First to Draw, Last to Let Fly

The room was nearly dark.

The lonely light of a glow-lamp burned somewhere in the rear of the chamber. A dim aura that mixed with the strained shades of purple
shafting through the room's arrow slit windows as perhaps the last dozen minutes of the day.

The figure behind Kelly seemed to be wearing a cloak of darkness, one darker than the crude hood he wore to hide his face. Despite his
obscure form Arthur knew he was the same man he saw in the Séance. The same man who Doak and Tommy (when they were alive) had
called 'boss', and the same man who flipped Arthur the Archaen obscene gesture of 'Get bent'.

Only this time the man wasn't wearing the vestments of a Red Klan member, or smoked glasses and a fielder's cap. The man before him
wore the black and silver robes of a Kelshran Assassin, the elite warlords of the K'tan Empire.

The Kelshran reached into the folds of his robe and took out a holstered weapon. An Imperial Torpedo blaster. He tossed it to Arthur's feet.

"The time for talk is over," he said. "Pick it up."

Arthur feigned a casual pose. "I think not."

"I am calling you out, 'Sin-Guardian! I will shoot you where you stand, even if you object to breaking your Duke's oath!"

Arthur said nothing, but simply stared. Kelly could feel the man behind her grow taunt. The air thicken with an almost palpable tension,
as if she were standing between two resonating power nodes. Her scalp began to tingle.

"Pick it up! I will not ask again!" spat the assassin, but the 'Sin-Guardian was unmoved.

"Let's cut the dramatics, shall we," said Arthur. "What is it that you really want... Shaw?"

Kelly flinched at the word, not because she knew it, or the man behind her, but because her Grandfather did. The man named Shaw lightly
chuckled to himself, then reached up and removed his black hood. Kelly chanced a look behind her. The man holding her prisoner had a handsome,
chiseled cut face with dark black hair, and soulless black eyes. Their eyes met and his grin seemed to fall down upon her like flour from a sifter.
Kelly shivered. Shaw passed his attention back to Arthur.

"Well done, Honor-Tyson. It seems the years haven't dulled your acuity. Tell me... are you surprised to see me?"

Arthur's face remained unchanged.

"Do I look surprised? You're not the first man to fake his own death, Shaw. The Order always suspected that you did,
just not to what end. So again, I asked you... what do you want?"

"Your head," answered the assassin.

The 'Sin-Guardian rose onto the balls of his feet, but the Kelshran waved a hand through the air in a way Arthur found beseeching.

"Oh, this may have all the trappings of a vendetta, but your death is just a simple prelude to something much bigger."

Arthur cocked his head. "Care to school me?"

The Kelshran leveled his stare, and smiled.

"The K'tan invasion of the entire Tri-sector area."

Arthur blinked once, then twice. "You've lost me," he said and his former student's smile widened.

"Tell me... who will your Emperor send to investigate this nuclear detonation?"

Arthur knew the answer almost immediately, though the truth was too incredulous.

"You did all this... just to draw out Coleman Waryip?!"

Shaw's grin stretched more with the curved sharpness of a sickle.

"I'll arrange to meet him at a time and place of my choosing, then throw your head at his feet... as greetings."

Arthur studied his former pupil, wondering if the man was truly in command of all his faculties. Finally, he said,

"Morbid. For an assassin you have all the subtlety of a dull ax. I thought I taught you better."

The Kelshran's grinned vanished into a straight cut, creasing the flesh of his face.

"You taught me how to kill, Honor-Tyson which is what I shall do!"

"To what end?" asked the his former teacher.

"To the fulfillment of the plan. Even as we speak the Kelshran Cadre is flooding the Tri-sector area bent on killing
the elite champions of every Minor Empire. Andorian Sages, Selesthian Aritea warriors, Dr'owe Xin'Arachnia,
Royal Dra'keshi warriors, Traqian Telepaths, Asgardain Valkyrie, and more. By the end of the week the best of
their best shall be dead... then the Minors shall fall."

Arthur nodded his head in a causal manner, and arched his eyebrows.

"So, the K'tan's opening volley will be a pogrom of assassination and psychological warfare. Gosh... I never saw that
'll have to forgive me if I don't wet myself."

The older assassin turned towards his Granddaughter.

"Kelly, has this coward hurt you?"

Shaw's eyes flared, and quicker then even Arthur would have expected, he yanked Kelly to his side and flashed a knife to her throat. It was the
same knife Arthur had seen in the Séance, the same knife that had maimed his leg. His own Combat dagger.

"You'll watch your words, Arthur Tyson! I fear no man!"

Arthur simple lifted his gaze from his Granddaughter to Shaw with an expression that was somehow neutral and serious.

"I see. My mistake. I beg your pardon."

The older assassin crossed his arms to his chest and courtly bowed. The Kelshran accepted his apology with his own courtesy nod and slowly
lowered his blade. Arthur watched as the tension in Kelly's shoulder's lightened.

"Your Granddaughter has been unharmed. On that you have my word," said the assassin.

"Such as it is," answered Arthur, then added, "So... you wanna run that by me again about how this 'isn't' about revenge?"

Shaw smiled again, something Arthur was beginning to find wholly unpleasant to look at.

"I will admit... your death will be something of a... personal indulgence, but then again, you and I have unfinished business."

Arthur grinned, knowing what he meant.

"Like why I picked Coleman as my protégé... over you?"

Shaw increased his smirk. "Ironic, isn't it? A decision you shall now regret."

To the Kleshan's surpise there was neither shame, nor remorse on Arthur's face, only a stern, harden stare.

"Why should I? Do you think there was some flaw in my logic? That you were judged unfairly?"

The 'Sin-Guardian let the challenging question hang in the air for his former pupil, but the Kelshran said nothing. Finally, Arthur shook his
head with the expression of honest disappointment.

"Ishtar... Shaw, the fact of the matter is you were one of my greatest students. A devastating fencer, an expert
marksman, a cunning tactician and strategist. Coleman was the only one who could hold his own against you,
but he's not the reason why you weren't picked as my protégé... or subsequently kicked out of the Order."

Arthur took another step closer.

"The fact is... you were just to damn brutal."

The Kelshran's face stiffened at the word.

"That... makes no sense at all. I was in training to be an assassin!"

Arthur shook his head.

"You were in training to be an Assassin-Guardian. Even now you forget that."

"I FORGET NOTHING!" spat the Kelshran. Arthur watched as his knife wavered under Kelly's chin.

"Truth!" oathed the 'Sin-Guardian. "Coleman Waryip was chosen because he was the better man."

"LIAR! I was his better! His better in everything!"

Spittle flew from Shaw's lips as his knife puckered into Kelly's skin.

"Except... " said Arthur. "At being humane."

The older man directed his gaze to the blade at his Granddaughter's throat.

"To wit," he added.

Shaw looked at his hand as if it had a life of its own, then lowered the blade. With a sour glare he rose his expression to Arthur .

"You... complicitious bastard! You sent my life through hell all because of some sentimental weakness?!"

Shaw shook his head and rose a single, harden fist. His black eyes leveled at his former teacher like the barrels of a gun.

"The Kelshran were right about you. You and your precious Order. How many years have you cut away
your best people in favor of those who promote your own flawed values. How many?!"

Arthur said nothing and Shaw's leering grin grew.

"In a way, old man, kicking me out of the Order was the best thing to ever happen to me. My fighting skills
flourished in the K'tan gladiatorial pits, and more so in the Kelshran Cadre. I became a far better warrior than
any of your so called... Assassin-Guardians," he sneered

"Bull, and shit," replied Arthur. "All you've done is to squander your life learning to fight dirty, and think big."

The 'Sin-Guardian took another single step forward towards the Kelshran.

"Your mind's gone dull, Shaw. You rely too much on back stabbing, shadow slinking and technology. The problem
with you... you and the K'tan, is that you never learned to fight smart. That's the arena you're in now, kid and quite
frankly... you're outclassed."

The younger assassin's lecherous grin wrinkled his handsome face.

"Really?" he said gesturing with an outstretched hand, overacting a look of wonder. "Then where are all your so called friends?
Your town?"

He turned back to his old teacher, and raised a single eyebrow.

"You're alone, Arthur Tyson, with no one to watch your back."

Arthur rested both his hands on his cane again, and smiled with confidence.

"Oh, the Fellas are alive if that's what you're gettin' at."

Shaw mirrored Arthur's expression and almost laughed.

"I doubt that very much," he answered.

"If you think that trick with the nuke got them, then you're dumber than you look."

The Kelshran's eyes stopped cold, and looked carefully at his former teacher. Arthur flashed his all knowing smile.

"You weave a pretty good scheme, Shaw, I'll grant you that. That play with Tommy and Doak in town, having
them leave their irons for us to divine, then setting us up to go after the Klan... fairly brilliant. Except, you got
sloppy. Tell me... how long has Liam been spying for you?"

The Kelshran's expression was still curious.

"Long enough, and willingly after a few false promises of payment," he answered.

"Yeah? Well he's a gullible simp, that much I can say."

"Oh, he's much smarter than you think. Liam told me the exact moment your Fellas left to pursue my men.
Even more, he provided me with the choicest of intelligence on Dr. Runewood's magical ability."

"Hence, my psycho-wound," said Arthur nodding. Shaw smiled again, and Arthur had to suppress the urge to smash him with his fist.

"I couldn't risk having you killed in a nuclear blast, now could I, and miss our reunion?"

"I'm touched. Regardless, your scheme's failed, Shaw. The Fellas are coming."

"I fail to see how. My men contacted me the moment they saw your pursuing friends. They were no more
than half a kilometer away when I remote detonated the nuke."

Again Shaw was surprised by Arthur's reaction. The older assassin grinned like a fox.

"Sure it was them?" he asked.

Shaw's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Arthur continued.

"The desert can play tricks on the eyes, and do funny things to the mind."

Shaw tensed, and Arthur watched as he consumed his words.

"What I'm saying is... it could have been a mirage."

For a brief flaring moment the Kelshran looked away, as if checking an invisible check list, then,

"No," he answered. "No, the men in the Vicky were all natives of this world. They'd know the difference," he offered defensively, but Arthur
just shrugged.

"Maybe... but only if the mirage were natural. You forget, Jord was with them, and Jord's the only man in this
Q-dex who can use... magic."

Arthur watched the Kelshran shoulders and necked tighten, His knife hand nearly lowered to his side as confusion pecked away at his supreme
confidence. Arthur tried not to smile. Tried.

"NO! Impossible! How... why would he... unless?..."

His eyes grew wide with the specter of fear. Arthur nodded knowing what Shaw had just figured out.

"Unless we knew exactly 'who' we were up against. Like I said Shaw... you got sloppy."

With a cool smile Arthur reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a small object, and held it up. The Kelshran Assassin looked at it as if the
magnetic poles of his mind had shifted. It was a hand-rolled cigarette butt. The one Doak had thrown into the gutter after getting out of the Vicky.

It was the third item the Fellas had divined.

It had only been a few minutes after Liam had ran out of the chateau (skin the color of clean, white sheets and scared ten years older). Elwood
had managed to stop the bleeding on Arthur's leg, while Jord, and Mara were at his side.

"Arthur... I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened. I..." began the Archeologist. The retired assassin held up his hand, clearly in pain, but wishing
to speak.

"It's... all right... I think I know... what happened. Mara, El... help me up."

They did, and the rest of the Fellas sat back down at the round table.

"The blade we saw in the Séance, the one that killed the Marine... was my blade, and the same blade that originally did this."

Arthur laid his hand upon his bloodstained bandaged limb. Jord nodded.

"Then this is a psychosomatic wound," said the Elf.

"Yes," replied Arthur.

"Any idea how the hooded man may have gotten your blade?" asked Tyler.

Arthur looked at the table, thought for a while, then shook his head.

"No, but I have a feeling that if we divine our last clue, we may find out."

He was looking at Doak's cigarette butt on the burlap wrappings.

"No! It's not be safe, it could..." stammered Mara., but Arthur cut her off.

"I'm willing to take that risk," he said with a strained voice. "The blade could be a freak coincidence, but if someone's trying to
hurt me... hurt the ones I love, then I owe it to them... to myself to find out."

Mara started to speak, but she recognized the look on her lover's face. The subject wasn't up for debate.

"Then... then how can I help?" she asked.

"I think we all could use another round of brandywine" said Arthur with a fragile grin.

"That's not what I meant!" said the attarctive tavernkeeper, but then she read deeper into the expression on Arthur and all of the Fellas's faces.

"Oh... all right then, You want to be alone for yor Spirit-rappin' is that it?"

Arthu nodded, and Mara stood.

"Just... be carefull, that's all I'm asking."

"You have our word," said Jord.

Mara looked at Arthur as if it were the last time she would see him, then turned, made her way through the kitchen's bat-wing doors and
slammed the second one shut behind her.

The Fellas joined hands again.

"Doak must have been rolling his cigarette when you were going over your plans with him and Tommy.
We learned everything. How you used Liam as an informant, the Quantum Nuke, and your plan to sacrifice
the other Klansmen once the Fellas got close enough to their racing Vicky. But most of all we saw it was you,
Shaw, and knew it was a trap from the start."

The Kelshran looked at him complettely speechless.

"What we didn't know was what you were truly planning. The Fellas were gonna do their part to try and stop
the Vicky without detonating the nuke, but mainly to try and chase it far enough from Fallon so it wouldn't do
any real damage. We couldn't risk evacing the town without tipping you off, or even go to Sheriff Gains. The
only thing we knew was that you wanted me left here in town."

Arthur looked around notiicng the bodies of the other dead factory workers as submerged shapes in the rooms darkness. He turned back
to Shaw.

"To be honest, the nuke was our biggest concern, so we decided to foil that, let your plan play out and do what
any good 'Sin-Guardian does best... improvise."

Now it was Arthur's turn to smirk and he watched how it goaded into the younger assassin.

"Congratulations, Shaw. You're probably the first man in history to ever miss seven people with a nuclear bomb."

The 'Sin-Guradian took another final step forward.

"Now this is the part were you and I are done chewin' words. This is the part where I kill you! I'm asking you once
more... let my Granddaughter go."

Shaw snapped a look at Arthur, like a man lost in thought who suddenly heard his name called. His eyes narrowed, eyes as flat and black
as nailheads.

"No," he said. "I... underestimated you and your friends, but that doesn't change anything. Coleman Waryip will
still come... and I still intend to take your head."

"I don't give a rat's ass about what you intend to do. Justice ain't waitin' anymore!"

"Justice?" said Shaw as if he had never hear the word.

"Frontier justice. You killed about a dozen people here today. Town folks and friends I've know for years. You called
me out, you arrogant bastard, so let's get on with it. LET MY GRANDDAUGHTER GO!"

Shaw flinched as if he had been visibly slapped. Slowly his heated face looked down at Kelly as if he suddenly noticed that she was there.

"Go," he ordered, and lowered his blade.

Kelly stepped away from him and ran to her Grandfather's side. Arthur lowered to one knee and hugged her fiercely.

"I knew you'd come!" she said buring her face into the side of his neck.

"Aye," said Arthur. The two held on to each other for a long time. Separting, Arthur held her at arms length.

"I want you to run, Kelly. Run for the Club. The Fellas will be there. Tell them what's happened."

"Grandpa?"

"Some rivers can't be crossed Kelly, but we have to try anyway, that's what it means to be brave."

He passed over his cane.

"Take this for protection. You'll know what to do with it."

She looked at his disguised weapon, then back up to him and nodded. Turning she ran out of the room as fast as her ten year old legs
could take her. Arthur stood up and faced Shaw once more.

"You know I'll have to kill her," said the Kelshan.

"We'll see," said Arhtur.

"Are you going to pick up that gun behind you, or make this easy for me," asked his former student.

"I prefer the weapon you're holding," said Arthur looking at the blade in the assassin's hand. Shaw smiled.

"Interesting..."

Unfastening his robe the Kelshran assassin let it drop to the floor, revealing a holstered hand-cannon on his right thigh. Raising his forearm
he tossed the blade directly at his old teacher. Arthur caught it without looking, and sheathed it against his belt on his left side.

Arthur then fell into a classic En Garde stance - right foot extended, knee slightly bent, left leg spaced behind it, with the foot turned ninety
degrees. His right arm was out, slightly curved in front of him, whle his left arm floated behind him in a classic gunslinger pose.

Shaw nodded at the 'Sin-Guardian's strategy.

"You realize you have absolutely no hope of beating me, old man.
Only the honor of trying."

"Because you're thrity years younger, and thirty years faster?" asked Arthur again with
another sly grinned.

"Maybe. But there's an old saying, Shaw. Something you didn't learn when you were in the Order.
First to draw, last to let fly."

"What?"

"Draw, shithead."

Kelly stood hidden in the dark recesses of the warhouse entrance trying to contain her rapid breathing, and the frantic beating of her heart.
She had ran as far as she dared hope, until she guessed the receeding sounds of her footsteps would have sounded lost in the distance to the men
back in the warehouse. She then stopped and crept back as quitely as she could.

In the tender moment of her Grandfather's hug he had whispered a single sentence to her.

"... Watch my back, and wait for my signal."

Kelly now knew that his other words, the ones about her being brave were intend for the man named Shaw to hear, but the passing of his cane
and his last sentence ...

"...You'll now what to do with it ..."

... had another secret meaning. Attached to the shaft of the cane, hidden from Shaw's view by a thin film of adhesive tape was Arthur's third
and final stilleto dart. Kelly felt it when it was passed over. Unable to touch firearms, Arthur had taught all of his Grandchildren the finer art of
primitive projectile weapons. The bow and arrow, the sling... and the blowdart.

Kelly had removed Arthur's Razor-epee from his cane and unscrewed its steel tip, reducing it into the a long, hollow shaft. She then loaded
the thin stilleto dart into it and waited for her Grandfather's signal, hopeing that she wasn't too late.

"Your Blaster against my blade," said Arthur. "Beat me and you live,"

Shaw narrowed his eyes. His showdown with his former teacher had been more than he bargined for. The back of his neck flushed with
anger. He had been embarrased where he had hoped to find victory, but more, his former teacher was far from the broken and beaten man
he had hoped to encounter. Even now, hopelessly outmatched he exuded confidence.

Something wasn't right.

The 'Sin-Guardian's stance was admirable, it not tactically interesting. Both his arms were equally positioned to draw his blade. It was an old trick.
The 'Sin-Guardian was hopeing he would watch one arm, while his other drew the blade. Shaw wasn't impressed. He knew he could still beat him.
Slowly, Arthur's left hand, the one hanging behind him in a gunslinger's pose, curled into a fist. The Kelshan readied himself, the real attack would
come from his ...

Suddenly, his eys shifted back to Arthur's left hand again. That same feeling that something wasn't right screamed in the back of his mind.
Everything the 'Sin-Guardian was doing was text book, but void of his former teacher's sly tricks or graft. If the 'Sin-Guarian's left fist wasn't
a feint, then what was...

Shaw's eyes darted to the warehouse door just as Kelly raised the end of Arthur's blowdart-cane. His eyes flashed to Arthur, then back to Kelly.

Shaw drew.

Arthur drew, and Kelly fired striking the Kelshran just above his left nipple as he snapped off a shot. The slight sting of pain was enough to throw
his aim off. The right pig-tail on Kelly's head was sheared off. Shaw's bullet just missed her skull.

Kelly blinked. She had never seen anyone move so fast. More so she had't even seen her Grandfather move. The knife was gone from his belt.
It was inbedded deep in the assassin's throat. The Kelshran clawed at the blade with his free hand as he gurgled up blood. He fell to one knee
struggling to breath.

"GRANDPA!"

Kelly ran into the room, and Arthur whirled, throwing himslef in front of her.

"KELLY... NO!"

Too late.

Shaw raised a trembling hand, despite the narcotic in his system, he aimed and fired. Kelly watched in horror as her Grandfather's entire body
flinched. A hole ruptured out his backside the size and color of a rose blossom. A curtain of blood began to fall down his back. Arthur fell
to his knees, and with a deep exhausted sigh, fell flat on his face.

Kelly ran to her Grandfather's side as she heard Shaw gurgle his last labored trembling hands she touched her Grandfather's shoulders.
The 'Sin-Guardian's arms kicked out, bending at the elbows with his hands flat against the floor. Slowly, with all his remaining strength, Arthur Tyson
rose himself from the ground.

Kelly saw the gunshot wound in his chest. It was near his heart. She want to think it was just above his heart, but it was just too close to tell. His eyes
fell on her with his kind and noble smile.

"Grandpa..." she whispered. "I'm sorry... I .."

Arthur just smiled and shook his head. "You did good, Kel. You did real good."

His arms reached out and the two hugged for what seemed like forever.

"Help me... Kel," said Arthur after a while. His voice was just above a whisper.

Somehow she manged to help him to his feet, and together they looked over at Shaw's body as Arthur leaned on Kelly for support. .

"What should we do about him?" asked his Granddaughter.

Shaw's vacant eyes were rolled up in th top of his head as if he were staring up into chamber's inky darkness. Arthur held his lips together and
closed his eyes.

"Leave him," he said. "Flies buzzing over a head of lettuce have more worth than him."

The two made it as far as the first bend in the road half outside the nano mill. Kelly could feel her Grandfather's body grow colder with
each passing step, and more so, the slosh of his own blood in his boots.

"Put me down here, Kel," said Arthur, gesturing to a small boulder along the side of the road. The older man sat down with the help of
his Granddaughter. Arthur looked long and hard to the silhouette of Fallon in the distance.

"...Too far," he said weakly. "You have... to go yourself, Kelly... and get help."

"No. I won't leave you!" stated his Granddaugher, and Arthur suddenly looked at her because her tone and voice was so much like her
mother's. Arthur looked up at the darken sky. His thoughts seemed to be deep and far away.

"Some rivers can't be crossed..." he began, and fell into a coughing fit.

"... But we have to try anyway," added Kelly. Arthur grinned and wiped the blood form his mouth.

"That's what it means to be brave," he finished.

"You're gonig to die... aren't you?" asked his Granddaughter, and her voice seemed to be the loudest sound in the chilling desert air.

Arthur looked up into the near dark sky again. Over head several points of light had swung into what looked like a planetary alignment.

"See that Kelly," he pointed. "That's a good Omen. If I die, then it was for a
good reason. Ishtar's will. Now go, child."

Kelly looked at the sky for a long time, then lowered her head to her Grandfather looking at the stars. She hugged him once more,
and kissed him on the cheek.

"I Love you..." she whispered.

"Love you, too," said Arthur.

Kelly turned and ran down the road. Ran as hard as the tears running down her face. She made only a hundred yards before she stopped
and turned around. The buring color of dusk married to the desert floor was all she could see, that and her Grandfather's silhouette sitting
on the rock.

In the wanning darkness, Arthur Tyson lowered his head in time with the setting sun.