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** CHAPTER 23** Supernova: Part 2

Damn! I think the large black one saw me...

Something had caught the mixed Doberman's attention. It was a brief glare at the distance. The glare instantly disappeared when Anubis noticed it and stared at it.

Going against what he learned back in Canis Major, Anubis couldn't help to approach the location of this mysterious glare and find out what this was.

"It could be natural. Maybe the sun's reflection in a mineral rock..." Anubis said to himself while he climbed the small hill that produced the glare at its top. Breaking protocol is something that should be avoided at all costs, but Anubis' nature soon got the best of him.

As he finally made it to the top of the hill, he couldn't notice anything out of the ordinary; considering the circumstances, of course.

"Nothing here..." Anubis swept his sight through the terrain in hopes of finding the possible source of the strange glare. "What is this smell...?" He then thought to himself.

Sniffing the air, he could sense a strong unpleasant scent. It is true that we've never been in a place like this before, but we are able to tell when something does not match the current surroundings. "This scent doesn't come from the soil or any other natural source..." He again though to himself confused.

Walking across the rocky hill top, he followed the scent but it was difficult to locate its source. The breeze was carrying it away in all directions, plus, our sense of smell had decreased its effectiveness in comparison with our ancestors.

Soon he found himself in front of something truly incredible. In front of Anubis, a large body of water appeared out of the nothing. It was hard to see it due to the topography of the place, plus this large lake was inside a crater of some sort.

"This is..." He thought as he went through all of he had learned. "...some sort of lake."

The lake's surface was about meter and a half below the border of the crater. Anubis kneeled down to have a better look.

He was very excited about his finding, but he never forgot what brought him there. His instinct told him to watch his back so he stood up and backed off. Looking all around him, he still couldn't see anything that could explain the strange glare that seemed to be 'staring' at them not five minutes ago.

"I better get back. Shouldn't be doing this..." Andy said to himself in a sudden rush of common sense.

But as he was about to turn around and return, he caught a glimpse of something below the surface of the surprisingly crystalline lake. He got closer again and watched carefully through the waves that made it hard to tell what lied under water. He stretched as much as he could and finally saw what had caught his attention. It was a strange metallic object; definitely not natural.

Anubis' first reaction was to retreat and inform about his finding, but he couldn't help to try to retrieve it himself. It would be difficult to get a hold of it since although the lake was shallow; the surface was almost his height below him. He started thinking in ways of retrieving this weird object...

Meanwhile, Fx and I had already realized that Anubis was missing. Thankfully, I was able to see him in the distance while he was climbing that hill.

After realizing that Anubis had left his ComPod, Fx and I had no choice but to go and get him before the rest of the crew arrived and saw that we disobeyed one very important rule.

"I can't believe Andy!" Fx said a bit irritated.

"You know how he is, brother. Let's just get him and return as fast as we can."

"If K9 knows about this, he will be very displeased. This is not how we wanted to start our mission."

"Relax, Fx. We'll get him." I tried to calm my brother down. I knew he wasn't really angry, but more worried about what could happen with our friend.

Suddenly, we received a call from an unknown source. "I'll get it." I said and pressed the tiny earpiece that was linked to the ComPod. "Husky here."

"Husky. This is General Zonda."

"General... It's a pleasure!" I was in shock when I realized that it was probably the most important Retcan onboard R105 that was talking to me.

"My brother Alpha and I just broke the atmosphere barrier of the planet. We will be heading to your location in a few minutes."

My heart sank. I had no idea that the Retcans would be joining us so soon. Even less, that General Zonda himself would be joining our mission personally.

"That's great, General. Your company will serve us well." I tried to sound casual and as calm as possible.

"We thought that you could use some company before our exploration team made it to the planet." Zonda explained briefly. "We will be there soon. Zonda, out..." He then ended the message.

"General Zonda? He's coming?!" Fx asked surprised after overhearing the conversation.

"Yes. And Major Alpha too."

"We need to hurry..." Fx replied worried as he increased his pace.

"Fx... He already broke atmosphere."

"What?!"

The fast pace at which we walked in wasn't enough. We started running towards Andy's location hoping that he hadn't gotten further.

The heat of the planet started to get unbearable as we rushed up the hill. I don't know if it was the extreme physical activity, or that I wasn't used to those temperatures.

After a while, we finally made it on top of the hill. We started calling for Andy trying at the same time not to swallow our now engorged tongues.

"Andy!" Fx yelled.

"Anubis!" I followed.

Immediately we saw a large dark figure that stood a couple of meters before us; it was Andy.

"Over here, guys!" He yelled.

Fx and I ran towards him not before being stopped on our tracks by the sudden appearance of the huge lake. We were impressed, but our concerns were greater.

"I need your help guys!" Andy said as he kneeled in the border of the crater.

"What in the name of Canis Major are you doing?! Are you crazy? Let's go!" Fx yelled nervously.

"Not to interrupt your finding, big guy," I added. "But my brother is right. We need to go."

"Just help me get this and we'll be getting ourselves out of here. Trust me." Andy refused.

"Get what? No! The Retcans are on their way now. I was worried about K9 finding out what we are doing right now, but if the Retcans know..." Fx continued on scolding our friend.

"There are not arriving until later." Andy confronted him.

"No, Andy." I confirmed my brother's words. "I just received a call from General Zonda himself. He's here."

"What?" Andy asked surprised. "Oh my... Ok, just help me with this and we'll run back to the rendezvous point."

"Anubis, don't you understand? Let's get..." Fx yelled.

"Relax, Fx!" He yelled back cutting his words. "Hold my legs. I need to get something from the lake."

"What?! Anubis, but... " Fx knew that there was no way to convince our friend. It would be faster if we helped him to do whatever he had in mind and continue our way.

Anubis took out his Lanthracit saber and activated it. We grabbed him from his hind legs and slowly pulled him down to the lake.

They are armed. I knew it... Though it's not like they could do much with those puny swords...

"What are you doing, Andy?" I asked.

"You'll see. Just don't let go of me..."

Andy managed to reach close enough to stab the metallic object that immediately stuck to his saber.

"Pull me up, I got it!" He said.

As we pulled Andy up, he splattered water all over us.

"It got in my eye! That water burns!" I grunted. That water felt like soap in my eye.

"I know." Andy spat some of the water. "It must have a high concentration of Sodium Chloride. I can taste it..."

"Enough! Let's get out of here!" Fx barked.

There wasn't time for explanations at that moment. The three of us almost rolled down the hill like stones, then running back to the landing point. Miraculously we managed to arrive almost at the same time than Zonda and Alpha. But they saw us running back from the hill.

The two Retcan S Series fighters slowly made their decent until they finally docked besides our Wolf 500 fighters. Both models looked amazingly alike, except for the exhaust ports.

After a second of inactivity, their ships went to a complete silence. Soon after that, a strong hiss came out of the ships as they released their inner artificial atmosphere. The hatches opened, revealing both Retcan warriors.

"What were you doing away from the landing spot?" Were the first words from the yellow eyed Retcan.

"It's my fault, General." Andy admitted taking a step forward.

"Try to stay in the designated spot at all times unless given the order to do the contrary. It's for your safety and that of you partners." Alpha then suggested.

Thankfully, our disobedience didn't ended up with worst consequences than a few scolding words.

...More of them... These look different than the other three. Nevertheless, they are just animals as well...

Back in Canis Major, the news about our mission was now known in H2 112.

"Are you sure about it?" Luke, who had just arrived, whispered. He had the whole team practicing in the simulators to see who was more fitted to become a test pilot. His sister had just run in after she got a message from D.E1.

"Yes. Hasky just sent me a message. They are on their way now." The beige floppy eared Evo informed him.

"Wait, isn't this too much? Who thought of the idea?"

"The Retcans. They need to find out something about the mineral crop they found in the comet. Apparently, they think that the planet might hold a clue of who is in possession of the crop."

Luke wasn't very convinced about what Rika was telling him.

"I'm sure there could be other ways of finding out who possesses that crop. Landing in a foreign planet is probably the last choice they want to make."

Rika just sighed. "I know. But I'm confident that the Retcans know what they are doing."

Minutes before, Spot and Nanook had a little bathroom break, so they both weren't there. As they were on their way back, they had found something really disturbing.

The female Dalmatian approached Rika and Luke with something unsettling to say.

"Rika, Luke. Something is not right." Spot said. She looked nervous. They knew Spot enough now, and knew that she didn't used to behave like this.

"What is it?"

"It's your friend, Jade..."

Immediately, Rika's heart sank. Luke didn't wait for a second and ran outside. "Where is she?!" He demanded. Both Spot and Rika were behind him all the time.

"Over there. Nanook is with her."

Soon they arrived at one of the rooms.

"Nanook and I saw her acting strange. She ran inside the room and she was whining." Spot said.

As they got inside, they found Jade on the floor, curled in a fetal position. Her eyes were wide open showing the scar tissue that was product of what had blinded her many years ago. Her body was shaking, and Nanook's tender caresses seemed to have no effect on calming her down.

"Jade, what is it?" Luke approached her really anxious. Luke and Jade had always showed an incredibly strong bond between each other. He was very afraid of what could be happening with his friend.

She tried to respond, but her shaking made her voice break constantly, try after try.

Luke helped Jade to sit up. "Listen, baby..." He told her as he gently held her face as close to his as he could. "You need to tell us what's wrong."

The warmth of her Luke's breath as well as his scent somehow made Jade feel a little bit safer. She now relaxed a bit as Luke caressed her face.

"We need to get out of here, Luke." She could barely utter.

"What? Why, Jade? Why do we need to get out of here?"

"Please... just do as I say." Jade responded. She was now crying in desperation.

"You need to tell me why, Jade. What's wrong?"

"I told Hasky a few days ago... I don't know... I just feel that... no, I KNOW that we need to get out of here. There is something building up... something bad."

Nanook and Spot were intimidated by the blind Evo's words. They didn't know her, but somehow her words managed to pierce through their senses.

"It's heat... pressure, I don't know. I've never felt something like this." Jade continued. "It's there..." She pointed at a wall; at nothing apparently, just like she did with Hasky before. "We need to get out of here. But not from this solar system, as that won't be enough. We need to move to another galaxy."

Jade's words didn't fall into deaf ears. Luke and Rika knew how sharp Jade's senses were. But the problem was that they were unsure of how much time they had before something horrible could happen. They immediately ran to the study room and communicated with D.E1. Unfortunately there was no response. The D.E team was already in the planet and the Com Systems of the Zone weren't strong enough to reach all the way there.

Luke then communicated with R105, and thankfully he managed to speak with someone.

Back in the bridge of R105, things were a bit stirred. A major problem in the probes sent by Titan a few weeks ago held his team back from going to the planet.

"I have calibrated these probes already. I simply don't understand what's going on!" He yelled.

Apparently, the probes were giving up all sorts of erratic stats on the planet's atmosphere, temperature as well as climatic predictions. They were working all the time, but it seemed that they decided to go berserk that day when they needed them the most.

"We need them, Titan. We already know that the planet is safe for us not to need life support, but it is critical that they continue on gathering information throughout our investigation." Silver reminded him.

"I know, I KNOW!" Titan replied frustrated. "Give me a few hours to fix this."

"Titan, we don't have much time. We need to do this as fast as we can."

"Look, Silver. I don't know what's going on with the probes. There are so many reasons why they could be failing right now. Finding the correct one could take me forever." He responded. His patience was now at his limits.

"I'm going to order the D.E Team to proceed then. Zonda and Alpha are with them so there won't be any problem on doing so."

"What?!" Titan yelled concerned. "Are you joking, Silver? Are you sending them alone to that place?"

"Do not raise your voice at me, Titan! I can't order them to retreat now. We are there already, we will find out what we need to find out and then get out of that place; the sooner, the better."

"Find out what?!" Titan confronted his sister.

Silver opened her muzzle to speak but words didn't come out for a second. "That signal that we identified... Those ruins might have the clue that we need in order to determine if the inhabitants of this planet once owned that crop... or if they are still alive... I DON'T KNOW TITAN!" Silver's words were lacking of sense. She never looked so weak... She stood up and placed her hand-paws on her face, staying in silence for a while.

"Captain ..." Bo directed to Silver submissively as always. He was always there, listening to what was going on. He sounded very unsettled now.

"What, Bo?" Silver responded harshly without even looking at him.

"It's Canis Major. I just received a message from them."

The message was sent by Luke, informing of what happened with Jade a couple of minutes ago.

"So, what's it?" Silver demanded to know.

Bo told her. His words were confusing for Silver, especially now that she wasn't at her full mental capabilities. It wasn't a surprise for Bo that she didn't react to it the way that she should. Titan in the other hand didn't take this lightly.

"You see?! I knew it! There is something not right about what we are doing!" He yelled at his sister. "Bring them back!"

"Do not yell at me, Titan. I will not ask you again." Silver responded harshly but with less assertiveness than usual.

"I don't care! You will order them to retreat and we will get out of this place now!" Titan got face to face with Silver and demanded boldly.

Silver didn't react as he expected. Instead she demonstrated fear and submission for a second. He could tell that she was crying for help. Titan felt very compassionate about his sister an that moment. It really hurt him to see her like that.

For a second it seemed that she would react. "Please, Silver... Let's stop this right now." Titan told her as he gently he caressed her face.

Unfortunately, whatever was making Silver act that erratic suddenly took control of her again.

"Let go of me!" She grunted. "We will continue with planned. The team gathered in the planet is enough to investigate what we need. As soon as they are done, they will retreat from the planet and we will never set paw on it again. Do I make myself clear?" Silver ordered. There was nothing that Titan could do or say anymore.

"I just hope nothing bad happens." Titan said. He ran out of energy to confront his sister. He knew that there was nothing else that he could do to bring her sister back out of her confusion. "If something happens to them, I won't be able to live with myself knowing that you will be responsible for it." He then turned to Bo. "Bo. I want you to put this on R105's journal. If something happens to those Evocanis or our brother Zonda and Alpha; I, Titan, Commander and Lead Engineering Scientist of R105 will be held accountable for it..."