Christian. He sat down with his hands clasped under his chin, with his elbows placed at the edge of the table. He wore a frown on his face, one that represented deep thought. Rait nudged him lightly with his elbow.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m thinking,” he said to Rait.
“About what?” he replied.
Christian lowered his voice significantly. “I don’t wanna start any panicking but haven’t you thought about the possibility of that hole pulling this planet in as well?”
“I dunno,” Rait shrugged. “I mean, if it were pulling us in, I think the scientists would say something wouldn’t they?”
“You’d think they’d know but I dunno, those scientists seem pretty cocky to me.”
Rait shrugged it off. “The scientists can’t be that bad! I’ve talked to a couple of them before when I just got here. Some lab assistant chick helped me get here. She was pretty nice.” “Yeah but I mean, take Dr. Ross for example,” Christian said. “Have you ever seen the guy? Just...the way he walks, man, pisses me off! You can tell he’s got a harsh case of an attitude problem. The guys a big jerk!”
“How do you know that?”
“Well I told you about seeing him before but I’ve also met him in the past.”
“It’s probably just him. But be quiet anyway cause the captains coming. If he hears us talking about the scientists that way, he’s gonna confine us to the dorms.”
“Hello, children,” Ceros said approaching the table. “Enjoying your dinner?”
“Sir, yes sir,” they all replied.
“At ease, children,” he said. “You’re all here to have fun. Forget the formalities for now. Enjoy your dinner! Have some fun! After all, you hard working soldiers need some time to take a break after such a successful mission right? Yes, fun is good and you must have lots of it tonight....”
“Sir,” Christian said, “We understand, thank you.”
“Ah...yes, uh, of course,” Ceros said turning red. “Don’t forget to have fun!” He started to walk away but turned back to them. “I forgot. Don’t be too scared to ask the girls for a dance too!”
Christian and Rait made looked at each other. “I’ve never seen Lieutenant Aminen this happy before,” Rait said.
“The guy’s drunk, if you didn’t notice,” Christian said. “Look at the way he walks. And why do you think he’s so damn red?”
“He’s drunk?” Rait said in complete shock. “Isn’t he like, supposed to be our role model or something?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t know!”
“Know what?”
“Lieutenant Aminen isn’t that old. I mean I know the guy doesn’t act it but he’s actually really young, only a few years older than Sean!”
“Are you sure??” Rait asked. “Looking at the way he acts anyone would have guessed he was like fifty!
“Well I’m not even gonna think twice about taking up his suggestion,” Christian replied changing the subject. “I’m gonna go get some girls. Better yet, I just remembered. I haven’t spent very much time with Namorith lately. You know, I think I’m gonna go find her. Catch up with you later. Don’t let Sean get in your way.”

Namorith Maylen was a young girl of seventeen years. She was about five feet six inches tall with straight long brown hair. Always known as the sugar coated braniac, she had just graduated from a university in the Halvon orbit, a neighbouring colony system about three light years from Colony 6421, with a bachelors degree in biology, physics and math.
She was always a bright girl, also raised in the Halvon orbit by a set of poor parents. Fortunately for them, Namorith had proven her talents in academics and whizzed through high-school and university in five years. To start her future early, Namorith submitted her application to the team of Colony 6421 to face the challenge of building a colony from scratch. She was accepted within two days upon receiving the fax by a scientist named Dr. Douglas Torassis, which happened to be Christians father. She worked with him as his assistant for the first year of 6421's establishment. When the colony’s military group was being formed, Dr. Douglas Torassis told Namorith that his son, Christian would be applying to be a cadet and it would be great if she could show him around the place. The rest is history.
Christian and Namorith had been seeing each other for four years and had a steady relationship. However, lately, the training had been very time consuming for every cadet as they were taking a big step from being cadets to actual soldiers who specialized in armed and hand to hand combat. As a result none of them were seeing loved ones as often as they would have liked to.
Meanwhile, Namorith kept herself busy with the duties Dr. Torassis assigned to her. During the course of Christians training, the only way she could communicate to him was through his father, her boss. However, not even he saw his son that much.
But that was in the past and the cadets had completed their mission successfully. Christian found Namorith on a bench under an evergreen in the courtyard picking at a red rose.
“Hey,” he said with a smile. “You look great tonight.” Namorith was dressed in a long sleeved red velvet skirt reaching down to her knees. On her feet, she wore a pair of one inch black high heeled shoes. Her long brown hair was tied up neatly into a bun on the back of her head.
“What took you so long?” she said.
“I had to wait to be dismissed,” he replied. “Ah well, I came here to see you so let’s not talk about anything that has kept us apart.” He sat on the bench beside her and put his arm around her. Namorith rested her head on his shoulder.
“My parents are coming here,” she said.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, they wanted to see how life would be like on a newly established colony. Their kinda sick of living in the Halvon Orbit. You’ll finally be able to meet them.”
“Oh great, in-laws.”
“Heh, don’t worry about them. Mom’s really nice about all the boys I’ve brought home when I was younger, although nothing was really serious. Dad, he’s a little more picky about which ones I chose.
“Do you think he’ll have a problem with me?”
“Of course not! My dad is old classmates with your dad, didn’t you know that? My dad lived there before meeting my mom and settling in the Halvon orbit where I was born. That’s how I came to be your dad’s assistant cause my father knew I shared his interest in extraterrestrial biology. In fact, I heard that the head scientist....what’s his name...Dr. Grayson is also from the Seruton Orbit. Most of our scientists are from there. Their colonies are known for producing the best scientists this side of the galaxy.”
“That’s pretty cool. But I think I’m gonna lead my life like this, like a warrior. It’s rewarding to know that I can help to defend my home. Maybe even one day I can be like Lieutenant Aminen...without the whole old man attitude.”
“Old man attitude?”
“Yeah, the guy’s only 25 and he’s as grumpy as that jackass Dr. Ross.”
Namorith snickered. “I haven’t heard anything positive about him from anyone, especially Dr. Grayson. Have you ever heard him bitch about Dr. Ross?? It’s the most hilarious thing I have ever heard!”
“Wanna know what else I think is funny?” Christian asked.
“What?”
“I wanted to show you this for awhile cause I got it from the army.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature gun. “Pretty cool huh?”
“What so funny about that?”
Christian aimed the gun at Namorith and pulled the trigger. She squealed and wanted to slap him for aiming a gun at her. The next thing she knew, she was being sprayed by a small jet of water coming from the tip of the gun. “Hahaha!!!” he laughed.
Namorith shot him a death look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be so mad,” Christian said. She still didn’t budge. Instead, she grabbed the gun and sprayed him back. “Get away from me!!” Christian screamed and laughed at the same time.
“I’m gonna get you back ten times worse!” she laughed chasing him all over the courtyard and shooting him with the water gun. They ran and laughed. Namorith lost one of her shoes while Christian had crumpled up the tux he had spent hours ironing. Eventually they fell on top of each other and started rolling around on the grass, laughing and giggling like little kids.
Without warning, they came to a sudden stop, lying side by side on the grass. Christian gently took a hold of a lock of Namorith’s hair and started playing with it between his fingers. “You’re beautiful tonight,” he said softly.
“Thank you.” Namorith replied.
“I love...” She put a finger on his lips, closed her eyes and they embraced, and a moment later, they kissed.







Chapter 5:



“What the hell is this?” Dr. Warner Ross said staring at his monitor. The forty one year old scientist sat at his desk with a mug of coffee and entering a series of commands into the computer.
Standing at 6' tall with short brown hair and a goatee, Dr. Ross was a lanky man, never seen out of a suit or a labcoat. Feeling very good about his work, he would walk with his head up and was even careful about how big the steps he took were. Normal people called it stuck up. He knew it was the way a genius behaved. On one occasion, Dr. Grayson had described his posture as a toothpick with it’s hands tied behind its back, trying to bite an apple dangling over its head. Upon hearing this, Dr. Ross went into a rage. It was that incident that sparked their hatred for each other.
The reason why people rarely liked him was because of his attitude. Dr. Ross referred to anyone that knew less that him in his field of specialty as inferior. All he did during the day was stare at the sky with his high tech telescope and computer. Unlike Dr. Grayson, he somehow managed to keep tidy. Dr. Ross had been studying the stars for the entire time this colony had been inhabited. He didn’t want to participate in the dinner they were holding this evening due to his ‘important work’. Or at least that’s what his excuse was. The citizens in this colony were nothing but a bunch of imbeciles. He knew he was the smartest person in the entire establishment and everybody else was lower in the food chain and he didn’t want to waste his time with a bunch of shallow thinkers.
The cause of his sudden outcry to escape his lips was a blip on the computer screen the was steadily approaching the colony. He analysed the source of the blip. The signal was of something man made, like a ship. He opened a communication channel using his radio to the source of the signal.
“This is Colony 6421. Please state your designation.”
A faint voice came from the other end. “This is Commander Denex Arrelia of colony 7642 from the Elban Orbit.” The Elban Orbit was all the way across the galaxy, Dr. Ross thought to himself. How long were they travelling for? “There is no use in disguising your identities under the shell of Colony 6421,” she said. “This planet will be terminated.”
“What the hell are you talking about??” Dr. Ross cried. “Do I sound like a shell to you?!”
“The plan will be executed.” Dennex replied sternly. Dr. Ross started to panic. Whatever this was, it wasn’t funny. Judging from the speed they were coming at, the ship would be within orbit in an hour.
Then, more blips appeared on the screen. Two, ten, hundred, thousands....they just kept on coming. Slowly, they filled up the screen and Dr. Ross realised a whole armada was heading towards the planet. He reach clumsily for the phone and punched in Lieutenant Aminen’s number. The phone rang. Dr. Ross’s stomach was doing flips, with hand clasped the phone with a death grip. Cold sweat poured down his neck. Nobody picked up. Dammit!! He remembered. Ceros was at the dinner party.
Without wasting a moment, he scanned his desk for his car keys, grabbed them and dashed out the door toward his car in the cool evening air. The horizon to the east was bright orange and faded to red, blue and finally to black in the western sky. The serenity of the scene was so deceiving, so...naive. The colony had to be notified of the threat.

The ground shook with a slight tremor growing heavier with each passing second. It tore Christian and Namorith from each others arms. Suddenly, deafening sounds of explosions came from all directions. The ground shook more intensely and they could feel the heat and the shockwaves coming from the explosions. The science facility was being attacked by planes.
“What the hell,” Christian cried, “those look like our planes!!”
Namorith peered at the planes. “They’re not of this colony though. The insignia on the side says their from a colony around the sector 7 region of the galaxy.”
“Why would the sector 7 region be attacking us?”
“AAAHH!!!!” Came a spine chilling scream. From the air, soldiers came down with parachutes and started raiding the science, defence, farming and legal facilities. The dining hall wasn’t far from that area and would be under attack soon.
“I’m gonna get the others from inside,” Christian said grabbing Namorith’s hand. “You have to stay inside where it will be safe.”
He led her inside the building where the citizens were already bustling about, citizens and guests alike trying to figure out what was going on. Christian found Ceros among the frantic people wondering what was wrong.
“Are you okay?” Ceros asked.
“Sir,” Christian said ignoring his question, “We’re under attack by the sector 7 colonies.”
“What??” Ceros said. “Why would they be attacking us?” BOOM!!! Another explosion causing them to stumble a little.
“I have no idea but I suggest we get to our planes by means of the underground tunnels.” BOOM!! More explosions, closer this time sending most of the people into hysterics.
Ceros didn’t know what to say. There were a million questions running through his head and not enough time to get any answers. His mind raced to think of what to say next. “Are you sure?? Have you any proof that it’s another colony that’s attacking us??”
Dr. Ross burst into the room. “We’re under attack!!,” he cried, stating the obvious and flaying his arms all over the place. “We must evacuate. We can’t let them take our colony!” Ceros marched over to Dr. Ross. “Doctor, what’s wrong? Have you found out anything about this assault?”
Dr. Ross was in hysterics “We have to leave! We must leave! Or we’re gonna die! No we ARE gonna die!!” Ceros punched him across the face.
“Get a hold of yourself doctor!” he said firmly to him. “If we are to survive this nightmare, we will require your sanity!”
Dr. Ross took a second to collect himself using great effort and swallowed hard, regaining composure. “They’re coming in full force. The lady said something about us hiding behind shells. I don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said gasping. “Get our army out there.”
“I’ll be the one making that decision,” Ceros replied. He turned to Christian. “Meanwhile, I want you to get to the planes while I round the soldiers,” he instructed. “We’re going to defend our colony.” Christian nodded and ran off. “Namorith, I’d like to you help me get the attention of these people.
Ceros stood on the table and hit two dinner trays against each other for attention. Despite the loud crashing, the crowd hardly noticed him so he banged harder, this time breaking the trays. Only then did the others look at him with fear in their eyes. “I’ve heard word from those outside that our colony is under attack by a colony from sector 7 of this galaxy and I regret to inform you that Dr. Ross has confirmed it,” he said in a comforting yet firm manner. “We don’t know why they are attacking us but I suggest it would be best if we all hide. There are tunnels built under the entire colony and even through the surrounding area for future extensions. Their main purpose is to protect the construction workers from the sun during the day. This time, I believe they can be used to hide in. The door from here to the tunnels is located under the main stairway. But let the soldiers in first as they need to access our planes as fast as possible. Soldiers, I want you to report to your assigned planes and prepare for a full scale assault on our colony. Stop them before they can get closer.”
Surprisingly, the people made way for the soldiers to head down to the tunnels in a calm manner despite the explosions outside. The atmosphere within the dining hall was dead quite as if they all believed that not making a sound was the best way to hide from the enemies.

Chapter 6:



The dark and dank underground tunnels had Lance quivering in fear. He was huddled in a ball somewhere in the maze of tunnels. Lined up against the walls, other civilians slept while the rest whimpered. Lance had heard something about these tunnels during his rookie days in the colony from a man named Ivanov Bolarski, head of the city engineering department. Lance could barely remember the conversation they had but he did remember thinking they were a good idea. Now that he actually had to experience what they were like first hand, he was more than eager to get out. The cement was cold and filled with little air pockets. There was the occasional rat scuttering back and forth, gathering food. The citizens of the colony huddled in groups for warmth, still dressed in their evening wear.
Up above, explosions could be heard coming from the surface. Nobody dared to move in fear that they would be found. The colony’s defence was out there doing their duty to their best effort leaving Lance feeling very useless.
“We should be out there,” he whispered to Angela. “Those soldiers are probably begging for help right now. Think of what we can do if all of us get together and help.”
“The soldiers are specially trained for this kind of thing,” she replied holding on tightly to his arm. “We’re not and that could get us killed. I don’t want to take that risk, getting all these people to the surface. We just need word from one of the soldiers about their progress and then we can figure out what to do from there. I just wish they’d hurry up.”
“Dr. Grayson, Ms. Morrow,” a girl said coming to sit down with them. “This may not be the best time for pleasantries but I thought I’d drop by and introduce myself. My name is Namorith. I decided to come say hi. I have a developing interest in the astrophysics field although I work here at the colony as Dr. Torassis’s lab assistant. I’ve been reading some of your public reports and I must say that I’m really impressed with your work. The most amazing thing was that you were able to discover a planet on the brink of destruction by a black hole when the planet had never even been recorded in our history.”
“I didn’t really discover it on purpose,” Lance said, picking his teeth with a toothpick. “It just showed up on the screen when we were scanning the hole. Speaking of which, I haven’t even gotten the chance to officially interview Ira yet. Perhaps we’ll find the answers to our questions later. What did you say your name was again?” He spat out the toothpick.
“Namorith Maylen.”
“Ah yes, Doug’s girl,” Lance said with a nod. “You’re his assistant in the lab aren’t you?” She nodded in reply
“I’ve already stated that, sir,” she said reluctantly.
“I heard you’ve got a little fling going on with his son there.”
Namorith nearly threw a fit. “How were you able to find this out, sir?” she asked, her privacy somewhat invaded.
“You should know most of the scientists here are from the Seruton orbit. Doug and I have been friends for years!”
“I see,” Namorith said cocking her head to one side.
“Don’t worry about Lance,” Angela said putting her hand on her shoulder. “The guy just doesn’t know his manners.”
Lance glared at her. “What are you talking about?” he shot back defensively. Turning back to Namorith he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you young lady.”
The atmosphere was silent after that. Angela, Lance and Namorith had been so absorbed in their conversation they hadn’t noticed what was wrong. Everyone was quivering as the temperature in the tunnels suddenly dropped. Without warning, there it appeared. A ghostlike apparition with glowing red eyes figure wandered the halls. As soon as they stopped talking, the figure turned towards them.
“What the hell is that??” Lance whispered to Namorith. She couldn’t respond, frozen with fear.
“Lance, it looks like...” Angela started to say.
“It’s Ira.”
The figure grinned. “I am Ira of the Ambra. Contradictory to what you may believe, we are not people relying on spreading our population through a peaceful means. We take our land by force and you have just been chosen.” She grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth, the true form of the Ambra.

Chapter 7:



Dennex stood by and watched proudly as her army secured the mouth of a canyon facing the Colony 6421. This was the perfect place to set up camp. The only way in was through the mouth of the canyon, at which she set up her defences. The grey cement walls were about three fourths to a whole kilometre high. The camp, located in just at the mouth of the canyon, was about two kilometres from the colony walls giving any attack a thick wall of defence to penetrate.
The army had set up their camp quickly and efficiently. Based on the orders from her General, Dennex was to stay on the planet until the enemy colony was entirely destroyed. “General Arrelia,” a soldier said saluting her, “Colony 6421 has sent their offense this way. They have an estimate of around seventy five to a hundred fighter planes in their first wave. Also, their infantry seems to be very efficient as they have taken out most of our infantry.”
“These people are better than I thought,” Dennex said. “How were they able to destroy our offenses so quickly?”
“They surprised us,” the soldier replied. “But we’re not sure how.”
“Ugh!” Dennex snorted. “How unprofessional can you be?!! This is a colony barely on it’s feet. We are a colony established half a century ago and you still don’t have the ability to crush this one??”

The underground tunnels were a huge advantage to Ceros and his men. Each of them were dressed alike. They each had a dark green jumpsuit, and a black super tough bullet proof armour over that. They also wore black pads and black leather boots. They had a shotgun strapped to their backs, a hand gun on each side of their hips, a pocketknife, a dagger and a hunting knife on each leg hidden in the boots. The most important feature of their gear was the cybernetic glasses developed by Dr. Cranolton Ki of the technology department. The glasses were still being tested but were needed at this time. The soldiers travelled off the colony grounds using the underground tunnels and positioned themselves under the enemy base.
“Don’t go any further,” Ceros ordered. “I just want to see which way we’re headed.” He pulled out a small computer map on an electric recorder and scanned the upper ground with a high pitched beep coming from it.
“Lieutenant,” Sean said, “that’s electric piece of crap computers gonna attract the enemy’s attention.”
“I got it!” Ceros said ignoring Sean’s comment. “We’re not far from being under the enemy camp. Dr. Ross told me he picked up a concentration of their signal at the mouth of the nearby canyons. These tunnels lead to the surface but we gotta have one of these electronic maps to know where we’re headed. He turned around to face his men and showed the closest of the map. “Do you see these spots over the land? Those spots mark where the tunnels open to on the surface. I’m gonna need a team of four. We’re gonna capture someone of high power and perhaps even disable their base while we’re at it. Okay, Sean, I’m gonna need you cause you’re pretty tough. Christian, I want you to go along and keep Sean out of trouble and I’m also gonna need your sharpshooter skills. Rait, I need your speed. Sneak into their Lieutenant’s tent. If these people are anything like us, you should recognize the tent without any problem. I need somebody else.” Ceros looked at the back and found who he was looking for.
Edilock “Shock” Bohir was the platoons computer freak. The twenty year old wore thick glasses, was constantly chewing on a pencil, and had somewhat of an attitude problem. His had spiked brown hair was never down in it’s natural form. Instead, he like to keep them spiked so as to ward of anyone who tried to attack him. They weren’t really lethal of course, but Edilock believed them to be.
“I want you to hack into their systems, Edilock,” Ceros said. “The rest of you are to split yourselves into the six sub-groups we discussed while in training and head towards these areas of the tunnels that open onto the surface.” He held up the little hand held computer. “As you can see, they surround the camp from all sides. I want you to attack everything living thing in sight and secure the area. It shouldn’t take longer than seven minutes for Edilock to disable their computer systems while Sean, Christian and Rait capture the General. After that period of time, I will signal for the air fighters to come in. From then on, you will have thirty to forty five seconds to get back into the tunnels while the planes destroy this camp. Do not attack until I give the signal. Is that understood?” The others nodded obediently. “Dismissed!”
As the other soldiers scattered quickly, Ceros turned back to his four key soldiers and continued the plan. “Here’s what we’re gonna do,” he said looking at everyone very closely. “Remember you play the most important role in this mission. First, I will use this camera to get a good feel of their camp.” The camera was small, and light, about the size of a penny. It looked like it would just fit through the hole in the lid of the covers to the tunnels. “Using this, we will be able to find out just where the General of their camp is located. If they’re anything like us, their General should be wearing a uniform similar to mine. Once we’ve got that figured out and the others are in position, I’m going to give the signal. They will rush to attack. Make sure you give them some lead time to distract the soldiers while we rush in and sneak around their defences. I’ll be joining you in their General’s kidnapping.”
Ceros fumbled with the lock that opened one of the peepholes in the hatch. It was difficult to see the fine details of the locking mechanism in the darkness.
“Need a little light, sir?” Edilock said shining a pocket light to the door.
“Thanks,” Ceros said. A bit more fumbling and then, a heart stopping click as the peephole door unlocked. The deafening sound echoed through the hallways of the underground tunnels and everyone froze in panic.
“Please don’t tell me they heard that,” Christian said after a few seconds, breaking the silence. “How sound proof are these tunnels?”
“They couldn’t have heard it,” Ceros replied, ignoring Christian. “We’re underground. Anyway, now I have to open this ever so slightly so the camera can fit through.”
“I’m more concerned about them spotting a little camera sticking out of the ground,” Edilock said.
“Well we’re gonna have to take our chances on that one. The camera is small and dark so hopefully it won’t attract any attention,” Ceros said. “Alright, I have it set up.” He peered into it carefully and turned on his ear phones. “Okay team, I’m transferring the image map the camera drew to each of your cyber glasses. I found the General’s tent. It’s about 35 degrees to the north from our current position. I’d say about twenty to twenty five metres away. Watch out for some infantry to the south. They look armed to the teeth but if you’ve been training hard, your fighting skills should be effective against them.” He took a deep breath and continued.
“Everyone, this is the plan. I want sub group number one and two to tackle the first line of infantry from the front. Sub group numbers three and four, you are conveniently placed behind the second wave of their infantry. You are to work with groups one and two to surround the first two waves. Five and six, the pilots of their jet fighters and tanks should be around the vehicle area. I’ve outlined it on the map. I want you to head there by the means of the tunnels and tell me when you reach there. After I give the signal, I want you to take them out before they can get to the planes. Is everybody clear?” As a response, everyone pressed the activation buttons on their goggles, causing them to glow in synchronism. The plan was about to go through.



Interlude:



Ira looked around at the people surrounding her, all of them quivering because of the cold and the fear. A foolish man ran up to her and assaulted her with nothing but his fists. She calmly stood there and absorbed the blows. Moments later, the man combusted into flames.
“Nobody opposes the Ambra,” she said. Ira took a moment to scan every individual face. Humans were indeed a pathetic race. They had been physically weakened by their technology, making them ripe for the picking. “Your colony has been chosen.” As she said those words, a group of young Ambra males appeared behind her. “We live to spread our kind. Gradually, we will spread over the entire galaxy and the universe. In our tradition, this is the time where the males select their wives....”
The Ambra males dashed forward, ignoring the screams of protests from the females. Any of the human males that spoke out were slaughtered. “So ends the existence of yet another colony,” Ira thought to herself.

Chapter 8:



“GO!!!” Lieutenant Aminen ordered. Without wasting anytime, sub groups one and two jumped out from the tunnel doors and assaulted Dennex’s infantry from the front with the element of surprise on their side. The enemy infantry that were caught off guard were killed instantly. The others dashed forward to confront the inexperienced cadets. Fortunately for the cadets, Ceros’s difficult exercises proved to be very useful in this fight. They had excellent stamina, speed and power. It was as if they were dancing, moving through the enemy infantry as if they were in an obstacle course.
One by one, the enemy dropped like flies. From her tent in the camp, located behind the ships and tanks, Dennex observed her soldiers being picked off through a pair of binoculars. She glanced at Colonel Tarell to her right. “The drill instructors must have done something to their soldiers,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “I’ve never seen any fighting like this before. I had no idea the Ambra were this powerful. Perhaps we should retreat before they do any more damage.”
Dennex shook her head. “We stay here and do what we can do. I don’t care if we go down fighting. The Ambra are a major threat to the universe.” Her composure broke. Dennex hung her head low, never feeling so helpless in her life. “Our men are out there dying. There’s nothing we can do but join them.”
Colonel Tarell placed his hand on her shoulder. “There’s no point staying here. We should round up the people we have left and get outta here. We’ll go back to Colony 7042, get more people and then come back.”
“I don’t run from fights!” Dennex replied sternly. “If we die, we die. I’d hate to just stand here and watch helplessly.” Her lower lip quivered. I can’t take this, she thought to herself. My men....the Ambra have gone too far. I can’t let them kill me. I’ve lost too much. She wiped the tears that managed to escape her and regained her composure. “Colonel! I want you to set the tanks. We’re going to crush their infantry.”
Just after giving out the order, the steady hum of the machinery they brought over diminished. Dennex and Colonel Tarell looked around in panic as the activation lights to the vehicles shut off. “What happened??” the colonel asked.
“I did,” came a reply. There, in front of them stood the weirdest looking kid they had ever seen. There stood an average height man just out of his teens with thick glasses with a cocky smile on his face.
Dennex didn’t recognize him but her instincts told her he was an enemy. She assumed an attack stance and lunged at him with her right fist forward. The boy ducked and pulled the combat knife out from his boot with his right hand. Using his left fist, he connected with a solid uppercut to Dennex’s jaw. She was knocked back and Colonel Tarell took over. He circled with the boy, being cautious as he could have easily won with the combat knife. The boy stabbed forward while Tarell easily dodged it. He grabbed the boys hand and struck it using his free hand, freeing the knife from his grip. Dennex got up and was about to go in for the kill while Tarell still had him. Before she could do anything, a two powerful arms wrapped around her upper body and lifted her kicking and screaming into the air.
“Try not to hurt her, Sean!” a stern voice ordered.
“Let me go!!” Dennex screamed. She felt vulnerable, like a princess being kidnapped. The thought of that disgusted her but there was little she could do to keep herself from feeling like that.
“Quit with the kicking!!” the same voice said. Just then, a man came into her view. His uniform and the badges he sported on it looked similar to hers. He was a general or someone with high status, like herself. He looked like he would have been a great leader if only the Ambra didn’t get to him first....
“You scum,” was all Dennex could get out of her mouth before Sean clasped his hand over it. She continued to wriggle even harder to escape although she knew it was hopeless.
“Whoa lady,” Sean said, “Momma didn’t teach you much did she?”
“Calm down,” Ceros said. “We’re not here to hurt you. We just want to ask some questions.” Ceros tapped his goggles, sending a signal to the infantry to retreat. “But first, we must get out of here before our planes come and destroy this entire base.”
Dennex panicked even more. They couldn’t destroy the base! Doing so would mean destroying their only transport vehicle out of here. This was important!! She tried desperately screaming through Seans hand. She gathered all the strength and bit down hard with all the everything she had left in her.
Seans eyes widened as sharp pain exploded through his pointer finger. “AAAHHH!!!!” he screamed, tearing his hand from her mouth.
“You can’t do that!!” she screamed with urgency. “You Ambra are goddamn mother fuckers!!!!”
“You little bitch,” Sean cursed, caressing his hand. “I’ll show you who’s the mother fucker.” He raised his fist and was about to strike Dennex when Ceros stopped him.
“Don’t do that, Sean,” he said. “She’s all we got for information right now. Her and that Colonel.” Turning his gaze to Dennex, he wasted no time and started questioning her. It was important that they get to safety first but he wanted to hear what she had to say now. Her comment that thrown him off his priorities. “What do you mean by Ambra??” he asked.
“It’s not use hiding your disguise,” Dennex said. “We know who you are and we know what you’re trying to do.”
“We aren’t the Ambra,” Ceros replied, “We are colony 6421. The Ambra are the people we rescued from a planet that was on the brink of destruction by a black hole that opened a few light years away.”
Dennex’s eyes lit up. “You mean they haven’t taken you over yet??!”
Ceros was puzzled. “What are you talking about??”
It struck her then just how naive this colony was. Now was the time she had to tell him everything. It was time they know. Ceros looked confused so she decided to give him a brief history lesson. “My name is Dennex Arrelia, General of the army of Colony 7042. We have an alliance with a race from an enemy of the Ambra. They are called the Kolanderates. Two years ago, the Kolanderates came to us through what we thought was a black hole and warned us about the Ambra. They also told us that their enemies travel through portals which appear as black holes. Shortly after, the Ambra attacked, destroying about twenty five percent of the sector 7 colonies before we realized what the Kolanderates were saying was true. Over the time our alliance flourished and we developed technology to track them down and destroy them. We just got note that one of their portals appeared in the sector six section of the galaxy. By now we thought they would have completely taken you over so we were sent here to annihilate their population here. But apparently...it got us into a war instead. The Ambra are a race of evil beings from an alternate reality. Their goal is to invade our reality and to spread their kind and to conquer everything. By rescuing them from their planet in destruction, you were taking them over here so they could spread their species!” A look of sheer terror spread across Ceros’s face. Dennex regretted telling him but there was no other way. “Where are they now??!”
“They’re....back at base with everyone with the citizens of the colony......” Ceros replied.

Chapter 9:



“I don’t believe this,” Christian said mumbling under his breath to Rait. By now, night had settled and the stars were clear as crystal in the dark blue sky. A cool breeze blew through the desert sands as the temperature slowly dropped for the night.
The two of them, along with Sean and Edilock were in a jeep with Ceros at the wheel, a jeep that belonged to Colony 7042's army, cruising at top speed towards the base. Fortunately, Ceros and Dennex were able to stop the fighting of their respective armies before too many soldiers got killed and too many vehicles lost. Ceros had spread the news about the Ambra among his troops and got them to understand how important it was for both groups to stop a pointless battle. For now, they recognized the Ambra as being the enemy.
Christian was worried, now more than ever. Everybody in the colony had been left behind with the Ambra. Thinking about just how naive they had been made his eyes leak hot burning tears. Father,....Namorith......he thought to himself. It’s all my fault. I should have stayed.
“We had no way of knowing,” Rait mumbled to himself, as if reading Christians thoughts. “We all thought the Ambra were a harmless race. Simply by looking at them, you couldn’t tell they were monsters.” Nobody said a word. He shivered. The air brushing up against them in the open roof jeep was biting cold. Just like the cold touch of death, he thought, wrapping his arms around his body. Rait looked to Christian who sat as still as a statue with a look of worry on his face. He wasn’t bothered by the cold. Clearly, the thought of losing the people he loved bothered him a lot more than the cold. The knowledge made Rait feel bad. He had nobody to worry about.
Rait thought about his loved ones. His father was an alcoholic that never spent any time at home. His mother died when he was young. Rait decided it for himself to enroll in the army. Then not only would he know how to take care of himself, but he would also get new friends along the way. He looked back on his life from when he was younger and noticed just how much happier he is right now. But then, this had to happen. The Ambra. It was all their fault. If they so much as even scratched the colony walls.....
“Be careful,” Ceros warned, cutting of his thinking. “Who knows how many of those Ambra people are still around. We’ve got about 950, 000 soldiers packed into the jeeps. Hopefully, that will be enough to hold them off. But still, I don’t want any of you hiding behind each others backs. We have to give this war everything. We must look after each other and ourselves.”
“Sir,” Sean asked, his voice shaky, sounding very uncertain, “do you think we can make it?” Sean was resorting to somebody for comfort, like a child speaking to a parent.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Ceros replied. “But still, I want you all to do your best out there today. If we die, we join our loved ones. If we win, then our colony and the rest of this sector will be safe.”
Christian put a hand to his stomach. Join our loved ones. The comment made him sick. He couldn’t imagine losing his father. Douglas Torassis had raised Christian by himself since he was a young boy. He could have never been a better father. It was from his father where he got all his morals, his knowledge and most importantly, his values. The possibility of losing his father was unbearable. Added to that fact was the possibility of losing Namorith as well. His heart ached for her right now. He never felt this way about anyone before. She was like a diamond in a field of rocks and he loved her with all his heart and soul. Everything he had in him poured out to her. Her touch was gentle, her voice was angelic but most of all, she had a kind personality. The only thing she lacked was a dark side. To have that feeling of comfort being lost to evil made his mental suffering even worse. They had to get to the colony walls to rescue anyone who might still be alive. They had to rescue Namorith.
“Are you okay?” Ceros asked, putting a helping hand on Christian’s shoulder.
“I’m just anxious to get back,” he replied.
“We will find out what has happened once we do,” Ceros said, although he was already aware that Christian knew that. “And if everyone in the colony is dead, we’ll kick their ass from here to kingdom come. And if not...then it’s like I said, we’ll join our loved ones. So don’t worry about it.”
Christian hung his head down and didn’t speak. Ceros cursed at himself mentally. He wasn’t the best when it came to comforting others but he made an effort. Yeah, an effort to make it worse, you jerk. For the first time during his career as a Lieutenant Drill Instructor, he could actually feel the fear of his students. They were young, and inexperienced no matter how skilled they were. How unfair fate was to them, to challenge them with a great task like this, even with the assistance of Colony 7064's army. He suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to protect these soldiers. After all, they were nothing but children, even Sean. Rait was young, small and weak. But his spirit was definitely that of a fighter. Christian was the platoon tough guy, nearly equal to Ceros himself. The Ambra had succeeded by even hurting him, by taking away his only role model and his girlfriend. Sean, the group bully, could be tough to handle at times. But now, he was cowering in fear and Ceros could see it. He didn’t blame Sean, however. Never in their young lives had they ever encountered something as threatening as the Ambra.
And now, the walls of the colony appeared over the horizon. The first thing they noticed was a trail of smoke coming from behind the walls. The far away sounds of burning wreckage told them that behind the walls, debris and possibly even dead bodies lay everywhere. A cloud of black smoke established a place for himself in the sky, above the colony. Other than that, everything was dead quiet.

Chapter 10:



A shiver made it’s way down her spine. Her entire body ached as if she had been beaten up. Namorith shifted her upper body as a reaction to the uncomfortable feeling. That was when she noticed her arms and legs had been bound down by heavy rope in a spread eagle position. She opened her eyes slowly and listened for awhile. It didn’t sound like there was anyone else present in the room. She looked around. She was no longer in the underground tunnels. Instead, she was back in the dining hall. But this time, it was different. The elaborate decorations of the hall had been destroyed. It was dark inside, the only source of light came from wooden pillars which sported a burning flame on the top. The plates were broken, the elegant chandelier shattered and the tables served as platforms on which to tie the women onto.
The women!! All around her, she could see other women from the colony, all unconscious equally bound to the tables as she was. Namorith realized with horror just how naked they were. She looked at her own body only to discover that her evening dress had been removed as well. The air smelled like blood and sweat. Despite nobody else being in the room, she could feel their evil and violent intentions. The whole atmosphere screamed rape.
The thought hit Namorith like a brick wall. She had been the victim of the ultimate act of violation. She was exposed for anyone who wanted to look....and touch. Her plans with Christian were ruined. She bit her lower lip, nearly bursting into tears. The thought of him made her cry. She knew if he found out, he would personally come down and murder anyone who tried to hurt her. The protectiveness made her feel secure around him. But where was he now when she needed him the most? He could have already been killed or wounded in the battle. What was the battle for anyway? She wondered. Too many thoughts ran through her mind but the ultimate source for her fears was the fact that Christian could be dead.
Another cold chill went through her and Namorith wriggled in response. She tried to warm up herself but the ropes kept her hands and feet from moving. Namorith wanted to scream but she was too scared to. She looked to the right, to the woman on the table next to her who just seemed to be coming round.
“Hey,” she whispered.
The woman groaned, softly at first, which then turned into a loud moan as she realized her the predicament she was in. “Where am I.....?” she asked. She noticed the ropes bounding her to the table. “What? My...my clothes....”
“Don’t make too much noise,” Namorith replied. “I....I think we’ve been raped.”
“Goddamn,” the woman said. “I told myself to keep away from sex for at least a year and this shit happens to me.”
“Who are you?” Namorith asked.
“The names Enaria...” she replied. “Enaria Larkin. I work in the chemistry branch of the science department. And you?”
“Namorith Maylen,” she replied. “I work as the ET Biolab as the assistant to Dr. Torassis.”
“Ah yes,” Enaria said, “ Old man Torassis. I’ve met him before. What a pleasant old man.”
They both sighed, neither with much more to say. Reality slowly slipped in once again. There they were, the two of them amongst the hundreds of women in the colony, trapped in a dark room. The thought of the Ambra came back to Namorith as she lay in the cold darkness gathering her thoughts. Where are they? she wondered.

As if an answer to her question, a glowing figure, glided into the room hovering a few inches above the ground towards Namorith and Enaria. It was Ira. She was dressed in long robes, flowing with her long hair in some non existent wind.
“You’ve awakened,” she said, her voice sent chills down to their very bones.
Namorith’s heart raced in her chest, she could swear it would beat itself out of her chest. What is she planning to do with us? She glanced over to Enaria who also lay there in silence with her eyes wide open in fear. This woman was the leader of a race of people who had overthrown their colony and had her men........rape her.
“Why?” Namorith whispered as her eyes narrowed in anger.
“For our sake,” Ira replied coldly, “You will give birth to the next generation of the Ambra. Aren’t you even proud to be part of such a purpose?”
“We have been violated by your people,” Namorith sneered, “there’s no reason to be proud of that.” Ira grinned.
“You untie us right now you ugly bitch,” Enaria said, “and take the beating that’s coming to you like a real woman! You’re only keeping us tied up cause you don’t want us kicking your flaming ass all the way to kingdom come!”
Ira gave her a slap so hard, it echoed through the dark dining room. Blood was sent flying from Enaria’s lip while her cheek burned with the impact, shutting her up.
“Despite her behaviour towards me, your lives will be spared, which is more than I can say for the men out there trying to break into our stronghold.” Ira bent down and stared Enaria straight in the eye. “Next time you won’t be so lucky.”
“You call this room a stronghold?” Enaria sneered. “This is a dining room for god’s sake. You can’t expect it to hold out for you! Especially against our army!”
“Our army is trying to break in??” Namorith asked with excitement, remembering Christian. She lifted her head to see if they could be spotted through the windows.
Ira pushed her back down with a single hand. “Don’t get your hopes up just yet,” she said. “They are no match for us.”
Seconds after the last words came from her lips, the entire world exploded around them.

Interlude:



The war against the Ambra burned like a fire, refusing to die. Even with the combined might and technology of Colony 6421 and 7064, the opposing sides struggled. Thousands of soldiers stormed the heart of the Ambra colony, what used to be theirs. The atmosphere was pure hatred. The Ambra’s lust and the humans honour clashed in a horrible battle. Warriors of both sides were killed and mutilated by each other, such as how Rait Truden met his end.
Edilock, Rait, Christian, Sean and Ceros found themselves ambushed by a few Ambra males who lay buried in the sand as soon as they stepped out of their jeep. Ceros tackled three of them, dodging their punches and kicks and striking back with terrifying precision. He had taken down three Ambra warriors in under ten seconds.
Christian and Edilock teamed up and attacked each of their enemies at once. Using their guns and combat knives, they slashed their way through the advancing horde of oncoming enemies in a lethal dance of blood and guts.
Sean on the other hand, stood alone against three Ambra warriors. Rait rushed to his aid but was cornered against the jeep by another Ambra. He swallowed hard and looked up at the other towering figure which held some sort of a blade in his hand. Rait knew what the blade was meant for. He searched frantically for some means of escape but found none. He was cornered and everyone else had their hands full. He was alone. Just then, an unfamiliar wave of bravery overwhelmed him.
Staring into the eye of his enemy, Rait realized he had enough of being scared. He remembered how he always hid behind Christian when push came to shove and the thought disgusted him. No more!! It was time to act for himself for once in his life.
Rait ducked and crawled between the legs of the Ambra, clawing at the ground as if his very life depended on it....and it did. Just as he got through, with a lightning quick reflex, he pulled out the combat knife from his boot, stood up, and plunged it into the lower back of his attacker before he could turn around. He began to feel a little dizzy from the following headrush, while the warrior let out a howl. The piercing shriek made by the warrior invoked the bottled up emotions that he didn’t realize was there. Rait froze for a moment unable to register this new wave of feeling but finally, the animal instinct kicked in. Lost in insanity, he opened his mouth screamed as loud as he could, letting out all the repressed emotions and yanked out the knife from his combat boot and dug it into the Ambra’s back. Tears of anger, fear and sorrow ran down his face like a river while the intense scream still spilled forth from his mouth. The warriors death cry fuelled him even more as he ripped out the knife and stabbed the warrior repeatedly with it. And as he pulled out the knife, he took a chunk of flesh with it, leaving a puncture would that gushed Ambra blood. Spilling of Ambra blood.....My.....justice.....
Again and again, he drove the knife into the back of the dying warrior, screaming the whole way through along with his victim. The warrior was already dead long before his body slumped onto the ground in a bloody heap. Rait turned around, the rage still burning and alive, to see Sean being assaulted by the same three Ambra warriors. No matter what a jerk he was, Sean was still a human and he wouldn’t allow the Ambra to hurt him.
Time slowed down remarkably. Without wasting a second to think about his own safety, Rait dashed into the fight, his knife pointed at the closest Ambra. His rage blinded him and he didn’t notice the small, shiny shaft-like object which one of them whipped out. But Sean did. Looked up with a black eye and bleeding lips, at his charging comrade, trying to search for the words to warn Rait. There was so little time, and the few words he had to say would take too long. He was panic stricken. An eternity later, the words came. However........
“Rait!!!” he screamed with the last of the energy left in him. “Lookout!! He’s got a -”

“B A N G !!!!!!”

The deafening sound of gunfire echoed in Seans head. Christian and Edilock spun around, the gunshot succeeded in capturing their attention. Sean closed his eyes and felt a luke warm liquid splash all over his face and the front of his body. Warm, fresh spilled blood splashed onto the cool desert sand, all over the rear of the jeep, and all over Sean. Then, everyone saw Rait.
He stood clutching his chest with a bloody hand, eyes wide and mouth open. The pain hadn’t hit yet. The bullet punctured a hole large enough for blood to be flowing out uncontrollably. He dropped onto his knees, and fell to the ground on his stomach with the dull thump of dying flesh.
More gunfire sounded but nobody paid attention. They were focused on their team mate who lay dying in a pool of his own blood. Ceros, Christian, Shock and Sean gathered around Rait.
Time then sped up back to normal as Dennex appeared into view, shoving her gun back into it’s holster. “You should never take your attention off the battle,” she advised, sounding rather disappointed. “I took out those Ambra warriors who you took your eyes off and would have killed you.” Then, she saw him too. “Oh my god.”
Edilock put his hands under Rait’s head and lifted it up so he wouldn’t choke on his own blood. Ceros ripped a piece of fabric from ankle of his pants and pressed it against his wound, hoping it would slow down the bleeding. Rait moaned in pain and struggled against the pressure Ceros applied.
“Take it off,” he pleaded with a weak, trembling voice. “It hurts....”
“It’ll slow down the bleeding,” Ceros said, trying to calm him. But he knew it was hopeless. The blood was soaking through the cloth and staining his hands. It was his job to protect his cadets and he had failed. Tears guilt forced their way out of Ceros’s eyes, blurring his vision. However, he remained determined to retain his composure in front of the others and wiped them away with his forearm.
“I’m going to die anyway,” Rait said, coughing blood.
Ceros looked at his tear streaked face, caked in mud and crusted with blood, realizing that the dying cadet understood the situation better than he wanted to. Rait reached out and grabbed Christians wrist, who wrapped his warm palms around Raits cold, dying hand.
“Hang in there, buddy,” Christian said, in a calm, confident, yet forced tone.
“Thanks for everything,” Rait said. He blinked his eyes so as to prevent himself from blacking out. If I’m going to die now, gotta say everything real quick, he thought to himself. “And tell Sean I forgive - cough cough cough.....” He clutched at his chest and moaned in pain. But Christian didn’t need to tell Sean anything because just then, Sean, soaked in Raits blood, lost his composure and broke down, the tears of sorrow and guilt spilling forth. Rait smiled and turned to Ceros. “Thanks to you too, sir, I learned that I could....”
With a final effort, he tried removing Ceros’ hand away and this time, with great difficulty, he complied. Rait started to close his eyes, and the pain started to ease off. His nerves weren’t receiving enough oxygen, lessening the pain. The blood flowed quicker now that the pressure from his wound was gone. There, surrounded by his comrades, dying in a pool of his own blood, Rait lay silently in serenity. His breathing gradually slowed, his mouth dried, his eyes closed, and his vision gradually faded to black. Rait’s consciousness slipped slowly into the enveloping darkness, and an eternal oblivion.

Chapter 11:



General Sarelm Abott was a little man of great power in Colony 7064. He liked to keep his dark brown hair combed to one side only when he was on the job. He wore thin glasses which he thought made him look smarter than he actually was although those closest to him could see through his disguise. Abott also liked to wear shoes which raised him well off the ground so that he appeared more intimidating to his cadets. Despite the tall shoes, they didn’t really work well in making him look bigger.
Sarelm sat on the bridge of his ship, called the Gallant. The Gallant was one of the bigger models of the colony’s warships, with a body of steel shaped like a shark and seven thrusters located on the back and on the bottom of the main body. It’s hull was practically littered with all sorts of automatic and manual operated rocket launchers. It was a looming, dark instrument of war and death.
It’s interior was hardly any different. The dark bridge had only once source of light which was that of the computer screens. Abott sat in the captains seat in deep thought while his crew worked tirelessly around him. He hoped General Arrelia would be able to hold up against the Ambra. He would have ordered his troops to accompany her except they were too far away and the colony couldn’t waste any time in eradicating an Ambra settlement. He had been travelling for days now and hadn’t heard a word from Dennex since she left for Colony 6421.
Sarelm Abott got up from his seat and paced around, his eyes staring into blankness. He was worried about Dennex. The two of them had been best friends since enrolling into military school and had been through thick and thin together.
When Dennex declared she was leading the assault on Colony 6421 a few weeks earlier, Abotts heart skipped a beat. He remembered the incident clearly. It was a sunny day on the planet on which Colony 7042 was established. The colony was located in the planets tropical regions and were treated by it’s nature with mild weather. They sat together on a flat, green field, with the clear green blue sky looming above them. To the northern horizon, the mountains loomed like giant monuments, interfering with it’s nearly flawlessly flat shape. This planet was far enough away from it’s star so that it just illuminated everything with it’s golden light without actually raising the temperature by too much. The trees surrounding the meadow and it’s stalks of grass all bent southward gently in the direction of the wind.
And frolicking through the meadow were Dennex and Sarelm. They worse casual clothes, Dennex in an oversized white tee and loose green khaki pants and Sarelm was in a blue button up collar shirt and blue jeans. Definitely a change from her usual general uniform, Sarel thought to himself. Both of them were lying down just after running through the fields barefoot, their heels green from grass stains, breathing heavily with Dennex’s head on Sarelm’s lap as he sat propped up by his hands.
“Isn’t this a perfect day?” Sarelm asked.
“Absolutely,” she replied. Dennex sighed outwardly. “I wish everyday could be like this.”
Sarelm nodded in agreement. “You don’t look to happy right now,” he said looking a little concerned. “You called me out here to tell me something, didn’t you?”
Dennex sighed again. “Yes, I did,” she replied. “I was speaking to the mayor this morning. The science and technology departments of the colony with the help of the Kolanderates have discovered that the Ambra have infiltrated our space on the other side of this galaxy.”
“Really? What could they possibly want with us?”
Dennex shrugged. “I don’t know but it can’t be any good. They’ve opened up a portal near one of our newer establishments in the sector six region. It’s near colony 6421.”
“6421...” Sarelm mumbled in thought, “hasn’t that sector only been discovered recently? They can hardly have a colony going yet.”
“You’d be surprised,” Dennex replied. “I’ve done some research on this new colony and they have technology that surpasses our. They’ve got some of the best scientists from the Seruton Orbit working there, like old man Torassis, Natora Sodelton and even that social outcast Warner Ross. Plus, they got Dr. Ki doing their technology development. In just five short years, they’ve come from being a new establishment, to a thriving colony.”
“Dr. Ki??” Sarel burst out, “isn’t he ours??”
“Yeah but for this new colony they wanted the best of the best, and good old Cranolton Ki was just the man for the job.”
“So why would the Ambra target them?”
“Well colony 6421 isn’t fully developed yet. Their defence systems are being constructed and their army is short of cadets. The Ambra can use whatever technology contained in the colony and use it against us. The new colony is said to be a lot more technologically advanced.”
Sarelm frowned, his brows coming together on his forehead. “So what does that have to do with you?”
Dennex swallowed the developing lump in her throat. She called him here to tell him but her subconscious was secretly hoping he would never ask her. “I have been chosen to lead an attack on the colony.”
“What?” Sarelm said in shock. “Why would they want you to attack? Isn’t there time to warn this colony?”
Dennex spoke with a low tone, regretting what she had to say. “The colony isn’t expected to survive the Ambra attack,” she explained. “Even if we were to send a message through satellites, it would take a good week or two to reach that end of the galaxy. Their chances of survival are quite slim. In fact, in our official records, Colony 6421 has already been declared destroyed.”
He reached out his arm and gripped her firmly on the shoulder. Dennex shifted her shoulder uncomfortably. “I don’t want you to go,” he said, straight to the point. “I don’t want you to fight the Ambra.” The second time, his voice changed tone to almost a plea.
Dennex gazed into Sarelms eyes. She could sense the sincerity and concern he was feeling for her. “I want.....” Her sense of duty got the better of her. Dennex removed Sarelms hand from her shoulder using slight force. She stood up and dusted her legs. “I have been chosen to lead an attack against a potential threat. It is my decision whether I want to carry out with it or not. But....I don’t want to withdraw. I am a general. I have a duty and I intend to carry it out. I’m sorry Sarelm, but I have to go.”
Sarelm opened his eyes to find out he had fallen asleep thinking about Dennex. “Captain, we’ve just entered the sector six region,” one of the crew members said to him. “Colony 6421 is just a few hours away.” Sarelm’s heart skipped a beat.
“Okay people listen up!” he said while getting up. “The Ambra’s could be up and running in this sector so I want sensors scanning the surrounding areas with a radius of at least two light years.” Zoom... Immediately, the commands to start a scan of the surrounding area was completed. “And I want our weapons up and ready.” The steady hum of machinery filled the air and the ships numerous external guns revealed themselves from it’s side. “I want everyone on this ship prepared for war. Set a course for Colony 6421.”

Chapter 12:



“Don’t make a move!” a voice commanded from the midst of the smoke. Alder Wardrake, Lieutenant instructor of platoon 2 of Colony 6421 defence system emerged outfitted in a thick helmet, a bulletproof vest over a camouflaged army suit and combat boots. He had his gun pointed at Ira’s head as she stood over two helpless, naked women. He assumed they were from the colony.
Alder had gotten his platoon to take advantage of the distraction that Dennex’s army caused to the Ambra. They snuck amongst the warring soldiers and successfully blew a hole into what was formerly the dining hall. He found Ira alone in a room with hundreds of women tied onto tables, completely naked. The place had been transformed from an elegant dining hall to a medieval torture chamber.
Now he had his hand gun pointed at the head of the leader. “Don’t you try anything stupid,” Alder said calmly but sternly. The rest of Ira’s soldiers were battling the army of the colonies leaving her to fend for herself against a whole platoon of people.
“Untie the women,” he said to his platoon. “I’ll keep an eye on this Ambra queen.”
“You have a lot of guts to point that thing at me,” Ira said with an icy voice. “Do you know what I could to do you if you didn’t have that thing?”
“Let’s not find out,” Alder replied. His finger tensed around the trigger. “I could finish you in an instant, bitch. But I’m not gonna. I want you to tell me where the others are.”
“What others are you talking about?”
“Don’t play head games with me! I ain’t in the mood. I notice you only got women in here. Where are the men?”
Ira hissed. Alder pushed the gun closer to her temple. “Don’t even think about it. Now tell me where they are,” he ordered coldly.
“In the underground tunnels,” Ira replied, “being slaughtered!!!”
Whore!!
Alder pulled the trigger, releasing a blast that punctured a whole in the side of Ira’s head. Her body crashed to the ground. Moments later, a pool of blood formed around her head and spread around her body, staining the fine oak of the dance floor. He walked over towards the two women and began to untie them.
“I’m Lieutenant Wardrake of platoon 2,” he said. “You two look like you’ve been through a lot.” Neither one of them spoke. Instead, they stared wide eyed at him with fear and relief in they eyes. “It’s okay now. You’re safe. What are your names?”
“N-Namorith Maylen,” the first one replied, with tears of joy making their way out of the corners of her eyes.
“Enaria Larkin,” the other said frowning and looking in the other direction.
“What’s wrong?” Alder asked.”You don’t seem to be too happy to be rescued.”
“It’s just that....well....look at me,” Enaria explained. “Actually, don’t.”
Alder snickered. “I won’t look, if that makes you feel better.”
A large soldier approached him and saluted him. “Sir,” the soldier said, “we’ve organized a medical unit to tend to these women. We are awaiting your next orders.”
“The Ambra leader told me the men were hidden in the underground tunnels,” Alder replied. “I don’t know if that’s true but I want you to go there and check it out. Take two or three others with you. I want you to be extremely careful. Take absolutely no risks! Once things start to feel suspicious, I want you to return here. No hesitation!!”
“Hahaha,” the soldier laughed, “take it easy sir. We’re big enough to take care of ourselves. Don’t worry, we won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.” He went off and hollered the names of a few others to join him leaving Alder there staring after him shaking his head.
“The kids nowadays are too confident for their own good,” he mumbled to himself.
Hearing him, Namorith said, “that guy reminds me of my boyfriend.”
“All youth are the same. That was Arboun Torassis. He’s a large kid, that guy. Real smart too.”
“Did you say Torassis?” Namorith asked.
The lieutenant nodded. “He’s one of the finest soldiers I’ve ever had to come across. What does the name mean to you?”
Namorith smiled and hesitated. “That’s my boyfriend’s last name.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Well, what a small world we live in,” he said. “Anyway, I’m afraid I must discuss this with you later. We still have to search for the remaining survivors of the colony.”

The war was drawing to a close. Thousands of bodies littered the desert sand. Smoke formed a dark haze over the midnight blue of the sky, blocking out the starlight. The last of the Ambra were in the process of being slaughtered. Word spread on the battlefield that survivors from the colony had been discovered and an order to regroup was sent out by Lieutenant Alder Wardrake of platoon two.
Among the exhausted soldiers that trudged back towards the compound were Christian, Edilock, Ceros, Sean and Dennex. Dennex was lost in thought about her comrades. She came to the planet to destroy the colony which inhabited it and the next thing she knew, she was fighting with them.
It was the Ambra I was fighting all along, not the humans.
She first noticed Christian’s concern as it showed with the way he walked, and a glint of hope shining in his eyes. She felt sorry for him. He had already lost his friend in the war and he could have lost his father and girlfriend too. Christian walked steadily but quickly. He wanted to get back as fast as possible. The suspense was too much to endure.
Sean lagged behind the group, walking slowly with his head hanging down. The front of his uniform and his face was still crusted with Rait’s blood. The very person he bullied had saved his life. For the first time in years, Sean cried. But now there was nothing left, only the weight of years of guilt hanging over his head.
Damn you, little runt. Why’d you have to go and save my life. I don’t deserve it....
Ceros wasn’t in the lightest of moods either. Where did I go wrong in my training? As Lieutenant instructor, I have a responsibility over my cadets. I’ve failed them. He was disappointed at himself. He had failed to protect his cadets and one of them had lost their life. Ceros blamed himself for recruiting Rait in the first place. I only did it so I could make him better soldier.....and to make myself look like a great instructor and get promoted. Greed. It was all for greed. He covered a side of his face with his hand and shook his head out of despair. And I thought the military changed my life for the better...
Edilock shook with fear as they got closer to the colony. It’s looming shape dwarfed the largest mountains in the horizon. What he considered his new home was now a pile of smoke and rubble and there was nobody to blame but the Ambra. He didn’t like them, but he didn’t want to face them either. If they were capable of destroying a technologically advanced colony such as this, imagine what they could do to the rest of the human establishments scattered across the galaxy. Let this be over with. Just let someone else do the fighting from now on. I don’t want to do this anymore. He clutched his chest to prevent his heart from beating it’s way out. They were approaching the colony.

Interlude:



Surprisingly enough, the six hour trip to 6421 had been relatively easy. No enemy ships in sight, whatsoever. Sarelm was surprised to say the least. Finally, they arrived in orbit around the planet. There were no traces of ships around, no sign of any nearby life.
“What the hell?” Sarelm asked as they ship went into orbit.
“I don’t get it,”General Orvison said. “This place looks practically uninhabited.”
“Well you can never tell from up here,” Sarelm replied. “Let’s take this ship down onto the surface. I don’t think we’ll find any answers sitting up here.”
“I suggest we proceed with caution. There may be an armada of Ambra warriors just waiting for us.”
“Agreed. Put us into stealth mode and descend slowly. I don’t want us being tracked by enemies.”
The Gallant put on it’s thrusters and descended into the atmosphere of the planet. The ship was filled with an eerie silence, every crew member holding their breaths, wondering what sinister force lay waiting for them below.

Chapter 13:



His eyes ached. There was a bruising pain in his legs, arms and torso. A sharper pain engulfed his knees, elbows and face. Lance slowly opened his eyes from a dreamless sleep. His blurred vision managed to make our a pair of hands in front of him. As the image cleared, he realized the hands belonged to him. He was chained to the wall.
As his eyes explored the room, it turned out he was back in the underground tunnels. The people kept down here were all men. They lay huddled in balls on the floor shaking from the fear and cold while the women were being mercilessly raped just one floor up.
“See ya finally got up,” a voice said. Lance looked up. Dr. Ross stood there with a black eyes and a blood crusted face. His black Italian suit, lying under a torn, dusty colored labcoat had large patches of dirt. He was missing his right shoe. There was a hole in the exposed sock allowing his big toe to stick right out.
“You look like hell,” Lance said, “as always.”
“Shut up,” Warner retorted angrily. He calmed down in an instant and spoke to Lance as if he were addressing a child. “This is no time to be throwing around insults.” He changed his tone after noticing the angry look Lance shot him. “It seems our defence system has survived the war. I heard a gunshot upstairs and there’s no more screaming from the women.”
“You think someone could have rescued them?” Lance asked getting up. A pain shot violently up his left leg and he was forced to collapse onto the ground again in pain. “What....what happened to my leg??” he asked grasping his thigh with both hands.
“Uh...remember when the Ambra took over?? You were stabbed there.”
“Oh.”
Creak.....THUNK!
Both men jumped. “Someone’s coming,” Warner said. Lance rolled his eyes. Ya think?? The dull, heavy footsteps slowly descended the tunnel stairs, echoing in the hallway. Warner hurriedly looked for something to do, to make him appear as if he were working the whole time. The Ambra were ruthless creatures. Who knows what they would do to him if they found him off task....
“Dr. Grayson, it’s good to see you’re okay,” a voice said. The head of the body who’s voice belonged slowly revealed itself from the descent of the stairs.
Lance sighed deeply from relief. “Lieutenant Aminen,” he said, “thank god you’re safe. The Ambra...”
“Destroyed,” he replied, “thanks to by buddy Lieutenant Wardrake over here.” Alder Wardrake descended the flight of stairs and stood beside his comrade. “You guys look like a mess.”
“What happened to the ladies?” Warner asked, his voice showing a concern never revealed before.
“They’re fine,” Ceros said. He cocked his off towards the exit for the tunnels. “Come on, let’s get all of you out of here.”

“Sarelm!” Dennex cried with relief. Dennex saw him with his arms outstretched an ran towards him so fast, their bodies nearly collided. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his chest and wept.
“Thank god you’re okay,” Sarelm said. “What happened here?”
Dennex wiped a tear off her face and spoke with slight laughter in her voice. “It’s over,” she said. “We defeated the Ambra. They’re gone.”
Sarelm held her tighter. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there alongside you.”
“You weren’t given the order to lead the attack on this colony.”
“I came with my men to help, against the wishes of the High Council. I was concerned about you...”
“If the Ambra really had this planet taken over,” Dennex said, “I don’t think I’d be standing here right now. We got here just in time before they were about to take over the colony. We got the local defence system to fight alongside us but we weren’t able to save everyone.”
Sarelm looked at his surroundings. There was nothing left of the once majestic colony. Instead, he saw burning rubble, dead bodies, and people moaning in pain. “We’ve got to get you back to civilization,” he said.




Chapter 14:



Christian sat in his temporary room on the Anchor, a passenger space cruiser, on his way to colony 7042. Citizens from Colony 6421 were being transported over to the other side of the galaxy. The threat of the Ambra had been eliminated - at least that’s what Christian believed. The Colony 6421 project was abandoned. There were no immediate plans for reconstruction or the establishment of a new colony.
Establishments could be replaced in a few years. But what about human life? Christian reflected back into he moment he saw his friend die. He remembered Rait’s bloodshot eyes, his blank stare, and a grip, cold as ice and tight as death. That could be me in a few years. He stared out the window in the darkness of space. Away from a source of heat, the hull of the ship must have been freezing, enveloped in the darkness of space. Could this be similar to where Rait’s consciousness is?
Knock knock!!
“Come in,” he said turning around towards the door. The handle rattled. Locked. Christian groaned, getting up from his comfortable chair and unlocked the door.
“Hi,” Namorith said with her hand up.
“Hey,” he replied. “How are you doing?.”
“Trying to survive the long trip,” she said.”I just came back from the infirmary. I’m safe. The rape victims of the Ambra have been analysed. Some of them have been impregnated. All pregnant women are to abort their foetus. Order of the high council back at sector 4. Luckily for me....”
“That’s all I need to know,” Christian said, pulling her closer. “Is my old man...”
She put a finger to his lips. “He’s resting in the infirmary. I wouldn’t worry, your fathers in good hands.” Namorith put her arms around Christians shoulders and shut the door with her foot. “The troubles over so lets just try to forget it now okay?”
Christian smiled shyly. “Yeah, it’s about time we stop thinking about it. Now, where were we before this whole hostility Ambra thing happened?”
“Outside in the courtyard of the dining hall,” Namorith replied. “How about we finish what we started?”

Lance held Angela close as she wept, his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders while she leaned her head on his chest. He looked the lunch he brought her, sitting on the table, getting cold in their quarters. He wasn’t really in the mood for food himself either. Like the other women in the colony, she had been viciously raped by the Ambra males warriors. After some treatments for her external wounds, they scanned her for any internal injuries, orders of Dr. Grayson.
What they found was bewildering. Inside of Dr. Morrows womb lay a developing Ambra foetus. “What am I gonna do, Lance?” she asked. “I can’t abort an innocent life. But this child will grow up to be just like it’s forefathers. What am I gonna do?”
“You won’t have to make that decision,” Lance said. “All women have to get an abortion for their offspring. Ambra warriors have the natural instinct to wage war and conquer any rival civilizations. It’s the safest thing you, or anyone can do.
“I just wish it didn’t have to be like this,” she said, putting her glasses back on.
“Be strong,” Lance encouraged. “This is no innocent life that’s being taken. You know what it’ll grow up to be.”
Angela sighed. “Must be strong,” she said to herself. “I will. I know what right.” She put her hand into his palm. “Come on, let’s go. I just wanna get this over with. Let’s just get this thing booked.” Together, with his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders, they headed out the door towards the infirmary.

Out in the lounge, Sarelm Abbot sat on one of the giant sofas facing the grand window. Beyond that lay the brilliant glow of the galaxy. It seems too good to be true, he thought to himself. Are the Ambra really gone? With all the stars and galaxies out there, more trouble could be brewing. And might not know about it until it’s too late...
“What’s with the serious look on your face?” Dennex asked, holding two glasses of wine in her hands. “Is something wrong?”
“Just doesn’t feel like our mission is over, that’s all,” he replied.
“If the Ambra do come again, we’ll be ready for them. They may be vicious creatures but in time, we’ll develop the technology to take them on.”
I just don’t look forward to the time we have to fight them again.”
“Why are you such a pessimist? Why do you refuse to believe they’re totally gone?”
“Because it seemed too easy.”
“Too easy?” Dennex’s tone changed as he raised her voice. “I have you know, you weren’t the one fighting down there on the planet surface! I’ve lost many men, only to find out that the people we were sent there to kill were actually our potential allies!! We believed the Ambra had taken them over. And when the real war broke out, I had to watch one of my allies get shot in the chest and bleed to death. It’s easy for you to say you haven’t seen much. But why don’t you try looking at it from other people’s point of view?” There was an awkward silence. “But enough talk about them.” She handed him a glass. “Here’s to us.”
“You sure know how to shut a guy up, Dennex,” Sarelm said.
“I know,” she replied, sounding very satisfied with herself.
They clanged glasses and watched as the brilliant stars passed them by.

Epilogue:
Ten Years Later



Angela Morrow: The abortion was a success and the Ambra fetus was killed. Shortly after the Ambra disaster on colony 6421, Dr. Morrow resigned as assistant astrophysics scientist and enrolled in university to major in other sciences to further broaden her capabilities and qualifications. Ten years later, she graduated with a masters degree in biology, chemistry, physics, astrophysics, extraterrestrial biology, and astronomy from the Seruton Universities. After graduating, she married one of her long time classmates and settled down with children.

Lance Grayson: Lance began to rebuild his life on colony 7042. He and Angela parted ways. While she went to study, Lance continued in his field of astrophysics and was given many assignments to help design various spacecraft and space bases. He worked together with Ceros Aminen on a few occasions, designing vehicles that could make transportation easier for the military through solar systems, even galaxies. He was renowned as one of the greatest scientists in the history of colonization.

Christian & Namorith Torassis: The two teenage sweethearts got married when they were five years older. They moved to one of the colonies in the Halvon orbit numbered 3583 and together, raised a family of three children. Namorith now works as the head scientists of the biology branch in the entire orbit. Christian was upgraded to Admiral in Colony 3583's defence system. He now not only trained cadets, but sergeants and generals as well.

Sean Wyrebrook: Sean’s spiritual life was in torment. The guilt for Rait Trudens death had been too much. He left the military and went to seek refuge in one of the colonies outside the Seruton Orbit where he studied various religions and became at peace with himself.

Warner Ross: Warner got a new job at one of the Seruton universities to teach there as an astronomy professor. He didn’t tolerate and slack students and was only willing to teach those only who were eager to learn. Such a reputation earned him the title of the strictest teacher. His life shattering experience in Colony 6421 had changed his attitude towards others, thus bringing his ego down.

Arboun Torassis: Resigned from the military to pursue other fields of interests. He know works with Dr. Warner Ross as assistant scientist in the field of astronomy.

Ceros Aminen: He now serves as Admiral alongside Christian in Colony 3853's defence systems. The two now share a friendly rivalry which even divided the cadets into two sides. Although the high council frowned upon this, it wasn’t a serious matter so they could get away with it.

Sarelm & Dennex Abbott: The second couple to get married, they actually shared the same wedding with Christian and Namorith. It was the one time that everyone that worked together to save colony 6421 were together in the same room. Sarelm and Dennex have started a family together as well and live happily ever after travelling the universe.

Douglas Torassis: Passed away due to medical complications three years after the Ambra incident.

Alder Wardrake: Reassigned to colony 7042 military defence system where he still serves and is one of the senior Lieutenants. He also keeps in contact with his old friend, Ceros Aminen



The End