Dark Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/17/97:

    Chapter 1

"Fox, we don't have time for this," Rachel said from behind
me. I grunted in response, working on reconnecting a pair of
cables I had worked loose a few minutes before.

She sighed. "At least get dressed, we're supposed to be in
the banquet hall in twenty minutes."

With a final snap I managed to get everything connected like
it was supposed to be. Pulling myself out of the access
hatch I gave her a slight smile. "Don't worry, I'll be ready
on time."

She crossed her arms, an annoyed look crossing her face. "On
time was an hour ago," she protested. "Our escort has been
waiting for at least ten minutes. Now clean up and get
dressed."

I closed and locked the access hatch. Standing, I cleaned my
hands off on a towel I had brought with me for just that
reason. "Right, on my way."

She rolled her eyes and stepped out of my way. She was
already dressed for the opening banquet for ORADS (the
'Off-world Research And Development Station' for long),
wearing a black evening gown that just barely reached past
her ankles and swished softly with each step she made.

Locking the door behind me as I left, I started towards my
cabin. We were all jammed into the _Falcon_, which we had
used as a transport down from the _Golden Phoenix_. Well,
Rachel hadn't, but she had come to check on me to see what
was taking me so long to get out of the docking bay and into
the base proper.

We had been on the Krein moon base (where ORADS was located)
for close to half an hour. I had spent most of it trying to
fix the forward landing gear on the _Falcon_. Somehow one of
the cables had come loose, keeping the gear from retracting
on the trip down. I didn't want to leave the ship without
trying to fix it.

I was relatively sure I had, too, but just to be sure I was
going to tell Milgrove to have Zen run a full diagnostic
once sie got back to the _Phoenix_.

Slipping inside my cabin I removed my normal clothing (which
even I knew wasn't going to cut it for something as formal
as this banquet) and put on a tuxedo. It actually was an
Earth tux; I had dug up the patterns from my net connection
back home and given them to a tailor who works on short
notice.

To be honest, I actually did look pretty good in it. It's
amazing, but true. I did not look, for what was possibly the
first time in my life, scruffy.

Adjusting the bow tie (it was a clip-on, I could never learn
to tie them) I ran my hands through my hair and stepped out
of the cabin.

Oriana was waiting for me in the hallway. She was dressed in
the Lidr'ran version of formal wear. It wasn't a dress, it
was actually a pair of pants and a long shirt. They were
made of a light blue-grey fabric with a silky sheen to it.
The pants were loose on her body, billowing out a bit as she
moved. The shirt came half way down to her knees and was
slightly open at the collar. There was a belt, which looked
more like a scarf, around her waist holding her shirt down
tight against her body, from the way it vanished in the
fabric I gathered it was holding up her pants as well.

It looked very good on her; the color highlighted her fur.
Her hair was worn loose, with some of it hanging over her
shoulders. She had on the hair clips I had given her almost
a year ago as well. The whole thing only served to
high-light her best features, while not over-emphasizing the
bits that made her sexy. Altogether, she looked just
beautiful.

She smiled as I came out of the room. "You look handsome,"
she murmured to me, walking over and straightening my tie.

"And you are very lovely," I responded.

Setting her arm over my shoulder, she smiled and sighed
softly. "I'm not sure I can do this, Fox."

I patted her paw. "I know, Oria." She had told me everything
after she had taken the contract. "Maybe you'll get lucky
and this guy didn't do anything."

She gave me a sharp look. "I wouldn't have been asked if it
wasn't almost a sure thing."

I nodded grimly. "You ready for this?"

"I'm armed... but ready to kill again?" she looked down at
her feet. "I don't know."

I squeezed her paw gently, not sure what else to say, or
even if there was anything else *to* say.

She took a deep breath. "We don't want to be late for the
banquet."

I nodded again, and we started out of the ship. Rachel was
waiting for us just around the corner. She raised her
eyebrows at Oria's clothing, then smiled. "Looks
comfortable," she commented.

Oria smiled, "That is intended. Formal clothing doesn't have
to be stuffy."

I nodded my head, understanding the reasons behind that
idea. "Just a second," I commented and stepped away from
them. Opening a close-by door, I stuck my head in.

Inside was the flight cockpit of the _Falcon_, and Milgrove.
Sie was lounging back in the chair and reading a book. The
light behind hir was causing the pair of small horns on hir
head to sparkle just slightly.

"Hey Mil, can you do me a favor?"

Sie looked up over the edge of hir book, "Maybe."

"I don't suppose you can keep the _Falcon_ here for a few
hours? Tell them you're working on getting the gear fixed so
it will be safe."

Setting hir book down, sie gave me a slightly perplexed
look. "Why?"

I smiled a bit. "Just to be safe... and keep a watch on the
local radio bands. If anything strange happens... use your
best judgment." With that I ducked back out and closed the
door.

"What was that about?" Oriana asked as I rejoined the group.

"Burke," I said with a frown. "I just realized that if he
knew we were to be here, it's probably because something is
going to happen. So I told Milgrove to hang around for a
bit."

Oria nodded. Rachel gave me a stern look. "Who is Burke?"

I shook my head, "I'll tell you later." We started out of
the ship and into the base's docking bay. It was separated
from the base proper by about a mile of tunnel. It made
sense, I expected; in case something happened in the dock
the base could be protected and vice-a-versa.

Our guide was waiting for us just outside of the ship. She
sighed slightly when we finally stepped out. "Come on," she
said and started towards the exit to the bay.

She didn't take the main exit; instead she went into a small
side room. Hitting a few buttons on the wall she opened a
fold in the side of the wall. With a glance back at us she
went through. We all followed as a matter of course.

The far side was another small room off of a hallway. This
one was carpeted though, with fancy looking lights along the
walls. She typed something else into the control panel and
closed the fold.

I smiled. I had been told that there was a shortcut from the
bay into the base, but I had assumed it used a teleport
curtain, not a pair of folds. I filed away how both folds
felt so I could use them if I ever needed to come back to
the base. If some of what the scientists were working on
panned out, I figured it probably would be just as well.

We were ushered into a large reception hall just as the
speakers were starting to enter and move to the large raised
platform at the front of the room. Rachel smiled at me and
moved off to her own table with the other two First Level
Members, as well as another person whom I had never seen
before, and whose species I could not place.

Oria and I were taken to a small table halfway up the room.
Sitting down, we both made a quick order for drinks (wine
for both of us-- I thought I could stomach it for the night)
and relaxed as the first speaker began to speak.

* * *

The most annoying thing about this kind of banquet was
having to sit through it. Most of it was concerned with
introducing ORADS' board of directors and the department
heads, as well as explaining what the major projects were.

We had already been there a hour, and the third speaker of a
dozen was just sitting down so the next one in line could
start. Fox was watching it all with a glazed look in his
eyes. He was thinking of something else and not what was
going on.

Gently I reached over the table and tapped his hand. He
tipped his head slightly to look at me.

I adjusted my shirt. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He chewed his lip slightly, but nodded. I slowly stood up
and walked to the exit of the room, my pants swishing softly
with each step. The waiter standing at the door pointed me
towards the ladies room and I went down the hall.

Going the way he directed, I walked right past the bathroom
and turned a corner that was only a bit farther down the
hallway. Walking down the new corridor I checked each door
as I went past, gently rattling the handles until I found
one that was unlocked.

Inside was an empty office. It just contained a desk and
some filing cabinets. The only light in the room came from a
single side window that faced out into a large open air
garden, or small park.

It wasn't much light, but it was enough for my night vision
to work. Slipping down behind the desk I started to remove
my garlat, the dress clothing I was wearing. It was quick to
remove and hide; I folded it up and set it under the desk
where it couldn't be seen from the door.

Underneath the garlat I was dressed in something a lot less
formal. At Fox's suggestion I had come dressed for my job in
a pair of black pants, a black shirt and with a mask that
covered my face. The idea was to hide my identity from
anyone who was watching.

Quickly, and uncomfortably, I hid my tail in the pants, then
tucked my hair under my shirt. I wasn't going to put the
mask on just yet.

Standing up, I casually left the office, made a note of the
room's location, and started after my target.

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
'Milgrove' is (C) 1997 by J. 'Packrat' McCoy, and is used
with permission. did