Audrey's breath came fast as she and Troy slid around the corner, hiding in the shadows as they went. While she hadn't pushed for Troy's diet, she was definitely grateful he'd gone on one so he wasn't so...chunky and noticeable.

     "We're almost there," she breathed, painfully aware of how loud her voice sounded--even as low as it was--in the metal corridor of the ship.

     Troy nodded, his eyes slightly wider than usual.

     Audrey wasn't sure why she was so nice to Troy--he wasn't cute, he told corny jokes, he wasn't all that stealth or fit, and he wasn't cool. But there was something about him that drew her to him. It bugged her that she didn't know what. Audrey had always been someone to know what was going on, and why. But not this time.

     The two of them carefully made their way down the corridor, feeling exposed and knowing that the guards could see them at any moment. Then it would all be over.

     Footsteps gradually grew louder as a guard approached the corridor. Audrey instantly leapt up into the air and spread her legs out wide in a split, holding herself suspended between the two walls. Troy awkwardly tried to imitate her move, and Audrey sighed inwardly. There was no way he was going to make it up.

     And if he did, there was no way he was going to stay up.

     Audrey felt fear make her heart pound faster as she closed her eyes and desperately prayed that the guard would just keep going.

     "He's gone; you can drop now," Troy hissed.

     Audrey, relieved, let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as she dropped down onto...Troy?!

     "I said you could drop down, but not on me!" Troy complained noisily.

     "Shut up!" Audrey snapped, her cheeks flushed. She brushed a lock of deep golden red hair away from her ear and strained to listen for any sound of the guard returning. There wasn't any.

     "Flashbacks of my life had finally stopped passing in front of my eyes," Troy grinned much like a lopsided, obese bulldog puppy. A lopsided, chubby, just-off-of-a-diet bulldog puppy she corrected herself.

     "Shut up!" she hissed again, to cover up the grin that was trying to break free across her face.

     As usual, Troy knew what she was doing. Thankfully, he didn't talk any more. He wasn't stupid. Well, some of the time he wasn't,

     The two of them turned at the end of the corridor, and Troy fell into step behind Audrey as she made her way toward the bridge of the damaged ship.

     "So how do we plan to get the core of the mainframe again?" Troy questioned.

     Audrey sighed. Troy was just trying to make conversation, but he didn't seem to grasp that this wasn't the time for conversation.

     Sensing what she was thinking, Troy immediately--but urgently--said, "I honestly don't remember."

     "Well, then, too bad. You weren't a part of it to begin with except as a target so that they'll focus on you instead of me," she responded dryly. She almost expected Troy to respond with his usual comment about "Where's the soft side of you?" but it never came. She was almost a little disappointed.

     As they turned the corner, Audrey froze, her eyes locking on the small orb in front of her. She knew that if she were to touch it, she would instantly be under the control of whoever controlled the orb.

     Of course, they didn't always come shaped like orbs. Sometimes they were watches or blade staffs, sometimes headbands.

     "Troy..." she began.

     "Cool! It's a light!" Troy's hands closed around the orb, and Audrey's world started spinning as horror clutched at her stomach.

     "Troy!" she screamed.

     She could hear the guards coming, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was Troy. He was standing there, like a zombie, just staring at her, freaking her out. Tears were falling down her face as she looked desperately behind her to where a dozen soldiers were marching towards her. She couldn't take Troy with her.

     No. She'd have to escape without him. It broke her heart, doing this, but she had no choice. In a way, she was like Troy. Someone else dictating her moves, wiping out her options, manipulating her in such a way that she had no choice but to do what It wanted...

     There was only one person Audrey knew that would take Troy from her. It had all been a set up--the information, the gear, the blueprint of the ship...she should have guessed that Jolie's sudden kindness was a facade.

     Anger boiled up inside of Audrey as she turned and ran. 

     Troy, I'll come back for you. I promise you that, she vowed. And you, Jolie...I'm coming for you. And I won't have mercy.

Audrey wasn't sure where she was going, but at least she go faster now without Troy with her. The thought was a horrible one, and she knew it. She felt disgusted with herself as she ran onward.

     Audrey was by no means weak. In fact, one might describe her as the epitome physical perfection as far as that went. She could run for hours, climb faster than a monkey, and swim swift and silently like a fish. She had well-toned muscles and a deep tan from many hours training in the harsh sunlight of Vadar.

     Audrey leapt upward, landing about twelve stairs up the spiral staircase. She stopped to draw in a breath, and gather her thoughts. Which, currently, were scattered all over the place, like shards of glass from a shattered mirror.

     Jolie was everything that Audrey was not--quiet, good with people, well liked, friendly, funny...At first, Audrey had been wary of her, knowing that something--or someone--who looks to good, to nice, can't really be like that. There had to be another side, just like there was another side to herself she kept hidden from everyone. Well, everyone but Troy. It seemed no matter what she did, Troy could always see through it to the real reason.

     Troy. That was the one thought that drove Audrey forward as she rocketed up the staircase (rather outdated for such a spaceship) and into more corridors. 

     Never ending corridors, that wove themselves into a maze to confuse space pirates who might dare to attack and board the ship.

     "Gahhh, I hate the stupid Allegiance," she growled mainly to herself. "Mainly because that's probably who Jolie's working for."

      But no, that didn't make sense at all. The Allegiance was new organization composed of rebels, space pirates, and a couple of underworld networks. Jolie might be bad, evil, and conniving, but Audrey was pretty sure Jolie had just as much contempt for the Allegiance as she did.

     "Core of the mainframe computer. Stick to the plan, Audrey," she scolded herself as she quickly typed in the sixteen digit code Jolie had given her. She wondered if it would even work.

     Audrey held her breath and once again whispered a prayer as the computer screen flashed Processing. "Let this work, God. Please!"

     The door slid open to reveal the last corridor that would lead to the bridge. As she had anticipated, it was heavily guarded. 

     Audrey's energy sword, which had been invisible in the sheath strapped to her back, became a visible red glow as she unsheathed it and held it in her hand. She pulled the hood--complete with a face mask--down over her head, praying once again that at least the gear Jolie had given her was legitimate. At least, it should have been, anyway. It was made of the same tough carbon infused material that these things were made of.

     "What's your game, Jolie?" she muttered to herself as the bullets hit the material, but bounced harmlessly to the floor. "Why are you giving me everything I need to get to the core of the mainframe? What do want with Troy?"

     Slight pain made by the impact of the bullets jarred Audrey back to reality. She lunged forward, swinging her energy sword in wide sweep across two guards. Red electricity danced on their chests and they fell to the ground, twitching.

     There was no incision, as there was no blade. It was formed by pure energy. For telepathics, it was usually an embodiment of mental energy, but Audrey wasn't a telepathic. This one worked on the principle of a battery producing the energy, and a crystal concentrating the energy beam, contorting it into a blade.

     The guards probably would have stepped back at that point, but Audrey never gave them the chance, kicking one with her right leg underneath the chin, snapping his head back and knocking him out, while swinging her energy sword in her left hand and catching another across the neck.

     Then she dropped into a crouch and swiped the feet out from under another as he fired six rounds where she'd just been standing.

     "Ouch!" she gasped, as something penetrated the armor behind her left shoulder blade.

     An energy blade. 

     "Oh come on! Of course you had to have one too!" she yelled to herself in frustration, clumsily swinging her own behind her, catching the soldier's hand as he went to jerk his weapon out.

     He jerked back, banging his head against the opposite corridor wall, and Audrey reached around with difficulty, and pulled it out herself. She could feel blood pumping out of the wound, but she knew that it wasn't too bad. It wouldn't even need stitches.

     Grunting, she stood to her feet and headed towards the bridge.

     Jolie, what game are you playing? she echoed her earlier question. Are you trying to kill me, or help me? Or are you further manipulating?

     Of course, Jolie didn't answer.

Everything was foggy, and Troy couldn't concentrate. He couldn't move. It was like his body wasn't his own. He could hear his heart beating, and he was breathing, but when he tried to control his breathing, he couldn't.

     His second thought after that was if Audrey was okay. The thought of harm coming to Audrey was terrifying, but he reasoned that Audrey had always managed to be okay, and he hadn't met anyone who could beat her in a fair (or unfair) fight.

     His third thought was about what had happened to him. He remembered the Shadow Elite asking Audrey and him to take this contract and get the core of the mainframe. He remembered training at a training camp, meeting lots of other teens, meeting Jolie. Jolie, the one who'd given them everything they needed for this.

     Now that he thought about it, that was odd. 

     And that was his last thought before slipping into foggy oblivion again.

"He'll drift in and out of consciousness," Jolie told the silent warrior standing beside her, viewing the pulsing orb that Jolie held in her hand. "He won't remember much, and he won't be able to move. I control him."

     "I'm planning something for him," the warrior hissed in a strangled, strained voice that sounded similar to nails on a chalk board.

     "Yes?"

     "I was thinking he and the female should fight."

     "No, no, no, no," Jolie admonished. "Way too cliche. And I hate cliches, you know?"

     The warrior was silent. He didn't know what that word meant, but he gathered it was something that wasn't good.

     Jolie sighed.

     "Any suggestions?" he questioned slyly.

     "Yes, I'm glad you asked," Jolie smiled wickedly.

The first thing Audrey noticed were the red words Critical flashing on the screen. The ship was badly damaged, and taking the core of the mainframe would most likely damage it more. Thankfully, the Allegiance would never get the information they needed from the core about the newest sector and the strange energy transmissions found there.

     Audrey looked around her slowly, knowing that patience and cautiousness was the best option here. Secondary control panel there...airlock controls over there...gravity controls to the left...hyper and warp drives on the right... She drew in a deep breath. The ship was huge, and it might take a while. And who knew how many guards were left? Or where Troy was now, since she'd left him...

     "It's here somewhere," she whispered to herself, squinting with concentration. Her eyes tracked slowly around the massive bridge before finding the main control panel. That was a start. She headed over that way, her shoes making slight noises against the metal floor. 

     She let her fingers brush lightly over the dials and buttons, but she already knew the mainframe wasn't right here. 

     It was slow, frustrating work as she tediously tried to find entrance to the system and track the date streams to the core, and then use a sort of GPS to track the data transmissions from the core and pinpoint the location of the core in the ship. Easier said than done.

     "Finally!" she whispered triumphantly to herself, closing her eyes burning eyes briefly. She wiped a little bit of sweat off of her forehead before turning to look behind her and at the floor. 

     Her eyes instantly found the round oval in the center of the floor, which was probably six feet in diameter. She knelt down, her fingers probing around the surface, searching for a way to get it off. 

     "Well, I can't lift it," she told herself. "There's no trigger. Must be on that stupid control panel. Aargh! I did not sign up for this." She paused. "Well, actually I did. Okay, moving on..."

     Once again, Audrey returned to the control panel, but it didn't take nearly as much time now that she knew what was what, and knew the general grouping of the controls.

     "Here we go," she smiled tiredly, her fingers skittering over the keypad with the last code Jolie had given her. For once, she was certain that the code would work.

     With a mechanical whirring noise, the metal oval slowly lowered into the ground, revealing a pitch black hole that seemed to draw Audrey into it. She blinked once before stepping slowly forward, eyes still locked on the black oblivion.

     Reaching the rim, Audrey pulled out her energy sword, letting its light illuminate some of the dark space beneath her.

     "Ahh!" she yelled, jumping backwards as red, luminous eyes glared back at her.

     She scrambled back even farther as she heard the distinct sound of scales scraping against metal, and claws on steel as huge talon like appendages latched themselves to the edge of the hole. 

     Horror clutched at Audrey's stomach as she realized that whatever was down there...was coming up. 

     For her.

Audrey clutched her energy sword, hoping for even the slightest sliver of security she typically felt when she had it in her hand. But this time, it didn't give any.

     She looked down quickly at her armor, trying to gauge how much force it would resist and if those razor sharp claws that were digging deep gouges into the metal would rip it.

     Of course, it will! she realized in a panic.

     She backed up until her lower back rammed painfully against one of the many control panels.

     "You have to stay calm," she whispered hoarsely to herself. "You are not afraid; you are invincible and this creature can not harm you." She considered that statement for a split second before adding, "Too much."

     Muscular, scaly arms appeared, followed by a long, graceful, ever-curving neck, which supported an oval head with two large, dark eyes. Another set of legs appeared, followed by more back, so flexible it was like watching a slinky crawl out of the hole. At last, the third pair of legs came up over the edge, followed by three long, snakish tails, each one with a scythe-like blade on the end.

     Audrey identified it immediately as a Scav. A rebel Scav that would have no qualms killing her.

     Once all of its body was out of the hole, the Scav paused to lick its large poison fangs before settling its hypnotic black eyes on Audrey's green ones.

     "Ah, you're a hypnotizing one," she realized and almost smiled. Troy had once had the bright idea of trying hypnosis on Audrey. Unfortunately for Troy (but fortunately for Audrey), she was not the type of person who relaxed easily, and therefore could not be hypnotized.

     Audrey forced herself to keep staring into those deep, black holes, however, and managed to keep her burning eyes from blinking for a minute or two. She smiled inwardly as the Scav relaxed, thinking it had hypnotized her.

     Keeping eye contact with Audrey all the while, the Scav moved forward, its body curving like a centipede's. It stopped a few steps away from her, and Audrey found it increasingly hard not to blink as it slowly shoved out its front right hand, claws upward.

     Since she wasn't actually hypnotized, she didn't know what the Scav wanted. Her hand? Her weapon? Her armor? She decided the most logical choice was her energy sword, so she slowly brought her arm forward, like she was going to hand the Scav the energy sword.

     At the last possible moment, she brought her energy sword swinging upward with all of her strength, the beam of energy ripping up its scaled chest and neck, finally scalding the scales of its chin. It leaped back now, as its three tails whipped around its sides, one of them smacking firmly against Audrey's right side.

     She winced, but bit her lip to keep her exclamation of surprise and pain from seeping out. It was never a good idea to let your enemy know just how hurt you were or were not.

     She moved backward, letting the other two tails hit the air harmlessly. She viewed first her own wound, which was just a slight cut where the tail blade had sliced through the armor, before checking the damage that she'd inflicted on the Scav. 

     The energy blade had sliced through the first layer of thicker scales, and through the second layer of much thinner scales. But it had drawn only a little blood and inflicted minimal pain.

     The Scav launched itself forward, using the muscles in the back two pairs of legs. Audrey hit the floor and rolled as fast as she could, before springing back up into a fight ready position as the Scav sailed harmlessly overhead.

     Well, mostly so. One of the tails whipped in a sweeping motion faster than Audrey could move, slicing off a clump of red hair and leaving a very small scratch on her neck. She almost went faint, realizing that right now, her head could be severed from her body.

     "This is going to be a bit harder than I thought," she muttered, as she slowly inched backward as the Scav twisted sharply, landing lightly on all three pairs of legs, and turning around to face her.

     Audrey took another step backward, the black hole coming into her peripheral vision. The mainframe was down there, so if she could get the core...mission accomplished. As far as getting the core, not the "getting it back to us in one piece" part. Because she couldn't do that if she were dead.

     She smiled brightly at the Scav, watching uncertainty and confusion flash over its face before being replaced with sudden realization and sheer panic as it understood what she was going to do.

     "Bye-bye!" she grinned, doing a back-flip into the dark oblivion.

"Are you serious?! She's got the core?!" Jolie snapped.

     "I thought it was planned," the warrior hissed, and Jolie couldn't tell if he was genuinely confused or mocking her.

     "The scheming, manipulating, genius part of me is happy, but the prideful, dangerous part of my brain is screaming this shouldn't have happened," she replied cooly. "Don't doubt me--ever."

     "Is that a threat?" the warrior responded evenly.

     Jolie shrugged. "Take it anyway you want. You know what I'm capable of."

     "And you know what I'm capable of," the warrior warned.

     Jolie smirked. "Sure. If that lets you sleep at night."

Audrey landed easily, letting her knees bend to absorb the shock. She quickly straightened up and checked for...well, what you would expect to make up a supercomputer. 

    She couldn't see anything but metal walls, curving over her head. No control panels, no wires, no circuit boards, no keypads...

     Her eyes adjusted gradually, as the scrape of scales and claws overheard set her heart beating faster. She needed to hurry.

     Finally, she could distinguish what the strange shadow in the center of the room was--a pedestal holding a crystal-like object. She knew it was the core, the thing she'd come for. Quickly, but keeping her ears alert, she approached the column and viewed the clasps holding the core. She couldn't bend them herself...she quickly drew her energy sword, and brought it carefully up against the clasps, letting its searing heat cleave the metal.

     Claws and scales scraping metal...a thunk as a large, muscular body hit the metal floor opposite of Audrey. She grabbed the core and backed up against the wall. She couldn't get out quickly. She probably should have thought about that, but too bad. She had the core. The only problem now was getting out. 

     Something was nagging at the back of her mind, something about the amount of time it took the Scav to get down here. It made her wonder...did they want her to get the core? Whose side was Jolie on?!

     She didn't have any more time to think about it before the Scav lunged, sailing around the pedestal with the speed and grace of a panther. Audrey barely had time to leap out of the way, swinging her energy sword in a wide sweep. The Scav swung one of its tails up, the scythe like blade deflecting the blow. 

     "C'mon on," she hissed to herself. "You have to do better than this."

     The Scav turned around faster than she could blink, all three tails and a pair of legs swiping out at her. She jumped back and to the side, swinging her energy sword to block one of the tails and both legs. The second tail swiped her legs out from underneath her as the third one barely missed hitting her left side.

     She managed to flip back to her feet pretty fast, but not fast enough. Another tail swiped her legs out again, rubbing her ankles raw, causing them to sting. She could feel it constricting even more, and she knew the tail could potentially break her bones. Audrey swung her energy sword down with all of her might towards the tail.

     Another tail whipped out to block it, but Audrey maneuvered the blade deftly so that it cut right before the scythe like blade formed, cutting the blade off all together. The Scav shrieked in pain, releasing its hold on her ankles while jerking back. She could feel blood on her fingers, strangely slimy and sticky at the same time. The foul smell of charred flesh assaulted her nostrils as she scrambled a little less gracefully than usual to her feet. She almost fell over again, the pain in her ankles was so immense, but it passed quickly.

     The Scav tucked its wounded tail up under its belly, and charged towards Audrey again. She leapt upwards, letting the one tail pass beneath her, while bringing her sword up to block the other. So hard was her blow that pain traveled up the blade and tail, causing the Scav to roar in pain again, before leaping forward.

     Audrey had anticipated the move, and dodged to the side, but her speed was no match for the lightning fast reflexes of the Scav, who somehow managed to maneuver his jump just right so he landed on top of her, crushing every ounce of air out of her lungs.

     Audrey gasped as the scales ground into her body through her armor, and she could feel her fingers going numb as she held onto the energy sword with all of her might. It was the only thing that was going to save her.

Troy's mind surfaced again from the mental fog, but Jolie didn't even notice nor care.

     What is going on? he thought. His brain felt...tired, and he really wanted to close his eyes again, drift in the silent sea of darkness he'd awoken from...but he couldn't. Strange visions were flashing in front of his face, visions of something he didn't understand, visions he didn't want to understand. 

     It was like he was someone else, in the brain of another being, as it focused its sharp eyes on the figure in front of it. Troy immediately recognized the lithe, red headed, emerald eyes figure. 

     Audrey?! What's going on? Am I killing Audrey?! His mind was spinning as he struggled to wake up from this terrible nightmare. Only, he feared it wasn't. The creature leaped, and Audrey dodged. But she wasn't fast enough. The creature twisted, smashing down on her, and Troy let out a mental scream, which rocked through the network of minds controlled by Jolie's mind, like a stabbing, jarring pain of searing light.

"What is going on?" Jolie demanded, confused.

     "What's happening?" the warrior wanted to know, turning its mutated face to meet Jolie's.

     "Something like a sudden, searing sword jab has gone through all the minds connected to this," Jolie explained.

     The warrior blinked. "Do you think it'll happen again?"

     "No," Jolie hissed suddenly, angry. "I figured out where it came from, and he will pay."

     "Give me what you promised first--the girl," the warrior responded.

     Jolie drew in a deep breath before agreeing. "Fine."

The Scav faltered on top of Audrey, as if pierced by a sudden pain, as it jerked its head back, shaking it viciously. She took advantage of this, managing to pull her arm out from where it was pinned beneath the Scav's front left arm, and bringing it up its chest again, parallel with its previous chest wound.

     It jumped away from her as fast as lightning, its body curving and writhing like a snake's. Audrey knew he'd strike soon, so she jumped to her feet painfully before backing up against the curved wall. If only she could get out...

     The Scav charged, wraith like, poison fangs bared and two tails snapping the air angrily. Audrey had little time to dodge artfully out of the way, letting it slam into the wall with a good bit of force, denting the heavy metal walls. It skidded to a halt, did a ninety degree turn, and charged at Audrey again, who was quickly approaching the curved wall at the other side of the cavern.

     Everything had to be timed perfectly, even down to the last second. Each reaction had to be perfect, flawless.

     It seemed to slow down for Audrey as the Scav charged, mouth gaping, saliva dripping of its fangs and tongue. She continued running full tilt, even as the wall loomed larger and larger before her. She forced herself to keep running with everything she had up that curved wall...her muscles screamed and gravity pushed her down, but she grabbed the edge of the hole with her fingers, and forced her tired body to swing out from the wall with all she had, letting the Scav smash his head against the metal wall right where her feet had been.

     She swung forward, her feet hitting the wall above the Scav's head, and pulled upward with her arms and shoved with her feet, pushing herself upward and the Scav's head down.

     Once on the rim, she collapsed, drawing in deep, gasping breaths for air. Her sides ached, her ankles were bleeding, her fingers were slashed from grabbing the sharp metal rim, and her ribs felt like they'd been crushed while her arms burned all over. In fact, she hurt so much, she almost felt like she could just fall asleep forever...

     The Scav pulled himself out of the hole much the way he had done the first time, but Audrey could tell he was more tired than he'd been then, just like her.

     If that thing charged at her again...she knew she'd be dead. She sucked in another great lungful of air before making one last desperate move.

     She threw her energy sword with all of her might as soon as the Scav came out of the hole and lunged for her, claws extended. Then she ducked as the Scav smashed to the ground right behind her, energy sword buried deep into its neck.

     Once again, Audrey almost gagged at the horrendous smell, and felt her head swimming as she wrapped her fingers around the bloody blade and pulled for all she worth.

     The blade left the body easily, and Audrey closed her eyes, willing the nausea away. She opened them again, took a deep breath, and sheathed the energy sword.

     "Jolie, I know you can here me. I'll make you a deal--let Troy go, safe and sound, and I'll spare your life."

Jolie laughed at Audrey's deal. "Ha, not a chance! Good luck trying to kill me."

     The warrior was not amused, however. He wanted the job done now. This ship was a vital part of his leader's plan, and it needed to get there. Right now it couldn't run, as there was nothing to power it. But what Jolie had promised him could not be ignored...as soon as she delivered it though, he would kill her.

     Pity, though--she really was such a genius. He admired the way she played with people's mind. Oh well. Killing never bothered him. Jolie would be no different.

Audrey stood as if waiting for an answer, but she knew one wasn't going to come. Pain wracked her body from being crushed, and she knew there was no way she was going to make it. Or fight anyone.

     When you need Him most, He'll be there, her mother's voice echoed in her head.

      Audrey took in a deep breath, kneeled, and silently prayed, Oh Lord, I can't do this without you. I know I haven't always sought your will, and I know I'm not perfect. I'm sorry. Dear God, I need your help so badly here...I can't defeat Jolie on my own and Troy...he's gone. I don't know where. I can't find him; I need your help. Lord, help me, strengthen me, and guide me. Amen."

      She let her eyes stay closed a few moments longer and felt a stillness, a peace, settle over her. Slowly, she rose to her feet, finding she felt restored.

     Thank you, God.

"What was she doing?" Jolie murmured to herself. She'd never seen something quite like that.

     "She's praying to someone or something," the warrior noted.

     "Well, I knew that, just...I didn't think Audrey was a Christian," Jolie responded a little sharply. "Okay...she's moving around the control room now. Everything's working as planned."

     "You need to speed the plan up," the warrior warned. "This ship needs to get to the Assembly Point soon."

     "We can do that," Jolie grudgingly allowed. "Have one of the warriors go ahead and hook the boy up to the system."

     The warrior nodded and called for one of his soldiers to complete the order.

Audrey moved around the control panel, before finding one screen that showed her the layout of the ship. Thank you, God, for that one, she whispered silently, her eyes scanning for the quickest route to the escape pod. The pod-sized ship they'd come in and docked with had already left to re-join with the dreadnaught.

     "I can't leave without Troy," she told herself. "I just can't. But the core..."

     She wasn't sure what she needed to do--take the core first, and then come back for Troy? Or save Troy and then both of them and the core got out of there?

     She stood there for a moment, indecisive, clenching and unclenching her jaw as she thought long and hard. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but she probably should get the core back to the Shadow Elite, and then head out after Jolie so she could get Troy back.

     "I'm so sorry, Troy," she whispered, before powering down the control panel and dashing for the pods.

Rachel hated paperwork. Absolutely abhorred it, in fact. "Just my luck to get stuck with it," she muttered. She shuffled the papers on her desk, thinking about how unfair this was. All they saw was the shy, petite, light haired girl who waited patiently for their leader's next command. No one really bothered to look past that and see the insanely smart computer hacker, the warrior, the courageous spirit. And also the part of her that hated paperwork.

     "Man, this work is boring." She sighed in frustration, tossing a manila folder full of figures from the Shadow Elite Industry income. "Ah, not that one!" She hastily grabbed it out, and then took a swig of Mountain Dew. "I'm not going to survive this! I mean, I've started talking to myself!"

     She checked for incoming messages. Nothing. "Really have to stop talking to myself..." 

     She paused for a second and then growled in frustration. "I just did it again!"

     Rachel really really really needed a break, so she swept the Mountain Dew can into the trash and stalked out of the room. She hadn't made it more than five feet before someone was hounding her again.

     "Yes?" she asked sweetly, plastering a fake smile on her tired face.

     "Incoming message from someone named Audrey."

     Rachel's head snapped up. "Yes? What'd she say?"

     "She says the good news is that she's got the core."

     "What's the bad news?"

     "She says...they've got Troy."

"We have to get him back," Rachel replied immediately. She didn't know Troy very well, but she enjoyed his sense of humor and easy-go-lucky manner. Also, she'd seen so many deaths... She wasn't eager to add another name to the ever growing list.

     Audrey nodded mutely. The whole time she'd been onboard the ship, she hadn't had time to think about it much. But now, now she felt numb. And there was this emptiness inside of her.

     "Hey, don't worry," Rachel soothed. "We'll get him back. Unfortunately, I'm the only one available right now...but I should be enough."

     Audrey allowed a small smile to lift the corners of her mouth. "Trying to escape the paperwork?"

     "If only one could..." Rachel muttered.

Jolie drummed her fingers on the control panel. "They'll be here by tomorrow. That allows for Audrey to get back, get help, gear up, and return."

     Her ever constant companion, the captain of the ship (a.k.a the silent warrior), grunted. "Whatever it is you say."

     Jolie raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "You'll see. I haven't been wrong so far."

     "As long as I get what I need, I'll let you live. But if I don't get what I need..." He let it hang in the air.

     "You'll be stuck," Jolie interrupted.

     The creature blinked slowly and tolerantly. It didn't bother to point out that wasn't what he was going to say. What was the point? He was going to kill her eventually, anyway, whether he got what he needed or not.

Somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, Troy thought briefly about his mother. He wasn't sure what brought her to mind, but it was comforting.

     Wait, did that mean he was dying? After all, his mother was dead, and he was seeing her face very clearly.

     No, he couldn't be dying. Now the memories were going faster, as if someone was prying through them.

     And someone was.

     That someone was Jolie.

"We'll get a good night's rest, then head out early tomorrow. The ship is already fully equipped, so that won't be a problem. Negotiating might be an option, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Rachel wrapped up. "Sound good?"

     "Anything that deals with getting Troy back sounds good," Audrey responded. She rubbed her temples to try and ease the pain that had taken up residence there. Rachel watched her keenly.

     "I think it's about time we went to bed."

     "Mm. Not opposed to that at all," Audrey responded, smiling slightly. "I'm looking forward to it very much."

     Rachel stretched and yawned before standing up. "C'mon; I'll show you your room."

Jolie finally grew bored of searching Troy's memories, so she called the technician of the ship into her quarters. Setting the mind-control orb down on her dresser, she turned to face him.

     "The core isn't a vital part of this ship, correct? There are back-ups in the hard drives."

     The technician nodded his reptilian head. "Yes, ma'am, that is correct. Our energy matrix collapsed, so we need something to power the ship."

     Jolie nodded. "So it doesn't matter if I recover the core or not?"

     The technician wasn't sure where this was going, but he shook his head. "No."

      "Alright. You may go now." She smiled now, but it wasn't a nice one; it was more like the leer of a wolf before it lunges for the killing stroke.