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VRDET-OP: The Marraketh Connection
           "Rentrez"
        by: Red Paladin
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	*A Lyran with a cat?*
	Red turned away, half-peeking, as the Lyran removed its 
mask to reveal... Malaclypse. The cat disappeared and was 
replaced by Nexxus.
	"Get me out of here! Hurry, they took Kat somewhere!" Red 
explained from behind the bars excitedly.
	A faint groan escaped from Josh's mouth. "Hurry..." He 
slowly opened his hands to reveal dungeon keys. They were just 
within Red's reach. He grabbed them and let himself out. "We have 
to save him!" he cried.
	"Him? He's the reason Kat was captured in the first 
place!" Nexx said in disgust. "He's nothing but a no good 
Sponge."
	"He tried to _save_ Kat though! He came and unlocked her 
cell. This one Sponge shot him." Red regained his composure as 
the excitement triggered the Fire[tm] and his voice grew cold. 
The T-shirt he was wearing could no longer hold anymore blood and 
it began filling the cracks in the floor.
	"It's... too late... for... me. Save Kat!" he said, in 
barely a whisper. "Convert her..." He slumped down.
	Red ran to the table with his weapons on it. Donning the 
Cloak[tm], he quickly replaced all the equipment to their proper 
places. Mal and Nexx had heard all they needed and headed 
upwards, with Red, invisible now, trailing not too far behind. 
Suddenly, the Hell Chant began playing and shook the very walls 
of the castle.

	Mal bursted through the door. He had shed his Lyran robe 
while climbing the stairs. Nexx came up beside him, while Red 
followed shortly afterwards. The entire room was filled with 
royalty, Red judged by their clothes. It was like a ball, only 
tension took the place of good cheer. The Hell Chant droned on 
incessantly.
	Mal aimed a pistol, and shot at a bar that lock a door 
across the room, and almost immediately, the remaining Rangers, 
accompanied by a squad of others entered the room, instantly 
colliding with the guards. The gathering scattered, searching for 
any exit. Chaos replaced tension and only Mal, Nexx, Red, Kat and 
a tall skinny man, beside her stood neutral. The music was 
so loud, it was almost deafening. Other sounds started, and 
clashed with the Bad[tm]. Red assumed it was Good Music playing 
but could not recognize the song.
	The man said something in Marrakethian, then he and Kat 
seemed to fall into a trance though from the way she looked, it 
seemed like she was being pulled in. The guards at the door had 
been subdued.
	Thirty seconds later, the tall man's body exploded, and 
Kat fainted. The evil song stopped.
	Several minutes passed, while Nexx tried to wake Kat. Red 
was relieve when she finally sat up.
	"... get up off the floor," Nexx said to Kat.
	"Where the heck did you go, Red?" a familiar voice 
suddenly asked. Red turned his attention to this question.
	Red spotted Bryn, and quickly unCloaked[tm]. "Oh! Bryn, 
it's you! You look... uh, taller." *So much for short jokes* he 
mused silently. "Hmm? Oh, I went to find Kat," he explained to 
Bryn.
	"And?"
	"Well, I found her," Red replied.
	"Yeah, after you got yourself captured," Mal interjected.
	She snickered. "Captured? Smooth move, Mr. Ace Paladin. 
And to think I thought you just deserted me again."
	"Deserted you? Come on! After my daring rescue..."
	"Yeah, you and the entire Dewpoint standing army." Red 
smiled, trying to look indignant. "Never mind... we can continue 
this line of thought in the commissary."
	"You mean..."
	"Yeah, at HQ. We _are_ going back someday, aren't we?" I 
said. The sarcasm came back and Red knew she was fully back to 
normal.

                             * * * * *

	"Get those fluid-dynamics results to me when you're done, 
will ya?" Red said to the tech. He was running the computer 
simulations to test whether or not his Gryphons' airworthiness. 
He was pretty sure they would fly, but exactly how well they did 
was another question.
	"Will do," the tech replied.
	"Thanks."
	Red had finish what the rescue mission had interrupted. 
He wanted to get this project done so he could move onto 
designing a vehicle for himself. After receiving his license 
(even though it was only a learner's permit), he wanted to make 
sure he had something to drive when the full license kicked in.
	He was glad that Kat was back. Everything would return to 
normal (as normal as things get in the Jihad). With organizations 
organizing and re-organizing, Red was finally happy everything 
was being rebalanced.
	That reminded him. He had better get ready to leave. He 
was going to visit some universities this summer. With one year 
before leaving high school, he needed to get some information. 
*Hmm, McGill? Maybe.*
	Stopping off at his room, he rummaged through the semi-
clutter of his desk, picked up his backpack, and began stuffing 
his multitude of disks, tapes and sketch pad into it. *What am I 
missing?*
	"Mmm, my new 'linker," Red mumbled. He searched the bed 
and found hidden under his pillow. "No wonder it was so hard," 
Red mused and put it in the pack too, then headed out.

	He past the library. He had forgotten to give Bryn's 
book back. He found her in the library, reading again.
	"Hey, Bryn. Here's your book."
	She stood up, surprised at not hearing Red's approach. 
"Thanks. Good dungeon reading?" *Doh! I'll never live that down* 
he remembered painfully, the meal when that story was told. His 
expression showed none of that though.
	"You up for some Red Alert?" Red grinned. "We'll make it 
two out of three."
	"You're on," she replied. "I don't lose twice ya know."
	"Maybe..." Red said. "But you could lose three times," he 
laughed.

	The first game since the rescue mission, Red lost 
horribly. He assumed that the same tactics would work again. It 
was a very bad assumption. The tie-breaker however, was a 
different story. Red went for a "multiple-bases-with-flame-
towers-everywhere" strategy which dominated the entire map. He 
was gathering more mineral than he knew what to do with. A flood 
of mammoth tanks complemented with twenty MiGs was its result. He 
guarded all unclaimed areas of revenue forcing Bryn to remain 
defensive. Escorting the ore trucks prevented them from being 
destroyed. Careful advancement, rather than reckless charging 
(like before) eventually won the game for Red.
	"Well, that was fun," Red said, smiling.
	"That wasn't fair. You didn't let me get any money!" she 
half-pouted. This caused Red to laughed more.
	"Well, I gotta go," Red said. "I said I'd meet some 
friends back home. We'll play again sometime later." As he passed 
through the door out of the library. "In the meantime, learn to 
play bett... ahh!" he added, then seeing Bryn speeding up to 
chase him. He laughed as he ran.
	Practically jumping through a shadow, he started on his 
way home. "Bye!"

The End... for Now!

(C) A Neutral&Chaotic Production, 1998.

Neutral&Chaotic Publishing since 1997.
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The preceding segment is a work of fiction. Names, characters, 
places and incidents are either the product of the author's 
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual 
events or locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely 
coincidental.