United in Battle

Chapter 4

Kagome and Kaede sat beside the fire in Kaede's hut.

"Have ye figured out where those droids came from?" Kaede stirred the pot of stew simmering over the fire.

"No. The markings are like nothing I've ever seen before. Kagome looked up from the droid. "This is so weird, Kaede. What could these droids possibly want with our friends?"

"We will soon figure it out." Kaede ladled some of the stew into a bowl and handed it to Kagome. "Ye must eat if ye are to keep up your strength."

Kagome climbed to her feet. "I'll call the others." She stepped out the door and looked around the peaceful village before creating a megaphone with her hands. "Jaken! Ginta! Ayame! Hakkaku!"

Jaken hurried around the corner of the hut as Kaede yelled from within. Kagome, Jaken, and the three wolf demons hurried into the hut.

"It just appeared." Kaede pointed at the hologram in the middle of the room.

"It's a hologram." Kagome knelt beside the droid as Ginta cocked his head to one side.

"Koga! My love, you've returned." Ayame started toward the hologram to embrace it.

"Wait!" Kagome barely grabbed her. "Let's hear what he has to say."

The image of Koga shimmered in the firelight. "Kagome, I'm sure you have retrieved one of the 'droids' and are receiving this message. I am safe as are Shippo and Rin. Inu-Yasha, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Sessho-Maru have been taken prisoner as have five others. I'm on a world called Tatooine while the children are at a place called the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. They're safe and being well cared for. I have been looking for any information on what has happened to the others but have come up empty handed. When I have found something, I'll contact you again. Koga smiled as the hologram disappeared.

"Okay. Now I know that Shippo and Rin are safe." Kagome sighed in relief.

"You worry about pups when the love of my life is still in danger." Ayame reached for Kagome's throat.

"We know that Koga's safe, too." Ginta pulled Ayame from Kagome.

"But what about the others?" Hakkaku stared at the droid.

Kagome looked up from her position on the floor. "Well, I guess we keep this droid and maybe we'll hear something soon."

"Aye." Kaede began to ladle stew into more bowls. "We must keep up our strength."

Ayame, Ginta, Jaken, and Hakkaku each took a bowl of stew as Kagome continued to fiddle with the droid.

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Dumbledore and a young woman with long dark brown hair walked into the room that Arthur Weasley and Ted Tonks had taken over as their base of operations. They watched in silence for a moment before the woman reached for a wire.

"Here. You need to reconnect these two wires for it to work again." The woman knelt next to Arthur.

"Thank you, Veronica." Arthur took the wire and reconnected it. "I take it that you're worried about Remus."

Veronica blushed as Peter stepped into the room. "As well as James, Lily, and Sirius. I feel bad that I wasn't here when it happened." She turned slightly for Peter to see the glare in her eyes. "I know if I had been there, I wouldn't have tucked my tail between my legs and ran away like a rat. I would have been captured as well."

"Come on, Vee. I was scared. Those things were trying to kill us." Peter trembled slightly as Veronica rose to her feet.

"You and I are going to take a little walk later, Peter. And I'm going to show you what terror really is." Veronica flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned back to the droid.

A buzzing sound filled the room. Everyone turned to the droid as a hologram appeared. Everyone but Veronica pulled their wands and pointed them at the hologram as the hologram held up his hands.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Arthur tried to keep Veronica away from the hologram.

"I don't think he's going to hurt us." Veronica stepped around Arthur and bowed slightly to the hologram.

The hologram returned the bow. "My name is Koga. I come in peace. I have friends that were also captured by those 'droids'. I'm contacting you to let you know that the last time I saw them they were safe. The creatures that captured them don't have any designs on killing them. At least I don't think they do. I'll contact you later when I have either learned more or I have found your friends. Not to worry, Miss, your mate is fine." Koga bowed again as he disappeared as did the buzzing.

"They're alive." Veronica collapsed to the floor, tears running down her face. "Thank you Merlin."

"We know that they're alive but are they safe?" Dumbledore watched as Arthur tried to comfort Veronica.

"At least that guy saw them." Ted turned to Dumbledore. "I guess that's a good sign."

"We need to keep working on this 'droid'. Perhaps we'll learn more about what has happened to our friends." Dumbledore held out a hand to Veronica. "Coming, Miss Croft?"

"I think I'll stay here and help with the 'droid'." Veronica smiled through her tears as Dumbledore left the room. She glared at Peter one more time. "Don't think you've gotten out of our walk, Peter."

Peter shivered in fear and scurried out of the room. Arthur, Ted, and Veronica began to reconstruct the droid.

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Chief Raider watched as the computer techs, or geeks as he liked to call them, attempted to put the droid back together. One of the techs motioned for him to come into the room. He hurried through the doors and approached the table.

"What have you found? Anything on Tori yet, Penn?"

"We have managed to crack the codes on this thing and found a very interesting bit of information." Garry Penn pointed at the scrolling information on his computer screen. "We found Tori's name on a list with nine others."

"Say what? You mean more people have disappeared?" Chief Raider stared at Garry.

Garry nodded. "The funny thing is the people weren't from 2000 like Tori."

"Say what?"
"Exactly what I said when I saw it. Five of them are from what I have learned was called the Warring States Era in Japan's history. Two of them were humans and the other three were demons." Garry cleared his throat slightly as Chief Raider clenched his fists. "There's more, sir. The others were taken from Scotland in June of 1978. They were a witch and three wizards."

Chief Raider rubbed his forehead trying to rid himself of the headache forming. "What you're telling me is Tori is on a ship in the middle of outer space with a bunch of people who most likely will kill her?"

"I wouldn't say kill her. She can handle herself." A soft buzzing filled the room. Garry jumped back from his computer as Chief Raider turned to the droid. "What the hell? I swear, sir, I touched nothing."

An image hovered before the two men. They could see it was a man dressed in a fur skirt. The man bowed to them. "My name is Koga and I am the reason you have one of the droids that captured your friend." Koga smiled a smile that said 'See I can be helpful.' "The woman was taken by surprise and couldn't fight back so I decided that you needed a few clues as to what happened. She was safe the last time I saw her. Unfortunately I can't tell you where she was taken. I can tell you, however, that the others that were captured with her will protect her. When I know more or have found her, I will contact you again." Koga bowed slightly as the hologram shut down.

"At least we know she's alive, sir." Garry stared at the droid.

"Can you print that info out?" Chief Raider watched Garry nod slightly. "Good. I want it on my desk yesterday."

Garry watched as Chief Raider left the room before turning back to his computer and hitting the print button.