Chapter 6       "You feel guilty about something." Cy looked up from his menu and at Nara. "What makes you think that?" Nara smiled, her blond hair in an elaborate braid and wearing her favorite black evening dress. Cy wore one his suits. "Let's go out to diner tonight, you said. To a nice place, you said. That can only mean one of three things, you're feeling guilty about something, you have to ask me something important, or you're feeling guilty about something you should have asked me about in advance." Cy smiled nervously. "You know me too well." "I should, I am your wife. Now out with it." demanded Nara. "Uh, sure. You remember that meeting with Alec?" "Yeah, how is he?" asked Nara. "Great. As a matter of fact, you can ask him yourself when he gets here." "He's on his way to Venus then?" concluded Nara. "No, he's in Venus orbit. Taking care of a few things." answered Cy. Nara tapped her fingers on the table, demanding he continue and hopefully get to the point. The waiter interrupted though. He thanked both of them for choosing to dine in the restaurant and took their orders. Cy continued, "Well the long and short of it is this. H.I.A. and Exofleet have a problem that requires my expertise. I'll be working on a project over at Vesta University but..." "But?" demanded Nara. "Well, Alec and some of the other personnel need a place to stay, somewhere secluded, out of the way." "You invited them to the Plantation, didn't you?" stated Nara. "Are you mad?" asked Cy. "How many?" asked Nara. "Just Alec and one other person, there will be some guards around but they will be stationed out of the ship in orbit. Besides, its not like they're strangers or anything." answered Cy. "Who?" asked Nara, her voice still neutral. "Able Squad and Charlie Five." replied Cy. Nara let the silence hang in the air a moment, because she knew it would make Cy nervous. "I'll be honest, I was hoping for some time alone together. But I don't see a problem with that, it'll be nice to see everyone again." "Thank you." said Cy with a squeeze of her hand.       "So, what were you planning we do with that time alone?" asked Cy. "Why ask?" questioned Nara. "Maybe we could plan on doing it when everyone leaves." suggested Cy. "It was nothing...important anyway." stated Nara. "Did I tell you Colleen and J.T. had another baby?" Cy nodded his head. "Yup. They're off to a good start, huh?" "Uh-huh." replied Nara. She was fiddling with a lock of her hair, apparently lost in thought. "So when are we gonna try?" asked Cy. Nara snapped her head around. "What?" "We're not getting any younger, Nara. I think maybe its time we thought about having a few kids of our own." Nara looked a bit shocked. "Why didn't you mention this before?" "I didn't want to pressure you. Let's face it, if we have kids, then its you that's going to have to adjust the most. At least, until the baby is born." explained Cy. "You aren't concerned about what our genetic make up will do to the baby?" asked Nara. "Not really, but I did put a lot of thought into it. But when you come down to it, we have a pretty good chance of having a normal child." "How so?" asked Nara. "The alteration you experienced changed your adult genetic structure, but only certain body systems. Your cardiovascular and nervous systems were clearly affected, but your reproductive systems were not. Any way you look at it, your abilities cannot be passed on to any children you have." explained Cy. "But your's can." pointed out Nara. "Yes it can. But considering genetic variability, it is a very real possibility we could have perfectly normal child. Though I conceded the point, he may also be born with some sort of 'superhuman' ability." "You mean she might might be born with a 'superhuman' ability." corrected Nara. Cy smiled, "Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" "Yeah, I guess we will." Nara raised her glass. "To our children." "May they have it easier than we did." added Cy as he raised his own glass. "Amen to that." said Nara as she clanked her glass to his. "I have to admit, I'm surprised you came to this decision so easily. I agonized over it for months." noted Nara. "So did I, but your friend Mandy gave me some good advice on the subject." said Cy. Nara cocked an eyebrow, "Really, what did she say?" "That what I was feeling, was what every other would-be parent feels. And that I should just accept the risks and give it a shot. Smart girl, that Mandy." stated Cy. Nara smirked, remembering a similar conversation with her. "Yeah, remind me to give her a raise." "So, when do you want to start trying for a family?" asked Cy. Nara smiled seductively, "Tonight is as good a time as any." Cy remained silent for moment, then signaled their waiter. "Uh, we'll take that to go." * * *       The following morning Mandy Wang found the Burns Plantation more active than usual. The boss had told her to expect some company from the military. They appeared to be scanning the whole compound, looking for electronic surveillance. They worked in small teams, providing an efficient search while staying more or less out of the way. Mandy thought what they were doing was a bit much, and intended to tell the boss whenever she decided to come in to work. Nara usually made it point to get up and be at her office by 6 am. It was nearly 11 and she was nowhere to be seen, not that it really mattered. There was only day to day stuff to handle, nothing all that important. Her thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of the intercom on her desk. "There is someone here to see Mrs. Sterling." "Send them in." replied Mandy. She finished typing out another food order and turned to greet the visitor. "How can I help you?" The words barely made it out of her mouth before it stopped functioning altogether. It hung open as she stared at the man in front of her. He was of average height, wearing a blue and orange flight suit. His hair was a deep black, somehow it made his brown eyes stand out more. He was so, so... Beautiful. thought Mandy.       "Hi, I'm Lt. Takagi." There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment. "I'm here to see Nara. Are you alright?" he asked. Mandy suddenly snapped out of her trance. "Nara's not right for you - I mean - Nara's not here right now to meet you." Mandy struggled not to blush. "Do you have any idea when she'll be in?" "No. She's the boss, so she kind of makes her own hours." Kaz nodded. "Fair enough." He extended his hand. "And you are?" "Mandy Wang, her assistant." She shook his hand vigorously, almost not wanting to let it go. "Um, I have to go now." said Kaz. Mandy smiled and nodded. "That means you have to let go of my hand." stated Kaz. Mandy looked down and noted she was still holding it. She let it loose. "Oh right! Sorry, I-I'll tell Nara that you stopped by, Lt. Takagi." "Do that." replied Kaz as he shot her a confused look and left the office. The moment Kaz left, Mandy's normal personality seemed to assert itself. "I can't believe I just did that." * * *       "So this is the gizmo that brought me here." stated Ellen. "I would hardly call it something so crude as a 'gizmo'." commented Algernon. Ellen found the gangly scientist only slightly less annoying than the Elt half-breed. But he was human, and that was a plus in Ellen's mind. She had spent the past couple of weeks at the Burns Plantation, and though its lands were vast, Ellen felt it wasn't large enough to hold her and the Elt scientist. She had met its wife, who looked human enough, and was nice enough. But after making a few discrete inquiries she discovered there was Elt blood in her veins too. It struck Ellen as kind of funny that the two of them would end up meeting, what with so many other people in the solar system. Try as she might, Ellen couldn't find it in herself to hate Nara. The injustice of Nara's situation made Ellen feel sorry for her instead. According to what she learned from Alec, Nara was once totally human. But a chance encounter with a crazy geneticist ruined that. The injection of a retrovirus rewrote a large chunk of her DNA with Eltorian Base Pairs. That left her mostly human, but part Eltorian. But even though she didn't hate Nara, Ellen still wanted to get out. So she decided to visit Vesta University just to be sure that the Elt was keeping its word.       Algernon droned on and on about the theory behind the machine while Ellen noted its structure. It was a relatively small apparatus. Somehow, Ellen thought it would have been bigger. It consisted of a box-like primary and secondary fusion generator, which powered the respective ring. The rings themselves were smooth, about two feet in thickness. Each was held upright by an iron stand. The smaller of the two had its base rigged with hydraulics such that it could be pushed through the larger. Two, foot-wide cables came out of the base of each ring and jacked into a central computer station. Ellen was again surprised at how small the tech was. The computer station was no more than four meters wide, the generators were even smaller than that. Ellen knocked on one of the rings with her hand, it sounded hollow. "Careful there! Those are packed with delicate circuitry and wiring!" shouted Algernon. "Don't get your lab coat in a bunch, it didn't hurt anything." retorted Ellen. "You know somehow I thought this thing would be bigger." "The original was, but as we made further advancements we streamlined the design. The current model can be easily moved around and fits well into only two cargo crates." answered Algernon. He seemed quite proud of his accomplishment. "But does it come with a sound system?" asked Ellen. "I beg your pardon?" Algernon looked scornfully at her. "And what about a cupholder? Dialing up alternate worlds can cause you to work up a thirst, where is someone gonna keep his drink so it don't spill all over?" "Well, I never...!" started Algernon. "Considered that? Well you should have, what if I get dehydrated on the way home, huh?" "It would not wear on my conscience." said Algernon flatly. He promptly turned on his heel and walked away muttering "I trust you can find your way out of here." Ellen laughed, clearly pleased with herself. * * *       "It is good to see you again." said Shanita. "Yeah, it has been a while." answered Cy. They walked side by side to the central lab. Shanita and Sterling were very old friends, and though their current life pursuits kept them apart, they tried to see each other whenever they could. The door to the central lab opened and Professor Algernon stomped through it. Shanita and Cy gave him a wide berth. As he strood past, he muttered, "I'll be taking the rest of the day off." Through the door, Cy could see the source of his irritation. "What was that all about?" inquired Shanita. "The red-head in the lab." Cy pointed her out to Shanita. "I don't believe you've had the displeasure of her acquaintance." "No. Is there something that I should know about her?" asked Shanita. "She has a strong dislike for Eltorians, that includes me. Just do me a favor and try not to kill her, okay?" pleaded Cy. "I'll try, but that is all I can promise." responded Shanita.       Ellen spied Sterling and his new friend. At least with her, what you see is what you get. thought Ellen. "Who's the white-haired wench?" she asked as they approached her. Ellen noted the tensing of the Eltorian's muscles. "I already know that I do not like her." she told Sterling. Sterling stepped between the two of them. "Now ladies, let's at least try to get along, please? Ellen Wright, this is Shanita - an old friend of mine. Shanita, this is Ellen Wright." Shanita regarded her coolly, "Ironic that such an ugly personality is contained in what is generally regarded as an attractive shell." Ellen smirked at them. "Looks like you're just ugly through and through then, huh?" Shanita glared at her as she asked Sterling, "Why not brief her on how we intend to send her home. It is clearly what she is here to learn." "Good idea!" responded Cy. "I'm guessing Algernon briefed you on the structure of the apparatus." Ellen nodded. "Good. We pretty much have it all figured out. You see, when we brought you through we had a short circuit in one of the power generators. One of the main power lines wasn't properly insulated and was contacting the interior metal casing. The resulting power loss caused the portal we opened to destabilize, or so we thought. Actually, that mistake gave us the vital clue about how to determine which plane of existence we open a rift to. It is all a question of power." Ellen seemed to loose a little of her razor-like edge, "What are you telling me?" "The amount of power put into the portal determines where you go." answered Shanita. "Right." said Cy. Shanita smiled, taking a small measure of satisfaction in understanding what Ellen could not. Cy continued, "You see, Algernon tried to compensate by draining power from the Secondary Generator. What he effectively accomplished was not a destabilized rift, but a moving rift. For every level of power oscillation, both ends of the rift were moving from universe to universe. The way we figure it, when the secondary rift passed your world, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It came and went, taking you with it. With the rift at our end doing much the same. It was dumb luck that you ended up here at all. We have the entire session recorded, so we know the power levels at each point in the experiment. Thus we have general idea about where to send you. That's what we've been doing all this time, sending probes to each dimension in order to determine if its where you are from."       Ellen gave him a dubious look, "If what you say is true, then how come I didn't end up in this lab?" "Perhaps I just need to be more precise." noted Cy. "A dimension is not denoted by an exact power level, but a range of levels. All of these are obviously in very narrow band of settings. When you exited the primary rift, you were still somewhere in the narrow range for this dimension. This leads us to another one of my theories. Evidence suggests that the more similar two dimensions are, the closer their power ranges tend to be in relation to each other." "I have a question." said Shanita. "Go ahead." "If I am understanding this right, you use the primary ring to open a rift, insert the secondary ring, then open another. Right?" "Yes that's right." replied Cy. "And the power level determines where the rift opens to?" "Also correct." confirmed Cy. "Then what if the dimension you want to go to is at a power level lower than the minimum power to open the rift?" "Good question." answered Cy. "This is another reason a two ring system is used. The primary rift is opened using a set amount of power, but all it does is open to unspace. Its the secondary ring that does the actual targeting, and we can set it to any level of power we want, even one lower than the power level of the primary rift." "So you could like, run a few dozen volts of power into it and get it to work?" asked Ellen. "Yes, we could. And we have done it. We haven't figured out why yet, but the physics of unspace are different from the ones we are used to." answered Cy.       "So how close are you to finding my home?" asked Ellen. "Oh, we think we already have." answered Cy nonchalantly. Ellen's hands balled into fists. "Then why am I still here?" "Because we're not sure. So we took the time to figure out our 'home address' if you will. That way, we can send a team through with you and those supplies." Cy pointed to a couple of crates. "If you're home, great, we can come right back. If not, well you can come back with us and we can try again. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, that's my motto." Ellen relaxed herself a little. "So what's in those crates?" "Another ring setup, some supplies, your exoarmor. Everything we need to get you home and us back." answered Cy. "Us?" asked Ellen. Cy smiled, "Yes, Shanita, myself, and a few others will be accompanying you." "No way." said Ellen flatly. Cy's face hardened, "If you want to go home then that's the way its got to be. Now, do you want to go home?" Ellen stared at the ring system, "Yeah." "Fine, I am so glad we have settled this matter."       Ellen stalked away to examine the crates, leaving Shanita and Sterling alone. "You brought your battle armor, right?" Shanita turned her gaze away from Ellen. She gestured to one of the crates. "Its in the one on the left, along with the other things you asked for. Why? Do you think she will give us trouble?" "I'd like to think she won't, but she's been nothing but, for as long as I've known her. I figure why would she stop once we go through the rift, let alone when she gets her exoarmor back. Just be sure to keep an eye on her." "So I take it you do not trust her?" asked Shanita. "About as far as I can throw her." answered Cy. "Given your strength, that is pretty far." noted Shanita. Cy laughed lightly. "I guess it is, but its just like I said: Plan for the worst, hope for the best." * * *       The office door opened, allowing Nara Sterling to enter. "Hey Boss." said Mandy almost mechanically. "Hello, I'm finished with the data pushing for today. Do you have anything else for me or can I get out of here?" Mandy checked her console, "Lt. Takagi is coming by again today, in a few minutes actually. What do you two talk about in those meetings anyway?" "He just gives me updates on security around the plantation. That's the first five minutes anyway. Rest of the time we're reminiscing about the old days." Nara had noted in the past few weeks a subtle change in Mandy's behavior. Whenever Kaz's name was mentioned she grew just a tad more attentive, and she asked just one or two more questions on topics where he was concerned. "Any particular reason you ask?" "No." was the quick and concise response. Mandy immediately returned to her work punching away at her computer. The door to the office opened again, this time it was Kaz Takagi. "Kaz! I was wondering when you'd get here." She gave him a big hug, which he gladly returned. "I'm running a little late today, sorry." ha said. "Well, I'm on my way out, escort me?" prompted Nara. "Sure." answered Kaz. "You all set, Mandy?" "No problems here, Boss." Nara nodded and she the office with Kaz.       As they walked out, Kaz gave her the security update. "Not much new today, we decided to house Able Squad's frames here on your property. Hope you don't mind, we're using one of your barns as a hanger." "Not a problem. Just don't destroy it. My squad had a rep for being hard on equipment." warned Nara. "YOUR squad? I have news for you CITIZEN, its MY squad now." corrected Kaz. "Only because I LET you have it." noted Nara. "True." conceded Kaz. "So how's it going with Cy? You still trying?" Nara smiled broadly, "Not anymore." "Congratulations!" said Kaz warmly, he gave her another hug. "When did you find out?" "I met with the doctor just before lunch." answered Nara, "Cy doesn't even know yet, so..." Kaz held a hand up, "Nara, you wound me, have I ever let you down?" "Just checking." replied Nara. "Wow. This is big, you a mom! And here I thought you would never get over your jitters." Nara's eyes narrowed. "Well my assistant, Mandy Wang, was a big help in that department." "Really?" said Kaz, sounding doubtful. "Of course, she helped to squelch most of my big fears - Cy's too. You sound surprised, why? What do you think of her?" Kaz hesitated a moment, trying not to sound rude. "I'm amazed she still hasn't been fired." "What!?" said Nara, shocked by the negative assessment Kaz gave her. "Well, its just that she seems so nervous all the time. It makes her seem like she screams incompetence. She also seems to have a lot of difficulty talking to people, for the first few times that I met her I thought she had some sort of mental problem." Any doubt Nara had about Mandy's feelings towards Kaz were wiped away in those few sentences. The Mandy that Nara knew was level headed, calm, dependable, and above all, competent. Nara just never pictured her as the type to go all to pieces over a man. "Well, trust me when I tell you, Kaz. She's very good at her job and I couldn't get along without her." "I'll take your word for it." commented Kaz. They exited the building. The bright sunny day was coming to its end as the sun was beginning to set. Nara stopped to watch. "You're still a sucker for those." noted Kaz. "Actually, it was sunrises, and yes, I still watch them. But I've learned to appreciate a good sunset too." Nara replied. Kaz laughed lightly. An electronic beep emitted from his belt. He picked up the palm-sized personal comm unit. "Takagi here." Stan Remes' voice came over the comm line. "Sir, you better get back to our hanger, we've got incoming!" * * *       As Cy finished with the calibrations to the ring system he noticed a slight tremor, followed by something that sounded like lightening crashing. A storm? he thought. He dismissed the possibility as unlikely and thought of a far more probable explanation. He looked across the lab and saw that both Ellen and Shanita had come to the same conclusion. He sprinted for storage crates that were nearby. Both women were waiting for him. He punched in the access code and opened one of them. Shanita reached inside and removed a black hexagonal backpack, her battle armor, which she strapped on. She held the duffel with Wright's weapons in the other. "What should I do with this?" she asked. Ellen was about to give a list of suggestions but Cy cut her off. "Give it to her." Shanita tossed her the duffel. Cy stared at her, "Suit up, but remember what side you're on, okay?" Ellen gave him a cold smirk, "I'll try." As Cy stripped off his lab coat he asked, "Shanita, did you put my old 'work suit' in here?" "I assume you are referring to your uniform and weapons?" she said as she reached in and handed him a small case. "That's the one." said Cy. Shanita turned around as he quickly changed, "What do you think we are up against?" "I have no idea." he replied. A few minutes past, in which Ellen donned her exoarmor and Cy finished changing. He wore a black shirt with blue jacket and pants. He quickly pulled on his knee-high brown boots and then his elbow high brown gloves. He rapped a knuckle on the armor plates that covered his forearms, "You replaced these?" "New alloy, lighter but more durable." answered Shanita. As Ellen came around from the other side of the crate, Cy was putting on his weapons belt. A side arm hung on his right thigh, some type of grappler on the left. "Well, its a slight improvement." commented Ellen as she pulled on her helmet and locked it in place. "Your armor is a great improvement." said Shanita. "How so?" asked Ellen as she hefted her rifle. "I can hardly see any of your face." Ellen pointed her weapon at her. Shanita extended her armor, the thrust-boots, jet pack, and forearm cannons appearing in a blue flash. Only Shanita's head remained unprotected. Cy stepped between them, "Save it for the enemy you two!" "Speaking of which, where are they?" As if in response, the lab shook. Cy looked toward the door, "I'd say they're on their way." * * *       "Able Squad leader to Vigilance, we are in the air." A somewhat rattled comm tech answered. "Roger that, sir. We scan twenty enemy mecha. Looks like a full section of Eltorian shock troops. They came out of nowhere. They must have some kind of cloaking technology. Wait! They've spotted you and are moving to intercept!" "Roger that." Kaz flipped over to the combat frequency used by the squad. "Company is on the way, sound off people!" "Remes here." "Worthington here." "Thrax here." "Hallas, standing by." "Dirk here." "Alright people, we're one light with Shanita missing, so be extra careful. We'll take them in orbit, so spread out and punch up the thrust."       Venus grew smaller beneath the squad as they rocketed out into space. In the distance, they could see the a number of red Elt-frames heading for them. Their wings spread and their weapons ready, there was little doubt about their intentions. "Worthington, Remes, to the left. Thrax, Dirk, to the right. Hallas, you're with me up the middle." Remes let loose a harsh 'yea-ha!' over the comm line. It reminded Kaz of a time not too long ago when he would have done the same. His reminiscing was cut short as the enemy craft opened fire. "Evasive action!" ordered Kaz. He pulled back hard and to the the left on his stick. At the same time, he increased thrust to attack speed. The maneuver flipped his exofighter up and over a barrage of green plasma and then brought him down and in line with his attackers. With a thought, he fired his forward laser. Several of the Elt-frames scrambled to dodge while moving into counterattack position. The blast caught one of them on the ventral portion of the right wing, where it connected with the jetpack. The pack exploded shortly thereafter, taking the pilot with it. Two of the craft managed to slip in behind Kaz and fired. He rammed his stick forward and plunged straight down into Venus atmosphere, the shots missing completely. The two elt-frames followed. They fired again, causing Kaz's proximity alarm to go off. He pulled the stick back hard, again avoiding their attack. He brought his exofighter around in a wide loop. Both elt-frames followed. As they widened their loop so as to come in behind him, Kaz cut his thrust back by one quarter and gave the braking thrusters a four second burst. In response, the exofighter slowed to what must have seemed like a standstill to the Elt-frames as they shot past. Kaz quickly throttled back up and pursued them, "Let's see what you've got now."       The duo immediately separated, heading in opposite directions. "Smart ploy, one of you will live to see another day...or not." commented Kaz. He jerked his fighter to the right and snapped off a few quick shots. Then he brought it quickly back to the left to follow the other Elt-frame. His intent was to hopefully damage the frame enough to put him out of the fight. The result was a bit of a shock - albeit a good one - for Kaz, at least. The first blast skimmed the elt-frame's ventral side, across the chest. It obviously spooked the pilot, as he jerked his craft upward in response, and right into the path of the next shot. It nailed one of his thrust boots causing it and the one next to it to explode. This left Kaz in pursuit of the remaining Elt-frame. Kaz locked on with a missile and fired. The Elt-frame rolled to the right in an effort to evade. The missile corrected course to compensate, much to the misfortune of the pilot. As the fireball faded, something occurred to Kaz. These guys are amateurs. Kaz had assumed that they would be professionally trained soldiers. They clearly were not, as any member of the Eltorian Guard worth his name would have known to go for a steep dive or climb in order to escape that missile. Kaz pulled back on his stick and headed out of Venus atmosphere. "Hallas, you still with me?"       "More or less." replied Hallas. He noted Kaz's blue exofighter rising from the atmosphere. He opened his comm line, "You've picked one up, watch it." "I see it." replied Kaz. Hallas brought his white frame around and slipped in behind a group of Elt-frames. He brought up his targeting display and mentally selected the cluster rockets in the over head launcher. An electronic ping told him he had a simultaneous lock on all five. He fired his rockets. Two of the craft stayed on course, a moment later they were destroyed. The remaining three tried to evade. Two crashed head long into each other and exploded. The third tried to climb but the pursuing missile was too fast, and caught up with him easily. Hallas self detonated the last two missiles, which never got the chance to hit their assigned targets. His proximity alarm sounded and Hallas jerked his frame to the right, just in time to see a cascade of green and red plasma fly by. He opened his comm line, "Kaz, do these guys seem unskilled at all to you." "Very." replied Kaz. "You've got one on you." Hallas rolled his frame to the left and saw Kaz heading toward him, an elt-frame of his own in pursuit. "You still have yours." "No, he's new. I picked him up when I got his buddy. Head to head maneuver?" "Right or left?" asked Hallas. Kaz rolled his frame to the left, bringing it head to head with Hallas'. "I'll take the left, thanks." Both e-frames accelerated toward each other. The two elt-frames pursuing did the same. As Hallas and Kaz drew within 50 meters of each other, they reduced thrust and fired a few quick bursts from their braking thrusters. They continued to race toward each other, though their reduced speed made them a tempting target. As they drew within 20 meters, Kaz's sensors picked up a power spike behind and ahead of him. Since his proximity had not gone off, that meant one thing. He keyed his comm, "Looks like they're ready to make a try, I'm reading a spike behind and in front. Looks like they're shunting power to their weapons." "Do you think they have any idea about what's going to happen?" replied Hallas. They were within 15 meters of each other. "Not a clue." replied Kaz. "Break now!" Suddenly Hallas and Kaz spun away from each other. One to the far left and the other to the far right. Their pursuers, thinking they were about to lose them, made a last ditch attempt to destroy them by launching a volley of plasma missiles each. Kaz and Hallas, however, increased thrust as they broke and the shots missed widely. Each Elt pilot watched in disgust as their prey veered away from them and escaped. Their heads suddenly snapped back in front of them when they realized they had just fired on each other. Hallas afforded himself a little smile as two explosions lit up the star line. "Amateurs."       "You have one on you!" shouted Dirk. "I am aware of that, Sargent." replied Thrax calmly. He brought his y-wing up on its right engine foil and cut his engines for precisely two seconds. His forward momentum still carrying the ship forward, Thrax used his maneuvering thrusters to flip his ship around and reignite his engines. Such a maneuver was usually too hard on human pilots, and while the sudden direction change caused Thrax some discomfort, he kept his fighter on course while opening fire on the elt-frame that had just slid ever so nicely into his sights. It exploded creating a fireball which Thrax flew through a moment later. Dirk opened his comm line, "Are you alright, Thrax?" "Perfectly fine. You have two on you, pull to your right and I'll slip in behind them." Dirk jerked his frame to the right, narrowly avoiding enemy fire. He caught a glimpse of Thrax's y-wing pulling in behind him. A moment passed, "You're clear, Sargent." "What? Already?" replied Dirk. "I do have a lot of experience in these types of battles." answered Thrax. Dirk picked something up on his sensors. He cut thrust and slowed his forward velocity as he turned his frame around. He brought the weapons arm of frame to bear on Thrax"s y-wing and opened his comm line. "Dive!" The red Neo fighter immediately went into a steep descent, giving Dirk a perfect shot at the bogey behind him. He opened fire, ripping apart the armor covering the pilot's head and torso. Finally, a shot caught the craft's jetpack, causing it to explode. Dirk heard Thrax's voice over the comm line. "Very impressive, Sargent Dirk." Dirk replied, trying to sound as confident as Thrax, "Yeah, well I have experience in these types of battles too."       Stan Remes maneuvered his modified stealth frame behind an attacking elt-frame. He increased his forward thrust to close the gap between them, then switched over to laser fire before taking aim. An electronic tone indicated a solid target lock. He opened fire, easily destroying the elt-frame. Kaz contacted him over the comm line. "Remes, what's your status?" Stan banked his frame to the left and broke into a stiff dive. The elt-frame pursuing him broke off from him rather than follow. "I'm here, bored as all hell, but still here." "Well see if you find this more exciting..." began Kaz. "Hang on a second, Lieutenant." interrupted Remes. An elt-frame flew by his position and Remes changed course to pursue. He easily slipped in behind it and selected his long range missile. With a burst of smoke, it flew from the launcher on the frame's right arm and chased after the elt-frame. This pilot had enough experience to figure out that he should escape with a steep climb. However, he chose to start the climb too soon. And as he shot straight up from his previous position, the missile was far enough away to make the appropriate course adjustments to follow. "Sorry Lieutenant, thought for a second things were going to change, but then these guys went and disappointed me again." A flash of light in the distance marked the pilot's passing as Remes casually turned his attention back to Kaz. "I know what you mean. But this should interest you. The sensor jockeys on the Vigilance figured out how these guys got here. There's a freighter coming out of Venus atmosphere. It apparently dumped a platoon or two of ground troops on the surface. I want you and Worthington to make sure it doesn't get away." "I copy that, Lieutenant. But what about those ground troops?" "The rest of us will lay covering fire for Charlie Five when we finish up here. Now take out that freighter!" * * *       Inside his frame, Remes shrugged his shoulders. This could be interesting. His sensors picked up the craft leaving orbit. "Sue, you coming or not?" In response, a couple of flashes lit of the rear portion of Stan's frame and Sue's massive two seater rocketed over his head carrying some components of the two elt-frames she had just destroyed in its wake. Stan heard the comm line crackle to life, "Waiting on you...as usual." As they neared the escaping craft, they noted it wasn't even heading toward them. It was heading for the Vigilance. Stan opened his comm line again. "Vigilance, this is the Able Squad Comm officer, you have incoming. Looks like she intends to ram you." A calm reply came back over the line. "Roger that Able Squad, we see them. The captain requests that you do something about it." "Roger that," replied Remes, "Stand by." he switched over the squad's frequency. "Engines?" he asked. "Engines." replied Sue. They throttled up to full power and brought their frames in behind the freighter. It's four massive engines threatened to barbecue them with radiation poisoning if they got too close. "Ladies first, you clean up." ordered Sue. "Show me a lady, and I'll let her go first." replied Remes. He pulled his frame in front of Sue's effectively cutting her off. He heard her mutter a curse over the comm line. Stan put the comment, and the chewing out which most certainly awaited him later, out of his mind. He selected cluster rockets from his weapons menu and with a thought the small metal hatches on either side of his domed cockpit opened. Six cluster rockets lay inside each. He targeted six on the top left engine and the other six on the top right engine. The rockets ignited and shot from their racks. Stan eased back on his thrust and veered away from the craft, giving Sue her shot. She targeted the two lower engines and fired the large shoulder rockets of her frame. As they shot out in front of her frame, Stan's cluster rockets impacted, blanketing the entire upper portion of the ship's rear. The two upper engines were disabled in the explosion, partially crippling a third. Sue's rockets impacted a few seconds later, devastating the damaged engine and crippling the fourth. "How's that, Vigilance?" "Better, but their still using their forward momentum and maneuvering thrusters to come at us." "Dammit!" yelled Stan. He and Sue continued on toward the ship, intent on destroying the starboard maneuvering thrusters and thereby allowing the Vigilance to escape by moving to the ship's port. As they neared the ship, they noted it had no armament. Thank god for small favors. thought Remes. The Vigilance was desperately maneuvering to get out of the ship's path. But any observer could clearly see that it wasn't going to make it. Sue began to shoot wildly at the ship's starboard hull, destroying anything that helped the ship to maneuver. "We aren't gonna make it!" she screamed. "Keep working, I've got an idea." replied Remes. Since there was no way to destroy the equipment maneuvering the ship in time, it seemed that the only option left was to destroy the beings operating that equipment. Given the ship's size, there were only two places it could be controlled from. Engineering was one, though the pummeling they gave the back of the ship argued strongly against that possibility. That left the bridge, and Stan's squadmate had once told him of a quick and easy way to take out a bridge crew. Stan's frame rocketed ahead of the freighter and turned around, going head to head with it. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Stan?! You think you can sweet talk them out of it!?" Stan couldn't resist, "Hey, I sweet talked you into the sack." A storm of cursing and obscenities erupted from the comm line, forcing Stan to switch it off. The last thing he needed was to get distracted by Sue's latest hissy fit. He armed the mace-like missile located on his frame's right arm and waited for his target to come into view. They started as mere points of light, then resolved into the distinct rectangles of the bridge viewports. Stan wasted no time and fired, pulling his frame into a steep climb as the rocket released. It collided perfectly with the viewport and exploded, decompressing the bridge compartment and destroying much of its outer wall. The freighter then took on a straight line course toward the aft of the Vigilance. After two quick main engine burns, the Vigilance moved safely away as the freighter floated harmlessly past. Remes turned his comm unit back on. "How's that, Vigilance?" "Assistance much appreciated, Able Squad." was the reply. "Stanley." Stan rolled his eyes and answered, "Yes, Sue?" There was no anger and vehemence in the words. They were calm and they were firm. "We WILL have words later." Stan briefly considered making another comment, then thought better of it. "I understand." Kaz's voice came over the line, "Able Squad, regroup and head for the surface. Charlie Five needs our help." * * *       "They're coming!" announced Ellen, as if the revelation were any news to Cy and Shanita. They had spent their time hauling the excess metal crates in the lab over to the entrance. In a short time they had constructed a short wall that would serve as cover when the aggressors came. Shanita lowered the crate she held over her head to the floor and slid it next to the others. Cy tossed the one he had been carrying on top of it. "Everyone behind here!" he ordered. Wright and Shanita took position behind it, their weapons pointed towards the door. Cy quickly ran over to a console in the far corner by the entrance. "What are you doing, stupid? Get out of there!" yelled Wright. Cy dismissed her and continued to work at its controls. He saw Shanita start to approach him from the corner of his eye. "Stay there!" he ordered. "What are you doing?" asked Shanita. "I'm tapping into the comm system to see if I can get us some help." Suddenly the room shook and erupted with electric sparks and fire as the door to the lab was ripped apart by an explosion. Shanita and Ellen took cover behind the makeshift wall of crates. Fortunately for Cy, the console he was working at was on the same wall as the door and to its right. Most of the explosive force went straight into the room and not to the sides. However, due to the arrival of enemy troops, escaping behind the relative safety of the wall was ill-advisable. Shanita and Ellen poked their weapons out from behind the wall and opened fire. Cy stole a glance around the corner of the door. He saw a sizable number of Eltorians equipped with terran style body armor and laser rifles. Cy estimated there were about 30 of them. However the hallway they were in afforded little cover and so they lined the various doorways of the hall returning fire. They didn't seem to eager to challenge the power of Ellen's repeater rifle or Shanita's wrist cannons. Satisfied the situation was stable for the moment, Cy went back to the console. To his relief, it was still functional. He rerouted the console's output to be delivered into the primary comm system. He opened a wide band channel and began to speak, "S.O.S. This is an emergency, is anyone out there?" A garbled voice answered him, "We read you, what's your status?" "We're trapped in the main lab. We are under heavy enemy fire, can you assist? Over." "We are en route, is that you Sterling?" Cy recognized the voice, "Kaz?" "Yeah, its me. Hang tight, we are working on getting you out, Charlie Five is positioned outside the building and Able Squad is circling over head. But these guys are entrenched on the roof and have secured all the exits." The building itself was circular, on a hill, and isolated from the rest of the Vesta campus, making it pretty easy to defend but hard to take. Cy knew this, and it appeared that Kaz would learn for himself pretty soon. "So far it looks like we'll have to level the building to get to them." reported Kaz. "Great." said Cy sarcastically. "I guess you were right about this terrorist group wanting to get revenge." said Kaz. "Actually, I made that up so we could keep you in the loop." replied Cy. Kaz forced a laugh, "Figures."       A shot of plasma hit the wall near Cy. The vector it came in on suggested it was fired at him from behind. It was far too high to hit, which meant the shooter wanted his attention, not his life. "Hold on, Kaz." Cy turned around to see both Ellen and Shanita gesturing frantically at the entrance to the hallway. Cy drew his weapon and edged his way to the door frame. He stole a glance down the hall, firing a few stray shots in the process. As he stood with his back to the wall, he realized what was being set up at the end of the hall. He looked at Shanita and mouthed the word 'bomb?' She nodded her head. Cy holstered his weapon and ran over to the console. "Kaz! They have a bomb! A real one this time!"       Kaz almost lost control of his fighter upon hearing the news. "Are you sure?" he replied. "Definitely. You have to evacuate, now!" Kaz looked out his cockpit to the building below. "Ramon?" Longfeather immediately responded, "I heard, evac shuttle is on the way." Kaz brought his fighter around for another pass of the building. "We can't just leave them, Ramon." "I don't like it any more then you do. But sensors show a massive localized power build-up inside. You know what that means." The line remained silent for a moment. "They've armed it, so its not a question of 'if' but 'when'." "And if our readings are any good, 'when' will be here in five minutes." replied Ramon. Kaz opened his comm line again, "Able Squad, fall back to orbit immediately." As the squad departed, Kaz switched over to Cy's frequency, "Sterling - Cy - they've armed the device, we -" Cy's voice broke over the line, "I understand, Kaz. Tell Nara that I love her and I WILL find a way back to her." A lump formed in Kaz's throat. "Cy, I have to tell you something before I go, something that Nara told me not to tell you." "What?" asked Cy. "She's pregnant, I thought you should know in case..." Kaz trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence. Cy again spoke, his voice brimming with determination. "Now I have more of a reason to make it out of this mess. You just tell her what I told you, okay?" "Understood." replied Kaz. He pulled his fighter into a steep climb, heading for orbit. Behind his fighter, the evac shuttle was landing for the jumptroops. It would be a little close, but they would make it. The outlook for others was not as pleasant. "Good luck, Cy."       Cy switched off the monitor and set his mind to the problem at hand. There was no way they could get clear in time, but then again that was true of the terrorists too. Although, from their point of view they had nothing to lose. Their ship was destroyed and they were surrounded. Why not go out with a bang? Cy looked beyond the makeshift wall and slapped himself upside the head. "How could I have been so stupid not to have seen it before!?" He bolted for Shanita's position. When he was within ten meters, his powerful legs boosted him upward. His arc carried him out of the range of enemy fire and landed him safely behind cover. "It looks like we will all die together." commented Shanita. "What a way to go." mused Ellen. "Blown to less than vapors." added Shanita. "I was talking about dying with you two, I'll never live it down!" replied Ellen. "Good news then, you won't have to." answered Cy. Ellen hoisted her weapon reading herself for another attack. "I know that dimwit, I was being ironical." "I wasn't." replied Cy. "You have a plan?" inquired Shanita. Cy pointed to the ring system, "The portal." Shanita looked from the ring system to Cy, "Are you sure that is wise, we could end up almost anywhere." Ellen fired off a number of shots then crouched behind the crates again. "Anywhere is better than here, you stupid Elt! Lets do it!" Shanita was about to unload on Ellen - literally - when Cy stopped her. His hand holding her wrist, he spoke, "Not now! I need you to get to those crates over there and move them into position in front of this ring system." He turned his attention to Wright, "Your job is to keep those guys busy, got it?" Ellen gave a nod and continued firing. "Once I get the portal open, you push the second ring system through. Wright and I will follow after you." Shanita extended the head piece of her armor and sprung to her feet, making a run for the crates Cy had indicated. Cy ran straight for the ring system. He quickly powered up both generators and stood over controls. Behind him, Cy could hear Shanita pushing the second ring system towards him. Cy flipped a few switches and the primary ring hummed to life. The center of the ring seemed to shift, almost like a flag in the breeze. Cy increased power. At the very center of the primary ring a single point of bright white light appeared, and grew larger. Soon it was the size of the ring. "Its powering up!!" screamed Ellen. The bomb at the end of the hallway was humming loudly, indicating that they were out of time. With no time to chose a destination, Cy set the power level to the secondary ring at random. With a flip of a switch, the hydraulics pushed it through the primary rift. Shanita stood ready, "Now?" "Not yet!" yelled Cy. "Another few seconds!" "I don't think we have that long!" responded Ellen. The enemy troopers were getting less and less concerned about their safety and had taken to suicide runs on Ellen's position rather than letting the bomb finish them. "Now!" yelled Cy. Shanita pushed on the first crate, slamming it into the next, and pushing both through the portal. Cy signaled Wright, "Let's go!" Ellen hit her jets and did a short hop to the portal, narrowly avoiding a few shots. "What are you doing?" asked Ellen upon observing Cy fiddling with the controls. "I set the power to shut down in five seconds so they can't follow us. Now move your butt!" Cy grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her through the portal and into the unknown. On to Epilogue