Title: King's Opening

Rating: PG-13/R

Category: M/L, M/M, Ky/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell and I never have. Don't sue me, I'm just a poor college student, you wouldn't get anything anyway.

Summary: Part One of the Battlefield Antar series. The group is summoned to Antar after a year roaming the US in their battered VW van.

Chapter 1 – Black Horizon

Kyle grimaced as he examined the engine of the beat-up VW van the gang had been travelling in since fleeing graduation a year earlier. Sending up a silent thanks to Buddha for blessing him with alien powers, Kyle set to work. Even with his new powers, it was going to take him at least an hour to get the van up and running again. He glanced up from the battered engine.

"Hey Michael?"

"Yeah, Kyle?"

"Don't ever drag race BMW's in this van again, or I will have burn you from the inside out."

Michael smiled broadly. "Whatever you say, buddy." He turned to Maria, who was just getting out of the van. "Sounds like we've got time to kill. Where's the others?"

"Isabel's taking a nap in the back. Max and Liz went for a walk," Maria responded, looking out into the desert. "Do you think it's safe?"

Michael looked at Maria quizzically. "Max and Liz taking a walk?"

"No...I mean do you think it's safe being back in New Mexico?"

Michael kicked the dust at his feet and stared pensively down the road behind the van. About five miles back they'd crossed into New Mexico. "I think we're as safe here as we are anywhere else." He drew Maria into the protective circle of his arms. "We'll be okay, babe."

"Do you think we'll go back to Roswell?" Michael shrugged, but didn't answer. That was the question. Max, he knew, had been having dreams that led him to believe they needed to return. Isabel wouldn't say what she dreamed, and Michael – well, Michael wasn't sleeping much at all, though he couldn't say why. Liz, their own personal crystal ball, had nothing to say on the subject either. Michael was just riding the wave.

Just out of sight from the van, Max and Liz walked hand in hand across the desert. They weren't saying anything at the moment, just enjoying walking together in the desert they loved. Then Liz broke the silence.

"It's good for you, isn't it? Being back in New Mexico."

Max squeezed her hand and nodded. They reached a large rock and sat down on it. Max pulled Liz into his arms and took a deep breath. "Liz...have you been having any visions about us? The group I mean, not just me and you."

Liz twisted around to look into Max's eyes. "Nothing troubling. I would have told you."

"I know, I know. But I mean any visions. Any at all?"

"Well, there have been some." Liz began to absently fiddle with the diamond ring on her finger. "Come to think of it, while they weren't troubling, they were a bit odd."

"Odd?"

"A bit. You know when I have visions of us they're fairly impressionistic, not like the ones I get of other people. Well, I just get the impression in the visions that there's something different about where we are, but I can't pinpoint what it is." Liz glanced at Max. "It's just odd," she finished.

"Yeah," Max echoed. "Odd." They sat in companionable silence until Liz once again broke in.

"We're going back to Roswell, aren't we, Max?" Their eyes locked and Max slowly nodded. Liz took a deep breath and nodded back. "Okay." Something was coming. In that moment Liz knew it, knew that Max could feel it too. It was as if suddenly a dark line of black clouds had stretched itself over their horizon. She worried not about what she could see, but about what she could not see.

The silence returned to wrap itself around Max and Liz as they sat drawing strength from each other in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Halfway across the universe, silence wrapped itself around someone else as well, although he didn't find it nearly as comforting. He turned to the man sitting nervously on the other side of the massive table.

"You're positive," he asked after a long and intense stare. "You are absolutely sure they're planning to move?"

"Yes, General." The man swallowed convulsively then pulled tight the reins on his control. "I have every reason to trust my sources. The Resistance is planning on bringing back the king, and soon."

Kivar's fist slammed down onto the polished mahogany surface of the conference table. "He's not the king, goddammit! I rule this planet now, not him!" He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm his frayed nerves.

"I'm sorry, General."

"You'd better be. Leave me be. See if you can find some good news for a change." The man left, and Kivar was wrapped in silence once again.