------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter Two ------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Space Chase -

Three minutes ago...

The Tricereton minion wasn't happy about his chores. While the others ate and sat around, he was stuck doing rounds and inventory. With only a thin sandwich to appease the appetite of an upright dinosaur, he was not only sour, but he was still hungry. He wasn't about to complain aloud though. Anything like that and his probation period, and chores, would only lengthen. The young Tricerton desperately wanted in this gang.

If the most they made him do was chores and cleaning work, he could handle it, even if it was a bit boring. He was determined to prove he was a worthy addition.

The base was solid, isolated, and finding intruders in the cargo bay was the last thing on the initiates mind. No, he was much more interested in finishing this circuit and getting back to his hot grog before it turned into cold grog.

As he came around a tall set of crates, four green turtles destroyed his well-laid plans.

For a full second both turtle and Triceraton locked eyes. Like two animals in the wild. For a full second all were frozen, a static moment in time where beady black eyes bored into masked turtle eyes and neither moved, neither said a word.

The Triceratron broke. He spun around, quicker than his bulk would suggest and reached out towards the wall-mounted button that would sound the alarm. Just as quick four turtles leapt at him, attempting to halt the action. Four weapons, sai, ninjaken, nunchaku, and bo, smashed into his body and he stumbled forward, injured and unconscious.

It all happened so quickly. Moreover, the massive Tricereton was unconscious before he could register the state. There is the matter of Newton's second law of relativity; an object in motion tends to stay in motion. As such, the Tricereton continued to its forward plunge and he impacted the wall.

Unfortunately, as his body slid down the wall it rolled over the alarm button, squashing it. Klaxons, loud and obnoxious, sounded throughout the hideout.

"Shit." Raphael cursed from the cargo bay.

"Shit." Zixx cursed from the bridge of his ship.

The four turtles took off in a dead sprint down the hallway; stealth gone right out the window. The door to the mechanical room was nearby. A collective groan passed through the fleeing turtles as several Triceretons emerged into the hallway to investigate the noise. One just happened to step out nearly on top of Michelangelo.

Within a second, Michelangelo had leapt into the air and did a quarter turn. His foot spiked out and caught his horned enemy across the face. While the move was pretty, it wasn't enough to stun the dinosaur for more than a moment. As it stumbled to the side, its massive fist swung out reflexively in a blind attempt to clobber its assailant.

Quicker and lighter, Michelangelo bent backwards a bit as the fist sailed harmlessly over his head. As he leaned back however, he caught the wrist and easily turned the massive bulk of the gangster against him into an agile throw that ended with a Tricereton against the wall. Even Mikey winced a bit at the sound of cracking dinosaur bones.

"Hey guys…Do you think Zog's relatives are here?" Mikey turned and started to run again.

"No time for that Mikey…keep running. " Leonardo scolded. There were no enemies between them and the mechanical room. Maybe they'd get out of here without more of a fuss.

Donatello reached the door first and rushed inside. As his brothers joined him, he quickly locked out the door controllers. "Ok," he said breathlessly, "That should keep them out long enough for us …" He was cut-off as the door was forced open an inch. "…to escape?"

Two Triceretons on the other side heaved and grunted in their feat of strength to open the mech-room door. There were soft-bodied enemies on the other side that needed a good slow death and this thick metal door wasn't going to stop them. Not for long anyway. The door opened another inch.

Raph blinked and then pulled the grating down from the main air handler. "Let's go guys." He paused and gave Mikey a leg up into the ductwork first, followed by Donny. The door slid open another few inches, the motorized system that normally held the door was about to break down. A pair of eyes peeked through the opening, followed quickly by gun barrels.

Energy blasts thundered into the machinery around them, throwing up sparks and small bits of shrapnel. Raph couldn't help but cry out in surprise and anger. "Gah! Those horn-heads don't give up!" He had half a mind to run back to the door and show them the pointy end of his sai next time they peeked through the gap.

"No time for that Raph." Leo said, reading the deadly intent in his brother's eyes. "Up you go."

The turtle in red didn't argue as Leo popped him up and into the duct. As he turned to reach his hand down to Leo, a lucky blast caught Leo in the shoulder and he stumbled away from Raph's outstretched hand. Raph immediately jumped back down. "LEO!"

More irritated at the moment then hurt, Leo couldn't contain his annoyance that his brother had come back down. "Get back up there Raph. GO!" He quickly picked himself up, and ducked another volley of shots. There was blood streaming down his arm, but he barely felt it. In a few more seconds, the doors would be wide enough to allow the Triceretons to enter the mech-room.

"Nuh-uh." Raph shook his head. They needed a distraction. He bolted across the room towards a large square panel on the wall and flung the doors open. Inside were rows and rows of switches. Circuit breakers. Shit, he thought. Which one? There was one large one right at the bottom. Good enough. He shoved the handle down, and the building plunged into darkness.

Leo had to admit...Raph certainly had his moments. At the door, the horn-heads were confused enough that they stopped firing, though they did resume their work on the door. "Raph!" Leo said again. "Let's go!"

"After you, fearless leader."

Leo wasn't in the mood to belabor the point with his brother, so he accepted the leg up and then yanked Raph into the duct behind him. Quickly they crawled forward, reaching the fan, which slowly crawled to a power deprived stop. Mikey and Don waited for them anxiously, and as four they returned to Zixx's ship.

"GO Zixx go!!" Mikey cried out as Raph ran on-board. The airlock sealed behind him and the turtles strapped in, preparing for a bumpy ride. Already a couple of Tricereton ships had started to launch determined to find and destroy the invaders.

"Dammit," Zixx swore with irritation. The ship began to lift off. The moment it did, it showed up on the Triceraton's radar and the two ships that were out, along with a few gun emplacements, all swiveled their way. "Thought you guys were supposed to be ninjas? And ninja's were supposed to be quiet, invisible…unnoticed." He grumbled, turning the ship sharply to avoid a volley of plasma fire.

Donatello once again strapped into the co-pilots position. "So sue us." He retorted with a bit of irritation himself. "At least we got what we came for."

Zixx gave a non-committal grunt as his ship quickly outdistanced the base gun ports; however, the smaller attack crafts doggedly remained behind him. "We still have two on our tail…" The two rear facing guns weren't enough to slow them down.

Mikey glanced out a small window at the two pursuing craft. "Ooh…" he said. "The force is strong with this one." A hand reached out and slapped his head. "Ow!"

"Ok guys, just hang on." Zixx called back as he pushed the engines to full. Inertia shoved everyone on board into the seats tightly. The ship increased its speed exponentially and they quickly pulled away from their pursuers, although they didn't lose them.

Donatello looked out the view ports at the asteroids rushing past at dangerous speeds. Even as he did, the ship shuddered each time a rock slammed against the shields. Shield strength was decreasing.

It was a testament to Zixx's ability as a pilot that they didn't die immediately. With almost nonchalant grace and expert timing, the smuggler was able to lure one of the Tricereton ships into a rendezvous with the vertical side of an asteroid and manage to come around behind the other.

"So what are you waiting for Donatello?" Zixx said with a hint of amusement. "Send those guys to dinosaur heaven…or dino-hell…or whatever….FIRE!"

Donatello was no stranger to death. How many foot ninja had died because of him? Well, that number was lost years ago. But even still, he found the notion of death, especially unnecessary killing, distasteful and more importantly, dishonorable. There were other ways.

Quickly his two digits flashed across the controls for the ships weapon system, making minute adjustments to the targeting programming. Within the space of a second the gun fired, and crippled, rather than destroyed, the attacking craft.

As they zoomed away, the attack craft turned and limped back to its home base, the pilot humiliated, but alive, and Donatello's personal code of honor remained intact.

"…the hell?" Zixx grumbled as he watched the scene play out. "I just had those calibrated too." Donatello could swear the smuggler sounded disappointed. "Alright Don, plot us a course for Callisto."

It was child's play for the ninja genius to use the simple navigational system aboard Zixx's ship. Callisto was Jupiter's fourth moon and why anyone would try to colonize there was beyond even his mental capability. The podcasts were thick with stories about the native creatures on the Jovian moon. Entire mining expeditions had gone missing with no clues, no survivors, no traces. Ships that had landed there had disappeared likewise and no one could offer anything other than conjecture.

The stories of course drew treasure hunters, adventurers, and other more shady types to the small moon, but unexplained incidents would happen to them as well. Sometimes they would find nothing at all, other times, they would come back mind-wiped, or so traumatized even deep brain recall was unable to reconstruct their fragmented minds.

Eventually, the Senate blacklisted the planet and people wrote it off as an urban legend once it stopped making headlines. Trade routes didn't go by the moon, so it eventually disappeared into obscurity. Donatello figured this was why these aliens had chosen this planet to colonize, either that or they crashed there and had no other choice.

But, if they were refugees, then surely the Council would have reached out toward them, in friendship if nothing else. They would have been offered aid, or passage to Earth at the least. If they were in fact, NOT refugees, and instead they were political outcasts, or even criminals, then he and his brothers, along with Zixx, would be committing a felony.

That last thought worried Donny. Leo wasn't the only one who had a bad feeling about this, but as he continued to help navigate the Belt, now at speeds quite less then breakneck, he glanced over at the smuggler. Zixx might have questionable intentions, and a less than stellar reputation towards con-artistry, but he did have morals. Don couldn't see the smuggler being swept away in the intricate web of politics, nor the savagery of serious crime.

Becoming the Council's number one most wanted was far, far, too troublesome.

The turtle raised an eye ridge unconsciously, still lost in thought. What then could be Zixx's real reason for the help? Could it be a woman who somehow urged him into this, as he said? It wasn't that outlandish; after all, he was known to be a player as well. She wasn't on Callisto, that much was certain or else he'd land and deliver the medicine personally. Perhaps the woman had a relative there?

And what exactly was this medicine? Azasocrasin. He wasn't familiar with the specifics but he knew it was used to treat various forms of fungal type infections. And since it was an antibiotic, it made sense it was kept in a climate controlled environment. Donatello glanced over at Zixx, who was distracted running ship diagnostics, before he accessed the galactic web searching for diseases and conditions related to the drug Azasocrasin.

"Don't bother." Zixx said after a moment. "I'll tell you everything you want to know." It was no surprise the turtles still didn't trust him completely. He didn't blame them though. "From what I know, the refugees are political outcasts from their planet. They crashed on Callisto. No, they didn't seek sanctuary from the Alliance council, seems like they didn't want it. They have been infected with the Chronia virus, a bacterium that attacks the digestive system and eventually causes your body to consume itself."

Donatello shuddered and Zixx continued. "A woman that I want to get to know better, if you know what I mean, has a friend in that group of outcasts. She asked me to save him, and in return…she'd 'reward' me nicely."

The turtle in purple stared blankly at Zixx for a long moment and then deadpanned. "So…we're risking our necks so you can get laid." It was a statement.

Zixx looked out the forward view screen long enough to formulate a response to that. He couldn't just answer yes, even though it was true, there were lines that needed to be maintained. "No." he said finally. "You're doing it to save the lives of innocent refugees. Think about it THAT way," he allowed just a trace of righteous indignation to creep into his voice. "and leave my private life out of the equation."

The turtle let the matter drop without another word, and Zixx said nothing more on the subject. The ship had moved to an area safe for hyperspace travel and he quickly set about programming the navigational computer.

With a sense that the somewhat less than jovial conversation was over, Donatello returned to join his brothers. He found them quiet and subdued. Michelangelo was lost in his I-tunes, Raph was asleep and Leo stared into space.

A frown crossed his features when he noticed Leo had done nothing about the wound in his arm. With a sigh he gathered up a few medical supplies and sat down next to his oldest brother. "Leo," he said gently though admonishingly. "You shouldn't just let this go." Without waiting for permission Don started to dab at the shallow gash with a healing ointment.

Leonardo seemed to notice Donatello's presence when the slight sting of the ointment prodded him from his thoughts. "Oh, uh…sorry." He muttered.

Donny sighed again and noticed Leo was absently rubbing a small kyanite gemstone set in a hemp bracelet. He recognized it. Kiah had given it to him to celebrate their one-month anniversary. She'd said it had some sort of power but she hadn't elaborated. However, Leo wore it constantly, underneath his wristbands and it was rare for him to have it out.

Everyone knew talking about Kiah or Tokutaru was a sore subject for the ninja leader. Even Splinter avoided bringing them up whenever possible. The dragon and the tiger, like Casey and April, were shadows of the past, and however painful it was to think of them, what was done, was done.

"Yeah, Leo's been thinking about Kiah a lot lately." Raph commented from the side. Donatello hadn't realized the turtle in red had awoken. Raph continued to talk, despite Leo's glare. "I miss sparring with that over-sized kitten. Ya ever think about what happened to them?"

Donatello started to frown at Raph for deliberating pushing Leo's buttons, but before he could speak his opinion on that subject Leo answered, his voice curiously devoid of emotion. "They're dead."

The bluntness of the response startled Raph briefly but then he chuckled. "I dunno Leo. Think about it."

Leonardo didn't respond immediately. Instead, he turned back towards the porthole. But Donny's interest was piqued. He'd long wondered what might have become of the Shi-Tenno, though he had a theory. A theory he'd never given voice to, in deference to his leader's feelings.

Even Michelangelo never mentioned the Shi-Tenno, and he'd arguably been closest with Kiah the longest. Raph and the tiger had regular knock down drag out sparring matches that ended with them laughing and Kiah or Donny healing up the wounds. But everyone knew the subject was taboo, as least as far as Leo was concerned.

"What's there to think about?" Leo said snappishly.

Raph leaned forward on his knees with a devilish grin. "Oh maybe the fact that they ain't dead."

Leo stared at his brother evenly, dark-amber eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Raph casually leaned back in his own chair and closed his eyes.

Even Donatello waited for a further explanation, but Raph sat there silently, pretending to sleep, and a tiny spark of annoyance lit. Dammit Raph, he thought, You're really trying to start a fight. "Raph..." Donny started.

"Huh?" Raph said and pretended to wake up. "Talking to me?"

Enough was enough. Leo unbuckled and left the bay.

When Raph chuckled Donatello turned on him. "Raph, for what inane purpose do you deliberately initiate fights with Leo? We're on a cramped ship. The two of you having a disagreement is tedious at best."

Raphael eyeballed his brainy younger brother. "Who's fighting? I just asked a question and he stormed out." When Don's gaze grew stonier, Raph sat forward. "Aw come on brainiac, don't tell me you, of all people, didn't come up with the same theory about Tokutaru and Kiah."

"Of course I did." Don answered loftily. There was NO way Raph could or would come up with something this cerebral before Donny had considered such a possibility. "But it is only a theory." He countered. "And since Leo is hurt enough over facts I saw little reason to add to that with supposition."

"So you think they are alive too then."

The turtle in purple paused. Sure that was a possibility. The Shi-Tenno were immortal spirits inhabiting human hosts. But those hosts were human, with human limitations. "Perhaps," Don conceded. "But not in the way we think. The possibility is strong that, should we meet them again, they will be completely different people."

Raph stared at his brother for a moment then shrugged. "Yeah, you're probably right."