This is a fanfiction. Though not appearing in this prologue, many of the characters appearing in this story are copyrighted by someone other then myself. Pioneer or AIC most likely. This is my second fanfic. I learned alot from my first one. (Primarily that it sucked.) And, I hope that this story will not be nearly so rank as my last one. (It was really, really bad.) This is placed in the lemon section because the story will have sexual content in it, though none of it is vulgar. I use it as part of the story, not as a purpose for the story. There are no Tenchi characters in the prologue, as it is used to introduce you to the character I am adding (Aeon). It also is a rather intrigal part of the story, so please don't skip it. Don't worry, I begin introducing the Tenchi characters in Chapter one. (Chapters 1-3 should be up about the same time this prologue is.) I hope you enjoy this story. I plan on continuing it in the future. So if you like it, email me telling me to get off my ass and get it done. Thanks, S4S Aeon awoke again, sweat covering his brow. He had been having the same nightmare every day for a week now. He usually couldn't remember his dreams, not that he wanted to. He never allowed himself to show fear during his day, so his fears seemed to consume him at night. It seemed as if they were tryng to show him that he was not above fear. That even if he managed to resist it during the day, it would always be there, waiting for him when he closed his eyes. Yet somehow this dream was different. He could remember it as though it were a conscious thought and not a dream. He shuddered as he saw it. He was trapped in a cave. His men followed behind him closely, as the light from his torch barely lit the path ahead of them. He heard a scream and turned around to see his men disappearing into the darkness, as if it were swallowing them up. He dropped the torch and realized without willing it he was running. He tore deeper and deeper into the cave, sure that if he stopped even for a moment, the darkness would consume him as well. Finally he came to a cavern, he paused as he slowly entered the room. He looked around at the walls and ceiling dimly lit by a faint glow emanating from the center of the room. Slowly the light faded out, leaving him standing in the darkness. He eyes searched, convinced that he would be safe if he could only find a light. Something he could focus on. Finally he saw it, two small glowing orbs piercing through the darkness. The Feline eyes glowed a brilliant amber, and he saw a glint as set of ferocious teeth flash from beneath them. Suddenly, his fear of the darkness lurking outside the cavern was gone as one though flashed through his mind. "Run or die." He tore off, heading back through the cave, not sure whether he was heading out of or deeper into its recesses. He could feel his legs begin to betray him, crying out for oxygen which his short labored breaths couldn't hope to provide. Finally, his legs gave out. Collapsing to the hard, cold, stone floor of the cave, he felt the wind ripped from his chest. As he lay there, gasping for air, like a fish cast onto the bank, his mind shrieked at him, "Run or Die." He heard a footstep behind him, and without turning he already knew what it was. The pools of amber eyed him with sadaistic glee, as a rough tongue scraped across the vicious teeth. He drew in a last gasp as he braced himself for the killing blow. "And then I'd wake up," Aeon muttered. "Every Goddamn night for the past week." He crawled out of bed, throwing a shirt on. the tight black cotton stretched over the muscles of his back as it covered the elaborate angel coving it, its wings spread, its eyes burning as he glared with a look of utter indignation . He felt a sting in his lower back as he rough cotton rubbed against it. He remembered finally getting the tattoo finished the night before. It made him remember his father. It had been ten years since his father had died. They found him in his cell, his throat and wrists slashed. The doctors had been puzzled. The cuts were clean, but there was no way he could have gotten any blades into his room. The patients weren't even allowed to use forks. And no weapons had been found either. Even more puzzling was they had no idea what had caused such a rapid degeneration. He had been commited only three days before. Aeon could remember when they dragged his father off. He had been screaming as they tore his son from his arms. Something about having to protect him. That they would kill him. That it was almost time. His father had always been a quiet man, a strong man. He had also had horribly nightmares. Aeon could remember many times when he woul hear his fathers howls in the night, when he would see his father in the morning, his eyes racked with sorrow. He remembered his father teaching him how to fight with a sword when he was six. His lessons continued until the day his father had been taken away. He remembered his funeral, The priest and a nurse had been the only ones there besides him. And the nurse was only there because she had brought him. He had stood there as the priest read words he had read a hundred times before. Not even knowing the man he was speaking of. Aeon remembered thinking spitefully of how nice it was, that after they had killed his father, the hospital would bury him, and even take his son to watch his mortal remains being reduced to nothing more then dirt... Because of them. Aeon shook himself out of it, "I probably should have left the bandage on overnight, at least," he thought as he pulled a pair of black jeans on over his boxers. He reached over to the nighstand by his bed and grabbed his watch and his cell phone. He wrapped his watch around his wrist as he headed to the closet. A cold, mechanical voice sounded, "It is now Three A.M... It is now Three A.M.". Aeon reached down and shut off the alarm. If there was one thing he didnt need any help doing lately, that was getting up. He grabbed a long trench coat out of the closet and put it on. Reaching into the left breast pocket, he pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses, then he walked over to his dresser. Reaching into the top drawer, he pulled out ten .110 rounds and slipped them one by one into the right breast of his jacket. He closed the drawer before picking up a black leather briefcase and walking out the door. He walked through the deserted hotel, for once glad for the hours he worked. The less people to identify him, the easier his life would be. He passed the doorman, who nodded to him. "Barely awake," Aeon thought, "Good, all he'll remember is the coat. Probably assumes i'm just another businessman on his way back home from a business trip." He smiled as he approached the curb, handing the valet a small ticket. "The black Ferrari," he said as the bus boy hurried off to get the keys and fetch his car. Aeon admired his hustle. He liked it when people were smart enough to see opportunity, even if it was only for a decent tip. The sleek car pulled up in front of him, Aeon took the keys from the boy and handed him a neatly folded up bill from his side pocket. "Thanks, kid," he said as he climbed into the car. "Thank YOU, sir," the boy exclaimed, cramming the bill unceremoniously into his pocket, as he watched the car drive away. Aeon smiled as he pulled out onto the freeway. So far there hadn't been any problems. he didnt like the Idea of carrying this kind of weaponry around in a country with a ban on guns. In America, he could say he was special op's, toss a phony badge around and the cops would leave him alone. Not in Japan. Here if someone was to notice a man with a sniper rifle in his coat, there would be a bloodbath. Aeon didnt like killing cops, any more then he liked killing civilians. But he was always prepared to do what was necessary. He pressed his hand against the altered automatic pistol he had against his left side and whispered to himself the last coherant words his father had told him. "Don't ever let them take you alive." It had become a code for him and his men. No matter what, they would never surrender. After about two hours Aeon turned off his headlights and veered off the road, onto a narrow dirt trail carved through the trees, barely wide enough for his car to pass through. He continued driving, untill he reached a cliff overlooking what looked like an office building. He stopped the car and got out. He walked to the edge of the cliff and set his briefcase down. He looked at the building, considering that nothing about it would draw attention to itself besides it location. He had seen the blueprints, but still he expected it to look more like a mad scientists laboratory, then just another office building. Taking off his jacket, he spread it out on the ground, and checked his watch. Two hours until dawn, they would have to hurry. He pulled a holster from the jacket and attacked it to his waist. Picking the pistol up he checked the clip, a full thirty rounds. He smiled as he placed it in the holster. Lifting two pieces of the collapsed sniper rifle, he began putting it together, piece after piece. Finally, he screwed on the scope, and checking its alignment he set the rifle down. He reached again and pulled from the jacket two of the .110 rounds he had placed there this morning and began loading them into the empty clip he had attatched to the rifle. Aeon laid down in the grass with the rifle in hand. Again he checked to scope, and finally placed the crosshairs on the doors to the building. There were two guards just as he had been told. Armed with what looked like automatic rifles. Aeon heard a rustling behind him. "You're late" he muttered as he placed the crosshairs on the first guard. "We had to find the place, its hard in these woods without any lights," one of the men said as he lay down next to Aeon. The others quickly followed suit. "What about the..." the man started. "The choppers are over there," he said pointing to there left at a clearing about two hundred yards outside the building. "They are covered with a como tent, and ready to fly. Mike, take care of the car." One of the men crawled back a few yards then walked to the ferrari and pulled a small box out of his jacket. He punched a few keys and tossed it into the car, then returned to the others. "We got one hour," he said looking at Aeon. Two shots rang through the air, and the two guards fell to the ground. Aeon stood up, and strapped the briefcase to a hook at his waist. "Lets go." The men followed Aeon as threw a rope around a large tree, and began descending the cliff. As they reached the bottom they gathered, with their backs against the cliff. Aeon watched the security camera as it rotated, watching the area before the doors. One by one, the men timed its rotation and ran to the building, pressing their backs against the wall. Finally Aeon ran up to it. One of the men nodded to Aeon and walked to the electrical lock. He took a small torch out and slowly began cutting away the face of the keypad. After a minute or so, the faceplate fell of. The man took a small screwdriver from his jacket and began seperating the wires, following them to their sources. Finally, he found what his was looking for. Severing the wire with a small penknife, he pulled a small circuit board from his jacket and twisted the severed wire, to a stripped wire protruding from the board. With a smile of satisfaction, he nodded to the others as the doors opened and the camera stopped rotating. They all ran in, and headed straight up the steps, On the seventh floor they found what they were looking for. Aeon read the plate on the door, Top secret. Authorized personel only. Classified CC7. He looked at the lock. "Damnit," he whispered. "A Retinal password." He put the briefcase down again. Reaching inside he pulled a small bundle out and rested it on top of the retinal scanner. He and his men backed up as he drew his pistol from his holster and took aim. The floor shook slightly as he shot the pack of High explosives. And the door was blown into the room. "Damn," he smiled "I'd forgotten how well those worked". He put the pistol back into its holster. Without waiting for the smoke to clear, the men ran into the room. Their objective was clear. They were to find this supposed wormhole generator, and observe as much as possible of its operation. Then they had two options, they could either steal the device and its plans, or destroy it and take only the plans. "Ive found the log," one of the men shouted as he thumbed through some paper. "Heres yesterdays..." the man began to read, "April 11: We sent a lab chimp through the wormhole, he came out the other side. But all life functions had ceased. According to the security videos, our location calibrations were about 30 feet off. As a result, he fell to the concrete and his skull was crushed. We were unable to determine whether life functions had ceased during transmission or due to his fall... Wow poor monkey." "I found it, back here. Heres the console," Aeon turned to the tall skinny man who was busy typing at a console. "Ill try to power it up." "Goddamn look at that thing!," one of the men said as he looked at the massive loops stretching from the floor to the roof, a distance of a good 30 feet. "Good work, Smiths," Aeon said as he walked towards the machine. "Will we be able to load it on a chopper?" "Negative, Aeon. The things built into the floor. We don't have time to cut it out. Even if we did, I don't know what the fuck those things are made of," he said gesturing to the metallic loops just behind the console. "They could theoretically weigh several tons each." He paused, typing rapidly into the console. Ok, I think its ready. How about I set it up to take you to the choppers, I think I understand the spatial measurements." He paused again as he entered a several numbers into the console. Then he continued, "Let's see what time should i put?... Oh good, nevermind they have a "present" option." He paused, "Hey Aeon, what should I put for dimensional adjustment variable?" Aeon looked up from a stack of papers he had been leafing through. "You're crazy if you think im getting into that thing, Smiths. So you can put your birthday for all I care." The man laughed. "It's a yes or no question, I guess its the option to enable a variable they havent implemented yet or something. Aeon looked at him, "What does that mean?" "I'd guess it means that if I enable it, the variable will be determined randomly from a set of infinite possible numbers." "Then enable it. I always like surprises... wait a minute... computers can't comprehend the idea of infinite, they can only process within set boundaries." Aeon said questioningly, as he approached the console to see what Smiths was doing. "Well to be fair, computers can't send people through time and space either," Smiths said, as he selected "Yes" on the screen. The computer whirred to life and a small shock of electricity between the hoops which slowly spread to create what looked like a huge tunnel in the room. It filled the room with a brilliant white glow. Aeon and Smiths stared at it in awe. Neither able to say a word. Finally they snapped out of it when they heard a voice. "What the fuck is that... Hey Aeon, What..." The mans voice was cut off as the room erupted into gunfire. Instinctively Aeon dove behind the console, pulling Smiths with him. Aeon drew the pistol from its holster and stood up, firing two shots before falling back behind the console. "Theres about five guys with machine guns just outside the door. What kind of security guards carry around fucking machine guns?" He tightened his grip on the suitcase in his hand. Everyone but him and Smiths were dead. He still had four packs of explosives. "Could this console shield the blast," he wondered. Then he remembered the armored door only a few minutes ago. "Not a chance," he realized. Smiths looked at him, "Why arent they firing," he asked. Aeon froze for a second, thinking. "Probably don't want to hit the console, if you buy that much protection for something you sure as hell aren't gonna let them just blow it up," Aeon answered. Smiths pulled a grenade from his jacket, and flipped the pin. He immediately Stood up and turned around to throw it. Aeon didn't see Smiths fall to the ground, blood spilling out from the wound between his eyes. He didnt see the five guards outside the door with machine guns. He didn't see the three guards inching closer to the console, pistols drawn. All he saw was the hand grenade fall between his legs and rest gently against his crotch. One thing flashed in his mind... "Smiths puts a three second fuse on all his hand grenades." Instantly, he jumped up and dove into the wormhole in front of him, as the heat from the hand grenade reinvited the pain from his lower back.