textfiles/stories/SRE/sre10.txt

                               _____    _____    _____
                             /_____   /_____/  /___
                             _____/  /   \    /_____

                                    ____  ____
                                   \    \/    /
                                    \        /
                                    /        \
                                   /____/\____\


                          L   e   g   a   c   i   e   s



-=< Here it is. The long-awaited  SRE 10 -- Legacies. This story is an
epic, and I'm also happy to report that this is our fifteenth and final
story in the SRE Text Series. But enough of me.. On to the story!! >=-


Prologue

Fighters darted through space, to his left and right. Beams of light
brightened all of space, as a fantastic battle was taking place. Ultra's
forces were clashing with Mace, for what Ultra was sure would be the
last time. As reports rolled in to Ultra by the minute, he saw that his
forces were winning by a long shot. Then it caught his attention; Mace
was getting away! In a final last-ditch effort, he hutled his command
ship to the spot he knew Mace was at. Mace's ship had no chance to
escape. The two command ships collided. Explosions followed. Massive
explosions. But strangely, Ultra didn't seem to be dead. In fact, the
more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wasn't on the
command ship anymore. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled.

--= 1 =--

Years and years. Years and more years. Krael had spent the past
seventeen years as Director of the Cyberian Group. Krael had seen the
Universe come perilously close to destruction; he had seen life taken
away by the trillions. These things hurt him deeply. But there were lots
of years of joy, too. And for those, Krael was happy. After all these
years, Krael was going to step down as Director and let Full Admiral
Rytek take control of the Cyberian Group. The ceremony was going to be
tomorrow.

"Full Admiral Rytek, do you completely affirm to lead the Cyberian Group
in it's goals towards freedom and peace and protection of the
independence of the Universe?" asked Krael. "I do indeed," replied
Rytek. "Well then, I make you my successor as Director of the Cyberian
Group," said Krael. Thunderous applause arose. Thousands of people from
the UEA, the Cyberian Group, and from various empires, were watching the
ceremony live. Trillions of people were seeing the ceremony over the
VidCom. Just as Krael was about to conclude, a brilliant flood of light
drowned the room. Everyone was shaken into shocked silence. "What the
hell is going on?" yelled a figure that had not been there an instant
before. "What is this?" he demanded again. Admiral Dwool drew in a
breath. The man looked strangely reminiscent of someone from his past.
He thought he might know who this was. "Ultra?" he asked. The figure
swiveled to face Dwool. "Yes," he replied cautiously. "Oh my goodness,"
said Dwool, "It's the legendary Ultra!"

--= 2 =--

"I don't understand. How could Ultra be here?" asked Rytek. Full Admiral
Rytek, Inspector Tecouk, and Krael were in a conference. "I don't know,
Full Admiral Rytek. All we know is that Ultra died about seventy or
eighty years ago. He SHOULDN'T be here," replied Inspector Tecouk.
"Options?" demanded Rytek. "I suggest you get the Inspector here, and
chief scientist Vedet, on the case," said Krael. Rytek shook his head.
"Good idea. Carry it out," he ordered.

"It's still hard to believe," breathed Ultra. Dwool nodded his
compliance. "I can understand that. What was it like, though? What was
it REALLY like?" asked Dwool. Ultra sighed. "It was all difficult. Those
were the best years of my life, in some ways. Have you ever been
betrayed by people you thought were loyal to you?" asked Ultra. "Yeah.
Half the Armada split up during the Kazik War. I certainly didn't expect
two Admirals to up and leave their loyalty behind," said Dwool. "Then I
guess you can partially understand. I knew Mace wasn't gone, you know?
So I became an Underground fugitive; I hunted Mace out. And I was about
to destroy him myself when I got zapped here!" explained Ultra. "That's
amazing," said Dwool. "You have been my idol ever since I was a child. I
always hoped to be as powerful as Ultra.. It drove me to join the
military." Ultra could say nothing. Together they sat in joyous silence.

It hadn't been three days since the appearance of Ultra, when another
figure mysteriously appeared on the opposite of side of the Universe.
His name was known by many as Mace. He himself didn't know what was
going on, but he did know that he wasn't in the right place.

--= 3 =--

Psychia was a stimulating thing. To feel it penetrate your body in small
doses was pure pleasure. Aytori, a member of the legendary Feqh-Netur
terrorist group, had been fooling around with exochloranide for months.
When Ecstatic hired Feqh-Netur agents to steal and utilize
exochloranide, or X, as it was called, she jumped at the chance. Well,
Ecstatic was dead now, caught by the Cyberian Group. But Aytori had kept
X for herself. It was a strange thing, X was. No other substance could
do so much. Which is why it was so valuable. The warmth of the psychia
caressed her again..

It didn't take Mace very long to learn how to operate the VidTerm. A
VidScreen lit up before him, displaying all the information he
requested. He had mastered VidCom and AudCom communications, and now he
was learning about the place he was at. It surprised him to learn he was
eighty years in the future. Mystery was shrouded around him. And he
intended to solve it.

T'hoj was just doing her job, running sample tests, when an incredible
flash of light interrupted her work. "What is this?" began the intruder.
"Who are you and WHAT are you doing in this lab?" she demanded. The man
looked disoriented. "Hello. My name is Elite. Last thing I remember was
the firing squad. Where am I?" he asked. Elite, Elite. T'hoj rolled the
name over in her mind. It seemed familiar to T'hoj. "Come with me. Let's
go have a talk," she began.

--= 4 =--

"Hello, Mace. I see you've discovered how to operate your toys," said a
faceless voice. "Don't try to find me. I'm not with you. This is simply
an AudCom transmission," it continued. "I know you're a bit confused. I
suppose being transported eighty years into the future, after being on
the losing side of a battle could be disorienting," it droned on. "But I
have a proposition for you: I know how you wanted to kill Ultra. And I
also know that you couldn't do it. You were losing. Losing BADLY. But
what if I showed you a way to get your revenge, with a fresh start?" it
asked. Mace's eyes lit up like fire. Revenge? Kill Ultra? "Tell me
more," he replied, coolly. "You were brought here by myself. And Ultra
was brought here, too. You have a chance to kill him. I will give you
some information regarding these circumstances. It's up to you to do the
job. Happy hunting!"

"So we now have Ultra and Elite, two legends who died eighty years ago,
here with us?" asked Full Admiral Rytek. "Exactly, Director. We were
lucky enough to get some readings from the lab which Elite was
transported into. We found trace exonitride particles," explained Vedet.
"You mean you found traces of X?" exclaimed Rytek. Vedet shook his head.
"No, not X. This is exonitride, a stable variant of X. We have no idea
what it means yet, but we DID find it," he replied.

Ultra had been provided with small living chambers. He had been getting
comfortable when his door opened. In the doorway stood Elite. "Oh my
lord," breathed Ultra. "How did you get here?" he demanded. Elite walked
over towards his longtime friend. "I have absolutely no idea. Have you
been to Sree or Sei since you've been here?" asked Elite. Ultra shook
his head. "Nope, not yet. From what I hear, ever since this Petros
Station became the cornerstone of the Cyberian Group, Sree and Sei's
importance has dwindled. There's much more focus on Tejas now," replied
Ultra. Everything was still overwhelming. "So that's where we are? The
Tejas Galaxy?" asked Elite. "From what I understand. It's on the edge of
our Universe, next to the Kazik Universe," Ultra explained. "This is
very weird," said Elite.

--= 5 =--

Getting passage on a Feqh-Netur attack cruiser had been easier than Mace
had expected. Everything he'd read about the Netur had suggested they
were reclusive. He had learned that Ultra, and now Elite, too, were in
the Tejas Galaxy at Petros Station. He had procured a vastator, which
he'd read was the assassin's weapon of choice. Hopefully he'd have the
oppurtunity to use it on Ultra.

"No! It's the nightmare starting all over, I just know it," said Etano.
Etano and Vedet were walking towards the main Chemical Analysis Lab.
"Stop overreacting, Etano! It's _not_ X, for crying out loud! Ecstatic
is dead and X is gone," yelled Vedet. They both abruptly stopped. "Why?
Why me? Exonitride has never been found in nature by itself! Has
something changed all of the sudden?" demanded Etano. "No, but then
again, we've never encountered time travel have we? This _must_ be a
side effect," replied a steamed Vedet. They slowly resumed walking.

Krael was minding his own business, packing his personal belongings for
transport to his new home, when a bath of light washed over him. Four
people stood before him. All four looked at each other in amazement.
"Amoko!" "Valiance!" "Zelus!" "Guardian!" were among the things Krael
heard. They all lunged for one another. Krael was still in shock when he
realized what was going on. He pulled out his personal blaster and fired
a shot into the ceiling, silencing all of them. "Anybody make any moves
and I'll kill you all!" he screamed. All four obeyed.

"We now have SIX people from the past?" exclaimed Rytek. "Strange as it
may seem, yes sir," replied Inspector Tecouk. "And the four newest ones
are in confinement cells?" he asked. Tecouk nodded. "All these legacies
here at once. Incredible. Have you figured out what's causing it?" Rytek
asked. "Not yet, sir. Near as we can tell, it could be a chemical
reaction of all things," explained Tecouk.

--= 6 =--

"So, Mace, this is where we part company. Our mass transport system will
send you directly into the chambers of your enemy Ultra. What you do
after that is in your hands," explained the Feqh-Netur captain. "Thank
you. I hope your mission is successful," replied Mace. Deep red beams
fell over Mace as he fell into oblivion and rematerialized inside
Ultra's chambers.

There was noone else here. Mace walked up to a VidTerm and tapped a
green indicator touchpad. "Ultra is walking to the Petros Station
Command Center," said the AudCom. Mace went through the VidTerm's memory
and pulled up a map of Petros Station and transferred it into a portable
VidTerm. "You won't escape me this time, Ultra," he said, taking the
VidTerm and walking out of the chamber.

Ultra walked past the detention cells quietly. He had heard who was
inside and had decided not to go and see them. He knew Zelus, the
Galactic Coordinator, very well, and to a lesser degree, he knew Amoko.
But he had only known Amoko when Amoko was young in his career. During
his reading of Universal history, Ultra had learned of Amoko's role in
the grand scheme of things. All of the sudden, somebody jumped out in
front of him. "Hello my old friend," he said. To Ultra's extreme
surprise, it was Mace. "I see you've noticed my vastator. It's beam is
invisible and silent. You'll never know when I fire at you," Mace
leered. "Right. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here.
It seems like everyone ELSE is here," mumbled Ultra. Mace lifted the
vastator and pulled the trigger. Ultra dove out of the way. The wall
that had been behind him a moment before erupted in spark and flame. The
outpour hit Mace, who fell, screaming, to the floor. Ultra scurried out
of the way and ran down the corridor.

Amoko's cell had just been blown open. He ran outside and saw noone.
Thinking quickly, he ran down the hall to the cell-controlling VidTerm
and opened Zelus' cell. "We're free!" he exclaimed.

--= 7 =--

Valiance was still surprised. He knew Guardian had been killed by his
assassins. So how was it he found himself in the future with Guardian?
And now that they were here, would Guardian try to kill Valiance? He was
thoroughly scared, but knew the protection of the detention cell was
good.

An alert lighted up on the security board. "We've got a cell break!
Detainment Team assemble!" ordered the switchboard operator. Ten armed
men passed the operator, on their way to contain a possible escape
attempt.

Ultra had been running for quite a while. He had stopped in front of the
Chemical Analysis Lab. On the verge of collapse, he walked inside.
"Help.." he said, weakly. Etano looked up from his work, surprised by
the interruption. When he figured out who his visitor was, he was
stunned. He tapped the AudCom. "Control Center, I've got Ultra, and he's
in shock!"

The Detainment Team arrived at the scene to find little. A blown open
cell was all the evidence that remained. The commander barked out orders
and the men began to split up, each with a seperate job. As they were
doing this, two new figures walked up and shot them. Every single
security member collapsed. "How'd you do that?" demanded the Galactic
Coordinator, Zelus. "I'm not sure.. There was a beam setting on here,
and I set it for wide-beam. It was a little wider than I thought it
would be," he replied. "What next?" asked Zelus. "Now we leave!" yelled
Amoko.

--= 8 =--

Traffic through the Tejas Galaxy was heavy, as usual. Petros Station,
helm of the Cyberian Group, was knee-deep in trader vessels, private
ships, emissaries, and other assorted guests. It was no shock when
another ship docked at the hard-dock pylon number fifteen. They probably
would've been shocked to learn who was onboard. Aytori left the ship,
and entered the Station.

Zelus and Amoko walked up to the Detention Cell. It was a privacy cell,
with no vidports or defensive grids. It was solid metal.. except for the
door. Amoko pulled out his vastator and took careful aim at the door.
Zelus did the same at the cell on the opposite side of the corridor.
Together, they fired. Smoke billowed out from the explosions, and both
men were hurled against the wall. "Valiance, get out here! NOW!" yelled
Amoko. Valiance walked out of his now-destroyed cell. Zelus, following
suit, brought Guardian out. "Valiance. Too bad I've got to kill you. 
You will pay for all the people you killed," said Amoko, harshly. Zelus
looked at Guardian. "You are the antithesis of good. Your greed, evil
intentions, and craftiness will make you die today," he said.

Mace, still limping from the wounds he had sustained, had procured a
blaster, and was walking down the corridor. Ahead, he saw four people.
He clearly recognized one. Valiance, once his comrade. Then he realized
something; both Valiance and the other man were being held hostage. Mace
took aim with his blaster and fired. The bright blue beam hit the two
captors, downing them. Mace ran forward as best he could. "Valiance, you
old fool! How are you?" he exclaimed. Valiance looked to his
once-leader. Mace didn't know that Valiance had been leading a
successful overthrow of the Universe when Valiance had been thrown
forward in time. They had a lot to catch up on..

--= 9 =--

"My lord, what happened to you?" yelled Rytek. "I was ambushed! Mace is
here; IN THE FUTURE!" replied Ultra. Inside the medical center, Rytek
was getting some answers from Elite and Ultra. "He is in the Station
somewhere. I hear from your security chief that there have been several
more cell breaks. What's going on?" demanded Elite. "From what we can
gather, Mace's shot opened up Amoko's cell. Amoko freed Zelus, and then
they attacked Guardian and Valiance. We don't know where they are now,"
said Tecouk. "Isn't someone looking for them?" asked Elite. "Yes.. We
are scouring the Station. But it'll be quite some time before we get to
them," replied Rytek.

Aytori had run into Zelus and Amoko. Being armed with a blaster, Aytori
easily captured the two. Now, she had them in someone's living chamber.
"The Galactic Coordinator Zelus.. How nice to finally meet you," she
said. "You probably haven't heard of exochloranide. But I bet you HAVE
heard of exonitride," she said. Zelus' head jerked up. "Exonitride?
Where'd you hear about that?" he asked cautiously. "We found it,
actually. Your Universal Coordinator didn't do a good job of hiding the
residual energy left by the detonation," Aytori replied. Zelus' face lit
up. "When the Universal Coordinator destroyed the Old Universe, he used
exonitride to cause a cascading reaction," he explained to his fellow
captives. "I have discovered that X, which has time-altering effects,
used with the Vortex, as we call the residual exonitride, has given us
the ability to send people through time," she said. "I don't believe
it... YOU sent us through time?" asked Amoko. "Yes. And I control the
destiny of the Universe now. The Feqh-Netur will destroy the Cyberian
Group, and take control of the entire Multiverse!!"

Mace, Valiance, and Guardian had discovered the Feqh-Netur vessel. It
was abandoned, so naturally they took it. Onboard, they discovered
several weapons which they were debating the use of. "I must destroy
Ultra! We can wipe out the Cyberian Group right now by detonating this
missile!!" screamed Mace. "Mace, we risk our own lives by doing this,"
replied Guardian. Mace, infuriated with his partners, slammed his hand
on the activation panel. "Damn you, Mace!" screamed Valiance. "Do you
realize what you just did?!"

"Sir, I've got some strange readings on the scanner," reported the
scanning chief. Vedet looked at the readings. "Oh my lord.." he
breathed. He groped for the AudCom touchpad. "Command Center! We're
reading a build-up for detonation of an X bomb onboard a docked ship, at
Dock 7B!"

--= 10 =--

"Oh no!" moaned Rytek. "What are we going to do?" he said. Ultra looked
to Elite. "We find Amoko and Zelus!" they said in unison. Etano took
over the scanning board. "I've got private chambers with personal
lock-outs, but I'm reading unauthorized people inside. It might be
them," he said. "How far away is it?" asked Elite. "Even if there was no
traffic, it would take fifteen minutes to get there on foot," replied
Etano. "There has to be another way," said Ultra. "Actually... There is.
But it's experimental, and I can't guarantee success," replied Etano.
"Tell us!" ordered Admiral Rytek. "Well, the Feqh-Netur have had a
matter transport system for years. We have a prototype onboard the
Station.. But if it malfunctioned, you two would..." he began. He didn't
have to finish. "We'll go," said Ultra, simply. "Hey wait a minute!!"
protested Elite. "Look we only have a few minutes! Now toss me a blaster
and transport us!" ordered Ultra.

A black oval of darkness appeared from nowhere, and crimson beams spewed
out. Two men stepped outside and held up their blasters. "Ah! Ultra and
Elite! Good to see you're here.. I have something very important to
discuss with you!" said Aytori. "There's no time. There is an X bomb
ready to detonate in seven minutes. We've got to find a way to stop it,"
said Ultra. Aytori stepped forward. "An X bomb? Someone must have
boarded my ship!" she said. "What do you have to do with this?" Ultra
asked her. Elite tapped him. "Time's running out!" he yelled. Amoko
kicked Aytori in the side, and Zelus stood up quickly and disarmed her.
Elite hit his portable AudCom. "Transport all five us to the X bomb
location," he said.

Yet another black oblivion opened up, as four people stepped into the
room. "Wait a minute. Where's Elite?" asked Ultra. "Ultra, there's no
time. This bomb is going to detonate in five minutes," said Amoko. "You!
Disconnect this bomb!" ordered Zelus, pushing Aytori. "I don't think so.
The Feqh-Netur have been trying to destroy Petros Station for years, and
now it's finally going to happen!" she replied. "If I understand
correctly, detonating this bomb will unravel the entire space-time
continuum! Time will begin to loop into itself, as a result of the
exontride-exochloranide reaction!" yelled Zelus. "We have to save the
entire blasted history and future of the Multiverse?" screamed Ultra.

--= 11 =--

"Who is that?" demanded Mace. "I don't know. Go find out," said
Guardian, trying to disconnect the bomb. Mace moved forward cautiously.
Guardian and Valiance continued meticulously going over the bomb,
psychia penetrating their bodies, as they tried to disarm it.

Mace stopped in his tracks. Before him was Ultra, supreme foe of the
ages. His sworn enemy. Both looked at each other for what seemed like
eternity. "Mace, this ship, if it explodes, will destroy all time as we
know it! There has to be some way to stop the bomb!" said Ultra. Mace
sneered. "You will die with me," he said. Aytori ran forward, suddenly.
Amoko raised his blaster and fired a shot. The blue beam of light lanced
out and hit Aytori squarely, who collided with Mace. Both collapsed to
the floor, only Aytori dead. Sparks began to spew from a panel of
VidTerms and touchpads, the result of the gunfire. "What do we do?"
yelled all four.

"Where the heck am I?" said Elite, to himself. He was supposed to be
inside a ship, helping his best friend save the Multiverse. Instead, he
was in a closet of some sort, and unable to get out. "Damn!" he yelled
in frustration. He kicked the door, which flew open. "Nice move," he
congratulated himself.

Ultra hit a pad, and saw some navigational information pop onto the
VidScreen. "Hey, I've got something!" he said. The other two looked up.
Ultra pushed another touchpad, and heard the clank of docking clamps
disconnecting. "Perfect! If we get away from the Station, maybe we can
keep it from being destroyed!" said Amoko. "No, Amoko. Unless we jump
into subspace, where normal space-time rules don't apply, the bomb will
still unravel the continuum," said Zelus.

"I think I've got the bomb partially disconnected," said Guardian. Then
they lurched forward as the ship began to move. "What is going on? Where
is Mace?" demanded Valiance. "Maybe there IS someone else onboard," put
out Guardian.

Elite ran to the docking ramp. Through the vidport, he could see the
ship he was trying to get on; it was moving away from the Station.

--= 12 =--

Ultra hit one last pad. The ship swayed and bucked. "It didn't work,"
said Amoko, frustrated. Then the ship sprang to life and flung itself
far away from the Station at incredible speeds. A subspace door opened
up and the ship flew inside, beginning the subspace thrustjump. "We've
done it!" they yelled. "Well, it was nice to meet you Amoko," began
Ultra. Amoko nodded. "Nice to meet you too, sir. Too bad we didn't get a
chance to know each other," he said. Ultra smiled. "Too bad I couldn't
beat Mace... We died together," he said softly. The ship exploded.

The Feqh-Netur attack cruiser had exploded in deep space, not harming
anyone. Cheers erupted throughout the Petros Command Center. But when
red light poured through space, and an immense ship poked through a rift
of oblivion, everyone was shocked. Full Admiral Rytek immediately opened
a VidCom channel to talk to the commander of this vessel. When the
VidScreen lit up, he was surprised to see Relf Miga. "Miga! You're
friend Aytori has been killed, as well as her plot to destroy the
space-time continuum," said Rytek. Miga didn't flinch. "THAT was not our
plan. We wouldn't stoop so low. THIS is our plan," he said mysteriously.
The VidScreen went blank. The mothership fired off two silver plasma
bolts. The bolts pierced through Petros' defensive grids and collided
with the Station's hull, ripping chunks of duridium metal sheeting off.
People that had been in rooms floated into space, and then imploded,
screaming silently in the black vacuum. The mothership fired again,
hitting Petros' asteroid basal unit. Bits of stone and debris flew off
in all directions, and Petros' foundation pillars began to topple,
partially disconnecting it from the asteroid. The mothership transmitted
a Com package and then zoomed off into space, destroying two defense
outposts on the way. Minutes later, when the Center was back in order
and a terminal was operable, Rytek reviewed the message. "Aytori became
a renegade, a direct result of her overexposure to psychia. She messed
up our plan to bring mortal enemies from the past into our present. That
makes no difference. If we have to destroy you in a less elegant
fashion, so be it. As we've shown you, the Feqh-Netur can easily destroy
the Cyberian Group." Stunned silence was all that followed...


Epilogue

Elite was in his chamber, weeping. Petros had been rocked by Feqh-Netur
fire. But more importantly, everyone from the past was dead except him.
For some reason, the mass transporter had sent him to the wrong place; a
malfunction. Elite was thankful he hadn't been transported into deep
space or some other location. But still, his friends had died saving the
Multiverse. From what he knew, Guardian had partially disconnected the
bomb. It exploded in subspace, but had no effect on any outsiders.
Unfortunately, it claimed the life of his dearest friend. Elite rose and
looked out the vidport, staring into space, full of ships of all sorts.
"Goodbye Ultra," he said quietly.



Conclusion

SRE 10 will be a story to remember. I loved writing it. It's plot was
entirely new and interesting. I also liked connecting all the
characters, as well as utilizing parts from all the stories written,
like 'SRE X' and 'SRE: The Bribed Justice.' I hope you liked SRE 10 --
Legacies..

Josh Renaud Author