She had reviewed all the data and imputed all the information into the computer. Vanessa was free from the grasp of Ven now and so she had returned to her role as a designer and researcher. Things had piled up a bit in her absence and she still retained her meager rank rather then being promoted back to the one she had left but that was alright. She had little doubt that she would move through the ranks quick enough.

Perhaps the brass thought that she might rush back off to the front lines. Perhaps they were seeing if this transition was permanent or not seeing that she had little reason to rush back out to the stars. Even when she was there she often had been directed to the odd mysteries and scientific discoveries, hence her involvement of the Xagi home world not too long ago.

There were some major bugs she wanted to tweak with that serum too derived from Hope's blood. The stuff that assisted with aphrodisiacs was a boon for the field agents but the simulator had been of greater use to the ADD. It had been a project that was nearly done when she had left though now that she was back she tweaked it a bit.

The simulator was state of the art and she was updating it with the most recent data available. It had been used a few times in the past but was glitchy. She spent nearly two weeks scrolling over code to find the error and now that it was ready, just in time for a new test run and from what she understood the alien system in question had been having trouble as of late and the ADD lacked the resources to be everywhere. Intel helped but the powers that be decided that some experience was a bit better and easier to learn so that tactics could be passed along or at least easier seen. Now where was that datapad? She would look up the details then decide all the factors involved. Large scale? Small? Solo? Which was the best scenario to start with she wondered.

Trouble as of late was a under statement compaired to what was really happening, however the Ospoden royal family and the lower council assured all those that mattered that everything was under control in their sector of space. No slavers, monsters, or even pirates were present in their holy region of the cosmos, what a marvelous lie that was.... It was no secret that the Ospoden denied such clams to keep the whelps ignorant, smiling, and happy to the real goings on. Grand ospoden had a duty to uphold of chores, the image that they were the beacon of light in the darkness, but like most factions in the galaxy even the holy alliance had its share of retched eggs that were more loyal to money then their own people. It was for that exact reason the order of the heart rose to power in the first place, to quell the evils in their world and the next and one day brighten the darkness that corrupts the universe. A truly impossible task but one that was shared by other like minded orders.

"Set your trial to its highest tier. It would not be fair otherwise." A soft yet confident voice spoke up from the simulators ready station down below the observation deck as a petite young women with chin length violet hair casually strolled out from the arena entrance to take center stage. There was a confidence in her stride as her hips swayed with each graceful step she took forward as the sound of her metal greaves clanking ageist the sturdy floor echoed in the chamber. Not much was know about this A.D.D newcomer other then her strange taste in clothing? Or was that armor she wore form fittingly hugged her curvy young body as she walked into the training area. Her "armor" leaving little to the imagination looking almost like a one piece bathing suit that left her abdomen and navel exposed to anyone who cared to peak, almost like a taunt, but stranger still was the round disk she carried on her right arm.

Once the new comer reached center stage she rose her shield into the air and smiled, pushing her soft locks of hair out of her eyes in order to better see. "I am Diva Krimry!.... Thrown your best at me.... for I shall not hold back for you." Diva shouted be for she lowered her shield and placed her left hand over her chest as she would quietly whisper a phrase to her self be for the training began.

The ospodan looked human enough. There were alien agents here that appeared human enough though she had to make all sorts of recordings first. Electrodes were attached to Diva for reading reactions. Getting a baseline of her breathing rate, blood pressure and heart rate had all been recorded too and she had to make a few adjustments for her species.

She had to reset the safety perimeters though she had wondered if all the ospodan's were so confident or just Diva. Having a sample of just one though she couldn't tell and just marked down what appeared to be normal for her a least.

There was an injection, a harmless one though it would enhance regions in her brain allowing her to perceive the simulation once she was in the room. She tested everything to make sure it was working properly. Her brain chemistry had been different then a human's but she calibrated the drug for her physiology.

“Apov … looks like there's been some activity from Goro's bunch as of late." Data from Moka and Gaia came in handy here. She smiled at the bravado of the alien.

“You sure? Or are all you ospodans so confident?” She would program the computer for a moderate challenge but added in a surprise element that should make it more of a challenge. She would be monitoring the computers and readings and could make things more challenging if she needed too. The idea was to help out with training, often it was other ADD agents but they couldn't be everywhere and they could use a little help.

When she showed she was ready Luna addressed her with a few last minute instructions. “If the bio-readings hit dangerous levels I'll end he simulation. It will end automatically when the scenario concludes or you utter the safe word rainbow.

“The simulator is designed to place ADD agents in realistic situations. If you do not like the situation you can exit it with that safe word to.”

The room she was in would transform a brief moment later. It was surreal, she was in the cockpit of a ship, sensors picking up a naval battle near her home world but other blips racing from it. In an instant lots of the blips winked out as a battle cruiser unleashed a potent barrage that snuffed out the fighters leaving only one ship streaking towards the edge of the system some distance away. Currently her weapons and shields had been down though the fighting distant as if she just dropped back into real space and all this greeted her

Her com lit up almost at once after she got her bearings.

The ospoden were very close to human in terms of physiology they had similar vital organs and nervous systems but there were more obvious differences with closer examination. Luna discovered that the Dyear as a race lacked kidneys and their blood was a bright blue almost like ink instead of red, also that her vitals where much high then that of a humans as the A.D.D scientists would note her heart beat several times faster and her blood pressure was seemingly higher but with nothing to compare it too everything seemed normal in terms of how her body worked.

"Goro? Is that the sinners name?" Diva replied with interest as she heard Lunas voice over the loud speaker be for The knight smiled at the comment twords her confidence. "yes. why wouldn't we be. When faith smiles on us then we should all be nothing less." Diva replied be for she gave Luna the ready signal she was waiting for.

"I understand. However I do not feel that will not be necessary. If this is to be realistic then I must take it for reality. By my honor I will succeed." Diva replied to Luna's addressing of the safe words and the simulation limiters, keeping mental note of the safe word, rainbow. Once everything was ready Diva was as well.

It was then the room transformed, fading to black for a brief moment. The feeling was odd as she felt her tummy turn with a sick feeling for the moments be for she found her self in a cockpit, sensors picking up a battle near her home world of Avol, possible just pack one of the many moons that orbited the planet.

It was all so fast as Diva hardly had time to register the situation she was just dropped into with little to no warming, however she didn't panic or freeze, she simply jerked back on the controls out of instinct as the blips of incoming fire over took her piloting H.U.D and devastated the squadron that once apposed the cruiser directly ahead as she was dropped right into the thick of the already heated space battle.

"ERGH!!!" Diva grunted as she jerked on the controls of her craft and pulled the ship into a safer maneuver and seeking the switches for her weapons and shields. "PILOTING WAS NEVER MY STRONG SUIT!" Diva complained as she quickly got her bearings, jeering her controls to roll the fighter she piloted into a direct course twords the enemy cruiser. "ALL REMAINING SHIP!! REROUTE SHIELDS TO THE FRONT FACING LINE AND CHARGE!!!!! OZATOL SMILE ON ME!!!!!!" Diva shouted a valiant battle cry as she did the unthinkable and charge head long into the wall of enemy fire.

“Yes, that is what he calls himself,” she confirmed before the simulation was started. They had flight simulators and this was not one of them though it started off with a naval battle. She rerouted power energizing her shields and diverting power to her forward facing arc as she charged up her weapons.

Before she got close enough to the fighting they would be online and she opened a channel to the surviving ships out there. Her thirst for battle and dealing with sinners got the better of her at first. There was the blinking light from the incoming transmission that she had initially missed until she had been ready,

“Who's this?”

“Keep those fighters busy.”

“We just lost Gold Squad”

There had been a jumble of voice she heard over the open com channels. The cruiser was screened by the fighters and though they were out numbered they had the better pilots. Whatever that weapon had been was being charged back up. Their fighters just too close to the enemy to blast perhaps though it seemed to be supporting the vessel that was racing away from the scene. The cruiser had point blank weapons but the ospodans fighters were too small to target effectively.

It seemed that some of their ships had been clearing a path for a squad of their fighters that dipped in making a run on the cruiser and using missiles. The cruiser was old but durable. Once their run had been completed they rejoined the fighters and a different squad darted in. The congestion of battle kept that enemy ship from returning to the cruiser though even though the bulk of fighter had been kept away by it's own they ospodans frequently had at least one squad making runs.

When the flashing light on her com attracted her attention she realized it was on a different channel. A private message, audio only but she heard the stress within that voice.

“Let the military deal with the cruiser, we have reinforcements coming from the planet. Go after that vessel. The Cardinal has been kidnapped.”

Orders had been given, and if pressed she would receive he authorization codes for the orders. With little choice she had to peel off direct confrontation of the enemy. Hers had been the closet ship and she had to deviate. The enemy craft was a transport modified for speed but not compatible with military issued equipment and her ship was faster. She was eventually catching up and it was clear before long that the ship was racing towards the other fringes of the system whether to a planet or to rendezvous with another cruiser she could not say though they were coming up upon a planet as she pulled closer where she could send a comm to the other ship or try some precision shooting though ship to ship combat wasn't her strong suit. She could use a series of warning shots or shoot to attempt redirecting the ship too. Her enemy had no rear facing guns from what she could detect on scans so it should realize that it was at a clear disadvantage in a chase.

"My name is Diva. I'm a knight with the order.... Im here to lead you aid brothers!" Diva replied stoically to the comrades. The tone in her voice sounding almost real as though she really believed this battle to be the real thing, however according to her vitals Diva's heart rate, blood pressure never fluxed even for a instant as she charged head long into firing line of the enemy cruiser knowing full well that it wasn't the best option to take with all the incoming fire and the fact that gold squadron to be utterly wiped out by the fire barrage from that devastating ware ship, but some how Diva and the others managed to turn things around by some miracle they rally the remaining fighters out in the hideous dog fire and charged ahead as they focused efforts on pushing into the battle cruisers close firing area where it was most vulnerable.

The battle was intense and Diva had no strategy other then over whelming them with speed and superior skill as the her and the other remaining pilots pushed to form bombing runs on the cruiser while mounting a decent defense ageist opposing fighters seeking to break up their formations. It seemed that Ospodens were not just confident but very reckless in their tactics., something that proved to be very fruitful for them in the past.

Diva was soon surprised by a flashing light on her cockpits H.U.D, quickly realizing the message from a different channel as she quickly responded. "Yes!?" Her response was met with a frantic voice that quickly weight the heavy burden on her shoulders as the knights eyes widen in disbelief after hearing such words as almost instantly she jerked on the controls to her ship and veered off twords the fleeing vessel, punching the thrusters as her loan fighter blasted off.

" WHAT!? The Cardinal!.... Thoses heathens! How dare they lay a finder on the faiths Nobelists!!" Diva shouted, her voice enraged by such evil as Luna would notice the sky rocket of her vitals at the realization of the cardinals kidnapping even tho knowing the test was simply a simulation as she quickly caught up to the fleeing ship as even then she didn't slow down her vessel nor did she send a message or even fire a bout of warning shots. Diva in her rage simply began firing a barrage the moment she was in range of the vessel. Utterly destroying its engines with cluster bombs that impacted the stern of the ship as Diva's fighter quickly zipped past the fleeing ship only moments before she would have rammed them other wise a she once again rolled her ship to the side as she moved to come back around for another attack to the bridge as she sought to cripple the evil doers vessel.

"Surrender.... now to be destroyed...." Diva broadcasted out as she charged back for her second run at the ship.

The great thing about the simulator was that she could watch in via a computer. That helped when she saw the rising levels of tension but it wasn't as she had expected. Luna thought she would see them spike before combat though they spiked with news of the kidnap. Odd. Then she realized something. Faith. Had it been that strong? Yes, it was. Others tried to dissuade her from going after Vanessa but she had. She had faith that she would find her, in the end Gaia did but she would have been damned if she would not try.

Hers had not been religious in nature but was that the trigger? She observed on.



----



Her ship caught up easily enough and her shots hit the engine. It wasn't enough to cause the ship to explode but it did not out a thruster causing the ship to begin to slow. It was in part using it's own momentum since there was nothing in space to stop it.

Flying forth she broke off just a hair short of ramming it though as she circled back the ship was chancing it's course toward the planet after taking a few quick shots at her though she zipped out of range. Had she been closer her shot may have done even more damage though at long range most of that energy was bleeding out by the time she struck.

Her message was sent. There was a long silence as the captain had to be contemplating something. A transport was no match for a fighter not unless it was heavily modified. The captain seemed to realize this though.

“I am setting down on planet.” A surrender? It was a male voice though those words could have been a statement that regardless he was setting down on that planet. From what she could detect on her sensors and from her own memory from history class gravity down there was a far bit lower and it was mostly jungle. There was an atmosphere and some natives though they were low tech hardly out of the stone age as far as development went though there were numerous ruins of an older civilization further advanced but no signs of them had ever been uncovered so they had probably faded, now extinct.

Diva pushed her ship to its ultimate limit or at least the limit the simulation calculated the ship to have as she made her reckless charge, easly barreling out of the way of incoming fire from the freighter, firing more torpedos into the enemy ships left side as Diva kept up her assult until the incoming message indicator on her cockpit H.U.D blinked to life as Diva reached out to the center terminal and fliped open her ship communications.

"Do you surrender?" Diva asked coldly, her voice cold as ice as she replied. She pulled back on her controls, slowing her ship down to slow crawl afther she held her fire, fallowing the ship down to the planet below, keeping their ship targeted all the while.

She could feel the Captain grating his teeth together given the delay. “Yes ...”

The ship descended through the atmosphere of the planet. She followed and could see the points of pyramids poking out of the trees once they were beneath the clouds. Sensors picked up life forms but nothing abnormal that stuck out.

They were scattered and that was a jungle down there so if there were no life signs then something would have seemed quite wrong. The transport opened fire into the jungle creating a crude landing zone barely large enough for it though she had time to expand that before landing.

It was an ugly landing though. The pilot was not that great she determined though the ship was powering down. Weapons first, shields next and faulty engines last. The ramp would open and he would note that the insect on the planet were large, some about the size of her hand. The atmosphere had quite a bit of oxygen in it.

There was no other movement though from the other ship. No one came forth from the ship as if waiting for further instruction.

Diva senses the anger in the enemy commanders voice as he finally replied to her. Diva accepted his surrender as she discharged her weapons safely and fallowed in the enemy vessels approach to the planet below. Keeping her weapons locked and ready to fire in case they tried to attack or flee in anyway using her ships ion cannons to fry the ships systems and to protect the cardinal by any means necessary if it came down to that options, lucky it didn't as they pierced the atmosphere be for setting down on the strange planet not far from her home world, Apov.

Diva was surprised at first to see the tips pyramids poking just over the jungle canopy, considering the idea of a lost civilization she would one day have to explore but that was a consideration for another time as she had more pressing matters to address right now, like saving the Cardinal from these heathen as she vigilantly fallowed closely behind the enemys ship as they were forced to crash land in the jungle not far from the ancient ruins. Divas fighter hovering over the crash site be for she her self touched down near by. Her ship's nose facing the crashed runner, weapons locked and ready to fire.

The knight watched their ships read outs closely as their systems power down one after another and once their ship was finally dead did Diva finally release her controls and unstrapped her self from her seat. The Ospoden Fighter's cockpit dome hissed open with the release of pressure be for a bleep on the H.U.D warned Diva to the planets high oxygen rich environment as it automatically dispensed a re breather for her to quickly snatch from its compartment and place it on her face as it covered her lips and nose as she hopped out of the ship with her shield in hand.

"Come out of the vessel peacefully, If you surrender, you shall not be harmed." Diva assured them as she approached the crashed vessel, her shield raised to her front in a defensive possession incase the worst was to happen, in which case Diva was ready if it did.

She approached and one of those larger four winged insects zipped by without paying her any mind. It had not come close either use to seeing things like her or weary as to what she was. That mind had been a simple one.

The transport lowered it's boarding ramp. A pause as she was ready for the worse though the door eventually opened as the Captain must have been delayed in walking to it after issuing the commands for the boarding ramp to descend.

It had been her caution that saw it first, the hand that chucked a grenade from the interior of the ship though the occupant had no way of telling where she was and thus where to toss it the effects were essentially the same.

She saw a red scaly hand then white light as a deafening bang went off. It was disorientating for a moment and when she got her bearings someone was shooting at her. Her shield took a shot and there was no effect … stun, she reasoned. But it gave her a direction from the shot which had been close to the door as she would have guessed.

There was a four armed reptile there with a blaster in each hand firing each in random directions. With no eye protection he had been blinded too, a good thing. The reptile had been one of the Adda, Goro's minions, the slavers becoming a recent nuisance at the outskirts of the system.

From what she remembered they had two castes, a soldier and worker one. They may have had more but no one was sure. Goro had enthralled them somehow and they were a primitive species but smart enough. They were learning. Most things had been difficult for them save for weapons. The larger ones were the soldiers and the workers were considered “techs”. He was a smaller one, a little larger then she was and with no sense in getting cover since he was in the doorway atop the ramp but being a worker she didn't see that as unusual, a rookie mistake for sure.

This had to be the pilot, certainly not the one that nabbed the Cardinal. He was easy enough to deal with then the real show started as a pair of soldiers rushed out with blaster rifles. A third remained using the door as cover but he was unable to support the others until they got down that ramp since he did not have an angle on her and at present could only shoot his allies in the back. Conversely she could not target him until these two had been dealt with …

Diva payed one of those large winged insects no mind as she made her approach to the downed vessel so long as it didn't bother her as it zipped off, she had no reason to harm it otherwise. Diva was far more vigilant watching the transport ships loading ramp lower down as she approached carefully, only reacting the second she noticed something get tossed out from the interior of the ship and in her direction.

Diva didn't hesitate as she was more then prepared for such as she swung her shield arm to the side and quickly slapped the grenade out of the air and sent it sailing to her right with a loud metallic *TINK!" be for it exploded with Diva just out side of its explosive radius be for she quickly rushed up the ramp and into the ship. Diva's shield posed in front of her, absorbing the shots fired at her by the sinister worker who foolishly stud in her way as Diva simply rushed into him and bashed her shield into the poor creature body with the face of her shield with a heavy handed shield slam, easily incapacitating him as he was tossed back into the ship as Diva quickly jumped over the top of him and kept moving into the ship to the next enemy in her path.

Diva didn't give the two who just emerged time to use the door as cover as she pushed into the ship, slamming the next soldier with the edge of her shield who happen to be in her way be for dealing with the next who was right behind him as she quickly reach out and grabbed the barrel of the second soldiers rifle as she used her superior strength to either yank it right out of his hands or him out of the ship if he was not smart enough to release his weapon.

"I demand that you stand down!" Diva said harshly to the enemy's sprawled out around her, bloody and battered, how ever it was their choice if they wanted to be beaten yet.

The Adda gave u the weapon. With four arms and versed in the Adda martial art as all their warriors were giving up the weapon was no worry to it especially in this circumstance.

The worker was out just on the inside of the vessel. Unused to serious battle. But she would find no quite with the Adda. They were fanatical in carrying out commands given to them by their Emissary and they had to have been under such orders now to retrieve the Cardinal or give their lives trying.

Luna glanced to the readings then back to that screen as the situation unfolded. Most people one on one had difficulty dealing with a single Adda. The worker was down but there were three others present. And twelve arms among them but she was interested in how this would play out.

As it were only two could get in on her at a time. She was in a corridor that wasn't the widest with two Adda to one side and one to the other. The worker was more or less at her feet out cold from the shield smash.

One snarled something in some language she did not understand repeated at once by the others and she could guess it wasn't “I surrender.”

The one who spoke was the one behind a large Adda and he retreated, either he could not get in at her or had some other sort of idea was hard to say. The Adda on his side of the corridor pounced at her. Hew as the unarmed one that she tore the rifle from earlier.

The one she had hit was groggy but still standing. The warriors durable and their heads as she learned quite thick particularly their foreheads since their courtship rituals involved males locking limbs and head butting one another though the workers lacked this genetic trait.

This had saved her from having to engage with two of them at once but the unarmed one set upon her, two hands grabbing her shield, not attempting to tare it from her but to yank it up high enough where it could swing two fists beneath it to her chest, driving her back into the groggy one who staggered back and toppled over, her previous attack had messed with his equilibrium and she had been reminded of a boxer that was out on his feet, her shield may not have taken him out straight away but effectively she had been a bit more successful than anyone realized except maybe the Adda in question. The think was that she didn't know how quickly they recovered and she did hear him speak, maybe it was something so ingrained that he just parroted it back without knowing that he was even doing so.

Those fists hurt, the Adda weren't ungodly strong but they were strong. The ease that she tore the weapon away might have told her they were weak but she concluded that the Adda didn't see any reason to hold onto a weapon when a hands on approach seemed easier at this range.

Just one Adda to deal with currently since the second did not seem to be in any shape for fighting. He grinned at her after driving her back a few meter. Their martial art was more offense in nature though she was given a few seconds, a rookie mistake perhaps as he took glee in seeing the effectiveness of his blows rather then smothering her with a series of blows but now he dashed in at her making a small leap over the downed worker ...

These adda creatures might have thick skulls and multiple limbs but that didnt mean they were more skilled in hand to hand combat then a ospoden knight like Diva. Luna may be curious to see how this simulation would end but Diva already knew, she was going to come out of this battle the victor one way or another. She was confident even with out the nerrow corridor assisting her she could hold her own agiest three or four of these clumsy hulking beasts and still be the last one standing.

She was suprised that despite hitting her shield edge agiest the Adda's fore head he didnt go down but he still was groggy, however he must still suffered a masive trama or at least a cracked open skull as he tried to fight back agiest her even afther she disarmed and wounded him as blood most likly got into his eyes greatly effecting his combat effectivness.

The Adda gripped her shield as used his other set of lower arms to take a few swings at her as Diva managed to easly avoid, the Adda forgeting she had a free hand as well as she simply played the defensive and blocked those incoming punches with her free arm or avoided them completly befor she jerked back on her shield and gave her opponent the idea he was pushing her back only to make the mistake of leaping at her into a poorly timed charge.

Diva took no pleasure in exploiting lesser skilled opponent even if said opponent was merely a bot in a computer simulation but in real combat there were no rules as Diva considered their strong skulls but wondered if their necks were just as strong? as Diva moved back in defense only to wait for that charging soldier to come into range as she suddenly twisted her shield in her grasp and swipped it upward slamming the Adda's musculer throut with the edge of her shield in a expertly timed shield slashed uppercut....

Able to avoid the worse of what would have been a pair of body punches her arm exploded in pain in two separate places much like a boxer's did after blocking accumulated punches over a contest. The ache was there but not agonizing. The arm far from disabled but begging not to be used in such a way too often. The arm wasn't as vulnerable as the torso though and she had a mere taste of hi strength as she pulled back at the same time effectively rolling with the punches and stumbling into the other one.

But the delay cost the Adda when he sprang at her. His throat not as strong as the head that his colleague had and he dropped. That left her with one who was still down and dazed, easy to kill or render unconscious before moving on.

The narrow corridor worked to her advantage since only two could get at her at once. One in front and one behind. While it made it tough to dodge leading with her shield she could take most attacks on it. Pursuing the one that ran off could produce the best results. In a fire people ran to their valuables and in this case the Adda must have been going to the Cardinal to defend him.

Her shield took a few hits as she came upon the Adda who had been firing from around a door frame of a room up ahead. The door was closed almost immediately afterward, electronically locked from the other side there was at least the one Adda left, maybe more with the Cardinal she didn't know. A transport this size would be large enough for what, eight people? She dealt with three already and knew the fourth was behind that door. So five left at most may have seemed easy enough to her mind that was if she could get to them in a straight forward fight. The Adda had not used the Cardinal a a hostage and while not dumb the one she faced hadn't been the bet example of their prowess, young he may not have seen too much action or had been confident that he would have inflicted more damage or had some desire to see that damage.

Would the older one be the same or did they have more experience? First things first there was a locked door ahead of her that she either had to ignore in search of another or use her skills in some capacity. It was magnetically sealed, too strong for her to brute open with raw strength and even her shield would require some work to get the door open.