CHAPTER 41

SECONDARY COMMAND SITE

ONE HUNDRED AND TEN HOURS AFTER RAPTOR TWO'S RETURN

The Raptor's engines were idling at quarter power, the sound deafening even in the confines of the massive hanger bay. As they entered the bay, Martin and the others saw three Raptors lifting off and moving for the massive overhead doors that were opening above them to reveal another set of huge doors. Once above the first set of doors, they began to close until they came back together with a loud sealing hiss.

"Raptors Nine, Ten and Eleven are away." The voice echoed in the huge bay.

Endith and Ben came sprinting down the ramp of the single remaining Raptor and ran over to meet them. Martin stopped a little behind the group as Endith came up to him. Her face took on a look of horror as she stopped in front of him.

"My Queen," She gasped.

"Who is on the Raptor?" Martin asked looking at her. Endith reached out to touch her Queen's bruised cheek. "Endith look at me!" Martin barked, snapping her out of her horrified expression. She looked up at him. "Who is on the Raptor?"

Endith shook her head quickly. "There is… just… just… a small group of your technicians and those elves who came with Tarifa and I."

"Take off your uniform top." Martin directed her. "I don't want anyone to see her like this."

Endith did, as she was told without question; quickly stripping out of her top revealing that she wore nothing underneath, her breasts tanned and very firm. She draped the uniform top over Tarifa's legs as Martin held her. Tarifa's head was tucked into his chest, one of her hands pressed against Martin's abdomen. Anja did not think and removed her fatigue top, handing it to Endith from where she stood next to Martin. She at least still wore Danny's tank top.

Endith looked at Martin, her green eyes turning hard. "The… the monsters who did this? They are…?" She asked.

Martin met her eyes. "They are dead." Martin told her, looking at Ben as he came up slowly, "Status?"

"We're… we're ready to beat feet Marty." Ben said looking at him. "The Admiral… the Admiral didn't make it?"

"The Admiral is staying." Martin told him, causing the others to look at him. "He is staying to try and minimize any damage Graham may do."

"They'll kill him if they find out Martin." Ben spoke.

"Martin nodded. "The Admiral knows the risks."

"Well Graham's got security moving through the tunnel towards our location now. I ordered everyone up and the ships are already enroute to the surface. The Admiral was able to disable the weapons grid and tracking radar before they could bring them on line, but he wasn't able to seal the tunnel."

"Vent the tunnel." Martin ordered with no hesitation.

"Martin that will… that will kill those men!" Anja spoke from beside him.

Martin met her gaze evenly. "They should have thought about that before they did this!" He growled. He turned back to Ben. "Tell Tina to vent the tunnel and let's get the hell out of here!"

"Where are we going Marty?" Ben asked. "We have no friends down there, and the Mark Nine's are full of civilians; men, women and children. The Admiral said we needed to look out for them!"

"EDEN Ground Command." Martin said.

Ben shook his head. "The place is crawling with those Alliance assholes, and it won't hold thirteen hundred civilians!"

"Thirteen hundred," Martin gasped wide eyed.

Endith looked at him. "I will show you a place." She spoke. "It is large enough for all of your people and the Alliance does not know of it."

"Why should we trust you?" Ben asked.

Endith looked at Martin before answering. "You have saved our Queen that is why."

Martin nodded. "Let's go." He spoke moving for the Raptor.

Tarifa awoke with a start, her eyes popping open to the dimly lit interior of what she remembered to be the inside of a Raptor. She could see sleeping figures all around her, most of them human and elves, but the darker green of genomes scattered throughout. She lifted her head slightly and realized she was lying on several blankets that had been spread out on the web seats under her. She was extremely sore, and the memories of what had happened came rushing back, as well as the memories of Martin rescuing her yet again. She reached up to feel her hair, and was startled to find it slightly damp and smelling of strawberries. It was then she noticed she wore the dark uniform similar to what the genomes wore. Her keen eyes could see Endith slowly making her way towards where she sat, and she remembered the escape they had made from EDEN, or at least all that she could.

Tarifa looked at her as Endith settled onto the bench. "My Queen, how do you feel?" She spoke.

"Where are we Endith?" Tarifa asked.

"We have left the moon My Queen." Endith reported.

"What of our people?" Tarifa asked quickly, starting to rise but a wave of nausea swept over her and she sat back down.

"The human doctor Anja gave you something to help you sleep my Queen. She said it would make you nauseous when you first awoke and to remain seated for a few minutes." Endith told her, taking her arm. "Our people are safe, all of them. Martin… Martin's team got all of us out. My Queen… you…"

Tarifa looked at her, understanding in her eyes. "I have been raped many times before Endith, I will be fine." She touched her hair again. "Who bathed me?"

"Martin did my Queen." Endith replied, seeing Tarifa's eyes widen at this knowledge. "He refused to allow anyone to touch you in your condition, at least until you were clean. He carried you into the small shower and washed you before bringing you back here to us with the clothes you now wear. We dressed you my Queen."

"Martin… Martin bathed me?" Tarifa asked almost too quietly. "He did not…"

"My Queen… he was fully dressed the entire time. When he brought you from the shower his entire uniform was soaked. He ordered everyone forward until he was finished, and only then allowed them to return back here. Some of the human technicians arranged the bed you were sleeping on." Endith told her.

"What took place Endith?" Tarifa asked. "All I remember is Graham telling me he had contacted the Alliance, and that we would be his slaves until they had established a more direct means of communicating with them. He said he had spoken with Deval!"

Endith nodded. "He forcibly took control of the station my Queen. There were several battles, but the ones like Martin… the genomes… were able to escape along with over a thousand men, women and children who were against Senator Graham. We are heading back to earth. I have directed them to the ruins of Old Las Vegas Tarifa. The old military base the Holy One took us to when we were children. It is large enough to hold all of their people and the Alliance never ventures that far into our territory."

"He… he saved me again Endith." Tarifa spoke softly.

"My Queen I spoke with the two elves that were assisting the dark skinned genome called Julie. They were with him when he found you. They told me what happened. He… he became…" Endith looked at the floor.

"What Endith?"

"They said he changed into a monster." Endith told her. "The genomes Julie and Danny changed as well. They… they all changed. The men who were… the men who were raping you did not survive. They… they had became part animal, with claws and fangs. Their strength and speed was like nothing they had seen, even from a Grizz Beast. They said he was enraged over what was being done to you and it was as if he went insane. And they were able to change at will, for when the men were dead, they returned to normal immediately."

"I spoke with… Julie before we left. She said all of them had animal DNA genetically grafted to their own. It is what allows them to do what they do, and why they are not entirely human." Tarifa spoke. "I did not know they could actually change."

"My Queen… did I do the right thing?" Endith asked. "Should we fear these men and women? Their abilities far exceed anything we as elves could do. Just the few on these ships alone could destroy us all."

Tarifa looked at her. "They have risked all that they know to save us." Tarifa spoke. "They did not have to come to our aide the first time, and they most certainly could have left us on the station with that beast Graham. No… I believe we may have found the one thing that will help us in our battle against the Alliance. They will be hunted now too, and something tells me they will not like that one bit."

Endith looked at her and nodded slowly. "I see your point."

"Where is Martin?" She asked, her eyes searching the sleeping bodies all around them.

"I believe he went into the space where they fly this machine my Queen." Endith spoke pointing to the cockpit.

Tarifa turned her eyes to the cockpit and got slowly to her feet, the nausea gone now. "I need to speak with him." She said.

ROAN PLATEAU

Dysea looked at the remains of the village that occupied the entrance to the cave at the base of the mountain. The fast running creek moved past directly to the east of the village, disappearing into the thick forest all around them. They had arrived a few hours before, and her troops had set up a small camp, while the two forensic technicians went to work gathering any type of information they could. Blood still stained the walls of many of the one story structures built from rocks taken from within the cave. Dysea had seen only pictures of what had happened here, bodies of the men, women and the children slaughtered like simple hogs, lying scattered all around. Their bodies had been mutilated horribly; body parts severed from their limbs with edged weapons, or shot dozens and dozens of times.

Walter stepped up to stand next to her and she looked up at him. "It… it is hard to remain objective after seeing the pictures of what happen here Holy One." Dysea spoke softly.

Walter nodded. "I know. I saw the pictures as well child, and that is precisely why I don't believe this act was committed by Tarifa's forces. You don't know her as I do Dysea. She is a warrior yes, but in all the battles I have seen her in, never once has she committed or allowed to be committed the acts of savagery we saw done here."

"Elf weapons were used Holy One." Dysea said. "All the bodies were killed by either our caseless ammunition or by elfin edged weapons."

Walter nodded. "Or it was made to appear that way." He spoke. "You told me you would try to be objective."

"And I will be Holy One." Dysea said. "It is just very difficult when we are actually here."

"I know child. I know." Walter spoke.

They turned as one of the scientists walked slowly up to them, her face looking confused. She stopped in front of them, "Majesty."

"What have you found Tomea?" Dysea asked.

"It is odd milady." She answered. "I was one of the original team sent to investigate and collect the bodies of the dead. We were told by the Council only to collect the bodies and determine what weapons were used to kill them and nothing more."

Dysea glanced at Walter before turning back to the young female elf. "Continue Tomea." She said.

"Milady I have researched all the battles the High Elves have participated in against the Alliance. At least all of the battles we know about, and the information we have on those events indicates they fight very similar to us. They use their speed and reflexes to be precise and accurate." Tomea looked at her now. "I brought the data pads from my lab milady, the ones that showed the positioning of all the bodies as we found them. The pictures do not match what we are finding."

Dysea's brow furrowed. "I do not understand."

"The blood spatter and condition of the ground around where we found many of the bodies indicates they were not killed in the positions we found them in." Tomea told her. "They were placed in the positions we found them but they were killed somewhere else."

"You did not discover this when you were first here?" Dysea asked.

"As I said milady, the Council's direction was explicit, to simply gather the bodies and discover what killed our people." Tomea replied with an almost embarrassed look.

"Tomea!" The male voice echoed from across the village, causing them to turn toward the sound.

"Brator has found something!" Tomea spoke breaking into a run toward where the young elf stood. Dysea and Walter followed her and they covered the distance to the young elf quickly. His face was paler than normal and Dysea knew something was wrong.

"I… I found something." He gasped, motioning them to follow him. Brator led them a short distance into the forest. "I discovered a blood trail from the nearest structure there. It appeared as if it had been covered with leaves and dirt. There has been no rain in this area for over a week and it was easy enough to follow." He stopped and motioned with his hand. "I found this."

There was an audible gasp from both Tomea and Dysea at what they saw. Spread out before them was an area that had been cleared out and used for what appeared to be an execution area. There was dried blood everywhere, on the leaves and tress all around them. Several large stumps had been dragged into the small clearing and their tops were saturated with blood and the marks of edged weapons.

Tomea shook her head slowly. "This is where they were killed." She said softly. "It looks like… it…"

"An Execution Arena," Dysea finished the statement for her. Dysea's green eyes were burning in rage.

"Milady..." Tomea spoke again. "This act was not committed by High Elves."

Dysea looked at her. "Concentrate your investigations on this area." She ordered. "I want to know who killed our people." She turned away quickly and started back to where they had established their small camp.

Walter followed her, sensing the seething anger that was pouring from her. "You must remain in control Dysea." He spoke from behind her.

Dysea stopped and spun around to face him, her face a mask of anger. "Two hundred and nineteen men, women and children were butchered here!" She snapped.

"Tarifa and the High Elves did not commit this act Dysea; even you must see that now." Walter said calmly.

"Perhaps not Holy One." She answered, regaining control of her emotions. "It appears you may have been correct. If that is indeed the case, then I want to know who did. And then I will have vengeance."

"You may not like what you may find Dysea." Walter spoke. "Have you considered that?"

Dysea met his eyes. "Yes I have." She replied. "And whoever is responsible for this atrocity will answer to me, no matter who they are!"