Night has fallen on the eternal sands. The sky is a mass of glittering jewels we mortals call stars. Their light casts shadows upon the sea of sand. A beautiful night an omen maybe of how things will fall out?

“My Lord everyone is in position.”

Looking one last time at the brilliant sky he commands his troops to go forward. Looking through night vision binoculars he watches the first wave take over the outside perimeter. The second wave has made it to the bunker entrance without anyone sounding the alarm. The third wave enters the bunker going for the power generators. The third wave gives the go ahead and the fourth wave enters silently stalking their prey. A group breaks off to achieve their main objective freeing Max. Max wakes to find four men covered in black standing over him. One of the men leans close to his ear whispering, “We are here to free you. Be quiet and put these on.” Max does as he is told and follows the men out. The leader hands him a gun. “This is a dart gun. The tips contain a chemical lethal to the husks the Skins wear. Anyone not in black is an enemy shoot them.” Max nods his understanding.

The group retraces their route to escape. They can hear heavy fighting in other corridors but their main priority is to get the King out alive. They meet no resistance and flee out of the bunker to a waiting helicopter. The leader calls in. “My Lord the package is safe and in the air.”

“Good work men! All units begin the exiting sequence. See you at the rendezvous point.” For the first time in years the men see a true smile on the face of their lord. I need to send a priority message to Liadan.

“Casualty report?”

“My Lord we lost ten but took out the entire garrison. The bunker was destroyed as ordered.”

“Thank you has our guest arrived?”

“The helicopter is landing now.”

“Bring him directly to my quarters.”

Max is taken from the helicopter into the encampment. None of the soldiers will answer his questions. He is wondering if he left one prison for another. The guards stop in front of a large tent and motion for him to go in. Hesitantly he enters looking around.

“Aren’t you going to say hi, Maxwell?”

“YOU?”

Antarian Resistance Headquarters-Earth

“Liadan you have a priority message from Headquarters.”

Exasperated she never takes her eyes off the data on the screen. “I told them the results from the last round of tests wouldn’t be ready until this afternoon. Just send a message that I’ll be done faster without interruptions!”

Fifteen minutes later her assistant comes back into the lab. “Lia, HQ just sent a code red message I think you had better take this one.”

Irritated Lia goes into her office and sees the computer flashing a truly annoying reddish hue. She sits down and does the retinal scan. A simple message appears.

The sleeper has awakened