Chapter 217

Lucia

A dry and dusty wind swept across the surrounding plains. Scattered across the flatlands were numerous shantytowns, made up of corrugated tin shelters and run down stone buildings. It was here that the Lucian Alliance was born. In shantytowns and slums, smugglers, racketeers, and thieves banded together after the fall of the System Lords. For a time, prosperity blossomed on Lucia at the Alliance's height. The Battle of the Super Gate had brought that prosperity crashing down.

Beyond the slums, three Ha'tak class vessels towered over all else. Their arrival six hours before was heralded by a single cryptic subspace message. Collected together in front of their craft, Kefflin, Vosh, and Bulak stood. These three men made up the bulk of surviving leadership of the Alliance. It was not luck or fate that had kept them alive. When the time had come to commit themselves to Mallic's final battle, these three and several others instead ran as far as possible from the scene of battle.

Moving towards and away from the three Ha'tak was a disorderly throng of men, women, and children. These people were the surviving lower level Alliance members, and the families of the fallen. Of those moving towards the craft, each carried a box, crate, or sack. Also making way through the crowd, several dozen wagons rolled toward their destination. In this manner, an incredible amount of supplies made its way aboard the vessels. Food, clothing, and other supplies would soon be aboard. Joining the collection of material was the contents of the largest Alliance weapons cache hidden in this corner of the galaxy.

"I have word from Sloviash. He has arrived at our destination, and has begun preparations for our arrival." Kefflin stated.

"How can we be certain that our new world won't be located?" Vosh asked.

"The planet is outside of the gate network. That makes discovery by the Tauri unlikely." Bulak explained.

"There we will rebuild." Kefflin said defiantly.

"How can we be so certain? The Tauri were powerful before the last battle. They are even more so now. Each passing day see's their power rise by orders of magnitude." Vosh argued.

"The Tauri won a battle Vosh, not the war. Even now, our agents walk among the Tauri. At a time of our choosing, we will signal these agents, and they will deal a crucial blow to our enemy. The Lucian Alliance will in time rise from the ashes, and reclaim what is ours." Kefflin said forcefully.