K dudes, this story has some time jumping. Hope it's not too confusing. Sorry for the wait.



CHAPTER 8: Fast Forward

'What? Where am I?' Rumbo stood in the middle of white-ness. Nothing. Then, Rumbo squinted and saw everything. The lines of space-time wove around him, singing and vibrating with energy.

'Hello Rumbo. I have little life-force left. Listen now.' Rumbo spun around and saw Time. A frail rabbit with a bent body. This was not how Rumbo remembered Time.

'What happened to you? You look a wreck!' Rumbo bit his lip. Time was shaking, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

'Rumbo, I am as it is said. I am slowly dying. I shall soon disappear. You must find the Book of Time.' The rabbit began to fade out of existence. Rumbo ran towards him, but the image moved away.

'But the Book of Time is at my home! I can get it easily!' Rumbo shouted. He began to run towards the rabbit, who, whispering a few words, faded from existence.

'All is not as it seems, Rumbo! Not as it seems...' Rumbo was suddenly transported away. He did not know where he teleported to, but knew it was not the same place he had came from.



1 YEAR LATER

'All prisoners enter cells. Those caught out will be severely punished. you have been warned.' A mechanical voice bleeped over a prison intercomm.

'Lets go Ducky. Prison cells. Bah, do they really pass this slop off as food? It's bad enough we have to smell it, let lone eat it.' Spaz and Ducky sat on the floor of their cell, slowly swirling patterns in their bowls. Ducky lifted a spoon of grey slop from the muck.

'Ugh. I hate this stuff. What is it anyway? Tastes like old roots and weeds boiled up in molasses. Turtle fare.' She made a face then, pinching her nose, spooned the slop into her mouth.

'Boy do I wish I had some real food. A huge mug of steaming hot vegetable soup, with lettuce, mushrooms, potatoes, leeks, peas, carrots and onion flan. Or maybe a bowl of salad wth some tomatoes and dressing. Anything but this.' Spaz finished his meal, then plopped down on his bed. It had been one year. After roaming around in a stolen tank during the invasion, Spaz and Ducky had been caught by a turtle troops.

'Man, this is the worst place in existence. It's got to be. Work in mines by day, eat trash, sleep on rough sheets and hard matresses. If this isn't the pits then I don't know what is.'



'Status Report, Kaz.' Elfatine strode the bridge of the Ralvient. Kazooie and defalcon had since joined with the hare and were senior officers. Not that they accepted the rank - Kazooie said being called Commander of a Star-System-Nebula Photorship was too big a title.

'We're twenty minutes away from the asteroid. There are 5 prison camps there, all of varying defences. Sheilds will be activated 5 minutes before we drop out of hyperspace. All systems are fully operational, and we have 4 shuttles with troops awaiting departure.' Kazooie worriedly gazed at his control pad. There were no problems, and anything was running smoothly. This was why he was worried.

'Hmm. I don't suppose we'll be going down there, Elfatine? I mean, I'm sure the troops will do their jobs liberating prisoners.' Kazooie glanced up at the large hare. Since joining Elfatine's crew, they had launched into guerilla warfare against Devan Shell, popping out of hyperspace and back in again. They had launched strikes against prison camps and had obtained a crew of rabbits to join with Elfatine's hares by attacking various outposts.

'Of course we will. I've been stuck on the bridge for quite a while. Better get geared up.' Elfatine strode to the door, but was stopped.

'Er, dude, we're attacking the one that's least defended, right?' Kaz stared at the hare. He had a tendancy to be extremely wild.

'Least defended? Nah, too predictable. Maximum security.' The hare winked at the bird and strode out the door.



'Lets roll. Is everyone here?' Elfatine stood on a shuttle ramp, mentally checking off the crew in his mind.Thinnel, Frax, Povus, Kaz, defalc-

'Where's defalcon? Kaz, you seen him?' The red bird glanced up from his gear and shrugged.

'I'm over here.' defalcon strode into the hangers, clad in his battle outfit - Purple flight jacket over a black singlet, flight pants and boots. 'Which shuttle? The pink one? Argh! I have to talk to engineering about getting new paint jobs.'

The three strode into the shuttle and within minutes they were cruising towards an asteroid.

'So far so good boys, lets hope the luckl stays this way.' Elfatine winked and defalcon groaned. 'Aw man, you just jinxed it. Kaz, we ned to tape his mouth shut before missions.'

With a laugh, the two wrestled Elfatine to the ground and placed a large piece of duct tape over his mouth.



'Well,' Devan rubbed his chin. 'You don't see this sort of thing evry day. An uncharted planet without any signs of lifeforms other than plants, along with strange energy readings that defy physics? I've only heard of planets like this in legend.' He lounged lazily on a sofa, flicking food at the bin.

'Sir? Your orders?' A tough looking terrapin stood awaiting orders. Even though Devan sometimes seemed insane, the turtle knew he was possibly the greatest warrior in the galaxy.

'My orders? Bah, what with it. I'll lead an away team down to the planet. I haven't gotten off this ship for months.'



'Okay. defalcon and Kazooie will take in this stolen grav-tank and launch an attack on the south wall. I'll be leading in troops through the holes they leave behind. Don't attack unless you have too, and try to stay low. Good luck.'

defalcon and Kazooie hopped into the seats of a roomy grav tank and powered it up.

'You know how to drive one of these?' Kazooie watched the monitors as fuel was injected into the engine pistons, warming it up.

'Sure thing, I'm an expert at this sort of stuff.' defalcon flicked on the power and gunned the engines. The hover-tank roared to life as defalcon eased the throttle to full. 'Watch this.'

WHAM! The tank reversed into a boulder. grinning sheepshly, defalcon muttered a hasty 'oops' and flicked the forward throttle.

Kazooie laughing the whole time, the duo sped towards the encampment, where the assault had just begun.



'Fire! Fire!' Elfatine threw explosives over the mining camps walls and was awarded with an anguished cry from a turtle.

'Sir,' cried a young hare named Falshaw. 'Where are defalcon and Kaz? We need them to bust open the walls!'

As if in response, a loud explosion sounded off to the left of the group.

'Yeah! Its time!' whooped Falshaw. Elfatine shook his head. Youth.

Storming through the smoking mess of rubble that was once a large barrier, the team of crack warriors fired volleys of energy into guard teams.

'Head towards the camps! The goal is to free some prisoners! Blasters set to full power! Move! Move!'



BLAM! Loud explosions sounded outside of the prison cells. Spaz and Ducky jumped up from their chairs and peered out the window.

'By ecky! Rescuers!' Spaz jumped up and down excitedly, trodding on Ducky's feet.

'Ouch! Watch it you mad-beast! Oh it's true! We're gonna be saved!'

'Yeah! Decent food!' Spaz, of course.

Suddenly Spaz pushed Ducky over and threw himself to the floor. 'There's a massive tank heading towards our cell!' With a roar of engines and explosion of mortar, the cell walls shattered and a red bird pulled it's head from the hatch.

'Yeehaw! That was fun! You two, hurry up and get in the tank.' Kaz paused as he stared into Spaz's face. 'Aren't you..'

'Introductions later. Hurry and get us out of here!'