And there he was, one minute he was at the standing stones, the next he had transported himself among the stars. From their he focused on the standing stones that he had set up and shifted back to Earth where he had implanted false memories into Pia's parents mind just incase they had to access them for some reason though he severely doubted that it would come up but still, just incase ...

It wasn't likely that a child would engage in talking about sex with a parent or why it would come up as to why mommy and daddy were with that woman. He was being through, as always, though doing so had not been foremost on his mind when he invoked his illusion on her.

Though as he shifted back from Earth something hit him on the chest, a ray of some sort that burned, though it's effects on the fire resistance creature was severally lessened. He recoiled though instinctively as he took a quick look at his surroundings to adjust himself to his environment about himself.

What the ...

Apparently something had occurred in the few minutes that he had been gone from this spot. He was annoyed, his rapid metabolism promoting his healing now as the slight injury to himself was healed, though he was by no means happy about it.

The planet Kimball was an uninteresting world in the grand schemes of the universe. While it did support life, it had nothing really beyond plant life and some small creatures. Being the only habitable planet in the system, few would have even bothered to even come into the system. However, today was different, a fierce battle was going on the planet.

Minerva had chased one a known slaver down to the planet and into this ravine. Now is the trap is set, there is no escape. Minerva had taken position up on a nearby ridge, taking aim at the slaver with a new plasma rifle. Normally only issued to very elite of the ADD agents, the red head had managed to get her hands on one before High Command knew what happened. Now with this weapon, the only thing that saving the slaver was the occasional boulders he was using for cover. Even the strange formation of stones lying on the ground would be of no use to the slaver even as he moved towards for cover.

Then something phased into existence on the standing stones. It was some sort of mauve tentacle creature that appeared to be very tall. Bringing reinforcements, eh? It’s not going to do you any good. The armored agent fired a plasma straight at the tall purple creature, not realizing that Aegir was innocent bystander in this situation. As soon as the shot hit, Minerva turned and fired on the slaver hoping to score the final blow while the purple creature was at least injured by her shot.

Those damn ADD agents! This had been the second time in as many months that the amphorus Goro was attacked. First it was by Lark looking for her sister and information about her. Sheesh, he only sold slaves, he didn't own any himself, well not permanently at least.

And now that crazy nut job out there was shooting at him X934 had already been taken out of commission in a shot that luckily missed him and hit the droid itself. Goro had not realized just how lucky he was and that this particular agent was a good shot.

He had been out matched her. He knew it. His blaster didn't even have half the range of the rifle but he did have the advantage of the cocky terrain. At least he could use it to get some cover, perhaps make it back to his ship though it was severly damaged in the dog fight that they had in orbit at least there he would be able to see her coming and there were a few tools there that he could use.

Then he saw Aegir out of the corner of his eye, he turned, nearly costing him as the boulder near his head was scorched mere inches from it.

Aegir was struck though the creature seemed resistant to the attack. Well, it did not vaporize him as it would have done to him. He didn't particularly like Aegir and would have shot him if it would prove to do any good save from making him feel a little better but his out dated sidearm was no match for a plasma rifle so it was highly unlikely to do any good.

Money did not appear to appeal to the creature last time they encountered one another anyway so he would have to try another approach here. The enemy of my enemy and all that ...

"GET DOWN! SHE'S A CRAZY BITCH!"

Aegir analyzed what was going on around him. He looked to the side where Goro's voice came to him from then glanced around looking for this target. He did not take cover though as that would have made spotting his query tougher. That and the attack could not, as far as he could tell, seriously harm him. Already he had been healed fully from his amazing regenerative talents.

At first he saw nothing though he sensed a mind out there. Then, with the flash of the plasma rifle's muzzle he at least pin pointed a location.

Minerva cursed under her breath, the amphorus slaver had moved his head at the last minute to shout something at new purple creature that had just teleport in. That turn of his head, saved his life as he moved his head just as the red headed agent pulled the trigger. The shot missed him by mere inches and the boulder nearby took the brunt of the hit, spraying rocks all over the slaver. Minerva couldn't believe Goro's luck, he always seemed to be able sacrifice something to keep himself unharmed.

Just as she was about to take another shot at the slaver, when realized that the purple creature was still standing there. He didn't even bother to take cover and simply looked up at her position. Minerva was a bit disturbed by that, her plasma rifle apparently either didn't hurt or didn't do enough to make the creature at least duck for cover. Whatever had teleported in to help Goro, he seemed to be a tough one. And when she saw his pupiless eyes look at her, that he at least knew where she was. She quickly fired two shots in rapid succession at the purple creature. She wanted him to at least take cover as she moved to a new position.

The classic double tap, Aegir was hit in rapid succession his body lurching backwards just a bit. Burns spread across his forehead the last shots he supposed we to be kill shots or shots meant to injure him more greatly. They did neither though he felt the warmth of plasma sooth over his head.

Aegir was annoyed though in the time it took those shots to come in Goro managed to get down behind cover. He was crawling, no slithering from boulder to boulder. And while Aegir did not have to visually see her, it made it easier and quicker to track her progress.

He was slow moving as it was as he slithered forth, his eyes looking in her direction. He was fastly healing up the damage he received though annoyed at being attacked for no reason would only take him so far. He would have to seek cover shortly to avoid the little annoyance, then an idea struck him. Yes, that would work equally as well ...

While she was at the edge of his sensory range he could not quit lock onto her mind just yet. He still had to close the distance some more before he could delve into her mind, learn of her and make her pay for this isolence. Thus he came speedily (at least for him) equivalent to a fast human walking pace.

Minerva watched as the shots hit the purple creature twice in the forehead, the fact she managed to put both in the same location. The creature stumbled back a little, well stumbled as much as a creature that with tentacles for feet. The creature looked like he was barely at all by her shots. This was big trouble for the red head as her plasma gun was the most powerful weapon she had. The creature was slowly beginning to move towards her position at first, tben he began moving at a walking pace at her.

Great, he coming right for me. This was going to require some improvisation, but first she had a more important matter to deal with. She reached to her belt and pulled out an EMP grenade. It was intended for the robot, but that had already gone done from plasma rifle. She didn't want to deal with anymore of creatures phasing in from that teleporter cleverly disguised as rocks. In classic form, she stood up and tossed the grenade before hitting the ground. She would have no idea that the standing stones where a psionic aid for teleporting and would be absolutely be unaffected by the grenade.

The teleporter is taken care of, but with luck it force that slimy Goro out of hiding. Minerva could just imagine that slaver capturing her sister and taking her away to be sold to the highest bidder. She got ready to pop up again to take one last shot of Goro, At least I can make sure he never gets his hands on my sister.

The grenade exploded sending it's EMP pulse over the standing stones. Normally Aegir would not have looked, knowing what his target was doing but she was too far from him to get a valid scan of her thoughts so in effect he was blind for the time being.

He analyzed the attack with what he knew quickly determining that it was an EMP pulse and correctly theorizing that she mistook the standing stones as some sort of device. He did hear Goro curse though.

The alien was closer to the blast and his old fashioned blaster was chalk full of electronic parts with one of those safety features in place where it would not fire without a sample of his DNA. Goro snarled as he pop up, discarding the weapon to the side.

He wasn't the sharpest knife in the draw but neither was he the dullest either. He fashioned upon a new plan seeing that his previous one would no longer work without a blaster. His ship was disabled though it could be repaired with time but her's ... if he could make it there he could steal it and leave her stranded here at least for the time being.

He got up and made a mad dash and would have been killed, he was in her sights, the weapon firing and Goro should have dropped had not a sizeable boulder been hurled into it's path absorbing the blast and shattering the stone,

The stone was telekinetically hurled by Aegir, thinking that another shot was coming his way he choose to block it. While he could endure the shoots it didn't mean that he would simply stand their and take them so inadvertantly he saved Goro's life.

But Goro always said he'd rather be lucky then good ...

Minerva saw the slaver through hop up and throw his gun away, the red headed agent had lucked out and disabled his pistol. The woman popped up to fire on the slaver as he suddenly was making a mad dash. As she pulled the trigger, a sizable boulder suddenly dropped between her and Goro. The shot was completely absorbed by the boulder, which then exploded. Minerva cursed when she saw her foe get peppered with rocks. The slaver was still running unaffected by the young agent's fire. How many lives does this guy have?

Minerva was initially confused as she tried to figure out why the slaver was making a mad dash towards her. Then the red head realized that he was running down the exit of the ravine but there was nothing down to the way....nothing but her Lancer. That bastard! She immediately realized he was going to steal her ship, well not on her watch. She began making her way down the ravine to intercept Goro, she needed to keep him in the ravine. Even if that meant she had to deal with that purple creature which was so tough. Of course climbing down like that would give the purple creature time to close the distance between them.

Aegir needed that time. The climb down slowed Minevra enough were he was able to draw closer to her. As he drew near he could get a lock on her senses now, quickly he dug through her thoughts and memories ah so missed, he felt naked without that familiar contact. A sense that humans did not possess and could not understand loosing.

He understood her motives better, her reasoning and her mistake in assuming that he was an ally of Goro, as if that in itself wasn't an insult. Of course Goro had thought that once too and had to be shown the error of his ways.

But he had the greater picture now. Reinforcements, she thought he was an ally of Goro's just as now she deduced that Goro was attempting to make it to the ships. Even so, that had not excused her of shoooting him, though it did dispel some of the mixed feelings he had reserved up to now. Those darker thoughts melting away.

He pressed into her mind speaking to her. At first he was attempting to stall her a little, and he figured that he knew how to do so.

You'll pay for your deeds, if not you then your sister, Ishtar, I know of her quiet well ... in fact I just had a visit with her the other evening.

At the least he was hoping that she would turn attention away from Goro and focus on him, maybe even draw herself closer to him so he would not have to travel so far, though now she was in range of a great many of his abilities so there were a plethora of options available to him now.

Minerva had finally made her way to bottom of ravine where she could now intercept the slaver. As stepped away from the ravine wall she suddenly felt a pressure on her mind. A voice that sounded eerie popped into her head, she knew instantly that it came from the purple creature. She suddenly froze in place as he told her to that either she or Ishtar would pay for what she did to him. Y-you will leave her alone....if you going to deal with someone you are going to DEAL WITH ME! Minerva dove behind the nearest piece of cover she could find for to buy some time.

She quickly pulled out a frag grenade and threw not towards the purple creature but down the ravine. She hoped to cause an avalanche down there to slow down Goro, the slaver whom she no longer had time to stop. The purple creature now had her full attention no one was going to mess with her sister and get away with it. She slapped a new clip into her gun and stood up as she prepared to aim at the purple creature.

KA-bOOM! The frag grenade went off and with it was the accompanying roar of falling stone that cascaded downward into tne ravine. Goro paused as he saw the avalanche of stone. He had two recourses now ... well three. He could attempt to flee out the other side of the ravine, try to climb out of it though in that case he would have no cover and be an easy target to peg. Or he could surrender.

Goro was stubborn and choose option one. He wanted to live so option two was out.

Aegir know knew what she was doing, he could sense the fluid flow of her thoughts now and thus had not looked away when he heard the blast and the ensuing land slide. But as Minevra popped back up from behind her cover Aegir was looking straight at her.

Like some sort of horror movie villain Aegir relentlessly slithered closer to his mark. He heard her demands, mouth tendrils twitching.

You should have thought about that before shooting me. But you have sealed yourself into this ravine, good.

Minerva popped up to find the purple alien closing in on her in a steady relentless pace on her position. It was a bit frighting to see the creature up close like this. His mouth had tendrils which twitched as the creature closed. There was only one thing she could do, fire as many shots as possible and hit the creature in same spot. One shot didn't work, two shots made the creature stumble a bit, maybe more would actually hurt him for a moment.

Well if you didn't back up that slaver, I wouldn't have shot you in the first place!!!! Any you if touch my sister again I will make you pay!!!

BAck up Goro? Never. I only come -

Shots came at him in rapid succession as he knew that they would. Stone after stone was hurled into the path of the plasma rounds. Then, even the cover she had been behind was hoisted skyward and tossed to the side so that he could clearly see her.

Tendrils twitched, his eyes locking upon her. Oh, she was quit mistaken, and while a portion of his mind remained focused and ready to hurl more stones for protection another had been caressing her mind, tampering with her perceptions.

She would no longer see nor hear the blasts of her weapon, nor would she feel any recoil so to all senses other than shooting herself with the rifle she would think that it was no operational, when in truth it functioned. That was far easier than hurling things into it's path all day.

- because you shot me, a piety really, I would have shown no remorse should Goro met with an untimely ending. Anyways, I'm sure that Ishtar would send her warm regards if she was aware that I was seeing you.

Still, someone needs to teach you of how impolite it is to shoot first and ask questions later, and to think if your weapon wasn't based on heat it might have done more then tickle. No, I doubt that ...

All the while he was drawing closer, yanking her legs out from under her telekinetically though shifting other boulders and rocks aside so she did not smack into them. He was toying with her, enjoying this as the dull ache faded away into nothingness, making her aware of just how futile things were ...

Minerva continued to fire at the purple creature as he approached her, each time hoping that this shot would at least injury the creature slowly closing on her. For his part, he was some how lifting stones with some sort of telekinetics and using them to intercept her plasma fire, limiting the amount of shots that got through. There was going to be a lot less boulders and stones in this ravine before the two were done. Suddenly her cover was ripped out in front of her, the red headed agent suddenly felt exposed even though she was clad in her form fitting body armor.

It was then she got a good look at the alien, seeing his face up close for the first time. She stared into his pupiless white eyes and a shiver shot up her spine as if he was staring into her soul. The young agent immediately out of fear brought up her rifle and attempted to fire again, but there was nothing...absolutely nothing. She fired again and again nothing, something had happened to her gun. It had picked the worse time to break down. Worthless junk She threw her gun away as she reached for her sidearm.

It was then she heard his thoughts again inside her. What y-you weren't helping Goro? Minerva cursed herself at her unfortunate timing, had she caught Goro a few seconds earlier this could have all been avoided. Still that creature had mentioned that he knew her younger sister, the one that had been taken away to Shokushu. Aliens and monsters only go to visit Shokushu for one thing...

Suddenly Minerva felt her legs pulled out from under her, soon she found herself thrown on her back starting up at the sky. The alien was still too far away to have pulled her down physically. He must have used his telekinetics and it was that demonstration of power that made her really worried. She was beginning to realized she was she had bitten off far more than she could chew...

His eyes narrowed as he took a few more shots this time to the chest. Heat flared up against it for a moment though this was minute. His resistance to it absorbed most of the pain he would have been feeling otherwise but he knew that this was pain that he had to take since rocks bursting in mid air would be a dead give away that the weapon was still functioning.

What he did sometimes ...

He noticed that she discarded the weapon in favor of a side arm, and at once slide the weapon away from her mentally so she could not retrieve it. He could sense the avenue of her thoughts as he looked at her prone body as he came. He threw a telekinetic blast at her arm to jolt it and (he hope) jar the weapon out of her grasp.

Help, Goro? Oh, no, no, no. He thought that I was going to help him once but he was dead wrong. And as for your sister ... I was her first, she was quit amicable about matters though and we were able to enter ino an agreement of sorts.

And still he came at his slow yet methodical pace. She had been the second agent to shoot him, though the other deliberately did so, which got his immediate attention. It wasn't with a plasma rifle either which was a mere annoyance to him at this stage.

Whoops, lost something there ... Telekinetically he wrenched one of her gauntlets off as he neared. There were a plethora of options that pressed through his head though he did something simple, he vanished.

In truth he was still was there he just blinded her to his own sight and sound as he slithered even closer to her position.