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Through the Horizon: Sebastian Part 2

Talon sat at his desk in his imperial office. As head of the dragon empire, it was his responsibility to ensure that his people were safe from all threats both internal and external. Talon sighed deeply. He was well aware of the scavanger threat to the Accendo Empire's capital planet. He was equally aware of the danger Bane was placing himself in. He knew the leader was going to confront the threat directly but hell, could he really blame the wolf? Talon took another deep sigh and looked at the holoscreen before him. He was examining his troop placements, ship positions and known enemy locations.

Talon was well aware the scavangers were slowly eating away at the defenses of the new alliance between the dragons and Bane's empire. The fox empire was nothing more than a shell, many of the planets had been completely wiped out while their leaders sat helpless to defend the people. Hell Talon, Bane and Black weren't in any better position. Tho Black had surrendered to Bane, he remained as the figurehead leader of the wolves under Bane.

Talon startled slightly as the door alarm sounded to his office, alerting him that a visitor was awaiting permission to enter. While most leaders had secretaries, Talon had never found a use for them. He preferred to rely on his cabinet and be directly accessible to anybody who had clearance to be in the Royal Tower. Talon pulled up the camera outside his office and saw a solid white wolf awaiting the door to open. Talon smiled and pressed the release that was on his desk. As the door slid open he stood up and approached the wolf as the wolf approached him. The wolf held out his paw and Talon gripped it firmly as the wolf said, "Lord Accendo, my name is Jasper Drago. I am the representative that Bane sent in response to your request."

Talon smiled as he offered the wolf a seat. Talon took his rightful chair and began, "Jasper, it is a pleasure to meet with you. I requested an ambassador be dispatched to the capital here, so that we may have greater access to each others' governments. I felt it would better facilitate a more open relationship between Bane's government and mine."

Jasper nodded in response and said, "Yes sir and if I may be so bold to say, you were also under pressure to bring me here so that others within your government might have access to me as well." Talon sat and observed the wolf as he continued, "Emperor Accendo is well aware of the political pressure that you're under Lord Accendo and I assure you, we will be as open and transparent as is possible."

Talon nodded as he answered, "I wasn't aware that Bane was so in tune with my political situation." The wolf responded, "Yes sir, it is of utmost importance to him. As you well know, you and he have worked closely together in the past few months. Much progress has been made but much remains to be done. Bane considers it important to have a complete understanding of whats going on." Talon gave a small smile and said, "Alright, I can buy the political answer. Now let's get down to business. What is Bane doing to prepare for the arrival of the scavangers at his capital planet?"

The wolf lowered his head in understandingand said, "I'm afraid there isn't much to do. We do not have enough ships in range to evacuate the planet. Our defenses will not hold up to a full out assault for a long period of time. We simply do not have sufficient ships or leadership to combat this enemy. To address that, Bane has selected to lead the battle himself."

Talon leaned forward and said seriously, "That's what scares me. This is a doomed mission and he damn well knows it! Even if he had the most advanced ship in his empire, the best he could do is buy himself and his planet a small amount of time. If he falls, the fragile peace that he has helped to engineer will fall with him. Black respects him but not me nor the fox empire. The humans are of no account any longer, so I do not concern myself with them. I am concerned at Bane's actions are irresponsible at best, reckless at worst."

Jasper listened with keen interest. The wolf was well aware that Talon had a direct line to Bane and was sure that the leader had shared these thoughts with his boss. Jasper considered his response to Talon's words very carefully but ultimately decided a direct approach was best. Jasper had years of experience in dealing with Dragons. They could be extremely ego driven on a good day but Talon had a reputation for being somewhat different. The fact that the leader was sharing these concerns was significant beyond measure. He felt he had to respond in kind and said, "Lord Accendo, if I may be so bold? I am presuming you have informed Bane of your feelings regarding this manner only for your words to fall on seemingly deaf ears. The fact that you share them with me now is a further attempt to apply political pressure on Bane's government in an effort to change his decision. Please know this, Emperor Accendo values your support beyond measure. Surpassing the official duty towards his subjects, he has a personal responsibility to the inhabitants of Accendo City. Without him, they would not be there, so he feels its his fault they are in danger. After the way they stood with him during the attack from the humans, he feels he owes them too. While I do not share this view, I must respect it. I will gladly pass along your formal objection to his actions but they will change nothing. Bane is more than willing to take any consequences of his actions, including death itself. So long as it means the survival of his empire and the continued hope for a better day, he would gladly sacrifice himself. I would think sir, that you could respect that. We both know that if the situation were reversed, it would be Bane's representative sitting before you expressing the same feelings."

Talon eyed the wolf angrily at first before his emotions softened slightly. He hadn't become Emperor by losing his temper easily. Talon took a breath and said, "Ambasador Jasper, I offer my sincere welcome to our humble city. Thank you so very much for coming to meet with me today. Please forgive my words to you today. They were intended to be a friendly exchange and not a formal declaration. Allow me to give you time to get settled in before we meet on an official basis and discuss in depth the future of our alliance." With that Talon stood and bowed, signaling that Jasper was to quietly leave the leaders office.

Jasper was well aware that he had stepped on the dragons' ego. While aware of the hazards that come with such actions, he was also aware of the potential costs of not standing firm from the start. He knew that dragons would push you until your braking point if you allowed them to. It had always been the one quality that made for somewhat difficult relationships in the past. Jasper bowed respectfully, then backed out of Talon's office. In doing so he never turned his back on the leader and demonstrated his strength as well as the strength of the Accendo Empire. Bane had instructed him to stand firm and that was exactly what the wolf would do.

Talon watched the wolf leave his office. As a whole, Talon had been extremely pleased with the wolf's actions. The dragon gave a deep sigh as he thought out loud to himself, "Jasper, you're wrong about one thing. If the situation was reversed Bane, would be on his way to help me with everything he could round up." With that the dragon pounded his fist on his desk and shouted, "DAMN MY MISERABLE HIDE!"

The dragon pressed the connection to his military general and ordered, "Get in here now!" The general wasted no time in running to Talon's office. He could tell that Talon was in no mood to be screwed with. The dragon quickly made his way thru the corridors to Talon's office and politely rang the alert bell. Talon gave permission and he walked slowly into Bane's office. Talon quickly stood up and approached his general as he spoke firmly to say, "Zander, I want you to round up every ship we can spare. If it's battle capable, I want it! I'm going to help Bane in his fight to save his capital planet." The general nodded, he could tell that his dragon leader had made up his mind about the situation. While he did not agree with his decision and thought it a tactical error, he knew better than to question the word of his alpha.

Jasper walked quietly to the nearest transporter and teleported back to his apartment building. He then rode the elevator to his apartment, which happened to take up the entire floor. The dragons had taken extra care to demonstrate how much power they had as well. Jasper was well aware that the lavish apartment was intended to be a message but it fell upon deaf ears. Jasper walked over to his desk and activated his holo computer. From there he initialized the long range communications device Ron had prepared for him and attempted to link up with Bane aboard his ship.

Bane yawned widely as he looked over battle reports coming in from all over his empire. The scavangers were attacking on multiple fronts in an effort to draw out Bane's resources. Unknown to the scavangers, Ron had already positioned several of his gates on key worlds and had evacuated the inhabitants before the enemy arrived. He had set the gates to self destruct after the last inhabitant walked through it. While it took significant power and time to evacuate an entire planet, it was much better than the alternative of losing that many lives. The only problem had been that there was no world that was really safe. Bane had instructed Ron to distribute teams to install as many defences to the remaining worlds as was possible. Planetary shields had become the norm as had ground to space guns, capable of punching holes through the toughest of ships. While these would only slow the attacking scavangers, it would buy valuable time for the inhabitants to be evacuated to key safe zones. The goal was to save as many lives as possible and take out a few ships if they could.

As Bane looked through report after report, Jasper's icon appeared on his monitor to inform him the wolf was attempting to link up. Bane accepted the call and the link went thru. "Jasper, it's a pleasure to hear from you. I must admit that I'm at least slightly surprised that you're calling so soon. I assumed Talon would insist upon a meeting right away with you." Jasper confirmed that with, "And so he did. We talked for a short time but I'm afraid it ended about like you anticipated. He's very unhappy with your decision to lead the attack upon the scavangers." Bane nodded and said, "Well I knew he would be. He's no doubt worried that things will fall apart without me. At least that's what I got from our conversation of a day ago." Jasper nodded and said, "Yes sir, that's what I am gathering as well. Bane I hate to ask this and I already know the answer... but is there any way you would consider not leading this battle."

Bane shook his head and said, "Jasper, I'm sorry to put you in this situation but my choice is final. Furthermore, its my choice! I'll not have my decisions altered because an overgrown lizard and a cowardly wolf are scared that they can't handle their empires without me!" Jasper nodded his understanding and asked, "So Black has contacted you as well?" Bane nodded and replied, "Yes he's asking me to reconsider as well. I gave him the same answer, my decision is final. I will not have an inexperienced crew leading a battle that can determine the fate of my empire. It isn't that I doubt their abilities. We have trained them as well as time permitted. Jasper, if I had somebody at my disposal that had the experience to lead this, I would gladly step aside and allow them to fight this battle. Hell I'm needed at the capital now more than ever but I just can't risk losing the capital planet. I know that no two ships can hope to defeat an entire fleet. Hell, we don't even know how many attacking ships there are! Our scanners can't pinpoint the exact number because they have found a way to mask themselves from our sensors. The only way we know they are coming is by the trail of destruction to the other worlds."

Jasper looked grim and asked, "So they are finding ways to counter our defenses?" Bane nodded worriedly and said, "Yes, that's what's dangerous about this situation. Our scanners can't detect them, only their energy signature. Our guns can't get an auto lock, so the defense grid is practically useless. We have got to get samples of their tech so we can find a way to compensate for it. Otherwise we might as well kiss our collective tails goodbye. Furthermore I have told both Talon and Black this but to no avail."

Jasper nodded reluctantly and said, "I think the issue is, the memories of the very recent war. Everybody knows how deadly it was and nobody wants a repeat of it. They are so afraid of losing this fragile peace that they are willing to sacrifice anything to salvage it." Bane nodded tiredly and admitted, "I'm very aware of that, however..."

Before Bane could finish his thought, the entire ship rocked violently from an impact to its' shields. The alarms sounded as an unknown foe fired round after round into the ships' shields. Bane ran onto the bridge, leaving the conversation line open in his haste. "REPORT!", he shouted. The bridge officers were hard at work, trying to get a fix on who was firing at them.

The captain of the ship approached Bane to respond, "Sir! We aren't sure who's firing at us. Sensors are detecting nothing! We are still several hours away from our destination, so it can't be the scavengers. Reports didn't have them advancing this far yet!"

Bane walked over and sat in his chair. He pulled up the sensor readings as Dasher attempted to contact him. Bane opened a link while continuing his work and said, "Dasher, do you know who's firing upon us?"

Dasher's bridge crew was hard at work trying to sort out the same mystery as Bane's crew were. Dasher told him, "Bane, I was going to ask you the same thing. Our shields are holding but under heavy strain. They are firing torpedos at us but the energy signature of the weapons are all wrong for it to be Scavengers. Bane, I think it's human ships. It could be a group similar to those who attacked the city!"

Bane slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair and angrily shouted, "We DONT have time for this!" As Bane stood, he suddenly became very aware that everything on his bridge was perfectly still. The shocks from the attack had stopped, even the crew seemed frozen in place. Bane gave a deep sigh and with exasperation in his voice said, "Alright Sabastian, where are you?"

The cheetah laughed as he made himself visible and lightly taunted, "You know, I really should be less obvious. I just thought now would be a good time for us to talk... You know, catch up on a few things." Bane snarled back, "One of these days, I'll get the pleasure of killing you!" The cheetah laughed unconcerned and said, "Perhaps but today will not be that day. Until that day does come, I will proceed to do things my way, not yours. You see, I have to ensure that my patron is sufficiently occupied so that we can have these private chats. I would hate to get called away in the middle of the conversation. *tsk* That would be just rude!"

Bane sighed as he sat back down in his chair and the cheetah sat beside him and continued, "Bane, have you ever taken a moment to look around during one of these chats? Really look at your surroundings. How fearless those under your command look. How confidant they are in your abilities. You have the power to lead them to victory or death. You can choose to guide them or kill them. You have complete control."

Bane nodded briefly and growled, "Your point?" The cheetah shrugged and said without acknowledging the tone of Banes' voice, "Not everything I do or say has a point... but then again most of it does. Its up to you to discern the truth from the distraction. You see, I have specific...guidelines, that I'm forced to follow. I don't always agree with my patron and as a result, I try and help you where I can. But for now, I'm here to deliver a very specific message."

Bane narrowed his eyes and suspiciously asked, "And that is?" The cheetah smiled fondly and teased, "I love how open minded your empire is. You're always searching for new idea's to contemplate. I would suggest you continue that practice on this mission... I think you will find it an enlightening experience!" With that the cheetah was gone and two large earth style ships appeared on the scanners. Bane growled out the order, "Lock weapons on their main power source. I want those ships crippled but intact!"

The crew quickly followed Bane's orders. While the ships were very formidable, they lacked the advanced shielding of Banes' ships. None of their crew could understand how the ships' cloaking had failed! Bane was very aware of why but kept that information to himself. The two ships were quickly rendered harmless, allowing Bane and Dasher to continue on their mission. Bane had taken time to leave the ships in minimally operable condition. They could limp back to their bases, given enough time. Or he could recapture them after the fight he was headed to... if they survived that is. While he needed them out of the way, he had no interest in destroying them or killing anybody on board. That would only serve to further their ideology that Bane was anti-humanist. When they were underway once more, Bane summoned Dasher to meet him in his ready room. They needed to have a chat.

Bane smiled as the Cheetah walked in and sealed the door behind him. In the cheetah's paws were two glasses of ice and a very old bottle of whiskey. The cheetah poured himself and his alpha, a small glass of the dark colored liquid. He smiled as Bane happily accepted it. Bane sipped his gratefully and gave a soft growl or satisfaction as the liquid burned its' way down his throat. Bane then looked at Dasher and told him, "Dasher, I just had a visit from our mutual friend."

The cheetah chuckled and added, "I figured Sabastian had something to do with the ships suddenly becoming visible. Had he not, the fight would have been formidable. It's hard to shoot what you can't see. Bane agreed, "Indeed and he had one message for us... To keep an open mind."

The cheetah sipped his liquid and thought about the enigmatic message before asking, "Alright... but about what?" Bane shook his head and leaned back in his chair. He glanced at the burnt amber liquid in his glass and admitted, "I'm not sure. But I think it has something to do with the research outpost we are going to defend. To be honest with you, I have no idea what their work is. It's top secret, even above me. It's some project lead by Ron personally. He asked that I not involve myself with it and I obliged him."

Dasher blinked as he considered what that meant. Dasher wasn't questioning it but wanted to know if it was wise by asking, "Bane, isn't that extremely dangerous? You of all people, should have direct knowledge regarding all projects in your empire."

Bane agreed with Dasher but explained, "Normally, I would agree with you whole heartedly but Ron insisted and I caved. I've known that fox for years and I know he wouldn't do anything immoral or illegal. Then too, unless I say it is illegal, it isn't but that's beside the point. With Sabestian being involved, I'm starting to question a few things we thought we knew. He wouldn't involve himself unless it had something to do with his overall goal, whatever the hell that might be."

Dasher chewed his lip and said, "Well, we have said from the start that he's preparing you for something. That's what everything points toward but what is it about this outpost that interests him? I think it is time to question Ron about it." Bane nodded and sent word for Ron and Seamus to meet them in Banes' quarters.

The two foxes made their way to Bane's office, arriving at the same time. Ron smiled as he hugged Bane and Seamus took a seat on the sofa. Bane was the first to address Ron with his concerns. Bane calmly asked, "Ron, we have a few questions. We need to know exactly what we are going to find on this outpost that we are headed to. Something is going on that the Scavengers are interested in too."

The fox began to shift uncomfortably in his seat before attempting to deflect the question, "Bane, I thought we had an agreement that I would have a certain amount of leeway in my department for projects that I didn't have to report directly to you."

Bane soothed Rons' ruffled fur with, "Yes we did and still do... However, I need to know this to save our lives and the Empire. Please, don't make me pull rank Ron?"

The fox sighed. He knew Bane was right but that didn't make this any easier. He let out his breath and said quietly, "As you all well know, I've developed a technology that allows us to connect all planets in the empire. By stepping though a gate; one can go to any planet with a gate on it in a matter of seconds, rather than a ride on a ship. What you don't know is where I got the idea from. . . . The outpost isn't a research site... It's a dig site. We discovered the remains of a long lost civilization on that planet and what we found was beyond anything I can explain or understand yet. So I brought it under my department and I classified it. I knew that it could change everything for us but I cannot explain how its there or why it even exists!"

Bane knew Ron could not resist working on a problem until he solved it or at least understood it. If he was admitting being stumped, then it must be something extra-ordinary. Bane told Ron, "Alright, what exactly is it? Ron pressed a button on his data pad and before the trio, appeared an image of a room. Contained in it were five stasis chambers, containing four perfectly preserved bodies with a unique chamber in the center with an unknown occupant. Stasis pod were no mystery, so Bane looked closer as Ron worridly said, "Bane... I found US!"

Bane sat in complete shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing yet there it was before him. It was beyond his ability to comprehend. He was alive yet he was looking at his body. He knew this was something he had to inspect for himself, but believing it was another matter entirely. Only time would tell exactly what it was and what this meant.