Securing a Doctor

[Ardgal Raxis]

He felt her warm, full lips press against his. It was warm, it helped him, it calmed him, he knew she was alright, and he knew that he could help save her--somehow. If he died now, he could have died content. There were no words to describe how her touch felt.

"I am glad you are safe." He said warmly.

He made a mental note to up Myles' pay cuts or reward the mercenary somehow. He had already proved himself reliable with work, and an able body. While that was all good and well, this was another matter entirely, the only one that seemed to help him think in a counter-logical way. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about her that made him different. He set her down when she requested and listened to her short, but well-deserved lecture. In hind sight, bringing the Godkillers on was a less-than-wise decision. They had a reputation of "not playing well with others" and being nefariously head-strong. Even for Mandos. He gave a sheepish smile and chuckle, "Sorry, I just--" he took a deep breath, releasing it with a heavy sigh, "I was just--so worried when I heard what happened. I wasn't thinking clearly, I'm sorry." He pressed a comlink to his lips, "Prometheus, this is Ardgal, Stand down, we have the intel we need centralized here. Tell all the Godkillers to stand down, return to the Atonement and commit to holding pattern Sigma."

"Virgil, nice to see you again so soon. Well....best way i can put it is corporate assassination. Big pharma company is out for her head on a silver platter. Man named Xander Howeth; snake of a creature. He no doubt has resources that would almost match General Raxis"

Virgil crossed her arms over her beskar breastplate. The Amazon woman cocked her helmet slightly to the side, "Well good. Then it means I can finally have a challenge for once."

She was probably unnervingly haughty in her response but, the woman did have the guns to back it up. "I look forward to cutting that Hut'uun apart piece by piece."

___________________________________________​

​

Prometheus gave one of his winsome smiles to Commander Cantalos. The warrior spread his hands in a winsome expression.

"Oh, don't worry, Commander, we are all on the same team here," he said in a lighthearted voice. He was good with people, and not in a militaristic hard-nosed way, but in a confident, personable way. "I just received orders to help with the flow intel, since the general can't gather all that he needs at one time, and there are a lot of moving parts. Granted he is a living god and all but--"

The officer halted in mid sentence, pressing his earbud comlink close. Even though Ardgal wasn't there, he subconsciously straitened up to attention, "Yes sir.... Yes sir.... Very good, sir." The officer looked back to Cantalos with a charming smile, "You know what? I like you," he said swinging his pointer finger through the air, "And just cause I like you, and you strike me as a charming, stand-up guy, I'm gonna have my fellows wait back here and trust you to hand us all we need on a nice little data chip." Prometheus doffed an invisible cap at the Commander, "I look forward to your continued acquaintance. Toodles!"

With that, he and the Godkillers retreated back onto the Atonement, waiting like vipers in their nest.

__________________________________​

"Don't worry, it won't go any further," Ardgal said with a nod, "They worship me like a god, and I suppose that makes you," he thought for a moment before shrugging and giving up, "all I can say is they are very fond of you. More than you could possibly know, I assure you. Probably best for us to keep it here between us four."

When Myles came in he gave the man a grateful nod and greeting, he would thank him later when there was more time. He followed Rashae into the secure room and took a seat near where she was. Alexa lowered itself at his feet like a gentle pet--that weighed 1 ton. Ardgal absentmindedly placed his hand on its metallic hackles, petting softly as he listened. Virgil leaned back against one of the walls in the back of the room, crossing her arms, paranoid.

"I would be the last to disturb what Myles has already put in place here in terms of defense and counter strike, but I did bring a sizable ground force in storage to be used to supplement any plans needed, not just the GK's, but tanks and speeders as well if needed," He placed both hands square on the table in front of him, "My question for you, Rashae and Myles for our starting point is this; what data do we have in terms of where we can launch a counter strike? Do we have an ambush point? Or can we lure him into a trap?"

[member="Myles Davorak"] I [member="Rashae"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Well good. Then it means I can finally have a challenge for once

This woman is bombad, and I thought I was eager for the action. He thought about how much of a challenge this female Mandalorian wanted in an enemy.

"With that attitude, we should be able to eliminate this threat rather effectively" Truth is, he didn't know how well off Xander was, what he had, who was on his payroll. It was a delicate matter.
After the two had exchanged remarks, Myles nodded his head at [member="Ardgal Raxis"], the man who helped him fund his business and gave him good work. His loyalty to Ardgal was almost unparallel; and could only be compared with the same loyalty he had to the Naboo forces he fought with.

Raxis was an impressive man, much younger than Myles that showed leadership and combat prowess that was.....in-human.

Davorak snapped back to attention and listened to Ardgal ask preemptive questions that may help establish a foothold against this corporate monster.

I would be the last to disturb what Myles

You do what you gotta do son, I owe you quite a bit. He thought silently to himself.

Do we have an ambush point? Or can we lure him into a trap?"

Well hell, we could try to lure him. "Xander is after the formula yes? Wherever it is, he seems to be. I didn't see any hostiles with him at the estate dinner. He was on your turf Rashae and brought no one. He may send scouts or assassins to probe our trap to make sure it is not so." Other than that, Myles didn't know much about Mr. Howeth, not yet at least. Silas; his right hand man was doing some major digging on the HoloNet.

To defeat an enemy, one must really know the enemy. Principles he stuck to each job he was given. This job however, would really test Myles' capacity to be a soldier, and to be one step ahead of someone who had more resources than he did. If need be, could deplete his resources and use attrition to our advantage.

His thoughts became more thick and convoluted as time pressed on. A plan well made is a plan not easily made.
[member="Rashae"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Rashae]

Rashae softly sighed before turning back to Ardgal for his explanation. She nodded through out the whole thing. “I know. “ She sprayed her throat again with the spray and made a face.

She wondered for a moment if Prometheus realized he was still on the Com when he said all of that. Rashae had this tired look over the whole mess as Cantalos said through the com. “Orders, Minister?”

“Have the boys work with Prometheus. They do whatever Ardgal tells them to without question. “ Came the hoarse whisper.

“Aye Minister. “ The comlink broke and He turned to the operatives and Intel boys. “Your on boys, connect with Prometheus once he is back on the Atonement and ferret out what you can. Do not alert Alderaan defense. I already had to mitigate why we have so many ships around us. “ The boys as Cantalos and Rashae put it just gave tight grins and went to work. The boys comprised of intelligence, operatives and communications.

Once the door to her think tank was closed and locked with Myles and Virgil in the room, she inclined her head to Virgil. “How are the legs Virgil, any residual issues?” It was a coutesy and a curiosity after you have treated someone to see how they were faring.

It was obvious she was standing and moving around, but warrior types tend to ignore things. Myles and Ardgal both said their piece and she realized that both of them had opposite pieces. “I dont think we can go stomping around Alderaan. I am not willing to make angry her Majesty's husband. Lord Draco Vereen. He is over Alderaan Defense.”

She took a deep breath as she held her hand up and then sprayed more narco stuff down her throat. She held it for a moment or two. “To make it short Myles, Ardgal, each of you have half of the issue. They are separate issues. Agents of the Galactic Coop are not likely to address me directly and lately that has been Agent 42. Thats the one that tried to nail me on Chandrilla. The Galactic coop thinks I stole the formula to an anti serum. This.. “ She held up the glowing orange tube. “is the main ingrediant. Its derived from a special coral. Extraction methods always kept the active ingrediants separated. A fusion process made it into this which could then be fused with the rest of the ingrediants.”

She let them digest that a bit. Rashae was trying very hard to keep it as simple and succinct as possible. Not that they were not intelligent but this was genetics at the cutting edge. The common mercenary or warrior would not understand it. “Xander Howeth, he has went by other last names but I dont know them all. He lovvesss Xander. “ She rolled her eyes at that. “Anyway. He has the formula only, the encounter I had with him showed me he doesnt know how to make the formula work. He hasnt figured out the fusions in over two years. Thats why he wanted me. “ He probably would have done worse than strangle and keep her alive enough to do the work.

“To answer your question Ardgal. Could put me up as bait again in a controlled environment. “ She looked over at him as the scowl told her .. wait.. might be more than a scowl. “alright thats a no. “

Her nail tapped the desk and her eyes widened. “I'm stupid. Fraking hell. “ With a few strokes of buttons her clear boards and 3d display was wiped and she brought up a new one. It was an unknown genome pattern with glowing points at specific locations. “I can just make a new formula. Maybe can shut everyone up and leave me the hell alone.”

“Rashae was not the best strategist when it came to military tactics. Call it lack of practice or practical application or she doesnt realize the same principles could be applied in how she puts fusions together could be skills used for strategy. She bit her lower lip lightly as she went to one clear board and starting putting items, figures, mathematical calculations in rapid successions. “yeah this could work!!”

The woman looked like a starved wolf as she went from one clear board placing seemingly random figures, formulas and genetic configurations before darting to another. She even started talking to herself a bit as she paced and went to one previous section “no no no.” before erasing it and putting in a new figure or formula.


[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Myles listened intently on what [member="Rashae"] had to say in the matter. Multiple ideas and thoughts were put forward by present company, and each one had a slight snag or disadvantage in them.
This is a delicate situation, no matter what we do there are too many risks at stake.

To make it short Myles, Ardgal, each of you have half of the issue

"We have half the equation. We must come up with contingency plans" Myles volunteered.

As Rashae held the vial in the air he stared at the formula, pondering every use of the mixture. An organization was after it and the secrets that the Doctor had. No doubt they would be sending agents of their purpose to extract whatever was available.
A formula is useless without the proper knowledge and Rashae has all the brain power to use it.

Unless.....sabotage could be involved somehow? The execution could be way too risky. Having the solution mixed to produce deadly results may not be the best case scenario. Until a full out battle plan was conceived [member="Ardgal Raxis"] and himself had the Doctor under close guard keeping an eye out for danger. Guarding the Doctor and keeping her facilities under a close eye would be paramount for the success of this operation.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

“How are the legs Virgil, any residual issues?”

"The doctors back home said I am a fool and that if I ever pull that kind of crap again, I'll be lucky if there's anything left to scrape off the duracrete," she said with a perfect combination of cold iron and acidity in her voice, "I say screw them. I'm walking, and more importantly I'm still saca Nibral o'r shebs," She said, her language turning brilliantly colorful, "I think that's what counts."

"Xander is after the formula yes? Wherever it is, he seems to be. I didn't see any hostiles with him at the estate dinner. He was on your turf Rashae and brought no one. He may send scouts or assassins to probe our trap to make sure it is not so."

"Good point," Ardgal said motioning towards the man with his two forefingers, "If we encounter that, we let a few of them go, and capture any that we are unable to. We apply enhanced interrogation to the captures and we follow the released. One of the two will lead us to the target."

He was careful in choosing his words the target. Xander wasn't a human being any more, he wasn't even an animal. The fool was a walking corpse with a clock ticking over his head, steadily on its way to zero.

"And you are right, Rashae, we cannot go stomping all over the world, I wouldn't dream of putting civilians in harm's way if its negotiable," that was bad for business, that was bad for Rashae, and that was bad all around. Alexa's sonic rods nuzzled at Ardgal's thigh for attention like a hound, the warrior placed his hand on it, pacifying the war machine. "But frankly, he can kiss my shebs if he wants to cause a problem and answer to why this has yet to be addressed."

He gave an emphatical, unspoken no at her mention of being used as bait. The woman had already been put through enough in the manner of danger, he was not about to do that again.

While she got to work designing a new formula, Ardgal retrieved his own datapad and brought it to life, leaning closer to Myles, "Full cards on the table, this is what I brought in the matter of arms," he turned it over so the man could see the manifest of the Atonement and the heavy freighters in tow. Each of RMIA's tanks, walkers, and transports had been towed in sets of 24. In addition, there were enough crates of weapons and ammunition on board to arm a few dozen small armies. And with them, came the Alpha Company, and of course, the GodKillers. There were 50 Mk 2 Droidekas, 50 Basilisks, and enough mines to cover a dozen bolo ball fields over. Ardgal didn't come to reason with the target, he came to annihilate it, and anything that stood in his way.

Of course, on the ship manifests, RMIA was merely escorting a few heavy freighters laden with foodstuffs. He was good at hiding like this in plane sight, under the guise that society offered him.

"I didn't bring any operatives able to ferry messages or send out gossip," the warrior said with a frown, "But perhaps you might have someone who could send the word out. The target, I am sure, would hear about any gossip we spread and move in. You could feign a weakness, somewhere. We could tell them about the new formula and use that to drawn the target in," he motioned in deference to both Myles and Rashae, "But I don't know where to lay this trap, or how to be sure he found out. Any ideas?"

[member="Myles Davorak"] I [member="Rashae"]

 

[Rashae]

Rashae couldn’t help chuckle at Virgil’s words as she inclined her head. “Well if they cant put you back together, bring your ass my way. I will put you back together.” There was a fierce twinkle as there was very few circumstances she wouldn’t be able to do so and the woman hated losing. Those strange words of the mando language she didn’t understand but something about them made her chuckle some more. “Indeed, Virgil.”

Her head turned towards Ardgal and Myles plotting and planning away. “I don’t know if Xander has any help or not. He could. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had but I don’t think he has the resources you think he does or he has someone elses pocket funding things. When he started with me at Galactic Coop, him and his family were broke. Then some sort of break in the stock market and they became unbroke.” She shrugged as she didn’t know the particulars and as sketchy as it sounded, she didn’t understand the financial coup he may have pulled off. “That was two years ago. He could have ran out of credits again and getting desperate.”

Ardgal’s words pissed her off as she slammed her fist into the desk. Words were coming out that wree intended to be loud but ended up no more than a harsh and painful whisper. “It is NON-negotiable. You can kiss my ass because none of the royal family KNOWS. NONE.” She grabbed her throat to try and keep the pain to a minimum. “I tried to do this by myself, tried to fix it. I cant!! “ That was probably the hardest thing for this proud woman to admit. An even quitter, “I cant!!! “ was uttered in that broken harsh whisper of an abused throat. Her mouth closed as tears came down. She hit the desk again just out of spite.

Her hand went to her throat as she plopped down in the chair. It was screaming painful as even swallowing was a chore. She sprayed down her throat several times before she managed to be able to get a few swallows of cold water down there. By the time she got the stare of death for a no and the realization that a new formula could be made, she went to work. The whispered mumbles continued as she half listened to the three.

Suddenly out of no where, when they thought she wasn’t listening she threw this out. “Use my parents. They fraking screwed me over. No love lost I assure you.”

“oooo.. sub-nuclei configuration on the z-axis at a 30 degree rotation…” and back to her project. As she continued to mumble, the woman started pacing back and forth talking with her hands. The second genome brought up on display was even more ominous than the first one. “Genetic markers, replace the nerve headers, impulse block parameters, … “

Again out of no where she looked up at the two. “Mountains of Alderaan is fairly sparsely populated. Might be something we could secure up there?” The voice was hoarse with the continued abuse of talking.

Then back to her genetic mumblings and the animated pacing back and forth resumed.

[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Myles observed the Minister as she was voicing her opinion. Feelings and emotions were getting involved as the Doctor voiced how she felt on the current situation as she gave Myles and Ardgal the story on Xander.

Use her parents? That could work, but that is a bold move. He didn't volunteer any plans yet, as he didn't know how Virgil, Ardgal and Rashae would feel about it.

She went back to the drawing board and was scribbling formula equations rapidly, like a prodigy.

Then she offered the idea of holing up in the mountains of Alderaan. She wouldn't be expected there. Xander would expect her to be in a high-security hospital or science installation. It could possibly work.

Then again, the Queen was not informed of this delicate situation. Should Queen Organa get involved? That was a debatable question.

Myles listened and reflected on the numbers and force multipliers that [member="Ardgal Raxis"] had brought with him. It was more than Myles brought. Myles recently started his company and only had about 15-20 people employed. Combined however, they both could prove to be a force that not many would want to reckon with.

"What do you think General Raxis? We could set a small FOB somewhere in the mountains. Xander would be looking for [member="Rashae"] in some science lab or hospital. Not in the wilderness. Setting up wouldn't take long with our manpower we have and mapping routes of patrol and surveillance shouldn't be so bad"
He hoped that the idea would appeal to both Ardgal and Rashae. Time would only tell, but time was starting to be an obstacle in itself. Who knows when the next "contact" will be.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

“Well if they cant put you back together, bring your ass my way.I will put you back together.”

Virgil gave a half nod of her cold helmet, "Count on it."

Ardgal listened to Rashae explain Xander's position, he folded his hands under his chin as he calculated and integrated the data to find a probable reasoning. "Well the way I understand it there are two logical out comes; first the Galactic Coop is funding him. If they are, that means they are pulling the target's strings, if they are pulling its strings it provides access to their soft underbelly with valuable intel on how to completely shut their operation down. Or they are not, and if they are failing to do so, then the target is acting out of self interest to gain from them, it would not do so if it did not have a way to get to the Coop without much difficulty. In short, the target holds their trust, to a degree. If we have it, then it can be used to our advantage. If either proves to be false, which there is only a 1.08% chance of such, then removing it from the equation in general provides a more stable chance of protecting Rashae."

His eyes flicked as Rashae lost it, it was as close to yelling at him as she could right now, and it wasn't like the warrior had never been yelled at. But this was different. She hadn't yelled at him before. A flare of anger rolled through him. Ever biological being had the instinct that when struck, had the first instinct to strike back. It was natural, it was nature, it was barbaric. His eye flickered with furry, his hands folded under his chin gripped each other so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He closed his eyes and took a very deep breath, his nostrils flaring. Emotions ran high, logic whispered in his ear, even for seasoned professionals, in situations like this PTSD and irrationality was prone to take over. Ardgal was fortunate enough to have his training, and if not that, then his cyborg parts to keep him in check. She had none of it. Nothing. Not a single scrap of any of it. She was a civilian, as out of her league as he could be in a laboratory, or in an operation room. This wasn't easy for her, she didn't know how to handle this, and to make things worse, her life was on the line. He let the air out with a hard hiss, visibly relaxing.

"This is what I do," he said in a low voice, eyes still closed. "Everyday. Every minute. Every second. This is what we do, its not all gun fights, most of it is tragically mundane," he opened his eyes, his dark brown eyes once more ruled by calm and logic, "Its what we train for. So please," he laid his hands open, palms up in a gesture of reconciliation, "allow us to take care of you."

"What do you think General Raxis? We could set a small FOB somewhere in the mountains. Xander would be looking for Rashae in some science lab or hospital. Not in the wilderness. Setting up wouldn't take long with our manpower we have and mapping routes of patrol and surveillance shouldn't be so bad"

He turned his attention back to Myles, for now. He made a mental note to make sure Rashae got some psychiatric help after this, even the best soldiers couldn't be expected to go through this sort of stuff and not be affected.

"It seems to be the best call to be," he said tapping on the table, "Your forces are going to have to take point on this. A larger force, the type I brought with me, will attract much more attention, and all of it unwanted. My people will wait in orbit for their order to move in when and if they are needed. Do you think you can work with that?"

[member="Myles Davorak"] I [member="Rashae"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

As Virgil and Ardgal were taking their points in responding to Rashae, Myles was thinking ahead on proper counter-measures and protocols he and his group needed to take to help Raxis and his group secure the Doctor.

Time must have flown by pretty quick as Ardgal was already addressing Myles with a course of action.

It seems to be the best call to be," he said tapping on the table, "Your forces are going to have to take point on this. A larger force, the type I brought with me, will attract much more attention, and all of it unwanted.My people will wait in orbit for their order to move in when and if they are needed.Do you think you can work with that?

Take my forces in, an expedition of sorts. Find a safe, habitable area and give the all clear.

He gave a smirk before replying to the General. "Absolutely, sir. I can take my forces in, during low light conditions as to remain unseen from the nearby villages. Once on the ground my team will make their way up the mountain pass, looking for a decent holdout point. From there I will signal you via comms under the handle of 'Specter Team' informing of our situation. Any particular locations desired before I choose one?"

In the mountains, there could be dangers, but also safe havens to be had there. From deep caves, to rushing waterfalls. Knowing what kind of scenery was needed so Myles and his team could properly locate desired results in a smaller time frame.

One thing he prided his men on was their ability to do a comprehensive recce. Going out for 12-20 days with just the supplies on their backs was a test he liked to visit often.

Myles waited patiently for either [member="Rashae"] or [member="Ardgal Raxis"] to give him parameters of the expedition.

 

[Rashae]

Rashae saw the anger in his eyes as she threw all of that at him. The woman didn’t flinch, didn’t balk, didn’t back down. A sane lesser person would have taken a step or few back from a man who could rip a head off literally. The little woman wasn’t feeling particularly rational. Someone was after her life and she couldn’t do anything about it. The lack of control rankled her. Not having a plan, not having a way out of this tormented her. Rashae had always relied on herself because relying on anyone else proved to be foolhardy.

There he was to say ‘let us take care of you.’ When was that rug going to be pulled out from under her. Yet there was his palms open and the very man willing to tear off any head to protect her was pleading with her to let him do what he does best. Her lip trembled as she sat there holding her throat. If there was betrayal later, she would just have to deal with it as she nodded her head to the man. She turned to the one thing that was always there. Her work, her genetics, her science, her medicine. if Myles was wanting anything from her, he was likely not going to get it in her current mindset.

Once she had a base model, she would put it in the computer system for projections. There was nothing more on her face about the turmoil in her mind. The focus of work was what she sunk herself in and her face relaxed as she delved into the complexities of genetic fusions. The 3 d display turned into a virtual testing environment as one group of spheres and lines would meld with the main genome. Soon she was utterly enthralled.

It was a simple matter of unlocking the sliding door if they needed to leave to take care of orders, but Rashae stayed with her creation. After a few hours of calculated mixing and virtual simulations, If anyone checked on her, she was in a lab coat and in her clean room lab attempting to create the process that would make the serum. Then its testing. She was petting a rather subdued rat that had eaten food that had the transgenic component.

She injected the rat with an appropriate amount of serum suspended in saline. She placed the rat in a plasteel enclosure to watch it for reactions. She picked up the plasteel container with holes at the top for air and carried it out from the lab, waited for the antisepsis field to run over her and the rat and then moved to her desk. She sat at her desk and started to write out her notes on the project. It wasn’t fully tested but she had a reasonable formula solution. It did make the subject very thirsty. It could be the bodies need to get the offending substance out of the system but she didn’t have time to test that. She put a bowl of water down for the rat as it seemed to start moving around more and more as the serum worked. Rashae continued writing down her observations and diagnosis on long term effects and side effects.

The doctor hadn’t said a word to anyone during these hours she was working on the new formula. She could very well had just dangled new formula and not made one. It would have been a workable lie. Rashae rarely if ever bluffed. The Galactic coop might be expecting a bluff, so she would have a workable formula to show how serious she was. She planned on having the Coop at the meeting in the shadows when she met with Xander. They had to see Xander was a snake in the grass that just after his own gain and will use anyone and anything. The downside was that Xander could be doing something for the Coop. She hoped that Myles and Ardgal would be able to spot these little signals before its too late.

Ardgal’s words and expression swam in her head. ‘Let us take care of you.’ He had no idea how difficult that was. No she wasn’t dealing with this very well and she had a good psychologist/psychiatrist on staff on the Padme. Rashae just didn’t disclose to anyone, she didn’t just open up these doors to anyone. Those that are close to you end up hurting you the most. That was probably what she feared the most from Ardgal. He was getting close. It felt great to have someone care, but when was that going to end? When was he going to hurt her, too?


[member="Myles Davorak"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

That was that. Part of Ardgal knew that he had to resolve what was unsaid that happened there, the other part of him knew that they didn't have time right now. He placed a reminder for himself to deal with it later. For now he had to make sure that she didn't die, and that they could end the scum who did this. He watched her move away and get to work.

"Sounds good to me," Ardgal said with a nod of his head, "I trust your judgement. We may want to set up at a per-existing location, just in case they have satellite to visualize our movement," it was intense, severe paranoia coming out, but the warrior had lived and died by it. If these beings were anywhere near as well resourced as he had the feeling they were, then it would be well earned.

"We can't just sit on our hands here while that happens," Virgil spoke up from behind them, speaking for the first time since the meeting officially began.

"And we won't," Ardgal agreed, tapping his forefinger on the table, "While you do that, we will conduct a secondary operation. We will use what data is present and build off it. We will search for resources the target possesses. If it loves the name 'Xander' as much as Rashae said, then it won't be hard to find what listings are under that name in the local area and begin sketching out a cross reference from there on what we are working against," he looked back to Rashae, "I want a galactic search for all holdings of anything with that name, then cross reference that with correspondence to what we know."

"Already on it."

"I'll detail what we find when I hear back from you," the warrior said tapping on the table again, "And when the stage is set, we will send out the rumor that the Lovous have Rashae in custody and see what the target does with that. If there is anything that we can do to help, consider it done."

There didn't seem to be anything left for him to say, so the warrior offered his hand, and left to go back and find Rashae. The warrior hesitated at the locked doors of her lab for a moment. A lock wasn't really a problem for him, one way or the other. His hand hovered over the open button for a second. He didn't know what exactly to say, or how to say it either. Or even what he was going to say. It just didn't feel right they way that conversation had ended. He wanted to tell her more than anything that he would do whatever it took to keep her out of this, whatever it took. But it wasn't just that easy.

The door slid open with a hiss and he stepped in, careful to close the door behind him. Silence hung in the air for a very raw moment as the warrior pursed his lips, trying to find the words to say.

"Things look good," he said, instantly regretting them as they left his mouth. "Myles is going to find us a safe place to hide you away." Because hiding totally worked the first time. "And I'm going to find out what we know about the target's resources," Because more data is exactly what you need, Ardgal, isn't it? Just makes life easier to see it as a bunch of statistics instead of people. "We have a 65% chance of this going through without any loss." Just keep making life that clinical and soon enough people will believe you really don't care. "How is the formula coming along?"

[member="Myles Davorak"] I [member="Rashae"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

I trust your judgement. We may want to set up at a per-existing location, just in case they have satellite to visualize our movement,

"Dont worry sir, I will find a location and patch you the coordinates. My men are capable scouts and we should have this in the bag before dawn."

Seeing that Ardgal and Rashae were deep in conversation, Myles would take a brief leave--to give them privacy and to inform his men "scuse me for just a moment, ill alert my men so they can make proper arrangements before we deploy" he said as he stood up and departed the room.

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It was go time. Myles had requested that his men meet in a central location aboard the Padme. Silas would stand beside Myles just as he always had, reinstating his 'second-in-command' position.

"All right men, quick briefing. We are running an expedition near the Juran Mountains of Alderaan. We are to find a location for a Forward Operating Base during low-light conditions. We must be quiet about this op and we cannot afford to be discovered in our endeavor. Which is why we are fanning out in 5 meter radius. No vehicle support will be provided at this time. This is a boots-on-the-ground op. I will provide more information aboard the Tempest when we depart. We leave at 2300."

This was all he had to say so that his men would prep for the mission. The Juran Mountains could be a cold mistress if the proper clothing was neglected. The Tempest would land a few klicks out, away from the village. Then they would have to flank around the village; they didn't need locals raising suspicion to anyone.

Myles knew that Ardgal would speak with Rashae and he wanted to give them their privacy so he would go to his ship and prep for a low-light expedition. Been a while since we ran an expedition in true form, what a good exercise this will be. He thought to himself.

A pre-existing location? The Juran Mountains could contain such a location, as much of the mountain range was not occupied by any living thing other than wild game. This op would almost mimic the search and seizure op he ran on Galidraan years ago; but this op would run much smoother.

[member="Rashae"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Rashae]

It wasn't exactly like he didn't have access. Hacking was a futile gesture as the door simply opened for him without any fuss not because of hacking protocols. The entrance of her lab had a section that contained a dry spray and then an antisepsis field. Hacking protocols wouldn't have mattered if he had one single microbe of contaminate on him. The measures she put in to ensure sanitary conditions would render every part of him very clean. No bacteria, virus, prion, fungus, nada would be on skin, armor or any material on him.

She huffed a sigh when he entered as she fed a fresh food pellet to the rat. He started throwing things out there. There was a nod of her head as he spoke to acknowledge the measures. They were good measures. It was also impersonal as hell. Her eyebrows raised to her hairline as he inquired of the formula.

“Funny thing is they don't even think I can reconstruct it or the compound. They thought I was too illogical for this field. Too, volatile. “ She huffed a laugh as she held up two bottles. One was a slightly clear amber color, the other was clear. “I had to create the compound to test it and make sure the serum would work against it. Why I remember the exact genetic sequence? I really can't answer that?”

'They' was a loaded term. The Galactic Coop, her family, Xander, professors, fellow class mates all included in that 'they' term. She was just a pretty face with a brain they think could temporarily hold what they want and then discard at their leisure? But she did remember things like that. Some part of her could remember exactly long chains and sequences of genomes. Interchange segments in those chains, remember junctures, ganglion and nexus locations for fusions. The art of getting those genetic codes to meld together to form a new code. They had no idea who they were messing with.

She lifted the clear bottle. “this is the mindbreaker compound or my version of it. “ She lifted the amber bottle. “This is the serum to counter act it. “ She made a face. “they need tweaking, further testing but it wont kill anyone. “

She lifted the lid of the case of the rat. “Side effects so far as I know is dehydration and headaches from the serum. The original didn't have that but did the best I could under the circumstances. With further testing I could mitigate that but we don't have that time.” She petted the rat before taking a device in between his toes to get a drop of blood. The device was put into a larger machine as it dissected the rat's blood rapidly. She gave the rat another food pellet before putting him back. “Ralph here is doing fairly well. Vessel constriction is starting to decrease. I have no contraindication data against other medication with this, but that's trivial at this point. “

She threw impersonal statistics at impersonal statistics. She can do that too. Then she dared to look at his eyes. Something within her melted. Rashae struggled against that. She could see the warmth there that no one else could see. The Doctor was not afraid of the deep dark abyss that was Ardgal. “I suggest you reach out to the coop first and let them know we have another formula. Perhaps we can lure Xander in so the Coop can see what kind of person he is. If there is any inkling of a covert alliance for Bioengineering espionage. “ She closed her eyes a moment. “Could do a lot of avenues with that scenario. If it was me, I would simply tell them their compound is moot as it was a simple matter to re-create it. I am sure there is a more subtle way of working this, I wouldnt know what that is. “

The coop would have agents crawling everywhere if they had an inkling she could just simply recreate it. They kept asking her about the serum formula. They never drilled and probed about the compound or the ingredients to the serum. Part of her wanted to cry as Ardgal stood there and just stared at her. What was that expression on his face? Why was he even here? He could very well destroy her freedom and …. She stopped a moment. Would it be so bad?

She wasn't the sort to be kept. Rashae was raised to be kept, to be a debutante and socialite. No one would ever had believed she was intelligent. When she started showing signs and aptitude for science. None of it was supported. That was perhaps her rebellion as she sunk her time in science, genetics, medicine. Rashae paid attention when her brothers would babble about the latest technology to their father. Her father expected her to buy clothes, make up, jewelry and things like that. Not chemical spectrometers. It was her allowance. Rashae spent it on what she wanted. Yet these things angered them.

She looked up to Ardgal's face “You have your formula. “ She swallowed with some emotion as she slid the amber colored bottle towards him and then her hands went to a chip from her datapad. “This is part of the technical genetics of the serum formula. Only a part. It should work as the carrot. “

[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal listened to her words and he could feel a war inside himself. The man, the machine, they both could see Rashae was struggling, her emotions, her anything. He wanted to say it was just because it was just due to having her life on the line now. The machine side was more than ready to supply with the answer that she was just a case of pre-combat nerves, and it was the civilian reaction to facing the horrors of war. It told him that he had seen soldiers fresh out of boot camp give the same level of flustered, emotional turmoil before rushing out of a drop pod and getting gunned down, spraying blood into the dirt.

But deep down inside he knew it was wrong. The warrior's deepest gut feelings could tell this was more than life or death, this was more than the worry of holding on to live another day or pass on genetic code to offspring. This was more than primal instincts and it was a lot more than just wanting to continue to exist. It was the very thing that made sentients alive, what they lived for.

The warrior took the potion, his hands met hers. His eyes met hers and he could feel himself breaking apart at the seams. Everything about this tight, beskar-skinned warrior was rapidly destroying itself, from his coded conditioning, to the training he had received even before Project Madman. He could feel himself spiraling out of control, even just for a moment. It was dangerous and he knew it. It got people killed.

How long had been like this? The warrior didn't know. His eyes flicked from one side to the other, trying to search for the start date. It felt recent, but he hadn't realized it till now, that the warrior had been on this path for quite some time. Since Chandrila. A sensation he had never felt before was taking hold of him since then, and it had begun to rule every part of his being; he could see now that his thoughts, his actions, all of it were tainted with this feeling. It was so clear to him now. Even his cyborg analysis components were becoming infected with this. It was why he had taken the bullet for her, why he had risked all of Yornekk, why he had become so reckless around Rashae and did everything he had to protect her. It was also why he would continue to do so much more, without thinking and without remorse.

Ardgal realized he wouldn't just suffer or die for Rashae. No, that was easy. He would do more than take a bullet for her or put himself in harm's way. He would devote all he had, and risk losing his honor to live a life or shame and dar'manda for her.

The strange part is, he didn't care. Maybe that was what love was.

He looked back up, into her eyes, his own brown softened and gentle, like never before. All his thoughts had felt like an eternity but really they just took seconds. His fingers wrapped around hers completely, not just barely touching her.

"I don't know what will happen," he said at last, "And I don't know where this will take us. You could die tomorrow, or I could be killed before then. I don't care. Whatever this is, whatever is happening, you make me feel like I never have before. I don't know what it is, but you bring hope. You are more than I ever thought a being could be. I never thought I would feel again, let alone feel this," one of the warrior's arms slid behind Rashae, pulling her closer to him, "However long this lasts, for five minutes or the rest of our lives, I want to try and make this," his eyes looked deeply into her blue eyes, despite his armor he felt totally exposed like a raw nerve waiting to be killed, "If you will have a monster like me."

[member="Rashae"] I [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Myles had his mission and Ardgal had his own mission, now the time came to work separately for the same common outcome. To protect Dr. Rashae Lovous.

After giving his men a basic run-down, now would be the time for himself to get ready. He ascended back up the hallway where Rashae's quarters was located. Dropping in, he didn't see [member="Ardgal Raxis"] or [member="Rashae"] in the room but Virgil was still in there, almost at a freezing standstill waiting for Ardgal to step out.

"I guess they are still discussing things?" he prodded at Virgil. Myles didn't want to intrude by any means but he wanted the others to know he was prepping for the mission ahead.

"Well if that's the case, I am going to prep my men for the op tonight. Ill be on comms if they need me in the meantime".

Myles gave a brief smile back to Virgil before heading out.

Their relationship was more.....different than i thought it would be. Either they are really involved or something is being hidden from me.....Ill go with scenario #1. He thought to himself. Myles didn't show sign of betrayal or that he was not trustworthy.

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

Myles was back at his ship getting mission-essential equipment prepped for the expedition ahead. He still had a month's supply of rations, which should last him this expedition until he needed to re-supply. There was wild game in them hills too, if push comes to shove he and his men could hunt wild game and survive that way.

Either way, Myles was drawing random calculations in his head for what if scenarios should they present themselves.

Silas, who was standing nearby was prodding Myles and trying to get more concise information; something he was good at doing.

"Sir, what exactly are we looking for?"

"Safe Haven Silas, a safe haven for the Doctor until this threat is dealt with. We need to find natural structures like caves and even valleys in the mountains that would provide its own natural cover."

"Very well sir, should i rally the men?"

"Not just yet Silas, I have some prepping to do. Let the men enjoy their routine here and let them enjoy the cozy atmosphere because we are about to go into some potentially hazardous territory"

Myles only said that because not a lot of people have mapped the region fully. Sure there were maps and whatnot but there are some mean predators in those mountains that feed off each other, never leaving their mountain strongholds. Manka cats were one such predator that was native to Alderaan. His men had to bring enough warfighting and survival equipment for the trip. This wouldn't be an exact walk in the park.

[member="Rashae"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Rashae]

Ardgal was looking at her strange. Not strange bad just strange. Rashae wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret the look, the expression in his eyes, the depth that caught her breath. The man took the small bottle of serum from her before engulfing her hands into his as if to claim it.

Maybe claim was a strong word but there wasn’t another one to fit. Strange thing was she didn’t mind. It wasn’t an ownership sort of feel, it was something else. Something far deeper and it was frightening. If she fell, who was going to catch her? The Catcher started speaking. Instead of the self assured doctor, he was looking at the uncertain woman who needed someone to care and protect her. To do the catching and to not betray her.

As he pulled her in when he spoke, he would find her trembling a little as her head arched back to look into his face. Those little fingers curled into his chest armor ever so slightly just as they would on his chest. Curling in to subconsciously hang on. Question remained, would he ever let go. “Anti-Monster you mean. There are far worse monsters, I assure you.” She said in that quiet hoarse voice as she laid her head on his armored chest. It was as close to a yes he was going to get. She was scared, just plain scared.

Sometimes you needed a bad thing to combat a bad thing. Ardgal was about as bad as they get. The little woman didn’t know what was going to happen either. “I kind of like living. So, if it’s all the same to you, if this is to continue, we should look at making sure living happens.” There was a bit of a sniff as she found tears rolling down that she didn’t realize. There was a tearful chuckle and a crafty wicked smile. “See about completely disappointing several people soon.” The sardonic witticism of making sure that Xander, her parents and any other rotten person in her life knew without a shadow of a doubt that she can and will live. Not just live a life of work, but maybe for once have a personal life. It was right there in Ardgal’s deep abyssal brown eyes. A life!

“I .. don’t think there is much that could.. kill you. Super nova maybe. Since the scanners are not detecting any unstable stars in this sector, we are short of super novas.” She said looking up into his eyes.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The boys got excited as they sent an encrypted message to Myles Davorak to come up to the bridge to take a look. Nine young men would be motioning with their hands as he comes up on bridge to come to intelligence and communications center, aka, the cave.

“Mister Davorak Sir. Lookieee. “ They pointed at several encoded messages that left and received between Xander and an Agent 42. The little resourceful team cracked the coding.

“Packet wrapper was a level 4 encryption buried under a level 5 encryption. Once we were able to figure that out. It unraveled pretty nicely. They don’t even know we are seeing those. If what they are saying is any indication, Agent 42 is in cahoots with Xander. Answers a lot of things, Sir. “ All nine pairs of eyes lit up as they looked at Davorak like eager rabid dogs.

“We still don’t have a complete line of Agent 42’s identity but a lot points to Nar Shaddaa. There seems to be a lot of names connected to Agent 42 but nothing clear cut, sir. “ Said one operative.

“Orders, Sir?” This little Intelligence team had a lot of potential of being top notch. Just needed some tweaking.

Commander Cantalos just chuckled. “Boys. Easy now.” As cantalos came up behind Davorak. “Very interesting indeed. Minister Lovous suggested we might want to contact the Galactic coop first and dangle the carrot. Perhaps we should confirm this?” It was Cantalos’s suggestion of touching base with Rashae for a sequence of events. Some of this needs to be timed perfectly.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two hours later, the Galactic coop sends a message saying they are willing to meet at the secluded location to talk terms about the formula. The message was short, very well encrypted. The Boys would detect additional missives sent to agents and Agent 42. Total of five agents will be enroute including Agent 42. The boys then detected Agent 42 notified Xander. This was all reported to Ardgal and Myles. It was questionable if it was wise to notify Rashae but she was their employer so they left that up to her security to let her know. Even Cantalos didn’t think it wise to say anything to Rashae as her nerves were shot enough as is.

Rashae’s parents boldy reach out to General Raxis. Demanding they let their daughter go. They seem to be under the pretense that General Raxis has kidnapped their daughter. They then notify Myles Davorak, head of her security of this fact. Alderaan forces were not notified as her dim witted parents seemed to have been told if they notify any authorities, Rashae was dead. Xander needed her alive if they were to collect any credits. Xander still has them wrapped around his finger somehow. Likely the draw was credits, prestige or some kind of good lucrative deal.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

By the time she found out some of this information if not all of it, she was livid. The woman was ready to go down to the surface and meet the devil himself and grind him down so fine there wouldn’t be any molecules left. With what, she didn’t know. Rashae had no idea. She was stomping into her boots and had a corvette ready on standby to do just that.

The significant sticatto of her steps told of how angry she was. After all she been through, he would stoop to this. How the hell did he know Raxis was here? Wait Agent 42 would probably find out. Fraking damn it all!!

“I’m going to kill him myself!! “ She said as she was headed to one of her flashy chrome medical corvettes that wasn’t very covert.

“fraking son of a wort hound. “ She had no blaster, no weapon, no armor. Nothing to go on but pure anger. Those ice blue eyes even got wicked lighter the angrier she got. White blue lightning angry.

It wasn’t the lies he told his parents. Now it wasn’t so much what he did to her. The wrongful accusation of Ardgal had her ready to go super nova. Was she thinking? Frak no. Was she rational? Double Frak no.

That was probably one of the things the asshat was counting on. What he wasn't counting on was how unpredictable she would be. "ARDGAL!!! I want HIS ASS IN A FRAKING SOMETHING? DAVORAK I WANT ON THE GROUND, YESTERDAY!!! " If she wasn't so angry, it might be cute. Of course her throat that was improving, is now gone again.


[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Mister Davorak Sir.Lookieee.

Myles was curious what these nine men found that sparked such enthusiasm. It had to be good to have them in such high spirits. He thought.

The Intelligence team managed to find communications between Xander and this Agent 42; that [member="Rashae"] had mentioned prior. Due to the sensitive nature of things, Myles found it to do more harm than good informing her of any other findings. It would be dealt with accordingly. He was conflicted, he did want everything "on the table" as it were, but he didn't want to alarm and anger her further, she was shook up as it was.


Cantalos seemed to be in agreement with the situation as well, another experienced veteran of war. This solidified their judgement.

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

Myles got pinged by Rashae's parents informing that [member="Ardgal Raxis"] abducted the poor Doctor.

He couldn't help but laugh at their ignorance. Could they really be that dense? Perhaps so.
Seems that Rashae got wind of most of this information as she was exploding with comments and requests to be on the ground where the action would be had.
"Doctor we have to approach this with a clear mind, we have a battle plan on what to do next. You will have your revenge soon enough, but we aren't at that stage yet" He said calmly. Hoping to reconcile her and calm her down a notch.

Couldn't blame a man for trying right?

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

"I guess they are still discussing things?"

Virgil gave him a sardonic look, even through her helmet the expression could be felt, if not just known by the tilt of her head.

"They are probably makin' babies on the testing lab or something," she said with pure acid in her voice. She shook her head, "Come on, us adults have work to do."

She slapped her thigh to beckon Alexa to her side and gave him a nod, "We will keep in touch, pray to the gods that Ardgal doesn't have some kinda love baby, that's the last thing we need right now is a pregnant hostage."

_____________________________​

​

It felt so natural to hold Rashae like this, to wrap his arms around her and know that everything was going to be safe. It was pure, it was the first time he could remember feeling so completely gentle, and having something so completely good to live and die for. That was what he knew he wanted now, more than anything else. His hands caressed her back comfortingly, just promising her that she would be ok, that he would be there. Speaking, speaking without words as he held her there.

He smiled sadly as she said there were worse monsters. If she only knew what he had done on Pzob, the many he had killed in cold blood, and the horrors he had committed to the living, the pain he could wrack. They were both intimately aware of the anatomy of many beings through the galaxy. She used it to heal, he used it to destroy. He didn't want her to know, if she did, he doubted the woman would ever see him the same. That was a side she never needed to see, to see just how destructive he could become.

He rested his chin on her head, "I hope you are right."

I kind of like living. So, if it’s all the same to you, if this is to continue, we should look at making sure living happens. See about completely disappointing several people soon.

He wiped the tears from her cheeks with gentle caresses from his thumbs. He gave a wry smile, "Well, then let's go for living." Was there much that could kill him? Oh yes, there were many things. He had thought before he was unkillable, unbreakable, and believed it enough to convince many that he was that. He had converted fanatics to that. Yes, he was harder to kill, it took more than a pot shot or a rouge stab to kill him, but Ardgal knew he could die. It wasn't something he feared, just something he knew could happen. But that didn't matter, what really mattered was that people continued to believe he was unbreakable, that faith was even more powerful than if he truly was. As long as people believed that, they would continue to follow him, even if it meant his own destruction. Or theirs.

His eyes met hers with a warm twinkle, "I'm counting on you to keep it that way, no bombing local stars or any shenanigans like that," he said in mock seriousness. His lips pressed against hers in a warm, gentle caress, "Now, let's go finish this. Together."

______________________________​

Ardgal was good at a lot of things, but when it came to resolving conflict, he really only had one solution that worked, and it was his go-to. Fight force with bigger forces. To her parents, Ardgal sent a single, simple message over an encrypted bandwidth, 'If you want her, come and claim her. Come alone.' with the appropriate location for a potential meeting place. If they went there, her parents would find themselves at an abandoned, high-end beach front hotel that was evacuated and on the schedule to be demolished in the next week. A bribe here and a bribe there and the entire place was abandoned by the foremen crew with no questions asked. It was amazing what credits and photos of the foreman's children could do to motivate compliance. It would be quiet, too quiet for creature comforts.

And there, lurking in the shadows, Ardgal would be waiting alone. He adjusted his Havoc Carbine's scope one last time, peaking it in from his location on the 30th floor. From his HUD he could see everywhere with the cameras he had installed. One of two things would happen--either the target or the GC would show up, in which case he would end them, blowing the place sky high with his pre placed mines and explosive packages. There was enough ordinance here for him to blow the place up three time over if he wanted. He didn't like the idea of going down in a ball of flames, especially when he had finally found someone worth living for, but Rashae was certainly worth dying for. There was a 87% chance someone was going to die in this building, unless her parents were stupid.

"Please be stupid," Ardgal muttered to himself, settling in behind his Carbine.

___________________________​

​

"ARDGAL!!! I want HIS ASS IN A FRAKING SOMETHING?

Several of the Alpha Company Commandos looked at each other with a I'm not gonna tell her you tell her, look. One of them, an officer named Gusberg, stepped forward, "Ma'am, I regret to inform you, General Ardgal is not present," he did his best to not show the internal cringe he felt at the statement, an effort that really was well-attempted, but failed, "He has instructed us to relay this message to you, and state that he requests you stay here for the purposes of safety until he returns with--with the completion of his mission, ma'am."

The poor young man had no idea what he was in for. He was just doing his job, even with a quaking voice, knocking knees, and a fearful demeanor. He didn't know where Ardgal was, no one did, and frankly, this woman was terrifying. Lord Raxis have mercy, he hoped [member="Myles Davorak"]'s efforts had some effect.

 

[Rashae]

If anyone was to say that General Raxis, Project 13, Madman creation was incapable of tenderness, care and even love, she would call them a liar right in the face with the passion and vehemence of a hurricane. She remained there holding onto his armored chest as uncomfortable as it was. She didn’t care. She chuckled at his last statement as she looked up.

“I will see what I can do.” With that she pulled his face down for a kiss. It was simple but it lingered. The kiss had a slight pull of the lips as it was met with the volatile forces of the woman she was mingled with utter tenderness of the woman that she was. She let go of him leaving the simplicity of that poignant and significant feel within that simple kiss. With no words as if to say, ‘Don’t ever let me go.’

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A long luxury hover craft pulls up to the less than pristine drive way of the old beach hotel and resort. Count Lovous knew this was being demolished for a new state of the art resort. His wife was on pins and needles waiting for it to be built. It was most dreadful to be in such a dirty and location that was unfit to handle their most basics of needs. It was where that awful mercenary said to meet them. Xander said he needed Rashae so that they could solidify this deal.

Two nobels wickedly over dressed for the circumstances come out of the luxury hover craft and come into the hold delapidated lobby. “Hello, Anyone hear. “ Came the booming voice of the Count.

Count Lovous was a robust tall, large and portly man. He had many vices and glutinous pursuits to which his credits are spent wildly on. If not on that then his wife’s habits. When you are a countess with an aging face that used to be pretty and your husband no longer looks at you. You spend credits. You acquire addictions to deal with the loneliness.

“This place is so dirty. Where is the cleaning droids? They should fire the staff at once.” Said the countess fully expecting a latte to be in her hands immediately.

“Dear, this place is set to be demolished. There is no staff. Hello!! General Raxis!! “ he made a face as good people were hard to find. “Proper people should be on time!! “ He turned to the Countess who was examining her nails. “Xander said that he had things handled all we need to do is get Rashae home.”

“Well, where is she. Dreadful girl was always a problem. I swear I don’t know where she gets it from.” Said the haughty woman. “She should go to a spa for a month and sleep for another month. Only solution.

Xander watched the whole exchanged with a bit of amusement, but the Lovous House was getting boring. Honestly Rashae was the most interesting one of the House. Where the bloody hell was she. Raxis has to have her somewhere. Xander noticed the first camera too late but spotted the second. This hotel was riddled with a myriad of corridors and sections. The man chuckled. “you little devil. “ Xander even winked in one camera boldly before disappearing.

Agent 42 got there after the Lovous arrived and started their innane nonsensical talk. Kill them all, get the serum from Raxis and clean up this mess. He moved quietly from spot to spot to attempt to locate Raxis, Xander and the little dove. All three eluded him for the time being. So he waited for sign. His desperation might have made him a tad sloppy. He dropped a listening device down from the 28th floor. His high powered sniper blaster rifle was on the ready. ‘where are you little dove?’

Xander remembered this place. He brought many a one night stand to this hotel. He remembered it fondly. Rashae has never been to this one. Always working, studying, on the go. To pretty to be smart. Too smart to fall into the pretty category. It made her difficult. It made her desirable. Conquoring that was worth ever second. All he needed to do was conquer it again and she would be putty in his hands.

The echo of this location was rather significant. The chuckle that came echoed and bounced all over the upper stories. “The General Raxis. “ There came more laughter.

Xander found out about project madman from Rashae. The woman did have a knack of finding things out. “This is not part of your usual programming, thirteen. Who is paying for this? I can pay you double to leave the girl and go about your business. “

The reverberation may make it difficult to pin point the location. Regardless. Xander would move to another echo location to continue talking, taunting. “What is she to you, Thirteen? Your employer? “ Though how Rashae could afford a killing machine like Raxis he didn’t know. Maybe Gentech was doing better than he thought.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Rashae stared at Myles. “What do you mean calm down?!!”

Then those white blue lightning eyes turned on that poor officer. “What do you mean not here!! What mission? What the hell is he doing?” The almost gone voice was barely working.

She stared at the both of them for five seconds going back and forth at the conspiracy to attempt to keep her safely on the ship and off of Alderaan. But he was down there. She looked down on the ground as her hear beat faster and faster. Her head shook as she turned towards the corvette.

“He frakking isn’t doing this alone!!. Find him.. now!!” She said as she ordered her pilot to get her down to Alderaan ground. Somehow she would find him. Turning the com channels to her intel team and the team on the Atonement to make her demands. “Boys.. Prom!!! Find me Raxis. Now!! I want no frakking games.

Rather Myles, some of the alpha company, Virgil, Prom or whomever else climbs in that corvette with her or not, she was headed down there. She might be a fool, but a brave fool horridly in love rather she realizes it or not. Tears falling as she looked at Virgil. and Davorak as if pleading.

“Virgil. Davorak, Please. He cant do this alone. He cant!!” She started fidgeting with her hands as she repeated that over and over. The thudding in her heart threatened to come out of the very chest it was contained in. Xander was capable of so much. He was poison.


[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Myles Davorak"]

 

[Myles Davorak]

Myles smirked in amusement at Virgil's remark. She had a way with humor. To the point, just as she is with combat.

He nodded in agreement as he departed from the room once more.

"We will keep in touch, pray to the gods that Ardgal doesn't have some kinda love baby, that's the last thing we need right now is a pregnant hostage."

"I certainly hope we do Virgil. I am sure we will be meeting again real soon. Good Hunting Virgil. What's wrong? Afraid Ardgal will ask you to babysit?" He chuckled very briefly before he added
"Don't worry Virgil I am sure everything will be fine"

The two parted their separate ways. Myles was to mount an expedition soon, he would need all the focus he could get.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ARDGAL!!! I want HIS ASS IN A FRAKING SOMETHING?

What happened now?
Myles wasn't sure what happened to Ardgal, he was here....unless......FETH, Ill keep your little secret Raxis. He thought to himself.
He had to calm [member="Rashae"] down until [member="Ardgal Raxis"] returned, then he could launch his mission without much trouble.

He proceeded to where the Doctor was yelling up a storm and went to reassure her that everything will be okay.
"Raxis will be fine Doctor, he is a strong man, wherever he may be I am sure he will be fine"

Myles noticed the Doctor made a run for it and headed for a corvette to deploy down to the surface, no doubt to find Ardgal.
"No no no no no Doctor, you need to stay up here where it's safe. The moment you descend on the planet, Xander and his men will have a fix on you, and Ardgal will be in more danger, you both would be at high risk of discovery and/or capture. We can't have that"

Davorak knew that Raxis went alone, sure he could get more done and he probably worked better alone in some regard but Rashae was clearly worried sick about him.....the relationship started to make sense now.

Trust me Rashae, please. I promise you Ardgal will be back and everything will be that much better. He thought. Myles wasn't sure if she would agree with him or not.