Part II. Awakening
"Captain Hunt," Rhade held his hands folded in front of him, "it’s been a while."
"Over a year," Dylan’s voice was cool.
"Or over 300 years, but who’s counting, right?" the Nietzschean gave the captain the closest thing to a genuine smile. "Well,
captain, how are you feeling?"
"Betrayed," even though Dylan was weak, he wasn’t about to admit it to Rhade. He wanted to know one thing; "How?"
Rhade understood. How had he survived after Dylan shot him? "That is for me to know," he replied. "For now all you need to
know is that I am alive, always has been, and I shall help you defeat the Magog and get your crew back." Dylan was about to
question his intentions, but Rhade held up his hand. "Please,’ he said, his voice emotionless as ever, "just accept that I am here
to help."
"That’s hard to believe coming from the best friend who stabbed you in the back," Dylan struggled to pull himself up to a sitting
position.
"I could not turn my back on my people," Rhade replied, "you knew that, Dylan, and you knew me."
"I thought I did," Dylan looked up at him. "I underestimated you."
"But you learned," the Nietzschean pointed out. "You learned, otherwise you would have never survived in this new universe. It’s a much more dangerous place then the Commonwealth."
"The Commonwealth had structure and order," Dylan glared at the man he once considered his best friend, "until the
Nietzscheans destroyed it."
"But they won," Rhade pointed out.
"Not really," Dylan countered. "They destroyed the Systems Commonwealth, true, but they failed at their goal of creating a united Nietzschean empire and now many different prides are at war with each other."
A thin smile crossed Rhade’s lips. "That was poor planing on their part," he admitted, "but, then again, it seems to me that you and your new crew didn’t do so well against the Magog."
Part III Coming Soon!
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