"This is it." Nathan called through the radio. "Three, Five, are you in position?" 

"Roger that, One." Threes voice called back, "Got ourselves a nice view of the whole room. It's empty."

"Looks that way." Nathan said, his shoulder pressed to the side of the wall that led out into the massive computer room. Metal coated computers rose above them like tall office buildings with no windows. Their walls made of thick, dull colored metal only broken by the black casing of the table top computer screens above. "Alright. Four, come with me, Two and Six you sit tight."

"Yes sir." Bacon responded with a nod, crouching down  with his heavy weapon resting on his knee. 

Richard looked on as Nathan and Four made their way across the wide expanse of tile flooring. He peered out from under the ventilation opening, his eyes scanning the ceiling that seemed to hang miles over head, wondering where the Sniper had set up shop. 

Nathan and Three came to a stop by a tall tabletop computer. 

"Computer." He ordered, holding out his hand as he crouched down before the mountainous machine.

Four slipped his pack off his shoulders, pulling from it a paper thin nano carbon computer. He waited as Nathan drilled a two inch wide hole into the thick metal wall with his metal cutter. Once the hole was in place Nathan took the thin computer from Four and ran a narrow, string like wire from one of the corners and sipped it inside of the round opening.

"Alright." He said with a sigh, watching as a sea of information flooded across the translucent screen. "A few more seconds and…alright we're into the system."

"Hey boss, why would they just leave the main computer room empty? I mean that just leaves the system open." Bacon called through the radio.

"Well, either they don't expect us, or they have rerouted the systems head to another location." Nathans eyes narrowed as he read over the information displayed before him. "And it looks like they have gone with the second option."

"Where is it then?" Threes voice called down from above.

"It's working on it. They've got the system scrambled pretty good. Might take a few minutes to locate the new one."

There was a thunderous groaning sound, the radio fell silent as two figures emerged from the titanic doorway. They were dressed in thick black uniforms, their chests and legs covered by a a sleek, yet slightly outdated armor. 

"What do we got?" Nathan whispered harshly, "I'm blind down here."

"Two soldiers." Three's voice replied in a similar harsh tone, "One male, one female. The male looks to be a Neko, the female is definitely a Marlek."

"Shit." Nathan grumbled, continuing to watch the data slip across his screen, "I'm going to need at least a few more minutes. Do you have a shot up there?"

Three turned to Five, whose silent head nodded slowly to Nathan's question. A steady hand reached forward and gripped the metal bolt of the powerful canon.

"Five is ready." Three called back down, eyeing the mysterious sniper for a moment before averting his gaze back down to the computer room, where the two giant figures made their way deeper into the room. "They are about ten paces away from your location boss, should we open fire?"

"Negative." Nathan whispered, "We need to remain unnoticed for as long as possible. Opening fire might trigger the stations defense systems." 

Richard arched his neck as he tried to peer out the side of the small ventilation hole that he and Bacon were waiting in, "How long will this take?" He whispered, now able to see the two massive beings making their way deeper in the room. The male figure had a thick black hat, with a face mask pulled down below his chin, that obscured his face. Even so, his size pointed his race to almost definitely Neko. The other figure was more obviously one of the almost equally massive Marlek races. Her fur was a light gray with hints of black towards the tips of her ears. Her snout and ears were more feline in appearance than any other creature that Richard could relate to. 

"Beats me." Bacon replied with a shrug. "But in my opinion we should cut em' down now while it will be easy. It's hard enough taken' down a building sized fucker when they aint' shootin' at ya'." 

Richard nodded, his nervous hands gripping his large weapon tightly, his index finger gently grazing over the side of the trigger. 

Bacons eyes narrowed as the Marlek and the Neko exchanged words quietly, it was hard to tell exactly what they were doing here. "You ever take down somethin' that big?" He asked, repositioning his weapon to his shoulder, preparing himself for the battle he wanted sooner rather than later. 

Richard shook his head, "About half that size."

Bacon scratched his brow with his thumb, his eyes peering up towards the two behemoths as they stood over one of the near by computers, "Well you've got a small window to take em' down. Through the mouth if they leave it open, the eyes if their unprotected, or right up the nostril. If ya' can't kill em' make sure you leave them hurting."

Richard nodded quietly, from the floor these would not be easy shots to make. He was starting to hope that they managed to avoid the firefight.

"Almost got it." Nathan's voice called through the radio.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Kikata's eyes flickered open, bright white light filled her vision. The light melted away into a clean, white room. She strained her neck to peer around her, her body laid upon a silver table.

"Oh, this isn't right." A voice said to her left.

Kikata sat up quickly, her eyes locking on a slender, Neko man dressed in a long white jacket, it's white surface shining under the bright lights. "Who are you?" She asked.

"I am Dr. Renavold." He said, a slight nervousness in his voice. He cleared his throat, "You were in an accident, you were not supposed to wake up."

"W-Wake up?" Kikata asked, rubbing her hand across her forehead. Something about this doctor put her off.

"Well, from the sedatives of course." He said as he stepped towards her, a long needle in hand, "You are in need of just a minor procedure."

"I do not feel hurt." Kikata assured him, her eyes fell on the long needle, a yellow liquid sloshing in the thick glass casing.

"That…that is just the sedative still in your system, just let me-" He rose the needle towards Kikata.

"No!" Kikata shrieked, her arm shooting forward and striking the needle from the mans hand. "Something isn't right here." She said, throwing her legs off the table. She was still trying to place her recent past in order, where was she? When did she get into this, accident. Somehow all of this seemed oddly familiar.

"Please, ma'am, I understand your confusion but you must let me proceed."

"Proceed with what?" Kikata asked harshly as she backed away.

The doctor hesitated, "Y-You've had a lung collapse, and possible-"

"I am breathing fine." Kikata assured him. She glanced over her shoulder, having trouble locating the door. She heard the glass of the needle slide across the floor and her eyes locked back on the doctor, "Let me out of here." She demanded. 

The Doctor held his free hand forward, palm facing towards her, "Please, just let me help." He waved his arm back towards the table.

"You are not bringing that needle any closer." Kikata spat, her fists clenching tightly.

"You should not resist me." He said grimly, "Not in your condition. Just give in already!" He continued, as if growing frustrated.

Kikata shook her head, sidestepping her way around the silver table as she continued to search for the exit, "Open the damn door!" She yelled, turning towards the clean white wall. She heard a series of loud footsteps approaching her from behind. She quickly ducked out of the way, rolling across the cold, hard floor.

The doctor cursed under his breath as his needle jabbed at empty air, his now furious eyes locked on her as he prepared to attack again.

Kikata let him come nearly into striking distance before stepping aside and grabbing the mans wrist. Using techniques that she hardly understood she twirled her body fully around, using her legs to kick out his footing. As he lay flat on his stomach Kikata quickly, and without thinking, crashed her knee into his lower back. She twisted the needle gripping arm painfully, once the point was perpendicular to his side she shot it inward. 

"N-No!" The man shrieked, writing in pain on the ground as the yellowish liquid drained into his body. His thrashing soon died down to weak fidgeting, before he fell completely limp on the floor. 

Kikata stood up, her golden eyes staring down at the unconscious man nervously, the long needle still hanging out of his side.

"Nice." She heard an oddly familiar voice call from behind her.

"Prila?" Kikata asked, bewildered yet relieved to see her friend.

"You used my throw down." Prila giggled, "Remember? The one I used on you the first day we met."

"Oh…yeah I guess I did." She glanced back towards the doctor, "What the hell is going on? Who was that guy? Where did you come from? When did I get into-"

"I'll explain." Prila said holding up her hand.

"Please do." Kikata sighed.

"Alright, first things first." Prila said, pressing the index finger of her left hand onto her right palm, "You are not conscious."

"What?" 

"Yeah." Prila laughed.

"This? Again?!" Kikata groaned in disbelief. 

"So let me jog your memory." Prila continued, "You were shot down, you had just left the base early to catch Richards ship." Prila's words reformed Kikata's memories as she spoke, "You were taken in by the New Order, and shortly afterward rendered unconscious. From there they took you-"

"Wait…how would you know what they did with me after? I mean I was unconscious?"

"Your brain picks up on many things that you will not remember after you wake up. Now, as I was saying, they took you to a laboratory and have hooked you up to some sort of computer. From there I am not positive what is going on, but that man over there on the floor is one of them. Like Richard he has entered your mind, but he only intends to break your mind down."

"I see…to…to try and turn me to one of them…"

"Right. Now, we, or you, can't let that happen."

"But how?"

"By not giving in. Remember, this is your mind we are in…this is your dream world. You are in control here."

~ ~ ~ ~ 

It all happened so abruptly, there was nothing anyone could do to stop the initial blast. The tremendous force of the oversized slug hitting the floor sent a shockwave over power through Richard's feet, knocking him to his back as tiny pellets of debris fell around them. 

"Nathan!" A voice called through the radio as a loud clatter of gunfire erupted throughout the computer room.

"Take them down!" Three's voice shouted through the radio. 

Richard lifted his rifle once he returned to a crouching position, his fingers fumbled over the bolt and safety, Bacon's cannon already unleashing a steady stream of molten steel into the towering figures. 

"H-Help!" Four's voice called, "I….I'm hit!" 

"Is Nathan there? What the fuck is our situation?" Bacon roared over the gunfire.

"I can't see him! I can't see him!" Four sputtered. 

Richard scanned over the broken floor, he could see the small human squirming his way backwards across the floor, a large black crater shattering the floor where Nathan once knelt. 

The long black rifle jumped back into Five's shoulder. Instantly pulling the bolt free to let the footlong casing fall to the floor. The Neko suddenly stubbled backwards, his hands rising towards his throat as he fell.

"What a fucking shot!" Three laughed. 

Not long after the Marlek let out a screeching cry, her furred hand clutching her eye in pain. She stumbled  behind one of the far computers, yellow tracer rounds still bombarding her. She cursed out in agony, falling to the floor.

Now that the coast was clear Richard and Bacon dropped their weapons and rushed towards the wounded soldier.

"Shit." Richard whispered as they saw Four panting heavily on the ground, his face twisted in pain, and his hands gripping a thick fragment of metal that pierced his upper abdomen.

"G-Get Nathan!" Four sputtered, blood starting to drip down over his lips.

"Nathan aint there." Bacon growled, his eyes scanning over the charred floor, not even his dog tags would be salvageable from a direct hit like that.

Richard and Bacon dragged the wounded soldier back towards the ventilation shaft just as more voices came to the aid of the still shrieking Marlek. 

"How is Four?" Three called down through the radio, "We are moving to your position now." 

"He's bad." Bacon said as they leaned him back against one of the metal walls. "We can't stick here long, do you remember what Nathan said?"

"He said the computers have been rerouted to somewhere in their main ship, back in the docking bay." Richard said with a nod. 

"Shit." Bacon grumbled, "Right where we don't want to go." 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"So…why are you in here?" Kikata asked.

Prila shrugged, "You needed someone to talk to. You always do."

"What do you mean?" Kikata asked with an arched brow.

"Look back, how have you found comfort? Or came to any sort of conclusion about anything in your life?"

Kikata's brow narrowed as she thought, but Prila would answer for her.

"You need to brain storm out loud, it's just the way your brain works. And when there is no one in the waking world for you to talk to you often find these people here, in your mind." 

"So…you are just me?"

"Well basically yes. You can look at me as your ability to rationalize things from a different perspective. In your dreams I have been many people, your father, your mother…even Richard."

"If only we never woke up…" Kikata sighed.

"Don't think like that." Prila said sternly, "You need to focus on remaining as conscious as you can. Richard is out there, in the real world."

"But what we had in here still felt real…" 

"It felt real because the feelings were all there, yes, but that is all." Prila laid a hand on Kikata's shoulder, "Remember what I told you, fate has put you here, but we can still hold on as tightly as possible…help will come. We must believe it will."

Kikata nodded, "Okay."