Princess Zorthia stared out at the window at the rich and fairly colorful hue of the planet over which her cruiser was approaching. The planet Marzala had a lovely appearance from space that belied its enigmatic and fearsome reputation. She nervously adjusted the tight armada-issue coat and her all-terrain boots and pulled her hair from her beautiful face back into a pony tail.

The door to the quarters she was sitting in opened and a much older elf walked through it.

"Your highness" he said bowing his head as he sat down in a chair across from where she was sitting.

"Grand Admiral Gall" she respectfully said back. "Does it look all right?"

"We will be safe here as long as we don't stay too long and we are careful on the surface. The ash seems particularly thick over the sky today, though, so we need to enter the atmosphere carefully."

"Good" the princess said still starting out the window. "Let's go check out the temple while checking around to see if there's any trace of the Morian."

"I think that's a good idea." Gall pushed a button on the panel next to where he was seating. "Captain, please prepare us for landing at location alpha, and have the men ready to go."

A voice over the communicator said "Yes, admiral."

"No trace of any reptilia anywhere around here?" Zorthia asked.

"None. We will probably not be disturbed here. After the incident with the Morian people are going to be even more afraid of this place" Gall said looking at the window that almost had little visibility as they entered the atmosphere.

"Do you think we need to pull out all the stops to find the survivor of the Morian and the rumored super weapon?" Zorthia asked.

"As of now, I think we need to put all of our focus on outworld and the election." Gall said as the cruiser entered orbit and prepared to make descent into the surface.

"What are we going to do to make sure Governor Larrett wins?"

"There isn't a whole lot we can do but hope that our generosity can sway people. Reasoning with them will only go so far. Human societies will follow their democratic tenets off a cliff there and they can't be rescued from it, as the great human-elf war proved."

"We're to let the fate of the galaxy rest in the hands of people who vote in the governor's election then?"

"There are options for us should the election not go our way, your highness. There are still cards to be played to sway the vote and there are things that can be done to lower the stakes."

Just then the automatic door came open and an elf dressed in a dark blue and slick Armada-issued expedition suit entered the room. He was stocky with a big forehead and stood at about five foot six, making him of somewhat short stature. It was Geerhil Golmad, the head of the Royal Ministry of Science and Technology.

"Your highness, grand admiral, we are getting close to the temple." Geer pointed out the window. Marzala had a very barren appearance. No vegetation or wildlife could be seen anywhere.

"I can see why many humans are terrified of this place" the princess remarked. "This place could even put chills into elves."

"Those are probably just your nerves being all the way out here with no real escorts" Geerhill said. "Just try to relax. No one will know that we are here if we don't do anything to draw attention to ourselves." Geer turned his head out the window in the direction the ship was headed. "There it is!" he said. "That's the temple."

The temple was jet black, resembling almost a dome with rocket fins. It was not a majestic looking building, looking like a giant boulder of obsidian in the middle of a vast sinuous, rocky desert landscape. Zorthia joined Geer, Gall, and a group of other officers and armed commandos and exited the cruiser.

Geer walked up to the base of the temple and held up a hand-held device in front of the side of the building. "This is a fullerene-based composite material. It takes a lot of molecular precision to make a material like this. This building is most definitely built by the grays."

"Let's go ahead and go inside" the princess said.

"Prepare to enter!" Gall said. "And stay alert! We don't know what could be in there." One of the armada soldiers walked up to the door and pushed on the switch, and the door immediately opened, to the surprise of everyone. The soldiers stepped inside first.

"We've got lights on in here!" one of the soldiers said.

"That doesn't mean anyone's home" Geerhill said. "This is a gray structure, the lights here might be on until the end of this system." After a moment, the all clear was given and Gall and the princess entered the Temple. Inside was an austere corridor that seemed to go around the perimeter of the building. The group proceeded around the right side of the corridor, with guns at the ready. The corridor went on for a while until they reached an intersection with a larger corridor going towards the center. The group turned and went down the large corridor. At the end of the corridor was what looked like a large double door. Once again, the large door opened when the button was pushed, revealing a very large and tall room, with what looked sort of like a large column in the middle that was very wide at the bottom and narrower at the top.

Geer walked up to a place on the column to see what looked like an empty compartment within it. The column was apparently not there for structural support, but appeared to be an apparatus of some kind.

"What is this, Geer?" the princess asked as Geerhill looked it over.

"This is potentially really bad." Geer said. Zorthia's heart sank. Geer was not one to overdramatize a situation.

"What is it?" the princess asked

"There is an empty compartment in this column. I recognize the shape and the electrodes It looks like it houses a very high-energy cell."

"Do you think the human on the Morian could've stolen it?" Gall asked.

"That's very much possible" Geerhill said. That could possibly explain the fire on the Morian."

Gall stood staring at the cell compartment for a moment to think. "We need to hold a meeting with Armada admirals as soon as possible, your highness. At the very least we need to beef up the search for the missing Morian crew member. Have you heard anything from Azari, yet?"

"He hasn't found him, yet. He must be in the human sector. If Yuler can't find him he is either dead or he left outworld. "

"Hands up! Identify yourself!" The shout of one of the soldiers startled everyone. Near the door opposite where they entered was what appeared to be an elfess in a long white dress. She slowly began walking towards them.

"Hands up in the air or we will shoot!" shouted the solider. The elfess did not listen, but instead kept advancing. As she got closer, Geer noticed something very strange.

"She's transparent! It's some kind of fancy optical trick" Geerhill said. The soldier fired several shots at the apparition. Nothing happened. The apparition continued walking completely unfazed until she was right in front of the group and stopped.

"What is this place?" Zorthia said looking at the apparition. Everyone looked at her surprised, as if they thought it ridiculous to talk to an apparent hologram for information. The group stood in silence with the soldier's guns still drawn, as if firing at close range might make a difference from the previous bullets which seemed to go right through it.

Everyone jumped as they heard a voice that seemed to emanate directly from the apparition. "This…is one of the great cathedrals of the lost knowledge."

"It's just a silly device used to try and scare superstitious humans" Golmad sneered. "We need to be going, there's really nothing else to see here." The group began to walk towards the door, with the soldiers waiting briefly with their gun pointed at the apparition before turning around to follow the rest of the group.

"The servants of the goddess are mobilizing against you your highness" said the same voice from behind them. The princess felt a slight chill stopped where she was walking and turned around, causing everyone else to stop. "Watch your back" the apparition said and turned around to walk in the direction she came. She took a few steps and then disappeared from view. The princess just stood for a moment in her position and continued to stare in the direction the apparition appeared, as if expecting it to re-appear.

"It's gray technology, your highness." Geer said. "It's probably programmed to spook anyone away from here. The grays don't like to use booby traps, they prefer to try and scare people away from their places. Don't think anything of it." The group resumed walking towards the exit. Zorthia after a brief moment turned around to follow them. The group exited the temple and boarded the cruiser hastily.

The princess made her way back to her quarters by herself and pushed a button below the big viewing screen. After a few seconds, the face of a handsome young elf appeared on the screen.

"Tal" the princess said. "Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thank you, Zorthia" the elf said. "Did Golmad find anything interesting on the surface?"

"We found nothing interesting about the Morian or its crew, but we confirmed the temple was created by the grays. Golmad thinks there's a very high-energy cell that is missing, but we don't know who has it." The elf let off a big sigh.

"What is Gall going to do?" Tal asked.

"He wants to play it cautious until the election it seems." Tal shook his head.

"We cannot afford to allow militias and rebel human groups to become confident and strong. It's past time we took decisive action on them. If the outworld independence groups have that energy cell or super weapon the election will become the least of our worries."

"Are you sure about this?" the princess asked warily.

"We now know the locations of no less than a dozen rebel hideouts throughout outworld. We can raid all of them simultaneously and take whatever weapons they may have accumulated."

"The grand admiral will never go along with this, you know" the princess said.

"Of course he won't" Tal answered. "But if you give me the order I can have these operations assembled and carried out very swiftly." The princess just sat for a moment, in thought.

"This will come at a very high political cost, Tal" the princess admonished him.

"It will" Tal said unabashedly, "but like your mother Adella once said, humans periodically need to be shown superior strength when they get uppity." The princess nodded her head.

"You have my blessing, but please be cautious that you don't kill too many people. I will tell Azari to stop his search for the missing human and join with you."

"Don't worry" Tal said. "We will have them subdued before they can get their pants on. I will hopefully be able to speak face-to-face with you again before long." His face disappeared from the screen.