"Listen, I know you're worried about Weston, but we've gotta find
 the Neos," Sean followed Alec as he headed for the main
 building.  Alec continued walking without a word.


"DeLeon, are you listening to what I'm saying?  We couldn't
 survive another war; even another attack for that matter."


Sean nearly tripped as he tried not to run into Alec when he
 stopped and turned to face him.


"You should've stuck to politics," Sean stared at his back as he
 resumed his walk.  


"And yes, I was listening to every word you said.  And I agree."


He stepped into his frame and opened a channel on the long-range
 communications system, "J.T. this is Alec, are you there?"


He waited a few moments, "J.T., Marsala, Jade?  Anyone?"


"No answer?" Sean asked.


Alec shook his head, "They must not be in their frames.  Or..."


"It's a flight exercise, why wouldn't they be in their frames?"


Alec shrugged as he disconnected his cyberjack and climbed from
 his frame.  He headed for the building.


"Hollis, are any of our sensors working?"


The young pirate looked up at him, "No, they were all ruined
 beyond repair...except for one.  I'm afraid it isn't in very
 good condition though," he pointed to a piece of equipment
 behind him, "the wiring is melted and severed in about a hundred
 places and the screen's cracked.  The casing's smashed up, too;
 but there's hope for it...I think."


Alec looked at the piece of machinery in question and groaned
 inwardly, "Anyone from tech who can fix it?"


Hollis sighed hopelessly, "Sure...Weston."


"Can't that e-frame of yours track a few Neos?" Sean inquired.


Alec shook his head, "I can't track them on foot."


"So we're stuck.  We have three generals and a..."


"Captain!"


Sean frowned, "Captain?"


"What is it?" Hollis inquired of the security guard who had just
 come running in.


"We just received a transmission from a transport that was coming
 in from Philadelphia.  They were being attacked by a group of
 Neosapiens."


The man had to practically jump out of the doorway to keep from
 being run over by Alec and Sean as they hurried from the room.


* * * * * *

Jade watched as two children ran past her.  She stood in front of
 the hut she'd been in earlier; Corth stood to one side of her. 
 She was deep in thought until he spoke.


"What do you think?"


She turned her head to look at him, "About what?"


"Our village."


She looked around her, "It's beautiful; I love it," she replied. 


She turned to him again, "Can I ask you a question?"


"Of course."


"Who are all of you?  I don't mean to be rude, I was just
 wondering."


He stared at her for a few moments before replying, "We were
 normal once, like you.  But just before the war started Ketzer
 showed up and began...experimenting; combining plant and human
 DNA.  We should have stopped him, but we were afraid."


"Why you?" Jade's voice reflected her curiosity.


"We were easy to manipulate, and many were intrigued by what he
 proposed.  But he wanted us only for guinea pigs.  We were
 blind."


"How did you survive the war?"


"The Neosapiens did not divert many of their forces to look for
 us.  But we had weapons for when they happened to get lucky and
 find us."


Jade nodded in understanding, "What happened to this Ketzer guy?"


"He became insane.  He was a genius, but he was crazy," he paused
 to collect his thoughts, "Most of the people here are followers;
 they need someone to lead them.  So we just kept doing as he
 said.  But one day, a young woman was captured near our village
 and he ordered her shot.  She was lost and had done nothing
 wrong, so we saw no reason to kill her, but Ketzer said she had
 to die.  Some of my friends and I went against him and released
 her; then we turned on Ketzer.  He was outnumbered, so he fled
 and left us alone.  The woman stayed and provides the leadership
 that we need."


"The woman I met earlier," he nodded in agreement.


"Who is she?" Jade asked.


"You ask an awful lot of questions," he observed.


"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was a touchy subject."


He frowned, "I don't suppose it is.  To tell you the truth, I
 really don't know much about her.  She's actually not around all
 that often, unless we need her.  She spends most of her time
 alone in the jungle."


"How's our guest doing Corth."


They both turned to face the woman behind them.


"Fine.  I was just telling her about Ketzer."


"The guy's loopey as a phone cord.  I wish he'd give up on us and
 just disappear," she said with contempt.


"He's still around?" Jade queried.


"Yeah, he and his band of Neos are always causing problems.  He wants "*his*" people back."


"Can you say 'obsession'?" Jade muttered the question more to
 herself than anyone else.


The woman beside her's lips turned up at the corners in a slight
 smile, "If you're planning on looking for your friends in the
 morning, we had all better get some sleep," she said.


"I'm not tired.  I slept half the afternoon," she stated.


"You've had a hard day, except for the sleeping.  You're going to
 bed." the tone of her voice didn't leave room for argument.


Jade relented and turned toward the hut.


"Uh uh...yer staying with me.  If Ketzer attacks, I don't want
 you in the middle of it."


Jade shrugged and followed her hostess.


* * * * * *

The woman looked out over the verdant canopy of trees before her. 
 She heard someone approaching and spun to face him, "What news
 do you bring?" she demanded.


"The transport is ready and the Terrans are...taken care of."


"Excellent, we shall leave immediately," she walked off in the
 direction of the transport.


"General Livia...the Terrans may have contacted the Exo Fleet
 before we were able to take out their communications."


"Why don't you just replay the last transmission they made?"
 Livia asked.

He hesitated before replying, "Argonius shot the transmissions
 recorder," he mumbled, "It was an accident!" he added quickly.


Livia pulled a blaster from her belt and shot one of the nearby
 Neos.


"Argonius!"


She turned to the man next to her, "We have no room for
 mistakes," she said coolly and boarded the transport before her,
 leaving the rest of them to stare after her.


"Phaeton, we are ready to go."


"Then why are we not on our way?" Phaeton inquired.


"The rest of the group is boarding now."


"See that they hurry.  We must assume that the Exo Fleet knows of
 our whereabouts."


Livia nodded and left to oversee the others.


* * * * * *

"Look, over there."


They landed their frames near the place Jinx had indicated.


"Holy $#!+," Sean muttered.  "They're killing off their own
 people."


"They can't afford to keep anyone who can't be trusted.  He may
 have proved to be less loyal that Livia thought." Alec proposed.


"Well, we're on the right track," Picasso said.


"My guess is they'd head for New York.  It's a big city with a
 lot of places to hide," Sean looked at Alec for confirmation.


Alec hadn't even heard a word he'd said; he was fiddling with his
 sensors.


"DeLeon, are you..."



"Got 'em!  They're a good fifty miles ahead of us, but our e-
frames are faster than a transport shuttle; we can catch up with 
them in about two hours if we push it.


Sean stared at him for a moment before he spoke, "Let's get
 moving then."


* * * * * *

"Captain Hollis?"


Hollis looked up from the seemingly hopeless repairs on the main
 security computers that he'd been toiling over for the last two
 hours, "What is it, Carper?"


"I think you'd better come see this," the man said skeptically.


Hollis stood and followed the guard out to the ruins of one of
 the demolished buildings.


He frowned, "What am I supposed to see?"


Carper pointed to a man next to the pile of rubble that had, only
 a day before, been the main comm. room; he was holding
 something.


Hollis moved closer to see what it was and gasped.  The young
 guard held Colleen O'Reilly across his lap.  He knelt next to
 them, "Is she alive?"


"Barely," the man responded.


Her breathing was shallow and came in short gasps.  A rather deep
 gash ran across the side of her forehead and left temple.  She
 was covered with other cuts and bruises as well.


"Get her to a med-tech," Hollis ordered.


"We would, sir, but she's stuck," the man holding her informed
 him.


Upon closer inspection, Hollis discovered that her right leg was
 pinned under a fairly large section of the concrete wall from
 the knee down.


He bit his lower lip, "Okay...bring a med-tech over *here* then. 
 Tell them it's an emergency.  Hanson, stay here and make sure
 she keeps breathing; and don't try to move her!  I'll be back as
 soon as I can," he was off in the direction he'd come from.