NationStates Jolt Archive

Dig site #71 for OOPART #7, near Rahlsburg, Eurusea

There was a shower of sparks in the dark as the excavator's shovel scraped along the surface of the object again, the foreman swearing and waving the machine back, 'Christ, Borisav, are you trying to get us all shot for damaging it?' He glanced around, the quarry rising upwards and outwards in a series of steps with sloped access ramps cutting between levels at irregular intervals. Above, there was barely a cloud in the starry sky, making him thankful that the dozens of satellite jammers in the area were blocking this place from any prying eyes.

The excavator driver jumped down from his cab and ran over, 'Sorry comrade...Didn't realise it was that shape...' he ran over to the patch they'd exposed, blinking at the coils of smoke coming from the blades of the excavator's bucket, which glowed faintly, 'What the fuck...?'

General Gorloff grinned as he looked over the growing area they'd unearthed, totally undamaged by any of the accidents. The tarp-covered sensor domes they'd already excavated towered over the portacabins they'd put in at the base of the quarry for the ever-growing workforce, above them the sound of machinery working to lay down three new rails beside the single one the quarry had used before. He crouched over the metallic surface with it's odd symbols and incomprehensible writing, and ran his fingers over it, the air rippling slightly just above it and not permitting him to touch the metal itself, the force slowly fading until he could again. He grinned, muttering 'So your Absolute Barrier still works...And it seems to have a degree of automation about it...'

He turned back to the foreman, 'Comrade, you need only understand no device you have here can damage this OOPART, though as you can see the reverse is not true. You will be receiving a shipment of explosives shortly and are to excavate the forward section as quickly as possible, the early documentation from the mines they dug around this OOPART suggests there's some kind of entry point there, though they didn't try to open it.'

The foreman nodded, 'When should I expect the shipment?' a train whistle sounded high above, and Gorloff grinned.

'Right now, comrade.'

Near the top of the quarry, an unremarkable young man waited for the floodlights to come on at the bottom of the pit. As they did, he slipped a small object out of the sleeve of his miner's uniform and pressed the button on top of it a few times, aiming it at the huge triangular symbol they'd uncovered on top of the object. He smiled, slipping the camera back into the concealed pocket in his sleeve, and went back to work as if nothing had happened.

Good Times Restaurant, The Most Glorious Hack, four days later

Faye Madigan smiled, sitting down next to Elisa Day in a fairly private part of the restaurant and calling the waitress over as she smoothed her dark business suit, 'We don' do this nearly often enough.'

Elisa smiled, and gave her a hug and a kiss, 'I know. Politics suck.'

Faye sighed, stretching back in her chair, 'An' I'm here on business, too...Got somethin' y'may want t'take a look at.'

Elisa giggled, 'I'm almost worried, considering the last thing you showed me...'

Faye took a couple of photographs of a quarry out of her pocket; most were fairly normal.

Elisa looked them over, shrugging, 'So far it looks pretty normal.' She grinned, 'Gloating about your limestone industry, hon?'

'Look at the bottom one.' The photo seemed to have been taken from above the bottom of the quarry; it showed several bizarre domed objects under tarps projecting above the surface of the ground and in the middle a group of excavators parked around an area where the ground had been scratched away. Underneath, a strange, flat metal surface was visible, inscribed with a symbol that looked like some kind of triangle with an eye in the centre, though as Elisa studied it more carefully it actually seemed more like an eye-shape with a flame instead of a pupil.

Elisa squinted, peering at the picture, before dropping it with a gasp, 'This is faked, right?'

Faye shook her head, 'Seen it with me own two eyes.'

Elisa blinked, 'But... but that symbol...'

Faye nodded, 'We're still waiting for tha' snake-temple t' send us a Priestess t' identify it...They tend t' send by very indirect routes.'

Elisa looked at the picture again, 'I've seen it before. Some of the die-hard cultists have it on necklaces. I always assumed that stuff was bunk...'

Faye nodded, 'Looks like Khabarovsk didn't think so...'

Elisa smiled weakly, 'Well, hopefully the myths got twisted along the way. It always sounded pretty horrific to me...'

Faye sighed, 'That thing in the picture is worth checkin' out. If she's what we think she is, that is.'

Elisa looked at Faye, 'What do you think it is?'

Faye grinned and pushed a photocopy of a very old sketch of some kind of supergun-armed flying battleship across the table, 'The original excavation team thought it was that, when they dug up the first Infinity Cannon segment...'

Elisa coughed, almost choking on her drink, 'Holy... that's insane.' She smiles, 'And I'm used to Eurusea and GMC's excesses... that's really, completely nuts.'

Faye nodded, 'She's called Sekhmet, we think...'

Elisa blinked, 'After the Egyptian god?'

Faye shook her head, 'It's entirely possible it was the other way around.'

Elisa smiled, 'Sorry, forgot my timescale there. Why on earth would they possibly need something that huge?'

Faye shook her head, 'Not much into the psychology of extinct nations, hon...'

Elisa grinned, 'Right, sorry.' She peered at the picture again, 'It looks largely intact. Well, what I can see of it...'

Faye nodded, 'It seems it was put there with the precise intent of not damagin' it...We've only just have the resources available to start diggin' it up.'

'Er... you don't think it's operational, do you?'

Faye nodded, 'Operable, from the looks of the initial surveys, thought you'd have to take a look for yourself to find out fersure...'

Elisa finished a bite of her meal, 'I'd like to, yes.'

Faye lay her cutlery down, nodding softly, 'The whole area's need-to-know, has been for a while...If you're not in OCM you barely get any details of how far they've got...And they've got satellite jamming up, too.'

'Well, that makes sense, I suppose.' She smirked, 'Already knew about the jamming, hon.' She turned serious a minute, 'So why are you showing me?'

Faye sat back and lit a cigarette, 'Because when that thing takes off it's going to totally change the balance of power in Eurusea regardless of which service it's assigned to...' she sighed, 'Just a heads-up to one of the most special women I know...'

Elisa smiled and hugged her, 'Thanks.' She sighed, 'I see your point... not sure how we'll respond.'

Faye smiled, 'I'd suggest first you send a few people to see how much further they've got...'

Hatchery #89, Non Burrows, Khabarovsk City, what is now Marshall Island, 27,560 years ago

The Mage walked slowly along the line of nests, mostly the fairly modest and uniform creations of the little Nons kneeling beside them, their eyes turned respectfully to the floor in reverence of Him. He smiled, insofar as His features allowed Him to do so, as He slithered back and forth, His barely functional legs folded under His robe. In form, He resembled a giant snake more than anything else, His weak and frail forearms the only real departure from His ancient ancestors. One of His hands was presently extended theatrically as He performed the rather tedious task of the ritual of blessing.

He could sense, to some degree, what might be, and after the quotas of Non eggs had been taken to be made into higher castes, it was the task of a Lower Seer like Himself to pick out any who had their own destiny, in His reckoning. It was a great honour to be chosen in this way, even more so than being part of the quota for that laying cycle, and He could tell some of the nests had been made with immense effort to impress Him; He permitted Himself to be amused by that. He paused as His hand halted over one nest, one egg, one possibility...

Blood and fire suddenly enveloped His world, a figure walking within it, a warrior-caste female... He blinked several times; His visions were never usually so all consuming and vivid. He closed His frail hand over the egg and lifted it into the air from among the eight others beside it. His weak voice broke the silence, 'Hail our father Yig, for He has given unto us a great warrior on this day!' There was a brief 'Great is Yig' from the room, before the silence returned and He turned to the tiny Non knelt by the nest. 'Arise and speak your name.'

The little female stood nervously, still not daring to look Him in the eye. He took the opportunity to study her a little; she shared the vaguely offensive lizard-like build and features the High Mages had given her kind when they created them, mostly covered in an elaborate robe. Lacking the patterning or large signal crest normally thought attractive by their kind He was mildly surprised she would have a child chosen for greatness, but He was clearly unworthy of trying to second-guess Yig's will. She spoke softly and hesitantly 'I am laMeska Aliyata Kalazar, your infinite wisdom.'

He laid His free hand on her shoulder, briefly thinking of the name He would now give her child. Hm...Sheeta is a strong name. 'Be it recognised today that this family will bring honour to Khabarovsk! The one who lay within this egg before is dead, and her name has died with her. Recognise the name she is now given, Sheeta roSheeta Kalazar!'

The little Non, Aliyata, almost lost her voice, quickly saying 'I recognise and honour this name. Praise Yig.'

Elisa's Construct; Hacker Neural Network
One day after the meeting with Faye

Fusayoshi's avatar relaxed in a soft leather chair, his feet up on a small ottoman, looking more than a little amused. He smiled at Elisa who sat across from him, "This place is becoming familiar. What's up Mrs. Day?"

Elisa smiled, looking a little tired, it'd been a busy few weeks. Her avatar shimmered slightly as the door to the Construct melted away, representing this section of the network being locked down and secured. With Elisa's access levels, only Anesca herself could gain access, and she was on vacation in GMC. "I have another task for you and your team, with the same stipulations as the last one..."

"Super hush-hush, disavow any knowledge of our existance if we fail, etc. etc. etc. right?"

Elisa nodded, "Something like that, yeah. On many levels, this is much more... delicate than Anya's extraction. You'll be interacting much more directly with the Eurusean military, and much more likely to have... problems."

Fusayoshi turned serious as he noted Elisa's tone. Clearly this was big, "Okay, what's the score?"

Elisa handed him some digital representations of the photos Faye had given her, "See that craft at the bottom of the quarry?"

"Well... I see something down there..."

"That's... well... that's likely the largest military craft you'll ever see. Bigger and more powerful than anything Eurusea's ever built."

"Why's it buried?"

Elisa sighed, "It's hard to explain. They believe that it's an ancient craft, built by whatever it was that once ruled over Marshall Island and Eurusea."

"Um... you're saying some stone age monkey built this?"

"Aparently there was a highly advanced race back then. From what I've been told, back before the Hyperboreans ruled Mhu Thulan; back when the voormis were still sentient."

Fusayoshi coughed, blinking several times, "So it's what? Twenty thousand years old?"

"Closer to thirty, but... yeah, something like that."

"Er... well... what do you want my team to do about it?"

"These photographs are almost a week old, I need you and your team to go in and find out how far Eurusea has gotten in the excavation, and... and to stop or slow them down as much as possible. Something like this would sorely tip the world's balance of power, especially if it still works."

"Stop them?! How the fuck do you suggest we stop something like this?!" He flicked the photos back at her to accent his point.

"I trust your instincts and abilities." She smiled a little, "And I especially trust Uyo's ability to blow things up." She gathered the photos, tossing them in a nearby incinerator, "I need to know if you're willing to do this. Recon is our primary goal here, stopping it is gravy. If you aren't willing, then you can go and I'll try to find another team."

Fusayoshi hemmed a little, not fully sure.

"Look, Fusayoshi, I realise this is a big request, but you and yours have been to Eurusea before and are the best team I've got. I really need you on this, we can't afford to be blindsided by this thing."

"Why don't you just use sats? That's what this country's known for."

She smiled sadly, "They're jamming satellites. We're trying to punch through it, but they're really determined on this one, so... we're kinda blind right now."

"So how'd you get this?"

"HUMINT. We do still have that, you know."

"Okay, okay..." He sunk back in the chair for a few minutes, thinking before opening his eyes again, "We'll do it."

"Excellent." She paused, "Um... what about Ieyoshi?"

"She retired," he smiled sadly, "I've already replaced her though. Kaori's new to the team, but she's not green and she can be trusted."

"If you trust her, that's good enough for me. You leave tomorrow night. HALO insertion, just like last time."

103 Grove Street, Marshall City

Nanami Shiratori yawned as she headed downstairs to check the mail, an impressive action in a Kitsune. She tugged her dressing gown cord tight as she picked the letters up, noting a couple that looked like quarterly service reports and one with 'M.S.' on it. She smiled, and went to look for her decoder after flicking on the kettle and toaster.

She smiled, nibbling a piece of toast as her sister appeared at the door, her hair just as messy as usual when she woke up, 'Heya Nanami-chan...Oh, is that work?' she shook her head as Nanami poured tea into a soup mug and lapped it idly while looking through the decoded letter, 'I swear, one day I'll teach you table manners...'

Nanami blinked at a few things in the note, before taking her sister's lighter and lighting one corner, dropping the burning paper into the bowl in the middle of the table. Her sister, Keiko, blinked a few times, 'I guess this means I'll have to move our holiday back, huh?'

Nanami nodded, 'Yup...It's one of those 'can't say a damn word' ops.'

Keiko sighed, 'You know how much those scare me...'

Nanami grinned, 'It'll be fine...Come on, it's always been fine before. How about I take you for dinner when I get back...And a film?'

Keiko smiled slightly, cheering up a little, 'As long as it's not another of those Exploder films, you know how much I hate them.'

Office of the Director of Intelligence, Kintyre, Barensburg, Eurusea

Faye sighed as she read through what little intel her men had managed to get from the dig site, winding a sheet of paper into her typewriter and checking the ink ribbon before typing.

My darling Elisa,

I miss you, I always do, but this is more business than anything else, I'm afraid.

Security at the site keeps getting tighter, there's now a whole division in the surrounding area along with half a tank battalion and an airmobile unit with six gunships and around sixty Man-Hacks with proximity triggers armed by a central alarm system. I'm arranging a little...diversion...In Kesselstan that should occupy other forces, so your best time to move is four days from now.

She paused for a moment, glancing at the photo of Elisa on her desk and continuing,

Whatever you do, don't order your team to exfil by Largo's Cave southeast of the site, rumour has it that it wasn't just a normal collapse that killed the miners there and it should be treated as a last option.

With my love, Faye.

Faye checked the letter then slipped it into an envelope. As always with letters to Elisa, she sealed it with a kiss before handing it to one of her more trusted operatives with orders to place it in Elisa's deposit box at the Chiba City Bank.

Redmond, Kesselstan, Eurusea

'And remember, kids, watchful eyes...'

'Save lives!' the children chorused in unison, gathered around the block's communal television to watch the evening cartoons. Stefan grinned, hugging his little daughter, 'Comrade-supervisor Baulin has said daddy could take those extra shifts, Galina...I'll finally be able to send you and your brother to school...'

Galina smiled, 'Yay!'

Yefrem scowled; his brother drove a tanker for one of the huge chemical plants along the Black River, and they'd had blazing arguments in the past about his being a collaborator...Still, with the intelligence the Resistance has been given they might finally be able to make use of him. We shall light a fire they cannot ignore...

Bridge #31, Black River, Kesselstan

Harkov sighed; being posted as guard on the Black River was one of the more unpleasant forms of demotion, though he knew very well why it had happened, the night he'd gone out to his checkpoint with a streaming cold and not heard the answer to his demand for identification...He was lucky he hadn't been shot for killing a commissar, really.

Tonight an unpleasant-looking greenish haze that swirled like cigarette smoke hung stagnant over the Black River, which glowed faintly in the growing darkness; there was a fire warning out on the whole river, though as always it had only been issued to those who needed to know about it. He looked up the line of pipes along the nearest bank of the river, grotesquely corroded by the very effluent they pumped, the collapsed ruin of Bridge #30 rising out of the river just down from them like the ribs of some metal monster. Across the river a freighter was slowly rusting apart on the riverbank, a relic of the days when the river wasn't too heavily polluted to bring ships down.

He checked the seals on his radiation suit again, a half-hourly ritual this close to the discharge point for the Bermansk nuclear reactors, and cursed having to wait another four months to be transferred back to his old post away from the river. He ran his finger along the line of readouts from the monitor buoys in the river below, shaking his head, Still not clear of the fire warning zone, damn it...

Woods near the Black River

Yefrem struggled to drag his brother's lifeless body from the tanker's bloodstained cab, eventually dumping Stefan heavily in the ditch by the side of the road, getting his clothes covered in blood in the process. He sighed, calmly checking the warnings on the chemical tank the truck was towing and nodding, slipping the satchel charge he'd been given underneath and wedging it in place, before trying to gauge the distance to the bridge to set the timer by. He flicked an extra minute onto it on top, and walked slowly to the cab, closing the door and being surrounded by the stench of the shot he'd fired and his brother's blood.

It was only then he permitted himself to cry.

Bridge #31, Black River

Harkov knew something was wrong as the truck approached, moving far too fast to stop at the checkpoint. He raise his rifle before thinking better of it and jumping aside as the tanker smashed the barrier aside, veering violently to the left and slamming through the concrete barrier at the edge of the bridge. The tanker slowly arced down into the river, exploding just after it hit the surface of the water, a sheet of flame spreading quickly across the surface of the river.

Harkov blinked, before slamming his fist against the fire alarm, the klaxon sounding out as the fire spread down the river. Nearby, one of the chemical plant's pumping stations exploded as another alarm sounded out in the night. He quickly clipped the telephone wire to his earpiece, 'This is guard station at bridge thirty-one, close all fire breaks on the Black River immediately, this is not a drill, repeat...'

Checkpoint near bridge #47, Black River

Kossakovsky blinked as he watched the asbestos-coated fire barriers swing up just downriver, blocking the whole width of the river off. Sirens and klaxons in the distance gradually increased in volume as the orange glow on the horizon crept closer until the fire washed under the bridge and spread along the barrier, the air rapidly filling with choking black smoke from the river. The fire swirled, explosions within it causing areas to briefly change colour or burn brighter.

Dig site

Another explosion sent a column of debris high into the air, the huge bucket-wheel excavator moving slowly into position once the dust had settled a little, gouging the dirt aside as they slowly uncovered what had lain hidden for millennia...

Lamorsk Shipyards, Khabarovsk, 26,322 years ago

High Overseer Yannick slithered slowly along the inspection gantry, the Naga looking over the completed Primary with the air of a connoisseur. The Workers stood to attention as he passed, the Warriors nearby trying to conceal their distaste for his appearence while showing their respect for his position. While below the waist he had a long snake-like tail like the Mages, his torso was human in form and skintone, and without scales thoroughly bizarre to the reptilian Warrior caste.

He stopped at the end of the walkway and glanced along the vast form of Sekhmet, stretching thousands of feet in either direction, its enormous main gun the principle feature of the front end, and nodded, 'It is good.'

The Workers, similar in form to the Warriors but vastly more muscular and lacking their intellect, let up a cheer, Yannick smiling, 'It is commanded that this Primary and the nine Secondaries attached to it be named Sekhmet. Great is the will of the High Mages, and through them the will of Yig!'

Fusayoshi's Apartment; Tindalos Megalopolis; The Hack

The four Kitsune were lounging about in the living room, Fusayoshi briefing his team with the information he'd received from Elisa earlier in the day. Despite all the anti-bug precautious, the four still used their wireless communications system. No sense in taking risks. Normally, they'd do this in a bar, but nobody wanted to be bothered with trying to maintain two conversations at once.

Okay, ladies, I just got an update from the Speaker. Our trip's been delayed a few days... it seems that there's going to be a 'distraction' to make our lives easier. Considering the level of security Eurusea's got, we should all be sure to thank her when we get back. The team nodded, a rather short Kitsune sitting a little to the side, looking utterly overwhelmed. There a problem, Kaori?

"Huh? No... oh! I mean..." No, everything's okay sir. First mission jitters, I guess... She smiled weakly, feeling even stupider than she had a few seconds ago.

Fusayoshi smirked, twisting the top off a bottle of beer, "Huh... not a twist off... oh well..." Kaori giggled a little, relaxing, which was largely Fusayoshi's intent. It's understandable. We were all pretty nervous when we went into the breech on Grafton's. You'll be okay. You've got the training, you've got the skills, and you've got the internals. He grinned, Besides, Uyo does most of the heavy lifting. Literally and figuratively. He closed his eyes a moment, transmitting a dossier to the team members before continuing.

This is Nanami Shiratori, SFAT Pathfinder Kitsune from GMC, she'll be going with us on this little party...

Oh, fuck me with a tire iron... Uyo's response, not surprisingly, turned everyone's head, especially Kaori's.

Problem, Uyo?

Yeah. She's a Reg.

Yes, yes she is. Fusayoshi tried to maintain his composure, but it was getting rough. Uyo had, by far, the most cyber of anyone in the team, and possibly anyone in the country. They were some of the most heavily cybered citizens around, so they were sort of guinea pigs as well. Consequently, Fusayoshi was getting a first-person primer on cyber-psychosis. It largely seemed to manifest itself as mood swings, but there was the slightest touch of megalomania creeping in too. He had already filed a few reports, but there wasn't much that could be done at this point except keep his eye on her. At least she still performed well. When Ieyoshi retired, we needed a replacement, which is how Kaori joined us. Shiratori was also sent to join our team, largely because Madoka was unavailable. However, she is still SFAT, so even being baseline, she's probably had more training than we have, and she was at Lanfor, so let's not write her off before we meet her, okay?

The team nodded, Uyo having calmed down completely. Okay, going over the plan again...


Outside the Dig Site; 30,000 feet up

"So, Nanami... ever actually done one of these," Fusayoshi asked over the intercom, the vacuum caused by the open door trying desperately to yank him from the Formless Spawn.

Nanami shook her head, "Not as such, no...The simulation isn't that different, though."

He grinned behind his respirator at the stream of comments sent over the internal link from Uyo before smiling at her, "Well, just keep an eye on your altimeter... it'll be over before you know it."

Nanami smiled, recalling she'd been chosen over Madoka because the Chief was afraid of heights.

He bowed slightly, holding on to the doorframe with one augmented hand, "Well, no sense goofing around. Seeja on Mother Earth..." He let go and let himself tumble out the door. Nanami quickly fastened the uncomfortable pouch to hold her tail flat against her back, jumping after. He hummed softly over the intercom, rotating to his back and watching as the other team members made their jumps before concentrating on the scrolling numbers inside his eye.

Penthouse Suite, Workhoven Building, Chiba City, The Most Glorious Hack

Elisa Day had been asleep for a few hours when the door silently slid open and closed again, a man dressed in black with his eyes hidden by thermal goggles stepping carefully down the hallway. He glanced around, looking for the bedroom as he carefully screwed a silencer onto the pistol her was carrying, edging along the wall.

Elisa turned over in her sleep, sighing gently, 'Mmm...Sarah...' and hugging one of her pillows tightly. The intruder scowled, muttering 'Degenerate...' as he levelled the pistol at her head.

Elisa was woken by a sickening crack and tearing sound, her first sight an armoured Red Commando crouched on the bed in front of her holding a severed arm, the gun still clutched in the clenched hand. She screamed and crawled back against the headboard, the commando nodding her helmet off and giving Elisa a good view of the red star and 'CCCP' marked into the fibres of her hair. She growled inhumanly, before jumping at him again, scoring a deep mark across his chest with a double blade on her wrist.

'Stop!' it was Faye's voice, Elisa glancing up from where she was curled up in the corner to see Faye in something approaching a military uniform, a scowl replacing her usual gentle smile. She turned to the man, who was lying in the middle of a spreading dark patch on the carpet, 'Kostya...' she sighed, 'Funny...I'd never have thought it would be you...' she drew a small pistol from her jacket, and fired once.

Elisa whimpered as Faye stepped over to her, on the edge of bursting into tears. Faye sighed, 'Daft bastards...Seems some people in me department have been spyin' on me...Took it upon themselves t'stop me tellin' y'anythin' else...' she hugged Elisa gently, 'It's ok...I won't let anyone hurt you...'

The Red Commando blinked a few times as she glanced at her bloody hands dreamily, turning them over and saying sleepily 'I think I need a shower...'

Elisa was pretty much on autopilot, and pointed in the direction of the bathroom, before looking up at Faye and bursting into tears. Faye sighed, 'I should get you somewhere safer for a while, hon...'

Elisa nodded her head very slightly, and Faye smiled, 'It'll be ok...' she picked up Elisa and carried her out.

Lamorsk Shipyards, Khabarovsk, 26,322 years ago

Sheeta bowed as she took the heavy and distinctly oversized sword from Yannick's hands; while it looked fractionally less gigantic compared to her, it was still designed for a full-height Warrior Caste. She managed to find a comfortable way to hold it before intoning 'On this day I, Sheeta roSheeta Kalazar accept command of the Infinity Cannon Sekhmet.'

She soon found somewhere to stow the sword; it was ceremonial anyway, and served as an unpleasant reminder of her lack of size; Warriors were supposed to be sixteen to twenty-five feet, but here she was a rather pathetic eight-two. Her whole family were short, in fact, and it hadn't surprised her to learn her father, a breeding-male she'd never met, had been destroyed as inferior stock.

She started a little as the ship's holographic avatar appeared next to her, 'Um, Commander?' the avatar was around her size, Sheeta couldn't help but notice. She flattened her crest, staring angrily at the shimmering image.

'There's no need to mock me, Sekhmet...'

The avatar looked confused, 'But, um, this is how you'd want me to appear...That's how I configure the avatar...Is something wrong?'

Sheeta sighed, 'No, nothing...I guess I'm still a little embarrassed from that whole business with the sword...'

Sekhmet gave her a cheery look, 'Doesn't matter now...I just hope we didn't get off to a bad start.'

Landing Site Alpha

Fusayoshi quickly inspected his team as they hid their paradrop gear, "Anybody catch that fire? Think that was the distraction we were promised?"

Futami nodded, "Probably. That was the Black River... pretty heinous stuff there."

"Right. Okay... Uyo, do your thing. The rest of you, check gear and be ready, I want this to run as smoothly as possible."

Uyo nodded sharply, "Sir!" before moving to the nearest tree and quickly climbing up, I hate this country...

Nanami shook her head, "Didn't see a fire...I was a little more concerned with something else." She raised her rifle, blinking as she lowered it, "What in the hell is the Ark Nova doing here?"

Fusayoshi blinked, looking at Nanami, "Ark Nova?" He followed Nanami's gaze, "Oh... shit..." He switched to the WiFi system, Uyo, get your ass back down, we need to move!

Nanami paused, "This isn't right...That thing's been tied up in red tape for three years, why would they pull it out now?"

Fusayoshi shrugged, "Hell if I know, but I'd rather not find out... let's get moving, I'd rather not find out what it can do..." Futami, get us a lift.

Futami nodded, Sir!


Newsroom; North Hack News; Chiba City

Editor Barnes looked over her half-rim glasses at the flashing light on her vidphone. A quick glance at the callerID told her it was one of the new reporters, covering the crime beat. James... James something-or-other. She tapped a button and his face appeared on the screen, "Ms. Barnes?" He seemed to be at a pay phone; there were police sirens all over the place.

"Yes, James? What is it?"

"I've got a big one for you. A huge one! Some high ranking official's been killed! Elsa... um... Esa... er..."

She felt the migraine coming back. You'd think he'd actually use that notepad for taking notes. She saw the name of the building in the background and blinked. The Workhoven Building? "James... was that name 'Elisa Day' by any chance?"

"Yeah, I think that was it. Who is she?"

Yup. The migraine all right. Damn kids. "Look, just stay there and try to do something useful. I'll have someone meet you there." She just managed to avoid adding "someone with a brain" before turning off the phone.


Press Room; Corporate Spire; Chiba City
The next morning

Josef smiled nervously, looking at the assembled reporters, cameras, video feeds, and recording drones. He tried concentrating on the teleprompters in front of him, but it was quickly becoming a lost cause. He was a programmer and a scientist, not a diplomat. However, the oligarchy felt that it'd be best for him to make the announcement, and he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He was only the Nominal Head, he couldn't actually veto anything. He glanced at his glass of water, thinking of taking another drink, but was afraid that he'd just have to go to the bathroom in the middle of his announcement. He had precious little faith in his luck right now.

Why couldn't Jessica do this? Or some other ambassador?, he mused to himself. Feh. Might as well get this over with...

He cleared his throat and started, "Ah, ladies and gentlemen... as you are probably, um, aware, at approximately 0100 hours this morning an assassin... broke into Speaker Day's penthouse, and... ah..." He winced internally. He was losing it already, "And, apparently killed her. Police believe... that she was throw out the window, and are... um... still investigating. They believe there were two a-attackers, however." It was like slow torture. He could watch himself falling apart. He was a terrible speaker in general, but for something like this, well, a trained monkey could probably do better. "I'll... ah, I'll take a few questions now..."


Landing Site Alpha

The six ton truck rolled into the small clearing that was the landing site, that was now utterly deserted. As it rolled to a stop, Uyo dropped down onto the hood, her rifle pointed at the driver, who gave a slight yelp and then a sharp glare, "Dammit, Uyo, quit fucking around." Futami leaned out the window, "Let's go, gang. This should let us get pretty close."

Landing site Alpha

Nanami blinked again, still looking through the gunsight, 'More...' she pointed out into the darkness, at a distant group of huge objects slowly moving across the open plain, 'Jesus...' she crossed herself quickly, 'The Kursk, the Stalingrad, Leningrad, Khabarovsk...Four Ground Battleships with the Ground Carrier Ludmilla and a whole tank division...Little over the top to guard something, unless...' she blinked, 'Unless it's not to keep people out, it's in case they have to keep something in...'

She frowned, 'We need to get to the site. Fast.' She set her pack down, quickly stowing her gear except her rifle and slipping on plain clothes, 'I'll take position overlooking the quarry and fire if you guys get in trouble, we'll need to find you miner's uniforms in one of the villages.'

Road near the dig site, twenty minutes later

Nanami smiled, being thankful for people leaving their washing out on the line at night as she waited for the others to change. It had taken a little work to get the uniforms to fit, but a few minutes with a bayonet and needle and thread had done the job, a skill she could thank her parents for. Had to make things last, back then...

Dig site, forward section of Sekhmet

The lamp one of the miners held picked out the seam around the gigantic door, General Gorloff running his hand across the unfamiliar writing. 'I hear they tried blasting this open during the first excavation...There's not a mark on it...' He turned, glancing at the young snake-priestess further up the tunnel and managing to conceal his disgust at the Naga's appearance, 'Can you open it?'

Jeanna slithered up, rattling the tip of her tail nervously, acutely aware that she was tolerated here because she was useful. It made her very deeply afraid of what was to happen when she'd done what she was sent for. The fact the she was the youngest initiate in her temple hidden high in the mountains and thus the most disposable hardly filled her with confidence either.

She ran her hand over the intricate pictograms on the door, laying down a blanket to protect her scrolls from the dirt on the tunnel floor, before starting to check against the old writings. Gorloff watched, waving the soldiers away after a while to calm the girl down a little.

She turned her head after a while, 'It's mostly a technical note on the door's access area number, I think...Um...' she checked one area again, before whispering a few words too quietly for Gorloff to hear. There was a gentle hiss, and the door slid open, revealing a passageway beyond.

Gorloff blinked, 'What did you say?'

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and offered a brief prayer to Yig before answering, 'Um, it's just an old blessing, it's a little hard to pronounce...'

Gorloff sighed, 'And you're afraid if you do I'll kill you, fine. I'll let you lead the way.'

She looked visibly relieved as she rolled up her scrolls and slid them back into their holders in the elaborate robe she wore, before hesitantly slithering inside. The passageway beyond was as big as the doorway would suggest, the ceiling easily thirty feet high, cables and pipes running along it. Gorloff called up the tunnel, a pair of Army Special Forces soldiers soon appearing and following the priestess, the eyes of their full-body armour glowing a disconcerting red in the dark. Gorloff followed, 'Check out the rooms one at a time and map them.'

Jeanna took out a small flashlight she'd been given, trying to make sense of the writing on the walls, 'Um...' she pointed, 'I think there's something this way...' A couple of engineers had joined by this point, following her through the winding corridors until they eventually found themselves in a room surrounded by monitors and complex-looking equipment, all of it shut down. Jeanna checked her scrolls a few times, before nodding, 'It's certainly important, this place...Um...Power, or control, or something...It's an ambiguous word in the old tongue.'

Gorloff glanced around, 'Not big enough for a bridge...' his eyes were drawn to a large twist-switch on the console ahead of him, the floor nearby having a layer of dust on it, the shape suggesting what it had once been. 'Hrm...' he put his hand on the handle, looking designed for a hand somewhat bigger, 'Some kind of shutoff, perhaps...'

One of the engineers nodded, 'Jesus, it'll take years to work out how this thing works...'

Gorloff shook his head, 'We don't have years.' He gestured to Jeanna, 'Tell me how to work this.'

Jeanna blinked, 'C-comrade-General, I can barely...' she noticed his hand on his pistol, and gulped, quickly moving over and checking symbols as fast as she could. 'Um, I, um...' she was trying not to let her tail rattle to let him know she was frightened, and failing. 'I think that this is a switch for something...Um...Command, control, power, greatness...'

Gorloff grinned, 'Then it's what we're looking for.' He tried the handle, found it turned then stopped, then raised his hand, the handle telescoping out until it clicked, 'For your sake, this had better work.'

Jeanna shivered, trying not to cry as she felt the barrel of a rifle press against her back. Gorloff paused, turning the handle again, before pushing it back. Immediately, lights began to flicker on as a distant humming sound built in intensity. Jeanna sighed with relief as she felt the rifle go away. Gorloff grinned, 'And for that you can live.'

A hologram flickered into existence in the air in front of Gorloff, a little girl dressed in white, pale as a ghost with ruby-red eyes. She blinked several times, speaking in some unrecognisable language, before pausing and continuing, 'Where is my commanding officer, please?'

Gorloff paused, 'You are?'

The girl looked up at him, 'I am Sekhmet roSheeta Kalazar. Where is my commanding officer?' she blinked again as something rebooted, and glanced at Jeanna, 'Are you Overseer for these primates?'

Gorloff scowled, 'No, she is not. I am commanding officer here, your commanding officer has not yet been determined.'

She blinked a few times, before whispering some kind of prayer. Gorloff paused, 'Is this vessel operable?'

Sekhmet paused for a second, 'All systems shut down but within operational parameters. Operation can be restored within...' Gorloff blinked as he felt her in his mind again, checking things, 'One hundred and fourty-six minutes.' She used the word carefully, like it was the first time she'd ever heard it.

Gorloff nodded, finding her method of learning more than a little disconcerting, 'Um, excellent...' he paused, gathering his thoughts, 'Carry on.'

Infinity Cannon Sekhmet, sea near what is now Eurusea, 25,130 years ago

Sheeta sat back in her chair as the rest of the bridge crew busied themselves with the firing preparations. Since there was no danger to the Primary she'd chosen to command from the 'A' bridge with it's enormous armoured-glass window in front of her, though which she was now watching each Secondary move from it's position around the Primary to line up ahead of the main gun barrel. The mountain range that was their target was barely visible in the distance, wreathed as it was in fog and cloud.

Sekhmet stood beside her, the holographic avatar having long been replaced by the flesh-and-blood one the AI had been granted, a Warrior caste of similar size to Sheeta. Sheeta knew by now that it was out of friendship rather then to mock her, and was glad for the company of the AI, since the quarters for her caste were all ridiculously oversized and she would have to eat alone without her. Sekhmet tapped her shoulder, 'All Secondaries in firing positions, Captain.'

Sheeta nodded slightly, blinking a little at the touch, surprised she couldn't bring herself to be angry at the implied disrespect of it, 'Prepare to fire. Open the breech.'

Outside, the flat barge hovered under the Primary, the huge round resting on top of it as the underside of the breech slowly split open. The barge dropped away and sped off as the gravitic manipulator took hold of the shell, hovering it in mid-air for a moment before drawing it upward, the breech closing underneath it and locking into place.

Sekhmet raised her crest happily as she turned to Sheeta, 'Ready for your order, Captain.'

Sheeta stood. It was mildly ridiculous what they were doing, firing a round just to frighten the primate tribes in the area into accepting Khabarovsk's leadership and the worship of Yig like all their kinsmen had already, but the High Mages were far wiser than her in such matters, so...

'Fire.'

It was over in a fraction of a second, but that wasn't too hard for Sheeta to perceive. The insides of the barrel segments on top of the Secondaries briefly glowed as the projectile neared them, getting faster and faster with each one until it was a streak of white fire at the far end. The mountains shook as it hit, passing straight through each like they were paper targets before exploding and obliterating the last and largest mountain completely, the one the local tribes worshipped as a creation of their earth-god. The mushroom cloud rose lazily into the sky as pieces of rock the size of buildings rained down across the landscape and the tiny tribal settlements spread out across the plain below.

Sheeta sighed, 'All secondaries return to travel formation, head back to Khabarovsk.' Sekhmet had little trouble sensing how much the destruction had upset Sheeta, and followed her as she headed back to her quarters. Sheeta turned to her at the door, and Sekhmet touched her hand gently.

'You want to talk to someone?' Sheeta blinked at the phrase and the gesture, lacking any of the honorifics that a ship should use to address her Captain, but finding she didn't care. She nodded.

'Yes...Thank you.'

Fusayoshi's Apartment, Tindalos Megalopolis, The Hack
Few months ago

Fusayoshi sat in a lotus postion in the center of his living room, his stereo softly playing a Kodo album in the background. His eyes were closed and his breathing perfectly relaxed. He gently placed his hands on the carpet in front of him and slowly lifted himself up into a hand-stand, using his tail to help provide balance. After holding that position for a few moments, he carefully extended his left arm sideways, supporting himself with his right. He slowly did a few dips, the enhanced muscles in his arm straining to support his increased weight; the bone-plating made him largely immune to concussive forces, but even grafted titanium added quite a bit to his mass. Even with his eyes closed, he could see the readouts from his personal system, showing just how much strain his arm was under, a very valuable readout, all things considered. Not only had his bones been plated, but he had muscle-weave, a procedure to increase his already naturally increased strength. The readout helped him avoid doing massive damage to himself: his muscles were stronger than his joints, tendons and skin. He could literally tear his arm off if he tried to lift something too heavy.

After several dips, he switched to his left hand; his breathing still slow and steady, his heart rate barely above baseline. Halfway through this exercise his doorbell rang. Without pausing, he linked into the network that ran everything in his apartment, triggering the front buzzer, and softly saying, "Come on up, it's open." He slowly lowered himself back to his lotus position and was in the process of standing up when Ieyoshi let herself in. He smiled at her, turning down the stereo, "Ieyoshi... what can I do for you?"

She sighed, sitting on the couch. She looked upset, and hadn't quite been herself ever since their mission to Eurusea. "Why do we do it, Fusa?"

"Why do we do what?" He looked a little confused, sitting down next to her.

"Why did we get butchered? So we can run around in other countries? So we can kill better?"

"Personally, I did it because it paid better. I think Futami did it for the same reason." He frowned, realising this wasn't what she wanted, "You always had the least augs, Ieyoshi... why did you do it?"

She shrugged, "I don't know anymore." She pulled the small wireless transmitter from her pocket and set it on the coffee table, "But I don't want to do it any more. I can't do it any more."

He sighed, looking at the plug. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Fusayoshi spoke again, "This has been brewing ever since Unity Island, hasn't it?"

She nodded, "Pretty much. I don't want to do any more missions. Natalya and Anya need me. The Hack doesn't."

He leaned forward and picked up the plug, turning it over in his hands; he had one just like it in his own neck, "Well... I can't stop you, but I wished you'd reconsider. You're an important member of the team," he set the plug back down, "and a good friend."

She smiled sadly and hugged him, "You're a good friend too, Fusa. That's why I came here, instead of just filing a request. I have to do this, and you know it."

He nodded, holding her close, "I know." He pulled back and smiled at her, "You take care of yourself, Ieyoshi. And, please, stay in touch. We'll miss you."

She laughed, "I'm not going to Caloris, Fusa, but I will, don't worry." She gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek, "Tell the team for me, will you? I'm going to talk to Director Day, and then head out."

He nodded, taking her to the door, "I will. Send our love to your girls, okay?" She blinked at him, and he chuckled, tapping her nose lightly, "Your their mother now, and that's why you're quitting." He grinned, "I may not be the teep you are, but I'm not just a stupid grunt, either."

She laughed and hugged him tightly, "Never said you were." She walked out, heading for the stairs, and paused. She turned back to him, "And you're right." She smiled, looking at ease with herself and went on down the stairs.


Checkpoint outside the dig site, Eurusea
Now

"Papers. Now." The guard glared at the truck with the Kitsune sitting inside, looking the roll of low paid miners. The team had done its work well: fur matted, streaks of white fur designating scars, all of them looking down meekly, Fusayoshi was even wearing contacts to hide his naturally red eyes.

Futami nodded shyly, speaking with a Barensburg accent, "Here, comrade." The guard gave a very thorough look at the papers, as well as looking around the truck, thankfully he was less thorough with it. A few tense minutes passed, before they were waved through.


Okay team, we're on a tight schedule, and we probably can't leave that way, we won't be here long enough for a shift, and it'll look suspicious if we scoot. I'm transfering coords for a tunnel system. We'll be taking that. Nodding in responce to Fusayoshi's mental briefing, Futami parked the truck in an out of the way location, and the team piled out, hefting their tool boxes and kit bags.

Fusayoshi glanced around and then continued, Uyo, try to take out those tracks, or the signal box. Or both. We're not taking the explosives home with us, so don't feel the need to skimp. Kaori, you're with Uyo, give her any and all assistance she needs. Futami, you're with me. We're gonna take some pictures...


Undisclosed Location, Barensburg

Elisa woke up with a start, screaming in fright and desperately looking around the room, cowering behind the sheet as if it offered any protection at all. Her breathing finally returned to normal and she sniffled pathetically, crying softly. The nightmares hadn't stopped, and she was unable to sleep for more than a couple hours at a time. Often, the dreams would have the assassin killing Sarah and then turning to finish her off. There was always too much blood. She shook her head as the tears streamed down her cheeks, she couldn't shake the image, and she desperately missed Sarah. "It's not fair..."

She brushed the tears out of her eyes and picked up the phone which automatically dialed Faye, "Um...Faye...?"

Faye smiled, appearing at the door and clicking her phone off, "Been sittin' outside, love. Same nightmare again?"

Elisa nodded, "Uh-huh... I can't do this..."

Faye stepped over and gave her a gentle hug, sighing, "Is there anythin' I can do t'help y'?"

She all but collapsed into Faye's arms, crying some more. After a few minutes she looked up and sniffled, "I need to see Sarah..."

Faye nodded, "Thought as much..." she sighed, "As long as I'm away Premier Kurchatov will be lookin' after y', I'll be back as soon as I can." She smiled reassuringly, "She's a nice lass, don't be scared."

She looked mortified at the thought of the one person she knew leaving, but being without Sarah wasn't something she was up for either. She nodded sadly, clinging to Faye, "O-okay... thank you Faye..." She blinked away a couple tears, "For everything."

Faye gave her a gentle kiss, holding her close. A pair of soldiers stood outside; though effort had been made to conceal they were Red Commandos to spare Elisa the memories, the numbers on their cheeks and their red rangefinder left-eyes didn't leave much doubt about the matter.

Elisa tried to avoid noticing the Commandos, just clinging to Faye, feeling safe; eventually, she drifted to sleep again.

Faye sighed, lifting Elisa into on Commando's arms and giving her a severe look, "Guard her with yer life, girl. That's what God commands." The commando nodded dreamily, whispering, "Great is the will of God..." Faye shook her head and headed to the radio, ordering her personal jet to be ready.

Air Carrier Ark Nova, above the dig site

General Chutsenko sighed as she looked over Ark Nova's corroded superstructure, watching the work crews going through the tedious task of picking weeds and moss out of the giant carrier's catapults. When they'd told her she'd been given command of the new Air Carrier she'd been excited to say the least, for the honour of commanding the gleaming black-painted giant from the propaganda posters.

The reality was this, a ship all but ruined by three years of complete neglect and an order to mobilise immediately. Helicopters kept ferrying them new parts as they moved; at present a great heap of burst water pipes was piled on the number two port deck lift. She turned to her first officer, 'Repairing during mobilisation is insane. Is point defence back up yet?'

'We've still got three radars out on the port side, fucking rats have got into the cables, bitten some right through. The guns seem to be settling into the old mounts ok, no jams as of yet.'

Chutsenko sighed. It's a fucking joke, that's what it is.

Dig Site, East Access

One of the other workers walking with the team blinked a few times; a middle-aged Kitsune man with a heavy pickaxe slung over one shoulder. He gave Uyo a concerned look, 'You just get out of a labour camp, comrades?' he paused at the look he got, 'The scars...I hear they can be pretty brutal places.'

'Finasov, by the way, if you're here replacing the group we lost to that prop collapse yesterday I'll be your supervisor. We're working in section 34 of the site, and, um, try to make sure you don't see anything you shouldn't while you're here.' He hopped onto a small transport train, gesturing for them to follow. At the bottom of the pit it was possible to see under the immense tent-shaped tarps; beneath were huge domed structures standing on raised pillars which looked for all the world like massive radomes.

The track followed the curve of the quarry side, floodlights replacing the moonlight as they moved under a canvas canopy spread out over a metal lattice that covered almost half of the quarry.

High above, Nanami cursed as she watched the train disappear under the canvas cover, raising her binoculars and glancing down the train tracks as something on the horizon caught her attention. 'Oh shit...'

'The Forever Train,' No 6720 Locomotive group able, train 17, heading for the dig site

From the first engine of Able group Comrade-Train Commander Ilyasov could appreciate the appeal of power to those who would wield it against the people; three engines behind his and three more groups of two spaced down his train that stretched ten miles back down the tracks all controlled by the single throttle lever his hand rested on. To have this entire monumental machine at the beck and call of his hand and his alone...He felt like a king sometimes.

That's why he'd kept the picture of Comrade Stalin in his cabin of late, to remind him that the train, like everything else, was the property of the people.

Still...

He grinned, flicking open one of the speaking tubes and raising the throttle a couple of degrees, 'All reactors, report!'

A quick chorus of 'within tolerances' and 'goods' greeted him, and he smiled as the train slowly began to pick up pace, counting the red braking towers along the track to judge when to start slowing down.

Dig Site, West Side

Finasov grinned broadly as they rounded the corner of the track, 'As I said, try not to see anything you shouldn't.'

To one side of the track the quarry side dropped away almost vertically, the new floor of the quarry hundreds of feet below. From the face they were moving along, something was slowly being revealed.

The whole thing was built surrounding a gun barrel as big as a railway tunnel, a massive and obviously armoured machine dotted with strange insignia and writing. The track rode over a raised section of it that looked like some kind of bridge area. The revealed area was the best part of half a mile long, and it looked like that wasn't even half of it.

Finasov smiled cheerfully, 'You'll get extra rations just for working here, comrades. Don't worry, you'll forget about that labour camp in no time.'

Sekhmet

The little holographic avatar had followed Gorloff at a respectable distance as he had walked off; he was obviously angry, and Sekhmet had the unpleasant suspicion she'd done something wrong.

She watched as he stopped outside and punched the wall hard enough to leave a dent up to his wrist, standing up straight afterwards and rubbing his fist, 'Why like that? Why did she have to pick that shape?' he sighed, 'Ivanna...'

Sekhmet coughed, 'Um, it's what you were expecting to see...From a ship AI, I mean.' she paused.

Gorloff started slightly, 'Pay it no mind.'

Sekhmet looked confused, 'Is something wrong? Shee...Um, my last captain, she always talked about these things with me...'

Gorloff sighed, 'It's not your fault, child.' He looked down, and scowled, 'It's mine.'

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.

But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
~Richard III, William Shakespeare.

Karsten, Eurusea, 20 years ago

Gorloff threw the file down on Kislin's table, 'Smuggling, connections to illegal projects, violations of four Articles of the Revolution...' he shook his head, 'Is there anything you haven't done, you fucking slime?'

The area commander smiled smugly, sitting back in his chair and lighting a cigarette, 'I haven't hidden my little deviant child from the Biopreparat...' he grinned, 'Unlike some I could mention, Commissar. How is Ivanna?'

Gorloff's blood ran cold, 'Even you wouldn't stoop that low...'

Kislin smiled sadistically, 'Try me. If that file doesn't disappear, I know people who can be told things like that...I'd be doing my nation a favour, helping to root out the psychic menace...' he stroked his straggly beard, 'They might even give me a medal...'

Gorloff picked up the file, smiling, 'All the bluffing in the world won't save you, Kislin.'

Kislin blinked, panicking as he watched Gorloff walk out, managing to shout 'Hope your girl enjoys Fort Stalin!' after him. Gorloff ignored him.

Commissar's residential area, Karsten, Eurusea

Gorloff had been quite satisfied as he'd watched Kislin being dragged off by armed military police, driving home feeling sure that Premier Vanya Kurchatov would issue him a special commendation for his diligence. He hummed to himself as he drove slowly home, in no particular hurry.

He knew something was wrong when he turned the last corner and saw the group of APCs parked outside a house, his house. He put his foot to the floor, pulling up sharply and stepping out, 'What the fuck is going on? Who's in charge here?'

A man in a uniform identifying him as an officer in the Biopreparat stepped forward, 'That would be me, comrade. We had a report of a psychic child sheltering in one of these houses. Don't worry, she's already out of the area, your family is safe....'

He was interrupted by Gorloff grabbing his collar and lifting him off the ground; 'I'll ask you once and only once, where is my daughter?'

The man swallowed hard, 'I...You know I'm not told, Commissar...She could be in any of a dozen...' Gorloff dropped him, and he fell heavily against the bonnet of the jeep behind, crying out in pain. 'If she ends up in the Fort, so will you. Understand me?'

The officer nodded quickly.

Detention Centre, Kosmar, Eurusea

Gorloff pulled the bolt up sharply as the heavy steel door closed behind him, the various other locks closing in turn. In front of him, handcuffed to a chair wearing only a pair of filthy shorts and with a bloodstained gag clamped between his broken teeth, sat Kislin. Gorloff shook his head, 'You know, I watched every minute of it. I heard her every single time she screamed...' he spun around, bringing the back of his hand across the man's bruised face, 'How dare you...How fucking dare you drag my child into your games...'

He pulled the gag down, Kislin coughing painfully, 'Say something, you dog!'

Kislin managed a pained grin, 'Fucking...Deviants...' he grinned more broadly, the blood on his teeth gleaming under the lights, 'Both of you...freaks...'

Gorloff shook his head slowly, 'Don't think you'll get a quick way out, comrade...' he pulled a table over, slowly unwrapping a field medical kit from his pocket, laying out each item carefully. 'I watched, Kislin, and I promised myself...' he picked up the scalpel and turned, 'That for every hour she suffered, you would suffer for two.' His face was terrifyingly deadpan as he looked Kislin in the eye, 'Do you know how long it took?'

Kislin could barely manage to shake his head. He'd been ready for the man to simply kill him, but the look in his eyes...

'Twenty-nine hours.' He tested the blade of the scalpel against his fingertip, then looked up, 'I'll make you scream before you die.'

Floating Fortress Scherzando, outside the Heart

Gorloff sighed, waving the two guards away, 'Dismissed.' They saluted and stepped out, back to the previous checkpoint. Gorloff reached for the control to start to door opening procedure, a voice print and a few other checks...

And flinched. He shook his head, knowing what he would see inside and knowing he didn't ever want to see Ivanna like that. His thumb moved down to the keypad, tapping the switch for external communication.

The hologram that flickered into existence was almost a parody of the child he'd raised; Ivanna had been a lively, smiley child who had loved the outdoors...She was always drawing pictures of butterflies, birds, flowers...

The pale little hologram that looked up at him with blind red eyes looked like her, certainly, and it didn't make him feel sick like looking at her in that iron throne had, but...

She didn't even know him anymore, except so much as to put a single word to his face, one single, dreadful word.

Heart of Scherzando blinked, 'Daddy?'

Dig Site, now

The ground began to shake as Sekhmet powered her engines, work crews running for their lives as gantries toppled over and vast cracks spread along the unexcavated areas of the Primary. The sirens wailed in the night as the rumbling increased, 'All work crews evacuate the dig site immediately! Make you way calmly to the nearest exit.'

Finasov grabbed Fusayoshi's shoulder, pointing to a rickety-looking stairway nearby made mostly from scaffolding and boards, 'That way! Quickly!' Swirling clouds of choking dust had begun to fill the bottom of the pit, the cracks of splitting rock getting louder as the rumbling intensified even more.

Most of the work crew in the pit with Finasov's unit made it out quickly, the Kitsune looking back down and helping to haul others up. The whole quarry was full of smoke and dust now, the bottom completely hidden from view. The cracks seemed to stop for a moment, and then the eye began to trace a section where the clouds of dust seemed to bulge upward, almost as if...

Nanami dropped her binoculars, watching wide-eyed and crossing herself quickly, 'Dear God...'

Non Burrows, Khabarovsk, 24,900 years ago

RoSheeta Aiesa Kalazar waited patiently outside the family burrow for her sister; since she'd been given her command her visits seemed to get further and further apart. She'd been waiting for a good hour or so now, but wasn't about to give up. Being lucky enough to have a surface-level burrow entrance she could look all along the massive glass-roofed tunnel that covered their roadway, a gift from the Mage-Lords in recognition of her sister's status.

She raised her crest hopefully as she picked out another figure in the distance; it was certainly the right size for Sheeta, and as the figure came closer she recognised the loose informal robe with it's decorated shoulder, the pattern of her sister's scales...

Sheeta had to bend down to hug her sister, nuzzling her happily. Aiesa looked up at her, 'I missed you...'

Sheeta sighed, 'I missed you too.' She sat down as the rest of her clutch gradually came out of the burrow, the little Nons sitting and listening attentively as she talked about what she'd been up to since her last visit.

Aiesa paid particular attention to the way her big sister's crest dropped sadly when she mentioned not being given permission to take Sekhmet as her bonded partner. For the rest of the day a plan formed in her mind, of something she could do for Sheeta to pay her back for all the hard work she'd done for their family.

Restful Meadows Cemetery, Marshall Island

Sarah wiped away a tear as she stood at attention in front of the dark wooden coffin, a wreath of lilies and a photograph of Elisa on top of it. It was a bright and cheery day, which only really made it worse. She sniffled, and drew her service sword, laying it flat on top of the casket, 'I pay homage to Elisa Day, my beloved wife.' she intoned. The lanyard of her black dress uniform fluttered gently in the breeze, as did her veil, as she watched the other guests each place a black cloth on the coffin, uttering 'Homage to our sister Elisa.'

She didn't notice Faye watching from near the back of the crowd of mourners, not that she'd have cared if she had. She saluted silently as the coffin was lowered, only allowing herself to fall to her knees afterwards, shaking with sobs.

Sarah's flat, Marshall City

Sarah sat down, having got out of her uniform and into shorts and a vest top, and looked at herself through tear-stained eyes. She took the photo of her and Elisa from it's place in the corner of the mirror, and sniffled, 'I should have gone and seen you a month ago...' she rubbed her eyes, 'I never even got to say goodbye...'

She noticed that without really thinking about it she'd closed her hand around her pistol, all but one of the bullets lying on the dressing table beside it. She looked at the gun for a moment, and shook her head, seeing Elisa' s happy smile in the photograph, whispering, 'No, that's not what you'd want at all...'

Another voice near the door made her jump, 'Damn right it's not, lass.'

She jumped up, trying to rub the tears from her eyes, 'Wh-who the hell are you?'

Faye smiled, 'Not really important, that...Elisa wants t' see ya, ya need t'come wi' me.'

Sarah scowled, her hand moving to the sword Elisa had bought her as a birthday gift. She drew it quickly, the light gleaming down the word 'Justice' inscribed into blade, 'You killed her!' Sarah hissed, eyes narrowing.

Faye shook her head, 'Did no such thing, lass. She ain't dead.'

Faye barely dodged Sarah's first swing, strands of her hair slowly drifting to the ground. She grinned, 'You're a fast one...' she dodges a second rather more easily, the third being met with the sound of metal against metal, Faye blocking with a pair of long blades extending from the back of her hand.

Sarah blinked, 'What the...?' she winces as she realised blood was running down her cheek. Faye grinned.

'Can't guarantee the next won't leave a scar, lass...'

Sarah scowled, 'Fuck you!'

As Sarah moved Faye dodged around her, pushing her into the bathroom door, which collapsed, Faye quickly picking up Sarah's sword and touching the tip of the blade to her throat. She smiled, 'You're a spirited one, Sarah. I'd expect nothin' less from me co-wife.'

Sarah blinked, 'What...?'

Faye smiled, 'Now yer not tryin' t' kill meself for a minute, Faye Elizabeth Madigan. Elisa's missin' ya terribly, I'm here t' take ya t' her.' She paused, then sighed, tossing the sword away, 'Take a seat, I'll explain.'

Dig Site, East Access

Uyo almost had a look of murder in her eyes as the workers herded all four Kitsune into the train, Kaori put her hand on Uyo's should to calm her and was rather surprised at the sensation. The muscle under Uyo's fur was tense and knotted... and vibrating ever-so-slightly. Kaori was familiar with basic muscle-weave, she had it herself; it usually resulted in slightly thicker feeling muscles, but for how Uyo's shoulder felt, the older Kitsune must have had extensive augmentation. The vibration also surprised Kaori, and it took her a few moments to figure out what the cause was: Uyo had augmented reflexes as well. The process was simple in concept, difficult and expensive in practice. Essentially, the nerve channels were impregnated with a superconducting material which allowed the signals to travel from the brain to the muscle several times faster. It made the subject a little twitchy at times, which was what Kaori was feeling, but the side effects tended to be minimal.

Uyo managed to avoid jumping when Kaori touched her, simply looking into the younger Kitsune's eyes for a moment and then settling back in her seat. There wasn't much of anything she could do, anyway. Killing the workers would blow the mission.


Undisclosed Location, Barensburg

Elisa sat in her room, listlessly tapping at her computer before sighing again and getting up to get another glass of water.

To Sarah it seemed like Faye had been leading her though the building's concrete-lined corridors for hours when they stopped at a steel door, "This one, lass."

Elisa walked back to her computer and stared at screen some more. She was oddly bored. Normally she was terrified or lonely, so it was a switch, but not exactly an improvement. She glanced at a little monitor by her door and blinked before rubbing her eyes and looking again. She ran over and opened the door, "Sarah?!"

Sarah blinked several times, then threw her arms around Elisa, holding her tightly, "Oh God, Elisa..." she looked into Elisa's eyes, tears running down her cheeks, "I thought I'd never see you again..."

Elisa held Sarah close, crying as well, "Sarah... I'm so sorry..." She kissed her wife before hugging her again.

Faye smiled gently, "I'll leave y' two alone t' catch up."

Elisa nodded, "Thank you, Faye." She waved and closed the door before leading Sarah over to a sofa and snuggling her on it, "I didn't mean for this to happen..."

Sarah smiled, "Oh, don't apologize..." she hugged Elisa gently, "All that matters is you're here now."

Elisa nodded, wiping tears from her eyes and smiling at Sarah, "I'll explain later... I'm just so happy you're here." Sarah curled up on the sofa next to Elisa, not saying a word.


Dig Site, West Side

The four Kitsune worked diligently, the strength augmented ones being careful not to reveal themselves. Fusayoshi finally understood why he'd been forced to take all those acting classes. He was also very thankful for his fur: he just had to pant, he didn't have to try and act up some sweat. After working for awhile, Kaori moaned softly, grimacing and holding her abdomen. She waved off the first few attempts at help, before dropping to her knees, tears in her eyes. Uyo helped her up and smirked at one of the male workers coming over to help, "No, comrade. It's a woman thing." He blinked and then quickly went back to work as realization dawned.

It was touch and go as they carefully made their way across the dig site, ducking behind machinery or boxes as people came by. There were a couple close calls, almost made closer by Uyo's limited patience, but they eventually made it up and out of the dig site. They ran, crouching low across the periphery until reaching the tall fence that stood between them and the Forever Train.

Uyo cursed under her breath, noticing that they were short on time. She was in no mood to fool around with the fence, and certainly in no mood to risk cutting herself of the, probably rusty, barbed wire. She moved to between two poles, grabbed the bottom of the fence, and lifted sharply up. The muscle under her shirt rippled as she bent and stretched the weak metal of the fence completely out of shape and crawled under. Kaori blinked a couple times and shrugged, putting the wire cutters back in her pocket and crawled under after Uyo.

Uyo kneeled on the other side of the fence, glance up the tracks at the massive trained as she rolled up one pant leg revealing ten small canisters containing a particularly potent solid explosive. She glanced at the train again, the rangefinder in her eye quickly telling her how much time they had before setting the timers on two of the canisters and handing them to Kaori, "Signal box." Kaori nodded and made her way over. Uyo moved down the tracks, before kneeling and getting to work affixing one canister per rail. She idly hoped these weren't some horribly over-engineered Eurusean super-rails that required nuclear detonation to ruin. Kaori helped her with the last rail and the two ran off to get the truck and head out. If Uyo's timing was correct, the explosives on the rail would go off right before the lead car reached them. With any luck that monstrosity would derail.


Tindalos Metro Hospital, ICU, Tindalos Megalopolis, The Hack
Ten years ago

Futami rubbed her eyes, sniffling as she did so. Her eyes were already bloodshot and the fur around them matted from her tears. The slow steady electronic beep of the heart monitor drilled into her head and she sniffled again. "Oh, Yumi... I'm so sorry..." She brushed the hair from her unresponsive sister's face, "I'm so, so sorry..." There was a soft knock on the doorframe and Futami turned, seeing Dr. Kensington motioning for her to follow.

"The tests come back, Doctor?" Her voice hopeful.

"Ah, no." The doctor didn't want to be a cold person, but he found he was unable to do his job unless he was. He'd grown used to it over the years, but at times he wished he could be more warm and caring. "There's a slight... issue, here."

Futami blinked and shook her head, "Issue? Wh-What do you mean?"

He sighed, "There's no easy way to say this, but... your credit has been denied. Unless you manage something by the end of the week, we'll have to discharge your sister."

Futami looked like she'd been slapped in the face, with a growl she grabbed the doctor and shoved him against a wall, "She's in a fucking coma! How can you just discharge her? She'll die!"

The doctor yelped in surprise, "It wasn't my decision! I can't control what the administrators do..."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do, doctor? Win the goddamn lottery?"

He stammered, his mind spinning as he tried to figure out a way to get the very angry, very strong fox to let him go. He noticed her military uniform and something clicked, "Um... actually... there might be a way..."

She leaned in, growling menacingly and baring her teeth a little, "Talk."

"I heard a few doctors talking... there's a new project and they need volunteers. Kitsune volunteers." He paused, then thought better of it and continued, "Okay, look... apparently the military's looking to cyber up some of their soldiers... some kind of special forces thing."

"And...?"

"Well, and that sort of thing tends to pay well, doesn't it?"

Futami peered at the doctor for quite a few minutes, thinking about what he'd suggested, before letting him drop down to the floor and returning to her sister's room. After a few more minutes, she grabbed the room phone and called her base.

SFAT equipment orientation facility, two weeks before

The Quartermaster seemed to find the whole situation somewhat amusing, 'Yes, of course you'll be taking electronic timers...I mean, they're only heavier, easier to detect in security checks and ten times as likely to break down, after all.'

The Kitsune man reached into his pocket, tossing a box to Uyo, 'Chemical detonators. Red is ten minutes, blue twenty, yellow thirty, green an hour, black two hours. Easy to use, just crush the dull section there.'

The Quartermaster sighed, 'You'll thank me when you're not shot for bringing some damn silly box of tricks out there.'

Dig Site, now

Ilyasov never saw the flashes on the rails ahead of him, the enormous form of the engine hiding them from view, but he did see the signal box disintegrate as the charge went off, and swore as he saw the signal was still up. 'Shit!' he winced as he drove his fist through the glass cover of the emergency brake lever, pulling the handle inside down firmly.

The brakes engaged quickly, smoke and sparks trailing from the wheels. Ilyasov blinked as the throttle failed to respond to being turned off, 'Damn it all, sabotage?'

The screech of the brakes fighting hopelessly to stop the train was interspersed with bangs as the brake blocks caught fire and broke away from their mountings, flames playing from under the train as it thundered on towards the broken rails ahead of it. The lead engine veered sharply to the left as it hit the broken rails, overturning and sliding into one of the engine sheds, which exploded violently. The engines behind met similar fates, eventually leaving the train yard a mess of ruined engines and splintered trucks, burning fuel-oil spreading lazily and trucks of explosives sending brilliant fireballs rolling into the sky. Behind, the train had finally stopped as the group Charlie commander cut power to his train's reactors, leaving a trail of smashed and derailed cars for over a mile back down the lines.

Sirens sounded out all across the dig site as the first soldiers arrived at the train yard, 'Attention! Attention! There are saboteurs among us, comrades, be on the lookout and report any suspicious persons immediately to the nearest member of the site security detail. No work teams are to exit the site until these evil enemies of the state have been uncovered!'

Nanami's position, above the dig site

Nanami gritted her teeth as she watched Sekhmet rising from the rolling clouds of dust and smoke in the pit, partly obscured by the clouds of black smoke drifting from the train yard, thinking briefly of her promise to her sister. She holstered her binoculars, taking out her rifle; a simple bolt-action Enfield No. 4 with a Lavenrunzian-made precision optic / IR scope, high-quality but nothing easily traceable, and tried to pick out the four members of the team, all the while having the increasingly unpleasant feeling someone was watching her.

The others weren't that hard to spot with the thermal sight, their augmented state making them brighter and with differently placed 'hot spots' to regular heat sigs. Two were running from the train yard and sweeping round, the others making their way back to the truck as surreptitiously as was possible, taking advantage of the confusion.

She blinked as she realised Sekhmet had stopped, hanging dead still in the air over the smoke-filled quarry. It was monolithic; easily a mile long, possibly two, the red-and-white colour scheme having not faded even slightly in eighteen thousand years. Lights on its surface flashed from time to time as it powered up, Nanami shouldering her rifle and running for the pickup point by the side of the road as she saw the truck start moving.

Behind where she'd been hiding, in the shadows of the thicker bushes, four eyes briefly glowed red as something watched her creep away. After a time, it followed, it's footsteps making barely a sound among the dry leaves and twigs.

Sekhmet

Sekhmet smiled sadly; though it felt much better to be free of the soil and rock, she couldn't help but miss Sheeta, or feel hopelessly lost as she tried to comprehend how much had changed with the passage of time. The Empire Which Will Never Die was somehow gone and forgotten; even the Administrator-Caste woman Jeanna only knew handed-down stories. The thought kept gnawing at her.

Am I really the last?

Gorloff was cursing loudly at the destroyed train, 'Damn it, we would have to lose the part carrying the damn test rounds for the gun...' Sekhmet coughed, Gorloff turning, 'Report.'

'You requested a sensor check...All systems within parameters and operating normally...And, um...I have a light vehicle exiting the dig area, the speakers below us are indicating this is forbidden.'

Gorloff blinked, 'What vehicle?'

Sekhmet's monitors shimmered into life, three faces of the internal combat bridge suddenly being filled by an image so clear it might as well be a window. A section of road magnified, appearing in a floating holographic 'window' in front of Gorloff, 'Object is a vehicle of approximately six metric tons based on ground effects, volume and composition, hydrocarbon combustion engine driving four wheels rear with two unpowered to front for steering...'

'It's one of our trucks.' Gorloff scowled, 'Those damned saboteurs, I bet...If only I had something left to take a shot at the cowardly bastards with...'

Sekhmet nodded, 'Affirmative. Searching for objects of suitable composition that match breech and barrel dimensions, please stand by...' she bowed her head slightly for a moment, then; 'Alternate projectile has been found, should I-'

Gorloff scowled, watching the retreating truck, 'Proceed!'

Sekhmet nodded, 'Beginning firing sequence and starting system checks. I have insufficient data on the projectile's construction or its integrity to guarantee its flight path with any meaningful-'

'Irrelevant! Proceed!'

Road near Nanami's position

Nanami grinned as she sat back, laying her rifle on the floor of the truck and sighing with relief. She reached for the photo of Keiko she kept in her pocket, smiling a little at the message her sister had written on the back. She saw something out of the corner of her eye, slipping the picture away and glancing back at the dig site as the truck bounced along the rough dirt road somewhat faster than Nanami would have thought safe.

Nanami's jaw dropped as she looked back at the train yard; one of the engines in the siding Sekhmet was now hovering over was a good twenty feet off the ground and rising slowly; as she watched it's coal tender broke loose and fell to the ground, smashing open and scattering coal across the yard as the train's engineers ran for their lives. Above it Sekhmet's main breech opened at an almost leisurely pace, closing again as the engine disappeared inside.

She tore her gaze away for a moment, 'Drive faster!'

'Why, what the fuck is...?'

She glanced back as double doors opened all down the inside of the thing's main gun, the inner barrel glowing like a blast furnace, 'You don't want to know!'

And then, with a sound like the world breaking, Sekhmet fired.

For Nanami, time seemed to slow down as she watched the streak of fire from the cannon's barrel change from orange to yellow to white, smaller fireballs trailing off the main one, the engine disintegrating as it bore down on them. It took only a fraction of a second to cover the couple of miles Fusayoshi's driving had put between them and the dig site, the remains of the engine ploughing into the hillside a few hundred feet from them. The impact threw the truck into the air and sent a massive column of dirt rolling into the sky, fragments of the engine spraying the whole area.

As Nanami glanced back, she noticed dozens of swirling white smoke trails extending towards them from Sekhmet's missile tubes, the truck veering sharply into the forest, 'How far to the cave entrance?!'

Captain's Quarters, Sekhmet, 24,898 years ago

Sheeta blinked as she unwrapped the package her sister had handed her, having promised not to open it until she got home. From within the paper gleamed an intricately carved ceremonial dagger, a little small for Sheeta's hand, but that was because her caste weren't supposed to touch it. She shook her head, 'Oh, Aiesa...What have you done?'

She knew what the Bonding Knife was for, had even looked up the ritual on the faint glimmer of a chance she'd been granted the honour of taking Sekhmet as her bond-partner, but she'd never have considered stealing a temple's Bonding Knife...It would be death if one was caught in the act, Aiesa would have known that too. Sheeta sighed; though she was horrified her sister would take such a risk for her, that could be dealt with in it's own time. For now, it was her duty to make sure she hadn't taken that risk in vain.

Ship's chapel, Sekhmet

The nervous look in Sekhmet's eyes no doubt reflected that in Sheeta's own as they stood before the imposing steel statue of Yig, Sheeta trying to think of a proper way to address Him on what was a somewhat, well, unusual ritual.

She knelt and bowed her head, 'Blessed Father of Serpents, I beg you forgive us this impertinence in addressing you in the manner we do. While it is the will of the High Ones that we not be bonded, I believe it is by your hand and blessing that I find this sacred blade in my hand, and thus that it is your will that this should be.' She looked up, her crest rising a little, 'My gratitude for this is without limit, Father Yig, and I will do all in my power to honour this great gift you have seen fit to grant me.' Sheeta stood, sighing gently, her tail wavering slightly, showing how nervous she was feeling.

Sheeta slowly drew her ceremonial sword, holding it flat in her hands and placing it on the altar in front of her, before shrugging off her uniform, letting it fall to the ground, intoning the beginning of the ritual. 'I stand before you now as nothing and nobody, as I was before my heart knew of the one you created for me in your flawless wisdom, Father Yig...'

Sekhmet stayed silent as Sheeta spoke, waiting her turn; as she was the lower ranked of the two there wasn't a lot for her to say. She took the opportunity to listen to Sheeta's voice, until her captain took her hand, intoning the most important part of the ritual.

'We two are warriors, Father Yig, as you yourself are; we shall share likewise the joy of victory and the agony of defeat. As a proof of our oath to one another...' she took the knife from where she'd laid it down, holding it carefully, 'We make this gesture, beneath your watchful eyes.' Sheeta slowly ran the blade of the knife over her left palm, careful not to cut too deep, then repeating the action on Sekhmet's right palm. Sekhmet gritted her teeth, wanting to yell from the pain as Sheeta took her hand in hers, their blood running down the outside of their fingers, gently dripping to the floor of the temple.

'As we share this bond of blood so we share a bond of love, and some things that were before this moment come to an end.' She turned to Sekhmet, looking into her eyes, 'Sekhmet dies today, and so is born my mate, who is granted the honour of my name, Sekhmet roSheeta Kalazar.' Sekhmet blinked at the order of the honorific, Sheeta nodding firmly.

Captain's Quarters, Sekhmet

Sheeta bandaged her hand carefully as Sekhmet sat down, 'Um...?'

Sheeta turned, 'Something troubling you?'

Sekhmet nodded, 'You really didn't have to, well, name me as your equal...I should be roSheeta Sekhmet Kalazar...'

Sheeta sat down next to Sekhmet, nuzzling her gently, 'It was my choice, and that's what I chose.' And she'd never hear any more on the matter.

Marshall City, a few days ago

Eolwen lay on her bed in her pyjamas, reading through her great-grandfather's notebook again. While most seven-year-olds would rather be playing outside, the young Elf tended to prefer quieter evenings; reading, writing, drawing; sometimes, as now, with her headphones on, but she'd never minded silence.

She had a notebook and pencil next to her, occasionally scribbling little notes down. Her great-grandfather had been something of an eccentric, that much was clear even from his handwriting, which wasn't restrained by page lines, margins or even pages in some places, and was pretty hard to read. Like her, he'd been fascinated by their family's treasure, as her mother had called it.

The necklace and the dream went together; neither of her sisters had ever had it. Since Eolwen had always been fascinated by the way things worked, she'd always wanted to figure out just why the glittering silver dragon-shaped pendant with two yellowish gemstones that looked like eyes wrapped in its coils did what it did. If nothing else, because the dream was so horrible...

Taonna, near the Elf city of Ostolingala, Marshall Island, 19,015 years ago

Kethma smiled cheerfully as she looked along the market stalls for something Nyali would like; the traders had plenty of elaborate jewellery bought in from across the Empire, though much was beyond anything she had for trade. It was a warm day, though, so she wasn't in any rush.

In the distance across the rolling green summer meadows she could make out home, the mighty towers and spires of Ostolingala rising high above the raised rim of the crater lake the Suspended City hung over, an eternal testimony to the skill of Elven engineers. Still, she enjoyed the countryside, and it was nice to take these little trips out.

She grinned as she saw a fortune teller's stall; a few friends had been to them before to ask about their relationships, and the returns, she was told, were pretty much always upbeat and positive. She checked her dress, 'Well, why not?'

Inside was dark, only a few flicking candles providing light. There was a small table with a large crystal on it, a pendant of a dragon hung over it. The figure behind was cloaked in shadow, quite the showman it seemed. 'Sit...' he creaked.

Kethma sat, resting her hands on her knees, 'Hiya...Um, I'd like you to show me...' she paused, 'How happy me and Nyali are going to be in the future?'

The fortune teller smiled to himself. You could tell when they were happy together by the voice alone most of the time, which was good; telling people they'd break up was bad for business, and he had to know when to let them touch the eye crystal and when not to.

'Touch the crystal, child, and you shall see the future as it shall be...'

Kethma reached out hesitantly, before closing her eyes and letting her slender fingers touch the glimmering yellowish orb. She pulled her hand back almost immediately, blinking.

The fortune teller looked puzzled, They're usually smiling now...Oh damn... 'Did you see what you wished to see?'

Kethma didn't nod or shake her head, she simply offered the fortune teller his fee. He took it, handing her the pendant from over the crystal, with it's recording of the vision, 'Go, and be happy, child.' He managed.

Kethma almost ran outside, heading for the nearest path of trees, retching into the scrub. As she looked up at Ostolingala she couldn't shake what she had seen. In the moment she touched the crystal, she'd seen the Suspended City, crumbling and wreathed in searing crimson flames, and had watched as, with horrible slowness, its support cables had broken and Ostolingala had fallen into the crater lake below. It was too real to not be true...

She shook her head, and resolved to tell Nyali, and persuade her that they should move out to somewhere safer. In the time it took her to return she managed to persuade herself that the vision had been wrong, but she just couldn't feel safe in Ostolingala anymore.

Uyo's Apartment; Tindalos Megalopolis; The Hack
Ten years ago

Uyo flopped onto her bed, tears rolling down her cheeks. Clutched in her hand was her rejection letter from the military. She crumbled the letter up, throwing it across the room in frustration. "I'm fucking worthless," she sniffled. She'd been in the Hack's Army -- such as it is, she thought bitterly -- for a couple years now, and hadn't gone anywhere. She just wasn't good enough. Her true dream had been to join GMC's SFAT, but hadn't even bothered trying: she knew she'd never make it with them. Since that was a lost cause, she came to the Hack, figuring her Basic Training with GMC would give her an edge. She also figured the Hack's requirements would be low enough for her. If you can't cut it as a cop, be a security officer.

She'd failed miserably in her attempts. She couldn't run fast enough, her aim wasn't good enough, she wasn't strong enough, and she wasn't even a 'real' psychic: she was an intuitive. That made her somewhat impressive in the Hack, but it was just another item in a long list of failures in GMC, and didn't even help her one ounce in the Hack. She was pathetic, a failure and worthless. Even in the Hack, and that was the most pitiful aspect.

She got off the bed and wandered over to her dresser where her service pistol rested, gleaming in the pale light her lamp threw out; she had just finished cleaning it when the mail arrived. The mail that had given her the bad news. She picked up the pistol, feeling its familiar weight in her hand, and peering at it curiously. It would have been a simple task to pop the safety and put it in her mouth. She stared at the steel eye of the barrel for several minutes before sighing and putting the gun back down, Too pathetic to even kill myself...

---

She stayed in her room for the next week, largely just feeling sorry for herself, occasionally glancing at the pistol that still sat on her dresser, it seemed as if it was mocking her. Eventually her sense of hunger roused her enough to head to the kitchen. She blinked in surprise as she saw an envelope with her name on it, waiting for her on the kitchen table. She tore it open and read the letter, before asking to nobody in particular, "AugSpecOp?"


Fleeing the dig site

Uyo's motion-detection cyberware went nuts as the railcar disintegrated on its way towards the truck. She had just enough time to brace herself before the truck was thrown into the air. A stream of swearing came out of Fusayoshi's mouth, enough to shock even Uyo, as he tried to keep the truck from rolling and killing everyone. His reflexes were amazing to watch, it was just a pity that the old Eurusean truck had no hope of being able to respond fast enough, especially not after being tossed.

"Fuck! Hold on, goddammit!" That command appeared to be to his team, the rest of his yelling was directed at the truck. He swore even loudly as he felt the truck getting away from him right before it slammed into a tree. Fusayoshi was vaguely aware of Uyo yelling out in pain before his forehead bounced off the steering wheel.

It took a few minutes for the fog to lift from his vision. He found himself laying on the grass, not far from the remains of the truck. He quickly pulled up status reports on his team members. Everyone seemed okay, the worst injury appeared to be Uyo's. She'd managed to slightly fracture her arm in the impact, another case of cyber outperforming flesh. He slowly got to his feet to directly check on Uyo, but found that Kaori had already set and wrapped Uyo's arm.

He rolled his head around, cracking his neck a little, "Nanami, you okay, too?" He smiled as she seemed to be okay before looking at the truck. He chuckled a little as he saw the steering wheel with a deep dent the same shape as his head. He whispered his thanks for bone plating, and pulled up his internal map of the area. "Tunnel's not too far... we need to get moving." The Kitsune shouldered their gear and started jogging towards the cave entrance.


The Isle of Mhu Thulan (what would be the Hack)
25,130 years ago

The Lizards...

The Lizards?

Yes... the Lizards... they torment the monkey-things.

Why do they torment the monkey-things?

Only The SLEEPER knows, only The SLEEPER.

Shall we ask HIM? Shall we ask The SLEEPER?

Yes... yes, we should ask The SLEEPER. HE will know why the Lizards do as they do. Why the Lizards torment the monkey-things. We must pray to The SLEEPER. We must ask HIM why.

Will HE hear us? Will the SLEEPER hear us?

HE will. HE must. We will call The SLEEPER. We will call HIM as our ancestors did. We will rouse The SLEEPER from HIS slumber. The SLEEPER will hear us, even deep in... N'KAI.

The strange, rat-like beasts lopped off to find their High Priest. Soon, hundreds of Voormis raised their voices in supplication to their god, father and benefactor. Their twisted inhuman words filling the once silent night.

N'ggah-kthn-y'hhu! Cthua t'lh gup r'lhob-g'th'gg lgh thok! G'llh-ya, Tsathoggua! Y'kn'nh, Tsathoggua!

Ia! Ia! G'noth-ykagga-ha!

Ia, Ia, Tsathoggua!

It continued over and over, louder and louder for the whole night.

Largo's Cave

The ground shook as vast muzzle flashes extended from four of the Ground Battleship Kursk's main guns, followed a moment later by the Leningrad, the wails of the shells rapidly getting louder as Sekhmet's missiles began to smash into the woods, tree-strikes sending razor-like splinters of wood hurling across the forest, Nanami yelling in pain as she was hit in the upper arm by one, carrying on running towards the cave entrance.

She was barely inside as the first shells hit home, tearing great holes in the cliffside, one bringing down the entire cave entrance in a shower of dirt. Nanami sighed and reached for her flashlight, twisting it on with her teeth, 'Well, cross out any attempt at stopping her taking off.' She ran her torch around the tunnel they'd ended up in, noting discarded picks and shovels here and there, a full cart of rubble on the track in front of them. 'Weird...Looks like they left this place in a hurry...'

Dirt fell from the ceiling as another volley smashed into the cliff outside, Nanami glancing around, 'Can't feel any wind coming in, but these tracks must lead somewhere...' she shouldered her rifle, 'Well, two somewheres, one of which is out.'

After only a little way the tunnel opened out into a much wider one, the floor a mess of broken and charred wooden slats that looked to have once been put in place to make the floor flat instead of curved. As Nanami looked along the walls her torch picked out the oddly smooth walls, looking to have been not so much carved as melted in this shape. Nanami shivered, 'I don't like this...'

In one of the numerous shafts that led up to the surface at angles no human could hope to climb, it watched them follow the tracks out, heading deeper into the mines. It grinned to itself, going through it's records from watching the foreign fireteam, working out which one would be first.

The one called Uyo is strongest, but she is always suspicious...Always with the young one, as well. the voice of the OMS cut in on it's thoughts, and as it had been trained to, it listened.

The young one is weak, nervous. Her death would hurt the strong one...You smell her fear, don't you?

It nodded silently, whispering, 'What must I do, Lord?'

Kill her.

Dig Site, below Sekhmet, that night

Jeanna had politely declined an offer of an early return to the dropoff a few miles from her temple; with the choking clouds of dust dispersed in the pit, she could take a look around for relics of those who left Sekhmet there. A holy relic to take back to the temple would be sure to impress the elders, might even elevate her from a lowly initiate to some position of actual value. For now, though, she needed to sleep. She'd found a warm spot near one of the generators to spread out her sleeping bag, and was just drifting off when she heard voices, the guards and one she hadn't heard before. She sat up a little, putting her glasses back on.

Near the makeshift lift that led up to Sekhmet a tall man in an Air Force uniform was talking with the armed guards on duty, the few floodlights on the only thing cutting through the total darkness of a moonless night. Jeanna watched silently, trying not to be noticed.

The guard shook his head again, 'I'm sorry, Comrade Air Vice-Marshal Kabatov; Commissar-General Gorloff has ordered that only approved personnel be allowed access to the OOPART. He flicked over a couple of pages on his clipboard, 'And your name's not on my list...'

Kabatov, a clean-shaven middle-aged man with narrow eyes and short, neat black hair, sighed, 'It is essential to national security that I am allowed access to the OOPART, comrade.'

The guard blinked, 'No such notification has reached me, I can't...' a gunshot rang out, and the man flopped to the ground, trying to crawl to the alarm. Kabatov watched him haul himself to his feet, clutching the post the alarm switch was mounted on, before sighing and putting a bullet in his head just before his hand reached the switch, 'Tiresome.'

A group of soldiers ran out, spotting the wisp of smoke coming from the silencer of Kabatov's pistol and raising their weapons, Kabatov grinning as they were cut down by sniper fire from the upper part of the quarry. He smiled, slipping his pistol into its holster and calling his men down, 'Who'd have thought that sabotage would be so useful to us, hm?'

He glanced up at Sekhmet, 'We'll soon restore Eurusea's glory again, and save her from the reformist bastards who would betray the spirit of the Revolution...We'll have a true Premier like Vanya Kurchatov again, not a worthless coward like that dog Nicole.' he blinked as he spotted movement, 'Someone's over there...Menshov! Parkin!'

The rattle of their guns made Jeanna duck for cover, not nearly quickly enough. She cried out in pain as bullets hit her tail and shoulder, falling to the ground sniffling pathetically. One of the men walked slowly over, dragging her back with him and throwing her to the ground. 'She's not dead...What do you want me to do?'

Kabatov scowled, 'It's an abomination. Kill it.'

Jeanna sniffled, closing her eyes as the soldier pointed his gun at her, muttering 'Nothing personal, girl.'

A shot rang out, Kabatov smirking with his back turned, 'Soon purge Eurusea of all these damned subhuman filth, and then this glorious weapon can spread the light of the Revolution across the world...'

A familiar voice behind him spoke, 'Guess again...'

Kabatov whirled around as the floodlights died, briefly seeing Menshov lying dead in front of the cowering Naga. The voice...A young man's, filled with condescension and barely concealed malice. He only knew of one voice like it. 'Dilandau?!'

The Air Marshal's cruel laugh echoed in the darkness, shots ringing out, the sounds of men falling to the ground all around him as Kabatov fired his pistol uselessly into the gloom, a heavy punch to the stomach from an unseen attacker making him drop it. He could hear a man to his left trying to clear a jammed gun, recognised Reznikov's voice as the man shouted his name desperately, his voice choking with blood as a final shot was fired and the floodlights came back on.

Dilandau was standing in front of him, the young Air Marshal, his superior and the commander of the Air Force, smiling his usual cracked, half-mad smile. He was athletically built, standing slightly shorter than Kabatov, his face almost feminine in appearance. His staring red eyes were framed by untidy short grey hair, which was held off his face by the tiara-like form of the Mind Harness he wore. Kabatov was one of the few who knew of the Air Force's experiments with direct control of aircraft by the pilot's thoughts, and one of even fewer who knew that all the subjects had died or gone mad except the one standing in front of him.

Looking into his eyes, Kabatov found it hard to believe anyone could have judged him sane. Dilandau sighed, tossing his unused pistol aside, the two soldiers holding Kabatov's arms stopping him from punching the smug, self-satisfied look off his face, 'It's so depressing having to deal with morons like...' Dilandau almost sounded bored as he paced slowly over, blinking, 'Oh. It's you.'

Kabatov scowled, 'Damn counter-revolutionary traitor! Do you want to see the Air Force destroyed by that bitch?'

Dilandau shrugged, 'I really don't see what you're talking about, comrade...' he smiled, 'You see, for dealing with the traitor who tried to kill a foreign leader, attempted to steal a weapon of the People's Military...' he glanced over at Jeanna, and grinned, 'And attempted to murder a priest of the Holy Church, I've been given certain guarantees...' he rested one finger under Kabatov's chin, 'Oh yes, 'comrade,' today is a very good day for my air force.'

Kabatov blinked, 'How the hell can you stand to look at that abomination, let alone call it...' he was cut off as Dilandau punched him hard across the face, shaking his head. 'You seem to have some problem with your eyes...She looks perfectly human to me, she even has papers that say so, you see.' He giggled, 'Luckily, we can soon fix that...' the solder on his right punched Kabatov in the stomach again, making him fall to his knees as he felt one of his ribs break.

Kabatov looked up at the two soldiers as they drew their knives, struggling uselessly as the first placed the blade against his eyelid and pushed hard, ignoring his screams. Dilandau smiled, giggling occasionally as he watched.

Grand Temple of Our Benevolent Father Yig, Khabarovsk, 24,898 years ago

The huge Worker raised a stubby hand to his chin, looking down at the tiny Non and the Warrior standing beside her. Sheeta sighed; it wasn't hard to confuse Workers, of that she was only too aware. This one was particularly large, which only really served to emphasise his apelike face; more expressive than that of other castes, but unpleasantly, well, different. He stood thirty feet high, and was nearly as broad across the shoulders, resplendent in the uniform of a temple guard. Like most Workers he had a simple, single-word name; Kron, in his case. Any longer and they had trouble remembering.

Kron frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to process what the two higher-castes were telling him, 'You find knife...Apes take knife from temple...You find?' he managed.

Sheeta nodded, 'Yes, we found it with a group of humans outside the city, they must have been the ones who took it from the temple.' She took a step in front of her sister to hide how scared she looked, 'You've done a good job by seeing we had it, we came to return it.'

Kron looked horribly confused, giving Sheeta a hopeful look, 'Kron do good?'

Sheeta nodded again, 'Yes, very good. Now, we need to return this to the High Priest, can you get him?'

Kron nodded, lumbering off grinning to himself. He'd enjoy telling the other temple guards about how a high-caste had praised him later, but for now he busied himself searching for the small form of the temple's High Priest, eventually finding him cleaning the altar. 'High-caste outside, send Kron to get High Priest.' He paused, 'It important.'

The High Priest sighed; the temple guards were useful because they simply weren't intelligent enough to lie, but he'd have been pleased with something more, well, articulate. 'Very well...' He slithered after the Worker, who tried to match pace, frequently pausing so the High Priest could catch up.

Sheeta knelt as the High Priest became visible, bowing her head and closing her hand to hide the healing wound from the knife, 'Your Supreme Holiness, I come bearing the sacred knife of your temple...' she held out the blade in her other hand, the High Priest taking it from her and examining it carefully.

He looked at her eventually, his voice barely concealing his anger at the knife's theft, 'And how, pray, did you come across this most holy of treasures?'

Sheeta kept her head bowed, 'By chance, Holiness, I saw a group of primates playing with it like a toy outside the city borders, I must assume they were the ones who took it.'

The High Priest let the light gleam off the blade, 'It is still in good condition, praise Yig...' he paused, 'But the human tribes have become bold indeed if they are willing to steal from the Grand Temple. I shall take this matter up with the High Mages. Rest assured, Sheeta roSheeta Kalazar, I will mention your name for returning this treasure. Yig will be most pleased.'

Sheeta looked up, 'Praise Yig.'

Maiden's Tower, Marshall City

Rachel smoothed her dress uniform nervously as she entered the elevator to the Supreme Commander's office; it was hard to tell how high up the Tower it went, or even if it went up, for that matter. Eventually there was a short beep and, as she had only a handful of times since her appointment, she stepped into the pitch-dark room, the single spot of light in front indicating where she should stand. In front and all around she could hear an unpleasantly hoarse breathing sound, and the voice, when it spoke, was as usual obviously electronic.

'Welcome back, Speaker Knight.'

Rachel bowed gently, 'Thank you, Sir.' She paused, 'You requested an update on the situation in Eurusea, Sir, I-'

'Is it as I feared, Speaker?'

Rachel nodded, 'It seems fully operational.'

There was a long pause, then a sigh, 'So, Eurusea now controls the ultimate weapon...'

Dig Site; West Side
Earlier

After Kaori and Uyo left because of ‘cramps’, Fusayoshi knew his time was limited. Out of habit, he brushed his fingers over the back of his neck, feeling the slight depression where his plug was; hidden by a flap of skin and his fur. The plug helped power his wireless communication with his other team members, made him able to speak Eurusean, and contained a solid state memory chip to store the pictures his was about to take.

He slowly worked his way across the dig site, doing miscellaneous work while moving himself closer to the ledge leading down to the center of the pit. The occasional glance towards the metallic monstrosity was all he needed for the tiny cameras attached to his optic nerves to take their pictures, the information streaming to the memory chip.

After taking his pictures he stood doing idle work with Futami, the two Kitsune doing a fabulous job of looking busy without actually doing much of anything. When Sekhmet rose from the pit, the two ran, with no small amount of panic, to the rendezvous site, Fusayoshi’s cameras taking pictures constantly.


Largo's Cave
Now

The five Kitsune carefully picked their way through debris and rubble, moving deeper into cave, Futami taking point, her enhanced low light vision helping her point out potential hazards. She also was able to keep alert for poisonous gasses. She didn’t know why this particular mine was abandoned, especially so quickly, but she figured gas was certainly a possibility.

Nanami and Fusayoshi were having a mild argument, speaking back and forth in hushed tones. Nanami kept saying that she felt like they were being followed, Fusayoshi explaining over and over again that both he and Uyo had motion detectors, and neither one of them were picking up anything. Uyo eventually glared at Nanami a little, “Oh for Christ’s sake, quit being so damn paranoid!”

Kaori frowned a little at Uyo’s outburst but found herself drawn to something else she’d noticed. Since they weren’t using flashlights, Kaori had been fooling around with some of her own enhancements, specifically her ability to see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums with only the slightest thought. She’d first switched her vision into the UV range to if there was anything nifty on the cave walls, perhaps some luminous lichen. She was sorely disappointed as there appeared to be nothing on the strangely smooth walls. She sighed and shifted to IR, deciding to see if there was something to Nanami’s claims; maybe there was something following them, something that Fusayoshi and Uyo’s detectors couldn’t pick up.

Instead, she noticed something wrong with Nanami: her heat signature was off kilter. Kaori quickly shifted to normal and walked up to Nanami, “Nanami? Are you okay?”

The Kitsune nodded weakly, “Sure, fine…”

Kaori gasped, “You’re bleeding!” She noticed Fusayoshi sigh and reach to rip off his sleeve, “No, wait, Sir. I saw a med kit back at the entrance.” She smiled, “It’s not too far, I’ll be right back.”

Fusayoshi shrugged, “Sure, sounds good.”

Kaori ran back down the tunnel, quickly finding herself at the entrance. She looked around a little frowning as she tried to remember the location of the kit, eventually finding it. She had kneeled down in front of the kit, digging though it to make sure it had clean bandages when she heard a footstep behind her. Her ears pricked up, but she kept looking through the kit, “Uyo? That you?”

Largo's Cave

It saw Kaori bend down, instinctively reaching for the empty holster at it's hip, empty because it had discarded it's silenced submachine gun at the top of the shaft to fit down. Instead, as the rumble of another barrage from the Ground Battleships made the cave shake, it drew it's sword, and slowly made it's way through the shadows towards her. It didn't worry about scent, since it had been built with reference to the Kitsune sense of smell. It slowly and silently drew its sword back, starting the swing just as Kaori turned, hearing the sound of the blade tearing through the air.

The turn forced it to change the swing, the OMS kicking in and guiding it's hands. Instead of a simple, swift blow that would have lopped Kaori's head right off her shoulders it turned the blade down to the hand clutching her weapon, the cut taking Kaori's hand clean off and sending her weapon clattering into the shadows.

The sounds of the barrage drowned out Kaori's scream as it lifted her up by her throat with one hand, Kaori getting a brief chance to look at her black-armoured attacker. Most of its face was hidden by a faceplate with four blue 'eyes' that glowed faintly, narrowing as it looked at her. And paused.

The strong one is fond of this one...She will be easier to fight if she is angry...

The D-Commando whispered, 'What would anger her, Lord?'

Pain...

Kaori was sobbing in pain already as the D threw her flat on her face, placing its foot in the middle of her back to stop her standing. It ignored her screams as, with agonising slowness, it drew the point of its sword across the delicate tendons of her ankle.

Uyo stiffened as she sensed Kaori's pain; before Fusayoshi had a chance to react, she was charging back up the tunnel. Fusayoshi’s face screwed up in confusion; the biological information he was receiving from his team members wasn’t right. It showed Kaori as being perfectly fine. After a handful of uncertain seconds, he realised that his system wasn’t working right. And if his biological feed was malfunctioning, what about his motion detector? 'Oh, shit… Futami, watch over Nanami, I'll be right back…' He quickly checked his rifle and ran after Uyo.

Uyo ran into the collapsed entrance, howling in rage as she saw D standing over Kaori. Her grip on rationality and humanity had already been weakened by her extensive 'modifications'. Seeing Kaori helpless under the… thing, pushed her over the edge: her animal instincts took over, and an almost visible red haze coloured her vision. Without thinking, she engaged her pain editor, and launched herself across the remaining distance between herself and D.

The D looked up, 'eyes' glowing brightly in the darkness as it raised it's sword to meet Uyo's charge, the blade biting deep into the Kitsune's arm, only stopping at the bone.

Uyo's pain editor worked overtime, she barely even noticed the blow, even as the blade skittered down her titanium laced forearm sending sparks flying into the air. As the long strip of mangled flesh and muscle was sheared from her arm, she swung with her right hand with lightning speed, intending to literally knock the D's head off.

The D's dodge was almost contemptuous, the black-armoured thing ducking slightly leaving Uyo punching air and aiming to sweep her legs from under her.

Uyo was too overbalanced to effectively avoid the sweep and came crashing to the ground, the stream of oaths coming from her lips pausing only as her muzzle bounced off the stone floor. She leapt back up to her feet, leaping at the D again.

It was a few moments later when the D noticed another arriving, it's eyes glowing brighter briefly as the OMS' voice boomed in it's head. You cannot fight two together! KILL HER!

Fusayoshi cursed softly under his breath as he brought his gun to his shoulder. Uyo was moving faster than he'd ever seen her move before and she still wasn't faster than whatever it was she was fighting. His scope showed the numerous wounds on her arms and body; her overalls had been shredded almost beyond recognition, and yet she kept fighting. From the dents in it's armour it seemed Uyo had landed several blows on her attacker, but with no weapon she stood little chance of doing any serious damage to it.

He suppressed a gag as the D dodged a poorly-timed punch, shoving it's blade-covered forearm into Uyo's belly, just missing disembowelling the Kitsune and briefly lifting her off her feet. Uyo gurgled softly before slumping over, giving Fusayoshi the opening he needed. His finger tightened around the trigger and he fired.

The D's head jerked to the side as the bullet hit it's faceplate and bounced into the darkness, pieces of the plate falling away as it shattered. As the D looked back up at Fusayoshi half it's faceplate dropped away, showing that the four 'eyes' were just that. The D's face was roughly human, disturbingly genderless and with two eyes one-above-the-other on the side that was visible.

The D barely paused, kicking away from the mine cart behind it and sliding briefly towards Fusayoshi, rolling and sweeping it's sword above, Fusayoshi's dodge barely saving him from losing his arm at the elbow. The blade sliced through his rifle instead, going through plastic and metal like a hot knife through butter. The D finished the roll, ending up on it's feet and already swinging its sword at an angle that would bury it up to the handguard in Fusayoshi's ribcage.

Fusayoshi blinked in surprise as the barrel of his rifle clattered to the ground. It took him a moment to realise what had happened before he heard the strange 'tearing of silk' sound that meant the blade was coming back towards him, probably for a much more personal attack. He quickly ducked while simultaneously swinging his ruined rifle at the D's gut with all his strength, the remains of the rifle shattering on impact.

The D barely even registered the blow, replying with a brutal punch to Fusayoshi's ribcage with it's empty left hand.

Fusayoshi growled as the D's blow sent him sliding across the stone floor, rolling to his feet. He cursed softly again, turning off the streaming medical information flowing before his eyes, the last thing he needed was more distractions. He looked around frantically, desperately trying to find some kind of weapon: not ten feet from him was the proof that hand-to-sword was going to be an abject failure.

Nanami's vision was blurry as she went to find out what was going on, her rifle nestled under one arm, the scope back where she'd been lying, broken in the crash. She blinked as she saw Fusayoshi and the D fighting, dropping to one knee, the old rifle nestling easily against her shoulder, just as one like it had the first time her mother taught her to shoot.

The dizziness from blood loss wouldn't go away, Nanami gritting her teeth, murmuring the mantra her mother had taught her long ago as she stared down the iron backup sight, waiting for her shot.

'I am a stone...I do not move...'

The blade was coming back at him. Fusayoshi gritted his teeth, he knew that this thing was kicking his ass, and he was already bleeding from numerous cuts. He was able to dodge more than Uyo had, because he wasn't attacking in a blind rage, but he knew that he wasn't going to last forever. He started to dodge the blade, but noticed that the D had only being feigning; reflexively his blocked with his arm. The blade bit deep, severing flesh and enhanced muscle before burying itself almost to the marrow of his metal laced bone and shattering. He howled in pain and dropped to his knees as one of the shards from the sword lodged into his right eye.

Nanami followed the D with her gunsight as it jumped away from Fusayoshi for a moment, easing her finger back gently. The D dodged too late, the first round hitting it in the shoulder as Nanami pulled the rifle's bolt back and forward, the action almost a reflex. The second shot hit it as it was staggering from the first, going through it's right hand, the broken, bloody sword clattering to the floor of the tunnel.

Nanami would swear she heard her mother's voice repeat the last words as she'd done so many times when she was learning, as she placed the sight over the D's head, 'I aim for the eye...'

The last shot rang out, Nanami collapsing unconscious from exhaustion and blood loss before she could watch the D fall.

Fusayoshi had bandaged his arm and covered his eye and was talking with Futami as they tried to figure out their next course of action. 'We need to get out of here. We're screwed if there's another one.'

Futami nodded, 'What was it?'

'No idea. I was taking pictures the whole time. Let someone else figure it out, we need to move.' Futami nodded silently, letting Fusayoshi continue, 'Okay, we've gotta get Uyo patched up before she bleeds out completely. Those bandages are soaking through already.' He paused as he noticed the look on Futami's face, 'What…?' He turned and followed Futami's shocked gaze.

The D was standing again, somehow, breathing heavily, the exposed side of it's face marked with trails of blood running from the open head wound that pulsed wetly. Inside the wound, the bullet was lodged in the computer that powered the OMS; in it's eyes now there was only confusion...And fear.

It looked pleadingly at Fusayoshi, talking a shaking step forward, finally speaking in a blood-flecked whisper that was neither male or female, 'W-why doesn't He answer...?' tears mixed with the blood running down it's face, it's eyes becoming more desperate, 'Help...Me...'

It swayed and fell to it's knees, whispering three words before it dropped to the ground lifeless.

'Momma...It hurts...'

Largo's Cave
Immediately after the D's collapse

Fusayoshi cocked his head, peering at the corpse, "Is it really dead now?"

Futami nodded, "I think so..." She kneeled over the D, peering into the ruined socket, studying the destroyed OMS. "Yeah, it's dead. You got any room for more pictures?"

Fusayoshi nodded a little, "Yeah, I can take a few more." He slowly walked around the corpse, taking more pictures with his one functioning eye before sitting down in the mouth of one of the tunnels. He let out a soft sigh, "Rebandage Uyo, could you?"

Futami nodded, rebandaging Uyo as best she could; she was surprized that Uyo was still alive, actually. She was pretty torn up, as was Kaori too. Futami glanced at Fusayoshi, "Um, sir? What's the situation?"

"We're fucked. We've got three people down, two up. Well, one and a half," he lamely raised his bandaged arm. He chuckled darkly, "Boy, our contact's gonna be fucking pissed." He pointed to Nanami, "She's the only one who can go to a hospital, too." He pulled up the status information of his teammates, they were close enough that he could get accurate data. He shook his head; it wasn't looking too good.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Futami moving over to Nanami, "I think she's waking up..."


Linux Military Base
Ten years ago

The man stood in the doorway to the gym, watching the soliders work out. The one who stood out the most to him was a surprizing average-looking Kitsune who was out lifting all the other soldiers. It seemed as if there was a contest, actually. The Kitsune was competing against one of his squad-mates, some hugely muscled human Pfc. The human was beginning to show signs of favtigue, but the Kitsune was barely slowing down, and was even laughing occationally.

Rather quickly the human gave up and stalked off, the Kitsune laughing even more and putting the weight back on the support and sitting up; he didn't even look winded. The Kitsune cracked his back and neck before looking over and noticing the man in the suit, standing by the door. He turned to his buddies and told them he'd catch up later, going over to see what the man wanted.

"Are you Sgt. Saito?" The man's voice was completely unremarkable as was his face. So unremarkable you might forget you were talking to him, or lose sight of him even as he stood before you.

"That's me. Whatcha want?"

"I'm from Section 4, and I'm looking for volunteers. For a very... special assignment."

Saito blinked, cocking his head to one side. Section 4 was an almost unheard of combination of the spooks in Section 3 and the spooks in military intelligence. This meant on of two things. Either A) someone was screwing with him, or B) this dude was for real, and they were going to make him an offer he really couldn't refuse. After all, they weren't the type of people to announce themselves unnecessarily. "This is one of those, 'I'll cease to exist and become a Ghost-Among-Men' type deals, isn't it?"

The man smiled thinly, "You're a bright one."

Saito grinned, "My dads didn't raise no dummy. Lead on Mister Mysterio."

The man chuckled a little as he lead Saito out to an equally nondescript car, letting Saito into the backseat and then following behind him. The driver pulled out without speaking. The unremarkable man turned to Saito, "I hope you don't mind changing your name, Sergeant."

Saito shrugged, "Not especially. Oh, hey, this'll pay better right?"


Chiba International Airport; Chiba City; the Hack
Now

Elisa stepped off the small private plane at one of the back terminals of Chiba International. She was happy, but at the same time, she was in a foul mood. She'd wanted to go back to Marshall Island with Sarah, but she had work that had to be done as soon as possible. The terminal had been completely blocked off by police and security, only one person sat there waiting for her return: Josef.

Josef smiled warmly as Elisa entered the terminal, he went to her and gave her a hug, "It's good to see you again."

She smiled a little, despite being rather put out, "I'd rather be home."

Josef sighed and nodded, leading her towards an equally secure section of the garage, "I know, I know. I'd rather be at home too, but there's times when we have to suck it up for the job." He sighed a little, "It's been hard. For awhile, we had no clue what the fuck had happened. You were missing and we had a corpse. You know how North Hack is. You can imagine how difficult damage control was."

Elisa walked next to him, saying nothing.

He frowned and continued, "We were able to piece it together a little, which is why we never officially replaced you, and why we just left Jessica as Interim Speaker."

Elisa stopped walking, "You knew? You fucking knew I was alive?"

Josef shook his head, "Wasn't completely positive. I had my suspicions, especially since the crime scene didn't add up. We didn't have actual verification until we got the call from Ms. Madigan."

Elisa glared at him, "Why didn't you at least tell Sarah?"

Josef smiled sadly, "Same reason Madigan didn't, I'm sure. By the time I had confirmation, Sarah was already notified. Before, well I couldn't bloody well call up Sarah and tell her I think you might be alive, now could I?"

Elisa blinked and nodded, sighing deeply, "You're right... I'm sorry. It's just so frustrating."

Josef smiled, "Wasn't easy over here either, just so you know." He put his hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly, "Come on. Let's give your parents the good news and then have a quick press conference. I'll keep it short, I promise. Then you can go home."

Elisa nodded and hugged him, "Thanks Josef."


A few hours later

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, let me start by saying that rumors of my death have been grossly exaggerated..."

Residence of Field Marshal Anne-Marie Embersby, Marshall City

The messenger waited patiently outside the front door, blowing into her hands from time to time and rubbing them together to keep warm in the swirling blizzard. She held a sealed envelope under one arm, her orders very strict that only the Field Marshal could see it, even though it was encoded.

After a few more minutes the door swung open, Anne-Marie smiling gently and inviting her in, taking the envelope from her, 'Susan, isn't it, from intelligence?' she nodded, 'Ok...I'll get this decoded and make you some hot chocolate. You look frozen.'

Susan nestled into her chair holding the steaming mug while Anne-Marie ran the note through the decoder, 'How long since this arrived, Susan?'

Susan blinked, 'Um, about a half-hour, Sir.'

Anne-Marie frowned, 'Do we have a projected course for her?'

Susan nodded, stepping over and drawing a pen line across the map of Eurusea that had been inside the envelope, 'That's her current course as of my leaving to bring this to you...She's making roughly 40 knots at present.'

Anne-Marie frowned as she saw where the line went. 'So, they're taking her to Chopinburg...'

Largo's Cave

Nanami drifted in and out of consciousness from time to time, barely registering what was going on around her. While by itself the blood loss wasn't going to kill her, the rest of the team had pretty much forgotten a baseline like her needed to sleep more often than they did, and she was totally exhausted.

So she slept, and as they often did, memories of her childhood drifted to the surface.

When I was younger I knew four brothers that weren't wise
That crashed and the driver died
My partner on the passenger side was paralysed
And I'm surprised by the look of that ride, that the other two survived...
~D12, 'Good Die Young'

Madsen, Hammer Bay, 16 years ago

Every nation has a place like it, even though some won't admit it. In some it's bigger than others; in The Hack, it's The Warrens, in Eurusea, it's Kesselstan.

On Marshall Island, that place is called Madsen.

The place that people point to and say the dream doesn't work; a place everyone's trying to get out of except those who made it the way it is. Madsen is almost a quarter of Hammer Bay, between the immense dockyards with their cranes that arch into the night sky like the bones of forgotten monsters and endless fields of shipping containers and vehicles, the gigantic factories, and the navy and SFAT staff housing inland. It's the oldest part of the city, a strange mix of old, run-down buildings surrounded by narrow, winding alleyways, angular tower blocks thrown up as the city had begun to thrive and modern streets of identical terraced houses.

The close proximity of the busy harbour always made it a tempting target for smugglers; indeed, Hammer Bay had once been a hideaway for the legendary Lavenrunzian pirate Captain Gerhart, the anchorage sheltering his notorious fleet. Now the pirates and smugglers are somewhat less welcome than they were back then, but no less prevalent. There are parts of Madsen that are still patrolled by uniformed military units instead of the civil police force because of the endless gang wars, and the sheer level of influence of the gang lords means it's unlikely that'll change any time soon.

Sixteen years ago in a run-down block of flats on George Street, it was home to Nanami Shiratori, along with her sister and mother.

It was impossible to be proud of living there, with the graffiti, the broken beer bottles and stench of urine in the stairwells, the lifts that hadn't worked since Nanami was born, the occasional areas of new paint that covered bloodstains. The patch of grass in front was a mess of rubbish bags and discarded items; broken TVs, mangled bicycles, even a washing machine with the door kicked in. The lower flats were always being broken in to by addicts trying to find anything of value to pay the pushers, and it was hard to sleep at night with the sounds of fighting outside. Sometimes there was gunfire.

Nanami could still remember the time when she was five that she'd heard shots outside and the next morning her teary-eyed mother had told her that her daddy had been mistaken for someone else and killed by some bad men. And how the car had been full of bullet holes on both sides, armour piercing rounds, the police had said.

Then they'd closed the case.

Nanami had always wanted to be part of SFAT, ever since she'd seen a black-uniformed man chasing after a bag thief and returning the woman's purse to her. She'd talked about it ever since, because she'd wanted to be like 'the man who helped people.' As she'd grown that hadn't changed, even though she'd come to understand that SFAT was a military special force in the meantime, and that it was dangerous. That had just made her think that she would be able to look after Keiko, and her mother when she got too old to look after herself.

She looked at the clock again, Keiko looking hungry. Keiko was five years younger than Nanami, making her eight at the time, and her fur was orange with her chest white; Nanami's all-white fur meant people often didn't realise they were sisters. She sighed, and hugged Keiko, 'Momma's going to be home soon, don't worry...'

Keiko smiled weakly, 'But I'm huuuuungry...' she gave Nanami a hopeful look, 'Could you fix me something?'

Nanami sighed. She'd get in trouble, but that was better than seeing Keiko miserable. 'Ok...But don't tell mom.'

Keiko was happily slurping instant noodles from the cracked bowl when the doorbell intercom buzzed, Nanami tapping the 'speak' button, 'Mom?'

It was a man's voice that answered, 'Shiratori residence?' there was a pause, 'Are you Nanami or Keiko Shiratori?'

Nanami paused, reaching up for the biscuit tin on top of the cupboard, taking her father's gun from it and loading it carefully, 'Who are you? I don't answer the door to strangers.'

An image of a badge flashed up on the card reader screen by the intercom, 'Federal SFAT. Your mother's in hospital and has requested to see you.'

Randolph Dreyton Memorial Hospital, Madsen

Keiko clung tightly to Nanami's arm as they walked through the hospital; as usual in a 'rough' area there were an awful lot of gunshot wounds being treated, many of the hospital staff, tired and overworked, still with bloodstains on their overalls.

The second SFAT soldier who'd called at the door, a pretty Segonune woman, was talking as she lead them through the corridors with the air of someone who'd walked down them too many times before. 'They think the driver of the other car was drunk and probably high, he never made it here.' She sighed. 'Your mom was hurt really badly...' she stopped, and touched Nanami's hand, saying softly, 'They don't think there's anything they can do for her.'

Nanami gasped as she saw her mother, wrapped in bloody bandages with lines from drips trailing over her. The heart monitor was beeping agonisingly slowly as she opened her bloodshot eyes, her face barely recognisable, 'N-Nanami...' she managed.

Nanami was crying as she touched her mother's hand, 'Mom...' she looked up at the doctor, 'Please, you have to save my mom!'

The doctor shook his head sadly, 'We've done everything we possibly can for her...I'm sorry.'

Nanami's mother managed a smile, 'I'm...Sorry...' she whispered, 'Please...Look after Kei...' she coughed painfully, the monitor suddenly emitting a constant beep as the SFAT woman hustled Keiko and Nanami out of the room, the doctor reaching for the defibrillator.

It was the last time Nanami had seen her mother alive.

After the lonely funeral with only a few distant relatives, Nanami had remembered her mother's words and taken them to heart; she would look after her sister, even if it meant quitting school to get a job down by the docks until Keiko was through school. At first she'd done just that, eventually, at sixteen, looking in a window on the trip home from work and seeing the SFAT recruitment poster. She'd phoned in the next day, and had worked with all her heart and soul to pass the gruelling training program. That was how she'd finally escaped Madsen to the calm of her home in Marshall City.

She still had a little shrine in the dining room, to her mother and father, and another with photos of some of the closer friends Madsen had taken from her. She never wanted to let herself forget.

Sekhmet

Sekhmet watched, puzzled, as the Ground Battleships below her continued shelling the mountainside. It seemed rather odd behaviour, nevermind wasteful of ammunition, something she'd always been told to avoid.

You only get one shot at a time, you can't throw it away...

'Why are they still firing, please?'

Gorloff blinked. The Commander's chair didn't make him look pathetically small like some of the others did, so he'd taken to sitting there, 'Hrm?' he waved his hand, 'Standard sized barrage, it's all procedure.'

'Wouldn't they be dead or gone by now?' she looked extremely puzzled.

'Maybe either. It creates jobs in shell factories and chemical plants, longer barrages mean more jobs. That's just the way things work.'

Sekhmet blinked and inwardly shook her head. In a strange kind of way it made sense, but still, here was a group of hugely powerful land armour firing at a location that was almost certainly empty.

In fact, she knew it was empty, because she'd watched the team exit. Even with only the heat sources to work with it was easy to tell who was wounded and even approximate how badly, and, since she couldn't see how three wounded and two healthy Kitsune could harm her, she'd simply filed the information and kept quiet about it.

Largo's Cave, a few hours later

Misato Watanabe had never enjoyed being one of the few in the village near the mines who'd actually been inside; it meant she was frequently called on to do so again when children wandered inside, either out of ignorance or because they'd been dared to. The Kitsune woman liked leading an armed search team inside even less.

Her mother had told her how her village had ended up here, since she wasn't born and her mother was a child when it had happened. Back then, they'd live on the vast plains herding animals, rather in ignorance of Eurusea other than the odd stories of those who had traded with the 'Iron Men' of Hammondsburg nearby. All that had changed when a column of trucks and tanks had started going from village to village, loading people onto trucks and taking them to who knew where. Behind, they left only empty villages.

When they'd come to her mother's village, the Commissar-Prefect in charge, a man named Sasikin, had ordered all of them to a clear spot outside the village, and made the adults dig a trench, twenty-five feet long and six feet deep. Her grandmother had told her of how afraid they were, watching the machine gunner standing guard over them as they toiled. When they had finished, he'd had them stand with the children on the edge of the pit.

He'd smiled, stopped his stopwatch, and congratulated them on their efficiency, saying that only true workers could pass such a test and having papers drawn up for each as they were loaded into the trucks to be shipped out to 'somewhere they could work for the Motherland.'

Misato knew the plain was now a massive military base, but couldn't help wondering how many of the other villages might have failed the test and be lying beneath it.

She was roused from her thoughts by the search team's leader tapping her, 'Which way now?'

Misato paused, getting her bearings, 'The North entrance is this way.' The tunnels left by the cave-devil criss-crossed the tunnels the miners, human and Kitsune, had dug years before; some where part of the original excavation, while others were newer, created by the devil's movement since.

They found the D lying where it had fallen in the tunnel, Commissar Zhdanov ordering his men to search around as two of them dragged the D out the way they'd come.

Misato blinked after a while at a strange sound far down the tunnel, a low rumble and a sound of rushing air, 'Oh no...' she turned to the Commissar, 'We have to get out of here, the shelling's woken the cave-devil!'

Zhdanov smirked, 'The cave-devil is a myth, comrade...'

Misato snarled, 'These men...Crushed, burned alive and some never found...Something did this!'

Zhdanov paused, his less sensitive ears picking up the sounds too now, 'Fall back!'

Running through the maze of tunnels with bones and discarded equipment scattered across the floor made tripping easy. Misato didn't turn as she heard Zhdanov fall in one tunnel, knowing it was too late already.

Neither did she turn as she heard him scream.

Bridge near Garam, Sekhmet's flight path

Morozov grinned as the rest of his Resistance cell worked quickly to uncover the dull metal of the anti-aircraft gun on the back of the heavy flatbed truck, Egorov checking the elevation and rotation cranks for rust and folding out the sighting gear as two others loaded one of the magazines into the receiver with a firm metallic thunk.

Morozov tossed his stolen field jacket aside, replacing it with his working overalls, the red armband of the Resistance around his right arm, 'Comrades, the communication is sketchy, but whatever this aircraft is, it is vital to the evil efforts of our oppressors! It is essential for Eurusea's freedom that it never arrive in Chopinburg, thus we will be the blade of the Revolution!' there was a cheer. Egorov cranked the gun around to face the mountain range between them and whatever it was, elevating the barrel until the sight centred on the air over Krazansky peak.

Morosov was on his third cigarette by the time the first squadrons of fighters came screaming overhead, either not noticing them in the middle of the steel bridge of not being able to turn fast enough to do anything about them. Morosov grinned, tossing his cigarette over the edge of the bridge, 'Hold fire until you see something that...' he blinked and rubbed his eyes as he saw it, 'Dear God, no...' he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach, 'Why didn't he warn us?!'

Sekhmet cleared the mountain range slowly, circled by Air Force fighters, her vast form glimmering in the morning sunlight. With a deafening report, Egorov opened fire, faint puffs of smoke hitting a shimmering distortion in front of the Infinity Cannon. It was almost like a soap bubble, barely visible but swirling with all the colours of the rainbow if one looked hard enough, and flashed white briefly at the point of each impact.

Morosov felt his heart sink, It's not fair...It's not POSSIBLE!

Sekhmet glanced up at Gorloff, 'Object is a truck of standard Eurusean manufacture, outfitted with a light cannon. Ten individuals around the object; no danger to this Primary from current shell impacts. Is further data required?' She didn't like speaking like this, but at the moment focusing on processing raw data saved her dwelling on her sense of loss, or how afraid this new world made her.

Gorloff sighed, 'No, no further analysis is required. Destroy it.'

'Is the bridge expendable?'

Gorloff nodded, 'Yes.'

Within the blink of an eye, an incandescent beam reached from the emitter on Sekhmet's underside to the bridge, panning across it in less than a second. As it cut out, there was nothing left of the bridge but vapour.

Gorloff blinked several times as the little hologram turned, 'The laser is operating correctly, Commissar-General.'

Home of Mikhail Kazakov, South of Largo's Cave

Mikhail had been in the Resistance since he'd joined as an idealistic, and, he'd admit, stupid young man. These days the white-bearded man had three grandchildren and was somewhat above the silly talk of glorious revolutions being instigated by a few symbolic bombings or assassinations. What he did with the smuggled radio set in his basement was his part, and far more effective for it.

He folded out the encoding machine an agent had left for him years ago from its battered leather case, taking the far newer codebook from it's pocket inside and flipping to today's date, setting the codes into the laptop-like computer set and connecting up the battery, picking up the microphone. He'd always, without fail, watch for a shooting star at five pm. That was the signal that orders had changed, a piece of debris fired up from SABRE to burn up in the atmosphere high over his cottage.

'This is Fourteen to Listener, do you copy?' He never knew where the transmission went to, whether it was a satellite or a ship offshore, or even, for all he knew, a car parked outside.

'Receive you Fourteen. The team is in difficulty, alternate pickup is necessary.'

Mikhail blinked, 'What kind of difficulty?'

'Injuries. Your new pickup point is as follows...'

Mikhail snatched up the map from the table beside him, drawing two ruler lines out to...He paused, 'Listener, confirm this point is in the estuary of the Kiel River?'

'Confirm. There is a marker buoy there, you will receive instructions at that point.'

Mikhail sighed. Well, the smuggler, Putilin, did owe him a favour for not reporting him all that time ago, and he had a boat... 'I can get them there, Listener.'

'Excellent; destroy your encoding machine after acknowledging this message, you will receive another if necessary. Dasvedanya, Fourteen.'

'Acknowledged.' Mikhail sighed, searching around for a suitably heavy wrench.

Warrior Caste Quarters, Khabarovsk, 18,506 years ago

Aiesa shivered a little, the little Non standing in the pouring rain in front of the massive, imposing gateway to the Warrior caste quarters. Her dress was already soaked, stuck unpleasantly to the scales of her back and sagging wetly over her tail. With all that she'd heard recently of checkpoints being set up in the indoor walkways to stop the followers of Yig the Sleeper from spreading their lies, and of violent protests at them, she'd thought it safer to come this way. She'd never been out in a thunderstorm before, each heavy drop of rain making her wince.

Eventually she saw a figure approaching, looking the right height for Sheeta. She raised her crest hopefully, holding her arms tightly around herself and shivering again as the gateway slowly opened. Sheeta blinked several times, 'Oh my...Come inside, quickly.'

Sheeta's quarters consisted of a couple of computer terminals, a washroom and a bed big enough that Sheeta had to give her three-foot tall sister a hand to get up. She looked around for a towel or blanket for a moment, throwing it to Aiesa when she found it, then sitting beside her, 'What in Yig's Good Grace are you doing here, Aiesa? You're soaked...'

Aiesa looked up at her, 'I don't want you to go and fight, Sheeta.' She looked frightened, 'I want you to stay home and keep us safe. Please!'

Sheeta sighed softly, putting an arm around her sister's shoulder, in so far as she could given the height difference, 'Don't worry, there's not going to be any fighting. All this will be over soon, the High Mages will...' she blinked as Aiesa hit her side.

'Liar!' she sniffled, 'There's going to be a war, everybody knows it!'

Sheeta knew it too, in fact; those who worshipped Yig the Sleeper, the heretics, were too many and too important to easily strike down. But...

Sheeta rested her free hand on the hand her sister had hit her with, 'Alright.' She raised her crest a little, 'But there's one thing I have to do first. I promise I'll come back then.'

When you're dragged toward the Hell-mouth
You will beg for the end
But there ain't gonna be one, friend
For the grave will spew you out
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "City of Refuge"

Largo's Cave

The explosions had subsided, and the cave no longer shuddered, but at the same time, the uneasy feeling was growing. The cave system was just wrong. There was no easy way to explain it, but both Fusayoshi and Futami felt extremely uncomfortable in the cave. The oddly smooth walls were only part of it; it was like crossing an ancient graveyard, at midnight, on Halloween. No words needed to be shared between the two Kitsune, they had to go. Now.

Fusayoshi dug through the medical kit, pulling out a couple of syringes of morphine, stuffing them in on of his pockets. "Futami, you carry Kaori, and be careful of her hand." Futami nodded mutely, carefully lifting the younger Kitsune into her arms. Fusayoshi, for his part scooped up both Uyo and Nanami; his injured arm throbbed slightly in pain because of Nanami's weight, he could only imagine how much worse it'd be if Uyo was over that shoulder. He took a few deep breaths, before setting off down the tunnel, switching to wireless communication, not wanting to mess up his breathing, Let's move quickly. Keep an eye on these two, I don't want them bleeding out on me.


Press Conference Outside the Corporate Spire; Chiba City; the Hack

The press laughed nervously at Elisa's quip, more than a little confused, but listened eagerly to what Elisa had to say.

"As is painfully obvious, I was not killed when my room in the Workhoven building was broken into. I'm afraid that I can't go into full details, as the circumstances surrounding the event are still highly classified. Suffice it to say, there was an assassination attempt on my life; apparently by communist extremists, possibly hold-outs who felt that our ascension to Oligarchy was the final nail in the coffin of their ideology. A close, personal friend learned of the plot and acted to save my life. The blood found in my room was not mine, it was the would-be assassin's.

"Since it was obvious that security had been compromised, and that I was a target, steps were taken to protect my life, specifically: letting everyone think I was dead and taking me to an extra national secure location. Nobody was told for quite some time, not even my wife. However, the threat has been eliminated, which is why I have publicly returned. I will be returning to my duties as the Speaker for the Oligarchy. Any questions?"

"Nellie Brown, North Hack News," the fact that the reporter for NHN was a Naga was a bit of irony not lost on anyone, least of all Nellie. "The offices of the Mhu Thulan Communist Party were firebombed last week during one of their meetings, killing everyone. Is this related?"

"This is the slum north of Chiba?"

"Their offices were in the 'slum', yes. The whole block burned down."

Elisa shrugged, "I'm afraid I can't really comment on that. Probably just some little kid with a can of gasoline." She looked away from Nellie, effectively cutting off further questions, "Any others?"

"Mary Bellows, Tindalos Tribune, do you know why you were targeted?"

Elisa took a sip of water before responding, "Hard to say. It's probably because I'm the most visible aspect of the government. The Speaker has always been the face of the government. These communists probably figured that killing me would either weaken the government, or some such nonsense. But, like I said, the threat has been eliminated." She smiled, "One more... you."

"Robert Moore, Hali Morning Herald." The entire crowd turned to peer at reporter who looked like something out of another era. He wore an old double breasted suit and vest, a brown fedora sat slightly askew on his head. He looked horribly out of place, but nobody was much concerned about that. What shocked them was that he was from Hali.

Hali wasn't really a city, or even a town. It was little more than a huge collection of nuclear power plants. The plants supplied power for all of the Hack, and were on the extreme north end of Mhu Thulan. They had been placed there so that if the melted down, the damage would be kept from Chiba, which was at the extreme south end. Everyone knew that people lived there, but hardly anyone in Chiba or Tindalos had ever actually met someone from Hali.

Apparently, Hali wasn't up on the latest fashions.

Moore spoke with an almost Hyperborean accent, "Ms. Day. I've heard reports that the apartment of Dr. Anamaria Hirsch was broken into. Is this connected in any way to your experiences?"

"I was briefed on that earlier. The two events are not related as far as anyone can tell. Furthermore, I've been told that nothing was stolen. It appears it was more a case of vandalism than anything." She smiled again, "Thank you for your time, but as you can imagine, I've got quite a bit of work to catch up on. I'd like to thank everyone for their time, and especially Jessica, who filled in for me. Good evening." She turned and walked back into the building, ignoring further questions.


You better run
You better run to the City of Refuge
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "City of Refuge"

Just Outside Largo's Cave

Fusayoshi growled as he kicked the half rotten barricade out of his way. He wanted out of the cave, dammit, and he wanted out now. As they had progressed through the strangely hewn caverns. The presence in his mind had grown far worse as he'd moved through the cave. It was completely alien, and far from friendly. He had seen Grand Dragons before, and felt their presence, so he was familiar with alien intelligences; the Grand Dragons were nothing like any human, Kitsune, Naga, or anything.

What he felt in Largo's Cave was so alien it made the Dragons seem normal and humanlike. The feeling of apathetic malevolence sent chills down his spine, and he found himself walking faster and faster through the cave even as he tried to close his mind; to force the entity away. By the time he emerged from the cave he was panting heavily and completely drained. He gently set his two companions down, scanning the area warily.


Section 3 HQ; Basement of the Corporate Spire

Mikhael Aronofsky grinned a little as he watched the news feeds, and the look on Elisa's face as the NHN reporter asked about the firebombing of an entire slum. He supposed that burning down an entire slum just to make for a cover story was a little extreme, but he figured it was killing two birds with one stone. A group of eventual trouble makers was gone, and they took the blame for an assassination attempt. He was always amused at how willing people were to link events, even with nothing more than temporal proximity to go on.

He wheeled over to another computer, reviewing the police reports from the Hirsch case. The Oligarchy was not amused by that break in, and wanted to know who was involved, pronto. It seemed a little extreme to Mikhael, she was just an engineer, but she had laid the groundwork for LiMEs. Maybe they were concerned about industrial sabotage.

Battlegroup of Cloakship Seto Kaiba, international waters

The Seto Kaiba was certainly an impressive flagship for the new Type 230 series of Railships, twelve twenty-five inch guns gleaming in their four triple turrets. The cluster of ships accompanying her on manoeuvres stayed close to her as she fired off a few test rounds, ran out her engines and generally did what you'd expect of a ship running sea trials.

The casual observer could easily miss that around eleven in the morning there was suddenly one less ship in her battlegroup.

Cloakship Siegfried

Captain Von Schoenvorts shook his head slowly as he read the printout, murmuring 'Right up in the damn estuary? That's too close...'

He sighed, clipping the orders to the helm as he waited for navigation to plot him a course. With the cloak active, one had to take everything into account; water currents, wind, anything that could alter the ship's course even a fraction of a degree had to be computed to make sure the giant ship ended up where it was supposed to.

He'd done it a thousand times before in simulations, but sneaking under the mighty naval guns in the Kiel shore batteries still left a bad taste in his mouth.

It wasn't a game, not this time.

Outside Largo's Cave

Mikhail waved to Fusa from the deserted warehouse he'd parked his truck in, an old flatbed with plastic sheeting hastily nailed to the floor. He did what he could to help load the surprisingly heavy auged Kitsune and Nanami into the back, inviting Fusa to sit in the cab beside him.

'There's a medical kit back there under the seat, comrades...' he frowned as he turned the key, the engine eventually spluttering into life, 'Hard to get hold of spares these days.'

'Your exfiltration point has changed, you won't be surprised to hear. I'll be taking you to a boathouse on the Kiel River, there's a man called Putilin waiting for you there. He'll take you to your new pickup point.'

Plains near what is now Rahlsburg, Eurusea, 18,506 years ago

Sekhmet had been very carefully designed to avoid what Sheeta was trying to do now, with dozens of alerts and active safety systems needing to be disengaged before any meaningful amount of control could be removed from the AI and not recorded. She knew her familiarity with the Infinity Cannon's systems was part of why she could do it, but not the only part.

The most heartbreaking part of it was that Sekhmet knew something was wrong, but she trusted Sheeta too much to say anything, much less try to stop her. Sheeta had been trying to avoid her, because of the way tears welled up in her eyes every time she did.

She'd met with the other two Infinity Cannon commanders days before and concluded that none of the three 'Great Swords of Yig' should be allowed to fall into the hands of the heretics. The solution was the part she hadn't been able to stomach, that all three must be destroyed utterly. She'd seen the first explode in orbit already, one of the many things she'd hidden from Sekhmet, to spare her the horror everyone else felt as the Empire collapsed from the outside in. Whole cities had already collapsed into molten ruins as the mighty weapons of the City of Steel were turned on its own people.

Even as she'd watched the vast tidal wave from the other remaining cannon exploding underwater wash over the land, she'd known she couldn't kill Sekhmet. And so she'd come up with this.

The final safety lock detached and clicked back in its receiver, the emergency shutdown switch for the AI rising slightly, a heavy lift-twist-drop switch, the handle comfortably sized for Sheeta's hand.

She blinked as she heard Sekhmet's voice behind her, sounding upset, 'Sheeta?'

Sheeta tried to ignore her, Sekhmet's crest dropping, 'Sheeta, please, talk to me!' she sniffled, 'You've been avoiding me for days, have I done something wrong?'

Sheeta shook her head sadly, 'No...I love you, Sekhmet.' She raised the switch in her hand slowly.

Sekhmet raised her crest happily, 'Oh, thank you...you don't know how much it means to hear you say that. I-I thought...Oh, it doesn't matter what I thought...'

Sheeta sighed, 'Please, remember me.'

Sekhmet blinked, 'I don't understa-'

The avatar made a tiny strangled sound as Sheeta pushed the switch down, a look of shock frozen on its face as it fell to its knees, then forward.

Sheeta rested her hands on the panel in front of her, and cried until her First Officer came to lead her outside with the others.

Outside Sekhmet

The Absolute Barrier was already fading, the huge pile of earth Sheeta had painstakingly stacked on top of it with the manipulator beginning to fall through as the nine Secondaries exploded. Sheeta glanced back sadly as the barrier faded and Sekhmet was buried, whispering a hopeless prayer that someday she'd be able to come back.

She sniffled, and whispered 'Goodbye' softly as the first transport aircraft began to lift off, heading back to Khabarovsk.

The next time the sun rose, the Empire was gone, its mighty cities cast into ruin and Khabarovsk itself destroyed so completely that no trace has ever been found.

Sheeta kept her promise; roSheeta Aiesa Kalazar died in her beloved sister's arms, along with her species and the empire that it had built.

And LO, in His anger at the Serpent, the LORD took the three great swords of flame He had forged, and DID throw two into the heavens with great might, there to shatter against the dome of the sky, and to become the stars;
And the third He cast into the ocean with such a fury that the ocean did rise and cover all the land, and in retreating left behind the lakes and the rivers and all the waters of the land...
~Federal and Eurusean Bibles, Genesis 3:25-26