Author's Note:  Okay, This just popped into my head and I wrote it sort of hastily.  I have an idea of where I want to go, and how to flesh it out, making it continually better as time goes on.. But I'll only do it if people think it doesn't completely suck.  So, be honest in your critique.  Thanks.

Chapter 1 – Faller Star

Pensacola was on fire.

The sight, so preposterous, made Lawson ill.  Long and rather narrow tracts of land from the east traveling west were glowing with hundreds of small fires.  The black and orangeish-red line of fire drew it's way right over two counties, crossing streets and yards and parking lots and forest and swamp.

Lawson know that very few people had been killed here…  His own house had been spared.  Thank god the area's population was so spread out.  But it was uncanny how the line of heavenly fire had stitched it's was across two military bases that were less then thirty miles apart.  He didn't know exactly how bad Egland Air force Base was, but Naval Air Station Pensacola was pretty much a burnt out ruin.

He wasn't military himself, but many of his friends were.  Mainly Navy.  He shuddered to think how many of them had been in that battle fleet in the Atlantic just off of Florida before the meteor shower struck and cut's it's swath across the panhandle.  It was uncanny.  It was so improbable.

And it scared the hell out of Lawson Weiss.

The young man was driving against traffic, hundred and thousands of people trying to get out of Pensacola as quickly as possible.. Just in case more meteors fell.  The Mile long bridge between the counties was full of frightened, panic drivers with cars stuffed full of family, pets, and belongings they just couldn't bare not have.  Lawson was one of the few that were fighting their way back into the city.

The moment Lawson Cleared the bridge and was only a few miles out of the city he found that his routes were almost all blocked off…Only a few hundred meters away from the burning line had gouged the soft, loamy soil.  The road had cracked and shifted.

Some cars were stuck in the mud, helpless.  Too many people not having real 4x4's.. and if the did they had them lowered.. Damned flatlanders.  Lawson was a Northerner who had come to Florida almost 5 years earlier, and had kept his old raised Fx4 Ford.. Which at this moment was going to provide him with a shortcut.

He veered off the road and across the swathe of cindered and muddy field, the large blue truck throwing up a cloud of muck behind him.  He flew through the trees and over a small hill.. soon out of sight of the road.  If he kept this up, he should come out somewhere near Vivian's apartment complex.

Her name struck a fearful cord in him.  With the phone lines down and cell networks all jammed up, it had been impossible to get through to her.  He was so scared she was hurt.. Or worse.. But refused to give up on her.  She was the best friend he had in this town.  A naval woman who had, since her divorce, been raising her son alone while she serve at the Navy Hospital.  When Lawson had moved to Pensacola it had been at her urgings.  They had met online in a chat room.  She needed a friend nearby.  He needed a new place to go, someplace far away from where he was at the time…  it was perfect.

Lost almost in her fear, Lawson almost didn't see the glowing light above him, growing closer and closer..  Another Meteor?  It couldn't be?  Wasn't the shower over?  There hadn't been any more for almost an hour.

No time to think.  He swerved, clipping a tree, as something hot and very massive struck the ground a few dozen yards behind him.  It causes a ripple of land, like a wave, to push out form the contact point…  Like carpet bunching under someone's pushing foot, the ground surged like surf under the truck and threw it a few feet off the ground.

Lawson Screamed as the Ford struck a large oak tree and, in turn, his head struck the steering wheel.

His world lurched and all went black.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Black faded to grey.

Lawson's eyes slowly fluttered open.  The flicker of something orange nearby cast strange shadows across the dark hollow.  Between the setting sun and the plentitude of dust and smoke in the air, it was almost pitch black.. Like midnight..

Groaning he tried to sit up…  His seat belt pinched, not giving any way for him to move.  Damn thing was broken.  He tugged at it, trying to loosen it's hold on him..  Finally he reached down and, finding the clicker, undid the belt.

And promptly, with help of gravity, fell out of the truck there used to be a door.

With an "oof" he hit the ground and rolled, coming t stop against a tree.  Looking up at his truck again he realized it was wedged between two trees and almost on it's side at about a 60 degree angle.  He blinked a few times..  He must have hit his head harder then he thought if he hadn't noticed that before.

With a grunt he sat up, head spinning.. A warm, oozing trickle running down the side of his head..  He reached up and touched what he thought must have been a small gash.. or maybe it was larger then that..  Nausea washed over him, but whether it was caused by the actual injury or by the thought of injury he couldn't say.

He took a few minutes to catch his breath and let the 'wanting to vomit' feeling subside before he pushed himself up.. sing the tree as a brace he pulled himself to his feet and looked around, getting his bearings.

The truck, apparently, had twirled around at least once.  Because he was almost certain he had been heading in a different direction.  But with no land marks and the darkness it was hard to tell.  He coughed a few times as thick smoke wafted past him..

Smoke?

Then he remembered.. Meteor Strike.  Another meteor struck just behind him.  Pushing off the tree, he staggered towards what he though must be the crater.. Though it seemed more like a furrow in the ground.. As if whatever had hit had done so at an angle and slid. 

With effort he walked up and over the kip of the trench…. And his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.

About 50 meters away was a large silver.. ball like thing.  A sphere.  It might have had a near perfect finish at one point, but it's smooth surface was now scorched and pitted with long gashes caused by it's crash.

Was it a satellite, Lawson thought?  It could have been.  He thought it was possible that the meteor storm had knocked one out of orbit, but he had never heard of a satellite surviving a fiery descent from orbit.  Weren't they designed to break up and burn away?  This thing, for all it's damage, still seemed pretty much intact.

He took a few steps down into the trench and slowly started making his way towards the sphere.  Maybe it was part of an airplane that had been hit by the meteors. Or maybe…

Part of the sphere's side suddenly broke outwards.. A panel that fell off with a crash.  Lawson froze and stared, in disbelief as something, a shadow, pulled itself out of the hole the panel had left behind.

Like Lawson only a few minutes the shadow seemed to not move but then slowly, after a few moments, it pushed itself off the ground.  It took only a second for Lawson to realize it was a person.

Shaking off his shock, Lawson rushed foreword towards the stranger, waving his hands above his head.  "Hey!" he yelled.  "Hey!  You okay?"  God, it /was/ part of an airplane..  Maybe an escape pod or something.  He had read that some government planes had them. Or had he seen that in a movie?  He didn't care.  A person had just fallen out of the sky and was probably in need of help.

The shadow, startled, stepped back from the approaching young man.  Firelight gleaming off the spherical shell illuminated a feminine face.  Sure, it was bruised and bloody and covered in dirt or smut or whatever.. But it was a woman, Lawson was sure.

With added resolve, Lawson closed the gap, placing his shaking hands on her shoulder. "Miss.. Miss.. Are you okay?" he asked, his voice rambling a mile a minute.  "My god, you are /so/ lucky..  Are you in the military?  Were you in a plane?  Did you se the meteors?"

The woman just stared at Jordan.  She must have been in shock because there was a look of total incomprehension on her hurt and dirty yet still attractive face.  Lawson Shook her by the shoulders. 

"Miss…  Can you speak?  Do you understand me?  What is your name? Who are…"

Without any warning a second Figure stepped out of the hole in the sphere.  Another survivor?  Lawson couldn't catch what the person looked like in the shadow, but he was big, that was for sure.  He let go of the woman and quickly ran over to the tall shadow….

Which, when it stepped into the firelight, made Lawson stop in his tracks.

It wasn't human.. It couldn't be human.  It had the body of a man in amour, with a long staff in his right hand which he used to steady himself.  But where a man's head would be was just a large collar.. Which tapered into a long neck…

Which Ended in a Gleaming metal Jackal's head.

Lawson slipped and fell back, in utter disbelief.  He wanted to scream but he couldn't.. His heart was in his throat, The blood rushing to his head. The Jackal Creature's eyes glowed red and it brought the Staff to bear on Lawson.. The end snapped open.

"Ha'taaka," The Monster said, "Tau'ri"

Lawson couldn't say anything to that.  What did you say when you couldn't understand what was said?  Not that it mattered. The creature obviously.  With a flick of it's wrist the staff's end flared and everything dissolved into a flash of bright light.