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Part Four: Bargaining Price

Krystal ducked down instantly as a barrage of enemy fire was unleashed towards the shuttle!  With a soft hum, the shuttle powered up its shields to full strength, the greenish glow covering the shuttle as the Reapers fired at them.
"These shields won't hold forever!" Delta stated, running to the door, "Let's get into cover and take those buggers out! Stun rounds should still be able to overload them!"
Krystal nodded, "Delta, you're in charge out there.  You know what has to be done."
Delta looked at her, "Not me, you.  This is your mission to lead, Ronin-2, not mine.  After all, we're retrieving your partner."
The vixen sighed, her emerald eyes looking down before she nodded.  Once she had, Delta releasing the door hatch as Mira and Kimmy took cover on either side of the door.  Krystal took cover beside Mira as Delta pushed on the door, the door sliding forward before lifting up, the green shield around the shuttle protecting them as the energy was absorbed into it as the Reaper units continued to fire.  Delta was the first out, opening fire with his S-32 as Mira ran out, taking cover behind a series of crates.  The wolf growled, his rifle firing three shot bursts as he moved behind a steel plated barrel.  Kimmy moved quickly once she was outside the shield's protective radius, crouching behind some heavy machinery.  Finally, Krystal took cover next to Mira, opening fire around the crates towards the bots.
Once all of them were out, the shuttle door shut tightly, the transport lifting off the ground.  With a roar from its thrusters, the shuttle left the same way it came in, entering back out into the void of space to avoid damage until it was needed to retrieve them.  Until then, it would be safely outside the frigate, traveling beside it.
As the Reapers continued to fire, Krystal fired off another three round burst.  Just as Delta said it would, the stun rounds slammed against the Reaper unit she had in her sights, overloading its critical systems as it deactivated and fell.  Knowing that they could still be taken down, the vixen felt more confident as Mira fired a few rounds from her blaster before replacing it on her hip.
"Everyone stay down!" Mira said, unhooking the minigun from her back and laying it at her side, "Time to give these bots an overload."
Krystal shook her head, her eyes widening in surprise as Mira hefted the minigun to her side, the quad-barreled weapon now having a drum magazine of well over a hundred stun rounds attached to it to feed the hungry weapon of destruction.  Mira smiled evilly as the wolf stood up, her shield taking fire immediately as it boosted its strength, covering the wolf in a red, protective glow.  As the Sev`fel units continued to fire, Mira pulled the trigger.
Quickly, the four barrels of the minigun spun up, a loud, mechanical whir coming from the weapon as Mira took aim.  She braced as the gun suddenly lurched back, unleashing a barrage of stun rounds at high velocities!  The muzzle let loose a fiery flash as the rounds left the barrel, forcing the gun back as Mira held it steady, the rounds sending a Reaper backwards as the rounds slammed against it, short circuiting the robotic unit as it fell to the ground, the sheer velocity of the rounds tossing it back like a ragdoll!
The wolfess smiled, hosing down the rest of the exposed units with the minigun!  Reaper after Reaper were either tossed back by the force of the deadly weapon or mowed down where they stood, unable to respond to commands as they shorted out and failed from the stun rounds pummeling their bodies.  The robots were unable to even harm Mira before the minigun was turned on another bot, the unrelenting barrage of stun rounds destroying their forces.  Within seconds, more than three fourths of the enemy had been destroyed, the others moving up as Mira took cover again as the minigun's rotating barrels slowed to a stop, her shield having failed during her firing.
As Delta moved up, the wolf opened fire, his rounds pummeling a Reaper and sending it the ground as it sparked and thrashed for a second, it's systems shorting out.  Now, only two remained.  Kimmy had moved up close around the side during Mira's few seconds of minigun fire.  Now, the squirrel grabbed a Reaper from behind, firing point blank into it's back before it could react!  The bot fell without resistance as Kimmy blasted the last one; her energy scatter shot shoving the bot back as it fell.
But as Krystal moved up beside Delta, she saw a scorpion unit, now nick-named 'Crawlers', walked out of the Sev`fel shuttle, another two beside it.  Without warning, the scorpion-like tails began to open fire, green energy rounds slamming against Krystal's cover as the vixen returned fire!  Her shots pummeled it's front, finally bringing the unit down.  But as the vixen looked up, she saw the Sev`fel itself pulling a grenade from it's hip!
"Get down!" She cried out, scrambling out from behind her hiding place as the Sev`fel tossed the grenade after pulling the pin!
Krystal dodged behind a support pillar as Mira managed to get behind another just in time!  The grenade exploded, the shrapnel bouncing off the pillars the two had taken cover behind!  As it did, Delta came around from behind the barrel he had been behind and opened fire once more, tracking the Sev`fel as it made a dash for it's shuttle.  Finally, one of his shots made contact, slamming into the Sev`fel's leg, causing it to stumble as it's leg lost all function.  As it tried to crawl to the shuttle to escape, Delta fired again, hitting its arm now with a precise burst, but the Sev`fel commander was persistent, pulling up his blaster with his remaining good arm.  Kimmy stepped down, trapping it under her boot as she cocked her shotgun, racking another energy round with a distinctive clacking.  It was over.
"Ronin-2, get in there and find Ronin-1!" Delta called to Krystal, "We'll handle things here."
Krystal looked over at him and nodded, "Roger that, good luck."
The vixen reloaded and ran to the doors but found that they had been locked!  Looking it over, the vixen found a keypad beside it, but she knew he would not be able to get it open on her own.  On top of the keypad was a screen that currently stated in bold, red lettering "Access Denied".  Krystal knew if she got the code wrong, it would lock her out and they would be forced to blow the doors open, but also alert the entire ship that it had been breached.  With that in mind, she called over Kimmy.  The squirrel put a stun round into the back of the Sev`fel, stunning him entirely for a few hours before walking over.
"You're a hacker right?" Krystal asked.
Kimmy nodded, "Specialized in breaching security defenses and opening doors."
Krystal nodded and waved to the keypad, "Can you get this door open?  The sooner the better…"
Kimmy nodded and pulled a keyboard like device from a pack on her back, hooking it up to the keypad.  A screen appeared in front of the keyboard as she typed, numbers and letters flashing rapidly before her eyes.  A series of five red boxes appeared above the flashing numbers and letters, one by one being replaced by a red number.  Finally the screen above the keypad flashed "Access Granted".  With that, Kimmy nodded as the doors opened, giving Krystal a good luck nod before the vixen ran inside, her rifle up and ready.  As she moved, Krystal didn't see any sign of the remaining bounty hunters on the frigate.  Whether that was a good thing or not, the vixen was not sure.  All she could do was hope Chase was not in too much trouble.
*           *          *
Chase was crouched down behind yet another computer terminal as energy rounds slammed against his cover.  Once he had heard that door open, Chase had known he was in major trouble.  Immediately getting behind a terminal, gunfire sounded off as energy rounds shattered the air.  Now, chase was pinned down as Minerva's forces kept firing, hidden as they fired from around the door as two of them moved in, carefully but quickly.  Chase risked a peek, opening fire with the stolen stun rifle and taking one down, stopping him dead in his tracks as the wolf fell to the ground.
"Get him you incompetent buffoons!" Minerva ordered as she opened fire, almost hitting Chase as the fox pulled his head back, the energy streaking past where his head would have been just a split second earlier.
Chase opened fire blindly from the other side of the terminal, hitting one of the other bounty hunters who had ventured past the protective wall barrier.  Without hesitation, the bounty hunter hit the ground with a groan.
Chase quickly checked his ammunition and realized he only had one clip left!  With that in mind, the red fox looked for another position to move to where he was both still protected and still able to fire back with a clear line of sight to the door.  Unfortunately, the only place like that was currently taken, a bounty hunter opening fire as Chase remained sheltered behind the computer terminal.  Unable to fire back yet, the fox could only hope he could get enough of a break in the fire to move closer to make every shot count.
Finally, Chase saw a chance.  One of the bounty hunters reloaded, not getting into cover before doing so.  Chase fired off a single shot, striking the bounty hunter in the chest as the fox came out from behind the terminal, moving quickly as he moved behind a terminal closer to the remaining bounty hunters as they opened fire!  A round slammed into Chase's leg, causing him to lose all feeling it and stumble as he got into cover.  Luckily, the round only caused his leg to become paralyzed.  The rest of Chase's body was working well still besides being bruised and beat up from his mission so far.  Chase knew the stun would wear off in a few hours, but until then his leg was completely useless.
Chase pushed the barrel of his rifle around the corner of his new cover, another terminal, but this one up against the wall rather than exposed on both sides.  Now, while Chase was also out of maneuvering options, the fox was somewhat fortified, being able to see which way the enemy was coming.  Luckily, one moved right into his sights.  The second he did, Chase opened fire from his new hiding place, the bounty hunter going down mid step, tumbling to a halt.
"Two down!" Chase thought as he grabbed the rifle the bounty hunter had thrown when he fell, quickly unloading it to get the remaining ammunition, "And a new clip!  This day just keeps getting better."
Chase tossed the rifle aside, taking aim and firing again as another bounty hunter ran around the side of the wall, taking cover as Chase's shots slammed against the terminal he took cover behind.  He opened fire, Chase having to pull back behind his cover to protect himself as the energy rounds passed by where his head had been!  Chase waited for a second before looking over the top of the terminal, firing off a round that struck the bounty hunter in the neck, bringing him down without a word.
Chase knew that if he could hold out a bit longer, taking his shots carefully instead of burst shooting, he could probably take them all down.  But Minerva herself was another story altogether.  Chase had seen her kill in cold blood, shooting her own crewman on the back, and her knew she had no reservations about taking him down for profit.  Coupled with the knowledge that Minerva was the leader of this band of bounty hunters for a reason, most likely her skills, and Chase knew she was his biggest threat.
*           *          *
Hunkered down with the last three of her personal bounty hunters, Minerva had been sending the others into the fire to figure out what Chase's plan was.  So far, he had just taken down every man she sent in, but Minerva knew there was more to him than this.  The raccoon growled lightly as she realized there was one thing she had not tried.  Chase had the advantage or a well-earned position where he could apparently see her men easily.  But, she knew he had to be running low on ammo by now or he probably would have been bolder in his strategy, most likely trying to take ground instead of hunkering down.
"Ok you three, last chance to grab that fox and get our money." Minerva growled, "So no more excuses!  Get your tails in there and get him!  Stun rounds only, remember, if any of you kill him I'll kill you myself!"
The bounty hunter nodded and ran in, taking cover behind whatever they could as Minerva, checked her watch.  By this time, she fully expected the mercenary's reinforcements to have taken down the Sev`fel commander and it's robots.  So, if her prediction was correct, one or more of the other mercenaries should have been coming up the hallway at any moment.  With that in mind, the raccoon checked her blaster, making sure it was set to stun before slipping around the door to wait for the perfect moment to take down the mercenary and his back up.
*           *          *
Chase watched as the last three took up positions. With his remaining ammunition stores, he could have taken them all out, but then he would have very little to deal with their leader.  Instead, Chase pulled up and fired off a three shot burst, the energy slamming against the wall as the bounty hunter ducked down, returning fire from his hiding place across from Chase.
The fox couldn't return fire yet.  Chase knew he couldn't afford to waste a single shot at this point, he had to wait for an opening to return fire.  So instead, the fox kept behind the terminal as all three of the bounty hunters kept him down with occasional fire around the terminal.  As he waited for a break in the fire, Chase hoped that the others who were on the shuttle had not had any issues dealing with the Sev`fel and the bots.
*           *          *
Unaware of any of this, Krystal pulled up her rifle, rounding a corner to another hallway.  As she walked down it, the sounds of gunfire reached her ears, the vixen knowing there was only one reason a firefight would be heard this close to the bridge; her partner was not far away.  With haste in her steps, Krystal moved towards the bridge, her rifle still raised as she jogged towards the source of the commotion.
"Chase you'd better be in one piece!" She thought as the vixen glanced around a pair of steel doors.
As she did, the vixen saw three furries opening fire at a single terminal.  Knowing they were not just doing this for fun, Krystal took aim, knowing she would not be killing anyone, but brining them down nonetheless.  The vixen's finger pulled the trigger back as the rifle let a three round burst slam into one of the bounty hunter's back!  As he went down, Krystal moved in, taking down the second one before he could react to the new intruder!  The last one tried to grab her, but Krystal moved gracefully out of the way, grabbing his wrist and using his own momentum against him, bringing the bounty hunter to the ground as she grabbed his rifle.
"I'd leave now." Krystal said with a light smile.
The bounty hunter instead grabbed her leg, yanking the vixen to the ground!  With a startled yelp, Krystal let go of the rifle, the bounty hunter grabbing it quickly and turning it on her.  Krystal's body tensed up, expecting the shots to stun her, as three shot burst rang out!  The bounty hunter went limp, the shot having struck his side.  As Krystal looked up, she saw a red fox holding another stun rifle, the barrel aimed at the bounty hunter.
"Glad to see you Krystal." Chase said with a light smirk.
Krystal walk up, her eyes angry as she looked at him, and then slapped Chase hard across the muzzle, "That's for going on a mission without telling me and getting captured!"
Without losing a beat, Krystal then hugged Chase tightly, nuzzling his neck, "And this is for being alright…"
Chase hugged her back, "Sorry…I promise, never again."
*           *          *
Neither of the two noticed Minerva watching from the doorway.  The raccoon knew she had been beaten and knew better than to go up against two armed mercenaries without back up or more than one escape plan.  Instead, she moved quickly to the lower decks, booting up an escape pod.  So what if they had lost the carrier?  Minerva knew she would see these two again.  But by then, she would be ready to bring them down with a stronger crew.
"Next time Ronin, you're mine…I will get that bounty." She thought as she launched the pod, "After all, you mercenaries do anger quite a few high powered types who will pay handsomely for your head."
With that, the raccoon set a course for a destination and launched the escape pod…
*           *          *
Chase noticed a flashing light and cursed lightly under his breath, "Looks like Minerva got away."
"Minerva?" Krystal asked.
"The leader of these bounty hunters." Chase explained, "She probably had some information about what the Sev`fel are really after with all these attacks."
Krystal nodded and gently pulled Chase with her as she turned to leave, "Come on, we did capture a Sev`fel before I came up here.  The others are keeping him under lock and key while I came up to get you."
Chase looked at her, his ears perked, "Wait…captured the Sev`fel commander?"
Krystal nodded, "Yeah, stun rounds. He went down hard, but we got him and he's alive.  And the shuttle it arrived in is still intact and perfectly operable."
Chase smirked dangerously, "Krystal, you're beautiful!"
Krystal's ears perked in shock, "I-I am?"
"Yeah, you just gave me a plan as to how we're going to figure out what the Sev`fel want in all of this." Chase told her, running down the hallway to the hangar, "Come on!"
Krystal blinked, still a bit confused, but she followed Chase back to the hangar.
*           *          *
Delta's ears perked up when he heard the doors open at the end of the hangar.  Signaling to Mira, the wolf took up a position behind a pillar, taking aim at the doorway, but quickly lowering his gun when he was a familiar pair walk out of the hallway and into the hangar.  Mira smiled and nodded to Chase as he and Krystal walked over to them, glancing to Kimmy who was keeping the captured Sev`fel commander with a shotgun to his back.
"Well, looks who's still in one piece!" Delta smirked, shaking Chase's hand firmly.
Chase nodded, "Yeah, no kidding right?  I need a sit-rep, what've you got?"
Mira smiled and walked over as well, "Good to see your still focused on the mission Ronin-1."
Chase's ears perked in surprise at seeing Mira at all, let alone seeing the minigun she was carrying, "Mira?  You're a mercenary?"
Mira smiled, "Why is that so surprising to you two that some of who you know just happen to do the same job?"
Chase shook his head, "Just never seemed like something you would do…especially not with a minigun."
Mira smiled, hugging the minigun as the barrels pressed against her chest, "Chase, this thing is my baby!  It's been my weapon of choice since I started my work as a mercenary a few years ago.  After all, not all of us succeed on passing the tests at sixteen like you and Krystal did."
Delta did a quick double take at that, "Wait…that was you two?!"
Krystal smiled and nodded, "Yeah, it was."
Chase rolled his eyes, "Can we focus here?  Delta, sit rep."
The wolf nodded and cocked his rifle, "No casualties, save about thirteen Sev`fel robotic units.  Ammunition stores are down to half for most of us and we have one live Sev`fel prisoner.  Our primary objective was to retrieve you which it seems Ronin-2 has done without an issue."
Chase nodded and looked at the Sev`fel shuttle, "Well guys, we have a slight change in our mission priorities now."
Kimmy looked up, her shotgun still trained on the Sev`fel, "A change sir?"
Chase looked over, "Right.  We have a prime opportunity here, one we cannot afford to miss out on.  Outside this hangar is a Sev`fel carrier, probably with an uplink their main command center and a local network of its own.  Your mission may be over, but mine is not.  Guys, we're getting some intel."
Krystal blinked, unsure that she had heard Chase right.
"Chase, I'm sorry but, that sounded like you plan to board that carrier and download intel from the main computers on their bridge." Krystal said, "But…there's no way we could pull that off without being seriously hurt or killed."
Chase nodded, "True, but we won't get another chance like this.  We finally have a way to find out what it is the Sev`fel are up to and maybe cut them off before they can strike again."
Delta thought about that before finally replying, "Once again, he's right.  What are the odds that we will ever have a Sev`fel carrier in our laps like this again?  If we can find an armory aboard this frigate we can load up there and take the fight to them for once."
Krystal shook her head in disbelief.  While she knew all of them had gone up against impossible odds before, the vixen knew this idea was just plain suicidal.  Going up against an entire carrier full of Sev`fel robots and soldiers.
Mira picked up her minigun, the heavy weapon ready to go as she spun up the barrels, "I don't think we're done here either.  The Sev`fel have killed a lot of our colonists already and now we have a chance to figure out what it's all really for.  After all, this can't just be about xalphidium anymore.  From chatter I hear in the nightclub from other mercenary teams, the Sev`fel have been striking in areas where Aparoid activity was high years ago.  They are up to something."
Krystal sighed, realizing there was only one thing to do now, "Alright, so I guess we'll leave it to a vote.  Either way, I have a feeling our CO will not be happy we did this alone."
Chase smiled, "Just blame me for it.  I'll gladly take the rap for this if we get some information."
Kimmy noticed that the Sev`fel under her foot was slowly regaining the ability to move, quickly firing into his back!  The Sev`fel commander went down with a groan, the paralysis taking over his body again as the squirrel smirked, the used energy shell hitting the ground as she cocked her shotgun again, racking in another shell.
Krystal glanced over, seeing this, "Ok, so…we do have a shuttle still that can infiltrate the Sev`fel carrier, but after that's done what's the plan?  We don't know how these carriers are laid out, we don't know if their plans are even on a local network within the carrier.  If we go in blind there's a very, very low chance that we'll make it out again, even if we did discover something."
Mira sighed and lowered the minigun, "Ronin-2 has a point.  We don't know if we can even get the plans or not…but we do have someone who can tell us."
The four of them looked over at Kimmy, the Sev`fel commander still unconscious under her foot.
Chase smirked, "That we do Mira…that we do.  What's her name?"
"Kimmy." Mira replied.
Chase nodded, "Alright.  Kimmy, get that thing aboard the shuttle and let's bail. I've had enough of this place to last me a while."
Delta smirked, "Good to have you back Ronin.  Beating down the Sev`fel without you wouldn't be the same."
Chase nodded, "Good to be back with friends."
Krystal smiled and took Chases hand gently in hers, looking at him from the corner of her eye.  She wasn't saying anything, but Chase knew she was happier than the others that he was safe.  But that would have to wait, and they both knew it.  For now, they had one priority, getting back to corporate space.
Kimmy and Delta brought the Sev`fel aboard the shuttle as Krystal took the helm, starting up the shuttle as Mira walked aboard, her minigun sweeping back and forth in case anyone ran in last second.  Chase, however, looked back at the doors, wondering why Minerva had not tried to take him or Krystal down.
"You coming Ronin?" Mira called.
Chase blinked, "Yeah, on my way."
The fox walked aboard as Mira clamped the door down, the interior pressurizing as the shuttle lifted off the hangar floor.  Krystal smirked as she brought up the weapons display, the vixen's fingers flicking it until the pulse cannon display came up.  With that, Krystal nodded and checked back on everyone.
Chase walked up, "let me guess, we have to blow a way out of here, huh?"
"How'd you guess?" Krystal asked.
Chase smirked playfully, "You have the shuttle aimed at a bay door with the pulse cannons selected.  But they won't cut through that steel plus the protective shielding."
Krystal looked at him, "So what do you propose we use?"
Chase looked quickly through the weapons load out of the shuttle's weapons systems.  While he knew shuttles usually we not equipped with the high-grade weaponry of assault craft or drop ships, he did know they usually had a missile or two for minor combat along with the standard pulse energy cannon.  Chase locked in the selection for the firefly missiles.  Unfortunately, Chase knew they wouldn't do the job.
"Ok, land again, I'll have to go to up the bridge and override the hangar doors manually." Chase sighed, "Unless someone has a better idea."
Kimmy spoke up, "I could override the doors from here using the shuttle's systems.  May take a little bit though."
Krystal nodded as the squirrel handed her weapon to Delta and hooked a device up to the shuttle's computers.  As she worked, Delta kept an eye on the Sev`fel captive, Kimmy's shotgun in hand.  Although he was tied up, its wrists and ankles bound by force cuffs as well as good, old fashion rope that had been aboard, the team was not about to take chances if he woke up.
*           *          *
Within a minute, the hangar doors slowly opened, the small shuttle escaping the frigate and jetting taking off towards a second, smaller frigate that was still within striking distance of the frigate.  As they drew near, the bay doors on the side of the craft opened up, the shield dropping for just long enough that the shuttle could enter, immediately sealing up once they were inside.  But as the frigate broke course and turned away, a particle beam shot across its side!  The Sev`fel carrier had realized what was happen and were opening fire on the smaller frigate, pulse turrets all over the carrier rising up from within it's hull to open fire.
The corporation frigate continued to break away, returning fire with it's own arsenal of energy cannons!  As fire was exchanged, the frigate prepared for the jump back to the safety of the outpost they had come from.  Suddenly, the frigate was taken over by a bright, glowing light!  The warp core deep within lit up, activating as power surged from within!  The frigate vanished from the front back, disappearing without a trace as the Sev`fel carrier halted their fire.  They had lost the prisoner and a commander of their own.  Their mission was a failure.
But before making a jump themselves, the carrier opened fire at the bounty hunter's frigate!  The shield was quickly destroyed by heavy pulse fire as the carrier's main weapon glowed.  With a roar, the carrier's particle beam cannon opened fire, slicing through the frigate with ease!  Explosions ripped through the frigate as the particle weapon tore the frigate in half before it finally detonated entirely in one, huge explosion as it's fusion power plants went out with an explosion!
The Sev`fel carrier was soon covered in the same glow, disappearing as it jumped to their destination, leaving, what they thought, was a no survivor scenario behind them.  But, a small escape pod was jetting towards a destination of it's own.  Having just seen her entire crew wiped out in a single sweep, Minerva growled to herself.  She had done the same thing on many occasions in her line of work, but most of the crew aboard that craft had been her own, hand picked crew from the very beginning.
"The Sev`fel had better watch their backs." She thought as she double-checked the coordinates, "They've just made a new enemy.  For every member of my crew, they will pay."
With that, she let the pod do as it was designed to, sending out an encrypted distress beacon to other vessels of Phoenix Wing Incorporated for a pick-up.
*           *          *
Hours later, Hiigan stood with his back to both Chase and Krystal, looking down at Sauria.  The human was clearly upset with their latest mission debrief, having not spoken in over a minute.  While Chase stood still, Krystal couldn't help but shuffle a little, looking down as her ears pinned back.
"Well, I am not pleased that we still do not know what it is the Sev`fel hope to accomplish by destroying or taking over our colonies by force." Hiigan finally said, still not looking at the two, "Although this mission was a success, the initial mission was to gather information Ronin-1."
"The initial mission was a trap Hiigan." Chase replied calmly, "And we walked right into it.  If it was not for my partner and her team, I'd probably be dead or captive in Sev`fel hands."
Hiigan turned to them, his emotionless face as cold as ever to Krystal as he looked to them.
"I understand that clearly Ronin-1." Hiigan said calmly, "Although the carrier was a perfect target, I can understand your reasoning for not going after it.  And you did bring back something of value."
Chase nodded, "Maybe we can find out what they're after from that commander?"
Hiigan looked away, "Indeed.  I will personally interrogate the Sev`fel and see what we can learn from it.  If there is anything to be gained from this mission, I am hoping it will have it."
Krystal felt a bit nervous about that, but decided against saying anything.  She knew what was at stake, but she also knew that nothing she could say would change Hiigan's plan to get information.  But Krystal just could not sit by while a living being, even one as evil as a Sev`fel who probably ordered hundreds to death without hesitation, was interrogated brutally for information it might not have.
"Just try not to hurt it too badly." Chase said, sensing his partner's dismay, "After all, it was hard enough for them to get one commander."
"It will still be alive when I am done." Hiigan replied, having already anticipated Krystal's reaction, "Unharmed, I cannot promise."
Krystal nodded, knowing that was the best answer she was going to get from Hiigan.  With a nod, she turned to leave, Chase following suit.
"Ronins." Hiigan said calmly.
When both turned back to look, they were both startled to see Hiigan was actually giving them a ghost of a smile!
"Glad you are both back in one piece.  Now, if you two will excuse me, I have some information to extract." Hiigan said.
The two nodded and walked out as Hiigan took one last look at Sauria before grabbing a pair of black gloves from the table.  He knew better than anyone what it would take to get strategic information out of a Sev`fel, especially a commander.  With a sigh, the human pressed a button on a small box on the table.
"Ms. Sofia, ready an interrogation chamber.  Closed to all except the highest rank of personnel." Hiigan stated, "I will need the privacy with our guest."
"I am already working on that sir." Sofia replied over the intercom, "The package has already arrived in full guard.  Awaiting your arrival now."
Hiigan nodded and left the room.
*           *          *
"So then, Mira pulls up this minigun!" Delta chuckled, "Seriously, of all the weapons to choose, Mira here pulls out the most devastating weapon possible!"
Mira smiled, cleaning a glass as she giggled, "Well I figure if I'm going to kill some bots I might as well do it big ad memorable since I don't go into the field much."
A panther sat in the chair beside Delta, shaking her head, "Seriously, you two are insane.  Mira, I'm glad you're on our side."
"You and us both." Chase said as he took a seat next to Delta, Krystal sitting beside him, "All of you are to thank for me being alive and back here."
"Some of us more than others." Delta smirked, nodding to Krystal.
Krystal blushed a little as Mira set a drink before her.  The vixen picked it up and took a sip before nodding.
"I had to help." Krystal said with a soft smile, "After all, you're my partner and my closest friend.  Even Hiigan wouldn't have stopped me from going after you."
Chase smiled, "Thanks for coming after me Krystal."
Delta chuckled, "What?  Not thanks for me, Kimmy, and Mira?"
Mira whacked the back of Delta's head, smirking as she picked up a mug and began to clean it.  The wolf rubbed the back of his head as Dark chuckled.  But the three of them knew that Krystal was happier than the rest of them that the mission had gone off without a hitch.  The vixen had her closest friend back, and, to her, that meant more than a victory over the Sev`fel or any bounty hunters.
Mira looked around, "Speaking of Kimmy…has anyone seen that squirrel?  She took off shortly after we got back."
Delta shrugged, "Hell if I know.  Technically, neither of us are Ronins like you two.  So I guess she got debriefed by someone else."
Chase nodded, "I can believe that."
Krystal smiled as she listened in, not really caring about the conversation, the vixen sitting back in the chair as her emerald eyes closed.  Exhaustion was finally catching up to her, having not slept at all on the way back.
"I'll catch you later Chase." Krystal said, getting up, "I'm going to head to the dorm and get some rest."
Chase nodded, "Alright I'll join you in a while."
The vixen got up and smiled, nodding to Chase before putting a hand on his shoulder, "Good to have you back Chase."
The fox smiled and nodded, "Good to be back."
With that, Krystal smiled and walked out, her tail gently swaying as she walked.  Once she had left, Mira smiled to herself as she noticed Chase still looking at the door.  The wolfess giggled gently as Delta and Dark both smirked.  The three knew exactly what it was that Chase and Krystal would not say, but that both of them felt.  For now, they would just let things run their course.
*           *          *
In the depths of the station, Hiigan walked with a dove beside him.  The white dove was dressed in her usual red blouse, white vest and skirt, and black heels, but at her hip was a Stinger 9mm handgun.  She knew how dangerous it was to leave her boss unprotected, especially with a live Sev`fel.
"I want all cameras offline when I go in." Hiigan said, the human walking into the room just outside the interrogation chamber, "I will need the privacy with our guest."
Sofia nodded, "I understand sir.  I will see to it that all cameras and recording equipment are offline other than what is critically necessary."
Two other officers stood by as Hiigan walked in with the dove by his side.  Sofia took a seat just outside the room along with another commanding officer at Hiigan's rank.  As the dove typed at a control panel before her, the locks to the door clicked open, the room inside becoming illuminated in a white light.  The other commanding officer nodded to Hiigan.  They were ready.
"Let's see what it knows about why they've been attacking our colonies and taking our property." The CO said.
The human nodded, his eyes looking at a reptilian creature shackled to a chair.  The Sev`fel looked up, growling heavily.  Hiigan cracked his knuckles and walked in, the door shutting behind him…

Description
Part Four: Bargaining Price

Krystal ducked down instantly as a barrage of enemy fire was unleashed towards the shuttle!  With a soft hum, the shuttle powered up its shields to full strength, the greenish glow covering the shuttle as the Reapers fired at them.
"These shields won't hold forever!" Delta stated, running to the door, "Let's get into cover and take those buggers out! Stun rounds should still be able to overload them!"
Krystal nodded, "Delta, you're in charge out there.  You know what has to be done."
Delta looked at her, "Not me, you.  This is your mission to lead, Ronin-2, not mine.  After all, we're retrieving your partner."
The vixen sighed, her emerald eyes looking down before she nodded.  Once she had, Delta releasing the door hatch as Mira and Kimmy took cover on either side of the door.  Krystal took cover beside Mira as Delta pushed on the door, the door sliding forward before lifting up, the green shield around the shuttle protecting them as the energy was absorbed into it as the Reaper units continued to fire.  Delta was the first out, opening fire with his S-32 as Mira ran out, taking cover behind a series of crates.  The wolf growled, his rifle firing three shot bursts as he moved behind a steel plated barrel.  Kimmy moved quickly once she was outside the shield's protective radius, crouching behind some heavy machinery.  Finally, Krystal took cover next to Mira, opening fire around the crates towards the bots.
Once all of them were out, the shuttle door shut tightly, the transport lifting off the ground.  With a roar from its thrusters, the shuttle left the same way it came in, entering back out into the void of space to avoid damage until it was needed to retrieve them.  Until then, it would be safely outside the frigate, traveling beside it.
As the Reapers continued to fire, Krystal fired off another three round burst.  Just as Delta said it would, the stun rounds slammed against the Reaper unit she had in her sights, overloading its critical systems as it deactivated and fell.  Knowing that they could still be taken down, the vixen felt more confident as Mira fired a few rounds from her blaster before replacing it on her hip.
"Everyone stay down!" Mira said, unhooking the minigun from her back and laying it at her side, "Time to give these bots an overload."
Krystal shook her head, her eyes widening in surprise as Mira hefted the minigun to her side, the quad-barreled weapon now having a drum magazine of well over a hundred stun rounds attached to it to feed the hungry weapon of destruction.  Mira smiled evilly as the wolf stood up, her shield taking fire immediately as it boosted its strength, covering the wolf in a red, protective glow.  As the Sev`fel units continued to fire, Mira pulled the trigger.
Quickly, the four barrels of the minigun spun up, a loud, mechanical whir coming from the weapon as Mira took aim.  She braced as the gun suddenly lurched back, unleashing a barrage of stun rounds at high velocities!  The muzzle let loose a fiery flash as the rounds left the barrel, forcing the gun back as Mira held it steady, the rounds sending a Reaper backwards as the rounds slammed against it, short circuiting the robotic unit as it fell to the ground, the sheer velocity of the rounds tossing it back like a ragdoll!
The wolfess smiled, hosing down the rest of the exposed units with the minigun!  Reaper after Reaper were either tossed back by the force of the deadly weapon or mowed down where they stood, unable to respond to commands as they shorted out and failed from the stun rounds pummeling their bodies.  The robots were unable to even harm Mira before the minigun was turned on another bot, the unrelenting barrage of stun rounds destroying their forces.  Within seconds, more than three fourths of the enemy had been destroyed, the others moving up as Mira took cover again as the minigun's rotating barrels slowed to a stop, her shield having failed during her firing.
As Delta moved up, the wolf opened fire, his rounds pummeling a Reaper and sending it the ground as it sparked and thrashed for a second, it's systems shorting out.  Now, only two remained.  Kimmy had moved up close around the side during Mira's few seconds of minigun fire.  Now, the squirrel grabbed a Reaper from behind, firing point blank into it's back before it could react!  The bot fell without resistance as Kimmy blasted the last one; her energy scatter shot shoving the bot back as it fell.
But as Krystal moved up beside Delta, she saw a scorpion unit, now nick-named 'Crawlers', walked out of the Sev`fel shuttle, another two beside it.  Without warning, the scorpion-like tails began to open fire, green energy rounds slamming against Krystal's cover as the vixen returned fire!  Her shots pummeled it's front, finally bringing the unit down.  But as the vixen looked up, she saw the Sev`fel itself pulling a grenade from it's hip!
"Get down!" She cried out, scrambling out from behind her hiding place as the Sev`fel tossed the grenade after pulling the pin!
Krystal dodged behind a support pillar as Mira managed to get behind another just in time!  The grenade exploded, the shrapnel bouncing off the pillars the two had taken cover behind!  As it did, Delta came around from behind the barrel he had been behind and opened fire once more, tracking the Sev`fel as it made a dash for it's shuttle.  Finally, one of his shots made contact, slamming into the Sev`fel's leg, causing it to stumble as it's leg lost all function.  As it tried to crawl to the shuttle to escape, Delta fired again, hitting its arm now with a precise burst, but the Sev`fel commander was persistent, pulling up his blaster with his remaining good arm.  Kimmy stepped down, trapping it under her boot as she cocked her shotgun, racking another energy round with a distinctive clacking.  It was over.
"Ronin-2, get in there and find Ronin-1!" Delta called to Krystal, "We'll handle things here."
Krystal looked over at him and nodded, "Roger that, good luck."
The vixen reloaded and ran to the doors but found that they had been locked!  Looking it over, the vixen found a keypad beside it, but she knew he would not be able to get it open on her own.  On top of the keypad was a screen that currently stated in bold, red lettering "Access Denied".  Krystal knew if she got the code wrong, it would lock her out and they would be forced to blow the doors open, but also alert the entire ship that it had been breached.  With that in mind, she called over Kimmy.  The squirrel put a stun round into the back of the Sev`fel, stunning him entirely for a few hours before walking over.
"You're a hacker right?" Krystal asked.
Kimmy nodded, "Specialized in breaching security defenses and opening doors."
Krystal nodded and waved to the keypad, "Can you get this door open?  The sooner the better…"
Kimmy nodded and pulled a keyboard like device from a pack on her back, hooking it up to the keypad.  A screen appeared in front of the keyboard as she typed, numbers and letters flashing rapidly before her eyes.  A series of five red boxes appeared above the flashing numbers and letters, one by one being replaced by a red number.  Finally the screen above the keypad flashed "Access Granted".  With that, Kimmy nodded as the doors opened, giving Krystal a good luck nod before the vixen ran inside, her rifle up and ready.  As she moved, Krystal didn't see any sign of the remaining bounty hunters on the frigate.  Whether that was a good thing or not, the vixen was not sure.  All she could do was hope Chase was not in too much trouble.
*           *          *
Chase was crouched down behind yet another computer terminal as energy rounds slammed against his cover.  Once he had heard that door open, Chase had known he was in major trouble.  Immediately getting behind a terminal, gunfire sounded off as energy rounds shattered the air.  Now, chase was pinned down as Minerva's forces kept firing, hidden as they fired from around the door as two of them moved in, carefully but quickly.  Chase risked a peek, opening fire with the stolen stun rifle and taking one down, stopping him dead in his tracks as the wolf fell to the ground.
"Get him you incompetent buffoons!" Minerva ordered as she opened fire, almost hitting Chase as the fox pulled his head back, the energy streaking past where his head would have been just a split second earlier.
Chase opened fire blindly from the other side of the terminal, hitting one of the other bounty hunters who had ventured past the protective wall barrier.  Without hesitation, the bounty hunter hit the ground with a groan.
Chase quickly checked his ammunition and realized he only had one clip left!  With that in mind, the red fox looked for another position to move to where he was both still protected and still able to fire back with a clear line of sight to the door.  Unfortunately, the only place like that was currently taken, a bounty hunter opening fire as Chase remained sheltered behind the computer terminal.  Unable to fire back yet, the fox could only hope he could get enough of a break in the fire to move closer to make every shot count.
Finally, Chase saw a chance.  One of the bounty hunters reloaded, not getting into cover before doing so.  Chase fired off a single shot, striking the bounty hunter in the chest as the fox came out from behind the terminal, moving quickly as he moved behind a terminal closer to the remaining bounty hunters as they opened fire!  A round slammed into Chase's leg, causing him to lose all feeling it and stumble as he got into cover.  Luckily, the round only caused his leg to become paralyzed.  The rest of Chase's body was working well still besides being bruised and beat up from his mission so far.  Chase knew the stun would wear off in a few hours, but until then his leg was completely useless.
Chase pushed the barrel of his rifle around the corner of his new cover, another terminal, but this one up against the wall rather than exposed on both sides.  Now, while Chase was also out of maneuvering options, the fox was somewhat fortified, being able to see which way the enemy was coming.  Luckily, one moved right into his sights.  The second he did, Chase opened fire from his new hiding place, the bounty hunter going down mid step, tumbling to a halt.
"Two down!" Chase thought as he grabbed the rifle the bounty hunter had thrown when he fell, quickly unloading it to get the remaining ammunition, "And a new clip!  This day just keeps getting better."
Chase tossed the rifle aside, taking aim and firing again as another bounty hunter ran around the side of the wall, taking cover as Chase's shots slammed against the terminal he took cover behind.  He opened fire, Chase having to pull back behind his cover to protect himself as the energy rounds passed by where his head had been!  Chase waited for a second before looking over the top of the terminal, firing off a round that struck the bounty hunter in the neck, bringing him down without a word.
Chase knew that if he could hold out a bit longer, taking his shots carefully instead of burst shooting, he could probably take them all down.  But Minerva herself was another story altogether.  Chase had seen her kill in cold blood, shooting her own crewman on the back, and her knew she had no reservations about taking him down for profit.  Coupled with the knowledge that Minerva was the leader of this band of bounty hunters for a reason, most likely her skills, and Chase knew she was his biggest threat.
*           *          *
Hunkered down with the last three of her personal bounty hunters, Minerva had been sending the others into the fire to figure out what Chase's plan was.  So far, he had just taken down every man she sent in, but Minerva knew there was more to him than this.  The raccoon growled lightly as she realized there was one thing she had not tried.  Chase had the advantage or a well-earned position where he could apparently see her men easily.  But, she knew he had to be running low on ammo by now or he probably would have been bolder in his strategy, most likely trying to take ground instead of hunkering down.
"Ok you three, last chance to grab that fox and get our money." Minerva growled, "So no more excuses!  Get your tails in there and get him!  Stun rounds only, remember, if any of you kill him I'll kill you myself!"
The bounty hunter nodded and ran in, taking cover behind whatever they could as Minerva, checked her watch.  By this time, she fully expected the mercenary's reinforcements to have taken down the Sev`fel commander and it's robots.  So, if her prediction was correct, one or more of the other mercenaries should have been coming up the hallway at any moment.  With that in mind, the raccoon checked her blaster, making sure it was set to stun before slipping around the door to wait for the perfect moment to take down the mercenary and his back up.
*           *          *
Chase watched as the last three took up positions. With his remaining ammunition stores, he could have taken them all out, but then he would have very little to deal with their leader.  Instead, Chase pulled up and fired off a three shot burst, the energy slamming against the wall as the bounty hunter ducked down, returning fire from his hiding place across from Chase.
The fox couldn't return fire yet.  Chase knew he couldn't afford to waste a single shot at this point, he had to wait for an opening to return fire.  So instead, the fox kept behind the terminal as all three of the bounty hunters kept him down with occasional fire around the terminal.  As he waited for a break in the fire, Chase hoped that the others who were on the shuttle had not had any issues dealing with the Sev`fel and the bots.
*           *          *
Unaware of any of this, Krystal pulled up her rifle, rounding a corner to another hallway.  As she walked down it, the sounds of gunfire reached her ears, the vixen knowing there was only one reason a firefight would be heard this close to the bridge; her partner was not far away.  With haste in her steps, Krystal moved towards the bridge, her rifle still raised as she jogged towards the source of the commotion.
"Chase you'd better be in one piece!" She thought as the vixen glanced around a pair of steel doors.
As she did, the vixen saw three furries opening fire at a single terminal.  Knowing they were not just doing this for fun, Krystal took aim, knowing she would not be killing anyone, but brining them down nonetheless.  The vixen's finger pulled the trigger back as the rifle let a three round burst slam into one of the bounty hunter's back!  As he went down, Krystal moved in, taking down the second one before he could react to the new intruder!  The last one tried to grab her, but Krystal moved gracefully out of the way, grabbing his wrist and using his own momentum against him, bringing the bounty hunter to the ground as she grabbed his rifle.
"I'd leave now." Krystal said with a light smile.
The bounty hunter instead grabbed her leg, yanking the vixen to the ground!  With a startled yelp, Krystal let go of the rifle, the bounty hunter grabbing it quickly and turning it on her.  Krystal's body tensed up, expecting the shots to stun her, as three shot burst rang out!  The bounty hunter went limp, the shot having struck his side.  As Krystal looked up, she saw a red fox holding another stun rifle, the barrel aimed at the bounty hunter.
"Glad to see you Krystal." Chase said with a light smirk.
Krystal walk up, her eyes angry as she looked at him, and then slapped Chase hard across the muzzle, "That's for going on a mission without telling me and getting captured!"
Without losing a beat, Krystal then hugged Chase tightly, nuzzling his neck, "And this is for being alright…"
Chase hugged her back, "Sorry…I promise, never again."
*           *          *
Neither of the two noticed Minerva watching from the doorway.  The raccoon knew she had been beaten and knew better than to go up against two armed mercenaries without back up or more than one escape plan.  Instead, she moved quickly to the lower decks, booting up an escape pod.  So what if they had lost the carrier?  Minerva knew she would see these two again.  But by then, she would be ready to bring them down with a stronger crew.
"Next time Ronin, you're mine…I will get that bounty." She thought as she launched the pod, "After all, you mercenaries do anger quite a few high powered types who will pay handsomely for your head."
With that, the raccoon set a course for a destination and launched the escape pod…
*           *          *
Chase noticed a flashing light and cursed lightly under his breath, "Looks like Minerva got away."
"Minerva?" Krystal asked.
"The leader of these bounty hunters." Chase explained, "She probably had some information about what the Sev`fel are really after with all these attacks."
Krystal nodded and gently pulled Chase with her as she turned to leave, "Come on, we did capture a Sev`fel before I came up here.  The others are keeping him under lock and key while I came up to get you."
Chase looked at her, his ears perked, "Wait…captured the Sev`fel commander?"
Krystal nodded, "Yeah, stun rounds. He went down hard, but we got him and he's alive.  And the shuttle it arrived in is still intact and perfectly operable."
Chase smirked dangerously, "Krystal, you're beautiful!"
Krystal's ears perked in shock, "I-I am?"
"Yeah, you just gave me a plan as to how we're going to figure out what the Sev`fel want in all of this." Chase told her, running down the hallway to the hangar, "Come on!"
Krystal blinked, still a bit confused, but she followed Chase back to the hangar.
*           *          *
Delta's ears perked up when he heard the doors open at the end of the hangar.  Signaling to Mira, the wolf took up a position behind a pillar, taking aim at the doorway, but quickly lowering his gun when he was a familiar pair walk out of the hallway and into the hangar.  Mira smiled and nodded to Chase as he and Krystal walked over to them, glancing to Kimmy who was keeping the captured Sev`fel commander with a shotgun to his back.
"Well, looks who's still in one piece!" Delta smirked, shaking Chase's hand firmly.
Chase nodded, "Yeah, no kidding right?  I need a sit-rep, what've you got?"
Mira smiled and walked over as well, "Good to see your still focused on the mission Ronin-1."
Chase's ears perked in surprise at seeing Mira at all, let alone seeing the minigun she was carrying, "Mira?  You're a mercenary?"
Mira smiled, "Why is that so surprising to you two that some of who you know just happen to do the same job?"
Chase shook his head, "Just never seemed like something you would do…especially not with a minigun."
Mira smiled, hugging the minigun as the barrels pressed against her chest, "Chase, this thing is my baby!  It's been my weapon of choice since I started my work as a mercenary a few years ago.  After all, not all of us succeed on passing the tests at sixteen like you and Krystal did."
Delta did a quick double take at that, "Wait…that was you two?!"
Krystal smiled and nodded, "Yeah, it was."
Chase rolled his eyes, "Can we focus here?  Delta, sit rep."
The wolf nodded and cocked his rifle, "No casualties, save about thirteen Sev`fel robotic units.  Ammunition stores are down to half for most of us and we have one live Sev`fel prisoner.  Our primary objective was to retrieve you which it seems Ronin-2 has done without an issue."
Chase nodded and looked at the Sev`fel shuttle, "Well guys, we have a slight change in our mission priorities now."
Kimmy looked up, her shotgun still trained on the Sev`fel, "A change sir?"
Chase looked over, "Right.  We have a prime opportunity here, one we cannot afford to miss out on.  Outside this hangar is a Sev`fel carrier, probably with an uplink their main command center and a local network of its own.  Your mission may be over, but mine is not.  Guys, we're getting some intel."
Krystal blinked, unsure that she had heard Chase right.
"Chase, I'm sorry but, that sounded like you plan to board that carrier and download intel from the main computers on their bridge." Krystal said, "But…there's no way we could pull that off without being seriously hurt or killed."
Chase nodded, "True, but we won't get another chance like this.  We finally have a way to find out what it is the Sev`fel are up to and maybe cut them off before they can strike again."
Delta thought about that before finally replying, "Once again, he's right.  What are the odds that we will ever have a Sev`fel carrier in our laps like this again?  If we can find an armory aboard this frigate we can load up there and take the fight to them for once."
Krystal shook her head in disbelief.  While she knew all of them had gone up against impossible odds before, the vixen knew this idea was just plain suicidal.  Going up against an entire carrier full of Sev`fel robots and soldiers.
Mira picked up her minigun, the heavy weapon ready to go as she spun up the barrels, "I don't think we're done here either.  The Sev`fel have killed a lot of our colonists already and now we have a chance to figure out what it's all really for.  After all, this can't just be about xalphidium anymore.  From chatter I hear in the nightclub from other mercenary teams, the Sev`fel have been striking in areas where Aparoid activity was high years ago.  They are up to something."
Krystal sighed, realizing there was only one thing to do now, "Alright, so I guess we'll leave it to a vote.  Either way, I have a feeling our CO will not be happy we did this alone."
Chase smiled, "Just blame me for it.  I'll gladly take the rap for this if we get some information."
Kimmy noticed that the Sev`fel under her foot was slowly regaining the ability to move, quickly firing into his back!  The Sev`fel commander went down with a groan, the paralysis taking over his body again as the squirrel smirked, the used energy shell hitting the ground as she cocked her shotgun again, racking in another shell.
Krystal glanced over, seeing this, "Ok, so…we do have a shuttle still that can infiltrate the Sev`fel carrier, but after that's done what's the plan?  We don't know how these carriers are laid out, we don't know if their plans are even on a local network within the carrier.  If we go in blind there's a very, very low chance that we'll make it out again, even if we did discover something."
Mira sighed and lowered the minigun, "Ronin-2 has a point.  We don't know if we can even get the plans or not…but we do have someone who can tell us."
The four of them looked over at Kimmy, the Sev`fel commander still unconscious under her foot.
Chase smirked, "That we do Mira…that we do.  What's her name?"
"Kimmy." Mira replied.
Chase nodded, "Alright.  Kimmy, get that thing aboard the shuttle and let's bail. I've had enough of this place to last me a while."
Delta smirked, "Good to have you back Ronin.  Beating down the Sev`fel without you wouldn't be the same."
Chase nodded, "Good to be back with friends."
Krystal smiled and took Chases hand gently in hers, looking at him from the corner of her eye.  She wasn't saying anything, but Chase knew she was happier than the others that he was safe.  But that would have to wait, and they both knew it.  For now, they had one priority, getting back to corporate space.
Kimmy and Delta brought the Sev`fel aboard the shuttle as Krystal took the helm, starting up the shuttle as Mira walked aboard, her minigun sweeping back and forth in case anyone ran in last second.  Chase, however, looked back at the doors, wondering why Minerva had not tried to take him or Krystal down.
"You coming Ronin?" Mira called.
Chase blinked, "Yeah, on my way."
The fox walked aboard as Mira clamped the door down, the interior pressurizing as the shuttle lifted off the hangar floor.  Krystal smirked as she brought up the weapons display, the vixen's fingers flicking it until the pulse cannon display came up.  With that, Krystal nodded and checked back on everyone.
Chase walked up, "let me guess, we have to blow a way out of here, huh?"
"How'd you guess?" Krystal asked.
Chase smirked playfully, "You have the shuttle aimed at a bay door with the pulse cannons selected.  But they won't cut through that steel plus the protective shielding."
Krystal looked at him, "So what do you propose we use?"
Chase looked quickly through the weapons load out of the shuttle's weapons systems.  While he knew shuttles usually we not equipped with the high-grade weaponry of assault craft or drop ships, he did know they usually had a missile or two for minor combat along with the standard pulse energy cannon.  Chase locked in the selection for the firefly missiles.  Unfortunately, Chase knew they wouldn't do the job.
"Ok, land again, I'll have to go to up the bridge and override the hangar doors manually." Chase sighed, "Unless someone has a better idea."
Kimmy spoke up, "I could override the doors from here using the shuttle's systems.  May take a little bit though."
Krystal nodded as the squirrel handed her weapon to Delta and hooked a device up to the shuttle's computers.  As she worked, Delta kept an eye on the Sev`fel captive, Kimmy's shotgun in hand.  Although he was tied up, its wrists and ankles bound by force cuffs as well as good, old fashion rope that had been aboard, the team was not about to take chances if he woke up.
*           *          *
Within a minute, the hangar doors slowly opened, the small shuttle escaping the frigate and jetting taking off towards a second, smaller frigate that was still within striking distance of the frigate.  As they drew near, the bay doors on the side of the craft opened up, the shield dropping for just long enough that the shuttle could enter, immediately sealing up once they were inside.  But as the frigate broke course and turned away, a particle beam shot across its side!  The Sev`fel carrier had realized what was happen and were opening fire on the smaller frigate, pulse turrets all over the carrier rising up from within it's hull to open fire.
The corporation frigate continued to break away, returning fire with it's own arsenal of energy cannons!  As fire was exchanged, the frigate prepared for the jump back to the safety of the outpost they had come from.  Suddenly, the frigate was taken over by a bright, glowing light!  The warp core deep within lit up, activating as power surged from within!  The frigate vanished from the front back, disappearing without a trace as the Sev`fel carrier halted their fire.  They had lost the prisoner and a commander of their own.  Their mission was a failure.
But before making a jump themselves, the carrier opened fire at the bounty hunter's frigate!  The shield was quickly destroyed by heavy pulse fire as the carrier's main weapon glowed.  With a roar, the carrier's particle beam cannon opened fire, slicing through the frigate with ease!  Explosions ripped through the frigate as the particle weapon tore the frigate in half before it finally detonated entirely in one, huge explosion as it's fusion power plants went out with an explosion!
The Sev`fel carrier was soon covered in the same glow, disappearing as it jumped to their destination, leaving, what they thought, was a no survivor scenario behind them.  But, a small escape pod was jetting towards a destination of it's own.  Having just seen her entire crew wiped out in a single sweep, Minerva growled to herself.  She had done the same thing on many occasions in her line of work, but most of the crew aboard that craft had been her own, hand picked crew from the very beginning.
"The Sev`fel had better watch their backs." She thought as she double-checked the coordinates, "They've just made a new enemy.  For every member of my crew, they will pay."
With that, she let the pod do as it was designed to, sending out an encrypted distress beacon to other vessels of Phoenix Wing Incorporated for a pick-up.
*           *          *
Hours later, Hiigan stood with his back to both Chase and Krystal, looking down at Sauria.  The human was clearly upset with their latest mission debrief, having not spoken in over a minute.  While Chase stood still, Krystal couldn't help but shuffle a little, looking down as her ears pinned back.
"Well, I am not pleased that we still do not know what it is the Sev`fel hope to accomplish by destroying or taking over our colonies by force." Hiigan finally said, still not looking at the two, "Although this mission was a success, the initial mission was to gather information Ronin-1."
"The initial mission was a trap Hiigan." Chase replied calmly, "And we walked right into it.  If it was not for my partner and her team, I'd probably be dead or captive in Sev`fel hands."
Hiigan turned to them, his emotionless face as cold as ever to Krystal as he looked to them.
"I understand that clearly Ronin-1." Hiigan said calmly, "Although the carrier was a perfect target, I can understand your reasoning for not going after it.  And you did bring back something of value."
Chase nodded, "Maybe we can find out what they're after from that commander?"
Hiigan looked away, "Indeed.  I will personally interrogate the Sev`fel and see what we can learn from it.  If there is anything to be gained from this mission, I am hoping it will have it."
Krystal felt a bit nervous about that, but decided against saying anything.  She knew what was at stake, but she also knew that nothing she could say would change Hiigan's plan to get information.  But Krystal just could not sit by while a living being, even one as evil as a Sev`fel who probably ordered hundreds to death without hesitation, was interrogated brutally for information it might not have.
"Just try not to hurt it too badly." Chase said, sensing his partner's dismay, "After all, it was hard enough for them to get one commander."
"It will still be alive when I am done." Hiigan replied, having already anticipated Krystal's reaction, "Unharmed, I cannot promise."
Krystal nodded, knowing that was the best answer she was going to get from Hiigan.  With a nod, she turned to leave, Chase following suit.
"Ronins." Hiigan said calmly.
When both turned back to look, they were both startled to see Hiigan was actually giving them a ghost of a smile!
"Glad you are both back in one piece.  Now, if you two will excuse me, I have some information to extract." Hiigan said.
The two nodded and walked out as Hiigan took one last look at Sauria before grabbing a pair of black gloves from the table.  He knew better than anyone what it would take to get strategic information out of a Sev`fel, especially a commander.  With a sigh, the human pressed a button on a small box on the table.
"Ms. Sofia, ready an interrogation chamber.  Closed to all except the highest rank of personnel." Hiigan stated, "I will need the privacy with our guest."
"I am already working on that sir." Sofia replied over the intercom, "The package has already arrived in full guard.  Awaiting your arrival now."
Hiigan nodded and left the room.
*           *          *
"So then, Mira pulls up this minigun!" Delta chuckled, "Seriously, of all the weapons to choose, Mira here pulls out the most devastating weapon possible!"
Mira smiled, cleaning a glass as she giggled, "Well I figure if I'm going to kill some bots I might as well do it big ad memorable since I don't go into the field much."
A panther sat in the chair beside Delta, shaking her head, "Seriously, you two are insane.  Mira, I'm glad you're on our side."
"You and us both." Chase said as he took a seat next to Delta, Krystal sitting beside him, "All of you are to thank for me being alive and back here."
"Some of us more than others." Delta smirked, nodding to Krystal.
Krystal blushed a little as Mira set a drink before her.  The vixen picked it up and took a sip before nodding.
"I had to help." Krystal said with a soft smile, "After all, you're my partner and my closest friend.  Even Hiigan wouldn't have stopped me from going after you."
Chase smiled, "Thanks for coming after me Krystal."
Delta chuckled, "What?  Not thanks for me, Kimmy, and Mira?"
Mira whacked the back of Delta's head, smirking as she picked up a mug and began to clean it.  The wolf rubbed the back of his head as Dark chuckled.  But the three of them knew that Krystal was happier than the rest of them that the mission had gone off without a hitch.  The vixen had her closest friend back, and, to her, that meant more than a victory over the Sev`fel or any bounty hunters.
Mira looked around, "Speaking of Kimmy…has anyone seen that squirrel?  She took off shortly after we got back."
Delta shrugged, "Hell if I know.  Technically, neither of us are Ronins like you two.  So I guess she got debriefed by someone else."
Chase nodded, "I can believe that."
Krystal smiled as she listened in, not really caring about the conversation, the vixen sitting back in the chair as her emerald eyes closed.  Exhaustion was finally catching up to her, having not slept at all on the way back.
"I'll catch you later Chase." Krystal said, getting up, "I'm going to head to the dorm and get some rest."
Chase nodded, "Alright I'll join you in a while."
The vixen got up and smiled, nodding to Chase before putting a hand on his shoulder, "Good to have you back Chase."
The fox smiled and nodded, "Good to be back."
With that, Krystal smiled and walked out, her tail gently swaying as she walked.  Once she had left, Mira smiled to herself as she noticed Chase still looking at the door.  The wolfess giggled gently as Delta and Dark both smirked.  The three knew exactly what it was that Chase and Krystal would not say, but that both of them felt.  For now, they would just let things run their course.
*           *          *
In the depths of the station, Hiigan walked with a dove beside him.  The white dove was dressed in her usual red blouse, white vest and skirt, and black heels, but at her hip was a Stinger 9mm handgun.  She knew how dangerous it was to leave her boss unprotected, especially with a live Sev`fel.
"I want all cameras offline when I go in." Hiigan said, the human walking into the room just outside the interrogation chamber, "I will need the privacy with our guest."
Sofia nodded, "I understand sir.  I will see to it that all cameras and recording equipment are offline other than what is critically necessary."
Two other officers stood by as Hiigan walked in with the dove by his side.  Sofia took a seat just outside the room along with another commanding officer at Hiigan's rank.  As the dove typed at a control panel before her, the locks to the door clicked open, the room inside becoming illuminated in a white light.  The other commanding officer nodded to Hiigan.  They were ready.
"Let's see what it knows about why they've been attacking our colonies and taking our property." The CO said.
The human nodded, his eyes looking at a reptilian creature shackled to a chair.  The Sev`fel looked up, growling heavily.  Hiigan cracked his knuckles and walked in, the door shutting behind him…