---REALITY KNOT---
THE CITADEL OF DARKNESS
PLANET NEW ALCATRAZ, PARIAH SYSTEM, IMPERIAL UNIVERSE
1427 HOURS, APRIL 25, 3037 A.D.

Once the dust (or smoke, rather) had cleared, Akasi found himself with the walls of the room charred with a coating of blackened ash, and an overcoat of crimson stains of blood. Thankfully, his new powers granted to him by his Dark Master kept him from being incinerated, but it was still not the most pleasant experience – but then, such was to be expected from a failed execution.

Hacking and coughing, Akasi brushed what char he could off of his clothes; the blood, however, just smudged into the fabric. Looks like he'd need a new change of clothes. Not a moment after, a Dark Messenger materialized to his right.

“So...you finally discovered he was an impostor.”
“Sadly, yes. Then again, I'm not entirely surprised a man such as Stukov would pull a stunt such as this.”
“I entrust you will not be so careless in the future, correct?”
“Indeed – and if anything, master, it is Stukov who is the fool this time – he should know better than to double-cross the Dark Prince's Lieutenant of the Mortal Plane.”
“Good. Now find him, Akasi – and when you do, act as you see appropriate.”
“As you command, Satan.”

The orb of black flames dissipated into nothingness.

“Guards. Enter!”

The two standing by the door wasted no time in thrusting the heavy doors open, relieved to see their leader still intact.

“Are you alright, Lord Akasi?” one inquired.
“Yes, I'm fine, sergeant – though I suppose I should thank Stukov for being so kind in opening that communication – if he thinks he can't be found, that taunt was possibly the absolute stupidest thing he could've done.”
“Your orders, Lord?”
“Ready the Psychic Amplifier – I have a call to make, soon.”
“Yes, milord,” they replied, bowing. They exited the room with Akasi following.
“If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have other matters to attend to, first.” And with that, he headed for his main office.

As Akasi walked through the dark halls of his Citadel, a shadowy figure silently followed him at a distance. The character peeked around corners as Akasi rounded them, staying out of sight. At one point, Akasi did in fact take a quick glance back, but saw nothing.

An evil grin broke across his face.

Upon entering his office, he got in his chair and sat down. The soft leather lining felt simply marvelous to recline in. Considering he'd just had his birthday 5 days prior (not to mention he had just survived an explosion that would have killed any mortal man), it was a rewarding feeling. Opening one of the drawers of his desk, he picked up a few files that had yet to be looked over, revealing a picture of Adolf Hitler on the bottom, closing the drawer afterwards. Grabbing a pen and putting the files down on top of the desk, he set himself to work, writing notes furiously.

“You can stop hiding, now,” he stated as he continued writing.

The figure from before suddenly materialized before the Dark Lord, dropping to one knee and kneeling before him. He wore black battle fatigues, and was armed with little else than a pair of daggers and a utility belt strapped to his waist, which also held a pair of ivory-gripped Colt Pythons. A pair of arm cannons were also strapped to his wrists, and a pair of red-lensed goggles obscured his eyes, while a mask covered his nose, mouth, and forehead.

“What do you ask of The Harvester, my Lord?” he inquired, in a deep, breathy voice.
“I need you to come with me to the Ubercept Universe, Harvester – you know that there are a few other conditions that must be met before our master is freed.”
The man looked up at his superior. “Of course, Lord Akasi. I am more than willing to achieve your goals.”
“Very well. We shall set out tomorrow. Be sure to be ready, as we will no doubt expect some interference,” Akasi warned.

The Harvester let out a sharp laugh, and suddenly unsheathed one of his daggers. “Imperial weaklings. If they decide to challenge me...”

He spun around, and blindly flung the dagger at a torn piece of cloth bearing the Imperial Seal. Clearly, Akasi had used it to take out his anger – on an alarmingly high number of occasions, it appeared. The dagger landed squarely within the center of the “C” of the Insignia, just missing the Cross.

“...I will be more than willing to oblige them.” He walked over to the ruined design, and hastily removed his blade from the wall. He bowed to his master, then seemed to dissolve in a massive cloud of dark particles.

Akasi again smiled evilly. Much was to be done before the appointed day came.

C.N.S. OBLIVION
COLOSSEUM SYSTEM, NOVA UNIVERSE
1221 HOURS, MAY 6, 3961 A.D.

Well...this was a problem.

Just when things seemed to be going their way, Mike and the other Imperials were suddenly interrupted by apparently-rebel Ubercept, and they had a rather big gun pointed at the station. From the looks of things, it appeared to be more or less on-par with the firepower most of the Imperial Fleet possessed.

“Technical, what are the readings?” Mike asked, in his Wolf Form.
The officer shook his head in disbelief. “The energy levels are unbelievable. We're getting a peak upwards of 6.2543*10^31 joules – almost as powerful as the Death Star.”
“Can we get a lock?” Bowser asked.
“Negative – since she's still technically in a trans-dimensional region, we can't fire. If we do, it won't end well.”
“Comms, how long until the support fleet arrives?” Commander shouted to the officer on the opposite side of the bridge.
“ETA remains at 3 minutes, 47 seconds, Commander,” he replied.
“Dammit...we need to do something NOW.”

Suddenly, Admiral Shlimazel began hailing the Oblivion. Not wanting to reveal his true form just yet, Mike shifted back to his human form as contact was made. There had to be a way to stop these rogues before it was too late.

“Commander, are you there?” he radioed.
“Yes, Admiral. Do you have an idea how to destroy this ship?”
“We are planning on closing the tunnel before the Corebeam is able to exit into the system. If we use our hyperdrives, we might be able to do it, but-”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Michael interrupted, “you plan to close it?”
“That is correct.”

Mike flashed a devious grin to Bowser, and nodded to him. Without any explanation required, Bowser nodded back, and dashed out of the bridge.

“There's one chance. The Inter-Dimensional Time Gate Generator aboard our ship is capable of opening rifts in time and space. We might just be able to use the generator to close their entry. However, we might need to hurry – we have detected the weapon's charge to be in excess of 6.5*10^31 Joules, but we don't know what this means. We need to know, Admiral – how much time do we have left?”

---

G.U.I.N COMMAND BATTLESHIP GREAT DEATH
COLOSSEUM SYSTEM, NOVA UNIVERSE
.z3 MICROTIME, UBERCEPT TIME

“Perhaps five minutes,” Admiral Shlimazel said tersely. “If you can do something, do it now. Time is running out.”

“Understood. We'll get to work, then,” Commander responded.

The comm channel stayed open as the Imperial Battle Fleet slid into position around the hyperspace tunnel. Reports crackled back from one section to another, forming a continuous murmur.

“We're getting ready, but it'll take some time,” Commander said. “We might be cutting it close-perhaps too close.”

“If I can assist, let me know,” the Admiral replied. “I must get off the comm for a moment. I'll be back shortly.”

“Of course, Admiral.”

With the comm channel closed, Admiral Shlimazel turned to his Science officer.

“Begin recording everything. Scan everything. Do it subtly, but gather as much information as you can,” Shlimazel directed. “If it ever comes to war with these Commandarians, we'll need every scrap of information we can garner.”

“Understood.”

Admiral Shlimazel turned to the main screen. He watched for a moment, then he flicked the comm channel back on and listened to the murmur of alien voices.

At that same moment, on board the Oblivion...

Paranoia. It is an inability to trust one's words, no matter how sound they are, or who it is that says them. Such was the case with the Imperials, having just about given away one of their greatest secrets to a race that could snuff them out given half a chance. It was not mentioned to Shlimazel, but The Nexus was something that even the Imperials themselves didn't fully understand – all they knew was how to use it to travel time and across dimensions. But beyond that, the region of null-space was an utter mystery.

Perhaps just as well, as Mike feared that his mentioning of the Time Gate Generator may have given the Ubercept...ideas. It was fortunate, then, that all attempts by the Imperials to study The Nexus and its energy had met with failure, or less-than-conclusive or sensible results. But the Generator itself – that was what worried Mike most, as it was no secret among the Top Brass as to how it worked.

Regardless, there was nothing they could do now. With only 2 minutes left, they had to stop this weapon, or thousands, perhaps millions of lives would be annihilated in an instant. He returned his attention to the situation at hand, and hoped that something would come along to keep anything from being scanned.

“Jessari, how are you and the others looking?” Commander asked the CO of the Omega C.N.S. Kronos.
“We'll be arriving right about...now.”

The Kronos and 4 other Omegas emerged from The Nexus, rocketing out of a bluish-white portal and appearing alongside the mighty Oblivion.

Commander breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright. Ready your time gates, and prepare to set up the jump coordinates EXACTLY as I put them.”
“SIR, YES SIR!” the officers replied.

The Omegas circled their target, revealing the small, dish-like devices that would rip the space-time fabric and grant access anywhere, or anywhen, they wanted. As they did so, Commander continued his discussion with the Ubercept Admiral.

“We're getting ready, but it'll take some time,” he explained. “We might be cutting it close - perhaps too close.”
“If I can assist, let me know,” the Admiral replied. “I must get off the comm for a moment. I'll be back shortly.”
“Of course, Admiral.” The connection terminated.

Commander, thinking on his feet, addressed the fleet: “Initiate protocol 3-M1D for all Time Gate Generators.”
“Acknowledged.”

3-M1D was actually an acronym-disguised order for “Electro-Magnetic Disruption.” The theory being, if the object was in an EM shroud, it was impossible to scan. However, it also ran the risk of frying the Generators, as an EM Pulse isn't exactly easily controlled. The fact that Adamantius wasn't conductive allayed this somewhat, but it wasn't much comfort.

Each of the Battlecruisers took their turn in opening the rifts. Oblivion was first, followed by Kronos, then the rest. Each time, only one of the mammoth vessels fired its Gate Generator – the fewer targets the insectoids had to scan, the better. Plus, it would be rather pointless to waste all that energy jumping between dimensions when just one Omega provided enough power. Despite their efforts, though, the menacing ship remained unmoved.

“It's not working...the ship's still there!” an officer panicked.
“Keep firing! We MUST prevent the ship from attacking!” the Imperial leader ordered.

Out of the corner of Mike's eye, he noticed a flash emanate from the Colosseum Station. It seemed like it was sending out a distress beacon, but its size was much too large to be from anything necessary for such purposes – it was close to a quarter the size of the station.

At the same moment, the Corebeam System suddenly started shuddering before the eyes of all attackers. The rift between dimensions was noticeably becoming far more unstable – already the ship was buckling from the stresses as it became apparent the gate was closing. Eventually, the abuse became all too much for the enemy to bear, and with a mighty explosion, the ship became separated from the half still attempting to enter.

“Did...did we do that?” Mike asked, dumbfounded.
“I don't think so...the gate closed too suddenly for it to have been us,” Commander replied.
“Well, I don't know if it's related, but just prior, I thought I saw a white flash from the station,” Mike noted.
“As did I, Mike,” Bowser chimed in. “Personally, I think the events took place much too close to be purely coincidental – but I guess we'll save that enigma for another day.”

With that, the Imperials once again hailed the Great Death.

“Admiral Shlimazel, are you there?”
“Yes, Commander; but what just happened?”
“We're not sure ourselves – but we digress. Now, we need to get to your Universe, and fast. A man by the name Nar Akasi is also seeking the Artifact, and I very much doubt he'd care as to what happens to you and your kind. We'll do what we can to ensure it doesn't transpire, but I can't make any promises.”
“Very well, then.”

Bowser thought for a quick moment, and wondered if Captain Maylithiar could aid in some way. Something in his gut just didn't sit right with them having stolen the show in their ships, and hoped there'd be some way to make it up to him. He decided to open a separate link to the Levaetain.

“Captain Maylithiar,” he began, “this is Bowser, Koopa King and Chief Engineer of the Imperial Navy. Would you be interested in joining us, along with the Ubercept, for assistance? Call it a hunch, but I think we'll need it.”
“We would be honored, Bowser – we will dock immediately.”
“Very well. You are cleared to dock at once.”

With that, the Imperials, Ubercept, and Maylithiar's Troops steeled themselves for the trip ahead.

When this is all over, Mike thought to himself, there'll be Hell to pay...

---END TRANSMISSION---

---

NOTES:

ZOMG, an update! =P

We're FINALLY getting this thing underway, ladies and gents - and what an act will be had by all. There's still time to sign up for the Black Artifacts, if any of y'all are interested!

Yes, you read that right - "Stukov" wasn't the guy at all, but more or less a living bomb. And you'll see soon enough what kind of power the Dark Lord's been given - within the next two posts, in point of fact. ;)

The mentioning of Adolf and April 20th is intentional - Akasi just so happens to share his birthday w/the Fuhrer.

Who is The Harvester? Well, let's just say that it'll be made apparent he's appropriately named.

Hopefully, things will allow me to get the next post up, but as crazy as college life is, I can't say for certain.

Either way, see you next time!

The Nova-Verse is © ASW
Samir Stukov is © his creator
Admiral Shlimazel and the Ubercept are © their creator
Tobias Maylithiar and his comrades are © their creator
Bowser is © Nintendo
The Empire and all characters w/in © Me