Aresess lay in his bed, covers pulled high. He held tight to the warm feline body next to him, his thick scaled tail twitching beneath him. He nuzzled his snout into the back of her neck and busied himself with counting the surrounding spots. She purred and stroked his arm with her paw.
 Cirn still confused him, her quietness, her loving nature, and especially their relationship. They were definitely friends, and also just as definitely not lovers. They loved each other, closer than friends or even family, and their shared their deepest thoughts with each other. They spent all the time they could with each other, and yet all this perplexed him.
 He sighed. “ What’s wrong?” Cirn asked softly, turning her head.
 “Nothing.” He muttered and kissed the back of her neck and resumed stroking her, while the rain outside put her to sleep. He knew she liked that. He knew she liked the rain. He knew she slept in content security whenever he was near. He knew...God, he knew everything there was to know about her. He knew she didn’t like the temperature as high as he did, but she also knew that the cold was torture for him. He knew all her feelings and every beautiful detail of her person, from the shade of her deep green eyes to her soft tan fur, to the look her eyes gave off when she was in total comfort.
 And he also knew she was not for him. Why? That he did not know. He slowly drifted out of consciousness.........

 Even from the depths of his memory, all he could recall of his child-hood was a feeling of solemn contentment, at least when he was reeeeally young. No one had ever shown anything but kindness to his parents, being lizards who had defected from the Venomians they were at least mildly respected.
 One thing Aresess loved about living on Corneria then was watching vehicles pass their home in a calm steady motion, or not as much watching the vehicles pass as watching the beams their head lights made wash across the wall. He always saw it as an all’s well sign.
 He had always been big, especially for a lizard. At twelve he was a full two heads and a half taller than the second tallest person at school. He also weighed nearly two hundred pounds, but he wasn’t in any way over-weight. His size created problems. Not in finding clothes or chairs that fit, but he was a target for violence. He wasn’t really violent himself, ( or at least he thought not) but other children sought him out to prove themselves, and when provoked, he could erupt into a deadly fit of rage.
 It was one of those that ruined it all for him. Most people try to forget things like that, but he kept the memory, nurtured it, held it clear, as a warning to himself.
 It was a good day,  bright and warm. He had ridden a bike to school that day, for exercise sake, his parents had told him. He parked his bike on the rack, dwarfing all the others. He took his pack and dismounted, that was when a clump of dirt smashed against the back of his head and he watched the fragments fly past.
 He felt tears well up in his eyes and brushed them away. He narrowed his eyes, clenched his teeth and turned his head just in time to see six other boys throwing dirt and rocks before one rock struck him on his temple. He felt it tear his scales of and soon the warm trickle of his blood came down his neck. He heard their mocking laughs, a lion, an avian, a hyena, a dog, and a hare.
 He felt the turbulent rage well up in him and he screamed and trembled. He turned and tore a bike from the rack lock and all and hurled it at them. They stopped laughing and scattered, all except the dog. Its eyes grew wide and his ears went flat as the bike fell towards him catching and snapping his neck in the wheels. the hare ran to his dead friend and just sat by him,  crying, in all his foolishness.
 The young lion and the avian charged him, screaming something about lizards, but he didn’t hear. He kicked the avian square in the side o his head with all his strength and blood spurted from its other ear and mouth and nostrils. The lion caught him off guard with his leg in the air ( it was good, while it lived, Aresess would always admit to that) and punched him with both fists in the chest knocking him to the ground, and it hurt. He leapt up and grabbed the lion by it’s mane, he fell back throwing the lion over his head.
 What he didn’t know was the bike rail was directly behind him also. He slammed him onto it with all his might, impaling him with it, and the shriek it gave off as it lay in untold pain was music to his ears. He turned and looked around. The Hyena had long since left, but the rabbit was still there, crying over his friend. Had he been able to think through that sea of rage he would have had sympathy and left, but he didn’t. He laughed insanely and ran towards it, the hare turned it head and whimpered with tears in its eyes. Aresess leaped up in mid-run and landed squarely on its back, rewarded by a loud chorus of cracks and a gurgling sound as it died........
 

 He awoke with a jolt and screamed, startling Cirn.
 “ What, what is it?” she gasped digging her claws into his leg as her eyes accustomed to the light, “What happened?”
 “ Nothing,” he panted brushing sweat from his brow, he could practically feel their his blood and their blood warm on his hands, “ Just a bad dream.”
 Cirn drew close to him and held him tight. “That horrible dream again? Why don’t you just let them take it away? They could...”she began but he put his finger to her lips to stop her.
 “ I know what they can do, but I don’t trust them, and I need that dream. Neither the Cornerians or the Venomians especially like me, and who knows what they’d do if they got me on an operation table.” he sighed, “ With-out that dream it would be to easy to lose my control.” He kissed her forehead, “ I need to go clear my head, I’ll be back.”

 He approached his fighter, out in a small commercial hangar that serviced neutrals. It was a sleek gold and green Wolfen II named the Vermin-Bane, armed to his personal taste. It bore only one red laser, had nova bomb capability, and carried two devices of his own engineering. Double 240 caliber autocannons.
 Projectile weapons were made absolute when lasers were introduced, but most shields were designed to block energy emissions, and slow moving objects like debris or rubble, but a 240 caliber uranium shell moving at speeds greater than lasers, could peel a ships armor like an orange. They were also cheaper to maintain, and lately, that was a blessing. On the gold section of his ship there was written in red, “ Aresess Yomeg, mortality technician and professional mercenary.”
 He chuckled as he climbed into the leather interior of his cockpit, carved into the control panel were the words “ If a fool attacks you, be grateful, it makes you look better.” He had made that one himself. He closed the cockpit, ran a diagnostics check and turned for the run way. The engine hummed softly as it accelerated towards space, leaving Katina behind him, and he drifted into a day-dream.
 

 Five years had passed since his murder of the five students, and he had fled from his home to Corneria City, where he lived only by begging and stealing. When Andross attacked, he was taken by the Venomians and swore his allegiance to Andross when he was still 17. He had been assigned to infantry and was being used as a guard in the emperor’s many facilities, but he didn’t plan to stay there.
 He shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot, watching the other guard from the side of his eyes. He knew his plan, and as soon as the door behind him opened and the technicians left, it would be put into action. The hanger behind them held one of the first Wolfen II jets to be completed, they were intended for the Star Wolf to fly, but they had made the mistake of having him guard them.
 They doors opened with a hiss and the technicians exited, he watched them, and they never gave a backwards glance. As soon as they were out of ear-shot, he side stepped and planted his rifle at the base of the other guard’s skull. He pulled the trigger and the lizard slumped to the floor in a clutter of armor and cloth. He ran into the hanger and quickly looked around to make sure everyone had left, then ran for the nearest jet. He quickly ran a systems check and flew out of the hanger with the screaming of his engines behind him. There were several patrols of flees around the base, circling in constant vigilance, but he hoped he could leave before they noticed him.
 His radio began blaring, “ Unidentified pilot, you are not cleared for departure and are ordered...” ‘Click’. He turned it off and began humming as one patrol flew next to him as a threat. He quickly braked and they jolted past, his lasers blasted simultaneously, tearing straight through their armor and incinerating them. He thrust off at full speed and never returned.
 He had since them modified the ship considerably, and met Cirn......

 He shook his head violently to clear his thoughts as he noticed twelve blips move into his radar. Four of them had symbols representing Cornerian, and eight identified themselves as Venomian. Four of the eight pulled off and came after him he charged his one laser and smiled with glee as a small red ball of flame built up in front of his ship. He released it, destroying one, and as soon as he had them in visual range he knew what they were, Invader class II jets. The others were Cornerian Bulldog jets, he chuckled to himself. ‘As long as I’m living on a world they control, I think helping them is my best option.’ he thought.
 He felt his fighter shake as a flea fired on him, he checked his shields, the tiny ship hadn’t even scratched him. He felt his ship vibrate as he pulled the trigger, blasting arm sized shells through the enemy ship, it tore through the center of the ship, triggering a beautiful series of bubbling explosions. They other two were passing under him and he began a somersault but pulled back on the stick in the middle of it, sending him diving straight at the fleas. The flashes of metal screamed past them, catching one in the wing and destroying him.
 The other pulled hard to the right and he followed, until he got a clean shot. He fired straight through the cockpit of the fighter, sending the bullet through the torso of the pilot. Its blood was sucked out with the oxygen into space before the ship erupted into a ball of flame. He turned and slammed on the booster heading towards the Bulldogs and the remaining fleas. There were now three Bulldogs left with only two fleas to go, but the fleas were behind them, following them in every move and showering them in laser fire.
 Aresess did a barrel roll and pulled directly behind them aimed for their engines and pulled the trigger. “KABOOM!!” He shouted in the silence of his cockpit as he flew through the debris. He had chosen a good time to fly. His radio crackled and a rodents voice came over the com.
 “ Thanks friend, that was good flying. Were intercepted that patrol and have been out here with them for far too long.” He turned on the monitor. On the other side there was a small hamster in a blue helmet. He grunted.
 “ What’s your name?” Aresess asked with a grin.
 “ Moe Blemenshof.” He answered with a twitch of his nose. “ Yours?”
 “ Aresess Yomeg, a friend of Corneria.” He laughed, “ Or of whoever owns the planet on which I live!” Moe frowned.
 “ Lets just hope it stays Cornerian then, shall we?” That sounded all to cautious to Aresess. “ I wouldn’t want to fight you on different terms.” Was that a threat? He didn’t know. He never knew. He had enough trouble figuring out how he thought, that Cirn was the only person he ever fully understood.
 
 
 

 
 He turned of the monitor and headed back into the atmosphere. He slowly braked as the runway came into view, he pulled The Vermin-Bane up and landed softly. Once the jet stopped he pulled of his helmet and rubbed the back of his head. He looked at his  hand and it was covered in sweat, which he wiped on his leg. He climbed out of his cockpit and looked at his reflection in the side of his jet. It was the first time he saw what he was wearing because he dressed in the dark so as to let Cirn sleep. He hadn’t much to choose from, so it was hard to pick things that didn’t go well together.
 He was wearing his loose white pants, black pilot’s boots, his dark red belt with the jeweled buckle, a phaser, a blue shirt, black vest, his secondary radio around his neck, and his lower arms wrapped in white cloth. He couldn’t see his whole reflection on the side of the jet so he bent over to look at his head. The dark blue design that ran from the base of his skull and ended at the bridge of his snout were the most prominent feature on his face, next were his dark blue eyes on his light green skin. He smiled and inspected his teeth, he had yet to lose a tooth to unnatural causes and always kept them clean, he had to use them in combat more than once and they looked more frightening flashing white than a dull yellow.
 He heard the crackling of his radio and climbed back into the cockpit. He flipped the switch and Moe’s face came up once again.
 “ Aresess, Andross is making an assault on Fortuna, and I have been authorized to request your aid.” Moe seemed frantic, but he didn’t think he sounded too sincere.
 “ I have also been authorized to offer you one hundred thousand credits to grant your aid in this battle.” He said with a smile. That was sincere enough for him!
 “ I’m on my way,” He chuckled, putting his helmet on, “Aresess out.” This sounded like it was going to be easy. With the aid from Katina and Fortuna’s own defenses, there should be no difficulty at all. He put in a call to Cirn to let her know he was okay and where he was going.
 “ All right,” she said yawning and stretching, “I have the radio still if I need to reach you.” With that he accelerated off into the direction of Fortuna.

 Upon his arrival he glanced around, nearly one hundred jets stood ready, Bulldogs and Protector class ships. He flew in beside them and began a weapons check. He could see the other pilots glancing over at him and his ship. He didn’t know if it was admiration, respect, or disgust. He told himself to consider it admiration for their good.
 While he was thinking on it nearly two hundred twenty ships dropped into system. Surprisingly, all of  them were fighters, not one transport or troop carrier.
 ‘How could they invade a planet without any infantry support?’ he thought, ‘Sure, they could screw up the planet badly, but how would they claim it? ‘ Or is this only the first wave!!!?!?’
 All of the ships accelerated towards each other at almost the same time, engines roaring. With the distance between them closing the Venomians began a subtle dive into the planets atmosphere, where they obviously wanted to fight it out. The first confrontation was Aresess’s favorite part of every battle, the anxiety, the excitement, the bloodlust. He watched as the enemy charged on, like a wave against the shore, rage and hate building in his eyes. He had no true reason to hate them, yet, but an enemy was simply a target for ones anger to be vented on. And he had a lot to vent.
 ‘How many could one man kill? In that precious period before all of this battle blew to hell?’ The thought of hell always made him think, Oh he believed in it of course. He liked remembering how religious fanatics used to jet of in random directions in search of heaven, he always said there’s nothing farther from heaven and closer to hell than space combat.
 He pulled his trigger and his ship started pumping uranium shells and lasers into the enemy lines and both sides erupted in explosions rocking every ship.

 He let fly another bombardment into a group of Invader fleas, leaving wreckage and smoke. Another group flew past him spattering him with fire, his cockpit flashed red and he pulled back into a U-turn and was now right behind them his cross-hairs swerved from target to target leaving nothing where they were. The last one took a shell through its engine that came out the ships nose and kept going. He flew through the explosion and listened giddily to the clinking of the debris against his ship.
 Aresess jerked forward as a laser blast struck his aft, and more shots glanced by as he tried to shake the three fleas behind him. Somersault after somersault they kept with him, peppering him with lasers. He barrel-rolled to deflect a few but some still hit. He could not shake them off. He screamed in rage, crying out in frustration, “DAMN YOU!! DAMN YOU ALL!!! DAMN YOU TO YOUR DEEPEST HELL!!!!” his eyes grew wide and spit flew from his mouth. His body trembled in waves of pure hatred and anger, he gnashed his teeth, flying wildly he shot every enemy ship that got in his view. His shields were quickly losing power, but his allies were winning, and if one didn’t help soon he would start shooting them too!
 He was hit with an insane idea, but in his desperation he would try anything. He boosted ahead and began another somersault. He fired a nova bomb on the way down and braked to cut his loop short, then boosted away fast. Unable to break, the fleas flew directly into the bomb when it blew, and he was untouched.
 “ YEEEEEEEAAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HAHA!!!!!!” He laughed tears streaming from his eyes as all the tension drifted away. He was so happy he couldn’t even make a sound he just shook back and forth with his mouth wide open and his head turned back. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, the last few fleas were plummeting to the planets surface.
 He leaned back in his seat and shook out his arms out just as his long range radio crackled to life, on it was Cirn’s picture, looking not to good.
 “Cirn? I’m just about finished here, we’ll be back soon, all-right?”
 “You’d better be! Andross sent in a large force of fighters and an elite infantry unite to take the headquarters base! Katina sent out its remaining fighters, but they’ve all been lost, as far as we can tell he only has a few fighters left, but the infantry now hold the base! Base has been trying to radio for help but the cut all communication coming out of the headquarters!” She was panic stricken, he could tell, she was gasping in breathes and the whites of her eyes were showing. He was about to speak when he heard another voice and realized all the other fighters had just seen and heard their conversation.
 The voice belonged to Bill Grey. Until now Aresess hadn’t Known he was even here.
 “ All Katina fighters, we need to get back home, Fortuna defenses, stay here in case Andross has any other tricks in store. Let’s move!”

 Once the ships neared the planet he looked around and noticed how damaged the Katina forces were, only about forty out of seventy survived. On the horizon he saw the last eighteen fleas soar in for the kill, but the odds were not with them. Forty ships began a hail of nova bombs and charged lasers and the fleas were dust before they could squeeze off a shot.
 They began their dive into the atmosphere, two of the most damaged ships erupted before ever reaching the planet. The rest mad it through and on their arrival were aghast. The ground was covered in a litter of fallen ships, rubble, and bodies. The entire area around the base was leveled and small fires were coming from the doors in some areas. They found the landing site for the Venomian forces and destroyed it with a swift bombardment.
 The ground trembled as the ships burst sending columns of flame into the sky, a few burning lizard corpses flew past his ship. He would feel pity, but they were the enemy, and pity leads to mercy, and mercy to weakness. He chuckled to himself as he flew towards the base. ‘Cirn is the only one I have ever shown weakness too.’ Then he frowned, ‘If they have harmed her they would be better to throw themselves into the pits of death than to wait for me.
 They landed and climbed out of their ships, readying phasers. Aresess threw off his blue helmet and shook the sweat off his head, it flew in tiny droplets and landed in the ashes on the ground. He took out his phaser and looked to Bill. He looked like a born leader. He and most of them had their helmets on, with his dark glasses covering his eyes, he had a vicious smirk on his face he held up his finger and put it to his lips. He then took his phaser and held it up, then he held up three fingers. We all set our phasers to setting three like he meant.
 Aresess went back to his ship and took out a second phaser and set it to three also. He took one in each hand and they started off towards the base.

 Carlon had been standing with the other guard ( who could remember all the names?) for well over three hours by the entrance to the pathetic Cornerian base, and to keep what out? He yawned and heard a clanking across from him. He saw the other guard on the ground with a wisp of smoke coming from his helmet and a hole in the front. He hardly had time to think before his arm was grabbed and he was turned around and slammed against the wall. He caught a glimpse of his assailant as he felt him grab his wrists and snap both arms. His mouth shot open, but no sound came out. He tried to scream, but suddenly, there was a pesky burning hole in his neck.
 
 Aresess watched the guards mangled form drop to the ground and he laughed to himself, “ So this is what the Venomians call Elite, huh?” he asked, to no one in particular. The Pilots had begun to run into the base, and he already heard their shouts and battle cries mixed with phaser shots from within. He looked down the hallway where they ran and saw several flashes of light, then he stepped back and looked up the side of the building. About three stories up, one of the windows flickered with florescent light and shadows of lizards.
 ‘About three stories up?’ thought Aresess, ‘ I can make that in, what, fifteen minutes.’ He took of his boots and tied them by their laces to his arms. He wrapped his fingers around one of the stone blocks that made up the pyramid shaped building and began to climb, digging his claws into the stone and pulling himself higher. He slipped once and caught himself, one toe bent under his foot and he felt his own claw rip through his tough flesh, he winced as his blood ran along his foot and dripped against the wall.
 He shook his head to clear the pain. He continued climbing, straining himself and digging into the walls with his claws. He clenched his teeth and looked down. His mouth fell open, he had never been one for heights, and it looked so much shorter a distance from down there. He could see the window only a few yards up, and he moaned and began again.

 While Aresess clung desperately to a wall outside the base, Bill and the other Katinan pilots were trapped in a hall-way junction within. Bill leaned back against the wall as phaser blasts barely missed him from either side. They were in the hall-way passing the higher officer’s offices, and at the end of the hall-way, behind the door lurked at least two lizards, using the door for cover and firing on them whenever they opened it. Behind him was a group who had followed them from the entrance.
 Bill and the others had hauled several desks out of the office nearest to them and made a barricade to fire from. Upon entering the base there had been thirty six of them, they had lost three in the initial fire fight, and now had only twenty seven men left. Bill had taken the weapon of one of the dead and now was using both whenever he could get a shot.
 Two blasts smashed into the desk he kneeled behind. He rose quickly and let of two shots into the hallway. He saw them hit home into a Venomians chest, burning through his armor and evaporating his flesh in a burst of flame. He kneeled back down and relished in the enemies screams. There were few left back there, but they had made no progress against the Venomians behind the door.

 Out-side, Aresess had finally reached the window. Inside, a Venomian was watching his comrades try to fight off the invaders on the other side of the door. Aresess stood on the windowsill and wiped his sweating hands onto the clothe around his arms. The Venomian saw one of his fellow soldiers fall and he locked the door he was watching from and shot the lock. He turned and walked to the other side of the room to the other door. He unlocked it and swung it open.
 Aresess heard screams from in that room and strained to see around the Venomian. Inside were the remaining base staff who hadn’t been massacred or sent to their doom. He watched as the Lizard walked into the other room and closed the door. Aresess frowned. He grabbed hold of the ledge above the window and lifted his injured foot to the glass. He wiped the blood onto the window in an ‘X’ and put his boots back on. He swung back and kicked forward with all of his weight, strength, and the momentum created by both.

 Bill heard a muffled shattering somewhere behind the door and aimed in waiting for the lizards to show. That crash had answered the most annoying question on his mind, Where had Aresess disappeared to?

 It had been growing dark outside and Aresess took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the bright florescent lights of the room. He heard the door the guard had disappeared into shake and swing open. The Venomian stepped out and squeaked at the sight of the enormous lizard before him and the broken window that explained his entrance. It took  aim and Aresess snatched a glass shard and leapt up at it.
 Aresess could felt his leg get scorched as the guard fired at where he was and missed. He screamed in pain and anger as he impacted against the stomach of  the Venomian cursing and flailing the both fell back rolling in the glass shards. Aresess opened his jaws and brought them down with more force than any of his limbs could create. He got a mouth full of the guards arm and pulled away, tearing off the entire arm, gun and all.
 He spat it out and mentally muted out the Venomians screams of agony and terror, charging again and swinging the glass shard up towards the bare spot between it’s helmet and it's’ armor. The screams stopped and he looked up. His hand clutched the glass fragment behind the guards bloody neck and the tip protruded from the front of its neck.
 He stood up and trembled, feeling his muscles relax and the tension wash away, picking glass shards out of his arms, he looked down at himself. His blood and the blood of the guard ran down his arms and chest. His clothes were torn from the glass, and his pant leg was burnt away around his ankle were the phaser blast just scathed him. He didn’t think he looked too well, and he couldn’t even see most of him. He could feel pricks of glass and cuts on his back, but some of them he couldn’t pick out, even with his long arms.
 Just the he remembered the staff and he swung open the door. On the other side there were only about twelve people, crammed into one office. Standing right in front of him, mouth agape, was a short elk in an officers uniform.
 “ Oh my god...” was all it could manage to say. There were gasps from farther back in the room. Aresess turned and headed for the other door to open it. He reached for the handle and remember the lizard shot it to prevent anyone from coming in.
 “ Our exit is obstructed!” said one of the staff enthusiastically.
 “ What??” said Aresess turning around. The Hedgehog was pointing at a large red box mounted on the wall. Inside was a industrial chain-saw, with words printed on the glass:

Break glass in case of an incident were escape is necessary and your exit is obstructed by immovable objects.

 Aresess shrugged and raised his hands to break the glass. The staff covered their heads as his hand crashed down into the glass.

 Bill was getting curious the Venomians seemed to be getting more desperate, and he had heard a second crash and screams earlier. ‘What the Hell is Aresess doing back there?’ he thought. Then a sound ripped through the air like a knife. Bill cringed and his eyes grew wide as saucers. He curled up in a ball and started whimpering.
 “ Leon....can’t be here....can’t be.....not again.....not Leon....not again...not again!”  The sound grew louder and so did Bill.

 The door fell with a thud Aresess fell away from the door along with the staff, most of which were cowering back in the office the had been locked in. Two phaser blasts ripped by where they stood, striking the wall and igniting two small fires. Aresess rolled into the doorway with both phasers ready, firing a barrage into the other room. Both lizards were pinned to the wall with holes in more than one place in their armor.
 He looked around and saw nothing else, but he paused to watch the full circular moon on the horizon, glowing in through the window. He could think of a thousand places he’d rather be in. He also saw approaching ships, Cornerian ships! He smiled and opened the door. He saw a desk in the hallway, with the remaining pilots standing behind it, phasers raised and aimed, but the dropped their hands and their jaws when he walked out with the staff.
 “ Bill?” he called. He hadn’t seen him, and didn’t think he’d be dead, that couldn’t happen...could it? He saw Bill’s helmet poke up, followed by his head. He thought he didn’t look good. Bill had a look on his face that could only be called terror, with his ears sagging and his eyes wide. Sweat ran down through his matted fur. When Bill saw him, and the chain-saw strapped to his back, he laughed and smiled.

 The Cornerian forces arrived and retook the rest of the base. Aresess received medical attention for seventy eight minor cuts, and one burned ankle. Bill had told him that they would have to re-staff most of the base, but they would survive, as they always would against Andross. He had received double his payment because of his efforts, and his ship was repaired for free. He once again found himself returning home, having left to clear his head, and returning with more to think on than when he left.

 Later that night his sleep was disturbed by a knock on the door. He slid on his boots and a robe and walked out to see who it was. The visitor knocked again. He opened the door yawning and froze with his mouth half open. Outside stood a smaller lizard. He wore a black cloak and a hood and held a small metal briefcase in front of him. It had ‘From Andross’ carved onto it up near the handles and a envelope with ‘ Instructions’ written on it in red ink.
 The smaller lizard smiled and Aresess smiled back. It turned and left and he quietly closed the door. He looked down at the briefcase. He was loyal to whoever owned the planet he lived on. So maybe it was time to look at housing on Venom.....