Venessa and Darqe both watched the scene in front of them in the control room. Neither of them had been around long enough to see Dragaunus angry, and now they were regretting being there as it was happening. The cause this time was not one of his henchmen, but rather his first and favorite mate, the one known to most as Lady Sheeba.

"You deliberately disobeyed my orders. My orders were to KILL him, Duke L'Orange, the only one that can penetrate our security systems, instead, you released him What's your excuse?" he demanded of Sheeba.
Sheeba never lowered her head as she looked at Dragaunus. "I know, my lord, but I gave him some information from our spies that made that duck get sick. Do you remember the old female duck that was hiding some of our wounded members? That female duck was Duke's mother. I told him that Canard killed his mother for sheltering those Saurians."
"That still doesn't change the fact that you DELIBERATELYdisobeyed me!!" He snarled, grabbing her by the shoulders and slamming her against the wall.
"Do you want her to miscarry your child?" Venessa snarled, without fear or thinking and charged forward.

Sheeba was a bit surprised by her sheer refusal to back down from anything, ever since the two had came there, Venessa had been picking fights with almost everyone, and actually defending Sheeba from anyone, either friend, relative or otherwise.

The Overlord considered her words, still keeping Sheeba pinned easily a foot off the ground, then lowered her gently, almost mocking Venessa as he did. "Tell me more about this information that you gave to Duke." He ordered. The female Saurian slid away from him, and growled thoughtfully. "Well, m'lord..." she began, but was quickly cut off by Venessa.
"You mean you aren't even going to protest?" she exclaimed, giving Sheeba an almost frightened look.
"Silence!" growled Sheeba. Venessa quickly turned her head away in contempt. "As I was saying, my lord. This female duck heard our warriors running past her home and she offered them a place to hide but Canard, the duck you killed in between the Dimensions after his Resistance struck, saw them go into her home and ordered her to let him have them for execution. She refused and so paid for it with her life. Three of the five warriors survived,and returned to the tower to reported what had happened."

Dragaunus grinned evilly. "Possibly. . .it's an advantage to our Empire that he is alive. Just hunt him down, and make sure he's clear about which side he should be on." the Overlord ordered, fading away.
"Even though you're six months along fatter than Siege, he's willing to sacrifice you and your unborn children's' lives for his damned Empire." Venessa growled, glaring over at Darqe and then at Sheeba.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself." spoke Sheeba, as she turned on the tracking device that she put on Duke. She found him wondering around some dark alley. She knew what to do.

"W. . .who's he?" the usually silent and obedient Darqe asked, almost seeming in fear of Sheeba.
"That is Duke L'Orange, the son of the female duck who helped some of our warriors and was murdered by her own people cause of it." said Sheeba
"If I didn't know better that duck is troubled by something." said Venessa, looking towards Duke on the screen.
"Not as troubled as he's about to be." the white Saurian said with an evil grin teleporting in behind the drake.

"Duke, what's wrong?" she asked in a gentle, almost caring voice. "I read tha' file over and over again. I don't know if it's tha' truth or not." said Duke. "Oh it is. Our troops would not lie to us about this sort of thing. Especially, an old female duck helping hide our injured and then get killed by Canard for it. No, what you read is the truth." "I'm not sure I can believe it, coming from. . .one of you." he replied, glaring at her out of his single dark eye. "Duke, I didn't like anyone killing a helpless old female duck with a slit to her throat, no more than I'd allow someone to kill a young duckling simply because." said Sheeba. "No, you would rather eat her alive." snorted Duke. "Peh! The elderly are to be respected and left alone. Even in among my species, the elders are respected, especially among the Royalties. Believe it or not, there are a few that Dragaunus respects. . .he was quite. . pissed, shall we say, when he found out what happened. Sheeba replied, keeping her glowing orange eyes fixed on him "Yea, only 'cause he would have probably rather raped and killed her himself." the drake replied in a hurt voice. "No, he wouldn't. He saw your mother as an ally not a threat to his battle. She aided in hiding us when we needed to hide. We protected her and she protected us. Now, it is your turn to figure out which side you are on. Ours, or the murderers of your mother? She had no weapon in her possession and yet she was killed as fast as your saber could slice a robot drone in half. All we want is to right a wrong done in the past. Vengeance and justice for the imprisonment of our Ancestors. That's all. "

The lone male duck stared at her for a moment, blinked out of his single good eye, and in a flash was gone back into the shadows. Darqe teleported to Sheeba's side and looked up at her.

"Is he on our side, Sheeba?" "I'm not sure, as of yet. But the look in his eye told me nothing of his decision. Come, along Darqe. We have work to do. Go find the Chameleon and rally the drones, just in case he turns on us." the Saurian Lady replied, teleporting back to the monitor tower.
* * *

Meanwhile in the dilapidated, barely livable apartment that he was temporarily calling home, Duke had headed for the kitchen to grab some food before heading back to his room to think.
"Duke, where were you?" asked a slim and young female duck. "Just. . thinkin', Sandy." He replied, with a heavy sigh. "Here, I stole this from the prison camp. . I'm not really hungry. It's yours." The blonde, white feathered duck said, handing him a small bundle of food wrapped in a silver-gray looking cloth.

* * *

Sheeba teleported into she and Dragaunus's shared quarters, managed to end up in front of the Overlord, and growled almost in jealousy when she found Lady Venessa in a very revealing ivory gown, growling and snarling in the corner. "Am I interrupting anything?" Sheeba asked sweetly, smiling at the Overlord.

Dragaunus growled off something about being horny and about how unwilling and ungrateful Venessa was, then stalked out onto the balcony, still growling, and ordered Venessa back to she and Darqe's quarters.

Sheeba smirked and grinned evilly at Venessa. "Not the warmest of receptions, ehh child?" she chuckled. "Do you not like your new mate?"
"He's not someone I would have picked in the first place but he's better than a general." She hissed in reply, as she grabbed her robe and strode out of the room.

Slowly and reluctantly, Sheeba poked her head out of the doorway and onto the balcony check on her mate. There he was leaning against the railing, staring down at the dark city, mumbling about making sure the next time, one of them will carry the child after being conceived so he could be with his beloved and not some useless female that was given to him because no one else would take her.

"You okay? If so, don't talk to yourself, you're scaring me." She replied with a grin, receiving a threatening growl from him. "I was able to talk with the thief. He's unsure but I think we may find out which side he's on soon. Let's state that the tower will be unguarded for an hour and see what rebels will fall for it. See if Duke will turn against Puck World and join us or stay against us."
The Overlord glared slowly. "Again you disobeyed my orders?" he hissed.
"I know. But I think this is better than killing him. We may gain an ally, or possibly a new foe but if so, how hard can it be to call in a bounty hunter? I hear Trinity's in the area. . ." Dhaka came creeping cautiously up to Sheeba, and she picked the little scared lizard up. "But would risking our Empire be worth it? You know as well as I do what one duck can do. . ." Dragaunus said reluctantly. "All too well." She replied, stroking the tiny face of her pet affectionately.

* * *

Several hours later, Venessa found Sheeba alone on her balcony with Dhaka, staring down into the city. "Sure is . . .dark out tonight. . ." Her voice broke the silence, and Sheeba's train of thought. "I suppose." Sheeba said with a heavy sigh, and curled deeper down under her blanket with Dhaka.

Strangely, Venessa had been staying close to Sheeba since she'd arrived in the Saurian Empire. She found Sheeba surprisingly intriguing, and though the white female could care less about Venessa, she still allowed the young Saurian to stay around, usually just within comfortable boundaries. Strangely enough, the two females had come to a sort of agreement about who was Dragaunus's favorite. Venessa could care less, and Sheeba was definitely The Saurian Lady.

"Sheeba. . .I. . uhm. ." She began, lowering her head submissively and sitting down in the chair across from her. Also surprising, Venessa had been some how put in her place, and she thought of herself as inferior to Sheeba. "Yes child?" She asked, casually turning her head to look at Venessa. "I. . need to thank you Sheeba. . if you hadn't came in earlier just when you did. . I. . don't know what Dragaunus would have done to me." She replied, looking back at Sheeba. "Come here child. ." Sheeba said, offering a welcoming gesture and a smile to her. Obediently, the small female accepted, and soon found herself laying with her head on Sheeba's shoulder and dozing lightly.

A firm grip on her shoulder brought her out of her light dream, and she jumped to see a gray male duck standing behind her. "S- -Sheeba, it's R - Resistance member!" She choked out. The white female slowly turned her head and caught a glimpse of the intruder. "Relax Venessa, it's just Duke." She said soothingly. "I'm assuming you've came here to tell us you've decided to join our Empire. . . ." "No, actually I haven't." He interrupted, Venessa automatically jumping to her feet, ready for battle. "Relax kid, I didn't say I was with the Resistance now. . ." "considering what they did to your mother. . ." Sheeba reminded, grinning sadistically. "So if you're not with us, and you're not with the Resistance, who're you with?" Venessa demanded, assuming a more relaxed position. "I'm just gon' a observe for a' while. . if that's possible." "of course that's possible, but I was planning on doing you some favors, but I see now you're not interested. . ." Sheeba taunted, absentmindedly stroking Dhaka's chin. "What d' ya' mean. . . favors? " The drake asked suspiciously. "Just one of the benefits of being a friend of ours, but you're obviously not too concerned with those favors. . ." "That depends on what sort a' favors you're talkin' about." He interrupted.

Sheeba could see he was beginning to reconsider, either that or curiosity was just getting the better of him. "Why, just a small favor of course. Like. . ." Sheeba paused for a moment and looked deep in thought as she stared at him. "Like being able to replace that blind eye of yours with something equal or better to what you used to have." She finally concluded her bargaining. "As tempting as that sounds, I still have to decline. See ya' around, Sheeba." He replied, seeming to fade into the night again, as if he were never there.

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