N.B I'm sorry but my computer has decided to commit suicide and won't let me have the lines that tell you there'sa shift of time or something going on at the same time somewhere else, you know what I mean. Anyway I replaced the lines with x's until I can get them back. Please bare with me. Anyway, onto normal author's note (however normal that is...)

Tis me, FB! Hey that rhymed! (frames page and puts it in National hall of crappy rhyming) So this is the fabled chapter 11! Sorry it took a little longer than usual, I've been having my bedroom decorated and I had a little bit of a problem sorting out this chapter but it's all good! Anyway, onto the real news...BW IS ON FANFICTION! FB throws congratulations party For all you Escaflowne fans out there, BW's FanFic is called 'Tangled Destiny' so Read and Review if you love Escaflowne on behalf of my pal!

BW: Yeah...what she said!

FB: You're up, you're up, you're up, you're up...(bounces manically up and down)

BW: (going cross-eyed) Yup! And I know what's happening and you don't! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

FB: Tell me!

BW: No.

FB: Tell me!

BW: No.

FB: TELL ME!

BW: NO!

FB: (slipping truth serum into her drinking water) Tell me?

BW: (breaths in and...)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Oultaw Star series but I am in the process of stalking the producers until they get paranoid enough to sell/give it to me. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Finish Line

Gene dragged Jim through the last of the deserted streets towards the space port and the bulk of the Outlaw Star. The familiar shape of his ship seemed to put Gene slightly at ease. It was a finish line.

Letting Jim go, he slowed to a stop.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked rubbing his sore wrist where Gene had gripped it.

"Just tell me, did you know that guy? The one that helped us?"

Jim stiffened involuntarily.

"Why would you think that?"

"He sure seemed to know you."

Before Jim could answer there was a magnified shift behind them. Gene spun round, this time pointing his caster off into the dark.

Jim backed into the wall of a nearby building and cowered.

"Who's there? Sow yourself asshole!" Gene barked.

The two in the dark obeyed Gene's command without hesitation. One figure was leaning heavily on the other with snow white hair and one black streak cutting through his sweating face. Flynn. Supporting him was a women with cat-like qualities about her appearance, platinum hair and paw like hands, she herself looked weakened. Aisha.

Seeing Flynn in such a bad condition, fighting for breath, Jim stepped forward and took his other arm.

"What happened to you?" asked Jim softly.

"Internal wounds…from impact of …bullet." said Flynn breathing heavily.

"We've got to get him to the Outlaw Star Gene! Mel's the only one that can handle this!" said Jim panicking.

Gene glanced at Flynn and then out at the open space port. Outside the maze of the streets there was no cover. Their pursuers could attack them from all sides. They would have to make a break for it.

"When I say, I want you to move. There's no cover until we get to the Outlaw Star so it's gonna be a case of moving as fast as you can. I'll cover you from behind." Gene told the others authoritatively.

"Some plan Gene." groaned Jim sarcastically, unable to keep the worry from his voice.

"You got a better idea hot shot!" Gene and Jim shot sparks at each other over the dark.

"We don't have time for this, I'll cover you as well."

Gene nearly had a heart attack. Somehow Suzuka had got behind him and had stood, wearing that same different expression, without any of them noticing. Cautiously, Gene patted his chest to calm his heart and glared at Suzuka.

"You're late!" he said for lack of something better to say.

Suzuka shook her head wearily and moved forwards making to scout the area. Gene followed her example and edged into the clearing.

Silence.

Gene shuffled out a little more, made bold by the lack of enemy action.

Nothing.

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"Gilliam?"

"Yes Melfina?" Gilliam looked down into Melfina's sorrowful yet defiant face.

"I…I want you to do a search for me. Are there legitimate co-ordinates in our database to the place known as Mortalis?"

"One moment please." There was a brief pause as Gilliam scanned the database of stored navigation codes. Melfina stared up into Gilliam's computer, a mixture of hope and fear etched into her slender face. What had Vega meant about finding some answers in Mortalis? What did it have to do with Leyline Project: Phase 2?

"Melfina, there are legitimate co-ordinates for the place you are looking for. Are you okay? You look troubled."

Melfina's smile was strained, hiding strong emotions.

"I'm fine. Listen Gilliam, wherever Gene tells you to go, I want you to take us to Mortalis."

Gilliam didn't know how to react to this, completely stunned by Melfina's blatant disregard for the future order put down by a higher ranking crew member.

"But Melfina, why would you want to go against Gene's plans! He's the captain!"

"There's…something I need to see." said Melfina vaguely.

"Understood Melfina." said Gilliam's voice doubtfully.

Suddenly, the sound of shooting started up outside, filtering through the complicated fibres of her thoughts. Swiftly she ran to the window and watched the pinprick figures below. She could just make out Gene's shocking red as a gunshot illuminated the scene. A moment later he had disappeared under an enemy swarm.

"Gene!" she screamed.

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Aisha was the one who saw it, her cat-like eyes were the only ones to penetrate and see past the illusions of the dark.

"Gene, to your left!"

Gene's eyes shot round to the left to confront what looked like a gathering army of Kei Pirate machines. They surged and wove through the night like a dark sea. Staring transfixed, Gene switched his caster for his automatic pistol. The sheer number of the machines told him this was a pointless battle to fight, why waste caster shells when he would simply be holding them off for a while? The Twilight Generals were nowhere in sight.

"Ready Suzuka?"

Suzuka swung her sword in front of her in her usual fighting stance.

"I'll take that as a yes then." He turned to Jim. "Go now!"

Jim and Aisha stumbled forwards, trying to keep Flynn balanced between them. The machines ignored them and charged towards Gene and Suzuka instead. Gene aimed his pistol, pressuring the trigger to shoot but…

Suzuka stepped forwards and her sword cut through the air in a horizontal lightning strike. The machines were thrown backwards and torn apart in mid-air.

Gene blinked and gawked at her.

"Just what exactly have you been doing these past few months! You know, you could happily challenge Aisha for strongest woman in the universe."

Suzuka shot a black look at him.

"You should be glad Aisha didn't hear that Gene. I'll let you handle the next one."

The second line of machines came together with the third. Gene and Suzuka each took one on. Suzuka hacked through the ranks, plunging her sword into each machine using and array of fine tuned techniques. She heard the gun shot as the pistol was fired and turned to see if he had made it. All she could see were the countless, formless faces as the machines swarmed in and overwhelmed him.

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"Gene!"

Was that Melfina's voice?

He grit his teeth, reaching for his caster in the compact space and holding his breath. His lungs felt as though they had shrivelled up. The increasing weight of the machines as they piled on top of him out a vast pressure on his heart. He would die of either suffocation or a heart attack if he didn't do something fast.

Suddenly he could feel the smooth handle of the caster beneath him.

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The flash of caster magic ignited the sky. The increasing dome of machines erupted suddenly like a timed firework and disintegrated into a mass of parts raining down from the sky.

Gene stood in the centre taking a few deep, revitalising breaths.

Suzuka was impressed. Gene should have been blown away with the rest of them but there wasn't even a scratch on him.

He heaved himself up.

"What took you so long?" asked Suzuka as the two pelted towards the Outlaw Star after the others.

"Oh give me a break Suzuka!" Gene snarled.

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Hidden by the cover the shrouded streets provided, The Twilight Generals watched Gene and Suzuka as they boarded the ship. Osaka growled heavily, eyes manic.

"I don't know what this is about Vega but it better be good. This is the first time I have failed to hit my target and it is going to be the last!"

Vega's smiling face never wavered.

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So Melfina's going to take Vega up on his hint eh? So what exactly does this Mortalis place have to do with Leyline Project Phase 2 anyway? and what does Vega know that no-one else does? And IS FLYNN OKAY? I mean with the bullet and the shooting and the rasping and- (Flynn fans maul FB)

N.B I do not own the FanFic, the FanFic owns me. It is just using me as a host body to make it's story into written words...or something wisdomatic like that.