Kristal Shards:
Shortie by Lone Wolf
Starring Michael D'Ketra

	Don't make careless mistakes. That is the first thing you are taught 
as a Hunter. Don't do anything foolish. In this line of business, wits is 
everything. You do something stupid, you run the risk of endangering 
yourself, as well as any teammates you have. We have all had to learn this 
at one point in our lives, mostly at the cost of a good friend.

	The rule, while pretty old in Hunter history, came to surface after 
something major a couple of years back, some time before Ashley joined the 
Hunters. Back when I was just a pup to the ranks. The Hunters, it seemed, 
made a cruicial mistake. It was a horrible mistake, one that set us back 
many years in the battle against Core. It has taught all of us, and will 
continue teaching the newest recruits, that you shouldn't trust everyone 
you meet.

	And this mistake is named Agent Kristal.

	Kristal is a beautiful, pure white cat, about five foot, seven inches, 
a little under 150 lbs. She is a stunning beauty, although it isn't 
accompanied by a great intellect.
	She is the biggest record holder for many things amongst the Hunters. 
None of them, I assure you, are good. She has the largest number of failed 
missions on record, at least twenty in her short career. At least thirteen 
of these are consecutive, another "record" she holds. She is also the only 
one to be thrown out of the Hunters' ranks so far. And she teaches all of us 
that there's one in every group:
	A traitor.

	Six months into her career with us, it was discovered that she had 
been doing a number of things that we shun. For instance, she was a Rhye 
addict. This is strictly forbidden. It was also discovered that, to hide 
this fact, she would sleep with the technicians who handle our monthly drug 
testing, convincing him or her to lie for her. That didn't help matters, as 
her record was poor as it is. She was immediately put on probation and 
ordered into detox.
	That didn't sit right with her.
	A week later, Core launched a number of well planned attacks on minor 
installations of the Hunters. We took heavy losses from the attacks, but 
were able to compensate before they could get to anything major.
	When we interrogated one of our Core prisoners from those raids, he 
revealed an interesting peace of information that sent High Command into a 
tizzy. "We just looked into our Kristal ball," he told us. "It told us what 
to do, how to take down your bases. And we won't stop talking to it."
	High Command had Kristal's room bugged and wired. No sooner had we 
done that, we discovered that the Core raider was right: They were asking 
their Kristal ball.
	OUR Kristal.

	The trial was speedy. With the overwhelming evidence, the poor records, 
and the infractions she had taken part of a week earlier, the jury that was 
created didn't find it too hard to vote her out of rank. She was promptly 
given a dishonerable discharge. We kicked her out on the street and pointed 
away. Infuriated, she vowed revenge upon us.
	We didn't think she'd be serious.

	"Code Red!" the speakers blared through the halls of our compound 
three months later. "The base is under attack. Repeat, we are under attack! 
All available combat personel please report to the nearest armory for 
outfitting and immediate orders."
	It was like lighting a fuse on a firecracker. The wait was short, and 
the explosion was huge. Every door flew open only seconds later as every 
available Hunter rushed out, most still getting jackets or boots on, and 
headed towards the many armories on each floor. We were all given some heavy 
weaponry - a rifle version of our firearms: double the damage, double the 
range, double everything - a special hands-free radio, and our orders. 
	I was ordered to the group defending the west side of the compound, 
which was the side that faced the highways and roads.
	Tabitha, a one year vet at the time, was ordered as my star mate - the 
one who was going to fight along side me.

	"Core has the guts to attack us HERE?" Tabitha exclaimed as we took 
out position on the soon-to-be-battlefield. We hid behind one of our 
automated defense barriers, which was merely a large, treated and reinforced 
wall of steel with a way for us to look out and fire. "They must be pretty 
damn confident."
	"Well, we can handle them," I said as I loaded a #6 shell into my 
rifle. "Especially when they get my welcome."
	She looked at me. "You're just as confident as they are."
	"Don't forget, my dear. They have the disadvantage. We know this 
battlefield like the back of our-" My sentence was cut off by an explosion 
behind me. I turned and looked to see the wall of the compound, complete 
with it's new cracking surface. "What the fuck?!"
	"How did they crack the wall?!" Tabitha said, a little shocked. "It's 
impossible to even singe that wall unless you know what it's secret is!"
	I turned and looked at the approaching forces. Amongst the many foot 
soldiers were a couple of tanks, all slowly ambling along, ready to fire 
again. "This ain't good." I readied my rifle. "Command, this is Agent 
D'Ketra. Permission to discharge a number six at one of the tanks."
	"Permission granted," the command center responded. "All units, 
prepare to fire on Agent D'Ketra's signal." I smiled and poked my rifle 
through the narrow slit on the barrier in front of us. I lined up the shot 
perfectly and fired. The shell caused a huge blast to errupt from the rifle, 
the energy arcing outward and slamming full throttle into the tank. I 
watched as it, instead of being completely annihilated, flipped onto it's 
turret. It was down, but not out.
	"D'Ketra," I heard one of the other agents call to me. "You had the 
perfect shot. What happened?"
	"I have no idea, Agent," I responded. "I had the shot lined up 
perfectly. At least it's disabled. Just open fire on the foot soldiers or 
we'll have problems."
	"Gotcha. All agents, fire!" The air errupted in gunfire as everyone 
started to fire.

	I don't know how long it was before I realized what was going on. I 
was too busy concentrating on trying to take out troops, as well as those 
tanks, to figure out that somebody had told them ALL of our secrets - the 
calibration on our firearms and rifles, the specific frequency on our 
compound's outer energy shell, everything! And only one person knew of those 
secrets who wasn't fighting the Core or already dead.
	"Hunter scum," her voice called over our radio frequency. "This is 
Lieutenant Kristal of the Core." Almost instantly, every muscle in my body 
tensed. Tabitha backed away from me, probably in fear, as I growled angrily 
at her voice. "Remember how, three months ago, you kicked me out of the 
Hunters?" There was an explosion and the agonized screams of our comrades to 
our left. An entire barrier had been destroyed, as well as the two agents 
behind it. "And do you remember when I swore untold revenge upon your 
pitiful souls?" There was an explosion behind us. A hole had been blown into 
the wall.
	"Fuck!" I shouted. I quickly looked at the group to find the bitch.
	She was sitting on one of the tanks, commanding the whole assault from 
it.
	Like I said before, she isn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen.
	"Well, that time has come."
	I growled. "Tabitha, cover me."
	She looked at me. "What?! What are you doing?"
	"I'm going to correct our mistake." I cocked the rifle and stepped 
away from our barrier. I got low to the ground so she could see me and took 
aim. I had the perfect shot at her head. I quickly pulled the trigger.
	The tank hit a rough spot. It jumped, causing her to move. I cursed as 
my shot scored a hit to her shoulder, and not her head like I wanted it. I 
dove aside as the ground where I stood was torn apart by gunfire.
	"This is Agent D'Ketra," I growled over our radio frequency. "We have 
a traitor! Repeat, Kristal is a traitor. I don't care how you do it, I want 
that bitch DEAD!"
	"Kristal?" the command center asked me.
	"You heard me."
	They sighed. "We made a mistake removing her. She just needed help."
	"Well, now she needs a bullet in the side of her head." I loaded 
another shell into it. "And I'm here to do it."
	"What did you just load?" Tabitha asked me.
	I looked at her and smiled. "My emergency shell."
	Her eyes widened. "You're mad!"
	"Oh, I'm not mad." I cocked the rifle. "I'm pissed." 

	I looked through the slot in our barrier and lined up the shot with 
her. However, the other tank just happened to be in my way when I pulled the 
trigger. The solid slug that was launched flew out and struck the tank right 
in the base of the turret. I heard the energy build up and explode, 
completely destroying the tank turret, and it's occupants as well. 
	"Fuck!" I quickly loaded another and took aim again. Kristal was 
already halfway into her tank. I tried to line the shot up again and fired. 
She got in before I could fire. The slug hit the top of the turret, charged, 
and exploded, not destroying the tank's occupants, but damaging the turret 
enough to disarm the tank. I watched in anger as it started to reverse.
	"What now?" Tabitha asked me.
	"Get your guns ready." I drew my handgun. "All agents, the heavy 
artillery is down. I want every one of you to manually alter the frequency 
of your weapons' energy blasts by one point. Rush the Core foot troops." I 
looked to Tabitha and nodded. I quickly loaded a Firewall shell into my 
rifle and a Fireweb shell into my firearm.
	"The Core may have our energy blast frequency," Tabitha muttered as 
she did the same. "But they can't protect themselves from the flames of 
our rage."
	"Ready, love?" I asked jokingly.
	She smiled. "As ever!" We both took a deep breath and moved out, 
firing our weapons one at a time.

	By the time we broke the Core forces, Kristal's tank was long gone. 
This, of course, enraged me, turning me into an even more effective killing 
machine. The rest of the Core troops were cleared. The others started to 
counted our losses, mourn our dead, and commit them back to the ground.
	While they did that, I stood at the edge of the battlefield, watching 
the plume of dust as the tank holding the traitor rolled off into the 
distance. I was pissed at her. I was pissed at myself for missing her three 
times.
	"Michael," Tabitha said as she approached me. "Are you okay?"
	"She got away," I said, my voice monotone. "Of course I'm not okay."
	She nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, we should go 
help the others."
	I looked at her. "What are our casualties?"
	"Nine are dead, twelve are wounded, three severely. One we're not sure 
will make it though the night."
	I growled again and looked towards the now fading plume. "I will claim 
your life, Kristal. I vow revenge on you, bitch."
	"Oh, like you can really carry it out like I can," the foul demoness' 
voice responded. 
	Was she still tapped into our frequency? "Kristal, your ass is mine as 
soon as I catch you."
	"Yeah, well, you can't even handle the Cat! You will get many chances 
to strike me, and you will fail. Ninja doesn't get hit."
	I growled. She was acting stupid again. "Kristal, I'll find you and 
shoot you once for every agent you've killed and wounded, then finish you 
with a shot to the head." Her only response was a fake hiss. It wasn't a 
real hiss, like all of the felines could do. It was shallower, deliberately 
fucked up. "Get a fuckin' clue, Kristal. You are NOT the single greatest 
being in the world. A crippled three year old could kill you!"
	"Yeah, whatever Michael. At least I'm secure in knowing the fact that 
I'm smarter than you."
	I let go of a howl of anger. I ripped the radio off of my body, taking 
parts of my uniform with it, threw it to the ground, and proceeded to fire 
into it. I stood there for five minutes after, trying to catch my breath.
	"Michael," Tabitha asked. "Do you feel better?"
	It was clear she heard it too. I put my hand on my head as a throbbing 
migrane started to rear it's ugly face. "I feel a little better. But I'll 
feel much better once we find and gut her sorry excuse for an ass." I 
growled and fired one more shot into the now destroyed radio. "I need an 
asprin."
	Tabitha smiled. "Gladly."

	Don't make careless mistakes. That's the nice way of saying "Don't 
fuck up." It's clear that we didn't take our own advice with Kristal. And 
now she's running around with those Core motherfuckers. I never did like 
Kristal. She was a blithering idiot, living in a fantasy world of her own. 
But because of her, we've had to repair our defenses, recalibrate every 
piece of energy using equipment, and assert ourselves more when we make 
"mistakes".
	We no longer refer to her by name. She's simply known as "The 
Mistake." Because that's what she is. When somebody screws up beyond royal, 
they made "The Mistake." The most important thing, however, is that we've 
learned not to make "The Mistake" again.
	As for me, I wait for that day; the day when I get the call - "We've 
found The Mistake. Go fix it" - and get revenge for the Hunters on that 
traitor.

End
Michael D'Ketra and Tabitha Evans are © Lone Wolf and 
<([ Lone Wolf Studios ])>

Don't get killed...
	-Michael D'Ketra