Location: Dig Site Alpha…The HauulaDesert on the planet of Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 0730 hours.
Darren McCalister rubbed the course sand out of his scruffy beard while he stared into the computer monitor, which had been set up next to the large, brown tent. He felt his brain burning with anticipation as he glanced at his research partner and said, “Now this is where the signal starts getting weird.”
“I see it,” Rodd Templeton said as he nervously bit the end of his dirty thumb. “It’s almost as if there is no rock there to slow it down.”
Darren licked his dry lips and said, “Which means we have to wonder if we are actually dealing with a fossil. I bet we could get the digging droid down there by sixteen hundred.”
“Yeah, we could confirm our theory right before it’s time to head to town and get a beer.”
“I’d prefer to uncover the truth about what’s really down there…and then go to town for a shower. We’ve been out here in this sand and dust for too long…and you, my friend, stink like hell…”
Darren sensed a sharp pain in his ears from what he thought was a thunderclap on the horizon.
“What was that?”
He looked away from the monitor. Anxiety began to fill his eyes with a heightened sense of wonderment as he stared at the yellow streak of desert landscape, which stretched out for kilometers before him. His eyes strained and met up with the brilliant, blue sky ahead. He gasped, and his mind froze momentarily when he saw the long, black hovercar screaming towards them as it kicked up a huge cloud of dust that soon blocked out the sun.
“What the hell is that thing doing all the way out here?” Rodd said with suspicion.
The ominous vehicle seemed to grow larger as it raced towards them.
The dust-covered men held their breath as the hovercar come to a gliding stop in front of their tent. Two of the hovercar’s shiny, black doors flew open. Darren and Rodd felt their hearts racing with fear when they saw the wide-shouldered men, who were dressed in black business suits; emerge from the hovercar like rabid attack dogs.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Rodd yelled as he looked down the barrel of a gun.
No one had time to blink as the blue bolts streaked from the gun barrels.
Rodd and Darren felt a painful electric shock contort their bodies as they fell to the sandy ground.
A few hours later, the dirty archeologists awoke feeling hot and short of breath. They struggled to move when they heard a deep voice calling out from the bright haze, “Hello, boys…what exactly did you think you were going to find out here in the desert?”
“Who are you?” Darren said as his burning eyes darted around, desperately looking for the source of the mysterious voice.
“What is happening to us?” Rodd felt his heart beating into overdrive. His mind began to flood with panic as he realized they were both in grave danger and had no idea as to who was speaking to them.
Darren looked around and saw that both of them had been stripped of their clothes. His eardrums became inflamed with Rodd’s screaming. His wrists and ankles felt like they were being crushed from the pressure of some very strong hands.
“Oh my gods!” Darren shouted in terror, “What are you doing to us?”
Darren and Rodd gasped and moaned as they realized that the men in black were shackling them to a couple of wooden stretchers. The archeologists struggled against their assailants, but to no avail. The men in black soon had them bound tightly. Moments later, when they were lying on their backs and unable to move, the two men began to panic.
“Why are you doing this to us?!” They shouted, “What do you want?!”
The deep, mysterious voice returned, “We’ll be back sometime later gentlemen, when you feel like being more…cooperative. I imagine the sun is going to be quite bright today. It’s too bad you guys are so pale skinned and…unprotected.”
The naked archeologists felt the sweat pouring out of their burning skin. The scorching sun forced them to squint, but for the first time, they could see who was speaking to them. Darren and Rodd both gasped in fear as they saw a slim, middle-aged man step in front of the sun that had been burning their eyes. When their vision adjusted to the brightness, they saw that the man was wearing a flawless, black business suit, with a finely pressed, white collared shirt and black tie. Despite his sharp clothes, the man looked almost ordinary. His most distinguishing feature was his hair, which was white as snow and perfectly arranged.
“Holy shit! It’s really him!” Rodd Templeton gazed in terror at the white haired man for a few moments before choking on the hot air, “Who are you?!”
“Come on now boys, someone must have warned you about me,” Van Dien said as he gave the helpless, naked men a cold look. “I am the warning that you did not heed. I am the advice that you did not listen to. I am the monster in your closet…and the nightmare that you tried to ignore. And now…I am…in charge. Stay cool, gentlemen. We’ll see you later.”
Van Dien and his muscle-bound assistants stepped into the long, black hovercar and drove off with the engine roaring. The blazing sun began to creep up to its high noon position.
The abandoned men wailed as their skin turned red and began to blister.
Within a span of just a few minutes, the long, black hovercar was far away from the place where the two men had been left wondering what happened to them. Van Dien did not seem the least bit concerned, it was almost as if the incident had never happened.
A few moments later, a pinging sound could be heard over the limousine’s intercom system, and a deep voice said, “Sir…we may have found that other person you have been looking for.”
“Excellent,” Van Dien said as he reached into his jacket’s inner breast pocket and took out a small communications unit. Without even looking at it, he pressed a button on the com, and slowly placed it against his ear. “Good morning,” he said in a deep and very composed voice. “We have not formally met and I suppose you are wondering who I am. Well, let me get right to the point…I am the law.”
Van Dien took a drag from his cigarette as he noticed the silence on the other end of the com. It was the kind of silence expressed by someone who knew they had been caught red handed and had no idea what to say in their defense.
Soft, white smoke danced around the darkened limousine as the white haired man said, “You should know that I just got done enforcing one of Ailana’s unwritten rules, which are meant to protect a highly classified operation that is taking place on this planet. It is a secret plan with great risk, which involves the highest levels of authority within The Alliance. I have been charged with a grave task…and believe me…I take my work very seriously. Let me assure you…anyone who comes to Ailana and tries to circumvent the rules that I enforce…has to deal with some very harsh consequences. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and ask the two men I just spoke to…they might agree that some of my methods are a bit, extreme.”
The person on the other end of the com, started to breathe nervously for a few moments before they found the courage to say, “What do you want?”
“First, I want you to realize that I am in charge here,” Van Dien said firmly. “Second, I want you to realize that we’ve been tracking your money transfers, which have led me to believe that you have plans to carry out a highly illegal operation on Ailana to make yourself rich and powerful beyond your wildest dreams.”
The silence was deafening and implicating. Van Dien smiled and flicked his cigarette ashes as he realized he had his newest adversary right where he wanted them, “And I want you to realize, that your plans will never materialize into anything…without my help. So, I suggest we skip any more formalities and get right to the point. Normally, I make sure that people such as you, disappear and are never heard from again. However, it has become apparent to me, that your little plan…could help me out tremendously…and I am just here to say, that I will scratch your back…if you scratch mine. Do we have a deal?”
“What kind of deal are you talking about?”
Van Dien took a drag from his cigarette and said, “We both know how Ailana’s history has led to its current problems, which you obviously wish to profit from. As you know, about one hundred years ago, Earth made contact with the people of this tropical paradise of a world out of necessity. At the time, the Allied Planets of Earth and Aurora were at war with a bloodthirsty race of aliens known as the Terraxakors. It was discovered that the Terraxakors were amassing on the Planet of Farcry, and thus, the Military Leaders of Earth, decided to stop these bloodthirsty aliens from attacking the Allied Planets again. Earth’s Military needed a home base to attack from and natural resources to wage a war with. And so the people of Earth convinced the native people of Ailana to allow them to use their planet as a War Machine. Despite its small landmass, Ailana was a planet where everything The Military needed to win the war, could be grown or manufactured. The planet’s location was perfect to strike the Terraxakors from. The leaders of Ailana agreed, after they realized that once the Terraxakors discovered that Ailana did have land and resources other than salt water, they would surely be conquered and enslaved as well.”
As his long explanation unfolded, Van Dien could sense fear in the person’s breathing. Van Dien smiled with a bit of sadistic pleasure as he said, “anyway, a couple of generations have passed since the war was won, and Ailana is no longer needed as a War Machine Planet. There have been massive cutbacks in Military spending, which have caused many years of hardship. Right now, the economic recession is at its worst…and as a result, you and I both know that there are many people on Ailana, who are unhappy with the status quo. I have discovered that a few of these people are actually doing something about it. From what I’ve been able to decipher, these rebellious citizens are up to something, and the Ailanian Central Intelligence Agency has finally caught wind of it.”
The voice on the other end of the com sounded surprised, “I thought you were the Ailanian CIA.”
Van Dien chuckled, “I work for a much higher level of authority. The Ailanian government, its police forces and its Central Intelligence Agency are a fine group of people, who think they are in charge of keeping the peace, but the truth is, they work for me…and don’t even realize it. Right now, certain people within the Ailanian CIA have discovered something that is going to be very important for our plan to succeed…very few people know what is really happening on Ailana…and even fewer people realize that there is talk of revolution going on.”
The voice on the other end of the com said, “And that probability of civil unrest is exactly what we need to know about. Do you have contacts within the Ailanian CIA that can be of assistance to us?”
Van Dien grinned and said, “I know all of their strengths and weaknesses, and how we can use them to our advantage.” A beep from the monitor distracted Van Dien. His eyes narrowed as he said, “I will have to get back to you. It appears that I must check up on one of Ailana’s unhappy citizens. He is a person of great interest to me. His name is Moke Kalapana and he is the head of the Ailanian CIA. He is a man who could be great, but doesn’t know it. He is a man who has sold his soul for the acceptance of others. He is a miserable man with a personal mission to gain back what he has lost…and it appears that he is doing something that requires my attention.”
He hung up and clenched his fist as the flustered voice tried to protest in vain. Van Dien’s angry face was washed in the blue light of the computer monitor. He took a long, pleasurable drag from his cigarette to calm himself as he read the words that had just appeared on the screen.
-AILANIAN CIA TRANSMISSION - Intercepted – 09-11-2736
Captain Kalapana, I think I have a lock on our suspect.
I’m on my way.
Shall I contact Captain Kanta?
NO! This is a D-Squad Mission now! No one is to know about it!
Yes sir.
We have one chance at this people. Make no mistake, we are taking a huge risk but the reward is well worth it. What we are doing here today could make a big difference for the people we have been sworn to protect, even if it undermines those we have been sworn to serve.
“Moke Kalapana, you are a stubborn bastard,” Van Dien thought as he tightened his shaking fist and exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke. Despite his initial anger, his mind was soon feeling calm and serene as he thought, “Why do you still insist on biting the hand that feeds you? No one knows of our little secret that we share. None of the people in the Ailanian government, which you need to win approval from, have any clue about what kind of man you really are. No one knows about the terrible events in your past which you wish to hide from them. Why do this to yourself? What was wrong with the life I gave you? Why must you despise the role you were supposed to play? Oh well, this is of no consequence. Try to be the hero. Let the fun begin…something big is about to happen on Ailana. I am about to carry out a plan that is going to rock your little world…and in the end, you will have a choice to make. You can either help me carry out my plan…or die trying to stop me.”
Location: Unknown.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1300 hours.
The nervous man began to sweat as he sat in front of the monitor, shrouded in darkness. He frantically clenched his com for one final message.
Who is this mysterious, white haired man in black? We all thought he was a legend, we all thought he was just a story made up to scare us. But make no mistake about it; this man is very real, very serious and very dangerous. I have officially gotten us involved in a deadly game of cloak and dagger where the prize will literally be how the history of Ailana will be written. The players of this game are Ailana’s heavy hitters, who will do whatever it takes to win because they have so much to lose. Our opponents are the Ailanian CIA, the corrupt members of the Ailanian government and their pseudo-capitalist allies. We will also be going head to head with a group of Ailanian revolutionaries and will have to deal with the malicious members of the Ailanian underworld. All of these desperate people are in a struggle to outwit each other in order to gain the power and wealth they need to hang onto the control they desire. Ailana is a world in peril, and the plan we have just gotten involved with revolves around these players and the struggle they are about enter in order to eliminate each other. We will be using their conflicts to advance our own agenda, and for our plan to work, these players must simultaneously cause their world to implode. The game we are about to play is not only dangerous, it will be a duel to the death that will force us to make allies with all these players so that we may eventually find a way to make them tear each other to pieces. If you help me succeed with my plan, I will see to it that you will also gain power and wealth beyond your wildest imagination. I know I am selling my soul to the devil, but my making an alliance with this man and agreeing to help him with his plan, is the only logical thing I could do. We are now involved in something that will shake this world to its very core. We have committed ourselves and we must remain ever vigilant and ready to strike. The plan is officially in motion, and there is no turning back now. The first step is to help our new ally destroy his old enemy, a man named Moke Kalapana. Good luck to us all!
The battle for Ailana has begun!