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March 26, 2342 - Falora, Colonial Battleground

(11:02 AM) {Five Months Ago}

"SHIT!" Lliam yelled suddenly; panting hard. "What the hell!? Where is he?" Lliam asked bringing his paw's to his throat, checking for the wound that; strangely, wasn't there while looking around him.

"Hey are you okay?" Kathy asked who was kneeling next to him.

Quickly looking at her in surprise, Lliam said "Y-you're alive!"

"What do you mean, of course I'm alive. You must have taken one hell of a hit, you okay?" she asked as she checked his head.

"What?" Lliam asked confused before wincing in pain as Kathy parted his hair to check his head.

"An Outcast got the better of you and hit you with the butt of his gun just a few moments ago. I had to take 'em down and when I looked for you, you were on the ground and out cold." She explained to him.

"But... I saw you shoot them before we continued on. Fuck, my head hurts." Lliam said as he used his hand to check his head.

"You may have before you passed out." Kathy admitted.

"Fuck... maybe it was just a dream or... maybe a hallucination." Lliam said and thought about something before saying "You wouldn't happen to be a Freelancer would you?"

"What!? No, w-why would ask that?" Kathy said, clearly caught off guard as Lliam carefully stood up.

With the expression on her face and the way she started acting made Lliam think "Maybe it wasn't a dream after all but... what would that mean?"

"You must have taken quite a hit... anyway I think we should be on our way now yes?" Kathy said and started heading in the direction they were heading previously.

Lliam nodded and after picking up his rifle he followed her while deep in thought. "There's no way I had a... 'Dream' about the future, it has to be a coincidence. Though... the path we're taking looks exactly like it did in the dream." Lliam was thinking as he looked around him.

"Nah... it has to be coincidence..." Lliam thought when the light rain that was falling on them stopped.

He looked up and noticed they were starting to go under the enemies' ship. "Still coincidence..."

"We're really going to have to be careful from here on out." Kathy said.

Lliam stopped for a second before asking "I'm guessing you've fought the Outcasts before?"

"On many an occasion and I've had my fair share of wounds from 'em to." She said as she continued onward.

"What are they like in combat?" Lliam asked; racking his brain to try and understand what was going on.

"These Outcasts are just normal humans with advanced training. If I see one of the True Outcasts, I'll let you know. They are the ones who are dangerous." Kathy said before she checked around the corner. "I don't see anyone." She added as Lliam came to the corner as she crouched down.

"This is too much of a coincidence... that dream has to be real." Lliam thought then sighed before saying "They're that way, about a hundred feet away they turned the corner there... also there's a sniper out there." He scanned for the best position a sniper would be at as he said the last.

"And how do you know that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not sure... while I was out cold I had one hell of a dream and we followed this same route and said the same things." Looking her in the face he added "The only thing I didn't ask yet was; what's the difference between the True Outcasts and normal Outcasts and if that dream is true then... I already know. It's that True Outcasts are like Freelancer Delta... right?" Lliam said to her surprise.

Surprised she said "Y-Yes." As she looked at him "How do you know about Delta?!" she asked as she stood up.

"I've known him for several years; my brother's known him longer. He joined the Freelancers seven years ago when I became MIA and here's why I know there's a sniper out there, you started to tell me that you knew my brother Rrahkarr and you were about to tell my you're Freelancer name when you were shot by said sniper." Lliam said to her as she stared blankly at him.

He chuckled a little and said "Don't believe me huh? Not sure I believe it myself." as he barely checked around the corner, scanning the buildings where a sniper could possibly be at when he saw a muzzle flash in the distance. He barely got his head out of the way but his muzzle was hit an inch from his nose pad by a ricochet, a little notch was blown off the building as the solid round bullet bounced off of it.

"Fuck!" Lliam yelled as he brought his hands to his muzzle.

"Holy shit!?" Kathy said in surprise as Lliam backed up holding his now bleeding muzzle.

"Oh... yeah, that's gonna leave a scar." Lliam said as he applied pressure to his nose "I was kinda hoping that dream wasn't real."

"Well I've seen stranger things." She said as she started to look around the corner.

"Hold on, there's going to be eight Outcasts not including the sniper who will be following them." Lliam warned her as he got behind a chunk of the building that had been blown off in the attack.

Kathy backed up to where he was and aimed at the corner from behind their cover like he was and a few moments later a few Outcasts came rushing around the corner. Easily remembering his sharpshooting training, Lliam took quick aim and fired scoring several head shots as Kathy opened fire and hitting a couple of them several times before they died.

This time the enemy only managed to get one shot in and it was the sniper. He managed to fire a single round out of a handgun at Lliam; hitting him in the chest. If he hadn't taken the armor of the one human he would have just been shot through his heart. There was a small dent in the metal of the armor he wore but it was thick enough not to bother him.

"Are there going to be any more?" Kathy asked.

"I'd say no... not until we near their little makeshift camp." Lliam informed her and then remembered what happened after he arrived. "They're looking for someone and that someone isn't in the group we're following, they're going to kill all those vixens and their children soon." He added as he started to head off towards the enemy camp.

Along the way Kathy asked "Is Rrahkarr really your brother?"

Sighing, Lliam asked "Yes, he is. Do you know where he is?"

"No, the last thing I heard of him was he was going on a mission with Falsch; another Freelancer." She said.

"So you admit to being a Freelancer?" Lliam asked with a chuckle.

"If you're his brother then there's no point in lying. I was known as Lure. Your brother and I found out that Delta was working for the enemy on our last assignment together. That was right before he went on a mission with Falsch and disappeared. He had me go into hiding for two reasons; one to protect me and the other so that I could protect the two children that we rescued that reminded me of my own siblings." Kathy said.

"Hmm, sounds like something he'd have you do." Lliam said.

"What do you mean?"

"From the way it sounds... he must care about you and doesn't want you to get hurt. Crap, quite down. There's an enemy patrol." Lliam said and pointed ahead of them.

They easily found cover and hid from the enemy squad as it passed by. They continued in silence for a while until they nearly ran into another squad. Luckily it was heading in a roughly similar direction; turning around a corner that would lead away from the camp. They waited for the patrol to pass before heading in the opposite direction that they had taken.

A few moments later they arrived at the enemy camp. But more time had already gone by as Lliam whispered "Please don't let us be too late."

"Hey... in that dream you had. How long were you here before they shot them all?" Kathy whispered.

"Long enough to get to the top of that hill there." Lliam whispered back when they came into view of the center of the camp where the True Outcast; who had said his name was Mateo, was already reaching the end of the group of captives. "Oh no we're too late!"

Mateo had already given the signal for the others to kill them. From this angle Lliam could clearly see all of the captives faces. The children were crying and the mothers where holding them close; not letting their children see what was about to happen, while tears fell from their eyes.

"No" Lliam said as the Outcasts started to raise their weapons.

The image of them all being shot to death and laying in a heap flashed in Lliam's mind. He felt completely helpless. His heart had started to race at the thought of failing to save them a second time. Anger, fear, frustration and panic were all building in his mind as he watched the Outcasts aim at the vixens and children. Something happened then that he couldn't explain; a particular feeling started to grow in him as his heart raced.

His vision blurred for a moment as the Outcasts opened fire. The sound of the weapons going off seemed to make that feeling in him change into power as he charged; faster than he could before, in front of the captives. Without thinking and yelling in rage he somehow managed to not only separate the particles of energy that were fired at them but in the same moment destroyed the weapons that had fired them.

The sudden appearance of Lliam startled several of the Outcasts and surprised Mateo. When then energy rounds that had been fired dispersed into nothing and their weapons exploded in their hands, the Outcasts retreated; not being trained to deal with this sort of thing. The captives saw this as their opportunity to escape and left in the direction that Lliam had came from.

"Where are you going?! Cowards!" Mateo yelled as his solders ran away. "Tsk, what was that? Some sort of Telekinetic ability?"

Lliam was surprised at what he had done and the question he had been asked he couldn't answer. By remaining silent, Mateo decided to charge Lliam and drew his knife. This time however Lliam was able to see him coming and barely dodged the first strike then second and third follow up strikes that Mateo tried to deliver.

Kathy had been amazed at what Lliam just did and was busy directing the captives into a nearby building; so they would avoid being attacked and killed as they approached her. It took a little while to make sure they were all safe before she closed the door to the building and turned around as Lliam avoided another attack.

Jumping away from him, Lliam tried to catch his breath and figure out what had just happened and how he was moving so fast; not to mention his head had started to ache. Mateo looked at Lliam and chuckled. "You're pretty good pup."

And just like in Lliam's dream, he started to remove his helmet. Just like in the dream he looked exactly the same; scar on his right eye, short mustache and beard, everything down to the same color armor.

He reached for something and just as Lliam thought, he pulled out a toothpick and placed it in his mouth before saying "Tell me pup, what's your name and who are you related to that was tested on like me? I know that's the only way you can do what you do."

This time Lliam decided to humor him and gave him an answer. "My name is William Sutarra, I don't know if he was tested on like you but the only name I can think of that's like that is Tro'nen Wilson."

His answer seemed to shock the man before him. His wide eyes and the fact that the toothpick fell out of his mouth as it hung agape attested to that. "Y-you said T-Tro'nen Wilson?!" He asked in disbelief. At Lliam's nod he smiled and said "Well then let me fully reintroduce myself. I am Mateo Marks, test subject zero two four, third gen of the Electus Project."

"Well that's different then how he introduced himself in that dream." Lliam thought and said "So, you were only a test subject? A failure by my guess if you're just a grunt if you're not in with the Electus." He hastily added the last part to see what Mateo would say.

Mateo gave him a strange and calculating look. "Hmm, you talk as if... I wonder. Well it wouldn't be hard to believe, Tro'nen could do that too." Mateo said aloud; talking to himself.

"What could he do?" Lliam asked as he watched Mateo's movements.

"You've seen this all already haven't you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Lliam asked when he saw Kathy sneaking up behind Mateo from out of the corner of his eye.

"This..." Mateo said as he held his arms outstretched to his sides; indicating everything around him. "You must know... oh I see." Mateo said as realization hit him "The way you looked confused a moment ago, these abilities have just awoken but it seems that you were still able to have a premonition of today before hand." Mateo said in astonishment.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have inherited the same abilities as Tro'nen, both physical and mental it seems. Though your speed is barely half of what his was and I'm betting your strength is the same, though I wonder how powerful your Psionic abilities are." Mateo said.

"Psionic?" Lliam said; confused.

"Your Psionic abilities allow you to control energy itself, either foreign or your own. By using the energy of the energy rounds you separated and dispersed them. And by using the energy in the power cells of my mens weapons you destroyed them." Mateo so kindly explained.

"So why are you telling me this?" Lliam asked as Kathy prepared to attack.

"Because, I looked up to Tro'nen when I was younger and I figured you should know a little about you're ancestor and the power's you've gained from him. Oh and by the way..." Mateo said and avoided being attacked by Kathy by capturing her and holding a phase pistol to her head "Nice try on sneaking up on me."

"Kathy!" Lliam yelled.

"Stay put or I blow her head off." He said as Lliam growled.

"Yo Cobalt!" a voice called from a comm unit on Mateo's shoulder.

"Yeah, go head Crimson." Mateo said as he positioned Kathy to be directly in between Lliam and himself.

"I found the targets and we're heading back to the ship now."

"Roger that, my men bugged out me but I'll be there shortly." Mateo said back.

"I swear these kids are all pussies' man, should we round them up?" Crimson asked.

"Go ahead; I'll see you on the ship."

"What makes you think you're leaving?" Kathy said as he pressed the gun against her head.

"We got what we came for, there's no point in continuing this fight." He said as he pushed Kathy as hard as he could towards Lliam.

Even though he pushed her away she managed to land close to him and kicked him in the chest before he activated a device on his wrist. He was surrounded by a bright light before being teleported away.

"Damn!" Lliam said as he rushed over to Kathy who was picking something up "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine but why did... whoa. What happened to your eyes?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes... their glowing..."

"Yeah I know, you've already seen them ..."

"No, the ring is gone... you're irises are actually glowing red now." Kathy said as Lliam moved his hair out of his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, how did you shield yourself and the captives from those energy rounds?" Kathy asked.

"I have no idea, are they alright?" Lliam asked as Kathy looked at a little piece of paper she picked up from the ground.

"They're fine... I think this is who they were looking for." She said as she handed the picture to Lliam.

Lliam froze upon seeing who was on the picture and stared at in disbelief. "What's the matter Lliam, do you know her?" Kathy asked.

"It's Sara... FUCK! They were after Sara and Aurora!" Lliam yelled.

"Sara? I remember hearing that name a while back... wait is that who Rrahkarr used to date before he joined the Freelancers?" Kathy asked.

Looking at her, Lliam said "Yeah... and Aurora... she's his kid."

"He has a kid? He never told me that before." Kathy said in shock.

"He never knew."

"What?"

"The day Sara found out she was pregnant was the same day I went MIA and he went AWOL and joined the Freelancers. She never got the chance to surprise him." Lliam said as he slumped down to the ground and sat in a puddle of water; apparently in shock.

Kathy was about to say something when they both heard the familiar sound that the ship made when it destroyed the military district and spaceport. They both looked up and noticed the ship had gained altitude and aimed its main gun at the center of the colony. Energy was arcing off the barrel as everything around them started to become electrically charged.

Just as the ship was going to fire an explosion happened on the starboard side of the ship and the cannon stopped charging. Lliam and Kathy watched as several more explosions happened. They noticed Phase rounds were being fired on the craft from above the clouds. The Outcasts ship had to gain altitude if it had any chance of surviving the attack and as soon as its thrusters and engines came online it took off above the clouds.

"Who's attacking them!" Lliam said as he stood up.

"Come here." Kathy said as she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a comm device. She turned it on before grabbing hold of Lliam "MaiGhan, are you there?"

"We're here Kath, are you ready to come back?" she asked over the comm.

"Yeah, though there will be two of us coming up." Kathy said to her.

"Oh okay, hang on a sec..." she said.

"Is your ship in range?" Lliam asked.

"I managed to get it in a geosynchronous orbit when we arrived. It's been in range the whole time." Kathy explained.

"Ah" Lliam nodded his head in understanding.

"Okay it's set to bring you both up. You're locked on, see you in a second." MaiGhan said as Lliam and Kathy were teleported up to her ship.

****************

March 26, 2342 - Freelancer Lure's ship, The Luxuria

(11:34 AM)

Within a moment they were both teleported up to Kathy's ship the Luxuria. MaiGhan and Timmy; the two wolf kids from earlier, were sitting in chairs that were near the controls to the transporter. They were both surprised to see Lliam there but weren't allowed to ask any questions as Kathy said "This way to the bridge."

Lliam followed Kathy as she led him through her ship to the bridge. The kids were following close behind; wondering why they were in such a hurry. They're curiosity was sated when they all reached the bridge to see the enemy ship engaging with a Federation vessel.

"That's the Darwin!" Lliam said in surprise; remembering what it looked like when he was brought up to it from the surface of Daminia.

***

The C.S.F Darwin is a new type of battleship class starship. The bridge was clearly on top of the ship but at the aft end which was slightly raised above the main body of the ship. Along the topside of the ship from the bridge to the bow were many phase and energy cannons. The front of the ship opened up and looked like a large barrel and in fact was the main cannon on the Darwin. It was developed by the Federation from the Humanitists beam cannon and was named the Positron Cannon

On both the port and starboard sides of the ship near the aft end were two sections that dropped down below the main section of the ship; the parts that attached these sections to the rest of the ship were at a forty five degree angle that increased the length of the ship and are located at the aft and mid sections of the ship. On the tops of these sections were two large beam cannons; designs of which were stolen from the I.F.H.W and converted for the A.T.W.F. that fired twin beams each.

The Battleship type starships of the A.T.W.F are large enough to have two hangers which are located on the two 'legs' of the ship that the beam cannons were located on. Each hanger is capable of holding fifty fighters, ten bombers, fifteen SVAM (Space Variant Average Mech) Suits as well as one SVHM (Space Variant Heavy Mech) Suit.

***

The Darwin was currently engaged with the Outcast ship and clearly held an advantage; the weapons on the Darwin were numerous and more powerful then the Outcast ship, not to mention the Darwin's shields were far superior.

"No... if they keep firing like that Sara and Aurora will die!" Lliam said and looked at the control board. "Where's your comms?" Lliam asked frantically as he looked for them.

Kathy looked over to Timmy and gave him a nod before he went to where Lliam was and switched the comms on.

"(static)... I repeat, Outcast vessel disengage and surrender at once." The familiar voice of Admiral Keeton said over the speakers.

"Ahh, Fleet Admiral Keeton. I figured that was you." The voice that had spoken with Mateo said.

"How do I contact the Darwin?!" Lliam asked as the Darwin continued to fire at the Outcast ship.

"I'm afraid we won't be surrendering. Sorry for wasting your time but we've got what we came for." The man said as the Outcast ship entered hyperspace and jumped out of the system.

"NO!" Lliam shouted as the Outcast ship vanished.

Eyes opened wide and having the feeling as if he had failed again, Lliam slumped down to the floor as the others watched as the Darwin's engines powered down. The sensors detected the Darwin's shields dropped but also that the weapons were still powered up incase another attack came.

Lliam looked over to Kathy in a pathetic manner as he said "I... I failed them."

As Lliam put his hands to his face in disbelief of what had happened Kathy walked over to him and crouched down. "Um... we can still follow them." Kathy said and looked to the side "Every ship emits ions from their engines; the sensors on my ship can lock onto those ions as long as the trail is not older than a couple days."

When she looked back to Lliam he was looking at her with hope in his eyes as he said "So we can follow them... and... and save them?"

"Well... not really." Kathy said which made the hopeful look in his eyes disappear before she said "We're only two people and they're a small army. Plus we don't know where they're taking them."

"If we had more people?" Lliam asked.

"Maybe... unless the Darwin came with us there'd be no point, but if they hand her over to someone else... if we had a few more people then, we might be able to."

Lliam sat there for a little while in thought. Kathy had taken a seat at the controls and patiently waited for Lliam to say something. The kids decided to go back further into the ship now that the excitement had left. Eventually Kathy even left the bridge and returned half an hour later to see that the Darwin had attained a geosynchronous orbit above the New Hope colony and had already sent down shuttles and transport to start helping the people.

After a few more minutes Lliam eventually said "If I could get us a few more people; formerly of the Special Forces of the I.S.F Darwin to be specific, would you help me track them down?"

Kathy thought for a few seconds before saying "I would."

"Not to sound ungrateful but... why? Why would you so readily help?" Lliam asked.

"Since we found out they were looking for someone I've been wondering, why. Then after you told me you were Rrahkarr's brother, and that the person they were looking for is who he use to date... not to mention who he had a kid with; even if he doesn't know, I've been thinking. Why would they go to such extremes just to get two people?" Kathy said.

After she said that Lliam looked at things from her perspective. After a few moments he said "You think he's alive, don't you?"

"Why else would they capture them? What if they plan to use them against him? Maybe use them as leverage over him or to draw him out." Kathy said.

Lliam sighed and said "Well then if we follow them... we may find him too." Lliam then stood up and added "Can I contact the Darwin?"

After a moment of hesitation, Kathy sighed and said "Normally... I'd say no. For more than one reason I'm in hiding. That and I don't know how they would react to me being a Freelancer."

"Why, what's happened with the Freelancers?" Lliam asked; noticing the change in her voice.

"You know Delta betrayed the Freelancers right?" Kathy asked and at his nod she said "After he betrayed everyone; which was after I went into hiding at your brother's request, he seriously damaged our home Inner Haven. It was about a year after that... the Freelancers cut communications with the Federation and disappeared."

"Well then what do you have to worry about?" Lliam asked to her confusion.

"But this ship isn't registered as a ship of the Federation which would cause them to question me. If they were to do a detailed scan of the ship... they'd find a cache of weapons onboard as well as my Freelancer power armor." Kathy pointed out.

"But you're not a Freelancer; you're just a mother who knows how to fight and is trying to protect her kids. That and I've not seen any Freelancer power armor onboard." Lliam said.

"You'd lie to them for me?" Kathy asked.

"Yes I would lie to the most of them... but I wouldn't lie to the Admiral face to face. He's a good man... and if things came down to it, he might understand and look past the fact for a couple reasons I could think of." Lliam said honestly to her.

After a few moments of silence Kathy nodded and said "Okay... go ahead."

"Thank you." Lliam said as he headed for her communications controls to start hailing the Darwin.

"Hold on there, I think we should take care of those wounds first." Kathy said. He sighed but nodded his head as she led him off the bridge and down to her med-bay.