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April 23, 2342 - The Luxuria; Bridge, Neutral Zone Boarder

(5:23 PM) {Four Months Ago}

Two weeks had passed since Kathy spoke with Freelancer Wraith; or Rear Admiral Vasquez, about a place called Avalon. Everyone wondered what it was that the Admiral wanted to speak with Kathy about but due to their military training they knew not to ask as the Luxuria continued after the Outcast ship.

During this time Lliam and Kathy brought Sylvia and Nate; who had joined them on their mission, up to speed on what had happened and what they were doing. Lliam also opened up one night and spoke with Nate about what had happened on Falora and what Mateo had said to him while everyone was having a meal. The others listened to what he said and knew that Lliam was now even more powerful; or dangerous, as he wasn't trained on how to handle his new abilities.

Nate was able to keep the others from worrying by electing to train Lliam. Due to his time in the P.T.T. Corps, he had become quite skilled in using his abilities and had even acquired Psionic abilities of his own as time went by; but nowhere near the level that Lliam had. Still, he knew how to train someone in them and that's what he and Lliam had started doing shortly after leaving the starbase. Today they were nearing the border between Federation space and Neutral space.

"Okay guys we're about to enter the territory of the S.U.W." Kathy said when a beeping sound came from the controls.

Albert, Sylvia, and Kathy were all on the bridge. Lliam, James and Nate were elsewhere on the ship doing some sort of training. Sylvia turned and looked at Kathy before asking "What exactly is the... S.U.W?"

Kathy looked at her like she was stupid for a moment before remembering she too had been stuck on the planet Daminia with James, Albert and Lliam. "Well, the S.U.W. was formed just over four years ago. It stands for the Sovereignty of Unaligned Worlds. Not really catchy but they had the balls to split away from both the I.F.H.W and the A.T.W.F.

"Now since they split from both governments there are Furs and Fur hating humans in the S.U.W. however the people on the worlds that split from the I.F.H.W. don't seem to have much hate towards Furs and were just tired of the ongoing war. At first the I.F.H.W. tried to reclaim the worlds that were once under their control but were surprisingly stopped."

"How could these worlds stop the I.F.H.W. from reclaiming them?" Albert curiously asked.

"I was about to get to that... they have their own military." Kathy said and chuckled at the looks both Albert and Sylvia gave her.

"Well, apparently several worlds built ships in secret so they could split off at an opportune time. It was these forces that halted the Humanitist attack when they discovered that more planets had decided to split away even though they were more like a self-defense force at the time." Kathy told him.

"If they were only a self-defense force for only a few planets... how could they fend off the Humanitist fleets when so many planets split away?" Sylvia asked; confusion clear in her voice.

"Good question, the Humanitists didn't think much of them at first either but the worlds that had built the ships spent a long time studying current weapons technology. They developed stronger shields that could survive the hammering that the Humanitists could deliver and held their ground. Destroyed half of one of their capital fleets too before the Humanitists backed off.

"Clearly they are no longer a self defense force but a full sized military now. They have the same weapon systems as the Federation and the Humanitists as well as the Federations mechs up until the new designs... like those Predators that Lliam and James have. I hear that soon they're going to stop being just separate sovereign worlds helping each other out and actually become a unified collection of worlds." Kathy explained.

"Interesting, what if Federation or Humanitist forces end up fighting in their territory?" Sylvia asked.

"Wouldn't happen, any Federation or Humanitist ships that enter their territory are closely monitored and besides there are certain area's that the Sovereign forces only allow either Federation or Humanitist forces to enter. The only downside is that Freelancer and I'm guessing True Outcast ships do not register as Federation or Humanitist so there isn't much they can do if they meet besides try to intervene." Kathy answered.

"I heard a while back that Outcasts frequently cut through the S.U.W. to attack Federation territory." Nate said from the doorway as James and Lliam sluggishly walked past him to collapse into seats.

"It's possible; the S.U.W. can't really do anything to them though because it's not in their jurisdiction." Kathy said to which Nate nodded.

"That's the last time I'm training with either of you two..." James said as he rested his head on the headrest.

"Yeah well... at least you don't feel like I do." Lliam groaned as he put pressure against his temples with his hands.

"Where have you three been?" Sylvia asked.

"Going over different training materials that I was trained in while in the P.T.T Corps. I asked James if he'd like to help me." Nate answered.

"You didn't tell me I was going to be a practice dummy." James groaned.

"Did you really just call yourself a dummy?" Albert asked with a smirk.

"Fine... practice buddy." James groaned again.

Albert couldn't help but smile at his friend as Kathy asked "So what exactly does your training do?"

"Well... to put it bluntly, it's to train the mind. When I first met Lliam he had no mental powers at all. Now he has telepathic and some minor telekinetic abilities as well. Not to mention he has very powerful Psionic abilities but I'm guessing that's from his modified genes just like his super strength and speed are from." Nate explained.

"So you're sure you can teach him how to use and control the power he used back on Falora to protect those vixens and children?" Kathy asked.

"Essentially, yes and even more. I'll be able to train him easily enough on the Telepathy and Telekinesis and while I'll be able to train him in them as well I've only ever seen one person with Psionic abilities this strong and she isn't really great to be around... heh heh." Nate said and chuckled nervously "She's the one in charge of the P.T.T. Corps... Colonel Skye Ainslie."

"Are you scared of her Nate?" Lliam asked.

"Let's just say I'd rather fight your brother... or Delta for that matter, before I'd want to fight her." Nate said.

"Damn... that's really saying something about this chick." James said.

"I'd like to meet her." Kathy said when an alarm went off. "Crap... three ships just dropped out of hyperspace twenty kilometers from us. Looks like their part of the Sovereign Forces."

"Is this normal?" Albert asked, not sure if he should prepare for battle.

"Yes it's normal for several ships to appear depending on the ship that entered. Being that we're not Federation or Humanitist as well as not being registered in any database they sent two cruisers and a pocket destroyer" Kathy informed when a forth ship appeared and if it were physically possible everyone's jaws would have hit the deck.

"How do the Sovereign Forces have something like that!?" Nate asked in a worried tone.

"That thing is huge!" Sylvia stated in amazement

The ship that appeared before them was truly enormous. Two and half kilometers long; half a kilometer longer then the Excalibur, about seven hundred meters at its widest point and about three hundred meters from top to bottom, the Super Dreadnaught Archangel dwarfed the other ships. Armed to the brink with phase canons, energy cannons, missile launchers and several beam cannons; the Archangel was to be the flagship of the Federations first fleet before those who were constructing it broke from the A.T.W.F.

The comms officer of the Archangel started hailing the Luxuria with a hint of a Russian accent as he said "Come in unidentified vessel. This is Super Dreadnaught Archangel; you are not broadcasting valid ID signal. State your intentions for entering territory of Sovereign Worlds."

"I'll handle this, its better if we're truthful with them straight up." Kathy said as she hailed the massive ship.

"Archangel this is the... Freelancer vessel Luxuria, Freelancer Lure speaking. We are currently pursuing a ship of Outcasts who have attacked the colonial world Falora within Federation territory and kidnapped two civilians. We have tracked them into your territory; they may have passed here less than a day ago with heavy damage on the upper port side of the ship. Their ID signal may have been similar to ours." Kathy said over the comms and waited for a response.

A few moments passed before a new voice spoke over the comms "Freelancer Lure, this is Captain Abner of the Archangel. While I am surprised to be seeing a Freelancer after so long, we do have records showing such a vessel with a similar ID signal passing here about a day ago with damage. What do you plan to do with them if you catch them here in the S.U.W?" the captain of the Archangel asked.

"Nothing if we can help it, our primary concern is tracking down and freeing the woman and child they kidnapped from Falora." Kathy answered.

"Hmph, you almost sound like you're telling the truth. However a couple of you Freelancers have abused my trust in the past and tricked me with some similar story. Sorry, I won't let you be passing." Captain Abner said before Lliam moved Kathy out of the way.

"Almost... almost telling the truth!?" Lliam yelled.

"Lliam stop!" Kathy said but Lliam waved her off.

"I don't give a fuck what you say Captain! We're chasing down the rotten bastards who attacked the New Hope colony on Falora and took my niece and sister in law hostage!" Lliam yelled again.

"Lliam, calm down." Nate said slowly.

"No, I will not calm down." Lliam said to Nate and turned back to the comms and activated the video link.

When the video feed was brought up on screen they all saw the all human crew on the bridge of the Archangel. Upon seeing this, Lliams anger rose even more "No wonder you won't let us go, you're just a bunch of Humanitist supporting assholes!"

"What's up with his eyes?" Someone on the screen asked as Nate slowly approached Lliam from behind.

"Lliam, please calm down. Your Psionic powers are brought out more with emotion. If you're not careful you could kill all of us." Nate tried to explain to him.

Lliam's eyes flared red as he turned around and yelled "Get back!" and unintentionally used his Psionic powers and threw Nate into the wall.

He didn't seem to care about what he had just done and turned to look back at the screen while a couple of the others went to check on him. One of the instrument panels on the Archangel suddenly blew; sending sparks flying from it and causing the man sitting there to fall over, when Lliam had looked back at the screen.

"What the hell!" someone else yelled on the Archangel as another panel blew.

Lliam was staring blankly at the screen, obviously losing control of himself. His eyes; which had started glowing a fiery red, were now glowing a deep blood red. The others were trying to break him out of his trance like state when Nate reached around from behind him and placed his left hand on Lliams chest and his right on Lliam forehead. A moment later Lliam's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he collapsed into an unconscious state.

*******

The Luxuria; Lliams Quarters (6:45 PM)

"...thought we would have more time than this." Someone was saying as Lliam slowly came to.

"What exactly is wrong with him?" the voice he recognized as Sylvia's asked.

"Well Kathy said it's been close to three weeks since he was first able to use his Psionic powers right? Well, someone with power of this magnitude usually has inhibiters placed in them so that what Lliam just did a while ago doesn't happen." Nate's voice said.

"And how powerful are these new powers?" James asked.

"Well, Psionic power is measured not only by how much one can do but by how far they can reach. As we saw, he was able to reach the Archangel; though I think only because he could clearly see the bridge." Nate said as Lliam slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey I think he's come to, Lliam are you alright?" James asked as Lliam raised his paws to the sides of his head and pressed against it.

"What happened?" Lliam asked groggily as he sat up in the bed he was laying in.

"Your powers got the better of you." Nate said in a disappointed tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember anything I said when you were losing control?" Nate asked.

"Vaguely... something about emotions or something." Lliam said as he rubbed his temples.

Sighing Nate said "Your Psionic powers are brought out through emotion is what I said. Now, while they are brought out by emotions your emotions are also affected by your Psionic power. You can easily become enraged, saddened, upset, etcetera. In the situation we're in right now it's your anger that will be brought out more and it seems like your Psionic powers are acting more from your anger."

"So what does that mean?" Lliam asked.

"What it means is we have a lot of training ahead of us." Nate said and sighed. "You're going to need to learn how to suppress your emotions so that flare ups like this don't happen, since we can't get you inhibiters at the moment.

"Hey wouldn't inhibiters just make his powers weaker?" James asked.

"No, they act like mental blocks so that his powers don't get out of his control. Basically they make it harder for him to use them, not diminish them in the slightest." Nate said then started chasing everyone out of the room "Come on, he needs to rest."

"Wait, what about the Archangel? What happened after I... well... just what happened?" Lliam asked.

"I'll tell him." Kathy said as she walked up to Nate in the hallway.

"Alright, well I'm going up to the bridge then." Nate said as he left the way Kathy had come while the others dispersed to separate areas of the ship.

Entering Lliams room Kathy pulled up a chair and sat down next to his bed. She tilted the chair back a little while balancing herself before sighing. "Either for good or bad, after that little flare up of yours they decided to let us pass; after having us wait for an hour and us agreeing to have an escort while in their territory."

Looking down at the bed and rubbing the top of his right hand Lliam said "Sorry about that. The thought of losing their trail..."

"I know." Kathy said and looked over to Lliam. "You know... you're a lot like Rrahkarr."

"Huh?" Lliam looked at her.

"Well, you were like how he was when we first met him. He would do anything for his teammates and I assumed family and friends as well. If he couldn't protect them and they got hurt we'd end up not seeing him for weeks back at Inner Haven. That slowly changed the longer he was a Freelancer but... he still showed it every so often." Kathy told him and chuckled at the end.

"You miss him." Lliam said and leaned against the wall his bed was against "A lot huh?"

Looking at the floor she nodded her head before saying "Yeah... if we can't rescue... Sara was her name?" Kathy asked looking at Lliam who nodded before looking up at the ceiling and saying "If we can't rescue her and the kid here in the S.U.W maybe we'll be able to follow them and find Rrahkarr and rescue all of them at once."

"If we can rescue them and catch the bastards who took them, maybe we can find out why they took them and if Rrahkarr was the reason... hopefully we can get the location of where he is." Lliam said and closed his eyes.

Letting the chair go back to its regular position Kathy said "The trail is heading towards the manufacturing planet Xoto-II. We'll arrive there roughly in thirteen hours so you should probably get some sleep." She then looked over to Lliam and smiled. He was leaning against the wall with his head almost lying on his left shoulder. She couldn't see his eyes because his hair had fallen and covered them but she knew he had already fallen asleep. Looking closer at his muzzle she saw the scar that was just short of his nose pad and started thinking.

"I never really noticed till now, Lliam took one hit and now has a scar... in all the times Rrahkarr's been injured, he's only ever had a few scars form and they were minuscule at that." She thought before getting up and stretching. "Well they may be brothers but they're not twins."

She walked over to the bed and repositioned Lliam so he was lying on his back before exiting the room; letting the door slide shut behind her.

*********

April 24, 2342 - The Luxuria; Bridge, High Orbit over Xoto-II

(7:53 AM)

Everyone except Lliam and Sylvia were present on the Luxuria's bridge; even MaiGhan and Timmy where there, as they dropped out of hyperspace. They had just passed the systems blue star as Xoto-II came into view.

Nearly the entire surface of Xoto-II was covered by industrial buildings; many being ship construction and repair yards and also weapon development centers. There were also several large areas where there was nothing but green; national parks and rainforests set aside for the native species to continue to survive in. The main features of Xoto-II are the three Orbital Elevators that attach to stationary space stations that transfer cargo and supplies between the planet surface and the space stations.

"So that's the manufacturing world Xoto-II huh?" James asked before yawning as they approached the planet.

"Yep, up until three years ago Xoto-II was allied with the Federation." Nate said as Kathy piloted the ship to one of the planets orbital elevators.

"Why did they leave the Federation?" MaiGhan asked.

Nate looked over to her as she and her brother looked at the main display as it showed the planet. He noticed that James and even Albert were looking at him. She looked back at him too as he said "It was the main hub of the shipping lanes for the Federation, as well as one its main weapons development worlds. Being so made them one hell of a target which led to many attacks, if you have keen eye you can still see areas on the planet where it had been attacked... like here." He said and pointed out an area that looked like it had recently gone through construction.

He continued with "Splitting from the Federation guarantied them protection from the Humanitists but once they split and became part of the S.U.W. it hurt the Federation quite a bit. Though at the time, Earth had just been captured so the effect wasn't immediately noticed."

"If you ask me they decided to abandon the side that was losing when they were needed the most." Albert said before taking a large gulp of coffee.

"I couldn't agree more." Nate said as Sylvia stepped in yawning with a hot mug of coffee.

"Morning" She said tiredly before taking a seat. Looking around she said "Least I'm not the last one up, looks like Lliam's still sleeping."

"Actually he's been up since three." Kathy said before contacting the control tower of the space station they were approaching.

"Right now he's down in the holosuite either going over some material I gave him to study or training." Nate told her.

"Oh... guess that does make me the last one up." She said and blew a little on her coffee before taking a sip.

*********

Luxuria; Holosuite

(8:00 AM)

The holosuite Lliam was training in was modeled after a multipurpose gym. There were all kinds of work out equipment but Lliam was currently at a punching bag. He was currently wearing blue gym pants with white stripes down the sides, a sleeveless shirt and had his hair tied back as he threw punch after punch at the punching bag.

He was thinking back to when he met Mateo on Falora; how he moved and how he attacked. Lliam was so preoccupied he didn't hear the door to the holosuite open and close. He kept picturing Mateo in his mind to the point he grew angry and after throwing a few more punches he stepped back real quick and kicked the punching bag with his right leg so hard the bag ripped where he kicked it and sent the lower half flying.

"Damn, I'm glad this is in the holosuite." Kathy said from behind him.

"Kathy!?" Lliam said as he turned around.

"What's up?" She asked as he panted.

"Oh... nothing much." Lliam said as he walked over to one of the benches and sat down.

"Nothing much huh, is that what you call nothing much?" She asked looking at the destroyed punching bag.

"Okay so maybe I was thinking about that Outcast Mateo." Lliam said as he positioned himself to start lifting weights "Computer, set weight to... six hundred pounds." Lliam said and lifted the weights off the weight rest and started doing repetitions; counting them off in his mind.

"Six hundred?" Kathy asked as he lifted the weight with ease.

"Yeah... I found out that, with this enhanced strength it takes a lot more to actually try and build muscle. This is... not a warm up but not really a light workout either." Lliam said as he started on his twentieth repetition. After a few more reps he asked "So, what is it you need?"

"Well we're about to dock. I figured I'd let you know I don't see a trail leaving here yet so there's a good chance they're still here." Kathy said as she sat down on the bench opposite of him.

"If we're about to dock, shouldn't you be up on the bridge?"

"No, the station's got us in an automated docking procedure. They don't trust the pilots it seems." Kathy said with a chuckle and smile.

"I guess I should get ready then huh?" Lliam said after finishing his fiftieth rep before placing the weights back and sitting up.

"It'd be best; once you shower and get dressed I'll hand out some of the TE body armor your Admiral supplied us with." Kathy said as she and Lliam stood up.

"Even though we're in the S.U.W. might as well be on the safe side huh?" Lliam asked.

"You know it." She said as they left the holosuite as it changed back to a plain empty room.