Disclaimer: Balsk and Granash belong to me. The other original characters belong to those who submitted them and I have permission to use them for this story. Bleh!

"Approaching Earth orbit now, sir." growled out the pilot.

"Temporal distortion cloaking device heat in the yellow and holding stable, sir." said a second voice.

"Good." replied the captain. His command chair creaked as he leaned back into it but the sound was lost amidst the constant humming of the many computer banks and the low mutterings of the bridge crew.

"Are our guests prepped and ready for departure?" asked the captain as he turned to his second-in-command.

"They are ready, Captain." said the captain's second but his insectoid face showed worry, "A few of them gave us trouble when we awoke them from stasis. However, the situation has been explained and most of them have settled down."

"Most of them?" queried the captain, as he lifted an eye ridge.

"Uhh..." The officer looked nervous, "Several of our men were killed but overall casualties were minimal. Three regular and two shadow pirates are dead and several more are wounded."

"Which of our guests did this?"

"According to the reports of the surviving personal it was the two females classified as vampires and the large human known as Slywolf."

"Are they detained?"

"Slywolf is being held by Elite Pirate's 1562 and 1234. One vampire is currently incapacitated and the second has turned into mist and escaped. The guest rooms have been sealed to prevent her escape."

"Is Granash down there?"

"Yes sir."

"Have him take care of the problem and while you're doing that inform Arack that his team should be in position. Operation Predator is in effect and his reinforcements will be in their assigned places. Tell him all that."

"Yes sir!" said the officer as he saluted.

Captain Durg watched him leave and then looked out the viewscreen to see Earth. His palms itched to slap the fire button rerouted to his command chair. The huge orbital defense satellites that protected Earth from all outside invaders loomed on each side of the space pirate frigate as whales would to a dolphin.

"To be so close to our ultimate goal, yet unable to do a thing. The ultimate checkmate," he muttered to himself, "Damn you human and that damned poker game on Trisbar V!"

Durg slammed his fist down on his chair and the nearest ensign flinched and worked even faster. Being feared isn't such a bad thing after all.

"But everything will work out. I have every contingency planned for this time." said Durg, "Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

The ensign that had flinched when Durg punched his chair slowed down his furious typing and shook his head at the incompetence of higher-ups. Every time Durg did that everything-is-going-according-to-plan laugh something happened to screw things up. What did High Command see in him?

"Damn it let go of me!" shouted the struggling human from in between the two massive Elite Pirates. The Elite Pirates were gigantic humanoids, standing at over ten feet in height and usually bristling with weaponry. Currently the two pirates were holding a very pissed off Slywolf from leaping up and tearing the smaller pirates to pieces. Standing in front of him was a black haired human trying vainly to calm him down. The remaining seven people were sitting or standing around a bunch of chairs that were set in one wall. They were surrounded by twenty other space pirates, some of them the elite Power Troopers. A single space pirate stepped forward, he was unusual in the respect that he carried himself with an air of arrogance and power. Also, he had actual hands instead of the pincers that the pirate warrior caste had, although they were three-fingered, unlike the four-fingered technician caste. The new pirate surveyed the fighters and turned to a figure standing off to the side. A large, winged lizard man stood, staring out of the window at Earth. It turned as if it felt the pirate looking at it.

"Balsk." said the pirate as it nodded.

"Granash." replied Balsk. He covertly pointed at a corner of the ceiling and Granash pulled a grenade from his belt. Without looking at the point that Balsk indicated, Granash tossed the grenade at the ceiling. A loud popping sound followed by a whoosh of indrawn air followed the throw. The grenade was hovering in midair and sucking in the air near it. A tendril of mist was pulled into the vortex and soon the grenade shut off. It tumbled to the ground as the ships air processors worked overtime to get the supply of oxygen in this section of the ship back to normal levels. Slywolf and his friend had stopped to watch as Granash walked forward and picked up the grenade. He tossed it up into the air and caught it with a flourish.

"If you wish to live, little Arielle, then you would best be on your best behavior when I release you from this grenade. Got it?" needless to say, the grenade didn't respond but Granash popped the seal on it and a cloud of mist came shooting out. The mist condensed into a young looking, fairly tall girl with short, curly brown hair. She scowled at Granash and brushed off her dull red coat as if just being near him made her dirty. She shot him another evil glance and went to sit down in one of the chairs. Granash made a noise that sounded almost like a laugh and tucked the grenade back into a pouch on his belt. He then turned to face the two Elite Pirates.

"You can let him go now. I doubt he's anything I can't handle." said the pirate with a little smirk.

Slywolf looked as though he would like to pound Granash's head in for that remark but wisely did nothing as the massive pirates stepped back. The dark haired human patted Slywolf on the back but he shook off the hand and went to sit in a chair. Granash made a gesture and the other pirates stomped, sneaked, and walked out of the room.

"Do you mind telling us what the hell is going on here?" asked a short, male human with blond hair.

"Yes. Actually I do mind..." Granash checked a small computer on his wrist, "Kane, age 16, species human."

"Uhhh..." Kane seemed startled at Granash's knowledge of him, "Yeah. That's right."

"I see. Before we continue, I suspect that we should at least get to know you we all are." said Granash.

"Why Granash." said Balsk sarcastically, "I've never known you to be so understanding to other people's ignorance."

"A lot has changed since we last met, old friend." said Granash as his eyes started to glow blue with a hint of a space pirate's battle rage.

"Hey! Now wait a second here!" snapped Slywolf's friend, "Don't you guys start talking about stuff that has no holding here! Lets just get this over with."

Granash looked away from Balsk and tried to stare down the human. Almost half a minute passed while they glared at each other. Finally, Granash looked down at his wrist computer and the human gave a small grin.

"Ah. You must be the human known as DarkMagnus. From the world of Eternia I believe." said Granash and DarkMagnus nodded.

"Since the lot of you would rather sit around and sulk, I guess I'll have to introduce the lot of you." Granash sighed and move the wrist comp closer to his face.

Granash first pointed at Kane. "We already know that he his Kane," he pointed at DarkMagnus, "He is DarkMagnus," Granash pointed at the vampire that was trapped in the grenade, "And that she is Arielle."

Granash went around and intoduced the lot of them, taking care to only give their names. First, there was Slywolf, the big, brawny, blond compatriot of DarkMagnus. He had a pair of short fangs that showed signs of inhuman parentage. Next was DarkMagnus himself: A fair height, human all the way with black hair that hung over his left eye and piercing blue eyes. His most distinguishing features were the two gems embedded in his hands. One gem was black and the other was white. The human named Yuki was next. She was about average height for a female human and had gray hair and gray eyes. She was thin and wiry and looked fairly strong.

Shigure Igarashi was next. He was the most laid back of the assembled motley, and watched things with slightly interested brown eyes. It was impossible to tell how tall he was because he was sprawled out on his chair as though he was at home watching a football game. He had long brown hair done back in a braid and looked very Native American-ish. The human named Ryu Caliber was next. He had reddish hair and blue eyes. He looked at little nervous, but then again, who wouldn't in such a situation? Rune Cloudwanderer was next. He sat apart from the main group and just looked at everyone tiredly when his name was called. He had odd orange colored hair and greenish blue eyes. He was sitting on the ground with his cloak tucked underneath him.

Next was the odd specimen of Jurich Dragmire. He looked very similar to Gannondorf, but better looking over all, with long red hair and purple eyes. Lendiseth Kalt-Anion was the second vampire of the group. She had pointed ears that suggested elven heritage with long blond hair that had black streaks in it. Her eyes were blue-green and she was effectively the largest breasted among the other women/girls. She had a large knot on her head from where an Elite Pirate had punched her but seemed well on her way to recovery. Finally, was the hyper Ayad El Flamenco. He had short, slicked back black hair and a mustache and beard that looked like they were modeled from Dictator's Monthly. He was sitting in a chair and was very jittery, as if he couldn't wait for something to happen.

The only, blatantly, non-humans there were Balsk and Granash. Balsk was a very tall winged lizard man covered in dull bronze scales. The lower half of his thick tail was mechanical and the way he kept glaring at Granash hinted that the space pirate might have played some role in his wounding. The most erie thing about him was his glowing red eyes. Then there was Granash himself. Complete with the insect/crustacion features of a space pirate he had thick, three-fingered hands. He moved with agile quickness, so he must not be as clumsy as his brethren. Introductions complete, Granash changed topics to why everyone was here in the first place. It all went over fairly quickly.

It was explained to the assembled fighters that they had been gathered from whatever day, age, dimension they hailed from to compete in a tournament. At the tournament they would meet like-minded individuals that were participating. This tournament was the third that had ever been held and everyone gathered here was going to be the new blood. The prize would be anything they wished that would be feasible for the tournaments host to acquire. A few grew very misty eyed at this proclamation as they thought about what they would go for.

"We will be landing in a few minutes." said Granash after he had finished with his explanation, "Follow me and we will head to collect your weapons and then to the shuttle bay."

Granash walked over to a door in the bulkhead and pressed several buttons and submitted his eye for a retinal scan. The door hissed open and Granash motioned for the others to follow before he stepped inside. Balsk and DarkMagnus were the first ones through the door and looked at each other in amusement. Inside the door was an armory. On one wall were weapons for the smaller pirates, energy blasters and wrist scythes. The other wall had mounts for where heavier weapons would go, such as the artillery cannon of an Elite Pirate. Granash was busy helping himself to various weapons but it was obvious that someone had been in her before them. Many of the anti-personal weapons were already missing and the all of the heavy weapons. On the back wall were almost a dozen boxes, each with a different name on them.

Balsk ripped the top of his box and withdrew an odd looking long sword. It appeared to be two regular long swords fused together with a slight gap in between the two. Balsk withdrew a beaten sheath and buckled it on. His sword followed it a second later. DarkMagnus opened his box and pulled out his own sword. It is a thick, sturdy looking broad sword with a fire blackened hilt and lava designs etched into the blade. As it was lifted out of the box the lava started to move through the blade. A large, jet-black orb sat in the middle of the silver set into the hilt. It glowed slightly as DarkMagnus grabbed it and walked out the door with Balsk and Granash.

Yuki claimed her katana and a small pouch. Slywolf pulled a veritable armory out of the box marked with his name. When he was done putting his weapons in various places he was literally covered with throwing knives and small bombs. Two larger knives were hanging from his belt. He left the room with a very satisfied look on his face. Kane got a pair of simple but very serviceable daggers from his box and pulled out an iron spear and some brass knuckles from his. Arielle withdrew a short bow and quiver and a long dagger. Ryu drew out a long sword and Rune took out a spell book and a light mace. Lendiseth took out a pair of pistols and a dagger. And finally, Ayad claimed his pistols and twirled them around before slipping them into their holsters. Jurich had no box, he just looked at the gem on his necklace and walked out of the room.

With everyone armed and ready Granash led the way to the shuttle bay. Along the way, the new fighters passed by several space pirate workers, who stared at them, open-mouthed, while they walked past. The shuttle bay was soon reached and they boarded the craft that was waiting for them. Across the bay was a second shuttle that was being filled with space pirates in full combat gear. The second ship took off first and a short while later the shuttle which held the fighters leaped out of the ship and glided down to the Coliseum, which they happened to be floating directly over.

Well. There's the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it folks. If you have any question, comments, or suggestions don't hesitate to e-mail or review me.