H.M.A.S Badger ~ Online Æther Ship ~ Member's Wanted

[MWBailey]

The Beau had a device on board that was developed and had become the norm in his home dimension (well, almost all of the ship had been thus, more or less, except the most recent additions). Jack didn't use it much in the current dimension, since he didnt have anybody, much, that he wanted to contact. The device was called an 'aetherphone," and it used vibrations and emanations, propagated and controlled by emitters and other circuits within the device itself, within the ambient free aether to carry messages. It worked much like radio, but with greater range and clarity. low-power units could thus be used to communicate over gigantic distances, and even from dimension to dimension, if conditions and settings were optimal. Jack's Aetherphone, however,was a recalcitrant machine that apparently only worked when it felt like it -- so Jack had invested, early on, in a wireless transceiver. the aetherphone thus still hung on the wall adjacent to the steerage and fire control banister, but was hardly ever used, and had not been used in several months as of the venusian planetfall.

Thus, when it began to ring, and kept on despite his lack of faith in the device, it was a bit of a shock. It was a greater shock still to hear Brantley's voice on the other end. "Jack," he said, "you hare-brained malcontent, you're one lucky son-of-a-somethin', you know that?  Not only have you managed to remain a necessary element, but you've managed to royally snarl a pocket of timelines that were already so snarled that Sally has had to convene the entire committee just to send a routine recon patrol through. The Drene-vah and their cute lil lines of firey script have set the alternate permutation index higher than anywhere, anytime, in the entire history of causal regulatory policing! And now there you are, in the thick of it. You're at a bona fide historical pivot, boy, and if you screw this up, Sally's gonna lock you in a cell on our Pluto and throw away the key. She might even have the Bailiffs lose your cell number!"

"Now, don't ask questions, Jack, just fire up the first ring of the field and swerve to quadrant delta. NOW!" Jack did as he was told, surprisingly enough, and barely avoided getting creamed by an aerial impact from a very territorial giant vulture.
"
Use your rocket calliope on the beastie, Jack," Brantley advised. "Just one bank at close range should do it. And keep the field up! it's the only way you'll survive the day! Just provide whgatever support you get called on to give, and go down and pick 'em up when they ask for it -- and they will, believe me. Thats all Sally'll let me say, Jack. Good hunting!" and the aetherphone went dead again.

"Hello? HELLO!? Well, ain't that a helluvva note..." HE did as instructed on "the beastie," and teh vulture exploded into a cloud of feathers, blood, and less mentionable substances.

Jack? Kirza's going to fire her plasma gun, and we need a gatling burst aimed about fifty yards south of the bolt. you copy? Bailey said in his head.

Yep, let 'er rip, he thought back.

The bolt showed brightly on the 'tank's display, and Jack set the sighting control, set the numbers that appeared into the setting controls for the gatling, pulled another lever he didn't use very often and teh gatling dropped from the deck, through the hold, flipping over in the process, and a spring-loaded dual-flapped trapdoor on the keel of the scow flipped downward like bomb bay doors, and the gatling poked out, turned and depressed and fired a short burst, the newfangled tracers mixed with the exploding rounds marking their passing as they passed easily through the spherical field, and then hammered into the cloud cover. On the screen, twelve or more large shapes exploded into clouds of dots as another flock of the huge birds was reduced to feathers and detritus.

DIRECT HIT! both Bailey's and mingh's voices rang in his head.

[Alexis Voltaire]

Zhi-Vah-Tahl heard the shots overhead, as did Shi-Markia.

'It is too dangerous, we might reveal our location if they follow. Let's head to another place.'

Shi-Markia sent him a thought of annoyance, and he had just the time to leave half a screech echoing down the canyon before the star flamed with white, and they were gone again into darkness.

---

Keri-Tais left the chamber to roars of 'Vah T'lingitch!', and turned down the passageway to where Shi-Markia was waiting.

'Report.' He said, noting the sparking star in her claw.

'I followed the plan,' Shi-Markia sent, giving a look of disgust to Zhi-Vah-Tahl as he slunk away down the hall. 'And it was easy, truly, to simply take one of them by surprise. The trap was set, and I did as planned, and used Zhan to find how to get the weapon. And then, then!' She laughed. 'I found through Zhan that they knew of the location of the star, but hadn't yet figured it out for themselves. The pieces were there, such fools. I used the transport that had already been arranged, in hopes of bringing them where they would be of more use. The transport was off by a small amount, it was as if it were warded, I could not hold and direct it fully. I could not correct it, when it went off course, very far off course, as though it had been pulled aside by some other will. They disappeared after that, and I searched for them for a long time. There was nothing, not even a signature that a broken connection would leave. I knew that if they were anywhere, it had to be a place that was warded from all finding. So I waited, knowing that such a place might be the location of the star, as it is said that such a place can only be found by those who already know it. I waited, and I did find them, as the warding energy was fading. I used the transport that was set to be used for reaching the Falasar, should we need to leave quickly, and found the location. I arrived just as they had taken the star from its place, and that was what had powered the wardings. And such power! The wardings could not have been broken, not by any means we know or can dream of. I would have brought Zhan, but I received word that the others had also found our location, and we needed to leave quickly. I was unsure that the star could be powerful to transport all of us, and hold him. I was wrong, as I found out. It has power enough to do that easily, it would not even be a fraction of it's true energy. I needed to leave the rock before landing on the Falasar, so that I would not lead them to the ship. There is one who can follow such transport, and he has the power to transport his own ship at will.'

'What power does he have then, to do such things?'

'I do not know. We would have brought him as well, we had captured him, but he escaped using the same power. It is something I have heard of but never known to be real, some we have worked with had claimed such abilities. We were pursued, leaving in the Falasar, and they were waiting as we came here. They have the power to fly much faster than we, it must be great power indeed. But this,' She held the star, and white light blazed on its inner lines. 'has more power, it is the true source!'

[MWBailey]

Jack thumped the side of the 'jumper again. "damned spark! goldurn thang's full o' glitches!" Still the weird little spark, coruscating slightly, kept moving around apparently inside of teh various rock formations that made up the canyons, showing in the 3-dimensional energy picture as darker-green forms, hairy with lighter-green vegetation-signals. apparently, different species showed up as different shades of green; it was as if a daguerrotype had become three-dimensional and picked out in green dye. but that spark... Spark? he thought, what does that make me think of? Energy! Gol-dangit! that's that 'star' thang thet that Commander Frank feller was on about, I'll just bet!

Mingh had heard him, apparently; she asked in her mind-voice, what is it, Jack-captain? You have a way of tracking the childkiller? She had started calling Shi Markia thus, and apparently could not or would not stop doing so.

There's this weird spark like an energy signature moving through some rock formations just to the north of you, Mingh. Looks like a big anvil-shaped rock, 'bout a mile wide, and it seems to be coming to the outside edge of it just now. you might be able to see whatever it is from your position...

Mingh told Frank and the others about Jack's discovery, though some had heard it themselves; Jack had not yet learned how to shield his thoughts, yet, and Mingh began giving him advice on doing so. It would be better for all of us if the enemy did not hear your reports, Jack-captain.

Jack did his best to do as Mingh instructed, and it felt like it was working; he said first, unshielded, that he was going to send Bailey the coordinates of the spark, then gave them in a shielded message to Mingh, who laughed in his head, just  as Bailey asked, Well? When are you going to send them? Jack did send them , then, and Bailey and the others just then saw a distant glint, like a glowing object,. right where Jack had pinpointed teh energy signature, and they took off down into the canyon and back up again, firing into the trees and undergrowth as they did so, actually managing to fry several of teh attendant drene-vah; Bailey shielded his thoughts and called down a mortar and gatling strike then, throwing an aether grenade into the midst of the drene-vah and telling jack to aim for the energy detonation. Teh strike was launched, and Bailey and teh rest of advance party threw themselves flat as the site was flattened and shredded by the raining death from on high, the draconic bodies of slain drene-vah and those soon to be dead flipping over and flying up to crash down again. Teh rain ended as suddenly as it had begun, the smoke and steam rising from the destruction and mass death all around -- but teh Dragon Corps advance party was unharmed. A roar of apparent draconic frustration sounded from a distance ahead.

Jack? where's the energy sigg now?

Standing still, 'bout a half-acre north of the strike site... Jack answered ...no, now it seems ta be moving  back and forth... it's bobbin' a bit, like somebody with a jumpin' gait walkin'
 back and forth, they're on a ledge, looks like...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Frank and Shi-iri and the others sped away down the canyon, trying to catch up with Mingh. The spray from a wind-scattered waterfall soaked them as they passed through the narrow righthand slot at the end of the canyon that led out into another.

'No not that waAAA-' Zhan yelled, trying to slow and turn, but too late. A sudden swift wind current pulled them through and out into another straight walled canyon. Shots echoed strangely from above, and two thick plasma beams screamed down, missing them by feet and impacting on the vertical walls with bright explosions. Zhi-Selkio faltered slightly as one hit the rock just in front of him, and flapped hard to right himself. They were coming up fast on two high ledges protected from above by overhanging rocks on each side of the canyon, and at each of them was a huge plasma cannon turret behind an armored shield and several dragons with rifles and smaller plasma weapons.  

They returned fire, but it did little good. One dragon roared when a lucky shot got past the armor shield, but the rest of thier shots hit rock or rang off the thick steel. Mingh sent a strike they could feel the power of as it passed like a deadly wind. There was a horrible scream from one of the dragons, but Mingh roared in frustration, apparently she had missed or hadn't been able to reach who she wanted.

They dodged and dived, trying to make themselves a difficult target. It was effective, but almost more dangerous than flying straight in the unpredictable wind currents, and more than once one of them was almost pulled into the rock walls by sudden updrafts and swirling pockets of air.

'Can you level a moment?' Frank sent to Shi-iri.

'Yes, a moment.' She replied, turning suddenly and barely avoiding two crisscrossing plasma beams.

He quickly leveled the rifle and fired a resonance match, and fired again a second later. There was a deep, shuddering boom from the rock, and a wide crack spread down the overhang on the right side of the wall. Nothing happened for several seconds, and then the entire rock face suddenly slid down the cliff and into the canyon bottom, not even slowing as it took the ledge and the plasma turret with it in a huge explosion.

[MWBailey]

The cleft left in the rock by the departure of the rock face exposed an anthill-like section of tunnel-holes and galleries, where draconic screams and the forms of dragons struggled to keep from falling into the abyss below. Mingh and Kirza flew close to this newly-exposed feature, and Mingh tossed grenade after grenade into the various holes, While Bailey and Kirza banged worldshaker mortar-rounds on their harness and belt buckles, and tossed five or them in after Mingh's grenades, and then both Kirza and Mingh went into screaming dives and then out away from teh cliff face, while dragons in the exposed tunnels struggled to pick up the grenades and throw them back ou--

The entire cliff exploded in multiple detonations an instant later, and even more of the rock face gave way and slid down  into the fog below.

A bolt of pure white force blasted past them, then, and Shi Markia's voice could be heard, cursing in sheer near-apoplectic rage at the close miss. Bailey fired his new Bergmann pistol rapidly at the indistinct, cursing form in the fog, and was rewarded by a cry of pain and yet another house-sized bolt of force, only larger this time, which also missed -- and then the silhouette of Mingh crashed into the Drene-vah Sorceress from behind, roaring, "Child Killer! AAG HAL-TLINGLITCH! DIIIEE!!!" and the two closed with blades flashing and clanging, and were suddenly hidden by a billow of fog, while several more flapping, blade-wielding forms came out of the fog and attacked Kirza and Bailey. Dispatching them would have been relatively easy if not for the billowing clouds of misty fog. Still, they managed... Mingh broke free an instant later, and caught the edge of a bolt of force from the increasingly-enraged Shi Markia, who began firing off bolt after bolt from the Star.

Mingh disappeared, screeching, into the clouds below.

Mingh? MINGH! Kirza mind-shouted while Shi Markia laughed, sounding more and more insane with every peal of mirth...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Shi-Markia was interrupted by a thought from Zharli-Tahzi, and she sent another bolt out into the fogbank where the shots had come from.

'We are ready, waiting on your word.'

She was about to call them in, when she looked skyward a moment. Those they had first attacked had stood little chance against their ship's weapons.

'Soon.' Shi-Markia sent back. She focused on the star, and began to call energy from it, real force compared to what she had been using. A bolt here and there was more than enough for these pesky fighters, but it was nothing, nothing! She laughed again. This would hold, this would show them true power, what the Drene-Vah had at thier command! They could stand no chance against this, not when it was put in place, like a power symbol in a script-writing, with their plans!

She sent the energy upward with a thought, and spread it wide, and invisible shield against any attack from above. Perhaps, a shield from such eyes that were spying from above the clouds as well. It would stop a shell or a shot, but would not hold something as large as a dragon, if one of them got through. Even though she could have done so easily, it would take a great deal more power, and even then it would take time to close the gaps. She could have done it, but the power, this power, was almost too great for her yet. Though she would have denied it to any who said so, the force of the energy, which she had not yet found a limit to, frightened her. But they would not escape, she thought with a grin and another mad laugh, as she sent the word.

'Ready and waiting, Zhirli-Tahzi. The wind is slowing now, you can come up from the south. The force to the northeast will have no difficulty with what wind is left, and it is clearing the fog from the north way as it shifts.'

---

Zhan dived down after Mingh, shifting the angle of his wings as he passed through the shifting wind currents. The strangely warm fog was so thick he was starting to worry about whether he would be able to see the ground in time to land. But it thinned some as he neared the river, and it cleared entirely about forty feet above the rushing river. The canyon floor was filled with huge pieces of the cliff, boulders and shattered rock, and the river was already rising and swirling with mud, seeking a spillway past the rock. He found Mingh where she had either crashed or landed on one of the huge rocks, and landed quickly beside her.

'Mingh?'

'I'm alright. I can still fight!' She half growled, rising to her feet. She didn't look alright, and she could hardly put any weight on one rear leg.

'I can fly,' She sent in response to his doubtful look. 'And I can wield a blade better than she.' She took off into the fog, and screamed up to Shi-Markia as Zhan followed her. 'Childkiller, I am coming with death!'

[MWBailey]

Jack heard Mingh's challenge to Shi-Markia, saw that the shells were exploding on some kind of shield, and felt the runty little female's pain and injuries. His heart (what there was left of it, he mused)went out to her, and he prepared to do something that only a suicidal maniac would do in other circumstances.

Bailey and the others realized what the shots exploding prematurely overhead meant, and began flying toward Shi Markia, to knock her out and remove the shield - but they were prevented by a massive upward charge of newcomers to the battle, and thrown back. it looked , in fact, as if the tide had completely turned and they were doomed. he called the others in close by on a rocky ledge, and they prepared to sell their lives dearly.

Shi Markia was laughing another cluster of insane laughs, in between ordering her people into position to annihilate the Dragon Corps attackers altogether. Bailey sent to Jack to get out and away, and carry word to teh Badger, but then three things happened at once: the Black Ship rose from the foggy depths, mingh shot upward from below, smashing into Shi Markia from underneath, and a shape from on high smashed into the shield from above, causing the energy field that had briefly protected teh Drene-vah to throw sparks and lightnings as it shredded itself in reaction. Shi Markia sreamed in agony as the shield, still connected with her will, sent a tidal wave of feedback into her brain and body, and Mingh slashed the arm to which the hand that held the star was attached, causing her blood to gush over the Star, and her fingers to slip on the blood. Bailey was seized with a sudden Idea, and flitted to Shi Markia's side in midair and above, and came crashing down on her shoulders, his hand with the khukhuri coming down to pound the dull and massive back of the blade on her elbow, causing her suddenly-nerveless fingers to slip on and let go of the star. Mingh deftly caught it, and tossed it to Bailey when he reappeared on Kirza's back, and he and Kirza raced upward as Bailey tied a strip from his slashed and now-ragged coat around the star, and then tied the star to his belt.

They were narrowly missed by the Beau as she made an emergency descent (as the maneuver was commonly called in airship circles) toward where the Black Ship was rising, firing downward at the engines and hull of the craft. None of the shots were missing this time, and the black ship suddenly gouted flame from all of her outer ports, and though she managed to move off to the north a short ways,  in the end the black needle simply dropped like a stone.  A bright flash was seen through the fogbank below, and then a titanic explosion threw drene-vah sneak attackers skyward from below as the ship crashed to the ground and exploded. Jack brought the Beau to level, and bowled straight through a lateral charge by a flying front of at least thirty Drene-vah fighters, scattering them like bowling pins. He kept up a withering rate of fire all around, especially at the gun emplacements on the cliff, while their shots caromed off of the globe of the travelling field's sphere. Without the sphere, Shi Markia found herself at a distinct disadvantage in comparison to both Mingh and the other advance party members.

Then Jack decided to go ahead and use one of the horrifically-powerful Aether grenades Dreyfuss had given him just before they attacked the remnants of Admiral Tzeda's fleet.  composed of a half-occult power-collection grid, theyr had an intentional, built-in glitch; when the accumulated ather charge built up to overload, the grenade became a grenade in truth and exploded with a force proportional to the amount of free aether in the surrounding air. Jack dropped one such down into one of the gun turrets that had as yet not been destroyed, and flew away without a second thought -- until the device detonated.

The entire cliffside simply vanished in the blinding flash that followed, a huge, almighty BOOOMMM echoed through the canyons, and fire and destruction shot back through the entire network of tunnels in that promontory. The shock wave from the explosion nearly knocked everyone from the air...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Frank took down the first Drene-Vah that came with quick shots, no time to phase match more than once but the rifle was effective enough that way. As they came too close for that he slung the rifle across his back and emptied his revolver into them. He shot the throat out of one that came close enough with the smoothbore, and wipped another senseless with the barrel before a dragon diving from above returned in kind with the back of a blade.

'...Alright... just fly...' He sent to Shi-iri's worried call, fighting to keep from losing consciousness as the sparks slowly cleared from his vision.

Zhan couldn't keep from grinning, slowly and savagely and not too sanely, as he saw Shi-Markia finally fall with a spray of red and a stroke from Mingh's blade. Mingh roared in triumph, and took off after two other dragons, felling them with swift fury. She dived down after a third, who was trying desperately to escape, when the Beau Rosin started away and Jack called them back to the ship.

The Drene-Vah who were left were quickly regrouping for another attack, and even though most of the force had been killed there were still more than twenty of them in the air. They had just made it above the canyon walls and turned over the green topped promontory toward the Beau Rosin, when the explosion came and a half a fraction of a second later the edge of the shockwave hit them. There was a jarring impact, and they found themselves twenty feet away from where they had been a second before. A cloud of lightning and steaming smoke and strange colored fire was rising in a mile-long line up and down the canyon, a hundred yards away but close enough that they could feel the scorching heat radiating from it.

The Beau Rosin righted from the blast, and Jack waited for them to land on the deck before steering the ship up and away from the canyon that had become a flaming wall. Frank looked around and was relieved to see that everyone had made it back, although most of them hadn't escaped uninjured. And they had the star, he saw looking over to Bailey. He got down from Shi-iri's back, and she caught him as dizziness hit him suddenly, and steadied him with a claw as they followed the others into the cabin.

[MWBailey]

Mingh Staggered into the cabin with the others, refusing aid, and walked proudly, aloof over to Jack, and said aloud, "I thank you, for carrying me to the battle that --" she faltered fro a moment, her vision blurring slightly, but then forced herself back upright and straight, and continued, "...The battle that avenged my sister; or at least, I hope it did." she suddenly collapsed toward Jack, who caught he in his arms, finding that she was surprisingly light, lithe as she was, yet still much heavier than a human woman. Her wings partially opened, as if she had intended to use them for balance.

Not for the first time it could be seen that, though her body was small, the vah-hunter's wings were normal-sized; the right one struck the ship's wheel and throttle, and the diesel gunned as the ship suddenly swerved to port even as she rose into the upper atmosphere. Malcolm Rodney appeared at the door just then, materializing with his blackbox still in hand. He helped Jack half-carry Mingh to the corner of the front cabin, where Jack grabbed a handle on a cabinet that stood against the wall, like a sideboard with no serving shelf, and pulled the whole  front of it down to reveal a murphy-type bed, already made, and he flipped the sheets back and they laid her down on the sheets and pillowed her head, as she rested, unconscious, on her belly.

Kirza , having been Zhie's assistant, took the medical supplies that jack produced from behind a door in the between-cabins bulkhead and began to dress Mingh's wounds, and was soon ministering to the others as well; she told Frank to sit in the chair that was nailed to the wall beside the murphy bed, and bandaged his head, placing a patch of gauze on the cut where the back of the Drene-vah's blade had struck.

Jack belatedly restarted the travelling field, and then ramped the power up to the second ring-level -- but then, the wireless crackled, and the radio-distorted voice of Lt. Perkins called out, "Mad Badger to Beau Rosin and advance party, what is your status, over?"

"Mad Badger, Mad Badger, we are alive, all present and accounted for," Frank had taken teh transmitter offered by jack, and was radioing back, "Drene-vah forces met and mostly defeated; the Venusian base heavily damaged, but I doubt that it is destroyed completely.

We have the Star of India, but most of us are wounded in some manner; Do you want us to meet you or await your arrival, over...?"

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Advance party, can you wait and monitor the situation? We don't want any nasty surprises when we get there, over."

"Hold a minute Badger, over." Frank said, looking to the others.

"I'm afraid to say the base was not destroyed, or close," Zhan said. "what we took out was a monitoring post. I was here five years ago, and the Drene-Vah had these mountains filled with tunnels. They have been adding more ever since, that rock was just a single unarmored turret and two side passages when I saw it last."

Frank looked at Zhan a moment. "It seems there may be a bigger base here than what we first thought, Badger. I think we'll be able to wait it out, and alert you if anything happens. Beau Rosin over and out."

He handed the transmitter back to Jack, and turned to Zhan again. "Just how big is this base, then, and how many dragons are we up against?"

"What I know may not be much help, but I suppose it is better than nothing." Zhan said. "I haven't been here in years, and the chief council are the only ones who know current information on all the bases. Those under that rank are only allowed to know what they must know." He sighed. "I had hoped we could get the star before we got this far, but it's too late now. The Drene-Vah base is not in the northern canyons of the Veritzeth. It is the canyons, and it is not the only spot they have occupied on Venus. I could only give you a rough layout, since it seems to have changed a lot, but what we destroyed was not even the size of the base I remember, far from it. We might have killed a hundred and fifty, two hundred, including with that blast. I do not know how many are here now, exactly, they have been transferring dragons on and off base and I have never heard exact numbers. But the majority of their forces are here, and eight or nine hundred fighters on this base, not including those we killed, might be a close estimate."

---

"Well, where do you propose we stay and wait? It's pretty crowded, we'll be at each others throats after a week in here with nothing to do."

"D'y think we could find a place to hide the the Beau? Maybe we could find some canyons farther away, set up camp or something?'

"No," Zhi-Selkio shook his head. "you don't sleep outside around here, not if you want to wake up in the morning."

"The Botanical research station here in the Veritzeth reopened recently. I don't know where it is exactly," Frank said "but we ought to go there and warn them anyway before the Drene-Vah find them."

"It's likely they already know about it," Zhan said. "but haven't wanted to give away the fact that they have a base here. I've never heard about it though, why did it close down in the first place?"

"It was closed down about seven, eight years ago. They started getting reports, strange lights and what they called 'phantoms', and weirder things. No one really believed it at first, obviously, and no one took it very seriously either." Frank said, and chuckled slightly. "New students have a bit of a reputation for using genetically modifying substances on plants that they really shouldn't. One of their 'experiments' going awry is the reason I can't remember most of the year I spent in the south pacific. It was that same year, actually, that a couple of people went missing here, like they just vanished and no one ever saw them again. So everyone got moved off the station here and it got closed down. They had some good timing in deciding to bring people back, that's for sure..."

It seemed like it should be nearly noon, and the clock confirmed it as ten thirty. The sun, visible as a bright, perfectly round disk through the clouds and much larger than it appeared on earth, had barely risen above the horizon.

Zhi-Selkio gave him an odd look, and then looked quickly out the window. "Thirty four hour days. You never really get used to them."

[MWBailey]

All this time, Jack had been piloting the Beau away from the branch of the canyons that they had attacked, and the Beau was now drawing near a lone mountain that stood out a ways from a spur of peaks belonging to the chain that stretched down from nearly the Northern pole. He hadn't paid attention to the people talking about the old station because the ship was acting strangely. He tried to go all the way into travelspace, but the dimensional stabilizer pedal would not remain depressed when he ratcheted the Chronojumper interface lever into position for the third ring. He even tried to hold the stabilizer down while he manipulated the lever, but the pedal literally threw him off of his feet and hard against the bed where Mingh lay, causing her to wake with a concerned but irritable groan when she hear Jack;s breath leave his lungs in a loud WHOOF!

"whoof, yourself, Jack-captain, Have you no concern for the rest of others?" Jack apologized profusely (a bit out of character for him, he normally wouldn't have cared), and then got up, walked back over to the stubborn Time-shifter and kicked it and then tried the lever-and-pedal again; They still didn't work. He got down on one knee and looked at the nut that held the lever onto the hub and setting scale, and saw fresh wrench marks. "Who in the blue blazes has been wrenchin' around on my ship?!"he roared.

"It was me, captain," Mr. Rodney said in an airy tone" You really should try to keep all of your fasteners tight. I moved the lever when the unit started vibrating right after we had all boarded. The machine went 'clunk,' that lever slipped downward, I noticed it was loose, and did you the favor of tightening it. "

"You bloody STUPID idiot! My machine is not the same as your blackbox, numbnut! you've stripped something, probably the stabilizer throwback brake, a 6-hour repair job even with the part on hand!"

"Oh steady on, you ignorant lout! No need to be insulting, and they can't be that different!"

Jack turned red in the face, but mastered himself. For his part, Mr. Rodney acted disappointed; it almost seemed as if he had tampered with the machine to get Jack angry just so he could pick a fight. Instead, Jack got down on his knees, pulled a screwdriver from his right boot, and unscrewed the fasteners of the louvered brass plate just under the front-mounted coordinate-setting controls, and peered inside, then got up, detached the light over the ship's wheel from its bracket, slid it into a brass sleeve with a lens mounted on one side, and carried it to the machine, got back down on his knees, adjusted both the lamp's brightness and the lens setting, and shined the beam upward through the opening--and cursed sulphurously.

"the bloody-be-damned stabilizer ratchet and the brake cog are stripped!" He cursed again, roundly, and continued, "I have spares, but we need to set down someplace relatively safe so I can change them out." He withdrew from the machine, and looked around the cabin. "Do any of you know of a place on this rock where we can do that? Didn't you mention a planetary station of some kind, Commander?" he asked Vilhaus. "Would they be willing to let us land and effect repairs?"

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Yes, there's a Botanical Society research station near here somewhere, they should have a place to land, and they'd probably let us use it for repairs." Frank said. "I don't know where it is exactly, though. Do you know, Zhi-Selkio?"

"It's just around that peak, there, actually." Zhi-Selkio said, nodding to the lone mountain. "It's built on what's left of the old colony that was here years ago. They've got a big hangar there, big enough for the ship, and if I remember correctly the old landing space below is being used by the aether navy for an emergency landing station."

---

The flash of glass could be seen through the green, way up on the ledge of the mountain as Jack steered the Beau Rosin around it. in one sheer rock face, framed and partly overgrown by greenery, were two huge doors streaked with rust in every shade from brown to blood red.

"That's the old colony hangar" Zhi-Selkio said as it came into view. "Used to come here a lot, they docked the Hudson company airships here when they weren't out delivering supplies. We'll have to get off down there first," He said, pointing down to a small square of clear ground below on a wide shelf halfway up the mountain. "And take the trail up. The entrance to the old colony complex is about halfway up the mountain between the two, and it goes underground from there."

There was nowhere closer to land, either, they saw looking down on the thick carpet of treetops. There didn't seem to be a foot of open space anywhere else in the thick canopy. The trees even hung tenaciously with huge nets of twisted roots to foot-wide ledges on the cliffs. Everything but the truly vertical and overhanging rocks had plants growing on them, and even then dangling vines made an effort to take advantage of the open light.

The square landing field was about a hundred and fifty yards across, and appeared to be made of huge blocks of yellowish stone. A thick layer of yellow and brown and even a few red and pale blue fallen leaves had collected around the edges. The trees rose on the edge of it like a thick wall, and the trail was the only place it was possible to see more than a few feet into the plant growth.

It was decided that Zhi-Selkio, Bailey, and Frank would get off and head up to the station, and the rest would stay on the ship and wait until they found out whether they could use the hangar for repairs.

"If you see ant trails, don't step on them, or near them if you can help it, especially not the bright orange ones." Zhi-Selkio said as they headed up the trail. The trees spread overhead, and only a few tiny gaps could be seen as they started up, and soon none at all. It was bright despite this, and the light filtering through the huge leaves had a greenish hue. The trail went up at a steep angle, and around many switchbacks in places it was too steep to climb.

There were few insects, but what the ones that were there made up for the lack of them (and were probably the reason for it). What looked like jewel-bright six-winged dragonflies began attacking them, each three inches long with serrated jaws to match. They also had a spined razor-edged ridge down their backs, making it difficult to simply swat them, and brushing them off just made them angry. They didn't seem to bother Zhi-Selkio as much, and he claimed that they were confused by his black stripes. It was over a hundred degrees now, and more humid than before even though it didn't seem possible.

Vines crisscrossed between the trees and runners dangled from overhead and stopped about twelve feet above the ground. They were covered with flowers of every color and an inch to over a foot across, and flitting from vine to vine were birds that were even more brightly colored and flashing with iridescence.

The space below the trees was filled with vines and creepers and plants of every size and wild description. One kind had leaves three feet long and a foot across that had a pattern of holes like a net. Another had a stem like a corkscrew that curled up twenty feet and out of sight among the leaves. There were strangler vines and nettles with thorns three inches long, dripping with red sap. Zhi-Selkio said it was a paralytic poison, and that the plants would slowly eat whatever they caught with it. Ferns of every size and shade of green grew on every other available space, and even the mossy trees. The trail appeared to have been cleared recently, and they could see many cut stems and leaves on the edges. Zhi-Selkio stopped now and then to collect leaves and once to dig up a white tuber-like root. He knew most of the common names of the plants, if not the scientific ones, (and many of them had neither) and he and Frank spent most of the time talking about the various plants. Zhi-Selkio had also learned many of their medicinal properties from the time he'd spent on Venus as a tracker and hunter.

"I'm not much of a healer, but I know a bit. Mostly things you had to know or learn, living a hundred miles from help and hunting things that hunt you. Here, this should help your headache." He said, handing Frank a large crushed leaf that smelled strongly like mint and lime.

They came on a level winding stretch where the trail was framed by dozens of six-foot high brilliant flame-colored flowers, each with a deep blue center. The still air was filled with a sweet scent, like rich vanilla with a hint of carrion. The white bones of several small creatures could be seen in front of some of the plants, and the seven thick petals of each had long inward pointing barbs, and in the center of the flowers was what looked like a long blue spear with red barbs.

"Oh, hell." Zhi-Selkio said, stopping. "Spear-traps. Stay out of the way."

he snapped off a long thick leaf steam and prodded a thin and almost unnoticeable pale green root growing across the trail under the first plant. There was a snap and the huge barbed leaf petals shook, and the blue spear thudded deep into the middle of the trail. The leaf petals continued to quiver, and slowly curled inward and leaned down, seeking their unseen victim. They wrapped tightly around the spear, and then stilled. Zhi-Selkio hacked at the exposed stem with his khukhuri, felling the plant in a couple of strokes. He moved the fallen and slowly unwrapping flower off to the edge of the trail, taking care to avoid the spear.

"They won't attack you unless you step on the trigger root, but those spears are very poisonous, so don't touch them. They'll grow up on a trail overnight, wherever they find an open space that's been cleared."

They slowly cleared the trail of them, and after a short distance came around a bend to the underground entrance, and saw that there was someone waiting for them.

"Thank God you're here! The station's been attacked, I didn't think anyone would come, but I saw your ship and came as quick as I could."

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Donnavan!?"

"Frank!? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, just happened by," Frank said, and turned to the others with a slight mischievous grin. "This is Charles Lebourne-Markus Anth-"

"Oh, shut up, I hate it when you do that. Just Donnavan, or I'll tell 'em about how you got your name."

"You can't prove it, and besides, my grandmother was insane."

"So your saying its true th-"

"I didn't say anything. Now what happened?"

Donnavan's expression became grave. "We got here about a month ago, and nothing happened for a couple of weeks. Then it started again, stuff like what happened before. Lights, things moving through walls, thought I was going crazy but everyone else saw it too. We hoped it would go away, but it just kept getting worse, like the place was haunted. None of us could radio out when we decided to tell them, not until last night. We got through, and then... I don't know what happened. Everyone else is gone, the station looks like it's been torn apart. The radio doesn't work anymore, but I guess we got a message through last night. So someone sent the ship and you came..."

"No, not really. We never got the message. Our ship's had problems, we need a place to land and make repairs. We were hoping to be able to use the hangar here."

"Sure, sure. I can get up there and open the doors for you. And you can radio down to the ship, the short range still works at least." Donnavan said, moving to open the heavy sealed door and showing them inside. He flipped a lever and a long row of lights flickered to life, showing flights of stairs that switched back and forth up farther than they could see. The air was still damp, but much cooler than it was outside.

"I heard you're working for the aethernavy now." Donnavan said as they started up the stairs. He didn't seem all that surprised to see Zhi-Selkio, but that was just the way he was sometimes, Frank remembered, appearing to take everything in stride whether he really was or not.

"Yes, we've been going after a group of dragons in these mountains, call themselves Drene-Vah. They'll probably be coming for this place soon, or whatever's left of it. They don't know we're here, but they've probably known about this place for some time, we think. Just up until now they haven't wanted to show that they're here."

"Never heard about anything like that, but like you say they've probably been keeping secret. We haven't had much of a chance to get started out here, what with the usual troubles, and now this."

they talked for some time, and reached the top of the stairs and another sealed door a few minutes later.

"-I don't think they'll be coming soon, they're probably still trying to sort out the mess we left." Frank said as Donnavan opened the door and they went through into another damp hallway, turning off the lights as he closed the door and turning on more on the other side of the doorway. "But it would be best if we-OW!"

"what?"

"Something bit me."

"What was it?" Donnavan asked, concerned. "Some of the bugs here can be nasty, we've got antidote for the bad ones, but..."

"I don't know..." Frank said, pulling up his sleeve. The symbol on his arm, Zhan had called it a warding glyph, whatever that was, looked the same, but it felt hot like a burn. "Strange. Wasn't a bug, I don't know what it was."

[MWBailey]

"lemme see that , Bailey said. Bailey asked, and Frank explained, about the glyph, and Bailey grew grave. "it's a warder, alright, but it emanates power, and I'll bet they're targeting you through it." He looked up and down the length of the arm, and found an area where there was an odd mark that looked remarkably like a liverspot or a mole, so tiny it was almost unnoticeable.

"Aha." Bailey said, not very enthusiastically. "yep, right about where I thought. he took his ink stylus from his inner coat pocket, and carefully drew three more glyphs in a semicircle around frank's glyph, adding a spiked line tp connect allll three; it looked, remarkably, exactly like several of the clusters of writing in the Mezetoin  chamber that Frank had seen. "Old man I stayed with in the Kush for several years taught me that. Should keep 'em from sensing you easily, but your glyph will still ward you. Might even do it better. Have to see." HE hefted the double-barrelled Villar Perosa machine gun that he had grabbed on leaving the Beau (one of the other trooper pairs had appropriated it to take onto the Beau just before they left New Purgatory), and said, "Better keep an eye out from now on, they might be here in minutes. I'll Flit down to the Beau and get jack to bring 'er up. He turned to Donnavan and said, "you probably won't see the ship until we get inside. just go ahead and open up the doors, and then keep  'em open until you see me." He turned away and was suddenly just gone, as if he were never there in the first place...

[Alexis Voltaire]

The inside of the station looked like a nightmare. Everything looked as though it had been torn apart by something with huge claws, although it didn't look like a dragon, and the walls were covered in strange markings. Several places it looked like fire had started on ordinary metal objects, leaving weirdly colored smoke marks and pieces of melted metal, but no other apparent damage. The radio didn't appear to have been touched, but turning it on gave nothing but static interspersed with low humming and a rhythmic rising and falling whine.

In the middle of the floor in one room, they came across a roughly drawn star mark, surrounded by jagged script writing. parts of it smoked slightly, and there was a glow in the lines that shifted from one part to another. There was a low buzzing noise, almost a hissing sound like a snake in the room.

"That's your problem." Zhi-Selkio said when he saw it. "This was made as a trap, supposed to attack anyone who comes near enough. But it's the most badly drawn thing I've ever seen. It works, sort of, but not that well. This whole place stinks like badly tuned energy." He set to work on disabling the drawing, and Donnavan went down through another passageway to open the doors.

"Be careful who you show that mark to." Zhi-Selkio said to Frank as Donnavan left. "I've seen people kill each other over things like that. I used to have one almost exactly like it." He said, running a claw over an old scar on his shoulder, partly covered by black. "A different time, used to use them partly for being able to find one another, back before something like that became so dangerous. I'll tell you something," He said, looking down the passage as Donnavan closed the door behind him. "Hunting wasn't the only reason I was on Venus, years ago. The Drene-Vah have had dealings with many odd people, both working for them and against them. Ours never worked for them, not once we found out who they were and what they wanted. I was able to get out, by sheer luck. It's odd, you say you were in the south pacific the year the base here was closed. There were a lot of very strange things going on that year. Most of them, we think, caused by the Drene-Vah acquiring knowledge of the kind even the most experienced occultists, for lack of a better term, and especially the most experienced, would never touch."

There was a reverberating hum that carried through the stone, and a clanking as the motor engaged and the hangar doors slowly opened.

[MWBailey]

One should go ahead and admit it. Bailey had a michievously nefarious streak a mile wide; some said years before that that was why he had been so good at catching and predicting the actions of pirates and smugglers....

Donnavan was getting impatient. He turned to Frank, who had just entered to check oh the Beau's progress into the hanger, and said, "Well?! Where is this ship you spoke of? I see nothing but an empty--!" an ominous humming filled the room, on top of all of the other hums and clanks and the sounds of the jungle drifting in from outside. Bailey had dismounted from the other side of the Beau and hidden behind the scow, and then flitted silently to Donnavan's back left side. he cleared his throat loudly and tapped the younger man hard on the shoulder, just as Donnavan queried, Alright, alright, so there's your airship, but where's that Lt Commander at--! GAAAAHHGGHHH!"

"Rightchere, sir." Bailey said. "You can close those doors now..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

Frank couldn't keep from laughing when Donnavan jumped about a foot in the air.

"It wasn't that funny." Donnavan muttered as he hauled the heavy lever back, and the doors began to grate closed again.

"Oh yes it was." Frank chuckled as Donnavan gave him a look that suggested he was already plotting some form of revenge. Donnavan was about to say something when Zhi-Selkio came down to find out what was going on.

"I disabled that trap, and a couple of others that weren't working anyway. Oh, and the radio works now too, the symbols were causing some sort of interference. The only ones I can think of who would be doing this are Drene-Vah. This place has an energy signature like theirs, but they haven't been here, or any dragons, for that matter. No one who's been around them either, I'd smell it otherwise. Drene-Vah stink, you can tell if someone's been near them. No offense meant," He said, as Zhan walked up from the ship. "You don't."

"None taken." Zhan said, looking somewhat glad about it.

"But we might have a bigger problem. Either there is someone in the area who also knows, and is doing this kind of thing to the extent they can, or they have found something that should have stayed lost."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid they've found the Codex of the Illuminati."    

---

"Yes... I remember something like that. I'm fairly sure they have a copy of it, at least." Zhan said.

"what did it look like?"

"Big book, had a gold leaf triangle on the front, a symbol like the all-seeing eye. They had a lot of trouble getting hold of it, and I was the one that eventually got it for them. They never told me what it was though, and I only saw it opened once, had some sort of a lock on it. Lot of odd drawings in it, and one of them was of that star."

"Yes, I don't think there are any copies, if there were..." Zhi-Selkio shook his head. "There are many things in that book, things that make ordinary script-writing look like... I don't know. One, according to legend, was a secret of dimensional travel, and how to do it by script alone. Not the kind you have been using, but a way to transport things remotely. Without anything, devices or script, on what you are transporting. Another that they seem to be using here is remote manipulation of objects, it's supposed to be impossible to do that without actually having been to the place you're doing it in and seen it. And those are some of the lesser things in there. It's taken them some time to decipher them, maybe, but... There are some things in that book that are bad enough for anyone to use, and they would be truly horrible if they were used the way the Drene-Vah would like."

[MWBailey]

Well, sounds like a protective barrier is in order, Bailey said. it's been awhile since I've done anything more elaborate than a hunter's circle, and I've never done a whole hangar before -- but nothing ventured...

He began by removing a chalk stick from the cartridge box on strap around and ove rone shoulder, and drawing a complicated design on the doors of teh hangar; it looked like a lotus flower with symbols on teh leaves, with a spiked line running around it. down nea rthe lower left-hand corner of teh doors, the line looped around another circle, and through the door in that circle Bailey disappeared for a few moments. the tapping and scraping noises of teh chalk stick couldbe heard from the other side, and either Bailey or something in his hanbd smote the door hard enough to make it (and the people in the hangar's ears) ring, as blue fire raced around teh design on the inside of the door. Bailey re-entered through the "postern door" symbol (there was not much else to call it), drew a remarkably mezatoin-like design within that circle, pulled his khukhuri halfway out of it's sheath, nicked his thumb on teh blade, dotted the blood on the junction of two lines, pronounced and sang teh word "AUMMM..." and drew it's symbol with teh blood and slapped teh center of teh design with teh palm of his hand, and then it, too, glowed blue.

he repeated the design on the floor, every wall that had a separate face from the others, and then enlisted Kirza's aid to hold him aloft to draw the design on the ceiling in a bare spot where the naked rock was exposed in a place where the white paint had peeled off. he then connected that designs two lines with the pair that ran from the door to the designs on the floor and walls with lines that ran in opposite directions along the ceiling rock where the paint had peeled off, to the opposite ends of the caven/hanger, connected, tucked under and connected, and sang-drew the connecting symbols, then nicked his index finger, drew the appropriate symbol on the floor design, and sang its name as he did so. He then slapped the floor design; the entire cavern echoed not with a SCHLAP noise, but with an almighty BOOOM as though a field piece had been set off within the hangar, and blue fire raced all around and through the designs, illuminating them and literally burning them into the doors and the living rock...

"That should take care of the simple and more overt things they might try," he said,  "as well as most of the worse stuff. Its not impregnable, though, so be careful what you invoke or who you pray to while we're using it..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

'What do you mean, you've lost connection?! We need that star back, I don't care how you have to track them, just do it!'

Shirkas hissed, and put her claws over the two symbols again. She had come so close, and then something else had interfered, come at the same time from somewhere else and broken her concentration. There had to be a better was to tune this, it had taken them months just to find the station, and the problem seemed to be that in 'between' space, locations did not follow normal rules. She had see them moving away, down a canyon, but what canyon it was and even what direction they were going in or where they were going she couldn't tell. Holding onto one place, that could be done, with practice, but following a moving object...

She focused again, and the swirling confusion of pictures slowed, and resolved into the side of a mountain, couldn't tell which one, but moving closer, closer at great spee-WHAM! The picture was lost, and the energy rebounded on her, throwing her back with a cry.

'What is it?' Came a growl.

'Nothing.' She responded, and tried again. It was madness, what they were planning. She ought to stay where the hunter had left her. But their secret relief that she was gone had come too soon...

[MWBailey]

all was not quiet, in the mountain where the hangar and its attendant botanical station were located; there were no earthquakes, or rains of lava or anything like that (although there was evidence that the mountain had in fact been a volcanic edifice eons before), but Bailey's lines and designs kept up a steady blue glow, and every so often, the floor or ceiling design and one or more of those on the walls would suddenly flash, and a rumble, rising to a crescendo, and then it would all ramp down again, for a time. would be heard,

"Dreyf throws fire like a greek galley, Bailey writes on a rock and it burns inda th' rock, he jumps through 'tween-space without a ship, and here I am, stuck with a wrench and Busted gol-durn-blast-nukkinr raugguhrukka.  .  ."

"What the bleedin' 'ell you complainin' about, you bloody fool?" Rodney demanded of Jack, as he handed him a requested wrench of a different size, "You've got a ship that can fly through solid rock, what also travels in time n' space, an' can shoot other things down in, what're ye calls it, Travelspace? Yeah, in travelspace. Well, so bleedin' what if its busted right this second, you're fixin' it, ain't we?

Bailey smiled  on hearing the two bickering. If this Jack was anything like the one he knew who was killed years before, he thrived on the dysfunctional relationship (though Bailey would not have known that term).

He winced as another probe was thrown off by his protective construct; no matter how poorly or how well it was done, anything recondine done with a person's will contained a piece of and remained attached to that person's will. They felt  it whenever it was impacted or acted upon in any way. Their Drene-Vah enemies would not be able to sense them or him inside the symbolic array until something overt happened inside it -- such as Jack turning the repaired and like-new third-level travelling-jumper-field on, for instance; then the prober, whoever she or he was, would know where they were, and it would be only a matter of time before the attack, whatever form it took, occurred.  

[Alexis Voltaire]

They brought what useful things they could find in the station that hadn't been ruined down to the hangar, including a case full of charts. There were maps of most of the northern Veritzeth, as well as the hills and forest to the east and what had been mapped so far of the Sea of Lygos, the huge mangrove-swamp-like region that stretched from the western edge of the Veritzeth to the Sea of Equilis at the equator. Zhan was able to give a rough estimation of the size and location of the base, as well as two others. One was a small outpost on an island in the Sea of Lygos, and the other was far to the south in a region known as Satan's Paradise. It was an area as wet as the rest of Venus, but had been transformed into a muddy nightmare desert by the presence of naturally occurring caustic mineral deposits and corrosive gas. It was unstable, for the most part and filled with geysers and hot mud pools, and dominated by the enormous cone of a long-extinct volcano. The cone was the only stable and high ground for a hundred miles in any direction, and the Drene-Vah had made huge tunnels and hangars throughout it and made it their fleet-base.

Zhi-Selkio made himself useful where he could, and helped Kirza with those that had been wounded. The white root that he had found had sticky clear sap that smelled like honey and felt like ice, and was an effective painkiller.

"Lunch's ready, its-EEEYYAAAAHH!" Donnavan's yell was followed by the sound of a dish smashing against the wall.

Zhi-Selkio grinned slightly.

"What did you do to him?" Frank asked suspiciously.

"Nothing much. He put dead bugs in your food, so I switched 'em when he wasn't looking and added some live ones."

"Great, now you've-" Frank was interrupted when Donnavan threw the contents of the kitchen washtub through the door at them both and chased them, dripping wet and laughing, across the hangar floor.

"Quit it you three, or we'll never get any work done." Zhan growled, but with a hint of amusement.

[MWBailey]

Bailey scooped up the bugs that had been passengers of the thrown dish, and set them all down on a plate with a bit of the salad and a piece of meat. The largest of the peanut-sized ladybug-like creatures reared up on its hind legs and waved at him in what seemed a friendly, almost sentient manner, and then went back to its fellows, all of whom then reared up and waved their multiple legs in Bailey's direction in the same manner, then set to on the food. He was careful to check his own plate for similar elements, but found none.Onec during the meal, he got a strong impression of something coming very close to the hangar, and stood up, strapped the double-barrelled machine gun back on, and went to the closed hangar doors and listened for several minutes, but heard nothing other than the Jungle outside. Zhi-Selkio joined him and listened, and then they both heard the sound: a great, giant-sounding snuffling, as if a giant with an abnormally huge proboscis were sniffing the edges of the portal. There was a low growl from outside, and then a roar that was muffled in the hangar, but sounded as it it would be bone-shatteringly loud outside, sounded just at the center of the closed doors and the distant but unmistakeable sound of claws scraping down a resilient surface. The thing, whatever it was, moved off then, apparently, the sounds of it's passing ominous in the ears of the listeners.

Bailey clicked the safety back on; he hadn't realized he'd released it. "Is it just my imagination, or was that thing probing at my mind?" he asked Zhi Selkio...
-------------------------
(several hours later)
BANG! BANG! *cuss, swear, vilify* BANG tinkle... "hand me the screwdriver...no, the other one, yeah, that one...that's it, all done. Nonono NO! wait 'til the others are aboard and ready, will you? You heard ol' Bailey..." Jack's voice the roared out of the scow's front cabin, "YO, BAILEY! COMMANDER! READY TO GO WHEN YOU ALL ARE..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Yes, it seemed like it to me too..." Zhi-Selkio said, puzzled. "I thought at first it might have been a Helix cat, it sounded a lot like one and it was big enough, but they don't do that. I've never seen or felt anything like it, but then there are many, many mysteries out here. You could go over the same mountain a hundred times and miss an airship, Terry used to say. There are, or were intelligent things out here once, I've seen ruins. And they don't look like any other kind I've ever seen anywhere else. Not even Metezoin, though there are some of that look like those here, down near the Equilis."

---

'...Fifty-three dead, this tragedy is the most unusual case ever seen, authorities believe it is the work of multiple fanatic groups, their motives are unknown. Reports of attempts on the lives of several other high ranking officials, including Governor General Corwell of Victoria, have come in...'

Zhan clicked the switch off on the radio.

"Drene-Vah?"

"Yes. This means... It means they are starting what they have so long planned. They are going to war. This is only the beginning, they are attempting to cause confusion, and at the same time get those who might be a problem to them out of the way. They aren't doing it directly, they are using their contacts, hired, bribed, threatened, whatever the reason, to eliminate their enemies. And the Drene-Vah don't care if they get caught either, it is probable that none of the different groups knew that the others were also making the same moves. The Drene-Vah's first strikes will come through others, they will use them, and in such a way that most of those they use will end up being killed. By doing this they will have accomplished much without losses of their own forces, and they will have eliminated any risk of their 'allies' turning on them. They won't rely on others outside their group, and won't have to, once the fighting truly begins. You should send word to the Badger, if you are able to do so right now, and have them send warning to your families. I don't like having to say it, but the Drene-Vah will almost certainly come after them, if they get an opportunity. Yours might be safe, Bailey, if they can't trace you back to them. But you should especially, Frank." Zhan turned to him. "I hate having to say it, I truly do."

"No, Zhan, it's alright. I don't have a family, on earth or anywhere else really. They were killed in a crash coming back from Syrtis, couple months before I went to Victoria. The aetherfreight company they owned got shut down after that, and the house and pretty much everything else got taken to pay the debts the company owed."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

"You have a family here." Shi-iri said, placing a claw lightly on his shoulder. Frank nodded, lost in refection.

Jack called them to the ship, and everyone finished what they were doing and headed down to the Beau Rosin. Donnavan came as well, since he couldn't stay at the station and didn't have anywhere else to go. Jack gpowered the traveling field up, and then got the ship out, up and away from the station as quickly as possible. Everyone was waiting for the by now inevitable-seeming attack, and minutes passed as the Beau Rosin passed through travelspace in no particular direction but away.

"Maybe th-"

"Don't even say that."

But nothing happened, and they waited in silence, weapons at the ready, listening to the sound of the engine.

"Well where do you want-"

The ship shook suddenly, and at the same moment the cabin was filled with blindingly bright light. A high-pitched whine came briefly, and in the sudden confusion that followed they couldn't even tell what was going on. They didn't dare try to attack whoever was there without finding out exactly where they were first, so they didn't hit one another, and before they could find out the light suddenly vanished with a deafening bang. When they could see clearly again, there was no one there.

"I don't think I even need to tell you what they used to get out of here." Zhi-Selkio said, staring at the spot where the star had been.

[Alexis Voltaire]

Shirkas hissed in pain from the strikes that had hit her, she hadn't expected them to be able to touch her, once she got the star. But there was a ragged tear in her right wing, and blood dripped from her leg and ran down her back. It had shielded her just enough so that the shots hadn't killed her outright.

'Good, very good.' Shi-Arkai hissed as she took the heavy bright star from Shirkas. 'It is even more beautiful than I had heard...'

Shi-Arkai moved over to a raised stone dais with many deeply carved lines spreading from it and away into a confusion of lines and writings, and placed one of the long spikes of the star in a hole in the top. She took her claw away, and the star stood there, dimming slowly for a moment, and then starting to glow, brightly and evenly. Waves of light passed over it, and a glow spread down the carved lines, and soon illuminated the chamber with swirling patterns and symbols. There was an odd feeling, like a light tremor, but mentally in the energy field, and the star dimmed slightly and then stayed at an an even glow.

'It is good, the shields are up. This star does indeed have power,' She looked quickly down the hallway, and added. 'though I never doubted her word.'

'It is good, do you think they will hold?'

'They will. now let us begin the real work...'

---

Light flashed in the room, and the lines glowed brightly with blue, a radiant shifting array of mind-bending swirling color now moving up and down the lines and appearing to shift across them, as if they were slits into another dimention. The star glowed brightly on the dais, sparking every now and then onto a copper wire frame wrapped tightly around it. In the middle, bound with a two spirals of gleaming wire, was a great crystal, dull now, but seeming to watch them like an observant eye.

The chanting raised higher in pitch and speed, and the shifting colors quickened. They kept their eyes fixed on the star, and the shining crystal in the center. It reflected the light from many polished facets, but remained dark within.

There was a terrifying moment when the ground seemed to shift, and the room around them seemed to be bent in odd ways. But they kept their eyes fixed on the star, and kept the rhythm of chanting, now changing the words. Shi-Arkai screamed something in an almost mad sounding voice, and there was suddenly a flare of light so bright they couldn't see even through already squinting eyes. An eerie sound came, high pitched and seeming to come from some source that was both inside and outside the room. It was almost a physical, tangible thing that threatened to drive them mad. It was somehow suddenly drawn into the star in the center of the room, and there was an odd resonating light that followed the sound, and then both faded.

They looked on, watching the light of the star slowly dim to the level where they could open their eyes fully. The crystal in the middle glowed bright blue, slowly dulling to a pulsing light. A voice came, seeming a little bit distant at first, and then sounding more normal.

'...It is well, it has worked.' There was a slight laugh. 'You have done well, is the binding secure?'

'It is. Can you hold the shields in place?'

'More than easily.'

The star glowed brightly, and slowly rose up from the dais of it's own accord, stopping a foot above it and hanging in the air.

'It is good, to be back. And the plans?'

'They are going well, Shi-Markia.'

[MWBailey]

The star was gone. Bailey had felt of it a moment before the bright light, and then noticed the lack of weight on his belt, and that the strip of cloth that had bound the star to his belt was severed cleanly, as if with a sharp knife, but the ends of the threads also seemed somewhat charred.

the others heard his loud curse. Jack said, "That's impossible! nothing can come aboard the ship while the fields are on!" Bailey winced, then,  and then collapsed onto the murphy bedstead beside Mingh, who was still recovering from her leg wound. Bailey, Commander, what is wrong? she asked.

"There are few things in the universe that can disrupt the fabric of space-time badly enough to make cause a sudden stoppage in the flow of time, " Bailey said to the party as a whole. "Nothing does so worse than a resurrection. I'm afraid we have bigger problems, my friends, than just a retaken star or the Beau Rosin no longer being secure against all threats. Shi Markia has been resurrected, and I think that she now resides within the Star."

HE went on," I think that what they just did requires massive amounts of power. I can wared the ship, but the safest thing mighgt be for teh Beau to return to its home dimension, or to take her to another entirely, Jack. I'm sorry, but it looks as if we have no choice --!"

KNOCK...KNOCK... Two people moved off of the trapdoor to the hold, and the lid lifted up to reveal a man who looked very much like Bailey, but dressed in semi-civilian garb; a brown leather airshipman's trenchcoat, brown trousers, high-top black cavalry-style boots, black waistcoat, brown plaid  flannel shirt, black eyepatch and spectacles, and a herringbone Newsboy-style cap. He unbuttoned his coat, and a pistol that resembled a broomhandle mauser but was also obviously not one protruded handle-first from a lefthand shoulder holster, while on his right hip was clipped a sinister-looking blaster with a rosewood stock.

"Oh, no you don't, Jack. You're staying rightchere in this multiverse, and no, we won't let Dreyfuss or miss or his oft-absent 'paramour' through except as a last resort -- and yes, we can keep both out."

"Brantley!? How did you...how did they..."

The newcomer continued, "Jack, Jack... It's no fault of yours, really, this sort of had to happen, I'd guess. But Miss Sally, she's absolutely livid, and so's the rest of the committee, so they sent me to help you with this tub of yours." He turned to Rodney and said, "Now, as for you, Mr. Fixit, you can go back in the back cabin and have a nap or something, and if you so much as touch a tool without my permission, you'll be shunted back to your own Whitehall and put to work shuffling reports. Oh!" he slapped teh side of his head, and said. How rude of me! I'm terrible sorry, folks! I'm Brantley! MW Brantley, to be exact,  US Customs, Division...well, whichever one applies at teh moment here in your universe.

He paused, then continued, "and as Jack has probably already let slip, I'm not completely human...