Iota 7 by Joseph Vermette ?? Copyright 2006 by Joseph Vermette. No material from this work may be reproduced withoutpermission. To obtain permission contact DawningHybridz. All rights reserved. Iota 7 by Joseph P. Vermette Dedicated to all my fellow dreamers ― they know who they are. 1 Life is but a series of challenges which you must conquer. Lt. Steven Frederick Saunders It was a clear and cloudless afternoon in Freedahmer the busiest and most prosperous city onIota 7. The glowing horizon was nearly engulfed by the sprawling skyline which was no longerpraised as the architectural triumph it was. Long abandoned watchtowers encircled Freedahmerconnected by massive shielded barricades that had recently been converted into shoppingpromenades. The Shadows inhabiting the hamlet did not even vaguely recall the ancient andformidable threat that had prompted their ancestors to so entrench them. None of them that is but for Conan Switzgerald. For him the heat of the battle still livedas memories of the old glory days came to dance on his eyelids in the thick of the night.Shadowkind had been transformed since the end of the war but Conans mind had not digressedbut in the tiniest of ways. The hardened veteran both laughed and shook his head at the anticsof the new and inexperienced generation. How would Lord Damon have dealt with such frivolity He knew how he looked to the youth though. He was a dusty and cobwebbed relic better off in amuseum than on the streets. His skin was leathery and marred by criss-crossing scars hisclose-cropped hair white. He had a short beard and mustache that greatly accentuated his age. Walking with a CR-pistol on his hip Conan refused to degrade himself by joining in on newtrends. He refused to wear anything but the silver and black uniform of the Emperors electguard including when off-duty. The present ruler Cliff II was rather slack and submissive.Consistently the once small but adept guard had quadrupled in size in the past quartercentury. It seemed there was nothing sacred in this era. As he maneuvered the bustling streets Conan observed the decadence of his once great people.The roads and walkways were marked by graffiti and garbage as if these testaments to time werevalueless. Statues erected in honor of a string of Shadoway