Hmmm. A meeting of spies, this does appear. Layel floated out again, invisible. He pondered the import of this tidbit, then sent a mental communication with Hodarg and Sapphire.

"Lt. Hodarg, Lt. Rose... I haven't found much, but this will likely make up. It seems every month on a single Friday, which would be late tonight in this case, our Planetary Head of Security happens to head to the Spark Bar not far from here, and manages to vanish from his escorts for an hour or two. Think he might be meeting a fellow agent there?"

*His thoughts a denied me, though I am unsure if he is protected from all my gifts. I would pull a string or two, to see if I can, my touch is deft and I doubt the agent would be aware of it, but I am wary of hidden safeguards. For now, let's see what Layel can find with some direct surveillance. You idea does hold great merit though, and I will keep it in mind, if the agent remains... elusive.* Sapphire tried to send the new recruit a pulse of thankful regard, but her enticing lips tightened as the wailing souls held within Chance's breast tore the gift asunder.

To Sapphire's delight, and those who could feel it emanating from her, Layel did find a promising lead. * Excellent! Captain Nami, progress is being made,* Sapphire conveyed to the entire crew of the Scheherazade, providing them with the information Lt. Haete had found. *If I may suggest, I will maintain oversight from here, poised to inflict what I can, while Lt. Haete shadows him on the ground. Lt. Hodarg can remain with me, or aid Haete on the ground, if he can maintain his remote viewing for me. Nami, if you can spare Chance, I would like her with me, to see if she can help with breaking the agent's Mental Shield, unless she can do it surreptitiously from her remote location. It is up to you, Captain, if you think we may need more firepower to apprehend the agent and whoever he is meeting with.

Kat gets up and stretches for a bit while maintaining his watch on the Head of Security, as he replies to Sapphire, *If Lt Haete thinks that an additional physical presence would be required and you can maintain a link to me for the visual data then I have no objections to continuing my observation from closer to the target. Unfortunately, you would be out of my Telepathic range should I go down to the surface.*

"Thank you, Tanya," Captain Daylan said, nodding. "That will be helpful in my opening statements." The woman nodded and turned away, leaving Namiah to her thoughts. She began to write her speech, but found that her mind was straying to distracting thoughts regarding the shape of Tanya's body. Namiah closed her eyes to the distraction and began to breathe deeply.

She'd just refocused her thoughts when Sapphire's decadent mind touched hers again. The sudden connection with the sensual Elan shredded that control again, and Sapphire was delighted at the erotic thoughts in her Captain's mind. For once though, the blue-haired woman managed to say on-topic, mostly because she knew that Namiah wanted her to do that. And in part, she wanted to save the teasing for later, when she might immediately reap some benefits from her leader being in a more... pliant mood.

"Ensign Chance," Namiah said softly, "I think you've had enough exposure to the planet. Please return to the ship and see if Lt. Rose or another officer needs something." She gave the other woman a nod and a smile to show she wasn't sending her back out of disapproval.

It takes them a few moments, not all that long, but about a minute or so, before Chance is now aboard the ship, leaving the Captain and Kaien down on the surface, and the rest of the crew aboard the starship. Once there, the young magi would be there to help sapphire however she could.

Even as Chance appears back on the ship, Tanya considers the Captain a moment, then smiled. "If there is nothing else you need, when should I tell the council you wish to speak with them?"

Captain Daylan nodded slowly. "No point in delaying," she said easily. "Tanya, would you please set that up? I'll be working on my speech until that point, so if you could ask there to be no interruptions? Thank you."

As their host left them alone, Namiah turned to Kaien. "Would you like to check security protocols?" Her smile was charming, full of her natural beauty and grace. "I'm afraid I'm about to become very boring."

Kaien nods. "Unless you're going to order me to leave you Captain, I think it best if we stay together. My abilities allow me to do checks quickly, I can easily do it before you address the delegates."

He smiles, which was to say he didn't frown. "Besides, together we're a much bigger target."

Namiah smiled at Kaien and settled herself on the couch. Drawing a deep breath, she relaxed into a light meditation, her eyes drifting shut as her body relaxed. In the quiet of her mind, she focused her thoughts, shutting away anger and aggression, temptation and bitterness. In the peace that was left after she'd swept those away, she began to compose her message of strength and unity.

Chance nodded quietly at Captain Daylan glad that she didn’t cause any further trouble… for now. She focused her mind in preparation to the transport back to the ship and tried to keep her anxiety in check as she was ordered to help Sapphire Rose – the beautiful Elan.

Still a bit disoriented and not quite used to the ships architecture it took Chance a bit longer to find Sapphire’s quarters. Clearing her throat she approached the doors which automatically opened – Sapphire was expecting her obviously. Chance’s eyes went wide at the sight of the supernaturally enhanced Elan and she remembered the touch of her voice on her skin?

„I… Captain Daylan asked… ahm, ordered me to…“, Chance was having a hard time to keep her focus and form a coherent sentence. Taking another deep breath she started anew. „I’m here to help – if you need me.“

It would be late in the evening before the Head of Security would depart for his unusual meeting, so the folks aboard the Scheherazade were waiting and planning together. Perhaps Chance and Sapphire would try to merge their powers, in some attempt to break though the Security Head's mental block, but how that would work remained to be seen.

Meanwhile, one the surface, while the Captain meditated and prepared to speak before the council, in what might become the most critical meeting yet. While she purged herself of anger and aggression, Kaien remained on guard, something that proved to be a good thing, in fact, sense somewhere around 2 hours later, there was a call to him from the security guarding them in the suite they were preparing. "Lt. Saotome.. we've dropped off the communications grid.. we strongly suspect some sort of assassination attempt. We hope to prevent them from getting though, but our tactical analysis suggests the target is your Captain."

Kaien nodded. "Thanks for the update. I will be ready for them here."

He immediately called out to Sapphire. Lieutenant Rose, I need you to scan the area aound the captain and I for hostile intentions. We have dropped off the com-grid and are expecting an imminent attack, most likely to assassinate Captain Daylan. She is currently meditating, I'd like t allow her to finish in peace.

He awaited her response and scanned the room, studying everything.

"Ah, lovely. A Chance for a chance. Please, please, come in and take a seat. Be at ease." Sapphire's voice was a rich purr as she stood up from her indolent pose upon her bed of silken pillows. She beckoned the hesitant Witch to a plush seat at a small, intricately carved table of blue crystal, taking the seat opposite her. Her translucent dress thickened into draping, velvet folds, posture growing slightly less indulgently seductive in consideration for Chance and her unwanted guests.

Sapphire's milky white hands reached halfway across the table, palms up, and explained the situation as she saw it. "The cute, new Lieutenant, Layel, will be ghosting after our erstwhile head of planetary security to his clandestine rendezvous. Kat will be down planetside with him for additional back-up, ESPing the agent's location. From here, I will relaying the remote view to all of us."

The ineffably captivating Elan leaned forward, an encouraging smile on her luscious lips, the dual sense of emotions rolling of the young, demon-chained Witch disturbing and arousing her. "What I hope you can do, Chance, is help me penetrate the agent's mental block. There are things I can do to elude such mental shenanigans, but thus far, his has proven annoyingly resilient. We would be another level of back-up for the Leaguers on the ground, in case the agent has other surprises up his sleeve."

Sapphire sat back, crossing her legs, and considered Chance, not judgmental, simply with honest appraisal. "Do you think this is something you can do, from this distance? I am not entirely sure how your magical abilities function. Will you be affecting me or the agent to bypass the shield?" Her smile turned consoling. "If you cannot accomplish this feat, it's not no matter to be ashamed of. Will we find another way."

Before Chance could respond, Sapphire's glowing blue eyes grew distant as she received a mental hail. "A moment, if you would, Chance. Kaien is asking for some help in a trifling matter of a potential assassination attempt." *Kaien, understood. I'll see what I can find out.*

From the comfortable distance of her mind, Namiah heard all of this. She didn't let it touch her; she was in another place, one of peace where if someone killed her, it was meant to be. Better that she live in harmony than shed another's blood.

But something within her, a gross survival instinct disagreed. Better to shed others' blood, than to allow her own to fall. The strength of this thought was powerful, and Namiah had to concentrate to shut it out. The slightest furrow in her brow was the only sign of internal struggle.

Chance felt the Legion underneath her skin. It was as if they smelled their opportunity to wreak havoc each time she was close to Sapphire. The otherwordly Elan was a creature of desire and lust... and most of all beauty. All traits the Legion longed for to corrupt.

Sapphire could feel the subliminal tension that Chance kept in check through concentration, focus and force of Will. She also noticed that if Chance didn't she would lose control and then no one could tell what would happen. Most likely something bad, really bad.



"To be honest, I don't know. I have yet to test the limits of my abilities. I believe I am able to help in one way or the other. If not direct then maybe through my mere presence. It's sometimes just a matter of luck, I guess.", she gave Sapphire a smile that started out as a smirk. Somehow the Elan managed to bring forth her more human side - without endangering of losing her focus.

"Have you ever worked with Magic? Are you familiar with rituals of any kind? I just want to make sure I won't do something that would put us both at risk. Well not beyond what we can afford... I could also...", Chance hesitated as the idea formulated in her mind. There was a brief flash of a thousand demon faces and eyes in Chance's mind - a terrifying sight to behold before she cast it away.

"I can tap the power of the Legion - they surely will break any defense our target may have. It only comes with a cost."

When Sapphire reaches out with her mind, she's able to touch some of the minds around the captain's position, though it takes her a moment or two to leaf though them and ascertain who is there to carry out the assassination. Somewhere along one side of the building, a man has unleashed a few robotic assassination tools, about 4 assassin bots, which were presently climbing up the side of the building, toward the Captain and Lt. Commander Saotome. It was easy to pick out that the man had been hired for the job, but someone had telepathically wiped his mind of knowledge of exactly who it had been.

Meanwhile aboard the Scheherazade, Chance was with Sapphire and the Legion beneath her skin and her mind scream with fury and delight. While Chance could presently keep them under control, and she had pushed them down deep enough that most of the voices were presently incomprehensible, Sapphire's presence and influence brought the more... sensual minds to the forefront. As though the Legion was simply waiting for a moment.. or a Chance to act.

Layle and Kat however, where unaware of events involving the Captain, or even between Sapphire and Chance, as they had transported down to the surface to watch and wait, to trap the third agent.

The sensual goddess made a soft sound as she found the potential assassin, her thoughts relaying to the entire crew of the Scheherazade. *Nami, Kaien, I've caught the mind of the man who was hired for the hit on you, thoughts wiped of the details. He's released four assassination-bots who are scaling the exterior of your location. I will render him unconscious then continue overwatch on Layel and Kataran. Can't give you his precise locating, but look for an insensate man somewhere near the sides of your building. Will maintain contact, myself and Chance being back-up for whoever needs for it.


Sapphire opened her twilight eyes and gave Chance an impossibly captivating, comforting smile, the malevolently erotic voices inside the young witch both inflamed and quelled in the face of such luminous beauty.

"Well, that is one matter attended to," Sapphire assured her in compelling, dulcet tones. "Now for the other. Alas, my experience with magic has been rather limited, Chance, and rituals scarcely less so, though I have participated in several mental confluences. Since reading the agent's thoughts has proven troublesome, I think I will try to usurp his mental synapses instead and make him reveal his thoughts to us. Perhaps your lovely presence, Chance, it will be enough to let me through his defenses."

The unearthly Elan shifted subtly closer, her ineffable presence a palpable thing flowing across Chance's skin, warm, desirous, and somehow soothing. "If that does not prove sufficient, then you may call upon... the Legion if you are willing and you and I, we will deal with the consequences thereof." Soft fingertips brushed the top of Chance's hand, Sapphire's smile growing more companionable. "Of course, if you have an idea of your own you wish to propose, I am always willing to listen."

The goddess of the mindscape closed her intriguing eyes of incandescent midnight hues, though her body language said she was still very much aware of Chance's presence. Her ethereal thoughts spread out once more, linking the members of the Galactic League in an impenetrable network, snaring Lt. Hodarg's remote viewing of the agent for herself and Chance. *Layel, Kat, you have me and Chance looking over your shoulders once more, ready to take action if necessary. A slight consideration, Nami may have need of us and I might not be able to give you much warning about our redirection. Simply be aware of that.

Namiah's control frayed as Sapphire spoke, and she visibly jumped at her former lover's dire warning. Sighing, she gracefully rose, silently acknowledging that she wouldn't find peace again. While she retained her outward composure with ease, she was shaken; Corvu nesital chin was integral to her focus and she'd been jarred out of it.

She moved to the center of the room, to give herself space, and nodded to Kaien. "I am ready, when they come." She looked as peaceful as if she were preparing for dinner, not a fight for her life.

Kaien nodded. "My apologies Captain I has hoped she'd know you well enough to not disturb you and send her message only to me. I will do better next time."

He moved to the window looking for the advancing robots.

Namiah laughed. "I think that an incoming assassin was worth my attention," she said, trying to keep her tone light so she didn't feel the free roiling in her gut. "Besides, she enjoys those little touches, and who am I to deny her that?"

Kaien recognized the nervousness in his Captain's voice. He knew she was a pacifist; perhaps she wasn't as ready for battle as she claimed.

Sapphire, are you there?

*Yes, darling,* Sapphire replied. Her captain's frayed control was visible to her, as was the reason.

Don't let it get out of hand, Namiah requested. This wasn't an order; it was an appeal for help, should it be needed.

I'm here, and watching, the Elan told her, and Namiah relaxed. Now she was ready to defend herself.

Chance shifted nervously in her cushioned seat unsure how to handle the unknown impulses she received from the Legion within. Her eyes flared with a demonic yellowish intensity and she gasped exposing elongated teeth. Her eyes observed the Elan's supernatural beautiful body, her perfect skin, her luscious lips and amazing twilight eyes. The young witch closed her eyes and breathed deeply focusing on the steady beating of her heart and shut out all the fantasies the flooded her mind. Fantasies the inexperienced young woman never had before.

"I... It's hard to explain, Sapphire.", her voice was hoarse and husky the same. "I never was a good witch... I mean not in a sense of Good and Evil, but more in a sense of... expertise. Not until I've... merged with the Legion. I don't know if a Ritual can help, but I do know that the magic I can wield now is very potent and that Magic has a solution for every problem. I just need to know what to focus on. And if that doesn't help... the Legion will have an answer.", all the while she spoke her words stood in stark contrast to her bodylanguage. There was desire in her eyes and a longing to touch and kiss Sapphire that was barely tolerable. But she knew what would happen if she gave in - she would never forgive herself for the consequences.

On the planets, the four assassin bots came in through the windows, the each of them looked like a metallic spider that was about a foot across, and the first one through activated to fire a group of poison darts at their target, the Captain. The second had a different function, as it rolled into a ball, and activated a explosion routine, rolling closer to it's target as it began it's countdown.

******

Meanwhile, aboard the ship, Chance and Sapphire discussed how magic and psionic power could merge into one, and enhance the other. For Chance, she felt the legion withdraw slightly, the voices quieting, save for those that seemed seductive and reasonable, even to the point of making her an offer of their aid for her cooperation. Of course, she likely knew enough about the legion to know that they were looking for some advantage in the matter, one that they would take if she took up the offer.

For Sapphire, the matter was different, she was splitting her attention three ways, monitoring the Captain and Kaien's situation, listening and speaking with Chance, and holding a watch with Layle and Kat regarding the movement of the mind blocked agent.

******

As twilight fell on that side of the planet, Layle and Kat stood together, watching, until Kat noticed movement, it appeared that the Security Chief was off to his clandestine appointment.

Layel, linked to Kataran's ESP view of the Security Chief, caught him moving. A hunter's smirk appeared on his face. "Time to catch the rat red-handed, Lt. I'll lead the pursuit." Thus communicated to Kataran, he ghosted ahead to begin shadowing the traitorous official.

With a murmured, "Good hunting." to Layel, Kat carefully got up from his seat, adjusted his opague sunglasses and unfolded his blindman's cane. It was a role he had used any number of times over the years as he used his ESP and he slipped into it again with easy familiarity. So while he kept up his ESP observation of the target and occassionally sent Layel an update of the targets current position and activity, Kat himself tapped his way out of the cafe he had been sitting in. Reaching the doorway he turned towards the sounds of the counter and asked if they could summon a taxi for him.

When the taxi arrived Kat settled back and gave the name of the pub/club that the target was said to go to. He had little fear of exposure as he carried nothing that seemed to be a weapon, and was truly blind while he watched the target with his ESP. Added to which few people considered the rare blind people remaining as threats. Comfortable in the taxi he maintained his vigil on the target and gave Lt Rose an update on their situation.

Kaien snarled at the darts and reached out to grab the one that would explode, sensing it was far more dangerous as it could take out the surrounding area. He reached out to hurl it to the nearest body of water away from people.

Namiah dodged away from the darts, twisting her body with fluid grace. Hours of moving through the forms - and even some practical experience at defending herself - stood her in good stead now.

The Official headed to the same bar that he had the last few months, the Spark Bar, which Layel was quite capable of trailing him, and in fact, with Kat backing him up, it was impossible for the agent to loose him.

***********************

Meanwhile, as the assassination attempt continued, Kaien managed to deal quickly with the initial exploding bot, even as Namiah dodged the darts, and they impacted the back wall of the room. The third was armed with some sort of pulse laser which it was aiming at the captain, and the fourth one, with sharp blades, was moving toward her rapidly.

Without moving Kaien altered the frequency of his Telekinetics and speared the bot with the lasers with a bolt of unbridled telekinetic force.

Layel smirked unseen as this was merely a walkover. Moving ever more closer to the Head of Security, he practically hovered a few feet away, no one knowing he was there. Time to see what he had to knowingly give to the League.

Namiah's face was serene as she dodged effortlessly, almost as if dancing instead of dodging. She trusted her ability to survive this, so she made no attempt to flee, trying to keep the robots close to Kaien to make things easier on him.

Feeling the glassy smooth surface of Nami's emotional equilibrium, Sapphire shifted more of her attention to Layel and Kat's surveillance of the errant Security Chief, sharing Kat's remote vision with Chance at her side.

Sapphire's perfect lips were pressed into a thin line as she felt the waves of desire and desperate restraint wash over her from the woman next to her. It was most frustrating - Desire should be allowed to run free, yet both of the other women aboard the Scheherazade felt a need to keep it tramped down.

"Chance, what do you say we just let the Legion pass on this one, hmmm?" Sapphire suggested, looking at the young woman directly, not flinching from the glow of her eyes or the length of her teeth. "I'm sure your own talents will be more than sufficient." The ineffably captivating elan tilted her head to the side, a pensive curve to her lips.

"My own talent at slipping between the cracks of another's will is usually a given, but the agent's shield appears to have no seems. Do you have a way to bring it down, perhaps? We can either wait for Layel and Kat to have him in custody or we can go join them if events seem to be growing precipitous."

The young witch nodded biting her lower lip nervously. „Ok… I guess that’s a good idea. I’m not sure what I can actually do but I could concentrate on you – focus on you and let fate throw the dice. Maybe you’ll find a crack you’ve overlooked or we’re simply lucky this time…“

Chance wasn’t really sure how her powers worked but she knew that something happened if she concentrated hard enough. And if everything failed she would have to draw upon the Legion’s might which would surely do more than just break the poor man’s mental defense…



Extending her arms and thus revealing parts of her skin for a moment Chance concentrated on Sapphire’s magical pattern. Her eyes pierced the mundane world glowing sinister with yellowish demonic fire. The young witch’s face slowly distorted reflecting her focused concentration and exhaustion. With laboured breath she grasped the threads of fate and chance as the plane of chaos revealed itself in her inner eye – Patterns only she could perceive and make sense of fell in layers over the Elan’s voluptous body. The Legion briefly roared lustfully like a wild animal at Sapphire’s impossible perfect sculpted body but Chance’s focus was far too strong to give them any control over her body. Yet tiny beads of sweat were visible on Chance’s forehead and the barely exposed parts Sapphire could see. Whatever the young witch was doing, it looked like she was on the brink of fully exhausting herself.

One the surface, the assassin bots continued their attack, 3 down, as the third was taken down by the telekinetic assault, the force and power of the bolt enough to tear the robot in half. As Namiah dodged the pulse lasers, the final bot switched tactics, and sudddenly began to unleash dozens of razor wires launching with lightning speed to impact the walls. Should the Patrolmen not deal with this one quickly, simply moving though this room would become deadly, as the razor sharp mono-molecular wire filled the room.

***********

Meanwhile, elsewhere, as Layle followed the security head, he sat down and ordered a drink at the bar. "Double Scotch on the rocks, and make it snappy, Julian." As he said that, the bartender put a drink on the table, and there was a flicker though the entire room.



************

As Chance and Sapphire joined forces, for a moment, Chance's fires reached out to embrace the incredible beauty and power of the telepathic near-goddess. Together their powers merged, the shear power of their combined force, a power that even a god would think twice about facing. Not without a price, however, for one of them was all about control, and the other was all about indulgence. Order and Chaos came together, and for a few moments, existence was theirs.. at least, that was what it felt like.

They did manage to pierce the shield in the head of securities mind, to discover something very familiar.. for chance at least. A demon had possessed the head of security, taken him over, and for years had been using him as a tool. Not even the people he worked for, on either side were aware of this, the mind shield was to powerful. He was an double agent, one working ultimately, for the Legion.

It was not without a price however, for a moment, Chance lost control, not due to a lack of focus, but due to demon power touching demon power, but, due to the link between her and Sapphire, as it had to pass though Sapphire's own psyche, the Demon Horde inside were unable to unleash anything, but pure unbridled lust.

Kaien frowned. Clearly the bots were from a professional. They'd obviously not counted on Namiah's skill, or his power. He sent another bolt into the one that was launching out lines of monomolecular filament into the room, hoping to strike it down before it could entrap them. He didn't really need to move to dodge or attack, but it would look bad if Namiah came to harm.

Layel caught the flicker almost immediately, something he recognized...

Kat was still waiting for the taxi to arrive at the club when the odd flicker occurred. He tried to think what it could signify, but there was just too many possibilities in the melting pot of magic, psionics, elementalism and technology that was the Galactic League and it's neighbouring systems.