TSB 7

The Space Between

By AmandaDoE

Chapter Seven: Blasts From The Past

Kristina was looking at the ceiling at the guest room. It had been over six months since she had become a student. Katherine had took her in months ago after being taken into Intergalactic Union Agency prison after she nearly tried to finish off the Phantom.

Kristina had been thinking about the past few months while being trained by Katherine. She was now immortal after the explosion that she caused two years ago. Yeah, she had been immortal for the past two years and until five months ago, she had been unaware of it. That meant she couldn't die unless someone took her head, and that was called a quickening.

Immortals were unable to have children, and there were a bunch of other rules that Kristina couldn't fully understand. Maybe she might not ever understand. Something she was also aware of that there was one on one in a duel only, no outside interference.

Kristina was startled upon hearing a knock on the door. She turned and saw Katherine standing at the doorway and looked at her teacher.

"How are you doing?" Katharine asked.

"Been better," Kristina answered, "Just thinking about the whole immortal business. It's…"

"Something new?"

Kristina nodded, "Yeah. You can say that."

"Give it time," Katherine assured her student, "You will be just fine once you get used to things."

"I know," Kristina nodded, "I know. It's just a shock is all, something that I told you when we first met."

-The-Space-Between-

Katherine and Nick took their seats at a table and then a waiter let them know they would be with them shortly as they were at the pub.

"Seriously?" Katherine smiled. "This is your idea of the perfect date?"

"Why not?" Nick grinned as he adjusted his suit.

Katherine suddenly sensed the buzz. He turned around to see Duncan walking down the area.

"Katherine Sutherland?" Duncan greeted the immortal.

"That's me," Katherine nodded, "but it's Kate Sutherland, in which I am often called."

"Well, I thought I'd check in on you," Duncan replied.

"Thanks, but we're doing just fine," Katherine nodded, giving out a small smile.

"How long have you two known each other?" Nick asked.

"Oh no," Katherine replied, "I never seen him before until now. Who are you?"

"I'm Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod," Duncan introduced himself.

"And I'm Katherine as you addressed," Katherine replied.

"I thought you were Kate," Duncan declared.

"Nick is the one who calls me Kate mainly," Katherine replied, "as I am mostly called Katherine by others."

"I see," Duncan placed his hands in front of his face.

"What brings you here?" Katherine asked.

Suddenly, the Phantom entered the room, bringing both Katherine and Nick surprise.

"Are you who I think you are?" Nick asked.

"Yes," Duncan answered, "this is the legendary Ghost who walks."

"I heard Kristina Graf is immortal now," the Phantom spoke up, "and I also heard she was your student."

"Yeah," Katherine nodded, "um, is there an issue?"

"There is no issue," the Phantom shook his head, "I am just glad that Kristina was able to redeem herself from her past with the Skyband. Where is she anyway?"

"She went on an Intergalactic Union Agency mission with two handsome immortal men," Katherine answered, "who are named Richie and Jack. They are heading to some sort of penthouse to investigate the possibility of a criminal group causing trouble."

"What kind of criminal group?" the Phantom asked.

"The Skyband," Katherine answered, "From what Jack explained to us, Kristina's former group was causing issues at this well known penthouse and he asked Kristina to join him and Richie Ryan in this investigation. I have no idea why they didn't want the Phantom to join, but…"

"I know why," the Phantom spoke up, "If the Skyband happened to be present, they would be willing to catch me before the IUA agents could complete their mission, knowing my history with the Skyband."

"And you believe Richie and Jack are more handsome than your husband, don't you, Kate?" Duncan inquired in a slightly teasingly matter.

"No! No, no, no, no," Katherine shook her head in protest, "I never said anything like that."

"Well, I never….." Nick scoffed before he was interrupted by a ring from the tablet Duncan had in his coat pocket.

Duncan noticed the phone and answering the call, "MacLeod?"

The Highlander was greeted by an image of both Kristina and Jack.

Right away, Duncan knew that there were three things he didn't like about this picture: first off, both Jack and Kristina appeared to be nervous, secondly, there were blood on their faces, mostly on the latter's and third and the most important one of all: Richie Ryan was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing that caused both Nick and Katherine to be nervous as well, even the Phantom was not too thrilled with what he had saw.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Duncan inquired.

"Did the mission go wrong?" Katherine added.

"The mission went wrong," Kristina took a deep breath, "Richie has been captured."

Duncan took a deep breath before he asked, "By who? Start at the beginning."

"Kristina's former associates, the Skyband, were at the penthouse," Jack answered, "They caught us before we could leave the penthouse."

"The three of us were outnumbered...so we ran for it," Kristina added.

"How was he captured while you two weren't?" Duncan asked.

"We were separated during the chase," Kristina answered as she wiped a spot of blood from her skin, "I fought one of our pursuers off, but the others caught Richie. Jack here escaped, but barely though."

Duncan threw a worried glance at both Katherine and Nick, then turned back to the screen, "Kristina...do you know where they've taken him?"

She took another deep breath before she answered, "I just managed to beat some information out of the girl who attacked me. If she was telling the truth, then I might have an idea of what to do next."

-The-Space-Between-

Richie found himself hanging from the ceiling with his arms bound above his head. His chest was bare as his perpetrators beat him up during the ambush. He was surrounded by women in blue and gray uniforms, each of them seemingly indifferent to his presence. Those must have been the Skyband, women who the new immortal Kristina Graf used to work for until the fateful accident.

While being imprisoned, he managed to catch the names of some of the Skyband women. Those including Aria, Trisha, Nancy, Karina and Dionne among others.

"So how long are you going to keep me here?" he asked.

Aria glanced at him, then tapped away at a control panel. "Until Kristina gives us what we're owed. I'm trying to contact her right now."

"And if she shows up with your money, you'll just let us both go?"

"No," Trisha said, placing a hand blaster in her holster. "When Kristina arrives...we are going to give her a punishment that's long overdue, and I'm going to make it nice and slow."

Richie scowled and pursed his lips, struggling against his restraints.

A distant sound caught everyone's attention. It began growing louder as the source grew nearer.

"What's that?" asked Nancy.

Aria looked around, curious about the sound herself, "It sounds like..."

Suddenly a small aircraft crashed through the vehicle, half of its length smashing straight inside. All of the Sky Band soldiers were thrown across the chamber.

Richie closed his eyes while swinging about, trying to get out of his bondage.

Kristina crawled out of the jet that had crashed in. She must have gotten another jet after the Skyband ambushed and destroyed their previous jet. She pulled out a blaster and fired just above Richie, freeing him from the bondage.

Dionne drew her weapon, "Kristina!"

Kristina fired before her opponent could do so, hitting the woman with a blast that left her twitching on the floor.

Kristina then hurled a small explosive at a distant wall, blowing a second hole in the descending vehicle. As a gust of air whipped into the chamber, she rushed over to Richie and helped him stand.

"Are you injured?" Kristina asked.

"Nah, I'll live," Richie answered, "Whatever injuries I had easily heal."

It was then that Richie noticed the parachute on her back.

"Come on," she said, guiding him across the floor.

"What gives?" Richie asked.

"It doesn't matter," Kristina shook her head, "Let's just go."

Richie and Kristina leapt out of the vehicle, drifting to the sea as their parachute opened.

Catching his breath, Richie turned to Kristina and eyed, grateful for her rescuing him.

Kristina and Richie dived into the water, keeping each other from drowning in the water.

In the far distance, they saw a number of police boats surrounding the carrier, ready to secure anyone who'd survived.

"Did you call those officers beforehand?" Richie asked.

"I did," she answered.

The red head shook a little while holding onto her.

"Thank you," he said to her, "Thanks for coming after me."

"MacLeod and Jack sure know what they were doing," Kristina replied, "They were the ones who helped me find where you were, along with my teacher and her husband."

Richie smiled and sighed. Normally the blondes were who Richie found himself attracted to, and usually, he was the one who have to rescue the woman he was attracted to, but lately it was vice versa, first with Kyra, and now Kristina.

However, Richie wasn't interested in dating her. Not anytime soon. He still felt pain from losing Tori, and he wasn't sure if he would ever date again.

-The-Space-Between-

"How are you feeling, tough guy?" Duncan asked, talking to Richie at the barge.

"Better," Richie nodded as he was seated next to Katherine and Nick while the Phantom was standing next to Duncan, "I was just shaken up from the ordeal."

"I can't imagine what you had to endure," Nick replied, "you know, being held prisoner by Kristina's former group."

"I bet that the Skyband never knew about immortals before," Richie chimed in, "Well, they do now. They freaked out on how my injuries were easily healing and one of them even stabbed me and I recovered after dying for a little bit."

"I'll bet they will have a psychiatric evaluation given what they saw," Nick stated.

"Possibly so," Katherine nodded before she inquired, "And Kristina?"

"She decided to go out on her own," Richie answered, "Kristina wanted me to tell you she appreciates everything that she had done for her, but she's going to be joining the Intergalactic Union Agency full time as opposed to prison."

"So she took Jack's offer?" Nick asked.

"She took Jack's offer," Richie answered, nodding.

"What about her feud with the Phantom?" Katherine asked.

"It has ended," Richie answered, "Kristina decided it wasn't worth it to hold such a grudge that had been going on for so long."

"That's what she told me," the Phantom stated, confirming the statement, "Kristina let me know that there was no more bad blood between us."

"I'm glad," Duncan sighed with relief, "I'm glad the worst is over."

"As far as the Grafs and myself are concerned," the Phantom nodded.

Richie then looked over at the couple, asking, "What do you guys plan on doing now?"

"We are going to continue to live our lives in Chicago as a married couple," Katherine answered, "and if there was anything innocents needed, we will be there."

"And it's definitely going to be something to look forward to," Nick wrapped his arms around his wife's shoulders.

---------

Author's Note:

I wanted to show what Kristina Graf was doing now that she had become immortal a couple of years prior and we are also introduced to Katherine, portrayed by Claudia Christian, who gets an even bigger focus in her next appearance.

Credit to James for some inspiration on Kristina Graf rescuing Richie Ryan from her former Skyband team ("Generations" in the story Dynasties), except there are more or less immortal twists in this chapter.

---------

Article

Author

Chapters

1: Prelude — Part One

Everyone reflects on the recent events while considering the future.

2: Prelude — Part Two

Angie tends to a despondent Richie. Portals to new dimensions are discovered.

3: Sins of the Father

Duncan embarks on a journey abroad. Richie confronts his trauma.

4: Diplomatic Immunity

Richie joins others in Paris.