Second Expansion
Book 1: Shadows of the Ancient War
Part 3: A Game of Cloak and Dagger
By Mike (mjm_keen@hotmail.com)

     A jewel is hidden within the vast expanses of the Denubian Galaxy.  Inside 
the Azure Quadrant, lies Planet Arus.  Planet Arus has been one of the most influential planets 
within the galaxy for thousands of years.  During Arus' second Dark Age, the galaxy had
suffered wide spread turmoil.
     The bright sunset cast a beautiful background on the ancient Castle of 
Lions, built by Queen Ariella, the first Queen of Arus during the first galactic expansion.  King 
Marcus the fourth sat within his study behind the throne room sitting at what appeared to be a
wooden desk.  Resent events disturbed him. Zylon attacks had been rising along the border of
the Arusian Stellar Alliance (ASA) for several months, but ten days ago they stopped.  So far no
intelligence had come through.  Marcus suspected that a large attack is mounting.
     A rapping came at his chamber door.  A young page entered after being 
acknowledged.
     "My lord, this communique has just come in from the hyperspace array.  Its 
marked for your eye's only."
     The page extended the data slate to the king.  Marcus took it, thanked the 
page and dismissed him. Marcus was hopeful about the message.  If it was from who he
suspected, then he would know what the Zylon were up to.
     After a DNA scan, the message revealed itself.  Marcus suspicions were 
right.  The message was from Raven, a contact within the Zylon Continuum.  He also noted that
this message was far larger then any that he had ever received.  A cloud of doom soon filled the
room as Marcus read through the message. The Zylons were going to do far worse then he had
feared.  They were going to use hyperspace weapons to destroy the four galaxies and very likely
the Zylons themselves.
     That was not the end of the shock for Marcus.  The message continued:

     For several years, I have been suspected by the Zylons of treason.  In 
order to get this message out, I have not been able to keep the transmission as well disguised as
usual.  The Zylons will surely detect it and track it to me.  Because of this, I am left with one
option.  I am going to defect.

     The hardest part of accepting this to Marcus was that he couldn't image 
leaving his own race to spend the rest of his life with a completely different one.  Hopefully
Raven knew what he was getting himself into.  The rest of the message contained information on
Zylon hyperspace weapons, much about Zylon society and biology, probably to help Raven feel
at home when he defects, and a how to receive him.
     The king pulled on a handle of one of the desk drawers.  The left side of 
the top of the desk tilted up revealing a black panel that soon lit up with controls.  The underside
of what had been a section of desktop held a display screen now showing the Arusian Seal.  He
pushed a series of buttons that opened a secure channel to the Committee of Defense for the
Alliance.
     The display abruptly changed to the image of a middle aged Defense Minister 
that still had a full head of hair, which was quite rare for a man of his position.
     "Minister Graham, I'm calling an emergency meeting of the committee in two 
hours and will be bringing all defense forces to level two alert.  We've a situation that 
threatens the whole human race.  The Zylons have a new weapon of extreme power and we need
to immobilize at once.   I'll be heading out for Alliance Central right after the transmission."
     "Understood your majesty."
     The screen blinked out.
     Some of the other representatives would have a problem with having a single 
ruler making declarations like that, especially if they made such bold claims, but Graham 
knew the Marcus would never do what he just did if it wasn't serious.
     The ruler now made contact with the Lion's Claw.  Soran's image appeared.
     "Yes, your majesty."
     "I've just received information that the Zylons are mounting a new attack 
with a very powerful weapon that threatens all of the human race.  Also, Raven is defecting.  I 
want to have several of the Commonwealth Ships to rendezvous with him in the Gemini System. 
It's a twin star system a thousand light years from the Diamond System.  The rest of the fleet and
your fleet are to come to Arus.  I'm sending you the full communique that I got from him.  I'm
bringing the Zeus Strike Squadron online.  I want you to lead it."
     "Is the squadron ready though?  It was in pretty bad shape when we found it 
at the old fleet yard inside Zeus."
     "The ancients built their stuff to last.  I'm told that the fleet is battle capable and with not
every system working perfectly, the ten ships are more powerful then the entire Arus fleet of
three hundred ships."
     "Understood.  Soran out."
                    *    *    *    *    *
(A few hours earlier)
     The ship's crew was gearing down as the ship’s artificial day was coming to 
its end.  It was slightly after 2000 hrs.  One of the two busiest shifts was over, Ceti.  
Many of the crew just getting of shift would take a stop in one of the ships lounges.
     It had been a busy day for Lucy and so would the next few.  She had a 
meeting with Major Kyle "Shark" Kogane, the Executive Wing Commander.
     The lift stopped and opened up into the main lounge located at the fore of 
the base of the command tower.  The lounge took up about half of this deck; it was larger 
then the ship's bridge.  The outside wall of the room was curved and transparent, bringing in the
light of trillions of strange stars. Many times, people would sit staring out the window, looking
for one star that they called home.  But that was impossible now because they were in a different
galaxy.
     Lucy had a dull headache from dozens of minds poking at her.  She had to 
increase her mental shield to drown out all the feelings.  She spotted Shark sitting at a table 
in the middle of the room staring at a young woman a few tables over, nursing a drink.  Lucy
stopped right in his line of view.  Shark moved his head to the right and Lucy followed.  After he
tried to dodge her a few more times, he realized that Lucy was there.
     "Oh..um., excuse me.  Sorry about that, Colonel," he stammered out.
     Lucy waved it of with a gesture of her hand.
     "Aren't you going to offer me a seat?"
     "Um.. Sorry about that.  Do ya want a seat?"
     Lucy grabbed the chair and sat down.  Shark was getting over the shame of 
getting caught.
     "Could I get you a drink, Colonel?"
     "Umm.. A Lurian Dark Ale."
     Shark nodded his head and went for the bar.
     In her moment alone, Lucy decided to experiment a little.  She reached out to the mind of
the young women that Shark had been so interested in.  From the woman's uniform, she was a
supervising engineer.  Lucy found that the engineer had a strong irritation linked with the Major. 
Evidently he had been at this for more then just the scene in the lounge.  Lucy grabbed that
irritation and brought it to the forefront of the woman's conscious.  It wasn't enough to cause her
to do something, so Lucy expanded the irritation so it slightly blanketed her reasoning.
     The engineer grabbed her drink and excused herself from the table.  Shark was waiting at
the bar for their drinks.  Lucy dropped her barrier.  She was momentarily blurred by the thoughts
of all the people in the room but was able to fight it back.  She made it so that no one in the
room had any motivation to look at Shark.
     The engineer walked up to Shark and stopped.  When he looked to see who it  was, he
was greeted with a drink in his face.  The engineer turned and left the room. 
     Lucy let out a chuckle, but kept anyone else from paying her or Shark any attention.  She
had been getting quite good at this in only a few hours.
     Shark returned with their drinks and a wet uniform.
     "Major!  Change out of that and into a clean uniform!"  Lucy said very sternly before
braking out into laughter.
     "Oh, so you find this funny!?"
     Shark was having a strong temptation to throw their drinks into her face, 
but Lucy pushed that feeling down.  It was a bit tough doing that while holding off everybody's 
attention.
     Shark reached down and touched a point on his belt buckle and the stain 
vanished, then sat down. Lucy released her mental hold on the room.
     Lucy started off, "Major, because of my increased work load, I'm going to 
be moving many of my responsibilities to you.  I'm promoting you to Acting Wing Commander
for the next several days."
     This excited him, he had been pulled down from Wing Commander for this assignment.
     "How's Daneel doing?"
     A somber look came over Lucy, "He's still down.  There was minor damage done to his
neural net.  That'll take a bit of time to repair with his self repair system's down.  He's fully shut
down, so his system has to be in almost perfect working order to start up.  I'm in the process of
replacing his data distribution node.  I've not ran into any major problems."
     The Major reached over the table and grabbed her hand, "Several of the other officers
and I are getting together in half an hour for a game of Weltzkrieg.  Would you like to join us?"
     "I haven't played that game in years!  Clint introduced me to it before I went to the
academy.  We had many late nights playing that and he always beat me.  I thought I'd show 
him after I got out of the academy, until I found out that he had been the champ in the
Weltzkrieg tournaments for his entire academy stay and had won the Stellar Nation Tournaments
three times later during leave."
     "Wait a moment..  Did'ya just refer to the Admiral as Clint?"
     "You've been slacking!  You didn't read all the personal records for the pilots."
     Oops!  Lucy had grabbed that right out of his mind.  He wouldn't notice.
     "Well, um.. There were over 700 pilots to go through."
     Lucy kept on the badgering, "Yeah, but I got through them all, it was your job to do it
too.  Also, isn't the Vega Campaigns part of the general Commonwealth History curriculum 
at the Academy?  I know it was being added while I was in attendance and you are ten years my 
junior."
     "Well um.. about that too.  Well ya see, I sort of slid through Commonwealth History."
     Lucy didn't want to embarrass him too much more.  The thoughts were so much in the
forefront of his mind that it was clear with her still rough abilities.  He had done as so many
cadets do; he cheated.
     "Anyway about the Admiral, he is my adoptive father.  Most people know about my
years of isolation.  It was Clint's fleet that found and rescued me."
     "There might be a bit of trouble in the game then."
     "Don't tell me he's playing too!"
     "Yeah he is, most of the executive officers get together a couple of times a month to
play.  Some of us do give him a run for his credits.  Daneel normally would play too."
     For a moment, Lucy's face redisplayed that somber look at the mention of  Daneel's
name.
     "I never knew about it.  If I had, I would have joined in."
     "You never were that social, so I guess that we never asked.  Tonight we're playing at the
Admiral's Quarters.  May I escort you?"
     Lucy shook her head, "Thank you, but no.  I'm going to stop by my quarters to change
out of my uniform first.  It's been nice talking with you."
     The Major got up with Lucy, "I'll um.. escort you to your quarters."
     Lucy reluctantly agreed.
                    *    *    *    *    *
     Main Engineering sat at the ship's center, right above the Graviton Cannon 
and was actually one of three engineering sections in the ship.  The other two were identical to 
each other and were for each of the matter/antimatter reactors and hyperspace coils.  This
engineering section coordinated the two and was the center of power distribution.  The main
control section of main engineering was a large chamber that had computer stations running
along two walls with a second set above, serviced by a gangway that ran around the room. 
Beyond the chamber, two large power transfer conduits from the matter/antimatter reactors
connected to a third conduit like a "T" to bring power directly to the Graviton Cannon.  The
conduits ran through a tunnel that spanned the entire length of the ship and had railed carts on
either side.
     At this time of night, the engineering crew was pretty sparse.  During the Delta and
Alpha shifts, only a crew of four manned the section.  A minor "problem" occupied three of 
them, leaving Langely the only person there.  This was the first chance he had to survey the lock
on the door to Chief Engineer Seldon's office.  He had run into another wall.  The lock was like
nothing Langely had ever seen before and he was trained in breaking through the most advanced
security systems.  The only way he could open the door was to use an explosive powerful enough
to blow out half of engineering.  Using the door and going through the bulkheads were out.  He
would have to go through above; a service tube ran above the room.
                    *    *    *    *    *
     Lucy was the first to Clint's quarters.  She had changed out of her uniform and into
civilian clothes, a pair of black slacks and a purple shirt.  Clint was still in his uniform.  After
their brief hello, Lucy sat down and studied here father's thoughts.  Many of the other crew
members tried to cover up what they thought, but her Father wasn't quite like that.  At least
when he was around her and probably the Seldons too.
     After a few moments, Doris arrived.  It surprised Lucy that she thought of the Captain by
first name.  It must be from Harry.  Doris started to brag about all the times that she had beaten
Clint at the game.  Finally Major Kogane arrived and they sat down to play.
     The large table in Clint’s quarters served dual purposes as the dinning room table and a
Weltzkrieg game.  The table had been custom built and was larger then the standard game 
table.  When the game activated, the white tabletop faded into a black color and the game name 
floated at eye level above the table.  In front of each seat, a control panel slid out and a section
of the tabletop flipped up to reveal each player's controls.
     Clint sat directly across from Lucy, "Since this is Lucy's first time playing with us, she
can select how we will play."
     Biting her lip Lucy replied, "How about free-for-all with the version six rules and a
medium sized random map.  Each player starts with five hundred credits and five systems."
     This was the exact same variation Clint had won at when he won his first galactic
championship.
     "All right.  Computer, set up a game with those conditions."
     On the holo-display, about ten star systems that were visible to Lucy appeared.  The holo-
projectors shaped the light so that it was only visible to her and hid everything else.  The first
hour was spent expanding out.  Lucy, though, didn't expand the same way as most people do. 
With a couple of small groups of ships, she was hitting the other players' colonies before they 
could fortify them and quickly took them over.  Many times, she hit shipyards that had large
cruisers under construction.  Doris was a bit tough since she had a strong mental block, but Lucy
could see where everything of hers was.
     "How can'ya be doing this?  You've taken over five of my expansions right before their
defenses are up."  Shark complained a half-hour into the game, "This sucks!"
     Lucy replied with a teasing grin.
     Soon Lucy had boxed everybody in.  She could see every move before the players even
made them.  Slowly, she crushed them one by one.  Doris was the last to go.  Lucy couldn't
predict everything she was doing, but just the crunch of a larger attack force brought her 
down.
     At the end, being taken out like first time players stunned everyone.  Doris started to
taunt Clint about staying in for longer then him.  Their brooding was shortly interrupted by a call
from the bridge.
     "Admiral, Soran is sending for you."
     He replied to the intercom, "I'll take it on my view screen."
     On the wall at the end of the table was a painting of the Tarawa, the first ship Clint
served as Captain on, with a spiral galaxy in the background.  The painting faded out to a picture
of the old looking Soran.  He went and explained the situation with the new Zylon attack and the
defection.
     Lucy went through the whole thing detached.  Her head seemed to be in a cloud.
Suddenly when Soran had brought up about the defector a name shot out of her mouth.
     "Rf'near."
     After receiving puzzled looks she clarified.  "His name is Rf'near."
     She shook her head and before anyone could ask how she knew, "It just came to me."
     Soran finished up and soon blinked out to be replaced by the Tarawa again.  Clint
immediately took charge.
     "Doris, get to the bridge and have the fleet change to the course.  Major, get the flight
crew ready for recovery operations."  Clint gave Lucy a look that told her he wanted her to stay.
     Lucy sat down on Clint's sofa.  Clint fell into the chair across from her. 
     "You've really seemed to improve at that game in the last few years."
     She replied mockingly, "I learned from the best."
     Clint shifted the discussion to what he really wanted to talk about.
     "There's something I just need to talk to someone about."
     Lucy nodded in consent.  She had blocked out his mind to try to make it feel like a
regular conversation.  Talking really lost something when you knew what the other person was
going to say and all the things they were going to leave out.
     "Since we've got here, into this galaxy, I've felt a bit preoccupied.  I keep thinking about
M'ken."
     "Your old buddy from the academy that was lost on a mission?"
     "Ah-ha.  Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that he played Weltzkrieg the same way you
just did.I usually faired better, but I was just stunned that you did it the same way."
     "You don't want that happening in combat."
     He gave her a dirty look, "I'm not in the mood for that now.  He was just able to see what
you did before you did it.  There was a rumor that he was telepathic, but I just didn't believe it
and the rumor seemed to die right away."
     So he probably was a telepath.  Just alter everyone's minds so that they doubted the
rumor and nobody believed it.  Lucy gave Clint a brief mental scan and found something
peculiar.  She would have to talk to Harry about it.
     Lucy stood up, "I need to get going.  I've got a meeting with Harry in ten minutes to work
on Daneel some more."
     Clint looked up questionably, "Since when did you begin to call him by his first name?"
     She replied while walking out, "Since this afternoon."
               *    *    *    *    *
     There was nothing to the world, no sight, no sounds, and no smells, just complete
emptiness. Thought and awareness begin to return, but his mind just seems to be floating in
nothingness.  Senses begin to return to him.  He can feel the body that he is attached to, not his 
original, but a new batch of flesh.
     My name is Rf'near.  He finally has a name to attach to himself.  The name was just a
door, soon the rest of his memories flood in.  There was a tingling in the back of his neck as his
mind learned to work with the new body.  He opens his eyes and looks down at his new human
body.  
     It is a well build, muscular body.  He looks up, which it takes a few moments for his eyes
to respond to the command.
     He is floating in a green gelatin within a generative tube.  Outside the tube, the blurred
shape of another Zylon could be made out.  The gold and brown shape bent over and the gelatin
began to flow out.
     A message came through Rf'near's hand from his assistant, J'gra, asking on his status.
     "I am doing as well as can be expected.  I never realized how different human sight
would be." Rf'near replied through his own proteins.
     "The medical scanners are reporting that there are no complications.  The memory
imprint came over perfect."
     When the liquid had gone below his eye level, Rf'near got the chance to fully survey the
world through his new eyes.  Terran vision was vastly different then Zylon.  Zylons had three
irises, each section was tuned for a different part of the light spectrum.  Terran eyes combined 
it into one organ, though the visible spectrum wasn't as wide.  Rf'near had compensation for
that.
     Using his optical implant, Rf'near switched through a wide variety of wavelengths
including infrared, ultraviolet, and the electromagnetic. The tube hissed as it lifted up.  J'gra
helped Rf'near to climb out.  Her hand was clammy.  After getting out, he switched and grabbed
her speech arm.
     "Rf, (pronounced roof) I just got word that your escape craft his ready. "Farewell old
friend.  May Geblar watch over your genes."
     This was an ancient Zylon blessing of good luck.  J'gra was against this plan, which
Rf'near felt stemmed from some feelings for him.  But with the current situation, she accepted it
as the only way for him to survive.
     "Je, remember what we have learned.  I now in trust you with the job of trying to change
the Zylon race."
     He let go and began to walk out of the chamber, but at the last minute turned around and
ran back to give her a very human gesture, a hug.
               *    *    *    *    *
     <I don't think we should be holding this from Clint.  He should know.>
     <The fewer people who know about us the better.>
     Lucy and Harry were riding the lift down to engineering.  Lucy was working not looking
at Harry when they thought-spoke.  It would make the crew suspicious and she didn't want them
thinking she had a thing for him.
     <Is that the same reason you don't even tell your own wife?>
     <No, I can't adjust her mind so that she has no will to talk about it.>
     <So you don't feel you can trust her?>
     <It's not a matter of trust.  It's one of those things that could just slip out.>
     <Are you just trying to hide behind all that bull shit?>
     <What!>
     Harry wasn't able to contain his anger of that comment.  He glared right at her.
     <How dare you say anything like that!?!>
     Lucy didn't flinch.
     <You just like to keep secrets.  You like to know that you have something over others. 
Or in this case your little group.  Others can't keep secrets from you so you don't know what it
feels like, except for Doris and she hardly does keep secrets from you.  But you hate it when she 
does and it makes you feel worse knowing that you do the same.>
     <What made you the sudden expert on my mind?>
     <The fact that I can see everything you're thinking.  That's what!>
     Harry went from anger to shock.
     <How can you sense anything?  I've got my mental barrier up.>
     <I broke through it.>
     <You're a fast learner.>
     The lift stopped and they started walking toward engineering.
     <Harry, do you know anything about an old friend of my fathers, M'ken?>
     <M'ken?  He was one of the most powerful telepaths we have ever come across, but he
was good with his abilities and didn't want anything to do with us.>
     <What about his mysterious disappearance?>
     <He was called onto a special mission that pulled him out of the academy early and was
lost on the mission.>
     <What sort of mission?>
     <Deep space investigation.  I've got no idea why they picked him or the details of the
mission.>
     <Was it an extra-galactic mission?>
     <The lost contact with his craft put it on a trajectory out of the galactic plane.  Actually it
was a path toward the Denubian Galaxy.>
     <That seems to confirm my feelings.>
     <What feelings?>
     <That M'ken is still alive and is here.>
     <Jumping to conclusions a little quick here.>
     <Don't all telepaths when they tamper with a mind leave a sort of mental print?  Kind of
like a finger print?>
     <Well yes, but the well developed ones, like myself don't.>
     <There's your pride again.  You do and I've found it.  It may be faint but I can find it. 
I've found what may be M'ken's prints on my father's mind dealing with thoughts linked with
M'ken from the academy days and those same prints again within the last few days>
     <We'll have to look into that more.>
     They finally arrived at main engineering.  Three engineers were on duty.  To Lucy, one of
them didn't feel right.
     <Harry, who's that with the brown hair at the power management console?>
     <Langely.  Something wrong about him?>
     <He doesn't feel right.  His thoughts feel artificial in some way.>
     <I don't sense that.  He's been one of my best engineers though.  I'm planning on
promoting him when this mission was completed.  When we're done with Daneel, I'll have Clint
look into him.>
     They went into the Chief Engineers office and entered his workroom.  Daneel’s body
lay on the center diagnostic table.  His head had been removed and sat in a neural connection
box on a table. Switching to speech, Lucy said, "I've already downloaded his program into a 
test bed in the engineering computer.  I was working on trying to clean up the biggest part of the
conflict, which exists in his morality subroutines.  I've fixed most of the reprogramming that had 
been done."
     They sat down and started to get to work at it.
               *    *    *    *    *
     Unnoticed by the two in the workroom.  Langely was in the utility conduit above them
with a psi-block device.  He had pulled up the false floor.  A small explosive was being placed
near a power transfer conduit.  The explosion would look like a breach in the conduit.  By the 
time they realized that it was sabotage, he would be out of the way.
               *    *    *    *    *
     Something was different.
     <Harry, did you feel that, or should I say not feel something.>
     Harry pulled his mind out of the work and scanned around him.
     <There's a psi-block being used above us.  We need to get out of here>
     <Wait a second!>
     Even with the block, Lucy could feel the device working.  She focused all of her energy
on to shorting it out.
               *    *    *    *    *
     Something was beginning to smoke.  Langely looked next to him and saw the psi-block
device melting next to him.  He kept silent as he grabbed the explosive and got out of the
conduit.  Thinking that he was safe, he walked back to engineering where security apprehended
him.
               *    *    *    *    *
     "We're lucky that that device he had exploded.  Do you have any idea what it was?"
     Clint was in his quarters wearing a bathrobe on the other end of the visual com line.
     Harry answered, "I think it was to mask him from the sensors."
     Clint took a deep breath.
     "We have gotten the fall person.  There's someone that is higher up, probably an officer. 
We have to be on our guard since we got the person that was doing the dirty work..
     "How's Daneel going?"
     Lucy took this, "We have fixed the tampering and have a good portion of the conflict
repaired. We're getting ready to bring up his net and let the diagnostic program get things
running again."
               *    *    *    *    *
     Everything about the plan was falling apart.  Langely was now in the brig and Daneel was
about to be reactivated.  As long Langely didn't talk, there was nothing to connect any of it to
him.  Langely would need to be disposed of and the other operative contacted.
               *    *    *    *    *
     "Let's give it a go!"
     Daneel's head was still in the box, but his program had been returned to it.   Lucy hit the
execute button and data on the startup sequence starting to scroll across the display.
     "Harry, would you please leave us for a few minutes.  And no mind reading please!"
     Harry nodded and left the room.
     The display blinked that the conflicts had been cleaned up and the entire program was
being brought on line.  Daneel blinked a few times and looked at Lucy.  He smiled for a second
but it turned into a depressed look when the memories from the last few days came in.
     "My god!  I can't believe I did that."
     Lucy talked back with a very soothing tone.  "It's not your fault.  Someone
reprogrammed you to do it."
     "Well I'm sorry for it.  Would you be so kind as to return my head to my body?"
     "No, I think I'll just leave it there.  That way you can't cause any more trouble."  She
said teasing.
     She reached over and pulled his head out of the box.
     "Or maybe I'll just keep your head around for the hell of it.  We need to see the
Admiral."
     "Hey wait!  Damn you!  I want my body back."
     Harry looked as Lucy came through the door with Daneel's head.
     "Was Daneel being bad again?" he asked very sarcastically.
     Lucy nodded.  "I didn't like his attitude so I thought I'd punish him."
     Daneel continued to curse at them.
     Lucy brought his head up even with hers.
     "My what a mouth you have gotten.  Who can I blame for that?"
     "Would you just put my head back!"
     "Aw, all right."
     Talking to Harry she said.  "Would you let Clint know that Daneel is operating again. 
He's probably asleep now and doesn't want to be disturbed.  And leave in the message that we
will see him tomorrow morning about 1000 hrs."
     She paused a moment when turning to return to the workroom.
     "Wait a moment Harry.  Catch!" she said while giving Daneel's head a slight swing.
     "No!  Just put my head back!  I don't want to get involved in some game of keep away!"
     Harry laughed as he left.  Lucy brought Daneel's head back into the workroom and
replaced it on his body.  While Daneel ran his body through the standard diagnostics, Lucy
pulled up a chair next to the table.
     "Daneel, I've always thought of you as a good friend, but I didn't realize how much you
truly meant to me until this morning."
     He stopped his diagnostics and looked at her.  "I've always had feelings for you."
     She nodded, reached over, and grabbed his hand.  "I know.  I just never realized that I felt
the same way back.  I.. I.. love you."
     She stood up, "How about we head to my quarters when you finish up with that
diagnostic?"
     A wide grin went across his face, "Well in that case, I'm already done."
          *    *    *    *    *
     A blaring filled his awareness.  When he opened his eyes, the ship board computer
sensed him waking and shut it off.  Rf'near rolled off of the shelf he had been sleeping on.  What
a strange sensation human sleeping was especially those dreams that fill it.  He could remember 
that he had had them, but couldn't remember them.  Aw well, he thought to himself, got to get
used to it.
     He had been cooped up in the small ship for eight hours while it glided out of the system. 
The ship had been shot out of an impeller chamber at launch so it could glide out on inertia to
prevent detection.  The alarm signaled that the ship was approaching a spatial distortion that 
existed on the fringe of this system.
     The ship was equipped with a Spatial Slip Drive, that would allow the ship to slip
through the spatial distortion into subspace and out again at the other end in the Gemini System. 
The gravitation forces in this area were enough to cause that point in space to bend enough that
it poked into the subspace realm, where light didn't set a speed limit.
     He climbed up the ladder that led from the bunkroom and to the ship's piloting room.  He
sat in the small chair that was in the front of the ship.  Hopefully this five hundred year old hunk
of junk would work.
     He activated the forward sensor array and kept it on a tight focus.  He located the
distortion in a snap, right where it was supposed to be.  The ship was right on course. In a few
moments, he would need to bring the main drive online.  He would  have to do that as late
as possible for starting it would let everyone in the sector know he was here.  He spent the time
watching the folding of space-time on the sensor display as the ship approached the distortion.
     Another alarm sounded alerting that it was five minutes until the ship would approach
the threshold.  His hands flew over the controls and the main drive came on instantly.  
     I'll say one thing about humans, he thought, they built this stuff to last.
     He put the entire sensor array to passive scan to see what he was stirring up.  Several
ships from the outer perimeter guard were heading for him, but he would be gone for twenty
minutes by the time they could catch up.
     The ship buckled as it hit a space-time wrinkle.  He increased power to the structural
integrity field and inertial dampers.  The threshold was a little over a minute away.  The ship
hummed as the Spatial Slip Drive began to kick in.  He looked at the rear scanners again and
noticed that the patrol ships had entered hyperspace.
     That was far too close to a gravity well.  Those ships risked getting their atoms spread
across the system from an improper hyperspace phase-in.  They didn't know about the slip drive
so they would over shoot.
     The lighting in the cabin dimmed.  All sorts of displays across the console lit up. Rf'near
had no idea what most of them meant, so he didn't worry about them.  The computer announced
to prepare for jump.  Five seconds later, everything blacked out.
               *    *    *    *    *
     Lucy walked onto the bridge looking quite tired.  Daneel was right behind her.
     "Sorry to have woken you up," Clint said from the captain's chair, "but the rendezvous is
suppose to be at 0815."
     Something didn't seem right about Daneel.  Then Clint noticed the expression on his
face.  Well, he thought to himself, I knew it would eventually happen.  I had just hoped that Lucy
had my morals and would have waited.
     Daneel went and grabbed a spot at the Ops station.  Lucy came up and stood next to her
father.
     "Lucy, do you need some coffee?"
     She shook her head, "I don't drink it.  I wonder if the Styrofoam-o-matic can replicate
me one of those ten cen soft drinks."
     She walked over to the food receptacle by the main lifts.
     Doris came in and reclaimed her chair from Clint.
     "Cap, the fleet's reached the Gemini System and will be returning to n-space in thirty
seconds." Tolwyn reported.
     Doris hit one of the com buttons on the left arm of her chair, "Have the escort fighters
launch as soon as we drop from hyperspace."
     "Understood"
     Lucy returned drinking from a plastic cup filled with a carbonated, dark brown liquid.
     "The old food receptacles can produce something edible.  You've just got to apply the
right kind
of pressure to it."
     On the main view screen, the stars began to return from the red shift back to white. 
Doris hit several buttons on the right arm of her chair.  The secondary view screen, that hung
from the ceiling of the bridge next to another display, changed from the display of ships status to 
a green wire frame plane with dips and rises representing the gravitational distortions of space. 
The  display was centered on a starburst formation that had a curved tail.  She pushed a few
more buttons and a  second wire frame image was superimposed, this one was red and
represented subspace.  Subspace exists "underneath" regular, n-space. It's a realm of gravity and
energy and, like hyperspace, the light barrier doesn't exist.  The subspace grid held pretty tight to
the n-space grid, except that it dipped farther in the dips in n-space and a tunnel that came off of
the end of the starburst and trailed down off of the screen.
     "Sensors are detecting an object in subspace."
     On the screen, a bulge appeared in the subspace tunnel and was moving toward  the
starburst.  When it hit the starburst, a flash came on the main screen and a ship was ejected.
     Tolwyn was immediately relaying the sensor information.  "It is an old shuttle, about 500
years old that matches the configuration of a Olion ship.  It is a hundred and twenty meters in
length, masses at four point two metric tons and has had a new drive system attached that
doesn't match anything in the computer.
     "I detect one human life sign, male.  This is odd; according to the med sensor readings,
he is extremely healthy, almost too healthy."
     Clint interrupted, "That'll be our defector.  Have the fighter escort send out the
confirmation signal and guide him to the lower docking port."
     He looked over to the officers around the chair, "Shall we go?"
                    *    *    *    *    *
     A string of alphanumeric characters spread on the communications display.  It was the
correct confirmation code.  Rf'near opened a communications channel with that fighter.  The
confirmation code was replaced with the image of a young male wearing a pilots helmet.  The 
pilot relayed the boarding instructions.
     "We're going to escort you in.  We're heading for the flagship at bearing thirty mark ten. 
There is a docking port below the flight deck of the ship.  A tractor beam will bring your craft
in."
     "Affirmative."  Rf'near was quite nervous about this.  How would they except him? 
Would he be able to live without other Zylons?  He was puzzled a bit by that last question since
he could only stand being by a small fraction of Zylons that had gone down the same road he
had.   The part that bothered him the most was that he doubted that the humans would be able to
stop the Zylon plan.
     Something caught his attention on the scanners.  The ship he was heading for was far
more massive then any human ship he was aware of.  It was the size of a small Zylon colony ship
and, if his readings were right, produced as much energy as a small fleet.  He moved to  the other
ships of the group and noticed that the two other ships were nothing like the human ships he was
aware of.  Those ships could easily defeat most of the Zylon fleet.  There might be hope.  But
what they were facing was a new bread of Zylon ship.
     A light blinked on the communications console, it was from the flagship.  The
communication's display lit up with the image of a human in his thirties.  He had a tight face
and light brown hair.
     "I'm Admiral Clint Shelby representing the Commonwealth of Terran Worlds and the
Arusian Stellar Alliance."
     Rf'near responded, "I am Rf'near formally of the Zylon Continuum and the Zylon
Human Studies Laboratory.  I am afraid that I am not familiar with the Commonwealth of 
Terran Worlds"
     "We will catch you up on that after you dock.  You will be in range of the tractor beam in
two minutes.  At that time, cut your thrusters.  The tractor will take your ship in."
     "Understood."
     After the two minutes, Rf'near cut his thrusters when the tractor beam grabbed the ship. 
He looked in at the ship.  It was so much more stream line then any Zylon ship.   It sort of
resembled a giant H, two long nacelle like housings with the connecting bar containing the flight 
deck and topped by the command structures.  He finally realized something.  This ship was not
from the Denubian Galaxy.  What had the Admiral said was the name of that organization?  The
Commonwealth of Terran Worlds.  Terra was the human home world.  This fleet must be from
Human Galaxy One.  What they  called the Milky Way.
     Rf'near returned his attention to the view outside.  He was being pulled underneath the
cross bar into an opened hatch on the bottom.  Once he was inside, he could make out many
humans standing in front of the ship behind a force field that held the environment in.  A clamp 
grabbed the top of the ship and the hatch below slid shut.  He got out of the jump seat and
climbed down the rungs to the air lock.  A light came on indicating that the outside of the ship
was ready for him to depart.   He hit the button on the side of the door and it slid open.  The
outside door did to a few moments later.  He stepped out.
     A group of ten people were walking toward him down the gangway.  The six people that
were the rear of the group were holding slightly black and looked ready for combat wearing all
black one piece uniform that had a high energy reflection rate and a side arm.  They had to be
security.  Leading the group was Admiral Shelby.  Next to him was a red headed women that
was a head and a half taller with green eyes and a long face.  To her left and behind the Admiral
was a brown haired male a little taller then the admiral.  Something about him didn't seem right
to Rf.  The surface appearance was human, but Rf'near's extended vision showed his skin was
artificial and his skeletal structure was slightly off.  The three of them wore red uniform jackets
and black slacks.  Finishing up the group, was a young blond haired female, that was about the
same height as the admiral and the android.  Her uniform was different then the other three's.
She wore a skin-tight one piece that was blue at the shoulders and black below.
     The admiral came up and grabbed Rf's hand for a shake.
     "Welcome aboard the Commonwealth of Terran Worlds Ship Einstein, Rf'near."
     He tried to seem very cheerful, but Rf caught undertones of distrust in his voice.  The
admiral went on to introduce the other three, Captain Doris Seldon, the android, Commander
Daneel, and the ship's wing commander, Colonel Lucille Clark.  Most of the humans Rf had
studied didn't use titles as these people did.  This reminded him a bit too much of Zylon society,
where titles were such a big thing.  Zylons were grown in vats and created for specific positions,
so their ranking was set from before they were born. From his short observations, these humans
weren't specialized enough for that.
     The admiral led him with the group out of the docking bay.  Out of the corner of his eye,
Rf noticed security going over his ship.  As they stepped into the lift, Rf started to talk to Daneel.
     "Commander Daneel, in all of my studies of humans, I never came across anything as
advanced as uh you."
     "Well I...  How the hell did you figure out I was an android?"
     Rf gave a slight laugh knowing that he caught the android off edge, "My vision is far
better then the average humans.  From your internal energy bouncing of your skeleton I could
see that your bones were made of a synthetic material and you didn't have any organic internal
organs."
     "All of the technology has been around for ages except for recreating intelligence."
     "How are you accepted in this society when you are a.. machine, not meaning to put you
down."
     Clark stepped in and snapped back, "What are you trying to infer about our Society? 
That we'd discriminate against intelligent life if it is a machine!"
     Daneel came in defending Rf using a very soothing tone, "Now Lucy, unfortunately
society is like that and I've dealt with it."
     With that, Colonel Clark settled down a little.  There seemed to be something between
the two of them.  The commander returned to Rf'near, "Normally I just blend in since I look
human.  Usually people that do know it, are at first not comfortable with it but when they get to 
know me, it isn't a problem.  There have been a few ah.. people I have had a problem with."  He
smiled, "But on the other hand there've also been a few that have accepted me has a person from
the start."
     The lift reached its destination and they departed.  The lift had opened to a narrow
corridor.  The group went into a small conference room and security stayed outside the 
door.
     The conference room had a rectangular table in it with enough seats for ten 
people.  Standing at one end of the table was a tripedal being with brown skin.  On the wall 
above the being were two large screens carrying images of men that appeared to in their late
twenties.
     Admiral Shelby introduced them, "This is my chief aid, Go-on, and above on the top two
screens are Captains Rand and Jones of the ships Hubble and Kepler, respectively.  My second in
command of the fleet, Admiral Grier, is leading the rest of the fleet that is heading for Arus right
now.  So he will not be able to join us."
     The group sat down around the table the Admiral sitting at the head while Go-on
continued to stand next to him.  Colonel Clark was sitting next to Rf and seemed to be warming
up to him.  Rf couldn't quite figure out why.
     The Admiral started of the debriefing.  He gave Rf'near a quick run down of the fleet's
mission. Then he turned the floor over to Rf'near.
     "Two hundred and thirty years ago after my final molting, I was put in charge of the
Human Research Program, which I had been created for.  I was told that my predecessor had not
been able to be trusted.  The Human Research Program studied everything human: technology, 
biology, psychology, and so on.  As I studied human society, I was baffled.  It was extremely
different then what we had.  The thing that was even more puzzling about it was that as we, all
the researchers on the team, looked into this, we began to change.  We started to question our
existence and the very basic beliefs of the Zylons.
     "Most of my people believe that the Zylons are the only proper race, that the universe is
ours and that we are to destroy anything sentient that isn't us.  There is one thing special about
humans though to our race, we view your species as demons."
     There was no response from anyone in the room.  They just seemed to soak it in.
     Colonel Clark said, "It's been done in our history and used so much in literature that it's
not much of a shock."
     "Oh, anyway, we lost faith in the Zylon's views.  But we were still puzzled by many of
your ways. We had the hardest time understanding your form of reproduction.  We have
observed it in non-sentient creatures, but we felt that when a race became sentient it moved
beyond that.  Although we did wipe out all of the other sentient species without studying them
that we really didn't know.  Zylons are grown in vats and genetically engineered for their
specific place in society."
     "Sort of takes the fun out of it." Daneel muttered under his breath so as not to be heard,
except Rf caught it but ignored it.
     "Through our experiments we were able to learn fairly well how humans 'worked' so to
put it."
     Captain Seldon asked, "What type of 'experiments'," with a strong emphasis on
experiments.
     Trying to maintain his emotionless mask to cover up the turmoil inside of him he
explained, "At first these were the same types of experiments as you would run on any of your
standard lab animals: dissection, stress tests, and all that.  As soon as we got enough data, we
went on to mental scans and eventually to where we would create a direct neural connection
between the subject and a Zylon as the subject went through different simulated exercises. 
That's where the changes began in the scientists."
     The whole group took this very professionally, almost as though they were expecting it.
      "What can you tell us about these new Hyperspace weapons that the Zylons will be
using?" Admiral Shelby asked changing the subject.
     Rf launched right into a very long technical explanation, but found that everyone except
for Commander Daneel and Colonel Clark were lost.
     "Well maybe your chief engineer will be able to explain it better.  I'm not very good at
explaining that sort of thing.  I really don't understand it.  I've only memorized the information
about it."
     "Well thank you.  Security'll escort you to your quarters.  I'll have our chief engineer
come down to see you when he gets the chance."
     Rf'near stood up, bowed to the Admiral and left with security.
                    *    *    *    *    *
     "Opinions?"  Clint asked the group remaining in the room.
     "I feel we can trust him."  Lucy answered, but the others weren't quite as convinced. 
Clint himself felt that this was a man that could be trusted.
     "We need to exercise caution.  He could be sent a Zylon spy." Said Doris and everyone
except Lucy and Clint nodded in agreement.
     "I feel the way that Lucy does, but there's still a chance.  I'll have security keep an eye
on him, but be discrete.  We don't need to make him feel as if we don't trust him."
     Everyone gave him a look that showed agreement, except for Lucy who would to
anybody else be doing the same.  But Clint could see a bit of disgust in her look.
     "Dismissed."
                    *    *    *    *    *
     On the other side of the galaxy, the most dangerous weapon ever to be use in the galaxy
began to get under way.  Thousands of ships had been carrying Zylons out of the system and to
the other colony ships that were waiting.  The ship looked like a giant olive with little globs of
bio-matter hanging from it. Soon, it would be near the badlands and it's first target.  The billions
of years the galaxy had remaining would soon be counted in only days.

To be continued-