The sounds of the panicked shouting and screaming outside the Command tent had risen to such a fevered pitch of fear that Chief just wanted it to be over one way or another. There was nothing left to be done, the RS-40 was burning and lost, and the RS-72 had done an emergency shut of all their cargo bay doors and were deploying external armor in preparation for the missile strike. The millions still outside were now beyond any hope. The RS-72 would survive the nuclear attack, but it would be damaged beyond any repair. Four more of the massive Ruk ships had arrived on the horizon, but were holding far out of range of the nuclear blast zone and firing every anti-missile weapon they had into the sky, but it wouldn’t be enough. It would only take one missile to get through to complete the Ruk’s defeat today - they will have lost two of the Galaxy Class World Ships, and over four million citizens. The radio operators inside the Command tent had removed their headphones and were either hugging their friends in a last goodbye embrace, or standing in solitude whispering prayers to the Great Tree of Cormon. Chief Dagas tried one last attempt to call his family, but the RS-40’s phone network had been down for the last hour. The RS-72 had picked up the load, but their antennas were now being retracted inside the ship to protect them from the coming nuclear firestorm. Captain Dakari came to stand in front of Chief and held his hand out. “It has been an honor to serve with you, Sir.” “And you too, Ca…” Chief began as he held out his hand, but the constant roar of shouting and screaming from those outside ended like someone had just flipped a switch. He turned his head toward the entrance to the Command tent. The bright sunlight had turned to a deep red. The two men rushed out of the tent. Everyone on the beach was looking up at the sky. A column of energy from the northern end of the island had risen into the sky. The column of energy was so powerful that Chief could feel the heat of it. The column ended about a thousand feet above the island and was spreading out like someone was spilling paint across the sky. A second column of energy rose up next to the first one, not as large, but adding to the growing energy dome spreading out like an umbrella. “What is it?” whispered Captain Dakari. “A force field?” offered Chief. Captain Dakari shook his head in disbelief. “Force fields are science fict….” Captain Dakari’s sentence broke off as a another column of energy rose from the southern end of the island to join with the deep red glimmering energy dome that now covered the entire island. Chief looked to the south. “Luca’s somewhere at the southern end of the island, and Jack’s somewhere at the northern end. We know they’re capable of channeling tremendous amounts of energy. I think they’re doing this.” “Then Aeden technology has made them demi-gods. This is science beyond anything we’ve ever imagined. If the two smaller columns are from the boys, who is the third column of energy coming from?” asked Captain Dakari. “Jack said he was going to Aeden to bring proof of his innocence back. I don’t think he brought something back, I think he brought someone back. I think we have an adult Aeden here now – maybe another Gate Keeper – but definitely someone even more powerful than our two little junior Gate Keepers.” “There’s the missiles,” Captain Dakari stated dryly, as if it were an everyday occurrence. The missile barrage against the energy dome was anticlimactic, ending without any spectacular explosions, or even a collision and scattering of missile fragments, but instead, the missiles simply vanished, disintegrating into nothing as if they had flown into the sun. Chief followed the dome down to the ocean with his eyes. A maelstrom of steam and boiling sea surrounded the island and was rising up into the sky, but only on the outside of the dome – it must have been hotter than the sun out there. And then the dome vanished, but it wasn’t over. Moments later a tornado force wind of super-heated air swept across the beach. Chief and Captain Dakari had to jump behind a large bulldozer to avoid being struck by debris. “We’ve swapped one problem for another,” Captain Dakari shouted over the wind. “At least this problem doesn’t kill us all,” Chief shouted back. A very hot drop of water landed on Chief’s arm and he shook away, but then another drop fell on him. He looked at his arm, it was starting to rain super-heated water from all the steam that had risen up around the island. “You were saying? Captain Dakari shouted as the two men now scrambled to get under the bulldozer. They were joined by other people also trying to get away from the burning rain. “I think this is what you call the lesser of two evils,” replied Chief. Captain Dakari shifted over to make room for more people crawling under the bulldozer. “We’re going to have a lot of burns to deal with.” “If they hadn’t gave in to senseless rioting, they would have been inside the RS-72 by now,” said Chief. “They did this to themselves, we’ve gotten lazy and undisciplined sitting on a planet too long.” “Well, we’ve got the next fifty years to work on that while they live in tents at our shipyard out in the desert.” Chief crawled out to the edge of the bulldozer. “Send someone to South Beach to find Luca and bring him to me,” said Chief. “I’m going to North Beach to find out who our new ally is. And put Lieutenant Kethan in command of the SAR, I’m promoting you to my Executive Officer.” “Do I get a choice?” asked Captain Dakari, realizing his mistake too late. At that moment Captain Dakari saw the first embers of the strongest Ship Captain the Ruk would ever have in the eyes of the Senior Master Chief. The Chief’s expression made it clear there were no choices, his word was final. The poison gas attack, the destruction of the RS-40, the riots, the senseless deaths… they were all the flames that were forging this man into a commander. “Sorry, Sir, I’m honored you chose me.” Chief crawled out from under the bulldozer and ran through the burning rain to one of the SAR pickup trucks that hadn’t blown over. Captain Dakari scanned the personnel under the bulldozer and saw a young sergeant. “Sergeant, as soon as you can find your squad, go after the Chief and stay with him. He shouldn’t be wandering around without some backup.” *** Chief raced along the beach, carefully keeping the truck on the hard pack sand just above the surf. The RS-40 was burning to his right with its stern jutting far out into the ocean, and the RS-72 was landed opposite with its bow to the north extending out into the ocean, leaving the northern end of the island with enough room for planes to still use the airstrip. He scanned the beach as he drove, looking for where the two columns of energy might have come from. Chief noticed a long range survey ship was parked out on coral reef several hundred feet beyond the beach. He slammed on the brakes, and grabbing a set of binoculars jumped out of the truck. He lifted the binoculars to his eyes. “There you are, Jack, and who is that with you?” Another SAR truck with a squad of soldiers pulled up behind Chief’s truck. Chief raised a hand to indicate for them to stay back. Jack was loading something into the survey ship. When Jack was finished, the man with Jack boarded the ship. Chief lowered the binoculars and watched as the ship… tried to take off? The survey ship pitched forward until it was nearly standing on its bow, then slid forward, rolled onto its side, and went over the end of the coral reef until it was half submerged in the ocean. The ship stayed like that for a moment, then came out of the ocean and righted itself. The ship turned around in a perfect banking maneuver and sped above the ocean toward the beach. Chief laughed. He knew Jack didn’t know how to fly, but must have attempted it. The man with Jack must be a pilot and had taken over the controls. The ship came up on the beach and fish-tailed around in a tight circle, landing as gentle as a wisp of a summer breeze. Whoever was piloting was an expert, and doubly so that he was obviously flying a craft he’d never been in before. The airlock door opened and Jack jumped out, juggling a small table and two chairs in his arms. Jack rushed to a spot half-way between the survey ship and Chief, then set the table and two chairs into position. When he had finished, he stepped to the side and assumed a position of attention. Chief cocked his head to the side in curiosity. Jack had never shown the slightest respect toward military customs before. Whomever the man still inside the ship was, he commanded a great deal of respect from Jack. The man stepped out of the ship and walked toward the table. Chief matched his pace and arrived at the same time as the man. The man was a little more than middle-aged, but powerfully built, and had a distinguished head of salt-and-pepper hair, and his eyes blazed with an intensity that made Chief just a touch uncomfortable. “I am Lord Aestar of House Aestar, Grand Marshal of the Aeden Imperial Fleet. Do you speak for the Ruk United Federation of Ships?” “Ah, I see, so you’re Jack’s grandfather, pleased to meet you,” said Chief. “I am Senior Master Chief Dagas, acting Captain of the RS-40, and no, I do not have the authority to speak for the Ruk Federation.” “Then perhaps you should not speak at all,” replied Lord Aestar. Chief kept his expression neutral as Lord Aestar turned and walked back to the survey ship, but he could certainly see where Jack got his arrogance from. Chief took a deep breath and attempted to call Captain Dakari. It took several attempts, but the RS-72 must have been re-extending their antennas and the call finally went through. “Contact the Fleet Admiral and tell him the second most powerful man on Aeden is here and wants to speak with him.” Chief returned to the SAR pickup and sat inside waiting. He watched Jack return to the survey ship, and emerge a few minutes later with a box in his arms. Chief picked up the binoculars and watched Jack pull a white table cloth from the box and spread it out on the table. He was obviously trying to make the table look nice for the upcoming meeting. Jack placed two water bottles on the table, some paper for taking notes, a couple of pens, and finished by putting a small wooden statue in the center of the table. Chief laughed when he saw the statue. Jack must have thought it would make the table look nice, but had no idea of the statue’s significance. It was forty minutes later when the Fleet Admiral arrived in his personal shuttle with an entire wing of fighter jets following. Chief got out of the truck and greeted the Admiral. “The Grand Marshal?” asked the Admiral. “Yes Sir, and he’s Jack’s grandfather,” said Chief. “Did we know Jack’s grandfather was the man responsible for the brutal invasion of thousands of worlds? He is perhaps the most evil man the universe has ever known.” “No Sir, we didn’t know, Jack has never talked about him, but I have had Jack under surveillance since he arrived, and he’s not once done anything suspect, until today.” “Well, let’s find out what the Grand Marshal wants, but if he admits to being responsible for today’s attack, I will invoke the Aeden’s own Law of Vengeance and shoot him where he stands.” Chief studied the Admiral’s face and was fairly certain he was being serious. “If I may be so bold to offer advice, if you shoot Lord Aestar, you will have to shoot Jack, and if you shoot Jack, you may have to face Luca and Mr. Buckles, and certainly Mr. Tan. And all four are generally loved by everyone. Luca alone has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ruk families.” “I see, what a tangled web we weave,” replied the Admiral. “Very well, I’ll hold my temper in check.” The Fleet Admiral walked toward the table with Chief at his side. Lord Aestar emerged from the survey ship and matched pace with the Ruk Fleet Admiral so they both arrived at the table at the same time. Jack took a position to the side of the table facing his grandfather. The Fleet Admiral looked down at the table, then whispered to Chief. “Why is there a statue of the ancient Ruk God of Fertility on this table?” Chief shrugged and grinned as he took a position mirroring Jack’s position. Jack and Lord Aestar must have heard the question, but it was obvious Jack didn’t understand what he’d done. Jack’s eyes flicked down to the statue, but his eyes only showed confusion. It might take a few more years for Jack to understand his mistake, but Chief was fairly certain there was just a hint of anger at the corner of Lord Aestar’s eyes over Jack’s blunder. However, Jack’s innocent boyish mistake did manage to relieve some of the tension. “I am Lord Aestar of House Aestar, Grand Marshal of the Aeden Imperial Fleet. I offer this priceless artifact to symbolize my wish for great prosperity to your House.” Chief raised a brow in amusement, it was a nice recovery. “I am Prince Tatheran, Fleet Admiral of the Ruk United Federation of Ships. I thank you for this priceless artifact of Ruk history.” The Admiral gestured to Chief. Chief stepped forward and picked up the statue, then gestured to the Sergeant standing a few feet behind the Admiral. The Sergeant came forward and took the statue with a pained expression. The man must had known how the statue had been used in ancient ceremonies and had no desire to touch it. The Sergeant handed the statue to his Corporal, who then passed it to a Private. The statue made its way back to Chief’s truck and was tossed in on the front seat.