"Sir! Number nine is gone!" The young telemetry officer called into the watch commanders office.

"What!" Within seconds the watch commander was standing over the TO's station. "What happened to the signal?"

"Sir! Telemetry has been lost. We have confirmation through both Florida and Mexico tracking stations, and that number nine suffered a collision and is coming down fast."

"Log it in, lieutenant."

"Aye, aye sir. Phoenix down. Incident logged. December, nineteen, 2027. Twenty-two hundred hours, thirty-one minutes, signal lost with defensive weapons platform number nine. Project reentry and impact point to be at five degrees North by seventy-five degrees West."

"Shit. That's right in Colombia." The commander said to no one specifically.

The room remained silent. Everyone knew the seriousness of the situation.

The Phoenix-class weapons platforms were a result of the middle east arms race that started with India back at the end of the twentieth century. It was named after the Phoenix since the program had risen from the ashes of the Star Wars Defense Initiative that was never realized under the Reagan administration. The project cost billions of taxpayer dollars to equip orbital platforms with the ability to detect the movement of radioactive materials, vehicles, weapons or people. The platforms were also designed to neutralize any possible threat with antimissile weaponry and tightly focused microwaves.

The entire project was under protest from the start, having been declared as a waste of taxpayers money. However, the protests stopped in 2011 with the backpack nuking of New York City. When the limited nuclear exchange took place in 2012, the platforms were online and ready. They successfully prevented any strikes in the United States and most of the other members of NATO. Luckily, the weapons used in the Middle East were only in the kiloton class, not very powerful, but unfortunately very dirty. The Middle East was rendered nearly uninhabitable. The fallout would keep the area poisoned for centuries.

The project had a black side as well. Only a handful of people were aware of the platforms' highly offensive capabilities. The platforms were equipped with simple kinetic energy projectiles, lasers and tactical nuclear weapons. They had been added into the project because for the first time in history, the United States has an enemy along one of its borders. Mexico was annexed to become the fifty-third state in 2002. Shortly afterward, conflict broke out in Central and South America. The boarder between Mexico and Guatemala became a no-mans-land, covered by troops on the ground and from above by the orbital platforms.

Lieutenant Sanborne sat with his troops in the transport. "The Adirondacks truly are the most beautiful in winter." Explained Sanborne to one of his men. "When I retire, you're all going to be invited to come stay at my little cabin."

They each took turns revealing their retirement plans. They already knew what each would say; they had each told the same stories every mission. It was their little ritual assuring themselves that they would come home.

Sanborne got along well with his men. DeStefano was the tough guy, or at least appeared that way to anyone but children or his closest friends. Henson was the demolitions specialist. A happy fellow, but happiest when he is blowing something up. Susan Romanova, she was the only female on the team. A fiery red head that could outshoot any man with her sniper rifle. Even the new guy Marx seemed like a decent fellow, if only a little introverted. None of the others had worked with him before, or even heard of him. His record showed him to be qualified and they needed another demolitions expert for backup, he was the only other one available for the mission.

Sanborne's men respected and admired him. He had been in the Air Force, then went into Naval aviation, and finally switched into a seal team. He playfully complained that he got bored if he stayed in any career for any length of time.

He wasn't like the other officers on base. He always knew what he was doing and always did his best to make bad situations turn out right. If there were a problem, he put himself between it and his men. If discipline were required, he wouldn't let anyone outside the unit administer it. He kept it internal. He was hard on them, but he was fair. Only DeStefano and Henson knew of Sanborne's romantic relationship with Susan, a secret they would guard with their lives to protect their leader. They knew his relationship wouldn't affect his judgement, even if he need to make the hard decisions.

Their mission was to go into hostile territory and destroy a downed weapons platform to keep the weapons out of the hands of the South Americans. They were going to be inserted by a HALO jump, where they would leave their transport at twenty thousand feet and wait until they were under one thousand before opening their parachutes.

One of the transports crew came back and handed Sanborne a set of reconnaissance photos. "They just came through. Sir." He said while saluting.

Sanborne took the photos and returned the salute. "Thank you."

He and his men looked over the photos making mental note of the features of the terrain surrounding the impact site.

The friendly banter ended when the cabin was flooded with a red light signaling they were approaching their jump zone.

"Weapons hot people. I want an even deployment. Two teams. Henson and Marx, you've got the demolitions packs. Romanova you're with Henson. DeStefano, you take the new guy. We'll rendezvous at the crash site and set the charges. Extraction will already be en route to the crash site."

They attached their portable oxygen masks, and the doors opened to the thin cold atmosphere outside.

The lighting in the cabin changed from red to green signaling them to go. The teams went out first followed up by Sanborne.

They fell through the black night sky. The wind howled inside their helmets, finding any crack to filter in. It was cold. The air quickly heated up as they fell down towards the tropical land below them. The ground seemed to come up quickly after a few minutes of free fall. Their parachutes snapped open, barely slowing them down in time as they crashed through the forest canopy.

They ditched their jump gear and rendezvoused before heading to the crash site.

They quickly found the debris at the crash site. Several weapons pods survived the impact as well as some of the electronic systems.

He gave the orders to start planting charges on the surviving components. In the back of his mind, something was bothering him. Something he had seen before. He looked back at the maps and the recon photos. "Something different." He said, talking to himself. Remembering the first recon photo he received at his original briefing, he pulled it out of his pocket and compared it to the more recent one.

"Henson. Give me your demolitions pack." Sanborne called out. "Marx, finish setting charges on the platform debris. After that, stay here and secure the area until extraction. Our ride should be here in about twenty minutes."

The original recon photos were taken of the area before the platform came down. Comparing them to the more recent photos, he noticed a smaller deforested area close to three kilometers East. Sanborne then took off to what could only have been a second impact point. He had to make sure there was nothing of value left from the platform.

Marx walked behind the pile of debris to one of the weapons pylons. He opened one of the access panels on the weapons pod and removed the cover off one of the tactical warheads. Marx then took out his demolitions pack and put the explosives aside, he took out an electronic detonator and attached it to the warhead.

DeStefano walked over to where Marx was setting his charges and looked inside the pylons. "Hey, those things look like nukes."

"Yeah, that's what they are." Marx replied. "Go ahead, check them out. You won't see anything like these again."

Marx moved out of the way to let DeStefano look into the weapons pod. As DeStefano looked inside, Marx slipped behind him and drew his knife across DeStefano's throat. "Told ya," he said with a smirk.

Marx entered the arming code into the detonator and headed off toward the helicopter that had just landed. When he got to the helicopter the copilot was back by the hatch to help him on board.

The copilot helped him up into the fuselage. Marx moved quickly, thanking him with a blow to the back of the neck to knock him unconscious. He then drew his pistol and walked up to the cabin. He put a bullet through the back of the pilots helmet. The pilot slumped lifelessly over the controls. Marx pulled the body out of the cabin and laid it over the copilot by the hatch. He went back to the cabin and sat in the pilots seat taking the controls. He throttled the engines up and took off, banking hard as he did so.

Romanova left her position as the helicopter came into view.

"Where's DeStefano? We can't wait for LT much longer." Romanova said to Henson when she reached his position.

Henson and Romanova saw the helicopter take off. Two bodies fell out of the open hatch as the helicopter banked hard before heading off to the northwest. Henson ran towards the two bodies while Romanova started to run around the debris looking for DeStefano and Marx. When she came around the back of the debris, she found DeStefano's body.

"Henson, get over here! DeStefano is down." Romanova yelled.

Henson stopped behind her as she reached down to turn over the body.

"The other two were the helicopter's crew." Henson said. "One is still alive."

They both heard a beep and looked at the detonator on the live warhead.

"Henson, can you disarm it?" She asked in a frantic tone.

Henson glanced at the display counting back from two minutes. "No time! We need to find cover. Head for the ravine!" He said while pulling her towards an area he remembered from the mission maps.

Romanova and Henson took off towards the ravine, dropping their gear as they ran.

The flash of light was followed by a fireball growing upward into the sky. It was a low yield weapon designed for tactical application. It was more than enough to destroy the remains of the weapons platform, yet it was small enough to be safe at two miles from ground zero.

If they had been on open ground, they could have made it to a safe distance. The brush slowed them down too much. They had barely cleared four hundred yards when the blast wave hit them.

The Department of Defense considered it a success, although the demolitions team was lost. They were surprised eighteen months later when Lt. Sanborne appeared at a Mexican-Guatamala border. Sanborne gave his rendition of the mission. He detailed his search for a second impact point and his finding of debris of no technical value. He couldn't explain the nuclear detonation he witnessed. He also explained that he was held a prisoner for nearly a year before he escaped and worked his way back to the border.

He record was cleared and was promoted to Colonel and given a choice of command. He declined the command but, instead, requested a favorable recommendation for entry into the secret service.

He decided he had made and lost too many friends over the last two years. He wanted to find a position that allowed him to keep his distance from making any more. The secret service seemed ideal.

It had been four years since he lost his friends in that ill fated mission. Sanborne felt old, though he was only in his late twenties. He planned to retire from service at the end of the year.

A few years ago he had purchased over two hundred acres with its own lake, tucked in a small undeveloped valley in upper New York state. From a few wise investments of the hazard pay he earned over the years, his dream home was nearly finished.

Sanborne walked through the crowd, scanning for any sign of trouble. Standard protection duty. "Should be pretty light." He thought to himself. It was a big event. The president would give a public speech about the future of the space program. The consensus between the scientific communities seemed to feel that the president would endorse the plan for manned space exploration outside our own solar system. Sanborne grinned a little while he though about what the first explorers might find. He continued walking through the crowds, listening to the reports coming in through his earphone.

He met up with his partner, John Drake. Drake wore the typical getup of a dark gray business suit, trench coat and dark glasses. Sunglasses were always mandatory when doing crowd observation. People can't tell whether your watching them if they can't see your eyes. Sanborne was more inconspicuous, wearing a t-shirt and black BDU pants tucked neatly into his combat boots. He also wore an old, worn bomber jacket to help cover the rather large Heckler and Koch SOCOM handgun that he wore in a shoulder holster. He felt his style of dress helped him blend in better and it was more comfortable. Sanborne and Drake exchanged info and went back to scanning the crowds.

Sanborne's eyes went from person to person until they came to rest on a young woman wearing a brown suede-like jacket standing close to the stage. He watched her for a moment. She seemed to be watching the actions of the other agents. At least the ones that stood out in their trench coats and sunglasses. He was about to radio his other agents about the situation, normal procedure would have required him to do so, but an emblem embossed along the top of the sleeve caught his eye as he was about to report. He wanted to get a closer look at it and slowly approached her through the crowd. He noticed that her attention seemed to be primarily focused on two men wearing black suits and dark glasses. He recognized them. Spooks. "There's going to be trouble." He thought to himself.

The woman felt as if she were being watched. She turned to see a figure approaching wearing dark glasses. She studied the approaching figure for a moment then began to move away from him.

Sanborne stopped as the woman turned to look directly at him. Her stare made him pause for a moment. She had the greenest eyes he had ever seen. He watched her turn then start to move off. He continued working his way toward her. Sanborne noted that one of the men in black was still shadowing her and he was aware that he had acquired a shadow as well.

Sanborne finally managed to catchup to her as she was near the edge of the crowd. "Excuse me, Miss." He called to her, "I was wondering, can you tell me where you got that jacket?"

As she turned around to face Sanborne, her eyes went immediately to the grip of his weapon barely visible through the opening in his jacket. Thoughts flashed through her mind: danger, escape, run. Out of reflex, she punched outward, catching Sanborne in the throat. The blow sent him staggering backwards as she took off running down an alley.

"Damn it, wait!" Sanborne choked out barely in a whisper and ran off after her.

Drake saw the woman hit Sanborne. Sanborne staggered back a few feet clutching his throat then took off after her. Drake decided he had better follow him as backup.

Sanborne rounded the corner at the end of the alley, she turned to face him with her weapon drawn and pointed it right at him. His vision failed in a bright blue flash. Consciousness slipped from him.

Drake turned down the alley that Sanborne had entered and came across Sanborne's body.

"Agent down!" He yelled into his radio as other agents began hurriedly closing in on their location. He took off running after the woman.

Drake caught up to her between some parked cars at the end of the alley. He made a grab for her. She kicked out with her left foot. Too close. Her kick to his chest sent him flying back over the hood of a car and simultaneously propelled her backwards into the street.

The driver of the oncoming truck didn't have time to stop. He tried to swerve but still caught the woman in the center of the truck's bumper.

The two men following them arrived in time to see the accident. The woman took a full hit from the truck, throwing her into the air and twenty feet down the street. She hit the ground and with a mixture of skidding and rolling came to rest against a parked car.

The crumpled body was still as the dark figures cautiously approached it. One drew a handgun and covered the other as he reached to turn the woman over. As he turned the body over, he immediately stepped back and looked toward the one with the gun. The agent quietly made a call on a cellular phone as other identically dressed men arrived and began pushing back the crowd that had begun to form.

Within a few seconds two unmarked ambulances came up the street. One stopped where the accident occurred while the other continued down the street.

Drake tried to push his way into the street but was blocked by one of the Spooks. "Who the hell are you?" Drake demanded from the man.

"We have the situation under control. Go back to your assigned area." The man said while flashing his identification too quickly for Drake to get a good look at.

Drake knew he wouldn't get anywhere so he decided that he should go check on his partner. He headed back down the street to the alley where he left Sanborne. When he got to the entrance of the alley, the unmarked ambulance drove past him on its way out. The alley was empty. Sanborne was gone.

Sanborne woke up suddenly to a light in his eyes. He reflexively grabbed the hand holding his eyelid back. The light switched off as the spots cleared from his vision. His eyes came to focus on the doctor standing over him.

"Where am I?" He said in a raspy voice to the physician attending him.

"You're at the Alexandria branch of the CDC. There was concern that your attacker might have been carrying a biological weapon in attempted terrorism. It seemed you had been knocked out by a taser." The doctor replied while trying to break from Sanborne's grip.

Sanborne released the doctors arm and rubbed his throat.

"Bull shit," he thought to himself, "Tasers fire electrodes into their target to deliver a charge. I wasn't hit with that." Sanborne knew what he was shot with, but kept it to himself. He swung his legs off the examination table and sat up.

"So am I free to go?" He said while still rubbing his throat.

"Yes. You are fine. Your throat should be back to normal in a day." The doctor replied. "You may go down the hall and sign out at any time."

"Oh, and what happened to the woman?" Sanborne asked.

The doctor paused before answering, "She is being guarded in quarantine until we are certain there are no contagions. If you'll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to."

Sanborne knew the doctor was holding something back. In his line of work he knew how to read peoples body language and inflection in their speech. He got off the table and began collecting his things as the doctor left the room.

Sanborne exited the room into the hallway. He saw the administration desk where he was expected to go sign out. He looked in the other direction and caught a glimpse of the doctor turning down a hallway. Sanborne decided he wasn't ready to sign out yet and headed after the doctor.

The doctor got into an elevator and headed down. Sanborne took the adjacent stairwell down. At the next floor down, he checked the hallway for the doctor. The elevator was still heading down. Sanborne headed down to the next level. He saw the doctor exit the elevator and proceed down the hall to where a guard stood watch by an unmarked door. The doctor flashed his identification, and the guard entered a code to open the door for him.

Sanborne thought for a moment. He had a high clearance, but would it be high enough to get him in that lab. There was another reason Sanborne dressed the way he did. By making himself stand out, it never looked as if he were trying to fit in. He put his sunglasses on and strided down the hall towards the guard. He produced his identification and flashed it in typical Spook fashion, too fast for anyone to see. He then turned to face the door waiting for it to be opened. The guard hesitated.

Sanborne looked towards the guard. He tilted his head down to be able to look at the guard over the tops of his glasses. "I'm waiting Sergeant." He said, the hoarse sound of his voice adding to menacing tone he used with the guard.

"Sir!" The guard said while snapping to attention, then turned to enter the code and opened the door.

Sanborne walked into the lab and laughed inwardly as the door closed behind him. He thought to himself, "There were few things you can't pull off with a little bit of knowledge and a lot of confidence."

As Sanborne entered the isolation lab, his attention was immediately drawn to the large observation window to the quarantine chamber. The doctor stood in front of the window watching several figures clad in environmental suits inside the chamber. One was an armed guard standing back by the airlock entry. The other two technicians appeared to be trying to restrain someone or something.

There was a series of low growls coming from a speaker by the window, followed by one of the voices of the men in the chamber. "Easy now. Get around behind it."

"What the hell is going on in there?" Sanborne demanded from the doctor.

"They are trying to examine its injuries." The doctor responded without emotion, not even noticing who had addressed him, while keeping his attention focused in the chamber and to notes he was writing in a notebook.

As the two figures spread out to get around the creature, Sanborne got his first good look at what it was. He couldn't believe his eyes. The creature had a humanoid form, yet the face and head had strikingly lupine characteristics. Obviously female, her clothing removed, revealed a body completely covered in gray fur except a white streak that ran from her chin, down her throat and chest. She was favoring her right arm which appeared to be dislocated. Backing into the corner as one of the figures tried to get around her, her green eyes shifted between the advancing figures. Her muzzle drew into a snarl and the deep growl was heard through the speaker again. The larger technician on her left grabbed her left arm as the other approached. She kicked into the knee of the technician holding her arm. He went down releasing her arm and holding his knee.

With her left arm free, she took a swing at the second figure. Her punch caught the figure in the throat just under his faceplate. She watched him stagger back clutching at his throat, trying to catch his breath. She didn't notice the large figure already starting to get back up.

"Fucking bitch!" The technician swore as he slammed her and her injured shoulder against the wall.

Her very human cry of pain sounded loudly through the speaker. Even the doctor winced at the sound.

Sanborne was outrage by the cruelty he was witnessing. "Enough!" He shouted as he started moving towards the entry to the chamber.

The doctor snapped his focus from the action in the chamber and shouted at Sanborne while heading toward the airlock. "You! You can't go in there!"

The doctor hurried to the door to try to stop Sanborne, but it was too late. He had already continued through the first seal and cycled the door. The inner seal opened.

Sanborne grabbed the guard from behind and threw him backwards into the outer airlock seal, knocking him unconscious.

When he stepped fully into the chamber, the figure recovering from the blow to the throat turned to face him. "Hey, you can't..." and was cut short by a hard punch to the diaphragm.

Sanborne continued past the first figure, who was again struggling for breath.

The second figure was drawing back for a punch to the injured alien being. Sanborne caught the technician's wrist and twisted while pulling him away from her.

The technician kicked and caught Sanborne in the side. "Hey, what do you think your doing?"

Sanborne quickly recovered and started advancing toward the technician.

The technician reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife which he opened with a quick flick of his wrist. "Stay back or you're asking for it."

Sanborne stopped his advance but never took his eyes off the technician. "People in environmental suits shouldn't play with sharp instruments..." he began to say as he reached into his jacket and pulled out his handgun and leveled it at the technician. "...wouldn't want a hole in that nice suit now would you? Leave now. Take your friend with you. This is over."

After looking down the barrel of what to him must have appeared to be the biggest gun in the world, the technician dropped his knife and quickly helped his out-of-breath companion into the airlock.

Sanborne holstered his weapon, then picked the knife up from the floor, closed it and put it in his pocket. He walked back over towards the alien.

She started to make a low growling sound as Sanborne approached. He stopped and spread his arms out with his palms turned up.

"Take it easy. I'm sure the others said they weren't going to hurt you too, but you have my word, I won't. I just want to help." He said in a level, calming tone while maintaining eye contact with her.

"I'm going to see whether I can find someone to help set your shoulder."

Sanborne walked back over towards the airlock and hit the cycle control to leave the chamber. A quick buzz and the status light showed the system was locked. He looked around then walked over to the intercom by the large viewing window.

"Hey, cycle the airlock so I can get out."

The doctor looked up at him. "You should have left while you could. You were a security risk before, now you are a health risk as well. You're not wearing protective equipment and that chamber is under quarantine. You're stuck in there until we're sure there's no chance of contamination or until that creature decides to tear you apart. It's already managed to injure several technicians."

In frustration Sanborne slammed his hand against the glass and turned back into the room. It was a fairly large chamber, designed for extended quarantine periods. There were four beds, a refrigerator and small microwave. There was even a small bathroom with facilities and a shower stall. It kind of reminded him of the apartment he rented locally, and because of that, he was determined not to have to stay here any more than he had to.

A groan from the corner of the room brought his attention back to his alien roommate. The female was standing up and moving to sit down on one of the beds. She didn't look to be in good shape. Her green eyes kept a constant watch on him the entire time as he walked over to her.

"Look, I know you can understand me. To come to this planet and try to blend in with the inhabitants, you would have to at the least have a basic understanding of the language." Sanborne said while looking her in the eye.

He crouched down in front of her. "I want to help you." He added as he reached out to get a closer look at her shoulder.

She pulled back from him and gave another warning growl.

Sanborne reached into his pocket, pulled out the technician's knife and slowly opened it.

Her eyes widened for a second then grew narrow as she started to growl even more loudly. She wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Sanborne flipped the knife over in his hand and held it out to her, handle first. Her expression softened and seemed momentarily confused. She warily took the knife, unsure if it might be some kind of trick.

"Now," he said while seating himself to her right, "I'll trust you not to use that on me if you trust me enough to relocate your shoulder."

She kept her eyes on Sanborne, still wary, but the aggression was gone.

"Ok, I will count to three, then relocate it. You will need to keep your muscles relaxed when I reset your shoulder. And there will be some pain, so keep that in mind when you're thinking about using that knife in your hand." He tried to give a reassuring grin when he said that. In reality, Sanborne was worried because he had no intention of counting to three. If he did that, she would be expecting it and so tense that he might do more damage to her shoulder. He hoped she wouldn't think he lied and strike out. "Ok. Ready?"

It was his turn to be surprised. She took the knife and set it down beside her. She then looked at him and cocked her head sideways.

Sanborne knew that meant yes. "Look over there while I count."

She seemed to understand as she turned her head and looked out into the lab where the technicians who attacked her earlier were trying to recompose themselves. Her eyes narrowed as she let out a muted growl at them.

Sanborne took hold of her arm and placed his other hand along her back. "Ready. One...two..." he pulled her arm down and across. There was a crack as her shoulder seated itself back in its socket. She cried out, grabbed her shoulder, and passed out.

Sanborne looked at the alien figure before him. Her fur was covered with dried bloody spots, though he wasn't sure if they were from her accident or earlier encounters with the lab technicians. He walked over to a sink and wet a small towel. He went back over to her and tried to clean as much of the blood from her fur as possible, though he figured it would probably take a good soaking to get it all out. It was the best he could do at present. She looked noticeably better. Sanborne got up from her bedside. He looked through some of the overhead cabinets. In one he found some blankets. He took one out and spread it over her.

Sanborne turned to walk to the other side of the room. His throat hurt, and the adrenaline rush had worn off, leaving him feeling totally spent. As he walked across the room to another bed, the doctor began speaking through the intercom.

"You did a good job calming her down and patching her up."

"Just takes a little compassion to get the job done." Sanborne replied with a bit of acid to his tone.

"If you can keep it under control for us to study and perform some tests, I might be able to help you out of this situation."

"Just what do you hope to gain?" Sanborne asked.

"New technologies. Knowledge. Power. Remember who your friends are, agent Sanborne. Right now, I hold your life in my hands. Work with me and I'll see you'll do well. Work against me and you'll disappear, permanently." The doctor cautioned.

Sanborne continued over to the bed and lay down on it. "Typical," he thought to himself, "you would think just once they would try communication over coercion." He knew where his duties lie and whom his friends were. As he started to drift off to sleep three words floated through his thoughts: loyalty, honor, compassion.

Sanborne sat on the bed, arms folded across his chest while resting back against the wall. He felt tired. A second group of technicians had tried to force him to leave the chamber earlier. He knew he couldn't leave the alien alone until he was sure that she was capable of defend herself. He also had questions of his own that he needed her to answer, if he could communicate with her.

Sanborne casually observed the lab technicians scurrying about their duties. One technician was working on setting up a video camera and tripod. He would have believed it to be for documenting the happenings in the lab, but the cable leading from the camera to a connection in the wall probably sent the signal off to someone in security. The other technicians were busy examining pieces of the aliens equipment and clothing.

A few things the technicians picked up he recognized as belonging to the woman he met in the street. The familiar jacket that caught his attention in the first place, along with the weapon which was the last thing he saw before waking up here. He recognized the other articles of clothing that the woman wore. There was a peculiar looking jacket liner that he didn't remember seeing before. It looked as if it were made from some sort of thick stranded mesh and wire. Perhaps it was some sort of armor. He also noted some small electronic parts that looked to have once been part of something larger and probably functional.

Sanborne's focus shifted to the door as the doctor, and another man with close cropped hair and a goatee entered the lab. Sanborne looked at the doctors companion. He had a vague feeling of familiarity. He had an air of authority around him, most definitely not a technician. Perhaps he was in charge.

He stood up as the two men approached the window. "How about letting me out of here?" He asked into the intercom.

"Well, well. Lieutenant Sanborne. Excuse me. Colonel Sanborne. It's been quite a long time since we last worked together." He replied contemptuously into the intercom.

Sanborne's memories returned after hearing the man speak. "Marx. I thought you had died with the others in Colombia."

"Funny, I thought the same about you." He said while offering a nefarious smile.

Sanborne's mind filled with flashbacks of the mission. "What the hell happened? How did you make it out and not the rest of the team?" He asked aggressively.

"Your extraction team so kindly let me have access to their helicopter at the time."

"Why only you?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? I was given orders that your team was expendable as long as the weapons platform was kept a secret. Don't feel too bad Sanborne. When I killed them they didn't suffer...much."

The dramatic pause Marx added was the final straw. Sanborne knew of the weapons on the platform, though that information was known only to him and not his men. Marx had killed the others in cold blood. Sanborne became enraged.

The alien woke up suddenly to a loud voice. She wondered how long she had been unconscious. Everything that happened the last day seemed to blur. She had been traveling on an alien world, was chased by humans, nearly killed by a vehicle, woke up naked and injured, cornered, assaulted, and eventually helped by one of the humans she sought to escape from earlier. She had heard the others address him as Sanborne. Where was he?

She looked across the room where Sanborne was yelling at someone through the intercom.

She missed the first part of their conversation though the scent of anger coming off Sanborne filled the room. It was making her nervous. She did not know what to expect next from him. All she hoped was that it was not directed towards her.

"You piece of shit!" Sanborne said ripping his weapon from its holster and quickly firing three times at Marx.

The alien dove on the floor as lead spall ricocheted from the window.

Marx's laughter entered the chamber through the intercom.

Sanborne fired once into the intercom box in frustration, silencing it permanently.

Marx gave Sanborne a mock salute while mouthing the words "Goodbye Lieutenant." before turning and walking away.

He turned away from the window, and his eyes met those of the alien creature huddled behind the bed. Her eyes were wide with fear with fear. He turned away from her and sat down on the bed. His own eyes burned and watered. His head hurt. Sanborne's thoughts were on his men. He thought of each, Henson, DeStefano, Romanova, the best he had ever worked with. Susan, his love, he would have married her in a few short months when they both got out of the service. He absently scratched an itch on the side of his head with the muzzle of his handgun.

"Doctor, have you learned anything about the alien yet?" Marx asked while riding in the elevator to the ground floor.

"Not much. We only obtained a few blood samples before the creature regained consciousness. There seems to be no viral contagions or anything we can identify as dangerous. The blood makeup is very similar to our own." The Doctor replied.

"What about the equipment it was carrying?"

"The equipment it was carrying is rather difficult to determine its function. We can only assume what it might be used for. We believe the one piece that was destroyed to have possibly been some kind of communications equipment. There is something similar to a jacket liner that looks to be made of some kind of fiber optic mesh with some controls on the left forearm. It appears to be nonfunctional as well. Its use is a complete mystery. The other clothing is very resistant to cuts, punctures, heat and cold. It also seems to have a very high insulating factor." The Doctor explained.

"And what of the weapon?" Marx asked, becoming more agitated at the failures being reported to him.

"The weapon appears to only allow its owner to use it. One technician attempted to test the weapon and was rendered unconscious by some kind of stunning device built into the weapon. Other attempts to fire the weapon ended in much the same manner."

"Some of my people to arrive tomorrow. They will take care of eliminating Sanborne and arrange to transport the creature to my lab at the CDC. I expect you to get the information on the equipment or anything from the creature within the next two days." Marx said as the elevator halted, and the doors opened.

Marx stepped out into the hallway and turned back to the Doctor. "I don't expect any more failures." He added as the elevator doors closed.

Sanborne felt a gentle touch on his gun hand, and it brought his attention to what he was doing. His finger was not even on the trigger and was in no danger of accidentally shooting himself, but he pointed the weapon upward towards the ceiling.

The alien kneeled beside him as she wrapped her fingers around his hand as he gripped the weapon.

Sanborne studied the hand as it wrapped around his. It felt as if he were being held by someone wearing soft doeskin gloves. He noted how the black leathery skin covered her palms and fingers up to her knuckles where the soft gray fur started on the back of her hand. Her hands were surprisingly soft and cool.

His eyes followed along her wrist and down her arm to where the fur seemed to change the direction it laid. He followed the patterns in her fur and noticed that her fur was not actually gray, but instead was a fine mixture of black and white hairs that gave the illusion of gray. His eyes followed the patterns up her arm to her shoulder where they continued along her neck to the white fur that ran up her throat. The white fur shifted back to gray as it went along the underside of her muzzle.

He watched as her black lips pulled back slightly for a second, not quite to a smile but more of a nervous half grin.

He finally looked into her eyes, level with his. The fear she once had was gone. She looked at him now with concern. Her green eyes stared deeply into his gray eyes. He felt as if there were some kind of connection at that moment. He felt calmer. He moved to holster his pistol, but she gripped his hand tighter, keeping it from moving. With his left hand he took the pistol from his right and slid it back into its holster.

"I'll be fine," he said, "thanks."

She let go of his as she stood up and began walking back to her bed.

Sanborne wished she would have stayed close a few more minutes and actually had to force himself to let go of her hand. "There are more important things than revenge." He thought to himself and realized that for the moment, he actually felt at peace.

She glanced back over her shoulder at him and Sanborne swore he saw her smile for a moment.

It had been several hours since the human tried to shoot through the glass. The alien female sat on her bed watching Sanborne. He sat on a bed across from her, watching her and grinning.

He puzzled her. Although their first meeting ended with her nearly crushing his throat and shooting him with a stun charge, he came to defend her from further injury as well as tended her wounds. Now he seemed to be as much of a prisoner as she was.

What intrigued her most was how he spoke with her. When he spoke with her, he looked her in the eyes. She appreciated that. Eye contact was important to her people. She could tell whether he was being truthful when he talked to her. She could see the anger, and sorrow after his encounter with the one called Marx. She knew Sanborne would certainly have killed him had the window not been projectile resistant. She wondered what their history could have been to provoke such a reaction from him. The scent of anger coming from him had scared her. It was so strong; she thought he would turn on her. Instead, it looked as though he would turn on himself.

She didn't know what to do at that moment. She wasn't sure if it would be wise to approach him in such a distraught condition. Something inside her compelled her to reach out to him anyway. She remembered how his hand felt under hers. It was the first time she had contact with a human for a length of time. Without fur, she had expected him to feel cold. She was surprised that his hand felt pleasantly warm. She remembered how he slowly looked up into her eyes and how his expression softened. She noticed that she had a calming effect on him. After he thanked her, she realized that he had the same effect on her. She felt as if she would be safe with him. When she forced her self to let go, she was surprised that Sanborne seemed to want her to stay. She couldn't help smile at that thought.

Her attention was drawn back to his smile. It was a smile like someone uses when they know something someone else doesn't. She decided to try to bait him out. She leaned forward slightly while looking him in the eyes. She gave a short non threatening growl.

Sanborne gave a short laugh. "You know, you can drop the act. I already know you can understand English, and," he leaned over almost nose to nose with her, "after last night I know you can speak it as well." He sat back and watched her reaction.

Her eyes widened in surprise while the rest of her face went blank.

Sanborne imagined that under her fur she had probably turned white too. All that was missing was for her jaw to drop. "You were speaking in your sleep. You're quite the conversationalist. But, I still don't know your name."

She looked down into her lap. She couldn't believe she could have done something so careless.

Sanborne was starting to feel bad for telling her she had talked in her sleep, especially since she hadn't, at least not in English.

"My name is Nicia." She spoke softly as she looked back up at him.

Sanborne sat upright at the sound of her voice. "Wow. Would you say that again?" He said while closing his eyes and leaning back.

"My name is Nicia." She said, wondering why he closed his eyes.

Sanborne laughed and opened his eyes. "Your English is perfect. If I couldn't see you, I'd never know you weren't human."

"Thank you. And your name is Sanborne?"

"Yes. Sanborne is my family name. My first name is Greyson. My friends call me Grey."

"It is nice to meet you, Greyson Sanborne." Nicia said with a hint of the corners of her black lips pulling back into a smile.

"Please, I'd prefer you call me Grey." He said, and offered his hand out to her.

She reached out and took his hand in greeting. "Very well, Grey." Nicia's smile was clearly visible now as her ears flicked forward. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, how about we get out of here," Grey said, "just as soon as I figure out how."

Again she was surprised. Would he really help her to escape? She still did not know what to think about him, though she did feel his offer of friendship was genuine. Still, she wondered where his priorities stood. What reasons did he have for helping her? She couldn't see anyway it would benefit him, unless it was a part of some elaborate plan.

Nicia looked out into the lab. She could tell by the parts laying on a table, that her communications equipment was destroyed in the accident. That meant she only had one chance to make it to the shuttle that would be coming to retrieve her in one day. She had no choice but to trust Grey.