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[sub][ [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5010360]Prev[/url] ] [b] [/b][color=#00bfff]“[b]PASSING THROUGH GETHSEMANE[/b], Part V” [/color] [ Next ][/sub][/center][COLOR=1E90FF][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]G O R A N G K A A[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=gold]Kymellian Agricultural Colony | The Milky Way Galaxy[/color][/sup][/INDENT]
[color=silver]Prince Kofi Whitemane of the Kymellian Technomancy was actually fifth in the line of succession.

His father was the youngest of three siblings, with the oldest being the currently reigning monarch. Aelfyre was his uncle, the middle of the three. 

Sixty years before Kofi had been born, the Kree had withdrawn from a non-aggression pact with Kymellia. The Shi’ar Imperium and the Kree Empire had been engaging in a series of hostilities against the other. The Technomancy had tried to act as a neutral arbiter in the conflict, but the Kree wanted to use Kymellian territory in order to carry out attacks on the Shi’ar. Virtually overnight, Kymellia found itself thrust unwillingly into the conflict, when the Kree had annexed the Galvan Corridor. 

The early days of the conflict had devastated the Technomancy, as the Shi’ar response overran their colonies and, soon, the Kymellians found themselves helpless victims caught in crossfire between the Kree and the Shi’ar. 

Aelfyre had abandoned the sanctuary of the royal palace, eschewing his royal status for a real role in what was happening. He forged new alliances, and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds was born of those efforts. 

And he hadn’t stopped there. From Earth, a planet no one had even heard of before, Aelfyre brought a [b]hero[/b] named Captain Marvel to the conflict.

That was the universe that Kofi had been born into. Shi’ar to the left of them. Kree to the right. Skrulls at their back. Like his uncle, he’d stepped out of the shadow of the royal palace and served as one of the Technomancers in the field. While his father had always enjoyed a life of shelter, Kofi aspired to be more like his Uncle Aelfyre.

The sight of the Shi’ar warships bearing down on them was a great reminder of the war that they were still fighting.

[color=#f9cb9c]“There’s an opening forming in the right flank!”[/color]

Large, three-fingered hands slammed down on the controls. [color=#00ffff]“On it!”[/color] the horse-faced boy chimed brightly.

The Kymellian smartship seemed to skip nimbly across the stars. In an instant, the forward inertia was cancelled, as the ship flipped on its axis and completely altered its trajectory toward the Shi’ar ships.

Even as advanced as they were, Kymellian technology was no match for Shi’ar firepower in a protracted encounter. G’Kar was operating the sensors, being their eyes and ears. Alora was down in engineering, trying to keep them flying as best she was able. They hadn’t had much downtime from the last battle, so they had to make every shot count.

Strafing along the Shi’ar defensive line, the Kymellian ship seemed to sling-shot through the formation, stringing behind a series of explosions. As Kofi’s eyes glanced up at the holographic monitors overhead, he could see starfighters following in their wake like a host of angry bees. [color=#00ffff]“I think we’ve got their attention,”[/color] the young Technocrat uttered flatly.

That was good. While Friday and the other combat vessels were trying to hold the line, the colony was in the process of being evacuated.

[color=#f9cb9c]“The last transport has departed Gorangkaa,”[/color] G’Kar remarked.

The boy gave a heavy sigh. They’d done it. They’d managed to get the transports out of here. But, they were still abandoning the colony. So it was a victory that was still a very real defeat. [color=#00ffff]“That’s our signal,”[/color] Kofi remarked, raising his voice as he shouted,  [color=#00ffff]“Alora, calculate the jump to Knowhere!”[/color]

The rainbow colored hair of a Majesdanian poked through a maintenance hatch in the floor. Grease-marked and haggard, Alora looked confused as she said, [color=#f4cccc]“Wait, Knowhere is the rendezvous point?”[/color]

[color=#f9cb9c]“It is not,”[/color] G’Kar confirmed, as the warlord pivoted to direct a challenging stare over toward 

A thick finger jabbed up toward where the cloud of wasp-like starfighters was rapidly approaching optimal firing range. [color=#00ffff]“Is there anyone who would like to voice objection? Because this is [b]not[/b] a good time for debate,”[/color] Kofi deadpanned dryly.

Ducking back into the maintenance shaft, there was a moment of silence before Alora’s voice could be heard counting down. [color=#f4cccc]“Jump drive in five... four... three... two...”[/color][/color][/indent]
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[indent][color=silver]He had a splitting headache.

Blinking several times, Billy felt as though his brain were trying to tear itself apart, his head about to explode, and his body made of solid brick. As he rolled over onto his side, trying to pull himself together and push himself up off the floor, everything seemed [i]out of focus[/i].

Whatever they’d hit him with, it had felt like facing that German [i]panzer[/i] in Marseilles, France during the War all over again.

He started to get up, but his equilibrium was [b]way off[/b]. The room went into the spin cycle, as Billy teetered on two feet for no more than a few seconds before he let himself fall back to the ground. He collapsed into a cross-legged seated position on the floor.

It seemed like everything was still spinning, even as he put his head down into his hands.

This was a [i]doozey[/i]. Not even Terax the Pantsless had managed to land a hit like [b]this[/b] on Billy. Even seated, as the boy raised his head again, he found that his vision was still slightly out of focus. There were halos around all of the lights...

[b][i]...wait...[/i][/b]

As the boy looked down at his outstretched arms, he realized what was different about himself. [b]The gauntlets weren’t around his wrist[/b].

“Ah, you’re awake.”

The room seemed to tilt precariously. The sharp turn of the dark haired boy’s head throwing his balance off. The reptilian alien was as menacing as he was large. A [b]Zy’nx[/b]. Neigh-universally regarded as the galaxy’s thugs. The carion-eaters of the galaxy, finding work for themselves as cheap labored whored out to criminal enterprises.

This one was probably a bounty hunter.  “We’ll be arriving soon,” the crocodile-like alien remarked, turning as he added, “I’d encourage you to make peace with whatever gods you believe in. I doubt the Shi’ar will let you live for very long, [i]hero[/i].”

[color=#00bfff]“Thank you.”[/color]

The comment caught the Zy’nx dead in his tracks. [color=#00bfff]“This is Spartax, isn’t it?”[/color] Billy asked flatly, his piercing blue eyes seeming to bore a hole through the alien before him.

“Not sure why you’re so happy,” the alien uttered, shaking his head as he walked away from the cage that contained the boy. “You’re gonna die here, you know?”

Squaring his jaw, Billy looked down at his own hand. He was still seeing double. This wasn’t exactly ideal fighting form for him. However…

[color=#00bfff]“I’m right where I want to be.”[/color]

Spartax was where the Shi’ar had taken the people that they had stolen during their earlier attacks. Innocent bystanders, women, and children, snatched away from their ordinary lives to be used as slaves to fuel the Shi’ar war machine. 

Those people had to be so afraid. So uncertain of what was happening to them. Questioning whether anyone remembered them, or even cared that they were gone. Wondering, was anyone coming to save them?

Billy had left Gorangkaa to become the answer to that question.

[color=#00bfff][b]Hope[/b] has arrived. Because [b][i]I am here[/i][/b].[/color][/color][/indent]