~Predator~ Book Three

Warnings:
1) Alternate Universe
2) Marysue and Martysue characters
3) LOTR characters will be out of character, especially Legolas
4) Graphic language, graphic sex in later chapters, graphic violence
5) Lots of torment

Chapter 1 – Prelude to Pursuit​

The Grey Havens

Círdan, the shipwright, discovered he had an abundance of free time on his hands since he had no ships to build. Over two weeks ago he had received a message via falcon from Thranduil, stating that no one was to sail to the Undying Lands until further notice. The Elven king had given no specific reasons, only that there was danger in Valinor that needed to be dealt with before anyone else could be assured of safety. The shipwright had been skeptical at first. What could possibly threaten Valinor in these times of peace? But he had no choice in the matter. The Elven king was adamant in his message.

A number of Elves had arrived throughout the last two weeks and Círdan informed them of Thranduil’s message. And thus the Grey Havens currently housed those that waited to sail.

Jorian, the shipwright’s young apprentice, appeared at the top of a long, winding stone stairway. Seeing Círdan lazily feeding the gulls from the edge of the pier, Jorian rushed down toward the dock, taking three steps at a time. The adolescent boy was out of breath when he finally reached Círdan. “My Lord, you must come quickly,” he gasped out.

Círdan looked at Jorian with concern, never having seen the boy so winded. “What is it, Jorian?”

“Two men…very distraught…one of them…king of Rohan.”

The shipwright turned his gaze to the top of the stairway. Two men stood near the stone balustrade. Although Círdan had never met the king of Rohan, he recognized him from descriptions. The other man was not familiar to him. He quickly proceeded to the stairway and made his way up. At the top, he bowed his head to the two men. “I am Círdan, shipwright of the Grey Havens.”

The stockier of the two men nodded in greeting. “I am Éomer, son of Éomund.”

“And king of Rohan,” added Círdan.

Éomer nodded and glanced at Faramir. “This is Faramir, Steward to the king of Gondor.”

“Welcome to the Grey Havens, my Lords. How may I be of service?”

“Tis a mission for our own piece of mind,” said Éomer. “Elessar, king of Gondor journeyed here to the Grey Havens with many others.” Éomer noticed the perplexed look on the shipwright’s face, but he continued. “He left us in the care of his son, Eldarion. Also in our care was Anwar, the eldest of Prince Legolas. Have you, by chance, seen these children?”

Círdan raised his eyebrows. “Nay, I have not seen them. But you are mistaken about King Elessar, for he has not come this way.”

Éomer exchanged a confused glance with Faramir before turning back to Círdan. “He departed from Minas Tirith two over weeks ago. Prince Legolas and King Thranduil were also among the company. Surely they would have arrived by now.”

Círdan shook his head with concern. “I regret to say that they have not come.”

Faramir turned to Éomer. “We would have seen them along the way had they stopped. There is only one path to these shores from Gondor.”

Éomer shook his head in confusion. “Something is amiss. If they did not come here, then where did they go?”

The three of them suddenly became aware of an increasing sound none of them were familiar with. They glanced around the cove and to the trees behind the many structures that comprised the Grey Havens. The sound became louder and louder and seemed to be coming from every direction.

Suddenly something caught Éomer’s eye. An object appeared in the sky between the two rock structures at the edge of the cove. As it drew closer, the two Men and the Elf stared in amazement and curiosity. The object appeared to be a giant bird made of metal, but it lacked wings. They watched it slowly pass above them and then it disappeared beyond the trees on the other side of the city.
Inside the Dropship, Freak moved the controls to maneuver it to a safe landing spot. He thought about the kind of trouble he would face if someone found out he was totally disregarding the United Systems primary rule. He was traipsing around in a Dropship on a planet that had no knowledge of technology. They’d take his ship and cancel his freighting license, not to mention the five years in prison he’d have to endure. Shaking his head in frustration, he briefly glanced back at the blonde-haired Elf king sitting in the seat behind him. “You realize I’m going to be in loads of shit for this.”

Thranduil was a picture of extreme calm. “You have already been informed that none here in Arda will ever speak of your existence.”

“Yeah, right.” Freak slowly brought the Dropship down in an open field beyond a grove of trees on the other side of the city.

The minute the Dropship powered down, Aragorn, king of Gondor, sometimes known as Strider or most recently Elessar, stepped into the cramped cockpit. He glanced out the front window and pointed to three individuals cautiously emerging from the trees. “You see? Éomer and Faramir are here, just as I predicted.”

Freak rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You know what? I’ve got a new nickname for you. It’s Jughead.”

Aragorn frowned at him. “Jughead? My head is not a jug.”

“Yeah, and it’s full of shit a lot, too,” Freak mumbled to himself.

Freak, Aragorn and Thranduil joined the others in back as Zion lowered the ramp along the side of the Dropship. While the three of them exited, everyone else was told to remain inside.

Éomer, Faramir and Círdan had not ventured any further when they saw the side of the metal beast opening. Then to their surprise, they realized they recognized two of the individuals that stepped out.

“Aragorn,” said Éomer when they all stood together. Then he curiously glanced at the metal beast a short distance away. “What is that creature you emerged from?”

“Tis a long story, my friend, one that I will tell you on our return to Minas Tirith.”

Éomer placed a hand on Aragorn’s shoulder. “Your son…”

Aragorn smiled. “Worry not. Eldarion and Anwar are safely with us.”

Éomer and Faramir both sighed heavily in relief.

“I imagined you would have come here in search of them and am glad you are still here.”

Círdan approached and bowed to Thranduil. “I received your message, my Lord and have delayed all departures for the west.”

“I thank you, Círdan,” replied Thranduil. “I am pleased to inform you that Valinor is safe once again.”

“Then I shall begin building again, for there are many here waiting to sail.” Círdan smiled. “Tis good to see you again, my old friend.”

Freak twitched nervously. “I like reunions just as much as the next guy, but we are seriously pressed for time, if you know what I mean.”

“Return with us on the ship,” suggested Aragorn to Éomer and Faramir. “It will be quicker.”

Éomer eyed the Dropship one more time. “Our horses.”

When Aragorn turned to him, Freak just about lost all of his patience. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. It’s bad enough I’ve got ten additional people on my ship, not to mention two really pissed off tigers. I’m sorry, but I have to draw the line on horses. No way.”

Fifteen minutes later Freak touched his fingers to his temples, feeling a tremendous migraine coming on as he watched two horses giving their masters a whole lot of trouble about getting into the Dropship. He glanced at Zion who was smiling and shaking his head. “This really sucks ass, Zee.”

Zion slapped Freak on the back. “You go take it easy, boss. I’ll do the driving.”
Minas Tirith
(Ariedel’s POV)

“You all don’t understand the position you’re putting me in,” said Freak to those in the hall of the White Tower. “If I get boarded by United Systems Authorities and they find out I’m carrying people who are not part of the system, I might as well hang it up for the rest of my life.”

“He is my son and tis my right to accompany you in your pursuit,” said Thranduil, king of Elves.

Both of them were right in their own way. Freak really didn’t have to be involved in any of this. But he was doing it for me. And Thranduil, well he was just as concerned for Legolas as I was. So I understood his reason for wanting to be part of the search party. But for all practical purposes, not everyone needed to go. I walked up to Thranduil and took him by the arm, leading him away from the others and to a window before turning to face him. “Adar, man innas tirio am hîn? Im baur le dartho. Anwar i presta o he ada. He baur le.” (Father, who will watch over the children? I need you to stay. Anwar is distraught about her daddy. She needs you.)

Thranduil reached up and cupped my cheek and I turned my face into his palm. “Im gosta oh ion nin.” (I worry about my son.)

“Im henia.” I had lived with Elves for twelve years, but I still found it difficult to speak the language and usually switched off when I couldn’t find the right way to translate what I wanted to say. “Besides, when we return, it’ll only seem like we were gone for a short time.” (I understand.)

“So the old wizard says. If he is mistaken then you will return to find that your children have become adults.”

That line of thought had been foremost on my mind ever since we left Valinor several hours ago. With every month that passed outside of Arda, a year would pass for those on it. If it took me months to find Legolas, then years would pass in Arda and Elril would be walking and talking, not to mention Anwar coming of age and Brendan getting into all kinds of trouble, no doubt. But Gandalf had assured me that the Valar would slow down time in Arda to give us the chance to find Legolas and bring him back. I didn’t know how they were going to do it, but I wanted desperately to believe they could. “You’re going to doubt the word of Gandalf, a Maiar, servant of the Valar?”

Thranduil’s hand dropped away from my face. “Nay, of course not,” he said with a resigned smile. “But I will find any excuse to go with you.”

I took both of his hands in mine and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going to find him, adar, I promise you.”

“Princess,” called out Freak. “Time’s a wasting. What’s the verdict?”

I walked back to where everyone else stood and then turned to Aragorn, who was seated on his throne, looking as uncomfortable as ever. Sitting beside him, in another seat, was Arwen. They looked expectantly at me. When I turned to Freak, I sighed heavily. “We take Aragorn.”

Gimli looked disappointed that I hadn’t agreed to bring him along. But he would just draw attention to himself. There weren’t very many hairy Dwarves running around in the universe.

Freak chewed on the inside of his lip and I knew he was trying to think of some way to get out of taking Aragorn. But he knew as well as I did that we needed the help of the ranger. Aragorn might not be familiar with anything beyond this world, except what he had seen on Gateway years ago, but he was still a tracker and would know if Legolas had been somewhere.

Finally Freak nodded stiffly and turned to head for the door. “Fine. You all have exactly five minutes to say good-bye and if you’re not on the Dropship, I’m leaving without you.” He turned back to us, but continued on backward. “I’m not trying to be an asshole or nothing, but we have to be gone before another Company ship shows up.”

Freak was right. Three days ago Legolas had kicked off the Company people that had been on the ship he had taken. Their escape pod landed somewhere west of the Misty Mountains and Lipinski intercepted their distress call. Another Company ship was more than likely already on its way by now. If Freak’s ship was still in orbit when they arrived then he would be blamed for the destruction of the research base that had been set up in Valinor. We had enough trouble ahead, with Legolas’s face likely to be plastered on every computer owned by the Company. They would be looking for him. And we needed to find him first.

Five minutes was not much time to say good-bye to my kids, especially Anwar and Brendan, who would fight me tooth and nail to come along. They wouldn’t understand. Anwar was already blaming me for her father’s decision to leave. She said I should have been with him, to stop him from going. Maybe she was right. Maybe I should have been with Legolas when he had gone after the queen. Maybe I should have shown him the love I was afraid to reveal after knowing what they had done to him. There were a lot of things I should have done. But it was too late to cry about it now.
Minas Tirith
(Ariedel’s POV)

I sat between Aragorn and Ripley in the Dropship. Through the window on the opposite side I saw Thranduil standing with one arm over my son and daughter, who stood in front of their grandfather. Anwar held my youngest son, Elril in her arms. Beside them stood Arwen with her son, Eldarion. Then behind them were all the others I had come to know as friends. I prayed Gandalf had been right and that I would come back to find my kids looking the same as I had left them and not thirty years older.

Freak was the last to board the Dropship. He glanced at everyone to make sure we were all buckled in before leaning toward me. “Now may not be the best time to tell you, but your husband owes me one Dropship.”

“Bill me,” I said without humor.

Freak walked forward to join Zion in the cockpit.

I reached over and took Aragorn’s hand. He turned to me with a weak smile before we both turned back to look out the window, to look at our families one last time as the Dropship engines came to life.
Minas Tirith

From the highest level of Minas Tirith the Dropship slowly rose into the air. In that one moment the entire city had stopped what they were doing to watch the strange craft drift away, knowing that their king was inside, journeying to a destination unknown to anyone.
In Space

Two ships drifted side by side, slowly orbiting an orange planet. While one of the ships was flat gray in color and gargantuan, the other was smaller and sleeker.

The small C-class Black Dragon was rare. It had no visible identifying numbers and it was as black as the darkness of space, with a deep shine that reflected every pinpoint of light from the stars, making it virtually invisible to the naked eye. Its bow contained various armaments, cannons and missile launchers, all intended to cause the worst imaginable kind of damage to anything fired upon. Housed at the stern of the sleek ship were its afterburners, six of them, capable of launching the craft into deep orbit in less than twenty seconds, ten times faster than a Dropship. It was a lot faster than any civilian shuttle or anything owned even by the United Systems Colonial Marines.

The A-class ship, twenty-five times larger than the Black Dragon, was a Company ship. It had two main functions. One was research. The other was to construct research bases planetside. Most of the time it could comfortably house up to thirty people.

But for the moment, the halls of the large vessel were void of life. The bridge was empty. The crew quarters were empty. The labs, the mess hall, the lockers and the showers, the cryochambers…all empty. Except the docking bay, where an individual stood waiting near the bay doors while a small, one-man shuttle was slowly lifted by the docking cranes.

Inside the cockpit of the shuttle sat Sonny Burgess, renowned shipbuilder, who on many occasions was known to make illegal deals. As the crane turned his shuttle around to set it in the docking locks, Burgess got his first look at his prospective buyer.

He was dressed in black fatigues, like in the assassin squads from years passed. He had long, blonde hair, passed his shoulders, pulled back to reveal, of all things, pointed ears. His stance was casual, hands held behind his back.

When the crane stopped moving, Burgess left his seat and made his way down the ramp to the floor of the docking bay. He turned in the direction of the buyer and began walking toward him, only to have him pull a hand from behind his back to reveal a lethal-looking blaster. Burgess stopped in his tracks as the weapon was pointed at him.

Legolas studied the man standing several feet away. He was beyond his middle-age years, for a mortal. Dark hair, no doubt colored to make himself look younger, except he should have colored the hairs on his face to match. “Who are you?”

Burgess raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to provoke him. “Sonny Burgess. I received your communication. You asked me to meet you here.”

Legolas moved forward, closing the gap between them. Then he touched the barrel of the blaster to the man’s temple. “How do I know you’re Burgess?”

“How do you know I’m not?”

“Fair enough.” Legolas removed the blaster, but didn’t put it away.

Burgess relaxed for a minute, eying the man in front of him. Actually, he thought the other was way too pretty to be a man, except maybe for the piercing blue eyes and the worn out look on his face. “How did you find out about the Black Dragon?”

“I thought I made it clear to you, no questions.”

“Right. Sorry, I just like to know who I’m dealing with when I trade one of my babies for another ship, especially a Company one.”

“All you need to know is that if you so much as whisper to anyone about my existence, I shall hunt you down and kill you.” He raised the blaster to inspect it, as if seeing it for the first time. “And my weapon of choice will be far more painful than a quick death with this.”

“No problem. Mums the word,” said Burgess, with as sincere a smile as he could muster.

Legolas met the man’s eyes, clearly seeing the deceit in them. He could even smell the betrayal seeping through his pores.

“How about a tour?” asked Burgess, trying to shake the other’s stabbing eyes.

“That will not be necessary. I am familiar with the layout and functionality.”

Burgess frowned, wondering how a guy like this could possibly know anything about the Black Dragon. He was growing more and more suspicious as the seconds ticked by. There had to be some kind of records on him. He’d have to find out who this guy was and talk to some of his friends in the Company.

Legolas smiled, revealing lethal-looking fangs. “Enjoy the rest of your life, Mr Burgess.”

Burgess’s eyes widened when he saw the other’s teeth. He thought he was looking at some freaked out vampire. “Yeah, sure. Pleasure doing business with you, Mr…” he prompted for a name.

Legolas didn’t give him one as he walked to the shuttle. After getting inside, he waited for the Company ship’s computer to acknowledge the release code he entered on the small panel in front of him. The docking crane pulled him to the bay opening and lowered him into space. When the crane released it, Legolas guided the shuttle toward the black ship ahead.
(Legolas’s POV)

The Black Dragon was like nothing I had ever seen before. In truth there was much I had never encountered, yet I somehow knew things I could not possibly know. Such as the operation of the Company ship. It was meant to be operated by more than one individual, but I managed to secure it, program a route that came to mind and set the large ship into motion.

Back in Arda, when I heard the others discussing my state of imbalance, the Company man named Quinn mentioned programming things into my mind when Dr Leland had been out of the lab. It later occurred to me that whatever was programmed into me had to do with my knowledge of how to operate things I had never before laid eyes upon. It was frightening and exhilarating at the same time.

I maneuvered the small shuttle into the bay of the Black Dragon and proceeded to lock it into place before powering it down. As I stepped out of the shuttle, I glanced around the docking back. It was not as expansive as the one in the Company ship, but I was not looking for enormity. Compact and fast was what I needed for the enormous task I had set out for myself to fulfill.

I sealed the docking bay and proceeded to the bridge. Again it was small, with two seats facing a large window. All of the controls set into the panels were far more advanced than the Company ship. I walked around to familiarize myself with the various stations and making some adjustments here and there. Communication, navigation, tactical, science and helm controls.

As I took my seat at the helm and moved my hand toward the switch that transferred all station controls to the helm console, a sudden memory came to my mind.

“It’s going to take a lot of arrows and a lot of blaster shots to take her down. Not to mention that any alien still alive will be charging back in here to protect her.”

“Ariedel, you have that look in your eye.”

“What look?”

“The one that tells me you are thinking to do something irrational.”

“Talk about irrational. You wrote the book, Legolas Greenleaf. Now I’m going to get in that Hover and I’m going to be the one distracting her. Then you can do whatever your little Elf heart desires to do to kill her.”

I frowned and shook my head as the memory faded. Ariedel. My wife. And I had three children. Anwar, Brendan and Elril. My father was Thranduil. My mother was Alfirin. My closest friends were Aragorn, Arwen and Gimli. This was all told to me after the Company base was destroyed. Back in Arda. My home was Eryn Lasgalen.

My wife was Ariedel. I clung to the name. Ariedel. I would eventually return to her…when I could remember her more clearly and feel again the love we had no doubt shared. Perhaps then she would not fear me as much and would learn to trust me again.

But enough thoughts of yesterday. I needed to focus on the road ahead and deal with the things that came my way or I would not survive. Survival meant I needed to cover my tracks. It was apparent from the communications I had received while in the Company ship that those comprising the Weyland-Yutani company would send out their trackers to look for me. And it would only be a matter of time before Mr Sonny Burgess decided to betray my trust.

Survive…To kill…To kill them…And to understand what I had become…

I placed my hand on the helm controls, feeling the surging power of the ship running through my fingertips and along the length of my arms, until I felt as if we were one entity. I spun the wheel to the right and the ship turned with the speed of a swift stallion. This ship had been the right choice.

Sonny Burgess was single, had no living relatives, just a goldfish he kept having to replace because he could not remember to feed it. Very irresponsible. The hulking Company ship lay ahead. Burgess was probably already communicating my existence. Perhaps I had not been firm enough with my threat to kill him if he spoke to anyone about me. No matter, I had researched him and discovered he was alone and more often than not, he dealt with Weyland-Yutani. He might certainly be missed, being the only one who knew the designs of the Black Dragon, but I felt no qualms about what I needed to do.

Cover your tracks…

My fingers slipped off the wheel to the right panel and covered the missile launcher buttons.

Do not let them catch you…

I released four missiles while turning the nose of the Black Dragon a fraction of an inch in between each launch. The missiles strategically struck the Company ship in four different places, creating a chain of explosions, with the intent of total destruction. I was a safe distance away as the Company ship became a ball of flames that was sucked into the vacuum of space. Nothing was left of it to identify it ever existed.

There was a coldness in my heart, a complete lack of pity for the life I had just extinguished. It had been too easy. Had I always been this thoughtless and cold?

 

Chapter 2 – The Coming Storm​

Columbia Station - Two Weeks Later

Columbia Station orbited Avalon. It was what Gateway Station had been to Earth, a place where ships docked if they were too large for atmospheric entry into the planet. Columbia wasn't quite as large as Gateway and only a select few actually had a place of residence on the station. Some even considered it a cold and dark environment, unlike the people-pleasing Gateway, with its bright atmosphere and friendly lounges.

Columbia was also where a new Lifesource platform was currently under construction, under the supervision of James Burbank, retired General of the United Systems Colonial Marines (USCM) and President of Lifesource.

Burbank was in his early seventies and no matter how menial the task, he liked to roll up his sleeves and jump into the thick of construction. His specialty had always been electrical and he was in the process of mounting a small light fixture beside the doorway into the chamber that housed the platform. Working beside him was his son-in-law, Seth Schuyler.

Lost in their own thoughts, the two mulled over the news they had heard a couple weeks ago about the happenings on SR-682. The good news was that the Company research base had been destroyed, just as they had hoped. The bad news was the man married to Seth's sister had commandeered a Company ship and vanished. Actually, he wasn't a man at all. He was an Elf.

Crystal, or rather, Ariedel as she was known to those on the Elf's planet, was on her way back with Freak. They would have a lot of explaining to do.

Something outside the glass partition drew Seth's attention and he stopped what he was doing to stare down into the massive steel gray atrium.

This drew Burbank's attention as well and he followed the younger man's gaze. His chest constricted a bit at the sight of the tall, husky figure striding with a purpose toward the main elevator. Even from the tenth level, Burbank recognized the balding man only a select few knew by name. Wayne Pennington. "What the hell's he doing here?" Burbank asked with a touch of malice.

Seth shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't think he ever left whatever shithole colony he calls home."
Three Company men sat in a smoke-filled room, the single light on the ceiling barely illuminating the grim looks on their faces. An oppressive silence surrounded them. They had already shared all they knew with each other, in preparation of their leader's arrival.

The door slid open and admitted Wayne Pennington, the man who held the highest seat at Weyland-Yutani. "Okay, what do we know about this guy?" he asked, getting right to the point.

The three others looked to one another, determining who would be the first to speak.

Carl Howard turned to him as Pennington took a seat at the head of the small table. "Apparently he's the same one reported to have the ability to communicate with the aliens."

"The one brought to Gateway before the station became overrun by aliens?" asked Pennington as he lit a fat cigar. He had been brought up to speed on a number of things in the last two weeks, ever since the starship builder, Sonny Burgess disappeared. Since then, three high-ranking Company executives had been killed.

"Yes," replied Adam Killian, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "I found a match on the prints. According to Gateway records, his name is Legolas Greenleaf. He was brought to Gateway by a Lifesource employee after he suffered serious injury and impregnation. An alien queen was extracted from him. Gateway Station director Jonathan Warner made the discovery that Greenleaf had the ability to communicate with the alien queen. The records also show Greenleaf isn't a man. He's an Elf." The ashes of Killian's cigarette threatened to spill on the papers in front of him as he flipped through them. "He comes from SR-682, known to its inhabitants as Arda. SR-682 is a no-tech planet, not part of the United Systems."

Pennington looked bored. "Remind me again what we were doing on SR-682?" In reality, he was aware of everything Weyland-Yutani was involved in. He just didn't have all the minor details. All he cared about were results and unfortunately none had come out of the SR-682 project before the research base there had been destroyed.

"Since we couldn't get Greenleaf, the objective was to see if we could replicate the Elf's ability," continued Killian. "It was known as Project Genesis, under the control of United Systems Defense Secretary Frederick Rohlwing."

Pennington smiled and fiddled with a paperclip left on the table. He felt a great sense of gratification in knowing anyone anywhere could be bought into working for the Company, whether it was known or unknown to the rest of the system. But his good humor was short-lived as he was reminded of the reality of the situation. "And so because of the apparent extreme negligence of the crew onboard the Dominion, an Elf single-handedly managed to commandeer the ship…an A-Class starship?"

"That's right," confirmed Killian.

"An Elf who doesn't know the first thing about modern technology, much less know how to put a ship into hyperspace…Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this goddamned picture?"

Killian shrugged as he looked to his peers for support, but he knew he wasn't going to get any. "He might have had some help. The crew of the Dominion reported seeing another ship in orbit over SR-682 when they first arrived. It had no markings and didn't respond to any hails. But there was no sign of the ship when the rescue team arrived to pick them up later."

Pennington leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Where is the Dominion now?" He turned to Roger Sedgwick for an answer.

"Well," replied Sedgwick, clearing his throat before continuing. "Sonny Burgess communicated to us that he was in possession of the ship, but his transmission was abruptly cut off before we could get a location from him. We haven't heard from him since that last transmission two weeks ago."

Pennington nodded, continuing to tap the paperclip on the metal tabletop as he blew a smoke ring. Never in his thirteen years as head of the Company did any single person cause him so much heartache. An Elf. His presence on Gateway nearly a year ago had resulted in the station being overrun by aliens. Of this he had no doubt. He also had no doubt the Elf had something to do with the destruction of the research base on SR-682 and the disappearance of Sonny Burgess and the Dominion. And more recently the untimely demise of Juan Martinez, Andrew Lehman and Ivan Stavros. All three Company executives were discovered in their off-world colony homes, gutted and bled out like pigs. Strangely enough, the killer had used the computers of all three men, leaving blood-stains all over their keyboards…with visible fingerprints. Pennington wondered why the Elf had been so careless. Had it been on purpose? "So what are his motives?"

No one volunteered any answers.

"Did Lieutenant Train or Dr Leland cause him any grief? Did they impregnate a loved one with an alien?" Not that it mattered to Pennington anyway. He wanted results, regardless of the means used to obtain the objective.

Again there was silence around the table.

"Who's the Lifesource employee that brought him to Gateway?"

Carl Howard glanced through his paperwork. "Schuyler, Crystal. Resident of Avalon."

"Let's get her in here. I'm interested in knowing what her connection is to Greenleaf."

Howard shrugged. "Can't. She was last reported leaving Gateway with the Elf."

Pennington rolled his eyes. "Well, isn't it obvious? She went back to SR-682 with him." He glanced at the others for any other theories. When no one had anything, he sat forward and snuffed his cigar out in the ashtray, then folded his hands on the table. "All right. There are two things I want. No, make that three things. Number one, give me every infinitesimal detail of the project on SR-682 and how this Elf was involved." Killian was about to say something, but Pennington held up a hand to stop him. "And I don't want to hear any excuses about how the computer database was wiped out with the destruction of the base. Number two, send a small team to SR-682. Their goal is to find Crystal Schuyler and use every means at their disposal to bring her to me. Number three, I want this trouble-making Elf found and terminated. No questions asked."

"Do you want a galaxy-wide bounty on his head?" asked Sedgwick.

"Not yet. Send out the big dogs for now. And I want all this done yesterday. Understood?"
Shorex Colony on Theta II

The rain fell heavily near the atmosphere processor. It was the one sacrifice the residents had to suffer through on a nightly basis…at least those that lived near the plant. But the mild climate created by the processor during the day more than made up for it. During the harsh rainfall everyone usually remained indoors, mainly because of the force of the winds that could easily knock over an average-sized man.

Professor Karlton Taylor pulled his hooded, ankle-length windbreaker tightly around himself as he stepped out of Osaka's Sushi Bar. The wind threatened to push him back to the wall of the building. He berated himself for the tenth time that night, knowing he should have turned down the last three sakes and gone home before the rain began. But that time had long passed.

Taylor took a deep breath and rushed forward, his feet splashing in the puddles of water along the way. Luckily he didn't have far to hobble. His residence was half a colony block away, attached to the small university where he taught Psychology.

When he reached the safety of the overhang above his front door, he lowered the hood of his windbreaker and searched his pockets for his keys. As he pulled them out, they slipped from his fingers and fell into a puddle. Cursing in Swedish, Taylor bent his aging body to retrieve the fallen keys. When he straightened up, he felt something sharp touch the side of his neck.

With the brightly lit atmosphere processor plant only two colony blocks away, Taylor was able to clearly see the reflection in the small window pane of the door. A tall individual was standing directly behind him. His eyes shifted down to his left shoulder where he spied a silver blade and he gasped.

"Professor Karlton Taylor," the stranger addressed him in a smooth voice.

Taylor was overcome with fear. Having read about the gruesome slayings of the three Company executives, the sight of the blade nearly made him lose the sashimi he had eaten only an hour ago. "What do you want?"

"Inside."

Taylor fumbled with the keys and finally managed to unlock the door and open it. The blade came away from the side of his neck and as he stepped inside, he turned around to face his assailant who was silhouetted by the light behind him. But the brief flash of lightning gave Taylor a long enough look. Long blonde hair soaked from the rain, icy blue eyes beneath dark furrowed brows, hanging down from each hand was a long-bladed knife.

Legolas studied the old man before him, trembling in fear. He was nothing like the other three he had encountered. Perhaps because this man was no longer employed by Weyland-Yutani. According to Legolas's findings, Professor Karlton Taylor had retired from the Company twenty years ago to pursue his lifelong dream of teaching.

As Legolas stepped forward, the professor stumbled backward into the cluttered living room.

"What do you want from…from me?" asked Taylor.

Legolas quietly nudged the door closed behind him without turning away from the old man. "Information."

"I…I don't work for them anymore. I don't know what information I could possibly give you."

Legolas smiled to himself. News certainly traveled quickly. At first he had wanted to keep his identity a secret, to cover his tracks as he had done with Sonny Burgess. But then he later reconsidered his tactic. "I will not kill you if you provide me the answers I seek."

Taylor backed away as far as he could until the back of his legs touched his recliner and he fell down into it.

The only light in the room came from a small lamp on a corner end table. All around were stacks of old newspapers, tied in bundles. And on top of them were stacks of old dusty books. Legolas glanced around at the walls. They were covered with mechanical devices. Clocks, dozens and dozens of them. Even though Legolas had no concept of a clock, the knowledge artificially fed into his brain gave him the definition of their purpose. To tell the time of day. Some of the clocks were strange, with pendulums swinging back and forth. Others had the faces of animals with exaggerated eyes.

"You can search my house. I don't own a computer."

Legolas turned his gaze back to the old professor, who he judged to be in his mid-seventies. "Do you know a man by the name of Dr Oscar Leland?"

"Leland…yes, it was a long time ago. He was a student of mine when I was teaching at Yale on Earth."

"What was he like?"

Taylor shook his head, unsure of the stranger's line of questioning. "He was an extremely bright student. Truly gifted. If my memory serves me correctly, he currently works for Weyland-Yutani as a genetic engineer."

"Not anymore. He is currently deceased," corrected Legolas.

Taylor's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "You?"

"Trust me when I say I have come to regret my actions. He would have been of more use to me alive."

Taylor studied the stranger in detail now that he had some light to look at him with. He had pointed ears. Rainwater dripped from his soaked hair and beaded down his flawless pale skin. Something about this man was inhuman. He couldn't put his finger on it. "Why are you questioning me about him?"

"When was the last time you saw him?"

Taylor wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I already told you. It was a long time ago. He was a student."

Legolas shook his head and raised one of the long knives, pointing it in Taylor's direction. "Speak truthfully, for I can sense any deceit and I will not warn you again."

The professor's eyes widened when he noticed the prominent fangs in the stranger's mouth. Who was he? What was he? "I will tell you all I know if…if you stop threatening me with those swords."

"Very well." Legolas gauged the professor and determined the man would not test him again. He stepped toward the door and placed both long knives down on floor. Then he moved back to the center of the room and took a seat opposite Taylor beside the fireplace.

Taylor folded his hands to prevent them from trembling. "I saw Oscar three months ago. He came to ask me about my studies of the alien psyche."

Legolas had scanned through Taylor's profile, which listed many of his recent accomplishments. One of them being his study of alien behavior.

"I assumed he was asking because of his newest assignment."

"What was his assignment?" Legolas curiously asked.

Taylor shrugged absent-mindedly. "I don't know, something about SR-682 and cloning Elves or something of that nature. I never asked…" Then suddenly the professor looked up at the stranger. Pointed ears. Now it made sense. "You're…from there. SR-682. You're an Elf, aren't you?"

Legolas took it as a rhetorical question and did not bother to respond.

"Are you a clone?"

"From what I have been told, two close friends of mine were cloned. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky."

Taylor frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your star student took an alien and assimilated it into my physiology. What do you think of that?"

"It's never been attempted before." Taylor was looking at him in a whole new light, some of his fear passing as his curiosity overcame his self-preservation. "But how is it that you've been able to move from place to place? I was under the assumption that your planet had no knowledge of space travel."

"You assumed correctly, Professor. I have my own ship and the reason I know how to operate it is the result of a Company employee who programmed me with the ability."

"Are you saying that someone also fed technological coding into your system through a computer?"

"That seems to be a reasonable deduction."

Professor Taylor was shocked that such a thing could be accomplished, let alone the assimilation of an alien and another being, not through cloning. His analytical mind wanted to know all of the details of the work. He wanted to know how Leland altered the Elf's DNA. He wanted to know what alien qualities were transferred. He wanted to know if the alien survived the ordeal. But most of all, given his background in psychology, he wanted to know how the changes were affecting the Elf. "I don't condone what Oscar did to you. In fact, I don't condone the experimentation of any living being. Even the aliens."

"I am glad to hear you say that, Professor." Legolas could sense the man's fear lessening with every moment that passed. He was not concerned that the professor would stop cooperating with him.

"Are you here in hope that I might be able to reverse what was done to you?" Taylor asked carefully.

Legolas looked away with a frown and shook his head. "I am aware the assimilation is irreversible." Then he looked back up at the professor. "My name is Legolas. I do not remember my previous existence. I am hoping you might be able to tell me how long my lack of memory will last."

"It's hard to say. Given the amount of information forced into your mind, your memory could have been permanently wiped away. But then again, it could be restored at any given moment."

Legolas nodded slowly. "I see. Perhaps then you might be able to explain a statement I overheard. I will quote it." He glanced toward the ceiling as he recalled Freak's words back in Valinor. "With all that data in his head, and I mean stuff he doesn't have a clue about, he's gonna have a goddamned meltdown." Legolas turned back to the professor. "Any idea what that could mean?"

Taylor rubbed his hand over his mouth. "Yes, I know exactly what it means. Whoever said that is indeed correct in their assessment. I mean no disrespect when I say that your kind…your Elf kind, that is…is not mentally advanced enough to understand modern technology. The technology was forced into your mind like a…uh…" Taylor struggled to find the right cliché and then snapped his fingers. "It's like handing a gun to a lizard. They're just going to stare at it because they won't have a clue what to do with it. With you, well…you need to understand that you might collapse at any time. Do you have any headaches? Severe ones?"

Legolas shook his head with a frown. "I am not susceptible to illnesses."

"A headache is not an illness."

Legolas felt no desire to share any of his weaknesses with anyone, but after a bit of thought, he decided that Taylor might prove to be of some to help to him. "I do feel pain."

"Where?"

"Everywhere."

"Describe it to me."

"Tis a burning sensation that runs through me, as if it were within my very blood."

"Hot or cold?"

Legolas closed his eyes briefly, concentrating on the constant ache that coursed through him, sending pain to his muscles and bones. "Cold."

"It's the alien blood. Your system is rejecting it."

Legolas laughed without humor. "So if the information in my head does not kill me, the alien blood in my veins will. Either way, I am dead."

"I'm afraid so."

Legolas looked up at Taylor. "Is there anything you can do?" He did not know why he thought Taylor could be trusted.

"All I can do is suggest something you can take to ward off some of the pain. My specialty is psychology. I study the behavior of others. I don't have the knowledge to even pretend to understand what Oscar did to you. I'm sorry."

The professor was being sincere. Legolas could sense it. He suddenly felt the need to prove himself to him. "I did not kill those men for no reason. All I wanted was information. They drew first. I was only defending myself."

"I believe you."

"They continue to perform experiments on living persons, yet no one tries to stop them."

"I know. I retired from the Company for my own personal reasons. As I said, I don't condone their actions."

Legolas stood up. "I will leave you in peace." Just as he started toward the door, all the clocks around the room suddenly began to chime the twentieth hour of the day on Theta II. Legolas covered his ears and dropped to his knees. The sounds tore through him like a hundred axes slamming into his head.

Professor Taylor jumped out of his recliner. Instead of his own safety, he thought only to aid the Elf in distress and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Even when the sounds finally stopped, Legolas's head continued to throb. But he felt the comforting hand on his shoulder and concentrated on relaxing and breathing. "I ask…one more thing…of you. A name."

Taylor shook his head in confusion. "What name?"

His breathing was finally beginning to return to normal. "Tell me who leads the Company. Who is in charge?"

Taylor drew back, his mouth agape. There was only one reason this Elf wanted to know the identity of the one in charge of Weyland-Yutani. He stood up and walked to a cabinet, pulling the right door open. He briefly rummaged through until he found what he was looking for and then walked back to the kneeling Elf.

Legolas looked down at what the professor placed in his hand. It was a small brown bottle with a white cap. The contents rattled as he raised the bottle.

"Take two of them for the pain, but don't ever exceed more than six a day." Taylor helped Legolas stand back up.

Legolas moved to the door and bent to pick up his long knives. Then he opened the door to the tempest still brewing outside.

"Legolas."

He turned back to the professor.

"His name is Wayne Pennington."

"Thank you." Then Legolas turned and stepped out into the rain.

 

Chapter 3 – Good Deeds​

Columbia Station

Seth Schuyler and James Burbank watched through a large portal as an A-class starship slowly slid passed to engage Docking Bay 6. Several minutes passed before the ship was securely locked to the space station. The two men made their way to the embarkation door and patiently waited for it to open.

When the doors finally parted, Ariedel was the first to exit. As expected, she found her brother standing in the docking bay and she ran over to embrace him. Seth lifted her off her feet and twirled her around until she felt dizzy.

The next to exit was Freak, Aragorn, Ripley and the rest of the crew. Freak turned to Ripley before greeting Seth and Burbank. "Thanks for your help, as usual, Ripley." She was the only person he knew that he hadn't bestowed with a nickname. It just didn't seem fitting for some reason.

"Anytime, Freak," said Ripley, giving him her typically cool smile. "You know where you can find me." She headed toward another set of doors, casting a curious glance at the two other men in the docking bay who were also eying her curiously.

Freak watched her leave and finally turned to his crew. "You all know what needs to be done. Do it and then take a break."

"Gee, thanks, boss," commented Loop. "You're all heart."

"Zee, you're with me."

"Hey, isn't it Sushi's turn to be privileged?" Zion asked humorously.

Freak ignored Zion's light-hearted rancor and approached the others in the docking bay.

"I assume you're the man responsible for the destruction of the Company base on SR-682," said Burbank as he held out his hand in greeting.

"No, sir," replied Freak as he shook Burbank's hand. "I don't know what you're talking about." He withdrew a slip of paper from his shirt pocket. "But here's the account where the funds can be credited to."

Burbank took an immediate liking to the man Seth had referred to as Freak.

When a group of station crewmen appeared to do their typical ship inspection, Freak signed the appropriate documents and then they all left the docking bay for a more private place to talk. Along the way, Freak introduced Zion and Ariedel introduced Aragorn.

They gathered in the Lifesource platform chamber. Construction had ceased and the construction workers had left for the day so there would be no one to overhear their discussion.

Ariedel was the first to speak, going into some details from the moment she first appeared in Middle Earth up until the time Freak arrived and the time she and Ripley had rescued Anwar and Eldarion. Freak took over from there, relaying the battle with the aliens and the events that led to Legolas's capture and alien assimilation. It was an exhausting tale that had Seth and Burbank both sighing in relief at the conclusion.

"Well, now we know his motives," said Burbank.

"For leaving his home?" asked Ariedel.

"For killing three Company executives."

Ariedel turned to Seth. "He killed three people?"

"So far," replied Seth.

"What do you mean so far?"

"From what we've been able to piece together, Legolas is looking for some kind of information."

"Maybe he's trying to find someone who can help him reverse what was done to him and maybe he killed those people in self-defense," Ariedel iterated defensively, turning her attention back to Burbank.

Burbank held up a hand. "Now take it easy, Crystal. We're on your side or more appropriately, we're on his side," he corrected. "Whatever his motives, we have to find him before the Company does. With his new attributes there's no telling what they'll do if they get a hold of him."

"Besides the obvious reason of wanting my husband back, I have other reasons for wanting to find him before anyone else. There's a definite way to restore him to the way he was, but for that to happen, I need to get him back to Arda, in one piece."

"How can he be restored?" asked Seth.

"I'd rather not get into that right now. Just trust me when I say it can happen. I have very reliable sources," she said with a glance at Aragorn, who was the only other one in the room that understood the powers of the Valar.

Aragorn nodded. "Ariedel is correct." Then he frowned. "I wish to understand how it was determined that Legolas killed those three people. Were there witnesses?"

Burbank shrugged his shoulders. "None were mentioned in the news briefs."

"Tis strange that Legolas would be so careless."

"What's strange about it?" asked Freak.

"An Elf does not leave any signs of his presence, especially one as proficient as Legolas. If there were no witnesses, then how did it become known that he was the killer?"

"His fingerprints were found at each of the crime scenes," Seth responded.

Aragorn shook his head in confusion. "Finger…prints?"

Ariedel took a moment to explain the concept of fingerprinting and that Legolas had been fingerprinted during his stay on Gateway.

"I wish to see where these killings occurred," stated Aragorn.

"Well, I was told we were bringing you along for a good reason," commented Freak. "I suppose you could say that this might be it." He turned to Burbank. "Any chance we can arrange a visit to one of the crime scenes?"

Burbank nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
Avalon
(Ariedel's POV)

I watched my six-year old niece, Kira, run around the backyard with her neighborhood friends. It was so good to see her again. Having expected her to be all grown up, I had been surprised to see she was still a child. Then I remembered that the rest of the universe moved ten times slower than Arda.

I was glad we had decided to rest for a day before embarking on our search for Legolas. It was so peaceful in Seth's backyard, except for the squeals of the children, just like back home in Eryn Lasgalen. But I had forgotten how much I relished the heat on my face from Avalon's three suns.

"So what did you do with Phillip Quinn?" I glanced toward Freak where he sat across the patio table, between Seth and Aragorn.

"We decided to keep him on ice for the time being," replied Freak.

"You mean cryosleep?"

"Well, I couldn't let him go. He'd run his pansy ass back to his Company cronies and sing like a canary. My goose would be cooked."

"What about Jordan? Did you decide you couldn't live without her?" I teased.

"Whoa, rein it in a bit, princess. You know me better than to think I'd admit something like that."

I laughed. "Yes, that's true." When I glanced toward Seth I noticed he had a funny look on his face.

"There's something different about you," he said.

"Yeah, I've aged twelve years and had three kids." The twelve years I had lived in Arda had only been a year to Seth and his family, so technically I hadn't aged as much as I thought.

Seth shook his head with a smile. "No, that's not it. I can't explain it. You look…I don't know. You just look different."

"Strange as it may seem, I feel different, too. Ever since we left Arda."

"Hey, maybe those God-like dudes back there made you immortal afterall," said Freak with a laugh.

I gave him a strange look, the notion suddenly crossing my mind only because he had suddenly planted the seed in my head.

He shrugged. "I was just joking, princess."

"I know, but maybe it's no joke." Then I noticed Aragorn looking at me as if seeing me for the first time. "Why is everyone looking at me funny?"

"The light of the Eldar surrounds you, Ariedel. Tis true. The Valar have granted you immortality."

"I told them I didn't want them to grant Legolas's wish. At least not until I know for sure that he's going to be restored. Why would they do something against my wishes?"

"The Valar do not grant such requests without reason," stated Aragorn.

"And what reason could they possibly have?" I rebuked. "What good is immortality to me if I can't spend it with the one I love?"

"I am certain we will learn it soon enough." Aragorn stood up from the patio chair and walked across the lawn to where the children played.

I curiously watched him approach Kira and crouch down in front of her. They exchanged several words and then Aragorn placed his hand on her forehead and bowed his head. I could see his lips moving in a silent chant and wondered if he was attempting to use the healing powers he had been taught by Elrond, his foster father. Did he think he could cure Kira? I began to wonder if after all the procedures Kira had undergone, could a trip to Arda to see Elrond have been more beneficial?

Thinking of Kira only made me think of my own kids. Was Anwar giving Thranduil a hard time and what kind of mischief was Brendan getting into? And of course thinking of them only made me think of Legolas. Where could he be and why did he leave in the first place?
Rynon 3

Legolas stepped carefully along the narrow path consisting mainly of dried leaves. He held his long knives, one in each hand. The trees rustled gently in the wind, almost as if they were acknowledging the presence of one who understood them. And he did understand them, despite the fact they were not the same trees he was accustomed to in Middle Earth. Those trees held a brief memory in his mind…a memory of his childhood, when he first learned how to communicate with the trees around him.

With each passing day, Legolas was beginning to regain some of those lost memories. But they were random, in no specific order. He would see something and be reminded of an old memory. Sometimes only images would come to mind, but often he would remember exchanging words with certain people in his life. With each memory gained, he learned a bit more of his life before he was altered…before he felt this overwhelming need to seek and destroy the race of creatures that haunted him…before the constant aches in his head and all over his body.

After his encounter with Professor Taylor, Legolas knew there was no chance to survive whatever ailment had come over him. Apparently Dr Oscar Leland had not been so thorough in his research and must have miscalculated something. Now Legolas was suffering for it. But he planned to utilize whatever time he had left by eliminating as many of the aliens as possible, and along the way he would find Wayne Pennington, the man in charge of Weyland-Yutani.

The wind rustled once again and Legolas paused to feel his surroundings, the small vibrations he felt in the earth. He listened to the sounds and cancelled out everything except for one thing. A small whimper drew his attention. He focused on the sound and the familiar vibration of alien movement.

Somewhere in a cave, a young woman awakened to find herself encased in a hard sediment. She fought to free herself and then froze at the sound of something approaching. It was one of the aliens and it was dragging someone on the ground by the foot. She recognized him as her nine year old son, Matthew. "No…"

The alien stopped along the wall and picked the boy up by the back of his neck, propping him up to encase him.

The woman desperately tried to free herself again, panic beginning to cloud her judgment. A sound from above made her gasp and look up. Thinking another one of the creatures was close, she was surprised to find a man hanging upside down from the ledge above. He placed a finger over his lips, motioning for her to keep quiet.

Legolas pulled himself back up on the ledge and silently moved along it until he was directly above the alien encasing the boy. He crouched and withdrew one of the long knives. Then as an afterthought, he drew a blaster holstered to his thigh. He mentally counted to three and flung himself off the ledge in a mid-air somersault, landing on his feet behind the alien.

The alien spun around in surprise and screeched.

Legolas swung the long knife and sliced the top of the alien's head clean off, then kicked it out of the way to prevent any acid blood from spraying the boy. As expected, the rest of the horde came awake and approached from the narrow passageway. He turned with the blaster in hand and fired.
Avalon
(Ariedel's POV)

I woke up with a start and felt my heart racing uncontrollably. As I glanced around the guest bedroom in Seth's house on Avalon, I could have sworn I felt Legolas nearby. I jumped out of the twin-sized bed and threw on a pair of torn jeans and a teeshirt before walking out.

I found Freak lying on the couch and Aragorn on the floor. I shook Freak's shoulder. "Freak, wake up."

"What…what…" he mumbled as he stirred.

Aragorn awakened instantly and sat up. "Ariedel, what is it?"

I slowly sat down on the floor and glanced around the room. "I can feel him."

Freak blinked. "Feel who?"

"Legolas. I can actually feel him." I noticed Freak glance around the room with me. "You think I'm crazy."

Freak turned back to me. "Princess, you're a lot of things, but crazy isn't one of them."

Aragorn scooted closer. "To sense a mate is not unheard of among the Elves, but tis not common if one of the pair is not an Elf."

"Hey, wait a minute," Freak snapped his fingers. "Didn't you or Daddy-Long-Locks mention something about Lego having special senses?"

Daddy-Long-Locks was Freak's nickname for Thranduil. "Yes, his Elven senses are different," I replied

"Freak is right," said Aragorn. "Now that you have been blessed with immortality by the Valar, perhaps you also gained the ability to feel him. What do you feel now?"

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Legolas's presence. But it wasn't as good as I had hoped. "He's…he's running. And…" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "He's in an awful lot of pain."
Rynon 3
(Legolas's POV)

I spun around to shoot at the pursuing aliens. They crumpled from the blasts. Pursuit would cease soon enough for they could not tolerate the light of the sun for long. I turned forward again to make certain the woman and the boy were heading in the direction of my ship. When we broke through the trees and into the clearing, I triggered the device on my belt to lower the ramp. They quickly jumped inside while I took a last glance around.

The pursuit had ceased.

After setting the Black Dragon into motion, I flew over the tops of the trees until I reached the small clearing where the cave was. From a safe distance, I released four missiles into the mouth of the cave. Seconds later the earth erupted in a ball of flames. I glanced at the alien detection device beside me and ran a quick scan. No alien signatures. They were all destroyed.

As I headed the Black Dragon toward the nearby town, a wave of familiar pain seized me and I clenched my teeth to keep from audibly displaying it before the woman and boy behind me. When the pain dulled, I glanced over my shoulder.

The woman was holding her son tightly and tears were in her eyes as she softly whispered to him that they were safe.

The sight of them brought a memory to mind.

Ariedel entered our bed chamber and playfully jumped on the bed where I had been reading. "Guess what?"

"What?" I replied, my eyes still glancing over the paragraph I had been trying to read.

"You're going to be a father."

The book slipped from my hands and I looked up at her. "Are you…are you saying…?"

Ariedel nodded with a grin. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." She threw her arms around me.

The woman turned her face in my direction. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but…we owe you our lives."

"Your colony is safe now. I will take you there."
Weyland-Yutani Headquarters

Pennington stared at the telemonitor where a newsman was reporting live from Rynon 3.

"The colonists here say the man had long blonde hair and came in a black ship. He dropped off Mrs Ettleman and her son, Matthew, who both appeared to be in good condition after their harrowing rescue by the mysterious stranger. Although the description fits the same man reportedly known to have killed three Weyland-Yutani executives, many of the colonists here believe he purposely came to Rynon 3 to destroy the aliens, something our own military had postponed due to the extensive waiting list of colonies seeking aid. So the question remains, why isn't the Company enlisting more personnel to help vanquish the infestations on our colonized worlds? This is Ted Kelsey, reporting live from Rynon 3. Back to you, Sam."

Pennington paused the image and turned to those standing around his desk. "All of a sudden everybody's got their panties in a bunch! I don't care how you do it, but I want this asshole found immediately before he does anymore…good deeds." He threw the remote at the telemonitor, shattering the screen. "Find him and kill him!"

 

Chapter 4 – Threats​

Trenek Colony

Freak set the Dropship down on the landing pad used mainly by the colonists. Since it was unoccupied, he decided to occupy it. Minutes later he walked down the ramp, followed closely by Bishop, Ariedel and Aragorn.

Aragorn looked around in bewilderment at the surrounding buildings. "There are colonies such as this on other worlds?"

"Yeah," replied Freak. "Some are smaller, some are bigger. It all depends on the resources being mined on the planet."

"Resources being mined? Tis not overpopulation the only reason your people leave their home world?"

"That's one reason," replied Bishop. "But mining resources we can't find on Earth or Avalon is our biggest venture."

"Believe it or not, the company whose research base we destroyed back in your neck of the woods happens to be the same one who produces the atmosphere processors," added Freak as he pointed to the gigantic volcano shaped structure half a mile away. "For every good deed Weyland-Yutani performs lately, they do twice as many bad ones. And no one has the power or the will to stop them. In my opinion, they need to eliminate the real problem and that's the guy who's currently in charge."

The four walked up to a steel building and went through the main entrance. As bare as the outside had been, the inside was the complete opposite, with a red-carpeted hallway leading to a security station and an elevator behind it.

The security guard at the station watched the four strangers approach. "May I help you?"

Freak pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him. "We're here to investigate the death of Andrew Lehman and need admittance to his living quarters."

The guard glanced over the search warrant, making sure it had the appropriate signatures. Then he stood up and grabbed his key card. He led them to the elevator and took them to the tenth floor. At the end of the corridor, he slipped his key card in a door slot and waited for the light to turn green before the door slid open.

Freak waited for Ariedel, Aragorn and Bishop to enter before he did and turned to the guard in the hall. "Thank you, that'll be all," he said before waving his hand over the door sensor. The door slid shut.

Ariedel glanced around the small, one room apartment. It contained a kitchenette, a queen-sized bed, a table with a heap of paper on it, a sofa and a telemonitor. "This is all you get for being a Company executive? He should have looked for another job."

Freak rifled through the paperwork on the table, tossing things over his shoulder if it didn't interest him.

Ariedel followed Aragorn as he slowly moved around the room, inspecting every inch of the carpeted floor. In the center was a large stain she knew to be blood. They both noticed a charred hole on the wall. "Freak…" Ariedel called out.

Freak tossed the rest of the papers aside and walked up between Ariedel and Aragorn. Then he reached out and touched the charred wall, scraping some of the black off and bringing his fingers up to his nose. "It's from a blaster."

Aragorn reached for something on the nearby sofa. A long strand of blonde hair. He had no doubt that it belonged to Legolas. "Could he have killed the man because he was fired upon?"

"Or did he get fired upon because he was going to kill the man?" asked Freak.

Meanwhile Bishop accessed the computer, ignoring the dried blood on the keys.

Freak walked up behind him. "Find anything?"

"Yes, the hidden log contains the keystrokes. I'm just retracing them. He accessed Company records, entering all the correct passwords." The images on the screen flashed quickly. "Here we go. He looked up Dr Oscar Leland and went through a list of people he was associated with. As a side note, all three of the Company execs killed, including Andrew Lehman, are on the list."

"What was the last thing he looked at?" asked Freak.

"He accessed the record for a Professor Karlton Taylor, then searched the databanks for the location of his residence."

"Which is?"

"Shorex Colony on Theta II."

"Bingo."

Ariedel stared at the blood-stained carpet. "Aragorn, please tell me Legolas did this in self-defense."

Aragorn shook his head. "I cannot be certain, Ariedel."

"You've known him for a long time. Do you think he'd be capable of killing for no reason?"

"Tis not uncommon for Legolas to act belligerently when provoked. Yet we know not what his transformation has done to him."

Ariedel focused on the presence of Legolas she continued to feel. "He's hurting…an unbearable pain."

"Is he injured?" asked Freak.

"No, but I can feel him barely holding it together." She closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep herself from losing it. "He's determined to see it through."

"See what through?"

"I don't know."
Somewhere in Space
(Legolas's POV)

I stared ahead through the glass, watching the thousands of lights flashing as the ship passed them. There were times that if I held very still, then the pain was just tolerable.

My mind recalled another time when I had been in tremendous pain. The walls in the room had been white and there were bandages on my arms and left leg. A woman had tried to give me something for the pain, but I had pulled away from her. Then Ariedel came to me.

"My poor Legolas. How did you ever survive?" she asked, her voice soothing.

I closed my eyes and breathed, feeling her presence as if she were sitting beside me. Had I always been able to feel her as such? Could she feel me? Or was it because I knew she was close?

"Why do you follow me, Ariedel?" I asked the empty cockpit.

The question plagued me. When last I left Ariedel, she had been afraid of me. Her love and fear of me conflicted within her. I could still sense those feelings, although now anxiety had joined her other emotions.

I imagined my long time friend, Aragorn, was with her. He led me to believe we had seen many battles together, although I could only recall some small memories. One that came to mind was an altercation between us that did not last very long.

"Look at them," I recalled saying. "They're frightened. You can see it in their eyes. Boe a hyn, neled herain dan caer menig." (And they should be, three hundred against ten thousand)

"Si beriathar hyn ammaeg na ned Edoras," replied Aragorn. (They have more hope of defending themselves here than at Edoras)


"Aragorn, nedin dagor hen ú-'erir ortheri. Natha daged dhaer!" (They cannot win this fight. They are all going to die!)


"Then I shall die as one of them!"

Somewhere deep inside me I knew Aragorn well, that he never backed down from a fight and that we saved each other's lives more times than I could count. He undoubtedly followed Ariedel in hopes of finding me. The King of Gondor thought this quest important enough to leave his family and the rule of his city.

And what of Ariedel? Feeling my chest constricting at the very thought of her, did it mean I recalled our love…and all the times we had made love…together making three children?

Even though I did not recall all of my memories, I recognized the feeling in my heart and would do everything within my power to protect those my heart cherished. My life was but a sacrifice now…Nothing and no one would ever again threaten the lives of my family and friends.

A sound coming from the console drew my attention. The scanners were picking up alien signatures.

I took a quick glance at the small screen to my right before correcting my course.
Middle Earth – Eryn Lasgalen

Thranduil impatiently sat in the Great Hall, waiting to hear word of the recent visitors from space. Two days earlier, a ship had been spotted east of Eryn Lasgalen, near the Lonely Mountain. The Elven king sent a squadron to investigate and he had not heard a thing since then.

Anwar appeared from one of the side doors, a bundle of purple flowers in her right hand. She approached her grandfather with a smile and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Where did you get those lovely flowers, meleth?" asked Thranduil, not recognizing them as anything that grew in the surrounding forest. (love)

"I asked the ground to grow them for me," Anwar casually replied.

Thranduil knew flowers didn't just sprout up without seeds. "And how is that possible?"

"Gandalf taught me the spell before we left Valinor."

"I might have known the old wizard would have a hand in it." He plucked one of the blooms off its stem and tucked it in Anwar's hair, behind her ear. "There. That is where it should be."

Suddenly the doors of the Great Hall swung open and four men were escorted inside by six of the king's guards.

Anwar immediately stepped behind her grandfather's throne chair.

Thranduil straightened up in the chair and waited until the men were brought up to him.

"What the hell's going on?" asked one of them. He and his companions were pushed down on their knees before the king. "Hey!"

One of the guards placed several items at Thranduil's feet.

The Elven king recognized them as modern weapons, some he had seen while on Freak's ship. Thranduil glared at the four men who had been forced to remain kneeling before him. "Who are you people and why have you come here?"

Alan Morris spoke again. "Hey, we didn't come here! These assholes dragged us!"

"I have no patience for those that trespass our lands. I ask again, who are you and why have you come here?"

Jankiewicz was the next to speak. "We're looking for Crystal Schuyler."

Hearing the name mentioned on several occasions by her mother, Anwar jumped forward, heedless of her own safety. "What do you want of my mother?"

Thranduil grabbed Anwar's arm and dragged her back away from the men.

Morris immediately took interest in the young girl and his eyes instinctly shifted to the weapons at the king's feet.

Seeing the motion, Thranduil stood up and shuffled the weapons further away with his foot. Then he went down the two steps of his throne. "Let them up." After the men were allowed to stand, Thranduil moved to stand in front of the obvious leader. "What do you want with her?"

"We have orders to bring her to Columbia Station," replied Morris, his gut telling him it wasn't going to be as easy of a job as he thought it would be.

"And whose orders might that be?"

At first Morris thought to keep quiet. But then he reconsidered, knowing these primitive people had no way to leave the planet and cause any problems for Weyland-Yutani. "Wayne Pennington."

"Who is this Wayne Pennington?"

"The man in charge of Weyland-Yutani."

"What does he want with Crystal Schuyler?"

"She needs to help us find Legolas Greenleaf."

"Why?"

"He murdered some of our people in cold blood. We need to stop him before he kills any others."

"Stop him in what way?"

"Termination."

Thranduil tried not to react. "You have made a grave mistake by coming here and now you will not be allowed to leave." He turned away.

"Hey, you can't keep us here. We're expected back at a certain time. If we're not there, others are just going to come looking for us."

Thranduil turned back around in anger. "Rest assured that we are prepared to fight to the end. No one threatens my son and lives to tell of it!" He waved his hand and the guards grabbed the men and escorted them back out of the Great Hall. Thranduil knew without giving an order that the guards would take the men to the cells deeper in the caverns.

Anwar rushed to her grandfather and threw her arms around him. "They lie! Ada would not kill anyone without reason."

Thranduil caressed his granddaughter's hair. "Nay, Anwar, he would not." He frowned as his thoughts took him to the many times Legolas undermined him, resulting in bitter skirmishes with the men of the forest. But even then, Legolas's reasons had much to do with the safety of Mirkwood. What reason could Legolas have for killing the people the man had mentioned?

 

Chapter 5 – Hero​

Shorex Colony on Theta II

Professor Karlton Taylor looked up from the book he was reading when a knock came on his door. He stood and hobbled toward the door, glancing through the glass. A young woman with blonde hair stood outside, flanked by three men. To Taylor, they looked like trouble. "Go away, I don't want to be disturbed!"

Soaking wet, Ariedel leaned forward to look through the glass. "Please let us in, Professor. We have to know if you talked to someone by the name of Legolas."

Taylor shook his head. "I haven't seen or spoken to anyone by that name."

"I need to find him," pleaded Ariedel. "Please, I'm desperate."

"Are you working for them?" the professor cautiously asked.

"For the Company? No, none of us do."

Taylor saw the sincere look on the young woman's face and finally opened the door, allowing the four of them to enter.

"So you've talked to him?" asked Ariedel.

"Yes, he came to see me a week ago."

Freak took a cursory glance around the room "What did he want from you?"

"He wanted information about Oscar Leland, an old student of mine."

After Ariedel introduced herself and the others and their relationship with Legolas, Taylor went into detail about Legolas's visit. "I felt sorry for him, that I couldn't do anything to help him. If I had known what Oscar was truly up to, I never would have…"

"It's not your fault, Professor," said Ariedel, leaning closer and placing a hand on his arm.

"Wait a second," Freak interrupted. "You never would have what?"

Taylor looked down and shook his head. "I never would have helped Oscar. He wanted to know everything about the aliens. I kept records of all my alien research and handed them over to him. Honestly, I never thought he could accomplish what he did." The professor looked up sadly. "I'm afraid your friend is dying a slow, very painful death. It may take only days or it may take months, depending on how strong he is and how much he can tolerate."

Ariedel tried to keep her emotions in check. She didn't want to burst into tears in front of the professor. "Did he tell you where he was going or what he was planning?" she asked.

"Don't you know? It's been all over the news briefs. He's rescued people on seven planets and has killed hundreds, perhaps even thousands of aliens. Your husband is a hero."

Freak exchanged a glance with the others. "I guess we should pay more attention to the news briefs if we wanna know where he's been."

"I can tell you this much," said Taylor. "He didn't volunteer the information, but I have a feeling I know what his final goal is. He's going to set the Company straight. He's going after Wayne Pennington."

"Wayne Pennington?" Ariedel repeated the name in shock. "You mean, The Wayne Pennington, the richest and most despicable man in the United Systems? He's in charge of the Company?"

Freak snorted. "That explains all the bad decisions made in the last decade or two. Where can we find the slimeball?"

Taylor shrugged. "Weyland-Yutani headquarters, more than likely, but only the top officials know the location. Pennington usually takes meetings anywhere, but never at headquarters."

"Tis apparent this man is by far better guarded than any previous king of Gondor," noted Aragorn.

"There is one possibility," added the professor. "I know of a foul place on Midland 6, the Ironbar Colony. Of course, I've never been there, but I've heard of an arena where they hold alien fights, like the dog or cock fights of the old days. Rumor has it that Pennington runs the place."

Freak set the Dropship in motion and they were soon heading back to The Rebel.

"I've never heard of the Ironbar Colony," said Ariedel. "Have you?"

"Unfortunately I have," replied Freak. "But I'm not surprised you haven't. It's not your run of the mill colony. Most of the illegal trading happens in that place. You won't find any happy families living there. It's strictly crooks and shit of the worst kind."

"Do you expect to find Legolas there?" asked Aragorn.

"I'm not sure about that, but I'm hoping more to find Pennington. Not that the prick doesn't deserve whatever Lego wants to do to him, believe me, I'm all for it. But if we get to Pennington first, then chances are, Lego will fall right in our laps."

"Our chances of getting Pennington alone are about a million to one," Bishop said dryly.

Freak grinned. "You know I love impossible odds, my little android friend."

Bishop gave him a sour look. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Outland Space Station
(Legolas's POV)

The numbers on the ship corresponded with the records I pulled from the computer. I smiled to myself, knowing that no one would be able to trace anything back to me. Everytime I accessed the Weyland-Yutani records, I erased any sign of my entry. Almost like a human walking backward and erasing their footprints. Being an Elf, I did not leave footprints. Unfortunately the Company records contained no information on Wayne Pennington's residence, nor did the records divulge the location of where he kept an office. So I had to resort to using other methods to find out the information I needed.

As expected, the station hailed me.

"Outland Space Station to unknown vessel. Your ship doesn't register on our computers. Do you wish to report a malfunction?"

I pressed the button to reply on the comm. "That will not be necessary. My ship is not registered and I have no intention of docking."

"According to ordinance 1257i of the United Systems Interplanetary Space Travel Agreement, I must report your failure to register your ship. The closest USCM base will be notified."

"I understand."

"And according to ordinance 923a of the USISTA, I must also report that you are occupying a non-standard vessel. Since it is illegal to occupy a non-standard vessel, the USCM will be required to confiscate it."

I impatiently rolled my eyes. "Do as you wish." I switched off the comm. "I will not be here long enough for you to complete your report."

Just as I had hoped, the docked ship began to disengage. Either word had spread quickly of the presence of my ship, or one of the Company men had seen it from a window. The pursuit was about to begin.

Middle Earth – Eryn Lasgalen

Alan Morris ran his fingers through his hair as he pondered the predicament he and his three comrades found themselves in. Morris had underestimated the Elves that had greeted them. They had appeared friendly at first and then when he let his guard down, the Elves took control. If only he had thought to contact headquarters before leaving the ship. Now he wasn't sure what was going to happen or if anyone would ever find them.

The cell the Elven guards had put them in was cold and damp, with no window to the outside. And it was far too cramped for four men.

Morris had the impression that someone was watching him and when he turned toward the door, he saw a face through the small barred opening. It was the young girl he had seen earlier. Her eyes were the most piercing blue he had ever seen and given the pointed ears on either side of her face, Morris deduced she was an Elf. He slowly stood up and walked toward the door. "Hello, little girl."

Anwar stared at the man through the bars. He did not look as menacing as he did in the Great Hall where her grandfather questioned him.

"Are you supposed to be here?" Morris asked carefully. He didn't want to scare her off in case she could be of use to him.

"Nay, my grandfather does not know it."

He gauged her to be about twelve or thirteen, still young, but impressionable. "What's your name? It has to be as pretty as you are."

Anwar felt her face flush. "My name is Anwar."

"Anwar. That is indeed a pretty name."

"Do you truly wish to kill my father?"

Morris lied. "No, I have no intention of doing such a thing. But I do wish to find him before the bad people do."

"So you came to help him?" Anwar was hopeful.

"Yes, I did." Morris waved to the others in the cell. "We all did."

"Why did you not tell the king that your intentions are honorable?"

"Because kings never believe strangers. Do you believe me?"

Anwar stared into the man's green eyes. "I have not yet decided."

Morris wanted to keep the girl interested. "Maybe you can explain something. Your father is Legolas Greenleaf, right?"

"Aye, he is my father."

"And Crystal Schuyler is your mother?"

"Aye, but she is known here as Ariedel, not Crystal."

Morris couldn't believe his luck. He desperately wanted to report back his findings. I bet nobody else knew Crystal Schuyler had married the Elf and they had a daughter. "Are you the only child?"

"I have two brothers. I am the oldest."

Jackpot! Keep her talking. "And the king is your grandfather?"

"Aye."

"Anwar, maybe you can help us help you and your family. You see, if we don't communicate back to our people that we are safe, others will come looking for us. Those others may not be as friendly as us and they will try to destroy your home. Or even worse, they'll bring back the creatures that threatened your lands not too long ago. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

Anwar's eyes widened as she recalled the black creature that had pursued her and Eldarion down a chimney. "Nay, I never want to see those hideous creatures again."

"Tell me where your father and mother are."

"I do not know. My father left quite suddenly and mother is searching for him."

"Are they still around here?"

Although Anwar was uncertain of such things, she tried to explain in the manner she was told. "Nay, they are gone from Arda. That is what my grandfather told me."

Morris knew how Legolas Greenleaf got off the planet. He wasn't sure how the girl's mother did. "Is someone else helping your mother?"

"Aye, a man."

"What's his name?"

"Freak."

"Freak?" Morris repeated curiously.

"Aye, that is the name he answered to."

"Interesting. What did he look like?"

Anwar shrugged. "He was tall and muscular and his skin was a dark color."

Morris filed the description away in case he happened to come across the woman and this Freak character was with her. Whoever he was, a lot of trouble was headed his way for being an accomplice. "Anwar, I want you to think carefully now. Think of a way for us to leave this cell, but without your grandfather finding out. Once we're free, we can continue to search for your parents."

"And help them."

"Right, and help them."

"But if I explain to the king that you only wish to help, surely he will let…"

"No, no, no. You can't tell him. You can't tell anyone."

Anwar glanced to her left and then to her right, to make sure the corridor was still vacant. Then she leaned closer to the bars. "I know of a way out of the caverns."

Cloudwalker Colony on SN-111

From his seat in a corner booth Legolas turned toward the door every time it opened. The bar was full of smoke, making his eyes water and his lungs burn. He could not wait to get back outside and breathe fresh air.

A scantily dressed barmaid approached the booth for the fifth time in less than twenty minutes. "Are you ready for that drink now?"

Legolas shook his head, noting the disgruntled look on her face. "I told you I am not thirsty."

The barmaid leaned forward, placing her arms on the table, as well as her assets. "Look, honey, you're going to have to order a drink."

Legolas's eyes shifted toward the door as it opened. Two people entered. A man and a woman. Not who he was looking for.

"If my boss finds out I didn't serve you, he's going to get mad. He'll say you're taking up space for customers who do want to drink."

"I do not want a drink," he calmly replied.

The barmaid gave her breasts a shake, trying to get his attention. Then she placed a hand on his wrist. "Maybe you're looking for some other kind of service. Hmm?"

The door opened once again and three burley men entered. They glanced around the bar as if they were looking for someone.

"My room is just upstairs." She started to reach her fingers toward his face.

Without looking, Legolas grabbed her wrist with one hand and wrapped his other hand around the front of her throat…all in the blink of an eye. "If you touch me again, I will snap your neck like a twig."

The barmaid's eyes widened at the sight of the fangs in his mouth. The grip of his fingers on her throat was just tight enough to get her attention.

"Leave me in peace. Do you understand?"

She tried her best to nod her head.

Legolas released her and did not give her a second thought as she scrambled away. He shifted his attention back to the three men who took seats at the bar. One of them glanced directly at him. These were the men who had followed him in their Company ship. According to the Company records, two bounty hunting teams were assigned to find and kill him. These men made up one of the teams.

At first he had thought to just obliterate their ship when they started pursuing him. But then he thought about the information he might be able to get out of them. If they had nothing, then he would at least feel at ease that he had not allowed something to slip through his fingers…the way it had when he prematurely killed Oscar Leland. Had he known then what he knew now, he would have kept the doctor alive. Granted, he would have made Leland extremely uncomfortable, but not dead.

A wave of pain nearly overwhelmed him, bringing his thoughts back to the present. He fought it for several minutes that seemed to stretch an eternity. When he returned to the ship, he decided he would take another one of the pills Professor Taylor had given him. So far the pills seemed to ward off the pain for hours at a time, giving him the opportunity to focus on what needed to be done.

Legolas slid out of the booth and headed for the door. After passing the bar, he glanced back over his right shoulder, seeing the men nudge each other. He was out the door by the time they got off their barstools.

Like any area near an atmosphere processor, it was raining heavily. There weren't many people out and about because of the rain, but there were some nonetheless. So Legolas slipped into an alley, moving slowly enough to give the bounty hunters the chance to glimpse where he was headed.

Thirty seconds later the three bounty hunters charged into the alley, expecting to find the Elf they had finally caught up with. The alley was a dead end and there was no sign of the Elf. They stood back to back, the three of them circling and searching with their eyes.

"Looking for me?" came a voice from above.

Before the three men had a chance to look up, Legolas dropped from the rooftop of a three story building, landing inside their circle. The men were armed with blasters while Legolas decided he needed nothing but his hands.

One of the men whirled a blaster around. Legolas grabbed his arm and forced him to fire it at the second man, while he tripped the third man.

One down, two to go.

The man with the blaster swung a fist, connecting with Legolas's jaw…his steel-like jaw. His knuckles shattered like glass.

Legolas yanked the blaster out of his hand and swung the man around, putting an arm around his neck. After getting back up on his feet, the third man fearfully backed away as Legolas moved forward, blaster aimed at his head, dragging the other bounty hunter by the neck. "Who sent you!"

The third man shook his head. "I don't know! We don't work for them. They never give us a name!"

Legolas knew the man was lying. An overwhelming anger within him threatened to boil over. "Then why do you fly in their ship?"

The man shook his head, unwilling to provide anything further.

His seething anger won over and Legolas pulled the trigger of the blaster. Two down, one to go.

Seeing his partner's face erupt in burnt flesh, the remaining bounty hunter tried to free himself from the vice-like grip of the Elf.

Legolas released his hold on the man's neck and flung him ten feet into the wall of the building.

The man crumpled to the ground, a sharp pain shooting up his broken ribs from the impact. He managed to look up as the Elf approached, sliding a long knife out from somewhere on his back.

Legolas crouched in front of the man and gripped him under the jaw to lift him up on his feet. "I can make this quick and painless or long and unbearable. The decision rests in your hands." When he received no response, Legolas drew the blade of his long knife under the man's nose. "Long and unbearable then? Good. I can practice my skill at cutting paper thin slices of flesh." To prove his point, he nicked the tip of the man's nose.

The man cringed and tried to retreat, his fear making him lose control of his bodily functions.

Legolas shook his head and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sudden foul odor. "Are you the best the Company has to offer?"

"You're…you're a dead man."

"Tell me something I do not already know. Tell me where I can find Wayne Pennington."

"Nobody knows where he lives."

"I have no interest in his residence. I want to know where I can find him."

The bounty hunter sputtered in pain as another piece of his nose came off. "Fuck! On Midland 6! Ironbar Colony!"

Legolas released him and the man crumpled to the ground for the second time. "I will not kill you." Then he flicked the tip of the long knife across a small area on the side of the bounty hunter's neck. "But you will bleed to death before anyone finds you."

The man's vision blurred even before he saw the shadowed figure of the Elf leaving the alley.

 

Chapter 6 – The Fight Club​

Middle Earth – Eryn Lasgalen

Anwar led the four men through the corridor. She was amused that the men struggled in the inky darkness, stumbling over dislodged stones on the ground, while she was able to see perfectly through her half-Elven eyes.

"Are we almost there?" Morris asked, feeling foolish for asking the question.

"Almost," replied Anwar. She turned a corner and nearly giggled when one of the men struck the wall with a curse.

Morris glimpsed a touch of light up ahead. The opening was covered with dense foliage which miraculously parted as the young girl approached. They were finally out of the cavern and into the open. Morris heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He never considered himself to be claustrophobic, but he would die happy if he never had to step into another cave again.

Anwar pointed along the Forest River. "If you continue along the river in that direction, it will lead you out of the forest. From there you will see the Lonely Mountain in the distance, if that is the direction you need to go."

"Maybe you could show us," Morris said carefully.

"Tis not difficult," replied Anwar. "The forest is easy to negotiate."

"No, I think you better stay with us."

"I cannot leave. My grandfather…he expects me at our next meal." Anwar was suddenly feeling uneasy around the four hulking men moving closer to surround her. "Which is but a few moments away," she added.

One of the men suddenly grabbed her from behind and placed a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

"Take it easy with her, Lance, she's just a kid," said Perkins, one of the other men.

"Let's not forget she's an Elf," added Morris. "For all we know she can tell that tree over there to strangle you."

Perkins spun around toward the trees around them. When he heard Morris chuckling, he shot him a dirty look. "Asshole."

Morris started walking away. "Let's get going before someone discovers we're gone."

Anwar struggled against the man holding her, but she was just not strong enough to get out of his grip.

Somewhere in the trees above, another Elfling watched the men taking Anwar. Brendan had not been present when the men had been brought in so he did not know they were not from Arda. Despite their strange clothing, he immediately assumed they were wild men. What were they doing with his sister? He decided to follow them, moving easily in the branches above them.

Thranduil sat alone in the dining hall, pushing the food around on the plate with his fork. He glanced up at the empty seats belonging to his grandchildren, Anwar and Brendan. They had not appeared for the mid-day meal. Across the table Alma was feeding Elril, who was delighting in getting more food on his tunic than in his mouth.

The Elven king finally pushed the plate aside and stood up. He went in search of the Elflings and discovered them not in their rooms. Nor were they in the gardens or anywhere on the grounds.

With a disturbing thought, he immediately went down the corridors to the cells. Oddly enough, he was not surprised to find the cells empty. The men could not have escaped from the cell on their own. The cells were escape-proof. It was the reason continuous monitoring of the cells was not required. But what bothered him more than the men being gone or how they had managed to get out, was that his grandchildren were nowhere to be found.

Thranduil did not bother alerting any of the guards. Wearing his weapons, he mounted his horse and slipped into the forest, with Rhovan, the white tiger scouting ahead.

Morris and the other three bounty hunters emerged from the forest. Looming in the distance was their ship, a little over a mile of hot sand to cross to get there.

The Elf girl was giving Lance a hard time, kicking and biting. Lance had been forced to rip his sleeve off and gagged her with it to keep her quiet.

"Tell you what," said Morris with a sigh. "Perkins, run ahead, get in the ship and bring it back here. We'll wait for you."

Perkins frowned. "Why can't Sam go? He's in better shape."

"Because I asked you first. Now get going."

Perkins mumbled something foul under his breath as he started walking in the direction of the ship.

"And hurry up," added Morris.

Perkins broke into a jog.

Morris turned to where the girl was sitting on the ground. She was glaring daggers at him with her ice blue eyes. After a moment of hesitation, he finally reached over and removed her gag.

"You lied to me," Anwar immediately stated. "You said you were here to help."

"Well, I am here to help, or rather to help myself."

"You can see your ship from here. Why are you not releasing me?"

"You see, I'm thinking you might come in handy."

"My father will kill you if he discovers you have taken me against my will."

Morris shrugged. "I'll propose a trade. Your life for his."

Anwar struggled to maintain her courage and not cry in front of them, but she knew she had made a grave mistake and it was no one's fault but her own. She simply had to get away. Without thinking she stood and started running for the trees. She had only gotten several steps before something heavy fell on top of her. It was the one named Lance.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Lance as he pulled himself up and dragged Anwar up on her feet.

Anwar tried to pull away, but Lance gripped her arm harder and backhanded her face.

Just then something dropped from the branches above. Brendan landed on his feet and had an arrow notched on a small bow, aimed right at Lance. "You let my sister go!"

Morris stared at the new arrival. This youngster had to be one of the brothers. He looked to be about six or seven and a spitting image of the Elf named Legolas…only much smaller. "Well, well, look what we have here," he said as he stood up.

Brendan shifted his aim to the man who stood up. "Release my sister or I will kill you."

Morris wasn't sure how good the kid's aim was, but the arrow looked lethal enough. "There's no need for violence, little boy. We'll release your sister. Why don't you put that bow away before you hurt yourself."

"The only one hurting will be you," said Brendan through clenched teeth.

Morris heard the rumble of the ship's engines and knew the moment had to be now. He motioned toward Sam while Brendan's attention suddenly turned toward the approaching ship.

Sam lunged toward the Elf boy. Brendan turned and released the arrow. It lodged into Sam's shoulder and he howled in pain.

A new sound drew Morris's attention, the sound of an approaching horse.

Then it was chaos.

A blur of black and white jumped out of the forest and lunged at Lance, bringing the man down. Finding herself free, Anwar broke into a run. Morris ran after her. Brendan released another arrow and hit Morris in the back and he went down on top of Anwar. Lance was screaming hysterically as the white tiger continued to maul him.

Slightly dazed, Morris got up and dragged Anwar away while the injured Sam tackled the Elf boy.

The ship settled on the ground thirty feet away and the ramp lowered. Morris knocked the girl out with a chop to the face and he hefted her on his shoulder before dashing toward the ship. The arrow in his back was excruciating, but he was determined.

A white horse broke through the trees, a formidable Elven king mounted on its back. It took Thranduil but a second to discover what was happening.

Sam found himself the second victim of the enraged white tiger who had already killed Lance. Brendan scrambled to get out of the way.

Thranduil kicked his horse into a gallop, heading toward the man carrying Anwar. He pulled his bow from his back, quickly notched an arrow and released it.

Just five more feet. Morris felt a stabbing pain in the back of his right thigh. Without hesitating, he hurled himself and the girl through the ramp opening. "Go! Go! Go!"

The ship quickly climbed into the air.

Thranduil reined his horse to a stop. He watched in despair as the ship soon disappeared into the clouds. His heart lurched painfully at the thought of losing his granddaughter. It was all his fault. If something terrible happened to her, he would never forgive himself. But how would he ever know? He had no means to communicate with anyone outside of Arda.

Brendan ran up. "What will they do to my sister?"

"I know not the answer." He prayed to the Valar that Anwar would be safe and that somehow Ariedel, or even Legolas, would find her.

Ironbar Colony on Midland 6

The arena was approximately thirty feet in diameter and ten feet deep. The walls were perfectly smooth while the ground was covered with sawdust to absorb any stray acid blood. At every ten feet, hinged flush to the frame of the arena walls, were red sensors. The sensors were tuned to the collars worn around the necks of the aliens. The idea was to zap the aliens if they tried to climb the sleek walls or jump out into the stands. The collars were also used to render the aliens submissive while being handled by their human masters. Above all, everything was made entirely of titanium to ward off the acid blood of the aliens. The makers of the arena had apparently thought of everything.

The fights held in Hazard Arena brought a lot of revenue into the Ironbar Colony from outlanders. Alien fights were becoming more popular than boxing had been back in the old Earth days. Two aliens wearing different colored collars were put together in the arena and using stimulants were provoked to battle each other. However, on special occasions, criminals who had committed heinous crimes were brought to the Ironbar Colony to battle an alien. The aliens always won. But the Alien vs Human events were real crowd pleasers and always brought in rich tycoons who bet ridiculous sums of cash. With the house receiving ten percent of all winnings, the Ironbar Colony was quickly becoming the hot spot for the fortunate, not to mention anyone wanted to engage in illegal activity.

A tall figure wearing a hooded cloak walked among the spectators that rushed to find vacant seats. To an untrained eye, those that looked his way would have thought him seriously disfigured, with a sharp hump protruding from his right shoulder blade, hidden beneath the cloak. He lowered the hood, revealing himself as the only Elf to ever travel in space.

Legolas paused and his eyes wandered over the people crowding the seats surrounding the arena. No one paid him any special attention, given the fact that most of the people had various strange hairstyles and full body tattoos. With his long, blonde hair and pointed ears, he seemed to blend in perfectly with the rest of the crowd. He continued forward, moving along the main aisle that went around the entire arena. His eyes occasionally shifted toward various personnel standing about. Legolas recognized the Weyland-Yutani insignia on the breast pocket of their dark gray uniforms. There were a total of five guards visible to him and an undetermined number likely to be found in the compound below ground where he figured the aliens were kept.

Earlier, an unsuspecting guard was the victim of a few questions. Is Pennington present at the arena? Yes. Is Pennington sitting in the stands? No. Where is Pennington seated? In the skybox with the tinted windows. The guard would wake up with a tremendous headache in a few hours.

Legolas glanced toward the skybox in question. The windows were tinted dark so he was unable to see if anyone was inside. Without knowing what Pennington looked like, it was going to be difficult determining who he needed to focus on. There was no doubt the man would be surrounded by guards. It was going to be difficult enough not getting spotted by any of them. He hoped he was blending in well enough with the rest of the crowd.

The crowd was suddenly on their feet, cheering loudly as a spectacle of colored lights illuminated a section of the arena ground that slid open. A platform raised upward to reveal a band consisting of five musicians and their instruments. They started to play the latest music craze, sending the crowd into another bout of cheers.

Legolas glanced toward the musicians and then around at the elaborate set up. Pennington put on quite a show to draw in the spectators. This was apparently a popular event.

But it was time for him to go to work. Lucky for Legolas, the stadium seats were angled upward and the frame beneath provided a place for him to maneuver without anyone seeing him. He ducked beneath the drape covering the frame and walked toward the other end.

A Company guard was standing just beyond the drape. Legolas silently parted the drape, reached an arm around the guard's neck and quickly pulled him under the stands. The guard could have cried out and not been heard in the din of the crowd and the loud music. Nonetheless, Legolas rendered him unconscious before he could utter a sound.

By the time the band had finished their third song, Legolas had dispatched seven more guards, leaving the arena area a free for all. He hoped no one would get suspicious due to the lack of guards, or that no one would try to contact any of the unconscious guards by comm.

The band soon disappeared back down the center of the arena and the lighting in the stadium dimmed to near darkness. This seemed to excite the crowd who anticipated the upcoming fights.

Legolas scaled the wooden beams supporting the highest point of the stadium seating. When he reached the top, he perched on the support and glanced down into the darkness. He could clearly see activity in the pit. A crew was busy setting up walls, creating a maze he imagined the aliens would have to negotiate to find each other.

While the stadium remained in the dark, Legolas silently walked along the outer beam until he was relatively close to the skybox in which Pennington would be found. A quick glance told him there were two guards flanking the doorway on the other side. He would not be able to get passed them without them seeing him first and shooting him with their blasters.

Legolas glanced upward. The skybox was made entirely of wood and the ceiling did not look all too thick. He hopped up to grab the edge of the rooftop and easily pulled himself up to the top. From there he could see the entire stadium, including down in the pit where the action would be.

But he had no interest in watching aliens fight each other to the death. He had one goal...eliminate Wayne Pennington. He was the brains behind the Company. Without him, someone by the name of James Burbank would find himself in charge. He had gathered this information from one of the three Company executives he had been forced to kill. Oddly enough, the executive stated that not even Burbank knew he was in a position to take control.

James Burbank. The name seemed familiar to Legolas as he sat down on the rooftop of the skybox and contemplated his next move.

"It's a bit confusing, but my brother, Seth, married Wendy, who's the admiral's daughter. So in a way I'm related to Burbank by proxy."

The words came to Legolas, spoken in Ariedel's voice. The name had come up in one of their discussions. He was not sure when the discussion had occurred. But he did sense that the man behind the name would surely run the Company far better than Wayne Pennington. Innocent people would not have to lose their lives in pointless experiments.

All Legolas needed to do was end Pennington's life. He did not think he would survive after the job was done. Pennington was well-guarded. He would only have seconds to do it before someone came to the man's rescue.

If Legolas's life ended now, it would not matter. He would have done what he had set out to do. His wife would never understand. She would mourn for him. His children would also mourn his death. Even if he survived the next few moments and managed to return to Arda, he would not survive the continuing struggle his body fought against the alien traits forced into him. He would suffer horribly before death finally claimed him. He had no desire to subject himself to any suffering nor did he want his loved ones to see it.

The stadium lights brightened again and the cheers escalated. In the center of the maze, the floor opened. A platform containing a man raised upward.

"Welcome to Hazard Arena!" the man yelled into a device, and his voice echoed throughout the stadium.

The cheering continued.

"I have a special treat for you this evening, my friends," the host continued. "Everyone's favorite event, The Maze!"

More cheering.

"And a special guest who comes from a far off place. She was a very bad girl, so she will face not one, but two aliens!"

Two panels slid aside on opposite ends of the circular arena. From each emerged an alien, forced to remain still by the sensors on the walls and on their collars. But they hissed menacingly at the cheering crowd.

"Let the battle begin!" The host disappeared as the platform lowered him back down.

Another platform rose in the same spot, bringing the next victim of the aliens. A young girl, frightened beyond anything she had ever experienced in her short life, would face the terrifying creatures. She had no weapons, nothing to protect herself with. There was no escape.

Legolas turned his attention down to the center of the arena. His eyes widened and his chest constricted when he realized he recognized the young girl who was about to be slaughtered by the aliens.

 

Chapter 7 – Fragmented Mind​

Ironbar Colony on Midland 6
(Legolas's POV)

Anwar…my daughter. What could have transpired in Arda that brought her here to this far off world? My first thought was Pennington sent men to my homeworld in search of me. Since he could not have me then he settled for someone close to me. Perhaps in an attempt to draw me out. My next thought was, did Pennington take any other of my family members? Were my sons also taken? Or my father?

I had a serious dilemma. If I attempted to rescue Anwar then I would lose my chance to end the life of the man in charge of the Company. But Anwar would lose her life. I sensed her terror as she cowered in the center of the arena, arms over her head, trying to escape the sight of the unfamiliar surroundings and the sadistic excitement in the crowd of people looking for a kill. I was the sacrifice, not her. I could not let her die.

Then another thought came to me. Was this a trap? Did Pennington know I was coming for him?
Ironbar Colony on Midland 6

The aliens were released simultaneously from their electronic hold. With ferocious screeching, they began to quickly navigate from opposite ends of the maze, working their way toward the center. These two aliens in particular had been through this exercise on numerous occasions. They knew their way around the maze and were bubbling with excitement at the chance to kill again. Like sleek black panthers, the aliens whirled on all fours around corners, their tails raised high for balance.

Legolas stared wide-eyed at the progress of the aliens, mentally battling his wits over what action to take. There was no time to kill Pennington and save Anwar. He had to choose. But he knew there was no choice. His heart would not allow such a cruel death for his daughter.

Without another thought, Legolas moved to the furthest edge of the skybox and raced forward. In a daring feat, he jumped from the roof of the skybox, over the heads of the spectators and landed just beyond the first rows of seats.

The crowd immediately grew quiet at the sudden appearance of the newcomer and then everyone jumped to their feet as they watched him skillfully hop from wall to wall, moving above the maze toward the center.

Legolas drew both of his long knives as he hopped down into the center of the arena. As he rushed toward Anwar, he called to her. "Anwar!"

Anwar raised her tear streaked face at the familiar voice and was surprised to suddenly see her father. "Ada!"

Legolas had only a second to acknowledge her before one of the aliens bounded out of the maze. He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her toward the closest wall before turning to confront the alien.

The alien lunged forward and lashed a set of claw across Legolas's face before the Elf landed a knife into the side of its elongated head. It quickly pulled away and backed off several feet, shaking its head in pain and splattering acid blood at the surrounding walls.

Legolas raised an arm and wiped at his face with his sleeve, knowing his blood would not melt the material. The titanium fabric of his clothing had been hard to come by, but had been well worth the effort and paid off during the battle with the aliens in his recent travels. He had lost too many clothes to count.

He took several steps backward, moving to stand in front of Anwar as he heard the sound of the second alien close by. It emerged from the maze, but didn't attack. It was already aware he was armed and had caused harm to its companion.

The creature hissed in its menacing manner, trying to illicit fear in the prey. Humans were easily provoked. Yet the creature sensed this being was not like the others it had encountered. It sensed no fear from him. What it sensed from the being was an undeniable fury, emanating in waves.

Anwar remained between the wall and her father's legs, until curiosity made her peer around from behind him. What she saw were two, four-legged black creatures, similar to the ones that had pursued Eldarion and her in Valinor. Both of them were hissing, their gruesome drooling jaws, parted to reveal teeth far larger than those in her pet tiger's mouth. One of them had received a deep gash on the side of its head and its blood dripped from it. She recognized the lethal anger in the creatures and cowered back in fear.

High above the crowd, within the only skybox in Hazard Arena, Wayne Pennington was on the edge of his seat. Not from the surprise at the sudden appearance of the Elf, but from the reaction of the crowd. Normally the crowd rooted for the aliens when it came to the alien vs human events. When the Elf had jumped into the arena, the crowd actually went wild and cheered him. "How did he get passed security?" he curiously asked. Behind him he heard one of the guards trying to reach the others stationed around the arena.

"No one's answering, sir," the guard finally said.

Pennington nodded in a knowing manner. "I figured as much." He gave the guard a cursory glance over his shoulder. "Get some more men down there. But tell them not to do anything until I say." Then he turned his attention back to the arena. He was extremely curious to know what the Elf's abilities were against two aliens.

Legolas eyed the aliens pacing several meters away, their heads turned in his direction. He could mentally hear them trying to devise a way to disarm him. A hand gripped the side of his pant leg. Without taking his eyes off the aliens, he crouched down. "Are you injured? Did anyone harm you in any way?" He tried not to envision the kind of treatment his daughter had suffered in the hands of Pennington's men.

Anwar shook her head. "Im gosta!" (I'm afraid)

The Elven words tore into Legolas's heart. He did not fully recall the language, but somehow he knew the meaning. He removed his eyes from the aliens for a moment and turned to place a hand on her face. "I will protect you," he assured her. "Stay down." The sudden roar of the crowd drew his attention and he turned in time to see both aliens rushing him.

The aliens attacked at the same time. Legolas quickly stood up and slashed at them with his knives, nudging Anwar aside with his foot to keep her from getting sprayed with the acid blood raining down.

The crowd cheered the Elf.

As Legolas dodged the gnashing teeth of one alien, the other managed to grab a handful of his hair, its fingers snaking into the warrior braids. He clenched his teeth in pain as the alien ripped the braid and a chunk of hair from the left side of his head. With a furious swing, Legolas sliced off the creature's arm.

The severed arm fell directly in front of Anwar's face and she let out a blood-curdling scream before cowering away from it.

Momentarily distracted by her scream, Legolas failed to see an alien tail lash out across the front of his chest, tearing open the titanium material and gouging his flesh at the same time. He struck out with both blades, slashing and stabbing at the limbs and snarling jaws. A blaster would have come in handy. But he knew he never would have gotten passed the front gate of the arena with the weapon.

The aliens finally backed off from the lethal blades dicing and slicing at them.

The crowd cheered and then fell silent to collectively catch their breath at the lengthy duel. Usually the human victim was toast in the first thirty seconds with an alien. In the crowd's eyes, this individual was proving to be a real challenge.

Legolas was in no need of a breather. He did not tire. But he did take the opportunity to check on Anwar once again. Seeing the acid blood oozing from the severed alien arm, Legolas moved her away from it. Then he caste a glance in the direction of the skybox with the tinted windows. Another glance around the arena told him more guards had taken the place of those he had rendered unconscious. His only chance was for him and Anwar to escape in the midst of the crowd. But somehow he had a feeling the people would seek his attention, unknowingly pointing his position to the guards.

"Ada, man bad car min?" asked Anwar, shivering in fear between him and the wall. (Daddy, what are we going to do?)

Legolas searched for the meaning of her words, surprised that they came so easily to him. And that he was able to reply in the native language he desperately sought to remember. "Gar u'gosta." (Don't be afraid)

When the alien with the severed arm rushed forward, Legolas took a single step and slashed its torso with his left knife and then across its throat with the right one. The alien dropped and writhed on the ground. Legolas reached for Anwar's arm and dragged her away from the convulsing alien.

With its companion now dead, the other alien hissed and sputtered in fury, swinging its head around to follow the prey's movements.

The crowd cheered the Elf's partial victory. One down, one to go.

Legolas kept his attention focused on the second alien, but he could hear the various intonations of the crowd, telling him to kill the alien…rip out its arms…tear off its head…grab it by the tail and swing it around…All very good ideas if he did not have someone else to protect. He could not leave Anwar unshielded in case Pennington developed some sick idea to turn another alien loose into the arena.

The alien lunged forward, having learned to avoid some of the prey's knife strokes. It swung its tail to draw the blades, leaving an opening.

Legolas sliced the alien's tail off in two places and discovered his mistake. He swung his right knife too late, catching the alien's throat, but the jaws were close enough to grab onto his shoulder. He felt the teeth bury into his flesh through the titanium material. With a painful howl, he dropped his knives and grabbed the alien with his bare hands, forcing it backward away from Anwar.

The alien released his shoulder and clung to him with its skeletal arms as it was driven into the opposite wall, crashing through it.

Legolas barely dodged the alien's inner jaws shooting out at him, but he was momentarily blinded by the excruciating pain of his wounds and the escalating ever present ache in his head and joints.

The alien escaped from the debris and hurled toward the other prey.

Seeing the direction the alien was headed, Legolas sprinted forward and jumped on the alien's back, forcing it to the ground before it could reach Anwar. But the alien's superior strength kept it moving in an unbalanced crawl. "Anwar, move!"

The terrified elfling crawled out of the way as the alien managed to leap forward, her father clinging to its back.

Seeing one of his knives within arm's reach, Legolas quickly stretched to grab it. Just as the alien turned to pursue Anwar, Legolas drove the knife into the back of its head. The alien tried to shake him off.

The crowd went wild as they watched the Elf drive his knife into the alien's elongated head, over and over, acid blood flying and splattering everywhere.

When the alien stopped moving, Legolas pulled himself off of it and walked several steps away before falling to his knees. He glanced up in time to see Anwar rushing toward him. "Stop, Anwar! Stay away!"

Anwar froze her steps, uncertain as to why her father would not allow her to go to him. Then she realized he was covered in the creature's blood and remembered what her mother had told her about its deadly effects. But she would not be denied. She moved closer and lowered herself to her knees in front of him. "Ada, you are hurt."

When she reached up to check the injury to his shoulder, he quickly grabbed her wrist. "Nay, my blood will burn you. Do not touch it." He grabbed a handful of the sawdust covering the floor and used it to wipe away the alien blood from his clothing. All the while his eyes roamed the cheering crowd before they fell upon the darkened skybox. When satisfied that he had wiped away all remnants of the alien blood from his clothing, he pulled his daughter into his arms, embracing her tightly.

Pennington sat unmoving in his chair for several moments, observing the reaction of the crowd to the Elf's victory. They seemed to like the fact that he had beaten two aliens with just his knives and bare hands. He raised his cigar to his mouth and took a long drag. Above all, the alien's acid blood didn't seem to have any affect on the Elf. Was this an attribute given to him by Dr Leland? The fact that the dark jumpsuit wasn't melting was of no interest to Pennington. He had seen to the manufacturing of the acid blood-proof titanium suits a year ago. They were expensive. He just wondered how the Elf could have afforded to buy it.

The guard behind him cleared his throat. "Should I tell the team to mow him down?"

Pennington took another puff of his cigar, his eyes never leaving the center of the arena. There was the source of all his problems. With the Elf out of the way, life would go back to normal. He could continue sending out teams to research in whatever manner he saw fit. People would stop questioning him the way they had been lately…all because this Elf had raised doubts in people's mind, that the Company was performing immoral research. A brief interview with the Elf on a telemonitor news station had been devastating to the Company. And now everyone knew Pennington's identity as head of the Company. How the hell did he know who to talk to?

"Sir?" asked the guard. "Your order to open fire."

Pennington watched as the Elf pressed his forehead against the young girl's. How touching. "No." He took a drag from his cigar, briefly mulling over his new plan. "Take him."

The guard frowned and then tapped the com unit on his ear. "We have new orders. Apprehend the Elf. Repeat, apprehend the Elf."

"Are you shitting me?" came a reply.

"You heard me. Do it quickly and without incident."

Pennington couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. Things were starting to look up.

The guards surrounding the arena lowered their night-vision goggles over their eyes, just as the lights went out, flooding the stadium in total darkness.

Even in the darkness Legolas could clearly see what was happening. He watched the guards moving toward the edge of the arena. Their weapons were raised and pointed directly at the center. At him and Anwar. He instinctly pushed Anwar to the ground. She began to wail in fear as he covered her with his body to shield her from the inevitable blaster fire.

Then a sound to his right drew his attention. One of the guards emerged from within the maze. But this guard was not holding a blaster. He held a weapon Legolas was oddly familiar with, although not first-hand. The guard fired it.

Legolas fought the gun's affects…but the paralyzing stasis charge took control of him. He could no longer move. Game over.
(Legolas's POV)

I had been unable to move, unable to do anything as they took me. I was helpless to aid Anwar as a guard grabbed her. She fought valiantly against him, screaming for me to be released. She thought not for her own safety, but for mine. I desperately wanted to tell her to be still, not to fight her captors. I feared they would strike her to keep her silent.

They took us below ground and tossed me into a cage. Even though I was unable to move, the pain remained constant, both from my new injuries and the ache that continued to threaten my life. To have even a single moment without the pain would have been a great luxury.

"Ada! Ada!" screamed Anwar as the guard dragged her struggling form away from my sight.

The desperation in her voice stung my heart and tears formed in my eyes. I wanted to hold her and rid her of her fear. My eyes darted toward the bars of the cage. I recognized the material they were made of. Titanium. Everything was titanium. Burning the bars with my own blood would not be an option. I had lost the chance to fulfill what I had set out to do. But I still lived. The guards had not killed me. Pennington obviously found a use for me. And with that in mind, I would find a second chance.

Anwar's cries continued, until the guard finally silenced her with a slap.

I gritted my teeth in anger, keeping the image of the guard's face in my mind. I vowed that he would not live to see another year pass. With the sound of Anwar's silent sobs, everything around me went black.

I was unsure how much time had passed before I slowly regained consciousness and movement. It was an extremely slow process. But when I was finally able to roll off my back onto my hands and knees, I crawled to the bars and glanced up and down the walkway. It was lined with cages similar to the one I was in. Each cage contained an alien.

Directly across from me, the sightless creature sensed my movement and hissed in my direction, exuding pure malice.

I extended my senses in every direction, searching for Anwar. She was close, the next cage on my left, on the opposite side. "Anwar?"

Her face immediately appeared on the other side of the bars. "Ada…"

I visually inspected her for any sign of injury. There was a cut on her swollen lip where the guard had struck her. I moved to the left side of my cage and reached my arm through the bars. She reached an arm through her bars and struggled to touch my fingers. Enduring the pain of my mangled shoulder scrapping against the cold bar, I extended my arm further until our fingers finally touched. Tears slid down Anwar's pale cheeks. I fought to remain strong before her, despite the desire I felt to break down in uncontrollable sobs over that fact that she had to suffer. "Have no fear, penneth, I will get us out of here." (little one)

"Ada, where have you been?" cried Anwar as she ran into my arms. She was five at the time.

"I was reading in the library," I replied as I picked her up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Can you read me a story?"

"Of course. What kind of story would you like me to read you? Something funny, something scary?"

She gave me a frown. "I do not want something scary. I will be afraid."

I hugged her. "Nay, penneth, you need never be afraid. I will always be around to protect you."

Footsteps echoed along the walkway, drawing me away from the memory. But even before the sound, I had caught the scent of the foul-smelling guard who had grabbed Anwar. I retracted my arm and Anwar did the same.

The guard appeared and casually turned in my direction as he slowly walked passed my cage to stop in front of Anwar's. "Lovely young thing, isn't she?"

I stood up and made every attempt to control my anger, knowing that this man was trying to provoke me.

"You think she tastes as sweet as she looks?"

I gripped the bars tightly, feeling the pain in my knuckles. "I see you do not value your life much."

The guard stepped closer toward my cage, his grin fading. "Is that a threat, Elf?" He drew his stun gun and aimed it at my head.

I bared my teeth at him, a hidden instinct I was unfamiliar with. "Tis no threat. I will not hesitate to kill you."

"You have some beef with me?"

I decided to provoke him in turn. "You find pleasure in inflicting pain to a child. And your desire to do more. You are a waste of human flesh."

The guard holstered his stun gun and pointed a finger at me. His attempt to instill fear in me had no effect and he was clearly enraged by it. "All I need to five minutes with you, pal and I'll rip your goddamned ears off."

I glared unafraid. "All I need is five seconds and I will rip out your throat."

The guard took a step forward, locking eyes with me.

I could sense his internal battle. He hated that he feared me.

"That's enough, Poole." The voice echoed at the end of the walkway. Then footsteps followed.

I remained glaring at the man named Poole. If indeed I had the opportunity, he would feel my nails tearing out his throat. Maybe soon.

Another man came into my line of sight. When he stopped in front of my cage, I turned my eyes toward him. There was no doubt in my mind as to his identity. "Do you make a habit of employing pedophiles? He has designs on my young daughter."

Pennington removed the smoking cigar from his mouth. "He's a sick man." Then he turned to Poole. "You're a sick man, Poole. Get out of my sight."

Poole was enraged as he continued to glare at me. "We're not through, you and I. I'll be seeing you again."

"I look forward to it," I replied, not in the least intimidated by his threat.

Pennington motioned with an abrupt tilt of his head. Poole walked away, his quickened footsteps disappearing down the walkway. Only when the man was gone did Pennington turn back to me. "I gotta hand it to you, Mr Greenleaf. You really impressed me out there."

"I would have made shorter work of it had I not been distracted."

He briefly turned in the direction of Anwar's cage. "Oh, right. You had someone else to save besides your own hide."

"You endangered her life. Had I not been here, she would have been slaughtered."

Pennington gave an indifferent shrug. "I have no control over the people my men bring back here to battle the aliens."

"She could not have fought one of them, much less two."

He shrugged again. "Yeah, but it makes for a real good crowd pleaser."

"You have me now, so let her go."

Pennington raised the cigar to his lips and dragged on it before releasing the smoke in my direction. "You came here to kill me, didn't you?"

"I would have succeeded."

"But you would have immediately been killed by my men."

"A small price to pay."

Pennington chuckled. "You think you can come here, knock out some of my men and get close enough to take me out?"

"That was the plan."

"You've got some enormous balls, my friend." Pennington pulled something out of his pocket and held it up. A recording device. He pressed a button on the side.

"And you say you know who heads the Company?" asked a female voice.

"His name is Wayne Pennington," replied my voice from the device. "He is responsible for numerous plots to utilize humans in alien research. I am a product of such experimentation."

The female voice cleared her throat. "Really? In what way?"

"Tis no longer of any consequence what they physically did to me, only that they came to my homeworld, killed my friends and stole my life."

"Can't something be done to undo what was done to you?"

"Nothing can be done. But I will seek retribution."

"From Wayne Pennington?"

"Personally."

Pennington pressed the button to stop the device. "You've caused me a lot of grief because of that interview. It aired on the most popular channel on the telemonitor."

My expression remained unchanged. "The human race needs to know what kind of man you are."

"You forget that I rule the biggest conglomeration in the United Systems. Without me there wouldn't be anymore atmosphere processors to colonize new planets."

"Without you there would be someone else in charge."

"You think it's easy being in charge?"

"Tis not an easy thing for you to have morals. I can clearly see that."

"You don't have a clue what you're talking about. You're a primitive forced into a world of technology. And from what I heard, you should question your own morality. How many times have you killed just for the thrill of it?"

"Stop comparing yourself to me. I thrill in killing those that threaten my loved ones or my home. You do it to increase the size of your pockets."

Pennington grew silent and took another puff of his cigar. He placed the recording device away. Then he retrieved something else from his other pocket. A leather strap.

I recognized it as the collars worn by the aliens and knew they were used to control them into submission.

"I have a proposition for you. Your performance out there was a huge success. You're going to continue fighting my aliens every weekend."

"I have no intention of performing for your amusement or anyone else's."

Pennington tossed the collar through the bars and it landed at my feet. "Put that on."

"You take me for a fool. I will not be as submissive as you have managed to render the aliens in these cages."

"Put it on or I'll stun you and put it on you myself. Either way, that collar's going on you."

If I did as he asked then I would be forced to fight aliens to the delight of a crowd. Would there be an opportunity for an escape? I would take the chance. "I will fight your aliens, but you must release Anwar. She cannot be a part of this."

Pennington grinned. He took a long drag of his cigar and casually blew the smoke in my face. "I call the shots."

"She is just a child. I cannot keep fighting them and protect her at the same time."

"Now that's the real challenge, isn't it."

I needed Anwar to be safely away from the danger of this place. I needed her to be home with my father. "I will do what you want. I will fight multiple aliens, five at a time. I will perform in whatever manner you desire. But you must let my daughter go."

"She's my safety net to keep you under control. You might decide to get it into your fragmented mind to try to escape."

I frowned him. "I beg of you…please."

"Tell you what I'll do. I'll get her out of that cage, introduce her to a nice lady back home and she'll be well-taken care of."

"For how long?"

"For as long as you're alive. Hell, if you get yourself killed, what's the fun of that?"

It was no guarantee that Anwar would be well-cared for, but at least she would not be in the arena with me when I was forced to fight the aliens. I bent down to retrieve the collar on the floor. Then I slowly slipped it around my neck and slid one end into the magnetic clasp. The sound of a click told me the collar was secure.

Pennington nodded with a smile. "That's a good boy."

I swallowed the retort lingering on my lips, wanting terribly to tell him to suck on an alpha drone's mating appendage.

Pennington waved his hand to someone at the end of the walkway. Two guards quickly appeared. "Take the girl to my ship. She's going home with me."

One of the guards opened the cage door while the other went in to grab Anwar. She pulled away from the guard's grasp and ran to the bars of my cage.

I knelt on the floor and accepted her embrace through the bars.

"Do not let them take me away from you, ada, please. I do not want to go."

I searched my mind for the words in Elven, not wanting Pennington to know what I said to her. "Bad an ti a ú-car curu presto na lin. Im gwesto rado lin a mín innas bad bar go." (Go with them and do not cause trouble for yourself. I promise I will find you and we will go home together.)

Anwar clung desperately to me, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck as she began to weep. "Nay, ada. Im iest dar na le!" (I want to stay with you)

I closed my eyes and bit my lower lip to keep from revealing my own emotion before Pennington and his men. I did not want to part from her, but her safety was important to me. "Im tol lin." I gently removed her arms from around my neck and placed my hands on her face. "Im meleth lin." I kissed both of her cheeks and then her forehead. (I will come for you. I love you.)

Anwar continued to weep as both guards pulled her away from me.

I stood up as they took her away. "Im tol lin!" (I will come for you)

Her cries echoed in the narrow walkway and the aliens in the cages began hissing and screeching in unison.

My eyes filled with involuntary tears. I turned to Pennington and found him watching me. "If anything happens to her…" I let my statement trail off, knowing he would understand the meaning.

After a moment of silent eye contact, Pennington placed the cigar in his mouth and casually walked away.

The rage I had tried to control spilled from me the moment he was gone. I let out an angered cry and repeatedly drove my fist against the nearest wall, leaving a number of dents in the titanium. For once I welcomed the pain. I needed it to keep my mind from wandering to my daughter.

Pennington was going to die. I was going to kill him. I was going to kill all of them...

 

Chapter 8 – So Dreamy​

Ironbar Colony on Midland 6

Word spread quickly throughout the nearby colonies. People came in droves to Midland 6 to witness the extraordinary abilities of an Elf against aliens. Until then no one even knew Elves existed. Some recognized him as the same one who had appeared in an interview on the telemonitor, the one that had discredited Wayne Pennington and identified him as being the man in charge of the Company. Yet no one knew that Pennington was also the man behind the ever popular events held at Hazard Arena.

For three weekends in a row, Legolas was forced to oblige Pennington's vision. Each night the stadium would fill to capacity. He endured the cheers of the crowd and their leering curiosity about him. He felt like an animal on display, performing for everyone's amusement at the expense of his own life. First he fought four aliens, then it was five and then six. With each battle he received more injuries and tolerated the pain and suffering. His only solace was that Anwar was not in any immediate danger. Never once did he lose faith in that he would eventually be free to rescue her.

Legolas bided his time between fighting events, pacing in his cage with an unbridled rage. He was not used to long days of inactivity that left him with nothing but his thoughts. He was so bored to the point that he began to actually anticipate the fight. He wanted to be out there, killing aliens. He wanted them dead. And at the same time he wanted to end the life of the man behind all of this.

Soon…
Onboard the Rebel Orbiting Midland 6
(Ariedel's POV)

"There's no way he's doing this of his own free will," I said, shaking my head. "I know him. He wouldn't be looking for this kind of attention."

"If that's the case then what about that interview?" asked Bishop. "Why go public with Pennington's identity?"

Aragorn jumped in. "Tis obvious he communicates publicly to dishonor the man."

Freak nodded. "Lego's got it in his head to damage the guy's reputation. Come on, you heard what he said on that interview. He practically pointed out that Pennington had a hand in some pretty sick experiments involving live human beings. Everybody heard what he said."

"Not everyone's going to believe what was said in the interview," added Zion.

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Freak as he rubbed his stubbled chin. "Lego's got himself a fan club based on the advertisements of the events held in the arena down there. Pretty soon he'll have groupies camping outside the facility."

I gave Freak a disgusted look, not wanting to imagine the women that would no doubt do anything just to get close to Legolas. "So are we going down there or what?"

"When's the next show, Bishop?" asked Freak.

Bishop checked something on the computer he sat in front of. "In thirty-six hours."

"Great. That gives us enough time to study the schematics."

"Freak, I wanna go down there today," I said with conviction.

Freak gave me a look. "What for?"

"I need to see him."

"Princess, I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well, first of all, I don't think you're gonna be able to just walk right in there and ask them you wanna talk to the alien-fighting Elf."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

"I don't think so."

"I'll talk to Pennington."

Freak shook his head.

"You owe it to me, Freak! You promised me you wouldn't let anything happen to him and you let him slip passed you. And now look where he is." I swallowed hard, immediately wanting to take back the bitter words.

Freak frowned at me before he stood up and walked out of the bridge.

I glanced at the others in the room. They were all staring at me like I had lost my mind. All except Aragorn. He had known Legolas all of his life. I didn't doubt the man's love for my Elf. If anyone understood my frustration and sympathized with me, the king of Gondor certainly did. Several minutes passed before I decided to go after Freak.

I found him standing in the main corridor, staring out the observation window. He didn't say anything as I walked up behind him and leaned my forehead against his back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. None of this is your fault."

"Forget it," he replied with a shrug.

"God, I just want things to go back to the way they were. Everything was so perfect."

Freak turned around and hugged me. "I know, Princess. I know. And things'll go back to the way they were real soon. We just have a few monumental hurdles to get over."

I leaned my face against his chest. "I need to see him, Freak. Please. If I don't see him, I'm not going to be able to live with myself. I have to know he still loves me and the kids."

He sighed heavily. "Okay. I'll take you down there. But if they refuse your request to see him, I don't wanna stir anything up or we'll lose our chance to get Lego out of there…if in fact he's there against his will."
Ironbar Colony – Hazard Arena

Freak and Ariedel walked to the front entrance of the Hazard Arena facility. Standing at the doors were two guards.

"We're closed," the guard on the left said in a bored manner. "Come back tomorrow night."

"Hi," Ariedel said with a flirtatious smile. "I've come to see the Elf."

The guard was used to the flirting females fans. He had been turning them away for the last two weeks. "You'll see him tomorrow night."

"No, you don't understand. I really need to talk to him today."

He laughed. "Right. You and about ten thousand other women."

Ariedel frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The guard turned to his partner with a knowing smile. "Oh, can we see the Elf," he mimicked in an exaggerated female voice. "Can we get a hug from him? Can we get a kiss? Oh, he's so dreamy." His expression hardened when he turned back to Ariedel. "Take off, girlie, before I sic an alien on you."

Freak started to move forward. "Hey, chill out, shit for brains."

The guard placed a hand over the handle of his blaster.

Ariedel held Freak back and turned to the guard. "I think you need to let Wayne Pennington know I'm here. I'm sure he'd be extremely disappointed to know that you wouldn't let me in."

"And who exactly are you, lady?"

"Crystal Schuyler. Knowing Pennington, I'm sure he's fully aware of who I am."

The other guard tapped his com. "Yeah, there's a Crystal Schuyler looking to talk to the Elf." He listened to the quick response and then turned to his partner. "Let her in."

Ariedel smiled and walked passed the guards. But they stopped Freak from following. She paused at the door and turned to him. "I'll be fine. Just wait for me out here."
Ariedel's (POV)

A woman behind a desk told me Pennington would join me shortly. So I waited in the large foyer of the main facility. As I waited I thought about the man in question.

Pennington was the richest man in the United Systems. He was known to hold elaborate parties for his rich friends and squandered his money in every possible way. It included illegal activities that could never be proven. Some thought him to be an amazing individual, while others thought he was a self-centered, maniacal mobster. I thought the latter. And now that I knew he was also holding the highest seat in the Company, it made me despise him even more. He was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people used in alien experiments commissioned by the Company. The experiments were unethical, but he obviously didn't give a rat's ass.

Five minutes later, the man came down an escalator. I studied him in his expensive suit down to his high-polished shoes. The slight bulge under his right armpit led me to believe he was packing some heat and probably had no qualms about using it.

"Miss Schuyler. Welcome to Hazard Arena." He held out his hand to me as he approached.

I ignored the hand and gave him a look that I hoped would tell him I wasn't the least bit intimidated by him. "Where is he?" I decided to just get right to the point.

"Where is who?" he asked, lowering his hand.

"You know damned well who I'm talking about. I know Legolas is somewhere in this facility. I want to see him and I mean right this minute."

Pennington folded his hands together in front of him and smiled. "Or what?"

"If you think you have troubles now because of Legolas's interview, Mr Pennington, you haven't seen me in action."

"Am I supposed to be concerned? Because to be honest, I'm really not."

I wanted to slap the smirk right off his face. "Legolas was on the right track when he thought to discredit you. I've got friends in high places that can really do considerable damage to your precious reputation, fragile as it is at this time."

His smirk lost a bit of its humor. "You really don't have a clue, do you? I mean, I really can't figure out what you people think this is." His expression turned angry. "First that goddamned experiment gone wrong decides he's going to assassinate me. Now I've got you coming around, making empty threats. You all think I'm some fucking idiot?"

I decided to try another tactic, in case the direct approach didn't work. "Okay, look. I just need to talk to him. We had this huge fight and he took off and I just need to know if he's divorcing me. Because if he is then I want custody of the kids and I want the horses and the house. And then I'm throwing out all of his clothes and his hairbrushes."

Pennington stared at me for a moment before he suddenly started laughing. "You know, I really gotta give you credit for trying. And because you've made me laugh, I'm going to let you talk to him."

I pretended to be grateful. "That's great. I really appreciate it. Now I'll be able to hire a lawyer and all." Judging by the smile on Pennington's face, I knew he wasn't buying any of it. But at least he was going to let me talk to Legolas.

We went up the escalator and across a windowed walkway to another building. There we took an elevator that contained a security device requiring a full hand and voice scan. Plus Pennington punched in a code, blocking the keypad with his body so I couldn't see what he entered. The elevator dropped six levels and opened up into a dark room.

As I followed Pennington, I glanced around at the objects in the room. Stacks and stacks of partial walls and some props, almost like what one would find in the basement of a live theater. In the center was a platform with a winch. It didn't take me long to figure out that the platform was used to raise something or someone up into the arena. Maybe that's how they got the aliens up there.

The sound and smell of aliens confronted me as we approached an archway at the other end of the room. Through it was a wide walkway lined with cages on both sides. I glanced left and right, seeing the cages were occupied by aliens, sometimes two in one cage. There was no natural light in the long chamber, only what came from the occasional ceiling lamp.

My stomach tightened in anguish, hoping that Legolas wasn't also kept in these conditions. I didn't care about the aliens, I just couldn't bear the thought of my Elf breathing in the stale, retched, alien air and not getting to see the sun.

When Pennington stopped in front of a cage, I knew my worst fear was true. I glanced into the cage…Legolas. "You have no right to keep him caged up like this," I said to Pennington.

"And who's going to stop me?" he replied.

I turned to the cage where Legolas was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, his eyes focused on the sawdust at his feet. He didn't acknowledge my presence, even after I placed my hands on the bars to look directly at him. Was he drugged? Or worse, was his mind deteriorating even further that he didn't recognize me at all again? "Can I just…I just need a few minutes with him."

"Fine." He made no attempt to leave.

"Alone."

Pennington sighed heavily. "You have five minutes. Don't even think about trying to get him out of here. All the exits are heavily guarded. And that collar around his neck will blow his head off if he tries to leave the facility."

"That's overkill, don't you think?"

"Not with him, it isn't." He turned and walked away. "Five minutes," he called back to me.

I turned back to the cage and crouched down directly in front of the bars. "Legolas?" When he continued to ignore me, I wasn't sure what to do. "Why are you doing this? Why are you letting this asshole get the best of you?"

There was a flicker of movement in his brows. They narrowed further, but he still didn't look up at me.

"I've come to take you home."

"You should not have come here."

I was elated that he spoke anything at all. "Are you still mad at me?"

He was silent for another minute before he raised his eyes toward me. "I am not angry with you."

"Why are you even here? How did they catch you?"

"I came here to kill Wayne Pennington. I failed and now I must perform for him because he holds something of value to me."

"Nothing can be so important that you have to perform like a trained dog."

His brows narrowed again. "You are wrong."

"Seriously, what is so important?"

He shook his head. "I cannot tell you."

"Why not?"

"Tis best you do not know."

I decided not to press him. He didn't sound very stable. In fact, he looked deeply disturbed. But I wanted to tell him everything. I wanted to tell him what the Valar told me, that he could be restored in the Halls of Mandos. But for that to happen I needed to bring him back to Arda. "Legolas, I'm sorry about what happened in Valinor."

"I know you are."

"Why did you leave?"

He looked down and kicked at the sawdust. "I needed to see for myself how grave the situation is with the aliens and I needed to find a way to stop the madness of a man who thinks the lives of his own race are insignificant."

"Someone else can deal with Pennington."

"Nay, I will deal with him."

"The rest of the universe is not your responsibility, Legolas. It was bad enough you fought for the lives in Arda. You suffered enough for it. This is not your fight."

Legolas shook his head. "Tis not safe for you here, Ariedel. You must leave here immediately."

"We're coming back for you tomorrow night."

"You need not risk your life for me."

I wanted to reach through the bars and grab him by the front of his jumpsuit, but he hadn't moved from the floor. "No, we're getting you out of here."

"I am dying anyway. There is nothing you can do for me."

"I'm not leaving without you," I said as my eyes began to water. He knew his time was limited and it killed me to know that. "I love you."

"You love only the memory of me. I am not the same."

"That's not true…the Elf I'm looking at is the one I fell in love with years ago and will continue to love forever. I don't care what they did to you."

Legolas looked away and I knew I was getting through to him. He was effected by my words.

"I miss you and I need you home with me and our children."

He finally stood up and came to crouch in front of me on the other side of the bars. "Please…you must go now."

I needed to touch him to make sure he was real and not a figment of my imagination. I reached through the bars and ran my hands over the front of his jumpsuit. My tears were flowing freely now. "I can't go." I tilted my head to look into his eyes. "I'm afraid I won't ever see you again."

After a moment of silence, Legolas reached up and placed his hand on my face, his thumb brushing across my cheek to wipe away the tears. "I remember us," he whispered.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. He remembered. I leaned into his hand and studied his face. His appearance was slightly haggard with a chunk of hair missing on the left side of his head, as if it had been torn from him. His eyes were haunted, still holding that coldness I witnessed in Valinor. But despite it all, I wanted to pull him toward me. I wanted to kiss him and reassure him that everything would be well again. No matter what the circumstance, he still had that powerful lure over me, making me desperately want to feel his touch.

"Hey," came a voice from down the walkway, followed by Pennington's footsteps. "I don't recall this being a conjugal visit."

Ignoring Pennington, I kissed my fingertips. Then I reached my hand through the bars to press my fingertips against his lips. "Im innas tira le estent." I stood up and turned to Pennington. "That's it. I'm done." (I will see you soon)
(Legolas's POV)

I moved closer to the bars and watched Ariedel depart with Pennington down the walkway. Then I reached up to feel my lips where she had touched me with her fingertips. The realization that she was making an attempt to reconcile with me was enough to frustrate me even further. It had been easier thinking I disgusted her. Now I was concerned for her safety as well as Anwar's.

Frustration…aggravation…boredom…loneliness…

Ariedel still loved and desired me. I felt it consuming her. The thought of my body pressed against her soft curves threatened to undo me.

I stared at the three walls and the bars surrounding my cage. The walls were full of dents where I had struck my fist in anger. I lifted my hand to look at my knuckles. They were no longer bruised. I healed faster than ever. But it was a contradiction to the ailment coursing through my veins, burning my bones and my joints. Such a slow torture. I should have been dead. Yet I lived on in insufferable pain.

Even before Ariedel had appeared, I knew she was near. I could feel her. Knowing that she would question me concerning my capture, I decided in advance to not inform her of Anwar. I feared Ariedel would do something rash or that she would blame me for everything.

If I had not left Arda…if I had not gone after Pennington…Anwar would not have been taken from our home. My little Elfling would not be living in fear. It was my fault. All of it was my fault.

I needed to make it right. I needed my daughter to be safe at home. And then I would go to my family and friends to live out the rest of my days.

…I did not want to die alone.
Hazard Arena
(Ariedel's POV)

Zion, Lipinski, Sanchez and Takashi took Freak's cue and dispersed themselves among the crowd moving into the stadium. I stayed close to Freak and Aragorn. Freak had been right about security. The size of the crowd forced the guards to search random people and not everyone that entered the gates. This helped our cause. I had a blaster in my belt, under my shirt. I also had various sized knives stashed away in other places. Freak and the others also had weapons hidden on them.

The plan seemed a lot simpler on paper. But now that we were there, just the sheer size of the crowd was going to make it difficult to execute the line of attack. My fear was that Pennington was expecting it. When I had left Legolas the day before, in order to steer Pennington in the wrong direction, I tried to convince him that Legolas wanted this. He wanted to fight and he would die fighting. Pennington just looked at me as if he knew something I didn't. What could he possibly be holding over Legolas's head?

I watched Aragorn's reaction to the thousands of people pushing their way through to find their seats. Freak was busy trying to spot the stadium's security guards. They needed to know exactly where the trouble spots were going to be.

A few minutes later we took some seats in the second row. All around me were people who thought they knew my Elf. Some held cardboard banners with his picture on them, with captions that made no sense to me. How could they be excited to watch him risk his life for their entertainment? In front of us were four young women, maybe in their twenties. I had to sit there and listen to them make solicitous remarks about what they would do to Legolas if they had the chance to get near him. I so wanted to take all four of their heads and slam them together, but Freak purposely put an arm around me to prevent it from happening. I wasn't worried that Legolas would be unfaithful to me because I trusted him undeniably. I just hated that other women desired him. The modern world was not like Middle-Earth where people respected the sanctity of relationships.

I preoccupied myself by glancing around to find where the others were seated. We were all in strategic positions throughout the stadium. If things suddenly went bad, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.
Legolas stood in front of the bars of his cage. He knew it was time. Things were not going to go as Pennington planned on this night. Not if Legolas could help it. He had no intention of returning to this cage.

Some strange coincidence brought Poole to the cage. "Okay, rock star," he said as he opened the cage door. "Get out."

Legolas wanted to smile, but he kept it to himself as he casually stepped out and walked ahead of Poole. He had been through this routine on two other occasions, so he knew what to expect at any given moment. But this time it was Poole behind him as he continued down the walkway.

"You're gonna get hurt tonight, Elf. We're letting ten aliens lose on your ass."

On the other two occasions he had fought in the arena besides the first time with Anwar, cages had been set up along the wall of the arena and the aliens were turned loose two at a time. With ten to fight, it was going to be a long battle.

"Maybe I'll finally get that chance to see just how good a little Elf girl tastes."

Legolas shifted slightly to glance over his shoulder at Poole. He bared his teeth at the man.

Poole held up the device that triggered the electric current into the collar around Legolas's neck. "Bare your teeth at me again and I'll shoot you with a thousand volts."

Legolas faced forward again as he passed the threshold into the chamber below the arena floor. His long knives rested on a crate beside the moving platform up ahead. They were the only weapons he was allowed to use against the aliens.

"With you out of the way, I'm going to make sure she gets what I know she wants," Poole continued.

Legolas narrowed his eyes, his rage overflowing at the manner Poole spoke of his little girl.

"Yeah," continued Poole. "I bet she's got a tight little pussy."

Legolas couldn't bear to hear anymore and his anger exploded. He whirled on Poole who pressed the button on the device. Legolas received a massive jolt of electricity, but not before he landed the heel of his hand into Poole's nose, caving it into his face. Poole was dead before the device fell out of his hands. The electrical current stopped and Legolas dropped to his knees momentarily. He grabbed the device and looked it over before figuring out how it worked. He made a couple adjustments and the collar was deactivated. He was about to take it off and then thought better. If any of the guards topside noticed he didn't have it on, they would get suspicious.

Legolas stood up and dragged Poole's body behind some crates and spit on him for good measure. Then he went back and kicked sawdust to cover the blood Poole had left behind. He retrieved his knives and then hopped up on the moving platform to wait for the moment in which he needed to rise into the arena.

The crowd started cheering as several spotlights came on. The lights moved to the center of the arena where a band started playing.

The lead singer stepped forward and began to sing. "We've walked together down this winding road, in search of something true. Together we grew. But now our journey has come to an end and it's on to something new. For me and you. So good-bye my friend, until we meet again, some other day. I know so much will change. But looking back I can say I wouldn't change a day, I hope you can say the same."

Just then a panel slid open and Legolas rose out of the ground. The crowd immediately jumped to their feet and erupted in cheers at his appearance. The music picked up the beat at that moment.

"So many memories we've got to make of the challenges we met. I'll never forget. Cuz those lessons made us who we are today, now we're taking the next step. Without a regret. No regret. So good-bye my friend, until we meet again, some other day. I know so much will change. But looking back I can say I wouldn't change a day. I hope you can say, I hope you can say the same."

Ariedel watched Legolas standing there, unmoving. He wore a black jumpsuit she recognized as titanium. From the looks of it, they must have allowed him to wash because his hair was unmated and clean. He stood with his legs slightly apart, his knives held down and crossed in front of him. But what drew her attention was his expression. His brows were narrowed, his gaze was lowered and his long hair was fully unbraided and hanging around his face. She could feel what he was feeling. Fury, humility, regret, sorrow…and an unbridled excitement for the kill. What she didn't feel from him was fear. "He's not afraid, Freak," she said, tilting toward her friend. "I swear to God, I think he really does want this. He wants to be out there."

"Hold on to you. Hold on to you. Until I get to the end. I would do it again, do it again. Hold on to you. Hold on to you. Until I get to the end. I would do it again, do it again."

Freak observed the reaction of the crowd, they continued to cheer the Elf like he was some rock star.

The women in front of Ariedel were waving their arms and calling out his name, trying to get his attention. She waited for him to react, but he gave no indication that he heard anything at all.

"Goodbye my friend, until we meet again, some other day. I know so much will change. But looking back I can say I wouldn't change a day. I hope you can say. I hope you can say."

Legolas could hear the crowd calling his name. Yet he purposely ignored everything and everyone…except Ariedel. He concentrated on her presence and simply breathing the air that surrounded him. Knowing she would not be fool enough to come alone, he was heartened to think Aragorn, Freak and his entire crew were there as well.

"That you understand, the only life we have, is here and now. Not up in the clouds. With every breath we can say, it is a brand new day. I know I can say. I know I can say. I know I can say the same."

When the song came to an end, the four members of the band immediately dropped their instruments and ran toward an open panel on the wall of the arena. They reached it just before two aliens were released from their cages. A set of gnashing teeth barely missed a foot before the panel slid shut.

Ariedel exchanged a glance with Freak. "What the hell was that all about?" Then she realized the audience was actually laughing. They thought it was funny that one of the guys in the band nearly got his foot torn off and they continued to laugh as one of the aliens charged the drums and got tangled up in them.

Legolas waited for the two aliens to get their fill of curiosity over the band's instruments. He stepped off the mobile platform and looked toward the skybox. He knew Pennington was in there watching him. If he had any chance of rescuing Anwar, Legolas knew he would have to time things accurately or Pennington would get suspicious.

He twirled the knives in his hands, which drew a delighted cheer from the crowd. It wasn't that he was showing off or looking for any praise, he was merely playing to the crowd the way Pennington liked it. They continued to shout admirations and lusty endearments that might have caused him to blush in his younger years.

Alien One released the electric guitar it had been tearing apart and charged Legolas.

The battle had begun.

 

Chapter 9 – Invincible​

Ironbar Colony - Hazard Arena

Legolas waited for the first alien to reach him and he slashed out with his left knife to cut across its skeletal midsection. The alien immediately backed off. Legolas pivoted to his right as the second alien launched itself at him from ten meters away. He ducked at the last second and dodged the alien's raking claws.

The crowd roared at the near miss.

Ariedel clutched at Freak's arm with both hands and was squeezing him so hard, he yanked his arm out of her death grip. She gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry."

Freak tapped his com. "Talk to me, Zee." He listened to the reply and nodded with a smile. "I'll be right there." He turned to Ariedel. "Stay here with Aragorn. I'll be back."

Both aliens came after Legolas and he swiped his knives at them. A tail came at him and he turned his face away to avoid it. When it came at him again, he slammed his foot down on it and drove his knife threw it, slicing it off high enough to send the alien screeching in agony. Still using his other knife to ward off the claws of the second alien, Legolas reached to grab the severed tail and swung it at the alien's head to knock it aside. The alien was momentarily caught off guard with a furious hiss.

Behind him Legolas heard the doors of two more cages opening. The crowd immediately reacted.

Ariedel wanted to scream out to him, but she knew her voice would be lost among the voices of the crowd around her. Besides, he didn't need her distracting him.

Legolas anticipated the movements of the other two aliens, knowing they would leap. He bolted to the right, which drew the movement of the alien in front of him. The alien spun around, its tail swinging high and inadvertently slamming into the side of the third alien in mid-air, who in turn crashed into the fourth leaping alien.

The crowd cheered their approval of Legolas's actions. He backed away several steps and waited for the alien scuffle to end.

Alien Two rushed forward on all fours, jaws parted in a steam-engine screech. Legolas slashed at its face with his right knife as he stumbled backward and followed with a slam of his elbow, caving the alien's head like a watermelon.

The crowd reacted with a howl of delighted revulsion. Ariedel was biting her fingernails. She wanted to cover her eyes, but she couldn't look away.

Legolas turned to the remaining three aliens, standing side by side a short distance away. He bared his teeth and raised his knives. "Come on!"

Beside Ariedel, Aragorn intensely watched his friend fight the beasts with a fury he had never seen before. Having seen Legolas battle Orcs and Uruk-hai or the many other creatures that had threatened Middle-Earth, he had never seen such relentless rage emanating from the Elf. The rage was a fright for him to behold, only knowing Legolas as pure of heart. This was not the Elf he remembered.

When the aliens refused to attack him, Legolas rushed forward and attacked them instead. At that very moment two more aliens were released from their cages. Legolas decided to deal with Alien One, with the severed tail. He swung his right knife across its face, whirled completely around and finished it off with his left knife. Alien Three tried to sink its claws into his thigh, but Legolas landed his knife through its arm and finished by slamming his other knife down into its head all the way down to its chin. He withdrew the knife and kicked the dead creature aside.

Backpedaling several feet, Legolas kept his eye on the two newly released aliens. Alien Four had taken to high ground, leaping on top of a cage with a hiss. Legolas knew what would come next. Two more aliens were released. Three were dead, so that left five out and two more still in cages.

Alien Five and Six attacked at the same time, one from in front and the other from behind. While slashing at Alien Five, Alien Six latched on to Legolas's right arm and yanked, nearly pulling it out of its socket. Legolas used the momentum and swung his feet in the air, catching Alien Five in the jaw with his foot. The alien's jaw ripped away from its face and the crowd reacted with another painful groan as the alien dropped dead to the ground. When Legolas landed back on his feet, Alien Six still had a hold of him. He flipped the knife in his other hand so the blade was facing down and then he plunged it over his shoulder to imbed into the alien's forehead. Just for good measure, he pulled his knife out and slashed at the hand holding him. Taking a step away, Legolas yanked the severed hand from his arm and tossed it aside.

Freak entered a stairwell connected to the arena facility. Standing near the steps was Zion and a young woman. "Who do we have here, Zee?"

"Someone volunteering to help us," replied Zion.

"What's your name?" Freak asked the girl.

"Ellie. I'm in charge of security at Hazard Arena."

"You knew we were coming?"

"Pennington informed me the Elf's wife might make an attempt to free him tonight. I found your man snooping around the elevator."

Freak gave Zion a reprimanding look before turning back to Ellie. "Convince me why I should believe you're going to help us."

"I've dedicated three years of my life to get to this position so I can fuck up the bastard. I have a score to settle with Pennington. My sister worked in the Company labs. There was a breakthrough in her research. Next thing I know she disappeared and the credit went to somebody else."

"How do you know Pennington was responsible for her disappearance?"

"There isn't anything the Company does without Pennington's approval. I know he had her killed."

Freak studied the girl's face for a moment. He wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, but if she was in fact in charge of security, then she would know the move of every guard in the place. "So how're you going to help us?"

"You came to free the Elf. I can make sure you succeed."

Legolas paced back and forth near the cage where Alien Four crouched on the roof, while the other two aliens cautiously moving around behind him.

Ariedel placed a hand on the handle of the blaster hidden in the front of her pants. She badly wanted to draw it and kill the remaining five aliens before any of them got the chance to claim Legolas's life.

Aragorn caught the movement. "Nay, Ariedel. Do not interfere. You will draw attention to yourself."

She growled in frustration. "This is driving me crazy. I can't take it anymore."

Legolas engaged Alien Seven when it sprang on him. Alien Four decided to spring from the top of the cage right at that moment and Legolas didn't act fast enough as the alien landed on his back, bringing him down, face first. Alien Four raked deadly claws down the length of the Elf's back, tearing both titanium suit and the flesh beneath.

The crowd roared in anger and both Ariedel and Aragorn jumped on their feet with everyone else.

Legolas rolled onto his burning back and used both knives on the alien's skeletal calves. Acid blood showered over him. Alien Seven grabbed Legolas by the hair and yanked, another handful of it coming loose as Legolas tore away from the grasp and jumped to his feet. He finished off Alien Four with a slash to its throat and then spun to first slam the handle of his right knife into Alien Seven's teeth, shattering three of them. Then he followed with a zigzag carving on its elongated head. Alien Seven shook its head in pain and rage, backing away from the lethal knives.

The crowd cheered with every incredible move the Elf made. They cheered again as he slammed a knee into the jaw of the alien, dislocating it. Then he slashed its throat with a furious cry before moving away to confront the remaining three aliens. Everyone gave a collective sigh and regained their seats for the moment of reprieve.

In the skybox, Wayne Pennington sat in his usual chair, smoking his usual brand of cigar. Sitting around him were a number of tycoons he often entertained. They were all riveted by the action in the arena, vocally relaying their reactions. Pennington smiled to himself. This had to be the best idea he'd ever had. The crowd loved the Alien vs Elf fights. Maybe he'd reveal himself to the public as the man behind the events in Hazard Arena. It couldn't hurt his already weakening reputation. If anything, it might strengthen it again. He decided he'd have to think on it and save the revelation for another time.

His thoughts shifted to Crystal Schuyler and her visit the day before. He didn't believe her story about her marital problems with the Elf. He had expected a rescue attempt immediately after her visit and he ordered Ellie to beef up security. But the day had come and gone without incident. However, that didn't rule out the possibility an attempt would be made during the night's event.

Ellie distributed Crystal's photo to the guards and after Pennington asked, Ellie informed him that Crystal was not among the spectators. This puzzled Pennington. He was certain the woman would have made an effort to free her husband. Plus he was curious to know why she hadn't mentioned Anwar, the young Elf girl he was holding captive back home. Maybe the Elf hadn't told her about it. Maybe they really were having marital problems.

Regardless of the situation between the two, Pennington still wanted security to be on high alert, just to be on the safe side. He didn't want his new toy to slip through his fingers.

For now, he signaled to his man near the controls. Faulkner pressed the remaining two buttons on the panel in front of him.

As the final two aliens were released from their cages, Legolas paced and momentarily glanced up into a particular section of the crowd. Like star-struck fans, the women in that section screamed and waved theirs arms to get his attention. But his eyes focused on two individuals sitting in the second row.

One of them was Aragorn. The king of Gondor held a special place in his heart. He had known him since Aragorn was a child, back when he was known to all as Estel, the Elven name meaning Hope. They had fought side by side in many battles, including the war against Sauron. The memories flooded his in a rush and he momentarily squeezed his eyes shut to the sudden pain in his head.

His one love sat next to Aragorn. Her eyes reflected concern and he knew it was for his well-being. He had begun remembering his relationship with her several days earlier. The memory of their love pained him. He wanted it to be that way again but he was unsure of his own disposition, whether he was even capable of experiencing the pleasures they had shared together. He desperately wanted to believe he could.

Ariedel knew he was looking at her. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest at the realization that he acknowledged her presence. She wanted to reach out her hand, but it would only be an imitation of what the scores of women in front of her were doing. It irked her to no end that she had to compete for his attention.

Legolas finally turned away from those in the crowd and assessed the remaining aliens. All three of them were hissing and swishing their tails in agitation. He turned his back to them to face the crowd and the fans screamed once again. Lowering his hands and holding his knives down on either side of him, he waited.

All three aliens tilted their heads suspiciously and screeched to one another. Then they charged him at the same time.

Legolas anticipated their move. He was fatigued and in pain and wanted this fight to be over. When the aliens nearly reached him, he sprinted forward and they immediately gave chase. As Legolas neared the wall of the arena, he took three vertical steps to climb it and vaulted off of it in a backward mid-air somersault.

The crowd was on their feet as they watched him fly over the heads of the three aliens and slashed out with his knives, slicing the back end of Alien Eight's head.

The alien fell forward, tripping up his companions. Legolas landed on his feet behind them and wasted no time. He sliced and diced, cutting limbs and spinal protrusions. When he backed away, they were dead.

All ten of the aliens were dead. Elated that the battle was over, he raised his arms, holding his knives up in victory.

The crowd erupted in cheers. As he began walking toward the center of the arena, everyone rushed to the edges, leaning over the sides, hoping that he would come to them.

Ariedel covered her mouth with her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. He had done it. He had killed ten aliens in an almost effortless battle. She was glowing with pride for his accomplishment. The mass of people wanted his attention and they longed for an opportunity to touch him. She knew he belonged to her and now she couldn't wait to be with him.

Legolas stepped upon the mobile platform and with his toe he tapped the button to lower it. He played to the crowd by raising his knives once again, just as he was lowered back underground.

The crowd continued their cheers even after he disappeared.

Zion found Ariedel and Aragorn and told them to follow him.

Below the arena, Legolas moved to a lighted section of the darkened chamber. He twisted a knob on the wall and a cascade of water fell from a showerhead on the ceiling. He stepped into the spray, letting the water wash away the alien acid blood from his clothing and his knives.

As expected, two armed guards stood at the archway leading to the cages. Squeezing the water from his tattered locks, he walked toward them.

"Where's Poole?" asked one of them.

Legolas shrugged indifferently as he moved toward them. One held his blaster aimed at Legolas while the other held his hands out to take the knives. Legolas had a feeling something was about to happen. He knew Ariedel and Aragorn had not come to just watch him fight. They were going to attempt to free him. He decided to play it out and not spoil their chances.

When Legolas reached his cage, he waited for the click indicating the door was open and let himself in. The two guards nodded in appreciation. It was about time he started cooperating. They waited for the cage door to click again indicating it was locked.

"The boss'll be down in a minute, so behave yourself," said one of the guards before following his companion down the walkway toward the elevator, where a third guard stood manning the cage controls on the wall.

The elevator doors opened and Ellie stepped off, followed by Freak. "Okay, boys, I'll take over from here. You can all head home." When they looked suspiciously at Freak, she turned to him. "This is…Joe Smith, he transferred from headquarters. He's going to be on night watch from now on."

Freak gave the guards a greeting smile and asked, "How you all doing?"

Ellie held her hands out to the guard holding Legolas's knives. "I'll take those. Have a great week and I'll see you next weekend."

The three guards filed into the elevator.

"Now what?" asked Freak.

"We wait for Pennington to come down," replied Ellie. "He always wants to make sure Legolas is tucked away, safe and sound before he leaves for the week." She looked down at the knives in her hand. "God, it would be so easy to just stick these in his back." Then she laid them on a small table against the wall.

"Are you sure he won't be suspicious of me?" asked Freak.

Ellie shook her head. "There's over three hundred people employed in this facility. He doesn't keep track of the grunts."

"Oh, so now I'm a grunt?"

She rolled her eyes with a smile.

They waited several minutes before the elevator arrived and the doors opened.

Wayne Pennington stepped out and cast a quick glance in Ellie's direction before walking down the walkway. He came to the Elf's cage and waited an acknowledgement.

Legolas wanted to ignore the man, but Pennington would never leave if he didn't have the last word. So he glanced through the bars at him. "I hope I met your approval on this night."

Pennington smiled. "Oh, you have surpassed my expectations. Ten aliens in thirty minutes. But shit, people want more than that. You're going to have to do something to make the fight last at least an hour."

Legolas angrily frowned. "Perhaps you should not turn all the aliens loose in the first fifteen minutes."

"Are you saying you can't handle them?"

"I can handle ten…and ten more."

Pennington studied him for a minute, trying to figure him all out. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I had two goals. One was to kill you. The other was to kill as many aliens as I could. Tis gratifying that I can accomplish one of them."

"I expected your wife to try something tonight. Looks like maybe she decided to move on with her life."

Legolas didn't want to let on that he knew Ariedel was near. "I have been abandoned by her before," he lied. "I care not to return to the complacent life I left behind." He hoped Pennington believed him.

"Good. The more you cooperate, the closer we'll be to having your daughter go home." Pennington knew the Elf wanted to ask. "She's fine, by the way. She's actually enjoying herself at my estate."

Legolas played along. "Glad to hear it."

"Well, I'm off for the week. Remember to play your cards right and we'll get along just fine."

"Of course."

Pennington nodded and walked away.

When he was gone, Legolas cringed at the manner in which he was forced to play Pennington's game. But it was for Anwar's sake. He would do anything to keep his little girl safe.

Pennington walked to the elevator and turned to Ellie. "Remember what we talked about. Just because the wife didn't try anything yet doesn't mean she won't try some time soon. Keep your eyes open."

"Yes, sir," replied Ellie. "You have a great week."

The elevator doors opened and Pennington stepped inside.

After the doors closed, Ellie moved to the wall with the controls and pushed the button to unlock Legolas's cage.

In the near darkness, Legolas heard the click of the cage door. He also heard the sounds of silent footfalls sneaking down the walkway. He slowly slid the cage door open and was about to exit when someone stepped directly in front of him, a blaster held up and aimed at his face. He recognized the young woman.

"Going somewhere?" asked Ellie.

Legolas was unsure of her intentions, so he remained still.

Then Freak stepped up beside her. "Holy shit, that fight was fucking intense! What're you, invincible?"

Legolas nearly sighed in relief when he saw Ellie lower her weapon. "Just highly disturbed," he told Freak with a smile. He followed them down the walkway to the elevator and while they waited for it to return, Legolas grabbed his knives from the table there.

At the stadium level, Zion, Aragorn and Ariedel watched discreetly from an upper level as Wayne Pennington returned to his friends in the lobby below.

Zion listened to his com and then motioned for Aragorn and Ariedel to follow him. They snuck away from the reiling and headed for the elevator. A minute later the doors opened, revealing Legolas, Freak and Ellie.

Ariedel wasted no time. Upon seeing Legolas, she rushed over and jumped into his arms, relishing in the feel of him so close to her again.

Freak turned to Ellie with a smile and shook a finger at her. "You know, I seriously had my doubts about you. I'm glad I was wrong."

They took the elevator to the top floor and headed down a long corridor. On the way to their destination, Legolas held Ariedel's hand and then remembered to remove the collar from around his neck, letting it drop to the floor.

Ariedel felt an intense heat emanating from his hand and squeezed it until he turned to look at her. If they weren't surrounded by the others, she would have grabbed his face and kissed him.

Bishop sat at the controls, monitoring the activity on the security screens. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard multiple footfalls on the floor in the corridor, then was relieved that it was Freak and the others. Among them was the Elf they had come to rescue.

"What's the situation, Bishop?" asked Freak.

"I'm monitoring Wayne Pennington in the lobby. He's waiting for his transport to his ship. With him are seven people I haven't been able to identify yet."

"They're just friends of his," volunteered Ellie.

"Where is he going?" asked Legolas.

"He goes home for the week, usually holding a big bash on the first night he's back."

"We must follow him," he quickly stated.

"Where's home?" asked Freak.

"Midland 2, it's a thirty-two hour flight. No cryosleep necessary."

"Okay, people, let's get going. We have a psycho cocksucker to torment." Freak waited until the others started to file out of the control room before he turned Ellie. "Interested in joining our party raid?"

"I would love it, but if I went with you then someone's bound to go down below and discover Legolas is gone. I'm trusting you'll take care of Pennington for me, right?"

Freak nodded. "He'll be taken care of, I promise you."

"Just make sure you do it before the weekend. If you fail and Pennington shows up here, I'm just going to have to kill him myself."

"You won't have to worry about it."

Ellie smiled at Freak. "Look me up whenever you're back down here." She stood up on her toes and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

When she stepped away, Freak gave her a grin and walked out of the control room to follow the others. He definitely planned on visiting the Ironbar Colony again sometime soon.

 

Chapter 10 – Where Were We?​

Onboard the Rebel

The first order of business when they all boarded the Rebel was for Aragorn and Lipinski to tend to the injuries on Legolas's back where an alien had clawed him in the arena.

Afterward the crew was in the mess hall, except for Bishop, who was manning the ship controls. Everyone was doing their own thing, apart from each other, yet still gathered together. Lipinski was doing a crossword puzzle. Zion was cleaning his blaster. Sanchez was snacking on a candy bar and reading a magazine. Takashi was disassembling something unidentifiable.

"What's a six letter word for embezzlement?" asked Lipinski.

"Prison," Zion replied without missing a beat.

Sanchez nearly choked on her candy bar.

Sitting at another table was Legolas. Freak, Aragorn and Ariedel were seated with him, listening to the events that occurred after he left Arda. The three of them were silent throughout his recounting, not sure how to digest all of it…all that had happened to one person. At the end, they were still silent.

Deciding to break the silence, Freak cleared his throat and looked at Legolas. "Yeah, that's all really exciting, Lego, but you owe me a Dropship."

Legolas knew Freak was joking and gave him a brief smile. "A Black Dragon sits one hundred and ten kilometers south of the Ironbar Colony. Tis yours to do with as you wish."

Freak placed a hand over his heart. "A Black…holy shit…Dragon? Goddamn, where the hell did you come across one of those?"

"Tis what I traded for the Company ship I stole."

"You know, you're all right in my book. I don't care what anybody else says about you. You are the man."

Legolas tilted his head. "I am not a man. I am an Elf."

Aragorn grinned and when he placed a hand on Legolas's shoulder, he noticed the Elf flinch. "You still hurt, my friend. If I had athelas, I could ease some of your pain."

Legolas cast a glance at Aragorn. "Nay, Aragorn, there is no remedy for what ails me. I will be fine."

Ariedel placed her hand over Legolas's. "What you need is rest."

"Perhaps."

"You might as well get as much as you can here because when we get you back home, you know Anwar won't leave your side."

The mention of his daughter brought a pained expression on his face and he realized too late that his wife recognized the concern. He could not keep it from her any longer. "Aye, I wish to rest now," he said, locking eyes with Ariedel.

Ariedel immediately stood up. Something wasn't right. The minute she mentioned Anwar, Legolas got a weird look on his face. It was obvious he wanted to tell her something he didn't want the others to know. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

When Legolas stood up, she slipped her hand in his and led him away. He was unsure how he was going to tell her, only that it was suddenly important that she knew.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner that the son-of-a-bitch has my daughter!" yelled Ariedel.

"I did not wish to cause you any worry," Legolas replied in an even tone.

"You let him take her! How could you let that happen?"

Legolas knew he would not be able to reason with her, no matter what he said. "I had no choice, Ariedel. She was in the arena with the aliens when I discovered her. I failed to kill Pennington because I had to save Anwar. Then he was going to keep putting her in the arena with me. To keep her out of harm's way, I negotiated my cooperation."

"What if he hurts her, Legolas? How do you know she's still alive?"

"No harm will come to her as long as he believes I am still held captive."

Ariedel turned to stare out the portal of the room she had made her own while on Freak's ship. She looked out at the passing lights of stars in frustration.

"I thought only to protect her from the danger exposed to me."

She knew she couldn't blame Legolas for what happened. He was just as much a victim as Anwar. It was difficult enough imagining the desperation he must have felt the minute he saw Anwar about to be attacked by aliens. Ariedel no longer doubted Legolas's feelings for his family. She had never really doubted them, she just thought they had been misplaced. "What are we going to do?"

Legolas folded his arms and leaned against the wall he stood near. "You once had faith in me. Have faith now that I will find a way to save her."

Ariedel turned to glance at him over her shoulder. He felt no fear and exuded a confidence in his own abilities. Feeling his confidence gave her strength and hope. She turned fully to face him. Even with an expression so completely worn out and his usually pristine appearance gone astray, he still held a commanding presence. She was forever enticed by him. No longer caring about the alien traits intermingled into his system, Ariedel felt a strong desire to bond with him all over again.

Legolas raised his eyes in Ariedel's direction as she slowly approached him. She carefully took his hand and lifted it to her face, bringing his palm to her lips. The gentleness of her kiss upon his flesh made him swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. When she moved closer to him, he straightened his stance against the wall. She pressed her body against him and ran her hand over the front of his jumpsuit, all the while continuing to kiss his palm. His body quickly began to respond to her touch. He hadn't thought he could feel such things again.

Ariedel looked into Legolas's eyes and knew he was battling his emotions. "I'm sorry, Legolas. I know it's not your fault." She brought the side of her face against his, breathing the air around him. He still held the scent she was familiar with. She released his hand and brought both of hers up to his face, caressing and remembering the flawless softness. His skin was hot to the touch, almost burning. As she turned his face toward her, Ariedel waited to see if he objected.

In all the years they had been together, their physical love was nothing less than perfect. Tender at times and wildly uninhibited most other times. Both fulfilled each other's needs in every way imaginable. She thought it would be awkward now, that Legolas might not feel the desires he felt prior to his alteration. But as she pressed her body against his, she was relieved to feel his growing arousal and waited for him to acknowledge his need for her. "What do you remember of us, Legolas?"

Legolas tilted his face closer, aligning his lips with hers, but not yet touching them. "I remember everything."

Ariedel couldn't wait any longer. She closed the slight gap between them and pressed her parted lips against his. He opened his mouth to her. She curiously and lovingly explored, savoring the familiar taste of him, feeling the familiar places within his mouth and finding things not so familiar. The four alien canines were extremely sharp and twice she tasted blood as she timidly passed her tongue over them.

Legolas feared losing control of his actions if he dominated, so he was content to let Ariedel set the pace. He wanted her to be in control of the situation in the event she decided to cease. Despite clearly sensing her escalating desire, he still sensed a slight apprehension on her part. He wanted her to be at ease and didn't want her to feel obligated. Placing his hands on her face, he pulled away from her lips and her eyes immediately sought his with concern. "You need not do this, Ariedel."

Ariedel searched his face, wondering if maybe he wanted her to stop. "Why do you say that?"

"You need not prove your love for me. I do not question it."

"I'm not doing this to prove anything, you stubborn Elf. I miss you and I need you and if I can't have you right this minute, I'm going to explode." The more she looked into his eyes, the more she realized the coldness she had seen in them earlier had diminished. They were the soft pale blue she was used to seeing. "Don't you want me anymore?"

Legolas could not bear to feel her sudden insecurity. "Has there ever been a time I denied you, Ariedel? I want you more than ever." He gently brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. "But I fear I may hurt you."

"I'm not afraid, Legolas." She kissed him hungrily. "I'm not afraid."

That was the end of words.

Legolas pulled her to him and buried his fingers into her hair, mindful of the power in his fingernails that could tear flesh with the slightest touch. He probed her mouth with his tongue, tasting the familiarity that flooded back into his mind. His physical need for her threatened to unravel his steady patience, but he kept a careful measure of his movements as he slowly undressed her. A smile crept up to his face as he realized she was losing all of her patience and tugged at his clothing in frustration. He decided to give her the chance to undress him and with each bit of flesh she uncovered, her lips sought to erase every healing scar she discovered.
(Ariedel's POV)

After sliding the jumpsuit down his arms, I ran my hands over his bare chest, feeling the strong heat beneath his skin. It was on fire. There was a deep scar running horizontally across it, maybe a week or two old, that still needed to heal. There were a few scars on his right shoulder, which led me to think an alien had sunk his teeth into him. I found other scars on his torso and along his arms. But he was an Elf with superior healing abilities. I witnessed it hundreds of times, whenever he was injured. The scars would be gone in a few weeks. Then that nagging fact crept into the front of my mind…did he even have a few weeks left to live? He needed to die in order to be restored to his original self. Did I dare tell him what the Valar told me?

He saw me hesitate and I pulled myself against him, wrapping my arms around his neck. As I kissed every inch of his face, I whispered to him. "I love you." I wanted to feel all of him against me. Releasing him for the moment, I pushed the jumpsuit down his hips and knelt on the floor to remove it from his feet. To my relief, he still had all the right parts. Hopefully that crazy scientist didn't do anything to mess up Legolas's stamina because he used to have a lot of it. He hardened pleasantly as I lavished him with both hands and mouth, hearing his sensual groans of pleasure as he repeatedly bounced the back of his head off the wall.

After a few minutes he dragged me up on my feet and picked me up in his arms. I glanced in the direction he was carrying me. The bed. As he laid me down, I refused to release him and pulled him down with me. I wanted to cry when I saw his playful smile. How long had it been since I had seen him smile? His hands gently caressed my thighs as I opened up for him. Our eyes locked on one another. I couldn't believe this was happening. It felt like an eternity had passed since we were together...the last time being in Valinor before we went hunting for aliens.

His eyes spoke a thousands words. They expressed every emotion he felt whenever we were together like this. I drew him further down and he claimed my mouth with a surge of passion. As he finally slid into my body, I still felt as if he was just not close enough to me. I clung to him with all four of my limbs, pressing my nakedness against his.

Legolas slid his arms beneath me and lifted us up to a sitting position. He cradled me tightly against him, maybe sensing my need to be closer. Our mouths were locked together, touching and tasting. I moved my hips to ride him, relishing in the feel of his familiar length inside me. Hoping the walls of Freak's ship weren't too thin between cabins, I pulled away from Legolas's lips and released a blissful moan. He brought his lips to the side of my neck and down to my shoulder where he gently nipped at my flesh. I felt a slight sting and wondered if he had punctured me with his teeth. I didn't care, I didn't want him to stop. He lowered me slightly and bent his face to my breasts, lavishing them the way he knew I liked.

Legolas pulled me close to him again and it wasn't long before the wave rushed through me, forcing a lengthy cry from my throat.
(Legolas's POV)

I pressed my face against the side of Ariedel's, feeling the contractions of her climax. I concentrated on my own release, but the pain in my head and my body distracted me, making it difficult to seek the relief I desperately wanted to feel.

And then it finally came upon me. Yet the feeling was not as pleasing as it once had been. An intolerable stinging sensation consumed me and instead of crying out in pleasure, I released a howl of pain and quickly detached myself from Ariedel's embrace. As the sensation slowly faded, I scrambled off the bed to place distance between her and myself, backing away to the wall and sliding down to sit on the cold steel floor.

I was losing the battle against the alien traits fighting to end my life. The constant pain was taking control of me. I could not even enjoy a moment of pleasure with my wife. Feeling sorry for myself, tears involuntarily filled my eyes and I covered my face with my hands.

The sound of Ariedel's shuffling feet drew near. Her hands touched mine and pulled them from my face. But I could not look at her.

"Legolas, it's okay."

"Tis not okay," I said, unable to control the tears spilling from my eyes. Then I finally looked at her. "I feel nothing but pain. It feeds on my bones." I squeezed my eyes shut in anger. "I just want a moment…just a single moment…without pain."

Ariedel moved closer and wrapped her arms around me, cradling my face into the heat of her soft breasts. I inhaled her scent, wanting to lose myself in it and forget all of my troubles. "We'll make it right, Legolas. All of this will soon be behind us."

I had not feared death before and now I was terrified of it. Death meant the end of my suffering, but it also marked the end of my existence with Ariedel. The thought made my stomach lurch and my tears renewed. "I have done terrible things of late."

She tried to cover my lips with her fingers. "No, don't say it."

"You must hear me, Ariedel. I have killed to gain information. Tis something I truly loathe to confess to you."

"We all do terrible things in our life, things we can't forgive in ourselves."

"Yet I look back now and wonder, had I not gained the information, I never would have been able to save Anwar. Perhaps I never would have known she had been there."

"Don't dwell on what happened. We have to look to the future."

"Our time together is brief. You must promise me that you will not mourn long after my death."

She cupped my face and tilted it upward. There were tears in her eyes as well. "I can't live without you, Legolas."

"You must. Our children will depend on you."

"They will have their father to depend on. Everything's going to be fine."

I frowned as she kissed me. Did she not hear what I said? I was dying. I knew not how I lived even now with the excruciating pain. Not even the medication given to me by Professor Taylor no longer had any affect.

"The Valar promised they wouldn't allow you to be taken from me," said Ariedel.

I placed my hands on her arms to hold her away from me for a moment. "The Valar? You spoke to them?"

"Yes."

"What did they promise to you?"

She began chewing on her lower lip in earnest. There was something she did not want me to know.

"Tell me, Ariedel, please."

"The one named Mandos, he said you could be fully restored to the way you were if…you were to…die."

The face of Glorfindel suddenly came to mind. The Balrog Slayer had died and been restored. Although I had not stayed to witness it, all those slain in Valinor by the aliens should have been restored. "Aye, tis true."

"You're in agreement with it?"

I placed my hands on her face and drew her close to me so I could taste her lips once again. "Aye! Once Anwar is safe with us, I will return to Arda with you. We will end this suffering and be happy again."

"Do you really have faith in Mandos, Legolas? As much as I want to believe what he said, I'm honestly lacking in that department."

"I believe it and so must you. If you do not have faith, then I will not be able to return to you."

Ariedel slid her arms around my neck so tightly that she nearly blocked the air from entering my lungs. "You better return to me, Legolas Greenleaf or I'm going to visit those Halls of Mandos and kick his miraculous ass if he doesn't release you."

Her words lightened my heart and I could not suppress a smile. "I truly believe you would do such a thing, meleth nin." (my love)

"You bet I would," she said as she renewed her kisses upon my face.

A moment later we returned to the bed and laid in each other's arms. I truly missed these moments with her…holding her close, feeling the softness of her skin against mine, inhaling her unique feminine scent that never failed to stir me into a frenzy. I longed to be free of the pain to enjoy the pleasures we relished in each other.

But we would have to wait.
(Ariedel's POV)

I laid quietly with Legolas and watched him sleep. He didn't make a sound, his chest rising and falling with each breath. According to the clock on the wall, nine hours had passed since he had fallen asleep. Usually he remained in reverie for a couple of hours and he was good to go for days. But he was exhausted and needed to heal. I couldn't imagine he had gotten much rest sitting in the cell Pennington kept him in.

I wanted to cry. To hear him talk about his constant pain…it tore at my heart. I had so badly wanted to give him a moment of pleasure, but the poor Elf couldn't even experience it without feeling intense pain.

His body radiated a heat like never before. I pressed my lips against his forehead and held them there. He had always been warmer than a human, but this was too much heat, possibly a by-product of the experiment. I wondered what else was different about him. Besides the four prominent and deadly sharp canines, his blood was just as potent as the acid blood of an alien, except his was still red. His fingernails were different, too. I noticed Ripley's had been similar. So what else was alien? He didn't have an extra set of jaws that shot out of his throat. He didn't drool like an alien or hiss like one. Maybe Dr Leland's experiment wasn't as successful as he thought. If it had been, then Legolas wouldn't be experiencing the non-stop pain he was feeling.

At least he regained most of his memory. He remembered his life before he was changed and I was so glad about that. We had made so many good and beautiful memories together that to think he'd never recall them was heart-wrenching.

Without Legolas I knew I would never be able to love another…not ever.

The kids loved him, too. Brendan didn't show it as much though. He was still young and was at the stage of his young life where he thought it was uncool to show affection toward the adults. And Elril was still a baby.

But Anwar, she shared a special bond with Legolas that surpassed anything she had with me. They were like two peas in a pod, so alike and so different at the same time. I imagined there would never be anyone good enough for his little girl when she was of age to marry. The thought of what must have passed through his mind when he saw Anwar in the arena with the aliens…Legolas sacrificed himself for her safety, just as I would have done myself had I been in his shoes.

I prayed Pennington wouldn't find out Legolas was gone before we arrived to deal with the Company president.

Legolas stirred and I pulled away to look at him. He slowly opened his eyes and immediately sought mine. "Have we arrived?"

"No, not for awhile yet."

"How long have I slept?"

I caressed his forehead. "Just a couple hours."

He faintly smiled. "You lie."

I smiled back and bent to kiss him. "Why don't you go back to sleep for awhile longer?"

Before I could move away, he pulled me into his arms. "I do not want to sleep anymore." As he kissed me, his hands started roaming over my body, ending up between my legs.

"Legolas, no." I tried to squirm away, even though my body was screaming for his touch. "I don't want you to suffer again."

"I wish to pleasure you."

I moaned against his lips as his fingers found the right places to get me off.

Just then there was a knock on the door and I pushed away from him.

Legolas rolled over on his back with a sigh. "Leave us alone!"

I laughed as I hopped out of bed and slipped into a jumpsuit on my way to the door.

When I hit the button on the wall, the door slid open, revealing Bishop standing in the corridor. "I hope I'm not disturbing you," he said.

"Aye, you are indeed disturbing us," replied Legolas from the bed.

I turned to Legolas. "Shhh!" Then I turned back to Bishop. "What's up?"

"Freak wants to know when you'll be available to discuss the strategic plan."

"How long before we arrive at Midland 2?"

"A little over twenty-one hours."

"Tell him we'll both meet him on the bridge in ten hours. I want Legolas to get more rest."

Bishop nodded. "I understand and I'll tell him."

I pushed the button to close the door and walked back toward the bed. Seeing the lusty look in Legolas's eyes, I knew he wasn't finished with me. I slipped out of my jumpsuit and crawled back under the sheet with him.

He immediately pulled me against him. "Now, where were we?"

While he proceeded to pleasure me in all the ways he was familiar with, I felt bad that I couldn't return the favor. I didn't want to cause him anymore pain than what he already felt.

 

Chapter 11 – Silent Entry​

Onboard the Rebel

"There is no strategic plan, Freak. I go alone," debated Legolas.

Everyone turned to the Elf at the same time, including Ariedel.

"You can't be serious," she told him.

"If we all go down there, tis a far greater risk someone will be discovered. My daughter's life is at stake. I cannot take that risk." When Legolas told Freak and the others earlier that Pennington was holding Anwar, the plan had immediately shifted to a rescue attempt. "I can sneak in without a sound. My abilities are far superior over any of you." He wasn't bragging, he was being truthful.

"He's right," agreed Ariedel.

Everyone except Aragorn looked at her as if she was crazier than Legolas.

Aragorn was not surprised. He was quickly reminded of another time when Legolas volunteered for an assignment, back in Minas Tirith. They had debated over who would go to the alien hive and destroy them while they slept in the morning hours. The error back then had been to send a small contingent of men with him. As it turned out, one of the men sneezed. The sound alerted the aliens and Legolas and the men were attacked. Had the Elf been alone, he would have accomplished the task in silence and without incident.

Freak sighed and turned to Bishop. "Show us the images of the property."

"Coming right up," Bishop responded.

A minute later the images appeared on the tabletop they all stood around.

It took Legolas less than five seconds to evaluate what he saw and he smirked. "So, tell me how you plan to sneak onto his property?"

"If you recall, I happen to have a stealth APC," countered Freak, "Courtesy of our friend Thomas Train. You remember that dumbass, don't ya?"

"But how exactly are you going to get it through the property perimeter?" Legolas pointed to something on one of the images. "Look here. A ten foot stone wall surrounds the estate. You have only two options. Break through the main gateway or blast a hole through the wall." He looked up at Freak. "I would not recommend either."

Freak rubbed his chin as he studied the images. Legolas was right, either option could get Anwar killed in a hurry. Just as badly as Legolas didn't want to risk his daughter's life, Freak didn't want anything to happen to her either. He looked up and found Legolas still looking at him. "Let's suppose we agree on you going alone. What's your plan?"

"I have two objectives. The first is to get my daughter out safely. The other is to kill Pennington."

Ariedel rolled her eyes. "Legolas, I know how badly you want to see this guy dead, but you have to let it go."

"I will not let it go. His atrocious rule of Weyland-Yutani must come to an end. Should he fall, another will take his place."

"Everybody knows that," said Lipinski. "It's common knowledge that another'll take control."

"But no one knows the identity of the successor."

"And you know?" asked Freak, sensing the Elf had more to say on the subject or he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

"Aye, his name is James Burbank."

Everyone reacted differently, but they were all shocked.

"Tis apparent that everyone in this room knows him," continued Legolas. "From what Ariedel told me some time ago, Burbank is a good and honest man. I am quite certain all of you agree he would lead the Company along a far better path than Wayne Pennington."

There was silence on the bridge, except for the occasional chirp of the ship's computer modules.

Zion broke the silence. "Well, I vote for killing the prick."

Takashi didn't voice his opinion, but he raised a hand in agreement.

"The guy needs his ass kicked and then he needs his head separated from the rest of his body," said Lauren Sanchez.

Lipinski nodded. "I gotta go with the rest of my peers, boss."

When all eyes went to Bishop, the android shrugged. "Don't look at me. You know I can't condone the death of any human being, no matter who it is."

The king of Gondor turned to Freak. "Although I do not know Wayne Pennington personally, I do know he has directly and indirectly caused my friend unforgivable hardships. If he stood before me this moment, I would run my sword through him without a single thought of remorse."

Freak sighed again. He hated when he was coerced into unlawful activities. As much as he himself wanted to see the guy dead and buried and also see Burbank rise to the Weyland-Yutani seat, premeditatedly killing Pennington would cause all kinds of havoc to those involved in his death. That's if the killer was known. He glanced at the others and finally looked at Legolas. "It's unanimous. If the opportunity comes along, then waste the shithead."

"I will see it done," said Legolas with serious conviction.

"Okay, but we all go down together and get you as close as possible in the APC. If something happens to you, we're going in."

"How will you know if something happens to me?"

Freak walked to a compartment, opened it and pulled something out. He tossed the item on the tabletop.

Although he had never seen it before, Legolas recognized the device. The technical knowledge in his brain interpreted what he was seeing. "Mobile Surveillance," he noted in a distasteful manner.

"That's right," said Freak as he walked back to the tabletop. "I don't wanna hear any complaints, Lego. You're wearing that contraption. Understand?"

Legolas smiled. "Of course."

"No, no, no. I know that look, pal. I've seen it before. You're thinking you'll wear it and then take it off somewhere. Goddamn it, I'll glue the fucking thing to your head."

"I promise I will not remove it."

"Even if he does remove it," added Ariedel as she moved closer to Legolas, "I'll sense it if he's in trouble."

Freak didn't like it, but he was going to have to trust the situation as it stood. "All right then. Let's get ready for the drop."
Midland 2

The trip down in the Dropship had been uneventful. Freak set the ship down near a small lake, a hundred kilometers away just to be on the safe side. If Pennington monitored their presence, then he would think they were a USCM team replenishing their water supply. The man would never see the stealth APC moving closer to his property, to within three kilometers. Legolas would cover the remaining ground on foot.

Freak watched Legolas and Ariedel after the two had exited the APC. When he saw them embrace, he slid the APC door closed to give them some privacy.

Ariedel didn't want to let Legolas go. She clung tightly to him as he whispered in her ear.

"I will bring Anwar safely back, I promise you."

"Please be careful," she whispered back. "Don't get yourself killed out here. You need to be in Arda for Mandos to do his thing."

"I know. I will not fail this time."

Ariedel pulled away and ran her fingers through his hair to push it back behind his ears. The torn strands in front fell over his eyes again. She wasn't used to seeing it so disheveled and chopped up. She made a mental note that when this was over, she'd have to take a scissors and trim it evenly. "I love you." She kissed him lingeringly on the lips.

Legolas returned her kiss with a bit more passion than he intended, but he realized it was an automatic reflex. A kiss with Ariedel was never just a simple one. His hands drifted down to squeeze her behind before he reluctantly pulled away from her lips. "I will see you soon."

The words burned into her mind as he released her and headed into the forest at a jog. He had spoken those same words years ago in Arda on his first encounter with the aliens. When she found him then, he was barely alive and impregnated with an alien queen. She prayed he would make it out of Pennington's estate alive and with their daughter.
(Legolas's POV)

When I was within a kilometer of Pennington's estate, I left the ground and went into the trees. They welcomed my presence as I hopped from branch to branch.

Several moments passed before I was within sight of the high wall surrounding the property. Remaining true to my word, I wore the Mobile Surveillance headset. "I see four men guarding the main gate," he spoke into the tiny microphone near his mouth.

"Yeah, we see them," came Freak's response on the earpiece.

I peered further and saw the large dwelling beyond. As luck would have it, there was an abundance of trees within the property perimeter. I could use the trees to my advantage and easily be able to get close enough to the dwelling to actually climb through a window.

"What're you thinking about, Lego?" asked Freak.

"I will ask the trees to conceal me as I make my way to the second story. There is a window where I will gain access into the house."

"Whoa, clarify that, buddy. Did I hear you say something about talking to some trees?"

I smiled to myself. "Aye, you heard me correctly. Perhaps my wife or my friend can explain further. I am proceeding." As I hopped from branch to branch, drawing closer to the perimeter wall, the trees ahead moved slowly to divert their leaves for added coverage.

When I was directly above the guards at the main gate, I settled into a crouch to listen.

"…and the main course is phenomenal. Leslie let me taste the lamb. God, it was better than sex."

The other three guards laughed.

"I wonder how long this party's gonna last."

"Well, the last two went on for three days."

"I hope this one ends up in the pool again like last time. Did you see the knockers on that redhead Pennington's been banging? Fuck, I'd like to get some of that action."

"No shit."

I was hoping they might say something about Anwar and provide a possible clue as to where I could find her. But their discussion continued to center on women they desired to be with. I glanced toward the house. It had grown dark rather quickly and strong lights now illuminated the exterior. Luckily I wore dark clothing to aid in my concealment.

"She had a mouth on her that could jump start a long-range shuttle."

"Yeah, I'd like to get that mouth wrapped around my…"

I silently stood and continued on through the trees, keeping all of my senses alert to my surroundings.
The hall was brightly lit and the doors were wide open to the outside patio, letting in the comfortable warmth of the evening air. A hundred people milled around, both inside and outside, enjoying animated conversation, a variety of alcoholic beverages and the steady drumming of the latest popular music as it flowed through the expensive sound system.

Standing near the bar, his arm wrapped around the waist of an attractive redhead, Wayne Pennington smoked his favorite brand of cigar and droned on about his latest accomplishments. His audience consisted of three United Systems governors and a reporter from a well-known news station. "Our research is next to none when it comes to medical breakthroughs. How many people can actually admit to discovering a real cure for the common cold?"

The reporter didn't laugh with the others. "How do you feel about the slurs made about you by the man named Legolas? He made some pretty serious remarks that have people doubting your ethics."

Pennington's smile faded as he stared at the reporter. But it quickly returned. "First of all, Mr Hendricks, the man you refer to is actually an Elf who comes from a planet with the mentality of Crusades. They lived, what…over a thousand years ago? You tell me what someone of that particular era could possibly know about the research I've conducted?"

The reporter wasn't put off by Pennington's statement. "If he has the mentality of someone from the era of the Crusaders, as you say, then how do you suppose he ended up on Avalon? How did he know to talk to Rose Stanton of USAV News?"

"It's obvious to me he wasn't working alone. But it doesn't matter now because he's chosen to work for me."

"As a gladiator against aliens in your Hazard Arena events."

"That's right."

"Under his own free will."

"That's right." Pennington paused only to take a puff from his cigar. "You have a problem with that?"

Hendricks didn't believe a word, but he wasn't going to let Pennington know it, so he lied. "I think it's fantastic. More power to you." He raised his glass to toast.

Pennington smiled. At the next opportunity, he would see to it that Mr Dennis Hendricks was suddenly never heard of again. He despised being questioned in front of government officials who would undoubtedly report back to the president of the United Systems.

"While we're on the subject of the arena event," commented Governor Seavers. "How did you know he'd defeat the aliens?"

"He told me himself he could handle them. It makes for some great entertainment, doesn't it?"

"Without a doubt. Citizens from all over the United Systems are flocking to Midland 6 to see him fight. Is there any chance you might decide to take the show on the road?"

Pennington looked thoughtful. "Yes, I did consider it. Hazard Arena took two years to build. We had to be sure it was alien proof and that there was no possible way for an alien to get out. As you know, just a single alien can cause all kinds of havoc, even to a colony the size of Ironbar. So to ensure safety, it may be a while before we can build similar facilities in other colonies."

Not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, Hendricks felt compelled to ask more questions. "So where are you getting all your aliens?"

Pennington turned back to the reporter. "From infested planets, of course," he said with a laugh. "Where do you think I get them? It's not like I have some alien breeding plant somewhere on this planet."
Freak stared at the computer screen over Bishop's shoulder. The android had recently completed a random scan of the planet and came across something unexpected. "I don't fucking believe this shit," he said with a shake of his head.

Bishop gave a shrug. "I didn't come across it when I ran a scan from orbit. The facility must have a scan blocker so ships from orbit can't see it."

"How far away is it from the house?"

"Ten kilometers south, well out of sight of the landing pad just outside Pennington's estate."

"How many are we looking at?" Freak asked Bishop.

"I'm picking up several hundred signatures…six hundred forty-eight to be exact."

"I'll lay bets the compound is underground," added Zion.

Ariedel folded her arms over her chest. "What I want to know is where the hell are the marines? I thought their job was to find alien infestations on colonized planets and exterminate the bugs. How could they not know about this place?"

"Pennington must have someone in his back pocket," said Freak. "Otherwise don't you think the government would have put a stop to the alien fights at the Ironbar Colony?"

"But where the hell is he getting the people to use?" she asked in frustration.

"There's been some transport activity," volunteered Bishop. "These people are coming to this planet from unknown points of origin. I'm having trouble tracing the logs of the ships. The files are heavily encrypted. It'll take me a while to decrypt them."

Freak squeezed the android's shoulder. "Keep on it and let me know the minute you find out." He turned to the others. "So now we have a whole new problem."

"We can nuke the place from orbit," suggested Sanchez.

"6-pack, if I didn't think there might be some lives to save in that facility, I'd say nuking the place was an excellent idea."

"What do you propose then?" asked Zion.

Freak looked down and rubbed the back of his neck before he stated the obvious. "If we go nosing around in that facility, we're liable to start some shit that might alert Pennington at the house. We wait to hear from Lego that the kid is safe." He glanced at Ariedel, seeing the gratitude in her eyes.
Legolas moved lightly on the thin branch beside the wall of the house. He glanced up to the branch above him. It was directly opposite the second story window. After a quick glance at the surrounding area to make sure no one was around, Legolas jumped up to grab the branch and skillfully swung himself up on it.

The window sill stuck out about eight inches and Legolas stepped on it and crouched down. The interior of the room was dark, but he could clearly see that it was an unoccupied bedroom. He inspected the lock on the inside. If he broke the glass, someone might hear it. Just as another idea formed in his head, his eyes happened upon a nearly invisible wire running across the inside of the lower right glass panel. A window contact. If he managed to unlock the window and opened it, an alarm would sound…or perhaps a silent one.

He shook his head with a frown and a smile. For a man of Pennington's intelligence and wealth, why would he not splurge on better security measures to protect his house? Just to be sure, Legolas inspected the window thoroughly. The wire could be a decoy and the real trigger was hidden elsewhere.

Satisfied there was nothing else, Legolas brought his thumb to his mouth and sank a tooth into his flesh. A bead of blood formed at the puncture. He squeezed it to draw more blood and then dragged his thumb in a circle on the glass closest to the wire. Seconds later the glass beneath the blood began to bubble and dissolve. With the hole that formed, Legolas touched the wire and leaned closer to inspect it. After making a meticulous cut along the thin wire casing with his sharp nail, he carefully exposed the even thinner colored wires within. Red, yellow, white and black. Using his nail again, he severed the white wire.

When that was complete, he squeezed more blood out of his thumb and made a hole in the glass near the window lock. After the new hole was created in the glass, Legolas was able to inspect the lock for any possible alarm triggers. Finding nothing, he carefully turned the lock. He closed his eyes and focused his senses on the things around him as he slowly raised the window. Even if a silent alarm had been triggered, he would have known it. All was peaceful except for the sound of music playing at the other end of the house.

Legolas hopped down from the window sill into the bedroom. Then he froze when he felt vibrations shifting the nearby air. Something was coming and he knew it wasn't human.

A large canine stepped through the doorway, pointed ears alert, teeth bared. A deep, husky growl came from its throat as it saw the intruder.

Legolas focused his eyes on the animal as it slowly entered the room. He reached out his senses to it, telepathically edging into its mind, whispering calming intonations that only its kind could understand.

The Doberman instantly lowered its bared lips and whimpered. It sensed the mind of the being and knew he was no threat.

"Good boy," whispered Legolas as he relaxed and stepped further into the room, reaching out to scratch the dog behind the ear before he moved on. Then a thought came to him. He stepped back toward the canine and crouched down in front of it. Would this animal know the whereabouts of Anwar? He looked into the canine's eyes and projected an image of his daughter. Seconds later Legolas received a brief image of Anwar sitting on something suspended from the branch of a tree. Standing near her were two armed men. When the image faded, Legolas scratched both of the canine's ears and then proceeded toward the door.

 

Chapter 12 – It's Your Funeral​

Legolas peered around the corner of the doorway. He saw a short corridor with a number of closed doors along the way. When he stepped out, the canine followed at his heels. Further down, the corridor opened into a two-story foyer, with a reiling that ran along staircases that flanked both left and right. He observed the dramatic crystal chandelier hanging down from the ceiling. Stepping carefully to the reiling, Legolas peered over to find two guards standing directly beneath the chandelier. With a half smile, Legolas thought it would have been easy to send a couple blasts into the chain holding the chandelier and it would have crashed down on top of the guards. But that would draw too much attention.

In an attempt to drown out the loud music streaming from the other room, he tuned it out and a barely audible sound drew his attention. It was the sound of a computer fan. Legolas couldn't resist. He edged toward the door where the sound was coming from. Anyone else would never have heard it, even if the rest of the place had been dead silent. He found the room vacant and conveyed to the canine to remain at the doorway to alert him if the guards below moved toward the stairs.

"Where're you going now?" asked Freak in his comm unit.

"Just checking things out," whispered Legolas as he stepped behind the large mahogany desk and sat down in the black leather chair. He glanced at the items on top of the desk. A picture frame contained the image of a woman. From what Legolas had uncovered, Pennington was a widow, so he imagined the picture was of his wife. She had died of lung cancer fifteen years ago. He had no children and no other living relatives.

After opening several drawers, which produced nothing of value, Legolas proceeded to hack into the computer. He scanned through various files, mainly journals and reports from field operatives. Again nothing of value. Then an icon on the desktop screen caught his attention. It was curiously labeled M6 Plant. He clicked on it and a window prompted for a password. With a quick series of keystrokes, he bypassed it and entered the application. It was a database of information related to an alien breeding plant. His brows narrowed as he quickly discovered the location of the plant and the routine activities.

"Freak, are you seeing this?" asked Legolas, tilting his head slightly to the right to give the camera a clearer picture.

"Yeah, buddy, we just found out about it, too. Bishop did a planet-side scan and picked up the alien signatures. I wasn't gonna bother you with it just yet, but since you discovered it on your own…"

"I have a bad feeling."

"Bad feeling about what?"

Legolas accessed a search function and typed A-N-W-A-R. A new window opened with a string of information. It described his daughter and the daily account from the day she arrived up to the current day. Apparently four days ago she had been transported from the house to the plant. Legolas placed a hand over his forehead as he went on to read the circumstances that led to the transfer. It was due to her special ability to speak to the dogs. Two dogs had attacked several guards and then wouldn't let anyone get near her. The uncooperative dogs had to be shot.

"Lego, move the camera a little to the right," said Freak. "I can't see what you're looking at."

Legolas accessed further information. A live video feed.

"Listen, Bishop did some searching and there's no way inside without a code and a retinal scan. Only Pennington has the ability to get in."

But Legolas wasn't listening. He watched the screen in dismay. It was a view of the cell where Anwar was being kept. He could clearly see her condition. Even with the way she was lying on the barren floor, curled up in ball, he could see the bruises on her face. They had beaten her…his little girl. But that wasn't the worst of it. Lying only two feet away was the carcass of a facehugger…It meant only one thing. Anwar had an alien embryo implanted in her chest.

A blinding rage quickly consumed him. With a violent swipe of his hand, he ripped the Mobile Surveillance unit off his head. Then he left the chair and reached to the holsters tied to the sides of his thighs, retrieving the blasters in them.

"Hey, Lego! What the fuck, man!" came Freak's tiny voice from the comm unit's earpiece where it rested on the carpeted floor.
"Shit," yelled Freak. "He took off the goddamned headset!"

Ariedel stared wide-eyed at the floor of the APC, a sudden sense of uncontrollable rage filling her. She knew it was coming from Legolas. Something happened, she thought. He had been calm and collected only a minute ago. She looked toward Freak. "What's going on?"

"I haven't a fucking clue," Freak replied in frustration. "He was checking something on a computer and then he took off the headset."

Ariedel cringed from the fury and hatred that overwhelmed Legolas. "Oh my God, Freak, he's going to kill everyone."

Freak came to stand in front of her. "What're you talking about?"

She began to panic. "Something's happened. Oh, please God…Anwar. Something's happened to her."

Freak turned to Zion. He didn't have to say anything.

Zion rushed to the front of the APC and set it into motion.
Legolas emerged from the office and marched toward the left staircase. Stealth and tactic were long forgotten. He lost control of his sanity, blinded by physical pain and now the reality that his daughter might lose her life at any given moment.

The two guards standing in the center of the marble-floored foyer both saw him at the same time. They went for their blasters, but they were both dead before they had a chance to take aim.

Several of Pennington's guests rushed in from the other room and a woman screamed at the sight of the dead guards.

Legolas kept both blasters raised as he came down the stairs.

Rushing passed him, the Doberman ran toward the people, barking and snarling, driving them back into the other room. More screams followed as the sound of more snarling dogs joined in.

Legolas stepped into the large room where the party was being held. A quick glance told him his canine friend had enlisted the help of his comrades…three more of them. They held the panicking people at bay. The sound of running feet came from the open doors leading outside. Legolas spun his blasters in the direction of the three guards that emerged. He fired, cutting them to pieces. Two more emerged and he blasted them without hesitation.

Wayne Pennington stared at the blonde apparition with his mouth open, wondering how in blazes the Elf could be in his house.

Legolas slowly spun around the center of the room, his blasters raised at the surrounding people, daring them into provoking him. He was hanging on a thin thread of morality. If that single thread was severed, no one would be leaving the house alive.

Pennington slowly edged toward the wall. If he could only reach the comm unit, he could call the plant and alert them.

Legolas saw the movement and took a step forward, swinging his right arm over. He pulled the trigger, blasting a hole into Pennington's right hand, just as the man reached for the button on the comm unit on the wall. A second blast destroyed the comm unit, ending the music piping through the speakers.

The room was thrown into a disturbing silence…except for the whimpering of several terrified women.

Pennington held his injured hand and looked up just in time to feel the barrel of a blaster touch his forehead. His eyes met the livid blue eyes of the Elf. "I should have known. That fucking bitch wife of yours got you out, didn't she?"

Keeping the blaster aimed at his forehead, Legolas smashed the butt of his other blaster across Pennington's face, sending the man to his knees. More footsteps sounded outside. Without looking, Legolas raised the blaster and sprayed it in the direction of the doorway. The nearby guests ducked to get out of the way of the flying blasts, only to be threatened by the Dobermans into standing still.

Legolas grabbed Pennington by the back of his collar and dragged the hulking man to the center of the room. From the corner of his eye he saw someone start to step forward. One of the dogs barked and growled at him. Legolas aimed his blaster in the man's direction. "Do not try to be a hero. This piece of shit is not worth it," he nodded toward Pennington.

Dennis Hendricks raised his hands up. "I'm not trying to protect him." He jumped back when one of the dogs lunged at him in warning. "I think he's a menace to society. I can't understand why any of you people can admire him," he addressed to the rest of the people.

Pennington clenched his bloodied teeth in anger and hugged his injured hand under his armpit. "You're a dead man, Hendricks!"

Legolas turned and kicked Pennington in the ribs. "Shut up!" Then he turned back to Hendricks and took several steps toward him. He glared into the man's eyes, looking for the slightest hint of deceit, finding in him an honest hatred for Pennington. Sending a mental intonation to the dogs, the one barking at Hendricks ceased and stepped away. Legolas glanced around at the cowering and whimpering guests before his gaze fell back on Hendricks. "Get these people off this planet."

"How come?" asked Hendricks.

"Assume this place and the surrounding hundred kilometers will be going up in flames sometime soon." He motioned toward the dogs. "They are now under your control." Then he reached down to pull Pennington up on his feet and pushed him forward.
The five men that had once guarded the main gates had run toward the house when the blasting first started. They had been killed for their efforts. Now the gates were unguarded. A moment later Freak's APC smashed through the iron gates, sending them flying in opposite directions.

Zion maneuvered the APC toward the front of the house and skidded to a stop, sending the vehicle sliding sideways directly parallel to the cement steps.

Legolas emerged from the front doors, dragging an uncooperative Pennington by the shirt.

The APC door slid open and Freak poked his head out. "Need a lift?"

"What took you so long?" Legolas asked sarcastically, actually grateful Freak and his team had arrived so quickly.

Lipinski and Takashi jumped out to handle Pennington while Ariedel rushed over to hug Legolas.

Ariedel held Legolas tightly. "What's happened to Anwar? Please tell me."

"She was…exposed to a facehugger."

Her heart sank. How much time did they have before the alien inside crashed out of Anwar's chest? Was she already dead? She released Legolas and spun toward Pennington. "You son-of-a-bitch!" She attacked him, punching and kicking with all four of her limbs. "I'll kill you myself!"

Freak fought to drag her off of him. Then she pulled away from Freak's grip. "Walk it off, princess." Freak turned to Legolas, wondering why he hadn't bothered to stop her from trying to bash in Pennington's face. But then he saw the lethal look in the Elf's eyes. It was plain to see that Pennington's life wouldn't be worth a bag of dog shit once he got them passed the secure entrance of the compound.
Pennington stared at the Elf sitting opposite him in the APC. He stood immobile, arms folded across his chest, eyes hooded by dark brows furrowed in undisputable fury. "What's her life worth to you?"

Legolas didn't respond. He expanded his senses, finding the man in front of him trying desperately to contain his fear.

Pennington spat out a glob of blood and was disappointed that it missed the Elf's toe by a mere inch. Then he broke into a grin. "If you think for a minute I'm going to just cave and let you inside my plant, you're sorely mistaken."

Legolas continued to remain silent and continued to stare at him. He thought of ways to make the man suffer. He could feed him to a group of aliens. He could expose him to a facehugger. He could gut him in a way that would keep him alive to see his exposed insides. He could throw him out the airshaft of a Dropship to breathe the atmosphere of a planet not able to sustain any life. He could set him on fire using a flamethrower. He could strap him to a nuclear weapon and set it off.

Zion interrupted his thoughts when he came and plopped down beside him. "I bet I know what you're thinking," he said to Pennington. "We're just a bunch of amateurs who don't have a clue."

Pennington continued to grin. "Not even close."

"My friend here," he motioned toward Legolas. "I'm pretty sure he wants you dead and buried."

"I'm not threatened in any way."

Legolas wanted to laugh. He was sensing the complete opposite.

"You look like a reasonable man," continued Pennington. "Turn me loose and you'll be greatly compensated. More than enough to buy yourself a couple of A-class starships."

Zion shrugged. "I ain't so interested in owning my own ships. Sorry."

"Then use the money for something else. You can buy an entire colony."

"Not interested in that either."

"What is it you are interested in?"

Zion smiled. "To see you grovel for your life. That to me would be priceless."

"I'm not going to cooperate. You might as well kill me now."

"Hey, it's your funeral." Zion turned to Legolas and squeezed his shoulder as a sign of support. Then he got up and walked away.

Legolas momentarily glanced in Ariedel's direction. She was seated near the front, her legs bent and arms wrapped around them. Her face was a mask of worry. He prayed to the Valar that they would reach Anwar in time to extract the alien inside her.

 

Chapter 13 – Access Approved​

Aragorn stood at the bank of the lagoon where the Dropship had earlier landed. As he blankly stared at the serene body of water, his thoughts kept returning to Anwar. She was Legolas's first born and Aragorn recalled the moment he first held her as an infant. Looking into her sparkling sapphire eyes, he knew that instant she would be the pride and joy of the Elven empire. He could not fathom the horrible circumstances that brought her to this world.

Sanchez poked her head out of the ramp opening. "Aragorn, we're dusting off."

The king of Gondor quickly scrambled up the ramp before it sealed. When he entered the small cockpit, he took the empty seat behind Sanchez, just as the ship lifted into the air. "Is Anwar safe?" he asked.

Sanchez sighed as she set the Dropship flying forward. "Unfortunately, no. Freak wants us to rendezvous with them. It appears our friend Pennington has himself an alien breeding plant. And wouldn't you know it, the kid is there."

Aragorn feared asking the question that quickly came to mind.

But Sanchez answered it before he could ask. "She's been exposed, but there's no way of knowing how long ago. Aside from that, the good news is Legolas found Pennington and he's in our possession."

"Tis good news indeed."

"Not for him, it isn't. I may not know your Elf friend as well as you do, but I do know Pennington's life won't be worth shit if something happens to that little girl."

Aragorn didn't want to think about the agony Legolas and Ariedel would endure if they were too late to save Anwar.
The APC drew to a stop beside a steel shed. The door of the vehicle slid open and Freak hopped out. He quickly scanned the surrounding area, noting a large vacant field nearby with patches of burnt grass. It was obviously where the transports landed to unload their human victims from time to time.

Bishop was the next to jump out of the APC. He activated a motion tracker to scan the immediate area. "Nothing short range, boss." Several minutes before arriving, he had run a long range scan to confirm that the guests at Pennington's house were indeed heading to the nearby ship dock to board their vessels. Many were already gone.

Freak knew they needed to work fast for two reasons. The main one was to get the girl before the alien inside her burst free. The second was that he didn't trust any of Pennington's guests to not alert the authorities. So he knew it was only a matter of time before someone came snooping around.

A minute later Zion unceremoniously tossed Pennington out of the APC. "Watch your step," he murmured.

Pennington angrily struggled to get up on his feet, just as he spied a Dropship coming to land nearby. "Looks like your gang's all here," he directed at Freak. "But like I said, you're all wasting your time."

Freak turned to Pennington. "You're just bitter because you were fool enough to think our Elf comrade didn't have any friends."

"Oh, I knew he had friends. My mistake was to trust the obviously incompetent people that work for me. A lot of them aren't going to have jobs soon enough."

"What makes you think you'll have the opportunity to fire anybody?"

"What makes you think you'll succeed in whatever you're trying to endeavor?"

"All we want is the kid," volunteered Freak.

Pennington laughed without humor. "Yeah, sure and then life goes back to normal. If you don't mind, I'd rather believe you and your crew and your Elf will soon be alien food."

Inside the APC, Legolas waited for Ariedel to move from where she sat curled on a seat. Knowing that time was of the essence, he decided to approach her instead. He crouched in front of her. "Ariedel…"

She stared blankly at the floor, eyes wide and rimmed red with unshed tears.

Legolas placed his hand on her knee, trying to elicit any kind of reaction. "She is safe for the moment and resting in reverie. I can sense it."

It was then that the floodgates finally opened. Tears poured from Ariedel's eyes. "Remember when Brendan was born? Anwar pretended to not care about having a baby brother. But then we kept finding her sleeping curled up on the floor right next to the crib every night for a long time."

"I remember it," Legolas replied in a whisper.

She sobbed and finally met his eyes. "I can't go down there with you. I'm afraid of what we'll find."

"You do not have to go." When Ariedel fell into his arms, Legolas held her tightly and allowed her to shed her tears. He fought hard to control his own emotions. He needed a clear mind in order to get through what needed to be done.

Ariedel pulled away and wiped at her eyes before she looked at him again. "If…" She swallowed hard at the words that seemed to lodge in her throat. "No matter what you find…please….just bring her back."

"I will not leave her here…regardless."

They shared a sentimental kiss before Legolas stood up and left her alone.

When Legolas stepped out in the open, Aragorn and Sanchez were approaching from the Dropship. He waited for his friend to come up. "Ariedel is staying here. You need not come, Aragorn."

Aragorn turned toward the man guarded by Zion, his hands bound in front of him. "He is the one responsible?"

"Aye."

The ranger turned back to his friend. "You could not keep me here bound and gagged. I go with you, mellonin." (my friend)

Legolas nodded and together they approached Freak and the others.

Freak turned to Legolas. "Besides six hundred and forty-eight bugs, Bishop tells me we have ninety-seven people down there. The problem is there's no telling who's who, guard, tech, victim. As far as the victims go, we won't know who's been exposed until we're up close with a scanner."

Lipinski finished his external scrutiny of the shed and joined the others who looked expectantly at him. "Opening the door triggers a silent alarm which I'm certain alerts someone underground. Can't tell you what's inside until we get passed that door."

Legolas eyed the metal shed. "What is the material of the walls?"

Bishop raised his scanner in the direction of the shed. "Plain old steel."

"Give me a moment," said Legolas as he walked away.

The others watched from a distance as he drew one of his long knives and proceeded to slice open his palm.

Freak was used to it. He had seen Ripley do such a thing on numerous occasions. But he was pretty sure his crew hadn't.

Zion shook his head with a frown as he watched the Elf run his bloodied hand in an arc along the side of the shed. "There's something you don't see everyday."

Legolas waited until the blood dissolved the steel before he gave the section a swift kick. The semi-circle of steel wall fell inward. Then he crawled through the opening on all fours.

Freak grabbed Lipinski's arm, stopping him from following. "Give him his minute, Loop."

In less than a minute the shed door swung open from the inside and Legolas stood at the doorway. "I disabled the alarm."

Lipinski pursed his lips. "Show off."

Freak motioned toward Zion. "Bring him."

Inside the shed Legolas inspected the large square hatch on the ground. It measured approximately ten feet on all sides. Beside the hatch was a raised platform containing a keyboard and screen. Next to that was another screen which Legolas subconsciously recognized as a retinal scanner. Below that was an intercom system.

Freak entered first, followed by Bishop, Lipinski and Zion with Pennington. Bringing up the rear was Aragorn. Takashi and Sanchez remained outside in case they had company.

"I'm going to give you a chance to partially redeem yourself, you piece of shit," Freak addressed Pennington. "Give us the code to get in."

Pennington kept his mouth shut.

"What about the intercom?" suggested Lipinski. "We'll call down there and tell them we've got their boss by the balls."

When all eyes turned back to Pennington, he shrugged indifferently. "You might as well forget it. They don't have the ability to get out without my code."

"So like if you got hit by a bus," said Zion with annoyance, "…then everybody down there is trapped."

Pennington remained silent again, confirming Zion's statement.

"You fucking cold bastard," Zion spat out. "There isn't a goddamned ounce of decency in you, is there?"

Legolas placed a hand on Zion's shoulder, motioning for him to step away. Then he positioned himself in front of Pennington. He stared into the man's eyes and was gratified to see him bravely stare back.

Pennington was smiling at first. But as he felt a disturbing intrusion into his mind, the smile slipped away. The presence probed into his soul, into his very being, making him feel small and insignificant. It wasn't possible. He was Wayne Pennington, the wealthiest, most powerful man in the entire universe. No one had any control over him. Nothing could stop him.

Legolas narrowed his brows as he discovered the man's worst fear. Darkness. Complete and impenetrable darkness. He involuntarily emitted a pulsing wave into Pennington's brain, not even realizing he had done it. With it Legolas could feel him begin to fear, saw the perspiration forming on his forehead, saw him start to shiver.
In the lowest level of the underground facility, a queen raised her massively crowned head, blindly focusing upward as she emitted gusts of angry steam from her mouth. She felt the presence of an unfamiliar being using an untrained mind to project images into another. She growled in rage as she felt the images penetrate her own head.

Her agitation stirred the six hundred and forty-seven other aliens in the compound into a vicious frenzy. The three lowest levels were suddenly echoing with hissing and screeching.

The attending research analysts were caught off guard by the strange behavior and as a safety measure, they quickly began to evacuate the breeding levels, sealing each titanium hatch along the way.
Legolas continued his barrage into Pennington's mind, holding the man's eyes to him with a vice-like grip. He sought the one thing he knew Pennington would not relinquish. Barrier after barrier dropped until he found what he was looking for.

Pennington let out a strangled cry and forced his eyes away, squeezing them shut.

The others all stared with their mouths open, unsure of what had just transpired.

Legolas released the breath he had been holding and turned to Bishop. "Pennington's Heritage, spelled backward."

Bishop immediately took up the keyboard and punched in the letters. The retinal scanner immediately powered up. He glanced toward Legolas and then to Freak. "We need his retinal scan."

"What's it gonna be, Shit for Brains?" asked Freak. "The easy way or the hard way?"

Pennington was gasping for air after his ordeal. He managed a glance toward Freak. "Kiss…my ass."

Legolas had enough. He wrapped his bloodied hand around the man's left wrist, still bound together with the other one in front of him.

Pennington released a blood-curdling cry as the acid blood seared his flesh.

Legolas didn't give him the opportunity to pull away. He dragged him to the panel and used his other hand to hold Pennington by the back of the neck, forcing his face in front of the screen. The device slowly scanned Pennington's left eye.

Pennington struggled against the Elf's hold, but his wrist was burning and the pain was threatening to force him into unconsciousness.

When the scan was complete, the doors of the hatch parted at the center and a platform surrounded by mesh handrails rose out of the hole.

"Access approved," Bishop stated needlessly.

Legolas tossed Pennington aside with enough force to send him flying into a pile of crates. Then he retrieved a pair of blasters from Lipinski, who had been kindly holding them, before stepping onto the platform.

Freak poked his head out of the shed. "Sushi, get in here." He stepped onto the platform with Legolas and was followed by Zion, Bishop, Lipinski and Aragorn. When Takashi entered, Freak pointed to the unconscious Company tycoon lying on the ground. "Keep an eye on him."

Bishop pressed a button on the railing and the platform began to descend.
The agitated queen slammed her armored head into the thick Plexiglas that separated her large chamber from the corridor beyond. She sensed trouble in her perfectly coordinated world. For years she produced her eggs. Even though she was held captive, her keepers allowed her young to grow in human hosts and develop as she would have done had she not been confined. She hadn't felt threatened and so she cooperated with her keepers, who catered to her every whim.

At the moment she sensed a threat to her way of life and that of her brood. She no longer wanted to remain confined to the comfortably warm and humid environment she cherished within her chamber. So she continued to ram the transparent wall. She wasn't smart enough to know that even as strong as she was, there was no chance she could break the ten-inch thick Plexiglas barrier.

Further down the corridor and on the next two levels, hundreds of aliens threw themselves at the Plexiglas barriers as well, trying desperately to escape and to seek guidance from their queen.
The platform came to a stop at the first sub-level and they all looked around.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Lipinski. "What kind of an elevator only goes one level?"

Legolas pointed out the cameras positioned on the opposite side of the corridor. "We can bypass the controls directing the door up ahead, but those in security will know we are here and confront us."

"Fine," said Zion. "Let them come. I'm ready." He hefted his smartgun. It was an ingenious automatic weapon held by a prehensile arm maneuvered by the user and attached to a harness wrapped around the waist. The powerful weapon delivered hundreds of armor-piercing bullets in seconds. It was effective on the tough-skinned aliens.

Stepping off the platform first, Bishop moved to a nearby computer terminal on the wall. "There're five levels, including this one. The lowest three are where the xenomorphs and hosts are kept."

Legolas stared off with a blank expression, his painful throbbing head focusing on the presence of the enraged aliens in the facility. But he could sense they were still contained behind barriers and currently not a threat. Then a new sound reached his ears, but he had felt the vibration on the titanium floor before the sound even came. "Someone approaches on the other side of that door." He turned to Freak. "I can feel five sets of footfalls."

Zion quickly took up a stance facing the door several meters away and the others all drew their weapons.

The door slid open and there were no questions asked as the facility security guards began shooting.

 

Chapter 14 – You Came For Me​

Anwar's eyes popped open and she sat up to survey her surroundings. She was in a small chamber with a large window on one side. The last thing she remembered was being dragged out of the house owned by the man she knew as Pennington. He yelled at her because she had befriended the dogs and they had attacked some of the men. Apparently this was upsetting to the human.

As Anwar slowly stood up, her eyes discovered a spindly-legged creature beside her on the floor. It was lying on its back with its legs curled in the air and it wasn't moving, so she bravely tapped it with her toe. The creature was dead.

She walked to the window and looked out. On the opposite side she saw a similar window. Several of the black creatures were throwing themselves at the partition. It was then she realized the muffled screeching she was hearing came from the creatures.

Finding what looked like a metal door, Anwar rapped her knuckles on it. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"
The blasting from the smartgun continued to echo in the narrow corridor even after the dust settled. Zion stepped forward and glanced at the five guards sprawled dead on the floor. There would have been no way for any of them to survive the power of the smartgun. "It's clear," Zion tossed over his shoulder.

Freak turned to Bishop, who was still on the computer. "Did you find her?"

"Yes," replied the android. "Doesn't give the exact location, but she's on sub-level five. It's also the same level as the queen."

"Figures they'd have one of them lurking around. Are all the bugs locked up?"

"The xenomorphs are sealed tightly in their chambers."

"Good. Let's go." Freak glanced around at the others. "Where's Lego?"

They all looked around. He was gone.
(Legolas's POV)

The corridor up ahead was empty. I released the grid ceiling tile I clung to and dropped down to the floor. The others would catch up soon enough, I could feel the vibrations from their movements.

As I ran forward I paused only to confirm the chambers I passed were empty. At the far end was a stairway and an elevator. I took the stairs down to the next sub-level. There was movement on this floor and I could hear voices...frightened, stressed voices. As I approached the only sealed door, I knew the voices on the other side of it belonged to those employed by Pennington.

"He's not answering," said one voice.

"Then how the hell are we going to get out of here if we can't get a hold of him?" asked another.

I sensed there were ten people in the room. As they continued talking, I decided to listen for a moment longer.

"I think we should contact Pennington."

"And tell him what? We don't even know why the squad leader's not answering."

"For all we know, he could be dead somewhere."

"I think Pennington needs to know what's going on down there. We've never seen the aliens behave so violently. Something's got them frazzled and personally I don't want to be around if they escape."

"There's no way for them to get out of their chambers. The Plexiglas is ten inches thick. Their acid blood can't even melt it all the way through."

"I'm not taking that risk. I'm calling Pennington."

I quickly set to bypass the door controls. A moment later it slid open. The ten people in the chamber all turned to me at the same time as I stepped inside. None were armed. I leveled both blasters at them. "Where is my daughter?"
Freak led the way to the end of the corridor where they found a stairway and an elevator. Seeing the elevator still in place, Freak determined Legolas had taken the stairs.

Just as they began to descend the sound of a blaster echoed from below. They quickly continued down. When they reached the next landing they saw Legolas stepping out of a doorway. He casually holstered his blasters and proceeded down the stairway without a word to anyone.

Freak motioned to Lipinski. "Go check it out."

Lipinski disappeared into the chamber. A minute later he popped his head out. "I've got ten dead technicians in here."

Zion turned to Freak. "Something set him off. We better follow him."

"Disable any communications, just in case," Freak directed at Bishop. Then he, Zion, Lipinski and Aragorn headed down the stairway.

At each level they were met with a sealed titanium door. They found Legolas standing in front of the sealed door at the lowest sub-level.

Aragorn touched Freak's arm as an indication to wait, while he moved forward to stand beside his Elf friend..

"Anwar is beyond this door," said Legolas.

"I know."

Legolas frowned as the unbearable pain in his head throbbed out of control. "I know not how much time I have left..."

Aragorn turned to Legolas just as the Elf looked up at him.

"If I do not survive before we return to Arda, promise me you will see my family is well-taken care of."

"You need not ask me to make such a promise for I would do it without question. But let us not dwell on it. When we find Anwar we will make haste to Arda."

Legolas nodded and moved to the control panel on the wall beside the door, tearing it loose to expose the wiring behind it. As he began working on opening the door, he sensed his friend had more to say. "I know what you wish to ask me, Aragorn. I can only answer that I do not know why I killed them."

Aragorn watched with concern as Legolas paused and clenched his eyes shut. Sweat was forming on the Elf's forehead, a truly rare occurrence. "Tell me what is happening," whispered Aragorn. "I wish to help you."

"I sense something taking control of me and I know not how to stop it. I asked them the whereabouts of Anwar and they told me it was too late. They laughed and I killed them all. They had no weapons to defend themselves. Tis strange that I feel no remorse for my actions."

"Everything okay over there, Lego?" Freak called out from the stairway.

Aragorn looked over his shoulder to address Freak. "Tis almost done. One more moment."

"Aragorn," continued Legolas. "I do not want to hurt anyone. You must stop me if I lose control again."

"In what manner would you have me stop you?" Aragorn asked with a frown.

"You must kill me."

Aragorn's eyes widened. "Nay, Legolas, I cannot do what you ask of me."

Legolas gripped the ranger's wrist, his palm long since healed from the slice he had made. "I know not what I will do. Would you have me harm my own daughter? Or my wife? Please, I beg of you. If you are a true friend to me then you will do as I ask." He released Aragorn's wrist and made one final adjustment. The door hissed as it slid open. He gave Aragorn a final glance before he passed through the threshold.
(Ariedel's POV)

How much time had passed already? Did they find Anwar? I desperately tried to feel Legolas, but something was preventing me from experiencing his emotions. One second I felt him as if he was standing right next to me and then the next...nothing. Like somebody turned off a switch.

Then a thought came to me. What if...No...I didn't want to believe he was gone.

I needed to know. I needed to assure myself that Legolas was still alive, that he hadn't been taken from me before we had a chance to return to Arda...where the Valar could bring him back to life...to be like he was before any of this shit happened to him. Preparing myself mentally for whatever came my way, I left the APC and started walking toward the shed up ahead.

Just then I heard a blaster discharge.
Legolas rushed down the endless corridor, glancing into the chambers on both sides, his head feeling as if it was about to explode from the pain and the penetration of nearly seven hundred aliens, including the queen. He could sense their agitation as they slammed themselves into the Plexiglas walls. And then he saw her.

"Ada!" Anwar cried out when she saw him.

The others quickly approached to stand next to the Elf in front of the Plexiglas.

Freak inspected the door hatch. "There's no mechanism on the outside. It's probably controlled from somewhere else."

"No problem," said Zion as he swung the smartgun around toward the Plexiglas. "Take cover, honey."

Anwar moved to the wall on the side and crouched down out of the way.

Zion triggered the smartgun, sending hundreds of projectiles into the transparent wall, chewing at it until it penetrated through. A moment later a large piece of the Plexiglas fell away.

Legolas moved forward. "Anwar."

Anwar saw him wave her forward and when she reached the hole, he pulled her out. She flung her arms around her father, clinging with all her might as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Ada, you came for me."

Legolas returned his daughter's embrace and then glanced toward Zion.

That was Zion's signal to pull out his scanning device. He activated it and slowly passed it along Anwar's back. He stared at the results on the small screen.

Legolas looked expectantly at Zion, preparing for the worst.

Then Zion grinned. "Holy shit, she's squeaky clean. No embryo."

Freak let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Fuckin' A!"

No one dared to question why there was a dead facehugger in the chamber Anwar had occupied.
Pennington pulled the knife out of Sanchez's chest and grabbed her blaster just for good measure. Then he released her to fall beside her dead companion. "Bunch of amateurs," he spat out as he walked to the panel beside the floor hatch. "You wanna play games? Let's see how you handle an entire horde in close quarters." Pennington's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Yeah, let's have a little fun." He watched the screen and waited for a timer to appear. 02:00. He pushed the Enter button and the numbers began to count down. 01:59...01:58...01:57. Then he began to laugh.

Outside the shed, Ariedel helplessly watched from the doorway. When Pennington turned away from the control panel, she quickly moved along the side of the shed to remain concealed. He stepped out of the shed and began to make his way to the Dropship.

When Pennington was out of sight, Ariedel quickly slipped inside the shed. She found Takashi and Sanchez lying on the ground. "Oh God, no..." She dropped to her knees and checked their pulses. They were both dead. Then she quickly moved to the panel, watching the numbers counting down. 00:58. Was this a self-destruct timer? She began to randomly punch the keys on the keyboard in an attempt to stop the timer. "Shit, shit, shit..." The sound of the Dropship momentarily caught her attention. Pennington was getting away. She turned back to the timer. 00:47.
Legolas released Anwar. "Let us go. Your naneth waits for us outside." (mother)

As Legolas, Anwar and Aragorn walked ahead, Freak and Zion momentarily lingered behind. "What about all the others?" asked Zion. "We can't save them all."

Freak frowned, his hands on his hips, his eyes staring blankly at nothing in particular. All along he had known they wouldn't be able to save all ninety plus victims, especially those already implanted with an alien embryo. He had only so much room in the Dropship, only so many cryochambers to freeze the victims before Lipinski could perform the extraction surgery onboard the Rebel. They didn't have the resources to handle such a large number of people. And so now he was forced to make a serious decision...the lives of ninety-seven people, as well as those in his party, depended on him. With a heavy sigh, he turned to Zion. "We leave them."

Zion solemnly nodded. "Understood, boss."

The two of them headed down the corridor and caught up with the others.
Ariedel stared at the timer on the screen. 00:12...00:11...00:10. She closed her eyes and clutched the edges of the control panel, her knuckles turning white. There was no time to warn anybody. And even if there had been time for her to make a getaway, she wasn't going to. She would die with her husband and daughter if the place self-destructed. 00:05...00:04...00:03...00:02...00:01...00:00.

She waited for the inevitable explosion...but it never came. "What the hell..."

 

Chapter 15 – Insufferable Losses​

Within minutes the corridors and stairwell were echoing with hissing from the aliens, followed by blood-curdling human screams of the victims being attacked. With Freak leading the way and Zion taking the rear, the team quickly made their way up the stairway.

Legolas grabbed Freak's wrist, stopping his progress up the stairs just as a black head appeared at the top.

Freak fired his weapon and the alien screeched as it blew apart. He kept firing as more aliens appeared.

Several feet below, Zion began firing the smartgun as aliens began to appear from the lower level. "What's the hold up?" he yelled up.

"Alien posse won't let us through," Freak yelled back. He frowned as the human screams continued. "What's going on, Lego?"

Legolas sensed Freak's concern over the behavior of the aliens. He had been reading the images projected into his head. "The queen has changed the rules. Not even the lives of the victims implanted with an embryo were spared. Not even the lives of the victims implanted with an embryo are being spared. Everyone dies."

Lipinski joined Zion while Aragorn joined Freak. In the meantime Legolas tried his best to shelter Anwar as she began to cry. She covered her ears from the loud sound of the discharging weapons.
When the explosion never happened, Ariedel began to wonder what the timer had been for. Knowing that Pennington could have been up to anything at all, she decided she needed to warn the others. That and because she couldn't feel Legolas any longer.

Then suddenly the sound of weapon fire echoed up from the elevator shaft. Ariedel grabbed whatever weapons she could from Takashi and Sanchez. Not able to figure out how to call the elevator, she quickly began scaling down the shaft. When she was far enough down, she jumped the remaining few feet to the floor. The weapon fire was coming from the other end of the corridor and as she reached the door, she noticed the dead security guards. Hefting a blaster in each hand, she rushed to the stairway and headed down.
Freak was determined to get his team out and he made it several more steps up, driving the aliens back with a blast from the flamethrower hooked over his left shoulder. He got them back through the doorway on that level. "Lego!"

Without missing a beat, Aragorn moved to cover the ascending stairway while Legolas dragged Anwar with him toward Freak.

Legolas didn't need to be told what to do. While Freak continued to blast the flamethrower, Legolas quickly went to work on overriding the controls of the door. He crossed various wires and within seconds had the door ready to close. "Freak!"

Freak skipped backward beyond the doorway and the door quickly sealed in front of his face.
Wayne Pennington circled the Dropship above his house. Black smoke belched into the sky from a dozen or so roaring fires. He gritted his teeth at the sight, wondering who could have caused the destruction. It hadn't been the Elf or any of the people because he had been with them since leaving the house in their APC. His only thought was Hendricks. The Elf had left Hendricks in charge of getting everyone out of the house. There was no one else who could have had the opportunity...or the motive. So now Pennington had someone to deal with when all was said and done.

With his house completely destroyed, Pennington headed for the space dock several miles east. But the closer he came to it, the sooner he realized that his ship was gone. Someone had taken the liberty of stealing his luxurious space vessel. It couldn't have been Hendricks because the ship required a special code just to gain access inside. The only one who came to mind was his red-headed playmate, Vanessa. She might have seen him enter the code once or twice. But there wasn't any chance in hell she could have taken the ship. She didn't have the brains to operate it...or did she?

Pennington sighed heavily. Was everyone out to get him? There were two small shuttles near the landing pad, but they weren't going to be of any use to him. He glanced at the Dropship console in front of him, wondering if maybe it contained a sensor that would allow him to board the ship belonging to the Elf's friend. There had to be a ship in orbit or how else would they have gotten here? The Dropship wasn't capable of extended flight so he had no choice but to see if he could gain access to the ship in space. "Well, there's only one way to find out." He adjusted the controls and headed straight up.
When Ariedel reached the first landing she was confronted with two aliens making their way up from the lower level. She blasted them. But before she could continue down, more aliens began to swarm up.

"Over here!"

Ariedel turned toward the voice down the corridor and spotted Bishop at one of the doorways. She rushed down and jumped through the doorway just as Bishop sealed the door. A few seconds later came several thuds. The aliens were ramming their heads against the metal door, trying to get in.

"Are you all right?" Bishop asked her.

"I'm fine." Ariedel glanced around at the dead bodies in the chamber and decided not to ask about them. Besides she was more concerned about Legolas and Anwar. "Where are the others?"

"They're still down below. Everything was fine up until a few minutes ago."

"It was Pennington. He did something to the computer."

"He must have triggered all the door mechanisms. Where are Takashi and Sanchez?"

Ariedel jumped as the banging sounds began to multiply. Then she turned toward Bishop.

"Pennington killed them, didn't he?"

"I got there too late."

Bishop returned to the computer he was working on.

Ariedel came up behind him. "What're we going to do, Bishop? How're we going to help the others?"

"It's too late to override the door mechanisms. I'm sure most of the xenomorphs have exited their chambers and are loose."

"How many are down there, Bishop?"

"You don't want to know."
Lipinski suddenly let out a howl of pain. Zion moved to stand in front of him and sprayed the wall of aliens approaching from below.

Freak rushed down to assess the situation. As Zion continued blasting, Freak saw that Lipinski had received a spray of alien blood to his leg.

"Move him," yelled Zion. "Get him out of here!"

Freak helped Lipinski hop up the steps on his good leg. "Let's go, Zee!"

Zion moved backward up the stairs, following behind Freak and Lipinski.

Further up the stairway, Aragorn was blasting the aliens trying to come down. Legolas rushed over to help Freak with Lipinski.

"Just leave me, man," said Lipinski, grimacing in pain. "I'll cover you."

Freak shook his head. "No way, Loop. We all leave together." He left Lipinski with Legolas. "Zee! Let's go, goddammit!" Then he moved beside Aragorn and blasted the aliens coming down from the upper level before hitting the flamethrower. As before the aliens were driven back into the corridor of the next sub-level.

Legolas helped Lipinski, with Anwar following closely behind them. When the coast was clear, Legolas began to work on sealing the door.

Zion rushed up from the stairs below. "We gotta move! Trust me on this!" He turned and continued firing the smartgun down the stairwell.

Legolas crossed the necessary wires and soon the doors slammed shut, trapping the aliens inside. He frowned as he turned toward the stairwell where Zion was firing. "The queen. She comes."

Freak shook his head in frustration. "Right, cuz we don't have enough to worry about."

Aragorn blasted the aliens at the top of the stairway and Freak came up with the flamethrower. Together they drove the aliens back down the corridor of Sub-level Two. One more level to go before they reached the surface.

"Come on, come on, come on!" yelled Zion from the stairwell.

Freak ran back up and slammed his palm on the sealed door. "Bishop, open the fucking door!"

The door slid open. Bishop looked sheepishly at Freak. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted."

When Freak saw Ariedel step out behind Bishop, he gave her a look. "What're you doing down here, princess?"

Ariedel was relieved to see both Legolas and Anwar alive. Then she took a deep breath before speaking. "Pennington escaped. He took the Dropship."

The look on her face was all Freak needed to see to tell him something bad had happened to Takashi and Sanchez. He silently swore to himself.

Anwar rushed over to her mother and embraced her.

Ariedel returned her daughter's embrace. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?" She turned to Legolas, not wanting to voice outloud the question she wanted to ask.

Legolas gave her a small smile. "She is fine. She was not implanted." Then he quickly gathered his wife and daughter. "We need to leave now."

Aragorn led the way up the stairs, followed by Legolas and Bishop helping Lipinski, and trailing behind them were Ariedel and Anwar. Freak and Zion covered the rear.

Freak's eyes widened when he saw the massively crowned head of the queen peaking around the stairwell they had just left. "Uh oh, here she comes." He released a line of flame and she ducked away with a screech.

At the top of the stairs, the corridor leading to the elevator at the other end was empty and they all made a mad dash.

Freak spun around to shoot at the pursuing aliens. They screeched as they fell and piled on top of each other.

Then the queen appeared. She kept her head lowered to fit into the tight corridor, kicking aside her own kind to get through.

The team passed through the doorway where the guards had been killed and continued on to the elevator.

Freak sent several blasts toward the queen, but she didn't seem to be affected and kept coming.

On the elevator, Zion had his hand on the button to send the lift up. "Come on!" he yelled toward Freak.

The queen was momentarily halted by the smaller doorway. She squeezed her head through and then an arm. Seeing her prey about to escape, she hissed and screeched in fury.

Freak jumped on the lift just as Zion hit the button.

As the elevator ascended, they all watched the queen squeeze another arm out and she tried to push the rest of her body through.

The elevator reached the ground level and everyone scrambled to get off the lift.

Two aliens were sniffing around inside the shed and hissed at the appearance of the humans. Aragorn quickly killed them and led the way out the door.

Freak caught a glimpse of Takashi and Sanchez lying dead on the ground. He started to move toward them.

There was a banging beneath the lift. The queen had gotten passed the small doorway and was now trying to get out of the elevator shaft.

Zion grabbed Freak's arm. "Come on, boss, we've gotta go."

"I can't leave them here, Zee."

The floor of the lift cracked as the queen slammed her head into it again.

Bishop was helping Lipinski while Legolas, Aragorn and Ariedel blasted the aliens that had managed to get out of the facility ahead of them.

Anwar started running for the APC.

"Anwar, wait!" yelled Ariedel.

Anwar stopped in her tracks as she turned to her mother. Then she turned back toward the APC. Her eyes widened when one of the creatures suddenly emerged from inside the vehicle and launched itself at her.

Legolas quickly fired his blaster and the alien crumbled to the ground at Anwar's feet.

Seeing his daughter was fine, Legolas glanced back toward the shed. "Freak!"

Freak and Zion both rushed out of the shed just as a loud crash came from inside.

Ariedel grabbed Anwar's arm and held the girl behind her until she was sure the APC was empty. She pulled Anwar inside and quickly strapped her into one of the seats. Then she moved back to the door to help with Lipinski. Bishop handled getting the injured man strapped to a seat.

Freak and Zion were running toward the APC just as the walls of the shed flew apart. They both turned to see the queen rising to her full height of eleven feet. She turned toward her escaping prey and charged forward like a bull, her heavy rear legs propelling her at an amazing speed.

"Come on!" Ariedel cried out from the doorway of the APC

Bishop quickly slid in the driver's seat and powered up the vehicle.

Freak and Zion hurled themselves together through the doorway just before Legolas and Ariedel slid the heavy door closed.

Seconds later the APC tilted slightly to the right as the queen slammed into it.

Bishop set the APC in motion. Unfortunately it needed a few minutes to gain full speed. He waited for Freak to strap himself to the seat beside him before he asked, "Where are we going?"

Outside the APC, the queen began to pursue, running up alongside the vehicle. With lowered head, she began to slam into the side of it in an attempt to flip the heavy vehicle over.

"Head for the launch pad," replied Freak. "We need a shuttle to get to the ship."

With every jolt from the queen slamming into the APC, Anwar let out a terrified yelp. Ariedel reached to wrap her arms around her daughter, trying to comfort her, as well as herself. Twice the APC's wheels came off the ground on the left side as the queen continued to slam into the side of it.

"What if Pennington has already taken the ship?" asked Aragorn from the seat directly behind Bishop.

"Not without the codes for the docking bay he won't."
The large dark ship loomed up ahead. It was an A-class battle cruiser, retired from the service of the United Systems Colonial Marines. As Pennington steered the Dropship closer, he waited for a signal telling him he had access to board the ship. But as he flew around the perimeter, it began to sink in that the Dropship had no such automatic connection with the larger ship. The feed was manual and he didn't know the code.

Now what?

Pennington turned to the navigation screen and calculated the distance to Echelon. A smile spread across his face. "Flint." The planet known as Echelon was only a few light years away, close enough for the Dropship to make it. The booming metropolis of Flint was on Echelon. It was also the place where he hired his bounty hunters and had various other contacts. All he needed to do was get a hold of someone and in a matter of days he'd have a new ship and he'd be back in business.

As he maneuvered the Dropship in the direction of Echelon, he continued to smile. Even though the aliens in his breeding facility on Midland 2 would overrun the place and probably destroy everything, he considered it a small loss. Afterall he had the funds to build another one. Of course the research team and security staff would lose their lives, but he had made the decision to sacrifice them so he could get the Elf and his friends off his back. There was no chance anyone would walk out of that facility with almost seven hundred aliens running amok.

Pennington glanced down at his mutilated wrist, wrapped in the sleeve he had torn off his shirt. The Elf's blood had been as lethal as any alien blood. His skin had nearly melted down to the bone. But he could easily get it repaired. Even though he lost feeling in his fingers, he figured he had the money to get it fixed. Even if it meant getting an artificial hand.

But more importantly, the Elf would finally be dead, he'd deal with the reporter, Hendricks and then he would deal with his precious Vanessa in his own special way. Things were starting to look up again.
"Bishop, you gotta move this tin can or we're fucked!" Zion hollered from near the door. He was able to see the queen from the small window and she looked extremely pissed off. Then suddenly she was gone from his line of sight.

That was followed by a tremendously loud slam to the roof.

Bishop momentarily lost control of the APC. "What was that?"

Suddenly a large hand crashed through the right panel of the windshield. Strapped to the seat beside Bishop, Freak gasped as the hand blindly tried to grab at anything it could. It stopped inches from his face.

Legolas unstrapped himself from his seat and flew toward the front. Knowing he couldn't shoot at the queen's hand because her blood would spray the interior of the APC cockpit, he picked up a fire extinguisher and slammed it into the hand.

Above the APC, the queen retracted her hand with a deafening screech. She clung to the roof with her other three limbs and tried a different tactic. Grabbing the left edge, she began to tear the roof off.

Bishop spun the APC in an attempt to dislodge the alien queen, but she wasn't about to lose her grip. She reached her hand down into the gap. Bishop ducked to avoid her.

Legolas grabbed Zion's smartgun and moved to the door on the side. He quickly slid it open.

Ariedel knew what he was going to do. "Legolas, no!"

Legolas clung to the side of the APC and scaled up to the roof.

The queen was distracted by the sound and she spun her head around to see one of the beings coming right to her. She hissed, sensing he was the one capable of projecting images to her.

Legolas waited until he knew he had her full attention before he took a running step and hurled himself off the back of the speeding APC.

The alien queen roared furiously and after a moment's thought she released her hold on the APC. She fell off the side and rolled several times before she regained her footing and turned in the direction of the escaping prey. With another deafening screech, she gave chase.

 

Chapter 16 – How to Trap a Queen​

"Stop the APC!" Freak said to Bishop as he quickly headed to the back to arm himself. He gave Zion a brief glance. "Close the door after I leave."

"No way," replied Zion. "I'm going with you."

"Loop can't protect the APC if the alien bitch comes back. I'm not losing anybody else." Then Freak turned to Ariedel, noting the terrified look on her face as Aragorn sat down beside her. "I'm not going out there because I'm worried he can't take care of himself. I just wanna make sure he can find his way back. That's all." He knew he wasn't sounding very convincing.

Ariedel knew Legolas had more experience with alien queens than anybody else on the team. But that still didn't make her stop worrying. She watched Freak jump out of the APC and Zion slammed the door shut behind him. "Aragorn, I can't feel Legolas anymore. Did the Valar change their mind and took back the immortality they granted me?"

"Nay, I do not believe that is a possibility."

"Then what's happening? Why can't I feel him?"

Aragorn narrowed his brows as he recalled the words Legolas spoke to him in the underground compound. "I fear more and more of his Elven traits are being replaced by those belonging to the creatures. Even though he tries to disguise it, he suffers an unidentifiable and constant overwhelming pain. I know not how he endures it. Perhaps he is driven by his need to reach the goal he set out to fulfill when he left Arda."

"I just hope he doesn't give up his will to live before we return home. The Valar assured me they could restore him back to the way he was, but he has to die at home. Not out here."

"Then we shall endeavor to see he survives until we reach Arda."

"Well, this couldn't have been more perfectly timed," Bishop sarcastically said from his seat at the wheel.

Everyone turned toward the android. Through the half-broken windshield in front of him, they could see a thick fog begin to roll in.
(Legolas's POV)

From atop a tree I watched the fog swirl around the ground. Moments ago when I lured the queen away from the APC, I took to the trees to avoid her. With the fog, it would no longer be possible for me to see her and in this she had an advantage, for she did not need sight to find me. But I had one trait assimilated from the creatures...I could feel them, just as plainly as I could see them. Additionally the queen was large and she had no control over her heavy footfalls. Thus I knew she stalked around the tree where I perched.

Piercing the cloud of fog below were the many sharp protrusions from her large crown and those upon her back, like an ominous predator in a sea of white. I silently shifted the smartgun in her direction and pressed the weapon's trigger. As the projectiles struck, her screeching echoed loudly through the quiet forest. But even with the power of the smartgun, her armor was far stronger than the lesser of her kind. She raised her face up toward me, teeth bared in a hideous grin that promised the worst possible death. As she opened her mouth to release a hiss, I glimpsed her inner set of jaws. The sight of them reminded me of my other encounters with her kind and the resulting pain inflicted upon me.

Even with my alien traits, fighting hand to hand with her was not going to be an option for me. A drone was one thing, but the enormous bulk of a queen left me at a complete disadvantage.

Suddenly she lowered her head back into the fog and began to slam it into the tree. The tree shook violently from the impact.
Hearing the smartgun, Freak moved at a steady jog through the dense fog in the direction of the sound. He had a blaster in each hand, raised and ready to fire...not that it would cause any real damage to an alien queen. But the weapons still gave him the confidence he needed to keep going. His true driving force was that he wanted to hurry up and take care of business here so he could get back to the Rebel and go after Pennington. There was no way he was going to let the son-of-a-bitch get away with killing Takashi and Sanchez. "Not on my watch," he said aloud to no one in particular.

Something moved passed, disrupting the fog surrounding him. He stopped and spun around, afraid to shoot in case it was Legolas. "Lego, is that you?" But he knew it wasn't. The Elf would have warned him of his approach. There was a hiss and a movement to his left and again to his right. Multiple movements. Remembering that the alien breeding facility wasn't that far away, it was possible some of the bugs had gotten out to help their queen. With the thick fog he wasn't going to be able to see them. A skeletal tail came at him, slashing his left cheek. "Fuck this," he said as he started shooting and shifting his aim to cover the perimeter. He was gratified to hear the screeches of the bugs he hit.
(Legolas's POV)

I was drawn by the sound of weapon fire and briefly forgot my own predicament. Someone must have followed me out of the APC and was now in trouble. I was certain it was not Ariedel, for she would not have left Anwar's side. And Lipinski was injured. It was either Aragorn, Freak or Zion.

Glancing back down at the fog where the queen was trying to bring the tree down, an idea came to me. I reached out my Elven senses to the surrounding trees. But after a moment I quickly began to realize I could no longer communicate with them. Even though they could not understand me, I uttered a silent apology to the trees and jumped down from the high branch.

The queen roared and stopped attacking the tree.

I began shooting the smartgun at the base of the trees closest to her bulk. The trees quickly splintered. In a matter of seconds, two of the towering trees began to fall. The alien queen seemed unaware of the situation until one of the trees fell on top of her. She screeched and perhaps would have easily been able to get up if a second tree had not fallen on top of the other. Just to be sure, I took two more trees down and was satisfied to see the queen squirming beneath their weight, arms flailing wildly in the swirling fog. It would not stop her for long, but it would buy me time to help whoever was in need.
Freak backed himself into a tree, smoking blasters raised. After receiving the gash across his left cheek from a stray tail, he was happy to pulverize the alien that did it. Since then the attack had stopped. An entire minute passed without another sound and he took the time to catch his breath. But he didn't take his eyes away from the surrounding area, not even to check if the charges on his blasters were still full.

Suddenly a hand clamped over his shoulder. He let out a startled cry and whipped a blaster around, only for it to be caught in a vice-like grip. He came face to face with Legolas who raised a finger to his lips, motioning for him to keep quiet. The two of them moved away from the tree. As Freak followed closely behind the Elf, he kept having to look at the ground to avoid stepping on any acid blood from the crumpled bodies all around. He wanted to pat himself on the back for doing such a good job at keeping the damned things off his own hide and in such bad weather conditions. "What happened to the queen?" whispered Freak.

"I distracted her, but not for long."

"So now what?" he jogged to keep up with the Elf who wasn't heading in the direction of the APC.

The fog was beginning to thin out a bit and Legolas stopped at the center of a small clearing to inspect the trees around him. He glanced at a large tree and then moved to a small sapling.

Freak just stood around and watched the Elf work. It began with Legolas unsheathing one of his knives and cutting down the sapling. Then the Elf worked on the cut end of the sapling, hacking at it until it became a sharp point. It finally dawned on Freak what Legolas was attempting to do and he quickly gathered several thick vines and tied them together. Five minutes later the trap was set.

"Which do you prefer to be?" asked Legolas.

Freak stared up at the tree where the sharpened sapling was tied. "Well, I was never much on climbing trees so I guess I'll be the bait."

Legolas turned over the smartgun to Freak and then skillfully climbed the tree to the branch with the sapling.

"How am I gonna know when she's in position?" Freak called up.

"I will tell you," Legolas called back down. Then he glanced over his shoulder. "She comes now."

Freak squinted his eyes, trying to see through the thinning fog. He made out a large shape moving through the trees, hunched over, arms arched out on either side of her bulk. This was the moment of truth. He stepped out in the open and began to whistle a tune before shifting to sing the words instead. "From yesterday, it's coming. From yesterday, the fear. From yesterday, it calls him."

The queen sensed the presence, felt the vibrations of the being's movements and voice and she stalked toward him, hissing in anticipation of the kill.

Freak felt his knees weaken at the sight of the queen moving toward him. He was out in the open and had nowhere to hide. She was a nightmarish vision that would haunt his dreams forever. His eyes shifted to the Elf in the tree on the other side of the small glade. With a brief nod to acknowledge the signal, Freak shifted his position slightly to the right. Another signal and he moved even further. Then the Elf gave him an OK sign.

The queen slowed her steps as she felt an inkling of something amiss. Her head turned to survey the surroundings.

When he saw her moving in another direction, Freak hefted the smartgun and began shooting. "Over here, you dumbass alien bitch!"

The queen hissed in fury and turned her attention back to the being in front of her. She took several steps closer to him and he backed away. Her steps remained cautious as she continued to sense something deceitful about the being.

Freak looked toward Legolas again and saw him cut the vine holding the sapling in place. Then he lunged out of the way.

Hearing a sound behind her, the alien queen spun fully around.

Legolas watched wide-eyed as the sharp sapling swung down on a vine and speared the queen in the chest. The momentum of the sapling lifted her off the ground and threw her into a thick tree, impaling her into it.

The queen gurgled and squirmed and flailed her arms, legs and tail. But her efforts were useless, she couldn't free herself.

Freak shook his fist up at her. "That's what you get for messing up my APC!"
Back at the APC, Zion was busy keeping a number of aliens from coming too close. Then the sound of a smartgun drew his attention further away. Two people were running forward and he recognized both of them. Zion doubled his efforts to dispose of the nearby aliens. When Freak and Legolas were safely aboard, he made sure it was clear before he slid the door closed.

Bishop set the APC in motion and immediately headed for the space dock.

Ariedel wanted to ask Legolas if he was all right, but he gave her a brief nod and moved toward the front with Freak.

Minutes later they arrived at the deserted space dock. There were three shuttles and Freak wasted no time rounding everyone up into one of them. Within seconds of the shuttle lifting off, a horde of aliens emerged from the trees to ransack the APC. He was sorry to lose the stealth vehicle because they were hard to come by and it had come in handy a number of times. But the roof was damaged beyond repair.
The flight on the shuttle was quiet. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

Freak tried not to reveal how distraught he was over the deaths of Takashi and Sanchez. Their knowledge would be missed, but he would personally forever feel their absence. He and his crew depended on each other on a daily basis...they were a family. It was difficult to let go, even though he knew with the jobs they did, they risked their lives all the time.

Ariedel was strapped to her seat with Anwar. The child hadn't let go of her since they left the alien infested facility. She felt sorry for Anwar because the poor girl had been through far more than what any young teenager should ever go through. Even though Anwar was rather adventurous for a twelve year old, to experience the terror of anything associated with the aliens was too much for anyone to bear. Ariedel hoped Anwar wouldn't be scarred for life because of it. She wanted her daughter to live a normal life and quite possibly become involved with the young prince of Gondor. The thought made Ariedel smile for a brief moment and she placed a soft kiss on Anwar's brow.

Legolas wrestled with his emotions as he watched his wife and daughter curled up together beside him. He was elated that his family was alive and well and untouched by any alien. He had been so concerned they would find Anwar with her chest blown open and instead she hadn't even been implanted. The only explanation for the dead facehugger was maybe someone else had also been in the chamber, or someone was there before Anwar and the facehugger had already implanted its embryo into the victim. He closed his eyes and shook his head to erase the thoughts that didn't matter any longer. As the pain continued to throb steadily through his head, he opened his eyes again to find Ariedel looking at him.

"Are you all right?" she asked in a whisper.

Legolas reached a hand to her face and slid closer to join in embracing their daughter between them. "I am fine now that I know my family is safe." When she tilted her face toward him, he leaned even closer to share an affectionate kiss with her. Then he turned toward the front of the shuttle where Freak was at the controls with Bishop. "Do you suppose he blames me for their deaths?"

"No. He's not like that." She met his eyes. "But you blame yourself, don't you?"

"I blame myself for much of what has happened, but have felt no remorse until now." He motioned toward Freak. "I feel his pain and am truly saddened that Takashi and Sanchez had to lose their lives in pursuit of a goal I had set for myself. My vengeance was my own burden, which is the reason I left Arda on my own.. At the time I did not even know who I wanted to exact my vengeance upon. When I became aware that Pennington's death would bring me the peace I so greatly desire, it was all I could think about." He gently caressed the side of Anwar's face. "She is safe and now all I desire to do is return home."

"Then that's what we're going to do."

Legolas turned back in Freak's direction. "I sense our friend has other ideas."

Freak maneuvered the shuttle closer to the Rebel while Bishop fed code into the computer. The signal went to the ship and it prepared to receive the small vessel. When the shuttle was locked down, everyone exited from the side door.

Bishop caught up to Freak's long strides as he immediately headed out of the docking bay. "I found the Dropship transponder signal."

"Where is it?" Freak asked without slowing his steps.

"Echelon. It's a few hours away from our present location. Given the range the Dropship could go, it makes sense Pennington would go there."

"Set a course, Bishop and I want to get there yesterday. You get my meaning?"

"Affirmative." Bishop stopped and let Freak continue on ahead. Then the android took the corridor that led to the control room.
Onboard the Rebel

Legolas waited in the main part of the suite while Ariedel helped Anwar in the bath chamber. He paced in front of the bed like a caged animal, unable to feel any sense of rest. Having felt the motion of the ship moments earlier, he had a feeling they weren't heading for Arda. He knew Freak wanted blood, just as badly as he himself had wanted it not too long ago. Even though Legolas tried to convince himself that he was through with chasing after Pennington, deep down inside there was still that inkling of an unfulfilled vengeance. And the more he fought to keep it hidden, the more it was pushed forward by the dark side of him that was trying to gain full control…the dark side that would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

Ariedel stepped out of the bath chamber, with Anwar wrapped in a large robe. "You feel better now?"

Anwar nodded and yawned as she let her mother lead her to the large bed.

Ariedel folded the sheets back and Anwar climbed in. Then she slipped them over her. "Rest for a little while now," Ariedel said and kissed Anwar's forehead as the girl quickly fell into reverie. She turned to Legolas and watched him pace for a minute before she walked up and stood in his intended path.

Legolas halted before colliding into Ariedel and gave her a stern look.

"Can you do your pacing somewhere else so our daughter can get some rest?"

His expression softened. "Of course, forgive me."

Before he could walk away, Ariedel grabbed his hand. "No, I'm sorry, Legolas. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Legolas pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Soon enough their passion began to build. Even though he knew he wouldn't be able to reach his own completion, he would at least find pleasure in knowing he could bring Ariedel there. And he would have continued if they weren't sharing a suite with their daughter.

Ariedel knew what he was thinking. She briefly glanced toward Anwar before turning back to Legolas and capturing his lips once again. "Let's go in the other room."

"Splendid idea," said Legolas as he took her hand and started to lead her toward the bath chamber. But then he paused and turned toward the other door. Two seconds later there was a light knock. Legolas released Ariedel and went to answer the door. The door slid open to reveal Freak and Aragorn.

Freak stared at Legolas for a minute before he spoke. "I'm going after Pennington. I just came to tell you that I'm not expecting anyone else to go with me."

Legolas studied the man's face, sensing turmoil in the normally casual demeanor he had grown used to. "You are not in this alone, Freak."

"No, really. I'm fine if you don't go, man. I don't want you to feel obligated. Besides, I've got a king going with me and he can really kick some ass," he added with a flourish and a wink toward Aragorn.

Legolas heard Ariedel sighing heavily from somewhere behind him and he gave her a brief glance before turning back to Freak and Aragorn with a half smile. "Despite my wife's open display of displeasure, for only she would know my mind so well, I do not intend to let the two of you have all the fun. I will go with you. Besides, initially it was my idea to go after Pennington. Just because I have my daughter back, it does not mean I will let that shithead get away with what he did."

Freak grinned and placed a hand on Legolas's shoulder. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Legolas returned the smile and then glanced at Aragorn as he placed his hand on the ranger's shoulder. "Besides, I have to look out for Aragorn. Arwen would kill me if something happened to him."

 

Chapter 17 – Echelon​

Echelon - Flint

Pennington nursed the tall scotch in his right hand. He wasn't a drinking man, but the alcohol seemed to take the edge off the pain in his left wrist. When the bartender approached, Pennington signaled for another refill. After taking a long gulp from the glass, he shifted to look over his shoulder toward the door. When no one entered, he turned back to his glass and continued to wait in the popular lounge.

Once a small colony, Flint had grown into a thriving city thanks to the abundant resources found on the pleasantly climated planet of Echelon. Pennington funded much of what was needed to build the city and he credited himself for the population growth. When he wasn't on Midland 6 or Midland 2, he often came to Flint to mingle with people he cared nothing about. His publicist said it was good for his image, especially now that he was discovered to be in charge of the Company. Unfortunately not everyone thought of him as an exceptional man. He had been spat at by a number of people since his arrival, including the doctor who had worked on his injured wrist.

But Pennington ignored the derogatory inflections. He no longer give a rat's ass what the population of the United Systems thought of him. To hell with all of them who thought he wasn't doing good for humanity. They obviously didn't have a clue what was going on and why it was necessary to make certain human sacrifices.

The bell above the door jingled and Pennington looked over his shoulder again. A man entered, using a cane to help him walk. He glanced around and spotted Pennington who motioned him toward a corner booth.

Pennington took his glass and slid into the booth. He waited for his companion to get his drink before the man came to slide opposite him. "How's the leg?"

"Hurts like fucking hell," said Morris. Then he motioned to Pennington's wrist. "What happened to you?"

"Our friend the Elf decided to see if his blood really did contain acid."

"Well, that really sucks."

"Yeah, it sucks just as bad as being hit with an arrow in the back of the thigh by his father."

"How's the kid?" asked Morris.

"Hopefully dead by now."

Morris took a gulp from his glass, then looked up at Pennington. "So am I getting the green light to waste dear old dad?"

"You'll get the green light after I've gotten confirmation that the others are dead. I should hear in a few hours. Then you can do whatever you want to the father. You can blow up their whole goddamned planet for all I care."
Echelon - Flint

The shuttle gently touched down on the landing pad and after the ramp lowered, the small transport began powering down. Freak, Bishop, Aragorn and Legolas emerged from the shuttle and visually inspected the busy dock.

"Which way?" Freak asked Bishop.

Bishop glanced down at his handheld tracking device and pointed the way. Several minutes later they found the Dropship.

A dock crewman approached them as Freak checked the exterior of the Dropship for damage. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, this is my ship," replied Freak. Then he pulled out some papers and handed them to the crewman. "Where's the man that brought it here?"

The crewman stiffened. "Sorry, but I can't disclose that information."

Freak withdrew a blaster and pressed it into the man's cheek. "You don't understand. The asshole killed two of my people and stole this conveyance. So now I want a piece of him."

"I...I..don't know...where he...he...went," stuttered the crewman. He tried to pull away, but Aragorn grabbed him from behind.

Legolas raised an eyebrow. "He lies."

Freak shifted the barrel of the blaster and stuck it into the man's mouth. "I figured as much."

The crewman paled and quickly mumbled something.

"What's that?" Freak questioned. "You're beginning to remember?"

When the barrel was removed from his mouth, the crewman gasped. "He's at Hurricane's. On the other side of town. He's waiting for me to inform him when his transport arrives."

"Which transport is that?"

"It goes back and forth between here and Midland 6."

"And when is it supposed to get here?"

"Tomorrow."

"What's Hurricane's?

"A bar."

"He's hanging at a bar all day and night until tomorrow?"

"No, he has an apartment across the street from Hurricane's."

Freak holstered his blaster and Aragorn released the crewman. "Thank you so much for your cooperation. Bishop, keep an eye on him and don't let my Dropship out of your sight." He walked away with Aragorn and Legolas.
Onboard the Rebel

Zion and Ariedel had their heads down, both staring at the data that appeared on the computer screen.

"So he has no family left in the universe," commented Ariedel. "Knowing the kind of slime ball he is, I wouldn't doubt the possibility he killed them all off."

Zion chuckled. "You said it."

Ariedel sighed. "I just hate the fact that he actually did do some good."

"Yeah, but he's done more bad than good. And think about the good for a minute. He could have done it without sacrificing human lives. He just didn't give a damn."

"Nana?"

Both Ariedel and Zion turned away from the screen to look over their shoulders. Wrapped in a fluffy robe three sizes too big, Anwar stood at the entrance to the bridge.

"What're you doing out of bed?" asked Ariedel. She left Zion's side and walked to her daughter, noting the paler than usual color on her face.

"I do not feel well."

Ariedel's heart nearly jumped into her throat. "What's wrong? What're you feeling?" She tried not to panic in front of the child.

Anwar placed a hand over her chest. "It hurts here."

"When did it start?"

"A few minutes ago. It woke me up."

Ariedel turned to Zion. "Bring me your scanner."

Zion moved away from the computer to retrieve his scanner and rather than handing it to Ariedel, he performed the scan himself. "It came up clean before and it's still clean. Maybe she just ate too much," he suggested.

"No, you don't understand. She's part Elf. Elves don't get sick." She took Anwar's hand and quickly led her out of the bridge.
Echelon - Flint

The neon sign above Hurricane's gave off enough light to illuminate the entire block. A long line of people stood on the sidewalk outside, waiting to get into the popular nightclub, while two muscular men stood at the doorway, controlling the flow of patrons that entered.

Directly across the street, Legolas, Freak and Aragorn watched from the doorway of an apartment building. When they arrived in the area an hour ago, they decided to investigate Pennington's apartment first. Unfortunately Pennington wasn't there, so they ransacked the entire place just for kicks.

"What if he's not even in there?" asked Freak.

Legolas nodded toward the club. "I can feel him. He is there."

Freak gave Legolas an incredulous look. "How can you be so sure?"

The Elf shifted his eyes toward Freak and gave him a half smile. "Trust me."

Aragorn looked at the long line in dismay. "There must be another way in."

"Let's try the backdoor," suggested Freak.

The three of them walked across the street and headed down the alley before rounding a corner to the back of the building. They came across a locked door.

Legolas placed his hands on the door and felt more than listened to the sounds and movements on the other side. "This leads to the storage room. Tis empty for the moment."

Freak raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Damn, I wish I could do that."

Legolas wrapped his hand around the metal handle and gave it a swift pull. The metal latch tore through the frame and the door opened. "After you," he said, smiling at Freak.
Onboard the Rebel

Lipinski was sitting in Medical when Ariedel walked in with Anwar and Zion. He glanced up at them. "What's going on?"

Ariedel placed Anwar in front of a large machine. "Stay here, honey, okay?" She turned to Lipinski. "I need you to run a full scan on her."

Lipinski turned to Zion and then back to Ariedel. "What for?"

"Just do it," replied Zion.

With his leg wrapped from ankle to thigh, Lipinski got up from his seat and hobbled over to the machine. He repositioned Anwar slightly and then began feeding commands into the keyboard. A mechanical arm with a blue neon wand unfolded from a crevasse with a loud whirring sound and positioned itself above Anwar's head.

Anwar looked up at the strange appendage and gasped in fright.

Ariedel crouched down in front of the elfling. "It's okay, honey. Just keep looking at me."

Lipinski fed more commands into the keyboard and the arm shifted. The neon wand began to slowly scan the child, starting from her head all the way down to her toes. He stared at the images being projected back to him and he swallowed hard.

Ariedel saw Lipinski's reaction and immediately rushed over to stand beside him. The sight on the screen brought tears to her eyes. Not wanting to frighten Anwar with her reaction, she moved to stand on the other side of Lipinski.

"It's a queen," murmured Lipinski.

Zion approached and looked at the image the other two stared at. "Shit," he whispered as he realized his scanner must have been malfunctioning.

Ariedel briefly covered her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out. She wished Legolas was with her. "Can you get that thing out of her?"

"I've never extracted a queen before," said Lipinski. "But we sure as hell can't wait around for the right time. We need to get her into surgery right now."
Echelon – Flint

The interior of the packed nightclub was dark with flashing colored lights. Loud music kept the patrons moving on the dance floor.

At one end of the enormous bar sat Pennington, two voluptuous women, one at each arm, fussing over him. He knew they were only interested in his wealth and power, but he didn't care. He had no intention of ever settling down to raise his own progeny. His father had been uncomfortably distant with him and he had no desire to continue the Pennington name. It would stop with him.

A moment later his satellite phone beeped. Luckily he had a spare in the apartment he rented across the street because he hadn't been given the opportunity to take anything when the Elf dragged him out of the house on Midland 2. "Excuse me, ladies," he said before bringing the satphone to his ear. "Pennington."

"Mr Pennington, it's Faulkner," came the voice on the other end. "I'm circling over the facility as we speak. The walls of the shed have been torn apart and there's damage to the elevator shaft. I'm guessing the queen got out. I'm not picking up any life signs other than the bugs. Do you need us to enter the compound to confirm?"

"No, that won't be necessary. There's no way in hell anybody could have gotten out of there alive. Not with nearly seven hundred aliens on the loose."

"What about the bugs?"

"Send a team to round them up before they kill each other. Have them taken to Hazard Arena. There's plenty of room for them there."

"Affirmative, sir. I'll dispatch a team."

"Perfect. And while you're at it, send another team to scrap that orbiting A-class ship."

"Can you repeat that, sir? Did you say A-class ship?"

"Yeah, it belonged to the people that were trying to kill me."

"Begging your pardon, sir, but we didn't see a ship of any kind. There was nothing when we arrived."

"There has to be. It was there when I left...Unless..." Pennington's heart began to pound. No way. There was no way they could have escaped the alien infested compound. Right at that moment, as his mind started racing, he turned around to face the dance floor. Directly across from him, on the opposite side of the dancing bodies, stood the Elf, staring at him with his menacing look. Alive and well...It was the last time Pennington ever planned to leave anything to chance. He started to move away from the bar, leaving the two women to pout. He would have made it to the door if two men hadn't stepped in front of him, preventing him from going any further. Pennington recognized both of them. "Well, whatta you know. Frick and frack. It's too bad I had to kill two of your people."

Freak wanted to punch Pennington in the gut or in the face...or even worse. "Funny how we were able to find you so easily."

"Yeah, that is funny. It was my own stupidity this time. I should have disabled the transponder on the Dropship. But then again, I was dead certain you and your friends would never be able to get out of an alien infested compound. One of these days you'll have to tell me how you did that."

This time Freak smiled. "I hate to break the news to you, but you won't live to see another day after tonight."

From the corner of his eye, Pennington observed the Elf approach. Then he turned to look at him with malice. "You know, you're like a fucking bad penny that keeps turning up. Why can't you just die?"

"Forgive me for constantly disappointing you," replied Legolas.

Freak revealed the blaster in his pocket. "We're going to walk out of here nice and quiet. No disturbances, you get my drift?"

Pennington nodded. "Nice and quiet, sure." When the way was opened for him, Pennington started to walk forward. He could feel the muzzle of the blaster poking him in the ribs. His mind began to race again, thinking of ways to escape. He certainly wasn't going to walk out peacefully with them. Not a chance. He slowly slipped a hand into his pocket and felt the cold steel of the small, old-fashioned 9mm.

Legolas sensed the man's heightened stress level and before he could react, he was roughly shoved aside. He turned and watched the next few seconds as if they were happening in slow motion. Freak fired the blaster, hitting Pennington in the shoulder. Screams quickly followed as Pennington grabbed an unsuspecting woman and held her in front of him as a shield, a small pistol pressed into her throat. He backed away with the woman, moving toward the entrance.

Freak and Aragorn moved forward, not wanting to force Pennington into killing the woman. But the woman's safety didn't seem to be a priority for Legolas. He drew one of his long knives and advanced.

"Nay, Legolas!" yelled Aragorn.

Pennington shifted the pistol's aim and fired it at the approaching Elf.

With lightning speed, Legolas ducked and the bullet grazed the side of his forehead, momentarily distracting him.

The two bouncers came in from outside to see what was causing the screams. At that moment, Pennington released the woman and turned to rush out the door only to be blocked by one of the bouncers. He fired the pistol into the man's gut and ran passed him through the door.

Outside the nightclub, Pennington quickly assessed his options and ran for a vehicle where a man was exiting the driver's side. He shoved the man out of the way and jumped into the seat.

Legolas ran out the door in time to see Pennington pull away in a red vehicle. Not wasting any time, he jumped into the driver's seat of a parked vehicle and quickly began to figure out how to start it.

Freak and Aragorn ran out of the club and saw Legolas about to pull away in a black vehicle. They quickly jumped into the back seat just as the vehicle pulled away from the curb.

 

Chapter 18 – Retribution​

Onboard the Rebel

Ariedel chewed on her thumbnail as she watched the monitor on the opposite side of a glass partition. Her daughter's vital signs were normal. But that wasn't so true about herself. She was a nervous wreck. A quick glance through the glass into the other room revealed Lipinski about to cut into the child's chest with Zion prepared to extract the alien embryo with a device that would also render it immobile. Ariedel couldn't watch, so she opted to monitor Anwar's vitals. She had no choice but to trust the two men under Freak's command and in truth she felt confident that Lipinski and Zion wouldn't purposely do anything to cause further harm to her daughter.

"I've got a clean cut," murmured Lipinski as he used the laser attached to the mechanical arm over the surgical table. Then he reached for another attachment on the mechanical arm. "Using the rib spreaders."

Ariedel closed her eyes and fought back the tears. Her poor baby. She couldn't bear the thought of her child's chest lying sliced open.

"There it is," said Lipinski.

"I've got it," Zion responded as he activated the extractor.

The two men worked together to get the undeveloped embryo of the tiny alien queen out of the child's chest and into a stasis tube.

Lipinski turned to the glass and gave Ariedel a thumb's up. She looked elated and he could tell she was crying. Then he turned to study the embryo's form lying in the stasis tube. "A couple more hours and this thing would have been looking for its way out." He noted the pale look on Zion's face. "Hey, man, I know what you're thinking and you can't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing the scanner wasn't working right."

"I know...but...if this kid had died…man, I can't even think about it."

Lipinski turned on the intercom to address Ariedel. "I'm closing her up now, Ariedel. She'll be fine and being an Elf she'll heal quickly, right?"

"That's right," replied Ariedel, wiping at her eyes.

Zion picked up the stasis tube and left the surgical chamber, leaving Lipinski to finish up. He approached Ariedel with the tube. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Gladly." Ariedel followed Zion to another section of the medical unit.

Zion opened a panel with a small glass window and placed the stasis tube inside the chamber. The panel slid shut. Then he turned to Ariedel.

Ariedel stared through the window at the embryo of the alien queen, finding it almost hard to believe that it had been inside her daughter's chest. She reached her hand to the button next to the panel and slammed her palm into it. The stasis tube was immediately engulfed in flames and within minutes was nothing but a pile of ashes.
Echelon - Flint

Legolas cut the wheel to the left, sending the vehicle skidding around the corner. He stared ahead at the red vehicle moving in and out of traffic.

Having recovered from being pushed into Aragorn from the momentum of the left turn, Freak held on to the back of the passenger seat in front of him. "Have you ever driven one of these before?"

"Never," Legolas calmly replied.

Freak leaned back in his seat and turned to Aragorn. "We're gonna die."

In the red vehicle, Pennington glanced at the rearview mirror. He didn't need to be a genius to know who was in the black vehicle currently pursuing him. "I've had about all I can take from that little shit. I should have killed him when I had the chance...But no," he whined. "I had to think about fattening my goddamned pockets." He cut the wheel to the right and smashed into the side of another car, sending it skidding around.

Legolas watched as one of the cars up ahead skidded around. Two other cars smashed into it, followed by the screeching of tires all around. With the road blocked up ahead, Legolas turned to the left and the vehicle hopped the curb. He repeatedly slammed his palm on the horn and people jumped out of the way as the vehicle flew along the sidewalk.

Pennington turned to his left and saw the black car driving on the sidewalk. Then when there was an opening, it came off the sidewalk and careened into the side of his car. The jarring of the vehicle reminded Pennington of the blast he had received in the shoulder and he tried to ignore the pain. He clenched his teeth as the other vehicle slammed into him again.

Legolas slammed into the other vehicle once again and then realized the two bumpers were locked together. He glanced to his right at Pennington, sensing his fear and gave the man a smile. But he knew Pennington was determined and that made him extremely dangerous.

Pennington pulled out his pistol and took aim into the side window of the other car. He fired it until the gun was empty. Unfortunately not one of his shots hit the Elf, who skillfully dodged the bullets. Not having any ammunition to refill the pistol, he angrily tossed it aside. When he looked ahead he saw the headlights of a large truck.

Legolas also saw the large vehicle that began blaring its horn at them. At their present course, his vehicle would slam head on into it. He glanced at Pennington who gave him a sneer.

"Uh, Lego..." said Freak from the back seat.

"I see it." Legolas tried to pull the wheel to the left, but it wasn't budging.

"Cut the wheel to the left!" yelled Freak.

"I am trying!" The lights were coming closer and the horn was blaring louder. At the last possible second, Legolas turned the wheel to the right instead of the left and pushed the other vehicle aside. A split second later the large truck drove passed, catching the back end of the car. Still locked together, both vehicles spun out of control and slammed head on into a concrete divider.

As the dust settled, Pennington squeezed out of the seat and crawled through the shattered windshield. The crash caused his shoulder to hurt even more, but he managed to hop off the hood of the car. A quick glance at the other car revealed an uninjured Elf crawling through the shattered driver's window. Pennington turned and ran.

Legolas left the vehicle and went after Pennington.

Freak and Aragorn were only slightly banged up from the crash and they both managed to slip out of the broken windows. Even though they knew Legolas wouldn't give Pennington an ounce of a chance, they went after them anyway.

Pennington ran for all he was worth, but he knew he'd never be able to outrun the Elf. Coming to a small area under construction, he grabbed a wooden board with rusty nails protruding from the other end. He gritted his teeth and waited for the Elf to approach.

Legolas slowed his steps. He decided he needed no weapon to handle Pennington and advanced.

Pennington swung the board for a direct hit, only to find the Elf lunge cleanly out of the way. When he swung again, the Elf raised a hand and the board became lodged in his nails. With a quick jerk, the board was ripped out of Pennington's hands. All he had left now were his fists and he raised them. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"Retribution," Legolas replied through clenched teeth and moved forward.

Pennington swung a fist, connecting with the Elf's jaw, but it was like hitting a brick wall. In return the Elf swung a hand and raked his nails across Pennington's face.

When Pennington was down, Legolas jumped on him, pinning him to the ground with a knee. He wrapped his hand around the man's throat, digging his nails into the flesh.

Freak and Aragorn caught up and watched Pennington struggling against Legolas. They didn't interfere.

Legolas debated whether to end Pennington's life then and there. He strongly felt the man deserved a far worse death than this. Instead of tightening his grip on Pennington's throat, Legolas swung with the opposite hand, rendering him unconscious with a punch to the face. Then he stood up and turned to Freak and Aragorn.

"Why didn't you finish him?" asked Freak.

"I have something better in mind."

Freak attached a com unit to his ear. "Bishop, do you copy?"

"I'm here."

"Tune in to my signal and get over here with the Dropship. We've achieved our goal and we're ready to leave."
Onboard the Rebel

Ariedel waited in the docking bay as the Dropship locked in place and the ramp came down. She expected Freak to be the first to exit, as usual, and was surprised to see Pennington rolling down, hands and feet bound so tight he couldn't move a muscle.

Freak came immediately after and gave Pennington a swift kick in the back. "Try and get out of this one, mother fucker!"

The minute Ariedel saw Legolas, she rushed over to embrace him. "Are you okay?"

Legolas immediately sensed her distress. "Something has happened. What is it?"

Ariedel took his hand and led him away.

Zion filled in Freak and Aragorn on what happened to Anwar.

Pennington listened to the exchange and began to laugh in a sadistic manner.

Freak grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him up. "How'd you like five across the eyes?" He turned him over to Zion. "Put him on ice."

Zion started to drag him away. "Come on, slimeball, it's nighty night for you."

"You can do whatever you want to me, but know that I'll come looking for you!" yelled Pennington over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" Freak yelled back. "When you wake up, you're gonna wish the Elf had killed you!"
Legolas watched Anwar sleeping. His worst fear had been realized. She had been implanted with an alien embryo...a queen. Just as it had happened to him years ago. Standing beside him, Ariedel squeezed his hand and he turned to her briefly before turning back to his daughter. "Was the creature destroyed?"

"It was the first thing we did after it was taken out of her."

Legolas reached out to caress Anwar's forehead. "She will heal quickly if she is allowed to sleep."

"Well, she'll have plenty of time while we head for home."

"We have one more stop."

Ariedel rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. It has something to do with Pennington."

"Aye, it does."

"Legolas, you have to realize that people have seen you take him out of his home and then again from that club in Flint. You'll be blamed for his death and the authorities will hunt you down."

"I assure you that will not happen."

"How can you be so sure?"

Legolas kissed her on the forehead. "Patience, meleth nin. You will see." (my love)
Midland 6 – Hazard Arena

Ellie watched the Dropship settle on the ground just outside the arena facility. An hour ago she had received an encrypted transmission telling her to expect a special package for extra-special handling. She imagined the package was being delivered by the pilot of the Dropship or the vessel would have picked a docking bay to land in. A smile spread across her face when she recognized the man coming down the ramp to greet her. Freak. "Well, hello again."

Freak gave her a gut-wrenching smile and lifted her hand up for him to kiss. "I told you I'd be back."

From over Freak's shoulder Ellie saw others coming down the ramp. The Elf, Legolas and two others she recognized but didn't know by name. With them they rolled a mobile cryochamber. "So you're the one delivering my special package?"

Freak led her by the hand toward the cryochamber. He waited for her reaction when she glimpsed inside.

"Pennington. How nice." She thought to glance at the vital sign readings on the side panel. "He's alive?"

"Right," replied Freak as he slipped an arm around her shoulder and started to lead her away. "He's caused all of us some real hardship. To you, to me, to my buddy, Lego. So this is what's going to happen..."

Legolas, Aragorn and Zion followed behind them with the cryochamber.
Wayne Pennington slowly regained consciousness.

The first thing he noticed was his location. He was in the middle of the Hazard Arena, a place he was very familiar with, even in the dark. The red laser gridlines several meters above his head gave him the clue. But how had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was fighting with the Elf on Echelon.

The second thing he noticed was the lack of light in the stands. He turned around in a circle and was about to shout out to anyone who could hear. A light came on in the stands. It illuminated a small section of the front rows. He recognized the four people sitting there and didn't bother to ask what he was doing in the arena.

It didn't matter because the next thing he noticed was the hissing sounds beginning to surround him in the darkness. For once in his life, Wayne Pennington realized there was no way out. "I'll see you all in hell!"

The last thing Pennington noticed was the look of satisfaction on the Elf's face as three aliens emerged from the darkness and ferociously attacked him.

From the stands Freak made a gruesome face and turned away from the slaughter below. Then he glanced up as Ellie appeared and sat down beside him.

"I'll place a call to the President's aide," she said with a relieved sigh. "I'll tell them Pennington had a little accident involving several of his pets. They'll need to appoint another man to head the Company."

"And then what're you going to do?"

Ellie shrugged with a smile. "I dunno. Maybe I'll go with you."

Freak returned her smile and nodded.

Legolas continued to watch the aliens literally tearing Pennington to pieces. He knew the man was already dead, but he needed to reassure himself nonetheless. So he waited until the aliens grew bored and moved away from the mutilated carcass. Then he turned to Freak. "We can return home now."
Avalon

The telecom buzzed and James Burbank excused himself from the dining table. He sat in front of the wall unit in the other room and pressed the red Answer button. The image of the President of the United Systems appeared. "Mr President..." Burbank uttered with surprise.

Seth turned from where he sat at the table, but he couldn't hear what the President was saying to his father-in law.

"What's going on?" asked his wife, Wendy.

"I'm not sure."

A few minutes later Burbank returned to his seat at the table, a surprised expression on his face. "You'll never believe what I was just told. It's been confirmed that Wayne Pennington is dead."

"Good riddance," commented Wendy as she poured a beverage into Kira's glass. "I always thought the man was a nuisance."

Burbank turned his attention to Seth. Both of them knew Pennington had been heading the Company. "The President has just appointed me head of the Company."

Wendy nearly dropped the pitcher as she stared at her father with her mouth open.

Seth looked down as the news began to sink in. A smile spread across his face and then he raised his arms in victory. "Yes!"

"Let me see if I understand this," uttered Wendy in confusion. "Wayne Pennington...that asshole was in charge of the Company?"

"Well, not anymore," Burbank concluded as he shared in Seth's enthusiasm.

"So what caused his death?" Wendy asked.

Seth and Burbank exchanged glances, both of them drawing similar conclusions about what could have befallen the sadistic entrepreneur.
Onboard the Rebel

While Bishop prepared the cryochambers for the trip back to Arda, Freak, his crew and his passengers prepared themselves for the long slumber in hyperspace. It would seem short to them when in fact it was a twenty-one day sleep. But sleeping in the cryochambers was a necessity because no living thing could exist during the jump to and from light speed.

Both Legolas and Ariedel made sure Anwar was comfortable in the cryochamber. When she gave them a smile, they knew she was going to be all right. They each gave her a kiss before the lid cocooned her inside. Then they walked to the space between their own cryochambers.

Ariedel could see the fatigued look on Legolas's face and it brought tears to her eyes. He looked as if he wasn't going to make the trip home…that he would silently pass away without her knowledge…before they could get to Arda and the Valar's promise to restore him. She took his hand and held it to her heart. "Please stay with me."

Legolas understood the meaning of her words. He was tired...both physically and mentally...tired of running, tired of chasing, tired on fighting, tired of the constant throbbing pain in his head and in his bones. It was as if the weight of the universe had been on his shoulders and had recently been lifted. He wanted to sleep for an eternity. But he would desperately try to hold onto life until he had a chance to see his sons and his father. "I will not leave."

Ariedel didn't want to release him, fearing that it was going to be the last time she'd ever see him alive.

"Do not weep, Ariedel. Do not ever weep for me. In the end we will be together again."

"I know. I promise I won't cry anymore." With that she wiped at her tears.

They exchanged several brief kisses before they reclined in their cryochambers.

When all but two cryochambers was sealed, Freak approached Bishop. "You know the drill. Wake us up three days before we arrive. Everyone except Lego. He requested that we keep him on ice until we're orbiting his planet."

"How come?" inquired the android.

"He said he's not sure he'll last much longer."

Bishop nodded in understanding. "Have a good sleep."

Freak walked along the line of cryochambers, glancing into each one as he passed. Lipinski, Zion, Aragorn, Anwar, Ariedel, Legolas. He briefly paused to stare at the two empty chambers that would have been occupied by Takashi and Sanchez. But he didn't linger for long and moved to the next open cryochamber where Ellie stood beside. "I'll see you in a few days."

Ellie allowed him to kiss her and with the idea of starting something up with him, she reclined in the cryochamber and waited for the lid to seal her inside.

Freak walked to his own cryochamber. He laid down and gave Bishop a thumbs up. The lid slowly lowered over him. Several minutes later he was asleep.

 

Chapter 19 – Bounty Hunter​

Onboard the Rebel

Ever since awakening from cryo-sleep, Ariedel barely ever left the space beside Legolas's cryochamber. Even though the computer was skillfully monitoring the unit, she still felt compelled to check the readings on the side panel every few minutes to make sure his respiratory signs were normal.

Sitting in the open cryochamber beside his, Ariedel let her thoughts take her back to the first time they met. She had fallen head over heels in love at first sight with the Elf. She wasn't one to believe in fate...but she strongly believed they were destined to be together. Even Legolas's father told her that if it hadn't been for her, his son would probably still be alone. Their twelve years together had been happy ones. Plus they had three beautiful children in the process. She couldn't imagine her life as it had been before she first arrived in the glorious land of Middle Earth. And now she couldn't imagine her life without Legolas.

Anwar entered the large room and stood in front of the cryochamber belonging to her father. Though she had no concept of the unit's function, other than being a place to sleep, she knew that it was helping him. "He looks so peaceful."

Ariedel couldn't agree more. "Yes, he isn't feeling any pain right now."

The teen-aged Elfling crawled up on the other cryochamber to sit in her mother's arms. "Why does he feel so much pain?" she innocently asked.

Ariedel thought about her response for a moment before she spoke. "Well, someone really bad made some changes inside him without his permission. Now those changes are beginning to fail and it's causing him a lot of pain."

"I do not like seeing him this way."

"Neither do I, honey. But he won't always be like this. The Valar promised me they could make him well again. We just need to get him home first."

Anwar was silent for a moment before she continued. "I have almost forgotten what home looks like."

Ariedel cupped Anwar's chin and tilted it up. "Anwar, I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you."

"Tis not your fault, nana. I am happy to be back with you and ada." Then her lip curled into a smile. "And I regretfully admit that I even miss Brendan and his childish pranks."

Ariedel smiled and hugged Anwar tighter.

"How much longer before we are home?"

Three days had passed and they should have been within sight of Arda. Ariedel checked her watch. "Probably another hour or two." She looked back down at Anwar. "How about you? How're you feeling?"

"I am feeling better."

"No more pain in your chest?"

"Just a tiny bit, but not as much as before."

"Good."

Just then Freak rushed into the cryosleep chamber and immediately moved to the panel controlling the sleeping units.

The look of determination on his face worried Ariedel. She let go of Anwar and quickly walked over to Freak. "What's going on?"

"I'm waking up Lego."

"Have we arrived?"

"Not yet, but we'll be within visual range in a few minutes."

"We should let him sleep until we're in orbit."

Freak ignored her and continued programming the computer to cycle down Legolas's cryochamber. "Bishop picked up a signal. There's a B-class ship in orbit around the planet. Bounty hunters."

"Bounty hunters? How can he be sure they're bounty hunters?"

"Have you ever known a Bishop unit to be wrong?"

Ariedel frowned. "So what does this mean? Are they waiting for us to arrive so they can grab Legolas? I thought it was over. Pennington's dead. Who else could possibly have a bounty on Legolas?"

"I'm not sure." Freak finished entering the commands to awaken Legolas. "When he's awake, bring him up to the bridge." He turned and left the room.

Having heard the exchange between them, Anwar left the chamber to follow Freak, leaving her mother to attend to her father. Minutes later she stepped into the bridge and glanced at the others rushing from one wall of colored lights to another. She didn't understand the functionality of the workstations, so she finally moved to sit beside Aragorn, who was seated away from the activity. "What is happening?"

Aragorn glanced down at Anwar. "We are within sight of Arda. Look there." He pointed to a large screen on a wall. On it was the image of a large planet.

Anwar stared at the image with her mouth open. "Tis beautiful, is it not?"

"Aye, very beautiful."

Freak stepped up to the screen. "Bishop, you got a shot of the ship yet?"

"Here it comes," replied Bishop.

The image changed. It was closer to the planet and a ship nearly filled the screen from one edge to the other.

Freak put his hands on his hips. "If that isn't a fucking Bounty Hunter, then somebody slap me and call me Cinderella."

Anwar stared at the new image. Immediately recognizing the vessel on the screen, she turned to Aragorn. "Tis the same I saw when they took me from home."

Hearing her words, Freak turned his attention to the girl sitting next to Aragorn. Then he walked over. "You've seen this ship before?"

Anwar turned back to the screen. "I have seen it," she confirmed.
It only took Legolas a matter of minutes to awaken. He still felt weak and fatigued as he pulled himself out of the cryochamber. "We have arrived?"

Ariedel sighed before she spoke. "Almost there. Freak woke you because he said there's a bounty hunter ship circling Arda." A split second later the weak look on Legolas's face instantly vanished and he stood up straighter. Ariedel thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"The bridge." She followed him out and had to quicken her steps just to keep up with his long strides.
Freak took Anwar's hand and gently tugged her to stand with him closer to the screen where the image of a bounty hunter ship loomed before them. "You're absolutely positive you've seen this ship before?"

"Aye," Anwar confirmed. "I saw it from the window when we approached it."

Ellie entered the bridge and Freak immediately waved her over. "What's up?" she curiously asked.

Freak pointed to the image on the screen. "Do you know this ship?"

"Yeah," Ellie replied without pause. "It belongs to Alan Morris. He's one of Pennington's closest henchmen."

"Shit." Freak rubbed his chin. "What do you suppose brought him back here?"

"My grandfather shot him in the back of the leg with an arrow," replied Anwar. "I heard him talking one day and he said...in these exact words...I'll go back and smash his face in."

Aragorn approached to stand with Freak, Ellie and Anwar. "Tis obvious to me he seeks revenge and Thranduil is the target."

"Who's Thranduil?" asked Ellie.

"Legolas's father," replied Aragorn.

Freak sighed in frustration. "Christ, this is like the neverending battle of the misfits." He turned to Bishop. "Remind me to tell you to erase the planet's coordinates from existence. They've had way too many unwelcome visits for my liking."

Legolas walked in with Ariedel at his heels. He immediately glanced toward the screen to see the dark ship orbiting Arda. "You believe this to be a bounty hunter?" he asked Freak as he continued to study the screen.

"Actually, it's even worse," replied Freak. "Your daughter recognized the ship. It belongs to the dipshit who kidnapped her. And if that's not enough, apparently he plans to smash your father's face in."

Everyone stared at Legolas when he suddenly let out a rib-aching laugh, like he had completely lost his mind.

When Legolas finally composed himself, he turned to Freak. "Let us make haste for I greatly desire to witness this attempt at smashing in my father's face."

Ariedel was shocked. "Legolas!"

Legolas shrugged a shoulder in amusement. "Tis not an everyday occurrence."
Eryn Lasgalen

Alan Morris stood at the foot of the ramp belonging to his planetary cruiser. He had come alone because he had nothing to lose. But mainly he felt the people on this planet were very traditional and he planned to use that to his advantage. A quick glance at his watch told him thirty minutes had passed since he flew over the forest where he knew the Elven village was. He had purposely lingered long enough to witness some of the people pointing up at his cruiser, knowing sooner or later the king would be notified.

It wasn't long before a contingent of Elves on horseback emerged from the trees thirty yards away from the cruiser.

Thranduil held a hand up and the company came to a halt. He glared toward the vessel resting in the glade and the man that stood before it. He noticed the man held no weapons, but the king of the Elven empire knew better than to trust him. His arrival disturbed Thranduil into thinking something happened to Anwar...or to Legolas...or both. Deciding not to waste anyone's time, he went for the direct approach. "Where is she?"

Morris almost took the time to marvel over how the Elven king's voice boomed around the quiet glade. "Where is who?" he asked, knowing the other knew that he knew who she was. But he felt like egging him on.

Thranduil nudged his horse forward and trotted closer, stopping half the distance between the vessel and his guards. "You know who I speak of."

"Oh, you mean the little girl. What was her name again? Anvil, Anchor...well, something like that."

"I will not give you the satisfaction of a reply to your sarcasm. Say what you have come to say, for you would not come here for your own amusement."

"Now that's where you're wrong. I'm all for amusing myself. As a matter of fact, I came here solely for that purpose."

Thranduil frowned at the man. "I have not the time for it." He spun his horse around and began trotting back to his company of guards.

Realizing he was about to lose his audience, Morris pulled the blaster he had hidden behind him on his belt and fired it.

The shot struck the ground a foot in front of Thranduil's horse and it reared. The Elven king saw his guards quickly raise their bows and knew their arrows would easily reach the intruder. He raised a hand to prevent them from shooting. If the man had wanted him dead, the shot would not have hit the ground. "Hold!" he called to them. Then he turned his horse around to face the man he remembered was named Morris.

"I want your undivided attention, Your Majesty or I'll never tell you where you can find your precious granddaughter." Morris felt he held all the aces. Even though the kid and her father were dead, he could make up whatever story he wanted because technically no one on this planet could possibly ever validate his words.

Thranduil led his horse closer to Morris. It was apparent the man wanted something in return for the information. "What do you want?"

Morris holstered his weapon and then looked up at the Elven king with a smile.
Orbit Over Arda and Onboard the Rebel

The Rebel rested in orbit within close proximity of the dark bounty hunter ship.

In the docking bay of the Rebel, Legolas, Ariedel, Anwar and Aragorn were preparing to board the Dropship with Freak. They each took turns saying their goodbyes to Lipinski, Zion, Bishop and Ellie. There were some tears in memory of good and bad times, memories none of them would ever forget.

"I am sorry for the loss of Sanchez and Takashi," Legolas told Zion. "I feel I am to blame for their deaths."

"Don't even go there," answered Zion. "You weren't in control of Pennington's actions. With him gone, at least we know they didn't die in vain. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself. Okay?"

Legolas turned to Lipinski. "I cannot thank you enough for your skill in seeing that my daughter did not suffer what countless others have."

Lipinski waved a hand. "Ah, don't mention it. I would have done it even if she wasn't such a great kid, which she is, by the way."

Legolas nodded and gave each of them a sincere smile. "Do not hesitate to visit. I would greatly enjoy your company under better circumstances." Then he turned his attention to Ellie. "Although I did not have the opportunity to truly know you, I thank you for your involvement at the risk of your own life."

"I wholeheartedly believe Pennington had something to do with my sister's death. With or without you, I would have eventually found some way to mess him up. I'm glad I got the opportunity to see it through with you and the others."

Finally Legolas came upon the human-looking android, Bishop. "I am not quite sure what to say to someone of your kind."

Bishop smiled in his humanistic way. "It's okay. I get that a lot." Then he pretended to look surprised when the others around him chuckled at his comment.

After the farewells, Freak herded Legolas, Ariedel, Anwar and Aragorn into the Dropship. Then the Dropship left the belly of the Rebel.
Eryn Lasgalen

Thranduil dismounted and sent his horse back to the others where they still stood near the line of trees leading back into the forests of Eryn Lasgalen. He stared at the man before him and tried to look as imposing as possible. "What do you want?"

Morris stared back into the eyes of the Elven king and remained silent for a long time as he contemplated what it was he truly wanted from him. Why had he come to this planet? He couldn't fight the Elf in hand-to-hand combat, not with his injured leg. He would be at a disadvantage and would surely lose his life. So what then? How was he going to make this kingly being suffer? Without even thinking, the words spilled from his lips. "They're dead. All of them. Pennington was responsible." Morris didn't tell the Elven king that the reason the others were in the facility in the first place was to rescue the young girl he himself had initially kidnapped. A new idea began to form in his head. It was like a quick flash. "I can help you find Pennington and kill him."

It took a moment for the news to sink in. Thranduil tried his best not to let his emotions take control. Not yet. Not in front of this cowardly man who thought he could save his own skin by placing blame on someone else. But this man...Morris...was responsible for taking Anwar from her home. Thranduil remembered the name Pennington. Pennington was the man searching for Legolas. In his mind the Elven king imagined Legolas searching for Anwar and then both of them losing their lives because of something Pennington did. Perhaps Ariedel and Aragorn had been there as well. "What exactly are you searching for here? Do you expect me to believe what you say after you took my granddaughter? Do you expect me to go with you, in your flying vessel and believe that you will take me to Pennington where I can run my sword through his chest?" Thranduil clenched his teeth. "Forgive me, but my lack of trust in you must be clouding my judgment," he added with sarcasm and disdain.

Morris gave a nod. "I can see why you don't trust me. I suppose I wouldn't trust me either. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I can bring Pennington here. To you. I'll make him believe some cockamamie story and bring him here."

Thranduil's brows narrowed. "And you do this because you suddenly feel in need of absolution for your foul deeds?"

"I want to be compensated."

"You have technology beyond our ability available at your fingertips," said Thranduil as he motioned toward the vessel behind Morris. "What can we possibly give you that you cannot obtain through advanced means?"

Morris thought about it briefly. "I'm getting on in years. I'd like a nice piece of land here on this planet where I can retire."

Before Thranduil had the opportunity to respond, the sound of a Dropship echoed above before the ship actually passed through the clouds. The Elven king recognized the vessel as one belonging to Freak.

The sight of the Dropship filled Morris with dread and he quickly realized that if he drew his blaster one more time, the thirty or so Elves across the way would be sending a slew of arrows into him. He could turn and run into his ship, but their arrows would reach him before he reached safety. His only chance was to hope whoever was in the Dropship was someone on his side. But he had a sick feeling in his stomach.

The Dropship touched down beside the planetary cruiser belonging to Morris. Seconds later the ramp lowered and the vessel's occupants exited.

Thranduil's heart lurched into his throat upon seeing his loved ones, alive and well. Anwar dashed toward him and threw her arms around his torso. The Elven king embraced her in return and looked toward Legolas, Ariedel and Aragorn. Then he turned toward Morris.

Morris shook his head in frustration. Somehow or another he wasn't surprised to find the Elf and the young girl alive because somehow or another things never went his way when he was involved in something shady. So now what? What was he supposed to do? He decided if he was going to die then it would be in a blaze of glory. He went for his blaster, only to have it blown out of his hand before he could even get it out of the holster.

Freak gave him a disciplinary look. "I don't think so, Peg-leg." He holstered his blaster and turned to Legolas. "Looks like we didn't miss much."

Legolas approached his father with a smile. "I expected to find a battle, adar."

Thranduil returned the smile, relieved to see the one on his son's face. "We were negotiating. He is requesting that I provide him with a piece of land for the life of the man named Pennington."

"Tis not necessary to negotiate. Pennington is already dead."

Morris rolled his eyes, knowing he had just lost his bargaining chip.

Thranduil rubbed his chin in thought. "Even so I believe I shall still give him what he asks." Upon seeing the frown on his son's face, he leaned closer to whisper. "I know the perfect place."

Legolas immediately caught on and nodded. "An excellent decision." He took a deep breath and found it extremely difficult. "I wish to go to Valinor now."

Ariedel came up beside Legolas. "We have to hurry."

Thranduil nodded. "Aye, let us make haste. I trust that our friend will provide speedy transport," he added in Freak's direction.

"You bet," said Freak. "Let's do it."
Mordor

The Dropship slowly lowered toward the ground, but remained hovering about four feet above it as the ramp came down. An instant later Morris was pushed out onto the ashen ground. He quickly pulled himself up to watch the Dropship leave. When it was out of sight, Morris turned around in a circle to survey his surroundings. In every direction, as far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but sharp rocks and pools of smoking, bubbling lava. Not a single living thing in sight.

Morris laughed to himself. He had asked for a piece of land and this was what he had been given. If he didn't die of thirst or starvation first, then the heat and the poisonous fumes would most definitely do the trick.

 

Chapter 20 – One Last Breath​

Ilmarin
(Ariedel's POV )

True to their word, the Valar had slowed the passage of time in Arda and everyone still looked the same, including my sons, Brendan and Elril. I had been terrified, thinking years would have passed while we were away and we'd return to find Brendan passing Anwar in age and Elril on his way to becoming a teenager. Luckily that didn't happen. Brendan was still eight and Elril was still a baby.

Gandalf greeted us when we set down in the center of the courtyard in Ilmarin. He stood there as if he had expected us at any moment, with that all-knowing smile on his face. With him was Alfirin, Legolas's mother.

I turned to Freak. "I can't thank you enough for everything you did for us, Freak."

"Think nothing of it, princess. You've always been like family to me, so if I can't help my family, then what else is there?"

I hugged him and then smiled at the surprised look on his face when Legolas did the same.

"You will return soon?" Legolas asked him.

"Yeah, I promised your wife I'd convince Seth to come here with Wendy and Kira."

The reason I wanted Freak to return with my brother and his family was due to Aragorn's thoughts about Elrond possibly curing Kira's illness. Plus I had a feeling Wendy would want to stay awhile for the birth of their second child. She was six months into her pregnancy and the peacefulness of Valinor would do her good.

"I hope I find you in good health by the time I come back," Freak told Legolas. Then he turned toward Thranduil, who was standing with Alfirin and the kids beside Gandalf. "I'll catch you all later."

Legolas and I stood with the others as Freak boarded the Dropship. Within seconds the ship was airborne and disappeared in the clouds.

After our friend's departure, Legolas, Thranduil, Alfirin and I met with Gandalf in the main meeting hall.

"You do not look well, my friend," Gandalf said to Legolas.

"I do not feel so well," replied Legolas.

I stuck closely to Legolas, only because I was afraid he'd collapse. "Gandalf, do you remember our discussion with the Valar?" I hoped he did because I didn't want to elaborate on the details concerning the need for Legolas to die and definitely didn't want to get into another argument about who was going to take his life.

The old wizard solemnly nodded and continued to assess Legolas's condition. "It seems to no longer be a necessity."

I understood what he meant. He knew, as well as everyone else, that Legolas's days were numbered...maybe even down to hours.

"Am I to understand that I will be made to suffer then," said Legolas with a half smile on his face. "Until I take my last breath? I think I deserve better," he added with a brief chuckle.

My stomach tightened into a knot. Hearing him talk about his own death was too much for me and I honestly couldn't figure out how he could make light of it. I turned to Gandalf. "Can't you give him something so he's not in so much pain?"

Gandalf sighed heavily. "I can assure you, you will not suffer another moment."

And so it was decided that Legolas would fade at his own pace. It was nerve-wrecking to him and to those close to him. To see him in such bad shape was enough to drive me crazy. I was so used to his solid presence. He was dwindling to nothing right before my eyes and I couldn't do anything about it. Seventy-two hours and counting...since Freak dropped us off. I was beginning to wonder whether we should have ended Legolas's life sooner, just to get it over with.

But something in the back of my head...a tiny whisper...was feeding doubt into my mind. What if the Valar couldn't restore Legolas to the way he was? What if the Valar decided not to give life back to him? What if I never saw him again? I wanted to believe...I just HAD to believe or my thoughts would become reality.
"You do not have to be here, Ariedel."

"I'm not leaving you to die alone."

"Tis only for a short time."

"It doesn't matter." Tears welled up in Ariedel's eyes. She desperately wanted to believe that the Gods of this world would have the ability to bring Legolas back to life. "I can't stand the fact that it has to happen at all."

Legolas reached up to caress her face. Even the simple movement was exhausting to him. "You promised you would not shed any tears."

She placed her hand over his on her face. "I know, baby, but I can't help it." She held his hand and was comforted by the feel of his grip, even thought she knew it was weak.

He could feel his heart failing, felt the rest of his organs beginning to fail. But all he could think about was how much Ariedel was suffering over this. He swallowed hard, suddenly finding it difficult to form words on his dry lips. "Water...please."

Ariedel blinked back her tears and turned around to the nightstand where she poured water into a glass. When she suddenly felt his grip loosen on her hand, she quickly turned back. Legolas's head was rolled to the side and his eyes were closed. "No..." She reached to the side of his throat to feel for a pulse. She felt none. "No!" She pulled Legolas to her and began to sob. He was gone.

The End

(JUST KIDDING…one more chapter)