Chapter 3       The Venutian night was brisk. The wet running suit Nara wore only made such an observation all the more obvious. She had been running a little over half speed for fifteen minutes. Mandy was struggling to keep up. If Nara were sure that she was the target of this assassination attempt, she might have considered leaving Mandy behind. Using herself as bait Nara could lead them away from Mandy and thus insure she survived. However, Mandy had been on the shuttle that was attacked. Therefore the target could very well be her. Nara looked over her shoulder. The occupants of the other hovercar would have to follow them on foot. That gave them a little time before they caught up. She stopped near a tree. Mandy halted near her. "We need to make a stand." "Are you nuts!?" asked Mandy. She was shaking all over, the terror of the moment freely washing over her. "We can't outrun them." said Nara. Mandy seemed to calm down a little as she replied, "You mean I can't outrun them." Nara opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. Now wasn't the time to worry about bruised egos. "Go." Mandy pointed ahead. "Now, while you still can." Nara shook her head. "I can't do that." whispered Nara. "Yes you can. Its simple math. I die and its just me. You die and your child dies with you." Nara grabbed her arm. "Come on, maybe we can still outrun them!" Mandy yanked it away. "We can't." She pointed to their left. "I'll go this way. Try to lead them away from you." "Mandy, don't make me do this!" pleaded Nara. Mandy pushed her away. "Go now!" Nara hesitated. "I said now Goddammit!" Nara fell silent and began to back away from her. Averting her eyes, Nara turned and ran. Mandy watched her disappear ahead of her. She then took a deep breath and set out in the direction she had indicated earlier. * * *       Arsis ran not quite at top speed. He wanted to concentrate on his surroundings, just in case the terrans decided to set a trap. '(They are not far ahead.)' announced Wrath. He was just ahead of Arsis, doing his best to follow the trail left by their query. '(You can see them?)' asked Arsis. '(Hear them. They were arguing about something then they separated.)' Wrath halted and stared at the ground below him. '(They parted ways here. The half-breed's mate went ahead. The terran ran off in that direction.)' He motioned to Arsis. '(She is yours. I shall deal with the other.)' Arsis silently nodded and the two separated. * * *       Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. thought Mandy. She had been running for only five minutes and already her lungs were burning. She dared not stop though, for fear of what lay behind. She stomped along as she went, breaking as many branches and twigs in her path as possible. She wanted them to follow her, so they wouldn't follow Nara. She rounded another tree and her foot caught on an upturned root. Before she knew what was happening, Mandy was sprawled all over the ground. She got to her knees and quickly removed some leaves from her hair. She looked about her. Think! Think! Think! You've always thought you were so clever, think of a way out of this! Breathing heavily, an idea slowly formed in her mind. She spied a small pond of water to her left with a log in front of it. Mandy ripped off her long sleeve top. The tank-top shirt underneath kept her covered up. She grabbed a nearby stick and began to slash wildly at her top. After making a hole in it, she tossed it on the log and ran over to the nearest tree. She chipped away at the bark, flaking off pieces in the process. Mirax trees were notorious for having extremely tough bark that was very sharp once fragmented. She spied a couple of pieces that would suit her purpose. She tucked the larger one in her belt and held the other in her right hand. No time to be squeamish. Mandy gritted her teeth and slashed the lower part of her left forearm. She bite back the pain as best she could. The cut wasn't deep, but it hurt like hell. She grabbed her top and smeared the blood from the wound on the hole. She ripped off one sleeve and tied it around her wound. Then she placed the top over the log. I hope this works! * * *       She leaves little doubt about her path of travel. thought Arsis. Her motives were quite clear, she was attempting to lead them away from the half-breed's mate. A noble gesture, but ultimately futile. Arsis slowed his pace, took a few more steps, then stopped altogether. Something was off. His quarry's trail seemed to stop. Any sensible being with a vague notion of a survival instinct would keep running. He turned his head slowly from side to side, scanning the area. He noted an article of clothing ahead of him. He cautiously approached it. It had been bloodied and torn. Arsis picked it up in his right hand. To the best of his knowledge, there were no wild animals in the area that could have done this. It presented a curious puzzle. His thought processes were suddenly caught short as he heard footsteps from behind. He spun, bringing his weapon to bear. The terran female proved a tad too quick as she yelled wildly and slashed at his left hand. Arsis felt a sharp sting and he instinctively dropped his weapon. The female lunged at him with the intent of knocking him over the log and into the pond. She collided full-force against him. To her surprise, she literally bounced off as Arsis became a near-immovable object. As she hit the ground on her back, he quickly retrieved his rife. Once he had aimed it at her, she froze. She was either unsure what to do next or too scared to do anything else. He noted the back of his left hand had been slashed open. It didn't look like it was all that deep. But the wound had served its purpose, he had dropped the weapon. Assuming she could have toppled him, the present situation might well have been reversed.       Mandy froze. The two barrels of the weapon seemed huge to her. Try as she might, all she could think of was how little of her corpse would remain after he fired. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next. She felt the Eltorian grab her shoulder, yanking her to her feet. "Open your eyes." Mandy reluctantly obeyed. "Meet death with honor." The Eltorian circled her, keeping the weapon trained on her head. "Why are you doing this?" She heard no response. He pushed her from behind, she fell against the log. Mandy quickly straightened herself and turned to face him. The desperation of the situation overcame her as she yelled, "Just do it you purple bag of puke!" The Eltorian made an arc-like movement with his left arm, backhanding Mandy with the flat side of his weapon. She flew backwards, landing in the water. Mandy tried to focus enough to swim but the blow to her head was too severe and she quickly passed out. The Eltorian watched as she sank beneath the pond's surface and into the blackness contained within. * * *       Nara ran frantically through the night. Half her thoughts were occupied with herself while the other half remained fixed on Mandy. Nara wanted to believe she was still alive. But Mandy never had combat training, which meant that more than likely she was already dead. The main dome to her farm lay ahead. It was lit up but most likely deserted. Nara would therefore have to call plantation security the moment she arrived. Kaz would no doubt get wind of it and bring his squad post haste. All she had to do was survive long enough for them to get there.       She reached the outer dome and frantically punched in her access code. The main door slowly opened. She wedged her way through the opening doors and headed for the house. The door was locked and Nara suddenly realized she no longer had her keys. She spied an open window on the second floor. Nara stepped away from the door and readied to jump. Her muscular legs pushed her far higher than a normal human and she reached the window with relative ease. Nara quickly made her way through the open window and down to the kitchen where she switched on the vidphone. She hurriedly tapped out a code. "Security." answered a voice. "This is Nara Sterling, someone's trying to kill me! Get a security team out to the farmhouse now!" "Right away Mrs. Sterling." answered the voice calmly. "Stay put. We'll be there in a few minutes." "Okay." replied Nara. She sat back in a kitchen chair, her heart was pounding. A few years ago, such a run would not have been a problem. Was time catching up with her? Or was her pregnancy taking its toll? Her brief mediations on the matter were interrupted by the sound of a crash outside the house. Nara jumped to her feet. "They're here." * * *       Kaz watched with a moderate amount of interest as Algernon directed his research staff. He was surprised that he could bark orders with the best of them. Algernon had always struck Kaz as arrogant and egotistical, but never forceful. Guess it just takes the right circumstances to see it. thought Kaz. His comm unit suddenly went off. "Takagi here." "Lieutenant, this is Remes." "Go ahead Stan." "I thought you'd like to know that I intercepted a message from Plantation Security. There's trouble at the farmhouse." Kaz starting running for the door. "Get the squad mobilized, I'll be there as soon as I can." * * *       The door gave way instantly as the hulking form of Wrath barreled through it. He brought his right wrist cannon up and scanned the room. No movement, no light either. "There is no use in running. Give yourself up. I give you my word it will be quick and painless." "And what is the worth of your word, terrorist?" The response seemed to come from upstairs. Wrath silently headed to the stairs and cautiously made his way up with both weapons ready. Something darted across the top of the stairs, Wrath opened fire with both wrist mounted plasma cannons. "You're a lousy shot." "And you are proving to be a worthy opponent. Much more so than your companion." Wrath heard something close to a suppressed outcry. "She was dear to you, yes?" Wrath made his way to the top of the stairs and turned right. The hallway looked as if it lead to the master bedroom. "She died poorly, begging for mercy and weeping. She was clearly not soldier like yourself." The door to the bedroom was left ajar. Wrath used his right hand to gently push it open. He edged his way into the room. It was fairly large. A twin bed in the center with one closet, a couple of dressers, and a vidscreen. There was a window behind Wrath. He glanced at it quickly, it was closed and there was no ledge outside the building to stand on. He pointed both wrist cannons at the closet. "Time to join your friend." He opened fire, ripping the closet door to shreds. He continued the barrage until he was sure nothing inside could have survived. Then he stood his ground and waited for the smoke to clear. As the last remnants of the closet became visible Wrath noted that there was no one within. '(What?)' A hand shot through the window behind him and yanked him through. Tumbling through mid-air, Wrath lunged out at whatever he could grab. He latched onto the windowsill with his left hand, dangling from the second story. Nara was above him, floating in midair. She gracefully brought herself back through the window and onto solid ground. "Interesting maneuver. I did not anticipate it." commented Wrath. Unseen by Nara, the armor plate on the back of his right hand began to morph into two long, slender blades. Nara picked up a triangular shard of glass. "This is for Mandy!" She rammed it through Wrath's left hand. He gritted his teeth but refused to scream. Nara removed the shard and made ready to strike again with it. As she came at him again with it, Wrath brought his right arm up and slashed at her. The blades sliced across Nara's upper left arm, near the shoulder. She let loose a small scream as she rammed the shard home again. Wrath let loose a grunt and let go of the windowsill. He tumbled to the ground below. Nara looked at her wound. The blades had struck deep. She was surprised it was bleeding as much as it was. Since gaining her genetic 'enhancements' she usually recovered pretty quickly from injuries. Nara suddenly fell backward onto the floor. The room was spinning and her head was pounding. "Poison."       Wrath got to his feet and removed the glass from his hand. Behind him, he heard footsteps. He spun, drawing a bead on the target. '(Hold!)' yelled Arsis. Wrath lowered his weapon. '(Did you eliminate your target?)' '(She will trouble us no more tonight.)' replied Arsis. '(And you?)' '(She was difficult, but I managed to strike her with my blades. She should be incapacitated soon. Remain her while I finished her.)' Arsis caught his shoulder. '(We do not have the time)' He motioned over his shoulder. Vehicles were approaching on the main access road. '(The poison should finish her regardless.)' Wrath nodded. '(True enough. Come, we must leave.)' * * *       "Where are Dirk and Thrax?" asked Kaz. "Still on the Vigilance." answered Remes. "If the force is as small as the report projected, we should be more than enough." "I hope so." replied Kaz. He, Worthington, Remes, and Hallas were speeding ahead of the security forces in their e-frames. Nara was never one to make false alarms, which meant the threat was very real and very dangerous. Given the type of fighter Nara was, pregnant or no, a threat like that might be too much for them. "We have visual." announced Remes. Kaz opened his comm line, "We land in front of the main entrance. Hallas and Worthington, will remain jacked in and on the front lawn as backup. Remes, you're going in with me." Kaz decreased power to his rear thrusters and powered up his landing thrusters. As his exofighter came to a gentle rest in front of the main gate, Remes was getting out of his own e-frame. The cockpit opened and Kaz drew his sidearm and hopped out. Remes fell in behind him as they passed through the gate. Worthington's massive assault e-frame trailed behind them with Hallas' frame walking along side it.       The front door was smashed, indicating an obvious forced entry. "No human did this." commented Remes. "I know." said Kaz. "Stay on your guard." The kitchen proved vacant, as did the rest of the lower level. Kaz met Remes at the bottom the stairs. "Nice house, too bad it got trashed." commented Remes. "I'm more worried about the people that live here." replied Kaz. "Come on Lieutenant, we're talking about 'Bounce-back Burns' here. No one's ever been able to ace her, and there's been some pretty good attempts too." Kaz looked up the stairs. "Nara?" he yelled. They made their way up the stairs. Kaz's comm crackled to life. "Sir, we've noticed out here that there's a smashed window on the second floor. It may be what you're looking for." "We'll check it out, Worthington." Kaz took a left at the top of the stairs. The slight breeze told him there was an open window in that direction. Kaz stepped through the doorway, dropped his weapon, and rushed to the floor. "Lieutenant?" Remes rushed forward, his weapon ready. He scanned to room quickly, seeing no hostels he noted what Kaz was doing. He held Nara in his arms, she was unconscious and bleeding. Remes grabbed his comm unit. "Worthington, get a med-unit up here fast!" On to Chapter 4