Chapter 71

Edward groaned out as he felt another of his lovers bury their seed deep inside him. This time it was the head Satyr himself, his lover, Aaron. Having cum a miraculous eight times already in either his brother’s or cousin’s mouth, so they could feed it to Aaron, he sighed, “Bloody hell, now I know why Andrew always smirked at me when I fell asleep. I feel like if I take a short rest I could go again.”

Laughing Andrew kissed Edward gently sharing his last offering back to him, “The fun is only starting now that you have the staying power of youth.” Smirking at the slap on the side of the head from Aaron, Edward grinned, “Well, now I won’t be able to use that as an excuse to use anymore.”

“True,” Aaron chuckled before giving him a leer, “Now I can just shag you senseless, and don’t have to worry about finding you a place to sleep it off. Actually I can line all three of you up and take turns. I might even break a sweat.”

Shivering in delight Richard looked at his cousins, “That will be fun; we should give Edward a couple of days to build up his strength first.”

Moaning, Edward looked at Richard and Andrew, “You two are evil, you know that right.” Laughing he waved at Xon who had walked in, “Hello love.” Now that he had been altered he felt like he truly belonged and felt he could use the terms of endearment without guilt.

“I see I missed the quenching of ‘THE NEED’. I shall have to rectify this after you have had a half hour to rest,” Xon smirked at the incredulous look on Edwards face. Looking at Aaron he smiled, “I have finished the modifications to all of our bedrooms; the circlets are now behind barriers that you need to port them in or out of.”

Looking confused Edward looked around, “I don’t understand. Why would you need to put the circlets in a case you can only get them in or out of by porting?”

Andrew giggled, “We caught the youngsters playing a new game yesterday. They call it Prime and Outsiders.”

Tommy stopped laughing long enough to tell him, “We sat them down and tried to tell them the circlets were not to be played with, and we even told them Aaron would have trouble finding his if they were playing with it when he needed it.”

Giggling still at the memory Andrew told him, “Well, an hour later, we found them playing the game again with all of our circlets this time, and Joshua piped up that they put a bell on the pillow that way if their Sator needed his super power band they would know and they could run real quick and put it back for him.”

“There we were trying to figure out a way to tell them they could not be playing with the circlets, even though they took after me and did an end around, when they all stiffened and paled as their little headsets started ringing,” Tommy broke down laughing.

“Well they grabbed onto Tommy screaming about their Sator needing his super powers as they pulled him into Aaron’s bedroom. Only they found Aaron standing there looking at the shelf, holding the bell up looking confused,” Richard was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall to hold himself up.

By this time Edward was laughing hard enough to expel Aaron from his bum as he pictured the scene in his mind.

“There Aaron was all confused as the youngsters rushed in yelling about the super power band, and thrusting it into Aaron’s hands, because the bell told them he needed to save them from the outsiders,” Tommy slid down the wall tears running down his face.

Chuckling Aaron held Edward up, “It was funny after it was over. They thought it was really cool and powerful when the circlet would light up when on my head; to their minds it gave me super powers. So I had to make them their own, battery operated of course, so it would light up for them.”

“But we decided it would be best to make cases, just in case they decided their game needed two primes,” Xon smirked at Tommy; after all he knew who had given them the idea to play that game.

“That is priceless,” Edward snorted as he held his side laughing, “We know who Tommy decided to donate his DNA too, don’t we…’Come to the dark side’…” he cupped his hands around his mouth as he said that. Not being able to hold it he slid down Aaron’s legs to the floor chuckling, “The dark side is more fun as we get around the rules…”

After everyone had a good laugh Aaron helped Edward up off the floor, “We saved some breakfast for you.”

“Prime, the walker and his four leg is here looking for you…and he smells of fear,” Samson stuck his head into the med bay and barked to get their attention.

Rushing out into the courtyard Aaron spotted Donny rushing towards the house, “DONNY, OVER HERE!” moving to meet him half way he wondered what was wrong, Donny looked out of breath, “Whoa Donny, take a deep breath and let it out slowly and path me; what is wrong?”

“Mikhail is missing. He got a message from his parents yesterday and went to visit. They said they missed him and wanted to see him, even if it was only for supper. He should have been back by midnight, when he wasn’t we went looking for him and still can’t find him or his parents,” Donny tasted of fear as he told Aaron what was wrong.

Sending out calming thoughts Aaron hugged Donny close, “We need to be calm right now, Donny, and then we need anger. Controlled anger will keep the fear away and allow us to get Mikhail back.”

“Friedrich, I need two teams in the compound in five minutes,” Aaron sent as he moved towards his bedroom, Donny following behind trying to do what Aaron told him, to control his fear, “Tell me everything you remember about Mikhail and this email massage.”

Donny thought hard, remembering, “He got an email at lunch. He said it was from his mother in the Ukraine,” Donny scrunched up his face, “How did she get access to email, she lived in poverty or near enough? Anyway he said it had the right code words in it telling him it was genuine. It said that she wanted to meet with him, to apologize for her behavior, and his little brother needed his help before he was pimped out to earn money like he had been.” Donny looked up, anger starting to replace the fear, “She said he was the right age to make the most money.” Watching Aaron dress in his battle armor he stood up stiffly as he finished his memory of the event, “she told him she could meet him in an hour at the café across from Boryspil airport. We made sure he had his passport showing his diplomatic status. When we offered to send a team with him, since he had not bonded yet, he said he needed to do this alone, but he would have his communicator with him and could call for help from the security office on Sol station if he needed help. Sam escorted him as far as Sol Station and wished him good luck; it wasn’t until after supper when Sam went to ask how the meeting went that we started looking for him.”

Attaching the over robes to his armor Aaron ported his battle crown out of the case and placed it on his head, missing the little bell that started to ring inside the case because it was sealed. “Right, we have a place to start. Where are your search teams right now?”

“Waiting for us on Sol Station. There has been problem after problem in trying to get my teams into the Ukraine to search for Mikhail. We ignored their protests but Tigger got shot. We regrouped, and I went to get you,” Donny finished as he followed Aaron out of his bedroom and almost ran into him when he stopped to stare at the Clan looking at them with grim expression on their faces.

Aaron looked at his lovers and the youngsters arranged in front of his bedroom, Titus sitting in front of them, each of them staring at him. “Donny had one of his clan go missing on Earth, I’m going to go help find him and make sure the proper message is sent that this will not happen again…ever!”

“Can you use the clan markers in the tattoo to find him? Surely one of the heavy scouts can pick it up?” Pete looked at Donny’s crestfallen face, “Oh…he’s not bonded yet,” seeing the nod telling him he was right Pete looked at Ichiro, “I will have the arm bands and bracelets ready for you by noon, even if we have to replace them later with the permanent ones.”

“You are not going alone!” Kevin told him, not asking him but telling him.

Smiling Aaron shook his head, “Friedrich has two teams meeting me in the compound. I plan to take a squad of Shaolin and six WD758s; there will be no repeat of the Asclepius, Love. I learned my lesson; and what is the point in having all this technology if I don’t use it?”

“Add several SE110s and I’ll be happy,” Kevin walked forward and kissed Aaron, “That way at least we know what is going on and we can easily send help.”

Titus stepped forward and looked at Aaron, “I am going to search for the pup!”

Aaron glanced down confused, “Titus, why? Why would you want to go with me? The Beastmasters will be there and they will have their bonded with them.”

Growling and snapping in frustration Titus sent, “A pup is missing. If one of mine was with him it would not have happened, and it will not happen again!” turning his body so he could look at Tim he growled and yipped, “Show him.”

Sighing Tim ported the harness he had designed for Titus from his work shop and helped him put it on. Securing the latches while cringing, he knew Aaron would have something to say about this later, in private, and he was not looking forward to it.

Seeing the metal plate on Titus’s head Aaron sighed. They were as stubborn as his own Clan it seemed. More than likely it was because yesterday new pups had been born, Titus was in protection mode; then there was the simple fact the guardians were a sentient race and he could not just order them around like some common animal. “Relax Tim; I’m sure you were not given much of a choice in producing or designing the armor. If you are sure, Titus, we need to get moving…” Aaron noticed Fred in armor, “We could have snagged a Shaolin healer you know.”

The four of them walked out of the house side by side and Aaron heard Jay say something about outsiders being evil. He hoped one of his lovers talked to him about that. Seeing the stony faces of the security teams, Aaron gestured for them to move closer, “Sol Station double time…port now.”

Letting his eyes roam around the assembled teams as they appeared in the park, Aaron noticed several nervous colonists and their teachers. He ignored them as he addressed the gathered forces. Reaching out with his mind Aaron ported over half a dozen of the weapons drones and activated them, then he pulled out an SE110 from his robes. Once it was active and recording he addressed those assembled, “Mikhail has been missing now almost twenty hours. The only hope we have in finding him is to retrace his steps from where he was supposed to be. Do not forget we are Alteran; we are Clan, you are Beastmasters, and you will not be denied. Actively search every mind no matter what pain it causes the outsiders. We will find Mikhail and send a message that you will never…EVER…mess with us.”

Aaron saw the determination on the Beastmasters’ faces and hoped they would be up for this, their first true test, a test that would always set the tone for interactions for those that crossed them. “Who has the visualization of where Mikhail was ported to?”

“I ported him down to Earth, Great Dragon. I ported him down to Boryspil airport, where he asked me to send him, right here,” the Shaolin sent the mental picture of where he had ported Mikhail to.

Nodding his head Aaron looked around to the teams and closed his eyes, he ported down the weapons drones while grabbing hold of Titus and yelled out, “PORT!!”

Appearing in the concourse near the entrance, Aaron sent his mind searching as several screams and the almost silent electrical zap told him the weapons drones were firing.

Donny, seeing the official that had given them the most trouble, kinetically disarmed him so he would not be caught by the weapons drones and stalked over to him, Dante at his side, growling the whole way in anger; he was picking up on his bonded’s anger.

Aaron stood in the center of the concourse as the Beastmasters let loose with their frustration and searched the minds of every person they came across. Titus sat next to Aaron watching carefully as the walkers moved through the area with their four legged’s, his armor making him look like a strange dangerous cross between something hairy and something with shiny scales.

“President Gorbivonovich, I am sorry to interrupt your visit with your grandson but there is an important call for you…” the security guard paled as the voice over his ear bud became frantic. He rushed over to the television and turned it on.

Edward had followed Aaron to Sol Station, but he had Kevin port them to Aaron’s office where he relayed the signal from the SE110s to the major news outlets on earth. “The world needs to see this, so when the time comes and Aaron destroys those who took Mikhail, they will learn why, and what never to attempt.”

Kevin, agreeing and hoping it would stop future attempts, quickly established the connection and told the CNBC anchor that he shocked as he accepted the feed, “Someone on Earth kidnapped one of our children, one of the Beastmaster clan. Now see what happens when you dare harm one of ours.”

Gorbivonovich watched the live news report. Grabbing the phone he was brusque, “What has happened?” Staring at the phone he crossed his eyes as he pulled it away, surely he had heard wrong, “Listen you fool…Someone in your country helped kidnap one of their children and it looks like some of your people tried to keep them from finding him…ENOUGH…stop acting like a girl whining about her dress getting dirty. If it was not for the fact they do not know their missing child is not in your country you would be a parking lot right now. Have you learned nothing!”

Slamming the phone down, Gorbivonovich started to dial several numbers making it a conference call, “Davidoff will doom all of his people if we do not take steps now…”

Aaron watched the Beastmasters and his security forces work through the workers and officials frowning in thought. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted the café on the other side of the street that Mikhail was supposed to meet his mother at and glanced down, “Titus, why don’t we go see what kind of trouble we can cause over at the café Mikhail was supposed to meet his mother at?”

Turning his head to look behind him, Titus got up and stretched. The four leggers were behaving properly and did not need his supervision; following the Prime out of the building he sniffed the air, smelling the fear.

Making sure one of the weapons drones and an SE110 where following him, Aaron walked into the café ignoring the outraged cries from the staff about not allowing animals in their café. Spotting a nervous woman in the corner Aaron skimmed her mind. She was Mikhail’s mother, and the man at the next table was the person who paid her to bring her son to them, “I want him alive, Titus He knows where they took Mikhail.”

The café’s patrons fell over backwards to get out of the massive black dog’s way, all except one who pulled a knife and fell back bleeding, clutching his insides as he tried to hold them in. The force blade in the tail section of Titus’s armor’s cut him almost in two. Snarling Titus cornered his prey, “He smells of the pup and fear.”

Finished with the woman, Aaron motioned for Friedrich to take the woman, as he had rushed in after seeing Aaron enter the café. Emotionless mask in place he stared at the man. “Where did you take Mikhail? We can do this the easy way, or Titus can…persuade you his way,” he told the man as Titus clamped his large jaws over the man’s arm. He tilted his head to the side and skimmed the man’s thoughts.

“It seems he drugged Mikhail when he met his mother in this very café,” Aaron told Donny who had come running after seeing Friedrich run after Aaron. “He paid Mikhail’s mother to send the message from this café and to lure him over here.” Ignoring the man’s whimpers of pain, Aaron continued the slow digging through the man’s mind as he pulled out the imager and crystal, “So many other crimes in your mind besides this one. He crated Mikhail up in the back room with the help of the manager. They took him to the airport, to hanger seventy four, and loaded him on a cargo jet.” The man started to really scream in pain, “the plane left last night at seven forty one.” Blinking as he left the man’s mind, Aaron held out the imager, “Friedrich, if you would drain this one’s mind then return the imager to me. We have a hanger to visit, deal with the manager also please.”

“Titus, leave him to Friedrich. We need him alive just a bit longer until we find out where all the other children he kidnapped are.” Aaron glared at the man one more time as Friedrich slapped the neural imager onto the man’s head. Feeling Titus brush up against him, Aaron left the café, once more heading across the street and into the airport. Standing in front of the airport directory Aaron traced the map to the hub he was looking for. Finding the most direct route he and Titus walked past the check-in counters, and the frightened workers, on their way to the service hallway that ran behind the counters. The luggage was placed on the conveyor belts and taken to the ground level to be loaded onto the airplanes through this hallway. Stepping into the sunlight Aaron looked around, eyes stopping on the jet that was hurriedly being loaded. Touching Titus he ported both of them to the jet, and while Titus rushed up the steps, he took care of the two guards on the ground.

Donny ported with Dante right behind Aaron. He was shocked with how quickly Aaron and Titus moved and got the answers he had trouble getting last night. Aaron was ruthless, and that was something he was going to have to embrace with those that hurt his clan from now on he decided. Daydream later he told himself as he saw Aaron walking up the steps and ran to follow him.

Feeling Aaron walk up behind him Titus growled out, “This one smells of the pup and of the pup’s blood!”

“You don’t represent any government, do you?” Aaron looked at the smug man who chuckled at him.

“I represent a group of likeminded individuals. We are business men,” he smiled at Aaron, “name your price?”

“My price for what?” Aaron wondered if the man was arrogant or insane, most likely both he decided as he skimmed the man’s mind.

“To let me go, of course After all the one you are looking for is not here, and there is no proof I had anything to do with his disappearance,” He smiled as he placed several bundles of cash on the table.

“Ah, but I do have proof. Titus tells me you smell of Mikhail and have his blood on you.” Shaking his head, Aaron smiled as he picked up the image of when it happened. “Plus you think too loud; it is a shame about not being able to get blood out of leather isn’t it. But then again, if you had not gloated over Mikhail as he bled from the cuts and bruises you would not have gotten blood on you.” Seeing the stack had doubled Aaron let his anger show through, “You can’t buy your way out of this, I have more gold at my disposal than you could dream of…No, the only thing keeping you alive right now is we don’t have Mikhail back and you do know each and every person involved in this scheme to kidnap him so you could try to gain our abilities.”

“The only question I have right now, before I have you taken away, is where you took Mikhail?” Aaron laughed at the attempt to not think about where they had taken the youngster. Motioning Friedrich to take him, “You really think I would not be able to pick up your thoughts…” glancing over his shoulder while sending his mind out in search of the plane he got the image of from the man, “Say goodbye to your business empire. I’m afraid you will lose it to cover the fine that will be imposed before you are executed.”

Looking up Aaron shook his head, a grim expression on his face as he tried to keep his temper from exploding; finally finding the plane Aaron sent the visualization to the teams before porting to an empty spot in the hold with Titus. The angry bark caused him to look around and wince at the horror he was saw behind him. They had removed Mikhail’s skull, and his frantic thrashing and wild eyes told him they did not put him under as they tortured him in their zeal to find the clues they were searching for. Rushing over, Aaron brushed his mind against Mikhail’s and swore as he found nothing but pain. Even after attempting to give him some of his control and burning out several nerve endings kinetically he found nothing left but pain. “He’s gone,” he whispered out in shock before glancing at Fred who looked horrified at the reading on his scanner.

Fred touched one of the controls turning off the machine. Mikhail was now too still, Fred looked at Aaron, “He’s completely brain dead, the machines are the only thing keeping his body breathing and heart beating.”

Crying openly, his hands shaking, Donny moved over and picked up Mikhail’s skull and gently pulled the wires out of his brain and put his skull back, before rolling the skin back over his head so he could look into the eyes that showed only pain. Kissing him gently on the lips Donny reached inside his vest and pulled out the blade each of the Beastmasters carried; a blade they carried if they had to do the unthinkable and stop the suffering of one of their bonded if the unimaginable happened.

Removing the blade from its sheath he placed it over Mikhail’s heart, sobbing, “Grace, Brother…I offer you Grace and comfort…I…I…I end your suffering…May the winds and the universe watch over you.” Placing his hand over the one holding the hilt Donny paused as he looked at the pain filled faced and plunged it into Mikhail’s chest, twisting it to both sides once the blade entered Mikhail’s heart.

Shaken, Fred removed the breathing tube and turned off the machines. Thinking about it, he concentrated really hard and ported the cell collector out of the incubatory on Altair Minor and pressed it against Mikhail’s belly, harvesting as many cells as he could before the harvester beeped that it was full. Feeling Aarons hand on his shoulder he looked up and saw the tired smile.

“Go on, Fred, process the cells and place them in stasis. Once Donny is thinking clearly he will appreciate it, though another son will end up growing up without knowing the love of one of his fathers.” Aaron clasped Fred’s shoulder one more time before removing his hand and watching Fred port out, destination the Clan med bay. Gently capturing Donny’s hands before he severely cut himself, Aaron helped him sheathe the knife, “I’m sorry Donny. We will make them pay, I promise you that.”

Pulling Donny into his body, holding him as tight as he could, Aaron reached out with his mind and helped him deal with what he had to do by merging with Donny’s mind.

Titus sensing movement lashed out with his tail and the force blade sliced through the table support the scientist was hiding behind. Growling in anger, he projected into the man’s mind, “STAY.”

Shaken, the doctor slid back down to the floor in shock. The dog talked to him in his mind, and as his hand rubbed over the table support, the analytical portion of his mind told him the cut was glass smooth; the front part of his brain told him if he moved the big bad scary monster would eat him.

Friedrich made his way to the front of the plane and wrenched the door to the pilots’ compartment open, “Where is the nearest airport you can land this thing?”

“We would have to turn around and go back to South Africa,” the pilot was scared as he looked at the strangely dressed man who barged into the sealed cockpit. It was bad enough that those weird ass people had all those machines in the back, though craning his neck around he noticed the silence in the back.

Frowning, Friedrich looked at the copilot, “Where…what was your destination?” Maybe they could find the hidden base and take it out, he had a lot of frustration to get out of his system. Not being able to save the youngster was frosting his nuts; he had an urge to destroy things…violently.

“We were to go to a secret base built in the Antarctic,” the copilot pulled the map out with the destinations and nervously started to tap a spot on it, “See right here is where we were to go.”

Staring at the map, “Joe…” Friedrich reached out telepathically. Finding him he sent, “Can you see what I am, this map? Do you have a pilot that could tell us where to go? We need to secure this place before Aaron orders a burn off; we need to find out this place’s secrets to make sure we get them all.”

“I see it and I can have my navigator tell you where it is. What do you want to do?” Joe shared the image with his navigator who pulled up the location on their maps and pinpointed it.

“Can you get an SE110 into that location so my teams can port in? We’ll quietly capture the base, so we can find all of them and take them out for what they did. The people on that base should know who else is involved,” Friedrich took the map and motioned for the pilot to turn the plane around, “It needs to be quick, so I’ll want all our spooks for this one.”

Aaron opened his eyes and kissed Donny’s forehead, “Let this make you stronger, but don’t let this make you hate or second guess yourself.”

“How do you do it? If I had to do what you do I would soon go crazy. All the people you keep us safe from and juggle the need for justice without falling into vengeance,” Donny hugged Aaron before moving over and closing Mikhail’s eyes tears streaming down his face. “I’ve never had to give grace to someone before, or to consign them to the winds. I hate to ask this but will you help me; show me what needs to be done.”

“Of course I will,” Aaron moved next to Donny, “Do you want me to carry him home for you, or can you do that?”

“I…I can do it,” Donny got out as he folded Mikhail’s hands across his chest after releasing the straps, reaching under Mikhail’s knees and back Donny remembered to use kinesis to lighten the youngster.

Aaron, seeing that Donny was going to do this himself, quickly kinetically sealed Mikhail’s skull so when he was lifted the two halves would not separate. Placing a hand on Donny’s shoulder Aaron lent him some of his strength while telling Titus to move against his leg.

“Dante heel!” Donny told his bonded firmly as he looked up and over his shoulder into Aaron’s face, “there is a hill in a clearing near our compound, from the top of it you can see the compound and grounds clearly. We will send Mikhail to the winds from there.”

Picking up on the location as Donny described it Aaron stopped pulling energy from the plane and ported them to Sol station, the observatory gestalt point, and waited while Donny faced the Earth and whispered, “From the place of your birth…”

Pulling power in large arcs from the gestalt Aaron ported them to the top of the hill on Middle Earth; they arrived facing the compound right as Donny finished, “To your true home and final resting place.”

Sending Donny some of his energy they waited for his clan to show up. A ring formed around them, made up by every Alteran on Middle Earth, as the SE110 that had been directed to follow them moved off unnoticed, still sending the recording to Earth.

The Beastmasters now surround them, hands touching them. Aaron wrapped his arms around Donny and moved close, hands sliding down Donny’s arms so that they interlocked with Donny’s, merging their minds as the Voices of his Clan joined in and echoed with the Beastmasters. Raising their joined arms Aaron and Donny kinetically raised Mikhail, his body rising slowly from their arms into the afternoon sky, lying flat as if daydreaming at the clouds passing by overhead. Once the pale still body was a good ten meters above them they started to give the blessing of leave taking.

“As your spirit is commended and joined with the wind so we commend your body…Beastmaster, Leader of the pack, your burden is taken up by your lovers and brothers and the children you will never know.”

The body started to glow brightly and pulse as every member of the Beastemaster clan followed Donny’s direction and pushed every ounce of energy into kinetically exciting all the atoms in Mikhail’s body causing it to glow as if it was a miniature sun.

“We commend your body to join with the wind, and may you find peace.”

Mikhail’s body exploded in light as all the atoms reached critical and a column of light and energy shot up into the sky like a giant borealis. A tremendous wave of wind emerged from the center of the light as it died, nearly knocking the trees over as it passed, bending the tops to the ground.

Titus stood up and howled, leading all the other dogs in a horrible sorrow filled howl of pain.

In the echoing stillness Donny looked up at the sky and the rainbow without rain, “You name is forever burned into the rolls as Beastmaster of clan Beastmaster…May your footsteps be guided by your companions as you run through the trees.”

Pulling Aaron’s arms around him Donny melted back into his embrace, “Thank you for helping Mikhail onto the next step.”

Pulling the sheathed knife out and holding it in the air so his clan could see it Donny’s face was furious, “Blood has been spilled…Our Blood.” Donny moved out of Aaron’s arms turning so he could face him, “You told me not to hate the outsiders, those that would do this to one of our own. You told me not to hate; Justice not Vengeance.” Donny took a deep breath before standing tall the bloody knife high in the air, “Aaron Stranton…Prime of Clan Stranton…My King, I ask that YOU…give…us…JUSTICE!”

Slowly nodding once Aaron looked at Donny and solemnly drew energy from the very air around them. Slowly a dark blue and gold Dragon formed around Aaron as he raised his arms, “Justice shall be mine…in your name justice will be done.” Pain finally getting more than noticeable Aaron released the energy and sent the Dragon into the sky, destroying the unnoticed SE110 as it passed, seeming to roar as it dissolved into the sky.

Mirri licked her pups as the wall with the moving images went blank, lifting her head she looked at the one who delivers and whined to get his attention, “You need to get more of my people here and fixed, that would not have happened if one of the guardians was with that pup. Prime was right, it is time for new traditions. I shall teach the others; four paws of our number you need to bring.”

Mark looked at Mirri confused for a moment as he brought fresh food in for her and placed it near her water, “Seven of you times four? I should be able to get some of the Newfie’s today I would think. I have been looking up breeders for Aaron, I knew he wanted to get another ten so he could fix them to be like you are now, though…”

Giving a sharp bark to interrupt Mirri lifted her head, “Not seven…there are two paws plus one of that number of us now…How soon?”

“Sixty!” Mark sat down hard as he stared at Mirri, “Why so many? Aaron mentioned ten and you want a lot more than ten. I might be able to get fifteen if they are in good condition at the breeders I plan to visit today, but not sixty.”

“And if more than a paws worth of pups leave to visit the devil planet at once, or go in different woods, how can we be guardians then?” throwing her snout towards the plasma, “And then that might happen again.”

Seeing her mate walk in head bowed as if dragging a huge deer, “Where is Prime, my mate?”

“He sits in the water that is too warm for our coats, he is saddened by the loss of the pup and thinks of ending the devil planet,” Titus huffed, their version of a sigh, as he licked his mate’s muzzle. “He is thinking of taking all the pups and burning the devil planet…” Gazing into Mark’s shocked face he huffed again, “He will not do that, he is a great Alpha and would not hurt the innocent. Yet he feels the call to hunt those that hurt his pack.”

Scratching between Mirri’s ears Mark sighed, “Let me talk to Aaron, I’ll see how quickly we can get more of your kind here and fixed. I promise to do it as fast as we can, but we need to do it right.”

“Agreed,” Titus placed a paw on Mirri’s muzzle before she could speak, “It must be done right!” he told her as he removed his paw.

“Yes Mate,” Mirri nuzzled his face as she pushed one of her pups closer to her teat and his meal.

Leaving the two alone Mark made his way out of the new med bay. Picking up Aaron’s battle armor and robe he ported it to Aaron’s bed before picking up the battle crown. He concentrated and ported it to the sealed case near Aaron’s desk. Studying Aaron he decided he looked miserable, and slowly made his way down the steps into the warm water, wading in the chest deep water until he was in front of Aaron. Leaning over he kissed him, trying to convey his feelings, his love as the passion increased in his kiss. “I am so sorry, Love. How is Donny handling it?”

Staring into Marks eyes Aaron tried smiling, “We will both be fine, I just need to relax and gain perspective so when I do confront those that did this it will be about justice, not my need for vengeance.”

“I don’t want to add to your stress but the guardians made a demand, or Mirri did,” Mark sounded perplexed, “she all but demanded that we bring over and alter and upgrade sixty more Newfie’s; only she used the terms four paws of their numbers.”

Aaron stared at Mark as if he was a crazy man, “We’re not set up to handle and convert more than ten at a time, and then we need a week to educate them through sleep learning.”

“I already made a list of breeders, and Denmark has a large amount of Newfie’s for sale, it’s one of the more popular breeds there, I can get ten easily this afternoon. After that you would have to convince Mirri or, better yet, Titus we are going as fast as we can.” Mark moved behind Aaron and started to kneed his shoulders. While not as good at this as Kevin he still could do shoulders; and speaking of the master of fingers….

“I heard you were back,” Kevin slipped into the water. “We actually might want to move this into the gathering pit, the youngsters are worried about you and pretty upset about the outsiders too.” Seeing Aaron’s half lidded look Kevin whispered, “Come on, I’ll give you a full body massage and take over supper duties.”

Groaning, Aaron stood up and made his way to the steps. Toweling dry once he was out he noticed Titus wandering around as if in thought, “Mark, go ahead. See if Titus wants to go, take Tommy with you. If we have to we can build a bigger facility, or expand the bed areas.” Towel around his neck Aaron walked past the dining area. Instead of the cheerful yelling he expected he got the scared hugs of seven frightened youngsters all wanting comfort.

Woo had been watching the television news report carefully. He had noticed Ru right away, and the anger and hatred on his facial features, even after what his nephew had done to him there was never that level of hate on Ru’s face. Something really terrible must have happened, then he saw the boy they were searching for. He was almost sick as he got his first look at the young boy and what they were doing to him.

The shock at seeing the boy raise into the air and start to glow before exploding into energy shocked James. He was curious about if they would see their religion, he had always wondered the few times someone had called on the winds instead of the gods or god. The explosion of energy passed through those gathered and the trees bent down as if a hurricane was making landfall. Now he knew there was a very true basis to their beliefs; something that did not have to be taken on faith.

Morimoto noticed right away that the dragon had become physical; he had seen the dirt fly as it launched itself in the air, screaming in anger and pain. What had happened to the young boy was horrible; his people would be demanding vengeance, how could the Great Dragon dispense justice instead of destroying all in his path. The control the man had must be incredible.

Jens looked at his son with tears in his eyes, “How could someone do that to a young boy, just to try to learn the secrets of Aaron’s people?”

Hans moved closer to the speakerphone, “He does not have a single country to take his anger out at, this was a group of business leaders, monopolies looking out for themselves. They might have doomed all of us if we do not take action quickly,” Hans sighed, “Though I do not know what action we should take, it is not clear who was behind this.”

“Davidoff endangered all his people. As such my people, along with Woo’s, have crossed his borders. We will take control and hold it until free elections can be held once the crisis is passed. Emperor Yamamoto may be the one to tell us when elections must be held.” Gorbivonovich declared as he sat down at his desk, his wife comforting his grandson, “I am open to suggestion on what we do; if any of the business leaders behind this are from one of our countries the treaty will have been broken. We must be decisive and it must be immediate.”

“Victoria, you have had the most experience with Aaron. Can we get his people to transport us to one central location to make a united announcement? We must do this quickly; we must declare to the world that these business leaders and scientists are to be declared rogue, having no country or home,” Morimoto leaned closer to the phone as he looked at his son who was furious. He was not yet part of the Clan he wished to join and he was already beyond furious over what was done.

“I think I should be able to get all of you here through one of my grandsons at least,” Victoria looked at James who moved out of the room, heading for the terminal in Edward’s room. He had a call to place. “You realize we will have to go further than just making them rogue.”

“We will announce that all holdings and properties owned by those involved will be immediately handed over to the Beastmaster clan as part of restitution,” Woo snapped his fingers at his aide pointing to the stack of records next to his cabinet.

“A very small part! What price do we put on the torture of a young boy, or the pain and scarring on the soul by giving him mercy to stop the pain?” Jen’s shuddered still haunted by the image of the crying teen plunging the blade into the little boys heart.

“We cannot; we will cooperate and do what we can, even if it means we have to invade other countries to subdue them then we shall do so…I have never seen such open hatred on my cousins face.” Woo stood up, “It seems you were successful in your request, Victoria. A Shaolin just appeared. I shall join you momentarily.” Hanging up Woo looked at the Shaolin, “What happened today will not go without comment or sanction. Those responsible will be declared rogue and all their holdings confiscated and turned over to the Beastmasters. We will set the world against those who would do that to a child.”

Not saying anything the Shaolin held out his arm for the Chairman to take. Once they appeared in the palace he tilted his head and looked at the assembled group, “I shall inform the Prime the coalition will be making an announcement shortly. I shall also inform the Beastmasters of this fact, but it will not solve the pain,” bowing his head slightly he ported back to Sol Station, appearing in front of Edward, in Aaron’s office. “They will be making an announcement shortly, you should let the Prime know.”

“Kevin was planning in giving Aaron a sleeping massage. We’ll record it for him so when he wakes up he can see it,” Tim smiled as Mark and Tommy ported in, “I’ll send Terry down and inform them of all the people and companies involved, before they make the announcement. It might make it easier on the outsiders, but our sons are scared out of their minds right now.”

“If they are, that means half of the youngsters in the city are probably the same,” Mark sighed. “Thank you Shaolin for helping with this. Anything to get the world leaders to actually do the right thing is to be encouraged, I just hope another lesson doesn’t have to be given.”

“Agreed, Dragon Lord,” the Shaolin bowed deeply and ported back to his station to report.

“The day started out with laughs and fun,” Edward sighed as he accepted the kisses from his lovers, noticing their getups, “Where are you off too and where is your detail?”

“To Denmark for Newfoundland pups to turn into guardians, and we hoped to pick up a team here.” Tommy looked around before settling on Tim, “We need some of those harnesses that you gave the security forces, we need to go undercover to get the pups and young dogs.”

“We need enough for all of us. We need an eight man team so we can each go buy a pup. There is a dog fair in one section of town and several breeders camping out with dogs for sale. I would rather not try to mist their minds,” Mark sighed as he slipped out of his robes and shirt as he took the harness Tim handed him, “I’m not as good at hazing people’s minds so they forget we were there as Aaron is.”

Tim pulled one of the boxes out of Aaron’s bottom desk drawer. Opening the lid he pulled a large envelope out, “You’ll need some cash then, so you won’t stand out. No cards can be used as they are a dead giveaway.”

Tommy looked at Tim, “Aaron keeps a stash of cash in his desk…Why?”

“Dunno, but if you remember he also had a stash of cash in his office at the Clan Hall down on Altare,” Tim shrugged as he handed over the envelope.

Peeking inside Mark noticed more than enough money to buy whatever they found, “I think we should see if there are any off duty marines hanging around. They should blend in better than the Shaolin.” Standing Mark waved as he pulled Tommy close, “We’ll see you back home shortly, I hope,” before porting them to the Marine barracks deep under water in the kingdom below.

Putting his finger to his lips Kevin smiled as he motioned for the youngsters to come over quietly, “Lunch time, come fix your plates, then you can go back to snuggling if you want to.”

Calvin rushed over and whispered softly, “What about Sator? Should we wake him so he can eat too?”

“Let’s let him sleep, he had a bad morning and could use the rest. We can all have brownies and chocolate ice cream when he wakes up,” Kevin whispered back as he ushered them in through the kitchen and out into the dining room.

Jay snarled out, “Those outsiders should all be…should be…well they should be spanked,” he finally spat out, trying to come up with the worst thing he could think of.

“Your Sator will tell you this when he wakes up; not all outsiders are bad people, but they do have bad people mixed in with them. The good people try their hardest to keep the bad people under control,” Kevin searched for the best way to convey that not all outsiders were bad. “The outsiders are not like us, they can’t feel each other, or hear the truth in their minds like we can, so some of them turn bad.”

“Remember you met several outsiders the other day, and they were fun to be around, not bad at all. Even Patris Edward’s father is an outsider,” finally Kevin thought, it got them thinking about it.

Lunch was almost over when Aaron came walking out of the kitchen with a brownie sundae in his hand.

“Sator…” jack whined, “That is desert, you can’t have desert until you eat all your lunch.”

“Ah little Dragon,” Aaron smiled, “I am the Sator so I get to have desert whenever I want.” Laughing at their expressions he took another bite. “Besides, they were calling me. Here I was walking through an empty kitchen and my nose told me there was chocolate somewhere close by. And after all, I did not want it to spoil, so I searched it out.” Seeing they were paying attention to his every word he grinned, “So I searched and searched and found this huge plate, well it was too much, that many brownies sitting there. Well they could have fallen, and if one of the pups ate it they could get sick, so I ate them.” Waving the last piece of brownie around before popping it in his mouth, “They were good too.” Amused at their expressions of shock he added, “I saved each of you just one, but if you don’t finish all your lunch…well I do have to go back into the kitchen eventually.”

Kevin kissed Aaron when he moved close then whispered in his ear, “You’re evil.” Looking at Aaron he frowned, “Are you saying you ate all of them but seven?”

Chuckling and waggling his eyebrows Aaron grinned, “I hid them in the warmer, Love,” he whispered as he danced back out of range of the playful grope.

Terry ported down to the palace and walked into Victoria’s office behind Thomas. Not meaning to, but picking up on Thomas’s broadcast thoughts, he would have to sit down and have several words with Colin and Friedrich. Thomas was smitten over the several times Friedrich and he had done the bed sheet tango. He wanted more, a commitment, as well as a son.

Seeing the faces looking at him Terry snapped out of his thoughts, “We have tracked down all those involved in the kidnapping scheme, and have eighteen of the twenty nine in custody.” Placing several sheets of paper down the on the desk so they could pass it amongst themselves Terry pulled one of the empty chairs over, “They not only hoped to gain our gift of telepathy, but our long lives. They were trying to determine how best to alter their genetics to accomplish this after suborning our medical technology, via the bio-tubes. Eugenics at their crudest.” Terry rubbed his eyes as he looked at Woo, “Shaolin Wong told me what you told him, and while Tim told me to give you the information of who was responsible, I am telling you right now something dramatic needs to be done. Over half of the youngsters in our kingdom are scared to death right now. Hell most of the sons of the Clan are frightened out of their minds. Any mention of coming back here has them hiding under the furniture shaking in fear.”

“Yesterday they were happy and carefree, giggling and playing and doing their best to scheme out how to get around the restrictions, taking after their Altor Tommy.” Terry glared at them, “After this morning they are afraid to let Aaron out of their sight or touch. Half the clan is down in the city with the youngsters there, not to mention every available marine and military person.” Slamming his hand down on the desk he stood up, glaring at them he prepared to port out, “I just wish Aaron was not so conflicted so we could just administer our final solution and be done with all of you.”

Morimoto glanced at the names listed on the paper and saw four of them were his countrymen, “Their final solution?”

Voicing what was running through all their minds Victoria sighed as she picked up the phone, “All his solutions in the past involved destroying our sun as they left…Gentleman, we have two hours until the press conference. Call every leader you are friendly with and I will see about getting them here.” Motioning for her secretary to bring more phones she looked at their grim expressions, “It is not Aaron and his Clan we need to convince, it is his people. At some point he will give into their demands to wipe us out if we do not show them we are different than those monsters.”

Victoria let her eyes gaze at those hastily gathered in the banquet room, the only room big enough to hold all one hundred and thirteen of them. Chairman Woo had just finished explaining what the Alteran response to the attack so far had been; after Jens had gone over the treaty they had signed which laid out in exact detail what would happen to the country that infringed on them, Woo had taken over and now it was time to come up with a solution.

Standing, she did not have to wait for silence as the fear present in the room was almost oppressive. “The United Nations was formed officially in 1945, and while it started out with grand hopes and dreams it fell far short. A “one world government” is also not the answer, not to mention unwelcome. In half an hour’s time we will address the people of Earth, but it is not the people of Earth we have to reach and convince, it is the people of the Kingdom and Empire of Altare we have to convince. As much as Aaron has done for us, if we cannot convince his people not to demand their final solution be put in place, if we cannot convince their children, their youngsters, that we are not all the monsters they saw, then we as a people and a planet are doomed.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Through our Children,” Gorbivonovich stood, “And this is how we will do it…”

Aaron watched their sons play with some of the other youngsters in the park. Right after lunch they had all ported to the city park to be with the members of his Clan who were doing their best to comfort and reassure the youngsters. So far, with each of the hugs and kisses, he had been given the impression that the youngsters would never set foot in the system of their birth ever again. He was also relieved there had not been an outcry to invade the planet and weed out all the bad apples. Blinking in surprise as all the plasma monitors flared to life showing the colonization coalition with a mass of others behind them, he listened in, wondering what now.

“Today was a horrible day for the human race,” Jens addressed the news media. He had been elected spokesman for the group. “We saw in living color what the worst of us was capable of in their greed to be richer, or to live longer lives as they coveted the natural abilities of others, abilities no amount of money could buy.” Staring into the camera’s he glared, “So they devised a plan to kidnap and cruelly experiment on a child; a child because they knew the gifts they wished to acquire were not fully formed yet, so there would be no chance of escape.”

“The people of Altare and the Beastmasters paid too high of a price to satisfy the greed and arrogance of those twenty nine individuals behind this atrocity.” Names started to scroll across the bottom of the screen in a long list, Jens waited until the list started to repeat before continuing, “They were mistaken in their belief that they are above the law, or that their fortunes could be used to buy their way out of trouble.”

“The one hundred and twelve people you see behind me are the leaders of their countries,” Jens sighed, “It is unfortunate that we had to come together because of such a tragedy, but we are all in agreement with the following…”

“Those twenty nine individuals listed on the screen are herby declared rogues. For the good of our world they have been condemned to death of DNA.

All assets and companies they are sole owner of are herby seized, and control shall be given to the Beastmasters; while we cannot bring back a child or ease the heart, we can make sure that the penalties for those crimes are so high they are unthinkable to commit.

Eleven of those on that list are still fugitives from justice. As such there is a ten million dollar bounty placed on each of their heads, dead or alive makes no difference as long as their DNA will verify their identity.

From this day forth the Children of the earth are declared under the sole authority of the Kingdom of Altare; which means all crimes against children shall be tried and punished under their laws.

All those holding a diplomatic passport issued in the kingdom or empire of Altare will be given full and unhindered cooperation. The Beastmaster and his team are to be considered one person; the attack on a member of his team is to be considered and treated as an attack on the Beastmaster himself and an act of war.”

Jens paused and looked up from his notes, “Finally, a decisions that was not easy to make; from this day forth all leaders of the planet Earth are herby considered to be under the authority of the Alteran King’s Bench in matters involving any crimes perceived, or otherwise, while in office. An automatic telepathic trial and verification shall take place, and all crimes verified by telepathic scan shall always have the same judgment…Death of DNA.”

“Make no mistake, we have not given up any sovereignty, we still are the leaders of our countries, but now we have a higher authority that can and will try those who go beyond the pale,” Jens stared quietly as the media silently looked at each other.

Aaron tuned the news media out as they started to fire off questions and the various heads of governments tried their best to answer the questions. Several minutes later the plasmas went dark. Aaron was still lost in thought and missed the arrival of the rest of his Lovers and Clan, followed by Donny and his Clan on the heels of the Shaolin elders led by Darren.

Donny moved through the crowd slowly and knelt down in front of Aaron, “Aaron…” not getting a response Donny looked at Kevin who did not look worried and tried again, “Aaron…”

Blinking several times as his ears told his brain he was being called, Aaron stared at Donny for a moment before smiling sadly, “Hey Donny.”

Donny swallowed and looked at all the people surrounding them and then back, “What just happened?”

“They surrendered…” Aaron told him, “They surrendered without losing face or lives.”

Sitting down heavily Donny looked dazed, “Why…What am I, what are we going to do with all those businesses or money? We’re Beastmasters not business owners.”

“Neither am I,” Aaron sighed, “I just hire law firms and the best people I can find to run them for me, and use the money to fund all of this,” Aaron waved his hand around the park and its people. “After all money is useless to us really, if you want something you go to the replicator and create it…no fuss no muss.”

Shaking his head, “I have no clue what to do with the companies and such you just received. Get with Tyler, he can help you figure something out. Use the money to buy up land and restore the wilderness and wildlife or do something with it.”

Seeing Edward sit down smiling he stared at him for a moment, “Tell me Edward, how much of this did you have a hand in?”

“Beyond answering my father’s questions and his requests for transport of the world leaders to that conference,” Edward thought Aaron looked more thoughtful than pissed, “I only tied the SE110s that followed you into the CNBC satellite feed,” staring with a not willing to back down look, “I wanted the world to know what they were about to be punished for when you eventually came to the conclusion of destroying it or invading.”

Staring at Edward a moment longer Aaron nodded before standing and brushing the grass and dirt off his butt, hearing Shane whisper loudly in the silence to Joshua, “Does this mean Sator gets to spank all the outsiders for being bad?”

A/N for true up to date postings go to my website wolfsnest.n40c.net

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."