DR: You'll be pleased to hear that my Beta-reader has finished the last chapters, so now I can start an accelerated posting timetable!

Zeke: All right!

Jack: Cool!

DR: I thought you'd like that. So expect the next chapter up on Monday. On a related topic, I'm taking down the 'Interlude' chapter from this story...

Shadow: Why?

DR: Because I used that as a starting point for a Battlestar Galatica fic that sets up the characters for their entrance into this story arc.

Mal: Huh. So where will it be?

DR: It will be postedunder the 'Battlestar Galatica' section. Note NOT the BSG 2003 section. And now, let us continue with this story. Some more darkness here, but things are being turned around...

Chapter 24: The Face of Evil

When the message had finished playing, the only sound in the common area of the Blitz base was Naomi's weeping. Each and every one of both the Blitz and the Raider were speechless in shock, horror and rage. Brad had his arms round Na', trying to comfort her and failing terribly. Leena and Bit clung to one another, seeking reassurance from the other. Anna, as a mother and having only just recently delivered her latest, could fully understand what Naomi was going through, and she held her newborn child close to her, while her other children sat each side, lending support. Derek stood behind her seat, his hand on her shoulder. Pierce and Jamie were crouched by Angel, their concern for the wounded Liger matching their pain at what had happened to Sarah and Janet.

Steve slowly shifted his eyes to look across at his son and grandson-in-law. Both Leon and Vega stood stock still, their eyes locked on the now dark screen. Each man's hands were clenched into fists at their sides, and they had almost identical expressions of rage. Leon's eyes had narrowed to slits and his lips were compressed into a razor thin line. Vega on the other hand…

Steve found himself shocked for a second as he took in the change that had come over Vega. Gone was the carefree, honest and open young man. Instead there was a look that could have been lifted from his ancestor Raven's darkest days. A look of total hatred, that boded a terrible fate for those who had caused it.

Steve still could not believe it. When the team had been heading home they had called ahead to tell Sarah that the Raiders would be staying for the evening. But when they got no answer from the base, worries had begun to rise. They had pushed the Hover Cargo to the max to get home quickly. Finding the doors open, they had flown into the base, Leon and Vega first in, closely followed by Brad and Naomi. While the two men searched the first floor, the Hunters had run to check on Janet.

Naomi's scream of terror had drawn them all upstairs, fearing the worse. While it was not as bad as it could have been, it was not much better. Angel had laid there, blood seeping from a trio of bullet wounds and staining her jaws. Other blood stains spotted the area around the door. And in the crib there had only been a disk, with a label simply saying 'For the Blitz Team'.

On it, the voice of Altiel had spelled out everything. That the reincarnated Backdraft had both Sarah and the child, and that they were now being held for ransom. He had told them that he would be contacting them later with a place and time. That had been it. That was all that needed to be said.

Motion in the corner of his eye drew Steve's attention to the door to the hanger. Cassie disappeared through, the sounds of her harsh footfalls ringing out on the metal stairs. Shortly after they faded they could hear the faint sounds of her kicking crates and drums about, clearly her way of dealing with anger.

As if those sounds were a switch, the others began to move from their frozen pose. Jamie stood up and moved towards the computer room with a set look in his eyes. Leon drifted towards the dinning table, the furious look fading into one of fear.

"Oh Brad, they have her! They have our baby!" Naomi voice was faint and weak from within Brad's arms.

"We'll get her back Na'…" Brad tried to comfort her, But Naomi refused to be comforted now. She raised her head up, and despite the tears that streaked her face, it was clear that her grief was turning into anger.

"Oh, we will…" Her voice had shifted, becoming cold and harsh. Her eyes had narrowed to slits, flashing darkly.

Almost to himself, Vega voiced the thoughts of everyone there.

"And we'll make them pay for this!" Even the legendary Raven would have taken a step back at his tone.

x x x x x x

Sarah held the crying form of Janet to her, trying to comfort the child. Needless to say, her efforts where not working well, since she too was terrified and distraught over their current situation.

She had woken up with her head foggy to darkness. With the little light she had, Sarah had been able to see four plain metal walls, with only one door and no windows. The deep rumble that seemed to come from all around her was one that she knew all too well. It was the rumble of a Whale King's engines.

For a short time her own fear and panic was forced down by her concern for Janet Hunter, who had been the only other occupant of her new prison. Sarah was certain it was a prison, as despite the chloroform she could remember realising that someone, maybe more than one, was in the base. At first she had hoped that Janet had not been taken, but seeing the small cloth bundle that cocooned the child had driven a large stake through her heart. Little Janet was the daughter of the Blitz Team, and each of them saw her as partly their own child. With the exceptions of Stoller and Steve, the latter seeing her as a grandchild, while Stoller… never really could fell that way about anybody.

Sarah lost track of time, sitting there holding Janet, one hand splayed across her own expanded belly. It wasn't just her life and Janet's life that was in risk… there was also her un-born child to consider. Never in her life before had she felt so helpless, so totally alone. She knew that Angel had to have been killed for their attackers to reach Janet, and she wept for the fallen liger. She also wept for what Leon, Brad and Naomi must be going through right now.

Weakened by the drug, hindered by her child, and having to comfort a bewildered infant, Sarah remained sitting there, her legs tucked underneath her. Deep down she knew it would be pointless to try and escape. In her brief look at the door, she had noticed that the control panel on this side had been removed. With no way to open the door, she was trapped.

Had she been alone, without child, she might have attempted to work her way through the air vents, but even without Janet, her pregnancy prevented that method of escape. So she was forced to sit and wait, praying that the rest of the team would be coming after them.

After a long time, she felt the engine rumble change pitch, and then a much heavier tremor ran through the deck, before the engines spooled down. 'We've arrived… where ever we were going.' She thought to herself. Hopefully now she would get some answers.

A few minutes later she heard footsteps beyond the door, before it was suddenly opened, retreating into the wall to one side. Bright light beyond shone in, and Sarah raised a hand in an attempt to avoid being blinded.

"Ah Sarah… we meet again at last. Look how you have fallen."

A shaft of ice ran up her spine at the voice. She knew the speaker.

Slowly she looked up towards the head of the man that now stood before her. "Altiel." Her voice was as sharp as a razor blade and colder than space.

Altiel stood there for a second, stunned at the effect her voice had on him, before he managed to shake off the chilling effect. Laughing cruelly, he sank down into a crouch before her so that they were both on the same level. "I still can't believe you married into that team. You turned your back on everything you once stood for!"

"And I don't regret my decision for one second!" she snapped back. "I hated my time in the Backdraft under the Count! The people I had to work with…!" She trailed off in disgust.

"Yes, the calibre of our men was not what it could have been…" Altiel agreed. "…with a few notable exceptions of course." He added as he recalled who else was in the room with him and Sarah.

Behind him Albane smiled slightly, barely visible in daylight. In the darkened chamber of the Whale King, the action was invisible.

"Still, you work with what you've got." Altiel carried on. "And now I have you… and her." He extended one finger towards the small bundle that Sarah held.

Sarah tried to move back from him, but found the wall was in the way. "I'll never work for you!"

"You won't have to. Not that I'd trust you anyway." Altiel slowly straightened up. Behind him, she could now see a pale skinned man with white hair and cruel red eyes watching her like a serpent. Moving through the hatch was a pair of men with a camera.

"If your teammates know what is good for you, and her, they'll agree to my demands…" Sarah couldn't help but shiver at his words.

x x x x x x

When the terminal alerted them to an incoming call, it shocked the gathered people in the Blitz base out of the stupor that had fallen on them. They had made several calls, and now a council of war of sorts had formed. Now Dr Layon and Christian himself sat with the two teams, both men shocked and disgusted. Samantha Masters herself was tending to the wounded Liger.

Not all the team were there. Vega was sitting in the Fury's cockpit, brooding. Leon was in his and Sarah's room, still in shock. Naomi's earlier rage had faded, and now she could only sob besides the echoingly empty crib.

As it was, the one who opened the channel was Brad. As soon as the face of Altiel came through, his eyes narrowed to slits. "You…" it was more of a snarl than a spoken word. The others looked up, scowls crossing their faces as they realised who had called.

"Well Blitz team, I see you've discovered my message." Altiel smirked.

"Shut up you bastard! Where the hell is my daughter!" Brad roared at him, blood thundering through his veins and his fist clenched tightly enough to draw blood.

"Why, both her and Sarah are fine…" He turned back slightly to reveal Sarah sitting on the floor by a wall, clutching a cloth bundle to her. Cassandra' eyes shot open when she saw the man standing over her, then narrowed to slits.

"…for now, that is." Altiel continued his voice full of conceit. "And if you want them to remain that way, then you had better pay up."

"Alright, so what is it you want?" Stoller asked calmly, ever the practical one.

Altiel smirked. "Simply the three Ultimate X zoids."

The next few seconds were filled with cries of outrage and anger as the gathered pilots vented their feelings.

"No way!"

"Never!"

Through it all both Christian and Layon remained seated. Layon held his head in his hands, ashamed that he had ever worked with this scum, while Christian showed no outward reaction. But those who looked closely would have seen the dangerous sparkle in his eyes, the way his jaw was set.

Altiel's only response to the raised voices was a broadening of his smirk. "Careful now Blitz Team. You wouldn't want anything to happen to Sarah here…" Behind him the white haired man had produced a knife out of nowhere and now held it menacingly close to Sarah's neck. The sight of the cold steel silenced all of them. While they stood silenced, Altiel worked a panel off screen. A flashing message icon appeared at the bottom of the screen.

"I've just sent you the coordinates for the transfer. You provide all three zoids there by nightfall. I'll have men there to pick them up. Once we have them secured, I'll release Sarah and the girl. You have my word." With a smirk Altiel signed off.

"Like his word counts for anything." Brad growled. Jamie pulled up the data packet. Contained within was a small area map, near the mouth of a series of canyons.

"So, what we going to do?" Bit asked everyone at large. "I mean, I can't bear the thought of giving up Liger, but at the same time, I don't want anything to happen to Sarah and Janet!"

"I don't see why we can't just blast his men and them make them tell us where their holding them!" Leena snapped, her eyes flashing darkly. The old Blitz took two steps away from her, as this was her old 'psycho' look.

"It would take too long." Stoller sighed. "By the time you forced that information out of them, the rest of the Backdraft would have moved them both somewhere else."

"Just you let me try!" Leena's voice was a raw challenge, and Stoller found himself taking several steps back from her, worry in his eyes.

"We could at least try…"

"You won't have to." Layon's voice cut across Bit. Everyone in the room turned to look at the old Zoid scientist. He slowly looked up at them all. "I know where they are."

For several seconds no one spoke, jaws agape. Predictably, it was Leena who first got her voice back. "You KNEW where the Backdraft is based? And you only mention this NOW!" Her fists were clenched hard, trembling at her sides.

"No, I didn't know until Jamie brought that map up." Layon sighed before slowly walking over to the screen. Tapping away at the controls, he brought up an aerial map of the canyon network. He laid a finger at the end of one of the canyons. "Just before I left the Backdraft, the Council asked me to design a hidden base for them here. It was to be their ace in the hole, a completely hidden nerve centre that could run the world. We did carve out a small portion of the chambers needed, just enough for a small outpost. But then the Backdraft got its hands on a number of Whale Kings and they decided to put the project on a shelf." Layon gazed wistfully at the screen. "Looks like Altiel's decided to use it now."

"Makes sense, after the losses they suffered." Derek threw in. "Last I heard, the ZBC had captured ninety-eight percent of all Backdraft zoids, including their Whale Kings."

"Besides, having a hidden main base is ideal when you're a movement like them." Christian stated, stepping up to the map himself. His eyes roved along the canyons, surely and thoroughly. "How deep are we talking here Layon?"

"The canyon is at least a couple hundred feet deep at the end, while the base was to be below the valley floor level. The hanger entrance is camouflaged and hidden under an overhang. The tunnel in goes a couple dozen feet down and almost a hundred further into the rock."

Christian hummed and nodded his head slowly. "They couldn't have picked a better spot. You'd need a nuke like the one that was going to be used on you to dig it out." Even Leena paled at the mention of that weapon. "And a conventional assault would be very costly. Those canyon walls are natural fortifications, while the wind shear on the plains above would cause even Mnementh to struggle. If the man who laid the defences is anything like me, then that…" he stabbed his finger onto the image of the canyon. "…is 'the' Valley of Death."

Bit looked at Christian for a long moment. "How come you…"

"Understand such things?" Christian smirked. "Three things: I'm ex-military, I've lived almost seven hundred years, and I've gone over the maps of this planet so many times I know the landscape better than my wife's figure." He pulled a face at the last comment. "Just don't her I said that… either of them."

"Oh…" Brad couldn't help but be heartened by the totally idiotic look that appeared on Bit's face.

"Tell me Doc, was there any other way out?"

Layon shook his head. "The full plans call for another five exits, but none were dug before the pull was pulled. Even if they began digging the moment the Backdraft fell, none would be ready yet."

"So, we have one advantage. They are trapped in a corner. They have no escape route." Christian looked intently at the map. "Course, trapped men with no other choice tend to fight harder and are more likely to take chances, making them more dangerous."

"Can't we just give them what they want, and then…" Cassie stopped as everyone looked at her, some with shock and some with rage. "What? I was going to say we hide some of us in the zoids, and they can smash their way out."

"It's a good idea Cassie, but it wouldn't work. I doubt Altiel, despite his limited intelligence, would fall for that one." Christian gently said, defusing the tension that had filled the air at her words. "If he any sense at all, he'd ensure that the zoids are restrained completely."

"And I wouldn't give up my zoid ever!" Leena snapped. She would have advanced on Cassie had Christian not stepped between them.

"No one's giving up anything. Even if we followed Cassie's idea, we'd still be giving in to them. We can not do that. Ever." Christian's words had a firm note of finality to them that made everyone look up.

"If we ever give in to this, then every two-bit criminal will kidnap someone, knowing that push comes, we give in. Let me tell you a story about the country back on Earth I was born in. Long before I was born, a group of men took over an embassy, taking over twenty hostages. They threatened to kill them all until a crazed terrorist leader was released and the hostage takers were allowed to fly home."

What happened?" Bit asked spellbound.

"The government at the time tried to negotiate, but the group were not budging. And then they killed one hostage, to show that they were serious. In response, the country's Special Forces went in. All but one of the hostage takers was killed, and all the remaining hostages were saved. Ever since, no one has tried to take hostages in that country." Christian looked around at the gathered pilots faces.

"Hostage situations are all about bluffing. If they kill the hostages, it strengthens the other parties resolve to win, plus they lose bargaining power. If they threaten to kill and then don't, it weakens their position. Negotiation rarely works in my experience." He turned back to the map, folding his arms across his chest.

"If we are to win this, we have to call their bluff, and storm that canyon with everything we have." Christian looked around to see both Leon and Naomi on the stairs listening, while Vega stood in the doorway to the hanger. "It's going to be an uphill struggle, but I'm sure that we're all up for it. Who's with me?"

One look in each person's eye told him his answer…

Zeke: (chuckles) Watch out Altiel, the Blitz are coming!

Shadow: And they are pissed!

DR: Understatement that. Next time the teams go into action... See you on Monday! Oh, and don't forget to check out 'Rebuilding Hope' under Battlestar Galatica...