Part 3: Regrets       '(Tell me why I am not to go?)' asked Jamia. '(Because I said so, that is all the reason you should need.)' answered Eliodon. '(That is not reason enough, I am of age, if you wish to dissuade me then you must make your case on other terms.)' demanded Jamia. Her white hair hung loosely to her hips, she wore the robes that marked her as a member of upper Eltorian society. Her face was flushed blue, betraying her anger. Eliodon remained collected as he spoke, '(You are my daughter and I will not have you acting as a common soldier. If you wish to be in the military then at least choose a noble position, an officer in the Guard or perhaps the Elite. Starcharting is beneath you.)' Jamia looked at him with a crossed expression, '(What you mean to say is that it is beneath you. Am I always to be known as your daughter? When will I be allowed to develop my own identity?)' '(You have your own identity.)' insisted Eliodon. '(But it is one that you define as you see fit. It is not mine, just an extension of yours!)' Eliodon grew very angry and spoke without thinking, '(Very well! You do as you see fit, but you will get no help from me. As long as you go against my wishes, this will not be your home!)' '(Fine, I do not need you or your help.)' Jamia stalked from the room and out of Eliodon's life...forever.       Rodar's face appeared on the monitor in front of Eliodon. He blinked as if waking from a dream. '(Report.)' he said in a dry voice. '(I have good news, sir. Ozon has found Taqueza.)' Eliodon brightened a little, '(Is he dead?)' Rodar shifted a little in his seat, '(No, not yet, but Ozon is in position to do the job.)' '(Then why hasn't he?)' asked Eliodon impatiently. '(We found something intriguing I thought you would want to see first.)' answered Rodar. '(Proceed)' demanded Eliodon. Rodar hit a few buttons on his console and a video feed opened on Eliodon's end. It displayed a terran female floating upside down in the air. She was bathed in a green light that she apparently generated. '(Ozon recorded this on Earth's surface. Our data on the humans to date does not indicated that they have this type of ability.)' '(Yet this one clearly does, why?)' demanded Eliodon. '(Ozon looked into the reason. She is apparently another half-breed. One artificially created by a local doctor of the location you see her in now. Taqueza and her are there to find that doctor and the source of DNA he used.)' Rodar explained. '(Very good. Tell Ozon to hold back and wait. I want to know what they find. Once he finds out report back to me.)' Eliodon abruptly switched off his monitor and paused to consider the possibilities. * * *       "How comes your progress?" asked Shanita. "Slowly" commented Kaz. "All rosters show that everyone on this ship is accounted for, no one is missing." "There would not be," pointed out Shanita, "He is impersonating him." "Are you sure it is a he?" asked Dr. Martin. "Most likely, the infiltrators tend to impersonate members of the same gender as a personal preference." "What are you working on, Doc?" asked Kaz. Dr. Martin inserted some sort of sample into a slot in the computer, "I am attempting to get an accurate replication of our John Doe's DNA. I isolated a complete strand of DNA from a tissue sample and heated it to extreme temperatures to denature it. I then extracted one piece and suspended as you see it now." Kaz looked at him oddly, "Okay, how's that help us?" "DNA is like a fingerprint, only better. You can't disguise it. By heating the DNA, I got it to break down the middle into its component halves. I extracted one half and suspended it on the plate I put into the computer. I intend to bombard it with x-rays. The molecule will bend the x-rays as they pass through it and the computer will record it. From those 'bending patterns' the computer will construct a virtual model of the DNA half." explained Dr. Martin. "I didn't know DNA could break in half." stated Kaz. "Of course it can, think of it as being a zipper. In the normal process of life it is zipped and unzipped several times. I forced it to unzip and extracted a piece before it could re-zip." "I still don't see how that will help us." said Kaz. A green light on the console in front of Dr. Martin came on, "Ah, maybe now you will." He punched a few buttons and the screen showed a three dimensional model of the DNA strand. "You see, exofleet keeps the genetic code of its personnel on file. We have half of a strand, what I hope to do is look through those files and see if it complements anything." "Hybridization testing" said Shanita. Dr. Martin looked at her with surprise, "Very good, yes that's exactly right." "So explain it to me." said Kaz. "We have half a zipper, we use the computer to see who's DNA it will zip with." explained Shanita. "And whoever that is, is our assassin." completed Kaz. "Exactly." stated Dr. Martin. "How long will this take?" asked Shanita. Dr. Martin frowned, "That is the bad part. The database is large, it will take a few days unless we find a way to narrow the search beyond the gender and assigned ship, which of course is this one." Kaz rubbed his chin, "Yeah, I see what you mean. We need to think this out rationally. Who is worth eliminating on this ship?" "Me." said Shanita. "Unlikely, you were stationed on Earth most of the time. You'd want a disguise that would bring you into contact with the target, that means someone on this ship." reasoned Kaz. "I can not argue with that, the logic is sound." said Shanita. "What about Admiral Winfield?" asked Dr. Martin. "I don't see it. He is important, but he is not irreplaceable. Admiral Jackson or Captain Jamison could do just as well a job." explained Kaz. "It would have to be someone considered a personal threat to the Eltorian Guard." offered Shanita. Dr.Martin jumped up from his chair, "I've got it! Sterling must be the target!" Shanita and Kaz looked at him like his head was on backwards. "Who is Sterling?" asked Kaz. "The other one like you." Dr. Martin pointed to Shanita, "Though he looks human, he was part of the alien militia. He changed sides at Mars and joined exofleet. Everything we know about the aliens came from him." He noted Shanita, "Of course what you told us was important as well, as it confirmed most of his story, he even mentioned you by name." "Taqueza?" her eyes widened. "I think that was the name he used to go by." said Dr. Martin. Kaz looked at her, "Do you think he is the target?" Shanita blinked a few times and responded, "If he is who I think he is, then there is no doubt in my mind." Kaz nodded his head in agreement, "Okay, so all we need to do is figure out who comes into contact with him, where is he?" Dr. Martin smiled and began to open a new file, "That will be easy, he's in a squad so we'll start there." "Which squad?" asked Kaz. "Able squad." * * *       The squad walked at a steady pace through the jungle. J.T. noted that Sterling and Nara had once again gotten ahead of them. "Stay with the group you two!" he ordered. Both slowed their pace and allowed the rest to catch up. Nara opened her mouth to say something, though J.T. said "No" before the words could escape her. Deciding not to push the point, Nara turned and continued to walk along side Sterling. J.T. knew she wanted to go ahead of the group again. But given what had happened the last time, he wasn't about to allow it. Though that did not stop Nara from asking from time to time. He turned to DeLeon, "How much further?" DeLeon checked his map, "I'd say another couple of miles, or we are off course again." "I don't see why we just didn't take our e-frames." noted Thrax. "It would take us longer to double back to get them than to just push ahead and find it right away." said J.T. "I see." said Thrax, though his expression said otherwise.       Nara and Sterling walked in silence at first, but as they were repeatedly asked to slow down they got bored and eventually started talking. Nothing really important, just idle conversation. Nara talked about Venus, her farm, and Venutian sunrises. Sterling told her about his time with the Eltorian guard. "So there are other alien races besides the Eltorians?" asked Nara. "Yes, there are many. Most of them are peaceful and Eltoria often trades with them. As a matter of fact, in the past few hundred years Eltoria has rarely fought with another race, seeking instead to open peaceful negotiations." explained Sterling. "So why do we get the special treatment?" asked Nara. "I don't know." said Sterling, "Being in the Guard, we fight when told, rarely are we given a reason." "So this is not the first war you were in?" said Nara. "No, unfortunately not. I have fought in seven wars, the last one was particularly vicious." Nara shuttered, being in two wars was something she could barely handle. The pirate clan battles had been overshadowed in her mind by the Second Neosapian War, and now she fought in what was being called the Eltorian War. Two wars almost tore her apart, she couldn't imagine going through seven. "Must have been some fight, did you guys start it?" she asked. "No, they did. But we were the ones that finished it. They fought to the last being, and absolutely refused to give up to the very end. We had to exterminate the species for the sake of the universe. It was in that war that I gained my promotion to Section Commander." explained Sterling. "What do you mean, for the sake of the universe?" asked Nara. Sterling shook his head, "They had somehow gotten the notion that they were meant to rule the universe, something they called the 'Grand Expansion'. If we had not stopped them, they would have enslaved us and every other civilization in the universe, including this one." Nara said nothing at first, instead she stopped and pointed at a something in the distance, "I think we're here." * * *       This was a bad idea. though Shanita. She was hungry and so she suggested to Kaz that they go get food while the computer completed its tests. Kaz wanted to wait. When she pressed the point, he told to go by herself and told her the way to the mess hall. Shanita took a moment to remind him that she was technically his prisoner and should not be left alone. Kaz reminded her that he trusted her not to get into trouble and that even if she wanted to escape she had no where to go. Being as hungry as she was, Shanita conceded the point and headed for the mess hall. Standing outside the door to the mess, she was questioning the wisdom of that choice.       "Hey Poedowski, remember not to eat the tray this time OK?" said Mathison. David looked up from the meal he was wolfing down, "Very funny, Jared. I'm a big guy, I need to eat a lot." "I can vouch for the truth in that statement." added Longfeather. Jared shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever you say." Pellegrino had been listening to the conversation and decided to contribute, "Where's your lady friend these days?" "Who?" asked Jared. "Don't give me that, you know who I'm talking about." said Pellegrino. "Nope, afraid I don't." said Jared. "Torres, Sgt. Rita Torres from Able Squad." said Poedowski, "That was for that tray remark." "That's the one," said Pellegrino, "What is the deal between you two? It looks like it is getting serious." Jared's smirk faded, "With all due respect, sir, what goes on between Sgt. Torres and myself, is between Sgt. Torres and myself." "Ho now, this does sound serious!" started Longfeather. Jared opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. His face turned serious as he pointed to the mess hall door, "What the hell is that?" They turned to see a six foot tall alien enter the mess. She wore a uniform with an exofleet insignia on it. The noise level dropped significantly as she made he way to the lunch line. Even Poedowski stopped eating to watch. "I didn't know we had any of them in exofleet." he mumbled. She picked up a tray, selected some items off the buffet line and headed for an empty table. "Maybe one of us should go talk to her." said Longfeather. "How do you know its a she?" said Jared. "With a figure like that, its got to be." said Poedowski. All eyes at the table promptly turned to him, realizing he said to much, David put his head down and kept eating.       Shanita could feel every eye in the room on her. This was a really bad idea. I just need to eat and get out of here, fast. she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted as someone approached her. He was a smaller human that apparently needed some type of exoskeleton to move about. "Excuse me, is this seat taken?" he said. "No." said Shanita politely. "You may sit if you wish." He sat down and began to eat, not saying anything at first. Shanita wasn't sure what to make of him, "Is there a reason you wanted to sit here?" "I've never seen, or talked to, an alien before." he said. "I see." said Shanita. "What is your name?" "Hallas. What is yours?" he asked. "Shanita." He extended his hand, the exoskeleton clicked and shifted softly as he did so, and Shanita shook it. They were about to begin a conversation when someone else approached. A group of someones to be specific, a blond haired male flanked by two other males, one brown haired the other black. All three seemed to be of average build to Shanita, she noted that none of them were armed. "What do we have have here? You forget what side you're on sweat meat?" the blond haired man asked. Shanita wasn't exactly sure what he meant, but the tone of his voice left little doubt as to his intent. Hallas rose to face him eye to eye, "This is none of your business, get out of here." The blond man shifted his gaze to Hallas, or more specifically to his exoskeleton, "Look runt, I don't want to fight you, but don't assume I wouldn't mind beating on a cripple." Hallas remained calm up until he had said the word. Cripple, it was something Hallas tried to prove he was not on a daily basis. Whether the blond man saw it coming or not, Hallas buried his fist into his face. The blond man staggered back but didn't go down. The black haired and brown haired men moved in to attack Hallas. Shanita rose from her seat and observed. The black haired man took a swing at Hallas, coming up with only empty air as Hallas neatly sidestepped it. Hallas promptly maneuvered behind him and landed an elbow to the back of his head followed by a kick to the back of the knees. The black haired man went down and Hallas stood triumphantly over him, much to his regret. The brown haired man had grabbed a chair and was about to smash Hallas across the back with it. He never saw it and his backpack was damaged, emitting a few sparks and smoke. Hallas suddenly felt the lower half of his body go slack. He slumped to the floor, his legs refusing to work. The blond haired man had by this time recovered and picked up Hallas by the shirt ready to deliver a punch of his own. As he threw it Shanita bolted from her position and caught his fist in mid strike with her left hand. She squeezed it, exercising only a fraction of her strength. The man screamed in pain and let go of Hallas. Shanita released him and he fell to the floor. The brown haired man took that opportunity to try to hit her with his chair. Shanita raised her right arm in a defensive posture and the chair shattered harmlessly over her forearm. She grabbed the man by the belt and effortlessly hoisted him into the air with one arm. Shanita then threw him onto the blond haired man. They remained in a crumpled mass on the floor while Shanita confronted the last assailant, who promptly backed off. Shanita went over to Hallas and tried to help him up. Hallas waved her off uttering a terse, "I'm fine, leave me alone." "Shut up and take my hand." she said. Hallas looked at her for a second then reached for her hand. Shanita hoisted him up and sat him on the table. Hallas again looked at her, "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I just don't like to be called a cripple." Shanita smiled at him, "You showed yourself to be anything but." * * *       The craft was wedge shaped and about 25 meters long, at least that was the estimate that DeLeon had given based on his ultrasonic tests. The craft had been partially buried in the ground. Probably due to the impact of a crash landing. thought J.T. Sterling had found the entrance almost instantly, but J.T. had decided to wait until all external scans had been complete before they ventured inside. Rita Torres approached him to report on their progress, "Scans are complete, J.T. Should we go in?" "Lets do it."       From the woods, Ketzer watched the group at work. He was still in a lot of pain from his encounter with Sterling, but he felt the need to be here. To see what they might uncover that could be of use to him. Plus, I may be able to capture a few more specimens. He had underestimated Sterling before, he realized that now and was prepared for it. All he had to do was wait for the right time. All things come to he who waits...       "I'll go first." volunteered Sterling. No one argued with him. He cautiously walked into the ship. Its insides reflected the structure of his old baseship though more metallic looking. Most likely because the organic components of the hull had degraded through time. thought Sterling. The ship was not very complicated or large. So they covered the entire ship in fifteen minutes. It was in the control room that they found the body, slumped over the controls. J.T. looked at it, then at Sterling "What do you think?" "Its dead." he replied. Everyone but Nara rolled their eyes, "He wants to know about the circumstances surrounding its death, and information on the pilot." "Oh." said Sterling. He took a closer look at the body, examining the uniform. He then pulled a panel off a nearby console, "Someone hand me a wrench?" Worthington delivered it to him. "What are you doing?" asked Nara. "I am attempting to access the ship's log. Does anyone have a low grade power source with them?" "How about a blaster pack?" offered DeLeon. "Good enough" said Sterling. He took the cartridge and monkeyed around with the components behind the panel. One of the consoles crackled to life. Sterling sprang to his feet and worked at them for a while. The information scrolled across the screen in Eltorian. A moment later Sterling told what he knew, "There was a single pilot for this craft. It was a starcharting vessel, exploration. Apparently it was hit by an asteroid and crashed, killing the pilot. This was after the pilot spent several years with other starcharters setting up the listening post at Mars. The pilot was female and her name was Jamia. That appears to be everything of value in the database." Sterling looked at J.T. "We should take the body back with us and destroy the ship, that way people like Ketzer can not exploit its contents." "Agreed." said J.T. "Erikson, Remes, take care of the body. Torres, Worthington, DeLeon, Thrax, and I will set up some charges to blow this thing sky high. Burns, Sterling, since you two can move the fastest in this jungle, I want you to head back to base camp and retrieve our e-frames. You should be able to 'slave' them to your own frames and lead them here. Lets move it people! I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary." * * *       "How's that?" asked O'Reilly. Hallas experimentally wiggled his legs, then got to his feet. "Perfect. Thank you, Lt. O'Reilly." When Colleen arrived on the scene, she immediately had security deal with the troublemakers and began to repair Hallas' exoskeleton. Now that left just one problem, what to do with the six foot alien. Shanita watched the events unfold, and satisfied that all was well, she turned to leave. "Hey, where are you going?" asked O'Rielly. Shanita turned around, "Back to Dr. Martin's lab, is there a problem?" Colleen shifted her stance a little, not sure how to phrase what came next, "Are you, in exofleet?" "Technically, no. I am here in an advisory capacity." It wasn't exactly a lie, now that she had helped discover an infiltrator she was acting as an advisor. Shanita knew she couldn't tell her the truth - that she was a prisoner that got hungry - that would get Kaz in trouble. Colleen seemed to believe her, saying, "Well you better get back to your post then." Shanita quickly dismissed herself and headed back to Dr. Martin's lab. * * *       Tension was high back in the lab as Kaz and Dr. Martin nervously awaited the final results of the hybridization testing. Shanita entered the lab, "Are you finished?" "Almost, how was your meal?" asked Kaz. "Interesting." was the reply. Kaz detected there might be more to it than that, but quickly lost interest as the results began to appear on the main screen. "There." said Dr. Martin. He pointed out one of the samples which was a 98% match. "That's the one, lets pull up the file." A name scrolled across the screen and Dr. Martin turned to tell Takagi that he better inform Able Squad of their situation. Only Takagi was already gone, the only thing that Dr. Martin saw was the door to his lab closing. * * *       '(Report.)' said Eliodon. '(We have located the source of the DNA.)' said Rodar. '(Continue!)' said Eliodon impatiently. '(It was apparently from the pilot of a starcharting vessel. I am sorry, sir. The pilot was Jamia.)' Eliodon's fists tightened, '(Save your pity, Elite. Tell Ozon to eliminate this doctor, he will pay for what he did to Jamia. Have him eliminate Taqueza as well.)' '(Yes, my lord.)' Rodar paused then added, '(What of the girl?)' Eliodon grew calm, '(Bring her to me, unharmed.)' Rodar bowed his head and was disconnected. * * *       Nara and Sterling had just gotten out of sight of the ship when Nara suddenly stopped. "Something is wrong, someone is watching us." she said. They scanned the jungle knowing full well that someone was looking back.       Ketzer smiled. "So they have seen me, it does not matter. I am ready for them this time." he whispered to himself. "Sorry to disappoint you, but their destiny lies with me, not you." Ketzer spun to see where the voice came from, he recognized his assailant. But that would be yet another secret he would take to his grave. A single shot rang out in jungle, and one man's life ended. * * *       "Where the hell is Mack? He is supposed to be helping me with this body!" yelled Remes. "He had to go to the bathroom, here I'll help you." said Susan. "J.T.!" urgency penetrated Alec's voice and J.T. ran over to him. "What is it?" he asked. Alec looked up from the portable comm unit, "I just got a message from Kaz on the Resolute, there's an assassin among us." * * *       Sterling found the body. Ketzer was on his back, a look of horror on his face, a single hole in the center of his forehead. Nara ran over to see what he had found. "My God, you didn't, did you?" she said. "If you are referring to the burns on his wrist and face, yes I did. It was a warning to leave us alone, but that was some time ago." He knelt near the body and pointed to the hole in his head, "This wasn't here the last time I saw him." Nara took a closer look, "Looks like your standard blaster wound. I can't say I'm sorry to see him go, but someone did kill him and it looks like it might have been someone from our squad." "What makes you so sure?" Sterling asked. "Well it wasn't either of us, we were never separated long enough for that. And the only other people around here with that type of weapon is someone from the squad." explained Nara. "My instincts tell me that is not the case." said Sterling. "Very astute." They both looked up to see Erikson holding a gun on them. "Erikson what are you doing?" asked Nara. "That's not Erikson." said Sterling "The real Erikson is dead." "You are quick of mind, Taqueza. I will give you that, and a head wound to match your doctor friend." Nara tensed to attack, but Sterling eyed her and she stopped. "Show yourself, I want to see my executioner." said Sterling. "A reasonable request." Erikson hit a an unseen button on his belt. The uniform stayed the same, but the face flickered from red haired human to white haired Eltorian. "I am Ozon." he said. "I've heard of you, the high council must really want me dead if they sent their best assassin. I want to know why." Ozon sneered at him, "Sorry, privileged information. Though I will tell you this, after I kill you I intend to take your female companion back with me. Someone has a vested interest in her." He raised his pistol to fire, Sterling nodded his head, and Nara froze him on the spot. "What?!" Ozon stammered. Sterling stepped forward, "As you can see, you would do well not to underestimate the lady or myself. Now tell us-" J.T. screamed from the underbrush, "Burns! Sterling! Get down!" Shots began firing, Sterling and Burns hugged the jungle floor. Ozon tried to flee but was cut down by J.T.'s covering fire. Sterling sat up and looked at Nara, seeing his frustration mirrored in her face. She stood and screamed, "Dammit! We were so close!" On to Part 4