(Hey Mag, I may have some use for you later on in the story. Drop me a line at (url="http://"mailto:Sargatanus@hotmail.com")mailto:Sargatanus@hotmail.com(/url)Sargatanus@hotmail.com

In the air shaft, Sundered Angel stops, steadying himself with an iron grip on the wall.

"Sargatanus is awake."

Ignoring the startled looks from his companions, he proceeds down the air tunnel, until they arrive at a ventilation port high up a wall of the main hanger. A dozen metallic-looking hominoid figures stalk the hanger below. Sundered Angel points to them, drawing his pistol.

"I count twelve hunters. There are five of us, and we have the element of surprise. Don't mistake me, but these are professional soldiers, and not easy prey. Does everyone have some sort of weapon?"

He looks around, and Rawc raises his hand. "Tha' took it off ma. Filthy varmins".

Sundered Angel pulls out another pistol of similar design, handing it to him. It glitters coldly in the dim tube.

"Very well. Good luck all."

The ventilation cover smashes into the hanger, and all five leap down at the surprised hunters, who are already swinging their weapons to bear.

------------------
Sundered Angel ,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

(This message has been edited by Sundered Angel (edited 08-19-2000).)

Even before the party hits the ground orange beams are shooting out of the Hunters' palms and filling the room. Miraculously, everyone lands and makes it to cover unscathed. Once safe, the shooting stops and running can be heard. Instinctively, Rawc picks up a large steel placing rod and lunges from his hiding place, driving it with all his might into the neck of a slightly off-guard hunter. It falls to the groud, with an oily yellow fluid gushing from various locations on its neck. Though disoriented, it can still fight. It stands up and and swipes at Rawc with its large left blade. Racw catches it in the nick of time and raises the placing rod to block. The blade lodges half-way through the five inch thick rod, and rawc throws the Hunter aside with everything he has. The hunter struggles to get up, but colapses. Rawc can only relish briefly however, as more shots are being fired.

Sundered Angel rolls and straffes in and around the many crates and equipment within the hanger, firing off shots when he can. To his dismay, the pistol shots knock the Hunters down, but they aren't powerful enough the pierce their armour. It was then that he noticed Rawc's endevour. So the neck was the weak point. It would be difficult, but not impossible. One of the hunters then leaped and ricocheted into the alcove Angel had hid himself just as he was aiming his pistol. He fired, and the hunter fell like a sack of bricks. As it landed, its large blade was jarred, and scarred the floor. "Now that's sharp" Angel muttered to himself as he tried to loosen the blade. It came off fairly easily. He clutched the weapon, and began sighting his next victim.

Jane's landing was ideal: well hidden, and within an arm's reach of a hand-held lepton cannon. She immediately holstered the pistol and siezed the cannon. There was a problem right away: This cannon was designed for a Cantharan. But there had to be a trigger... There! It would be awkward, but able to fire. She jumped on top of the twelve foot high crate in front of her and aimed for a group of three hunters in Rawc's direction. When she pulled the trigger, the recoil nearly knocked her off of the crate. The noise was deafening, and the aim was deadly: all three of the hunters went down, one being reduced to a scorch mark on the floor, another blasted in half, and the last one merely knocked down. She fumbled to get her finger in the oddly placed trigger and just as she took aim, she watched in amazment as Sundered Angel lept out of nowhere and sliced the hunter in half.

Cicion's landing would have been a death sentance for anyone but a Pure Taeskor: right in the middle of a group of four. A quick roundhouse fixed that, and only one dodged. The others left an opening to escape through. A forwrad spinning flip and he was a good fifteen feet away, and right next to an orange metal staff that was roughly 6.5 feet in length, and judging by the color, it was the same material as Audemedon hull metal; an excelent quarter staff. The quartet of hunters all sprang for him at the same time, and the ensuing battle sounded like a fast-paced metal percussion demonstration. These soldiers were good, but not quite up to par with a Pure Taeskor. With a trick of agility, he managed to get one to stab another through the chest. The victim fell limp instantly. Cicion was just about to start another attack as he heard Jane yell his name. He didn't even bother to look, and jumped back as hard as he could. He was further propelled by the explosion of the lepton beam as it destroyed two hunters. The other was launched forward as Cicion turned the staff horizontal shortly before hitting the adjacent wall. The hunter was inpailed through the mid-section and stuck.

Rawc and Sundered Angel darted out from their hiding space and were nearly mowed down by the fire of a hunter behind a Salrilian fighter. They sprinted for another set of crates as another hunter emerged and prepared to fire. As it did, it was decapitated by... another hunter? "Jralla?" Sundered Angel asked quickly. The figure nodded, and all three fled firing of the last hunter.

All five of the party closed in on their final target, who by now had ran and ducked into a tangle of machinery in the middle of the room. As they stalked around it, they herd an intense scuffle as it tackled Cicion. On the ground, Cicion did the only thing he could before the hunter would slice him down. He produced one of his daggers and stabbed rapidly into its torso, and as it reeled back, into its neck. The hunter fell, and Cicon stood up to relax.

He relaxed too soon, as he was immediately launched by the chin thrown to the ground by a boot. The others watched frozen as Verad swung from a wire at his wrist and felled the Pure Taeskor. The wire detached, and Verad spun with extreme articulation and grace to a perfect landing on one foot. He was without his cloak or cape, and stood quite impressive. Even by Phylydion standards he was tall, and abnormally muscular. "That was pathetic!" He boomed. "Especially for a Taeskor."

Cicion reluctantly stood, but refused to speak, since his jaw was probably broken.

"Are you afraid, Cicion? Is it possible that you may be outmatched by your former subordinate?"

Jane raised the lepton beam and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. DAMN!!! She thought. It must have been charging. Like Sundered Angel and Rawc were now doing, she drew her pistol and fired.

Verad lunged before the shots could reach him, and was soon embroiled in a melee with Cicion. Within the first failed punches, Cicion knew that he may be out matched. He tried a quick sideswipe kick, but was caught and elbowed in the stomach. Verad then brought his other elbow down on Cicion's suspended leg, causing it to jump off. If it hadn't, his knee would have shattered. Cicion retaliated with a sharp thrust, only to be caught in Verad's coiled arm, and punched rapidly five times in the stomach. Cicion tried to come back with a spinning drop kick, but Verad ducked limbo-style and lauched another elbow at Cicion's chest, which was followed through with the fore-arm coming up and hitting his throat. Before he could react, Cicion was hit by a hard 1-2 combo, and finally an uppercut to the jaw, which broke it for sure. He was launched back a good twenty feet by that last blow.

Sundered Angel, Jane, and Rawc all rushed for Verad as they saw cicion fall. Guns blazing, they couldn't hit him once, and were systematically disarmed. But that was where Verad's success turned. The three were putting up a good fight, and though Cicion was down, he certainly wasn't out. He could, and had, taken more and succeeded. Soon he was in the fight. Verad was getting hit from four sides and blocking about half of the blows, some of which were really starting to hurt. getting a millisecond open, he crouched and leapt as high as he could, and backflipped a good fifty feet from his aggressors. There he took a stance, thrust his head back, and let out a straining yell. As his opponants approached, they watched in astonishment as his muscle mass seemed to double in an instant. Cicion continued his charge as Verad looked back down and surged forward with unreal speed and hammered his fist into Cicion's chest.

Cicion's sternum and ribs shattered like crystal at the impact, and he was launched far back into a crate. Jane was next with a shoulder to her midsection. Rawc was behind Verad at this time, and running on pure adreneline. He rushed Verad and managed to get him in a half-nelson. "This is for before you bloody bastard." Verad let out a brief chuckle as a large blade protruded from his elbows and lunged them down into Rawc's side. Rawc couldn't scream; the pain was too great.

Sundered Angel was close behind with the Hunter blade, but the blade was siezed and his cheek fell vivtim to a spinning back-fist. Jane came back to her feet and charged. Verad turned and held out the blade he grabbed from Sundered Angel. It went clear through Jane's torso.

" ** NOOOOO!!!!** " Sundered Angel screamed at the sight as he filled with rage. His eyes flared red, and the entire hangar seemed to shake. A strange orange hue outlined what could have bene a shockwave eminating from him and flying toward Verad. Verad was hit by it and sent soaring into the center equipment. The shockwave continued until it hit a hangar door and punctuered it. The hole proceede to tear the doors away with the vacuum of space having its way with the air inside.

Sundered Angel regained sanity as the rush of air tried to throw him outside and rushed to pick up the now unconscious Jane. Cicion struggled to get up against the pain that echoed through his chest. He caughed up blood as he exhaled, since his right lung had collapsed and began to fill with blood. He pulled himself up to find the pressure dropping, and Rawc a few feet away in an expanding red pool. His chest protested violently as he picked up the behemoth of a man that is Rawc, and he turned to Sundered Angel.

Sundered Angel was moving as fast as he could against the howl of depressurization. He needed to get a ship with medical facilities, and that wouldn't be a fighter or cruiser. Luckily, he spotted a Cantharan Gunship, fortunately near Cicion. With a few minutes, and a lot of pain, they were all aboard, including Jralla. Being the only one not mauled by Verad, she was ordered to fly. As they disembarked, they watched a discombobulated Verad stagger and stumble his way to the entrance of the hangar, and dissappear into the ship.

Inside the gunship was only one medical pod, and it was geared exclusively for Cnatharans. There were however, two stasis pods, and they would have to suffice. Jane and Rawc were laid (Rawc rather uncomfortabley) Into the pods and sealed in. There they could be suspended until they could get the appropriate medical attention.

Cicion sat down with a thump next to Sundered Angel and clutched his side. "That was some trick you pulled back there." Cicion whispered out trying not to move his jaw. "I thought we were finished before you tried it."

Sundered Angel solemnly looked up and stared at his battered friend for a while. "I think you need some sleep." He said gliding his hand in front of Cicion's face, after which Cicion was in a blissful slumber.

Verad lumbered back onto the bridge, his recently gained muscle mass freshly melted away. He turned to his helmsman. "Lock onto to the stolen gunship's transponder and set intercept course at-"

"Excuse me sir," The communications officer interrupted.

Verad grumbled a sigh. "What is it?"

"Calsev is attempting to contact us."

"We have something a little more important at hand right now."

"It's priority one."

Verad groaned again. "Fine patch him through."

The slightly dark-skinned Cantharan appeared on the screen. "Verad, you are ordered to immediately call off your pursuit and report directly to the Citidel."

"Calsev, we are both Auspexes, and may do as we chose, and you cannot bark orders at me. I'm in the middle of a great achievement for His Eminance, and your petty jelousy isn't about to get in my way now."

Calsec cracked the Cantharan equivlent of a sadistic grin. "No, Verad. I'm not ordering you. The order comes straight from His Eminance, Haruspex Sargatanus."

Verad paused, trying to discern if this was a trick.

"If you think I'm bluffing, than go ahead and violate a dirct order from his Eminance and see what happens."

The helmsman was looking at Verad again. "Course, sir?"

Verad paused, but reluctantly gave orders. "Salril Prime."

------------------
Verad
Ex-Taeskor and
Salrilian Auspex

(This message has been edited by Verad (edited 08-18-2000).)

"Oh, so now you're sending in a ship with enough crew members to definately overpower me! That Sal fighter has a thing or two to say about that!" said Mag. He'd had quite a bit of trouble with the pilot. He'd shot him in the foot, hoping to take the guy alive, but the guy kept coming. He almost got sliced in half with one of the blades before he blew the head apart. Now the Rouge needed some cleaning...

He came back to the task at hand. He ran down the corridor, jumping over the dead Salrillian, and got to the airlock. He opened it, and went inside the Salrillian fighter. He hacked his way into the computer, and made it let him control the ship. He quickly reconfigured the controls to a more usable setting, and departed his crippled ship. As he came near the gunship, a message appeared on his screen, in Salrillian. He had it translated, and read it:

"Mag, this is Sundered Angel. We stole this gunship to get away from the Absolution. They sent a wing of fighters after us before they left. See if you can hold them off. We can tractor the Rogue out of here."

Mag flew past the gunship and engaged the fighters. The pilots were no match for him. He was more used to missiles and an onas pulse gun in addition to a long range photokinetic beam cannon, but he quickly got used to it. He got the fighters, one by one, then turned around and headed back to the gunship and the rouge.

He still wondered how they were going to leave, seeing as the Rouge was the only ship with a hyperdrive. They'd have to find some way to get its engines working again...

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

Much to the surprise of everyone, the Absolution dosen't follow through with more fighters. Instead, it does quite the opposite: It turns and jumps out of the system. Mag and Sundered Angel breathe a simultanious sigh of relief.

The radio crackles over Mag's captured fighter. "Well, this thing has an FTL drive, but it's purely tactical. It wouldn't get us much past the fringe of the system. Any ideas?"

"Well, the Rouge has a hyperdrive, but it's probably toast since the reactor coils took a direct hit from a trans-space bolt. The drive itself is intact, so if we could get power to the drive we might be back on track."

Sunderd Angel paused. "Got a spacesuit?"

"I never leave home without one."

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

The Absolution parked itself in rotosynchronis orbit above the etched pentagram that was becoming the new capital of the Divine Galactic Axis. From above it looked like a large, black, monolithic crystal in the center of a star with a spire at each point. Verad's shuttle descended right for the middle of it.

Once inside, Verad tried in vain to hide his humiliation. What made it worse was that Calsev was now rounding a corner directly ahead of him, with a rather sinister look.Verad figuerd it would be best to get the argument over, but was cut off while drawing his breath.

"Before you spout out yor meaningless rebuttle," Calsev said sardonically. "You should know that His Eminance has commanded a meeting with you. In private."

Though he showed no sign of it, an ominous chill was working its was down Verad's spine. He continued his way down the hall through numerous miles and checkpoints until reaching the large and ornamented doors to the Haruspex's chamber.

The doors opened slow and silent to reveal a huge and mostly empty chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a large, hollow cube atop a set of terraced steps. The cube stood almost 150 feet high, with a 30 foot square opening at the top terrace. Protruding from the square opening was a thin opening the extended through the middle of the cube clear to the bottom of the opposite side. Inside it was somewhat more well-lit, revealing even more steps which were shadowed at the top.

Verad stepped in, somewhat timid, until the base of the steps inside the cube. The top of the stairs was dark; the only light within the shadows was a green hue outlining a figure in a chair which motioned for Verad to come closer. Verad slowly proceeded up the steps. "Your Eminance," he said with a hint of nervousness. "I cannot express what a joy it is to see you active again." He knew that came out sounding stupid.

Sargatanus didn't respond. He simply got up and began to slowly descend the steps. Once in the light, he looked somewhat different. Slightly taller, paler, more sculpted, and in some subtle, undeterminable way, less human.

"We have made great progress in your absence, which I'm sure the Oracular Net has informed you about."

Sargatanus said nothing, simply nodded slowly and continued down the steps.

"I apologize for my absence during your awakening, but I was trying turn the Demon to our favor."

Sargatanus remained silent, and continued down the steps. He was now fairly close to Verad.

"It would have been a success, but there were a few technicalities with the Demon that we were unprepared for. I didn't think-" Verad sentence was cut off by the sharp clang of Sargatanus' backhand slamming into his jaw. Verad's neck tore violently and he was launched clear to the bottom of the steps. When he landed, he couldn't breath, but his repair mechanism remedied that quick. He was still coughing up the thick, almost black fluid that was his blood though.

Verad glanced back to where Sargatanus was standing, only to find that he had seemingly disappeared.

"Exactly." Crackled a voice suddenly behind him. "You didn't think." Verad felt as though he were being lifted, though no hands were on him. "What's more, you dissobeyed a direct order, and almost lost a valuable ship in the process."

"Forgive me. After meeting the Demon, I was sure that he was no threat."

"So let me get this straight." Sargatanus' tone had become much more vindictive. "I have known Sundered Angel for well over two years, and observed his actions carefully during that time." He began to pace around the suspended Verad. "You meet him briefly, jump to conclusions, and assume that you know more about him than me. Are you saying I'm wrong? Are you defying the Oracular Net?"

"No! I assure you I-"

"Really?" Sargatanus was now off the ground, face-to-face with Verad. "Because that's what your actions imply."

"Forgive me! Have mercy! It won't happen again!" Verad soon found himself on the ground by the doors.

"See to it that it dosen't."

"Of course, your eminance."

"And begone from my sight."

With that, Verad proceeded quickly out of the doors, to tend his wounded pride.

"All right, let's see if this works..." said Mag. The Rouge, the gunship, and the fighter were now fused together and looked incredibly rediculous. The gunship didn't have enough power for the hyperdrive, so they'd also attatched the fighter.

He punched in a course for Sol, and told the computer to make the jump. "Hold on up there!" he yelled back to the airlock. He was pressed back into his seat as the ship accelerated to faster than light and hopped into hyperspace. When they were in hyperspace, he unfastened his seat belt and went back to the airlock. He opened it, and went into the gunship.

"Well, we're in hyperspace. With the ships welded together so strongly, they should be able to withstand the forces of hyperspace until we get to Sol. Until then, does anybody that's concious want to play a game or something? I've got a pretty good one I picked up on Earth before the Rouge left. It's called "EV3." It's two dimensional, but it's still fun..."

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

The Phylydia approached Dominus, the capitol world of the Phylydion Imperium. There were several fleets in orbit, as well as a constant stream of cargo ships. Cicion was on the bridge, fully healed, looking out the viewport at the metal-surfaced planet. "Prepare the Ice Blade. Hold in orbit, Lieutenant."
"Sir!" Minutes later, Cicion's personal fighter sped from the main docking bay of the giant war carrier. Cicion immediately activated his ship's ID transponder. The com crackled.
"This is space traffic control. Ice Blade, you are clear to enter the atmosphere. What section of shield should we drop for you to pass through?"
"Section Prime One, control."
"Copy, My Lord Taeskor." Cicion smiled. He had no use for formal titles, but on the Capitol World they were required at times. A section of the almost invisible planetary shield was lowered and the blue fighter sped through. The shield raised instantly behind him. He flew towards one of the largest buildings on the planet, a large sphere on top of which was the symbol of the Imperium: An octagon, with Dominus inside of it. He flew into its main docking bay, where three Taeskor Commandos greeted him to lead him to the High Octicon's Governing Chamber.
"Greetings, My Lord Taeskor. You have arrived at precisely the scheduled time. Follow me." The three troopers led him to the throne room, as it was sometimes called. At the outer door were four Taeskor Commandos. Cicion passed a retinal scan, palm and fingerprint ID, voice ID, and the long code which he tapped out on a keypad. This gave him access to the inner door, where four Pure Taeskors were stationed, and passed several DNA tests, after which he went through a scanner and gave his dagger to one of the guards for safe keeping. Even if he had had his knife, though, he wouldn't have been able to harm any of the Octicates. There was a Pure Taeskor within ten feet of every Octicate throughout their Octicateship. Cicion would have been skewered eight times before he could even get his knife into throwing position. Finally, he went into the room itself. It was a brightly lit room, with eight thrones in a semi-circle on one end. Cicion went down on one knee and drew his forefinger up his right cheek, around his center eye and down his left cheek, the full formal Phylydion salute, although most Phylydions in the military simply put their finger near their center eye. At every Octicate's side was a Pure Taeskor bodyguard. The Supreme Octicate addressed Cicion: "Rise and report on Verad, My Lord Taeskor."
"As you command, your Supremity. As I feared, Verad was part of the rebel group that almost took over the Nijayias Empire, and is now working for Sargatanus, as he has been for some time. He was in command of the Absolution when Jralla and I infiltrated it. We were planning to rescue Sundered Angel, but he took care of that himself. However, he and his companions did need us to escape from the ship. We were almost there when Verad cut us off. He has incredible fighting skill. At first, we fought each other blow for blow, but then, somehow, he gave himself much more muscle than he had before. He had been much larger than an average Phylydion BEFORE his change. After it, he, if I may speak informally, beat the stuffing out of me. We all took turns fighting him, and he beat all of us. It took me, Angel, Jane, Rawc, and Jralla to even provide a match for him! After that, both Jane and Rawc were stabbed, and Angel flew into some sort of berserk frenzy, knocking Verad into space itself, and when we left he still wasn't dead. Jane and Rawc were put into stasis because of their injuries, I had a collapsed lung, several broken ribs and a broken jaw, and Angel was bruised all over and exhausted, as anyone would be, I suppose, if they expended as much energy as he did when he knocked Verad into space. Only Jralla was in good enough condition to fly us home." The Octicaes sat back, pondering this. Then the Supreme Octicate spoke up again.
"This Verad is too great a threat to us to be unobserved for any period of time. Your ongoing assignment, Taeskor, is to keep track of him, and this assignment will not end until we saw it is. You have your orders, Cicion. Good luck."
"As you command, your Supremity." Cicion walked out of the throne room and proceeded to his fighter.
Back aboard the carrier, Cicion was in the training room, putting himself through more and more demanding excercises and practice. He strained himself to the breaking point and far beyond. He was making himself stronger, faster, and more agile than ever. He would continue to train for hours and would train again the next day and the next for a longer time and at a greater difficulty level. "Verad has defeated me outright once," he breathed as he flipped backwards and threw his knife across the room into a target dummy. "He will NOT do it again."
The carrier sped through space with its escorts towards Cicion's bar.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

The small fleet spent days in the mottled boils of hyperspace, screaming at a fantastic forty lightyears every hour. They sped towards the Bar station at an astonishing speed, faster than any civilian vessel could match, leaving a subspace wake for lightyears around.

Little did they know that there was a single cloaked fighter riding the wake, following the carrier....

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Admiral za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

"35,000 credits?!? Where am I gonna get THAT kind of money?!?"

"That's YOUR problem. I'm only concenred with MY problems."

"Look, I don't have 35,000 credits. I only have around 12,000. I don't see why it costs so much just to do some un-welding."

"You used some strange kind of welding device. Took us three days just to figure out what would work to loosen it! It happened to be an antimatter drill, which costs 30,000 bucks per use to buy new antimatter cartridges. Plus and extra 5,000, to repair the hull damage and make up for all the time this took us. Now if you'll just come with m-"

"And what happened to the gunship and fighter?!? They're also mine."

"Let's just say some of my friends on the black market are having a very good time with them, and my credit account got a bit bigger."

"Well, how much did you get off them?!?"

"I ain't tellin'. That's MY business. If I need to remind you, YOUR business is gettin' me that 35,000, or THIS," the mechanic jerks his thumb behind him at the Rouge. "finds itself in the hands of my black market friends. Got me?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got ya. Give me a month, and I'll see what I can do."

"You have two weeks..."

The next day, Mag was woken up by a knock on his hotel door. He answered it. It was a Human.

"Could you come with me, sir?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm with the UNS. We're interested in your little escapade into Salrillian space."

"Sure. Let's go."

The guy waved down a taxi, being flown by an Ishiman, and asked that they be taken to the capitol building. A few minutes later, they arrived, and Mag and the man who came to get him went in.

"I hear you stopped a squadron of Salrillian fighters from destroying that gunship."

"Yeah."

"And it was your ship, with the other two welded on, that got everybody back?"

"That's true also."

"Then the United Nations of Sol owes you. Here's your reward: 50,000 credits."

Mag's eyes widened. "50,000?!? Thank you! Now I can get that POS ship fixed up and put some systems on it! Alright!" He almost forgot to take the cred stick.

He got a taxi to take him down to the shipyard, and he headed over to the Rouge. He found the mechanic, and gave him the 35,000. He then had the Rouge refitted with an Assault Transport's shield device (a little extra can't hurt), a protopulse cannon, a couple lepton beam cannons, and five concussion missiles. Then he got into the cockpit and decided to give the Salrillians a little idea of how he felt towards them...

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

He was violently jerked back into his seat as the ship took off. "Whoa, almost forgot how this thing flied without those damn weldings and a few upgrades."

The ship rocketed out of the spaceport like a bullet from a blaster, nearly colliding with a freighter at the time. As he left the flight lanes and started heading for deep space, a pair of salrilians fighters, which had been hiding on the other side of the freighter, popped up, their ion drives glowing.

----

"You got a lock on master one at mark ninety?" Asked one of the fighter pilots, who was obviously a human.

"I do have a lock on master one, Thomas." The technicality and enunciation of the voice of the second pilot pointed out his distinctly nasal Salrilian voice.

"Ya think he's after us, Ralitus?"

"He is after the Salrilian government, not a group of rouges. But because he tends to dispise anything generally Salrilian, it would be logical he would shoot at us if he detected our fighters."

"Master one appears to be an assault transport, judging by it's shield harmonics."

"You humans are always so eager to rush. What if it is a carrier with an assault transport array?"

"Yeh right, Ralitus. Assault transports are easy. This guy's ripe for the slaughtering. Locking rockets on master one...."

"Locking rockets on master one."

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

The two fighters sped towards the lone gunship, disengaging their cloaks at five kilometers.

"Ok, Ralitus, you flank him left, I flank him right. Open up to him at two kilometers."

"By your will. Four kilometers, three kilometers, two kilometers: engaging weapons."

Four rockets shot from the two fighters, acquiring their targets within seconds of launch.

"One kilometer: engaging photonic cannons."

The first fighter swerved to the right as the rockets slammed into the side of the gunship and barrage of beams lanced out from the second.

"Sensors indicate the assault transport should have been disabled by now. What do you figure, Ralitus? Ralitus?!" Where Ralitus' fighter had been, debris now was, drifting aimlessly through space.

"OH shĄt! That's a gunship, not an assault transport." was all Thomas managed to get off before a Lepton blast ripped his fighter apart.

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

Sundered Angel, once he has overseen that Jane, Rawc, Jralla, and Cicion are healed, dissapears again, along with Jane.

The two fly in twin Angel Fighters to a planet on the periphery of Elejeetan space. Landing on the desolate, lifeless world, Sundered Angel walks towards a cavern mouth.

"You can take off your helmet Jane. The atmosphere is breathable." He moves into the cavern, walking down a tunnel in the rear of it.

"Will you answer my questions now?" asks Jane.

"Yes. Sargatanus has eyes everywhere, but not here."

"Good. What are you? Sargatanus and Verad are sure you're a demon. And Sundered Angel- what kind of a name is that? Surely you have a real name?"

Sundered Angel gives a thin smile. "Do not worry yourself too much. It is a mixture of trickery and geniune talent. I encourage the superstitions to give me an edge against his forces."

"That doesn't explain that- attack you launched at Verad. He was invincible, and you crippled him in one stroke."

SA smiles. "I can see there's no fooling you. Very well. I will tell my tale." He walks a little while down the twisting, rocky tunnel, and then speaks.

"Long, long ago, a Duploi Mission landed on Earth. There were not understood by the peoples at the time, who called them the "Dapel". This later became corrupted to Angel. One of the Duploi fell in love with a human. I was the child of their union." He pauses, and then goes on.

"I soon realised that I had powers, powers beyond both humans and Duploi. It seems that Duploi DNA and Human DNA mesh together perfectly, to form something greater than the sum of its parts. At first I only progressed along Telepathy and Telekinesis. But once I had mastered my own body, I had centuries of time on my hands. In that time I have mastered many arts- but most notably Pyrokinesis."

"Fire?"

"That's the one. You saw what hit Verad- that was a wall of air heated to a thousand degrees. I was rather surprised he survived. But it does not matter. I have other plans for Verad."

"Like what?"

"Not now Jane. We are here." And with this, the two reach the end of the twisting passage. Sundered Angel points, and Jane sees a glittering, circular metal disk about as large as her hand. Sundered Angel points to it.

"That, Jane, is a Verasi artifact, of the same origin as the one Sargatanus has implanted in himself in the mistaken belief that that is its true purpose. This one I gift to you, to defend yourself against him when the need arises. It is a shield. Since you are not capable of wielding it in the Verasi fashion, I suggest you place it against your chest and let it merge with you. Note that it will not allow you to attack Verad or Sargatanus- but it will allow you to defend yourself."

Jane begins to speak, but Sundered Angel cuts her off with a wave of his hand.

"I am leaving now. I suggest you stay away for a little while- the galaxy is going to go to hell shortly. Goodbye Jane."

He raises her hand, kisses it, and is gone.

------------------
Sundered Angel ,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

The carrier E.N.S. Scythe drifted silently through the blackness of space, orbiting a large asteroid of the same name. Inside the Scythe's Admiral's quarters, a Salrilian wearing admiral stripes stirred. Admiral Slug.

"...and we lost two proto-storm fighters while on patrol of the Elysium-Audemedon slipstream..." the screen on the wall displayed the captain of the Scythe speaking, a display next to the circular screen showed the transmission was eminating from the sensor dome. "...they tried to loot what appeared to be an assault transport we were unable to obtain any scans of the ship, but we do know it was on a course for the Romsil system."

Slug took a few moments of consiideration and said "Order a rendevous with the gunships E.N.S. Roswell and the E.X. Subjugator. After they have joined, order the fleet to set a course for Romsil VII under cloak, full warp."

"The whole fleet, sir?"

"If the Salrilian goverment has developed a new class of ship, it would not be foolish enough to to bring it into it's own territory unprotected. Safety in numbers, Captain."

------

As the cloaked fleet warped into the orbital plane of Romsil VII, a pair of scout light cruisers left the formation to intercept Mag's vessel.

"Three hundred kilometers..... we're within scanning range." A Gaitori science officer punched in the frequency on his panel.

"Well?" Said his human copilot

"This is most unusual. It's an Ishiman D-47 class Heavy Cruiser, older model but apparently souped up."

"The Admiral said it was an assault transport, but judging by those Lepton arrays......" The human trailed off.

"Initial scans showed it to be equipped with an assault transport shield harmonizer. As you humans would say, ah...... 'a wolf in sheep's skin'"

"What would the Ishimans be doing sending a single warship into Salrilian Space?"

"The transponder is on a civilian frequency. Independantly owned. Registered to a Mag Steelglass."

"Great. Just great. We launch halfway accross the galaxy, only to find a heavy cruiser about to attack some Salrilians."

"Since the owner obviously is armed to the teeth and independent, I reccomend we open communications."

"Yeh, wait 'till the Admiral hears about this. Disengage the stealth and open a channel to the Cruiser..... This is Lieutenent Barrus of the Elasi Combine cruiser E.N.S. 519. What are your intentions in this system?" Barrus knew damn well what Mag's intentions were, but protocol required him to do this every damn time....

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

Just go with the flow for now. Those answers will come in time, and the plot is going to come together nicely when they are.

Mag's familiar lopsided face appeared on the viewscreen in Admiral Slug's quarters. "What do you want, salrilian?"

"While I am salrilian, I do not work for their government but rather against it. And seeing as you and I both have the same enemy, I invite you to join the Elasi Combine."

"Who the hell are the Elasi Combine?"

"A loose multiracial confederation of pirates, rogues, and mercenary captains such as yourself. While our fleet comsists of mostly Gaitori and Cantharan wessels, an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser would always be welcome."

"I don't want anything to do with you, pirate."

Slug let out a slight chuckle as he punched a button on his arm rest "Fleet command: Disengage your stealth fields." he spoke softly into it.

Mag's mouth dropped slightly open as the large battlegroup decloaked before his eyes. "Your ships don't scare me. Where'd you get the fleet? Been raiding the Salvage dumps again sluggy?"

"I called in some favors, made a few concessions, Mag. You would be surprised to know how many Salrilian special interest groups in this sector want you dead."

"Your threats don't scare me."

"That wasn't a threat. Join us, or die."

Mag, hopelessly outnumbered by the small fleet of ancient vessels, responded "Gimme a moment to think..."

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

Mag switched off the comm, and looked for something that might help.

He'd had the newest model of concussion missiles put on, and he saw an option called "Unload All." He decided to try it.

He targeted a pair of Gaitori Gunships, and hit the button. All fifteen of his concussion missiles launched and streaked off towards them. The surprised captains launched their homing pulses at the incoming missiles, but there were too many. The gunships exploded and became a piece of metal here, a dead Gaitori there...

Right after he launched the missiles, he'd accelerated to maximum speed and headed straight for the fleet. He did it quickly enough so that nobody managed to react. He hit Slug's ship with a quick burst of fire before he passed it, and managed to take out a Cantharan Schooner before the pilots of the battlegroup reacted. Slug's vessel wasn't damaged much, but the bridge crew was very startled.

Mag rocketed through the fleet, quickly got a Gaitori Cruiser, and hit the superlight boosters. He got a good distance between himself and the fleet, and jumped into hyperspace, heading deeper into Salrillian space...

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

"Set a course to follow that Heavy Cruiser." Slug commanded.

"We can't, sir, he took out our hyperdrives and disabled half the fleet." An obish cadet said.

"Right. Admiral to E.N.S. Virulator, I'm transferring control to your vessel. Beam me aboard your bridge."

As Slug dematerialized, a Gaitori said "I didn't even know we had that kind of technology!"

-----

Minutes later a single Gaitori Frigate, escorted by fourteen schooners and a Salrilian cruiser, darts out the system in hot pursuit.

"With all due respect, Admiral, whay are we chasing after a single rogue? He only wants to kill some Salrilians."

"You're right, captain." Slug said in a disappointed voice. "Set a course for the Hatares Nebula at maximun fold."

"What about the rest of the fleet, sir?"

"They're already dead."

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth

Jane looks a but puzzeled. There were so many questions unanswered. She stuck in the back of her mind for later. The answers would come in time.

Jane reached for the plate. Immediately, a luminating field of energy spun around her hand. It tingled her senses, and she snapped her hand back in caution. Jane rapped the cuff of her jacket around her hand and reached for the plate once more. It barely did anything.
-Remarkable- Jane thought as she looked at it closely. Small inscriptions were etched throughout the metal plate. But something more about it caught her eye... the text was actually glowing a whitish blue.
She thought about what Angel had said. -if Sundered Angel was a half breed, like myself... I should be able to tap into higher power like he did... in which case-
With no time to lose, Jane slipped the rock inside her shirt to let it meld with her body. Energy radiated again from the plate as she brought it to her skin. The cavern lit up for several minutes as the plate begain to sink in, nearly dissapearing from sight.

-----

Meanwhile, Rawc woke up in a another part of the galaxy to Jralla screening his face.

"Eghsh!" He spun off of the bed grabbing the alien by the shoulder and pinning her on the ground with his large forearm. After landing with a thud on the ground, Rawc suddenly realized the excrutiating pain in his body was going through. He frowned in pain, "What're ya doing?"
Jralla gasped for air. "Mendi-...gasp... mending your woun-... gasp... wounds." She struggled to pull his arm from he neck, but to no avail. Rawc, looked at her questioningly, and quickly back at what he was doing.
"Ah! Pardon me. Need any help?"
As he freed her, she staggered up on her feet.
"No! That's ok. I think we'll both do fine."
She checked herself carefully with her fingers, when Rawc noticed some pretty red pressure marks on her neck.
"Are you sure I can't-"
Jralla cut him off "You want to stop by the bar and pick up a drink?"
"What about-" he started in surprise.
She cut him off again in expectation of what he was about to ask "Jane left with Sundered Angel, and Cicion left to for the High Counsel. They won't be back for at least another two hours."

------------------
No Guts, No Glory.

"She had nice legs. Well of course she had nice legs! She had nice Everything! "
Titan AE - Cale Tucker

"Commander?" an elejeetian captain tried the comm system. "E.N.S. Slipstream here. We've just returned from our patrol and have found no sign of the rest of the fleet. Over."

The Cantharan commander turned. "This is Tay Rom here. Proceed to docking port eleven, and transmit your scans directly to the Admiral."

"Aye sir."

-----

Slug strolled up and down in fron of the Commander, a holoscan projection in front of him. "This is not good, Commander. Half the fleet's missing, and we've got ourselves a very dangerous enemy."

Tay Rom motioned to the projection. "All we found were Nebulae, a few Salrilian patrols, asteroids and more Nebulae. No sign of the fleet."

"Damn. When's our next position check?"

"Twenty minutes."

"That Soon?"

"Ever since Mag disappeared into Salrilian space, they've been increasing the frequency of their patrols like mad. If we want to avoid the closing one, I suggest we set a course for the... Orion Nebula."

"Noone's ever been in the Orion Nebula before." Slug said with a startled expression.

"That's why they won't bother patrolling there. There are some strange anomolies in there. Not even the Salrilian prophets want to probe it."

"Set a course."

-----

The Ragtag fleet emerged from warp fold directly into the thick red clouds. "Sir, we've got a reading on our sensors."

"More plasma discharge?" Questioned Tay Rom

"No.... a large metalic object eleven hundred kilometers to port. Judging by the frequency the material resonates, I'd say it's pretty smashed up."

"Maintain your course."

"With all due respect Sir, shouldn't you tell the Admiral?"

"We've been chasing sensor ghosts in this damned nebula for two weeks. And one single ship is none of our con-"

"Commander?" Slug had somehow slithered onto the bridge without anyone noticing.

"Er," Tay Rom said, rather startled, "we were... just about to investigate an object we had detected in the nebula."

"Launch a probe."

"Aye sir."

The cloaked probe darted to port, halting at two-hundred kilometers proximity.

"Sir...." The science officer started, "It's definately a vessel. Obish timeship... ancient imperial design!" He said in bewilderment.

"Set a course to intercept. Minimum thrusters."

"Aren't we oing to look for the fleet?"

"No, Tay Rom, I beleive we have found something far more interesting here..."

------------------
I do not suffer from insanity
I enjoy every minute of it

-Cantharan Commodore za'Grom
After the capture of Earth