Chapter 22:
Rebels

	Tobias was called into Law's office early the next morning. Samantha, 
having a funny feeling about the whole thing, followed along. They both 
cautiously made their way in. "Law, you called me?"
	"Yes, I did." He turned around with a big smile on his face. "We have 
your first assignment." Samantha clung onto his arm. "Don't worry, it's 
nothing major. All that he needs to do is place a device on a mine shaft and 
run like hell. That's all."
	Samantha looked at Tobias. "Sounds like something quick and simple."
	"Yeah." He looked at Law. "I guess I can take care of it. What will I 
need?"
	"We'll provide the equipment. You may need that chip of yours as 
well."
	"All right. I'll do it!" He reached out and shook Law's hand. "Where 
do I go?"
	"Go down to the vehicle bay. They'll suit you up there. I'll send 
word down to them that you're going."
	"Aye sir. C'mon Samantha." They walked out of the office arm in arm.

	The transport they had stolen was used in this mission. Tobiaswas 
suited up and sent up to the surface. While waiting, he got his briefing 
from Lawrence via comminications. "Okay Tobias, this will be your first 
mission. There is a mine due north of where you will be surfacing. Plant the 
C4 packs we gave you on the building and head back to where you arrived for 
pickup. There is minimal resistance in the area. Only a few guards and 
civilians to worry about. The civies are unarmed, so they shouldn't be a 
problem. The guards may prove trouble. The suit we gave you will take a 
number of hits before you are in trouble."
	"Aye sir."
	"Good luck." The comminique terminated. Tobias took a deep breath and 
checked everything. He was given a rifle of some sorts. The technicians told 
him it was called the "Taz." Why, he didn't know. It looked like every other 
rifle he'd seen Crash and the boys use.
	"We're approaching the target area," the driver told him.
	"On it!" He put his helmet on and stepped upto the door. The transport 
jerked and the door opened. "See you at pickup!" He hopped out.

	The transport quickly went back into the ground. He aimed the rifle 
around a bit, just in case somebody was watching and wanted to fight. But 
the fact that he surfaced behind a giant rock brought him to the conclusion 
that he wasn't about to shoot. He sighed and went over to look around the 
massive boulder. As expected, there was a small outpost sitting there. He 
took his helmet off and pushed the button at his belt. His headset appeared. 
"Scan," he said into the mike. His scanner appeared over his eye. He gave 
everything a quick once over. Unfortunately, the mine was in the middle of 
the make shift town. He cussed under his breath. "Targeting." His scanner 
switched from the clear scanning lense to the ruby tinted targeting lense. 
He looked at his helmet and pushed a button that was sitting at it's base. 
The face mask disappeared. He put it on. It didn't interfere with his 
scanner. He pushed the button again. The face mask popped back into place. 
He started his move.

	The scanner went off quickly. He dived behind another rock as soon as 
it did. He looked up from behind it and found 4 or 5 guards standing there, 
most likely on patrol. He cocked his rifle and aimed.
	"AIEEE!!!!" The terrifying scream came from the west side of town. 
Tobias, as well as the guards, looked in that direction. Coming the guards 
way was a small group of soldiers. "Death to the Raiders!" they screamed. 
Upon the utterance of these words, they released a wave of fire from their 
weapons. The guards quickly bid a hasty retreat. Tobias waited for the small 
group to enter the outpost before he made his move.

	He darted between the buildings, avoiding the fire fight between the 
guards and the newcomers pretty well. He eventually reached the mine's main 
complex. "Perfect." He hit the button on his helmet. After the face mask was 
gone, he took a small pack off of his belt and put it on the building. He 
pushed a few buttons and backed away.
	"Hey, you!" someone called. He looked. It was a guard. "What are you 
doing?" He frowned and fired his rifle off. The blast hit the guard, who 
fell limp.
	"I'm gone!" He darted back the way he came, not even bothering to 
avoid the firefights this time around. He reached the edge of the outpost 
and was about to make a run for it, when he noticed a problem. A panther had 
been cornered by three guards. They were ready to plug him. Tobias, of 
course, wasn't about to let that happen. He let out a howl and fired his 
rifle off. One of the guards fell. The other two turned to him. The panther 
didn't wait for anything and raised his own weapon. He quickly nailed the 
remaining guards. Satisfied in his work, he looked at Tobias. He took his 
helmet off and gave him a peace sign. The panther laughed and returned with 
a thumbs up. He smiled, put his helmet back on, and went back to the 
rendez-vous point.

	"What?"
	"You heard me! Or would you rather me pop a disk and show you." Tobias 
leaned on Law's desk. "Well?"
	He shook his head. "Don't hurt yourself man!"
	"No, watch." He fixed his microphone. "Eject." A small CD popped out 
of the box on his belt. He caught it and put it on the desk. "I knew I'd be 
needing to do this, so I recorded the entire ordeal."
	He picked it up and looked it over. "O...kay." He slipped it into his 
computer. "Computer, play." The computer screen lit up and the recording 
played. It went through the full thing, including the little exchange with 
the panther. "Freeze frame." The screen froze, the panther just out of 
sight. "Back up, frame by frame." The view slowly craned back. "Stop." The 
panther was now on the screen. He put a finger on the screen. "Magnify and 
clear up." The screen zoomed in on the panther's face and clarified. "Holy 
shit! I thought he was dead!"
	"Law, who is that?"
	"That is...was...agent Dane Ulrich. I thought we lost him in one of 
our previous missions. But..." He laughed. "D, you always had a way of 
weasling out of trouble!" He looked at Tobias. "He is most likely working 
with the local band of rebels, the Viper Sting I believe it's called."
	"So...they're our boys."
	"Eh.....yes, and no. Most of them are born Raiders. Something happened 
to each one of them that turned them to our side. We have very little 
intelligence regarding."
	"I see. Have you tried to come in contact with your soldier there?"
	"This is the first honest to god proof that he's alive. He's listed as 
dead in our books."
	"Have you tried contacting this group?"
	"Yes. Every time we approach their hideout, they end up shooting the 
emmisaries up."
	"Damn. That makes it much harder. I have a feeling we need to get in 
contact with them. Where is their hide away?"
	"That's suicide. I won't tell you until I'm sure you can handle them."
	"Fine." He turned for the door. "Call me when next mission is up."

	He headed down to where Crash and the boys were bunking. He hadn't 
talked with them in a while and, knowing them, they had a poker game going. 
He needed the thrill they usually gave him. But, of course, he had to stop 
off to check on Samantha. "Samantha," he said as he opened the door. She had 
the lights out for some reason. "Samantha?" He shut the door behind him. He 
went over to the lamp that was perched by the side of his bed and turned it 
on. The second the light hit the room, Samantha leaped at him from the bed, 
pinning him to the floor. "What the fuck!?"
	She smiled and tapped him on the nose. "No curses now! Although, I 
think you've already got the idea of what's going to happen."
	"Samantha! What's up?"
	She held up a small package. "Guess what Kaitlyn found." 
	He took a deep breath. "Samantha...."
	"You promised."
	"I did promise something to you. But it was what you whispered into my 
ear, remember?"
	She grinned impishly. "That's right!" She turned to the other room. 
"Kaitlyn!" He turned white as Kaitlyn came out and sat on the edge of the 
bed. "Now, you were saying."
	He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. If you really want to 
do this, we will."
	Kaitlyn quirked a brow. "Are you serious?"
	"You two seem to really want to do this. I can't help that. I also 
promised you that I would. I have no choice."
	Samantha stopped being playful. "You sound disappointed." He shook his 
head. "What's wrong?"
	"I...ah...."
	She got off of him. "I understand. We don't have to do this."
	His hand shot out and took her by her leg. "I'm sorry. I'm acting all 
stupid about this." He pulled gently on her leg and she quickly sat back 
down on his chest. He took her hands. "I'm cool with it."
	"Why? Because you've upset me?"
	"No...."
	"I don't get it. I would expect you to willingly do stuff like this. 
But you aren't."
	"That's because I don't need to do that to show you that I love you." 
He pulled her close and kissed her. "If you want to do it, well, that's just 
a perk." She smiled and straddled him. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, I promised 
you and Kaitlyn a threesome."
	"So true!" Kaitlyn asked. "Shall we?"
	He looked at her. "Well, if you can get my pants off and put the 
condom on me, I belong to you two." She smiled. "And I mean it!"

****************************************************************************

	Swift sat straight up in bed, a cold sweat running down her entire 
body. "Wh-what the fuck?!" She got up and b-lined for her bathroom. She hit 
the lights and stared her reflection in the eyes. "What the hell was that?" 
She shut here eyes and took a deep breath. Various images from around the 
instantly filled her mind. Crash and the boys were playing poker with some 
of the guards. The farm was being tended to. Law was busy phoning in the 
possible location of a fallen soldier. "What's wrong then?" Wait, she didn't 
pick up Tobias, Samantha, and Kaitlyn. Instantly, she grew nervous and set 
out to find them.

	She approached Tobias and Samantha's door. Not truly wishing to 
disturb them right away, she set her hand on the door and closed her eyes. 
Slowly, the image of what was going on filled her mind. It took a few 
seconds for the image to come in fully, upon which her eyes snapped open and 
her hand pulled away. "Oh...oh shit...." She backed away from the door. If 
she was watching where she was going, she wouldn't have bumped into Crash.
	"Heya Swift! How's it goin'?" She looked at him nervously. "What's 
wrong?" She pointed at the door. "Yeah, what about them?"
	She placed her hand on the door. "Put your hand on my shoulder and 
shut your eyes."
	"Well, okay. If you wish." He put his hand on her back. They both shut 
there eyes. Instantly, they both saw what was going on inside. Swift pulled 
back and the both looked at each other. "We keep this a secret. Nobody 
knows."
	"Yes."
	"Wanna go hang out with the rest of the boys?"
	"Please." He offered her his arm, which she took for comfort. "And no, 
we will never get it on like them."
	"Damn."
	She smiled. "Well, not right away anyway."

****************************************************************************

	They all woke up the next morning in Tobias and Samantha's bed. Tobias 
was the first to sit up, yawning and stretching. Kaitlyn stretched and 
leaned on her side, looking towards Samantha. Samantha remained on her back. 
"Did we enjoy ourselves girls?"
	Kaitlyn smiled. "That's the first time since the rape that I've done 
it. This time, however, it was so much better."
	Samantha laughed. "I didn't know your tongue was that limber."
	"Neither did I," he confessed. He spun around to face them and sat 
indian style. "But I have this bad feeling that someone was watching us."
	"Oh? How so?"
	"I felt...an imbalance by the door."
	"Swift?" Kailtyn asked.
	"If it is her, we have to go find her and apologize. We may have 
scared the shit out of her." There was a knock at the door. Tobias threw on 
his pants and answered it. He found a guard. "On second thought girls, you 
go find and talk to Swift. I've got work." He grabbed a shirt and put it on. 
He looked at them. "Who knows, maybe it'll be a stressful mission."
	"How is that good?" Kaitlyn asked.
	"I'll need to unwind." He winked playfully and left with the guard.

	They quickly hustled him back to the transport, suited him up in the 
same gear, and gave him the same weapon. He climbed in and it slowly went 
along it's way. Again, Law briefed him on his mission via communique. "We 
have just recieved word that the rebel force has begun to move. They are 
attacking a small outpost in the Khazah basin. We're gonna surface you a 
little distance away from their path so you can meet up with them and, we 
hope, join them on their raid. Don't act as if you're a threat; they have 
been known to shoot without question." The transport jerked. "You have to 
make it down the canyon in six minutes. Good luck!" The transport door 
opened and Tobias jumped out.

	He was standing on a large cliff. Down below, he could see the bottom 
of a canyon. It wasn't too far down, but a fall would surely kill him. At 
one end of the canyon, he could see the Raider outpost. At the other end was 
the small band of rebels, running towards the base. "I don't have much 
time." He spotted a small trail down the side of the canyon, heading in the 
direction of the base. His feet did the thinking and he ran down it. It 
wasn't a totally stable path, mind you. He had to do a little bit of fancy 
foot work to avoid becoming a splat at the bottom of the cliff. He made it 
to the bottom of the cliff with a minute to spare. He took his helmet off 
and watched as the group approached. As soon as they were close enough, he 
started running with them. They spotted him and skidded to a halt, instantly 
turning every weapon they had on him.
	"The hell?!" a voice said. Tobias looked and saw the panther from the 
last mission.
	"Hey! Remember me?"
	"No, can't say that I can." Tobias smirked and gave a peace sign. The 
panther jerked back and gave a thumbs up. "Is this the guy who saved my ass 
back at the other outpost?"
	"It sure as hell is. I was wondering. Since I'm in the neighborhood, 
perhaps I could join you fellas on your raid."
	"Eh..." He looked at another fellow, a massive kodiak bear.
	"I don't know who, rather, what the hell he is," he said. "It's your 
decision."
	"Well, he saved my ass on our last raid." He turned to Tobias. "So 
long as you don't stab us in the backs, I guess you can help. Put your 
helmet back on, though. With a face like that, you'll become a prime 
target."
	"Sure thing, just hold on a second." He hit the button on his belt. 
His scanner appeared. The rebel force raised their guns at his head.
	"Cool it," the panther said. "That's not a weapon."
	"That's right," Tobiasadded. "This is a handy scanner system." He 
looked at the base. "Targeting." His targeting systems came online and he 
put the helmet back on. "Shall we go?"
	"Sure," the panther said. "Oh, by the way, they call me The D."
	"Tobias." He held a hand out. "A pleasure." The panther laughed and 
shook his hand.

	It was a short run to the base. Lucky for them, a bunch of rocks 
provided a natural barrier between them and the sights of the guns. They 
were not spotted. "Okay," D said. "This is the plan."
	"Hold on," Tobias interrupted. "Let me do one thing first."
	"Um....sure. Go ahead."
	He looked to the base. "Scanner." He gave the base a quick sweep and 
laughed. "Hey D. You would happen to have a large weapon on hand. A cannon, 
a missile launcher."
	"Myst is our top weapon's man. He would have it. Why do you ask?"
	"I found a structural weakness in the main guard tower." He pointed to 
the omnious spire in front of them. "There's a hairline crack at the base 
which would easily bring it down with the right nudge."
	D nodded. "Myst, front and center."
	A small Tabby cat came to attention. "D?"
	"What do you have that would nudge the tower to the ground?"
	"Um....gimme a second." He put down his back pack and dug through it's 
contents. "Not much. I left the pressure cap at home. We do have a sonic 
clip on hand though. That should be enough to do it." He pulled out a small 
box and handed it to D. D promptly turned it over to Tobias.
	"Um...okay, so where does it go?" He showed them his weapon. D pointed 
to the little slot on the bottom of the rifle. "Thanks." The box went in 
promptly and leaned against the rocks. "Targeting." He started at the base 
of the tower for a little bit. "Aha!" He pulled the trigger. 
	The "Taz" is a good weapon for infantry. He saw that last mission. But 
with the new attachment, it turned to be powerful against hair line cracks. 
The tiny crack grew to be half of the foundation in size, causing the entire 
thing to tumble to the ground.
	"Damn!" the bear said. "We could've lost a bunch of guys if we didn't 
do that!"
	Tobias tossed the box back to D. "That proof enough."
	"Sure as hell is. Will you join us in our little crush session?"
	"Do I have a choice? Let's go!"

	They slowly passed through the breech in the Raider defensive wall, 
guns drawn and ready to blair if need be. They were greeted with the sounds 
of chaos, disorder, and hell. "This is almost perfect!" one of the rebels 
said. "All we need now is your women D!"
	"Shut up," D responded. "I keep telling you they're not my women."
	"Yeah, well."
	"Shut up and shoot something." He raised his gun and fired. A guard 
fell. Unlike their last encounter, however, the guards didn't hesitate to 
return fire. Everyone scattered, diving for cover. One of the rebels was 
stupid enough, however, to stand there and return fire. His body was quickly 
filled full of holes. "NO!" D got all pissed and, from the safety of his 
cover, fired upon the guards. Seeing as he wasn't going to do much damage 
alone, Tobias quickly added his part to the assault. They cleared out the 
area rather quickly and regrouped around the corpse. It's glassy eyes 
stared up at them.
	"That was a stupid move," Myst told it. "You got what you deserved." 
He leaned down and shut them.
	"Shall we continue?" D said.

	They slowly tromped through the outpost. Amongst the blaring sirens 
and screams of confused guards, they could hear a back gate opening and 
trucks rolling out. They knew something was up. "I advise that we find their 
command center and destroy it," the bear said. "It would be best."
	"You're right Mink," D said. "Where is it though?"
	"There," Tobias said, pointing at a spire. "That's a command center if 
I've ever seen one. D, do you still have that sonic box thingie?" It was 
quickly put into the gun. "See that radar dish?" He aimed and fired. "No 
more."
	"Give me that!" Myst said, snatching it from his grasp. "You got to 
blow up a guard tower. I want to destroy the command center bit by bit!"
	"Fine! Just blast the targets as I tell you to."
	"All right then!" Tobias looked through his targeting scanner. "What's 
the first target?"
	"Blue pannel, third from the top." The gun quickly went off and the 
pannel shattered. "Fire again." There was an explosion at the top of the 
spire. "Okay, next target, black pannel, between the two gunners." A chunk 
of the left gun turret blew and flew into another building, causing a fire 
to break out. "Again." The tower exploded a second time. The top slid off of 
the tower and fell on a rather large building. A huge explosion rocked the 
outpost. "Damn it. Perhaps we should have gone with the red one." He took 
the gun back from Myst.
	"What now?" Mink asked.
	"We run like hell." He tossed the sonic box back to D. "Now."

	They watched from the cliff as the base quickly burned out. "We did 
good Vipers," D said. "Be proud of yourselves." They group that was there 
cheered themselves on. D laughed and approached Tobias, who was sitting on 
the edge of the cliff, his helmet now off. "Hey, Tobias."
	"Hmm?" He looked up at D. "Oh, Dane. How's it going?"
	D jerked. "How did you know my name?"
	"Does the name 'Oasis' ring a bell?"
	He sat down with him. "My old base. Are you stationed there?" He 
chuckled. "What the hell am I saying? You're not one of us!"
	"No. He's not." This voice, a powerfully unnerving voice, came from 
behind them. They both looked. There, standing there, was a wolf. Very 
little could be made out on his face, since the sun hit him just enough to 
create a shadow over him. But his eyes glowed an eerie red. "He is human."
	"Terry, what have I told you about scaring us like that?"
	"I'm sorry D. But this newcomer intrigues me."
	D sighed. "Tobias, this is Terry. Terry, Tobias." The two exchanged a 
brief nod. "Now, like I was saying...."
	"What are you doing here, Tobias? I thought your home world was 50 
light years away."
	Tobias chuckled. "I'm not too sure myself. One moment I'm there, the 
next I'm in the arms of the Pack."
	"The Pack, eh? Then what are you doing in Raider territory?"
	"The Raider scumbags kidnapped me and a couple of others. We escaped, 
and found ourselves in a Pack spy base."
	"I see." He turned his back to them. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."
	"No prob!" Terry walked off.
	"I will never understand that one," D said. "He's....just too 
strange."
	"How so?"
	"He never hangs out with us. He's usually in his part of our hideout 
alone to himself."
	"Let me try something. Scanner." He gave Terry a quick scan as he 
walked away. "Hmm....that's odd."
	"What?"
	"It seems Terry is letting go of something that's interfering with my 
scan."
	"Well, that's what usually happens. He's got some sort of thing wrong 
with him. He never went into specifics about it when he joined. All he said 
was that he was a lost soul." Tobias nodded and turned back to the 
smoldering base.

****************************************************************************

	Tobias wasn't going to wait for Law to call him in to share what the 
mission brought forth. Law was pretty damn happy he did. He went over the 
recording of the whole event eight or nine times before turning to him. 
"Tobias, you have just made my day! To see the fact that Dane is actually 
alive and kickin' is the best shit that's ever happened to me." He looked at 
the still image of D. "What else did he tell you?"
	"He told me the location of their little niche. He has asked me to 
bring a few of my guys and go visit them tomorrow."
	Law perked up. "How many people are allowed to go?"
	"Ten people. No more, no less."
	"Who are you planning on taking with you?"
	He laughed. "That should be obvious. Crash, Psycho, Hack, Wrench, 
Bomber, Stephanie, Kailtyn, and Swift."
	"That leaves one spot open."
	He smiled. "I don't suppose you would want to go with us."
	Law stood up. "My second can easily fill my shoes. I've trained him 
well. Let's get packing." He reached over and shook his hand. "Thank you so 
much!"
	"I must warn you, however, that this is a two day affair. We probably 
won't be back until the night of the third day."
	"I don't care. I want to see my ol' buddy again after all these 
years."
	"Okay. I'll go inform Crash and the others."

****************************************************************************

	He found Samantha, Kaitlyn, and Swift in his quarters. Samantha was 
sitting at the foot of the bed with Kaitlyn, chatting away merrily. Swift 
was at the head of the bed, under the covers, curled up, and appeared to be 
asleep. Curious to what the hell happened, he went over to Samantha and 
Kaitlyn. "Hey girls!"
	Samantha smiled. "Hi lover boy!" She got up, wrapped her arms around 
his neck, and smiled. "Your tongue is so...."
	"Don't say anything." He winked playfully.
	"Oh you!"
	"Now, mind explaining to me why Swift is curled up in our bed?"
	She let go and sat with Kaitlyn. "We explained to her what was going 
on."
	"Yeah. She was the one who accidentally saw what we were up to. That 
was that feeling you got."
	"Oh. So what happened after you explained why we were doing that."
	"She shook her head, sat on the bed, and asked if she could rest here. 
Samantha said yes, and she..." She motioned to the bed. "Tobias, I'm 
worried."
	He nodded. "Is she still awake?"
	"Yes. But I don't think-"
	"I can handle it." He moved over towards Swift. "Swift, you still 
awake?"
	"Yes," she said. "What do you want?"
	"I want you to tell me what's wrong?"
	"I can't. You wouldn't understand."
	"Well then..." He took her hand. "Show me what's wrong?"
	She sat up. "You really want to know?" He nodded. She put her fingers 
to his temples and gave him a quick jolt, then layed back down. He processed 
the new info quickly and shook his head. "Do you understand now?"
	"Swift, ignore what they told you."
	"What?!"
	"Swift, don't ignore your emotions. Look at what that has led you to. 
You're in my bed, curled up, a nervous wreck!"
	"But if I don't ignore them, I'll lose control."
	"I trust in your abilities. I know you can control yourself."
	She sat up. "Are you sure?" He kissed her. She stayed there, a little 
shocked. "Well...I...I still don't know."
	He smirked. "Do I have to do to you what I've done to Samantha and 
Kaitlyn?"
	"Please?" She grinned.
	"See, you've got it under control." She nodded and got up. "Now, go 
pack for a two day trip."
	"Why?" Kaitlyn asked.
	"We are going to go visit a rebel base, and I want you girls to come 
along."