Chapter 7: Shauni

"Upon those who bring the darkest nights, we will bring an even darker night, a night where even bright light of one's soul shall be snuffed out…forever. On Hillys where this dark prevails in the form of the so called 'IRIS network' we will do whatever is necessary to return Hillys to a state of stability which all its citizens deserve and which the IRIS Network seeks to destroy. Thank you"-Matthias Kane, Judicator of the Shadowknight Sect.

KOTOPAXI SYSTEM-Antares High Orbit-Icarus-21/9/2435

'This is a medical emergency!" Sev snapped at Ground Control "I've got a guy here in Zero-Tau who can't be taken out or he'll die from internal bleeding, do you get that! He's stuck in Zero-Tau!" Which was an outright lie, as Hub was standing right next to him, sore and sorry but otherwise fine. Avarice had given him a (illegal) prescription of nano-meds to tie up the loose ends and get Hub's systems back online. Jade had thought that it showed that even the worst of people could still be kind, 'She wasn't the one who found the nano-meds on their account' Sev grumbled to himself, but no-one cared about the beating his account took from Avarice's 'generosity' Jade had given Hub a kiss on the cheek when he finally woke up and Ally seemed to like him. At any other time Sev may have had a slight twinge of jealousy at the attention Hub was getting from Jade but Hub had come within an inch of death and Sev was more interested in abusing Ground Control at the moment.

"Please transmit your Id code and registration" Ground Control said,

"Fine, here. Now can we land" Sev asked in an irritated tone after sending the requested information. Ground Control had been giving him the run-around for the past half hour because he had come from the Borderworlds and some pirate convey shipping a load of Perozen, an illegal mutagen used in black market gen-modifying was supposed to be coming through soon.

"Well this looks clean, you're…frag we got incoming ships!" Ground Control said, in the background Sev heard someone shout 'It's the mutagen convoy!' That was not good; black market traders usually destroyed any ship that they came across.

Icarus' sensors picked up six ships coming out of hyperspace, Sev swung the yacht around so he could see them, all three were Akamari class light cargo ships, a long, mostly hollow cylinder about 120 metres long pushed along by a trio of engines. The design's large amount of free space not only allowed a surprising amount of cargo to be fitted but also a left space for a rather heavy weapons complement. Sev sent power to the weapons grid and heard the beeps as the combat sensors targeted the three Akamaris. A split second later the combat sensors announced that one of the Akamris had locked Icarus into its targeting computer. Sev pulled the ship to port, doing a from-stop sideways barrel roll, barely dodging the salvo of shells the Akamari flung at him. Sev returned the compliment, nailing the firing stud on his control column and unleashing Icarus' autocannons in a white-lit hail of Guass accelerated HE tungsten slugs. The slugs found their mark, pummeling into the Akamari's hull and tearing out a reasonable crater. The Akamari returned fire, a salvo of dumbfire rockets. Sev hammered the throttle and Icarus tore towards the Akamari, easily dodging the hail of rockets. As he came over the Akamari's bow he read the name painted on the side: Korbos, at the same time as he cut the engines, letting his yacht drift over Korbos' bow and lining up his guns to strafe the ship's bow. His slugs made contact with the fuel cell for a maneuvering thruster, blowing a huge hole in the side of the cargo ship. He engaged the yacht's maneuvering thrusters to dodge the return salvo of three laser beams from Korbos. Sev switched the main engines back online and punched in a new code on his weapons console. On Icarus' hull, just below the wings on both sides, a pair of panels about a metre long slid back. Out of the new holes slide two long frames like a wine racks, they each held twelve Garrison Mk.43 Ship-to-Ship missiles. Sev flew low over the cargo ship's hull; firing bursts from his autocannons and tearing holes in the hull, every now and then a pillar of fire would show that he'd hit something important. he reached the ship's tail and swung to face back down the length of the cargo ship. Cutting his engines he drifted backwards towards Korbos' engine tubes. Icarus passed over the engine tubes, now behind the cargo ship, Sev launched four missiles straight down the upper engine tube. The effect was instant, the missiles exploded in the tube, destabilizing the ships reactor and causing it to overload in a matter of seconds. The first explosion blew the rear third of the ship to shreds. The second, third, fourth and fifth blew huge pieces of the ship apart until a final explosion demolished what was left of the Akamari class cargo ship.

"Incoming message." Icarus' onboard computer reported.

"Its from…General Kheck!" Jade read, leaning on Sev's shoulder.

"Kheck! I thought you said he was dead!" Hub said, alarmed.

"He was, but he's back now" Jade told Hub calmly.

"Let's see what he wants," Sev said mostly to himself. He pressed the button to allow the message through.

"Mister Caravera, how nice to see you again," General Kheck said, his face distorted on the small screen but his booming voice echoing through the whole ship.

"What do want Kheck?" Sev asked warily. He didn't know Kheck but he was smart enough to know that Kheck was dangerous.

"To pay you the reward you demanded for bringing Miss Jade in. Don't you remember? I have a record of our agreement here" Kheck said, smiling. "I'll play it for you"

Sev watched in horror as Kheck hit the play button on a nearby console. His voice was unmistakable.

"PLAYING RECORDING AA5594301-AX21344"

"You wanted to see me" Sev's voice came through the cockpit speakers.

"Yes Mr. Caravera, we have a very delicate assignment for you"

"What is it this time, I'm not playing hired killer again"

"Nothing so crude, you've heard of a Jade on Hillys"

"Yeah, she blew the cover on your little op with the DomZ something good"

"Well I want you to bring her to me, the Alpha Sections have her. Break her out and bring her to me"

"That's all you want Kheck? Break into an Alpha prison, bust out a high security prisoner and then get her to the guy who tried to kill her?"

"That's it essentially, how you go about it is up to you, that's part of your contract with us isn't it?"

"That's right. How much do I get for this?"

"We are offering you 500k, 200 up front plus the rest in installments as you complete the contract's objectives: 100 for finding Jade, 100 for escaping with her, 100 for bringing her to me."

"All right, I'll do it"

"A pleasure doing business with you Mr. Caravera"

"I'll meet you with Jade above Antareson the twenty-first of the ninth"

"We have a deal"

"END RECORDING"

Sev slowly reached for his S.A.C and summoned up his Desert Eagle, his hand closed around thin air. The gun was pressed against the back of his head; a metallic click confirmed that the safety was off.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you now" Jade said in a broken voice, Sev's revealed treachery had hit her right in the heart.

The Comms channel was still open "Trouble in paradise Mr. Caravera? This is a long way from holding her in your arms isn't it? Transfer them over now, or you all die, this ship's weapons are trained or your yacht, Force 9 Plasma Cannons, they will vaporize your ship with a single salvo."

"You'll have to catch me first" Sev replied before cutting the channel. With lightning speed he hit a button and the internal gravity shut off. Everyone except Sev, who was strapped into his chair, suddenly became airborne. Sev used the chance to purge the atmosphere from the cabin and jump out before anyone had a chance to react.

DEEP SPACE-The Cradle Research Station-Landing Bay-3/10/2435

There isn't a lot in the void between galaxies, that's why it's called Deep Space. It is the true void, not like space in between planets or systems, out in Deep Space there isn't even a speck of dust to be found. Which is why the Ticonderoga Corporation set up The Cradle out in Deep Space in an orbit following the Orion Arm over three trillion parsecs out.

Sev looked over what was left of The Cradle, certainly a lot less than when he had last visited the cursed place. It was mostly a low, squat rectangle main section with various antennae and small modules attached to the sides, a trapezium shaped module of the same dimensions as the main section itself was connected to The Cradle via a tube painted the same flat white as the rest of the station. Sev flew towards this section while checking a readout on one of his monitors, it was showing the condition of his three passengers. Fine, he had placed hem in the crew cabin and then injected an anesthetic into the atmosphere to keep them under. Sev returned his attention to The Cradle, he put his ship down in the small docking bay, empty but for a few floating crates, pieces of wreckage and an abandoned jumpship in the corner. No atmosphere outside, the docking bay was open to the vacuum. Sev pulled on a space suite at the airlock and walked out to meet his waiting fate. A fate that had watched him and stalked him since he last visited the cradle and activated the Columbus Project.

Jade regained consciousness about an hour after Sev left to find herself on a warm, comfortable bed with a video disk placed on her chest. She moaned and dragged herself out of the bed, grabbing the videodisk as she got up. Jade noticed that she had a slight headache, a dry mouth and felt mildly sick. Ignoring her problems she blinked to clear her eyes and saw Hub, Pey'j and Ally lying in the other beds staring at her.

"What happened" Pey'j slurred, confused.

"Sev, he betrayed us. He did a deal with Kheck and all this time we thought he was working for us." Jade snapped, conscious enough to be angry and betrayed 'And heartbroken' she admitted privately, but she wasn't going to share the fact that she loved the man who had played them all for fools.

"What's on that disk?" Pey'j asked as he pulled his bulk out of bed.

"I don't know, let's find out" Jade said "There's a computer here that plays disks. Jade powered the computer up and slid the disk in.

"PLAYING RECORDING 1"

The screen flickered to life and Sev appeared on the screen, the recording had obviously been made while Sev was trying to fly the ship.

"Well everyone, I won't ask for forgiveness. You heard Kheck's recording, I was working for the Alphas all along. Why did I do it? You should know, I'm a mercenary, I take the highest bid and I don't ask questions." Sev sighed and looked at one of the monitors as if he couldn't look them in the eye, even on the recording "It's the worst thing I've done in my life. Let me tell you all something, Ally you know we're Furions but the other won't. That's right Jade, Hub, Pey'j I am a Furion. One who has dishonoured our family name. To that extent, for what I've done and because of what must be done I have brought us to The Cradle. The research station you all used to tell ghost stories to each other at night about. Well its real and we're onboard it. Launch as soon as you can, before this place gets us as it has probably got me by the time you watch this. That is all I can say about The Cradle, whatever you do, do not leave the ship, because it will probably be the last thing you do. By now I am probably dead, or knowing Columbus, worse." Without warning Sev ended the recording.

"So he's gone out into The Cradle." Ally whispered, "He'll die."

"Good riddance" Pey'j growled.

"I think we should leave" Hub said, for the first time ever, Jade thought he sounded scared. Well he might as well be, The Cradle has been a horror story since the first sentient races. Not without good reason, to sum up the inherent terror of The Cradle takes a few words to describe and a first hand experience to understand. Onboard The Cradle, reality has no meaning and what happens to those foolish enough to travel beyond the docking bay is purely the will of The Cradle and Columbus.

THE CRADLE-Lab 4

Sev had been living on The Cradle for about two days, scavenging food from the massive station and living in a lean-to made from scavenged sheet metal. It was on the second day that he stumbled upon the ominously named Lab 4, then again when The Cradle was concerned anything was fairly ominous. He managed to get the door open and too a look inside. A central walkway flanked by two pits about a metre deep and filled with various pieces of scientific equipment. Banks of computers were on every wall were computer banks, many of which were shut down or smashed the few that were still operating were stuck in constant status report cycles. At the far end inside a smashed tube labeled 'Quarantine Chamber' with the sub heading 'Do not open under any circumstances' was an organic looking cocoon, vaguely reminiscent of a DomZ meteor. But that was impossible, the cocoon was very coffin shaped, but with rounded edges and a bulging exterior. Organic tubes along its surface pulsated, lit by an inner purple glow. Without hesitation Sev marched up to it his boots crunching over the broken shards of shield-glass. He put his hand on th orb in the centre of the lid.

"You have returned, it has happened" the cocoon said into his mind. It was like a million voices at once, but at the same time there was only one individual voice that spoke to him.

"Just as you said it would" Sev replied in his mind. This was where he had gained his skill at telepathic communication.

"I know all, it is time to accept your fate Severus"

"I know"

"Come then, into my loving embrace, you will never know loneliness again Severus. You will never be alone again, you will be part of me and we will be part of you" With that the cocoon's lid melted away, Sev turned to face away from it and closed his eyes. Unseen tentacles reached out and wrapped themselves around his body. He felt himself leave the floor and then come down again, then, nothing…

"It is done, awake Severus, awake as one of us."

Sev opened his eyes, instantly he knew that The Cradle was right. It had been done. He looked around; he was in the shower of the worker's living quarters. A big, long room with several rows of heads and not much else, there was a line of floor to ceiling mirrors on one wall, Sev examined his new appearance in one. His face was nearly featureless. Almost as if a mask had been placed over his head that molded itself to the contours of his face. His beard and eyebrows were gone, his skin mottled black like old paint on a brick wall and his eyes a glowing DomZ green. His hair floated around him of its own volition like he was under water. He was clad in a tattered robe and tunic that seemed like part of his body, though both were rippling. Sev examined his hands. The same black, it was then that he noticed a black cloud surrounding him and the fact that there were five strips of cloth hovering behind him, three were floating around his sleeves, rings of cloth with the strips attached, no seams visible. The other two were attached to his robe just below his shoulder blades. His sword remained unchanged but it appeared that the nano-sheath had melded with his back, or his skin had grown over the nano-sheath. He drew the sword, it was untouched. Then he noticed another sword, he drew that, unlike his sickle-like sword it was curved like a slithering snake. "What am I?" Sev asked.

"You are a Shade, like us" Came a whispered feminine voice into Sev's mind.

Sev spun around, cloth tails flailing behind. A female Shade was standing in the doorway, backed by a wall of other Shades. "How many of you are there?" Sev asked the female, who seemed to be the leader.

"We are one thousand, the entire original crew, the replacement and all others who have docked. Except for those you arrived with, they were free of taint, free to leave." The Shade answered.

"What are we?" Sev asked, despite this horrific twist, eager for details.

"We are the cursed."

Sev walked out, brushing past the other Shades and leaving a trail of black cloud in his wake.

"You can't ignore us forever."

Sev kept on walking.

SALVAGE SHIP BURKE & WILLS-Bridge

Vassily "Skipper" Baronovich stood on the bridge of his salvage tug Burke & Wills surveying the mysterious station through the transparisteel bridge canopy. His whole crew was on the bridge, with the exceptions of Sparky and Hodges, the ship's engineers. "Bring us in, try to find an airlock" He ordered he ordered in a thick Russian accent.

"No problem" Kristie replied from the pilot station.

Skipper checked over everyone else, like many other ships Burke & Wills Bridge was semicircular with the crew stations along the walls and the captain's chair on an elevated platform in the centre of the bridge. The bridge was lit a dark blue, with extra lighting coming from the banks of computers and the lights above each crew station indicating that it was manned. Skipper pressed the intercom button and spoke into it and to his crew at the same time "We're coming into dock all stations sound off"

"Piloting go"

"Scanners go" Sketch called out

"Weapons armed and dangerous" Skayd reported

"Engineering running at 100" Sparky said over the intercom

"Hyperspace engineering reports good to go" Hodges chimed in, again over the intercom.

"I have an airlock, initiating procedures" Kristie announced

"Inform our guest that we have arrived" Skipper ordered.

ARMEN SYSTEM-Prarie-City 1-Delta Bay Hotel

Pey'j waddled down the corridor to Jade's room; she had been in there ever since they got back. She was seriously upset over the mercenary's betrayal of them, more so than Pey'j would have thought seeing as he was just a mercenary. "Jade" Pey'j buzzed on the room's intercom "I brought you some breakfast sweetheart". He tried the door; it swung open easily to reveal an empty room. Jade was nowhere in sight and the window as open. There was a note stuck to the wall by a kitchen knife Pey'j ripped it off and read it.

'Pey'j if your wondering where I've gone, don't come after me. I'm going back to The Cradle to find Sev. I don't know what will happen, whether I kill him or not I'll decide when I confront him for myself. Again please don't come after me.

Love, Jade

Pey'j turned, left the room and went to talk to Hub

THE CRADLE-Airlock 13

Skipper watched their mysterious guest take a look around. Their was obviously a woman, he had guessed that much by her muffled European voice and the way she walked but beyond that he had no idea who she was. She was wearing a scarf around her face, a black cap and dark glasses, so he had no idea what her face looked like. She also had a traveling cloak over a green jacket, armour-vest and green trousers with a pattern that was covered up by armoured pads. What Skipper did know was that she was not to be trifled with, the woman carried herself with an air of strength and inherent courage, that and the massive Desert Eagle on display on her belt. She had said her name was 'Ms. Carver' but Skipper was certain it was a false name.

Jade pulled the scarf, hat and glasses off her face and shook her hair out of her eyes. "Thanks guys, I'll take it from here" she said.

"We'll be right here" Skipper said. He wasn't worried about the things people said lived on The Cradle, he had a Mack-23 Guass rifle that fired ten millimetre HE slugs to deal with them and they could always leave if thing got too hot.

Sev heard the word pass through the psychic web that ran through The Cradle.

"Visitors!"

"Here, Airlock 13"

"New members"

"Sustenance!"

"Show Me," He asked, a Shade in the airlock granted Sev access to what he was seeing. Sev observed the scene through the other Shade's eyes. Jade! She was here! But what did she want? 'Probably come to finish me off' Sev thought. Then an order came from The Cradle.

"We have been so long without sustenance, now these fools have landed here! Absorb them!" The Cradle roared into every Shade's mind. As Sev watched through the psychic web the Shades hastened to obey. 'Can I let this happen, to Jade, to the woman I love?' The answer was obvious. Sev started sprinting towards Airlock 13, drawing his swords as he ran.

Jade sensed trouble a moment before it came, a mysterious, ragged ghoul leapt out of the shadows at her, it sailed closer twin daggers in its hands and hunger in its eyes. A black shape flashed at the corner of her vision another ghoul slammed into the first, sending the pair crashing across the room. The first ghoul slammed into the wall while the second slid into a low squat. It stood up and sliced the other ghoul's head off with a sickle-like sword. The ghoul dissolved into ash. The other ghoul turned to face Jade and taking her in with vivid glowing eyes. Then in a growling British accent said, "Run the other Shades are already here".

Sev turned to face the door at the far end as Shades poured out. A voice echoed inside his head.

"Stop! If you leave you will never be one of us! You will be alone again!"

"Go to hell fragbait" Sev snarled in his mind as he turned and sprinted towards the airlock, it started to close. Sev dived through it and the airlock slammed shut behind him, he got up and sprinted through the other airlock.

BURKE & WILLS BRIDGE

"Go go go! Get us the frag outta here!" Skipper roared at Kristie as he sprinted to his chair and strapped in.

"I'm goin as fast as I can Skip'" Kristie snapped.

The intercom burst to life and a growling English voice came through "Get this goddamn ship in the air, they've got the fraggin' airlock open." The intercom went dead.

AIRLOCK

Sev slashed the heads of a pair of Shades and kicked a third one back down the airlock, it flew back and took out another two Shades. Jade impaled another on the end of her staff, which Sev noted had a long, curved blade strapped to each end, she kicked it off and decapitated it. For a mercenary it was only slightly chilling to see someone who was usually so gentle killing without any outward sign of remorse. As far as Sev was concerned it was a good thing. He quickly sliced another Shade in half and decapitated it. Another leapt passed him, Sev sheathed a sword and summoned a Shuriken from where his S.A.C used to be and flicked it at the Shade, the spinning, bladed disk sliced through the Shade's neck before returning to Sev's hand. He flung the Shuriken down the corridor, it sliced through five Shades on the way down and got another three as it returned to his hand. Sev impaled another's chest, sliced upwards and cut its head off and split another from head to foot, the rest of the Shades retreated, but not before Jade caught one o the end of her staff, pulled it to the ground and sliced its head in half. The airlock door rumbled shut and the ship detached from The Cradle. Three minutes later Burke & Wills engaged its hyperdrive and shot into hyperspace on a course for Prarie.

HYPERSPACE LANE TO THE ARMEN SYSTEM-4/10/2534

Sev sat alone in the salvage ship's sealed cargo bay listening to the babble of voices inside his head. They had locked him in here and planned to hand him over to the nearest zoo on Prarie probably.

"Severus, you have been judged, your fate no longer binds you, be burned of all that defines your fate"

At once flakes of Shade skin started falling of Sev and gradually the entire shell of black skin dissolved and left Sev standing in the middle of a pile of ash, fully back to normal. Just at that moment the door burst open and Sev found himself face to face with the meaty weapons officer Scayd, who had a Mag-12 Automatic Shotgun aimed at Sev's head "where's the freak?" he snarled.

"Gone"

"Don't frag with me! I got a really big gun here!" Scayd snapped.

Sev's arm shot up like lightning and hit the gun out of Scayd's hands, it spun in the air and landed in Sev's hand. He quickly brought it to bear on Scayd's head "Now, this is a real long story that I not in the mood for telling so lets just pretend that none of this ever happened." Sev hissed "Now, take me to the captain…"

The story took just a few minutes to explain and by the end of it Skipper was wearing a doubtful expression.

"With all respect Caravera that's a load of fragging brayg" Skipper said.

"Do I looking like I'm telling a fragging lie Mon Capitan?" Sev shot back.

"Well frankly Caravera yes you do, and I'm throwing your butt back in the cargo bay…"

ARMEN SYSTEM-Prarie-City 1-Delta Bay Hotel-5/10/2435

For the second time in as many days Sev found himself with a gun to his head, this time it was Hub with a rusty old F-23 Lever Action Shotgun and Jade with a Desert Eagle.

"Tell us why we shouldn't just blow your head off" Pey'j asked in a tone that said he didn't need a reason.

"One, the cops wont take kindly to it, seeing as it will look like an unprovoked murder and two, I locked Icarus down and changed all the codes, your stuck here. Let me go and we'll meet on Hillys" Sev explained to the group.

"And why pray tell would we do that?" Pey'j asked angrily.

"Don't you want the war on your home planet to end?" Sev asked, it was a rhetorical question "I'm going to Hillys and I'll kill you and escape if I have to, once I get there General Kheck will die"

"You're not going anywhere son" Pey'j told him

"Oh I'm not?"

"That's right, I'm not going let to let you go"

Sev took a quick glance around the room before answering, "I doubt you have much choice" He programmed a Stun grenade in the S.A.C and called it out, the grenade fell to the floor. He used the distraction to leap away and cover his ears. The blast was little more than a white flash and a dull thump, when Sev got up Jade, Hub and Pey'j were lying unconscious on the floor. He dropped a bank card on Jade and left for the hangar. A sort while later Icarus blasted off, flew into space and shot off on a hyperspace vector for Hillys…

HILLYS-Seaview-Freeport Apartments-7/10/2435, Night

The whole thing had been ridiculously easy, a quick trip, land and hide the ship, rent out this dingy little apartment right next to the courtyard where Kheck was due to give his speech to all the Alpha Section Garrison in Seaview. 'You really should tighten up security Kheck' Sev thought as he looked down the scope of his AMG 2435 Edition High Velocity Sniper's Rifle (it was known as the AMG "Headhunter"). The courtyard was a massive open space with buildings on all sides, all of them showing the ravages of war, one was even missing its roof, a fire burning furiously there the huge, a wood platform spanned the entire courtyard and a podium was set in the middle of it with Kheck standing behind it, behind Kheck was a monstrous Alpha Section flag 'the overall effect must look quite dramatic from all those hover cams'. His huge, metre long rifle sat on a bipod on the open window of his apartment, Sev centred his sights on Kheck as the old General ranted on, he put his sights over Kheck's head and waited for the nanites in the barrel to perfect the travel path, the icon lit up green on the scope and Sev started to squeeze the trigger…

STREET LEVEL

Through some miracle Jade, Hub and Pey'j had found a fast ship to take them back to Hillys, they had arrived and made their way through the city to the cortyard just in time for the show. Jade's superior eyesight courtesy of Shauni picked out the black barrel and shadowy figure standing in the darkened room, Sev was about to follow through and kill Kheck in the next few seconds…

SEV'S APARTMENT

Sev squeezed the trigger all the way down; there was a loud crack and the rifle slammed into his shoulder with all its considerable recoil. The bullet streaked towards Kheck's head…

PODIUM

The bodyguard knew it was too late, by the time he had turned to see where the shot had come from it had slammed into Kheck, lifting the General up and flinging him like a rag doll across the first five ranks of Alphas and raining blood and bits of Kheck's skull and brain on them as it crashed through the back of Kheck's head and vanished into the night…

STREET LEVEL

Jade gasped at the destruction the single round had caused, had the bullet been any bigger it would have taken Kheck's head off, it had been satisfied with blasting in through the front of his head and out the back. She felt sick at the amount of blood and she was only starting to realize what Sev was capable of, and what he was fully capable of would chill even the coldest of people to the very bone…

BACKSTREET

Sev sprinted down the street, stowing the AMG Headhunter in his nano-sheath in the place where the Morita usually went. He walked out behind Jade's group and drew his Dryson A-12 Autopistol just in case. "Surprise" He said.

Jade jumped and spun in midair, her now-bladed staff was in her hands before she hit the ground. She relaxed it was only Sev but Hub drew his shotgun and as it came down he flicked the safety off. Sev was faster, the Autopistol shot up and barked, kicking back and delivering a single round. The bullet smacked into the wall just next to Hub, he lowered the shotgun and held it one handed.

Sev lowered the Autopistol and said "unless you want the Alphas to find you we'd better get to a hiding place."

"And you're gonna take us to one, you'd probably turn us in!" Pey'j snarled.

"With my employer dead my contract is null, my only contract is with you now." Sev said calmly.

"We don't want your contract Sev, I can…I can forgive you if you promise never to do something like this again, do you know what effect this has had?" Jade said seriously, she was fighting a war inside herself, her heart against her mind 'He betrayed you!' her mind said 'but you love him' was her heart's opinion, she decided to listen to her heart.

"What, but Jade he betrayed us!" Pey'j turned on Jade "Now your just gonna let him come crawling back to you! Are you crazy?"

Sev dropped to his knee "I swear it on my life, kill me now if you don't believe me"

"That will do Sev, get up and lets go" Jade said, the others walked past Sev, ignoring him but Jade walked right up to him and looked up at him. "Now tell me, were you serious or are you just playing us for fools again?"

Sev looked back down at Jade; there was an intensity in her eyes so strong he couldn't look at her for any longer, he dropped his eyes "Yes, I'm honest this time."

"Good" Jade replied, sge walked past Sev, giving him the cold shoulder. "Let's go, we probably shouldn't get caught here with the Alphas like this…."

AKUDA BAR-IRIS Den

"We have a new problem people," Hahn said from the cushion under the massive screen on the wall. "The Alpha Sections have reinforcements, some sect called the ShadowNights."

"Frag" Sev said in surprise "That's bad, ShadowNights."

"You've worked for them before?" Hahn asked.

"No but they tried to get me to join them, they don't 'hire' mercs as such. They pretend to have a contract, have you meet them a a specific place where you're kidnapped, tortured into submission, convinced them that the sect is the one true path to salvation and used as suicide bombers." Sev recounted what he knew "They got as far as trying to kidnap me before I decided religion wasn't my thing."

"Charming" Mei said sarcastically.

"I know what've they got with them?"

"Well it seems that the ShadowNights are planning to perform an orbital 'Cleansing' of Hillys That's what we got from hacked comm. channels anyway." Nino added

"He means orbital bombardment" Sev cut in. "What sort of weapons have they got?"

"Again from what we've deciphered they're going to use orbital C-Beam Cannons" Nino again answered Sev's question.

"My god they'll kill everything on the planet!" Sev barked in shock, the ShadowNights were psychos but this…this was beyond anything they'd ever done before.

"Sev, you have more knowledge of the ShadowNights than anyone else in this room, we need you to devise a plan to stop them. Can you do it?" Hahn asked.

"C-Beam equipped ships, they're Capital Class weapons so there can't be anymore than a couple of Cap ships, probably frigates plus fighter support. Fighters don't carry hyperdrives so one squadron per ship. That makes at least twenty-four fighter plus the frigates. That'll need fighters and torp bombers." Sev mused, muttering to himself. "Does Hillys have any cap ships?" He asked.

"No, the Alphas destroyed them all, why do you ask?" Hahn asked perplexed.

"We have to stop them before they get to Hillys, so the only way we can do that is to fight them from space, give me four squadrons of your best pilots and ships and one squadron of torp bombers and we can pull this off. Maybe…"

IRIS HANGAR 20KM SOUTH OF SEAVIEW-6/10/2435

Sev looked over the motley array of fighters and in the hangar, twenty-four in total and a mix of Hillyan BF-120 Shrike 2s, Atlas-built P-92 Warhammers, F-109 Strikefighters from Omega Eridani and a single MIG-240 Arctic Wolf and a single GF-250 Hammerhead, the last two apparently belonging to the Squadron Leaders Happy and Wilco. The torp bombers were mostly ancient BF-4000 Thunderheads and a couple of newer BF-4200 Thunderhead IIs one of which belonged to the Squadron Leader Thunderpants.

The ShadowNight ships had emerged from hyperspace the earlier that day and were now making their way towards Hillys using conventional Ion Engines and Starlight drives due to the dangers of navigating in hyperspace through a warzone, which was like trying to walk through a minefield blindfolded. So that was why the little holographic cruisers on the massive holoprojector were moving through realspace. It was worse than Sev had though, an Absolution Class Cruiser, two Pertinence Class Frigates, five squadrons of Grail Class Medium Fighters and a squadron of Crusader Class Heavy Fighters. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, as you can see the ShadowNights are bringing in a heavy cruiser and two light frigates plus fighter escort. Here's the plan" as Sev spoke the hologram added new icons for the Hillyan squadrons, the fighter icons swirled and one by one the ShadowNight fighter icons vanished, then Thunderpant's icon appeared and torpedoed the cap ships. Meanwhile Sev spoke "First the fighters, Wilco, Happy, Sketch and Mac, take down the enemy fighters quickly and stay out of range of the cap ships PDLs or they'll slice you to pieces. Once that's done the fighters are to dance in an out of range of the PDLs, keep the gunners distracted, this is where Thunderpants comes in" He looked to Thunderpants "You and your squadron torpedo the cap ships"

"Right" the dark skinned Wilco confirmed

"Roger"

"Let's hit it"

"No problemo"

"Tag 'em an' frag 'em" the bulky Torpedo bomber pilot said.

"To your ships" Sev said, the group broke up and every pilot headed to his or her ship, saying what was probably their last goodbye to loved ones along the way. Sev marched over to Icarus intent on getting airborne before anyone tried to say anything. Unfortunately he hadn't remembered to finish putting a circuit board in the engine and so dropped his green jacket to the ground and used it as a pillow while he touched up the weld points and replaced the service hatch. He fitted the armour plate over that, got up and found himself face to face with Jade. He looked at her for a few seconds then said, "I'll try to get blown up, at least someone will feel better."

"You're still under contract right?" Jade asked, a hint of impishness and a hint of seriousness.

"Technically, you never cancelled my contract." Sev answered.

"Well, as part of your contract, you come back alive okay" jade said, trying to be serious, but it was clear that she was scared. Space combat was incredibly dangerous and almost always resulted in heavy casualties among smaller ships, and Sev's yacht was not that much bigger than a fighter.

"I have my doubts that anyone else would agree with you, I'm the traitor remember?" Sev pointed out.

"Well, I'm the one everyone listens to, they'll come around to my way of thinking soon." Jade said confidently.

"Which is?" asked Sev.

"That you made a mistake, you know that, you offered us a chance to kill you and have revenge. What does that tell you?" Jade countered.

"That your to noble for your own good." Sev hoped he had the last word this time and it looked like he had.

"It tells you that despite that you trying to hide it, you're a good person, you're a noble, aren't you supposed to be good or something" Jade stated, it was true. With the noble blood of the Caravera family running through Sev's veins he was both genetically inclined and honour-bound to be this way.

"I'll think about it" Sev grunted as he made his way up Icarus' ramp.

"Hey wait!" someone shouted, Sev spun around. A young woman with long black hair and a flight suit was walking up to him. "You can't go into combat with that thing." She stated bluntly

"Why not?" Sev asked defensively.

"Because it's a Yacht, sure it can shoot but you need something with a little more kick." She pointed out, something that was perfectly true, the yacht was a competent anti-fighter platform but would be shredded against cap ships. She turned and Sev followed "By the way, I'm Mandy, callsign Raven" The woman introduced herself. She showed him to where her squadron was parked "I've got a spare F-107 StarCrow if you want it, she's kind of old but she's fast and deadly."

"I flew a StarCrow when I was sixteen, but I'll take it" Sev answered, the StarCrow was an old fighter developed some hundred years ago and due to the rugged design had been around ever since. It was had a thin, triangular body with convex flanks and huge engine blocks attached at the tail, each one hold four main engines in a triangular configuration, four wings lead off at diagonals each one holding a long barreled autocannons. On the mounting for the engines were built in pods firing Barrage-IV rockets, the StarCrow carried additional missiles on its wings. This one was armed with eight Starseeker-22 Dogfighting missiles, four Gargoyle FFAR pods and four Medusa FFAR pods. Sev climbed in, powered up and followed the fleet of fighters to meet their fate

IRIS DEN

Jade stood alone in the IRIS HQ, watching the small red and green blips draw closer to each other.

"Shauni"

She spun around, heart thumping. The room was empty.

"Shauni, obey me"

Against her will Jade opened a comm. channel to the ShadowNight ships, she wached, terror coursing through her but utterly useless to stop the invading force taking control of her body.

"Tell them Shauni"

She obeyed, began transmitting the strength and plan of Sev's desperate defense to the incoming ships. Telling them everything about the ambush lying in wait.

SALVATION, Absolution Class Cruiser

Commander Revan Stone read through the datastream his ship had just received. 'So the heretics are trying to stop us eh? Trying to ambush us like the cowards they are, well, we'll have our own ambush waiting for them' smiling, he began dispensing orders to the fleet, ready to turn the approach vector of the Hillyan defenders into a kill zone…