S1, 23 Remnants and Guilt (FB) (March 26, 2015)

As this is a Cross-Over event, here is the link to the previous part of the story, made by Griffin.

Ep #22.5

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**1st March 2095: Present Day**

The explosions continued to shake the ground beneath us as Collins and I sheltered in the corner of the room we had taken shelter in. With every massive ‘*boom*' outside, we feared for our lives.

We could hear screaming. The screams of the innocents.

But there was nothing we could do. Nothing that we could do to help them. If we went outside now, we were sure to be blown to pieces. As it was, hiding in the corner of this room, we were just as likely to be blown away at any second.

I we cowered there, preparing to die, the air around us ringing, the floor beneath us trembling, dust raining down from above us, I thought of my parents. Of how I had failed them. How I had never gotten any closer to finding out who had killed them and why. How I had never gotten any closer to the truth.

I resolved to get some answers if I made it out of this alive. Mr. Grey would talk and he would tell me everything I wanted to know. And if he didn’t know, his boss, the mysterious ‘The Brain’ would.

There was a massive explosion nearby and the whole building shook. Derek and I were both tossed onto the floor and a small patch of ceiling caved in at the other side of the room.

I pulled my hat down over my head and curled into a ball to make myself as small as possible as the earth continued shaking to the symphony of bombs outside.

It took quite some time, but eventually, the bombs stopped falling and the only sound left was the ringing in our ears.

I cautiously sat up and looked around. Derek did likewise and in the distance we heard the powerful roar of engines as the pirates presumably flew away.

Was that it then? Was it finally over? Had we survived?

Derek got uneasily to his feet and grabbed the wall for support as his legs wobbled. I knelt up before attempting to stand.

Neither of us said anything. There was nothing to be said.

We were both thankful to be alive, however, we knew that we were going to have to go outside at some point and face what had happened.

A minute or so later, once we were sure that no more bombs were incoming, we staggered over to the stairs and carefully made our way down to where the door had been. There was now just a big hole in the corner of the building and as we reached it, I had to cover my mouth with my hand as we saw the rest of the town.

Or rather, what was left.

Derek: “Holy…”

Where just earlier in the day had stood buildings, now lay rubble. Rubble as far as the eye could see. Bricks and stonework covered what was left of the roads.

There were massive craters in the ground and the last remnants of buildings had fire pouring out of them.

I coughed as smoke filled my lungs and I pulled my bandanna over my face as I walked out between two fallen pillars.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

But it wasn’t just my eyes that hurt. Along with the crackling of the flames, there were wails of agony, screams of terror and the crying of the survivors.

I couldn’t move. I was stuck still by the sheer devastation that had been inflicted upon the town. Upon these people. These, poor, innocent people, whom Collins and I had led here!

My knees gave way. Whether due to weakness from the shaking or from emotion, I didn’t know. But I hit the ground and tears cascaded down my face.

I sobbed in silence as I surveyed the destruction that the pirates had wrought. The destruction that I had brought about.

There was a small burst of fire in a nearby pile of rubble but I didn’t bother turning to look. I couldn’t. I was immobilised by emotion.

This was all my fault.

If I had just done as Mr. Grey had told me to and got the information I needed, not free a load of strangers, none of this would have happened!

Derek walked past in front of me, looking around the immediate area, although I didn’t know what for. Maybe survivors, maybe just looking at all the destruction. I didn’t know and I didn’t give it any thought.

Derek: “Hey.” He said, coming back over to me as another waft of smoke blew over us. “Come on, don’t blame yourself. How were we to know?”

I tried to reply but the words got jumbled up in my mouth. After a moment, I tried again.

Tank: “They’re dead.” Was all I managed to say.

Tank: “Because of us.” I got out a few seconds later.

Derek: “We didn’t know the pirates would go crazy, did we? How were we meant to know that they’d bomb the whole damn place?”

Tank: “But Outo. Those women. Those kids!” a fresh wave of terror washed over me as I suddenly remembered all those children whom we had thought we were saving.

It turned out all we had done was lead them to their deaths.

Derek looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. He was just as sad as I.

A few moments passed in which all we could do was survey the damage, horrified.

Derek: “Come on, we need to see if we can help. See if there are any survivors.”

I tried to compose myself and nodded. I struggled to my feet, pushing myself up on one of the pillars.

Wiping my face with the cuff of my jacket, I looked around, this time actually looking properly, rather than merely gawping at the destruction.

Derek: “Okay, let’s stay together. If we start looking over there….”

Outo: “**YOU!**”

We turned and found Outo, the town leader, covered in soot and dust, but alive, clambering over the rubble towards us.

Tank: “Outo!” I exclaimed, happy to see somebody else alive.

Outo: “You brought this upon us! **You** did!”

Derek: We were only trying to help!” he defended as Outo stopped feet away from us. He was a scary looking guy and now, with a bleeding cut on his cheek, he looked even worse.

Outo: “And look where that got us! My town is destroyed! My people are dead and dying!” he shouted.

Outo: “And **you** he jabbed a finger in my direction. “I told you what had happened to my people! How much we have suffered! And now look!” he threw his arms wide and looked around.

“Look what you have brought upon us now!”

Tank: “I’m sorry!” I tried to sound meaningful, but my voice broke half way through the words.

Outo: “Our population was already diminished and now… now…” he couldn’t seem to finish the sentence as he glowered at us.

Derek: “Look, let us help. Let us try and fix this. There may still be survivors, can you not hear th…”

Outo: “**NO!** No! You will not do any more! You have done too much already and brought us to ruin! I banish you!”

Tank: “Outo…”

Outo: “Banished! You are no longer welcome in my town! **LEAVE! NOW!** Before you cause more damage than you already have!” I could see tears rolling down his face into his shaggy beard as he ordered us away.

Tank: “Please Outo.”

Outo: “***GO!!!”*** He bellowed as a small chunk fell from the roof of the building we had taken shelter in.

Derek turned to look at me and slowly we turned our backs on Outo and picked our way through the rubble towards the edge of town.

On the way, I called Tracks on the com to come and pick us up, but other than that, neither of us said a word.

We arrived at the outskirts just as Tracks arrived and lowered down. I offered Derek a lift back to his ship, which he graciously accepted.

He told us where he had landed and as we flew, we could see that the pirates had indeed left the system.

We dropped Derek at his ship and he and I shook hands.

Tank: “Let’s hope that if we ever meet again, it is under happier circumstances.”

Derek: “Agreed.”

Tracks and I left him to his business and took off again, heading for space.

However, no sooner had we exited the planet’s atmosphere, back up through it’s red clouds, something very strange happened.

Tank: “ARGH!” I cried out in pain as there was a sudden high pitched noise. I covered my ears but it made no difference. The sound seemed to be everywhere. I thought that maybe I’d burst an eardrum or something similar during the bombing and had only just noticed but then realised it was more than that.

The high pitched noise started warping and as it did so, my eyes, although they were still open, filled with a blindingly bright light.

I cried out in terror and confusion as both the noise and the light distorted; the sound becoming words and the light forming a vision of a man – a man dressed in purple with a star covered cloak. He was looking straight at me, and, even though I knew he was nowhere nearby, I could feel the man's power reaching into me. It was like he was inside my soul. He knew everything about me. My past, my personality, maybe even my future. No secret I’d ever kept was safe from such a power. *Nothing* was safe.

And then he began to speak.

A voice. A great voice, echoing inside my head.

Voice: “Greetings, citizens of the Imperium and of this galaxy.

War is coming to your systems. War unlike any you have ever known before. And it is the GI that you have to blame. They took from me my daughter, and in return I shall take from them everything they hold dear. I will burn their people, burn their planets, burn their cities, burn their fleets. The GI will die screaming, as will any who aid them. But I did not wish to see it done like this. We have long traveled this universe; Countless galaxies and empires have knelt before us. Unable to defeat us, they submitted and then we helped them rise once more, under our banner.

But your Imperium forfeited that mercy the day they blew my daughter from the sky!

Any that denounce them and submit to our rule will be spared, I assure you, as long as you stay out of our way. Our forces, collected from the galaxies and systems that we have conquered this far, combined with those whom we have already gathered here in your galaxy in advance of our arrival outnumber every military organisation at your disposal ten to one. Even if your rebel organisation, Aurelia, allied with the Imperium, it would make no difference. You know the odds.

We shall spare no time idling. Our first blow will be at the heart of the Imperium - Our first target, Qoter, is in sight. But Qoter is not our only target, merely the first. Even the farthest reaches of the Imperium will not escape our wrath. We will spread throughout your galaxy, like a swarm, and seize control of every, single, planet. And finally when both the Imperium and Aurelia are crushed and the fighting has ceased.... then, we shall have peace.

We are The Collective, and this is not war. This is the Rapture. This is your end of days.”

And with that, suddenly both the voice and the vision were gone and I could feel the tendrils of the man’s power withdrawing from my mind. Breathing heavily, I uncovered my ears, wondering if it was over.

Tank: “What the bloody hell was that?” I wondered aloud as I rubbed my temple. Tracks ground out a sound that I think was meant to be “Was what?”

Had he not had the same experience as me? I didn’t reply. Instead, I keyed Mr. Grey’s code in to the Viper’s com system and waited for him to answer. However, he didn’t reply.

Strange.

I tried again and once again had no luck.

This was odd. I tried a third time and this time, he picked up.

Mr. Grey: “Tank!” he exclaimed.

Tank: “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

Mr. Grey: “We’re under attack!”

Tank: “What?”

Mr. Grey: “Qoter is under attack!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Tank: “Wait, you’re on Qoter?” I had never really thought about where Mr. Grey’s base of operations might be, but in the heart of the GI was not one of the locations I would have thought suitable.

Mr. Grey: “I have many offices around the galaxy, but that is of little important right at this moment in time.”

Tank: “Does this by any chance have anything to do with the voice I just heard in my head?”

Mr. Grey: “Yes! I heard it too. Everybody here did and I imagine everybody in the galaxy did.”

Tank: “But who can do that? Who has that sort of power?”

Mr. Grey: “He does. Clearly. Whoever the hell he is.”

Tank: “So is it his forces that are attacking??”

Mr. Grey: “It would seem so.”

Tank: “But Surely the GI there is enough to hold them off?”

Mr. Grey: “Look, I can’t talk for long, did you find anything out on Zarus?” he asked urgently.

Tank: “Only that the pirates were waiting for some*one* rather than some*thing*.”

Mr. Grey: “Well, they don’t seem to be waiting any more. It seems that it was these ‘Collective’ that they were waiting for. Though how they were in contact with somebody in a different galaxy still remains a mystery to be solved at another time. Are you still with them?”

I didn’t know what to say.

Tank: “Um, no.”

Mr. Grey: “Why? What happened?” he frowned.

Tank: “There was an incident, and um… I got left behind.”

Mr. Grey glared at me through the hologram but said nothing, so I elaborated a little.

Tank: “They had hostages. A whole town of innocent people. Women and children too. They were going to torture them and sell them as slaves, I couldn’t let that happen.”

Mr. Grey: “So you decided to rescue the primitive townsfolk rather than stay on board and finish the mission I assigned to you?”

Tank: “I guess. I’m sorry.”

Mr. Grey: “Did you get these ‘innocents’ to safety?”

I had a massive twinge of guilt and felt like crying again, but I held it back.

Mr. Grey: “Your delay in answering is answer enough in itself.” He said in a tone that was a mix of disappointment and anger.

Tank: “I got them back to their village fine. But then the pirates bombed them as they left.” I paused and shook my head sadly. “They destroyed the entire town.”

Mr. Grey: “So not only did you fail my task, you also led the population of a small town to their doom?”

I stayed silent.

Mr. Grey continued sarcastically,

Mr. Grey: “Well, well done. It seems…”

He was cut off mid-sentence as the office shook and the transmission fuzzed momentarily.

Mr. Grey looked out of shot and there was some shouting as somebody entered the room.

He turned back to me.

Mr. Grey: “Tank, I need you to get here ASAP! This complex is under attack! The GI and my personal security are holding them off for now but I don’t know how long they can hold out. My emergency speeder has been destroyed and there is no other way out of the building.”

Tank: “Whoa, I’m no soldier!”

Mr. Grey: “You’re my nearest contact and I need you to come and pick me up!”

I sighed.

Tank: “Okay, I’m on my way.”

Mr. Grey: “The co-ordinates are being transferred to your ship’s nav-system as we speak.”

He ended the transmission in a hurry.

I took a deep breath. I needed to clear my head after everything that had happened but it didn’t seem like I was going to get that chance. As much of a pain as Grey was, he knew the answers to my questions, so I needed him alive.

Tank: “Well Tracks, looks like we’ve got to go and rescue Mr. Grey.” I commented and the droid muttered something.

Tank: “I really need to get your voice box sorted.”

**BONUS PICTURES**

The room set. (Different to Griffin's version, but that's one of the givens of a cross-over.)

The ruins.

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