A/N -Just a note, the re-write is actually being worked on right now. :D I also have a shiny new Beta! Mr. Alec Mcdowell, he's got some Nu-Trek, BSG, and SPN stuff on this site, all worth a read. Thanks as always for reading :D (anything and everything shall be improved in the second incarnation, I am hoping to wait until a few chapters have been polished updated etc before replacing content) If you would like to see the new chapters as they become available they are being posted to my LJ Angel_Ireul :D

In 2060 the human race finally achieved feasible sustainable manned flight and the colonization of the solar system began. In 2107 mankind moved beyond our star and out into neighboring solar systems.

As part of the new expansion intensive medical protocols were established to screen prospective colonists and explorers. During these protocols every human on earth was scanned, probed, and tagged. The protocols discovered two previously unknown subspecies of mankind. The existence of these species was kept quite by the authorities, fearing that the majority of mankind would react violently to their cousin's existence, the coalition of earth governments in charge of the Commonwealth feared for the safety of their colonization program.

The first species, designated Sub-Alpha was perfectly normal in all respects save their life expectancy. Sub-Alpha's could theoretically live forever, if they avoided losing their heads. The second species, Sub-Beta bore a striking resemblance to the vampires of popular fiction. Sub-Beta's had elongated teeth, sensitivity to light, augmented strength, severe allergies to garlic and silver and required a higher protein content in their diets than humans but did not require blood to survive.

The Subs as they were derogatorily referred to in the small circles responsible for deciding their fates were denied access to the stars and doomed to survive on the ravaged carcass of the earth.

The earth while capable of sustaining human life had been sorely abused in the early years of the twenty first century. War had spread over the planet, fueled by a lust for oil and a devastating viral attack centered on the Middle East, it had wiped out nearly half of the planet's population, the first world had gotten off lightly losing slightly less than a third of their populations, the third and fourth world had been devastated. In the power vacuum and chaos remaining the first world had pulled itself together, formed a world government and opened all borders.

The human race would survive; the Subs were banished from the skies and humanity's new future. All newborns were probed and scanned and tested for Sub characteristics. Any testing positive were shipped Earthside, fostered in crèche's run by the same Sub group as the infant and left to their fates. The Subs were the new government's dirty little secret. Rumors persisted as to the existence of the Subs but they were more urban legend than fact.

Colonel Jezkiel stared at the Nav map. It depicted a two dimensional approximation of the three dimensional area around his command post. It was an approximation but it was pretty close none the less. He watched as the supply ship blipped closer on the screen.

"Status?" He demanded.

"ETA less than five minutes sir." The com officer replied. The command center housed five workstations dedicated to maintaining the integrity, security and alert status of the platform.

Jezkiel nodded to himself and spared a glance for the command center. As the ranking officer aboard the phase one platform he shouldered a great deal of responsibility. It was his duty to insure that the prospective citizens of the new interstellar commonwealth were physically and mentally suited to the new life that waited. He was charged with insuring those who passed the rigorous exams and tests were outfitted with appropriate equipment and adequate supplies to sustain them on their journey to their new homes and insure they had enough to gain a foothold once arriving. It was an onerous task, which garnered little praise. The colony flights had become routine and blasé when compared to the new feats and excitement to be found beyond earth. Jezkiel knew also that at the rate the earth was being abandoned his post would be obsolete in less than ten years. Not that he minded his tour of duty would end before that.

"I want the packages unloaded sorted and stored immediately. That crew has better things to for the commonwealth than loaf around our station. See to it." He growled at his aide.

The lieutenant bobbed his head in acknowledgment and hurried off, data pad in hand to see to it. Jezkiel smiled grimly. The transport crew did indeed have better things to do, like shuttle the sub infants back to the surface and take on more potentials.

Jezkiel loathed the subs, the inhuman results of too much saturated radiation, too much plague, too much pollution . . . too much corruption. The subs were irrevocable evidence of humanity's unclean nature in the past and their resolve to better themselves in this gleaming new future. His smile twisted and turned predatory, he would see that the shipment disembarked without delay.

He moved brusquely down the sterile halls and access points of the station. It was composed of hundreds of miles of tunnels, halls, maintenance crawl ways, crew quarters, duty stations, storage sections, and weapons bays. The station was the only officially armed member of the New Commonwealth Fleet. The NCF was a catchall quasi military law enforcement amalgamation. It was controlled by the Commonwealth Secretariat and answered only to the Head of the Secretariat. The chain of command and rank structure was based on the NATO structure of the early twenty-first century.

His solid boots thunked proudly on the functionally sterile stations plating. He arrived at the staging area for the subs and surveyed the infants. They were placed in tiny bio-crates, their small forms stilled by carefully regulated doses of drugs designed to create a pre-hibernation state. The infants would not be harmed-unfortunately in Jezkiel's opinion- but would remain dormant, not growing, reacting, or metabolizing until the counter drugs were administered on the surface. Jezkiel sneered at the three dozen crates and shook his head.

Jezkiel was tall for a new human as the survivors of the plagues and wars referred to themselves he was over six foot, had blue-black hair and incongruous jade green eyes. His complexion held an unhealthy pallor in spite of his mandatory UV exposures ordered for all long term crew by the Medical Authority. His features were aquiline and arrogant, thick dark eyebrows framed his cold eyes. His thin bloodless lips peeled back from his too bright teeth as he ran a tongue over them. They were oddly small and made his mouth seem overly large and aggressive.

"Sir, the crew is refueling as we speak, they'll be ready to return Earthside within the hour."

"Excellent." Jezkiel grunted, ignoring the maintenance officer. The officer's underlings were hurriedly removing and stacking the large transport's cargo onto self propelled pallets, they then programmed the location where the items needed to be stored into the pallet's system and let it move off. They worked rapidly, sweating heavily in the ambient 72 degrees the platform was maintained at. They were a well organized crew.

Jezkiel waited patiently until each and every one of the thirty six bio-crates was loaded and the transport was buttoned up for disengagement. He nodded at the maintenance officer and returned to his post. It was his way to insure the Subs were loaded and removed from his command as rapidly as possible. He despised them and longed for the days when he could retire to Mars and never think of them again. His green eyes flashed spitefully as he gave the transport one last look before leaving.

The transport crew was always happy to leave the Phase One Platform. Colonel Jezkiel was a fanatic and a tyrant, the fact that the NCF structure allowed and encouraged his tyranny didn't help. The transport crew were contracted, they were free agents who appreciated the lucrative yet relatively easy task of ferrying supplies and subs. Officially of course they didn't know about the Subs and had signed and sweared against revealing the existence of the subs but unofficially they had been trained to deal with malfunctioning bio crates and briefed on the two main population centers of the Alphas and Betas.

The two main centers were on opposite sides of Old America. The American state had been largely untouched by the worst ravages of the wars and plague. The main cities were devastated of course by looting and fires but the outlying suburbs were largely intact. The Alphas had claimed the Puget sound area specifically, the largely intact secondary city of Seacouver, the Beta's for reasons known only to them clung to the remnants of Old New York.

"Where to first Captain?" the grizzled pilot asked wearily. His captain was a brutal ham fisted man with strict rules and a tendency for violent retribution. The pilot was a smaller leaner man.

"New York I need some tail."

The pilot grimaced, he couldn't fathom sex with a Beta, maybe an Alpha but the Betas were cold and vicious. They cannibalized their dead and lusted for warm human flesh, at least that was what he'd heard. He didn't get off the transport during unloading. The captain insisted he stay at the controls in case of trouble. What trouble the pilot didn't know, they'd been making that run for over a year without any trouble. He input the coordinates for Old New York and turned the transport about. He began triple checked the disengagement had succeeded and fired the engines up. He throttled up and headed out grateful as always to be leaving the platform.

The medic and all around well trained slave tended to the bio-crates. She sighed and made a tick on her data pad. Each of the thirty six were operating at optimum capacity, each infant safe and oblivious. She hated monitoring the bio-crates, they were deeply creepy. She sighed again and flipped the data pad into standby, they had an hour of near atmosphere juggling to do before entering atmosphere and landing at Old New York. She sat on a crate and unwrapped a ration bar. It was tasteless but filling, and cheap. Her dear captain was too cheap to authorize tastier fare like freeze dried packets or god-forbid real food. She made a face at the bar but kept eating. The bar had the unexpected side effect of insuring she only ate when she was deeply, seriously hungry.

In Seacouver the crèche was readying itself for another influx of infants. Unlike the Beta's the Alpha's unique nature only manifested itself after a violent pseudo death occurred to shock thier system. Since the species had been relegated to earth a mandatory crossing age of twenty-five had been established. This had been a fiercely debated decision, many advocated that the children should decide if they wanted to come into their birthrights at all, but it was counter argued that the children could never leave the earth due to the 'Sub' nature of their genes so they deserved to at least inherit their long lives. Reluctantly the decision had been accepted.

Max Holloway stood at the edge of the landing field. She watched as the transport flared its exhaust and changed its pitch as it slowed and moved in to land. She sighed and keyed her radio.

"Incoming." She grunted and keyed off, a distorted voice came back.

"Right we're on the way." Max didn't bother to reply.

"Welcome home kids." She murmured.

The transport whined and settled on the dirt landing area. Max watched as the crèche's own ground vehicle zoomed out to meet them and load up. The whole process took less than an hour. She maintained watch as the ground transport returned at a far more sedate rate carrying the precious sleeping children.

Max had been an active Immortal as the Alpha's called themselves, long before the changes wrought by the advent of space colonization. She remembered the dark days of the game, the constant threat and danger, the battles to the death. The game still continued but only among those who left the settlement and entered the badlands or those who abandoned the Alphas all together and struck out to contact the Betas. According to the manifest twelve of the babies were pre-immortals.

Max met the handlers in the unloading area. They quickly sorted the bio-crates by sex and status and began taking them into the wakening area. The children had to be gradually brought out of pre-hibernation; if the process were rushed they could be severely brain damaged or die. Unfortunately their deaths would not be permanent; they would become immortal and be trapped in their infant bodies for eternity unless their head was separated from their bodies.

She supervised the awakening of the children and insured each was comfortable in their new home. Max was a hardened killer long before the plague but had discovered a sense of purpose and peace in the compound. These children faced a future free from the inevitable brutality of life as an immortal, the new title of Alpha offered them a new life a new hope for a version of normality previously denied her kind. She would protect them with her life.

The initial room the children were housed in was warm and filled with soft diffuse pinks and reds. There was a soft repeating thump, like a mother's heartbeat pumped in. The children all soon quieted and drifted into natural slumber. There were more than enough immortal women eager for their own child and in a few weeks when the children were strong they would be adopted out to pre-approved men and women forming families. Something Max had thought she would never see in her hundred or so long and difficult years. Satisfied the children would be safe and secure she returned to the landing area and spoke with the captain.

"Captain Hunt. Do you or your crew need anything aside from fuel?"

"No." The captain grunted and sneered at the immortal. The captain did not realize how dangerous Max was. She still practiced her martial arts for the fitness and skill it afforded her as well as the inner peace, and thus was not a person to be taken lightly. Max studied the man, understanding his arrogant loathing, understanding but despising it. The man's two crew members were busy refueling as she looked on.

The woman was tall and wiry, her lean form rippling with tight muscle as she worked, the pilot was a stocky man, short and somewhat soft, but he had kind eyes neither looked toward their captain. Max studied them for another moment before shifting her gaze back to the captain. The captain was another story, he had a build like a cartoon character, solid like brick but broad and tall he towered over his crew.

"See that your crew finish their work quickly." The captain grunted and spat a wad of green goop on the dusty landing field. Max sneered and turned away. She had better things to do than trade low brow insults with a primitive thug.

She returned to the compound and signed out a scout vehicle. The scouts were the bastardized children of an abandoned U.S. Army research program. The vehicles consisted of a low platform with a forced air device and some other fancy feedback relays, it was basically a super advanced and stable hovercraft minus the bag touching the ground, or going near it, or having a bag at all. Although Max would never admit it the craft reminded her of the weird little buggy thingy Luke Skywalker had in the desert of Tatooine. She wondered for a moment if anyone else in the compound would even remember the star wars movies.

She took the scout and headed toward the farming communes. Part of the reason the Alphas had settled in the Puget Sound was the easy access to abundant fishing and the rich alluvial/volcanic soil in many of the valleys. After scraping the layers of housing complexes and warehouses off the rich soil they had managed to bring hundreds of acres of land in to production.

Initially they focused on staple crops like wheat and corn which didn't like the damp on their side of the Cascade Range. So they tried Potatoes, berries, legumes, orchards, lettuce, cabbage, bok choy, onions the list was endless. In the end they had achieved a varied and diverse group of vegetables to serve as side dishes to meals of delicious fresh caught fish.

There were plans to expand east and start ranching and possibly expand into wheat and more corn. But at the moment their population was steady and they didn't need to expand further. Some alphas had argued for the expansion citing the supposed need to open trade relations with the Betas.

The problem was the intervening thousands of miles of highways and roads were not in good repair, many had been demolished by effects of the disaster or washed out or destroyed by erosion. Additionally it was rife with bandits and nomads.

The other secret of the NCF was the fact that some humans had failed to pass the protocols as well, they harbored illnesses or genetic precursors the NCF did not see fit to allow into their brave new world. These people had been betrayed and abandoned in a harsher manner than even the subs. The Alphas welcomed many of the Lost Ones into their compounds but there were rumors that the Betas hunted and feasted on the Lost Ones.

The Lost Ones were the most tragic victims in Max's opinion. While it was unfair her kind had been banned from space travel she was delighted in their new freedoms. They were free to form lasting relationships, free to raise a family, free to live. But the Lost Ones were forced to the fine edge of extinction. She wondered if humanity had ever considered a day when they would be the minority on earth.

She checked the controls and adjusted the course. She wanted to insure the rice crop had been planted according to schedule. As she approached the field she felt the familiar tingling ripple of her own kind's presence. She slowed the scout and keyed it to land. She hopped off and waved at the Alpha's wading through the paddies.

"Hey come to check up on the peons?" Malcolm a younger immortal asked grinning.

Malcolm had been born during the plague; he had been killed by looters after his parents had died. He was seventeen when he died and his physical age never altered. Nonetheless he had risen to a prominent position within the compound. He was their de facto department of agriculture. The kid was a whiz at crop rotation, pesticides, storage, the whole nine yards. He was priceless.

"Ah Malcolm, you aren't my peon, you're just my underling, you haven't achieved peon yet."

"Screw you Max, how're the new kids?"

"Smarter and prettier than you."

"Yeah 'cause you're a freakin beauty queen."

"Don't get jealous."

The two continued to exchange barbs as Max insured the scout was secured and firmly anchored satisfied the valuable transport was safe she headed into the paddies with Malcolm. Malcolm outlined their progress, and their goals fro the season. Max listened with half an ear, content to trust the younger man's judgment. Malcolm was one of the compound's success stories, a borderline psychotic the boy had been resurrected from his traumatic and brutal re-birth into immortal life with such abrupt brutality it had twisted him. But Max's patience and the younger man's determination to be whole again had succeeded in stabilizing him. Malcolm had a wife and they were looking into taking in one of the children. Max loved the younger man and was deeply proud of him.

"So what do you think?"

"You know what I think."

"Max, it's nice you have this blind faith in me but a little support would be nice."

"The council will give you the twenty questions routine."

"That's not exactly what I meant those jerk offs can argue about everything under the sun and not make any kind of real decision. I'm afraid I'm going to fuck up and we'll all starve."

"Don't be."

"Max-"

"Malcolm, I don't have to hold your hand anymore, you're a good man and you're invaluable to us, so get over yourself and hop in the Scout."

"Why?"

"Because its annoying and we have newcomers, or do you want me to move you and Lara down the list?"

"Mac you-" Max ignored Malcolm with a grin and hopped in the Scout. Malcolm hurried after leaving the other Alphas to gossip and finish the day's tasks.

"Does Lara know?"

"Know what? That you're insecure and self doubting? I imagine so but she's smart and tougher than you so she can carry you, no Malcolm she doesn't know."

"Good." Malcolm said and fell backwards as Max goosed the throttle and sent the Scout rocketing back toward the compound. Malcolm gasped some kind of outraged insult and righted himself. Max ignored his blow to her arm and flipped on the proximity radar. She dropped the Scout to a low level high speed mode and began skimming the trees and rocky landscape.

"What are you doing?"

"I saw something on the way in."

"Max, can't this wait?"

"No." She said mildly and ignored his exasperated sigh. She frowned and typed and keyed in a new set of directives, a safety light lit up and a warning klaxon sounded, she absently flipped off the warning klaxon and eyed the terrain as the Scout dropped closer to the treetops and slowed slightly.

"Max-"

"There." She said and palmed the emergency stop button. Malcolm gasped as he staggered forward and barked his shins on the safety rail.

"Max!" He snapped. She glanced over her shoulder.

"Relax, its all ready healed." She grunted and guided the Scout through the tightly packed trees to the cool forest floor below. She slipped the Scout into standby and turned to Malcolm.

"You need to learn to relax Malcolm, all this stress isn't good for you, hand me that rifle would you?" He glared and pulled an assault rifle off the weapons rack on the Scout's safety rail and handed it to her, he took one for himself, cleared the breach and loaded a hot magazine, he flipped the safety on and racked the slide chambering a round.

"No, Max you need to stop being a pain in the ass."

"Yeah well until that happens, cover my ass and grab the radio." Malcolm pulled a radio off the same rack, secured it to his shoulder and flipped it on. He followed behind Max as she stepped off the Scout.

The forest was young, planted by Weyerhaeuser when they were still an economic force in the northwest. It was all evergreen and devoid of most undergrowth. The floor was covered in soft shed needles and low ferns, it was shady and pleasant. Max loaded her weapon and sniffed the air.

"What are we looking for?" Malcolm asked.

"I saw a fire."

"We need to call it in then-"

"A campfire, it looked fresh."

"Maybe-"

"No one has signed out for this area." As a precaution compound residents generally signed out of the compound leaving their area of travel and itinerary at the security center. Max ran the security center.

"Okay, but not everyone does."

"Doesn't mean its an Alpha."

"Max the Lost Ones-"

"Will need our help, if its some of our guys, no harm will be done and –"

"And if its Betas you get to capture them."

"Only if they're a threat."

"Whatever."

"What?"

"You don't take a loaded weapon to go say hi to friends, or rescue some pathetic half starved stubborn Lost Ones, you take a loaded weapon to plug a vampire."

"They aren't-"

"Save it Max, I want to go see Lara, let's go see your boogey man so we can get out of here." Malcolm grunted and glared at Max. She studied him coolly for a moment and shrugged. Taking point she threaded her way through the neat forest and guided Malcolm along with silent hand signals.

She dropped to a crouch and leaned against a tree; she flipped the cover off her scope and studied the area in front of her. It was a well shielded little patch of forest floor, a smoldering fire about two feet in diameter smoked in the center. Next to it sat a battered, stained, and torn hiker's pack. The area was otherwise deserted.

Max gestured for Malcolm to take point and head downhill. He obeyed annoyed but alert and slipped down, after a few minutes they heard the clear chatter of running water. Malcolm slowed and gave Max a questioning look. She shouldered past him and took point.

Finally after another fifteen minutes of stalking they found their quarry. A man in his mid fifties was crouched on the edge of the small river. His back was to them and he was singing softly. Max and Malcolm silently circled around to get a look at his face. They exchanged glances, Max nodded and stepped out of the overhanging evergreens.

"Hi!" She said, her weapon was held across her chest, unthreatening but ready.

The man turned toward them, a straight razor in one hand his face half shaven.

"Would you mind putting that down?" Malcolm asked.

"Are you going to shoot me if I don't"

"No but she might, I would feel better though if you did." Malcolm said gesturing at Max.

Her face was cold and indifferent, her eyes glittering, alert and disturbingly hungry.

"She got her shots?" The man asked dropping his razor onto the gravel riverbank. She cocked her head and grinned, it was more a show of teeth than a friendly overture.

"She'll be fine. Do you have a name?" Malcolm continued.

"How 'bout you?"

"Malcolm."

"Jack, did I do something to piss you people off?"

"Not at all we noticed your fire."

"And that means you show up with weapons from nowhere and interrogate me?"

"Well, yeah I guess. See you've come into our territory, you're welcome to keep going, or we can bring you in, give you medical treatment, maybe some supplies-"

"I'm not a threat to you."

"We know that-"

"Good I'm going to finish my shave and be on my way then." Max flipped the safety off her weapon.

"It's not negotiable Jack. Sorry." Malcolm said genuinely apologetic. The man glared and folded his arms.

"You gonna chain me up?"

"No, but I can knock you cold or shoot you."

"True enough." Jack said and began walking back toward the camp fire and his pack. Malcolm hung back. Max stayed further back with her safety still off. If Malcolm was compromised in any way she could put Jack down with a shot. They ghosted through the trees and back to the camp. Jack sat at the fire and began burying the ashes as Max dug through his pack. She didn't find any weapons or components, nothing threatening just basic foodstuffs and equipment. She grunted and closed it up, standing she allowed Jack to shoulder it.

They reached the Scout soon after and Max watched while he made sure Jack was secured into the safety harness and his bag was stowed in a cargo locker. Satisfied she put her weapon in the rack, locked it down and powered up the Scout. She trusted Malcolm to watch Jack, and in the confines of the harness there was very little Jack could do to cause trouble. She throttled the Scout up to Max and raced along back to the compound. She glanced back once and saw that Jack was an unhealthy green; Malcolm spared her a dirty look but didn't waver.

Max radioed into the compound relating their situation and detailing a security squad to take Jack in hand when they arrived. As they approached the compound she throttled back and changed course for the landing area. Coming into land she noted the security detail. She shut off the Scout and released Jack's harness.

"Welcome to the Alpha compound." She grunted and watched him step off the Scout and into the control of the waiting security team.

"Alphas huh? I always wondered what you lot looked like."

"So, you are a Beta." She grunted. He gave her an unreadable expression and allowed the guards to lead him away.

"Okay, now that you've satisfied your need for weird ass drama I'm going to find my wife."

"Catch you later." Max said and started inspecting the Scout, she needed to do an ops check and refuel it before she turned it back into the depot. She began working humming to herself and methodically cleaning and arranging the various pieces of equipment. Finally when it was in a near pristine state she sat back and keyed it for storage. It powered down and settled into a standby mode. She headed into the main building wiping her greasy hands.

"Max!" She looked up and met Lara's deep brown eyes. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat; she wrapped Max in a bear hug and lifted her off her feet.

"This is the best day ever!" Lara said gleefully and dropped Max to her feet.

"Malcolm done being pissed at me yet?" Max asked smirking and tucking her dirty rag into her back pocket.

"Are you kidding? He loves you, you can't do anything to make him mad, and keep him mad. So come on, we're having a celebratory dinner." Max smiled and held her hands up defensively.

"I'd love to but we have a Beta."

"I know, his names Jack, he's gonna be there."

"He isn't in custody anymore?"

"No, where's he gonna go Max? We're thousands of miles away from any one else."

"Yeah I guess." Max muttered but she didn't like it. It felt off, she didn't trust Jack.

"So you'll be joining us then?"

"Hmm, Oh yeah of course when?"

"Two hours."