A/N: Okay, this is my first fanfic, but I hope someone will like it. It's set right after the season finale. I'd be thrilled if people would read and review it. Constructive criticism is most appreciated!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Dark Angel. I'm not profiting from this in anyway, so don't sue me! I'm just a poor college student...




"Dead Men's Game"



Chapter 1: DOWN

Manticore Base

9:45 PM


God... what a day. What a mess... Dr. Nathan Wedler silently stripped the bloody, latex gloves off his hands and dropped them into the biohazard container. His surgical garb was also stained crimson. It didn't bother him, of course. It came with the territory.

"You do good work, Wedler," Renfro stood looking at the young girl on the operating table, her hands laced behind her back. The room was mostly empty now, the nurses having cleared most of the equipment.

"We almost lost her," he said tightly. Wedler disliked the new director. She was pushy, and he was sure she had things going on behind the scenes. People like her never dealt fairly.

"But we didn't..." she smiled, "It doesn't make up for the lose of the DNA lab, but one X5 is better than none."

Wedler didn't respond.

"How long till she recovers?"

"I don't know," he replied, "Her injuries are very severe... but there's also the enhanced healing factor... It's hard to say."

"Best guess," she demanded.

"I... uh... well... till she's fully recovered... maybe as long as two months... could be three weeks... " he gestured vaguely. Wedler was too tired to deal with this now.

Renfro turned and walked towards the door, pausing just as she passed him, "She's very important now. I'm trusting you to see that recovers quickly."

"Yes, ma'am..."

"Good," the woman strode out the door of the O.R. to the determined click-click of her heels against the linoleum floor.

Wedler exhaled. Great... just what he needed. More responsibility... Heading over to the sink, he turned on the water and scrubbed his hands vigorously with a bush and soap. Damn... Things were much simpler when Lydecker was around. Or at least they had seemed simpler.

The doctor dried his hands with a towel and sat down on a nearby stool with a heavy sigh. He'd been with Manticore for almost eleven years now. The prospect of working on genetic research had been so exciting back then. Just out of med school, he had been so enthusiastic, so full of dreams of the future and the important work he would do. If only he had known what he was getting himself into... He should have gotten out years ago while he still had the chance, but now it was too late. He knew too much, and they would never let him go. At least not alive, anyway.

And what was all this crap about Lydecker killing Sandoval? Deck was not the type to waste any kind of resource... unless said resource was trying to waste HIM...

Better not go there... He would just keep his mouth shut, his head down, and hope for things to blow over quickly. With the DNA lab slagged, they might very well loose their support too. Maybe he wouldn't have to quit... Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd downsize him...

Wedler slowly turned his thoughts to the young woman lying on the table. A respirator tube ran down her throat and heart and oxygen intake monitors had been hooked to her. Both registered steady signs of life now. She was a pretty girl, with big brown curls and full lips, but now she would bare a long grisly scar on her chest from his valiant efforts to save her life. She had been in bad shape when she was brought in from the woods. She would have died if the other X5 hadn't sacrificed himself.

//Poor kid...//

Wedler had been in the complex when the twelve children had escaped. It had been a bit of a shock; not that they wanted to escape, but that they actually managed it. At least some of them had... Wedler had been one of the doctors who'd treated the wounded. He had only a minor position, then, as a back-up emergency medical personnel. The only reason he had made it up the ladder was that his predecessors had a tendency to quit... or disappear.

//Damn...// He was getting another stress head-ache. Digging in his pockets, he found the bottle of pain-relievers. Tossing several pills into his mouth, the man took a swig of water from the water bottle he always had in the room. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back for a moment, willing the medicine to work quickly. After a few minutes he reminded himself that it wasn't a very productive thing to do.

With another heavy sigh, he glanced around the room. Wedler spied the folder that had been dropped off on one of the tables during the operation. It contained all the vital information that had been collected on the girl while she had still been at Manticore. Cautiously, he picked the folder up and opened it.

X5-452

It had always creeped him out that the children were referred to by number designations rather than actual names. He supposed it helped to make them feel less human and maybe less attached to those around them. Maybe it was easier to kill when you didn't have a name to give out. Or maybe it just made the guards feel better if they didn't have to remember the name of some poor kid they killed when they didn't 'perform' properly. Burr ...

Like he was any better... True, he felt bad about what was happening. Wedler had always sympathized with the children and wished he could do something to make their lives better. But he had never done anything about it, and that alone meant he was no less guilty than those around him. Worse than that, he had participated in plenty of the... experiments. He'd HAD to or they would have killed him as a liability... or so he told himself at the time. It made it easier to cut people open if you could convince yourself you had some kind of justification.

Wedler reluctantly stood and made his way out of the room. He cast one last glance at the girl on the table before heading out. One of the other medical staff was assigned to stay with her over the night to monitor her signs. He was too tired to do anything more.

The two guards stationed outside the O.R. nodded to him as he exited. The doctor gave them a weak gesture of acknowledgment in passing and trudged down the corridor towards his quarters. Wedler always took the long way around, bypassing ward F-3. He never went down there... Nobody did unless they were stationed there. F-3 was where the failures were kept, locked up in small dark cells, observed, prodded and occasionally put out of their misery. The genetic anomalies were treated as curiosities now that they had managed to produce successful results.

It was just too damn creepy.

* * **** ******************


Commandeered Van

8:53 PM


There was only silence in the van. Lydecker had taken the wheel after dumping an unconscious Logan into the back with Syl and Krit. He had quickly explained to the two remaining X5's what had happened. Zack had been captured and Max... was dead.

The news had not gone over well... not at all. What was to be a great triumph had disintegrated into a horrible tragedy. They had now lost three of their number to Manticore in only a handful of days. One step forward, two steps back... It was a bloody game of chess. Lydecker knew that. Sacrifices had to be made to gain ground... but one could always hope...

Logan hadn't spoken since regaining consciousness. His mouth tasted like sand and his eyes burned with unshed tears. He'd be damned if he'd cry now, not in front of them. He felt so... empty... cold. Turning the events over in his mind, he tried desperately to make sense out of what had happened. They had come so close... How had things gone so wrong?

Krit cleared his throat, knowing that someone had to take the first step, "What do we do now...?" His voice was soft and cautious, masking his grief.

"We rescue Zack," Logan spoke dispassionately without even looking at the people around him, his thoughts far away. The others looked at him, somewhat surprised that he had been the one to answer,"He knows where the other X5's are..."

"First, we need to wait," Lydecker said with authority, "We'll see where the chips fall. The axe'll fall on someone for what happened. Let's let it happen and see if the chain of command gets revised. Maybe it'll take out a few more enemies."

"We need to re-arm too," Syl murmured, "And see if we can round up any of the others... Maybe we can find Jondy and Zane."

"Let's hope so," Lydecker nodded, "We'll need their backup if we're gonna pull this off."

************** ***********

A/N: Okay, this chapter was mostly just setting the scene and mood. The next one will be a little more emotional and get the plot ball rolling!