In a blur of motion, Orion ran at one of the approaching motorcycles. He leapt up, his jump carrying him over the front wheel and handlebars of the compact bike, and planted one booted foot squarely in the chest of the elf with the baseball bat. The rider went flying off the bike, which hit the pavement and skidded sideways in a shower of sparks. The rider followed, hitting the ground with a thud. Orion landed on his feet and reached over his shoulder, drawing his sword in one smooth motion. The blade gleamed in the play of the headlights from the oncoming motorcycles.

G-Dogg, meanwhile, drew a heavy pistol from his jacket. He stepped out into the alley, spun toward one of the oncoming bikers, and fired two shots in rapid succession. The first sparked off the frame of the Yamaha Rapier, but the second was closer to the mark and took the rider in the shoulder. The impact almost knocked him off his bike, and caused it to veer toward the wall, forcing the rider to brake and skid to a halt.

Kellan reached for her own gun as the second rider roared past G-Dogg, headed for Orion. The elf warrior dodged the chain-wielding ganger, who headed toward G-Dogg from the opposite direction. The two shadowrunners turned to meet their new opponents.

The whirling chain lashed out as G-Dogg turned, catching the ork upside the head. Kellan saw dark blood arc from where G-Dogg was hit as the biker roared past. Then she saw the other ganger G-Dogg had shot. He had regained control of his bike, and was drawing a flat-profile gun from underneath his jacket. Kellan spun toward him and snapped off a shot that ricocheted off the wall nearby. She successfully diverted the elf's attention from G-Dogg, but focused it on her. She dodged behind the club's trash barrels as the ganger fired off a couple of shots in her direction.

Orion turned as another ganger closed in on him. A heavy bat swung at the same time as Orion's sword flashed out. Sparks flew and the bat went tumbling end over end to clatter to the pavement a short distance away. The ganger looked dumbly at his empty hand as he rode past. The elf Orion knocked from his bike got back up and tackled him from behind. Caught off guard, Orion wasn't able to bring his sword to bear as the ganger slammed both of them against the wall.

The elf with the chain swerved in a squealing of tires, turning around for another pass at G-Dogg. He overestimated how much he'd hurt the ork, who raised his pistol and fired another two shots. Both of them slammed into the elf's chest, knocking him off his bike onto the ground and toppling the motorcycle.

Kellan popped up from behind the barrels and fired off another shot at the Ancient with the gun, but missed him again. She ducked as a couple more shots whanged off the pavement close by. G-Dogg turned on the gun-wielding elf and fired a shot that forced the elf to abandon his bike and seek cover.

By now, the Ancients were dismounted, either knocked off their rides or on foot to maneuver in the tight confines of the alley. Orion grappled with one ganger as another closed in. A long, thin blade slid out of the back of the approaching Ancient's hand, extending out from his arm. It was flat black in the harsh glow of the headlights. Orion managed to push off the ganger and bring his sword up just in time to parry a slash from the Ancient's cyberspur. G-Dogg fired a couple more shots at the gun-toting Ancient, rushing across the alley to find some cover.

Momentarily safe behind the trash barrels, Kellan focused her attention on the elf fighting Orion. She concentrated like Lothan had taught her, feeling the flow of magic all around her. The now-familiar heat washed across her skin, tingling around her neck where the amulet rested. She raised her free hand and pointed at the elf, focusing, directing all the heat and energy toward him as he slashed and stabbed, and Orion twisted and parried.

"Burn," Kellan whispered, unleashing the energy she gathered. There was a rush of power as it left her, and a streak of fire cut across the alley. The elf ganger turned at the last moment, alerted by the sudden brightness, but too late to avoid the blast. The fire struck him square in the chest and there was a boom that shook the alley as flames exploded all around, engulfing not only the Ancient with the cyberspur, but his compatriot and Orion as well.

"Orion!" Kellan cried out. The flames cleared as thick black smoke boiled up toward the sky. The side of the wall and part of the pavement was blackened with it, and three figures lay on the ground. Kellan felt her heart stop when she saw it.

Heedless of the danger, she rushed out from cover toward where Orion lay. She vaguely heard the sounds of the other two elves retreating as quickly as they could, the bike engines roaring again as they took off, not wanting to face off against a spellcaster as well as G-Dogg.

Kellan reached Orion's side. His jacket and jeans were charred and burned in spots, and there were burns on his face, hands and parts of his torso, but his chest still rose and fell, and he groaned weakly and started to roll over as Kellan knelt by his side.

"Don't move," she said, placing as gentle a hand as she could on his shoulder. She looked at the other two elves lying nearby. The ganger she'd hit was clearly dead, burned to a crisp, while the other was burned like Orion, though it seemed like he caught more of the brunt of the blast.

Then G-Dogg was there, crouching beside her, looking things over with an experienced eye. He cupped Orion's head in one massive hand, looking at the burns on his face and lifting one eyelid to check his pupils.

"I think he'll be okay," the ork said, "but he needs a street doc or a healer." He turned to look at Kellan. "Can you do anything for him? Kellan?"

The request snapped Kellan out of the daze she was in. She glanced down at Orion, then back up at G-Dogg, shaking her head. "I don't know how," she said helplessly.

"Then we should get him to Liada," G-Dogg replied. "The Star will show up sooner or later, even in this part of the Barrens, especially when people start tossing fireballs around. Help me get him up." Kellan helped G-Dogg move Orion, though the brawny ork did most of the work. Soon, Orion was laid out across the backseat of G-Dogg's car. They drove away from Crusher 495 as sirens wailed in the distance, heralding the arrival of Lone Star. G-Dogg got on the phone as he drove. It was only then that Kellan noticed the blood oozing from a nasty gash along the side of his head, matting in the ork's dark dreadlocks. G-Dogg seemed to pay no attention to it.

"Liada," he said into the phone. "We ran into some trouble. We're going to need some patching up. Looks like the Ancients might be a problem."

Kellan was angry that Orion's surrogate family was trying to kill him, just because he was trying to do what he thought was right. She figured it was over when Orion lost the duel to Green Lucifer, but clearly the Ancients were not going to let it drop until Orion was dead. But she wondered, was dealing with Orion more important to them than their war with the Spikes?

"I think I know how to distract them," Kellan said, putting a hand on G-Dogg's arm.