The day Azerits dreaded was here... they were leaving. He sat up and looked down at Allyson. He shook his head sadly and Allyson looked up at him. He silently pointed to the door and sent Allyson to her room so she could get out of her rumpled clothes.

Azerits stood up and looked at himself in the mirror with great disgust. He had deep black circles under his eyes and his head swam with nausea as he slowly got dressed. His hands shook as he finished zipping the suit up. He walked out the room to find Kirk standing in the hallway with his back to the wall. One foot was pressed against the wall to give him that 'cool look'. Kirk looked up and his blue eyes were shadowed.

"The SAS is to meet in the hanger. Allyson will meet us there," Azerits said cleanly and they walked to the hanger.

As the two men stepped outside they could see that the base was now truly alive. The grounds were filled soldiers scrambling to get into their units and form ranks.

The sky was filled with the large brown transport ships. There was a large ring like object in the sky that began to slowly spin. The silver ring began to look like a fully formed sphere as the speed increased. One of the transport ships slowly began to drive towards it. As it got close the ring glowed from within and before Azerits knew it the ship had entered the ring and was gone. He grimaced as he looked at the now stopped HyperSpace Ring it certainly made getting to far away planets much faster.

Kirk pulled on Azerits' arm."Let's move."

Kirk led the way past the sea of solders and went into the hanger. It was a very large place were the Mech could be held in. They found out that Allyson was already there and was showing Magel his new mech. There was a look of excitement on his young face as he ran his hand up and down the cold steel of the robot's leg.

"Do you remember when we were that excited about our mechs?" Kirk spoke up and looked at Azerits with a gleam in his eyes.

Azerits smiled. "You still act that way- " Azerits looked like he was going to expand on his comment but something caught his eye in the corner of the room. All sound around him seemed to stop, as his head slowly rose to meet the burning eyes of his mech. To everyone else in the army the mech looked like everyone else's nothing remarkable about it all. Only Azerits and the 'evil' Marrows knew what it was once the mech removed Earth's armor from it.

"Form ranks." Azerits heard the dull order and came back to reality with a blink.

The other officers of the SAS, which included Azerits, Kirk, and Allyson, stood in the front with the other lower pilots behind them. The soldiers looked like statues as they stood in line perfectly still.

The three commanders sat a podium dressed all in black, with the metals on their shirts brightly shinning and glinting in the sun light. Commander Lucus, a tall man with a cold hard look on his face, rose from his seat. He deliberately walked making each drop of his heel sound like a gunshot with his wired microphone on.

"I see many new faces before me today," he began as he stepped up to the podium, "I see much fear in the eyes of these new faces." Commander Lucus stopped and peered into the crowd of young men and women making eye contact with as many as he could. "Each and every one of you are now members of the Shadow Assassination Squad. You do not fear... you put fear in the hearts of others! The Marrows," his mouth twisted with disgust, "wish to destroy OUR way of life, and WE will not let this happen. This war has gone on long enough, it ends NOW," Commander Lucus slammed his hand down on the stand. "For our families!"

The pilots in unified outburst yelled: "Yes!"

Once again he spoke, demanding their attention, "for our future!"

The pilots became louder than before: "Yes!"

Commander Lucus looked around the room, scanning the faces looking up at him. He held his head down as the sweat slowly trailed down his face and onto the stand. After a moment his head slowly rose, and in a soft voice he spoke, "for our homes, for Earth."

The pilots raised their right hands to their head to salute their Commander. Once again they let out a unified yell.

"Yes sir, Commander sir!"

Azerits and the other officers turned to face the pilots behind them. Allyson turned her head slightly and gave him a small smile. He could see that her cheeks were now a slight pink from all the excitement. He smiled back remembering how she always enjoyed seeing the hope in the eyes of the new troops.

The hanger's large metal doors opened to reveal the waiting transport ships for the pilots. The officers gave the command to board the ships and as the solders scurried onto them, Azerits relaxed slightly. His mech was not being put into the ship he would ride on. It wasn't uncommon for the mechs to be sent on ahead and only have a few on the ship with the pilots for emergencies. He felt the touch of someone's hand in his. It was a familiar brush of fingers, which he did not hesitate to enjoy. It was Allyson, and she was now resting her head on his shoulder. Azerits felt her turn her head and she whispered something into his ear. They then began to slowly walk to the ship, hand in hand.

As they entered the ship they could tell it was ready to take off because of the pilots filling in and the supplies packed away. On board Kirk was giving Magel a rundown of what to do when they arrived on the planet, Marrow. Azerits and Allyson joined them still hand in hand.

"How long till we see a battle?" Magel asked as he ran his finger over the tattoo on his hand.

"Eager aren't you kid?" Kirk asked as he sat down. "You will see one soon enough, don't worry."

The ship had begun to take off. It shook, as it slowly made its way into the air to adjust its self to enter the HyperSpace Ring. Kirk started to look around the room at all the new faces.

"So who's your money on?" He asked as he pointed to a young man in the corner stuffing his face full of food. "That ones mine."

Puzzled Magel asked,

"What's going on?" Magel asked with a confused expression on his face.

Kirk put his hand on Magel's shoulder, and pulled him near. "See kid, there are always those one or two guys to throw up their first time entering HyperSpace. We just like to see if we can pick that one out, and win a few bucks along the way."

Magel looked around the room, and pointed to a girl who had started to rock her self slowly when the ship started its take off.

"I'll go with the cutie over there," he said smiling.

Now, it was Azerits turn. He went with a guy sitting, looking well relaxed; like nothing on the ship was new to him.

"Who's your money on?" Magel asked looking up at Allyson.

"I'll have no part in this," she protested and looked disgustedly at her crewmembers as money was exchanged. "You guys are mean."

"Your just mad you threw up on your first time," Azerits mumbled under this breath. She gave him a quick jab to the ribs. Azerits let out an "Ow!" and Allyson smiled, seeming satisfied with her action.

"Prepare for hyper space launch." A voice crackled over the speaker system.

Everyone began to quickly find a seat and strapped themselves down. The ship began to shake harder as it entered the ring, sending itself into HyperSpace. Through the windows in the ship colors of blue, purple, and white began to flash. It was easy to now see who was new, and who had done this before. The experienced pilots sat there seeming to enjoy the strange feelings that came over their bodies. The newbies were looking around, as if expecting to see that they were on some roller coaster with a very long drop, and not a ship.

"Yes!" Azerits let out as his guy, who had tried so hard to look calm, threw up on himself.

"Damn!" Kirk said, as he slammed his head back into the chair. He looked at Magel and said, "Better luck next time."

However, Magel was more concerned with not being the next one to throw up as he tried his best to keep his food down. The flashes of light began to dim as they exited HyperSpace. The new pilots got out of their seats and clamored at the windows to get their first view of planet Marrow, which wasn't from a photo in a book.

"Go on, have a look." Allyson said looking at Magel. He looked out and saw a planet smaller than earth. It reminded him of the photos from space of Earth, that he had seen a long time ago.

The ship had now made its way onto Marrow and was heading for Base Shadow. Everyone walked around calmly, as if forgetting this beautiful planet was at war. It was like Earth, but unspoiled by things like smog. For some reason the planet was not harmed by such things.

Suddenly, the voice on the speaker came on once again. "All pilots with a mech on board please report to the launch area of the ship, now. This is not a drill"

Kirk ran to the window to see what was going on, but they were still too far up to make anything out clearly. The one thing he did see was the fighting going on down there. The explosions appeared as small, sudden bright flashes of light in the sky. Only the experienced pilots who had seen the war in action before could tell what was going on. The new pilots continued to watch the scene unfolding underneath them with wide eyes.

The four friends quickly made their way to the launch area, after Kirk told them what he saw.

"What's going on here?" Kirk asked one of the communication people running about the launch area. He saluted to Kirk.

"Officer Kirk," the man saluted quickly and sharply, "we have been looking for you. The Marrow have made an attack on the base and there are a total of five Marrow mechs. They don't seem to be making any real attempt to advance on the base."

Kirk looked hard at the man. "Five..." he rubbed his chin, "that sounds like a rescue squad not an attack force, but we have no prisoners at Base Shadow."

A communication began to come over the worker's radio, "Officer Kirk we have just got word that they have captured a mech from one of the transport ships that had landed ahead of us."

Azerits began to breathe heavily as he heard the news.

"Your mech is on here right?" Kirk asked as he looked at Magel who nodded vigorously in agreement. Kirk smiled, "well its time to see what you're made of."

The two ran off to find their mechs. Kirk turned back, and yelled to Azerits, and Allyson. "Sorry you guys can't join the fun!"

"Good luck!" Allyson yelled before Kirk was out of earshot. He lifted his and hand and continued on his way.

Kirk and Magel stood in their mechs at the opening off the ship looking down. The ship and came down in the sky as far as it could, without making itself an easy target. Kirk started to speak over the radio.

"Ok Magel, we have to jump from here onto the planet. It's going to be a rocky landing, but the mechs can take it. Are you sure you're ready?"

Magel stood inside his mech with his eyes closed. A small smirk came onto his face, as he suddenly opened his eyes.

"I was born for this." He let out a whoop and jumped out of the ship and began to descend to the planet. Kirk quickly followed behind him.

Magel could make out the black, shining armor of the Marrow's mechs. He adjusted his mech to come down on top of two of the Marrows. He activated his sphere and formed his hammer. He held it so the hammer's head was facing down and between the feet of his mech. The thin arms of the Marrows mechs rose to fire their weapons on Magel. However, it was too late, Magel had come down upon them too fast. The head of the hammer crushed the body of one of the mechs. It let out a scream as the hammer crushed the mechs body into the ground, which sent a great force of energy into the ground and resulted in the other mech being tossed back. A large crater formed in the ground.

"It screamed? So it's true, their mech are alive?" Magel thought aloud.

The second mech that was tossed back was now up and pointed his gun at Magel. Just then Magel heard the same scream he had heard before and he belatedly remembered the other mech. He quickly turned to swing at it with the hammer, but what he found was Kirk standing over a dead mech, with his scythe in his hand. Kirk deactivated his sphere and said, "not alive, but one with the Marrow. A form of DNA mutation." He put his arm out and pulled Magel up off the ground. Magel's hand let go of the hammer, and it deactivated as all the weapons would if there wasn't focus from the mech pilot's mind, to keep the weapons form once it was no long in the mech's hand. Kirk radioed back up to the ship.

"We have destroyed two of the Marrows. There is no sign of other three, what are we to do."

"Draw your rifles," the voice replied over the radio, "and help guard the base. We are sending down another team to find the other three"

Kirk and Magel pulled their weapons from the backs of their mechs and proceeded to take watch over the Base Shadow.

Another team of mechs was preparing to head down to Marrow. The wind from the opening in the ship sent papers flying all about the launch area. Allyson began to shiver from the cold breeze. Azerits took his shirt off and gave it to her.

"It's not much," he said, "but it might help."

She held the shirt in her hand, and began to fiddle around with it.

"It's not the cold Azerits, it's just... I have a bad feeling in me." She walked up to him as he stood staring at the mechs being prepared. Her hand slowly moved over the large white wings he had tattooed on his back. "You look like an angel with these things,"she whispered as her soft lips pressed onto his cheek. An announcement came over the radio.

"The Marrows with the stolen Earth mech have returned to the base. Our two pilots are under heavy fire," the announcement told the crew over the radio.

As Allyson heard the news she grabbed onto Azerits back in fear as she heard the news. "Oh, I hope they are ok Azerits. I just don't understand why the Marrow would steal a mech and send a rescue team. Who do you think they are here for?"

Azerits turned his head slightly and saw the worry in her eyes. In an almost whisper he spoke slowly and calmly, "they are here for me."

She looked up at him with a small, confused smile on her face. "What?" She asked not sure she heard him right.

"They're here for me…" He said once again, not turning to face her.

Allyson felt something slightly warm touch her hand that was still gripping onto Azerits' back. She looked down and was surprised to see it covered in a crimson liquid. Two slits had appeared in his back and blood was dripping from them. Her body shivered at the site of the blood and she quickly backed away from him.

"Wh... wh… what's going on here?" the words struggled out of her mouth.

Azerits turned his body to the side and held his head down. Allyson could see what remained of the scar on his arm. Her eyes widened as she saw it.

"Your arm? What's going on Azerits!" she demanded to know.

Azertis picked his head as he tried to find the words to explain to her what was going on. The wind blew again, sending drips of blood from his back flying at Allyson. His fist tightened as he began to speak.

"The war has been nothing, but a lie. These people are no danger to us. Earth wants nothing but their planet and technology. If you knew the things I know…" tears were dripping from his eyes as he turned and looked at her. "They never attacked Earth, Allyson," he held up his hand stopping her protests. "No matter what you may think. We murdered so many of their people based on a lie. We let so many of our people die based on a lie," he looked down and his brown eyes clouded with memories. He smiled sadly as more tears ran down his face. "I know that better than anyone else."

Allyson felt the shirt fall from her hand and heard the soft sound as it landed.

"Azerits, we were given orders to leave," she said with a sadness in her voice, she quickly shook her head to clean her thoughts. She'd revert to protocol whenever feelings came into play with Azerits.

"You left me to die!" Azerits unclenched his fist and looked up quickly counting to ten. "This isn't the time to be mad about that. I have to go, now." He looked her in the eyes. "They're waiting for me."

Azerits took off running for the doorway to the outside sky in the ship. Allyson watched as workers and pilots yelled to him to stop. He ignored them and jumped out the opening in the ship.

"Azerits…" Allyson said his name without meaning to. Saying it with emotion with feelings of lust, love, and everything she wanted.

"Azerits!" Allyson said it again as what had just happened sunk into her fully.

She ran into the communication room demanding to talk to Kirk.

"He jumped out the ship Kirk! Azerits jumped!" she said in a frantic voice.

"What are you talking about?" Kirk asked in a baffled voice.

Magel's voice came on over the radio.

"Holly shit, there he is. My sensors have picked him," another male voice came over the radio; it was Magel.

"The Marrows had now stopped their attack on the base." The crackling voice came over their radios. However, that didn't stop their conversation.

"Save him!" Allyson's voice yelled over the radio.

Kirk was just as frantic as his sensors showed his best friend's body falling to ground.

"We can't Allyson, we would be sitting ducks for the Marrow if we went out there," he said with finality.

All they could do was watch as their friend's body slowly fell.

Azerits was on his back with his eyes closed. He began to think about what Allyson had said to him before they left earth. He could feel her breath on his cheek as she spoke.

"I'm not going to lose you again." She had said. "We're coming home together this time. I love you and will not let you slip away from me again."

Azerits body was nearing the ground now. He was relaxed as he plummeted to the ground. Something brushed up onto his cheek, it was soft and carried the scent of a long ago flower . He opened his eyes to see a white feather go pass his face.

"It's time," he spoke a loud as a cold north wind hit his body. He began to concentrate and center himself. The blood began to bleed again. Fresh hot red wounds. The slits began to spread apart wider as something white began to come out from both of them. He focused harder than before and he found his center as two, large white wings emerged from his back.

Azerits was now a clear site to everyone at the base. Everyone stared as they say the man fall. Two of the Marrows took advantage of the distraction and took off with the stolen mech and the last one waited for Azerits and radioed to his base.

"He's here, were returning home,"

The wings on Azerits back flapped hard as he came out of his plummet. He and the last mech quickly made their way away from the base, sticking to the shadows to avoid being followed. The Marrow and Azerits became two tiny specks on the horizon and all of his friends could only watch Azerits fly away.

"What the hell just happened?" Magel blurted out. He was confused by what had just happened.

Allyson stood there watching the monitors, tears now filled her eyes as she watched him fly away. She couldn't answer Magel only softly say Azerits' name repeatedly.

Kirk watched as his friend, who he had known for years, took off with the enemy. Magel was still asking things and babbling on.

"Why would he leave with them, and how the HELL did he get wings!?" Magel asked and looked at Kirk exasperated.

A Kirk's face became a cold, hard mask of fury as he answered the newbie.

"DNA mutation."