A half dozen of the men in black had survived the initial firefight. They were being pelted by blasts from several directions at once, but the shots were being absorbed by a domed forcefield that surrounded them. It appeared to be some sort of tactical forcefield generator that would be given to infantry units for protection while they awaited reinforcements. Each shot caused a momentary flicker of the forcefield, and as much as it seemed to buckle from some of the more powerful shots, it still held. Once the incoming ships were dangerously close, the shooting stopped entirely. Sara presumed that this was because whoever had attacked the mysterious men in black was now starting to regroup for a much more serious battle. The leader who had harassed Sara was still alive, though wounded, inside the forcefield. They couldn't hear anything he was saying, but it was obvious that he was barking out orders over a communication channel just by looking at the expressions on his face. Nearly his entire command had been wiped out in the firefight, and he was very obviously enraged at being caught off guard and so badly humiliated. The trees shook back and forth wildly as the warships flew in at just a few feet above the tree tops. Some of the older ones nearly snapped in half from the violence that was visited upon them. The closer they got, the more the ships began to spread out in an attack formation. The gunships went out to the left and right respectively, allowing them to swoop in on the clearing at a steep angle, while the transport ship came in directly behind the beleaguered men inside the forcefield. In flat voice, Sandra commented, “they don't seem to even care about us anymore.” Alex muttered dryly, “they have us stuck inside a forcefield. I don't think they're exactly worried about us getting away from them this time.” That part was true enough, though for the men in black out in the field survival was indeed such a pressing matter that they had all but forgotten about why they were actually there in the first place. The gunships held steady where they were along the tree line, ready to pounce on anything that opened up on the ground units that they were they to support. The transport began to execute a VTOL landing not far behind the forcefield that protected the survivors. It landed much more gently than Rick would have expected. Soft landings of such large ships had always seemed a little bit out there to him in the movies, but the ship landed with not much more than pressure than a leaf touching down on a pond. Several hatches along the sides of the transport opened up and an entire company of heavily armored infantrymen stormed out into the opening. Sara and her entire family felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw how much the stakes had been raised by those that had been pursuing them. The infantrymen surrounded the ones inside of the forcefield, and provided them with protection while they lowered the forcefield and handed armor to them. Sara and her family watched as the survivors put on a few pieces of armor, and then all of a sudden, the armor came alive, engulfing each person's body in a matter of just a few seconds. “Nano armor?” Rick muttered under his breath. “What did you say?” His mother asked him nervously. He looked back at his parents and said matter of factly, “they're wearing some sort of nano armor. It's entire body armor made out of nanobots. Made correctly, it's got a lot of potential to be more powerful than kevlar or any other type of body armor that we have. From everything else that we have seen of them, it probably also has at least some, if not all, of the same capabilities that the Army's 'Land Warrior' system has.” “How do you know so much about this stuff?” His mother said to him, looking at him pointedly with a touch of fear in her sad brown eyes. Rick shrugged and said, “when you don't have enough time to party at college, all that's left is video games and movies...” “Touche...” she said sharply. Across the field, everything was still silent. Neither side had decided to act, but that was about to change. The infantry that had come to reinforce the men in black began to fan out in anticipation of a fight. The other side was still nowhere to be seen. Maybe they were invisible. Maybe they were shooting from a distance. No one knew where they were or who they were. Without warning, several blasts from several directions rained down on the reinforcements, and this time there was something different about the way they were being attacked. Before it was just blasts of hot plasma, now it was a three-round burst pattern that consisted of two ear-piercing rail gun darts and a blast of plasma. And it was effective! Several of the infantrymen went down with the first wave of the attack, but these men were much more prepared for battle. Unlike the unarmored men in black suits that had attacked them before, they coordinated their attacks, and it was not long before several of their targets had been rendered visible by the repeated hits. The other side wore an armor that was similar in appearance, though it seemed stronger than what the men in black's allies wore. Little did they realize that the reason that these fighters had not been dropped dead very quickly was because their armors had shut off their personal cloaks, and shifted all of the energy to their personal shields. Still, several of them were ripped apart anyway by the concentrated bursts that hit them, though they still managed to inflict casualties as they were cut down. The gunships were flying in now to provide support for the infantry, but that was going to end up being a debacle for them as several of the enemy soldiers moved into close range to take their men out with bladed weapons. These aggressive combatants dove straight into the enemy's ranks, and thrusted long blades that extended from their forearms right through the armor that the men in black's reinforcements wore, and killed them without much effort. At such a close range, their energy weapons were all but useless except as a means to potentially do as much harm to their own ranks as to the warriors now cutting down their ranks from within. The gunships hovered overhead, and tried to take shots at them, but ended up killing two of their own in a hail of intense plasma and stripped away their shields and armor effortlessly, melting their flesh down to the bone within seconds. They didn't even have time to scream before it was all over. Without warning, a bright light appeared over the battlefield, and then proceeded to land in the middle of the warring sides. As the light faded away, everyone could see that he wore an armor with the same insignias as those battling the men in black. Where he was standing, he was completely exposed to the gunships, who quickly turned their attention on him, and let loose with a torrent of plasma and rail gun fire on him. So many rounds were fired at him that he should have been butchered, but the shots simply curved around his body, and were flung either into the forcefield along the tree line, or were twisted upward and shot up into space. He confidently looked up at the gunship to his right, and held his left hand up in the air. His hand gripped the air in a tight fist, and then he powerful made a throwing motion in the direction of the gunship to his right. As he did this, the gunship to his left was rendered helpless and sent hurtling into the other gunship. The two of them exploded in a spectacular display of fire and carnage in mid-air. “Legorii, povet yarborie,” he shouted. It was the first time that any of the newcomers had spoken that Sara and her family could hear what they were saying. The soldiers under his command fell back quickly, some of them limping, some of them jumping away at high speed with few injuries. Once his men were out of the way, he held his arms down to his sides at a forty five degree angle, and unsheathed his forearm blades. However, unlike the way his men used them, he willed the blades to actually detach from his arms, and they were suspended by a flaming chain. In each hand he gripped a chain, and the enemy stood in front of him too scared to move. He began to twirl the chains in his hands, and then, without warning, he swung the blades in a scissor motion through the ranks of the men in black and their reinforcements, and cut most of them in half at the waste in a single motion. Only a few, mainly the leader who had survived the initial firefight, survived the culling. The bodies of the rest littered the area, and he retracted his blades. He walked over to the survivors, and unholstered a sidearm. Without much fanfare, he executed every survivor except for the leader. Sara and her family found this to be the most disturbing thing they had seen throughout the entire fight, if for no other reason than it was done so coldly and cleanly that it betrayed a complete and utter indifference to the lives of the survivors. The man walked over to the leader of the men in black, and shot him in the chest. To their surprise, he did not die, but rather his armor fell apart instead. The man kicked him hard in the stomach, and caused him to double over in pain. With characteristic coldness, he place his hand on the leader's forehead, and the leader began to scream in terrible, hellish torment for several seconds. Then, the man took his sidearm, placed it casually to the leader's forehead, and pulled the trigger, executing him without even the slightest mercy. Sara and her family awaited their fates now with great fear and trepidation. For at least ten minutes the family was trapped between the victors of the battle, and the forcefield that ran along the tree line. That there was no escape this time was something that they just began to meekly accept as part of their fate. Adrenaline surged through their bodies, and a cold sweat ran down their cheeks as they awaited for the inevitable confrontation. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the ostensible leader of the group that had one the battle walked over to them. How they dreaded his approach! They could only imagine to their horror the sort of things that he might have in store for them, if for no other reason than because of what they had seen him do to those that had opposed him. He did not have to tower over them to be physically imposing. His very presence radiated a power that no normal being was supposed to possess, or so they had once thought. Up close, they realized that the armor that he wore was indeed more of a support system than an armor designed to stop weapons fire. From the looks of it, they relied entirely on the personal shield that the armor was equipped with that projected a forcefield around their body in battle. The majority of the armor had an appearance of having been woven around his body, with certain parts such as the forearms made totally solid, probably due to the presence of weapon systems. Everyone tensed up in anticipation of what might happen, but they were caught off guard by his casual tone. “Are you alright?” As he said this, his armor began to split open and retract around his body into a modest sized exoskeleton that ran down the length of a light blue and black-colored tunic. The parts of his body that they could see were distinctly not human, though they were more or less humanoid. His face was partly shrouded under bushy, flowing black bangs that came down to his cheeks, and his skin was tinted a light blue. No one said anything in response, and so he tried once more to break the ice between them. “My name is Gorya Brajerian. The people who attacked you were agents of a group known as the 'External Security Directorate,' which is the foreign intelligence branch of the military of the Venarii Directorate.” Rick cautiously asked, “you mean those 'men in black' are aliens?” Brajerian chuckled lightly, “well, from your point of reference I am as well, but yes.” He pointed back at the carnage and said, “on some level humanity is vaguely aware of their presence on Earth. They've appeared enough in conspiracy theories and cultural sources that their existence is something of an open secret, I suppose.” Fixing his attention back at Rick, he said, “though your people are quite wrong about what happened in Roswell, and pretty much everything else that has happened ever since. This is in part because of the fact that until you get very close to them, it isn't entirely obvious to a normal human that a Venarii intelligence officer isn't what your people would call a 'white person.'” Sandra stammered, “I can't believe this... why would our government let this go on without doing something about it?” Brajerian glanced at her and condescendingly remarked, “child, your so-called government is nothing more than an elaborate hoax. For all intents and purposes, it is entirely under the control of powers that are far beyond your comprehension.” When she seemed to scoff at his tone, he quickly added, “I am significantly older than the four of you put together, so you may have to excuse my tone from time to time. In terms of age, we are, well, not even close to being matched.” They were still noticeably shaken, and so he added, “I bet you would like to know why they are chasing you.” He paused to let the question sink in, then continued, “Sara, you have the potential to be a living weapon that could turn the tide of a very ancient war. If you were to fall into the enemy's hands your blood could become the foundation for a new army to be used against us, and obviously, we cannot allow that.” He paused once more, and then softly added, “that is why it is imperative that you come with us, if for no other reason than the safety of your family.” Sara shook her head and boldly declared, “I am not going anywhere! I did alright against them, and after a while they'll leave me and my family alone. If they keep coming, I'll keep killing them.” “Ha! Were it that simple, we might actually allow you to do just that. However... you underestimate who and what you are facing.” He pointed back at the troop transport and said, “and what are you going to do when they kidnap your family, and transport them to a separate galaxy to torture them until you turn yourself over to them?” She stuttered, “I... I...” “Don't know what you would do, do you?” Brajerian said pointedly. “If you come with us, they will leave your family alone because there will be no point in using them as leverage against you since you will be entirely under our control and protection.” Sara looked at him hard and said shrewdly, “why should I trust you?” To that, all he could reply was with a shrug. “Trust is not really the issue right now, but if you come with us you will learn soon enough why your trust is not misplaced. Be it as it may, if you won't come willingly, we are quite prepared to take you with us by force. Both for our security purposes, and to cause them,“ he pointed back to the fallen Venarii soldiers and intelligence officers, “to forget about any plans to bring your family into this anymore than they already have.” Her arm glowing, Sara dashed forward to strike him, but Brajerian was entirely too fast for her. He gracefully reached out and grabbed her fist, and through her hard several dozen feet away from where they were standing. She staggered to her feet, and braced herself. “Suit yourself, human” Brajerian muttered under his breath and started walking toward her. His eyes glowed for a split second, and his armor activated, covering his entire body with incredible speed. Sara struck the ground, and sent a powerful shockwave toward him, but to her surprise, it split around his body and then continued on as though nothing had changed once it got behind him. Brajerian through himself at her, and right before he struck her, he disappeared. Sara blinked with amazement at what happened, then felt powerful hands grip her from behind. Brajerian had appeared out of nowhere behind her, and he threw her hard back toward her family. She crumpled on the ground in front of her father who was by now beside himself out of desperation and frustration over what was going on around him, that he was utterly powerless to stop. Brajerian coldly stood over her like a god towering over a mere mortal and savagely barked, “get... UP!” She struggled, and started to get up, but the blows that she had just taken had knocked her around so badly that her ability to fight had been almost completely crushed. “What's the matter,” he yelled at her, and kicked her in the stomach. “Lost your will to fight already? If you are so easily defeated, how do you ever expect to protect your family?” She spat up blood, and hissed in an otherworldly voice, “what makes you think I'm done with you?” Without warning, she lept to her feet. Sara appeared to be completely reborn. He skin shimmered in the moonlight, her eyes were pitch black reflecting pools, and her nails had grown out like talons. Her adversary was not impressed with her transformation, as he arrogantly remarked, “am I supposed to be intimidated by this?” To sort of prove a point, he lowered his armor and took up a fighting stance in front of her, and beckoned her to come at him. Sara lunged at him with a demonic ferocity, but Brajerian eluded her effortlessly. As she brought her right hand down to where she should have been able to rake his face open, he grabbed her shoulders with both hands and drove his knee at full force into her gut and flung her away as he came back down from the attack. Sara lost her balance from the attack, but was not yet deterred. Much to her surprise, Brajerian's eyes went jet black and he muttered coldly, “I see, the transformation really is powerful as they had said it was. Looks like I will have to end this quickly for everyone's sake.” He dashed over toward her, and managed to land a solid and powerful side kick right to the center of Sara's face, sending her reeling back. Brajerian paused for a split second, as though he needed to concentrate, and then let loose with a torrent of attacks that completely broke Sara's ability to fight. Sara returned to normal, and collapsed onto her hands and knees, entirely defeated. Brajerian activated his armor again, with the exception of his helmet, and knelt down in front of her. He softly, gently whispered to her, “Sara, you are dealing with forces the likes of which you cannot possibly handle on your own. If I were not on your side, I would have left you in a pool of your own blood with seconds of the first attack you threw at me.” She sobbed weakly, her body battered and exhausted. “In time, you will grow to control the power at your disposal, Sara, but if you are to be of any use to anyone, you need to learn how to control it. If you do not come with me, and allow our people to complete your transformation, you will become an abomination, and eventually we will be summoned back here to kill you for the sake of your own people's safety.” “What do you mean, 'complete my transformation?'” she said. “You aren't entirely human, Sara. You are... something less, something more, something different.”