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Chapter Three: Contacts

Ft. Hood, Orion II

Coyote drove out of the gates of Fort Hood, Gym running close behind, with a fair amount of joy at the amount of ordinance now in the back of the M12/M APC. Currently, they had a pair of SPANKR multi-role rocket launchers, an M79/D Individual Grenade Launcher, a pair of BR55 HB's, one of which the Spartan held, and a Regent Missile Launcher. They had enough ammunition to satisfy any gun nuts desires, and in Coyote's opinion, Mother was itching to swap the Light Anti-Air Gun with the Regent Missile Launcher sitting in the back and blow the living shit out of something. They also had a case of medical supplies, just in case. Then there was the dreaded crate of MRE's.

Spartan 667 was providing Coyote with directions to where he had seen his fellow Spartan last. The Lieutenant Colonel punched in the coordinates in the GPS and asked Ronin to take over driving. With practiced agility and timing, the human and Voxinswitched places from the turret and driver's seat. And Zach had thought he'd seen everything.

And now that Coyote wasn't busy trying not to crash into any trees, he could safely read the files on both 667 and 707. He decided to read Tom's first.

Five minutes later, he was pissed. Not at what Tom did, but at what his mother had done. Sending your own child into a super soldier program, and not asking him if he wanted to join, not to mention warning about the pain of the augmentations, was outright barbarous to the CO. Coyote suddenly didn't even blame Tom for going AWOL. ONI did a poor job of making the Spartan feel at home, and the kid's fellow Spartans did nothing to help; especially the Spartan sitting in the back.

After reading Zach's file, Coyote glanced over at where the GPS was on the Hog's dashboard. The confounded device was saying that in half a klick, they would be at the precise location that Zach had last seen Tom. Coyote turned to face the group in the back.

"Listen up, we'll be coming to our destination in thirty seconds, so buckle up. We're taking the Hog with us," he said as the cave came into view. When everybody saw how small the entrance was in relation to the size of the Warthog, they quickly strapped everything down and started praying in some way or other.

Fortunately for all present, Ronin was either very lucky, very skilled at driving, or some odd combination of both because before they even knew it, the group had reached a small cavern that was in the middle of some Forerunner architecture. Coyote and Ronin got out of the vehicle and with Gym's help, started scanning the area. Granted, Ronin had the more sensitive sensor equipment, but Coyote had the overall knowledge of what they were possibly looking for. In the span of about twenty seconds, Coyote, Ronin, and Gym and triangulated the source of the still strong chronometric particles to a small pedestal in the middle of the room.

The pedestal was fairly small, only about four feet high, and had what appeared to be a key in the middle of it. Scanning it, Coyote noted that it was the podium that gave off the readings, not the key. He looked over at Ronin, who nodded in confirmation. Good. Now the real fun could start. Coyote waved Gym over to the pedestal. The massive robot walked over to where his CO was quietly. The smaller human looked up at Gym's four optical sensors. "Think you can hack into this thing?" he asked, pointing towards the Forerunner artifact. Gym looked at it and stroked what would have been his chin. After about a second or two he nodded. Coyote patted the robot affectionately on the shoulder. "Atta boy Gym," the CO said as he walked over to the Hog. Gym simply placed a massive three fingered hand onto the pedestal and went dead still; which, considering he was a robot, wasn't all that hard to do.

"Ronin, get that Hog as you close as you can to Gym, this rift might not be that big or it only takes in one at a time. Varak, everything strapped down?" Coyote asked/commanded as hopped onto the side of the APC.

The disguised dragon quickly made sure that everything was in fact strapped down tightly to the APC's bed. The medic looked over and nodded. A green light flashed over Gym's icon on Coyote's HUD. Looking over to the robot, Coyote smiled as he saw the beginnings of a rift appear. Said smile disappeared when he realized that the rift only extended out to about four feet away from Gym. "Change of plans Ronin, get us _on_that thing NOW!" he yelled, jumping off the Hog.

Shoulder to shoulder, Gym was about five feet wide. Add on the length provided by the rift, and you were talking about a rift with a nine foot radius. The average M12/M was about fifteen feet long, and about seven wide. It was going to be a tight fit, that was for sure. Then there was the countdown timer that had appeared on Coyote's HUD that said that there were only twenty seconds left until the rift was formed. After ten seconds, the Hog was in (barely) and Coyote yelled out to all present, "Brace yourselves!"

At zero, everything disappeared, leaving the room as it once was.

Digital World

Ronin woke up to the sound of silence. Not the normal silence where there was at least some ambient noise, but complete and total silence. Ronin groaned as he sat up straighter in the Hog's driver seat and looked around. They were in a forest clearing, so Ronin could assume that everyone made it through the rift in one piece. Hearing groans behind him, Ronin turned around in his seat to look at who was waking up. What he saw was slightly comical.

The Spartan had landed with his helmet between where Kat's breasts were on her combat vest. Kat's left leg was currently right beneath the Spartan's groin and her hand verydamn close to the grenade launcher. Mother was hanging out of the Hog from the passenger side, and Coyote was shaking his head clear of the last bits on unconsciousnessas he climbed out of the turret. Varak had surprisingly been flung out of the Hog and into a nearby tree, his equipment - with the help of gravity - about to give him a rude wake up call. Gym was stumbling around in the center of the clearing, head swaying left to right, hand gripping the head as if the Warhound class assault bot was drunk.

"Sitrep Ronin," said Coyote went around back to check the supplies. Ronin smirked.

"Well sir, we're not dead, so that's a plus any day," he said. "Kat is going to be begging for our half ton friend back there to fuck her, and Varak is going to have one hell of a headache in three, two, and..." Coyote and Ronin watched as the medic fell out of the tree with an earsplitting snap and onto the unforgiving dirt. Said medic then got up, cursing loudly in Draconic.

"I see," Coyote commented as he noted that indeed, everything did make it through. "Now, do you have 707's transponder signal tracked yet?" Ronin whacked the dashboard and shook his head. "Damn, then we're going to have to do this the hard way." That was when they heard Zach groan in confusion.

"Sir, what the hell - WHAT THE HELL?!?" the super-soldier yelled as he jumped off of his impromptu pillow. That woke Kat up, who immediately looked from Zach to her breasts, and then back to Zach grinning evilly. That sent one helluva shiver down Zach's spine.

"I called it sir, I called it," said the sniper calmly as he and his CO watched the Spartan do his best to get away from the sex-crazed girl he had woken up on. The lieutenant colonel looked over at Ronin.

"Sergeant Major, I want a quick recon of the area due west. Varak will take east, I'll have Gym take the south, and I'll cover north," he said, taking his M7S submachine gun from a rack in the Hog. The Voxin tilted his head.

"Firing orders are...?"

"Return fire only if the target has a firearm, and if not, fire at the first sign of aggression. Otherwise, do not engage and do not get seen unless absolutely necessary. Understood?" asked Coyote as he charged the gun in his hands. The fox nodded. "Good. I'll relay the orders back to Gym and Varak and we'll meet here at the Hog in three hours. Good luck, and happy hunting Ronin."

The fox nodded and walked away after he had grabbed his rifle, and soon disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

._/.

Ronin was silent as he made his way through the forest. It looked as though the trees were spaced wide enough apart for the Hog to drive through, so moving around wouldn't be an issue. The sniper didn't activate his optic displacement drive, partly due to the long recharge time for the damn thing, and mostly because Ronin was already good at hiding as it was.

He looked over everything with practiced ease, and so far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This gave the Voxin a chance to think about what had happened in his life so far.

~.~

Ronin hated being a slave. The sixteen year old Voxin hated being on San Madrid, where most humans were active participants in the slave trade. The slaves: furs kidnapped from Federation space, the Rashkani Empire, Voxin Protectorate, and from the genetic laboratories scattered throughout the Non-Aligned Worlds. Usually, if the fur was taken from one of the first three categories, then the fur in question would be tortured to the point of being mindless, if they were older than the age of two, or simply indoctrinated to the villainy of the slave system.

Ronin had been lucky in the fact that his previous master had let his mother keep and raise him as he was, with no genetic modifications. However, he was still conditioned to follow the orders of his human "master," whoever that may be in his life. As he grew older, Ronin often wondered what lay beyond the stars, and if he could ever toss of the shackles of slavery.

When he turned eight, his master fell on hard times, and in a last ditch effort to keep himself afloat, was forced to sell Ronin and his mother to the highest bidder. His mother was taken by a collector of Voxins, so that she could be used as an experiment; as for Ronin, he was sold to the household of the general of the Planetary Defense Force. From then on, his life was hell.

Like today for example. Like any other day, Ronin woke up at six thirty in the morning, on the dot, to make sure that the general's house was in spotless condition. Today was one of the few days that the general, Manuel de Santiago, was actually on one of San Madrid's two moons, making sure that the garrison was prepared for anything. And today, if Ronin was lucky enough to get all of his chores done before dinner - which for him consisted of the shit the common human grunt wouldn't even eat -, then he could sneak one of the antique rifles out of the house and practice in the woods nearby.

As it turned out, he wasn't able to finish his duties before dinner. And after going to bed (a pile of rags in a common room full of other, less intelligent slaves), Ronin snuck out and stealthily wandered to the general's private armory.

One the best things about Ronin - and also one of the worst - was that Ronin had a very good memory. So that when he came up to the door of the armory, he had no trouble punching in the correct keycode. Once the door opened, he quickly went inside and flicked one of the lights on. Even in the dim light, Ronin could see all the weapons that the general had amassed over his career. Ronin went over to the far wall and picked out one of the rifles, wistfully stroking the expensive wood stock and fore grip of the weapon.

It was a Walther WA2000 sniper rifle, made in the mid-20th century and had surprisingly survived the Gene Wars in very good condition. The walnut stock and fore grip had rotted away and had since been replaced with San Madrid's native redwood, which was highly water resistant and tough; the only initial downside was that the wood was heavy, but considering that the rifle had been updated with a pair of magnetic acceleration rails that sent the 7.62 mm NATO round at speeds exceeding Mach 2, the wood served to reduce the recoil by a considerable amount. Ronin quickly grabbed a few of the empty six round magazines, a box of ferromagnetic tungsten rounds, and started filling them up. It only took him about three minutes to fill up all ten mags, and to place the last mag into the butt of the rifle. The young fox made sure that the safety was on and that the gun was charged before he got up to leave.

"What are you doing in here, slave?"

Ronin's head snapped up to see the fierce form of General Manuel de Santiago. He reflexively snapped the safety off and pulled the trigger,....

~.~

Ronin's ears perked up at the sound of whimpering. Removing himself from his own memories, the sniper swung his rifle around to find the source of the noise. The whimpering sounded closer now...and if Ronin had to guess, was low to the ground. He glanced down at the ground and saw a small bundle of mostly yellow fur.

"Sir, I have a contact," Ronin said over his COM. The reply came back very quick.

"Hostile?" asked the lieutenant colonel. Ronin fought the urge to shake his head.

"Negative sir, what might be a civilian. Nearly walked right onto uh, it."

"It?"

"I'm not familiar with whatever species it is sir, I'm sorry," Ronin sighed as he looked at what he had almost stepped on. Whatever it was, it was only about the size of a housecat, and shaped like a beachball if it weren't for the ears, stubby legs, and the tail. Not to mention the greenish-brown eyes that looked at Ronin in terror.

"We'll rendezvous at your location. Stay put," ordered Coyote. Ronin hmphed in response. He then took the time to make sure that no one - or considering the fact that he was still in unknown and presumably enemy territory - or anything surprised him. So the sniper found a log across from where the small...thing was cowering and sat down. Normally, standard operating procedure discouraged the removal of one's helmet in a combat zone, but as Ronin was not in combat, and because whatever it was that was still looking at him didn't seem like a threat, the fox took off his helmet. Plus, after wearing the helmet for who knew how long, the helmet started to annoy his ears.

Five minutes later, the sniper got his first glimpse of his target...albight with the target holding him at gunpoint.

Life had been good for Tom and Rena for the past three weeks, and they were growing fonder of each other by the day, if not the hour. As such, they soon came to know each other quite well, and today, they decided to do something they both enjoyed: training. They had started doing this about a week ago, which about the same time that Tom's leg had finally healed up. Each morning, they would get up and practice their respective fighting techniques with a quick sparring session.

What surprised Rena though was that Tom, due to his augmentations, was able to match blows with her. And that was without her using her powers. Despite his lean build and relatively small size, he packed one hell of a punch when fighting. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable.

It was roughly around noon when the duo decided to call it quits for the day. Rena had gone done to a nearby river to wash up, and Tom packed whatever equipment he decided was necessary for his task: gathering food. He descended the tree, fully clad in his shielded armor, and his rifle slung across his back. Tom also had a large bag used to hold the food on his back, and he had discovered that the soft Tactical Case issued by the UNSC was perfect for storing food as well, so he didn't carry as much ammo as he normally did back there. He did, however, charge both his sidearm and his rifle before leaving. While the forest was beautiful, it was still dangerous, the giant spider that Tom had first encountered being proof of that. Thankfully, he and Rena were more than a match for the rogue and wild Digimon that they occasionally ran across. Still, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Tom set off to find that spot where he and Rena usually found their food. Little did he know that his peaceful life was about to be shattered by some new faces...and an unwelcome and hated face from home.

Rena lay there in the grass by the river, drying off with the sun's help after her dip in the river. She thought of how much her life had changed since Tom had unexpectedly came out of nowhere, and how the last three weeks had changed her as well. Ever since he became her Tamer, Rena had felt a connection with him that simply didn't exist back in her home village. Sure, there had been some handsome tods, most of them from the small group of Renamon in her village that just didn't fit the mold. But Tom made her happy, happier than she had ever been in her life. But she was also feeling something that wasn't just happiness.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "How can one person make me feel this confused?" No sooner had she finished her statement when her eyes snapped open to the sound of crying off in the woods. From the intensity of the sound, whatever it was wasn't far.

"Something's in trouble," she muttered to herself as leapt off the grass and bolted to the source of the sound. Soon she ran into the source of the cries as nearly stepped on it. Rena stopped and looked under the log where the cries came from. There, huddled into a ball, was the terrified form of a Viximon, curled into a ball trying to hide, slightly reddish fur making it look like a brass ball.

Rena knelt down to the cowering baby Digimon. "Sora?" she said, recognizing the Viximon from the village. Sora was one of the odd Renamon in her village, but it was for a good reason. After all, he was descended from Rahne of the Faint Smile. "What are you doing here?" The Viximon looked over his tail at her and stopped whimpering.

"I was with Mama, and then I went exploring, even though Mama told me not to, and then I got lost, and I was going to wait in here for Mama to find when, when...." Sora said sobbing, breaking down at the end. Rena was patient.

"And then what Sora?"

"And then, a big, mean looking Renamon almost stepped on me," Sora whimpered, shaking in fear. Now Rena was confused.

"What big, mean looking Renamon?" she asked. Sora fearfully glanced over her shoulder. Rena spun around, putting Sora behind her protectfully as she saw the supposed Renamon. What she saw was most definitely not a Renamon.

Whatever it was, it was sitting on a log watching her, a rifle gently held in its hands. Its snow white fur was so off with the forest it was in, Rena was mentally slapping herself for not seeing it. And the armor looked similar to Tom's, except that the helmet lying on the ground had been modified to fit its head, there was a boxy, fist sized object on its shoulder, and overall, it simply didn't look as advanced as Tom's armor. Rena growled menacingly as her paws sprang up in blue fire.

"I don't know who you are, but going to leave fast if you know what's good for you!" she snarled, daring the stranger to make a stupid move. In reaction, all the stranger did was stand up slowly, leaning the rifle on the log and drawing another gun from its side slowly, finger nowhere near the trigger. The gun was about halfway up when a new voice spoke up, the distinctive sound of an M6D being cocked resounding through the clearing.

Tom had filled the bag to the brim, but instead of heading home, he decided to go to the river and see if Rena was still there. Like the ghost he practically was, Tom moved silently through the woods, making his way to the river. As he got closer to the river, he heard Rena shout out something, and he immediately hauled ass to where her voice came from. As Tom reached the clearing, he saw Rena in her fighting stance, fangs bared in anger. But instead of a rogue Digimon, Rena was facing a being Tom had rarely encountered back in his old life, heart now jumping in Tom's throat.

A Voxin?! How in the Hell...? Tom stopped as he saw the muted glint of metal in its left hand: a revolver, and judging by the width of the barrel, it apparently fired one big-ass round. Tom's eyes flashed over to where its helmet and antique rifle lay on a log and made his move.

The Voxin had raised the revolver to chest height, pointing at Rena when Tom quickly got behind him and cocked his M6D. "If you don't drop that gun, I'll blow your fucking brains out all over this clearing," Tom said in a calculated and cold voice. The Voxin froze for second, one ear tilted back to listen to Tom.

[Do you understand me Voxin, drop the damn gun or I will kill you!] yelled Tom in what little Voxin he knew. What he heard as the Voxin lowered the hammer of his revolver surprised him.

"I understood you the first time Spartan, and for the record, I speak perfect English," said the Voxin, raising his gun up to the sky. "I'm just here looking for you."

Tom snatched the pistol, emptied it of ammunition, and tossed it aside. "Looking for me? Why, who the hell are you?" Tom asked in cold fury. Rena looked back and forth between Tom and the Voxin.

"Tom, what is going on?" she asked, not sure of what the hell was happening. Tom ignored her and focused on the Voxin as he - as evidenced by his slightly deep voice - answered Tom.

"I am Sergeant Major Nathaniel J. Ronin, service number 44563-89321-NR, First Dimensional RIFT Reconnaissance Battalion, Second Company, Delta Squad," said the Voxin in a very faint Spanish accent. "And you are Sierra 707, or Thomas Joshua Walls, best sniper-scout in Beta Company. Don't know who she is though." Ronin nodded his head in Rena's direction.

Tom's heart almost skipped a beat. "She," Tom said harshly, "Is my friend. Now what the fuck do you people want with me? What are your orders?"

If Ronin was surprised at Tom's odd choice of friends, he didn't show it. "Simple," he answered. "ONI called my CO, my CO was assigned to us, and we followed the trail here. Didn't think we'd find you this fast though." Ronin shrugged nonchalantly.

Tom's heart sank to his stomach. "I'm not going anywhere with you wackos, especially not to that hellhole!" Tom shouted out in anger. Suddenly, something hit him in the side, knocking him into a nearby tree, nearly snapping it half in the process. A dark, menacing voice spoke from outside of Tom's vision. But Tom didn't need to see Zack to know his voice.

"Well that's too bad Tommy-boy. I guess if you're not going to cooperate, I am authorized to use lethal force on YOU!" Zack said as her stood over Tom and grabbed him by the throat, his Mark Ten MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor- Charlie granted him inhuman strength.

Tom couldn't get away. All he was wearing was the latest ODST battle armor, and that didn't even compare with the MJOLNIR armor Zack was wearing. "POWER PAW!!" Rena punched the black armored Spartan V in his side, her flaming paw crushing his overshield and sending him back a step or two. Zack also let go of Tom, and in an instant, Rena had grabbed Tom, dashed over to Sora, and teleported out of the area, towards their hidden home.

"The fuck are you doing Spartan, we have orders to keep him alive if possible!" Ronin yelled, quickly bringing his rifle to bear on the armored soldier beside him, glaring darkly at him. Zack walked towards the Voxin slowly.

"Put the gun away, fox, you'll just hurt yourself," said Zack. "He was prepared to kill you, you can't feel sympathy with a WEASAL LIKE HIM! LET YOUR GUARD DOWN AND HE WOULDV'E SLIT YOUR THROAT! THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO K-Omff!" Zack grunted in pain as something hit him in the side, sending him flying back into a tree. "What the -" Zack stuttered, as he lifted himself off the ground.

Ronin smirked as he lowered his hand. "Grav Spike. Hits harder than a Gravity Hammer, and I'm only going to say this once: Stand. DOWN. Or else you will face disciplinary action," Ronin explained calmly. He noticed out the corner of his eye Gym silently creeping up behind Zack. Ronin twitched his ear once.

"As you wish sir, and tell your robot not to do that, otherwise it'll be scrap metal," Zach said as he started to walk away to the edge of the clearing, watching as the rest of the group came up in the Warthog. "With all the fruits he was carrying, that bastard's camp shouldn't be that far away," Zack stated, his smug, sadistic grin visible in his words. Ronin replied by arming the mag-rails on his rifle. Zack grunted and went to the Hog, Gym following him closely.

Ronin turned to face the woods. "Well Tom, you may not know it, but the Renamon isn't the only kindred here on this world," the Voxin said softly, rifle's safety on. He then went to the Hog to report just what had happened with his CO.

Meanwhile...

Rena reappeared inside her home, Sora and Tom in tow. Setting the Viximon down, she turned to look at Tom, who was busy grabbing anything that would be useful for him. That translated to food, weapons, and the ammunition. Oh, and maps of the area. "Tom, why do they want you so bad, can't they just leave you alone?" Rena asked softly, a tear starting to form in one of her eyes. Tom shrugged.

"Rena, if I'd known they were going to try this hard, I would have asked that you stay away from me, or at least let me die. But now, they're going to looking for both of us, and the worst part is that monster is with them," Tom replied, stuffing the last of his rifle's ammo in his soft case. He then turned to look at Sora. "And we need to find your mother little one." Rena picked Sora back up gently.

"There's a village not far from here, I used to go there on occasion before I met you. And fortunately, I do know his mother. So, when do you want to leave?" Rena asked as Tom placed several odd lumps of material around the hut. Tom came back to her hurriedly.

"Now would be a good time, those charges will be going off in sixty seconds," Tom said. The three left the hut, and Tom grimly smiled to himself._This should give them the message,_he thought as he disappeared into the woods.

The small squad of Drifters were looking at Zack with equal looks of shock, horror, and in two cases, hatred when Tom's charges blew. All turned to look at multiple pieces of wood flying into the air, a fairly good sized cloud of smoke marking where Rena's home had been. Mother instantly went into demolition engineer analysis mode. "Sir, I'm looking at about a quarter pound of C-8 explosive wired to eliminate evidence. Sloppy," she stated, shaking her head in dissatisfaction. Coyote looked at her oddly. "I would have used incendiary," she clarified. Coyote nodded.

That was when they realized that the Spartan was missing. "Shit, now we have to not only retrieve two Spartans, we have to make sure that they don't kill each other!" Coyote said sharply, banging a fist on the hood of the Hog. It was then that he noticed a cluster of thin smoke columns _not_from the fire. "But when there's smoke, there's fire, and fire means people," he muttered. "Everyone, in the Hog. Ronin, untie Kat and give her the other BR85. Let's pray she knows how to aim. Otherwise, let's meet the locals." Everyone, sans Gym, clambered onto the APC and drove off to where there was hopefully a village.

Tom and Rena stopped near the edge of the village. As far as it went in modern standards, the place was small, only about five hundred individuals. But here, the place was huge. Granted, most of the buildings were made of wood or stone, and they all flanked a central avenue, but other than that, it was a marvel to Tom's eyes. "Come on Tom, we should get inside before they find us again," Rena said. Tom nodded and they walked inside. Sora found his mother, Aria Stormborn, worried sick for his safety. After gently scolding the Viximon, Aria invited the two oddball strangers into her home for a bite to eat.

Tom was hesitant. He knew that Zach was essentially a relentless predator, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let those Dimensional RIFT whatevers take him back to ONI. But Rena had sweet talked him into staying. He was surprised at the interior of the Renamon's home. While sparse, it certainly had the same charm as Rena's former home. Although Tom noticed something different about the Renamon that served as his host. Rena had described her species as yellow furred, with the purple (or blue in Rena's case) gloves having a single yin-yang symbol. Their host had reddish gold fur, and there was a waved, four-pointed starburst surrounding the yin-yang. Tom asked Rena what the symbol on the glove meant.

"Oh," Rena said in slight astonishment. "Well, you see, Aria and Sora are descended from Rahne of the Faint Smile, possibly one of the strongest Renamon in our species history. Well, with the exception of THE Renamon," she added sheepishly. Tom raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"And that relates to now, how?"

"Well, the Sun-burst Clan have redder fur, random eye colors, occasionally different powers than other Renamon, and drastically shortened life spans. They do, however, make good diplomats."

"So is that why our host went outside to greet some odd visitors?"

The squad of Drifters soon drove up to the gates of the village. Coyote parked the APC about ten meters away and got out with Ronin. He watched as a Taomon, a pair of Kyuubimon, and a reddish-orange Renamon walked toward them.

Snik-CRACK!!

Ronin looked to see that Coyote's normally impassable carbon black visor had literally cracked itself into a look of shock. "Sir, are you okay?" Ronin asked.

"No," came the unusually meek reply from Coyote. Ronin looked to see what it was that had pretty much scared his CO so much. All he saw was the Renamon, apparently female based on the curves, whose gloves had a wavy, four-pointed starburst surrounding the classic yin-yang. Ronin looked at his CO in confusion.

"Ronin, remember that time you found me in Shinjuku drunk off my ass?" Coyote asked. Ronin was surprised that Coyote would be bringing _that_up.

"Yes sir, but why is this important?" Ronin answered. Coyote looked nervously back at the sniper.

"Because I'm pretty sure that Rahne is going to rip off my balls and strangle me with them," came the final reply before the Taomon reached the two. The ancient and powerful Digimon looked at the two insignia and bowed to Coyote.

"I am Taomon Firefist, leader of this village. For what do I owe the pleasure of meeting three humans, a pointy-eared bastard (Varak's face fell in shock and anger), a robot, and a bastardized Renamon?" the Taomon asked as he stood back up. Coyote swallowed his fear as best he could and spoke. He just didn't speak to the Taomon.

"Rahne, is that you?" he asked the Renamon, free hand covering his family jewels. The Renamon looked at Coyote as if he was insane, ruby red eyes burrowing into the (formerly) solid black visor.

"I am not my ancestor," she said hesitantly, voice declaring she wasn't sure of Coyote's sanity. Everyone, including those on the Hog, could hear Coyote's sigh of relief. "But we do have a shrine dedicated to her if you want to see it," she added happily. Coyote nearly fainted. He could actually meet HER. After nearly four years of not seeing her, he would finally get to see her. But then the plan changed as a rift formed, the unsteady red glow radiating menace. Every Drifter went on high alert.

"Toshigan!" yelled Coyote in a barely controlled panic, his arm cannon now active. "Ronin, HVT's! SINs and Chronos first! Mother, Wavebreakers and HEAP rounds! Gym, just rip them apart! Varak, stay back and give us support and Kat don't do anything-"

Tom and Rena were sitting in the main room of Sora's home, making small talk with Sora's father and uncle on his father's side (well, Rena was; Tom still had trust issues). Sora was fast asleep however. "So," Sora's father said, "You are a child of the Radiant One as well?" He pointed to the crest at the top of Rena's gauntlets. "Why are you so far from home?" Rena looked up from her small meal in worry.

"Well, umm, it's kind of a long story..." said Rena as she started to fidget in nervousness. She didn't want to go back to her home village, she didn't want to be given a mate against her will! Almost as if he was psychic, Tom interrupted before the older male Digimon could ask for more information.

"It's because of me," he said, holding out his Digivice. The two male Renamon were awestruck, and Rena beamed with pride. "I'm her Tamer." The two males looked from the Digivice to Rena, and then back to Tom.

"So, you're a human? That explains why I haven't seen a Digimon like you before," proclaimed Sora's father, a hearty chuckle leaving his muzzle. Suddenly, there came a massive explosion from outside, followed by the sound of gunfire, energy weapons, and even a few more explosions. Tom's Spartan training kicked in when he whipped out his pistol. Putting his helmet on one handed, he motioned for the Renamon to stay down, Sora's father now pretty much on top of his kit, protecting him.

As Tom and Rena went out the front door and onto the street, they saw the carnage that the fighting had down. Houses were blown to bits, the street was full of holes, and carts used to move goods had been left forgotten. The duo hid behind on, all too aware of how flimsy their cover was. Tom looked over the side to see who was fighting. He was surprised to see the Voxin from earlier on the wall of the village, firing his rifle rapidly, the ghostly blue trail of the bullets denoting its status as a railgun. Then there was a Sangheili sized robot clashing with an even bigger robot, and the - creatures that they were fighting were nothing that Tom was familiar with. They looked like Terra's big cats, if they were bipeds, with all of the trappings of the Jiralhanae and the temperament and arms to match. And off to the side, Tom saw an M12/M Armed Personnel Carrier.

Tom turned to face Rena and pointed to the wall. She nodded and teleported next to the wall, right under Ronin. The Voxin was too busy sniping targets and despite being in such an exposed position, was somehow not getting wounded. Tom sprinted to the open gate and crouched low. Seeing an opening for him to get to the Hog, he full out ran to it, noting that there was also a Mongoose hitched to the back of it. Tom got there, sneaking behind some crazy chick firing an M82 Regent Missile Launcher, firing missile after missile at some other target. He unhitched the ATV, and snapped off the standard issue UNSC IFF tag from the undercarriage. Next thing that anybody knew, Tom had hopped on, hit the ignition and punched the throttle wide open. He happily splattered some of the alien tangos of the way to Rena, shooting one would-be jacker with his M6D. Rena saw him coming and without him stopping, leapt onto the back of the ATV. They soon sped off to the back gate, and Tom rapidly shot a hole through it and burst through the gate, leaving the fight.

Kat's mind was oddly enough, blank as she shot her way to the Chronolegionnaire in front of her. Well, not entirely empty. The private's mind was filled with the memories of a burning home. She saw her lost family, the vile smirk as the then Slaughtermaster slowly skinned her friends alive, and the hideous scar stretching from his forehead, across one eye, and down to his jaw as she sliced the monster's face open with the metal spork that Kat still had. In real-time, she slowed down the Chronolegionnaire with her TMD and continued blasting away at it with the BR85 HB 9.55mm rifle from the Hog.

Coyote and the others, meanwhile, were fending off Toshigan grunts, and in a brilliant stroke of Murphy's Law, they were also having to fight a "Pride" class Synthetic Intelligence uNit that had recently joined the fight. The only good news was that the SIN was already badly damaged. But the damn things shields were still holding strong, and it was ALWAYS the damaged SINs that were the most dangerous. Kat had disobeyed Coyote' direct order to fight the Chronolegionnaire alone, but she didn't listen. A Wavebreaker round at that moment slammed into the Pride, draining its shields. This gave Gym to chance to thrust his hands into its chest, and ripped the super weapon apart, coolent and plasma spewing out from the destroyed machine's synthetic muscles and armature.

Kat meanwhile had managed to get in the Chronolegionnaire's blind spot,which just so happened to be the armor itself. She clung on for dear life as she single handedly primed a HE frag grenade and shoved it under the sensory head's "chin." Kat leapt off as the bomb detonated, sending the elite mechanized infantry unit down to the ground with a thunderous thud. Kat quickly got back on her feet and sprinted back to the useless shell of armor, and with strength that would make a Spartan notice, ripped open the chest hatch for the pilot and looked down at her tormenter.

The being that lay wounded below her was about the size of a juvenile Sangheili, give or take a few inches. He was clad in sparse armor, the undersuit ripped from both the grenade detonating and from the burns of the armor short-circuiting. It was fairly terrifying, with spikes jutting out from the elbows, knees, and fore-arm, and the helmet was to induce a panic with its demonic semblance. Kat at the moment wasn't affected, as she was in a cold rage at the Toshigan below her. She slammed the butt of the battle rifle down on his face, and continued to slam her gun into him again and again until Gym got up behind her and gave her a bear hug. Not enough to crush her, but enough to restrain the thrashing female. Kat didn't hear Coyote bark at her furiously, telling her that the Toshigan in the battle suit was their only lead on how they found them, and that thanks to her, he was almost dead. But right now, Private Katherine Alexandra Desserich didn't care. Killing the monster that destroyed her life would have been a mercy kill. Not after what happened three years ago.

Coyote sat in the Taomon's hut, deep in thought. During the brief, but highly intense firefight, the Mongoose that they had taken had been stolen - most likely by Tom, - several of the villagers were wounded, with most of the structures near the south wall in various states of destruction. The second worst thing that Coyote would have to deal with was Pvt. Katherine Desserich's punishment for disobeying a direct order, needlessly putting her squad-mates lives in danger, and endangerment of civilian bystanders. The worst thing that had happened was that the Viximon Ronin nearly stepped on was not going to lose not only his father and uncle, but also his mother as well. As it turned out, Aria Stormborn was one of the first casualties, having been in proximity to a detonating Toshigan warhead meant for Gym.

"So," Firefist said gravely, "What are you here for?" The Taomon looked down at the human in front of him, the Digimon's face not displaying the fear that was eating away at him. Coyote looked up and sighed. The close to thirty year old human ran a gloved hand through his dark brown and blonde highlighted hair in frustration.

"I belong to a group of fighters whose job is to make sure that different universes and their variations don't interfere with each other, and that if they do, that the interference is for the better," Coyote started to explain. "We sometimes take assignments from other agencies, usually to better strengthen our ties with that group. In this case, we were tasked with finding a missing soldier."

Coyote paused to catch his breathe. "What we just fought...those are the guys who would like nothing more than to tear apart the multiverse, and exploit it, enslave it, and otherwise bring it to ruin. I can't reveal much due to it being classified above my pay grade (which actually wasn't completely true; Coyote's prime version frequently published the D.RIFT.R forces exploits, which Coyote then read), but I'll answer any question you have to the best of my ability." Firefist nodded.

"Very well," said the Ultimate Level Digimon. "I have a rather interesting question. How do you know our Rahne of the Faint Smile?" The Taomon watched as Coyote's face drained of color, a look of despair on his face. Coyote then promptly gulped as he tried to explain.

"Well you see, I, ah, um..." Coyote stammered as Ronin walked in through the front door, a datapad in hand.

"What the lieutenant colonel means to say is that one day, he got transformed into a Renamon, was dumped into another universe, yours apparently, and had a brief fling with another Renamon. I was asked to get his drunk ass out of Shinjuku," said the Voxin bluntly as he handed Coyote the datapad and saluted. "The final report on the firefight sir," Ronin said flatly. Coyote returned the salute. Firefist was shocked.

"Wait," said the elderly Digimon. "You had sex with our FOUNDER?! But ho-"

"Sir," Coyote interrupted, "that was well before she founded a village, I assure you. On another note, I and my team would like to stay and help with the clean-up. And ...I owe the Viximon a pair of open arms. He did just lose his family." Coyote turned off the datapad and hooked onto his hip and picked up his ruined helmet. Firefist was confused.

"What do you mean, his family? It was only Sora's father that died," said Firefist. Coyote sadly shook his head.

"You don't understand, the Toshigan use a combination of electromagnetic pulse and biological toxins in their latest warheads. Miss Stormborn had severe data corruption, and what biological systems she did have died at an accelerated rate." Coyote stopped to wipe a tear from his eye. "I...I am afraid that SoraDuskborn is now an orphan, and I would like to take him under my wing so to speak with your permission."

Ronin lowered his head and turned away from the two. In the two wars and countless skirmishes against the Toshigan, there was no such thing as a minor casualty.

Tom and Rena had stopped when it got dark, not because it was safer, but because the Mongoose ran out of gas. Tom made sure that he didn't leave any tracks, and hid the ATV in a bush. Tom shook his head in annoyance. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that there was about ten bucks worth of gas in the vehicle.

Tom sat near a tree across from Rena, cleaning and inspecting his rifle in thought. He had seen the devastation the battle had left on the village when he looked through the scope a few hours ago, and now, Tom was angry; and guilty. "Dammit, those people are dead for no reason, and whatever group that Voxin belonged to brought those other things here because of me," he said quietly, his voice now releasing his pent up rage. He slammed his fist into the tree, breaking chunks of it off and startling Rena. "I'm the reason they're dead!" Tom took his fist and of the tree and hung his head, a bleak aura of depression coming from him.

Rena looked at her friend with soft eyes. Scooting closer to him, she put her paws around his neck and hugged him. "Listen Tom," Rena said softly, "It wasn't you that killed those people, those soldiers brought those things here, not you."

"But Rena, they're here for me, they brought Zack here, and they put this world at risk." Tom looked up into Rena's soft emerald eyes. "They put you at risk. Now, we're on the run, and I'm sorry. This is my fault, I'm the reason that you're in danger." At this point Tom's eyes were glistening with tears.

"Tom, it's not your fault; I'm in this with you all the way, I'm your partner after all. I don't blame you for this, I blame them," Rena stated, pointing towards the village. "Tom, you are one of the best things that have ever happened in my life, and I am glad beyond words that I found you."

Rena pulled Tom even closer to her. "Tom," Rena whispered, "The truth is, I'd rather be here on the run with you than never met you at all. And _NO_one taking you away from me without a fight." Rena really wanted to say what was on her mind: how she had begun to see Tom as something other than a friend, but sadly, she couldn't find the find the courage to do so.

Tom pushed her back and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I swear Rena, I swear on my soul that I won't let anything happen to you." Not like Devin. Eventually, the two of them fell asleep by the tree, comforted by the moon's soft embrace.

Coyote walked over to the shrine with Taomon Firefist, Ronin, and the rest of the village to pay their respects for the fallen. Sora was in Kat's arms, his muzzle locked in grief. Kat was tearing herself apart on the inside. She knew, she just instinctively knew, that the Chronolegionnaire had targeted Gym. In her fury to kill it, she had diverted its attention, sending the warhead meant for Gym straight over to where Sora's mother had been.

As the Drifters came upon the shrine, Coyote suddenly felt a bout of nostalgia. It was at a shrine to the Japanese rice god Inari that he had professed his love for Rahne. And like that isolated shrine, this one was still beautiful. But Coyote couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong here. He looked over at Ronin. The Voxin sniper/scout nodded. He felt it as well then. Coyote turned his head towards Firefist and quietly said, "Taomon Firefist, can we run some tests before the ceremony? My men and I feel as though something is wrong here." The Taomon nodded absent-mindedly.

Coyote waved for Ronin to scan the area. The Voxin did so, and raised an eye in slight surprise. "Sir, we have a chronometric distortion surrounding the entire shrine. Looks like a three stage trap, weak slow first layer, Varak can take care of it. Second stage is a nearly busted bubble shield, I think that Mother will love taking it out, and the last shell is a class three slow field. That requires something with a little more kick, sir," Ronin said he looked up from his wrist mounted data pad. Coyote smiled.

"Alright, everyone, you know what to do. Varak, you're first," Coyote said. The transformed dragon nodded as he stepped up to the shrine. Coyote wasn't exactly a linguist, but even he knew that the words being spoken by Varak contained power. Lots of it. Twelve seconds later, the first layer of the trap was dissolved in a soft orange glow, the villagers who were able to see transfixed in awe. Seconds later, the high explosive grenade thrown by Mother hit the bubble shield and destroyed it, allowing both Coyote and Ronin to strike the final layer with their TMD's Flash Forward ability. The final shell was demolished in a flash of intense orange light, and there came the sound of a body hitting the wall inside the shrine.

Coyote turned on the beam cannon, the device whining low as it powered up. Coyote set it for its Wave Beam function, knowing that killing was the last thing needed at the moment. Varak and Mother were behind him as Coyote slowly unbarred the door. Setting down the board, Coyote waved Ronin to the other side of the double doors, so that they could clear the inside of the building easier. Coyote tapped his foot in count down. Three.Two.One.

Ronin and Coyote opened the doors and charged in, weapons sweeping the interior for threats. Seeing none, the two whistled for the others to join. Gym stayed outside while Varak and Mother went inside. Coyote went in further, and after turning a corner, almost tripped flat on his face. Regaining his balance, the lieutenant colonel looked down at what had almost tripped him and froze.

Renamon, young, somewhere just a tad bit north of twenty. She was about six foot three, with golden red fur and gloves the purple seen at sunset. Coyote gulped as he knew this Renamon rather intimately. The ring hanging on a chain resting just above below her collarbone and the fact that Coyote remembered making those gloves himself was proof enough. This was her. Rahne.The vixen who stole his heart in Shinjuku, and the woman whom he had left abruptly for the call of duty and guilt. She was one of his few regrets.

So amongst Varak's confusing medical jargon, Lieutenant Colonel Gabe Monnot, service number 72119-94001-GM, commander of a well decorated company and veteran of over ten brutal campaigns, fainted. It wasn't even twelve hours into the mission, and the sun was just setting.