NationStates Jolt Archive

Slapping fresh clips into their guns, they examined the dead creature, after insuring that it was in fact dead, they entered the room.

Inside two shapes hung from what looked to be meat hooks. The one furthest from the door looked blue and very familiar. The other was a blond boy of about fifteen.

"John, Li'bus get them down stat! Med team to this position immediately! Civilians injured, severe!" Before the victims were even off the hooks a med team had arrived. Taking one look at them the head medic shook his head. "The nano patches will keep them alive, but we need to get them back to a sick bay immediately."
Gabriel barked out orders. "You heard the man, form up, move out to the nearest shuttle, this is an evac mission! Have the boarding parties begin falling back."

With a squad of twelve marines in full space armor as an escort the team rushed to the nearest shuttle.

The two victims were still and very lifeless. It did appear to some that they were already dead. As the teams evacuated them back to the shuttle nothing else appeared to stir on the ship. It appeared that that had been the only thing on board, other then the two teenagers.

Gabriel watched the two bodies floating in the med tanks, the nanites working to repair the damage done to their bodies.
"What's the diagnoses Doctor?" He asked.
"Physically, they should both make a full recovery, though the Prince's body seems to be fighting the nanites somehow. But it will be a few days before I'd let them out of the tanks. Another few minutes and they wouldn't be with us."
"Thank you Doctor, I'm sure the Prince's mother will be glad to hear the news."

Marea came up behind the President. "Sir, all parties have returned, as ordered the shuttles have all been scanned and manually inspected."
"Good, let's finish this."

As one the ships in the fleet opened fire on the royal ship, bolts of coherent energy tore it apart, only to be eclipsed in turn by antimatter fury as missle after missile entered the frey. When the firing stopped thirty seconds later, not even dust was left.

A ship soon appeared near the Starwolf, it was soon evident that it was from Draconis Nightcrawlis.

"This is General Flack from HDHS Einsiferum please respond."

"This is Captain Alicia DeVries of the USGSS Starwolf. We've recovered a pair of survivors and they are currently in our medical bay in critical condition. If you'd like, we can arrange for you to dock with us and you can send someone over yourself."

Meanwhile in sickbay.
"Sir, there's something in the Medical computers, it's running through all our files." A medical technician yelled.
"Can you shut it down?" Gabriel asked.
"Not without killing the patients." The tech answered.
A third voice broke in. "Sorry about the scare, I didn't mean anything by it. I was just checking to see if Kurt's ok."
"There's a rouge AI in the system?!" The tech exclaimed in disbelief.
The President's response was rather more restrained. "You'd be Arthur then, Gabriel asked me to keep an eye on the Prince, unfortunately, it would appear that we both screwed up on this one."
"Yes," The voice answered, sounding abashed. "I was actually working my way into Earth's computer systems to secure them when it all happened. I had to slip myself into the computers of one of your ships and then jump from one to the other until I got here."
"Any idea what happened?"
"Not a clue."

"We would like to dock right away."

"Pull up alongside and we'll extend our docking port out to you. Please keep your weapons offline and shields down though, we've got a lot of itchy trigger fingers here right now."

"Right away, General Flack out."

The Ensiferum then slowly made its way into a docking possiting. Its weapons offline and its shields down, the crew didn't dare want to strain relations with Grimdale any more then it was now.

The adjustible docking port extended out from the Starwolf and connected with it's mate on the Ensiferum. Waiting for the arrivals on the Starwolf was a full sideparty, back up by a squad of suited up marines.

Only General Flack appeared, he held his hands up to show he was unarmed.

The General was brought aboard with full honors. The Bosun's pipes shrilled and the sideparty snapped to attention as the squad of Marines relaxed slightly.
Captain DeVires walked over and offered her hand to the General. "Welcome aboard the Starwolf General. Sorry if we're acting a little paranoid, but we have both our President on board as well as the Prince and his friend, whoever it is.

"Understood," the general replied. "His friend would be Quatre Winner, what happened to the royal ship?"

"There was an infestation onboard, once we retrieved the pair, we evacuated the ship and followed standard protocal by completely destroying it. My apologies, but after what happened to Space Station Minerva, I suspect that would have been the result even if it wasn't protocal."

"Oh right," he nodded. "More importaint matters, Kurt and his friend."

Captain DeVries gestured for the General to follow her as he turned and headed deeper into the ship. "They're both in critical condition, it's doubtful that they'll be out of the nano tubes for a few days. You're lucky in several ways though. The President himself lead the boarding action and rescued the Prince. If he and his team had been even a minute or so later they'd both be dead. Whatever the hell it was that kidnapped them was nothing to mess with from what little I've heard. There's also the fact that we use nanites in medicine. Nothing else would have stablized them in time. As it is, in a few days they should be little the worse for wear physically, though I don't know about emotionally. Supposedly they were hung up on hooks like sides of beef." The Captain grimmaced a little at the last part.
"Do you have any idea what that creature was General? Because whatever it was transported past two divisions with all their sensors, two energy shields set for random frequency shift and then managed to hijack a starship, while carrying two struggling captives. Speaking of which, the Prince's sword is secure back on Earth. To say that we're rather irritated and concerned would be an understatement given the circumstances as I'm sure you understand."

OOC: Fix

"Shit," General Flack swore. "That sounds like one of Azazels lackies. If that's the case then we're going to get alot more then we bargined for, you didn't happen to get at least part of the corpse did you?"

DeVries shook her head. "Sorry, from the report there wasn't much left of it. It attacked the President's party and got hit with three automatic rifles and an automatic shotgun. There wasn't much left of the body. And then they found the Prince and his friend and they kind of forgot about the body in the rush to get them back here."

General Flack shook his head. "Well from the description he does sound like B'rrah," he said. "Would have been a plus to have had a sample to confirm it, but... wait did any of your men get covered with black blood?"

"The entire group did, the suits were scheduled for cleaning, but it might not have been done yet."

"If they have not been cleaned yet, would it be possible to have samples of the blood sent to our labs in Exetergrecia?" the general asked.

"Of course, I'll have it attended to immediately." Captain DeVries said something into her wrist-comp and nodded once before looking back up. "We'll have the samples ready for you by the time you leave. Ahh, we're at the sickbay."

"Thank you," he said.

As they entered the sickbay President Jewell walked over from where he'd been seated near the nano-tubes and offered his hand to the General. "Welcome aboard General, I assume you'll be wanting to check on the patients before anything else?"
He nodded at DeVries. "Thank you Captain for seeing the General here."
"You're welcome sir, now if you two will please excuse me, I have to see after my ship." She responded before turning and leaving.

General Flack shook the Presidents hand. "We thank you for the quick rescue of the prince and his friend," he told him. "Yes I would like to check on them."

The President led the General over to the pair of horizontal tubes in which the two unconscious patients rested.
"They'll live, though it was a close thing. But it's going to be a few days at least before they can be allowed to wake up and regain consciousness. The nanites do good repair work, but with injuries this extensive it's quite painful. As I know from experiance."

The general looked down at the unconsious form that was the prince. It was painful for him to see their crown prince in such a vulnerable state.

"I have always believed that our King was not assasinated and that he is still alive," he began. "This I believe strengthens that idea, if somehow Azazel has escaped from his hell dimension then he would go after the King and his children."

"If he wishes to make another attempt on the Prince, he'll have to go through me personally sir. My family has always kept it's word and paid back it's debt, and I intend to do just that. The person I was named after was owed a great debt by my family, and he called on that debt, and I will see it paid in full if it is within my power to do so."

General Flack nodded, "We have stepped up security for the royal family," he replied. "The King has done alot for this kingdom and we have our freedom to thank him for."

He was still looking down at the prince. If only they had known who was behind this before then they could have prevented this. Azazel was not going to be allowed to win this.

"So what exactly is behind all of this?" The President asked.

"We believe it to be Azazel attempting his escape," General Flack explained. "He was on many occasions close to breaking out from his hell dimension but people in different dimensions have always managed to stop him. Actually I would not be surprised if Gabriel had come up against him at one point."

"I wouldn't know, my grandfather was the last one of the family to actually know him. As for myself, I was far younger when I last faced a demon. I had hoped their kind had finally been eliminated once and for all. Be that as it may however, if the time comes, I will face him with the courage my kind has always faced the evils of the darkness with."
The President's face showed something that might almost have been an amused smile, but it quickly dissapeared.
"We spend enough time dealing with the darkness to know better than most what else lurks within it's folds."

"Azazel isn't a demon," General Flack told him.

"Then what is he?"

"Can we talk about this somewhere more private?" the general asked. "I would prefere not to be saying this near the Prince."

The President nodded. "Arthur, keep an eye on them while I'm gone please."
"Yes Mr. President."

Gabriel led the General to his quarters and motioned him to a comfortible chair before moving to a cabinet and pulling out a bottle and a pair of glasses. "Can I offer you a drink General?"

"I could with a drink, thank you" he said.

Gabriel filled each of the glasses and offered one to the General before sitting down. "Now please tell me, what is it we face?"

"Kind of a long story really," the general began, "Azazel of course is not from this dimension, but neither are the King and Queen. The same goes for some other imortaint members of Draconian society. They are actually from the same dimension and in this dimension, humans had a sudden leap in their evolution where some people were born with a mutated gene. Although he may not look it and officially he is a blue elf, the King is actually human not elven."

"Go on."

"Azazel is exactly the same, he too has this mutated gene and is human,"

"And dare I ask what he is capable of?"

"Azazel has many powers," General Flack said. "He is capable of teleporting, projecting a paralyzing energy, disguising his physical appearance and exerting influence over the minds of his progeny."

"I have a sneaking suspicion that normal means will not suffice to stop him, am I right?"

"It takes magic and force to stop him, lots of it," the general told him before taking a sip from the glass.

The President got a far off look in his eyes, as if in deep thought, it passed and he downed his glass in one shot, looking troubled. "Then that's exactly what we'll use. I have secrets of my own General, some of them passed down over generations. We'll try convental methods, and should they fail, then more drastic measures will be applied. This Azazel has apperently brought nothing but pain and suffering to those around him. Well that path of destruction is going to stop right here. Mark my words General, one of us isn't going to be walking away when it's over."

General Flack nodded. "There is another thing you need to know about Azazel," he began, taking a sip inbetween. "Azazel is the Kings father."

The President gave a deep sigh. "Wonderful. General, it may not be much, but I'd like to arrange for if I'm unable to be present that one of my own personal bodyguard teams is with the Prince at all other times."
A wan smile crossed the President's face. "I hate having bodyguards, they were forced upon me, but I can't argue that they are at once some of the nicest and most deadly people in the universe."

General Flack nodded. "I think having as many as possible would be best for the prince," he agreed.

"They work in teams of four, and frankly, all I can spare at the moment are two teams. But I sincerly doubt that more would be effective. Remember, he was surround by two divisions as he was still kidnapped. No I think a small number of guards in close proximity will be more effective than numbers in this case."

"You're proberly right," the general admitted. He rubbed his eyes under the strain of recent events. "Azazel has to be stopped, it will take alot to do that."

"How was he stopped the last time?"

"With the help of a mage by the name of Angau, he created a forcefield that sucked Azazel and his lackies back into the hell dimension," he explained. "Unfortunately the spell drained his lifeforce and killed him."

"Then we'll just have to settle for firepower then as a substitute. With any luck, it will end here."

"We can only hope,"

A chime sounded. "Sir, those samples that were request are ready." Came from the announchment system.
"Very good, thank you." The President replied before turning back to the General. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"No that's about as far as we know," the general said. "If we find out anything more we will let you knoe asap."

"Good, the Starwolf will be wandering around the system for the next few days until the patients can be moved. Then I'll have them brought to my house until this finishes one way or the other. That way I can keep an eye on them and keep up appearences at the same time."

Thank you, we are sorry for dragging you into this,"

The President shook his head. "No, to pay off the debt I would have gotten involved sooner or later. And from the way things are going, later would have been far too late. So it was for the best."

"I'm afraid I must leave you now," the general mentioned, "The sooner I get the samples back to the lab the sooner we'll know if this is B'rrah or not."

"I wish you the best of luck sir. I have business of my own to attend to that I have been neglecting."

General Flack gave the President a Draconian salute and left the room. Having retrieved the sample he boarded The Ensiferum and they made preparations to return home.

As the two ships seperated the Starwolf activated it's FTL drive and vanished into the depths of space.

"Jonas, set a course for home," General Flack said, settling down in the captains chair.

(OOC: The home out in the Virgo SuperCluster or where?)

OOC: the Alpha Einherjer System

(OOC: Oh okay, you'll probably run into one of my patrols along the way though, unless you go hyper all the way...)

The President wandered up to the bridge. "Ok Captain, I think it's time to initiate Rabbit Hole, for whatever little good it might do us."
Captain DeVires nodded. "Task force will begin operation Rabbit Hole on my mark, mark."

Fifteen ships suddenly alter course, all racing for a central point, weaving in and out among each other, and all suddenly broadcasting the Starwolf's transponder signal. As was prearranged they all broke apart and scattered in different directions, filling the space around them with decoys and jamming.

The President and the Captain watch the display intensly. When it was completed she turned to the President. "That's the best we can do sir, there's twelve targets out there, all pretending to be us, and with any luck, no one is going to be able to figure which one is the real one until we're ready for them to do so."
"Excellent work Captain."

The general silently watched the screen as The Einherjer flew through space. He just wasn't in the mood to talk with any of the crew.

President Jewell stared out the cabin viewport at the chaos of FTL space, eyes unseeing as he waged an inner battle of his own.

Hidden in the Alpha Einherjer System, close to one of the inner planets was a ship. It was cloaked and invisible, waiting. It waited for a sign of The Ensiferum entering the system.

The USGSS Nova Wolf was coasting through the outer edges of the Alpha Einherjer System, engines and all non-essentail power sources cut, only her passive sensors active. Too late to join in the chase, she and her sister's, the USGSS Explorer and the USGSS Owl's Claw had taken the oppurtunity to conduct training exerscies. All three ships had gone to silent running and were trying to find each other, at which point they would ping the other, signfying a kill.

OOC: Will finish this post when back from class.

OOC: Just a warning, that ship isn't coming into the picture until later. It'll appear as a trade ship.

Near the sun of the Alpha Einherjer System was a brand new Einstein Class Scientific Research and Exploration Cruiser, the Nirvana. Using its instruments, the cruiser was investigating some abnormalities with the sun of the system.

In a shielded room near the docking bay, the scientist in charge of the operation, Adam Toranno, watched out of a viewport as several small shielded drones were dropped out of the docking bay of the cruiser and headed towards the sun. Checking his instruments, Adam watched the vidlink from the drone in the lead. Relieved that the drones were functioning as designed, Adam motioned for another scientist to take over, while he moved to report to the commanding officer of the vessel.

Meanwhile, at the bridge, Commander Issad Roper sighed as he waited impatiently for the assignment to end. When he had joined the 5CN Combined Fleet, he had hoped for a glorious fleet assignment, but getting assigned to a research vessel was annoying...

(OOC: For stats on the Einstein Class check here (http://s6.invisionfree.com/International_Mall/index.php?showtopic=165)

Patrolling the system was The Finntroll, a Pyramid Cruise similar to The Ensiferum. On board Captain Cronin kept watch on the sensors for anything out of the ordinary. Since the attempt on the Princes life it was expected that another ship might travel to this system like the royal ship had been due to do.

"Captain, we have what we beleive to be a ship from Five Civilized Nations in the area," one of the crew said.

"Open a hailing frequency," the captain ordered. "This is Captain Cronin of The Finntroll, please respond."

OOC: Finishing the above post.

IC: The Sensor Officer looked up from his station. "Captain, I'm picking up a gravimetric disturbance almost directly ahead, but it's not showing up on any of our other sensors."
Captain Doyle looked up from where he'd been signing off on an Enginneering report. "Sensor malfunction?"
"No sir, that was the first thing I checked. There's definately something out there, we just can't see it."
"Is there any reason for someone to be lurking around out here?"
The Sensor Officer gave a wan smile. "You mean aside from what we're doing out here? No, nothing good anyway."
Captain Doyle rubbed his chin in thought before turning to give his orders. "Maintain our current distance, have all systems brought to standby, I want Alert Level Two. Maintain silent running. We'll continue to moniter until they leave or I decide otherwise."

Patrolling the system was The Finntroll, a Pyramid Cruise similar to The Ensiferum. On board Captain Cronin kept watch on the sensors for anything out of the ordinary. Since the attempt on the Princes life it was expected that another ship might travel to this system like the royal ship had been due to do.

"Captain, we have what we beleive to be a ship from Five Civilized Nations in the area," one of the crew said.

"Open a hailing frequency," the captain ordered. "This is Captain Cronin of The Finntroll, please respond."

Commander Roper was startled out of his nap by the sudden message sent by a patrolling warship. Rubbing his eyes, Roper keyed his comm and sent out his own message.

This is Commander Issad Roper, commanding officer of the CNSES-32 Nirvana, 5CN Combined Navy, Science Division, with orders to investigate an anomaly with the Alpha Einherjer Sun. We have deployed drones and scientific instruments to analyze this anomaly.

Captain Cronin nodded listening to the message. "We are aware of the anomaly and we thank you for helping research it," he replied. "However I must ask if you have seen any suspicious ships operating in the area."

The cloaked ship still waited silently. It appeared as though no one was onboard as nothing stirred.

The hours passed as tension grew on the Nova Wolf.

"Nothing?" Captian Doyle asked.
"No sir, still nothing. Sir, respectfully, whoever they are, they can't be up to any good out here."
"An excellent point lieutenant. OK, I've had about enough of this, go to battle stations, arm all weapons, raise shields. Hammer that bastard."

Throughout the ship the general alarm shrilled, causing crewmembers to abandon whatever they were doing to rush to their stations. The Nova Wolf came alive, three sets of shields came up, weapons came online, and sensors came alive.
The ship's active sensors lashed the unidentified ship at maximum power, enough energy at this range to boil any paint that might be on the hull off and to burn out finely tuned passive sensors if they were looking the wrong way.

This is the USGSS Nova Wolf, to unknown ship, identify yourself immediately!

There was no reply from the ship.

"Helm move us in closer slowly, continue hailing."

There was still no response, it seemed as though no one was aboard.

"Sir, if there's someone home, they have to be either deaf or dead not to realise we're here. Perhaps we should send a boarding party over."
Doyle shook his head. "No, hail the Explorer and Owl's Claw, we're going to tow this SOB home and open her up there."

At that moment The Ensiferum finally entered the system. The ship decloaked and began to move off. From where they were, they could see the words The Ensiferum on the side. It looked to be an exact replica of the ship.

"Captain the unidentified ship has begun moving! It's, it's an exact replica of the The Ensiferum!"
Possible explinations raced through Captain Doyle's mind, none of them good. "Comms, warn the Ensiferum, Weapons, stop that ship!"
"Aye aye sir!"
The Nova Wolf's engines came alive with a barely restrained power as the ship leapt forward to interpose itself between the origional Ensiferum and it's clone. Even as the Nova Wolf moved to cover the real Ensiferum, the Explorer and Owl's Claw emerged from a micro jump, overshooting by several thousand miles but rapidly hauling around and making up the distance. A warning shot flashed in front of the cloned Ensiferum, close enough to melt metal on the outer layer of the hull.

Unknown ship, heave to immediately or you will be fired upon! This is your final warning!

Captain Cronin nodded listening to the message. "We are aware of the anomaly and we thank you for helping research it," he replied. "However I must ask if you have seen any suspicious ships operating in the area."

"My sensors have detected some cloaked masses hiding amidst the various planets, but I haven't been able to investigate as my vessel is neither a patrol ship nor a warship," Roper replied. Nodding at his executive officer, who handed him a report, Roper continued, "There are at least two masses located in the shadow of fifth planet."

As the replica of The Ensiferum approached, the real Ensiferum cloaked and vanished from screen. Only the replica could be seen, it was as if it was the only one there.

"Right we will investigate them right away, thank you for yout time," Captain Cronin told them.

"They're not stopping Captain."
"Fire at will. And maintain Gravemetric tracking on the real Ensiferum." Captain Doyle said grimly.

Antimatter missiles, EMP bolts, light, medium, and super heavy lasers all blasted forth in a non stop rain of destructive fire at the imposter.

"Open a channel to the Nova Wolf," General Flack ordered. "This is General Flack of The Ensiferum, I presume this means the decoy trials were a success."

"Cease fire! Sir, I guess you could say so, however given both the circumstances and the timing, you'll excuse me if I am unable to give this my full admiration. However if you want a suggestion, put something on there that can talk back or at least has a transponder."
On the view screen the burned and blackend remains of the decoy drifted unpowered through space. "Otherwise people tend to get nervous, particularly in war time."

"True, I'll let the scientists know that suggestion," the general replied. "The only reason it activated is because we were sure someone was tailing us."

Captain Doyle looked somewhat abashed. "My apologies, but after several hours of not responding to repeated hails and pointblank active scans, to find that the target is the duplicate of a friendly dignitary suggested that someone might be trying to pull a switch for a distinctly unfriendly reason. However I think we might be able to make up for it." Doyle hit a button on his command chair. "Chief, would you be so kind as to activate our new toy."
A ripple effect came over the Nova Wolf, obscuring it from view for a moment. When it stopped, seemingly yet another duplicate of the Ensiferum coasted through space.
"General, you have just had the honor of witnessing the first operational test of our newly developed holographic, shipboard imaging system. It will hold up to anything sort of point blank scrutiny, and by the time someone's close enough to realise the difference," Coyle shrugged, "if they're hostile they'll be close enough for us to deal with in a rather permanent manner."

"What are those bloody boggarts doing!?!" Commander Issad Roper said when he saw the action undergone in the area, provided via a camera aboard a small drone near the scene.

Shaking his head, Commander Roper glanced over at his executive officer, who said, "Whatever it is, they're definitely fooling around with some new toys..."

Roper laughed, saying, "New toys!?! Those are a buncha antiques..."

General Flack looked at the screen with interest. "That looks good," he remarked. "Are there any limits as to what it could look like? I suppose that is much better then a decoy."

Still racing to the scene the Explorer's shields flashed briefly as the ship effectively ran over the drone. Having no reason to think it anything other than the normal space debris, the incident went unnoticed aboard the ship.

General Flack looked at the screen with interest. "That looks good," he remarked. "Are there any limits as to what it could look like? I suppose that is much better then a decoy."

"It has it's limitations, it's a prototype so it's an energy hog, and it can't cover an area much larger than five times the size of the Nova Wolf."

Still racing to the scene the Explorer's shields flashed briefly as the ship effectively ran over the drone. Having no reason to think it anything other than the normal space debris, the incident went unnoticed aboard the ship.

(OOC: Um... what!?! Really this could be called godmodding, but forget it...)

Roper grunted in annoyance when the vidlink was disconnected. When he checked his console, he discovered that the drone was dead. Switching his link to another drone, Roper continued to watch the action from his console.

"Ah, so more research is needed to bring down how much energy is used," the general nodded. "Interesting concept though and I am sure in time will be very effective in posing as a planet."

"I suppose so, though I personally think that it's tactical value is greater. I suggest you continue running under cloak and EMCON, the Explorer and Owl's Claw will take up escort positions on us and we'll start meandering around the system."
Captain Doyle's smile could not be considered pleasent by anyone with a double digit IQ. "And if they decide to try anything thinking we're you, we'll deal with the situation in an appropriate manner."

The Ensiferum remained cloaked as it had done. Slowly it moved to directly hover in space over the land mass that was draconis Nightcrawlis.

"We should be docked soon anyway," General Flack replied.

"we'll continue playing bait for a while longer, then we have to leave to escort an incoming convoy tomorrow."

"Thank you," the general replied. The Ensiferum began drifting towards the space dock at a slow speed.

Elsewhere....

President Jewell sat in a darkend sickbay as the beeping of medical moniters rythmicaly broke the silence. Around him the Starwolf had finally altered course, returning home.

The Ensiferum was soon docked and General Flack entered the spacestation accompanied by several crew members. The labs were on the upper decks of the spacestation Once off the lift that took them to the right deck, he and the other stepped out into a bright white room. An old looking man in a white lab coat came up to them.

"Do you have the sample," he asked.

"Yes," the general replied, passing him the sample.

"Good, good," the scientist said. "I will let you know when the results are through."

General Flack nodded and left.

After wandering around the system for several hours the three ships activated their FTL drives and vanished.

While General Flack returned to The Ensiferum to await the scientists findings, Captain Cronin kept The Finntroll on its course patrolling the system. Since they had found out what the suspicous ships were, there wasn't really anything that seemed out of place in the system.

Several hours after they had left, the Nova Wolf, Owl's Claw, and Explorer reentered the system, but this time they were accompanied by three larger vessels, the transports Jeweled Crown, Wizard's Run, and Grimdale Taxi.

Noticing the re-emergance of the ships, along with a few more, General Flack became uneasy. "Open a channel," he ordered. "This is General Flack of The Ensiferum, is there a problem?"

Captain Doyle took the call. "No problem sir, this is merely the five divisions that were offered as assitance should the situation groundside require it. I believe that the President has already discussed and cleared this with your government."

"Ah right thank you," the general said, breathing a sigh of relief. It wasn't really good news as it just proved how tense things had become in the kingdom. "General Flack out."

The three transports and the Nova Wolf moved to orbit the planet while the other two warships began patroling the system.

General Flack sat back in the captains chair and sighed, he hoped Captain Devine was having a better time around the Queen.

The Starwolf was running at sublight towards Earth, having just passed Neptune.

Gabriel watched the technician as she went about awakening the patients.
"Draining finished, bringing the subject around. All biosigns read normal, subject is awake."
Gabriel leaned partly over the nanotube and offred a helping hand to the Prince, a warm smile, on his face, and a towel in his other hand. "Welcome aboard your highness, I'm sorry that we couldn't give you a tour when you first boarded, but the circumstances prevented that."

"Huh," the prince mumbled, his eyes still half shut and vision blurred.

Knowing that confusion and disorintation was usual after being immersed in a nano tank Gabriel wasn't particularly worried but glanced over at the medical technician nonetheless.
Reading the question on his face she nodded reassuringly. "He'll be fine, it should pass in a moment."

Kurt blinked repeatidly, he didn't understand what was going on.

"Arthur?" he managed to mumble.

"I'm here, it's all right Kurt, you're among friends." Arthur's voice came from somewhere over Gabriel's left shoulder.

Kurt rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the blurryness. "What happened?" he asked.

"Someone did their level best to see that you were dead. Damn near succeded too. We got to you and your friend just in time." Gabriel said grimly.

"Quatre!" Kurt suddenly realised and looked around. "How is he?"

"He's in the other tank, it's going to be another few hours before he can be let out, he's not responding quite as well to treatment."

"Oh," Prince Kurt said putting his head in his hands

Gabriel offered Kurt the towel. "Here, you might want this until we can get you into some clothes."

Prince Kurts eyes widened and quickly took the towel from him.

"Whereabouts are we?" he then asked.

"Just inside Neptune, we should be entering Earth orbit in a couple of hours."

"Ah," the prince said looking around, he didn't like where he was. It didn't appear to be a place he wanted to be.

"Once in orbit we'll be headed groundside, you'll be staying in my home until this mess is straightend out."

"Ok," Kurt nodded.

"By that time your friend should be up and about, now how about I place a call to the quartermaster and get you some clothes, then if you like I can take you on a tour of the ship."

"Clothes would be a good idea," Prince Kurt remarked, feeling naked even with the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Sorry about that, but there wasn't much left of them when me and my team hauled you and your friend off those meathooks."
The President walked over to a nearby intercom. "Quartermaster, could you have a set of clothes sent up for our guest, thank you."

The young prince shuddered, the mention of himself being hung on a meathook was very unsettling.

The door to the sickbay opened and a pallet floated in with a set of clothes. "There's a room over there if you want to change." The medical technician said.

Prince kurt nodded, he took the clothes and headed toward the other room.

"He's taking this rather well considering what's happened." Gabriel said seemingly to the open air.
"He's definately exceptional, Gabriel chose well when he chose Kurt as his successor."
An eyebrow lifted. "Yes, you'll have to tell me exactly what happened some time."

Kurt sat down in the other room, he had yet to put the clothes on. Some part of him didn't want to, it just wanted him to hide away in the room until the end of the journey.

Marea, John and Li'bus entered the sickbay. Marea walked over to Gabriel while the other two took postions to either side of the door. "We just wanted to see how the kid was doing sir."

Without even thinking about it, Kurt let the towel drop and he put the trousers on. He was glad that they fit as he would have hated ill-fitting trousers. After putting the shirt on, he wandered back out into the other room.

"Kurt, let me introduce you to Marea, John and Li'bus, my shadows and the people who helped me get you and your friend Quatre out of that hellhouse alive."

"Thank you," Prince Kurt said quietly.

Marea gave Kurt a stunning smile. "You're quite welcome. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

The young prince just nodded.

"So Kurt, you up for a tour of the ship?"

"I guess," he said, eager to get away from the depressing room.

The group was joined by a young Ensign who took them on a tour of the ship, starting at the bridge and working their way down and aft to the engine room.

Prince Kurt took in as much as his mind would let him, which considering the state he was in, wasn't much. Most of the time he just blankly looked around.

The group finished the tour back at the sickbay where Quatre was waiting dressed, have just been taken out of the nano tank.

"Quatre!" Prince Kurt yelled before embracing his friend in a hug.

"What happened?" Quatre asked.

"You and Kurt got kidnapped by a rather antisocial alien who then stole the royal yacht, and used it to blow up a space station with six thousand civilians on board. Me and my team were part of a massed boarding that got the pair of you back before the royal yacht was destroyed. We've spent the last week running around deepspace while you two recovered from your injuries."

"Shit," Quatre swore.

"What about my father?" Prince Kurt asked

"Deity, that's right, you don't know yet." Gabriel swore. "Kurt I'm sorry, he's dead."

Both Kurt and Quatre stared blankly until the blond boy said, "How?"

"Three shots from a zat'ni'katel, I'm told someone named Azazel is most likely responsible."

Prince Kurt blacked out and slumped to the floor, but Quatre was quick to catch him.

"Azazel, thats not good," the blond boy then said

"I know, that's why you two are staying with me. He shows up, me and Arthur have a few plans in place to deal with him. Nice catch by the way."

"Ok," Quatre said, helping the young prince back to his feet.

The door opened and an Ensign walked in, a scabbard in his hands. "The shuttle for Earth is here, I was told to bring this up."
Gabriel took it from the Ensign's hands and offered it to Kurt. "I had this brought up for you, I suspect you might need it soon."

"What is it?" the prince asked, rubbing his head.

"It's your sword, I had it brought up after you disappeared."

Prince Kurt shook his head. "Oh right," he said taking the sword from Gabriel. It felt heavier then usual.

"Now come on you two, it's time to head groundside. I don't know about you, but I won't feel comfortible until I have solid earth under my feet again."

The princes tail was flicking about, he didn't say anything and instead stayed silent.

"I think that would do us some good," Quatre said.

The shuttle landed at a small military base not far from Gabriel's house. A short drive down a road lined by heavy woods soon had them at their destination. The house was set back into the trees, built of logs, it seemed small in comparision to building most people in Gabriel's position had.

"Kinda small," Prince Kurt remarked.

"Our government isn't very centralized, so we don't need all the administrative space most countries do. Each of our states pretty much runs itself. I like to think of it as a home where I just happen to conduct my business."

"Oh right," the prince said, he was used to staying in large castles or palaces.

Marea spoke up. "We're a relatively new country, the old one was completely destroyed in the great war. Gabriel dragged the survivors out of the holocaust and built our country to a level which surpassed that of the old one." She smiled. "Mind you, he was dragged kicking and screaming into the job, but once there he dug in and got to work."

The young prince shivered at the mention of war, he fear that with his father dead and Azazel back, the same fate would befall his beloved kingdom.

"I hate this job if truth be known, but until someone comes along who I believe can do the job at least as well, I can't abandon it in good conscience." Gabriel said.

"Sometimes you have to do things you don't like," Quatre said.

Gabriel nodded. "Tell me about it, that's the story of my life."

"Story of most peoples lives," the blond remarked.

The thick wooden door opened easily, revealing a small foyer with a desk against one wall and several doors and windows. "I'm hoping to change that though, at least in this country. I doubt I'll ever succeed entirerly, but any progress in that direction is worth the effort."

Quatre nodded as he and Prince Kurt looked around the room. The young prince knew that the smallness of the the place would take some getting used to.

"It's small, but it's bigger on the inside than you might think." Gabriel said as he led them through the house. "Your rooms will be down here." He said stopping in front of a pair of elaborately carved wooden doors. "My own room and office are just across the hall."

"Right, should be fine then" Quatre nodded, speaking for both himself and the Prince who had gone very silent.

"There's a fairly large library down the hall, and you both have access to computers and a television. This entire area is old growth forest if you feel like geting some fresh air. You're free to come and go as you wish, I ask that you let someone know first so that someone can accompany you. And of course I'm always availible if you need me."

"As much good as fresh air would do us, I think it would be safer for us stay inside," Quatre mentioned.

"A wise decision, dinner will be in a few hours. I'll see you then." Gabriel disappeared into his office as John and Li'bus took up positions at the end of the hallway and Marea sat down behind the foyer desk and started working on the computer.

"Come on lets see how behind the times their computers are," Quatre suggested.

Prince Kurt only nodded as they went to explor the place.

"Not that bad actually." Arthur's voice could be heard. "I did however take the liberty of heavily upgrading them."

"I hate slow and out of date computers," Prince Kurt remarked, finally breaking his silence.

Gabriel spent the remainder of the day dealing with a variety of business he hadn't been able to deal with having left. Officals, both foriegn and domestic were in and out of the building all day.

The two boys were still searching the place and soon they ended up in the library.

Each of the four walls had ceiling high bookcases, and a pair of long doublesided shelves filled the middle of the room. The shelves contained books on everything from several genres of fiction to books on history, science, politics and military stratagy.

Prince Kurt silently crossed the room and began looking through the books. Quatre wasn't too interested in the books, he just looked around to see what was there.

Looking around the room Quatre noticed one small shelf that unlike the rest of the room didn't seem to be sorted by genre.

Looking at the shelf, Quatre found himself imself intreaged by the way it wasn't sorted like the rest of the library. He walked over and had a look at the books.

Instead of being sorted by genre, they were a single author's collection. "Rising from the Ashes, a Country's Rebirth", "The Connection Between Wolf, Man, and Nature.", "A Code of Honor and Duty, A Way of Life.", "Death, Is It Really the End?", "The Advantages an Inexperianced Politician Has in World Politics.", "The Aura of Command, Lead From the Front", and lastly"A Leader's Sacrifice, an Autobiography by Gabriel Jewell."

Intreagued by the presidents autobiography, he took it off the shelf and flicked through it.

Introduction by General Frank Richards, ret. "If I could pick one word to describe him, I would have to say Leader. From when I first met him as a mere Lieutenant through his rapid rise to Colonel, to unwilling election as President he has always led from the front sharing the dangers of first his men, and then his people. A generally amiable man, deep inside is a core of steel which surrounds a fire of rightousness and a strong sense of duty to those around him and a temper that few are un fortunate enough to see."

"Hmm interesting," Quatre remarked as he read futher, he didn't take any notice as to what the prince was doing.

Chapter VI The Burning

.... the smell was indescribile, the sights still haunt my mind. My men were working in squads ten strong, monsterous in their armored NBC suits, dragging out of the radioactive debris those that had some chance of surviving with treatment, giving the only mercy we could to those who had no chance. There were too many to bury, we had to pile them in heaps and burn the bodies, with the chaplan of whatever denomination happened to be availible giving a brief service. Looking back I guess it was only the horror and shock of the events going on around me that kept me from becoming an emotional wreck at the knowledge that my wife and parents were somewhere in one of the piles of rubble that had once been our cities....

Chapter VII A New Begining

... if they hadn't caught me just after discovering that my son had been on active duty and survived, I doubt I would have agreed to their proposal. General Richard and Harrington both entered my tent at the end of the last day of the 'mercy' missions into the cities and I was still somewhat in shock. I still remember the first words General Richard spoke after entering.
"Colonel Jewell, you've been elected the new President by general vote of the survivors."
To say I was taken off guard would be something of an understatment. "Huh? What! No, no way, not in a million years are you two dumping this on me. Give the job to someone with some experiance in this type of thing."
General Harrington took it from there, a grim smile on his face. "The majority of the people want you in charge, your exploits over the years, combined with your actions durning the war have put your name and reputation out there for everyone to see. We need someone who can lead and make the tough decisions and with enough guts to tell the so called experts to go hang themselves if necessary. You'll take the job, and not because we're going to pressure you, but because your sense of duty won't let you refuse when you know that you can probibly do a better job than anyone else."
I really couldn't say much in response to that, because inwardly I knew he was right. "Fine, I'll take the damn job, but if that's the case we're going to do things my way....."

Quatre closed the book and put it back. A quick look over his shoulder he saw that Prince Kurt was still going through the shelves. He was sure that the prince wasn't even taking in any of books titles. Knowing the prince, he would probably rather be out there looking for Azazel himself.

"I see you found what I do in my spare time. Gabriel's voice came from behind Quatre.

"Enthusiastic writer like my father I see," he replied.

"Something like that. Though in fact that autobiography is as of yet unpublished. I'm still updating it. The final chapter is likely to be written by my son after I'm dead. What does your father do for a living?"

"My father is Lord Winner, a well respected developer in Draconis Nightcrawlis," he replied.

"A good job to be sure. What does he write?"

"Mostly books on architecture and developing, though he does write some horror now and then," Quatre explained.

Gabriel's smile was grim. "It looks like your country will have it's fill of horror before long if we're unlucky."

"Yes unfortunately it does look that way," he said coldly. "The Kingdoms come through alot of dark times though."

"And I'll do my best to see it comes through this dark time as well. Not long ago dealing with Azazel would have been strictly business, something highly unpleasent that had to be delt with. It became personnel the second that space station was destroyed. When I became a soldier I swore an oath to protect the people of this country with my life if necessary, I took a similar oath upon taking office, and I swore the usual family oaths about protecting children. This Azazel has killed the people under my care and protection, he has gone out of his way to bring harm to children. I will not, I cannot rest until he has paid for his crimes." Gabriel's voice had taken on a dangerous tone and blazing fire burned behind his eyes, a fire Quatre suddenly realized had been present to lesser degrees in Gabriel's entire team. It was a fire of outrage and anger at one who would do such things, and it was a fire that could only be quenced in the fires of vengence and justice. Gabriel's entire body trembled with internal anger for a moment before he brought himself under control with visible effort. "My apologies, I take my oaths seriously and I find it easy to get worked up under such circumstances."

Quatre nodded. "I understand," he said.

"Azazel's next target is almost certainly going to be Kurt, and when he shows up, he's not leaving ever again."

"He has come close once, he will not again," Quatre said, a fire burned in his eyes

"Not until he walks over my dead body at least."

multipost

"I hope it never comes to that," Quatre said.

From behind them, Prince Kurt was watching.

Gabriel's mouth was a thin line. "I had to kill a demon once a long time ago, if I have to I'll use the same thing on Azazel I used to kill it."

"What did you use?"

Gabriel's face was troubled. "It's not something that should be discussed, or even brought to the light of day again unless all else fails."

"Oh right," the blond boy nodded.

"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes, would you two care to join me?"

Quatre looked over his shoulder at Prince Kurt and nodded. "We would be honoured," he accepted.

The table was large enough to seat ten comfortibly. Beer steins were at each of the set places, foaming. Salads and baked potatos were already there. "The main course will be served in a few moments. Make yourselves comfortible."

Both boys quietly went and sat down, neither saying anything. Prince Kurt looked somewhat nervous as he looked around.

Against either wall John and Li'bus stood watchfully while the group sat down. Gabriel took a long drink from his stein and gave a sigh of pleasure. "Relax, I doubt anything is going to happen for at least a little while."

Against either wall John and Li'bus stood watchfully while the group sat down. Gabriel took a long drink from his stein and gave a sigh of pleasure. "Relax, I doubt anything is going to happen for at least a little while."

Prince Kurt looked up and the two watching them and shivered. Quatre meanwhile tucked quietly into a baked potato.

Gabriel worked on a salad and had just started on his potato when a hovering tray floated into the room with plates of spaghetti and meatballs. It stopped next to Gabriel who took one of the plates off before it moved onto Quatre and Kurt.

Quatre and Kurt each took a plate of the tray. Kurt just poked at it with his fork, he didn't feel like eating.

"So Kurt, could you tell me something about Gabriel, I only know about him from some stories my grandfather told."

Kurt just stared down at the spaghetti, still poking at it with his forked. It was as if he was switched off from the rest of the world.

"I think he'd rather not talk about it," Quatre mentioned.

"It's not easy losing people close to you, I should know. I lost my wife and my parents in the war. All the family I have left is my son."

Quatre looked at his friend. "Kurts never been good at handling death," he said.

"I don't mean to be crass, but if he's going to become a leader someday, he's going to have to learn to deal with it sometime."

"I know," he agreed.

Prince Kurt ignored them.

"So how did you meet Kurt?"

"We went to school together since we were six," Quatre replied.

"He's lucky to have such a good friend."

"I am lucky to have a friend as good as he is," he replied.

"You're both very fortunate then. Good friends are hard to come by."

"I would have to agree," Quatre said, again looking at Kurt.

Gabriel finished his meal and leaned back slightly in his chair. His mind wandering back into the past.

Kurt never ate a single bit of his meal as Quatre finished his spaghetti. The prince would only stab at it and move the meatballs around.

Gabriel got up. "I have some work to finish, if you need anything, one team or another will be on guard all night and I'm across the hall. Plus you've got Arthur."

"Ok," Quatre said.

A storm had come up and it fiercely lashed the house through the night as the wind and rain competed with the thunder and lightning.

Even if it had been calm, Kurt wouldn't have been able to sleep as a million things were racing through his mind. He wondered if it would be easy for Azazel to be able to pick him off, from his understanding that himself and Quatre had been taken past some very tough groups. He also knew that it would be hard for anyone to get past the Covenants security, it would be almost impossible for his father to have been killed like that. Across the room he saw Quatre sleeping peacefully.

Gabriel paced back and forth in his office, occasionally stopping by his window and watching the storm for long periods of time.

Kurt scratched the back of his head as another bolt of lightning flashed a cross the sky. He couldn't understand why people could die on him, Gabriel and his father amongst others. Quatre turned over in his sleep, Kurt couldn't imagine a life without his best friend, he already faced one without his father.