A New Divide

A howling wind swept through those empty rolling hills, once filled by abundant activity, and harmony belonging to a race of mankind that had already been brought to its knees. A storm had been looming over the horizon. A soft rain began falling upon the plain, and then came the roaring of thunder. It echoed throughout the cratered, and scorched earth, of that once beautiful countryside.

Mountains had been crumbled; grass had been reduced to ash; and the soft, fertile dirt was now fragile rock. The Crusaders had made their light jump to the GDR core worlds, where Arcoh would prepare to unveil his final resolution. I stood outside on the balcony of the new Raydenite capital hall, burrowed deep into the mountain.

I stared out at the grey landscape that masked the bright summer night; even the planetary nebula had been blocked out by the calm storm clouds. My face, and my sight, were finally being cleansed by the soft, misty rain that began to inch its way over the mountain range.

I needed time away from that room, where the surviving Remoran soldiers and the Outlander military leaders debated on what their next move would be. Just then, I heard the stone door swing open behind me; it was Virgil. I found it amusing that he continued to wear the same ratty garments, from when we narrowly escaped the Alexandria: those green combat pants, and the tattered black shirt. I remember watching the remains of the Alexandria. The misty rain was dousing the fires that would have eventually turned the massive flagship into a pile of ash. Still, I found the smoke from all of the destroyed warships astonishing. It was a sight to behold.

Virgil found me, and was escorting me to a meeting between our people’s new leaders. It was fleet admiral Victoria versus President Wright. I could hear Victoria’s relentless banter echo throughout the tall granite hallways of the capital room. We followed the ever-burning green torches that were lit along the hallways.

“How can you sit idly by, while the man, and his army, who committed GENOCIDE against your race pushes on to destroy another!”


“We have to think about the good of our people, Admiral. If you, and your soldiers, want to pursue the most powerful army in Eden, then be my guest. I do not want to see a single Outlander citizen in this hopeless fight against Arcoh’s legions!”

“Well, you are going to, Mr. Wright,” I said as Virgil and I walked into the consulate, where Victoria was pleading her case to President Wright. He looked across the sandstone table, and was shocked to see me. I think he was a little disturbed that I decided to enter the room so rudely.

“Collin? Surely you cannot be serious.”

Victoria continued her pleading. “President Wright? We cannot win this war without the support of your people. Don’t you want retribution for what they have done to your race! A man obliterates your home world, and you just sit there with your thumb up your—”

One of Zachary’s generals slammed his fists down on the hard stone table and quickly stood up. His face was now bathed in the green-and-red light from the ever-burning torches around the circular room, which overlooked the destroyed plains, and had windows that were carved out of the stone from the mountain.

“That is enough, Victoria! No more blood will be shed in the name of the Raydenites!”

I stepped forward beside Victoria, who wiped the sweat away from her forehead. With the storm outside seeping through the stone windows at the far end of the room, it felt almost like a sauna in there.

“Then I will fight for them. Alongside the Remorans.”

“Collin?”

“This is foolish, boy. You have no weapons, a crippled fleet, and no way of even getting off this planet.”

“Who is this ‘General Asshole’ of yours, Wright? This is not your decision to make, cupcake! Nor is it yours, President Wright! I know for a fact that if we asked our Outlander brothers, and sisters, they would gladly die for a chance at their retribution towards these bastards. Mr. Wright, they have taken everything away from us.”

“Like I said, you stupid kid, we have no way off this planet! Unless you want to scrape the remains of your flagship off the plains over there, and try and jump-start the engine.” Victoria jumped out of her seat and punched the general in the face, sending him tumbling over the back of his heavy stone chair.

“Ever lost in a fight against a woman?” she asked him.

“No.”

“Well, I am about to wipe the floor with you, after that smartass comment you just made about MY DAMNED SHIP!”

I held Victoria back as she lunged towards the general. Wright then spoke, and he slowly got up from his chair, and with this he caught our attention.

“Actually, Victoria, Collin, Virgil. General Casey?”

“Ha! ‘Casey.’ You have a girl’s name.” I laughed as I pointed to the general.

“Shut up.”

“You shut up,” I said back to him.

“Both of you shut the hell up; damn kids have no respect for authority. Let the president speak,” Virgil said, and we all stared at President Wright, as a ray of the nebula’s light began to shine through the parting of the storm clouds on the horizon.

“Collin, if there was a chance we could get off this planet, I might consider it. I know I cannot stop you from gathering volunteers. So maybe you are right, Victoria.”

“I can get us off this planet.”

“What can you do, Collin?”

“Once the weather clears, I will contact Father Cyrus.”

“What can he do?” Victoria asked.

“He can give us a door. We just have to decide where we want it to open.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A warp gate, Wright. Teleportation.”

“Impossible.”

“No, hardly. You must trust me on this, if you have ever trusted me before in your life. I know what I am doing. Now all you have to do is believe.”

Zach and the others looked at me in that moment. It was significant. I never truly thought others could believe in me outside of the PGL; I have never been so wrong in my whole life.

“I’m with you, you dumb son of a bitch,” Victoria said as she nodded to Wright, who smiled, and made his way over towards me.

“So here comes your moment, Collin. I’ll tell you what. I want to see what we can do. You are right. I can’t let it slide by anymore. We can’t let it slide.”

“No, we cannot.”

[-<Commander Mark Wyman>-]

-The Hammer, En Route to GDR Space-

Beaten to a pulp, his uniform ripped, and his dignity destroyed, Mark was being dragged back to his cell, aboard a confined space in the Hammer. The Crusader guard opened the cell door and the two other soldiers tossed him in, on the cold, hard, floor, back into the cell he shared with Helena, who rushed over to him and held his head up to cease the blood that was pouring out of his broken nose.

“Any progress?” the cell guard asked.


“That one won’t talk no matter what we threaten him with. He’s one tough son of a bitch.”


“Arcoh always gets what he wants; he wants those two to be left alone.” The guards began to walk away continuing their banter. Helena tore a piece of her filthy shirt, and wiped the blood away from Mark’s bruised face.

“You need to hold your head up,” she said to Mark when she attempted to lift his arm up, but when she did, he screamed out in agony.

“Here, bite down on this cloth. Your shoulder is dislocated.” He bit down on the cloth she wiped away his blood with. Helena then took Mark’s arm, and popped his shoulder back into its socket. Mark began to sweat profusely, and once some of his pain had finally resided, he let out a sigh.

“My god. What were they doing to you?” Helena asked as she wiped away the sweat and blood from his forehead.

“I don’t know how much longer I can last in this place, Helena. He is going to kill us both when his will is done anyway.”

“We can never lose hope, Mr. Wyman. Collin and the others will come for us.” Mark let out a slight laugh as he backed up against the wall of their cell, and clutched his arm.

“You are always so optimistic, Helena, even in the darkest of times.”

“We have to be, Mark. Hope has always guided me. And for the record I would rather die with hope, then drown in misery.”

“A nice sentiment.” A door swung open in the dense hallway, and they heard a metallic clanging echoing through the hallway. Helena covered the injured Mark out of protection as she knew something bad was heading their way.

“What is that?” Helena asked with fear in her voice. The metallic clanging became louder, and louder, until a figure stood tall at the edge of their barred cell.

“Well, well. Long time no see,” Silas said with an evil smile on his face.

“You stay away from us, you bastard!”

“What happened to you, Silas?” Mark asked.

“Ah, you mean my new body?” Silas looked down at himself. A metallic exoskeleton covered his entire body, like reinforcing the frame of a ship with metal. Because of the miracle of the Alpha Genome, normally exoskeletons were only used for those who had lost limbs, spacecraft engineers, and for super soldiers—like the GDR’s Arcadian knights.

He could have just gotten a new spine, but instead, he decided that he wanted a superior mechanical body. The exoskeleton lined his legs, and raised his overall height by almost a meter. It extended through his spinal cord, across the main nerves in his body. His robot legs were complimented by a few main metal nerves that could be seen surging purple liquid through his skin.

“Thanks to that prick Jonathan, I almost died. The genome treatments would have taken months to repair my bones, and the sufficient nerve damage I suffered. That special gun he had, an armor-piercing pistol, I should have expected something like that from Virgil. So I decided I couldn’t wait, and in a few hours my new metal exoskeleton—my brand new body—was constructed. I have never felt more superior in my entire life.”

“It’s a shame you didn’t fall on our way to the Hammer,” Helena said as she held Mark close to her chest.

“Well, Helena, I am quite the ambitious sort.” Silas opened the door to the cell and promptly closed it behind him.

“What do you want, Silas?”

“Remember when we were on Arcadia, and President Harris gave you those codes so we could exit Gannon’s atmosphere safely with the Alexandria? You have the codes for the GDR defense network, and we need them to move forward with the next stage of our plan. Arcoh sent me to make sure that you talk.”

Silas grabbed Mark by the shoulder and dragged him to the center of the room. Helena tried to hold onto Mark, but Silas was far too strong, especially with his new body. She lost her grip and clawed at Mark, fearing for his safety.

“No, what are you doing!”


“Relax, Ms. Roland. Stay back, or I will knock you unconscious again. Do you see this, Commander?” He pulled out a vile that contained a black liquid. The contents of which moved around, almost like tiny organisms were in it.

“Medicinal technology is quite something today, isn’t it? Humans can live for as long as they choose to, and a man on the brink of death can be brought back to life with a simple injection if administered quickly.”

He opened the vile and forcibly opened Mark’s eyelid, as he dripped the black liquid into his cornea. Mark began to struggle, clawing in agony. The tiny nanomites crawled around his cheek, and they traversed the skin layer, by clawing underneath his eyeball.

“Don’t struggle, old friend. You don’t want the nanomites to travel to places that they are not designated. They are going to latch onto your brainstem, and you are going to tell me everything I want to know. Whether you like it or not. It is a far more effective form of extracting information than torture. Wouldn’t you agree, Helena?”

[->President David Alexander Harris<-]

-Arcadia, Presidential Arc-

“President Harris?”

“Yes, Armando?”

“Your wife is on the intercom, Mr. President.”

“Exceptional!”

President David Alexander Harris rubbed his head as he leaned over his desk. He pressed the hologram button and looked to his butler. “Yo, Armando! My main man!”

“Sir?”

“Eh, go ahead and take the night off. The wife will take over for you.”

“Thank you, Mr. President, but are you sure?”

“How about this? If you don’t go and spend the rest of the day with your family, then you are fired.”

Armando laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I guess I have no choice in the matter, sir.”

“That’s right. You don’t. Now get the hell out of here.”

“Yes, sir.” Armando left the room, and closed the double doors of the presidential office behind him. David leaned back in his seat as the holoscreen rose from his desk. David leaned forward, and stretched out the holoscreen with his fingers, so it was large enough for his viewing pleasure. His wife, and three children, waved to him as they stood by the elevator at the bottom of the Arc.

His wife held their youngest daughter in her arms and she gave a wide smile with only a few teeth to the camera.

“Hi, daddy!”

“Hey, buttercup! It is so cute to see those big girl teeth finally growing in. Ah, and I see that the camera does add a few pounds.”

“Did you just call our daughter fat, babe?”

“Actually, I was talking to you, my perfectly well-rounded wifey. Very well-rounded. Ha-ha!” David’s wife laughed as his kids began jumping up to the camera while his youngest made faces at him. David proceeded to stick his tongue out.

“Very cute.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman in all of Eden, baby, everyone knows that.”

“Nice save, dear.” Thomas began tugging on his mother’s dress.

“When are we going to see, daddy!”

“As soon as the elevator gets here, Tommy.”

“Daddy, I miss you!”

“I miss you too, sonny boy. How was the park?”

“These three had a blast parading their mother around.”

“You didn’t have fun with our brats?”

“No, it was fun, just a tad bit tedious, babe. Is someone using our elevator?”

“Ah, yeah, I gave Armando the rest of the night off. He should be down shortly.”

“Expecting me to be your butler, huh?”

“No, you will be getting in the bath with me, after we hand the brats off to General Valon. He ain’t doing anything today anyway.”

“I’m not a brat!” his youngest daughter said.

“Yeah-huh.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Uh, yeah-huh.”

“Don’t encourage them, David. They’ll grow up to be just like you.”

“You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Only if you want our kids to grow up to be goofier than holy hell.”

“Oh, you got jokes, huh?”

“Yes, I do. Oh, the elevator is here. I’ll see you soon, babe.”

“All right, pretty lady.”

President Harris swiped the holoscreen away and closed the interface. He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window at the beautiful sunset that just began to cover Arcadia. The sun glimmered off the cityscape that lay several hundred meters below the presidential arch. A view, a beautiful view that expressed what a triumphant accomplishment the city of Arcadia was. The sky’s outstanding image reflected off the tops of the skyscrapers. It looked like a glimmering lake, filled with orange, velvet, and indigo gems that stretched for as far as the eye could see. David closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

“I could really use a bath, and some sex that’s always good.”


A burst from the doors being swung open caused David to fall backwards, over his seat, and onto the floor.


“Damn it! You know something? Normal people knock when a door is closed!”


General Valon rushed into the room followed by several Arcadian knights. He leaned down to David and helped him to his feet. David pushed him away.

“Get off of me, Ben! What is the meaning of this?”


“Mr. President, we have a code zero on our hands.”

David looked to his general and his cheery disposition changed instantly.

“What? Impossible!”

“Sir, the entire Crusader fleet is approaching Gannon as we speak. We have to get you out of here!”


“I am not going anywhere without my family!” David said as he stormed out of his office, and began to head down the main hall to the elevator. General Valon and the other Arcadian knights followed.

“Apparently our peace treaty with Salaras has been broken,” David said to General Valon as his presidential staff began rushing in, packing up important technology and documents.

“It would seem that way, sir.”

“I want my transport ready in five minutes.”

“Already done, sir.”

“Excellent. Sound the sirens, and evacuate the citizens to the sublevels. I want every single planetary battery aimed in the first quadrant.”

“They will come from the third quadrant, sir.”

David double backed to his room as an Arcadian knight handed him a bulletproof vest, which he proceeded to strap on. “Well then, aim them towards the third quadrant! Their ships will not enter this city! Hey, Sergeant!” David shouted to an Arcadian knight that was packing up personal belongings in David’s bedroom.

“Yes, Mr. President?”

“Did you grab my wife’s wedding dress? She would kill me if we left without it. Sentimental value, you know?”

David walked away from his room as the Arcadian knights were continuing to rush around the home. They were fiercely packing up important documents, and the presidential family’s belongings. David and General Valon made their way to the main foyer, and waited by the elevator.

“You tell the soldiers on the space platforms to fire as soon as they get into range,” Valon said to the squad leader.

“Yes, sir.”

General Valon tapped the transmitter in his temple, and relayed the order as he scrolled through reports on his holoband.

“Sir, our primary fleet is stationed in the outer Salaran sector awaiting the remainder of the Remoran fleet, but they haven’t shown yet. They are several hours late.”

“No matter. Tell Admiral Simone to get here as soon as possible. We are going to need all the help we can get. The assault on Salaras will begin after we destroy them here.”

General Valon again relayed the order and nodded to President Harris. “They will arrive here in seven hours, sir,” Valon said. David then had a thought. He knew Arcoh, and he knew Salaran tactics, and to him it all seemed very strange.

“Why would Arcoh attack the capital of the GDR without addressing the galactic consulate? He is going to be slaughtered! His whole fleet wiped out for nothing!”


 The doors of the elevator opened and David smiled, until he saw his wife. She was crying hysterically, with a gun pressed against her head, along with a sufficient group of men that crowded the elevator. The Arcadians raised their weapons, until the contents of the elevator spilled out. The first being the lifeless body of Armando the butler.