This should have been posted about two months ago. However, as I've been pretty much unable to write anything for myself in that stretch, it's had to be on the back burner until I could get around to it. While techinically, I still don't really have time for it even now, I felt it should go up.

This one finally introduces a long mentioned character, who you'll hear from again before the season's out. A lot of difficulties are about to befall Reynolds and his crew, and Monday is going bye-bye for a while. Finally, the overarching thread of this and the next season is finally tied off. In the end, it's all about the...

Anywhoo. Whatever writing I'm going to do next will be slow in coming, so just bide until I can get Hostile Environments finished.

You know this doesn't belong to me. I just play with it.

Feedback, if you would, would be appreciated. Might even spur me on to getting the next one done faster... nudge nudge wink wink.

Among the Ashes of Gahaan

“You're staying behind, and that's final,” Eli said, staring Von Pinn in the eye as he strode away from her and into the park where he'd met Mai, those however many years ago. Von Pinn kept pace, though.

“If it's that important that you talk to him, I see no reason...” she began, but was brought to a stop when he grasped her shoulders and gave her a sideways glance.

“Johner Marshal expects to see me, alone. If he sees you with me, he'll assume something's wrong and bolt. We'll never see him,” Eli explained impatiently.

“Then I'll enter from a different....”

“You don't get it,” Eli said with a chuckle. “This is Johner Marshal. The UIA are terrified of him, and what he represents. A wildcard, somebody that can beat them at their game enough to be a hazard, one that cannot be locked down or bought or killed. Johner isn't even his real name. I don't think anybody knows his real identity. And this guy is as good as they get. He'll know, Franci, if we try to pull anything on him. He'll know, he'll bolt,and he might even be offende