Chapter 1

A Prophecy has been foretold, a prophecy that could bring upon the universe's total annihilation or its salvation. The fate of the universe will lay in the hands of one person, one woman. This woman will gain all the power in and of the universe with the birth of a child, a single child, the Tolarie'. This child will fuse her with power, a power that is more precious to the universe than anything ever known. This woman will chose to use her powers for good or evil, but which ever way she chooses she will change the universe for all time, sealing its fate!

This is the story of Kess Cortezz; Kess is part of a newly discovered species, found in the Beta quadrant, called Sapacians. Sapacians have two tails, silver skin, pointed ears and a very unusual abnormality to them. This abnormality is that when a Sapacian is cut, stabbed or scratched, {when the spilling of blood is evolved} by another species, the features of that species and abilities are copied and added to the Sapacian. The Sapacian will have that species in them for as long as they live. The person that the features and abilities were copied from will be just fine and feel like nothing has happened. Another Sapacian trait is that they are always born with a twin, there has been no exception to this since history has been recorded.

Kess Cortezz was born on Earth date, October 31, 2477. Kess entered the ESSA (Earth Space Ship Academy), despite her family's wishes; she completed ESSA training and was at the top of her class. She moved quickly up in rank to captain and received her first mission when she was 27, the youngest person to ever receive captain. The ship she was given to command was the starship Valkerie.

The Valkerie was a prototype, and an enormous ship. This prototype had three solar flare generators. The ship also had a green tube, almost identical to the Solar flares, but this one was different, this tube was a galactic portal creator. The galactic portal was created to move ships from one galaxy to another in very short amount of time.

Kess was in the neutral zone enjoying two weeks of vacation, she was on a space station playing Craps (one of her favorite games). Kess loved the neutral zone, no one there worried about what race she was, or what she could do, no one there worried about her using telekinesis for they knew not of it. Kess kept winning more and more money when two admirals straight from ESA headquarters came looking for her. By the time they arrived a crowd had gathered around Kess and was cheering her on, the admirals went to see what was going on. When they saw Kess, Admiral Jacobs said in a stern, commanding voice, "COMMANDER CORTEZZ WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING???" Everyone froze as Jacobs screamed. "Admiral Jacobs, I was just enjoying my vacation." "Commander, will you please come with us." expressed Admiral Kolof in a more serene tone. "Of course," Kess piled her money into a bag and followed obediently to outside of Oshanties (the Gambling pub).

"Excuse me sirs, but what is going on?" she questioned. "First commander we would like you to have this," Admiral Kolof tossed her a small, black, velvet box. She opened it and was shocked to find the insignia for captain lying inside. She expressed her gratitude, "thank very, very much sirs." "Your welcome, you have been raised in rank to captain because of you glorious efforts of helping the UAN learn about the Bragottie's destructive plan. You have also been given a ship and a mission." Jacobs said. "What ship is it sir? The Alaska? The Morganana?" "No it's actually the Starship Valkerie." "The Valkerie sir?" "Yes it is a prototype and you are going to test it." "A prototype of what sir?" she questioned curiously. "It is a prototype of a possible new line of ships. It has been fitted with a galactic portal generator. It is completely operational and capable of caring 10,000 + people." Admiral Kolof answered openly. "Ten- thousand people!! Why in the world would I need a ship that big sir?" "That is your mission. You are to go to the Andromeda galaxy and pick up two of every species willing to send them with you on your mission. You should only reveal your mission and where you're from to the least amount of people necessary." "How many people do I have as a crew sir?" "One-hundred and fifty." "You have really put a lot of faith in these people and the ship sir." "Yes, well you and your crew have proven yourselves numerous amounts of times." "When do we leave sir?" "In two days, make sure your ready Captain!" "Yes sirs" then the admirals started walking away, but then Admiral Jacobs turned around and called, "Oh and Kess you will be accompanied by two Ambassadors." "Yes sir" she called back much less enthusiastically.

Kess headed back into Oshanties, She went over to the bar counter and said, "Barion, here I want you to have my winnings. I'm going on a mission and probably won't need this money." "Thank you Ms. Cortezz, your welcome back here anytime, free of charge." Kess then headed off towards her room to get everything ready, she opened the door and headed in. Kess was infected with by a Jazad (a telepathic race) at the ESSA and now has telepathic abilities. After she entered a big creature came up to her, it was her pet Rou. Rou was a tiger, white Siberian tiger with pale orange stripes, to be more precise. He asked her, "Kess what's going on?" "Well Rou we are going on a mission to another galaxy! You can come or you can stay it is your choice." "You shouldn't have to ask that, of course I'm coming with you" "and so am I," said Sharak, Sharak was a brown eagle Kess had had for many, many years. "I'm glad you two will be coming with me. We had better get ready." Being a telepath Kess was able to speak at will to animals and they were able to speak to her as well. Around two hours later Kess, Rou and Sharak had finished getting ready and were about to teleport on to the Valkerie, Kess teleported up first without her pets, so not to freak any one out. When she arrived Admiral Jacobs greeted her, "Ah, Captain Cortezz, I've been waiting for you." "Admiral." She answered. Before they headed off Kess questioned, "Sir, you wouldn't mind if I brought my pet cat and bird aboard for the trip, would you?" "No, go ahead." Kess turned to the ensign at the teleporter controls, "Ensign, teleport my pets and bags to my quarters. Please." "Yes ma'am." He replied obediently. Then the admiral and Captain Cortezz were off. "Sir, is my senior staff on board?" "Almost we are still waiting for your pilot and chief engineer." "May I ask who they are?" Admiral Jacobs answered, "Your pilot is Lieutenant Maximus Cortss and your chief engineer is Lieutenant Tranceya Montaya." She nodded in recognition. The admiral took Kess to the bridge and said, "Well captain this is your ship now. Take good care of her." "I'll do my best, sir." The admiral then tapped his com device and he was teleported back to his ship. There was still fourteen hours till the crew had to be on board so Kess decided to go and read up on some of her crew. Kess was going to go to Tamas to do this, so she took an ISD (Information Storage Device) with the information on it and headed for the mess hall. She walked in and found a window sill to sit and read. Not too much longer after she began a Betreathian came over. "Hello my name is Tamas I'm the cook on this ship. May I get you anything?" "A cup of coffee' please, with two sugars." "Coming right up." Kess went back to her reading but before she could hardly get started Tamas came back holding a cup of coffee. "Here you go miss." he handed her, her coffee and looked at what she was reading, "so, what do you do on this ship. No wait let me guess, um... communications officer?" "No" teleporter chief?" "No." "Doctor?" "No, would you like me to tell you?" "Alright." "I'm the captain of ship." "You're Captain Kess Cortezz?!" "In the flesh." "No offence ma'am but you don't look or act like any captain I've ever met. "I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing." She responded calmly. "I believe that it is a good thing, Ma'am, for you will be a friend to the crew yet strong enough that they will follow you to the Center and back." "Thank you Tamas, that is very kind of you." Tamas bowed, said your welcome, and went back to his job without another sound made. "Let's see here," Kess thought and she began to do an overview of her crew.

Commander Rick Quel: Human, birth place unknown; green eyes, Brown straight hair, six feet two inches. Joined the ESSA when he was 17. First Officer.

Commander Maximus Cortss: Sapacian Brown hair, Yellow/ gold eyes, five foot nine inches. Came to Earth when he was 16 and joined the ESSA. Pilot.

Commander Tranceya Montaya: Sapacian. Red hair and brown eyes, five foot eight inches. Chief of Engineering.

Lieutenant Commander Jack Killikan: Human/Kisreain half breed. Long braided black hair, Blue eyes and six foot three inches. Security Chief

Dr. Joe Talliboth: Bartarian. Bleach blond hair and brown eyes and five foot six inches. Chief Medical Officer

Ensign Kareon De'Mot: Drakanian proven her loyalty to the ESSA twenty times over, no threat to the ESSA. Black hair, brown eyes, and five foot seven inches.

Lieutenant Jacque Munques: Betreathian. Highly decorated by the Betreathian high council and by UAN. Black hair, green eyes, and six foot eight inches tall. Proven his loyalty to the UAN time and time again. Chief Communications officer

Lieutenant Jacqueline Rimato. Human; five foot three inches, hazel eyes and red hair. Aroponnicts chief

Commander Sabrina Helton. Human. Blue eyes and short black hair, five foot five inches. Astrometricts Chief

Dianna Muniskie: Jazad. Councilor

Tamas: Betreathian. Dark Green skin, no hair and five foot seven inches. Cook.

Kess looked it over very carefully and thought to herself, "Well, I have a very interesting crew."

Thirty minutes later Kess was summoned to the teleporter room to greet the accompanying Ambassadors. She entered the room and gave Ensign Johnson the cue to teleport the Ambassadors to the ship. Ten seconds later and a blue shimmer later Kess greeted the ambassadors, "Welcome to the Starship Valkerie, Ambassadors I am Captain Cortezz." "Hello captain, I'm Ambassador Rison. And this is Ambassador Thompson." "Well gentlemen it is a pleasure to have you aboard. If you will follow me I will show you to your quarters." They nodded and followed her. (Ambassador Rison was a Jazad. Ambassador Thompson was a Clmosiaseou.) "Captain Cortezz when do you intend to depart?" "We were just waiting for you so in about fifteen minutes." Kess escorted them to there quarter and then told them to meet her on the bridge in ten minutes if they would like to see the galactic portal in action.

Kess headed off toward the bridge. Right before launch there was a hail. "Captain, ESSA command is hailing us." "On screen Lieutenant, Admiral Kolof what can I do for you." "Just making sure the ambassadors made it on board and to wish you good luck on you mission." "Thank you sir," she stood up straighter and said, "Permission to depart?" "Permission Granted, see you in a few years captain." He had emphasized the captain. She nodded at Lieutenant Jacque Munques and he cut the transmission. She then walked over up behind the Pilot Maximus Cortss and said, "Alright Lieutenant Cortss take her out. Plot a course to the nearest uninhabited solar system." "With pleasure ma'am." He answered with a big smile on his face.

Kess went and sat down in her chair; she thought for a moment then pressed a few buttons on the consol next to her chair, which put her on ship wide communication. "All hands, this is Captain Cortezz. First I want to say what an honor it is to be working with such a fine and noble crew. Second I want to tell you how much I appreciate that you all gave-up your lives on Earth and at ESSA to do this mission. I know you all have lives and I appreciate you all giving them up. Thank you again." She then shut the com link off and strode over to Pilot Cortss' station. "Lieutenant how long till we reach the solar system?" "Just around eight days, ma'am." "Thank you Lieutenant." He nodded and she went and sat back down.

Half an hour later Kess decide to go have some dinner since she hadn't had time to eat for two days. She headed towards Tamas'. She entered the Mess hall and was greeted by Tamas. "Ah, Captain Cortezz what may I get you?" "Why don't you surprise me and a cup of coffee' black with sugar. If you would please." "Coming right up." Kess saw an empty table and deicide that she would dine there. Before Tamas got back she heard something in her head, "Kess, you know, we need to eat to! May we come and join you?" she responded, "I am so sorry I forgot about you. Of course you can Sharak but be careful not to scare anyone on your way please." "Thank you Kess," Sharak said, "yes thank you Kess" finished Rou. "Your welcome."

She had just finished talking to Rou and Sharak, when Tamas returned with a platter containing on it a pitcher of coffee, a container of cream, and a container of sugar. "Thank you Tamas" "your welcome and your dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Not to long after Tamas left Sabrina Helton came in and asked Kess if she could join the captain for dinner, Kess, of course, answered yes. Sabrina sat down across from Kess and said, "What are you having for dinner?" "I'm not sure; Tamas is going to surprise me. What about you?" "I believe I am going to have spaghetti" "Sounds good." And at that moment Tamas came back with a plate with a towel over it concealing what it actually was. "Here you go captain," and he took of the towel exposing the dinner, "Its crown roast of lamb." "Thank you" he nodded and looked at Sabrina and asked, "What can I get you this fine evening Commander?" "Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread sticks, please." "Coming right up," and he was gone again.

Kess took three sugar cubes and placed them in her coffee and put one in her mouth. Then took a few sips and set her cup down. Right after she set her cup back down the doors to the mess hall opened and here came Rou and Sharak. "Rou. Sharak. I am glad you could make it. I hope my crew didn't give you any trouble on the way here, did they?" "No they didn't. They pretty much just stared at us in shock." "Well come sit here on the bench and I'll have Tamas get you both something good to eat, just as soon as he returns." Rou and Sharak sat down on the bench next to Kess. "Commander I would like you to meet my pets, Rou and Sharak." "They won't hurt anyone, will they?" Commander Helton stuttered. "Of course not their as gentle as lambs." "May I pet them?" Sabrina asked politely. "I don't see why not." And at that Sabrina reached over and patted Rou on the head. Kess and Sabrina spoke for a while and then not to long after, Tamas came out careening Sabrina's dinner. He didn't see Rou and Sharak, at first, he sat the dinner down then said, "May I get you two ladies anything else?" "You could get Sharak a fresh fish and Rou a raw steak and please don't cook the meat." As Kess said this she pointed at them. After she finished Tamas looked over the table and jumped back a few feet. "s-s-sure r-r-right a-a-away ma-ma-am." He stuttered and backed away slowly. He disappeared into the kitchen and came back much quicker with the animals food than he had been with Kess' and Sabrina's

Kess and Sabrina ate and spoke to each other for about forty-five minutes. After they finished Kess, Sharak, and Rou headed for the Simulator. Kess had just finished putting on the final touches on her new program. "Kess what does this program have in it? Is it exotic? Will it be fun?" questioned Rou. "You will just have to wait and find out Rou, but trust me you'll love It." they entered the Simulator. They had to go through a thick mass of fog before they got to the main part of the Simulator. When the main part of the program came into view Rou and Sharak were in awe.

There were hills of green, soft grass, Fields of flowers, thin thickets of Aspen tree woods. There was a stream running through a soft patch of grass. Beyond the stream there was a beautiful waterfall which filled a pond at the bottom. The pond had a gorgeous island in the middle of it. There were fish in the streams, fish like trout, salmon, king fish, and cat fish. Plus many others that aren't of Earth origin. In the sky different exotic birds from all types of planets roamed. The ground was full of mythical, extinct and beautiful animals. There were no insects, no bugs, and no pain could ruin the beauty of this place.

"Kess this place is amazing; I've never seen so many different creatures coexisting, even in a simulator. Kess it's beautiful. May we go and play?" "Of course Rou, you may stay here as long as you like. You can hunt and live and play around with other animals of the same species as yourselves." Then they ran off having the time of their lives. Meanwhile Kess decide to go sit under a weeping willow tree and write up some more creatures for her program. She took out her pad and started to draw up some new creatures.

First she drew an animal with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, when she looked up this creature in the database she found it was called a Griffin. Next she drew what was called a Centaur. The centaur has the body and legs of a horse and the head and middle part of a human. Next there was a miniature dragon. She made them in six different colors, gold always being the queen the other colors were green, blue, purple, bronze, and silver being the rarest. Kess programmed the silver dragon to only a special person. She told no one who this person was or why he/she was special, not even Val knew. "Val, would you please create these four creatures and add them to my program, please." asked Kess very courteously. "Right away captain." The ship answered.