Los Angeles - Several days later

  Amongst the rubble of a quiet sector, one bypassed by the coalition, movement stirred from within the corpse of a dead tentacle. The massive black and oily carcass sat rotting in the midday sun. Around it, the city was barely alive. Radioactive contamination made recovery efforts slow and limited. As a result, the landscape was barren except for a few work crews chipping away at the wreckage on the battlefield.

  Something moved inside the corpse, feeling its way out. Eventually the outer walls of its skin bulged as whatever was inside fought to break through. Finally, claws punctured the skin from within. In a couple wide slashes, a hole was cut in the rotting flesh. The black-coated figure of Agamemnon stumbled out into the light.

  He was enraged. He was not supposed to be alive. This moment was not supposed to come. He was supposed to be dead and reunited with the Black Sun. The darkness had arrived. This world was supposed to be consumed!

  And yet, here he was, standing on it. That could only mean that that useless queen had failed in the eleventh hour and the Vanguard had clutched victory from the jaws of defeat. How that was possible, he was not sure.

  He resolutely adjusted his coat and wiped off a small bit of slime. He could still ensure this world would burn.

  Azure Island

  Over-Commander Tycho entered the vast expanse of a previously unoccupied hangar on the islands airbase. The hangar was now a hub of secrecy. It's doors were closed and all windows covered up. Signal jammers were installed on the perimeter that jammed any and all frequencies, including the Vanguard's. All entryways and exits were hermetically sealed. Air was pumped in and out through a complex series of highly filtered vents that continuously monitored the particles in the air flowing through. The few personnel allowed to enter had to wear self-contained breathing apparatus' under an air-encapsulated HAZMAT suit.

  Security outside was not focused on preventing unauthorized access, it was focused on keeping anything inside from getting out.

  Tycho walked with a cane due to his injuries. He was escorted by two armed guards and his new adjutant, a Serbian Lieutenant named Zivkov.

  Zivkov was the opposite of the late Lieutenant Finnegan, who had an Irishman's can-do attitude. Instead, he had a complete lack of a sense of humor that bordered on menacing and was always straight-faced. They were all wearing the bulky suits.

  Once inside the hangar, they were greeted by a researcher. She ushered them onto the main floor where an investigation was underway.

  There were dozens more researchers pouring over piles of mechanical wreckage. They had arranged it on the ground with pieces grouped based on where they believed it fit together. Every piece was catalogued, serialized and tracked. Groups of technicians worked to scan the pieces to create a 3D renderings to help fit the puzzle together.

  "What have you got for me Doctor Horn?" Tycho interrupted a female doctor as she hunched over a laptop, examining a small object as if it contained the secrets to the entire universe. Her white labcoat was stained and clearly hadn't been washed in days. Her long hair was a mess.

  She jumped slightly when Tycho said her name.

  "Ah, Over-Commander! I wasn't expecting you for another hour." She said frantically.

  "I'm actually an hour late..." Tycho checked his watch.

  She waved away his words while rolling her chair across the floor. "Never the matter. You're here. Uh, isn't Leader-Commander Tambor supposed to be attending as well?"

  Tycho licked his lips apprehensively. "He is... indisposed."

  The female researcher shrugged and began briefing him. "This is the wreckage of the UFO shot down off Australia at the beginning of the global offensive. We were able to recover 98% of the craft. We assess it didn't break up until it hit the water."

  "It's not vampiric or Nyx design?"

  "No, we have confirmed it's extraterrestrial. That's for sure. Absolutely none of the elements in any of these pieces of debris can be found on Earth."

  Tycho crossed his arms. "Can we atleast reconstruct it?"

  "We're working on that. So far, we've not been successful. We can't even tell which end is the front."

  Tycho nodded. "Show me the pilot."

  "This way." She gestured for him to follow.

  The doctor escorted him into another enclosure, this one was isolated from the rest of the hangar in the same way that the hangar was isolated from the outside.

  Inside were two capsules, both heavily damaged. A series of cables and diagnostic machinery surrounded both, constantly monitoring them or trying to obtain some kind of reading.

  "We believe these are escape pods or life rafts of some kind." Horn told him. "Both had one lifeform each inside of them."

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  "Living?"

  "The one on the left is dead. It appears the pod sustained damage when the craft was shot down. There is evidence of seawater intrusion. We have not exhumed the body. We don't know its biological makeup, so we are being cautious." She gestured to the other. "This one is alive."

  Tycho stepped closer. The pod had a large clear pane on the front. Inside was a humanoid-ish figure. It's body was completely smooth and its skin, if that's what it was, was featureless and shiny like chrome. Tycho could almost see his reflection in it. The alien clearly had a round head and humanoid torso, but all similarities stopped there. It's limbs were long and tentacle-like. They ended in a single pointy claw. It's legs were the same. Inside the pod, it stood at seven feet tall.

  Tycho studied it, his eyes taking in the sight of an otherworldly lifeform. It was alive. Its arms and legs loved subtly and its "face" followed him whenever he moved. It was hard to tell what it might be feeling or thinking as it lacked a face.

  "Can we talk to it?" Tycho asked.

  Horn perked up at that question. "That's where we've made some progress. They do not have vocal cords like we do, but they do understand human gestures like a thumbs up or a nod. We have been talking to this one and have learned that they have been studying us, which is why they understand our movements." She was talking excitedly now. "There's a translator in their craft that can allow us to talk directly. We just found it."

  She waved over a team and they gingerly carried over a small and inconspicuous device. It was a hexagonal ball with many flat faces. A researcher placed it in a receptacle on the life raft and pressed a button on it."

  The doctor added, "We don't know how it works, but obviously we thought it was best to get you before asking any, ah, practical questions."

  Tycho nodded his approval. "You did well. Very smart."

  Tycho considered his questions for a moment. "There are questions I need to ask it. Is it transmitting? Does it understand me?"

  "I understand you." Came a voice from the pod. It was calm and even-toned. Definitely an organic voice.

  Tycho turned back to the alien.

  "What are you?" he asked.

  The alien answered. "I am called Kilag. I am a scientist of the Oort People."

  "Why did you come to Earth?"

  "To observe and document."

  "Document what?"

  "Your planet's destruction."

  Tycho's brow furrowed and he shared a worried look with the doctor. "You mean us harm?"

  The alien shook its head. "Not us. The anomaly you call the Black Sun. It has destroyed many civilizations. Yours is simply the latest. Our mission, " It gestured to the pod next to it. It's voice became somewhat strained at the mention of its partner. "was to gather scientific data and analysis of the planet for study by our research apparatus."

  Tycho's head spun from the revelation that not only did alien life exist, but it knew about the Black Sun.

  "Do you know how to stop it?" He asked, a little bit more emotion than he would have liked entering his voice.

  Kilag shook his head. "It is as poorly understood by us as it is by you. We were hoping, due to your species unique traits, that you would know something we did not."

  "Unique traits?"

  Kilag nodded. "You're species is remarkably similar to the Creator. We have come to the conclusion that you were made in his image. A significant figure within our belief system."

  Tycho's eyes went wide. He could not believe what he was hearing.

  Kilag continued. "We have also observed that you are in contact with his divine emissaries. We truly believe that with the discovery of your planet, we have found a solution to the Black Sun and prevent its consumption of any more civilizations."

  Tycho and Zivkov shared a look.

  "How do we contact your people?"

  The Pit Prison Complex

  Lt. Camila stared through reinforced one-way glass at Axton's unconscious body as it lay restrained to a gurney in the prison's deepest and most secure cell. An entire team of black-clad guards stood watch over it. Access to him was more strictly controlled than a nuke.

  To her left, a doctor was leaving the cell. The guards were carefully going through the tools he brought in with him, checking every single piece like and treating it like it was the most dangerous thing in the world. The poor physician was sent through several scanners to ensure nothing was trying to escape with him.

  Once through, he approached and saluted Camila. She did not take her eyes off of Tambor.

  "How is he?" She asked.

  The doctor took in a breath. "He is completely sedated, but it's a close run thing right now. We're upgrading to horse tranquilizers tomorrow. The sedatives should be keeping his subconscious calm, but they haven't had any effect besides paralyzing him. To explain in layman's terms, his brain is operating as if he is in a fight-or-flight scenario. I have never seen anything like it. There is something going on up there that we cannot see. And unfortunately, we're running out of time. His body is burning through sedatives at an inhuman rate. We have maybe a few weeks, but I cannot even guarantee that, before he outpaces our ability to keep him under."

  "Thank you. Dismissed." Camila said, stoically.

  The doctor saluted again and departed.

  Camila considered turning around and leaving, but she noticed a silhouette approach her from behind. It was the angel. She sneered when Checkmate came alongside.

  "You care about him a lot. Don't you?" Checkmate said.

  "You are the reason he is like this." Camila said, an edge of venom in her voice.

  Checkmate ignored her tone.

  "I am the reason he is alive at all." She retorted. "Funny that. Coming from the angel of death."

  Camila searched her mind, looking for words. "Did you know this could happen?"

  Checkmate shrugged. "We thought it might be possible, but we also thought it would kill him outright. Which you had ought to do."

  Camila's eyes flashed anger. "What!? How can you say that?"

  "He's a danger now." Checkmate pointed out. Her logic was cold. "He's a vector for Black Sun intrusion. Which is getting closer by the way."

  "What happens when he wakes up?"

  "He's a weapon. You'd better hope he doesn't."

  Camila deflated. She glanced back at Tambor.

  "Or," Checkmate said. "He wins the fight going on in his head."

  "Like what happened to that Rifle? Uh," She struggled to remember his name. "Mike Perelli?"

  "Exactly."

  "Then go in there and help him!" Camila said.

  "My hands are tied. That's not a human mind and I no longer have the keys. There's things going on behind the scenes that not even you are privy to."

  "Tsch," Camila balked. "Now I know what he meant when he would mutter about 'cryptic angel bullshit.'"

  "The only one who can save him right now, is you." Checkmate said.

  "Wha- how?" She asked, but Checkmate had already disappeared.