Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or mentioned in this draft, and am most certainly not making any profit off of it.

Chapter 13

Lash waited patiently in the command center of the enemy citadel for one of the three commanding officers to return. While she waited, she opened up the notebook to take another stab at inventing weapons. She looked at the Ragnorok project to see how the TA had designed the super laser. What she found was quite confusing. The giant laser cannon was full of mirrors, lenses, and wiring. She decided to make something simpler. Instead of doing something that hardcore, she tried for versatility and practicality; something that could fire a powerful laser in four different directions. So she started by drawing the top; a typical four way. Then she drew the side view. Now came the hard part: drawing the components. She flipped back to the 'death ray' to look at how it was put together. She noticed a light source was needed to produce the laser. So she drew a four way flashlight in the middle of the laser quad cannon. Looking back at the TA's design, she also noticed that she needed some lenses in order to bend the light, as Seymour had noted on the page. It needed a convex lens in order to focus the light into a small, yet heavily concentrated beam. So she drew in three convex lenses in each laser cannon 'barrel' to create a beam. Upon looking back at TA's designs, she found that she also needed some concave lenses to give the laser some size. Without them, the lasers would simply cut into enemies, without causing any real damage to enemy units. So she put in some concave lenses to give the laser a broader beam. Finally, she had her first original design. Okay, so she did 'borrow' some ideas from Seymour, but that is why he gave her the notebook. She was surprised at just how easy that came to her. She wondered how she would be able to build something like this until the TA's words came drifting back to her. Just work your ideas out on paper. Then you can worry about building them. She had plenty of time to spare, so she flipped to a new page and began again.

-----

Lord Bolt was sitting in his office, his mind still preoccupied with who the traitor may be. As he stared at his desktop milling names and ideas as to what their respective motives may be, his aide, Kindle, entered the room.

"What is it (WHEEZE)?"

"Lord Bolt, we have received notification from The Undying Storm that indicates that there was a received transmission."

"(COUGH) who was it (WHEEZE) from?"

"It was from you."

A silence fell over the room.

"What?"

"Apparently, you sent a transmission ordering Hawke to 'eliminate' TA Seymour."

"(COUGH) I did no such thing (WHEEZE). There must be some (WHEEZE) mistake."

"Nearby crewmen claim that it was your voice. They even recall hearing your labored breathing."

"Impossible."

"What should we do?"

Von Bolt thought a minute. He then let out a growl of frustration

"STURM! (WHEEZE) This is all your doing!"

"My lord! Please calm down!"

"Kindle (COUGH), I want increased security measures (WHEEZE) around the capital. I also want more patrols (WHEEZE) in the headquarters (COUGH)"

"It will be done my lord"

"(WHEEZE) Let us how well Sturm handles my (COUGH) elite security force."

-----

Captain Grant had been placed in command of the fleet until Henson returned. He had been waiting a considerable time and was starting to get bored. He was hoping for anything to happen to break the monotony.

"Captain, I am picking up something on radar."

"What, Confederate Black Hole?"

"No sir, this is a new contact. I am picking up what seems to be a Blue Moon ship."

"A Blue Moon ship? Are you certain?"

"Aye sir. One Blue Moon battleship approaching from the northeast bearing four-seven-three mark two. Traveling speed is about twenty knots. He seems to be a loner."

"He is quite a long way from home. What is he doing this far out of Blue Moon territory?"

"Sir! I am picking up more Blue Moon ships approaching from the same vector. It's an escort convoy."

"What all do they have?"

"I am reading three battleships, two cruisers, two submarines, and three landing crafts, sir."

"Radio this into headquarters. Tell The Shroud that we have guests incoming. Inform the ground forces to expect some landing forces."

"Sir! They're assuming attack formations!"

"Red Alert! All crew to your stations! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill! Code Three!"

Warning lights flashed red and alarms sounded as the crew hurried to their stations. And Grant was taking back what he said about wanting something to happen. The TA could have handled this fleet blindfolded. But he was not the TA. He braced himself as the battle began.

-----

"The time has come for me to do what I came here to do." Seymour said. "And there is nothing that you can do to get in my way."

"I will fight you to the end." Hawke replied. "I will not let you win!"

Henson was just about to walk into the room where the heated showdown was taking place. Hawke is still alive? Why hasn't Seymour finished him already? Henson pulled out his .38 revolver and quietly stepped into the room, hoping that neither of the two would notice him. It was time to deal with them both.

-----

Hawke and Seymour had been playing this charade for five minutes. Finally, Seymour noticed Henson slinking out of the shadows out of the corner of his eye. Henson slowly made his way to a position where he could use both his gun and saber.

"I'm sorry Hawke, but you lose."

"Sorry Seymour, but you both lose." Henson said stepping into view. He leveled his gun at Seymour's head and pointed his saber in Hawke's face. "Drop your gun Hawke." Hawke slowly complied. "Now it's your turn Seymour. Drop the gun." Seymour placed the gun on the ground.

"You're both a pair of weak minded fools." Henson said lowering his pistol.

"I may be a fool, but you're an idiot." Seymour said. "For only an idiot would bring a knife to a gunfight." And with a swiftness that Hawke couldn't believe, Seymour pulled out his other Luger and fired off three shots. One of the shots hit Henson in the shoulder, causing him to drop his saber. The other hit him in the chest causing him to stumble over backwards. The last bullet sailed harmlessly through where Henson's head have been seconds earlier. Seymour then dove behind a metal crate, grabbing the first Luger in mid-dive. As Henson fell over backwards, he fired a shot from his revolver that hit Hawke in the knee. Hawke ducked behind a nearby crate and reached for his pistol. Just as he grabbed it, Henson fired another shot hitting Hawke in the arm.

"Are you alright?" Seymour asked.

"I'll be fine."

"Go get Lash. I'll deal with Henson."

With a nod, Hawke slipped behind another stack of crates and headed for the elevator. A quick glance showed that the elevator had no power; the up and down arrows weren't lit up like before. With a sigh of frustration, Hawke headed for the door marked "stairs". Meanwhile, Seymour stayed under cover and re-evaluated his situation. His left handgun had only nine rounds, whereas his right gun had a full twelve. He had two spare magazines for each gun which gave him a total of sixty-nine rounds to finish off Henson. He calculated that Henson had about fifty-nine rounds left for his revolver. Seymour had an advantage over Henson. It took far longer for Henson to reload his revolver than it did for Seymour's Lugers. All Seymour had to do was bait Henson into wasting six rounds and Seymour could get in some shots without fear of return fire. And if he couldn't kill Henson with sixty-nine rounds, then he would have to do things the fun, old fashioned way.