Neo took the controls and slowly eased the ship in front of the giant Sonar gunner in front of them. Or well, gunners. Five different ships stood armed and ready to shoot them down and currently demanded their objective.

"What business do you have here? The commander is not expecting anyone from a Crex warship." A rough, almost scaly voice sounded through the radio.

"This is Neo Adranni coming for Tamara Aramat. I have his codes so he better have her or I rip these things to shreds."

Jacquelyn wanted to scream the moment Neo gave up their mission. Was he crazy?! He was going to get them all killed at this rate and then she was really going to kick his redundant ass.

"You will be allowed to pass under heavy escort. Try anything stupid and you'll regret it."

The gunners all parted and allowed a narrow path to the main headquarters that screamed authority and also death. Death. Which was exactly what was going to happen now because Neo had to open his big mouth and instead of going over the plan that they had already been over several times. . . Now they were going to have to come up with something else entirely without the ability to even communicate about it.

"Are you crazy?!" Jacquelyn mouthed angrily not daring to actually say anything due to the fact they could most likely hear them with their weird Sonar gear she had heard so many stories about since they were so close.

Neo just gave her a firm nod and shook his hand as if to signal her everything would be okay and he that knew what he was doing. More like he waved her off, which left Jacquelyn gaping at him, her eyes sending him daggers more lethal than any blade you would find within The Twelve Galaxies. Maybe in the entire Multi-verse for that matter.

Great. So now he knows we're going to die and he doesn't seem to care. Perfect. Just fucking prefect.

Jacquelyn counted her blessings and hoped maybe she wouldn't go to hell for coming along to do something so stupid when the ship landed inside the loading dock. She tried to see any chances of them getting out of this alive when Neo leaned over and whispered very quietly into her ear.

"They don't know you, this ship won't allow thermal scanners to slip through. They think I'm alone. I know your skills, hide and then sneak inside. I've already sent you a photo of Tamara in your link. Use it to identify her and then leave. I'll be right behind you."

Neo then stood up quickly and exited the ship leaving her behind in shock. She didn't have long to hide when the ship doors opened again and soldiers came to search the area. Slightly panicking, Jacquelyn dropped to the floor so she could to slip into the crawl space under the control table. It was a space used for maintenance checks but for now it served its job as the perfect hiding spot. She held her breath and made sure she was completely hidden within the dim red light as she saw the soldiers scan the room before moving on to the next. The air was hotter here and she could feel her skin begin to sweat when the guards came back and debated over what they should do next.

"Leave a small post here. I found women's clothing in a room and I doubt that Vaulkarian scum would fly alone for so long."

Another soldier let out a cruel laugh, "or you know the girl could have been a fling. I mean he is Vaulkarian. Those bastards get laid more than we get paid. I think it'll be fine. Besides, he's inside now and knowing how much Dun'mar hates his guts he won't be leaving. He'll probably just drop the guy dead after he hands the war codes over."

Jacquelyn's heart skipped a beat as a low fury broiled under her skin.

"You're probably right. Let's go then."

Jacquelyn waited for all the footsteps to recede and the door to shut once more before she climbed out of the oven like space she hid inside of.

"Drop him dead huh...?" Jacquelyn felt her anger from earlier spark up again. "I'd like to see you try." Jacquelyn quickly ran to her room and grabbed her small plasma dagger she used only in moments like these. She had been done with her life before but this seemed to call for it. After all she came here to help Neo. She wouldn't be very much help if she let this Dun'mar guy have his way with him. She'd find Tamara and then she would set that guy straight.

Switching into clothes a little more suited for her new mission, she wore her 'sneaky' attire which consisted of a full body black nylon suit that covered every part of her body the upper part of her face, a personal choice on her part. The only thing that could be seen was her glowing eyes that currently burned with her old ways and her hair that was tied into a tight ponytail, a new excitement started to tingle under her skin. Strapping the dagger to her side and attaching a small set of lock picks to her wrist, she carefully disabled the automatic doors which allowed her to carefully crack them open and peek out into the loading dock.

Standing with their back facing her were two guards looking bored and careless as ever. From her angle this was all she could see. Taking a risk she braced herself before she cracked the doors open some more and slowly squeezed out. Moving like a snake's shadow across the floor she reached the first guard and quickly rendered him unconscious which caught the eyes of the man to her left.

"Hey!"

She turned to face him which seemed to stun him, most likely at the wild look she always had in her eyes when she meant business; she quickly pounced onto him and wrestled him to the ground into a choke hold and held him there until he too was unconscious.

She smiled to herself under her mask and ran down the hallway after hiding the bodies inside a nearby closet and having locked the doors behind her.

She almost felt like a child again, sneaking around in the shadows going for the forbidden cookie jar. Sneaking out past bedtime with that devilishly sweet knowledge that if you're caught it's three lashings on the wrist and a 'go back to bed'.

She had just turned a corridor she had deemed clear when the doors right next to her opened suddenly. Well, shit.

"Huh? What's a member of the Ancorda doing here?!" The guard demanded as he held her at gun point, the other two behind him following his lead. Jacquelyn looked over only to glare as she saw another red-haired Andoran, a human muscle pig, and a reptilian humanoid, each one all glaring at her with their weapons ready. Normally she wouldn't ever assume the Andoran to be the leader, but given her current circumstance she didn't seem to be far off. Considering the fact that the main commander of The Sonar itself was Andoran, she decided to take a chance. Instead of continuously glaring at the three men, she stood up straight and pulled down her mask and gave them her best smile.

"I won't ask again! Why are you here! We have a truce with your guild! Who hired you?!" She could hear the definitive clicks that meant their guns were set to kill.

"Oh come on now boys," she cooed in her best seductive voice. "Let us be civil about this."

"With one of you? Yeah right..."

"Now now, please. All of this is just a simple misunderstanding, I do hope you'll forgive me," she said as she bowed, her hand slowly gripping the handle on her dagger.

The soldiers tilted their head to show their confusion.

"For what?" One of them dared to even ask.

Oh the idiots in The Sonar, no wonder everyone hated them. They were just a bunch of grunts who followed orders with no brains. If they had any they'd be pointing the guns at their commander.

"For this..!" She lunged at them, her dagger flaring bright red.

The first soldier she struck went down with a sickening gurgle that left the others stunned long enough which gave her another moment to strike. She had to hand it to them though, their reaction time seemed to really improve once you pissed them off. The man on her left gave a feral roar before he lunged at her, his gun in front of him like an iron bar as he tried to push her back. She ducked and for a moment she made the mistake of thinking she had the upper hand. The creepy scaly reptilian soldier from her right hissed at her and fired a few round, one shot managing to pierce her calf. She let out a gasp, one that almost could be called offended, kicking away her current opponent before targeting the lizard who injured her and tackled him down in a fit of rage. He screamed in fright, throwing up the side of his rifle like a shield against her on-coming attacks. Her red dagger blazing in the light as it slowly burned through his rifle, it's target being his throat. She growled venomously as she pushed it down further, the smell of hot metal filling her nose as the blade sunk lower. She saw the fear in his eyes and she smiled. God, how long has it been since I've been like this? What was I even thinking? She couldn't help but wonder to herself as she felt the dagger slip even further. She heard the human soldier behind her stir and scramble to his feet, signaling to her that her time for playing was over. After all, she still had to find Tamara. She gave the poor man a deadly wink, knowing that his time has come. With a movement so fast, her hands blurred in the air as she ripped the dagger back, leaving the lizard unable to recover in time as his arms shot up unprepared for her sudden withdrawal before her blade returned, slipping past his defenses and embedding itself in the soft spot under his Adams Apple. His yellow crusted eyes went wide before his second lid rolled over the ball of his eyes as he coughed out his last breath, blood splattering onto her cheek.

She had been ready to lean back, to roll onto her heels and dodge the next assault of attacks when the human soldier behind her placed the barrel of his gun at the base of her skull.

"You're dead, bitch."

She heard the soft click and slight groan of the trigger being pulled, and like a light going out, she was gone.

The gun fired and instead of hitting her like man had obviously planned, it instead only made another hole within the corpse of his dead comrade. Stunned the human man stumbled backwards, his eyes darting across the room in search of the Ancord assassin. He only heard her laughter echo around him as the shadows began to dance along the edges of the walls. Sweat began to bead across his temple, slowly dripping down as fear began to waft off of him in waves.

"Are you scared yet, Sonar guppy?" She called out to him from somewhere unknown.

"Where are you?!" Was his cry of anger, though it did nothing to hide his fear.

He was only rewarded with her shrill laugh again and suddenly a strange lump began to wiggle its way from the shadows just under his feet. In fear he shot at it, his bullet shells flying out into the air until his gun clicked empty. The black ooze stopped moving and slowly sank back down into the floor.

A false victory began to set in, his false sense of security letting a smile of relief cross his face. "Yeah that's right!" He called out to the silence. "You weren't so tough!"

Then he heard her laugh again, only this time it was quiet and directly behind him in his ear.

"I was just waiting for you to empty that loud gun of yours. Thank you for doing that by the way."

Dread killed him, but not like the burning dagger that suddenly found its way to his throat would. In one quick motion, Jacquelyn found herself ending another life. Soon all three bodies laid at her feet, their blood evaporated and burnt off from her dagger. She didn't bother to hide the bodies this time. She simply closed the doors behind her and continued down the hallway with her unknown blood lust just barely being contained under her skin.

Neo walked around the commander's 'waiting' room, pacing back and forth until the asshole came out. His mind was on Tamara while also worrying about Jacquelyn. He's been here for too long and his gut was telling him to abort, which he would have already if he knew where Tamara was. Neo was about to kick the asshole's door down when it opened, revealing the grey skinned bastard.

"Neo... it's been awhile," Dun'mar said trying to act civil. He obviously needed to practice more, nothing could help with that forever scowl on his grey face.

"Just give me Tamara," he glared.

"Tamara? Ah yes. Her. I'm afraid I can't do that. The deal made said nothing about her release, of course I'd be more than willing to make a more suitable favor for her. Does that sounds appealing in any way?" Dun'mar clasped his hands together to obviously focus on something other than killing him. Which well, Neo couldn't really complain about. He wanted to kill the grey bastard in front of him too.

"You want to make a new deal? How about this one," Neo held a lighter up to the military codes and returned the suddenly very pissed off commander's glare. "You give me Tamara or I burn these codes and get her anyway. Your choice."

"You wouldn't. You can't. There's only one of you, and a whole army surrounding you. You're ship would be destroyed trapping you here for us to punish you before you even got a foot out that door," he growled.

"Punish me? So now you're trying to be the Galaxy's new law enforcement is that it? Each world has it's own laws they follow and obey. You have no right to force all to obey what you want. You're job is to keep peace," Neo growled just as scornfully.

"And we are! Yes those rebels have people going on and on about an upstart but once we crush them the galaxy will be at peace!"

"You mean under your control."

Dun'mar ran a grey hand through his red hair and sighed tiredly. "I am a busy man Neo, give me the codes and leave. I can only suffer the ignorant so much before I can't no longer.

"Not until you give me Tamara."

"Ugh. 'Tamara. Give me Tamara.' Bah!" He mimicked in a high pitched voice, "Well you know what? I can't!" The commander grabbed the plasma pistol holstered to his hip and aimed it at Neo. "But I can most certainly send you to her."

A loud crash blasted from just outside the door and not minutes after, the door burst open, an obviously pissed Tamara cocking her plasma shotgun and pointing it directly at the grey skinned Andoran. 

"Put it down, commander, " Tamara snarled as she held her blaster to him. Jacquelyn stepped out from behind the green skinned woman with a slight squint to her eyes as she glared at the red eyed man.

"I'd listen to her, because if you don't I'm going to shove my-"

"Jacky, can you not? Grab Neo please baby, we can talk dirty later," Tamara said while she approached Dun'mar who had his arms raised, a malicious snarl plastered on his face.

"R-Right..." Jacquelyn fought the blush that burned her ears and went to Neo, grabbing the fake documents and tossing them into the garbage bin in the corner of the room. "You okay?" She asked.

Neo wasn't sure how to respond, first he was close to collapsing when he thought Tamara was dead, from leaping with a childish joy when he saw Tamara barge in like a total badass, to wanting to suddenly embrace this small Vaulkarian woman who was currently checking him over for any possible injuries. Which, thankfully, he had none. Maybe his pride. But he was physically fine nonetheless.

"I'm okay." He couldn't help but tuck a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. His fingertips gently skimmed the surface of her cheek. So soft...

"Hello? Yeah you Vaulkari-nerds. Lets go please," Tamara suddenly called out. The two turned to see her standing over a currently unconscious commander. The sight was rather appealing in Neo's mind, he could stand to see the bastard in this state more often.

"How will we make it back?" Jacquelyn asked, she currently thumbed the hilt of her dagger as worry began to set in. She honestly didn't think they'd make it this far.

"The same way we came in, only with a bit more shooting. Maybe." Neo shrugged as he stripped the unconscious commander of his blaster that had once been pointing at his head, and snatched his telecom, shoving it quickly into his pocket.

"Sounds like a plan if I've ever heard one!" Tamara said enthusiastically.

Ah... I can see where he gets it from now. Jacquelyn thought as she watched the two quickly plan all the steps they'd need to take. They were almost like siblings, though Tamara was a green skinned Weisian, frog people some other nations referred to then as. They could breathe underwater, had amazing agility, and were lethal like a black widow. Of course, despite all their lethal abilities, this one seemed more motherly if anything. At least so far anyway.

"What about your friend? Jared?" Jacquelyn asked. Jared was a man who had been with Tamara upon her arrival, she ended up kicking his ass until Tamara jumped her, then a small interrogation that, luckily, didn't involve gashing one's eyes out, Jacquelyn told her this, Tamara old her that, bing bam bang, they were suddenly great friends and Jared was still beat up on the floor trying to comprehend what just happened. Jacquelyn felt bad, she'd admit she was a bit... rough, but he did throw her through a bookcase and almost down the stairwell until Tamara came along. She would consider them even at this point.

"It will be better to have someone on the inside, he'll know what to do and occasionally send me tabs on what happens here. With what just happened today, we're going to need it," Tamara said, securing her blaster to her hip.

"Jared? Big? Tall? He copied my hair once and everyone agreed it was horrible so we made fun of him for a month?"

"That's the one."

"Shit! How is he?" Neo exclaimed, hopping around the room like he was a little kid again.

"Well, your girl here probably popped one and crushed the other, she also nearly made the poor guy blind." Tamara winked at Jacquelyn who suddenly blushed bright red when Neo turned and stared at her, shock was apparent on his masculine features.

She was about to plead her case, saying that she had meant to kick him away, but he had simply gotten too close too fast so she missed, all the gory details when he suddenly started laughing.

"You were able to do that to Jared? I knew there was a reason I loved you!" He laughed out again, grabbing her up into a hug.

"Um..." Jacquelyn looked at Tamara for help at Neo's sudden proclamation.

Tamara only chuckled and rolled her eyes. "C'mon Neo. We need to get moving."

Giving one of his infamous shit eating grins to Tamara, he held Jacquelyn close, "you got it."

***

Jacquelyn was happy to be back into the ship in one piece. They had all made it back safe and sound, well minus a few bumps and bruises. But minor wounds came with the job in every fight. There was no avoiding that. There were few patrols lurking in the halls, and what little they did encounter was never even a full unit, just stragglers heading for their next post or even going off duty. Neo apparently had known more than he had let on, he knew that today, at the hour they'd arrive the patrols would be on break or just about to change. He also knew that if she hadn't been able to find Tamara when she did, he'd most likely be floating off in space somewhere while his ass was put up on a wall as a trophy.

Getting out of the loading dock had been another story entirely however, they were chased down by three different fighters, thankfully the ship's shields were able to hold long enough for them to get their jump ready and soon they leapt out of orbit and into a different galaxy before they could follow. Tamara had been laughing and screaming the whole way while Neo kept acting tough and boasting. She was just thankful to be alive.

Jacquelyn had felt slightly hurt that he hadn't told her everything, but understood that there wasn't a lot of time to explain... Although there were enough awkward silences that could have been used better. She thought to when he had gotten close to her right before they had arrived and felt her body get hot all over again. Fucking Vaulkarians. Jacquelyn frowned at her water, even though she knew it didn't deserve it, fighting her inner emotions she sank further down into her bath until only her silky black hair floated on top.

"So... who is this girl?" Tamara asked once they were finally alone. She was currently changing her bandage that was on her leg, Neo had been reading something on his hyperlink, his back turned to her. She could only make out a few words, but the picture of Jacquelyn on the link stood out like a sore thumb.

"She's... something." Neo mumbled, he had been gazing at a picture he had stolen when Jacquelyn thought he was on a call. In truth, it had been a decoy while he snapped a few pictures of her here and there. He only had a few, but he treasured them. "Not some ordinary Queen serf that's for sure."

"You said you loved her earlier..." Tamara said suddenly, her face frozen into a poker face.

"So?" Neo turned the link off to face her.

"So..." Tamara rolled her eyes as she dragged out the word and crossed her arms, putting her weight on her good leg. "You don't use that word lightly. Has the famous playboy finally decided to settle down? Or..?"

"Why do I have to be a famous anything? Can't I just say I love someone? I love you don't I?" Neo was starting to feel agitated. When he had said it originally, it had sort of slipped out before he could stop it. He played it off like it was something normal, but he had felt... Something? He didn't want to lead the girl on if there wasn't anything there, at least in that direction. That had always been his rule. Take what you can, don't fall in love, but should you fall in love then go for it, but don't pretend, don't play around. Life was too short to be left feeling guilty because he slipped. But why did he slip? He couldn't actually love the girl could he? He hardly knew her for fuck sake!

Not to mention she already told him she was a Lesbian.

"That's different. We're on a family standard. She's not, unless something changed while I was gone?" Tamara narrowed her eyes causing Neo to stir uncomfortably.

"I slipped okay?!" Neo gripped his hair and let out his breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "I don't know what happened. I thought for a split second that you might have been dead, and then you weren't and then she was with you, and then you told me about Jared and I just... I don't know. She's so... different." Neo pulled his hair and growled. It was getting too long, he should cut it soon. Maybe change it again so he could go revisit some systems he'd normally stay away from otherwise..

"Is that why you have so many pictures of her?" Tamara let her hard facade crack a little and allowed a soft smile to creep out. "You know, if you want to call it love at first sight I'm right behind you. She does have that sort of vibe to her don't you think?"

"Oh please! And those pictures were just... a software malfunction. My camera wasn't suppose to be on and I mis-clicked." Neo sputtered with a slight pout on his face.

"Your camera malfunctioned," Tamara leaned closer to see the number on his gallery. "57 times?"

"Oh just shut up!"