She heard the com system in the fighter chime for her attention as she finished dressing herself. With a distracted eye, she looked up and noted that the message was from within the spaceport. Who would be calling her from there, she wondered. Could it be Kosloski letting her know where he was? She reached for the button to activate the com unit, and felt her torso muscles go into spasms. Fatigue was starting to really effect how her body was reacting to her commands. If she didn’t get some sleep soon, she admonished herself, then she was going to find herself collapsing, and most likely, at the worst possible time too! “Captain Almir,” Kosloski said. “You there?” “Yes,” she said with a tired groan. “I’m outside your fighter,” he said. “Can you come out?” “I’ll be right there,” she said as she hit the canopy controls. Grabbing her sword, she hit the button for it to seal after she stepped out, and for the security system to activate in three minutes. When she stepped off the ladder on the ground, Kate found herself nearly falling over. She had no idea how much farther she could go, but it wasn’t going to be much longer. The best thing she could do was to send Kosloski away to another world while she got lost herself. And if someone jumped me right now, she thought with a moan. I couldn’t do anything about it if I wanted to! She reached out to the fighter and used it to steady herself until she felt her balance return. It was time to send Kosloski on his way, she thought, and let him find his own place to hide. Both of them were wanted now, and they were going to have to live the life of a criminal for the rest of their lives, and that broke her heart. Wiping away a single tear with her gloved hand, she looked him in the eyes. If I knew that things were going to be like this, she thought bitterly. Then I would have stayed on Necko! “I was worried about you, Captain,” Kosloski said as his thumb ran over the keypad of his pocket computer. “Why was that?” she asked, feeling a twinge of suspicion grow in her stomach. The man certainly wasn’t acting like the same man she knew before the gunfight! “Well, because,” he said as he pressed a button. “I would have been out my retirement money?” “What are you talking about-“ Kate said as she went to take a step towards him, and all hell broke loose. Electrical currents ran up her arms and legs, giving her the sensations of thousands of spiders crawling across her skin. A burning pain raced up her spine as her limbs ceased to work and she toppled forwards. Without being able to use her hands, she slammed face first into the concrete, her nose bloodied by the impact. A frightening thought crossed her mind as she realized with had happened. The bastard! She thought. He has the shut down codes! “I’m really sorry I had to do that, Captain,” he said as he rolled her onto her back. With a gentle touch, he used a tissue to wipe the blood coming from her nose. “But I needed you compliant if I was going to get my money.” “You bastard,” she spat. “You work for Johansson, don’t you?” “Actually no,” he said. “I had a very generous offer financially for your return to someone.” “Who would that be?” Kate asked as she tried to make her body move, but the bionic parts of her wouldn’t respond. “That would be me, Katie,” The voice that came around her fighter was so full of genteel malice that it moved like slime. Coating the wheels of her fighter, it enveloped her in its grasp, taking her breath away, as the shock struck her full on. It couldn’t possibly be him, she protested, he’s dead! Blinking her eyes rapidly, she hoped that she would find it was just a nightmare and she was going to wake up. “It can’t be…” she whispered, her voice tiny and barely audible. “You’re dead!” “Oh but it is me,” A man stepped around from behind her fighter, his blue uniform glittering with real gold inlay. Several gold necklaces hung around his neck, and every finger was covered in a ring with a priceless gem. Moving with him, where six men in similar uniforms, sans the gold, and two more with antigravity gurney. Fereni knelt beside her, and he ran a hand softly, almost like a lover, down Kate’s cheek. Running it up her other cheek, and over her chin, he reached down towards her chest. He watched Kate growl as her eyes grew harder, and he chuckled in response. There was nothing she could do about it, he mused, and she knew it too. “Get your dirty hands off me,” Kate snarled, the threat empty in her current condition. “Now, now, Katie,” Ferini said as he wiped a damp bang from her face. “Is that the way you speak to your lover?” It took every bit of her discipline to keep from throwing up at that comment. Yeah he had been her lover, she thought, rage burning in her head. The man had repeatedly raped her during her time on Necko, and he claimed he “loved” her the entire time. It sure as hell was one funny way to show someone you love them, she snorted. “**** you,” she said. “There will be time for that later,” “How are you alive?” she asked, the idea still not registering to her brain. He had been closer to the grenade explosion then she had been, and it had nearly killed her. In fact, she thought with a frown, it had killed her depending on your perspective. “Every Games Master is cloned upon his or her’s death,” he said with the same half smile he always had. “So we live perpetually.” Kate felt herself stunned into silence at that admission. So, she told herself, they cloned the bastard? How many lives had he lived then with the technology they had? Two? Three? Or was he even older then that, she wondered. With the cloning process, they were no way to know. “Load her up,” he said to the men with the gurney. “We’re leaving.” “Don’t trust him,” she said in a cold tone towards Kosloski. “This man can’t be trusted.” “Speaking of trust,” Kosloski said. “Where’s my money?” Ferini looked at him with the same half-smile he gave everyone. He looked at one of his guards, ever cultured to the end, and nodded at him. The man, in a move that was so quick it took Kate’s breath away, produced a silenced pistol. He pumped the trigger once and a small circle appeared on Kosloski’s forehead as his body toppled over backwards onto the concrete. With a slight chuckle, the Games Master picked up Kosloski’s fallen pocket computer. Everything had gone exactly as he had planned, he told himself, and he hadn’t had to give up any of his money to boot! Now, he had Almir back, and she wasn’t going anywhere as long as he had the shutdown codes to her bionics, and the repeaters all over the complex. She was at his mercy, and she would learn that whatever he wanted she would do! “You’re a bastard, Ferini,” Kate said as the man started to push her towards his ship, which had been hidden from her sight. “You’ll learn to love me yet, Katie,” he said. “Because now I will have all the time I need to win your over.” Kate barely kept herself from screaming.
The sound of someone entering her cell awoke Jennifer for a tortured sleep. Nightmares from the escape from Necko she and Kate had done flashed through her head. The image of Kate’s body flying through the air, limply, after the blast had knocked her over replayed time and time again. Time to go from one form of torture to another form, she told herself as she opened her eyes. Two agents moved towards her, another man and woman, different from the one’s the day before. With rough hands, they pulled her from the bunk, causing her to cry out in pain as she came to her feet. They certainly didn’t know how to do things gently around there, she mused as she wavered on her feet. “Get moving,” the woman said. Jennifer took a step forwards, and the room started to spin in her. Reaching out to grab the entrance to her cell, she leaned her head down until the spell had passed. The beating the interrogator had put her through, she reflected, had definitely done a number on her! I just hope I can make it through this one, she thought as she felt the agent’s hands in her back. “I thought I said move it,” the woman said again, obviously the superior. “All right, all right,” Jennifer muttered as she staggered forwards. “Don’t get your panties in a knot.” Each step forwards felt like an eternity to her as she made her way down the corridors. There wasn’t a place on her body that didn’t hurt from the previous beating and she heading for more torture. At least she knew from that strange vision she had, that Kate was still alive and as long as she was alive, there was hope! Passing along the same route they had earlier, Jennifer took the time to examine everything. Intelligence had painted the corridors black instead of navy gray, she noted as she walked. The red lighting that was spaced evenly in the halls made the black uniformed agents seem like they were escaped demons from the bowels of hell. Adding to the satanic feel of the building was the evil that they were perpetrating for Carver and his cadres. Throw in the torture, Jennifer thought. And you’ve got a perfect recipe for horror. As they walked, she counted the number of people that passed her. While not as numerous as she would have thought for a facility like this, there were more then on the Roanoke. Some of the passersby were agents like the two guarding her; others she could tell were medical due to the Red Cross on their uniform collars. Still others were techs of various fields and trades, which told her they had a bustling base surrounding her. I’d say they have easily two to three times the number of people we had on the Roanoke, she thought as the computer on her brain crunched all the facts together for her. Rounding a corner, they stopped before a door, and she found herself taking a deep breath. So, they were back at the site of the previous beating, with another soon to commence. However, as long as Kate was alive, she could keep herself from breaking. No matter what the man did, as long as she had her hope, then she knew she would be able to keep from breaking. The door slid aside and the agents behind her gave her a shove in the back. With a sigh, she took the hint and stepped forward into the interrogation room. After the agents entered, the door slid shut behind them, leaving them sealed in the nearly dark room. In the center of the room was a tank of water with a metal board at one end. On the board were straps to tie down a person’s arms and legs to it. Looking at it closely, she could see where the board could pivot and be used to drop the person’s head into the water. With a silent groan, she shut her eyes to what was before her. Never thought I’d see one of these myself, she told herself with a slight shudder. Water boarding prisoners, while an ancient torture, had continued right into the twenty-fourth century in some cases. Fighting an urge to shake her head, Jennifer looked at the water boarding apparatus and groaned. They were certainly bringing out the artillery, she mused, in the attempt to make her speak. Suddenly, she realized the holding out for Kate was going to take a lot more effort then she had already guessed it would take. The trick to remember, she told herself. Is the fact that they don’t want to kill me-yet. They need to the information I know, so they won’t want to kill me until they get it. “So nice of you to join us, Lieutenant,” her interrogator said. “You know,” she said, the bravado both act and real. “How could I refuse to come when you made the invitation so hard to refuse?” To her surprise, he started to laugh at her answer. However, it wasn’t one of humor, but one of both contempt and disregard for human feelings. So, she mused, this was the true side of her interrogator: a sociopath who had been given power by a corrupt government leadership. Wasn’t that how they all started, as a sociopath who then get power? “So you have your spunk back,” he said. “I like that. Too bad you won’t feel spunky for long.” “Don’t underestimate me,” “Oh I don’t,” he admitted. “Do you know what this is?” She kept her mouth shut as she watched him walk up to the machinery. He ran his hands over it like one would a lover, his fingers caressing it. That was just plain sick, she told herself, as she watched him. It just proved the point to her that the man was psychologically unstable. “Yes, I know what it is,” she said. “It’s a device for water boarding prisoners.”
Biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain, Kate climbed over the machinery. With a grunt she dropped down onto her feet and then slid down to the decking. This was perfect, she told herself, Benton couldn’t see her, and it would allow for her body to heal! “If you had listened to me,” Brown said with a sigh. “You wouldn’t be in this spot.” “Shut up,” Kate hissed. “What did you expect me to do, get blown up with a grenade? Done that once already, don’t care to do it again!” “Maybe if you had thought out a better plan…” “You know,” Kate groaned. “For someone who is three hundred plus years old, you certainly are annoying!” “I’m trying to teach you something!” Brown said. “Maybe you should let me fight the battles,” Kate said with a sardonic chuckle. “And you worry about teaching.” “I think I’m going to have to worry about both if you’re to survive, I’m afraid,” Brown said. “I’ve lived for twenty-five years,” Kate said. “Without your help. Why would I need to change now?” “Because things were never this hard on you before,” Stunned into silence by the admission, she just felt an eyebrow rise in contemplation. The other woman had a point, she told herself, because nothing had been this rough until now! As bad as things were on Necko, they never quite reached the level of this kind of desperate fight. Shaking her head, she had to give the other woman credit for stating the obvious at least. Let’s see what Benton is up to, she though as she activated the stolen TAC system again. “Hello, Graham,” she whispered into the throat mike. “Bitch,” Benton’s response was instantaneous. “Now, now, Graham,” she said in a patronizing tone. “That’s not the way to great an old friend now, is it?” “You’re not my friend,” he countered. “You’re just a lousy slave.” “Who’s managed to kill just about all of your hand-picked team,” Kate said with a soft chuckle, making sure not to make her ribs hurt. “So I must be doing something right.” “You’re not getting off this refinery alive,” “Now, Graham,” she said. “Why don’t we just cut the bull**** out and talk to each other straight, okay?” The silence on the other end was deafening. “You want me dead,” she said simply. “And I want you dead, so here’s the deal: how about we have ourselves a little bit of a game.” “What kind of game?” “A most dangerous game,” Kate said. “Have you ever read ancient literature, Graham?” “Get to the point, Almir,” “There was a short story by Richard Connell,” She said. “And it was titled ‘A Most Dangerous Game’ in which a hunter is hunted by another man. I propose the same deal here. Since we both want the other dead, lets get down to business. You kill me, you win, I kill you, and I win. Simple, to the point, and deals with what we both want. You up for a rematch?” “If it allows me to kill you, yes,” “Then I tell you what, sweetie,” Kate said in a spiteful tone. “Then I suggest you start hunting, because I’m after you. Enjoy what’s left of your life, Benton.” Clicking the TAC net off, Kate leaned her head back against the machinery with a sigh. The itching in her chest had become less pronounced, meaning the tiny machines were nearing the end of their work. It’s just another wonderful example of being more machine then man, she told herself with a rueful sigh. They had been originally placed in her body to make up for the loss of bone marrow when she lost her biological arms and legs, but that wasn’t all they did now. Built to create synthetic red blood cells, they had mutation shortly after into items even more useful. Tirelessly working, they now would repair damage to her body too, provided it didn’t overload their capacity to deal with it. And they make me a hoot at parties, she thought with a snort. I can’t get drunk or get caffeine high. Makes me the best person at a bar…the only one that can’t fall onto the floor drunk! “You really need to learn some patience, little one,” Kate swore under her breath as she shook her head at Brown. Did the woman ever take a break on bothering her? It wasn’t like being with someone like herself, Kate scoffed, but more like having a overbearing parent who couldn’t stay out of your hair. With a groan, she started to realize what the people who had grown up with their parents meant when they complained about it. “Yes, Mother,” Kate whispered, hoping to keep it from being heard. “I told you,” Brown said. “I’m not your mother, but your sister.” “Yeah I forgot,” Kate muttered. “I have a three hundred year old sister.” “Something along those lines.”
The giant defense forts in orbit over Fargo floated like giant gems. Shining with the reflected light of the planets blue primary star, they appeared like blue quartz constructions. Being so deep in the Alliance, the tourist planet had two to protect it from attacking vessels. Equipped with enough firepower to match a dreadnaught, they were all that Fargo had to defend itself with. The idea behind that strategy being that if a enemy was able to strike a planet that deep in the Alliance, then massing more stations weren’t going to make much of a difference. However, for its location, the two forts were an imposing presence. Inside the fort, Commander Justine Garcia lounged on her bunk, reading an electronic book. While her shift had ended hours ago, she had gotten herself engrossed in her novel. Still dressed, she knew it was a guilty pleasure, and one that took away from her rest time. However, she couldn’t find herself ever putting a novel down once she started reading it. Some people find a weakness in booze or other activities, she told herself as she stretched. I’d rather have a good book instead…something to exercise my mind with. Without warning, the action stations alarm sounded in her quarters, the lights dimming to their red color. Dropping the book on her bunk, she leapt to her feet and headed out of her quarters on a run. As she race down the corridor, she was placing her throat mike on and her ear bud in. “Report!” she yelled. Her action station was on one of the station’s antimissile batteries. “Sir,” her second in command said. “We’ve got a fleet of inbound ships moving in, their engines signatures matching fleet vessels.” “Fleet vessels?” she asked as she raced towards her station. “Yes, sir,” he said. “They’ve jammed all communications and launched a full spread of missiles at us, sir.” “How many ships?” “Forty, sir,” “I’m on my way,” she said, already knowing it was far too late. ### Planetary Governor Tina Tomson was a gregarious sort; unable to find a situation in life she couldn’t laugh at. It was that fact, combined with her ability to keep a level head in a crisis, that made the people of Fargo love her so dearly. Re-elected to her position for four straight terms, everyone knew what to expect out of their relationship, and both parties were happy it with. People, she had told her cabinet years before, always like a leader they could trust and that they knew would keep level head during a crisis. Today, however, as she stood in the center of her planetary security center, she wasn’t smiling at all. Blood cold as ice, tears trying to well up in her eyes, she watched the icons on the holographic plot start to disappear. The first icons to vanish were the orbiting liners; their unarmored hulls no match for the nuclear-tipped and laser-tipped missiles that struck them. Closing her eyes, she said a silent prayer for the lives that had been lost. All attempts to communicate with their attackers had been ignored. They had even sent repeated surrender messages, and those too, had gone unanswered. Who ever was behind this, she mused with a single tear running down her cheek, were committed to murdering everyone on the planet. And with the firepower they had at their disposal, it was not even a question whether they would succeed. I just wish I knew who was behind this, she thought as she watched the missiles flying toward her last fort. ### Garcia reached her action station and had slipped on her targeting gear as the first missiles struck. Lasers tore into the fort, cutting deep into her armor, slicing whole compartments open to space. Inside those compartments, people died either instantly from the lasers or very quickly from decompression. Those who didn’t die in those hits only had seconds left to live. As was planned, the first missiles were used to carve holes in the armor to allow the nuclear missiles to get inside the armor. Following closely behind their cutting brethren, the nuclear missiles flew into shattered compartments. Exploding inside the thick armored sides of the forts, they flashed in Fargo orbit like a new main star. Their explosives blasts reached the forts matter/antimatter power sources and it exploded along with the missile. In less then thirty seconds, Garcia and ten thousand people was dead, their fort nothing but small bits floating in orbit. Their murderers sailed on, unharmed. ### “The forts and orbital stations are destroyed, sir,” “Target all the civilization centers and bombard them,” Anderson said. “Yes, sir,” ### Tomson looked at everyone in her command center with a sad sigh. They were doing everything they could, she thought, and they were doing their duty. Even though they knew it was totally useless, they weren’t going to give up the fight. With the destruction of their forts, their only offensive weaponry had been destroyed, leaving them at the mercy of their attackers. “It’s confirmed, Governor,” her Chief of Security said. “The Fleet above is Fleet in origin.” Why is the Fleet destroying out planet? She asked herself as she nodded weakly. Placing a hand on everybody’s shoulder, she let him or her know how much she appreciated him or her. Seeing the monitor for the last time, she knew she had just enough time to step out on her balcony. There was no way she was going to face the end cooped up in the command center, she told herself. No, she would face it like the leader she was: on her balcony looking at it with her own two eyes. Nothing could prevent it from happening now, but she wasn’t going to give their murderers what they desired: to cower in terror before dying. Opening the door with a steady hand, she stepped out onto the marble balcony of her palace. She looked out across the capital city at the blue sun as it started to rise over the mountains to the east. It would be the last thing she ever saw, she told herself as a tear wound down her cheek. And with their killers jamming all their communications, no one else would know the truth either. Tomson lifted her head up towards the sky and she imagined she could see the missiles inbound. It was a fallacy of course; the human eye couldn’t keep up with them when they were in flight. Only computers, with input from their human masters, were able to react to anything as fast as they were. One of the missiles exploded over the central square less then a block from her palace. Nuclear-tipped it erupted into a cleansing flame, unleashing temperatures and radiation only seen in the heart of a star. Nothing built on a planet by man was capable of standing up against the fury of a nuclear warhead, and the city was obliterated. Annihilated in the heat and radiation, Tomson never had time to feel any pain. Fifty million people did with her at the same time, the massive mushroom cloud rising over their city their only funeral marker.
Kate clenched her hand into a fist and she tapped it against the machinery in frustration. If she had just not answered that distress call, she told herself, then maybe all of this wouldn’t be happening! She would’ve been cruising the same sector, bored to tears, but without having assassins on her tail! As good as she was, she reflected, the odds were stacked against her that she would be able to defeat five people trained identically to her. Johansson planned this well, she thought with a sigh. I have to give him credit for that! “Believe in yourself, sister,” Brown’s voice echoed in her ears. “I once killed eight terrorists myself to prevent a nuclear launch.” “I’ve already done that,” Kate whispered. Despite everything that had happened, she still wasn’t sure if she wasn’t speaking to herself. Stranger things had happened in her life, she mused, so it certainly wouldn’t be a big surprise if she were. “I took on over twenty and survived.” “Yes you did,” Brown said. “You were destined to, and it showed. You’re destined to win here too-if you only believe in yourself.” “Destiny,” Kate snorted. “I’ve heard that word so much it’s meaningless to me. Whoops!” While she had be debating with Brown (or was it herself?) the other woman had slipped closer to her. Keeping her back bent over so the other woman couldn’t see her move, Kate slipped across the machinery. After checking both directions for Benton, she slipped onto the walkway on the other side. Moving like a ghost, she started to work her way towards the opposite of the end of level. “I don’t know why you scoff at destiny so much,” Brown said. “Didn’t you notice how the two of us look?” “Are you kidding?” Kate grunted as she checked another intersection before moving forwards again. “I told you this is real,” “Am I’m telling you that I’m making this up in my head,” Kate said as she reached another gap in the machinery. Ahead of her was another skywalk to the wing she had previously left. Crouching down in the machinery, she looked over her situation. If she continued to move forwards, she told herself, she was liable to walk into an ambush from Benton on the other skywalk. However, if she didn’t continue to move forwards, the only alternative was to go down, and it was a long way to the ground. Faced with those two alternatives, she growled as she leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. Her body ached with fatigue, her chest burned as she breathed. It was hard to believe how peaceful (compared to this, she groaned) her life had been just two weeks ago. Ever since they had answered the distress call, she hadn’t slept more then six hours in a night, and it was starting to show. Moving her bionic limbs felt like it took all night to her fatigue-dulled mind. She licked her dry, cracked lips as she let out her breath in a long sigh. If I don’t end this sometime soon, she told herself as she tried to build some energy up. Then Benton is going to kill me just from my fatigue! “Let go and trust me,” Brown said. “Jesus Christ,” Kate whispered as she felt the rage in her body build up again. “You’re not REAL, okay? Why am I sitting here talking to myself?” “Who says you’re talking to yourself?” “I don’t see any other alternative,” “Really?” Beside her, leaning back against the machinery, was the same woman Kate had seen in her hallucination. Everything was identical to before, and it was now that Kate noted her appearance. Long, flowing, mid-back length raven-colored hair tumbled over her shoulders like a dark mane. The other woman’s bangs marked the sides of her face just like Kate kept hers, and she looked at her with a set of deep blue eyes that were identical to Kate’s. “My God,” Kate breathed. “As I said,” Brown chuckled. “You weren’t talking to yourself.” “Who the hell are you?” Kate asked, as she peered at the other woman who was still a distance away but closing in. “I’m you,” Brown said. “And you’re me.” “That doesn’t answer my question,” Kate sighed. “We’re both one in the same,” Brown said. “The same person, separated by time and space.” “Wait a second,” Kate said to the other woman. She was same person as this woman who had been born three centuries before her? How was this even possible? “I don’t understand.” “I didn’t expect you to, Katherine,” “Don’t call me ‘Katherine,’” Kate growled. “It’s not time for you to understand everything, Kate,” Brown said. “Right now, you need to survive the challenge before you, or everything else is lost.” “What’s lost?” “If you don’t prevail here,” Brown said. “If these enemies kill you, then mankind is finished.” “Mankind is finished if I die?” Kate found herself chuckling in disbelief. The very idea that mankind would die if she died was enough to make her want to believe that this was a hallucination. “You are the one who will deliver them from bondage,” Brown said. “From both Carver and enemies to come. If you fail, then mankind will die in a darkness of the likes we have never seen.” “Okay,” Kate said with a sigh as she saw the other woman drawing closer. “Let’s say this is true; why me? Why now? What is it about me?” “I’m not allowed to tell you everything,” Brown said. “But what I can tell you is this: you are part a long line of warrior-princesses who have saved mankind from the beginning of time and stretching into the future.” “Me?” Kate shook her head. “Like I told you before, I’m just a former slave…nothing special about me.” “Au contraire,” Brown said.
Bishop Danes sat in his reading room chair with his eyes closed. Lying to Brindle had been unseemly, he mused, but it had been necessary. There was no way that he could have told the young man, nor his master, what Father Church truly knew about the prophecies. Something’s were just best left secret instead of seeing the light of day. With a sigh he thrummed his fingers together in a parody of praying, his mind racing. Throughout the history of man, Father Church had known of several hundred whom had fulfilled the prophecy. Always women, he mused, which was a mystery in and of itself. However, as the prophecy said, they always arrived in the times of mankind’s greatest need. Given the events coming out of Earth, he told himself with a shudder. Things are definitely going to be dark for everyone. If someone doesn’t stop the movement that was taking shape, then the entire galaxy would know a terror mankind has not seen since the time of Hitler. Danes felt his mind start to wander, the room around him started to fade away. Replacing it, piece by piece, was a scene straight out of Earth’s middle ages. He felt his eyebrows rise as he saw the Dark Age village start to take shape around him. When he looked down at his hands, he found himself looked at a chain mail sleeve that was common for that time. Interesting, he thought to himself as he started to walk. The buildings around him rose on both sides of the street he was walking down. Two story in height, they were all houses on the second level and businesses on the first level. In the distance he could see the town walls rising, the guard positions on the top of it, keeping the village safe. Looking on both sides of him, he noticed people hurrying towards the center of town. Picking up his pace, Danes followed along with them as they moved. Ahead of him, he could see a throng of people gathered, chanting, as he closed in. With a sigh, he continued on his pace towards the town center. Danes approached the rear of the crowd, and yet he still couldn’t see what was happening. Squeezing his way through the people before him, he moved until he could see. His jaw dropped, his breath catching in his chest, as he saw what they were chanting about. Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head to try to clear the sight before him. This had to be a dream, he told himself as he pinched himself. Yelping in pain, he came to realize that whatever this was, it wasn’t a dream. With a sigh, he fought the urge to drop his head in shame as he took in what was happening. There was a single woman in the town square, one who couldn’t be more then her middle twenties. Raven-haired, he noted, her blue eyes looked at everyone with a rage of disbelief and frustration. Lashed up to a stake, there were kindling of all types lined around her feet for lighting. Dressed in a simple white gown that reached down to mid-calf, she had he hands tied behind her to the stake. “Why are thou forsaking me?” she screamed. “Burn her!” one man yelled. “Heretic!” a woman screamed. “Witch!” “Heathen!” Danes had never felt so ashamed in his entire life as he did that moment. It was she; he told himself, the woman again. Whatever time this was, this was the woman who had been sent to save mankind. However, instead of being saved, or accepting it, man was burning her at the stake. Could there possibly be a more shameful time in the history of the Church? “Madam,” a man dressed in ancient Bishop’s clothing said. “You are hereby charged with witchcraft.” “Why are you forsaking me?” the woman challenged him, and everyone else present. “Did I not save you from great harm?” “Burn her!” came the reply. Danes watched the executioner bend down to light his torch and he felt indignation grow in his gut. This couldn’t be allowed to happen, he told himself as his face flushed in rage. They couldn’t kill someone for heresy when they hadn’t done anything wrong! This was a travesty of justice that he wasn’t going to sit back and watch! “Wait!” He yelled. The executioner stopped short of lighting his torch, his hooded face staring at his. Everyone in the crowd turned to look at him, looks of anger and disbelief on their faces. How could he open his mouth and delay the inevitable, they were thinking. The woman before them had to be put to death, and nothing he did would stop it! “Your highness,” the Bishop said. “This order is signed by your father, the King.” “This woman has done no crime,” Danes cried. “She should be released!” “Crown Prince, your Highness,” the Bishop said. “This woman has preached heresy against the church and found guilty.”
Kate raced across the level and ducked behind some machinery. Panting, she wiped the sweat from her eyes as she pulled her bags away. This was getting old fast, she mused as she peeped around to see if anyone was closing on her location. Satisfied that no one was closing, she allowed herself to slip to the floor. Jesus that was close, she thought as she worked to catch her breath. She shivered as she fought away the cold embrace of death loosen its grip on her. Being close to dying wasn’t something she was unfamiliar with, but that had been closer then most. With a sigh, she set had chin down on her chest as she closed her eyes. While she sat there, the world started to dissolve away from her mind. Floating above the ground, she felt her consciousness soaring away from her body. Had she been hit, she wondered, and was she now dying? Watching from above, she saw herself feeling her torso for blood, and finding none. What in the world is going on? She asked herself as she looked around and saw a reddish light before her. Before her a shape started to appear in the light before her. As it moved towards her, it started to coalesce into a human form. An eyebrow rose as she watched a woman step out of the light. The woman wore a blue outfit, but not of a style that she recognized. On her shoulder was a patch of a flag that had red and white stripes with a blue upper left corner with stars inside it. Looking at the other woman, Kate felt her breath hitch as she noted the raven-colored hair and blues eyes the other woman had. “Hello Katherine,” she said in a smoky voice that sounded much like hers. “Who are you?” Kate asked, forcing her fear to the side. “I am you and yet not you,” Kate frowned as her eyebrows furrowed at the comment the other woman said. How could someone be her; she asked herself, and yet not be? Shaking her head, she wondered if she was having a breakdown. What else would explain this? That was what it was; it was a straight break from reality, and a breakdown due to the stress she had been under. “You’re not real,” she said to the other woman. “I’m making this all up in my head.” “This is real, Katherine,” the other woman said as she stopped before Kate. Looking at the other woman’s clothing, Kate found an eyebrow rising again. A patch on the other woman’s chest said BROWN on it, and Kate assumed it was a uniform. It looked close enough to a military uniform, she mused, so if she had to bet, she was going in that direction. “This can’t be real,” Kate said as she jerked her head in the direction of her body. “That’s real.” “It’s all real,” Brown said. “If this is all real,” she challenged the other woman. “Then what is all this about?” “A part of a test, Katherine,” “‘Katherine,” Kate snorted. “No one calls me that.” The other woman surprised Kate by starting to laugh. With a hearty sound, she chuckled with genuine amusement for several moments before stopping. Looking up at Kate, her blue eyes were just as penetrating as Kate’s were. Shivering, Kate came to the realization what the people she gave that stare to felt. “You’re very willful,” Brown said. “Very much like myself.” “Who are you?” “My name is Missy Brown,” she said. “You and I are one.” “How can we be one?” Kate asked. “I don’t recognize your clothing at all.” “I wouldn’t expect you to,” Brown said. “Since this a NASA uniform from the early twenty-first century.” “This is the twenty-fourth century,” Kate said to her. “How can we be one then?” “You and I will be one until the end of time,” Brown said. “That doesn’t make any sense,” “It doesn’t,” Brown said. “Because you don’t know who-or what-you are.” “Then enlighten me,” Kate said as she crossed her arms over her chest in a defiant gesture. “You, as were I, are part of a wave, a warrior caste that appears in man’s periods of need,”
The long walk through Fleet Headquarters did nothing to help the anxiety Johansson felt. Swallowing hard, he looked up at the paintings of past warships on the wall and he sighed. Normally, he mused, this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but when it deals with one Katherine Almir then nothing is a small detail! The damned woman had been a thorn in his side for three years now, and still she continued to be so. Not for much longer I hope, he thought as he tapped on a piece of wood paneling as he walked. We won’t know anything from Benton for at least another 2 hours…so there’s nothing to do but wait. The bad thing about all this, he mused, was the fact that no one-including him-knew about the file that Kosloski uncovered. That was very embarrassing to him, because he was supposed to know everything that happened in his agency, and yet here was an example of something he didn’t know. How, after all the snooping he had done in Almir’s files, had he missed that vital piece of information? If he had only known about those codes earlier, then a lot of headaches involving that woman could’ve been avoided! Waiting for him in the meeting ahead, were Beatty, Carver and a whole lot of headaches. While the potential gains for him if the President succeeded were massive, the downside was how harsh he was on failure. This had been a major failure, and frankly, he was terrified about what would happen to him when he told them what happened. If I’m lucky I might survive with my life, he thought as he rubbed his forehead to deal with the headache that was brewing there. Hearing his lonely footsteps echoing in the hall, he stopped before the door that led to Beatty’s office. Everything he had done now came down to this, he reminded himself as he stepped into the door sensor’s zone. With a swoosh, the door slid aside for him and he stepped into the front office, where the Fleet Admiral’s adjunct was waiting for him. The adjunct motioned to him to go through, and Johansson started to walk towards the door that contained his fate. Stepping into the office beyond, Johansson never stopped being amazed at it. Half of it was filled with holographic plots, listing where every ship in the Fleet was at, and the other half was window’s that overlooked the main strategy room for the Fleet. Sitting in the furniture waiting for him were the President, Beatty and a woman dressed in a solid black uniform with a Tutenkoph emblem on her collar. Who the hell is she? He asked himself as he looked at the people before him. “Take a seat, Bernard,” Beatty said as he lit a cigarette. “I understand you have some information for us regarding Almir,” Carver said “Yes, sir,” he said, fidgeting slightly in his seat. “Relax, Bernard,” Carver said with a dismissive gesture of his hand. “No one is being eliminated today no matter what you tell us.” Johansson felt both eyebrows rise in surprise at the President’s magnamity. This was the first time; he told himself, that he had ever heard the man be forgiving of failure. Just what had gotten into him to make him so…human for a change? “We had another security breech, sirs,” he said as he took a deep breath. “This one was perpetrated by Richard Kosloski.” “Given how he’s going to be dead soon,” Beatty said. “I’m not sure what the fuss is about.” “It wasn’t the fact that he broke into our systems,” he said. “It was what he found,” “What did he find, Bernard?” Craver asked as he sipped a brandy. “I hidden black file on Katherine Almir,” he said simply. “I thought you knew of all the files that existed?” Beatty asked him pointedly as he blew out smoke rings. “Reyes obviously had done a good job hiding this particular file,” he said. “And once I looked at it myself, I could see why.” “What did it hold, Bernard?” Carver said. “Sirs,” Johansson looked at everyone, including the woman, one by one before speaking. “It contained shut down codes for Almir’s cybernetics.” “It what!?”
The ancient cathedral hung over Thad’s head like a giant stone guillotine. Craning his neck back to look up at it, he felt a sense of foreboding as he started to step forwards. Dealing with the Church had always been a problematic affair, he mused, and this was going to be no more different then usual. Sighing in resignation, it always seemed that when Reyes wanted to deal with the Church, he always got the joy of having to do the legwork! The sun ducked behind the tall bell tower as he climbed the stone steps. Pulling the collar of his coat tighter to him, he stepped up to the wooden door before him. With a sigh, he reached out and touched the buzzer, alerting to officials within that he was there. Let’s just get this over with, he thought as he shivered against the cold chill that ran up his spine. With a creak that sounded out of place in the bustling modern city of DC, the door opened up for him. An aged man with a Roman’s collar on looked at him from inside the door. Thad gave him a courteous bow as the man stepped aside to let him enter. As the door shut behind him, Thad let his eyes adjust to the dimness beyond. Everything about the cathedral was archaic compared to the modern buildings beyond. Stone corridors extended off to his left and right, the lighting from the ceiling barely enough to break to gloom. Fighting another shiver, he fell in beside the aged priest as they began to walk, their steps echoing in the halls. “What brings you back to see us?” the Priest asked. “I have need to meet with the Bishop, Father,” Brindle said, keeping his most polite tone of voice in action. “The information you seek,” the Priest said. “May not bring you the peace you seek.” “Does everyone in the Church speak in riddles?” he asked, feeling a flush of irritation start to build. Every time he had to deal with them, they liked to give him quizzical comments that did nothing but make his head hurt! “Its not a riddle to share wisdom, Mr. Brindle,” The Priest said as they stopped outside a door. “Wisdom is what I seek,” he said. “Not a conundrum presented every time I come by.” “The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil,” the Priest said as he bowed before the wooden door. “The Bishop is expecting you.” Stepping around the priest, Thad reached out and touched the door. With another archaic creak, it slid open to reveal a library, the like has hadn’t seen since seeing history holovids in school. He looked to his left and right at the bookcases-books!-that lined the room. At the far end, a fireplace crackled with a warm fire and two leather-sitting chairs were before it. I wonder how they managed to get their hands on so many ancient books, he wondered as he stepped into the library, the door shutting behind him. “Good evening, Thad,” Bishop Clarence Danes said from the left chair. “Come, take a seat.” “Thank you, sir,” he said as he sat down stiffly in the chair, his discomfort showing as he crossed his legs to await the Bishop’s words. “I take it you don’t like being in the Church, Thad,” Danes said with a slight laugh. “No offense,” Thad said. “But I can think of many places I’d rather be.” “None taken,” Danes said as he crossed his legs. Thad looked over the Bishop before him, and resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. While the priest before had been in a simple all black outfit with his Roman collar, the Bishop was completely different. Clad in red from head to toe, with a large crucifix hanging around his neck, Thad would’ve thought he was more demon then minister if he didn’t know better. And there were a lot of things Danes is, he reminded himself, but he is definitely a Minster. “You seem troubled, Thad,” Danes said, his voice changing from gregarious to one of business. “What brings you here?” “I’m curious about the ancient writings dealing with the warrior empress,” he said. “There are many of those,” Danes said. “No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious,”
Feeling her eyelids flutter open, Jennifer found herself staring at the mattress she was on. The screaming pain in her body had reduced itself to a dull roar as the events from last night filled her mind. Oh God, she thought, the beating that the man had given her! Never ending, she felt herself shudder at the memory of the pain he had filled her body with. And yet I didn’t break, she thought as she moved on the bed, eliciting a yelp of pain involuntarily. She ran a hand over her battered and swollen face, hating what she felt. Sighing in sadness, she closed her swollen eyes and found herself thinking of Kate. If she was still alive, Jennifer mused, then all of this was worth it. However, if she had died, then all of this was in vain because there was no one who was remotely capable of rescuing her. While she lay there, a feeling started to work its way up her legs. Like a tingling, but slightly different, it slowly made it’s way up her spine. Upon reaching her head, she felt her mind start to expand. Racing outwards in a flight that was faster then even h-space was capable of, she found herself floating over an unknown machinery complex. What the hell is happening here? She asked herself as she could see someone firing a machine gun at another person. With a gasp, she saw her field of view change and before her stood Kate. The bullets struck off the railing around her as she started to sprint across an elevated walkway. Seeing them closing in on her from behind, Jennifer wanted to shout a warning. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out, as the tears started to run down her cheeks! Duck, Kate, duck! She screamed in her head as she saw Kate launch herself forwards onto the ground as the bullets chewed overhead. Watching from her overhead viewpoint, Jennifer watched Kate roll back to her feet and race across into more machinery. The image faded and she felt her body start to relax from the tension that had filled it. Just what the hell was going on her, she asked herself as she opened her eyes to the cell around her. Yes, Kate was still alive, but how had she ended up watching her fight? At least I know she’s still alive, she thought with a groan as she rolled onto her back. Staring at the ceiling, she found her mind racing over what she had just experienced. There was no way to normally explain what had just happen, she told herself with a sigh. How had she gone from being in this cell on Earth to being on the planet Haven, a hundred parsecs away? Something was happening here to defied reason, and she had no real way to investigate it while in a holding cell. All she knew for certain was the fact that Kate was still alive, and that was all that mattered. As long as she stayed alive, there was hope, and where there was hope, there always the ability to change your course. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes again to think about what was happening. Before she knew it, she was asleep again. ### Brooks sat at the OC, her eyes trailing out across the space dock at the damaged hull of the Roanoke. Feeling a stab of guilt for not being there to oversee her repairs, she pushed it back down into the back of her mind. She looked back up at Freedman, the small crystalline device on the table making her smile slightly. “I didn’t think anyone outside Intelligence had those things,” she said, nodding towards the sensor scrambler on the table. If there was anyone, she mused, being rude enough to try to listen in on their conversation, they weren’t going to be able to hear a word of it! “It helps to have contacts,” he said with a shrug. “I imagine so,” she said with both eyebrows raised. “Any word from your Skipper?” Freedman asked as he ate a piece of his sushi. “Not a peep,” she said with a sigh. “No one’s heard from her since she left.” “You don’t think she’s dead, do you?” “Not a chance,” she said as she chewed on her manicotti. “Not with Kate…you’d have to see her to understand why I say that. There’s just about nothing that I think could take her down.” “Stubborn?” “No,” she said as she set her fork down and placed her chin in her hands to think. As her eyes glazed over, she started to see things about Kate that she hadn’t put together before. “It’s something different, Thomas. I can’t really describe it…” “Take your time,” he said. “You’ll be able to describe it.” “There’s something about her,” she said. “A warrior side that goes far beyond anything I have ever seen. And, yes, I know she was on Necko, but it seems to go beyond that…”
One gloved hand was all that had kept Kate from a hundred meter drop. Even with her bionics, she wasn’t convinced that she could have survived that high of a fall. When she had made the mistake of stepping with too much of her weight, she had given herself away to Channon. The machinery hadn’t given her anywhere to hide at, so she had to go over the railing. Clutching the bottom of the railing in one gloved hand, she stuffed her pistol into her belt. A grunt escaped her lips as she strained to place her second hand onto the railing. Below her, the wind swirled, her booted feet dangling out into space. On the other side of the railing, Channon moved past, her booted feet echoing on the metal flooring. Join the Fleet and have an adventure, Kate heard the current recruiting slogan run through her head. Yeah right! I seriously doubt this is what they had in their mind! The blood lust still buzzing in her head, Kate grabbed the top of railing after Channon past. Groaning with the effort, she pulled herself over and back onto the level. Breathing hard, she stood back up, only to come face to face with Channon. “Ah ****,” she muttered. “Hello Almir,” The sight of Channon’s machine gun drew Kate’s eye’s down to look at it. At that moment she didn’t have her finger on the trigger. The odds of her reaching the gun before Channon pulled the trigger, she mused, weren’t good. However, they were better then to stand there and wait for her to shoot her. “I guess you want to take me down?” Kate gave her a half shrug, working to throw her off balance. “Something like that,” Channon said. “Besides you killed my husband.” “Oh I didn’t know that,” Kate said sweetly, the blood lust still pounding in her head. “Which one?” “Markel,” Channon said. “And now I’m going to kill you in return.” “He at least managed to wing me, at least temporarily,” Kate said as she let Channon see the slice in her jumpsuit, and the dried blood around the now healed wound. I was so busy trying to survive, Kate told herself, that I didn’t even feel the damned itching from the nanites healing it! “What the hell are you?” “More machine then person,” she said with a shrug. Seeing the minute relaxation in Channon’s body, she made her move. Her hands lashed out at such a speed that even her bionic eyes barely could keep up. Grasping the machine gun in her hands, she yanked up from the startled woman’s grasp. Tossing it over the side, she heard it hit the ground below with a clatter. Channon didn’t stay stunned but for a second, her hand lashing out. Blocking the slash with a circular motion, Kate slapped her hand away. Channon lashed out with one of her feet, the move unexpected by Kate. The blow struck her square in the chest, sending her spinning backwards to fall onto her chest. Kate hit the decking, her chin slamming into the metal. Tasting blood, she knew she had bitten her tongue. With a growl, she started to push herself back to her feet. The blood lust pounded through her head so strong it started to make her light-headed as she reached her hands and knees. Behind her, Channon screamed and landed atop her back, her hands going around Kate’s throat. The impact of her body on Kate’s sent them both to the decking. Hitting the metal a second time, Kate found herself threatening to black out. “I’ve got you now,” Channon breathed into her ear as she tried to lock Kate’s neck into the crook of her arm. Kate struggled to get a handhold on the smooth metal. She found one at the base of the railing and used it to flip her body over to her left. The tow of them slammed into the machinery, Channon grunting in pain with the contact. With her grip not loosened, Kate shoved off with her feet, slamming them into the railing. Slamming them back into the machinery again, Kate felt Channon’s grip loosen on her neck. With a scream of rage, Kate broke her grip and launched herself back to her feet. Across from her, Channon did the same thing, the two women looking at each other. Swinging from Kate’s blind side, Channon landed a blow that slammed into the side of her chin. Again, Kate saw her vision darken as she stumbled backwards, the blow stunning her. Launching another blow at her face, Channon tried to push the advantage. Seeing the blow coming, Kate caught it with her fist and she twisted the other woman’s arm down and away from her. Channon bellowed in pain as her arm was yanked down against her own strength. Seizing the advantage, Kate slammed a fist into the other woman’s stomach, doubling her over. Reaching for Channon’s throat, Kate grunted as Channon drove her knee into her stomach. Crying out on pain from the blow, she spun around, her chest falling upon the railing, the ground one hundred meters below beckoning her. Approaching from behind, Channon tried to get her hands on Kate’s waist and send her over the edge. Sensing the move, Kate stepped backwards, her right elbow driving back and up where she knew Channon’s face was. She felt the blow connect, the cartilage in the other woman’s nose giving way. Spinning around to her right, she grabbed the other woman in her arms, as they both headed straight for the railing. Letting go at the last second before hitting the railing, Kate watched as the momentum sent Channon over the edge. For a split second she saw the other woman look at her, fear, rage and disbelief at her death filling her eyes. Then, with a scream that would haunt her forever, Kate watched her fall. Leaning against the railing, she watched her fall until her body hit the red clay below. Groaning in pain, Kate stepped away from the railing only to feel flecks of paint burn into her face. At the same time, the sound of a machine gun reached her. The metal around her sparked as the bullets struck metal and bounced off. Moving on instinct more then thought she raced across the catwalk, the bullets chewing into the railing behind her. Diving into a forwards roll, she felt the deadly spray pass overhead, the hot pain flecks stinging her face as they burnt her. Rolling to her feet, she raced across the catwalk and into the catacombs on the other side. ### Screaming in rage, Benton emptied the clip on his machine gun as he raced across the level. He had been too late, seeing the final moments of the battle between Almir and Channon. Like Almir, the sound of her scream as she fell would haunt him for as long as he lived. And that ****ing gladiator bitch killed her! He thought in fury as he changed his clip. Seeing her run onto the catwalk, he trained along behind her, his finger pulling the trigger. The bullets chewed along the catwalk getting ever closer to her. No, he thought with glee, no, no, there’s no escape for you now! However, he felt his jaw drop as she launched herself below the railing as his bullets chewed where she should have been. Clicking on empty, he watched her get back to her feet and race into the machinery of the other wing. “Goddamn it!” he screamed as he fumbled for another clip. “Hipper!” he shouted into the tac net. “She’s in your wing now! Hold off for back-up before making a move!” “I understand,” Hipper’s voice was full of cold hatred. “But if I have a shot, I’m going to take it.” “Don’t rush,” he said as he worked his way across the catwalk. “We have her trapped…”
Rickard leaned back in her desk chair as she working on her report. Staring at the computerized tablet in her hand, she sighed at the length of paperwork involved. Who would have thought a simple arrest for theft would have lead to such a royal headache? If this were what she had to do for theft, she mused, then she would hate to see about a treason charge! “Sir,” Oh Dear God, she told herself as she looked up at the ensign who had started all this. If he had another issue that was going to give her more paperwork, she was going to kill him! Wasn’t he satisfied with accomplishing one major event for the day? Two in one day, and she wondered if she would be able to survive the paperwork necessary! “What is it this time?” She asked, irritation showing in her voice. “Sir,” he said. “One of our operatives has accessed a black book file of ours.” Rickard set the table down and placed her head in her hands. This couldn’t possibly be happening, she told herself, twice in one day? Did someone in heaven have it out for her? Jesus, this was going to be one day that she would never forget! If this keeps up, she shuddered at the consequences of two different security breeches during her watch. I’ll spend the rest of my life in a prison camp! “What projects were being hacked this time?” She asked, her stomach falling through the floor. “No projects, Commander,” he said. “Personnel files.” “Whose file?” “Captain Kate Almir’s sir,” What’s so strange about that, Rickard asked herself as she rubbed her chin in thought. Agents were in the field all the time, and it was possible that the team sent to eliminate Almir needed information. It was more then likely they were the ones accessing the information, but she had to be cautious if only for her sake! “Who accessed the file?” “It was accessed by a pocket computer registered to Richard Kosloski, sir,” “Damn,” she cursed, knowing her hopes for a quiet event were now over. “He was very careful to cover his tracks,” he said. “But not good enough.” “What did he access?” “A set of codes that no one has noticed before,” he said. “What kind of codes?” “They appear to be shut-down codes for Captain Almir’s bionics, sir.” He shrugged. “They were buried so deep in the file by Reyes that no one noticed them.” Rickard felt her eyebrows rise up nearly to the level of her hair. Shut down codes for Almir’s bionics, she told herself with a whistle. That was definitely something that Rear Admiral Johansson would want to know about right away! Reaching across to activate her holovid, she took a deep breath. “I need to speak to Admiral Johansson,” she told his adjunct. “He’s interrogating a prisoner,” his adjunct said. “I have information for him then,” she said as she took a deep breath. “It appears a security breech occurred but it allowed us to find…”
Stumbling down the stairway, Kate ran her hands through her hair. God, she thought, the other man’s blood was all in her hair and over his face. Wiping her face off on the sleeve of her leather jacket, she managed to get most of it off her face. What she didn’t get would have to wait for her to get to back to her fighter. Reaching the first floor, she stopped and set her head on the corner of the banister. Things had to change some time, she mused to herself with a sigh, and otherwise she didn’t know how she was going to survive the upcoming war. Ever since she had arrived on Necko years ago, Death had been her steady companion and she sometimes wondered if it always would be. God, she told herself as she stood back up. I really think that Reyes would have been better letting me die! Bubbling up near the surface, the rage she kept bottled up nearly burst through her self-control. A sigh escaped from between her clenched teeth as she approaching the closet where she had left Kosloski. If the son of a bitch had moved, she told herself with a growl, she was going to have to kill him herself! Opening the door with a start, she felt relief flood her body when he was where he left her. For once today, she told herself, something had gone right! Thank God for that that, because she honestly didn’t know how she would have reacted if it hadn’t gone right! She probably would have screamed and collapsed to the ground in a breakdown, but she wasn’t willing to totally agree on that yet. “Can I get out of her now, Captain?” Kosloski asked, anger giving his voice an edge to it. “Not yet,” she said. “Where’s the sniper?” “He was a pain in the neck,” she said. “But it’s okay now.” “Don’t we need to move on?” “No,” Kate said as she shut the door and locked the handle from turning. “There’s still the rest of the team to deal with, Kosloski. Just stay in here like a good boy until I get back.” Turning on her heel, Kate started to make her was towards the door. She reached down and clicked on the com unit to listen to the team’s tac net. There was now way they could keep her out of it, she told herself, not with a receiver that was programmed into it. Even if they encrypted it, she could still hear what they had to say. “Marklin,” a voice that sent a chill down Kate’s spine spoke in her ear. “Come in Marklin.” It couldn’t be, she told herself as she stepped outside into the street again. I thought he was gone for good! “Marklin, this is Benton,” the voice said. “Answer me!” The voice in her ear made Kate feel like the world was closing in on her as she heard it. Graham Benton, she cursed in her head, why did it have to be that bastard? If there was anyone in the entire Intelligence field that hated her worse, she didn’t know of them. Johansson couldn’t have found someone with a better reason to want me dead, she told herself as she looked towards the refinery. Benton had hated her from the very beginning, she remember as she made her way towards the refinery. With her background as a former gladiator slave, he had found her being in the same organization as him to be a grievous insult. Pushing her way through the milling crowds, making sure she avoided the club area as she could head sirens in the distance, she shook her head at the memories. The man had made her life on Arlington a living hell, he and his friends constantly trying to get her to strike him. He had always been higher ranked then her, until she had taken the fateful mission on Ireland. Once he had learned that she had been promoted ahead of him, she reflected, he had gone ballistic and tried everything he could to get her busted down in rank. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t until she left Intelligence to join the regular Fleet that she had been busted down to a ranking lower then his. “Marklin,” Benton’s voice was near a yell. “I order you to answer me!” “I’m afraid he won’t answer, Benton,” “Almir,” he said, the recognition making his British accent colder then it normally was. “Glad you could remember me, Benton,” she said as she reached the end of the street. The refinery would make a good place to settle this at, she mused as she stepped across the street towards it. “I would never forget a slave like you anywhere,” he sneered.
Letting the breath out, she stepped up onto the third floor landing, her eyes glued on the apartment she knew he was in. Before her, the door was cracked, allowing her to see the shadowy shape moving within. The sniper was panicking, she told herself as she crept nearer to the door. He had lost his prey, and it was throwing him off his training, and off his game! Grabbing the doorknob in her hand, she slowly opened the door, her pistol leading. Seeing a shape ahead of her, she fired a shot, only to curse after she had done so. It wasn’t the damned sniper, she cursed! Looking at the dummy holding the rifle in its hands, she spun around, knowing she had fallen for his trick! A crushing blow landed into her side, sending her pistol skidding across the room. She barely had time to recognize the sniper’s movement before her grabbed her by the collar of her coat, and threw her across the room. The dizzying flying sensation lasted a split second before she slammed into a wooden table, shattering it, as she landed on the floor. Rolling back to her feet with a growl, she faced the man before her. Charging her, he launched at fist at her face, which she blocked with a circular move of her forearm, letting the blow send her opponent off balance. Reaching out with her hands, she grabbed her and sent him sliding across the floor to slam into a couch. The room was filled with a cacophony of labored breathing as the two of them circled each other. She could feel the sweat running down her face, making her bangs stick to her forehead. So, she mused, he wanted to do this the old-fashioned way then. That was fine with her, so long as she was the last woman standing in the end! He launched himself at her again, both hands trying to land a blow on her. She blocked one with her right hand while she felt him grab her combat knife off her belt. Cursing under her breath, she grabbed his wrist as they struggled over the knife. Slamming his forehead into hers, he sent Kate staggering back as he made a slicing motion with the knife. She screamed in pain as she fell back, a cut running diagonally on her side, the blood starting to run. The son of a bitch cut me, she snarled as she brought her gloved hand back up with blood on it. Growling like a caged animal, she launched herself back at him, catching both his hands in hers. Pushing forwards with her legs, he fell backwards and they went rolling through the doorway into the hallway beyond. His hand hit the ground hard, the knife being dropped from his grasp. Kate grabbed the knife, one hand holding his away from hers, as she crawled astride him. She started to press the knife down towards his chest, but his other hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. With a grunt of effort, he started to move it up even with his neck. The sweat was pouring down her face, dropping into his eyes and over his face, as they strained to gain the upper hand. Crying out in effort, she could feel the knife-edge closer and closer to his neck. If it goes in there, she told herself, it’s going to entire his jugular and that’s going be a big mess! The knife continued to edge closer to his throat, and Kate screamed as she put every ounce of her strength into it. The man’s hand slid from the knife, and it sank into his neck. Penetrating the jugular vein, his blood sprayed all over Kate face and hair. His other hand dropped from hers as she watched the life ebb from his body. Rolling off of his body, and away from the pool of blood on the floor, she collapsed onto her back. She stared at the ceiling for several long moments as she panted for breath.
Okay so that’s where you are, she thought with a shiver. Now the question is what do I do about you? Belly crawling until she was under the car, Kate looked up at him as her mind raced with options. As long as he was allowed to stay up there with impunity, they were sitting ducks for the rest of the team. With three people known, she was willing to bet now that the team was a five-person group. The only alternative, if they were going to survive, was to eliminate the sniper, and the only one who could do that was she. Kosloski might be a field agent, she told herself. But he won’t be much use in this operation. “You know,” he admitted from behind her. “You’re even more skilled then I suspected you were.” “I’m glad I pass your test,” she muttered at him, not taking her eyes off the sniper. “But we’ve got a sniper to worry about.” “I’ll get him,” he said as he started to move towards the end of the car. Kate shoved herself out from under the car, grabbing him in her vice-like grip. Was this man a complete fool, she asked herself as she slammed him back on his backside. Never in her damned life had she seen someone whose bravado outdid his or her common sense! “Jesus Christ!” she swore. “Are you ****ing stupid?” “I just said I could take him…” he said, sounding thoroughly chastised. “Mister Kosloski,” she said, her tone colder then ice. “You are a field agent, I was-am-a Special Ops Agent…I am the one more qualified to deal with this.” “I understand that!” “Besides,” Kate said, ignoring his protest. “You wouldn’t have made two steps before you would die. The sniper is across the road on the third floor.” “You can see that far?” he asked, his admiration for her cybernetics growing. “I’m bionic, remember?” Kate asked in a sour tone, hating to have to remind herself about it. Maybe, she reminded herself, it would have been better if Reyes had just let her die five years ago! “I keep forgetting I saw that in your file,” Kosloski admitted with a shrug. “You saw my file?” Kate looked at him, her eyes narrowing. Just who did this guy think he was? Her file was supposed to be sealed from anyone other then her superiors to see. My superiors, she thought with a snort. The same assholes that are trying to kill me! “I kind of hacked into the system to see it,” Kosloski admitted, his bravado wilting under her intense stare. “When this is over,” she said, shaking a finger at him. “We’re going to have a talk about that!” “That is if we get out of this,” he corrected her. “You keep thinking that way,” she said. “And you will die. Now keep your ass down! I’ve got some work to do!”
