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June 3, 2342 - Luxuria

Docking Approach to Starbase Twenty One (11:45 PM {Ship Time})

Tensions were high as the Luxuria lined up with the assigned docking bay. Not knowing how the Humanitists operated on these matters, Kathy had Sylvia and James on the bridge while everyone else was led to a special compartment hidden in one of the aft corridors. That was of course after she had them collect anything that would seem suspicious on a ship that only two humans were running as well as having James and Lliam hide their mechs and flight suits in a similar but larger compartment in the cargo hold. When asked why such compartments existed, Kathy simply commented that the designs were old and whoever drew them up must have intended on smuggling cargo.

The station tractor beams were pulling the ship to where it needed to be, so Sylvia and James sat patiently on the bridge until the ship came to a complete stop as clamps latched onto the ship and locked it into place. Once the ship was secured; and the bay was repressurized, they and what crew they had were ordered to meet inspection crews at the ships hatch.

When the hatch was opened, the inspection crew was surprised to only see Sylvia and James. The man in charge of the crew asked in a confused voice "Are you the only crew on this ship?"

James couldn't help but grin as he spoke in an Irish accent "Aye lad, this is but a mum and pop run show. I'm James O'Brian; ships engineer, this be me wife Sylvia" James said and happily placed his arm around Sylvia's waist with a smile and brought her closer to him as he added "She be the ships Caption... and a tight ship she runs let me tell ya." He finished with a laugh.

Sylvia had blushed when he had placed his hand on her side and brought her closer to him but went along with what he was saying and smiled as he spoke.

"Well you're late and not only are you late but we were told to expect the Fortunate, not the Luxuria." The man said with a hint of suspicion as the rest of his men entered and inspected the craft.

"Aye, the reason behind that be that the Fortunate wasn't so fortunate after all. She was attacked by pirates. The reason we are late, was because we were told last minute to pick up the shipment for Avarice." James continued in his accent and rolled with the punches.

"Then why weren't we notified about the change?" The man asked.

"They were only attacked but a few days ago. We were already in the area heading towards Avarice; this detour would only take a few hours off our projected flight plan so we agreed to it. You may even get the message while we're docked lad. " James said and laughed heartily.

"Also since we were only contacted about this job about half a day ago, we still haven't received any manifest orders on what we're actually picking up." Sylvia added to what James had said.

"So they just said to come to Starbase Twenty One without giving you any details?" The man asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Aye, they were rather dry with the details to be honest now that ya mention it. We're a little suspicious about that fact but... the dollar amount attached to the order was rather impressive." James said.

With a small chuckle the man said "That makes sense, they higher ups are being all hush hush about what's being shipped. Hell I don't even know what it is we're going to load to tell the truth."

"I'm guessing you're getting paid pretty well too huh? Maybe that's why the pay was so large; so we don't ask questions about it." Sylvia said with a smile.

"Yeah, that we are. Well in any case, once my team completes its inspection we'll load the cargo. If there are any goods you seek simply speak with any of the traders in the merchant quarter or if it's fuel, speak with the quartermaster at the far end of the port." He pointed them in the direction he was speaking of before turning around and walking over to a few guards.

They had to wait for the inspection teams to finish their sweep before they were allowed back on the ship. Once they were sure they were safe, everyone else exited the hidden compartments. Since only James and Sylvia were the only ones that could safely venture out of the ship, Kathy wrote up a list of supplies they needed before sending them out to collect.

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

Luxuria, Cargo Hold (12:08 AM)

Having the airlock between the cargo hold and the rest of the ship locked, helped make everyone feel more secure when it was being loaded with whatever it was the Humanitists were wanting privately shipped to Avarice. They were watching them load the large container; which was twelve feet tall, forty feet long and ten feet wide, into the cargo hold via the camera from the bridge. The large container didn't draw much attention but the smaller 'box' that was brought in behind it, did make them slightly curious.

When James and Sylvia returned, they were hauling a few carts of supplies behind them. Since a ramp had been erected to the cargo hold, they simply brought their load through there and dropped it off near the airlock before Sylvia tasked James with returning the carts. Then stood by as if making sure they loaded the cargo correctly.

Once the 'cargo' had been loaded and those who loaded it had left, all they had to do now was wait for their fuel reserves to be filled before they could disembark from the station. Kathy grew curious as to what was inside both objects and decided to scan them and see what was inside. She was rather surprised to find that even her sensors couldn't penetrate whatever both objects were made from.

When their fuel reserves were refilled and they were ready to go, Kathy had Sylvia contact the control tower and request permission to undock. They were cleared right away to leave; which made them all more curious as to what had been loaded into the cargo hold. They had just exited the station when another ship dropped out of hyperspace several kilometers ahead of them.

*********

Luxuria, Bridge (12:40 AM)

Everyone was on the bridge as the Luxuria safely exited the station. Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they got further away from the station. As everyone started to settle down Kathy heard a faint beeping sound from one of her consoles. Heading over to the console in question her eyes widened before she quickly switched the screens to get a view of the surrounding area on them. She quickly noticed the ship as it dropped out of hyperspace and when she recognized what ship it was, she began shaking and froze up.

Sylvia was the first to notice something was wrong with her and asked in a worried voice "Kathy... what's the matter?

"It's him..." She said in a fearful voice.

Lliam stepped up to her and asked "Delta?"

Everyone's eyes were on Kathy as she slowly shook her head; they sighed in relief yet again but then started to wonder who it was that was making her so fearful. Albert stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to her and placed his paw on her shoulder to get her attention.

Looking over her shoulder and up to gaze into his eyes, he asked "What is that ship and who's on it?"

"Its... it's the Avaritia! The ship Falsch pilots..." Kathy managed to say.

Lliam immediately knew who it was. He growled "So he's the one who took Rrahkarr to Mors Mortis!?" His ire towards this person was raising; causing his paws to ball up into fists.

"He knows this ship... he'll... he'll open fire or contact the station... and... and..." Kathy said as she started hyperventilating.

Nate was worried as he watched Lliam, he could tell that if Lliam didn't shackle his anger there and now, he'd have an incident; and right now was not the time. However Lliam's ire deflated as he let out a pent up sigh and turned to face Kathy.

Putting his paws on her shoulders Lliam tried to get her to stop hyperventilating. "Kathy... you need to calm down. Come on..."

She continued to hyperventilate and Lliam again tried to calm her down till the point he yelled her name "Kathryn!" This immediately stopped her hyperventilation as she looked at him in surprise with wide eyes. "It's going to be okay, we just need to get out of here... now."

Nate smiled as Lliam managed to overcome his anger and calm himself by trying to calm Kathy. Kathy nodded her head as she took a couple slow deep breaths to calm down. "Thank you, Lliam." She said as she prepped the ship for hyperspace. After a few moments the Luxuria jumped into hyperspace leaving the Avaritia and the starbase behind.

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

Avaritia, Bridge (3:36 PM {12:42 AM Luxuria's Time})

"That was the Luxuria..." Echo said after watching them jump to hyperspace.

Echo; known only as Falsch to Kathy, had changed little in the four years after Delta had him take Rrahkarr to Mors Mortis. The only difference from then was that his short beard had been cut down till it only covered his chin.

"Wait... the direction they took..." He questioned before opening up his galactic map. After doing several checks he leaned back in his chair with a pensive look and thought "Mors Mortis... he _ _said Rrahkarr would escape under his own power. But didn't he mention she'd be dead by now, so why...? Everything he's predicted has come true, so why is he wrong about this?"

Checking his fuel reserves he decided to dock at the station. He knew where she was going and his ship was faster than hers so he could catch up to her. After he was given docking permission he set his ship on autopilot and thought "Guess I'll have to shadow her and find out."

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

Luxuria, Cargo Hold (1:00 AM)

Despite the fact that it was well past ships midnight, everyone ventured to the Cargo Hold. Lliam, James and Albert all grabbed some crowbars to force open the large container while Nate, Kathy and Sylvia went to open the smaller 'box'.

With the three of them prying on the container doors it wasn't long till they opened. Grabbing a light, Albert entered the container and stopped in amazement. The light was shining on several very advanced pieces of technology; which looked like weapon parts, as well as connecters, power runs, converters and an array of other parts. Rather than looking like they fit together to make a weapon they looked as if they were parts that would fit onto an already existing weapon.

While the three of them examined the container; looking for anything that may have hidden inside that could disable the ship, the others opened the box. The first thing they noticed was several data pads. Picking up the one on top, Nate turned it on and wasn't too surprised to see it was a manifest order. Picking up another it showed more information but also showed there was a sub-file attached. Switching to the sub-file, his eyes widened at the name that the file was addressed too.

He handed the data pad over to Kathy who growled out the name "Patrick Territh!"

Having heard the growl, Lliam held onto the side of the container and looked around the corner and asked "Did ya'll find something?"

"You could say that... all this stuff looks like it was being shipped to Patrick Territh." Kathy said as she sat next to the box.

"Well now... this is interesting." Nate commented as he scanned through a couple data pads.

"What's up?" Lliam asked as he grabbed a random data pad.

"Well it seems what's in the container is an upgrade for a battleships beam cannon." Nate said then scratched the back of his head "It's labeled 'Daemonia Gladio'..."

After reading through the data pads and searching throughout the container, what they had was an obvious weapon upgrade. If the testing data stored on the data pads were anything to go on, the Daemonia Gladio configuration would not only be able to easily destroy any vessel it hit; it would also bypass any type of shielding protecting it.

Based on the data stored in the data pads, Nate; and James when he started reading, both concluded that these parts were scaled down to one tenth size and power. They were unsure as to who developed the weapon these parts were scaled down from but were positive they had to get the upgrade to the federation forces as soon as they could.

Lliam also made a small discovery on the data pad he had started reading. He found a foot note mentioning the 'Birth Place' of the Electus' technology had been rediscovered including coordinates of a research station. By the looks of the coordinates it looked to be far off the beaten trail; even further from civilized space then Mors Mortis.

"When we find Rrahkarr, Sara and Aurora, we'll see what's at those coordinates. We can't let them continue working on weapons like this." Kathy told Lliam then looked at James and Albert "You three didn't find any pulse mines or something hidden in this thing did you?" she asked, gesturing to the container with her thumb as she pointed behind her.

"No, we didn't see anything of the sort. We should be safe." Albert said as the others started to leave the cargo hold.

"Good, I'm turning in and getting some sleep. Hopefully these next two months go by quick..."

**********

July 8, 2342 - Hidden Electus Facility

(6:15 PM) {One Month Ago}

"So, he went behind my back and not only ordered them to kidnap those two but ordered them to destroy the colony as well?" Delta calmly asked after being informed of recent events by Mei; who was sitting across from him.

Delta and Mei were alone; giving them the rare opportunity to speak freely. They were in a special facility controlled by Delta that was filled with those he knew he could trust. Mei simply nodded her head before saying "He's starting to get out of control, are you sure you don't want him dealt with?"

Instead of the normal emotionless expression, there was a look of calm or peace on his face. He sighed before saying "I do want him dealt with, but it's not my place to do so and you know that Mei."

"But... Murazar, surely you could take care of him..."

"I've already tried. My subtle attempts to kill him have failed every time and the only way I could take care of him now is by direct intervention... but that would damn my position within the Electus... and change everything else except the outcome." Delta told her and sighed.

"Look... I know you're acting on what you think is right and that everything that's happened so far fits perfectly with what he foretold but..." Mei was saying when he cut her off.

"It's not."

"What do you mean it's not? Everything has gone just like he said it would." Mei said.

There was a true pensive look on his face as Delta spoke "There are... very subtle differences as of right now. I've tried so many times to change the outcomes of his predictions yet not a single attempt has meet with success... whatever I did changed nothing, the outcome still came but only by a different means. But now... there's been a slight alteration somehow, almost like a ripple on a calm surface of water.

"That ripple; that small change is what you just told me, Mateo met an albino wolf named William Sutarra on Falora as well as Kathryn Nance; Lure, who was with him, not only then but on the Starbase in the S.U.W as well... correct?" Delta asked.

"Yes... but what does that have to do with this?" Mei asked, not sure where he was going with this.

"Tro'nen was a truly gifted Psychic, or would you call it cursed to be able to see so far into the future. I know Tro'nen told both of us what he had seen, however he pulled me to the side and spoke of things in more detail; particularly of those in his family." Delta said and looked Mei square in the eyes. "He told me of multiple deaths; especially of those that would affect certain things... one was Williams's death. He would be killed on Falora by Mateo and he also mentioned Kathryn would die there as well.

"Both of their deaths would've affected Rrahkarr dramatically and would have caused him to slaughter Patrick in a most grotesque way. Yet both of them are alive." Delta said looking pointedly at Mei before continuing "With them being alive... that means anything else Tro'nen told us can no longer be trusted at this point. Who knows what else may change with them being alive." He said and thought for a moment.

"I wonder... did he mention anything else about William?" Delta asked.

Thinking for a moment, she added "He mentioned something about him having the same powers as Tro'nen... but how would that change anything?"

After a few moments of thinking, Delta said "That could change everything Mei... if William has gained the same foresight that Tro'nen had; those same Psychic and Psionic abilities, he could change things drastically."

"Like what?" Mei asked as Delta thought a moment.

"He could've seen his and Kathryn's deaths and was able to alter what happened. Which means he could see other things that could lead to a new outcome that we'll not be able to predict... for good or worse. Lliam is as of right now... a small ripple; yet every person he comes into contact with will cause that ripple to grow and soon that ripple will grow to be a wave." Delta said and stood up before pacing for a few minutes.

Turning to face her, Delta said "I want you to go back to the Galactic Terra and keep an eye on Patrick when he gets back. One thing that we may be able to predict is Kathryn and William rescuing Rrahkarr sooner than he could free himself. We don't know how Patrick will react to this so I want you to report everything back to me.

"Oh and before you go there, stop by Starbase five in the S.U.W. and let Bill and the others know things are changing, also let Ken know. He should be heading there soon from Starbase twenty one, so you should be able to catch him there with them." Delta said as she stood.

"Starbase five, that's a little off the beaten path. I'll let them know but it'll take a few months for me to get there. So you take care of yourself M. What Tro'nen foretold of you may come sooner or later than you expect now." She said and headed towards the door. "Are you sure you want to go through with it?" She asked solemnly as she stopped by the door.

Looking at her he chuckled before saying "It's the only path I desire and I'll make sure it comes to pass." He said, then shooed her away with his hand.