Of Terrorists and Territory (& Crumpets)

[Seth Karlo]

New London was a busy place today. In orbit, the cloaked Elegant Anguish held geo synchronous orbit over the city that the shuttle was on its way back from.

Said shuttle ripped through the final dregs of atmosphere, and with a silent shimmer, dissapeared as it entered the 'Anguish's cloak field. Behind it, emerging from the docking ring, a transport emerged.

Harry swore under his breath as he looked at the two empty docking ports on the side of the destroyer. Those were hand trained men, and Salazar would not be pleased he had lost them. Not only that, the ships had some of Salazar's personal technology on them, which would give the BPA some interesting advances in engine and hull construction technology.

No matter, he was focussed on a single goal. With a few short strides, he clicked his memory chip into a computer port and started the 'Anguish's mighty computer with cracking the data within.

Meanwhile, only a few thousand metres away, a much larger ship sat cloaked. Salazar himself stood on the bridge of the Immortal Hunter, watching the scene as it unfolded around him. His ensign looked up from the control panel.

'My Lord...' he started, looking around at Kithe.

'Hmm?'

'Well My Lord, there's a transport ship that doesn't seem to be going anywhere...'

'Searching?' muttered Salazar.

'Perhaps sir, but... it's flying rather... nonchalantly.'

Back on the 'Anguish, the computer was done. A few taps of Harry's long, supple fingers sent the warship twisting and falling towards the planet. He would not take another shuttle to be destroyed. The Elegant Anguish was coming to reclaim her queen.

Clouds streaked by the windows, and then the sunshine burst into the bridge, warming the skin. It had no effect on the grim face of Harry however, who stood, one hand resting on his sheathed blade, in the middle of the room.

He had no plan, except to kill everyone he saw. He wondered how many of them would be running away as he arrived, and soon his question was answered. Several large land transports were moving over some swampy ground, away from the concealed prison he knew was there.

An alarm screamed. Outside of the BPA's transmission blocking building, the intraveneuos tracker buried in Siona's arm was able to transmit. She was in one of the trucks, heading away from the building. The fools were trying to take her with them.

The 'Anguish decloaked in all her glory, right in front of the fleeing transports, which swerved and stopped as large weapons came to bear on them. Underneath the ship a cargo ramp descended, and standing there, clothes flapping in the wind, with an unsheathed and extended blade, and with a murderous look in his eye, stood Harry.

In orbit, a battleship patrol spotted the destroyer on their scanners, and alarms started to shriek. Inside the transport, Constable Warden looked up with a shout.

'The Elegant Anguish is on the...' he stopped as he looked at the scanner, because right in front of him, it was telling him there was a very large, very invisible ship.

The BPA officers in the trucks were tough, hardened men. When the Anguish descended low enough for Harry to jump from the ramp onto the wet track below, followed by a group of commando's in black, they didn't budge an inch from their standing ground behind the doors of the transports, guns aimed with steady fingers at the appoaching enemies.

But Harry was unstoppable. A flick of his finger activated the small plasma trail along the edge of the sword. Quickly heating to 3000 degrees, the plasma allowed him to quickly cut straight through a solid steel door and stab the person behind it.

He ignored most of them, heading for the truck he knew had his queen within. Some of the BPA soldiers had started to flee, knowing that keeping the other prisoners imprisoned was more important than killing the soliders. There were battleships in orbit, they would deal with the destroyer.

A slice of the blade and the back of the transport was no longer sealed. Harry jumped up, flicking his wrist in a figure of 8 pattern he cut through the two guards who stood at either side of the door. His love was there, dishevelled and drugged, her hands bound in front of her.

His blade slid inside the handle, and he pressed it to his belt where it magnetically held, and then, as if she weighed nothing at all, picked up Siona Kithe in his hands and carried her back to her ship.

And the BPA on the ground were correct. There were battleships in orbit.

Not all of them were friendly.

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Signature by Sleipnir.