Hair of the Wolf: Open for Business

[Zebulon]

At least Carnival was alive. Other than that we would have to wait and see.  Zeb's thoughts were focused on the fact that this guy had used a mind manipulation tool.  These things were as deadly to those that used them as they were to the victims. They drained the life out of you and the more you used them the worse it got.  They had been the stories told to scare kids, but now he new  they were for real.

Shaking off his stunned silence Zeb went over to join the rest of the party.  Bomber had gone with Carn to the hospital - the best Robot "minds" and Monkey doctors were on the case.  That was the weird thing with the Simians, they were very good at putting us humans back  together. Must be the four hand dexterity trick, thought Zeb.  

The gang followed the perimeter path round the landing pad. So this was the start of the bunch of misfits that were going to be out to save Sirius?  Zeb, Watchwolf, Carnival, Pyro, Vengeance, Seraphear, Tornado, Bomber, Hellboy, Blazin, the rest of BBD, AoF, FTP, and their allies.  "Jeez, maybe not the bunch I would have picked but they are here and its gonna be for the long haul".  Zeb reckoned a drink was needed at the very least.......

[Zebulon]

The lights in the officer were out.  As Andrew Anderson entered, his first suspicion that things were not right was when the autolights didnt power up. He reached inside his coat and touched the heel of his blaster. A voice issued from the dark in the direction of his desk. "Don't! Your covered and I dont want any bloodshed right now."

The Voice was one that was used to authority. Andrew noticed a scent and it was a familiar one. Cologne. Expensive Cologne. It was.....

The desk lamp switched on.  Andy gave a start.  There were two suits. One on his left and the other off to his right.  He could have got one but the other would have taken him out.  He relaxed. He then realised that the man at the desk was wearing the uniform of a Grand Bashir of the Order.

"My name is Alphonse da Silva, and I need your help."

Andy's first thought was, "Where the hell is Zeb when you need him?"  Andy then spoke to the man.

"I don't quite know how you got in here and for some reason I am going to hear you out. Believe me, if shots are fired you wont leave this building alive." he paused to let the last statement sink in.  Alphonse smiled.

"You are your fathers son, that is for sure.  Mr Anderson, I have a great need. We at the Order are experiencing some difficulties.  I am in need of some covert and clandestine operatives that lie outside of my organisation and I am reliably informed that AoF have an excellent, shall we say, 'Intelligence' network."

"Ok, straight to the point." thought Andy.  "A drink?" Andy beckoned to the cabinet on the far side of the office.

"No thank you, Mr. Anderson".

"Call me Andy." he responded as he casually walked over and poured an extra large whiskey.

Having done so he turned and faced Alphonse. "Bashir, I have been hearing all manner of rumours from my traders and whilst they are a bunch of gossiping fishwives most of what the say is not without some foundation.  Its my job and the head of my intelligence section to filter out the BS and figure out what is going on for real.  This can sometimes be a risky business even in the world of commerce." The Bashir was about to speak. Andy raised his hand to silence him. "Hear me out, please. I'm not refusing to help you, I'm just interested why you want me to get involved in what amounts to Military Espionage as opposed to the relatively easy world of Industrial Espionage." The sarcasm was not lost on the Bashir.

"Andy." Alphonse da Silva sighed, "we may need a refuge, there are changes happening and some that many of our ranks are not happy with. I am not one to run from a problem and I dearly need to find out what is happening.  People whisper in secret as if they are scared of old friends and this is not the Order that I joined. We fought alongside the likes of Adam Trent and Junko Zane in order to keep Sirius free and not be like we have become."  

Andy saw the man visibly age. The lines of worry were deeply written on his face. "We are running short on trust and we are forced to turn to those that we would not normaly consider for help. Your organisation has a chequered past with us, but you have never openly challenged us or hindered us if one of your own was chastised." The Bashir stood up and walked to the door.  Andy sighed.

"You are asking me for asylum and for assistance.  I can help out any of your famillies that wish to be kept safe from any conflict.  I cannot say the same for those with power and authority. That I will have to consider at greater length. I will see what I can do for you Bashir da Silva."

"M-wave me Mr Anderson, I have left a location code on your desk, and thank you." He clicked his heels and bowed to Andy. Something of the Corsair about him, thought Andy.

They left as quietly. Andy didnt press the alarm button. A bit late for that now.  And the Colonge? It was the same as his fathers.....

-----------------------------------------------------@oOo@-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Osiris. Order Home System. Patrick McGarret was checking the log. "Damn it! " he cursed. Twenty five missing vessels in the last month. That and a cruiser. Now reports were coming in from Unkown 2 that Order ships had been seen in the company of a Nomad battle group and a least two of the serial numbers matched with the missing ship records!  Covert Ops were trawling space for these missing ships. Pat had already lost contact with one in Tohoku and another over in Shikoku.  Loosing one was bad luck, two was just damn careless!  It just concerned him that there seemed to be a distinct lack of urgency on behalf of the Order Command, sometime it was like running through mud to get things done around here lately.  He threw his comms pad onto the desk and stared out at the forbidding sky........

[Seraphear]

I floated silently in space. Engines dead, life support barely ticking over. I took a deep breath... and died.

A white room. A man, covered in scars, thrashing as Robots held him down. A Monkey, desperately trying to remove the knife that had appeared his hand. A hundred voices screaming out in his head, souls thrashing and battling in his veins! A needle, sedating him. Peace.

Zebulon, in the bar on Primus, drinking and laughing with his reunited friends.

A battle, death, Nomads and Order perishing in the darkness of space, a family forced out of their homes, memories and events rushing past faster than mortal mind could percieve.

And then... A ship. A dead man. A sentience, instructing men to retrieve the body. Death wasn't permanent. The man had no presence here. There was hope.

I gasped as the gauntlet released me, screaming out in anger and pain and horror. So much death. So much suffering. Carnival! How did he live? He should be insane!

Maybe he is. I thought grimly.

I closed my eyes again, and focussed on Zebulon.

"Be ready. The sentience called 'E' is moving. You will be under attack when you leave Primus." I sighed sadly. "I fear you will lose a pilot. I fear more that it will not be of E's doing, that I'm being blinded."

I sent an image of myself raising a mock salute into his head.

"Good luck."

[Zebulon]

The drink flowed as it often did in this company. Thank the Lord for stims and pills to take away the after effects.  Bomber joked about how he was on his third liver as the other two had packed up on him after he left the Navy. All the while Zeb had an uneasy feeling, like an itch you cant scratch. Sentience. E. Combat. Death. Destruction.....

Zeb downed another large glass of port and lit up a cigar. The words tickled in the back of his brain. Red eyes. How to tell? Who knew. Watchwolf told his story about the three naked priestesses on planet Bel and the unfortunate delivery of Arcturian cucumbers just at the wrong moment of a fertility festival. We roared at the mental picture of Wolf running for his life being chased by naked women weilding axes and other sharp implements. Like he said, it wasnt funny at the time.....

Zeb sat back. Detached. Watching his friends laugh and mess around. Even Vengeance smiled once or twice and that was a scary thought. Must be the drink, thought Zeb. The bananna beer and the liquor flowed freely.  The other human pilots consisted of some former Navy, Order and a few rag tags out to earn a fast buck with no real concept of what they were getting into.  The bar was no where near as good as the "Hair of the Wolf"...

Suddenly, as if someone had thrown a switch, Zebs senses were focused on the back of the bar. More specificaly, the storage area at the back of the bar. Something was pulling at his mind. Zeb got up and walked towards the door. A large Urang got in his face. "Can I help you, human?" A large hand placed on Zebs shoulder. Zeb stared at the ape.  The door opened and out staggered a woman. She was dressed in a flight suit, her skin was pale and her hair disheveled and her eyes were rolling around like she was drunk.  The ape let go if Zeb. Zeb caught the woman before she could fall.

"Where am I?" she asked weakly.

"Primus - in the bar" replied Zeb.  The itch in his head grew to a tiny roar. He knew what this was. Respawn. He felt her pain and could feel her nausea. This was a disturbing development. Zeb could detect respawns! He wanted to hurl, but kept it down. He needed to tell Wolf.

The ape was already getting some water for her. Zeb got her to a chair. She glugged down the water, reached into her pocket, removed an injector pen and stuck in in her thigh. Her eyes started to focus and she smiled at Zeb. She was able to stand.

"Patricia Riley, at your service! Elite Sirius Fighters, call sign Electra..."

[Carnival]

I sauntered into the bar, my leather jacket hung nonchalantly from my hand. I felt better than I had in years! The Monkeys had a way with medicine, that was for damn sure. I couldnt even hear the roaring in my veins... they couldn't fix my eyes, but hey. I like red, and it gets attention from the ladies.

Be nice if I knew how I actually got here. I thought to myself. Last I remember we'd just left Hair of the Wolf. Still, I guess that fever counts a lot of the journey out.

Suddenly, I heard a roar of laughter from across the bar. I looked across and saw Watchwolf, Vengeance, all the old crew! Vengeance noticed me standing there, and motioned to me.

"Carnival! Get over here. You're missing out on Wolfs naked women." He laughed as he spoke. "Want a drink?"

"Always." I strolled over and sat myself down, looking at the guys round the table. There were a few familiar faces, and a few unfamiliar ones. "Zeb! How goes it my friend?"

Zeb just sat there, a vague, worried smile on his face. Suddenly, he got up and started walking quickly toward the stock room. I stared after him, wondering what I'd done to deserve being blanked.

"Zebulon!" I shouted, but he didn't hear. I got up to follow him, seeing a large Monkey stop him in front of the store room door.

Zeb darted foward, and it took me a second to realise what had happened. A woman had collapsed through the door, nearly falling on her face. Zeb held her as a Monkey ran to get some water.

She gulped it down, and stuck an injector pen in her thigh.

She stood up and smiled at Zeb.

"Patricia Riley, at your service! Elite Sirius Fighters, call sign Electra..."

She looked past and stared at me. I grinned at her, winking slowly. The red eyes got the expression I was used to.

"Excuse me, Miss... could I get you a drink? You look like you just a had a bad respawn." I asked smoothly, as Zeb was still staring dumbfounded at her.

"So... what happened?"

Patricia sat down at the bar, and started talking...

[Watchwolf]

I smiled at the roars of laughter. The naked ladies always did it. And why not? The very image of naked women in that particular predicament would make a cadaver smile.

We were all there again. All but one. The thought sobered me up. But just as the thought began to meld into a question a fury of activity  snapped me to.

The woman had collapsed, keening that pain I knew so well. My first reaction was I know that pain as it brought me back to that filthy crapper in Manhattan what seemed a lifetime ago. Next, more in wonderment, But here? how odd...

Zeb had righted the lady who had recovered most of her senses. With attention focused on her no one noticed the ragged trader entered, looking desperately around, then quickly zero in on our table.

"Zeb.  Zeb!  ZEB!" he finally shouted above the din to get the attention he seemed to urgently need. All heads turned.

"Antonio!" Zeb smiled. "Great to see you, lad! Join us for a..."

But the trader interrupted. "I'm afraid I have bad news for ya, mate. Can we talk alone?"

Zeb's smile faded. He looked around at his friends then back to Antonio. "I've nothing to hide from my friends, Tony. Whatever it is you have for me is for them as well."

Antonio shuffled his feet, looking uncertain. The cloud that hovered over him was heavy and bleak, and weighed on everyone. Something was definitely wrong, that much was certain.

"I got a message for you, my friend, and I fear it's not a pleasant one..."

"Alright then. Let's have it."

"I happened across a distress buoy a couple days ago. I fetched it in and got a message from the grave."

You could have heard a plasma grenade pin drop, now the entire room was still.

Zeb glanced around the table, than back at his friend. "Go on...

"It's a little jumbled, but here it is." Then he placed a comm tablet on the table and pressed a tab. A voice sprang to life.

"Not sure how much longer I'm going to hold out," it began. The voice was familiar but obviously muffled within a vacuum helmet.  "My ship’s in pieces, the hull must be breached in a dozen places. O2 is running low.  I’m going to have to set the buoy to auto launch and hold the release as long as I can. If you’re hearing this, I let go and odds are I’m dead. And I have no idea what that’s gonna be like, I get this feeling this isn’t going to be your ordinary die-and-wake-up kinda death. It just feels different… "

Eyes widened. It was that last part that did it. Everyone knew of the Respawning. No one ever talked about it. It was like discussing a case of hemorrhoids. It just wasn't discussed, it was simply acknowledged as that dirty little thing everyone had in common. But everyone knew... you always wake up.

The voice hadn't waited for the shock to pass. it continued in it's own lonely way. When I heard my name it brought me back with a slap.

..." Wolf or … what the heck’s his name, that other guy. In the bar. Nice guy. Always liked him. Called me Big Guy. Tell ‘em I did what I could. Took ‘em off Wolf’s trail. Gave him a decent chance. Wolf, buddy, I done my best. Now get the bastards. Get ‘em… don’t let… let, oh crap. Uh… Take my Vengeance out on ‘em, k? make it… make it wor..w… w…”

Vengeance? Yes, the voice had seemed right, now that it was said. All eyes turned toward my friend.

Vengeance looked around the table. He tried a laugh but it came out more hysterical than humorous. "Well obviously here I am..."

We continued to stare. We'd all been through it. But we'd always known what was going on. Sure, most of the time it was over in a ball of flame but there was always that once in a lifetime (deathtime?) chance when it was slow. It was scary as anything, being forced to let loose your grip and slide into that darkness, even knowing that wasn't the end. But no matter the circumstances we always knew what came next.

"Aye, here you are..." Zeb said in a quiet tone.

I nodded. "So then, what was all that?"

"I don't remember any of it,Wolfie. I musta been delirious. Yeah, that has to be it. I swear I don't remember anything like that."

"Well then just what exactly do you remember?" Carnival.

"The fight. The Nomads. The Jumphole. The Cannon fire and the purple bolts, then the fires and the pain. Oh yeah I remember the pain alright..."

"So everything was normal?" I probed?

"Normal!" cried Patricia. "Don't gimme that crap! It's never normal..."

"Well, ok. You know what I mean."

"No. What do you mean? Vengeance squinted at me. I could see he was offended. I decided it was time to let it go.

"OK, OK, it's been a wild day. Let's forget it, OK?" I motioned toward the bar. "Another one for everyone. Everyone in the house!" I proclaimed. The place returned to its normal ruckus as suddenly as it had fallen quiet.

But Vengeance continued to search my face. Our eyes locked as I stared into those deep red eyes. That familiar cold thing crept up my spine and curled around my throat. It took several more ales to force it to loosen its grip.

[-Vengeance-]

The recording had set every hair on my head and everywhere else standing straight up. It was eerie enough hearing your own voice, but  saying these things?

I had no recollection ever saying those words. I remember the battle alright. And the decision to draw the Nomads away from Wolf. I remember thinking it was important to get him outta there.

But why?

Suddenly it made no sense. Desperately I tried to remember. Why would it be so important if Wolf would always be back? Why? Death wasn't the end...

Are you certain of that? came the reply, small and subtle in my head.

I shook my head. But it got me to thinking. The question popped into my head, "Why do we always die in space? Why was that? What would happen if we died anyplace else? In any other way? "

...Yes. What indeed...

Wolf and I locked eyes for what seemed an eternity. What's he thinking? I asked myself. And somehow I know the answer. He was asking himself the same question.

[Erebus]

The figure slid across the stone floor to stand before the ebony pedestal. Across its chest gleamed the crescent of honor and terror, known throughout all the hives: Eclipse.

It is done, my Queen.The metamorphosis is complete.

The Queen of the Nomads looked upon her servant and would have smiled, if that were possible. Her face contorted into a terrible form. Yet, no matter who or what else might have been in that dim room with these two, the maddening beauty of that moment would have captivated any heart. Such was the allure of her presence. As beautiful as the velvet darkness... as beautiful as the cold void of space... as beautiful as crimson blood flowing from a perfectly slit throat... as beautiful as the ball of flame that consumed your enemy in battle. Beautiful, tempting, irresistible as death itself. Even the final death all would know one day. And some, even now.

Her smile widened at the thought.  Even now...

You have done well, Erebus. Well indeed. And set free?

Yes, my queen. And returned.

Excellent! came the hiss. the only sound that might have been heard, had anyone been there to hear it.



-----------------------------------------------------@oOo@-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excellent! the whisper echoed across the stone hall.

Pressed against the cold stone, he'd heard it clearly.

The word almost caused him to lose his tight control over his thoughts. He clamped down with renewed determination. Silence... complete silence...

Slowly the shadow eased itself back along the way it had followed. Around the corner, it padded back into the dark chamber, lay back on the slab, and waited.

[Zebulon]

Given that Carnival was back from the dead and seemed to be making the most of his time with Electra, who herself had just respawned, life as the Voidians knew it seemed to be continuing as always. Death and rebirth.  All except one. His smile looked slightly jaded and he looked a bit out of sorts to say the least.  Vengeance was bothered. Zeb knew something had changed for him. Hearing yourself say such things is enough to drive you crazy. The party went on. Some drunken Gibbons were putting on a floor show that consisted of grabbing items from the crowd and juggling them, passing them back with a flourish once done.

In the commotion Zeb took Wolf to one side. Wolf seemed a little distant.

"Watchwolf, do you trust Vengeance?" asked Zeb.

Through the beer, Wolf replied. "What kind of a dumb question is that Zeb? Of course I trust him. He just.... Well, he just seems a little different. I know we've been through a lot recently and there are some dangerous and serious things needing a closer look, I just dont want one of them being Vengeance."  

Zeb looked up. Vengeance was in conversation with Bomber and Hellboy and on the surface at least, all appeared well.

Zeb sighed. "Mate, I had to ask. What with Carnival opening up on me and all, it just is all a bit unsettling.  I hate all this suspicion.  Gimme a straight fight any day."
This made Wolf smile, "Yeah and you would loose no doubt...!" They both laughed.

"Wolf, what do you know about the glove that Seraphear was wearing? All I know is that if that were ever amplified and used as a mounted gun with a focused core, God only knows what it would be capable of." Wolf had glanced round at Vengeance and the crowd. "There are rumours..." started Watchwolf, "Rumours that the new weapons are deadly."

Zeb frowned. "Yeah I know that, we always...." Watchwolf motioned him to silence.
"Look, that is just it. We respawn. Except my concern is that there is only a finite number of ways that we can do this. We might actualy just die and not come back..."

The two friends stared at each other, hardly daring to speak. A weapon of such capablities in the hands of the Nomads. In unison they both downed the large schooners of port and went back to join the party........

[Seraphear]

"Perhaps I can explain." I sat myself down at the table, and felt strangely delighted at the shocked looks I got. I hadn't even used the gauntlet to distract anyone, they were truly off their gaurd at the moment.

"Who's this?" Watchwolf asked, staring curiously at me. "And why are you wearing a helemt in doors? You look like your ready to bolt."

"This is Seraphear, Wolf. The guy I was telling you about." Zeb watched me cautiously. "And, this time, Seraphear, would you mind actually showing me your face?"

"Of course. I apologise for keeping my visor on last time we me." I smiled slightly. "Security, and all that."

I lifted the helmet off, shaking out my hair. I stared at Zeb, almost daring him to comment.

"Nice locks, man." Watchwolf said, shaking his head. "Very... light."

I wondered once again what the fascination with physical features was in humanity. Surely, it is the clarity of ones actions that should judge the man, not the colour of his hair. I tilted my head to one side, my white hair floating gently, not quite keeping up with my movements. I winked, just for effect. It never has quite the right effect when you have only one eye.

"Yes, yes. I am quite the archetypal villain, aren't I?" I sighed heavily. "I've had this ridiculous white hair since I was born, and I lost my eye in an accident. Not even an exciting one. Just a crash landing."

"Hey, people have gotten worse for crash landings," said Zebulon. "A guy I know lost a leg... although he did get it replaced."

I smiled to myself. Zebulon was clearly more at ease in my presence now. I wondered briefly if he would have been so worried earlier, if he had known that my 3 seconds of control over him nearly killed me.

"The gauntlet." The one called Vengeance spoke out. "Explain."

I looked up, and felt a shock of recognition. He was... he was dead! In the Death Visions, he had been present. But he wasn't dead, and he wasn't alive. Strangely, I felt the gauntlet quiver as I stared at him. I forced myself to turn away.

"The Nomads have a method of mind control. They integrate themselves into a mans body, allowing them to take control." I held up my arm, showing everyone the gauntlet. "To be able to control them fully, they need to be able to read and direct their minds... so a new subcast of Nomad was created. It is housed in a protective material, and called out to probe the minds and conciousness' of others."

I flexed my hand, and closed my eyes. I didn't focus on any specific, but allowed the gauntlet to probe the area around me. I got the surface thoughts of everyone in the bar, but was unable to distinguish between them. To my faint amusement, I caught one female voice as I shut myself off again. She seemed to be admiring a rogue like man who was chatting her up at the bar.

When I opened my eyes, the guys around the table we're staring at the gauntlet. It began reshaping the patterns on its surface again, back to its standard state.

"And there you have it. Don't ask me how the Nomads do it. I have no idea. The only way to get hold of one of these is catch a Nomad wearing one and take it from him." I looked round, smiling. "But I'm sure thats no problem to you."

My gaze settled on Vengeance again. Suddenly, I felt my vision greying around the edges, and shapes were superimposed over my eyes.

A slab with a body lying on it. Nomads No, surely they would not... POWER. My eyes widened in horror as the gauntlet fed me more images. So much power! Is this 'E'? No... I can hear?

You have done well, Erebus, very well.

As suddenly as they had come, the visions faded. I stood abruptly, and raised my arm at Vengeance, the blue glow around the gauntlet becoming violent and agitated. I clenched my fist... and nothing happened. I couldn't exert control. There was something blocking me. He was either in possession of a gauntlet himself... or...

"Zebulon, Watchwolf. I will be watching you." I turned and started storming out of the bar, stopping briefly. "And Vengeance... good luck. You will need it. Especially if I catch up with you again."

I walked out, my coat billowing behind me.

Damn. This is not going well....

[cold_reaper]

If before now I haven`t been convinced it was clear now. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder. First that guy Vengeance showed up. A strange bloke. Big and with those dark red eyes just gave you the chills. Plus I don`t know...there was something about him. Maybe the skin was a little paler than normal, maybe his glance sometimes when no one seemed to be watching. I really don`t know but it just didn`t feel right.

And if I though Vengeance was weird I had a real shock afterwards. While we were sitting down at the table, Carnival came in. The first things you notice about him were the horrific scars that covered him and the blood red eyes. But what was indeed strange came out when you saw the two together. Vengeance and Carnival. They looked so much alike. Almost like they were made out of the same mold. But there was a big difference between the two. Vengeance seemed more human, whilst Carnival seemed to have lost much of his humanity long ago. I could almost see the souls of these two. Both burning bright like fire, but not like mine, but hotter. Years of hard decisions and ruthless actions made these two unlike myself

In fact as I scoped the room, no one of my new companions seemed to be like me. The feeling with which I`ve woken up started to grow. Tired, so tired...and not in a physical way. And lonely. From all the people at this table I stood out as the least sociable. I didn`t have the feeling I fit in. Even Molten Dead and Hood started getting involved in the discussions around the table. But I just sat there. Smoking. And feeling so very lonely. Like all the years I had under my belt and all the decisions I made since so long ago until now were weighting down on my shoulders. After that girl, Electra was it?, respawned(so strangely but... right here) Carnival joined her at the bar. It was so strange. Seeing his eyes you could notice a sudden chill that ran through his body. Almost like the fire inside him stopped burning for a second and he became a mere human again. The party started again, but not for me. I had so much to worry about.

As I looked around the table I wondered why have I been chosen for this? Why me? I didn`t feel that I was good for all of this. Sure I was an excellent pilot and an old Order member. I knew the Nomads and their tech. But this was far too big and to unlike me. I knew everywhere I went in all my life I left behind only destruction and grief. And I just didn`t fit in. My thought were oriented to my interior until the tape started playing the voice of what appeared to be Vengeance. I watched him slowly loosing his grip. He became even more paler and that thing that made me not to feel right when I watched him became more than just an itch. He seemed to be blown away by the tape, and he genuinely didn`t look like he had and recollection about what happened. Maybe he was just delirious, but I don`t know...something just didn`t feel right. After things settled down I just blocked all the world around me completely and started focusing on myself. But then I overheard something that Zeb and the Wolf talked about. Something...disturbing. A weapon...that could bring the real death to us. A chill went up my spine and for a second I was scared. But I didn`t show it. I rarely showed what I really felt."Humans can`t be trusted with eachother`s real feeling" I said to myself, and then I remembered about Zeb and Wolf... "All the more reason I should see Roby right away. Maybe he knows something..."

But as I got ready to leave a guy appeared from the shadows.  "Perhaps I can explain." he said and sat down at the table. And then I hit me. The full force of the soul of this...human. The knowledge and the power he possessed. I looked in the only eye he had and saw his soul. Bigger than Vengeance, than Carnival, than me or Wolf. Bigger that anyone in the room or anyone I met in my entire life. That was the way he appeared to me as I glanced as far inside of him as he let me. But he seemed so tired and torn from the inside. This was indeed Seraphear. The key...or maybe just an aid in the battle in front of us. Then he showed us the gauntlet and explained how it worked and how did he get it. It was incredible. Sure, I heard back when I was in the Order of such devices. But they were only prototypes back then and the Nomads couldn`t fully control them, or anyone. But this thing looked far away from a prototype. I looked at Seraphear and for a moment I surprised a glance from him to Vengeance. He seemed intrigued by him, but at the same time worried and horrified, like countless pictures ran through his head. And then it struck me. "It`s time to leave..." I said to myself. A feeling of unease took hold of me. I felt something, in part related to Vengeance, in part to Seraphear, in part to all around me. I wrote a message to Molten on a piece of paper.

"Warn our friends about this whole situation. And prepare the boys for action. I want you and Dead go back to Freeport 9 and get things moving. Don`t send any messages from here to anyone especially messages regarding our little predicament. We wouldn`t want the Nomads or God knows who else to find out how much we know about all of this. I have something to take care of. Get Dead and get things ready at Freeport 9. We will need all the help we can get. Pyro."

I put the piece of paper in front of him and retreated very slowly into the shadows and made my way out the dinning area. As I got out I started running to the starport as fast as I could. My blood started rushing and I felt my soul burning like I did countless times before. This feeling of unease, of terror, started getting a grip on me. "I need to chill.Things are starting to get even deeper than before" I thought as I ran past the big gorilla that was guarding the entrance to the hangar bays. I flashed my pass to him as I ran. I jumped into the cockpit and started the launching sequence. I lighten a cigarette. But I couldn`t get a grip. "I need to hury...I have the feeling that the real troubles are just now about to start. The Nomads have been playing with us until now. But no more... Their plan goes way past the understanding of us humans, monkey and robots. There is a bigger picture that none of us see clearly. But that guy Seraphear...he has some of the answers...I need to hurry..."

And I launched into the blackness of space.

[Watchwolf]

I was beginning to feel as if I was losing control. Things I had either put in motion or seen to start had changed. Some wildly, some ever so slightly. Yet for me, watching from the inside out, trapped in this frail vessel, while at the same time from the outside in, as if through the eyes of some spirit-self... for me nothing was as it appeared anymore.

My mind drifted back to my encounters with Death himself, back so long ago. It was he who showed me how Death was not to be feared. How Life and Death did not struggle against one another as many believed, but danced the most intricate waltz together. It was then I learned to dance with the Reaper and even play the tune.

Why fear your closest friend, I thought suddenly.

Yes. Why?

There was something about this man. This Seraphear. Something strangely familiar, something familiarly strange. How was it the eye that seemed to see into me also seemed to reflect back to me the vision it saw? Indeed, even the vision I saw myself.

The paradox made me dizzy.

Or was it the beer?

I saw the way he looked at Vengeance. So I wasn't the only one. There was something strange about my friend and I couldn't place my finger on it. Something there, yet something missing.

Yes, definitely too much beer.

I excused myself and made my way to the room I'd been offered by the monkeys. Say what you might about our furry friends, they were most accommodating hosts. And demanding allies. Briefing had been postponed til morning but everyone was expected to be there.

Hangover or not.

I fell into the bed and instantly asleep.


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The dream was tantalizing familiar, yet so foreign as to be completely alien. Being everywhere at once.. within and without, oddly one from all perspectives: Through my eyes, through another's, through some detached third person, all at the same time...

Waking up in that nasty barroom latrine... seeing who? walk out... it couldn't have been, I'd thought at the time. But was it? Was it me? The man/spirit did not look back. Then the thought occurred to me... why should it?

...flying with Annie, "I don't think that's a very good idea, Boss..." "I don't care, Annie! Do it! Just DO IT!"

The sign looming filling the viewscreen, then nothing, then someplace... else... this is not home, I now remember thinking. Or dreaming.

Do you dream within a dream? Was that it? If so, that might explain how I might have died while I was dead...

...the grinning face of the Reaper, our game of dice, or battle above Gammu, all impossibly within the span of time it took to pass through that sign.

...the Shadows... the Voices... the Others... hissings quietly heard not with my ears... Yes! Now I remember. Heard that terrible voice though its owner was silent! Nomads, I knew. Simply knew. The images formed within my mind... at  once terrible and beautiful... a plan of such magnificent artistry and guile, cunning and bold... and I simply knew!

...I said nothing, but they heard me nonetheless. I fled, but not quickly enough. The torture, the soul-wrenching pain of mind and body... all thought torn from me and my memory with it.

Then opening my eyes on the grass...

...and now, now, was I dreaming still? The silent form drifted toward me. The hand raised. The power of that malice pressed down on me.  Hatred. Fury. Vengeance.

I kicked myself across the bed and slapped at the switch. Light erased darkness and the mystery it embraced.

There across the room, sprawled in the chair, snoring quietly, was my friend. Vengeance.

I looked wildly around the room. We were alone.

Was it a dream? I thought, and shook my head.

I removed a blanket from the bed and laid it across my friend. He snorted, took hold of the blanket and curled up in it with a satisfied sigh.

I returned to the bed. I left the light on. Sleep returned reluctantly.

[Seraphear]

I was only a few hundred kilometres away from Primus when I was filled with agony.

"Ouch." I muttered. "Argh. Dammit, argh, what the hell!"

My head and left arm were filled with pain. It was shooting up and down my body, and my vision was going round the bend.

"Seraphear. This is Pyro." A voice came over the com. "I need to speak to you, and I need to do it now!"

"Argh alright damn you but stop whatever your doing to me!" I cried out. The pain had started to escalate, my body screaming in protest.

"What? I'm not doing anything." The voice sounded puzzled and a little alarmed. "Im about 50 metres behind you."

"Then what-" I started to say, before my world collapsed.

I couldn't see. I was blind, and I was unable to move. I felt the gauntlet on my arm, and tried to use it to see if there were any other people around. As I concentrated, it started to contract. I screamed in agony, but every scream made it crush my arm even harder. I could hear a voice swirling around in the darkness.

"Seraphear... you... screamin... answer... coming..."

"HELP ME!!" I screamed as loud as I possibly could. The gauntlet was still contracting, and I could feel the flesh of my arm rupturing beneath its grasp. My vision returned for a split second... just long enough to see the gauntlet crush down, and then split open. My arm wasn't attached to my shoulder. The ruined bones were on the floor of the cockpit, and the inside of the ship was coated in blood.

I screamed and screamed, until my body finally registered the pain. I blacked out. I woke briefly, and automatically tried to use the gauntlet to alert someone to my condition. As I struggled, Pyro docked and blew the door to the cockpit, grabbing my shoulders and trying desperately to pull me out of my Crusher.

I started to fade again... as I did, I saw a face in my mind.

Zebulon! The gauntlet! I... help me, please help me! The expression on his face grew alarmed, he looked down at my shattered arm, and the bloody wound where it was crushed from my shoulder. Horror suffused his face. If you can see me... please... show me!

He nodded, his eyes wide. His mouthed words that I couldn't hear. I looked down, forcing myself awake again, and saw a blue glow surrounding the broken gauntlet. I closed my eyes again, and Zebulons face began to fade. I blacked out.

As Pryo carried my shattered body from the ship, the blue glow around the gauntlet died....

[cold_reaper]

As soon as I cleared the docking ring I started thinking. "What will be the next move of the Nomads?" "and who`s this "E" Character...?Where does he fit in all of this?" And that Seraphear guy, now he is a strange one. But I don`t feel any peril coming from him. Not directly anyway. But he has some answers...It would be swell to talk to him, and as soon as possible. I need to figure stuff out before I get in a new mess..." Thinking of these things I finished my cigarette and noticed something puzzling. "Am I lucky or what?" There he was. Seraphear going God knows where. But I needed to speak to him, and that I needed to do before I met Roby.

I placed my ship right behind his Titanium Crusher. I opened the comm link and said:

"Serapher. This is Pyro. I need to speak to you, and I need to do it know"

"Argh alright darn you but stop whatever your doing to me!"

"What? I'm not doing anything. I`m about 50 meters behind you." I answered to this unexpected response. He seemed to be in pain or fighting someone...or something.

"Then what..."

Nothing. Just horrific screams. "What the...?" I though.

"Seraphear you screaming mate!" Nothing. "Answer me God damn it!" Nothing just more screams." Sunova...Hold on I`m coming." I launched a cruise disruptor at his engines. The cruise drive stopped. I placed the WA1 in parallel with his ship. "I must be out of my mind!" I dressed as quickly as I could in my space suit and I closed the cockpit door. I depressurized the cargo hold and I opened the emergency bay exit. "Holy crap..." Taking my Plasma RPG Launcher I aimed for the bay door of Seraphear`s ship. The door was blasted wide opened. "I knew this would come in handy..." "Here goes nothing..."

I jumped. My blood was on fire, my eyes ore like two pieces of burning coal and I didn`t know what to expect on the other side. The cockpit door was closed, but even through the pressurized door I could hear Seraphear`s screams. I pressed the emergency depressurization button and a hard piece of titanium alloy colsed on the spot where the old cargo hold door once stood. "Hope he forgives me fot that..." After repressurizating the bay, I pulled out my shotgun and I blasted the cockpit door wide open.

Horror. So much blood. I could feel the suffering rushing through my soul making something echo inside of me. But there was no time to meditate. Seraphear was on the floor. His arm was crushed from the shoulder and the gauntlet had a bluish glow around it. He seemed to be battling the pain but something else too. "DAMN IT! I don`t have time for this...I need to go meet Roby..." I though desperately trying to get Seraphear out of the ship. "But I can`t live him behind...He needs to be taken to a hospital."  I placed him in the escape pod and pressed the delayed launch button. I exited the cockpit, blasted the titanium bay door with a WZ - 8 Nuclear charge. I jumped back into my ship and tractored in the escape pod.

"First thing`s first. Let`s get back to Primus." After setting the course back to Primus, I went into the cargo hold and opened the escape pod. Seraphear had passed out. I`ve seen a lot of injuries in my life time and I could plainly see he lost a lot of blood. I didn`t know if I should try and take that thing off his hand. "Nah...I`d better stay out of it. I`m no doctor, and that thing looks broken. It`s never safe to use nomad equipment.".

We approached Primus. I lighten a cigarette. "I smoke to much" I thought while reaching for the m-wave. "Primus? This is FTP Ship Beta 1/1. I have an injured party on board. Request immediate medical units to be present on the landing strip. Also a ship is found at this coordinates. It`s owner is the one injured. Can you please retrieve it for him? Thank you!" "FTP Ship Beta 1/1 all of the required preparations will be made. Please proceed to dock."

The ship steadily stopped. I opened the door. Almost immediately two monkeys came with a stretcher and took Seraphear.

"What the hell happened to him? He`s a mess!" asked one of the primates with an alarming voice.

"I don`t know...I found him like this...will he be ok?"

"We`ll do our best. I can`t say now...he lost a lot of blood. And what is that thing around his arm?"

"You don`t wanna know...Get a technician in there. That`s Nomad tech you`re dealing with"

I stopped and put out my cigarette. "I still have time to go meet Roby...Damn it! Nah...I have to see if Seraphear will be alright...I can`t leave him...not now." And with that I climbed into the ambulance and went to the hospital. In the waiting room it was a complete chaos. Doctors and nurses coming in and out of his room. After a while I stopped one of the doctors I supposed was the lead doctor.

"Will he live?" I asked the chimp that was standing face to face with me with a wise, calm look on his face.

"Yes, I suspect so. We took that thing off his arm. All we can do is wait. We started fixing his arm, but growing bones back is a complicated business and a painful one too. Mind telling me what happened to him?"

"I don`t know...I found him like that in his ship. Can I visit him?"

"Yes, but he`s still unconscious. We gave him something to sleep."

I walked into the room. Seraphear was lying in bead sleeping. He had now calm look on his face. "Good..." I said to myself. I wanted to light a cigarette. "It`s a hospital for God`s sake! Get a grip." a voice in my mind shouted. So I didn`t. Instead, I sat down on a chair in his room. I felt responsible for the life of the man I just saved, that`s why I chose not to go meet Roby. "Maybe this was a mistake...." said a voice in my head. "Maybe this was fate...I was at the right place at the right time...who knows?" replied another. As the sun started to set, I fell asleep. For the first time in years my mind was free of the thoughts that plagued my days. I fell into a deep sleep right there near the man I just saved, in his room. A moment of peace in my burning life.

"No worries for now..."

[cold_reaper]

Omicron Gamma. Planet Crete. In the shady motel, Roby was agitated. His once long, brown hair was now grey and unwashed. His once tidy outfit was now a pile of worn-out clothes. His confident look turned into the look of a mad man on the verge of loosing his sanity. And that wasn`t far from the truth.

"10:25 pm...Where is he dammit? He should`ve been here six and a half hours ago!" shouted Roby in the room desperately.

He paced the room up and down again, as he did countless times in the past hours. "Was I followed? Did something happen to him? He needs to find out the truth...he needs to learn what I discovered...this...this could mean the end of..."

The rushing tide of his thoughts was stopped by a knock on the door. And another one, more violent. "Maybe that`s him..." As he went to the door he put his right hand on the blaster and with the left one he opened the door. But it wasn`t Pyro. Not by a long shot. Instead two men(at least one of them looked like a man) were sitting there. The lights seemed to have been turned off suspiciously, but Roby could make out the blood red eyes of one of the men.

"Roby 'Cannonball' Lancers?"

"Yes...who are you and what do you want?" asked Roby a bit alarmed.

"You have been subjected for deletion. Prepare to die!" As the human looking man finished his sentence, the red-eyed guy pulled out a nomad gun, or better said pulled out his right hand that had attached to it a nomad gun. In the blink of an eye Roby realized that wasn`t your standard nomad weapon. He knew most of the nomad tech, weapons, devices, and that wasn`t one of them. That was something new. He fired a shot with his blaster. And another. But red eyes didn`t even move. He seemed to be covered in some sort of body armor, or the regular weapons didn`t affect him. Instead he pointed the gun at Roby and shot. Roby was blasted to pieces. What was left was a pile of smoking, carbonized body parts.

The two attackers ran into the night. At the same time Pyro woke up in the hospital room of Seraphear...