All the careful planning went right out of the lab window when Krebith took his helmet off to have a drink – and could smell his surroundings properly!

"I smell Kalish!" he called to his treblin, where a voice replied "Our reinforcements had two with them when we unbarred the ramp access down here, they're expected!" with a hiss, before adding "Keep your pleebin' voice down, too – the enemy will hear you two floors up!"

"Unchanged Scarrans..." Annik whispered when Lirak came his way "Likely regular security. Unlikely to be too many if this is a black project, but if there's an alert on some might have been dragged down here as fodder so the high-ups can slow us down and buy themselves time to escape".

Krebith clearly wasn't happy about something, or perhaps his instincts today weren't completely on the stupid side this time, because he sniffed again before growling "Not at ground level!"

"His nose is too good!" Rulok snapped into the Irregulars' comm-net "Put a bullet through it!"

The loud one with the odd scent is on my side of the room Caseya realised I have the smaller weapon but the best chance of a clear shot before she gasped briefly when she saw his face turning to look at her directly!

Her finger tightened on the trigger, emptying half her rifle's magazine over Krebith's head, upper body, and immediate cover – but he had suffered enough damage to kill him, even if only just so.

"Stun grenades!" Lirak called. As these were thrown, Trannak made his move and climbed over the nearest lab counter right as the grenades were sailing through the air – once he unplugged his ears and the ringing had gone away enough to keep going, he peeked over the top of his new cover and saw four Scarrans in security uniform and three Praetorian. Instead of another stun grenade, he pulled a shatter bomb from a belt pouch and lobbed it over the edge of his cover, as close to a Praetorian as he could get it without it bouncing off something hard and noisy. He barely made it back behind safe cover before it detonated, killing one of the three Praetorian and all four Security troopers.

Trannak peeked back around a different part of his temporary shelter before waiting for someone else to draw at least some attention away from him – when Keyah had decided to fire on some of the survivors near him, Trannak opened fire on full-automatic, putting ten rounds into Latho's head and neck and killing him instantly. The one remaining Praetorian of Latho's team nearly managed to finish Trannak off, but a single pop from Krynak's rifle got him before Trannak could be killed.

Trannak patched his few shrapnel and pulse wounds before taking stock of the current situation. Keyah and Caseya still on the ceiling, good... Krynak's still taking targets of opportunity, also good... everyone else is wounded but still very much alive, I think. Not good, but could be so much worse. He looked around briefly before smiling briefly and proceeding towards the other half of the Praetorian blocking force.

Lirak saw Trannak's head peek around cover briefly and grinned before passing on his guess at Trannak's intentions.

"Quite likely so" Rulok replied "Doesn't give us any excuses for slacking, though - if we can kill them first, we kill them first. We don't need to be slowed down like this, it favours the enemy and not us. Pull Keyah and Caseya back towards us – once they find out there's no fire coming from above, someone's going to stick their head up to see why. When the Captain nullifies them, we make our move then".

Both Keyah and Caseya weren't quite sure what was going on, but came back when called anyway.

"I am not mentally defective, I do not wish to die here" she told Rulok quietly "but someone should be in a position to assist the Captain – and Keyah and I are best suited to do so".

"Krynak's watching, both of you" Rulok replied "When he gives the word, we move. Not before".

Trannak had drawn a short sword by this point, slinging his G8C. Too bulky for close combat he told himself With this cover I can get close enough undetected to kill one, perhaps two, while the others nullify the rest. It wasn't too long before someone looked out from behind cover to see what was happening – what wasn't predicted was the person in question being barely a fench or two in front of Trannak.

Beban himself as well Trannak saw when the man raised his head enough for Trannak to see his shoulder markings It has to be. Rank markings show a Specialist Trooper Third Class, which should mean that's a team leader.

Beban turned one way, then the other, but as he slowly sunk back behind cover Trannak stood up just enough to stick the point of his short sword right between his helmet and upper shoulder armour, along with his neck, then up into his brain, before ducking for cover again.

It was less than a momen before someone else asked for orders and saw Beban's corpse with no sign on any attacker close by – by now Rulok had ordered a cautious advance towards the Praetorian position, so by the time the survivors got back up to fire they saw both of Rulok's teams advancing towards them and were all killed within just a few short microts.

"A bit showy..." Lirak told his much younger superior officer "...but even so, I've never seen anyone move so quietly in my life. Which has been a long one, in case you can't tell". While everyone was providing such basic first-aid as was needed, Caseya came forward – she mostly checked to see if Trannak was injured, but she also sniffed for any sign of living enemies and scanned the room for doors leading further back into the lab complex or to possible escape routes.

"I cannot smell living people over all this blood, Captain" she eventually admitted "But there is a door situated almost centrally on the wall, past the entryway between all these... bodies. Perhaps we should proceed that way?"

"We will" Trannak confirmed, then ordered "Five microts to grab a last gulp from your canteens, then we go on". Both Keyah and Caseya headed out first again, though it was Caseya's eyes that pierced the gloom first and caused her to stop before calling Rulok forward and telling him "There is a large metal door there, like a bulkhead door in a ship – why would it be here?"

It was Judduk who said "It's like a bulkhead door, Caseya, because it's an airlock" and told everyone what the small lights beside the door along with the lever was for.

"Would an operating room and facilities for performing the change be there?" Trannak suggested "I have seen our own sick bay – there are a number of tanks, wider than they are tall, in which subjects would be placed while they are being put through the program. We have them as well, though only a small number so far".

"Airlock's got quite a big window on it" Judduk replied "Take a look if you like, Captain – might be those tanks, for all I know, but I haven't looked".

Trannak peeked around the edge of the window quickly.

"Confirmed presence of five tanks – that's just what I can see from here" he reported "After the airlock, the corridor keeps going straight, but there's an office on the treblin and the project facility on the hammond. No door separating the office or the lab from the corridor. One person in the office with two guards. Something on his desk – can't tell what, can't see all of it. A few people in the lab facility, moving around quite quickly".

"They're preparing to leave" Shellek decided aloud "General procedure would suggest those moving around in the lab are either retrieving irreplacable data or placing demolition charges. The one in the office is either the project leader or their second".

"Lab facilities are of secondary importance at this point" Trannak decided before anyone else could suggest options "Whatever is on the desk in that office is likely a terminal for accessing the project data in its entirety – so we must capture it intact before whoever's inside can either copy it to a portable storage device or purge the system completely".

"If the project leader is there..." Keyah asked "this would be Doctor Crassich, yes? Should we take him alive for questioning?"

"That's not worth the risk, Keyah" Lirak decided, shaking his head "Without knowing what or who else is in there we can't risk grenades, they might destroy the terminal or data stores which we need. I say we have Judduk or Krynak place charges on the door and we go through hard and fast – and kill everyone inside before the smoke clears".

"Do it" Trannak ordered, nodding "Charges on the door – but try not to blow it through the office wall".

While the lab's insulation kept the noise of gunfire from bothering anyone inside, the shock of the shatter bomb did alert Doctor Crassich and the two guards he had with him.

"You have no more time, Doctor" one stated, his skin marking him as a Praetorian "I suspect that those forces which came in as reinforcements for our defence were, in fact, our attackers".

"They were outfitted just like you are" Doctor Crassich replied, but the Praetorian just snorted and said "So they're either renegades or well-equipped mercenaries, then. Either way, we need to leave – your work must be taken back to your superiors in science command, but we don't have much time to reach the port at the main base and our ship. We received word five momens ago that your colleague was retrieving a test subject and would meet us there".

"Doctor Polla has her own patrons in positions of authority..." Doctor Crassich replied with a sigh "in addition to which she knows enough about my own work to make her too knowledgable to easily get rid of. As for who our attackers are, I'd bet good crindars on certain people in the upper echelons of science command using their influence to send some of your less ...principled... comrades to attack us".

"Get your core dump" the man's second added "We have no time to dawdle. If the enemy outside that airlock aren't dead they're preparing to come in here and ensure we are! Get your core dump and leave by the faster of the two escape routes – the two of us will purge the system and follow you".

Just as Crassich pulled a small datapod from a port on the side of the terminal, Judduk pressed a button and the inner door was blown down the corridor and into the project lab facility. Annik was first through the smoke – and although he took half a dozen hits across his chestplate again he was still well enough to stand after putting a burst through one Praetorian's chest. Since Trannak had, by then, already shot Doctor Crassich with his Viper, the senior surviving Praetorian grabbed the datapod in Crassich's hand and ran for a concealed hatch.

"Couldn't get to him in time" Krynak grumbled "not even quick enough to throw a grenade down the hole he jumped into".

"Shellek!" Rulok ordered immediately "Get inside the system! Stop that last survivor or anyone else from attempting to purge the system remotely and disable the facilitiy's external comms! We can't have calls for reinforcements going out, or an auto-destruct detonated!"

"We got here just in time to stop that option" Shellek replies, fingers flying across the keyboard and virtual HUD controls "Core data was copied but main system wasn't purged before we got here".

"Copy it then blow it" Rulok replied "If the main datastore for the project is in this room disconnect it and give it to Captain Trannak before you blow the system".

"Downloading..." Shellek replied, his eyes not turning from the screen "...to my back unit. Datastore's deeper underground, though – not here".

"Judduk, assemble the device" Rulok finally ordered "Everyone, you know which items from your packs he needs – get them out and pass them over. Krynak, you help Judduk assemble it; Shellek – tell us when you're done" before his face crinkled in surprise before he added "...and will someone please find out what kind of noise is coming from that box on the desk?! It's got classification markings almost off the scale on it, but it's not quiet that's for sure".

Caseya's curiosity got the better of her and she pulled the cloth covering the box off – and gasped in surprise before bursting into tears. Keyah rushed to her side, but stared at what was in the box – and then called "Captain, you should see this for yourself...".

The box was, it turned out, a small incubator – and inside it, connected to life-support monitors, was a small baby.

"Incubator monitor panel lists this child as a baby girl..." Keyah whispered "...but not anything about parents or why she is here".

The baby was clearly upset, or at least hurting, as her crying was very loud indeed – Caseya calmed down after a momen or two and looked at the incubator and the baby inside it again. While the baby didn't stop crying, she did get appreciably quieter and her tiny new eyes followed Caseya's face as she moved around to try and see the baby from every angle.

"We must take her with us..." Caseya cried "We cannot leave her here! Who knows if she will be found and taken care of – or even just left to die! We can take care of her back on the Cry Havoc – if others cannot be made available to do so, I will volunteer to look after her. I will be doing something useful for others then...".

"It'll slow us down..." Lirak replied, also watching the baby "... but I tend to agree with Caseya – we can't leave it here" before he told Caseya "She's your responsibility, Caseya – we can't spare another team member to carry that incubator, we're all needed in case our exit is contested and we have to fight. We'll do our best to cover you and her – but stay out of sight and behind cover at all times".

"I will" Caseya promised, looking at the baby and adding A truly amazing child... I know nothing about her, not even her name or her parents' names in her own thoughts, before the baby looked up and briefly smiled.

"I will take you with us, little girl" Caseya whispered as Judduk and Krynak muttered and growled in the background as they finished putting together whatever it was they were making "I will take care of you... I expect when Moratha sees you she will want to help take care of such a marvellous little girl as you, too. You will have so many new friends, so many people to fuss over you and love you and see to your needs...". Did my own mother feel like this when she first saw my brother and I after we were born? Caseya wondered If I ever see her again I will ask her, I think.

"Charge is assembled!" Krynak called "As soon as you're done, Shellek, I arm this thing and we run for it!"

"Charge?!" Caseya asked "That is a bomb? You wish to destroy this lab?"

"It's a bomb" Rulok confirmed, nodding "Not huge, but enough to destroy this lab complex... everything in it... and any evidence of it's existence. As clean as these things get. Perhaps one megaton yield on the human scale".

A portable atomic warhead? Caseya thought, scared again I did not know our unit possessed such things – though now I think about it, our ship is so large and since it is also made by Scarrans such things as these would be in its stores somewhere. Scarrans do so love large weapons of any kind, after all...

"Good to go!" Shellek shouted, interrupting Caseya's train of thought "Sucked their databank dry, I grabbed absolutely everything – which is why it took so frelling long!"

"Less talking and more running then!" Krynak replied with equal vigour "Device is armed! Counting down...". Caseya picked up the incubator in both arms after slinging her rifle down the middle of her back – the baby girl looked up at her curiously once again, though she clearly did not like being moved around so much.

"We must move you, dear girl..." Caseya told her quietly "See these big friends of ours? They are going to help us get to a safe place, where there will be people who love you and help me take care of you...". Rulok's team found Caseya's talking to the baby quite amusing, though they stayed searching for a new exit – Trannak came over and looked briefly as well, rumbling softly before nodding and looking up, his head turning to where one of the team called "Down here! We can't go the same way that Praetorian did, the corridor's ceiling caved in – but there looks to be a service tunnel or something like it! Just big enough for us all to walk upright after the first few metras needed to reach it!"

"Keyah, you're on point" Rulok called "I don't know how to navigate these tunnels, none of us learned tunnel-sign codes...".

"I know them" Keyah confirmed "I expect Caseya knows some of it if not all of it as well. Since she has the incubator with her, however, she must stay in the middle of our group where she and the child can be protected. Shellek should remain close to her as well, since he has the data we came to find". Trannak and Rulok conferred briefly before deciding on movement order, but eventually settled on something and got everyone moving.

The baby cooed a little at the change in light levels, but did not seem too bothered by it – every so often as the group moved she would look up at Caseya, and when she saw Caseya looking back at her she either smiled or let out a tiny cooing noise before going at least mostly quiet. The first stretch of tunnel didn't have markings on it at all, and even then Keyah reported that they were not standard ones.

"They just had a Scarran number 2 on them" she told Trannak, pointing at them "No sign or letters to show an exit anywhere".

"We can't afford to stop moving" Trannak replied "I don't know what method of detonation Krynak used for the bomb alongisde the timer – for all I know the timer might be the only method of detonation! Keep going, find us a way out of these tunnels and into a corridor where we can manoevre properly".

It took fifteen momens before Keyah kicked a wall grating off – and she was not pleased with what she found.

"Cell block" she told Trannak and Rulok "I cannot tell if there are any test subjects imprisoned here, we must have arrived at the wrong end of the block for a security terminal"

"Smells bad but empty" Lirak decided, sniffing "I don't think there's any prisoners on this level. We should head upwards and find an route back to the Switchblade – the sooner we leave, the sooner we return to the Cry Havoc, and the better off all of us are. Even our new passenger there with Caseya".

"People like you already..." Caseya told the baby girl "You will have even more friends when we get back home..." – and stopped when Keyah's hand came up in a fist.

"Not soldiers" she told Trannak "At least not all of them. Noise suggests a prisoner's being moved".

"It's on our best route out..." Krynak grumbled "If we can, we may as well help – we can drop whoever it is at Tal IV with a bit of credit once we're back there again. Can't be worse than staying here". Lirak went forward with Keyah – shortly afterward everyone else followed along, to see two bodies and one live female Scarran with a doctor's ident standing beside a female Kalish – very pregnant – strapped onto a stretcher on a grav-plate. Keyah was trying everything she knew to try and calm then woman down – mostly it seemed to be working, in no small part to the woman being able to see both Caseya and Keyah there.

"Please..." she begged "...do not let me die here. Take me to safety... I must find my husband... hope he has not forgotten me... hope my daughter has not forgotten me...".

"Have you been away from them long?" Keyah asked – the woman did not know what the current date or time was, and when Keyah told her these things she revealed it was approximately 18 months since she had seen her family last.

"Thank whatever gods of soldiering there are that this stretcher's on a grav-plate!" Krynak grumbled "We can just push it, no effort required!"

"We are taking her with us as well" Trannak insisted "It may well slow us down... but since those markings on the wall show this as level 8 we have made progress. Which way next, Keyah? Caseya?"

Keyah suggested a route while Rulok asked if they should keep the doctor alive.

"No" Trannak replied bluntly "Not only might she report our location to any surviving security troops, but she may try attacking us herself. As well as that, whatever's in her head might be useful to the Hierarchy – so she's more trouble than she's worth. Nullify her and throw her down the nearest recyc chute".

Once that was done out of sight of both the baby and the stretcher, everyone followed Keyah up the levels through the main corridors. Some time was lost either avoiding people or in unavoidable firefights, so by the time everyone reached floor 3 everyone had little ammunition left for their G8Cs and were mostly using their Vipers. Since Judduk had stolen the doctor's security ident, they were able to unlock a sealed ramp entry leading up to floor 2 – but just as the last of the group came out of the ramp acessway and onto floor 2, Shellek called "Short-range comms! Main Miclatze base has been alerted and are sending reinforcements! Looks like an entire regiment heading our way – a mix of Scarrans and Charrids if I recall numbering conventions properly".

Trannak turned to look at Krynak, who called "Twenty momens!" – before losing no time in barking "Run for it! Keep pace behind Keyah but keep pace! Keyah – as fast as you can manage, please! Not much time left to reach Hellbolt and the Switchblade!"

I am exhausted Caseya thought as she ran I am exhausted, I want to collapse, I am not used to this level of running or for this long before she looked at the incubator again and added But whatever I feel like I cannot abandon this baby – I must at least reach the Switchblade under my own power, even if I spend the entire return journey in the sick bay...

Miclatze garrison forces approached the entry points closest to their own base and wasted no time in forcing their way inside.

"Find any surviving scientists!" their commanding officer barked over their comms "I don't care what it takes, find them and retrieve them! What they were working on is critical to security in this sector if not the Empire as a whole – if you can't grab their computer datastores, grab the scientists themselves. We'll be set back without current data but that's better than starting again with nothing!"

Despite their commanding officer shouting at them, progress went slower than anyone liked – while Rulok and the rest of the Irregulars, already having maps on their PDAs, in their bags, and in Keyah and Caseya's heads, already knew where to go and ran as fast as they could.

"We've restarted security control!" a Scarran army commtech reported, shortly before the computer announced "Explosive device detected on ... level 9".

"Type and yield!" barked the army commander, and the commtech replied "Plok! Standard semi-portable ADM, fusing mode unknown, yield at that size... maximum one hundred megaunits!"

"OUT! OUT! OUT!" the army commander yelled as loud as he could "Get back on the Scimitars, get out of this place, and get the fekking hell out of the blast radius – I, for one, want to remain alive and not setting off every radiation detector for forty kilometras!"

Unfortuately, the army's escape route and the Irregulars' escape route came close enough that another army commtech picked them up through the now-restored monitor feeds and called it in.

"You have ten momens to find them and kill them!" the army commander told a subordinate "If you can't kill them by then find somewhere to hide and hope the fallout doesn't kill you all!"

"Your own commtech..." that man replied "...sent us the official floor plans – let's just hope the real ones aren't too different or we'll all be dead!"

A little less than half the allotted ten momens later, Judduk called "We got visitors!" before pulse fire started flying over everyone's heads.

"Keep running!" Rulok bellowed "Shellek – call ahead to Hellbolt, wake him the plok up, and get him to lower the drop ramp so we can get aboard ASAP! Everyone else – keep pace with the stretcher and Caseya and try not to die!"

When the call came, Hellbolt was – as Rulok suspected – half-asleep. He almost fell out of then pilot's chair in surprise, but replied "I'm awake, all systems coming out of standby modes... now, drop ramp is coming down as we speak – oh, and I have turret control on semi-auto. You'll have covering fire once you're on the landing field itself" before grabbing a quick gulp from his own water flask and bringing up the fire control systems on his HUD.

"What's that way that's got them in such a hurry?" their leader asked his commtech – after a short query he replied "Landing field! They're trying to leave!"

"They haven't left yet" came the response "Try and shut down any blast doors you can, do whatever you need to – just keep them here long enough to get shot!"

"Trying!" the commtech replied "They got someone good with them and he's got good gear – as soon as I get beyond the surface layers of the system I get ejected!"

Since the last blast door was only halted a fench above Trannak's head, Shellek's skills were proving to be just what the Irregulars needed to stay ahead.

"Landing field!" Keyah called with a gasp "Switchblade in sight!" – just in time to see an aft turret turn their way and open fire. Everyone had just enough time to avoid getting even temporarily blinded by the flash, but Hellbolt called "You're quite safe – I reset the guns for rapid fire at low power. Keep running, you're not far off!"

By the time Keyah reached the top of the drop ramp a number of Rulok's team had suffered further injury from the sheer weight of fire directed against them by the army troops now starting to overhaul them. Hellbolt did manage to hold them off for long enough so everyone could make it aboard – and as soon as Shellek reported the stretcher was properly secured Hellbolt turned the forward cannon on the blast doors and made a fast and rough takeoff.

As soon as Rulok had found his footing and the artigrav had caught up with current events again, Rulok called "General quarters, you lot – I want everyone who can still move in a turret and ready to keep any Strykers off our backs! Keyah, Caseya – you two get the narl and the stretcher to Murea and Darrek in sick bay. Both the woman and the baby get a full check-up as soon as we reach orbit and set course for home!" before grabbing Lirak and running for the bridge. They met up with Novia again on the way, despite her being more than a little worse the wear due to numerous, painful, but thankfully not too severe pulse burns.

"Don't bother me, Rulok..." Hellbolt called when he heard the door open :"There's Strykers launching from Miclatze main base to try and get us – we should reach orbit before they do, but only if I'm not disturbed!"

Lirak sat at the flight engineer's station and waited, since Shellek was downloading the project data from his combat pack terminal to the Switchblade's own datastores, and Rulok took his usual seat and watched Hellbolt closely.

"Novia, plot a speed-run course for Tal IV but don't send it over until Hellbolt has the bow pointed outsystem" Rulok ordered "So far we're staying ahead of the insystem defences, so let's hope it stays that way and we don't take any serious damage".

"They're gone" the flight leader reported to Miclatze command on landing "They must have had their course pre-plotted – because they boosted outsystem at extreme hetch the microt they left the gravity well. If you want us to catch them we need something bigg-WHAT THE FRELL'S THAT?!" before the building shook for a few momens.

"Those fekkiks left an armed ADM for us on a short fuse" came the reply from an exhausted Scarran infantry officer "Everyone was running faster than even I thought possible just to stay alive long enough to reach their Scimitars – we'll need that area sealed off until the dust settles and we can what's actually still there. I'll wager every Kalish on base has their skin tingling already".

"That reminds me... " the Miclatze commander replied "We can't send them in to clean this mess up, they'll die even inside suits before they get close . Have to use robots an' throw 'em out once the job's done".

The lady on the stretcher turned out to be a Kalish named Palikka – Keyah managed to get her home planet and husband's name and work location, along with residential address out of her.

"We will try" Keyah stressed when Palikka asked about her family "But in a safer way than this. We will take more care this time and not make it up as we go along".

Palikka smiled wearily before Murea said "That's right... get Shellek to forge some good travel authorisation papers. If it comes to that, there's always enough trading concerns looking for stable longer-term workers at Tal IV that you, your husband, or both of you can find work that pays quite nicely if Scarran-controlled space is too dangerous".

"I think..." Palikka replied "...that it is. My husband and daughter will need to be found soon, before the Praetorian catch up to them".

"We can get some friends of ours..." Keyah assured her "...trusted friends... to find them and insert false travel papers into the Hierarchy system for us if we cannot do that in time ourselves. They can then be moved to a temporary safe location before being sent here to join you".

Palikka's unborn baby started rolling and kicking with quite some vigour.

"Calm down, little one!" she pleaded, her hand resting on her belly "Your time for birthing will not come any sooner by poking me so hard!"

"You are braver than me..." Keyah whispered softly "I do not know that I could endure what you have endured, nor deal with the consequences..."

Palikka smiled back and replied "Your friend there will need your help with the tiny one in that incubator – who is a hybrid, as my own child will be, in case no one has noticed yet".

Both Caseya and Keyah looked at the incubator again – the baby girl inside simply thought people had come to see her again and smiled before trying to clap. Since her nutrient feeds and monitor patches were still on , moving her arms that far hurt her and made her cry for a while until Murea lifted the top off the incubator and started removing the needles as gently as she could. The baby girl whimpered and cried more, though she tried to smile when Caseya leaned closer and told her "I am here, little girl – I am here. I am Caseya, I am your friend, and I will see you are kept safe...". The baby girl seemed to like the soothing tone of Caseya's words even if she didn't understand them and calmed down enough for Murea to removed the rest of the needles and patches without hurting the baby any further – she would not let Murea pick her up, however, nor even Keyah, but she smiled and lifted her hands up when Caseya came close to her.

"I do not know why she wants me..." Caseya told Murea some time later, as they passed Watrukarian space once more "She simply will not settle for anyone else. Yet I have done nothing to earn this!"

"You lifted her incubator, you carried her to safety..." Murea insisted with a smile "That will register positively in her small new mind – especially now, in fact. She is starting to associate your presence with being safe, I would think" before her nose crinkled and she added "...and now she needs you to change her baby shorts and clean her. Again".

A few more days passed before a navigation alarm sounded, alerting everyone to the Switchblade's return to Talzenadar IV.

"I think..." Caseya told her tiny charge "... that you would like to see the view from the bridge. Kalish people love to see new things, and you have never seen real stars before – we will get to see the huge ship that is our home from the outside, and that is an amazing sight as well. I wonder if your tiny new eyes will be able to see that well...".

"Cry Havoc..." Lirak called "Request landing clearance. Most of us have at least minor injuries – this mission proved to be a little more complicated than either of us thought it would be. We have two extras on board, who Doctor Nrakal will need to see before anyone else gets to them...".

"Understood" Talannah replied from the Havoc's bridge "My John will come down and speak to you as well, I think. Doctor Nrakal has been notified his presence is required".

Doctor Nrakal immediately ordered Palikka transported to sick bay for a detailed check-up – Palikka was very scared at first, but calmed down enough to allow herself to be transported to sick bay when both Caseya and Keyah spoke up on Nrakal's behalf.

"He is not like the doctors at that place" Keyah reminded her "I have received medical care from him myself, and here I am whole and unharmed – you and your unborn child will be treated the same as I was".

The baby girl was clearly frightened of the sick bay and Doctor Nrakal as well, and only stopped bellowing when Caseya stroked her tiny ridges and gave her a bottle.

"See?" Caseya told her "They are not bad people, the doctor is not a bad doctor – he is nice and everyone else here is nice as well. They like the Kalish lady there, they like me, and they like you as well". The girl looked at Nrakal with a suspicious look on her tiny young face, sniffing and following his movements as often as she could – when she lost track of him, she often turned around and saw Caseya again, or even Moratha.

Moratha rumbled softly when the girl finally relaxed enough to stay still when she leaned close enough to look at her – and smiled when she actually rumbled a tiny baby rumble back to her before giggling a bit.

"That little darling is starting to realise she is safe here, I think" Moratha told Caseya the next time they were all in the sick bay together "Have you thought of a name for her? She is old enough now to need a name – it does not have to be a long multiple Kalish name unless you already have one planned".

Caseya thought for a few momens – I will name her with one Kalish name, Amara, and one Scarran name. That will be Moratha's own name, because of the endless help she always seems to be giving me. She will be a good example for her to follow. Moratha smiled warmly and hugged Caseya gently, telling her "Thank you for wanting to give this child my name, Caseya – I know she is not mine, but with her having my name as her second name I will know every time I see her that she is watching me to see how I behave. I am, of course, here whenever you need my advice about babies as well...".

"I will need that" Caseya assured her.

When Nrakal certified little Amara healthy enough to go outside sick bay, Caseya thanked him at length – once Nrakal translated the Kalish words in his head and stopped Amara's tiny but surprisingly nimble fingers from trying to snurch his medical instruments or the writing implements out of his pocket he nodded and smiled.

By now Amara had grabbed one of his fingers and was poking and prodding his skin again, even trying to chew it once or twice until Caseya managed to get her to stop.

"You are hungry again..." Caseya decided a little wearily "Since it is mealtime for many aboard, we will go to where they eat and I will give you a bottle or two there. There is a special room set aside for feeding many people at one time – it is called the galley and we will go there now..."

Caseya was concerned Amara might be frightened by seeing so many people in one place – but far from being scared, she shrieked and clapped and bounced up and down, pointing at everyone she could see or smell. Amara had to be stopped from poking her fingers in other people's food simply because she loved the new smells, which seemed to be her favourite galley pastime when she was not feeding or sleeping or having her shorts changed, and the easiest way to do this was usually taking her to see someone different each time. She loved to see Troll, who would almost always tickle her or make faces – Amara clapped and laughed and shrieked happily and very loudly each time Troll pulled a face for her and waved her arms and legs about whenever he tickled her.

Caseya found this interesting and talked to Keyah about it whenever Amara let Troll hold her.

"I would not have picked that odd human, Keyah Karimu..." Caseya remarked one mealtime "...to be a good caregiver for small infants. But for reasons of her own Amara seems to like him very much".

"I would not have picked him as one to earn her trust first after you, either" Keyah replied as she and Caseya watched Amara and Troll play "But Amara seems to like all the humans to one degree or another – and more of the Scarrans than either of us might think, though she has taken more time to settle around them than the humans, you, and I".

"Heeheehee!" Amara shrieked, wriggling and laughing – Caseya smiled when Troll passed Amara to Harrigan and Amara clapped again, followed by Trannak's soft rumble before he rested his treblin hand on Caseya's shoulder.

Caseya relaxed just a little when he did that, while Keyah's face crinkled in complete incomprehension and surprise.

I still cannot understand why she lets him act this way Keyah thought to herself as she watched Even less so why the Captain shows all the signs of caring for Caseya a great deal! Has he come to appreciate Kalish as more than just workers over a great deal of time? Does he just think Caseya is someone different and interesting in some way – or does he seek recreation? Blast! When I really need to know more about Scarran psychology I find my knowledge badly lacking!

Amara clearly enjoyed being with Harrigan, and even reached up to investigate Talannah when she leaned close enough to be seen – but when Caseya walked over to her she sniffed, then clapped, before turning to face Caseya directly and reaching out to her very insistently.

"Hush, Amara..." Caseya called, trying to soothe and calm her "You are still too small to move under your own power, you will hurt yourself... Moratha, will she? I would not want her to be hurt from trying to reach me...".

"I doubt it, Caseya" Moratha replied as she walked over to watch Amara as well "Amara has the same change as you do – it'll take more then a bump or two to hurt her, even while she's still a baby". Amara sniffed, then clapped, when she recognised Moratha's scent but a huge smile came over her face when Caseya lifted her from Harrigan's arms - getting a surprisingly loud baby rumbling in return.

"That's a good sign, Troll..." Urana sighed when Troll's expression changed to something more concerned "Amara loves to be back with Caseya again – that kind of rumbling shows Amara loves Caseya very much. With the amount of time you've spent pestering me and coming around our familly quarters I'm surprised you don't know that by now...".

"How could I?" Troll replied,after which he grinned and added "You've not been rumblin' like that for me, little U... not yet, anyway..."

On a different world, someone dressed on the nondescript brown overalls usually worn by technicians of various grades climbed out of a service tunnel before walking a short distance to a door, where he knocked in a fairly complicated pattern for admittance.

"You have news..." a voice asked once they were admitted and the door sealed behind them "You sent a rather hurried message requesting this gathering... which is not without its risks, especially here on Kalian..."

"I know that..." the newcomer replied "I evaded one Organisation study group excursion and two local police patrols to get here myself".

"Then your journey was a comparatively speedy one, then" another voice announced, interrupting – before the original questioner cut them off, calling "Enough bickering. An emergency meeting would not have been called for just any information – so we should hear it swiftly in case others arrive who might not wish this one to speak".

A number of faces turned to the newcomer, who nodded and placed a small crystal on the table before saying "Site fifteen was nullified by a group as yet unidentified".

"This..." a female voice said "...would normally be considered good news... but not enough so for an emergency gathering...".

"What about prisoners?" another voice asked "There are usually prisoners at sites like these – people whose rescue may benefit us. People who may even come over to our cause".

"There were prisoners" the newcomer confirmed "but either they had been experimented on unsuccessfully or transferred offworld for further testing. At the time of the nullification there was just one adult female of our people in the cells... plus one child of unknown provenance".

"A child?!" a different female asked "A test subject – or a successful Project result?"

"Unknown" the newcomer replied "Either my clearance was insufficient to find out or details of that child were not kept on the main network".

"And the whereabouts of both the woman of our people and the baby now?" a different female asked, with a little more concern.

"Also unknown" the newcomer revealed, clearly not happy with it either "Whoever this group are, they found what they came for and covered their exit with an atomic demolition munition. Satellite surveillance suggests the charge was a standard semi-portable device set for approximately 100 megaunits. No emergency personnel have yet been admitted to the site – even to clear away items too sensitive for general base population to see".

"And the subjects?!" came the expected and quite irate response from somewhere in the room – but the newcomer just nodded at the crystal and replied "That is a copy of the last records from internal site monitors before the nuclear explosion" before putting the crystal into a display terminal and activating it.

Everyone in the room watched with much interest, with a number of whispered conversations going around those gathered almost continuously, until the newcomer paused the display at two points and displayed smaller pictures of those points at the top treblin and hammond corners.

"There and there" the newcomer continued "Both targets of interest. Not nullified, but extracted proficiently and effectively by the intruders".

"Two of our people are there!" one of those gathered said, pointing to one of the images "Can we identify them?"

"Apart from their gender?" the newcomer replied "No. Just that they are both female – though I would think that the one seen there holding the incubator is quite young and without much military training at this point. The other one is some cycles older and handles herself like a combat veteran. Neither wear Organisation uniforms or insignia".

"That is one good thing about all this..." an older male voice said, then looked around the gathering before announcing "The recording will be examined for any identifying marks on these intruders" – he had to stop for a few microts of interruptions from various others before adding "Yes I know they wore Praetorian heavy armour... but their general manner, their equipment, and the fact that they considered extracting both the adult and the child to be worth the risk to themselves makes me think that the most obvious answer is not the correct one. Copies of this recording will be made available to all – once you get one, leave fast. This gathering has gone on long enough as it is and sooner or later people will notice one or more of us is not where we are supposed to be".