Part 3: Old Allies

"Uh-oh." muttered Jason Morris. "Here comes trouble." In this particular
case, trouble stood 6'5" with long blond hair and an attitude the size of the
Resolute. Jessie glanced in Morris' direction. He pretended to be intently
interested with the safety harness of his e-frame in order to avoid looking
back.

Lt. O'Muirdagh, on the other hand, would not be so easily swayed. "Get out of
my hanger, Sergeant."

Jessie shoved a slip of yellow paper in his face. "I've got orders, give me
no trouble and I'll be out of your hair in no time."

"So now you follow orders, huh?" O'Muirdagh made no attempt to hide the
distaste in his voice.

Jessie clenched the paper in one hand while taking a step toward him. She
leaned close so that only he could hear. "I don't have a problem with you,
O'Muirdagh. Its your little friend I want a piece of, but don't think I
wouldn't mind an appetizer first."

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" asked O'Muirdagh, his voice had become
full of mock surprise.

"If I were, you wouldn't need to ask." stated Powers.

"I have to admit, you've got guts coming into Gamma's hanger after what you
pulled. I can respect that. But don't push your luck."

"Or you yours." returned Jessie.

"Take care of your business and get out of here before Commander Hobbes comes
back."

Jessie took a step back as she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "Thank
you, Lieutenant."

"Yeash! I always knew Ratislav was brave, but never suicidal."

Elan looked up from his datapad. "She's not as bad as she seems, Kristin,
once you get to know her."

Kristin resumed her work, going back under the rear maintenance hatch and
into the guts of her e-frame. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Elan.

"You went on that mission with her, out of anyone in the squad you probably
know her best."

Elan shrugged, "I suppose so."

"So what's she really like?" asked Kristin.

"You've talked to her." stated Elan as he resumed reading.

"Yeah, but its like - I don't know - her personality changes every time I see
her. Like she's playing a part for us and only when we're gone does she let
the real her come out." Kristin struggled with a faulty a relay for a moment
then continued. "So what's she really like?"

"Intense, but calm. Brave, but cautious." replied Elan.

"Sounds like a walking contradiction to me."

"Maybe, but there is no one better to have watching your back when it all
hits the fan."

Kristin processed the information a moment before adding, "Unless you happen
to be Hobbes."

Elan nodded, "I would have to agree."

"As would I."

Kristin bumped her head on the maintenance hatch as she realized who it was.
"Hello, Sergeant." said Elan without batting an eye.

Kristin got up, rubbing the back of her head. "You knew she was there, didn't
you?"

"Yup." said Elan.

"Must be losing my touch, Tedronai."

"Not really, I saw you chat with the Lieutenant. So I had a feeling you'd be
coming over." explained Elan.

"Sixth sense?" asked Powers.

"More like a pain in the pit of the stomach. I assume you want something."

"You've been selected for a mission, O'Connor too."

This peaked Elan's interest, evident in the fact he raised an eyebrow. "Go
on."

"Not here. The both of you are to come with me. Now."

Elan shook his head. "I remember this scenario from last time. You want me to
come, you've got to give me more than that."

Powers remained silent a moment, then uttered a single word. "Hephaistos."

"Let's go."


* * *


"Elan, wait a minute!" exclaimed Kristin. Powers and Tedronai had left at
such a pace from the hanger that O'Conner was barely keeping up.

"Not now, O'Connor." replied Tedronai. The fact that Elan had chosen to use
Kristin's last name told her something. Who- or what-ever this Hephaistos
was, it was something of great importance to Elan. Something that would cause
him to resort to last names and ranks when addressing his friends. It was a
practice that he had picked up by participating in numerous battles. In order
to remain level-headed in a fight, he would divorce himself from his
emotions. This slight change in his speech was the most outward sign that he
was doing it.

"At least tell me what this Hephaistos is." pleaded O'Connor.

Elan looked over his shoulder at her, "Remember back when I got captured by
the Neos and they tortured me for information?" Kristin nodded. "Hephaistos
was the Neomega in charge."

Kristin froze in her tracks while considering the implications. "Today,
O'Conner!" yelled Powers.

Kristin realized that they had arrived at one of the briefing rooms. She also
realized that Powers was pointing to its interior. The message was quite
clear. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"


* * *


"This is Ensign Thorist. He will be briefing you on this mission." Jessie
stood at the rear of the room. Thorist had positioned himself at the head of
the table which lay at the center of the room.

Elan had taken a seat and was impatiently waiting for him to begin. "Why am I
not surprised that your involved in this again?"

"Again?" asked Kristin.

"Ensign Thorist and I are old friends." answered Elan.

"Yes, quite." stated Thorist. "I assume we're ready to begin?"

"Get on with it!" demanded Elan.

"Very well." Thorist turned the lights down and activated the vid screen
behind him. "Approximately three days ago, one of our cargo ships turned up
more or less scrapped from the inside out."

"Pirates?" asked Kristin.

Thorist smiled. "Considering they've been our allies for some time now, I
seriously doubt it, Lt. O'Connor." Kristin turned red and slouched in her
seat, scarcely believing she had made such a suggestion. Thorist continued,
"No, while these ships do appear to have been scrapped for parts in the style
of the pirates, physical evidence points to the fact that they were actually
attacked by the Neos."

"But why?" asked Elan. "They have the resources of an entire planet behind
them. Why beg for scraps like this?"

"The only plausible reason is that this faction is not supported by the Neos
that still control Earth. They're working on their own."

Thorist shifted their attention back to the screen with a gesture of his
hand. "This craft was not the only case. Thirteen other craft of the same
class have fallen victim to a similar fate. We've analyzed the data available
to determine where they're base of operations might be." On the vidscreen,
the planet Mercury appeared. Thirteen red dots appeared near and around it,
then thirteen blue dots in different locations. "The blue dots represent
where these ships were found. The red dots represent where each ship was last
known to be before it disappeared. As you can see, they form no discernible
pattern, which is exactly what the attackers wanted to show us. However, they
made a slight blunder. All of the wrecks were discovered beyond the planet's
rotational orbit around the sun. That is to say, between Mercury and Venus.
The last known positions of these ships were also near this area."

"So?" asked Tedronai.

"All of these ships left one of our Mercury bases and was bound for Venus.
Though their computer cores were removed, all of them filed flight plans with
the base from which they were coming. Due to the increased radiation at that
distance from the sun, all of them would have experienced a temporary period
without sensors due to solar interference. Once this was deduced, we examined
each flight plan and determined when and where this sensor blackout would
have occurred." A small sphere appeared on the vidscreen, darkened in red.
"Based on the data obtained, this sphere represents the approximate kill
zone."

"What happened to the the crews?" asked Kristin.

"Probably dead, next question." Kristin's face turned ashen. She couldn't
believe Thorist would dismiss the issue so causally.

"How is Hephaistos involved in this?" asked Elan. "As I said earlier, the
computer cores were removed. But in one case we did managed to retrieve one
piece of visual evidence. A handheld camera was found in one of the crew
quarters. It had been broken but still had one intact image within it." The
vid screen changed again, this time displaying the image of a group of Neos
carrying weapons. "It appears this fellow managed to get a shot of his
killers." Thorist looked to Tedronai. "I trust one of them looks familiar?"

Elan studied the picture. In the background, behind a couple of Neos, a
familiar face was staring back at him. The brood mark vaguely resembled
something found on a death's head moth. "Thanatos."

"According to your account of the incident, Thanatos was essentially a flunky
of Hephaistos. Considering the precedent, we have no reason to not believe
that he is also involved."

"Of course he's involved!" yelled Elan. "This is just his sort of operation.
He's probably experimenting on the crewmen he captures."

Thorist nodded. "Probably, that's why we're sending Lt. O'Connor with you.
Once you find their base, which will most likely be a ship, she will be
responsible for getting you around any new technology he may have."

"So what exactly is our mission?" asked Kristin.

"I should think it would be obvious, Lieutenant. Hephaistos and his group
represent a threat to us, one that must be dealt with accordingly. You will
get them in. Powers and Tedronai will do the rest."

"The rest of what?" asked Kristin hesitantly.

"They're going to kill Hephaistos, of course." Thorist stared, in shock that
she would ask a question with such an obvious answer. "Are you sure about
this one?" he asked.

"She should do just fine." answered Powers. "If not, we have backup."

"Backup?" asked Elan.

"Ensign Lora Hask will be accompanying you. She's not here at the moment
because she's busy securing the necessary transport for this mission."
answered Thorist.

"A freighter I assume." concluded Elan. Thorist nodded. "So, we're going to
fly it all over that hot zone, make a tempting little target of ourselves,
hopefully draw them out, and then somehow we're going to kill their leader
and bring the whole operation to a screeching halt, right?"

"Right." said Thorist.

"And how exactly are we planing to accomplish this?" asked Elan.

"Leave that to me." replied Powers.