Chapter 27:
Xeon Bust

	The blood red moon watched over the barren landscape. It seemed to 
shine brightly upon Xeon, like a giant spotlight. From their perch on the 
stone spire where they sat, the group of six readied themselves for battle. 
"Weapons check," Lone Wolf said.
	"Rail gun seems to be working," Myst reported.
	"Chain gun operational," Mink responded, cocking the weapon.
	"Ready to go," Mallory added.
	Lone Wolf looked at Terry and Swift. "What about you two?"
	"I'm ready to rumble," Swift said.
	Terry simply nodded.
	"Okay." He looked at the base. "The moon lights our way. We move now." 
He leapt into the air and held his hands out. A green mist flew from his 
palms and filled the area around the fortress. "We've got five minutes," he 
said when he landed. "Let's move!" With that, he went skidding down the side 
of the rock.

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

	"STOP!" D shouted, squirming in his chair.
	Isthus stopped drawing on his foot. "Ready to talk?"
	"I already told you," he said, his voice weak. "I don't know where 
Lone Wolf is at this moment."
	"Then I continue drawing until you decide to cooperate." He flexed his 
fingers and started to scribble some more.
	"Please...no more..." He tried to move his foot, but couldn't. He 
began to panic. It was very painful to him. He made a hasty desicion. 
"WHITE SECTOR 5!"
	Isthus stopped. "Come again."
	He took a breath. "If I know my second, that's where he should be 
heading. He has his orders to create a new rebel force if I'm ever taken. If 
anything, you should start searching there."
	He chuckled and capped the pen. "See? That wasn't so hard." He snapped 
his fingers. "Guards, return him to his unit. And prepare a mass grave. 
There will be an execution tomorrow."
	"What?! NO!" He struggled. "Isthus, you're mad! Don't do this!"
	"Why? So you can plan an escape and make my life a living hell? No. 
I'm gonna stop the problem tomorrow morning." He turned for the door and 
left.
	"Isthus! I'll fuckin' kill you!"

	The heavy iron door creaked open. Everyone was deep in an uneasy sleep, 
so nobody noticed when the guards threw D in and shut it. He rolled onto his 
back and groaned. "No...not like this. Please lord, don't let me go this 
way."
	"D?" Xuon crept up on him. "What's going on?"
	"Xuon, I don't want to panic you." He sat up. "Isthus is having a mass 
grave dug right now."
	He sat across from his commander and crossed his legs. "Tomorrow 
morning, we are to be executed?"
	"Pretty much."
	"Then we have no choice. We need to prepare a jail break tonight."
	"What? You're nuts. We'll be killed."
	"If we don't try something, we'll die anyway."
	He nodded. "You're right. What's the plan?"

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

	They pressed themselves up against the walls. "This is the closest any 
rebel unit has ever gotten," Mink said. "If anything, we don't blow a hole 
in the wall."
	"Okay," Lone Wolf said. "What do we do then?"
	"I don't know. That's what makes this base fucking annoying! The only 
way in is through the gates or the walls."
	"Lone Wolf," Swift said, tugging his arm.
	"What?"
	She pointed to a tunnel that was allowing sewage out of the base and 
into a pit.
	"Oh god. Please don't tell me..."
	"I'm sorry. But it's the only breech. We have to take it."
	He sighed.
	"Lone Wolf," Mallory said. "We have to go. D needs us. They all need 
us..."
	He shook his head. "You're right." He slowly made his way over to the 
pipe. "D, you owe me big time for this. C'mon guys."

	It was like walking through a swamp. The tube was small. The smell 
from the knee deep waste was horrendous. "I see why this place is left 
open," Mink choked, holding his nose. "Are you sure this is the only breech 
in the wall?"
	"Yeah," Swift coughed. "I'm sorry."
	"Quiet," Lone Wolf said. "We don't want to give away out position." He 
viewed the tunnel through his scanner. "We appear to be coming upon some 
sort of processing area."
	"Great," Mink said. "This shit is starting to seep into my boots." 
Everyone looked at him and took a step away.
	"Ready your weapons just in case we need to start fighting. Myst, 
don't bother with the rail gun just yet." Mink and Mallory powered up their 
rifles. Myst pulled a small hand gun from his belt. "I'll go in first. You 
hear gunfire, come in blazing. Terry, Swift, you hold my back."
	"Aye," Terry responded. Slowly, they all made their way forward.

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

	Sitting outside of the holding cell for the Viper Sting, a trio of 
guards had chosen to catch up on some reading. "Heh, hey Charlie," one said. 
"Take a look at this." He passed the magazine to one of his companions. The 
other guard flipped his visor up and took a good, hard look look at what the 
magazine was opened up to.
	"Holy shit," he said. "And those two are sisters?"
	"Yeah. Talk about sisterly love!"
	"What?" the third guard asked. "This I gotta see!" He snatched the 
magazine away and looked. "Whoa! I didn't think you could do that with a 
cucumber." The other two laughed at him. "What?!"
	"You mean you didn't know that could be done?!"
	"I knew a woman could do that with it. I just didn't think she could 
do it in that position."
	"With her sister none the less." He chuckled and layed back in his 
chair.

	There was a groan from in the cell. That caught their attention. They 
drew their pistols and moved closer to the door. One of the guards looked 
into the small window that was in the door. There was no light in the cell, 
except for what was coming in through the window. And in that light, he saw 
Xuon. "Hmm...he looks pretty bad."
	"Fuck 'em. He's dying tomorrow anyway."
	"True." He looked again. "Wait a minute. I think he's the only one in 
the cell!"
	"What? Let me look." The first guard stepped out of the way as the 
second peered in. "Shit, I think you're right. Open the door." The third 
guard fumbled with the controls and unlocked the door. They waited for it to 
swing open before starting to move in. They looked about, weapons pointing, 
but could see nothing in the darkness. After a few reassuring thoughts, they 
approached Xuon. "Where's your fellows?"
	Xuon looked up at them. "Who?"
	"The other prisoners, asshole."
	"Yeah, where are they?"
	Xuon chuckled. "Asshole? Now, that's not very polite."
	The first guard pointed his pistol at Xuon's head. "Talk or you die 
here."
	"Okay. Fine. You wanna know where D and the others are? Turn around."
	"This better not be something stupid. Otherwise, you die." The three 
guards turned around. Instantly, D and the others pounced and pummeled them 
unconsious.
	"Nice job D."
	"Thanks Xuon." He plucked a pistol from one of the guard's hands. "If 
I'm not mistaken, there should be a weapons locker nearby. Grab anything you 
can from these three and follow me." He stepped out of the cell into the 
hallway. "We've got a long fight ahead of us, Vipers."

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

	Lone Wolf stepped out of the waste tube into the massive processing 
plant. Since it was the middle of the night, he was expecting only a 
skeleton crew for the shift. Instead, he found none. He looked around a bit 
before motioning to the others to move forward. They moved in slowly, 
expecting the worse. Still, there was nothing. "That's odd," Mink whispered. 
"There should be at least a few guards."
	"Why would there be?" Terry asked. "That shit we trudged through was 
pretty strong. I think we're the first to brave it."
	"True."
	"I'm gonna scout up. That cool with you guys?"
	"Yeah," Lone Wolf replied. "You can fly. I can't." Terry chuckled 
before lifting off the ground. He floated up some ways and looked around. He 
looked about before looking towards the group and giving thumbs up. "All 
right. We're clear." He looked around. "Let's head up that ladder. I'll take 
lead. Mink, cover my back."
	"Yes sir."
	He looked at him and smirked. "Don't call me sir. I do not deserve 
that title." He stepped over to the ladder and hoisted himself up quickly. 
He landed with all the skill of a tightrope walker.
	"Lone," Terry suddenly shouted. "Watch out!" He looked to the door and 
slid out of the way as the air errupted in rifle fire.
	"Shit. I need assistance." Suddenly, there was a flash. He was forced 
to cover his eyes. When he looked again, every soldier that was shooting at 
them had fallen. "Terry?"
	"Yeah," he said, landing next to him. "I did that."
	"They're gonna be all over this place because of you. You know that, 
right?"
	"Well," Mink said as he climbed up onto the platform. "We better not 
wait here, then. But which way do we go?" There were, indeed, two exits to 
take.
	"I don't know," Lone Wolf said.
	"Uh...guys..." Swift said. "I can sense more men coming from where 
those guys came from."
	"You heard the lady," Mallory said, moving towards the other door. 
"Let's go!"

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

	"Fall back," one of the guards screamed over the gunfire. "Fall back!" 
The group of armed guards started to move away from their position in the 
halls. They fired off a few more shots before heading for cover.
	"Don't let them get away," D shouted. "Get them, Vipers!" He raised 
his rifle and fired off a number of shots before diving for cover.
	"There are too many," another guard said. "How the hell did a bunch of 
prisoners get free and get armed?"
	"I'll show you," D said, firing off a few shots. There was a scream as 
he ducked for cover. "We can't take much more of this."
	"We need back-up," Xuon said. "But where from." Suddenly, the shooting 
stopped. They remained behind their cover for a few minutes. Nothing.
	"Did they flee?" D asked. He got his answer. A single, unarmed wolf 
stepped between the two barrickades. Immediately, eight guns were pointed at 
him, including D's. "Who are you?"
	"Whoa," the wolf said. "Forget me already D?"
	He smiled. "Lone Wolf, is that you?"
	"In the fur. And I brought company." He pointed towards the back. 
Standing amongst the bodies were Myst, Mink, Terry, Mallory, and Swift. 
"They knew how to take the guards down quickly."
	D laughed. "Mink! How'd you pull this off?"
	He chuckled. "We walked through knee deep shit. You owe me big."
	Lone Wolf shook his head. "Now that we found you, we need to find some 
transports and get the hell out of here."
	"Right. The vipers are a unit once again." He looked about. "But where 
do we go?"
	"That's easy," Lone Wolf responded. "Follow me."

	"This is just too familiar," he said as the whole crew stepped into 
the vehicle bay. For Lone Wolf, it was a second time here. "I say we hijack 
another underground transport or two, don't you agree Swift?"
	"Probably the best thing we can do," she said. They started to move 
forward. "This place is eerily quiet."
	"They're probably on lunch break. That's how I snagged the first 
transport."
	"Yeah," Isthus' voice suddenly rang out. "But you won't be so lucky 
this time." The Vipers pulled their weapons into a ready position. Swift and 
Terry got ready to wail away with their energies. But Lone Wolf ignored him 
and continued walking. "Why, Lone Wolf, aren't you going to get ready to 
fight?"
	"I kicked your ass once, Isthus. I can do it again if I have to. Now 
back down and let us go."
	"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that." The ground a good distance 
ahead of him opened up. A platform lifted the lion up in the way of the 
wolf. "Now surrender and I might give you a quick, painless death." Lone 
Wolf stopped. "I knew you'd see it my way."
	He raised a palm at Isthus. "Oh go fuck yourself." The 350 pound lion 
was suddenly sent back a few inches. He skidded to a halt only a foot from 
where he started. "You've improved Isthus."
	"As have you. I didn't anticipate you to be so powerful." He snapped 
his fingers. A horde of troops suddenly crawled out of the metalwork. 
"Boys, take care of the Viper Sting. Leave Lone Wolf to me."
	Lone Wolf chuckled. "Is that so?" He halfway looked over his shoulder. 
"Take cover. Leave nobody standing." A few tense seconds passed before the 
Vipers split into two groups and dived behind vehicles for cover. The air 
errupted in fire.

	It didn't phase Lone Wolf or Isthus one bit. They just started to 
close in on each other at a slow pace. Their eyes were locked in a battle, 
even though they were seconds away from a big one themselves. "I'm gonna 
tear you into ribbons," Isthus taunted. "Then I'm gonna use those ribbons to 
feed my entire army. The Raiders will crush your pathetic Pack."
	Lone Wolf chuckled. "You think that's going to scare me. Give me a 
break. Besides, I still have to pay you back for what you did to Samantha."
	They narrowed their eyes at each other and shouted. "Prepare to DIE!" 
With that, they took off, full speed, for a head on collision.
	And, as we all know, two people running head first at each other tend 
to fall back upon ramming each other at full speed.
	Lone Wolf was the first to recover, leaping to his feet and holding 
his hand out at Isthus. "Die!" The same invisible force he had used to cause 
Isthus to skid kicked in, sending the lion tumbling a few feet. 
	He dug his claws into the ground, stopping his flight. "You first." He 
leaped forward with a snarl. Claws swept through the air, raking themselves 
across Lone Wolf's chest. Lucky for him, the only thing torn to shreds was 
the front of his shirt. He frowned and retaliated with a hard fist to 
Isthus' face. A quick punch and block match ensued afterwards, with more 
blows being thrown than connecting. They hopped back after a short. Isthus 
started to chuckle.
	"What's so funny, needledick?"
	"You wasted some of my equipment with those energy orbs of yours. 
Well, my boys created something for me." He held his palm out. "See how you 
like your own medicine." A white light formed in his hand and shot out at 
the unsuspecting Lone Wolf. He was engulfed in it. Isthus laughed maniacally. 
"See you in hell, Lone Wuss!"
	"You first," Lone Wolf's voice answered from behind him. He turned in 
horror to see Lone Wolf as he launched two green orbs at him. "See if you 
can handle that." Isthus paniced and held his hands in front of his face. 
The orbs connected and exploded, shaking up everything and everyone. Lone 
Wolf remained still, waiting for the outcome.
	He heard Isthus' insane laughter. "See? See?! You can't defeat me!" 
The smoke started to clear, revealing Isthus was still standing, his clothes 
tattered at the edges. "You can't win!"
	"No, but I can get away." He held his hand out. "Especially if I put 
you through a wall." Isthus suddenly tensed up. Lone Wolf raised his hand. 
The lion started to rise. "Now go away and leave us alone." He flicked his 
wrist and Isthus went crashing through a window and out into the distance. 
"Now, to deal with those guards." He turned and saw...a pile of bodies.
	"All vipers, Terry, and Swift accounted for," Mink called to him. 
"What do we do?"
	"Grab three underground transports and load everyone up. D, Mink, 
Myst, Xuon, Terry, Swift, Mallory, you're getting in the one with me. 
That'll be the lead ship. When we're all loaded. We'll lead off and you guys 
follow, got it?" There was a big huzzah as they all started towards the 
transports.

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

	The transport that held Vu, Shivana, and Sven rolled into Pack Alpha 
Base 1724 around 9 that evening. The three, instead of being brought to 
their quarters, were brough to the few who had escaped Bleu Mesa. Crash, 
Psycho, and the others were at the front gate to meet with the three. "Where 
are Samantha and Kaitlyn?" Sven asked after the hellos had been said. "More 
importantly, where's Tobias?"
	"Tobias is still in Raider Territory," Crash said. Sven grabbed him by 
the collar. "Don't worry. He's in the hands of a trustworthy rebel unit. He 
was going to help the majority of them break free."
	"Okay. What about Kaitlyn and Samantha? How are they?"
	"Kaitlyn's fine," Psycho said. "Samantha isn't."
	"She's broken up about Tobias." Psycho nodded. "Perhaps I should go 
talk to her."
	"Can't," Hack said. "Kaitlyn says she wants to speak to nobody. And 
she's very animate about it." He sighed. "I just hope she's all right. I 
don't think I want to lose her."
	"Me either," Crash said. "She's the sweetest person in the world."
	"I kinda envy Tobias," Psycho chuckled. "He gets that lovely creature 
for himself."
	"Yeah," Sven said. "I'm going to go check up on her, regardless."
	"All right," Hack said. "But you're gonna get turned back."
	"I'll take my chances."

	"Kaitlyn," he called through the door. "It's Sven."
	The door creaked open a little bit, leaving enough room for Kaitlyn to 
see who it was. "Hello Sven. What can I do for you?"
	"I hear Samantha's feeling down. Can I come in and talk with her?"
	"Eh.." She looked away for a moment. "She's really not in the mood 
to." She hesitated. "But I think it'd do her good." She opened the door. 
"Come in."
	"Thank you." He stepped through the doorway and into the small 
apartment. "Where is she?"
	"She's in bed, just staring at the ceiling."
	"Could you show me to her?" Kaitlyn nodded and lead him further into 
the quarters. She brought him right up to Samantha, who was in bed, the 
covers pulled over her chest, watching a spot on the ceiling. "Thank you." 
Kaitlyn smiled and stepped back. He approached the bed. "Samantha?"
	She looked at him and sighed. "Hey Sven. How are you doing?"
	"Not too well. I'm worried about you. What's wrong?"
	"I'm just afraid for Tobias' life. He's been gone for too long."
	"It'll be okay." There was a knock at the door. "Could you get that 
Kaitlyn?" She nodded and went to answer it. "Now, you know Toby can handle 
himself. He's better than some of our troops, for a civilian."
	"I know. But...what if something goes wrong? What will happen to him 
then?"
	"He'll find a way around it. He always has, right?"
	She sighed. "I guess you're right. I just hope he's okay."
	"He loves you dearly, Samantha. He wouldn't screw up because it would 
hurt you." She didn't respond. He had an idea. "What are you thinking about 
right now, Kaitlyn?"
	"I was just wondering about what he's thinking right now."
	"Well, I'm not sure about it, but I bet it's about you."
	"Really?"
	"Really."
	"Really," a third voice answered. "I didn't think you knew me that 
well Sven."
	"Tobias?!" Samantha sat up quickly. She saw Lone Wolf and smiled. 
"Heya big, tall, and fuzzy."
	"Hello beautiful. How are you doing?"
	"A lot better now that you're here." She looked him over. "What 
happened to your shirt?"
	"My shirt?" He looked at it. "Eh, got into a minor scrap with our old 
friend Isthus. I kicked his ass, though. Don't worry."
	"No injuries?"
	"None what so ever." He moved over and sat down on the bed. "Now, how 
about a kiss before I give you back Toby?"
	She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you for keeping my 
lover safe, Lone Wolf."
	"It was my pleasure. Now, you make sure he gets knocked out with one 
of your kisses. See you again." He pulled the chip from the headset and 
smiled. "Take care of yourself." He flashed white and shrank back into the 
human - Tobias.
	"Hey lovely," he said. "Why so glum?" She squeeled, put her arms 
around his neck, and gave him a kiss so passionate, the next thing anyone 
knew, he had kicked off his shoes and crawled into the bed with her. Sven 
and Kaitlyn took that as a hint and left.