Aions

Chapter II
Location: Space near the Gas Giant (Class II) Jupiter, Sol System, Orion Belt, Milky Way Galaxy.
StarDate: 9th Dynast, 2nd Millennium, 13th year in the 2nd Century, 11th month of the year, 22nd day, 11:34.
“RUEC HQ, this is RUEC Warblaze identifying five unknown objects in space near Jupiter, Over.” Lieutenant Halve spoke softly into the mike.
“Warblaze, this is HQ. You are authorized to retrieve objects and return to Stardock at Ginsen Starbase.” The voice returned.
“HQ, this is Warblaze. I acknowledge, dock at Ginsen Starbase understood.” He replied, turning off the mike and using the grappler to attach the objects to the ship.
“Turn us around, set a course for the Starbase, and dispatch three squads of Ironswords to guard the containers.” Captain McClain ordered.
They approached the Starbase, the containers moving slowly with the ship into the dock. When Warblaze finished docking, the docking mechanics came up, attaching to the containers, pulling them onto the deck of the dock.
A temporary airseal slid over the space where the containers had been taken, Captain McClain walked up to them, running his hands over the surface. Halfway down the surface it suddenly glowed blue and he was shocked back, falling on his back, the nerves feeling like they’d been seared.
“Pod four has attempted breach in seal, defenses activated. Cyro pods brought to stage three freeze.” A voice from the pod said softly.
“Sir, they’re Cryogenic Sleeper Pods. Unlike any I’ve ever seen in my life, but that’s them alright.” A dock hand said as he helped him up.
“Contact HQ and ask what they want us to proceed with.” He said to his lieutenant.
“Yes, Sir.” His Lieutenant walked away to a near comm station.
“No need for that, Captain.” A man in a silver suit walked up to the tubes.
“And you are?” the Captain asked, shaking feeling back in his hand.
“General Spike, of CNOP. We have command authority now, Captain.” The general turned back and saluted Captain McClain.
“Sir.” He snapped a salute back, then turned and walked back to his lieutenant.
“Sergeant.” General Spike turned to the dock hand.
“Yes, Sir?” he asked.
“Take these to CNOP HQ in New York then report back to here. I expect the pods there in thirty minutes.” Turning, he walked back to his shuttle.

Location: CNOP Headquarters, New York City, New York,
Earth (Classified), Sol System (Classified)
Stardate: 9th Dynast, 2nd Millennium, 13th year in the 2nd Century, 11th month of the year, 23nd day, 14:54.
“I was assigned to process the new generation of Magnums, Admiral, not figure out how to open a Cyro pod, that’s an easy thing.” Ashleigh said shortly, walking alongside the Admiral.
“Dr, inside this pod is something we’ve never seen before; the pods themselves are thousands of years ahead of our technology. If we open them we’ll get a front row seat to so advanced technology that ours will pale next to it.” He said as they turned a corner, walking past an aide.
“But I’m a genetic scientist, not a encoding or technology scientist!” she yelled.
“You are reassigned, if you don’t like it, resign, Dr.” he turned, sliding his ID card and pushing through the door.
Inside the hanger were five ten foot tall totally white cyro pods. Hovering two feet above the floor, they stood twelve feet tall. She walked up to one, and before she could touch it, the Admiral snatched her hand.
“You don’t want to do that, Dr.” he said.
He pulled out a pistol, pointing at the pod, and pulled the trigger. A flash of blue and she felt a whiz past her right shoulder. Turing she saw a smoking hole in the wall behind her.
“Reflective shields unlike any we’ve ever seen before. The flotation devices keeping the pods afloat are incredible. They can hold up to seventeen tones; at the most we’ve tested them.” He slid the pistol back into its holster.
“Well to open them we have to get past the reflective shields.” She said simply.
“Easily. Overload them.” He turned and walked out.
She sighed and turned back to the five pods. Walking towards them she began to examine the surfaces of each pod. On each one there were five series of buttons, in a pentagram pattern. Each one had a different symbol on it. Ω, Π, ¥, € and £. She pushed the one that looked like an open capital Q and then the one that looked like two t’s put together. The pod flashed red and a voice turned on.
“Pods defreeze activated. Bringing Valkyrie Designation Kailon out of extended animation deepfreeze.” A woman’s voice said smoothly.
“Valkyrie?” she asked before the pod slid open.
The pod hissed open, the seals on each side sliding out and the top folding down in front of the pod, creating a staircase in front of the pod, for whomever was inside.
“Valkyrie designation Kailon Astaroth awakened.” The female voice said again.
“Astaroth? Kailon?” Ashleigh whispered to herself.
A hiss came from the pod as the inner seal slid back, water dripping from its edges. A form could be seen inside the ice, a humanoid form. But something looked wrong… like there was something behind the form as well…
“He-Hello?” She whispered, walking slowly towards the pod.
A crack sounded through ought the room, a piece of ice sliding off the front of the ice block. A hand was in the hole where it had fallen, extended into a fist. The fingers opened, the hand turning, almost in a gesture of beckoning…
“Wh-who are you?” she asked quietly.
“Doctor, step away!” a voice from behind her shouted.
A rush of soldiers flew past her, surrounding the pod and its contents, all aiming AR-75’s at the center, red dots centered on the hand.
“Admiral, let me go! I need to get to the pod!” she shouted as he pulled her back.
“It could be hostile or worse doctor, we need take no chances!” he shouted back.
She looked up as the hand closed, reforming the fist and pulling back into the ice pack. A small shudder came from the pod, shaking the floor around her.
“Valkyrie designation Kailon fully functional, all ligaments and extremities testing full use of motion, wings totally responsive to function test.” The voice said again.
“Wings?? What’s going on here?” the admiral asked her.
Before she could answer a voice thundered through the hangar, so leaden with power that it made the very air around her feel heavy. It was like she couldn’t stand without losing her balance, like she was being forced to her knees.
“WHERE ARE MY BRETHEREN?!” the scream sounded through the air as the ice around the figure shattered, exposing a half-naked man, almost seven feet tall, with muscle covering his body, which almost glowed white, probably due to an extended time in the cyro pod, and a pair of silver-tipped shinning black wings on his back. The same color as his hair.
“An Angel?
All of the soldiers in the hangars weapons snapped up to target him, only to fall to the floor as the man stepped out, all of them forced to their knees by the pressure in the air around them. One soldier made it off his knees and reached out for his rifle, only to be slammed to the floor, face first.
“YOU THERE!” the man roared, his voice making the very air seem to vibrate.
She looked up to see him pointing at her. She realized the force of the air was no longer pressuring her and stood, walking slowly up to him. He extended his hand again, and for the first time she noticed his body and face. All muscle, but curious symbols drawn into his skin. Almost naturally looking too.
“Y-yes?” she asked, looking around and seeing everyone else in the room forced to their knees or in one poor man’s case, face first on the floor.
“What planet am I on?” he asked quietly, stunning her with the sound of his rich bass.
“That’s clas-classified information...” she whispered.
“Am I on Kravis? Did I reach my destination of the research facility, Vanguard? This looks nothing like Kravis. The air smells different.” He said softly.
“You’re on Earth, Sol System in the Milky Way Galaxy.” She said quietly.
He turned, his icy-blue eyes coming close to hers.
“Earth you say?” he asked gently.
“Y-yes.” She replied.
“Hmmm. Thank you, Emmisionary.” He eyed her closely for another minute, then leaned in and touched her lips with his, his hand resting on her left shoulder.
A sudden flare of pain washed over her shoulder, sizzling down her skin and seeming to slide deeper into her body, feeling electrifying and soothing at the same time.
“Earth. I am home once again.” He said softly, the last words she heard before her world went back.


Watching the woman slide slowly to the floor, he turned back around to stretch out his wings, their sixteen foot span brushing the remnants of the ice off themselves. It felt like forever since he’d entered that Suspension Canister, sleeping to revive his wounds from the Battle of Sanctuary. Looking around curiously, he saw that the technology had seemingly decreased since his last visit. Odd.
He heard a moan from behind him, the woman trying to get up probably. He’d given her a great gift, one that any Emmisionary would be grateful beyond years to earn. The mark of a Valkyrie was a rare thing. But it took its toll on a person, requiring great amounts of energy to perform, from the recipient. Usually the Emisionary had recovered by now…
He looked around again, looking at the man who had detained the Emisionary, probably some Low-level Sentinel who didn’t know why he was here. Walking up to the man who had been forced to his knees, as was one of the abilities given to Valkyrie-Level warriors when they progressed to Valkyrie stage, when the Warriors power affects the very atmosphere around them, making it more reactant to their abilities and granting them greater awareness in combat.
“What level of the Temple is this?” he leaned down to look the man in the eyes.
“Temple?” the man stuttered out, looking up to look him in the eyes.
“Yes, the temple. Sentinel, do you not know where you are?” he asked quietly.
“I know exactly where I am. CNOP Headquarters, in the RUEC Control Center.” He snarled.
“I am unfamiliar with this CNOP or RUEC.” He said to himself, thinking fast.
He stood, thinking. There was no other form of government outside the Empire of the Aions… so what RUEC was this man referring to? Unless…
“WHAT YEAR IS IT?!” He swooped back, grabbing the man by the front of the shirt and lifting him into the air.
“It’s the year twenty-two thirteen.” The man gasped back.
“And you’re clearly not a Sentinel. From what reference do you draw your timeline?” he snarled.
“The birth of the man Christ, its Two thousand, two hundred and thirteen years since his birth.” The man stuttered out.
“You are USELESS!!” he roared, dropping the man.
So what year was it…the Battle of Sanctuary took place in eighth dynast, the thousand years when the Vastes ruled the throne, and that was in the Eighth millennium…Wait…
“How many recorded True Eclipses have taken place?? “He turned back to the man.
“One.” The man answered softly.
“What was the happening of the last one?” he asked, pulling the man up.
“The rotation of the last planet, Pluto, changed. It came closer to the sun by five hundred miles.” He stuttered.
“Gates of heaven…” he swore softly, placing the man down.
Over fifty thousand years since the Battle of Sanctuary. He had been asleep for Fifty-two thousand and thirteen years. No wonder he was sore.
“Wait…” he whispered.
He turned to the doors to exit the hanger, walking slowly towards them. They slammed open, his abilities opening the doors for him with just a thought.
The floor around his feet began to dent as he walked down the hall, the only resistance he encountered was three armed, he assumed them to be security patrols, and they were easily defeated. When he reached what he felt to be the central core, he stopped.
“What is this foolishness?” he said, looking at the primitive nuclear reactor.
He reached out, touching the edges of the reactor core, and began feeling through the system, the ability granted to only him when he earned his wings. Sorting through the computer’s memory, he encountered what he could only assume to be a prototype Artificial Intelligence, for it was weak and was easy to erase from the system. Sifting through the data, he found all the info he wanted, the total information system. He drained all the info into his neural lace, then disconnected from the memory system.
Turning he walked away from the reactor, and having no use for it, began to overload its electrical core. Destroying it would be a graceful death to its pitiful primitive soul.
“What are you doing?” a voice sounded.
He looked to see the woman from the hangar, the Emissionary, standing in the doorway.
“I expected you to be mobile far more quickly Emissionary. We have much to discuss.” He walked up to her, seeing his mark taking shape slowly.
“What did you do to me?” she asked, pulling out her sidearm.
“A low level projectile weapon, class one or lower.” He chuckled.
She pointed at his head and fired, the kick from the weapon almost knocking her over.
She looked up to see him holding her bullet in his palm, examining it closely.
“An iron segment of metal, overall useless against me.” He threw it away.
She pointed at him again, ready to squeeze the trigger. Before she got the shot off, the gun was ripped from her grip, flying into the reactor core and vaporizing immediately.
“I’m beginning to think that you’re not an Emissionary, but if you’re not, I’m wondering what you are?” he was suddenly very close to her, his eyes piercing into hers.
“I’m Dr. Seare of Biostim Corp.” she said slowly.
“You are now my Emmissionary to this race of primitive level humans. You will be my will and my voice to this people. How did you open my pod? And I was merely forcing the reactor core to overload and explode, a disgrace like that should never be allowed to exist.” He said quickly, pulling her down the corridor.
They rushed past all the rooms where people were attempting to evacuate and all the alarms were sounding. Returning to the hanger she realized what he was going to do. The other four pods…
Releasing her, he walked up to the pod next to his, pushing the reanimation code for the pod, then moving on to the next one. After he had activated all four other pods he returned to where he had left the Emmisionary and pulled her up next to him.
“You can’t make the reactor detonate, it’ll kill all the people in this facility!” she shouted to him.
“Very well, I will halt the reactor detonation.” He sighed. The warning signals all stopped, the alarms dying away.
“How many of you people are there?!” she shouted to him, trying to push away.
“As far as I understand it, five, including myself, Emmisionary.” He said slowly.
She stopped, stunned. Five of an entire race? No…
He released her, walking back up to his pod, reaching inside to feel around. When his hand found what he was searching for he smiled.
Pulling out his armor and Sciren he pushed the sealing code on the pod, turning back to the Emmisionary. The armor began molding over his body as he walked, the liquid Nanosteel spreading over his skin, folding and shaping into the medieval style armor he wore, plates folded over his chest. The metal formed into six protective plates, sliding over his lower abdominals and pelvic region. Cloth segments slid from the metal to cover his upper thighs, metal continuing to grow over his shoulders and upper arms. Sliding the Sciren onto the sheath on his back, he paused as the other Cyrogenic pods opened, their de-freeze protocols finished.
The solid layer of ice slid off the front of all of the pods, revealing the members inside. Each pod was tagged to whoever was inside them. The symbol on his, meaning Lone One, was tailored specifically. The one to the right of his had the half circle with two slashes through it, and a dot in the upper left corner, symbol for Partner. Claude’s pod. The one to the right of that was a line with a perpendicular slash through it, with a cross under and to the right of it with a dot upwards on the right, symbol for Love. Denna’s pod.
Claude was the first to step out. His silver-streaked blue wings spread out from his shoulders, stretching the same as Kailon’s had. He turned, retrieving his Nanosteel garments and Sciren, turned and walked back towards Kailon.
“An Emmisionary? Already here for us?” he asked, slightly confused, his low tenor resonating through the room.
“I’ll explain when the others are awake. We need to hurry, these humans will send more men and I have no want for a fight with lowly life forms that have no sort of intelligence in them.” He replied, turning to look at Denna’s.
Her eyes were solid black, streaked with chocolate. Her wings were green, with a hint of red around the edges. Her body covered by a one piece of light cloth, covering from her shoulders to her knees. After retrieving her Nanosteel garments and Sciren, she joined Kailon next to the doors.
The next to pods had similar symbols on it, the first to the left had a crescent arc on the right side with two diagonal slashes from the left to the right and a dot above them. Disciple of Metal, Aileen. She stepped out; her covering garments the same as Denna. She turned, retrieving her Nanosteel garments, but instead of a Sciren, she pulled out a three foot long knife, with a black stripe down the center. Sliding it into her waist sheath, she stepped down and walked towards Denna, standing next to her, looking at the last pod.
The symbol on the last pod had a double slash with a line next to it with a dot on the left hand side. Disciple of Calamity, Maryanne’s symbol. Her eyes were hazel with a touch of silver on the edges, her wings a deep black, with a tint of white around the edges. She stepped out of the pod, retrieving her garments and knife. She walked up to Claude and after a touch of the hands, stood next to his side.
Turning to the Emmisionary, he raised his hand and began drawing energy from inside him. A circle of light flashed into existence, the five pods slipping into it, the hole screaming with ferocious intensity.
“What are you doing?!” she yelled over the noise of the hole’s screaming.
“We are returning to Sanctuary. Our last domain of the Valkyrie’s.” he said simply.
Jumping with the Emmisionary, the five of them flew towards the circle, diving into it. For Ashleigh, as soon as they hit the hole, the world was black. She fought for a brief second to remain conscious, but failed.
The night enveloped her.