NationStates Jolt Archive

Gabriel readied his submachine gun, sliding the bolt back with a loud clack.

Kiwi carefully and quietly walked up to the crossroads. So far everything seemed to be quiet, but he knew that could change at any moment.

Gabriel's face was grim as he searched for any sign of danger.

Once again Kiwi stopped walking. He stood listening as Kurt and Quatre stopped behind him.

Gabriel stopped as well, turning in place he looked the whole area over. His helmet's sensors showed that the group were the only ones around, but Gabriel's gut instinct told him otherwise. "Something's wrong, we're being watched."

"No we're not," Kiwi disagreed. "I know when we're being watched and we are not right now, which is troubleing me. I know for a fact that Yidrazil should be flying around above us by now."

"No, not from above, from elsewhere." Gabriel's eyes shifted to a shadow on a wall that moved unnaturally before it disappeared, it's eyes glowing briefly. "Damn, it's him, why can't he just leave me alone? At least he's no threat."

Kiwi turned around to look at Gabriel. "Who is?" he asked.

"No one important, just an albatross around my neck is all."

"Hmm," Kiwi mumbled before looking around the crossroad again.

"I'll be glad when I can cease tapping the power and he goes away."

Kiwi raised his hand, "Quiet, theres something wrong here," he said.

Gabriel got down on one knee, shouldering his gun.

Kiwi silently walked out into the middle of the crossroads and silently stood there looking around.

Gabriel continually flipped through the sensors availible to him, trying to find the problem.

"This is what is wrong," Kiwi then told the other three.

"What's that?"

"I should have been attacked by my fathers forces by now," he said. "I fear that there is more to why we are here then we first thought."

"Any suggestions then?"

"We carry on toward the castle, any answers we need to seek will be there."

"Then what are we standing around here for?"

"Waiting for you to get a move on," Kiwi said as he walked off ahead again.

"Since I'm apparently only slowing you down and proving an inconveince, I'll meet you at the castle." Gabriel said as he vanished into a nearby shadow.

"Your funeral," Kiwi remarked.

Approaching what should have been the castle in the inbetween Gabriel could hear a growing wailing. As he got closer he could see a wall of dark, grey twisting, wailing figures, horrific pain and suffering on their faces. Just getting near it was an effort, Gabriel reach a hand towards it but stopped. "There is too much pain here, even if I could get through, I could not live with myself leaving them here, but what can I do?"
Gabriel stepped back a couple of paces and took a deep breath, a grim determined look on his face. He spoke in hushed tones. "My Lady, aid me in ending the suffering of these souls, allow me to take enough of their suffering upon myself to release them from the chains that bind them to this plane."
As Gabriel finished, a pale white beam, seeming almost like a moonbeam, appeared from the non existant sky of the inbetween and engulfed Gabriel. Glowing from the effect Gabriel stepped forward and placed his hand on the wall. Gabriel went ridged, as if grabbing a live wire and his eyes opened wide in pain and shock. The white energy flowed from the beam to his body and from there it spread over the entirerty of the wall. As it touched each figure, the figure drifted free of the wall, to dissapate into aparent nothingness. When the last of the wall had disappeared Gabriel collapsed into a fetal ball.
"So, much pain, suffering, agony, too much, too much." His voice almost a whimper. After a seeming eternity the beam fell upon him once again for a brief seconf, and after a moment he managed to stand upright, but there was a deep pain and agony etched upon his face and in his eyes that was obviously held back by only the thinest of barriers.
More determined than ever, he stepped out of a shadow inside the castle's ramparts. Looking back over his shoulder he could see the entire town.

As he looked around the town, a shadow had crept out behind. Soon a second joined it followed by a third.

Gabriel spoke without turning around. "I suggest you return to whatever black pit you have emerged from, do not think that I am so weakend as to be unable to deal with your kind. Most especially not in this world."

The shadows began to swirl around on the ground around him. Moans of pain and horror could be heard in the air.

Gabriel slashed his hand through the air and the shadows were cleaved through as if cut by a blade.

They reattached and began to swirl around faster. More and more shadows appeared and joined in. Evidently these shadows did not like life.

A low growl emerged from deep in Gabriel's throat as shadows of his own began to swirl around him in the opposite direction of the other shadows. Dark figures with glowing red eyes began to form at Gabriel's side.

"Wait!" yelled a voice. "Make a run for it, they won't follow."

As the shadows forms at Gabriel's side moved to attack, Gabriel lept clear over the raging confrontation, landing inside the castle's courtyard.

The shadows continued to swirl around in a circle in the same place. They hadn't changed position or cared that Gabriel had gone.

"You were unlucky to have been standing in their favourite spot," the voice came again.

"Thank you, whoever you may be." A strained grin appeared on Gabriel's face. "I guess that's what I get for gate crashing, not as tough as some of the bouncers I've run into though."

"I wouldn't call them the bouncers," the voice said. Stepping from the shadows was a blue man in bright shorts and a hawaiian shirt.

"Your highness I assume?"

"Huh?" the blue figure said. "Oh I think you mean my brother Kurt."

"Is the entire royal family in this dimension?" Gabriel asked, half incrediously.

"I Hope not," the blue figure remarked. "Anyway who are you? I haven't seen you before."

Gabriel sketched a low bow. "President Jewell of Grimdale. I'm currently looking for an SOB named Azazel who killed a great many of my people."

"My father, I've been looking for him but the castle is empty and it looks like they left in a rush," he said.

"Damn, I wonder if the five armored divisions dropping in tomorrow may have had something to do with that. Any idea where they went?"

"They could be anywhere," the blue figure admitted. "I think it has more with whats here then whats coming."

"Is there anyplace he spent a great deal of time?"

"There is the place once known as Exeter, he went there because its the basically the same city as Exetergrecia in our dimention," the blue figure suggested.

"I ment here, within the castle."

The blue figure shook his head, "I wouldn't know any particular place, but I know that main bedroom was ransacked and that theres black blood everywhere," he said.

"Can you take me there please? There might still be time."

Before he could say anything they heard someone shout, "Uncle Nils!"

"Kurt?" he gasped, looking behind they saw the trio heading toward them.

"Glad to see everyone's here and knows each other."

"How could I not know my own uncle," Kurt protested as he hugged his uncle.

"Well that's two of the brothers, now where's the third?" Gabriel mused half to himself. "When your finished and have a chance, can you please take me to the room?"

"Alright," Nils nodded. He then turned and went into the castle.

When they got to the room Gabriel stopped in the doorway and surveyed the carnage before moving to stand in the center. "All that blood is going to make things a little difficult, and I'm tired as it is, but I should be able to pull it off, everyone please step out of the room for a minute."

The others didn't argue and left the room.

Gabriel closed the door, set his equipment down, and then let his mind relax, finding the cool pool in the depths of his mind, sinking slowly into Gabriel felt himself changing. Bones cracked as they changed shape and Gabriel felt a moment of nausea as internal organs shifted around, his vision went blank for a moment before coming back in black and white, but a new world of sounds and smells opened up to him. After a moment a large wolf with glowing red eyes stood in the room, the skintight bodysuit having molded to the new form.
Over everything lay the bitter scent of the black blood, but underneath it was another scent, one that permiated everything in the room, a smell that had in a sense soaked in from long exposer.
When a moment later Gabriel stepped out the door, once more appearing human, the scent was engrained in his mind, and even to his weakened sense of smell Azazel's trail was as clear as if it had been marked out in floresent orange paint. Even if the trail should somehow be broken temporarily, Gabriel would be able to find it again.

"So?" Kurt asked.

"He can run as far and as fast as he wants, but now he can't hide , if need be I can track him through Hell itself."

"Hel? He'd have a tough time getting past the mountain giants to go there," Kurt remarked.

"There is more than one Hell on this Earth. Regardless, we need to catch him before he can drag this out any longer."

Kurt shook his head. "We already know where he would be but the place that is the same as our capital is 119 miles away," he warned.

"Perhaps we can do something about that then. Arthur, how much mass could you transfer from the other dimension at this point?"
"Roughly four tons."
"Put a call through for a Armadillo please."
"Right, I'll have it phase in in front of the castle."
"Come on, we've got ourselves a ride."

"Ok," Nils said, "I hope its good over rough terrain."

"Unless we have to climb a glass wall straight up, it will take anything you can throw at it."

Nils nodded. "It'll do then," he said.

Getting outside they saw the Armadillo, it's engine already running. From the treads on the ground, to the vicious looking automatic grenade launcher that topped the 37mm Phalanx turret, it's jungle cameoflauged hull bespoke a duribility and ruggedness that would defy anything that man or nature could throw at it. A soldier waved from up in the turret as the vehicle's rear ramp dropped.
"Afternoon Colonel, you call for a taxi?"

"That just screams attack us," Kurt remarked.

Gabriel grinned. "For the moment, watch this. Hey Lieutenant, show them what this lady does when she's shy."
"Right Colonel."
A moment later the Armadillo seemingly vanished, leaving the upper half of the Lieutenant's body seemingly suspended in midair.

"Only the tracks will give us away," the prince pointed out.

"Listen, if I could pull it off, I'd arrange for a C-94 transport and we could air drop in, unfortunately, this is the biggest thing we can bring over at the moment. So unless you have something that can break a hundred miles per, withstand just about everything short of a nuke, turn practically invisible, and do all that without leaving tracks, please, feel free to pull it out of thin air and by all means, we can get going."

"A hundred miles per hour in this terrain? You're dreaming," Kiwi warned him.

"Unless we're going through dense forest, no I'm not, this baby carries a pair of turbine engines, an adjustible suspension system, and enough mass to go straight through a well constructed building in addition to being willing to climb until it topples over backwards." Gabriel said.

"Well when you fall in a big hole don't come crawling to us," Kiwi said. "You do it your way, we'll do it ours."

"May I ask how you're all getting there then? I mean granted, she's not the most beautiful vehicle in the world, nor the fastest, but with the old roads around here, she'll get us where we need to go."

"We have our ways," Nils replied.

"If you're thinking of teleporting, it's not going to work."

"Can't, can only teleport two miles anyway," Kurt replied.

"Then how?"

"Why would you care? You have your fancy APC," Kurt remarked.

"Because I promised your mother I wouldn't let any harm come to you until Azazel was taken care of. And I intend to keep my word, just as I kept it when I boarded that ship looking for you, during that week when you were in the nanotube and stayed awake watching for danger that entire time, as I kept it when that winged clone showed up and that creature appeared in my office and when I brought you to where you could recieve the protection of She Who's Name is Unknown. And I can't keep that word if I'm more than a few seconds away from you."

A cold look came over Kurts face, "This is family buisness thats why you weren't invited back in La Isla Des Demonas," he told him.

Gabriel's face, which could could have been set in granite, flushed red with restrained anger. "It was your family business until it killed over six thousand of my people. People I am sworn three times over to protect with my life if necissary, people who would still be alive had your family dealt with this problem before. And how many other's have died because you decided to keep it in the family, hmm? Do you think that I wish to be out here tracking down this madman? I'm over eighty-three years old, and my kind rarely live past ninety, don't you think I might just possibly prefer to spend my few remaining years in a nice peaceful cabin in the woods away from everything as opposed to this?" Gabriel suddenly seemed to collapse partly in on himself, his anger drained for the moment from the outburst. "Oh forget it, maybe it's I who am the fool, perhaps chivarly and honor are finally dead, maybe old debts to people now dead are worthless. A man can only give so much before he has nothing left to offer, and maybe I've reached that point. Go on then, I'll not hinder your efforts any longer."

Kurt said nothing and walked off, Quatre went to follow him.

Kiwi glared at Gabriel, "Whatever those nanowhatsits are they certainly destroyed his mind when it was in a fragile state," he growled and headed off to follow the prince with Nils in tow.

"He would have been dead otherwise, I had no choice." Gabriel said. "Ok, Arthur, he's on his own now, take me and my people home. I'll not involve myself any further in this matter."
Gabriel and the APC went translucent a moment before they disappeared.

Kurt didn't stop until he was near the crossroads again. "I suppose I will have to deal with outsiders interfering when I become King," the prince growled.

"All leaders go through it Kurt," came Kiwi's voice from behind them. "Your father has had to deal with such things many times."

Back in the other dimension troops were slowly loading back onto the transports as Gabriel watched with unseeing eyes.

"And just remember its Azazels kingdom now," Nils warned him.

Kurts tail flicked. "Eventually he'll have a fight on his hand," he growled, his eyes shining brightly.

"Sir, we're all loaded and ready to go, sir?" Marea reached out to touch Gabriel and his body collapsed to the ground lifelessly. Putting her hand to his throat she felt for a pulse and finding none turned to call for the medics, knowing even as she did so it was pointless.

"It's what our father wants," Kiwi said. "A fight between himself and his strongest decendant."

Kurt walked forward, his face was stone cold. "And that is what he'll get."

Jordan watched stone faced as the white sheet was pulled over Gabriel's face. Part of the air detachment assigned to the mission, he'd been notified almost immediately.
"Dammit dad, you shouldn't have reached for the power merely to help some kid who couldn't care less what happened to those around him, you knew it would most likely kill you if you used it again."

Kurt looked to the horizon, along it he could see the rest of the ruins once known as Cardiff. "I will fight him and I will win," the young prince then said. "I will hang his head over the fireplace in the library."

"A bold statement," Kiwi mentioned.

"Bold because I am confident."

"What are you going to do?" Marea asked from behind Jordan.

"So when can you take us home Uncle Nils?" Kurt then asked.

"As soon as I've eaten," he replied. "Come on there is plenty to eat back at the castle."

"I don't know, I'm debating between beating that kid within an inch of his life, and simply going to that other dimension and leveling wherever this Azazel person is hiding."

As the small group walked back to the castle, a dust storm stirred making visibility poor.

Nils stopped walking as a void opened up in his stomach, through it they could see one of the countryside palaces. Thor Palace to be exact. "I think thats our que to leave now," he warned the others.

"Good I didn't want to spend any longer here," Kurt remarked.

"Strange thing is that it is not me doing it," Nils admitted as the void grew larger, eventually swallowing the four of them.

Once again Kurt found himself hitting the ground very hard. He was thankful that neither time he had suffered anything more then bumps and bruises. Getting back to his feet, he looked around at the palace. Something about it wasn't quite right, no lights were on. Which should have been the case as the sky was darkening with the onset of night.

"I don't like this," Kurt announced.

"Kiwi gathered himself up from the ground and brushed himself off. "It's so nice to have complete control of my mind again," he remarked.

The young prince turned around to face the others. "We have to see Forge," he said. "He'll know how to keep Azazel out of our minds."

OOC: Sorry for not posting lately, been really sick.

IC: Onboard the NightWolf a conference was underway.
"I say we level the place." One voice said.
"No, I say we go after the kid who did it." Said another.
Jordan leaned forward over the table. "We'll not be doing either for the moment. As much as I want to see justice done, I will respect what appeared to be my father's wishes in this matter and we will continue to assist in hunting down this Azazel. Once that is done we can see about this other matter. Arthur has informed me that the Prince and his party have returned to this dimension, I'll be taking the news to them personally. The matter is closed gentlemen."

OOC: Hope you're feeling better now.

IC:

The group made their way into Thor Palace, as it had looked from the outside it was in fact abandoned. There were no maids to be seen anywhere, nor were there any guards and Kurt know that someone would have been out to greet them long before they even made it to the palace. Something was definitly wrong.

"I'm scared," Quatre said.

"I know Quatre," the prince replied.

Up ahead, they say a dark shape walking down the corridor toward them. Kurt still had the pistol that Gabriel had given him and held it up. "Stop or I'll shoot," he warned.

The arms of the dark figure shot up in to show that they weren't a threat. "No threat mon ami," came a distinct male voice.

"Lord Lebeau?" Kurt realised.

"Oui, come wit' me it be too dangerous here," he replied.

OOC: A little.

IC: Jordan set the Raptor down in front of the palace, leaving his co-pilot to finish shutting down the jet he strapped on his sidearm and walked into the palace.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he entered, there'd been no challenge on the way down, and now there was no one guarding the gate.
"Jordan to Nightwolf, something's wrong down here, the palace appears to be deserted, I'm going to continue on for the moment, but have the calvary ready please."

Kurt had his head pressed against the glass as he watched the palace disappear out of sight through the car window. He was sure he had seen something land at the palace, but decided not to tell anyone because he could have just imagined it. It was that and not wanting Lord Lebeau to turn the car around to investigate it.

"So it is true that Azazel as gained control of the kingdom?" Kiwi asked.

"Oui," Lord Lebeau said, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. "It appears dat he trick you into believing he be at Les Isla Des Demonas t'teleport de lot of you away den he be taking de kingdom like candy from a baby."

"So where are we headed?" Nils then asked.

"Forge's lab be de only place we be safe," he replied.

"This is Jordan, Nightwolf I've checked this place out from top to bottom, it's deserted. Is there any sign of life down here?"
"Negative sir, it's like the entire country has gone dead. Heavy cloud cover is keeping us from seeing anything from orbit. We've also lost contact with Arthur, he said something about a dimensional instability and then disappeared."
Jordan sighed. "Ok then, I'm getting airborne and I'll begin a lowlevel sweep of the country as long as my fuel lasts, there has to be someone down there somewhere."

It was relief that Jordan got airborne again.
"Glad you're back Jordan, this place was giving me the creeps." His co-pilot said from the backseat.
"Me too Fred, it's like the begining of an old grade B horror flick down there."
"I just hope there aren't any monsters to go with the scenery."

Near to the palace was a motorway, traffic was thick but moving fast. Lord Lebeau drove onto the onramp and merged with traffic as they headed for Exetergrecia. Since the car looked like any other car on the motorway, even with blackened windows, so it was hard to spot amongst the other traffic.

Inside, Kurt was nervously watching as other cars passed them. Quatre had yet to utter a word since they hadbeen in the other dimension. The three adults however were busy talking.

"Remy don't want t'upset his highness, but we don't know 'bout de rest o' his family," Lord Lebeau mentioned, but Kurt wasn't taking anything in.

"And the army?" Kiwi asked.

"Most o' dem gone," the lord replied. "Those dat be left be under de control of Azazel, dey be brainwashed."

Kiwi shook his head in sorrow, "This is not good," he sighed.

"Jordan, I have something on infrared, looks like some traffic."
"Well at least something is normal around here."
"I'm also picking up what looks like a troop concentration farther down the road. If I didn't know better I'd say they were planning an ambush."
Jordan glanced down at his own infrared scope. "I'll be dammed if I don't agree with you. How's about we take a closer look?"
"They're supposed to be friendly, so it can't hurt I guess."

Jordan steered the jet closer to the concentration of troops, reducing altitude as he did so. Just before he passed over the troops a light and siren went off in the cockpit, reacting on training before his mind realised what was happening, he threw the plane into a hard, high gee turn that even with the inertial compensator left black at the edges of his vision. Behind them a trail of fire tore apart the sky where the jet had been only a microsecond before.
"Nightwolf, this is Whitewolf Lead, we are under attack by hostile ground forces, repeat, under attack! Moving to engage! Fred, activate stealth protocols, arm weapons, we're going in."

The Raptor shimmered for a moment before seemingly vanishing into the air behind it's optical cameoflauge.

Jordan circled at altitude for a moment as he discussed with Fred how best to go about the attack. A plan agreed upon, Jordon sent the jet into an airsplitting dive. Pulling back on the controls he pulled into a climb only a few meters above the ground as a series of silver canisters detached from the jet's wings. They hit the ground, starting off to one side of the road and walking across it off the other side, detonating in a roaring wave of flaming napalm that clung to and burned through all it touched. A line of flame across and to either side of the road brought traffic to a screeching halt.
Screaming like a maddened hawk the jet came back for another pass, this time six cannon, firing depleted uranium rounds, designed to pierce heavy armor that ignited on contact spat a stream of fire to either side of the road.

"Whitewolf Lead to Nightwolf, hostiles have been neutralized, nice timing Fred, you managed to miss all those civilian cars."
"Thanks, what now?"
Jordan glanced over his displays. "We've got plenty of fuel and ammo left, I say we continue to look around. I have to wonder though who those guys were waiting to ambush."

"Oh crap," Nils cursed as the sound of gunfire erupted nearby, or some other sort of weapon they couldn't tell.

"It be coming from up ahead," Lord Lebeau said, pointing to a plume of smoke raising against the city ahead.

"Azazel no doubt," Kiwi guessed.

"Ah but we be here now," the lord then said as he turned a sharp left and took the offramp.

At the bottom, he took another left turn down a narrow lane. After a couple minutes the car stopped beside a farmhouse. The occupants got out and went inside.

"Nightwolf, are we still negative for contact with the DN government?"
"Acknowledged Whitewolf Lead, we've continued to attempt to establish communications, but we've had no luck so far."
"Damn, what are they playing at down there?"

"Forge!"
"Kurt lil buddy, so glad to see ya,"

The young prince was for once glad to be in Forges lab, it was the only place that Azazel couldn't get to them. Still it smelled bad from the farm above and the number of failed experiments that littered the place.

"Forge, any luck wit' de radios?" Lord Lebeau asked.

Forge shook his head, "Nope, Azazel must have all the frequencies jammed."

"Ok, Nightwolf, here's what I want you to do, plug your commmunication systems directly into the power plant, that will give you about five minutes of transmission that will burn through just about any jamming before the main array melts."
"Are you sure about this White Wolf lead?"
"That's affirmitive, if we can't get through, then we're going to have to send in the Marines."
"Acknowledge, Nightwolf out."

"Crap," Forge cursed as once again the main computer cut out. "I think I should have gotten a new one when I had the chance."

Kurt was sat on a stool over watching the computer. "Shit, I wish I had that one Gabriel gave me with me right now," he groaned. "This one is shite."

"I know but it is all I have," Forge replied. "Crap, can't even see if theres any ships orbiting now."

"White Wolf Lead, we nearly burned the main transmitter out and got no response, shall we proceed with operation Howling Thunder?"
"Acknowledged Nightwolf, bring them on down."

A few minutes later the sky looked like a meteor shower had begun as thousands of individual drop pods roared down through the sky, some carrying single Marines, other larger ones carrying tanks and IFVs. The pods concentrated within five large drop zones and one much smaller drop zone. A moment later a screeching sound annouched the arrival of several wings of F-28 Raptors, deployed from just inside the atmosphere. Almost immediate several of the forces found themselves engaged with turncoat DN units. Suddenly an area several miles in diameter, occupied by a large advancing force disappeared in a gigantic ball of flame as a ship killer anti-matter missile, set for minimum power impacted. The shockwave could be felt for hundreds of miles around, and when it faded, all that was left was a perfectly smooth hole in the ground.

Wing fighters soon emerged from the skies and began firing on the Grimdalian troops. It was hard for anyone to count how many there were as they kept coming at them.

Meanwhile in the lab, they too felt the ground shake.
"Crap what was that?" Forge asked.
"That would be an attack," Kiwi said.

Jordan blasted another of the arriving fighters, and evaluating the situation passed on his orders. "Ok folks, let's clear out to give the big boys a shot."
Almost as one, all the Grimdalian fighters suddenly cloaked and hit their afterburners clearing the area.
"OK, lay it on us!"

The cloud cover disappeared in spots as sheeting wave after wave of energy cut through it from above as the starships opened up with weaponry designed to be used across millions of miles and blast through heavy shielding and armor plate, seeking out the enemy fighters, their shots guided by uplinks from the Grimdalian fighters. In three places where their concentration was particularly heavy, bright flashes of light told of antimatter annilation being used to swat entire fleets of the craft out of the air.

In low orbit, several Ha'tak Motherships appeared. Large in size and more powerful still. Amongst the extra wing fighters, the Mothership used energy blasts to shoot large numbers of Grimdalian fighters. Out in space, more Ha'tak Motherships sought out the Grimdalian starships.

The Grimdalian starships activated their command datalink, becoming one entity rather than five seperate ships. Using their superior speed to stay out of energy range, they fired concentrated salvos of antimatter missles at full strength at indiviudal opponents, overwhelming any point defense they might have.

Back on the ground...

The squad of soldiers had been cut off from the rest of their unit and was seeking shelter.
"Lieutenant, there's a farm house over there, we can take cover there."
"Let's go then." The Lieutenant replied as the squad hurried to the shelter of the farmhouse.

In the air...

Jordan pulled up from another strafing run on enemy ground troops just in time to let fly with an Adder air-air missile that slammed into a Wing fighter with an exlposion that sent the craft slamming into the ground. With their own starships driven out of low orbit, and hostile starships raining down fire, the Grimdalian fighters had closed with their opposite numbers once again, staying too close to their opponents to be safetly targeted from space.

The Ha'tak Motherships were able to keep up with the Grimdalian starships, keeping up their relentless attack. Not once did any of the ships look close to giving up. The crew were without fear, no longer in control of their own minds.

On the ground, the soldiers that had been cut off found the farmhouse to be largely uninhabited, save the the car outside and the freshly stocked fridge.

In the air, the sky turned red, an impenatrable barrier had been erected out of thin air. Those outside it would not be able to get in, those inside were trapped there.

Things were bgining to look desperate in space, so far concentrated datalinked defensive fire had managed to intercept most of the incoming fire, shields shrugging off what got through. But with the massive amount of firepower coming in, it was only a matter of time until something got through.

Captain Foster frowned at the display on the screen. "Martin, have Nova Wolf close up on Star Runner, they seem to be concentrating on her."
"Aye Sir."
Marea was standing behind the Captain's chair, watching the fight. "We're not going to make it are we?" She asked quietly.
The Captain turned around, and after a moment nodded slightly. "Not unless we get some serious help. But these bastards will know they were in a fight first."
"Captain, unidentified contacts coming in fast!"
Suddenly the speakers burst to life. "This is Admiral Martin of the thrid fleet, I hope we haven't missed the party." As the voice came from the speakers grey dots indicating unknowns suddenly turned the green of friendlies, and those dots suddenly spawned hundreds of smaller green dots. Each one a group of fighters.
"Damn Admiral, are we glad to see you. But how did you get here so fast?"
"President Jewell's orders, we were his insurance policy if something were to go horribly wrong. We had a stealthed ship in system and when this mess started it jumped out and alerted the rest of the fleet."
The Captain looked over at Marea. "Was he always this paranoid?"
A small hint of a pained smile crossed Marea's face. "Only when he was right."
"Damn, well now it's a whole new ballgame, all ships, move to support the fighters as they make their runs and then join up with the fleet."

The communication waves filled with chatter as the fighters bored into their massive opponents. Werewolf class spacefighters, they were armed with six pulse lasers, a pair of energy torpedo launchers, and a mix of anti-ship and antifighter missiles. The command came. "All fighters, this is White Knight lead, launch on my mark, three, two, one, mark!" With that, thousands of antimatter missiles roared down on the Motherships, the fighters following them in to engage at close range with lasers and energy torpedos.


Groundside the seperated squad had spread out to secure the house.
A yell came from outside. "Lieutenant, this car's engine is still warm, someone must have just pulled in a few minutes ago.
The Lieutenant jacked a round into the chamber. "That most likely means someone is still here, spread out and search for a hidden door of some sort, any places leaking heat they shouldn't and the like."

With the barrier in place, something Azazel had overlooked took place. The Ha'tak Motherships stopped their attack and slowed down. For a moment they were silent, then one of them hailed Nova Wolf

"This is General Dolan of The Odin please respond."

*

As for the farmhouse, nothing appeared out of place, no secret doors, no strange heat sources. Just a car out front, a fully stocked fridge and an empty cellar. Evidently the occupants had just upped and left.

"This is Admiral Martin of the Wolf Star, it's about time you answered our hails, you had better have a dammed good reason for opening hostilities with us without prior warning if you expect me to hold off on destroying your fleet."

"Well its kind of hard to when something outside is contrillinhg both your ship and your men." Came the reply. "It would seem that Azazel is up to his old tricks, we cannot even contact home."

"Mind control, I don't know if I believe you, but... All fighters, detonate your missiles now!"
Space lit up as the thousands of antimatter warheads detonated as one.
"Start talking and make it fast or you'll find yourself on the recieving end of a second salvo."

"Its an ancient magic that only Azazel knows, I'm not exactly sure what it is but he can make entire armies switch sides and slaughter their own people." Theres was a long silence before General Dolan spoke again. "Sorry, it has left me with a nasty headache, legend has it, that it is a dust he uses and a magical barrier can block it out. Since its ancient I am hoping he has a rather short supply of it."

"Then I suggest you get you and your people as far away as possible. I've got five divisions on the ground cut off from support, and another twenty up here, and I intend to see to it that there are twenty-five divisons on the ground if I have to bore my way in one side of that planet and out through the crust on the other."

"Good luck with that, we have some colonies in the Virgo Supercluster so we shall be heading there to rest and restock."

"Best of luck, we'll try to keep damage to a minimum. Helm, prepare the fleet for a massed micro FTL jump. If we can't get through that thing in normal space, we'll have to get past it in otherspace."
"Sir, you do realise that if we're even slightly off in our calculations we'll hit the planet."
"I know, but I'm not about to sit up here while we have people on the ground if there's anything I can do about it."

The now rouge DN fleet headed for the Viergo Supercluster, their ships heavily damaged.

Jordan watched as his fuel gauge crept ever closer towards empty, nearly all of his ammunition had been expended. The fighting had been so heavy that there had been no chance to set up fuel or ammo depos for the jets, and with that strange shield up, they couldn't resupply from any of the ships.
"What the-!?" He said, startled as something massive suddenly materialized in front of him, streaking down through the sky towards the ground, shuddering it finally came to rough stop, only a few hundred feet above the ground, it's surface charred from moving through the atmosphere at such a high speed. Looking around Jordan saw other similar objects performing the same manuver. However it wasn't until one blasted a Wing fighter out of the air that got too close that he realised that someone had been insane enough to take an entire fleet into atmosphere straight from otherspace.
"White Wolf Lead, this is Nightwolf, sorry about that, we were suddenly disconnected, but we're back online and brought some friends, the hangers are open for you and your boys, we should have some depos in place within a few hours."
"Damn but that's the best news I've heard all day. This is White Wolf Lead, coming home."

Kurt sat nervously in the lab, they had all just seen Azazel appear on the telly stating he had declared himself ruler of Draconis Nightcrawlis. They found it was the same on every channel and the message was also broadcast over every radio station.

Kiwi was stood at the back of the lab shaking his head. "With this and the barrier there will just be no stopping them," he said. "I just hope that stunt Azazel pulled in the other dimension hasn't turned Grimdale against us."

Jordan stepped out of the temporary shower that had been set up groundside and toweled himself off. The fighting had finally dropped off several hours ago, the starships weapons securing an area large enough for the entire force to establish a camp. Contact was still trying to be made with the DN government, or failing that track Azazel down, but for the moment it looked like things were going to settle down into a series of recon and strike missions as they attempted to bring the rouge DN forces under control.

A lone wing fighter appeared toward the camp and began firing. It seemed to have no particular target other then to do as much damage as possible.

Back in the lab, the telly was still on. The programming had returned to normal, evidently Azazel had control of the stations and was keeping them from reporting any further on his conquest of the kingdom. Kurt knew that was bad as is meant he was unable to find out what had happened to his mother and sister.

Jordan watched with disinterest as a massive salvo of ground based missile fire obliterated the wing fighter. Getting dressed he entered the temporary command center.
"Evening Colonel."
"Evening Captain, Marea."
"Now that we've established a foothold what do we do now?"
"Blast every radio and television tower on this planet so we can get that son of a bitch off the air. That should only take us a few days if we detach a couple of the ships to that duty, after that we need to find the local government. While we're doing that, see if you can't round up any local military personel not affected by this mind control crap. We can use them as reinforcements."
"Yes sir, we'll get right on it."

"How can you stand this crap," Nils questioned Kurt, looking at what he was watching.

"F*ck all else to do," the prince replied.

Lord Lebeau was sat nearby, repeatedly shuffling a deck of cards. "Remy t'ink dat de prince has his mind elsewhere," he pointed out.

"Where else would my mind be?" the prince replied.

*

For the time being the skies were devoid of wing fighters.

A group of starships moved off, each in a seperate direction. Systematically they began destroying every radio and television tower on the planet with a grim efficency.

Kurt began flicking through all the channels, but they were all out. "F*cking bastards," he yelled, flinging the remote at the wall and watching it shatter.

"Taking out all means of communication now," Kiwi remarked.

By the time the starships had finally returned, a couple of battalions worth of DN soldiers not under Azazel's influance had been collected and were being integrated into the command system.
Jordan stood over a map table with several other commanders. "Ok, we start with leaflet drops and then we move onto ground teams, they'll radiate out from this palace in all directions. Have them leave no stone unturned, no floor or wall unchecked, we have to find out if there is any government left. We'll move out immediately, and I'll lead the first group dropping leaflets, ground teams will move out at the same time. Let's go find us some royalty people."

Kurt was still seething from the lost of the telly, worst still Forge didn't have any films lying around the lab.

"We can't hide down here forever you know," Forge warned. "Sooner or later Azazel is going to come for you three."

"But there isn't anyway we can go," Quatre mentioned, finally braking his silence. "We can't just let him come for us."

"Let him come, we'll be ready for him," Kurt said coldly.

"This is team Alpha, we've got another farmhouse here, moving in to investigate, we're picking up a lot of heat from it, if I didn't know better I'd say someone had an awful lot of electronics in there, looks like a suanna in infrared."
"Acknowledged team Alpha, we'll cover you." Jordan sighed, flying ground support was alright when there was action, otherwise it was immensely boring.

Forge's computer beeped and he walked over to one of the screens. "Crap we got company, Azazel's lot no doubt," he warned them.

Kurt stood up, "We're ready for them."

The leader looked at the rest of his team. "Ok folks, you know the drill."
Within a few moments the house was surrounded. The team leader slid up next to the door. "Grimdalian Special Forces, everybody out of the house, you come peacefully, this will all be over in a couple of minutes and we'll be out of here."

OOC: Annoying double post

Down in the lab they could hear them. Forge shook his head, "They don't sound pleased," he said.

"No and I don't think they quite understood Azazels power before," Kiwi mentioned. "Gabriel wouldn't have been so mad else."

"What do we do?" Quatre asked.

"Fight," Kurt suggested.

Forge shook his head, "In the unlikely event they get in here, it'll still take them hours," he said.

"No response sir, but I know someones in there." One of the men said.
"Fine, my patience is just about out, we're skipping polite steps two through four and moving to step five. Now listen up, our President's dead, we've spent the last few days fighting a bunch of brainwashed madmen, and we're trapped under some impreginable dome; at this point we're begining to lose our enthusiasm for taking prisioners, you have three minutes to come up, hands empty, or we're going to bring this place down on whoever the hell is in there and you can rot for all eternity for all I care, because I'm damn sure not going to lose people taking this place."

"Yep I'd say they're pissed," Forge remarked. "I'm not letting anyone get into this lab even if it means setting off the self detination."

"Then how do we get out?" Nils asked.

Forge pushed a button on the wall and a section of the floor opened up. "A good inventor always has a secret escape," he mentioned.

The computer beeped several times, looking back at the screen Forge's face dropped. "Shit," he swore, "those bastards have led Azazel's forces right too us."

"How long have we got?" Kiwi asked.

"Just long enough," he said. "You lot, get down the escape hatch right now I'll set off the countdown."

Lord Lebeau, Quatre and Nils quickly went down the escape route while Kurt had to be dragged down by Kiwi as he'd wanted to go up there and fight them. Forge quickly went over to the computer and typed in a series of passwords before sending a message topside.

"You bastards have just led Azazel to our whereabouts, I hope you're happy. Now if you want to live I suggest you get away from the farmhouse, time to self detonation 15 seconds."

"Clear out! Prepare to repel attackers. And someone get some more air support in here to find wherever those weasels are going to come out."

A large group of wing fighters soon filled the air and began firing at the Grimdalian forces. The timer on the self destruct hit zero and the farmhouse exploded, the ground shook and began to collapse as the lab below was destroyed.

Jordan and his Wingman were being hard pressed. Severely outnumbered, they fought to keep the wing fighters off the ground team.
Jordan had just launched the last missile the pair had when several of the enemy fighters were blotted from the air as a wing of Raptors swept down on them from above in a storm of missiles and gunfire.
"Much thanks White Knights, you guys feel up to a little search and recover?"
"We'd be happy to White Wolf Lead. What's the situation."
"It seems the groundpounders had some folks holed up. Said people escaped, blowing the building up in the ground team's face. We were hoping you could help us catch them when they escape from their bolt hole."
"Our pleasure, White Knights, spread out, cover everything in a five mile area, if it moves, hold them there until we can get the groundpounders to them, if they shoot, return fire."

Yet more wingfighters arrived, drawn in by the battle that had already been waging.

A full wing of Raptor fighters showed up. "This is White Wolf One, White Knights, continue your search, Lead, sorry we're late to the party."
Jordan formed up with his wing, once again at their head. "OK Wolves, let's show them how a pack attacks! Give em' Hell!"

The wing fighters were unrelentless in their attack, their only goal was to destroy every enemy in sight.

The White Wolves, their leader once again at their head tore into the enemy fighters as only the premiere Grimdalian fighter wing could. Before long the sky was raining down bits and pieces of wing fighters as the enraged pilots took their frustration out on a visible opponent.

But the Grimdalian fighters didn't have it all their own way as the DN wing fighters gave as good as they took. The battle raged as the wing fighters aimed to take down every last Grimdalian.

More and more fighters began to pour into the aerial melee as the White Knights continued their search. Before long hundreds of Grimdalian fighters had become involved in the fight as more and more wing fighters appeared.

More and more fighters began to pour into the aerial melee as the White Knights continued their search. Before long hundreds of Grimdalian fighters had become involved in the fight as more and more wing fighters appeared.

Then the DN wing fighters were gone, just as quickly as they had appeared. Most hadn't actually been shot down, the just diappeared.

"All units return to base to rearm and refuel, White Knights, continue your search efforts."

Clouds above the base began swirling around, something was about to show up.

Onboard the the Light Star the Captain glanced over the displays.
"Sensors, get me a reading on that phenomon."

"Fools making people suffer for your own revenge," a voice boomed over the area, coming from the swirling clouds. "I will give you a chance to head home and never return, should you reject this you then shall be trapped here with no sunlight for an eternity and billions will die as a result."

"Captain, we've got some kind of energy spike onn that voice, I think we can track it. But we've also got another larger one forming on the ground beneath us."

Outside...

A swirl of shadows began to collect on the ground until they formed a giant huminoid shape, thousands of feet high, a black glowing blade in it's hand. It spoke with a thundering voice that though distorted, seemed familar to many. "And who are you to think that we would cower before you, if it were our own people suffering, we would act just as we have if that is what it took to remove your evil from this universe for all time. I am the Chosen Champion of She Who's Name is Known to None, protector of all my people. You call us fools, but greater is the fool who dares to awaken powers far beyond his mere mortal understanding. We shall find and destroy you if we must tear this planet apart piece by piece, I shall find you, surrender now and stand trial for your crimes or you shall know the dispair of the endless abyss of shadows for an eternity."

"Never," the voice boomed and the clouds broke up. Seemingly their fate was sealed.

"Sir, we've tracked it, the first source leads..." The officers voice trailed off as he watched what was happening outside.

The figure seemed to grow even larger, until it was seemingly miles tall. Once, twice, three times it struck the shield covering the planet, on the third strike sunlight began to pierce through cracks in the shell. The figure pulled back it's sword until it's tip cut a deep furrow in the earth before swinging again. With an undescribible sound the shell shattered from within as sunlight began to stream down. Massive chunks of the shell began to slam into the surface in places, while other pieces simply vaporized. As the giant figure vanished, a few words could be heard. "Mess not with the power of the gods, for they will lay low all who oppose their wishes.
Cheering erupted on the ground, only to be cut off by the speakers from one of the starships.
"Cut that out. Nothing's changed, we're here for the duration, now get back to work."
The cheering quieted down somewhat, but it was a slightly festive atmosphere that persisted until sundown.

"Who in Hel was that?" came a voice near the officer. Turning around he would see a large man in chainmail armour and a large warhammer over one shoulder. His beard was red as fire.

"That was my father unless I miss my guess." Jordan's voice came from behind the pair. "Damn, I should have known if anyone would find a way to circumvent death, it would be him. I guess he wasn't kidding about being Her champion all these years."

"Like my half brother Balder did after his stay in hel," he remarked. "My father once told me that one is his maker of his own destiny."

"Father always said that if one's reasons and will were strong enough, one could do anything. And more than anything, he wanted to protect his people. And know he's found the ideal way to do it."

"But fate has already written the story of Azazels reign, that no man or God can change," Thor said. "The time will come when Kurt will overthrow his grandfather but not until he is ready."

"Perhaps, but my father has to see that justice is done for us. If you have issues with that, you'll need to speak to She Who's Name is Known to None. She would be the only on he answers too now."

Thor put Mjollnir down at his side, "It would appear that he wants you to return home, your own nation needs you," he sair raising a hand toward the sky. "You see he has already cleared your way home. Your fathers justice will be done, just not today."

"Hardly." Came another voice as a wavering form slipped out from a shadowy corner. Red fire danced where it's eyes should have been. "I destroyed it so that everything on this planet would not die for lack of sunlight. Not once in our history have we ever run, left an enemy behind, or allowed innocents to suffer without justice. There are over a quater of a million men and women out there who are willing to lay down their lives for that tradition, for that cause. They, and myself will work with you, but we shall not leave until our task is complete."

"Going against what fate has already written will probably cause ragnarok," he warned. "How can you call that justice?"

"Then take it up with Her." The figure tilted its head suddenly as if listening to something. "Hmm, ok, sounds reasonable, I'll pass it along." The figure turned back to Thor. "She is willing to compromise. Kurt will take Azazel down with our help, but She gets to decide his fate once Kurt is finished with him. Soul, mortal remains, the whole nine yards are Hers to do with as She wishes, in return you fulfill what you perceive as fate without a full out war between different mythologies."

"Yes we could do that," Thor agreed, "But at the moment Kurt is not ready to take on Azazel."

"No, but we can begin restoring peace to this world, one bloody mile at a time if need be, so that Azazel has nowhere to run when the final confrontation arrives. We can begin by teaching the people the same mental techniques that allows us to ignore Azazel's influance, though we learn them for other reasons. It has been good working with you, now may I have a few moments with my son, it is likely the last real chance I will ever have."

"Have you not realised that it is because he wants to kill you rather then control that he hasn't tried and succeded," Thor warned. "He unfortunately is more powerful then any God."

The figure regarded the god. "And perhaps you do not realise exactly what we are and what we are capable of. Much power sleeps still, for the time of it's awakening is not yet at hand. At the moment only the smallest drops of it are in use."

"So you you are calling me weak then?" Thor asked.

"It is not your power that I question, merely your knowledge of what are regarded as myths outside your own context."

"Certain things lose power the further from their base they are, I am sure that you are not from this planet," the God remarked. "Might just be that you are overestimating your own power."

"Care for a small test then?"

Thor slung Mjollnir onto his shoulder, "I actually have more importaint things to do," he said. "Like protect my people from arrogant outsiders."

"Arrogent? No, merely confident. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to speak with my son before I return to my own duties."

By then, Thor had already begun to walk off. He took a look over his shoulder. "If you do not want to be arrogant that accept that your powers are limited more then you want them to be."

The figure ignored the god, turning to Jordan. "I know this has to be somewhat awkward-"
"Stop, I know you well enough Dad to know you wouldn't have done this if you hadn't thought it for the best. I'm just glad you are able to continue what you've always been driven to do. But seriously, do you think you can take on a god?"
"Ha, my, Her source of power has no location, it exists wherever there is light or darkness. By the way, when are you and Marea getting married?"
"What, how'd you know about that?"
"I was the President, I know everything, but all kidding aside, I've seen how you two look at each other, and when she started requesting vacations whenever you got leave, it wasn't too hard to put two and two togeather. You'll make a good couple. Oh, and sorry about the whole will thing, take care of my people for me." The figure began to merge back into the shadows.
"Wait, what do you mean about the will?" But the figure was gone.

Thor stood atop the nearby hills carefully watching the Grimdalian base. He doubted it would be long before they did something stupid that would result in the death of millions.

Jordan once again stood around a map table with several other commanders. "OK folks, I know we're all beating ourselves up over having to kill these people when they're only brain washed. We're working on a solution, but until then we have to find a way to slow the fighting down. With that in mind, we've developed this plan. We're going to isolate ourselves in this area until we can manage to run this war without having to kill so much. We'll hit all the bridges in the area, preventing ground movements against us. The next step will be to destroy the runways on every airbase that has the range to reach us. We'll likely suffer heavy casualties in the process, but in the long run it will save lives on both sides. Now let's go over it with a fine toothed comb to try and keep those numbers as small as possible."

The air was calm, there were no signs of any wingfighters in the area.

Jordan was bording his plane when one of the commanders came up to him. "Sir, we managed to track Azazel down, why don't we attack him directly. A low level antimatter strike would finish this war in seconds and save so many lives."
"The decision wasn't mine to make. A deal has been struck, and it will not be broken as long as I can help it. All we can do is try and minimize the suffering caused by what I consider to be a foolish decision. Now I suggest you get clear before I take off."

Thor began walking down the other side of the hills, down away from the Grimdalians base. "Arrogant outsiders," he cursed them, he still knew they were going to go against the fates. This was Kurt's mission and only Kurt's, no arrogant outsiders was going to destroy Kurt's fate.

"Hey you, I think you'd best turn around." Came from behind his back.

Thor stopped walking and turned around, "What do you want?" he growled.

"I want you to stop calling myself and my son liars. We both gave our words, and we'll keep them. But if you continue to insult us I'm going to have to do something most people would consider rash."

triple post

triple post

"I do not call you liars, I just have no reason to trust you yet," the God replied. "I am sure you do not trust me."

"My word has always been my bond, as has my son's, and we always honor our debts. That is what got us into this mess in the first place, fulfilling old debts and new promises. It is that which killed so many of my people and will kill more of them before this bloody business is done. Besides, She deals harshly with oath breakers."

"Keep your word, I know a way to bring the dead back," Thor told him.

Gabriel shook his head in the negative. "I thank you for your kind offer, but I would have only had a few years left as it was, no, I have chosen a path that transends death. And it is one that will allow me to continue to protect others. I am content with my lot."

"But what about the lives of the others that were lost?"

"I cannot speak for them. For they are individuals and they will have to make their own choices. But I have to be going, my presence is needed elsewhere." The figure tossed something to Thor, a small black disc made of an unrecognisible metal that seemed to twist and flow. "Until this is over, if you and yours need to contact me or Her, hold this disc, and call 'Shadow and light, aid is needed.' And I shall come as swiftly as I can. I wish you well Thunder God, and perhaps when history has come to pass and the final battle is fought, there will appear others to tip the balance." And with that the figure vanished.

Thor looked at the small disk, "Interesting," he renarked and placed it in a pocket before carrying on his way.

Jordan banked his Raptor to get a better look at the airfield below. The squadron had come in cloaked and under EMCON and destroyed the runway to the point it would need to be entirerly rebuilt before it could be used again, off to one side the fuel tanks were also burning, a refinement to the origional plan to insure that air superiority would be maintained for the maximum possible time.

"No losses on our side, minimal losses on theirs, and an airbase out of commision for at least six months. All in all, an ideal strike. With those damned wing fighters out of the way, we'll be able to cut casualties on both sides dramatically. OK Frank, let's head home."

In a broad circle around the Grimdalian base one strike after another hit every airfield with the range to attack. Planned carefully to avoid enemy casualties as much as possible, air superiority for the time was assured.

Thor could hear the nearby explosions and shook his head, not the way war was meant to be fought.

Back at the base... a squadron ready room.

"So, would anyone else rather be facing an enemy in a fair fight, skill versus skill rather than this minimal casualty interdiction stuff we're doing?"
A scattered chorus of agreement came back.
"I don't know, it's not really a fair fight if your opponent is under the influance of mind control. It's not a matter of courage and skill then. It's a matter of dealing with automations that just happen to be people. No I say if we can avoid killing these people if at all possible, then we should do it. Now if they wanted to pick a fight without this mental influance, then I'd say go for it. But as it stands, it wouldn't be right or honorible to kill them." Another pilot said.

And throughout the base, similar conversations took place among all services and ranks.

Thor was glad to return to Bilskirnir for some peace and quiet. That was until he remembered that he had company. He could hear loud music being played, Finntroll if he wasn't mistaken. He'd heard Kurt play that band enough times before to know them when he heard their songs.

"Why me," he sighed.

Meanwhile elsewhere on the planet a small recon platton of still loyal DN troops was under heavy attack by strange black creatures out of their worst nightmares. Suddenly the shadows beneath the creatures merged togeather lifted up around them. Closing completely over them there was a sickening crunch and the shadows sunk back into the ground leaving no trace of the attackers behind.
"Find your Prince, he'll have need of you soon." A voice said.

"That won't be easy to do," one of DN troops sighed, this was General Flack. "We don't know where he is for starters."
"We'll have to evidently," one of his soldiers said.
General Flack nodded, "We'll have to find the Grimdalian base and start looking from there."

"Sir, we have another group of DN troops coming in, they've got a white flag."

Captain Firn looked up. Over the last couple of days, one group of soldiers after another had straggled in, many of them with odd tales of moving shadows and strange voices. "Check them out, and bring them in Private."
"Yes sir."

General Flack led his tired troops in, they had fought hard against an enemy intent on destroying everything.

When he heard who had come in, Jordan headed over.
"General Flack, good to meet you sir. My father mentioned you a few times before his death."

"I am sorry about your father," General Flack said. "It is however good to meet his son."

"Thank you. You're the highest ranking member of your military we've found so far. We're still trying to find any member of the royal family but haven't had much luck. We thought we almost found them, but they blew up a building in the face of the search team and disappeared during a battle that started shortly afterwards. You wouldn't happen to know where they might be would you?"

"I wouldn't know I'm afraid," the general sighed, shaking his head. "I just hope that the Gods are watching over them."

"Oh I think you could safetly say that." Jordan said. "But you're most likely exausted. Grab something to eat and get some sleep and then we can talk stratagy."

General Flack nodded, "We have been fighting nonstop for maybe fourteen hours," he said.

"I'll come see you again tomorrow morning then General."

"Yes Sir," he replied and with the rest of his troops they headed off to eat and sleep.

The next morning after breakfast Jordan meet with General Flack over the by now familiar map table. "General, before we do anything else, I'd like to ask you to take command of the loyalists. As it stands, we have two divisions worth of your own troops and more are coming in all the time. But we're outsiders, I think they'd respond better if you were in charge of them."

"I would think so too," General Flack agreed. "We have been finding in some cases that being uncocious has broken the mindcontrol, but unfortunately not in all cases."

"We're still trying to work out a solution to the mind control problem, but we've had little success so far. I expect that within the next couple of days everyone will have straggled in who's going to. With that in mind, we need to find Prince Kurt. I want to send out recon teams to search for him, but I'd like to include one of your soldiers in each group. After that last little incident I suspect he isn't going to listen to reason if it's only coming from us."

double post

General Flack nodded, "This mind control Azazel has is a more powerful magic that anyone can understand," he said. "The only thing we know about this particular magic is that it is likely to have come from Loki several millenia ago. The Prince is fiercly independant, it would even take a hard time for me to convince him."

"THen how do you suggest we get through to him?"

"The Prince? We'll have to let him go at his own pace," he said.

"Very well, I'll concede to your greater wisdom in this matter. Next, we're going to be attempting to collect as many of the troops under Azazel's control as possible without killing them so that when we do finally find a way to reverse the process we can get right to work."

"We can use our zat guns to knock them out," General Flack suggested.

"Good, we've got a shipment of our own stunners coming in within a few days, but until then, we've been reluctently forced to respond with lethal force. We've also got artillery and airdropped versions in development so we can improve our ability to take them unharmed. But your zap guns mean we can get started immediately. The more warm bodies we have once we find a cure the better."

"Right, where do we start?"

Jordan pointed at a spot on the map. "Here, it's a small out of the way outpost, lightly garrisoned. Only about twenty soldiers total, small arms only."

"Right, we shouldn't need too many of our own there then," he said.

"And it will also show us if our tactics will be effective."

General Flack nodded, "Yes it will," he agreed.

"I'd like the unit sent in to be made up of half our people and half yours. They need to get used to working togeather."

"That would be the best idea,"

"Excellent, ten men should be enough since this is a sneak attack. Your men will be working with some soldiers from one of our Special Operations forces, the Dogs of War. They're our best."

General Flack nodded, he knew he still had plenty of his own best of the best to rely on.

"The team will have air extraction and fire support on call should things turn ugly, but if all goes according to plan, we'll be able to drive right into the outspost when they're done, grab the bodies, and get out before anyone's the wiser."

"I certainly hope so,"

"Excellent. We'll set the jump off time for just after dark. With any luck they'll be home in a couple of hours."

"Right," General Flack said, looking up at the sky. It was a very cloudy day.

That night, a mile from the outpost in some dense woods...

Lieutenant Killa removed his binoculars and looked over his shoulder at his troops, four were men he'd worked and fought beside for years, but the other five were unknowns, supposidly they were good, himself, he'd withhold judgement until after this little operation.
"It looks like they aren't expecting anything. But just to be on the safe side, Parker, you're up."
The Private nodded and began efficently removing his equipment and outer layers of clothing until he was stripped down to his flexible skinsuit. Killa watched with disintrest as the change took place, a sight he knew would make most who'd never seen it somewhat quesy at the very least. A moment later a large wolf in a skinsuit stood there before disappearing in the direction of the base. Killa looked over at the DN soldiers to see how they were taking it all.

The DN soldiers were silent, they were ready to do what was necessary.

A half hour later Parker returned. Resuming human shape he began dressing. "Twenty guards as we thought, fifteen are asleep, four are walking the perimiter and one is manning the radio shack."
Killa nodded, hefting his stun rifle. "Ok, we'll split this up. Me and Parker will take the sentries along with you two." He gestured towards a pair of the DN soldiers. "Mike and you will hit the radio room before they know what's going on." He gestured at another DN soldier. "As soon as the sentries are down, the rest of you hit that barracks and get the guards before they wake up. Any questions?"

"No questions Sir," one of the Draconian soldiers said. It was pretty offputting that they were going to have to attack some of their fellow soldiers.

"Good, move out then."

The soldier moved out with the other soldier in tow.

Killa grabbed his target as it fell unconscious and softly lowered it to the ground. Twenty meters to the left, he could just make out Parker doing the same with his target. Now all that was left to worry about were the other guys doing their jobs.

"I hate this," one soldier remarked as he stunned a soldier he knew very well.