Family from Beyond the Stars, Ch. 16 (Patreon)

CH. 16To Defy Fear

Around the outside of the Voyager, slipspace fell away in its telltale ripple.  The fabric of space and time was folded in on itself before opening like a tear in reality.  Out of that rippling tunnel emerged the golden-sided vessel, trireme-like eyes blazing with light on its hull.  Kenny's own eyes stared, disbelievingly, at what lay in front of them now.  There were no real words to encapsulate his wonder and amazement at it.  Nova similarly leaned in behind him, armored frame pressing more firmly against him and a rumble of awe building up in her chest.

Before them lay a gathering of ships identical to the one they flew in. Four Voyagers were docked in a semi-circle like a ring of wagons drawn up for protection.  In the center of them lay what could only be described as a space station, assembled from what looked like spare parts of various machinery and scraped together from salvaged tech.

Bridges, causeways, tubes, and wires connected the station to each of the four ships anchored in place.  Distant, tiny forms that blinked with various lights dotted the outside of various parts of the ramshackle settlement, other members of Nova's species working to repair, construct, or add to the strange city structure as best as they could.

The truly awe-inspiring factor however was yet to be seen.  Looking out past the ships that ringed the station, Kenny saw a whirling orb of the same energy of the slipspace tunnel they had just existed.  It formed a cocoon of sorts, a moon-sized depression around which coursed the endless, spider-web threads and streams of other currents of space time.  Slipspace flowed on and around, over and underneath that planetoid-sized hole they had sailed into.  It was a true pocket dimension, a fold within folds, an epicenter of calm in the middle of the rushing ocean that was the universe.

As the Voyager drew slowly nearer, the hum of its engines dying away to allow it to coast, lights flashed up and across the station.  Alarms seemed to be being raised.  The workers on the outside scrambled for cover or for the bay doors that led into the inside of the space colossus.  Kenny could not help but feel a touch of wary apprehension as warning signals began to sound all around them in the command deck.

Moments later, alerts resounded across the cockpit, warning them of weapons being drawn and brought to bear on their vessel.  He could even see cannons and other armaments slowly rotating or otherwise coming to life all over the various constructions and exploration crafts in front of them.  All were aligning themselves with the approaching ship, ready to open up a volley at the slightest provocation.

Grey-Mane, the older male that Nova had talked to most and obviously the one in command, leaned in around the chair the family all sat in and pressed a button on the arm of it, using another paw to touch a sensor at his throat.

He didn't speak but his eyes flashed and the sensor at his temple similarly lit up.  A moment later, the warning claxons turned back off and they resumed slowly approaching the station.  The cannons and other weapons turned off or around and resumed their slumped over or folded-up positions.

Before Kenny's eyes, their ship then turned on its axis once it had come close enough to the station, seemingly without needing to be guided.  It slid sideways into position, joining the other four vessels in their now completed ring around the center construction.  Tubes, ramps, gangplanks, and locking mechanisms extended on their own and latched firmly onto the side of their ship.  There were many rattling thuds before the ship evened itself out completely flat, accompanied by a long, droning note echoing around their ears.

They had firmly come into dock at Safe Harbor.

At Nova's queue, he and the cubs slid off her lap and followed behind her as Grey-Mane escorted them all away from the command deck to a set of now revealed bulkhead doors.  The other members of the Voyager crew had gathered as well.  All told, there were only about fifty that Kenny could tell helped pilot the ship.  Unless a large number of them were just remaining behind, this really was all that was present on their current transport.

Nova touched Kenny idly with a paw, keeping him close to her.  He was more than happy to do so, feeling completely out of his depth being surrounded by so many hulking Alien creatures.  He noticed more than one of them repeatedly was caught staring at him before he jerked his eyes away.  The pressure of their gazes and almost predatory attention was getting to be a bit much for his mounting social anxiety.

He focused himself on watching the rotating bulkhead seals on the doors in front of them continue to spin slowly in place.  Then there was a rush of hydraulics and a hiss of stale, heated air.  The doors then split in half, folding in on themselves counter-clockwise and vanishing into the doorframe seamlessly.

A wall of darkness greeted them before it was lit up by multitudes of glowing blue eyes.  Stripes, spots, ruffs, combs, and crests of an entire rainbow of colors and intensities sprang to life as well.  There must have been hundreds of them!

On instinct, he pressed himself harder against Nova and she dutifully scooped him up in her arm, the cubs left to walk at their own choice.  He could feel Nova quivering through her armor against him; she too was nervous.  They met one another's eyes and shared a nod and blink of trust.  So long as they were together, they would get through this.

Grey-Mane strode forwards and past them, facing the assembled crowd alone.  He took in a deep breath, green lights flashing at his throat, before he bellowed something long and loud with his primal lion’s voice.  The sound was only punctuated slightly by a robotic drawling utterance, probably caused by his metal lower jaw.  Kenny had to try hard not to clap his hands over his ears at the intensity of that roar.

A second later, he was abruptly forced to do so or lose his hearing altogether.  The entire pride, group, clan, whatever they were, facing them loosed similar sounds that would have deafened Kenny if his livesuit had not frantically dampened the echoing cavalcade of thunder that blazed all around them.  Hundreds of feline voices were lifted in a celebratory cheer as Grey-Mane turned to face them again.  He smiled and gestured with his prosthetic arm for them to walk forward.

'My Queen,' Kenny heard in his mind, still aware of the mental link used by their species to speak to one another.  'Greet your people.  Give them Hope.'

Nova let out a sullen grunt in response and then, drawing herself up, she strode out of the Voyager and into the colony of Safe Harbor.  Lights lit up even more on all sides, revealing the settlement in all its subdued majesty and splendor.  Kenny was in awe as he looked around and past all the upraised paws, roaring faces, and brightly flashing colors that reminded him of some kind of rave, minus the music.  The area beyond could only be described in one way: sad but impressive.

Basic living quarters had been constructed out of barebones materials.  Dozens upon dozens of dwellings were everywhere on a steadily rising series of layers surrounding them on all sides.  Standing on those daises of ascending stair-like platforms were yet more of Nova's despondent but rallied people.  All around them were viewing panels and windows, through which could be seen the tempest of roiling slipspace all around the colony.  Kenny could not count the colors and glowing radiances he saw but he knew each one to be wonderfully unique.

Just as much as those roars and shouts were meant to welcome back their Queen, in equal measure they were intended to celebrate the sight of the three Cubs currently walking close to their Mother.  Eyes shone with tears and happy crows of joy sounded all around.  Phoebe, Joey, and Chandler all held themselves up proudly as if basking in all the attention but never straying from their parents' side.  They also stayed on all six limbs rather than walking upright like their Mother did.

The eyes that noticed his tiny form clinging to Nova did become rather perplexed but he was quickly carried along out of their immediate sight.  Nova, meanwhile, just strode stoically, if mechanically stiff of frame, on, ignoring the gazes and cheers from her people.  Even so, he could tell how uncomfortable she was.

Her guilt of seeing her once proud people living like this was almost palpable from how well he knew her.  She blamed herself greatly for it all.  He touched her arm gently and she glanced at him once then away.  Her grip around him tightened only slightly more and she walked a bit more fluidly, relaxing and allowing herself to be more confident.

Kenny could not help but notice, however, that there were almost no other Cubs around.  He barely thought he saw even a handful, maybe twenty at the most, lingering on the outskirts of the crowd rather than trying to involve themselves in the teeming masses of their much larger Adults.  Even so, he saw more than one clinging to posts or on top of various buildings, watching the parade with interest.

Grey-Mane led them through the packed masses, his crew forming a sort of honor guard.  They ascended to a platform, higher than the others, that overlooked the entire congregation.  Nova was encouraged to stand at the very front of the dais, allowing her to look down and over her assembled, remaining people.  Their cries redoubled to see her in the position of power and authority.

After a moment of allowing the people to bask in the sight of Nova, the old Veteran gave a firm gesture amd the crowd eventually quieted down.  Even so, the lights they emitted did not abate.  Hundreds of glowing blue eyes gazed up the rows at their returned monarch.  Equally abased in adoration were the children who hunkered in close to Nova.  Again, especially now up above them all, Kenny felt more than one pair of eyes fall upon himself as well.

The judgment, confusion, interest, and fascination weighed upon him like actual lead.  He could barely stomach any of it.  It was like being back in high school having to give a presentation in front of the whole student body, but a million times worse.  At least no one would shove him off the stage this time...right?

‘Oh god, don’t throw up this time Kenny,’ he chided himself mentally, taking several deep breaths to stave off the sudden surge of nausea.  A gentle touch at his back steadied him but he felt no less queasy looking out over the bizarre congregation.

Grey-Mane strode forward then, tapping the sensor at his throat.  As one, the crowd down below did likewise.  All their eyes closed and the lights of the room dimmed to a dull, unanimous blue glow.  A throbbing, purring sound, alternating pitch and tone, erupted all around them.  It was low and harmonic, wavering in melody and bass every so often.  Kenny noticed the same sound coming from Nova and the cubs, their heads bowed and their own bio-lights glowing a duller blue like that of their eyes.

He felt...pressure on the side of his head then.  Not like something hurting him but something trying to worm its way inside.  Dutifully, he opened his mind and was immediately washed away in an ocean of thoughts and emotions...and song.  He would have gaped in shock, wept in joy and sorrow, at the thrill of the notes and wordless music, if he were not paralyzed by the sheer beauty of it all.

All around, an echoing hum grew that swept into and through him, carrying him on the waves of rapture and empathic joy that was being exuded from every single member of Nova's kind, connecting them like strands of silk that wove together into one united tapestry.  He felt it distinctly in over 600 ways, one for each member of a once prosperous, propagating, and proud warrior species.  This...was all that was left in the universe of them so far as they knew.

It broke his heart.

Kenny wept silently, sniffling against Nova.  He felt her paw grip him tighter.  The music changed then, becoming melancholy and low.  In his mind he saw the equivalent of the Northern Lights high up above.  Strands and rivers of rainbow color danced across the ceiling of the colony as well as in his mind's eye.  They shimmered like sunlight through stained glass, gleamed like oil upon water.

Farther and farther the Light extended, reaching out into the darkness of space, beyond the physical confines of the station, and swirling around them, just like the river of slipspace outside.  He saw eyes within those distant ribbons of light.  Hundreds of eyes.  Thousands.  Tens of thousands.  He couldn't count them all; there were so many.  He knew what those were, or more accurately who those were.

He saw Brighten briefly in that river of varied and unique souls and energies.  The fallen King gave him a joyous but also heartbroken smile, beaming down at his beloved family, before he too rushed along to rejoin his fellows.  More and more of them swept along before his physical and mental sight.  Young and old, strong and weak, members of their species from every walk of life imaginable.

Nova noticeably shook against Kenny then and he was forced to pull his mind away from the music.  It all fell away in an instant.  His eyes opened again, face soaked with tears, to look up at his Mate.  She was staring down at him, eyes wide and a soft smile on her face.  All was silent.  He could not help but feel even more gazes resting squarely upon him.  600 of them in fact.

Hesitantly, the Human looked slowly around and out across the assembled members of Nova's species.  True enough, over half a thousand pairs of glowing eyes were staring solely up at him.  He expected to see anger, rage, irritation, like he had seen before on the ship.  But he didn't.  Their gazes were open, shocked true, but disbelieving.  They almost seemed to be staring past him at something directly behind him and Nova, but when he craned his neck to look there too, he saw nothing.  He glanced up at her in confusion.

Nova stared right back at him with the same expression as before.  Her nose and eyes crinkled slowly at the edges.  Before everyone present, she bowed her head, armor shifting as she kneeled closer to his level, and brushed her forehead against his.  The soft pressure and warmth made him feel a little better but it did not dispel his nervousness, especially since the gesture only made a rumbling murmuring start up down below.

Then Nova lowered him to the ground and stood directly behind him.  Her lower pair of arms brushed his shoulders as she openly now addressed her stunned people.  'I.  Have.  Returned,' he heard her declare in his mind and out across the assembled Alien who stared up at her.  'Not as I was.  I am no longer the Queen you remember.  Much has changed.  I have changed.'

The longer she spoke, the more clear her voice became, regaining confidence, composure, surety, and commanding their collective attentions with a true air of authority that could not be falsified.  Truly, she was their Queen.

'It has been some time since I stood before you all,' Nova continued.  'Not since Planetfall and the Destroyer.  My Sire.'  There was a massive growling from all before them, equal parts fear and anger at the mentioning of Lord Darken.  'Our beloved leader, your King, my Mate, is gone.  He is returned to the Light he loved so much and brought us all back to from the darkness that was the Warring Days.'

She gestured to the cubs, all of whom stayed close to her and Kenny, crowding in around his ankles.  'Returned to you are the Heirs of our King, his last joy, his last Lights.  They are young but strong, brave and kind, just like he was.  All of you have but one to thank for their safety and happiness.'  There were crows of joy at that but Nova raised her paw, cutting them off.  'It is not I.  I failed you, my people, failed to protect you all.  I should have forseen the darkness of my Sire, should have known his Betrayal would come.  I did not wish to.  It is not me you should be thanking for your Royals being reunited with you all.'

Her paw brushed Kenny again and he tried not to squirm from awkwardness as all eyes again fell upon him.

'This one,' she called in her powerful, strong, beautiful voice.  'On his home planet, where our Royals landed after Planetfall, this one found them.  Safeguarded them.  He kept them secret and safe from his own people, who would have experimented on them, tortured them, most likely killed them.'  More growls resounded.  'But he protected them, as a Father would.'  Quiet resumed.

Nova's voice became even firmer and more resolute.  'He is Kenneth Sissom, of Earth.  He is Father to my children, to your King's cubs.  He is rescuer, protector, nurturer, and beloved of them, of me.  He is my Mate. ,' she snarled openly then, leaning more forward and meeting the multitude of eyes who might doubt or go against her authority, even as they stirred in indignance and shock.  'And for any of those who might judge him for his size, for his Alien nature, or anything but the strength of his character, of his Light, know this!  Know that he bears a title that no one else in our history has ever achieved.  He has defied fear.  He has stood against the Destroyer, defied him openly, faced him in combat. And he lived.'

Stunned silence reigned across the crowd of bright-eyed Aliens.

Nova leaned back.  Her growl echoed around Kenny's blazing ears and he tried as valiantly as possible to not wilt beneath the eyes firmly locked onto his tiny frame and tender features.  He felt them weighing him, measuring him against the truth and resounding conviction of Nova's words.

They could find no shred of doubt or duplicity.  They looked at him, openly saw his memories of his battle against Lord Darken the Destroyer as if his brain had somehow become a drive-in movie screen.  He felt them awed and amazed at the bravery of such a tiny, miniscule thing to one as terrifying as their oppressor and hunter.  He could tell they did not like him, but that wasn't something he was unfamiliar with.

Grey-Mane stepped forward again.  'We honor this rescuer of our Royal children.  Without his sacrifice, our Light would truly have been extinguished.  Long have we been without hope.  Without a leader.  But now, we are returned this, returned our Queen.  We pledge ourselves anew,' he rumbled.  'To our Queen.'  He turned, addressed his people and raising his voice to the ceiling with a roar.  ‘To the Royals!’

The crowd roared in unison, raising fists and claws and heads high.  'To the Queen!' they thundered.  'To the Royals!'

Nova sighed and graciously, if reluctantly, accepted the calls of praise.  At her gesture, the three cubs came into sight of the crowd and received a roaring ovation for their very presence.  Phoebe took a dignified pose, Chandler twitched but tried to match it, but Joey just glowered and sulkily hunkered against Kenny.  He wondered why for a second but soon got his answer.

Almost immediately after the cubs had been welcomed, many large, powerful males, stepped forward.  'My queen!' called one, a macho, flame-furred Lion type.  'Brave he may be, but our people need a true King, one of us, to rule alongside you.  Accept me at your side!  I would happily be Consort or Companion to assist in your rightful rule!'  More than one called up to Nova in such a fashion.  Kenny bristled against her, ready to object.  He had no need to.

They were cut off as Nova let out her loudest, most furious snarl yet.  The noises of pleading and self-touting and protests quieted.  Kenny could feel her discomfort, her fear, her anger.  'I am not a prize, nor a conquest!' she thundered.  'I will accept NO other at my side, not as Mate, as Consort, or as Companion!'

Stunned silence once again pervaded the court momentarily, before objections and frenzied shouts threatened to overwhelm Kenny's mind and the amphitheater once again.  'That is the Way!' more than one voice shouted in outrage.

'The Way,' retorted Grey-Mane suddenly, similarly cutting through the tumultuous cacophony and drawing everyone's collective attention.  'Is gone.  We must find a new way.  But we do need leadership.'  The young Males below quieted, seemingly chastised and resumed their silence amongst their fellow people.  The elder looked again to Nova and Kenny.  'If you will not be our Queen alone,' he stated.  His eyes fell again to Kenny, latching onto something at long last with the utmost surety.  'Then we will accept, all of us, your Mate alongside you all.'

There were rumbles from down below.  Many agreed immediately it seemed, to his absolute shock.  But in many more than those, Kenny saw doubt and resentment once again fester in the minds of many onlookers.  They loved their Queen, their royal children, but he was out of place here, despite even his accomplishments.  What was this, a popularity contest?

'What are we to call him, then?' challenged one voice then multiplied into dozens. 'He is not King. He is Alien.'

'Alien!' thundered the crowd.

'He is the Heir of our King's Mantle!' snarled Grey-Mane, before even Nova could object and defend Kenny against their accusations.  That silenced the lot of them.  Nova growled softly underneath her breath, glancing more than once down at Kenny who stared, open-mouthed, up at the silver-furred Veteran.  'Look upon his eyes and see that truth.  You all saw his Light in the Calling.  You see how our Royal Children look upon him as if he were their own flesh and blood Sire.  He is their rightful father, and our Queen's true Mate, Alien or not.  Kenneth Sissom is our King returned.'

The bottom of Kenny's stomach fell out and, as before, all eyes turned slowly to him.  He wanted to object, ready to raise his voice to do so but words failed him.  Again, hundreds of minds flooded through his, reading, analyzing, studying every aspect of his life since leaving Earth.  They saw the names he had given the Cubs, given Nova, given their oldest enemy.  They saw, to his incredible discomfort, the last words and counsel of their King, Brighten.  They were a people of emotion, swaying from side to side like waves on the ocean.  He saw and felt all waves rapidly turn.  Every eye looked at him differently now.

They saw a King now.  He only wished that, even within his own mind, now host to hundreds of new, distinct, much louder voices than his own, that he could tell them...no.  He didn't want to be King.  He was afraid...  The cubs crowded around him.  His hands wormed their way into Phoebe's and Joey's fur for comfort.  Chandler pressed himself hard against his back, letting him know they were supporting him.

Nova's paw gently touched his shoulder and he jerked.  He looked up from the multitude of feline, Alien faces to the one he treasured more than any other save for the cubs.  Her expression was soft and gentle; she understood.  He saw in her eyes the same feeling, the same doubts and worries, as well as a love for the life they had led thus far, even one constantly on the move.  Returned to her people or not, there was no room in Nova's heart for anything or anyone more than their family.

She turned then, addressing her people firmly and clearly.

'I am not and have no intention to return as your Queen,' she stated, voice loud and firm.  'Our elders are long gone.  Our home planet is gone.  I am not the warrior I once was.  Indeed, the shame of being responsible for bringing the Destroyer down upon us fills me with regret that I will never be able to overlook.' She shuddered slightly before she drew herself up again, paw firmly gripping Kenny to her.

'I am Nova now. I am named by my mate, Kenneth Sissom.  Neither of us have any ambitions or drive to become rulers.  Even my Mating with our King, Brighten by Kenny's naming, was a vain chance at glory.  I was never meant or truly wished to rule, only to be closer to the one we all loved.  I was selfish, young, and foolish.  He shared with me his Light, and so brought into being three wonderful cubs.  But their lives should not be bound by the love you felt for King Brighten.  Instead it should free them, allow them to live as they see fit, as I would wish for myself.  I have seen and done many things since Planetfall, experienced the wonders of the universe.  I wish only to live as I have done, exploring the vastness of space with my family at my side. My children are not your possessions to tout and lord as symbols of station. The weight of rulership will not be placed upon their shoulders. They are too young.  Should they, one day, wish to return to you and take their rightful place as or should you still you deem it, then I would not oppose them.'

Silence filled the colony.  Kenny was sure that more arguing would start up.  It seemed to be their way, to argue and fight until settlement was reached.  It was not just a rational argument, however, but pure honest emotion in how they spoke to one another.  The purity of those feelings were more impactful than any heartfelt wording, he knew.  And Nova meant every word she had said.  Who knew that the taciturn, reclusive Mother Alien was so diplomatic?  He regretted only that he had not gotten to know what her true voice sounded like sooner.  There was nothing simple or simple-minded about Nova's species, as one might guess from first glance or observation of their more primal natures.

Instead, the Aliens all bowed their head to Nova.  Even Grey-Mane seemed chastised.  'You speak with the Light,' he intoned roughly.  'We respect your choice.  But...'  Here, the metal-jawed Officer seemed to wilt.  Many did.  They had been holding out hope that someone would come and lead them out of their darkness.  They were dying, fading from their once glory.  Replacement parts and pieces were becoming scarce.  They could not live here forever.  'Do you abandon us to our fate?' Grey-Mane asked.  'What would you have us do?  Wait and die?  The Destroyer hunts us at all times whenever we leave the bounds of Safe Harbor.'

Nova, for once, appeared completely and utterly lost as to how to answer her fellow people.  She wanted freedom and peace, just like they all did.  She, most of all, was haunted by the darkness that was her Father.  She had no answers.  Her entire life thus far with him and the cubs had been on the run.  She had no answers.  None of them did.

Kenny did.  He closed his eyes and steeled himself.  It was now or never.

"I have an idea..." he said out loud, voice faint and hesitant.  No one seemed to hear him.  Lights were fading and going out as the crowd seemed to sink into depression and hopelessness.  He cleared his throat.  "I have an idea!" he said louder.

All eyes turned to him again.  Nova growled softly in concern as he touched her paw, looking into her face.  He nodded and stepped forward to the edge of the dais.  All 600 surviving members of her people watched him in confusion and interest.  They no longer saw him as a weakling or something that did not belong.  They would listen.  He knew they would.  Now he just had to get them to understand.

"I...am an Alien," he began.  "I am as unlike you as you are unlike me.  Our races could not be less different.  But when I look at you all, I see a warrior race, even now.  I have seen your history, your strength and passions. Even so, you were what my people would almost call monsters, not too long ago.  You fight amongst yourselves, you brawl and bicker, you argue and roar.  You yourselves almost cost you your planet through your need for conquest and war.  But you overcame that all.  One Male helped you return to the way you once were, bringing you back to the open-minded, intelligent, beautiful people that I have seen in Nova's eyes."  He looked back at her.  Nova beamed warmly at her little Mate.

He turned back to the crowd.  " Earth pales in comparison to the progressive changes you all have made, been forced to make, over the time since you lost your home world.  And it was not your fault that you lost it.  One change can cause massive consequences.  For as good as Brighten was, so too was Lord Darken the Destroyer just as evil.  He cost you everything in his mad scramble for power and control.  He took everything you had from you, killed thousands.  The 600 I see before me are the only remaining members of your people that you know still exist.  If there are any others out there, you have no idea if they exist or where they are.  They could be in hiding like you, struggling and scraping by to survive."

So he wasn't the best at motivational speeches.  It only figured since no one had ever cared what he had to say before.  But this was important.  Possibly the most important thing he'd ever truly done.

Sweeping a hand out, he gestured at them all, trying his best to make sure they understood how deeply he felt every word.  "But here you all still are!  You are, and always have been, warriors!  Survivors!  You have simply forgotten, trapped by your fear in this pocket of space and time, what you're all capable of.  I understand that fear!  It nearly froze me stiff when I stood up against Lord Darken on my own.  But do you all know how I managed to overcome that?  To defy my fear of him?"

Open, bright eyes gazed up at him, giving him their utmost attention.

Kenny pointed back at the cubs and Nova.  "For them.  I was willing to give it all, to risk everything I ever was or had, on a backwater frozen icecube of a planet about to be sucked into a black hole, for them.  My own home planet is millions of lightyears away from here, all the way on the other side of the universe.  I am as alone as you all are.  But I could not and would not let my terror of the Destroyer take away what I treasure most!  I have been a coward all my life until that point."

"Look among you!" he commanded, trying to channel all the inspirational speeches he had ever aspired to hear from TV, video games, shows and cartoons.  "Your children deserve better than this.  All of you deserve better than this!  You are warriors!"

Stern faces hardened up at him as they swelled beneath his words.  They saw how he respected them, even as they were.  Growls, chuffs, yowls, and grunts answered him.

A shadow passed over them all then.  As one, all eyes turned to look out the largest viewing porthole to the pocket dimension of slipspace outside.  A huge, dark shape slowly passed across their vision within one of the glowing rivers of time and space. Close inspection revealed it was just some mass of asteroid somehow sucked into space-time.  But it looked enough like what they feared to remind them.

Lord Darken was out there, hunting.  Slowly, lazily, the shadowy asteroid drifted past and out of sight again, almost like a shark circling a floundering shipwreck.  Bravery again quailed to uncertainty and fear.  All had lost someone or many someones to that dark mass, to the sadistic mind of the one who had taken everything from them.

Kenny called their attention back.  "Let him roam!" he cried.  "Let him hunt!  He thinks he's invincible!  He thinks he's unstoppable.  Well I'll tell you all this.  He can be stopped.  I stopped him.  Me!"  He smacked himself in his chest, a motion that once might have knocked the wind out of him.  "The most pathetic, tiny being compared to anything he's probably come across before.  I'm less than an insect to him and I stopped him from taking my family away from me.  How many of you have turned around and fought back?"

He knew the answer.  They had no will to fight a monster like he was.  His technology was more advanced.  His will was stronger and more cruel than they had ever been, even in the days of darkness and war.

Kenny pointed back at Nova.  "This woman fought back, even if she knew she stood no chance.  She wasn't about to roll over and accept defeat.  We've survived by living on the run.  But that running.  Stops.  Now."

He met his Mate's surprised eyes.  She mouthed his name, uncertain as to what he was talking about.  He projected his idea directly to her through their special link.  Her eyes went wide in shock.  He saw her fear.  Her uncertainty.  She had been on the run for so long that she was not sure she knew how to stand and fight any longer.  But he did.  He showed her the way he saw her when she stood against her father back on the frozen planetoid.  He had seen a true warrior, unafraid of death if only to stand tall and proud and to fight to the bitter end.  The way Brighten had.

Nova saw it all.  Her eyes hardened a second later.  She saw his conviction as her own, and felt it too.  Kenny had been on the run from bullies his whole life.  He wasn't about to let his family do the same.  Nova was his home.  The cubs were his home.

The words his father had once spoken echoed in his mind.  They had always given him strength, pride, hardened him against just taking the easy way out.  They were words that Nova, that her people, needed to hear.

He turned back to face the assembled Aliens once more.  "Stand in the house you build with your own two hands,"  He spoke, voice as strong as it had ever been as he repeated Rodger Sissom's most meaningful words.  "Hold up the walls if you have to while the storm rages outside. You can run and hide forever but one day you have to take a stand for the things that matter most.  When your back is against the wall, you know who you are by what you're prepared to give to see it through to the end.  I was prepared to give everything to wipe that smug smile off that monster's face."  He gestured pointing down at them all.  "Are you?!"

600 eyes stared up at this small, unimpressive, unremarkable Human from a backwater planet.  They saw his lifetime of being pushed around, disregarded, used and discarded.  They saw him, despite all of that, maintain a heart of love, eyes shining with each new day and committed to being a better person and seeing a better world than the one he was surrounded by.  They saw something else behind him, paw resting on his shoulder, eyes blazing bright blue and his glorious mane billowing in the wind.

600 eyes saw.  They hardened as Nova's had.  They would hide no more.

Grey-Mane chuffed, getting Kenny's attention.  His metal jaw was set in a grim line.  'You speak with Brighten's voice,' he intoned, sounding almost moved to tears save for the embers of passion rekindled inside his barrel of a chest.  'You speak with a King's mind and heart.  What is your plan, Kenneth Sissom of Earth?'

Kenny took a deep breath.  "The Destroyer, Lord Darken, wants one thing above all else."  He gestured at the cubs.  "Them.  He wants his grandchildren.  He knows that if he has them, you will all surrender because of how much you love them, how much you loved their father, the one he called Usurper.  He is blind to everything else save for his own pride.  Blind enough that when a tiny speck like me dared to insult him, he abandoned them to chase after me.  But if he sees them he will go after them with everything he has.  And someday, he will catch up.  It's an eventuality.  The bigger predator always wins in the end."

He saw them start to lose hope again before he clenched his fists and they returned to listening raptly.

"Unless you change the rules of the game.  If he wants them so bad, he can come and take them.  He can come find us, but on our terms.  No more running.  We will lead him to the Gates of Hell and he'll come, full force, ready and eager to finally take his prize.  He believes he's invincible.  That blinds him to everything else.  I've seen it.  And once we have his attention, he won't think to look behind him."  He pointed at Grey-Mane then.  "And that's where you come in, Steel."

The old Officer blinked.  'Steel?' he asked, confused.

"You need a better name than Grey-Mane or Old-timer," Kenny grinned.  "Steel.  Like your drive to defy the Destroyer.  To Defy Fear.  Steel, hardened and true, ready to fight one last battle for the sake of your entire race."

The grey-furred warrior straightened.  'Steel,' he growled out savagely.  'It is a good name.  It is my name.  I am Steel.'

Nova's eyes glistened with pride as she blinked once at her Mate.  The cubs yowled at him as one, the mood of the room becoming swelteringly hot as all readied themselves for the final battle, to hear the last desperate gambit to overcome their greatest and most terrible enemy.  It would be all in, no holds barred.  The Last War.

Kenny drew himself up before them all, the People.  He raised his fist.  "Ready the cannons!" he roared at the top of his shrill voice.  "Raise the banners!  We go to war, one last time!  For Planetfall!  Against the Destroyer!  For King Brighten and the Light!"

The thunderous response shook the colony walls to the rafters.  All voices joined in with outpourings of savage roars.  Claws were flexed, teeth were bared, muscles flexed.  'FOR KING BRIGHTEN AND THE LIGHT!' they roared back.  Off they teamed to their individual hovels.  Kenny was unsurprised when he saw that all of them still had old suits of power armor, most missing pieces, but every single member, save for the children and a few dozens adults who remained to look after them, was gearing up for battle.

Kenny turned confidently despite the butterflies in his stomach, to face Steel, Nova, the cubs, and a small crowd of what looked like four other elder Warriors.  Many had savage scars like their fellow Veteran.  Steel himself looked like he was basking in the heat of the furious energy surrounding them.  He had not seen his people so lively in a long time.  He even almost looked younger.

'So what is the plan?' he asked Kenny, grinning and showing his fangs.  All of them mirrored the gesture down at the little commander.

Behind him, Kenny felt Nova step in close and lean slightly against him with her massive bulk; a comforting weight of support.  He opened his mind to them all, the leaders of the five ships, and outlined his strategy.  "First things first, I need a map of the local galaxial quadrant," he explained.

'Why, Destroyer-Bane?' asked another Officer, this one a blue and orange slash-striped Male with a towering mohawk atop the features of a Leopard.

"Because for this plan I need something that even Lord Darken can't out muscle, but something that he knows we can't run away through when he comes for us."

All eyes and eyebrows arched curiously down at him.

"I need a black hole."