Trouble on the Galactic Frontier

[Akira110]

Disclaimer: This story takes place in the New Generation timeline but focuses on the Humans rather than the Verbanans. Though loosely it is a sequel to A New Beginning, Heart of Broken glass and the yet to be named third story in that series. Knowledge from those stories isn't needed to understand this story. This story takes place 150 years after Heart of Broken Glass.

Prologue

Terran Year: 3301

A human of eastern descent looked around as he walked through the military base, on a colony near the border between the humans and the Eltiranan-Verbanan alliance. He sighed slightly as he knew what he wanted to do, but had no idea how to do it, so he was going to his father, who was the CO of the base. He walked down the hallway and past some soldiers to do it, the man sighed slightly as he continued on his path, wondering what his father would say to him when he asked him about this. He approached the office door and noticed that it was open, he heard a female voice speak up, "Sir, if that is all, I would like to take my leave." The man heard his father's voice speak up, "Go ahead, Lieutenant Murray." He watched as the woman known as Linda Murray walked past him and took note as she looked at him with her violet eyes, he always found her beautiful, but could never work up the courage to say those words.

He nodded and walked into the room where he saw the plate on his father's desk that said, "Gen. Shigeru Date." Shigeru looked at him, "Ah, Hideo, my son. I heard through the grapevine that you have something that you want to ask of me." Hideo nodded, "General, I wanted to form my own elite unit." Shigeru nodded, "Captain Date, I think it is time that I give you your own command, but why an elite unit?" Hideo sighed, "Honestly, you shouldn't, but I would like to be able to hand pick a unit that I would know be capable of protecting our colonies from Space Pirates and preventing people from trying to create bio-weapons. Though they were banned after the Galactic War, this doesn't prevent some people from trying to create new ones."

Shigeru nodded, "You have given me a good answer Captain, or should I say Major. You're in your thirties and you have shown yourself at being a great soldier and a leader." Shigeru took the rank insignia from Hideo's uniform and placed a new one, this one merely being a gold leaf, "Would you like me to give you some personnel files?" Hideo nodded slightly, "I already have a few people in mind." Shigeru looked at him, "Oh?" Hideo looked at his father, "Private First Class Laurie Miller, a trainee that is almost finished with her training shows excellent promise as a combat medic, and Lieutenant Thulani Gamede, who would make a great secondary medic. Also Lieutenant Linda Murray would be a great point man for the squad." Shigeru nodded slightly, "Those are good people, but here."

Hideo watched as Shigeru walked back to his desk and pulled out personnel files, "Here are a few recommendations." Hideo looked at them, "Victor Castillo is a familiar name. Who is he?" Shigeru sighed, "He's a former space pirate that the Verbanan Mercenary, Balthoron Miyamae personally captured at the age of seventeen, this was three years ago. He's an expert at demolitions and is ideal for breaking your way into any sealed room or anything like that." Hideo nodded slightly and picked the file up, looking at the next one, "Tariq Crawford, sir?" Shigeru smiled, "Tariq is a very friendly person, he's recently proved himself as a very capable soldier and is an expert with heavy weaponry. Our plasma machine guns seem almost natural extensions of him when he uses them. I would honestly recommend him."

Hideo nodded and picked up the personnel file, he noticed the files of the three people he had spoke of before and picked them up, another name catching his interest, "Encarnacion Lopez, but why?" Shigeru smiled, "You're going to need an engineer, my boy, keep your gear in tip top shape when you're out on the field or away from base. She's one of the best, and honestly since we're not really in a time of war anymore, I don't hesitate sending her your way." Hideo nodded and picked up the personnel file, checking the others out, "Svetlana Vinogradova, she's a good vehicle operator, and was raised within Verbanan territory, so if we do a joint venture with the Verbanans again, she'll be a great person to have on the team." As he took the file, he noticed one final one to catch his eye, "Captain Olujmi Dubazana..."

Hideo looked at the file, he knew that Olujmi was a cyborg, having lost most of his body as a young adult by being in the wrong place at the wrong time during a battle in a brief Human-Vampire conflict in the former Menschilche territories. He also knew that Captain Dubazana fielded a mini-mech into battle that carried all sorts of heavier weaponry than any normal human could carry, "I'll ask him about joining as well. So far, I think I have enough to have the beginnings of a squad." Shigeru nodded as Hideo took the final file and he put the others away, "I wish you the best, my son. But remember, you're still a military officer, you need to ensure that your men come back alive." Hideo nodded, "And accept the fact that there might be losses, I know. Permission to leave?" Shigeru nodded, "Permission granted, Major." Hideo saluted his father and walked out of the office to go talk to the people whose files he had.

[Akira110]

Chapter 1

Terran Year: 3303

A Human of Middle Eastern descent looked around at the base that the group had been provided, "I have to say, Hideo, your father did give us a great location, though are you sure the Verbanans are alright with us having a base this close to the border?" Hideo walked past and nodded, "Of course, Tariq, they have one right over there." A dark skinned woman walked in carrying a box, a violet AI hologram next to her carrying one as well, "Say, Hideo, what's up with Svetlana and Ewan?" Hideo turned towards her, "Laurie, Svetlana was born in Verbanan territory, actually quite close to Verbana itself and Ewan was born on the border. They're just glad to be back home is all." Laurie nodded and the violet AI spoke, "Where do I put this box?" Hideo pointed to a corner, "Put it right over there, Melissa. Tariq, where's Sally?"

An orange AI hologram appeared suddenly next to Tariq, "Hello, Major Date." Hideo smiled, "You can call me, Hideo. I would prefer if we don't deal with ranking in this group." Sally nodded, "Okay, Hideo! Is there anything I can do to help, I can't move far from Tariq, thanks to the emitter being on his person, but I can do what I can to help!" Hideo smiled, "Well, we're currently furnishing the base that was just finished. Since we're an elite group, we can afford certain luxuries, though we are still a military unit, so don't expect silk bedspreads." Tariq laughed as a brown haired, blue eyed man walked into the room, wearing a suit, the man smiled, "Aye, me friends, it's good ta be back. I was born here and spent my time as a wee lad around here." Sally giggled, she liked Ewan's accent, but Hideo sighed, "Ewan, help with unpacking, please."

Before Ewan could speak up, the clinking of metal against metal was heard and a dark skinned man wearing a khaki sweater and khaki pants walked in carrying several boxes, "Hideo, where would you like me to put these." Hideo sighed, "In the other room, Olujmi, also please don't overwork yourself, just because you're a cyborg. You're still a person and we care about you." A white AI hologram suddenly appeared and spoke up, "Captain Dubazana is perfectly fine and the weight is within the operational limits of his cybernetics." Olujmi sighed, "Thank you, Paden." Hideo shook his head, "Regardless, I would hate for you to damage yourself, Encarnacion is the only one that can repair you at the moment until the facilities are properly set up. Speaking of Encarnacion, where is she?"

Paden spoke up, "Chief Warrant Officer Lopez is in the lab area, she is working with her AI, Johnny." Hideo nodded slightly, "I'll go check on her, Tariq, you're in charge while I'm out." Tariq nodded and Hideo walked out of the room and started to walk down the hallway when he walked into a black haired male of obvious southwestern descent, "Oof." The man looked at him, "Ese! Watch where you're... oh, Major Date." Hideo sighed, "Pleasant as always Victor, if you don't mind, I'm in a hurry, can you and Midge help with the unpacking?" Victor nodded, "Of course, commander." Hideo sighed, "That's a naval rank. We're Army Spec Ops." Victor sighed, "You are our commanding officer." Hideo nodded and continued towards the labs.

When he walked into the labs he saw a dark skinned woman sitting at a computer, "Mary, have you seen Encarnacion?" Mary looked up at him, "I could hack into the security system and try to find her." Hideo sighed, as hacking into military systems is how Mary wound up nearly going to military prison as a civilian. She was only saved by that fate by him intervening and giving her a specialist role. Mary sighed, "That was a joke, sir. Robert is currently with her in the other room in the Lab." Balthoron nodded and walked towards the door, which opened for him, allowing him to see an AI hologram based off of a dark skinned human, a yellow AI hologram and a woman of southwestern descent, "Hello Robert, Johnny and Encarnacion."

Encarnacion turned towards him, "Hello, Hideo." Hideo smiled slightly, "Is your work space adequate?" Encarnacion nodded slightly, she brushed hair out of her eyes, "This place is amazing, how old is this base?" Hideo smiled slightly, "It was just built." Encarnacion nodded slightly, "This is absolutely amazing." Johnny looked at him, "This work space has a ninety-eight point five percent efficiency rating for allowing Encarnacion and I to work." Hideo pointed to Robert, "What's he doing here then?" Robert turned towards him, "Simple, I'm here to help out, I can access many different things within the military database and pass them on to Encarnacion so that she can build and modify weapons and armor for us." Hideo nodded slightly and turned around, "Alright, good to see that this is going well."

He turned around and left the room to see a Red AI hologram standing there, "Shaelyn, but Vesna isn't anywhere around here..." Shaelyn sighed, "I'm sorry, Vesna decided to leave my emitter here." Hideo nodded, "It's alright, I don't have an AI of my own, would you like to accompany me?" Shaelyn nodded slightly, and Hideo picked up the emitter, "Hopefully in a few months, this place will be in tip top shape and be fully functional, what do you think?" Shaelyn sighed as she walked forward, forcing Hideo to do the same, "Well, it's a nice place, just I wish we AIs could explore this place on our own." Hideo nodded, "The military is working on allowing that to happen, Shaelyn. It's less a technological issue and more a legal one." Shaelyn sighed, "Do you consider us people?" Hideo nodded, "I do, that's why every one of you are unofficially Privates in rank." Shaelyn smiled slightly as she looked out the window, "That's good to hear."

[Akira110]

Chapter 2

Laurie sighed slightly as her AI, Melissa spoke at her, "It looks like we got all of the stuff in here, Laurie." Laurie looked over at Olujmi, "Hey, Captain, do you think that we'll be able to get some down time?" Olujmi looked at her, "That is not my jurisdiction, Laurie. It's up to Hideo, speaking of which, here he comes now." Hideo walked in with a red AI, "Alright, since we're in an era of peace and we don't really have to worry about anything, I'm going to authorize everyone downtime. You're all welcome to go out into the space colony and hang around out there, but remember, do not be complacent as you are still technically on the clock. Just I know most of you wouldn't like to spend your work day doing repetitive tasks around here, and would rather be out there doing stuff like patrols and the like. Linda and Vesna have already left the base, but eh, that's what they do."

Tariq spoke up, "Major, with all due respect, isn't this a bit excessive. Also we should put a fitness center in the base." Hideo nodded, "Well, we are somewhat understaffed at the moment, so I don't believe so. It'll be about another week before everything is running in a manner that somewhat resembles a military base. Keep in mind that you will be required to sleep at this base, but other than that you can go outside the base and do what you want, so long as you are actively patrolling the city and making sure that there aren't any military grade threats going around." Olujmi spoke up, "Sir, how can we do what we want if we have to patrol the city." Hideo placed his hand on Olujmi's shoulder, "I'm saying that you can go out and enjoy yourself, just don't get complacent, and don't go out alone, nor unarmed."

Ewan spoke up as he entered the room, "Sir, with all due respect, what about our AIs?" Hideo shrugged, "It's not like the whole idea of military AIs is classified information, there's civilian AIs, look at Robert." Ewan nodded, "Aye sir, but wouldn't they scare the hell out of them?" Hideo shook his head, "No, now please, go on and head out, I have to do administrative duties, like balance our budget and the like." Ewan looked at a half-dragon AI that appeared, "I think he be scunnered, Marcio." Hideo blinked, "Um... I have no idea what that meant." Ewan sighed, "Sorry, you seem annoyed. Ye need ta keep the heid." Hideo shrugged, "I have no idea what the hell you're on about right now, but whatever." Ewan nodded and turned towards the door, "I'm gonna ask Thulani if he wants to join me out there. Haste ye back!"

They watched as Ewan walked out and Tariq looked down at Laurie and then Hideo, "Sometimes I wonder what kind of common that he's speaking here." Hideo shrugged and walked off, "You have your orders, follow them or don't, it doesn't matter to me at this second, I have to get to work." Laurie looked at Olujmi and Tariq, "Well the Major wants us to go out on the town, either of you would like to accompany me?" Olujmi looked around, "I do not feel comfortable around civilians, I am nervous that they will treat me as being less than human because I have lost a majority of my organic parts." Tariq smiled, "Of course, Laurie, also Olujmi, you don't have to worry about anything, if they treat you less than human, I'll be sure to tell them otherwise." Olujmi nodded slightly, "Thanks, Tariq."

Laurie opened a box and grabbed three pistols for them and took out a single power pack for each, handing a pistol to Tariq and Olujmi, in addition to a single power pack, "The boss said for us to not be complacent and to go out there armed." Melissa spoke up, "Vesna seems to be slightly stressed and Linda is slightly happier." Tariq laughed, "They're probably having a competition. So, where do you guys want to go to?" Laurie sighed, "Honestly, I could go for a nice cold beer, myself." Olujmi looked at her, "You're twenty-one?" Laurie nodded, "Just turned twenty-one a few weeks ago, joined the military in the year thirty-three hundred." Tariq nodded slightly, "A beer sounds great right about now, especially after we just carried those heavy [censored] boxes into this base without any help, Olujmi, what do you think?"

Olujmi sighed, "You do know that I cannot consume alcohol, correct?" Tariq nodded and placed his hand on Olujmi's shoulder, "Then we'll get you some water, or a soda, your choice." Olujmi nodded slightly, "Honestly, a good book would do just as well." Laurie nodded, "Sounds great, so we go to the bar first and then we go find a library?" Tariq smiled and Sally spoke up, "Oooh, that sounds very much like a plan! We're going to have so much fun!" Melissa sighed, "So you've been given your first mission and you're already going to get drunk?" Olujmi spoke up, "Not drunk, she and Tariq are only going to have a single drink, Melissa. Laurie isn't a lightweight, so I doubt that she's going to get drunk after a single beer." Melissa scoffed and vanished as Sally frowned, "I wonder what her issue is."

Laurie started to walk ahead as Tariq, Olujmi and Sally followed her, "She is designed as a medical assistance AI, she's supposed to keep me healthy, while helping me keep the rest of the squad healthy. A drunk medic is useless to the rest of the squad, so she does technically have a point." The four of them quickly exited the base and Tariq spoke up, "Your AI honestly doesn't have to be like that about it. I know she cares and all, but at that point, she was just being overbearing, almost as if she was trying to be your mother." Laurie sighed, "Honestly, I hope not, I don't get along with my own mother as is, but less said about that, the better." Olujmi spoke up, "So are we going to hit the road any time soon?" Laurie smirked, "I thought you'd never ask, Captain." Olujmi grumbled as the four of them walked towards the city to find a bar.

[Akira110]

Chapter 3

Laurie smiled as they finally rolled into town, "It's rather nice around here, wonder what my balance is looking like." She pulled out her wallet and grabbed a credit chip, she pressed her thumb against it and she saw that she had thirty thousand credits in the bank, "Alright, I got some time to kill, so let's get to that bar shall we!" Tariq laughed slightly, "You seem to be in a real hurry to get drunk." Laurie nodded, "Well, we can have a drink while we're on duty, can't we?" A voice spoke up, "Normally my boss doesn't let us drink while we're on duty." Laurie looked around and was confused when she didn't see anything. Olujmi was staring in a direction, "You cannot hide from me." A male Eekhoorn walked out of the shadows, becoming visible to the naked eye, Tariq smiled slightly, "A Verbanan Eekhoorn if I'm not mistaken, from the northwestern most continent?"

The Eekhoorn nodded slightly, "Yes. I'm Huibert, though most people find it easier to call me Hilbert. Don't worry, I've not been following you." Laurie nodded, "So, why are you here?" Huibert shrugged, "The boss wants me to be around here, I'm patrolling the area and helping out the detective that's in the Furicorn over there." Tariq nodded, "Ah, I'm Tariq, this is Laurie, and the other male is Olujmi." Huibert nodded, "He's got cybernetic eyes, Mom passed down her shadow magic to me, no unaugmented human could see me without any sort of assistance." Laurie looked at Olujmi, who looked at her, "I want to get away from this squirrel person, he's making me quite uncomfortable." Huibert nodded and leapt away before any of them could say anything, and Laurie shrugged, "So you guys want to check out the Furicorn?"
Tariq shrugged and walked towards the bar, Laurie and Olujmi following as well. Once inside, they noticed that the bar wasn't quite heavily populated, a half elf was manning the bar, he wore glasses and had reddish brown hair and a goatee, "Come on, don't be shy. We're not at peak hours right now, so feel free to have a seat." Olujmi sat down at the bar and looked at the bartender, "Barkeep, I can only have water." The bartender looked at him, "You don't seem underage, but if that's what you want." Laurie sat down, "Thin Wheel for me." The Bartender nodded, "Bottle or tap?" Laurie thought for a second, "Tap." Tariq smirked as he sat down, "I'd like a blue [censored] please." Laurie looked at him, but the bartender spoke up, "One Blue [censored], one Thin Wheel and one water coming up."

Laurie watched as the bartender poured a glass of water and slid it over to Olujmi, she then watched as he expertly poured her a beer and slid it over to her. She watched intently as the bartender mixed Citron Vodka, Curacao liqueur and sweet and sour mix into a small glass and slid it over to Tariq who smiled as he picked up the glass, "Love the color, Barkeep, I'll be sure to add it to your tip." Tariq placed the glass to his lips and knocked the drink back, "That hit the spot." Laurie nodded slight as she started to slowly sip her beer, the bartender looked at them, "Judging by the fact that you're packing heat, you're either here to stir up trouble or are with the local police force." Olujmi spoke up, "How do you know that we're armed." A voice from the corner spoke up, "I scanned all three of you when you entered. None of you are with the police force, but Leon, I don't think they're here to start any trouble."

Leon nodded, "So where are you guys from?" Tariq thumbed behind him, "We're from the recently built military base, this whole space station is a colony that's eventually going to be settled down on that planet when we're done terraforming it." The voice spoke up, "You guys are military, huh? I'm police, myself." Laurie watched as the person walked over to them, it was a half-elf just like Leon, except this person had green hair, "Detective Brian Aran, Verbanan Security Force." Brian flashed his badge at them to prove his identity, "We have similar goals around here, To protect this colony, but I'm not going to expect you guys to do this for free, where's your commanding officer." Laurie sipped at her beer, "He's back at base, and if you want to come with us, we promised Olujmi and Paden a trip to the local library."

Olujmi sipped at his water as Brian looked at them, "Paden?" Paden's Hologram appeared before them, "Hello, Brian, I'm Paden. I'm the AI belonging to Olujmi Dubazana, I help operate his cybernetics, because he..." Leon spoke up, "So you're a cyborg, huh?" Olujmi sighed and placed a gloved hand on his face, "Here we go." Brian spoke up, "Even better, someone with your abilities could be of great help solving this case." Olujmi blinked at Brian's tone, "Wait, you don't think I'm less than human?" Brian stroked his beard, "If I had to say, you're roughly ten, fifteen percent human, the rest of you is cybernetic, but what makes you human is still part of who you are." Olujmi blinked in disbelief and Tariq laughed, "See, Olujmi, Laurie and I were right about people treating you like you're human!"

Laurie passed her credit chip to Leon, but Brian placed his own on the table, "I'll pay for their drinks." Laurie blinked, "Wha?" Brian smiled at her, "Being part of the Verbanan Security Forces I make more money than you guys do. So, I figured that you guys will need your money more than I do. Anyhow, I'm going to head to your base and talk to your commanding officer." Leon grabbed the chip and charged it before tossing it to Brian who was leaving the bar. Brian caught the chip and turned around, "By the way, there's a Kilf in this city that you might want to get in contact with, he might be able to help you with base construction." Laurie started to ask what Brian meant by that, but watched as he left. Leon however spoke up, "I heard rumors about the Kilf, but only know about one of the people who come here that work for him." Tariq spoke up, "Who is the person that comes around here?" Leon looked at him, "Lieutenant Colonel Faerondalan."

[Akira110]

Chapter 4

Brian sighed slightly as he walked along the street from the city towards the base, the chronometers in the space station had told him that it was nighttime but the stars were always out, with only artificial lighting to tell the difference between day and night. He checked his coat pocket and pulled out his cigarettes, snapping his fingers and using his mana to light it instantly. He drew on the cigarette when a female voice spoke up, "You're going to [censored] up your lungs like that." Brian sighed and called out, "Dammit Samantha, what if I don't... wait..." Brian realized he didn't recognize the voice that spoke up and looked around to see a woman with long red hair, she looked quite physically fit and wore a blue tank top with dogtags, "Ah, so you're one of the military people that are around here. And your name is...?"

The woman spoke up, "Lieutenant Linda Murray." Another woman spoke up in a cold manner, "I'm Corporal Vesna Boulos." Brian turned around to see a blond haired woman with green eyes glaring at him, "Wonder what I did to piss you off." Brian grabbed his cigarette and tapped it to cause the ashes to fall to the ground, "So, you're both from the military, that's good, the two of you can help me, I want to see your commanding officer." Vesna scoffed, "A civilian problem shouldn't be the issue of the military." Brian shook his head, "Is when said problem is packing military grade equipment." Vesna shook her head, "I don't believe you." Brian put his cigarette in his mouth and turned to Linda, sticking his hand into his coat pocket to retrieve a datapad, "Here, Lieutenant, this should have all the information you need."

Linda took the Datapad from Brian and looked it over, a green AI hologram appeared, "Linda, I would advise against following through with this information, we lack any actual intelligence of our own and even then, our numbers are small and we wouldn't be able to take out an operation of this size on our own." Linda spoke up, annoyed, "I know, James, I'm not stupid. Seriously, sometimes I think that you assume that I'm some child that doesn't know what she's getting into. I think I'll have Mary look into this, by the way, what's your name?" Brian pulled out his badge, "Detective Brian Aran, Verbanan Security Force, Honoo Division. I was transferred here to lead an investigation into some rumors about a cartel of some sort. I've been trying to dig up some information, but aside from what my contacts in the Verbanan Mercenary Forces have given me, and my contact in the Verbanan Assassins Guild has given me, I've got nothing to go off of."

James spoke up, "See, he has contacts with Assassins, this person is dangerous!" Linda sighed, "Shut up, James!" Vesna pulled out a pistol and took aim at Brian, "James might be right." Brian didn't even turn or flinch, "Even if you are military, you can be arrested for assaulting an officer. Pull the trigger and you will have killed an officer. What's it going to be Corporal, put the gun down or go to prison." Vesna didn't move, "You're bluffing." Brian smirked slightly, "I have an AI as well, and she's started recording this entire situation the moment you pulled a gun on me." Vesna lowered her pistol, "Fine, but we're taking you to the base." Brian nodded, "That's good to hear, I've been wanting to go there anyhow. By the way, if you knew anything about the Verbanan Assassins, they've been doing more spy and informant work than assassinations these days."

James spoke up, "Though it is true that Detective Aran has an AI, the AI has not shown any activity since we first encountered him." Brian grabbed his cigarette and tossed it to the ground, stepping on it as James continued, "Furthermore, his body language and the fact that there have been no changes suggests that there is at least a ninety-seven percent chance that he's telling the truth." Brian nodded and motioned towards the base, "So are we going to get to go or not, sure you guys are going to have me in a holding cell until your commanding officer can talk to me." Samantha spoke up, "This is not how the human military operates, Brian, unless you have forgotten in the last two hundred years." Brian sighed, "Well at least you're not telling me to stop smoking because I'll destroy my lungs this time."

Linda nodded and started walking ahead with Vesna close behind, Brian decided to speak up to Linda, "So Lieutenant Murray, does Corporal Boulos usually have a stick up her [censored] or does she warm up to people." Vesna looked back to shoot him a glare and flipped him off, but Linda spoke up, "She's usually cold to everyone." Brian sighed, "Was afraid that was the case, oh well. So what's your commanding officer like." Linda didn't speak, but James did, "Major Hideo Date is a very well respected commanding officer and he created this unit in the year three thousand three hundred and one. According to his personality profile and what I have experienced from him myself as an AI, he should be welcoming of you and be willing to give you what assistance that you will need, Detective."

Brian nodded slightly, "That's good to hear." He looked up at the stars and wondered how his mother was doing back in the wood elf kingdom on Verbana, and then wondered how his old partner, Xander was doing. He was snapped out of his train of thought by Samantha, "Brian, you seem disoriented, is there something that I can do to help?" Brian shook his head, "No, nothing. Just wondering about my mother and my old partner is all." Samantha spoke up again, "I see, I guess it must be nice having a family and friends to speak of." Brian sighed slightly, "Samantha, I'm going to have to tell you something that I've not spoken of since the day you were created." Samantha projected a hologram of a dark skinned woman from Brian's visor, "What is it that you mean, Brian?" Brian sighed as he continued following Linda and Vesna, "You were based off of a human that I once loved, but died to a heart attack."

[Akira110]

Chapter 5

Hideo sat in his room at the base and was going through personnel files, when suddenly Mary walked in, "Sir, there's someone on base. Robert has told me that he has picked up another movement signature." Hideo nodded slightly, "Did he get a good look at the person in question?" Mary shook her head, "No, but they don't seem hostile, the movement patterns from what I've seen have more been trying to figure out where someone is and there's no weapon signatures." A female voice spoke up, "That's because I'm not stupid and won't bring a weapon onto a military base." Suddenly a female Eekhoorn appeared before their eyes and Mary instinctively reached for a weapon, but Hideo glared at her, "Mary, don't." He looked at the Eekhoorn, "Who are you?" The Eekhoorn looked at him, "Major Hideo Date, formerly Captain Hideo Date, was promoted two years ago."

Hideo blinked, "Yes, that's who I am, but who are you?" She looked at Mary and then back at Hideo, "I'm Hilda Nyenhuis. I work with the security forces of Verbana, I'm currently working alongside Detective Brian Aran, I'm just an officer though." Mary blinked, "Hilda Nyenhuis is the name of Klaartje Nyenhuis' daughter, that would mean that you're..." Hilda nodded, "One-quarter deity, just like my twin brother." Hideo nodded, "How much information do you have on the Verbanans, Mary?" Mary smirked, "I'm the greatest hacker and infiltration expert that the humans have." Hideo sighed, "You boast about that, but honestly I don't have any metric to measure you by. Anyhow, Hilda, what are you doing here?" Hilda looked around, "I'm looking for the base commander, can you help me find him?"

Hideo placed his hands on his desk, "Yes, how can I help you?" Hilda blinked, "You're the base commander?" Hideo nodded, "Yes, Officer Nyenhuis." Hilda opened her mouth, but suddenly Brian walked through the door to the office, "You're the base commander, that's good." Hideo blinked slightly, "Alright, what's it with people and just randomly entering my office, I mean I can understand Mary doing it, because she's one of my men, but the two of you..." Brian pulled out his badge, "I'm a detective, sir, and I was looking to get some military assistance for the case that I'm working on. I've been working closely with the mercenary force that has been here for a while, led by the Red Reaper himself, but without assistance from the human military we can't make a move on the threat that is posed to this colony."

Hideo blinked slightly, "Alright, slow down, Detective, what threat to the colony?" Hilda spoke up, "There is a cartel that is smuggling illegal items into the colony from Verbanan territory, it's why the Verbanan Security Forces have gotten involved. Detective Aran and I were working on the case when we found out that these people have military grade equipment and would make short work of the two of us." Hideo nodded slightly, "So there's some sort of cartel that's operating within the colony that has military grade equipment and what kind of things are they smuggling into the colony?" Hilda spoke up, "While my twin brother and I were sneaking around using the shadow cloaking that Mom gave us, we noticed some illegal materials which included military hardware and a new drug that they called Tod-Wasser."

Brian nodded, "Tod-Wasser was made illegal pretty much immediately because it had zero medicinal value and true to the name in the Lupine language, would kill those who took it fairly quickly. We had thought that all records of how to make it were destroyed, but somehow these people have crates of this stuff." Hideo sighed, "So wouldn't this be the problem of the police and not the military?" Brian sighed, "Major, if the police were to try to pull a raid off on this cartel, they would be sending the entire force back to Terra in boxes. This is why we need some military help, but the Red Reaper won't move unless he knows that he has human support." Hideo sighed and looked at Mary, "Who is the Red Reaper?"

Mary adjusted her glasses, "The nom de guerre of Red Reaper was given to Balthoron Miyamae by the Human Government during the Blitz of Lokono." Hideo nodded slightly, "In the Arawak System, Balthoron and the Raptors led the allied forces charge against the Thraxi stronghold in that area. After a bloody battle, it was revealed that he was the one that entered the occupied research station and killed around thirty percent of the Thraxi soldiers in it. But you're telling me that Balthoron is here on this station?" Brian nodded, "Yes, the reason he hasn't left even when his contract was over was because of this cartel." Hideo nodded, "Can you get in contact with him?" Hilda shook her head, "Huibert won't let me contact him, and Brian doesn't know where to look." Hideo looked at Mary, "Can you track Balthoron down?" Mary nodded, "I can do my best, I doubt even he can hide from me."

Hideo nodded slightly and stood up, "Hilda, Brian, while we search for Balthoron, why don't the two of you stay here at the base as our guests. Normally bursting into my office would get you a cell for the night, but since the two of you have come to me for help, I figured the least I can do is offer you a place to stay for a bit." Brian blinked, "So does this mean that you'll be helping us?" Hideo shook his head, "Unless I can get in contact with Balthoron, I won't be helping you at all. But if this cartel is bad as you say it is, if I can't get in contact with the Red Reaper, I'll call in for military reinforcements. Though I don't think this is a mere cartel that we're dealing with, Brian." Brian blinked, "What do you mean?" Hideo sighed and looked out his window at stars past the dome, "Brian, the only type of criminal that carries military grade equipment and trades it are Space Pirates..."

[Akira110]

Chapter 6

Twenty-four hours had passed and Mary had been chosen for an infiltration mission, because of her training in that area. She checked her cloaking device and noted that it had a full charge and checked her weapon. She was at the secret entrance that Hilda had told them about and she spoke into her headset, "I'm going in, I'm going to maintain radio silence until I come back out." She switched off her headset and inputted the password she had been given, she watched as the door opened up and activated her cloaking device, slipping in undetected. She knew that she only had half an hour to get in and do what she came here to do. She silently walked through the corridors and headed straight for the loading bay when she overheard one of the people inside speaking up, "The humans have put a military force on the station, we should be more quick to act, how much longer before we can start poisoning people?"

Another voice spoke up, "We'll have everything ready in seventy-two hours." Mary was surprised, the Eekhoorn's intel was correct, however a third voice spoke up, "Yeah, and we're going to start selling the antidote for a large ransom, but the human military, nor those Verbanans are ever going to get it." Mary held back a gasp and held back her anger. She knew that if she acted on her anger at this point, she'd get caught and could never report back to the others. She instead slipped into a storage room on her left and looked at the crates, what both Brian and Hilda had said was true, they were carrying this new drug that they were planning on using to poison the population of the entire colony. She heard footsteps behind her and slipped away from where she was currently standing, one of the space pirates looked into the room, "Hey Steve! You want me to grab you a cigarette from the storage room?"

Mary couldn't hear the response, but moved away from the space pirate while cloaked, she drew her weapon in case things went south. The space pirate moved around the room, "Dammit, Jim, you're always moving the cigs around, sometimes Steve and I just wanna have a smoke." The space pirate looked in her direction and she readied the pistol, when he noticed the cigarettes, "Ah, here they are." As the space pirate moved towards her, she moved back slightly and watched as he grabbed a carton of cigarettes. The space pirate continued moving towards her and she kept moving back, until she reached a corner, but watched as he swung around her, barely missing her and walked out the door, leaving it open. Mary breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to one of the crates that weren't in the view of the door.

She looked at it and noticed it was open, one of the containers was missing, so she feared the worst and grabbed one, sticking it in her pocket and quietly closing the crate and slipping out of the storage room. She quietly snuck through the loading bay and started moving towards the front entrance when she saw it open and ducked out of the way as people started to come through, she noticed several humans, but also a single Verbanan walk into the room, however the Verbanan seemed very familiar to her. Unfortunately she couldn't get a good look at the Verbanan before he spoke up, "Men, go to your stations. Lindsey, prepare to pull the alarm. Someone unauthorized is in the base. I'll search for him."

Mary knew that the Verbanan, being a Kitsune had exceptional hearing and an exceptional sense of smell, so she started moving silently immediately away from her current position, but watched as the Kitsune walked towards her, "Olly Olly Oxen [censored]." Mary aimed her weapon at the Kitsune's head, and the Kitsune smiled, "I can smell you, your scent is strongest here." The Kitsune grabbed at where he thought she was and that gave her an idea. She deliberately tapped her foot on the ground in front of him as she moved to the side. When the Kitsune grabbed at that location, she slipped past him, the Kitsune looking slightly confused before turning around to look in her general direction. Mary knew that her cloaking device was going to run out soon, so she had to figure out a way to escape from this situation.

She started to move slightly faster without making any more noise, as the Kitsune followed behind her, "I don't know how you got in here, but I know you're not getting out." Mary held back a sigh as she walked to the door and noticed that it was still open, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be for long. She quickly walked towards the door, in a manner she thought was silent, but the Kitsune was able to hear her, and he quickly grabbed her, "Gotcha! Cloaking device! How quaint!" Mary used her knowledge of Kitsune physiology to her advantage as she pistol whipped him in the nose and ran out of the base after he let go to grab at his nose, shooting the outside keypad as the door closed behind her. She didn't stop running, even after her cloaking device ran out, however someone else grabbed her and pulled her into an alleyway, placing his hand over her mouth as he looked at her.

She looked at the figure, but couldn't get a good look at him, but he whispered, "I watched you infiltrate the base, I need you to tell your commanding officer to meet my contact at the Furicorn in about ten hours. Can you do that?" Mary nodded slightly, and the figure let go, "They're not coming out... I think you're safe." Mary nodded, "Why'd you tell me this?" The figure smiled before retreating into the shadows, "You gave my twin sister a place to stay. Besides, I feel that if our forces work together, it'll be beneficial for the people of the colony. Remember, the Furicorn in about ten hours." Mary nodded and walked out of the alleyway, turning on her radio once she knew she was out of Kitsune Earshot in case the kitsune had figured out how to escape, "Major Date, what Brian and Hilda said is right, and Hilda's twin brother wants us to meet his contact at the Furicorn in around ten hours." Hideo's voice spoke over the radio, "Alright, come on home and get some rest, Private Reed."

[Akira110]

Chapter 7

The appointed time had arrived and both Tariq and Svetlana had been chosen to go to the Furicorn. Svetlana's AI spoke up, "I do not detect anyone around here other than us and the bartender." Svetlana frowned, "Elise, you know that they said that they'll be here within this hour." Elise's pink hologram appeared as Thulani walked in, a powder blue hologram behind him, "Hey guys, the Major thought Ewan and I should accompany you." Tariq nodded as he watched Thulani and Ewan walk over to the bar, "What do you two want to drink, and Ewan, don't think about trying to order alcohol, you're nineteen." Ewan frowned, "Oi! Ye be daft thinkin that I ain't had a bit of the ol' creature befer!" Elise giggled slightly, "Your accent is amusing, Ewan." Ewan nodded, "Thank ya kindly, lass." Tariq frowned, but Thulani looked at the bartender, "Barkeep, I'll have an Pina Colada."

Leon nodded and went to work making the drink, "Gonna have to see your ID." Thulani nodded and showed his ID, Leon took it and checked it, "Alright, good, otherwise, I'd have to give this to the customer that just walked in." Ewan looked back to see a man covered in a robe and hiding his face with a hat, he saw a glimpse of silver hair, "Ey, ya think that could be our man?" Svetlana looked at the man who sat down at a table on his own, "It could be, Tariq, do you think I should go talk to him?" Tariq shrugged, "Ewan, go with her." Ewan nodded, "Aye, sir." The two of them stood up and walked over to the figure, Svetlana speaking up, "Hello." The figure replied in a language neither of them understood, but Svetlana recognized, "Si mi tenpiswo ekess vulsh, sjek coi ui ti jathila, gethrisj mojka." Svetlana shook her head, "I'm sorry, I do not speak Draconic."

The figure looked up, revealing a face covered in silver scales, "Ai mar sar ais air air byr aistysal, kai eirdae, Ai ber shal sai pol." Ewan frowned, "Ey! Ye be off yer damn heid! The lady said she don't understand Draconic!" The figure sighed and spoke in a somewhat reptilian accent, "That time I was speaking elvish. So this time, I'll speak in a language that you can understand. I'm here to have a drink, if it's not important, piss off." Svetlana frowned, "That's rather rude, you know." The figure sighed, moving his hat off his face to reveal an elvish looking face if not for the draconic scales covering it, "I don't care, I got enough problems with the damn space pirates rolling around and my commanding officer is dragging his feet. If this keeps up, we'll all be killed." Ewan blinked, "Did ye say space pirates?"

The figure nodded and looked at the bartender, "Yo, Leon! Grab me a generic beer, will ya!" Leon nodded and grabbed a bottle, tossing it to the figure, who caught it in his hand, popping it open on the table and drinking the beer, "Yeah, I did, you guys have a problem with that?" Svetlana shook her head, "You wouldn't be Lieutenant Colonel Faerondalan, would you?" The figure looked at Svetlana, his dark blue reptilian eyes narrowed at her, "What are you looking for my great-grandfather for?" She sighed, but Tariq instead spoke up, "We're human military, we've recently moved in and are setting up a base near here." The figure put down his beer and smiled, revealing sharp teeth and creeping Svetlana out a bit, "No [censored], you guys are my contacts, so you're on time and I happened to have been late. This makes things a lot easier."

Ewan nodded, "Aye, it does." The figure smirked, "I'm Lieutenant Arthon Faerondalan, of the Raptor Mercenary Forces. My great-grandfather has sparked an interest in speaking to you and has mentioned to one of his higher ups that working with the human military is the only way to solve this whole space pirate problem." Svetlana nodded and Elise spoke up, "Why do you hide your body like that?" Arthon took a drink of his beer, "Because, AI, Half-Dragons aren't exactly well liked by humans. Something to do with ancient animosity between the Dragons and the Humans, and furthermore, I'm one-quarter Human and one-quarter Elvish, so I got one hell of a short end of that particular stick. Fortunately my commanding officer is a half-elf from Verbanan, so he sort of has some sort of sympathy for me."

Tariq nodded, "I understand what you must feel like, being of both Draconic and Human blood, but we are taking steps to accept the fact that our races have been breeding with each other and taking steps to raise the offspring, despite the fact that we may not be able to live to see them reach full adulthood at times." Arthon nodded slightly, "That's good to hear." He looked at Thulani, "Hey, you in the orange shirt, can you come here for a moment?" Thulani looked up from his drink and nodded, "Sure thing." He walked over to Arthon who looked at him, "I thought I recognized your scent. You're Thulani Gamede, I was working with the Eidechse during that conflict. I apologize for what happened to your parents." Thulani shook his head, "I harbor no ill will towards you, nor the Eidechse for what they have done."

Arthon nodded slightly, "You're quite wise." The powder blue AI spoke up, "According to official records, you helped out in the refugee camps." Tariq looked at her, "Is this true, Alexandria?" Thulani grabbed his head as images flashed through his mind and Alexandria sighed and hugged him, "Sorry, Arthon, just seeing you has triggered a minor episode of PTSD." Arthon nodded slightly and placed a credit chip on the table, "If it's alright, I'll inform my commander that our forces should meet at your base." Tariq nodded slightly, "That seems okay with me, I'm sure Major Date won't have any issues with it. Do you know where the base is?" Arthon stood up and put his hat back on, "Of course I do, Huibert followed the red headed woman to the base." Tariq blinked, "Wait, Arthon, one of your men spied on us?" Arthon shook his head, "We were going to drop by to talk about the space pirates anyhow, making it official and knowing where to meet you guys just makes it easier." Tariq nodded and watched as the half-dragon left.

[Akira110]

Chapter 8

Hideo sighed as he stood in the research and development lab of his base, Johnny walked over to him and looked up at him, "Sir, is everything alright?" Hideo shook his head, "No, we're understaffed, underfunded and I'm a Major, I should be commanding more soldiers than I have right now, but I chose to go with a small unit." Johnny nodded slightly, "Would you like a beverage?" Hideo nodded, "Some tea will be nice, thank you." Linda walked over to him, "You seem a bit tense, sir." Hideo nodded slightly, "Yeah, we barely got here and suddenly we have to deal with space pirates and if what Mary has told us is correct, we don't have a lot of time left." Victor walked in, "Hey, I heard something about space pirates, who's their leader?"

Linda looked at Victor and Hideo folded his arms, "It's a Kitsune from what I know." Victor shook his head, "There aren't any space pirate factions that have a Kitsune as a leader. They work better rooting out spies and [censored]." Hideo nodded, "As a former Space Pirate, I'm sure you'd know all about that." Victor folded his arms, "Man, I was supposed to be the captain of my own pirate vessel by now, we were supposed to be enemies, but here I am working with the military and being on the up and up. How [censored] has changed thanks to that pezzo di [censored], the Red Reaper..." Hideo sighed as Johnny brought him a cup of tea, "Thank you Johnny." Johnny looked at him, "Victor seems mad." Linda frowned, "Victor is always mad."

Victor looked at Linda, "Vete a la mierda." Hideo looked at him, "Private Castillo, that is not how you speak to a member of this unit! We are to treat each other with respect, and though Linda was being rude, she is right. You always seem angry because you're no longer with the space pirates. Now can you give us any insight on the space pirate forces that are in that base or not?" Victor shrugged, "All I know about it is that they got a Kitsune for an enforcer, which means that the leader could be a Human, an Eidechse or a Vampire for all I know." Hideo sighed and sipped his tea, "Fine, I'll have to wait til the Verbanan mercenaries get here for me to get any sort of an idea of what's going on."

Vesna walked into the room, "...Sir, with all due respect, I think that we shouldn't allow Victor on this next mission." Victor looked at her, "What are you implying!?" Vesna looked at Victor, "That you're easily corruptible and would quickly switch sides to the space pirates." Victor shrugged, "And you're not going to say anything about the Major and the Lieutenant's love affair?" Hideo shook his head, "Just because Lieutenant Murray and I have a thing for each other, doesn't mean that we'll be corrupted. This whole thing about you can't fraternize within the military was phased out a long time ago when they realized that lovers make better partners out on the battlefields and there's no way to stop people from making connections with each other."

Linda nodded and looked at James, who looked at Hideo, "James, can you go get me some tea?" James nodded and walked off, leaving Linda to speak to Vesna, "Victor is part of this squad, he'll be coming with us on this mission whether you like it or not, Vesna." Vesna sighed, "Fine." Vesna walked out of the room and Victor looked at Linda, "I didn't need you to stand up for me, Lieutenant." Victor walked out of the room, but Encarnacion walked in, "Those who are quite hard headed and hostile towards each other, makes me wonder why I've not yet had to patch up Victor's armor. Speaking of which, I've started modifying the armor and weapons of the squad, it'll take me a full day to finish all of the modifications."

Hideo nodded slightly, "I never asked, how are you faring, Encarnacion, you've yet to catch a break since we first got here." Encarnacion nodded, "I know, but I'm doing quite fine, Hideo." Hideo nodded slightly and sighed as he looked out of a window, "You know, I joined the military to protect people and because my father and Grandfather were soldiers. Grandpa was known as the Thunderclap of the East, it's said that he fought alongside the Red Reaper himself. Linda, why'd you join the military?" Linda looked around and sighed, "It's because I wanted to escape from my situation, I was born downtrodden and I never really had a chance at anything in life, so I figured that the only way out of the crime infested neighborhood I lived in was by signing up."

Hideo nodded slightly, "How about you, Encarnacion?" Encarnacion chuckled, "Honestly, I just like working with the latest technology, when I figured that the military was the first people to get the shiniest toys out there, I decided to sign up." James walked back over, "Here you go, Linda. Also there are at least fifteen bio-signs outside of the base, all of them register to be Verbanan." Linda took the cup of tea and Hideo sighed, "Well, might as well go let them in." Linda nodded and followed Hideo as he walked out of the room, to the front entrance of the base. Hideo pressed a few buttons on the keypad and placed his hand on the hand print scanner, the door to the base opened up and he saw that there were fifteen Verbanans standing outside, "Welcome to my base." One in particular, a drow with short white hair and a goatee nodded, "Thank you, Major Date."

[Akira110]

Chapter 9

Hideo sat in his office while Caladwen looked at him, "So, you're the commanding officer of the Raptors?" Caladwen shook his head, "I'm the Executive officer, the commanding officer is on this base, but he wasn't the one that was hired for this job." Hideo nodded, "Alright, who hired you?" Caladwen looked him in the eyes, "Your father did, he hired me to bring the raptors into the colony until this base was finished, we were supposed to pull out, until we noticed some unusual activity. We had Huibert check into it and to our surprise, it was space pirates. I personally made the decision to wait until we could find your base and arrange a meeting before we continued forth." Hideo sighed, "Unfortunately, I wish to speak to your commanding officer." Caladwen shook his head, "The commander is currently speaking with two humans who have lived near Verbanan territory."

Hideo sighed, "So, Caladwen, now that you have an accurate judge of our forces, what is your analysis of the situation?" Caladwen sighed, "I'm not a combatant, and I assume neither the hacker nor the quartermaster are combatants." Hideo shook his head, "Neither am I." Caladwen shook his head, "Altogether, we have twenty-three combatants, the odds are heavily in the favor of the space pirates. Reinforcements must arrive before we attack from either the Humans or the Raptors in order for us to stand a chance." Hideo looked down, "I was afraid you would say that. So how many soldiers do you think that we'll need?" Caladwen sighed, "Roughly a hundred to stand a chance down there." Hideo nodded and before he could respond, he heard something slam into his door and heard Victor speaking.

Hideo sighed and opened the door to see the Verbanans standing between his men and the combatants, one looked like an armored Kitsune, while Victor was the other one, "What the hell is going on in here!?" Victor sighed, "This is the Red Reaper, I'm going to pay him back for what he did to me, or I would, if the coward would remove his armor." The armored Verbanan looked at Victor, "Fine, you want a repeat of several years ago, that's alright with me." Hideo watched as the armored Verbanan removed his armor, revealing that underneath he was a kilf wearing a suit, but Hideo noticed an object on the Kilf's right hand, "What the..." Victor looked at him, "You're a Kilf!?" The Kilf smiled, "Yeah, got a problem with it?" Victor rushed at the Kilf who grabbed Victor's tackle and expertly twisted around the human.

Victor stumbled a bit and the Kilf spoke, "You're still just a boy who thinks that he's a man. You're fighting one of the most..." Victor turned around and rushed the Kilf, with a punch, the Kilf just moved around the punch and shoved Victor forward as he continued, "well-known mercenaries in the galaxy and you don't even have a plan." Victor growled and grabbed an object and swung it at the Kilf who moved out of the way and grabbed it with his hand, using the object as a fulcrum to continue Victor's momentum and throwing him off balance, causing him to stumble to the side, "Come on, child, you lost your composure and you're attacking me with weapons." Victor growled and rushed at the Kilf with the object, "YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!"

The Kilf ducked to the side as Victor brought the object down and shoved Victor into the wall, grabbing at the weapon arm and forcing it behind Victor's back, using his elbow to pin Victor to the wall, "Attack me again and I will temporarily paralyze you, am I clear." Victor didn't say anything and The Kilf dug his claws into the weapon arm, causing Victor enough pain to drop the weapon, "There, that's better. Listen here, I didn't go onto your damn ship to kill your parents or your crew, it was a straight up capture mission. Your family and friends were the ones to open the first round of shots and killed a couple of my men as we tried to capture them. The only reason you're still alive right now is that you weren't an adult yet. So despite the fact that you had a weapon, we spared you and took you prisoner."

The Kilf let go of Victor who spat at the ground near the Kilf's feet, "[censored] you and your lies, Reaper." Victor walked off and pushed past Tariq and Linda to do it. Tariq just started laughing at the spectacle, "So the stories they say about the Red Reaper are true, you are quite fast and agile, and quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat." The Kilf nodded, "I heard of you, Tariq Crawford, your parents came to hire the Raptors to track you down. The pay was nice, but it wasn't quite the kind of job suited for a mercenary group." Tariq nodded, "You have me at a disadvantage, friend, what's your name?" The Kilf looked at the humans, "Balthoron Miyamae, Commanding officer of the Raptor Forces and the leader of the Verbanan base."

Hideo nodded slightly, "So that's why you have Grandfather's wedding ring on your finger." Balthoron looked at Hideo, "So you're Shigeru's son. Hold on a second." Balthoron put a finger to an earpiece, "Hey, Shigeru, I didn't know you were sending your son over here. Yeah, he's doing a good job I must say. Nah, Victor wasn't too much trouble. Alright, see you soon." Hideo blinked, "You could've asked my father for reinforcements, you know!" Balthoron shook his head, "Major, that's your job, being part of the human military and all." Caladwen spoke behind him, "He's right, you know, Hideo. You need to inform your father about what's going on and request reinforcements." Hideo sighed slightly, "Alright, I'll get on that in a few minutes. I need to have a bite to eat, so I have a ration pack with my name on it."

[Akira110]

Chapter 10

Hideo sat in his room, he looked at the holographic communication device on his bed and sighed as he set it to his father's frequency, "General Date, can you come in please?" The image of his father appeared, "Hideo, how are things going?" Hideo sighed, "Terrible, found out that there's a large den of Space Pirates on this colony." Shigeru nodded slightly, "I know, I've known for a few hours now and have been arranging a transfer of soldiers to your area to give you some reinforcements." Hideo looked down, "Sorry for not reporting it to you." Shigeru smiled, "Mary sent me her intel and the Verbanan intel. Your troops have done good, Hideo. Not to mention, you've made contact with the Raptors." Hideo nodded slightly, "Their commanding officer is not what I expected. Victor has told me stories about the monster who killed everyone he cared about."

Shigeru laughed, "Son, you need to know when such tales are untrue, tell me, what did you expect of the Reaper?" Hideo sighed, "A wide-eyed and crazed maniac who takes joy in the shedding of blood, but instead, he seems like us." Shigeru nodded, "That's what grandpa said about him, he used to tell me stories about how he was the first one to meet up with Balthoron and get to know him. My dad though, he was the first human to actually get really close to him." Hideo nodded, "A story you have never told me." Shigeru sighed, "I'm sorry, son, I've been busy, you know." Hideo looked away, "Dad... I never got to meet grandpa, I only got to see him in old images. What was he like?" Shigeru smiled, "He was very brave and courageous."

There was a knock at his door, Hideo looked and sighed, "Come in." The door opened and Balthoron walked into the room, "You know that these things aren't very sound proof and I could hear you from quite a few meters away from the door, right?" Hideo looked at the hologram of his father who was laughing, "Balthoron, you haven't changed a bit since Dad first introduced me to you." Balthoron shrugged, "Been doing less fighting as of late, aside from that, very little has changed, once you've lived as long as I have, it becomes frustratingly difficult to change your ways and who you are." Hideo nodded, "So you can explain to Dad why you have Grandpa's ring." Balthoron looked at the ring, "Your father already knows, Hideo, it's you who were never told."

Hideo looked at the hologram of his father and then back at Balthoron, "Alright then, let's hear it." Balthoron sighed and sat down, "Your grandfather was one of the greatest men I've ever had the pleasure of working with, Hideo. When he was a young Lieutenant, I was hired to go on a mission with him. Well, the mission ended up going south rather quickly, and I was injured. I had suffered a concussion and the same blast had broken my leg, so I was stumbling around, dragging my broken leg. Satoru could've left me to die back there, but he didn't, he rushed to my aid after ordering his troops to give him cover fire. When I became lucid again, I found myself in an infirmary, your great-grandfather was there, beside my bed waiting for me to regain lucidity, so that he could debrief me."

Hideo nodded, "Naturally over the years, you worked with my Grandfather more and more." Balthoron nodded, "Of course, he was a great man. I was even invited to his wedding as the Best Man. But when he hit his mid-fifties, he got some horrid news that he shared with me. He was in the final stage of cancer, he was given only three months to live. I made a promise that I'd be there when he breathed his last, but, I had gotten an urgent call for mercenaries to be deployed near the Dragon-Thraxi border, because they were afraid tensions would flare up. Only when I had returned did I get word that my friend had died and your mother gave me a small box, saying that Satoru left it for me. When I opened it, I saw his wedding ring and your mother told me that Satoru hadn't felt any hatred for me, he didn't blame me for not showing up and his last words were him saying that he hoped I was safe."

Hideo nodded, "You knew my mother as well?" Balthoron nodded, "You remind me a lot of her, Hideo. What happened to her by the way?" Hideo looked away and Shigeru spoke up, "She was killed four years ago in a fatal crash." Balthoron sighed, "You humans and your short lifespans, I envy your lot in life. You guys have it the roughest of us all, such a short span of time to make your life in this universe and yet it's that which allows you to not suffer as long as someone like me." Hideo nodded, "How old are you?" Balthoron shrugged, "One thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven years old." Hideo blinked, "I had no idea that you Kilves lived so long, how long does your species normally live?" Balthoron shrugged, "Based on my aging, I'm past the halfway point of my life. None of us have ever dropped dead naturally yet."

Balthoron placed his hand on Hideo's shoulder, "Kid, you're still young and got a long ways to go by human terms, you should get some rest." Hideo nodded as Balthoron stood up and walked out of the room. Shigeru smiled, "He's right, Hideo. The reinforcements will be there tomorrow by noon. Get some rest, my son." Hideo sighed slightly, "Alright, Dad, take care." Shigeru waved to him, "You too, Son. Sleep well." Hideo watched as the image vanished and walked over to his bed, laying down in it, he had no idea how he was going to deal with the problems at hand, or if he would be able to stop the Space Pirates from enacting their plan. All he knew for certain is that when the reinforcements arrived, it would be a time for action and not words.

[Akira110]

Chapter 11

The day of the operation had arrived and Tariq noticed the human reinforcements immediately, but he could feel the tension within the air, he looked at Olujmi, "I guess the General really did bring out a lot of people." Sally appeared, "Wow, so I guess we're going to be going after the Space Pirates today." Tariq nodded and they heard Balthoron's voice speak up, "Come to the briefing room, I'm going to fill everyone in on this operation with the General's help." Tariq looked at Olujmi who nodded, "Let's go, I think it's time we figure out what we're going to do now." Tariq nodded slightly and the two of them walked into the briefing room where there was an image on the wall, they saw Shigeru standing at one side of the image while Balthoron stood at the other. Shigeru waited for a few moments, "Is everyone here? Good, let's get this briefing underway."

Balthoron spoke up, "Verbanan forces, you will be under the command of General Shigeru Date for the remainder of this operation." Shigeru nodded, "Thank you, Balthoron." Balthoron stepped back as Shigeru continued, "As you all know, there is a space pirate presence on this station. They have holed themselves up in a bunker that's below deck. Thanks to intel on the base that the Verbanans and Mary have gotten for us, we now know of the strength of their forces, they're mostly human, except with a single Kitsune enforcer. They total about two hundred strong, it will not be an easy fight and I don't think that all of us will make it out alive. Unfortunately because we don't know much about the layout of the place and don't have time to scout before they enact their plan, we're going to have to go through with a forced breach, that's where you come in Victor."

Victor laughed from the back, "Alright, about time you need me to do something!" Shigeru nodded slightly, "Calm down, anyhow, once that's done, throw in some smoke grenades to obscure vision so that we can enter into the base safely. Unfortunately the place will be put on alert, Olujmi, can you and Tariq provide cover with your heavy weapons?" Tariq spoke up, "I have no issue with doing so, but Olujmi's mechanized exoskeletal combat harness is a bit big to fit through the door." Olujmi smirked slightly, "That's why we're blasting our way in, Tariq. Anyhow, General, I have no issue." Shigeru smiled, "That's good, Linda, Ewan, you will be on point alongside the Verbanans, any issues with that?" Linda shrugged, "None, sir." Ewan blinked slightly, "Noo jist haud on!" Shigeru nodded slightly, "I see you have an issue, Private McIntyre."

Ewan nodded, "Whit's fur ye'll no go by ye, but I dinnae wanna be on the front line!" Shigeru spoke up, "You scored exceptionally well with a shotgun. You belong on the front line." Ewan sat down and grumbled, "Yer bum's oot the windae..." Shigeru sighed and Balthoron looked at him, "Wait, you understand what the hell that guy is saying?" Shigeru nodded, "It's not hard when you had to have dealt with him on a daily basis during his basic training." Shigeru went back to the briefing, "We are not here to capture prisoners, if any of the space pirates surrender, direct them to the back line which will capture them and bring them back to this base. Otherwise, kill every pirate you see, especially the Space Pirate leader. Does anyone have any questions?" A hand raised up and Shigeru nodded, "Yes, Thulani."

Thulani stood up, "What is Balthoron going to do?" Balthoron looked at him, "I'm going to set up plan B. Since both your military and my mercenaries all have pressurized gear and will be wearing airtight armor, if things start to go sufficiently south, I'm going to need to be able to have my gunship open a hole in the station's hull where the space pirates are located, fortunately, because of where they're located, all I'd be destroying is a docking bay door." Ewan spoke out, "Do yer dinger, yer aff yer heid!" Balthoron facepalmed, "Speak Common for the love of all you find holy and sacred!" A half-dragon AI appeared and spoke up, "He's saying that you are an idiot." Balthoron sighed and shook his head with his face still in his hand, "You guys are in the military and no one told you what would happen if hull integrity failed at any point in the room you were in." The AI shook his head, "None of us have been taught that."

Balthoron sighed and moved his hand from his face, "Alright, can someone other than the guy that speaks gibberish tell me what they think will happen?" Vesna spoke up, "You'll get sucked out into space." Balthoron shook his head, "That's a myth, gravity will keep you on the ground and the wind created by the pressure difference will not have enough power to throw you out of the station. Anyone else?" Svetlana spoke up, "Um, decompression will cause you to explode?" Balthoron shook his head, "No, that's another myth, surprising that they allowed you to think these myths, the truth is actually far, far worse than the myths. But since you're all going to be protected, you won't have to worry about a thing." Olujmi spoke up, "So then what's the truth about being exposed to a vacuum then."

Balthoron looked at the ceiling, "Well first you start to find it harder to breathe. Then bubbles start to form in your body fluids, basically what happens when you try to surface too quickly from diving. It's an incredibly painful experience, all the while, the temperature around you is dropping rapidly, so you're freezing to death rather quickly. However fortunately, the human body loses consciousness after roughly fourteen seconds, but a Kitsune could last a respectable fourteen point three. Air is also going to escape from your lungs during this process, and trying to hold your breath isn't a smart idea, it's going to kill you far faster. The last effect is the carbon dioxide content in your blood lowers and the pH gets altered, indirectly causing nervous system malfunctions. After 30 seconds, your blood stops flowing and you become paralyzed. One minute more, and they're dead. It's a terrible way to go..."

Balthoron sighed and took a breath, "Before anyone of you ask how I know this, this happened to a buddy of mine during the Galactic War. Any questions other than this?" No one spoke and Balthoron started walking towards the door as Shigeru spoke up, "The operation will commence at Eighteen Hundred Hours. Dismissed." Tariq stood up with Olujmi, "Looks like we're partners today, huh?" Olujmi nodded, "Yes, sounds good. I'm going to go to the lab and see how my suit is doing, you want to come with me?" Tariq shook his head, "Nah, I gotta go make sure the others are going to be doing alright, I mean for Ewan and Svetlana, this is their first actual operation. They've never killed a person before, so I want to make sure that they're at least steeled for the whole thing." Olujmi nodded, "You know where to find me." Tariq watched as Olujmi walked off as he himself walked towards the commons.

[Akira110]

Chapter 12

Linda stood outside of the base, leaning against the railing and looking at the valley below. She had chosen to leave her AI in the base, because she honestly wanted to be alone for the moment. She sighed a bit and sat down, with her back against the wall of the base and looked up at the stars. Things hadn't changed one bit, she was about to go back into battle and she still felt uneasy, however, she was now about to lead soldiers that had never seen combat before into battle, and this caused her great distress. Much to her surprise, one of the Verbanans walked out, it was the half-dragon that she had met earlier, "Sorry, don't mind me, just comin' out here to get some fresh air." Linda sighed, "So was I, though I'd rather be alone." Arthon nodded slightly, "Alright, I'll be on the roof then, if you want to talk about anything."

Linda heard Arthon take flight and ignored him, she continued gazing at the stars and remembered back when she was a little girl on Terra, she always looked at the stars from the slum she lived in, wishing that she could travel amongst them. When her parents died when she was young, she made a living on the streets, but the hope of someday visiting the stars had kept her going. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to grab at the person, when she saw it was Hideo, who was smiling at her, "Hey there, Linda. You seemed kind of down, so I figured that I'd come out and see what was going on." Linda sighed and hugged Hideo, "You're the first person I loved since I lost my parents so long ago, Hideo. Promise me that you won't go anywhere."

Hideo smiled and kissed her on top of the head, "Linda, I'm not going to go die, honestly, I'm more worried about you." Linda nodded, "I know, a battle is going to start in less than nine hours and here we have people who have never seen combat in their entire lives." Hideo sighed and rested his chin on her head, "Honey, let's not think about that." Linda smirked, "Honey, I'm only your girlfriend, Hideo." Hideo laughed, "That might be true, but that doesn't change how I feel about you. You're strong, beautiful and determined. Meanwhile, I'm just the guy that sits back and orders you and the others around from the sidelines." Linda rested her head against his chest, "Yeah, but without you, we wouldn't have a cohesive unit, Hideo. You honestly hold all of us together."

Hideo smiled slightly, "That's not entirely true, Linda. Any commander would be capable of doing so." Linda frowned slightly, "Hideo, you bring us together and even keep the Space Pirate in line. Every action of yours earns our respect, and you have always been there when we need you." Hideo removed his chin from her head, "I know, which is why I'm coming later." Linda blinked, "Wait... what?" Hideo sighed, "I won't be in the thick of it, but I'll be able to provide support more directly. I figured if Balthoron was going to be in the middle of it all as a Colonel, then as a Major, I could help out in my own way as well." Linda looked down and sighed, "So you're going to be risking your life later?"

Hideo nodded, "That's about the jist of it, yeah." Linda released Hideo and folded her arms, "You haven't seen combat in years, longer than any of us and you expect to be able to go out there and risk your life on that battlefield?" Hideo looked her in the eye, "We're soldiers, it's what we do, and if something happens, I want to be able to see the situation and be able to fix it, more closely. Believe me, I'm going to be in the back, observing what happens from a rather safe vantage point, your AIs will be relaying information to me." Linda blinked, "O-oh, I didn't know that... from the sound of it, I thought you were going to go into the facility." Hideo smirked, "I'm crazy, but not that crazy, my love." Linda nodded and cracked a smile at him, "I'm glad you're not that crazy."

Hideo looked at the planet that the station was orbiting, "Beautiful sight, huh?" Linda nodded slightly, "It's a great thing to remind us that even though we're soldiers, we're still people and we need to not lose ourselves." Hideo nodded, "That's good, words to live by, Linda." Linda nodded, and Hideo smiled slightly as the two of them leaned against the railing. Hideo looked at her, "You know, there's a question that I've been wanting to ask you." Linda nodded, "What question is that?" Hideo pointed at the dogtag around her neck, "Those have been obsolete for a while, why do you wear one?" Linda looked at her dogtags, "Simple, these are the only thing I have left of my father, he was in the military as well."

Hideo nodded, "I heard of him, Commander George Murray, he retired when you were born. Unfortunately, the economy went south on Terra, which affected all of human territory, but hit there the hardest. He did the best he could to raise you, but..." Linda grabbed Hideo by the chin, "He was a good father, and I'm glad that you know him." Linda leaned in closer and pulled Hideo's face closer to her's, the two of them sharing a kiss underneath the starry backdrop of space. Linda broke the kiss and Hideo looked up at the roof, where Arthon was sitting, "I'm surprised you didn't try to ruin the moment." Arthon looked down, "I'm just here for fresh air, Major. What you humans do is your business, not mine." Hideo smiled, "That's good to know." He looked at Linda, "Shall we go back inside and prepare for the mission?" Linda nodded silently to Hideo with a slight smile on her face.

[Akira110]

Chapter 13

The appointed time had arrived and everyone was geared up and outside of the space pirate base, they were all in position. Victor walked over to the door and placed a breaching charge on it, setting the timer, before backing away. When the device went off and blew the door off the frame, several people threw smoke grenades into the door, which immediately started spewing a thick smoke. Linda turned on her thermals and rushed into the building with Olujmi at her side, leaving Ewan behind. She heard Olujmi fire repeatedly and moved away as the Cyborg started to draw fire, but the large mechanical suit was capable of taking the punishment. She fired her shotgun at a few of the heat signatures, and hear the other soldiers fire their weapons into the the crowd of heat signatures. She watched as one by one the signatures fell to the ground.

She hid behind a wall as fire erupted towards their location and Tariq shouted out, "Fire in the hole!" She watched as Tariq pulled out a recoiless rifle and fired it at several heat signatures, the resulting flash of heat was bright, but she knew that the space pirates would be in disarray. Oddly enough, she heard several discharges of a Verbanan weapon and then felt something grab her by her helmet and pull her back into a room. She was face to face with a Kitsune, one that she recognized from images, "So you're Mamoru Misawa, eh?" James spoke up, "Linda, this is no time to be mocking your opponents! You need to concentrate!" Linda was thrown into a wall by the Kitsune and moved out of the way of a knife swipe, "Knives, eh?" Linda pulled out her own combat knife with a smile.

She pointed the knife at the Kitsune and lifted her shotgun at him, "Checkmate." The Kitsune grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and dug his knife into it, forcing Linda to discard it, removing the knife from the Kitsune. Linda's notion of having an advantage vanished when the Kitsune pulled out a sword, forcing her to move backwards, out of its range. James spoke up loudly, "You're not trained for sword combat, Linda! His stance suggests that he is!" The Kitsune moved to close the distance and grabbed the blade to start half-swording, a tactic that Linda thought was crazy, but she moved out of the way nonetheless, trying not to get hurt, "[censored]!" Linda hissed through her teeth as the Kitsune moved towards her and tried to thrust his sword into the gaps between her armor again, "Dammit!" She moved out of the way again and grabbed at the sword, the Kitsune intelligently moving it away.

Linda looked at her combat knife and got an idea, James spoke up, "Linda! Heads up!" Linda looked and saw the sword thrust at her, she tried to move, but it caught her. She felt the sword punch through her underarmor and into her flesh, the medical implants sending off an alert. However, she smiled as this allowed her to grab the Kitsune by the arm and using her power armor's increased strength, pull him into range where she stabbed him in the neck with the knife, repeatedly, until she severed the spinal cord and paralyzed him. She threw the Kitsune to the ground and James spoke up, "Laurie is on her way, I suggest that you leave the sword within you until she gets here."

Linda looked at the sword lodged into her abdomen and started to pull on it, without much success. She sat down and sighed, the feeling of the metal in her was not only uncomfortable, but became painful as the adrenaline started to wear off. She sighed slightly as she heard the battle continue to rage on outside, when Laurie opened the door with a medkit, "I'm here, Linda." Linda nodded slightly, "I got a sword in me, can you remove it?" Laurie nodded, "It's going to be more painful, sure you don't want something to bite down on?" Linda sighed, "No time, besides, it's a battlefield out there." Laurie shrugged and started rocking the sword back and forth as she pulled on the hilt, Linda started grunting in sheer pain, she felt like something was being ripped up inside of her. Finally the sword was removed and Linda started breathing heavily, "Son of a [censored], I had no [censored] idea that those things hurt so badly. Now I see why the Verbanans still use them!"

Laurie nodded slightly and opened her medkit, "Relax, I'm going to patch up the wound, it's deep, but the damage is minimal. He missed all of your vitals and only hit muscle, you're rather lucky." Linda nodded as Laurie went to work by first disinfecting the wound, the sting of the disinfectant was nothing compared to having the sword removed from her body, but it still hurt. After that, Laurie started to stitch up the wound in order to close it, "We're going to have to take you off the battlefield, but you're safest here for right now." Once she finished stitching up the wound, Linda sighed, "What do you mean by that." Laurie placed a bandage on the wound to protect it from being reopened and sighed, "Well, aside from the fact that you need rest so as to not aggravate that injury... well... you need to heal before you go back into combat, doctor's orders."

Linda sighed as she heard the fighting become more distant, and Laurie helped her up, "Don't argue with me, Linda, you know that when it comes to medicine, I'm allowed to order you around despite rank." Linda nodded, "I know, Laurie. Thank you." Laurie helped Linda out of the building and took her somewhere safe, "The Major will be here in a few minutes, look, I have to get back to the battlefield to see if any more of ours needs help." Linda nodded slightly and watched as Laurie ran back towards the battle, she was about to get up when she heard Hideo's voice speak up, "Lieutenant, sit there and rest, that's an order." Linda smiled weakly under her helmet and Hideo took it off. She looked into his eyes, "Alright then, sir." Hideo hugged her tightly, "Don't worry me like that again." Linda patted him on the back, "Don't worry, I won't. I promise you that much."

[Akira110]

Chapter 14

The Space Pirate Leader ran through the hangar, trying to escape from the battle that was raging in the adjacent hangar bay. As he ran, he didn't even look back, he ignored all of the sounds that were back there and fading away. He knew that if he was caught, he'd be a dead man, but was able to finally see his ship. As the space pirate drew closer to the ship, a pain erupted in his lower right leg as he heard the distinct sound of a Verbanan weapon discharging. When he went to keep running, his foot didn't hit the ground and he stumbled and fell, "Oh [censored]! Oh [censored]! Now my super soldier is betraying me!" A voice that was familiar to him, that made his blood run ice cold spoke up, "On your back, now!" The space pirate tried to crawl away, but the sound of another weapon discharge was heard and he saw the pattern the shots made on his ship's hull, "I will not tell you again!"

The Space Pirate turned around and Balthoron was standing there, fully armored, but the visor was for some reason clear to show the rage on the Kilf's face, "Good, you can listen." The Space Pirate reached for a weapon and Balthoron aimed his shotgun and squeezed the trigger, removing the arm completely, "You're only increasing your suffering." The Space pirate leader started moving back and Balthoron spoke forcefully, "Stay where you are or I remove the other arm, and this time, the wound will not be cauterized!" The Space Pirate leader stopped in his tracks, "You're the Red Reaper! You wouldn't be here, unless it was to kill me!" Balthoron smiled and removed his helmet so the space pirate could look him in the face, "Glad to know that you know who I am, we can skip the formalities and get straight into this interrogation."

The Space Pirate leader spoke up, "Interrogation!?" Balthoron moved his shotgun away slightly, "Yeah, you broke several intergalactic laws today, especially Section Fifteen, Subsection D, Paragraph Six, Line Five. The deployment of any genetically enhanced super soldier is hereby illegal, as is the production of them." The Space Pirate looked at his stump, "And you violated several laws yourself!" Balthoron smiled slightly, "Difference between you and I, is that I get a bit of leeway, what with being a mercenary is all. I can be called a civilian and take the life of someone in a military action. According to the Intergalactic laws on mercenaries, I've acted in full accordance to them, no civilian has been harmed, there is no torture going on, and furthermore, I've never used anything other than a conventional weapon."

The Space Pirate raised his voice, "You blew off my [censored] arm and my [censored] leg! However, you used up all of your ammo, I know you can't fire that weapon." The Space Pirate quickly moved his arm to reach for his weapon, but Balthoron reacted just as quickly and released a shotgun blast, removing the lower arm from the space pirate, who screamed, "What is wrong with you!" Balthoron sighed, "Now you're on a timer, I can give you a swift death, but you need to cooperate with me." The Space pirate looked at him, "Go to hell!" Balthoron sighed, "Alright, do you honestly kiss your mother with that mouth, you make Uncle Walthari look tame." The Space Pirate spat at Balthoron who sighed as it hit his armor, "Really now, you're going to spit at me, what's next, you're going to try to roll onto my feet to bleed on me?"

The Space Pirate glared at him and Balthoron aimed the shotgun at his head, "Where did you get the super soldier?" The Space Pirate remained silent and Balthoron sighed, "Unlike you, I got all the time in the world, with adrenaline, you got about a minute and a half left. Where did you get the super soldier!" The Space Pirate looked at him, "If I paid you double what the humans are paying you, would you spare my life?" Balthoron lowered the shotgun and fired a blast into the Space Pirate's leg, "No, stumpy. You could triple it and not make a damn dent in what my asking price for you would be." The space pirate looked around, "I'll give you anything you want! Just... save my life and let me go!" Balthoron scowled, "Do not make promises that you can't keep, idiot! Your desperation tells me that you're close to losing consciousness."

The space pirate screamed out, "I have powerful friends! If I die, then they'll figure things out and they'll come after you!" Balthoron put the shotgun away, "Let them, I'll deal with them as I dealt with you. Anyhow, time's up, you gave up your chance to be granted the mercy of a swift death, your strength will leave you as you lay in the pool of your own blood. Eventually your heart and brain will shut down. Goodbye." Balthoron put his helmet back on and walked away, he could hear the weakening cries of the human and eventually silence. He walked away from the scene and eventually ran into Olujmi, Tariq and Laurie. Balthoron looked at them, "Their leader didn't escape." Olujmi nodded, Balthoron hearing the servos in the mech move as Olujmi turned to face him, "What happened?"

Balthoron took off his helmet once again, "The man tried to escape, I broke off to chase him. After everything he did, I was still willing to give him a swift death, but... well you can go see for yourself. Eventually during the entire process, he tried to bargain with me." Tariq spoke up, "How much did he offer you?" Balthoron sighed, "Double what I'm being paid by the human military." Olujmi spoke up, "There are no records of Balthoron Miyamae being hired by the human military, the records have shown that Caladwen was the one that the humans hired." Balthoron nodded slightly and Laurie spoke up, "Wait, Mercenaries don't usually do things for free, why are you?" Balthoron sighed and walked past them, "Grandaunt Kimiko has said that my late wife was reincarnated as a human, and I heard rumors of her current incarnation being on this station. But I digress, if you want to see why I'm called the Red Reaper, keep going in the direction you were going, you'll see the evidence..."