A/N: sorry, had a bit of a delay again.

Legacy: chapter 21

Entrancing beauty radiated out from the blue orb of Earth as it hung peacefully on its orbital plain just as it had for millions upon millions of years. The ethereal glow of the planets atmosphere called out to all around to admire its delicate beauty. However, John had more important tasks at hand.

The vapor like, holographic projections that made up the crafts pilot interface flickered all around his small, gray form. One of the displays showed an enhanced image of the city known as 'Seattle' from twenty kilometers out. A second display showed a stabilized and grid lined image of Earth, in three dimensions. This display hung alongside the actual planet viewed through the forward view screen making for an interesting contrast.

John brought one of his long gray fingers up and touched the projection of Seattle, causing a momentary ripple on the surface of the vapors, then, the map zoomed in around the area of his touch. A rectal came down and focused around an objects location, followed by indecipherable Xean symbols.

Ka'len… John read the symbols. He had found one of them. But the important energy signature remained illusive. With another touch to an adjacent projection panel, the map scanned back out to twenty kilometers and a scroll of symbols reading: 'scanner range increased' rolled along the top of the image.

The Sally would not arrive in Earth space for another three days. Until that time, all John had at his disposal was the weak surface bio-entity scanners of this small craft.

The map blinked and the rectal focused down around Ka'len again, but nothing else. John was becoming worried. Allie's signature is stronger then Ka'len's; much stronger then his own. But she was nowhere to be found inside the city.

The obvious and most logical answer was that Allie is no longer in the city. A most unfortunate scenario, since the bio-entity scanners on this small craft are limited to short range-spread scans. Another option would be to scan for Lisa's signature, but since her signal had been disabled, and John did not have an example of her natural body energy signature to match with a scan. That was impossible.

Being the rational creature that he was, John also had to acknowledge the possibility that Allie was too weak for her signature to transmit very far… or worse. Even though it was unlikely for Allie to deplete herself, it was still a possibility. Perhaps the government of the land of 'United States' had once again renewed their attempts to apprehend her. She could be in trouble.

Those terribly troublesome emotions started to come over John. Allie was very important to the Xean High Council, more so then his entire fleet. But, genetic family lines set aside, Allie was also his closest friend. If anything happened to her…

John caught the emotional overflow. But at the same time he hoped that his worst-case scenario was just that. Once the Sally arrived, and he was behind the weapons console, there was no guarantee that those emotions could be suppressed adequately enough to avoid Earth's destruction. If the High Council didn't order it first.

John flexed his superior cognitive control and forced the inefficient thought thread from his consciousness, allowing rational and more productive thoughts to come fourth. Logic suggested that Ka'len would know where Allie is. So the first step in finding Allie is to get to Ka'len.

With a slight application of pressure to one of the control pads on the arms of his chair, the vapor holograms all disappeared, making way for a larger tactical display of Earth with a small red dot superimposed over Ka'len's location on the planet. Next, a simple outstretching of his will sent the small craft hurtling toward the atmosphere.

Eerie city silence lay over the wet and dirty hiding place Tyler had chosen. Seth and Jessica huddled close to him in between the dumpsters. Every breath each one of them took was labored, apprehensive. As if even the sound of breathing would give their location away. Those men had already left, with Allie, so the chances of that happening were slim. Still, after what the three of them had just been through, any sliver of a chance of contact with those men was worth avoiding.

"I'm cold…" Jessica said shakily, "and I'm scared. Lets go!"

"Allie said to stay here." Tyler said without looking back. His eyes were fixed on the area in front of the building that had just been their prison. Help would come for them, Allie said so.

"I don't care!" Jessica suppressed a full body shiver, "Who knows why they wanted that girl? I think we should get away from here as quick as we can."

Seth noticed his friends discomfort and moved closer to her, "I think Jessie's right," he said, "what if no one comes?"

"Some one will come!" Tyler turned around and settled in facing the other two.

"How do you know?" Seth asked in a way that sounded more confrontational then he had intended.

"Allie said some one would come, that's how I know." Tyler told him.

"So just because your girlfriend says so, it has to be true?" Jessica asked.

"She's not my… 'Girlfriend'… I just trust her… I don't know."

Jessica managed a smirk, "sure, I heard what she said about a 'date'. Don't even try to get out of it now."

Tyler's face started to turn red, causing Seth to laugh. "Tyler's got a girlfriend. Tyler's got a…"

"Shut up man!" Tyler cut off his teasing, "what, are you in first grade or something? So what if I like her?"

"Lighten up… I was just trying to be funny…"

Tyler turned his head to the side, "this is not a good time for jokes."

"You don't even know who she is Tyler," Jessica said, "Why did those men want her so bad that they had to use us?"

"I said I don't know!" Tyler turned all the way back toward the building he was watching. Jessica was right, but he didn't want to think about it. How could a girl as perfect in every way as Allie was be bad? Several scenarios out of the movies crept into his mind, but he dismissed them.

"What if her parents are like international drug smugglers or something?" Seth suggested.

"Right…" Tyler said incredulously, "You have no proof of that. You've never even seen her parents."

"Have you?" Seth asked.

Tyler paused, no. He had only seen Allie's mother once in a car from a distance. She had looked normal enough, but criminal types like to blend… what the hell am I thinking! They're not drug smugglers!

"There is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this." Tyler said, "I'm sure Allie will explain it to us and we will all laugh about it."

"That's you, Tyler," Jessica shook her head, "always so trusting…"

"Be quiet…" Tyler held up a hand to silence her, "hear that?" he said as he looked to the sky above. "It's a helicopter."

"So, there are tons of those flying around." Seth spoke up, then stopped as he realized that what ever it was, it was much lower then any other helicopters normally fly.

Suddenly, a great burst of rotor downwash filled the narrow alleyway sending papers and other garbage spinning in every direction. The wind was followed shortly by an overwhelmingly bright searchlight that focused right in on their location with out hesitation.

Tyler lifted his arm to block the light, "help? Maybe…"

"What if it's those men?" Jessica asked as she pressed her back up against a dumpster to stay hidden from whoever was in the machine hovering overhead.

"Tyler..." A voice boomed from the helicopters loud speaker, "do not be afraid."

That voice… is… no. Tyler shook his head. It sounded like Allie's cousin, Kaytlen. But why would she be in a… black helicopter?

The helicopter tilted forward slightly and started moving of toward the clearing in front of the old meatpacking warehouse. "Please, follow." the voice said as the searchlight started moving off in the direction of flight.

The three emerged from the alleyway as the helicopter was touching down in the middle of the street. They watched timidly from the partially obscured vantage point around the corner of the building as a convoy of unmarked, plain black vehicles came tearing down the street. Tires screeched all around as the trucks, vans, and cars came to hasty stops around the small black helicopter.

"What now?" Tyler asked as he watched the chaos on the street. A second black helicopter roared overhead and then out of sight behind a building.

"Hey!" a voice called out from the crowd that was now feverishly combing the area around the warehouse, "you kids…" two men in military fatigues were running toward them.

In the split second he had to think about his actions, Tyler decided that these men were the 'help' Allie had promised. Jessica thought otherwise, she turned and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

"Jesse, wait!" Tyler tried to stop her.

Seth turned ad was about to run after her when Tyler grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"What? I was just going to catch her." He protested

The two men closed the rest of the distance, "you're the ones on the news?" the taller of the two asked.

"What news?"

"It's not important…"

"We're friends of Allie, she told me to tell you… whoever you are."

The two soldiers exchanged glances then the shorter one looked down the alley after Jessica, the taller nodded.

"I'll bring her to the chopper…"

"Right." The taller man said as his buddy ran off after the girl, then looked at the remaining boys, "my name is Lieutenant Harper, I have to ask you two to come with me."

Tyler nodded and started walking toward the jumble of cars and trucks with Seth close behind.

The side door on the helicopter slid open and Tyler realized that the aircraft was their destination. The scene was surreal, like something out of a movie. Assault teams armed with every type of firearm imaginable stormed through all of the surrounding buildings. Tyler knew what they must be looking for.

He looked up to Lieutenant Harper, "those guys are all gone." Tyler told him, "They left with Allie after they let us go."

"Probably," Harper said, "but we have to be sure… Major!"

Bryan turned toward the three approaching figures. "Lieutenant Harper, I thought there were three kids." He said as Harper brought the two boys up to a stop several paces away from the truck that was serving as a mobile command post.

"Yes sir, Frankie ran after the other one."

"Right…" Bryan looked back to a laptop screen, "well, we have to move out. Get these two on the chopper."

"Yes sir," Harper saluted and started herding Tyler and Seth toward the helicopter.

"What about our friend?" Tyler demanded loudly as they walked under the whirling rotor blades.

"We'll stick her on the other chopper once this one leaves, now get in."

The source of that mysterious voice became clear as Tyler started to climb in the side door. Kaytlen sat up front beside the pilot. It had been her that recognized him. But why was she with them? And what was she doing? Her eyes were closed tightly and her skin was pale white, a trace of sweat showed on her forehead.

"There's not much room left," a man seated inside yelled out over the engine noise. Tyler had never seen him before but the woman sitting beside him Tyler recognized as Allie's mother. The more Tyler saw, the more curious he became. What the hell is this?

Seth backed away a bit, "you go on this one Ty, I'll wait for Jesse and ride with her."

"You can fit on this one," Harper tried to push Seth.

"No! I want to go with Jesse… so she wont be alone."

Harper studied the boy for a moment then removed his hand, "alright," he looked to Tyler, "but you need to go."

Tyler nodded and climbed up into the chopper, taking the last empty seat next to the unknown man.

The side door slid closed on its own and the turbine engine started racing up for takeoff, filling the passenger compartment with a high pitched whine. No use asking any questions now, Tyler thought. A person could loose their voice very quickly trying to yell over the sound, which was now accompanied by the pounding of the rotor blades as they spun up to flight speed.

"It is good to see you again, Tyler." Kaytlen's voice said, but it was unusual. She wasn't yelling or anything, he could just hear her.

Tyler could not see the girls face, but he soon saw one of her hands as it reached for one of the control levers. He watched speechlessly as she manipulated the various switches and dials like a pro. Then he got scared. She's not going to fly this thing…is she? He glanced up at the other two people sharing the passenger cabin with him. They seemed unconcerned.

The man in the pilot seat nodded toward Kaytlen and made a hand gesture toward the cyclic as if offering her control, Which she took without hesitation. Tyler's hands dug into the sides of the seat as the helicopter started lifting into the air.