S3, 16 Darkness on the Edge (FB) (October 13, 2016)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**6th September 2096: Present Day**

I drew a deep, shuddering breath as I gasped for air. Had I not been breathing? My face felt grimy, dirty and as I tried to open my eyes, I found them almost glued shut, they were so sticky. I forced them open, at least, I thought I had, but the world was still dark. Black. There was nothing.

Was I dead?

Then I remembered – the world collapsing in on itself. The roof falling down, rocks, debris crashing to the cave floor in plumes of ancient dust, crushing everything below.

Crushing me.

Crushing everybody.

‘I must be dead.’ I reasoned. ‘This must be what it’s like to be dead.’ I tried to swallow but found my throat and mouth so dry and full of dust that I physically couldn’t. My throat almost closed up and I took another shuddering breath.

I slowly became aware that I couldn’t move, that I was stuck. I also began to realise that I had a great pain in my right side, but my right arm was pinned out at an angle. With my left, I managed to reach across to my side and found it wet, but cold. Blood that had been there a while?

I managed a cough, but it hurt my side.

No, I couldn’t be dead. Surely not? Surely I wouldn’t be aware of all this if I was?

Reaching across with my free hand, I tried to feel what was pinning my other arm and was pretty sure it was a rock.

No, I wasn’t dead. But I might as well have been. I was stuck. Trapped beneath the rubble and boulders of the cave and the city above. There was no way I would ever get out of here. I was as good as dead.

I sighed, knowing there was nothing I could do, but the sigh irritated my chest and I broke out into a coughing fit.

That’s when I heard a noise off to one side. I turned my head to try and see what it was or where it had come from.

The noise returned and I realised it was a robotic whir. Panic began to brew inside of me – the junk robots were back! But then as the robotic sound came again, I realised it wasn’t just any old whir.

I tried to call out to Tracks, but my throat wouldn’t let me. Instead I released a rasp of a cry that felt like sandpaper in my throat. But I knew he had to hear me. If I was alive, then there was no way I was going to be left here, trapped, to die.
Tank: “Tracks!” I managed in a hoarse whisper and I began to hear other voices. After a moment, the voices were joined by the sounds of moving rocks and just a few seconds later, a blinding light appeared before my eyes.

For a moment, I was once again convinced that I had died, but then my eyes began to adjust and I realised that the light was coming from the eyes of my droid.

My beautiful, amazing buddy of a droid.

He pointed eagerly at me and turned to look at somebody I couldn’t see, but then moments later, the boulders obscuring my vision were lifted away, floating through the air and I saw Jay, concentrating hard. He let the rubble drop elsewhere and breathed deeply.

Jay: “Tank!” he called out. “Hang on, buddy, we’ll get you out in no time!” he assured, but I was too weak to reply. All I could manage was a small nod.

As the boulder in front of me, one of the two I was pinned between was lifted away, I felt something very sharp also get pulled out of my side.

I cried out and collapsed onto the rubble-strewn floor. Seconds later though, I felt metal hands gently grab hold of me and pick me up. My vision blurred slightly as Tracks carried me off, but he didn’t take me far. Ten meters at most, and then he laid me down again on my back.

Jay: “You’ll be okay.” He assured as he appeared above me, looking down. I woozily motioned to my side and from Jay’s expression, I knew it didn’t look good.

Jay: “Don’t worry. I’ll heal it.” He told me. I’d not heard of Jay healing anybody before, but I trusted him and I also couldn’t really do anything to stop him. I just lay on my back on the cold, rocky floor as he closed his eyes and concentrated, his palms flat out, just centimetres from what I assumed was a wound in my side.

He knelt like that for a good couple of minutes and during that time, I must admit, that I did begin to feel better. Not massively so, but noticeably. I also began to realise that there were other voices around me and that people were walking around.
Tank: “Where are we?” I finally managed to croak.

Jay: “Water.” Jay muttered to Tracks, opening his eyes, and Tracks jogged away out of sight. “We’re still in the cave.” He finally replied.

Tank: “What happened?” I asked as Tracks returned and placed an open bottle of water to my lips. He knelt behind me and gently propped me up against him, just enough so that I could drink from the bottle.

Jay: “The cave collapsed on top of us. But Eris saved us.” He explained. “She created a shield over us all at the last moment and stopped us from being crushed. But she couldn’t sustain it. She held it long enough but then passed out from the exertion.”

Tank: “Where is she?” I asked, finishing the water.

Jay: “Still unconscious. We can’t wake her.” He responded, sadly.

I looked around and noticed that we were indeed still in the cave, however, the cave had noticeably shrunk. It was now about half the size it had been before and the roof was a lot lower down. Where before it had been made from solid earth, now, we were just inside of a hole amid a huge pile of boulders. I also realised that I could see and looking to my left, I noticed that a hole, high above us, was letting in daylight.

Jay: “The outside world.” He replied, following my gaze.

Tank: “How is it?” I replied, suddenly remembering the events that had led up to this situation. How much of Qoter had been destroyed? Any of it? All of it?

Jay: “We don’t know much. But we do know that only a relatively small section has gone down.”

Tank: “Oh thank God…” I muttered, relived. It was dreadful that *any* had collapsed, but at least it wasn’t the entire planet.

Jay: “Apparently your friend, the Governor, made a formal address to the planet on Live TV. Virtually all of Knightborn and also about half of neighboring Tarhaven have collapsed. They said that the cause was being looked into.” Jay continued. “It’s a wasteland up there. To them, it must have been like huge sinkholes were opening up and swallowing the city.” He whispered, horrified. “Thankfully, Eris’s shield also helped to stabilize the ground directly above us. What they experienced directly above us was more of an earthquake, but the surrounding areas are… well… they’re gone.”

Tank: “Scrim…” I muttered, horrified.

Jay: “The troops up top know we’re down here. We’ve been communicating through that hole.” He explained, nodding to the gap in the rubble high above.

Tank: “Is everybody else okay?” I questioned, remembering how many others had been down here with us.

Jay: “Mostly.” He confirmed. “One of the True soldiers got hit on the head before Eris could get her shield up and another True is still unaccounted for. To be honest, it was you we were most worried about.”

I managed a small, thankful smile.

Tank: “Thanks.”

Jay: “How do you feel?”

Tank: “I’ve been better. But, I’m better than I was. Thanks.”

Just then, an argument broke out nearby and we all looked over to where one of the True Aurelian soldiers was jabbing his finger into the chest of the male companion of the civilian who had shot General Corvin.

Tank: “Help me up.” I asked Tracks and he did so. My head swam for a second or two but then settled down.

True Aurelian: “He was our leader! Our founder!”

Man: “He was a mass-murdering madman.” He replied, pushing the True soldier’s hand away.

Caesar: “Hey! Settle down!” he interrupted, walking past me towards the two. “If we’re going to get out of here, we need everybody to work together! And that’s not going to happen if everybody is bickering!”

True Aurelian: “Corvin was a hero!” he objected.

GI Solider: “And now he’s dead. Get over it.” An Imperial soldier retorted, backing the civilian up.

True Aurelian: “You what?!” he demanded and started to storm over to the man who’d spoken, but Basher appeared between them and blocked his path.

Pax Solider: “He’s right.” One of the Pax Aurelian men piped up. “The True, I mean. Corvin didn’t deserve to die.”

Woman: “He was going to blow up the planet!” the woman who’d fired the gun shouted.

Pax Soldier #2: “And he did!”

Man: “Exactly! He was a monster!”

That was too much for the angry True Aurelian soldier and he lunged for the him. However, the civilian saw it coming a mile off and casually stepped aside and blocked the attack with an ease that nobody watching had suspected.

Caeasar: “I said settle down!” he bellowed at the pair and roughly pushed them apart.

True Aurelian: “And why should we listen to you? Who even are you?!” he demanded, turning his anger on Caesar.

Jay: “Hey! He’s with me! You know who I am, yes?”

The soldier nodded.

Jay: “Good, then you know what I can do. So shut the frack up and stop fighting.” He demanded.

The atmosphere remained tense, but the True Aurelian soldier wandered away, grumbling, and sat down on the floor with his companions, glaring at the rocks.

As I watched him, I noticed that the three factions were sat in separate groups. It didn’t surprise me all that much, but I did note that the Pax Aurelians weren’t sitting with the Imperials. Instead they were sat between them and the True’s.

I heard a quiet groan from behind me and turning, found Eris, laying nearby, waking up. I moved towards her, but Jay jogged over and got there first.

Jay: “Eris.” He whispered, kneeling beside her. “Eris, it’s me.”

I stood over Jay as the Archmage slowly regained consciousness.

Eris: “What happened?” she croaked.

Jay: “You passed out. But you saved us.” He explained, holding her hand. Eris lay her head back and closed her eyes, giving a small nod of acknowledgement.

Jay: “Rest.” He told her.

I moved away to give them some privacy and as I did, noticed one of the Pax Aurelians walk over to the True Aurelians. I frowned, but then noticed the body at their feet – General Corvin.

The Pax soldier knelt by the fallen leader and started muttering, whispering to the corpse. He was clearly upset.

Tank: “What will happen now?” I asked Basher as I went to stand beside him.

Basher: “God knows.”

Derek: “If they’ve got any sense, the True’s will surrender and then that would be that. The war would be over.” He suggested as he joined us.

Basher: “Yeah, but we all know that’s not going to happen.”

Derek: “Ehh… I’m not sure. They’re leaderless now. Corvin was losing support fast, as it was. Now he’s gone, they’re not going to have anybody to lead them.”

Basher: “What about Danforth?”

Derek: “No. He’s not a natural leader. He’s too brash and besides that, he’s not been a General for very long. Most soldiers don’t even know who he is.”

Basher: “Ku’lk?”

Caesar: “Unlikely. He might have been a Vice Admiral for a long time, but again, he’s no leader.” Caesar added, joining in.

Derek: “Agreed. So, they’ll either fall apart and be defeated very soon, or they surrender.”

Caesar: “They might be falling apart, but they’re not stupid. I agree. It’s over. Once the rest of the galaxy knows that Corvin is dead, they’ll hand themselves in. The galaxy will finally be at peace.”

Tank: “We nearly had peace this time last year.” I commented. “After The Collective war ended, before Aurelia split, we had a period of peace.”

Derek: “It would be nice to get back to that.”

The others all nodded in agreement.

Derek began coughing, a cough that wouldn’t seem to stop.

Tank: “You alright?” I checked and he put his thumb up to me whilst doubled over, still coughing. He staggered away, leaning on the rubble for support and went to cough by himself in the corner.

I turned back to the others and Caesar pulled a concerned face at me. I shrugged in response. I’m sure he was fine.

Derek started retching behind us and as I looked back in his direction, I noticed he’d taken his helmet off. I frowned, starting to get worried as he threw up slightly, but after a few seconds of heavy breathing, he straightened up. He wiped his mouth with the back of his glove and then slid his helmet back on.

A chill wind blew up between the boulders and rubble and blew over us, before vanishing up towards the sky high above.

I shivered and glanced over to where Jay still knelt by Eris, only to find him frowning at the rubble that now lay where the view over the ancient city had been. I wandered over.

Tank: “You okay?” I checked.

Jay: “Something…” he began, but didn’t continue. Instead, he just continued to frown into the boulders.

Tank: “Something?”

Jay: “I don’t know. But, there’s something…” he elaborated slightly, but again, didn’t finish. I looked over at the rubble, but I couldn’t see anything.

I turned back again and found the male civilian walking towards me.

Man: “Well, this is fun.” He commented dryly.

Tank: “Tell me about it.”

Man: “How’s your side?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned. “I saw you being pulled from the rubble. Looked like a nasty wound.”

Tank: “Better thanks. Sore, but better.” I replied.

Ted: “Good. I’m Ted, by the way. Ted Michaels.”

Tank: “Chain Rockwell.” I replied, and we shook hands. “Or Tank. Whichever you prefer.”

Ted: “Tank? You don’t look much like a brawler.” He commented.

Tank: “No, I blew one up. Not because I’m built like one.” I explained the reason behind my nickname.

Ted: “Ah. That makes more sense.” He replied with a smirk.

Tank: “You do realise that it’s all going to be on her now? Your…?”

Ted: “Just friend.”

Tank: “Your friend. She killed General James Corvin. Founding father of Aurelia. People are not going to be happy.”

Ted: “I know. But it’s fine. She’s handled tough situations before. We’re used to them.”

Tank: “Really?”

Ted: “Yeah. She’s actually Imperium. You might have seen us on the news recently? She’s Risa Donnovan. We’re technically fugitives.” He replied, gesturing to his friend in the leather jacket.

Tank: “So I’m guessing the whole “adventurers” thing was a lie too?” I asked with a slight smile, not really bothered about them being fugitives from the law. After all, so was I!

Ted: “Maybe.” He replied, matching my smirk.

True Soldier #1: “Bastard!”

We turned and found one of the true Aurelian soldiers stood just a couple of feet away, glaring at Ted.

True Soldier #1: “You hear that? She’s an Imp’!” he announced to everybody, turning to point at Risa.

True Soldier #1: “It was bad enough having a civvie kill Corvin, but a fracking Imp’?!”

True Soldier #2: “The greatest leader of our time.”

True Aurelian #1: “Why’d you do it?” he demanded, stalking over to Risa, who was still stood in the corner. Somehow, she managed to remain calm.

Risa: “Because it was either him or the rest of the planet, including us, and I made a choice!”

Pax Soldier: “It wasn’t your choice to make.” One of the Pax soldiers piped up, from where he sat, looking despondently at the rocky floor.

True Soldier #1: “See! Even the Pax agrees!”

Beside me, Eris groaned and slowly rolled onto her side.

Eris: “What’s going on?” she asked.

Ted: “He was unstable. You heard the Archmage yesterday, he’d been ordering attacks on civilians. On innocents. She couldn’t allow that to go on.”

True Soldier #1: “Okay.” He admitted. “So he’d been lying to us about our targets, he was going crazy… but he didn’t deserve to be put down!” he shouted.

All of the True Aurellians and a couple of the Pax soldiers all nodded and chorused their agreement.

Pax Soldier: “He should have been forced to step down as leader. Not be shot in the head.” One chimed in.

Ted: “Either he died, or *billions* of others did!” he reasoned, coming to Risa’s aid and walking towards the men he was arguing with.

Pax Soldier: “Okay, but if anybody was going to kill him, it should have been one of us! An Aurelian!” another of the Pax soldiers argued. “Not just some random civilian!”

Ted: “I’m not just a civilian; I’m Imperium too.” Ted replied.

Tank: “Scrim.” I muttered.

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The two True Aurelian soldiers, along with one of the Pax soldiers launched themselves at Ted, but he batted their attacks aside with ease. The Imperium soldiers ran to intervene and ended up joining in the fist-fight against the Aurelians. While Ted blocked one punch, another True Aurelian went to attack him from behind, but there was a war cry as Risa launched herself into the fray with as much skill as her friend was displaying.

She elbowed one of the True’s in the stomach and they doubled over, before spinning around and throwing a volley of punches at the attacking Pax soldier.

Pax Soldier #2: “Hey!” one of the others shouted and he and a couple of the other Pax soldiers leapt up to help their companion.

Derek: “Hey! Leave her alone!” he shouted from where he’d been sat quietly recouperating, and leapt into the brawl, assisting the Imperials.

Jay stepped forwards to intervene as well, but Eris reached out and grabbed his leg.

Eris: “Don’t.”

Jay: “What?”

Eris: “Leave them to it. We can’t pick sides.”

Jay: “But surely we should help the Imperials?”

Eris: “Leave them.” She repeated, weakly.

The brawl continued, with both of the Aurelian factions teaming up against the Imperials.

Jace: “Shouldn’t we do something?” he asked, jogging over to me.

Tank: “Eris doesn’t want us to intervene.” I explained and then suddenly everybody flinched as a gunshot rang out – the first we’d heard.

Everybody looked on as the fight froze in place and one of the Pax Aurelians collapsed. A couple of his friends dashed to help, but after just a few seconds, he died, leaving a guilty-looking Imperial soldier holding a smoking gun.

Cap. Brass: “**HE WAS PAX!**” the Captain bellowed at the Imperial soldier.

Imperial: “And?!”

Eris: “It’s over.” She muttered, and I knew she was referring to the truce between the Galactic Imperium and the Pax Aurellians.

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That Imperium soldier’s comment had been the last straw. Having an Imperial kill their founder and now also having killed a Pax soldier - it was just too much for the Aurellians.

Guns were drawn in an instant and gunfire echoed off of the rocks and rubble that made up our cave. The bright flashes of light against the relative gloom of the cave were blinding and I, along with several of the others dived for cover, shielding our eyes from the glare.

There were a couple of cries of pain, but from where I was crouched, hidden behind a boulder, I didn’t know who they’d come from.

Tank: “Are you sure we can’t do anything?” I asked, calling across to Eris. She shook her head in response.

I flinched as a laser struck the ground close to my hand and very quickly pulled it in close.

Tank: “Really?” I asked with a sarcastic laugh.

As I looked over to Eris, I noticed that Jay was staring at the back wall again.

Tank: “Jay!” I called to him.

Eris: “He can sense something. We both can.” She replied, sounding on-edge. “We don’t know what it is, but there is... *something* down there.”

I glanced back around the boulder that was shielding me and noticed that there were several bodies on the floor now. Who’s they were, I couldn’t tell in the dim light.

Somebody was backing in my direction and as they jumped into cover beside me, I realised it was Ted.

Tank: “Told you so.”

Ted: “Yeah, I know…” he muttered in response.

Tank: “So much for a truce!” I commented.

Ted: “Yeah, looks like that’s over now.” He agreed and took a careful glance around the side of the boulder.

Jay: “I need to get down there.” He murmured, but somehow I still heard him.

Tank: “Are you crazy?” I turned to reply.

Eris: “No. He’s right. Whatever that is that’s down there, it’s calling to us.”

Jay: “Drawing us in.” he finished.

Tank: “Aww, hell.” I sighed, frustrated.

Jay reached out, concentrating. He spoke a few words in the Collective Language and slowly, one of the boulders at the back of our cave raised up and drifted aside. Nobody taking part in the battle still raging behind us even noticed.

A couple of the rocks and lumps of rubble that had been leaning against the boulder Jay had moved shifted slightly to adjust.

Tank: “Careful!” I warned.

Jay: “It’s okay.” He assured. “I can feel which ones are supports and which are safe to move.”

I was still wary, but I trusted him and so held my tongue.

As Ted watched on from beside me, Jay shifted a pile of debris out of the way and in the process, cleared a small passageway through the rubble.

Jay: “There.” He announced and Eris knelt up. She still looked weak, but at least she had the strength to do that by herself.

Eris: “Are you coming?” she asked, addressing me.

Tank: “I don’t have much of a choice do I.” I replied, semi-sarcastically.

Eris: “I’ll never force you to do anything you don’t want to, Tank.”

Tank: “Oh, don’t be silly. Of course I’m coming.” I smiled to reassure her.

Truth be told, I wasn’t overly keen on the idea of descending into whatever was left of that ancient city, however, my only other option was to wait here and hope I didn’t get shot.

Tank: “Come on then, let’s go.”

Ted: “Mind if we tag along? I don’t particularly like the idea of sticking around here with these guys.”

Tank: “Sure. I’m sure they won’t object.” I replied.

I moved into a crouch and peered around the boulder.

Tank: “Tracks!” I called over to where he was sheltering on the opposite side of the cave. “Come on!” I encouraged as he looked my way. He glanced at the fighting and then, in just a few of his huge strides, dashed across to me. “Through there! Go on!” I pointed at the newly-made hole and gave him a push in the right direction.

He whirred and shook his head.

Tank: “Go on! What’s the matter with you?” I asked urgently as a laser struck the boulder beside me. I gave him another shove and he cautiously crouched down and made his way through the gap.

Jay was helping Eris to her feet and Ted was gesturing for his partner, Risa, to come over and join us.

Eris: “Call for the others.” She told Jay, who momentarily closed his eyes and fell silent. I assumed he had sent one of the Collective’s mind-messages, because a few seconds later, the rest of the gang started to run towards us.

I looked at Ted.

Ted: “After you!” he smirked, gesturing to the hole.

I shook my head but still bent over and with a sigh, left behind the still-fighting Aurellians and Imperials and carefully made my way into the unstable tunnel and the darkness of whatever lay beyond.

**BONUS PICTURES**

This episode is quite a rare one in the fact that the entire episode is set in one location.

A better look at the set for the episode.

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE