Ramirez is rescued

Khan motioned to two of his men. "Help whoever that is out of the vehicle. Be careful with them." The two men do as they are told and carefully help a badly burned Ramirez from the driver's cab. They laid her gingerly on the ground as Khan walked over to take a look. A pained expression was visible on Khan's face. "Ramirez" he seemed to lament. "I begged you to stay. Now it has come to this." He knelt beside her and gently hugged her close to him.

Ramirez gasped. "Kill me, Khan. You know I am unclean."

"Unclean?" Khan asked in shock. "Is that what they told you to get you away from us? That we are unclean? I loved you with all my soul's passion." Tears fell from his eyes. "I still love you, Ramirez. You are badly hurt, but not unclean." He looked at the two men. "Do what you can for her."

Khan got up, and walked back over to the sergeant. "So this is how you gain followers? You lie to them? None of us are unclean. I am a genetic hybrid, like those who follow me. We are the New Humans. We don't want this war, yet it was thrust upon us by you and your kind. All we want is recognition, and the same rights those who created us have. Is it too much to ask to be treated as equals?"

Khan paced back and forth. "Those who created us promised us paradise. Instead, we were cast out into Hell!" Anger flashed in his dark eyes. Yet the anger didn't seem to last very long before the careworn sadness returned. "Are you familiar with Milton, sergeant? When Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, he said, 'It is better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven.' Perhaps that is my lot in life. Welcome to Hell, sergeant. And Hell you shall see."

Khan walked over to Druuna. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Druuna, sir" she answered.

"What a lovely name for such a lovely lady." He cupped her chin gently. "I have determined you have no stake in this. You are an innocent bystander. But understand, I can't let you go. You would be captured and tortured for information of our whereabouts. However, you will be treated as a guest, and not as a prisoner. Keep your clothes on." He turned to the sergeant and the other captured soldiers. "The rest of you, off with those clothes, now. If we find no bio tags in them, or on your bodies, perhaps they will be returned to you."

The sergeant and the other captured soldiers quickly stripped off their clothes and dropped them on the ground in a pile at their feet. While men searched their clothing, women searched their bodies. They scanned over the captured women with what looked like portable metal detectors. The woman scanning the sergeant had her detector go off when she scanned the sergeant's left bicep.

Khan quickly walked over to the naked sergeant. He pulled out a very long, wicked looking knife. He smiled at the sergeant. "I shall enjoy removing that chip from your arm myself" he said to her. He looked at the people who were searching her. "Hold her still."