THE SONG OF THE PHOENIX Can it be that we know so little?... All these many years have not dulled my memories of her. How sure of things we were, full of technology and ambitions, never suspecting for a second that we were just playing the games that children play. Caught up in our imaginings never realizing that we were missing the point entirely. She was my daughter...or rather she became my daughter, if not in body then in spirit. Her father was driven by ambitions and self delusions. Even his own flesh and blood were expendable. How a thing of such utter beauty could spring from such a foul source I would not understand for many, many years. His name was Jharaque Zarranin, First Lord Projenator of the Caddon Empire. An empire built out of the ruins of those who had been tempted by his lies. At the final toll he held 160 worlds. He married a beautiful and compassionate woman by the name of Heaira in his 40th year. Chairman Grell of the planet Thara attempted to secure his planet's future by offering his only daughter as a bride. His daughter wasn't the only thing he lost in the transaction... - From the Journals of Dr. Malcolm Vaughn UAS Central Library, AEGIS ux.0134.115 Copyright (c) 1990 by PHOENIX ANIMATION LTD. Rights reserved to contributing parties OUTLINE CHARACTERS & STORYLINE: Jharaque Zarranin : The FIRST LORD PROJENATOR of the CADDON EMPIRE. Jharaque inherited his position from his father, the elder Zarranin being much less tyrannical than his zealous son. Jharaque had been involved with a number of major smuggling operations while his father still ruled. It was on one of these operations that he came into contact with an entity known as MYRID NULL. It was the psychotic MYRID NULL that appears to have been the guiding force behind his treacherous behavior. MYRID NULL and Jharaque Zarranin became one entity in the ORVIKROD DESERT on planet ULFORT, when he went to recover a payload that had been smuggled on an illfated UAS military vessel that had crashed on the planet. Jharaque secretly arranged for his fathers assassination were upon he ascended to power. The materials that he had been smug- gling and selling were known as NANO- MECHs, highly restricted micro de- vices. Jharaque married Heaira Grell on his 40th birthday. He fathered two daugh- ters; Earell (Eldest) and Xealynn. When Earell is determined to be a threat to him he has his wife and Earell killed. MYRID NULL : An entity of unknown origin that combines with Jharaque Zarranin in an effort to hide itself from two others of its kind that had been sent to recapture the psychotic rogue. During its escape it performed a hyperspace jump maneuver within the core of the star Rheticuli Cundis (known as R- Cund). The massive hyper jump per- formed by MYRID NULL carried a large percentage of the core of the star with it thus causing the star to become unstable. It has been deter- mined that the star will go super nova within 10 years. This leaves the task of moving the 15 billion inhabi- tants of the three planets in the system to safety with in 8.5 years. This operation will require the coop- eration of all 500 worlds in the UAS. Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened in the history of any of the member systems, and it will tax the resources of all 500 worlds involved. Zarranin takes advantage of this distraction to gain control of some of the fringe systems, and he continually injects situations to make the prob- lem worse. MYRID NEX & MYRID LOL : MYRID NEX and MYRID LOL are the two entities in pursuit of MYRID NULL. MYRID NEX is the entity that joins with Earell in en effort to force MYRID NULL into a trap set by MYRID LOL. The plot is suspected by Zarra- nin/Null and Earell is killed by Zarranin's agents (or so they think). It is MYRID LOL who later turns out to have joined with ZEUS the UAS's cen- tral computer complex. It is at the end that it is realized that Earell/NEX and ZEUS/LOL have uninten- tionally evolved into a high form of being. It is planned that this will be explored in the next series; "THE PATH OF THE PHOENIX" which will deal with these mystics and their teach- ings... MIPRA : NANOMECHs are Microscopic Programma- ble Self Replicating General Purpose Automatons. The official designation is MIPRA (MI-pra). These can be "EXTREMELY" DANGEROUS in the wrong hands. These are used by Zarranin as an invisible army that can invade microscopically without the knowledge of those targeted. They could be programmed to dissasemble a human being on the microscopic scale, all it would take is just one of the self replicating molecular machines to invade a host body and start convert- ing the raw material that it finds around it into replicas of itself. When a critical number of units was reached a new program would take over and these micro machines could kill an individual within a matter of seconds. This was a perverse application of this technology. Zarannin found many more that caused strife throughout the UAS. These devices can be very benefi- cial in the right hands. They could be used to perform micro- surgery, convert waste material into other useful materials, or even build whole cities out materials found in a desert. The eldest daughter of Jharaque & Hearia Zarranin. Earell (pronounced E-a-rell) does not have much contact with her father due to his preoccupa- tion with his own affairs. She is very close to her mother, sister and nurse/tutor. Around the age of ten she befriends the elderly chief land- scaper of the palace. She spends most of her free time with him, they spend a great amount of time talking about a wide variety of subjects. He teaches her about the many different plants, animals, peoples and philosophies of all the worlds that he has visited. She calls him "Fern" a pet name which developed out of an incident one day when the two of them were in the southern gardens of the palace survey- ing a row hanging Denesia ferns. Marek (his real name) was trying to take a sample frond to make a point about something to Earell when he slipped causing the whole thing to come down on his head. This looked as if he was wearing a large feathery cap and struck her as very comical. The both of them laughed about it and she called him Fern from then on. Only the two of them knew the name she had given him. Marek loved Earell as if she were his own granddaughter. On several occasions she had given him songs that she had written, these were songs that she had never let anyone else hear except him. Earell's younger sister Xealynn (ZEE-lynn) was 3 years her junior. Earell was Xealynn's great- est "hero". When Xealynn was just learning to talk she used to call Erell, Lella. It was just before her sixteenth birthday that MYRID NEX made its way slowly into her mind, it did not control her actions , it simply supplied her with its knowledge and wisdom. Suspicions were aroused in her father when she mentioned the name of the planet that he was traveling to on one of his operations, while she was chastising him for not spending any time with his family. There was no way for her to have known where he was going, so he planted a listening device in her room and had her fol- lowed. He knew his wife had little love for him and perhaps she had overheard him say something in his sleep. He decided to place a listen- ing device in their own chamber to see if he was saying things while sleep- ing. Earell's knowledge was coming from MYRID NEX. In her sleep she often spoke the phrases that were coming into her mind. This greatly disturbed the PROJENATOR and he began to show signs of hostility towards her. This hostility was perceived by his wife who decided it was time to take her daughters away to someplace where her husband could not do them harm. She plotted the escape with her nurse and a local freighter captain. Unfortunately by this time Jharaque did not trust any of them and his spies relayed their plans to him. He concluded that his youngest daughter was too young to have been influenced by anything that her mother or sister might have been involved in, and could therefore be educated under his watch- ful eyes. It would also act to divert anyone's suspicion that he had done away with his own family. Hearia had told her husband that she was taking the two children on a trip to his sister's villa on the planet MONASTIN. Hearia and her sister-in- law had become good friends over the years. The plans were to take a transport to a major space port on the planet ARANAE, switch secretly to another ship hidden away inside a cargo container. The freighter cap- tain was then to remote pilot the ship that Hearia and her daughters had come in and cause one of the engines to overload destroying the ship in trans- it to Monastin. Everyone would think that they had died on the ship. They then could live out their lives under new identities with no threat from Zarranin. The PROJENATOR saw in this plan an excellent chance to silence his daughter and rid himself of his wife without raising any suspicions. The day before they were to leave he had his youngest daughter infected with Jungman Fever, a very serious illness that would make her traveling impossible. The virus was actually a specially programed Nanomech that would cause the body to react in the same way as that it would to the actual Jungman Virus. After three days the symptoms would subside leav- ing no permanent damage. Hearia frantically tried to come up with a way to get her youngest daugh- ter to come with them, finally it was decided that the nurse would stay behind until Xealynn was well enough to travel. It was already to late to contact the people who were arranging the escape so she decided that she and Earell would carry on with the plan and wait for them to regroup on ARANAE and then continue with the escape as planned. The nurse began to suspect that Jharaque knew something when he informed her that the doctors had indicated that Xealynn could not tolerate the climate on MONASTIN and that she should go and enjoy herself at his sisters with Hearia and Earell. Not to worry, Xealynn would have the best of care. The nurse contacted Hearia on ARENAE and told her that she had better go now because Jharaque was on to them. Hearia was almost beside herself but she knew that they were both in grave danger, and so she asked the nurse to take good care of Xealynn and not to allow her husband to harm Xealynn. She would contact her sometime in the future to complete her youngest daughters escape. Just as they were going to leave on the other ship the freighter captain pulled a gun on Hearia and forced her quietly to leave the ship while Earell re- mained on board. When they had nearly reached the landing bay accessway three men with weapons appeared in the doorway. They told the Captain to drop his weapon, after which he showed great surprise since he'd been hired by Zarranin to deliver Hearia to these three men. Hearia was very angry that he had betrayed them. The captain began to protest and was shot dead by one of the three men. Hearia realized that this had all been a set up. The leader of the group she recognized as someone she had seen with her husband on one occasion. Two of the men held her and turned her towards the ship. The leader of the group indicated that they would suffer an accident, the very one that they had planned except that it would be this ship instead of the other one. Hearia screamed out her daughters name. Earell heard her mother and went to look out the access door. The instant that she was visi- ble in the air lock, the leader of the group pressed a small button on a object in his hand and the ship was racked by explosions. Earell was seen to be thrown out of view by a ball of fire. Hearia screamed hysterically. Earell's pain filled screams quickly died away as the ship was engulfed by flames and more explosions. The three men laughed as Hearia looked on in terror and rage. The leader of the group informed her that her husband had wanted her to see this before she died. She began to cry. The leader of the group then said, "Well don't worry, you will be with your lovely daughter very soon." He then put the muzzle of the gun to her forehead, she was just sobbing and looking blankly at the burning ship. There was a load report and her head was thrown back by the impact. She fell against a wall and her lifeless eye's stared at the floor. Moments later the heat sen- sor's in the landing area detected the high temperature and set off the alarms. The leader of the group told the other two to pick up her body and through it into the air lock of the burning ship. They didn't have much time so they did it quickly. From inside the burning ship Earell could- n't feel anything and couldn't move anything, she was aware that she was engulfed in flames. Her vision ap- peared to be distorted and everything was surrounded by a halo of light. The faces of the men that carried her mothers lifeless body were etched into her memory. They finally ran quickly towards the ship and through her mothers body through the doorway. The heat in the ship was so intense that some of the bulk heads began to buck- le. She heard them laughing and say that her husband wished her well as her mothers body crashed to the burn- ing floor. Then she heard them laugh again as they ran off. Earell was silently screaming "Mother" over and over to herself as she lost conscious- ness. When the fire fighting team arrived the ship was totally engulfed in flames. After the fire was put out by a force field filled with Argon gas, and the ship cooled somewhat they sent a robot remote into it to search for bodies, they found the charred remains of someone in the air lock. They couldn't determine if it was male or female. A little farther inside they discovered another body. The lifesign sensors detected brainwave activity inside this badly charred body. They heard a very quite gur- gling moan from body and they real- ized that, as impossible as it may be, this person was alive. The Chief of Micro-Prosthetics at ARANAE University Research Facility received a frantic call from a burn specialist at Mosbadden Hospital. The physician explained that he had a severe burn patient, and he needed his expert opinion on how to proceed. In fact the physician was at a complete loss as how this person could possible be alive. Dr. Malcolm Vaughn left immediately to meet with Dr. Kranizwa. When Dr. Vaughn saw Earell completely rapped in sterile gauze with obviously most of her limbs missing he immediately had her transferred to his facility. Through DNA matching he was able to identify the victims as the wife and eldest daughter of Jharaque Zarranin. Dr. Malcolm Vaughn was the foremost authority on Molecular Engineering in the UAS. He had a daughter by a previous marriage who was a Strategic Analyst in the UAS Defence Forces that had joined her fiancee on archaeologi- cal expedition while on leave. The group that they were with at the time had been deep in the caves and were listed as missing, and presumed dead after a major earth quake caused many of the passages to collapse. The search parties never found any trace of the group. Communications were hampered by the high iron content of the rocks, so the auto-locators became useless. He had loved Leian very deeply and knew in his heart that she had been killed in the cave in, but had kept the feeling to himself and had let his co-workers friends and staff continue with their words of hope that she was a very resourceful young woman and the caves she and her group were in were a vast and unchart- ed underground city and that they had enough supplies stored there to sur- vive a year while they cataloged the site. His scanners detected brainwave patterns that would seem to have indicated that the poor lump of flesh on the table was fully conscious. While the central computer was busy reconstructing a model of Ea- rell's body from her DNA sample and maintaining her life functions as best it could, he decided to see if he could establish some form of communi- cations with his patient. Malcolm Vaughn started to talk to her and instructed her to repeat each word he said to her so that he could separate out the brain wave patterns that then could be used to generate speech so that they could talk to each other. He wasn't even sure that she could hear him. After two days limited communications with her had been established. Dr. Vaughn was part of the UAS intelligence community and as such was briefed by ZEUS the UAS's central computer complex on the likely hood of this being an assassination ordered by Zarranin himself. This brought Dr. Vaughn's blood to a boil, he could not conceive of a father trying to kill such a beautiful and from all indications innocent child. Earell pleaded with him to let her die, she went through periods of disbelief that her father had ordered her and her mother killed, great rage, and complete depression. In discus- sions with the UAS intelligence group it was decided that it would be very dangerous to Earell to have her recon- structed with her original appearance and that if she looked different and they reported her death they could use her as an agent that would know a great deal about Zarranin. Progress on Earell's reconstruction stopped, and a new identity was begun. Dr. Vaughn decided to use the model that he had created of his own daughter three months before she had left on her fateful journey. This would give Earell a new identity with a past. It would be reported that his daughter had been found dazed and with complete amnesia, this would allow Earell an excuse when she met people she should have known. He knew he had to work fast, he began to detect symptoms of sensory deprivation in Earell. This could lead to madness in a short time, and he couldn't bare the thought of that. It took five days to finish the new model and during that time he spent many hours just talking to her so that she would maintain her sanity. It would be two days before he could actually make the transfer of her brain to the new body, it was on the fifth day that her hearing failed cutting her off completely from the outside world. She was totally alone. Unknown to Dr. Vaughn and everyone else Zeus had added a Sixth generation CCU to her reconstructed cortex. A CCU is a (Central Control Unit) which is the computer system that all space vessels contain. The current genera- tion that were being installed in most new ships was fourth with fifth just beginning to show up in military vessels. Earell's brain waves were getting erratic and he knew that even if she could be transferred quickly enough in the end she might be totally insane. It had been nearly two weeks since the fire before she again was whole. He stood there looking down at his daughters unconscious form and found it difficult to remember that this was not his daughter. He had grown very fond of the young woman that he had only been able to talk to indirectly through a machine. As soon as the suppression field was turned off Earell started to stir. In a few moments she blinked her eye's and looked around her room. As soon as she spotted Dr. Vaughn she said "I can see!" Dr. Vaughn responded, "Yes you can..." She recognized the voice "It's you! You don't look like I thought you would...Why do I sound so funny?" Earell felt stiff all over, "Where am I?" Dr. Vaughn sat in the chair next to her bed, "You are in a recovery room at the UAS MicroEngi- neering BioMech Replacement Facility on ARANAE, you are on the seventh floor, northeast corner, room 723, and you are in a bed approximately one and a half meters from me. Would you like me to be more specific?" he said with a twinkle in his eye. She smiled, and then her smile faded. Dr. Vaughn began "Earell, how much do you remember?" She looked away "Why did he do it!?" she began to cry. "How could he...do it!?" Malcolm Vaughn knew that by giving her his daughters appearance he would never be able to think of her as anything but his daughter. Watching her cry gave him great pain and soon he was cra- dling her sobbing form in his arms. "I don't know why he did it...but you are safe now." Between sobs she glimpsed a reflection of the two of them in the mirror. "Whatssss.. That's not me! Why don't I look like me!?" she said still sobbing. Dr. Vaughn choked back the knot in his throat, "It would have been to danger- ous for to look like yourself Honey. They believe that they have succeeded in their plans, so as long as you don't all of a sudden show up again, you will be safe." Her voice squeaked "But what did we do that would make him want to....kill us?" Malcolm brushed a lock of her hair back, "He must have thought that the two of you could threaten him in some way." She brushed some of the tears away from her eyes, "What about my sister, is she...dead?" Malcolm looked out the window, "We don't believe so, as a matter of fact it seems that he wanted her alive." After a week of recovery and anoth- er week of physical therapy Earell was able to move around with out discom- fort. Dr. Vaughn explained to her that he had given her his daughters appearance and that she would become his daughter as a cover. She was very sad that this wonderful man had lost his eldest daughter and wished that she had had a father like, him. Then it occurred to her that in many ways she was his daughter, this made her feel very good, and she made a promise to herself that she would be that daughter he had lost. Every time she thought of her real father she became more and more determined to destroy him if she could. And so Earell & Hearia Zarranin were laid to rest, complete with a large state funeral and life size holographic images next to the cas- kets. Xealynn was standing next to her father with tears streaming down her cheeks. It was four months later when a UAS vessel transported Earell to the sight of Leian Vaughn's disappearance. It was a surveyor who found a dazed and tattered Leian Vaughn wandering through the valley where she had disappeared eight months previously. The only way he knew who she was, was the name embossed on her jump suit. She didn't know who she was or where she was or how she had gotten there. And so was born the PHOENIX. Leian was returned home to her father and friends. The cover of amnesia worked well. Those who had known her before were not surprised when she didn't recognize them, the woman they met was different then the one they had known, but this new Leian made friends easi- ly. After six months of reorienta- tion the UAS psychologists felt that she was ready for active duty. Un- known to anyone but ZEUS, Leian's Paraxis-6 CCU enhanced cortex provided her with a complete knowledge of her previous position and gave her instant access to any information held within the UAS central library. She is emotionally a sixteen year old girl, but this is usually only evident when she is alone and lets her guard down. From time to time however she seems to overreact to certian emotional situations. Within two years she has risen to the rank of Commander. Within this time she has also matured emotionally. Leian is able to commu- niate with ZEUS by thought. She discovers that her consious mind is at the center of a vast array powerful systems. ZEUS constantly conditions her not to use any of her extraordi- nary powers unless there are no other alternatives. Whenever Leian returns home to Dr. Vaughn during leave he notices to his utter surprize that some of his real daughters mannerisms are beginning to show themselves in Earell/Leian. He cannot explain this development. Leian is becomming a combination of Earell, Leian, the Paraxis-6 CCU, and MYRID NEX. She feels that she has distinctive person- ality that traces it's self back to Earell Zarranin, but she is all of them combined. It is two years into the effort to relocate the population of the R-Cund star system when Leian receives her transfer orders making her the Second Officer / Systems Control Officer aboard the new Command Ship CYGNUS. She is to meet up with CYGNUS at the UAS star city AEGIS. Leian spends a month on leave with her "Father" Dr. Vaughn, the two of them have grown very close over the past three years, and to him she IS his daughter. At the months end she boards the the Star liner ALPHA CENTAURI which will take one month to reach the AEGIS. She and Dr. Vaughn find it difficult to say goodbye, she probably won't have a chance to see him again for three years. The ALPHA CENTAURI is a very impressive sight, nearly three quar- ters of a mile long it can transport 50,000 passengers, although on this trip there are only 11,000. Running down the center of the ship from just behind the control center all the way to the stern is a wide mall complete with trees, gardens, pools. Each side of the mall many shops, theaters, cafes and a variety of craft work shops. The mall's sides are three stories high and they angle out so that you get the impression that you are in a gental valley. The exterior panoramic view is projected onto panels in the malls ceiling which looks as if you are looking into a night sky eventhough there are many decks above it. At the stern is the ORION LOUNGE which is a multi tiered three story affair with a waterfall and tropical plants throughout. This place is a favorite of the passengers and crew. The whole thing is enclosed in a "glass" canopy that gives you a 180 field of view from keft to right and a 90 degree view from the main deck up (it resembles a quarter of a sphere). Every several hundred feet down the mall are sky bridges that alternately connect the third level to the opposite side second level. Nestled into the belly of the ship and only half the length is a vessel (called the PROXIMA CENTAURI) that is designed as a lifeboat and/or rescue ship. This can be used as surface effect ship if a planetary rescue is required. Leian is aboard for several days before she is introduced to Trinia Starcross at the Captains table. Trinia is a very famous performer and her group STARCROSS has become one of the most sought after bands in histo- ry. Starcross is on it's way to AEGIS for a command performance. They have also booked two concerts on the ALPHA CENTAURI while in transit. Three days after they first meet TRINIA and LEIAN meet again late at night when LEIAN is in one of the deserted lounges playing quitely to her self on a piano. She is playing one of the songs that she had written for Fern many years before, it had been his favorite. Trinia and Eldin were out just walking around the ship when they happened past the lounge that LEIAN was playing in. They walked a great deal at night so that they would have minimal contact with the passengers who would have hounded them for autographs during the day. Trinia listens until Leian finishes her rendition, her applause startles LEIAN momentarily, after which Trinia appologizes. They talk for a while and then play a little improvisation together. They become fast friends over the next few days. Trinia tells Leian that she would like to hear all of her songs and that she would like to do some of them while she is on tour. Late one evening after one of their secret musical sessions LEIAN runs across an old man tending one of the gardens in the mall. She is astounded when she discovers it is her old friend Fern. She can hardly believe that it is him, but she howev- er does not reveal her self as Earell. They get to talking and she begins to ask him qusetions like she did when she was young. She returns every night for the next week. It is on the fifth night that Fern becomes very depressed when he sees LEIAN sitting cross legged in the same fashion that Earell used to when he told her sto- ries. She asked him what was causing him to be so depressed (although she is sure she knows the answer). She convinces him to come with her to a little abandoned lounge not to far away with a beautiful view of a nebula that the ship was passing. She gets him a warm cup of Gulvoknie and asked him to tell her what was bothering him. Marek tells her about a young girl that he concidered his grand- child, and how much he loved her. He tells her how much she reminds him of her. LEIAN asks him what ever hap- pened to her. Marek's face showed great anguish and then hatred as he told her that the girls father had had her mother and her killed. He did not know the reason why he had had them killed. He said that everyone had believed that it was an accident but that he had heard from a reliable source that it had been cold blooded murder. He told her that she had been the most wonderful child he could have ever imagined and that he still loved her and thought about her a great deal. He had quit working for the girls father the day after he had learned of the circumstances behind her death. An old aquaintence of his had retired as Chief of Botanical Facilities for Noritaki Starlines. He had no trouble in getting the posi- tion, and had spent the last five years in space on board a number of different liners. When the Alpha Centauri the new flagship of the Noritaki fleet was launched he had been assigned to oversee it's vast Botanical Gardens. He has been on board for about a year now and enjoys the work very much. Leian was playing a quite little tune on a pianosynth while Merek had been talking. He stood looking out at the spectacular stellar panorama, listening to the waterfall and Leians playing. He quitely says "That Bastard...Why did he have to kill her?..." Leian couldn't stand seeing her old friend in such great pain. She scanned quickly to see if anyone else was in the area, and she had the main comput- er make sure that the intercom system in the lounge was off. This whole procedure took but a fraction of a second to accomplish. She said "Appearences can be deceiving dear Fern, he believes that he had had me killed. But I'm still among the living..." Immediately after she finished she began playing and singing his favorite song that she had written for him. For a moment he could not comprehend her words, but the music brought back a flood of memories. His eyes widened and he turned around to face her, "How can this be!? How can it be you, they matched your DNA with that of one of the bodies in the wreckage! "True, that was my charred body that they had found. And the sameone that my "and I won't even call him my father" shed false tears over." When they found me I should not have been alive, but I was, and I can't explain why. The person who I really consider my father was the wonderful man who extracted me from that burned out husk. As she talked she got up and walked over to him. "It's me Fern, and I've missed you so very much..." She through her arms around him and hugged him. He said "It really is you, my dear Earell...your alive!" He picked her up and swung her around. "Yes!" He was crying with joy,"The worst day of my life was the day you died. And today...today is the best day of my life!" He put her down. She began,"You must call me Leian Vaughn, and you must never, ever tell anyone that I'm alive. Not even my sister." He looked at her with moist eyes,"I will lock that secret away where no one will find it." There was a pause before he spoke again,"I see that you are a Commander in the Defence Forces now. I would never have pictured you in a uniform when you were a child." He sat down at a table, she sat across from him. "I'm going back Fern. I'm going to destroy my father and his empire if I can." He looked very concerned, "Oh my dear, please, can't you just forget him and live your new life?" She sat up straight in her chair, "You could- n't forget about me. I can't forget about this... Don't worry, I'm already dead, what more could happen to me?" She said with that twinkle in her eye that he had loved so many years ago. -