Poker Game Three End
Lill Author's Notes.....
As of June 8, 1996
What you see in front of you is the beginning of Poker Game Three
End. Where it ends off is the result of free time I've been able to set
aside since work seems to be going full time (8am-4pm M-S sucks boys
girls even if it is 5.75 an hour), but school is over! (Yay!) I survived
Akon 7 (Got published Sapphire pics in the Akon Komic) and so we come to
this the one fic I need to finish before I'm going to work on the others.
My one regret is that I wish I _had_ started at the beginning of the
Rider stories, there's some things I'd like to do with these characters
we have assembled but not yet. Perhaps in a sequel....
The end of this may be abrupt but it's as far as I wanted to go
without writing any more. I haven't posted anything in months and I dunno
weather people actually still have interest in this fic. If so fine, if
not well fine too. You're loss not mine.
Things start to get fun after beginning in the next installment.
Send comments to the ML or bentley4@ix.netcom.com.
So here goes....
Bentley "You know it's a bad sign when the six computers hooked up to
the server _all_ say Network Error....aieeee!"
Cast of Characters:
(For future reference I am not controlling this many characters in
another fic as long as I live! ;))
Robert Bentley Sapphire Mr. B
Foxtrot Fozzy Ash Cryan
Captain Ami Damon
Pam John Panda
Chang Virgo Shannon Barske
Becky Brewster Bryan Ameral Tanya O'Hare
Kara Masters Windlily DarkWind
Hitomi Aaron Wing
Nagisa David SkyKnight
(If I missed people inform me, this is a beta version not _a final
version_)
Poker Game 3 End
Bensile Inc. Productions
Written by R. Bentley
(c) 1996 Robert Bentley and the FanFic MLers.
6-7-96
Beta Version
Send comments to bentley4@ix.netcom.com
Poker Game 3 End
Kara slid down the stairs and landed on her feet. Her brand new
hi-tops made a screeching noise as they skidded across the polished metal
deck of Tanya O'Hare's ship known as the Essex. She had wiped the sweat
from her brow and ran her hands over the white cotton towel around her
shoulders. She walked down one of the many hall ways and listened to the
Aiwa headphones attached to her walkman around her ears begin to hiss as
she got farther and father away from the main doors that led to the
outside world. The outside world meaning Eden as Tanya had coined when she
had arrived on Earth years before. An Eden which much resembled her home,
Gamma Ten. Something Kara still didn't understand, why this old Secoian
Battle Cruiser, the one whose main core she was making her way towards was
here waiting for Tanya when she arrived here. She ran her hands up and
down her long legs as she walked deeper and deeper into the ships bowels.
Her eyes emitted a soft blue light as the lighting in the corridor began
to get dimmer and dimmer.
She stopped when a door appeared in front of her. The door just
sat there, the eye level window set into the door was opaque. The surface
appeared to have been a scratching post for something. The gashes in the
metal were noticeable even in the dim light. She frowned and pressed her
palm against the wall and waited. She looked over her shoulder and
squinted. She hadn't seen Tanya in days, the last time she saw her she was
in the middle of performing a weapons check on one of her pet Firebirds.
She seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry she had two duffel bags over
both shoulders and told her she'd be back in a few days.
A few days passed and she couldn't reach her.
At all.
She made a face when she realized the door wasn't going to open.
The power from the ship's main batteries seemed like it didn't want to
come down here. The last four way junctions seemed to have gotten darker
and darker until she was completely in the dark and like a fool pressing
her hand on the wall to gain access. She tugged on the towel for a moment
and glared at the door. "Open Sesame," she muttered. The door stared back
at her. Her eyes narrowed and she sighed. Her frown became a sneer, a
sneer that showed her white teeth and for one moment her soul shifted to
the right. The air around her became hot, the noises around her were
silenced and for one brief moment she vanished.
She reappeared on the other side of the door. The area around her
was already steaming, a set of burn marks where she had walked. She had
walked right through the door. She blinked as the armor that was forever
cast onto her body shifted back into place. The metal visor swiveled up
and back, the gauntlets that fit her hands the ones with blades made of
diamonds were taken off, the torso attachment and her backpack filled with
her toys still meshed with her skin. Her leggings made of metal and bone
stayed as well. Her extra senses clouded her mind for a moment, then one
by one she slowly put them back to sleep. She left the part of her mind,
the part so well tutored with the Black Arts awake and let her senses take
in the air that filled this room. Kara Masters, the Tendorian
Huntsman/Secoian hybrid turned and surveyed the room.
The room served as the core of the ship. The energy sphere that
powered the ship resided in the middle of the room, it was the reason why
there was a depression in the room. There was sharp dip down and finally a
level plain where the core computer lay perfect untouched by tech hands
since the ship had been commissioned. Since the ship had been destroyed
one of the many attacks leading up to the Secoian/Tendor War. That
information lay in one of the many computer console at the end of the
room. The only people allowed at those stations would be the techs, no one
else. Not even the Captain. The Techs were the chosen few who over saw the
use of Secoian Technology. The Essex was the Secoian's first and last
sleeper ship designed with mecha factories. Now the core of the ship, it's
very being sat before the reason why it had been made, a Huntsman.
The deck plates were an off gray, various Secoian text and arrows
pointed to various wall panels and other removable deck plates. One half
circle of computer banks lay in front of the core another in the back.
Wall mounted scanners and computer banks hummed away as Kara walked
towards the core's computer bank. Her armor's visor vanished and her hair
fell back onto her shoulders, her eyes darted back and forth. They
recorded every single inch of the room while her armor's built in sensors
mapped the room slowly. She made her way past the first half circle of
computers and walked down the steps, her boots scraped across the metal.
She stopped when she caught movement, she whirled around, her
gauntlets appear from no where and with a swish the blades extended. The
thing that had caught her eye padded across the computer panel and sat
down, it's blue fur shined in the light.
It's red eyes smiled back at her as it yawned. It finally stopped
moving and just looked at her.
Kara let out her breath and glared at the kitten. "Z'ena, I told
you not to do that!" She hissed, she tried to calm herself while Z'ena
purred quietly. She was one of quintuplets that was part of Tanya's
litter. C'Dac and C'Kai, two black male twins looked up from the tech
console. Both of them seemed surprised at the fact Kara was even here.
H'ecur the loner in the litter sat on the core's computer screen, looked
up at Kara with big kitten eyes and smiled at her. Kara decided to sit
down on the steps and calm down. The way these Kasarian Kittens moved in
real space, somehow folding from one location to another nearly gave her a
heart attack when they would appear from no where. "O.k. Sleepa, where are
you," Kara decided to stay right where she was and not move, she played
with one of the deck plate's latches and waited. The four kitten meowed
back and forth to each other until they all stopped. Kara knew what Sleepa
sounded like. She looked at the four kittens who were now sitting at her
feet. She looked from one to other and cocked an eye brow. "Where is he?"
She asked them. They all looked up at her and sorta shrugged. "I'll take
that as beats the hell out of me."
Her armor beeped for a moment as the comm systems warmed up. A
small antennae poked up from the her backpack and the little bulb on top
started to glow. There soft hissing sound in the air for a moment and then
seven distinct sounds rang out. Then the hissing became a ringing. Kara
scritched Z'ena behind the ears as her comm systems patched into the local
telephone lines. She eyed the tech console for a moment and broke her gaze
when someone picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is Pam there," Kara spoke straight into the air while tiny
speaker in her right ear gave her clearer sound.
"Speaking," the female voice sounded like she was in the middle of
something, the sound of papers rustling and other voices in the background
echoed in Kara's ear.
"Hi, it's Kara. How's it going?"
"Oh hi," Pam sounded like she closed the door to what ever was
going on and walked into the hallway where it was quiet. "I'm doing good,
what's up?"
"Nothing much, I was wondering if you knew where Tanya is?"
"Hrmmms, I dunno I haven't talked to her in a while. You can't
reach her?"
"No. I think I'm a tad paranoid. We're usually in constant
contact."
"Maybe she went to the poker game."
One of the kittens looked up at the mention of that. Kara looked
down at the kitten and frowned. "Poker game?"
"Bentley went to a poker game." Kara sat back. "Where is it?"
"Hang on I wrote it down somewhere," Pam opened the door back
covered the phone speaker with the palm of her hand. Kara's eye brows
raised when she heard what was going on in that room. She waited until Pam
found the piece of paper and walked back out into the hallway. "Beijing
Zoo-"
Kara nearly swallowed her tongue. "He went where?!?"
"China." Pam frowned this time, though Kara couldn't see it.
"What's going on?"
"He went to a poker game at the Beijing Zoo? When is he due back?"
"I dunno, he left a few days ago."
"That's where Tanya and Sleeper are," Kara muttered and looked
down at the alien kittens. "That's why you guys are here, trying to
contact Tanya from here?"
The kittens started to act like normal Terran kittens now, either
sniffing everything in sight or just sitting there their tails swishing
back and forth. They still needed to learn how to act natural when asked
about a question and lie convincingly. Kara made a face and sighed
angrily, there was a perfectly good reason why Tanya hadn't let her in on
this little trip. And she just found out why. "You said you wouldn't go
there," she muttered and stood. "Thanks Pam." Her Huntsman armor shifted
and once again she looked human.
"No problem. Before I let you go, you don't know anyone by the
name of Brett do you-"
Z'ena's ears perked up and her eyes locked with Kara's.
"-he called yesterday. My mom took the message."
Kara's heart skipped a beat.
"Did he file a flight plan at least?"
"I dunno I can't find anything in there," Shannon Barske closed
the door to the APC and grabbed a hold of one of the many plastic straps
attached to the cargo bay's ceiling as the Dutchman flew through some
choppy air. The gray and blue C-5 Transport Plane skimmed the clouds that
hung over the horizon, the plane glided around twenty thousand feet all
the while trying to out run the sun. The Pratt and Whitney turbines under
the wings churned the air faster than specs would allow, the noise they
created much louder then normal. Shannon watched from one of circular
windows on the port side while two dots flew below them. Her eyes hazed
over for moment, they narrowed and her right hand brought down her head
set mic to her lips. "Looks like we got company. Looks like we got
surfers."
"Already got them," Becky Brewster craned her neck to the left
from the pilot's seat and saw the two specs. She pulled on her shoulder
straps that kept her in place and leaned forward in the seat to check the
radar, both the standard version and the Secoian upgraded version. The
standard version didn't pick up anything, but the Secoian's radar screen
washed over in blue wave and two blips appeared. Secoian was translated
into English and the planes elevation/velocity appeared. "Their skirting
the waves, someone's in a hurry."
Bryan Ameral leaned back in the copilot's seat and started to
calculate their speed. "We're half way there. We'll need to refuel in an
hour or so and then we head straight there."
"Any ID's on our friends?" Kara leaned into the cockpit and looked
out the port side.
"G-2 maybe. Can't tell from here." Shannon felt like powering up
one of the main computers in the bay to ID the ships but the whole idea of
this little OP was stealth. Quick and Easy. A term she had come to learn
didn't mean what it sounded like. She turned and surveyed the retrofitted
APC whose large wheels had been clamped by the chalks built into the deck.
The vehicle's batteries were charging, wires dangled from the open hood to
the C-5's ceiling. The over head racks were filled to the brim with
weapons and armor. She frowned while she settled into one of the built in
bunks. Why are we making a big deal out of this? She wondered. "Computer
ETA to LZ?"
"Seven hours current speed." The C-5's main AI replied briskly.
"Wake me in six hours."
She settled into one of the bunks and pulled her hat over her eyes
and slowly drifted out off to sleep....
...."Commander Barske this is your wake up call." The AI's voice
echoed. She rolled onto her back and sighed. She opened her eyes and saw
nothing but sandy blonde. She blew some of her hair out of the way and
reached out for the over head handle.
She pulled herself up from bunk and saw all the little crease
marks on her skin her t-shirt had given her. She rolled her head left to
right to get all the kinks out and then proceeded to sneeze. She combed
all her hair back, pulled her scrunchy around the sandy blonde mane and
found her ball cap on the floor. She deck of the plane lurched out from
under her and she nearly fell onto the floor. She missed one of the hand
holds when the deck lurched a second time. She fell onto her side and
curled up just in time for a rather large box of supplies to land almost
on cue right where her feet would have been. She looked around in the
dark, when did it get dark and felt around for her comm set. She found it
only a few feet away from her near the ACP. She pulled that on and gripped
the hand holds on the vehicle as the C-5 now lurched forward. "Since when
was this an E ticket ride?" She hissed into the net.
"Since we're getting wind shears above fifty miles an hour and
hail the size of small VW," Bryan retorted back from the cockpit and
gripped the controls as the C-5 dipped down again then back up again.
"Make fifty-five miles per hour, time for options: Now!"
"Actually the hail is the size of a Harley," Becky's arms shivered
as the plane was pushed back and forth. Her eyes stayed glued to the
instruments while Bryan watched the stream of medium sized hail bounce off
the plane's shields. "No wait he was right, that one was the size of a
small VW," she took one hand off the yoke to push the throttles forward
almost into the console itself. She moved her hand back just in time for
the transport plane to buckle and lurch to the right. "Damn!"
"I'm staying in the bay, sounds like you have your hands full."
Shannon's voice statically met their ears. "Where's Kara and the others?"
"In the back, Bentley was right you can sleep through anything,"
Becky looked at Bryan and keyed her comm set to their own private channel.
"We gotta land this thing, now. No offense, but my arms are about to fall
off."
Bryan nodded wildly. "None taken. So what's you're choice: Land or
Water?"
Shannon made her way to the back of the tumbling plane, the APC
stood where she was, the recharging of the batteries already complete the
hood was down and locked. The port side door was closed and inner shields
were already up and running. She made her way past the APC and finally
into the rear, half of which had cargo which was locked down the other
half cordoned off as private for changing or what have you. She finally
got to the door and was about to key in her command code when she though
she heard something. Her fingers hesitated on the touch tone keys and she
listened. Voices drifted over the sound of hail bouncing off the shields,
the roar of the engines and just the general noises in a C-5 Transport
Plane retrofitted with alien technology powerful enough to make it the
most dangerous thing in the air. Voices. She leaned forward and put her
ear to the metal door and listened. Chanting? She looked at the keypad
then the door.
The door hissed open. The ID scanner activated for a moment and
looked her over then shut itself down. She took two steps inside and
squinted as light hit her square in the face. She heard all of the outside
sounds float away, they were replaced by voices and sounds. Some she
recognized others rang bells but she couldn't see. Something moved inside
the light which caught her attention. She opened her mouth to speak when
the wind picked up. The wind met her and closed the door for her.....
<"He is here.">
>"As is she."<
}"They as well."{
"Something else is here too, is it not?" A familiar voice rang out
from the beautiful sounding voices. Sounded like, Kara? Shannon felt the
trac system that resided inside her bracelet give her an option, that
option being of activation. She decided to listen instead, she told it
wait. The light was too bright, needed to get used to it....
/"It was here, he was here. But he banished.......sentenced it."/
Shannon reached out with her arms to feel around, where are they?
"Where are they now? Who is with him?"
There was brief almost deafening silence until one of the voices
spoke. <"Too many with him, a few of them were left behind but were picked
up and brought along. They do not understand....">
>"Some of them do though,"< a voice interrupted. >"They were
hiding. She brought them out. Forbidden."<
Shannon stopped in her tracks. She had heard that phrase once or
twice before. Before the time slip, on Gamma Ten, where Captain and the
others were hiding out. Or were they waiting for someone? She stopped her
thoughts where the light started to diminish. She blinked a few times. She
eased her trac systems on-line and watched as her line of sight became
much more clearer. She caught the flicker of something in the middle of
the section, looked like a fire? She cocked an eye brow as figures moved,
not really moved but came into her line of sight. She had just begun to
stare at the fire and they appeared. She kept staring at the fire as the
four people became clear. Three males, one female all of them sitting
cross legged around the fire. One figure had her back to Shannon thus she
blocked the fire, the fire whose flame was black as soot? Shannon blinked
and the figures stayed, cool she thought. She noticed the room was
completely bathed in white light, was that why the fire was black?
Something seemed to move around the room, a ghost image of something. It
was dark too, something dark, foreboding and evil. Someone's soul? She
thought.
"Where are they now?" Kara asked again. "Can you find them?"
One of the figures moved slightly. <"There are people who will
answer your questions at the site.">
>"They know more then we do. Far more then we do."< Tad bit
jealous?
One of the figures moved, turned around and looked straight in her
eyes. {"We have a visitor."}
Shannon swallowed as everyone turned around and looked straight at
her.
"You're not supposed to be here," Kara glared at her. "Are we
there yet?"
Shannon looked from one person to the next and to Kara. "We're
going to try and set down somewhere. There's a storm-"
"We know about that," one of the four replied. "It should end
soon."
"Like how soon is soon?" Shannon frowned at one of them, blue
hair? "We either ditch in the lake or make like a lawn dart."
"It ends now."
Becky was about to lower the flaps when the clouds started to part
slowly. A small white ray of light appeared in the middle of the horizon.
Becky squinted as the light hit her straight in the eyes and proceeded to
fill the cockpit. She watched as the dark clouds parted like the Red Sea
and were replaced by the night sky. She blinked for a moment and watched
the bright rays of the moon dance over the land under them. She looked
over at Bryan for a moment then back at the sky in front of them. "What
the hell?" She muttered.
"Now what's wrong?" Shannon's voice in her ear phones sounded far
away.
"We've got clear skies to China," Brian reported and rapped on the
radar screen with his knuckles. "Radar is still a little fubared."
"What's our ETA?" Kara asked.
Becky was about to tell her to look at her watch but instead
looked down at the chrono attached to the pilot's bank of controls. "About
fifteen minutes." She blanched. "That can't be right," she tapped the
chrono with her index finger and waited. "Fifteen minutes it is, I guess."
She frowned and sat back in her seat. "Something ain't right."
Bryan gave her a side glance and switched over to the private
line. "What you think that storm screwed us over?"
"You mean that hurricane," Becky brought the flaps down to fifteen
and started to push forward on the controls. Her mind started to churn
while the moon light started to glint off the Yellow Sea. "Soul storm,"
she muttered and keyed in the coordinates for Beijing's airspace. "He
sentenced a goddamn Huntsman."
"Oh this is a good sign," Bryan nudged her gently and made her
smile. "Told you to check up on your blue cross before we left Green."
Becky leaned forward and squinted. "Shannon, you picking up any
anonymous heat sigs?"
There a brief moment of silence as Shannon made her way from the
rear of the plane to her station next to the APC. The altimeter started to
roll slowly down from five digits to four, Becky slid the flaps down to
thirty and felt the plane slow down even more as three digit numbers
rolled onto the display and Bryan clicked over to the civilian airline
channel. "Did he?" He didn't finish his sentence.
"Not picking up anything anonymous on anything," Shannon leaned
her head over into the stair well that led up into the cockpit. "Why?"
Becky tightened her seat belt and fumbled to the left of her seat
for her camera. She pulled out the Pentax 35mm with expensive night sight
attachment she had gotten for her birthday and slid the zoom lens on. She
took her hands off the controls, Bryan took over while she focused the
camera. "I think you better get up here."
Shannon started up the ladder while Kara made her way from the
back to the front. "Bentley's been giving you lessons Beck?" She looked
out one of windows to see buildings fly by underneath them. "Where you
going?" She asked as Shannon's feet disappeared up the metal ladder. Kara
followed her up and poked her head through the door. She looked over the
hunched people in the cockpit and was finally able to get a good clear
view out of the windows. She felt Z'ena's claws dig into her shoulder as
the kitten hissed at what was in front of them.
"My god."
Police cars and fire engines blocked off traffic in both
directions as people gawked. The sound of the C-5 incoming made people
turn from the most talked about attraction to hit the Zoo. The red and
blue lights atop the vehicles flashed against the night. They flashed
against something that drifted in the air. Something that blocked the rays
of the moon.
A large black mushroom rolled up over the Beijing
Zoo.........
Poker Game 3 Departures......
"Where are we doing?"
"I need to access the Dropship's scanner banks, I've had them on
constant scan since I landed. The tapes need to be replaced in five
minutes," Bentley walked up the hill which is all reality was the
Cheetah's pen, said felines were sleeping together underneath some trees
that dotted the grass land in one of the largest pens in the Zoo. "The
scanners should pick up anything that has happened, no matter what it is."
"You think they'll be able to show us what's going on?" Mike
looked at the sleeping animals as Bentley stopped in front of him on the
top of the hill and looked around. He was just about to say something a
bright flash erupted in front of him and exploded outward. He raised his
arm to cover his eyes and groaned. "What the hell!"
"Power surge, the main batteries are on their last legs," Bentley
waited for the little purple dots to disappear from in front of his eyes.
"I'll need to charge them up before I go, Panda said there's a power
station on the far side of the Zoo, I can run a cable and borrow some
power from there." He reached out with his hand and felt something. "Not
bad, least I remember where the door was." His now invisible hand turned a
knob to the left and pulled something open. A door hissed, it
depressorised, and a white line appeared in front of Bentley. He stepped
into the light, Mike did the same and they both disappeared.
Something in one of the trees hissed. Long metal talons sunk
themselves into the body of the tree, their owners only way to let off
anger without giving away their location. It's partner snorted, roughly
translated: Calm yourself brother, it will begin soon. The two of them
waited patiently as it was taught for them to do and watched.
"Holy...." Mike blinked and craned his neck up to see the ship and
looked from the bow to stern. "She's beautiful."
Bentley smiled. He bent down and walked underneath the ship's main
compressors and pulled down a panel. Built into the panel looked to be a
series of read outs and equipment for testing electronic devices. He eyed
the read outs, pressed a combination of buttons and watched the bars of
energy flux up and down, various numbers and letter passed by a screen
just above the key pad. "Looks like I'll have to drop the cloak." He
frowned. "I was hoping to keep it up until this is over."
"The reason for the light burst, the cloak can't hold, right?"
"Correct. I'll drop the cloak and run the rest of the ship off the
mains," he pulled a small device off the panel and pushed the panel back
into it's slot. "Computer, identify." Bentley said clearly into the
device.
"Computer ID: Number zero zero zero zero one: Commander Bentley, K
Robert. Level One Security Access. ID confirmed." A female voice beeped
from nowhere.
"Computer, new ID, Level Two Security Access, prepare for scan,"
Bentley turned to see Mike. "Stand still."
Mike stood perfectly still as an array of scanners popped from the
Dropship's hull above him, the glowing spheres of energy zipped around him
for a moment and stopped at the compass directions. They hovered there for
a moment and pulsed quietly to themselves until one of them started to
emit a blue light.
The light started to shine down on Mike's feet while the second
one started on his head and the last one came face to face with him a
nd little tendrils of energy zipped between it and his eyes. Mike
surpessed a laugh as the first too beams of light met at the middle of his
body and stopped. The third kept bouncing energy into his eyes while other
tentacles danced over his head. After another ten seconds of that they all
stopped, regrouped and zipped back into the ship's hull. Mike let his
breath out and blinked. "Living scanners eh?" He finally said.
Bentley nodded. "They were part of the upgrade, they store what
ever information they have on you and dump it in the main core. Nosy
little buggers."
Mike shook his head to get the slight ringing out. "Yes they were.
What was that for anyway?"
"In case something happens you have the ability to use the
Dropship at your disposal."
"Who else here can do that?"
"Me, you, Sapphire. That's it." Bentley walked out from under the
scanner bed, he pressed up on a panel and a black lever slid down from
just in front of the panel. He pushed the lever forward and the another
hissed broke the silence this time a much larger compartment lowered from
the underbelly. The compartment was black/gray rectangle. The walls of
this compartment started to slide back and a ramp appeared. Smoke wisps of
exhaust slide down the ramp, the hydraulic arms on the sides hissed
quietly while the lights that were built into the arms flashed. Bentley
walked up the ramp, stopped midway up and clicked a few buttons. "O.k.
inner shields are dropped. If you will follow me sir. " He made a slight
bow with pointed up into the innards of the ship.
Mike laughed and made his way around towards the ramp. He ducked
his head under the ramp frame and was greeted by the sounds of classical
music. "Looks like a fast lill ship."
Bentley made it to the top of the ramp and smiled. "She'll make
point five past light speed. She may not look like much but she's got it
where it counts."
"You're kidding." The ramp's shield walls started to shift back
into place.
"Look at this face, do I look like I'm kidding?" The shield walls
closed and the conversation continued inside.
Panda meditated in his chambers.
The strobes of light coming from the candles attached to the walls
of the room bounced off his shinny black and white fur. The suits of armor
that lived in the room stood silently on both sides of the carpet that led
up to the alter. The alter where the brightest of all the candles shone.
The alter where Panda softly meditated, the sounds of the outside
world silenced like they had been since he built this meditation room. He
let his mind stretch out, his heart slowed and his breathing became
regular. He could see everyone in his mind, what they were doing, what
they were planning. Well almost planning, his mind's eye could only see so
far outside the room. He felt his heart quicken for a moment, he nodded
inwardly to himself and his mind's eye closed. He went back to soft
meditation. It was then when he heard a shift in the air. Something in the
room moved.....
Or did it?
He did not move. He mearly listened to the flicking the candles
made and waited. Rain Dragon? His head turned just a bit to left, his
fuzzy ears perked up for a moment listening. He didn't open his eyes while
his heart jumped against his rig cage for a moment which seemed like a
life time. He frowned and almost opened his eyes but kept them closed.
Concentrate, he thought. Meditation is the way. For one brief second the
cold bony hand of the darkness reached out to him, the long finger nails
reached out towards his shoulder. The air around him shimmered for a
millisecond and......
The phone rang.
The phone on the wall of his inner pen.
He swung himself around from the meditating he was doing, the
candles flickered orange and yellow light everywhere.
He grabbed the headset that was hooked up to the phone lines and
tapped the blinking red on the side of the set. "Beijing Zoo, Panda
speaking how may I help you?" He reached out for the glass of Saki, he
took a big sip from his glass of Saki and laughed. "Sky ole buddy, how are
you? No wait, where are you?" He licked the remaining drink from his lips
and eyed his watch. "Whoa slow down, tell me this again."
"We had a break in over at the Centre, someone lifted some
hardware and beat feet before the police or ADP could get their boots on,"
SkyKnight's left shoulder held the cellular phone against his ear while he
pointed the ADP cadet over to the smoking rubble that used to the Centre's
main entrance. The cadet took pictures of the scene while sound of thunder
on the horizon echoed.
Mega Tokyo's night sky was lit up with rising red smoke and white
hydrogen lamps sweeping from one corner of the street to the other. The
smell of smoke, burned human flesh and gasoline all rolled into one still
lingered in the parking lot where SkyKnight's mode of transport sat,
overturned with several scorch marks on the undercarriage. "This place is
a mess down here, I am not having fun Panda," SkyKnight coughed and rubbed
his right shoulder, the shoulder which had hit the cement when he was
thrown from his truck. Moments before the road in front of him had become
a wall of flames and falling debris.
"What did they steal?" Panda's staticy voice asked.
"Some heavy ordinance. Mostly firearms and anti-tank war heads.
Two crates of something the bio-weapons division was working on and one
other little nifty item: the Centre's library AI."
Panda nearly spit his Saki onto the Alter in front of him. "How'd
they do that?" He cursed.
"I dunno, neither do the demo guys, we lost a whole truck trying
to get up the driveway," SkyKnight shook his head at the on sight doctor's
help and pointed towards the people who truly needed it, the surviving
demo/comp sci experts that walked away from the truck which now looked
like it had been opened with a can opener. "They managed to tripwire the
drive way and most of the lobby, I've got a group heading into the
building through the basement ducks now."
"This is going to take up all your time isn't it?"
"Believe me this wasn't how I was planning my only night off," Sky
fumed quietly while he took in the scene in front of him. The Centre was a
tech center for anyone and everyone could learn any trade they wanted too,
this was one branch was one of the bigger of the buildings the owners had
built over the years. No one knew who they were or what they wanted, they
seemed to be helpers of sorts. The large glass rectangle building now with
most of it's windows blown out looked more like a haunted house then
anything, the light through shadows everywhere across the road, up onto
the fourth story of the building everywhere. The Centre was where Sky had
been spending some of his time boning up on a few things that interested
his fancy, he recommended it to a few friends and they made a hobby of
meeting there. It felt like going back to school again. He hadn't seen
what had been in the vaults in the basement, what lay behind those large
circles of metal. Doors with no knobs on either side of them, what kept
them closed was magic, something Sky hadn't dug his fingers into but one
thing he did know. One of those doors now lay on the floor, it contents
that it had kept hidden from the world were somewhere else. Contents best
kept behind the door to either keep it in, or to keep other people out.
Sky turned to see more ambulances roaring up the street, a full
ADP escort in toe along with some more air born units.
"I have to go, the cavalry is almost here."
"Please tell me I'm not the first person you called."
"You're not. I called Sylia, then station, then Domino's for a
pizza then the insurance adjuster to renew my policy and then I called
you." Sky smirked slightly. "We found map in the debris, looks like it was
drawn with a computer."
Panda stopped for a moment.
"Longitude and Latitude are mark off in red ink," Sky frowned at
the piece of paper in his left hand. "At least I hope that's red ink."
Panda slid off the headset and slowly looked around. He felt the
breeze as it brushed past him, the candles around the room became wisps of
red and black while the coats of armor started to shimmer in place. The
outside sounds, if there were any at all to begin with were muted as
voices in front of Panda drew breath. Eyes and mouths illuminated in white
light started to open. Eyes that narrowed into slits of energy and mouths
that smiled like a Cheshire Cat.
"It looks like someone is headed to your Pen," Sky frowned and
pulled the paper closer to his eyes while the ambulances and other ADP
vehicles came to a screeching halt behind him and officers started to
dismount. "These look like power settings, there are three numbers here, x
axis, y axis and a z axis. Hey you don't know anyone with any transport
capabilities, this looks like it came from some kind of a fold generator
output."
Panda's jaw slowly started to drop as the air in front of him
shifted and a man appeared.
The wind whispered songs of a day long forgotten. The grass swayed
to the left then to right, the moon lit rays shone down on her while she
lay there, unconscious. But yet, she was fully awake or at least the part
of her mind that held her knowledge of the Black Arts. She breathed
slowly, her breathing helmet lay next to her discarded but not totally
forgotten. She felt her hair tick nose, the soft breeze that caressed her
face so gently and the rays of white light that showed what she truly was.
There was a rustle in the grass for a moment. Two eyes appeared
between the long blades of grass and scanned it's territory with ease
until they came upon an intruder. The eyes narrowed and a pair of white
teeth glowed along with the eyes now. The eyes disappeared and then
reappeared closer to the intruder. A thin furry blue tail rose up from the
grass and swayed along it's surroundings as if test the intruder. There
was a small yip and the tail disappeared. The eyes reappeared at the edge
of the tall grass and a small pink nose stuck out and sniffed the air, the
front paws stepped out into the light, then the head, the body and the
rear paws.
A baby female blue tiger quietly and stealthily or at least as
stealthily as a baby blue tiger could do padded over to the intruder. The
tiger stopped a few inches from the intruder's face and sniffed her hair.
She jumped back as the wind shifted and the long stringy hair tried to
cover her. The tigress growled at the hair and waited for the wind to
stop. She didn't have to wait long, the wind slowed, she coiled up and
pounced on the intruder! She landed on the intruder's stomach and bounced
for a moment until she finally calmed down and watched her prey. Her
sleeping prey? She made her way up to the intruder's chest and sniffed her
again. Her tail swished happily at a friendly smell.
"Chynne! Where are you?"
Chynne's tail stopped and her ears perked up. She gulped and
slowly looked around at the sound of the voice. The voice of mother.
Chynne curled up into a blue ball and started to practice the one spell
she knew by heart. The spell of invisibility, the one spell her mother
didn't like. She disappeared for a brief moment as her mother made her way
out her pen. She shifted from her feline form to her hybrid form and
stretched. She frowned when she didn't see Chynne just outside the mouth
of the cave. She hesitated at yelling again when she saw the fence's door
wide open. She looked right then left and jogged half way out into the pen
area. She tensed up, Chynne hadn't been outside of the pen for years, why
was the fence door wide open? Her eyes caught something just past the long
grass, she slowly walked through the grass and stopped when she saw who it
was.
"Chynne!"
A blue furry ball popped back into reality and Chynne rolled onto
the ground. She uncoiled herself and panted heavily. She had held her
breath while she had done that spell, she tried to catch her breath while
she looked up her mom who glared down at her. Chynne tried to look
apologetic but that didn't help. "Hi mom," she mrred.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I couldn't sleep," the tigress said between deep breathes. "She
woke me up."
Her mother looked over at the unconscious person and she knelt
down. "It's time to go to bed honey," she murmured. She held out her arms
and Chynne leapt into her arms. She looked down at intruder and waved
bye-bye.
Her mother walked her back into their den and tucked her into bed.
She turned off their light and hesitated going back to bed. She walked
back up to the mouth of the cave and looked out at the spot where the
intruder was. She looked over her shoulder when she heard another set of
foot steps coming up the rocky incline. She heard the padding of feet
vanish for a moment and then the careful foot falls replace the padding.
Chynne's nurse appeared, a purple furred green behind the ears scout, she
looked like she had just woken up from a good dream. "Can't sleep?"
Chynne's nurse Kiria shook her head, she blinked through the hazy
of the sleep in her eyes. "Is there something wrong? I heard you get up."
"Chynne was out hunting around, I put her to bed again."
"Oh," Kiria nodded lazily and turned around to go back to bed.
"Well, there's a nice fresh dream waiting for me, night Stashi."
Stashi smirked. "Just don't wake up the entire clan this time, we
need a muzzle for you two."
"Now this is the pot calling the kettle black," Kiria muttered as
she returned to her feline form and padded back down to her awaiting mate.
Stashi turned back to the mouth of the cave and walked out into
the grassy area. She found herself looking down at the intruder and knelt
down to get a better look at her. She gently swept the hair away from her
face and held the breath she had just inhaled. She nearly lost her
balance, she steadied herself and got closer to the intruder's face. She
sniffed her for a moment and hand covered her mouth even before her senses
could identify the smell. "What are you doing here?" She hissed.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Stashi whipped her head around and caught movement. She felt the
hair on the back of her neck stand on end as Tanya O'Hare appeared out of
the shadows.
"O.k. Usino lessee what ya got."
Bentley straddled one of the chairs in the Dropship's core and
turned on an old light. The rays shined down on a circular panel that sat
in the middle of the room. The lamp extended from the top of the console,
the bulb coughed for a moment and resumed it's duty. Mike blinked for a
moment as the area around him became much more clearer. He looked around
then down at the computer panel then did a three-sixty look around then
stopped.
"There's a reason why the only thing outside the shine from that
lamp is utter darkness right?" Mike extended a finger past the rays of
light and watched his finger disappear.
Bentley lifted up a few plastic safety covers off the plastic
buttons and pressed them down. A shaft of light in front of the panel
erupted. Mike whirled around at the noise the shaft of light was making as
the shaft got bigger and bigger until it formed a circle. The shaft became
a white outline and inside that outline was a deep gray fog. The sounds of
voices drifted towards them, something moved behind the fog, people and
places moved. Bentley looked over the top of the console and tapped over
the keys softly. "The reason why is unknown, actually it's Forbidden.
Which means I can't tell you even if I knew."
"You mean to tell me you didn't build this ship?" Mike walked
forward and gazed into the fog. "That sounded like my voice for a moment,"
he stopped and listened to the voices "That was yours."
"The scanners record any movement inside a certain radius, I
routed them through my bracer and what you're seeing in the fog is a
feedback," Bentley pushed a button and smaller version of the fog appeared
to his right just above the console. "Even though Panda's weapon nullifier
takes care of any weapons the primary use of the bracer is for recon."
"The capacity of the core must be very large."
"Correct."
"So why did we have to come back to switch tapes?"
"To check the tapes for other things that aren't effected by
Panda's null device. And I'm probably the most paranoid person here."
Bentley typed in a code and watched the feedback from the log blur into
motion.
Mike turned slowly. "No one knows what's in this ship do they?"
Bentley looked up from the console, the lights cascaded over his
face as he shook his head no. "Mind you what I'm about to say is pure
theory so here goes: Different people from different universe or maybe
different worlds are given the chance to play for the fate of the Earth or
possibly the universe as we know it. Those people meaning you, me, Mr. B,
Virgo ect ect get invites to come to this pen for this game. So we all
gather in one spot for a one time game." Bentley watched as map of the
area started to form in the upper right of the circle. "For all we know
this is just a normal game well it isn't so a few of our enemies show up
and decide to ruin the game."
Mike nodded as little tiny blue dots started to form on the map.
"All these separate realities we all come from they all merge
right in Panda's Pen. And so for this one brief game we are all equal in
every way. We put our troubles behind us and play a friendly game,"
Bentley raised an eyebrow as little red dots started to appear on the map.
"But before we can even begin a few of our enemies show up and take any of
us out." Bentley stood as the red dots began to move across the map
slowly, one or two in the very beginning but soon more, three, four, five
all of them began to form around the parameter of the pen. That was when a
few green dots showed up all clumped together. "So now the question is
weather or not who has the balls enough to come after us and weather or
not them interrupting this game shifts the balance."
"What if we're talking by chance?" Mike frowned. "We were all
chosen by chance right?"
"That was when the area was neutral, in my universe's case there
usually has to be a balance to things. If a good guy is given something
special then so is a bad guy," Bentley counted the dots and whistled
softly. "In this case if this information is correct then we've got a very
large problem on our hands."
Mike looked back at the map and counted. "Green, red, blue."
"Usino ID all the dots on this map."
"Accessing deep memory core," the computer's monotone voice
replied. "Green identities are those belonging to the race known as the
Kasarians."
"Good guys," Bentley muttered before Mike could ask. "Sapphire's
race."
"Red identities are those belong to sub race known as Tendorian
Huntsman."
"That's bad," Mike swallowed hard as the two blue dots stayed
right where they were on the map, right outside the Dropship's parameter.
"Who are the blue?"
"Blue identities are those belonging to the sub race known as
Tendor Queen's Royal Satyrs."
"God their all here." Bentley fell back into the seat and watched
the map. "Huntsmen don't know about the Kasarians neither do the Satyrs.
So if they aren't after them...." His closed his eyes for a moment and
counted the number of players. "The Huntsmen on this planet answer to no
one since we're off limits to begin with. The QRS are under orders by the
Queen no matter where they are. And the Kasarians," He opened his eyes and
eyed the clump of green dots. "They must have been on a sleeper ship or
something."
"Deep Red identity is that which belongs to Cryan no last name.
Alert inform Captain immediately, one crew member found."
Mike turned. "Who's Cryan?"
Bentley sat back and noticed one of the red dots were deeper then
the rest. "She's one of the most feared Huntsmen in this system, she used
to be Solas Burke's personal body guard my nemesis if you would. She
disappeared after the original Phantom Riders way back and showed up here
on Earth right after we got our little gifts from Sapphire," he ran his
hand over the bracer out of habit. "She and Tanya O'Hare have been
crossing paths ever since we killed Burke twice that was before we got
picked up to save Seco." He turned away for a moment and then stood. "What
the hell is she doing here?"
"Who are you?" Panda didn't stand. He watched the man look around
his shrine, he didn't touch anything he mearly looked at the weapons on
the wall and the armor that stood perfectly still flanking the carpet.
"What are you doing here?"
"My name is not important," the man had some kind of accent Panda
couldn't place, he was in his mid fifties, graying hair verging on going
white. He wore some kind of suit, black slacks, shoes, white shirt with a
colorful tie. His off black blazer with red hanky seemed out of place. But
this man had an air about him. His deep blue eyes looked around the room
slowly and he smiled. "I have been watching what you have been doing and
would like to offer you something."
"How did you get in here?" Panda leaned forward slowly.
"A simple mode of transport on my world. Actually it would be
called magic on this world," the man pointed to a sword. "May I?" He
looked back at the panda and simply picked the polished sword by it's
handle and passed it from one hand to another. After a moment he left it
in his right hand and nodded. "Very nice."
"You're a swordsman?"
"Of sorts, it's a well known trade back home," the man eyed the
sword once more and placed it back on the jacks. "But enough of the
memories, I'm straying from my planned agenda." He walked back onto the
carpet and came up to Panda. "I noticed when I scanned your pen that
someone resides here that I wish to extend a greeting to. I was wondering
if you would introduce me to her."
Panda finally stood now. His dark eyes gleamed down at the man.
"What are you talking about?"
The man's smile still shined even through inwardly his patience
was starting to shudder. "A rare form of beauty is just outside this
shrine, she is possibly the last of her race. And I would like to get to
know her."
"Why don't you just walk out there and ask her yourself?"
The man chuckled and shoved his hands in his slack pockets. "It
might be better manners if the person throwing this little game would do
that."
The Dropship's cabin lights flicked on and the computer screens
came to life. The soft sound of music started up once again. The rear
doors hissed open, Bentley and Mike both exited. Bentley headed straight
for the nearest console while Mike got sidetracked by the fridge on the
floor next to the couches that were in the back of the cabin. "Usino
forward scan results to main systems." Bentley didn't sit he didn't need
to, he didn't want too.
Mike knelt down and opened the fridge, he pulled out a cold can of
orange juice and popped the top. He looked around at the cabin and nodded.
"I like," he bearly made out as Bentley passed by him and pulled down an
overhead bin. He left it open and walked back to the middle of the cabin
as the main 3-D tele-imaging system warmed up. Mike leaned against the
couch at the rear of the cabin and watched the map come up once more.
"Their waiting for something. They surrounded the pen and just waiting?"
Bentley turned to the right to the main computer console in the
middle of the room and his fingers started to tap away at the keys. "Cryan
is a watcher which is sorta odd for her, she usually goes in guns ablazing
and asks questions later." He frowned as bright images flashed across his
face. "What the hell are they waiting for?"
"A sign?"
Bentley heart skipped a beat while his finger hesitated on the
last combination of buttons. "She's testing the nullifiers range.
Computer: ID any unknown energy signatures." He turned and looked at the
overhead compartment while the computer chugged away at the answer.
"Two." The computer beeped.
"One of them is coming from the pen?" Bentley stood up straight
and took one step towards the back of the cabin.
"Correct."
"And the other?" Mike inwardly cringed.
"Black Arts usage."
"Magic," Bentley whispered while he pulled down the opposite
overhead compartment. "Since when did you travel down that path?" He took
a deep breath and let it out. "O.K Mike this is what we're going to do."
"Sapphire."
Panda frowned. "What do you want her for?"
"Are you saying that you won't help?" The man asked.
Panda crossed his arms. "Yes that is exactly what I'm saying, you
can go out there, and you can introduce yourself to her. If she is so
important to you," Panda walked off the alter and glared down at the
little man, the emotions he felt were starting to wan, the result of the
nachos but still he needed to vent on someone and this intruder was the
closest person to the scene. "Then you can go talk to her," his voice came
from deep within his vocal cords. "And if you don't move your little ass
out of this sacred temple I will personally," Panda's aura started to emit
around his large fuzzy body. "Toss you out onto the street and let Rain
Dragon have at you kind sir," Panda's claws were now extended. "Now, GET
OUT OF MY HOME!"
The man whose hair now stood on end from Panda's little threat
pulled a comb from his back pocket and smoothed his hair back into place.
In another light he would have mentioned that fact about how bad Panda's
breath was but this creature was something not to be trifled with. He only
nodded in reply and with a brief word was gone.
Panda seethed through clenched teeth, his aura flickered out and
Rain Dragoon who had been waiting for his cue lingered a moment longer and
then disappeared once again. Panda took a large gulp of Saki and felt the
last of the nacho dip leave his system. "And stay out."
Mike stood up and followed Bentley's directions. He finished his
drink, tossed it into the bin and cracked his knuckles. He got off the
couch and put his hands behind the back of the couch, his fingers felt
around until he found two buttons. A stubby one on the left, a thin one on
the right. He pulled up the stubby one then got off the couch and pull the
back forward. The back folded in lay flat against the cushions, he then
pushed down the thin button and gently pushed the couch down into the
deck. He pushed down on it until it was flush with the deck and jumped on
it for good measure. He then saw the release clamps that were attached to
the floor behind what used to be the couch. He knelt down once more and
pulled the safety cover off the clamps. He was greeted by a white keypad,
one green button and one red button. His right hand reached out and
grabbed a piece of paper from atop the nearby fridge and slowly started to
type in the numerical code. A beep sounded every time he typed in a
number, once he was done he pressed the green button then the red. A
softer ping sounded and a thud reverberated on the deck plates.
A alarm blast made him jump a foot. He whirled and glared at
Bentley who was retyping the code into the other keypad. "Sorry," Bentley
apologized. "Can't read my own handwriting."
"What are we doing?" Mike eyed the deck as a black outline started
to form around what used to be the couch, the outline became a rather
large rectangle. The fuzzy carpeting fluxed and became gray metal. Red
warning stickers flashed as something started to rise from the floor. Mike
stepped back as the compartment that used have the couch was now blocked
by a large metal wall. The wall stopped when it hit the ceiling and a
series of thuds and clicks echoed for a moment as the compartment Bentley
was working on hit the ceiling too.
"Insurance," Bentley muttered as both walls slid into place and
linked together. "Computer update scan ID any unknowns?"
"Deep Green identity is that which belong to Tanya O'Hare. Alert
inform Captain immediately, one crew member found." The two walls started
to gain details such as lettering in English as well as Secoian, human
sized doors with door handles formed and more warning stickers flashed on
the doors.
Bentley snapped his head around and his eyes widened. "Computer
locate Tanya O'Hare!" A green dot pulsed in the grouping of Kasarians.
Bentley moved up to the computer that was imbedded into the middle of the
room, the chills up his spine increased. "Computer locate Captain!" A
black dot formed onto the map which engulfed Tanya's dot. "Oh my god."
Nabiki jogged around the penguin pen once more and went up the
hill towards the elephant's pens. She couldn't sleep all night, waking
dreams plagued her sleep so she slipped into her sweat pants and shirt and
jogged out into the night air. She took a deep breath and let it out
through her nose while he waved to the elephant baby which was keeping his
mom up. She curved around the edge of the monkey pen and swerved down onto
a dirt path that ran straight to Panda's Pen. She had heard about most of
the party from Firehawke and decided to drop by real quick. She yawn and
stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
Maybe I should go home, she thought. She looked up to the light
from Panda's Pen illuminating the trees in front of her and the sounds of
music asked her to walk this way. She leaned against a tree and let out a
big ole yawn. "Rain check Panda," she murmured and turned to push herself
off the tree when the tree shook for a good ten seconds. It's
reverberations caused her to slip and fall quietly into a pile of dry
leaves. Several little animals scurried around her to find new bed t
o sleep the night. She snapped her head upwards towards the tops of the
trees just as leaves fell onto her face. She blew them out of the way and
look up towards the night sky.
Up, all the wayyyyy up in the top tree branches something settled
itself onto one of the stronger branches, metal and bone toes dug
themselves into the branch, bark and inner tree bits split away from the
branch while it's right hand steadied itself and munched on a candy bar.
The something crumpled up the raper in it's fist and let go of it. The
raper drifted down and down until it landed in Nabiki's open palm. She
blinked and blew tree bits out of her eyes and scampered back against
another tree and stared wide eyed.
The something snorted and leaned over to the right. Eyes flashed
against the night and narrowed. Enhanced imaging formed in front of it's
eyes and for a brief moment what it truly saw was interrupted by a dozen
scans by various different eyes embedded into its armor. One eye zoomed in
on the object that had made so much noise. "Race classification: Human.
Sex: Female," a voice spoke in it's native tongue. "Weapons: None, Armor:
None. Threat Ratio: 10 percent. Warm slaved targeting links?"
Nabiki's hands reached out behind her to feel the tree body behind
her and slowly got to her feet. She heard something breathing, it was
grasping for breath. It was her, she tried to calm her breathing, why did
she feel like something was up there? She squinted and tried to see but it
didn't help. She felt something.
"Warm slaved targeting links?" The armor asked once again.
The something took a deep breath and let it out. "No," she said
under her breath. Cryan almost felt the computer piss and moan about her
not attacking the helpless human, she felt her armor's eyes turn from the
human to the next objective on her list. The pen belonging to Panda. She
looked and slowly made out each and everyone one of her trainees. She
noted that none of them had moved from their positions around the Pen,
including the Black Arts user she had captured en route to Earth. She was
about to jump to the next tree when she felt something. Something she
hadn't felt since.....
"Cryan........" A cold wind called her from the south. She looked
over her shoulder, her arm within an instant snapped up, her gauntlet
shifted a blaster reared it's ugly head. The tip glowed a deadly white as
her targeting computers looked for the target, she already knew there
would be none. There never was, there never would be. "I know you can hear
me Cryan...." That voice....
Cryan twitched inwardly, she knew that voice. "Show yourself..."
she hissed!
"In time......," the wind replied, it slowed to small breeze and
stopped.
Cryan narrowed her eyes and seethed. "I'll be waiting," she
retorted. She opened a link to her trainees and send one message: We have
a problem.
Nabiki walked slowly back up the path, back onto the paved walkway
when something screamed. A scream that came from the trees.
Sapphire's heart stopped for one brief instant. She and Foxtrot
both stopped whatever they were doing and looked up slowly. Sapphire
ignored Fozzy's attempts to get her attention. The blue tigress pushed her
seat back a little too fast and it slammed into the ground with a crash.
She felt the wind too, the same wind Cryan had felt. But this time it did
not speak to her it mearly passed her by. Although the wind did take
account of who was in the pen, it seemed to stay a little too long, she
heard someone. Someone she hadn't seen since.....
"What is it?" Ash asked. He stopped playing cards with the feline
kitten known as Sleeper and craned his scaly neck skyward. "That wasn't a
normal was it?" Sleeper's cards stopped hovering in the air and settled
onto ground face down. The kitten hissed, her tail held high, her ears
back and eyes aglow.
"Sounded like someone in pain," Damon settled himself back into
the chair he was in and dealed a hand to David and Ami. He looked up at
Sapphire who was still looking around, her eye brows knit and a frown
forming on her face. "Saf? What's up?"
"Something's wrong." She murmured. She swept her line of sight
around the people at the pen. "Someone's here." She growled.
Virgo listened and pushed back from the table slowly. "She's
right, many are here."
Mike opened one of the doors and stepped back as a blue light
sparked across the door frame and something was outlined. Little tiny blue
lights that were built into walls and ceiling flickered on. A small buzz
from the lamps whispered to Mike as a weapon was outlined. Mike looked up
at the top of the door and made out the word: Firestarter. He looked back
down at the backpack weapon that sat there on holding jacks waiting to be
used. He picked up a silver cylinder about the side of a small duffel bag
but light enough to be lifted with one hand. He turned it over in his
hands and noted the yellow mechanical sprayed word: Anti-Flammer. He
blinked at the name and felt some kind of liquid swishing back and forth
as he tipped it right side up and upside down. "What kind of insurance are
you selling Bentley?" He murmured as a panel illuminated on the door. He
set the Anti-Flammer cartridge back onto the jacks and ran a finger down
the panel. Names and codes flashed in white and green LCD lights. "Cutter
Rifle: C-10, Snapp Rifles: S-10, Energy Sabre's: E-10," his eyebrows
raised even higher on his face as he went down the line. "Jesus Christ,
you could supply an entire army with these...." his voice trailed off at
the thought. He turned left, grabbed another orange juice and swallowed
the entire contents. He crushed the can with his right hand tossed it over
his shoulder, it bounced into the can as he got in front of Bentley and
look him straight into the eye. "You aren't thinking what I think you're
thinking are you?"
Bentley looked back into his eyes and the hazel in his pupils
flashed a deep blood red.
Mike's heart stopped for a moment. "You mean to tell me you're
going to go out there-" he stopped as Bentley broke his gaze and walked
back to the starboard side wall. He pressed a button and the metal doors
opened by themselves. He took off his leather jacket and tossed it onto
one of the remaining chairs in the room. "One side is the weapons the
other side is?"
Bentley pulled something out of the wall and tossed it at Mike.
Mike caught it and nearly dropped it. Mike looked down at the item, a pair
of metal and bone gauntlets. Various designs marked these gloves, the
metal and bone were intermingled along with a smattering of blue and red
paint to spice up the color of the yellow bones and silver metal. "Armor?"
Mike dropped the gloves onto the deck. "What the hell is going on?"
Bentley stepped into the wall and turned on the lights, he
unbuckled his jeans and found the belt he was looking for. He slid the
belt around the loops in his jeans and felt the energy connect with the
bracelet on his right wrist. "Body shielding warming up, please wait," a
smooth female voice reported. Bentley pulled a leather duster off the
jacks and a pair of gauntlets for himself. He slid his arms through the
sleeves and pulled on the gauntlets. He felt the collar mount for the
duster dematerialize, the metal stretched out over his shoulders, small
spikes popped up while the body shield flowed over his body. "Body shield
now hot: Any questions and problems just press the red button on the back
of your collar mount."
Bentley stepped out of the wall compartment and tapped a code into
the weapons locker compartment. The Firestarter locker door closed and the
locker shifted through until it came to the precise weapon compartment the
occupant was looking for. The door opened and Bentley pulled out a five
foot long rifle. He pulled some extra ammo from their cases along the wall
and shoved them into his duster's pockets. He pulled the cover on the top
of the rifle up and slid to rather large ammo cases into the breach. He
closed the cover, locked it that then loaded the rifle once then twice and
then slid the selector from safety to fire. He moved passed Mike who gave
him a rather large berth and watched as Bentley grabbed his sun glasses.
"We're going to war," he smiled and donned the glasses. "Usino cold start
the reflex drives and prep defenses for a level four assault."
"Affirmative." The computer went off line for a moment then came
back on and started to warm up the defenses of the ship.
Panda stepped out of his inner sanctum and into the room that held
the weapon nullifier. He turned on the light that hung from the ceiling
and looked at the device that filled the room. He looked over the round
body and made sure there were no cracks or dents. He looked over at the
energy read out and frowned at the elevated energy bar. The machine had
been made for this purpose to send out a negative wave of energy to any
and all weapons within a certain radius. He turned on one of the many
monitors and eyed the weapons that were listed and the people who they
belonged too. A few came with no weapons, others were layered with them,
Bentley was one the computer was still trying to ID, he did have a weapon
trac system on his person but the computer couldn't pin point it. He
didn't worry about Bentley, others were starting to worry him, such as the
person who somehow got into his shrine.
Panda adjusted one the computer controls and watched the line fall
back into the green. Panda tuned off the monitors then the lights and
closed the door.
"Chang."
"Yes?"
"I want you to close off any of the hidden doors we have down
below."
"At once," the servant started to his task. "Anything else?"
Panda stopped, the door to the outside world awaiting just in
front of him. "Get my armor and spirit weapons out of the cellar."
Chang nodded without question, he opened the door to the cellar
and disappeared behind the closing door.
"When are we going to start this game anyway?" Ami eyed her very
bad hand and folded. She crossed her arms and sighed. "No offense to
anyone but this is getting boring."
"None taken," Panda appeared behind her nearly giving her heart
attack. "Sky is detained at the moment, he shouldn't be too much longer."
He was about to offer his sincere apologizes when Sapphire and Foxtrot
pulled him off to the side. Mr. B watched in curiosity as Sapphire started
to explain things nice and slow, he could tell she was a little frighten
he couldn't make out the conversation but it had to do something that was
taller then her with fangs and glowing eyes. He could tell by the hand
gestures and the way to quickly drew out a rough picture complete with
copyright and date.
Mr. B leaned forward as he shuffled his cards from the back to
front and vise versa. "Does anyone know what's going on?" He asked the
group of people in front of him.
"Well it started with you," David smiled and leaned forward on his
elbows. "Do you have any ideas?"
"No."
Virgo frowned. "Oh come on, don't gimme that bull. Who the hell is
after you and why are they here?"
"No one my dear would be after me."
Ami snorted softly and looked up at the sky when Mr. B's gaze fell
upon her.
"No one is after me," Fozzy munched on his third taco and glared
Mr. B down. "And anyway if anyone was after Ash he'd know it."
"Why does it seem that everyone thinks that their equal in the
area of villainy has traced them to here?" Ash joined in. "Is it because
this game hasn't started yet or is it because of cabin fever?"
Virgo watched Sapphire and Panda talk. "Who haven't we asked yet?
Flat out, I mean."
"Sapphire, Foxtrot, Mike, Bentley." David started going down the
list of people.
"Sapphire and Bentley," Virgo muttered. "I know someone is here, I
know that there are more to those people then anything."
"What are you saying?" John asked. "That a few people who want
Bentley and Sapphire dead are here?"
"Well the Sapphire from Bentley's universe, she seems a little-"
Ami tried to find the word.
"Exotic?" Damon filled in.
"Dangerous and exotic," Fozzy added.
"What do you mean by Bentley's universe?" Ash questioned. "Is
there more then one Sapphire?"
Virgo donned her scientist outfit and drew out two rough sketches
of Sapphire. "From what Damon's interaction with Sapphire I figured he
knows her from somewhere, but they don't seem to be from the same
existence, no offense."
"None taken."
"So what happens if you have two versions of a person enter the
same room?"
"Theoretically they can't," David replied. "You mean anti-Sapphire
and Sapphire or just two Sapphires?"
"Two Sapphires."
"They might merge."
"Exactly."
"If all these people are here, who are they after?" Mike pulled
the top off once again and sipped slowly. "The only person from your
universe is Sapphire."
Bentley keyed the airlock and waited it to cycle. "Why what would
anyone want with...." He stopped and his eyes focused on something that
Mike couldn't see. Bentley looked up from the control panel and the color
drained from his face. "They couldn't have found out already." He
whispered.
"Deep blue identity is that which belong to Solas Burke. Alert
inform Captain immediately, one crew member found."
Bentley and Mike both stopped and the room became deathly quiet.
"This is a bad sign right?" Mike went to the weapons locker and
keyed in for a Firestarter pack.
"So we have one Sapphire but with two of the in her body," Ami
frowned. "Where does that get us?"
"If you want to stay hidden from someone, I mean really hidden
what would you do?"
"Um....duh. Hide."
"Exactly and if Sapphire pokes her head up for a moment, what
happens?"
"A faint signal?"
"Correct. And what happens if we have two Sapphires?"
"A clearer signal?"
"Correct. So what happens when someone who is wanted by a lot of
people pokes their head out so everyone can see?"
"They get captured?"
"Correct......yatze!" Virgo celebrated while the others at the
table groaned. "Sorry. So at the moment we should be surrounded by alien
evil meanies about to takes us away to their home world so they can
dissect Sapphire's brain."
Mr. B raised his hand. "How do you know all this?"
Virgo yanked a BGC t-shirted youth out of no where and presented a
rather thing pack of paper. "Me and the writer are really close."
Ami blinked. "You didn't."
"Yep I read the script!"
AHEM.....
Mr. B put down his cards. "So you mean to tell me that a few
people Sapphire and Bentley both miffed off in their travels have come
here to kill them?" He remarked. He looked around the table full of both
human's and aliens alike and saw the smiles beginning to form on people's
faces. He shook his head and sighed. "You people really are a hoot. I mean
why do you think Panda brought us here? If he knew this was going to
happen he would have discouraged events like this."
"But that's the thing," Virgo said, she raised a index finger and
acted like a scolding mother to her child. "This was all by chance, all of
this was random selection." She leaned forward on her elbows as did
everyone else at the table which now consisted of just about everyone who
had been invited to this party. "What do you think we're playing for?" She
whispered to all of them.
"It's just a game," Mr. B said in his normal voice but was hushed
by everyone at the table. "A game people, a game!" He hissed to all.
"You heard Panda's speech," Ami whispered and looked over at the
box that lay a table away from them, completely unguarded. "In that box,"
she hesitated as she pointed a red glossed fingernail at the golden hard
bound sized book, "resides the fate of mankind; the symbol of life on this
planet; the answer to the question- Why are we here? Not just a deck of
cards, but the finest example of the random laws of the universe that our
respective creators could ever create."
"You're point? Sides showing off you're photographic memory?"
Foxtrot smirked as she returned to the table only in record time to get
the bird from Ami. "You believe in this oh holy then thou book?"
Ash sat back in his wicker chair and put his scaly index fingers
together in thought just in front of his face, a true picture of a man or
dragon in thought.
"Why do you think we haven't started yet?" Virgo whispering,
making sure that the two didn't start throwing large objects at each
other. "Someone wants the book."
"Computer confirm!"
"Deep blue ID belong to one known as Solas Burke locat-" the
computer stopped. "ID on subject: lost. Fold Gate departure sequence
detected. Trace to source?"
"Hell yes!"
"Excuse me," John replied in a rather low tone. "But why the book?
We're on a dust ball of a planet so what about Earth," he stopped when he
caught some glances of people. "No offense but I'm used to people wanting
to go after bigger things than the Earth. There are more important things
in this universe then us."
"That's the point," Ash muttered and looked up at the night sky.
"Why here?"
"What are you doing here?!?"
Stashi stumbled back for a moment and nearly tripped over the
intruder. Her arms went back and steadied herself so she wouldn't touch
the person. She felt like a crab and rather stupid at not detecting an
alien presence on her home turf. She cursed herself while she pushed
forward and rose to her full height. She glared at the person that still
stood against the fence, her glowing eyes nailing her with a dreadful
gaze. O.k. now what do I do? She asked herself.
"Good question," Tanya replied briskly. Stashi's back teeth ground
together, cursing herself more about not remembering about what abilities
the foe in front of her possessed. "But first things first." She took a
few steps forward from the black asphalt walkway onto to the grassy plain.
The air around these two people began to slowly heat up, the wind around
them picked up around them. The sound of thunder off in the distance
rumbled, even thought it hundreds of miles away from them it still echoed,
like a warning. "What are you still doing here?" Tanya stopped a few feet
away from Stashi. "You told me once everything was repaired you'd be gone.
But you're still here."
"I can explain," Stashi started and raised her hands in a non
threatening manor. "I'm not active and I'm not armed so chill with the
fireworks teach." She let out a deep breath and watched Tanya slowly power
down her Black Arts magic abilities. The wind around them slowly calmed
itself and both of their black arts sphere's of influence met. This both
made them equal at least for a short time, even though Tanya was clearly
the superior, two Black Art Mages with only a blocks difference still
canceled each other out. Stashi still recognized her in the Terran garb
she wore. It was something with her eyes and mouth that set up bells even
without Tanya O'Hare's Gammaian Royal House markings she still recognized
her. "I see someone has been kind."
Tanya's body language shifted slightly in the night air and she
finally said, "I woke up like this, it wasn't my idea."
"Well it is nice to see that Burke's aim doesn't live up to
rumor." Stashi said and smirked slightly. She resumed a somewhat at ease
stance. "I was pregnant with child, we couldn't fold off this world
without endangering the children." She stuffed her hands into the folds of
her skin, the ones made for concealing weapons of any sort, this time
though she just needed to keep her hands out of sight. "I don't have to
remind you about what would happen if we would attempt such a feat."
"But that was fifty years ago!" Tanya spat, she made a motion with
both arms to mean the entire pen. "The council wouldn't take a second with
handing down sentence on you and the rest of pack." She took a another
step forward and thought her words over carefully. "What do you know about
her and what's going on?"
Stashi looked down at the intruder, a slight pang of hatred
registered inside her bones. "I haven't seen her in years and I've had the
pack underground most of the time," she took left hand out of her pocket
and ran it through her hair. "I'm afraid I've been out of the loop since
we got here," she said and got a better look at Tanya. "But if you're here
then something must of hit the fan."
"Of sorts-" Tanya was able to say as intruder disappeared and
reappeared at least thirty feet away, it was then when the weather kicked
both Stashi and Tanya onto their rears. It didn't matter now that their
sphere's where touching, something kicked the entire world onto it's side.
Both of the aliens fell downward. Tanya dug her nails into the soil and
she grabbed Stashi's hand, it was at this point both of their rankings of
Mages merged as they had been taught and shield went up to protect against
Captain's ranking.
A ranking that no one living possessed.
Cryan turned slightly and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes
scanned the night horizon and her armor chirred quietly to her second in
command who also seemed a bit unnerved at the sudden upset of the blanket
of silence. All of her squad checked in for the second time, all making it
perfectly clear that what ever happened was not of their doing. Cryan's
sensors checked in with the rogue Black Arts Mage that tinkered away
slowly at getting the shield down. Everything was in position, once the
shield was down they could move in. That's when we can dance, Cryan
thought. She felt the hatred push to the surface of her very being. She
hadn't gone up against any of the famed Hitomi's Ops Team, she gauged
Sapphire as a Rider. Even though she hadn't gone up against a Kasarian
pure bred since she had been borne. She could see herself battling
Sapphire and winning, but then Bentley would appear and sentence her, not
once, not twice but three times. She shuddered inwardly. A nightmare that
she had been having ever since she had set eyes on him and that dreaded
myth weapon of his.
Cryan calmed herself and surveyed the area via the up link to a
satellite in high orbit of the Earth. A brief three dimensional map
appeared in front of her eyes as things moved in slow motion. The Pen was
high lighted in neon blue while the cast of characters was outlined in
red. Her pupils closed in anger as two areas still remained black. The
cursed Dropship Three and the Blue Tigress pen. Two places she was not
planning on getting within miles of. It was true she had a death wish but
she didn't feel it necessary to go down in blaze of glory as a martyr, but
go down as a Saint, a time if she counted correctly was on a horizon.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. How much longer? She
thought. Her maternal instincts told her to conceal herself and wait for
the birth of her first borne, not to be out here commanding a group of
green behind the ears Huntsmen. She cocked her head to the side for a
moment and listened. She slowly swiveled on her heel and slowly activated
her armor's ears. She frowned from behind the face plate, she issued a
command and the plate's interior and exterior locks swiveled to the side.
The plate hissed open letting her breath in some fresh air. Strands of red
hair blew in the wind while she inhaled slowly. She knew that sound, it
was being muffled but she knew it. Where?
Tanya's finger nails dug into Stashi's palm. Both of them slammed
into the ground for a moment and then released. Tanya squeezed her eyes
shut and concentrated as they were slammed again. /She wants us
separated/, she thought. /Least she hasn't gotten constructive since last
we met./ She felt her fingers being dragged through the mud as the golf
ball hail bounced off her skin.
/Oh sure that's it give her ideas!/ Stashi replied back, she felt
her own blood trickle down her arm. /Why is she doing this?/
/She isn't,/ Tanya opened one eye and tried to get a good look at
where she was hiding. /She's hiding from us, she's scared./
/Well, do something!/
/It's taking all of my power to keep us together, why do you think
hand is still attached to your arm?/
/Good point,/ Stashi winced as the golf balls started to get
bigger. /Time to go to plan B./
Tanya winced too. /Yes./ "This is going to hurt," she finally
said-
Cryan doubled over! She let out a blood curling scream as her very
armor shimmied in place, she squeezed her eyes shut as the satellite feed
was disrupted. Everything around her shook, something or someone was
setting off a null field, a very large null field. She felt her armor
begin to retract back into her skin. No! She thought, she felt her heart
begin to beat faster and faster. Control it, she thought and balled her
hands into fists. It is yours, you control it, not it you, those thoughts
ran through her brain as the armor shuddered to a stop and then slowly
began to close up around her like it was before. She felt her Black Arts
knowledge kick back into the interface with the armor and slowly very
slowly a shield started to form around her.
"Locate," she breathed as her face plate fell back into place.
The glass that had Mike's orange juice in it shuddered for a
moment.
Mike snapped his head around and narrowed his eyes in questioning
glance as the yellow liquid sloshed up and over the glass rim. He turned
and before he could say anything the vibrating glass stopped, the ripples
in the liquid slowed and eventually was calm again. He rested the
Firestarter nozzle on his shoulder and caught the sensors as they
hiccuped, the screens fuzzed over with snow for just a brief second, even
the hum of the Dropship's core stopped for a brief moment. The deck plates
pulsed for a moment too and then it stopped.
Mike turned and listened carefully. "What the hell was that?"
Captain stood at the mouth of the cave, her back was to the
entrance to the pen. She had been in mid-leap, her lost thought was to get
past the caves inner guards and search for something when the voice has
hit her. She now stood erect in the middle of the cave opening, her arms
at her side, her hands open, her eyes faced front. Part of her mind a buzz
with thoughts while the other parts shivered in terror. The horns that
adorned her head, the same ones that seemed to be part of her helmet were
putting off enough heat to light a brush fire. This was the only way to
let off all the excess Black Arts Magic that only a few moments ago had
created a hail storm.
That hail, the rather large white and blue golf balls on the grass
had already begun to melt. A few of them made crunchy noises as two pairs
of feet, one wearing boots the other bare foot approached the lone
silhouette against the light which had been illuminated against the cave
wall. The noise outside must have awoken a few of the Kasarians. The
murmur of voices slowly drifted up into the night air while Tanya
approached from the left and Stashi from the right.
Both of them slowly recovering from their ordeal. It was a wonder
they were even walking, or for that matter thinking clearing, Tanya had
been quicker to rise up, even after opening her mouth and unleashing that
scream. Stashi's ears were still ringing from it, her claws gleamed in the
night as they crushed the hail. Tanya stopped about a foot behind Captain,
she then leaned to the left then the right which made Stashi freeze in her
tracks.
"What is it?" She whispered.
Tanya shook her head as if dismissing something. "Nothing, she's
frozen in place until I let her loose." She warmed her hands for a moment
and edged forward slowly, her arms out stretched and her hands slowly
trembling. She and Captain where almost the same height, she stood on her
tip toes to eye something on the breather pack that resided on Captain's
back. "Something in the air set her off."
Stashi still didn't move. "It did?"
Tanya nodded and hesitated pressing the button for a diagnostic
test of Captain's breather. "Looks like something or someone tried to
poison her," she frowned and touched the back of Captain's helmet slowly.
"It was supposed to kill her."
"But I thought she was...." Stashi took a step forward.
"She _is_," Tanya interrupted, she closed her eyes and let her
telepathic abilities slowly emerge from the depths of her soul. "He didn't
know she is, he wasn't expecting her to get up."
Stashi made sure she gave Tanya enough breathing space to do what
ever she was doing. She walked in front of Captain and stood on her tip
toes to see inside her darkened helmet at which point Captain's eyes
snapped open, focused and gleamed like diamonds. Stash stumbled back for a
moment putting her hand over her mouth to surpress a scream. "She's
awake!"
Tanya nodded in her own way. "I know." She took a deep breath and
entered Captain's mind. She passed by the bright light which represented
the spell she had put her under and dove into the darkness. A brief
glowing shape which represented her own mind turned and slowly looked
around the empty space. A space which only moments before held the
consciousness of someone else. Someone she didn't know.
"I know you're in here child," her telepathic vision sharpened as
everything became clear. She stood in a maze of mirrors and doors. Each
mirror and door the same as the others. She frowned at the sight, even
though the area was clean and orderly there were still parts of it that
seemed to belong to the shadows. She turned quickly as the sight of
movement, but there was nothing there. She felt herself on the Earthly
plane as well as on the telepathic plane shiver. This place gave her the
creeps and that was a hard thing to do. "I'm here to help, just come out
into the light where I can see you."
Silence.
Tanya did a three sixty and listened carefully. Not utter silence
there was something whispering.
Whispering her name?
Tanya swallowed....
....hard.
"You know my name?" She murmured.
Another whisper this time a little louder. "Yes," it sounded so
far away. But at the same time so close. All around her.
"I don't know you," she replied to the whisperings.
"Oh yes you do." A voice whispered in her ear.
Tanya whirled around and-
Stashi waved her hand in front of Captain's helmet and waited for
a response like one of both of her hands in whip like fashion grabbing her
hand. But it didn't happen. She walked back into the cave, far enough to
assure the heavily armed guards who stood watch in front of the inner cave
door that there was nothing wrong. She had only turned for a second and
when she turned back towards the entrance both Captain and Tanya were
still there. She walked back up the incline and made sure Tanya was o.k.
"You look surprised Keeper."
Tanya back up against one of the mirrors and swallowed again. "How
did you-?"
The essence that was Captain's mind smiled. "It's a long story,
too long to tell you now," it took a step closer to her. "What are you
doing here? This plane is not ment for you, just yet."
"You were poisoned, you needed help."
"You mean this vessel was poisoned, I was able to regain control
of it. I was surprised to see it still functioned after the attack," the
essence slowly started to become humanoid. "You stopped me from my
mission," it's newly formed eyes narrowed in anger. "How did you do it?"
Tanya blinked. "You already know."
The essence shook it's head. "I should be killing those worthless
Kasarian fodder even as we speak but somehow you stopped this vessel,"
it's eyes started to emit a light now. "_How_?"
Tanya opened her mouth on the Earthly plane. "He doesn't know," he
murmured.
Stashi got as close to Tanya as she could. "Who?"
"Tell me what you did!"
Tanya opened her eyes on the Earthly plane. "He doesn't know what
we did..." he voice trailed and looked straight into Stashi's eyes. "He
doesn't know," before she could say anything else she arched her back and
opened her mouth as if to scream.
"Disengage from him!" Stashi yelled into Tanya's ear. "Disengage-"
She placed her hands on Tanya's arm and was thrown ten feet by a discharge
from Tanya's personal body shielding. She landed nearly on her hands but
slipped on the wet grass and landed on her backside. She missed the edge
of the cave door way by inches.
"What did you people do this vessel!" Lightning stuck Tanya's
essence which was thrown through one of the mirrors, the shards flew
everywhere. Captain's essence walked through the broken mirror and
followed Tanya. As he left, two sets of eyes appeared in the shadows.
"We have to help her." One of them said.
"We help her then warn the others, he's going to take them soon."
The other said.
Two more essences flew through mirror.
Stashi shook her head to get the ringing out of her ears. She
opened her eyes and rubbed her backside. "I'm getting too old for this,"
she muttered. She stopped and looked up. She stood up, completely unaware
that both Captain and Tanya were surging with energy and she continued to
look at the sky as dark storm clouds slowly formed around the Zoo.
Tanya landed squarely on her back with a large thud, her essence
was disjointed for a brief moment and then began to reform into a shape
that looked like herself in the real world. She opened her eyes and rose
up, she dusted herself off for a moment and turned. This place, what ever
mirror she had gone through looked familiar.
A forest stood before her, trees reaching towards the sky, grass
grew and animals chirped in the wood land. The sun shone down from high
above and the soft sound of singing reached her ears. She walked down the
woodland path that stood before her around some trees and up a hill until
she made it to a clearing that overlooked a castle.
Bentley Priory.
Tanya blinked. "Who the hell are you," she murmured. She watched
from her vantage point, down in the castle people were burying their dead
and going on with life. She sniffed the air and she recoiled in disgust.
The air reeked of Tendor blood. She narrowed her vision and eyed some of
the armor and weaponry. "Holy weapons, what the hell is going on here?"
"A battle between lost souls." The female voice made her turn, her
shielding already coming to life in front of her. There in front of her
stood a peasant girl, just about twelve maybe with dirty blonde hair,
sparkling green eyes and covered in dirt from head to toe. "We hid from
the Hunters when they came, our Knights weren't strong enough, but we won
and lost." The peasant girl took a step forward, eyeing the mind essence
in front of her. "He will soon find you, you know. Your mind was more
organized then his when you jumped through the mirror. You at least had a
place in mind to guide yourself, it will take him a little while to find
us."
"Who are you."
"One of the dead," the peasant girl looked down at the castle as
her parents buried her. "I've brought a friend, we should be able to stop
him so I can regain control of this body. He's too much out of touch with
the world, he should have been sentenced years ago."
"We can't do it in here your body couldn't take it." Tanya stopped
as those green eyes met hers, something about those eyes, something alien.
"My friend knows more about that type of things than I could ever
know," the peasant looked up as if she had just remembered something.
"There something else you need to know about the Game."
Tanya's eye brows were knit as the peasant girl told her....
....everything.
"Get to the Pen."
Stashi whipped her head around at the sound of Tanya's voice. She
forgot about the clouds and remembered what she was here for. "Go where?"
"Get to Panda's Pen, warn Sapphire, warn Bentley. Get them out of
there. Now."
Stashi shook her head. "What about you?"
"We've got things covered, go now."
Stashi was about to object when her mind processed her daughter's
name. "Sapphire's here?!?"
"Yes," Captain's voice nearly made her jump. "Get to her before he
does."
Cryan was about to turn back to main object when her outer
proximity alarm was set off. They focused for a moment and finally caught
was ever was running through the forest of trees that separate the
different pens.
"Target ID: Kasarian."
"Target Mode of Transport: Four legs. Approx. speed: unknown."
"Target range closing: Ten meters, nine, eight, seven."
Cryan's armor systems started to warm up as she heard the pounding
of feet on the ground. It sounded like a stampede. "Target range closing:
Five meters, four, three, two, one. Zero."
Cryan heard the pounding stop. She listened for a moment and
looked around. Where she go? She thought as clawed hand reached down from
one of the upper branches grabbed a hold of her head and slammed it back
into the tree's body. Cryan felt her face plate servos wine as the claws
extended, sparks flew against her face. She tried to struggle but it was
useless, the last thing she saw was a blue face with glowing red eyes
smiling at her via the face plate's eyes. They died and then the plate's
internal lighting did too. The last thing she heard was: "Not one word!"
Over the staticy ears and then they too died.
To Be continued.....whew...
Bentley
bentley4@ix.netcom.com