All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "East and West".

Infiltration

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

Shanghai, China

Ten men, all in commando gear and wearing masks, stood on top of a warehouse building overlooking the military docks. They silently viewed three warships sitting at anchor.

"How many guards do you suppose they will have?" the first commando asked.

"What intelligence read off of the Illuminati's supply manifestos is that each ship has ten guards posted above decks," the second answered, "in addition to their normal compliment of 'People's Marines' to guard ship's lower decks."

"Sounds like a difficult task," the third commando commented.

"To the United States maybe," a fourth laughed, "But we are far more superior to any soldier in either 'the East' or 'the West'."

The rest of the commandos laughed and nodded in agreement.

"What is the plan, sir?" the tenth commando then asked the lead one.

"Fix silencers to your laser weapons," the first commando ordered, "We don't want all of them to jump us at once. We will pick off all the guards they have above deck and then move through each ship and deal with the guards they have below decks."

"What about the rest of the troops the Chinese have stationed near the city?" the sixth commando questioned.

"We have other small units in scattered locations that can provide a good distraction to allow our mission to succeed," the first commando answered, "Once we've cleared out each ship, our engineering teams will arrive to strip each warship of its anti-aircraft weaponry."

Han Gei stood quietly at his post on the bow of the ship, Shanghai. He and the other members of his unit were assigned to guard the ship and two of its sister ships while their crews were given a brief leave for the time being. He was somewhat surprised that the normal complement of troops that each ship needed to maintain order onboard were still present as well, but he assumed it was because of the growing insurgency problem in Tibet. The officials in Beijing were not going to take any chances.

A sudden 'thump' startled him and he peaked out from behind the turret for the front thirty seven millimeter guns to see one of the other guards laying dead on the bow.

"Shang!" Han yelled in surprise and ran to his friend's side.

When arrived he was able to confirm what he already feared. His friend was dead. A laser blast of some sort had gone through his skull and killed him instantly. Han heard the sound of the other guards on the Shanghai moving to where they view what was going on on the bow.

"Someone shot Shang!" Han yelled.

He looked back toward the bridge to see several flashed of red light fly through the air and hit many of the other guards on the deck.

"No," Han gasped and got up to try and check on the others, but he felt something go through his right shoulder, knocking him off of the ship.

It took the commandos less then three minutes to kill or seriously wound all of the guards that were above decks. Each then looked around the ground level and the other buildings. Everything was quiet.

"Did the top level guards sound any alarm?" the first commando questioned.

The third commando pulled out a small palm-pilot like device and activated it. After a few seconds he shook his head.

"No, sir," the third commando spoke, "The ship's normal compliment should not know anything."

"Good," the first commando nodded, "Begin making your way onto the first ship."

The other commandos nodded and slowly began to walk towards a series of fire escapes that they had used to get onto the roof the warehouse. The streets remained quiet as they crossed the street and boarded the Shanghai. The commandos then spread throughout the ship's interior and surprised most if not all of the Chinese troops that were below decks. They then moved on to repeat the same process with the other two ships. The whole process took roughly an hour.

"Ships are clear," the tenth commando reported as they gathered on the bow of the last patrol boat.

"Good," the first answered and pulled out cell phone, "Strike team to extraction unit. Chinese ships are in our possession."

"Excellent," he heard an educated sounding voice answer, "Master Khan will be most pleased with our success."

Idaho, USA

"I'm sorry I slowed us down by having us go this way," Rachel Winters commented as she and Merlin drove through a back road, now in Idaho.

"I don't have the money to pay for airplane tickets if we're going to have to make various connection flights," Merlin answered, "And since organizing everything we've found so far that might help in anyway took longer then I anticipated, it would be best if we were not in the middle of some city for the next three nights."

Rachel slowly nodded, "Yeah, my howling would give me away."

Merlin sighed and looked out over the horizon to see that the sun was beginning to set. They would need to stop and make camp soon. He slowed his vehicle and prepared to look for a suitable camping site.

Elsewhere, Fang Shui sighed as he watched he sun set. They had not made much progress since their encounter at Queen Florence Island. Once Yoshi was sure they were south of the Canadian border, they hit high mountains, many of them having snow. While the clothing that Natsilane had given them kept them warm, and while there was an abundance of strong winds around the mountains, many of the Tibetan clan's hatchlings had some trouble navigating the wind.

Finding places for the gargoyles to sleep during the day was another task. Many of the places that were suitable for the clan to rest were too conspicuous. Most of the spots that were more secluded were not safe for the clan to sleep. Currently they had camped in a small and secluded campground. One of the other monks had gone to explore the area, but found he could not read the signs. Coyote's spell apparently only allowed them to understand spoken English.

The sounds of cracking stone broke Fang Shui away from his thoughts and he turned to watch Je Lu and his clan, along with Yoshi and Yama wake up.

"Good evening," Je Lu greeted he shrugged off the last bits of stone, "Did you have a good day?"

Fang Shui nodded, "It was a very quiet day today. One of the other monks saw a deer. A very peaceful creature."

"That is good to…" Je Lu began when he what looked like headlights appear on the path behind Fang Shui, "Some one is coming."

Fang Shui turned to see what looked like a sports utility vehicle approaching their campsite.

"Hide, before they see you," Fang Shui said urgently.

Je Lu and the others nodded and moved off into the forest, hoping to get out of sight quickly. Thankfully the hatchlings put up no argument. Fang Shui turned to watch the vehicle come to a stop not that far away from him. The doors opened to reveal a middle aged man with white hair and a short beard and a woman in her twenties with brown hair. The man looked around at the area, but it was apparently the woman that noticed Fang Shui and the monks.

"Merlin, we're not alone," the woman spoke.

The man, Merlin, turned to look in the direction in which the woman was looking. He saw a small group of men wearing plain jeans and moderate jackets. All of them looked somewhat surprised by the sight of the other people.

"Um, may I ask who you are?" Merlin asked.

"We were about to ask you the same question," Fang Shui commented.

The man nodded, "My name is Merlin Hawkins, and this is my associate Rachel Winters. We were looking for a nice quiet place."

"Well, this place is very quiet," Fang Shui answered, "My name is Fang Shui. I am from Tibet."

"Are you staying here long?" Merlin asked.

"Not long actually," Fang Shui answered, "My monks are taking a tour of this country."

"You've picked a very beautiful spot to tour," Rachel commented from behind Merlin.

"So, what relation is Miss Winters to you?" Fang Shui asked curiously.

"Student," Merlin answered, "I have been tutoring her for the tasks needed for her to continue on in life."

"Is she your daughter?" Fang Shui asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Merlin replied.

"It is rather strange that a man of your age would come out into this wilderness with a young woman as his only company…" Fang Shui commented.

"We are not involved romantically," Merlin insisted, "Our relationship is purely professional."

Fang Shui then noticed something that the woman, Rachel, was doing. She appeared to be sniffing the air and slowly walking around the monks toward where Je Lu and the gargoyles had gone to hide.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Winters?" Fang Shui asked getting her attention.

Rachel snapped out of her daze and looked over at Fang Shui.

"I thought I heard something," Rachel answered, "Did you hear something?"

Fang Shui shook his head, "I'm afraid we did not, but then again it is nighttime in a dark forest. No telling what could be out there."

Rachel sighed and looked up at the full moon, slowly rising. She new that if she hadn't assumed her wolf form by midnight her change would come automatically. She hoped that Merlin could find a way to get her to conceal herself somewhere out of the monk's eyes where she could change and then rest for the night. She glanced to see that the monks were wanting to talk amongst themselves and pulled Merlin aside.

"They aren't alone," Rachel whispered, "I can smell gargoyles. They have gargoyles with them, but I think they're hiding."

"You don't think they mean any ill will?" Merlin asked.

"More then likely they're protecting the gargoyles, I think," Rachel whispered.

"Interesting," Merlin commented, "I wonder what would get Tibetan gargoyles and monks to come this far. We must find out, if we can get them to trust us with the knowledge of the gargoyles."

"The woman is strange," one of the monks whispered to Fang Shui, "She was sniffing the air like a hunting dog. She could not have just 'heard' something."

"You don't suppose they're after the clan?" Fang Shui asked, "Agents of the 'supermen'?"

"I don't know, but we can not leave until they nod off," the monk who had spoken first whispered again, "just to make sure."

Fang Shui sighed, "Hopefully that will not be too long."

Tibet

Khan sat quietly in his main office reviewing the reports of his progress. Everything was going well at the moment. Khan knew it had to though. The Illuminati was a global secret society and he doubted that there was anything that its influence didn't reach. In order to counteract this he had done two things. One was a secret increase in the number of 'supermen' that the facility was producing to form the backbone of the army he was building. The other was to send agents throughout the world to make sure that the Illuminati were too busy with matters elsewhere to look at China, and specifically Tibet. So far everything was going according to plan.

"Sir?" his second in command asked as he poked his head into the office.

"Yes, what is it?" Khan asked as he looked up.

"Team Hijack is on the secure line, and they wish to make their report," Khan's second answered.

"Very good," Khan stood up, "We'll see how our preparations are coming along."

He then got up and began to follow his second in command to the main communications room. On the screen, he saw the image of one of his men, and it looked like he was sitting on a truck.

"Sir," the man saluted.

"What is your report?" Khan asked.

"We've obtained the anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition from three Chinese patrol boats in Shanghai and are on our way back to base," the man reported, "The Illuminati passes have kept every checkpoint and real Chinese military unit from inspecting our trucks. They believe we are bringing more supplies to the troops already in Tibet."

Khan nodded.

"I believe we can make it back to the base in three days, if conditions remain the same, and the roads to the base have been kept clear," the man reported.

Khan nodded. In addition to many of the raiding missions in which he had Chinese military equipment stolen, he had also obtained several pieces of machinery that were necessary for constructing roads. With them he had carved out a wide path from his base to the nearest road that the Chinese government had constructed. The road wasn't very safe, in the sense that it was always at risk for being covered in snow, and there was of course the risk of the road collapsing in a rock slide, as Khan had not taken any measures to see if the ground itself was safe to build on, but the road allowed his men to bring in greater amounts of supplies that they would need, including weapons and equipment. The road itself also didn't look as if there was a road there, so that maintained the base's secrecy.

"I would not anticipate things to go that well, though," Khan warned, "They aren't stupid. They will eventually learn that their ships were attacked. Always expect a fight, wherever you go."

The man nodded, "Will we have air cover?"

"We do not have such technology at this time," Khan answered, "Your laser rifles should be able to deal with any aircraft or missile that comes your way."

"Yes, sir," the man saluted and the screen went black.

"Should we have the 'Tibetan Insurgents' claim the attack on the ships?" Khan's second asked.

"No," Khan answered, "That story is small right now and I would prefer it to stay that way. It will allow us to continue our efforts to persuade the people of Tibet to side with us. Have Taiwan claim responsibility for the raid."

"Yes, sir," Khan's second nodded.

Idaho

Je Lu and Shi La watched quietly as the monks tried to figure out these strange newcomers. They had been talking for several hours, and it seemed to be a rather friendly conversation.

"They certainly seem friendly," Shi La commented.

"The female makes me nervous," Je Lu answered, "Her scent is different from the males, and even his doesn't smell entirely human."

"Entirely human?" Shi La whispered.

"Their scents are different in some way from the monks's scents," Je Lu answered, "And I'm not talking about their individual scents, I'm talking about the basic scent that identifies them as humans. The male has some scent that is similar to that fey, Coyote. The female, strangely, has the scent of a wolf in with her own."

"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard," Shi La answered.

Rachel meanwhile was becoming more and more nervous. Midnight wasn't that far away an she and Merlin hadn't gotten to a point where they could reveal who and what they really were.

"It's getting pretty late," Fang Shui commented, "Don't you think it's time to turn in?"

"Is it?" Merlin asked, "I hadn't noticed. It is interesting to me that you would want to tour America."

Rachel glanced up at the full moon, seeing that it was nearing midnight.

"Around his time of the month, I can never sleep at night," Rachel said weakly, "But I do need to change cloths."

"Insomnia?" Fang Shui asked.

Rachel sighed and turned to Merlin and said, "It think we have to tell them we know…"

Merlin glanced up and slowly nodded.

"Know what?" Fang Shui asked.

"We know you have gargoyles with you," Rachel answered as she pulled her sweater off, revealing the upper half of the jumpsuit that Merlin had conjured up for her to wear during the full moon or when she was in wolf form, "And don't deny it. I know there are gargoyles nearby."

"How?" one of the other monks demanded while getting up, as if to fight.

"Lycanthropy," Rachel answered as she slipped out of her shoes and prepared to take her pants down, revealing the rest of the jumpsuit she wore in wolf form, "I'm a werewolf… and Merlin and I associate with the gargoyle clan in London. I recognized their scent."

"Lycanthropy?" Fang Shui asked, startled by the woman's comments.

"Werewolf," Rachel answered simply, "Tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after that, I have to change into a large wolf creature."

The monks looked at her with a mixture of shock and horror. It didn't look as if they believed what the woman had said. Rachel, meanwhile felt her body temperature begin to rise. She looked up to see that the moon had reached its highest point for the night.

"That is impossible," another monk spoke.

"Just watch," Rachel answered as her voice grew rougher.

Rachel then gripped her stomach as the pain of her transformation set in. Her canines were already lengthening into her wolf fangs again. Her musculature was slowly growing larger. She screamed as she felt her hands become larger and her feet begin to stretch longer. Her finger and toe nails were slowly lengthening into claws. She felt herself growing taller as she rose up onto the balls of her feet and as her legs lengthened slightly.

The monks backed away in fear as the watched the process continued. The woman was already standing like a gargoyle on powerful wolf-like legs and feet. Her hands had grown much larger and become almost paw like, and the woman now sported strong claws on each and foot. Fur was beginning to appear on her body. Her chest, torso, and hips were starting to grow much larger. The woman's screams were slowly sounding more like growls and snarls as her teeth and grown as large as they could, considering that she still had a human mouth.

Rachel snarled heavily as the focus of her transformation changed. Fur was beginning to cover her body, and she could feel her ears moving toward the top of her head. She felt pressure begin to build up in her face. She then roared with pain as she felt her face push out into a muzzle and her fangs grew to their full size. The pressure then moved to her backside. In less then a second she felt her bushy tail begin to push its way out. Once it had grown out to its full length, Rachel felt her muscles that controlled the tail moving to make her tail wag, as she lifted her head to the moon and howled.

Merlin sat quietly as Rachel went through her transformation. He was somewhat depressed that this was the way everything was turning out, but there was something that surprised him. Rachel's transformation had triggered the appearance of many of the gargoyles, who had come out to come out to protect the monks.

"Rachel are you alright?" Merlin asked.

Rachel opened her now golden eyes and slowly nodded.

"Everything hurts until I feel my tail push out," Rachel answered, "It's the transition between either wolf and human or human and wolf that hurts. I'm fine now."

"That's good," Merlin commented.

"Their gargoyles are here," Rachel spoke.

"You will not harm these monks, beast," Yama vowed, his eyes glowing.

Rachel whimpered and backed away, "And why would I want to?"

That made many of the gargoyles blink in surprise. They hadn't anticipated such a retort.

"Because the supermen sent you after us," Je Lu answered.

"He's a comic book character," Rachel answered, "Superman."

"Supermen," Shi La spoke, "Not an individual, we don't know who they are by name."

"We don't know any supermen," Merlin answered, "Our meeting you was a complete coincidence."

"But she just turned into a werewolf!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"That doesn't make me evil," Rachel sighed, "Would you like it if I called you evil on the basis that you were a gargoyle?"

Yoshi shook his head.

"You intend to cause us no harm?" Fang Shui asked stepping forward nervously.

Rachel nodded.

"Who are these supermen you spoke of?" Merlin asked.

Fang Shui glanced back at Je Lu, who only sighed.

"We don't know who they, but they drove us from our home in Tibet with weapons that we have no means of defending ourselves against," Fang Shui answered, "And on top of this, they are as strong as a gargoyle."

"We believe them to be evil warriors," another monk spoke, "that's why we feared you to be agents of them, especially after your friend transformed into a wolf."

"Warriors?" Rachel asked, her tail slowly moving back and forth, "You think they're going to start a war?"

Merlin also began to look more interested.

"It is possible," Je Lu answered, "but we are only seeking to avenge the loss of our home and make the supermen pay. That is why we are on our current journey."

"Can you tell us exactly where your old home was?" Merlin asked.

"Are the two of you wanting to help?" Yoshi asked.

"As much as I feel we should," Merlin spoke, "Rachel and I are on very important business concerning a great prophesy in Britain. Have any of you heard the legends of King Arthur?"

"We have some copies of the story in Ishimura," Yoshi spoke up, "You are named after the king's advisor."

Merlin shook his head, "I AM the advisor of Arthur Pendragon. The prophesy concerns 'Britain's Finest Hour'. Arthur was awakened from his sleep on Avalon early, and we must find out when this will occur. Our one real link is a prediction that a war will start in the east and men will fall from the sky. If you say you were attacked by warriors, they may be the ones who start the war in the east, which means Rachel and I might provide you with some help, anyway."

"What about these men from the sky?" Je Lu asked.

"That's the real trick," Merlin sighed, "What we've found says little that could identify them. It could be aliens, these New Olympians that the Greeks found, gargoyles, or human paratroopers. I'm right now thinking that if we can figure out who is going to start the war in the east, then maybe we can find out who is going to 'fall' from the sky."

"Amazing," Fang Shui spoke.

"Have you eaten?" Rachel asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Fang Shui asked.

"Have you eaten?" Rachel asked, "Merlin and I have stored some food away in our vehicle, and I'm feeling hungry."

"We don't have enough to share between all of us," Merlin commented to her, "Just enough for you over the next three nights."

"We haven't eaten," Je Lu spoke, "We have mostly been watching you from a safe distance."

"We can hunt for our food, however, if there is not enough available," Yama spoke.

"Hunt?" Rachel asked, tail wagging, "I'm sorry, but I have a lot more energy in this form, and I tend to get hungry more easily in this form."

There was a pause as Rachel stood as tall as she could and sniffed the air.

"And there is a herd of elk not too far away," Rachel spoke.

"There is much that I would like to know," Merlin commented, "perhaps you could pause your journey to help us?"

Fang Shui glanced at Je Lu and after a few moments nodded.

"Yes," Fang Shui agreed, "I believe that both of our parties have their questions."

Two Nights Later

"I would like to thank you for providing your own help in your own way," Fang Shui spoke as he and the monks prepared to leave with Je Lu's clan and companions.

Rachel couldn't help but give an embarrassed smile as the monk shock her giant furry paw. One of the things that she was sure would always frustrate her about the fact that she was a werewolf was the fact that while she was in wolf form, most things were too small for her. The monk's hand was tiny in her paw. She had to be careful not to crush his hands.

"It is no problem," Rachel answered, "If Merlin and I can provide you with any help by finding out who these warriors are, we will."

"We'll also call the man who owns the tower where you are headed," Merlin added, "Xanatos should tell you what we've find out."

"Finding out who these guys are will be a big help to us," Je Lu answered, "And for doing that, we thank you."

"We will remind you that we won't be able to get a flight to the far east until we can get to California or Washington State," Merlin cautioned, "So it may take awhile."

"We will need to glide to New York, so waiting for you to travel will not be of great difficulty," Yama spoke.

With polite good-byes, Je Lu and his clan took off into the night from the cliff. Several were carrying a monk. Rachel and Merlin stood and watched until they had disappeared over the horizon.

"So, where do we go next, then?" Rachel asked, "Washington state should have an international airport in one of its cities, and it is the closest."

"If not, Portland, Oregon was large enough to support an international airport," Merlin nodded, "If that fails, we're going to be stuck with one of the major cities of California."

"Washington state and Oregon are closer," Rachel pointed out.

"We'll try Olympia, Washington, first," Merlin nodded, "No sense in going back and forth along the west coast of the United States."

"Do you think they can make it to New York without revealing themselves to others?" Rachel asked and then gestured to her furry body, "We will have a hard enough time hiding this, and we're only two people at the moment. There are a lot more of them."

"Once they start getting into the more heavily populated east, they should be fine," Merlin answered, "Gargoyles can hide wherever there is a city. And thanks to Coyote's magic which is apparently acting as a translator for them, the monks can make themselves understood to anyone they come across."

"Hopefully they make it to New York," Rachel sighed and then began to follow Merlin back to their campsite.

The End