The battle raged outside the citadel and through the combined efforts of Elisha at Tatical and Jo at the co-ordination console on the Bridge, they were mananging to stave of defeat. Even though the inner shields were holding, preventing the enemy entering the citadel and claiming it for their own, Sapphire knew that unless the battle ended soon, that outcome was inevitable. On the battlefield Dave was fighting as hard as he could manage. It had been a while since he could get a proper workout - the Dalek attack had been too fierce for him to go on the offensive - but he wished that he had backup from his team mates on the Fringe. Using the iron in his blood every move he made was co-ordinated by him, performing leaps, moves and attacks that the others could scarcely believe were possible. Even Dave was impressed by the way he was using his powers for he had never tried anything like this before - he only hoped that the effort wouldn't wear him out, with his powers being so unpredictable. It was then he remembered his powers over heat, he tried to utilise them on the battlefield as well, but again he was limited to just his own body's natural heat, and even then only barely. Revare and his forces were holding their own but Dave had a goal to achieve - he wanted their standard bearer, so that he could confirm what he feared.
"No," said Revare. "It's too dangerous. The guards that guard the bearer are some of the best warriors around. They'll kill you."
"He's right," came Jo's voice from Revare's com patch. "Forget it, and concentrate on the main force." Dave shook his head.
"Sweetheart, they've never fought anyone like me before I can do it," and before either Jo or Revare could reply, he went towards the bearer. There were many troops in his way but he hacked and fought his way through with a ferocity that stunned everyone. The standard bearer was in front of him surrounded by guards. dave stood in front of them as the battle raged around them. "I want that flag!" cried Dave and leapt at the guards. Though he was outnumbered five to one he hacked and slashed and punched his way through them,though the effort cost him greatly. He stood in front of the standard bearer, wounded and bleeding, continuing the battle through sheer force of will. "Give me the flag, and I'll let you live." The standard bearer looked uncertain at this.
"He'll kill me," he said.
"No, I won't," Dave hissed.
"Not you, my master." The bearer was clearly frightened not only of Dave but of his own leader. "Who is your master?" Dave demanded and grabbed him by the throat. Who is he, damn you!"
"Goldfish, behind you!" cried Revare who spotted a warrior sneaking behind him. Dave spun around, and shot the would be assassin through the chest.
"My thanks, sir!" he called to Revare and resumed his attention on the bearer, who had collapsed. Dave checked him, the man had died presumably of fright. Dave picked up the standard. The staff the flag was connected to was familiar to Dave and he had questions for Sapphire to answer, though he suspected the answers. Revare saw that Dave had the enemy standard and shouted it to his troops, who were renewed in confidence and began to drive back the enemy. On the Bridge there were cheers going up as they watched their forces go on to what would be a victorious rally. The enemy was being driven back and Sapphire smiled. They had won, thanks to Dave. However this did not even things between them, though it did help. The enemy suddenly teleported out, leaving the battlefield and a victory cheer went up.The battle was over, but they knew the war would continue. Dave relaxed, and still holding on to the standard, collapsed. The last thing he heard was Revare shouting "Get this man to Sick Bay now!"
Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, the self styled Dark Lord of the realm watched as his troops were routed. It should not have happened like that, he thought. There were suddenly unknown variables in his plan, and the mysterious warrior who stole his standard was one of them. He didn't like surprises, and the LadyQueen seemed to have pulled them out of ther air.This was supposed to be the final battle, his armies should have won and then he would have marched in and claimed dominance over Erata. All of the skirmishes they had previously fought had been draws (though his enemies claimed them as victories) but now his own personal staff were at the level he needed to gain the upper hand. He walked over to the glass case, in the middle of his observation lounge, opened it and withdrew the staff that lay inside it. At first glance it appeared to be an ordinary wooden staff, but in it lay a power unleashed millions of years ago, when he was first created. Yes he had lived for millions of years, thanks to the powers of this staff, and he had seen Erata evolve from a lifless rock to a living populace full of scientific wonders - granted his own powers had been lost over time and his great adversary had disappeared as well, but he had left behind a great legacy. However these new people threatened to destroy all he had set in motion, as the LadyQueen had when she first arrived. He needed to plan, and to test the man's limits. It would take a long time but he'd waited a long time to ascend to power, he could wait for a while longer.
Dave lay in the medical bay for several days recovering from the wounds he had recieved, and the exhaustion of pushing his powers. Jo had done what she could with her healing field, but the technologies of the citadel were what enabled Dave to recover properly. His powers, though were still diminished in strength, and whilst the enemy armies prepared to combat the citadel, Dave used the time to practice with what he had. He found that he could just about levitate, and slow himself down whilst falling. He could also fall faster if he wished, it just took more of an effort to slow down, and also depended on how much space was between himself and the ground. Practicing this he nearly crippled himself several times, but thanks to luck he usually escaped with a few minor bruises. During those few weeks he also made a study of the war. The Dark Lord, whose name time had forgotten, and most people referred to him as 'Master' or the 'Dark Lord'. There were rumors that he was the same person kept alive by an unkown science, but these rumors had been discounted, and it was most likely that his successor just discarded his previos name. Dave disagreed. He believed the rumors about the same person because it fitted in with the reasons he believed he had started the war. Sapphire and Jo barely talked to each other, so it was up to him to find out what he needed to know, and most of that he learned from Revare, with whom he was becoming friends. Every now and then he felt a need to return home but that was feeling less and less with each passing day. His friends probably considered him dead anyway, so there was little to return for. What he learned about the war, was it had only two sides to it - The House of Layton (Sapphire's force) and the House of Magister (The Dark Lord's forces). They were once all part of the same Royal Household with the House of Magister being a lesser part, who made a bid for power on several thousand years ago, after stumbling across some sort of powerful item that science could not explain. They used it against the LordKing and LadyQueen of that time, and the planet was divided into those loyal to whichever house. From that time science made leaps and bounds as both sides looked to gain an advantage in the war, building new citadels or fortresses every time improvements were made. These sudden leaps in knowledge were explained away by evolution, except it was as if it had gone mad, creating a more intelligent and creative generation every time.
Then about six years ago, the Dark Lord had new weapons to fight with and attacked the old citadel, wiping out most of its defences. It was when they were on the verge of winning, a strange vessel appeared from the sky and crashed in to the advancing army, decimating it's forces and causing the rest to scatter. It was realatively basic compared to the technologies of Erata - for flight had been abandoned centuries ago in favour of matter transferance - which was blocked by shielding, even today - and there was only one person in the vessel. A lady, who spoke in not an unsimilar language to their own, yet possessed strange powers. It turned out that she was Sapphire de Silva, trapped from her own world, and all the technologies on the planet could not return her home. Only a handful of people on the planet learned of this, so to keep it from the Dark Lord. Whilst she waited for her own people to rescue her, she became instrumental in rebuilding the forces of the House of Layton, and fell in love with the LordKing, yet because of her hopes of returning home, she denied it to herself. After two years, she finally accepted she was forever trapped here and agreed to marry the LordKing, who had chosen to wait for her. They were married, but before their wedding night, the Dark Lord launched an attack in which the LordKing was killed. Sapphire was put on the throne, and began to rebuild her life once more, feeling bitter towards those she once knew. She started to feel as if this was thier fault and so she put them out of her mind and threw herself in to the war, creating specialised departments for each section of the citadel. Whilst the Dark Lord seemed to be more advanced, the new tactics threw his forces and the battle was evened. Except now he had combatted even that, and everyone acknowledged that with out the arrival of Goldfish and Geneva, they would have lost.
Dave also had genetic scans run of himself, Jo and their child to see why things were as they now were and that the child was alright. However for all the advanvced sciences at their disposal, their physiology was different to those of the Eratans, so the results would be several months in coming. All the while Dave tried to resolve his differences with Sapphire without causing trouble with Jo - which was difficult in the extreme, but things had to be done and Dave became more proficent with his abilities, though Jo's teleport was definately gone.
There was also the matter of time. Dave's watch had ceased to function and was frozen at the time they had left Earth. He had it examined and tested, but the only hypothesis taht could be formulated was that they travelled through time in getting to Erata from Earth, and when both time periods became synchronised the watch would start again. However until they were sychronised there was no way of knowing if the hypothesis was true, or how far back they had gone. Now Dave accepted there was little to no chance of going home, something Jo had not wanted to discuss, so he left it at that. Then the fighting began again, but only in minor battles. Revare and Dave, who gained the rank of Captain, giving the two of them equal status with the army, led a small team of crack troops who had been hand picked by them, Sapphire and Jo, and they began to win the battles. Dave was suspicious and thought the battles were too easy, but Revare managed to persuade him to put his suspicions behind him, yet all the while Dave kept the what he believed to be the truth to himself, though soon Jo began to suspect there was something wrong, but she didn't push it. When Dave wanted to tell her, he would. He might have been reckless and have a mean streak in him, yet he would treat those he called his own with respect, loyalty and fairness. She knew that it had taken him a while to feel a part of the Fringe, but she knew that he was committed to them, for as long as he lived. She realised that he had acceptted that they were stuck here and that it had hurt him to know that he would never see his friends again. In the weeks that passed the minor battles grew more frequent, and the team, known as Team David by the main army, but David was still wary. He felt as if he was being tested, for each battle taxed him a little bit more, and with the frequency of the battles, he sensed there was going to be trouble at the end of it. Still his relationship with Sapphire seemed to be improving, and he could see them eventually becoming friends, but he did not konw how Jo would react to it. They had been on Erata for nearly three months when the test results on their genetic scans came in.
"Captain Goldfish to Sick Bay," came the call and Dave went to find out what they had learned. Jo was fine, except for the loss of her teleportational powers which could not be explained. However what they learned about himself and their child was very disturbing indeed.
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