Varian Alice de Bouillon crouched behind the trees. Another bullet thudded into the tree above her head. Varian continued to hyperventilate, the Viteri mercenaries chasing her were getting too damn close. If only she had listened to her brother when he'd said that just because her great-great-grandmother for whom she was named was an explorer and cartographer, she didn't have to emulate her. And now it looked like sticking her nose where it wasn't wanted was going to result in it getting cut off.

She hadn't really meant to wander into the middle of an armed compound, but when she heard what they were planning, the experiments on the lizards, she had to know more. She couldn't go to the authorities without proof. And now thugs with guns were after her. She'd tried to send an alert ot the authorities, but some sort of jamming device was blocking her transmissions. Now they were chasing her through unfamiliar territory and it was only going to be a matter of time before they caught up to her. Sure, she'd been top of her class in self-defense, but these guys had guns.

That's when he appeared. The man in the uniform. “Come with me if you want to live.” Running through the back of Varian's mind was some commentary about cliche lines, but frankly her feet were already moving. “Quick hide under that tree, stay there until I'm done.” Her saviour walked out into what sounded like a hail of bullets, but this was followed by sounds of surprise from her attackers.

“Shit! What sort of monster is he?” followed by the sounds of them moving off. Thirty seconds later she felt the shockwave of impact as half a mile away a large plume of dirt exploded into the air. Off in the direction of the compound an even louder explosion rocked the ground. Then her hearing went as the sonic boom followed. She'd heard about weapons such as these. Kinetic bombardment rounds. Launched from orbit. But those were class 5 ordinance, only the peacekeepers had those. Over the course of the next five minutes sporadic gunfire intersperses three more impacts, followed by eerie silence.

Her saviour was back. Now she had a chance to get a closer look he was wearing a black uniform, though the styles matched a pre-landing era. Odd. She thanks him for his help, and asks his name. He smiles “You can call me the family ghost if you will. I was repaying a favour I owed to your family. Your great-grandmother once saved one of my children, and now I have saved one of hers. You should be fine here, the authorities are on their way. Don't worry, there won't be any questions.” The sun inches above the trees and the man slowly becomes translucent before fading from view completely, a serene smile upon his face.

Watching the young woman being helped into a peacekeeper ship from its vantage point on the nearby hill, the Toroid Five avatar smiled. “Now we're even Varian. At least for this generation. And the lizard butchers? They were just a nice bonus really.”