The First Saga : Calm Before the Storm (Prelude)

" Hollis to Marsh. Come in Marsh urgent! " Hollis's voice, despite the static that came with it, came out clearly enough hear the urgency over J.T.'s comm-link. Marsh reacted fairly quickly pulling out his comm-link and replying in a serious tone " Marsh here. What is it Hollis, I can hardly read you. " " Sensors have picked up an unidentified ~bzzzt~... " " Hollis? Hollis! " J.T. said slightly hysterically, the war was over and he intended not to lose anymore friends. He cursed silently to himself and turned to run for his e-frame. Colleen came out concerned and worried over the noise, " J.T. wait where are you going!? " she shouted after him confused over what was going on and worried for her friend and lover. " I'm sorry Colleen but I've got something to do right now. " J.T. thought as he scrambled into his e-frame. Colleen ran halfway down the platform and the hopped off and ran after J.T. as he took off. She looked up helplessly after the shrinking form of J.T.'s e-frame even more worried than before. " What could be so urgent that he had to take off so quickly in his e-frame? " she thought as she stared into once again empty space.

" Colleen what's wrong? " a worried sounding voice came from behind her. She wiped the helpless expression from her face and turned to see her long time friend Natasha standing behind her with a worried expression on her face. She turned back around and looked up again into the void of space and said in a serious tone " Something's wrong. J.T. took off in his e-frame a little while ago after talking to Hollis for a short while. " Natasha walked up next to her and looked into space with her " I wonder what's going on. " she said curiously " I have no idea, but I hope he'll be all right. " she said in a worried tone, then looked down and closed her eyes. Natasha looked down at her with concern " Are you sure that he's the best choice for a boyfriend. " Colleen looked at her again and said " No worse than any other. Actually he's probably better. He's kind, understanding, loving, and that's only to me. " Colleen said fondly. " Yeah but what about that incident with that girl, what was her name? Well anyway, you trusted him then and he betrayed you. " Natasha mused. " That's in the past what is important is that he's with me now. And besides I think , looking back on it that my over-reaction may have pushed him a bit in that direction. " Colleen replied confidently. " I see " Natasha said and folded her arms, " Well if he's the one you really want to be with all your life then I guess I'd have to support you " " Thanks Natasha. " Colleen said " Well I guess we should be getting back to our work and just wait to see what comes of this. " " Yeah I guess. "

Below, where Colleen and her squad were working everything was calm. A calm before the storm which was brooding just above there heads. Above, where J.T. was on his way to Mars it was anything but calm " Marsh to Hollis, can you read me. I don't see anything. " Marsh said looking around and confused. Just then from the corner of his eye a small meteor shot past him on it's own mission to Mars. " Whatever it is it just came out of nowhere. " Hollis replied awed and fearful of the site that was rapidly approaching. J.T. who was startle by the sudden appearance, since it did come out of nowhere. He narrowed his eyes and said in a brave determined voice " I'm in pursuit. " He kicked in his afterburners and headed toward it. The thing obviously was conscious of him as it sped way up and shot ahead. " Commander Marsh, this is Galba. Our sensors indicate the object is accelerating. " Galba said trying to sound calm but the urgency and fear in his voice could still be heard. " I'm already at maximum speed. " J.T. replied " I'm locking weapons onto it. " He quickly raised his guns to fire and put his finger on the trigger to launch his missiles. Yet he was not quick enough. Suddenly an energy bolt quickly snaked out at him and hit his e-frame dead center. The energy ripped through his e-frame and painfully his body as his frame tumbled out of control into deep space.

Meanwhile on Mars base Hollis, Galba and Thrax watched helplessly as the observed what had just happened. Each one was speechless from fear and the gut feeling of impending death. Suddenly power went out in the base and the main view screen went blank. " Auxiliary power on line sir. " one of the officers said. Hollis rushed over to the comm-link and switched it to J.T.'s channel. " J.T. can you hear me?! " he said in a worried and hysterical tone but was only met by static. Outside, the unusual meteor like object was steadily orbiting Mars at extreme speed, each pass going faster. Streams of energy hit Mars from all directions. " Hollis. Hollis! " J.T. yelled over the comm though he tumbled even further into space. He made various futile attempts to regain control of the e-frame and help his friends on Mars but nothing would respond. Mars quickly shrunk until it disappeared into nothingness. Slowly J.T.'s e-frame finally began to stabilize and J.T. opened his eyes. He stared at the small meteor and said quietly in awe and confusion " What'd you do with them. An entire planet. " Just then several forms of ships not Exofleet or Pirate or anything he'd seen before appeared. They looked like living organic creatures that also appeared out of nowhere. The meteor headed quickly toward one of the ships and disappeared in a flash into it's belly. J.T. floated there frozen and unable to do anything. The ships passed by without any more acts of hostility and disappeared just as quickly as they appeared.

Everything went silent again except the humming of the engines of his e-frame and his heavy breathing. He did nothing, said nothing, even thought nothing as he stared out in the direction of where the aliens disappeared. Slowly he calmed down, turned around and set a course for Earth since he no longer had enough energy to make it back to chaos. As he cruised to Earth he merely stared into the open vista of space. What had just happened he felt was more than he could handle at the moment. All he could really do was asked questions to himself and think about what had just happened to himself. " The fighting is supposed to be over. The death, the suffering, the pain all of it was supposed to be gone several months ago. How could this happen now, to us after things just started to get better? Why me, why take Mars and my friends? " he thought to himself. He held up his hands and looked at them which were sweat and shaking visibly. Just then a beeping on his console began to tell him he reached his destination. He looked up at the sphere with swirling clouds, deep blue oceans and green and brown continents that was his home. At the moment Earth just looked as it looked to him, seeing no beauty or salvation in it.

" This is Major J.T. Marsh, requesting permission to land. " he said in a detached professional tone to the newly rebuilt earth space station. " This is Earth Station to Major J.T. Marsh. Stand by while we clear a cargo ship from the launch bay. Otherwise you have permission to land major. Several minutes later he touched down his e-frame and staggered out. His body still felt stiff and painful from the bolts of energy that the UFO shot at him. He looked around and noticed that the flight deck was silent " What're all you looking at. " he snapped and the people on the flight deck returned to their work. During the second Neosapien war, with all the things he and his squad did, they had made quite a name for themselves.

He sighed and headed down the halls to the station commanders office and rang the bell. " Come in. " a muffled voice came from inside. The door slid open and J.T. step inside and stood at attention. The commander glanced at him and said " Just one minute. Oh yes and at ease. " " Anyway as I was saying people down here are getting restless. They're grateful about the food and everything but they want to be able to live in real homes not bombed or burned out buildings. " a voice on the other side of the console said insistently. " I know people are restless but they're just going to have to be more patient. Listen I don't even know why your talking to me you should be yelling at the homeworlds senate. " the commander replied in an exasperated tone. " You're the one with all the supplies. " replied the voice. " Yes but I can't start anything like that until I get the green light from the Senate, they mainly decide where it goes and right now we're fixing Venus cause we've already started. Now good-bye. " the commander said and then hung up. " Bah. The people on Earth always so impatient. " he said organizing some papers " Well they do have a right to complain sir, if you've seen what it's like down there. " J.T. said calmly. " They do and I have but there's nothing I can do. They hound me about it anyway though, so what can I... Ah J.T. Marsh what an unexpected surprise, I've heard a lot about you, how are you doing old boy. " he said in his heavy British accent. The commander got up and gave him a hardy hand shake maybe a little too hardy for the condition he was in. " Not too good commander. " J.T. said in a slightly exasperated tone. " Be it for me to not be too observant. Now that I get a closer look at you, you do look like you had quite a rough time on your way here. Now as I was saying what can I do for you old boy. " the commander said and motioned for him to sit down. " Well sir you may not believe this... "

He went on for about an hour and a half telling everything that happened without stopping but then he noticed that the commander wasn't quite paying attention. " You don't believe me do you? " J.T. said seriously " I didn't say that major. Your story is quite far into the realm of the fantastic but there is nothing that says it didn't happen. I have just gotten a report that was sent to all Exofleet commanders that Mars is no longer there. " the commander said calmly. He turned the console around to show the message to J.T. and J.T. studied it. " So now what. " J.T. said. " Major, you are asking the wrong man. Why don't you go to medical, get yourself checked out I'll arrange for some guest quarters for you. " J.T. got up and said in a very serious tone " No need for arranging that sir. I'm not staying. " " Well where will you go? " " I need to get back to chaos, see if everything's in order. I can here because it was the closest place and my fusion pack was running low. I just had enough juice to get here. " " Then I'll have the technicians prep your e-frame. Good luck. Dismissed. " J.T. and the station commander saluted each other and J.T. left. Afterwards he was cleared by medical for flight and he took off back toward chaos.

Hours later the jumptroops were dismissed after a long day of hard work and no action. Many of the people complained about it and O'Reilly had to confess she was kind of bored to but then again she was tired of all the fighting and death caused by the second Neosapien War. Unfortunately now she had a new worry. News spread fast in the base she was on and she now new of what happened to Mars but what about her lover J.T.? Suddenly a lone e-frame descended through the opening in the ceiling just as the deck crew began closing it for the late hours. She walked over to see who it was. J.T. opened up the panels on his e-frame and hopped out. She quickly walked up to him and said in an annoyed and angry voice " Where the hell have you been? " she then lowered her voice so only he could hear " You scared me half to death, with what you did. " J.T. looked at her emotionlessly and merely replied " Out. I guess you've already heard. " and began walking. Colleen walked up next to him " About what? " " Mars. " " Oh. I have it's the main reason why I was so worried. " " Mmm. " She then walked ahead of him and stopped in front of him, " I want to know what happened out there. " she said in a concerned yet stern voice. J.T. gave her a very slightly pained look and then becoming cold he said " You wouldn't understand. " and then went around her. " How do you know I wouldn't? Maybe if you'd just tell me. " she replied catching up to him again. This time he looked at her like he was really sorry that he felt the way he felt. " I know you would cause if I told you what happened you'd think I was crazy. " " I'll say it again. You don't know that. " J.T. stopped again " If I tell you will you promise not to tell anyone else? " " I can't make any promises. " " Then I can't tell you. " J.T. said, " This discussion is over " and then he left.

A week later they were back on Earth, mentally J.T. was feeling better= and all traces of his mental disturbance had disappeared. He sat down at a table in the bar of a new base that was built around the old site of Phaetons bunker and looked out at Chicago. There was no change in the jagged, gray, desolate looking city ever since Phaeton had been defeated. Further in though, in the residential areas he had seen people beginning to try and rebuild their homes with the help of friends, family, and neighbors. J.T. found it somewhat amazing that despite all the things that go on between people during normal times during times of emergency or disaster they find a way to pull together.

He smiled slightly at the city and then went back to looking over some reports he had been given. It mostly dragged on about how they were supposed to go back into the depths of the amazon jungles to search for several squads of jumptroops who had disappeared while searching for Neo hold-outs. He felt he knew pretty sure who was behind that. Just as he got up to leave the new Admiral Frazer contacted him through his comm-link, " You done with that report Major. " " Most of it sir. Basically what happened and what we're supposed to do. " J.T. replied. " Good enough, report to my office. " " Yes sir. " As soon as he walked into Admiral Frazer's office he was surprised to see Colleen O'Reilly already leaning against the admiral's desk. " What're you doing here? " he asked quizzically, walking straight up to her. " What? Did you really expect to be put on a full scale search and rescue mission without the help of jumptroops." Colleen replied with a sort of wry humor " Well I... " " If we're all acquainted now may we get on with the briefing? " Frazer interrupted in an annoyed tone. " Yes sir. " J.T. and O'Reilly said almost in unison. " Good. Come with me. "

The admiral lead them into a dim, rotunda shaped room with chairs on all sides and a medium sized holo-display right in the middle with a lone figured standing hunched over a running display as if trying to figure out something. Admiral Frazer walked up to her and muttered something to her and she switched to a simple map of the amazon forest. Colleen and J.T. walked up to it observing that it seemed to zoom in on certain area's. " Let me guess the area's where the squads disappeared. " Colleen said before the admiral could say anything. He gave her a slightly annoyed look and nodded but said nothing for a little while. " As you two may have already read in the reports I gave you there were three groups that have disappeared without a trace. There was no sign of any battles or any kind of struggle or even that they were ever there. Your mission is to find out what happened to them, that's all. You and your squad, J.T will be there to support Charlie squad since we don't want to take the risk of losing any more soldiers. This is also the reason that you only have to find out what happened, I don't want either squad to be endangered more than they have to by being so long, but if you do find someone, do be sure to bring them back. Is that clear? " the admiral explained.

They both nodded and J.T. spoke up " Sir. I must request that you at least add another squad of either kind to the mission. " The admiral merely raised an eyebrow. " Sir I've been down there before, people do live down there. Not to say their responsible or anything but they've never liked the idea of us going down there for any reason and we have been attacked more than once. " J.T. explained. " We can handle a bunch of jungle natives major. " Colleen spoke up seriously annoyed. " Well they aren't ordinary *jungle natives*. From what I've observed because of the Second Neosapien War they've been trained to fight people like us. They aren't that hard to kill once you get to them and their aim varies like any other soldier but they are very difficult to spot and hit. They're also very good at guerrilla fighting, they could be over us before we even realize it. " J.T. said in a somewhat insistent tone. " I can't do that. Now before you complain or say anything I will tell you it is once again the preservation factor. We lost too many pilots in the war and now that it's over I want to preserve as many as possible. You people can leave if it gets too heavy. " the admiral reasoned. " My squad can leave but Charlie squad would still have to wait for and board a shuttle. So in a way we can't. Listen... " J.T. growled. " Don't take that tone with me major. I will not send another squad, that's it. You're going to have to make do. Dismissed! " the admiral snapped. J.T. narrowed his eyes and left silently.

Colleen quickly caught up with him after they left and said in an angry and confused tone " What is with you. Ya know ever since you came back from that Mars thing you've been acting strange. " " Well this has nothing to do with the *Mars thing* it has to do with saving lives. I agree with the admiral that we have to preserve lives, I just don't think holding back likely needed support and possibly condemning another squad is the way to do it. " J.T. said angrily. " Your worrying too much, it's a quick mission. Find out what happened and leave. " Colleen said in response to the last comment. " You don't get it. You just don't get it. Last time I was there they managed to almost take out several people in my squad and knock one unconscious. The only reason we weren't killed is because we had the ability to fly away and the fact that we were more armored so we could take all the times we got hit. Your squad has neither of those advantages. Those natives aren't just poor people with BB guns! " he snapped. " No you don't get it. Listen maybe we don't have those advantages but we've been in worse and we've come out alive. It's our job J.T. Our part in this mission is our job. If we were to stay back or hold out every time we thought something was too dangerous then we might as well not have joined the military. I mean it's not like we're going to stand in one place and let them hit us we can sneak and hide in and behind things too. Hell if we did it just right we could've taken back the homeworlds without you. " she snapped back. " You'd be target practice for the e-frames if it wasn't for us. " he growled angrily. " Shut up. " she snapped " Get the hell away from me. " she shoved by him and stormed down the hall out of sight. " Good going J.T. " he thought and left for the flight deck.

" We're going to be going into the depths of the Amazon jungle and you all already know what it's like down there so I want you all to stay close and stay low. That's because Charlie squad might be needing us. All right people frame up and get ready to launch. " J.T. said in his usual calm and professional tone. The squad without a word climbed into their e-frames and got into launch formation. J.T. glanced in the direction of O'Reilly but merely got a cold stare back, she was obviously still angry about that argument in the hallway. Colleen sat down in her jump pod and the shuttle came by and picked them up, they were taking off first. Able squad took off next and quickly took formation around the shuttle. =46rom there it was a quiet boring trip down to the jungle, with the exception of the occasional chit chat between squad members. They touched down in an clearing near one of the area where a squad had disappeared. Both Marsala and Maggie immediately got out and began to unload some camp gear. " Uh, J.T.? Do you think it's smart to set down in an area so close to the area where one of those squads disappeared? " Kaz asked a bit nervous. J.T. seemingly ignored him and said " Alright people I want you to split into pairs and patrol the immediate area just in case we might be in a bad place. " " What about the jumptroops? " Rita asked. " They'll be fine for a few minutes. It's not like they're helpless. " J.T. replied. The squad voiced their agreement and took of in different directions.

Ten minutes later the jump pods hit the ground and the fully armored and armed jumptroops stepped out. " Hey where's the exosquad? " Longfeather asked slightly puzzled. " Who knows but they left the gear here so let's set up. " Colleen said. Lori, a jumptroop who was only recently added to Charlie five looked around " Commander? " " What? " " Do you think this open clearing is the best place to set up camp? " Lori asked. " Of course not. That's why the rest of the squad is moving out of the clearing. " Colleen replied in an annoyed tone. " Okay, okay. " Lori said and hauled some of the gear out of clearing. After clearing some space they set up camp and waited for the exosquad to return since they had a map of the place and were the main support in case they got into trouble. A few minutes later the exosquad landed in the clearing. O'Reilly walked out with a very annoyed expression on her face. " And where have you been? " she asked J.T. her voice was still cold whenever she spoke to him. " We went to investigate the immediate area around here just to make sure we were safe. " he replied not reacting to her tone. " We'll be fine commander. " she said and walked toward the jungle. " Where are you going? " Rita called after her. " We hid the camp inside the jungle as our own precaution. " Colleen replied. " Uh hu, and you say I'm nervous. " J.T. said smartly. O'Reilly stopped and narrowed her eyes not but didn't bother to turn around " Just follow me. " The rest of Able squad just looked at each other.

" So when do we take off to get a look at these people. " Alec asked who was sitting in front of the lamp with his squad. " Tomorrow, we got here at the wrong time to do any searching. " J.T. replied. " Well I don't know about you guys but I'm getting bored. I going to go walk around for a bit. Beats just sitting around " Bronski said and got up. " Don't go to far. " J.T. called after him. Wolf ignored J.T. and went far enough so that he needed his flashlight. He had to admit, ever since the last tangle with Ketzer he felt kind of uneasy in the place. He came to a very small clearing and sat down to watch a small rodent drinking at a small stream. " Aw, there's nothing to do I might as well head back. " he mumbled to himself. Just then he felt as if someone was behind him trying to sneak up on him. He waited for a while and watched as the mouse skittered away and said in a low tone " Your not to good at sneakin aren't ya? " He then got up and quickly whirled around and shined his flash light directly at some girl. She charged him and tried to take a swing at him. Bronski stepped aside and kicked her down, she landed face first into the stream. She turned over and he shined the light directly in her eyes. He was pretty surprised as the girl was perfectly normal and she wore an Exofleet uniform.

" Who are you? " he asked the girl who merely turned her head and said nothing. She looked pretty young, no older than 20 he couldn't tell very well what she looked like from the feeble light but that was unimportant. " The name's Wolf Bronski of Able squad. I'm not your enemy I'm a friend, sort of. We've come down to investigate what happened to the squads that disappeared down here a week ago. " " You're wasting you time. Their probably all dead or mutated or something like that by now. " the girl snapped. " You know what happened? " She looked at him angrily and snapped again" Of course, I was in one of the squads. " He helped the her up and asked " What happened? Who are you? " There was a prolonged silence, she obviously didn't want to say for some reason.

Elsewhere thing weren't going much better for J.T. he approached Colleen to apologized for his attitude. " Colleen, we need to talk. " she looked at him for a moment and narrowed her eyes he also got somewhat bad vibes from the rest of her squad, they obviously knew what happened. She hesitated for a moment " All right but make it quick. " J.T. said nothing and led her out a little into the jungle where the others couldn't her them. " Now, what is it. " " I merely want to apologized for making an idiot of myself after that briefing... " he began but was interrupted. " Why should I accept you apology? Not only did you embarrass both of us in the hall you insulted me! " Colleen cut in angrily and turned her back. " I know, I know It was stupid of me and I had no right to treat you like that. " he said softly and put a hand on her shoulder, she merely shoved it off. " I also will admit what happened at Mars had more to do with it that I would've liked. You see when Mars disappeared it took hundreds probably thousands of people with it, among which were my friends. I didn't want to lose anyone else after that, especially you. "

" Am I supposed to feel sympathy for you? Even when you can't trust me enough to tell me? " " If you really want to know I'll tell you but not now I'm still coming to terms with it myself. For now I'll ask again, will you forgive me for the way I acted? " he said softly but hesitantly. She sighed and turned around, a hint of forgiveness shown in her eyes but they were still mostly skeptical. " I don't know I'll have to think about it. I'll tell you when this is over. " she said more calmly and walked back toward the camp. J.T. turned around and silently watched the stars. There were so many and they all shown brightly, like a thousand glittering gems yet he didn't watch them just for their beauty tonight. He wondered what ever became of the people who were on Mars at the time it was taken and were they were. Then banishing the though from his mind turned away and walked back to camp.

" Bronski where are you? " Rita's voice called out from the jungle. Bronski looked behind him in the direction of her voice and then looked at the young girl. She stared at him showing little emotion and then looked up staring at the stars. " Bronski. J.T. told me we're going to get some rest and we're gonna put out the camp fire. You can come or try and find your way back in almost pitch black your choice. " Rita called again. " Ya know the others would be very interested in what you have to say. Why don't you come with us. " Bronski said in the friendliest but quietest voice he could. " I don't care. " " Hey Rita get over here I found something. " There was another long silence as he waited for Rita to either say something or appear.

" Alright Wolf, what the hell do you want me to... " Rita stood slightly stunned when she noticed the girl standing behind him. " Found her just a little while ago. Actually more like she came upon me and happened to fall into the river. " Bronski said. " Huh? " " She took a swing at me for some strange reason. " he added. " I couldn't tell in this darkness if you were one of those mutant things. " she explained. " I don't even look like one of those things. " Bronski retorted. " Oh I don't know. I might mistake you for one as a silhouette. " Rita teased. Bronski scowled at her but decided to ignore the comment " Anyway as you might've guessed from that comment of hers she claims to be a leftover member of one of the squads that disappeared. But she won't say anything about it, won't even give her name.

" Rita looked at him wide eyed and turned to the girl who merely crossed her arms and looked away. " Let's bring her back with us. Marsh and O'Reilly will be interested in hearing what she has to say. " Rita said calmly. " If they can get her to talk. " Rita walked up to the girl and asked " You wanna come with us? " " Like I said to Bronski I don't care. " the girl said coldly. " Okay will you come with us. " " Sure whatever. " Rita merely looked at Bronski who shrugged and they walked off back toward the camp. Unfortunately in a nearby heavily covering tree, one of Ketzer's followers sat silently and stealthily watching them the whole time. " So this Able squad has returned to our beloved jungle. And they've brought others. Good all the better for our leaders new experiments. " it thought and then swung off in the cover of trees back toward it's village.

" So the exosquad has returned to further plunder our home. " Ketzer said in a calm yet cold and angry voice after hearing what his scout had to say. " Gather my warriors. " Ketzer commanded to the scout and ran to gather the people of the tiny village. It wasn't long before he had all of them gathered before him. " My people, old man has returned to further plunder our jungle and slaughter our people. Halrox discovered them as he was drawn by the stench of evil that comes from their machines and their technology. We must do as we've done before and draw them from the Amazon the only way we can to eliminate their corruption and that is to draw their blood. While death is more their way than it is ours it is the only way or else we ourselves will be slaughtered by the many before us. Fortunately as the last three groups that have come here they are salvageable. They can still be turned to serve us and we will try and use that as we have in the past as an alternate to death but if they will not be taken destroy them. " Ketzer said in almost a religious fervor type tone. The people who he had altered merely believed him. They cheered him as he ran off into the forest and followed. " This victory will teach the old humans that nature is not to be trifled with. " Ketzer called as he lept into a tree and continued on.

Meanwhile back at the camp, everyone had already gone to sleep, except for two people. Kaz had been given the job of first shift since he lost a bet that he was stronger than the newbie jumptroop, Lori. He walked the entire camp merely grumbling to himself, and trying to convice himself it was bad luck. As he came across one of the tents he noticed the girl who Bronski found was awake, sitting outside with her arms wrapped around her legs and staring into the wilderness. He walked up to her and looked into the same direction and merely stared at a tree for a few minutes. " Couldn't sleep? " he said softly. " What's it look like? " she grumbled. " I think you should get rid of your attitude girl. We're not going to do anything bad to you, we have anything to do anything to your friends, we're trying to help. " She merely humphed in reply and said " You wouldn't feel to nice either if what happened to me happened to you. And I won't be able to sleep until we get outta here. " " We can do that as soon as you agree to tell us what happened to them. That's mainly what we're here for. " Kaz reasoned but the girl remained silent. Suddenly, Kaz was alerted to the sound of rustling bushes. I could've just been the wind but Kaz was responsible for his teammates lives and he didn't want to get another chewing out from J.T. or end up like the new girl with the bad attitude. " Hey, could you do me a favor and wake up some more of the group I don't care who or how many, but could you please... " " Fine. " the girl said in an exasperated tone.

Kaz watched her for a moment but was attracted back to the same area by the rustle of trees. " Alright you walking ferns come on out and get a taste of my blaster. He nudged aside some of the branches in the bush where the first sound came from and he was startled my a small monkey coming out and running off. Suddenly, one of Ketzers followers jumped down from a tree and grabbed him. There was hardly a struggle as the follower was quickly shot down by a blast from Bronski's blaster. It was a small victory in the middle of a sudden nightmare as many more followers merely dropped from the trees onto the two squads. One tried to get the drop on O'Reilly yet she noticed him and merely shot up and the follower fell to the ground, dead. Two grabbed J.T. by both arms and he used one as leverage to kick one in the face and then quickly slammed the other head first into a large nearby rock. Longfeather grabbed one trying to stab him with a sharp stone and then twisted and broke it's arm and then stabbed it in the stomach. Lori snapped another's neck and then sent it into another follower.

Despite the fact that they had been surprised and they weren't wearing armor or in e-frames they seemed to actually be getting the upper hand on the followers, that is until Ketzer and some of his older followers came. They were more trained to kill these people and were definitely not pushovers, plus they had real weapons stolen from the other squads. One of them fired a high powered laser rifle at O'Reilly who was finishing of another mutant follower, but missed. Unfortunately the laser hit another large rock and some sharp and big stones showered her and she fell down clutching a bloody wound in her right leg. Another took aim at J.T. with another lower powered laser rifle, but hit one of their own instead. In turn he turned toward the one who took a shot at him and downed it with his own hand laser. The other followers who had been in the fight longer began to lose heart and retreat. Ketzer stared wide-eyed and horrified as all his followers including his guards retreated. Knowing he had lost retreated along with his followers when.

The unknown girl jumped from the cover of bushes and tried to stop him. " Not so fast you poor excuse for a failed experiment. You took my friends and I intend to get them back so *what did you do with them*? " she said. He merely sneered at her " They are no longer of your concern " he snapped and tried to run past, but she got in his way again. " Where are you going? " she asked arrogantly. Unfortunately the serum he had taken didn't just deform him but gave more strength. He grabbed her by the neck hard enough to begin to choke her and slammed her against a nearby tree.

" You are a very lucky girl to have escaped me the first time. I may have been unsuccessful the last time but this time I will make sure. " he said and pulled out a military style dagger. " I don't think so. " O'Reilly's voice came from behind. He turned around to get a kick to the face. She then elbowed him it the stomach, tripped him and took the dagger. O'Reilly was battered, bloody and tired but she was just was mean as ever. " It isn't nice to play with sharp objects you living compost. Now you'll tell us what you did with those exotroopers, or I'll carve a third airway into your neck. " O'Reilly said menacingly. " You're just as stupid as the girl, MEDUSA! " A slender, dark green, snake-like haired woman stepped from the jungle and put her hand to her head as if in concentration. Colleen staggered back and dropped the dagger, grabbing her temples and screamed in pain for no apparent reason. She made an attempt to stay on him and ignore the pain but she couldn't. First her entire head seemed to throb with pain, then her vision grew hazy and she became dizzy. The girl though still somewhat out of breath from being choked got up and went for the knife in an attempt to help Colleen but Ketzer tripped her and threw her back into the bushes. He then got up and hit O'Reilly on the side of her head hard enough to make her fly back a foot and render her unconscious. " Leave her alone, or you'll hafta answer to Wolf Bronski. " Bronski said rushing out of the forest in his e-frame.

" Your evil technology is no match for my power. " Medusa said speaking for the first time ever since she was turned into what she was in a raspy, hissing voice. She merely subjected Bronski to the same agonizing pain she had subjected O'Reilly to. She managed to force him out of his e-frame and to his knees. " The small donation is appreciated despite your evil. Come along Medusa. " Ketzer taunted at them. He then grabbed up Colleen's limp body and ran off.

It took a while for the dizziness and fuzziness in Bronski's head to wear off. Even then he had some trouble standing and felt like someone split his head open. He staggered over to the area where Ketzer threw the girl and peered into the bushes. She laid unconscious, held by a few strong branches above a steep incline lined with large sharp rocks. " Look's like you lead a charmed life girl. " Bronski mumbled and pulled her out of the bushes. Just then the rest of Able squad ran on foot into the area. " Bronski what happened?! " Maggie said in a worried voice when seeing the girl's body. " We got in a tangle with Ketzer and his bodyguards. They seemed easy enough but one of them had some kinda mind power. Using that alone they managed to stop me, almost kill her, and capture that other girl of yours, what's her name again? " Bronski said specifically looking at J.T. "Colleen O'Reilly. " J.T. replied in a worried and serious tone and walked up behind Bronski " What direction did they go in. " " Northeast but your not thinking of... " J.T. didn't allow Bronski to even finish his sentence when he took of back toward the camp and to his e-frame. " J.T. wait! " Marsala called after him and followed him " J.T.! Marsala! Where are you going? " Maggie yelled and also followed them. One by one they went after J.T. and took off with him leaving only Kaz, Bronski, the girl and the jumptroops.

Wolf wandered back into camp calmly carrying the girl when he heard a soft moaning coming from her. " Ohhh, I feel like someone hit me in the head with an e- frame, ohhhh. " Bronski set her down on one of the makeshift beds in the camp " Not quite kid. " he muttered. " Hey Bronski. " Kaz said running over to Bronski " What happened? Why was the team in such a hurry? " " O'Reilly, J.T.'s girl, has been captured. " Bronski mumbled turning to him. " I thought they broke up. At least that's what I heard. " Kaz said slightly confused. " Yeah well, obviously he still loves her or else he wouldn't have taken off like that when I told him. " Bronski replied. " Well come on then, we can't let them go at it alone. I mean there are a lot of those guys, they can't possibly... " Kaz said getting excited. " We can't afford to go and join them cause we got this girl to take care of. " Bronski said seriously. " Uh Bronski? " the girl tried to interrupt. " But the jumptroops... " Kaz complained " Bronski? " she tried again. " Have their hands full at the moment. " Bronski said interrupting Kaz and ignoring the girl. " BRONSKI!!! " she finally yelled at both of them and finally managed to get there attention. " First of all it wouldn't be practical to leave me with the jumptroops because as Bronski pointed out they have their hands full but that also means it wouldn't behoove anyone if they had to defend me on top of everything else. Secondly I feel fine. " she said in a serious and irritated tone. " That's what you think kid. " Bronski said. She humphed " I'm not as bad as you. you looked like you where about to fall over when I got your attention. " she retorted. " She's right about that one Wolf. " " But we only have two e-frames left. " " So she could ride with me. " Kaz stated and the girl nodded in agreement. Bronski looked at them hesitantly for a bit and then gave in.

" Alright, alright. But I'm not responsible if your get seriously injured or killed. " he said and then walked off muttering to himself. " All right, go get your self some kind of weapon and meet me at my exofighter over there. " the girl nodded and went to get ready. Five minutes later she climbed into Kaz's exofighter with a large high power laser rifle in her arms and a military dagger hooked to her belt. " Did you have to pick such a big weapon? " Kaz complained. " I don't have an e-frame to protect me like you and the others, this makes up for it. " the girl replied. " Well at least put it back there. " Kaz said with an exasperated sigh and pointed to a small space behind the seat. She stuffed the rifle in the small space and they were off to aid their friends.

" You picking up anything Alec? " J.T. asked hopefully. " Nothing yet J.T. " Alec replied. " I just hope Bronski didn't send us in the wrong direction. " Maggie said in a slightly worried tone. Maggie merely stared at the back of J.T.'s e-frame for a little while and thought to herself " Poor J.T. He's been through so much and now this. I hope for his sake he doesn't lose her. I know what that feels like. " She got a pained look on her face when she thought about the time when she lost Alec, it felt like someone ripped her heart out. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and she held them back and pushed those feelings aside. " I can't allow what happened in the past to get the better of me. This isn't about when I lost Alec, it's about J.T. and his love. " she thought.

Alec sat silently in his own e-frame concentrating on his scanners waiting for any sign of Ketzer and his people. He only wished that they weren't in a place that had so many lifeforms around at once, fortunately the scanner was capable of identifying life forms so they wouldn't go on a wild goose chase and find out it was something like a monkey or some kind of bird. Suddenly the scanners began to beep over and over, it had picked up something. The screen cut itself in half to display exactly what it had found. " That's it J.T. Their almost directly in front of us. For some reason they seem to be stopped. " J.T. scanned the group himself and said " It seems like their in some kind of encampment. " " Should we attack J.T.? No wait that was a stupid question. " Rita said quickly.

They smashed through the canopy of trees that hid the came from normal site and opened fire into the crowd of warriors that were gathered around a campfire scattering them every which way. The women and children screamed and ran out of the huts and for the forest. Alec took aim at a group of the fleeing women and children but Rita rushed up and knocked his gun aside. " What are you doing Alec?! " she said in a shocked and angry tone. " They're part of the enemy aren't they? " Alec said. " No, they're civilians. No matter what they look like and what side they come from and exotroopers don't kill civilians. " she growled. " Now come on and let's fight the real enemy, Ketzer. " J.T. smashed his way through the crowd of still disorderly warriors and smashed threw the wall of Ketzer's home. " Doctor Ketzer I presume. " he said in a menacing and sardonic tone. Ketzer was already surprised by the sudden appearance of the exosquad but it sunk into a sudden deep fear by the appearance. He merely clutched the injector gun and held it close to the still unconscious O'Reilly and said in a nervous and frightened tone " Stay back!!! " it was perfectly fine to face them on foot but he couldn't take on an e-frame. not so close to him at least. J.T. narrowed his eyes not threatened by the poor show at all " You picked the wrong man to threaten. " He lifted on of his guns and shot the injector out of Ketzer's hand and then walked over to Ketzer and grabbed him up " First, you try to mutate Nara into some kind of thing. Then you lie about having an antidote and try and get us to kill thousands of people. Then you attack us twice then and steal Colleen! Give me one good reason why I let a shity little piece of CRAP like you live! " he yelled slowly crushing Ketzer in his arms as he spoke.

" I DON'T CARE IF I DIE!!! YOU SHOULD'VE NEVER COME TO THE RAINFOREST!!! " Ketzer screamed. J.T. merely growled and threw Ketzer against one of the walls with enough force to send him through. " I should've killed you last time we met. " J.T. said menacingly and raised his gun to fire. Unfortunately his mind was so clouded with hatred he didn't notice Medusa walk right up beside him and use her mental powers to try and render him unconscious. He reeled back in pain grabbing his head and as with Colleen and Wolf he became dizzy and his vision blurred and hazy. Yet in his insane rage even this didn't stop him. He turned at shot at Medusa not even stopping when he moved, he even nearly hit one of his own troops. " What the!!! Hey!!! J.T. what're you doing?! " Maggie said startled and confused.

In the moment Maggie was distracted trying to figure out what J.T. was doing she was swarmed by Ketzer's warrior followers who because of their strength in weight actually managed to topple her e-frame and rip it open. " Maggie! " Alec screamed as he saw them drag her out to beat her to death. He charged head long into the crowd of warriors and managed to scatter some of them, the rest he shot or threw into things. " Are you all right Maggie? " Maggie merely moaned and looked up at him. Just then she noticed a warrior with a missile launcher sneak up behind him and said " Alec look out! " It was too late unfortunately, he turned around only to have the warrior launch the missile into his canopy.

" ALEC!!! " Maggie screamed in horror " You! " She quickly hoisted herself up on her e-frame and shot the warrior in the chest with her laser pistol. She then turned around and went to help Alec. Looking into his canopy she saw a bloody unconscious Alec and she began to shake frightened and saddened " Oh no. No please Alec not again. " she said, her voice shaking as well. Another one of Ketzer's followers took that opportunity to sneak up behind her and club her. Medusa landed on Marsala's attack e- frame and gave him and evil smile. J.T. was not too insane to see that if he fired at her threw he ran too high a risk of killing Marsala. Suddenly he again staggered back in pain as Medusa had turned her focus back on him but she forgot one thing, Marsala. Marsala casually opened his canopy knocking Medusa off him and breaking her concentration. J.T. then fired on her riddling her body with laser hits and burn marks. Meanwhile Rita jumped on Ketzer almost literally and knocked him down as he tried to run with Colleen. Ketzer looked at her with extreme contempt and called another one of his body guards. " RANAGROK!!! Do away with this pest! " She turned and saw a hulking monster of a man standing up in a tree looking down at her with contempt as someone would look at punks on a street corner. It raised it's arm which began to glow green and in seconds she was grabbed by a whole bunch of vines that spurted from the ground and began to crush her. She tried to rip them off but they grew too quickly and she had no choice but to jump out. Two of Ketzer's warrior followers jumped from the trees one kicked her in the chest and the other tripped her stomped her knee almost breaking it. She fell back and against her now crushed e-frame and slid to the ground. J.T. and Marsala tried to charge them in a last ditch attempt to get Ketzer and retrieve O'Reilly. The thing in the tree who again they failed to noticed made a throwing motion with it's hand and launched the crushed an crippled form of Rita's e-frame at Marsala. Unfortunately, his e-frame was so big and it was so hard to maneuver it hit Marsala's e-frame just missing the cockpit but it did enough as his e-frame almost rolled over onto J.T. He dodged Marsala only to be trapped just in front of Ketzer by quickly growing vines and rendered unable to move or get out.

" Well I've finally defeated the famous J.T. Marsh. Defeater of Phaeton and freedom fighter for the solar system. Too bad your reputation doesn't hold up in the world of nature! " " I... " J.T. said about to argue that comment when Ketzer interrupted him, " Silence! Take him to the amazon river NOW! " Ketzer shouted to his followers. As if a colony of ants listening to their queen they obeyed without a question or second thought. Just as they came within six feet of J.T. the ripped apart, shot up, bloody body of Ketzer's last bodyguard fell on them. He looked up and saw the young girl, smile and wave casually at him. Ketzer growled to himself dived for a nearby rifle from one of his dead followers and shot several rounds at her. While trying to avoid the shots the girl fell over backwards and began to plummet to the ground. " NO! " J.T. screamed and tore off the vines. Since they no longer had the power of the bodyguard to reinforce them J.T. ripped through them as if they were string and charged at Ketzer. Ketzer dived out of the way and fired his rifle at the arm of J.T.'s. " Bad move. " J.T. said and knocked him aside. Bronski's frame came from above and fired his grappling hook. It wrapped itself around her legs painfully as the metal cable scrapped against her and cut her open in several places but managed to stop her just before she hit the ground.

Meanwhile the followers who were struggling to get the giant and dead bodyguard off them finally managed to get it of them and charged J.T. He was totally swarmed by the followers as they struggled to get his canopy open. With the quick help of Bronski and their new friend they managed to redirect the followers to them and free J.T. to deal with Ketzer. Unfortunately in the time J.T. had been struggling with Ketzer's warrior followers Ketzer and four civilian followers had managed to rush into his hut, grab O'Reilly and take her away. The saw them disappear into the jungle out of the corner of his eye. " COLLEEN!! " he yelled and took off after them. " Oh not again. " the girl said flatly " What's yer name? " Bronski yelled over the noise of the fight, " Jenny Elena. Listen, Wolf this is no time to get socially, these guys are getting down on us. " Jenny said in a hysterical and worried tone, she then backhanded one of the followers and shot another as if she did it every time she had a discussion. " That's just about what I was about to say. So what we do? " " I don't know. Keep fighting of course that's really debatable. " " How bout some help. " a female voice came from the other side of the group.

" Jumptroops!? But how'd you get down here. " Jenny yelled over the battle. " Same way you did, we followed you. Hey boys how bout a real fight. " Natasha said taunting all the followers and let loose a hail of fire from her repeater laser cannon. Longfeather stepped ahead of her and fired two grenades into the middle of the group devastating them and causing them to finally give up and retreat. " Okay how'd you get here so quickly? " Jenny asked calming down. " Your friend Kaz gave us a ride. I tell you it's not as secure as jump pods or even as comfortable and that's saying something but it works. " Natasha said sarcastically. " Well you're a little late Ketzer and his mold people took her down that way. " " How long ago. " " Not long ago but that's almost a totally vertical hill and while Ketzer's goons are engineered to go down and J.T. could fly down you'll still drop like stones on that downhill. " Jenny said. " Don't worry kid. We're jumptroops quick enough hops should get us down safely. " " O'Reilly acted the same way and look what kinda fix that got us into. " Bronski commented. Natasha merely sneered at them and put back on her helmet " Come on guys, we can't let crazy guy expect to get away with capturing our friend now would you? " " No sir! " they shouted and headed in the direction of Ketzer and his followers. " So do we follow 'em? " Jenny asked. " I'll go after them. You stay here and look after the team members. Hey Kaz, shows over come down here and help Jen with the squad. " Bronski said curtly and then took off.

Ketzer and the civilian followers were beginning to wade into the shallow area of the amazon river when J.T. came up from above the trees. The followers began to babble something in their own native language dropped O'Reilly and ran. " Come back you fools! " Ketzer shouted at the retreating civilians but they didn't listen. " Forget it Ketzer. This ends now! " J.T. shouted back and advanced. " Stay back! " Ketzer shouted and held up an injector " I've still got some serum in this thing and it's just enough to do it's job. She may not become like us but I will control her, she'll be mine to command and she'll be happy to kill you. " " Leave her alone. She was just following orders she has nothing to do with that. " J.T. said in a serious and slightly nervous tone. " Then again you do have some of the best fighting skills I've seen in a while. I'll be willing to let her go if you serve me and only me until you die. " He stared at Ketzer wide eyed for a moment and then looked away for a second and gave a half pained half angry expression " Dammit Colleen why couldn't you have just listened. " " All right Ketzer but you have to keep your promise or god dammit we'll call down every exotrooper and jumptroop we have on you and your people. I still remember that thing with Nara. " J.T. said in a serious yet wary tone. " Nara was only given, *special properties*, she will not mutate. "

Meanwhile Colleen had woken up just as J.T. accepted and listened careful to what they said, she couldn't let J.T. do this, she won't. Ketzer removed the injector from above her neck and she waited for a small while after Ketzer began moving. J.T. noticed as Colleen silently and slowly got up and said nothing showed nothing. She suddenly lunged forward and knocked the injector out of his hand. He then turned around and knocked her back. J.T. in retaliation used the extreme strength of his e-frame to knock Ketzer to the edge of the river. Ketzer got up slightly disoriented by the attack but stable enough to take O'Reilly with him as she knocked him further into the river the strong water currents quickly swept them both away and carried them into deeper waters " COLLEEN! " J.T. yelled. and got just as he got out of his e-frame. He climbed back in but it was too late. O'Reilly continued to fight with Ketzer as they were dragged downstream. Ketzer tried to punch her but she managed to catch Ketzer's arm and in turn punch him with her other arm. Ketzer not shaken shoved her underwater and began to drown her, they both hit a rock that knocked them both unconscious.

J.T. in desperation flew up ahead, got out of his e-frame and jumped in after her. He caught her just before she hit another rock but it did little good as they continued to be swept downstream. Finally he managed to stop him self by voluntarily hitting some floating branches attached to the shore. Once again it did little good as slowly but surely the branches began to come out. He cursed the fact he had no other arms free to haul them to shore and the fact that this was the time the river ran fast and deep.

" J.T. grab the rope! " Bronski shouted over the waters. Bronski shot his cable ahead of them to make sure he got the rope. Holding onto her tightly, he quickly let go of the branch and grabbed the rope and let Bronski reel them in. Kaz and Jenny just then landed behind them and they ran toward them. Colleen had bruises on her body from various times of her ordeal, probably mostly from the capture. She was a little pale from being in the cold and murky water for so long. What worried J.T. was that she wasn't breathing and had no pulse. They looked on silently as he began to try and revive her and kept on her for what seemed like an hour every minute becoming more upset. Jenny finally after nearly an hour of this walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder " I'm sorry J.T. she's dead. " she said in a tone indicating she was truly sorry. He threw it off and she tried to urge him up, he roughly pushed her back almost pushing her over " NO! She's alive I know it! " he screamed, the pain in his voice was obvious. The others tried with the same results, they had never seen him like this, he was so desperate and determined he had begun to act foolish, again. They all came and dragged him off her and managed to calm him down, he stood there looking at her for a second and turned to leave.

Just as he began to walk away she began breathing again and coughing. He turned around and quickly ran back to her side. She turned head and looked at him " J.T.? " she said in her weak voice. " It's all right Colleen, it's all right. " he said now in a gentle and quiet tone. He lifted her " We're going to get you back to the base. " he said. Jenny and Kaz helped get her into Kaz's exofighter and got ready to take off for the Resolute II. " Hey Jen, Kaz what's you two do with the others. " " We managed to catch up with the jumptroops had them call a shuttle. " Jenny said curtly. " And they listened? " Bronski said with mild disbelief. " Sure. They weren't gonna make it in time anyway. " Jenny said. " So we're you gonna ride? " J.T. asked he was much more calmed down now. " Simple. We didn't do anything with the e-frames in the village so if you'll drop me off back there I can take one of those. " Do any of them still work? " Bronski asked in surprise. " Maggie's looks promising but I won't be able to join you guys on the Resolute II. " she said calmly. " Alright climb on. " J.T. said motioning to one of his e-frames arms.

After that Jenny flew to a Houston and the rest flew to the Resolute. Colleen and the rest of the exosquad was treated for their injuries and released. Unfortunately Jenny never found out what happened to her squad. She was joined with Able squad when she got back to the Resolute II and for several week underwent counseling despite her protest for all the things which happened recently.

Weeks later J.T. also managed to work up the courage to talk to Colleen about something very important. " Where is it? " he said rummaging around in his stuff, " Here it is. " He pick up a slightly old but well kept jewelry case. He opened it and looked at it's content admiring the thing inside then he closed it and walked off. He walked onto the flight deck which was quiet except for the sound of people talking and working. Someone approached him and he narrowed his eyes putting the jewelry case in his pocket. As the young woman came closer he noticed it was Nara. He laughed and said " I knew that you couldn't stay away. " She smiled broadly " Well all my friends are here and besides life on the farm just isn't the same without my family. Might as well stick around her until I can figure out something else to do. Where's the rest of the squad? " she said. " In the rec-room. Listen why don't you join them and I'll join you guys later, I've got some stuff to do. " J.T. said " Alright see ya later. " she said and smiled at him a slightly sly smile. J.T. laughed to himself she knew what was going on. He then went off to try and find Colleen again.

He found and approached Colleen who was working on something. She looked up and smiled at him as he approached her. " Can I talk to you alone? " he asked hiding any emotion. " Sure." she put down what she was doing and they walked behind some crates. " I've been thinking about what happened and I' think that it's time to move on with our relationship. " he said. She looked at him with wonder and curiosity, he gave her the well kept box and she opened it and gazed upon the contents with surprise. He closed her hand in both of his hands over one of her hands and asked " Will you marry me? " " J.T. " she said quietly yet her voice still with surprise. " I don't know, I'm not ready to make that decision yet. " she said. " Then keep it, until your ready to make a decision. " he said gently. " I .. I will. " she said and they kissed.

Light years, solar systems away other people weren't so fortunate. The missing people who were on Mars at the time when it disappeared were herded off the alien spaceship that took them by part cockroach, part bear creatures. As they looked around it was obvious that these creatures were very different from terrans in many respects. One of the most apparent things was that they appeared to be walking through the inside of some giant alien creature. " Let us go! " Hollis snapped at one of the alien guards, this being all he could really say since he was in awe of the structure even mesmerized and afraid. " Aw, rik'ti ashumen ra hanas. (Aw, the human is scared.) " the guard said in it's alien language and gave him a strong shock with an electro-triton and laughed. A large group of the people who used to live on Mars, including Hollis were roughly herded into a large stadium shaped auditorium filled with jeering, screaming aliens who began throwing things at them.

Just then a door leading onto a balcony right in front of them opened up and three well dressed creatures came out and looked upon them as if they were dirty, disease infested rodents. " SILENCE! " roared out one of them and the entire room went silent and the creatures sat down. The group of colonists were even more surprised at the fact that the creature spoke some english. " These vile creatures are charged with the crime of defiling and destroying our beloved homeworld. Something, unlike they may have thought did not go unnoticed. T'quan people, my people, they are not honorable warriors, THEY ARE MAGGOTS! " it screamed in an angry and menacing tone and the crowd started jeering and screaming and probably cursing at the terrans. It turned to them and repeated " MAGGOTS! " Hollis attempted to speak up for his people but was quickly and violently silenced by a nearby guard who jammed the electro trident into his leg. He almost went totally limp only being held up by the energy ring which held the entire group together like a rubber band around pencils. The speaker merely looked upon them with a haughty yet regal look and continued " Maggots have no right to live or even die a quick death. We will execute them, all of them, with the serpent beams. And we will cleanse the rebuilt homeworld no matter what it takes. " the creature said.

He motioned for them guards to leave and without a question or blink of an eye they did so, quickly. The halls went silent again and bolts of energy much like the one's that took Mars except for the blue color shot out covered the terrans in energy. At first there was a buzzing noise in their heads. Then it began to feel like they were being stung, with light from all directions. Then as if at the same time they all began to scream in agony. The light grew brighter and bright until in a bright flash the energy dispersed and there was no longer any trace of the terrans. The creatures broke out into either roars of laughter or cheers which was allowed for a few minutes and then they settled down again quickly realizing the speaker had more to say.

" My people, as the prince of the royal clan and heir to the throne I must demonstrate my leadership and willingness to carry on the order of the great T'quan Empire. Not only must these few terrans be punished for their misdeed but all terrans must learn the price of crossing the empire. So, my brother prince Juxama and my uncle the emperor have decided to declare war on the terrans and soon like all the others they will know the power and might of our people. " the prince said in an encouraging tone. The crowd of aliens that was connected to or belonged to royal family cheered again. The prince smiled fiendishly bearing the first row of eleven rows of sharp jagged teeth. Other terrans who were allowed to watch merely to tell them what was going to happen to them huddled and whined in fear.

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