FSE

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CHAPTER 11

Keslow, Colorado

1603 Hours, August 21** st ***, 2052*

" What do you mean that one of you is missing?" cried Dutch's voice from the other end of the comm.

"Warren is missing. There's really not much else to say about it." grimaced Marcus. He was seated at the desk in Sam and Paul's room in front of a HAM radio, one hand rubbing his temples in frustration and the other drumming an annoyed, clacking beat on the tabletop. Behind him were the other two members of the gene forces 'diplomatic party', Sam sprawled out on her bed and staring at the ceiling and Paul cleaning the lens of his scope, carefully detached from his gun at the moment, with a soft scrap of cloth that he had pulled from his duffel bag.

Sam had set up the radio connection using a normal HAM radio that she had thoughtfully thrown in the back of the Escalade before they had left Denver and her own helmet that she had jury-rigged to act as an encoder. Thanks to her little bit of techno-sorcery, Marcus had been able to get a direct line to the command centre to appraise them of the current situation.

"That's five Expeditors in eight days, Marcus. That means that there are only five of you left. One might begin questioning your combat effectiveness as a group." came the crackled reply from the receiver. Marcus took a deep breath and held it for a few moments. He then exhaled mightily and hung his head. The lens of his prosthetic eye clicked quietly as he closed it and its organic counterpart. He didn't look up as he delivered the one good piece of news that had come out of the expedition.

"Keslow is in the fold, at least. Some here are... reluctant... to be under our wing, but we can now call this place safe." The other end of the line was quiet. Then Dutch came back and spoke up again.

"Can you confirm that? You are down a man, Marcus. That doesn't happen when a place is safe." Dutch sounded tired, a change from his usual jaunty happiness. Marcus realized that this must be hard for him too; he hadn't asked to be put in charge of the entire operation. Marcus could very easily sympathize with that.

"We are doing what we can to find him, but so far we haven't had any success. Despite the fact that we don't have the manpower to organize an effective search, we found it prudent to hide this little fact from the citizens here."

"I'll see what I can do about sending a squad down there. If everything goes well, I can have them down there by midnight at the latest." said Dutch, the sentence ended by a slurp of liquid that indicated that he was getting his caffeine fix for the next hour or so. "Until then, I'm afraid that there is nothing else we can do. Dutch out." The comms channel broke into a hissing static crackle to show that Dutch had closed his end of the conversation. Marcus stood up slowly and headed for the door, grabbing a code chit for the room from beside the television.

"Where are you going?" asked Paul as he looked up from fitting his scope back to his cherished rifle with a small screwdriver.

"I'm gonna go see Newbolt; see if he's heard anything." muttered Marcus as he opened the door and stepped through into the hallway beyond. He heard several footsteps in the room as he walked away towards the staircase at the far end of the short and carpeted hallway that said that at least one of them was going to try and go with him.

As he reached the stairway, a clatter of activity made him look back. Sam was throwing her assault rifle over her shoulder and adjusting her boots as she clamoured after him. "Wait up!" she called as she jogged to catch up to him.

"I'm just going down the street, I should be alright on my own." he said through a false smile. In reality, he didn't really want company and the thought of Sam asking him any more questions made him frown inside.

"Are you sure?" she asked, knowing him well enough to take the hint. Marcus nodded and she turned away to go back to the room.

"Have fun then!" she said, sounding completely sincere, as she opened the room door with her code chit.

"Doubt it..." he heaved as he started down the stairs. He passed Jennifer on the way down and waved a hello. She returned it with a cheery 'hi' and went back to whatever it was she had been doing. She seemed to be radiating happiness, he thought as he emerged out onto the deck in front of the motel. Well, things must be better for her, I suppose.

He winced as the sunlight blinded him for a bit before he shaded his eyes with his right arm. At least these damned machine parts stopped hurting. He hadn't needed to take any painkillers since the day they had left the city, his augmetics now fully meshed with his nervous system, just like how Lily said they eventually would. Despite knowing that medical research in the field had picked up considerably just before the war began, it still amazed him at how well his body had taken to the new limb and organ. He had half expected to be one of the poor sods whose body rejected the neural implantation and gained an infection. Gratefully, that was not the case and he seamed as healthy as he had before the Invesco incident. Still, the knowledge that knowing he would never really feel with his right hand or see with his left eye still saddened him to a point that almost nullified the advantages that he had inadvertently gained.

Everybody he walked by, which wasn't that many people as he thought about it, seemed to be in high spirits as he passed. There didn't appear to be any disruption in the way things were run in the town despite it now being officially aligned with the gene forces. He imagined that they would not be too happy to see the military presence that would undoubtedly be put in place in their serene town, but Marcus knew that they would get used to it in time. They would have to.

Eventually he made it to the little village's government building and headed up the stone steps. He nodded to the guard placed outside of the doorway and was admitted inside without any hassle. The secretary parked to the side of the stairway told him that Newbolt was free to talk and buzzed him up.

Marcus was greeted with a sober 'hi' as he entered Newbolt's office. The man was looking out the window and watching the street with a barely interested gaze, not even turning as the fur entered.

"Any news?" asked Marcus, taking up a seat that he had become quite fond of the last time he had talked to the politician in front of the large desk and sprawling his immense bulk out.

"Nothing." admitted Newbolt as he drew the blinds on the glass and sat down behind the desk. "As far as my people know, he has left without a trace. Want a drink?" Newbolt rummaged around in a drawer and fished out a set of crystal tumblers and a small bottle of scotch from inside.

"Why the hell not?" shrugged the wolf fur as he straightened up a bit. Newbolt nodded and poured the amber liquid into the two clear glasses and closed the bottle again. He held one of them out to Marcus, who took it and waited for Newbolt to take up his own tumbler.

"To lost friends." toasted Newbolt as they clicked the glasses together and slammed back their drinks. Marcus savoured the slight tingle that he felt seep down his throat and Newbolt offered him another refill.

"No, thank you." he declined politely as he placed his glass back on the desk beside an inactive tablet.

"Suit yourself." coughed Newbolt as he poured himself another shot. "Look, Sergeant," he said after he downed the second cup of alcohol as quickly as the first and caught sight of the blank stare that marred Marcus's features, "I am sorry for your loss and I am sure that he will turn up eventually. I wish we could help you, but I'm afraid that we are as in the dark about all of this as you are."

"I know." he replied, "Whatever happened to him, it was not any fault of yours. It's just that this is not the first loss we've had in recent days and I'm afraid that it won't be the last."

"That is the way of war, as I would imagine." said Newbolt as he leaned back into his luxurious chair.

"I've contacted my superiors," said Marcus by way of conversation, "and they have decided to send in another squad of troops to bolster your defences." He left out the part about them being sent mainly for the purpose of helping to find their missing soldier, but the old man caught the hidden intent quickly.

"I'm sure that they will help." he nodded with a knowing flash of teeth.

Marcus stood up as he felt the conversation was growing steadily more political and said his goodbyes to Keslow's community leader.

"If we find anything," said the politician, slightly perturbed at the length of the conversation, "we'll let you know Sergeant."

"Thanks." smiled Marcus meekly as he left the man to pour himself yet another glass of scotch.

**

Aurora, Colorado

1642 Hours, August 21** st ***, 2052*

Wilks grinned slightly as Penelope leaned her head on his shoulder. He absently wrapped an arm around her slender body and squeezed lightly as the credits started rolling across the screen. Timothy laughed as a character from the film made a surprise appearance onscreen, claiming that the credits were too long and boring. Wilks smiled despite himself, enjoying the normal events happening around him. It had been far too long since he had watched anything other than what blurred by outside the windows of his squad's MAV.

Almost as if God had a sense of humour, he heard the unmistakable growl of several of the fast assault vehicles come to a head before cutting off outside. He disentangled himself from Penelope and walked over to the large window to one side of the den, fearing that his time with her was going to end soon. He pulled the blinds back to see Henderson and Robert walking up the small path to the front of the house, the MAV parked out on the curb and Sheer hanging out over the mounted gun. Patterson leaned up against the armoured side of the vehicle, what Wilks hoped was a cigarette pinched in between two fingers and his helmet hanging limply from the other. Ahead of his vehicle was Martinez's, the large tiger morph tying something down to the innumerable rucksacks and tools festooned to the side of his MAV while the other members of his squad were fussing over their mounted weapon, stripping it and lubricating all of the components to keep it from jamming later.

"Is it the squad?" asked Penelope from the couch.

"Yeah." he said. "I wonder what they want. We're supposed to be off rotation for the rest of the week."

"Timmy?" asked Penelope. The blond-haired boy turned to look at his mother. "Could you pause the video? Thank you." The boy complied and the television screen flicked to blue as he ejected the movie from the player.

"Maybe something's come up." murmured Wilks as he began to head for the door.

"Maybe." agreed his love interest.

Wilks opened the door to see the bobcat morph and his driver standing around looking completely awkward. "Sir," began Henderson, his green eyes filled with regret at his interruption, "ah... Well, we have new orders, sir." Robert nodded by way of support as he stood beside the driver, his tufted ears flicking sadly.

"What kind of orders?" asked the Sergeant, knowing that it wouldn't be any short patrol mission.

"We're going to be going South a ways, sir." said Robert. "Our Expeditor friends need some help in Keslow."

"Keslow, huh?" frowned Wilks, knowing that it was at least a six hour drive assuming there were no problems on the way there. It looked like he wasn't going to be enjoying himself for the foreseeable future. "Fine. I take it you're all packed?" The other two nodded and muttered quiet agreement. "Then we'll go as soon as I get my stuff together."

"You're not staying for dinner?" asked Penelope, knowing full well that the answer would be a reluctant 'no'.

"Sorry," sighed Wilks heavily, "but the sooner I go, the sooner I can get back." He kissed her cheek lightly and she put up a small smile in support.

"Alright," she nodded slowly, "I'll help you get ready."

**

An hour later, Wilks was in the passenger seat of his MAV and watching as the houses flew by as they headed south towards the small community of Keslow. He tapped his gun in a small beat with his gloved hand as he wondered what kind of trouble would make four Expeditors balk. Sure, they said that they were missing a man, but there had to be something, or, more specifically, someone, who had enough skill and cunning to abduct a member of Phoenix squad without leaving a trace.

"What's eating you, sarge?" asked Henderson from beside him. He cast a quick glance away from the road to look in his direct superior's direction.

"Nothing," lied Wilks. Henderson would have none of that.

"Come on, sarge, I've known you since '47. I think I should know when something is bothering you." Wilks's driver was right, of course. Out of all the squad members, he was by far the one with the longest running service record with him.

"I was just thinking that it would have to be somebody pretty dangerous to successfully abduct a member of Phoenix squad."

"Maybe the poor bastard just got caught off-guard." suggested Robert from directly behind him.

"Maybe." agreed Wilks, though he knew it would take something pretty unexpected to surprise one of the members of Phoenix squad off-guard.

"Oh well," shrugged Henderson as he shifted his grip on the steering wheel to one with only one hand, "Whoever it is, I doubt that they could survive a burst from Old Betsy." He tapped the roof of the vehicle with his free knuckles.

"Yeah." he agreed, comforted by the fact that they wouldn't be without any firepower.

"Hey, sarge?" asked Henderson.

"Yeah?"

"I know what will cheer you up." he said with a barely-contained smile.

"What?" enquired Wilks.

"How about some music?"

"Music?" mused Wilks, "this thing doesn't have any-oh." Robert had thrown a small music player into Henderson's outstretched hand. His driver then plugged it into a console on the dash that hadn't been there the last time he had been inside the vehicle.

"We've made some improvements." chirped Sheer from the back seat. "Patterson and I just managed to finish up our little addition before we got the call."

"Well," beamed Wilks, "At least it will make the drive there a bit more bearable."

"Everyone like Rage Take Two?" asked Henderson as he turned a few dials and the heavy music began to thud through the new speakers installed on several of the supports around the bulky vehicle.

Though it was completely against military regulation, Wilks found himself actually enjoying the sound of the blisteringly-fast guitar riffs and thundering drum solos that the band was known for. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy once they got to Keslow in a few hours, but at least he could have a little fun before the shooting started.

**

Somewhere near Keslow, Colorado

Sometime around 1400 Hours, August 21** st ***, 2052*

Warren slowly rolled upright, a surge of accomplishment flooding through his body and purging it temporarily of pain. He pulled in his foot and dropped his tiny but long-sought-after prize in front of him. The nail clattered with the small tinkle of metal on cement as it landed and he couldn't help but smile as his perseverance was rewarded.

It had taken him all day to loosen the chain enough, by way of painfully small increments in between periodic check-ins by his cruel and uncaring hosts, so that he could stretch out his leg enough to reach the spot where the nail had been left. He had had several close calls, the worst of which was when Auburn had delivered a bowl full of gruel that he had expected Warren to eat. He had barely enough time to shuffle upright in a position he could claim was because he was trying to sleep. Another twenty minutes had passed after Auburn had left until he had successfully managed to knock it back towards him. Eventually, it had gotten close enough for him to pick up in between a pair of outstretched toes, which was quite the task itself in the position that he had found himself in.

He shuffled around a bit until his hands, still bound tight behind his back, were poised above the little piece of metal. It was then a simple claw game until he had it clasped in his sure grip, the cool nail feeling like hardened, mass produced salvation in his hands.

Now it was only a matter of using it.

**

Eldora Resort, West of Denver, Colorado

1945 Hours, August 21** st ***, 2052*

Owen threw another bunch of branches and snapped logs on the ground next to where Sasha was trying to start a fire with a small flint and striker. He clapped his hands together to get rid of the few small chunks of bark and stray leaves clinging to the vambraces of his armour. He took off his helmet and hung it from his belt, breathing in a deep lungful of refreshing air in the process.

As the day had begun to turn to night, they had settled in set up camp inside the chalet. The air had grown steadily less warm as the sun had dipped towards the west and they had become very glad of the fact that all of their suits' internal climate systems were still functioning. The circuits slightly increased their resistance and in doing so provided warmth to the bodies of the Expeditors.

"Having trouble?" asked Owen as he crouched beside her. Lily and John were still off gathering wood for the imminent fire in the bush that clung resiliently to the side of the mountain like a drowning man to a thrown lifesaver. He had some time to waste before they noticed he was missing.

Sasha let out a frustrated growl that resounded in her throat as she chucked the red-handled implements onto the small piece of dry wood that she had decided to make her base for the flint. The sad pile of moss and bark that made up the tinder was crumpled and weak, evidently the victim of furious rearrangement and half-caught flames. "This stupid thing just doesn't work!" she spat angrily, her ears hugging her head in anger.

They had decided to have the fire outside, the possibility of somebody seeing them right then somewhere around the realm of zero. Besides, who liked staying inside a chalet huddled around a fireplace?

"There are no stupid tools; only stupid people." quoted Owen as he gestured for her to move over and took up the flint himself. She didn't respond with anything verbal, only a look of utter distaste that let him know he was treading on thin ice. "Here." Owen took up the spot that she vacated willingly and grabbed a new bunch of tinder from the pile of wood he had just gathered. Her ear flicked angrily as he set to work and Owen knew that she expected to be issuing a coy 'I told you so' in a few minutes.

Owen couldn't help but let a smug smile part his lips as, after a few firm, steady strikes, a small flame leapt into being on the edge of a small particulate of moss. He lifted the entire bundle of lightly smoking tinder to his face and blew gently, making the flame grow exponentially. Owen placed the now-hungry fire on the patch of dirt that Sasha had cleared and started snapping twigs and placing them on top of the building fire. Soon, it was a decent size and putting out a good amount of heat.

He turned to see Sasha scowling in the direction of his achievement. "You got lucky." she pouted from behind him as the green specks of her eyes caught the new light and shone brilliantly like emeralds set into the wall of a Mayan tomb.

"I don't believe in luck." he laughed. They sat there in relative silence, the only sounds being the occasional chirp of a bird, chirrup of a cricket, the chugging of the found generator, or curse of muffled anger coming from the woods a small ways away as John missed a log with an axe.

"You think they will get it?" asked Sasha, referring to the broadcast that Owen had set up on a loop once they had gotten everything in order, the receiver wirelessly connected to his helmet comm in case somebody responded to their call for extraction. Owen had set it to switch through the majority of the common channels at a set interval so it wouldn't override any other communications for very long. He hoped that they were high enough up and that the broadcast had enough power to reach somebody. Preferably somebody who would want to save them, not kill them.

"Of course they will." Owen assured her as he watched the sun slowly descend towards the mountains in the distance. It was a brilliant, vibrant, red and it cast a beautiful aura about itself and made the snow-capped mountaintops appear to be the colour of honeyed gold, a random smattering of glowing clouds completing the gorgeous scene of tranquillity. It would be so easy to forget that the world was in turmoil right now.

Sasha moved closer to the fire and came to sit right next to him with a shuffle of feet and the whisper of her tail on her leg armour. The faint smell of scavenged perfume mingled with that of the billowing smoke reached him and he breathed it in slowly, savouring its sweet scent that he had not experienced since before the war. Apparently, that 7/11 had been surprisingly well stocked and he found the fact comforting.

"Its nice up here." Sasha commented, giving voice to Owen's thoughts.

"Yeah." he agreed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders amiably and drawing her in close. She sighed contentedly and leaned against him as she stared out at the sunset. "It is. But for how much longer?"

**

John grunted as he swung the axe and splintered another dead tree asunder, the light wood snapping in half under the force. John wiped his brow, his helmet clipped to his side, and shifted his weight so that it was partially supported by the haft of the tool. Lily started gathering up the pieces, the process ludicrously easy in her gold-trimmed armour, and let out a sneeze as some moss brushed cross her wet nose. When she recovered she looked over to him and nodded in the direction of the chalet, the phoenix emblazoned on her chestplate becoming visible as a ray of light illuminated it for a second.

"I think that's good for wood." Lily said as she licked her lips.

"Probably." he concurred as he brought the axe up to rest on his shoulder. Truth was that they had more than enough for the night with some to spare, but John imagined that there wouldn't be that much else to do other than chop firewood. Romulus was more than likely still sleeping where Sasha had left him in the chalet and her and Owen could be seen through a small break in the trees having a tender moment that John wouldn't want to break up for fear of his life. He didn't know who would want his hide more should he interrupt them. Owen was focused and lethal in an economical fashion, but Sasha could probably give him a run for his money. Actually, he would rather have Owen on his heels; he knew that he would at least make it quick.

"Let's get back, then." suggested Lily. Finding himself unwilling to voice his concerns, John nodded. If worst came to worst, he could always say that it was all her idea and throw her under the bus.

The two soldiers with nothing in common wound their way around the trees and wild shrubbery that stood between them and their destination, Lily almost tripping over a fallen log but John grabbing her shoulder in time to help her regain her composure. She thanked him briskly before finally breaking from the edge of the treeline and emerging onto the grown-in hill, John following close behind.

"Here you go." Lily said jovially by way of greeting as she flopped the gathered firewood down on top of the satisfactorily sufficient pile that Owen had hauled out. Both seated lovebirds looked up, but to John's relief they didn't look too annoyed with their disruptive appearance.

"Thanks Lily." said Owen as he fed another small log to the ravenous fire. The wood snapped and popped as the dry cedar split from the intense heat. Several sparks became airborne as the needles caught and went up in a hissing crackle that lasted for only a little while before dying away.

"Romulus still sleeping?" John asked as he noted that the little canine was absent. Sasha confirmed his agreement with an noncommittal 'uh-huh' as he grabbed a good sized log from the pile and denuding it of branches before taking a seat, leaning the axe against the log's kin.

Lily followed his lead and likewise took up a position around the fire as the last small bit of the sun made itself scarce behind the jagged tip of a distant mountain peak. John could pick out the vague beginnings of stars as they hove into being in the vanishing light, coming out to play now that their sibling had decided it was time to turn in for the night. A lonely goodbye sounded off from a distant animal, the ululating cries travelling quickly in the mountain air. Somewhere the drumming of a woodpecker could be heard, the noise echoing around the rock and forest. Lily broke the relative silence with a hopeful question.

"Anything from the radio yet?" She picked idly at a straight stick as she asked, sharpening the end with her combat knife into a sort of rustic skewer.

"Not yet." sighed Owen as he rubbed Sasha's back subconsciously.

"How long do you think it will take?"

Owen shook his head slowly, his expression thoughtful. "I have no idea. We could be up here until the end of the war for all I know. But, assuming that we still have anybody left in Denver, I would expect it to be at least another day until they notice. Then there is still the Humanists to take into account."

"Humanists? You think they'll show?" voiced John. He didn't want to say it, but he knew that if anybody was going to find them, it would be his old allies first. They were, after all, still in relative control of the immediate region.

"Absolutely." he answered as casually as he was giving the time to somebody on the street. Judging by the way that the others didn't even betray a flicker of surprise, John could safely assume that they all expected the worst at the moment. Owen continued his train of thought. "The one thing you can count on in a fight is the presence of an enemy."

John chewed on that mentally for a while as Lily set about making herself something physical to gnaw on, digging a bit of food from her bag and stabbing the sharpened point of her cooking stick through it before thrusting it out over the fire. The sense of foreboding was so thick that he imagined that she could probably skewer it on that stick just like Lily had the food. Finally, as Lily was picking at the morsel, which John couldn't claim to identify but assumed was some form of preserved meat, Sasha decided to open a proverbial window and let the dark thoughts drift out of it.

"You know, somehow this isn't what I imagined camping would be like." Nervous laughter greeted the welcome statement and opened up room for a conversation.

"Well, at least there are no bears around yet." grinned Owen, his slate-grey eyes sparking with a memory long thought forgotten. "I remember this one time that me and a few friends from high school got together and decided to head to a lake for a weekend." He chuckled as the rest of the memory came to him. "One guy, a friend of a friend of mine, no real buddy, he decided that it was high time somebody went out and got something to eat. We didn't bring that much food, we were planning to just hunt whatever we could find and make a survival game of it, and we had easily finished it all off before the second day. Anyways, this guy, he managed to catch a rabbit, don't ask me how; he was as drunk as I've ever seen him, and came back with it as if he had just won the lottery. He shoved a stick up its ass and cooked it over the fire after gutting the poor bastard. It wasn't bad, a bit stringy, but we were all pretty drunk and didn't give a shit. After that,we all decided to go fishing. But then dumbass declared that he needed another rabbit.

"He went off with his gun and one of the others, both staggering around by that point like veterans let loose in a free bar. And we said 'whatever, let them get lost. We'll meet up with them when we get back', right? We were all wasted so nobody really had enough sense to stop them. They left and we more or less got in the boat and took off. It was a few minutes later that we heard a few gunshots and a whole shit-ton of crashing and yelling coming from bush.

"We got back in time to see a bear running the two idiots up a tree, the two of them screaming like newborns. Shit, I guess looking back at it it wasn't really the safest thing to do, but another guy bum-rushed the bastard with a paddle and just starting to beat the living shit outta the animal. The thing got scared and ran away after a bit of that.

"The other two came down from the tree and we were all teasing them. Then we noticed that hungry-man had actually pissed his pants! I swear, we never let him live that down. We called him 'Bear Bait' for a while after that." Owen became wistful for a moment before continuing. "Yeah... That was the last year of high school... I never saw any of them after that except for Alex after that... I wonder what happened to them..."

"I only went camping once." said John in order to keep up the light spirits after Owen's attempt at keeping them happy. "Nothing special, just a little trip with the rest of my family. We stayed out for a few nights in a tent at some park, I can't remember which. I guess my mother never really thought much of it because we never went again after that."

"That's too bad." lamented Owen, "Somehow I think you would have enjoyed it."

"Probably." John nodded thoughtfully. "At the very least it would have prepared me for this kind of stuff better."

"I doubt anything could have prepared us for this." frowned Lily sagely as she devoured the last bit of her snack before stuffing her stick into the fire. A bit of food still stuck to the pointed tip sizzled angrily before drying up into a black husk and flaking off to mix in with the embers that were beginning to grow in numbers below.

**

It was some time later that night when Lily and John decided to call it a night and head inside, saying their farewells and heading sleepily for the door. The clattering of claws on wood that arose from the direction of the door told Owen and Sasha that Romulus was at least glad for some company after being sidelined to small checkups as the others enjoyed themselves around the fire. The small campfire had begun to die down, only a few red coals and a single wavering flame marking where it was.

Owen and Sasha were stargazing side by side near the remains of the campfire, looking up at the stars and enjoying each others' presence. The field of stars was amazing, especially after being in a burning city for just over two years. The smoke and ash turned everything above a certain height into an indistinct red and black haze that stopped all but the brightest stars from casting their light down on any would-be spectators. Even in the days before the war, the air above Denver would have been a stone compared to the gem that sparkled before the duo.

Every little ball of light seemed to be out that night, twinkling and returning the stare that was cast so jealously upon them. Joining this conflagration of whitish specks was the moon, so small in comparison on the galactic scale but incredibly humbling up close. It bore the may craters and pockmarks on its stony flesh proudly, slowly striding across the lively sky in a fashion not dissimilar to a noble returning home after a trying crusade. Several still-active satellites occasionally made their way past, but not a single jet flew by above them.

"Ahh... There it is. Took me a while to find it; it's been so long." Owen pointed to a cluster of stars off to their right, "That's the big dipper. See those four really bright stars? Those are the handle and the four in a square, including the one on the end of the handle, are the actual scoop."

"I don't see it..." whispered Sasha as she looked about the sky above them, trying to figure out exactly where Owen was pointing. He took hold of one of her hands and aligned it gently in more or less the right direction, just like how his father had shown him where to look when he was a kid.

"How about now?" he asked. She squinted and looked down the length of her arm.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "I see it now, ever weird... Who would ever think to look up and see something in the stars?"

"I imagine somebody who was very spiritual." shrugged Owen. "Either that or they were incredibly bored."

"And there are other constellations?" she asked curiously. She had seemed to be following along well with the conversation that John and Owen had been having about the stars and Owen had been floored when she had asked Owen exactly what 'Orion's Belt' was when the other two had left the fire. He decided that it was no fault of hers that she didn't know about the constellations, instead chalking it up to another thing that he would need to try and explain to her. He was currently in the realm of sixty-something and was wondering if the board would ever stop filling up.

"Of course," he said, "there are tons of them; far more than I could hope to ever know."

"What are the other ones like?"

"Well," he started, "There is Scorpio, the scorpion, Taurus, the-"

"Like the gun?" she asked quickly. Owen frowned at that. That fact that the first thing she acknowledged when the word came up was a type of weapon was quietly disturbing.

"That's where they got the name, yes." he admitted after a slight pause that he hoped she didn't notice. "Then there is Pisces, the fish, Sagittarius, the bow, and Orion himself, the hunter. Not to mention Hercules-"

"I've heard that name before." she said thoughtfully.

"Probably," he said, "he was a Greek demigod. They say that he was the son of Zeus who was the king of the gods. He did everything from strangling serpents and lions to slaying hydras."

"Why did he do that?" she asked, seemingly interested in the makeshift history lesson he was giving her. Owen sighed.

"He killed his children." he said.

"What? Why?"

"He was driven mad by Hera, Zeus's wife." he stated.

"Why would she do that? None of that makes sense."

"She did it because she was jealous of him."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Probably because he wasn't her son." he responded. Sasha mulled that over for a bit before deciding to move on.

"So why did they name the stars after him?"

"Well, they say that eventually he was brought to Mt. Olympus, which is where the Greek gods lived, and ascended above being a mortal to become a god himself." he explained. "The stars were thought to actually be him, immortalized in the heavens by Zeus."

"I imagine Hera wouldn't have liked that." she thought aloud. Owen laughed.

"No," he agreed, "I don't think she would have."

They sat there for what seemed like a long while, Sasha once spotting a shooting star, as Owen explained what little he understood about the constellations and their attached myths and legends to her, the fur absorbing the knowledge like a sponge.

"Are there many myths about the moon?" she asked as she looked over to where it hung above them. Owen thought for a moment, but only a few came to mind. He decided he was beginning to get tired as he stifled a yawn and told her about the one with what he thought was the best story.

"Sure. There is a Japanese one that says the moon is Tsuki-Yomi, the god of the Moon, whose sister was Amaterasu, the Sun god. The old legend says that Amaterasu sent him to dine with the food god, Uke Mochi. She made him a meal that was essentially made of her nose and her mouth. He ate it before he was told what it was and was so disgusted that he killed her. When his sister found out, she was furious and banished Tsuki from her sight. That's apparently why they are never out at the same time. Well, they are sometimes, but not all myths are perfect."

"There always has to be violence involved, doesn't there?" she sighed heavily. Owen didn't know how to respond to the question so he just shrugged and gave a small smile.

"We are a violent bunch." he said at last.

"I guess so." she concluded as she rested her onto his shoulder in a sign of affection. A bone-cracking yawn let Owen know that he wasn't the only one feeling sleepy.

"Ready for bed?" he asked as he made to get up, giving her a gentle squeeze with one arm that was mostly ineffectual given the fact that they were both still dressed for combat in their power armour.

"Yeah." she replied drowsily as she straightened herself up a bit, "I guess so."

Owen clambered to his feet and offered her a hand to get up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet, her tail following her like a serpent that had bitten into her and that had simply refused to let go as she tried to make her escape.

"Owen?" asked Sasha, her violet eyes partially hidden beneath her errant bangs.

"Yeah?" Owen responded. She didn't answer immediately, instead leaning forward to land a lick-kiss on one of his cheeks. "Thanks." she said finally after pulling away. "For everything."

"No problem." he smiled as he kicked out what little remained of the fire, the red embers growing angrily before they succumbed to his ministrations. She hugged him lightly before heading off to join the others and he watched her go, her armour whirring slightly as she moved and her tail sashaying gracefully behind her. "But it's not me who did anything."