When Seymour woke again, he found himself lying on a medical table.  He had strange dreams.  He thought he had dreamt that the Earth woman had taken his heart from him.  He felt sore all over and tried to guess where he was.  Then he spied the familiar insignia of a hawk head on the wall and sighed with relief.  The Silverhawks had come for him after all.  He wondered how long he’d been out.

 Steel Heart walked in.  A smile grew on her face when she realized the cabbie was conscious.

 “Good to see you still with us, Seymour.”  She said.

 “Good to be here, Steel Heart.”  Seymour said dryly.

 Steel Heart leaned over the table to see his vital readouts.  They appeared to be normalizing.

 “Too bad it’s not a paid vacation, huh?”  She grinned.

 Seymour groaned.  “After all this, I need a vacation.”

 “I’m afraid this isn’t over yet.  But I think you can be assured that you wont be asked to stick your neck out for us for some time yet.”  Steel Heart replied.

 His limbs felt leaden, and his head still felt fuzzy as he tried to grasp what had befallen him during the escape.  Their escape… then, eyes wide, he remembered the girl.

 “There was someone with me-" he started to say and tried to make his body obey and sit up like he wanted, but there was no way he could move at all except to lift his head, but even that was too great an effort and Seymour had to lay it down again because he started to see stars.

 “Tat’iana.  She’s well.  Better off physically than you.  She saved your life, you know.  Helped keep your heart beating with her own two hands until we could get you to surgery.”

 Seymour blinked.  His heart?  “What?”

 “You WERE shot, you know?”  Steel Heart stood beside the bed and seemed to tower over him.  “You don’t remember, do you?”

 He shook his head.  “No.  I don’t recall much of anything.  I remember us running from Mon*Star… oh.”

 Steel Heart patted his shoulder.  “Well, rest up.  You deserve it.”

 She left soon after and he lay there thinking.  But he wasn’t left alone with his confused thoughts for long.  Soon after, the girl appeared at the door.  He was barely able to lift his head to see the visitor.  What’d Steel Heart call her?  Tat’iana?

 “Hello.”  She said to him and once she saw the terrible effort he made to look upon her and she quickened her pace so that she was beside him.  There was a new hawk he’d never seen before sitting on her shoulder.

 “So, you can understand us now, I see.”  Seymour said.

 Tat’iana nodded solemnly.  “The Twins installed what they called a translator implant.  I’ve learned a lot about this place since I came here.  So… how are you?”

 “A few aches and pains and a few indignities suffered, but all in all…” his voice drifted off as a flood of memories he’d like to suppress tried to flood back.

 Embarrassed silence took over.  He could only imagine the kind of torture Mon*Star had inflicted upon the child.  No, he would not obsess on that.  That was past and gone.  No more rides for the Mob, no matter what!

 “I’m Tat’iana.”  She offered her name.  “We didn’t get a chance to properly introduce each other.”

 “I’m Seymour.  And… um, thanks.  I’m to understand that you saved my life.”

 “As certainly as you saved mine.”  She retorted and slightly bowed her head at him.  “You do not know how thankful of that I am!”

 Seymour glanced away from her.  He heard her voice crack at that and he inwardly cringed.

 “Why did they take you in the first place?”  He asked curious, hoping to direct the conversation to something else.

 She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Really.  One moment I was on the air field in Russia and the next moment, I was on Brim*Star.”

 “Thought you were from out of town.”  Seymour attempted to jest.

 Tat’iana rewarded him with a bland smile that she didn’t feel.

 The door slid open behind them.

 “There you are, Seymour!  You look like something the fish digested and then threw back up!”  Zeeke fluttered in the room and hovered in the air over Seymour’s bed to get a good look at his friend.  He tisked out loud to himself then said, “Don’t you know that going against the Mob can be bad for your health?”

 Seymour sighed.  “I was doing Stargazer a favor and screwed up.”

 “Yes.  He almost got you killed.  You should ask for some compensation, if you’re smart!”  Zeeke advised.

 “No, I almost got myself killed.”  Seymour said.  “It wasn’t the Commander’s fault, it was mine alone.”

 Zeeke couldn’t believe his ears.  “I don’t understand you.  You are sitting on a possible gold mine and you would piss it away for what?  Honor?”

 “Shut up, Zeeke.”  Seymour really wanted the green, flying penguin to leave.

 “Listen.  I don’t know who you are, Zeeke, that your name?  But Seymour is in no shape for you to badger him like this.”  Tat’iana said defensively, getting irritated at the winged goons presumptiveness.  “Leave it alone.”

 Zeeke eyed her, as if seeing her for the first time.  “Who are you?”

 “She saved my life, you green booby.”  Seymour answered.  “Her name is Tat’iana.”

 Zeeke landed and inspected her more thoroughly.  He noted her large eyes and the lips pulled tight in displeasure.  She did have quite the figure too, he thought, but not fully to his taste.

 “Well, well, Miss Tat’iana.  I suppose you will be looking after Seymour then?  Nursing him back to health?  Well, well.”  Zeeke rambled, looking from one to the other in a way Seymour didn’t like because it was embarrassing.

 “Shut up, Zeeke.  Show some respect for the lady.”  Seymour urged his companion.

 Zeeke shrugged.  “I suppose a friend of Seymour’s is a friend of mine.”  He held out a flipper to Tat’iana who eyed it suspiciously.  “That end won’t bite, Miss.”  He said to her.

 She took the… hand?  And shook it.  “He saved my life first.”  She wanted them to know.

 Zeeke rolled his eye over to Seymour, “You two in Brim*Star at the same time?  Well, well.”

 “What are you getting at?”  Seymour demanded.

   “What?  All I said was well, well?”  Zeeke replied in all innocence.

 “I just want to know what you implied.”  The cabbie rejoined.

 Zeeke blinked at him.  “You are the one with your undies in a bundle.  I didn’t say anything.  Just get better.  I’ve been taking your cab out while you’ve been out of it and I’ll even give you some of my earnings since it IS yours.”  What made him say THAT?  GIVE away money?  Well, perhaps he could salvage that slip of the tongue and come out ahead in the end anyway.  He shrugged to himself and plowed on.  “So, what was this boneheaded plan of Stargazers that got you into this mess in the first place?”

 Seymour sighed again.  “He didn’t disclose anything to me.  Only asked me to keep my ears open.”

 Zeeke laughed.  “Only you could fumble such a simple task.”

 Seymour could feel his face turn red.  It was one thing when they would jibe each other in private, quite another when Zeeke jibed him in front of someone else.  He stirred in his confines.

 “Listen.”  Tat’iana stepped in to save him again.  “Let’s leave him to rest some more, alright?  He’s been through enough without you here getting on his case.”

 “Okay, okay.  Easy there, no need to get upset.”  Zeeke replied in a placating manner.  Boy, this chick was touchy.  “No harm intended.  I’ll be seeing you soon, Seymour.  And don’t worry about your cab.  I’ll take REAL good care of it.”

 “That’s what I’m afraid of.”  Seymour said, glad that Zeeke was leaving and yet, sorry to see Tat’iana leave as well to usher the green bird out with an apologetic look to him over her shoulder.  He sighed yet again and closed his eyes, hoping that those dreams of the torture chamber would be replaced with something more pleasant, like that of a time traveling young woman who had literally held his heart in her hands.
 

 Tat’iana rubbed the place on her neck where that contraption the Mob had implanted still bothered her.  It didn’t cause her pain; just worry.  What was it for?  Her neck had more flexibility as the days wore on and she almost forgot about it, except at night, or when she chanced to look in the mirror.  It was of some black metal and the Twins had said it was attached to her brain stem and what was puzzling was it was slowly feeding her some chemicals Steel Heart couldn’t identify.  She couldn’t feel any ill side affects from the chemical and was told to report to the Twins when and if she noticed anything strange.  Her shoulder was smarting, of all things.  And that was due to it being Sonic’s new perch.  His talons gripped too tightly and she’d have to see one of the Twins about that problem.  The expressionless hawk never left her side of late.  Even while she slept, he kept attentive vigil.  It gave her a since of feeling secure, but it also reminded her that there were those whom would harm her, but at least they would have to get through Sonic, or Sonny as she nick named him, first.

 She went to find one of the Twins about getting something for her shoulder.  Sonic, ever the grim presence saw that she intended to leave her room.  He flew to her from his newly adopted perch in her room and landed on her shoulder, clamping his talons onto her painfully.  She winced.  Yes, it wouldn’t do to have permanent scars upon her shoulder due to Sonic’s overprotective indulgence.

 Tat’iana found Steel Will first.  He was making some repairs on some strange weapon.  He seemed to be in deep concentration.  Should she interrupt over her stupid problem?  Sonic looked positively frightful and he impatiently squeezed her shoulder more tightly so that she cried out a little in pain.  Will looked up from what he was working on, noticing his visitors.  He also noticed the look of pain on Tat’iana’s face.

 “Hello, Tat’iana.”  He said with concern.  “Is your implant giving you problems?”

 She shook her head.  “No.  It’s him.  Sonic.  His talons are cutting into my skin when he sits on my shoulder.  Would you have anything I could wear for him to sit on when he rides up there?  It feels like he could break my collar bone if he gripped too hard.”

 Will leaned back in his chair, smiling in sympathy.  “Actually, he could break your collar bone, if he tried.  I’m sorry.  We didn’t think of giving you any padding.  I think I can find you something.”  And he stood then walked to a dresser and opened one of the drawers.  He rifled through the stuffed drawer until he found what he was looking for.  It looked like a flap of leather with a mess straps.  “It’s a shoulder pad.  Leather with stuffing inside, here, if you’ll permit me, I’ll show you how to put it on.”

 Tat’iana was grateful and thanked him.  She allowed him to assist her and was amazed that such a man of great, obvious strength could be gentle.  His huge hands maneuvered the device with ease and agility.  Sonic had disengaged his grip on her long enough for Will to slip the shoulder pad on, strapping it in place.  It fit very well.  It was a dark, mahogany brown and had the look of wear and tear on it, like many talons had rested upon it before it graced her shoulder.  Now Sonic resumed his perch and she was aware of his weight, but not the bite of his talons.  That was a relief!

 “That’s so much better!  My thanks!”  Tat’iana said with enthusiasm.

 “By the way…” Steel Will went on.  “I never got a chance to tell you how impressed I was by your quick thinking back at Brim*Star.  How did you know to hand pump his heart like that?”

 Tat’iana shrugged.  “A relative of mine was in medicine and we all learned something of first aide in the Night Witches.  I didn’t have time to think.  All I knew was that he was going to die if I didn’t do anything.  Now I remember how once my great uncle started up this mans heart again by pounding on his chest when it stopped beating one winter before the Germans came.  It seemed to be the only thing to do.”

 “That’s still amazing!  Not many would think as quickly or as accurately as you did.”  He said.  “You would make a great Silverhawk.”

 No.  She knew that was a great compliment, but it wasn’t going to happen.  She wanted to retain her…well; humanity wasn’t quite the right word she was looking for.  The Silverhawks were very human, more so than a certain Austrian intent on nothing but conquest.  And now that word humanity seemed, well, inappropriate out there in space amongst a great host of alien races.  Would it be insulting if any of them were to be termed as humane?  It was very much an Earth word and it was then that she realized she had to learn to readjust her Earthbound thinking.   It would be difficult to do and she wondered if she had somehow, unsuspectingly upset any of the races she had met so far, even that awful Mon*Star.  Was that why he treated her in such a manner?  Or was it just his way?  But she couldn’t ask about that about him.  She was afraid to tell them of her rape by that red monster.  What would they say?  What would they think of her?  Would they say she had done something wrong?  A part of her told her she was being ridiculous, but the other part, the scared part, wouldn’t let her be.  No.  She wouldn’t say anything about it.  They would figure it out if she began to ask questions, or would they?  And what of that mind probe?
 
 “How are you and Sonic getting along?”  Steel Will asked, startling her out of her painful reverie.

 “He’s so gloomy.”  Tat’iana admitted.  “Is there anything I can do to make him more, well, personable?  I’ve never seen such a creature prone to brooding as he.”

  Steel Will chuckled.  “He only just came to us from Earth.  I guess you can say he’s homesick.”

 “That makes two of us.”  Tat’iana almost whispered and she brought her hand up carefully to the feathered chest to stroke it.  Sonic gave no reaction to her caress and she sighed.  “He’s so unhappy.”

 Will suggested,  “Perhaps if you spend more time talking to him, he, in a way, is more intelligent than Tally Hawk.  He has a new chip that allows him to understand almost any language, as long as he is taught that language.  Perhaps if you should talk to him in your native Russian tongue, it may help you bond with him more if you speak to him like you would any other.”

 Tat’iana nodded.  “Thanks.  Oh, Sonic, we really are two birds of a feather, are we not?  I’m homesick too.”  She continued to stroke him and departed with much on her mind, she forgot to ask permission to leave.

 Will watched her depart.  A curious girl, he thought.  He should see if Stargazer would allow him to teach her to fly the Sprint Hawk, to keep her mind on the here and now.  And yes, so he could get to know her better.  He made no allusions to the fact that he found himself attracted to her.  Someone with her potential, she had brains, she had looks… she was no dumb blonde.  He was pretty sure that she would want to stay a while longer.  All the better.  A damsel in distress was she.  He would go to Stargazer presently and ask to train her himself.

Tat’iana began to speak to Sonic in her native tongue whenever they were alone.  She would tell him of her home, her father, of her time with the Night Witches.  He would listen too, but he wouldn’t show any change in emotion.  She became exasperated but kept trying.  He never kept his eyes off of her.  In a way it was unnerving.  She felt her privacy slip away.  He didn’t have to be THAT watchful, did he?  Or was she just being overly sensitive?

She kept herself busy, or tried to.  Quicksilver had given her the videos of historical documents so she could brush up on the few hundred years she missed.  It boggled the mind the advances humans had made and the alien technology used to aide those advances.  Alien.  Another term she had to get used to.  And speaking of which, Seymour was due to step out soon.  She should go and watch his progress.  She met Steel Will on her way to see the recuperating cabbie.

Steel Will was grinning.  “I have a surprise for you.”

Tat’iana blinked.  “Really?”

“I got Stargazer to give the go ahead.  If you like, I can train you to fly a space ship.”

That brought an unexpected smile to Tat’iana’s lips.  “Do you mean it?”  She was feeling somewhat stir crazy these past two weeks being effectively stuck in Hawk Haven.  “I would like to fly again.  I imagine it’s very different than flying an airplane.  But I’m willing to learn.”

“Ten-four on that.  Well, as soon as you’re finished with your visit, come to the hanger and I’ll give you the rundown on the Sprint Hawk, okay?”  Steel Will told her.

Steel Heart was in the room with Seymour as Tat’iana entered.  He was unbound and dressed and seemed in better spirits.  He was sitting up, legs dangling off the edge of the bed.  He saw her come in and couldn’t stop the grin from exploding across his face.  This was new for him.  He spent his past days at Hawk Haven eagerly waiting for a visit from her.  That wasn’t rational, he scolded himself.  They only knew each other for a very short time.  Sure she’d come to see him every day, but that couldn’t justify what he felt.  Could it?

“Hey Seymour, you’re looking great!”  Tat’iana said pleased.

“He should be able to get back to business as usual in a day or so.”  Steel Heart replied, filling out a chart.  “After a LOT of rest.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing these past few weeks?  I’m rested out!”  Seymour complained.

Steel Heart chuckled.  “That was a different kind of rest.  Now, you have to take it easy for a while, think you can do that?”

“You mean I’m free to go?”  He asked.

“Why yes.”  She said, hearing the disappointment in his voice, but not saying anything about it.  “You’ve checked out.  I had radioed Zeeke to come and pick you up.”

Great.  Zeeke was all he needed right then.

“So, Tat’iana, I hear you’re to get some flying lessons today.”  Steel Heart said with some interest.

A gleam came to the young ladies eyes, “Yes.  While I do have experience, this is something entirely different.”

“Oh, my brother will make a true pilot out of you.  Blue Grass might be the best pilot around, but he takes too many risks, of course, that’s what makes him the best.  However, a rookie doesn’t need to learn bad habits.  Will, will show you the right way.  Once you’ve mastered the basics, I’m sure you can beseech Blue Grass on the finer points of keeping your tail flame free.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”  Tat’iana grinned in anticipation.

Seymour noted the exchange.  “You should be a natural then.  Give Blue Grass a run for his money.”

Tat’iana laughed, “Hardly.  Remember, I’m used to propeller driven aircraft.  We just invented the jet engine only recently in my end of the timeline.”

 This would be something to see, that much was certain, Seymour thought.  With Steel Heart’s leave, he and Tat’iana went to meet Steel Will in the hanger for her first lesson in spaceflight.  Will waved Tat’iana over to the waiting Sprint Hawk.  She found her way into the cockpit and sat in front of a confusing array of high tech controls.
 
 Will showed her the basics.  There was too much for a first timer to remember, though.  Photographic memories were good for some things, but this was a little over her head.  It would be a while before she would actually be taking a flight, that she knew.  The time that day was spent in getting familiar with the controls.

 Seymour sighed.  He was bored.  Finally, a yellow shape lumbered into the hanger.  It was his cab and a jaunty Zeeke at the wheel.  Zeeke stepped out, pleased that all eyes were on him.

 “Well, it’s time to go home, Seymour.  I’m late because I was able to take a fare to the artificial Sun.”  He said feeling very pleased with himself.  “Also got a message for Stargazer from some high muckety muck on Bedlama.”  And the Beak handed Steel Will a message disk.

 Will took the item.  “Thanks, Zeeke.  I’ll be sure that the Commander gets this.

 Zeeke gave Will one of his salutes and whisked Seymour away.
 

 ~Earlier that day… ~

 Hardware hid behind some cover while he adjusted the setting on his laser pistol.  Mumbo was attempting to shield his great bulk behind the twisted hunk of a metal girder that had been damaged and had crashed to the ground from above in the first firefight.  They were in a hanger on a base that was not so secrete anymore on Bedlama.  Hardware grinned maliciously over at the bull who carried a huge weapon that not even he could lift.

 The group of Bedlaman scientists hid inside a blasted out office from which smoke poured out the door, penned down in the room and used the doorway as their only means of retaliation.  One of the Bedlaman’s began the next round of fire, trying to drive the Mob out of the hanger and away from their obvious desire, the newest space ship prototype they had just finished working all the bugs out of.  It hadn’t even been officially tested yet.

 Brigadier Quuionla, the Bedlaman in charge of their latest top secret project, braced himself in readiness to add his fire to the melee.  His greenish skin was stained with soot, like all the others and his adrenalin was sky high.  He clamped his beak down in determination.  He would die to prevent the Mob from ever getting their hands on their ship.  He hazarded a glance around the laser charred door jam and squeezed a few shots at the Mob who delighted in returning fire.  Quuionla had to quickly duck back again.  His eyes burned and watered in the thick smoke but his determination was unwavering and he had no fear that the same was to be said of his assistants.  There were only five of them left alive.  Bedlaman bodies littered the hanger.

 “To the end, gentlemen.”  The Brigadier mumbled.

 “To the end, Sir!”  They answered back resolutely.

 Hardware and Mumbo Jumbo continued to keep the small group of Bedlaman’s busy as Molecular transformed into a huge, winged beast that filled up the whole hanger.  The new reptilian creature roared its challenge and the startled Bedlaman’s hesitated in their fire which was enough for Mumbo to launch a grenade into their surprised midst.  Before they could react, however, the grenade blew and the resistance ended.

 “Well, that was TOO easy!”  Hardware grinned and slung his weapon back into its holster.  “You’d think there would have been more security around something so top secret.  That was downright pitiful.  You grab the ship, Molecular and fly it back to Brim*Star.  Mumbo and I will stay here to mop up and look for anything that might be of use.”

 Molecular growled in compliance and grasped the ship, which seemed to become a miniature model in his massive claws and lifted it with ease.  He broke through the ceiling by ramming it with his huge, flat head and heaved himself up into the air, rising up on his great pinions.  There was a sudden wail of an alarm and Molecular paused in his ascension to spy a group of fighter ships on the approach.  Well, it looked like the backup defense had finally arrived, he thought laughingly.  It was too late.  Once the ships were within range, Molecular opened his jaws and spewed forth a burst of electric fire that shot out in a blinding flash, crackling, burning the ozone surrounding it.  It quickly enveloped the nearest ships and they exploded in a brilliant pyrotechnic flower.  Two ships that had dodged the breath weapon swerved to avoid the noxious cloud of smoke that was all that was left of their fellows.  Their cannons let loose barrages of fire at the easy target that was Molecular.  But it was to no effect as the ammunition glanced harmlessly off of Moleculars specialized armored hide.

 The ships began a wide turn to circle around and were going come at the monster again, not daring to come in too close.  Molecular laughed in disgust and launched another shot of breath weapon at the two ships.  They both perished as easily as their friends did.  Well, that’s that, Molecular thought and hefted the ship with him out and away from Bedlama and arrowed straight towards Brim*Star without another challenge.

 Stargazer watched the recording of the Mob attack of the Bedlaman secret testing base with a grim, sick feeling coming over him.  He should have known.  It was not unthinkable that the Mob would have known about something that not even HE had known about.  They had their paid informants everywhere.  The Bedlaman’s were upset, even more than usual.  He had called in Quicksilver to watch it with him and eyed the Lieutenant who looked just as grim.

 “So, what does this ship do?”  Quicksilver hazarded the question.

 “They aren’t saying.  They’re afraid.”  Stargazer said and that worried him.  Usually the Bedlaman’s would offer up any information that would help them, even classified documentation.  But they were walking on eggshells with this case.  “It has to be some new piece of technology that they don’t want Limbo to know about yet.”

 “How can we help them if we don’t know anything about it?”  Quicksilver demanded.

 Stargazer shrugged.  “We know what it looks like, and we were lucky enough to even get that much.  Now, what we need to do is storm the fortress.”
 
 Quicksilver snorted.  “You have got to be kidding.  He’ll expect that from us.  We’re getting to be too predictable.”

 “We can’t let the Mob keep it.”  Stargazer said.

 “Of course not.”

 Quicksilver stewed silently.  Things were starting to go downhill real fast and the Silverhawks were in the way.

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