A Life Shattered then Reborn

The Slythik commander paced back and forth across the bridge his hands clasped behind him. How was it that a simple human had bested his insertion team? That team had been one of the best he'd ever had the privilege to command. One little human had bested them though.

He sighed and continued to pace, his underlings avoiding him at all costs. They knew the mood he was in. They had seen it from time to time and none wanted to cross him right now. Not a one of them was ready to die and die they would if any of them so much as looked at him wrong.

"Those damn humansss," he growled slamming a fist down on a console making it beep at him in protest to the rough treatment. "I wonder if the earthlingsss have been creating a new weapon. Maybe he is a research project of thiersss. I wonder if perhaps they haven't managed to tap more power of themselves like the mind power that they have unlocked," he mused more to himself than to any of his shipmates. "I know the humansss of earth have the ability to use telekinesis, one did on that boy during their war. I had watched that war with interesssst. Too bad earth didn't harm the forces of thossse planetsss more, and then we could have enssslaved them all."

"SSir what should our men do on that planet?"

His gaze whipped around to gaze at the insubordinate fool who had broken his musings, "Kill them of courssse." The statement was said so simply that the others couldn't believe they hadn't thought of it.

"Yesss," the soldier said saluting and turning to the console to relay the orders down to the planet.

"Yes little human what are you? You are human, but more than human, I know that much. Maybe I can dissect you and find out yesss?"

Akarik stood on the cliff when the footsteps sounded behind him. He turned around and gazed at the man who started to walk slowly towards him. "Well my friend it seems you are truly a coward. My, your wife was right."

"Gray what are you doing out here," Akarik asked his voice trembling.

"I am here to put an end you you're whining, and your indecisiveness. I am here to make your wife a widow so that she can have a better man than you, you worthless piece of human trash."

Akarik was stunned by what his friend was saying. He stood there unable to move his feet rooted. He couldn't bring himself to believe that his friend wanted him dead when there were other enemies out there. He just couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. What was worse though was the last thing he had said, about his wife, his beautiful wife, whom he had given so much up for. How could she want him dead?

"Why," he managed to mumble as the words his friend had spoken sank in.

"Because you can't be what I need. You can't be the father of my children," a voice he knew well echoed behind him.

"My love," he started but was silenced with a knife embedded in his back. He screamed in pain and twisted around to look at her. She had a look of satisfaction on her face and a slight smile dancing on that perfect face.

He stumbled away from them and bumped into a tree, the only thing that kept him from falling to his death. "What's the problem? A real man wouldn't cry out like that from such a minor wound," Gray taunted as he wrapped his arms around Akarik's wife. "You know the two of us have been lovers for awhile now."

Those words hurt Akarik more than any knife wound could have. What he saw next though was even worse. Gray took his wife Victoria into an embrace, a lover's embrace and kissed her hungrily. She responded in a way that she never had with Akarik. Her arms tightened around Gray pulling him into her. The kiss was passionate, not cold as when she had kissed Akarik. It was then he realized that she had never loved him. She had only done her duty and married him to satisfy her parents.

The kiss ended and she turned her gaze back to her husband. "Well I haven't been wanted like that ever in your presence. You never wanted me so . . . animalistic like. You never showed such passion in relation to me, only to your damn work! It was nice to be wanted so much. It was nice to know that I had something to give," she said but her words rang false on Akarik's ears.

He slowly pushed himself away from the tree. His face was burning with anger, shame, and hate. How could she do that to him? How could she say such things to him, after all he had done for her? How could she . . . . He shook his head slowly as a tear gathered and fell down his cheek.

"Oh look the coward is crying," Gray taunted yet again.

What the two of them had done, the kissing and telling him they were lovers. They might as well have ripped his heart from his chest and stomped on it. That is what it felt like to him anyway. He had never been in more pain nor had he ever felt hate like he did at that moment.

He charged, but more accurately he stumbled forward. The knife twisted in his back and he fell face first into the grass. How soft it was he thought as he saw his friend and wife approach. She bent down slowly and ran her index finger down his spine slowly to the knife embedded in his back. She flicked the knife causing him to grit his teeth against the pain. He decided he wouldn't cry out. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction. The traitors didn't deserve to get any pleasure from him.

She rolled him over onto his back then and he looked up into her eyes, those very eyes that he used to be able to lose himself in. Her eyes that he had fallen in love with but that were now filled with malice. "I loved you more than anything. I gave up everything for you," he choked out. Blood trailed down the side of his mouth then and he was finding it a little more difficult to breath, now that he was on his back and the knife was putting pressure on his lungs. Luckily it seemed the knife had missed any vitals.

"My poor lover, I am sorry," she whispered to him her face inches from his. "I did love you to start with but then I wanted more and more. You weren't ambitious enough for me. I'm sorry," and with those words she kissed him one last time. It was a kiss that held more passion than he had ever felt from her before. It was a kiss that said goodbye with its intensity, and hunger. "Goodbye," she said and then rolled him off the cliff with the help of Gray his best friend. His last vision of them was the two of them watching him falling to his doom, holding hands and then embracing in a kiss.

"Victoria, my love," he whispered as he fell, he hoped he didn't live. There was no life without his wife.

Misty was at the strangers side in a moment. "What is it, what's wrong," she frantically asked. He had his hands covering his ears and most of his face. He face was against the ground and he was rocking back and forth slightly.

"I think that perhaps we should return him to the Nirvana," Meia reasoned.

"No he will be fine," Misty said.

"I don't know," Jura agreed with Meia, while running her hand through her long golden locks.

"Aw who the hell cares what's wrong with him," Hibiki proclaimed. "We are here for a reason. Let's leave him and go do what we were told to."

"Hibiki," Dita reprimanded. "How could you say that? He helped us, and you just want to leave him when he needs us?" Her gaze was slightly hurt that the man she loved would act so. Her face fell filled with sorrow for herself and Hibiki.

Hibiki put his hand behind his head and smiled slowly, uneasily. "Huh, well you know I was just kidding. Of course we'll help him." Hibiki didn't want to admit it but in truth he wasn't so sure he liked this new man. He was different, and it seemed everyone was taking a shine to him rather quickly. Meia even liked him a little Hibiki noticed. She hadn't liked him for close to half their trip back to Tarak, Majere space all those years ago.

He knew he was being childish and yet it was so hard not to dislike the man. He also didn't want to admit it but he was jealous. He was jealous of this man because he had spent the night with Dita. True the man had been in a cell but that didn't change the fact that they had spent the night together and then ate breakfast together. Hibiki was learning to trust people though and he trusted Dita more than anyone. He would trust her and her judgment with this man.

He stood up quickly then scaring Misty who tumbled back falling onto her butt. "Ouch," she complained rubbing her rump.

"Sorry," the stranger said sheepishly. He offered her his hand. She sat looking at it for a moment and then reached up taking it. His hands were rough and calloused but his touch was so soft and gentle. It was amazing how gentle he could be she thought as he helped her to her feet.

He turned his gaze to everyone, all the people off that ship and spoke, "My name Akarik Viralaeil. I remember now. I am sorry to have worried you." His last words were directed at Misty who blushed realizing that he was still holding her hand gently.

"All right we got your name now lets go do what we came here to do and that is explore eh," Gascogne prompted everyone. "All right you two break it up we got a job to do," she directed this to Akarik and Misty. Misty jerked her hand away from him as though she were burned but felt bad immediately after pulling her hand away.

Gascogne didn't know what to think of this man. He was different that was for sure. He was strong and yet soft. He was hard as steel, yet as light as a feather from time to time. He was calm almost always. She was curious that was for sure and she wanted to learn more about him. He was definitely going to add another dimension to the ship she knew that right away. She saw how Misty looked at him. It was different than the way she had looked at Hibiki when she had been chasing him around. The look in her eyes was closer to the one Dita had when she was around Hibiki.

Gascogne smiled slightly at the girls. Even Meia was a little different around the man. She wasn't like Misty or Dita but then, Meia was always one to follow orders, hide your emotions, and just be a regular tough ass. That was Meia yet ever so briefly Gascogne had seen a flicker of something cross Meia's face when Akarik had been in pain.

Jura watched the man and she wished that just once she could convince a man to make a baby with her. She wanted a baby so bad, and she wanted to be the first from Majere to make a baby with a man. It was her goal, her one thing that she wanted to accomplish. Men though were fools and as of yet she had only come across a few possible candidates. She thought that perhaps she might be able to convince this new man. At that thought a smile came to her face.

Barnette noticed the sly smile on Jura's face, and her own face soured. Jura had someone who loved her completely but it just didn't seem to be enough for her. Barnette loved Jura, she would admit to herself at least if not to anyone else. She wished she was a man just once so that she could make Jura happy. She wished that she could give Jura the baby that she so wanted. Barnette ground her teeth in frustration and anger, her brow twitching in irritation.

They started down the hill though Akarik took the lead. It was then that the rest of them noticed that all his wounds were healed. "How," Misty wondered aloud. Meia and the rest turned their gaze to Misty. Meia raised her eyebrow in a question. Misty gestured to Akarik. "His wounds are all gone," she explained in wonder.

"You're right," Meia said after a quick look over him. For some reason though, her eyes lingered on his shoulders and his profile as he walked in front of them. He was handsome she decided and then shook her head to herself. Stop thinking of such things Meia, she berated herself.

It was amazing they all decided. No one had ever seen a person heal so fast. The weird part was that none of them had really noticed. Then again they hadn't been around him that much and so missing something like could be considered natural. Meia though hated the fact that she had missed it. She prided herself on always noticing things, and yet she had missed this man healing. Maybe Duero had healed him and she mouthed as much to the others. They all shrugged almost as one, the gesture bringing a small chuckle from Meia. The others all smiled to as they continued on their way.

They followed him down into the city and he picked his way through the rubble carefully. They watched him walk through it all gazing left and right his hand trailing over stones and hunks of metal. It was as if he was in a daze and he didn't even remember them being there.

"So many dead for no reason," he whispered glancing around. Misty felt sorry him. She knew what he was going through. She knew and yet she wasn't sure how to help him. She wanted to help him but she just wasn't sure how. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she watched him and her gaze trailed down to look at the ground.

"Eww, this place is so dirty," Jura complained as she stepped in something that crushed under her foot. She glanced down and screamed as she stumbled back, tripping over something else and falling against a large stone that had been used as a base for a house or some other building. She kicked her feet to push away what she had seen and Barnette came over.

"Here Jura, gimme your hand." With Barnette's help Jura regained her feet but she was still a little scared by what she had seen and she started to glance around. She was looking for something and then she noticed it. They were laying everywhere, some in the road, while others were crushed underneath hunks of stone.

Skeletons lay strewn about the city. They were all that remained of the former inhabitants of the city. Jura had stepped on, and crushed the skull of one these skeletons. It had been a shock to her as she had never seen anything like it. All those dead she just couldn't imagine it.

None of them could as they all started to glance around. So many dead . . . Misty thought shaking her head. How could anyone want to kill so many people? She didn't know what to think in truth. She was at a loss for words. Hibiki and Dita held onto each other his grip firm on Dita's hand lending her strength as tears threatened to come unbidden to her eyes.

Even Gascogne was affected. She looked around and felt the stirrings of a deep sadness. She remembered her sister and how she had felt at her death. She didn't know how anyone could feel about the destruction of their world, of course she wondered if anyone from this world was still alive.

Meia was stunned too. She looked around a little more closely and saw that some of the skeletons were of children while others were of babies. It seemed that no one was spared when the enemy had came calling whoever they were. "This is horrible," Dita whispered and everyone glanced at her. Her cheeks colored realizing she had broken the silence. A silence she now realized maybe she shouldn't have.

"Yes it was," Akarik said as he picked his way through the remnants of the city.

"Split up everyone and start searching for anything that we may be able to use," Meia commanded falling into her role as leader naturally now that the uncomfortable silence had been broke.

Everyone went off in different directions. Dita and Hibiki side by side he lending her strength. She had seemed so fragile lately he thought as he looked at her next to him. She was so nice and caring but she had seen so much lately that he wasn't sure how she was handling it. He was finding it hard to handle it all and he at least thought of himself as slightly stronger than most. He wanted to protect her always and he reached up and brushed the hair away from her cheek. She turned to look at him slowly and she smiled. "Don't worry Dita, we're going to be fine," he assured her and smiled.

She nodded her head and giggled slightly, "I know. I have you to protect me," she whispered as she moved in close and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

His own cheeks flushed and he glanced around quickly making sure no one saw. "Hey I though we had agreed not to do that where people can see," he admonished her with a smile. He liked it he had to admit though. It had taken him a while to realize that she wasn't trying to kill him when she did that and after he had gotten over the initial shock of their first kiss he found that he enjoyed it. He enjoyed Dita's company even though from time to time she annoyed the hell out of him.

Dita in turn loved him as much as she could love him. She had never felt like she did when she was around Hibiki. She felt whole, and that was a good feeling. She was glad that he had come to feel the same way about her and had admitted it to her. He had been a little slow to come around to his feelings but then she had realized that most men were a little slow.

Gascogne went with Jura and Barnette mostly to keep the two of them out of trouble. Jura had a way of cracking under pressure and if they came across anything Gascogne wanted to be there in order to keep Jura in line. She felt that she could keep the hot headed Barnette from doing anything brash, and keep Jura from freezing. Gascogne hoped though that it didn't come to that. She hoped that they found something useful and made it back to the Nirvana in one piece.

Akarik went off with Meia and Misty near him keeping an eye on him as they had been ordered. He seemed to know right where he was going and Meia found that curious. She wondered where he was going and how he would know anything about this place.

In no time at all he stopped in front of a large stone. He looked at it and slowly put his hand out to it running his fingertips over it gently. "Mother," he whispered.

Meia and Misty had stopped a couple paces away from him but they had heard what he had said. They looked at each other and Meia saw her own feelings reflected in Misty's eyes. She felt so much sadness in that instant for this man Akarik. It seemed he was from this planet and that his family had been here. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling or what he had felt in his time away. All she knew was that everyone on this planet was dead and that he might very well be the only one left alive. He might be the sole survivor of a planet that she hadn't even known existed.

He dropped to his knees in front of the stone, the stone that marked his mother's grave. This stone not only marked her grave but the grave of his brother and his older sister, along with all their children. It was the stone that signified his family and that, they had indeed lived.

Meia just stood rooted to the spot not knowing what she should do. She wanted to give him some time but her orders were specific. She had never really went against any orders she had been given and yet she knew that he wanted to be alone. Not only that but she felt he deserved to be alone.

Misty stood and felt tears start to gather. She reached out to him but let her arm drop to her side knowing that he just wanted to visit his mother. She didn't know how he felt. She only knew that she too had lost everything. She had lost everything but had found so many knew friends. She wanted to be there for him but she wasn't so sure he wanted her to be there for him. He was a strong man and she felt that he might be like most men. She felt that he might just want to deal with his feelings on his own and she knew that was a bad path to take. A person needed someone to talk to and to open up to. A person couldn't live in solitude, they needed love, or they were dead.

Meia moved to stand next to Misty. "What do you think?"

"I think we should let him mourn," Misty whispered back. Meia nodded and as they were turning to leave they heard a shout.

"Meia over here, I found something I think you may want to see," Gascogne's voice carried to them.

"Alright," Meia called back and she with Misty went to see what they had found.

It took them only a couple minutes to get to where Gascogne, Jura, and Barnette were located. The three of them were standing at what looked to be the mouth of a giant hole in the ground. The hole appeared to have been man made and yet no human could have dug such a hole. It was too large, and too deep. It was more like the hole had been created by a massive meteor that had fallen to earth in anger.

Dita and Hibiki were already there as well and they both had pale faces as they looked down into the hole. It was almost as if they were gazing into hell itself. Meia moved forward with Misty following their footsteps light so as not to disturb the dead. At least Misty didn't want to make too much noise. Meia's skin tight outfight though creaked as she moved almost in protest of where she was going.

Gascogne was chewing on her customary piece of metal. It seemed to soothe her and right now she needed that. She had seen many things in her life, even the death of her own sister but she had never seen anything like what at the bottom of the giant hole. It was unnerving to say the least. Her arms were crossed as she continued to chew on the piece of metal, and her foot was on the lip of the hole as she gazed down.

Meia came to stand right next to her, "What is it Gasco?"

"Look, down there. There are hundreds if not thousands of skeletons down there Meia, and it's Gascogne!" She said gritting her teeth at the shortened version of her name. Man how that pissed her off, how could it be so hard to say her full name?

Meia glanced down into the dark depths of the hole and saw that Gascogne was right. There were skeletons everywhere lying atop each other. It looked as if they had been thrown down there haphazardly. She saw that they weren't human though. They seemed to be something other than human.

"I wonder what manner of creature they were," Misty asked coming to stand with Meia.

"I don't know but a mass grave," she began. "I have never seen a mass grave before and this is something that makes you wonder. Who could have killed them all when everyone on this planet was dead? Of course we don't know that these were killed last do we?"

"Meia we found a few things that I think we can use," Hibiki said from his place next to Dita. Dita seemed a bit pale to Meia but then Dita had a weak stomach when it came to things like the skeletons. Jura had seemed to calm down after her initial shock at finding all the skeletons even though she still felt that the place was dirty.

Jura in truth didn't want to be there but it was her duty and so she had went. Barnette had wanted to see if she could find any interesting weapons and to just get out and stretch her legs. Now though they both wondered what could have killed all those creatures?

Back at the stone Akarik sat tears sliding down his cheeks. "Oh mother you must be so disappointed in me. What I have become must make you sick. I . . . I don't even know what to say."

He thought about his mother and his father then as well. His father had used him as a test subject without his mother ever knowing. He had tried to fuse metal to his bones over a slow process. Akarik was sure he had traces of it as his forearms at least were exceptionally tough. His father had also been obsessed with unlocking the potential of humans. He had always thought that the human race had more potential than it had ever shown. He had researched ways of improving the strength and speed of an individual. He had also researched the ability to sustain damage. He had tried the latter on Akarik and that was the only reason he was still around. Akarik had never understood until he had grown older what his father had done to him.

"How long has it been my family? 350 years I think, perhaps longer who knows anymore? So long and all I have done is kill the enemy for all those years." He paused then and put his forehead against the cool stone. He thought he could almost feel his mothers loving arms around him and his brothers' easy laugh echoing. He could remember his sister and the rest each of their quirks that he had loved so much.

"Well mother I have been alone for so many years but perhaps that will end. I am with a group of women, and a few men. They saved me and took me in as a prisoner but slowly they are releasing the chains that bind me as a prisoner." Akarik smiled slightly as he continued. "Mother the women are like none from our world. They are all so strong with such strong personalities. They don't try to fit in with everyone else, they don't try to be popular, and they just try to be themselves. It is so refreshing to see and it makes me wonder why I ever fell in love with Victoria. These women are more woman than she ever was."

He ran his hand lightly over the stone. "I should return to them. I am sorry if I have disappointed you and I promise that I will come and visit more often. Rest well and enjoy your after life mother, keep the family company for me until I can join all of you. Tell them all that I love them and that . . . that it should have been me. I should have died not all of you. Not all of you," he said and his shoulders were racked with sobs as the tears started to fall. He punched the stone hard enough that it drew blood, "It should have been me, me, me!"

He hit the stone hard enough that a small section of it splintered off and a something glinted in the light. He stopped and looked at the item. He wiped the tears away feeling like a large child and not a man at all. The item was something he hadn't seen in many years. It was his mother's sword. The blade glinted with the sun almost as though it were winking at him. He reached out and pulled the blade from the stone. "Ah yes mother had hidden you from us children. After I nearly cut my own hand off that is." He smiled at the memory and how his sister had freaked out and ran to find their mother at her workplace. They had both come running back and his mother had been frantic. He had been scared that she would be mad at him but she had hugged him tightly and whispered to him to never worry her again.

"Well mother I am quite proficient in the use of these now." The blade was unique. It was made of a metal his mother had invented as were a couple of other things that he now carried on him. It was blue and red that seemed to swirl together with a hint of white, almost as if the blade had started to frost from the cold. The blade had served his mother well when she had been a soldier and now it seemed she wanted him to carry it into war once again. "I'm honored mother," he whispered bowing his head and then kissing the stone gently.

He then went in search of the others and felt his stomach tighten once again. The food just wasn't enough to keep him feed. He needed more and at least now he knew what he needed. He wasn't going to give in though he wouldn't do that to these women who had helped him and been so kind to him.

Gascogne with the help of all the others had gathered the few things she felt they could use and they were now waiting for their companion. She liked the man from what she had learned so far. She felt she would need to spend a little more time with him though to truly get an understanding of him. He wasn't as easy to read as Hibiki had been. She chuckled at that thought. Yes Hibiki had been an easy read and it was why he still had never beaten her at Poker. He still hadn't learned how to bluff.

They were all gathered at the mass grave again and Dita was sitting with her head on Hibiki's shoulder. Her eyes were closed and she was getting some much needed rest. The sleepless nights since she had killed the Slythik had caught up to her but her talk with Akarik had helped greatly. She was glad that he had been there to talk to. Dita wondered many things but for now she slept.

Gascogne smiled at Dita as she watched her sleep. She glanced around and saw that the others were doing the same. It was amazing how the men had changed them, how the men had showed them that life could be so much more with them around. Gascogne started to chuckle along with Barnette and Misty at the look on Hibiki's face. It was one that said he wanted to move but was afraid to, because Dita might wake up. He was starting to fidget and his mouth kept twitching upwards and then back down as he was prone to do when he was nervous.

Misty held a small rock turning it in her hand and tossed it aside as she sighed in boredom. "I wonder what really happened here."

"Who knows Misty, the people who lived here might all be dead," Meia answered.

"That would be so horrible," Misty said pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them as Q-Chan seemed sad.

"It happens though, wars can end so many good things," Jura joined the conversation her voice solemn.

"These people seemed to have been even more advanced than the Majereians," Gascogne said as she leaned against a stone. "The things we found are quite amazing and I even found a weapon that I have no idea how to use or what it does. Parfet will probably go nuts with all these things."

Meia saw Akarik coming towards them then and so she stood up from where she had been sitting. He seemed different and his cloths she noticed for the first time seemed a little small on his frame. His shirt was too tight across the shoulders and chest, while his pants were too short. His cloths looked old and worn and she wondered why she had never looked closely before. Perhaps it was because he had been a prisoner. She thought about it and realized that he was still a prisoner but she was now viewing him like she did Hibiki and the others.

She saw that he had a blade in his hands that was sheathed. She frowned at that after all he wasn't supposed to have a weapon. He came up to them and smiled. "Well we can go whenever you are all ready." He held the blade horizontal out to Meia, "You should take this. Prisoners aren't allowed weapons."

Meia reached out and took it gently surprised by how light it was. "Thank you for offering it freely. Why do you want it if you don't mind my asking?"

"It belonged to my mother a very long time ago. I would like to have it to remember her," he said slowly dropping his gaze to the bones in the hole.

"Very well we shall take it with us now we should be getting back to the Nirvana," Meia said as she motioned for everyone to get on their feet.

Hibiki roused Dita in a very unusual way the others thought. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Wake up Dita," he whispered running his hand through her long red hair and then cupping her chin in his hand. Her eyes fluttered open and her cheeks colored as she realized how close Hibiki was and the fact that she could feel his warm breath caressing her face with a promise it seemed.

The others cleared their throats and Hibiki fell back away from Dita in surprise as he put his hand behind his head and laughed nervously. "Are you two love birds quite finished," Misty asked with a hand on her hip. "Humph."

They all turned to leave except for Akarik who stood his ground still gazing down into the pit. Jura turned back and saw him standing there and so she walked back to him. "What is it?"

"It's funny, so much time has passed but I can tell you the exact number of dead in this pit."

Jura's eyes went wide as she took an involuntary step back. "What do you mean?" She asked her voice a bit unsteady.

The others turned upon hearing Jura's voice and they too came back to stand around Akarik. "I mean there are 1,213 dead bodies in that pit. Every last one is a Slythik, and every last one I killed and put in that pit." His voice was distant almost as though he were still in the past. His face was blank but Meia could sense that he hated what he had done. Misty could sense it as well.

"You killed that many," Gascogne stated more than asked as she looked at Akarik. "That is amazing. All by yourself right?"

"Yes by myself," he said shaking his head. "How I despise myself. I . . . I am a killer after I strived so hard for so long to not be."

"You fought to protect those you cared about," Meia said placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. She hoped she was right. She gazed down at her hand and frowned. Why had she put it on his shoulder she wondered? She had never been one to comfort people and yet here she was attempting to do just that.

"No I didn't. You see when I killed all those Slythiks everyone I cared for was already dead. I was killing for vengeance, for the blood, and I just wanted to see them all die for what they had done. I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted them dead. It is what I have been doing ever since."

Everyone stared at him some with mixed emotions. This man standing in front of them had killed that many Slythiks for revenge and yet he seemed to regret it. What kind of person was he? He was different than any of them that was for sure. Meia wasn't sure how to view this man. It seemed to her that he wasn't glad that he had killed so many and yet they were his enemy. He seemed to be a protector to her at least but he regretted the fact that he killed even though he was so good at it.

"Why did you kill them and put them in this pit," Dita said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"I killed them because of what they did to this world. You see I am from here as I said. This is the city of my birth and my family lived here. I had been wounded and gone from here for almost two years. For those two years I was in hiding, and in training. I returned against my masters will. She was unhappy with me saying that I wasn't ready and she was right." He paused here and sighed deeply as he gazed back to the ruined city. His home, and the burial ground of his family. "Dita I killed all of them because they murdered my family, and everyone that I ever knew. I returned before I was ready and I was captured by an evil Slythik named Roliquer. He took great delight in mental torture as well as physical. The things that he did," Akarik shook his head slowly. "What he made me," Akarik didn't get to finish as they all heard the whining sound of an engine.

"What is that," Jura cried glancing every which way.

"I don't know," Barnette said as she hefted her gun to get it ready.

Everyone started to glance around and Akarik stood up. "Everyone get back to the ship now. The enemy it seems still occupies this planet and it seems that they have sent some of their Rhytiies armaments after us."

"What the hell are those damn Rhytiels things or whatever you called them," Hibiki yelled as he made a fist in anger. "Damn them!"

"They are automated mobile weapons. They are very dangerous. These weapons are large, about twenty meters tall when in humanoid form. They can and do change shapes. I have personally seen them morph from a saucer, to humanoid mecha, to snake form, and on. They are highly versatile so be on the lookout," Akarik informed them. He knew they were getting closer. "One other thing, they are keyed to DNA so they will hunt only humans and will fire on only humans."

Everyone looked at him and nodded. Even Meia seemed to defer to him which none of them had ever really seen. She was stubborn and she was the leader. She didn't like anyone trying to take her job but it seemed she was learning to change as well. That or Misty decided that Meia was learning that she didn't have all the information needed to lead against this enemy just yet.

What Misty didn't know is that Meia deferred to the man because she knew that he was right and that he knew more about the enemy than she did. She deferred to him because . . . she couldn't say why. There was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. When he spoke and looked at her, her heart seemed to beat just a little faster and she grew quite conscious of the fact that she wasn't as beautiful as Jura or some of the others. Misty couldn't know how Meia felt and neither could anyone else. Meia was the rock of the team; she was always there and was always calm. She couldn't let them know that she grew self-conscious when this man looked at her and was standing so near that she could smell the definite manly smell emanating from him. Never in her life had she felt the way she was right now.

"Alright then so they are keyed to us that is going to make things interesting," Gascogne said.

"Okay everyone he is right. We need to return to the Nirvana as fast as possible. If those are after us or not, we need to get back to the Nirvana to warn them and protect it," Meia commanded as she came back into her element.

Akarik looked at her with an approving eye. She was a born leader, one that was good at what she did and who commanded the respect of all she commanded. That was rare, rare beyond belief.

The whir of the engines sounded again and this time much closer. Akarik heard it before he saw it and shoved Meia into Misty sending them both tumbling away from him. At that moment the ground exploded, and dust rained down on everyone like a rainstorm whose fury couldn't be quelled. Rocks fell like hailstones and bounced off everyone.

Meia and Misty untangled themselves from each other and stood up coughing. They were waving their hands in front of their faces trying to clear the dust from their vision as were the rest of them.

Finally the dust settled and allowed everyone to breathe normally. Everyone stopped their coughing and they all glanced around. Where Misty and Meia had been standing a silver oval-like disk lay. It was large, about eight foot in diameter and a good three foot thick. It was completely smooth though as far as everyone could tell. Dita looked at it and then saw that Akarik was lying down with a hunk of metal lodged in his side and a massive cut on his head that was bleeding quite badly.

"Akarik," she cried as she moved to his side and Meia was there in an instant as well.

Dita knelt down and looked at the iron bar in his side. "Dita we need to get going," Meia said kindly.

"I know but . . .," Dita said as she wiped a tear away. She couldn't believe that he was hurt this badly after how he had defended her and the others. He had seemed invulnerable then and now he looked so fragile. She didn't want to see him like that, especially after he had talked with her and helped her to his best with her problem.

"Dita I understand. I don't want to leave him but none of us can carry him and if we stay we are all dead for sure. He is a good man I sense that about him. I don't want to leave him especially after he just saved my life and Misty's. I just don't.," she didn't get to finish.

"I'm not dead you know," Akarik groaned as he sat up. He reached up and wiped the blood away. He stood up and didn't even seem to notice the wound in his side. "Aw great," he muttered as he saw the top of the disk open.

"What, Oh," Jura said as they saw a bunch of small many legged machines crawl out of the disk. They were small only about a foot, but there were a lot of them and they started to crawl towards the group.

They had many faceted eyes that rotated and the heads swiveled around completely. They jumped to the ground with dexterity that machines shouldn't possess and started towards the group. "Targets identified. Commencing extermination," a robotic voice sounded.

It scared Dita, Jura, and Misty how those things spoke. They were so devoid of emotion and how they had stated they were going to exterminate them. It was starting to sink in that their new enemy was quite different than the earth enemy that they had fought before.

Akarik gazed at them hard and remembered seeing these before as they had destroyed a city. "Little toys tell me where your master is?" he asked with a grin. The others looked at him and were surprised to see a grin on his face.

Just then a beam shot out from one of the spider-like machines and Akarik moved his head to the side. The beam buzzed by his head and slammed into a tree behind him making the whole tree dissolve into a pile of bubbling goo. "Aww that's gross," Jura whined.

"Everyone get going," Akarik yelled as he charged and kicked the first machine sending it sailing away a good thirty feet. The others paused for only a moment to wonder about how he had kicked a metal machine that far and then they were off running back towards the Nirvana. Meia was in the lead and she knew they needed to hurry. She silently thanked Akarik for his help, and his sacrifice.

Out in space a lone ship was flying near the planet when it received a distress call. "Hmm, what's this," Rabbat wondered as he read it and started to laugh. "Oh this is good Utan; it's our old friends from the Nirvana."

Utan looked at him and stuck out her bottom lip. She whimpered and he smiled, "Of course we're going to go help them. We did it then and we will do it now but they are going to owe me big time for this one," he said with a chuckle and set a course for the planet.

"I wonder if Hibiki will be with them this time. It's been four years after all. Maybe he finally grew up and can give me at least a little bit of a workout." He had a smile on plastered on his face as Utan sat back and had a smile of her own. Maybe she would get to see the love of her life as well. That cute little machine Peyoro.

"Ahhh yessssss the battle hassss commenced. That issss great newssss. It isss only a matter of time now foolisssh humanssss," Mynstar said with a great rumble that could only be thought of as laughter.

Yes it was about time. He wanted to see them crushed. He had been ordered to pull back from the attack on their ship but he could let the base on that planet handle them. He wanted them dead so bad he could nearly taste their blood on his tongue.

"Ssssir we have gotten word that the bounty hunterssss are headed thisss way," one of his crew informed him.

"Which onessss?"

"It is the husssband and wife human pair. They are ssssaid to be the greatessst. They are hunting ssssomeone who isss in thisss area. What sssould we do?"

"Let them be about their busssinessss."

"Yesss sssir."

So he mused. If the two greatest hunters in the universe were out this way then someone of importance had to be around. He knew of the hunters and had even employed their services before. Humans had their uses especially since above all other races they felt that deep rooted desire to kill each other. He would let them do as they wished even if it meant killing his own targets. All that meant was that he wouldn't have to do it. He started to laugh even more as he thought of humans killing humans. It happened so much that they didn't even think of it as being taboo anymore. It was just a natural part of life in their world. Yes the human race was foolish and that was why they were best suited as slaves. They were so stupid that they wouldn't try to get free even when they were owned by their own kind.

Authors note: Sorry about taking so long to upload this but I have been quite busy. I hope that my next chapter doesn't take so long but thank you all for being so patient. I hope this story isn't boring anyone, or making anyone too mad. I hope in the next chapter to explore what Akarik really is so bear with me, its coming. I thank you all for your reviews keep them coming please. As always requests are welcome as are criticisms, how else do we learn to improve? Thank you all for reading once again.