NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is your explicit warning that this thread will contain mature and even gross scenes. You have been warned.

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IC:

The clouds floated silently with a rage toward the fiery sunset. They spun about each other as if they were dancing with fire, threatening to erupt into flaming shapes of the evening sky.

What happened to me?

A rock was lifted in a weathered hand, and balanced precariously upon the forefinger. Cobalt eyes gazed painfully upon the rock, the years having been difficult upon the man who now had shrunk his entire world to that moment in time. The rock had become the most important thing, a personification of himself. It was simple, yet told a story of the rage of the elements upon its surface.

The biting wind whipped mercilessly and drove the grinding sand against its surface. Rough edges still existed on the rock, but come time, one day it would be as smooth as glass, having finally given in to the relentless torture. The waters worked to amplify the sand, to pound with resounding music upon the stone, to cast it into an unseen mold of experience.

Yes, the rock held a story, much like he himself held. It was suddenly released and thrown. Over and over it spun in the glaring sunset and plummeted into the ocean waters far below the cliff. The man stood and stared into the sun as it sank with a fiery upheaval into the horizon on the edge of the ocean. The edge of the world. The edge of possibility. The edge of reality.

And yet, so far away.

A lonesome tear shed down his cheek, sinking below his upper lip to nestle in the contours of his hard lined mouth. There it remained, a prism of the raging sunlight. The wind picked up speed suddenly and whipped the cloak around his form, the worn leather snapping slightly in the wind.

I cannot go any more...

He closed his eyes and spread his arms out and stepped forward. Step by ginger step he moved closer to the edge, the pain welling up inside him, the memories of hard life as a youngster, the war, the Devilish torture and genetic enhancement, the inhibitor chip.

Suddenly, his eyes flashed open, and halted his forward movements.

Kaylinde...I'm sorry...I failed you...

He took the final step forward and plummeted downward. Onward he fell, onward to his death he traveled. Death was his friend, taunting him with everlasting relief.

His body slammed into the ocean, sending great plumes of water up about his sinking form. He repressed the instinctual command for the exoskeleton armor to extract and wrap itself around his body. He wanted to die, to be released from this world...

His thoughts rested upon Kaylinde's face, the first moment he saw kindness in her eyes. I failed you...

His body broke the surface of the water, the leather cloak now tightly wrapping his body, as if it were a cocoon.

I'm sorry...

Kaylinde woke screaming, shattering the quiet of the vast room in to shards of pain. She drew her knees up curling around herself, trying to hide from wakefulness but that was not possible. After a unnoticed anount of time she sighed and sat slump shouldered on the edge of the silk sheeted bed.

"You are truly pathetic woman. You love a man who probably doesn't even remember you exist, much less care about you"

Talking to herself had become habit, as had the unconscious tracing of her hands over the scars that marred her torso. Scars that Tanaran medical technology could have removed, so thoroughly it would be as if they had never been. Brief, painless, simple

So vastly different that the way she had earned them, those faint, fine scars that told those who had the knowledge that a great warrior had found her worthy, his match, his equal. Scars that had become her touchstones, holder of precious memories. A fleeting touch, the warmth of strong arms holding her, and later memories...a kiss. The only kiss of her entire life. Cobalt blue eyes that she had met, fallen in to, nay dove into, willing to drown in, never to surface

"Hans" A whisper swallowed by the room. She stood and belted a thick robe about her to ward the nights chill. A deep breath taken in and slowly expelled as if releasing something, something unwanted and unwelcome

"He would be furious to find you so wretched. You made a promise and you don't know how he feels about you! Don't make an ass out of u and me!" Furiously she admonished herself. Karma, Lady Kaylinde Althea Regina Moore- Apollon, Ruling Lady of House Moore- Apollon never reniged on a promise, even if no one had ever heard it. Her shoulders straightened and she strode purposefully across the room.

Perhaps new information had come in from one or more of the numerous confidential inquerry agents she had hired. The amount of gold decagons she had spent so far was great enough that her men of finance had begun asking questions. Though that had not persisted long against the cold look in her eyes and the outright intrasnient refusal to answer any question that might contain a 'why?" in it.

She had promised him that she would come for him, if he did not come for her. It had been months and he had not come. She would find him, go to him. Kaylinde was not accustomed to failure and she did not intend to become so.

Genetically enhanced muscles make no work of pulling open the massive door that lead to her private office. Eyes that were as sharp as a cats needed no more than the minimal lighting from the comps systems screen and she settled into her chair and began reviewing the latest data

"Hans" A whisper to carry across the stars

The low rolling thunder spawned the waves once more to crash upon the rocks. As they did, they deposited an unusual object. It was the body of a beaten man, his face now slashed by the jagged rocks, blood flowing with a slow pulsation from his cheek. There the man lay, for what seemed eternity.

The tears began once more, as the man returned to consciousness. Why? he thought to himself slowly, I just want to die! A slight sob could be heard issuing from the man dashed mindlessly against the rocks.

A fluttering of wings was heard as an osprey lighted upon the top of the rock above the suffering man. Steeled eyes peered down upon the man, and the primal mind gauged the value of the man's flesh. Closer it moved to the still form of the man, its curious nature driven by the hunger in its bowels. Finally, with a swift beat of its wings, the bird of prey landed atop the dying man's backside and pecked at his bloodied arm.

The man half-screamed, half-moaned as the searing pain from the bird's beak awakened his nerves, sending great quantity of pain messages up his arm, up his spine and ultimately to his mind. Startled, the bird scattered quickly and flew high into the sky, away from the man.

The hours passed slowly, the cool night soon passing to day and back to night once more. Still he remained, still he wished for the comfort of death. The light at the end of the tunnel, his salvation from the inhumane world of hatred, of fear, of absolute destruction.

The sun never rose on the third day, for dark clouds covered the entire heavens, a brutal testimony to the cruelty of the world.

A voice spoke softly near the man, "Hans...wake up..." A slight movement and the head rose up to turn to the voice. Yet, the speaker was not there.

Not until she walked around the nearby boulder that rose in defiance of the raging waves.

"Hans...what are you doing?"

The man's hand reached out, trembling fingers stretching to touch the flesh of the woman. His voice croaked painfully, his throat dry beyond measure, "K-k--Kaylinde..."

The woman's auburn hair billowed about her face as she looked upon Hans sadly, "Hans...get up..."

"I--I'm so sorry..." he replied, "I failed you..."

"You said you would come back."

Hans looked at her tearfully, the deep vertical gash over his right eye and down his cheek still bleeding slightly. His mouth spat dry spittle as he croaked his reply, "I--I couldn't. They would kill you..."

He blinked and began to cry freely as Kaylinde suddenly disappeared from his sight. He clenched his fist and pound it weakly upon the rocks, as he rolled over onto his backside and screamed with an agonizing cry to the thundering clouds that had now begun to release their cleansing flurries of rain upon the earth. The droplets of water seemed to echo Han's cry to the heavens, a cry of sorrow and desperation...

Slow footsteps scraped across the sands of the beach, water coursing down the pant legs still. The ocean was behind, still trying to sing its deadly song to the depressed man. He finally fell exausted to the sand and remained on his knees, staring up at the cliff that rose sharply above him.

The rain beat down ferociously, the storm now fully raging overhead. The smells of the rain intermingled in Hans nose with the salty smells of the ocean. He breathed in, savoring the changes.

Like salt to a wound, he had tried to dry out the pain of his life, the pain of his failure to return as swiftly as he had promised to Kaylinde.

I can remember the first day I saw her. And yet, I did not see her. I couldn't. I was too worried for my own security. I feared for my life.

He wiped some rainwater from his eyes, and brushed his matted sodden hair aside. His hand brushed it back and suddenly stopped as he felt the exoskeletal metal that ran the length of his spine. He shuddered as he was taken back in time...

The cold touch of metal clamping around his limbs as he lay face down upon an operating table. He was injected with a painkiller, but kept conscious.

Then the pain began, even penetrating the hazy safety of the painkiller. His flesh was sliced down the center of his backside and robotic arms moved to install metallic plates to his spinal column. A thick, flexible rod of some sort was connected to his brain, and beginning the first few moments of neural adjustments. The flesh was tucked back into place, and the operation was finished.

The pain... He thought to himself morosely, as he brought his hand to rest upon the slight depression at the base of his cranium. It had been where the inhibitor chip was, the source of his brainwashed state.

Kaylinde saved me... he remembered as he dropped his hand once more. He shed a tear, feeling it slide down his skin as if it were a cleansing tear. A tear of mercy.

"I must continue..." He suddenly said as he rose to his feet once more. "I must. Surely, she still waits."

His pace forward had brought him to the base of the cliff and he rose his eyes to the top. So far away it seemed, out of reach, foolish to reach. And yet, he knew. He just knew he had to do it.

His hands gripped the vines that hung tightly to the cliffside and slowly but surely pulled his way upwards.

Toward freedom...and toward the path back to Kaylinde.

"I'm coming...I'm coming back for you." he huffed slightly with each reach upward.

The house had been built to the specifications of parents that she had never known, parents that dead and buried before she was born. The ritual opening the uterine replicator had not been the normal Tanaran celebration, loud with friends and family all getting more than slightly inebriated. Instead it had been attended to by the medical team and a flock of somberly clad and faced House lawyers there to see that the legal necessities were completed with all formalities. Kaylinde Althea Regina, names chosen from the computer generated list of honorable family names, had dwelt in lonely seclusion in the fourth floor nursery, the rest of the house echoing empty save for the quite footfalls of the estate staff and the omnipresent security detail, until her tenth birthday. She had, with determination frightening in a child so usually compliant, on that day ordered the staff to move her part and educational parcel into the suite that had been designed to be central to the master and mistress of the vast Moore – Apollon holdings. Her then tutor, as equally unmemorable as his predecessors and successors, had raised mild objection. Her look of utter contempt and cold rage had silenced him, and perhaps spurred his efforts to secure tenure in a more normal household. But that was then, this was now…

The office in which she sat was unchanged in its furnishings from that day, the inner wall dominated by a master’s life work, the portrait of her sire, Lord Moore, and his bride on their wedding day. The myriad reflections of dawn shimmering from the heavy silver frame alerted Kaylinde that night once more had fled leaving but long morning shadows to remember the dark. Realizing how tired her eyes were from the hours of reading the data trail she leaned back and stretched. Bird song poured in through the doors flung open to the broad balcony beyond, sheer drapes rustling leaf like in the early morning breeze. The House’s senior maid entered quietly, bearing her mistresses preferred breakfast and set the tray on a side table as Kaylinde murmured an absentminded thanks.

Her thoughts were elsewhere, back on a world called Argonia, a world of marsh and fen, a world that- for her, was mostly memories of blood and death. Special Forces Colonel Syn, he of the mammoth ego, had died before her eyes, his throat ripped out by one of the Devilish combat droids. Talen and others of the nascent band of brothers seriously wounded. Captured by a strange new version of the mysterious Devilish’s, Kaylinde had been tortured, then rescued, by the man she had almost led a mutiny to rescue after his capture back on the world of Sepulcher I. Hans had been the last thing she had expected to see when the Devilish bio-armor had writhed back and revealed his face… the bright cobalt eyes she found herself falling, oh so unwittingly, into. She had never known love, had no way of recognizing it, but it had found her, or she it, when she met those eyes - sad, terrified of horror and rejection. Hans had managed to survive the torture and terrible experimentation the Devilish had enacted upon him, managed to free himself of their control. Somehow he’d emerged sane and strong, unbroken from their grasp. That strength sang to her ever so seductively.

She was, and had always been, attracted to danger, seeking every extreme and perilous thrill known; a flirtation with death that seemed to be the only thing that brought her fully alive. And Hans in the grip of the Devilish had been the most dangerous prey she had ever tested herself against. In the days and weeks that had followed - an equally harrowing time, she had gotten to know the man within the armor and the attraction had metamorphed into something stronger and more encompassing. They were well matched, each with their own inner beast, capable of tremendous savagery, proud and strong of body. Each with the indominatable will of one who would survive, and win over what ever the fates might test them against

Breakfast was ignored as new data appeared on the screen and then quiet was again shattered by screams, and then a frenzy of orders. Within the hour the House’s Men of Business arrived post haste and, eventually, the last orders of the Ruling Lady were carried out. It had taken a personal call to the Empress herself, but Kaylinde had her way. No, she was unaccustomed to failure.

Five hours after that saw several large crates sent off to a storage facility and a taxi waiting in the front drive. Ex Master Gunnery Sergeant Kaylinde Moore, comfortably clad in a pair of faded bdu’s trotted down the sweeping front steps, a large duffle bag over her shoulder and weapons case in her hand. For some reason she found herself wanting to burst into song.

“To the bulk freight port”

Behind her House Moore- Apollon crumbled into dust, the title reverting to the Imperium. Freedom is lighter than a feather

The ancient creak of wood against metal groaned as Hans pushed the door open. He stepped inside, just as a series of lightning flashed, heralding the oncoming black beast of the skies, the rolls of thunder declaring the coming of worse activity in the atmosphere. Eyes turned to view the newcomer, whose shadow flashed with the lightning on the far wall. Hans merely looked at each of them, and adjusted the cloak around his shoulders. He spied the bar and with deliberate slowness, made his way to a stool and spoke gruffly, "Gimme an Icefire."

The barkeep, a young robust woman looked up and studied the man sitting across from her. She finished the glass she was cleaning and set it on a shelf behind her to dry. The man was a curious one, with a hood casting deep shadows across his face. She could see his eyes, and what marvelous eyes they were! Within moments, she had pulled out a bottle of Icefire and slid it toward the man, who took it and drank deeply his first few swallows. Finally, he set it down and nodded, "Thanks."

"Anytime big guy." she replied before flipping a towel over her shoulder, still studying him. She placed her hands to the sides in front of her and leaned in slightly, "So what's your story?"

The hood shifted and allowed a bit more lighting as Hans cast his cobalt eyes back at the black haired, slim brunette. She wasn't all that attractive, having recieved the shorter end of the gene stick, but she wasn't grotesque either. He took another swallow and looked past the barkeep at a picture of some couple who were obviously tourists. Behind them, a picture of the Tarlachian Coliseum could be seen. The Coliseum now had begun to show the effects of the weathered buildings seen commonly across the nation, the elements beginning to take their toll. He spoke at long last, "I guess I'm just another old soldier...served on the planet of Argonia. Hell of a war, I must say."

The woman raised an eyebrow and leaned in, "I like soldiers. Good strong men. Great in bed..."

Hans looked up at her slowly, his eyes giving away more warning than his voice did, "To each their own." The woman caught his warning and backed off, "I suppose. So what happened?"

Hans finished his bottle which was replaced moments later by another. He drank from that one too, "Heavy fighting from the start. The Devilish wiped out our bases with ease, swarming us. We were outnumbered, outplayed, out performed. And somehow, we pulled through and won the war. To this day, I wonder about the possibilities of other choices I could have made. But, then again, I was a prisoner of war, so my choices were very limited."

Once again, interest peaked in the mind of the barkeep and she pressed, "Prisoner of war? I'm sorry to hear. Must've been terrible."

Hans looked up at her with steeled eyes, "It was no walk in the park. Let's just say I went through, and survived more than any man should. Bastards were crooked enough to use their prisoners against our own friends."

He closed his eyes and gulped visibly. Once again, the horrific memories of his torture and augumentation flashed before his eyes. The pain, the hatred, the desire to survive.

Suddenly, the bottle in his hand shattered under his grip, and sent sharp pieces of glass into his hand, jolting him back to the present. He looked down, opening his hand slowly to inspect the injuries. The barkeep handed him a towel, "I'll get some bandages."

Hans shook his head negatively, "No. No need."

He held his hand out to her, allowing her to watch his hand heal over. She whistled, "Whoo there big guy! You've got some pretty nifty tricks up your sleeve!"

He looked back at her and replied with a caustic tone, "If you only knew..." He took the towel and began to wipe the liquid alcohol up, which she took moments later and finished wiping the remains of the liquid and pieces of glass. Hans looked at his hand once more and yanked out a small sliver still embedded. He slid it across the bar, causing her to look back at him, then at the glass. She picked it up and tossed it to the can.

Hans reached for his wallet and asked, "What's the damage?"

She held her hand up, "None. You've got those drinks on me." She watched as Hans smiled and then dropped a tip on the bar, "Thanks. Here's a little something for you."

He was about to turn away when he remembered something. Turning back he questioned the girl, "You know where there's any place I can get a room for the night?"

She nodded and pointed in the direction, "Down the street, three doors down. Nice little inn there. Good rates too."

Hans slapped the edge of the bar lightly, slowly getting up, "Thanks." He turned and walked back toward the door, pulling the hood down over his eyes a bit more as he stepped out into the downpouring rain.

Back inside, the barkeep watched the stranger walk away through the window. She felt attracted to him, but more as a story than anything sexual. That man had a wonderful story to tell, yet she suspected greatly that it also bore great pain. "May peace be with you, soldier." she whispered as he faded away out of sight. She turned back to serve another patron a mug and started up another conversation.

Kaylinde looked up as the taxi went passed the turn off to the bulk freight port and continued toward the adjacent governmental complex. Closing her eyes she struggled briefly with the impulse to blow her way out the vehicle. She seriously doubted that her current weaponry would suffice though; the cab was certainly far more heavily armored than it appeared. Growling under her breath she sat back and waited with all the patience she could muster.

Not many minutes later the doors of an immense building opened, then closed behind the taxi, which halted before a small cluster of waiting figures. With a sigh heavily laced with sarcasm Kaylinde stepped out, glaring at Michiko, Tanara’s first, and most unwilling Empress.

“You could have just asked”

“And let any one tapped in on your comm know? Think Kay. I helped you leave once, and now I’m letting the only heir of one of our most senior houses just up and dump it all for love.”

Michiko shook her head with a small laugh.

“The Upper and Lower will have absolute saber-teeth when the word gets out.”

She sobered and got down to the business of protecting her infant Empire

“There are those out there who would destroy us, Even the United NationStates Planetary Federation doesn’t wish us as well as might be guessed from outward appearances. And I have information that your agents couldn’t access. There are groups within the UNSPF that want him, and not for a friendly conversation over tea. Serve Tanara as my personal agent, it will give you access to protection when you might need it. We don’t have any interest in Mr.Balran's bio armor- we researched similar years ago and our current PALADIN Armor is superior.”

Michiko knew she had to explain Tanara’s lack of interest in the man that Kaylinde was leaving her heritage behind for, and besides as she had said the research was years old. She smiled inside as the younger woman’s proverbial ears pricked up at the mention of the PALADIN Armor. House Moor- Apollon was the premier researcher and supplier of military hardware for their quadrant of space, but even their agents had not been able to penetrate the security surrounding the PALADIN research.

"You might need a suit of such"

Kaylinde rolled her eyes and gave in. It wasn’t failure exactly. She settled down to bargain exactly what duties she would have as the Empress’s personal agent. She drove a hard enough bargain that when finally a tramp freighter lifted spaceward with her aboard she didn't feel she had failed

The sloshing water spewed about Hans booted feet as he made his way with surprising casual strides. It was as if he didn't care if it were raining anymore, and yet, he made sure his hood was well over his face.

He suddenly paused as he glanced about him, casting his gaze behind him through the corners of his eyes. The shadow moved to darker locations, slipping out of his sight. Not that he had even seen it in the first place. Hans focused his attention on the sounds surrounding him as he continued his walk to the inn.

Quick, nearly silent footsteps to the left...

Hans growled to himself, keeping his mental guards up against the vampire's probing thoughts. It wasn't strong, so it was obviously a fledgling. And he knew that such vampires had little to no control over their thirst. That itself could drive them to commit actions of stupidity. He moved to an alley across the street, standing just inside the shadows, watching the alley nearest where he has last departed from.

Firm hands gripped the man known as Hans from behind and locked quickly in a neck hold. Fangs dove and buried them into his neck. Hans now enraged, instantly flared his armor to his beckon. He felt it slide rapidly across his skin, quickly locking into place.

The vampire screamed a beastly cry as the armor snapped his fangs from his gums, and so he shoved the evolving human away, looking with surprise and fear upon this new creature.

The armor retracted slightly and metal fingers reached up to pluck the fangs from his flesh. Moments later the armor slid completely around and sealed his flesh inside.

With a silent fury, Hans opened his palm to gaze upon the fangs in his metallic grasp. From behind his mask, he snarled with a deadly coldness, "That wasn't very nice..."

The vampire never got to react as Hans raced forward and buried his hand into the vampire's torso, ripping his heart free and holding it up. Hans crushed the heart and spoke, "Like the heart, I shall crush you."

The vampire collapsed to the ground and hissed at the man above him. The sound of boots smashing the skull was heard moments later, before a metallic hand reached down and ripped the head clean off the torso. Hans tossed it further into the darkness of the alley and rummaged through the corpses' torso, pulling out some currency and a small combat knife. The knife he kept, the money he gave to a homless draman hanging around the next alley.

Finally, he surveyed the scene, looking for vampires, and found none. So only a single attack.

He entered the inn and soon recieved a room. He entered his room and locked the door, making sure the lock was engaged. He collapsed on the bed and stared out the window, his thoughts still on Kaylinde. For now, he didn't care for the vampires. They were the least of his worries.

"Kaylinde...I'm coming..."

The inn suddenly exploded in confusion and fear as a door to one room in particular blasted open to the command of the twelve-gauge shotgun. As the debris still remained scattered and casting the room in a smoke-filled haze of particle dust, a single team of five men came rushing through the door. They swept the room, moving quickly in search of the target.

"Find him!"

The men moved about, turning often about, their guns held to their faces. A search in the bathroom revealed nothing beyond the toilet running idly. The bed was empty, with barely a hint of having been used. Thirty seconds after bursting through the door, the men reported back over their radio, even though it was a bit unneeded, as the room was small enough to not warrant their use.

"All clear."
"No one here ma'am."
"Empty over here too."
"Where the hell did he go?"
"Emptier than my stomach."

The woman snarled and slung the sword in her hand onto her shoulder. She turned and departed quickly. She called back, "Search the entire place. Burn it down if you have to! But I want him found!"

The five members of the mercenary team left as quickly as they came, soon bashing down the doors of other room. Screams could be heard as other guests were broken into rudely. The woman herself returned down the stairs and entered the office, where she flicked the lights on. Her eyes looked at the dead man slumped in his chair, with his chest splattered with the rock salt of a shotgun. "So dishonorable to die like that." she muttered as she swung her sword about and set it upon the desk next to her. She scanned the keys of the rooms hanging on the wall, observing which ones were missing. Not that it mattered, for her team could be heard smashing and devastating the rooms upstairs.

The radio crackled to life, "He's not here. Must've gotten away right before we got here."

The woman scowled darkly. Someone had tipped him, Someone had given them away. She replied, "Burn this shithole."

She picked up her weapon and a bag of money on the counter, departing out the front door.
______________________

The angry colors of flames could be seen casting a glow unto the surrounding area as a fire and rescue team raced to the scene. Within minutes after them, the local police screeched to a halt a safe distance from the now fully blazing inn.

Hans stumbled out of the wreckage, fully armored, and carrying two little children, who were covered in soot, but otherwise fine.

"Hey! Freeze!" cried a cop as he brought his pistol to bear. Hans ignored the man, setting the children down and ushering them toward their parents, who held their arms out anxiously.

"Freeze right there!" cried the cop once more as he cocked his pistol. Hans turned to the man, not believing the thick headedness of this man.

"I hold no threat to you." he stated, standing completely still with his arms down. He allowed his armor to uncover around his head and he laid his cobalt eyes upon the officer. "No harm to you or anyone."

"You're under arrest for murder and arson, buddy." the cop reported as he kept his gun trained. He began to read off Han's rights. Hans looked at him incredulously, "Are you frelling serious man?! Don't you think I'd not care for the frelling children if I had killed someone?!"

"Put your arms on your head!" demanded the officer, unsure of how to approach this strange suspicious individual.

Hans growled to himself. He knew better than to argue. He knew Tarlachian law, and he knew the tenacity they put to their police force. It was considerable, almost to the point of being completely intrusive to people's everyday lives. It annoyed him, because they were simply everywhere.

The officer approached Hans, but then realized a little problem. Han's hands were on his head, but well out of reach for him. He only came up to Han's chest, barely above five feet five inches in height. Hans realized the problem and lowered his arms. You've got to be kidding me...

His hands were brought together and cuffs placed on them. Hans snickered slightly. Cuffs. Of all things, Cuffs. Piece of cake to deal with. Hans was turned and led to a waiting police car where several other cops were standing, watching the firemen work as well as keeping the crowds back for their safety.

Hans ignored the many eyes that gawked at his strange appearance, the thoughts obviously wondering what he was. He looked forward. He would get out of this, as soon as he explained himself.

And yet, he worried, for he knew that if the government got whiff of his augumentation, they would scoop him up swiftly and cart him off to some secret laboratory. And then, he might never be able to get free to find Kaylinde. He worried for Kaylinde, wondering what she was doing at this moment. He could imagine her sitting out on a deck, sipping a drink and reading a book.

He watched as the door closed and he was soon transported to the precinct jail.

The tramp freighter was no tramp freighter at all; though Kaylinde was polite enough to let them continue thinking she believed their cover. Appearances and papers were carefully tailored and all the bases covered – but they were just too well crafted for some one who’d just come from dealing with the Empress to completely believe. Especially after watching a stranger that was her perfect double walk away with a matching duffle bag over her shoulder.

The decrepit appearing freighter would have her to Tarlachia far sooner than the drives it supposedly possessed should be capable of, even though the trip would still take nearly a week. Midgard and Tarlachia were simply far apart even in stellar terms. And no fringe of respectability outfit would have a dedicated gym with variable gravity, which Kaylinde discovered in her explorations. She proceeded to take full advantage of this feature, spending many hours with the gravity at double that of Midgard’s. The small crew was distant but polite, avoiding even the most casual of conversations if were at all possible. Setting aside questions that she doubted would be willingly answered, she set about exploring some of the new equipment that had filled the new duffle bag she had been handed as the taxi had left the hanger.

The shimmering mass, millions of minute hexagonals, of the PALADIN armor fascinated her the most. She’d seen the holo’s of the tests it had been subjected to; she wasn’t certain that even Hans’s Devilish created bio-armor could have survived, much less have protected the wearer, from some of the destructiveness the PALADIN had endured. Thought the PALADIN armor did not have the morphing ability of the bio- armor; the ability to flow out of a central repository reserve like some thick liquid, shaping into claws and other minor extensions, hard as high tech titanium steel ceralloys.

There the PALADIN armor matched it, the billions of micro millimeter beads, held together by the same forces that governed atomic cohesiveness, in a nanite web that continually repaired and acted as the organizing sentience of the construct. The beads shimmered like fine gems, for they were matrix crystal, colloquially called starstones, a quasiliving organism of alien origin. And like biological cells they could bend, flatten and reshape within certain limits, allowing unparalleled flexibility. Kinetic force was dispersed, dissipated and absorbed by the matrix crystal, using it to ‘heal’ any damage it had taken, or amplify the power of its wearer’s muscles, or senses.

The instructional holo advised living in the suit for a minimum of ninety-six standard hours, so the suit and it’s new partner could adapt each other. Kaylinde put it on and within but an hour forgot she was wearing it. She had tested only minimally positive for psionic talent, but the quasiliving entity that was the PALADIN armor seemed to welcome her unreservedly. The microscopically fine mesh rolled up her body a second skin that refracted the light, edges shimmering black fire. She discovered that it transmitted tactile sensations from her fingertips as if it were her own skin, and the sensation, the pressure of a breath of air against her, but not extremes of cold or heat, that the suit smoothed over her face and took on the warm beige of her complexion, covering her eyes but not interfering with her sight. In fact it augmented it, allowing her to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums. Flowing past the individual strands of dark auburn hair to lay weightless against her scalp. Kaylinde grinned with unabashed delight.

What time remained after sleeping, eating, physical training and reading assorted travelers guides to Tarlachia, Kaylinde spent wondering if she was going to say something to Hans’ before she beat him senseless and if so exactly what.

Han's eyes opened up slightly, then squinted at the sunlight that had been shining into his room for the last half hour. He remained where he lay on his backside, his thoughts far from his current location. For now, he was not being dragged from room to room and subjected to the rather intrusive tests that the scientists were running. They had already figured out how the exoskeleton operated under his control. That was the easy part. Now, they were trying to determine what kind of metal it was, for it was not of Earth.

He slammed his fist against the wall, listening as the wall returned the force with equal blow. For the millionth time he cursed to himself. This room was just too well built to allow escape. Even several well place grenades or other explosives would not cause enough damage to allow even a remote possiblity.

The silence did not last long, as a beeping nose was heard and the locks sliding back. He remained lying down, and stared upward.

"Let's go tin man. Docs have got a number more needle poking for you!"

Hans closed his eyes in deep thought, before slowly sitting up. He looked up at the guard, a big bear of a man who probably could've challenged a grizzly to a fight, and perhaps won. At long last, he stood and exited the cell silently.

The landing at Tarlachia’s only star port, at Rossover was uneventful, until Kaylinde reached the immigration station. Law enforcement officers seemed to so numerous that it set Kaylinde to wondering if Tarlachia was suffering under a terrorist threat …’or maybe there’s just a local crime wave?’ she thought hopefully after passing the fifth one during the short walk to the building toward which the custom agent that had been inspecting the freighter directed her. The port section she passed through, like all bulk freight areas was filled with a variety of large, often not too well maintained ships, and trash seemed to accumulate in the corners, leaving a vague impression of dinginess. She did note that the buildings were substantial and well maintained despite the exterior grime

The interior was clean and brightly lit, the agents stations all manned and the officers looked bright eyed and alert. Not exactly what Kaylinde was looking for but most of her 'questionable' equipment didn’t look as …destructive as it was. Which turned out to be a very good thing, as the agent she was assigned seemed to take great delight in thoroughly unpacking her two duffels and weapons cases. It was hours before they let her go, and her temper had reached its outer limits. Once passed through she shouldered her luggage and strode into the gathering gloom. The weapon carry regulations were very strict, but given Kaylinde’s current mood, any one approaching her in anything other than peace, would go in pieces.

Dusk was falling, watch lights beginning to spring from room to room as dark clouds pregnant with rain gathered under the guiding hand of a freshening wind. There was a greater mixture of races here than in Tanara, non-humans were still fairly rare there. She was careful not to gawk, she’d studied the guide books carefully, but was glad of her shades hiding her eyes as she found her glance straying time and again to the Elves, the Dramen and the earliest rising of the legendary Vampires. She realized that she had made a serious mistake when she looked at the face of her padd and the address she had noted did not match the one before her. Sighing she looked about trying to correlate her location with the information given by the customs officer.

“Lost and in probably record time.”

She muttered to herself, and then noted several pair of eyes upon her. Unfriendly eyes at that.

“Hey, it’s a tourist, a little lost tourist”

A voice sing-songed as thunder rumbled. The tone was scornful and as unfriendly as the eyes. Five youths all of which would fill the stereo type of over bulked, under brained, bully perfectly sauntered down the broad stone steps that lead to some sort of multiple residency building to her left.

Kaylinde didn’t turn her attention form them but let her peripheral vision scan for any police. ‘Of course there are never any about when you need them, so I’d better try to defuse this.’ With a mental rolling of eyes she pasted a smile on her face.

“Yes lost I am and willing to admit it. Can you tell me which direct Fnord street lies?”

Thunder rumbled in the distance, part of Kaylinde's mind began counting off the seconds till light speed and the speed of sound interesected ...calculating the distance as the many legged storm moved towrds the city. Part of her kept track of the location of the five that were spreading out to encircle her. Part of her noteing the exact location of her bags as she let them fall to the ground, while a tiny bit of the remainder of her attention still sought the presence of a police officer.

A high pitched giggle, and words slurred enough to be hard to decipher left her wondering if the speaker wasn't in an altered state of consciousness. She hadn't paid much attention to Tarlachia's policy on drugs or alcohol. She rarely indulged in alcohol and never in any drug stronger that Cannabis.

A casual back hand broke the nose of the one edgeing in from her supposed blind spot, and caused him to drop the knife he had intended to bury in her ribs, as he went to his knees. Then she was spinning with the fluid grace of a ballerina, the knife edge of her foot breaking the wrist on the one close to the knife weilder. His blade, somewhat longer and broader than the heart piercer of the first, flew away to vanish in the rising nights shadows as the hulk yelped in astonishment and agony.

The giggling speaker no longer laughted for though his lips were still drawn back, it was now a snarling grimmance. He lunged foreward, certain he could lay hand on the tall offworlder who'd just injured his boys. Kaylinde waited for him, a small cats smile playing over her lips. Then his wrist was in her hand and his own momentum used against him, as she stepped back, pivoted on one planted heel and threw him across the width of the street.

Unseen, her move having put him behind her, the fourth of the five toughs drew a pistol in the shape of snarling dragon's jaws, and fired. Though he was beginning to panick ( he could not believe all that had occured in little more time than it took to blink, the stupid bint was faster than a cat! his mind wailed) his aim was true and the bullet slammed into Kaylinde's back...only to flatten against the armor, all but a second skin beneath her clothes, the foot pounds of the round's impact rippling away to be absorbed and used.

Kaylinde rounded upon him, showing no signs of damage, the drawback of her lips no smile either and snatched the weapon from his hands as he looked on dumfounded

"You really shouldn't've done that that. I don't like my clothes getting damaged."

As she spoke she reversed the pistol and proceded to break his jaw with the butt, then eject the clip and pocket it, before thowing the weapon into the gutter. Before it could land in the muddy water the last of the five made his move and lept upon Kaylinde from the side. Momentum and mass combined to make her stagger as he landed against her and she went down on one knee

A low growl rumbled in her throat as she stood, her attacker firmly in her grasp. "Shallow end of the gene pool. If you haven't bred yet do I get a Darwin award?"

The bully's strugles became frantic as he tried to wrest himself free to no avail. Her superior strength, far greater than her appearance would suggest, made his efforts futile. His grunts of effort became a near continuous whine of fear.

Government operations in Tarlachia were often conducted far underground, or in well secured military bases. Hans was in one of the latter, held in a room that was partially underground, except for a small window just above the ground. If it had flooded, the room would undoubtedly become filled with water.

The beeping of the machines to Han's left snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked over at them. The man tending the machines pulled out a paper that had printed, giving the latest results of the experiment, an ion test. Surprisingly, the armor around Hans had taken the multiple shots well, but they had been the best so far to deal damage.

I've got to get out of here, before they completely figure out how to defeat one like me...

Hans looked down at the restraints on his limbs, thick folded steel attached to great chains that could have held a ship to a dock, even one as large as say, the famed ship of faraway lands, known as the Titanic. Unfortunately, even the unsinkable had been sunk. Such was probably the case with Hans himself. The indestructable could be destroyed.

It was only a matter of time.

I've got to get out of here...

The armor slid around his body and tightened into place once more as they prepared to set another blasts of ionized energy toward him. The armor, even as good as it was, still took the damage, and even gave off a brief hint of heat as the metal held stoutly.

"All right. All done." stated one of the men as he approached Hans and looked up into his eyes, "You're doing quite well there, tin man."

Tin Man, an ironic name for the unknown metal-based armored man who could have easily crushed the scientist's head with only one hand. I've got to get out...

Hans glared back into the eyes of the scientist and spoke, "You are trying to destroy me."

The scientist looked up at him and laughed long and loud in a high pitched, and rather annoying tone. Finally, he ceased and looked Hans square in the eye. "No, we're finding your weak points. Once we figure that out, we'll be creating our own version of your armor, one that can hold against the elements that yours are weak against."

Hans looked at the man, "And how will you control those who hold such armor on their person?"

The man grinned, "Ah, that's the easy part, we've got little mechanisms to keep them in line."

Hans didn't reply as sudden memories flashed before his eyes, which themselves rolled back in his head from the ferocity of the recall. Memories of the experiment, of the augumentation from the Devilish. Of the inhibitor chip.
No...No...No...

"NOOOOOO!" Hans roared as he reached out suddenly and lunged for the scientist. He bent his muscles and strained against the great chains as he growled with a renewed passion, a renewed vengeance.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO DO THIS!!" he roared with a ferocious tone in his voice, his anger now fully giving him adrenaline and passion.

The creaking of metal was soon followed by snapping metal as Hans broke the chains, the great chains that could hold great ships to port, the metal shrieking against his raging strength. The scientist dropped the items in his hands and screamed, "Stop him! SOMEBODY STOP HIM!!"

The chains lashed free from their bolts and were immediately whipped forward. The scientist's screams were suddenly cut short as the chains smashed into his skull, crushing it under the great kinetic force. Guns began to open fire upon the EXO who paid no heed to the bullets. Relentlessly, he spun and whipped the men one by one, even several at a time, the chains instantly killing.

The blood flowed and splattered freely about the room as more guards came running in, an alarm having been triggered. Hans killed these men just as easily, the chains still bound to his wrists. Chains also dragged behind and whipped about from his ankles. He had become a raging tornado of metallic death.

The EXO stopped after several minutes, the room now falling silent save for the blaring alarm. Bodies lay strewn about, the faces locked into shocked and pained expressions. Blood coated everything, even the ceilings. There had been only one survivor.

The one who had killed them all.

Hans ran toward the exit and burst through it easily, making his way toward the elevator. Security cameras caught his movements, but the few remaining people alive had watched his carnage on monitors, and were afraid for their lives. They were the smart ones. They knew he was pissed, no...enraged, and so they wanted to make sure he didn't come after them.

They unlocked the various doors and lifts that would lead Hans to the surface.

To freedom.

Kaylinde tossed the writhing Draman, for thats what his features made him out to be, into the one whose nose she had broken with her first move. He was just beginning to climb to his feet but the sudden arrival of his buddy atop him took him down once again.

"Miss, are you all right?"

The anxious voice had Kaylinde spinning towards the speaker, ready for new trouble. How ever the non threatening tone and the new comers appearance eased her tension. He was an older gentleman, conservativly dressed and carrying what appeared to be sacks of local produce.

"I'm alright but ..."

Her voice trailed off, she was not used to open violence occuring in a city.

"I'm visiting, and don't want any problems. I" Her smile was wry "got lost and apparently my asking directions upset them"

The man frowned as he looked at the five semi conscious men and looked back at her

"Not some of the nicer residents of the neighborhood, they are bullies that will cause any trouble they can. Perhaps it would be best if we continued this conversation elsewhere."

he held up a hand before Kaylinde could demure

"There is a coffee house just a few buildings up, they also serve a limited dinner selection and has a good reputation locally."

He waited quietly while Kaylinde considered his suggestion. His demeaner and the fact that the toughs were starting to rouse decided her. Quickly she picked up her duffle bags and stepped out of the impromptu circle of battle

"Please, lead on"

"Certainly...thats a UNSPF uniform, isn't it. My son served with them for a while before he retired to take over our family business."

Inwardly Kalyinde tensed, but nothing showed in her face or voice

"Master Gunnery Sergeant Kaylinde Moore, sir"

"Oh no need to be formal. I'm Jules Evenaire, and I must apologise for such a poor welcome as that to Tarlachia.... Ah here it is"

And gallantly he held the door open for her as the massed storm clouds released the cleanseing rains that filled them. Kaylinde stepped into the pleasant warm and golden light of the coffee house and stepped aside quickly so that Jules sould get in before getting completely drenched

The rumbling thunder was overhead, the clouds taking on their claim of the skies once again. Such atmospheric activity was common this time of year, and often would drench the entire region with strong downpours that often would spawn more terrifying beasts of nature, such as tornadoes and the likes.

Hans glanced to each side as he stood just outside of the government facility he had not quite broken out of, but rather walked out of. All clear, no military personnel nearby. Uknown to him, a call had been placed to the sentries to not challenge the man on his departure, or they would suffer undoubtedly.

Hans looked down at the chains on his limbs, sighing slightly. These had to go before anything else could be done. He looked about once more, trying to figure out where the nearest blacksmith would be. Clueless, he turned right and began walking. It seemed like hours before he finally found one, who in turn, was willing to help him, even with suspicions. Nevertheless, Hans had given him more money than expected, and so, he had gained his silence. Hans didn't care, for the money had been taken from several of the dead bodies that he had killed on the way out. Money they had no need for anymore.

____________________________________

Hans looked up through the downpouring rain at the diner that sat in front of him, its warm glow beckoning gently. He walked forward after a few more moments, and opened the door, the little bell announcing his arrival. There were a number of patrons inside, but Hans paid them no heed as he made his way to the long bar that stretched the length of the diner. He picked up the menu and scanned the food.

"Yeah hon, whaddaya want?" a squat woman asked as she looked at Hans, who was dressed in dark clothing, a cloak still around his shoulders. He lowered the menu and spoke, "I'll have a coffee for now, give me a minute to figure out what I want to eat?"

"Sure thing, buttercup." replied the woman as she waddled her way to another table.

Hans sighed as he looked back at the menu, trying to decide what would be his first change of meal since being captured. He was sick of the rather dull stew they claimed was from a five star chef in their facility. He doubted that claim, for the food..well, it simply sucked.

The plump waitress approached and set down his coffee as well as some milk. "Sugar's right over here, hon."

Hans nodded and proceeded to set his coffee as he wished. Just that very action reminded him of his first days in the UNSPF military, when he and the boys would gather in the mess hall at four o'clock in the goddamn morning. Yet, it had been good times. Until the war broke out in full force of gore and horrifying death. And especially until he had become a prisoner of war.

The fare proved to be filling and Jules proved to be knowledgeable about the location of the hostel that had been recommended to her. He insisted on paying the modest tab for the meal and seeing her to a cab

She wondered how she had gotten so very lost - the inn was in the complete opposite direction- untill she looked at the directions in her padd once again. 'There's an immigration officer that might benefit from some remedial training' she brooded, wiping the inaccurate directions from the pocket comp.

Soon she was checked in and was shown to a small, tastefully furnished suite. Wearily she set the duffels down on the dresser and went to check out the bathroom.

"Hmmm, no bath tub but the shower is double sized" Kaylinde murmured approvingly and began to strip off her clothes, the idea of a shower incredibly appealing. The flattened bullet from the encounter earlier fell from her uniform top to clink agains the tiles. Slowly she bent and picked it up and bounced it in her palm a few times.

"I'm here Hans, in Tarlachia...Now I just have to find you, find out how you feel about me for certain. To find out if I have just been the universes biggest fool...

The dream began as it always did, Hans holding her as if she were the most fragile of crystal. His broad strong hands warm against her bare skin as they kissed with searing intensity, a kiss that seems to last for eternity. Her hands tangled in the heavy mass of his black hair, reveling in the contact of flesh to flesh.

Leaning back in the circle of his arms as Hans looking down at her with eyes of blue flame, drinking in the sight of her. “I have waited so long for this night. My heart knew before I did, knew and tried to reveal you to me” One hand sliding about to her rib cage, a forefinger tracing the pattern of fine white scars that stood out against the rosy blush of her arousal.

And the joy spilled out of the dream, a chill frissoning up and down her spine. She tried to turn her head, bite her lips and turn away rather than reveal to him…they were not the sigils he had etched into her living flesh, but the replacements she had carved herself into the regrown body she now wore.

And the dream fractured into shards, memory nightmare, nightmare reliving memory, one her mind would not let her suppress, one drilled with ruthless clarity into a rift in her very soul…In the bed her body writhed, twisting the sheets about her tightly but her mind would not let her wake, not just yet.

Hans and she had gone different directions; companions would smuggle him forth from the grasp of the UNSPF, to the safety of Tarlachia, while she used every contact she could sway to call off the intentions of certain agencies of that government. She was not with out some influence, though outside Tanara it was far weaker. She made such a nuisance of herself, came so close to the edge of insubordination that charges were pressed and Kaylinde found herself in custody.

Then abducted from that custody by agents unknown. Disappeared to a planet that didn’t exist on most star charts she was interrogated for weeks with increasing brutality. When drug assisted interrogation nearly killed her, before they discovered that she was conditioned against such, they turned to ‘old fashioned’ physical torture. Finally, disgusted that they were not able to break her physically they became determined to break her mind. When the more ‘civilized’ methods failed as well they tossed her to the wolves.

The planet was a dumping ground for military criminals the ‘kinder and gentler’ military could no longer execute. The prisoners had been advised that their newest ‘gift’ was a Devilish collaborator. It was three months before agents of the Tanaran Empire discovered her location and another two before Special Forces could recover her. A young lieutenant found her pinned to a filthy mattress by a thumb thick three foot long spike driven through her chest, raging with fever, one eye dangling destroyed against a crushed cheek. Her remaining eye fastened on him, her mouth wrenched open and she began screaming, a high thin rasp that was completely animalistic. His sergeant took one look at the situation and hustled the horrified lieutenant out, stripping off her combat helmet, making sure that Kaylinde could see that she was a woman. No man was allowed near her.

Tanara’s finest medical center had released her after a year, but there were still doubts about the soundness of her mental state. If her therapists had discovered that she had taken a knife to herself, they would have instituted proceedings to return her to care.

Hans looked up as he heard the door open behind him. A gust of wind blew in and buffeted his backside. Naturally, he turned to see who was passing through. It was simply some older gentleman with an auburn-haired woman who spoke lowly to him as they departed.

Hans nearly dropped his coffee cup as he stared out the window of the closing door. Kaylinde? Here?

He wasn't sure, because he hadn't seen the woman's face, for she had been departing, and had never given a side glance that would allow him to verify. And so, he turned back to the bar and drank some more.

God, she looked so much like her, even that walk was like hers...

He set his cup down, and stared off into the distance, replaying the last few minutes in his mind. Finally, he pulled out some cash and set it on the bar, departing quickly. He glanced about in the downpouring rain, and saw the woman far off in the distance, heading to some inn down the road. The gentleman had disappeared from sight, no longer accompanying the woman. It only served to strengthen his suspicions.

Within minutes, he stood outside the inn, unsure if he should continue on this possible false lead. He paced around the block slowly, arguing with himself on the morality of stalking this woman, which was in reality what he was doing.

Only one way to find out... he thought at long last, and pushed the door open. Glancing about, he noted that she was gone, probably already in her room. He approached the desk and spoke lowly to the attendant,

"Excuse me, I'm looking for my sister. Name's Kaylinde Moore. Can you tell me what room's she's in?"

The attendant looked up at him and nodded. After a moment of scanning the registry, she looked back up at him, "Room 225, second floor."

"Thanks." he replied as he made his way to the stairs. He walked along the narrow corridor of the second floor, moving slowly as he read the numbers. He hoped to God his suspicions were correct, or he would potentially cause a much bigger problem than he wished.

He stopped in front of the door marked with the three numbers that would either reward him or discipline him perhaps for the rest of his life. Still quite unsure, but feeling a hidden sense of something that told him he had to find out, he finally knocked.

Once...Twice...Three times total he knocked. Holding his hand there for a moment, he considered just disappearing, but his conscience wouldn't let him. And so, he lowered his hand and looked down to the floor waiting...

The quiet of the small suite was shattered as Kaylinde screamed unrestrainedly, waking from her nighmare raddled sleep abruptly

The scream's echos had not faded when she realised that some one was knocking at the door. She lay still for a moment, wondering if she just 'played possum' they'd go away. Another knock sounded, and Kaylinde fought her way into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

"Get a rein on yourself Kay. He'll never find out, its the past, it's done it can't be changed" She snarled softly to herself as she stood and on silent feet she padded to the door, and keyed the annunciator

"Yes?"

At first, a scream could be heard coming from inside the room. Hans immediately felt regret to disturbing the poor mysterious woman, and turned to walk away. But then the intercom beeped slightly and a voice called out.

"Yes?"

Hans froze completely as he heard the woman's voice clearly for the first time in a long time.

"Hello? Who is it?" the voice asked once more.

Still Hans failed to reply. He couldn't believe it. His ears were playing tricks, they had to be. He turned and stared with wide eyes at the door. His voice had lost all use, having been swallowed in his shock.

"Who the hell is it?" the voice demanded once more.

Kaylinde was in no mood to have to wait on some stranger knocking on her door, on a strange planet. A strange planet with far too many police,and unfriendly people, though the unfriendly people explained the numerous police

and not after wrestling with the nightmare once again. Wearily she leant her forehead against the door for a second. She'd count to ten and if no one answered...

"then to the seven hells with them"

She muttered her favorite curse, unaware that her hand still depressed the annunciators microphone. Her eyes started to droop closed but she forced them open. The very brief time she'd been asleep had not refreshed her at all. Anger flared and she wrenched the door open with little forethought, knuckling her eyes

"What?"

The door's latch rattled quietly against the lock as it unchained from the wall. Seconds later, the door opened. Yet to Hans, it seemed to take a millenia to open up enough for the occupant to step out partially into the hall, wearing nothing more than a pair of soft blue sleep pants and a matching blue tank top. She wore no bra, having no need for it while sleeping.

Her emergence seemed to be like the unveiling of an angel, or a goddess, as Hans widened his eyes as she stepped into the hall. He dropped his jaw in surprise, still unbelieving of the situation.

Her eyes locked with his, and instantly reacted with a rigid shock at his cobalt blue eyes. None other she had ever met had those eyes, those eyes that seemed to never be changed by life changes, those eyes she had first seen truly so long ago.

But it had been only eighteen months...and yet it seemed an eternity away since they had truly met in the dark cave on Argonia. It seemed that several lifetimes had passed since then, each living in the memories that only died as reality set in.

Hans stepped forward, barely whispering and holding his hand out, "K--Kay..."

"Hans?" she whispered in return, also stepping toward Hans. She suddenly shrieked with joy as she leapt upon him, feeling his strong arms about her once again, bringing a powerful sob to her voice as she kissed him. Hans returned the kiss just as passionately, holding Kaylinde close. He was slightly surprised, but strangely, the very question that both had been asking themselves since their parting, was now answered in just that kiss alone.

Hans gasped, "I...I can't belive it's you!" He drew back, holding her tightly as she pressed forward to kiss him again, any reservations about such an action having been lost since the first one was initiated. After several minutes of passionate embrace, she finally slid down off him and looked longingly into his eyes. Hans was the first to speak, "You'll never know how much you truly mean to me Kaylinde...you were why I kept going..."

She cupped his face in her hands, falling, as ever, into the blue hot furnace of his eyes

'And you, I" She whispered as she stepped from his arms just long enough to pull him into the privacy of the suite, nudging the door closed behind them. Then she was back in his waiting embrace. This time however she was aware enough of externals to realize that Hans was sopping wet and now she was soaked too. Disregarding it as inconsequential she luxuriated in his presence for long minutes, unspeaking, unmoving, nestled in against him. A faint shiver racked Hans and Kaylinde pulled back with a guilty start

"That storms trying to drown the city" Thunder rumbled as if in agreement as she pulled away and began to strip his sodden outfit from him. She pushed his denying hands aside, stilling any protests with gentle kiss.

"Hush, you're freezing, there’s a big shower with all the hot water any one could wish, and plenty of thick towels to dry off with. All the luxury one could want after our time on Argonia"

Hans's protests died unvoiced as she led him to the bathroom and turned the shower on full force. Within moments steam was billowing forth and the room warmed to ease his chill. Reluctant to let go of her, never the less he stepped into the shower and Kaylinde closed the door behind him. He suddenly realized that he stank of his earlier exertions, an essence comprised of rage, violence, blood, and near despair. A soft growl escaped him as he grabbed the bar of soap, determined to wash that away from him, from memory, if such was possible.

Kay rushed back to the bedroom, and searched hastily for a clean set of sheets. She didn't want him to see the mess she had made of the bed. Finally she spotted a clean set of linens and proceeded to remake the bed, tossing the sweat soaked ones into a wicker hamper that was tucked next to the dresser. She looked down at her wet bedclothes and stripped them from herself. Turning to her not yet unpacked duffels she pawed though first one then the other frantically looking for something suitable. Discarding the two other pair of sleepwear she had brought she found herself grinning as she suddenly understood what lace, silk, and satin were truly for. Abruptly she decided that Hans would just have to deal with her the way she was...and it wasn't as if he'd never seen her naked before.

Padding back into the bathroom and Kaylinde opened the shower door, where Hans's powerful form was barely visible behind the ephemeral curtain of steam. He turned at the gust of cooler air created as she entered, as she hesitated, suddenly assailed by nameless doubts. She looked into his eyes ' pupils dilated...that’s good' her thoughts jumbled off kilter and she followed the length of his body 'am I that appealing ' her mind fizzled to a halt.

Kaylinde had had the required 'Interpersonal Biological Interaction' education required by Tanaran educational guide lines, but there is a vast difference between theory and actuality.

"I found I didn't have a thing to wear so I thought I'd join you" The line had barely left her lips when she found herself wondering what inane entity had taken over her and was saying such things. she looked at him aghast her hand fling to cover her lips.

Hans struggled not to laugh at the priceless look of abashed astonishment on Kaylinde's face, then it was too much and it poured out of him, a bellowed rush of cleanseing laughter. Kaylinde gave him a moue and tried to frown, then found her laughter spiraling forth. Laughing away months of pain and uncertainty they fell into each others arms once again as steam billowed around them, a veil against prying eyes

As the shower door closed softly behind Kaylinde, Hans took her into his arms, holding her tightly once more. He found himself whispering in her ear, "I missed you..."

She raised her face to his and placed a steamy kiss upon his own, tasting his soft lips with a smile. Her breasts pressed into his muscled chest, her cheek now against his shoulder. "Why?" she murmured, "Why did I let you get away the first time?"

Hans placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead replying, "It had to be done, you know that."

He held her from him, causing her to look at him quizzically. He had his attention on her torso, studying the white scars that disrupted the near perfectness of her body, scars he had done so long ago. He looked up to her and spoke, "I'm so sorry..."

She shook her head and laughed, "No no, this I hold with pride, my love, for it was then we truly found each other..."

As soon as the words had escaped her mouth, she brought a hand up to cover it. She had done it, and without thought. Hans too looked slightly surprised, and yet, relieved. What he knew had happened between them, was now fully out in the open. He pulled her close, holding her face with both hands. He whispered, "I love you too, Kay. With all my heart. I don't know how--"

He never finished what he said as she silenced him with a vigourous embrace and kiss. The two leaned against the wall, Hans between the wall and her, the steaming water billowing about them like a comforting blanket of passion and love as they floated away from the harsh world, to their own world.

Their world that could never be destroyed...

Gentle sleep laid claim to Hans and Kaylinde, drawing them down into each other’s embrace. Kaylinde drew a deep breath, the warm male scent of her lover filling the air. Her breathing stopped, as her body jerked taunt, muscles locked in sudden terrible conflict. Fight or flight… and her nature had never been one to lean toward escape. Even though he slept, every hair on Hans' body rose in atavistic response to the almost inaudible growl that issued from Kaylinde’s throat. He jerked awake, unsure for mere moments as to what woke him, then as with eyes rolled back in her head, her subconscious threw her body into a devastating attack against the male within her range.

Her hands first struck violently against him, first as clawed fingers slashing wickedly into his flesh, causing him to gasp as she continued her violent assault. Instinctively, he scrambled to get away, and protect himself. He thrust her off him, throwing her across the room into the wall, which shook under her weight. She rose like a demon would, incarnate rage flaming from her eyes as she glared at Hans. Hans instinctively drew his exoskeletal armor about him, wincing as it slid over his wounds inflicted by her hands. She charged once more, screaming in a primal rage, as she too seemed to shift before his very eyes.

“Kay! Kaylinde! Snap out of it!" He cried as he was forced to punch her across her face. She was fast however, and recovered with blinding speed...

Her eyes were lambent with distilled rage, unrecognizing of Hans, and her strength that of adrenalin enhanced madness. She reached for him and lifted him, throwing him at the wall. Through the wall as it gave beneath the momentum and his armored mass. Barely pausing she followed him, on him in an instant, hands grasping him once more. His words had no effect on her, for at that moment the Kaylinde of his heart did not exist.

Hans gripped his hands around Kaylinde's wrists that were now clenching his throat as she tried to choke him. Thankfully, the armor kept that from happening, but he could feel the abnormal strength in her grip. With his legs, he flipped her over his head, landing her on her backside. He followed through with his own body until he sat atop her, pounding with an increasing rage at whatever was possessing her, driving her to kill him. She was trying to kill him, he was sure, but he didn't know why. He kept his assault at her face and torso, metallic fists pounding with ferocity. Inside the mask, Hans began to cry sporadically, for it pained him to resort to this.

"Kay! Wake up!" He cried between his punches...

His blows were as nothing to the elemental fury beneath him. She had survived far worse at the hands of the animals she had been over to. This was just one more, but one she could kill, one she could keep from hurting her further. Kaylinde bucked furiously, her torso arching up, catching Hans by surprise, throwing him off to the side as she made it to her feet and launched another attack at him. Her growl was a near wail searing her throat, her lips pulled back in a grotesque rictus.

Hans took her animalistic blows at him, horrified at the deep hate in her eyes, hate that seemed to flow from the depths of her soul. Finally, he forced himself to do what he did not want to do. With a roar of his own matching hers but only deeper in octave, he thrust her about, spinning her about until she was locked into a grappling chokehold. She clawed at his armored face to no avail, thrashing about in fury.

The thrashing and struggling continued as he held her tightly, refusing to let her go. And slowly, her eased attacks as she slipped into unconsciousness. Once she had ceased, he finally released her, retracting his armor as he leaned over her, checking her pulse, tears splashing against her now peaceful face.

"Kay...please..."

Awareness returned slowly, accompanied by aches and pains that baffled Kaylinde’s dulled wits at first. ‘Oh gnus! That must have been a rough work out…no I’m out of the hospital…aren’t I …not home tho….what..’ her mind wandered among memories for a moment, the fog slowly lifting until …’weeping? Who?’ Then her mind froze in horror. Hans leaning over her, tears rolling past ragged gouges to mingle with trails of blood.

And exactly what had happened played out in her mind with brutal, perfect clarity. Shattering her heart and soul

Slowly, she sat up. Everything she had used as a strength in the past was now naught more than dust in a typhoons wind. She knew what must be done. With the speed of a striking serpent one hand flashed out and landed precisely on her chosen target. Hans slumped unconscious.

“Forgive me beloved, but you aren’t safe from me. I have to go”


Frozen faced, unable to shed the tears that scalded her soul, she stood and walked on legs as numb as her heart over to where her duffels sat. Pulling on the first clothes she laid hand on she dressed and walked out of the suite, gently closing the door behind her, never noticing the woman who stood in the corridor watching.

Kaylinde didn’t bother no notice where she was going, just as long as it was far from Hans, just as long as it was private enough

First the sounds of the air conditioning penetrated the hazy fog that surrounded Hans' mind. It hissed and sharpened his hearing, bringing him back to consciousness. Suddenly, he shot upwards to his feet, the throbbing on his temple still pounding furiously. He looked about frantically in search of Kay.

She hit me!

The voice of reason chose to explain, She wants to protect me...

He grimaced and made his way to the door, rubbing his temple slightly. Like hell she's getting away from me again... He entered the hall and glanced in both directions, only to see a mysterious woman standing there, looking past Hans. He moved toward her, "Where is she?!" he demanded. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry. Who?"

Hans looked at her clothing, noting she was not wearing Tarlachian fabrics. He looked at her face again, "Kaylinde...where is she?!"

She merely pointed opposite of her, past Hans. He turned to look and suddenly took off.

"Wait!" she cried, smiling slightly as Hans turned to her somewhat annoyed at her delay, "You might want to put some clothes on..."

Hans looked down and blinked surprised. He hadn't noticed that he had run out of the room nude. He looked up and thanked her with a sheepish look as he darted back into the room, grabbed his wet clothes and put them on once again. The cold fabric sent a series of chills down his metallic spine, but he ignored it as he darted out the door once more.

Soon, he was out in the street, looking about and yelling at the top of his lungs, "KAYLINDE!"

His eyes fell to the ground where barefooted footprints led away from the inn. It was her, he was sure of it. He took off running, following the tracks.

Perigrine Omega shook her head as the Tarlachian reemerged from the suite, this time clothed. Kaylinde just hadn't hit him hard enough, didn't have enough lead-time for what Perigrine suspected she intended to do. It wasn't her place to get involved with that, the Empress had been adamant. 'What a waste, her genetics are almost as good as a Neitzscheans' she thought as she watched him leave.

Once Hans was out of sight, the agent looked down at the view screen of the small tracking device. Kaylinde was moving at a slower pace now. Her body should be exhausted, coming down from the massive adrenal overload. 'He’ll probably find her' Perigrine mused to herself as she entered the empty suite and began preparing a welcome for those who were surely hunting the Tarlachian. It would be a warm welcome indeed, and a quite deadly one.

Down in the street her partner sent up an encrypted signal as Hans passed her observation post. Shado' continued watching the exterior of the Inn from her position.

Perigrine stopped and noted that he had turned in the right direction.

Kaylinde stumbled along the length of a darkened alley, uncaring at how squallid the area she was traversing had become. She cared little either for the pain in the soles of her feet, torn and leaving a discernable trail of blood.

Eventually she came to an abandoned parking lot, behind and partially surrounded by a large derelict building. Windows, empty of glass watched like eyes empty of life as she looked incuriously about. A large rat skittered from the shadow of an overflowing dumpster, but other than that she had the privacy she desired. The privacy to die. To no longer be a danger to Hans.

The building was better than the open lot she decided after amoment of reflection.

He moved with a silent pace, never faltering from the trail that Kaylinde didn't even bother to cover. Soon, he began to see small pools of blood in the footprints, soaking into the sodden ground. This only encouraged him to move faster, and hope to find her soon. He passed an overflowing dumpster and entered through a doorway that lacked a door to shield the interior of the elements. Instinctively, his armor drew up around him and his visual screen activated night vision. He walked slowly through the building, switching to heat vision, noting the slight disturbances left in the temperature of the floor by her footprints. You're not getting away that easily love... he thought to himself as he followed them.

And suddenly, the footprints were gone. He switched visuals and scanned the area. She was gone, she had disappeared. Hans cursed, barely audible in the echoing silence.

She wasn't on the ground level anywhere. Logical deduction told him to look up.

There she was, hiding in the rafters, apparently oblivious to him, or attempting to not be seen.

He crouched slightly and suddenly leapt up with great strength as he gripped the rafters with his hands and flipped around to sit opposite of her.

"Kay..." he whispered, keeping in mind her attack from earlier, and so choosing to keep his armor extended. She didn't look at him, but suddenly lashed out, knocking him off the rafters. He plunged downward, colliding into the floor. He quickly got up and looked up at her as she screamed at him, "STAY AWAY...PLEASE!" Her eyes were full of pain, of sorrow.

Hans reacted as only he could, "Kay...I cannot. I won't let you get away like last time. I swore to myself that when I found you, I would never lose you again."

She looked at him with tearful eyes. He continued, "And I meant every damn word. You're the sun of my world Kaylinde. You...I love you."

]Kaylinde had lashed out unthinking, more than a little startled as Hans appeared next to her as if by magic. Then could have torn her heart out as he proved not to be a hallucination at all.

"Kay...I cannot. I won't let you get away like last time. I swore to myself that when I found you, I would never lose you again.""And I meant every damn word. You're the sun of my world Kaylinde. You...I love you."

A negateing shake of her head was all she could manage, her body near collapse in reaction to the end adrenal overload.

"Go Hans, stay away from me, you are not safe near me."

She knew he'd hear the whisper

"And I love you, heart and soul, that is why..."

The buzzsaw whine of something large caliber and on full automatic blanked out the rest of her words as Hans staggered under the impact of the rounds and went down again.

"Hans!" Her cry lost as a figures, anonymous in military style body armour and helmets appeared from the gloom that filled the building.

The armored men walked up to the body of Hans, which lay in the dust on the floor. They watched the man on the ground, then turned their attention to the woman. One looked back at Hans and spoke, adderssing Kayinde, "Such a pity. He would have made a good addition to the special ops team. But now he is dead."

He looked up at her with a grin, then walked out, "Bring the body." he called out as he departed the room.

The soldiers did as they were commanded, picking up Hans' armored body. One soldier looked closely at the armor and called out to their leader, "Hey cap, none of these bullets hit him!"

The captain returned and replied, "Nonsense, I heard the bullets hitting him."

"But they--" the soldier started before suddenly gasping aloud as Hans' hand ripped through his ribcage and tore his internal organs out in a ferocious movement. He suddenly spun in the air, delivering powerful kicks and slashing at the exposed throats of the soldiers.

The EXO rose from the ground, having been dropped to his knees. He looked at the captain and growled, "You're out of your league, old man. Leave. This concerns neither you or your puppets!"

Kaylinde winced at Hans's fatal treatment of his attackers. However she refrained from more than that. They deserved it for being so impolite as to simply not ask ..or maybe it wasn't taking 'no' for an answer

"Or maybe it's being so poorly trained as to not to deserve to be called special ops" She muttered to herself as the 'old man' spun about, raising his weapon as he did so.

He proved to be quite an accurate shot, as his rounds spanged off Hans's armor.

Kaylinde did not want to leave, it tore her heart to do so, but she knew she needed this distraction if she was to escape Hans. Careful of her weakened state she stood and moved slowly along the I-beam, until she was out of sight

She lowered herself to the floor and spied a door way that should have lead to the exterior, but didn't. Shrugging she took it anyway. This proved to be a bad mistake as a well aimed rifle butt rapped her smartly on the temple

Unconscious Kaylinde dropped to the trash strewn floor

Kaylinde came to with a small moan. Every centimeter of her body ached and ached in places she didn't know she had. Her thoughts were heavy and muddled for the first few sceonds, wandering aimlessly until a voice, words indiscinct but close, cleared her head. The blindfold blanked her sight but discrete set of wiggles, let her know that she was well secured, professionally bound.

A not so silent growl followed when a heavy boot cracked ribs with the force of its impact.

"You aren't going any where bait..oh I meant bitch" A feminine voice sneered sweetly. But the voice didn't go with the boot, Kaylinde placed them at different locations, and keen hearing put four more about her.

Roughly she was jerked to her feet, her gasp as broken ribs grated together ignored. She was manhandled against an exposed beam, or some other upright and tied tightly to it. A wide piece of tape was slapped over her mouth. Her captors moved away- on very quiet feet - she could barely hear them and she was certain she had not counted all of them. She had to assume that they were taking up positions to target Hans when he came after her.

Taking a deep a breath as she could she began to struggle furiously

Hans growled deeply as he suddenly and effectively ended the life of the captain. The body barely hit the ground before he was gone, immediately giving pursuit to Kaylinde, whom he had noticed had taken the distraction to her benefit.

Damn you Kay! he thought to himself momentarily as he entered a doorway and suddenly froze as his eyes recognized his love tied to a pillar. She looked up at him with unfocused eyes, her voice cracking out a partial muffled warning from behind the tape across her mouth.

Her head slumped forward, accompanied by her body that held to the pillar still. Hans spun about just as another rifle butt slammed against his face. The armor kept his face protected, but the blow was enough to cause several moments of disorientation. In that short time, multiple hands gripped the mutant and threw him to the ground. The hiss and sound of metal anchors tied to metal chains sounded into the ground. Soon, Hans too was tied down face-down to the ground, his every limb restrained.

A series of lone footsteps approached from the shadows. They stopped just short of Hans head. A feminine voice spoke, "The greatest mutant of the world, so easily captured. You disappoint me, Balran!"

The hiss of gas seemed to pose no dificulty for Hans at first, the filters, an integral part of the armor, would keep him safe. Or so he thought

"The nanobots in the gas will distroy the filters in a moment Balran. So nighty night!" The female voice mocked him as consciousness faded. The nanites performed as stated

The room was more than uncomfortable, his bare skin goosebumping in the cold and dampness. His armor had retracted and he found himself unable to move, even the slightest motion of hands or feet. Save for his eyes, those he could open and close he discovered. The wide band about his throat, a slaves collar with built in inhibitor circuitry would not allow more. The high ceiling was bare save of inset light bars behind frosted plexiglass coverings. His mouth was dry, his tongue thick. Hans could tell he'd been unconscious for some time.

All professionals know the axiom that 'physical torture never works'... They also know that said axion is not necessarily true. Much depends on the reason behind the torture. Those that had captured Hans and Kaylinde weren't professionals, at least not that sort of professional. So the axiom didn't matter to them in the least. They intended to be very thorough.

Any information gained was ancillary to the primary purpose

The metal flexible whip snapped for the hundredth time against Hans' exposed flesh. His voice cried out in pain as the metal dug with barbed ends through his flesh, exposing his muscles to the bitter air. Kaylinde hung across from him, her limbs stretched out. All her clothing was ripped off, thrown into a bloody pile to the side. She was left alone for now as they beat Hans body with their crude, brutal weapons.

The whip snapped once again, and was joined by a pained cry. Again and again, they beat the man, occassionally hearing the metal whip smack against his armored spine. Blood coated the ground and sprayed in every direction each time the whip connected with his flesh.

The woman held her hand up and walked closer as the punisher stepped back.

"Well? Are you ready to comply?"

Hans looked up at her from behind a bruised and bloody face. He spoke lowly, in broken sentences, "I -- will never-- become---*groan of pain*--your pawn!"

The woman stepped back and beckoned for the beatings to continue. Once again, the cries of pain filled the air, screams that reminded one of a tortured soul.

"Bah!" The woman spat angrily "He's not showing much sign of his vaunted healing ability. Look at the mess his torso is! Have the test results come back?"

"Not yet, the first samples were inconclusive"

"What about the woman?"

"If you want her tested, we'll have to unhook her, fluids are pooling in her lower limbs. Trying to get a sample while she's strung up like that will be all but impossible" The technician protested as he used a grimy forefinger to push his glasses back up

"No, its too dangerous"

"So? Hit her with a tranq first, or slap one of those inhibitor collars on her." He argued

After a few minutes more discussion the team leader finally agreed. Then she grinned savagely

"Tell the boys they can have some playtime...Oh and make sure you do it where our new recruit here can see it. That ought to unstarch him somewhat"

Hans opened swollen eyes up at the backside of the woman. I'm not giving you my secrets... he thought to himself, while allowing small amounts of his body to heal over, just the deeper wounds. The blood loss was another problem though, and it only made his healing efforts slower, and more difficult to engage.

Hans watched as the woman turned to him and smirked at him, "Enjoy the front row seat boyo."

Hans merely glared at her from behind bruised eyes. He turned his eyes as he heard Kaylinde struggle against the captors who were placing another one of the collars around her neck. No...

One of the brutes reached out and groped Kaylinde's breasts with his hands, bringing his stained yellow teeth to them, licking them softly. He chuckled, "Nothin' like a firm lass!" he declared to the others. They laughed and joined in their molestations of the woman. Kaylinde gritted her teeth, glaring at them in her rage. They would pay, sooner or later. She gasped slightly as one of the men did something she did not wish to remember. She struggled, but the inhibitor collar was doing its job. Across from her, and barely illuminated by a pale lightbulb that hung between them, Hans watched, unable to rip his eyes away. His face grew darker, grew angrier as they continued. Soon, despite the collar, he was shaking with the rage that flowed through him.

"NOOOOO!" he cried with a loud voice that reverbrated against the walls. The grunts turned to sneer at him. One sent the whip in his hand against Hans face. Yet, Hans did the unexpected, he caught the whip with his teeth and held onto it tightly.

"Let go you fuckhead!" demanded the whip-wielder, yanking back hard on the whip. Hans felt the metal grind against his teeth, but did not let go, ignoring the metallic scraping across his enamel. His eyes were locked with the man's own, rage now boiling over into excessive hatred.

He roared as great quantities of volts were sent into his flesh by what appeared to be a modified version of cattle prods. The whip was released as they continued sending another wave of pain unto Hans tortured body. Each time the volts flowed through him, his raised his head upward and roared in pain...and rage. Electricity could be seen leaping between his fingers, his teeth, and seemed to cause his entire body to momentarily glow. They could see that it hurt him greatly, and so they persisted, satisfying their sadistic intentions. For the moment, they had forgotten about the woman, enjoying this opportunity to strike at Hans.

They had used the modified prods on her, first to stun her so as to get the collar upon her, then... And one had been left on the floor, dropped by the first man to take his place between her thighs. She could barely move but the inhibitor had not been set for complete immobility, that would have not been as enjoyable for her rapists.

With a low cry of mingled pain and effort that was lost amid the coarse laughter as they tortured Hans further, she managed to roll on to the floor. She lay dazed for a moment, tears rolling down her face as she watched them torture her love. She wiggled snake like and managed to reach the prod. She couldn't move enough to see the setting, but she knew it was not on 'lethal' from the intimate experiences they had given her as punsihment for her struggles . She would have to trust that it was set high enough.

With an exertion that seemed to take forever she managed to line up the prod, the collar about her neck and the metal leg of the gurney she'd been on. Panting heavily she thrust herself foreward, making as hard a contact as she could. She bit through her tongue as the electrical over load blew out the circuitry of the collar, her body bowing up as every muscle locked in spasm. Her eyesight greyed out then blacked out as she went unconscious

She didn't know how long she'd been out, but it could have not been very long for their captors were still enjoying applying the prods to Hans's battered and torn form. Blood, snot and tears coated her liberally and she didn't want to try and move her legs, her pelvis felt broken. Gritting her teeth, chokeing back little sobs, Kaylinde managed to force herself into sitting position, mostly leaning up against the gurney.

Then she inched herseslf to her feet, one hand frimly about the prod, the dial set to lethal. One of the crew, tired of the play with Hans, remembered the toy behind him. He turned and saw his death. he did not have time to scream

Hans felt the torturous attacks cease as the grunts turned toward their companion who had flown past them, his body piled on the ground, burn marks across his eyes and face. His flesh still smoldered from the electric attack from the prodder that Kaylinde held in her hand. She rose like a demon from the ground, slow and strangely erotically. They saw the immediate danger as the electricity of the prod crackled upon the ground as she rose. One of the grunts laughed darkly and whipped Kaylinde across the face with his prod in his hand. "I'll make you pay for hurtin' Franko, bitch!"

Another of the grunts who had been checking up on Frank's body reported, "Frank's dead. Kill the fuckin' bitch!"

The one closest to Kaylinde snarled, "Franko was my friend..."

Kaylinde snarled back at him, now mostly composed. Her eyes flared with anger, "My heart bleeds for only one..." With that, she lashed out swiftly and buried the prod into the man's open mouth, pulling the trigger. Instantly, the man's eyes rolled back, his hair standing on end, as he shook violently. She caught his prodder in her other hand, using it to ward off the others.

Hans watched this through blurry vision, his face now beaten to a near pulp. He could feel his body losing touch with his mind, as he fought the urge to slip into unconsciousness. However, his body wouldn't have it any other way. He slumped downward, held up by the thick chains that held his wrists and ankles and tightly drawn.

Their masssed attack was aborted as the door to the dank cell was blown inward off its hinges, a roiling smoke cloud expanding and nearly filling the room. Even before the door landed, carefully targeted shots eliminated the stunned men. Two figues, one dragging the pair's chief captor by the collar, emerged like spectors from the smoke.

"Next time don't go getting yourself captured. If you want to commit suicide there are easier ways" Perigrine Omega snarled as she broke the woman's neck and dropped her to the filth covered floor at Kaylindes feet.. Shado' just shook her head and went to inspect Hans's chains. The avatar broke them easily and caught his unconscious body as he fell.

"Who...who are you?" Kaylinde was dazed and at a complete loss. She had never seen the two before and at the moment was torn between accepting help and weary paranoia. Hans's unconscious body, so broken and battered as the stranger laid it on the gurney decide her.

"Doesn't matter, just help him" Kaylinde swayed and reached out a hand to support herself.

Perigreine nodded to Shado' who ran a small medisensor over first Hans and then Kaylinde. The avatar looked sharply at Perigrine and showed the sensor read outs to the Imperial Agent.

"Oh by the bones!"

Kaylinde frowned at her, turning her attention momnetarily from Hans. Perigrin, who had not bothered to introduce herself, just motioned for her partner to begin treating the pair. Perigrine stepped out of the cell and returned as Shado' was just finishing administering several vials of trauma nanos, and Hans was becoming conscious. She set down duffel bags that Kaylinde recognised as hers.

"You'll find your duffel bags have everything you left in the room, with a considerable amount of the local currency, and keys to an upscale high security hotel suite. Its been five days since you were abducted and are now in Turath, Tarlachia's capitol. I suggest you get away from here as soon as possible. I've set the explosives to blow in one hundred and twenty minutes. You two should be able to move by then, and cabs are plentyfull in this area...."

"Oh, and by the way, you're pregnant"

Perigrine chuckled to herself as she and her partner turned and left far more quietly than they had come. There were few better parting lines

Hans groaned as the trauma nanos slowly worked on his injuries. As he was replenished with blood, his body began to work alongside the nanos, speeding the healing up faster than expected. He opened his eyes as the swelling decreased. His vision remained blurry for several moments before finally clearing up. The person standing over him nodded in greeting before finally stepping away.

Kaylinde's hand pressed into Hans shoulder as she leaned over him, her body still hurting from the injuries. She looked into his eyes and shook her head, "Why? Why did you do that?"

Hans reached up to her, his healing hand taking hold of her battered face, "I-I love you."

She clenched her fist and beat it softly upon him, "Damn you! Don't do that again!" Then she suddenly lowered herself and kissed him, keeping the contact long and soft. Then suddenly, she withdrew and turned to the blown door, exclaiming, "I'M PREGNANT?!"

'No, I ...just No...oh great gnus's...Hans is going to be so upset...but we..we only made love that one night...Well if some one wanted to hit me with the last thing I'd ever expect at a moment like this that would be it. I wonder who they were and why..it's got to be a lie' her thoughts tumbled over one another as Hans's drew her back to him and his arms tighetned about her, holding her close. She lay against him, content just to be touching him. Eventually she sighed and sat up

"We've got to get out of here. Ms. Mystery Woman said two hours and part of thats gone."

The nanos were healing her as well, if slower than Hans, and the pain was abateing. Still she moved slowly as she stripped the corpse nearest Hans in build of his now unneeded clothes. Then she found a tap and towels, to wash both of them off. With gentle hands she cleansed Hans and helped him into the clothes, then pushing him gently to lie back down and rest more.

Once he was dressed she turned to her own ablutions, and searched her duffle bag. The PALADIN armor lay in its case and she shook it out, its matrix crystals glinting fire in the light. As Hans watched she slid in to the flexible mass and drew it up about her, the armor taking on the hues of her skin and 'melting' from view

"A gift from a friend" She smilled a little lopsidedly

"Now lets get out of here before we bring down the house and attract a lot of attention. I don't think Ms. Mystery is big on small explosions"

Each supporting the other, duffel bags in hand, they made their way to a lift that had been keyed open and bare minutes later were exiting an apparently newly constructed, but as yet unoccupied office tower. A block later, mostly ignored by the crowds filling the sidewalk, they found a cab stand. The driver looked a little in askance at the fading bruises on their faces, but Kaylinde's clothes were respectable enough that he said nothing.

The Hotel Soffe'Tel was some distance away, but traffic was light. The doorman moved to stop them but Kaylinde held up the card-keys she had found tucked in one of the duffel. Soon they were ensconsed in a penthouse suite, a large order placed with room service. Arm and arm Hans and Kaylinde stood on the balcony, watching a distant dust cloud rise as a building imploded in a most debris free and professional manner

Hans brought Kaylinde around in front of him, and pulled her close. Her back rested against his chest, his arms wrapped gently around her. His eyes reflected the roiling grey and black clouds that rose upward into the sky. They could hear the numerous alarms and sirens that went off all over the city as police and fire personnel raced to the scene. Hans sighed, finally glad to be able to breathe fully without feeling his ribs cracking against each breath.

I can see the tears filling Your eyes
And I know where theyre coming from
Theyre coming from a heart thats broken in two

The two turned away to return to the solitude of the penthouse, closing the doors behind them, sealing the noises of the city life outside. They moved to the bed where they curled up together, simply content to hold each other. Hans finally spoke, asking the very things Kaylinde wished to avoid.

"Why did you run?"

By what you don't see
The person in the mirror
Doesnt look like the magazine
Oh, but when I look at you its clear to me that
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God

She hesitated, tensing visibly. Finally, she replied, "Because you're not safe around me." Her voice caught itself in a small sob, "I'll try and kill you again and again." She couldn't meet his eyes, didn't dare what she might see there.

Hans shook his head, "Why? That makes no sense."

Kaylinde was silent for a long time, fighting a battle that Hans could only vaguely sense. Then she gulped and began speaking in a flat monotone that was frightening to the one who loved her so. "When we parted for that last time, I fought to get you repatriated. I caused quite a ruckus and got brigged. However I was...abducted and taken to Chiron." The dead voice faltered for a moment, then continued, ""I was there for over two months. I was there for a long time before I was rescued."

With no outward display of emotion she detailed what had been done to her, and the medical repairs necessary. It took many minutes to fully explain. At long last, she concluded, "I guess I did too good a job of lying to the shrinks, problably wouldn't be here elsewise, and wouldn't have gotten you captured and tortured. I'm sorry Hans, it would be better if I left."

Hans lifted her chin and shook his head negatively, "I'd rather take the risks of you in that...demented state, than to be without you for the rest of my life. Please...don't run again. You'll never know how much I feared to lose you again."

And I know its true
Youre a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

He kissed her gently upon the forehead, whispering, "You saved me in many ways Kay...many more ways than you can ever imagine." He paused and looked down at her, bringing her eyes to meet his. His expression was soft, gentle, "Besides, if what your mysterious friends said about-," he lowered a hand to her abdomen, resting it gently against her skin, "-this is true, then there is no way I'll stop chasing you. We have been blessed Kay, with a gift for our love, let us not send this child the way we went. Please. You cannot keep running. You are strong alone, but stronger with me. The same is true for myself. I love you, with all my heart..."

Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by Gods hand
And perfectly planned
To be just who you are

"Hans, beloved.." The sobs that came were deep and silent, wracking her body as she lay stretched out against him. There were no tears but like a opened boil, the poison was wrung out of her soul to leave her exhausted. Her eyelids drooped and she nestled trustingly against him. Hans wrapped his arm around her, holding her protectively, lovingly. "Never will I let you run alone..." he whispered. Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew he hadn't quite fully won her over yet. He was determined however, to one day help her fully see the truth in their relationship, and trust in her heart of hearts.

And what Hes been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living breathing priceless work of art and
Just look at you
Youre a wonder in the making
Oh and Gods not through, no
In fact, Hes just getting started
______________________________________

"What the frell happened here?!" demanded a tall, broad shouldered draman. His name was Captain Mar Firebrand, and his draconic features made him look menacing, to the point of almost being evil. Yet, he was the captain of the local precinct, and today's quiet day had just been blown up, figuratively, and literally by the warehouse explosion.

"We're looking into that now, sir." reported another officer as he consulted a fireman who had just approached. The two spoke lowly for a few minutes, before the officer turned back, "Preliminary reports show usage of chemical explosives. Expertly placed on support columns in the basement. Once those went, the whole place went down like a house of cards."

The captain growled, small spurts of smoke emitting from his nostrils, "Are you telling me someone got past the outer barriers with explosives?!" The subordinate gulped before nodding tensely.

"I want a city-wide search done immediately. Close the barriers. No one is to get in or out without clearance from either the government, or myself. Got it?"

The officer saluted and quickly hopped into his hover-patrol car and dashed away toward headquarters. Within five minutes, the city began to quickly lock down. Citizens were placed on curfew. Shortly thereafter, military personnel arrived to establish military presence throughout the city.

Firebrand watched as the city settled into lockdown and growled. The perpetrators would be found. He knew the national borders and the ports would be set into lockdown as well. No one was going to get out or get in without the authorities knowing long before they got near.

Elsewhere an expertly piloted hover car wound sedately though the Tarlachian countryside on the road to Rossover and th space port.

*They've locked down the capitol, the port will probably go next." ShadowDancer informed her sisterself over their encrypted frequency.

*I'll let Perigrine know. You have that flightplan and lift off permission secured already, yes?*

*Yes, but they may rescend it at any time*

*We'll deal with that as it happens.* ShaDo' signed off and turned to Perigrine who was cat napping in the passenger seat

Perigrine nodded on being given the news

"They react fast here, but I doubt they'll be able to identify the residue as off world. Besides there's not a weapon they could find on us. Even if they have the technology to identify you as an avatar, the tech from home" Perigrine's voice caught for a moment, but she cleared her throat firmly and continued " is suffeciently different enought to baffel the heck out of them, and besides they're only humans and others." her voice filled with a Nietzschean's unconscious speciesism

Within ten minutes after the citywide lockdown occurred in Turath, the rest of the major cities and the border patrol were alerted and set to DeepFang mode, the highest security mode to be enacted. It usually constituted a high level of possible international illegal activity in Tarlachia, whether it be war, or terrorism. For now, it rested on the latter.

Unfortunately for all foreigners throughout the nation, they were all detained and sent to containment centers, where they would be thoroughly interrogated for leads into the investigation. All foreigners, including their foreign ships at the various ports were ordered to shut off their engines, and evacuate immediately from their vessels, or be considered hostile forces to national security.

As Peregrine and Shado crossed the lonely road toward Rossover, which had finally begun to rise up from the earth in the distance, she smiled. Almost scot-free of this country. Suddenly her attention was drawn to two great shadows the crossed over the small vessel and lowered in altitude. She looked up out of the sunroof to see two dragons, one red, one snowy white. Upon their backsides, dragonriders were mounted. The red dragon swooped in front of the vehicle, causing her to stop immediately. The other dragon landed behind her, its weight shaking the earth with a slight tremor. Immediately, this dragon cast an ice wall around the vehicle, making any escape impossible, except through a narrow entrance that was used by its dragonrider. She was a draman with similar draconic color as her mount, her eyes emerald green, a sharp contrast against her white scales. She approached the vehicle. "Ma'am, step out of your vehicle now." she commanded with an icy tone.

By the proginetor... Peregrine thought to herself as she watched the icy wall rise up around her rapidly. She turned as she heard the draconic woman's command. "What's going on?" she asked innocently, deciding to take up a ignorant point of view.

"National security's been upped. Let's see some identification. You're obviously not from around these parts, so let's see your international papers too."

Peregrine withdrew the documents from a hidden pocket and handed them to the draconic woman. The woman took them, surveyed them and narrowed her eyes as she looked up at Peregrine. She studied the woman, noting the cat-like eyes and the strangely formed arms. "Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in. If you'll just spread your limbs and hold still, I'll have you searched and ready to go within minutes."

The other draman dragonrider approached through the wall of ice through a small hole formed by a blast from his hand casting a fireball. He approached and looked at the traveler. Within moments, he had reviewed the papers as well, and watched as the draconic woman began her manual search.

He beckoned for Shado to step out as well. Within a few moments, he too had withdrawn numerous weapons from the pockets and tossed them to the ground nearby, piling in with the others from Peregrine.

A number of weapons, all looking odd, and definitely not of Tarlachian design were tossed to the ground, out of reach. He spoke to Peregrine and Shado, his voice deep and almost rustic, "What are you doing with these?"

He picked up one of the weapons, trying to figure out its purpose. Finally figuring out something about the weapon, he aimed it toward an open patch of ground and pulled the multiple triggers with each of his fingers. It fired a bolt of plasma energy with surprising force into the ground, creating a small crater. Surprised, he looked up with a growl, "Weapons."
________________________________________

Rossover City

Within minutes of recieving the DeepFang authorization, an entire dome shield rose up around the spaceport and city and locked into place. Such was the work of the elves, who had placed similar dome mechanisms around each of the major cities of Tarlachia. The domes would ensure that total containment would be maintained until further notice.

"Tanaran Imperial starship, Shadowdancer, come in." commanded a gruff male voice.

"Shadowdancer here. What seems to be the problem?" came the reply moments later.

"National Security has been upgraded to DeepFang. You are hereby ordered to shut down your engines and disembark your ship peacefully. Failure to do so will be considered a breach of international policy, and you will be dealt with as necessary."

__________________________________

Hans watched as Kaylinde slept. His hand stroked her auburn hair, which was somewhat cleaned up since their ordeal. A baby... he thought to himself in disbelief. He had never expected it, and neither had she. She'll try to run again, but I'll be ready this time.

He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead, We'll raise the child into a life we've never had ourselves...one with peace, and love abundant...

Perigrine winced as the Red Dragon rider nearly killed the lot of them

"Of course they are weapons. I wouldn't be burdening myself with them if they weren't. Don't you know better than to handle weapons you are not familiar with? You put the settings awry and that Moore- Apollon P-Sun will take out the lot of us on an over load."

Her voice was acidic and unforgiving, causeing ShaDo to bite back a grin.

"The second toggle, turn it to the empty dot, and depress until you hear it click. The built in meter on the side will display that the pistol has been relocked."

Rossover City, Starport ****************************

"I am unable to comply with the request to disembark" ShadowDancer replied, letting just a trace of appologetic tone into her 'voice'. Her sensors studied the dome and decided that they wouldn't stop her if she decided to leave. It substancial but her hull was created to take the stresses of combat, and her shields were formidible

Before they could get too upset with her she added "You are speaking with the ship, myself, and it is not possible to disembark"

*Sis, they're asking me to diembark*

Silent laughter was the reply as ShaDo let ShadowDancer see through her eyes.

In his arms******************************

The darkness must go
Down the river of night's dreaming
Flow morphia slow
Let the sun and light come streaming...

Kaylinde slept in Hans's arms, for now all was peaceful

The draconic male glared at Peregrine, "A word of advice, only given because you are a foreigner. Watch what you say and do, for we shall find some way to use it against you if necessary."

"Let's go." commanded the female draman, as she escorted back into her car. Shado was allowed back in as well. As soon as they were settled in, a sharp whistle was cast to the winds, and the ice dragon suddenly filled the sky above them, its great wings beating powerfully, sending great gusts of wind downward. It reached down and clamped the vehicle with its massive clawed foot and allowed its rider to settle into the seat. Soon, they were high in the air, flying at rapid speeds with the wind blowing wildly underneath the beast's wings.

In a time that seemed too short, they had arrived in one of the containment centers that had sprung upward from the ground, surrounded by strong walls and guarded heavily. The vehicle was set down and the dragons disappeared from view. Atop the vehicle, which was momentarily retrieved by an agent, a document detailing the encounter, as well as the weapons which had been placed in the trunk of the vehicle. A number of agents, some clad in regular miltary uniform, others clad in uniforms unrecognizable to the foreigners.

Soon, the two found themselves underground and sent into a windowless, reinforced room. There they would wait until the proper officials arrived...

____________________

Rossover City

"ShadowDancer, your situation has been confirmed with our records. Nevertheless, we demand you shut your engines off and sit still."

As if to make sure that the ship wouldn't try to become a renegade escapee, a number of elves arrived from hidden locations and stood around the great ship. They began chanting and soon, a spell was cast collectively. It was to bind the ship to the ground, and prevent its escape. Only by obtaining the permission of all three spaceport commanders, would any ship be released.

On a smaller scale, such a spell could be cast against a person, completely immobilizing them until the arcane caster wished to release them. Such was the flexibility of the arcane that the Tarlachian elves employed, and such was its value in national defense.

Perigrine sighed at the irritability of the locals and settled herself to patience. They would have had to strip her naked to take all of her 'non natural' weapons away, and they had made a great mistake in not doing so. However she wished none of them any harm, but she had her doubts that they would believe this.

A light meditative trance would be a way for the time to pass and she could count on ShaDo to guard her. Omegan hand sign passed the request silently to her partner

ShaDo nodded and settled in to play a game of 4 dimentional chess with her sisterself over their encrypted frequency, while her built in sesnors began making sweeps gathering all sorts of electronic intellegence. And if there was a computer near by it would soon be hers. She hadn't been created to be a cyber systems controller for nothing

ShadowDancer devoted a minute part of herself to calculateing the effects of opening a slipstream portal with in this particular planets atmosphere and gravity well. Many hours later after chasing down the last variables she decided that the result wouldn't be pretty. Especially as there were now forces effecting her that she'd never dealth with before.

A light flickered on in a nearby room from where the foreigners were being held. Four men walked in, all of normal human features, except that they varied as humans do. A few papers were tossed to a table while the men sat down. Within another minute, the door allowed entrance to another man, this one a large brute of a man. However brute-like he appeared, he was quite the interrogator. He was the one that often was sent for for certain detainees. It was him that had earned the name, "Bonepicker", for he had the tenacity and stamina to fry his suspects until they broke and revealed all.

"Who do we have today for my ribs?" he growled quietly, picking up the papers and glancing at the identification cards. "Where the hell is Tanara?" he asked, looking up to the others.

One of the other men replied,"We've made some contact with some of our allies, and they've reported a space-based nation by that name. However, there is a similar earth-based nation by the name of Taanara." he took a moment to scrawl the spelling of the two nations on a piece of paper, "Nevertheless, our issue lies with the aforementioned nation."

Bonepicker picked up a snapshot of both detainees, and studied them in comparision to the identification cards. "And why are we detaining them?"

"Transit patrollers found them traveling toward Rossover. Upon being halted and searched, they found a number of weapons, all foreign merchandise. Pretty high tech stuff, stuff we've not seen in person yet. And I thought this kinda stuff only existed in the movies."

Bonepicker grunted, "Serves you right, you moron. What about the Tanaran Imperial ship I heard was detained at the spaceport? Anyone come out of that?"

One of the men shook his head, "No. Seems that those two were the only travelers. Here's the odd thing though, when the ship was ordered to power down and disembark, a computer replied. The computer's presence could be best compared to something such as the autopilot used on aircraft, except a much more sophisicated version. Nevertheless, with the little information we have on Tanaran technology, this fits the norm. So far, the ship has followed all orders."

Bonepicker looked at the man intently, "Increase security on that ship. I don't like the sound of a frellin' smart computer."

He turned and walked out of the room, bringing the documents with him. Soon, he barged into the room where the two women sat at the table, waiting.

"All right, let's get down to to the royal fuckover ladies..." he growled, tossing the papers to his end of the table. "Time for you to assume the position..."

He did not smile, but rather continued, "I am a patient man at times, but I make it a point to not use it during my job. Therefore, I offer it only once. What is your business in Tarlachia?"
____________________________________

Turath: Ground Zero

The comms systems were emitting a variety of transmissions all over the city as officials worked to investigate the bombing. Firefighters, mostly consisting of fire elemental dramen, were sifting through the wreckage of the warehouse, carefully inspecting the rubble for clues. As they worked, a variety of things began to become uncovered. Chains that had fossilized blood splattered against them. A metal whip that had survived the blast explosion. And most curious of all, a single little injection device that had become buried at the bottom of the mess. ((OOC: This is the nano injector that had been used to heal Hans and Kaylinde)) All of the evidence were boxed immediately, and further searches found little else of suspicious purpose. A number of bodies were found among the wreckage. These were bagged and sent to the coroner's for thorough diagnosis.

As one of the draman firefighters was inspecting one of the fallen, shattered beams, he suddenly spied something that caught his eyes. It was small, and wrapped in some unknown material. There was writing on the cover, but in some foreign language. As he inspected it, he suddenly realized that he was holding an explosive that had failed to detonate. He brought it to his captain's attention, who ordered it taken into evidence and analyzed by the labs.
_________________________________

Turath: The Castle

Sigrun looked out the window at cloud of smoke that still seemed to hang over the northern end of the city. He sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. He had refused the efforts of the security to escort him to a safer location. If anything was true, Sigrun was most capable of taking care of himself. He had clearly demonstrated that a long time ago, during the Star Trials. Unfortunately, those trials had become yet another fascinating story for the younger generations. He was getting old, the years continuing to pile up upon his eternal life. Skadi...I wish you were here... he thought to himself, while turning away from the window, which shut close immediately on its own.

He walked with slight haste to his council room, where a number of his advisors sat. Arleni was busy giving directions to other council members, but halted as soon as Sigrun appeared and took his seat. She bowed, before reporting, "We've had some reports of a number of foreigners detained around the country. However, we've got two sitting outside of Rossover, in the containment center there. Their documentations hail from Tanara, a space-nation. The detainees were found with an abnormal quantity of weapons on their person, and thus far have become our best suspects to the bombing. We've yet to find direct evidence, but officials find it highly suspicious that they were traveling on the Danralc road, between Rossover and Turath, heading toward Rossover. Coincidentially, they have an Tanaran Imperial interstellar ship in the spaceport at Rossover."

Sigrun nodded in understanding, "Have you contacted Tanara yet?"

Arleni shook her head negatively, "No, I recommend we find these people with some crime, if applicable, before contacting the Tanaran government."

Sigrun nodded again, "All right, but make it quick. I'm sure they're bound to notice that something's wrong."

Arleni nodded and glanced sideways at another councilmember who immediately departed the room. He would be the one that would send the message that would filter down to Bonepicker.

Sigrun spoke, "How many people have been injured or hurt in the explosion?"

A councilmember that represented the national crisis board, spoke up, "It was a very well contained explosion, internal explosion. Outside of the building, no injuries or deaths have been sustained. However, inside, we've gotten reports of twelve bodies found dead in the ruins, in close proximity to a number of strange items salvaged from the ruins. All of them have been sent to the labs for further investigation."

Sigrun lowered his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes. People caught dead in the bombing. It was just getting worse and worse. "What about structural damage to other buildings in the area?"

"Very little. As I said, it was a well contained explosion. Expertly done. We have reason to believe that it may be linked to terrorist activities. Whom, we don't know. How they got the explosives past the city's outer defenses, we don't know."

Sigrun looked up at the man with an stern look, "I want you to find out what the frell happened today. I don't want to hear you say 'we don't know' one more time, got it!?"

The man nodded quickly, and pulled a cellular phone out. A glare from Sigrun sent him quickly out of the room to conduct his phone call.

Sigrun looked at the remaining members of the council, "How did the DeepFang go?"

A burly man who had muscles that seemed to threaten to rip his clothing off, spoke up, "All covered, sir. Very little probability of anyone having escaped before we had one hundred percent DeepFang Alert. All transportation within our borders has been halted, or very limited. I've taken the liberty to authorize that the Wrathchilds be online, ready to go."

Sigrun looked at him quizzically, "Wrathchilds?"

The man nodded, and handed Sigrun a manila folder marked in red. Sigrun opened it and scanned the tech stats. He read the subtitle aloud, "All terrain tactical weapons delivery system, nuclear capability and arcane capability." He looked up in surprise at the man, "This is pushing it a bit too far, don't you think? You're just about preparing for war!"

The military general looked sternly back at Sigrun, "Sir, my job is to ensure Tarlachia is protected. And I intend to do just that."

Sigrun pointed a finger at the general, "You are not to do anything until I say. Understood?"

The general nodded, "Understood, sir."

Sigrun looked about the table, "Anything else?" Negative shakes of heads were given, and so he rose and departed as swiftly as he came.

ShaDo had alerted Perigrine the second the new comer appeared on her sensors, and the Omegan was fully out of the trance when the brutish looking human threw open the door and threw their ID's on the table.

"All right, let's get down to to the royal fuckover ladies. Time for you to assume the position..."

"I am a patient man at times, but I make it a point to not use it during my job. Therefore, I offer it only once. What is your business in Tarlachia?"

Perigrine's eyes above her veil were as cold as her voice

"Position? I'm quite comfortable in the full lotus position I'm in right now. And our business? It was personal. I was delivering a message to a coworker vacationing here."

The Bone picker had no way of knowing that his life hung by a thread. If he offered her any sort of violence...her response might not be measured and reasonable. ShaDo unconsciously nibbled at her lower lip, a most human trait - but she had not cultivated it to disquise her further. She was truly worried about her captain.

Perigrine Omega, like all of clan Omega of the Karasu Pride, had been trained from the time she could walk, at three months of age, for combat. The Karasu were masters of war, and the Omegas, ninja, honourless, those that did the deeds honour prevented others from. The silent and inescapable deaths that Karasu used only when necessary but used ruthlessly when they were unleashed.

But that was another universe, and Perigrine Omega was here, the only one of her kind. That could put a strain on even the normally massively stable ego of a Nietzschean

The Bonepicker shook his head, "You are lying. You were found to be in possession of more than what is necessary to defend oneself on a day-by-day basis. You had a goddamn arsenal large enough to stage a standoff with our law enforcement, if you had so wished."

He pointed a finger at them, "And I don't like frelling liars." He glanced at both of them, noticing that they looked at him with cold eyes. The one known as Shado was strange in his mind, something wasn't right about her. He would find out, sooner or later.

After all, this was his game, and they were in his chess game...

"Well, I'll let you in on a bit of news. A few hours ago, a warehouse building used for meat packing was demolished to the ground. That building was not slated for destruction, nor was it built with unsure architecture. That leaves us with only one thing. Someone came in and blew the frelling building up. And I think it was you two..."

His eyes glared at both of them, watching them carefully, waiting for their response.
___________________________

Sigrun looked up as the government's head director of National Bureau of Investigation appeared in his office. "We're got the evidence. We're ready made contact with Tanara."

"Good." he replied, following the officer out. They walked to the press room, which was vacant on this day. On the way, the director informed Sigrun of what evidence had been found. Soon, they were in the press room, and Sigrun stood before the camera.

"Rolling in five, four, three, two, one." called out the cameraman as he pointed to Sigrun to begin.

"Greetings, I am Sigrun Greenwood of Tarlachia. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news to share with you today."

Next to Sigrun on the screen, a visual of the remains of the warehouse was seen, with authorities swarming the place.

"Earlier this morning, here in Turath, a meat-packing warehouse was destroyed and demolished to the ground. So far, only twelve bodies have been found amongst the wreckage. In the conduction of the investigation, it has been found that the explosives used in the warehouse were of non-Earth origin. We have reason to suspect that the nation of Tanara has had a hand in this affair."

Another visual popped up, this time, detailing the surface of the unexploded explosive device found at the scene.

"As you can see here, the writing on this device is written in Tanaran, stating a high explosive that is often used by military forces. To you, Tanara, we demand an explanation, as well as the relinquishment of those responsible for this attack. In the efforts of Tarlachian DeepFang procedures, we have quarantined two Tanaran foreigners, found to be with multiple combat weapons on their persons. This is highly above the necessary means to protect oneself, and can only be concluded as having part in the bombings. We demand a reason from the Tanaran government as to why their operatives have been in close proximity to the explosion. We demand a reason for this treacherous action of hostile action. Failure to do so, will result in open warfare. That is all."

The camera darkened Sigrun's stern face to the media and he walked off. He knew he was pushing the line, with the threat of open war, but he hoped that the international nations would place appropriate pressure on the Tanaran government to reply with suitable answers. He didn't want to have to go to war, for Tarlachia was behind Tanara in mechanical development. Nevertheless, their enchancements with the arcane on what they did have allowed them a unique advantage if combat followed.

As he walked away, he considered the possibility of having to bring in a few of his allies to detail what was going on, and see if they would offer their help. Yet once again, he did not wish open war. It would drain Tarlachia's economy, even as strong as it was.

In essence, war was not an desirable option...

__________________________________

Hans had awoken and was glad to see that Kaylinde had not made an attempt to get away again. She slept soundly, her chest rising and falling in soft rhythm.

He turned the television on, to suddenly catch part of the news cast that Sigrun was sending live. As Sigrun ended, he sat there with wide eyes and turned to Kaylinde. He shook her gently, "Kay...we've got a problem..."

Behind him, the new station replayed and summarized the speech, offering their opinions on the matter.

Perigrine snorted contemptuously

"Calling me a liar is poor procedure. By the laws of my people I am required to carry such armament as has ever been gifted to me, as I am an unmated female of breeding age. ShaDo here is my... body guard is the equivalent term, and she is required to carry a certain minimum amount of weaponry in the course of her duties... and if I had wished to have a stand off with you law enforcement agent I would have done so. Instead I have put myself at extreme risk, by the mores of my people by allowing your people to place their hands on my weapons."

She shook her head in apparent sadness. "Accusing off- worlders of your own accidents or incidents is the usual policy of backwoods cultures. I wish to speak to a representative of your diplomatic or consulate section, so that I may lodge a complaint."

Ignoring the frown growing on her accuser’s face she settled back comfortably in the chair and reentered a light trance. But this one was far different than the meditative one earlier. This was the time slow of combat trance, her body and mind perfectly balanced on the cusp of action and repose

ShaDo made her next move in the 4Dd chess game with her sisterself

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

Kaylinde had slept deeply and restfully, though during the course of that sleep she had stiffened several times, but each time the night terror was held at bay as in her sleep her hand touched Hans's face lightly and her body relaxed against that of her mates

She awoke instantly when Han's said her name and look up into his worried cobalt eyes. She wanted nothing more than to cuddle in close to him but his concern turned her attention to the broadcast. Her jaw dropped and she watched too stunned to speak for a long moment before breaking into whoops of laughter

When Hans turned uncomprehending eyes on her she fought for several minutes before getting the laughter under control.

"Hans we sell than stuff every where and most every one knows that during the coup attempt over ten tons of it disappeared from my warehouses and could never be accounted for. They hoped it been blown up with the rest of the stuff lost in the 'big bang', but there wasn't a crater big enough to justify that white wash. Oh Michiko is going to have a fit!" Her eyes went wide for a moment as she realized what had fallen unthinking form her lips, then she shook her head almost imperceptibly. He wouldn't notice her slip of the tongue.

Bonepicker studied the two women, falling silent for a brief moment. If they were regular criminals, I'd have them strung up and subjected to more personal methods of interrogation. Alas, I cannot, for they are foreigners.

He decided to try a new approach. He held his hands up, "All right, I apologize for the name calling. I tend to get a tad carried away. Nevertheless, I want to make one thing very clear to you. Inside Tarlachia, unless you are within an embassy, you are subject to Tarlachian law. Such is the agreement that you will recall you were required to sign upon arrival in Tarlachia."

He glanced at Shado, who seemed preoccupied, hardly listening to him. "Listen, I'm here to find out who the hell bombed the capital early this morning. One way or another, you have to admit, you are looking at a bad case for yourselves right now, no matter if you are claiming home laws that concern weapons concealment. You carry an unnecessary amount of weaponry on your persons in a nation that is reputed to be among the most secure and safe nations of the international community."

He pulled one of the pieces of paper closer to him and looked it over, "According to some reports, you two were spotted leaving the capital city of Turath by sentries, right before the explosion, right before the city-wide lockdown. Quite an interesting coincidence don't you think?"

He tossed the paper across the table. On it, it would show a security camera snapshot of both of them in their hovercar. Beyond the car, a sign could be seen; 'Thank you for visiting Turath. Come again!'

______________________________________

Hans looked at Kaylinde who had fallen backwards on the bed, her hands on her stomach as she laughed aloud. For a brief moment, he was distracted, seeing her in an almost carefree mood. Seeing her laugh caused his heart to stir. He wished she would do that more often.

Hans finally snapped back out of his thoughts, and turned the television off. He slid back onto the bed, taking hold of Kaylinde once more. She smiled and snuggled close to him, exchanging a kiss once more.

"Kay, I think we need to lay low for a bit. By now, an entire citywide lockdown has been activated. No one is getting in or out of the city until things cool down a bit."

She looked up at him, nodding, "I think that's fine for now." She rolled over on top of Hans and kissed him again, letting her weight rest completely on top of him. Her hair draped down and framed both their faces as they kissed some more. Hans drew back once again, "However, I'd like us to get out of the country... we need to find someplace to escape those following us. We need to start a new life somewhere..."

Especially for the child he continued in his thoughts. Fate had thrown them another curveball, and he intended to not strike out.

Perigrine looked at their interrogator calmly

"The amount of weapondry may be excessive by your standards, but I can not give up the responsibility for my safety to a foreign entity. And yes we were in your capitol city earlier, as I said I had to deliver a message to a co worker. But 'excessive weaponry' and just happening to be in the same city as an explosion doesn't mean we are guilty."

She shrugged and continued to play the 'reasonable' card

"I've never visisted Tarlachia before, and other than my coworker, know no one here. Why should I wish to blow up your capitol? And please you have given us no information, no evidence that points in our direction. I'd like to hear the details."

"Actually Perigrine, if you'll check your commo" ShaDo gestured to the bracer on the Omegans left wrist. She felt it was time to let the Tarlachians get a look at tech they didn't have. It would be interesting to see the reaction

Perigrine raised an eyebrow but with a small nod lightly tapped a inset gem and the commo activated, projecting a small hologram of Sigrun Greenwood and his earlier broadcast. The hologram was not up to it's true standards, having been created from lower tech teevee broadcast signal. Perigrine watched it in silence, as ShaDo unobtruseively watched the Bonepicker. When it was finished Perigrine shook her head

"So Tanaran military grade explosives were found amid the remains, but that still does not make us guilty. I don't pretend to be any sort of expert on the Tanaran military, but there could be many explainations for how their explosives got to Tarlachia." She smiled behind the veil. but it wasn't with any humor, and it never reached her eyes

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

Kaylinde let her hands roam freely over Hans's body relishing the feel of him under her questing touch. She grinned as she tickled him lightly under the short ribs, then sobered, moving off of him to sit crosslegged next to him on the bed.

"Yes. But Hans there is more I must tell you, and some of it may not please you"

Bonepicker did his best to not gape at the mechanism that sat on Peregrine's arm. The hologram fascinated him, yet, while he watched Sigrun speak, he too heard the latest updates in the investigation.

"That is an interesting device you hold. It reminds me of the elves' use of visual portals, used for similar reasons." he stated.

He leaned back in his chair, his massive form filling the seat easily. He nodded at both of the women after several minutes. "All right, sit tight."

He departed the room, closing the door behind them. He walked down the dimly lit hallway, and entered another room. Inside, a series of men sat in front of desks covered with computers and televisions.

"How the hell did they get that news feed?!" he demanded. They looked up at him with looks of confusion, holding their hands up.

"I want all tech removed from both of them, and I want them quarantined! NOW!" he commanded, turning to one of the hidden cameras that fed to one of the televisions. The two women were still there, waiting patiently. You're up to something, and I know it. I'll figure you out soon enough... he thought darkly to himself. He picked up the secured phone and dialed a series of numbers quickly.

"We need you here. How soon can you be here?" he spoke quietly, pausing to listen to the response. "Good. Get here." He hung up and looked back at the screen. Welcome to my hell, ladies...
_________________________________________

As the air conditioning hummed quietly in the corner, venting out of the ceiling, the two women drew their attention to the doorway as two agents came walking into the room. They indicated that they should stand and follow. As they reached the hallway, they were pulled apart, heading in different directions down the hall. They turned a number of corners and entered an elevator. The elevators were strange in appearance, and traveled downward at first before suddenly launching sideways and then diagonally. Finally, it halted and the doors slid open with a ding.

Peregrine found herself in a room sealed inside two others, made of some thick, transparent material that was thick in mass. She was instructed to lie upon a table. Immediately, metal clamps wrapped around her body, holding her against the table. She looked about in surprise, slightly growling. She didn't like what was going on.

Metallic arms reached to her and removed the rest of any technology that was on her outer person, and then ultimately her clothing was torn away. She could do nothing to fight against it, and watched helplessly as her belongings disappeared from sight.

As she looked about, her attention was suddenly drawn to the metal bar that lay between layers of the walls. A blue light beamed downward in a horizontial beam, and slowly slid downward over her body, before it repeated the pattern with another series of different lights. A light chemical was sprayed into the room, and settled upon her body. After several minutes, a jet sprayed cold water onto her, washing her clean. She gasped slightly as the icy water hit her. Instinctively she stiffened against the blast and gritted her teeth.

Then, everything stopped. Within a few minutes, a distant door slammed shut, and she could hear the distant footsteps that sounded through the walls. She turned her head to gaze upon a woman who remained outside of the barriers. She remained in the shadows, her features hidden in the darkness. Suddenly, Peregrine heard the voice in her head.

My my, you look like quite a meal. Nevertheless, I've fed already. I'm here for one reason, and one reason only.

The psychic probes were strong and could be felt moving about Peregrine's mind, pushing, pulling, inquring, even challenging Peregrine's mind to reveal everything she knew...
__________________________________

Shado was in another large subterran room, and also found herself strapped to a table. A similar process that had been conducted on Peregrine was also conducted on Shado. However, the scans revealed a few things that were just confusing the technicians.

At first, they had noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Until they started reviewing some of the bio scan results. Not a single trace of viral or bacterial organism could be detected. Statistically, Shado was perfectly fine, perfectly normal in terms of how humans existed. Except, there was one problem. Perfectly normal, with no trace of bacteria or viruses, just did not exist.

The technicians looked at the screen where they saw the woman clamped to the table. One muttered to himself, "What the hell are you?"

ShaDo frowned as she was separated from Perigrine. When she was bound to a table and her clothing stripped away she decided that time had come to take matters in hand. Once the Tarlachian technicians were busy with the scans she reached out and took control of the complexes main computer. It was rather primitive but that just made it easier, if slower to initially, connect with. At her command the bands holding her were released and she proceeded to exit the room not bothering to look for the remains of her clothes. No alarms were sounded; she suppressed them and then made sure that any armories in the complex were locked. Any areas of high personnel density were security locked as well. She moved on, homing in on the location of Peregrines bracer. The camera system for the complex was shut off and all outside communications cut.

*ShadowDancer get ready to blow this pop stand! I’ve had enough and I’m certain that if what they’ve done to me is any indication so has Perigrine. Set up a FTL communication link with Tanara and let them know what is happening to a ship flying their flag and a registered citizen of the Empire….and let Tarlachia know you are doing it.*

ShadowDancer prodeeded to do just that, broadcasting directly to Machiavelli station and the Tanaran Consulate there...and to the hub of the Tarlachian Government.

A security officer appeared around a corner and gaped at the nude female form before him. ShaDo rolled her eyes and with blinding speed had him disarmed and unconscious. She used his own cuffs to bind him and appropriated his shirt. When she reached a door that had been physically locked she put a fist through it next to the locking mechanism and tore it from the door.

An elevator had been sent for her through her control of the bases systems. She needed to go down a few levels.

********************************************
Perigrine went rigid with shock as a voice not her own spoke in her mind. In her home universe such abilities did not exist save in novels and holodramas. Her mental growl was a seething morass of outrage and disbelief. She tried to fight but she had no training in such though the years of training against standard methods of ‘mental’ – psychological – interrogation helped some what, giving her a disciplined base to work with. She did not know how much time passed as she tried to lock her mind down, but found doors opening she would rather have left closed.

Scatter shot as doors gave beneath the strain…Images of Karasu’s home world, Izanami, being destroyed as the Oni attacked – and the knowledge that her own people had done it rather than have it fall into the hands of their mortal enemy…The mortal combat with her traitorous grandfather as her clan died of the poison he had administered….Flotsam and jetsam from the long years here in this strange universe, the only one of her kind, and her wearing loneliness…Knowledge that some one, just who that was locked carefully away, was pregnant and loved, and the envy that Perigrine would die rather than admit.

**********************************
“Hans we don’t have to worry about making a new life…I’m rather well off” Kaylinde paused, gulped and continued on “In fact I think my current assets would hold our children through the next five or so generations quite luxuriously …but I may have gotten me entangled into something not so easily gotten out of. I agreed to be the Empresses personal agent” Kaylinde looked incredibly guilty

Sasha watched as Peregrine winced under each new memory ripped free of her mind. As each minute passed, she saw images that terrified the woman, images that paled in comparision to some of the things she'd seen. She had to admit though, this woman had been through hell. Finally, she latched her thoughts onto something that Peregrine had managed to squirrel away into the depths of her mind.

Resistance is futile. I WILL learn all I wish... she spoke to the woman.

Unfortunately, luck was on Peregrine's side as the door behind Sasha dinged open. She turned swiftly and snarled. With her mind, she grasped the woman whom had appeared and threw her into a nearby wall with terrifying force.

"Who are you to challenge my authority?!" demanded the vampiress as she launched another telekinetic attack against Shado, who had surprisingly recovered quickly from the initial attack. She willed Shado's body to be thrown into another wall at hurtling speed.
____________________________________

Hans blinked a few times, digesting what Kaylinde had just told him. "You worked...for your government? As an agent?"

He shook his head, disbelieving what she was telling him. "No, I don't think you'd be the type to sell yourself short to them. Until I see evidence, I won't believe you."

He got up and walked to the window, where he stood, staring out at the city.

_____________________________________

The door resounded clearly as a knock rapped quickly upon its surface. Sigrun looked up and let the visitor in. It was one of the council members.

"We just got reports of burst transmissions sent into deep space by that Tanaran vessel being held in Rossover. Seems that the intelligent computer on board just sent a rather disturbing, unencrypted message."

Sigrun lowered his featherpen and looked intently at the woman. "I'm listening. What did that message say?"

"It made mention of some secret interrogations going on here in Tarlachia. Something to do with a registered Tanaran citizen. Summarily, a very ugly message. We managed to get a copy of the message."

She handed Sigrun the paper, and he read it over. He cursed in elven and looked up, "Get Tanara on the horn, they're going to want some answers in exchange for information leading to the conclusion of the investigation of the bombing."

The council member bowed and began to depart, before Sigrun stopped her, "Wait...what the frell is this about intelligent computers?"

She shrugged, "It's something we've never seen before. Seems that Tanara is ahead of Tarlachia in terms of development."

Sigrun nodded, dismissing the woman. He walked to the window and looked out, What the hell is going on here? he wondered. Something was happening in his nation, something he didn't like at all.

He turned away from the window, heading to the communications room. I'm getting to the bottom of this, one way or another...

"Hans I work for the Empress, not the government, and I didn't sell myself short. It's what I had to do to get the freedom to come and find you. To leave my place and responsibilities behind - to take a chance that you might want me, might feel about me the way I feel about you."

Kaylinde stood and walked up to put her arms around him from behind, laying her head on his shoulder, breathing in the warm male scent of him. She had never felt more content in her life.

"As for evidence" She pointed to the mass of the PALADIN armor in its case on the dresser.

"That is beyond state of the art, it's better than your EXO armor. I didn't just pick that up off the shelf. Hans, I was Moore - Apollon, as in Moore - Apollon Armamemts. MAA supplies a large number of governmental entities with military material and the research facilities are second to none, but we didn't develop that"

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

ShaDow found herself pucked up and thrown against walls twice in rapid suscession by a force she had never encountered before. It certainly wasn't any sort of presser or tractor device, and it was not a gravitic fluctuator either.

"Some one who doesn't recognise your authority" ShaDo exclaimed as she opened the built in holster in her thigh and pulled out a forcelance. The effectors slammed home againt the womans body, the anti proton charges ripping seemingly ineffectual holes in her torso

Hans glanced over at the PALADIN armor and chuckled slightly. He couldn't imagine anything better than his EXO armor. Nevertheless, it sat there in its bag. He didn't want to have to find out the hard way if Kay's words were indeed true. He felt her hands wrap around him and her chin resting on his shoulder. Her warmth spread to him, and he smiled slightly.

"So tell me. Was it worth the risks you took?"

__________________________

Sasha felt the strange bullets embedding into her flesh and she glanced down to watch as they extracted within moments by sheer force of will. She caught one and looked at it momentarily, "Interesting." She cast it to the ground, "But not enough."

She gripped Shado in another powerful telekinetic vice and threw her to the corner of the walls that held Peregrine trapped inside.

"You will regret coming down here, and disturbing my work!" she roared, her eyes growing completely crimson red with rage. Her fangs slid out of the sheaths and were bared menacingly.

"You are worth any sacrifice Hans. Every risk beloved." Boldly she nibbled at his earlobe, and glanced at their reflection in the glass

"Tell me love, you heal so well...how did you come by that scar"

One finger went up to trace it gently, to let him know it just made him more uniquely him, as her other hand slid lower to caress him

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

The sight of the womans eyes glowing red and her canines extending had ShaDo raising both eyebrows in astonishement, almost not noticing that she'd been picked up and thrown by some unidentifable force yet again

"The information is true! Tell me is it a viral disease or a DNA mutagen?"

She managed to stay on her feet and quickly reset the forcelance for a plasma burst

********************************************
Machiavelli station Tanaran Consulate….Lilliandra was the only one on duty when the communication from the A.I. of the Imperial registered starship ShadowDancer arrived. She’d only had the position for a week, having just graduated last month from the Morningstar Academy for the Tanaran Imperial Diplomatic Corps (recently renamed from Miss Morninstar’s Academy for Young Ladies). She sat stunned for almost an hour. Some pissant little nation, and not even a star faring one according to the guidebook that sat at her elbow as she struggled to decide what to do, was holding Tanaran citizens hostange for some sort of vile human experimentation!

The book was very clear on what to do for serving of refreshments at formal affairs but she couldn’t remember what it had said about unlawfully restrained citizens. Then she smiled broadly. She knew just who to ask and quickly opened up communications with the IS Cipher, currently ‘on station’. It’s commanding officer; the dashing Lieutenant Marlon Danson, would know exactly what to do. He had to, being as he was here to support the ongoing antipiracy efforts. It never occurred Lilliandra that there was no pirate activity in the area and hadn’t been for centuries

Hans shook his head as he thought back to a month ago. He could still see himself standing on the edge of that cliff, ready to completely give up and die. He closed his eyes as silent tears slid down. Shame took him now, as he refused to look at Kaylinde. His voice was low, slowly explaining, "Not too long ago...I was depressed. I couldn't find you, for I had run away for so long since that war. I wanted to kill myself, to die and relieve the pain that was in my heart. I missed you terribly, but it was almost too much to bear. I tried committing suicide off a cliff down by Craggton City."

He paused to collect his thoughts, turning to Kay as he did, "I was in the water for a long time, until I washed up on some rocks. It was there, I was cut deeply. As I hung there on the rocks, wishing to die...you came to me."

He held his hand out past her to demonstrate how he felt, "There you were, so perfect, so beautiful...so worried about me. You asked me why I hadn't come, why I had failed my promise. I knew I was being followed by agents of the government, and I feared that if you were there, you would be taken hostage against me, even killed. I just couldn't do that to you. You deserved better..."

He buried his face into her hair, "I don't know what happened, but your love I saw at that moment was what I needed to pull myself together..."

He pulled back and held her face in his hands, "I'm so sorry..."

______________________________

Sasha growled at Shado, "It's not a disease, nor a mutation, but a gift!"

She threw the woman once more. She had had enough with the woman. She was wasting her time. As Shado recovered from the latest attack, she suddenly felt Sasha's breath on her as the vampiress gripped the woman's arms with suprising strength. Her voice growled lowly, "You've pissed me off too much!"

She clamped her fangs downward into Shado's neck, drawing the blood quickly. Suddenly she released and stepped back in surprise. "What the frell is in you?! It is not blood!"

She spit it out to the ground, narrowing her eyes. She saw the forcelance in the woman's hand and snarled quickly, moving with rapid speed out of sight into the shadows. Her voice called out, seemingly from every direction, "Who are you people?"

If Shado tried to find Sasha, she would have no luck, for the vampiress had merged with the shadows, effectively spreading her essence throughout the darkness of the room.

"Well!" ShaDo huffed "Finally someone has bothered to ask. I'm an avatar, and artificial intellegence, a non biological sentience. And you might want to rinse your mouth out very well, my fluids are highly toxic and filled with specifically designed nanos. They could cause significant harm to you.... ah, frell! ..Here you'd better take a course of counter agents"

[i]ShaDo opened a small storage chamber in the side of her torso and pulled out a small hypospray. She quickly programmed it to produce a counter agent

"And you people made a bad mistake of escalating things. Perigrine was trying to be reasonable. I doubt she will be at this point."

She looked through the transparent barrier.

"Some ones going to pay for this, and you had better hope its not your entire nation."

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

"Don't be sorry...Oh Hans we're together now and as you said we are stronger together than alone." Kaylinde's arms went about him drawing him close to her once more

"I think we deserve a bath, new clothes and a fine meal. We're owed some luxuries after what we've been though"

She tugged him into the lavish bathroom and while the oversized tug filled, managed to find a way to keep both of them occupied

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

Lt. Danson floated in the vast empty area that had once been a cargo hold. It had been stripped out when the freighter had been turned into a Q ship, but now was used to hold extra missiles…or it would be once the missiles arrived. For the moment it was disappointingly empty, gravity off, so the lieutenant had to imagine the awesome firepower his ship would be armed with…eventually. He had lots of experience in imagining things. His rating in the simulator were always in the top ten percent, and he was certain once he and his crew had some pirated in target lock it would be the same.

His daydreams were broken as his communicatior beeped and the comm officer relayed the message from the consulate.

"I'll be right up to the bridge to reply. Please summon the xo and have the helm plot a course for this Terrachia"

"Your 'blood' won't have any effect on me. After all, I am dead. And one more thing, the only one's paying for this right now will be you..." Sasha was heard saying as she willed a side door to open, then forced Shado into the room, the door slamming shut behind her. She remained in the shadows herself and once more turned her attention to Peregrine, Now, you...you will tell me the name you so desire to hide...

Once again, Sasha delved deeply into Peregrine's mind...

_______________________________

Hans sat in the tub, with Kaylinde in front of him, her back to him. He moved the soap gently over her backside, following the natural curves of her body with his hands. Soon, he had moved his hands around, cleansing her without shame. She welcomed his touch, even leaning back so he could see what he was doing. As he cleaned her with gentle hands, he thought silently to himself.

"You should find out if your friend was right about your pregnancy. The truth of this will no doubt shape our future..."

He paused and pulled her close, whispering softly in her ear, "No matter the result, always know I'm there..."

ShaDo all but threw up her hands in frustration. 'Well no more Ms. Nice Avatar. I've had it with these people' she thought as she changed the settings on the force lance. The first plasma burst took out the wall between her and the vampiress. The second burst was directed to where the vampiress had last been. Plasma, the same subsatance as the sun, just as hot and just as deadly...

The the third of the five blasts the force lance was charged with, removed a large portion of the wall between her location and where Perigrine was being held. ShaDo stepped through and one handledly ripped the bonds from Perigrine, her normally calm face a mask of fury

"Sorry I took so long, there was some unexpected oposition" ShaDo inspected the wounds the mechanical hands had inflicted on the Nietzschean as it had torn her robes and bracers off of her.

"Hmmm bone spurs on both sides broken in multiple places, damage to the tendons and joints, and that build in armor lacerated you pretty badly in several places." She consulted her built in scanners and frowned "And a lot of internal damamge as well. Its good you just renewed your nano packs and you coagulate fast. Sorry damn humans. I think it's time we teach them a thing or two"

That shocked Perigrine speechless for a moment. She'd never seen the A.I. lose her temper, for it was ShaDo who was normally the voice of calm and consideration. And Perigrine was still reeling for what she could only call a mental rape. Rape was an unforgiveable sin among her people and she felt even more violated than if it had been her body. She knew she would not rest until whom ever or what ever had done this to her was destroyed. And at this point she agreed with her partner. Taking out the whole planet sounded like a plan. It would be no loss, they were just humans and not worth her time. Any good thoughts she had had about Tarlachians had utterly vanished

Sasha growled lowly as she was distracted by the wall blasting away where Shado had last been thrown. She pulled out of Peregrine's mind once more and focused upon Shado's emerging form. She sent another blast of plasma in Sasha's general direction. The bright glob of plasma hurtling her way caused Sasha to shriek in anger. The light alone resembled her greatest foe, the sun. The vampiress could feel her skin begin to react violently as the plasma slammed into the wall a few feet away. She materialized from her mist-form as Shado began to free Peregrine. With blinding speed she rushed the avatar and thrust her hand onto the avatar's throat and spinning her toward the transparent wall. The wall shattered under the force and she released her grip.

Without wasting time, she turned instantly to Peregrine, her eyes now enraged, her fangs clearly seen. Her face had changed slightly, becoming more demonic looking. She hissed and sent a powerful telekinetic wave against the woman, throwing her clearly over the now damaged table.

She stepped forward quickly and reached for the woman, ready to finish her off, to kill her...

In that moment, the entire room froze completely still. Sasha herself was frozen into place, as well as the other two. A male voice spoke, a voice Sasha herself knew all too well.

"I am disappointed to see one of my most trusted council members engaging in such atrocious activities..."

Sasha was spun about in the air, still frozen into place. As she turned, Sigrun Greenwood came into view. He did not bear a calm look upon his face, for it was filled with a dark anger.

"Of all of my council members, I am most appalled to have caught you engaging in wrongful interrogations."

He snapped his finger and watched as arcanic bindings wrapped around the vampiress and held her tightly. Sigrun turned to Peregrine and Shado, releasing them from the frozen positions. He waved his hand toward the table, watching as two sets of clean clothing spawned on top. He addressed them with a kinder tone, "Please, dress yourselves. We have much to discuss. But first, I have someone to take care of."

He turned once more to Sasha, "You have made the greatest error of your life and career, Sasha. I shall make sure you recieve full reprecussions for your actions."

She looked at him suddenly, her eyes filled with silent pleading. Sigrun waved his hand from her to the wall, where the bindings latched themselves to the wall. "You shall remain here until I am finished with more important business." he informed her, then turned to the other women.

"Please, follow me."

A portal opened up beside them and he stepped through. On the other side, he entered the castle in Turath. He stood to the side, and waited for the two Tanarans to arrive.

Diplomacy is a dance. What sort of dance - a stately minuette? A gavotte? A waltz or perhaps a frantic tarrantella.... depends on just who knows what. The news services of the Empire were normally very good about not making issues of things that needed to be 'kept close to the vest' for a bit, they knew they'd get juicy stories later. It was definitely a game of backscratching.

However when it was noted that the newest and junior most consulate officer ( Lilliandra the newly graduated )had attached the appendage that the ISS Ciper, commanded by
Lt. Marlon Danson was enroute to bring an Imperial presence into the investigation of charges of horrific human experimentation. Lt. Danson just happened to be the favorite grandsone of Lord Danson, the most ...feared... of the media moguls.

Empress Michiko sat plowing her way through the never ending pile of paper work. It was near dinner time and she was certain the pile had just doubled in size of its own accord when her son, Race as he was nicknamed buzzed into the room, an eleven year old bundle of inexaustable energy

"Mom, please can I go see the fleet off. This place Targlagia sound like it needs a good glassing."

"What?!?"

Perigrine moved over to the set of clothes that had materialized on the table. She looked at ShaDo, the question clearly 'You have any idea how he did it?' and ShaDo could only shake her head minutely. Her sensors had registered the surging of forces that she couldn't quantify. However neither of them was willing to trust any one Tarlachian at the moment. While Perigrine slowly put on what closely resembled her normal public robes, ShaDo located Perigrine's weapons, now destroyed bracers and other small items. She wanted her captain as armed as posible and she didn't care one whit whom it upset. She noted that many of the nano spike had been crushed releasing their load of nanos. Some of those were metal devourers. She grinned...soon the complex could be without much of its structural support and other integral parts. The nanos would not totally destroy it, the skipes didn't hold a big enough concentration and they were programed to die off after a set time anyway. When she returned with the recovered items, she dressed in turn.

Perigrine armed herself and looked through the portal. She'd never seen the tech to open such a rift on a planetary surface, and found herself more than a little dubious about useing it. She didn't much care for things she didn't understand the basis of. Taking a deeper breath that she would have liked to display, she gave ShaDo a quick look and stepped through. Her body hidden with in the robes was tense. Anyone making the mistake of sudden movements would certainly not like the reaction that they'd get.

Sigrun turned as Peregrine stepped forth from the portal, her eyes closed. He grinned. Most first time travelers by portal were unsure of what to expect in the passage. However, he usually formed his portals to be a pleasant experience, one that sung harmonious songs to the soul. As ShaDo appeared in tow, he closed the portal and spoke, "First off, I must extend my deepest apologies for the inhumane treatment you two were subjected to. The interrogations compound will be closed immediately. I will not allow this to ever occur, so long as I command that throne, and this nation." He gestured to the simple elven throne that sat behind him.

"Please, I am well aware you wish to vent your anger. As you well should. I know I would if I were in your place. I can only wish I had been able to intervene at an earlier time. Nevertheless, you have my word, those responsible for your maltreatment shall be punished to the fullest extent. I will personally see to their sentencing."

He held his arm out and ushered them to a common room, where they were seated. He took a seat in a chair nearby, watching as servants appeared out of hidden doorways, moving about their duties. The castle was quite abuzz today, and for obvious reasons.

"Now that that is over, I would like to introduce myself to you." He looked at the both of them, who glared at him with cold eyes. Anger lies deep...I can only hope to ease it slowly...

"My name is Sigrun Greenwood, the Absolute Ruler of Tarlachia. If I may inquire to your names?"

With cold, carefull courtesy, her eyes the only part of her visable, Perigrine nodded minutely"I am Perigryne Omega out of Tomoe by Hannibal" She used the Neitzschean formal designation of name and linneage.

"And this is my companion, Sha'Do of the Nights Dreaming A.I." Again she gave full formal designation."And as for you being absolute ruler,"The tone became acidic,"Of that I am highly dubious."

Sigrun nodded, holding a hand up, "All right, I deserve that. But do try to understand, there have been practices that have existed in Tarlachia for many years. Many of those outdated practices I've gotten rid of. However, you were caught in another one I was unaware of. Nevertheless, now that light has been brought to the attention, it will be eradicated immediately. It is entirely unacceptable if Tarlachia wishes to pursue a path of righteous development into the future."

Perigrine nodded, clamping down hard on her rage. She knew about such exigencies, governments tended to do what they felt they had to do. Little though it might be pleasant to those caught up with in the machinations. She was surprised at how detached she felt, but realized that she was reacting as if to her grandfathers tampering with her mind all those years ago. That brought a further boil of rage but again she ruthlessly disciplined herself. This human was not going to be allowed to see any weakness. It was bad enough that he had seen her unveiled.

“I requested to be allowed to contact your diplomatic corps, but that was denied me. I wish to make sure that the Empire knows of what has happened here.”

She paused to collect herself. "I'm just going to let you humans deal with one another."

Sigrun sighed momentarily, then began his corrections of Peregrine's identification with his race. "It is obvious you have not met those of my kind, of my race. We are not humans, but elves. Humans, at best, can live to just over one hundred years. We on the other hand, have lived as long as three thousand years. I myself am one and a half millenia old. However, I'll let you in on a little secret..."

He summoned a visual portal in front of them, and an image of another being was shown. (http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VAAQAy4bkK0s1dfdenE3IkimfPVZ0iBn*rCc!VoBRPafwwaqb4xbtoIJbMlDGjnnoh3mM!3hE!zAhiPAtu0VAZ6vwyntqhSH6C8 o673oTu!o4E8lOXoD!kv5ETojMpRZ/Maximus-final.bmp) He gestured to the picture, "This is Maximus Destroi, an ancient vampire who lived a long time ago. He was a unique vampire, for he fought using both his skills of his dark nature, as well as the skills that lay hidden in his blood, blood that intertwined with elven lineage. He is dead now, his life extinguished. However, he has returned, but not as he was..." He watched their faces as they slowly realized what he was saying.

"Peregrine looked at him strangely, "Impossible...one cannot return from the dead!"

Sigrun smiled, "That is where you are mistaken. For here I am. Nevertheless, allow me to explain why I brought this to your attention. I have been around since the early years of Tarlachia, when it could have easily been crushed by international forces. I have watched as civilizations rose and fell. I have watched wars waged viciously. I have even partaken in some of these wars. I have learned much in my time, and since my return, I have been slowly working my wisdom into my nation. Several hundred years ago, I became ruler, and my efforts have had much more success since. I have watched as I nurtured Tarlachia from the rogue nation of bastard races to what it is today. Granted, we still have a few things to clean up, but nevertheless, let this be proof that I will carry Tarlachia into the next era, the entry into space."

He looked over at them and awaited their reactions. Truth be told, he didn't expect much of a positive feedback, especially since they had just been rescued from a rather wrongful capture. He only hoped they would see his potential, his attempt to salve the wounds inflicted on their honor, their lives.

Perigrin closed her eyes briefly, trying to ignore the pounding headache. She'd fought against the mechanical hands and recieved injury, she was weaker than she should be and she hurt. 'Pain is for the ignoring' she let her discipline build a wall about it for the time being and tried to concentrate on what this Elf, Sigrun, was saying. 'We do have life past death, our genetics passed on to our children, the true immortality, our genes down through the ages...save that mine shall end with me, alone...how I envy Kaylinde' she brought her eyes open, unaware that they showed clearly just how tired she was.

"Actually most of my race does believe in genetic reincarnation, that some day their genes will be duplicated precisely and they will be reborn. The worst of us believe that some day the Progenitor himself will be reborn, save us from our ineptitude and raise us to the status they believe we are owed" The acid in her voice, directed at 'her own' was even more coldly savage. She quickly changed the subject

"Far be it from me to speak of your style of governing, but you made a serious mistake. You have the what, the when, the where, the how -but not the who and more important - because it helps you decide the who - you don't have the why. Why, by Drago's bones, would I bomb a meat packing plant? Did I get a bad steak at a restraunt, track down which packing plant that slaughtered the bovine and wreak havok on them for the poor quality of the steak? If I was that wroth why not go the minor bit further and track down the rancher who raised the cow and blow up his ranch?"

"I can understand protecting one's people...I have done things to protect the Karasu..." Her eyes went very fierce " I have made a sun go nova. Thats the sort of explosions I cause."

ShaDo winced inwardly. She knew that Perigrine wouldn't tell the whole story, prefering to let others think the worst of her.

"So, Sigrun Greenwood, Elf, tell me 'Why' ?"

Lt. Marlon Danson made sure that the vid pick up was taking in his good side as he declined to come to the consulate

"My dear Lilliandra, I may call you Lilliandra may I not? I just dare not take the time to leave the Ciper at this moment. We are having some problems embarking the Fourth Mechanized Legion. It seems that half of their personell..." He lowered his voice conspiratorily "are inebriated!' He was certain that his disgust at the situation - which was most certainly NOT of his creation - came through satisfactorily

Down below Master Staff Sergeant Kearns swore viciously as the Marauder he was piloting nearly fell, it’s right knee actuator not functioning properly. The double hand of mechs that comprised the 25th Spear of the Fourth were in transit, heading back to Tanara, and some bedamned navy butter bars had snagged them from a very much needed R&R. Not a mech, save the Captains XLAM - an experimental Phoenix Hawk, were operational ready. And their pilots were in even worse condition. None of them were in any way ready for combat.

Captain Hexx had checked the emergency orders very carefully, and the swearing that she’d done privately to him made his look grandmotherly. She didn’t think that Commodore St. Just had intended those orders to apply to her small detachment, but technically they fell with in the parameters. Thus she found her ten mechs, their pilots and assorted support staff loading aboard the freighter turned Q-ship. A ship which was not designed or modified for transporting mechs much less for deploying them by the standard method of drop ship insertion. The Cipher had no dropships.

Sigrun caught the little bit of information about a sun and it becoming a nova. He raised an eyebrow, but decided that inquiring as to how, would have to wait until another time.

Sigrun held his hands up, "Hey, as I said, I was not aware of what was happening to you until after the fact. I can only imagine why they thought you two were responsible. You were just caught in a bad place, at the wrong time, as far as I'm concerned."

Sigrun had a moment to think to himself, and then asked, "That ship of yours. We detected it had sent a message, most likely to your homeworld. Please, what will be the typical reaction of your government?"

______________________________

Hans smiled contentedly as Kay sat on the balcony, overlooking the plains, the city between them and the open lands. It however, did not obstruct her view. He leaned in the doorway, watching her as she watched the sun begin to settle below the horizon. In a few minutes, he knew she would get to see a sunset that would hold up Tarlachia's penchant for exhilarating skies during dawn and dusk.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his hands gently across her eyes. His mouth was next to her ear, whispering, "Patience...you shall see something very special in a few moments."

Suddenly, the western skies exploded in an amazing display of beauty, with just about every color imagineable painting the canvas of the earth. He pulled his hands away, revealing the sunset to her...

"Oh, Hans that is just awe inspiring" Kaylinde exclaimed softly. Contentedly she watched the sun slip beneath the horizon, Hans settleing in next to her, an arm about her. As 'le heur bleu' ended and true twilight ushered in the first stars she stood

"Hans I'm going to send out for a pregnancy test kit, double check... I..we can't assume that those that captured us were working alone. And being pregnant and on the run...oh what a problem."

She wrapped her arms about him "I love the thought of having your children, our children...but I didn't plan ...dare we now? Do we have the right to endanger a child?"

Hans looked into her eyes, and smiled, "If you are indeed pregnant, we have nine months to get ourselves someplace proper to raise the child."

Kaylinde hugged him with a worried look in her eyes. Finally, she spoke, "Do you think we can solve our problems in nine months?"

Hans thought for a moment before replying, "Not likely, but if we do things right, we'll be well on the way."

"I'll not leave your side..but as the pregnancy advances I might be a hindrance rather than any sort of help..." Kaylinde stated. Instantly, Hans smiled, "I'm glad you've made your mind to stay with me, " he took her face in his hands, "trust me, no matter what, we'll figure a way through it. After all, we're survivors."

Hans gave his customary grin, "We'll get through it."

"Together." Kaylinde leaned briefly against him, then pulled him to his feet. "Lets go check if it's a pair or trio."

The two walked back inside, keeping the balcony doors open. Now that night was falling, the sounds of the city had died down, leaving a peaceful setting outside. It proved to be relaxing for them. He sat next to her as she dialed the front desk. After a few minutes, she thanked the person on the other end of the line and hung up. She turned to him.

"They'll send one up shortly...Ah Hans, we may have a problem. The city is still under curfew, right?"

Hans nodded, "Most likely. However, hotel workers have special permits that allow them limited travel, and only for certain reasons. I would think this might qualify."

Kay seemed satisfied with the answer and sat silently. "Hans, we're obviously not fit to survive. This hotel room was provided by Ms. Mysterious. How long before they get around to checking such?"

"It probably won't be long. However, if we cooperate and only provide a cover story, we might be able to slip through their fingers. In fact, now that I think about it, fate could not have given us a better story than the pregnancy, assuming it's true. We can claim to be on honeymoon or something."

He got up and paced for a few moments before looking back up at her, "It might just work!" he finally said with a devilish grin.

"Hans, you don't have to marry me." Kay said softly. He looked at her and replied, "Only if it is your wish, will I ask."

Kay made sure she made eye contact with Hans, "I'll be with you however you wish. Tanara does not set any great store over marriage. Some do, some don't, and some marry in groups. However I wish to honor your customs."

Hans nodded understandingly, "It is more valued here in Tarlachia. I think it would be nice, however, if you are not comfortable with it, we can entirely ignore that. It matters not to me."

"It matters to you - you think it would be nice, so then we shall get married." She looked puzzled briefly, "Ummm, how does one go about that here in Tarlachia?"

Hans held his hand up, "Let's get to that bridge when we get to it. I'm not about to propose to you in a hotel, of all places!"

Kaylinde just shook her head, she had no idea where he might consider the proper place for a proposal. She'd never thought to be married as it was. A chiming from the intercom announced some one at the suites door. Kaylinde made sure her robe was modestly tight about her and opened the door. There were a pair of men there in dark suits. She stiffened briefly suddenly aware from the looks on their faces that her face was a mass of bruises and no little swollen despite the nanos she'd been given earlier. Hans's loving caresses had allowed her to forget how she might appear to strangers. Her tone was cool. "Yes?"

The agents immediately saw the bruises and logged it away in their minds. "You requested a pregnancy kit, ma'am?"

She nodded and held her hand out, "Yes, I did. Thank you for bringing it."

They did not give her the bag, instead pursuing a different agenda, "We'd like to ask a few questions...

Hans appeared behind Kaylinde, studying the two agents.

She smiled and took Hans quickly into her arms and replied. Both kept a straight face. "Yes, he's the lucky man..." she stated, caressing his chest with a hand. The agents shifted their eyes to Hans, who merely nodded with a slight smile.

"We're not here to discuss your pregnancy. As you are undoubtedly aware, there was an act of terrorism earlier today. Where were you two this morning around seven thirty?"

Kaylinde managed a giggle and a flirty glance at Hans, "I think we were in hot water."

The taller of the pair scowled and deliberately glanced at Kaylindes bruises once again. He obviously didn't believe her. "Where did you get those bruises? If he gave them to you, we can protect you from him, keep him from hurting you again. There are laws against abuse."

Kaylinde touched her face lightly, flushing darkly as she did so, glad that the nanos had healed the bruises enough so that they looked days older than there were.

"When I first arrived in Tarlachia, at Rossover, I got lost and a gang of kids accosted me. I guess they wanted my money, but I managed to stop them. I got hit a few times, and got away. Hans wasn't with me and I didn't want to tell him what happened." She said angrily, distress very visable. "There, are you happy now? Now if you don't mind, I'd like to find out whether or not I'm going to be a mother, before the baby comes into this world!"

She held her hand out expectantly, slightly irritated now. They nodded and handed the bag to her, "All right then. Best wishes to you two." replied one of the agents. She closed the door, listening as the door automatically locked once more. She turned to Hans, mouthing, "Too close..."

Hans nodded in agreement, leaving her to her privacy with the kit. He himself moved to the bed, turning on the television. However, he wasn't watching it per say. His mind was obviously elsewhere...

"I am uncertain what the governments response will be. Have we recieved any reply?" Perigrine turned to ShaDo, unable to hide a wince as a ragged spike of pain shot down her spine. The massive headache was growing worse, and spangles of light danced at the corner of her eyes sight

The avatar frowned as she noted the wince and once again scanned the Omegan with built in medisensors

"Perigrine..."She broke off as her partner started to slump forward and it took all of ShaDo's inhumam reflexes to catch her

"Mr. Greenwood, could you open another of those portals. I need to get Perigrine to ShadowDancers medibay as quickly as possible. You are welcome to come with us."

Part of ShaDo was passing along her findings so that ShadowDancers nanite factory could create specificly designed nanos. She postioned Perigrine for a more comfortable carry and stood, awaiting Sigrun's response.

Sigrun watched with curiosity as Peregrine slumped forward, only to be caught by Shado. Upon hearing her request, he nodded and sought through the existential plane to find the ship. It took a few moments before he locked in on the location.

Instantly, a portal swirled to view and widened to accommodate their passage. He assisted Shado with Peregrine through the portal and into the ship.

"Which way's the medibay?" he asked as they arrived.

ShaDo was certain that Sigrun had never been in a starcraft, but he was covering it well. Until the dense black 'smoke' of a could of combat nanos hovered into view, and his eyes widened abruptly. The low drone hum of the nanos ws designed as additional warning and tended to set biologicals nerves on edge

"Hold still Mr. Greenwood." ShaDow said softly as she advised her sisterself of their not normal mode of arrival. A small cyclone of wind whisked passed them and dispersed the smoke while high speed pumps drew even more away. Then the danger was passed and the door into the central corridor sliding open

"That was a cloud of combat nanites. They'd have eaten your flesh from your bones faster than you'd like to think about. ShadowDancer has never experienced any one entering via such a portal." ShaDo explained as she turned left and within a few dozen feet was in the compact but well stocked medbay.

An hour later Perigrin was in suspend sleep in a regeneration tube. "It will be a day before she comes out. Care to have a cup of coffee, or kaffe, or tea? And as to that question from earlier. ShadowDancer says she has not recieved a reply from the Tanaran government, save an acknowledgement of reciept from the consulate on Machiavelli Station. "

ShaDo could tell he was deeply interested in the various things he had seen

Sigrun just couldn't stop looking around the room, trying to understand such a vast quantity of foreign technology. A lot of it was beyond his current understanding. Finally, he drew himself back to the conversation.

"I'm sorry...I was a little intrigued as to your technology here. A lot of it, I do not understand."

He turned to look about once more, then returned his eyes back to Shado, "As for the Tanaran government, please tell me...what will be their initial reaction?"

ShaDo smiled gently at Sigrun's bewhilderment. She'd seen techno-shock before.. She thought for few seconds about his question, a vast amount of time for a being that lived at light speed.

"Lets get a cup of something hot while we discuss their possible responses"

She led him to the lounge and set about making a cup of tea for him.

"Peri and I have only been allied with the Tanarans for only about six years, so my projections do not have that great a grounding. It will depend what 'the people' want I think. Tanara has only been an empire for about a year."

She set the tea before him and grinned at his surprized look, as he noted that there was none for her

"I'm an Avatar, an A.I., remember? Though between Peri and I, I am the one who cooks."

Sigrun laughed as he heard about ShaDo's role as the chef. "I'm sure you cook exceptionally well enough for Peregrine." he complimented, as he took a sip of the tea. It was an excellent tea, one that slid down his throat like a soothing warmth.

"All right, let's do a little elimination here. Do you think the Tanaran government will react to both of your situations in a peaceful situation, or will they go directly to warmongering? What are the odds of one or the other, as far as you know?"

ShaDo thought for another second, then shook her head. There were so many variables and humans were less predictable than Nietzscheans "Tanarans are rather protective of their own, so a heavy handed response might have the greatest percentages behind it" She hated being so utterly imprecise, but she certainly did not want to give Sigrun any false hopes. Humans seemed to take fuzzy percentages better than Nietzscheans did, though

Sigrun nodded understandingly, for the Tarlachians were similar to the Tanarans in self-defense it seemed. He followed up with another question, "What type of attacks, if any, will they employ?"

"If they decide on the military option, they will hit hard and fast, going for military targets only. Their space forces are formidable and highly trained. They probably will not land any ground forces until all of your military installations have been taken out from orbit."

Sigrun shook his head, "That will not do. That means, I will need to immediately place a heightened alert for the military, in an effort to protect my people. You understand my concern." Sigrun chuckled, "However, I'm going to be very surprised if they are able to even locate our military installations..." He chuckled during a pause, and then explained, "Our bases are underground."

ShadowDancer’s hologram materialized, and shook her head "That won't matter. The Tanaran military has missiles with antimatter warheads. They'll just go an orbit or two softening your bases up." She projected holograms of the various capitol ships that made up a Tanaran expeditionary fleet, and pointed out their weaponry and defenses "And once they have your bases reduced then they will send down Mecha."

Sigrun interrupted, "Mecha? As in Mechanoids?"

"Yes, battle mechs" The ship's A.I. confirmed "Tanara won't target civilian population, and will do their best not to damage your infrastructure, I am postulating, but they will be adamant about getting Perigrine and ShaDo free. I've already sent a second message, but your people have just done something with what you call magic. I'm having trouble getting a FTL transmission out. Your magic is making my sensors itch. I can measure the forces you are working with but I can't see the mechanics of it. That is just unnatural!" ShadowDancer’s hologram grimaced, then her eyes flew open "You're people are claiming that we've kidnapped you! Excuse me, my shields are going up! …"And what is a Wrathchild...oh! never mind those are nasty looking mechs!"
ShadowDancer’s hologram vanished with no fanfare and the starcraft woke to life, as she spun up her defenses

ShaDo looked concerned as she tapped into the communications that Shadow Dancer had been intercepting, putting it on audible so Sigrun could follow it

*"Attention ShadowDancer, this is ground control. You are hereby ordered to immediately deactivate your shields and stand down. You have imprisoned an important government official. We demand you turn your engines off, and shut down NOW! Failure to comply with our demands will result in serious consequences!"*

In the distance, several large mechanical behemoths were approaching rapidly. They were Wrathchilds, Rex II:AS, specially altered Metal Gears to accommodate the use of magic as well as tactical weapons delivery systems. Three of the Wrathchilds approached, entering the dome through special portals, and finally halted, locking their weapons with the ship.

*"The Hells I will. After what you did to my captain, and are now hindering my ability to communicate with Tanara."* ShadowDancer replied to ground control

From one of the Rex IIs, a voice called out to ShadowDancer, "This is Major Terrance Unjao. If you do not comply with command's instructions, I will be forced to fire upon you at will!"

“And if you do you’ll be firing on your Mr. Greenwood as well” ShadowDancer couldn’t help but taunt

Sigrun spoke, "Let me get out there, I can stop this!" Sigrun cursed to himself. Things were getting out of control, and he knew he had to do something, and fast. "Let me out! Or we're going to find ourselves in the middle of a goddamn war!" he demanded, attempting to open another portal to exit the ship. He turned to ShaDo, looking into her eyes, "I must get out, or we're going to be in deep frelling shit!"

"Sisterself, lower your shields" ShaDo requested

"With those monsters out there and just itching to shoot at me? Hells NO!" ShadowDancer refused "But Mr. Greenwood I'll provide you a communications link"
Sigrun accepted immediately, "Patch me through to the ground control, then have them relay to Military Command."

She did so at once, but took the added precaution of turning in place on anitgravs so that her main guns had the Death Wraiths in target lock

Sigrun waited until he heard the click on the other end of the line. He ordered the man to hand the phone to his commanding officer, who was Commander Nikolai Serajev. "Nikolai! Tell your men to stand down now! I am perfectly fine inside this ship! Do not, and I repeat very clearly, DO NOT FIRE UPON SHADOWDANCER, AM I CLEAR?!"

Serajev replied, "Sir, are you being forced to say this?"

Sigrun nearly blew his temper, "Damn you Serajev, STAND DOWN NOW!"

Serajev further replied, almost matching his tone with Sigrun's own, "I'm sorry sir, it appears to me you are very nervous--"

"You're damn right I'm nervous! We cannot afford to go to war against the Tanarans!"

"Sir, are you, or are you not being held captive?" demanded the Commander. Sigrun's voice grew to a deep growl, his face twitching slightly. When he spoke, he spoke with a deadly calm, "Commander, if you do not do what I order you right now, I will personally strip you of your rank and court martial you!"

Outside the ship, the Rex IIs shifted slightly, arming their nuclear weapons. Sigrun looked out the window to them, "You've got to be kidding me..." he muttered as he saw the covers unfold, revealing nuclear tipped missiles readying for launch. He returned to the conversation with the Commander, "Commander Serajev, you are about to commit the greatest goddamn mistake of your life! STAND DOWN!"

Serajev replied, "Sir, you are obviously a hostage, I will not stand down until I see you walking free from that ship. Only until then, will my men stand down."

Sigrun threw his tea cup at the wall in his rage. His voice echoed throughout the spaceship uttering great elvish words of damnation unto Serajev. "ShaDo, just let me go. You heard him. Besides, I will personally cut his frelling head off for disobeying my command!" He realized whom he was yelling at, and composed himself, "I apologize. As you can see, this is very urgent, for those Wrathchilds out there are about to launch nuclear weapons at this ship! With me in here! Have they lost their goddamn minds?!"

ShaDo looked at Sigrun with a small grin "I suppose now is not the time to confesss that we did blow up your meat packing plant"

Sigrun froze completely still and turned to ShaDo. His face was flushed with the anger at the Commander, now he had just been thrown a blind curve ball that had caught him off guard. "You what?" And now he had just ... Sigrun drew his sword and leveled it toward ShaDo. He glared at her, "Why? Why did you lie to me?" His face had begun to fill with rage again.

He couldn't believe the unbelievable series of things that were developing before him at a blistering pace. First the bombing, then the investigations, followed by the rescue of the two responsible for the bombing, only to find out they were actually responsible, contrary to their earlier statements. "You realize you have just added a whole frelling bag of shit for us all, don't you?"

"We never said we didn't, we never said we did... we led you all along the merry go round. Had to, orders, and now I'm breaking those orders because you deserve it....and oh shit indeed." If ShaDo could have gone pale she would have. ShadowDancer had just informed her that the Tanaran Navy vessel Cipher had come out of a in-system micro jump with a catastrophic drive failure. "We have a bigger problem. I've got people space side that need rescue. Can your magic work off planet?

Sigrun thought quickly. The deception issue would have to wait for a bit, for now yet another problem had occurred. "I'll see what I can arrange, but right now, what's most important is that we stop those Wrathchilds from destroying both this ship and the entire spaceport!"

ShaDo looked at Sigrun, her eye apologetic "I'll explain everything. I know we broke your laws but we were following our orders, and following our laws. But that doesn't make it right, I know"

Quickly she lowered the ShadowDancer’s personnel ramp "We never intended to hold you hostage. You helped save Peregrines life. I said nothing before, but if your portal had not gotten us here instantaneously Perigrine would have died. Omegans are conditioned to die rather than be interrogated, and her system was trying to make that happen."

Sigrun nodded in understanding. "I'm glad I could help." he replied, before taking off at a quick run down the ramp, sheathing his sword on his backside while moving. He ran toward the Rex IIs and held his hands up. "I am perfectly fine you goddamn idiots! Now STAND DOWN!" Sigrun levitated using his arcane abilities until he had risen up over a hundred feet to float before the Wrathchild mecha, "STAND DOWN! THAT IS AN ORDER!"

At first, nothing happened, and then the missiles disarmed and were locked away once more. Sigrun watched this approvingly; relieved something was going his way finally. He floated closer to one of the Wrathchild, speaking telepathically, Patch into command now. We've got another more important problem. The pilot complied, and allowed Sigrun to use his mind as a relay, his voice changed to match Sigrun's own. "Get me Arleni on the horn now!"

A minute later, Arleni confirmed her presence, "Sigrun, what the hell is going on?"

Sigrun replied quickly, "Later. I'll explain later. Right now, we've got a Tanaran vessel currently about to die in space. I need you to gather all the elves you can. We're going to attempt to do something we've never done before."

Arleni obeyed his command, and within minutes, thousands of portals opened up near Sigrun and the Wrathchild mechs, elves racing thought them in response to the summons. He floated down to them quickly. After explaining, in fluent Sindarin, to them what he wanted done, a number of them looked at him skeptically. However, his determination won them over. At once, Sigrun sent a telepathic request to ShaDo Can you provide a visual in the open sky here?[I], but found that he was unable to contact the A.I. Muttering aloud in frustration, this was picked up by ShadowDancer’s externals and she replied affirmatively.

[i]ShadowDancer quickly relayed a visual taken from the cockpit of the MMX. The Cipher hung broken backed, the damage clearly visible where the drive had brought the ship back into normal space out of phase. Captain Hexx had ridden out the micro jump in her mech and now stood off a safe distance. One of the massive matter/antimatter reactors had already been jettisoned and exploded spectacularly. In the engineering section the survivors worked frantically to take the remaining reactors off line before they too failed. Like shoals of silvery minnows life slips darted away from the stricken ship. Automatically they would had towards the planet. Shadowdancer would provide a homing beacond for these.

"Sigrun, fully half of her life slips must have been destroyed when her keel broke." ShaDo had left the ShadowDancer and come to stand beside him. "What are you planning to do?"

Sigrun replied, "Well...we're going to pull your ship to the surface, yank it through the portal."

ShaDo's eyes went wide, and for the first time in many a long year words failed her

Sigrun looked at her, "The planes of possibilities are endless, if you can imagine it enough." He continued, "Through magic, the impossible can well become possible."

She quirked another of her grins "This I have to see!"

"That is why I believe this will work." He gestured to the elves that stood in the thousands behind them, "I have faith in my people's abilities." He turned back to her, "But...we will need to see a magnification of some sort, so we can pinpoint where to place the portal."

ShaDo nodded and turned to where a 'bot was towing a holoprojector on a grav cart "Here, this will project a holo, a three dimensional image, of what the Cipher looks like in real time, as she is right now" In seconds the hologram sprang into being for all the elves to study

Sigrun nodded, "Once again, you surprise me with your technology." He glanced back at the elves, who were now curiously staring at the hologram. He spoke a few words clearly to them. Soon, they had adjusted into position, leaving the great plains of the countryside open for the portal.

Sigrun excused himself from ShaDo and joined them. At once, they cast innumerable blasts of arcane energy toward a single spot. Instantly, a massive portal opened up, expanding to easily dwarf the nearby mecha. Soon, it had stabilized, and they could see the ship through the protective screen of arcane energy. Another series of arcane spells were cast as one and slowly but surely the ship began to emerge into the Earth atmosphere before them. It seemed to extend a great length, yet it also clearly showed signs of damage to the exterior of the ship. With a final pull, the ship was yanked free of the portal, colliding heavily into the earth, sending great shockwaves in every direction. A few minutes later, the portal closed at long last with a flash of light, bright enough to eclipse even the sun. Sigrun turned from his position and approached ShaDo. "I told you it would work!" he declared with a broad smile. He turned to the ship, "Now, it's your show."

ShadowDancer was already coordinating evacuation procedures with Ciphers surviving crew. From the remains of what had once been the main cargo hold of the converted freighter rose those Mechs that were still operable. The explosive bolts that held the disguising panels were blown and the vast hatches yielded to myomer powered muscles. Other survivors activated emergency hatches and stumbled from them, looking at the earth beneath their feet and the blue of the sky overhead. Dazed and half unbelieving it was all they could do to help the injured out. In the engineering spaces the chief engineer and his ratings sagged in relief as the remaining two reactors scrammed without incident. The ship creaked and groaned as it settled, its vast weight causing it to sink deeply into the ground. It was obvious to all that this was one starship that would never reach for the stars again.

ShaDo paused before heading over to the survivors and gave Sigrun a look "Decent repayment for a meat packing plant? It's yours by right of salvage - she'll never make space again, but the tech is still good."

Sigrun approached her and the survivors. He bowed to them respectfully, "Welcome to Tarlachia. My apologies for your rough arrival." As ShaDo offered the ship up for salvaging, he nodded in appreciation; "We shall find use for it."

A young woman, she couldn't have been more than twenty, turned from her marshalling of the survivors "I don't know how you did it sir" She gave a half bow "I am Ensign Innara Horus, I...I think I am the only survivor of the bridge crew, so I think that makes me acting captain. Thank you sir, on behalf of the ship and the crew. The Avatar is correct, Admiralty law states right of salvage. Might I ask that my injured be taken to your nearest medical center?"

Sigrun turned to the elves, whom had all now gathered neatly, awaiting his further instructions. He dismissed them, thanking them, and extending the Tanarans' thanks as well. They bowed and soon had disappeared through their portals, heading back home.

Sigrun nodded, "Of course." He spawned a portal beside himself, large enough to accommodate three at a time. "If you'll follow me in just a moment. First, I must take care of something."

"Certainly sir" The young woman replied respectfully, as ShadowDancers three ‘bots were assisted by the remaining bots from the Cipher, lifting the injured carefully on to grav gurneys, while the Ciphers medical personel began treatment as best they could.

He turned to the Wrathchilds and rose up to meet them once more. "Return to base. I want Commander Serajev under arrest and awaiting court martial, to be administered by myself. Oh, I want the entire military to stand down, including all lockdowns. Disengage the dome over the spaceport and each city."

The pilot saluted and carried out his orders. Soon, the Wrathchild had disappeared into the distance, before they were suddenly swallowed by the earth. Sigrun floated back down to the others; "Now we may leave." he informed them as he stepped through the waiting portal. They would appear in the nearest hospital, located in Rossover.
"Mr. Greenwood, might I ask a favor." ShaDo spoke up

Sigrun turned to ShaDo, "You may ask."

Sigrun shook his head negatively, "I'm sorry, but he disobeyed my direct command. He will be court-martialed."

"Might I respectfully submit that he had no way of knowing if you were under coercion."

Sigrun replied, "That will be taken into account, however, he disobeyed a direct order. Do your commanders roll over for their subordinates? I think not. That is not the way of our military either."

"And the day your military obeys a direct order to bomb civilians what will the answer be? That I was just obeying an order? There is such a thing as illegal orders. Now I'll agree that the arming of the nuclear warheads was excessive, but for someone to care enough to question the absolute ruler" Her voice went astringent on those last two words “Say’s that they were thinking not just reacting."

Sigrun paused for a moment as he considered ShaDo's words. Finally, he conceded, "Alas, you speak the truth. Very well then, he shall be pardoned."

The doctors and nurses of Rossover’s main hospital took over the care of the majority of the injured, with only a handful needing the specialized training of the Ciphers own medical personnel. Sigrun and ShaDo remained, keeping an eye on the situation.

By the next day the last of the lifeslips had made it safely to the space port at Rossover city, and Captain Hexx, tired, and sweat soaked could finally land the MMX. In humanoid form she set him down next to the ShadowDancer. Sgt. Kearns raced out to meet her. They had spent hours on the comm, arranging for the welfare of her team and the other handfull of Marines that had been aboard. Ensign Horrus was handling the Navy side very effeciently.

"No Mercy! I'm glad you're here. I got everything mobile out of the Ciphers hold but some stuff is going to have to wait until they get some heavy lifters in here. Though I don't know if this place has them, they're pretty primitive."

Mercy didn't really care, and the sargeant could see it in her eyes. She just wanted something other than survival rations, bagged water and a sweat soaked uniform.

"We'll deal with it later Kearns, I've got to get some crash time. Where are they putting us up?"

"In a hostel over there" He tilted his head towards the three story hotel the uninjured survivors had been put up at. "But you'd better stay on board the Dancer, stay in range of the MMX"

Mercy nodded and looked up at the towerin XLAM Phoenix Hawk "Guard" She said softly and the giant mech moved slightly, almost an air of alert surveillance about it. She was asleep less than thirty minutes, fed and blissfully clean.

After ensuring that the Tanarans were taken care of in Rossover, Sigrun returned to Turath and immediately headed to the war room, where a number of military advisors sat, waiting. After speaking with Commander Serajev, who was relieved to hear Sigrun would not be punishing him, Sigrun ensured that the entire military, save for a few to help guard the Tanarans and their ships.

"Now that that's taken care of, any word from the Tanaran government directly?"

"Not yet sir, but I've got a feeling they're going to be grateful for our help of their ship. Might even be good enough to have them overlook what happened with the two who were interrogated."

Sigrun nodded, speaking lowly, "That may be so, but we've got another problem. I've gotten a confession from their AI that the two were indeed responsible. She shall be brought here soon to answer any questions we have. She will be here in a few hours, once she makes sure things are all right with her people. I warn you all right now, anyone that even so much as harm her or her friends in any way, will be personally punished by myself."

The advisors nodded, knowing full well that Sigrun would not hesitate to strike them down and kill them if he so wished. They also knew he was one who judged fairly, and usually fit his punishments to the crimes. Usually.

"That is all. Dismissed." Sigrun reported, departing the room immediately. He sighed and wished he would be able to sleep right now. He was exausted, having gotten very little in the last forty-eight hours. However, there was one more thing to be taken care of.

The portal opened up before him and he appeared before the vampiress who still remained fastened to the wall. She snarled at him, but it was obvious she was thirsting for sustenance. He raised a hand and lowered her, releasing the bindings. "You almost caused a war, you know."

Sasha replied coldly, "I know. And we would have had plenty of blood to sustain the Underworld Cities for a few years!"

Sigrun shook his head in pity, "You really don't understand do you? Yes, we would have put up a great defense, but ultimately, the Tanarans would have wiped us out. They are decently ahead of us in technology-"

Sasha interrupted, "But we could have beaten them with the arcane! Plus, they've most likely not dealt with the kind of attacks our armies would have sent!"

Sigrun shook his head again, "That might have been true, but you forget an important fact. They are in the space age. We are not. What do you think they would send against us before putting any troops in harm's way? Granted, we might have been able to withstand those attacks, but the following attacks, by their mechanoids would have caused a serious problem. We only have the Wrathchilds, as well as our modern technology. Ultimately, they would have defeated us."

Sasha snarled, "I disagree. Back to the topic though, I was interrogating those two--"

"In a manner that I never want to see happening, so long as I rule this nation. Is that clear?"

Sasha growled, "Sometimes, the necessary things to be done, must be done. You know that!"

With a quick movement, Sigrun drew Lanta and sliced the short distance between them, immediately decapitating the vampiress. He recovered from the attack and looked back down at her body. "Yes...I know. You have become outdated, Sasha. I am sorry, but you forced my hand."

He departed, leaving the body to disintegrate rapidly. He made his way to Bonepicker's office via the elevator. Ten minutes later, the Bonepicker's career ended. Sigrun departed the office calmly and returned to the castle. Shortly thereafter, he finally lay down to rest, closing his eyes and wiping his mind free of troubles.

The latest advisory from the consulate at Machiavelli Station, conserning the distress call reporting of the catastrophic drive failure ( and subsequent dissappearance ) of the Tanaran Naval vessel Cipher took the Empire by media directed storm. The minor information that the two being held for interrogation had been released unharmed was generally overlooked. Deliberately in some cases. Particularly by Lord Danson. His aides knew better than bring him information that would not suit his agendas. The fleet was going to sally forth and teach those arrogant Trash people a lesson they'd not soon forget! He was going to make absolutely sure of that, and he had the pull to do so. Let the Empress be as moderate and as peace loving as she liked. Her ruse of being unavailable was so transparent. How like her to go on a vacation at such a time. Well there were ways, loopholes, that the Upper and Lower Councils could use get around that small problem. This would be a short victorious war.

Various sources made sure that information was sent back through FTL communications to ShadowDancer, apprizing them that the vote for war would come and be approved, perhaps as early as the next day. It also included the information that the Empress had departed to a resort unnamed for a much needed vacation.

ShaDo closed her eyes briefly and went to take Perigrine out of the regen tube early. This was too important.

Sigrun awoke, feeling much more relaxed, and rested. He quickly dressed and gathered his sword upon his backside. He took a glance over to the crown that sat in its secure display box. He sighed.

The things I do for my country...

He departed quickly and made his way to Rossover. He soon stood before the hotel where Shado and Peregrine were supposed to be, along with the crew from the other ship. He knocked upon the door and momentarily, it opened to Shado, who nodded in greeting. She held her finger up, to indicate that Peregrine was still sleeping. Sigrun peeked over her shoulder to see Peregrine still recovering from her injuries. He spoke quietly, "I can help her...if you'll let me."

ShaDo looked at him warily "I did remove her from the tube early... however she is not human, though her species was derived from humans originally. What effect will your magics have on her?

ShaDo ushered him into the room, keeping her voice low.

Sigrun walked over to Peregrine sleeping form, gently pulling the covers off her. He examined her wounds and looked back up to Shado. He replied in an equally low tone, "It appears that most of her healing has been taken care of by your...whatever it was. I can speed up the remainder of the healing process, and bring her back to full health."

ShaDo debated with ShadowDancer over their internal frequency and came to a decission. Slowly ShaDo nodded. "As you are willing, we will accept."

She stepped back and discretely trained her sensors on Sigrun. She most certainly wanted to get reading of the manipulated energies that pulled off that 'hat trick'.

Sigrun nodded respectfully, and rolled the sleeping Peregrine from her side to her backside. She muttered something in some other language for a brief few moments. He paid it no heed as he leveled his hands upon the flesh where her wounds were. As Shado watched with fascination, an amber glow began to eminate from his hands as he spoke a number of words in his native tongue. He called upon the arcane as if it were but second nature, so easily it came to his use. It seemed to flow from every part of the room. An arcanic sensor would have seen the tendrils of energy that trasversed the room in its restive state, but pulled into action by the elf.

He moved his hands from her legs slowly up her body, resting upon her breasts. He gave no indication of embarassment for this, for it was a natural thing for any healer to do. Peregrine snapped her eyes opened suddenly as she felt her ribs shift and begin melding back together. She cried out slightly, but was held down by Sigrun's gentle hand and soft words, "Shhh...lie down." He glanced back up to Shado, who had seemed somewhat alarmed by the look on Peregrine's face. "A natural reaction, but nothing to fear."

He finished the healing of her ribs and moved to her arms. Picking up one of the arms, he inspected the bone blades that lay askew, broken. The regenerative chamber in ShadowDancer had already done most of the repair to this, but it had not finished the job. He promptly and quickly repaired these. A quick inspection of the other arm revealed it needing no work. He moved to her face, tilting his head slightly as he turned her face gently. Her eyes had closed once more, more to attempt to rest more than anything else. He inspected the small cuts and bruises caused by the interrogative machines. He pitied the woman, having to have been subjected to such horrendous objects. He made a mental note to have a team of inspectors go through each of the several locations where interrogations were carried out, and make radical changes, changes for the better.

Finally, he had finished and he held a hand to Peregrine's forehead, feeling the slight fever that had developed. He chilled his hand, which simultaneously flowed into her mind, calming her overworked body. Soon, she opened her eyes and looked up upon Sigrun. He spoke, "Good to see you back, Peregrine."

He stood and assisted Peregrine to a sitting position. Finally he stood back and gave a final inspection. He smiled.

ShaDo watched in utter fascination, not sure if she trusted any of her sensors. "Fascinating." Her voice barely audible.

Perigrine blinked at Sigrun somewhat dazedly, uncertain of what had just happened. It seemingly didn't bother her that he was seeing her bare face.

"I think I have you to thank for this end of pain." Her eyes were grave, and she bowed her head deeply for a moment.

"D'mo arrigahato Sigrunsa'mada, iye saimas'sirun" The formal words of thanks giving among the Karasu.

ShaDo was glad she was standing somewhat behind the elf, she certainly didn't want him to see her standing there with her jaw hanging open. Neitzscheans, not even the very liberal Karasu, did NOT use their Pride's private language in front of non-Pride Nietzscheans, much less to non-Nietzscheans. It took her several seconds to close her mouth.

He smiled and bowed, replying in an equally cryptic language, "Amin saesa, melloneamin."

He straightened and looked into Peregrine's eyes. "Now, I have a request for both of you. I would like to ask you to appear before my Council in a private meeting, to explain why you were here in Tarlachia in the first place. There are questions unanswered that need answering. Will you comply?"

Perigrine froze for a millisecond, her eyes darting to ShaDo. Then she stood and moved to where fresh robes and her weapons awaited her. Unspeaking she began to dress, ignoring Sigruns presence. At last fully dressed, weaponed, and her veil in place she turned back. Her eyes held Sigrun's with an adamantine stare, "No."

Sigrun closed his eyes for a moment. He had half expected this. He opened them, looking back at Peregrine, "Then will you be kind enough to tell me alone? I shall relay it to the council of course, unless you wish I keep the matter to myself."

Perigrine sighed behind the veil. She had, of all people, been tempted to tell this elf, this Sigrun, and she could not blame ShaDo, much more honourable than she, for falling into the same trap.

"I am a Hand of the Empress. I ws requested to watch over some one and I did so"

She waited to see if he would be satisfied with that, though she knew he wouldn't be.

Sigrun nodded slightly, but as she had correctly guessed, he was not satisfied. "Even if I were to be withheld from the name of the one you were requested to watch, this begs the question, why are they in Tarlachia?"

"She is in love." she replied neutrally. Love was a rarity among Neitzscheans, even the Karasu seldom mated for love.

Sigrun raised an eyebrow. "An interesting revelation. I cannot imagine what would bring members from both of our rather distinct societies together. It is futher strange when you consider the technological age we reside in respectfully." The silent question that followed was obvious, and required no words to supplement.

"Both were apparently in the marines, served in the same unit." ShaDo volunteered.

"Don't ask me the why's and wherefores of love. I've no experience in it." Perigrine sounded faintly frustrated, perhaps even defensive.

Sigrun thought silently to himself for several moments. "You say they served in the same unit in the marines. Where did they serve?" Sigrun had deducted that it must have been an international coalition of forces. He knew that Tarlachia had sent a few troops to different coalitions to different locations throughout the universe. If he didn't recieve the answer he was looking for, he would have his analysts bring up the lists of every soldier sent to any coalition that had both Tanaran and Tarlachian forces. Following the identification of the coalition, they would find out the fate of each soldier: who died, who lived, and where they were, and their names. Sooner or later, they would narrow it down to a list of soldiers. Or, the Tanarans before him would be kind enough to share which conflict, which coalition.

Perigrine grinned to herself, she was certain that she remembered the gentleman as actually being listed as officially dead. "I think it was a planet called Argonia."

Sigrun cocked his head slightly. Argonia...Whiptail Longtail's homeworld?

He nodded, "I am familiar with Argonia. I have esteemed Argonian friends, notably Whiptail Longtail." He fell silent for a moment. "Do you know the name of the Tarlachian soldier in question?"

"No I do not know the name of the Tarlachian soldier in question"

Perigrine winced internally. She was slipping if all she could sieze on was a designation inaccuracy. Knowledge that things were occuring beyond anyone's ability to adequately control was simply not an excuse.

Her thoughts were sour 'And even if I do like him I can't tell him everything he'd like to know. Michiko is not on any 'vacation', she's on a hunting trip. And for a human she is a respectable hunter, almost as good as a Neit... I need to get ShadowDancer to contact the senior most of the Tanaran officers. With a vote of war pending they need to get off planet, out of Tarlachia, or offer their parole' That thought caused an internal wince 'and and Captain Hexx can't if the information I have is correct...she' Shudder! 'is mentally linked with that mech. Gads the things these people are willing to do with their minds. I may recognise A.I.'s as sentients but to have one in my head? Would rather mate with a degenerate first' Part of her wanted to gag over that notion.

Her hands flew in the apparently random, but specifically designed micrometer motions of Omegan handsign, passing her basic thoughts on to ShaDo. She wasn't a part of the Tanaran military, nor was she currently tasked to them. However she had a foundation duty to them. The Empress would be very upset if she did not do their best for them.

ShaDo passed the information on to ShadowDancer, who would see that those who needed to got it

Sigrun replied, "Then it is not a worry. I shall have my people figure out the name of the soldier. What you have provided me with so far is good enough for a very good lead. Sooner or later, we shall track down each one of them and discover their fate to this day."

He smiled slightly, still worrying about why the Tanaran government was taking so long to respond to recent attempts to bridge the growing hostilities. For now, things were seemingly all right, but he knew better. There were other forces on both sides of the field that operated without the knowledge of the other, and sometimes without the knowledge of their own superiors.

Like here in my own nation... he thought darkly to himself, remembering the sentence he had declared and executed unto the condemned souls of Sasha and the Bonepicker. Both had outlived their use, and both had become blights unto the future of Tarlachia. It was necessary to be done, he knew. Yet, he regretted having to end their lives so abruptly. It was the only way to ensure that his people might be able to forge a peace with the oncoming Tanarans.

He hoped he was right.

Four days had passed with seeming quiet. The operative word here was seeming. The formal declaration of war had been delivered through the Tanaran Consulate on Machiavelli Station, by an elderly gentleman that every Tanaran defered greatly to and adressed as Father Mycroft despite him seeming to have no religous affiliation. Captain Hexx and her experimental LAM had vanished before the arrival of Father Mycroft, but the others had given their parole, and indeed worked with the Tarlachians to salvage what was possible of the Cypher. The missing pair, pilot and mech, were apparently officially unnoticed as being absent by the Tarlachians.[/i]

The seeming was just that for Cats Keep lay just across Tarlachia's western border. Cats Keep was a long time, if little mentioned ally of Tanara and from there three NIRTS satelites were launched and Medusas raced along the fringe of space. All of which were dedicated to obtaining the most detailed information concerning Tarlachia as was possible to Tanaran technology when paired with Cats Keep's magic and psionics. Military bases both below and on the surface were mapped out, as were such mundane items of traffic flows with in various Tarlachian cities. Carefully ShaDo infiltrated the entirety of Tarlachia's computer systems, working her way past their various security measures slowly, leaving no trace behind. If the system was inter linked -be it military, financial, educational, or personal she invaded and their programing came under her control.

Father Mycroft had settled into the cramped staterooms of the ShadowDancer, after he had paid the hospital bill for every treated Tanaran. He and ShaDo spent much of their time sequestered and exchangeing information, and creating a data base of every weakness, failure of Tarlachia's systems. It would be useful later.

They crossed over the border an hour before dawn, riding finely bred Cats Keep mounts, with papers openly proclaiming them as citizens of Cats Keep. Ahead of them ran a Pookah in horse form, a magnificant stallion, that they could claim to be searching for. Their speech and clothes were those of the Keep, well worn and fitting them properly. In secret pockets were papers attesting to Tarlachian citizenship, along with money and other such papers as any honest citizen of Tarlachia would be carrying. They did not pass through any border station, there were none near by ( no border is impermeable, particularly in the mountains ) - where they entered was carefully chosen. Long before they neared the city that was their destination, they would be met by agents who would provide them with transportation more suitable to the city. Weapons were carried disassembled, and the parts looked little to make a whole, much less a weapon.

Kaylinde and Hans slept entertwined, nestled into one another , worn out from a day of shopping for necessities and a night of lovemaking. Both had been uncomfortable at first, keeping close watch on their surroundings, but after a time of nothing unusual they began to relax and just enjoy their stroll about the city....

With out warning an explosive Kkathrump and heat wave swept over the sleeping pair, the fire ball made even more effective by it's contaiment within the bedroom. The bedclothes and drapes instantly ablaze. Kaylinde woke with a startled scream of pain. She tried to throw her self and Hans clear but the bed linnens were wrapped tight about them. She managed to topple them off the bed, but both of them sustained severe burns before they were free, Hans mostly under the bed..

Figures in concealing hazardous environment suits burst into the room, alarms in the hallway sounding faintly as the hotels systems responded to the fire and other assaults. Kaylinde started to scramble to her feet but dazed and disoriented she was unable to fight off the attackers who used their rifle butts to beat her unconscious. Other of the group had pulled Hans out from under the bed, but before they could batter at him a few times the sounds of hotel security at the door to the suite had them grabbing Kaylinde and disappearing via a gateway, destination unknown.

Hans lay there, dazed by the explosion. He got up, struggling with the sheets that were now no longer aflame, but well burnt. He groaned under the pain of the burns, but the pain was shoved aside as he realized something very wrong.

"KAYLINDE!" he roared, frantically looking about the room. He ran to the window, where the glass had been shattered, either by the explosion or by the attackers. It mattered not, for Kaylinde was still missing. He roared her name out once again, standing there. He turned sharply as feet came running from down the hall. He could only manage to grab his clothes quickly enough to dress enough, both to cover himself, as well as the metal plates along his spine.

"Sir! Are you all right?" cried the emergency personnel woman who had fired a fire extinguisher at the flames that were raging about the room. In the eerie, smoke filled room, Hans look almost menacing, standing there.

"No!" he cried, "I've got to find her!" He ran out the door, running full speed down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He looked over the railing to see how much farther he'd have to go and made a quick decision. his armor snapped about him, locking into place as he fell down the central shaft. Finally, he slammed into the ground floor, the concrete shattering underneath him. He had landed on both feet, but lowered himself with the impact, his hands splayed out to steady himself. He exploded through the door, taking ti clear off the hinges. His armor suffered no damage as he ran. He didn't give a damn anymore about keeping his secret, secret.

All he cared was that he got Kaylinde back safely, alive.

"KAYLINDE!" he cried once again, his voice made deeper, more menacing by the armor's adjustments and voice relay system.

Across the night skies of Tarlachia, a flaming outline rose, a shimering full spectrum mirrrage of a giant phoenix. Through the minds of all with in fifteen hundred miles, sounded a crystal clear, space cold voice

"I have no mercy"

The others of the penetration team finished gathering their equipment together, ready to move out in record time. They had chosen to camp at a small local recreational park, rather than a motel. Michiko swooped down to land on a near by picnik table and CHANGE, her rage still making her shake. One of the team tossed her a bundle of clothes as he packed up the equipment that had produced the image

"No Boss, I don't have any more information for you, just the 'seeing' that Kidriss had" He answered her questioning look

"It doesn't matter. I want their leaders head, Kaylinde, and the rest of my people off this planet with in the next three days or I'm going to order a somwthing I never thought I would." Michiko shrugged on the clothes and pulled her hair back into a thick ponytail as she climbed into the local that had been provided for them

The rising of the pheonix into the night sky, and further accompanied by the fell voice on the currents of the winds caused many to turn toward the pheonix, only to watch as it disappeared from sight. From the capital city of Turath, Sigrun stood at the window, deep in thought.

Somehow, he knew it was the Tanarans. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew. It was the only logical deduction from this whole mess. He closed his eyes and whispered, "May we find a peaceful road into the future..."

He looked up to see the pheonix gone, but he remained there, still staring out into the night sky.

As Hans ran through the streets of Turath, the moonlight glinted brightly off his armor as he passed by the many shops and homes. Never did he cease to call out to Kaylinde, hoping, almost pleading that she reply.

Suddenly, he heard sirens nearby, and watched as several squad cars came screeching to a halt in front of him and behind him. He spun about, cursing to himself. He growled as the police emerged with their guns drawn as they beheld the creature before them. Never before had they seen one like him, nor armor of that type. Thus, they trained their many guns on him.

One lone man yelled out to Hans, "Get down to the ground and spread your arms and legs out!"

Hans turned to face the man, his armored face seeming to almost snarl in rage. Kaylinde was in danger and they wanted him to do a spread eagle for them?! Like hell that was going to happen...

He shook his head negatively, immediately hearing a number of guns being cocked and brought up to bear even more so.

"Get down on the ground!" demanded the officer again.

"Leave me alone!" Hans demanded in reply, "I've got to find her!"

"GET DOWN NOW, OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

Hans froze as he heard the words. Those were words of violence, of danger, words that would lead to Kaylinde's death. He growled angrily as he refused the demands.

"Fire!" cried the officer as Hans suddenly advanced toward him, growling audibly. At least two dozen guns suddenly barked and fired deadly bullets toward the EXO, only to cause the officers to stare in shock as the bullets bounced off harmlessly. Hans roared as he reached the nearest vehicle and thrust it aside into a small coffee shop. The officers behind the vehicle kept shooting, trying to bring down this...thing.

The clouds overhead had been condensing and coating the skies of Turath. Soon, rain began fall, a few sprinkles at first, and then the downpours.

"I said...leave...me....ALONE!" roared Hans as he thrust several officers aside into other officers and the walls of some buildings. He picked up his pace again, taking up his hunt once more. Kaylinde was somewhere, and he intended to find her.

Back at the officer strewn scene, the captain stared in disbelief at the vehicle wreckage, then to the rapidly departing form of Hans. He shook his head as he ran to the nearest squad car and pulled out the radio. "We're going to need some backup...call the military, we've got a hot walking tank on a rampage..."

Once again, throughout the city, sirens screamed into the night as the citywide alarms began to blare through the raining city.

Up in the Castle, Sigrun was distracted from the window, where he had been listening to the sirens down in the city below him. Within minutes, the alarms began blaring once again. He turned as several agents came running into the room, not bothering to bow in respect.

"What's going on?" Sigrun demanded, dismissing the lack of bows in light of obvious trouble.

"There's a new...creature in the city. Police tried to stop him, but he just threw a squad car aside like it were nothing but a lightweight object. Bullets didn't stop him. We're calling in the military. We need to move you to a safer location."

Sigrun turned to look out the window, and then to the direction where he had seen the pheonix earlier. He looked back down into the city, where he had located the sirens of the police earlier. He turned back to the men behind him.

"Screw that. I have a theory that I'm going to figure out. Get my battle gear ready."

One of the agents nodded as he moved to a wall and pressed a button. There panels slid aside as his elven armor and Lanta came into view. Sigrun stepped forth and began to quickly put his gear on, with the assistance of the agents. Lastly, he secured Lanta and turned to the agents.

"Get one of the REXAs units on the outskirts of the city just in case."

He turned and departed quickly out the open window. He took off running into the city, following the sounds of the police sirens. Once he had arrived, they pointed in the direction that the EXO had gone. He took off running after EXO.

"There's been some sort of disturbance in Turath. Law enforcement is out full force and they may be bringing up some military forces" One of the infiltration team reported worriedly "And no it's not us."

He fell silent for a few minutes listening in on the police frequency "Some sort of strange armored figure they are reporting, perhaps a miniaturized mech? It's rather confused"

"No" Michiko said slowly "That may be Hans. Head us toward the disturbance"

In the falling rain of a typical Tarlachian summer, supported with peals of lightning and thunder rolling across the skies, few traveled the streets of the city of Turath. All was quiet now, except for the distant sirens of the police and the city-wide alarm echoing against the buildings of the city.

Sigrun paused to kneel and touch the ground where a slight impression was seen in the middle of the concrete. A few cracks resonated outward from the center. He looked up to the rooftop of the building next to him and nodded slightly. The creature had landed here. He had moved across the rooftops before returning to the streets.

He stood and continued his pursuit, traveling slower now. The creature probably thought he was safe now, having traveled nearly the entire length of the expansive city. It was easy to get lost in a city like this, but to get lost to Sigrun's tracking would be difficult. He knew things few others did about hunting the elusive.

After all, he had been one of them himself once upon a time.

He found himself standing before a sign that read Yori and Sons Junkyard. He nodded appreciatively. A junkyard would be a very good place to hide, for the spires of crushed metal and rubber could prove daunting to any search. He entered the junkyard, moving slowly now as he listened. Suddenly, there was a clanging noise, like falling metal about three hundred feet in front of him. Sigrun looked up at the nearest spire and leapt to the first handhold he saw. He climbed swiftly and finally reached the top. In the raging thunderstorm that hung overhead, he scanned the yard. A flash of light from a quickly passing figure caught his attention.

There you are. he said silently to himself. He moved down the spire once more, and gave chase, keeping silent in his movements. Lanta withdrew from its sheath and was held low.

If there ever was a teeth-clenching sound that could irritate anyone, the sound of creaking metal, scraping against each other suddenly announced its movements against the cacaophany of the storm. What began as a small screech, suddenly became a thunderous roar as a ton of metal fell sideways, directly at Sigrun. He moved swiftly out of harm's way, taking refuge behind a magnetic crane.

A voice rose from from the junkyard. "Leave or die!"

Sigrun turned his head in the direction of the voice. He turned his head slightly again as he heard voices from afar, scarcely carried upon the winds. The owner of the junkyard had heard the commotion and had called to his three sons to assist him.

"Boys! We gots us some huntin'! Get yer guns boys!"

Sigrun licked his lips slightly as he returned to the hunt he was pursuing. He didn't see the creature early enough, as he was suddenly lifted up and slammed into a nearby crushed car. Lanta fell from his hand, out of reach. Opening his eyes, he finally beheld the creature, a man-like metallic creature, with crimson red slits for eyes and no mouth.

"Why are you following me?" the EXO unit growled, tightening his grip against Sigrun's throat. Sigrun struggled to no avail, his legs just over a foot off the ground. He struggled to pry the fingers off his throat. It only caused the EXO unit to growl again.

"I...I..." Sigrun struggled to speak. The EXO loosened the pressure on his throat.

"Speak." it commanded.

"I know who you are." Sigrun finally said, his eyes staring into the EXO mask. "You are Hans Balran."

The EXO did not move, nor reply for several moments. Then the imprisoning hand clenched the elf's throat harder. "No. You are wrong."

Sigrun struggled to breathe once again. He managed to gasp out his next few words, "You served...on Argonia...missing...dead...never returned..."

The EXO unit did not move or reply once again for several more moments, long enough to convince Sigrun he was right. "Hans died long ago." the EXO finally stated. He released Sigrun, watching as the elf collapsed to the ground and rubbing his throat where the marks still were. The EXO turned his back to the elf. Sigrun stood at last and faced the him.

"No...Hans did not die." he said softly. "He has returned, has he not?"

The EXO did not reply.

"Hans..." Sigrun began, this time directly addressing the EXO by name, "Listen to me. I am Sigrun Greenwood, the ruler of Tarlachia. You do not have to run anymore. I will help you."

"You cannot help me."

"There is nothing I cannot do within this nation."

"What I suffer now is nothing you can control."

"Tell me what it is you suffer from. I will help you, one way or another."

The EXO unit turned and faced Sigrun. "They took her."

"Who?"

"Kay. My heart."

The Junkyard's owner and his sons never made it to their weapons. Figures just faintly darker than the shadows that seemed to spawn them took them from behind, knocking them unconscious. The four Tarlachians would wake up hours later, lightly bound and suffering from throbbing headaches.

Nearly a half mile distant an office tower prierced the nights darkness. A pair of figures peered throught high tech visioning systems, following their quarry. One moved to kneel beside a hyper rifle, heavily modified for sniper operations

Michiko took the heavy rifle in her hands and went to prone position, tucking the rifles buttstock into her shoulder. The scopes computer generated cross hairs settled on first Hans, who was currently strangleing some one she could not identify. Then he tossed the figure aside, and Michiko could see quite clearly that it was Greenwood, Her quarry. Then she ws letting a breath out slow, time seeming to suspend itself, her finger moving to...

"Michiko! You'd better hear this" The earbug squawked harshly, and her finger jerked back from completeling the trigger draw

"They took her."

"Who?"

"Kay. My Heart"

Michiko swore silently for several seconds, then passed along a series of orders

In the junkyard the figures that had ambushed the owner and his sons moved into position, and their leader stepped into Han's sensor range

"Hans Balran, this is lieutenant Sato, Tanaran First Mountain, detatched to Nova Tarranis, under direct command of Miss Jones, who will be here shortly. She strongly suggests that you do not trust Greenwood"

Hans growled lowly as more intruders appeared. He shifted his stance slightly, unwittingly moving in the way of the sniper shot aimed at the elf.

"And why should I trust you, mere strangers who hold just as much trustworthiness as he?" he responded flatly.

Sigrun stepped past Hans and spoke to Sato, "You have no jurisdiction here in Tarlachia. Here, all of you are under Tarlachian law, and under my command so long as you remain on Tarlachian soil." He gave a stern look, as if daring the lieutenant to test these political waters. He did not give her time to respond.

"Bring forth Michiko, and let us settle this quickly. I am here to assist Hans, and obviously you are too. We must hurry, for I fear that the one Hans seeks is in mortal danger."

Sigrun knew one thing for sure. Someone was in danger, someone by the name of Kay. Someone dear to the ex-Tarlachian soldier standing several feet behind him. In turn, it became his business too to protect the wellbeing of the soldier. This meant securing the safety of Kay as well. He would deal with the political ramnifications of this mess later on, but for now it was not worth the price of one's life.

Especially if that one was an innocent.

Michiko alit from a short grav belt hop, the quickest way there despite the danger of being seen, though that was minimal given the chamelonic properties of the PALADIN armor. The only sign of her arrival was a quiet crunch if gravel beneath her feet as she landed. Then she cued the armor to to visability, a dark form an arms length from lieutenant Sato. She peeled the armor back from her face and head, letting her ravens wing hair tumble free.

"Hans, what's happened to Kaylinde? Kidriss had a seeeing, but no real information. And don't trust Sigrun Greenwood, he's not as in control of his country as he thinks he is."

Sigrun scowled visibly, clearly letting the Tanarans know his displeasure with their audacity to attempt to discredit him. Instead of addressing that, he instead focused on the real matter at hand.

"Hans, Michiko and company...let's think about this one carefully now. On one hand, we can stand here in the middle of a junkyard and bicker over who's got the drunkard goggles on and who doesn't. On the other hand, there's a proverbial knife being held at the throat of Kaylinde."

He looked between them. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to do everything in my power to help save Kaylinde. If you're with me, great. If not, shut the frell up and get out of my way!"

Hans looked at Sigrun from behind his mask, then looked over at the Tanarans. "I'm with you." he replied to the elf.

"I'm not bickering, I have no intention of bickering. Kaye comes first. Since magic was involved apparently, and you are the expert in it, you lead for now."

Michiko spoke coldly. 'If it's still necessary to kill you later, I will' was the thought she did not speak aloud.

Sigrun gave a long hard look at Michiko then finally nodded. "Let's go. Hans, I believe you were the one closest to finding her. Any idea where they went?"

"No. They're no longer in the city though. Of that, I am sure." Hans replied.

Sigrun looked to the Tanarans, "You know something we don't?"

Michiko shook her head "What was 'seen' was Kaylinde being pulled through some sort of glowing circle by robed and hooded figures. And her tracker's not readable, so she's either out of range, rather deep underground, ot it's been blocked in some way."

She chewed on her lower lip for a second "Look, I don't know anything at all about magic, but if we went back to where she was abducted, couldn't you trace her from there, follow the magic trail or something?"

Sigrun thought heavily for a moment, figuring the probabilities of such an action. Finally, he nodded slowly, "Yes...I might be able to pull it off."

He turned to Hans and spoke, "You were there, weren't you?" Hans merely nodded. Sigrun continued, "Excellent, I will need you to remove your mask armor so I may use your memory of the exact location you two were in. I can open a portal here to get us there quickly then, and then the true challenge shall begin."

Hans nodded again, before his armor slid back, revealing his weathered face to them all. Sigrun touched a forefinger to Han's temple and held his other hand out. Within moments, the portal was opened.

"Let's go."

Several moments later, all of them were in the hotel room, the remnants of destruction clearly seen everywhere. Sigrun looked about, moving deliberately as he picked up some pieces of the damage, inspecting them arcanically. Those that looked promising were tossed to one of others. These were suspected arcane markers, an arcane signature if you will. Every signature had an origin. Pens gave ink to written signatures. Mages and other magic users gave possibility to the surrounding environment. At last, Sigrun instructed them to place the pieces on the floor in a directed pattern. Satisfied, he cast a blast of orange tendrils down at the center. Instantly, each item began to glow and vibrate. Bolts of arcanic energy began to emit outward and inward until at last they formed a new portal. Sigrun looked up to the others.

"They can run, but they can't hide. I was able to track it to the magic user himself. In just a moment, I will open the other end of this portal. Be prepared for anything."

He didn't need to warn them that last bit, but he said it anyway. He stood and stepped into the portal, disappearing downward in blink. The portal opened suddenly in its destination, hardly a foot from the one they had tracked. Sigrun instantly attacked him, driving his blade into the man's shoulder and pinning him to the wall with several quick arcanic bindings. The others appeared behind him, locking eyes with the man. At last, Hans stepped through and faced the one who dared to kidnap his love.

There was no mistaking the rage he held barely at bay...

Michiko shivered at the elf's mastery and casual use of magic. While she'd with equal casualness trust her life to technology she understaood almost as little, magic just didn't seem, to her, as trustworthy, but boldly she stepped through the portal after him. Her team followed her lead unquestioningly.

The hotel room was a shambles, and yet apparenly it held secrets that the Tarlachian could discern and unravel. She and her team did what he requested of them, though they were as lost as she - she could see it in their faces, but not a one questioned or demurred. Then he formed another of those unnerving gates and in an eye blink was through. She refused to be anything other than hard on his heels

She waved a hand and her team spread out covering the room, protecting her, and Hans and Sigrun, so they could do what they needed to do without interference.

Sigrun looked into the man's eyes, that infamous cold rage that often lay hidden inside, now coming to the surface.

"You did bad. Where is she?"

Hans stood next to Sigrun, his mask still removed. He too glared.

The Wizard refused to meet Greenwood's eyes, or speak. He knew if he could hold out long enough that aid would come. The magical intrusion into the sanctuary would alert his conspirators, and again their combined might not even the vaunted Sigrun would stand. Especially since he could tell that none of the others ahd any magic about them.

Silently he chanted a quick working that sealed off the damage done by the elf's blade. He began another that would slow the reactions of the intruders. He did not expect it to work muchly against Sigrun, but the others would be subtlly bound by it. Now sooner than he finished it that his expected reinforcement arrived

Sigrun growled slightly as he felt the arcanic energies moving subtly about him, on a purposed path. He realized what the man was doing and in turn set up counterspells about his own body. The others unfortunately would suffer a little. He couldn't protect them all and keep his attention fixed upon this man.

Just as the reinforcements arrived, Sigrun delivered a resounding punch to the man's face, the force knocking the head back, rendering the man unconscious. Sigrun turned to the others, snapping his fingers and watching as several coils of faintly visible arcane energy snapped out of existence. He opened a portal and tossed the prisoner through, with bindings around him that paralyzed the arcane and physical abilites of the man. When the man would wake up, he would find himself trapped within a prison of roots deep within the Tarlachian forest of the Aria Woodlands. There, the natural defenses of the forest would be more than sufficient to keep the man prisoner until he wished to release him. The portal closed seconds later.

Sigrun turned to the reinforcements, Lanta in one hand, and his other hand charging quickly with a crackling purple energy. The room illuminated under the lighting issued.

"Fora minrithi da tolevanac ile brachat!" cried one of the men, summoning a collective attack that was launched against Sigrun. Sigrun, having been well experienced with outnumbered arcanists countered the attack not by shield but by absorbing the attack with a deep inward breath. The energy within him crackled, his hair standing on end. With a roar, he shot forth what seemed to be a thousand lighting bolts toward the dark clad men. The very air burned with the stench of burned flesh and was filled with the tortured screams of the men.

Sigrun collapsed to his knees, the attack formed into the counterattack having drained his own pool of energy vastly as well. It was a most taxing attack, but it had been completely effective the few times he dared to use its deadly power. His hands trembled upon the ground, before he slowly slid down to his stomach and lay there, exhausted.

Hans finally stood from his crouched position, instinctively taken in defense from Sigrun's attack. He rolled Sigrun over, checking his pulse. He looked up to Michiko and nodded. The elf was still alive, but greatly exhausted.

Hans stood and looked down at Sigrun, a greater appreciation and respect growing within him for the elven leader. Although Hans understood nothing about magic, he clearly understood the stakes that had been in play several moments before. The leader, a stranger to him, was willing to risk his life to protect the others in the room.

"Stay with him. I'm going to find Kay." he commanded, and departed before he gave them the chance to say otherwise. He followed open doorways, and kept to the shadows. Several times, some of the enemy troops went running past, but not toward Sigrun and the others' position. He continued to search for Kaylinde, but he had no idea where she might be in this mysterious place...

"Guard him" Michiko's soft voice command hung in the air as she moved quickly to follow Hans. He had managed to get a fair distance before she could catch up with him

"Hans" Her voice was just the barest whisper "The tracker is working again."

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

'Here sir, let me help you sit up" Lieutenant Sato went to her knees next to Sigrun and gently rolled the exhausted Tarlachian over. Carefully with help from another troop she propped him against a wall and offered him a small drink bulb.

"It's a nano laden restorative sir. I'm sorry that we don't have anything specifically formulated for ..I guess Mages is the proper term...and thank you sir...that energy blast looked very powerful."

Sigrun looked wearily down at the nano device and then back up to the lieutenant with a raised eyebrow. She nodded and held it closer. At last he accepted it and swallowed the substance. He immediately felt the nanos going to work, restoring his spent physical energy and allowing his head to clear up again. After several minutes, Sigrun spoke quietly.

"We've got to get some of that around here..."

He offered a slight smile, then looked about, finally realizing two of their party were missing.

"Hans went in search for Kaylinde. Michiko followed him." Sato stated quickly.

Elsewhere in the complex, Hans halted to allow Michiko to catch up. He gave her a slight scowl. She would just be additional baggage that he would need to keep an eye on. It was these kind of baggages that he despised while on his hunts. However, he couldn't disagree that he appreciated her comment about the tracker working again. He turned his head to scan the large complex again.

The layout was unfamiliar to them, and the lighting was poor. He mentally commanded his head armor to slide back over his head, and he activated the night vision and heat sensors simultaneously. The area was clear of organic beings, and returned a cool appearance of varying colors of blue. There was only one heat signature, but it was from a heat duct. A closer inspection showed that the duct had cobwebs covering it, and thick billets fastening it to the wall.

Hans turned to Michiko and spoke quietly, "Well, let's see how good your tracker is. Hopefully it's as good as the one the Devilish used to find me on Argonia."

Michiko answered Han's scowl with one of her own. She hadn't been very impressed with him from the first. Kay had gone through all she had because of him, and he hadn't returned to her as she averrd he'd promised to. She'd nearly not let Kaylinde leave the Empire, giving up everything to hunt for one man who apparently didn't care enough to look for her...and now let her get kidnapped, for the second time. She didn't see what Kay saw in him, and she hoped he was worth it, though she doubted it. Not with the price Kay had paid.

"I don't know about Devilish trackers, but I know how good this one is. And while I haven't the faintest idea of why you are all of a sudden so interested in finding her I do know that I intend to find her. So follow or get out of the way."

She had no intention of leting him lead. Like a wraith she slid past him, following the directions of the tracker's telltale.

She melted into shadows as a group of five in heavy ornately embroidered robes went past cross corrider, engrossed in some conversation of their own. Then she was following.

The sounds of torture were sounds that immediately caused a fire to rage in Han's mind and heart. The cries were that of one whom both of them knew very well. Hans wanted to charge in right there, and tear apart all responsible for the suffering that he knew Kaylinde was under. Yet, a steady hand from Michiko warned him that he might be outnumbered. "Wait." she has whispered silently, "Recon first."

He knew she was right, and so, he held back, but did not relax. He waited.

They'd shadowed the robed group moving deeper and deeper in to the complex. Then the group disappeard into a room that widened out from the corridor. There was no door, and Michiko dipped a hand into one of the many pouches about her waist. She brought out a tiny recon probe- camoflagued into near invisivility and sent it scurrying into the room ahead. Plugging in a flexi screen, she extended the wires so that she could hold the screen where they could both see it.

Hans looked over Michiko's shoulder at the small LED screen that displayed what the probe was observing silently. At first, the lighting in the room was too bright, and after a few adjustments by Michiko, the screen suddenly came into clarity what they were seeing discreetly.

On the left wall, there was a metal grating from floor to ceiling. Upon the wall were a series of odd mechanisms and chains. In the center, and with her limbs splayed out by the manacles attached to some of the chains, Kaylinde hung limply. Her hair was bloodied, her torso ravaged with a number of gashes and bruises. A burly man stepped forward and delivered a sickening punch to Kay's stomach, causing her to spew blood and spittle from her mouth as she cried out in pain. A slap across the face silenced her.

"Where is it?" the man demanded. Hans and Michiko didn't need the probe to hear the spoken words. Kaylinde opened a swollen eye and remained silent. She was in great pain, and had blood flowing slowly from many places. There was a considerable amount on the floor below her body. Her clothes were torn apart, not giving her any sense of decency.

The man raised a hand and flicked it once. Instantly, four other men stepped forth, each brandishing crude weapons of torture. Kay's open eye glanced slowly to them with dread.

Hans was ready to charge in again, yet Michiko managed to hold him back, though with some effort. She directed the probe to search the shadows of the room, adjusting the view once again. Five more men stood there, arms crossed aross their chests. Each had a sadistic look upon their face. It almost seemed like they were enjoying this.

"Crank it."

One of the men in the shadows reached up and pulled an electrical breaker down. Instantly, Kaylinde's ear splitting cry of pain was heard as electricity surged through her body harshly. Her wrists were growing black with the burns.

Hans couldn't take it any more. He violently shoved past Michiko and exploded into the room, moving directly toward the man by the breaker. The blur of movement caught the man's eye as Hans came in. A tremendous roar of avenging anger filled the room as Hans literally ripped the man's head clean of his shoulders. The body collapsed to the ground, blood spraying everywhere. The room's crackling lighting returned to steady glowing as the breaker was shut down.

The next man felt himself suddenly lifted and thrown onto a meat hook that had been hanging from the ceiling nearby. The hook buried into the man's neck, and sickeningly was seen through the man's mouth. The man gurgled and struggled to free himself but he was clearly above the floor.

The next three men found themselves clutching their chests as gaping wounds revealed their ribs viciously torn outward, their innards spilling free.

By now, the remaining five men had realized what was going on and brought their weaponry to strike out toward the enraged beast that had already dispatched their comrades with vicious ease.

Screams filled the room again as the weapons glanced off the armor of the EXO. One man suddenly was struggling to free the weapon in one hand off his own flesh. As he struggled, another man was thrown with a sickening crunch against the concrete wall. It was soon followed by another man smacking heavily into the wall and slumping to the ground next to him, his head split open by the impact.

The sound of a flail colliding against the alien metal armor filled the air. It was no match however for the armor made of metals not of the Earth. Hans reached forward, yanked the man closer, lifted him horizontially and suddenly brought him down, snapping the man's spine upon an armored knee. The man's eyes bulged in shock as his body collapsed completely paralyzed.

A sudden crack of sharp noise was heard and the last man fell face forward behind Hans. In his hand, he held a club with spikes on it. The back of the held had a sizeable wound remniscent of a bullet. Hans looked up to Michiko and noted the smoking gun in her hand. She gave a brief nod and turned her attention to Kaylinde. Within seconds, Hans was next to her, snapping the chains free, allowing Kaylinde's body to slump into their arms. She let out a soft whimper as she floated in and out of consciousness.

Michiko had paid little attention to Hans's bloody work. Kalinde held her attention as she moved through the fray, dodgin a body hear, laping over a widening puddle of blood there. How ever the raised spiked mace caught her attention and her gun was out of its holster and fired before she consciously thought about it. Hans was helping her get Kay down in the next heartbeat. Michiko and Hans got her to a clean spot, something rather had to find at the moment and she began opening pouches on her tactical harness.

"Part of me really wants to kill you Hans Balran. Kill you and say you died rescueing her. She's had too much pain because of you. I don't know how in the universe she can love you. Me, I'd hate the man who ran off and left me."

Michiko didn't have a full medi kit on her, but had most of one, and while she fumed savagely her hands gently set about doing what she could for Kaylinde. The first thing was a pass with the medical scanner for internal injuries

"Michi, let it be" Kaylinde faltered :Just tell me if I'm still..." She passed out again

Michiko looked at Hans, her face cold "Still what?"

Hans looked intently up at Michiko and spoke flatly. "It's not you I care about." He kept the gaze on the other woman, knowing his words had bitten considerably. He nevertheless turned his attention back to Kaylinde as she struggled to speak. Once again, Michiko's eyes were intently watching Hans as she probed to the meaning in Kaylinde's intended message.

Hans took Kay's hand into his own, holding it gently. He brought it up to his lips, kissing her gently, before lowering the hand with equal gentleness. It was strange to see that he who had been viciously brutal earlier, now was gentle. At last, he looked back to Michiko and spoke quietly.

"She's with child."

Michiko closed her eyes, then ran the small scanner over Kaylindes abdomen, with slow careful movements. Three passes and she looked the read out over then passed the instrument over Kaylinde again after making some minor adjustments

"Okay, she still is, but I'm not happy about the amount of blood she's lost and some other readings. I need to get aboard ship. They'll have better facilities than here"

Michiko was not impressed with Tarlachia. Contacting her team she ordered that they make contact with the stealthed warship in Earth's orbit. She wanted a assault shuttle down soonest, and she didn't care if the Tarlachians got upset. She wanted her people out of this backwater.

Her commo troop replied affirmatively but advised that they were deep enough underground that contact might not be possible. Michiko cursed softly

"Ask Mr. Greenwood if he knows where we are and a fast way to the surface."

Hans looked to Michiko yet again and spoke, "Look...I know I may not strike you as the best guy out there, but I do care about Kaylinde." As they worked to help Kaylinde settle down and ease as much pain for her as possible, he fell silent.

If Michiko looked up, she would see something unexpected. Hans had hot tears running down his rugged face.

A few minutes later, Sigrun appeared at the door. He was still weak, but the nanos had helped his recovery decently enough. He looked down to Kaylinde, after having been distracted by the bloody room, and the body hanging from the meat hook and the faintly groaning men that were slowly feeling their lives slip out of their grasp.

He moved to kneel next to the three of them and checked Kaylinde for her vitals, despite Michiko's statements to the same. He looked up to her, and could sense her dislike for him, and perhaps Tarlachia in general. He couldn't blame her. He opened a portal next to them, which opened with a bit of difficulty, but secured safely moments afterwards.

They all worked carefully to lift Kaylinde onto a plank of wood hacked out of the door with care and carry her through the portal. They emerged on the surface, the wind bringing them fresh breezes. Kaylinde stirred at this, but soon settled back down again. Before them, the only spaceport of Tarlachia sat, with Shadowdancer berthed in its space.

Michiko sighed as she looked at Hans. She'd meant every work. If the man she loved had let happen to Kay happen to her she'd kill him. She wasn't very forgiving she guessed.

The portal revealed the Shadow Dancer and at Michiko's nod contact was made and Perigrine and Sha'Do racing out to meat thm in seconds as her team carried the impromptu stretcher aboard.

Soon Kaylinde was in a regen tube, suspended in azure blue liquid and Michiko had Sigrun on an exam table makeing sure he was healing properly

"So convince me I shouldn't be allow my military to have the war they so very much want?"

Hans took a seat in a nearby chair, and bravely poked a few buttons on the side of the armrest. He instantly felt the chair's massage functions beginning to work. He smiled slightly as it had surprised him to find this in this appearance-decieving, comfortable chair.

Sigrun looked over to Michiko, "Look. I can understand your military's desire to wipe us clean off the face of this planet, but honestly, are you telling me that is all we have to look forward to for the advancement of society as a whole? If then, I should just keep Tarlachia in the stone age and do away with the spiffy guns and mechs. They'll just only cause unnecessary death. If society as a whole doesn't evolve to learn how to become more diplomatic, more intelligent about our interactions with others, then I say we stay here and duke it out. At least we'll have entertainment for a bit longer."

Hans looked at Sigrun with a surprised look. It made sense to him, and was rather blunt. He looked to Michiko, anticipating her response.

"Very blunt spoken. But your society hasn't advanced very far. This is the second of my people who've been subjected to torture."

Her voice was cold and flat "And I realy, really don't like that. Especially when one of them was here simply to find the man she loves. The man who abandoned her." However she let that drop with but another hard look at Hans

"For some one who claims to be the absolute ruler, you have poor intellegence and seemingly less control. And if blowing you off the face of the planet keeps my people safe, then do not think that I will hesitate. I didn't inherit my job, I didn't grow up waiting for it. I got it because my people were fool enough to elect me, someone with not one bit of training other than running a decent sized company."

"All I can do is my best, and if that means leveling your country. I don't want to, it feels too much like being a bully, and that is one thing I will not tollerate."

"Nuts. I'm taking my people and leaving. And that includes my heir, Kaylinde." She didn't wait for the shock to set in "Hans, at this time you are not welcome in the Empire. Kaylinde needs to recover someplace safe, and I don't think thats with you."

Her eyes were very cold and her voice challengeing "If you are the man she believs you to be, I'd give it a month then show up on Tanara...after you take care of whomever these people are. She shouldn't be in danger because of you."

Sigrun took a deep breath, reminding himself he was supposed to be civil, diplomatic about the situation. "So, by eliminating an entire nation, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of them are in fact innocent, you feel you will be doing the rest of the sentient civilizations of the world and beyond a great service? Are you really that narrow-minded to realize that you yourselves might have been in our shoes once upon a time?"

Hans stood up and approached Michiko. She turned her head to watch him, wondering what he was doing. He opened his hand to reveal a small object in the palm.

"Actually...I have reason to believe that Kaylinde was not tortured by Tarlachians."

He offered the ID to Michiko, found on the floor of the torture room earlier. It was obvious it had belonged to one of the men that he had slaughtered. The picture confirmed it.

Sigrun raised an eyebrow as he realized the implications of this. Who had sent these men then after Kaylinde? "If those were not Tarlachians, then who else would have an interest in Kaylinde?"

Hans looked intently at Michiko, "Yes, I'm quite curious to know myself."

"In the seven hundred years since Tanara's founding we have had one instance resembling war and that we inflicted upon ourselves. I don't want this war and I'm not going to let it happen..."

"Like I said *I don't want to, it feels too much like being a bully, and that is one thing I will not tollerate.* so, no war. My admirals may not thank me, and a chunk of my populace may be hopping mad, but I can live with that."

"Actually...I have reason to believe that Kaylinde was not tortured by Tarlachians."

Michiko took the ID. "I've been carrying a fake Tarlachain ID for a few days, this isn't similar and it isn't Tanaran."

"May I?" Perigrine had been out in the corridor not wanting to crowd the med bay further. She took a look at the ID and held it up for ShadowDancer to scan. The answer cam back quickly

"UNSSC...the marines you and Kaylinde served with." The tall Neitzschean looked at Hans. "It looks like they're still after your armor, Hans

Hans' eyes widened as he recognized the organization. The same one that had employed both Hans and Kaylinde in the war upon the planet of Argonia.

The United Nationstates Space Corps, an organization that strived to preserve Argonia and protect the inhabitants from the Devilish. Yet, they had almost destroyed all of Argonia in their battles against the Devilish. Hans seriously couldn't see anything better about the UNSSC compared to the Devilish.

It appeared that Hans would have to go back and face his demons from his past. He fell silent as he fumed inside in his rising anger. His eyes easily transmitted his rage, and his fists grew noticeably tighter. They had broken the last straw, the very straw, the only straw he cared about. He hadn't cared about the rest of the planet, and hardly gave a second thought to the fellow UNSSC troopers that had once been his comrades in that war. But Kaylinde was special to him.

He looked to Michiko and spoke quietly, yet his profound anger was upon his words like a deadly snake waiting to bring down the elephants.

"I need transportation to the UNSSC headquarters. I've got some unfinished business to take care of."

Sigrun rose to place a hand on Hans' shoulder. He was startled by Hans' sudden turn and the threatening glare that followed. He raised his hands in self defense, knowing well to not push Hans. It was something he was no stranger to himself, for he had taken that same attitude to his enemies several times.

It was the attitude of avenging love. After all, was it not said that all was fair in love and war?

Hans turned to Michiko and asked her again, "Will you help me?"

"Yes. And firstly with the best intellegence that can be gathered. I don't care for the United Nationstates, there are no cordial relations between them and the Empire. However this is a covert action on their part, and just charging into head quarters isn't going to do the job."

She nodded to herself, as she weighed options

"Perigrine and ShadowDancer will work with you. They're the ones that found Hell, and Kaylinde." She face went cold again as she remembered how Kaylinde had been when they'd brought her out of that hidden prison planet

*Two weeks later, Tanaran Empire, Palace at Nova Terranis*

"Hans, here's some more data we're gotten on the current status of the UNSC. I can't believe they are still on the defensive with the Devilish. They should have wiped them at least ten months ago." Sha'Do brought the Tarlachian a new batch of data chips

"I think they've got collaberators in high places" The avatar remarked. "And no you can't see Kay yet.

Hans gave Shado an appreciative look as he accepted the data chips and inserted them into the wrist computer system that the Tanarans had given to him. He entered in a code, and watched as a hologram showed a recent space battle. He watched as a particularly large Devilish ship exploded from some explosive attack.

"Friends in high places indeed. That was something the UNSSC doesn't have in their arsenal, to provide something of that explosive magnitude."

He inserted a few other chips, but these gave a run of numbers and symbols. Intelligence on both sides of that conflict still being waged.

He looked up to Shado, his thoughts now on Kaylinde. "When can I see her? I would like to see her before we start the attack."

He looked into the avatar's eyes, "Please." he implored with a meaningful look.

Sha'Do sighed and pulled out an aporter bracelet.

"I really shouldn't but you'll find her in Michiko's private garden. This is keyed for pavillion near the lake."

She gave him a hard look "If she tells you to go, I'd suggest you do so"