"Interesting," said Dr. Gernt.  He crossed his arms and
narrowed his small, glaring blue eyes.
     Ryo Gunn glanced around the technologies lab and licked his
lips.  "Okay, well, you think anything can be recovered?"
     Dr. Gernt picked up the half-melted holodisk and turned it
over in his hand.  "If the data crystal is still intact I might
be able to recover some of the information stored on it.  Did you
said it was exposed to hard vacuum?"
     "Yes.  It was blown out the side of Kay Sabre's mecha."
     "Kay?  Ah, yes.  The spy.  Well, I'll see what I can do."
Gernt walked across the lab, heading toward an electronics
analysis station.  "Let's see what this thing looks like inside,
shall we?"
     "Where's Dr. Chrome?" asked Ryo.  He looked around the
ship's lab but head scientist was no where to be found.
     "He's busy putting the final touches on this ship's new psi-
amp.  We are somewhat on hold at the moment, however, awaiting a
shipment of highly expensive micro-gravitic control nodes from
Eridani."
     "I see," said Ryo.
     "Indeed," started Gernt.  He sat the half-melted holodisk on
the table. "I'm going to cut the rim off so that we can separate
the casing." He took a laser cutter and quickly zipped it around
the outer edge of the holodisk.  The top half easily lifted away,
and Dr. Gernt plucked out the crystal inside.  He inspected it
closely for a few seconds, then plugged it into an interface
socket at the base of a transparent cylindrical tube.
     "This should just take a moment," continued Gernt.  He
closed the tube and pressed a few buttons on the console.  On the
screen a microscopic section of the crystal appeared, along with
a set of data readouts. "Yep.  That's what I was afraid of."
     "What's wrong?" asked Ryo.
     "The crystal is fractured, you see?  But the majority of
data may still be present.  It's a good bet that all the file
partition chains have been disrupted.  If the data has been
encrypted or compressed, it may be impossible to reconstruct the
data." Gernt squinted his eyes looking at the wall display
screen.  "Hum.  That's strange.  This crystal has an
exceptionally large capacity.  Yes.  It can hold about ten
million digital frames of information.  What was on this
crystal?"
     "There is a message from my father stating that this
holodisk is extremely important.  There is also a cryptic
sentence of some sort at the end which could be a decryption
key."
     "Indeed," said Gernt.  "I'm going to try to read the first
few sectors."  He typed away at the keyboard, then looked at the
readouts on the screen.  "Ah," he sighed.  "Looks like it's
almost completely cloaked in some massive encryption algorithm.
However, the first few sectors appears to be in a standard
holovid format."
     "Can you play the last fifteen seconds of the message?"
asked Ryo.  "Have the computer record the audio track and
transcribe it to text."
     Gernt nodded and typed away at the keyboard.  A small
holoprojector on the table came to life and Ryo saw the image of
his father appeared in mid sentence. "... damned is the stabbing
blade which rests on her hilt.  Never forget the Sword of the
Empire is a double-edged blade.  Thibius demarna uio nishtalla
dex en gall na."
     A text copy scrolled across the display as Samuel Gunn spoke
the words.  The last sentence appeared in ten different possible
phonetic formats.
     "That last sentence proved quite difficult for the speech to
text translator," said Gernt.  "It's not Latin, but sounds
similar.  You think that's the decryption key?"
     Ryo nodded.  "Yes."
     "It could be a cipher version of a decryption key," said
Gernt. "This is a very secure system.  Even if the crystal was
completely intact it would takes us some time decrypt everything.
With the crystal fragmented as it is, we will have to resequence
the entire decryption algorithm from the start at every fracture
point."  Gernt sighed.  "How important is this?"
     "Well, the fate of the Empire could very well rest on the
contents of that data crystal."
     "I see," said Gernt.  "Even so, we've probably lost ten to
twenty percent of the data outright, and quite possibly much more
due to decryption corruption.  But, I'll see what I can get."
     "Anything's better than nothing," said Ryo.  He stuffed his
hands in his pocket and turned to leave.  "Good luck."
                           *    *    *
     A soft ping emitted from the terminal in Taeon's room.  He
switched off the e-book's display and sat the electronic reader
down on the table.  He stood and walked over to the desk.  The
terminal switched on at the push of a button.  "Yes?" he asked.
     "Call for Taeon Toshio from Falmore-Glave," stated a soft
computer generated voice.
     "Oh?  Put it through."
     "Transmission on coded frequency.  Requesting passcode seal
for the Royal House of Toshio."
     Taeon typed a series of letters, numbers, and symbols at the
keyboard.  A second later, Sara appeared on the display screen.
     "Taeon," she said.  "We have a serious problem.  You must
get down here now."
     "I can't," said Taeon.  "All planetary leave has been
canceled.  The Vigilant is conducting shift-drills."
     Sara closed her eyes and sighed.  "Father has become very
ill.  The prognosis is not good.  Not good at all."
     "What?" asked Taeon.
     "Look, I don't care how many strings you have to pull, but
get your ass down here.  And hurry."
     "Is it that bad?"
     Sara nodded.  "He's dying, Taeon.  And what's worse, Kanis
is a bit more cheerful than usual.  I think he..." she looked
away, unable to finish the sentence.
     Taeon narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist. "I'm on my
way!"
     "Good," answered Sara.  She cut off the transmission.
     "Damn you, Kanis," said Taeon.  He stormed from his room
into the ship's corridor.
     Taeon didn't like the implications Sara hinted at.  Kanis
had always been bent on taking the throne of Falmore-Glave, but
Taeon had never imagined he would resort to parricide to attain
it.  It was unthinkable!  But then, perhaps, his father was
indeed ill from natural causes.  Even so, he'd be damned if he
let Kanis take the throne!
     Finally coming to Major Falcon's office, Taeon knocked
twice. Katana beckoned him to enter and the doors slide open.
     "Major Falcon," said Taeon, entering her office.
     Katana turned from her terminal screen. "Lieutenant Toshio.
How can I help you?"
     "I am requesting leave to Eridani."
     "Leave is canceled," she stated.
     "Yes, ma'am.  However, there is an extenuating family
emergency."
     "There's always seem to be extenuating emergencies when it
comes to House Toshio," she sighed.  "Well, what is it this
time?"
     "My father is very ill."
     "The Baron?  Ill?" asked Katana, somewhat unsure of the
magnitude of the emergency.  "How ill is very ill?"
     "Very ill," said Taeon.  "My sister said it was of the
utmost importance that I return home for a short time.  I
probably won't be gone for more than a few days..."
     "I believe you have about two days of leave still
accumulated.  I'll have to double check with the Captain, but I'm
sure I can get something worked out."
     "Thank you, ma'am," said Taeon.
     Katana switched her terminal back on and typed in a few
commands.  "It look's like Ensign Grivar's shuttle is the first
available on the schedule.  He'll take you down at 1300 today if
Captain Armour gives the go ahead.  I think it would be a good
idea to keep him and the shuttle at Falmore-Glave for the extent
of your visit.  If an emergency situation crops up, we'll be able
to get you back in a hurry."
     "Yes, ma'am," acknowledged Taeon.  Just great, he thought.
Jason was coming along too...
                           *    *    *
     Ryo collapsed in the deep, fluffy chair in the Officers'
Lounge facing a large video screen. Lieutenant David Pollux of
the Banshee Squadron picked up the remote control and flipped
through several channels.
     "Isn't there anything on," David mumbled.
     "Who cares," said Ryo.
     David flipped the channel to FNN and sat the remote on the
coffee table.  "Might as well keep abreast of the war situation.
You know how the military never tells us anything."
     "I know what you mean," said Ryo.  He was right.  Their
superiors limited them to just enough information for the battle
at hand and never an overall picture of the broad scheme of
things.
     But First News Network was always on top.
     "This is FNN," came a deep, powerful voice from the video
feed, as a huge, computer generated FNN logo materialized on the
display. "First on the line, bringing you news of the War for
forty-seven years."
     A moment later, the logo vanished, and was replaced by a
news announcer.  "Reports from our correspondents on Ozma have
confirmed rumors that the GSC government has successfully put
down the Ozma Freedom Movement.  A long time thorn in the side of
the old GSC government, the OFM, who used terrorist and guerrilla
warfare to promote anti-Coalition movements, has been utterly
crushed by the newly reorganized military forces.  Tactical
analysts in the Imperial military are baffled at how easily the
new GSC army was able to destroy the half-century old Coalition
rebels.  If this is an indication of how efficient and
calculating General Briggs armies are, it may be necessary for
the ITR leaders to take a hard look at their own war strategy."
     "That's funny," said David Pollux.
     "It is?" asked Ryo.  "I don't think so.  We've been
supporting OFM for years in exchange for military intelligence on
the GSC."
     "No, I mean it's a bit odd," he corrected.  "The OFM was too
slippery for the old GSC army to take out.  Either the OFM really
screwed up or Briggs military regime is damn good."
     "Let's hope the OFM just screwed up," said Ryo.  He stood
and stepped around the coffee table.  "I'm sick of all this war
news crap.  I need to go do something a bit more interesting."
     Ryo left the lounge in search of JT.
                           *    *    *
     By 1400 of that day, the Shuttle Renmer was descending
through the atmosphere of Eridani toward Falmore-Glave.     Taeon
sat up in his seat as they broke through the last of the fluffy
white cumulus clouds.  On the cockpit's forward display screen,
he could see the staggering expanse of Falmore-Glave sprawling
across the beautiful Eridani landscape of rolling green hills and
crystal clear lakes.  The inner city of the Royal Court was
surrounded by a massive wall, inside which stood the great Castle
Toshio.
     "What's with all the construction work down there?" asked
Jason.
By the looks of the outlying regions, work was still being done
to repair the damages caused by the war.  "We're still recovering
from the war against the barondom of Durshaan."
     "Oh, yeah," said Jason.  "I heard about that.  You and Ryo
were a special operatives or something sent to uncover the GSC's
involvement with the House Ammar, right?"
     Taeon smiled.  That was the official report anyway, made up
after the fact by Major Falcon, Captain Armour, and Admiral
Steele to protect his hide.  He'd gone rogue, sure enough, but
his actions subverted a GSC conspiracy to take over Eridani.
"Yeah, something like that," answered Taeon.  "At least I got a
promotion out of it.  Besides, I had a personal stake in the
matter."
     Jason nodded. "Well, here we are."  He entered a few
commands on the console and the shuttle came down in the small
landing pad in the castle courtyard.
     Taeon stood up and headed to the shuttle's aft cabin.  Jason
typed in the shutdown procedure and followed after him.
     "Seeing's how I'm temporarily stationed here as long as
you're on call..."
     "Yeah, yeah," replied Taeon.  He grabbed his duffel bag and
slung it over his shoulder.  "I'll get a guest room set up for
you."
     "Great," said Jason. "I've never stayed in a castle before."
     "It's no big deal."  The main hatch opened and Taeon stepped
out of the shuttle.  "It's just like staying in a really nice
hotel.  Just bigger."
     Taeon hopped out of the shuttle and landed softly on the
concrete landing pad.  To the north, only fifty meters in front
on him, stood the two towering monoliths which framed the main
entrance hall to Castle Toshio.  Off to the east was the vehicle
hanger wing and to the west the mecha hangers.  Normally, these
were filled with hundreds of mecha and tanks, but since the war
with House Ammar the contents of the hangers had been
depressingly sparse.  The last he had heard, their forces were
back to just thirty percent strength.
     A small set of doors built into one of the decorative
monoliths opened, and Sara Toshio hurried out to greet her
bother. "Taeon!" she called.
     "Sara," said Taeon.  He headed toward her.  "What's all this
about Father?"
     Sara started to say something, the spotted Jason moping
about.  "Is this your pilot?"
     "I am Ensign Jason Grivar," said Jason.  He stepped up
beside Taeon.  "I'm under orders to stick around.  Taeon's on
emergency recall status, you know?"
     "Oh," said Sara.
     "We need to get him a guest room," said Taeon.
     "That won't be a problem.  I'll send a servant out here in a
minute to get him.  For right now, Ensign, just hang around the
shuttle."
     "Sure," said Jason.  "Say, are there any recreational
facilities around here?  I could get bored."
     Sara smiled.  "Well, we encourage all our guests to visit
the House Casino.  We are, after all, in need of funding to
recover from the conflict with House Ammar."
     "Casino?" asked Jason. "Hey, I never pass up a good casino!
Where is it?"
     Sara grinned and pointed back to the south end of the inner
court.  In a cluster of restaurants, hotels, and other
establishments was a large thirty story gold glass high-rise with
a giant hologram of two dice tumbling around the roof.  "Right
there.  Can't miss it."
     "Great.  That's where you can find me!"  Jason nodded a good-
bye and hurried off.
     "Poor guy," said Sara.  "He won't know what hit him."
     "Now, about Father?" asked Taeon.
     Sara turned and led Taeon back to the castle.  "He's not
well.  Not well at all.  I'm afraid..."
     "What?" asked Taeon.  He felt his stomach clench inside him.
     "The doctors have done all they can, Taeon," she assured
him.  "They don't know how he got it.  It's transmitted through
he blood, you see, and he hasn't been exposed to anything that
should have caused it.  They think it might be a new strand which
is spread some other way, but that's very improbable..."
     "What?" demanded Taeon.  "What the hell does he have?"
     Sara closed her eyes and shook her head.  "Nyerner's
Disease."
     "God no!" said Taeon. Nyerner's Disease -- a fatal illness
that kills its victims by slowly eating away at the body's
nervous system, causing spasms, blindness, and total paralysis.
It kills in less than three days.  No one ever survives past
four, and death itself is the only cure.  "But how?" asked Taeon.
"Why?"
     "No one knows," said Sara.  They entered the small side
entrance and made their way down the hall toward an elevator.
     A servant approached to help Taeon with his bag.  "Take this
to my room," he managed to mumbled out, as he handed the man his
duffel bag.
     "Yes, sir," said the servant.  He nodded and lifted the
physical burden off Taeon's shoulders.  Taeon only wished his
emotional burden could be lifted as easily.
     Sara turned to the servant before he departed.  "An ITR
officer, Ensign Jason Grivar, is in need of standard guest
quarters.  Have someone prepare a room and notify him.  He's in
the casino.
     "Yes, ma'am," he replied.  He bowed and hurried on his way.
     "What is Father's current condition?" asked Taeon.
     Sara stepped into the elevator, and waited for Taeon to
follow her in before answering.  "His spinal cord is beginning to
deteriorate.  His legs are already paralyzed.  His optic nerves
have also been destroyed.  He has seizures about once every four
or five hours."
     Taeon closed his eyes and suppressed the swelling anguish
welling up inside him. "Such a terrible way to die.  I almost
wish there was some way to...  Put him to rest now.  But, I..."
     Sara wrapped her arm around Taeon's shoulders. "I
understand, but you know that's just not possible, legally
speaking.  And Father explicitly asked to see you before he
died."
     The elevator stopped and the doors slide open.  Sara stepped
out and headed down the hall toward Baron Balmor Toshio's
chambers.  Taeon followed after her.
     The doors to the Baron's room swung open at their approach
and they entered.  Numerous doctors and servants hurried about
the room, trying to make the Baron more comfortable.  One of the
doctors approached Sara and Taeon.
     "His condition has not changed," reported the doctor.
     "Very well," said Sara. "Have everyone leave the room.  We
want a moment of privacy with our father."
     "I understand," said the doctor.  He rounded up the other
doctors and servants and they departed.
     Taeon walked over to his father's bed.  "Father."
     "Taeon," said Balmor weakly.  His eyes stared sightlessly at
the top of the bed's canopy.  He reached his hand out in Taeon's
direction.
     Taeon took his father's hand knelt down at his side.  "I
never thought something like this would happen," he said.  "I can
only wish that..."
     "In my position such dangers are common place.  Had this bug
not got me, age would have.  Undoubtedly, Durshaanian assassins
have done this to me, taking their revenge...  Dreadful bastards!
But we all must die sometime.  I have lived a good, full life.  I
can only hope that my legacy will continue on and provide you and
your sisters with that same richness..." he hesitated.  "But it
is of Kanis I wish to speak."
     Taeon looked up at Sara.  She just crossed her arms and
looked away. "Kanis?"
     "The Imperial Feudal Court still does not see fit to allow
me to enact the Power of Divergence.  Nor can Sara reclaim the
inheritance rights she forfeited to Kanis ten years ago.  I
should have forbade her from giving up her rights as heiress to
the throne of Falmore-Glave, but how was I to know Kanis would
become corrupt with power?  Son, I do not want this great city
destroyed by Kanis's greed.  You and Sara must do everything in
your power to seize the throne from him, no matter how extreme
the measures."
     "I understand," said Taeon.  "But, Father, perhaps it was
not assassins from House Ammar who did this to you."
     "What do you mean?"
     "Perhaps Kanis grows impatient..."
     "I will not hear of it!" exclaimed Balmor.  "I cannot
believe that even Kanis would be unscrupulous enough to murder
me!"
     "Of course," said Taeon. "Forgive me, Father..."
     "Soon I will be dead.  I do not know what awaits me, if
anything, but I would like to believe this city-state, the
greatest barondom on Eridani, will continue beyond my death.
Give me the assurance that it shall."
     "The glory of Falmore-Glave will not die with you.  I swear
this with my life.  Falmore-Glave will become the heart of the
Empire!"
     A tear fell from one of Balmor's vacant eyes.  "Xandra told
me Falmore-Glave will fall," choked Baron Balmor.  "I did not
believe her.  Only a few days ago, before this curse befell me,
she dreamt of our city crumbling in flames, our people screaming
in terror.  Men, women, and children... Dying by the hundreds.
And in the sky was but one constellation, glowing as brightly as
the sun...  The Sword of the Empire!  Son, she is a powerful
diver.  Her prophecies have never been wrong.  But none have ever
had such terrible implications.  I cannot defy fate...  Indeed,
my fate is already sealed.  It is up to you, and Sara, to stop
this terrible thing, to stop this juggernaut of fate."
     Taeon looked up at Sara.  She shook her head, doubtfully.
He had no idea what to do either, but was sure his brother was
behind it all.  "So long as I live, Falmore-Glave will never
fall!"
                           *    *    *
     "Interested in dinner this evening?" asked Ryo.
     "Mmm, sounds good to me," said JT. "You're place, I assume?"
     "Yellow alert," blared an alarm suddenly.  "All mecha pilots
report to prep rooms.  All duty personnel to battle stations."
     "A battle?" asked Ryo.  He stood up and took a step toward
the door.  "I wonder what is going on."
     "I hope its nothing major," stated JT.  She straightened out
her tan engineering jumpsuit and walked out of her room into the
hall.
     "We're only on yellow," said Ryo.  "It's probably just a
drill or something.  C'mon, let's get down to Bay 3."
     When they arrived at Bay 3, JT wished Ryo luck and departed
into the mechanic's rooms to checkup on her tech team.  Ryo
ducked into the Guardian Squadron's prep room to get ready.
     Destiny Gray was the only other one in the room and was
already in his flight suit, sitting calmly in one of the chairs.
While Ryo was getting into his suit, Michael and Lynn came in and
started to get prepped as well.
     About a minute later, Katana popped into the room.  "Listen
up.  An unidentified craft has just entered the system.  They're
not responding to hails and are currently en route to Eridani."
     Ryo sat down on one of the chairs and rested his helmet in
his lap.  "They could just be having comm trouble.  I'd hardly
consider one ship a threat."
     "Recently, Admiral Steele has been seeing visions of a
terrible danger coming to Eridani.  Her unease has put the entire
Eridani Fleet on its toes.  We can't let anything slip past us,
no matter how trivial it might seem.  Guardian and Viper
Squadrons are charged with investigating this interloper.  The
First and Second Wings will be put on stand-by launch.  Your
orders are to make contact with the ship if at all possible.  The
ship looks like a standard merchant transport, but we can't be
sure until a proper ID has been confirmed.  You will not attack
until fired upon.  Your mecha will be ridding on a standard
Gladior sublight space boosters.  Understood?"
     "Yes, ma'am," everyone replied.
     "Get to your mecha and launch."
     The four present members of the Guardian Squadron took to
their mecha and launched out of Bay 3.  Each mecha, propelled by
a Gladior space booster pack, consisting mostly a massive
momentum impulse drive system, similar to those used on sub-light
shuttles.  The Gladior's were also equipped with a pair of ten-
pack heavy missile launchers and a fifty megawatt particle beam
cannon -- enough fire power to take on a gunship.
     In less than two hours they arrived at the target location.
Ryo watched the distance counter on his sensor screen.  All the
numbers were a blur, save for the most significant digit, the ten
thousands decimal place, which was counting down about one digit
every couple seconds.
     "This is First Lieutenant Destiny Gray of the Imperial
Terran Republic to unknown merchant ship.  Identify immediately.
If you have comm trouble, and are receiving but cannot reply,
please fire a signal flare."
     Of course, they may not be able to receive communications
either, considered Ryo.
     "This is the transport Ruben James," came a reply.  "Our
primary comm system is down.  Only our short range system is
functioning."
     "Understood.  What's your destination?"
     "Eridani."
     "Transmit Imperial passport identification."
     "We have none," stated the man from the Ruben James.  "We
are refugees from the GSC, the last of the OFM rebels.  We
require asylum in the ITR."
     "I copy," said Destiny.  "Hold your position and stand-by."
     Great, Ryo thought sarcastically to himself.  A lot of
action on this mission.
     "I've consulted with the Vigilant," said Destiny after a
short moment.  "Admiral Steele has granted asylum.  We are to
escort you directly to the Vigilant at this time where you will
go through standard security check procedures."
     "Understood," said the man.  "Lead on."
                           *    *    *
     Taeon stepped into Xandra's room and looked around for his
younger sister.  She was sitting on her bed playing with a couple
of dolls.  The two dolls levitated in the air, about a meter away
from her, and were spinning around on a chaotic axis that only
she could control.
     "Uh, Xandra?" asked Taeon.
     Xandra turned her head toward her older brother.  The two
dolls dropped to the floor and landed in a pile of toys.
"Brother has journeyed from the stars to watch our kingdom burn."
     Taeon clenched his jaw.  "This is a barondom, Xandra."  She
always referred to Falmore-Glave erroneously as a kingdom.  "Our
father is a baron, not a king."
     Xandra seemed not to hear Taeon's words.  "The Lord of
Falmore-Glave is the King of the Empire."
     Taeon shook his head.  "Tell me, Xandra, why did you stop
calling me 'Little Brother'?"
     "You are not my little brother," said Xandra, in a
disturbingly serious, yet still child-like voice.
     "I know.  But, why did you call me Little Brother before?"
     Xandra cocked her head to the side.  "You were once a little
brother.  You are no longer."
     "What changed that?"
     "You did," said Xandra. "In the future."
     "Well, never mind," said Taeon. "What's going to happen to
Falmore-Glave?"
     "Our kingdom will burn.  This city will fall.  The Empire
will be destroyed."
     "This was in a vision?"
     "This is the future," replied Xandra.
     "But it was just a precognitive vision... A dream.  It's
still open to change, right?  It hasn't happened yet."
     "The future is set.  If that future was not seen as it will
be, it would not have been seen as such.  The future is as the
past; a memory that is real, only has yet to be sealed."
     "What if I had a vision?" asked Taeon.
     "It is a glimpse of what will be."
     "What if someone died in the vision?" asked Taeon, wondering
about his own vision regarding Ryo and Kay Sabre.
     "Then they will die.  But be careful not to misread the
meaning."
     Taeon frowned and looked at the floor.  "And there is
nothing I can do?"
     "You cannot change the future, no more than you can change
the past."
     "But what if someone was in the dream who is already dead?"
     "Then they must not be dead.  Or you have misread the
vision."
     "Right," said Taeon.  "Maybe you've misread the future of
Falmore-Glave."
     Xandra giggled and smiled.  "The future and the past are
one.  I know the future as I know the past.  All is transparent
to me."
     "Okay," said Taeon, hesitantly.  "Did Kanis harm Father?"
     Xandra looked up at Taeon.  She brushed her curly blond hair
out of her face and giggled again.
     "I'll just take that as a 'you won't tell'."  Taeon shook
his head.  "I'm going to find Kanis."
     "Yes," said Xandra. "You will."
     Taeon looked back at her, then left her room.  He headed
through the Castle's many halls, stairwells, and elevators, past
heavy tapestries and through marble laden chambers.  Kanis was
not in his room, and so Taeon headed for the main dining hall.
Perhaps the vulture was there feeding.
     Taeon passed through the throne room on his way to the
dining hall, and it was in the throne room of Falmore-Glave where
he spotted Kanis.
     Kanis stood next to the throne, holding the Scepter of the
Seven Spheres.  He avariciously stroked the gold sphere, which
embellished the top of the staff
     "Kanis!" called Taeon.
     Kanis spun around.  Seeing Taeon he quickly placed the
scepter back on the throne.  "Taeon!  Brother!  How nice to see
you again..."
     "I assure you, the pleasure is all yours," replied Taeon.
"What are you doing with the Scepter?"
     "Ah, yes," said Kanis hesitantly.  He stepped off the
throne's dais and moved toward Taeon.  He was in a rather
melodramatic getup -- black and red kingly garbs, tall black
boots and a red tunic over a solid black shirt.  He even had a
black cloak, with a crimson inner lining, fastened around his
neck by a golden broach.  "I saw a smudge on Father's noble icon
of Falmore-Glave and was merely cleaning the Scepter..."
     "Just by touching it you coat the Scepter with your filth."
     "Brother!" exclaimed Kanis, sounding appalled. "I understand
you are upset about Father's illness, so I can forgive you for
your hostility.  And if you feel that your negative emotions must
be focused upon me, I will take it with understanding and
patience.  I am your brother, and we must stand together during
this time of grief."
     Taeon looked Kanis up and down.  "Oh, you're really
grieving.  You're just waiting for Father to die so that you can
have the throne!"
     "How could you say that?" asked Kanis.  "I love our father."
     "You shouldn't even be the one to rule Falmore-Glave," said
Taeon.  "If only Sara hadn't forfeited her rights..."
     "Taeon," said Kanis, trying to sound brotherly.  He reached
out to put his arm around Taeon's shoulders, but Taeon backed
away.  "Taeon, my brother!  We will all rule Falmore-Glave
together.  Father's dream will not die with him.  The first thing
I shall do is place a few recommendations and get you that rank
of Imperial General a man of your status deserves!  Sara shall
command the armies of Falmore-Glave, just as she desires.  And
Xandra, well, she will be placed in the care of the best
psychologist on this planet."
     "No way, Kanis," said Taeon. "I plan to work my way to
becoming a general, or whatever position is my destiny.  I will
not be given anything just because of my status!  That's the way
Father wanted it, that the way I want it, and that's the way it
shall be!"
     "As you wish."
     "And I'm not going to let you lock Xandra up in a madhouse."
     "Such a derogatory term!" exclaimed Kanis.  "I only mean to
help her.  She may be a powerful diver, yes, but at such a young
age these powers must have driven her mad.  She could be a danger
to herself and to others.  It is necessary to cure her.  There
are drugs and cybernetic implants which will block her powers.
With luck, perhaps they can cure her madness..."
     So, Xandra was a danger to Kanis's plans...  "No way!
Xandra isn't mad.  You're the one's who's mad!  You're just as
evil as General Briggs!"
     "General Briggs is a passing footnote in history.  He may
have taken control of the GSC for now, but he's far to visionary
to make a successful leader.  He poses no threat to the Empire.
Within a month he'll be nothing more than a memory."
     "Think what you will," said Taeon.  "But you're the one
who'll be but a memory."
     Kanis smiled and clasped his hands together.  "Won't you
join me for dinner tonight?"
     "I will not," said Taeon.  "I've lost my appetite.  I'm
retiring for the evening."
     "Goodnight then," said Kanis.  He smiled. "Have pleasant
dreams, brother.  Have pleasant dreams!"


Written and Directed By
Mark Chase

http://www.meta-earth.com

Copyright 1998.  All rights reserved.

Casting By
Mark Chase

Starring
Ryo Gunn         -  Mathias Russ
Taeon Toshio     -  Jonathan Fuller

Other Characters - Mark Chase
Sara Toshio
Kanis Toshio
Balmor Toshio
Xandra Toshio
Michael Avenger
Katana Falcon
Destiny Gray
Lynn Firewolf
Jason Grivar
And Everyone Else

Mecha Designs
Dragonfly      - Mathias Russ
Raptor Vernier - Mark Chase
GS5-90 Gallant - Mark Chase
Neo-Moray      - Mark Chase

(all mecha were constructed under
the Mekton Zeta© RPG system, by
R. Talsorian Games, Inc)