FSE

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Hornet's bridge, several days later

Phil spun around on his chair, he was board and the trip to Rebel space was taking forever. To make matters worse it seemed he couldn't pick up any of the chicks on the ship, yeah Ashley and Hayley were said to be bisexual but they were more orientated toward each other or to their work, Gal had hooked up with Mike, out of the Australian Air Force pilots that had volunteered to come aboard the only free girl in the group had already been rutted by Reece so she was a no go, this left Marcie, Nia and the two Tigresses who seemed to be a little resentful to humans.

"Oh hi, I thought no one was up here" came a chirpy voice from behind him, he turned to see Nia standing in the doorway to the rest of the ship holding a bag of mixed nuts, she pulled out a handful before placing the bag down on a console "how do you like the ship so far?"

"It's good, it's just so boring during long jumps and well" Phil paused as he rubbed his head trying to find the right words, "I think I may be having trouble with the ladies on the ship".

"How so?" she asked as she sat down in a chair next to him, "you're the guy who hacked an Imperial drop ship, you held the squirrely bastard long enough for Gecks to get a clear shot saving many lives, I can't see why you should be having trouble".

Phil got up and started to pace, he mulled over what to say next trying out every possible way to explain his problem "I think Mike has overshadowed me, he was the one who saved Gal, the B.A.N.D. chose him and all the ladies seem to want to get with him" he took a deep breath "the only ones that are still single are you, Marcie and the two Tigresses Shala and Tami who by the way seem to hate humans".

Nia threw a couple of nuts into her mouth and began to chew, it was some time before she spoke again, "first thing, I may be drooling over Mike like I'm infatuated with him but I already have a mate back home, I would probably use him for relief when I go into heat like all the other girls on this ship or if I just want to fuck him for fun with Gal watching. Secondly, Marcie is the ship's captain and she has a certain taste in men and I don't think you qualify to be on that list and finely Shala and Tami were sex slaves to the Admiral on that Leviathan class ship, you can't blame them for showing a little distain to humans"

The argument was compelling; Phil just sat down near Nia and hung his head "your right, it's just I look at Mike and see him all happy, like he had forgotten his past and I want what he has now".

"Don't worry you'll find someone, besides I think Ruck and Gecks wanted to take you out clubbing when we reach our destination, you might get lucky" Nia said offering Phil a nut, they were an assortment of Earth nuts ranging from Cashews to Brazil nuts. He took a Cashew, nodded his thanks to her and munched it down, he was about to change the subject when an alarm caught his attention.

"Hey what's that?" he asked as the ship began to shudder violently, Nia and Phil looked at each other before they sprang into action. Nia took the helm while Phil to the navigation station next to her, after a few seconds of frantic work from the two of them the ship dropped out of FTL into an unknown system.

"Congratulations Phil, you just experienced the ship running out of fuel" Nia said, tapping the keys on her console she began scan for fuel minerals, her console gave a beep as the sensors picked up a large concentration. "Bingo, ok Phil mark where the minerals are and lay in a course, I'm going to tell Marcie" she said to the human next to her, she smiled as she got up and left the bridge knowing that Phil was indeed doing his part for the crew.

Equine stronghold, Unknown Planet

The guards stood to attention as the Chiefs son Night-Flash walked down the long corridor towards his father's chamber, the old temple the Equine Clan had set up as their stronghold had seen better days, all around him the walls seemed to crack and crumble as well as the celling. Finally he made it to his father's chamber; the roof in this section of the temple had caved in allowing sunlight to bathe the big stone doors in its warm glow, around the hole in the roof several jungle vines hung down and small shadows from various trees danced across the door. On both sides of the door stood two Clydesdales in ornate armour, their staff weapons quickly crossed Night flash's path barring him from the door.

"My father sent for me, I am here to see him" he said looking up at the two large horses, the guards turned to each other, after a while one gave a nod to the other and then proceeded to let him pass, giving them a nod he walked up to the door and gave it a push. The doors swung open slowly revealing a large room, "Father, you requested my presence?" he asked as he entered the room.

Much of the room was lavishly decorated with war trophies and other personal possessions but the most amazing feature of the room was the Oracle mirror as the Equines had come to call the object; it was a large mirror in the shape of a circle that sat in mid-air with aid of technology believed to be from the divine messengers. At hearing the voice of his son Chief Talvis turned around and looked in his direction, he stood slightly taller than the young colt with the same colouration, short jet black fur covered most of his body but unlike Night-Flash he had a small white spot in the middle of his forehead.

"Night-Flash, tomorrow you are going to undergo the Trial by Fire; if you succeed you will be given a place amongst our warriors. I will not lie to you, the dangers of the trial are plentiful and life threatening so you must be vigilant and stay on your guard" he said and closed the gap between himself and Night flash, "to that end I give you this gift, the staff of the Pegasus" he handed him a very ornate looking staff weapon. Night-Flash looked at the weapon his father had gave to him, unlike most staff weapons the clan warriors carried this one was double ended with a crown of large blades surrounding two customary gun muzzles on each end.

"Thankyou father, I don't know what ells to say" Night-Flash said taking the weapon from Talvis; he held it gently feeling its weight and smiling at how balanced it was.

"That you will do your best and you will make me proud" replied Talvis with a smile; "now I think you should go to the training grounds and practise with your new weapon" he turned around and walked to the Oracle Mirror once again.

"As you wish father, I will not let you down" he turned and walked out the door with weapon in hand ready to bring glory to the family name.

Hornet's Bridge, High orbit over unknown planet

Marcie sat in her chair as she looked at the night side of the planet getting closer and closer, she was slightly annoyed at having to refuel the ship but having to land was a real pain in the ass. The crew had discussed the options they had and this was the best one, after all they did score a fully functional cloaking device from an imperial drop ship and thanks to Mike and Ruck they had jerry rigged it to cloak the Hornet. If they had a cargo shuttle things would be better but the only viable option at the moment was to land the ship and prosed on foot to the where ever the minerals were, Reece piloted the ship on a long approach vector over the planets southern continent slowly descending into the atmosphere, with luck the inhabitants of this world would see the ship as a meteor and not a Frigate that was converted and armed to the teeth with Paleo Tech enhanced weaponry.

The ship began to shudder as the first signs of re-entry began to play over the Hornets view screen "now entering the atmosphere, estimated time till landing, seventeen minutes" Kimberly said as she worked navigation, her Australian Air Force uniform clung to her body as she began to perspire out of nerves.

"Maintain course, as soon as we stop looking like a meteor I want the cloaking device activated" Marcie replied, the shaking continued for another few seconds before the ship stopped shaking.

Right on cue the lights on the bridge dimmed and were replaced with an ominous blue, "cloaking device engaged and stealth drive is now online, we are running silent" Phil said from his station at the back of the bridge.

"Thanks Phil, Helm, lock on to the largest concentration of fuel minerals and get us as close as you can" Marcie said taking a deep breath "once on the ground we'll break up into teams to locate the deposit, once found we'll extract enough for the engines then get the hell out of here" the crew nodded in agreement went to make preparations.

The ship made its way through the dark until it stopped over a clearing; like a great bird the ship descended slowly unfurling its landing struts till they were fully extended then with a light thud the ship touched down, the only thing giving away the ships landing site was several indentations where the struts dug into the forest floor.

With a satisfied nod she began to look over the sensor data one more time, the planet they had landed on was mostly jungle with some mountains and a few open plains. The thing she was more interested in was the life forms on this world, the ships sensors had picked up three main groups during their initial scans; the first was designated as being Avian, the second registered as Equine and the third was a mixture of Avian, Equine and Feline. Looking deeper into the data she noticed that the third were actually two hybrid species living together, 'so we also have Gryphons and Hippogryphs on this world, interesting, better get the teams to bring extra weapons and ammo' she thought before leaving the bridge followed closely by Reece and Kimberly.

Jungle surrounding the landing site, several hours later

The sound of hooves stomping through the underbrush seemed to have little effect on the sleeping wild life that dotted the jungle; they were completing their patrol when one of them spotted something in the distance. It was a faint light that seemed to float around as if it were a living thing or if someone was holding the light source, the team went silent then moved slowly towards the light all the while expecting to be ambushed by a Gryphon aerial attack group or an Avian Battle Mech but what they would find would change the outcome of this clan war and every other clan war to come on this world.

As the group got closer several more lights appeared all different colours but now they could see what they were or more like who was holding them. The first one looked to be some sort of furred being much like the back end of a Gryphon bit it was orange with black horizontal stripes that ran from its head all the way down its back to its tail that thrashed about a lot, its belly was white and it has pointed ears toward the top of its head, the creature stood on its hind legs and it looked to be female. The second was mostly hairless apart from a large clump on the top of its head, he was smaller than the other one and wore strange clothes covering much of his pink skin but the third was the most interesting. She looked like a humanoid version of a Shadow stalker, her scales were as black as night with golden eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, she wore a strange set of clothes that allowed for a set of bat wings to lay flat to her back but remain unrestricted.

"What are they? I have never seen things like them before, what should we do?" asked one of the scouts in a hushed tone his big eyes were wide with surprise and astonishment.

"Set your staff weapons to stun then fan out around them, when I give the signal open fire, make sure that you stun them their no use to us dead" the team leader replied the large Thoroughbred gave a few gestures and the others under his command began to fan out around the three creatures.

It didn't take them long to get into position, the team leader was about to give the order to fire when one of the creatures looked up suddenly as if alerted to their presence. "Were not alone here, I'm detecting several minds all around us" the reptile creature said, the group slowly began to brandish what looked like weapons used by the Avian clan but seemed to be modified to fire different types of ammo.

'oh that's not good' the team leader thought then gave the signal to open fire, blue bolts of energy shot out from all sides most missing the three targets but by random luck a stray shot hit the hairless creature. His entire body went ridged then fell to the ground limp while the orange furred one seemed to have a surprisingly strong will and was able to get a few shots off before she went down. The reptile creature seemed to emit a strange invisible barrier around her making several bolts bounce off or be deflected back the way they came or off to the side, eventually the combined fire was too much for her and a bolt made it past the shield causing her to hiss in pain, before she lost consciousness she breathed in deep then let loose a volley of flame from her mouth scorching the area near one of the scouts.

"AHHHHHH!" yelled the scout as his arm was burnt by a stray ember, with all three people down the group began to take stock of the situation, they had three wounded two of which were shot in the arm and shoulder. The one with the burn walked up to the group and looked at the reptile that breathed fire in his direction "when we get back to the camp, put a muzzle on her" he spat as he looked at the burn, it wasn't bad but he would need to take some time off scouting duty.

"Don't worry rookie we will, but for now help Zorna carry the hairless one" the leader replied then hefted the reptile over his shoulder, the team member gave his superior a nod then walked over to a Filly trying to lift the hairless creature over her back.

'Here let me give you a hand" he said as he began to help lift the creature, Zorna gave him a nod of thanks and the two of them along with the rest of the scouts began to hall the creatures away, but little did they know they were now walking on thin ice and if the Equine clan was to make a mistake they would inadvertently open a can of worms they wouldn't be able to close again.

The next day, first light

"Mike do you see anything?" Ruck yelled as the small search party trudged on through the foliage, Mike had taken point and was using his armours inbuilt equipment to track the missing crew but with little success, however Mike had a secret weapon for when he and Gal mated that night while the ship was at Wagga Wagga a mental bond was forged. He was now using that bond to find his missing mate and get her back safely, he knew he was on the right track when he lead the group to their last known position then began to follow a set of tracks leading off into the jungle.

"I think I saw something ahead, switching to infrared spectrum" he replied then taped a control on his helmet, his vision through his helmets visor shifted from the standard light spectrum to something that resembled the point of view of a snake, as if like magic several thermo signatures appeared. "Um guys we have contacts ahead, Equine by the look of it" Mike and the others got down low and worked their way closer to the group of Equines, Marcie pulled out her trusty twin blasters Bite and Bark then turned to their resident super soldier.

"No Gauss weapons, even then don't fire unled fired upon and use any stun settings as well, we need to show them we can be reasonable." Marcie said quietly, Mike replied with a nod before tapping another button this time on the B.A.N.D. itself, there was a blip then Mike phased out of the visual spectrum only leaving a slight distortion, 'good thing we asked Angel to back engineer the cloak then make a smaller copy' she thought as she watched the distortion creep closer to the Equines location then nimbly clime a nearby tree. She turned to the rest of the group "the same order goes for the rest of you, set weapons to stun and only shoot if attacked. Mike has taken the high ground, Ruck you flank right, Gecks you flank left, Nia and I will go up the middle but don't move till ether Mike or I give the signal" the group nodded then moved as silently as possible to get into position.

At that very moment

Night-Flash looked around the clearing where the old shrine sat, the large silver monolith sat defiantly within the crumbling ruin as the other Initiates sat down, each initiate had completed the first objective of the Trial by fire and the group was taking a quick rest before heading back, some were injured but able to still carry on while others were just exhausted after all they did take down a Shadow stalker Alpha as a team. His gaze dripped down to the bag he had draped over his shoulder, inside was a large orb, it was smooth and shiny as if it were made from liquid metal had an almost hypnotic quality to it, each member of the nine strong team had retrieved a similar orb but each were a different colour compared to his pristine silver one.

"Night-Flash, did you hear that?" said one of the other initiates; he was a large Mustang with a braided main and a strong athletic build. "I think we're being watched" he raised his staff weapon in the direction of the noise.

"No I didn't but I'm with you on this one Solaras" Night-Flash replied activating his staff for both close range and long range combat "everyone get into a circle in the centre of the ruins and make ready".

The group did as the colt had instructed, anyone who could still walk helped any who couldn't to the designated area then stood back to back in a circle. Silence fell over the group as they readied for an attack, suddenly a shape jumped down from a tree that bordered the ruin startling the group. The shape seemed like a heat distortion in the shape of a bipedal creature shimmering as it rose to its full height, the distortion seemed to get into a combat stance then shimmered violently before the distortion disappeared leaving a creature in grey battle armour standing in its place. The creature appeared to be male in gender but it was hard for Night-Flash to read the creature's body language for any hints to its intentions.

"Don't move a muscle! If you in any way try to act aggressively to me or my fellow crew members I will open fire!" the armoured figure barked at the group his voice distorted by his helmets speakers, as he did so a series of small guns began to extend from his wrist followed by a series of green light beams that left a small dot on the pelts of the Equines in front of him. Night-Flash stood there with an open jaw shocked that this thing was able to communicate with him let alone understand the Equine dialect; his mind raced trying to figure out a response.

A short time past before he regained his composer "I am Night-Flash, son of the Equine Clan Chief Talvis Wind-Chaser! Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Night-Flash asked in the same tone as the creature.

The creature just stared at him its face covered by the helmets face plate, it was some time before the creature replied. "My name is Mike Hamilton; I am a human from the planet Earth, third planet of the Sol system. Our ship ran out of fuel and we landed on your world to find the necessary minerals required to get us to our destination, however some of our crew have gone missing and we're trying to find them" the creatures helmet retracted reviling its true face.

"Another one?" a Filly holding up a fellow initiate blurted out uncontrollably, "how many more of these things are there?" an awkward silence fell over the crowd as Night-Flash looked at the Filly his eyes giving her daggers.

"Zorna, please tell me what is going on?" he walked over to the Filly and looked her right in the eye registering that she was now quivering in fear, "tell me everything you know from the beginning"

The young Filly's grey fur bristled in fear as she explained how the scout team she had been assigned to for training had come across a small group of people with strange equipment; she then proceeded to give a detailed description of the individuals the scouts had encountered and their current location. "They were all still unconscious when we left, that's all I can say right now" her gaze drifted over the Mike and gave him what looked to be an apologetic look.

"well now that we know where they are" Mike said with a smile, he tapped a button on a device on his wrist then spoke into what looked like an Oracle mirror but made out of light. As it disappeared four more creatures came out of hiding all looked to be different species. Mike looked at the group of equines with a hopeful look on his face "can you take us to them?"

Equine stronghold, later that day

"You all have completed your task and have returned safely, those of you who have helped your fellows have demonstrated team work even when your comrades were injured to the point that they would have surly failed" the clans resident Sharman said as the group of initiates. The Sharman was an old white Clydesdale adorned with various pieces of technology the Clan had found, collected and loving restored, Mike watched the initiates closely as the Sharman continued to speak "however you did encounter some....unforeseen circumstances, one of which has lead a group of people to this place. At the moment they have been allowed here under peaceful contract, Night-Flash, do you trust these creatures?"

Night-Flash nodded "they have not harmed us in any way, shape or form since we encountered them at the monolith shrine, I am still wary of them but I trust them" the Sharman walked up to Mike and looked him in the eye.

"You are interesting; I see pain behind your confident gaze, pain of your past, distress for the safety of the one you love, and the connection to that armour of yours." The Sharman said, for a Horse of his age he was still imposing, "Where did you find it and who do you serve?"

Mike took a deep breath and stood up straight, "I serve those who need my help but I don't bow down to a lord, I live to protect those I care about, I am a member of Marcie's crew and I will contribute to the best of my ability. I am the first human super soldier from the planet Earth, the armour is a part of me and I tend to think if found me." Mike said not showing fear. He looked back to where his crew stood, "the crew of the Hornet stopped the B.A.N.D. from falling into enemy hands, an enemy that brings shame to my species, it chose me and now I fight to stop them from taking over the galaxy"

"Spoken well, the Clan Chief will want to see you, however if you make an aggressive move to him or anyone without provocation we will kill you." The Sharman turned and motioned for Mike to follow along with Marcie and Night-Flash, the three complied following close behind him. the small group was lead into what looked to be an audience chamber, along the walls were various trophies from many battles with the other Clans but the most striking feature in the room was the chiefs throne. It looked to be built from a number of ancient machines light years ahead of what the equines seemed to have mastered.

"Great Sharman, who are these people who you bring before us and why haven't you disarmed them?" the Chief said looking at Mike and Marcie, "you must have a good reason otherwise I may be less hospitable the next time you want to talk to me about something." Night-Flash was the first to notice something was wrong but kept his composure, he needed to let the human and the creature known as a wolf know that they were in danger, he was about to say something to Mike when the lights in the room suddenly went dead.

"What's going on?" came another voice from somewhere behind where the Chief was sitting, Night-Flash knew it was his father's adviser, it was unusual that his farther chose a Brumby as his adviser due to them making good hunters and trackers but it was his choice. Night-Flash moved close to Mike as the uproar of horses almost turned into a panic, "What do you mean the power system just shut down? No one can shut it down unless you disconnect it from the main grid!" the adviser yelled again, most likely to a servant.

"What's going on? Why is the power off?" the young colt asked Mike in a whisper, for some strange reason the human and the wolf were chuckling to themselves.

"What game are you playing at?" asked the Sharman in a hushed but stern tone, to him it looked like that one of them or maybe one of the other outsiders was sabotaging the settlement.

Mike looked at Night-Flash, his eyes were still glowing the same brilliant blue as when they met. Mike had explained to him that he went through a process called Augmentation and that the glowing eyes were part of that process, after a while he spoke. "A friend of mine who lives in this armour is about to reveal a spy in your ranks, when she is ready she'll let me know so be ready" he said with a smile then went back to watching the chaos unfold.

"Nothing like unbridled anarchy don't you think?" Marcie added with her own chuckle. A second later a beep alerted everyone in the room. "Excuse me honourable Chief, my friend and I have an idea on who is behind it and well..." she trailed off as a burst of white light shot from Mikes wrist manifesting itself into the holographic avatar of Angel, her arms were crossed over her chest and her wings were outstretched giving her an Arch Angel demeanour.

"Gratings everyone, I am Alpha 2239 known to most as Angel. I am the Artificial Intelligence integrated into Michel's B.A.N.D. unit and also the one in control of every piece of technology in this settlement, including the Cerebrum Tick imbedded at the base of your Chiefs skull", she unravelled her arms then held up a hand indicating to where the throne was, with a flash the lights surrounding the throne came back on revealing Talvis standing dead strait, his head held back with a cringe of pain on his face, all the while his muscles were tensing as if electricity was passing through him. She snapped her fingers and as if on cue there was a spark behind his head followed by a chink as a small machine hit the floor and shattered "or should I say was imbedded" she corrected herself with a smile. Talvis's body went limp collapsing at the base of his throne, he panted like he had run a marathon while his body looked as if he was in tremendous pain.

The Adviser looked at the now immobile form of the Chief with a look of horror on his face, his gaze turned to the A.I. hologram before he tried to run. His escape attempt was short lived as a guard grabbed him by the arm then threw to the floor near Mike, the form of the Adviser shimmered and flashed as if it were a picture on a TV with bad reception then disappeared revealing a Lyrebird morph with a worried look over his face. "And there's your spy, not so clever now are you?" Marcie said with a menacing grin on her face as she ripped a device off of the Avians arm, a few minutes later Talvis regained enough strength to hobble over to Mike and the others crowded around the unlucky bird.

"Guards, take this one to the holding cells" he said with a pant, in a split second two large horses walked up and dragged the Lyrebird away kicking and screaming. "Thankyou for breaking the Avians hold on me, I was certain that they would have used me to betray my people in the end" the Stallion said to Angel and the others, "I am Talvis Wind-Chaser, Chief of the Equine Clan I would like to know who you are and why are you here?"

Mike and Marcie began to explain their presence on this world, doing all they could to explain the situation as simply as possible. To their surprise Talvis seemed to be very understanding and accepting even with how farfetched the story sounded, Angel also chimed in explaining how the tech the Equines placed in hi regard were actually not from a race of divine messengers but from a highly advanced race called the Virtues that guided the more primitive races in their infancy. Talvis was shocked at this, for so many years the Equines had believed that their gods had sent divine messengers to their to impart wisdom and guidance but now he knew the truth but even with this earth shattering realisation he still accepted it even though the others in the room denied the truth.

"So if I'm hearing this right, your "ship" ran out of fuel, landed here to refuel and we ran into your crew members and captured them. To top it all of the technologies we keep safe from the other Clans are actually from a race that watched in our infancy and guided us to a better future, is that a correct summery?" Talvis asked with a look of deep thought across his face. Mike was about to answer when a massive bolt of pain shot through his mind, it felt as if his head had was being ripped in half and in that intent he saw a vision that chilled him to the core, it was of Galadriana getting raped by an Equine, she was in some sort of dungeon with a muzzle strapped to her face and she was chained to a wall, every so often the Equines form would distort to reveal another avian morph, much stronger and more powerful than the one before.

There was a flash and everything was back to normal, he found himself kneeling on the stone floor of the throne room clutching his head with the group looking down at him, Marcie looked at him with a concerned look "what did you see?" she asked. Mike looked back with glowing red lights in his eye, his armour started to go into full combat mode with streams of Nanites forming more elaborate weapons on his wrists and arms.

"Gal's in trouble, being raped, I think it's an Eagle of some kind" his gaze shifted to Talvis, "do you have any dungeons or sub terrarium structures in the settlement, any at all?" Mike rose to his full height, he looked more imposing now more than ever and he was ready to kick ass.

"Only the temples Sub - level, but its sealed tight, we tried to get it open but haven't been successful. I will send word to the other guards to investigate this, gather a small group and meet me at the temple entrance, if there are more Avians in my stronghold they are dead" Talvis replied before turning to one of the guards, the guard gave him a nod after receiving his instructions then left to spread the word.

"Don't worry I'll make sure they are" Mike replied before he was nothing more than a blur as he bolted out of the audience chamber, his helmet snapping back into place like a steal trap.

Minutes later

Marcie, Talvis and the others were amazed at how fast Mike was running. The wolfess had seen Mike's new found speed in the flesh but never like this, the way he moved looked as if he had pulled out all the stops and hit the turbo button. It didn't take them long to find the path of destruction Mike had created, the blast door to the sub-level was now a chunk of metal with a gaping hole leading into a long dimly lit corridor, from what they could see there were bodies scattered periodically along the wall, climbing through the large hole Marcie slowly approached the first corps with both her guns at the ready. The good news was they were not the bodies of her missing crew but the remains of some sort of digging predator, all looked to be shot with a high powered energy weapon and from what Marcie's personal scanner was identifying the weapons energy signature as being Gauss weapons, to top it all off these kills were fresh and still warm.

"Over here!" Ruck called, Marcie turned around to see him kneeling next to the unconscious form of Phil slumped up against the wall, "he's alive, however, I would recommend getting him back to the Hornet ASAP" Marcie nodded then ordered Nia and Gecks to get him out and back to the ship.

Just as the two crew members had left carrying the limp human out of the corridor a series of zaps and bangs reverberated down the corridor. Marcie, Ruck and Talvis looked at each other then moved as fast as they could following the staccato thumps of gun fire, rounding a corner they found where the sound was coming from, in a large circular room that looked like a retractable landing platform a small group of Avians were trying their best to kill Mike who was moving like an enraged predator. Mike seemed to be one step ahead of the Avians as he dodged every salvo they threw at him, it also dawned on Marcie that for every shot that was fired Mike was dishing out double and with deadly accuracy, an Avian which she figured was the groups commander yelled something to a large shape in the shadows.

"By the gods, how did they get a Mech in here without us knowing?" Talvis gasped as the shape lurched to life, it stomped forward moving into what light was available before turning to Mike and opening fire on him from its arm mounted Gatling blasters. The Mech was huge, how the Avians got it in was a mystery in its own right and its shape looked surprisingly like the scout Mechs the Imperium used, the giant machine began to slowly advance on its double jointed legs toward Mike who had taken cover behind a large stack of creates.

After a while the Mech stopped firing, the machine stalked forward till it was in melee range then slammed one of its arm down on the creates. The resulting shock wave shook everything in the room causing the walls to shudder violently, when the dust cleared the group saw Mike standing on the Mechs "head" with a new weapon attached to his arm, the heavy weapon that seemed to be a Plasma Cannon of some kind glowed with a green light before a series of Plasma bolts reduced the tin can to molten slag. The pilot had bailed long before the plasma barrage had ripped through the Mechs cockpit and was now retreating with the remaining Avians down another tunnel, before Marcie could even say a word Mike was in hot pursuit leaving a glowing green trail of plasma vapour behind him.

It was another few minutes before the group was able to catch up to Mike and what they found almost made Marcie and Ruck attack on sight. Gal was chained up to the wall with the imposter equine still thrusting away into her pussy, a strange looking device was strapped to her head and her mouth was strapped shut with a muzzle. The Tigress Tami was nowhere to be seen but her snarls and hisses here evidence that she was also in this room, as for the Avian troops Mike was chasing they were nowhere to be seen but they weren't the main problem right now.

"Hey fuck stick!" Mike yelled at the large Equine Imposter still pumping away into his mate, "yet your filthy hands off my girl!" the Imposter stopped then looked at Mike, his hollow emitter deactivated revealing a powerful eagle nearly twice the humans size. The bird smirked before calling to his fellows, two more Avians walked out for the shadows each were birds of prey but of different species.

Suddenly a purple bolt of energy shot forth from one of Mike's wrist guns, ricocheting around the room till it hit something metallic, the Avians laughed that Mike had missed them but when they saw he was smiling with an evil grin they knew that they weren't the intended target. "oh you guys are in trouble now" Ruck said with a chuckle as a strange feeling of weightlessness came over the Avians before their bodies were thrust into the air and thrown across the room like rag dolls.

Gal stalked forward toward the three Avians, the chains on her manacles scraped across the floor like metallic snakes. The one of the Avians, a Kestrel by the look of him tried to use a small device that looked like a remote on her but all that happed was a sudden jolt as the Dragoness wacked the device out of his hand with a Telekinetic swipe, "Nice try ass hole!" she spat before she threw him up into the air then slammed him down hard into the floor. The second Avian who was a Falcon of some description tried to reach for a gun that was on the ground not far from him, he watched in horror as Gal disassembled it without touching it, the then proceeded to roast him alive with her fire breath, and this left one Avian at the Black Dragoness's mercy, the Eagle.

"Please, don't kill me, I do anything, just don't kill me!" the Eagle pleaded as he was lifted up, he slowly floated toward Galadriana, she wasn't in the mood to be merciful, this bag of feathers was just as bad as the Imperials and she was going to make him feel what it was like for her. "You should have thought about this before you set foot in this place" she hissed before placing a hand on his head "you know why I didn't cry or scream when you pounded me? It's because I was raped when I was young by Imperials, It happened on the day I found out I was a Teep/Teek, the day I melted his brain with my thoughts. And now you will experience everything bad that has happened to me" she concentrated, the Eagle began to make a blood curdling scream as psionic energy flowed from her mind into his, his body convulsing as it happened.

Soon the Avian's body fell limp and his eyes rolled back into his head, blood seeping out of his nose and eye sockets. Knowing the Avian was dead Gal let the body fall making it land with a thud before sinking to her knees, Mike walked over to the Dragoness and knelt down within seconds she was wrapped in his firm embrace sobbing quietly as he held her. Ruck took the opportunity to find and release Tami from her bonds, Talvis hobbled forward towards what looked like an active control panel, after a quick tap of the controls the complex's main lights began to come online revealing what had happened to the rest of the Avians the group had encountered. The floor of the corridor to the rest of the Sub - level was covered in a fine ash; clothes and armor lay all over the place as if the Avian troops had stripped down without opening any clasp or button. It was clear to Marcie that Mike had vaporised the lot of them, she would have to talk to him about this if only to counsel him on how he was feeling right now but it would have to wait.

As Mike and Ruck lead Tami and Gal back to the surface Talvis approached the Wolfess with a look of sorrow and regret on his face, "I'm sorry for the trouble this stupid Clan war has caused you" he said with a rumble of sadness in his voice.

"Yeah well shit happens, I'm just glad I don't have to mark two more of my people as killed in action" Marcie replied holstering her blasters, she walked over to the console and tapped a few keys brining up a full map of the temple and its Sub - level she then placed a data crystal into an empty slot, downloaded a copy of it and any databases the computer still had intact then began to leave the room stuffing the crystal into her pocket as she went.

"we are in your debt, if there is anything we can do we will be happy to oblige" Talvis said as he followed, he knew that his people would be more than capable to help, these strangers from the stars had opened up the Sub - level and found a spy ring within their very home it was the least they could do.

"well there is one thing, but I guess you will need our help once again" Marcie replied, "the minerals we require, we need to extract enough to get our FTL drive back online" she pulled out a small silver oval shaped device that opened out to form a computer screen then showed it to Talvis "if we can get access to this deposit here we would be grateful."

Talvis looked at the device taking in the image it was displaying; it showed a map of the area showing the landing sight of Marcie's ship, the Equine strong hold and the location of the deposit. "You are correct, this is a tall order, that area is one of our sacred sites, the only way I can let someone in there to extract these minerals you require is if you assist us in stopping this war" he said with concern.

"Chief, I think my crew is more than willing to help, seeing as that some of them have been on the receiving end of what your people have been living with for centuries I think they will be dying for payback" she put away the map "I'll talk it over with them then give you an answer as soon as possible".

"I'll keep you to your word" Talvis said with renewed hope and with a nod he hobbled off to down the corridor toward the upper levels. Marcie smiled knowing that she had just made a new friend and a new enemy at the same time; with a quick breath she followed the Equine out of the temple and back into the sun light.

TO BE CONTINUED.