Dysea and the six soldiers with her ground to a halt near the base of Thor Peak. They had traveled fast and as quietly as they could for the last two hours, abandoning the Hopper near the village. To take the short range hover craft would have been suicide, as the Alliance would have either shot them with a missile, or followed them to wherever they eventually stopped. All of the elves with Dysea were sweating and drawing deep breaths. This had been the longest run any of them had ever made with the exception of Dysea and Leland, and while most of the terrain was clear enough to navigate; it was very mountainous in the area.
Dysea settled next to Leland at the rear of their small group, tightly gripping her assault rifle. "Are they still on us?" She asked.
Leland nodded. "No more than two miles back. They are not pressing, just moving along at a rapid pace."
"They are toying with us," Dysea spoke. "Herding us until we are too tired to fight them; and then they will attack."
Leland lowered the wrist mounted map locator he wore. "The Holy One can not continue Dysea." He said softly. "He is not an elf. In excellent physical shape he may be for his age, the fact remains he is old and can not move like us."
Dysea's eyes narrowed. "Are you suggesting we leave him?"
"He would understand Dysea." Leland spoke. "He knows this very thing. If we have to move at his pace, they will catch us and we will die."
"Never…!" Dysea hissed loudly. "I will not leave him for the Alliance animals to find! Never…!" She whirled away from him before Leland could continue and went quickly to where Walter was thirstily downing a full canteen of water. He looked at her as she came up to him.
"Dysea…" He started.
Dysea took a cloth from her belt and bathed the sweat from his forehead, "Rest Holy One." She said softly.
"You have to leave me child." Walter spoke. "I am slowing all of you down. They will catch up to us."
"I will not leave you to those barbarians Holy One." Dysea spoke. "I will carry you if I have to."
"Child… you must survive. You have greater things still to achieve in your life." Walter told her.
Dysea shook her head. "I do not care about what you say of this Martin and Tarifa!" She spat. "I will not leave you to die at the hands of our enemies, and something tells me that they would not either! The Alliance would torture you until you begged them for death. I could not live with that Holy One." She looked into his face to see his eyes wide. "Holy One… what is wrong?"
"That's it." Walter spoke.
"What is it?"
"Martin." Walter replied. "I need to contact Martin."
"Holy One, we don't even know where he is?" Dysea spoke. "How could you contact him?"
"He had Tarifa with him when he escaped EDEN." Walter spoke. "He would have returned her to Mountain City."
"The High Elf capital, are you sure?" Dysea asked.
Walter nodded. "Yes. His first priority would have been to set up a secure encampment for the men and women he had with him. He would not abandon them."
"How does that help us Holy One?" Dysea asked.
Leland had moved over to them now and was listening closely. "Mountain City is deep in the Salmon River Mountains Holy One. That is hundreds of miles away." He said.
Walter nodded. "I know… but if I know Martin he would have set up some sort of long range transmission tower by now. That tower would extend the range of his team's implants and radios by a factor of twenty. I have the same type of implant… I just haven't used it in many years. We would be at the extreme range of the tower, but it's worth a shot." Walter cocked his head slightly and turned to Leland. "Your locator antenna Leland, attach it to my vest. The implants were designed to use our body's own electrical currents to boost the signal's power."
Leland did as he was told without question. It took him only ten seconds before kneeling back in front of Walter.
Walter touched his jaw and took a deep breath. "This is The Creator to The Prodigal Son. Respond".
REFUGEE ENCAMPMENT
"…know you wanted to spice up our love live Tina, but are you sure this is the right way?" Ben asked. He and Tina sat in what was now the Communications center aboard one of the Mark Nine Transports. He held the mug of coffee in his hand and looked at the blond head of the woman he had been together with for going on ten years now. Ben looked at her for a long moment, and realized that even though she was ten years younger than his forty-five years; she had never even shown an interest in another man.
Tina turned from her seat and looked at him with a smile. "It's not another man Ben." She told him. "I don't need another man."
Ben looked confused. "Ok… you lost me." He said. "What are we talking about then?"
"Endith you bone head!" Tina spoke.
Ben's eyes sprang open, "Endith?" He exclaimed. "You're joking right?"
"What? You don't find her attractive?" Tina asked.
"That… that's not it! I… I'm very confused here." Ben said.
Tina turned in her chair. "Why do you think she was helping us so much the past few days? She stuck her tits in your face enough times! She likes us Ben!"
"Us?" Ben asked.
Tina nodded. "I talked with her quite a bit while you were playing tough guy with the boys! She's attracted to both of us. Her position as Tarifa's senior lieutenant has not allowed her to explore her own sexuality, and when she saw Marty banging the crap out of Tarifa on the observation deck, she almost went into heat right there."
"And… and you are ok with this?" Ben asked.
Tina shrugged. "I'd be lying if I said I never thought about being with another woman."
"Tina… I'm old enough to be her dad." Ben said.
Tina laughed. "She's an elf Ben. She may look twenty-one… but she's really a hundred and seventeen years old." She said. "And if you want to get technical… you're over four hundred years old, and I'm close to that mark."
"Wait a minute… have you and her…" Ben asked.
Tina blushed slightly, her blue eyes gleaming. "We… kissed." She said. "It was very nice."
"I don't need another woman Tina." Ben told her seriously. "I'm very happy with you."
Tina moved next to him and knelt next to his chair. "I know that silly." She said. "And I am very happy with you, very happy Ben. I just thought it might be something different for the both of us. I know Endith is very up for the experience."
"She told you that?" Ben asked surprised.
Tine laughed. "Yes she did." She replied. "I get the feeling that these elves we have met are considerably more open about their sexuality. You can't tell me the thought of two beautiful women sucking your big cock doesn't turn you on baby. I know you to well for that."
Ben looked at her. "So now I'm big?" He asked.
"I didn't want to stroke your already overly large ego dear." Tina said. "But you are the biggest I've ever had." She said sweetly.
"What about surfer Joe in Maui?" Ben asked. "You know, before we got together. I heard you talking to the other female pilots and you said he was huge."
Tina laughed and sat herself in Ben's lap. "Yeah he was; a huge bore!" She told him, kissing his cheek.
Ben looked at her, his eyes turning into mock anger. "I should punish you for lying to me all these years." He said.
Tina waggled her eyebrows. "Is that a promise?"
"You are a very…"
"This is The Creator to The Prodigal Son! Respond." The words burst out of the radio console, causing both their heads to jerk around toward the panel.
"What was that?" Tina asked climbing off Ben's lap and going to the console. Ben moved to another station next to her.
"It's a weak signal!" Ben spoke, his hands moving over the panel.
"This is The Creator to The Prodigal son! Respond Please!" The male voice blasted from the speaker again.
"Juice the power." Tina snapped, her fingers typing furiously on the keyboard. "I'm trying to triangulate the signal.
"We're at eighty percent power!" Ben spoke. "I'm searching the databanks for those call signs!" His fingers were flying over his keyboard with incredible speed, and his eyes widened when the reply came back. "Tina will you take a look at this!"
Tina turned from her screen and looked at what Ben was pointing to. Her own eyes grew wider. "Marty?" She spoke. "I've never heard Marty go by The Prodigal Son."
"The Creator to the Prodigal Son, please respond! It is Alpha Gamma Three nine one! Repeat, Alpha Gamma three nine one! Respond please!"
Ben looked at Tina, "Contact Marty now!" He ordered.
Tarifa's body was stretched out on top of Martin's, her hands slowly wandering over his hard muscles as she traced the tattoos on his chest and rippled abdomen. She felt his fingers caressing the back of her shoulder and down her spine with a gentleness that she had come to love. They were both resting and simply enjoying what time they had left before Martin had to leave. Tarifa knew this time together with him had been what they had both needed to keep from going crazy with all that had happened in the last few weeks. They both needed someone to reach out to and be with, and discovering each other was a godsend. They needed no words to express to each other what they both felt, and words would have only ruined the peaceful moment for them both.
It wouldn't last.
Tarifa felt Martin sigh heavily and take a deep breath, his chest rising and falling. She turned to look at his face as he spoke.
"Raptor One here! Go!"
"Martin its Tina," Her voice filled his ear implant. "We're picking up a low band transmission from the border of Wyoming and Idaho in the Teton Mountain range. Originating call sign is The Creator! They are trying to contact The Prodigal Son! We looked it up Marty and that is you."
Tarifa saw Martin's face freeze in place and he sat up quickly. "Martin, what is wrong?" She asked, rising up in the bed next to him.
"The Creator, are you sure?" Martin gasped. "What else?"
"Positive Marty, and there was something about an Alpha Gamma three nine one." Tina replied. "We can't find that code anywhere in the data banks Marty."
"That's because it's not in the data banks!" Martin told them. "It's an emergency code that only one other person in the world knows. Patch it through Tina, quickly!" Martin climbed from the bed heedless of the fact that he was completely naked. Tarifa gazed at his body quickly feeling a renewed surge of desire, but knew that something was happening and they did not have the time. "A map Tarifa, I need a map!"
Tarifa's eyes were wide, but she clutched the sheet to her body as she moved to get the computer map chart from her living area.
"You're patched through Marty!" Tina's voice rang out in his implant.
"Creator this is The Prodigal Son! Responding to Alpha Gamma three nine one! Repeat! Creator this is The Prodigal Son!"
Walter shook his head as Leland and Dysea looked at him. "I'm sorry… I thought for sure he would be monitoring all the low band frequencies. I'm sorry!"
"Leland we must establish a defensive perimeter around that large rock!" Dysea spoke quickly. "If we are to die, let us take as many of them with us as we can." Her head snapped around when the Holy One grabbed her arm.
"Creator this is The Prodigal Son! Responding to Alpha Gamma three nine one! Repeat! Creator this is Prodigal Son!" Martin's voice echoed in Walter's ear implant.
Walter grabbed the small team radio on Leland's vest and turned the knobs on it quickly. The radio crackled with static and then they heard Martin's voice as well.
"Creator this is The Prodigal Son! Damn it Walter will you respond!"
"Martin my boy, you don't know how good it is to hear your voice." Walter spoke.
There was a pause and then the voice came through again. "Tina, lock onto this signal and jack the power to full! Walter, are you there?"
"Martin can you hear me?"
The third time was a charm as Martin's voice came through as if he was standing next to them on the radio. "Walter! Where are you?"
Walter's face showed an enormous amount of relief on it. "Martin there is not much time to explain my boy. We are being pursued by some rather unpleasant individuals with an assortment of rather nasty things on their minds. Is there any way you can assist us?"
"How many are in your group?" Martin asked.
"There are seven of us total!" Walter replied.
"Tina, are you and Ben monitoring?" Martin's voice spoke.
"Copy that Skipper!" The strange female voice replied.
"Warm up two Raptors! Have Beta Team load out and you and Ben pick me up here on the top platform! Make it happen like yesterday Tina! Yesterday!"
"We'll see you in ten minutes boss!" Tina replied.
"Walter is there anyplace you can get to that will provide you protection?" Martin asked.
Martin looked at Tarifa as she brought the computer map chart back into the room. "Lock onto frequency 69387.2." Martin told her. "It's low band."
Tarifa settled onto the bed next to him and began punching in the coordinates. Her eyes grew wide. "That's our territory!" She said. "Walter is the Holy One's given name isn't it Martin?" She saw Martin nod at her words. "How is he back in our territory? Endith told me she made the transfer to the Wood Elves with no problems."
"Martin… I'm not even sure where we are." Walter's voice replied.
Martin leaned over Tarifa's shoulder, looking at the chart. He could see the small red dot, which signaled their position on the map. "Can you enter the frequency so you can hear and talk too?" Martin asked her.
Tarifa nodded and her small fingers keyed in the numbers on the small control panel. Static burst from the map chart and then she heard Walter's voice come through.
"Martin did you copy that?" Walter asked.
"I copied sir. We're trying to find a safe place for you to be picked up." Martin explained.
Tarifa pointed. "Here! " She exclaimed. "Holy One you must get across Moran's Canyon and down the other side. We have a small defensive encampment at the base of Traverse Peak!"
"Tarifa my child, is that you?" Walter's voice asked.
"Yes Holy One! You must hurry!"
"Tarifa I have six Wood Elves with me!" Walter spoke. "We were investigating the attacks on Wood Elf villages and discovered some very interesting things! The short version is that the Wood Elves did not commit the attacks on the High Elf villages. I need to know if they will be safe!"
Tarifa didn't hesitate. "I have already made that same determination Holy One. I give you my word Holy One!" She replied. "Where you are concerned, we are brothers and sisters all, no matter Wood Elf or High Elf! They will be safe!"
"Martin how soon can you be there?" Walter asked.
"It looks like it's a little over two hundred miles sir! I'll be there guns blazing in less than an hour!" Martin answered. "Can you hold?"
Dysea looked at Walter, a new set to her beautiful jaw. "We will hold!" She barked.
"Then get moving whoever you are!" Martin ordered. "And if he dies… I'm coming for you! I'll contact you when we are in the air!"
Martin looked at Tarifa. "I have to go." He said, searching for his clothes.
"Martin… I will go with you." Tarifa spoke, setting aside the map chart and taking his arm. "This could be what I have been seeking. I am coming with you." Tarifa said, getting to her feet and moving to the control panel on her bedside table. She pressed a button.
"That isn't necessary Tarifa." Martin said, pulling on his pants.
"Yes my Queen?" Radama's voice came over the com almost immediately.
Tarifa looked at Martin as she spoke. "Radama, the Holy One is in danger! Have my father prepare," Tarifa saw Martin hold up ten fingers before continuing to dress. "Have my father prepare ten Dragoon soldiers. His finest, with full armor and weapons and then meet us on the north platform."
"At once Milady," Radama replied.