wOOt! Yes! I'm so happee ... *gurgles and dies*

See, this page wouldn't load for me, so I had a lot of trouble posting. Kovey, y'don't have to post those parts for me now! That is, if the problem doesn't come back ...

The part. Right. The part ...

The huge, white moon loomed above Raxizil, making the Nightdwelller a small black shape against its' light. The Saravzan were silently moving through the shifting shadows, making their way unerringly towards where the next ship would land to gather its' prisoners. Scimitar intended to disable the ship or destroy it, and to free whatever prisoners were already on it. Venomarin was back at HQ, in case they needed reinforcements. She wasn't happy about it, and made sure everybody knew it, too. Emerald Dragon was beginning to wonder if they'd ever win the war.
Scimitar glanced back at them, his sword glinting.
"You know what to do?" he asked. The Sarav nodded. "You are aware of what the Deathless Ones will do to you if you are caught?" More nods. "You are aware of what Venomarin will do if you fail?" Nods, a lot more, this time. Scimitar grinned cryptically. "Do not fail me. Do not fail the prisoners. Most of all, do not fail Raxizil." He turned away, ready to kill, and the Sarav looked nervously at each other. Emerald was wondering by now if life couldn't have been a lot simpler if she'd stayed on Carrotus, set up a little china shop, gotten married, and eventually die in bed, instead of this. Many of her fellow rebels seemed to be having similar thoughts.
The prison freighter was waiting on the landing pad, the myriad guards arguing loudly about the loading process.
"I loaded yesterday, can't I have a day off? He hasn't done it yet."
"You blind, deaf, mute idiot! It's the other way round! Seems t'me you've been doing a lot more sitting on your duff than helping out!"
"Sitting on my - ! Why you ... you ... you'll pay for that!"
"Yeah? I'd like to see you try. Go on, try it!"
"Just see if I don't! When I get my hands on you, I'll ... "
"You'll what? Fall over? I'd like to see it!"
"Why you! I'm gonna - "
"Just what is going on here?" The authoritave voice of their superior rang out over the compound. Scimitar looked dryly at Emerald, who shook her head and shrugged. The arguing turtles cringed and tried to look innocent.
"Who, sir? Not us, sir!"
"Good. You, Datra, and you, Sigol, start loading those prisoners in. The rest of you, start rounding up the rest. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, we got it ... sir," muttered the guard. The commander started to say something, then thought better of it and nodded curtly instead. Turning on his heel, he stalked away.
As soon as he was out of sight, the two guards began grumbling again.
"Why do you always get your way? He never listens to me!"
"Look who's talking! Say, Sigol, maybe that Gondo was talking to him again ... he always gets his way."
"Yeah ... he's really getting into Callon's inner circle, isn't he?"
"Mmm hmm. Here, why don't you take these guys, and I'll take these."
"Okay. Say, Datra? What are we goin' to do about Gondo?"
"Waddaya mean, goin' to do?"
"Well ... say he just happened to have an unfortunate accident, or something."
"Or something!" Datra's grin was visible even from where Emerald was.
"Yeah, like he just happened to get in the way when we were target practicing ... " Emerald caught Scimitar's slight movement, and inched forward. One of the other Sarav slipped into the milling prisoners to take out the far guard.
"Naw ... something more subtle than that. More like he's caught by enemy fire or left behind when we leave."
"Yeah."
By now Emerald was just behind Datra, and caught sight of her fellow Sarav, Ferran, about to be herded up by Sigol. Inching her dagger out of its' scabbard, she waited briefly until Ferran was just in front of Sigol before pushing it home. At the same time Sigol suddenly collapsed, Ferran dancing back skillfully. Waiting until she was sure that Datra was dead, she turned and signalled the rest of the Sarav. At Scimitar's questioning look, she lifted a hand, and he nodded and slunk away towards where the remaining captives were. A moment later, one startled yelp, and he was back.
"Quickly. There are more on the way."
He signalled several Sarav to follow him, Ferran and Emerald among them. Slipping into the buildings, they followed him swiftly to where a second compound was.
"Swiftly. Ferran and I will stand guard. Get these into the buildings ... you know what I mean."
With brusque, curt nods, the Sarav split up and began working their way through the group of prisoners.
Emerald had a pleasant surprise. This bunch were the members of another urban gang ... in the wrong place at the wrong time, she guessed. Their weapons had been consficated, but many of them had managed to hide their bootknives and daggers from the careless guards. They moved quickly and calmly when Emerald indentified herself, moving smoothly towards the city and scattering expertly. Very shortly their number was a quarter of what it had been.
Emerald heard a cry from where Scimitar was standing guard. Dropping the rope she'd been holding, she leapt to her feet, to see Scimitar standing over a dead guard, scarlet stained sword drawn, a bloody slash on his leg showing that the guard had gotten some of his own back. At the same time, Ferran let out a wild warcry, and the rest of the turtles were on them.
It wasn't all turtles. Emerald cut down one, slashed at a lizard. It ducked, its' lithe body slinking with impossible speed around her blade, face filled with condencending scorn. At the last moment, she jerked up when it went down, and caught it in the throat. It fell, its' place being taken by a sneering Kronan.
This was what Emerald loved, the rush of adrenalin as she cut and sliced at her opponent. This was why she had chosen to be a warrior, why she hadn't stayed on Carrotus. This was why she was Sarav.
She twisted her saber at the Kronan, who caught it on his vibroblade. He began applying his strength, and Emerald strained to keep her blade up. The two weapons sang discordantly against each other as their wielders matched strengths, then Emerald cut down and skipped aside. The Kronan, with an outraged expression, found himself spitted on her saber. She jerked it out and turned to catch a downsweeping blade.
Then Ferran was beside her. They fought like demons, but sheer numbers gave the enemy an edge. Emerald wondered detatchedly if the prisoners had escaped.
"We must withdraw! They have escaped; our job here is done!" Scimitar called, appearing beside her. His scimitar was dripping and his face was bloody, though if the blood was his or some vanquished foe she could not tell.
Nodding to show that she had heard, Emerald slung a dagger over Scimitar's shoulder to take out a guard who was sneaking up behind the wildcat. Scimitar's sword sliced low, killing another super-agile lizard that Emerald hadn't seen with a blow that it hadn't seen, and he turned to start covering her retreat.