Thena looked over at Sunshine behind her on the roof. "WHAT is wrong? You've been acting strange ever since you found out that my brother was on Refuge! What is up with that?" Sunny frowned. "I'm a Cyclops. We do not lie. Even when convenient. My mom was on that sub when it fired on Refuge. She did everything she could to target the hidden Scourge ship instead of Refuge. It was just to close to Refuge. SO..." Sunny's eye clouded up and tears spilled down her cheeks. Her body shook as she balled up her fists. Thena was disturbed by her friend's actions. Sunny had always been so happy before. Thena put down her shinai behind her and put a hand on Sunny's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. My mom was the one in charge when the attack happened. She killed your parents and cost your brother his arm." Sunny dropped her head and bawled in earnest. Thena was in shock and stepped back in horror, almost tripping over her bamboo practice sword. She picked it up and stood there as rage and grief poured through her. Sunny was right there, and Thena knew she could kill her with a strong head strike. Her mother killed HER mother and father. She still had nightmares about it. She had been eight when her body was crushed and broken in the fall of Refuge from the skies. Thena smelled the smoke of the burning fuel from the crashed alien ship. It took her back to that moment of her parent's death and the grief and anger of it. Thena took a step forward and raised the practice sword up. She realized that Sunny hadn't even been born then. She kept expecting the Cyclops to act like machines, NOT like one eyed people. They were machine-life, but she wasn't really sure what that meant. All she did know was that the Cyclops were allies of the Human species, NOW. Plenty of human people killed lots of them,too. Thena lifted the practice sword again, but the rage had drained away. She choked out, "It's alright. It was war and such. My brother told me not hate anyone..." There was a thump behind them that shook the roof. They booth jumped as an eight foot tall woman raised up from where she hit the roof. Sunshine recognized the colors of the jumpsuit. She seemed to be an Althan-Krommium from four million years before. The woman focused dark eyes on the two girls. Sunshine grabbed Thena's arm hard enough to hurt and whispered, "RUN. I'll hold her attention. I'm tougher, and I'm calling for help. GO!" Thena just jerk her head. "No. No more running." She adopted a high stance and focused on the alien woman and said, "I AM THENA AURORA! THIS GIRL IS SUNSHINE! SHE IS MY FRIEND! I WILL DEFEND HER AND THIS PLACE WITH MY LIFE!" Sunny and the woman both gasped. The woman knelt down and babbled in an alien language. Sunny broadcast the cyclops child in danger beacon. Within seconds there was a boom as Thistledown appeared, dropping below MACH at the roof-edge. He materialized his sword and dropped to the roof-top. He growled at the alien woman, "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Thena almost dropped her shinai and whispered, "OH. My. GOD! He his SO COOL!" The alien woman whimpered as he approached her and curled up into a ball of terror. Sunny leaped on her daddy's leg and sobbed in relief. He patted her on her head with his off hand. She radio-zipped what had happened. He nodded and looked over at Thena and said in a low tone, "Forgive my family for doing what war called on us to do. If I could have spared anyone from what happened, I would have." Thena was rapt in wonder. "You--you're holding the sword RIGHT! Not like it was a pointed stick, but like a MASTER!" Thistledown said, "I learned under a master in Taru City. This sword isn't for show. Sunny? What are you doing here?" Thena said,"It's my fault. I couldn't phone my brother, so I wanted to see how close that crashed ship got to his work." Thistledown said, "Go to the base hospital. He's there. It's bad" Thena dropped her practice sword. --TO BE CONTINUED!--