Chapter 4       "What a mess." commented Jared. The server had his chest ripped open by some sort of edged weapon. "The killer knew what he was doing." said Thrax. He pointed to the wound. "Once slash, it ripped open his lungs and his heart." Vince Pellegrino nodded. "No blood to keep him alive, no air to scream with. This guy's a professional all right." He looked to Dirk. "You used to be a detective, any ideas?" Dirk rubbed his chin. "We've got security on alert and that's the most we can do right now. Whoever this is, we can safely assume that they have not yet gotten to their target." Lt. Longfeather entered the room. "How are you so sure of that?" "Look at the facts." explained Dirk. "This guy's the perfect cover. A member of the mess crew can be seen almost anywhere - get close to just about anyone - and not seem out of place. Though by now, he's surely dropped that disguise." "Any ideas about what he'd be now." Dirk nodded. "The conditions may have changed, but our guy's goal is still the same. He needs a disguise that will give him an excuse to be anywhere on the ship. Given our reaction to what we found, he'd most likely be posing as a member of security." "Sounds logical." said Jared. "But who's he going after?" asked Pellegrino. "The captain, the admiral, maybe no one, maybe he's distracting us from something else." "We'll put extra security on the captain and Admiral Jamison then." suggested Longfeather. "Bad move." answered Dirk. "What if our guy's one of the security people assigned? You just put him in spitting distance of the target." "Good point." said Longfeather. "So what do we do then?" asked Pellegrino. "I suggest we break into teams and scan members of security to see if they are using a holoprojection unit." answered Thrax. "That would be my suggestion too." added Dirk. Longfeather nodded. "Fine. Then let's get to work." * * *       "You there! Halt!" The man stopped and turned around. A security team ran to him. "Identify yourself." "Andrews" said the man. A member of the security team held up two palm sized units that were connected to a backpack. He ran them over the man. "What's this all about?" asked Andrews. "We're looking for an intruder, he's using a holoprojection unit." The sensor jockey nodded his head. "He's clean." Their leader opened his comm unit. "This unit four. Andrews is clean, moving to our next assigned target." The leader looked to Andrews. "Where's your partner?" "In the can. Here he comes now." A tall muscular man emerged from the latrine. "Hold it right there." The leader motioned to the scanner jockey. "Get him." The palm units beeped wildly as they ran over him. The sensor jockey stared dumbly at them for half a second, not believing the results. His body went slack and he fell backward with a hole in his chest. A large metal-armed Eltorian stood behind the body. "This is unit four, we have the intruder! Send backup! Repeat, send back up now!!" The Eltorian wasted no time. His arms morphed into sleek metal blades. His movements were a blur of motion. In less than a second two more men were dead. "Send it now dammit!!!" The Eltorian's massive hand wrapped around the leader's throat. He struggled, but to no avail. His body remained still as he dropped to the ground. The Eltorian's right hand morphed into the barrel of an energy weapon pointed right at Andrews. He stared dumbfounded, too terrified to move. "What are you?" "I am Scourge. I am your death."       Pellegrino motioned to Mathison and Poedowski. "Unit four is near the mess hall. That's not far from us. Let's go!" They ran at full speed through corridor after corridor. A loud blast was heard ahead of them. "We're headed in the right direction." said Mathison. One of the two other troopers with them commented, "Time to kick some butt!" "Don't get over confident." warned Jared. When they rounded the corner, they weren't sure what to expect. But seeing a slaughtered security team and six and a half foot Eltorian with metal arms was pretty low on the list of possibilities. They brought their weapons to bear. "Freeze!" ordered Pellegrino. The Eltorian looked at them as if they wee barely worth his notice. "Don't do anything foolish!" ordered Pellegrino. "I am Scourge. I am your death." "Not from where we're standing, you're not." replied Poedowski. Scourge smiled. Sending a chill down Pellegrino's spine. "Take him down now!" They opened fire. Scourge turned his left side towards them and the shoulder pad over his arm morphed into an armor shield. The weapons fire bounced harmlessly off as he charged them. He brought his right arm around - its hand had taken on an ax-like shape - and slashed open the chest of a trooper. Jared Mathison backed away while still firing. Though some of his shots got through, it wasn't enough to stop Scourge. The other trooper scrambled to Scourge's left. He retracted his shield and made a lance-like weapon out of his left hand, impaling the trooper. "God-dammit!" yelled Poedowski. "What's it take to drop this guy!" Pellegrino stood on his left while Mathison was on his right. Pellegrino reached for the grenade launcher on the underside of his rifle. In the time it took him to look down and back up again, Scourge was literally on top of them. He slashed at Pellegrino with his ax-hand while stabbing at Mathison with his lance-hand. Poedowski, in the meantime, caught a boot in the face and tumbled backward. Pellegrino attempted to block the attack with his rifle held sideways. The ax sliced right through it and through Pellegrino's uniform. He fell backward onto the floor. His stomach bleeding from the gash Scourge had given him. Mathison tried a similar maneuver with his own rifle. The lance plunged straight through it, into the center of Jared's chest, and out his back. "Jared!!!" screamed Pellegrino. Poedowski got too his feet enraged. Scourge withdrew the lance and it morphed it - and his ax - back into a hand. He motioned to Poedowski with one finger. Pellegrino staggered to his feet and charged him as Poedowski opened fire. Scourge swatted Poedowski's weapon away as Pellegrino collided with him. Scourge turned his attention to Pellegrino, who was now wrapped around his waist. Poedowski used the moment to his advantage as he landed a full force shot to Scourge's jaw. Scourge shrugged off the blow and neatly backhanded Poedowski, sending him backwards to the floor. He grabbed Pellegrino with both hands and hefted him over his head. Pellegrino struggled, but was unable to break free. Scourge tossed him to his left, sending him crashing through the latrine door and into the room beyond. Poedowski scrambled for his weapon. Scourge's right arm shot outward as a lance. It rammed through Poedowski's right leg, pinning him to the ground and out of reach of his rifle. Scourge's other hand began to shift in preparation for the killing blow. Poedowski frantically searched for any weapon he could use. His hand dove into his pocket where he found his explosives detonator. Of course, the only explosives he had were the ones on his physical person. Which meant if he activated them, he was dead. But seeing as he was about to happen anyhow... "I always wanted to go out with a bang." Poedowski smiled broadly as thumb depressed the trigger.       "This is unit eight. We have a internal explosion at unit four's position. We may have a possible hull breach. All unit's proceed with caution." The six troops of unit eight cautiously arrived at the site of the explosion. Luckily it had not been that large. Though the floor was badly weakened and many of the walls had been blown out. The curious part, however, was the presence of an egg-shaped metal object amongst the debris. "What is that?" asked one of the troops. As if in response, the 'egg' began to shift and separate into two halves. At its center stood a large Eltorian. The two halves of the 'egg' then resolved into shoulder pads for the Eltorian. He stared blankly at them. "What is he?" asked one of them. "I am Scourge. I am your death." * * *       Dr. Martin walked into the waiting room of Vesta hospital. Kaz Takagi and Stan Remes were waiting for him. "How is she?" asked Kaz. "Not well." answered Dr. Martin. "Whatever caused that wound introduced a strong anticoagulant to her system. Because it prevented the bleeding from stopping, she has lost a lot of blood. Fortunately, we had a suitable supply for transfusion. We were also able to administer something to counter the anticoagulation agent." "So she's going to be okay?" asked Remes. "Not necessarily." corrected Dr. Martin. "Some type of poison was also introduced with the same wound. I've never seen anything like it. Its attacking all her body systems. Repertory, circulatory, nervous, lymphatic, you name it, and its adversely affecting it." "Unbelievable." mumbled Stan. "What about the baby?" asked Kaz. "Well, there is something of interest there. Typically, should the mother die the child will soon follow." "But that's not the case here?" asked Kaz. "No, that is the case here. What's of interest is that the baby's heart rate sounded erratic. At first I suspected the effects of the poison, then I realized the truth." "And that is?" prompted Stan. "There are actually two distinct sets of heart beats. Mrs. Sterling is carrying twins." * * *       Admiral Jamison sat behind his desk on board the Vigilance. Before him stood Lt. Longfeather. "Report on the intruder's status?" "He disappeared, Admiral." answered Longfeather. "We lost unit's four, six, and eight and he got clean away." Admiral Jamison nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that, Lieutenant. I know you were particularly close to some of those troopers." "Thank you, sir." The Admiral pondered the situation for a bit. "Any leads on his whereabouts or intentions?" "No sir." The Admiral nodded again. "Very well. Maintain the security lock-down until he's found." "Understood, Admiral." Longfeather saluted and left the room after it was returned. Admiral Jamison got up from behind his desk and walked over to his office window. The planet Venus lay before him. He watched the cloud formations in the atmosphere with a certain fascination. His thoughts drifted to his days on board the Resolute II, back when he was under the command of Admiral Winfield. They had seen something like this back then and there was little they could have done to prevent it, just like now. The door chime to his office beeped. Jamison continued looking out the window as he said "Enter". A figure entered the room. "Report." ordered Jamison. "I am Scourge. I am your death." * * *       "Twins?" questioned Kaz. "Yes. Though not relevant to her present situation, it is of interest." answered Dr. Martin. Remes thrust a finger at him. "That's where you're wrong, Doc. Now there's three lives at stake instead of two." "Are you questioning the dedication I show to my patients?" Kaz put an arm between them. "Easy, both of you. The important thing here is Nara's health." He looked to Dr. Martin, "Can you counteract the poison?" "I'm doing everything I can. But so far it appears the poison was tailor-made for her. While a number of ideas come to mind on how to rid it from her system, none of them would do so without killing her as well." "So that's it?! You just let her die!?" yelled Remes. "I didn't say that. I have the finest minds in Exofleet medical working on the problem. Let us deal with it, you in the meantime, should deal with the other issue." Stan looked to Kaz. "Other issue?" Dr. Martin rolled his eyes. "And you accuse me of being negligent?" Kaz still looked puzzled. "Mrs. Sterling obviously knew something that someone else perceived as a threat, thus the attempt on her life. If I remember the security report correctly, Mrs. Sterling did not leave Algernon's lab alone and we haven't received any other patients today. If I were you, I'd be looking for that other person. They may have information that could prove useful." Stan slapped his own forehead. "Wang!" Kaz's eyes lit up. "Oh my God. She's got to be still out there!" He ran for the door. Stan caught his arm. "Hold it, you're assuming she's still alive. What if she's not?" Kaz glanced back at him, "What if she is?" "Good point. Let's go." * * *       With the onset of the pain, the world suddenly became real again. Mandy's eyes fluttered open. She was face down on a log, her legs hanging into the pond behind it. "Ohhhh." Mandy managed to turn herself over. She coughed vigorously for a bit, getting out the last bit of water from her lungs. She shivered as the cold air greeted her exposed skin. It was still a few hours till dawn. She found her top on the ground. She put it on even though one sleeve was missing. "Why am I still alive?" she asked herself. She wasn't complaining, despite the situation she found herself in. But based on what she remembered, the Eltorian that attacked her should have left her to drown. Did he save her? Or did someone else? If it was someone else, then where were they? If it was the Eltorian, what purpose would it serve in letting her live? Mandy pushed the questions aside and focused on more immediate concerns. She was wet, cold, and pretty much lost in the woods surrounding the Burns Plantation. Her head was pounding and a quick feel determined that it had been bleeding from the temple. She tried to orient herself based on what she could remember. In the end, she just picked a direction and started walking. * * *       "I need to see Admiral Jamison." The security guard ran two metal plates over Longfeather's body. Satisfied by the lack of reaction, he allowed Longfeather through. "Go ahead, Lieutenant." Ramon passed the check station and made his way down the hall. He passed a couple of guards on the way. They had apparently just been relieved of duty. Ramon glanced quickly at them then focused on the door ahead. After getting scanned a second time, he pressed the chime to the Admiral's office. No response. He pressed it again. Thinking it might be broken, he rapped a knuckle on the door. When there was still no response, he drew his weapon. "Back me up." he said to the security guards. Ramon quickly opened the door and took a step into the room. His shoulder's slumped and he dropped his weapon. The two guards behind him covered their mouths and tried their best not to vomit. Ramon slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. "Get a coroner up here, now." He pointed to the guards down the hall, "Stop those two that just left and scan them! Move!" The duo took off down the hall as Ramon drew his comm unit. "Longfeather to Dirk." "Dirk here, Lieutenant. Sir, I think I've got something. Hanger two reports that an e-frame out of Baker Squad failed to return from patrol. I believe our killer is long gone." Ramon signed deeply. "I thought as much. I found the target." "The Admiral?" asked Dirk. Longfeather remained silent. "Lieutenant?" "I couldn't tell." * * *       The sun was starting to come up on Venus. Mandy found herself quite happy to see it. She had been walking into Mirax trees for the better half of the past hour. With the added light, she could avoid the scrapes and cuts that typically accompanied each encounter. Her foot caught on downed branch and soon Mandy was on her knees. Her arms crossed, she was still shivering and still very much exhausted. Mandy's eyes teared up as she began to curse herself. If only she had put a fraction of the effort used to develop her mind into developing her body. Then, she could have kept up with Nara. Then, she might have been of some use instead of a hindrance. If anything happened to Nara, Mandy knew it would be all her fault. "All my fault." mumbled Mandy. She keeled over and curled into a ball. Her tears and mumbles drowning out the sounds of the forest as her consciousness slowly slipped away from her. * * *       "Kaz. We've been at this for hours. Maybe we should pack it in." suggested Remes. Kaz's fighter maintained course, making another pass over the forest below. "Not yet, she's down there. I know it." Stan brought his frame alongside the exofighter. "Look, Kaz, I'm as optimistic as the next guy. But if she hasn't tried to signal us by now, chances are she isn't going to, because she can't." "I'm not giving up on her, Stan. I owe her." Stan recalled Kaz's behavior since his return from Earth. Though he had suspected Wang's involvement, he wasn't sure until now. "I suppose we can do a few more passes." Stan brought his frame around and realigned his sensors, widening the scope of the area to be scanned. Relative to the size of the land below, this area was still small. "The proverbial needle in a haystack." muttered Stan. He plotted a series of courses which would allow him to effectively cover the entire forest, given time. "Now comes the hard part, the waiting." On to Chapter 5