[WH hops out of the light, clearly elated.]

WH: It's good to be back in business.

Teknos Warhammer
Presents
Shara's Last Gift:
Chapter 1:
Turn of the Tide

*****

"It almost came to no surprise to me, when I heard that Shannon Carter, member of the lost Argos Exploration Expedition, knew she was going to die when she came back to Earth. It's just one more example of just how far human beings can and will sacrifice for the sake of their own. And if any dare tarnish their sacrifice; may the powers that be, curse such."
                            -Anita Brannigan
            Author of Cursed Blessing: Accounts from survivors of the Lahdam Wars.
            Copyright of Bookcraft; 2106.
*****

Time: Shortly after Shara's rescue from Saber.

    In the medical room of the Space Knight Research and Development Command Center, Shannon Carter, known by most by her nickname Shara, stared blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought.

    By all rights, she should be dead. After losing almost everything that made her human, and nearly suffering death on two occasions, one such as her should not be living. Yet, she still had one last thing she could do before she would allow herself to die. She owed it to Fritz. He told her about the pods and the newer teknomen that would soon arrive. Were it not for him, she would have had no desire to even bother leaving the remains of the Argos.

    She wanted to cry at the very thought of that awful place. Its original purpose being corrupted to change humans into those souless, armor covered monsters. With the thought of the Argos altered into a biomechanical probe, it also brought her back to the memories of being trapped into those dreadful pods.

*****


    It happened after Fritz had left. She had fallen asleep for who knows how long. Being inside that chamber itself was draining, due to the process changing their body chemistry so drastically. She wanted out. Only the heavens knew how much she wanted out, but it wasn't time yet. She had to wait, just a little longer.

    "It's so cold." She mumbled below her breath, curling herself as much as she could.

    From no where, a voice responded gently, "Yes it is."

    She turned to see what appeared to be another human, but she... or he had clothes that seemed to conceal that person's gender. The person's short ponytail and oversized loose clothing could have suggested either male or female. Was he or she inside the pod? Or was she still asleep?

    "You're still asleep, my friend. We are in your subconcious to be exact. And I am male, you need not worry." The stranger said again.

    Blinking, Shara turned to him and asked, "Who... who are you?"

    He smiled and replied, "A friend. A child-like summer, in your own language. But that's not the reason for my visit. I've come to help, if you want it."

    Shara was even more confused than before, "What do you mean?"

    The stranger continued, "I've come to you with a proposition. You will not be forced, but you must choose to do or do not. The survival of our race depends on it."

    "You mean... you're human too?"

    "I was at one time, but that's a different story."

    Her amazment soon turned into suspicion, "Wait a minute! How do I know you're telling the truth? You may be just the aliens doing this to trick me?"

    The stranger's smile faded and he shook his head, "No, neither Darkon or the Lahdam would be this tactful. They both rely on brute force and fear to accomplish their designs and subdue their victims. You yourself know this."

    "..."

    "What I have to offer you is information on how you can help Earth's chances against Darkon and the Lahdam. It will give you freedom from here and the capacity to survive for a while, yet, the price will be very steep."

    "Just how steep do you mean?"

    His expression was hard as rock as he answered, "You will perish. The process is incomplete and even if you were to survive it, you would be far too weak to protect yourself and unable to escape. It would have been better for you to have just let the symbiote attach itself to your neck, pierce into your brain, and enslave you to the Lahdam."

    A long silence had passed. Neither he nor she moved or spoke.

    He broke the silence, "Most would call it suicide."

    Shara nodded in agreement. The price was very high. Very high. Almost too high for her. "If you were me, would you?"

    Almost expecting her question, he replied, "Yes. I have thought about it many times. And if I were in your situation, I would act no different. If someone I loved were in danger, I would sacrifice all to preserve life. True, it is not an easy choice, but it is my choice."

    Another long silence passed once more between them. There was no alternative. She had to choose now, or Fritz's sacrifice would have been in vain.

Her lips began to quiver in fear as she turned to him and whispered, "I accept."

He smiled again, "Don't worry about it too much. It's not suicide, but a rational transaction. One life for countless more."

"However, I want to see my family one more time." She added.

"You shall. I'll make sure of it." His smile soon faded and then from his skin, a small glow began to come from his forhead. The glow came from what appeared to be a single white line that stretched from the tips of his hair to between his eyebrows. As he turned to her, the single white line grew brighter until a single strand of blue light emerged from the light and flew to her.

"Now, Shara Carter, for your sacrifice, comes the salvation of Earth."

The blue strand's brightness suddenly flared until it practially blinded her. The brilliance was so overpowering that she only felt the strand of light entering into her forehead and a large download of information was placed into her brain. At the same time, the forces holding the pod in place were being interferred with, but not by any source the Lahdam knew. Several times, the light inside the pod flashed, until it could take the interference anymore. With that, it burst, freeing its prisoner.

Filling her lungs with recycled air, Shara stood outside the pod; exhauseted, but free. As quickly as she could, she activated what power she could harness from the Lahdam pods and flew out to Earth.

On her way back, she studied the information that she had received and found it to be as correct as far as she knew concerning the Lahdam. Turning from her thought to the journey, she looked to the earth where her brother was, and whispered, "Hold on Ness. I'm coming home."

*****

     Returning to the present, she turned to the door to see her brother Ness hurry in, his face covered with worry. Soon after, a tall pale skinned, foreboading man soon followed. She had never met anyone who looked so cold and forboding as he did in her whole life, yet, from what Ness had informed her of him, such was not the case. The one called Commander Jamison had proven himself to be a more compassionate man than first glance would give.

    "Hey, Shara. You ok?" Ness asked as he sat by her on her hospital bed.

    She threw him a sad look and shook her head. "No..." she leaned against him and mumbled weakly, "I'm so cold. I don't like it."

    Hearing that, the commander stepped forward and asked, "Is there anything we can do to help, Ms. Carter?"

    Looking to him, she shook her head again, "I wish I knew. But I don't know."

    Seeing his sister in distress, Ness wrapped his arms around Shara, in hopes of giving her some comfort, "Don't worry Shara, we'll beat them. I know we can."

    What shocked both males in the room was when Shara left her brother's embrace and sat at the opposite edge of the bed, but was not as much as what she said next, "I'm... I'm afraid I won't live to see that day."

    Ness' eyes widened in horror at her statement, "What?! What do you mean?"

    "When I exited the teknopods, the process wasn't complete." Tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes, "I don't know how long I have... but I... I'm going to end up like Dad and the others who didn't make it."

    At those words, the commander simply closed his eyes. Slade on the other hand, didn't want to believe what he had just heard. His sister had just escaped and now she was going to die! His sister was going to die!

    "Shara... No..." he said weakly before slipping off the bed and against the wall beside its head. "No... not again."

    She turned to her brother and despised herself for having said that to him, but it couldn't be helped. She turned to the commander and spoke, "Another reason why I left the teknopods and came here is because I found something. While trapped, I had accesed some information that you would find useful. Like how to help Slade with his time limit and how to help Earth."

    "How so?" The commander asked.

    "Something called Teknos." The word, which sounded like it was derived from Teknoman, had left them somewhat confused. "Using Lahdam based materials, we might be able to not only upgrade my brother, but we might be able to help make Teknoman-like fighters for our side."

    The commander spoke up, "If I may ask, what are Teknos?"

    "I am not sure myself, because I couldn't find much about it, but from what I learned, they were like the Teknomen, but they were defenders, not conquerers."

    This time, Slade turned questioner, " And you know how to make them using Teknopods?"

She nodded and responded, "Yes, but they have to have been pods that have been secured and out of Darkon's reach." She turned to the commander, "Do you have any samples of the giant spore-like plants that are around the earth?"

"We do. As do many others who are trying to understand what they are."

    "May I see them?"

    "You may, but for what reason?"

    "I need to brake Darkon's control over them."

    "Very well then. Follow me." The commander said, hiding a little hint of suspicion in his voice as he led them from the infirmary to the research section of the command center. As the door opened, Commander Jamison walked into the dakrness and switched on the lights inside the three large cylinders where the samples of the pods slept.

    Placing her hand on the side of the nearest container, Shara asked, "So, you've tried to study them?"

    "Yes, but we've found nothing as to their purpose and uses."

    She glared coldly at the pods within as she continued, "Somehow I'm not surprised."

    Ness stepped forward beside his sister and asked, "Do you know what they do?"

    She turned to her brother and answered, "They're Darkon's secret weapon. I do not know when, but when the pods bloom, they'll go and consume every sentient being and turn them into slaves for Darkon."

    To say that both Jamison and Ness were shocked at hearing this would be an understatement, considering how much of the planet that had been covered with them.

    She continued, "After they bloom, life as we know it will cease to exist." She turned to her brother and the commander and said resolutely, "But I won't let that happen. If we can defeat Darkon, the pods will go into dormancy, rendering them harmless until you can find a suitable toxin for them. In addition, I am aware of Ness' condition of how he can fight as Slade for only 30 minutes. With these, we can not only remedy that problem, but we can also upgrade his power."

    Taking a look at the pods within, Jamison asked, "And you know this will work?"

    She nodded. "Also, I would like to put him through this as soon as possible. Darkon has nearly completed three more warriors and for all I know, they may be on their way to Earth as we speak."

    "Three?!" Ness replied in shock.

    "Yes." She told him, taking a brief second to lament over who they once were. Yet, she knew they were no longer the people she knew. They were the enemy that would kill them if they did not prepare to defend themselves. "Ax, Lance, and Rapier. We must act as quick as we can."

    "Understood. Is there anything else?" Jamison said, picking up the comm link to inform the people in the loading bay of their new orders.

    "Well, except for the fact that these teknopods have lost their link to Darkon, making them easier to talk to, nothing. Thank you."

    He simply nodded and continued to carry out orders to prepare the bay for something new.

    Turning to the nearest container, she placed her hand against the glass and attempted to peer into the collective of the pods. [Hello?]

[Who speak?]

[It is I. Dagger. A friend.]

[Us three. Where?]

[Earth.]

[Earth... world, blue and brown. Master no found. Master where?]

[Your master is gone. Serve me in his place.]

[Dagger master now. Master wish, what?]

[You will heal and increase the power of the one named Slade, and make a Teknoman loyal to Earth.]

[But that first Master wish is not.]

[You dare question me?]

[No, Dagger master. Dagger wish, we do.]

[Good. Now stay asleep until I give you further instructions.]

`    [Yes Master.]

Shara sighed as she broke contact with the pods. It had taken more of her strength that she had first guessed and lost her balance for a second. Ness was also on hand to help her keep her balance.

"What was that all about?"

"Without Darkon to control them, the Lahdam are nothing more than just a bunch of mindless bugs."

Taking a moment to look at the pods, he felt a bit disgusted at the thought of using the same things that turned him into what he had become. "And to think that these will help me fight longer."

Ignoring his chagrin, she smiled, "Think of it as an early birthday present." Though things would never return to the way they were before, the feeling in the room was not that different than when they were still younger.

    As they left the room, the doctor turned to their direction and said, "Say! Mr. Carter! Could you be so kind as to come with me back to the infirmary? I still need to complete your examination."

    Ness asked a bit hesitantly, "Will it take long?"

    "Not too long. I still need to run a few more test to make sure you're still working fine."

    "Well, alright." He turned to his sister, "You be careful, ok?"

    She smiled over his concern and nodded. "I will."

*****

    At that same time on the dark side of the moon, Darkon, the enemy commander slowly paced about the bridge of the ship he had taken. Though his temporal form was not quite ready, his mind was capable of movement to a certain degree and he was walking about, lost in thought about the present.

    "This is not good. Not only has Dagger gotten into the hands of the enemy, but also Saber has not yet recovered from his last battle with Slade. In addition, my three new warriors are not yet ready." Several other alternatives came and went through his mind. "No. I cannot speed the process any. I must be patient."

    He turned to the window where the endless sea of stars were, narrowed his red eyes, and grumbled, "How ironic, old friend. Even when I am far away, you still haunt me. Be it with your friendship to me, our battles of the past, or your vain hopes. You are still there."

    He offered his hand to the stars, as if he were holding the hand of the one he at one time called his best friend, clenched it, and growled, "I swear, 'old friend', I will redefine the universe! The darkness I will unveil will be the last thing that the corrupt will know before they meet their end!"

    Some would call such an ambition, mad. On the other hand; He would call any ideal of unification no different. In all his years of life, he had met more than his fair share of men who were more than determined to fulfill their ambitions to satisfy their weak, soul-destroying desires. What he wanted was more than anything that those weak willed, passion driven fools ever hoped for.

    Justice. That was the reason for his endeavor. His head lowered in memory of the 'other reason'. What he had determined never to allow happen, yet had happened despite his effort. "...never..." he said, his anger rising once more, "...I will never let it happen again. Never! NEVER!"

    His breathing calmed as he regained his calm and control. He could not allow his emotions to control him at such a critical point in time such as this. Such actions would lead to defeat. No. Letting petty things like emotion drive one was like flying blind to him.

He was a warrior in every sense of the word, and he would live up to such a standard by controling his emotions. He smikred at the thought of the old proverb that came from this world "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

    "How true." He said to himself. Control over one's self was greater than most other things that one could control without controlling oneself.

    His focus shifted once more are he felt the three new warriors emerge from their chambers. His astral form faded from the bridge and into the main room where they stood, awaiting his orders.

    "Ax, Lance, Rapier." His three new servants turned to their master and knelt. "What you are to do is join Saber and destroy the traitor Slade and Dagger. They are weakened now and if they were able to recuperate, they would become a threat to my plan. You will not let that happen." He raised his bladed staff high and proclaimed, "Why do you hesitate?! Now is the time to strike! GO!"

    His three new slaves bowed to him, stood, and in a flash of red light, left the ship and sped their way towards Earth.

    Seeing those three leaving had reminded Darkon his first impressions of what he would do once he had trampled his foes beneath his feet. True, humans had their special qualities and their resilience was admirable, yet they would only be of use to him temporarily. He would use small planets and insignificant species as his servants to only instigate his empire, and Earth was just the perfect backwater.

Not like the last time he had come to this part of the galaxy....

*****

    Back at the Space Knight Command Center, the work crews in the loading bay followed the instructions they were given as fast as they could.

    First of all, they would have to not only refit Pegas for the entry of the fluid of the teknopods, they would have to make a chamber that had the capacity to hold one person that would be chosen as an experimental subject. Shara had made it clear that she would choose the one who would go through it.

    At that same time, Ringo Richards, the Space Knights' resident pilot of the famous Blue Earth, was at the opposite end of the bay, working on the power-suit that he had 'inherited' from it's previous pilot, Balzac Saint Jaques. The latter was missing and presumed dead through his arrogance. In addition, when the command center of the United Earth Government was under attack, no pilot could be found to pilot the second suit. He just happened to be there and had proven himself to be a good enough pilot for not only planes and jets, but for the first of Earth's countermeasures against the aliens.

Mac McKelroy had chosen this time to see what exactly he was doing with the teknosuit that he had been using for the past few weeks. "'ey lad. What 'chya up to?"

Turning to his visitor, Ringo replied, "Oh nothing much. Just adding a few new toys I got from someone."

"What do ye mean by that?"

"Apparently; one of the heads of the company that owns the Space Knights just happen to see me flying in this, someone named... Mizu... Mizuno or something like that. They were so impressed that she sent me these new experimental weapons for me to use. " His chest swelling with pride bigger than a hot air balloon.

"Oh, I'm sure they were impressed; until you got tossed about like a rag doll."

Ringo sighed and admitted, "They mentioned that too! Don't remind me." Mac's laughter didn't brighten his mood any, "Aw save it!" Though Mac's laughter stopped, the cheek to cheek smile never left as he continued, "Now that I think about it, what are you guys up to?"

Turning back to his work, Mac replied, "We're working on Pegas and making a chamber for an applicant so we can make our own Teknoman, of sorts."

"Really? That'll sure help. Do they know who it's going to be?"

"Nope. Not yet anyway."

"Well, I hope it's not me."

"Why?"

With a large smile, Ringo announced, "You can't improve something that's already perfected."

Rolling his eyes and returning to his station, Mac grumbled, "Yeah, save it for yer non-existent fan club."

"You're just jealous Mac!" He yelled after the smaller and heavier man. He could usually take a joke, but not like that. Letting his gaze follow Mac to his work, he noticed Slade's younger sister working alongside with Maggie. He couldn't see what they were doing, but he did find her attractive enough to keep looking at her. Even more so when Maggie left and when she met his gaze.

She blinked at the fact he was looking at her. He waved, she blushed suddenly, and tried to go back to her work. Yet, when she had turned his way again, he only waved once more. She frowned and tried to return to her work, unfortunately, she found herself a bit distracted at seeing him continue to look at her.

Turning back to his teknosuit, Ringo mumbled to himself, "Oh stop it, Ringo. Slade's reason enough why not." However, taking another look her way caused his thinking to change. "She is cute though." At that moment, she had taken a second to look his way, met his gaze, and smiled a bit. It was almost as if she had heard him.

    Later, the pods were taken out of the tubes and with some mental prodding from Shara, were able to keep them down. Taken to the loading bay of Pegas and the Blue Earth, they were laid out, with Shara nearby to keep them in line. Both Maggie and Mac were working since the orders from Jamison came like a tidal wave and were working feverishly to get the necessary chemicals to help control the growth of them all.

Mac was busy building a chamber that the remains of the Teknopods were to be transferred to, so that they could make their own Teknomen with the aid of Earth technology. In addition, he was modifying Pegas, so that they could "Upgrade" Ness and make him stronger, because if she was right and Darkon did release 3 more teknomen, they were going to need all the power they could muster.

Maggie on the other hand was working with Shara, changing some of the genetic factors of the pods so that the change wouldn't alter their minds or destroy them, like it did her father and those who didn't survive from the Argos. Plus, it would enable the newer Teknomen to stay that way much longer than Slade. With no time limit, the tide of the war could easily turn. The main problem was altering it enough so that it wouldn't create the mind parasite that controlled the Teknomen.

"Now, are you sure this is going to work? I mean, this is the first time that we've ever done something like this." Maggie Matheson asked worriedly to her assistant. Shara nodded and patted her shoulder reassuringly, "You were able to repair my brother's crystal. This shouldn't be hard for you at all." Looking up for a short minute in thought, she then got the smile back and went back to her work.

*****

    With part of her work done, Shara had a chance to take a walk about the bay, despite the pain in her legs showing itself. She couldn't tell anyone about this. Pretty soon, she wouldn't even be able to walk. After that, her body would begin to betray her. Bit by bit, her body would shut down because she had not given in. It was a 'fail-safe' of the conversion process. Ensuring that if anyone got out, they wouldn't be able to move or it would make them think twice about being 'alive'.

    Looking ahead, she noticed the woman, Star Summers was taking a report to the head of the bay workers. With her assigment completed, she was about to leave the bay, yet stopped when she was asked,  "Excuse me?"

    Turning to Shara, Star replied, "Yes?"

    "May I ask you something, Ms. ..."

    "I am Star. Star Summers."

    "Ness has most likely told you my name already. Anyway, may I ask you something?"

    "Uh, sure go ahead."

    "What's my brother like, from your perspective I mean?"

    Looking a bit taken back by the unexpected question, she answered, "Well... when he first came here, he did everything he could to push everyone away from him. And after hearing what he went through, I'm not surprised." Shara listened intently as Star continued. "I don't like seeing him like that and I want to help him, but everytime I try, something happens and it drives him even further away than before."

    After a pause, Shara had some time to learn from her brother about this woman. Somehow, knowing this woman gave her some comfort with regards to her older brother. Smiling a bit, Shara said, "Your feelings do you credit Ms. Summers. Thank you. I'll let you get back to your work."

    "Oh no. There was nothing to worry about. I'm about to go off-shift anyway. Still, I got to go. Bye, Shara." Star said before leaving.

    "Farewell, Ms. Summers." Shara said after Star's exiting form. Turning back to the work bay, she searched the area to see if the other person she wanted to talk to was there or not. If this one was whom she thought it was, the likelyhood of her being there was rather slim.

    "Hey, Shara! What's up?" A voice said suddenly from behind her, causing the aforementioned to lose her balance and fall.

    Seeing her carelessly announce her presence to Shara from behind caused Tina to scramble to help the latter up to her feet again. "Holy cow, are you alright?"

    "I think...," Shara said, rubbing the part of her head that hit the floor.

    "Uh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to do say it that..."

    "No, no, no. It's all right. I was not paying attention." Shara blinked at her visitor, seeing her face somewhere before. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

    "Oh, I'm Tina." She extended her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Shara."

    "How do you know my name?"

    "Slade talked about you a lot. He even said that I kinda looked like you a while ago."

    At that time, the memories that Slade had about her came back. "Oh. You're the girl that... I see." Her causual demeanor slowly faded when she asked, "If I recall right, you had a near fatal run-in with him."

    Tina hesitated at that memory, yet continued. "Yes. He went over his time limit and went crazy. Just because I looked a bit like you, he was able to come back." Her voice trailed off slightly at those last few words and Shara noticed this.

    "What's wrong?"

    "Well... I just can't help but wonder what would've happened if he was a few seconds later... I could've been dead... and Slade... I have no idea what he would've done." The fear in Tina's eyes were more than obvious at the thought of 'what if...'.

    Shara brought Tina back to reality by placing a hand on her shoulder and saying, "Well, it didn't happen. So don't worry about it."

    Recovering from the memory induced depression, Tina smiled weakly, "Well. I wouldn't want Slade to get too down. He's done enough for the rest of us."

    Shara raised an eyebrow at that remark, "Oh, thinking you can do something like that when he already has a younger sister."

    "Well, he's like the nice brother I never had. My real brother jokes enough about me, whether or not I'm around."

    "Well... if it's not too much to ask, could you still be that kind of sister to my brother? I'd really appreciate it."

    "Why do you mean by... oh yeah, I forgot."

    "Don't worry about it too much..." A thought came to Shara's mind and said, "If I may ask, how old are you?"

    "Nineteen. Why?"

    Shara gasped in shock. "Nineteen?! Oh no!" Shara started to turn a little red in the face from embarressment as she continued, "I thought you were no older than fifteen or sixteen."

    The air around Tina suddenly got a bit darker as she slumped her shoulders and a heavy, and familiar, wave of gloom hit Tina, "You're not the first one who said that. Don't worry about it." She turned around and headed back to the bridge.

    "Sorry! I didn't know!" Shara cried after Tina, but trying to bring her out of her depression was about as easy as trying to beat a tank with a toothpick.

    With Tina gone, Shara returned to her thoughts before Tina had arrived. She needed to find someone who would volunteer to go through with becoming something they had never known before. If succesful, it would give them an edge in this seemingly hopeless war. She would not force anyone to do this. She didn't have the right to do so. It had to be voluntary.

    Just then, another possibility of a candidate came to mind. It actually made her smile a bit, despite her bad condition. "It might be crazy to ask him... should I?" Her smile grew as she said to herself, "Aw, to heck with it!" and hurried as quickly as she could back to the bay.

*****

    Back on the moon. Darkon had left to see his servents take leave of the base. Very soon they would reach the ring and rondesvous with Saber. Since he knew the location of the Space Knight's command center, it would be vital that he be with them.

    Humans. Such amazing creatures. Primitive, true. Nevertheless, they were very useful when it came to doing grunt work. However, it wouldn't be long. After this planet's conquest, he would wash his hands of it. The last thing he needed was humanity fouling up his plans with their selfish ambitions and debasing lusts. Once he would find a more suitable race, he would dispose of an 'unneeded species' and move on.

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