Olea Riece

Prologue - Shattered

   The Minkans had always been a peaceful people. They grew, and traded, and thrived. They cherished their sense of freedom. Their sense of pride. Not long after their first steps into the great unknown, space, things had been very different. Their intentions had never been bad. They were explorers. Their sense of curiosity, however, almost lead to their extinction.

   When the first Minkans made it off their native world, everything they had known suddenly changed. Maltinium Prime, the home world of these people, was a land of extremes. The planet's horizontal axis had torn the their home between a never ending day, and an eternal night. One half of their world never saw the light of the sun. The other never saw the dark of night. The light side, as it was known, was a barren, desert wasteland with temperatures far too high for any living thing to stand. On the other side, the dark side, ice stretched for miles thick. Nothing had ever survived on either side of the planet. Only a tiny ring, where the day and night met, was inhabited. Rain forests blanketed the hillsides on the side closest to the sun. Tundra and grasslands lay to the dark. Here, in the ring of life, beings known as the Diyat, "the Ancestors", evolved. However, it seemed as if these beings were not meant to be. It has never been found how far they evolved, but before long a mass extinction took place; an underground sea of magma on the light side of the planet collapsed, throwing enough debris into the air to block out the sun. Nothing survived. Every living thing not killed by the initial explosion was suffocated by the ash spread throughout the atmosphere. It was another two million years before the second series of life began to bloom. The Varan, the "Second Life", evolved into the Minkan people. Maltinium Prime was once again a harbor of life.

   The Minkans would not have lived either, if it were not for the creatures they evolved from. These creatures were known as the Ko'nara. The Ko'nara were unique in that they could survive the transverse between the two extremes of the planet, instead of being held on the side of which they evolved. This was made possible because of a specialized organ they had evolved with. This organ was known in the light side as the treau, and in the dark as the vinera. The word treu'vera was deprived from both words, each in their own way meaning "soul". The organ was designed to be able to superheat and supercool a liquid element, Maltinium, to aid with regulating core body temperature. The treu'vera sits just over the Minkan's heart, at the direct center of their chest. Maltinium is likely the rarest element in the known galaxy, a modified, naturally liquid form of oxygen. Minkans can consciously change the temperature of their treu'vera, though it takes a few minutes for any heating or cooling to take affect. Also, they are able to inject small amounts of Maltinium directly into their bloodstream as a replacement to oxygen, so they can "hold their breath" for long periods of time.

   Despite the obvious advantages of bearing this organ and it's unique element, it was because of this that the Minkan people were hunted nearly to extinction. When the Minkan people first ventured out of their own solar system, they soon encountered a reptilian species known as the Vor. The Vor learned of the Minkan's Maltinium, and, hoping to both use and trade the element for helping to regulate the temperatures of  their intergalactic star engines, hunted the Minkans for their small amount of Maltinium. Because the element is either in a superheated or supercooled state at any given time, extracting it without it either melting through or freezing and killing all tissue around the treu'vera was impossible. Thus, any Minkan captured to have their Maltinium "harvested" had no chance of survival. This dark age in the Minkan's history was known as "The Marring". Many magnificent designs and volumes of prior history was lost in the struggle to survive. The Vor were a far more powerful and advanced species, and they were merciless in their gathering of the Maltinium. The Minkans numbers went from just over 3 billion to a mere 700 in the period of one hundred and twenty years. Yet even then the Vor hunted them mercilessly. Some Minkans even became bounty hunters, searching for and killing their own in exchange for their own lives being spared. It seemed as if there was no hope for the once-great civilization.

   Then, one man rose stood up for his people. His name was Darian M'keth, and his name would be remembered by every Minkan during and after his lifetime. Darian went out into the far reaches of the galaxy, searching for help. He happened upon an alliance, a great Republic of thousands of species, ruled by three separate senators; each of a different species- Mortis, Zyna... and Human. Darian pleaded for somewhere where his people could take refuge without fear of being hunted any longer. Without hesitation, the Trilogy came to the Minkan's aid. The Vor were subdued, and the Minkans were accepted into the Trilogy as one of the the main species. Another thousand years passed, and the Minkans grew to be on par with the three species; the Minkans became considered the Fourth. Soon, their technology was the envy of everyone, and everything else in the galaxy. They were allowed to thrive and grow larger and stronger, increasing their former glory tenfold. They prospered under the protection of the Trilogy, and became an active part in making the Republic stronger. The Minkans were renowned for their magnificent ships and defensive weapons, and for thousands of years were a peaceful people.

   Then, everything once again began to change. A woman by the name of Rinetsi came to power as ruler of the Minkan Republic. She was a power-thirsty and ruthless tyrant, though the Minkans remained loyal to her. Rinetsi led the Republic to break free from the Trilogy. With just leaving, however, she was not satisfied. The once peaceful Minkans declared war on the Trilogy. Lead by Rinetsi, the entire galaxy fell into turmoil as the Minkans turned on their friends... and saviors.

   Cayalis felt her body sway slowly back and forth as the vehicle bumped along down the road, the ride amazingly rough even though the hovercraft never touched the ground. The engine hummed to her left, behind a flimsy metal wall and an obviously useless muffler. Her glassy quills tinkled against one another despite her attempts to silence them, rattling like broken bells. She felt the human's eyes boring into her from behind, but she ignored them. Her tail flicked by her side as she stared out the open doors of the drop ship, icy eyes bl[injection]inking as the outside world blurred past. She saw flashes of yellow whirl by, and watched them curiously. She caught specks of brown amongst them, and she casually wondered what they were.

   She jumped in surprise when a small, brown avian, no larger than her fist, sprung out of the brush to flit along beside the ship. It chirped quietly, seeming to look directly at the Minkan as she stared out at it. She was perplexed at the way it could keep up with the vehicle for as long as it did before trilling again and diving back in the overgrowth. She watched after it for a moment, ears tilting forward to listen for it. Before it had a chance to spring back out, however, the ship was long gone.

   She clung to the support handle that creaked above her, loosely, but carefully. The marines shifted in their seats behind her, drawing her attention back to the hold of the ship. She didn't look back at them, she could feel their nervousness, and didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. And yet she felt an annoyance.

   Every single one of them was watching her with either intense curiosity, or intense loathing. In some cases, both. These men hadn't said a word the entire trip, which had been several hours long as of yet. Her legs ached, but she didn't care. She, and two other humans, occasionally switching with the others, were the only ones that stood. Cay was in a rather foul mood, and although at one point the soldiers had mockingly offered her a seat, her glare had been enough to silence them and more.

   They had been on this same, cramped transport vessel since they had left Varport Station, thirteen hours ago. They had split from the supercity long ago, and were far beyond what she would have classified as 'rural'. Fields of what, she realized, must have been massive yellow flowers spanned for miles, although the outside world seemed to be constantly shifting. As she watched, the vehicle sped towards a more forested region, the floor tilting suddenly as the ship lurched forward. Within three minutes, they had reached the crest of a string of hills, and began their decent into a valley.

   The ship went over a large bump, and before any of the others could catch him, one of the younger recruits tumbled out of his seat. He fell forward, and as the ship rounded a corner, slid on his side towards the edge of the ship. Without thinking, Cay reached down and grabbed his jacket collar, tugging him back inside the ship. His radio fell out of his pocket, rattling out of the ship to disappear in a cloud of dust outside. It bounced forward for a while, taking a noticeable amount of time to come to a stop. She bent over to help him up, freezing when she heard an all-too-familiar "click" from several points behind her.

   When she looked over her shoulder she found a gun pointed at her head, by more than one party. Six or seven of the twenty troops had a weapon pointed at her as she pulled the boy to his feet. When he saw the others doing as they were, he shoved Cay off to the side, staring at them.

 "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he cried, swatting the closest gun away and holding the tip towards the floor. He watched the others in shock, green eyes wide. The others' gaze never left the Minkan as she glared back at them, icy blue orbs flickering around the ship. Then she turned back to the boy, pulling him up the rest of the way. He jumped at her touch, but allowed her to heave him to his feet. She looked away from the other humans, brushing the dirt off the cadet's arm as she peered into his eyes.

 "You alright?" she asked, voice tainted with her native accent. He shook his head after a moment, not able to look away from the guns pointed at the Minkan's skull. He looked shocked by her calm regard of the weapons, but obeyed when she tried to ease him back into his seat. She pointed towards the support rail behind and above the bench. "Try holding on to that." she suggested, standing to grab onto her own support handle.

   She glared back at the marines, who still held cocked guns pointed at her. Then, one of the more burly, over-sized marines spoke up, finger inching ever closer to the trigger.

 "I say we kill her now, save the camp from the damage later on." he spat, voice gruff and raspy. A moment of tense stillness passed.

 "You heard the General, Boron." one of the other humans, a dark-skinned man with deep, chocolate eyes said, lowering his weapon, "Put your gun down before someone gets hurt."

   The marines exchanged reluctant glances, then one by one put their arms down, stuffing their weapons back into their places. All except the blonde-haired brute, Boron. He glared at Cay with an bitter hatred unlike a single one of the others. With a malicious sneer, he cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing. She met his scowl, but with a calm look on her short, heart-shaped face.

 "Nobody would know the difference..." he growled.

   Then one of the men, who hadn't so much as glanced up through the entire ordeal, had his gun out as well. He sat in the corner opposite to the Minkan, who held a surprised look on her face when she saw his solid, glowing eyes, and ink-black hair. But his weapon wasn't pointed at her.

 "Put it away, now." the Mortis ordered in a smooth, powerful voice, tattoos flaring with light. His pupilless gaze was directed at the human, an unamused, calm look in his cyan eyes. Boron glanced back.

 "If you insist." he scoffed, lowering his gun.