Lineak woke after a long and uneventful sleep refreshed after a grueling day the day before.  He ran his hands over his body attempting to assess the damage that he had taken and any lingering wounds that his increased healing had not yet healed.  Pain shot through his leg as he ran his hand over the wound where the bullet had passed through cleanly.  It must have been close to hitting something vital, he had gotten lucky.  He rubbed his hand accross his face feeling a tiny bit of stubble mixed with the caked on blood, most of it his.  He looked around at the area where he found himself taking it in for the first time after what had happened.  There a few feet from him was the body of the beautiful woman he had stabbed through the temple.  What a sick sadistic bitch that one had been.  He wasn't even sure of her name, to be honest he could care less.  Beyond her was the body of her lover who in a bizarre turn of events had been killed by her moments before Lineak had taken her life.

He rose to his feet with a grin today might just be a good day.  The grin turned to a grimace as once again the pain shot up and down his leg.  Well a tolerable day perhaps.  Without any kind of hesitaton he moved to the bodies and began searching through the clothes and belongings that they once owned.  A few scattered odds and ends, trinkets really, and then some foreign contraptions.  Lineak peered at them willing his mind to figure out what the hell they were to no avail.  He set them to the side promising to himself to come back to them later.  Now the coins and paper currency he found that was interesting.  He quickly shoved those into a pocket and kept searching.  The woman had had a rifle when they first met and a deep grin reached accross his face as he found it next to Fang's body.  Not a traditional rifle but a shotgun would work just fine, if there were ammo for it.  He checked the chamber and found it was loaded but only with a single round, damn.  Fang's body contained its own rewards the revolver the gunslinger wore was still there.  If nothing else it would earn him a few credits somewhere.  Lineak paused looking at it feeling the weight of it in his hand.  This couldn't be just any revolver.  There's no way a gunslinger would have garbage equipment.  He would have to take some time and find out just what this gun really was.  Something special it had to be.

High above where Lineak searched the bodies a ship moved into orbit. 

"This is the last known location of Fang and his crew?"

"Yes sir the tracker that was placed on him by our spies is still active and tracking him.  It seems he done some traveling recently but the area appears to be remote.  That works for us as there will be fewer people around to see the body count."

"Excellent, have we heard anything about the rest of his gang? Better yet have we heard anything on the status of the cargo on his ship?"

"Nothing on either one sir but now that we are here I'll go ahead and have the crew begin scanning for any kind of electroic signals that are trying to contact other ships."

After looting the corpses Lineak came to the conclusion he wanted to find out more about these strange folk.  If nothing else he would be able to aquire more goods that he could sell or trade.  Hopefully it would only take a few more hours for his leg to heal enough for him to walk without too much discomfort.  As it was he could still walk albeit slowly.  He gathered his new belongings and started the walk down the hill and into the forest below.

"It looks as if we might have company waiting on us.  I told you there were spies among us.  Now what the hell are we going to do? There's no way in hell we're taking that ship on by ourselves."

"You're right.  About both, the spies and the ship.  We'll have to go into orbit around one of the moons and send in a drop ship.  They'll likely be looking for Fang and his cargo.  We need to find it first and then extract as quickly as possible.  We're looking at a quick recon snatch and grab here not an all out fight.  Gear up accordingly.  We'll be sending a team down of about eight of you, hand pick you men.  If you encounter any of them out there you're going to need to kill them quietly we don't want to announce our prescence now dod we?"

Lineak had almost forgotten about the myriad bodies strewn below this could get interesting.  He took his time traveling the length of the killing field stopping to extract various items from the bodies before proceeding into the treeline.  He was less interested about the bodies here as he feared, correctly, that several of them would be pulverized leaving behind nothing worthwhile.  He did however have to work harder in the forest attempting to track where the small army of people had enterered before fanning out trying to find him.  Time consuming and a bit tedious but that was the job of any tracker.

With the sun high above him he finally was able to make some headway into where the army had come from.  It looked as if they had used a tracker of some kind to follow his trail, one of them anyways.  It was easy to follow the twenty or so sets of bootprints back towards where they had originated though.  No trail discipline whatsoever he though to himself.  That's part of what made them all so damned easy to kill off.

The trail led back to the cave where he had been held captive for that brief amount of time.  He shook is head in wonderment so much had happened in such a short amount of time.  From that point the trails became a mess bootprints heading off into, or from, all different directions.  This was going to take some serious time to try and figue out.  The sun was begining to set and rain clouds had rolled in Lineak decided to call it a night and headed up and into the cave.

Light splayed from deep in the cave and Lineak tried to melt into the floor of the cave to avoid it.  Now what?  He inched closer as if he was crawling in for a better shot on a deer ever so slowly and ever so quietly creeping forward. 

"Heads up guys looks like we've got something or someone coming our way."

A fraction of a second later the cave interior was bathed in an incadescent glow as overhead lights were kicked on.  Lineak froze in place for a moment and began to back away back towards the cave entrance.

"Stop right there and put your hands on top of your head."

"Oh come on now why don't you just shoot the bastard and get it over with?"

"Because he's carrying Fang's tracker you idiot.  We'll have to find out how it came into his possession and see if he knows where we can find him."

A cry of frustration and rage came shooting out of Lineak he'd come too far over the last few days to become prisoner yet again.  Why? What did he ever do to provoke the god's wrath this way?  Voices rang from farther down the cave and Lineak witnessed a contingent of men and women wearing shiny black uniforms come marching down the corridors to see what was going on.  These were not the sloppy clothes of Fang and his men.  These were decidedly militaristic.  What was going on? What had he got himself into the middle of?

The man and woman behind him cuffed his wrists together behind his back, dragged him upright and then with the eyes of all of the others upon them went deeper into the cave.  Malik and what's his names bodies were still lying where he had left them their blood still staining the cave walls.  A muttered good riddance from Lineak provoked a quick strike in the back from the stock of a rifle.  Deeper in the cave Lineak could hear the distinct hum of at least one generator as he looked around in awe. 

A large chamber had been converted into a base of operations for this military operation.  A row of small tents lined one of the cave walls, portable facilities had been set up for showering and toileting, and tables lined the center of the chamber.  It looked like a dining hall of some sort.  Against the opposite wall soldiers were hanging large screens of some kind.  The sight was truly incredible to the young man.

A man looking to be in his early forties wearing the same black armour but with gold stripes emplazoned on the sleeves approached Lineak.  Wordlessly he began removing Lineak's possessions.  In a matter of minutes he had been stripped naked save for his underwear.  When the man spoke it was with a deep gravely rumble.

"So? Let's have it shall we?"

Cold and embarrassed at his nakedness as well as his situation Lineak could only stare at the man in consternation.

"Have what?"

"Let's start with your story.  I don't believe you are one of Fang's men.  The exression on your face when you witnessed this place spoke volumes.  So, let's have it.  How did you come by this."  The man picked up the revolver once belonging to Fang.  "I know he did not give this up willingly.  So for your sake, talk."

Lineak began telling his tale of the last few days and watched as disbelief washed over the face of the older man.  He finished his story with him entering the cave, and waited for the man to speak.

"That's the way it ended? Really? Her attempting to seduce you while putting a bullet through her lover of the last five years brain? You have to do better than that.  And then there's you singlehandidly taking out twenty of his men.  You don't find that a bit over the top? Who are you working for and how did you really come into possession of Fang's gun?"

"I told you everything I can lead you back to the site of the battle and back to their corpses if you want.  Everything happened as I said it did, everything."

"Hmm if you killed his mechanic then the ship must still be around here somewhere.  We'll find it, but we'll also find out if you're hiding anything else from us.  Take him below and put a guard on him.  As for the belongings keep the transmitters I'll deal with his weapons."

Lineak watched as the man picked throug his possessions pocketing credits and anything else that might have value before returning to the weapons. 

"We'll have to lock these up somewhere special to keep these guys away from them.  Not a one that wouldn't leap at the opportunity to own the fabled Fang's gun."

Still near naked Lineak was pushed farther and deeper into the cave.  The only saving grace the smell of food drifting from nearby.  Hopefully these men and women would be gracious enough to feed him.  If not, he shuddered to think what might happen.

Back in the chamber one of the transmitters began to glow a pale blue. 

"Lydia come in Lydia we've discovered a viable food source for the near future over.  Lydia are you there? Fang, calling Fang are you there? Fang we can't get in contact with Lydia or anyone else are you guys okay? Guys this isn't funny we need to get off of this rock.  Is anybody listening can you hear me?"

Nine pairs of eyes stared at the light coming from the opening to the cave.  Each person knowing exactly what it meant to the others. 

"He's here, that bastard old man is here."

"Patience we haven't come all this way just to die you fool."

"The mission comes first we have to find Fang's ship."

"Damn the mission you remember what happened to my family because of him?"

"WE are your family now and you need to calm down before you get us killed."

"Wait, look what's happening."

Inside the cave a small group huddled around a table talking. 

"You heard it, I know you did.  What do you think of the message?"

"It need to get looked into for certain.  It means that kid might actually be telling the truth.  Or some version of the truth.  There's no way he killed twenty of them."

"No way Lydia would come on to him either, man she's smoking hot.  Ouch why'd you hit me?"

"Okay enough.  I hate to do this but I think it's best.  Peiz you'll take your men and attempt to validate the man's story.  Tsimz you and your men are to head out and begin searching for Fang's ship.  Schia I hate to do it but you're on guard and sentry duty.  Finkel you and I are going to dig into the possessions the man had on him.  See if we can't glean any information from them about the location of the ship or about what went on down here."

"Sir can't we...."

"No.  You have your orders get to them, now!"

Rain began to sprinkle down on the men waiting in the darkness but they didn't feel it.  Instead they all felt their blood begining to boil as men and women in black armor began to pour out of the cave.

"Would you look at that sentry duty sucks to be them."

"The holes in their throats momentarily are going to suck more."

"The other ones where are they going?"

"Looks like they're going off in two different directions.  Here you take two men and follow them, follow.  We need to know what they're up to.  Bleid do the same with the other group.  You two are with me and we're going to kll us some sentries."

Far back in the cave Lineak was sent to sit in a corner stacks of crates were then set in place to create a a makeshift cell.  Lineak surveyed the surroundings he'd been in worse but this was pretty bad.  If only that man had believed him maybe he'd be out and on his way.  That wasn't going to happen by the looks of things he's better just find a way to make do with the situation.  Even as skrewed up as this situation was.  Wrong damn time and wrong damned place.

Once again Lineak took inventory of his body it felt as though his leg had healed itself finally that was a blessing.  The bruises and bruised ribs from the beatings he had taken on the battlefield were healed as well.  Some things in his life were still okay.  He tried to slow and calm his breathing to enhance his senses to ascertain what was giong on.  His ears picked up:

"Okay enough.  I hate to do this but I think it's best.  Peiz you'll take your men and attempt to validate the man's story.  Tsimz you and your men are to head out and begin searching for Fang's ship.  Schia I hate to do it but you're on guard and sentry duty.  Finkel you and I are going to dig into the possessions the man had on him.  See if we can't glean any information from them about the location of the ship or about what went on down here."

Something had changed the man's opionion of his story.  No telling what it could be.  At the same time his nose picked up the unmistakable scent of fish.  Lots of fish.  Fish, smoke and wood shavings? Those fools had no idea they had just given him an ample supply of food for however long he was going to be secured like this.  Now he just needed a way to get free from thie restraints.  Shouldn't be too hard he'd heard of escape artists dislocating joints to swing their arms in front of them while still manacled.  Yes, it hurt but he'd heal.  With the cuffs in front of him and out of sight of his guards he could begin scraping the skin off of his hands down to the bone as he kicked the chains holding the cuffs together in an attemp to push them off of his wrists.

Outside in the rain blood was begining to be spilled.  The first senty went down with his throat slashed from right to left blood shooting forth in a crimson spray showering the ground before being washed away by the rain.  The second sentry thought she saw movent ahead of her and moved her hand towards her comlink at her side.  An arrow pierced her heart killing her instantly before she could utter any kind of warning.

"Green two this is green six do you copy?  Green two come in."  Unusual it was unlike any member of her time to be slacking on sentry duty.  Punishment for falling asleep was death, terrible gruesome death.  "Green two come in do you copy? Green three what is your status?" Two of her soldiers not answering meant something was wrong, really wrong.  "Jade and Merl I need you now.  Gear up nvgs the works we have trouble."

"Why do we have to do this again? Everybody knows that kid was lying about what happened.  Come on now ther's no way a KID was able to kill Fang.  We've been after him for YEARS.  Soooo, yeah pointless I'm getting soaking wet and aaaagh I hate this place."

"Shut up and get back in formation.  We're doing this because as a soldier you follow orders.  Or have you forgotten? Our job is not to think but to do or die.  Hmmm I think Bree needs a break on point, how about you go relieve her? Not a request."

Much quieter, "Do all of us a favor and eat a bullet while you're up there."

The creepy nature of the dark forest soon began to take its toll on the each of the groups.  Made worse when a heavy mist rolled in.  Dark shadows danced and twirled, nocturnal animals made strange and frightening sounds, and all this was made worse when the new woman on point fell to the ground with four feet of speaar poking through the backside of her body courtesy of one of Lineak's traps that hadn't been triggered before.

Tsimz's crew was having almost the same amount of luck as they moved deeper into the brush in search of Fang's ship.  It wasn't like the ship could put down just anywhere it had to be a large area, right? So why couldn't the scanners on their ship pick it up? It was annoying, this whole planet was annoying.

Her com chirped catching her off guard for a moment.

"Tsimz we need you back at the cave.  We might have a predicament."

Lineak's manacles hit the cave floor with a muted clang.  Not loud enough for those on guard duty to overhear above their spirited discussion.  With his wrists and hands bleeding he reached for the crates ahead of him and attemted to pry loose one of the slats.  He groaned in frustration as his hands were unable to get a firm grip on anything.  He cursed loudly and tried to redouble his efforts.  On the vege of passing out he felt an extreme pain shoot through his fingertips. 

He screamed out in pain before staring at his fingers in horror.  From all ten of his fingers large black claws had sprouted from his fingertips.  The claws were as wide as each finger at the bace and narrowed into leathat stilletos three inches from the end of his fingers.  What the hell was happening to him?

"So you think that it is remotely close to fair that we have to stay back here and babysit this young punk while everybody else gets to go out and explore?"

"Explore is it? If Fang was out there and was killed don't you think he's going to have every body in the known universe coming to look for his body or for his cargo? Do you realize the danger that everybody out there is in? What about the rest of his gang? Do you really think 20 people is the entirety of his crew? You know better than that."

"Tsimz we need you back at the cave.  We might have a predicament."

"Oh shit.  Tell me I didn't speak that into existence.  Stay here I'm going to go up front and see what the issue is.  Keep your ears pealed just in case."

The animalistic scream from behind him terrifed the guard he whirled around to find what had caused the sound only to have his throat ripped out by giant claws.  The last sight he saw before death took him was of a teenaged boy feasting on a chunk of his flesh.  The slap slap of boots on the cave floor made its way past the blood lust just enough to trigger the hunter in Lineak.  With an animalistic growl he dropped the guard's arm, or what remained of it, and took off after the other guard.

Outside in the rain the bodies of the senties continued to fall dead to the ground.  The sound of the bodies hitting the ground muted by the silent killings and by the rainfall.  The three killers grinned maniacally as they proceeded from one sentry to the next expertly disposing of their victims.  It was only after a com crackled that a sense of dread went through the men.

"Okay men I want you to fan out into a scrimage line we're going to enter the woodline here and then proceed towards the cave.  Stay Alert!"

"Stay Alive" echoed back the reply.

In a matter of moments the darkness was filled with the sound of gunshots, screams from wounded men, and shouts from others attempting to direct the gunfire into certain locations.  Coms crackled almost continuously and inside the cave the "old man" began spewing a long string of obscenities.  With a press of a button he activated one of the large screens, "Send everybody and do it NOW!"

Peiz and his men all watched as the body hit the ground in front of them in an awed silence.  Quickly whispering began in earnest made worse when the coms began to buzz with the sound of battle.  The mission comes first, the mission comes first Peiz repeated to himself over and over.

"Delbert on point and be carefull.  It looks like part of the kid's story might be true.  Eyes open and keep your hands off the vegetation.  No telling what else might kill you over here.  You others keep your guns at the ready sounds like our friends are under attack, no telling when we might encounter hostiles."

Knives were still the weapon of choice as the figures dashed through the woods quickly striking out and slaying their victims.  The flash of movement the only way their enemy could make them out through the dark and through the rain.  Kill after kill body after body they moved mercilessly through the ranks of soldiers.  Until a voice rang out.

"Rangers to me.  Defend the cave."

Soldiers poured from the woodline back towards the cave entrance.  What had started as a massacre had reached a turning point for the soldiers.  A sense of hope was fueled as they at last were able to call upon their training and begin to build a defensive position to counter the unseen force that had decimated their ranks.

The six men blood soaked men watched as the soldiers regrouped around the cave their leader furious.

"What the hell happened? Those soldiers should have never been allowed to turn around.  Their coms should have never have been allowed to work.  You all should be ashamed of yourselves you are better than that, all of you.  My guess is that they're going to call down reinforcements and we can not take on a group the size of which they are going to bring together against us.  Our best chance is to to the job that we were sent down here for.  We need to find Fang's ship and get the hell out of here.  Is that understood?  They know we are here now we need to make sure to stay radio silent no contact whatsoever over the radiio.  If we must communicate do so with our usual method of clicks, understood?"

Men stared at their feet as they got their asses chewed.  it was something none of the men were used to.  Each had to admit that although inflicting heavy losses upon the soldiers the work had been a sloppy mess.  They were no closer to finding the ship and they had given their adversary a warning.  Both sides now knew each other was in the hunt for Fang's ship.  Each side painfully aware of just how far the other would go to aquire the cargo.

"Admiral the men have pulled back from the woods and have regrouped.  We've taken heavy casualties it looks as if we've lost thirty men possibly more.  None of the men report a confirmed kill or even an idea of what we're dealing with out there sir.  Sir? Are you listening?"

The old man, Admiral Caldez, slammed a fist into the table in front of him.  Out of all of the crappy places for Fang's ship to be tracked to why did it have to be this tree covered hell hole? His men were out of their depth here and they knew it.  In a space battle, in a naval battle, hell even in an arctic or desert war his men had proven themselves repeatedly.  Throw in a few trees though and their world became a green hell. 

"You know who we are up against.  You also know that they are unable to muster the same number of troops as we have available, and here at present.  However, the terrain is their friend and a terrible beast of one it is.  We shall have to wait for our reinforcements to arrive and then mobilize for a prolonged search of the area.  I fear if we send forth small teams it will only encourage the enemy to pick us off one by one."

Elsewhere, "Captain Peiz? The men are exhausted and unable to see anything in front of them.  Sir I recommend finding someplace to stop for the night."

Peiz glared at the young soldier not that he could see the fiery daggers in the dead of night but that was beside the point.

"Five more clicks and we'll make it a night, and soldier relieve point."

In the cave blood lust had overcome Lineak once more he vigorously chewed on the entrails of the second guard unaware of the changes that had come over his body.  Dark black fur not covered the entire length of his body, his lithe body had grown incredibly defined muscles, and his skull structure had changed becoming canine in appearance.  A long snout, pronounced canine teeth, and short pointed ears along with dark pools in his eye sockets rounded at his canine appearance.  His snout and hands had been covered in blood for a while now although it had yet to dry as he was repeatedly applying a new coat.

Admiral Caldez stared off into oblivion his mind trying to work through a million different scenanios.  For three decades now he'd been searching for any manner of item to give him an advantage in warfare.  Whether the most advanced tech or, he cringed, even forbidden magical items.  While he now had a decent sized stockpile the search was always on for more, for better. 

Ten years ago he and his men had looted an abandoned library on one of the many demon plagued planets.  While most of what they had come accross was worthless, or worse, they had collected numerous spell books and dusty tomes dating back to the sixteenth century.  It was in one of these tomes, but newer nineteenth century, that he first learned of a man obcessed with the occult and with firearms.  That one scrap of information had put him and his men in harm's way over and over again.  This time it may even get them killed he thought.

Through with his fleshy snack Lineak sank to all fours and continued making his way towards the cave entrance.  The occasional soldier or two was no problem for the lycanthrope who quickly dispatched them with claws or teeth.  It was only when he entered into the large chamber that he encountered any semblance of a problem.  Admiral Caldez had caught the scent of blood on the air and reached inside his sleeve waiting. 

The beast in Likeak took in the human shape in front of it, sniffed the air, and howled.  There was no scent of fear, in fact there was no sign of emotion from the human at all.  he stood in front of the way out and that was all that mattered Lineak began running toward the man, and toward the exit.  In an instant Caldez pulled a wand from its resting point inside of his sleeve a flash of motion and an uttered word and Lineak fell to the cave floor his body changing back to the shape of an eighteen year old boy.

Caldez calmly put the want back in his shirt sleeve and called out to one of his men. 

"I need shackles in here, silver ones.  I need them on the double.  Blades too, find me a silver blade I'm going to need it."

The six men took turns sleeping and keeping watch through the night none of them eager to face the soldier's wrath but knowing making a mad dash out of the woods would only encourage such.  They would withdraw contact and split up each one searching independant of the others.  It was the only way to cover as much ground as possible before the soldiers were reinforced.  They would depart at first light.

Night came and went for Peiz and his men without any troubles.  At first light they packed their supplies and headed out, eager to finish the mission.  The trail was an easy one to follow and did not take any special skills to do so.  Trampled grass and plant matter four feet wide were a clear giveaway that a large force had come this way.  Soon though the point man was calling back alerting the others to impaled bodies, of the trail disappearing, and then silence.  Captain Peiz found the man with a noose around one leg impaled upside down from his crotch out through his right shoulder.

"Weapons up, fan out, don't touch anything.  I want everyone in groups of two.  I want all of you to have a visual of the next group.  Any man goes down you join the adjoining group got me?"  Everybody keep your eyes open it looks like traps killed everybody so far.  Don't be the next one dead."

Miles away six drop ships descended from above and men began pouring from them, men and machinery.  A large swathe of forest was quickly and efficiently turned into an open field.  Engineers were acted just as quickly to begin work on a fortified base of operations.  This would be ground zero for all troops to begin the search for Fang's ship.  A call woud be put out to others in Admiral Caldez's fleet as well.  Soon this lame ass planet would be covered in his men.

Captain Peiz cursed as yet another one of his men screamed in agony.  He was down a total of six just in the last two klicks.  It looked like things might actually be looking up though.  He could see daylight up ahead and not light filtering in through the canopy overhead.  Real actual daylight, he couldn't wait to be out of the miserable forest.  The forest gave way to an open field with a large hill towering in the distance his traind eye took in the terrain and he whistled softly.  This was the ideal place to pick off an enemy force one by one or with heavy weapons you could destroy an enemy force quickly from atop the hill.  He doubted anybody remained on the hill but was uncertain of the fact and that made him uneasy.

"Ghalen I need you over here now.  Make sure you bring your energy shield with you.  Flyndowll I need you too.  Need you to do that hocus pocus crap you do.  You'll need a spell to get you and Ghalen over to the hill as quick as possible.  Ghalen will cover you with the shield.  I need this done yesterday."

The energy shield had lost its charge but with time, a solar pannel and access to direct sunlight Ghalen was able to put at least somewhat of a charge into it.  Flydowll had a much more difficult time with the task giver her.  She had seen others attempt teleportation spells and had seen the grotesque nature of the results.  Legs sticking out of walls was one of the obvious ones.  That was not going to be an option here.  She reached into a small pocket and pulled out a worn leather book.  If there was going to be a way to do what was asked she hoped it would be in here.  An hour of pouring through the pages resulted in a success, there was a spell to hasten the speed of a small group!

Cuffed.  Bleeding.  Pain.  Of the Pain. 

No pain had ever hurt this bad Lineak felt as if his wrists were on file, forget fire.  He felt as if they had been submerged in battery acid the agony was unbearable.  Then there was, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.  Something was missing, something that he had grown acustommed to and now it was gone.  He tried looking around and was forced to squint in the dark.  The pain it must be clouding my memory, oh wait! That was it! He'd lost the hyperawareness his scenses granted him, how was that possible with the insane pain that he felt?

"Good morning."

The rumble of the voice sounded familiar as if he'd heard it recently but Lineak could not even begin to place it. 

"Here, maybe this will help."

A click and then light beamed down from above Lineak looked around him.  He was once again surrounded on three sides by cave walls.  The fourth wall however instead of being crates of dried fish had been replaced with a metal door of some kind anchored to points in the cave walls.  He looked down at his wrists and then at the door again.  Same kind of metal? Was the metal the reason for the burning?  What about his senses?

"Sit."

Not a request.  Very much a command and one Lineak found his body reacting to before his mind even processed the word.

"You and I are going to have a very interesting conversation about what you are and why you are here.  You're going to tell me everything you know, and then you're going to help me.  Aren't you? You see the same men out there attempting to kill me and my men will love to get their hands on you.  You see, you've already killed twenty of them by your count."

Admiral Caldez fought back a grin as he watched the myriad expressions flash over the boy's face.  None of them mattered, what mattered was getting this young man to be his secret weapon in the search for Fang's ship.  The boy had no idea how, or what, he was going to be used but used he was going to be.  Caldez had big plans for him.

The spell showed no signs that it had worked and Flydowll groaned softly.  Her small amount of magical ability was the only reason she had been allowed to join the crew.  She looked over towards where Ghalen had been patiently waiting on her to finish the spell, he was gone.  What the hell? She turned her head from side to side scanning the area for him, nothing.  His laugh behind her made her lash out with an elbow, something he quickly avoided.

"Calm down Dowl it worked, your spell actually worked.  Not get behind me and keep up.  We're going to the hill and up it."

On the way to the base of the hill both soldiers spotted multiple corpses in the open, none of them obviously victims of traps.  Further ahead they encountered the corpses of Lydia and Fang.

"I'll be damned that kid was telling the truth.  He really did kill all of those men."

"Look at ole Fang there not so scary now is he? Poor bastard.  Hey his pistol is missing and I don't see it on the ground do you?"

"Nothing.  Didn't see a gun on her either.  You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That son of a bitch kid knicked them both.  That means the admiral has 'em and we haven't got a prayer of getting our hands on 'em."

"You know what though? I'm still bringing back some presents.  Fang's a wanted man somebody will gladly pay  me for his ears, or better yet his balls."

"You're a sick bastard you know that?"

Foundations were layed and work began on a variety of buildings as the soldiers and support personel worked around the clock.  More machinery was brought down as well as crates emblazoned with curious designs.  These crates were closely guarded on their way to Lt. Veis.  His small cadre tore open the crates quickly grabbing hold of what lay inside and then as a unit disappeared into the surroundng forest.  The only other group willing to head into the forest was led by Captain Moverty.  He gathered together fifty soldiers and proceeded to walk them in concentric circles around the perimeter of the camp.  With each circling of the camp he would push back fifty yards into the woods and begin again.  it was time consuming and ate up manpower but he thought it was preferable to doing nothing.

"So let's start over shall we? Tell me what is your name?"

"Lineak"

"Where are you from Lineak?"

"A farm a few days away from here.  Not much left of it though."

"What happened to the farm Lineak?"

"I don't know.  I don't know.  Some animal came in and killed everybody."

"Now Lineak you and I both know that's not what heppened.  Tell me the truth."

"That is the truth!"

The blade came from out of nowhere slicing into Lineak's flesh burning with an excrutiating pain, the same pain he helt on his wrists.

"Don't make me ask you again."

Three pairs of eyes wached the mutilation of their comrade in arms.  Those two would pay dearly for what they had done.  Already the force was down several soldiers whoever had trapped the forest had done so remarkedly well.  It pained the men to even think that because it was their brothers and sisters the traps had first killed.  But still, one had to appreciate the beauty of such simplistic killing machines.

"Did you see how fast they moved?"

"Yes.  Magic of course it has to be."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"Really?"

One of the men reached into his garmet pulled out a variety of small vials threw them on the ground whispering an incantation as he did so.  The vials smoldered and sizzled the liquid inside seeping into the ground.  The man continued his incantation as he cut the palm of his hand with a blade.  Dark inky blood flowed from the wound and the man added some of it to the mixture soaking into the ground.  Finished with his incantation he grinned at the other two.

"A special place in hell awaits those two and they're going to take some of their own there with them!"

Emboldened by the lack of enemy prescence Flydowll and Ghalen took their time walking back accross the killing field.  Each looking over the bodies of the fallen to see if they possessed anything of value they could take with them.  Finding nothing they mosied over to see Captain Peiz.

"Looks like he waz tellin' the truth sir.  The boy that is.  Fang and Lydia are deader than dead.  Looks like that kid is mighty sick in the head too.  He cut Fang's balls off.  What kind of a person does that?"

"Alright mission accomplished men.  We need to get back to the cave and report in.  But I don't want to movethrough that miserable forest this late in the day.  Let's go ahead and set up camp here.  I want a roving patrol and sentries posted but other than that I'll cut you some slack.  Good work all of you."

"How long do we have to wait? You said they would kill their own."

"Patience."

"Patience be damned."

"5..4..3...2..1..."

Flydowll and Ghalen both felt a burning sensation begin in the pit of their stomaches both rose to their feet thinking that they must have eaten something bad, they were both wrong.  The bodies of both soldiers exploded in enormous fireballs taking with them the vast majority of Peiz's men.  Those not burned alive or killed from the blast wave were left in a daze.

"What the hell do you want from me?"

"Simple.  I want you to admit what you are.  It's that simple, for now.  Tell me what happened at the farm."

Tears streamed down Lineak's face as images from his recent past flooded through his mind.  His dad teaching him how to hunt, how to track game, how to run a trap line.  His sweet mother calling him home for dinner.  Ramona's grin every time she saw her big brother come home.  The images were too much for him and he began sobbing.

"So you do remember don't you? Tell me, tell me everything."

"I killed them is that what you want to hear? I killed them all and I enjoyed it.  What the hell do you want from me?"

"Good that wasn't so hard was it? Now, what are you? Can you answer that one for me as well?"

"I don't know.  How many times do I have to tell you I don't know!"

"Ah, but I do.  Would you like to know?"

Splitting up had been the right choice and Bryxle, the leader of the small band, was the one to prove it.  He moved through the forest looking, scanning, seeking with all of his senses and hours later he was rewarded with the sound of a voice crying softly.  Intrigued the killer crept forward to find out who was crying and why.

"So many of them are coming down searching for the ship it's only a matter of time before they find it.  Where the hell did Fang and Lydia go? Why have they been gone so damned long? All they wanted to do was kill that kid.  That should have happened forever ago."

"Shuddup you big baby.  We've got food maybe we just need to skeddaddle and forget about the ship.  Aint nobody know how to fix the thing anyways.  That's it I say leave this crap and let's get somewhere safe."

Bryxle pulled back his dark hood exposing his porcelin skin and ruby red eyes as he approached the two figures.

"Brothers help has arrived but you two need to take me to the ship and do it now.  Admiral Caldez himself is here leading the search for the vessel and you know what that means.  Now then lead me to it."

"But where's Fang?"

"Probably dead you fool now get moving I don't have all day.  I only need one of you to show me where the ship is and I won't hesitate to get rid of dead weight.  Is that understood?"

"Sir we're seeing movement in the forest about three hundred yards from the perimeter.  Request permission for fire mission."

"Permission granted fry those bastards."

Within seconds several batteries of howitzers began unloading round after round of lethal ammunition into the forest.  Massive explosions shook the forest floor, fires were started, and the first of the soldier's enemy were killed.

"Do you hear that?"

"Brazen bastards are using artillery on us."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know about you two but I want to kill the rest of the batards here before we honor the fallen."

"All of the fallen?"

"No.  No time for that but Fang and Lydia deserve more.  Agreed? Now come on let's have some fun shall we?"

Peiz's remaning men stood no chance as the three killers moved through slaughtering them with ease.  Peiz was the last remaining soldier of his group and as he reached for his rifle in a vain attempt to protect himself a knife flashed out pinning his hand to ground.  He screamed in pain a second before another blade flashed.  The second blade caught him in the joint of his elbow on his opposite arm effectively making his arm unusable.  More blades flashed out knicking nerves, cutting tendons, removing ears.  Finally fifty six thrusts of a single blade were made into his genitals.  The men, covered in blood, turned their backs to the slaughter and went to go bury Fang and Lydia.

"Move damnit! They're firing artillery into the woods and you want to take all damned day getting to the ship.  What is wrong with you?  Hurry the hell up! I for one didn't come all this way, do everything I've done, just to die because you want to move so f'ing slow.  Pull your head out of your ass you hear me?"

The tirade even as brief as it was got through to both men who increased their pace.  They began jogging deeper into the forest Bryxle easily keeping pace with them.  As he jogged he hit the transmit butten on his coms in a preselected coded burst.  The other men on the ground would know that he was on his way to the ship and would make their way to the extraction point.

"You are a lycanthrope, a werewolf.  Part human and part demon if you will.  A perfect killing machine if there ever was one.  It would appear that you are just coming of age though.  A first for me to witness, it is marvelous."

'What are you talking about? None of that makes sense.  Werewolves and demons they don't exist."

"If only that were true, but sadly you are mistaken.  You and I are going to have to prove you wrong you see.  I need that beast inside of you to help me with a little problem I have.  So tell me are you willing to witness your inner beast?"

The three men conversed as they began digging a single grave for Fang and Lydia.

"What did you know about Lydia?"

"Other than the obvious? Her and Fang?"

"Yeah, what else do you know?"

The third man exhaled slowly, set his entrenching tool down, and wiped his eyes.  He looked at his companions inquisitively searching their faces for any hint they knew what he was about to say.

"You two don't know about me then do you?  Before Fang there was me.  Lydia and I went way back.  Back two hundred years back.  She and I explored the cosmos together those were the days.  Raiding, pillaging, plundering, never a dull moment with that one.  We were together for around one hundred fifty of those years.  Things ended when we raided an abandoned monastary and she stumbled upon a secret passageway leading down into the depths.  Now what the blazes monks were doing with forbidden knowledge I cannot tell you.  But they had rooms, libraries full of magical books.  I tell you Lydia was in heaven when she came accross it.  She spent days, weeks even down there.  She didn't eat, didn't drink, she didn't even acknowledge my presence.  I think that library drove her insane.  You know what she found there? She found what ole Caldez is after.  Well not the weapon itself but clues as to how to find it.  That's what this whole mission has been about.  The cargo? Scraps of paper I think.  So, anything else you want to know about her?"

"What happens to me if I say no?"

The blade point slashed quickly from shoulder diagonally to hip.

"I don't have time for games son.  Then again I don't have time for games."

The blade flashed, flashed again, and flashed even more.  Lineak's body became a writhing mass of screaming, bloody, furry fury.

"I'm sorry I had to do that.  I realize how badly it must have hurt, is hurting.  Now then.  I'll be back in a few minutes when you've calmed down a bit. We don't want to have you trying to take a bite out of my throat now do we?"

Coms crackled and ears pricked to make sure they each deciphered the code correctly.  The ship was found! Success at last it was time to get tot he extraction point and get the hell out.  It would be such a pity though if Admiral Caldez was allowed to live.  He was so damn close, so close all four of the men could taste his blood on their tongues.  Miles apart, as if one, they turned aprubtly and begin making their way toward the cave.

"Sir I know we've built up the defense around this place quite a bit but don't you think we should get going? It won't take long for building to be set up on the new base and we'll be much safer there."

"You worry too much.  When I'm finished with the young lad Lineak he'll go ahead and take care of the threat out there for us.  He'll also help us find the ship.  Problems solved."

"Sir? You can do that? Take one of them and turn it?"

"Easy to do so when he doesn't realize he is one of them.  Let's keep it that way shall we?"

Burial duties aside the three men picked up their weapons and like the others turned towards the cave.