Knights of Daybreak Part Five By: W.Bob Yankovic After two months the KOD lines moves on. I hope that we didn't lose any potential readers with the lack of new material. Well, it seems that our hero's have quite a large predicament on their hands. Let's find out what happens. Enjoy. I stood in my room with my head against the wall. I was fixing to have to make a very difficult decision. Brin had broken a cardinal rule by showing up on Earth Alpha. Cratin, although he had good intentions had pretty much ensured Mac's girl a mind wipe, and had also been stupid enough to show his face in a highly restricted zone. Katrina walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "I love you," she said simply. I turned to her and embraced her in my arms. She put her head over on my shoulder and looked up at me. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "I don't know. Under the situations I am bound by regulation. I have to give her a mind wipe." With that she looked up at me with unsympathetic eyes. "I can't do anything, it would take months to push a bill through the League of Dimentions and by then I would have had to take action." "You could act like it didn't happen," she said not hiding her anger. She always had a way of making me feel kinda inferior. "No I can't, everyone already knows. I will do what I can, I promise. You know me, I have feelings just like everyone," I said as I kissed her and walked out the door toward the holding area. On the way over I saw Draco in the hall and grabbed him up by the arm. He asked what was going to happen and I told him that he had the clearance to find out for himself. He tagged along the hall as I paced slowly with my head down. Draco, while he looked and acted like a battle hardened warrior was in fact just a child. He had many masks that he wore. He was strong yes, but inside he was very vulnerable. He had taken a likeng to me after I had bested him in battle. It was almost like he looked up to me. I never saw that coming but I tried to stay open to the idea of a little brother. I was only 5 years older than him. It wasn't like I was his dad or anything. ** "I know that you are confused, and I know that you have about a thousand questions, but you have to trust me," Mac told Espy as he walked her toward the door. "I just have one question," she asked in a quite confused voice, "Where am I?" Mac looked at her with compassionate eyes. Behind him a pressure lock slid a door open. "I think all of your questions are fixing to be answered," he said calmly, "but remember, I am not going to let anyone hurt you." ** I stepped through the doors with Draco in tow. I looked over to Sarhedrin who caught my idea and left. Cratin sat in his chair slumped over and twittling his thumbs. "You can leave, you will recieve your punishment when I am finished here," I said. He stood up and shuffeled out the door. "Just remember, if it wasn't for me this room would have about a hundred people waiting in the mind wipe line," he muttered as the door hissed shut. I senced Espy jump when Cratin said mind wipe, Mac must have also noticed and he reached over to grab her hand as they both sat down. "Well, I guess that you are Espy," I said in a strained conversational tone. "Ok let me cut through the formallity. You have witnessed the display of technology of the DGF. This is highly irregular and it wasn't supposed to happen. I am sure that you have a lot of questions to ask. I will let Mac explain the story when I leave. If it were up to me the next part of my speech would be unnessesary. The penalty to ones who know too much about thr DGF or in your case anything at all have two choices. One is a limited memory wipe erasing the moments before during and after you came into contact with the person or technology, or Two, permanant encarseration aboard NCC. The choice is yours. I am truly sorry for this. Like I said if I could do anything I would. But I can't. There isn't anything else I can say to you to make you feel any better I am sure so I will leave you to make your decision. You have a standard earth day. Goodbye." I crossed the room and opened the door. I sent Draco along on his way. Behind me I heard a chair violently screaching across the floor and purposefull stomps on the carpet. I stepped out the door knowing full well what was coming next. The door shut behind me and a very furious Mac glared at me. "You can't do it!" he yelled at me. I looked at him understanding his rage. "There isn't anything I can do," I said back to him trying to keep my voice down. "You could let her go, she isn't going to tell anyone, she is perfectly harmless!" Mac shouted back at me. "Look buddy, last time I checked I was in charge around this place. Now I might not be able to change laws without approval of the Leauge, but I can sure slap an insubordination charge on anyone I d@mn well please. As I said. I can't do anything. My hands are tied. And personally she isn't my biggest concern. In case you have forgotten Brin was there with you. He is my first target right now. And you are dissmissed," I said raising my voice. I turned on my heel and walked down the hall leaving a very angry and hurt Mac standing in my wake. Needless to say I felt like a steaming pile of bantha dung. Now I was pissed. It wasn't like I wasn't angry before but the past few moments had infuriated me. Brin was next. I stopped at the next door and typed in my access code which was the only one that would open the door. I stepped inside to find a very irate Brin pacing back and forth. When the door shut behind me he began to yell. "What rights do you have to keep me shut up in this room. I have just as much if not more power than you do! Remember where all of the DGF's fundings come from! Ohhh you are in so deep now McInnis I won't even have to go through with my coup de etat because the Leauge will impeach you!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Nice to see you too," I said under my breath. "Sit down," i said forcefully. He looked over to me and grudgingly complied. "Just exactly what did you think you were doing in Earth Alpha?" I said. "Why should I tell you?" he said slyly. "Because as of two minutes ago you were under direct arrest of the DGF. You are now a prisoner and you have to answer my questions or I am sure that I can find a much smaller room with some nice bars for you," I said back to him. This seemed to cut him to his heart. "I was causing desention among you, and from what I can tell it worked," he said with a smile. "It seems that your second in command is quite flustered with you," he said. I stood up and leaned over on the table, leveling my face with his. "What are you trying to pull Brin, you don't have any more power, you are running out of money, and your tactics are getting you in a lot of trouble," I said lowly. "Do you think that I don't know about you all?" he asked. "I know everything about every one of you. I know your great grandmother's maden name. You are no match for me. I will soon have the DGF in my fist. And in case you still haven't figured it out, the whole reason I was in Earth Alpha was to cause little innocent Espy to become a target for the Mind wipe chair. Quite an ingenius scheme eh?" he said with a small chuckle. I glared down at him. He did it to cause Mac to hate me because he knew that I had to enforce the penalty on Espy. "Is that so?" I said with my rage growing. "Yes young McInnis, it seems that I have caused quite a mess haven't I? And I also have this," he said pulling a small paper out of his pocket. It was a small bill with an emblem on it. I knew right away what it was. It was an authentication pass. The Supreme Gaurdians had made them about twenty years earlier to let certain high ranking officials have access to every trading route of NCC. Those routes included Earth Alpha. "I think that you can release me now," he said with a sneer crossing his face. The next thing to cross his face was the sole of my shoe as I kicked him straight in the jaw. "Sure you can go," I said. He looked up at me as he wiped blood and bits of teeth from his lips. I flashed my Head Gaurdian badge at him. "I can play your little authority games too," I said. My badge gave me the right to attack anyone that I saw as a threat to the stability of the DGF. Back at my room I decided to call an emergency meeting of the Supreme Gaurdians. I had to find some way to get rid of Brin once and for all. With the meeting still a few hours away I took a very needed nap. I was roused by the sound of a knocking on my door. I looked at my watch seeing that I had only slept an hour. I felt some what refreshed so I crossed the bedroom over to the door and punched the comm button. "Who is it?" I said. "It is Shandra," I heard a very shaky voice say. I opened the door to find Shandra looking very shaken up. "Come in," I said stepping out of the way. She stepped in and sat down on the couch. "What is it?" I asked. "I am very worried," she said. "I can see that, what are you worried about?" I said sitting down across from her. "I felt someone using the Force," she said. This wasn't an uncommon event in NCC with people from several thousand Force-sensitive dimentions walking around. "What is wrong with that?" I said. "It was the Dark Side, I know it," she said. I was shocked at her statement. I was so caught up in my troubles that I didn't even feel it. This was pretty freaky. "Who was it?" I asked. "It was a junior officer. I overheard him talking to another student in the hall about something so I scanned his mind because he looked like he was plotting something. As soon as I saw a glimpse of what he was thinking he shoved me out. And I am even more upset about what I saw in his mind," she said almost crying. "What did you see Shandra," I said. She looked at me with tears flowing freely now, "I saw your body, with Brin standing over it with a blaster that was smoking," she said. This was bad. I knew that Brin had some support but I never pictured it coming all the way down the ladder to cadets in the Acadamy. I walked over to the Comm and punched in the number for the SG's personal lines and sent a message that the meeting was moved up. They were to meet in the Hall in ten minutes. I looked over to Shandra who was still crying. I told her to come on and we walked toward the Hall. "People we gots big 'ol problems," I said. The cast was assembled in front of me. Draco sat closest on my right and Shandra on my left. Then a still unpunished Cratin and Sarhedrin, next Irvine and a very angry Mac. "I know there is some stuff going on right now, but I have to tell you something. Everyone here knows that Brin has a pretty large backing by the some of the high ranking officers and almost all of the shipping companies. But today some shocking evidence has turned up. It seems that Brin's roots run all the way to the academy. We need to get an accurate count on how many people are on his side. If they out number us by too much we could be in deep snot. Cratin I am willing to postpone your punishment if you will do something for me," I said. He looked over to me with a half smile as if he already knew what I was going to ask of him. "I would be glad to question every single DGF member and cadet," he said. I nodded at him to leave so he walked out to start his very long task. "Now, we need a one hundred percent of the time spy on Brin. Sarhedrin, you up for some sneaking around?" I asked the survival expert to my left. He almost jumped out of his chair and walked out the room laughing like a little child. "I guess that was a yes," I said. "I have a request," Mac said from the back not raising his head to look at me. "What?" I asked. "I need about 20 hours of time off," he said. "Go for it man," I said. He stood and shuffeled out the back door as so he would not have to pass me. "Draco, go with him," I said. Draco walked over and patted me on the shoulder, "You'll find a way out of it." He crossed the room to follow Mac out. Irvine stood and walked toward me with his boots making a clinking sound on the floor. "I will watch for Ray, you go do what you can to fix this mess," he said with a tip of his hat to Shandra and a hand shake for me. Shandra stood and walked over to a window, "What is my mission?" I was actually going to give her a break seeing how broken up she was. "Um, you can do whatever you want, you have leave till the end of the day," I said. "I want you to tell me how Master Skywalker died," she said bluntly. ** "Why are you following me?" Mac asked Draco. "I figured that you needed someone to talk to," Draco replied simply. Mac looked at him indignantly and said, "I don't need sympathy right now, I need a way to save her." "Why don't you first admit that you love her," Draco said. This seemed to shock Mac for a few seconds. "How did you know, I haven't.... nevermind," he sputtered. "You can't hide it from anyone, you love her," Draco said. Mac still refused to admit his love. He just turned and kept walking. Draco started walking behind him again. "You can't run away from love Mac," Draco called from behind him. "No but I can ignore a kid who doesn't know when to shut up," he called out. Draco could see through him. Mac really did love Espy he was just to "mac" to admit it. "Why don't you admit it?" Draco said. Mac turned to him and grabbed him around the collar and lifted him off the ground. "I will admit it when I want to, understand?" he said. He put Draco down and stalked off to the intel room. Draco saw that he was going to talk to Sarhedrin. He followed but not to close. When he got there Sarhedrin and Mac were already talking. "Man, you look like a love sick wamp rat," Sarhedrin said glaring down at a monitor with Brin on it. Mac sent a glare at him. Sarhedrin being a master tracker and survivor knew that Draco was behind him and called for him to come on in. Draco being a little disturbed by the fact that he was discovered walked on over and sat down in a chair next to Sarhedrin. "You are no Cratin buddy, you walk to heavily," the man said. "I was hovering," Draco countered. "Yeah but you move alot of air when you do that," Sarhedrin came back. He laughed and touseled the kids hair. "So what do you think of Mac's girl?" he asked. Mac shot his glare over to Draco almost daring him to say something about her. Draco kept his mouth shut for a long time. "Good kid," Mac said. "She has a very tight butt," Draco spat. Mac was appaled, "IF I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU MEANT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SEXUAL ABOUT THAT I WOULD KILL YOU!" Sarhedrin and Draco shared a laugh and Mac stormed out. ** A million thoughts whirled through my head. I really didn't have time for this. I needed to secure what trade routes weren't partial to Brin, and I had planned on digging through legal code to possibly find a loop hole for Espy. But she deserved to hear. "He and I were fighting a very strong Sith Lord known as Darth Magnus in a beta dimention. He was stronger than us both combined. It eventually came down to the inevitable point that one of us was going to have to sacrifice hisself for the other. I was fixing to but Luke threw me back with the Force. Then he charged at Magnus with all he had. He used up all of his energy but delt a major blow to Magnus by slicing his light saber in half along with a large gash across his chest. This weakened Magnus enough for me to run up and finish the job. Then when I turned to Luke I saw him fallen to the ground. I ran over to find him breathing his last breath. His last words were 'keep the Jedi alive,' then he died. He had expended all of his energy and suffered a heart attack due to over exhaustion." I looked over to Shandra who was still staring out the window. "So he died as a warrior," she said. "Yes, and he would not want you to worry over him like this. He would like for you to remember him and let his past inspire you," I said. She turned to me and put her arms around me. I was caught off gaurd for a moment, but soon realized that there wasn't anything but friendship in her emmotions. I hugged her back and she left the room leaving me alone to contemplate my situation. I walked back to my room and accesses every law concerning contact with the DGF by unaware individuals. I had to find some way to get Espy out of this. I had no idea where Katrina was, I guess that she had gone somewhere. I commed Hogo who was now her official body gaurd. I explained the situation to him and asked him to inform Katrina. He smiled and said ok before running off to look at some girl. I dug into the laws until what seemed to be the next week. I glanced at my watch to see that it was about thirty minutes until Espy had to have her mind made up. I went over to the refrigerator and grabbed a soda and a few chocolate bars and flopped down on the couch. After consuming my meal I took a shower and cleaned up to look presentable. I walked down that familiar hallway to the room that held Mac, Draco, and Espy. I punched in the code and the door slid away. They all took a seat and I sighed heavily. "Well, have you decided?" I asked quietly. Mac glared at me with laser beam eyes. Espy broke out in tears and Mac decided to speak for her. "She will stay here," he said matter-of-factly. "Well then I am sorry I found this," I said holding up a piece of paper. "What is that?" Draco asked puzzled by the statement. "A loop hole BIG ENOUGH TO DRIVE A DEATH STAR THROUGH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Mac flew at me top speed and punched me so hard in the chest that I flew back into the wall. "That is for making Espy cry. Now give me that," he said snatching the paper away from me. "Any person that has witnessed events that expose the DGF or NCC from an unknowing dimention is to be faced with a memory wipe, or permanent encarseration aboard NCC," Mac read. He looked up at me and almost punched me again. "Keep reading," I said. "See section 1-A-19-1," he said. I produced another piece of paper from my pocket. Mac read, "Any person in direct care of a Supreme Gaurdian may enter the academy?" he said. "I don't get it?" he stammered. "Um, all you have to do is be Espy's mentor. Then she can enter the Academy. Then she doesn't have to, well you know. But there is a small problem. If she fails out, well you are demoted," I said with a frown. "She won't fail out! Will you?" Mac said with a glow. We both looked at her to see her looking down at the ground. "What's wrong?" Mac asked. She looked up and with tears in her eyes said, "I just want it to go back the way it was."