Part 7
"Everyone ready?" Sean asked.
They all nodded, their blasters ready; Sean tapped the panel
next to the door to the storage room and it slid open.
"There's nobody here." Madison stated the obvious.
"Dammit!" Sean yelled.
"They *were* here." Alec muttered.
Sean pulled his comm-link from his belt, "You there,
Ranson?"
"~bzzt~ Yeah, what's up?" a female voice asked.
"Did anyone come out past you and Picasso?" he inquired.
"Just a couple'a guards with Weston." she replied.
"No Neos?"
"Huh uh, why?"
Sean muttered an expletive under his breath, "They're not in
here."
"You want us to come in or stay put?" the young woman asked.
Sean thought for a moment, "Stay there until we're through
in here."
"Can do." she said.
"Whoever built this place should be *shot*!" Alec cried.
Sean looked back to see what he was so upset about. "A back
door!? In a guarded area!? No wonder the Neos almost took
over; the Terrans are idiots." he raged.
"Yeah...but they didn't see any threat after they locked all
the Neos away." Tanaka said pointedly.
"I guess we'd better go look for them." Jinx said.
"Uh oh..."
"What is it JJ?" Sean wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"According to the records, three clones were taken. Shiva,
Typhonus...and Phaeton."
"Why not just take a Draconis while they were at it?" Jinx
wondered aloud.
"Looks like they tried; there's something funny about the
code configuration on the storage unit." JJ told them. He
frowned, "That's funny, it's almost like..." he
reached for his blaster as he turned. He fired just over Sean's
shoulder and the Neo fell to the floor at Sean's feet, his
blaster clattered to the floor. It was Draconis.
"You almost took my head off." Sean muttered as he stared at
the fallen man.
JJ grinned, "But I didn't."
"One down and only about ten to go." Alec mumbled.
"Fifteen actually." Tanaka corrected.
Sean exhaled heavily, "Tasha?" the question was directed
toward the comm-link in his hand.
"Yeah?"
"You and Picasso come around back. Keep an eye out for
Neos, we'll meet you there."
"Around back?" she was definitely confused.
"Yeah, it's a long story." Sean said.
"Okay, we'll be right there."
"Tanaka, you and JJ are clean up; get him to a cell and then
come find us."
"I save his butt and I'm clean up crew." JJ teased.
Sean ignored him, "Any ideas where they went?" he asked
Alec.
"Not a clue."
"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Kaz asked.
"For the tenth time...YES!" Ivy told him.
"Sheesh, just asking."
"How much further is it?" J.T. inquired.
"About a...duck."
"How far is that?" Kaz queried. J.T. grabbed his arm and
pulled him down just as a shot would have nailed him in the
head.
They had left their frames in the city because Ivy had told
them they shouldn't bring them. They were now seriously
regretting that decision. J.T. took a shot at the general area
the one aimed at Kaz had come from, but it didn't connect with
anything but foliage.
"They're all around us J.T., we're trapped." Kaz said.
"We'll just have to fight our way out." Wolf stated.
"It's Ketzer. We thought he'd left the forest, but it would
seemhe's just been laying low. There aren't as many of them as you
might think." Ivy said.
"But Ketzer's village was full of his indiguous(sp) people."
J.T. stated, baffled.
"And the village was deserted." Kaz added.
"Most of his people left. Medusa and a few of the other
Neos were the only ones who stayed loyal to him."
"Ketzer, we know it's you. Show yourself!" J.T. called to
thin air.
"The Exo Fleet has plagued the forest for long enough; it's
time for you to learn what happens to those who are not welcome
here." Ketzer's voice called back.
"We didn't come here to fight you, Ketzer. We're looking
for a teammate who was lost here." Rita tried to reason.
Her answer was a shot in the arm. Kaz shot at the tree it
had come from and a Neo fell from the branches. He was
definitely one of Ketzer's genetically altered group.
"Your teammate can rot for all I care. You will not defile
our forest any longer. We will exterminate you like the pests
you are!"
Ketzer dropped from a tree near Wolf and Kaz. He hit Kaz
across the back with his elbow. Kaz fell to his knees, stunned.
Bronski shot Ketzer in the shoulder and he dropped his gun. He
tried to attack Wolf, but Marsala caught him around the waist
and threw him to the ground. Marsala lifted Ketzer up by his
neck and glared at him.
"After what you did to Nara you should be glad I don't kill
you on the spot." the Neo's voice was so low that no one but
Ketzer could hear it.
The geneticist kicked and gasped for air. Marsala was
suddenly rammed from behind. He was thrown off balance and
Ketzer fell to the ground. Medusa tackled Marsala and the two
of them ended up rolling around on the ground.
J.T. was struggling to keep from falling over a cliff
against another of the altered Neosapiens. J.T. was about to
lose the battle when a shot hit the Neo from behind and he fell
over the edge.
Marsh regained his breath and turned to see Ivy holding
Ketzer's gun. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
"Thanks." he said.
"No problem." she watched as Marsala threw Medusa off of
him. Ketzer, as well as the rest of the Neosapiens, had
disappeared "We had better get going. Does your friend need a
doctor?"
J.T. looked at Rita, who was holding her arm. He could tell
it was hurting her, but when their eyes met she shook her head
at him.
"No, she'll be fine."
Ivy nodded and continued on as though their journey had
never been interrupted.
When Jade woke up again, it was dark except for the single
candle that burned on the table near the bed.
"I was wondering when you were gonna wake up." Jade looked
up to see a woman standing in the doorway. She was average
height. Jade couldn't make out her features in the darkened
room, but she noted that the woman had long hair that appeared to
be on fire when the light caught it just right.
The pain in her head had diminished to a dull pounding, and
there was no blinding light to antagonize it. She sat up and
turned to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" the woman questioned as she moved to stand
next to the bed. Her eyes shimmered in the flickering light.
"Jade. I'm a member of the Exo Fleet." the other replied.
The woman looked her over with much curiosity, "What do you
want here?"
"My squad lost a teammate here; we came to look for her."
Jade couldn't help the shaky edge in her voice, though she had
no idea why it was there to begin with.
She'd captured the woman's interest, "You didn't know her?"
Jade shook her head, "I just got assigned to the squad two
days ago."
"So why look for them all of a sudden; they're probably dead
by now..." Jafe was almost certain she detected a note of
bitterness in the woman's voice; but she thought nothing of it.
Jade frowned at her, "I don't know the whole story;
something about they couldn't get a rescue mission authorized.
They still haven't actually, we're going against orders."
Suddenly they couldn't get off the topic fast enough for the
woman, "So you're not alone?"
"No, but I sorta wandered away from the rest of my group. I
should be going to find them I suppose." Jade said.
"Not alone you aren't; and not at night. Sorry, but you're
stuck here *at least* until morning."
A shrill whistle sounded outside, "Come on, I'll introduce
you." the woman offered.
"To who?" Jade inquired.
"Everyone."