Revenge or Redemption

[Jase-Katar]

Markus was prepared to face this adversary, he purposely hung out in the Hair of the Wolf waiting for him. He was not prepared for a sobering right hook , the connection cracked like a shotgun, sending the immortal villian over the baronto the floor. He was surprised by the powerful hit, as he rose to his feet he was met by a second right, connectioning in the lip between the nose and the mouth, this hit broke his nose, and loosened some teeth, blood oozed from his now bleeding nose and mouth." Nice to see you old friend"
"Friend" he replies grabbing Markus by the shoulders and yanking him onto the bar. as he try to pull himself up, his attacker slamms his elbow into the center of Markus back, knocking the air from his lungs, : I have been looking for you "
"And I you"
"your gonna die"
"Heard that before"
" this time I will find away to make it permanant" his attacker brings his knee into the face of Markus, as he drags him from the bar to the floor," Whats a matter Markus" another fist pounds Markus face, " Were you expecting me to be falling down drunk, easily manipulated "
"Actually" markus spits a glob of blood from his mouth" I would have prefered a drunk" with that Markus is dragged by his hair to the sliding hatch door
"I thought about what you did to me, and everyone around you" Markus is kicking his feet , while his attacker holds a death grip on his hair, "I think I will make it quick , this time" he fiddles with the control panel a second, turning off the door sensors
" Your only going to make me ....." Markus is cut off as his head hits the floor, his neck over the sliding door frame" Must you be so rough, I may be immortal, but I do feel pain"
"Not for long" with that said, he pushes a button on the panel , and the door slides door, at lightning speed. beheading Markus , his attacker smiles , as he turns back toward the bar, the room begins to fade he stumbles to the floor as the lights begin to glow again, Xenon lays strapped to an examination table, holoemmiters and scanners all around him, he is unconsious, several technicians scurry about, as two men look on.
" He is becoming more and more violent"
" I know , draw back to his guilt and anger"
" You know there are other ways of doing this"
" Look you know as well as I do, he volunteered,"
"Jase, he was drunk, and he broken, he wanted help"
" Asmodeus, is you want out, then walk, Xenon needs to ready" he walks up to the table " This is the only way I can preapre him,"
"Why don't you just face Markus again"
"I can't Markus's power has been changed yet again, if I step in we will lose the oppertunity to learn the Dom Kovash's plan"
"But Xenon, is mortal putting him against...."
"I know the risk, but Markus will not pass up the oppertunity to toy with him, he needs to be ready"
" I dont understand you sometimes, all the power in the universe and you always hold back, talk to the others, have them declare open war"
"Your lucky Asmo," Jase pauses as he goes to walk away" You will not live to see everyone you know die, you will not see the faces of the children, grow into old men, just to fade into dust"
"a little mello dramatic dont you think"
" Time is my friend and my enemy< Asmodeus, and my time has now been limited"
" What does that mean"
" You'll know when I do" Jase disappears in a flash of light........

[Jase-Katar]

Jase stands ein the glowing chamber, looking into the fountain of light at its center, two other glowing beings form shapes and approach him. One stays shapeless, but her voice is all too recognizable to the other two forms, the other forms that of the one eyed clone of Markus.
"You do not have to do this Jase" he says looking into the fountain, watching the lives of mortals flash by,"maintaining the balance will prevent Markus from becoming an accended being"
"Balance is no longer important" the shapeless voice says
"Your both right, on one hand I continue to thwart Markus's plans, in our eternal struggle " he looks into the fountain, " On the other hand, if Kanotosh goes for it, I get Revenge against the darkest evil in the universe"
" I don't understand my part" the clone quizzes
"Balance, right now, with Shokonite trapped in a mortal form" a flash of Duncan in the Black Legions temple in Omega 6 appears" The shokon hold a greater hold on the universe". He walks toward the shapeless glow," But if  the balance is restored, by a sacrifice"
"Then Markus becomes powerless" the glow says
"but why torment Xenon" the clone again asks
"He seeks redemption, although I am immortal, he struck down an ally" the flash of Xenon lunging his honor blade into Jase appears in the fountain " He believes he must right that wrong, to do this he volunteered to training he has been under, to strengthen his mind to resist Markus's mental prowess"
"What of your friends, your allies"
"They won't understand why I do this, but they will be free from the immortal Markus Katar"
"When does this all take place"
"Soon, the ball is in Kanotosh's court now, he and the DOm Kovash, need to maintain silence until they are ready to accept the deal" he raises his hands over his head " Once the acension is complete Xenon will have his Redemption, and I will have my final revenge. Again Jase ends the conversation with a flash of light and he is gone
" You know Clone he cannot go to the darkness, "
"I am seeing it, he is a good soul"
"Seek Kanotosh and change the deal, "
" I will go to the Dom Kovash, and he will come home to the Shokon
"Yes "

[Jase-Katar]

"You summoned me master" Markus says kneeling before the glowing crystal
"I have need for you"
"I am bound to your will master"
"ONe must die, the leader of the ESF "
"He is broken master, my one victory against the Star League"
""DO not presume to argue with me Markus" the crystal glows into the shape of Tekagi, but if fact Kanotosh speaks through this avatar" I want him dead,"
"But what of my plans to corrupt the Dacia"
"Enough, your failures are too numerous, do this task"
"Where has he been hiding then master"
" A human place called Hair of the Wolf"
"I shall decorate my blade with his blood"
"You must suceed , the fate of my master plan  hangs in the balance"
"I will not fail you master" with that the crystal goes dark, Markus is puzzled by this coldness he received from his friend and master Kanotosh, his thoughts of the mission also confuse, Xenon was no threat to his kind. He knew he had to obey, Kanotosh had been suffering with the losses Markus had had, his position in the Dom Kovash as Speaker was now threatened.

The room fades away, to the plane of the Nomads, and their Dom Kovash masters, The one eyed clone of Markus, stands near Kanotosh. "It is done herald of Shokon"
"They thank you Kanotosh, restoring the balance is the wise and right thing to do"
"He will sense the betrayal before the end, you know this right"
"That is the plan, the human Xenon will be released to face Markus for hopefully the last time, and our two races Shokon and Dom Kovash can move on"
" I agree to the plan, You shall be a welcome force with our ranks"

[Jase-Katar]

Xenon wakes upp in his fighter, he has been left adrift, the autopilot turned off, but programmed. His mind was full of noise, he could hear screams and cheers, Jase laughing, Liman pleading for the "training" to stop. All of it like a dream, he felt no better then he had before he found Jase.
He sits for a few minutes wondering why he was left out in space, finally he looks at the programmed coordinates , Hair of the Wolf, he was puzzled, this was completely out of sorts, he had to figure it out, and the only thing left to do was return to the Hair of the Wolf and see if his dream was real.
Across the Void, deep inside the Abamdoned city in Sparta, Jase Katar , the last clone of Markus, the glowing light of the Shokon, and the glowing figure of Tekagi wait, the crystals rays play out the plan, Xenon would soon face his demons, Jase would assend to the Shokon, against his wishes, and the Clone would assend to the Dom Kovash, to restore the balance.

Xenons fighter locks onto the bars beacon and begins the short trek to the floating station. Markus, sits in the bar, his face covered drinking to hide his disgust over the puny humans. He hears the rumors of the Nomad weapons, failing to work on human made ships, this must be Kanotoshs plan, to prevent human influence in nomad technology. He sits and waits, soon he would please his master.

[Jase-Katar]

The time of accension had come, Jase knew this would end the war between the Shokon and the DOm Kovash, he was angered by the Shokon trading the clone for him, he was prepared to sacrifice himself to bring the two species back to a peacefull exsistance. The clone was saddenned , he was accending to a would without fight, he would no longer be one of the feared beings in the Sirius galaxy.

Across the Void to the Hari of the Wolf, Markus sits at the bar, he is slowly getting drunk, knowing the task he was gven was all to easy, Kanotosh had grown impatient with him, and was certainly displeased with his failues in the atempts to control the life crstals of both the Shokon and Dom Kovash ancients, as he finishes his drink, he motions for the bar tender, to refill it. Again the bartender as before stares hard at him, his darkened hood hides most of his face.
"I swear I know you" the bartender says
"I am no one of consiquence to you" Markus says, tired of the stares
"No seriously you somebody famous aint ya"
"JUst pour the flippin drink and go away", Markus angrily says, placing his blaster on the counter.
"Ye...Yes....Yes sir" the bartender stutters, as he goes down the bar hurriedly, a couple of patrons look and begin staring.
Markus returns to his drink, not looking up into the mirror to watch his surroundings.

The accension  had begin, with a flash of light and a loud humm, heard only by the two powerfull alien races, who were once one race, the Abandoned cities crystal rocks out side erupt with a power never seen before, their glow and emmisions of power drain all ships in the area, within the station the walls and the floors glow a power never felt by a human. Deep within the city itself the chamber of light, where Jase Katar, herald of the SHokon, and the Clone of Markus, now seen as a herald of Dom Koash, stand across frome ach other, Kanotoash, in the form of Tekagi, and the nameless Shokon in the form of Dust stand opposite each other, each chanting in their respective languages the call of Accension, as the chat grows loude chorus's of Shokon and Dom Kovash appear in the room, each taking the form they prefer, for the first time both species as a whole stand face to face, without conflict, with the accension of two chosen, a balance would be returned, no more would their be more of one race over the other, they would be equal, the chanting gets louder, the glow around the station brighter, the glow able to be seen on the home woulds of the major house, New London, New York, NEw Berlin and NEw Tokyo, the citezin s of those worlds react with joy and fear, most not knowing what is transpiring. As the order of accension progresses, Jase sees history unfold before him, past present future, his children, his love his fate. The clone too looks deep within the glow to see all of time around him, he focus's on the moment, the bar across the galaxy Markus waits to fullfill his orders he would know soon enough the ruse, his destiny has been undone, his fate now in the hands of mortal men, the power of the DomKovash would soon.......

A great flash erupts from the chamber, the glow disapates, the ships that lost power return to normal operations, the station returns to normal lighting, deep with in the station, a now empty chamber sits, no signs of people ever being in it, here a security team enters, swearing they heard voices, they look around, nothing, the great glowing crystal gone, the reflection pool it stod in empty.

Across the Void, in the Hair of the Wolf, Markus eyes widen, he feels something he had not felt in a long time. He looks ino the mirror, to see a familiar person behind him, the shadow over his face gone, people staring at him, he felt a hand slam onto his shoulder
"You have alot of nerve showin g up here" the voice says, Markus tries to focus his thoughts onto Xenons mind, nothing, he could not enter Xenon's mind. Xenon though, not knowing this slams Markus's face into the bar, the glass of whiiskey shatters in Markus's hand, his face  connects with the bar top with a voilant thud. As Xenon pulls Markus back, he slamms his forearm over Markus's throat, gasping Markus slamms into the floor, where before he can move his chest is met by Xenon's boot, three times he stomps the terrorists chest. For the first time in a longtime, Markus feels the pain of bones breaking, of blood dripping from his cut hand and face. Xenon was not waiting for Markus to react, He pulls him to his feet, just to drop him to the floor with a powerfull hook. Markus scoots back to ry to get away from Xenon, but the patrons of the bar impead his movement. They now see who and what he is, the murderer of billions over the years, they did not attack him as they all saw the look in Xenon's eyes he wanted to do this.
"Wait Xenon" too late, a massive boot slamms into MArkus's chest, more ribs break, two patrons pull Markus to his feet
"You don't know how good this feels" Xenon quips as he puts his hand on Markus's chin to hold it up, for the left hook. the sound of the impact of his fist, could be heard in the corridor over the sounds of the patrons cheering on Xenon " Today " xenon slamms a fist into Markus face again" I get my life back" Xenon hits markus  and slams him into the wall, security forces now stand in the doorway, they recognize Xenon as ESF and Markus as the mass murderer of Bretonia, they do not interfeer
"Xenon, " Markus begins to laugh" I "
"I dont care " he lands a punch so hard that Markus head, leaves a dent in the metalic wall behind him, as the unconsious body slumps to the floor, Xenon grabs him by the legs, and begins to drag him toward the power dorr of the bar he pushes a button the door slides up " I have dreampt of this moment since you tried to kill me"he slides Markus's head over the door fram, leaving his neck in the path of the door, he pushes buttons on the door panel, removing the safeties. A crowd begins to chant do it do it do it, as Xenon pushes the button to lower the door, nothing happens, the power fades from the panel. He looks around swearing he heard Jase tell him he had fullfilled his revenge, to proceed would make the leader of the ESF no better then Markus. He looks around, and for a second he sees Jase hold up adrink at the bar, and as the drink reaches his lips disappears into nothingness.
"You cant do it" Markus laughs, spitting blood from his mouth, Xenon motions to the security guards to take MArkus" I will be back Xenon" Markus yells as the guards pck him up , other guards hold the terrorist at gunpoint " I will be back, and I will be more powerfull then EVER' he screams from the hall. Xenon looks away, toward the bar, the crowd cheering and slapping his back, he had beaten the man who tortured him, he had won....

[Jase-Katar]

Six months later::::




Markus sits in his straightjacket rocking back and forth in his cell, his eyes wild he mummbles repeatadly about power and glory. His mind in shambles, the loss of the power of the Dom Kovash, too much for his human mind to comprehend. Since his conviction and subsiquecent failed exicution attempts, it was apparent that Markus still held some of his abilities, such as immortality, the seven atempts to end his life since the loss of his mental prowess, left his deranged and insane. Of all people in the galaxay to insist on a change of sentance Xenon aproached the courts to have him moved to Shadowgate, the imfamous secret prison of  Europia, there he would spend the remainder of time lock in a padded room.

Markus was shattered, alone trapped in his mind, a victim of his own powers, failing to fullfill the needs of the Dom Kovash, but still somewhere in his mind the master of evil still sits, someday he may escape his own prison to fight his way out of Shadowgate, til then, all of Sirius can only wait and see......










The End of the Katar Saga

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