KARNAK TRADE LANE-Altitude: five thousand kilometres-12/4/2437

Sev sat in Daggermouth's pilot couch, scanning the Karnak Trade Lane for his target, just yesterday he had found out from one of the governor's contacts that the weapon shipment would be coming in using this high altitude lane. He glanced over at the photos stuck on the bulkhead just above one of his ships' readouts, it was a cluster of photos and maps showing the sky train itself, various ports it was stopping in and a map showing its flight path. According to what he had found out the train would be passing his location fairly soon. I just a few minutes to be preci…There it was! The long, ponderous bulk of the sky train burst through the clouds, a boxy train, little more than a set of huge engines with a bridge somewhere on top trailing a long series of boxes held together by steel cables. Sev made his move, he cloaked his ship and moved in, the gunboat left nothing but a ripple in the sky as it moved. Sev leveled the gunboat alongside the sky train and remotely opened a side hatch. He walked to the hatch and leapt across the gap toward the waiting sky train, the wind blowing him well off mark and he landed fifty metres back from where he was aiming. Sev drew his katana and rammed it into the sky train's hull, the Etherium edge easily sliced through the thick durasteel…

SKY TRAIN BRIDGE

…"Hull breach!" a crew member shouted.

"Where?" The captain snapped.

"Near a store room!"

"Seal it now, we can't loose our cargo!"

"On it, dispatching repair teams to sector 551A"

"Right, tell them to report back on what they find"

"Yessir"

SECTOR 551A-STORE ROOM

Six overall wearing men examined the hole in this side of the sky train. It was triangular in shape, there was something suspicious about it, the shape was to regular to be an accident. Team captain Grenn spoke ito his comm. "Sir we've found the breach, it looks like something on the hull cut through, I think we have an intruder"

"Alright, be careful, we're dispatching search teams. Seal that hole" came the reply.

"Yessir, we'll have this fixed in a jiffy" Grenn looked at the hole "Get a large patch over that boys", the team sprung to work, pulling out the hull patch and holding it in place while two other members of the team welded it in place. It was a fairly makeshift repair, but it would hold until they could fix the hull properly at the next stop. Unfortunately that next stop was not to be, courtesy of one Severus Angelo Caravera, who had sliced through the hull and was busily sabotaging the sky trains massive reactor…

SKY RAIN ENGINE ROOM

…Sev was surrounded by the blood-spattered corpses of the engine room's guards and crew, he had told them to get against the wall but they had attacked him instead. They never stood a chance against a single Furion, especially as he had become a SwordMaster, evidenced by the small tattoo above his left eye. Sev stood up from the control panel as a door at the far end of the engine room opened, he walked through into the reactor room, it was about three stories high, he was o the middle one. IN the center of the cylindrical room were three reactors, each a cylinder and ringed with dozens of walkways and control panels tended by servitor droids. Around the outside of the reactor room were three wide walkways, their surfaces covered in grease and oil, with pipes in the wall leaking their contents onto the grilled surfaces. It reminded Sev vaguely of the IRIS landing pad on Atlas. He quickly walked across one of the bridges that linked the outer walkways to the inner ones, when he reached a console his jaw dropped. It was not actually a console but a Furion Sword Forge, the device used by a new Furion to craft him or herself a unique weapon perfectly suited to their style of combat.

"I thought I'd find you here"

Sev spun, a dark figure with glowing eyes had appeared on the bridge, covered in a black cloak that hid all of its features, it reached up and pulled the hood back. Sev recoiled, charcoal black skin and glowing green eyes, hair identical to Sev's, even the scar over the right side of his face and the tattoos were mimicked. The dark creature threw his cloak aside and drew a sword identical to Sev's. Sev reached for his own sword, it was gone, mysteriously vanished, somehow he recognized that the sword in his mirror's hand was his own, the creature had somehow taken his sword. Sev drew a small short sword and leapt forward with a vicious swing, the short sword shattered against his own blade, several small shards burying themselves in his skin. The mirror kicked out at Sev, sending him crashing against the reactor room's wall. Now almost unarmed Sev drew his Desert Eagle and fired, each time his mirror dodged the shot.

"You are pathetic Severus, in time you will be strong enough to provide sport for me, but for now you are unworthy of dieing by my hand" Sev's mirror spat "But remember this!" it flung a knife at Sev, too fast to dodge, the blade buried itself in Sev's side. White-hot pain shot through him as Sev collapsed to the ground. "And remember this!" the creature took the blade of Sev's sword and snapped it, then tossed the two halves off the walkway. Sev tried to move, but the creature vanished as if it was never there. Sev took a hold of the knife's hilt and pulled it out, snarling with the pain. He flung the knife away. Sev stood and walked back to the Sword Forge, his hand clamped over the bleeding wound. At the Forge, Sev looked over it 'Well a warrior without a weapon is like a starship without fuel. I suppose I have no choice' with that Sev activated the console. The Forge flickered to life as Sev punched in the commands he remembered from when he first used them device. A small panel opened up and Sev held his bloodsoaked hand over it, his blood dripped onto the panel, which soon retreated. A long box rose from the top of the Forge as an image appeared on the console's screen. The image was of a three-foot Katana, a hilt long enough for it to be used two handed even though all Furion swords were light enough to be used with a single hand. The guard had a wolf head over the blade on the long edge. A long, thin, slightly curved blade that tapered all the way into a razor point point. There was an inscription on the blade that Sev recognized as name, the name his blood had given the sword.

Shenroshi

It meant ShadowShield, the shield of the outcast that defended the one he still loved in the cark of the night, so they would be safe but never know it was that outcast who protected them.On the pommel was a small crown surrounding a sphere. The Forge slowly created the blade; tiny particles of light were sprayed over the holographic image now in the clear box atop the Forge. When the particles reached the sword the solidified, becoming a small speck of the sword. The process to just a few minutes and when completed, the clear box opened and folded back into the Forge, leaving the sword hanging in midair. Sev took it by the reinwood hilt and held the blade up in the light to examine it. Just as it had appeared on the screen it was a Katana, though somewhat heavier than Sev's old sword he could still use it one handed. The reinwood in the hilt made it almost unbreakable while still giving it plenty of grip, the guard had the top half of a wolf's head, with its upper jaw open over the blade. A intricate pattern of glittering, gold-like metal was inlaid in the blade, surrounding the battle-prayer and extending all the way to the very tip of the blade. It was something that was reserved only for those who would become the greatest of warriors. Sev was humbled by the honour he had received with it, he had never even met another who had received a Gilded blade, as the term was. Sev put the blade in is nano-sheath and turned away, his wound was already healing and would soon be just another scar, but he would be slightly weakened for a few days until he made a full recovery. It did not take him long to find the reactor and set it to overload. By the time anyone realized what was going on he had reached the storage room he had cut through to get into the sky-train.

SECTOR 551A-STORE ROOM

The first guard never even saw it coming, a flash of silver amidst the darkness in the storeroom and he fell to the ground, a thin gash in his chest. The next guard had time to raise his Mag-12 before it was sliced in half, along with his arms, he fell to the floor as Sev sliced his head off. Sev spun and impaled the next guard, then swung again, slicing his blade out of the body and cutting a thin gash through the last guard. All to easy Sev though, just as the reactor overloaded. A deafening boom rocked the whole sky-train, a massive explosion blew out one side, throwing the several hundred-ton airship over and splitting it in half. Through the falling wreckage one dragon-like red airship rocketed to safety, piloted by one Severus Angelo Caravera…

HILLYS-Seaview-Volgograd District.

Sev put Daggermouth down in a private landing bay IRIS had secured for his own personal use. As he walked down the landing ramp to meet the group of guards and reporters that apparently wanted to talk to him Sev noticed something. There was a lone, green-clad figure standing in the entrance to the landing pad. Sev shoved through the reporters 'accidentally' breaking a camera.

"Corpse-picking vultures, I hate reporters" Sev thought to himself.

"Oh really? Guess I should have know this would never have worked out" Jade's voice invaded Sev's complaining, she put o a hurt tone just to make Sev feel guilty.

"All right, I hate all reporters except for one" Sev shot back.

"Could it be me?" Jade asked in an amused voice.

"Perhaps"

"Let's ditch this lot," Jade said as Sev reached her. As the two walked off, no doubt to the sound of reporters inventing a story about the two Sev filled jade in on what happened. He left out the part about the wraith that had attacked him. As they turned down an alleyway to take a shortcut Jade threw an arm around Sev, he complied, putting his own arm around her shoulders.

"Its good to be back here, this is the first place I've felt at peace since…since Furia" Sev still found it hard to talk about the destruction of his race, but he had felt enough trust in Jade to confide in her the tale. Jade had felt tears in her eyes as he told her the story. As they turned down another alley about a dozen shadows detached themselves from the walls and surrounded them.

"Well, well, well what have we here?" The shadow became clear; it was an Alpha Section Guard.

"Looks like a couple of lovebirds out for a stroll" Another one said.

"How about we show them what traitors get" A third added.

"I like the sound of that" The first growled. As one they drew their T-Hammers. Sev stood back to back with Jade, but she was unarmed, she hadn't brought a weapon. This was the worst kind of fight, one where the fighter had to protect someone who would not be able to defend themselves. It reminded Sev of the tale of Caius and Erusha, Caius had died defending Erusha from Count Morgath and his soldiers, the story paralleled Sev's own in more ways than one. Never the less, he had to defend Jade, he drew his Katana and took up a combat stance, blade held high and level with the ground, pointing at the ringleader. He was outnumbered and at a sever disadvantage, but maybe it would buy time for Jade to escape. Sev's eyes flicked about, surveying his enemy and the battlefield, then he noticed a black figure at the end of the alleyway, a very familiar one. He lost his concentration and seeing this, the lead Alpha swung his hammer. Sev never drew himself back to the battle in time to stop the blow hitting home…