Chapter 6:Final Liberation

"For freedom I die today, I fall with glory for I fall knowing that I have given my life to freeing my fellows, remember me, remember our cause"-Last words of Col. Ferris Calman at the battle of Fallenhiem circa 2210

The first thing Sev saw when he walked down the ramp into the square room which provided the Iris base of operation on Hillys was a brief glimpse of a figure dashing towards him before Jade crashed into him and winded him. She pulled him into a tight hug and Sev wrapped his arms around her shoulders, he was starting to run out of oxygen "Jade, I can't breathe" he wheezed.

"Sorry" jade apologized and loosened her grip.

"Thanks" Sev said, now that he could breathe again he could appreciate just how much happiness he could feel emanating from Jade, laced with unrestrained love. 'What the frag, since we're all probably going to die, no point hiding it' he figured but hey, he wasn't complaining. Jade looked up at him, her green eyes full of fading worry and now happiness, Sev brushed aside her fringe and kissed her gently on her forehead before letting go and turning to face the assembled members of the Iris network oe arm still around Jade's shoulders.

"Well let's get started" Nino said, showing no sins that he had noticed Sev and Jade's reunion "Uhh, we'll start with introductions, you already know me. This is Mei" He indicated a blue haired female cat with large green eyes wearing a black long sleeve shirt and combats, a Farrier .45 pistol strapped to her combat belt, on her table she was resting her arm on a Dragunov SMK Sniper Rifle. She nodded in greeting. Sev turned back to Nino, who indicated a pair of men "these are Colo and Eli"

"Yo man" Colo said.

"wassup?" Eli grinned.

Sev took the time to examine Colo and Eli, they were clearly brothers, sharing short, wavy red hair, brown eyes and a solid build, bother were armed with Morita Assault weapons, like an M-29 but smaller and longer, Sev made a mental note to trade in his M-29 for one of the twin's Moritas.

"Like 'em do ya" Colo asked, noticing Sev eyeing the guns. "We got a couple o' spares if ya want one"

"Sounds good" Sev replied. This was defiantly a good day, Sev was a big fan of Moritas.

"Sick deal bro, talk to me bro' Eli here, he'll hook ya up with Shard, the armourer an' he'll get cha what cha needs"

"Right, I'll remember that" Sev was well versed in the obscure language known as Street so the Street-talking twins didn't confuse him and they looked slightly put out by his easy understanding of their obscure speech.

"Okay now that we all know each other, lets get to work" Nino said. "First up we have several important areas that we need to take over, namely the Spaceport, the TachBand Communications Installation and the local Fusion Power Plant. Additionally our spies have uncovered the location of General Kheck's base where, we have confirmed he is holding Hahn, the chief and the kids from the lighthouse. Their base is impenetrable to an assault, so we will have to make it a one man infiltration, any volunteers?"

"I'll go" Jade said in a tone that left no room for argument. She felt the comforting weight on her shoulders disappear. Sev had stepped back from her and everyone in the room was staring at her in shock. "Don't try to stop me, their my family and my friend therefore I go." Jade resolutely stared each of them down. Sev was last; he only put up a brief resistance before backing down.

"Alright, go up to the surface and talk to Chick, she'll give you what we've got. Good luck Jade." Nino said.

"Luck"

"Come back soon"

Jade turned to Sev; he nodded and said, "I know you can do it. Be careful." Jade looked away before he could see tears forming and quickly dashed out before they fell.

Sev stared at the spot where Jade had disappeared for a moment before turning back to the Iris team, who were gathered around the table in the center of the room and the massive hologram of the city and surrounding area with various holographic tags hovering above parts of the three dimensional map.

"Lieutenant Caravera?" Nino asked in a cautious voice.

"Huh?" Sev was startled out of his trance "Just got the feeling like I'll never see her again" he said, too quietly for anyone to hear. Then Nino's words sank in "Lieutenant?"

"That's right, since you're now a member of the Iris Network's militia branch we need skilled soldiers to lead our men and women into action. Your skills will be invaluable in a combat command role hence your immediate promotion to lieutenant" Nino informed Sev. Sev declined to respond instead he joined Nino, Colo, Eli and Mei at the table. Nino cleared his throat and made to continue he looked around the assembled freedom fighters, wondering if he would see any of them again. "Alright, to take any of these locations: the Spaceport, Comms Installation or Power Plant we need to first capture or destroy a series of Alpha Section bunkers, dumps and forward bases" As he named each target he pointed it out on the holographic map that covered the table, each target was highlighted with a red ring around it and a unique tag with an Alpha Sections logo in the center, the smaller bases, bunkers, checkpoints, etcetera were labeled by arrows with the Alpha Section logo. "We plotted the best routes through the bases to each critical target, see here" He punched in a command on the holoprojector's console and three red lines sprung up, each one leading through a series of Alpha bases towards on of the main targets.

"Right, what's the plan?" Sev asked.

"Well, You Colo and Eli each pick a target and lead your team there. We hit each target simultaneously so the Alphas are confused and therefore incapable of reacting to at least one of the attacks.

"Sounds good, divide my team members up between Colo and Eli, I'll take the Power Plant. Alone" Sev said in a don't-argue-with-me tone, his relationship with Jade was really starting to rub off on him. It was going to get him killed.

"Are you crazy? We've already got Jade on a suicide mission we don't need to lose two of our best people!" Eli snapped.

"Hey! I'm not 'one of your people' Nino, I'm a merc and I do things my way or you can find another merc, I'm sure plenty of people will be queuing up to fight the Alphas!" Sev snapped, he wasn't used to people contradicting him when he decided how he would get the contract done, speaking of contracts… "About my pay Nino, I want 50K or you'll wish you'd never met me' Sev said menacingly.

"We can't afford that sort of money. And anyway I would have thought you'd be willing to do this, considering your current…attractions to one of our members" Nino said nastily, with a hint of what Sev deducted to be jealousy.

'Frag it! I don't have time for some love triangle! All the more reason to collect my pay and…hell who am I kidding I'm in this for the long haul' Sev thought while Nino continued ranting. "Give Colo and Eli my troopers. You'll know when I've taken out the power plant, incidentally you do want it destroyed don't you?" Sev asked.

"Yes, blow it hell and back the Alphas are using it to power their HQ, where Jade…" Nino's voice broke for a moment and Sev caught a glimpse of Nino's real reasons for not arguing about his going in alone. It would make things easier for Jade and likely remove Sev from the picture. He'd probably be vaporized when the power plant went up. With him out of the way Nino would have a shot at Jade who he had, now clearly, loved from afar but had been too scared to move in

'All the more reason to get paid and make yourself scared' Sev's more logical side told him. "The next time you hear from me will be a big boom" Sev said no more he turned around and departed.

SEAVIEW FUSION POWER PLANT-Reactor Core

Sev yet again shook his head at the absurd ease with which he had infiltrated the vitally important structure. It had been incredibly easy for him to find a convenient air duct and plant the explosive charges on the reactor core's thick tungsten walls. When the core was breached the enormous pressure would blast wholly unstable gasses out to meet the air. This would start the most destructive reaction in the universe: a matter-antimatter explosion. Antimatter would be created by the force with which the gasses from the core crashed into the oxygen-nitrogen outside the core propelled by the huge pressure inside the core. This antimatter would come into contact with matter, dust in the air was enough, this in turn would obliterate everything within…Sev quickly ran through some rough calculations in his head…about a mile in any direction. Fusion plants were built a good mile or more from any settlements for this very reason. He finished setting the charges and set the remote detonator to the charges frequency. Then he crawled back into the vent. About two miles away he detonated the charges.

As Sev walked across the farmlands he noticed the strange absence of anyone trying to find him. After that stunt he had expected at least to be being pursued by flights of gunships, hovercraft and high altitude recon planes and drones. If truth be told it was nice not to have anyone hunting him at first, but as time went by Sev became more and more uneasy. Without warning a bright spotlight illuminated him, warming his skin it was so powerful. He quickly found the source: An important looking craft was hovering about twenty meters behind him, as it closed Sev reached for his sword.

"Don't waste your time boy!" A voice boomed out on a megaphone. The gunship, bearing important looking markings pulled up ten meters away from him and twelve above the ground. Hovering there the voice boomed again "Wondering why you weren't detected, wondering why you weren't hunted, well I've got a little present for you' The voice was slowly becoming familiar the Sev placed it Kheck! "You don't really think that all this sneaky scurrying you did went unnoticed do you? We caught your pretty little friend just as she had let the prisoners out and was about to escape herself" The door slid back and the gunship's spotlight switched off, in the moonlight Sev was able to make out six figures standing in the gunship, one wriggling furiously, foru with sinister red eyes in the middle of their heads and one holding onto the wriggling figure. Suddenly lights on he side of the gunship came on and Sev was able to see who was in it. Four Alphas, Kheck and…Jade! Kheck was keeping a tight grip on her; Sev made to draw his sword, his body shaking with fury but was cut off by Kheck's words. "Exactly the reaction I wanted" The huge man smiled and ordered a pair of his alpha guards to hold onto Jade as he stepped back. Jade turned to face him, Sev realized what was about to happen

"No!" He roared tearing towards the gunship at full speed. The gunship started to rise; as it rose Sev stood watching helplessly. Then it came he heard the unmistakable sound of a gun firing, two shots, Jade cried out. The Alphas reappeared over the side of the gunship and tossed something out. It hit the ground with a thud, Sev dashed over, praying it wasn't what he thought it was. He skidded to a stop and threw his sword aside. He felt tears stinging his eyes and he cried openly as he cradled Jade's lifeless body in his arms. What he didn't notice was strange rivulets of green light flowing down his arms and crossing to the center of Jade's chest before disappearing into her wounds. The two jagged holes in Jade's chest slowly sealed over, leaving nothing but faint white scars and bloody patches on her shirt. Sev felt a soft breath of air on his cheek stirring his hair, but the grass around him wasn't moving. He felt Jade's wrist, a pulse! She wasn't dead! "Jade! Jade!" Sev shouted shaking her gently. Her eyes fluttered open, she looked up at Sev, a slightly confused expression in her large green eyes.

"What happened?" Jade asked groggily, her memory wasn't the best at the moment and finding herself in Sev's arms, while pleasant only added to the confusion. "Sev, what…happened to me? I remember…a…gunship then nothing"

"You got shot" Sev said in a tone half amused half pure joy.

"I…what!" Jade asked wide awake now, 'shot! Shouldn't I be dead?' "But of I was shot, how come I'm talking to you now? Shouldn't I be dead?"

"Technically yes. I don't now how but something brought you back to life. Can you walk?" Sev did the asking, his voice now laced with concern for Jade's health.

"I, I think so" Jade said, Sev stood up, pulling Jade onto her feet with him. She took a few staggering steps keeping a tight grip on Sev's arm before walking on her own "I'll be fine, I'm just a bit dizzy that's all."

"You should be happy if that's all you feel, you took two bullets to the chest and fell 20 meters of a gunship. Most people would be feeling a whole lot worse," Sev said dryly.

"That's not all I feel" Jade said staring Sev in the eye.

Sev gave a brief smile at the none too subtle hint. He walked past Jade towards the burning city. He knew she was just flirting with him, but Sev was far too smart to be pulled into a game with someone like Jade. He could make a reasonably accurate guess that he'd come off second-best. "Come on. Lets find out how Colo and Eli went on their attacks" He said over his shoulder…

MAIN CANAL

"We'll never get back that way," Jade moaned. They had arrived at the main canal with little challenge. Partly because of the Iris networks multiple "Island Hopping" attacks, most famously used by General Douglas McArthur of Earth back in the 20th century against the Japanese during WW2. The attacks on such a wide front had proven as effective at splitting up the enemy's forces now in the 25th century as it had back in the 20th. Jade sat on the edge of the canal her legs dangling over the side. Sev sat on a fallen wall just behind her. He stared out across the canal taking in every detail, the defenses the Alphas had on the canal had definitely intensified. "Lets go find another way." Jade said standing up and walking past Sev.

Sev staid where he was for a moment then stood up and fished around in his pocket for something. He pulled a small gold ring with a tiny emerald stud out of his pocket and examined it on the moonlight. It was an engagement band he had bought on Atlas for Jade. Well considering the current turn of events it was probably going to stay in his pocket for a good long time. As he held the ring he caught sight of his own ring. Funnily enough it was old with his family crest carved out of another emerald. Some would say it was a sign, after what he'd been through in the past few months Sev was inclined to agree.

"Who's that for?" came a voice from behind him.

Sev jumped and quickly dropped the ring into his fist. "No-one" He answered too quickly, he looked across the canal again "Just keeping it for a friend".

"Of course" Jade said, mimicking his dry tone with a smile. She didn't believe him for a second.

"You can have it" Sev replied. I don't think my friend would want to be tied down anyway" Which was as close to the truth as Sev would come. He took Jade's wrist and dropped the ring in her hand. "Its yours now" He said quickly turning away again before he went to far and said why he really had it.

"Sev…this is an engagement band. Do you…" Jade never got a chance to finish before Sev cut her off.

"No, its…family tradition" Sev quickly invented he story. His family had no such tradition, preferring arranged marriages that strengthened the family 'price of being noble' Sev thought. "I think we could swim across again. We'd have to go underwater though and it looks like a good long way. Can you swim that far?" Sev asked

"Easily" Jade answered. Family tradition she didn't believe that for a second. Perhaps Sev would ask her after this was all over; then again he seemed so introverted. She could always dream.

"That being the case…Jade are you listening to me?" Sev asked noticing the dreamy look in Jade's eyes.

"Huh? What? Oh sorry what were you saying?" Jade hadn't been listening.

"That being the case we can dive off here, swim underwater to the pedestrian district and come up there. Lets go" Was the last Sev said before diving into the frigid, paralyzing cold water.

PEDESTRIA DISTRICT

Sev swum at the very bottom of the canal with Jade not far behind him it was absolutely freezing in the water but Sev was more worried about anything with big teeth swimming into the canal unnoticed amidst the fighting, fortunately none of Hilly's marine predators had taken any interest in searching the canals for a feed. The smaller, non-biting variety of fish had taken up refuge in the canals and had provided a useful distraction and cover for the pair to swim unnoticed to the docks at the Pedestrian district. They finally reached the docks, Sev indicated to go up and swum for he surface. He broke the surface of the water and took in a huge gulp of air, panting, he swum to the docks and hauled himself up for a second time. He reached over and pulled, Jade up with him. They lay facing each other on the wood catching their breath. Sev looked over at Jade, who's face was from exertion and glistening with water "There has got to be a better way to make a living." He said in between taking breaths of air.

"I'm sure there is" Jade panted back. She rolled over and o to her hands and knees; she crawled over to Sev who was still lying on the ground. "Thanks for the ring Sev" She said, with one hand she brushed hair out of the way, bent down and gave Sev a brief kiss, before standing up and walking away.

Sev watched her go, thinking about Jade's latest token of appreciation, the woman sure knew how thank someone. Sev touched his l were Jade had kissed him, examined his fingers and said to himself "I could get used this". He rolled over, stood up and joined Jade as they walked back to the Akuda Bar for he second time. At the bar's entrance Jade gave the password and they walked in and for the second time Mo shouted at Sev for leaving water all over the floor. No longer in his usual sullen mood Sev replied by vigorously shaking his head like a wet dog, sending water from his hair flying everywhere. As Sev looked up again he heard someone familiar shout Jade's name. They looked in the direction of the shout. Pey'j was standing on the upper floor of the bar, looking down at the two.

"Pey'j!" Jade shouted running up to him ad leaping into her uncle's arms. "Pey'j I missed you so much" Jade said.

"I missed you to darlin" Pey'j replied. H was feeling so happy and relieved at his adoptive daughter's safe return and he was so proud of her for what she had accomplished. Because of her Hillys could soon be free again, but what next? Jade was too restless too sit safe on Hillys while other worlds suffered under the Alpha's regime. At least he would be around to protect her this time.

"Where's Double H?" Jade asked now standing up.

"Umm, well you see…" Pey'j started to answer but was cut of by the dripping mercenary who had come in with Jade; Pey'j couldn't quite remember his name.

"I'm not going on another rescue mission," the tall mercenary stated simply.

"What if it was me who needed rescuing?" Jade asked in a sweet voice.

"You never know" Sev replied in as close to the same voice Jade had used as his English accented growl could reach.

"What happened to Double H?" Jade rounded on Pey'j, determined not to be deflected again.

"Come on, I'll show you" Pey'j said, turning towards the entrance to the IRIS Den and beckoning them to follow. When they entered Hub was lying on the bed I the small room, his armour gone and in its place a white shirt ad black jeans. A large section of his shirt was missing and the edges were blood red. A large nanotech health kit covered the entire left side of Hub's gut.

Jade gasped and dashed over to Hub's side. Meanwhile Sev glanced at the monitor showing Hub's vital signs, it didn't look good. The 3D-wirframe of Hub showed serious damage to his stomach, kidney, and lung, his ribs were gone replaced by temporary ones built by the nanotech health kit. Other readouts showed severe hemorrhages in his lung and stomach. With Sev's limited medical knowledge it didn't take him long to figure out that if Hub didn't get surgery soon he would die. The nanotech health kit could repair some of the damage and staunch the bleeding but as soon as it ran out there would be nothing to hold back the internal bleeding. Hub needed to be moved to a surgery where the surgeons could use more advanced Surgery nanites to repair Hub's injuries.

"He got hit while we were trying to escape" Pey'j explained.

"No standard caliber bullet would do that much damage, what did he get hit with?" Sev asked the pig.

"A frag gun from a good distance I think, cut him up real bad, as you can see" Colo said from his chair, which he was leaning against the wall on. "Moment I saw him go down I turned and blasted the fragbait with a Morita grenade." Colo held up his Morita for added emphasis.

"Right" Sev answered, he looked down at Jade; she had gone very pale and was shaking. Sev could see she was afraid. If someone as big and strong as Hub could go down so easily, she would be imagining what would happen if she took a hit. 'Better take her mind of it' Sev thought. He walked over and put his arm around Jade.

"Don't tell me he's going to be all right," Jade said shortly. "I know what those monitors mean, Hub needs surgery, but where on Hillys can we get him some."

"I wasn't going to say that" Sev answered, showing no signs that he had noticed Jade's harsh tone "What I was going to say is that I think I can help with the surgery part, but I need the Zero-Tau pod on my ship…"

BORDERWORLDS-Hellport-Avarice's hideout-19/9/2435

The Borderworlds are at the very edge of colonized space. The term encloses the stations and planets that ring Commonwealth territory. The Borderworlds are host to two separate schools of thought. One believes that the Borderworlds are a romantic place where roguish charming independent space captains and mercenaries do battle with space pirates in the name of a damsel in distress. The reality of the Borderworlds is that the 'charming' captains are often as bad as the pirates they fight, that is if they themselves are not pirates and the damsels they do battle for are often more than capable of taking care of themselves.

Sev slammed the small man into a wall and held him up by the front of his greasy, grimy shirt with one hand. The man who called himself Avarice was a pathetic, weak miserable excuse for a human being, his only redeeming point being his masterful surgical skills, high tech surgery and advanced implants. This combination made the despicable doctor as arrogant as it was possible for a gen-modified human to be. 'Dr' Avarice was a small man, barely 5'7", which made him shorter than Jade, he had short, scraggly, greasy brown hair which was fighting a loosing battle against grays. The doctor was clad in a grimy green surgeon's tunic over a black shirt and jeans. "Hey! I…haven't done anything! I swear I didn't do it! Okay okay, if this is about Tico's eye implants, it wasn't my fault! He shouldn't have removed the bandages!" Avarice managed to get out in a gravelly Texan accent that was the result of to many years in the contaminated air on Hellport.

"I know you haven't done anything" Sev replied calmly.

"Then why are you trying to choke me to death!" Avarice managed to choke out.

"Same reason everyone wants to kill you Avarice. I just don't like you" Sev explained in the same passive voice that was so out of place with him hold Avarice against the wall that it was obviously put on.

"What do you want Severus? What ever it is put me down or I won't do it!" Avarice choked out.

"Of course" Sev answered, he let go of Avarice who was at the time dangling a good half a foot of the floor. He fell to the ground in a heap. "Now Avarice, remember how you said you do anything I asked for free after I saved you from those Torran mercs?"

"No I would never say anything of the sort! I Avarice would never do anything for free!" the doctor had managed to climb to his feet, the only thing returning to him faster than his breath was his arrogance.

"Well you did, I uploaded a complete memory of the conversation into my nanite implants which you installed might I remind you, are you saying that your nanites are wrong, you did install them remember. It wouldn't be good for your publicity if people found out that your nanites aren't always working perfectly. Think of all those mercs you implanted." Sev told the doctor. It was all theatrics, it was well known across the Borderworlds that Dr. Avarice built and implanted nanites that were as good if not better than those available in the Commonwealth. The only problem was what he could do to your head if he wanted to. Sev didn't trust the doctor as far as he could throw a Commonwealth battle cruiser. Which was why he brought Hub into he surgery room encased safely within his Zero-Tau pod he silently decided to keep a very close eye on the doctor.

Avarice looked over the vital signs monitors on the Zero-Tau pod, muttering to himself and making notes in his nanite brain implants, Sev knew the doctor never even looked at any problem without giving it a thorough overview to start with, it was part of what made him such a brilliant surgeon, which in turn gave him an infuriating better-than-thou attitude. After a good minute of muttering the doctor spoke up 'This is a very serious case, He is completely missing two ribs, his lung is punctured and would have collapsed had you not put the nanotech health patch on, his stomach wall is gone and there are sever lacerations in his intestine, to top it all off there are severe hemorrhages in his lung and stomach. Frankly I'm surprised he has survived this long. What hit him?" Avarice asked as if it was of no consequence.

"The same thing I'll use on your legs if he dies, a frag gun" Sev answered coldly.

"Oh…well, I'll um" Avarice let out a sigh "If I take him out of Zero-Tau the shock will kill him, and if it doesn't the hemorrhages will. I'll have to operate on him while he's in Zero-Tau."

"Frag!" Jade started earning the stares of Sev and Avarice, she didn't seem like the type to use language like that.

"Lets go Jade, leave Avarice to do his work." Sev said, steering Jade out onto the streets of Hellport, she was immediately assaulted by the variety of smells, fuel from passing vehicles, the waste and rubbish flowing onto the streets and a million other noxious elements that made up…

"The smells of home' Sev said, taking a huge breath and savouring the contaminated air of his home of five years. It felt good to be back on the filthy, rusted and dangerous streets of Hellport and Sev took a moment to refresh his memory of the place. Hellport had first been established way back when in the 23rd Century when the Commonwealth was funding colonization of the Borderworlds, back then Hellport was known as DSCR (Deep Space Colonist Relay) 11345529 but due to the rich asteroids that shared orbit around Terbus the criminal element soon took over and Hellport was born. Hellport itself was a huge, vaguely ring-shaped space station that formed a complete ring around the green and white planet it orbited, a tiny Fahrenheit-class planet known as Terbus, as well as the ring around the planet that made up most of Hellport there were innumerable small stations among the ring of asteroids that also orbited Terbus. These asteroids were the why and how of the criminal overlords taking over Hellport, they contained many millions of tons of pure Trlyiium, a key ingredient in forging durasteel. The barons started by taking over the mining and processing stations among the asteroids. With a virtual stranglehold on Hellport's only income the barons were able to take over. Since then the baron's descendants had been in total control of Hellport. Hellport's interior was an odd conglomeration of rusted metal, glass and shining durasteel, down on street level where Sev and Jade were standing everything was built out of original parts from the old sleeper ships and Colony Cruisers that originally came to the Borderworlds, as such the street level was a mess of old rusted bits and pieces welded together to form a barely airtight, vaguely street shaped U of rust. About five kilometers up was the clear, transparisteel roof of Hellport, blackened from years of asteroid and weapon impacts and starship engines. Above street level was a the durasteel walls of the cleaner upper decks where any business that held any degree of self respect or legality was based around the shipyards and massive docks and hangers in the upper decks.

"Lets eat" Sev suggested, trying to take Jade's mind off Hub, there was nothing she could do for him now. It was all in Avarice's hands. After warning Jade to stay close to him again Sev steered her over to one of his old haunts, a spacer's bar which had been here since Hellport was first built: The Crashed Cruiser, a title which was rather appropriate seeing as the bar was made out of a decommissioned Colony Cruiser bridge. Sev stepped in waving greetings to old friends and taking a moment to restore his memory of the place. A semi-circular room with a couple dozen tables and a long bar in front of a twelve meter holoscreen, the whole place was lit by dim blue lights and some soft melodic music was playing through hidden speakers. Sev walked over to the bar and sat down on the stool, the bar, like everything else in the Crashed Cruiser seemed to be made of a blue metal due to the lighting and the fact that it actually was made of blue metal. "Usual Kresta" Sev said without looking at the barmaid.

"And that would be?" A young female voice asked, Sev looked up, a young girl no more than sixteen was standing behind the bar, and she had blonde hair that brushed her shoulders in a way that was vaguely familiar. It was exactly the way Sev's own hair fell but the girl also had a long, thin braid and large brown eyes. The whole combination was annoying familiar to Sev but she hadn't been here when Sev had made Hellport his home. "Well?" The girl asked, irritated now.

"Seraph Downs, that's the usual" Sev replied.

"Everything's the usual' the girl replied in what Sev only just realized was a English accent almost identical to his. 'Ally!' the name burst into his head, his little sister was alive and standing right here in front of him! "Allyshia"

Allyshia Caravera looked up at the scruffy mercenary; it was a long time since she'd heard that name. There was only one person it could possibly be. "S…Sev, is it you?' she asked shakily.

Sev just smiled, "Who else could it be".

Ally leapt over the bar and threw her arms around her brother Sev returned the embrace. As far as either could recall it had been five years since they had seen the other alive.

"Let me get a look at you" Sev said, holding Ally at arm's length. "You've grown, how old are you now?"

"Sixteen, and look at you Sev, I think you've got bigger to and I don't remember that haircut" Ally laughed.

"Sev?" Jade broke in.

"Jade, allow me to introduce you to me little sister Ally. Ally this is Jade my contract" Sev performed introductions. Now that Jade was satisfied as to this new girl's identity she reached out and shook Ally's hand. 'Why would you be jealous of her anyway, she's sixteen? I must be getting paranoid'.

"What brings you to my humble home?" Ally asked "Surely not the drinks"

"Actually we came to see Avarice" Sev explained the story so far in brief: his contract, Jade, the revolution and Hub's surgery. "And that about covers it" Sev finished; he shuddered to think what Hub was undergoing at Avarice's hands.

"The Alpha Sections helped destroy Furia and our entire race, I'm coming with you" Ally looked up at Sev with a look that said 'I'm not taking no for an answer'.

Sev knew better than to ague with his sister, she could be extremely stubborn at times. "Alright, I'm going to check on Avarice, hopefully he's done something I can impale him for." Sev growled. "Jade, you fill Ally in on what's happening." Sev's only reason for giving Jade the task of bringing Ally up to date was that it was probably a good idea to keep Jade away from Avarice's Hideout until Hub's Zero-Tau surgery was over. It would be good for her if he did what he could to take her mind of it.

"Why I am playing teacher to your sister Sev" Jade said with a bit more venom than usual.

"Because it would be better if you don't see Hub being operated on in Zero-Tau" he leaned closer to Jade and said quietly "Look, I just don't want to put you through seeing someone get cut open in Zero-Tau, its not pretty."

Jade put up the defiance act for a moment longer, it wasn't that she was squeamish, it would take someone with an extremely strong stomach or emotion blocking implants to watch a Zero-Tau operation let alone perform one. "Alright" Jade said, trying to make it sound grudging. Sev patted her gently on the shoulder before disappearing.

As Sev walked of he was sure he heard Ally trying to get to know Jade. "Hey look at that hair colour, are you sure its natural…"

HELLPORT-Samson's Home

Sev didn't go back to Avarice straight away, first he made a sop at the home of an old friend: Samson. Samson's home was a small, tubular affair about twelve meters long by three wide. It was a gutted McDonnell Douglas C/A-13 Combat Cruiser main thruster tube and so Samson's home was the butt of many good-natured 'my home is a starship engine' jokes made by both his many friends and Samson himself. Samson was a man in his late sixties, gray haired, wrinkly but a powerful build and piercing blue eyes. Samson's wife, Betty a woman slightly shorter than Jade but with the same powerful build Samson had and brown eyes that held a perpetual 'favorite aunt' look. She placed two mugs of coffee on the table and sat down next to Samson. "Well my boy, what brigs you back to my humble home?" Samson asked in a mechanical voice, his vocal cords had been destroyed in the Battle of Paris way back in 2390, ever since then he'd had to use a nanite implant to speak.

"Well, its complicated Samson" Sev replied, trying to find a way to voice his feelings. 'I don't know how I can say this"

"Then do what I always tell you to do boy, say it up front. Don't go pansying around with flashed up lit'acy words and frag all." Samson said in a mock-harsh voice.

"Samson! Don't use such language!" Betty scolded.

"Sorry Betty" Samson said meekly. "Anywho, what's on your mind boy?"

"Really awkward contract Samson" Sev said slowly, choosing his words.

"You got involved with your target again" Samson cut straight to the point.

"Not target exactly, I took out a bodyguard contract on this girl and…" Sev hadn't finished trailing off before Samson interrupted him again.

"Boy how many times do I have to tell you, women and contracts don't mix!" Samson said in the same mock-harsh voice.

"I know I know" Sev replied, how many times had Samson told him that? 'Well you've really gone and stuffed it this time, she knows your I love with her'.

"Well I can see in your eyes how much you've fallen for this girl, so I can't help you, you'll just have to deal with this one on your own. I can however give you a little tip, make sure you appreciate her" Samson told him wearily.

Sev finished his coffee and stood up "Well, thanks for the adviceSamson. It's been a pleasure meeting you and Betty again." Sev sighed "Look, I might not make it to the end of this contract so I'll say it now: Thanks for everything Samson." With that Sev turned to leave.

"Your welcome boy, your welcome…"

Out o the street Sev brushed the single tar out of his eye before heading back to Avarice for real.

AVARICE'S HIDEOUT

"Sev!" The twin shouts immediately dispelled Sev's misery as he saw Jade and Ally at the door to Avarice's Hideout.

Sev smiled and walked up to the pair "Have fun playing teacher" Sev asked, unable to restrain the grin. Jade smiled back and backhanded Sev with a loud crack. "Oww, that stung" Sev said, rubbing his cheek, it didn't hurt that much but it was unexpected 'you probably deserved that', Ally was doubled over with laughter behind Jade.

"The brave mercenary beaten up by a girl! Ha, wait until my friends hear about this one!" Ally managed to say through her laughter.

"Have we had enough fun at my expense?" Sev asked in mock-irritation. "Let's go inside" as the walked in Sev put his arms around Jade's shoulders and whispered "I'm gonna get you for that" in a playful tone.

Even though Sev was holding her Jade didn't respond. Her mind was far away.

She knelt on the hard durasteel platform, towering above her was a massive, four armed statue, a robe covering its body and it's face hidden behind a veil. A voice issued from the statue even though it's mouth did not move "Shauni, Shauni, listen to me. I am your master"

"You are my master, what is your bidding?" Jade asked the statue obediently, she was eager to serve.

The mental orders appeared directly in her mind, showing her what she had to do. An anguished shout from the back of her soul came through, she silenced it instantly. There could be no room for distraction. The master had called and she would obey.

"Come to me Shauni…"

"Jade!" Sev said, she looked pale and was staring off into the distance.

"Hm?" Jade was startled out of the vision of the statue. "What happened?" She asked, dazed.

"You just went into some sort of trance and started muttering something about someone called Shauni. Who's that?" Sev asked pointedly.

"Just…just something from, from when I first fought the Alpha Sections" Jade lied, she knew perfectly well who Shauni was, Shauni was the entity which resided inside her, Shauni was her true identity.