Greetings,

                Would like to thank all the people who sent comments. 
As the title says part 3 (ish version 2). I've added more to Chapter 3, 
although the chapter isn't finished yet I figured I posted it as work 
in progress. I may get this chapter over by tonight and send that out. 
This is a work in progress, most of the new stuff isn't written in 
stone yet. 
                A few people have commented on that I don't start at 
the beginning of series of stories and instead start at the middle and 
jump and forth. Guilty as charged. :) I apologize big time for that. 
This is a listing for the stories in order.
                Phantom Riders
                Fobidden Ops
                Camp
                Flight
                Beginning
                Acedemy
                Etc....
                Basically Ops is a good place to start, as soon as 
Sapphire reaches Earth (don't worry soon) I'll start on Camp since if 
Sapphy don't make it to Earth we don't have no bleeping story. ;) Camp 
takes place right after Sapphy leaves Earth. In Ops I'll touch on what 
happens but not for long since that's what Camp is for. As for Phantom 
Riders....you really don't want to know. Yes it's the story I _should_ 
have started with, yes I know. But Ops will explain much more then 
Riders will. I hope that explained things....sooo...

                Comments and crits: go for it. ML or priv...doesn't 
matter to me. :) Also Ops is on the remailer and RAAS. On with the 
show...



					Chapter 3
				The meeting of the minds
	Hi this is my brother Darrel and this is my other brother Darrel

	"Welcome back Captain."
	Sapphire smiled at the customs agent, rubbed the sleep from her 
eyes and looked around at the milling aliens. The news of the Phantom 
Riders disappearance seemed to have shaken up a few people. She watched 
as a well armed group of Marines walked down the plank towards one of 
the bays the Secoian Militia owned. She noted that most of them were 
all Typhooners, the black jackets, the attire and the Typhoon body 
armor were a dead give away. Most of them Secoians while a few were 
from the out lying systems. The reserves too? She thought. "Seems like 
someone's in a hurry," she commented.
	The customs agent looked over his shoulder and nodded as the air 
lock doors closed behind the Marines. "They're being shipped off to 
Relo V for upgrades then out to the field."
	Sapphire nodded. She watched him check over her ids and the 
scanner output from the weapons check he had done. All clean, she 
thought, whew. Even the duffel bag had gone through the detects and no 
warning bells. She picked that up from the rack and waited for her ids. 
"Both governments actually talking to each other?"
	The customs agent snorted. "And Hirala froze over when I was off 
watch. Both are denying and both aren't talking. Rumor mill had 
something about a few of the Tendor ships made it out before the big 
fight and folded. No ones heard anything."
	Sapphire made a mental note: Check Wanted Posters. She smiled and 
took her ids. "Do I still need a key to get into the bay or not?"
	The customs agent nodded and handed her a thin metal rectangle 
like a card key with her name and the pad number on it.
	Inwardly she hesitated. "Will my old ones still work?"
	"I believe so."
	Whew. She handed back the new one. "Thanks." She walked up one of 
the many planks that led into the main body of the station. 
	The customs agent watched her go and waited for a few seconds 
until the hatches one by one closed behind her. He was the customs 
agent for the lay over flights, not too many people stayed here for 
very long. She was an exception thought. He had enough time between 
departures and arrivals. He accessed the central computer and pulled up 
her file. He ran his finger over the listings one by one:
	Name: Sapphire, no last name 
	Age: Unknown 
	Race: Kazakian. He cocked a slight eye brow at that.
	Affiliation: None
	Rank: Captain, Secoian Defense Force, Gamma 9 installation.(Ret.)
	Occupation: Bounty Hunter. (Expiration date: One Year from now.)
		License: Captured: 50, Killed: 0 Pounced On: 25
		Authorization to use terminal force: Granted
	Outstanding Warrants: None
	Ship: Aloi Jade, Location: Pad 13
	End of File

	He looked up from his computer panel and looked over his 
shoulder. He closed the file and returned to what he normally did. He 
walked over to the large window that encased most of the west wall and 
watched all sorts of ships come and go outside in the dock. He looked 
down at the pad where the Aloi Jade was housed and let out a sigh. He 
was going to miss this boring job.
	"She's here and early I might add." He said to no one in 
particular.
	<Understood, did she bring the item?> A voice asked from nowhere.
	"Affirm. She's docked down at her usual spot. She appears to have 
already heard the news. I take it Wolf is on his way?"
	<Affirm, he should be there in a day or so.>
	"A day?" The customs agent stammered.
	<Furball forgot to renew his transport license. That's besides 
the point, get the others ready make sure you get to her before they 
do. Aaron>
	"Affirm."

	Sapphire walked through the main corridor that ran above all the 
shops and all the various docks. The shops had been built in the center 
while the docks and other places such as ship repair, upgrading, buying 
and selling lay at the four compass corners. North Section was filled 
the hospitals and labs, South Section was where the old prison resided. 
The East Section was where the factory/repair bays belonged and the 
West Section was where the habitats where for Dock workers or for 
others. In the middle was the one hundred level shopping area. A wide 
range of items could be bought, sold, bartered and stolen, but this 
didn't happen much anymore. The main corridor led to all these things 
it was traveled by many and for some it was home.
	Sapphire reached the middle of the window encased corridor and 
looked down at all the people. She felt safe right where she was, above 
the mess, above peoples lives. She smiled slightly, something like a 
god she thought. She listened to the people walk by her, most of them 
had just gotten off a shuttle off world. A few were talking in slurs, 
obviously half asleep while others talked in rapid and crisp tones. She 
watched the group of people head down towards one of the lifts and 
sighed. Time to go, she thought.
	"Like watching?"
	Sapphire nearly whirled around at the sound of the voice. Her 
senses told her it was from behind. She turned and noticed an elderly 
woman leaning on the far wall. She was a little taller then Sapphire 
and was dressed in a very old uniform. She had long gray hair and brown 
eyes, she looked to be great shape too. She hesitated at speaking. This 
woman seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
	"This is a great place to watch the world go by." The woman 
started. "All the people under you, all in a rush. All ready to take a 
step off the cliff with out looking down."
	Sapphire blinked.
	"Some people have to be careful of what cliff to walk off of," 
the woman's eyes locked with Sapphire's. "Some cliffs can be short and 
easy, while others can be long and hard."

	"How much longer?"
	"Maybe an hour or so."
	"We don't have an hour, Brett."
	"I know boss, I know. This stuff takes time."
	Hitomi stopped peeking over Brett's shoulder and let out an angry 
sigh. She paced on the bridge of her ship, arms crossed and fumed. The 
rest of her crew compliment was at Space Dock Baker awaiting their 
return so they could ship out and this little sneak inspection was 
going to put her behind schedule. She flopped down in the captain's 
chair and closed her eyes. "How much longer can this take?"
	Brett's eyes looked up from the screen they were glued to and 
centered on the captain's chair to the right of him. "An hour was an 
estimated guess boss."
	Hitomi's teeth grind together, if they were metal they'd be 
making sparks. The Secoian Cruiser that now resided next to her ship 
had been waiting for them when they de-folded in orbit around one of 
Relo V's moons. Brett had held Hitomi back from running the blockade 
they had set up in all directions including a few frigates in 
hyperspace. Spare no expense, Hitomi thought/paraphrased from the 
Secoian Captain's speech after she had opened 
a gate into hyperspace.
	Hitomi's papers had been in perfect order. She had no illegal 
fire arms, no illegal aliens and certainly was not plotting to attack 
the blockade in front of her and her ship. She ran her fingers through 
her thick black and stretched. She hadn't gotten any sleep for the past 
few nights, she was deep sleeper but everything that happened on the 
ship seemed to be waking her up. The brown leather jacket she had 
received for her two hundredth birthday lay over the high backed 
captain's chair. Her new boots which she had picked up on leave sat in 
the far corner of the bridge with her Katana and white scarf. Her 
off-duty garb was a mix of armor and silk clothing
. A black and red upper torso harness was accented by the soft blue 
extra large night shirt. The belt with her sidearm ran diagonally 
across her slim hips, a pair of boxers underneath the shirt made this 
very odd attire complete. Bad enough they had woken her up from the 
first sleep she had gotten in a week, her hair looked even worse.
	"I did call a head of time and reserve our usual docking pad. 
Aaron is already there waiting for us." Brett went back to what he was 
doing before this mess had happened, repair the burned out weapon 
system's circuits. The Secoian/Human hybrid pulled himself into the 
weapon's tube that housed the circuits and started to replace items. 
"We've got plenty of time." His voiced echoed off the walls.
	"That's what you keep saying," Hitomi tried to get her hair lie 
flat but to no avail. "He's already picked up his stuff."
	"No he was going off duty when I talked to him. He said he was 
going to grab a quick bite to eat and get his stuff together."
	Hitomi nodded. So Sapphire has already arrived, she thought. She 
closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She let it out and yawned. "I'm 
going back to bed." She swiveled out of the chair and padded off the 
bridge. "And if their not out of here in an hour throw them out."
	Brett chuckled and replaced the main gun cuppling circuit. "Yes 
ma'am."

	"Who are you?"
	The old woman smiled at that question and watched as a few more 
groups of people walked in both directions. Both of them were at 
opposite sides of the corridor. The groups of people walked passed them 
towards next destination and once more the corridor was quiet. "A 
friend." She replied finally. "More of an advisor than anything else."
	"An advisor?"
	"I've come to advise you a few things your done and a few things 
you will do," the woman leaned against the railing behind her. "But  
first things first, your little run from Calisia made a few important 
people take notice of you. You should be more careful, they'll start 
asking questions that don't need to be answered yet. There are some 
instruments that you have yet to learn how to play, the ones you use 
now are ideal for you. Others however want to take them from you. To 
sing a different song or something."
	Sapphire's mind began to click. "Personal fold gates can be used 
when ever they are needed."
	"But not inside a gravity well of a planet, my dear. You may have 
ended up in a wall over something."
	"I've taken precautions."
	The woman tilted her head upwards. "And what might they be? Your 
cargo, your mind, your ship or all?"
	Sapphire was silent, until. "If you don't know the rules of the 
game, then don't play. The rules of the game do not exist thus I do not 
and neither do my precautions." She took a full two steps forward and 
came eye to eye, nose to nose with the woman. "Who the hell are you?"
	"An-"
	"-advisor." They both replied in unison.
	Sapphire snorted, eyes slits and teeth glaring. "Choose a path 
you like, a set of rules you can follow. Step out into the path and 
learn. This path you've chosen may be more complicated then you know. 
Stop now while your a head."
	"Just like your mother-"
	The woman felt hot rush of air on her face and the soft growl 
which with anymore prodding would be most deadly. The Kasarian 
Feline/Humanoid which stood in front of her with her claws unsheathed 
and eyes ablaze with fire was something not to be toyed with. She had 
learned that long ago. The Kasarian calmed herself rather quickly, her 
entire mood shifted and so did she. She continued to walk down the 
corridor towards one of the lifts. She took one of the lifts down to 
the shopping area and headed for the Keepers Inc. on the fiftieth 
floor. She did not look back up at the corridor for which the woman 
occupied. She walked down the path she had chosen, the rules she 
accepted and was ready for anything.
	Almost anything.
	"Must say you've gotten better with that temper," the woman 
chuckled, crossed over to the other side of the corridor and looked 
down. The shadows around her shifted, the uniform she wore turned death 
black. The new uniform grew details such as a patch, name tag, pins and 
other details. The woman grew a few feet more and with a bright flash 
of light the energy cloak/hologram shut down. The woman was basked in 
blackness, a helmet with horns donned her head. A set of red glowing 
eyes from behind the helmet looked down at Sapphire as she walked. You 
are your mother's daughter, she thought, god speed. "So it begins," she 
said and disappeared. 

	Keepers Inc. was a rather large refurbished warehouse. It was 
packed from floor to ceiling with lockers. There were a few people in 
line and at this time of day too few attendants to help them search for 
what they had left there a week, month or even a year ago. Sapphire 
eyed her chrono and made a face. She needed to sleep somewhere tonight 
and it sure hell wasn't going to be in that ship. She waited for a few 
more minutes until a rather old gentleman got to her. "Yes miss, can I 
help you?" He asked from behind a few boxes.
	Sapphire leaned to one side to see his face, but everytime she 
did he moved the other way nearly toppled the boxes on her. She held 
the boxes in place and sighed. Why me? She thought. "I've come to pick 
up something I left here a few days ago."
	"Name?"
	"Sapphire."
	"Oh yes, that's right you did. I believe the Keeper has been 
processed and is already locked up. Hang on, I have to get these 
boxes-" he stopped as all the boxes were lifted off his arms. Sapphire 
lifted up the boxes one handed, the muscles underneath her fur bulged 
as she placed them on the table. "-oh...you seem quite strong."
	Sapphire smiled, almost a sneer with white teeth and all. "Comes 
with the job. I'm in a little bit of a rush, where is it?"
	The old man seemed to take offense to that comment and eyed the 
computer screen on the counter. "Go down three blocks, take a right. 
Isle 35, section 4 box number 4741."
	Sapphire smiled and almost put the boxes back into his arms and 
stepped past him. She walked down the isle which was stocked floor to 
ceiling with rather large metal containers. Each container had a key 
pad and small window about eye level. There were about seven levels of 
containers on each side of her. Lifts lined the floor every few feet.  
	Sapphire found the locker she needed and keyed the command code.
	"Password?" The nasal voice of the computer asked.
	Sapphire hesitated and cocked an eye brow. "Riders."
	"Password?"
	"Phoenix."
	"Password!" The computer's voice sounded like it was getting 
annoyed.
	"Forbidden."
	"Thank you."
	The door unlocked and swung open. The lights that were built into 
the walls and ceiling came on. Sapphire stepped into the locker and 
closed the door.

	A set of eyes watched Sapphire on a monitor while she entered the 
locker. The eyes watched another monitor on the wall as Sapphire closed 
the door and the screen when white with snow. The eyes narrowed in 
anger.

	Sapphire closed the door. She looked around the bare room. A map 
of the store was built into the west wall while a computer terminal 
hummed against the east wall. A desk was in front of her against the 
far wall, a rather medium sized metal safe on top of the desk. The 
walls were not painted, gray metal was the primary color along with a 
few cushioned areas.  A few ventilation pipes extended from one side of 
the ceiling to the other. The air in the locker was warm and soothing. 
Sapphire walked over to the safe and poked it. No energy field, she 
thought. She knelt down in front of the safe and narrowed her eyes. 
"And no handle or a lock either," she muttered and frowned. "Bounty 
Hunter I am, not a lock picker."

	Aaron walked passed the Keepers Inc. store, his eyes only darted 
into the store for a second, not seeing his prey in the store his eyes 
looked straight ahead. His left ear filled with a soft buzz. O.K. she's 
in there, he thought and took a lift down to the weapons store. Tracers 
R' Us the sign said. He pushed the door open and was barreled over by 
the noise of firearms being tested and the smell of oil.
	The waiting area had a few chairs and knee high tables with a few 
old magazines. The carpeting looked worn down from constant use and 
several large and small dark stains dotted the floor. There was a waist 
high counter with a computer terminal and several leaf lets about 
weapons and safety. Aaron thumbed his ears closed while the massive 
echoes of gunfire reverberated around the room. Finally the firing 
stopped and he rang the bell.
	"Be right out!" A voice replied from behind the partition. "O.k. 
you take this end and I'll take-"
	"No, no, me front you-" a female voice replied.
	"You have the back!"
	"Fine." The woman sounded po'ed.
	A rather large thud jostled the plant on the counter next to 
Aaron and decided it couldn't take it anymore and welcomed the floor as 
it fell off the counter. Aaron caught the plant and placed it in the 
middle of the counter, for which was the plant cursed Aaron and his 
entire family. The plant froze as the door in the partition opened and 
a rather young person came out. A white apron covered in grease, oil 
and darker stains lay across his chest along with a few buttons such 
as: I break for Mechs and Feel safe at night take a gunner to bed. 
Aaron looked up at the young Secoian face, blue skin and red hair. The 
white eyes were the only thing that made him a little edgy. "Can I help 
you?" The boy asked.
	"I need to pick up some weapons I left here to be serviced and 
buy a few more."
	The boy lighted up with the words "buy" and nodded.

	Sapphire placed her duffel bag down on the desk next to the safe. 
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and examined the seamless faceless 
safe. She extended her claws and scratched the down the surface. Sparks 
flew but the as the smoke cleared, the face was as it had been. 
Sapphire rubbed her hot claws and blew on them. She then knocked on the 
door. Nothing. She opened one of her many vest's pockets, produced a 
welding tool and waited for it to warm up.
	The box that was her cargo shimmered for a moment inside her 
duffel. The seal turned and the top of the box slowly opened. A white 
light surged out of the insides and hit the face of the safe. Sapphire 
leapt back and landed on her rear as the light encased the safe. She 
hissed and covered her eyes.

	The eyes watched the wall of monitors as they displayed areas of 
the dock. Certain high profile people shops in the mall were under 
constant surveillance while others were briefly looked upon. The 
computer that operated the cameras had certain parameters to follow. 
Among those parameters, deep in the circuits and processors a list of 
names and pictures resided. One name and picture had already been 
accessed. Sapphire's name, picture and file floated above the lens of 
the 3-D holo projector. The camera in the Keeper's store was still 
snow, something blocked the signal, but what? The sensors inside the 
locker spiked for a moment and then died down.
	The eyes narrowed at the spike and snapped right as another 3-D 
projector came on-line. Another file, another name and another picture 
now floated next to Sapphire's. The screen behind the projector cut to 
the weapons shop. The person was one of the customs agents. An eye brow 
raised at that and watched the screen.

	Sapphire watched in amazement as the bolts of energy died and the 
smoke cleared.
	The cargo pulsed for a moment and then the top of the box closed. 
The seal turned and the box was once more silent.
	Sapphire got to her feet and took a few steps forward. The smoke 
cleared and the face of the safe now had a rather large opening in it. 
Sapphire got closer and knelt down, inside the safe was a very small 
disk. She blinked and took it out. "A credit disk?" She turned it over 
and eyed the limit, her jaw dropped. Unlimited, she thought and grinned 
while her tail swished happily behind her. "Someone just got added to 
my Christmas list."
	"Don't add the name yet."
	Sapphire whirrled around, arm outstretched, weapon already in her 
clentched fist. The safety was aleady off, the tracer beam lept our and 
hit the door head on and waited. There was nothing there. Sapphire 
didn't take her eyes away from the door, her other hand reached behind 
her and grabbed her duffel bag. "Show yourself," she hissed.


    To be continued....