Admiral Vorsethaine sat in his command chair as silent as his ship. He was intensely angry, Hell-bent on his revenge and the long-awaited fulfillment of a plan he'd been working at for years. Yet he was also impressed and astounded. Never in his life had he met any other to cause him such trouble; the fact that the enemy captain was a female further amazed him.

Impressive or not, at this stage in his plot he could allow no interference. The enemy captain had organized an effort that had halted the invasion of Tarces. The invasion had seemed a foolish plan to him to begin with, really. The silly little planet and its residents were scarcely worth the effort to try to conquer. The only problem was that the halt of the invasion had alerted his superiors to a problem, which could complicate his own plans.

A communication came to his private console. He looked down to receive the latest news from his cohorts on the homeworld. Upon seeing the message, he smiled.

"Home fleet sabotage: Successful. Imperial Guard neutralization: Successful. Military takeover: Successful. Governmental takeover: Successful, assassination a success. The Home Pack is in complete support of our new leader. We await your return, Emperor Vorsethaine."

He quickly contacted the fleet hiding near Tarces.

"Attention, loyal soldiers of the Fleet: This is your new Emperor speaking! We have reached a historical point in our existence... the fool who governed us is dead! Now our military holds the power, as it always should have... the fools on this planet will pay for their resistance. Your new orders are as follows: Upon my orders, destroy the creatures from orbit with the weapons of your ships! Leave no survivors!"

As the crew of Comet Chaser cheered loudly, Vorsethaine contacted his Second on board the Gaia Fang.

"Grange, our moment has at last come...all who supported me will be rewarded, but all who failed and turned their back on us will pay. I want you to give command of Gaia Fang to another commander and take a covert operation team to the planet surface. Bring me back that traitor Cirtha and her friend that killed Dertcha. Upon completion, I shall grant you the position of Fleet Admiral."

"Sir," the Comet Chaser communications officer reported. "We have at last acquired the enemy distress signal that you requested."

"Do it," he answered shortly. "Have the shuttles prep the holographic decoy and the sensor jammers."

The military funeral ceremony on Tarces had been an emotional event. It was all the worse for Vearth and Ens. Rose with Searsk having been lost. After the event had nearly finished, Ens. Rose noticed that Cirtha was not present. Curious, he went to look for her.

He found her alone at the edge of a high hillside, looking out at the horizon. She was silent as he approached. Even as he stood nearby, she remained so.

"May I sit down?" he finally asked.

"Of course," she answered softly. "What a ridiculous question. You are likely the only friend I have here after this disgusting course of events."

"Why did you leave the ceremony?" he asked, sitting down nearby.

"I didn't feel that I belonged there," she replied.

"What are you talking about?" Ens. Rose asked in disbelief. "You fought just as hard and risked just as much, if not more than anyone else out there."

"It was my people that attacked," she reminded. "Certainly none of the people here want to see me after that, after some of their friends and relatives were lost."

"They're having a feast in honor of the soldiers," Ens. Rose told her, "which includes you. That came from the Base Commander. Everyone here knows what you did and what you risked by doing so. Come on; let me take you back. You must be hungry."

He stood up and held out his hand. "We pledged our friendship to the death, remember? It seems that death didn't come for us, so we're still bound to that."

"Quite true," she admitted with a short laugh. "It would be bad etiquette to forget that."

As she took his hand with a grin and stood up, they were both surprised by Vearth as he arrived there.

"There you two are," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Hurry up; they're holding up the food waiting for you two and I'm starved."

As they headed back to the base, Cirtha handed Ens. Rose one of her pistols. He blinked.

"A symbol of our alliance," she said, spinning the other on her finger. "Bonds formed in battle are some of the strongest, my human brother. The pistols are a set; now you have one and I have the other. As long as we keep them we can never forget our friendship."

"I understand," he answered, accepting the holster as she handed it over as well. "Thank you."

"Oh," she said, suddenly grinning, "I will be expecting you to give me back my shoulder cannon, though."

The Tarcesian fleet had dispatched some small vessels to clear debris as their damaged ships were recovered for repairs. It was amazing how bravely they had fought to defend their home, even as outgunned as their fleet was. Unfortunately, many had paid the highest price for their bravery.

"It's still quiet," Com. Ison noted as they stood on the bridge, watching the viewscreen. "Thankfully; it will give these poor people a chance to clean up and recover from this mess."

"I have to wonder how long it's going to remain so quiet," Capt. Gamble said in response. "They withdrew, yes... but, how far? We already know that our sensors don't detect their ships when they're... submerged, or whatever."

"Something else is bothering you," Counselor Gengo noticed. "What is it?"

"That other captain," Capt. Gamble answered. "It's almost as if I can feel it. He's out there somewhere, angry, plotting and biding his time. Judging by what we've learned of him, he doesn't like to lose; add to that the fact that a female has thwarted him. This isn't over."

Vorsethaine sat in a dark medical room, undergoing the painful process of having a multiple-optics eyepiece installed where his eye had once been. The cybernetic apparatus would allow him to see in a variety of ways, including infrared and such. Most of the workings were concealed in the eye socket, where it was attached; the exterior of the device looked like an eye patch with several tiny lenses attached to it.

The benefits of the new eye still didn't ease his damaged pride much. He was furious that he had so underestimated his new enemy and suffered this injury as a result. His only consolation was that he would not make that mistake again. Every battle he survived made him just a little wiser.

As he sat up and put his officer's coat and hat back on, his communications officer entered and saluted. He nodded, buttoning his coat.

"Report," he said after the officer had dropped the salute. "Have all preparations been finished?"

"Yes, sir," the officer answered. "The projectors are in place and cloaked, as are the jammers."

"Very good," Vorsethaine commended. "Activate the decoy and start sounding the distress signal. Keep us in Warp Dive as we enter the area to wait."

The feast and celebration of the heroic efforts of the soldiers that had fought off the invading Renac forces was quite an event. There was quite a considerable amount of eating, drinking and even a little bit of rowdiness. It seemed that the Tarcesians were going to bounce back quite well from the recent developments.

Midway through the celebrating, Cirtha had stumbled off to find a place to rest; she was apparently a complete stranger to the effects of alcoholic beverages.

"So!" Vearth suddenly said, more than slightly intoxicated. "You and she seem to be getting along real well... when's the first litter of pups?"

Ens. Rose stared at him in complete silence for a minute before replying, "Okay... I should point out a couple of things, my drunken friend. First, I don't think that kind of cross breeding is genetically plausible. Secondly, it's not like that at all. She's more like the sister I never had."

"Hey!" he answered loudly. "I...knew tha... I'm not as funk you drank I am!"

Having said that, Vearth plopped backwards into his seat, which toppled over with him on it and crashed to the floor. Ens. Rose said absolutely nothing, just sipped his drink and struggled to keep a straight face.

The next morning, after all the sleeping it off and such was done, things returned to normal, more or less. Ens. Rose and Vearth were helping the ground crews tend to some of the damaged vehicles. Cirtha had gone to assist the weapons detail.

Midway through the day, Cirtha came to Ens. Rose and Vearth with some odd news.

"The Base Commander tells me that one of his lookouts claims to have seen a single ship land on the far side of the deep woods," she told them. "I asked to go have a look just in case. I have an odd feeling this is more trouble."

"The light APC is still in good shape," Vearth offered. "It can carry the three of us and a couple of other soldiers."

"Good idea," she agreed. "Get us two volunteers and let's go have a look."

"Something wrong?" Com. Ison asked, stepping up next to her.

"This just feels wrong," she responded. "Find out if all ships have been accounted for."

After a moment, they discovered that all remaining ships had in fact been accounted for. None were missing; certainly none had wandered so far as the signal they were being sent.

"It's a trap," Com. Ison observed. "Someone's trying to lure us out by ourselves."

"I know who it is," Capt. Gamble said. "It's pretty obvious."

"That enemy Captain," Counselor Gengo realized.

"Yes, but something's missing," the Captain noted. "Every time he has led any major attack since we met, there's been something else going at the same time. Regardless, we're not going to investigate the signal. Let's see if we can make him angry enough to come looking for us."

Cirtha, Ens. Rose, Vearth and two soldiers had taken the APC to investigate the earlier reports. They had, in fact, just located a Renac stealth dropship. Just as they did, the vehicle came under heavy fire. The front drive wheels were destroyed, rendering the vehicle inoperable.

The five of them dove for cover quickly. Once they were at least relatively safe for a moment, Cirtha shook her head.

"This isn't right," she informed them. "That was a perfect ambush. They could easily have killed us."

"Well, what does that mean?" Vearth asked, drawing his pistol.

"It means they're not here to kill us," she replied simply. "Aside from that, I have no idea."

A group of seven Renac in very effective camouflage armor and clothing emerged from the forest momentarily and disappeared onto a section of trees closer to their position. Cirtha wrinkled her nose.

"What is it you people say in this sort of situation? Crap?" she muttered. "That's a Covert Operation team. I think I know why they're here now."

Ens. Rose drew the pistol she had given him and the energy pistol he'd been issued, watching for the Renac CO team.

"Why are they here, then?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"It's Vorsethaine, I'm sure of it," she answered. "He's certain to have heard by now that I deserted and helped this military. Now he'll want me back, to be tried as a traitor... to be made an example of. He'll likely have sent for you two, as well. You'll be tried for harboring me and aiding in my efforts to defect."

A shot from a nearby tree put down one of the soldiers. Everyone else scattered, trying to locate the shooter. Just then, three of the CO team leapt from hiding places in the trees. Two were armed with energy pistols, one with a large, odd-looking rifle of some kind.

The other Tarcesian soldier tried to fire at the nearest of them, but the Renac CO soldier grabbed his wrist, yanking him forward and snapping his neck with a brutal chop. Cirtha leapt up, using a tree limb to raise herself and kick one of the others in the face with both feet. Ens. Rose blasted the other while he was distracted, grabbing his large weapon before they and Vearth backed away, watching for the remaining four CO team members.

In the center of the path up ahead stood the remaining four. One of them, a brown furred male with gray streaks was much different from the others, though. He wore a solid black armor over his camouflage uniform, and a black helmet with a heavy black visor over his eyes. The visor had a cluster of three small lenses on either side, giving him an almost arachnid look. He was carrying only a rifle on his back and had a pair of metal claws attached to the end of his left gauntlet.

"Grange..." Cirtha growled, staring at him. "Aren't you getting a bit old to keep leading your Covert Ops teams?"

"Fine words to come from the mouth of a traitor," he remarked. "You've obviously forgotten your place. What a shame... you know, I always liked you. I almost regret what will happen to you when you are returned."

"I'm not going back! " she snarled her response. "I would rather die right where I stand, do you understand?"

"I'm afraid that my orders don't allow that," he informed her, snapping his fingers. "I suppose we'll just have to take you by force."

The other three readied their weapons, as Grange seemed to literally vanish into his surroundings. Cirtha fired a shot at the CO soldier charging her, but he rolled out of the way and returned fire. As Cirtha ducked the shot by mere centimeters, Vearth and Ens. Rose fired at the other two.

"Vearth, cover me!" Ens. Rose called as he hefted up the large weapon he'd recovered. "I'm going to try to use this thing!"

Vearth took what little cover there was, trying to keep firing so the soldiers would keep their heads down. Ens. Rose called loudly to the soldiers so that they'd turn his direction and then fired the weapon. The weapon kicked hard, discharging a wide burst of energy that struck both of them. Both of them flew back several feet and crashed to the ground, not moving.

Before he could do anything else, an unseen attacker slashed him across the chest and knocked him to the ground hard. Vearth caught just a glimpse of a transparent shape of some kind before a pair of metal claws ripped through his belly from behind. As Vearth fell, Cirtha leapt at the unseen assailant. She was grabbed by the arm and slammed to the ground.

"Too old, am I?" Grange taunted, de-cloaking with the claws at Cirtha's throat and a small energy pistol to her head, pinning her. He grinned smugly at Ens. Rose as he said, "now... you will surrender, my brave friend. Both of you will return with me... or I will grant you the privilege of watching her die."

Ens. Rose twitched angrily, but then reluctantly set the weapon in front of him. He dropped the pistols nearby and raised his hands, glancing at Vearth. Vearth made a subtle quieting gesture with his finger and winked. He lay back as he had fallen as Grange led them away.

As soon as they were out of visual range, Vearth struggled to his feet, moving as fast as he could to get to the communications relay on the APC...