Save them? Max looked at Michael. That would be a huge undertaking. They couldn't possibly transport an entire world of inhabitants and their belongings to another.

"Maria, that would be impossible to do."

"I don’t care. I can’t..." Maria swallowed hard. "I won’t watch them die or leave them to their fate. He punished them because of us...because of me."

Michael looked at her. She suddenly looked small and tired. Vulnerable. Maria always carried herself with a confidence and charisma that was larger than her physical body, but suddenly she looked breakable.

Max stopped him from going to her. One touch and she would crumble. They still needed her with them...strong.

"I ask you again, Princess. What are your intentions?"

"Give them new homes."

"That undertaking will be impossible! The Shiva can’t transport them all."

"She can if I give you Anterraan technology to allow you to move though space at faster rates."

Michael was suddenly interested. The Zephyr had a special drive very much like a slip stream, but something else. Maria said it was like the Granilith, a smaller version, but the same principle. They could transport faster and more efficiently. It would make the Shiva invincible.

"With great power, comes great responsibility, Max. Are you and your band of Rebels willing to take on the task? You can no longer be champions of your own cause, but elevated to the position of Saviors. Be sure you want this. It is the same duty and responsibility that befell my people, and the one that set the path of my life."

"And now that your mission is lost?"

Maria shrugged. "I’ll find another way. The Granilith must be either taken from Khivar or destroyed. Too much power. It represents the imbalance of this universe, and that balance must be restored, no matter the cost."

"And how do we find another world for these people? A world they can live on and colonize that isn’t otherwise occupied?"

Maria walked up to them and settled next to Michael. Reaching up she stroked his face before turning back to Max.

"I’ve already got them a star system ready to be inhabited. Contact the leaders of the remaining worlds and alert them that I need a joint council. We leave for Karnak as soon as the remaining survivors are either placed on neighboring planets, or aboard."

Michael looked at her. Karnak, the closest thing she had to a home now that her native planet was gone.

"The Temple?"

Maria shook her head no. "Karnak is not open for colonization. That space needs to be preserved to keep the fabric of the past stable. It has to be protected, and the world belongs to me." Maria passed Max the coordinates. He whistled at the length of the journey even in slip stream. "The other planets are renewed and uninhabited. There they can find a new world. A new chance.

"How long did it take the Zephyr to travel to Karnak with her special drive?"

Maria was tired, and she needed to check on Liz. "One day." Michael and Max stood in silence. What would take them a week to ten days, she had traveled in a day! Maria kissed Michael gently and stood up to leave. "Once on Karnak I’ll get you another UPC node, repair the Zephyr and give Sean the specs for the new transport drive. But I need some time alone when we get there. You must make repairs because the next battle will be with Khivar."

"Princess, what are you going to do?"

Maria stopped at the door. "Build an explosive powerful enough to blow Khivar and the Granilith to hell."

~~~

Maria entered the Medical bay. "Kyle, how is Liz?"

"I repaired her leg. She’ll be up and slaving over Sean’s engines in no time. Go take a look." Kyle smiled and gestured towards a bed where Sean was sitting next to Liz and talking.

But before Maria could go to Liz, Kyle stopped her. "It’s Courtney."

"What about her?"

Kyle took Maria with him to a back room filled with patients that took direct hits from the Imperial attack. Courtney was in a bed with Lonnie sitting next to her, holding her hand.

"How bad?"

Kyle just shook his head. "She took a direct hit to the head. I don’t think she’ll make it through the next few days. She could linger for a while, but I doubt she’ll ever regain consciousness."

Maria felt the weight of her office. Two Immaculates lost. She had taken them from their protected Temples and murdered them. They were never meant to be sacrificed.

"Her crystal?"

"It's in a box at her bedside. I didn’t want to remove it from her."

Maria nodded. "Let me know, especially if she regains consciousness. I don’t want her to die alone."

"Lonnie is watching over her. They became close in a short span of time."

I’ll check back again."

Maria stood watching Sean and Liz talking .

"So I’m thinking that you need to rethink the power relays in the aft fuel pumps. They’re sticking."

"That’s because you wired them wrong originally and ran the fluid conduit on top of the system that was already defective."

"Why didn’t ya tell me?"

"I did! You ignored me, and went on about me needing to learn to play poker and spit."

"The spitting is essential. I practiced aiming at Michael. He makes a nice big target. All good engineers learn to gamble, drink, cuss and spit. It’s a requirement."

"Says you! I need recommendations from others before I believe."

"Would I lie?"

"Yes."

Maria smiled when Liz laughed. Suddenly Sean and Liz realized that she was there.

"Princess."

Maria sat on the edge of the bed. "Try Maria. The title Princess hardly seems appropriate now that you are no longer an Immaculate."

Liz went still. "No longer? But I didn’t perform my duty!"

"The third Immaculate was lost on Deneb, and Courtney isn’t expected to survive. She took an injury to the head. No one can replace them, and even if we had the third Gem..."

Liz looked at Sean. Worried.

"I asked the Captain to give you new quarters. Something not so large, and more in keeping with your position on the Shiva."

"My position?"

"Assistant engineer. Sean’s second in command. That would make you an Ensign, I believe." Maria looked at Sean and shrugged. "That is if the Lieutenant will promote you above others, and you wish to accept the position."

From both Sean and Liz’s smiles she took that as a done deal. Sean finally had a playmate, someone that loved engines as much as he did, and who replaced the void left in his life when his twin died. And Liz suddenly had a life that was her own, of her own choosing.

"I just need some help from both of you."

"Anything." Sean said. "That is if you give me my UPC node. My crystals are in third stage fracturing. If we don’t convert them soon, it will be past the point where we can recrystalize."

"We will be leaving for Karnak soon. There you will get your UPC node and more."

"More?" Sean became even more attentive. "How much more?"

"We’re going to transport these worlds' populations to the Karnak system."

"That would take years! We’d need more ships, and..."

"Not if the Shiva is equipped with Anterraan transport drive."

Sean stood up, and even Liz became more attentive. "We’d be able to literally travel in a wink."

"Something like that." Maria sighed. "It comes with problems though. Your people can’t shift, so that forces us to build a protective static warp field around the ship so the inhabitants don’t suffer from the shifting."

Sean shook his head. "A ship this size? I’m not sure we can create anything big enough or even stable enough to compensate."

"I can," said Liz quietly.

Sean looked at his newest assistant with raised eyebrows. "When do we start?"

"Once we arrive on Karnak." Maria shifted on her feet. "I also need another favor of you. Both of you."

"Anything." Sean would kiss her feet, marry her, or be a nanny to her offspring.

Maria handed over a workpad with information already stored. "This is a working list of all the resources I have available to me. I need a weapon of destruction, large enough to destroy the Granilith and blow Khivar’s ship, Octavian to hell."

Sean looked at the list and the specs she was suggesting. Liz gasped and looked at it as well.

"Princess, what you propose...it will decimate over one hundred light year radius in all directions from the point of implosion."

"I realize that."

Sean looked at the woman. She scared him. For once in his life, he was afraid. "The person who sets the device couldn’t make it to a safe zone before the explosion."

"I know."

Sean rocked on his heels. "The Shiva couldn’t either."

"I know." Maria looked at him with pain in her eyes. She was risking more than just herself now. "That is why I’m giving her trans-warp drive, and the ability to wink across space to safety. It’ll be close. Very close."

"Maria? What about the worlds and inhabitants within that radius?" Liz asked quietly.

Maria just looked at them, shook her head and left. This was for the greater good, and it was killing her. All the blood on her hands was killing her.

Literally.

~~~

Maria looked at the small crowd in the special conference room that Max set up. She frowned. Politics. She hated it. It was beyond her.

Wearing the official robes of her world and her office, she entered the room. It was Michael’s reaction that she noticed first. He’d never seen her in anything except leather, one of his shirts, a body stocking or nothing.

The gown was long and close-fitting with an attached robe from emblems at the shoulders. Her hair was fixed and within her tiara, and she wore the amulet of her people for all to see.

The crowd stood when she entered, recognizing her importance.

"Please sit. I’m the Acolyte de Prin’c, of the House of Amun Re of Anterra." Maria sat and waited as the room quieted. They had already met the Eminent One, and then to meet the last Anterraan was beyond them.

"Princess, if I may?" one man asked. Maria nodded.

"We thank you for your assistance, yours and these generous people, and for protecting us from Khivar when he returned, but what is it that you need of us?"

Maria stood up. "Nothing. I came to Deneb to visit the Temple of the Immaculate and found the destruction."

"We know of the Temple even on our world. It was a protected Temple."

"Not any more." Maria sighed. "It is not you who owe me a debt or allegiance. But I who owe you my protection, for surely the horror and violence done to your worlds was done as a warning to me from Khivar. For that there can be no redemption for the debt I owe you and your people."

The man shook his head no. "This was Khivar. The burden is his."

"The burden is mine. I accept it for what it is. I can not bring back your lives, your dead, or even your worlds. That is beyond my station and my powers. His Holy Eminence offers you transport on his ship the Shiva to a new star system. A new home."

Maria passed out information pads to each of them. Contained within was all the necessary information regarding the worlds and their environments.

"These are?"

"All the vital statistics you’ll need to determine what world is best suited to your needs. I suggest picking one that similar to your old, to make it easier for you people to adjust."

"We must leave?"

Maria shook her head. "No. It is your decision. You may try to make it here on your home planets, or make a home at a new one. It must be your choice. Many of the survivors of the lost worlds have requested we take them with us and give them a new home. I’ve already marked the planets they chose that best met their needs."

"How long do we have to decide?"

"As long as you need. It is not an easy decision to give up a civilization or a world. You might need to live through a cycle to make the choice. But either way, discuss it among yourselves. Decide that if you were to come, which world you would make yours and I will protect it for you should the need arise. Stay or go. It must be your decision."

Maria nodded at the men and turned to leave.

"Princess." Maria stopped to look at the one man that asked all the questions.

Their obvious leader.

"When will you return to hear our answer?"

Maria looked at the door, her voice heavy and tired. "I have things I must complete, but I will return within the next few months to hear your decision and the Captain will provide you with information to contact the Shiva. I can promise you one thing. I will not forsake or forget you. If I am unable to return myself, then one of these men will."

Recognizing that their audience with her was over, they stood up and watched her leave the room. The council discussed matters after she had gone, but Michael followed on her heels.

"Whoa, slow down." He hooked an arm around her center and pulled her back against him. "What’s going on with you?"

"Nothing."

Michael looked around the corridor, and then forcefully dragged her off to their quarters with Maria protesting his strong grip under her arm.

"Hey, stop with all the pushing."

"I could say the same." Michael saw her look of confusion. "You’re pushing me away. I’ve tried to read you, but nothing. You’ve closed the door."

"Have not."

"Maria."

Maria just suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. His arms came up around her holding her tight. His head went to rest in the nook of her neck, rubbing into her.

"Just talk to me. You talk constantly, and now you’re silent." Picking her up, he took her to the bedroom. "Maria."

"You wouldn’t understand."

"Try me."

Maria looked at him and searched his face. He’d take it as a betrayal. "The Granilith was the easy choice. I was prepared to die."

He looked at her like she was insane. She didn’t have to die any longer! There was no third Gem, and Courtney was almost gone as well. Maria’s destiny to blink out of existence was ended.

"You wanted to die, is that it? What? When you weren’t going to be forced to live with me for a lifetime you could handle it, but now?"

"No. That’s not it. I’d live with you happily for all eternity." Maria grabbed his head. "You, I love."

Michael was startled. She'd said it. No one had ever said that to him. His voice was thick and low, almost reluctant to ask. "You love me? Umm," Michael scratched his brow, "do you know what that means?" He had to make sure that she understood the concept, since he had just recently learned it himself.

Maria just laughed at him and pulled him down on the bed with her. He always seemed to find a way to break her bad mood. Kissing him hard, she pushed him over on his back and ran her hand down his cheek and then neck.

"Of course I love you! I eat your cooking when no one else will."

Michael looked at her seriously. "Then why aren’t you happier about not having to sacrifice yourself in the Granilith? Why aren’t you happier about getting a possible future with me?"

"It’s not that. Not you." Maria sat up and knelt on the bed next to him. Her hand took his larger one and she played with his fingers and stroked across the silver rings he wore. Leaning down she kissed the side of his neck and tongued the small ring in his ear murmuring, "I love you. Nothing will change that. But now I’ve got to destroy the Granilith by other means. Before the loss of Courtney and the third gem, when it would’ve blinked out of existence, there was only me that would have been lost...but now? The power I need to assure its destruction will annihilate everything in a 100 light year radius. There is no way I can predict where we will find Khivar to evacuate that area and warn ships away."

"How do you plan to get away?" Michael asked quietly.

"I don’t. The charges will need to be set, and I need to make sure that it will not be disturbed. If Khivar could disarm the explosive, he would have in his possession enough raw material to devastate the universe in addition to what he already has with the Granilith."

"So you still die?"

"Yes." Maria lay down next to his body, her hand moving along him. "I’m not happy, because the outcome is the same, except this time I take so many innocents with me." Maria looked down at her hands. "That blood is on my hands," and looking up to meet his eyes, "Your blood is on my hands."

"Mine?"

"Yes. The entire ship. I need the Shiva to take me to Khivar’s ship. Once I board Shiva will need to leave me to get to safe distance, but chances are..."

"That we can’t make it." Maria nodded her head. "That’s why you’re outfitting us with Anterraan technology. So we have a chance?"

"Yes. You..." Maria kissed him, "...you I want to survive." She sat up again. "I’d take the Zephyr, but she is too small to carry the payload I need and even if I could, there is no way I could carry it by myself. I’ll need help to get it on board."

"I’m your man."

Maria shook her head no. "No, Michael. Not you."

Michael sat up. "Me or no one, Maria. If there is a stinking chance we can set the explosives and make it back to Shiva and get the hell out of there, then I need to be with you!"

"I can’t..."

"Watch me die? But I’m supposed to send you off to your death?"

"I’m sorry."

Michael grabbed her hard and shook her. "You piss me off, Princess. There are times when I feel the need to really beat you."

"Then do it! If it makes you feel better, do it."

"I would if I didn’t think you’d like seeing me lose that much control." Michael laughed bitterly. "I can’t keep walking roads that all lead to you leaving me - of me losing you. There must be another way. And you and I are going to create the plan that gives us a chance. I have no intention of letting you walk away.

Not if I don’t have to."

"Michael," Maria plucked at his shirt front quickly untying it and pushing it off his shoulders. "Do you love me?"

Michael moaned when her mouth found his collarbone and she sucked hard. His hand came up to grasp her hair.

"Against my will and my better judgment, yessss....," his voicing forced from him in a hiss.

"Hmm, good. Then come with me down to Karnak. Come with me to the Temple."

Michael looked at her, and smiled. She was taking him to see her home. "Okay, but no family dinners."

"I promise. Just lots of Monks."

~~~

Karnak was a brilliant planet in a star system of thirteen. Of the thirteen systems, six were inhabitable. They settled their survivors on board on the planet of their choice, with supplies and a small crew to protect them and help them to build.

"Michael, how long will you be on Karnak?" Max asked as he watched his brother rifle through his old drawer in their room.

Michael shrugged at his brother. "No clue. Maria already gave Sean all the specs he needs. Her instructions are for him to check the special cave where her ship was built. That all the supplies he needs will be there shortly. We’ll leave the Zephyr there for repairs."

"So you just walk through this time portal to a past era on the planet?"

"I guess. Hey, you told me to take Maria somewhere we could be alone, right?

Well, I’m positive that for once you can’t interrupt by calling me."

Max just smiled wickedly. "Well there is that, little brother. But what are you going to do about all the screaming and moaning? Pretty embarrassing you yelling your head off with all those monks around."

"What yelling?"

Max just laughed. "Okay, so we check the special place and everything we’ll need will be there? Anterraans, even with just one of them left, are still so fucking unbelievable!"

"Michael," Maria called from the door. "You ready?"

Michael laughed and retrieved a few more things he had left in his old room. "Yeah, Max was just lecturing me on not screaming down the house with all the monks around."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fat chance." Maria walked over and kissed Max’s cheek. "We’ll be back, Captain."

"I have no doubt about it." He watched them walk away and a chill of foreboding made him wonder if he’d see them and hear their banter again.

~~~

The Zephyr was a rough ride. Only partial repairs had been made to her outer hull. Sean and a group of his engineers followed them down with Liz. Maria smiled at the young woman’s wonder, as she stared at the ruins of the once great Temple. The world of Karnak was green and lush, and the very silence of the air held a perfume. High on the Temple promontory was an inland sea.

"You like it?"

Liz nodded. "I’ve never dreamt of a place so beautiful."

"Good. I decided to make it our world. Our home world for the people on the Shiva that have no world to go home to. Here we can come and rest."

"Me too?"

Maria smiled. "Yes. If you wish." It was her legacy to those who survived. If they survived.

"So exactly what do we do?" Sean asked.

"You wait in the cavern. All the supplies will appear." Maria took Michael’s hand to lead him up the stone stairs to the Temple.

"Princess!" Maria turned to look at Jonesy. "Take care."

"Thank you, Jonesy. While I’m gone you should look around and find a place you’d like to call your own."

Michael walked up the stairs admiring the green lands and lush landscape. "Good hunting here?"

"Yes. Lots of wicked creatures that are hard to trap that you and Sean could kill and force feed to the crew."

"Epic! We’ll have to spend a little time." They reached the top and Maria led him towards the Gateway. "So we just walk through and we’re there."

"No. If it were that easy, anyone could do it and the Temple of Knowledge would’ve been discovered long ago. No. You would need me, or specifically my amulet to access the gate to Karnak."

She pulled him through and suddenly the Temple was young again, alive with occupants who nodded to Maria as she walked toward a large Temple building.

"Wait." Michael stopped her from entering the building. "Is it okay that I’m with you?"

Maria patted him kindly. "I would almost promise you that you are expected."

They entered the quiet temple, and Maria led him down the hall to her old bedroom. He walked around for a moment and then stood at the window observing the world of Karnak. It was so peaceful, so alive that it was hard to believe that it had passed from existence over a thousand years ago.

"What are you thinking?"

"That this is a perfect place." Maria just smiled. "I guess we need to go?"

Maria laughed. "Yes. Sean is waiting a thousand years in the future. Come."

They walked through the Temple to a special room that had a door. The door led to a stone cavern that dropped along a staircase to a large cathedral. Michael stared at all the technology, the stockpiled raw material as Maria quickly gathered from her list what was needed.

Michael stopped beside a large display of UPC nodes. "Oh damn. If we brought Sean here he’d fall to the ground where I’m standing in a withering orgasm from all these nodes! It’d be embarrassing."

"I promised him two. You want to give him a good time?"

Michael just laughed and gathered what he needed.

It took them over an hour to assemble all the materials and drag them into a pile.

"Stand back." Maria went to a console and suddenly the Zephyr was in the cavern.

"How did you do that?"

"Her engines have the same technology as the Granilith and the same technology we used to step through the time portal. I built her here, so here’s where we should repair her. I basically just called her home." Maria did a few other operations, and the supplies disappeared.

Michael frowned. "There is so much about you I don’t know or even understand, isn’t there?"

Maria patted his cheek. "You do fine. Let’s go get some food." Maria raced Michael back up the stone stairs. "Hey, you think Sean found our present?"

~~~

Sean stood in shock as the Zephyr winked out. One moment it was there, and suddenly...

"What the hell?" Jonesy called to him when suddenly their supplies appeared. "That’s our Princess, full of surprises. Lets get it loaded!" Sean quickly searched the packages and supplies for his UPC nodes.

Liz watched him as he talked to himself.

"Liz, Liz, check those over there. She couldn’t have forgotten my nodes."

"I can’t see how. It was practically every other item on the list, and you slipped a reminder note in her pocket."

Sean stopped his searching. "What are you trying to say?"

Liz gasped and then smiled. Straightening she looked at Sean. "I’m saying that I found them."

Sean rushed over, and rocked on his feet he peered down at five silver nodes. His hand came to his chest as he felt a hint of moisture behind his eyes.

"God I love those two!"

Liz just rolled her eyes and made eye contact at Jonesy who was snickering under his breath. "Why I thought Attilaans were unemotional is beyond me."

"Hey, I’m not emotional! I just got something in my eye." Sean grabbed his babies and held them protectively as he ordered the supplies moved to the transport.

~~~

Michael ate, and watched her from under his lashes. Maria was picking through her food, frowning at some of it and stealing things off his plate.

"So, how long can we stay here?"

Maria shrugged. "Depends."

Michael smiled slightly. "Okay, on what?"

"Well, it’ll take Sean and Liz at least two weeks to recrystalize the warp crystals, to build the explosive, and to install the new transport drive. They’ve got a lot of work. We can repair the Zephyr in about three days. She needs new hull plating that can only be found here. So after it’s done, we can return and help them."

"What if we didn’t?" Michael asked casually.

Maria’s eyes narrowed as she watched him eat. "What do you have in mind, Commander?"

"That we stay here for a few weeks, alone."

Michael stood up and pushed his plate back and took her hand and pulled her with him back to her room. The temple halls were airy and cool with a nice breeze. The sun was brilliant even as it was setting for the day, and Michael could hear the birds outside with the sounds of trickling water. Finding an open terrace, he went outside into a garden with Maria.

Sitting her down by the fountain, he watched as she dropped lotus flowers in the water, and then sprayed small droplets of water on them.

"Is it to make up for the time we didn’t get to spend together on Cyrenaica?"

"No. This is something different."

"Okay? So what is it?"

Michael suddenly looked uncomfortable. He moved about on his feet, pushed his hands into his pockets and then out again. She watched him check to see if he had his weapon twice, as if he expected to be attacked.

"Michael?"

"I was thinking of a sort of vacation."

"Vacation? Here?" Okay. He was confusing. A vacation wasn’t a reason for concern.

"I can still feel Max even all this distance in time away." Michael frowned at that. "Is that normal? I mean technically he hasn't been born."

Maria laughed. "You really want an explanation? Quantum mechanics and string theory?"

"Forget it. I’ll just accept that I still feel him." Michael sat down next to her and took her hands in his. "Anyway, he’ll let me know if he needs us. We can fix the Zephyr, and maybe explore this world in this time," Michael’s voice dropped to a whisper, "or each other."

"We could," she said gently. "So you want a vacation?"

"Actually..." Michael scratched his brow. "I was thinking more of a honeymoon."

Maria went still. "Umm?" she paused, and tried again. "Umm..."

"Umm? Maria, I’m asking..."

"Married? You want to get married?" Michael didn’t appreciate the high squeak of her voice, tinged with hysteria.

"What?" Michael let his irritation get to him as his voice rose.

"I mean...you, and...you and me? I mean, I’m not...um...Michael?"

"You don’t want to marry me?! What? I’m only good to fuck?"

Maria took offense to his loud voice. "Of course I do!"

"Well so do I!" Michael paused and his voiced quieted. "You do?"

Maria nodded. "Yes." Tears gathered in her eyes. "But I might still die. Won’t this be harder to deal with?"

"Yes," he said with a flat tone sounding soulless. "But I’ve wanted to be bonded all my life, and I found you. I wanted to be part of something special, to have a wife, and...and if you won’t marry me, then I’ll never marry."

Maria smiled slightly as her finger came up to stroke his cheek, and tears ran freely down her face. "Okay.

Michael grabbed her, and kissed her hard. Michael rested his forehead against hers. "That was harder than I thought it would be."

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like I didn’t want to marry you. It’s just I never thought about it. I just always assumed that I would never...that I wouldn't be around long enough to marry."

"We’re changing that. We’ll think of a plan together. One that includes you surviving to be a thorn in my ass for a nice long time."

Maria sighed. "It wasn’t that, Michael. I just didn’t want to survive if I have to murder all those people to destroy the Granilith. Why should they die and I live?"

Michael shook her gently. "Stop it. We’ll figure it out. I’ve got a plan."

"You do?" Maria smiled slightly. "Why does that worry me?"

"We’ll work on it." Michael kissed her again. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small box. Opening it, he took out a small silver ring matching the ones he wore. "It’s not much. I’ve kept it for years, sort of a reminder of the wife I’d never have. I stopped to pick it up from Max’s room before we left."

Maria watched him push it on her finger and she closed her hand tight to look at it. "I love it!" Kissing him. "It’s perfect! You’re perfect!"

"Dammit, Maria, no damn mushy shit! You’ll have me all weepy like Sean." Maria giggled at that.

He was just so sexy - all shy and sputtering! Maria pulled him close again and sucked his lower lip into her mouth, hard. "I could totally fuck you right now! You’re just too sexy for words."

Michael was on his feet pulling her after him. "Let's go!"

"Princess."

Michael swore under his breath. Damn even in the past he couldn’t stop from being interrupted. He turned with Maria to see a man in a long robe patiently and quietly standing there.

Maria smiled. "O’Jah!"

Michael just looked at the man who didn’t seem to move or even breathe. He couldn’t read him or his body movements. As a hunter, he was aware of every living creature giving off signals. This man did not.

"My Princess." He bowed to Michael as well. "Your robes are set out."

Maria frowned. "Robes?"

"Yes. For the ceremony. I set the Prince’s robes out as well."

"The Prince?" Michael’s voice rose. What the hell! Maria didn’t mention no damn Prince in her life.

Maria put a hand on his stomach to calm him. "I think he means you, Michael."

"He better be! Or I’ll be needing to meet this damn Prince."

"Shhh. O’Jah, explain."

"The bow does not bend when it is a tree."

"Oh shit! Not another one!" Michael just shook his head and took himself off a few feet.

"O’Jah..."

"Because it is so clear, it takes a long time to realize. If you immediately knew that the candlelight was fire, the meal was cooked long ago."

"You’ve said that before. That I understand. It takes a long time to understand love, but if you knew it immediately..."

"A destiny is the journey walked, but the path knows many shoes."

"And the outcome?"

"The strength is knowing in the mind what the heart has always known. You are stronger when you are not alone."

"You knew he was come? That I would find him?"

"Mistake not. Time exists as it is, but the journey was the path that was traveled before you were born. Paths that converge in the wood never know what it was to travel alone. They are, as they have always been. One."

"So the robes are for?"

"Your union of heart and soul. Bonded to that which could not be bound. The twig grows stronger in the bundle, and does not remember weakness."

"Okay? Umm, Michael? I think they’re offering to marry us?"

"Finally! Something I can understand." Michael rejoined them. "What do we do?"

"We go change and then go the main Temple of the Sensei. O’Jah will meet us there."

O’Jah bowed and as fast as he appeared, he was gone.

"Let's get this show on the road." Michael suddenly paused, "Um, Maria? There’s not anything I should know about this ceremony, right?"

Maria made a gesture of helplessness. "I can’t say. I’ve never known them to marry anyone in all the ten years I lived here."

Michael straightened his back. Couldn’t be as bad as his people’s joining ceremony on his planet of Attila. "Okay, then just tell me there is a honeymoon afterwards."

Maria pulled him very close and her eyes darkened. She stared at his mouth with a growing hunger. "Oh yes. You’re going to get very, very lucky afterwards, my husband."

Michael growled under his breath. "Dammit, stop yakking! They might change their minds."

They were dressed and Maria looked regal in full gowns of the most brilliant of green and brocade, tight with flowing robes with her tiara in place made of sparkling diamonds. Around her neck was her amulet worn long and down the front of her bodice. She took an identical amulet that came with Michael’s clothes and put it around his neck so it hung down his chest.

"My Prince!" Maria said all gushy and breathless, and then she ruined the effect by giggling.

Michael made a face. "What? Don’t I look okay?"

"You look wonderful. A real Prince."

"Yeah, I do." He looked down and admired his new dudes.

He was totally styling. He had been afraid that there were going to be tights or something even less dignified. But the pants were a soft tight black leather, hand tooled with symbols, totally kickass boots with a knife sheath and the shirt was a soft black silk that tucked into the pants with a leather overvest worn open with silver chains fastening. From his shoulders hung a robe that flowed behind him as he walked. He practiced in it by walking around the room chuckling. He especially liked the knife at the waist and the long sword with a wicked sharp edge. The robe had an inner lining of pure brocade silver with emblems of a lion. Maria’s robe had an eagle in flight.

"Cool duds!"

"Here, this is the last of it." Maria reached to place the crown.

Michael knocked it away. "Nope. Get that away from me. It ruins the look."

"It's part of it."

"I don’t want it. It’ll mess up my hair!" Michael looked at the brilliant silver crown, thin and inlaid with etchings of lions.

Maria looked at his long unruly locks of light brown hair in disbelief. It was soft and flyaway, but still looked like he combed it with his fingers. She knew it was clean since she washed him and it herself.

"Michael, just through the ceremony and then you can toss it."

He grumbled, but complied. She stood back and gazed at him. He looked magnificent, but in truth it was that stubborn dark brooding look that made him look every inch a Prince. Shrugging, she took his hand and led him from their rooms towards the main temple. Michael was shocked when she led him outside, and the path they walked was lined with monks holding torches. They walked towards an open Temple with a large ornate gateway, lit in the night sky.

The open Temple was flanked by a long roll of columns on either side leading to a front altar. Maria’s Seer, and mentor, O’Jah stood waiting as they walked together towards him. On either side of him were two large caldrons of hot coals, burning red and fiery.

When they made the front of the altar, a gong sounded in the night and the loud high bringing of small bells. O’Jah gestured for them to kneel.

Michael had a problem with his long sword, and O’Jah reached down and removed it, and placed it on the floor in front of them.

"The Great Path has merged. That which was unbonded is found."

Michael looked at Maria discreetly as O’Jah continued.

"Bound by heart and soul, by blood and fire...what is forged cannot be broken. It is written." He made a gesture above their heads.

Picking up the sword and unsheathing it he held it between them, and gestured Michael to wrap his hand around the blade. Maria did the same above his hand. O’Jah pulled the sword away slicing their hands. Both pulled back in pain.

"Every birth is of pain and violence."

He took their hands and joined the cuts, binding them with a long cloth of gold and silver.

"She that is life, green and golden of spirit, is bound to the lion encased in black with the metal of silver and iron. Together bound, they are the One."

He held their bound bleeding hands up as the blood dripped from their clasped hands into a goblet of liquid. He held the mixture of wine and blood for Maria to drink and then Michael.

"Drink of the other, and there will never be thirst. Together you are unquenched, and sated only in each other."

A red hot brand was brought from the coals and placed between their joined hands at the arms. Their forearms were pressed together. Maria screamed, but Michael swallowed his yell.

Heart and soul. Blood and fire.

Michael felt the pain his hand, on his arm, and the fire in his loins. Looking at his mate, they moved together as one as his head spun from sounds and smells, and all he could see was her - her in an endless field of stars exploding in brilliance and the feeling of creation.

Their bodies mated from mouth to skin. Her hands on him were everywhere at once, and he couldn’t get enough of the taste of her in his mouth as he licked and bit her skin, drank her blood, and as her teeth nipped his skin. They were in the Temple nude, and then they were in their room, in their bed with the silky slide of the sheets wrapping them together. The terrace doors were wide open as the gauzed white curtains billowed and Michael pinned their bound hands about their heads as he lost sense of his own body and where they were.

He flipped himself over, dragging her with him. She straddled his body and smiled down at him in nothing but her Princess tiara and the amulet still around her neck, as was his. Sliding down his body her skin kissed his as she took him inside, and Michael’s eyes closed as he moaned, tossing back his head and giving her open flesh at his neck. His body felt like it was floating, lost here and between, as they moved against each other, together in unity. The world around them melted away like rolling clouds at high speed. Time and dimension melded, receded and proceeded too fast for the normal eye, as time shifted, and they with it.

Michael woke to sense himself lying across the bed sprawled out in abandon on his stomach with Maria sleeping on his back, her head pillowed on his shoulder and her arms around him. The warm breeze of the terrace brought the smell of flowers and a sea breeze into their room. Maria’s mouth moved along the back of his neck, as she moved his hair to the side wrapping her fingers in it.

"How long?" Michael was surprised he could talk. It felt like a very long time since he made a sound that wasn’t a moan or a scream of pleasure.

Maria was equally thick throated and her voice slightly slurred with sleep.

"Three days, I think."

Michael turned over and pushed the sheets from them running his hand up the silky skin of her back. "That leaves us eleven days."

"Uh huh." She was kissing his neck.

Michael looked down at his hand and arm. The cut was healed and the brand mark no longer pained. It looked like it had been there since birth. Now it was a red tattoo, a lion wrapped with an eagle in flight, mated where their bodies merged from two into one.

Michael picked up Maria’s arm and looked. It was the same. Placing his mouth on the now unmarred tattooed skin, he kissed it deeply with reverence, his eyes closing as the flood of her emotion rushed over him, overwhelming him. Opening his eyes he looked at her. Her lids had dropped over her eyes, leaving only a slit of brilliant green watching him with fire and greed. Michael’s heart raced out of control as he felt a need, a thirst and hunger that knew only one relief. Maria, his wife.

"More." He pulled her to him.

"Hungry?" she asked gently laughing as he moved over her and pushed her back in the sheets.

"Starved. Feed me." They never noticed their bodies shifting.

~~~

"Sean, report."

Sean was surprised to see Max in Engineering. The man was usually tied to his Captain’s chair and his personal domain of the Bridge.

"Stranger in a strange land, Cap." Sean passed Liz the latest specs. "We’ve installed the new transport drive, but we need to run a few tests on it before taking a real long trip. Maria was going to bring us back a special component that stores and records star charts into a holographic matrix with a navigational command. We’ll need to install an astrometric lab with special computers that compensate for astro-drift."

"And we’re getting these computers from where?"

"Maria. She has all the components, but she’ll need to build it. Also Liz is still working on the static warp field to protect the ship and it’s personnel from shifting. We set up a mocked up lab and already tried three diagnostic models."

"And?"

"They failed. But we’re getting close. Maria might be able to help when she gets back. Liz understands engineering and has creative innovative thought, but Maria is light years ahead of us with the knowledge of the Ancients."

"How much she feels she can give us, I’m uncertain. The Anterraans were helpful with those around them, but towards the end they became less willing to share with Khivar and his abuses. I think they were afraid of helping our Universe advance beyond our means to the point of destruction, much like their native home."

Sean tried to appear not too interested. "So, when do they get back?"

Max looked around, and nodded for Sean to come closer. "When they get here."

Sean made a face as Max walked away. Max just chuckled on his way to Medical. He needed to talk to Kyle and check on Courtney.

"Kyle? How is she?"

Kyle just shook his head. "She's still with us, but barely. Her autonomic systems are closing down."

Max looked over at the bed and the young woman that in life was never quiet, and suddenly was strangely still. Lonnie sat at her bed still talking to her. Max went with Kyle into his office.

"Did you hear, Kyle?"

"About the other Immaculate?" Max nodded. "Yeah, I heard last night in the officer’s mess. Khivar has Maria’s last Gem."

"I should’ve known he would’ve found her and taken her. It took too long for that captured Imperial to talk."

Kyle just continued to check his console. Looking up at Max, he couldn’t see where it would make a difference. Courtney would never be able to perform her duties as an Immaculate. He didn’t expect her to ever regain consciousness.

"Courtney is all but gone, and she was the only one who could handle that crystal. It’s hardly a moot point now trying to decide what to do."

Max sat down. "I know. I want this, Kyle. I want this to be in the end of Maria’s pre-destined suicide run. For Michael’s sake." Max picked up objects off Kyle’s desk and put them down again. "He married her."

Kyle went quiet. Thoughtful. "You’re certain?"

"I feel her. I’ve felt Michael all my life like tentacles intertwined in my thoughts, but now wherever Michael is, Maria is there too. I had an inkling of her before, but not anymore. Something has changed."

"Max..."

"Last night I attended a marriage ceremony in my dreams. It was a huge Temple with Michael and Maria dressed in Royal gowns. Their hands were cut and bound, they drank a mixture of their combined blood, and then they were branded. It was...disturbing. It was blood, passion, and some of the damnest incredible sex I’ve ever seen. Kyle, they were there, and then they shifted."

Kyle couldn’t believe. "That’s just a dream, Max."

"Really? Then explain this." Max held up his right arm and palm. Across the palm was a red line like a cut and on his inner forearm was the red outline of a lion and eagle mating into one creature, slowly fading. "I felt it, Kyle. I felt everything."

"Oh shit! I thought it was just a dream." Kyle couldn’t take it. Eminents, Princesses, and Immaculates. It was too much.

"You too?" Max asked quietly as Kyle nodded.

"What the hell is going on?" Kyle was worried that they were moving too fast.

"The Universe is evolving." Both Max and Kyle looked up at Alex at the door. "I was at the ceremony as well. Maria is right. Our Universe has had a burst in the use of mental powers. It is changing us, evolving us into something more."

Max nodded for Alex to take a seat. "How much more evolved are you now, my Lord?" Taking Pierce’s power had to have affected him.

Alex just stared and then smiled. "I can see things so clearly. I can see the future, the present and the past as they unfold in a web of continuity. They are forever present and changing, and yet they are the same. I could almost reach out and touch..."

Alex reached his hand forward and the very sense of space around them altered, shifted, and changed. Almost as if drawn to his hand, and then it bent back to its original shape.

"Oh shit!" Kyle stood up and backed away, but Max watched fascinated.

"Is that what Maria did? How she pushed Pierce and his men?"

"Yes. It is so simple. Child’s play really. All things emanate an aura, an energy field that is pure and resonates. The trick is to emulate it, and pull it forward or push it apart or away. It is how the distortion corridors are formed.

Space is not bent, it is merely pushed aside, and distance and time are not constant. It is a fluidity of energy and thought."

"A doorway."

Alex smiled and looked at Max. "Yes. That was how they traveled, and what you are building on the ship. A way to open those doorways, and step through. A way to transverse time and space. It is so simple. I do not know why I never thought of it before."

"Khivar would kill for this knowledge."

Alex nodded. "Khivar has killed for this knowledge. It was why he made the Eminents. He wanted to hold all the understanding and secrets of the Anterraans’ Ancients. But he failed. His failure was in making too many. Our power was depleted and we were only partially evolved."

"So why didn’t all of you remaining Eminent Ones become even stronger as he killed you? I mean more so than you did?" Kyle asked.

"He made a mistake. He did not redirect the essences, the power. Instead it was released in a huge burst, ripping apart time and space, creating spatial anomalies and tears. Kathleen was the first to suspect that her power was hers to control, to give, or to take."

Max looked at his friend and partner. "Like you took Pierce’s?"

Alex nodded. "Yes.

"And this connection I have with Michael and Maria?"

"And Isabel," Alex said softly.

Max nodded. Something they had yet to talk about. Isabel. "Yes, and Isabel."

"You feel Sean?"

Max thought about it for a moment. "Yes. Not in the same way, or even as strongly, but yes. I feel him."

Alex smiled. "Tell me about this Attilaan bond."

Max just huffed a little. "Not much to tell. At birth we are mated by our brainwaves to another, almost like an imprinting. It’s not until we are around eight and our brains have set down their neural pathways that the true matches are made."

"How do they do that, exactly?"

"Your pattern is scanned into a worldwide database. The matches are made, and the name, location and family of your intended are known to you. At eighteen you finally meet, and in a ceremony you are joined."

"If it is the same brainwaves as a twin, would you not have a connection to their twin and they to your twin?"

"To some extent. But a brainwave is almost as unique as a fingerprint. The match is done within a certain degree of variance."

Alex rubbed his chin. "So in a sense you are bonded to your twin, his mate, his mate’s twin, and so on, just as you are bonded to your mate, her twin, and her twin’s mate, and so on."

"Yes." Max frowned. He wasn’t getting the big deal.

"Your people are in a sense a collective mind, all joined together at different and varying degrees."

Max just shrugged. He had never looked at it like that.

"And an unbonded person?" Alex asked quietly.

"Would be left outside the loop, only held loosely by their twin bond."

"One capable of pure independent thought. An open field with all the neural connections of a true telepath without being connected." Alex laughed. "No wonder Michael and Maria joined together so quickly. He was searching for her his entire life, and never knew it."

Kyle looked at the two, his concern growing. "So what happens now?"

"I do not know that anything can be done. If Max is feeling Maria within the connection to Michael, then they have completed their bond."

"But it was not just mental, Alex! It was physical. It’s becoming physical to Max as well!" Kyle walked around agitated. "What happens to Michael if Maria dies? If she blinks out of existence?"

Both Max and Alex went silent. Even though Maria could no longer use the Granilith as she planned, she was still going to blow up a huge area of space in the attempt to rid the universe of the Granilith. They both knew that she wasn’t planning on surviving the explosion.

Max decided. "We create a plan. Blowing up hundreds of light years of space is not acceptable. We either use Maria’s original plan, which with Courtney almost gone is no longer feasible or we kill Khivar and take the Granilith by default. I must admit, Maria's was the best plan. It did the job and cost the least amount of life.

"So we go to war?" Kyle asked quietly.

Max nodded. "I can’t lose my brother, and I can’t lose Maria. He needs her. So we go to war."

~~~

"Captain, the Zephyr is requesting permission to board."

"Welcome her home, Caleb." Max turned around in his chair and looked at Liander manning Michael security and tactical station. "Looks like your evil taskmaster has returned."

Liander just chuckled. He quickly checked and rechecked his consoles to be certain that everything was in working order.

"Sam, take Conn."

"Aye, Cap." Max went to find his brother and new sister.

He found them in their quarters settling back in after over two weeks on Karnak.

"Aw, come on, Maria. Don’t just toss your bags down wherever you are! Damn, did we really leave this place looking like this disaster?"

"Are you trying to say I’m a messy person, because I’m sure you’re not!"

"Messy? This is more than just messy." Michael looked around the place. Maria had obviously searched for something before they left and she tossed the place, leaving disorder in her wake.

"Okay, you’re right. I admit it. The place is a little messy." Maria frowned at the disaster. "Maybe we’ve been robbed?"

"Maria!" Michael was getting use to her brand of cleaning denial.

After seeing where she lived for ten years of her life, and how the invisible hands of monks cleaned up and straightened after her, he wasn’t surprised that she was a walking disaster. On Attila, they were trained in military quarters at early age to be neat and orderly. Maria was an assault to that training.

Maria picked up some clothing and noticed a partial sandwich she had left sitting over two weeks. She discreetly pushed it under a chair before Michael spied it.

"Maybe we could just request new quarters. Clean ones?"

Michael looked around at the disaster Maria had left during her translation session to find Deneb. There were manuscripts and materials on every surface along with discarded clothing and uneaten meals.

"Or we could clean this one?"

"Clean?"

Michael laughed at her expression. He pulled her closer to him by the front of the shirt she borrowed from him. She hooked an arm around his neck as he deftly unbuttoned the shirt and was ready to push it off her shoulders to the floor.

"So if this shirt ends up on the floor in here with everything else, I suppose that later that will also be my fault?"

"Definitely. No one should look this good in one of my shirts." Michael said huskily against her neck as his mouth moved towards to ear.

"You do," she said moaning against his mouth as his hand went up her back under the shirt. Two weeks hadn’t been enough.

"Am I interrupting?" Max asked from the door.

"No!" Maria said quickly before Michael said yes.

"Maxwell. Now I know we’re back." Michael gently pushed Maria towards the bedroom to change, but handed her a bag to take with her.

Max laughed as Michael wandered around the room collecting all Maria’s manuscripts and papers into a pile. He then gathered up all the clothes tossed around the place. Max picked up a trash receptacle and started tossing out the trash and uneaten food, anything that looked like it was growing.

"Interesting wedding." Max said casually.

Michael looked up sharply. "You know about that?"

"Well, I didn’t clue in when you came to pick up the ring, but the dream I had a few weeks back was...interesting." Max showed his twin his forearm which still had a light red outline.

"Oh damn!" Michael quickly looked at the door to see if Maria was still in the bedroom. He took his twin’s arm and led him away to talk to him in a low voice. "What’s going on with us, Maxwell?"

"I don’t know. Not really. But I can feel Maria almost as strongly as I can feel you now. The wedding it was..."

"Intense."

"Yeah. Made an Attilaan joining ceremony look like a social."

"We’ve got to do something, Max. I can’t let her go to Khivar’s ship and blow herself and a huge chunk of space to oblivion."

Max squeezed his brother’s arm. "Working on it."

"Someone should have told us." Michael said softly.

"What?"

"That there was more to life than honor, duty and being a warrior. They should have told us that we could be happy."

Max smiled at that. From Michael’s mouth to the gods. Michael never believed in anything except that if life could fuck with a person, it did. Easy and simple as that. Perhaps that still applied.

"I’ve got news, and you’re not going to like it."

"Not like what?" Maria came back in the room and frowned at the two low-speaking brothers. "Keeping secrets, boys? Hmm, well as long as it doesn’t involve you both drinking Sean’s home brew, I think I can cope."

They looked uncomfortable and guilty. Maria’s eyes narrowed in speculation and thought.

"What?"

Max sighed and looked at Michael apologetically. "It’s your missing Gem."

"Missing?"

"More like, kidnapped." Michael swore under his breath and looked away. "Khivar has her. One of the captured Imperial guards talked after you left."

Maria looked at Michael, and closed her eyes briefly. "I see. Then we have to take her back."

"There is Courtney to consider as well."

Maria nodded. "I know. Kyle told me she wouldn’t survive." She looked at the brothers. "I need to go to Medical." Maria went to leave, but Michael stopped her.

"Maria...what will you do?"

Maria stared at the door with her back to her husband. "What I must." She left.

Michael kicked the piece of furniture closest to him. Tossing himself into a chair, he rubbed his eyes. Max sat down on the arm of his brother’s chair.

"Sorry. I had to tell her."

"I know. I just was hoping that..."

"That things would change now that you’re married?"

Michael laughed slightly bitterly. "Yeah. Stupid, I know, because if the situations were reversed I would expect her to support me, my mission and my oath. I can’t feel that, or even want to do that. I’m selfish, and I just want her."

"Love." Max said suddenly.

Michael nodded. "Yeah, love."

Max just shook his head. "It really sucks." Michael didn’t respond, but he had to agree.

~~~

Maria entered the war room off the Bridge. She had spent time in Medical with Courtney and Lonnie, and Courtney looked to be gone by that day. Kyle promised to call her if she suddenly took a turn for the worse. Maria couldn’t imagine her getting any worse.

Lonnie had been the surprise. She was genuinely upset and angry. It was as if she were the only person who really cared that Courtney was dying. And it was made worse knowing that it was Pierce, her ex-lover who was responsible for Courtney being hurt. She and Courtney had been caught in a crossfire when the Imperials boarded the Shiva. They had been ordered to quarters, but neither of them wanted to follow orders. So they didn’t. It made Lonnie’s guilt two-fold.

"I’m here as requested."

Max smiled at his new sister-in-law. She might not care about the title of Princess, but it was apparent from her tone that she didn’t care to be summoned.

"Maria, take a seat."

As she sat, Sean came over and squeezed her shoulder and set a cup of coffee in front of her. He whispered to her, "It was really a lovely wedding ceremony." Maria looked at him sharply. Damn voyeur.

Maria looked at the cup suspiciously, and then at Sean. "Did you make this?"

Sean feigned hurt at her accusation. "No, Jonesy did." Maria looked over at the large dark man who bowed him head slightly in her direction.

"Thank goodness." Sean looked indignant, but decided not to let it bother him since he decided that Maria was his favorite person in the entire universe. Especially after she sent him five UPC nodes, and Michael informed him that she had even more than that. She was a goddess.

"Maria, I was reviewing your plan for the destruction of the Granilith." Maria stopped sipping her coffee, but said nothing. "I can't allow it."

"Can’t allow...?" Maria stood up and faced the others. "I don’t think you’re in a position to allow or disallow me anything."

"Yes I am. I’m the Captain."

"You’re hired muscle. My contract with you is..."

"For the recovery of three Gems, and transport to your final destination, Khivar’s ship. That will be done. There was no mention of letting you blow a good portion of space to kingdom come with you."

Maria wearily sat back down. Weary of this talk, weary of this life, and weary of the thought of hurting Michael. Avoiding his eyes, she shut hers and shook her head.

"We’ve talked among ourselves. It is unanimously decided that you are too valuable to us, to the universe and to Michael to be lost along with countless lives. If your original plan could be implemented, we’d have to be quiet, because it was the best, most expedient plan with the least loss of life. But this new plan is unconscionable."

"So, if I were still able to implement the original plan, that would be okay because it was the safety mechanism created by my people to protect the universe from the abusive use of the Granilith? But now my job is being taken from me due to the loss of one Gem, and the death of another. Basically I failed, so I am now incompetent to complete a simple task?"

Max’s eyes narrowed. Brat. She didn’t want them to save her life? Too fucking bad. "I am saying there are other options that don’t involve murdering millions of innocents, the very innocents it was your mission to originally to protect."

"Tell me your damn plan!"

"First, we build explosives to be deployed at key junctions within Khivar’s ship. And we destroy his engine’s warp core. I’ve got six assault teams that need to be prepared to defend themselves against full Imperial guards. We get in, plant the devices, recover your missing Gem and leave."

"And after having lost to Khivar before, how is it you plan to board his ship without him seeing you or destroying you?"

Max looked at the others, and sat down facing Maria. "Because of you. The technology you gave us allows us to not be scanned or detected unless physically seen. We’ll come up to Khivar’s blind side and attach to one of his outer hulls. Then you and Alex together, will open a corridor between the ships which will wreck Khivar’s warp field. He will wonder what has happened."

Michael took up the plan that was his. "My teams will move in full deployment, moving quietly and quickly through Khivar’s ship trying not to alert them to our presence. You and I will locate your last Gem and liberate her. With Alex’s help, we will find the Granilith and the chamber where it resides. Together with Alex’s help we’d like you to try to transport the Granilith to the Shiva."

"And if we cannot transport it?"

"Then we wait until the explosions have weakened Khivar’s ship. We go in, finish him and take the Granilith where she lays scuttled in space."

Maria nodded. They had thought of their own plan. It had a margin of feasibility, minus the mass destruction of her backup plan. She had never considered a full assault plan because that meant her needing to involve their lives and deaths in her mission, something she couldn’t consider given her connections to them.

"And once we have the Granilith on the Shiva? What then?" No matter where they took it or tried to destroy it, it would be a massive charge and destruction. The Granilith was too powerful to be left unattended.

"We go back to Karnak. You and Michael take it to the cavern, and there you will need to transport it back in time and hide it where it will never be found."

Maria nodded. "It’s a good plan. Complicated. So many aspects could go wrong."

Michael came to kneel next to her chair. "I know, my Princess. But it's a chance. It's a fight that we want. Your plan has no outlets, except destruction and death. This plan is what we’d sacrifice in war with Khivar, and there will be a war with Khivar. The difference is that you’ve given us an advantage we didn’t have before."

Maria searched his face, her eyes softening as she reached to stroke it. "Because I have no option with my Gems gone, we do it your way. But if ever a chance presents itself, understand..."

"I do." Michael said simply, because with Courtney gone, there was no chance.

Max interrupted them. "Maria can you transport things with just your will?"

Maria nodded at her coffee cup, and it suddenly blinked and reappeared next to Sean and the coffee pot. Alex smiled and reached over, poured her another cup and in a small wave of his hand, it blinked and reappeared next to Maria.

"Small things, but maybe with Alex’s help..."

Sean watched in amazement. "How?"

"It’s as simple as opening a spot, and pushing the fabric around the object. It naturally moves into the empty area." Maria shrugged. "I’ve only been able to move small things." Looking at Alex, she smiled. "You’ve come a long way in a short time."

Alex just smiled at her. He wasn’t up to her peoples’ speed, but once the simple principle was understood, the rest was becoming obvious.

They all stood around the table as Sean laid out the plans to Khivar’s ships. Marking the hull of entry which was closest to the outer hull of the main Bridge, and marking the routes of each team, they designed the plans for what systems needed to be destroyed.

"How do you plan to wreck their core crystals?" Maria asked Sean. He smiled and pulled out a UPC node.

That was smart. It was capable of recrystalizing fractured crystals, but when introduced within a stable crystal matrix it restructured until the crystals broke down to nothing but shattered glass.

"Okay, Michael your team will find the last Gem, liberate her, and with Maria and Alex, find the Granilith. My team will target the stabilizer core and ballast. After we set charges we will find you or meet you back at the point of entry. Three teams will take out the navigational array, deflector control and the plasma venting relays. That leaves Sean and his team to take care of the warp core crystal chamber."

Sean moved over the blueprints. "It’s important that the explosives be set in these areas." He marked them. "I’ve rigged them to explode in two alternating sequences. The initial charges will take out these primary areas, and in a five minute delay, the next set of charges will blow. After the primary go, we’ve got five minutes to clear the ship before her ballast is blown and alttitude control is lost."

"Understood." Max said as they poured over the plan once again.

"Captain." Max hit his com link.

"Go ahead, Kyle."

"Send Maria, it’s time." Maria’s eyes met Max’s and she nodded. "She’s on her way." Both Max and Michael went with her. Courtney was on her last breath. Sean rushed to catch up with them.

"Courtney?" They all just nodded, but remained silent.

When they entered the Medical bay, the air was silent except for the sound of weeping. Lonnie stood beside the bed crying, with her sister next to her trying to comfort her for the loss of her friend. Meeting Max’s eyes, Isabel shook her head no. Courtney had passed.

"She just went."

Maria looked sadly at the young woman who had so much life to live, and so much to live for. Her duty as an Immaculate was coming to an end, but in suddenly a swift hand of fate, even that was lost. If she could’ve survived there had been hope of removing the threat of the Granilith for all time, but now...

"Then it is truly over." Michael said not even feeling bad for his relief.

Kyle nodded to the box at he bedside holding the crystal that once only Courtney could yield. "What do you want to do with her crystal?"

But before Maria could answer, Lonnie snatched up the box and held it against herself. "It’s mine! Courtney would’ve wanted me to have it!"

Maria sighed. "Lonnie, I’m sorry for the loss of Courtney. But that crystal is too dangerous to be touched. Only Courtney could touch it. Only she was born to resonate with it. If you touch it, you will be annihilated. It was why she had to remain untouched, a virgin and pure, so her body would not realign to a lover."

"That’s not true! You were only saying that to keep her trapped in a life she hated. She never was given a choice."

"I promise you, it’s true. Courtney was born with a special destiny." And before anyone could stop her, Lonnie opened the box and took the crystal in hand. "Lonnie, no!"

They all stood stunned as nothing happened. Lonnie held the crystal in her hand and she was just fine.

"That’s impossible!"

Lonnie shrugged. "Courtney let me touch it before. You’re wrong. All of you. I can touch it and nothing happens. And Courtney was no damn virgin!"

Maria stepped even closer. "She had a lover? Someone on the Pleasure Planet?"

Lonnie nodded. And looking at the others, she suddenly became defiant. "Not 'someone'. Me."

Even Isabel was taken aback. She hadn’t realized. Lonnie had kept her out of the loop and closed the connection between them. Lonnie and Courtney had been lovers?

Alex, who had joined them, and remained silent through it all, suddenly came forward. Looking at his sister, he kissed her forehead. Two lovers lost. Pierce and now Courtney.

"Maria, if Courtney was not be touched because it would change her chemistry, is it possible that instead of her changing to Lonnie, it was Lonnie that changed to Courtney?"

Maria looked at the young woman in her brother’s arms. She had all the potential genetics of an Eminent One. It was the extra chromosomes that made it possible to attenuate and alter her genome. She was imprintable.

"Yes. So little was really known, just that those who mated could no long wield their crystals, so it became taboo." Maria looked at Max. "This changes everything. I’ve got three Immaculates again."

Michael swore, hating Lonnie in that instant. "You don’t know that Khivar hasn’t killed your other Immaculate."

"True. We follow the plan to the letter as we discussed. You still take out Khivar's ship, we retrieve the third Gem, and if possible I’ll remove the Granilith from the equation for all eternity. If something goes wrong, we follow the transporting of the Granilith from Khivar’s ship."

Michael grabbed his wife hard. "Why not just follow the plan, forget this stupid suicide mission?"

Maria looked at him sadly, understanding what he wanted, what he wanted from her...that which she could not give.

"My primary goal has been and will always be the removal of the Granilith from existence so it can no longer be used to harm. That was what I was born to do, and if it is impossible because my third Gem is dead or Khivar destroyed the mechanisms necessary in the Granilith for an internal overload protocol, then we do it your way. The outcome is still uncertain, but one truth, one fate is that the Granilith must be contained. For all our sakes."

"Maria..."

Maria turned and looked at Lonnie. "Come, Lonnie. I will explain your duty as the new Immaculate."

Lonnie looked at the crystal in her hand, and then at Maria. "What if I don’t want this?"

Michael closed his eyes and prayed, his jaw muscles flinching as he clenched his teeth hard.

"I can’t force you. It is your decision. But Courtney’s entire short life would have no purpose. The sacrifice she lived will pass into obscurity with no real reward. She’d have spent all those years in Temple for no reason but to die. This could be a testament to her, a completion of the mission she was born to, the mission that would have set her free."

Lonnie looked at her lover, her friend and the only person who seemed to understand her. Reaching over, she gently pushed the blond hair from Courtney's face. All she had wanted was to have it over, so she could finally be allowed to live. Lonnie felt the tears as they moved down her face, turning she looked at Maria.

"You’ve got your Immaculate."

Michael swore, and turned his back to the young woman. He should have been left on a planet long ago, sold into slavery. He refused to watch as his wife led her new Immaculate away and planned once again to face her imminent death.

Max squeezed his shoulder. "I’m sorry."

~~~

"Michael..."

"So we're not going to discuss this?"

Maria put away her things. She spent some time packing up her belongings and preparing for whatever was going to happen.

Sitting down on the edge of the chair she looked up at him. Then, just shaking her head, she got up and walked away. Shutting the door to the bedroom behind her, she went to sit on the side of the bed.

Michael slowly followed her and stood looking at her from the door.

"I’m sorry. I knew..." Maria just nodded. Michael just put his head back on the wall and closing his eyes he pushed the air from his lungs.

"Please don’t ask me to not to do what I must. Don’t ask me not to be who I am."

Michael came to sit on the bed next to her. "I know. Part of me was prepared, ready for the possibility, but when Courtney was dying and it looked like..."

"You became hopeful?"

"Yeah." Michael looked away. He felt...dead.

"We don’t know how it’ll go down."

"Can’t you just transport the Granilith as planned, and later we can look at how to destroy it."

Michael was searching, reaching for any solution that didn’t mean her entering that machine, and blinking into nothing.

"I’m a part of you now, and you’re a part of me. How do I survive? How do we?"

Maria looked at him. She had made a mistake, a huge tactical mistake. She fell in love and in a way it made her weak. Rubbing a tear from his cheek he didn’t even know was there, she kissed him.

"I’ll do what I must, when I must. You’ll be all right. There will be a void, a feeling of your body no longer being coalesced, but that will fade. I don’t know where I’ll go or if I’ll survive, but I swear to you, if I do, I will try with everything I am to come home again. I will never stop trying to find my way back to you."

Maria reached into her pocket and took out a medallion, much like the larger amulets they wore at their wedding.

"This is essentially the key to the Zephyr. It activates the special trans-warp drive. It will take you from one end of the galaxy to the other in a wink of an eye, and beyond." Maria closed his hand around it. "I want you to have her, to keep her for me until I can come home. There will be a war after this, and I want to know that you’ll be safe."

"Maria..." Michael didn’t know what to say, or how to ask or even beg. Duty. It stuck in his throat. He was raised to it, as was she. There was no question that if she could remove the Granilith quickly and with no harm to others, she would, because it was what her people did. Who they were. He understood that. This didn’t make him hate the situation any less.

She met his eyes, hers begging him not to make it harder than it was, not to spend all the time they had left trying to bend her to a will that she could not bend to.

"What was the pleasure?"

Maria was confused. "What?"

"The pleasure that trapped you on Cyrenaica. What was it?"

"Oh damn!" Maria actually turned red, and swore under her breath. She had hoped that he would forget and never ask.

"Come on. Tell me. I know it wasn’t sex."

"Worse." Maria peeked up at him from below her lashes and sighed. "Video arcade."

"What?"

"It was a video arcade, a place on their planet that had interactive games. I found one that had a warrior trapped in a mythical kingdom required to fight off all sorts of demons to rescue a Princess."

"You became addicted to a simple child’s game that taught eye-hand skill?"

"Hey! It took more than that. A fleetness of foot and wit."

Michael laughed. "Sure it did." He looked at her red face, and her embarrassment. "How long?"

Maria sighed. "Eight days." Michael laughed harder imagining her playing this game over and over. "I held all the high scores!" She hit him when he pushed her back on the bed. "Stop laughing. You should’ve seen my poor crippled hand."

Michael rested above her, suddenly silent as he searched her face, and picked up her hand to kiss the palm.

"Kiss me. Make me forget for just a while."

~~~

"Cap, we’ve found Khivar’s ship, the Octavian."

"Take us into her blind spot." Michael turned to his Com officer. "Inform the teams to prepare to board. The Princess and the Eminent are to meet them in the upper cargo bay. I will be there shortly, once the Shiva is aligned to the Octavian’s hull."

Max entered the forward cargo bay, and found all the teams assembled. Alex, Lonnie and Liz were with Michael and Maria. They stood apart as Alex and Maria came forward, both concentrating to the area they wanted to open, waiting until they couldn’t feel any presence on the other side. Once cleared they opened the distortion rift.

The teams walked through quickly, and Sean paused to give Liz a small wink. As they quickly entered the Octavian, they moved toward their set objectives.

Maria and Alex were the last to walk through. Maria concentrated. They were the only team that had no set route. Maria paused and tried to locate her lost Gem.

"Lower level, to aft. She is in a holding cell in the main Brig."

"How many guards?"

"Not too many. They were torturing her, but finally stopped when they were afraid of killing her or changing her chemistry. She is weak, but still alive."

Michael pushed Lonnie and Liz behind him against the wall. "Let’s go then, but stay close, do not wander, and do not talk!" He specifically looked at Lonnie.

Maria moved quickly at his side, they moving in tandem, searching the side corridors and clearing them as they went. Alex held the rear, and made sure that they did not lose anyone, and protected their backs.

Michael paused when he came to the Brig. There were six guards, all rotating to check on prisoners, and to move along their watch. He gestured to Maria that he had the three to his left if she could take the three to his right.

Maria nodded, and on a count of three, she dropped down to the ground and took aim on her three. They quickly took out the guards, and slowly advanced in the crossway. Maria read the invoice and found the room occupied, but unmarked. Her Immaculate.

Handing Michael some charges to explode the Brig console, she moved down the corridor as Alex checked the guards for any survivors.

"Michael, these battlecruisers have internal monitors that can detect weapons fire."

"Maria? You hear that?" Michael watched the access corridors. "We need to be quick. Company's coming."

"Yes, dear." Maria stopped at the door, and pushed it with her mind. It moved easily.

The young woman was lying on a bed, curled in a defensive manner. Maria touched her shoulder softly. The woman flinched, but did not turn.

"It is time to cut the thread."

The woman turned suddenly at Maria’s voice, and sat up. Maria winced at the bruises and cuts on her face, but she appeared to be no worse for wear.

"Princess."

"Yes. Come. It’s time to work." The woman stumbled as she tried to walk.

"Are you all right?"

She laughed bitterly. "Just a few broken legs. He had them break them, reset them, then mend them so he could have them broken again. He enjoyed hearing me scream, and the sound of my cracking bones. They are tender and sore."

"He needs to die violently."

Tess nodded. "He will. I swear it!"

"Maria!" Michael called down the hall. He could hear approaching Imperials.

"Here."

"Can you open a corridor? We’re cut off."

"Yes." Maria concentrated after she handed Tess over to Lonnie and Liz.

The corridor opened three subdecks above them. They walked through, and Michael quickly checked both ways.

"Now what?"

Alex and Maria both pointed in the same direction. They could feel the power of the Granilith emanating.

Michael rounded the corner, and he swore. Okay wrong way. They ran into a patrol of Imperials. Both he and Maria hugged the wall, both holding them off as Alex took the Immaculates another way. They followed them through a door, and Maria and Michael both exchanged fire as they slowly crept along the corridor following Alex along another route.

Maria counted and suddenly stood in the middle of the corridor to return fire. Michael quickly grabbed her and pulled back under cover.

"Honey, what the hell are you doing?"

"They shot their rounds."

"Dammit, Maria. They’re using full laser cannons. They don’t lose their load for hours."

"You sure?"

Michael just shook his head. "No, I’m lying. Come on. We’ve got to move."

They ran down the corridor catching up with Alex and the others.

"Alex, how much further?"

Alex pointed to a closed door with guards gathering as the full ship alert finally sounded.

"Guess the cat is out of the bag. Khivar is aware we are here."

Michael looked at the lights and sound, and just grimaced. "You think?" Pulling Maria closer to him. "Hon, can you toss those guards aside?" Maria nodded and she pushed the matrix as the fabric of space pushed outward crushing the guards.

The group of them quickly entered the Granilith chamber, as Max and his team rounded a corner. He followed his link to Michael and Maria. Both Maria and Michael had rounded and stood facing Max with weapons drawn. Realizing it was him they both put their weapons down.

"You ready, Maxwell?"

"Yeah. Who alerted the Imperials?"

Michael shrugged. Yeah, like he was going to admit to it. They entered the room.

Already the three Immaculates had surrounded the Granilith, which was a huge inverted cone with a base. Each of them where situated around the base in a triangle. They looked at each other, and all three inserted their crystal at the same time and then stepped away.

The large chamber became alive as the Granilith activated, and the cone swirled in light.

"Max, you can escort them to the entry point. Their job is done."

Michael made a face. "That’s it? That is all they had to do?"

"Yes. They inserted the keys, the initiating mechanism is engaged."

Michael couldn’t believe it. "Did your people ever think of maybe just getting a damn key?"

"What, you want more? Maybe have them chant, dance or sing? Why must everything need to be complex and complicated?"

"You don’t think translating manuscripts almost lost on an ocean’s floor, searching for three Gems and endless dangers wasn’t complicated?"

"Well, it’s not anymore. It’s time."

"Time?"

Maria nodded. She grabbed him and kissed him hard and passionately. Moving away from him, she mouthed that she loved him and extending a hand, she touched the cone and was transported inside. He saw her for a moment, before she turned and disappeared.

"Dammit, wait!" Michael said swearing under his breath. Just like that? Max was equally shocked by how fast she left. It was as if she couldn’t afford a long goodbye.

Michael looked at the cone, and then at his twin. Taking the amulet from his neck where it had lay under his clothes since he received it on his wedding night, he reached over and dropped it over his twin’s head. "Take care of this for me."

Max grabbed him as he started to move away. "Michael, what the hell are you planning?"

Michael gestured to where Maria disappeared. "What if she ends up on the other side of the universe, or just somewhere else? You know what trouble she gets into with her grabby hands."

"You’re not going!"

Michael gently removed his brother’s restraining hand. "I’m already gone. If she doesn’t survive, what makes you think I will? With her, there's a chance, even though a slim one, that we'll survive together in some form. I love her. I’ve never loved anything in my life, but I love her."

Max nodded and stepped away. Michael quickly grinned and touched his hand to the cone of the Granilith, and he vanished into the belly of the beast.

Mere moments later, there was a flash of bright light and a flooding concentric field extending outward. The force of the generated wave knocked all of them from their feet, and the EM field turned off all the power to the Octavian and the Shiva within range. The Granilith winked out of existence, and they were gone.

Alex stood up watching. "The One."

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