Chapter 6
Decisions, decisions.

I decide to update! Rofl! Wow… sorry. I haven't updated any of my fictions in a bit. I got lazy I guess. more like caught up in school work but its relaxing now... so here I am, updating! This chapter is more like a filler, not much action should be happening. I sort of had detoured myself from my plot idea so now I am just putting myself back on the right track heh. I am putting more personal emotions in here, I hope it makes it better.

"Ok. Now that I have all of your attention, there is a change of plans. The star that we have been working on getting here is unreachable. The informant was killed and therefore we need more Intel before being able to reach it. We are now going to move to Mashiba to help secure our two stars. An army is invading it, and it is our duty to go and help them out. Pack everything, your suits will be checked at 18 hundred hours and then we will be ready to deport." Sheldon ordered as his troops got to it.

They weren't that numerous; there was about 100 men and about a dozen women. When a certain female soldier, Marianne, passed by he stopped her.

"Could you pack Mrs Malor's stuff for her? She is currently on assignment with 3 other men and I don't think they will be back in time to pack." He informed the woman who nodded and walked off to do just that.

Marianne was a female gunman or gunwoman. She was skilled but untrustworthy. Though, she was a girl and Sheldon preferred asking a woman to pack Kyrea's things then a man. He later approached a couple men to ask them to pack Demetry, Marrick and Charles' things. With a nod, three men approached him.

"Alright, you will check for anything that isn't supposed to be in their bags. The following must be prepared: Dark attire, normal attire, main firearm, pistol, dagger, grenade belt, ammunition, and helmet, make sure this works, night vision equipment and a sleeping bag. You know the procedure. We need everyone ready by 19 hundred hours to then depart. Get your own stuff packed before then, and check the loaders first." He instructed them and then walked off in the direction of his tent.

The loaders, or the men that must pack the equipment into the vehicles, were told about the way they were to load things in, and the time to respect. Sheldon, upon reaching his tent, let himself drop on his chair and took in a breath. He knew he should get packing but he felt too stressed to do so. Breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly, he tried to calm himself. He had to think of what was taking place. Picking up his weapon, and checking it, he sighed once again. Kyrea, hurry up will you? Its ok if you don't find him… we'll get him next time. Just come on back, we need your help over in Mashiba. He was thinking about her again. It was always her, like a brain infection: her missions, her friends, her skills, her taste. And now she was gone from him once again. He had wanted to go with her, help her out, be by her side, but he knew he couldn't let his troops see this; it was a weakness. He didn't care if liking her made him weak, but he didn't want to lose his job and his soldiers' trust so easily. Slowly he shook himself and packed his equipment: clothes, weapons and personal items. Kyrea would check in with him anytime to let him know how they are doing. Hopefully, they were on their way back already.

Mashiba was a well defended base, it was composed with the main army, but if Sheldon knew Kay right, his army would need very much to be brought down. Also, if Kay was sneaky, he might just steal the stars, using war as a distraction. All these possibilities were to be accounted for. Sheldon went and picked up the letter he had stored away earlier that week. It was dated the 3rd of june, and it was now the 21rst. They have been fighting for a while, I hope they are alright. He had sent his reply a while ago too, assuring him that he will take actions, he just did not mention when. Sheldon was known for never losing a battle; this may be his downfall. Having to quit on the star this easy hurt him, and small talk spread around about this. How did his Intel fail him? Why had he not secured the informant earlier? Why this, why that, why? But in the end, he still had the respect he deserved. The soldiers that put their lives at risk under his command trusted him, after all nobody is perfect. Reading over it again, Sheldon noticed that the writing was careful. He must not be under too much stress if he took his fine time writing this…he thought, proceeding by shrugging his shoulders and falling back into his chair, staring out of his tent to see only a couple soldiers outside and the rest must be in their tents packing. We'll be there Mashiba.

The two men were silent, but the silence was happy, victorious. A folder was open on the table and out of it was a spread of snapshots. In it were various pictures of tents and equipment followed by documents and then people. A second folder, further north on the table but it was also opened, contained papers. These were filled with statistics and progress reports. This precious information was stealthily devoured by the second man's eyes and a small grin formed at his lips.

"You have done well, congratulations. You have successfully fulfilled your task and your reward is waiting for you back at Istelorth." The same man spoke all the while leaning against the soundproof stone wall.

The second man, leaning against a wall, was the mastermind requesting the information. He would interpret them in his twisted ways and in the end, someone always suffered. He was smart, yes, that he was. The information that the first man brought to him was great. It told him all he needed to know, it confirmed his thoughts and hypothesis. The information also let him know about his enemy's movements and strengths and weaknesses. Comparing it to his army's stats, they were about equalled up. It was tight in strength, but in smarts, he always came out leader. He would win, the stars were going to be his; as for the world. His army would dominate all and he would finally restore the world to the way it should be. The weak don't survive as well as the rebellious. All against his laws get terminated and slaveries shall return. Women have a right of speech, but it really was a man's world, and will soon be again literally. How he could not wait.

The first man smiled and stood up from his chair and leaned against the wall opposite to the other man. A sparkle of lust momentarily took over his eyes, but left with a blink. Ten years, 10. That's how long it took him to achieve his prize, his promised wife. She was a 5'4", dark haired, brown lustrous eyed, high spirited, athletic, sexy woman. Even after not having seen her in ten years, he could picture her in his mind. The way she walked, smelled, talked, tasted, felt, looked, thought, joked, loved. For seventeen years, he had wanted just to hold her and be with her. Possess and be possessed. He could have done all this until a man walked into his life. The man that you read about in religious readings. The one who comes and takes men for his army to then rule all. He was taken away from her, to then have her as a reward. 'It has to be this way. I can easily have her killed if that's what you want.' Is what he was told when he argued, but this he could not let happen. Submissive he was, and here is where it brought him. He finally got to the end, and she is now his.

The other man simply grinned at the news in front of him. His agent had successfully infiltrated the Guaridiens' system and had gained an awful lot of intel. He could finally be the successor of the world. The stars were going to be his, it was just a matter of time now. It also said so in the readings. Things were falling into place, for the better. He had used this information to locate the 2 stars that the opponent had, and thus had sent out his army to take them. The third one was found by him a while ago, just was difficult to get to. And the fourth, well he had no idea. This irritated him, but the readings said that he would be the first to possess all four, and he would make sure with all his will that this came true.

A soft sound, coming from the screen in the top right corner of the room, shook both men out of their thoughts. Kay had a plan, Charles knew most of it and even though he could relate Kyrea with the woman back at home, he could let Kay proceed. This one smiled once more.

"Yes, you have done well."

She came to, her head pounding. Her memory was blurry, but she was there enough to understand something was wrong. The ground was cold under her body and her stomach hurt. There was no light in the room except from what looked like the perimeter of a door. The dim light was not enough to explain to Kyrea what kind of room she was put in. Then her memory slowly pieced itself together and he questioned expression grew worse. Charles! What a bastard! Why would he do that? After 10 years? Damn it… who can you trust now a days? She questioned herself. Slowly, she tried to get up. Even if her stomach protested, she knew it wouldn't do much good to lay helpless on the floor. She brought herself up, using the muscles in her arms that worked. Her whole body tensed up when she flexed, but after multiple tries, she succeeded.

Now sitting up against a, what felt like, stone wall, she breathed in and out. Her breath was normal, but it stung her internally. He stomach burned and her mind still spun. Then a bright light overtook her body and she winced, closing her eyes then reopening them slowly to adjust them to the brightness. She could see the outline of a person walk in followed by an other. Both seemed to be men by their shapes but Kyrea wasn't thinking well enough to be sure. One walked up beside her, grabbed her wrist and hauled her up while the second place handcuffs on her wrists, behind her back. They proceeded by placing some foreign material on her eyes to blind her from her surroundings and then they brought her out of the room. For all she knew, she was walking in a straight line and the ground was fair and solid. The sound of a door opening was heard and she was pushed inside a room, falling to her feet because she couldn't see anything. Footsteps were heard and then the door closed once again.

"Get up." A voice ordered her and she did.

Confused and angry, she lifted herself off of her knees and stood up, feeling weird, stared at, confused, uninformed, alone. The sound of a chair getting pulled was heard and the man that had spoken earlier grabbed her upper arm and sat her on the chair. He then took off the cloth covering her eyes and sat back down, across the table from her. Kyrea's eyes slowly settled themselves, fixing the entourage. The room was once again dimly lit. There was a door, behind her and a, no doubt, one way window to her left. The piece was made of stone walls and ground, soundproof.

"What were you doing in these woods?" The man questioned.

This man was not one that Kyrea recognized. His calmness and sharpness as well as tone and boldness lead her to believe that he must be an interrogator. Those people could play mind tricks on you somehow, she always believed. Stay quiet and you win. Speak, and it will ruin you. They know what questions to ask and they can find out how to get under your skin. They know what you don't and they know what you do. They know what role to take when questioning you, harass you, toy with you, demand of you. They just know.

"It is not my place to say." She replied calmly, testing out her ground.

The man grinned. "Kyrea, you do not know in how much trouble you are, so I would watch myself." He advised her.

Ok, so he knows my name. What else? He knows why I was there probably, just wants to sucker out information or make me admit it. But does he really think I'm that stupid? She instructed herself, trying to level with the interrogator. Know when to pull and when to push and you might make it out ok.

"You know why I was in those woods." She replied sternly. She wasn't going to beat around the bush or give more then she was certain he knew. Maybe she could learn a thing or two.

"I am the one conducting this interrogation, now unless you want to spend more time in your cell, I would answer my questions." The man persisted, raising his tone.

Easy to piss off I see. These interrogators aren't so hard to break after all. She thought, grinning a bit and relaxing in her seat.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked again, his calmness gone and now demanding.

After a silence the man stood and walked over to her, staring into her eyes, towering above her sitting frame. His face's features were crisp and tense and his eyes showed nothing. She couldn't tell whether she had truly gotten to him or if it was some of his psychotic plan to get to analyse her; Kyrea didn't admire getting analysed. For a split second, she thought he was going to hit her until he walks behind her. A noise was heard and when she turned her head, two men walked in again, presumably the same who brought her here. The cloth was placed at her eyes once more and she was dragged, figuratively, to her 'cell'. On the way there, it felt like the men were less carefully trying to disorient her. They weren't stretching out turns, so she could tell when she took a right or left or passed a door. The same large sounding door opened and she was released into her room, the cloth was removed and the door slammed shut behind her. Darkness filled her vision once again and her eyes tried to make out anything in the darkness, to no results. Her hands, still being bound, threw her off balance when she tried to kneel and she fell face first onto the floor. Though it didn't hurt, and the floor was still cold, she felt the want to stay down, and she did.

"Hey Marrick," Demetry started, trying to get his partner's attention.

This one stopped his jog and looked back at Demetry's worried face. It had been fourty minutes that they have been looking for Kyrea and Charles. At first, they thought they could have just gotten lost, then they couldn't find footprints or anything and time kept flying by. Kyrea never gets lost, and if she did, she would have probably put up a fire or something to signal her position. Ok, probably not a fire, but something quiet that the enemy forces can't find but Marrick and Demetry can. Still, nothing.

"What is it?" He replied, not exactly sure what kind of hint was meant by Demetry's tone of voice.

"I think something is wrong; I don't think we will be able to find them. Whatever happened, it might be best to find Sheldon. He wanted us back there anyways." He explained, looking up at the sky and noticing it was quite dark. "If we don't go back, they might send out a team to look for all of us. I mean lots of firearms and the whole shebang and it might ruin Sheldon's plans. If we show up and tell them Kyrea and Charles are missing, maybe they will send a different squad team out, or wait a bit or I don't know." He rambled on, walking away slightly.

A pause passed by and Marrick nodded, staring at Demetry, and then he took off southwards, Demetry soon falling in step behind him. They both ran without stop, direction: their base. Hopefully when they would get there, Sheldon would be able to advise them on their following moves.

For Demetry, he was worried for his friend's sake. She was good, oh that he didn't doubt. But she was also female and she had told him about being involved with Kay. He had done some background search on Kay and found that he was behind heavy star traffic and owned powerful firearms. It was also said he was behind many deaths and was the leader of a growing army. This made him one thing. Dangerous. And danger is not what he wished for Kyrea. Though, he didn't panick, only wondered about her and hoped for the best. After all, what good does it do you to worry yourself sick?

For Marrick, he was more calm and collected. Ok, so Kyrea and Charles were missing. Soldiers did get captured; these two weren't much more special to him, he wasn't close to either. He wasn't emotionless or anything, but he's trying to stay level headed and professional. If you were to grief over every loss, this isn't the business for you. Shit happens, you deal with it.

Their pace had picked up a bit, silently. They had passed 5 of 13 berries already. Everyone of the quad team had a map with every berry they had passed; therefore they knew their way to and fro. Some areas seemed recognizable, but then again, the woods are the woods. A tree doesn't really stand out from every other, on average. If they continued at the set speed, they should arrive back at Delta in approximately a day and 4 hours and a bit. If all goes good, they will be early enough to send back up before anything bad happens, if it was actually a bad event that caused Kyrea and Charles to be held up.

"Alright, send them out." Sheldon approved as a few soldiers requested approval before deploying the men and women.

The soldiers left with their orders and proceeded with their tasks. Loud noises were heard momentarily as the vehicles' engines came to life and they started moving away in huge lines. It was finally deployment and Sheldon watched his troops go. The encampment now looked inhabited, like if they were never there. Besides slumped grassy spots and some light littering, nothing noticeable showed that and army group had been there for a couple weeks.

Sheldon wasn't satisfied with losing a star to Kay, but it has to do, for he can not risk losing two to a probable third. He was ready to move out with his troops to come to their main base's aid. His equipment was all packed up as well, but he was taking a different vehicle near the back of the pack, though his mind was elsewhere. A couple people had noticed that he wasn't quite 'on earth' but couldn't figure out why, and he constantly tried to snap out of it. It was funny; they had never had a past together, but a simple kiss. Nothing else: nothing deep, nothing meaningful, but just a kiss. Perhaps a hug here and there and sending each other glances, but that was mere flirting acts. Why then was he stuck on her? Was she stuck on him too? But anyways, why now? Why during assignments? Sure, neither really wanted to do this for the rest of their lives but they couldn't just let themselves go. They were professionals after all and civilians counted on their 100 on the field. If a captain in the army can't work right, who will?

He jumped into the back of the truck where his stuff was at and took a moment to himself in the shadows. Dropping his figure to the bottom and getting cosy, he let his thoughts wonder to what had been holding back for a while. The troops will be fine wont they? The quad will be back anytime and see us gone and will head for Mashiba, wont they? They will all be alright, wont they? Damn I wish someone could reassure me. He worried, setting his head in his hands, between his knees. Even if, because of his rank, he had to act strong and confident, it didn't mean he couldn't worry, he was human after all. It had been now about 6 hours since he had last heard of Kyrea and he was supposed to hear of her, at the latest, 4 hours ago. Ok, so she is late for once. I have to give her a break, she's human too and we make mistakes. He argued, thinking only about what best can happen. Yet, his dutiful half came in. You can't leave your men hanging out there, they depend on you for help. If there truly is something wrong, you better be prepared. It instructed him, and he agreed. What if something bad had happened? Like they had been kidnapped or they were stuck yet unseen or even all shot and dead or wounded? Then he would have to react when he knew. But you can be too late. At times like this, a conscience was both a pain in the ass and a help.

A cough was heard beside him and he immediately snapped out of it and stood up.

"Sir, everyone is already gone. Are you ready?" The woman soldier asked him.

He grinned, yawned and stretched. Oh, I better be right, if not… well… my excuse is… oh! That I had to tell them where we went! Ok. Good job me. He thought and laughed a bit. Upon looking at the woman's confused face, he smiled again and replied.

"Actually, I am not going. I have to go and help out a quad in the field. I will send message to you whenever I can. I am not sure when I'll be back, depending. Let Koran know that he is now in charge, will you?" He instructed, grabbing his main firearm and pistol, installing them on a belt with a pack of memory syringes. He jumped down from the truck and waited to get the acknowledging look in the woman's eyes before running off towards the northern woods.

Kyrea, if only you knew what I feel like I would do for you.

Yay! Thankies maroon for reviewing! 3 heh. I hope you will keep reviewing :) Imma try shortening the chapters so I don't get bored of writing or sick of it. Heh.