The four survivors are stunned while trying to get a grasp on exactly what is going on. Before any of them can utter a word, they are seized upon by a swarm of armed Reapers who drop all of them to their knees.

“Wait a minute, just what in hell is going on…”stammers Czerell.

He is cut off by the Dominionite “Silence traitor!” he says in a distant inhuman voice.

This foreboding specter invokes fear in the subdued Reapers, his eyes are nothing more than gray glowing orbs, he seems to resemble the traditional Grim Reaper as he floats across the ground towards the quartet.

The frightening Dominionite looks down on Valen “Look up”.

Valen slowly looks up into the face of the terrifying wraith. Half of it is a shining black metallic skull, the other half is disfigured flesh with several burn marks.

The eyes of the Dominionite start to glow even brighter and pierce straight through Valen “Declare yourself!” he shouts.

Valen hesitates to form words “Mighty Dominionite I am Leutenii Valen, chief commander of Reaper Arms Station Quasar Osisris…I” Valen finds he can no longer speak as great pain seems to assail him when suddenly strands of blood seep from his eyes, he gurgles and shakes.

His inquisitioner just continues to stare down, his demonic eyes exerting an unknown telepathic force that is violently affecting Valen “You are a traitor, we have all the evidence of your treason, you thought you could get away with it…Hahahahahaha”.

His laughter is like that of Satan welcoming newly damned souls to the depths of hell. Valen still struggles against the invisible force that attacks him when suddenly it releases him. The blood from his eyes stops and he drops his head in exhaustion. The other three Reapers dare not move.

The Dominionite whirls around and begins to exit the cockpit “Bring them…to await their fate”.

The four are seized up and are forced out of the cockpit at gunpoint.

As they are led through the dark corridors Czerell whispers to Valen “You alright”?

Valen just hangs his head and takes deep breaths “I’ve been better”.

Derelic’s mind wanders as he whispers to Cale “What in all hell is going on”?

Cale whispers back “I don’t think I even want to know”.

The Dominionite marches ahead of the rest, only his glowing gray eyes can be seen in the darkness.

The line of Reaper soldiers stretches as far as the eye can see down the long launch corridor of the receiving hangar of the main Council fortress of Gamma Dominion base XRX- Reaper One. The hatch of the cargo ship opens and out marches the Dominionite followed by the four newly captured Reaper prisoners and their escort battalion. As the Dominionite marches down the corridor, every soldier he passes executes an impressive salute that entails their right arm snapping quickly sideways across their chest and a gleaming salute blade that pops out of their upper wrist. As the four are marched out, Czerell looks around him at the distant view of the sky. The atmosphere contains a red haze and all sorts of Reaper craft filled the skies. Czerell now wonders if this is the last glimpse of the sky he will ever get.

The four are marched like what seems forever, down into the massive fortress. They are brought to a small chamber and thrown inside. The door closes and seemingly disappears, blending into the wall. The four rise to their feet and inspect their surroundings. The chamber is completely white from floor to ceiling and utterly empty.

Czerell’s face becomes red as blood rushes to his head “Hey, anybody mind telling us just what the fuck is going on”! he shouts.

His voice echoes throughout the chamber. Cale shakes his head “You better save your breath Leutenii, this is a magno- projection room, air tight and sound proof”.

Czerell stops “Oh no, if this a magno-projection room than we…”.

Without warning all four Reapers go flying to different ends of the room, they each crash into the wall and are held fast by some kind of magnetic force.

Czerell tries to struggle but his body is held firmly in position with his face smashed down on the wall “Yup, that’s what I thought would happen” he says in a muffled voice.

The door slides open and in walks a tall thin looking man in full Reaper garb. This is Reaper Magistrate Dimitric, top judge and sentencer of the Reaper Legion. He walks to the far end of the chamber and removes his hood.

His thin gray hair barely covers his head and his nose seems long and spindly. “Well, well…my well adorned Reapers you are hereby charged with the highest crime against the Reaper Legion” Dimitric says in an aged voice.

Valen manages to speak up, his voiced muffled under the strain “What crime, what means this outrage”!

Dimitric smiles “What indeed Leutenii Valen, what indeed”.

On the wall behind Dimitric a steady stream of images starts to play out. Dimitric points to the stream “Look familiar my friends”.

The four restrained officers look on at the horrible scenario that plays out. It shows in a series of choppy images all four of them throwing sparkling crystals into a Celsian Pillar. It also shows Czerell shooting a guardsmen and decapitating him in one of the pillars. The stream goes on to show the four running through the station and killing various soldiers in order to get off the ship.

Derelic looks on in disbelief “My god this can’t be happening”.

Czerell shouts “This is bullshit, you actually believe we would do something like that”!

Than suddenly realization kicks in “Oh god, Dion…That son of a bitch set us up! Listen you have to believe us, a dangerous criminal is responsible for this- we were framed”!

The stream suddenly stops and Dimitric walks up to Czerell “Framed were you, so tell me how did this Dion mange to capture all four of your images and escape from Reaper custody”?

Cale yells out “No it’s true we ran into the bastard while we were trying to evacuate the station, he must have gotten ours images then”.

Dimitric just laughs “Well then were is this Dion now”?

“I don’t know but…” Czerell tries to assert.

“Why are there no records of this man in the central data chips submitted from the station” Dimitric interrupts.

Czerell again tries to speak out “He must have purged…”.

“Enough…Your lies are an insult to my veracity” Dimitric again interrupts. “For high treason and murder you four shall be stripped of your rank, tortured and executed. The Dominion Council is assembled in the Hadesian Hall as we speak, they await your final reproach”.

At that the magnetic force that holds them fades and they drop to the floor like stones. Several guardsmen storm in and seize the warriors.

Dimitric stands cold and unforgiving “Take them to the Hadesian Hall to await their final fates”!

The Hadesian Hall stood as a gargantuan chamber that overlooked the entire planet. In the center stood a raised platform. On top of this platform several hooded dark figures stood looking down, they are shrouded in darkness, their faces obscured. This is the dreaded Supreme Dominion council, consisting of eight all powerful Dominionites. The four condemned Reapers are brought before them to receive their final judgment.

The eerie silence is broken when one of the Dominionites speaks “You have disgraced and dishonored the Reaper Legion, the judgment of Reapers awaits you” he says in a ghost like moan.

While Czerell stands a sudden fire rages within him, he mutters to himself “Over my dead body”.

With reflexes that seemed almost super human he grabs a rifle from a nearby guardsmen and knocks him out, he suddenly fires at the Dominionites and this culminates in all hell breaking loose. The distraction allows Derelic to grab another soldier and disarm him, he blasts several soldiers around him. In the chaos Czerell removes an exo gauntlet from a guardsmen and electrocutes him.

Valen shouts to Czerell “What in hell are you doing”?

“I’m sure as hell not going out like this.” Czerell shouts back.

Cale fights side by side with his friend as they fend off several guards “Well I guess we can kiss our pension goodbye”.

Derelic just smiles “Lets get the hell outta here”.

One of the Dominionites fires several bolts at Czerell from his exo gauntlet. Czerell grabs a guardsmen and uses him as a shield. Smiling he raises his middle finger “Nice try”.

The four Reapers bolt it out of the Hadesian Hall pursued by an army of Reapers. The pursing Reapers start to leap super human distances and crawl on the walls like insects.

While running through the fortress Valen comments “Oh shit there pullin out all the stops”.

Derelic notices several Reapers closing in and with his excellent marksmanship blasts them off the wall “Does anybody have any idea where the hell were going?” he shouts.

Cale shouts back “We gotta try to make it to the cargo ship, its our only chance”!

The four run for dear life as they finally spot their ship at the receiving dock.

“There she blows” shouts Czerell.

They stop in front of the ship with several Reapers in hot pursuit.

“What are we gonna do know, even if we do get into the air, they’ll blow us out of the sky in seconds” says Derelic.

Time seems to slow down as all four look at each other in a silent stare. There’s no way they can escape and they know it. The hordes of Reapers chasing them become visible as they are only a few hundred yards away. They approach as an all consuming flood. Valen looks up and his eyes widen. In the distance he sees a large looming generator type device with flames spewing out of the top. In a moment of truth he grabs a rifle from Czerell and fires at the column of flame.

“You crazy son of a bitch, you just blew up the defense atmosphere!” shouts Czerell.

“You wanna live right, that may give us the only chance we have!” Valen shouts back.

Without hesitation they all leap into the ship with seconds to spare. Valen runs to the cockpit and starts to take off.

“Get this damn thing airborne, in about forty seconds the whole damn sky is gonna be on fire” shouts Czerell.

The ship zooms into the atmosphere accelerating with every passing second.

Dimitric notices the destroyed atmosphere column “Shut it down, now”!

Another Reaper shouts “We can’t sir, the gauge has been destroyed”.

In anger Dimitirc looks up to the ever fading ship “Don’t let them escape”!

Swirling jets of flame dance across the sky and light the air ablaze. The sky is slowly engulfed in fire and swiftly gaining on the escapees. Valen desperately tries avoid the approaching flame and dodges several ribbons of fire. Suddenly heavy laser fire surrounds the ship as a battalion of Dracul Fighters adds in the death defying chase.

“We got about ten seconds before were all a bunch of crispy critters” says Czerell with great urgency in his voice.

“Were almost there, I think were gonna make it” says Valen.

Suddenly a wall of flame becomes visible in front of the ship and it seems all hope is lost. But Valen with an extreme will to survive says “Hold on to your asses, Ahhhhhhhhhh”!

The ship punches through the final layer of the atmosphere while jets of fire spew up and they finally make it to the safety of outer space. The Dracul Fighters in pursuit are engulfed in the fire and explode in a fountain of flaming fury.

The escapee Reapers look at each other in utter disbelief. They suddenly burst out in laughter and scream their praises.

“Holy shit we made it, Whooooo!” shouts Derelic.

Czerell goes up and pats Valen on the shoulder “That was some flying Leutenii, that was some flying”.

Valen gives him a slight grin “Well you weren’t going out like that, I decided I wasn’t either”.

After their initial celebration the four officers just peer at each other, with the sobering knowledge that have been robbed of everything they held dear. Now their destinies have suddenly been thrown together, their future unknown. All they have now is each other and their one and only objective will be to survive. As their ship traverses the stars, their odyssey has just begun…

THE END