Jen went right to the computer center when she had gotten back from her devastating visit to Osvaldo. She was mad and needed to know who had attacked the poor innocent Deepfallen. Entering the Argies grid she pulled up all the satellite images she could find. Then she started her search. First she got rid of anything after when they knew the decease had already been inserted into the area. She then used a group of filters that would cause the nano-infestation to show up. This allowed through a lot of work to find that the infestation had started about a month before any sign of the effects became known. This was where Jen’s work really started. She now had an infection date; this allowed her to go to other data banks and start looking for how it got there. She started by checking with Argies air and space traffic control. She found out from them that it was basically an area that was not used. As far as the air traffic people could tell nothing had come into that area in the last year or so. 

Jen thought, ‘What else could have carried the nanites into Bluefalls with out setting off every alarm on the planet.’ Then it hit her; an asteroid would set off alarms just not the one she was checking. With a little more checking she found an asteroid had landed in the area of Osvaldo just before the infection had started. Once Jen had the co-ordinates of the rocks splash down she sent it to the decease control people and they went looking. They eventually found it, and just in time for it was starting up with round two of the invasion of the killer nanites. The asteroid was then sent to Jen so she could analysis it. This gave her enough information to determine it had originated in system, but she still did not know where. 

Getting back into air and space traffic control, Jen found they tracked anything that moved more then ten meters above the ground. This included natural occurring objects as well as man made objects. Working through the huge database took her awhile but she eventually found the asteroid in question. She then got its incoming trajectory. She then had the computer trace that trajectory and see where the asteroid had come from. Following it out she had gone out of the system and was half a light year away, when she decided something was wrong. Then she almost slapped herself, because she had forgotten to take into consideration the movement of the planets. She had the computer do the same trajectory and follow it out but this time she put in the correct date. 

This time, the trail lead right to Red Crown, a gas giant. Then fine tuning her calculations. The trajectory led her right to its eighth moon, Raeb. As she saw the trajectory line cross Raeb, a wicked smile crossed her face. She thought, ‘Now I have those murdering Bastards.’ 

Jen runs out of the computer lab to find Flash, and in her haste almost runs right into him. She quickly tells him what she has found, and then says,

“We must get out there; we need a ship right now.” Flash nods his agreement, but Jen can see he is thinking of something else. Then he gets on his com and is talking to someone Jen can not see. The conversation progresses and eventually Flash says,

“Thank you and we are now even, unless I am right. If I am right you are going to owe me big time.” He turned off his com and looked at Jen. He said,

“There will be a shuttle here in about half an hour. It will take us to the Destroyer Nimitz; at least that was what I thought he said. The ship will then take us to Red Crown and give us tactical support.” Jen smiled and said,

“How did you do all that so quickly?” A little twinkle came to his eyes and he said,

“Always remember who owes you and how much. In times like these it can be incredibly useful.” She looked at him with such disbelief in her eyes as she said,

“You blackmailed an Admiral?”

“No,” he said in a voice that if she did not know him better might imply his feelings were hurt. “He just owed me a little favor.”

The conversation died as they moved to the supply shed.Collecting the gear they were going to need Jen said,

“What were you thinking when I told you what I had found?” He shrugged and said

“Nothing, I was just thinking about another race that had been used similar to the Deepfallen.” Then he went very quite. When the gear was all collected. The shuttle was there and ready to be loaded. 

They got on to the Nimitz and were taken right to the captain. She said,

"Ok, you have commandeered my ship, what are you doing with it?" Flash looked at Jen as if to say, 'go ahead and tell him.' Jen then turned to the obviously upset captain and said,

"Well captain we have reliable information that there maybe a Klick base on Raeb." She looked stunned, but quickly said,

"How big, is it armed, how did they get there?" Jen looked at her and said,

"We do not have any answers for you. That is why we are going there."

"If we do find one what are our orders?" Jen flashed her a mischievous smile and said,

"That is up to us, but I would love to kill every one of those bugs." The Captain also smiled at the thought, and pushed a button on her desk. She said,

"Navigation,"

"Yes Captain."

"Set your best course to Raeb." Then he pushed the button again. She turned back to Jen and said,

"I am still not happy about my ship being taken from its regular duties, but if you are right." She then paused as if to decide whether she like these people or not. After a couple of seconds she came to a conclusion and said,

"I am sorry, but to have my ship taken over with no warning or information. Well it just pisses me off, but now that I know what is going on, I am glad that Nimitz and I can help, by the way my name is Emily Bloc and I would like to welcome you aboard the Nimitz." The three of them then sat and discussed the best way to deal with what they might find out there. After about half an hour they called in the Nimitz's Marine commander, one Major Bud Rodgers. The four of them then planned out as much as they could. When all that was done, Flash and Jen were shown to a cabin and the mess.They ate and headed back to their cabin to get some sack time. Jen lied there looking out the port, while the Nimitz glided through the blackness of the Argies system.

After a couple of minutes lying there Jen realized she was not going to be able to sleep. Getting up she started to some research into Raeb. She found out it was not much more then just a giant rock in space. It had no atmosphere and was very ruff. The whole rock was also riddled with caves. The moon had extensive mineral deposits, but had never been claimed by anyone. Then she came across something interesting. It seems in 2498 a Regency survey ship, the Aspirar, for some unexplained reason had crashed on Raeb. Fifty people had died and the Regency had closed the crash site as a mass grave. 

At that point the captain called, she asked them to come to the bridge as they were coming into orbit around Redcrown. When they got there Emily turned to them and said,

"We are orbiting Redcrown just inside of Raeb's orbit. It will hopefully not raise any suspicions. We have detected two other ships in orbit. One looks to be a freighter loading up at the Void Corp mining station, while the other is more interesting. It is an armed escort ship. Argis is the safest system in the Verge, so why do they need an escort?" Then a voice on the bridged called out.

"M'am, we have done a scan of all of Raeb, and only found one area with an unusual reading. There is some kind of energy at the old crash site. There is also a great deal of heat in the area. The radiation could be causing the heat, but I have never seen anything like it. Emily looked at Flash and then Jen. Jen said,

"Can you get us down there undetected?" 

"Yes, but I can't get you back. For that I would have to send a shuttle. Also if you needed help it would have to come by shuttle,so don't get in to deep before you call for help." Jen smiled at her concern then said,

"Captain we are Rangers, we are suppose to get into and out of tight spots." then she looked at Flash and continued on,

"Either through brains or through bashing!" Flash just laughed.

They suited up for the hostile environment they were going into, both from the Klicks and the environmental conditions on Raeb. When they were ready to go they climbed into a couple of modified torpedoes. They were made of stealth material and filled with jamming equipment. The torpedoes were then fired at Raeb, and landed in what most people would have called a crash landing. Checking their interments Jen found they had landed just outside of the old crash site. Climbing out they checked their gear, and then Jen quickly put on a scanning gauntlet and started taking readings of the area. Flash looked at her rubbing his back and said,

"Next time we have to sneak in some place let me set up our transportation." Jen just stuck out her tong at him and checked the readings she was getting from her gauntlet. The ground under them was riddled with caves. She shivered think of what might be down there, and turned up the heater on her suit. The environment on Raeb was not conducive for humans or many other sentiments, the landscape was very ruff and there was almost no atmosphere. This in a way led Jen to think there was probably no Klick base on Raeb; after all it would have to give off some kind of energy readings. 

She looked back at her gauntlet and then said,

“There is a cave entrance up ahead, and from what I can tell it joins up with the caves under the crash site. At least I think so, there is so much bloody radiation it is playing havoc with my gauntlet.” They found the cave entrance and slowly moved into it. After about 5 meters the light had faded to pitch black. Jen noticed that Flash had no trouble seeing and said,

“How can you see in this blackness?” He laughed and said,

“My race can see both inferred and heat signatures. It helps when we are skulking around in areas we really should not be in.” Jen had to use her enhanced optics on her helmet, as they slowly moved deeper into the cave. After searching the cave system for at least an hour, Jen said,

“Maybe I was wrong, maybe there isn't anything here.” Flash was looking at a dead end tunnel off to their right and did not hear what she had said. After a minute he said,

“Come and look at this.”Jen looked and noticed the whole back wall was a different heat signature. 

“Could it be a hidden door?”

“If it is it isn't hidden very well, a child could find it.” 

They examined the area and eventually found what looked like an access panel in the floor. Jen activated it while Flash covered her with his blaster. When the door was open they found they were standing in front of an airlock. Jen looked at Flash and said,

“Should we?” He smiled back and said,

“Lock’n and load, we are going to kick some bug butt.” They moved into the airlock and the out side door closed. Flash then mumbled something in a strange language. Then turned to look at the control panel. He pushed a button and a rush of air filled the chamber. Then he pushed another and the door into the complex opened. Jen was ready with her blaster but there was nothing in sight. Moving into the area Jen noticed that some of the walls had obviously been worked on by some race or another. She looked around and then turned to Flash and said,

“What was that all about? I did not know anyone could read Klick.” He smiled and said,

“Its magic.” She laughed and said,

“You will have to teach me some of that magic some day.” 

They moved slowly, stopping at every little noise. Flash had told her with Klicks you have to look every where, because they like to walk on walls and ceilings. He also pointed out they have natural camouflage. This caused Jen to try and look every where at once, which had she left her helmet on would have been much easier. They had removed them after coming out of the airlock.The air was breathable, but a little stale. Moving deeper into the complex the air quality seemed to get worse. Jen eventually put her helmet back on. Using her advanced optics and sound enhancement she new there were Klicks near by. They eventually found them and from a hiding spot watched them go by. The interesting thing was they were escorting a group of prisoners. The group contained humans, fraal and an assortment of aliens neither Flash nor Jen had ever seen before. They followed as best they could and found the prisoners were being taken back to their cells. When the guards had left, Flash moved up to the cells while Jen covered him. He made his way to the door and found it was just a clear force field. Looking in he said,

“Knock, knock, is anybody home.”

There were two humans and a Fraal sitting by the door. They all looked up and saw a small humanoid with pointy ears wearing battle armor and carrying enough weapons to supply an army. The one human said to the Fraal, 

“See I told you we were going to be rescued by a space warrior elf.” The Fraal looked at Flash then turned to the human who had just spoken to him and said,

“How come I can see your hallucination?” The human jumped up and ran to the door and said,

“You are really here?” Flash smiled and said,

“Yes, but I think it is time we all left.” He pushed the button and the door disappeared. Flash then pointed at Jen and said,

“My associate here will lead the way while I bring up the rear. As soon as we can call for help we will, and that should bring the Marines running. Then we can get you out of here.” Jen moved to the front of the line of strange creatures. She would have loved to have some time to get to know some of them. There was one that looked like a fish in a bowl, it somehow levitated itself along. Then there was a very large, about 3 meters tall, cat like creature. The list of strangeness went on and on. 

She slowly moved them towards the door, stopping every once in awhile to avoid a Klick. Flash brought up the rear of the line, all the while trying to get in touch with the Nimitz. As they got closer to the door the interference became less and he finally got through to the Captain. Flash gave her all the information and asked her to send in the Marines. Emily said,

“The Marines will be at the door before you are.” The rest of the trip to the door was uneventful. 

Flash did the rear guard while Jen gave out weapons. She then set them up just in case the Klicks come along. Then Flash handed out some of his extra weapons. He was moving back to his position at the rear when a flash of black light hit the wall just above his head. He dove for cover just as he heard all sorts of different weapons return fire. He looked up just in time to see a Klick fall from the ceiling. Then another took its place, firing at the rag tag army of ex-prisoners. This exchange lasted longer, but eventually the Klick went down. Then a rush of Klicks came around the corner.They were on the walls, ceiling and of course the floor. It was a wave of shell, legs and weapons.The army of ex-prisoners laid down a barrage of killer fire. Even through that killer fire the Klicks were making progress. Flash was thinking they were in trouble the Klicks would throw hundreds of themselves at them. The small army could not deal with numbers like that; they would run out of ammo before the Klicks ran out of Klicks. 

Flash was just about to pull out a sword and go hand to hand with the front Klick, when the air lock doors opened and out poured a wave of Marines in battle armor. It took them only a few minutes to push the Klicks back around the corner. Jen moved up to look around the corner, her blood froze at what see saw. It was some sort of pod supported by about five whip like legs. The body was about a meter in diameter, and then with those legs under it, it stood about three meters tall. The pod part seemed to be some sort of exoskeleton, or maybe even body armor for some really weird alien. The only think Jen could think of was that it looked like a heavily armored and armed Jellyfish. It had some sort of a Render Rifle and she could see a Rocket cluster on it. 

Upon seeing that Jen thought, ‘That will devastate the group she was guarding.’ She at once pulled out a small rocket launcher, aimed and fired. Her rocket seemed to take forever to get to her target. Then there was an explosion and the shock wave knocked her back around the corner. When she got up there was nothing but dust and smoke. As the dust settled she could see that the pod was still standing there. Its rockets were destroyed in the explosion, but its Render Rifle still liked functional. She also noticed now that it had a Neural blade for melee fighting. She watched for a second, but the creature or robot, or what ever it was did not move. Then another weapon fired at it from behind Jen. It hit one of the Pods legs. This caused it to teeter and eventually topple over. A cheer went up from the army of ex-prisoners. While the Marines moved down the hall to secure it. 

A Fraal that was standing next to Jen said,

“It is a good thing you acted with haste. That was an N’ess light attack pod. One of those boarded my ship and killed 90% of my crew. The N’ess is a vicious race that has allied themselves with the Klicks.” She then heard more fighting up the corridor, and saw two small teddy bear like creatures running to help. She yelled at Flash to grab them, barely got them before they got past him. He brought them back to Jen. One had a knife while the other had a laser pistol. She said in galactic common,

“Do you understand me?” The one with the knife turned and looked at the other, it nodded. The other one nodded in return, then it said,

“Yes, are masters have studied your area of space for a great many years.”

“Oh, you mean the Klicks and these N’ess things?”

“No,” Jen looked confused, so the little teddy bear continued,

“We were capture by the N’ess. We are the unwilling slaves of the Medurr.” Jen and Flash both looked at each other; there was an expression of confusion on their faces. The little teddy bear with the knife then said,

“Can we go now and kill the ones that captured us?” Jen looked at this cute little furry thing in front of her and saw the hatred in its eyes. She said,

“No that won't be necessary. Our soldiers will take care of that.” She paused for a second then asked,

“What is your races name?” 

“We are the Pafal, and my name is Bedzinegrebblykook, and my mate here isGedisbeegkigbueg.” Jen was shocked, how could they remember each others names. She shook her head and said,

“I don’t think I can remember that so can I just call you Frick and Frack?” The two just smiled at each other and then walked over to Jen and nuzzled up against her thigh. Flash said,

“Ok, lets get out of here and let the Marines do there job.”