Ostrowski's face was solemn as an Easter Island statue as he stepped through the doors of the hospital, clutching a takeaway pizza box in one hand. He flashed his pass at the desk and was waved through immediately into the quiet, peachy glow of the reception area. This wasn't a normal hospital, where the general public came to give birth and vomit and shit their last in bleach smelling dormitories, every last gasp visible and audible to total strangers. This was a much more up-market facility, available only to the select few.

He allowed himself to be escorted up to one of the rooms/ All the rooms here were private rooms. His employers, who paid for their people to convalesce here, put a high value on privacy, even in death.

He was ushered into a soft, pastel-toned room, where a figure lay, swathed in bandages and hooked up to machines, his face was pale as he slept. Even in sleep, his breathing whistled. Ostrowski knew he had sustained a punctured lung, amongst his other injuries. The knives had missed his heart by inches.

Ostrowski looked down at the man in the bed.

"Stan?"

The voice from the bandaged figure was no more than a croak.

"Right here, Nico." Ostrowski took a seat next to the bed.

Carravino took a long wheezing breath, trying to raise his head "She had their… camouflage..."

"Relax," Ostrowski said "I'm not here to debrief. I came to see how you are."

"And… how am… I?"

"Still a total prick. I bought you a pizza too, figured the food would be shitty, even in here."

"Did you get her?" Carravino opened eyes that were swollen, bloodshot slits.

Ostrowski leaned forward and put a hand on his arm "Easy Nico,"

"But … did you get Woods?"

"No, but we will."

The injured man looked at him in horror, "You've… got to… find her."

"We will."

Carravino's voice shook, "I thought you were … crazy… but you were right..."

Ostrowski leaned over "It's OK, Nico."

"You don't get it, Woods is… one of them!" Carravino gripped his arm with hysterical urgency, "She butchered… my guys! Stabbed me! You can't… see her coming… she's… like them!"

He fell back against the pillows again, coughing, fingers still gripped convulsively around his comrade's arm.

Smartly, Ostrowski pressed the button to summon the nurse. He watched whilst his friend was sedated.

"I'm sorry Nico," He said quietly "I won't let her get past me again."

Selim and Isaac had been waiting in claw-biting silence for over six units. Selim was perched tensely in front of the console, but he watched as his twin prowled up and down the cockpit in frustration, as he often did when agitated. Selim felt just as anxious, he could not take his eyes off the scanners, waiting for contact from Scar.

"He should have let us go with him," He said finally, "What good can we do here?"

"C'mon Selim, you know what he's like," Isaac growled, relieved to have something to grumble about, "He's got to do the whole single-combat thing: just like with the Queen; just like with the Avissa; just like always! He's just got to prove he's the biggest, meanest badass around!"

"Isaac, that is not fair." Selim turned to his twin with a pained expression,"I am sure Mei'Savir made us remain here for our safety."

"Oh yeah - because otherwise, who is left to carry my genetic material?" Isaac said this in his 'yautja warrior', Scar-parody voice, "It's all about him and his damn ego, Sel, just like always!"

Selim was quiet for a moment. "Isaac," He said finally, in English, "Why do you think Spyrro ran away?"

He noticed Isaac shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Why does Spyrro do anything?" He said eventually, "Because she's a spoiled little princess! Probably Mom scolded her once too often and she decided to run off to Daddy!"

Selim regarded his twin sceptically. They might have had different personalities, but the brothers could not tell direct lies to each other, mainly because each knew when the other was lying. The genetic sympathy between them was too strong for deception. Right now, Selim could see clearly that Isaac was not being straight with him.

"I have been wondering," He said, "How did Mei'Varsi know our position well enough to send us that message? She must have been trying to find us all this time, why was she suddenly successful?"

Isaac didn't say anything.

"It was you, wasn't it, Ize?"

Isaac remained silent, but Selim could see that he was flushed under his leopard markings, his skin hot as the blood rushed into his face.

"You sent Mei'Varsi a transmission somehow," Selim said, "That is why Spyrro ran away from her and came here, is it not? That is how she found us, yes?"

His twin looked away, "So what if I did?"

"Ize!" Selim laughed. "You are a genius!"

"I am?" Isaac turned in surprise to see his brother's sharp toothed grin.

"Yes!" Selim exclaimed, "Now, Mei'Savir will have to speak to Mei'Varsi!"

Isaac frowned uncomfortably, "So?"

"Do you not understand, Ize?" His brother carried on excitedly, "He has been utterly miserable since we left - can you not see it? He is lost without her. I am sure Mei'Varsi is extremely unhappy, also! If he has to see her again, he will realise he has made a terrible mistake. Then they will reconcile, just as they always do. Everything will be back to normal and we can all be together again."

"Ok Sel, if you say so." Isaac clearly did not think much of his twin's analysis, "Really, I just wanted to see Mom, although…," He shifted again, guiltily, "I … never meant for Spyrro to run off and get into danger. She is our sister."

Selim put his hand on his twin's shoulder "I am sure Father will bring her back unharmed."

"You really think they'll be ok?"

"Ize, if you had to pick, whom do you think will come out on top? A whole spaceship full of yautja warriors, or Mei'Savir and Spyrro?"

Isaac gave an unwilling grin, "When you say it like that - shit!" He stopped short and leaned forward suddenly as he noticed something on the screen "That was an explosion!"

Selim touched the controls to zoom in on the warship, "There is a hole in the ship!"

He focused the display on a glowing rift in the craft's hull. Both of them stared, as a shuttle burst through the side of the vessel, tearing through the remains of the landing bay doors in a firework display of plasma and burning matter.

"That has to be them!" Isaac's talons flew across the control panel, waking up the console and bringing the turbines to life.

As the engines fired, both boys saw, to their horror, another set of bay doors on the gargantuan vessel slide open. From them issued two more ships, horribly sleek and warlike. Their engines glowed as they accelerated, streaking after the first ship with predatory intent.

"We have to get after them!" Selim gasped.

Isaac was already hauling on the steering column, bringing the ship around and firing up the engines. As their own shuttle screamed after the fighters, Selim hit the control to bring the weapons system up on the screen. The other craft were clearly focused on their quarry. Unlike the Chameleon, neither of them were cloaked or making any effort to conceal their presence. He guessed they didn't see the need for concealment within their own territory, so close to the huge warship.

As Isaac gunned the Chameleon's engines, Selim used the targeting system to lock onto the Rough Skull fighters. As one in a trance, he felt the target drift in front of him, the enemy ship drifting into his gunsights as he floated in a place of perfect silence. Then he squeezed the control, just the minimum of pressure required as he zeroed in on the fighter's engines. He saw the shot strike them and fired again, raking the carcass of the ship with hot plasma. He saw the engines glow red for a moment and then explode as the Chameleon hurtled past, debris and shockwaves shaking them for a moment as they came too close within the blast radius. Isaac held doggedly onto the controls, trying to evade the worst of it.

Ahead of them, in the Chameleon's display, they could see the escaping ship throw a tight loop as it curved back on itself, back towards the remaining enemy fighter.

"I think that must be Mei'Savir, coming back this way!"

"Ha, kidnap our little sister would they?" Isaac snarled, "Let's see how those big, bullying bastards like being targeted by two ships instead of one!"

Selim could see the turbine of the surviving enemy fighter dead ahead. In his mind, he felt again the slowing down of time, bringing his sights up to meet the target, serene and calm. As if in a dream, he saw the plasma streak towards the ship and strike the vulnerable part of their engine. The fighter listed sideways at once as it lost thrust on one side. At that moment, the escaping shuttle that had looped back towards them hurtled past, strafing the stricken ship with plasma, finally rupturing the fuel tanks. The fighter blew apart, blue-white light shivering the void of space in a huge cloud that expanded and then was suddenly sucked back in on itself.

As the cockpit of the Chameleon shuddered at the impact, both brothers heard a familiar voice over the intercom, "Mei'Sika! You are here!"

Isaac lunged forward and touched the coms button "Father! Where's Spyrro?"

"I have her," Scar growled, "But we must transfer to the Chameleon and quickly. More enemy ships are incoming and we cannot outrun them all. We will need the Chameleon's camouflage to escape. There is a grapple gun on this ship. If you come close enough, I can board you."

"Just let me come alongside you!" Isaac yanked on the steering column, bringing the Chameleon around. As the ship glided into position, he and Selim watched, hardly daring to breathe, as the airlock on the other ship opened.

Already they could see the small red blips on the Chameleon's scanners that indicated more enemy ships on their way.

Ostrowski sat in the incident room of the local police station and addressed a rough semi-circle of officers and a few of his own people - those that had survived the night. It was five thirty am, the morning after the disastrous operation. The winter sky was still dark outside and many of the officers around him were yawning, or clasping giant-sized cups of coffee. Ostrowski, by contrast, was clean shaven, hair neatly brushed, suit crisply pressed; as fresh as an early frost.

"Ok, I want everyone to pay close attention," He said, "Last night we made an attempt to apprehend a dangerous felon who is confirmed to be at large in this area. Her name is Alexa Woods and, as you probably know, she's on the FBI's most wanted list." He pressed a button and Lex's mugshot from Nevada came up on the large screen, followed by another picture, an enhanced still from the CCTV at the San Francisco nightclub "Our fugitive is an African-American female, about 5'10", she has a clear distinguishing mark: distinctive, facial scarring. A deliberate burn, here, like a tattoo." He pointed out the clan blood mark on Lex's cheek.

"Now, I'm gonna need you to drop whatever else you're doing and concentrate all resources on this manhunt, because this is as serious as it gets. During the course of last night's attempt to apprehend her, Woods destroyed two helicopters and killed five heavily armed and well-trained members of my team."

Hesitantly, Sergeant Hernandez raised a hand, "If that's the case, sir, isn't this a job for special forces?"

"Some more of my people will be arriving soon, Sergeant," Ostrowski said "But they can't do anything until we locate her. That's going to be our job until they get here." He pressed a button and a map appeared on the screen, "Last sighting was on the slope coming down from the bluff towards the main highway - here." He pointed out a spot on the map, "That's where she encountered my team. One of my guys thinks she may have been wounded, but with the snowfall it's hard to say for sure. We managed to track her as far as the road, but then her trail disappears. That suggests she managed to get hold of some kind of vehicle."

"Unless she managed to fly away," Said a little bit of his brain, "But surely we'd have noticed a ship coming in that close?"

Another Sergeant, Paulson, spoke up, "We checked the records for the last forty-eight hours, sir." She said, "No stolen vehicle reports."

"Well, that leaves a few possibilities, Sergeant," Ostrowski tapped his fingers together, "Either the owner doesn't want to report it for some reason… or she's got an accomplice helping her, but that's not likely as she's not a local here. Her only contact is under house arrest. Or the owner could be dead, or being held hostage maybe? We know she's armed and she's got previous on hostage taking."

He could see a few sceptical looks around him and his face darkened, "I don't want any of you to be fooled by her appearance," He said, "She may look like an angel but do not underestimate her: she's a killer. She took down eleven men when she broke into our Nevada facility. She's managed to evade capture for over a decade now, so we need to be smart if we want to bring her in. She will be armed and she will be dangerous. You do not want her running around loose in your neighbourhood."

Now that his audience looked suitably pale and subdued, he continued, "Bearing that in mind, I want everyone to be clear that we have orders from the highest authority to take this woman alive." A few more horrified looks at this, "She has vital information for our national security, so we are to do everything in our power to bring her for interrogation. Bottom line is; I need you to make a search of every home in the area around our last sighting, every outdoor building too, that means barns, sheds, whatever."

He turned back to Paulson and Hernandez "You two, are there any traffic cameras in the stretch of road where we lost her?"

"No sir, it's woodland," Paulson shook her head "But there's CCTV at the gas station further up the road and at the intersection further down the hill where it joins the main highway. It's a direct road through the woodland between those two points, Sir, no other turnings. Any vehicle going up or coming down will have been caught on camera unless it drove off-road."

"A little errand for you, then: I want you to check all CCTV footage from those cams, starting from the time I lost contact with my team on Tuesday night. Get me a list of the plates of all vehicles coming in and going out of that area. Once we've got a list, we'll start checking out residences. See if we can't make our search a little more... targeted. We'll tick off every car on that list until we get to her."

After they left, Ostrowski sat on the desk. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he pressed the button to take the screen back to Lex's picture, the still from the nightclub.

He had looked at her face so often, he felt like he knew every millimetre of it; the high cheekbones; the haughty expression; the perfectly sculpted lips; the curving brows and large dark eyes. Everything about her conspired to create the image of a statue, perhaps a carving of some queen of the ancient world: the kind of queen that crushed other kingdoms in battle or bathed in her enemies' blood. He stared into those eyes - portals to an unknown universe.

"Every car on that list," He said softly to himself, "You had to be in one of them. I know you didn't just disappear. Whoever you've got helping you, I hope they realise just what you are, before it's too late..."

Scar picked up Spyrro and began to loop his safety leash around both of their waists.

"Mei'Savir," She said, "Why do I have to be tied onto you? Where are we going?"

"We are going to the Chameleon," He growled, "I just need to make sure you are close to me, Spyrro. Just be sure you hold onto me tightly."

"But what happens if I come loose?"

He saw her glance round apprehensively at the endless, black void around them and realised she had never been outside the ship before. The limitlessness of space - no horizon, just nothingness without end - even for an inexperienced adult, such things could be disorientating.

"Do not look at the stars, my youngest one," He said quickly, "Put your head on my shoulder and start counting."

"But why?"

"Because, if the scanner is correct, those fighters will be on us in a count of less than two hundred!" He thought.

"Because I am trying to see how quickly I can get across," He lied, out loud, "I need you to time it for me and I do not want you to get distracted and lose count."

She buried her face in his shoulder and he could hear her begin to count, "One, two, three…"

"Very good, Spyrro." He pulled the grapple gun up to his shoulder and fired, the chain snaking out behind the projectile as it shot towards the Chameleon. As soon as the magnets in the grapple clamped themselves to the hull of the shuttle, he anchored it to the stolen ship and then clipped a second safety leash onto the chain. He began to pull himself across as fast as he could, all the while his daughter's small voice in his ear, "...fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three…."

"Yes, my daughter, keep going." He concentrated on putting one hand in front of the other.

"Father, you made me lose count!"

"You got to fifty-four. Just do not look up."

"No Father ... fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven…"

He exerted himself more, pulling as fast as he could now, hand over hand until he laid his gloved talons on the side of the Chameleon. The airlock slid open immediately and he knew that his sons must be watching them.

"...eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven…"

Grinning now, with relief, he was about to crawl across and disengage the grapple. Suddenly, without warning, a barrage of plasma howled by them, missing the Chameleon by a few feet. He gaped in dismay and threw himself flat against the side of the ship as the enemy fighter barrelled past. Already he could see its flight trajectory curving as it began to arc back around. Quickly he disconnected the safety leash from the grapple chain, not wanting to think about what would happen if somehow the fighter caught the chain on its next pass.

"...one-hundred and ten, one-hundred and eleven, one-hundred and twelve…"

"S'Kia! They are almost on you – get inside!" Isaac's voice echoed inside his mask intercom.

Spyrro's head jerked up, "What is happening?"

"Head down and count!" He snarled, using the magnetic gloves to edge out towards the grapple again.

" - one hundred and thirty, one-hundred and thirty-one - "

He stretched out his arm as far as possible but he still couldn't reach it. In his ear, Spyrro was still chanting obediently "- one hundred and forty-one, one-hundred and forty two -"

Scar dragged himself within reach of the grapple and flipped the switch, expecting every moment to feel the burning concussion of a plasma barrage knocking them from the Chameleon. The chain sprang loose, freeing them from the stolen ship. A quick look over his shoulder and he could see the Rough Skull fighter had already completed its loop and was bearing down on them rapidly, but the ship they were attached to was swinging gently round to meet it. He held on grimly to the grapple hook, not wanting to be jolted off into space if the fighter managed to hit the ship. Then, a burst of plasma, not from the enemy ship but from the Chameleon. It smacked into the Rough Skull fighter and he saw light blossom from it, then it went dark and floated onto its end as it began to drift, its engines obviously dead. Scar didn't wait to see any more.

"...one-hundred and sixty, one-hundred and sixty-one…"

Now he had one hand inside the airlock and he pulled, dragging them both inside and slammed his hand on the button to close the outer hatch. "We are back," He snarled into his helmet, "Get us away from here."

One of his sons must have engaged the engines because both he and Spyrro were suddenly pressed flat against the wall of the chamber by the gravity of the thrusters. He could only hope it would get them out of range of any more enemy fighters.

He pressed the button to open the inner lock and both of them fell heavily through onto the deck, with him still clasping her to his chest as she continued counting stolidly "- one-hundred and eighty-one, one-hundred and eighty-two -".

"Spyrro?" She looked up, "You can cease counting, now."

"Did we get across fast enough?"

He let his head drop backwards and lay there for a moment, panting, still gripping her tightly.

"Yes," He said "We did."

Saturday is here and it's nearly the end of my week off. This is extremely unfortunate.

LovyDovy7: Always enjoy reading your reviews. I try to write cinematically, with varying degrees of success :)

Love n hugs ScifiTrash xx