Chapter 7       "So the war has been going on for about a year and a half?" stated Sterling. "Right." confirmed Dr. Karen Rhodes. Sterling and Wright had been grilling her with questions for the latter half of the last hour. Location of the Normandy (Io orbit), status of the fleet, location of enemy forces, that sort of thing. On the other side of the room, Shanita stirred and sat up in bed. She let loose a groan when her side protested the maneuver. Karen shot her head around to see the alien getting up. "You shouldn't be up!" She looked at Sterling, "She does speak English, right?" "Unfortunately." commented Ellen. "It is good to see you again too, Lt. Wright." Shanita turned her gaze to Karen. "I appreciate your concern, but it is quite unnecessary." A black blob sprang from her back and crept over the surface of her body, enveloping it. Karen jumped back a little at the sight. "Is that..." "Normal?" offered Sterling. "Yes, quite." Karen watched as the blob seemed to magically transform into a suit of armor plating which covered the alien's entire body, save the head. "Its called battle armor, and they use it to fly in space. The same way we use e-frames." "Why is she wearing it now?" asked Karen. "It has the ability to repair itself and its pilot. She'll heal much faster now." Shanita sat down on the bed again. Sterling handed her a glass of water he had gotten from a sink in the room. "Thank you." said Shanita. She drank down most of the water immediately. She turned to Karen. "Thank you for saving my life." "How did you know it was me?" asked Karen. "You are the only one here wearing a medical uniform." pointed out Shanita. "Oh, right. You're welcome. Uh, no offense, but what are you?" "I am an Eltorian. I come from a planet in another solar system." "Where exactly?" asked Karen. Shanita exchanged looks with Sterling. "You can't say, can you?" surmised Karen. "Sorry, Doctor, its better you don't know."       Sterling motioned to Wright. They went to one corner to discuss something and left Karen with Shanita. "So what do we do now?" asked Wright. "We can't stay here. Their technology isn't advanced enough for me to recreate the ring system. We have to go to Mars." answered Sterling. "You're not putting me in my happy place here." retorted Ellen. "Mars should be controlled by the Neos, we don't have a ship, and I'm not a pilot." "Well I can pilot a ship. We'll steal one from the Normandy hanger and find a way around the Neo defenses." answered Sterling. "Just like that. You actually think we can pull this off?" Wright made no attempt to hide the skepticism in her voice. "We have no choice. The only likely source of Eltorian technology in this system right now is the listening post on Mars." "That's assuming its even there in this reality." replied Ellen. "Have you got any better ideas?" asked Sterling. "No." said Ellen. "What about the good Doctor? We can't take her with us and we can't just let her go either." Sterling held out a hypospray he had procured from Dr. Rhodes' medical bag. "There's enough sedative in here to keep her out for hours. It won't hurt her and it will give us a good head start." Ellen took the hypospray from him. "Pretty good idea, do you mind?" She motioned to Karen with a tilt of her head. "Just be gentle, please." Ellen smiled. "Of course, she is human after all." Ellen walked over behind Karen, pressed the hypospray neatly into her neck, and activated it. Karen let loose a yelp and turned to look at Ellen. "Wha..." She never finished the sentence as she feel over unconscious. * * *       "Where's Dr. Rhodes?" Crow Mengele stood at the entrance to the infirmary face to face with Dr. Rafael Vela. "Lt. Mengele, right?" asked Rafael. "Right." "Sorry, didn't recognize you without the helmet." Rafael let loose a laugh, which quickly died away when he saw the expression on Crow's face. "Where is she?" demanded Crow. "She disappeared after lunch. I was called in by Rosie, our nurse, and I've been trying to reach her. But she isn't in her room and she doesn't call in when I page her." "So I take it this is highly unusual for her." concluded Crow. "Right." answered Rafael. Crow rubbed his chin for a moment as he appraised the situation. First his incident in the hanger, then Dr. Rhodes disappears. Now that he thought about it, the direction the thing in the hanger was heading could have been to the infirmary. But then again, the exit it was heading for could have taken it anywhere on this side of the ship. "Something up, Lt.?" asked Rafael. "Maybe. What are you doing right now?" "Nothing much, its a slow day. That's way Karen told me to leave in the first place." Crow headed for the door, "I'll be back in five minutes, get your gear together and we'll go find Dr. Rhodes." Rafael called after him, "You think she's in trouble?" Crow paused at the door. "That's what we're going to find out." * * *       "Not the helmet again." said Rafael. "I'd watch it, if I were you. I am carrying a rifle." "Point taken." conceded Rafael. Crow had returned to the infirmary in 4 minutes and 20 seconds. He had retrieved his chest plate, back pack, and helmet. The antenna on Crow's backpack began to rotate. "What are you doing?" asked Rafael. "You said Dr. Rhodes wasn't answering your page. That doesn't mean the page is not working. I'm using the comm package of my armor to send out a continuous signal pulse on the frequency of her pager so we can home in on it." explained Crow. "In other words, your ringing the number over and over so you can track it?" postulated Rafael. "Exactly. Come on, I'm getting something." The two walked along the corridors and went up two decks. They passed a number of crew members who stared in bewilderment at what they were doing.       "Okay, now I'm scared." commented Kristin O'Connor. "I see what you mean, he's doing it armed now." added Elan. Elan raised one hand out in front of him, calling for Crow and Rafael to stop. "Not now." said Crow as he stepped past. Unwilling to let a potentially deranged - and armed - individual go about his way, Elan followed with Kristin in tow. "Um, Mengele, maybe you should see a doctor." said Kristin. Rafael turned his head around so he could see her, "Dr. Rhodes is missing. Lt. Mengele is helping me track her down." "You mean there's a legitimate danger on board?" asked Elan. "Possibly." said Crow. "We'll know for sure when we find her. This is it." "Here?" said Elan. "But these quarters are vacant." "Then why is Dr. Rhodes' pager going off in there?" asked Crow. Through the door, they could faintly hear the electric beeps of a pager. "Let's get her out of there!" said Rafael. He marched ahead toward the door. Elan grabbed his shoulder. "If she's not answering, there may be hostiles in there." "Or just the pager." noted Kristin. "Tedronai and I will go in first. O'Connor, opens the door and Vela brings up the rear." ordered Crow. He took position on the left side of the door. Elan drew his crossbow and set near the right side. Kristin went to work on the lock. In thirty seconds, the door opened. Crow and Elan pointed their weapons into the dark room. "Thermograph shows only one heat source, near the bed. Looks like Dr. Rhodes." "Anything else?" asked Elan. "Nothing. Vela, its your show." Rafael shot by them both and into the room, turning the lights on as he went. Karen lay on floor, face up. Rafael began to look her over. "How is she?" asked Kristin. "Fine, thankfully. No bruises or apparent injuries." "Then why is she out?" asked Elan. "This might have something to do with it." Crow was kneeling near her medical case. He held an empty hypospray in one hand.       Rafael took it from him, examined it, and dove into his own case. "I have something that should counteract this." He loaded a bottle into his own hypospray and administered it to Karen. "How long till it starts working?" asked Elan. "Wha?" said Karen. "Apparently, not long." concluded Kristin. "Karen, can you hear me?" asked Rafael. Karen rubbed her eyes and sat up. She seemed pretty groggy when she answered. "I think so." "What happened?" asked Crow, his helmet finally removed. "There were three of them. Disappeared. Don't know where they went. Seemed like they planning on leaving though, if I remember right." Elan looked at Crow. "The hanger." they said in unison. The two bolted from the room, Crow pausing only long enough to get his helmet back on. "Is she going to be okay?" asked Kristin. "She should be just fine. The rest of the sedative just needs to filter out of her system." answered Rafael. "Great. Bye!" Kristin ran from the room, in hot pursuit of Elan and Crow.       With his cyberjack connected, Crow activated the comm system of his backpack. "Captain Jose. Come in, this is Crow." The captain's voice came over the line. "What is it, Crow?" "Sir, we have intruders on ship." "This isn't another one of your phantoms is it?" The captain's voice sounded skeptical at best. "Negative, sir. They subdued and drugged Dr. Rhodes. After questioning her, we know there are three of them and we believe they're heading for hanger 2 with the intent of stealing a shuttle." "Where are you?" The Captain's voice drew more serious. "Lieutenants Tedronai, O'Connor, and I are en route. E.T.A. is 2 minutes." "I'm right around the corner with the platoon, we'll meet you there. Jose, out." "You realize we don't know for sure that they're heading there, right?" asked Elan. "Yeah, but where else can they go? We don't have any other vehicles that can carry more than two people, aside from a scout ship." pointed out Crow. "And both of those are in hanger 2." added Kristin. Crow increased his running speed, shooting ahead of both Kristin and Elan. "Now if you two would pick up the pace, maybe we could get there in time to catch them!" * * *       "This is not good." said Sterling. "You have a gift for understatement." commented Ellen. "Maybe we should fight our way through." suggested Shanita. The three of them gazed down the hall. The entrance to hanger 2 was crawling with jumptroops, and no doubt the hanger as well. "Can we slip past them?" asked Ellen. "One of us could, but the rest of our cloaking units are too low on power to pull it off." Sterling handed one to Shanita. "You stick out the most, so you get it. I still have crew member scanned into memory, maybe I can slip past them with that." "Or we could do it my way." Shanita and Sterling exchanged glances. "What do we have to lose." said Sterling. "What's your plan?" Ellen removed her cloaking unit and switched it over to holographic mode. She handed her duffel to Shanita. "Nita does her cloaking thing, you become whoever you got in there, and the both of you break for the scout ship while I distract them." "How?" asked Shanita. "I did a little programing on this thing." Sterling cocked an eyebrow. Ellen eyed them, "Just be ready to move when all hell breaks loose." Ellen unzipped her jumpsuit so as to show a generous amount of cleavage and walked steadily down the hall. Sterling shrugged and activated his holographic unit, in effect becoming Elan Morin Tedronai. Shanita faded from sight altogether.       Ellen sauntered down the hall. A few dozen feet behind her, Sterling trailed in disguise. The two guards at the entrance stopped her. "Sorry ma'am, this area is off limits by order of Captain Jose." Ellen pointed to the strips on her shoulder. "You see these, private?" "Yes, ma..er..Lieutenant." "Good. I'm Lt. Wright and I'm here to see the officer in charge of this unit. Its important I do that A.S.A.P. Are you reading?" "Yes, Lieutenant, but I can't..." Ellen pretended to get angry. "Listen, grunt, I'm here to report for duty. That means pretty soon you're going to be reporting to me. And you do NOT want to start off on the wrong foot with me." Ellen stared hard at the guard, he was beginning to squirm. "Lt. Tedronai!" Ellen turned to see 'Elan' standing behind her. "Captain Jose is expecting you, go right in." Elan smiled. "Thank you, private." The guard caught his arm as he went by, "Uh, can you by chance vouch for her, sir?" "I think I read something about a transfer coming in today, are you Wright?" "The one and only." said Ellen. The guard let go of Elan. "Okay then, she's your responsibility."       Once in the hanger, the two quickly separated. Elan tried to inconspicuously make his way over to the scout ship while Ellen seemed to be scanning the troops. She looked them over carefully and found exactly what she was looking for. "There's one in every squad." she said to herself. He was about 5' 11' with black hair and brown eyes. Instead of keeping his eyes peeled, he was using them to mentally peel the clothes off her. Ellen smiled at him and casually walked over to him. He was sitting on a small cargo crate, fiddling a bit with the sights of his rifle. "Hi there." said Ellen. "Who are you?" The man flashed her smile, "Name's Dagger, Dirk Dagger. How about you?" "Wright, Lt. Wright." Dagger's smile faded a bit, being not quite sure if he had just made mistake. "Relax, Dagger. I'm new here, can you tell what's going on?" "Don't really know, Cap says we've got intruders." He put his rifle down on the deck plates. "But I have this feeling that's not what you want to talk with me about." "Oh?" said Ellen, with a cock of the eyebrow. She leaned over, with her hands resting on her knees. This brought them more or less face to face, while at the same time giving Dagger a really good view down her shirt. "Oh yeah." said Dagger. "My quarters aren't that far from here." Ellen chuckled. "Honey, you'd never be able to handle me." With his gaze still firmly at chest level, Dagger replied, "But you have no idea how much I'd like to try." Ellen stroked the side of his face. "Okay." "Okay?" repeated Dagger. Ellen nodded. Dagger sprang to his feet, scooping up his rifle in the process. "Just making sure I heard you right." He put his left arm around her. "Right this way." Ellen brought her right arm behind the base of his back and covertly placed her holoprojection unit on his belt. "Oh, just a moment. I have to check in with Captain Jose first." She got out from under his arm, switching the holounit on as she did so. "Don't go anywhere." she gave his lips a quick brush with hers. "I'll be right here." "That's what I'm counting on." replied Ellen.       As Ellen walked away from him, she continued to count down the seconds left on the time lapse she had put on the holo unit. Any second now. thought Ellen. When she surmised the appropriate amount of time had passed, she turned around to steal a glance at Dagger. Sure enough, the unit was active. Ellen spun and pointed at him, yelling "Intruder!" Within three seconds every trooper in the room was bringing their weapon to bear.       Tom Jose had the sneaking suspicion that Crow was seeing things again. And that he had deployed his troops to catch nothing more than shadows. "Intruder!" Tom looked toward the source of the disturbance, and suddenly all his doubts were erased. "Move in!"       The day was beginning to look up for Dirk Dagger. Yes indeed it was, he was about to spend some time in the company of an attractive squadmate and the only thing that stood in his way was...the entire squad?! Dirk watched in horror as every weapon in the hanger was systematically turned on him. He turned to look behind him, hoping to see the enemy standing there. "Drop your weapon, now!" ordered Captain Jose. Dagger faced his now hostile squadmates, "Listen, if this about my conduct in the training exercise earlier, I'm sorry. Really." That's when Dagger noticed that his voice didn't sound the way it usually did. As a matter of fact, it sounded an awful lot like...       "Phaeton! How the hell did he get in here!" muttered Captain Jose. "Well he won't be leaving, Sir. I guarantee it." answered Corporal Preston. "Lay down your weapon, like the captain said." Phaeton looked just as confused as the troops surrounding him as he slowly lowered the weapon to the floor. "Hands on your head!" ordered Preston. "Listen, Corporal Preston, Captain Jose, can we talk about this?" Preston and Jose looked at each other. "How'd he know our names?" asked Preston.       Using the confusion as cover, Ellen slipped out of sight and met up with 'Elan' near one of the scout ships. "Where's Nita?" she asked. "On board." answered Elan. "Phaeton, huh? Cute idea. Have you thought about what happens when they figure it out?" "Don't want your precious toys falling into the wrong hands?" said Ellen wryly. "Its not that, its just we really have no place giving them tech that advanced at this point in time. Besides, if they have one, they can figure out how to detect it. And that..." "Makes things harder for us." finished Ellen. "Yeah, I figured. That's why I rigged it with a small explosive. They hit the off switch and 'pop' no more holounit." "Get on board and help Shanita get this thing started, I'll keep an eye on things here." * * *       Crow, Elan, and Kristin arrived at hanger 2 to find it buzzing with activity. "Looks like they caught them already." said O'Connor. The trio stepped into the hanger and noted the situation with 'Phaeton'. "What the?! What is he doing here?" asked Elan. Crow remained silent as O'Connor postulated on his intentions. "Sight-seeing?" "I doubt it." answered Crow. "That's not even Phaeton." "How can you tell?" asked Elan. "Whatever it is they're using, I can see through it. The real person standing there is a foot or so shorter than Phaeton. Come on." They stepped through the crowd of troopers and emerged before the impostor. "Mengele, nice of you to join us. I believe we have your intruder." called out Captain Jose. "I don't think so." answered Crow as he headed toward the prisoner. "Yeah, listen to him! I'm not Phaeton!" Crow circled 'Phaeton' and stopped behind him. "Hold still." he said as he reached for something attached to his belt. He pulled it free, and the image of Phaeton flickered, then reasserted itself on Crow. This left a grateful Dirk Dagger visible for all to see. "I told you I wasn't Phaeton!" he said. Crow pushed a button on the unit and the image disappeared. The unit emitted a spark, shocking Crow. "Yow!" He released it and it fell to the floor, where it promptly blew apart. "What was that?" asked Captain Jose as he approached. "We'll never know now." said Crow as he nudged the smoldering device with his foot. "Where'd you get it?" asked Jose to Dagger. "That girl must have slipped it on me." "What girl?" asked Crow. "The red-head over..." Dagger scanned the assembled troops but found no one matching the description. He looked perplexed, followed immediately by alarmed. "What's wrong?" asked Captain Jose. He and Crow looked along Dagger's line of sight and saw Lt. Elan Morin Tedronai standing next to Lt. O'Connor. Behind them, standing clear on the other side of the hanger, was Lt. Tedronai? Elan immediately sensed something was up behind him and turned to see himself staring back at him. His double winked from the distance and headed up the entry ramp to one of the scout ships. Elan stared dumbfound for a moment. "What the f---" BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!       Suddenly, the hanger came alive with gunfire as the scout ship's ventral cannon came online and opened fire. The jumptroopers scattered for cover as shots hit all over. An alarm claxon went off. "He's opening the hanger doors, everyone out now!" order Captain Jose. The scout ship ceased firing, allowing the assembled troops to run for the nearest exit. "Can't you override this?" yelled Elan. "No time!" replied Kristin as she pointed to the now opening door. The stable atmosphere of the hanger became something close to a raging hurricane as troopers clawed their way to the exits, in the hopes of avoiding being sucked out into space. Dirk Dagger was on his way to the exit when it began, he hit the floor and wrapped his left arm around a metal loop fixed there. It was designed to secured cargo to the deck plates. "This is gonna suck...literally!" he said to himself. Ahead of him, Preston, Crow, and Jose made it through the door. Elan and Kristin were trailing by a few steps. Elan grabbed onto the door frame as the suction attempted to take him. Kristin did the same. Though, while Elan stayed firmly in place, Kristin was ripped free. "Kristin!!" screamed Elan. O'Connor could do nothing but scream herself as she headed into deep space. Dagger picked his head up to see her headed by him. He raised his right arm in a last minute attempt to grab her, and caught hold of her left ankle. Dagger felt a shooting pain in his shoulder as his arm drew taught with O'Connor dangling at the end of it. She twisted violently, clearly terrified out of her mind. Dagger closed his eyes and used every ounce of his strength just to hold onto her and the cargo ring. The scout ship's engines came online and the ship slowly lifted from the deck plates and exited the hanger. The hanger door began to close behind it. Dagger opened his eyes and watched it. It wasn't until this moment in his life that he noticed how damn slow the thing was. His arm right arm felt like it was ready to snap off and the air was almost gone from the room. After what seemed like an eternity, the doors closed and the hanger repressurized. O'Connor fell to the floor, landing solidly on her rump. Dagger released her ankle and fell over. "Yup, that sucked all right."       Kristin got to her feet, her ankle a little sore from the grip Dagger had on it. Elan rushed to her. "Are you all right?" Kristin nodded her head. "Just shaken up." She looked to Dagger as he got up. "Thanks, I owe you one." Dagger smiled, "You can make it up to me by finding a doctor. I think I just dislocated my shoulder. When you're done with that, you can get the crazy bastard in that scout ship." "We'll take care of the doctor." answered Captain Jose. "Tedronai, you and O'Connor better get back to your squad if you want to go after them." Preston escorted Dagger to sick bay as Elan and Kristin left to rejoin their exosquad. * * *       "Report!" demanded Commander Jonathan Xanatos. "Sir, we had a decompression of hanger two. It looks like there was an unauthorized launch of one of our scout ships." answered a bridge officer. "Get me Lt. O'Muirdagh." ordered Xanatos. "O'Muirdagh here, sir." came the slightly garbled reply. "Lieutenant, we have an unauthorized launch from hanger two. Take Gamma Squad and retrieve the ship, immediately." "Sir, we may have to..." O'Muirdagh paused a moment before continuing, "nevermind, my two missing troopers just showed up. We're departing now. O'Muirdagh out." Xanatos stared at the sensor readings displayed before him. "I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to the captain." * * * "Gamma Squad, frame up!" As O'Muirdagh gave the order, his squad sprang to life. Elan and Kristin were a tad late and so O'Muirdagh waited the few seconds for them to jack into their frames. Elan jacked into his field communications e-frame and Kristin into her modified field repair e-frame. Satisfied, O'Muirdagh climbed into his modified field sergeant e-frame. "O'Muirdagh to bridge, ready to depart, open the bay doors." The massive doors of the hanger swung open and Gamma squad rocketed into space, their target being a mere speck on the starline. * * *       "I think they're mad at us." commented Ellen. "Whatever gave you that idea? The e-frames on our tail, perhaps?" replied Sterling. "Can we outrun them?" asked Shanita. "Possibly. But once those frames get in range that won't be an option. They'll go for our engines - try and slow us down." "Not if I distract them first." Shanita got up from her seat and headed to the rear airlock. "Going for a walk?" asked Cy. "Yes, but hopefully a brief one." Ellen jumped out of her seat and opened her duffel. "That thing can fly in space?" asked Shanita. "No, but if I strap into the open airlock I bet my grenades and rockets could give them a scare." "Good idea." said Shanita. "Brace yourselves!" yelled Cy. The proximity alarm sounded and Cy attempted evasive maneuvers. * * *       "Open fire!" ordered O'Muirdagh. He brought his mini-mass driver online and targeted the ship's thrusters. He fired. The shots he took were joined by those released by the rest of the squad. The scout ship rolled hard left and neatly dodged the first volley. The ship then inverted itself and pulled up hard, which was down from O'Muirdagh's point of view. "Break off into groups of two, we'll try to box him in." An exofighter and a reconnaissance e-frame broke from the group and followed the scout ship. O'Muirdagh brought his frame around in a lazy arc, waiting to see what his foe would do. On his right was a rapid assault e-frame.       Trooper Nikki Montgomery brought her exofighter in behind the scout ship and opened fire. The ship rolled to it's right, then back to the left and shot straight up. "Want to play do you? Fine let's play." said Nikki. She pulled back hard on her stick and followed. As she closed into range for her next shot, the rear airlock opened. Two figures stood in it. One extended a line to either side of her, anchoring herself by the waist to the walls of the airlock. The other jumped into open space, wings extending from her back as she did so. Nikki opened her comm line, "Lieutenant, looks like they're up to something." "I see it, watch yourself Montgomery." answered O'Muirdagh. "Don't I always?" answered Nikki. As she spoke, the person in the spacesuit vectored on her. "A spacesuit? Versus an exofighter? Can you spot the judgmentally challenged person in this picture?" Nikki changed course slightly to intercept. She targeted one of the craft's wings. "Not that I wouldn't mind blowing you away, but the Lieutenant probably wants you for questioning." Her sensors began to beep wildly. Nikki glanced at the readout. "What the?" Suddenly, the craft unleashed several bursts of green energy. "Whoa!" Nikki arced back on her stick. Narrowly avoiding the shots. "Lieutenant, did you see that?" "Roger that, Montgomery. Looks like we got a new player in the game." answered O'Muirdagh. "I'm on him." Nikki corrected her course and again slipped in behind the scout ship. The trooper in the airlock opened fire on her. The repeater shots glanced harmlessly off the thick plating of the exofighter. "You must be a jumptrooper, no one else is this stupid." said Nikki to herself. She closed the gap between herself and the ship a little more before she lined up her shot. * * *       "That's it you stupid exo-jockey, a little closer. Perfect." said Ellen to herself. She lowered her rifle and activated her rocket launcher. The barrel extended upward, Ellen brought it over her shoulder and lined up her own shot. She allowed herself smile before she pulled the trigger. * * *       "This could be bad." said Nikki. The rocket the jumptrooper launched came straight at her. She banked to the left, but it was too late. The rocket struck her right wing at the base, blowing it off. "This could be very bad!" yelled Nikki. She opened her comm line. "Mayday, mayday, I'm hit!" "Warning, power cell detonation is eminent." announced the frame's computer. "Thanks for the news flash." muttered Nikki. "Send a recovery shuttle, I'm punching out!" A vac helmet fitted over her head and the canopy of her fighter blew off. The seat Nikki was sitting in rocketed out of the cockpit. She gripped the base of the seat as the shock wave from her exploding fighter sent her tumbling through space. * * *       The rapid assault e-frame banked to its left, avoiding a flurry of green plasma in the process. O'Muirdagh brought his frame level with the new craft. They accelerated towards each other, head to head. O'Muirdagh selected his rockets from his weapons menu. Green cross hairs appeared on his canopy over the black craft. "You're making this too easy." said O'Muirdagh. With a thought, one of his rockets launched. The craft effortlessly destroyed it after it got a few feet ahead of O'Muirdagh's frame. Its detonation created a small fireball that O'Muirdagh had no choice but to fly through. It obscured his field of vision for few seconds. When the familiar blackness of space appeared on the other side of his canopy, the black craft was gone. "Dammit, where'd he go?" asked O'Muirdagh. He opened his comm line, "Gamma Squad, I lost the small aggressor. Does anyone see him?" "This is Tedronai, he's on your right, he's firing!" O'Muirdagh's proximity alarm sounded. He brought his frame into a steep climb, avoiding the volley. The black craft changed course and slipped in neatly behind him. O'Muirdagh rolled his frame to the right, avoiding another volley. "Tedronai, O'Connor, I'm changing course to mark 37. I'll bring him to you, then he's all yours." "Roger that, standing by." responded Tedronai. O'Muirdagh activated his breaking thrusters, bringing the craft closer to him. In the distance, he could see Tedronai and O'Connor heading toward him. Now if I can keep you interested in me, you'll never see those two coming. thought O'Muirdagh. In response to his maneuver, the black craft accelerated and flew over the top to O'Muirdagh's frame - taking a few shots at him in the process. It shuddered under the impact. As the craft zoomed ahead of him, O'Muirdagh attempted to get a target lock on it with his remaining rockets. "Relays to the missile carriage have been damaged, rockets are off-line." announced the computer. "Clever fellow." muttered O'Muirdagh. He switched over to his mini-mass driver and followed. * * *       "Here he comes." said Kristin. "I got him." replied Elan. He maneuvered his frame in front of Kristin's and opened fire with the fully automatic exogun on his frame's right arm. The black craft deftly dodged his shots, as well as the shots from Lieutenant O'Muirdagh, who was pursuing him. Kristin popped out from behind Elan and took a single shot of her own, clipping the craft's right wing. "Now that's how you shoot." commented Kristin. The craft tumbled a bit then straightened out, heading in Kristin's direction with weapons blazing. "I think I made him mad." She activated her reverse thrusters and backed away from the craft at the same speed it was approaching, returning fire at the same time. Elan maneuvered off to one side and began firing again. The craft suddenly changed direction and charged him. Elan juked his frame hard to the right in an effort to avoid collision. The craft preformed a similar maneuver and came in on Elan's six. "He's right on top of me!" yelled Elan. "I'm coming in from behind." replied O'Muirdagh. Elan attempted a stiff climb in an effort to shake his pursuer. The craft predicted this maneuver and began to climb early. The result was a collision. Elan's frame spun on its horizontal axis as the craft landed on his e-frame's back. "He's on me!" yelled Elan. He could hear the enemy as he crawled along his backside. "I got him." said Kristin. She fired a volley from her pulse lasers. The black mecha quickly skittered over the top of Elan's frame and onto the canopy. Meanwhile, the blasts struck the backside of Elan's frame. It began to tumble out of control as smoke and sparks were generated in the cockpit. "Stop shooting!" screamed Elan. "Sorry." said Kristin apologetically. With the thing on his canopy, Elan was able to get a real good look at it. "He's a she." he said. An unfamiliar voice came over his comm line in response. "It is about time you noticed." The figure on his canopy waved a finger at him. "Lieutenant, I think they've tapped into our comm frequency." "You are a smart one, you will go far I am sure." The woman cocked her fist back and rammed it forward. The canopy cracked and began to hiss. "Get this psycho off me!" yelled Elan. He used the arms of his frame in an attempt to shake her off, but to no avail. She cocked her fist again. Elan used his cyberjack to activate his life support helmet. It descended over his head and sealed as her fist began to descend. It smashed through his canopy and gripped his throat. After the cockpit finished decompressing Elan again heard the pilot's voice. "I could kill you right now - snap your neck with nothing more than a thought - but I will not." Her hand released him. "So return the favor and leave us alone, because you are starting to piss me off!" She pushed away from his frame and activated her jets. "Elan! Are you okay?" asked Kristin. "Canopy is gone, but I'm all right." answered Elan. As the black craft sped away from him, he could see Lieutenant O'Muirdagh in hot pursuit. * * *       "Did you forget about me?" asked O'Muirdagh. "Not at all, Lieutenant." came the response. "So you were monitoring our communications." replied O'Muirdagh. "Who are you?" "That would be telling, would it not?" O'Muirdagh increased power to his thrusters, intent on catching her. "Don't make me kill you, surrender now and we won't hurt you." There was silence over the comm line a moment. "Let us not jest, we both know you lack to skill to defeat me." "If that's so, then why are you running?" asked O'Muirdagh. "Because a good pilot flies with her head...and uses teamwork." O'Muirdagh mentally chided himself for not seeing it sooner. He pulled up hard and rolled to his left. As he did so he noted the sensor profile of the scout ship coming in below him. His proximity alarm sounded as numerous laser shots streaked by his frame from all sides. The frame rocked and tumbled as two connected with the backside of his frame, causing one of his thrusters to misfire and go out. He tumbled out of control, forgetting all about the scout ship and the black craft. When he finally stabilized he opened his comm line. "Status report." Tedronai responded. "Montgomery is E.V.A., my canopy is damaged - amoung other things - and the rest of the squad is chasing that ship with the exception of O'Connor who's on my wing." "What is the target's status?" "That small frame went back inside the scout ship. They're running full speed to the inner solar system." O'Muirdagh hated what he was about to do, but he had no choice. They were already too far from the base and they had a one squad member relying on emergency life support while another was floating in space. "Tell the squad to break off the pursuit." "Sir?" asked Elan. "You heard me, Lieutenant, call them off. We have a woman down. We need to find her before she freezes to death out here." "Yes sir." Elan sent the message to the squad and they reformed on O'Muirdagh. He ordered Elan to return to the Normandy after he radioed for a rescue shuttle. "O'Connor, see what you can do about my frame's thruster. The rest of you fan out and find Montgomery." * * *       "Coco?" Nikki Montgomery looked up from where she was sitting, covered in blankets, to see Lt. Crow Mengele holding a mug. Crow, Jose, Preston, Dyvim and half of Sierra Three had chosen to accompany the rescue team on the second scout ship. They had pulled Nikki from space about 30 minutes ago. "What's in it?" asked Nikki, still shivering from exposure. "Chocolate with a hint of mint, its from my personal supply." Crow held up his thermos. Nikki regarded the cup skeptically. "I'll pass." she said. Crow had a seat next to her. "Suit yourself. But if I were in your position, a steaming cup of coco would sure help get rid of those shivers." He sniffed the mug, smiled, and took sip from it. Nikki caught a whiff of its aroma, it smelled great. "Okay, give it to me." Crow handed over the mug. Nikki cradled it in her hands and sipped from it. "So how'd you like your space walk?" asked Crow. "I don't recommend you try it without thermal wear." answered Nikki. "You know, this kind of reminds me of the blend my uncle back home used to make, though he always put a big marshmallow in the cup for me." "Like this." said Crow. He produced a single marshmallow from a pouch he had with him and dropped it in her cup. Nikki smiled. "Thank you." "Hey, hey, watch it. You keep making comments like that and I might stop thinking of you as a snot-nosed bitch." Nikki chuckled a little. "Don't push your luck, you pig-headed grunt." Crow smiled back at her. "That's better." He placed the thermos and the pouch of marshmallows next to her and got up. "Drink up. I want the thermos and pouch back when you're done. Oh, and if anyone asks..." "I didn't get them from you." finished Nikki. "Don't want to ruin that bad reputation, now do we?" "Exactly." said Crow. He headed for the ship's cockpit. Nikki watched him go then returned to her coco. "Pretty smooth, for a ground pounder anyway." * * *       "You want to do what?" asked O'Muirdagh, his frame repaired and in formation along side the second scout ship. "You heard me." answered Captain Jose. "We're going after them." "You can't be serious, they're headed straight for Neo territory." "I am serious, Lieutenant. Its our only option. You're frames can't handle that long a trip, this scout ship can. We're going." O'Muirdagh sounded a tad hostile as he replied, "Negative, you are to return to base with us." "Last time I checked, Lieutenant, I still outranked you." answered Captain Jose. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." replied O'Muirdagh. "Besides, Commander Xanatos has authorized us to go after them." replied Captain Jose. "What about Montgomery?" asked O'Muirdagh. "She gets to come along for the ride. In the meatime, we have our orders and you yours, so let's leave it at that." Their ship pealed out of formation and headed off, following the last known trajectory of the other scout ship. O'Muirdagh watched it fade from sight. "Gamma Squad, let's go home." * * *       "Starting to piss me off." Cy chuckled again. "Why is that so amusing?" asked Shanita. "You've never tried to use vulgarity before, at least not in English. I just think its funny coming out of your mouth. Hallas teach you that?" "I may have picked it up from him." said Shanita. "The whole point was to make them think I was human under the armor. Humans use that kind of language all the time. It seemed appropriate." "It was." said Ellen. "Though if you really want to sound more human you should use contractions." Shanita considered the suggestion. "I suppose I should. But English is my second language and contractions sort of confuse me, so I shy away from their use." "A problem for another time." said Sterling. He motioned out the main viewport. "We're here." The planet Mars loomed in the distance, growing larger with each passing moment. Shanita checked their sensors. "They have yet to spot us." Sterling spared a glance in the Shanita's direction. "That will change, I'm sure. But don't worry, I know a few tricks that should get us by any Neo patrols we encounter." "I feel so assured." said Ellen sarcastically. * * *       "So what's the word, Cap?" asked Crow. Captain Jose returned from the cockpit looking serious but hopeful. "We think we've picked up the trail. It looks like they're headed for Mars. We'll know for sure when we get closer to the planet. Until then..." "We sit back and pretend not to be edgy around each other." finished Unholy. "Pretty much." conceded Jose. "Let's assume we find them there. Any ideas about how we catch them?" asked Crow. "A few scenarios spring to mind, but there's no sense in committing to one or the other until we actually know the situation." answered Captain Jose. "Dibbs on the redhead." said Corporal Preston. Crow, Jose, and Unholy shot him a confused look. "I promised Dagger I'd bring her in for him" confessed Preston. "We don't even know if she is one of them - or a real person for that matter." answered Jose. "But what the hell, after the save Dagger made today, we owe him that much. If she's there, she's all yours, Corporal." Preston smiled, "Thank you, Captain." * * *       "Well I have to admit it, getting here was a lot easier than I thought it would be." said Ellen. They had run into two Neo patrols, both of which were easily dispatched by the combination of the scout ship's guns and Shanita's armor. They had set down in a canyon valley and had walked a couple of miles to where Sterling had estimated there would be an entrance to the alien complex. "This should be it." Sterling looked back at his companions. Ellen stood ready in her exoarmor and Shanita in her battle armor. He touched a canyon wall and brushed away some of the dirt. It wasn't long before he hit something solid which was neither rock or terran metal. He felt around the area he had cleared. There was no door. "We'll have to make our own door." He slammed his hand into the wall and concentrated. A bioenergetic charge began to develop and melt the wall away until the opening was large enough for them to pass through. "Hurry, this way!" ordered Cy. * * *       "What do mean there's nothing useful here!?" yelled Ellen. "I think you understood me." answered Cy calmly. He closed the tool kit he had taken from the scout ship and picked it up in his left hand. "But you said what we needed to get us home was here." screamed Ellen. "I can't believe I trusted you!" She punched the wall of the complex, hoping to drain away some of her anger. All she did was hurt her hand. "Are you certain, Cy?" asked Shanita. "Yes." answered Sterling. "This technology is either too outdated by current Eltorian standards or its not Eltorian at all. To be honest I'm not sure which." "Neither am I." commented Shanita. "So now what?" demanded Ellen. Cy exchanged glances with Shanita. "Back to the scout ship." they said in unison. * * *       "Abandoned." announced Crow. "I figured as much." replied Captain Jose. "The question is: where did they go?" Tom looked from one scout ship to the other and out into the vast expanse of the Martian desert. "Crow, have half our men stay here and guard the ships. The rest of you are with me." * * *       "Looks like we were followed." commented Cy. "Great, can things get any worse?" asked Ellen. They were settled in a small crevice near the top of the canyon, looking down on their would-be captors. "At least the sun is going down. With it dark, we should be able to move more freely, maybe even sneak by them." offered Shanita. "And go where?" asked Ellen. "She's right." said Sterling. "Those ships are our only way out of here. We have to get ours back." "I won't fire on jumptroopers." stated Ellen. "You fired on exotroopers." said Shanita. "That's different." snapped Ellen. "How?" asked Shanita. "Its not important." interjected Sterling. "And we're not asking you to fire on them, just to shoot near them. Give'em a good scare if you will." "I suppose I could do that." replied Ellen. "If only we had two more sets of battle armor, we could leave here on our own." commented Shanita. Sterling's face dropped, his expression suggesting he was absolutely stunned. "That's brilliant!" "Not really, there is no way we can obtain two extra units." answered Shanita. "No, no! Your battle armor! We've been looking for the technology to take us home and you've been carrying it with us the whole time!" "Okay, you've lost me." admitted Ellen. "Parts of her battle armor exist out of phase with our reality when not in use. These pieces exist partially in the users reality and partially in that bit of nothingness between realities called unspace." "Okay," stated Ellen, "So what?" "Well, with a few adjustments, I'm sure I can get those parts to fully enter unspace and then exit into another reality, the one we started from!" explained Sterling. "It seems to make sense." noted Shanita. "But what good will sending pieces of her armor between realities do?" asked Ellen "Nothing really, that's why I need to modify them to take the armor - and its occupant - with it. I'll have to make some major adjustments, but when I'm done I think we can send Shanita home!" Ellen seemed less than thrilled with the idea. "And so I ask again, what good will that do for us? Or should I say, me?" Sterling eyed her, "Once we get her home, she can tell Algernon where we are and they can come after us. We just need to be sure that Shanita has the proper targeting coordinates for a ring system." Shanita nodded her head, "I am willing to try." Ellen rolled her eyes, then shrugged. "What the hell, we have nothing to loose." "Good." said Sterling. He opened the tool kit he had taken from the scout shuttle. "Wright, keep an eye on our friends. I'll get Shanita ready for departure." Ellen worked her way up to the top of the crevice, hefted her rifle over one knee, and settled in for a long watch. * * *       "They've got to be here somewhere, there's nowhere else to go." muttered Captain Tom Jose. He had his men search the entire valley and most of the crevices on the surrounding walls. "I know you want to nail these guys Cap, but we've been here too long. Its only a matter of time before the Neos notice us." said Crow. "I know Crow, I'm just sure that if we give it a bit more time..." "Believe me when I tell you, no one understands better than me. Hell, I probably want them worse than you. But staying here longer isn't just stupid, its suicidal." Jose nodded. It was time to end it and head home while they still could. "Captain." Jose opened the comm line on his exoarmor, "Go ahead Dyvim." "I think I've spotted something Southeast of your position." "Understood, standby." Captain Jose looked to Crow. "You're the one with the magic eyes. Southeast ridge. Tell me what you see." Crow turned to the appropriate direction and began cycling through the various light spectrums. To his surprise, it didn't take long for the outline of a female jumptrooper to come into focus. She was sitting with her head poking over the mouth of a crevice, her rifle in one hand. Crow casually turned back to Captain Jose. "Act natural, sir." "You got something." answered Jose. His stance and tone were as nonchalant as before. "Right where Unholy said. Our little redhead is keeping watch over us. No armor, she's just got her rifle. No sign of anyone else. Bet they're not far though." Preston's voice came over the comm line. "I can take her out before she even knows I'm there." "Preston, you are a go to move in. Dyvim, back him up. The rest of us will stand by, we don't want to spook them prematurely." "Sir, I would be able to get closer without a visible tail." replied Preston. "I sympathize, Preston. But I don't want you going in without backup." answered Jose. "Give me 200 yards, that's all I ask." replied Preston. Captain Jose thought over the prospect a moment. "Dyvim, stay back at least 200 yards from Preston. Preston, we move on your signal." * * *       "How's it look?" asked Sterling. He had spent the last couple hours fiddling over Shanita's armor. She stood before him fully clad in it. "Quiet." said Ellen. Sterling returned to working on Shanita's left gauntlet, saying nothing more than, "That's good." He fitted the last panel in place. "Well, that's it." Ellen looked over to them. "It still looks the same. You cannibalized my exoarmor and our last two holounits for that?" "It may look the same on the outside, but its capable of quite a different function now." answered Sterling patiently. "So what do I do?" asked Shanita. "The mental command for armor retraction will activate the process. The mechanisms inside the individual pieces of armor - you forearm cannons, jetpack, and thrust boots - are linked together such that they will take you and the rest of your armor into unspace with them. Once you're there, all you have to do is reset the current to each mechanism as we discussed and reactivate them. This will bring you to the exact point from which we left our home reality. Now it's important you leave your sensors on throughout the trip. The sensor log will tell Algernon where to find us, remember to focus on internal power levels." Shanita nodded her head. "Then let us do it." Cy stood and extended his hand. "Good luck, my friend." "Do you have a message for Nara?" asked Shanita. "Tell her," Cy paused a moment while he thought of an appropriate message, "Tell her not to have our kid until I get back." Shanita smiled under her armor. "I will." "Try not to die." added Ellen. Shanita seemed a little shocked by the almost touching level of concern she showed. "If you do, I'll never get home." added Ellen quickly. Shanita gave a solemn nod and stood ready. "I will see you both when you get back." She recalled her armor. Blue sparks of energy danced along the armor's outer surface until the whole unit vanished into a white light, leaving nothing behind. "You think that gave away our position?" asked Cy. Ellen scanned the vally and spotted movement. "I think so." She kneeled and leveled her rifle, intent on delivering a warning shot. The rifle suddenly jerked itself from her grasp and flew over the side of the crevice. Ellen herself was knocked onto her side. "What the?!" stammered Ellen. Cy stepped forward only to come face to face with the barrel of a rifle. A jumptrooper seemed to appear out of nowhere, literally melting out of the darkness. "All units move in." he said. "Neat trick." commented Cy. "Not as nice as some of yours, or so I'm told." responded Corporal Preston. He stood slightly to the left of Ellen and directly in front of Sterling. He held his rifle on Sterling, though he could just as easily shift it to Ellen should she try anything. Cy noted something small and spherical in the palm of her left hand. She was getting ready to use it. Another jumptrooper came over the ridge. He held his rifle on Ellen from behind. "Drop it." he said. "Nice to see you made it, Dyvim." said Preston. Ellen released the object in her hand and closed her eyes. Sterling did the same. A blinding white flash filled the crevice. Preston staggered back, unable to see. Ellen rushed Dyvim with the intent of taking his rifle. He smoothly slammed the butt of his weapon into the side of Ellen's head. She went down holding her hand over the newly acquired cut. Dyvim instantly brought his weapon to bear on Sterling. "Don't even think about it." Sterling backed away from Preston, who was regaining his eyesight. "What gives?" asked Ellen. "On any other soldier, that might have worked." answered Unholy. "Now both of you, get your hands where I can see them!" Preston gave Unholy a thumbs up and radioed Captain Jose. "Sir, we have them." On to the Epilogue