The GateWorld Cantina Chronicles

[Princess Awinita]

Somewhere in the far reaches of endless space.....

Port Wander. Just the name of the vast starstation at the edge of known space of the Triangle Empire made people wonder what it meant. It wasn't on the core or deep core of the Empire of the Triangle. Instead it was on their outermost rim. There were no planets of any kind near to its location. It was like a doorway to the wunknown regions of space. Not that many wpould venture much farther then Port Wander, which was a major trading port, and also a repair station for many starships.

One of the many merchant vessels, colored slate green and silver to blend better with the stars and darkness, named Spirit of Silence was ready to leave Port Wander, its owner, Ni-Fang, a deep space born woman of only eightteen years in appearance (yet in actuallity she was twenty six if born on a planet) calculated the ammount of criedts and gold brought aboard in terms of sales of goods, and smuggled items.

Today is a good day. She thought, Tomorrow may be better when we stop at Earth for more trading.

Even so much as a single day in deep space and darkspace, days seemed to be very long for the spaceborn woman and her deep space crew. many other merchants strayed away from her crew when sales were made, others found her goods more valueable due to the fact her crew and she herself cut out the middle man so to speak, and got many goods through ill means and smuggling operations.

Almost all of those most valued goods were spices of various worlds, and also artifacts of a long forgotten empire. Ni-Fang did not think much on it as she entered the bridge iof her ship and serveyed her crew. seven people. even though her ship could hold several hundred crew at omnce, most of the systems were slave rigged to keep things in better order and have more of a tight nit family of a crew.

Two men, a woman, and several other beings, maybe mutants from darkspace for all she cared were on the bridge, nine in all including her. "We're ready and resupplied for trip to Earth at the core worlds." She said, "Helmsman; Sound main docking order to disconnect from Port Wander and iniate main drives for entry to darkspace." She told the helmsman, an Earthborn man of 67 years named Hiedenhammer. Everyone called him Hieden.

"Aye Captain." Hieden replied. the grizzled man was unconcerned for his own safety yet more concerned for his own captains safety, a young girl of half his age yet showing more skill in smuggling and merchanting at the same time then he had ever seen. Even taking on a crew so dastardly that their items as merchants were more valued then anything else, mostly because of how they got those items. Be they legal or ill means it didn't matter.

Spirit of Silence drifted away from Port Wander, the ringlike rock that looked very gothic in appearance due to its surface covered in thousands of buildings and dock yards and markets and constantly exspanded upon day in and day out was soon left in the dust of their engine trails as the 1.62 KM long ship moved off and disappeared into darkspace in a impolosion of stars at its tails. Soon they would have a new sale, maybe more crew. Who knew for sure.

[Gregorius]

After the trial the Lord President had returned to his private rooms and as he looked over the burning planet. One day, just one day had they returned and already they had to fix a problem within their own ranks. He thought back to how they had returned.

It had been the aftermath of the battle against the Empress. P90 had been trapped in the Void and Dray was left in command of the fleet while Mapp had fled, with CJ and WP on the Catina, out of fear for the wrath of Dray, Greg and the fleet for his actions. It was there that the plan to bring back the Time Lords had been put into motion.

Greg had pulled Dray into the Impossible System, in his Tardis to protect her the Empress' power, who seemed deterimined to put away with anyone who resented Mapp for his actions or had the power to challenge him.

"GREG! You saw what he did! He let her escape!" The hybrid yelled at him as they moved quickly through the Time Vortex.

"I know. She tried to seal me away. I managed to get away but P90 didn't..."

"What?! P90's gone?!"

"Yeah, he's trapped in the Void."

A female form materialized in the Tardis and as realization of who it was dawned upon her, Dray was shocked. "Laplace?"

"Hello, Dray. Good to see you again, it has been a while." Greg interrupted her, "Got the holographic emitters fixed, I see."

'Yeah, took a while but when that holograph of the abomination appeared I could reverse engineer the technology."

"Excellent. Now lets get on to business, I know you know what I want to do, but sadly the hybrid here can't read our thoughts her body's too frail to do what needs to be done."

"What are you o..." Dray stopped midsentence as Greg had touched her "What's happening?"

"You're dying. I stopped your hearts."

"Why? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Bright energies flowed from Dray's body as her old, frail, body turned into a new one.

"Now that's interesting, don't you think, Laplace?"

"Yes, it seems she becomes more Time Lord when she regenerates."

"Why. Did. You. Do. That?" Dray asked Greg as she examined her new body and was shocked by the disappearance of more Wraith features.

"Your old body was frail and I had a theory I had to test. Anyway, doesn't really matter. Laplace, could you tell her what we're going to do?"

Dray wanted to speak but somehow she found herself unable to and as she turned to Greg again she saw his laser screwdriver pointed at her throat.

"We're planning on bringing the Time Lords back. It's going to take a while to find a way, because we first need to free P90. In the mean time we need you to keep your ships away from Midna because that's where Mapp is."

"You want me to give up chasing Mapp?"

"Yes. We need the Cantina for what we want to do and it seems only he can properly operate it.", Greg stood up and started talking "This is a friendly request. Do it and we'll reward you once the time comes. If you don't, well, guess you'd have to stay on the Impossible Planet for a while. I'd really prefer not to do it because somethings need to be created while I figure out a way to free P90."

"Right. What things?"

"Stargates. We'll create tunnels through the Time Vortex, instantly connecting two places."

------

A month passed and Draygon was sitting in her chair on the Triangle capitol-world of New Gallifrey, watching the news. On it her old enemy, Benson, had appeared as the leader of the opposition and had questioned her decision to continue building warships and not allow planets to seperate from the empire. She sighed, and turned off the news. I need something fast or I might have a rebellion on my hands... Her thoughts were interrupted by a bright flash, and a human was lying in front of her.

"Finally. It seems Greg has gotten around to fix you, hasn't he, Los?"

"Yes, he has. Sadly he couldn't restore my body and had to create a human body which could hold my mind. He send me here to give you the plans for the prototype gates and so I could assist you. He also handed me this", he grapped something from his pockets and handed it to her, "it's a sonic screwdriver, P90's old one. He said you could use it."

"Thank you. Now lets get to work. We need that gate system."

"That's not all Greg said. He also said I was to be your second-in-command so you could focus on the more important stuff."

"Okay. As my second-in-command, you're to deal with the Benson problem."

-----

Four more months passed. Draygon had developed the first few gates and Los had been dealing with the politics of it all, while on the Impossible Planet, Greg was had been working on something else. It had been at that day the foundation for what was coming had been created, there at the Macrophilian Junction.

"Come on, Laplace, we can do it. He's connected to the Eye, amplify the signal again, we need to send a signal for him to follow to get him out."

"I'm trying, but the seals aren't cracking. It's like there's a cocoon around the whole universe trapping us. Wait, something's happening. A small crack. I'll try to keep it open..."

"I see it, sending the signal now...Lets hope he gets it..."

"I can't hold it open much longer, it's being sealed again..."

"Do you sense it, Laplace? A Tardis is materializing close to us. Use more power to keep the crack open, he's almost out... He's out. Go, now."

The blue police box had materialized and Greg had towed it into the impossible system.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, P90.", Greg said with a grin, "It has been a while."

"Where is he? Where's Mapp? I'll get him for what he has done...How long have I been gone?"

"About 5 months, give of take."

"That short? It felt like an eternity."

"It's the Void. Now listen up, I need you to not hunt Mapp for the time being. He'll get his punishment later. For now I need him for my plan."

"What are you planning that could be so important that I'll allow Mapp to run free?"

"The return of the Time Lords."

"That's impossible, they were trapped in the Time War, and it has been Time Locked."

"I know. We'll need to break the laws of Time to get them back, but it can be done...with your help. And once they're back we can give Mapp what he has coming."

"Breaking the laws of time...You truly are a Q..."

"Yes, but it's needed and you know it. Mapp only could do all the stunts he has pulled because the Time Lords are gone, there's no-one to keep him in check. Not to mention that the universe is in chaos...We could change all that."

"I'll help, on one condition: I get to punish Mapp for what he did to me..."

"Very well, now lets get to work."

----

The Lord President was disturbed by the arrival of a servant.

"Lord President? The senate is expecting your arrival."

(( Just so everyone's clear on this: No-one knows the Time Lords have returned. ))

[Gregorius]

Midna, 5 years after the fall of the Empress. A small shuttle lands on the frozen planet, near a small colony.

Midna, this is where she was according to my latest information, running a bar named The Cantina., Ben thought as he left his ship and walked towards the door seperating the landing pads from the colony.

A female voice he recognized spoke through the speaker: "Welcome to Midna, please enjoy your stay."

Sounds like her, now where is that bar? He walked for some time until he found it: The Cantina on Midna, the place where smugglers and the undesirables go to hide. It had taken him years to track it down, people weren't willing to talk about it. It had even been an accident how he tracked it down, someone had confused him for an undesirable and told him where to go to hide from the forcess of Lady Draygon. He walked into the bar, and sat down.

------

"Jacen, could you please go outside and check one of the water purifiers?", CJ asked the droid that had accompanied her to the small garden inside the dome, "It seems to be malfunctioning and we need all the water we can get."

"Will do", and with that the droid left the garden and went outside while CJ walked back to the bar.

As she entered the bar she nodded to WP who made a head gesture towards the strange man sitting at the corner table. She walked to the man to check him out, and was shocked when she saw him.

"Ben?"

"CJ?"

[Draygon]

Dray was once more sat in her chair on New Gallifrey, idly working her way through the reports and messages that Los had filtered through to be worthy of her attention.

Speak of the devil...

Los barged the doors open, something that wasn't normally in his nature, they had a good understanding on such matters. She looked up at him about to scold him and stopped. The look on his face boded ill.

"There's been an incident of large scale destruction on Earth," he told her. "One of the main residential areas has been devastated. The reports have just come through."

Draygon considered the initial information carefully. "Casualties?"

"Extensive."

"Attack?"

"Unknown as of yet."

"Witness reports?"

"Some sort of space craft fell out of the sky."

"Hmm..." She drummed her fingers on the desk. "What is the sentor doing to deal with the situation?"

Los offered a hint of a grin. "Telling us."

Sighing Dray stood up and went over to the window. "Have the ship contained and any survivors and witness detained for questioning. Make sure to get the news broadcasts to ask for calm, I'm not going to give Benson more fuel for his opposition party."

"Already done," replied Los, making a note on a sheet of paper and handing it to her. "I've also got the secret services to perform more random chatter sweeps and analyses, keep on top of things before they develop."

"You know, times like this I think Greg made the right choice making you my second in command," she smiled. The smile soon froze though as she saw the aerial photographs Los was holding of the devastated area.

Snatching them off him, she stared at them, amber eyes drinking in every detail before slamming the pictures down. "Have the entire area contained, three - no, make that a four mile radius from the crash."

"Dray?" Los was the only one that could get away without using the hybrid's full title. "I'll need reasons."

"He might have survived the crash and he can't be allowed to get away. I will make sure of it. Have the ship compound in the security docks as soon as it's cleared. I need to inform someone of this."

The new leader of the Triangle, Lady Draygon, swept out of the room to her private chambers. Los glanced down at the pictures on her desk, trying to see what she had in the twisted carnage that had her so heated. Gathering up the reports, he left the room as well, handing some to a nearby orderly with whispered instructions that they were to be taken care of immediately. A few more things to take care of, he though, and then I can attempt to find out what Draygon is so worked up about. Last time she was this irate... He shook his head and carried on with running the political side of the Empire.

[Gregorius]

.

After the meeting with the senate had ended, the Lord President returned to his quarters and went onto the balcony. The fires were lessening in intensity, and where the flames had gone he could see the scorched earth. He realized it would take years to rebuild the planet, although he had expected as much when the Time Lords were returned.

-----

On the impossible system, 6 months after the fall of the Empress, 1 month after P90's return, a small group of people stood there. Greg, a holographic Laplace, Draygon and Mapp.

"Why have you brought me here, Greg?", Mapp inquired as he looked at him, "I can't imagine it's a social call, seeing what happened..."

"You're right, it's not a social call. You wouldn't even be here had we not had need for you. It took a lot of convicing the people here to let you come without executing you on the spot for what you did.", Greg spoke as he noticed Mapp's warm clothing, He is hiding on Midna.
"But, as I said, we need you. I'm offering you a chance to correct you mistake and help get P90 back from the Void."

"That's impossible..."

"It isn't impossible, it's very improbable but definately possible.", Greg retorted as Mapp looked at him with a strange curiosity.

What has he come up with? Is it even possible to get someone out of the Void now that the Abstract beings have sealed the rift?

"P90's Tardis is connected to the eye. We can use it as an anchor point and send a signal so he can return here. We only need to create a small crack so he can travel here himself."

"That's insane...You're planning on breaching the rift? Who knows what creatures could slip through the crack!"

"What's that to you? You did it. You brought back Susie, now we want to bring back P90.", Dray spoke as Mapp looked at her in shock.

"Dray? Is that you? You have regenerated?"

She knew it wasn't a question but a statement but she was still angry with his actions: "Shut up, Mapp. I'm only here because Greg asked me to help him get P90 back. If it were up to me, I'd kill you on the spot. Although Greg has said I could do it if you refuse to help."

"Mapp, Dray. Stop it.", Laplace interjected, "We need to do it now before the seal becomes too strong for use to breach."

"Fine. It seems I don't have much choice here, do I? I'll help you do it and then I leave and you leave me alone for at least a century."

They went into their respective Tardises and Greg contacted P90.

"He's bought it. Are you ready out there?"

"I am, lets do this." P90 closed the transmission part of the channel and watched as Greg connected to Dray and Mapp who were now appearing on the screen,

"Are you ready, Dray? Mapp? Prepared to bring back P90."

The Tardises took to the sky, leaving Dray at the controls of the Eye of Harmony, and they began to open a rift in space-time.

"Greg? The rift is large enough, I'm going through. Don't let him see me.", P90 said as his cloaked Tardis entered the rift, "I'll soon be back."

"I'll join you if you can break through it competely, we only need one Tardis to keep it open. Good luck."

Inside the Cantina the cloyster bells started to ring.

"The Cloyster bell? What's going on here? This shouldn't happen.", Mapp yelled at the screen, "Greg, what is going on?"

"The seals are stronger than I expected, we need more power. Close down communications and focus everything on keeping that rift open."

Greg closed the communcations window with Mapp and spoke to Dray and P90.

"Dray, maximum power to me and P90's Tardis. It's about to happen."

"Greg, I located a weak spot in the lock, could you fire the special weapons so they know a path is ready?"

"Already on it, firing now."

As the weapons went through the rift and tore open the Time Lock, Mapp looked in horror as he realized what he had just helped do. He suddenly saw a burning planet through the rift, a planet that he recognized: Gallifrey. He wanted to contact Greg and tell him off but Greg beat him to the punch.

"Gallifrey, RISES!", he could hear the triumphant tone in Greg's voice, "Like a Phoenix rises from its ashes, so the Time Lords will rise from the fires of hell!"

"I won't allow this to happen! I'll stop you."

"Too late. Dray, execute order 66. Disconnect the Cantina from the Eye."

"You...you can't do that..."

"You're outpowered, Mapp."

The planet came through the rift and P90 landed his Tardis close to Dray on the Impossible Planet, and saw, to his great amusement, how Mapp was losing the battle against Greg and tried to flee, only to be captured by the Time Lords.

Greg materialized next P90 and Dray and congratulated them on a job well done.

"The Time Lord have returned. Now we must take power on Gallifrey and seal the rift before..."

"They are already sealing the rift themselves.", P90 interrupted with a smile, "They sealed it the moment Gallifrey was completely here."

"Well, then, guess we only need to go to Gallifrey and take power. Got your weapons ready?"

P90 showed his screwdriver, and as Dray revealed her's, he said: "That's my old one, isn't it?"

"It is, Greg gave it to me..."

"Oh, well, you can keep it. It's an old model."

"Are you two done? It's time we headed...home."

----------

In the Time Lord senate, Mapp was being interrogated by the Lord President and the senators.

"Who did this? Were you the one who allowed us to return to our rightful place?", the Lord President spitted out at Mapp and pointed his gauntlett at him and yelled, "ANSWER ME!" as Mapp was screaming out in pain.

"I ... I was tricked... Had I known they were planning this, I would've never helped them.."

"They!? Who are you talking about..." But Mapp collapsed and lost consciousness.

"Lord President", a guard spoke

"What is it!? Can't you see I'm busy!?"

"There are intruders in the Citadel."

"Stop them."

"We tried, but it seems the people we send are joining them ... and they wield strange..."

The door to the senate bursted open, and the senate guards were quickly overpowered by rebel guards.

"Who dares attack the senate? Do you know who I am? I'm the Lord President of Gallifrey!"

A figure, his head not visible in the shadows, walked towards the Lord President, while the Lord President was thrown to the ground by the beam of a red sonic screwdriver, losing his gauntlett in the process.

"You!", the Lord President shouted in fear as the face of the Time Lords approaching him became visible.

"Hello, Rassilon.", Greg spoke, as he walked ever closer to the Lord President, "Surprised to see me? Guess you are, you thought I had died but let me tell you, project 102 was a succes."

"Lord President", P90 said as he picked up the gauntlett and put it on, "It's good to see you again."

The Lord President tried to speak but found that a third person, a Time Lord he didn't recognize, had aimed a sonic screwdriver at him and found that he was unable to speak.

"Good work, Dray, shutting him up. His spit is all over the floor, we might slip in it and break a leg or an arm. P90, could you transport Mapp to a holding cell in preparation for his trial?"

As P90 instructed the guards to take Mapp away to a holding cell, Greg grinned at the Lord President and the shocked senators.

"Dear, Time Lords. You're probably wondering who brought you back? Well, let me answer you: The three of us did. We pulled you from the Time War, back into the present in a place only we have the technology to reach. A private universe, much like the Q have. Now if you would be so kind to vote me Lord President of Gallifrey, then we can begin restoring the Time Lords to their rightful place in the universe."

The senators quickly voted Greg as Lord President of Gallifrey.

----

It had now been four and a half years since he had absorbed the title of Lord President of Gallifrey, and Greg grinned and the thought back to those early days, when Gallifrey had been burning. How different it was now.

He stood on a balcony in the Citadel, and saw the restored Gallifrey. The Citadel more proud than ever before, the crashed Dalek ships being turned into monuments of the Time War. Everywhere he looked he saw the greatness of the Time Lords returned to its full glory.

His site seeing was interrupted by the Chancellor.

"Lord President?"

"Yes, Rassilon, what is it?"

"Lord P90 is here."

"Excellent, send him in and close the door on your way out."

[aretood2]

Jacen made his way to the water purifiers upon CJ's request. He couldn't help but remember the years that have come and gone. All those he cared about and all those that he new are gone. Looking at his hands, his human imitation synthetic hands, reminded him constantly of his past. He failed to get home, failed to clear his name, failed to protect his crew.

"Blast, these circuits are getting fried, better replace them." He spoke to himself hoping that the odd behavior would somehow make him more human than droid. "It's been five years and I still don't feel right," being in a droid body has taken its toll on him. Every passing day he feels a growing hunger, a hunger that can only be ignored by work. He has learned little of CJ's past all he knows is that she has ways off calming her spirits, of denying any past demons to haunt her. This is one of the many reasons that he has settled down with her.

It's cold," He spoke to himself. A droid can't feel cold, but he can tell the temperature and understand the feeling like if it was a bittersweet memory. He could also smell more precisely than he ever imagined possible. His precision was unhuman and matched by equally impressive speed. But this did not keep him from desiring his real body, his humanity.

He Managed to finish the work on the water purifiers and gathered his belongings to head back to CJ.

[Princess Awinita]

Somewhere in the endless darkness of darkspace....

Trading at Earth will be sooner then planned. Ni-Fang thought to herself seeing the starmap in the maproom of the Spirit of Silence show their current location in compairson to the core world of Earth, near the direct center of the Triangle Empire. A beacon appeared and she felt a shift in the floor. We dropped from hyperspace? She wondered. She left the map room in a huff, one of the mutant crewmembers skuttled out of her path as her anger was seen clearly on her lightly tanned face.

She entered the bridge of the ship. they had indeed left hyperspace. Far too soon. "Hieden, what system are we in?"

"Well Cap'n, we recived a message through subspace while in hyperspace saying to rerout around Earth to a nearby Core World, or Spaceport. Saying that Earth was now a no fly zone until further notice." Hieden replied in his gruff Scottish voice.

"Very well, what is the next Core World on the charter for trading with MerTelCa?" Ni-Fang asked going to the starmap on the bridge, though smaller then the one located in them aproom it had everything like the maproom, only the map room had a larger hologram display.

"Midna, Cap'n" came the reply.

Ni-Fang nodded, Midna had once been her familes major trading export of a rare type of ore used in the hyperspace reactors that many spacers went to her to buy at her prices several turned away, but many of them bought her ore. Then they found that Kath also harbored the same ore. After all, her crew were the only ones that went into the planet to find it, thus cutting costs of paying middlemen and otherwise. "There is one problem with Midna, it is classed a nofly zone. Rechart course to route along main spacelane between the core worlds for Kath." She said.

A second crew member, one of the more normal humans of a planet stood nearby at the navigation station. "Course set, ready to jump to hyperspace for Kath system at your command" the woman said.

"Midna is only a quarter day from Earth within the Core, Kath another tenth of a day from there closer to the galaxy core, get us to the outsystem at best speed not using hyperspace, if earth is a no fly zone, best to play it safe." Ni-Fang replied. The two crewmen in the bridge with her nodded, better safe then sorry, Hieden then inched the throttle to full, since best speed was half that of hyperspace, and even then darkspace had its limits as new lanes were constantly rerouted and remapped, not mention updated daily to the point wherein every ten minutes a new lane was found or one made safer.

"We'll arrive at Kath Space Station within the next ten hours or so Cap'n" Hieden said as the stars began to pass as the Spirit of Silence knifed its metallaic green prow through the darkness of space like a ship upon a planets water. They were almost to earth to trade with the people living there at their Market, but had to reroute due to a conflict of some kind.

[AtlantisRules!!!]

The men wandered into the small conference room, all confused, not knowing who summoned them or why. Murmured questions were passed, no one having answers to any of them. Perplexed and nervous they took seats around the table, the perfect number of chairs being there.

Just then, the door swung open and Benson strode in, he carried himself confident and strong. "Thank you all for coming." He strode down the few stairs and stopped at the head of the table.

"And just what is this about?" One of the men spoke up, the Representative of a small backwater market world, Benson couldn't remember the name at the moment.

"you are all here, representing different worlds. Different worlds with one thing in common." Benson glanced around the room, "You all want out of the Empire." That started a round of murmurs around the room. Benson spoke up above them. "The problem is that they will not let you get out. This is a problem. The Empire was built to replace the old Government. And this one is on the path to be the same or even worse. I saw how the other government grew and bwecame what it was."

One of them waved therir hands impatiently, "Yes, yes, we all know your history."

"Yes, of course. My point is, if they will not let you out, then you must force yourself out." Benson said, the words hung in the air. They tension grew, the representatives shocked.

"You... you are suggesting rebelling!"

Benson didn't reply, he just placed his hands on the table and leaned forward and waited. The tension built even further. Finally he replied, "Yes."

[Commander Jumper]

"BEN!" She cried, leaning over to embrace the man. "It's been so long! What five years?" she asked pulling back to get a better look at him. He seemed worn and tired, but his eyes seemed happy as though he had finally found what he was searching for. "You've changed!"

He smiled awkwardly at the woman he had been searching for. "You haven't changed at all..."

CJ smiled warmly at him, her smile radiating through his soul sending a calming spirit through him. But deep down in her blue eyes he could sense sadness, a very real sadness barely masked by a facade of joy. "You know how us women are." She stated pouring him a drink from nowhere. "We never change.. always constant images of beauty and perfection."

He nodded looking at the drink in contemplation.

CJ laughed and put her hands on her hips. "Don't worry! Its on the house! Always on the house for a good friend of mine! After all you brought me to Mapp... and I'll always be grateful for that."

He smiled slightly and took a drink before spitting it back into the cup a look of disgust on his face. "MOONSHINE?"

CJ nodded, "The good stuff too you might go blind! We have no real alcoholic factories here on Midna so it's all made in Morris' bathtub. Morris is my landlord.....he's Italian..."

Ben narrowed his eyes at CJ, this woman was a living lie, masked in happiness and bubbly behavior, not the smart reserved woman he knew from before.

Her smile faltered for a moment and she blinked rapidly. "Excuse me for a moment." She stated coldly, walking from the table. She was stopped in her tracks as he gripped her hand.

"You don't have to lie." he stated, standing.

She nodded, looking down. "Come with me.. we have things to discuss."

She led him swiftly through the bar towards the backroom as Jacen stepped out.

"Jacen did you fix the water purifier?" She asked as he stepped aside to let her in.

"Yes Miss CJ." He stated, "and I've prepared your afternoon tea in the tea garden."

CJ smiled "I don't know what I would do without you Jacen. Thank you."

She walked past Jacen and lead Ben through the door into the green house. She took him through a stone path that lead to a gated off area about the size of a large backyard. Inside there was a traditional Japanese garden. A short table had been set up at a small shrine and two pillow sat on the sides. A put of tea was warming on a tin of hot coals and two cups sat across from one another. She motioned for him to take a seat.

"Please... take a seat." She walked quietly to the shrine and opened the doors where a small painted picture was set up with candles on either side. She lit the candles and whispered something as Ben took his seat. She joined him shortly after shutting the doors. "Usually I take my tea alone, but today is the exception."

"Who is that a picture of?" Ben asked.

"No one of consequence..." CJ muttered, pouring the tea. "Someone I lost long ago... the picture was stowed away with my things on the Cantina.."

Ben looked at her as sadness over came her face. She gripped the handle of the tea pot before setting it back on the coals.

"Is that where you went?" He asked, looking at the green liquid in his cup.

She nodded, taking a sip of tea. "But then somehow I ended up on Midna.. alone and in the cold one day.. no idea where Mapp was."

It was then that he knew why she was sad behind her eyes. "You love him still... don't you?"

CJ nodded, looking into her cup. "Unrequited love is the worst...."

He laughed, "Yeah I know."

She laughed painfully. "I'm very familiar with all sides of love..."

He managed a half smile as CJ sighed deeply. "I think on some level he did love me... after all he built me a garden just like this one on the Cantina... he listened to my heart ache, he never judged me... he was my best friend... and he just dumped me on this planet while I slept..."

Ben looked at the pain and hurt in her eyes. "You don't know that."

CJ shrugged. "I don't... but if he did it was for my own good. He's such a fool..."

Ben watched the girl so helplessly in pain, her heart seemed to break before him. He reached out and touched her hand. "Will you be alright?"

CJ nodded, smiling painfully. "He'll be back." she whispered, "He always comes back... but lets move on... why did you come here?"

(Vampyr?)

[Princess Awinita]

Ni-Fang had been within the cargo manifesdt area going through what she had on her datasheet, "Great" She said aloud as she punched in her code on a keypad to unlock a door to enter the main hallway of the cargo area. "Short of shardress oil, Karthonian Bath Beads." She turned a page on the list of cargo she had. Coming to a halt at what should have been the cargo manifest of the Kath ore. "our main product." She let out a breath.

Re-entering the main hallway she sealed the cargo door and went towards the map room on the ship, she felt the shudder as the Spirit of Silence slowed. Going ot a radio she keyed ther Bridge. "Hieden, report."

"We are bein' hailed Cap'n, I sugest you come to the bridge." Hieden replied.

"This had better be good" Ni-Fang muttered placingthe cargo manifest data in the care of a nearly imbile mutant crewmember before heading to the bridge.

When she arrived she spoke "I'm here, who is hailing us?" Ni-Fang hated being stopped, but unless it was cargo inspectors, she would do so. Then she noticed it. Apparently they had "recharted" their path to Kath, only to come into the Sol System. An Imperial Squad of smaller craft came towards the Spirit of Silence. "It appears we are to trade at Earth after all. Ready the crew for possible boarding and inspection."

Hieden nodded and sent out the general quuarters alarm to be ready for boarding and inspection of cargo, and possible questioning by Triangle forces. Ni-Fang herself went to the cargo hold area and made sure a few panels were places rightly on the floor. Then she noticed something. Great, just freking great. She thought seeing the damaged wireing to the main power conduit in the cargo hold. Maybe they could get a repair job done?

"What about Kath Spaceport?" Hieden's mental question reached her mind. "Are we not to continue to there?"

"We do not have the ore Hieden, our most valued and sought after cargo is depelted, we need to restock at Kath. But earth we were hailed from no doubt. So we will trade what we have right now at this time here." She replied before sealing the smuggling panels to the floor, making them look normal. Spmetimes even the power wiring wasn't real. She headed back to the bridge to awaiting the Triangle officers arrival.

[Vampyr]

Ben took a long, deep breath. “I came here, because for the last five years, I've been searching for answers.” He brought up an arm and whispered instructions into the bracelet wrapped securely around his wrist. A holographic image popped into the air, the bracelet's tiny holo-projectors bringing a three-dimensional image into being. It was a still of what seemed to be a surgical room of some fashion, there was a doctor at a remote-terminal, operating robotic manipulator arms about an unconscious patient. Along with the doctor were several attendants, all in differing positions, presumably assisting the doctor at the arms. “Back on Earth, you'd said something that made me start thinking, although it took me quite a while to put it all together.” CJ had an expression that could only be described as pensive, as Ben continued to lay out his points.

“You told me something to the effect that you'd lived a long long time, quite possibly you were immortal. At this juncture, I don't quite remember the exact phrases, but those words, combined with a vague feeling that at some earlier stage in my life, I'd seen you before got me searching.” Ben gently whispered a few more instructions, then tugged the bracelet off his wrist, its grip on his arm relaxing as his fingers pried it away, and set it on the table. CJ leaned forward, nervously, still unsure of exactly what Ben was getting at.

With a few deft finger gestures about the image, Ben zoomed in on one particular attendant. Even through the medical scrubs and mask, the attendant's features had a distinct resemblance to CJ's. “It took me a long time you know, not only to search through the historical archives, but to find an actual intact copy of a Matari datacore.” Ben massaged his temples, a headache coming on. “I know this is all roundabout and confusing, I apologize, I'll get to the point: I came to ask who you were, or rather are. You see, what I just showed you was a security tape from an early implant-grafting procedure performed by the Rand-Matari corporation. There are more files, but they all lead me to the same thing: you were present at each and every procedure that went wrong.

“After those deaths, the Rand-Matari corporation, its employees and every transhumanist on the planet that even showed an iota of sympathy towards them were forced onto a colony ship and sent into deep space, exiled from their own home.” Ben reached past the hologram and took CJ's hands in his own, unable to look at her. “CJ, I want to be angry at you, but I can't.” His head sagged, eyes shut. “Could you at least do me the favour of telling why you did this to my ancestors?”

((Off to you CJ))

[Commander Jumper]

Spoiler:

Ben took a long, deep breath. “I came here, because for the last five years, I've been searching for answers.” He brought up an arm and whispered instructions into the bracelet wrapped securely around his wrist. A holographic image popped into the air, the bracelet's tiny holo-projectors bringing a three-dimensional image into being. It was a still of what seemed to be a surgical room of some fashion, there was a doctor at a remote-terminal, operating robotic manipulator arms about an unconscious patient. Along with the doctor were several attendants, all in differing positions, presumably assisting the doctor at the arms. “Back on Earth, you'd said something that made me start thinking, although it took me quite a while to put it all together.” CJ had an expression that could only be described as pensive, as Ben continued to lay out his points.

“You told me something to the effect that you'd lived a long long time, quite possibly you were immortal. At this juncture, I don't quite remember the exact phrases, but those words, combined with a vague feeling that at some earlier stage in my life, I'd seen you before got me searching.” Ben gently whispered a few more instructions, then tugged the bracelet off his wrist, its grip on his arm relaxing as his fingers pried it away, and set it on the table. CJ leaned forward, nervously, still unsure of exactly what Ben was getting at.

With a few deft finger gestures about the image, Ben zoomed in on one particular attendant. Even through the medical scrubs and mask, the attendant's features had a distinct resemblance to CJ's. “It took me a long time you know, not only to search through the historical archives, but to find an actual intact copy of a Matari datacore.” Ben massaged his temples, a headache coming on. “I know this is all roundabout and confusing, I apologize, I'll get to the point: I came to ask who you were, or rather are. You see, what I just showed you was a security tape from an early implant-grafting procedure performed by the Rand-Matari corporation. There are more files, but they all lead me to the same thing: you were present at each and every procedure that went wrong.

“After those deaths, the Rand-Matari corporation, its employees and every transhumanist on the planet that even showed an iota of sympathy towards them were forced onto a colony ship and sent into deep space, exiled from their own home.” Ben reached past the hologram and took CJ's hands in his own, unable to look at her. “CJ, I want to be angry at you, but I can't.” His head sagged, eyes shut. “Could you at least do me the favour of telling why you did this to my ancestors?”

((Off to you CJ))

Cj pulled her hand away and stood, turning her back to Ben. He ran her thumb in circles across the palm of the hand he had grabbed. The scars of the deep gashes from five years ago still ever present on her hand. A constant reminder of what she had done to gain such powers. She looked over her shoulder at Ben. "I don't think you'll like it when you hear it..."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "I don't like the alternative of thinking that you killed so many people out of hatred and prejudice."

CJ sighed deeply before walking to the steps and taking a seat, her back to him. "I don't know if I can trust you. Usually I try to keep this a secret. The only person who knew up until a few years ago... and by a few I mean.. a long time ago... was Mapp."

Ben stood and sat next o her on the stairs, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I think you killed thousands of my ancestors... I don't want to kill you now... you can trust me."

CJ stood and gracefully walked to the centre of the garden. She gripped the sword in her hand and pulled it from the sheath. "I'm not human, but i think you already guessed that... I'm not alive either.. not technically."

Ben watched in awe as CJ mercilessly tore through the flesh on her hand, "Save, Kazumi" she ripped open old scars from long ago, her blood coating the blade. "I'm not even from this realm of existence... I'm a shinigami. Death God." She stated, walking towards a dead patch of lilies that had been depraved of water after the filter had broken. She let the blood drip from her hand onto the flowers and for a moment they sprung back to life only to wilt again. She turned to Ben and returned her sword to the sheath. "Flowers don't work like humans.. so I can't do much to save them. I give life and I take life away." She stated walking up to Ben. "My duty as a Shinigami is to send the souls of the dead to the other side. Those people... your ancestors..."

She hung her head in shame.

"I knew they would die.." She looked up at Ben. "I don't have mystical powers or psychic visions... I just knew they would die. They were messing with things they weren't ready for, I knew eventually someone would die.. and its my job to make sure they're souls don't grow restless."

Ben looked at her on confusion. "You mean to say your a grim reaper of sorts?"

CJ shook her head. "I don't kill those who need to die, I merely aide in the transition."

"Why don't you send the souls of others anymore?" Ben asked, walking up to CJ, "There had to be thousands of souls on Earth roaming about..."

CK looked him straight in the eyes. "I let that part of my life go a long time ago. I realised that no matter how many people I saved... I would never be happy.. and it would never bring Hideyoshi back..."

"Hide-"

CJ shook her head. "Don't bother. All I want to know now... is... what will you do now that I've given you the truth. Will you accept it.. or will you deny it like so many before you.. either way I won't care.. as long as you leave it as it is.. and never speak of it again."

(Vampyr)

[Vampyr]

“I don't know what to think.” Ben shook his head, taking a breath to calm his jittery nerves. “All I've done these past five years is search for answers, and you.”
For what it's worth, I can understand something of that pain. Shortly after the Triangle came into being, Matar officials sealed off the system, and retreated behind iron curtains. Nobody in or out.” Ben let a hand run over his head, trying to come up with appropriate words, even as the butterflies in his stomach continued to rise.

“I was off-planet at the time. Without Matari med-tech intervention, I knew I was going to slowly wither and die. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of what dying meant, cut off from the technologies that could sustain me, resurrect me.” Ben sat down on the ground, shaking at the spectre of death, both literal and metaphorical. “I feel like I should hate you, but I can't. For five long years I trawled data nets and interrogated countless scores of people in search of you, after a while the simple thought of you became my only companion.” CJ sat down next to Ben while he blinked, trying to keep his composure. “CJ, if it's not too much to ask, could I stay here. With you?” Ben looked deeply into her eyes, the loneliness of his entrapment in Earth orbit and those long five years showing their heavy toll in his own.

((CJ))

[Commander Jumper]

“I don't know what to think.” Ben shook his head, taking a breath to calm his jittery nerves. “All I've done these past five years is search for answers, and you.”
For what it's worth, I can understand something of that pain. Shortly after the Triangle came into being, Matar officials sealed off the system, and retreated behind iron curtains. Nobody in or out.” Ben let a hand run over his head, trying to come up with appropriate words, even as the butterflies in his stomach continued to rise.

“I was off-planet at the time. Without Matari med-tech intervention, I knew I was going to slowly wither and die. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of what dying meant, cut off from the technologies that could sustain me, resurrect me.” Ben sat down on the ground, shaking at the spectre of death, both literal and metaphorical. “I feel like I should hate you, but I can't. For five long years I trawled data nets and interrogated countless scores of people in search of you, after a while the simple thought of you became my only companion.” CJ sat down next to Ben while he blinked, trying to keep his composure. “CJ, if it's not too much to ask, could I stay here. With you?” Ben looked deeply into her eyes, the loneliness of his entrapment in Earth orbit and those long five years showing their heavy toll in his own.

((CJ))

CJ felt an overwhelming sensation take over her. A mix of pity and happiness. Her heart pounded in her ears as the man before her shook with fear, eyes begging her. A part of her felt a little scared that for five years all this man had thought about was her but at the same time it had just been something to keep him going.

Much like she had been when searching for Mapp, the only thing that kept her going was the thought of seeing him again.

She smiled and grabbed one of his hands, holding it tightly between her own. She smiled brightly, warming the odd tension in the garden. "You can stay with me. I'll have Jacen make up a bed for you in the guest room tonight. I can't promise you'll like it here with me... I hate it here. It seems, however, that those who stay with me are unaffected by the souls of those who once lived on this planet. You'll sleep soundly tonight my friend."

She stood and held out a hand to Ben. He grabbed it and she pulled him to his feet. She took a moment to look deeply into his eyes, trying to communicate a sense of ease and understanding. "If you need anything.. don't fear to ask me. All I ask is that you respect my privacy and the privacy of those who work for me. Beyond that feel free to come and go as you please. My house is your house."

He looked back at CJ with grateful eyes. "Thank you."

CJ nodded, letting go of his hand and walking back to the bar, Ben followed. She stepped through the door and walked up to Jacen and WP. CJ took a deep breath and smiled sweetly before pulling Ben to face them. "This is Ben. He helped me Five years ago when I was stranded on Earth. I hope the two of you will make him feel comfortable... Jacen I'd appreciate it if you made him a bed in the spare room."

Jacen nodded.

CJ turned to WP. "Any news?"

WP shook her head. "Nothing, not today CJ. Perhaps tomorrow."

CJ nodded before leaving the three. "I'll be in my room searching the frequencies."
--

CJ sat at her desk, her eyes fixed on the communications system, scanning for news of anything related to the Captain. Nothing. She sighed, letting her head fall to the desk. "Captain, please return soon. I need you now more than ever. I feel I'm slipping."

Her eyes became heavy and she fell asleep within moments, her heart heavy and aching, a deep sense of hope and excitement seemed to brew within the inner most parts of her heart.

Soon he would return.

She thought that every night, every night for five years.

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

Several relics sat neatly on shelves in her room, perfectly organised, shining under the flickering light of the lamp and glinting at her. She glanced to one of them, and let the subsequent memory fall into her head.

'The GateWorld Cantina'
By S.Bresnen

A darkening sky was spilling over the icy skin of Midna suddenly, and CJ stared up. Through the sharp wooden ceiling of her room a window hung, and down on her sparkled the stars of all the ages. Her stare never broke, even as her eyes started to trickle and her throat started to thin.

'...I need you,' she trembled 'please come back to me.'

Clouds moved in, sealing out their wisdom.

'...Please.'

---

Residential Tower B.

The stranger had been unconscious for hours, still twisting and turning in his sleep like some kind of crazy person. I bet that's it, I bet he's nuts. Elle folded her arms tightly, growing colder. She heard various loud noises up on the surface as the emergency services worked through the wreckage of her old home, scraping up bodies, clearing up his mess.

I wonder if he realises what he's done? She continued, I should just turn him in.

She jumped slightly as he lurched to one side again, lost in a mostly incoherent ramble, something about an ex, and pirates, and space pirates, and a black chest with ghosts...

Yeah, he's crazy, she stared at him with a kind of anger she wasn't used to. It was mixed in with the sadness of losing everything again, and the guilt of siding with someone who had spoken a maximum of two words to her since they met. She couldn't explain it, why she decided to pull him up out of his ship and drag him under the tower...What the hell was I thinking?

Then she remembered. She remembered all of those things that stabbed into her head when she touched his hand, back on his crashed ship...Only one she recognised enough. The Gauntlett. This man knows about it. He knows a LOT about it.

She couldn't let that pass. She glared, and allowed a whole range of emotions she considered to be prehistoric suddenly burrow into her blood as her eyes pinned themselves to him, to the objects on his belt, to the revolver hidden subtly against his thigh, to the memories of hers he had just risen from beneath an ocean of trauma. The whole Earth froze, and Elle was suddenly thrown back into the darkness of her past, back onto the colony she lived on for the first fourteen years of her life...

5 years earlier...

Terra Colony IV.

One of the few colonies established by the government of old Earth before the Triangle destroyed it. Her parents were refugees and had come to Terra as children of Earth, but they had grown old here, in the rust with the shadows and the dark. The colony, like so many built by humans, was fixed to a small moon in orbit around another world. This one circled a gas giant. It was so cramped, having been originally constructed to house just over five hundred colonists, it now held just under a thousand. All of them with no where else to go.

Elle was only sixteen, young and relatively beautiful for an engineer. On Terra, most engineers were deformed in some way, but not her. She was damn near perfect, because she was damn near perfect at handling machines. Having been there her whole life, her fellow colonists (save for a few who wanted urgently to plead with the Triangle to be accepted into their empire) were like one massive family.

It should have been obvious then, but she always used to live in hope. It was one of the reasons she was so liked, and adored, and sought after by the all of the boys on the moon. And her parents, as much as they felt protective over their only child, trusted her in the company of the colonists.

Life was harsh, but it was hers. And she wouldn't have changed it for the world. Even when she heard the rumours of a ghost ship capable of sailing through time, one which could blink in and out of existence and had its own demonic personality, she squeezed that hope tightly like a soft toy. It protected her, and would protect her family. That was something she would never lose. The universe could be cruel, but they'd suffered enough with the loss of their homeworld. They couldn't lose much more.

Terra Colonies III and V were the first to stop transmitting to their sisters in the network, and when Colony I and VI vanished from the frequency some of the preachers began pushing for evacuation. But to where? Some considered using the shuttles. But there weren't nearly enough for everyone. Some sent out further pleas to the Triangle, but replies had always been an automatic 'No'. The shadow of the devil eclipsed the light of the distant sun, and they all finally saw it.

Its power was simply indescribable...It began sucking life straight out of the colony. Whether it was through technology, or raw abstract power, or ancient alien weaponry - It didn't really matter. In a matter of seconds, Elle's family turned on each other like savages. Brainless. Hungry. War-starved.

She fought through, ended up on one of the empty shuttles, left them all behind.

Days later she had heard that the terror of the Gauntlett had been stopped somehow, but that the death toll had been higher than the atrocities committed by the first council of the Triangle 50 years before. She was rescued by a task force after a week among the stars, and was dumped on New Gallifrey.

The only survivor of the Terra genocide...And with no real explanation for what had happened, or what they had allowed to happen. The Triangle kept any information about the Gauntlett tightly underwraps...Nothing about it was ever released publically, nor was how it was ultimately stopped.

Present.

She shook the memories away, tried to focus on what was happening now. Earth was supposed to be a new beginning for her. She was one of the first volunteers to come through the stargate, one of the first settlers of the newly recovering planet...And not 24 hours after her arrival, something else came and destroyed her home and her new potential family.

This guy who fell from the frakkin' skies.

Something softly buzzed on her belt. A radio. She snapped it off and tuned in.

'Elle...' A familiar voice crackled through '...Are you there?'

'Hey, doc.' She replied in a broken voice 'How's things?'

It was Doc Rahim, one of her old friends who helped her during her 6 year struggle on New Gallifrey. He was the one who helped her get to Earth, and the only other person she trusted other than herself.

'Elle!' He said, pleased 'You're alive! That's good. Very, very good! Are you hurt! Are you safely out of the block? They've declared a quarantine around that entire sector. Nothing's allowed in or out now, and from newer reports that ship that crashed? Well they say it just vanished! Like right in front of them, just disappeared into nothing! Elle?'

She didn't particularly know how to process such information.

'Elle, come see me!' He urged 'I have a place you can rest. I heard your estate was one of the most heavily damaged. Hey! Are you still there?'

'Yeah, I'm here,' she said 'I'm just...Well, I think I'm shaken...Everything's hurting...'

'Can you make it to my lab?'

'I'm still behind quarantine, but we're hidden in one of the storage rooms beneath the second tower. It was hit during the crash, it's stable and we're near the sewer tunnels. I think we can follow them around...'

'Wait, wait - we?' He asked.

'I've got...one of the survivors here,' she explained 'but he's badly hurt, and I think he needs your help actually. And doc, keep this quiet. I don't want the police on my tail just for surviving and breaking quarantine. I'll bring him to you.'

'I'll open the back gates, but hurry!'

And with that she clicked off the radio, grabbed her sleeping guest by his arms and started to heave him down, down into the tunnels...