CHAPTER 33

Tarifa's Lieutenant Endith and the six remaining High Elf warriors with her lay on the forest floor, watching as the moon began to rise. They were on the edge of where the Book Cliffs met the timber of the Uinta Mountains. They had begun their journey three days before with thirteen in their party. At certain locations Endith had detailed an elfin warrior to remain behind, and return to report their progress. They had traveled quickly and quietly through the forests, looping far around where Marcus's forces had camped. They had begun leaving this morning, and now their advance base was deserted. Endith had led her remaining force towards the sacred ruins, and they were coming in from the west. Endith knew that in another three kilometers they would be among the ruins of the old Air Base as the Holy One referred to it.

          The timber around them now was scattered and tall, with the exception of the large clearing directly to their front. Endith used the infra-red binoculars she carried as she scanned the clearing, her mind racing. The ground showed recent signs of a huge heat source, scorched leaves and blown twigs lying all over around them, yet she could find nothing that indicated what had caused the heat surge. She lowered the field glasses one last time and turned to the male elf that was lying next to her.

          "I can detect nothing." She said softly.

          "The heat pattern does not conform to anything we know the Alliance has. Their flying machines leave great swatches of burned ground all around them, but nothing this precise and targeted however." The male replied.

          "You think it was a flying machine?" Endith asked. "How could it land here, among the tress?"

          "The pattern of debris indicates that whatever craft landed here were very large and using powerful thrusters. To scatter the twigs and leaves like they are… it…"

          They both turned as the female elf settled to the ground next to Endith. "Senior Lieutenant we have discovered something you should see."

          "What?"

          "We were sweeping the clearing for mines as you ordered but…" The female paused in mid-sentence.

          "Well… but what?" Endith spoke becoming slightly exasperated. They had been moving for so long and even she was tired and worried about Tarifa.

          "You should see this for yourself Senior Lieutenant."

          Endith looked at the male elf who shrugged his shoulders, "Very well." Endith spoke getting to her feet.

          The female elf led the two of them out of the treeline and almost halfway across the clearing where two more elves were kneeling. Endith stopped next to them, her blue eyes going wide as she saw the faint light coming from the two foot wide gap in the ground. It extended for nearly the entire length of the clearing and was a perfect straight line. She lowered her hand to the ground and brushed aside the first layer of dirt and leaves before her fingers brushed against something smooth and metallic.

          "Metal." She whispered quietly.

          "There is a flying ship below us." The female elf told her in a whisper. "And what appears to be some sort of hanger bay. We saw humans moving around this flying ship. Endith, it is unlike anything I have ever seen."

          Endith moved closer to the edge and peered into the dimly lit bay, seeing only the huge shadow that the Raptor was casting. Her trained eyes deducted how far it was to the surface of the floor that she could see.

          "It looks like twenty-five feet." She spoke quietly. She turned to the scout. "You saw humans?"

          The elf scout nodded, "Two; a male and female. They seemed to be working on something near the back of the flying machine. They went inside the flying machine and have not come back out."

          Endith looked at the cloudy sky overhead before answering. "The acid storm will be here in less than an hour. We will drop down and subdue these humans. This hanger will provide protection from the storm."

          "You do not wish to kill the humans?" The scout asked.

          Endith shook her head. "They may be able to provide us with information. I have not been able to pick up the Queen's locater beacon in nearly fifteen hours, and they might be able to tell us something."

          "Endith are you sure the Queen was not taken by Marcus?" The male asked.

          Endith looked at him and shook her head. "We would still detect her beacon." She replied. "It is inside her, implanted into the skin on her hip. It is completely undetectable. It is something only a few others and I know of. It would not just stop working. Something is blocking the signal. And this hanger would be the right thing to do it with."

          "I will gather our force." The male elf spoke.

          "Quickly, we must get under cover before the storm hits." Endith spoke. "It appears it will be a very large and deadly one."

Endith sat on her elfin ass looking up at the business end of the large automatic, blood trickling from the corner of her lip, her blue eyes very wide and filled with a mixture of fear and shock at the human female that held the weapon.

Endith and her warriors had dropped soundlessly to the floor of the hanger below them, the twenty-five foot drop only a fraction of what she and her elfin soldiers were capable of. The dimly lit hanger bay was silent as she motioned two of her soldiers into the rear of the strange looking flying machine to subdue the two humans that were working as if they had heard and seen nothing.

That had been far from the case.

Her two warriors had taken four steps up the ramp of the Raptor when black clad apparitions appeared all around them, moving with a speed none of them had been prepared for, or had ever seen. Endith heard grunts of pain, saw two of her soldiers leave their feet, heard weapons hitting the metal floor and as she moved to react, a hand appeared from the side as if by magic. The open palm strike to her jaw sent her spinning, stars flashing before her eyes. When she didn't fall, a follow up blow to her midsection doubled her over in pain as all the air in her lungs left her. She went to her knees, gasping for breath and stars still dancing in her head. As her fingers closed around the pistol grip of the small sub machine gun that dangled from a strap on her shoulder she froze as she felt the cold steel of a large pistol pressed to the back of her head.

"That would not be wise." The female voice spoke calmly.

Endith lifted her head slowly to look into the calm serene eyes of the human female, who was crouched in front of her, the K12 never wavering from its point of aim between her eyes. Endith saw the human male, directly behind the female, another larger rifle also holding steady on her chest, a red laser cutting through the darkness of the hanger bay and centered above her heart.

Endith looked around slowly, seeing all of her warriors covered by either the black clad apparitions or unconscious upon the cold steel of the floor. Two of her fastest warriors were in the clutches of two of the strange soldiers, gleaming steel blades from knives pressed tightly to their throats.

Endith turned and her eyes went a little wider when she saw the tall heavily muscled human walking towards her. She blinked several times before realizing that this intimating man was not entirely human as his aura told her. He squatted in front of her, his dark eyes apprising her carefully.

"It's not entirely appropriate to attempt to kill someone when you first meet them." Martin told her.

"Let's just whack them and call it a day Skipper!" Dan's voice echoed in the bay.

Endith's eyes darted to where Danny was kneeling on the back of one of her male elfin warriors, the large sub machine gun pressed to the back of his head, his face twisted in a grimace of pain. Slightly behind him, a dark skinned female held Endith's fastest scout by her throat, the blade of the knife against her tanned skin. She had kicked the scout in the leg, dropping her to one knee and effectively ending their battle in four seconds.

"I agree!" Trina spoke from the other side of the Raptor's landing gear, her HK74 jammed into the back of the head of the male elf beneath her boot. "I don't much like being a target!"

Endith's eyes went slowly back to Martin, who had never taken his eyes from her. "Who… who are you?" She finally was able to croak out the words.

"The better question here is who are you?" Martin spoke.

"Endith," The female voice echoed loudly across the bay.

Endith's eyes darted behind Martin and she saw Tarifa run into the bay, only to have the red haired female stop her with an outstretched arm, her other hand filled with another of the automatic pistols.

"My Queen, you're alive!" Endith gasped the relief in her voice very evident.

"Endith what are you doing here?" Tarifa asked, not willing to push past Anja's outstretched arm for fear of what Martin's men would do.

"We… we followed you my Queen." Endith spoke slowly. "There is an acid storm coming outside, and when we discovered this underground hanger we came to investigate. We lost your signal fifteen hours ago my lady! I thought these… I thought these humans might know something."

"Martin she is my Senior Lieutenant!" Tarifa exclaimed. "She only thought to protect me!"

Martin turned back to look at Tarifa, his eyes studying her face. He motioned with his head to Anja, and she dropped her arm from Tarifa's waist so that she could come forward. Tarifa walked directly up to him as he rose to his full height. She looked at him almost shyly.

"Please… they are my soldiers." She spoke, reaching out almost tentatively to place her hand on his chest. Tarifa could feel his heart beating against her hand, even through the body armor he wore. This did not go unnoticed by the others in Martin's team or Endith, yet their faces remained locked in stern snarls. "Please." Tarifa spoke softly.

Martin nodded slowly. "Let them go." He ordered. "Ben… is the overhead fixed yet?"

Ben looked at him from where he stood. "We finished it right before our guests showed up!"

Tarifa's eyes had never left Martin's face. "If it is an acid storm you must close the overhead doors to keep your ship from being damaged. They last for several hours and the acid they expel is very corrosive to metal."

"Ben!" Martin called.

Ben was already moving. "Closing them now Marty."

Martin turned from Tarifa's gorgeous sapphire eyes. "Anja, get your bag and make sure our new friends are patched up."

Anja had holstered her K12 and she nodded, "On it."

Danny helped the male elf to his feet, the male Elf's face a mixture of utter relief and confusion now that Danny's two hundred and fifty plus pounds of muscle was off his back.

"This acid storm; how long will it last?" Martin asked.

Tarifa looked at Endith. "Endith, how large was it?"

"One of the biggest I've seen this year my lady?" She answered, getting slowly to her feet. "This one is larger than the storm last month."

Tarifa turned back to Martin. "Normally they last for only a few hours, but the large ones, as this seems to be, could last up to ten hours. The storm we had last month lasted for twelve hours, so potentially this one could last even longer."

Martin nodded slowly before turning to head for the command center, Tarifa's hand falling away from his chest. Endith stepped up to her quietly.

"My… my Queen, what… what is going on?" She asked. "Who… who are these people? Their auras are not completely human, and they move with speed and reflexes that surpass even the Elfin Weapon Masters."

Tarifa looked at her and smiled as she embraced her Senior Lieutenant and her friend. "It is a long story Endith. The Holy One Endith; did you get him to the rendezvous coordinates?"

Endith nodded. "Yes my Queen. He is safe."

Tarifa nodded. "Good." She took Endith's arm. "I have much to tell you my friend."