Knights of Daybreak, Part 4
by Mac

-----

OK, folks, here's my first entry for KOD from Mac's perspective.  It 
takes several different scenes.  Enjoy!  

-----

It should have been four hours into my sleep period, but I wasn't 
sleeping.  Instead of sleeping, though, I was in a human half-run 
through the cool halls of the NCC in my bedclothes, long shorts and a 
thin tank top, with my labcoat hastily thrown on.  Normally, I wouldn't 
be seen in anything but long pants and sleeves, but everyone in this 
area was asleep and this was important.  

Not important that I run fast, but important enough that I didn't care 
about being underdressed.  

I was running torward the Supreme Guardian observation room, and in the 
hallway before it I saw Shane at the same time.  Attired very similarly 
to myself, sans labcoat, he had the same sense of urgency as did I, but 
 his face made it was obvious that he was irked by having woken Katrina 
in getting out of bed.  

It went without saying that he had sensed the same thing as me.  

"Think we'll catch him this time?" he asked.  

"Not any more than you do, but we have to try."  

We opened the double doors and, without even bothering to turn on the 
lights, quickly made our way left through the large room the the large 
console and monitor at the end of the room.  In the middle, though, we 
both barely escaped tripping.  

Lying there only about a metre in front of us was the form of a 
sleeping Draco Fireclaw with a small blanket draped over him.  We had 
sensed him before we had actually come upon him, but we had no idea he 
was there when we entered the room.  Another testament to Draco's 
skill.  

Draco, get up and go back to bed."  I said in a low voice.  He woke at 
the call of his name.

"What are you..." he began, trying to avoid sounding sleepy.  

"Go to bed!" Shane demanded, with no small amount of irritation in his 
voice.  

Draco stood and clutched his blanket, his eyes barely open.  

"Irvine..." he said in a low, groggy growl.  

"What about him?" I asked.  

"...he snores."

Another one of Brin's little pranks.  He was pulling strings with the 
people who handled room assignments.  Shane and I were lucky enough to 
have snagged ours with Ray's help before we had made our grand 
entrance, but the rest of the Supreme Guardian staff was relegated to 
sleeping in one room together, as a barracks, something not even the 
lowest guardian trainees had to go through except in team-bulding 
exercises.  We had no time for dealing with the assignment personell in 
person, though, and it was justified, as the team needed to learn to 
get along better together.  

However, some complaints were valid--Irvine snoring being among 
them--but this was not the time.  Shane stared at Draco with his 
trademark "Ask-me-if-I-care" look.  

"Gooo tooooo beeeeeed!" he intoned, not masking his condesencion.  

Draco slowly exited the room and Shane and I brought the console to 
life.  

The enormous screen in front of us, flush with the wall, showed 
pinpoints of light as Shane entered sequences of numbers that made 
sense only to us.  

"It felt like him, and the computers think it is him.  It's so powerful 
it couldn't be anyone else." I stated, relaying only the obvious.  

"Yup, and it looks like we were right on another count...  it's coming 
from Coruscant."  We stated the last word together.  We hadn't 
discussed where we thought it had come from.  We just knew.  Our 
missing friend, Ray, who had stepped down from Supreme Guardian rank to 
seek quieter times, was missing and apparantly involved in something no 
one else was privy to.  

"I thought he was supposed to be enjoying home life, but he keeps 
running around and then leaving craters in planets as calling cards.  I 
don't get it."   Shane let his head hang a bit.  For the first time, 
his old friend had done something he was at a loss to grasp.  

"I wish I understood why he'd be fighting.  Hiding, yes, I understand, 
but he keeps making spectacles like this.  There's no mistaking that 
blast was his fighting energy, but there's no reason for it.  All we 
know is that he isn't doing what he said he would."  

"I don't even know where he's going.  I used to be able to know where 
he'd go even if he was trying to hide from me specifically.  I couldn't 
judge him as well after he met Abbie, but this doesn't make any sense 
at all...  and of course, the NCC's monitoring conspicuously has a 
little glitch right around the time something like that happens."  He 
gestured to the blast of energy flaming from Coruscant pictured on the 
closest working camera to the planet.  

"We'll just try again next time," I said as we turned the console off 
and turned to leave.  "Just remember to keep praying."

"As always," Shane replied.  "Let's hope the next time it happens is 
when we're awake."  His words were false, though.  The same information 
we'd looked at would be there in the morning, and we knew that as soon 
as we had it it was too late.  Despite this, we were still compelled to 
check each time we felt Ray's presence.  As well, we preferred it 
waking us, as it gave us some privacy when it happened during sleeping 
hours.  

We lingered at the doorway and looked back at the monitor.  

"Ray can take care of himself," I offered.  

"Yeah, but with the Sword of Darkness... I don't know.  You know that 
even he's going to have trouble with it.  You don't have to be give me 
a pep talk."  

Neither of us was worried about someone harming Ray; no one could touch 
him.  We were worried about Ray harming himself.  

"I never thought Ray would do a worse job of keeping a low profile than 
Frag, though," I quipped with a slight grin.  Shane gave a very low, 
very short inward chuckle that didn't defy his deeper mood and turned 
to head back to bed.  

"'Night, Mac."  

"Goodnight, Shane."

As I closed the doors I glimpsed at the again dark console.  

"Take care of yourself Ray...  you, too, Frag."

With that done, I headed back to bed.  

I think, though, that Irvine was the only one who slept soundly through 
the rest of the night.  

**

With my new schedule, I thought that my visits to Earth Alpha would be 
few and far between.  Instead, though, I found myself making many short 
trips, although it comprised the almost entirety of my little spare 
time.  

This was mostly to spend time with a particular person.  In my travels, 
I had accumulated many friends, but there were only a few I had visited 
on a long-term basis with the sole intent of spending time with.  The 
four most notable were Frag, Ray, Shane...  and Espy.  

I stood on a small but respectable university campus on Earth Alpha, on 
another personal visit.  Behind me was a young woman with whom I was 
excellent friends:  Espy.  In front of me was a group of three jocks 
with whom I was, to be polite, not excellent friends.   

I normally get along well with others...  I consider it a high 
priority, though I don't put it before doing the right thing.  In some 
cases, however, the second party refuses to offer the same respect, and 
the delicate balance of human interaction falls apart.  

One of the easiest ways to make enemies is to come to the aid of 
another person.  I had done this when I had stepped between my friend 
and the cat-calling males clad in blue and white football jerseys.  I 
hadn't attacked them, nor had I insulted them.  I did, however, 
reccomend that they find another way to spend their time.  Politely, I 
had suggested it, but without any hint that I was humbling myself to 
them any more than I would another person.  They weren't quite sure how 
to respond, considering that I was neither intimidated nor inclined to 
challenge them.  I had no reason whatsoever to be afraid of them, nor 
did I have a reason to challenge them.  My only concerns were for my 
friend's emotions and perhaps the fact that they could stand to learn 
some amount of humility.  

This scenario held not even the pretense of being serious for me.  The 
boys in front of me were no threat, but them believing that they were 
made the experience quite enjoyable for me, despite my poker face.  I 
could only wish for the tune of a high-noon  showdown in the old west, 
but that would reveal how much fun I was having.  

They had broken into laughter and proceeded to make snide remarks as I 
stood my ground, silently.  My friend had made it known that she would 
prefer to leave, the least important reason to her not being the fact 
that each of the young men in front of me stood at least half a foot 
taller than my 188cm frame(6'2"), and likely weighed twice as much as I 
did.  As my face revealed, that did not sway my decision when I turned 
to leave.  However, not being able to give up the chance at imagining 
that I had been intimidated, one of them hailed me before I walked 
away.  

"Hey," he said, the challenge in his voice evident, and he said nothing 
else.  He took a empty soda can in one hand and smashed it into his 
forehead, which apparantly amused his companions.  To be honest, it was 
impressive display considering that it was being done with a soda can, 
as opposed to the traditional beer can.  Espy didn't bother to pay 
attention as she sighed loudly, waiting for me to make some motion to 
leave.  None of the other students had bother to look up from their 
peers or their snacks to take notice, either.  

Using my posture to indicate that I was about to leave, if only to 
relieve Espy, I stood with my back to my friend and reached my right 
hand into my left sleeve.  Out of it I pulled a can of Coke.  I turned 
the top to them to show them it was full.   I placed my palms on 
opposite ends of the cyllinder.  Then I squeezed.  

I tossed the result to them and began to walk away, keeping one eye on 
their actions.  My friend walked ahead of me, not bothering to look 
back and give them any more attention.  

The three examined a can of coke crushed to half it's normal height, 
yet retaining its normal weight and its seal.  

"Imposs--" I heard one say, followed by the sound of the entire 
contents of a full can of coke spraying into his face.  

I couldn't help but grin as I watched the back of my friend's head 
while we both walked away.  It would have been impossible, of course, 
had I not strenghened the molecular structure of the can itself 
previously(a favor for Shane when he travelled to high gravity 
dimensions...  I personally prefer root beer).  As we walked out of 
earshot, I broke into laughter.  

"Mac, we're going to have to talk about that." she said.  She wasn't 
angry at all.  She merely meant exactly what she had said.  

I stopped laughing and smiled.  "I know, Espy."  

Espy stopped and looked me in the eye.  "Are you going to come help me 
study in the library?" she asked as the smile began to return to her 
face.  

"Of course.  Let's go."  We continued along the path we were on, as it 
led directly to the library on the other side of campus.  It also went 
through an arbor which had been established in a cluster of oak trees 
which made my back hurt, being reminded of the last time I had been 
slammed into one.  The atmosphere suited my mood, though, so I remained 
happy.  

She started to walk a bit faster down the walkway as she crossed the 
arbor, expecting me to close the small gap in distance she created.   
Just as I began to fall into longer stride, though, I stopped.  Only a 
few steps later, she had stopped, as well.  

I had sensed something, and wasn't happy about it.  There had been 
action in the vortex and I had sensed a particular presence behind me 
on the walkway.  I turned around to see exactly what I begun to 
suspect.  

There in the shade of the oak trees stood someone who was never 
supposed to be standing there in the first place, much less someone I 
was happy to see standing there.  

The stout, suited figure with a permanent sneer atop it was somehow 
unmistakeable.   There stood Jordan Brin.  

**

In the Supreme Guardian in NCC, all eyes were on the soldier who stood 
just outside the door.  Shane stood with his arms folded, preturbed at 
having his speech interrupted while Cratin, Shandra, Draco, and 
Sarhedrin sat relaxed at the council table, looking relieved that 
Shane's speech had interrupted.  Irvine stood away from the group, 
having walked to the door to speak with the soldier, who had been to 
respectful to dare enter the room.  

After having spoken a few words, the solder saluted Irvine, a gesture 
that had been used alarmlingly little after Shane and I had been 
enstated, but which we were beginning to see again more often.  

Irvine cocked an eyebrow at the doors and the automated system closed 
them.  He turned torward the group and delivered the message, not quite 
sure what to think of it himself aside from disgust.  

"Brin's on Earth Alpha," he said out loud to the group before he began 
the trek across the room to join them.  

Sighs, groans, and growls filled the room as Shane turned waved his 
hand at the display console and it displayed a picture of Brin standing 
several yards from Mac, sneering at him.  The two appeared to be 
talking, but Shane hadn't bothered to turn on the sound, as he was 
merely checking to see if he had to intervene.  

Sarhedrin stood up and pounded a fist on the table.  "What are we 
waiting for?  He's overstepped his boundaries, so let's put that 
jackass in his place!"  Beside Sarhedrin, Cratin grinned in agreement.  
Shane looked at Brin like former Deputy Raven used to look at Shane.  

"NOBODY except for those originating from Earth Alpha are allowed to go 
there, and for good reason.  Last I checked, that means all of YOU are 
staying put.  Besides, Mac is there."

"Look at the display, though, he's got soldiers with him!" said 
Shandra.  

"And?" demanded Shane.  "This is Mac we're talking about.  It's not a 
problem.  I'm gonna go make a few calls while Brin is still there to 
see if we can put him in hot water.  Meanwhile, YOU guys stay put."  

Shane glanced at the group before turning and disappearing into a 
portal, his destination unknown.  

Everyone but Draco, who kept his eyes fixed somewhere on the table, 
looked back and forth at the rest of the group, wondering what they 
should be doing.  It occured to everyone at once that something wasn't 
quite right.  

"What happened to Cratin?" demanded Irvine.  

"He left," replied Draco cooly.  

Everyone turned their gaze to where Cratin had been and saw an empty 
chair.  

"But to where?"

"Probably Earth Alpha." Draco stood but moved his gaze to his 
fingernails.  He obviously didn't care to involve himself.  

Irvine took a split second to look disgusted with Draco's apparant 
apathy before he started barking to everyone else.  

"OK, he couldn't have gotten far!  Everbody head out of the hall and 
then split up!  Rules are rules for a reason.  Make sure he doesn't 
leave for Earth Alpha!"  With that, Irvine bolted for the door.  

Shandra stood still.  "I sense that...  he's still here," she called.  

Irvine stuck his head back in the door as Sarhedrin ran out and Draco 
headed torward the door slowly, although the latter seemed to have no 
intention of helping. 

"Do you see him here?" Irvine asked rhetorically.  

"No..."

"Then come help the rest of us!"

Shandra exited behind the rest and closed the doors.  

With the room seemingly empty, a small movement in became apparant.  
One of the chairs began to walk away from the table under it's own 
power.  

Cratin's voice echoed in the room.  "Of course I disguised myself as 
the chair.  I prefer my tricks to be kept secret, but I really need to 
sit down with these guys and slap a few things into 'em."

With that, the chair fell through a vortex portal, and the room became 
quiet again.  

**

Brin looked rather smug, as usual, and, while I was never happy to see 
him, I was especially displeased to see him here and now.  One of the 
most important rules in NCC was for no non-native beings to visit Earth 
Alpha, but Brin was standing here now.  

It took literally no time to evaluate my situation.  Brin ten meters in 
front of me.  Six soldiers with standard issue DGF Deputy 
plasma-blasters(apparantly an elite personal guard which felt little 
need for anything more than basic arms) , hid themselves in the trees, 
likely not knowing that I was aware of their presence.  Espy stood 
another ten metres behind me, and had just turned around to see Brin 
and myself staring each other down.  There were other people at a 
distance, but no one paying attention yet.  

Brin began to raise a finger and one of the soldier's twitched.  Both 
stopped as I began to speak.  

"I think restraining her suits both of us, even if I'm unhappy about 
it.  You don't have to be covert about it.  Just don't use her as a 
hostage."

Brin raised his entire arm with a mix of exasperation and glee.  The 
solder quickly pulled a small device from his belt and aimed it torward 
Espy, who stared onward at Brin, waiting to see what was happening 
before she reacted.  With visible recoil a bright pink blast exited the 
device and shot like a bullet at her, forming a transparent pink sphere 
around her.  It had been obvious that she saw only Brin and myself, but 
now it was obvious that she saw nothing.  

I watched as Espy pressed against the spherical sheild.  I knew that 
she couldn't see anything but darkness and hear anything but silence 
inside the sheild, although we could see her clearly.  I was impressed: 
 she wasn't panicing, but I could see that she was coming undone on the 
inside, having no idea where she was now nor what was going on.  It was 
sad, but neither of us could risk her seeing anything or getting in the 
middle.  Seeing her, though, made me reaffirm that I wasn't going to 
waste time with Brin, but at the same time I couldn't take him out 
immediately because there was no telling what he was up to.  

"Alright, Brin, what do you want?" I demanded, not bothering to 
restrain the volume of my voice.  

Brin grinned.  "I want a lot of things.  Would you like me to get the 
the point?"

"Quite."  

"I want you exposed for the imposter you are."  

"Oh?  What lies am I pushing?"  I said in a monotone.  

"Your entire story!" he spat.  "Almost everyone actually BELIEVES your 
'War or the Whole' story, and the soldiers cower at the mention of your 
name.  You're a mere human, and you're celebrated as a war hero, and 
now you appear from nowhere except a foonote in the recent histories as 
a two-bit outlaw hero to become the holder of Lucifer's Key and the 
second in command of the institution that runs the omniverse!  
...Unfortunately, you've covered your tracks very well."

"I didn't.  It's all true.  And it's called "Eternity's Key" now, as it 
was and should be.  It doesn't belong to Lucifer.  Please use the 
proper name.  ...But I think you're more upset because Shane and I 
usurped your unethically obtained and operated placement inside that 
institution, and prevent you from getting away with murder."  I gave a 
small grin to follow this.  

Brin's sneer grew even wider.  "Maybe.  As for McInnis, I'll deal with 
him on my own time, but you're an easier target to start with, now that 
I'm taking a more direct approach.  So tell me, will you be 
cooperating, or do I have to just kill you?"

"Easy?"  I stifled a laugh, even in my stress.  "Then why did you bring 
six soldiers?  Speaking of which..."

I nodded and six men bound in vortex coils fell to the ground with a 
single, loud thump.  They'd long given up struggling, and attempted to 
preserve their dignity by remaining still.  

A light of fear lit in Brin's eyes.  

"H...  How?" he stuttered.  

I furrowed my eyebrows and ensured that my expression shot daggers.  

"I'm fast, Brin.  I did it faster than your vision could detect."

"Bull!" Brin yelled back as he whipped a plasma pistol from under his 
coat as fast as he could manage.  "Even so, I don't care how fast you 
are, you aren't so fast you can doge a gunshot.  Hand over the Key and 
the coordinates to the Dimensional Cannon now, and I'll think about 
sparing you."

"I knew there had to be a deeper motive.  Brin, I am that fast." I 
replied cooly, stifling a laugh, inwardly surprised that he actually 
believed that his threats would scare me.  I narrowed my gaze.  "And 
I'm certainly faster than your reflexes."

Brin lost his sneer long enough to grimace as he squeezed the trigger, 
only to have his jaw drop when he felt his hand grip air.  

"Where did my gun go?" he asked no one.  The fear returned to his eyes 
as he saw me holding it.  

"I'll give you a hint, Brin.  I didn't use my speed to do that."  

Brin quivered and backed away as I slowly advanced, pointing his own 
gun at him although I was much more of a threat to him than it was.  He 
lost his balance moving backwards, but didn't hit the ground.  

"Ch...  chair?" he stuttered.  "Where did this come from?"  

"Brin, it doesn't matter where your gun went or where the chair came 
from.  What matters is where you're going."  

Brin was pulled into a vortex portal in the seat of the chair, and each 
of the soldiers dropped into portals beneath them.  Brin was out of the 
way for the time being, but as I raised my head I realized that 
students surrounding us in the distance were watching with intense 
focus.  

I broke into a dead run and shouted behind me:  "I NEED A 
DISTRACTION!!"

At a short distance, I shot a small shot at the sheild surrounding Espy 
and she whipped her head around, shocked by the sudden return to 
her reality.  

I then got my distraction.  I stopped and stared in horror at a 50 foot 
tall blue elephant standing on it's hind legs near where I had been.  
Worse than there being a 50 foot tall blue elephant, it was juggling.  

I shouted again:  "CRATIN YOU MORON!!!"  I then fell back into my run, 
not looking back until I tesseracted to a place of less public 
scrutiny.  

Rediculous as it was, at least I had my distraction.  

**

I waited on a rooftop until I felt Cratin's presence move, and I then 
made another tesseract to where he was.  

I found myself in a very small room with only a table inside.  Three 
walls, one door, and from the still air, it was apparantly soundproof. 
 A study room inside the library I had been headed to in the first 
place.  

Cratin sat in a chair, slightly slumped and his feet wide apart.  His 
hands were behind his head,  allowing him to recline some, and he 
looked mildly pleased with himself.  I, on the other hand, wasn't quite 
so pleased.  

"Cratin, what did you think you were doing out there??"  My shout 
filled the room easily.  

Cratin looked innocent and turned one corner of his mouth down.  

"You said you needed a distraction, so I thought to myself real quick, 
'What would get my attention in no time flat?'"  Cratin stopped to 
scratch his graying beard and his eyes lit up with a touch of humor, 
but completely serious.  "But then I realized that you might not want 
your lady friend to see something like that, so I just used the next 
thing that came to mind."

One of the reasons Cratin had been attractive as a Supreme Guardian 
candidate is that he used his abilities for more than merely disguise, 
but he could be an oddball at times.  At least Sarhedrin, with whom 
Cratin got along very well, wasn't around to egg him on, or vice versa.  
I collapsed into my chair, as I didn't feel like arguing the matter.  
I'd let Shane reprimand him for being on Earth Alpha in the first 
place.  I hoped we could nail Brin on the same thing, but since Cratin 
was here, then pushing the matter could be hard.  

"At the very least," I sighed, "No one will even believe their OWN 
eyes."

Suddenly I something important occured to me...  I quickly tried to 
figure out what it was.  

"Espy!  She's close!"  Normally, I couldn't miss sensing her presence, 
but I was so used to sensing higher power levels that hers was easy to 
overlook sometimes.  "Cratin, get out of here NOW."

Cratin looked indignant.  "Wha?  I can handle myself!"  

"No, Cratin, you can't.  Besides, Espy is a normal human, but she has 
some sense of energy signatures...  and you don't feel like anything 
around here.  Besides, look at yourself!"  

Cratin looked down at himself as I stared at him in exasperation.  His 
features weren't quite right for someone for Earth alpha, his beard 
wasn't kept cleanly, and his eyes didn't look normal, being a dull 
silver flecked with hazel.  Worst of all, though, were his clothes:  He 
wore a dirty Guardian silver bodysuit with shaggy boots, a bit of a 
tunic around his neck, and worn but valuable beads around his wrists, 
all but the suit appearing to be from Tatooine.  

It was too late, though.  I was already turning around to meet Espy as 
she spotted me and flew into the room, her eyes wild after the 
incident.  

"Mac, what WAS THAT??" she demanded, before seeing Cratin and realizing 
that his presence was somehow not right.  "Who is HE??"  

She was obviously well enough after the fact to not question her 
sanity.  

I took a breath and raised a finger, scrambling for something to say.  
Cratin let his jaw slack, acting as though he had something to say.  

Suddenly, a beeping sound emanated from Cratin's direction.  Espy and I 
directed our attention to him, as he remained near motionless, looking 
like a deer in headlights.  

"That's, my, uhm..." he stammered.  

"Pager." I stated.  Cratin didn't look like the type to carry a pager.  
"Pager, my pager," he continued, not saving himself well.  He then 
confidently pulled a device that barely resembled a pager from a hidden 
waist-belt and placed it on the table.  

"Cratin here, what can I do for you?" he beamed, speaking to the air, 
before looking sheepish when he saw me covering my face with my hand.  

I let out a low groan as Sarhedrin's voice echoed out of the 
communicater.  

"Cratin, get back to the NCC NOW.  You're--Cratin, are you on open 
comm?"

Cratin looked even more sheepish.  I had given up and was trying to not 
look at Espy.  

"Yeah..." Cratin offered.  

Sarhedrin let out a curse I was sure Espy didn't recognize.  "You're in 
more trouble than you know bub, and not with me.  The girl heard us, so 
we've got to bring her back, too."

"No!" I jumped in, attempting to correct them.  If there was a chance 
that she could be convinced that it had never happened, then a portion 
of same policy that had made me an unwitting outlaw for so long 
wouldn't apply to Espy to force her to be detained at the NCC or suffer 
a memory-wipe.  

Cratin wasn't listening, though, and was already attempting to salvage 
some of his dignity at the end of the conversation.  

"Three to beam up, Mr. Sock." he said with a smile, before the room 
disappeared from each of our views.  

**

The three of us saw next a remote-transport room in the NCC.  Small by 
NCC standards, but quite large to us.  Sarhedrin stood in front of a 
control console.  

I looked to Sarhedrin.  Silent and unsure how to react, he scratched 
his head, ruffling his matted hair, shrugged in helplessness, and 
walked out.  

Once again, I sighed.  

I looked to Cratin, who now looked unsure of himself.  "Cratin, it's 
'Mr. Scott', not 'Mr. Sock', and if Shane doesn't kill you for being on 
Earth Alpha, for the juggling blue elephant, or for this new mess, 
he'll kill you for making a Star Trek reference."  Not sure what to 
think, Cratin exited with slight haste.  

One more sigh escaped my mouth as I turned to Espy.  She stood silent, 
staring straight ahead, in shock.  The poor girl had no idea what had 
happened, what was going on, where she was, or what was in store.  For 
all that had happened, though, she was showing a good deal of strength.  
"Espy, why don't you take a deep breath and follow me?" I asked as 
soothingly as possible.  

Without a word, she made several small, quick nods and ignored my 
prescribed breathing as she followed me out the door and down the hall.  
Once again, I found myself with a lot to do.  

-----
OK, folks.  1, 2, 3, 4, yes, Part 5 comes next.