[The title is supposed to be a play on the James Bond movie.  Did 
I get the name wrong?  Whatever....]
	Frost clung still clung to the grass, even though it was 
near 11:00 am. It was a cold day in the steppes of Ukraine. The 
sun was bright, but the air cold. The light hardly penetrated the 
thick canopy of the pines. The ground floor was dark, and cold. 
The scent of pine was all about the place. Despite the conditions 
it was peaceful. Quite serene in fact. Yet, still, the shadows 
moved. This is the place where Selvane Vladiva lived, worked and 
trained.
	This day, Selvane was not about the woods, but atop his 
dwelling. Though it seemed a humble shack above ground, the 3 
subterranean levels housed the many wonders of the famed woodsman 
and researcher. Oddly, this man with the affinity for the outdoors 
showed the greatest of genius for designing advanced vehicles.
	What Selvane was doing atop his dwelling was repairing a 
shingle. For such a genius, such a simple repair daunted him. His 
hammer busted itself on a titanium jet intake the day before. 
Before him was arranged a menagerie of strange tools, ranging 
from butane torches to plasma welding guns. The array glistened in 
the sun as Selvane's deep green eyes surveyed the assortment.
	"Staple gun," he muttered to himself. "I just need a 
staple gun." Instead, he grabbed a plasma torch in his big hands. 
His 6' 5" frame easily supported it's great weight, despite this, 
his scarred hands and arms flexed heavily under the burden. He 
flipped the welding helmet down with a flick of his wrist, and 
primed the torch. "This is gunna be fun," he muttered to himself. 
Selvane was constantly muttering to himself because no one lived 
within 400 miles of his small (?) abode.
	"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" The JihadLinker on his wrist beeped 
incessantly. Selvane looked down with dismay, and turned off the 
blowtorch.
	"Oh bloody hell..." with a quick spring he was off the 
roof, and running inside the cottage. The laptop was also beeping. 
He had assumed as much. He flicked up the screen of his 
JihadWorks[TM] laptop, which, being from the Jihad was equipped 
with the latest technology. 1000 mhz DEC Beta processor, 50 
gigabyte crystalline matrix memory bed, 200 kbs cellular modem, 
you know, the usual.  Great for Red Alert games.
	He tapped the keyboard (he disdained the optical 
navigation devices) and brought up an image of Nexxus Kline, in 
her usual style. Not exactly. Her hair was a bit frizzy, and 
somewhat stressed out, but it was Nexx.
	"What's up Ne.." Selvane was about to utter in his thick 
Slavic drawl. Unfortunately, he was cut off.
	"Katz kidnapped! Another Dimension! Come to HQ now, you're 
with me!" The rapid succession of syllables assaulted Selvane, and 
then the screen blinked and went blank. All that was left of 
Nexxus Kline was a 'Carrier Lost' message.
	"Mission? Great..." Selvane muttered again. He slapped 
the laptop down and tossed it into a bag sitting on a table 
nearby. The bag was filled with an assortment of clothes, weapons, 
survival gear, and now, his laptop. Selvane vaulted into his room, 
stripped of his work clothes, and tossed a loose fitting black 
VRDET uniform over his muscular frame. He strapped a large machete 
to his side, next to a Gloc .45 and headed back out into the front 
room. He grabbed the bag, zipped it, and headed for the kitchen.
	Several of the refrigerator magnets tapped beneath his 
touch, and the fridge slid away, revealing a secret stairway. 
Selvane bounded down the stairway, grabbing a green parka on his 
way down. The dark tunnel lead to a small chamber. The walls of 
the entire area were bright white, lit from some inner energy 
source. At the centre of the circular chamber was a jet black 
craft. The nose comes back and diverges into two wide cylinders. 
The tail of each is a jet engine, the extent the wings. Breaching 
the centre is the cockpit. With a slight whistle, the cockpit 
pop's open, and a very peppy voice greets him as he hops into the 
seat, tossing his bag behind him.
	"Hello Selvane. How are you today?" The computer AI greets 
him.
	"Hello Mal," Selvane greets the computer, playfully named 
after the 2001 computer gone bad, and the director of VRDET of ops, 
Malacylypse. "My day isn't going to well. How's yours?" Selvane 
prattled in his bad English as he started the launch sequence.
	"I'm doing fine sitting here in storage, Selvane. My 
talents are wonderful just sitting in a dark room. Why don't we 
talk anymore, Selvane?"
	'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea programming Mal to be 
like my last girlfriend.' Selvane thought to himself.
	"Launch bay doors open, Selvane. I hope you appreciate 
it."
	"Thank you, Mal. I appreciate it very much. And I 
appreciate you," Selvane muttered. 'I've really got to reprogram 
the AI for this thing' he thought. 'Maybe the techies at Blanca 
Mountain can take care of er,' he thought.
	Up above the subterranean garage, 3 triangular pieces of 
sod had lifted up from the landscape of the steppes. Down the hole 
the sod left was the launch ramp of the "Michellina" Selvane's 
favourite craft, of his own design, of course. Below, in the 
white light, jets fired, and the Michellina took off from the 
ramp with a roar, clearing the ground with a great plume of fire. 
The sound of the jets rocked the calm of the valley for a moment, 
and then he was gone. A dot in the sky. Where there was once a 
hole in the ground, there was grass again. Singed, but the same.
	Up above Selvane continued to play games with the AI and 
ponder about the nature of the mission.
	"The doors are closed Selvane. Where are we going, dear?" 
Mal chirped.
	"Could you set a course for Blanca Mountain, please?" 
Selvane muttered, as a he pored over the controls. The plane 
swerved, and the speed increased. The LED display showed an ETA 
of 25 minutes.
	Selvane looked out upon the rapidly approaching peninsula 
of Spain, and relaxed for the first time in the last 15 minutes. 
Reaching into the 'glove box' he grabbed a can of Jolt, and some 
Oreos, which he had stashed for just such an occasion. While he 
munched, Selvane punched up the communications protocol on the 
main console.
	"Who are you calling, honey?" Selvane cringed as the 
computer called him 'honey'.
	"Blanca Mountain. I'm seeing what the hell's going on," 
Selvane responded. The Michellina jumped, jostling Selvane. 
"You know how I hate swearing! Don't swear!" Mal squealed. 'You 
know, I really liked that woman too much,' Selvane thought to 
himself. He continued to try to tap into Blanca Mountain, but 
strangely, all the lines were jammed with incoming and outgoing 
calls. Which is odd because Blanca has over 600 lines. 
Suddenly a comm officer appeared on the screen. "VRDET 
communications dept. Use of this channel is restricted to 
authorized personal only! State your identity," barked the comm 
officer. Behind him could beseen a great ballyhoo of activity. 
Papers flying, people running around, and a general fit of chaos.
	"Selvane Vladiva. What the hel....hecks up with this op, 
sergeant?" Selvane barked back. His Slavic accent and huge body 
usually intimidated people enough.
	The sergeant looked at a monitor to his left, apparently 
satisfied himself that Selvane was who he said he was and turned 
to the camera again. "My apologies Operative Vladiva. It's pretty 
hectic around here. Just needed ident confirmation." The sergeant 
paused for a second punched some keys in front of him and then 
turned back to the camera. "I'm transmitting the op briefing to 
you right now, but I'll give you the low down. Katz was kidnapped, 
and VRDET is mounting a rescue expedition. If I read this right, 
you're going in a small group with Nexxus Kline. I'd get you're 
butt over here quick. She's getting pretty impatient," the 
sergeant flashed a quick smile, and then the screen went blank. 
The words: "Thank you for calling!  Have a nice day. -VRDET 
Communications Department" emblazoned themselves across the 
screen.
	On another monitor, Selvane scanned the briefing. Nothing 
much else there that the sergeant hadn't told him. He was gonna be 
late though. Michellina was fast, but not fast enough to satisfy 
Nexxus, no doubt.
	"What's going on, deary?"  asked Mal.
	"Nothing Mal." Selvane muttered as he sipped his Jolt, and 
watched the American shoreline slip past.
	"Something's going on and I wanna know! You're hiding 
something from me, and I don't like it, Selvane Vladiva!" Mal 
screamed.
	"oi.... uhm.... Katz is having a birthday... and Nexxus is 
organizing a surprise party. You can hang out with the other AI's 
in the hangar bay." Selvane weasled.
	"Oh. Ok."
	'That last girlfriend really was no good, was she?' 
Selvane questioned himself silently.
	Soon, the Michellina began to dip, and Blanca Mountain 
came into view. The snowcaps of the mountain, and the timberline 
upon it disguised the real purpose of the VRDET hq. Not many 
people knew that both of those structures were really fibreglass.
	The comm screen blinked to life, and a white message 
flashed across it: "You are in restricted air space. Transmit 
Identity code now, turn around, or be destroyed. Have a nice day!"
	"Gotta love those comm guys..." Selvane muttered as he 
lazily punched in the ident transmission. The previous message was 
soon replaced by a green blinking message: "Disengage thrusters 
and prepare for gate."
	"Oh cripes. I forgot about my tools!" Selvane quickly 
turned off the engines and held on. The hum of turbines dimmed, 
and the Michellina dropped, faster, faster, faster and then a blue 
flash, and the Michellina reappeared inside the hangar bay, on 
sublevel 4. The black craft was on a rotating disk supported by 
a curved arm. The arm was moving the disk to a shelf 40 feet of 
the ground. Selvane popped the cockpit, grabbed his bag, and 
bounded out of the plane, hitting the ground with perfect form. 
All around him, red lights were flashing, and a loud klaxon was 
sounding. Looks like an emergency.
	"Hey! Technician!" Selvane yelled over the klaxon to a 
blue uniformed mechanic across the bay. The tech recognized his 
uniform as an officers' and sprinted across the bay to the 
woodsman.
	"Sir?" The tech replied between huffs.
	"You have a job. It is to find the Michellina. Fix the 
AI personality. Replace it with something more mundane, and then 
leave the craft in this bay. Clear?"
	The techie nodded eagerly. Most of the techs in the 
avionics divisions had heard of Selvane and his escapades with 
the Michellina. He obviously wanted to get under the hood. 
Selvane tossed him the keys, and ran off toward the nearest turbo-
lift.
	As he approached the doors, they flung themselves open 
with a hiss. "Welcome to Blanca Mountain, Operative Selvane 
Vladiva. All operatives are ordered to mobilize for inter-
dimensional transport immediately. This is your 3rd visit to 
VRDET HQ. If you need any assis..." the computerized voice would 
have continued with it's cheery monologue if Selvane hadn't 
interjected.
	"Where is Nexxus Kline, computer?" He asked.
        "Councillor Nexxus Kline is currently on level 3 of the Blanca
Mountain VRDET installation. This level houses transdimensional
research, temporal mapp.." Selvane cut the computer off again.
        "Take me there." The turbolift started with a slight shudder,
and rocketed up. The turbolift ride was short. After about 40 seconds,
the small car pulled up with a halt. The doors hissed open and Selvane
looked down the long grey hall. There at the end there was a arched
opening and just beyond that a little huddle of people. Beyond them was
a massive bay of equipment whose purpose Selvane dared not guess.
        Out of the turbolift, and down the VERY long hall Selvane
sprinted. Past many doors, labs, and other mysterious passages.
        After 2 minutes of good hard run Selvane pulled up as he
entered the arch. Nobody had noticed him and his bag. The space was
enormous! Everywhere there were terminals and arrays of complex
equipment. The ceiling vaulted 200 feet above him. The entire grey
and matte black spectacle was amazing. And in the centre of it all
was a platform <insert description for gateway>.
        After standing there with his jaw dropped for about 20
seconds, he heard a voice to his right. It was one of the people in
the group.
        "Hey! You! The lost looking one! Suit up or get out! We don't
have time for dawdling at the base." Selvane turned around and was met
with the visage of Nexxus Kline. They had never before met in person.
Around her were several others Selvane had never seen before.
        "I assume you're Nexxus." Selvane was not used to being bossed
around. After meeting a curt nod, Selvane approached his commander and
offered is hand.
        "My apologies for being late. I am Selvane Vladiva."