CHAPTER 30

Kevin Graham was only a bully when he could brow beat a person. The only reason he was able to treat Anja as he had the last few years was because of his father. He knew without a doubt that not only could she kick his skinny ass with ease, but he also knew she had killed before in a very cold blooded means. And looking at her now, he had no doubts she wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

"This… this isn't over Anja." He said.

"Oh yes it is Kevin." She told him.

Kevin glared at her but he turned slowly and left the infirmary. Anja exhaled deeply in relief, but she was proud of herself. She would have done exactly what she threatened Kevin she would do. Anja holstered her K12 and turned slowly to look at Tarifa. She saw her eyes flutter quickly and Anja smiled.

"He's gone; you can stop pretending you are asleep." Anja said.

Tarifa opened her dazzling sapphire eyes and looked at Anja as she sat up slowly holding the sheet to her naked breasts. She looked at Anja, who simply stared right back at her.

"Where… where am I?" She asked.

"You are safe." Anja said, putting her hand on the young woman's bare shoulder.

"Who are you? What is this place?" Tarifa shot the questions out rapid fire, and Anja smiled gently.

"I will answer as many questions as I can, but right now you need to calm down." Anja told her. "No one is going to hurt you."

"You are human!" Tarifa snapped, glaring at her. "Why should I believe you?"

Anja was somewhat taken aback, and she took her hand away. "I don't know, perhaps because we are the ones that saved your life, and the lives of your friends."

Tarifa's eyes softened a little, and her face lost most of its hardness. "Forgive me." She said quietly. "Our dealings with humans have not been so friendly in the past. Where… where are you from, the Western settlement?"

Anja looked at her. "Excuse me, the Western Settlement? What is that?"

"It is the largest city of humans on this side of the Big River. They are not part of the Alliance and maintain their independence from them." Tarifa spoke looking at Anja oddly. "How can you not know that?"

"I think you might be surprised at what we don't know." Anja spoke. "You… you don't get along with them I take it?"

Tarifa looked at her strangely, seeing how Anja was gazing at her "You… you have never seen one of us before?" She asked. "How is that possible? Elves make up over sixty percent of all the slaves on the planet. How is it you have never seen one of us?"

"That's a long story." Anja replied. "A very long story. Who were those creatures after you?"

"They were Alliance Cadre Assassins." Tarifa replied. "They are the most lethal of all the Alliance troops; pure killing machines." Tarifa looked at Anja, her eyes wide as if she had just remembered something. "That man… he… he killed two of them so easily. The others finished the rest. How… how is that possible? No Elf has the strength or speed to stand with an Alliance Cadre Assassin and live, let alone a human. How is that possible? Who are you people?"

"Perhaps you should get dressed." Anja said. "I cleaned up your uniforms as best I could. It might be easier to let you see and then try to explain."

"…out of your mind?" Admiral Wallace nearly yelled. "Marty this is a major fuck up."

Martin winced outwardly as he watched the Admiral on the monitor. He got up and paced his office, which he was in alone thankfully.

"Admiral I couldn't stand by and watch while they were slaughtered." Martin told him. "Whatever those things were, they would have torn through them like they weren't there."

"Elves…?" Wallace spoke, shaking his head. "This just keeps getting better and better." He returned to his chair. "We've been intercepting communications from something called the Alliance. From what we've been able to figure out, they seem to be the ruling government. We've intercepted video transmissions from some of the cities as well. They're talking about slave auctions and brothels, all having to do with these elves. And some other really nasty shit that I won't get into now."

"So they are the government?" Martin asked.

Wallace nodded. "It appears so. You should have seen the look on Graham's face when he found that out. I thought the man was going to blow a load in his shorts. He demanded I arrange for him to contact these people."

"Jesus, I hope you told him to go sit on a fucking screw sir!" Martin replied, coming forward in his chair. "Whoever these people are, they are some seriously deranged and cruel individuals if what we are hearing and have seen is any indication. There's a large force of these Alliance morons combing the air base as we speak. Some of the elves that weren't hurt in the attack told me they've been enslaving elves for decades."

"They have been doing it for centuries." The female voice spoke, causing everyone in the room to turn around.

Anja stood with the female elf that appeared to be the leader. She wore her uniform, and though Anja had been able to remove the blood and dirt from it, there were still several tears in the fabric. Martin looked quickly at the cleavage of her firm breasts, as well as the smooth skin of her flat muscular abdomen. His eyes took all this in within seconds and then his eyes went to her face. Her sapphire eyes were very bright, and looking directly at him.

"Admiral… this is… this is the leader of the group we stumbled across." Martin spoke.

"My name is Tarifa." She spoke confidently. "I am Queen of the High Elves."

Martin nodded and turned back to the screen. "She's Queen of the High Elves Admiral." He spoke.

"You are mocking me." Tarifa snapped, glaring at Martin.

Martin met her defiant gaze and shook his head. "I apologize if it seems that way, but a lot has happened to us the last few days, and it's all quite a bit to take in."

"Who are you people?" Tarifa demanded. She noticed that while Martin's canine teeth were slightly longer than normal humans she had met, they did not have the length that she had seen during the fighting.

"That would be exceptionally hard to explain young lady." Wallace spoke from EDEN. "I can assure you though; we are not your enemies."

"So you say." Tarifa spoke almost arrogantly. "You are humans, why should I trust you?"

Martin looked at her, his gaze hardening slightly. "Gee, maybe because we just saved your asses!" He exclaimed.

"Do not speak to the Queen in such a way!" The second female elf appeared, moving up next to Tarifa.

"Great!" Martin spoke shaking his head. "Another country heard from."

Tarifa held up her hand to the young woman. Voilal, they know nothing of our ways. She said in her native elfin language.

We should not trust them my Queen. They are human barbarians. They could be waiting to turn us over to the Alliance Assassins. Your capture would make them very wealthy my Queen.

Martin's eyes went wide when he realized he understood every word they had just spoken, and he noticed Danny and Julie visibly react as well.

"I do not lie!" Martin snapped, causing Tarifa and the young woman to look at him in stunned surprise, as well as everyone else in the room with the exception of Danny and Julie.

"Marty… you understood them?" Wallace asked in shock.

"I understood every word Admiral." Martin spoke, his eyes never leaving Tarifa's stunned face.

"So did I sir." Dan spoke up now.

"Me too," Julie spoke

"They think we are lying to them Admiral." Martin spoke, his eyes locked on Tarifa. "And that we are barbarians. That was a good one by the way; very original. They think we are going to turn them over to these Alliance idiots."

"Marty this isn't helping?" Julie spoke up from next to Danny.

Martin looked at her and took a deep breath. "Admiral I'm going to check on the status of the overheads. I'm sure you and the Queen here have much to discuss."

"Young lady, if you don't mind taking a seat. Marty we are back on a regular rotation it seems, and we have two hours nineteen minutes before we pass to the dark side. We won't be able to contact you until you are enroute back here." Wallace spoke. "Your extraction is still on schedule?"

Martin nodded. "Yes sir."

Wallace nodded. "Then we'll see you in twenty hours."

Martin watched as Tarifa moved to the chair in front of the smaller screen to speak with Admiral Wallace.

"You alright Skipper?" Dan asked stepping over to him.

Martin nodded slowly. "This is a lot to absorbed Dan." He said.

"You got that right." Dan spoke. "How do we know what the hell they were speaking? It didn't sound like any language I've heard before, and between the three of us we speak ten of them.

"I don't know, but the sooner we are out of here the better." Martin muttered as he headed for the landing pad. "This place is starting to give me a headache."

Marcus stood in the room, his cruel eyes taking in the carnage that had taken place. One assassin lay in the middle of the floor, the gaping hole in his forehead leaking whatever they had for brains onto the floor. Marcus knew it was a bladed weapon, but the strength to strike it through the reinforced bone plates of the assassin's head had to be tremendous. The second assassin was slumped against the wall, very little remaining of its head. The right knee looked horribly twisted in another direction, his senior officer inspecting the body. The male elf informant was also dead, his head nearly torn from his body, his eyes open in pain and death and facing almost completely behind him. His pants were tangled around his ankles, exposing his shrunken male organ for all to see.

The next room was no better, as the bodies of Elf warriors and the remaining assassins were scattered all over. The Elves had fought well, but the assassins had cut through them easily. However, whoever had killed the Alliance assassins were not Elves, this much Marcus knew.

He watched as his senior officer rose and looked at the medical data pad before turning and walking over to him.

"It is most unusual Colonel Marcus." He spoke.

"I'm sure it is." Marcus spoke. "The Elves did not do this."

The man looked at him. "No my Colonel Marcus they did not. This assassin's entire chest cavity has been shattered. Medical scans indicate every rib and his whole breast bone were broken with a single blow. The bone splinters shredded all of his internal organs. The bullet to his head was not necessary."

Marcus bent over the male elf that had been raping Tarifa. "The condition of this male elf's body indicates he was killed with a great deal of rage. The fool was actually trying to rape the Queen when he was killed. I knew we should not have trusted him."

"Our patrols can find no trace of the remaining elves Colonel. And two of the Alliance assassins that we sent in the second wave have disappeared." The man reported.

Marcus stood back up and cocked his head to the side, "Interesting." He spoke.

"Colonel…?"

"Their bodies were taken." Marcus said turning to look out the broken window as the sun began to rise over the mountains. "Whoever killed these Assassins must have taken the bodies to cover any escape route they were using. The two missing assassins must have stumbled upon their means of leaving the ruins, and they were killed. It is a tactic I would have used."

"Your orders Colonel Marcus…?"

"They will not be within the ruins." Marcus spoke. "And given the ability of the Elves, and the way they can move, I would surmise they are long gone from here."

"Yes Colonel."

"Order our forces to withdraw to the west and set up an advanced base." Marcus said. "We will rest there until full morning and then we will return to the capital."

"You do not wish to pursue the Queen Colonel?" The Captain asked surprised.

"To what purpose…?" Marcus asked softly. "We are in High Elf territory, and their forces would conduct hit and run attacks against us until they whittled us down to nothing. Trapping her here was the best chance we had, but this idiot thought more with his dick than his brains." He kicked the body of the male elf savagely. "We will have other chances. She can not hide forever, and if our Alliance with the Wood Elves is ratified, she will be dead in a few months."

"We make an Alliance with the Wood Elves Colonel Marcus?" The Captain asked. "Why?"

"We have been pitting them against each other for years." Marcus replied with a smile. "The Ministers have been very clever. We've conducted raids against both tribes and insured the other was implicated. The Wood Elves are worthy soldiers Captain, and there has always been a culture of mistrust between the two factions. We are just getting the help of the stronger of the two tribes for a time. When we have destroyed Tarifa and her followers, we can turn on the Wood Elves."

The Colonel grinned. "And then we will enslave them Colonel?"

Marcus matched the smile, "Of course. No one stands against the Alliance for long, no matter how strong they are; no one."