And now the continuation . . .


~~~~*~~~~


A small transport vessel made it's way to the surface of Haifong. Aboard the small

craft sat Kaalo. Several days after departing, the Marl Fox had reached Haifong's orbit

and in that time Kaalo had discovered that his memory was slowly returning, brief flashes of

his past were occurring more and more often. How this was happening, he didn't know or

especially care, but all that mattered was that he would soon reclaim all that had been stolen

from him.


For now, though he had to stay focused on the task at hand: dispense of his military

escort and find Aisha Clan-Clan. His plan was to rescue her and the other members of this

Outlaw Star. He didn't care if they lived or died, only it would be the best way to slap

Hazanko in the face before ending his life. Had he known what his, for lack of a better word,

heroism would bring, he would have given the whole thing up.



~~~~*~~~~


Aisha Clan-Clan was walking home from a hard day's work of waiting on tables,

being hit on, and of course beating the crap out those who would dare try such a foolish

thing(she couldn't blame them, her waitress uniform made her look like a slut, in her

opinion). Still young and vivacious, the years had no effect on her appearance or her

attitude.



Meaning, she still had yet to grow up.


About three blocks from the old "Starwind and Hawking" apartment, she realized that

she was hungry enough to eat an elephant, and considering Aisha, it wasn't too far from the

truth. There was nothing she could do about it though, she had a whopping 1 wong bill in her

purse. Damn those Government pigs! she thought for the 1-billionth time. After all the

work she had done for them, they should have let her retire early, exempt of taxes, in a

mansion in the capital! But, nooooo. Those no-talent jackasses had dishonorably discharged

her! There's real gratitude. Now she was stuck in this dank hole for the rest of her life!


She entered her home and promptly crashed onto the sofa and fell into a near coma,

utterly exhausted.




~~~~*~~~~


Darkness had fallen upon one of the many spaceports on Haifong. The night was

deathly quiet. THOOM, THOOM, THOOM, THOOM, were the sounds of laser blasts in

rapid succession. At the same rate were the sounds of bodies hitting the floor, dead. Kaalo

looked at his former escort and smiled to himself. This was going to be easy. He had taken

care of these blundering fools and now it was time to find Miss Clan-Clan. He already knew

where she lived, that was not the hard part. The hard part was explaining that Hazanko was

still alive and out to kill her, without sounding ludicrous. No time like the present he

thought.


The Starwind and Hawking building was not far from his current position, so he

strolled leisurely toward it, having no inclination as to who was dealing with.


~~~~*~~~~



Aisha awoke to hear a loud banging on her front door. "What the hell?" she asked

tiredly. She got off the sofa, stretched, and staggered toward the door. Upon seeing the grim

reaper looking and coming to the quick assumption that it was not Halloween, her first

thought was Pirate!


She pulled her fist back and slammed it into him, only her hand impacted not on a

face, but rather a palm. The figure had caught her punch! Reacting quickly, she jumped

backwards screeched, "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ON A CTARL CTARL HUH?!?!

and changed into her beast form. The figure had just enough time for his eyes to widen in

surprise before Aisha had tackled him to the street outside. She had her paws pinning down

his arms and was about to rip out his throat when she heard the unmistakable powering up of

a caster! She looked around to her left and saw a metal snake-like thing pointing at her

mid-section. She then looked back at whoever it was.


"Stalemate?" he said calmly. She wasn't familiar with the term, but was wise enough

to understand the gist. Slowly, carefully she pulled away, allowing him to get up. He

meticulously dusted himself off. "That was a bit rash."


Aisha, deciding this . . . thing meant her no harm, reverted back into a biped. This,

however left her nude and immediately the figure glanced skyward. It took her a moment to

realize what he was doing. "Wimp" she muttered under her breath. "What d'ya want?"


Still looking up, he said "Such matters are best discussed indoors and . . . fully

clothed."


~~~~*~~~~

"HE'S WHAT?!?" exclaimed Aisha.


Kaalo was sitting on the sofa and said "For the last time, Hazanko is alive and he

ordered me to kill you and the other Outlaw Star crew members"


Aisha stood up in defiance. "Impossible! I saw the bastard die! And what does he

have to do with you anyway?" she yelled.


"It just so happens he had me kidnapped, and made me his personal assassin."


Her eyes narrowed in suspicion "Why should I believe you?"


He rolled up his sleeve and showed her a tattoo of a yin-yang, the universal pirate

insginia. "That's why. If I wanted to kill you, you'd would be dead by now.


"You think so, huh?" she challenged


He ignored the challenge "The way I see it we have, maybe a couple of hours at the

most to get out of here before they track us down and kill you.


"Hey! What do you mean me?"


"He can't kill me with just his underlings, he'd have to do it himself, even then, that

would not be an easy task." he said with confidence.


"Wait a sec' isn't he supposed to be super-crazy powerful or something?"


Kaalo sat back and thought on this. "My best guess would be that when you and your


compatriots blew him up, it weakened him, it just didn't kill him."


"Then how di "


"Look, Aisha" he interrupted. "I don't have the answers to everything, all I know is

that Hazanko's alive and he wants you dead! Is that clear enough?"


Aisha sat back down and buried her face in her hands, trying to take it all in.

After a moment she looked at him. "I didn't catch your name"


"I go by Kaalo"


"Why are you doing this?"


Kaalo sat back and said, "My reasons are my own. Now, when can you leave?"


Aisha thought about her life on Haifong: no real job, no real freinds, no real

excitement, no real life. "Just let me get my bags packed . . ."



~~~~*~~~~


Finally I was going to leave this hell hole known as Haifong! How? Who cares? I

was going! I had just stepped outside. The thrill and exhilaration of departure swept through

my soul like a breeze. It was now the wee hours of the morning and just cold enough I was

making steam with my breath. Nothing could beat this feeling. I was ecstatic.


"Took you long enough." said a gruff voice to my left. There was Kaalo, leaning

against the side of the building.


"Well," I replied, "A delicate flower like myself has to be concerned with the way she

looks. I don't want to HIDE behind a mask."


He just stared at me like I was an idiot and said "You mean you took an hour to

powder your nose when your doom could be around the corner?"


"And pack!"


He let out this long, exasperated sigh "Oh, never mind. Lets go" with that said he
started walking.


"How far's your ship?" I asked.


"15 minute walk"


Along the way I tried to be polite and make some conversation. "Why do you wear a

mask? Ya ugly?"


"That isn't for me to decide, and I'm not being shy, this mask provides a tactical

advantage. A lot can be told from one's facial expressions. I don't have to worry about that"


I now knew that this was an assassin, because I can remember Suzu sounding a lot

like that.


"Uh huh . . . can we get something to eat, I'm starving"


"Suit yourself, the ship's at docking bay 8"


"But I don't have any wongs!"


"That isn't my problem, if your so famished you can go steal some food" he said

nonchalantly.


I was appalled. "I'm a Ctarl Ctarl! I would never resort to stealing! Nor would any

other Ctarl Ctarl with any honor!"


He walked forward a ways, then stopped, his back to me. "Why do you brag about

being something you had nothing to do with becoming? Just because you happen to be a

certain race, does not make you better than anyone, and until you learn that, then you are no

better then the dirt others walk on. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must make ready our

transportation" he said acidly. He began walking to the spaceport.


I couldn't say anything. Those words were like a slap in the face. That son of a

bitch! How dare he judge me!?! Yet . . . there seemed an wrathful honesty in his voice that

made the accusation hard to deny. This wasn't over, no, not by a long shot. I was going to

prove him wrong and show myself that he knew nothing about me! I'd show that jerk who

Aisha Clan-Clan really was!



~~~~*~~~~


Kaalo had been making all the necessary preparations for take-off when something on

a monitor bleeped, showing that someone had entered the craft. Aisha he thought. He

liked people who valued pride, they were easy to manipulate. He heard the approaching

footsteps and he could tell that they had lost the spring they had had before. He was

beginning to doubt his sanity when his enhanced hearing picked up a small sniffle. He had

made her cry. So what? It was none of his concern what her emotional state was. If she was

upset it was because everything he had said was true. The footsteps paused, more sniffling,

and then Aisha walked in, her head held in a dignified manner, and sat down in the


navigators chair.


"All systems green, we have clearance from the tower, are you ready?"


Aisha stared into his eyes with pure, unbridled hatred. "Yes." she said through

clenched teeth.


"I'm glad" he said, a smile touching his voice. "Let's depart, shall we?"


With a giant rumbling sound the transport took off into space.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So how was it? Any comments, questions, flames, praises, would be much
appreciated. A little taste of what's next:

Kaalo and Aisha don't stay enemies, but it will take something tragic for their standoff to
end . . . They might become friends or even more (^ - ^), but I'm not sure.

Oh, by the way, the poem in Kaalo's POV (previous chapter) was an excerpt from Sonnet 29
by William Shakespear


Kuratagi