Author's Note: This chapter is a work in progress. As said in Ops 
Info this used to be chapter 3. The chapter number has just been 
renamed. This is a newer version. Comments and flames can be sent to 
the FanFic ML or bentley4@ix.netcom.com. A spoiler sheet will be coming 
very soon, pictures of some of the characters/mecha from Ops are 
located at ftp site: ftp.cais.com/wwolf/FanFic/Graphics.
            Bents



				Chapter 2
			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 wher
e 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 was at their destination 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 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. "Has he 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. 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 patch, 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, a breather hissed inside her helmet and she disappeared. 

	Hitomi layed the shoulder armor onto one the chairs in her 
quarters. Her room was rather large in size. One third of it was lower 
then the rest of the room. The lower part was where her bed and dresser 
lived. The higher part was reserved for personal computer console, 
couch, entertainment center and other things. The ceiling lights above 
her bed shined down while the others were dark. Soft music was playing 
while the floor heat slowly warmed the room. She walked down ramp of 
stairs and into her bed room. All of the west wall was triple dense 
steel glass, the window looked out upon space. The heat shields had 
been brought up when Brett had called down to her about the surrounding 
ships. The ships lay out there against the fabric of black space. The 
blue and gold ships and their prissy little running lights and call 
signs, behind them the dark red creator filled moon.
	"Lights," Hitomi muttered, she brought back the silk sheets on 
the queen sized bed. She picked up the stuff animals that had been 
strewn about when she had angrily cursed and fumed her way to the 
bridge, her Katana out and ready for blood. She fluffed up her pillow 
and slid into bed. She pulled up the blanket and closed her eyes. As 
soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep.
	"Are you sure you want to leave?" A female voice drifted into the 
darkness that surrounded her dreams. "I don't know how the others are 
going to take this."
	"They won't take it well, you know what I have to do," a much 
sterner voice replied, a voice breather hissed. "At least we here and 
not somewhere else."
	"Your going to stick out like a sore thumb," the female voice 
sounded familiar. Hitomi rolled over onto her back and started to 
breath through her mouth, she started to dream while beyond her ship, 
the stars moved.
	"Not here." The breather sighed. "You're sure it's down there."
	"Positive," the female voice replied. In the darkness of her mind 
a memory played through mist and snow. "I've the coordinates right 
here," the darkness brightened softly. Two shadows moved against a 
white background. One shadow was tall and stayed black while the other 
was shorted and had a green aura around her. The sound of machines 
slowly drifted in and out. The shadows seemed to be trying to focus. 
The green aura handed the darkness a cube of sorts. Hitomi's closed 
eyes squinted, her mouth started to frown.
	"Keep them here until I get back from surface, no one gets in 
here." The shadow turned once to survey something, a set of diamond red 
eyes glared at her. Hitomi's mouth dropped and she sucked in a breath 
of air. "I see someone's awake."
	The green aura moved much faster then anticipated, it was already 
next to her and a soft hiss filled her ears and the world went black.
	Hitomi curled up, her back to the window as the Secoian ships 
swooped out of formation and roared into a better orbit, their red 
alert klaxon's screaming into the night while space and time shifted 
around them. The sound of chanting filled space as dozens upon dozens 
of ships, all shapes and sizes appeared from no where. Their design and 
shape set off alarms on all the ship's IFFs. A much large vessel folded 
deck by deck into normal space and joined with the others while they 
formed on it.

	Brett banged his head on the console cover. He leaned out of the 
duck, rubbing his head and glared at the IFF. He walked to the front of 
the bridge and slammed his hand down on the off button. He then looked 
out the main window and did a double take. His eye went wide while he 
fell back into the captain's chair. The space around him, around the 
ship was nearly filled with ships.
	Tendor ships......
	Brett found his voice in time to call Hitomi.

	Hitomi moaned softly as the chanting grew louder around her and 
memories......
	"I need to you to keep this safe for me." The breather was back, 
it was a female voice and she sounded older too. The memory was a 
little more clearer now, somewhere in the guts of a space dock it 
looked like. An unfinished section of a hangar bay lay around her. She 
wore an old uniform of a disbanded group of mercenaries. She looked 
down at the item in question and sucked in her breath.
	"This?" Hitomi looked up at the breather a few feet away from 
her, the darkness around her as always, the only thing she saw was her 
eyes. Red eyes about seven feet off the ground, a body surely under 
them in the dark, eyes set behind a helmet with horns. "Why this?" She 
asked in awe.
	"I'll need it for later, but not now." The breather replied.
	"When later." Hitomi placed the item in her duffel bag and looked 
back at where the breather was, but now nothing but darkness.
	"You'll know," her voice echoed to her in the empty hangar bay. 
"They'll be looking for it."

	Hitomi's eyes opened wide and rolled over as a Tendor Scout Ship 
blew by her ship. She lied there for a moment and watched as the fleet 
of ships roared by her tiny little insect of a ship. She sat up, her 
hair all a mess and padded over to the window. She walked from one edge 
of the wall to another, no flag ship? She thought. She frowned, eye 
brows knit.
	"Hitomi!" A voice over the comm channel made the hair on the back 
of her neck stand up.
	"I'm here." She found her voice.
	"The Secoians want us to hold position. They don't want to 
interrupt was going on."
	"There's a lead ship somewhere in front of us, correct?"
	"Right, folded in a few minutes after the others did. What the 
hell is going on?"
	They'll be looking for it, she thought. She turned towards the 
door leading to the main corridor of the ship. "Get the shields up!" 
She bound over the stairs and out the door. She slid down a ramp and 
broke into a dead run towards the center of the ship. She ducked under 
the door frames as they became smaller and smaller until she came to 
the very last door. The only door actually.  

	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 eyebrow. "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.

	Hitomi looked at the rather large metal door in front of her. She 
could see the large white lettering on the doors that said Forbidden. 
The doors in real life were just a set of blue/gray metal doors that 
appeared too old to be used and in fact they were. The section of the 
ship hadn't been used in a very long time. There were only a few 
working lights in the corridor that led to this section. The section's 
lighting on the other hand was not working. A few nooks and crannies 
had been claimed by spiders and dust bunnies.
  	She calmed her breathing and walked closer to the wall panel. She 
placed her hand on the wall and waited. The wall panel pulsed for a 
moment and an ID scan was given. The records were up dated and once 
again the wall resumed it's possum act. The sound of gears being ground 
together sounded off as the doors slowly opened.
	Hitomi stepped inside and waited for the doors to close. The 
doors closed, the brief light from the corridor was now blocked. The 
only light in the room was coming from one single light in the middle 
of the room. The light shined down on something that sat on a pedestal. 
The item on the pedestal glinted in the light, a dark item. She took a 
few steps forward, ankle high mist swished around her feet and soon her 
ankles. A light above her came on-line and bathed her white light. She 
squinted and waited for her eyes to get accustomed to the light. She 
finally got a good look at the item and sighed.
	"Why are they here?" She finally asked it.
 
	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. 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 and watched where he was going. His left 
ear filled with a buzz. O.K. she's in there, he thought and took a lift 
down to the weapons store. Tracers R' Us the sigh 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 Aaron 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-"
	"You have the back!"
	"Fine."
	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 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.

	"Why are they here?"
	She had closed her eyes and started to chant to herself. She took 
a few deep breaths and let them out slowly. Her mind's eye opened 
slowly, the mist rose higher around her while other lights in the room 
came on-line, one at a time. The mist swirled around her while she 
herself started to pulse with a blue light. A blue aura formed slowly 
around her and tentacles reached out while the item's own aura started 
to show itself. A aura of blackness and tentacles met hers half way. 
"Why-" She thought-
	"You mean the ships?" A voice asked, in her mind, a soothing 
voice. "Tendor ships, main fleet?"
	She dipped her head. "Yes."
	"Ships of the night, confused, don't know where they're going."
	Hitomi frowned and hesitated on opening her eyes but kept them 
closed. Around her, all around her, through the mist, a vision burned. 
A vision of the Tendor Main Fleet and the Phantom Rider's Phoenix. The 
fabric of space burned around them while mecha and ships clashed, the 
firing of reflex energy and ancient weapons ballooned in the darkness. 
Colors of white, red, purple and yellow. Mecha dodge and parried among 
the stars, while small arms and laser fire streaked around them. 
Missile bays were emptied and reloaded, gun pods were calibrated while 
shields and pin point barriers danced over the hulls of ships.
	Hitomi listened as the war raged around her. She listened as the 
Phoenix's main gun was discharged into the main body of the fleet. One 
ship against a million. One tiny insect against a swarm. This insect's 
bite was sharp. Ships made of the strongest metal known exploded within 
milliseconds, some of the debris evaporated into nothing. The screams 
echo around the room, Hitomi held back her tears while the flag ship of 
the Tendor Home World is nearly destroyed, the crippled ship limped out 
of the fight while the Phoenix pressed forward.
	For one brief moment, the fighting stopped.
	Hitomi opened her eyes and watched.
	The Tendors started to flee like swarms of bees. The Rider mecha 
waited as well, their honor dictated so. They waited for the Tendors to 
turn and return to the fight. But the mecha do not, their pilots red 
line the mecha's reactor core. The pilot's thoughts are painfully 
clear, escape, escape at all cost. Escape! Not here not now! Hitomi 
blinked, completely confused, she opened her mouth to speak but as she 
does.
	Darkness becomes light!
	Hitomi squinted her eyes nearly closed as the vision turns white 
with light. The silhouette of the ships become brighter and brighter. 
The sound of chanting, screams and laughter merge into one? Hitomi 
moans as the light and sound over take her, she fell to her knees, 
hands clamped over her ears as the noise finally subsided. She opened 
her eyes and looked at the darkness around her, the ships were gone, no 
survivors.
	"Final battle not yet won." The item finally said it.
	"Where are they?" Hitomi demanded. "What happened?!?"
	"Taken before their time, no yet ready."
	"Ready? For what!" Hitomi took a few steps forward.
	"For the future. Darkness, light, Riders, Keeper." The item 
seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Fleet, going home."
	"But Hirala is in the opposite direction!"
	"Home." It finally said. "Home."
	The items tentacles pulled back from Hitomi's, the vision around 
her fizzled as the tentacles returned to the body. The lights in the 
room slowly dimmed and once again only the light above the item and 
where Hitomi had originally entered the room. Hitomi's own tentacles 
slowly dissipated into nothingness. 
	Hitomi stood and stared at the item. The item that she had 
promised to keep safe, something she knew nothing about. Something that 
scared her to her very soul. It was something that seemed to be alive 
and breathing, but it's form, it's use and it's owner was something 
beyond her reach. The appearance of the fleet and the item being in her 
care could not be a coincidence. They knew she had it, but nothing had 
been done. The item belonged to them, there were certain people looking 
for it.
	She stepped in front of the doors and waited for them to open. 
She stepped through the opening and waited for them to close. She 
sighed while the old metal doors closed once more and stepped out into 
section. She looked around for a moment and then walked into the 
corridor.
	Her thoughts were elsewhere when one of the Secoian techs walked 
right into her. The tech apologized while she kept going. She walked 
onto the bridge as the last of the Tendorian ships drifted out of 
sight.
	"I've got a trajectory on the ships," Brett reported from his 
station, he turned slightly as Hitomi sat down in the captain's chair 
and watched the last of the ships disappeared. "It doesn't look like 
their in much of a hurry. Most of them are traveling at sublight 
speeds."
	"Are the Secoians doing the same thing?" She asked.
	Brett shook his head, he made sure the bridge door was closed and 
smiled. "The Secoians don't have enough know how to plot and predict 
their movements."
	Hitomi let herself smile. "And you do?"
	"But of course," Brett patted his own tracker that was fused into 
his control panel. "I pinged them enough times the tracker should be 
able to pick them up where ever they go. I'd say the entire main fleet 
is there, including the flag ship."
	Hitomi nodded and started to brood. "Standard operation 
procedures for Tendor flag ships are that at least two high ranking 
family members be on board. Where you able to get any kind of 
readings?"
	"Faint life signs. With the life signs being that faint I 
couldn't tell between a Royal or a Normal," Brett eyed the readings on 
the screen of his panel. The same readings he had taken while the ships 
blew by them. "The configuration of the flag ship looked like she was 
on her shake down cruise."
	Hitomi sighed quietly and thought. "Which means we don't have the 
deck plans, ID number or her manifest," she muttered. "Going home."
	"Hirala is behind us, they look like their running with their 
tails between their legs."
	Hitomi watched the area of space, where the ships were headed. 
Something had happened, something they hadn't been ready for and now 
weather they liked it or not. The Tendors were headed out into unknown 
space, towards the core planets, towards the core of universe. Hitomi's 
hand covered her mouth slowly while her brain churned. What if the 
something that was calling them was their home and Hirala was just a 
secondary backup. What if the thing that happened to the main fleet is 
happening to the Phoenix. But the question is: When the Tendors and 
Phoenix reach home what will they do?
    
	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 custom's 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 whirled around, arm outstretched, weapon already in her 
clenched fist. The safety was already off, the tracer beam leapt out 
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.

	Below the core of the Dock lay the original idea of Space Dock 
Baker.
	An asteroid prison. This idea had been conceived by a few of the 
local groups as a way to mine the rich resources of the asteroid belt. 
The prison had been built on the largest rock the builders could find, 
once done they started to construct the underground facility and soon 
it's own air station, pumping plant, barracks and soon a docking bay 
for the cargo ships bring in the wanted felons. The prison became very 
popular and soon other small bases started to appear on other asteroids 
inside the belt. The minerals in the asteroids had become a very high 
commodity in the local group as well as some new investors. New 
investors called the Secoians.
	The Secoian scout ships had appeared out of hyperspace one night 
deep inside the belt. The ships docked at the prison, scouts as well as 
scientists disembarked and met the aliens from the local group. The 
scientists offered their services in the form of better machines and 
stasis chambers. After much debate most of the prisoners were put into 
stasis and the mecha from Seco were shipped in to help excavate the 
minerals faster then the prisoners could. One of Seco's prime 
scientific mind's was shipped in to over see the change over. The name 
of the scientist was Solas Burke.
 	Burke watched over the techs making the up grades to the Dock 
like a mother would child, every so often adding or deleting certain 
things from the blue prints of the station. His own little play ground 
was finally complete and he ruled for only a short time. His assistance 
was need else where, back on Seco, something the Council had found, 
something that defied reality. He left his inner circle to watch over 
his playground while he returned home to re-establish his clout as one 
of the head scientists on Seco and for the first time in his life met a 
Tendor. His play ground has stayed just the way it was, on the inside 
that is. The cover of his play ground was brightened a bit, shops and 
normal facilities were built to give increase the friendly atmosphere 
Burke wanted. He returned once and while, transporting items into the 
core the station, his own inner circle not told of what was going on. 
It was until his demise that the truth came out, certain people were 
told, others mearly left by the wayside. A list of events, written in 
stone where given to certain people, the cause and effect of each of 
these events were burned into people minds. The central AI of the Dock 
was reprogrammed for certain things, the inner circle slowly drifted 
out of the lime light.
	And waited.........

	Shannon Windlily watched the white clothed techs from the second 
floor of the Stasis Cell 109 as they went through of the cycle of 
defrosting each of the convicts. The split level stasis chamber area 
had out lived it usefulness. The convicts themselves were being placed 
on a high security shuttle bound for Relo V then onto another deep 
space prison. The chambers themselves were being upgraded and the room 
dismantled, making room for something else. The ceiling lights had 
already been dismantled, a few blazing flares dotted the floor lighting 
parts of the room. The floor heating units were bearly functioning 
while the weapon defenses were still in place. Out of all the convicts 
on the lower deck these were the last three they needed to defrost. The 
tech's insulated boots made noises as they broke the surface of the 
foot of snow on the floor.
	The seven foot long silver stasis pod rose up from the floor, the 
age old ice crashed onto the floor around it, the hydraulic pumps and 
arms started to steam up while the ice melted instantly. The glass 
cover of the pod was green, a dark green silhouette of a person. One of 
the three techs hacked away with an ice pick at the ice that remained 
on the control panel on the side of the pod. The other two summoned a 
pair of Lance Guards to take away the convict as soon as the defrosting 
finished. The lead tech finally got through the ice and keyed in the 
command sequence. One the sequence was finished he opened a panel next 
to the key pad, a level popped out of the panel and he pulled it down. 
The top of pod remained still.
	Windlily snorted. Another one, she thought. "Someone get Sage in 
here, we need the command codes!" She yelled into the next room. Again 
was the word she didn't use, this was the third one they needed for the 
codes. She ran her fingers through her blood red hair and settled back 
into one of the only cushioned chairs left on the second level. The 
level used to house all the computers needed to keep the convicts under 
ice. Now all the computers that used line the walls and even the 
ceiling monitor were gone, scraped. "We only have three to go and this 
happens. Is this the last room?" She zipped up her insulated jacket and 
shivered.
	The lead tech look down at the rather large scanner that dangled 
from one of his belt loops and confirmed it. "Yes ma'am this is the 
last room."
	Which means the oldest one too, she thought. "Tell the transport 
to wait a little longer we can probably get these three out on that 
one."
	One of the techs checked the two remaining pods and turned. "Make 
that two more ma'am. This one's empty."
	Windlily leaned forward slightly. "Work on the other two until 
Sage gets here, where is he?"
	The lead tech moved away from the third and walked down to the 
first at the end of the room. He stepped over the lake of ice on the 
floor and keyed the pod's lift sequence. The ancient hydraulics arms 
groaned together as hot air surged through their old metal bodies. The 
arms didn't move at first, the pod shuddered and with a screech of 
agonized metal it rose up. The ice and snow that had formed on top of 
it slammed into the floor as it tilted forward, sheets of ice and snow. 
The other two techs jumped away as the ice slid across the floor. The 
steam rose up from the floor around the pod as the ice melted. Windlily 
covered her ears until the room became quiet again. Her teeth chattered 
while the techs hacked away once more at the ice that encompassed the 
pod.

	"You can put the gun away, I'm not here to hurt you."
	Sapphire's eyes narrowed. "Then show yourself!"
	"I'm right here, just where I've always been." The voice sounded 
familiar too. I know that voice, she thought. She back up against the 
north wall so she could at least see the entire room. She looked up at 
the ceiling and into the pipes. Nothing there either. "I'm right under 
your nose." The voice said.
	Sapphire growled. "Under my nose?" She didn't have time to play 
games. I know that voice from somewhere, she thought, but where?
	There a slight hiss somewhere in the room, her ear stood on end 
and her tail froze. "My voice may sound better like this," a breather 
hissed in her ear. Sapphire whirred, arms up, tail wrapped around her 
right leg as she landed on her rear, weapon aimed straight up at the 
ventilation ducks. She knew the voice, the breather was still hissing 
in her ear. "Calm down, Sapphire, I'm right here."
	Sapphire's eyes narrowed at the ventilation ducks. She stared 
hard, her eyes glowed bright white while she started to hiss. She 
finally saw it, saw her. She watched as the ventilation pipes moved, 
the pipes themselves moved and something leapt onto the north wall, 
then from there to west wall. Sapphire skittered back towards the east 
wall, the tracer dot went straight through the something and into the 
wall. "WHO ARE YOU!" Sapphire screamed.
 	The something seemed to flux in and out between opacity and 
invisibility. The only thing that stayed the same were the eyes. Eyes 
as dark as coals, they narrowed as the something dropped onto the floor 
and rose to it's full height. The fluxing stopped and something hissed 
once more. The body shielding dropped away and the room brightened for 
a moment. Pure energy pour out, it lapped up the west wall, setting it 
a blaze. The flames died soon as the energy started to form into one 
shape. A shape with a body, legs, arms and a head. A white Athena stood 
there now, her eyes they only thing out of place. A smile formed on her 
face.
	Sapphire lowered her weapon slowly, ever so slowly. She back up 
against the wall and stood up slowly. "You," she murmured.


    To be continued....