Stefan walked into the room with twenty or so men behind him. He was an Adele just like Sara, but he was taller, and he walked with more authority. He held his head straight, never taking his eyes off of Sara. He carried a machine gun and crossbow along his back and an assortment of grenades and knives along his stomach on a strap. In his hand was a spear, much like Sara's. But his spear held nine colors, two yellows, a blue, a green, white, black, gold, red, and purple. The colors of his Units. Units Nine, Eight, and Seven. Seven was represented by blue, white, and yellow. Unit Eight was represented by green, black, and yellow. And of course red, gold, and purple was Unit Nine.

Stefan and his men stopped ten feet in front of Sara. He stared at her, with authority, but also a certain, hidden hatred. His eyes burned, glaring slightly at the General. "General," he said calmly.

"Stefan," Sara replied unemotionally.

The army general growled at being wrongly addressed. She was supposed to address him as 'Sir', or 'Army General'. But he didn't correct it. Something else had caught his eye. They had spears, some even had bows. Bows, arrows, spears, knives…but no guns. "Sara, where did your men, and you, get those?"

"Get what?" Sara asked innocently.

"Don't what me General!" Stefan shouted. "Where the hell did you get the weapons!"

"Oh. You mean these!" Sara replied, playing dumb. She held her spear out in front of her. "These babies came from a secret supplier. Your little metal monsters just weren't quite working out with us," she explained casually, pulling her spear back. She knew how much that pissed Stefan off. He liked a sophisticated, respectful conversation.

Stefan took a deep breath in attempt to calm himself down before he killed the General. "Who gave you the weapons?" He asked.

Sara smiled at him. The quickly turned it upside down. "Why the hell would we tell you?" She snapped.

"Excuse me?" He hissed.

"You're excused," Reniku replied, "The exit's right behind you."

"Don't speak to me that way!" Stefan growled. "In the last two minutes you've managed to break five rules."

"Five?" Skipper asked shocked," Aw, we're so sorry."

"I'm glad to see at least one is not corrupt," Stefan stated relaxing.

"We were aiming for ten," Skipper finished. There were multiple things that could piss Stefan off. He Reniku and Sara had just done four. Playing dumb, sarcasm, snapping at him, and intentionally trying to anger him. Some of it was entertaining.

The Army General rubbed his temples. He couldn't take much more of this. "Let me explain something to you rejects," he hissed, "Your numbers are dwindling, you are continuously breaking rules-"

"That you created without reason," Skipper interrupted hatefully. "You think that we're just going to sit here and let you send us rule after rule? You actually thought that we were going to let you restrict us like that? You really are a freaking moron."

"How dare you!" Stefan objected disgusted.

"How dare you!" Skipper shot back.

Sara let him talk, he seemed to be good at this. Truthfully she didn't know what to say. Or how to continue Skippers thoughts. If she knew, she would've taken the attention off of Skipper. She would have to do that before Stefan killed him.

"You think we're your slaves? People that you can just push around? We're a Unit. We are just like all the others. What's the difference between us and them huh? What? Are we the only unit that fights back? Is that it! Are you serious!" Skipper took a step forwards. "You can't control us Stefan! You never could! Unit Nine has been controlled by the Global General. Not you! We have never been controlled by you!"

"If you don't leave us alone Army General, Unit nine will withdrawal," Sara explained with authority, walking in front of Skipper. She knew that the Army General was about to blow a fuse. She didn't want Skipper to be the easiest target, the closest one. He didn't deserve that.

The Army Generals response to this was a conniption. His face twisted into one that the devil could've worn. His eyebrows were tightly pinched together, eyes an inferno of hate and anger, flippers balled into very tight fists, and a blood curdling growl erupting from his throat.

His own men backed away from him in fear, and they weren't his target. The men and women of Unit Nine stood their ground. They walked up to Skipper and Sara, ready to protect them if needed, even though the two wouldn't have needed much help. They were two of the most experienced, and definitely bravest, ones in the unit. Stefan didn't scare them, any of them. They weren't going to put up with him anymore.

"You think you can get away with snapping at me like that! Of making such dishonorable assumptions like that! With such disrespect towards your superior! You think you can just detach from this! You are blind! Insignificant! You are rejects of rejects! Lowlifes! You have no respect towards you superiors! No respect towards anyone! You think that your Unit is better than the rest! You think that you will be respected if you detach! I will give a warning! Only this once will you get this warning! If Unit Nine detaches from the circuit, I will send all of the fourteen other to eliminate you!" Stefan screamed angrily.

"You're not allowed to Stefan!" Sara countered. "No reason would be reason enough to give you command of all units! You are not worthy of your title. All you want is control."

"I can have this entire Unit punished!" the Army General shouted.

"Go ahead!" Someone shouted back. Someone from Unit Nine.

"Go ahead and punish us Bastard!" Another cried.

"You don't scare us!"

"Punish us ass hole!"

"Give us your best shot!"

"See if we care!"

"We're not afraid of you Stefan," Sara said confidently. "Not anymore." She walked up to him. "Punish us. I dare you. But be warned. If any of my soldiers die because of you, Unit nine will withdrawal. Not only that, but our treaty with Scythro will give us more men. And we. Will. Destroy. You," She warned. "So don't kill any of them."

She turned and walked back to her men, leaving Stefan standing, shocked, angry, and scared. Sara was never one to give such high threats. She had disrespected him time and time again, but never like this. And he was scared, scared because if Unit Nine disconnected from the circuit… he would be the first in over three hundred years to lose a unit. He would be kicked out. But Unit Nine was so small, how could it be missed. Surely now that it is thought of as anti-social no one would know. He could lie about them if he had to.

"Leave my unit. Leave me and my soldiers at peace, and alone. Come back when you are ready to compromise peacefully," Sara ordered.

Stefan glared at her. "Never will a peaceful compromised be reached between you and I. But mark my words, I will return. And a compromise will be reached."

Then he and his men left.

Sara felt a pat on her back. It was George.

"How you feelin'?" He asked concerned. She looked a little shaken.

"Ok. I think." She replied. She leaned on her spear for support. She felt a little dizzy. The Army General said he'd be back, but peace wasn't going to come with him. One more thing to add to her list of problems and stresses.

"Sara," Skipper said calmly. He was standing in front of her. He too was concerned. Most of the unit was. She looked sick, and very stressed out. She was thinking too much. Everything that was going on all at once was hard to handle. He got that. He understood. But there was one thing that Private had always told him when everything seemed to be going wrong. "One thing at a time. Take it step by step."

Private smiled. He knew exactly where Skipper got that. He had always questioned whether or not Skipper had ever listened to him when he told him that. He was glad to know that he did. Private knew those words would really help someday. It was a perfect time for those words too. He hadn't said anything, but he was shaken, he was afraid of what the Army General meant by what he said. He would return, and a compromise would be reached, but not peacefully. Sara had to be overrun with stress. She had a whole unit to look after. The thought of what Stefan meant scared him. What else could possibly go wrong? There is a third party lurking somewhere in the shadows, Scythro still isn't an ally yet, and now the Army General is a potential threat. He wanted to go home. But something inside him didn't. Something inside him told him that he couldn't go home. Because this unit needs him. He wasn't a tough fighter, he wasn't very brave, but he knew that the unit could use him somewhere. And he wasn't leaving until everything was ok again.

Sara looked up at Skipper. He had said so little, and so much at the same time. But he was right. She couldn't think of everything all at once. It would be like overloading a computer. She'd blow a fuse, burn out. There would be nothing left to lead her unit with. She had to take it step by step. The first step, make sure everyone is ok. The second step would be worrying about her meeting with Scythro tomorrow. Then she could figure the rest out. "Thank you," She said softly, trying to get rid of her dizziness.

Skipper nodded.

"Everyone alright?" Reniku asked loudly.

"Yup."

"You bet."

"Hell yeah!"

"Fine."

Everyone replied.

He nodded, "Looks like everyone's pretty much ok Sara," he reported. He knew that she would want to make sure of that. He did it for her. She had enough to worry about.

"Thank you Reniku," Sara replied, straightening up. Her bearings were returning to her. She knew what to do next. "Skipper, after our meeting with Scythro tomorrow, could you bring Kowalski and yourself to my quarters? I need to discuss something with you."

"Sure. I could do that," Skipper answered. He didn't know why Sara wanted him and Kowalski. But he was willing to bet it had little to do with Scythro. After the meeting with Scythro she was going to discuss a different problem. That couldn't be good. But at least she was taking things little by little. Piece by piece. And that, for her, was a good thing.

It's a little fast. And short. I think. Yet another problem has been introduced. You'll see how that interferes with plans later I promise. R&R! :D