THE ZACHEIM CROSS 
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Author : The Incredible Lazy-butted Powree
Date : 10 January 2005 (revised for the 5th time or so...I'm pooped)

Edited by: Psykorabbit2000

DISCLAIMER:
The fanfic is based on the web series,but as the web series itself is 
growing rapidly, there's a lot of difference between this fic and the 
web series, and it can't be avoided. For better reading experience you 
are greatly encouraged to read the series instead of this crap. The 
author has spoken. :D

Bucky O Hare and related characters are owned by Adam Neal and 
Continuity Comics.The Web Season characters are owned by their 
respective owners. The Zacheim Cross characters are owned by me :).


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CHAPTER ONE "THE MESSAGE"
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Darkness engulfs the area, adding horror to the already grave scene...

Queen Katrina grasps her coat tightly. She feels uneasy here, drowning 
in the heavy atmosphere. Even breathing is hard, as if it's water 
instead of air. She starts shivering, as cold bits into her skin.

QUEEN KATRINA
"Where am I...?"

She looks about, failing to see anything except darkness. She squints, 
and to her surprise finds out that the air had small flakes resembling 
snow drops. 

QUEEN KATRINA
(muttering as a flake lands on her paw)
"Is this...snow? No... it's...Ash?" 

She is just about to examine closer, but is soon distracted.

VOICE
"Katrina..."

Taken aback, The Queen turns around, gasping as she recognizes the 
figure now standing behind her.

QUEEN KATRINA
"Grandmother!"

Indeed, it is her late grandmother, QUEEN REENE. The elderly cat has a 
different character compared with her granddaughter-as it can be told 
by her fiercer appearance. Her eyes are as sharp as ever, with a linger 
of hatred and sadness inside. This is the very animal who had ruled 
Aldebaran with iron hands when Katrina was still a young kitten.

QUEEN KATRINA
"Grandmother, Have you summoned me here?"

Katrina trembled a little as she speaks with her grandmother. Ancestor 
contacts rarely happens in Aldebaran society, and while she had heard 
of it from her late mother, she never thought a contact would be so 
depressing. It also doesn't help that she fears her grandmother very 
much.

The Elder One remains silent, but her hands reaches out, gesturing 
Katrina to come closer.

Uneasily Katrina obeys, only to find a shocking response. The reached 
out hands narrows and grabs her forcefully by the shoulders. 

She screams at this and tries to break free but fails. Those frail 
hands has power beyond words, digging into her flesh.

QUEEN KATRINA
(wincing)
"Grandmother, please! You're hurting me!"

To her dismay, her grandmother pulls herself to her, staring face to 
face. Katrina's eyes widen, but she was shocked to find another aura in 
her grandmother's eyes. The eyes now plead for help.

QUEEN REENE
(trembling voice)
"Katrina...help.."

QUEEN KATRINA
(tries to control her emotions)
"W-What? What is it, Grandmother?"

The late Queen opens her mouth but as she does that, cracks started to 
spread on her body, so fast that every single words she tries to speak 
out was disrupted. Katrina realizes that the Aldebaran is losing 
contact and now her fear changes to worry as she tries to preserve the 
mental bond. But the attempt seems only able to slow the process, as 
now the body has crumble bit by bit.

QUEEN REENE
(pained)
"... The Cursed...waits..."

QUEEN KATRINA
(As she tries to maintain the connection)
"Grandmother! Hold on!"

QUEEN REENE
"...The stone...stop...before it's too...late..."

As the last words spoken, Queen Reene lets out an eerie scream. Katrina 
is stricken with panic when the elder one lets go of her grasp, and a 
burst of energy flies out from the cracks. Reene twitches and bursts 
into a blinding ray of energy. The next moment, the energy forms into a 
hulking mass, turning its wicked eyes to the frozen Katrina. It howls 
and delivers a blow of energy at her.

QUEEN KATRINA
(screams)
"AAAAAHHHHH!!"

Katrina wakes up panting, sweats trailing down her forehead. She looks 
around, noticing that she's in her room.

The chamber remains silent as always, providing every Queen of 
Aldebaran the much needed rest they need, though tonight it fails to 
serve its master. Katrina closes her eyes in relief. Her heart is still 
beating fast, and she felt hot and uneasy.

QUEEN KATRINA
"Was it only a dream?..."
(she turn her eyes to the Royal Crown kept on a small table. The Gems 
on it are shining dimly.)
"No.. it was real...."She mutters.

She quickly gets off bed and picks up the Crown, recollecting the 
events as she quietly tries to calm herself.

Suddenly the communication crystal on the bedside table shined strongly. 
At this she quickly grabs the crystal and mentally answered. 

QUEEN KATRINA
(mentally)
"What is it?"

A female voice replies, sounding worried.

FEMALE VOICE
(mentally and worried)
"Your Majesty! Thank the Great Stars you are alright...I beg pardon for 
disturbing you. I'm afraid we have a situation in the palace..."

A heavy feeling hit Katrina instantly.

***

The engine of Righteous Indignation hums loudly as it lands on the 
landing paddock. The Aldebaran officers stood before the hatch, 
saluting as Bucky and Jenny comes out. The pink haired cat turns to 
Bucky before she leaves the frigate.

JENNY
"I hope I'm not causing too much trouble, Bucky."

BUCKY
"It's alright Jen. I know your position. Besides, the toads had not 
shown any progress lately. I can cover the routine patrol if it's only 
for a few hours." At this he winks.

Jenny smiles. 

JENNY
"I promise I won't be long. I will contact Willy once the meeting is 
over, but I'm keeping my comm on stand by just in case."

BUCKY
"Sounds good to me."

The RI roared again as it takes off. Jenny waves back at Bucky and 
Blinky, who's taking over the piloting task. When it finally leaves the 
Aldebaran sky, Jenny's expression turned grave. She walks toward the 
Sister waiting, boarding a transport.

As the transporter takes off, she turns to her.

JENNY
"What is the situation?"

SISTER
"We are on alert, Sister Jenny. The palace has been restricted to 
select animals, and security is on its highest."

JENNY
"And that includes restriction for Bucky?"

SISTER
(nods)
"Including him. All High Artificers from each Order had been summoned, 
and with your arrival the meeting can now begin. Details of the matter 
will be explained in the meeting."

Jenny sighs. Lifting her head she sees the towering palace already 
visible. A faint ripple of energy is visible when the vehicle enters 
the barrier protecting the palace. As she observes the surroundings, 
she notices that several groups of Assassin Sisters had been located on 
certain areas.

She was even more puzzled when she realizes that they didn't stop at 
the main gate. The transporter proceeds to another area of the palace, 
the West wing.

JENNY
"Why aren't we stopping?"

SISTER
"The meeting will take place in the Throne Room, but The Queen is still 
in the Resting Grounds. She ordered for you to be taken to there before 
the meeting starts..."

JENNY
(grows suspicious)
"What exactly happened?"

SISTER
(gloomily)
"You will see it for yourself once you arrived..."

The transporter stops right at the gate of the Resting Grounds. Jenny 
left the transporter rather hurriedly. The area is restricted for few 
Aldebaran, as it contains the Resting Ground of Ancestors, a place 
where all Queens and their relatives rests when they leave this world.

The Resting Ground's entrance is a long tunnel that has the statues of 
each Queen lining the path. The entrance itself is guarded by a magic 
device that requires a special password from the sister accompanying 
Jenny. Once the gates opens, she let Jenny enters, but remain outside. 
She just points that the Queen and the others waits in the Cemetery, 
and other Sisters will guide her there.

Instinctively, Jenny knows something is not right. Pacing, she proceeds 
into the Cemetery.

The first thing that shocks her was the blood trails on the wall of the 
inner gate. This gate is the last defense of the Resting Grounds, 
guarded by select Artificers protecting the holy area. No doubt the 
trails belongs to them, though Jenny could not see any bodies in the 
scene. Some sisters are already investigating the murder scene, 
scanning the area with devices and magics. Fragments of Gems scattered 
on the floor, none of them bigger than a thumb. Jenny recognizes that 
the gems must belonged to the guardians, but they are now empty and 
hollow, without any trace of magic.

Now everything is clear to Jenny. The resting Grounds had been breached. 
Anger fills her chest immediately.

SISTER
(Surprised when she saw Jenny)
"Master Jenny! You've arrived!"

JENNY
"Who did this?! When did it happened?!"

SISTER
"The Guardians were killed last night, master Jenny. We are still 
unable to find out who did it, but please enter, the Queen awaits you 
in Queen Reene's Catacomb."

Jenny hurriedly proceeds to the mentioned Catacomb. Upon reaching her 
destination, her emotions turns into anger and sadness.

The catacomb was heavily damaged. Its gates were ripped, and a large 
hole replaces it, but she was barely able to contain herself when she 
sees that the coffin in the center has been torn apart, revealing its 
inner side. Queen Katrina was standing near the coffin, accompanied by 
some of the High Artificers as well. All of them were observing a 
procession.

Jenny kneels to show her respect to the late Queen. Her body is being 
rewrapped by two sisters, preparing her for another burial procession. 
Within her heart, Jenny feels the urge of avenging the humiliation done 
to her ancestor.

Once the procession is finished, Katrina leaves the procession. Her 
eyes were red. She doesn't say a word when she saw Jenny ,but she 
signaled them to follow her.

A few moments later, all the summoned Artificers had gathered in the 
Throne Room. No longer able to contain her anger, Jenny bursts out.

JENNY
"Your Majesty! What has happened? Who could've done such thing!?"

SISTER MAYA
(interrupts)
"Please calm yourself , master Jenny. We are all enraged as you are."
"Our race has been humiliated, and we must restore our dignity!"

SISTER HERA
"The Catacomb of Queen Reene has been breached, as you've seen for 
yourself. Whoever did this killed all guardians and tainted Queen 
Reene's body. It's obvious that the killer had only one intention..."

QUEEN KATRINA
(sadly)
"...to steal her memory stone."

Jenny was trembling with rage all over. When an Aldebaran dies, her 
memory stone will be purified and planted inside the owner's body so 
she could proceed into the next realm. The late Queen's honor has been 
tainted, as her memory stone had been removed from her forcefully.

JENNY
(tries to control her emotion)
"What has the investigation conclude so far?"

SISTER MIRROVA
"The investigation could not reveal a clue, Sister Jenny. We've tried 
doing a time-reverse spell, but somehow it doesn't work. The murderer 
clearly has a magic knowledge."
(beat)
"The two guardians are my apprentices, and I know fairly well they have 
decent skills paring my own. Their gems had been smashed to bits and 
the magic's been absorbed. We can only conclude that they were killed 
in an instant without having the chance to retaliate."
"Destroying the Gems completely keeps us away from getting any 
information, and the devices could not trace a thing."

JENNY
"...To know every single way to block magic detections... The 
killer..."
(stops)
"must be an Aldebaran..."

The others are silent. They all had the same thing in mind.

JENNY
"How was it found out?"

SISTER MIRROVA
"My other apprentices were supposed to switch duty with the victims. 
From their testimony, they heard a commotion from the catacombs at the 
same time they found the guardians. When they reached it the catacombs 
had been destroyed, and the memory stone had been taken. We've 
confirmed their testimony through memory scan. They're clean."

SISTER HERA
"However, when we contacted the Queen, she told us another thing."

JENNY
(puzzled as she glances at Katrina)
"What?"

SISTER MAYA
"The Queen had a Mental Contact with Queen Reene not long before we 
told her of the event."

Jenny's eyes widen. Ancestor contacts had always been an early sign of 
danger for the Aldebarans. It has only happen a few times, and while 
sometimes these contacts were a result of a misinterpreted nightmarish 
dreams, still a caution has to be taken.

JENNY
"Is it true?"

QUEEN KATRINA
"...Yes... the contact itself is vague and blurry... but the event 
happening last night proved to be true..."

The Queen rose from her seat. At this, the two sister accompanying her 
takes out a blue crystal ball and puts it on the podium. Katrina walks 
toward it, beckoning the other sisters to gather.

Jenny and the others obeys, forming a circle around the podium while 
joining hands together. Jenny picks the spot beside the Queen, taking 
Katrina's paw in hers. The Queen smiled as their eyes meet.

QUEEN KATRINA
(turns to look at the whole audience)
"I've summoned you here to share my memory of the contact in hopes that 
we will be able to solve and find out what message my grandmother tried 
to pass to me..."

She then leads the session, chanting the ancient words followed closely 
by the Sisterhood. The crystal ball glows, sending out sparkles flowing 
into every Sister's Forehead Gems standing in the circle.

As Jenny and the others experienced the Queen's memory, they all 
started to have the same depressed expression. 

By the time the ritual is over, most of the Sisters had release their 
hands quickly, no longer wanting to maintain the contact. Jenny was 
relatively calmer than the others, but she too looked depressed. A buzz 
soon grows among them.

SISTER MIRROVA
(panting)
"What is that creature?!"

SISTER MAYA
(exhausted)
"I feel tired... this contact is draining my powers..."

QUEEN KATRINA 
(raises her paw)
"Now, remain calm, all of you." 
"From what happened last night I can conclude that the stone my 
grandmother speaks of is probably the very one stolen..."
(beat)
" what the Cursed thing is, is still vague..."
(turning towards Jenny)
"Jenny, what is your opinion?"

JENNY
(sadly)
"I cannot conclude many things from it, your Majesty...the contact was 
too weak to interpret clearly. I think Queen Reene tried to warn us of 
the event."
(beat)
"Queen Reene was one of the strongest artificer in our history, but the 
other Queens had the same magic knowledge or more. It must have 
something special connected to Queen Reene that interests the killer."

QUEEN KATRINA
(nodding)
"Exactly...however, a Memory stone, stolen by an Artificer or ordinary 
animal, must be handled with the highest priority! Queen Reene has the 
knowledge of some of the strongest spells, including the forbidden ones. 
The vision of my grandmother is haunting me... I fear that the spell 
guarding it may fail. If an artificer had her hands on the knowledge, 
we are in great danger..."

SISTER MAYA
"But breaking a Memory Stone that has been purified requires a 
sufficient knowledge and sacrifices!"

JENNY
"But not impossible..."

QUEEN KATRINA
"That is why I need the Aldebarans to mobilize quickly. We may still 
have a chance to retrieve the memory stone. Find out whether there are 
any artificers outside our borders who have sufficient magic knowledge 
to break it. Your spaceships had been prepared to board as we speak."

"This morning a permission has been isssued from UAC's Chairman for the 
High Artificers summoned here. You are free to enter most of the 
planets we are allied with, though there's a possibility the thief may 
hide itself in Toad's territory, but the permission itself does not 
mention our purpose, as it remains confidential only for the Aldebarans 
in this meeting."

"I hope my sharing of the contact will provide you help in your quest. 
May the Stars aid us..."

Ending her speech, Katrina returns to her throne. The sisters bows to 
their leader, and leave with a slower pace, still exhausted from the 
ritual. Jenny leaves last, after giving her greetings to the Queen. But 
as she passes the throne room entrance, a funny sensation echoes in her 
mind.

QUEEN KATRINA
(telepathically)
"You have the highest mobility among us, Jenny. Please be careful...And 
you can tell the hare. We may need his courage and wits,as usual..."

Jenny turns around and smiles.She raises a thumb and replies mentally, 

JENNY
(mentally)
"I will, Mother."


TO BE CONTINUED