Yep.







Part Two: Not Quite Paradise



Prolouge



Asari lay, twice in a week, in the medical chair, nearly blow into two pieces by Tymen's turret.

Emotions wheeled through her, after seeing again the land where she first began her hunt.

Had she been wrong, all that time. Should she have given rabbit-kind one last chance?

Should she cast all companionship away, just for one rabbit.

Just one rabbit, the only one she had ever trusted, the one she loved with all her soul.

The one who betrayed her.

"Computer, begin plotting another attack on Tymen in the time-space continum!"



Chapter Eleven: Akael



The tiny Albatross cut through the heady skies of Carrotous, with several Knn fighters on it's tail.

The computer told him he would have to follow the side of Daroth, then head straight north, to arrive at that city, south of the Bourn River. Akael, city of demons.



Hovering, in a ever vigilant scowl above the ring of atmosphere about the planet Carrotous, stood the Knn war fleet. Composed of fourty Knn Deahtflies, one Kournan S planetary siege craft, ten thousand fighters, and thousands of personel. Being such a large gathering of war-time vessels, it would be hard to pass by it undetected, as our heros must now do.



BlackSheep hung suspended in a large, test tube like glass cylindar, filled with water, as cambried microbes repaired her battered body, and the clumsy medical droid hovered around, performing various tasks. Seraph had called a shipwide meeting at twenty two hundred hours. But, she considered, as she strode into the medical bay, the droid paying her no mind, that that would be quite some time off, and she could spend some time with BlackSheep. In a noisy manner, she pulled up a chair next to a glowing red terminal, entering a sequence of keystrokes, then speaking,

"Hello." She said, in a most nonchalant manner. On the red screen, some text appeared.

'WHO ARE YOU?'

"I'm Seraph."

'PLEASE GO AWAY.'

"Don't worry, I know how difficult it is, to make sure you don't think something. It takes a great deal of mental disipline."

'PLEASE GO AWAY.'

"No, I won't. Look, Tyio hijacked our fighter, Tymen and Ducky are repairing the damage to the ship in EVAs, Juiso is watching the cockpit, making sure the Knn don't detect us. I have no one to talk to, really, so can't we just...talk?"

'WHO IS JUISO?'

"Juiso...ah, he's the chap that fired at a few fighters, giving Tyio a chance to bring you aboard, while you were unconcious."

'WHY DID TYIO GO?'

"I...don't know...." nevously, Seraph changed the subject, "you sound positivley maternal, BlackSheep, in you're concern." She laughed a little.

'DO NOT...SILENCE.'

"Angry, are we?"

'PLEASE GO AWAY.'

"Lay off that! I'm not going away, alright." She shifted in her chair, "fine...what do you think of our little motley crew? Give me you're opinion on them."

'I BELIEVE THAT...I MEAN...'

Seraph laughed loudly this time, frighting the medical droid into a corner for a moment.

"Too hard to hide you're true thoughts, eh? Go on, I won't tell anybody."

'...VERY WELL, I DO NOT TRUST JUISO, WHOEVER HE IS, HE IS A SPY. I DO NOT TRUST YOU, YOU MAY BE WORKING FOR THE KNN ASWELL. I TRUST TYMEN, I DO NOT KNOW WHY. I TRUST DUCKY, I CANNOT EXPLAIN IT, BUT I KNOW HER, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE NEVER MET BEFORE. I AM FOND OF TYIO.' Seraph was taken aback by the bluntness, she had never spoken to anyone through direct brainwave uplink before.

"Well, ah, atleast you're honest." Seraph looked rather uncomfortable, getting up and heading to the door,

"I...must go prepare for the meeting."



Tyio, in his pilfred Albatross, looked over the choked lands of Carrotous. Fortunate enough, the ship could keep a comfortable clip, while still remaining heads infront of the Buggers pursuing him.

"Computer, map." He barked, and a holographic image of the surrounding territory popped up and filled the entire area of the cockpit.

"Good, were near Akael." Wonderous images ran through Tyio's mind. Of the heros welcome he would recieve, for traversing time and space to serve his people.

His revere was interrupted as a bolt of energy rocked the fighter, sending it hurtling to the sand below.



In the tactical room of the Penultimate, stood Seraph, Tymen, Ducky, Juiso, and a portable computer pad linked to the one in the medical bay, so even BlackSheep could be represented. Juiso, was a intriguing rabbit, just apperance wise. First off, it was obvious he was the youngest member of the crew, while Seraph guessed at around twenty, Tymen's estimation dipped aslow as eighteen. His fur was odd, purple color, but like purple that had been bleached, so it was more white than anything, but his hair was a true, deep purple.

And his eyes were red...a odd combination, not that he selected it. He wore yellow body armor, and at his back at all times was a gnarled old staff.

"Alright, this is the first official ship wide meeting, we have a lot to cover. First, a recap," Seraph strode over to the large screen in the room, as a wireframe image of the Penultimate displayed.

"We've lost our fighter, stolen by Tyio, which also means were short one crew member. One of our members is in critical condition in the medical bay, and I believe he still have a good deal of damage in the engine compartment...." she looked around at the others, then continued, "now the bad news, in the last battle, one of the two Hyper-Space matrix coils was damaged beyond repair. With only one, we can achive speeds of but lightspeed times twenty." The image of a yellow, rocky world, with a multitude of lights on it,

"as captian, I have elected to go to Tubelectric, the nearest port world, for a new one. Here, also, we may be able to get information as to the location of Symballen's Archon. Are there any objections?" Everyone gave a slight 'no' nod.

"Very well then. As to our current situation, we are pinned under the Knn warfleet, hiding in there scanner shadow. If we stay here too long, without firing our engines, our orbit will deteriorate and we will fall back into the atmosphere. We have a very small window of opprotunity." The image of the Valkrieye and a smaller Knn Deahtflie appeared, with a dotted line connecting them.

"Thanks to Kazooie's hacking technology, i've been able to determine that, in twenty minutes, a shuttle containing the Knn leader will move from the main Knn ship to a smaller one, most of the fighters will have guard duty. This is our time, when there distracted, to get far enough away from Carrotous so that we don't suck it into a hyperspace hole, and then speed away, torward Tubelectric. Agreed?"

There was a pause, as all the crew members ran the plan through there minds.

"Agreed."



"WARNING!" The computer squealed, at the tiny Albatross nosedived torward the smooth sands of Carrotous, to certain death.

"What happened! No Knn fighter is that fast!' Tyio shouted, looking over his shoulder, outside. To his dismay, he saw a fighter quite larger than the standard sort.

"Blast! It's one of the specialized ones!" Mear moments before slaming into the sand, Tyio pulled the fighter up, causing the Knn one to explode on the dunes, as his backup sped forward, taking up the main position. Flipping several switches, Tyio set the Albatross to maximum speed, knowing the safety of Akael waited just behind the horizon.

He could see it now, emerging over the horizon, the sun setting just behind it as night crept over the land.

"I'm comming home!"