Okay, let's see what's scheduled for today's chapter…oh, there's supposed to be a battle, Ok, I think I can do that…although I have a couple other things I must deal with before I can get to that part…alright, let's do this thing!

As with Eragon and his blade, Rhunon was temporarily commanding Ajax's body to do the parts she had sworn she would never do. The brightsteel had taken on an emerald green hue, and the shape of each blade was well defined when Rhunon finally released Ajax.

The moment her consciousness broke contact with his own, Ajax slumped sideways, and would have bought the farm for an hour or two had Aragon not moved to prop up the youth long enough to get him back to his lodge.

As Aragon rounded the corner with Ajax, the two elves that had been standing guard took notice, and ran forward. Curiosity reigned in their eyes but they held back the questions circulating in their eyes long enough to help bring the Rider to his bed. Savra was laying down, and Ajax was still awake enough to know where he was.

"Don't disturb her." he said, his voice tired. "There's a hammock in my pack, it's tucked into a small blue and red sack. I'll sleep in that." Surprised, one of the two elves moved to find the hammock in question.

After the hammock was hung and Ajax got into it, he had barely moved to a position he found to be the most comfortable before promptly going to sleep.

Aragon shook his head in disbelief, then looked at the young human/lizard hybrid. Savra was sleeping quietly, hugging Amaranth as close as possible without actually hurting either of them. Amaranth, for her part, had draped a wing as far around Savra as she could, trying to keep the young hybrid warm.

After a few moments, Aragon quietly turned and left the lodge, lost deep within his own thoughts.

In the lodge, Ajax slept soundly until approximately five AM Atlantis time, when his mobile iPod dock started up with music. For the second morning in a row, Ajax kissed the floor immediately after getting out of bed.

"Ajax? Could you turn off that racket? I think it's disturbing Savra." Amaranth said. She had been jolted into wakefulness by the feeling of her Rider hitting the floor, which reverberated through their link for several seconds. The young dragon shook her head and looked at her Rider, flicking her tail slightly.

Ajax complied, shutting off the flow of Sabaton war-metal music.

After dealing with his Spartan morning routine, Ajax made pancakes for breakfast, sharing his breakfast with Aragon who had come to see if he were awake. After bringing a plate full of steaming pancakes to Savra, who shyly accepted it, and giving Amaranth seven more pancakes, Ajax sat down with the Grey Rider, and together they ate.

"So tell me." Ajax said between bites, flicking his fork. "Where all have you been; what all have you done?"

Aragon didn't look up from his plate as he answered. "I've been to many places, fought in many wars. It's not so fun as you might think, traveling through the multiverse." He continued eating.

"You know, you seem familiar somehow. Have I met you somewhere? Sometime before yesterday?"

"I don't know." Aragon said, finishing his last pancake. "I do remember a ship that almost seemed like it was following me around through a few different realities. A ship named Phoenix if I recall correctly."

His announcement had a profound effect on Ajax. "So you're the one." Ajax whispered. "I never would have thought it."

"Never would have thought what?" Aragon asked, having heard Ajax's whispers.

"I had a ship named Phoenix. It was a BC-3"

"-oh-four, Daedalus-class starship!" the two finished together.

They stared at each other.

"I remember now. You were looking for some item called the Infinatus?"

"Yup, that's the one. That's done now, and I'm retired from the SGC, no longer a member of their flagship team. I never did truly mesh well with them, especially after Vala Malderan came back."

"Vala? As in, the Vala Malderan, thief and seductress who was at one point Ka'tesh?" Aragon asked in disbelief.

"The same. How do you know her?"

"Oh, the usual, I'm guessing. She stole a ship, figured out how to work it, and led half the Imperium of Man on a merry chase halfway across the known galaxy."

"Odd. I never would have thought she would go there."

"Why?" Aragon demanded, setting down his fork rather loudly causing Savra to flinch and Amaranth to glare at the two men for disturbing them both. This went unnoticed by the men however.

"She never seemed to be the type that would willingly throw herself into the most dangerous place in the multiverse that I could think of." Ajax responded calmly though rather crossly.

"Hmm. I guess it is at that. What's next? This seems to be your own special little show, so what do you have planned today?"

Ajax ignored the evident sarcasm in Aragon's voice. "I need to see Rhunon again, maybe get a pair of long knives. I then need to go back to Atlantis, and rush production of the Lyrical Fire, hopefully, I'll put the whole damned thing together right the first time, and not blow half the city into the new year seven months early. I also need to see about Savra. She can't stay here forever, and she's not very trusting of anyone other than Amaranth. I can barely get her to accept food from me." Ajax sighed but a sudden thought came to mind and he glanced at the girl who looked up at him as he spoke though his voice was directed towards Aragon. "Maybe Max will take Savra under her wing, so to speak."

He picked up the dirty dishes, and murmured a litany over them that cleansed them and sanitized them. "What do you have planned?"

"Well," Aragon said, "I need to find out what all has happened since I left, and get everyone briefed about Chaos." Aragon snorted derisively and continued. "That'll be a shitstorm and a half. I also need to see what sort of defenses everybody has that could possibly be used against Chaos, and see to that situation about there being two Stargates on the planet. My transport spell has never been the safest way to get here, but with my spell being forced to differentiate between two different 'gates, it can be quite deadly. I'll have to put something over the other 'gate that I can use to key off against so that doesn't happen again."

"Well, I need to go to Atlantis myself, so you could come with me, and begin your appraisal there. After we're done, we could take a Jumper around, and examine everything from above, seeing things from a tactically superior perspective would be helpful."

"True. So what are you going to do now?"

"Well," Ajax said. "Right now, I'm headed for Rhunon's forge, then I'm headed for the 'gate. You could go ahead of me, or we could go together, and take the Jumper when we leave Atlantis."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you by the Stargate then." Aragon said, rising to leave.

Ajax walked out, letting Aragon deal with the door on his way out. When he arrived at Rhunon's forge, he found the old smith standing at the head of the path, looking happier than she had yesterday.

"I find that the pair of long knives I have created are by far the best I have ever made of their type." Rhunon croaked, her eyes bright yet still holding that same fiery spirit she was notorious for.

"I tried blacksmithing once before." Ajax said. "but not quite on this scale. What've you got?"

"Come and see." As Rhunon led Ajax into her workspace, Ajax noticed a heavy wool blanket laying on the bench. Rhunon flipped the blanket over, revealing a stunning matched pair of long knives. They were a deep emerald green, just as Amaranth's scales were, with black oak covering the metal core of the handles.

"May I?" Ajax asked, gesturing at the blades.

"You may." Rhunon said. "I give them to you, knowing that you will use them only as needed."

Ajax picked up on of the knives, and examined the hilt. There was no pommel like Eragon's blade had, just an odd metallic protrusion coming out from the base of the hilt. It was cylindrical, with what looked like a second cylinder welded to one side, though done so elegantly that it looked natural.

An examination of the other confirmed that there was a hole with a groove in it for the protusion of the first knife to enter.

Ajax carefully fitted the two together, then twisted. Now that the blades were locked together as one, Ajax spun the weapon about, moving through a series of forms that would never have worked with any regular sword.

"Try it on those." Rhunon said, gesturing at a stand of iron rods.

Ajax spun about, nearly collided with two separate trees, then sliced the rods in half while performing a Matrix-worthy slide.

"I'd never be so grandiose in combat." Ajax said, pleased as he held the swords before him with his arms out. He glanced at the old elf. "But this works well with me. Thank you."

"You must name it before it is to be complete." Rhunon said. "And I have never sent forth a Rider with a nameless weapon."

"Very well." Rhunon said. "Sverd! Eka nama ono Du Eld Jeirda!"*

"An interesting name." A wordless spell, and the appropriate glyphs were scribed on the blades and scabbards that had been made, and Rhunon handed Ajax the scabbards. Ajax accepted the scabbards, and gently slid them over the blades. After that was done, Ajax thanked Rhunon for her hard work, and bade her farewell, walking back to his temporary lodge deep in thought.

Once back in his lodge, Ajax rolled up his pant legs so they were clear of his knees, and strapped the scabbards to his legs. That done, he rolled his pant legs down over the scabbards, and cut a slit in each leg, then slid the knives home.

He had already packed, and after saying goodbye to the elves that had been his personal guard detail, walked to the Stargate with Aragon and the two dragons with them.

Directly behind the Stargate, Ajax uncloaked the Jumper, and opened the door. As Ajax walked into the Jumper, the lights began coming on of their own accord, and Aragon looked on from the ramp.

"What is this thing?" Aragon asked, as Ajax sat down.

"This is a Jumper, designed by the same people who built the Stargates. It's purpose is to be a shuttlecraft that can be flown through a Stargate. Care to come aboard?" He turned and saw that Amaranth had managed to convince Savra to come aboard though she was now huddled in the corner of the ship, her eyes wide.

Aragon walked up the ramp, and Ajax swiveled his chair around, and began securing Amaranth in her special harness. That done, he touched the dashboard, and was rewarded with a gentle whorl sound as the Jumper's main systems initiated.

Ajax closed the door, then gently backed the Jumper through the Stargate, hoping that Atlantis wasn't dialing it at the moment. As soon as he was clear, Ajax tapped the center button on the console, and the Stargate dialed.

Alright, that's done, I'll give you shooty-killy ouchy-bleedy in three or four chapters from now. Until then, hold on while I set the stage.

*"Sword! I name you The Breaker!"

Answers to Readers:

Feather, Ninth designation: Ajax cooking was just a random thing I came up with and it should be noted that Aragon the Grey is not my character, but belongs to Master of the Blood Wolves. (though I am sure there are several franchises that would like a piece of the action if Aragon were to ever show up in books actually being sold) Aragon will affect things much more than Savra-chan, due to the fact that Aragon will be doing major fighting, Savra, not so much.

The dude with Blood Wolves as his slaves/servants: I got a large review! I'm happy to answer almost all of it. I didn't feel like the wizard that accompanied him was as important to the storyline, but I could arrange for him to arrive via 'screaming tunnel' in the next chapter if I must. Good thing you used the word 'usually' in that comment about Aragon crying. I will try to remember that, though a full psych profile could be helpful in the future.

As for the warp…saving that up for later. Same goes for the staff, I'm just going to say that he left it in Ellesmera when he and Ajax went to Atlantis. He'll come back for it, I promise.

I didn't say anything one way or another with Thelduin's size-shifting abilities, just that Ajax saw Thelduin in a smaller size, and a larger size, and recognized that the large dragon he saw was the same one that had been on Aragon's shoulder.

As far as Ilumeo goes, Rhunon only noted that Aragon had kept it well, nothing more.

Ajax cooking in the bathroom seems to be a common theme in the reviews of that chapter, maybe next time I'll have Ajax cook in the closet instead!

And now to Avenging Angels, who has closing remarks, and the closing. Angels?

Ha that's new! Angels, guess that means I've got two nicknames now. Avenging Angels and Angels? H'm works for me. Anyways I'd like to congratulate Hideout Writer for yet another awesome chapter and the reviewers for reviewing. As always I hope you enjoyed (we both do) and please R&R.

Sincerely,

Avenging Angels