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"Ah, Chosen One," Hiroshi said, seeing Zelos, "I take it the group has arrived?"

"Yeah, yeah, right according to plan," Zelos replied with a nod, "You know, I still say you guys are making a big mistake here. They're tougher than you give them credit for."

"We've prepared for every contingency," Hiroshi responded loftily, "You just worry about your own skin; that's what you're best at, isn't it?"

Zelos smirked at him and gave a lazy salute, "Sure, fine. I'd better get back to them, before I'm missed."

Once Zelos had gone back to the group, Hiroshi pulled out his communicator and called Yuan's office. "Lord Yuan," he said, "the bait has been taken. Orochi led them right here, just as I told him; the Chosen One just reported in."

"Excellent," Yuan's voice came back, "Everything's in place; it's just a matter of time now."

"Lord Yuan, are you sure this was wise, letting them into our base like this?" Hiroshi asked, "The Chosen One seemed to think we had underestimated them..."

"Even if they're stronger than we've anticipated, we can still overwhelm them with numbers. And their strength won't matter much, at any rate. I know their type; they're idealists. They won't kill anyone if knocking them unconscious would suffice. We'll be fine," Yuan assured him, "There's nothing they can do that we haven't prepared for."

Hiroshi nodded, "All right, then, good luck, sir."

"Thank you, Hiro. Keep an eye on things; we do need to stay alert."

"Yes, sir." Hiroshi shut off his communicator.

In his office, Yuan went over his checklist one last time. The guards in every area had been warned of the coming 'invasion'; the officers with the passwords had been instructed to give them up once they had been defeated, something they would never do otherwise; the security measures were in place to make sure that they didn't harm anything valuable; and teams of healers were standing by to trail after the party and tend to the wounded left in their wake. Satisfied, he teleported into the Rheiard hangar, where Botta was already waiting.

"Is everything set?" Botta asked as he arrived, no longer unnerved by Yuan's angelic teleport.

Yuan nodded, "Nothing to do now but wait for the teams to report in."

A few minutes later, Yuan's comm device buzzed. "This is a pre-recorded message from Colonel Banfree," Charles Banfree's voice said, "If you're hearing this, Lord Yuan, I'm giving up the password to Lloyd Irving's party right now."

"Show-off," Yuan muttered. Charles was notorious for his tech-gimmicking. "The confirm message was supposed to come from the healers."

Shortly after that, the device beeped again, this time with a message from the healers, saying that there were no casualties thus far, and adding a note that, promptly upon being healed, Charles began asking whether his message-system had worked. With a roll of his eyes (and a poorly-concealed smile from Botta), Yuan assured them that it had.

A little more time passed, followed by a message from the next healer team, stating that the second password had been given up. It was interrupted by an angry tirade from Rebecca Fuego, the officer who had been in charge of that password. Apparently, she wasn't too pleased at having been knocked out. Yuan finally cut her off and disconnected the comm, making Rebecca officially the healers' problem.

"Remind me again, Botta, do I allow my officers to use that kind of language toward me?" Yuan asked conversationally.

"In Rebecca's case, there's no 'allow' involved. At least, not when she's in that kind of mood," Botta pointed out.

"True, true."

The next message came from Joe Shan, the officer in charge of the third password...or rather, from his comm device. The first noise that came from it was a rustling thump, much like a falling body. "Hey, look, this thing on this guy's belt came on when he fell!" said Lloyd's voice over the comm, "What do you suppose it does?" Yuan smacked his forehead with one hand.

"Let me see that, Lloyd," came Raine's voice, "...I think it's a communication device of some sort. We'd better turn it off, in case we give away our position; someone might be listening. Let's see, this looks like the pow-" The transmission was cut off abruptly; it seemed Raine had indeed found the power button.

"It won't be long now," Botta observed, and Yuan nodded. They prepared to battle the party; after this, Lloyd would be theirs to use as a bargaining chip, and their plans could finally come to fruition...

-----

Half an hour later, Yuan and Botta limped back to Yuan's office to go over their contingency plans. "Botta?" Yuan asked slowly, "Do you know what part of our plan was inadequate, and thusly failed to work?"

"I'm not sure," Botta replied, "I don't suppose you have any idea."

Yuan nodded, with a pained expression that had nothing to do with his wounds. "None of it. It all went off completely without a hitch, right up until the moment they entered the hangar." He shook his head, "The only thing that went wrong at all...was that we weren't supposed to lose to them."

Botta nodded slowly, "I suppose you're right..." His expression was somewhere between perplexity and vague amusement. "It's almost funny, if you think about it," he added.

Yuan glared at him, but in his injured state it looked more like a pout. "It's embarrassing, is what it is," he grumbled, "We're supposed to be the best of the best..."

"You could always blame our loss on the earthquake," Botta pointed out, "I'm sure we could have made a comeback if that hadn't distracted us."

Yuan looked at him for a moment, then smirked ruefully. "Of course," he agreed, "If it wasn't for the earthquake, we definitely would have had them."

After all, there was no shame in their plans being disrupted by an earthquake. It was much less of an embarrassment to the Renegades than the thought that their leaders had been the only weak link in their own plan.