---CONTINUING TRANSMISSION---

---NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE…PART III---

C.N.S. OBLIVION
HIGH ORBIT ABOVE EARTH/KANE BAND, SOL SYSTEM
1227 HOURS, MARCH 21, 3961 A.D.

Loud grinding and clanking permeated the ship as the Oblivion tore through the enemy Ne'Ral ship like a hot knife through butter. Debris was flung in all directions by the collision, and within moments, the Silent Mercy drifted through space, split down her middle. The enemy ship was nothing more than a drifting hulk.

“…It’s over. It’s finally over.”

Suddenly, the Oblivion’s “lock-on” alert sounded; it appeared that the other Ne’Ral ships were seeking revenge for the loss of their best chance at wiping out Earth, and now the Oblivion was square in their System Killer crosshairs.

“Mike, if I didn’t know better, I would say the ships are mightily pissed,” Commander commented.
“Agreed. Lieutenant: order the gunnery crews to arm the Thunderstrikes.”
“Aye sir.”

But before the lieutenant could utter a single order, the ships suddenly stopped charging their weapons. They turned, and hypered out of the system, along with all the other Ne’Ral ships. It was a baffling sight.

“Alright…that was weird. Why’d they just up and leave?”
“I don’t know, Mike. I’m not sure what to do from here…”
“I wonder if maybe there’s Ne’Ral down on the Kane Band? It would make for a perfect staging point to dominate the planet.”
“It’s an intriguing idea, Mike. One that definitely merits an investigation.”

Commander turned and headed to a nearby console, typing in various coordinates.

“Mike, I want you to head down to the Kane Band. Take Bowser and 2 squads in a dropship and land at once.”
“Sir, yes sir,” Mike said, saluting.

A few minutes later…

“Is everything ready, Mike?”
“Affirmative, Commander. We’re ready to go anytime you wish.”
“Acknowledged. Kane Dockmaster, requesting permission to land a dropship. I would like to underline that we have no intentions of hostile intent.”
“Permission granted, C.N.S. Oblivion.”

The dropship left the hangar and headed down to the Kane Band’s surface. It descended down to the surface of the artificial ring, making a soft landing. They had simply chosen the area out of convenience; it was the most direct path to the Band’s surface. Upon their arrival, the door hissed open, and out walked Michael, Chaos Staff in hand, and Bowser, sporting his Drill Claws. But something caught their eye…

Mike turned as a figure in dark wolfish armor sprinted down the street in their direction, he could feel that this person was a... wait he was two psykers!
“Bowser, do you feel that?”

The Koopa King nodded as the figure came to an abrupt stop several yards away.
“Who are you?” it asked.
“I am Brigadier Chief Commander Michael E. Thompson,” Mike responded, “Chief of Security of the Commandarian Navy. Who are you?”

“I am Captain Rythan Blaze,” the figure commented, “but I am in a bit of a hurry.” he said, sprinting ahead after being still for only a few moments.

As he ran past, Mike commented, <psykers perhaps you would care to talk to us?>

Suddenly, Rythan stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing a psychic voice address both himself and Ragnell. Without warning, he spun around and in a dark blur zeroed in on Mike, tackling him to the floor and pinning him with his gauntlets.

“How did you know about Ragnell...” he said darkly. “Whoever is trying to scan my mind is going to stop now, I don't want Ragnell to kill you, but he will in a few seconds.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Mike exclaimed, struggling. “We mean no harm, gentlemen! We are simply requesting to speak with you!”

<do not struggle fool we dance on a field of battle now and you have crossed swords with me> a wolfish psychic voice came Rythan speaking in a decidely violent tone, but whatever the voice was it definitely wasn't the man holding Mike down.

<and who might you be sir?> Bowser thought.

<i am ragnell and likely your executioner if i deem you worthy of death>

“Rythan, please, listen to us. We just wish to speak to you!”

“You make a great first impression, why could you not say that first? How do I know you don't work with the Bureau, allied with the Ne'Ral as well.”

“Allies? With THEM? They opened fire on our ship and attempted to destroy the ship known as the Black Cross!”

Rythan remained silent for a time and seemed to study Mike, the glowing crimson eyes of his wolfish armor looked with those of the man he pinned.

“If you need proof, then look at this, Rythan…” Mike said calmly.

With a cue from Michael, Bowser projected the images of the chaotic battle that had just occurred in Rythan’s mind, as well as showing them to Ragnell.

Rythan remained quiet for a time, "What are they planning..." he said softly, as if to himself.

“Now do you believe me?” Mike inquired.

A few moments passed before Rythan stood and released Mike, offering him a hand in rising.

Ragnell growled, still extremely angry with what he say as a great offense when someone attempted to read Rythan's mind <i do not trust them do not lower your guard> Rythan ignored him for now, muting the voice in his mind.

Mike clasped his gauntleted hand and stood up with a sigh, relieved. “Thank you, gentlemen. Now, allow me to explain myself. We were initially bound for a planet under the control of the Commandarian Empire in our ship, the C.N.S. Oblivion. However, a malfunction occurred to our Inter-Dimensional Time Gate Generator, our primary means of transport, and found ourselves flung toward this Universe and time period.”

Rythan seemed surprised. “Wait, you're Time travelers?”

“Exactly,” Mike replied. “You see, Rythan, our crew is from an entirely different timeline and alternate reality. We come from the year 3034 A.D. in an alternate reality where the events of this Universe never took place.”

Again Rythan seemed surprised, though it was hard to tell beneath his dark armor.

“Anyway, back on topic, we were trying to make sense of where we were when we identified a Ne’Ral fighter heading towards our ship. While we attempted to hail it, saying we meant no harm, the signal never got through, and they fired, unprovoked on our ship.”

“That does not surprise me,” Rythan commented, “The Ne’Ral are not the friendliest of people.”

“We noticed. Our policy is straightforward: we will not fire on anyone so long as they do not fire on us. But the Ne’Ral had the insolence to attempt to destroy us, in a vain attempt, I might add. The Oblivion joined in the fight against the Ne’Ral, where we stopped the ship called the Silent Mercy from deploying its weapon, which we identified as the System Killer, simply by ramming the ship.”

“You rammed it?” Rythan said quietly, his tone suggesting he'd just raised an eyebrow. “What kind of damage did your shields take?”
“Technically we don't have any, but don't worry, we took no damage; on the other hand, the Mercy was sliced in two. However, we soon found ourselves in the sights of two other System Killers. But then, they withdrew for reasons we have yet to determine.”

For a few moments, Rythan just stood quietly studying them each in turn.

“So what do you want with me?” he asked, intent on discovering their purpose here.

“We thought that it was possible that some Ne’Ral soldiers were still down here, on the Kane Band, ready to invade Earth. However, as psykers ourselves, we were alerted to your presence upon landing; in truth, we never had any intention of meeting up with you. It was simply a stroke of fate that we encountered you.”

“Why can't I sense your abilities?”

“Well, it’s because of these babies,” Mike indicated, pointing to his headset. “This is a device called a psionic jammer: it masks psychic emissions by transmitting passively generated psi to a trans-dimensional realm we call The Nexus. We had them turned on because we knew about the Bureau of Internal Investigation’s constant hunt for those with psychic abilities.”

“I see,” was all that Rythan said.

“Rythan, if there’s anything you need help with, just say the word.”

Rythan looked at Mike for a long moment, he wasn't sure why but he trusted the man and under the Dragon's Will, Mike had not uttered a word of even partial untruth.

“Yes?” Mike asked unsure.

Rythan hesitated for a moment.

<rythan we must go there is little time here> Ragnell growled.

<i know> was all he replied, though he didn't move.

“Rythan, let me just tell you this: I swear by pain of death that I will see your request carried out. That’s how serious I am.”

Again the man spoke only truth. It was very puzzling, but it was something he would have to decipher another time; Amarra and the others were likely back at the ship by now and he couldn't afford to waste more time.

“No...” he finally said after the long pause. "But if one day I did decide to take you up on that offer, how can I get a message to you?"

“That I can do. Bowser, get me a communicator.”

“You bet.” Bowser headed back into the dropship and procured a small device.

“I’m not sure you realize what I had in mind…” Rythan commented as he looked at the palm sized device, “I meant after I have left this Solar System and you and the Oblivion have gone your own way, is there some way to contact you?”

“This isn’t your average communicator, Rythan; it sends out a trans-dimensional signal that can reach us anywhere, even across time.”

If Rythan didn't know with complete certainty that Mike was telling the truth he would have called him a liar. “This is extremely impressive.” His words were an understatement.

“Simply activate it and request to be patched through to the Oblivion, no matter where you are it’ll find us. Trust me.”

“Thank you. I apologize for my earlier behavior, but now I really do have to leave.” he shook Mike's hand the way he would an honorable warrior, "Until next we meet." With that he turned and sprinted away in the direction of another dock...

“C’mon, Bowser, we’d better head off ourselves…”
“Yeah. I doubt the Ne’Ral are here, anyway…”

The group headed back up to the Oblivion, satisfied with the new ally they had made.

Upon docking, Commander greeted them with a rather stern look, arms crossed.

“Well?”
“Nothing. Place is as calm as a graveyard. However, we encountered a person by the name of Rythan Blaze, a powerful psyker in his own right. He is a very honorable man…we offered him a trans-dimensional communicator for him to use in the event he requests our aid.”
“I see…well, since we have no other duties, we should head back to the Imperial Border…”
“Right. We still have that dispute to settle. Navigations, set the coordinates.”
“Aye sir.”
“Bowser, get the generator ready.”
“Right.”
“And everyone else, get back to your stations and prepare for transport!”
“SIR, YES SIR!”

The Oblivion opened the Time Gate and headed back to their initial destination…the border dispute with the JR/VA.

A content Michael E. Thompson gazed up at the stars, hoping that fate would bring the two together again…

“Mike, we’re clear to launch.”
“Alright. Let’s roll!”

And with that, the Imperial flagship slipped quietly into The Nexus…

---END TRANSMISSION---

---

NOTES:

This marks the first REAL collaboration I made with someone on the ASW Forums – again, I will not indicate who they are, as I value their anonymity.

The Omegas aren't really equipped with shields, because the Adamantius Plating they have is more than enough to defeat most weapons. Instead, it has what is known as M-A Shielding, or Matter-Antimatter. It's little else than a screen of atoms that are meant to cause Antimatter rounds to react with the atoms, instead of the armor.

We're gonna return to the Imperial Universe for a bit – but don't think this isn't the last time we're going to make jaunts to the Nova-Verse – it'll soon become a place frequently visited, I can assure you.

Rythan Blaze, Ragnell, Ne'Ral, and Amarra © their owner
Black Cross © its owner
Bowser is © Nintendo
Nova-Verse is © Ambrosia Software
The Empire, JR/VA, and all characters w/in © Me