Katheeri

[Naza Sutera]

"Zefran, I--" When the door opened, Amelia's eyes widened in surprise to see "Ashley" again. She'd said something about not freaking out, but it was too late. "--Wait--What--...What's going on? What are you doing here?"

[Dr. Orange]

"Nothing too impressive." He lifted his arm and gave it a little whirl. The wrist moved smoothly and produced a slight hum as the gears rotated to mimic a real wrist. It got stuck midway through and clacked as Alek took his other hand and nudged it to keep it going. "If anything I might short a system if I plug it in but nothing crazy. The eye however; basic camera." The eye looked normal but there was something off about it's appearance. Slight as it was, it could be noticeable. A metallic ring surrounding a lens to look like a eye.

"What do you think on using them for?" Alek inquired.   

[Kurt]

"It is, new arrival." He tapped on his wrist display shooting him Simo's record. "Orders are orders." He waved over Jess and began moving the supplies "Any idea of when we're departing?"

 

[Tiger Carson]

"I see." Tiger replied back into his headset. "Get him set up, and I'll have someone do orientation so he's familiar enough with the ship.  In so much as areas he needs to know are, and where they are.  As for when we're leaving, General ordered me to get some info out of the guest.  As soon as that happens, we'll be heading out.  If you've got any ideas, now would be the time for them." He looked back to Sitka, trying to think of what he would say next when he was done with Sven.

----------------

Jeena finally came out of the gym, a towel wrapped around her shoulders.  It was now time to take a rest, and it so happened she came upon Hawk.  He too was heading for the rec room. "Didn't expect to see you here." She said as she found him. "Getting restless?"

"More or less." Hawk said, "I'm thinking of taking my Arwing out for a spin to relax.  What about you?"

"Going to the rec room." Jeena said, "Wanna come with?  You look like you could use a little rest."

"I'd prefer to be flying..." Hawk said, "But given where we are, that might not be the best idea.  Sure, I'll go with you." The dragoness nodded as she and Hawk headed down to the rec room. "Going barefoot?" Hawk then asked.

"Just easier to relax." Jeena said, "I'll put some foot wear on later." It wasn't long before they entered the room, and found Renard looking up at the viewscreens.  Of which they were displaying the view of the ground based space port.

"Well, lookie who's here?" Hawk said, "It's the would be magician."

"Hawk... not a good idea to pester him..." Jeena whispered to the bird.

"Relax, I'm just foolin' around." Hawk shrugged with a chuckle.  He then turned to the wolf. "So, you ever been on a worse hunk of junk than this ship?"

--------------------------

Copper finally finished with the reports on the Admiral's condition, and now turned his attention to news reports.  Something of which caught his eye. "So, they finally caught that criminal?" He said as he looked closer. "Same day as when we ran into Zef...  I wonder?.." He then got up, and looked to his door. "Those other Katheeri went through a lot of trouble to get Zefran...  If there is a connection, perhaps our guest has some info?..  One way to find out...  Not much of a hunch, but I've gone on just as little before..." He then headed out of the door, and started on his way to the brig.

[Renardfrost]

Renard looked up to behold the two members of the team. " Oh!    'Lo there!" He said cheerfully, Though only a minor flick of his ear would bteray his minor annoyance at being called a "magician." like some two bit illusionist.

He seemed to regard hawks question carefully. " Well to be honest. Airships where i come from, Mind you we don't exactly have the materials or magic for space travel."  He thought a bit. " An average airship where i come from is held together with steel rivets, magically treated wood, some volatile crystals, and freaking hope!!"  he guffawed making light of just how dangerous wartime travel is back on Axia.


"Nah, This place is definitely nicer than the frigates i have to stow away on just to get anything done in this system. I could certainly get used to this!"
 

[Sylono]

"I see." The Cerinian said after a click of her tongue, not an attempt was made to hide her disappointment, "much of what we have seems rather... situational in applicablility."

Shepherd commented bitterly while clicking something on her device, the projection of the Sanctuary Tiger fizzled and faded out, being replaced with a single compressed executable file.

 "Courtesy of yours truly, we're at least set up with some rather intrusive programs," Shepherd said, emphasizing her own contribution to the forming operation, "all that is needed of us is to get this into the systems of Star Tiger's ship."

Another click and the Sanctuary Tiger was back in view.

"Though, I'd advise we do the same for the spaceport it's currently residing in, it'd be quite suspicious if they were the only ship affected. Beyond this, comes the trickier portion," Shepherd further added, "Doctor do you have any field work experience?" Though it seemed an innocuous question, her eyes asked a more direct question: 'are you going to be dead weight?'

[Zaphyr Stone]

"I'm only here for Zefran." she explained, looking back at the boy with a resigned sigh, "But I realize you're roped into this situation just as much as he is now. I'm willing to help you get out of it, granted we move quickly."

"Just what do you think you can do?" Zefran raised a brow incredulously, "We made a lot of buzz yesterday. I can guarantee we hit the news on every channel."

"First, we should all be on the same page." Aura answered simply, "None of us are getting anywhere fast if we don't all understand the situation."

"Well by all means." Zefran huffed, flopping back onto the bed impatiently.

Aura ignored this and continued on. "The Katheeri are real, as you've seen ample evidence of. We passed into legend centuries ago, and we've intended to keep it that way. We can never return to Lylat."

[Naza Sutera]

Amelia held her mouth open, not sure what to say as she listened to Aura's elucidation. Then she clamped her mouth shut and cast her gaze to the hardwood floor. "...Okay, um..." She didn't know where to begin, as this whole thing is so much bigger than anything she'd ever encountered or experienced. She breathed to center herself, then made eye contact with Aura. "...Let's just take it from the top. "Ashley isn't your real name, is it?"

[Kurt]

"Understood " Sven replied turning his head to look at the new arrival  "I have a few,  none are legal planetside  though. " He chuckled "See ya  on the bridge." He disconnected the call and resumed the boring task of watching over the hanger. 

[Tiger Carson]

Tiger's nose wrinkled up at the suggestion of interrogation techniques that wouldn't be legal planet side.  Such a thing was not a good idea for a first contact situation such as this.  He'd be open to what Sven had to say, but that was as far as it would go.  Tiger had mostly given up such things after his Hellcat days, except when dealing with Venomians.  In this instance, he wasn't dealing with one, but the Katheeri, according to legend, could be as duplicitous, cunning, and dangerous.  However; he didn't want to judge a book by it's cover, he'd find out what he needed.

Once Sven had ended the communique, Tiger then returned to their "guest" at hand. "Sorry about that, official business." Tiger said to him. "Now, where were we?  Ah, right, I need you to speak more plainly, and not in such cryptic terms.  IF time is as short as you say it is, it'll be to both our benefits for you to not be cryptic."

----------------------------

"If you don't have the magic or materials for space travel, how'd you get here?" Hawk asked Ren.  He was surprised by where it was that Ren had come from. "Most civilizations of that level usually don't learn much about the universe until they progress beyond their limitations."

"That is actually a good question." Jeena said as she got on an unoccupied couch, placing her feet on one of the arm rests as she reclined back. "Got a tale you want to share with us?"

----------------------------

Copper soon found his way to the brig, and approached the door, but he waited outside for a moment.  He wanted to hear how well it was going with Tiger's interrogation of their "guest." Which, so far, it seemed to be going about as well as expected so far...

----------------------------

Zera had the Gunwing and Hydrowing in various states of disassembly, working on them both at the same time.  She had also removed the computer cores of five of the six standard Arwings, all three Interceptor Arwings, and their one Defense Arwing.  And the Landmaster had it's power source removed for upgrades.  It was a bit tedious, only helped with low intelligence simple robots doing the more menial work while she worked on the more delicate processes personally.

At the very least, if there was an emergency, she could quickly put the standard Arwings back together, given how little they had been disassembled.  Save for Tiger's Arwing, as it had been through a bit of a rough time during their previous mission.  That one had to have it's weapon systems upgraded, after they were burned out, and while that was going on, the G-Diffuser was also in a low working state at the moment for safety.  It could be powered up if needed, but the ship wouldn't have weapons until she was finished upgrading the systems.  It was times like these that Zera wished she had help, and if only her old friend, Matt, was here...

That was when Mark gave her a buzz on the comms.  She instinctively knew it was him via the tone used, and raised her right hand up to activate the headset. "Zera, you have a call.  Origin: Aquas." Mark's voice came out of the ear piece, "It is by a Matt Snowleopard."

"Really?" She asked, "Is it a secure line?"

"Affirmative." The android replied, "Identity verified, shall I patch it through to your quarters?"

"No, I can take it here." She said, "Please, put it through on the comm monitor."

"Affirmative, patching through now." The machine's voice cut out as the comm monitor in the hangar bay of the ship activated.

"Zera?" The voice came through, sounding soft, though slightly higher pitched, but still firmly masculine. "You there?"

"Yeah, just a second." Zera said as she climbed out of the Landmaster, and walked over to the monitor.  She was wearing her flight suit, though her jacket was off, and she was looking a little dirtied from the work she had been doing. "What's up, Matt?  It's been a long time.  I was actually thinking about you just now."

"Y-you were?" Matt, who was a handsome faced snowleopard, asked with a slight stutter and a blush. "G-gosh, it's been a while, yeah...  Uh, I was just checking in to see if you'd heard the news?"

"Depends on what news you're talking about." She said, not missing a beat.  Though she did notice his blush, and his stutter.  It was actually kind of cute to her, and she couldn't help but smile when she heard it.  However; she got more serious when he mentioned the word news.

"Well, aside from the Katheeri stuff the media just won't stop blabbering about, like they have nothing better to report on aside from Andrew's growing rebellion..." Matt replied, his face showing a bit of exasperation at how single minded the media could be. "I meant the new carrier class that's been worked on is about ready to launch the first of the three completed ships of the class.  I'd heard from Beltino that you may have had a hand in the design of the ships?"

"Maaaaybe." Zera said with a mischievous grin on her face, feeling playful now when Matt mentioned that. "But no, I've been too busy with a new mission to hear.  Good to know though, perhaps it'll actually make the Sanctuary Tiger look like the outdated ship it is?  Same with the Great Fox, that badly defended thing it is."

"Haha, I'm sure it will." Matt said, "Hey, maybe when you're done with the mission, we could, y-you k-know...  Haa-hang out or s-something?  We haven't caught up in a while..."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Zera said with a smile, "Anything in mind?"

"W-well, maybe dinner, a movie or something?" Matt asked, his cheeks turning redder.

"You mean like a date?" Zera asked in reply, her eye brow raising up, though she was hoping he'd say yes.

"Y-y-y-yeah." Matt managed to stutter out, "Zeh-zera, wuh-would you go on a d-d-d-date with me?  Ah-ah-after your mission that is?"

"If you can wait that long." She said with a smile, though it faded with the reality of the situation coming back to her. "To be honest, I don't know if we'll be done quick...  This could be a long one, actually, my gut feeling says this is going to be a long mission..."

"I-i know..." Matt said, "I kneh-knew what I was getting into wih-with that...  Buh-but I'm willing to wait.  However long it takes, actually, Zera, I...  No, it's stupid of me to say..."

"Nothing's stupid Matt." Zera said, looking right into the screen. "What did you want to say?"

"I've... uhhhh.... been attracted for a while now...  To you..." Matt finally said.  Zera then smiled, and looked with a reassuring expression into the screen.

"Matt, I've kind of felt the same way, but was a bit scared to admit it." She said, "I'm glad you worked up the courage to finally ask.  Tell you what, if I can swing it, maybe we can pick you up on the way if we swing by Aquas?  I know it wouldn't be much of a date, but I could show you around my pride and joy, even if she has her warts."

"Ruh-really?" Matt asked, "You don't have to, I can wait, honest."

"Not going to make a promise, but if I can, I will." Zera said, "Life is too short as they say.  Besides, you're cute when you get flustered like that." Now that caused Matt's face to turn completely red from embarrassment.  He had to look away a bit before he could look back to her.

"Wow, um... thanks..." Matt said, his blushing getting brighter. "I'll keh-keep my expectations of you passing by low at the moment.  But if you do, let me know.  I'll s-see if I can s-swing it with the commander on my own expedition here.  See you later then, and I hope you get to see your work in action soon."

"Same here, take care, Matthew." Zera said with a sweet expression, blowing a kiss which made Matt blush even brighter still, and the communique ended.  Zera then went back to work with enthusiasm, at least something good seemed to be coming out of this, and she resolved to double her efforts to get the vehicles up to spec.

[Dr. Orange]

On 28/09/2017 at 9:25 PM, Sylono said:

 Shepherd further added, "Doctor do you have any field work experience?" Though it seemed an innocuous question, her eyes asked a more direct question: 'are you going to be dead weight?'

"It's been a while since the accident..." He trailed off a little. He caught glance of Shepherd eyes and got the message. Though he was a little worried about field work, since the research took off he always had assistants and interns to do the foot work. Alek had too much pride to say that. Might as well get the exercise. Alek presented a slight grin, "but I can still kick. What were you thinking? What's the program designed to do?"

[Sylono]

At the question, Shepherd returned a smile of her own, mirroring a kit showing off a cool new toy.

"I'm rather glad you asked, this little worm is a product of my siblings and I, we dubbed it: Rat King." The vixen stated pridefully, she figured she'd have to beg the others for forgiveness some time in the future, "It's an infiltration and disruption bug, as that would suggest, it aims for sensory equipment, cameras get stuck in thirty second loops and automation for alarm systems get isolated from their triggers."

Her smile faltered as she switched the device off and tucked it away.

"Though admittedly, if I had a week to examine the port's systems, I'd be able to control the worm's effects to make it less conspicuous." Uncapping the bottle, Shepherd took a swig as she continued on.

"Doing it this way means as soon as it starts infecting, we have to work fast, someone's bound to notice at some point," She sighed, risky missions and a time restraint were an awful mix, between her blue fur and the man's cybernetics their ability to blend was... less than ideal.

"I wont have you doing anything too strenuous, but I need you there if we do find the Cryptid, you've already made him an offer and I'm certain he'd at least appreciate the risk you'd have put yourself through to get to him."

[Renardfrost]

Renard looked back and forth between the two. " Well.. We have the Magic, but it's.. finicky."

he Shifted in his seat. " you see, the Muspel system, where my world, Axia is located, Sits smack in the middle of what your scientists would call a 'Hyperlane Nexus'. "

The tapped his chin a bit in thought. " the point is. sometimes, if conditions are right, portals have a habit of.. just opening up." We're working on getting more reliable results but the most we can do for now is just chart their openings as best we can and plan accordingly. I jumped at the chance to come here. The portal to Lylat opens the least."

[Tiger Carson]

"Huh, interesting." Jeena said as she mused. "So you basically come from a somewhat different dimension then?"

"That might be a bit of a stretch." HAwk said to Jeena. "More than likely, he's from a pocket dimension by the sound of it.  Either way, pretty isolated.  I bet you don't get a lot of visitors, huh?"

[Zaphyr Stone]

"No," her small laugh rode the coattails of her exhale, "My name is Aura. My colleague and I were sent here to find and retrieve Zefran."

"Your colleague." Zefran raised a brow, "Wouldn't happen to have been that big dude that crashed through the hospital window, would it?"

"He...has a bad habit of making a scene." Aura grimaced, "We were supposed to keep a low profile, but that didn't work."

"Obviously."

----

Sitka laughed at this, opening his eyes to face the brutish feline.

"I have all the time in the world. Look, I understand you're concerned about the safety and well-being of your people, but you have my word no one is in danger here."

[Naza Sutera]

"--Okay, um..." Amanda had so many questions. How did Aura track them down? What's going to happen to Zefran? What's going to happen, period? She tugged on her collar to vent the heat from her flushed body and sat down on a nearby accent chair. "Okay, so what happens now?"

[Tiger Carson]

"Pffft, no one is in danger here?" Tiger repeated Sitka's words with a questioning tone. "Let me show you something..." He then turned on one of the monitors to a news feed.  One that was talking about the recent events.

"And things aren't looking so good on the war front." A news reporter spoke into the camera. "With recent events, and word of the fabled Katheeri being real, the Oikonny Rebellion is growing bolder by the day.  We also have footage of the alleged katheeri who broke into Corneria Medical, where it is rumored by some that one of the others had escaped.  Here's the footage." The narrator then described what appeared to be Sitka flying and smashing through the window of the hospital.  The footage was quite amateurish as the camera was shaky. "And with others making bold statements that they have seen a katheeri or know someone who has been harboring them, rumors have been spreading of Andrew's forces trying to get to those who say they-" Tiger then cut it off.

"That was just one of many channels reporting on the stir you caused." Tiger said, "They haven't been shutting up about it since it happened yesterday.  And before you say that this Andrew doesn't pose a threat to you, you should know, he's the nephew of the mad scientist Dr. Andross.  A mad man who plunged the entire Lylat into war over eight years ago, a war we're all still reeling from to this day in some form or another.  Andrew has gathered many who were followers of Andross, and if he gets a hold of any of you, he'll try to get info from you.  Any technology he can gain from your kind, could be a disaster for us all...  And, well... see for yourself..."

Tiger then changed to a feed that was focused entirely on the war front, and a story that had been developing for some time. "The front on Bespar's moons has been going poorly for the CDF." The anchor, a female shiba inu, said, "Reports have been coming in that the rebellion's tactics are making it increasingly difficult for action to be taken.  It has gotten to the point that the Legendary Star Fox mercenary group has been called in to route this front along with the Pulsar Monkeys and the Comet Lynx teams.  We should be thankful that Andrew doesn't have access to Andross' full technological resources, otherwise, there might be true concern for these teams.  And now on the Fortuna front-" Tiger then cut it off again, feeling the point was made.

"We may not be a threat to you, but Zefran's life is in danger right now." Tiger said, "Your brazen actions spoke of desperation.  Well, stay desperate.  If the secrets your kind have fall into the wrong hands..." He didn't finish the statement, feeling he'd made the point fully and clearly now.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel exited the hospital, putting on his sunglasses as the sun shone down upon him. He attempted to find his motorcycle, but could not find it. He took out his phone and turned on his vehicle tracking app. It revealed that it was several kilometers away, in the nearest CDF compound.

"That's very strange," he commented. He then looked up to see an even stranger sight: a robot dressed in a CDF lieutenant colonel's uniform, cap and all. The robot approached the dragon.

"You must be Maj. Pawel Chmielnicki," said the robot with a distinct Helvetic accent. "I am Lt. Col. Sebastian Georges Richeliu, your CO for the duration of this mission. You can also refer to me as your boss or leash." Pawel stared at Lt. Col. Richelieu before speaking.

"Lemme guess... my father ordered you to babysit me so I don't step out of bounds."

"Ah!" exclaimed Sebastian. "Babysitter! That's it! Yes, I am your babysitter. Now, onto more pressing matters: where the Katheeri is. CDF-ID matched the license plate on that Volvo that whisked the subject away. Now, it's a rental, but we managed to find out the rentee's basic details, as well as address: Amanda Cimmaron, living at 14325 Ambria Parkway, The Lofts at Ambria Park. Unit 412 B."

"Excellent," stated Pawel. "Now, I guess you're gonna take point on this one, hm?"

"Actually," began Sebastian, "I want *you* to lead this. I'll be right behind you." Pawel raised his eyebrow, then smirked. "Where's your vehicle?"

"Right this way," said Sebastian. The two then moved to a nondescript dark blue sedan, and the duo got inside. The automobile sprung to life, and off they went.

[Arkenova]

In the meanwhile, a youthful albino, donning goggles with his purple hoodie covering over his head, was outside and investigating on his own for the timebeing. Everyone in the affiliated faction he was in had been blabbering and speaking about something called a Katheeri as of late since of yesterday's incident. According to the code of the Underground, when something that rare and important pops up for grabs, it's a free-for-all; something of a hunt and whoever is successful would get the utmost recognition but the individual in question was focused more on about the possibilities.

Sure, it'd be nice to be recognized but the ego stroke is just one thing.

The Corneria Medical Hospital was a surefire spot where the incident occurred; this time, he was looking for clues and not getting busted by the CDF as per usual. However, for some reason, he seemed to had picked up some mumbles from nearby..

On 11/5/2017 at 9:37 PM, Arminius H O Fiddywinks said:

"Now, onto more pressing matters: where the Katheeri is. CDF-ID matched the license plate on that Volvo that whisked the subject away. Now, it's a rental, but we managed to find out the rentee's basic details, as well as address: Amanda Cimmaron, living at 14325 Ambria Parkway, The Lofts at Ambria Park. Unit 412 B."

After the dark blue sedan zoomed ahead, the simian had an alternate plan with keeping mostly lowkey in the process while rushing towards the destination. He knew of some shortcuts around due to living in these streets and if the CDF interfered, well, guess that just means he gets to have a little fun messing with the cops. En route, he eventually hijacked a motorcycle and revved at full speed ahead weaving through traffic incoming and outgoing.

Due to his reckless driving, he caused nearby drivers on the street he was on to swerve and stop in panic if not angrily yell or even honk their horns.

'Ambria Parkway..why there? Hmm..' he thought to himself as his goggles programmed the secret GPS signal for directions towards the address.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"The sooner I can get Zefran and my colleague together and out of here, the sooner we can get out of everyone's hair. We've caused enough irreparable damage as is." Aura explained.

"I refuse to go anywhere with you until I know Antoine is safe." Zefran growled, "He was in trouble when I last spoke with him, and if it hadn't been for your colleague, I would be there now."

"You know, I have to get my own people out of trouble-" she stopped herself with a frustrated growl, "Okay. You win. We will go and make sure your friend is safe." She turned to Amanda, "I wouldn't dream of asking any more of you. You don't have to come with us."
----
"I realize we've...I have made a bit of an entrance." Sitka chose his words carefully, "But I assure you we don't mean you any harm. We don't intend to involve ourselves with Lylat any more than we already have. You seem to know a little about this boy already. Help us retrieve him, and you have my word, we'll vanish. It's clearly something the both of us want."
----
"Antoine Chevalier, single, male, 30."

Antoine's left ear burned from where he had been clapped earlier. The last 24 hours had been wild, to say the least. He had been sold out, likely by someone from Zoness looking to cash in on Zefran's blunder. That boy was an emotional idiot, but at least he was safe. No one knew about him. He would face the music alone.

He stood still as he was scanned for the umpteenth time. They really didn't trust him to not have somehow procured a weapon. He was flattered, but he wasn't that smart.

"Subject is outprocessed and ready for transport." an armed guard spoke into his communicator.

[Tiger Carson]

Finally, things were starting to go somewhere.  Tiger did hide his satisfaction though, but there was still something Sitka seemed to be hiding.  At the very least though, he was starting to be more cooperative. "My employers in the CDF do wish for you and your kind's best interests." Tiger replied, "As you can tell, it's not a good situation or time to be involved with the Lylat.  At any rate, locating Zefran is of high importance.  Either by figuring out where he's at, or where he'll go, and we'll get him.  At which point, and with any luck, the female katheeri who stopped me from chasing after Zefran with a fight that ended in a rather...  Awkward kiss out of no where... Will be with him, and we can then get you three back to where you want to go."

---------------

Copper was waiting outside the door still, and heard what was going on.  It was almost time to come in and ask his question to their guest, which if he was right, would indeed lead them to Zefran.  It was simply a matter of time at this point.

--------------

Kola had now found her answer.  It was Amanda Cimmaron who had been the reckless woman. "I can't believe she'd be so reckless...  All those videos, that career..." She shook her head. "I better get a move on with this.  But who do I take with me?.." She pondered a bit, Zera would still be busy with the vehicles, Copper was doing his own research, so he was a potential companion.  Tiger was busy questioning the guest, Sven and Jess were doing their assigned tasks, but could be brought with her.  Then there was Jeena and Hawk who weren't busy at the moment.  And finally Ren, the enigma who could be helpful.

The squirrel then got up, and headed out to first find Hawk and Jeena.  Their help would be the most desirable for finding Zefran and Amanda, and to give her some good back-up muscle.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"This woman," started Pawel, staring at Amanda Cimmaron's personal information. "Her bipolar disorder's got her into a few predicaments: multiple psychotic episodes, a car accident where she deliberately drove into a tree, and a brief stay in Corneria City State Hospital are just a few incidents."

"Hmm, but I don't think her mental instability could lead to the decision she chose," said Sebastian, pulling up on the street where Amanda lived.

"Really?" said Pawel. "This Amanda Cimmaron is a ticking time bomb, and the clock stops only when she shoves down a bunch of prescription pills, which have a side effect of suppressing every thought except for the little voice in her head that tells her to off herself."

"You don't sound very cordial towards her, and you haven't even met her," commented Sebastian, who pulled the vehicle up to the curb.

"She is obstructing a federal investigation," answered Pawel. "I'll have her head for this." The irate dragon scanned the building, and left the vehicle. Sebastian followed him, turning the car off and locking the doors. Pawel looked around to try and find the car, but to no avail. He then moved to a computer console located at the loft's parking garage's entrance. Using his CDF access codes, he attempted to locate Amanda's vehicle, and found it on the second floor. However, there were two vehicles registered in her name in this garage at one time, although the second was a rental, and returned to the agency only a short time ago.

"She rented a car, even though she already fucking owned one. Goddamn young people these days... Come on, let's get inside." Pawel, along with Sebastian, moved into the building, showing their IDs to the doorman. They shuffled into the elevator, and selected the fourth floor. The lift ascended, much more slowly than what Pawel would have liked. "Come on, come on, come on..." he whispered to himself.

"Are you alright, Major?" asked Sebastian. "You seem restless."

"Of course I'm restless!" said Pawel. "This lady's slipped away from me twice! I'll be damned if I let it happen for a third time." The elevator stopped at the fourth floor, and opened its doors. Pawel rushed out, with Sebastian struggling to keep up. He eventually happened upon Unit 412 B.

[Naza Sutera]

"I want to see this through to the end," Amanda said with conviction. "If there is anything you need, I want to help."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Pawel pressed the doorbell for Unit 412 B. While his face was fine, due to the impressive work of the doctors at the hospital, Sebastian could not help but notice the blood on the dragon's officer's jacket. Curious, he inquired about it, although he read the situation report from yesterday, and knew the answer to his question.

"Major, you have a lot of blood on your jacket. What happened?"

"I cut myself shaving," replied Pawel flippantly.

"Ho ho, funny man," said Sebastian. "Well, I'd be irritated at everything and everyone too, if I was run over, cut in the face with a shower of glass, tackled, and had some lady run from me twice-"

"Is this amusing to you...?" said Pawel "...Sir?"

"Amusing?" asked Sebastian. "No, no, not really. I've had my fair share of bad luck. Just look at me." He outstretched his arms slightly, in order to show his fully robotic figure, as Pawel knew that the lieutenant commander had his biological body totally devastated in a horrendous accident. "But, I do find this all to be... fascinating."

"Fascinating? You find this fascinating?"

"Yes. I mean, we're all after this one young man, this Zefran, who is actually a member of a long-lost race of powerful, enigmatic aliens who may or may not possess some of the greatest riches and technological wonders in the galaxy. Everyone, from mercenaries to thugs to governments wants Zefran. He's a sort of... ah, what is the word? Plot device? Yes, I think that is the word. He's the man we want. We all want. And that will obviously lead to conflict as he leads us to the ultimate goal, the Big Dumb Object, so to speak: Aiolius. The land of the Katheeri, supposed to hold the greatest treasures ever. That seems like something straight out of a film, no?"

"Yeah, I guess it does," replied Pawel, scratching his shoulder. "So what does that make us?"

"The protagonists, of course!" replied Sebastian elatedly.

[Naza Sutera]

The doorbell rang, causing Amanda to nearly jump out of her skin. "Excuse me," Amanda said to her two guests before slipping out of the room. She had a sneaking, nervous suspicion that that the doorbell had just pronounced her doom, and what waited outside her door was the end of life as she knew it. She tiptoed downstairs, careful not to make too much noise, and creeped up to the door. She swallowed hard, dreading the idea of looking through the peep hole. Nonetheless, she centered herself, and took a look.

Her heart dropped into her stomach, and she threw her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Shit. No, no, no, no...

Backing away from the door, she turned tail and bolted upstairs.