Chapter 8: A new beginning

David Jenkins sat at the desk to the cabin he was using as his makeshift office. The room was small, but it was the closest room to the bridge that had the facilities he needed, mainly a desk and a few chairs. He could have commandeered the captain's ready room directly off the bridge, but he felt that should be left for Spaz. The chime sounded as he sat there studying the screen. "Enter." A man in his mid twenties and an older teen entered the room followed by Dr. Jones and Colonel Jimenez. David stood up as the two men entered the room and extended his hand to the oldest. "Mr. Rayne, I am David Jenkins." He said.

Josh Rayne looked down at David's hand and then back up at David without taking it. David frowned at him, then lowered his hand and motioned for them to take the two chairs in front of his desk. "Please have a seat, we have much to discuss," he said as he took his seat with the earth-scape showing through the window behind him.

The younger man started to take a seat, but stopped when Josh motioned for him to remain standing. Josh stood in front of David's desk and glared at him in silence while the younger man looked embarrassed and confused. "Have it your way." David stated as he typed on the console in front of him. "You are Josh Rayne and Eleric Drakehold, citizens of Australia. Your known associates are Elise Drakehold, Eleric's younger sister, along with Zoe and Luke Long. Neither one of you have any criminal records, actually, other than your birth and record of your association with the Longs, none of you have any records whatsoever; no employment, income or anything else. Your group has done a very good job of staying almost completely off the radar." Josh stiffened slightly at the mention of the Longs, but other than that showed no outside signs of any emotional reaction. Eleric shot a quick glance at his mentor before straightening up and staring straight ahead. "We seem to be at an impasse gentlemen. You see, I have no knowledge of whether I can trust the two of you, especially after that impressive display this morning. I have no idea how you managed to get out of the stasis chamber. That is one of several things I wish to discuss, along with..." David said as he motioned to a display lighting up on the wall to his right.

The screen showed an area near Oodnadatta, Australia. A metal ramp could be seen on the left side of the screen. Three humanoid figures descended the ramp; they wore what appeared to be green environmental body armor complete with an opaque face shield and breathing masks. The lead figure was slightly taller than the other two. The smaller two walked with a feminine grace and held some sort of sensor device in front of them. The smallest of the three also carried what appeared to be a gun in her right hand and was looking around for threats. Suddenly the larger of the two females stopped and pointed her device to her left.

The leader of the trio drew a weapon from his side as the smaller female crouched down and pointed her weapon in the direction the other was pointing. "Whoever you are, step out from behind the rubble with your hands up," the leader stated, his voice distorted and mechanical sounding.

The larger female suddenly turned around and grabbed for her gun as a portal opened behind them. "Biometric energy reading behind us sir, it's a trap." She yelled as bolts of energy shot through the portal and struck the lead figure.

As the lead figure went down covered in electrical energy, a man emerged from the portal followed by a young female. The female let loose with a blast of energy at the smaller of the figures in body armor.

Three youths emerged from behind a pile of rubble and moved out across the clearing towards the portal as the two new arrivals provided cover fire. The taller female of the armored group fired her weapon at the leader of the group emerging from the portal. The beam flashed off an energy shield and dissipated in the air, but the impact caused the man to stagger back, and broke his concentration of energy on the leader of the original trio.

The screen froze, clearly displaying Josh's face as one of the duo that came from the portal as well as that of Eleric as one of the three youths running for the portal. David turned from the screen and looked at Josh and Eleric. "So, would either one of you care to explain why you attacked me and my away team at Oodnadatta, and why I should not have you both executed as enemies against humanity?" Eleric paled as he looked towards Josh who simply lifted his head slightly in defiance to David. David shook his head as he came around the desk to stand in front of Josh. "This defiance and stubborn refusal to talk was interesting at first, even a little humorous, but now it is getting annoying. All that you are doing is signing your and your young friend's death warrant. By your actions, both now and at Oodnadatta, the only conclusion I can come to is that you are in collusion with the Morgalons," David said as an image of the Morgalon who attacked the town replaced the image of Josh and Eleric on the screen. "We are in a state of war with these creatures and anyone who helps them is a traitor to humanity." Eleric quickly glanced at the creature on the screen and then at Josh. Josh slowly turned to look at the screen and then down at a terrified Eleric. "We are not working for that thing." Josh replied. "I attacked you at Oodnadatta because you were threatening my charges. I have no Idea what a Morgalon is, but that thing looks very much like a Shadow Lord and I would have died trying to kill it if I ever saw it, as would any member of my circle." David sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his hands. "So you can talk? Good, care to explain how you got out of the stasis chamber?" "I do not know what a stasis chamber is, but if you are referring to the place I awoke my abilities allow me to control my body in all ways, even to overcome the effects of that device. I did not like what it was trying to do so I got out of it," Josh replied as he turned to glare at David. "You kidnapped me and my student, so it was only prudent that we tried to escape your capture." David laughed "We did not kidnap you, we saved your lives. The two of you got caught up in a program that we were running to save people who would have otherwise died. We are also on the lookout for people trying to save others, or doing heroic acts. According to our records you two were trying to rescue some teens from a car wreck when the car fell off a cliff into the ocean. If we had not interfered, you two and the four teens would be dead and at the bottom of the Coral Sea." Eleric's head jerked from the screen towards David. "The boys in the car?" "Are safe, they are in stasis chambers awaiting training." David replied.

"Training, you mean re-education?" Josh growled.

David shook his head and rose from the edge of the desk. "No I mean training. When the time comes for us to talk to them they will be woken from their suspended sleep and then we will explain everything that is going on to them. They will then have the option of joining us and receiving training here to assist us or to return to the stasis chamber to sleep until we can safely return them to their lives." "And how long will that be?" Josh asked.