Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 1 For over a quarter million years war has raged through the galaxy. The Emperor Shinza has been fighting a losing battle for some time now. He still believes that the Empire's technology and his people will prevail. Emperor Shinza's empire encompasses nearly one third of the galaxy. The Emperor wants to continue expanding his territory, so the Empire is sending out ships filled with sleeping colonists. Hoping that one-day, they will wake up to find a pristine planet just waiting to be colonized. Certain fanatical sects want to slow down this process and use all the money spent on exploration and colonization for their own purposes. Slowly, but surely, ships began to disappear, presumed lost or destroyed. The galaxy is a big place, there is too much area to search and not enough ships to cover the territory the Empire already holds. For one reason or another, sabotage was always involved. But, our story doesn't start here, no; it begins in a star system with a yellow sun and nine planets. Lt. Saran orbited around the single moon close to the only inhabitable planet in this backwater system. His fighter completed the routine grid search for the tenth time in the last half planetary cycle. The planet below could support life without complication and no intelligent beings inhabited the planet. While scanning for available resources to repair the damage done to the main ship, Saran remembered exactly what happened to strand them here. Under orders from the Empire, they were to scout out systems that could be colonized or made available to colonize by terra forming. While the crew was in cryo-sleep, someone tampered with the navigation system. Upon emerging from cryo-sleep the crew discovered they were not where they were supposed to be. They were literally thousands of light-years from the nearest imperial outpost. Help would not be coming anytime soon. The captain ordered that the navigation systems be checked to find out why they were so far off course. This quadrant was mainly unexplored, and neither the captain nor the navigator had any idea where home might be. Captain Tarmac had heard rumors of sabotage and ships disappearing, but it still shocked her that it could happen in her command. When the chief engineer reported that they could still turn around and backtrack their flight path out of this system, Tarmac gave the order to do so. On their way towards the systems edge however, a shuttle launched from the shuttle bay, it's sub-light engines at maximum. Tarmac immediately commed the shuttle, ordering it to stop or be fired upon. At that moment, the AI informed Captain Tarmac that all weapons were offline, followed by a small explosion taking out their main sub-light engines. This still left the auxiliary sub-light engines but these are for maneuvering in orbit and course corrections. The auxiliary sub-light engines only had enough power to brake the ship and reverse course back to the habitable planet. Just before leaving sensor range the shuttle, commed them and said, "I hope you enjoy your stay." Their last fix on the shuttle showed it heading out of the system. That was a little over half a solar cycle ago. Saran and the rest of the crew held little hope for being rescued or finding the materials needed to repair the ship. The materials needed were under the third planet's surface and the ship didn't have the required mining equipment to reach those materials. The crew had almost no options left to them. Eventually they would have to stop and move on with their lives, but they still had hope. As Saran turned his fighter back to the ship, he noticed again how sleek, his fighter appeared in the yellow light of this sun. His fighter was nine feet long with a ball shape cockpit at the rear, and an almost triangular needle like nose. The sub-light engines gave off a faint blue glow as he made his way towards the planets surface. As Saran landed his fighter in the shuttle bay, he noticed all the techs and flight crews running around securing everything. For Saran, this was a normal activity, but what made it strange was all of them wore the same facial expression. It was a mixture of panic and fear. As he opened the fighter's hatch, he heard the blaring klaxon. Over the comm system he heard, "Attention all personnel report for a general meeting with the captain in five time units, that is all." Saran knew that this was different from all previous meetings, for the captain had come to a decision about their fate. When he arrived at the galley, it was packed with people even standing against the far wall. All the faces around him were anxious and nervous waiting for the Captain's decision. They didn't have to wait long. Captain Tarmac approached the center of the galley and began to speak, with a somber expression on her face. "I'm not going to lie to you," Tarmac spoke at once, "the ship will never be able to leave this system again within our lifetimes." At this remark, the crew began to murmur all over the ship until she spoke again. "So what we hope is one day our decedents will be able to repair the ship. Until that time, we will leave the ship and hide it underground near the base of the nearby mountain. The ship's AI will then shut down all systems and go into sleep mode. The AI will stay in sleep mode until one of our decedents comes back to discover their heritage." Everyone in the crew just looked at her like she'd grown a third arm, including Saran. They knew it was coming yet it was still a surprise. "All personnel will lockdown everything on the ship. You will take the bare minimum necessary for survival. That means no advanced technology, so our decedents don't suddenly stumble upon it lying around somewhere. We will be leaving in two planetary cycles. That is all." At this point, the captain left the galley and proceeded to her quarters. Upon arriving in her quarters, the ship's AI contacted her, "Captain, some of the crew are upset by your announcement, and are trying to take more than is required. Shall I send them off into the wilderness somewhere, with no supplies?" Captain Tarmac replied, "No just make sure that all the extra things they take make it back onto their proper places in the ship." "As you wish Captain," replied the AI. "Now, AI do you understand what you need to do?" "Yes, Captain I understand," replied the AI. "Good I hope the next time you wake up, you'll have a better captain then me." Two planetary cycles later, all of the crew were off of the ship, some happier then others, and the ship buried itself near the base of the mountain. All went silent inside the huge ship, and while the AI powered down it wondered whether what the captain had said were true or even possible. But that would have to wait until the AI woke, and who could tell when that would be. *************************************************************************** *** Ten thousand year later, the answer to that question would arrive. The date was April 20, 2005, and Mike Anderson was just arriving home from school. Mike goes to Burlington County College, in Burlington, New Jersey. Mike had just turned 21 and still had a little hangover from the night before. Mike isn't a heavy drinker, being that last night was his first time drinking with his friends. He was hammered after just two drinks. When his friends brought him home, they took a magic marker and drew obscene language and weird hand gestures on his face. Although Mike isn't movie star handsome, he is attractive enough to deserve a second glance. At 6'2 with light brown hair, green eyes and a pale complexion most people thought of him as good looking. Mike wasn't athletic, but he had well-developed muscles and squared off shoulders. Mike had a huge crush on his best friend and next-door neighbor Emily Ross. Emily, a curvy blonde with shoulder length hair and deep blue eyes, had a medium size bust and legs you could get lost in for hours at a time. Mike had kept his feelings about Emily to himself, afraid what her reaction would be if he told her how he felt. Truth be told, Emily already knew about Mike's crush and had her own feelings for her neighbor Mike. After arriving home, Mike watched Emily come over. She asked if they could hang out. Mike said sure, but he wanted to take his afternoon jog up Mount Holly and asked if Emily wanted to come alone for the run. "Can I take a rain check on that run? I have to be back before my dad gets home," said Emily. "Yeah, it's ok, I understand, maybe next time though." replied Mike. Emily then strolled back home swaying her hips as she went. Mike thought, "I wonder if she does that intentionally." Mike went into his two-story house to change into his jogging gear and after about five minutes was on his way. Half a block from his house, Mike decided to change his routine and turned down an old dirt road that had become over grown through the years. Mike had always bypassed this road on his jogs and now he knew why. There were potholes all over the place, trash littering the ground, and weeds growing like wild fire. All of this made Mike slow his pace. Back in high school, he'd heard rumor's from kids about how they came out here to party and drink to their hearts content. Though, the kids did say there was something strange about this remote area. It was nothing definite, just a feeling of being watched by unseen eyes. Mike now knew what they were talking about. He too felt like he was being watched. He didn't feel any hostile intention towards him, but he felt like he was being observed or evaluated. Mike just shrugged off these feelings. Farther down the road, he discovered a small deer trail leading deeper in to the woods. Mike felt compelled to follow the trail. He had been on the trail for no more than five minutes, when he came across the biggest sinkhole he'd ever seen. The hole was five feet wide, ten feet long and he couldn't see the bottom from his vantage point. Mike hadn't heard any stories about this hole, but it looked freshly made. Mike assumed that the hole could be the result of last summers' flooding. Half of Burlington County's damns burst flooding several homes and major roadways. It was possible that the floodwater unearthed an entrance to a cave system. Mike thought it would be a good idea to turn around now and go home. But as he was turning to go, the ground underneath him started sliding into the hole. The last thing that Mike remembered was rushing darkness and fading light. He felt like he was flying, but knew he was falling. Then suddenly everything went black, as Mike lost consciousness.