Kyrie

You just don't know.

The planet could be toast tomorrow, colonists and rebels bringing their skirmish here. And D.C.'s no place to die. So you and the Brit catch a red-eye flight, him holding the leash, you half prize/half partner. Stars wink beyond the window but your mind's on Marita, why the hell she'd turn. There was nothing to be gained, everything to lose. Why?

The Brit half-dozes, fitful, beside you. When you land, there's no talk of strategy; humans are mere insects on this battlefield. Gray countryside streams past the limo while your pulse ticks minutes and reasons, searching for answers. The air's way too thin.

The Brit's walls are lined with pictures--family. He sighs into his Scotch and lingers, looking. You turn away. In the silence by the window, sunlight sears a streak along your jaw. Behind closed eyes you see a ragged child, a mountain you once climbed, your mother's eyes.

Note: Though mytharc eps were invariably followed by stand-alone case files and mutants, there was no real way for any of the XF characters to know, immediately at the end of *The Red and the Black, that the Rebels would in fact back off their assault on the Colonists and the Colonists' project. It got me to thinking about what WMM and Krycek might have done at that time if they'd assumed the worst was on its way. This is a scenario that will be developed in more depth for the final section of my Krycek backstory.