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The blinding light of the systems three suns washed over the asteroid field as the Valk X-1 gracefully descended to the moons rocky surface, finally coming to a stop less than a meter from a battered TPG Atlas X.
The X-1s hatch slid forward and a black clad lightly implanted Secro pilot jumped out and walked around the Atlas searching for the pilot.
"You Peytros?"
Peytros spun around, the trader/smuggler he was supposed to meet stood behind him aiming a neutron blaster.
"No, I'm the local Viper pilot here on a routine inspection. We're on a chunk of rock less than five hundred kilometers in diameter, with nearly no atmosphere at the back end of fucking nowhere... who the hell else am I supposed to be?"
"So you are Petros?"
Peytros felt the bile in his stomach rising and began to regret stopping for lunch in Dau.
"This is why I love you trader types, you're all so brilliant... yes, I'm Petros, you're here to meet me and we both have something the other wants . So, lets see what you brought, I'll show you what I brought and it'll be just like show and fucking tell."
The trader pulled down the rear hatch of the Atlas and walked in, when he returned he held a small metal case.
"Yeah I got it... bio scans, skin sample, hair, blood, urine even a stool sample... everything you need for a great genetic profile but, its gonna cost you ten times what we agreed, when I took the job you forgot to mention this guy had rank. I had to bribe so many people that I'm actually losing money at the original price and..."
The case fell from his limp hands, he looked down at the three large holes in his chest.
"I didn't think he'd ever shut up." came a voice from nowhere.
Thirty meters away a semi transparent rippling humanoid form stood up. Danica deactivated the blur suit and slowly settled back into the visible light spectrum as she walked over to Peytros.
"How much did he want?" Danica asked, brushing an errant strand of her purple mohawk away from her eyes.
"Ten times to much... ten million." Peytros chuckled as he kicked the dead traders hands away from the case.
Danica casually dropped a tab of dissembler and ID Trashcan on the traders corpse. Within seconds the corpse was nothing more than a pile of charred unraveled DNA.
THREE WEEKS LATER...
Captain "Nice" Hardrive looked around at a scene of un-parraled horror. It was unclear what had transpired or why... what was clear was that all three hundred and seventeen people employed at the BioCom station Enistan Orbital were dead. Corpses in various stages of decomposition littered the halls and labs. The attack had been savage and fast, most of them were killed with in minutes. It had a feeling of savagery beyond any thing he'd ever seen in all his years in the UPK.
In his reflection on the horror he hadn't noticed the UPK trooper who'd been standing next to him for several minutes until he spoke...
"Sir, there are four more bodies in the stations biological cellular regeneration and replication lab, they've been tortured."
"Great, some one comes into the UIT capitol system, wipes out an entire station and tortures the clone specialists... tell me something private?"
"Sir?"
"WHERE THE HELL WERE OUR PATROLS, WHO THE HELL DID THIS AND WHY!?" he screamed, just inches from the privates face.
"Sir, it appears the purpose was to procure a clone but, they didn't leave any genetic trace and the computers have been wiped clean... theres no way to tell who was cloned."
"Great, you wanna make my day even worse? Or is that the extent of the bad news?"
"Sir, we may want to bring in the Vipers on this one." the private stated flatly.
"You don't think we can figure out who did this?"
"Sir, figuring out who it was isn't the problem... look sir, it may be easier to show you." the private was finally starting to lose his composure, he was nervous.
"Show me."
They walked in silence, stepping over the bodies of men and women who would never see their families again. Each corpse represented a husband with no wife, children with no mother. With every mutilated body they passed the Captain contemplated putting in for a transfer or even better... resignation. Finally they reached the biological cellular regeneration and replication lab. The four corpses inside did not even look like the remains of humans... then he saw what the private had been talking about, why he brought up Viper. On the far wall, above a smashed console some had scrawled in blood the words ...
'I did this,"... between the words and the name some one had staked a human heart... "Peytros".
"Whats it mean sir? Why would he admit to this?"
"Why? because he' s a psychotic low life who lives in Grey with the rest of the degenerate scum, because he knows our budget doesn't allow for the kind of money it takes for operations that cross nation space... he did it, because he knows theres nothing we can do."
"So should I alert Viper sir?"
"No, we need to keep this in house. More than that, we need to find out who was cloned. The last thing we need is Peytros having Akan himself for a wingman."
The private made a note on his data pad and saluted.
"Right sir, we figure out who was cloned and we can figure out the purpose... sir" He stammered... "... you don't really think he cloned Akan do you?"
"Hell, I don't know..." A mechanical hiss interrupted him, as a wall panel slid down revealing fifty BioCom mines, daisy chained to a rapidly dwindling timer.
CNH grabbed the private and broke into a run as he grabbed for his comm link.
"ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT, EVACUATE IMMEDIATLEY! THIS STATIONS ABOUT TO BLOW!" he yelled into the comm.
The docking bay was frantic as UPK pilots jumped into Warthogs and Raptors. He punched in his over ride codes as the docking bay doors slid open. With out waiting for the bay to depressurize he brought down the force field, the resulting decompression violently expelled the contents of the docking bay into the cold of space. Engines hummed to life as ships sped away from the station in all directions.
Suddenly the sector was on fire as though they were witnessing the birth of a new sun and just as quickly all was dark again. The station and any hope of finding evidence was gone.
CNH swore loudly as the shock wave and debris field over took him. Another pilot caught in the blast banked sharply to avoid a collision with another UPK pilot, CNH swore again as the frantic pilot missed his cockpit by inches.
The X-1s hatch slid forward and a black clad lightly implanted Secro pilot jumped out and walked around the Atlas searching for the pilot.
"You Peytros?"
Peytros spun around, the trader/smuggler he was supposed to meet stood behind him aiming a neutron blaster.
"No, I'm the local Viper pilot here on a routine inspection. We're on a chunk of rock less than five hundred kilometers in diameter, with nearly no atmosphere at the back end of fucking nowhere... who the hell else am I supposed to be?"
"So you are Petros?"
Peytros felt the bile in his stomach rising and began to regret stopping for lunch in Dau.
"This is why I love you trader types, you're all so brilliant... yes, I'm Petros, you're here to meet me and we both have something the other wants . So, lets see what you brought, I'll show you what I brought and it'll be just like show and fucking tell."
The trader pulled down the rear hatch of the Atlas and walked in, when he returned he held a small metal case.
"Yeah I got it... bio scans, skin sample, hair, blood, urine even a stool sample... everything you need for a great genetic profile but, its gonna cost you ten times what we agreed, when I took the job you forgot to mention this guy had rank. I had to bribe so many people that I'm actually losing money at the original price and..."
The case fell from his limp hands, he looked down at the three large holes in his chest.
"I didn't think he'd ever shut up." came a voice from nowhere.
Thirty meters away a semi transparent rippling humanoid form stood up. Danica deactivated the blur suit and slowly settled back into the visible light spectrum as she walked over to Peytros.
"How much did he want?" Danica asked, brushing an errant strand of her purple mohawk away from her eyes.
"Ten times to much... ten million." Peytros chuckled as he kicked the dead traders hands away from the case.
Danica casually dropped a tab of dissembler and ID Trashcan on the traders corpse. Within seconds the corpse was nothing more than a pile of charred unraveled DNA.
THREE WEEKS LATER...
Captain "Nice" Hardrive looked around at a scene of un-parraled horror. It was unclear what had transpired or why... what was clear was that all three hundred and seventeen people employed at the BioCom station Enistan Orbital were dead. Corpses in various stages of decomposition littered the halls and labs. The attack had been savage and fast, most of them were killed with in minutes. It had a feeling of savagery beyond any thing he'd ever seen in all his years in the UPK.
In his reflection on the horror he hadn't noticed the UPK trooper who'd been standing next to him for several minutes until he spoke...
"Sir, there are four more bodies in the stations biological cellular regeneration and replication lab, they've been tortured."
"Great, some one comes into the UIT capitol system, wipes out an entire station and tortures the clone specialists... tell me something private?"
"Sir?"
"WHERE THE HELL WERE OUR PATROLS, WHO THE HELL DID THIS AND WHY!?" he screamed, just inches from the privates face.
"Sir, it appears the purpose was to procure a clone but, they didn't leave any genetic trace and the computers have been wiped clean... theres no way to tell who was cloned."
"Great, you wanna make my day even worse? Or is that the extent of the bad news?"
"Sir, we may want to bring in the Vipers on this one." the private stated flatly.
"You don't think we can figure out who did this?"
"Sir, figuring out who it was isn't the problem... look sir, it may be easier to show you." the private was finally starting to lose his composure, he was nervous.
"Show me."
They walked in silence, stepping over the bodies of men and women who would never see their families again. Each corpse represented a husband with no wife, children with no mother. With every mutilated body they passed the Captain contemplated putting in for a transfer or even better... resignation. Finally they reached the biological cellular regeneration and replication lab. The four corpses inside did not even look like the remains of humans... then he saw what the private had been talking about, why he brought up Viper. On the far wall, above a smashed console some had scrawled in blood the words ...
'I did this,"... between the words and the name some one had staked a human heart... "Peytros".
"Whats it mean sir? Why would he admit to this?"
"Why? because he' s a psychotic low life who lives in Grey with the rest of the degenerate scum, because he knows our budget doesn't allow for the kind of money it takes for operations that cross nation space... he did it, because he knows theres nothing we can do."
"So should I alert Viper sir?"
"No, we need to keep this in house. More than that, we need to find out who was cloned. The last thing we need is Peytros having Akan himself for a wingman."
The private made a note on his data pad and saluted.
"Right sir, we figure out who was cloned and we can figure out the purpose... sir" He stammered... "... you don't really think he cloned Akan do you?"
"Hell, I don't know..." A mechanical hiss interrupted him, as a wall panel slid down revealing fifty BioCom mines, daisy chained to a rapidly dwindling timer.
CNH grabbed the private and broke into a run as he grabbed for his comm link.
"ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT, EVACUATE IMMEDIATLEY! THIS STATIONS ABOUT TO BLOW!" he yelled into the comm.
The docking bay was frantic as UPK pilots jumped into Warthogs and Raptors. He punched in his over ride codes as the docking bay doors slid open. With out waiting for the bay to depressurize he brought down the force field, the resulting decompression violently expelled the contents of the docking bay into the cold of space. Engines hummed to life as ships sped away from the station in all directions.
Suddenly the sector was on fire as though they were witnessing the birth of a new sun and just as quickly all was dark again. The station and any hope of finding evidence was gone.
CNH swore loudly as the shock wave and debris field over took him. Another pilot caught in the blast banked sharply to avoid a collision with another UPK pilot, CNH swore again as the frantic pilot missed his cockpit by inches.
10 Months later
The space surrounding Dau Senate exploded in blue light as a TPG light Trident jumped in, as a rookie comms worker gazed on in wonder from the space traffic control deck. So entranced that he hadn't noticed the senior officer approaching.
He jumped a little as the senior officer placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It never gets old, does it son?" The officer said, a smile creating even more wrinkles on his weathered but wise and kind face.
"Oh... um no sir!" the rookie stammered as he scrambled back to his station nearly tripping over a small repair droid. The officer chuckled...
"no need for all the sir garbage son, this isn't military... well, in any real sense of the term."
"Yes sir... sorry I mean yes Preen..." He said, reading the name on the officers uniform "...Sir, um I mean Preen... how many turrets are Tridents supposed to have?"
"Just the four son, why do you ask?"
"I'm reading eight weapons systems here, and four are hot, also I'm getting a strange sensor echo. This is weird, right?"
"Those TPG boys, always fiddling about with their ships." Preen sighed as he scooped up the comms mike. "Attention TPG Frigate Bounty, you are in a Dau Senate no fire zone, power down you weapons systems immediately, or we WILL dispatch a Strike Force and levy a hefty fine against you. There..." he said as he put the mike down "...that ought to get their attention."
The comm system crackled to life...
"Dau Senate, this is the TPG Frigate Bounty and I have no idea what you're talking about my system is showing all our weapons are powered down for...."
Static raged through the comm system as the Trident's bridge exploded.
The two CorVults hidden beneath the Tridents nacelles released their magnetic docking clamps and their engines hummed to life, white hot plasma exhaust trailing behind them. One CorVult loosed a volley of Sunflares dispatching the station guards as they desperately tried to react to the crisis, the other sent loose a torrent of Geminis towards the stations exit ports... the Strike Force never knew what hit them.
Preen bound across the room with a savage grace that seemed beyond a man of his advanced years and smashed his fist through a glass panel pressing a large button that would sound condition red and scramble all capable strike force pilots. The alarm signal blared as red light strobed through the station and security personal rushed to their assigned stations. Preen punched in his code for a system wide alert.
"This is Senior Officer Preen of Dau Senate calling any and all UPK or VPR ships, Dau Senate is under attack. Please respond! Repeat we are under attack!" The comm remained silent for what seemed an eternity before crackling to life.
"This is Ryan Reign, of the Phoenix Alliance... I'm in a WTD bomber, two jumps out with a couple guys. We can be there in about ten seconds. Over"
"Ryan, we're under attack here, our station guards and strike force have been take out and..." the space outside lit up as five Warthogs jumped in Megaposis blasting away at the stations defenses. "...Shit! they've got back up! Five Warthog MK2s just warped in and they're taking out our last defenses!"
"Preen... this is Mecha, just hold tight. We're dropping outa warp now." Mecha keyed his implanted comm system to 1800... "Ryan, you sure you can handle this? its seven on three and you're not a combat pilot."
"Worry about yer own implanted ass Mecha, we UIT may not be warriors but we know a few tricks." He chuckled as he punched the WTDs turbo to 275 meters per second and sped along towards three Warthogs flying in tight formation. An alarm sounded on Spedys HUD, some one had positive lock on Ryans ship.
"Ryan pull up and roll back! One of these bastards has a lock on you!"
Ryan laughed into the comm.
"Watch who yer callin a bastard Spedy, I have a target lock on my self... watch and learn!"
The three MK2s were flying straight at him firing LENBs but at full turbo he plowed through them, leaving them three thousand meters behind in a matter of seconds but closing fast. Ryan fired everything he had and again turboed straight at the three MK2s. With less than twenty meters before collision ryan cut the turbo and pulled up sharply.
The lead pilot of the three MK2s keyed his comm to 1800... "Come back and fight little trader... come back and.... SHIIIIIIIITTTTTTT...." he keyed back to his comrades frequency... "BREAK FORMATION! I REPEAT BREAK FORMATION!!!"
His eyes went wide with horror as he saw the forty Chaos Swarms and thirty six Gems that were locked onto Ryans WTD screaming towards them.
The three MK2s tried to break formation as the blazing trail of missiles proximity detonators activated, all three were engulfed in a rapidly expanding ball of white hot plasma fire.
Ryan watched the three red blips disappear from his radar and smiled until he realized he was caught in the shock wave. Sparks flew from his control panels as his WTD spun out of control.
"Uh... guys, it looks like I'm gonna have to sit this one out... all systems are dead and I'm on back up life support."
Spedy banked his X-1 hard left, killed the engines and engaged reverse trusters so he was facing the Corvult that had been gaining on him. Eleven hundred meters and closing. Spedy let off the speed and strafed to the left narrowly avoiding a hail of energy fire, as he predicted, the Corvult pilot matched his trajectory.
"Just a little closer, c'mon... don't be shy about it." Spedy whispered. The X-1s proximity alarm sounded letting him know that the enemy was within nine hundred meters. Spedy squeezed the secondary trigger. A fraction of a second later the Corvult flew by him out of control, a geyser of blood and gore streaming into the cold vacuum of space where the rail guns slug had punched through the cockpit, leaving a pilot that ended at the neck.
A message came across channel 1800...
"This is Atice of VPR, do you require assistance?" Followed by a message broadcast to the sector... "This is Atice of VPR, to all hostiles, you are to cease and desist all criminal activities and depart immediately or you WILL be fired upon!"
Mecha keyed his comm implant...
"We do not need nor want any assistance, the situation is under control." he hissed through clenched teeth as he let loose a barrage of sunnies at the remaining enemy dispatching him gracefully.
"Actually..." Ryan cut in "... I'm running outa life support here, no rush or anything... but yeah, if anyones not busy."
"I'll be above you in a second or two Ryan, how do you feel about going for a walk?" Mecha chuckled.
Ryan pulled on his EVA helmet, secured it to his flight suit and hit the emergency eject. Nothing. He hit it again and was met with a shower of blue sparks.
"Fuck this." He muttered to himself. He reached behind his seat and grabbed his Ineubis assault blaster and emptied the full charge into his hatch leaving a hole Olga the Corpulent could have fit through. He kicked off and floated gently up towards Mechas open cargo bay.
Minutes later in the stations cargo bay Mecha, Spedy Ryan, Atice and several Viper recruits stood and watched as Dau Senate security forces brought in crated wreckage from the attack, all marked "EVIDENCE" in bright yellow lettering. They wandered among the crates aimlessly occasionally picking up a piece of scrap and examining it.
Atice stopped at a crate marked "BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE" and looked over it.
"What the hell do you suppose this is?" He asked the three Phoenix Alliance pilots. Ryan and Spedy looked at the object in question, some type of bulky hand held weapon with a xith reinforced cylinder under the barrel. He bent to pick it up. "Damn... its an ugly little bastard. You guys have any idea?"
Spedy and Ryan shook their heads, Mecha spoke up...
"I know what that is." His voice emotionless. "Its called a dissembler gun, it shoots a packet of hacked medical nanites. They're banned by all three nations but a few psycos in Grey favor them."
"Hacked medical nanites?" asked Atice, doesn't sound any worse than a mag blaster."
Mecha ignored him... "The nanites are reprogrammed to essentially disassemble a person cell by cell, while stimulating the pain centers almost to the point of over load. I saw a guy in a Coruvs bar get hit by one of these, took him five minutes to die... screaming the whole time."
Atice began taking notes. "You know anyone or any groups that use these?"
"Yeah, matter of fact I do." Mecha stated flatly.
"And they would be who?" Asked Atice tapping his finger impatiently on the data pad.
"None of yer business, snake."
"I'm getting sick of your attitude Mecha, hell I don't even know how a pirate like you weaseled your way into PA, but Im running an investigation here and you are required by law to reveal any and all information you have, even if you are a low life waste with no honor..." What ever he planned on saying was cut off by Mechas round house kick to the jaw. Atice tumbled but recovered and launched him self at Mechas knees knocking him off balance and pinning him to the floor.
He drew ineubis blaster and pressed it to Mechas temple.
"Give me a fucking excuse, you waste of implants... one fucking excuse!" It was at that point that he noticed Spedy pointing twin magblasters at him.
"You have exactly three seconds to decide if today is a good day to die." Spedy said, smiling. Atice began to relax his grip when he noticed the two Viper recruits behind Spedy each aiming Ineubis blasters at Spedys head.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to lower your weapons." The recruits spoke in unison. Atice looked at them approvingly. There was a glint of steel and the recruits faces went pale. Ryan had slipped in behind them and now had his arm around the younger recruits neck, pressing a long curved knife against the skin. His other hand held the Dissembeler gun aimed at the older recruit.
"Five minutes of screaming, right Mecha?" Mecha couldn't help but smile. "Thats right, five full minutes of intense agony."
Ryan looked at Atice and the recruits. "Drop your weapons, and I promise you all walk out of here."
"Fuck you, you drop your weapons... we have you out gunned!" Atice yelled as the doors slid open and twenty UPK shock troopers stormed in, weapons aimed at the group.
"Actually, all of you drop your weapons. Now, if you please." Captain "Nice" Hardrive said calmly, his word punctuated by the tell tale sound of lasrifle capacitors charging. Ryan slid his knife into its sheath and Spedy holstered his blasters, then helped Mecha to his feet.
"CNH, good to see you again!" Atice said as he walked over. "These men have crucial information in an investigation I'm running and..." CNH cut him off.
"The only thing your running Atice is the hell back to Grey space to play cops and robbers with CLM, unless you want to be arrested and charged with impeding an official Dau senate, UPK investigation in which case I will be more than happy to lock you up for so long that the next time you see the sun, the Itani an the Serco will have stopped fighting and made peace."
"I'm just trying to help." Atice stammered.
"Look, Atice... VPR is great at... what ever it is you guys do but, what YOU do is take care of things in Grey. What I do is handle things this side of the border."
Atice motioned to the two recruits and they fell into step behind him as he walked towards the door.
CNH turned to the Phoenix Alliance pilots.
"First, I want to extend the thanks of Dau Senate for your assistance today. Second, Atice said you had information pertinent to my investigation?" he asked, holding out a voice recorder.
Mecha stepped forward.
"Yes, the Dissembler gun Ryans holding..." he motioned to Ryan who handed it to CNH. "Its illegal in UIT, Serco and Itani space. Its also the favored weapon for THC."
CNH tapped the recorders power button.
"That fits with what we know so far..." He was interrupted by a young UPK officer.
"Sir, we have a TPG lawyer, some guy from TGFT and a bunch of salvagers all arguing over the salvage rights to the TPG Bounty, its getting ugly."
Again CNH thought of retirement. Perhaps he could go to Arta and farm cabbage. He turned to Mecha...
"Ok, gents... I don't want to keep you from your 'duties' to the Phoenix Alliance, thanks again. You're free to go."
Spedy Mecha and Ryan turned towards the door. Just before they reached it, CNH cleared his throat. The trio turned to face him.
"There was a third point, gentlemen... I want to make this crystal clear, if I find any of you involved in a potential blood bath like I walked in to here, I'll lock the three of you up just as quickly as I would have locked up Atice. Now, you are free to go.
The space surrounding Dau Senate exploded in blue light as a TPG light Trident jumped in, as a rookie comms worker gazed on in wonder from the space traffic control deck. So entranced that he hadn't noticed the senior officer approaching.
He jumped a little as the senior officer placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It never gets old, does it son?" The officer said, a smile creating even more wrinkles on his weathered but wise and kind face.
"Oh... um no sir!" the rookie stammered as he scrambled back to his station nearly tripping over a small repair droid. The officer chuckled...
"no need for all the sir garbage son, this isn't military... well, in any real sense of the term."
"Yes sir... sorry I mean yes Preen..." He said, reading the name on the officers uniform "...Sir, um I mean Preen... how many turrets are Tridents supposed to have?"
"Just the four son, why do you ask?"
"I'm reading eight weapons systems here, and four are hot, also I'm getting a strange sensor echo. This is weird, right?"
"Those TPG boys, always fiddling about with their ships." Preen sighed as he scooped up the comms mike. "Attention TPG Frigate Bounty, you are in a Dau Senate no fire zone, power down you weapons systems immediately, or we WILL dispatch a Strike Force and levy a hefty fine against you. There..." he said as he put the mike down "...that ought to get their attention."
The comm system crackled to life...
"Dau Senate, this is the TPG Frigate Bounty and I have no idea what you're talking about my system is showing all our weapons are powered down for...."
Static raged through the comm system as the Trident's bridge exploded.
The two CorVults hidden beneath the Tridents nacelles released their magnetic docking clamps and their engines hummed to life, white hot plasma exhaust trailing behind them. One CorVult loosed a volley of Sunflares dispatching the station guards as they desperately tried to react to the crisis, the other sent loose a torrent of Geminis towards the stations exit ports... the Strike Force never knew what hit them.
Preen bound across the room with a savage grace that seemed beyond a man of his advanced years and smashed his fist through a glass panel pressing a large button that would sound condition red and scramble all capable strike force pilots. The alarm signal blared as red light strobed through the station and security personal rushed to their assigned stations. Preen punched in his code for a system wide alert.
"This is Senior Officer Preen of Dau Senate calling any and all UPK or VPR ships, Dau Senate is under attack. Please respond! Repeat we are under attack!" The comm remained silent for what seemed an eternity before crackling to life.
"This is Ryan Reign, of the Phoenix Alliance... I'm in a WTD bomber, two jumps out with a couple guys. We can be there in about ten seconds. Over"
"Ryan, we're under attack here, our station guards and strike force have been take out and..." the space outside lit up as five Warthogs jumped in Megaposis blasting away at the stations defenses. "...Shit! they've got back up! Five Warthog MK2s just warped in and they're taking out our last defenses!"
"Preen... this is Mecha, just hold tight. We're dropping outa warp now." Mecha keyed his implanted comm system to 1800... "Ryan, you sure you can handle this? its seven on three and you're not a combat pilot."
"Worry about yer own implanted ass Mecha, we UIT may not be warriors but we know a few tricks." He chuckled as he punched the WTDs turbo to 275 meters per second and sped along towards three Warthogs flying in tight formation. An alarm sounded on Spedys HUD, some one had positive lock on Ryans ship.
"Ryan pull up and roll back! One of these bastards has a lock on you!"
Ryan laughed into the comm.
"Watch who yer callin a bastard Spedy, I have a target lock on my self... watch and learn!"
The three MK2s were flying straight at him firing LENBs but at full turbo he plowed through them, leaving them three thousand meters behind in a matter of seconds but closing fast. Ryan fired everything he had and again turboed straight at the three MK2s. With less than twenty meters before collision ryan cut the turbo and pulled up sharply.
The lead pilot of the three MK2s keyed his comm to 1800... "Come back and fight little trader... come back and.... SHIIIIIIIITTTTTTT...." he keyed back to his comrades frequency... "BREAK FORMATION! I REPEAT BREAK FORMATION!!!"
His eyes went wide with horror as he saw the forty Chaos Swarms and thirty six Gems that were locked onto Ryans WTD screaming towards them.
The three MK2s tried to break formation as the blazing trail of missiles proximity detonators activated, all three were engulfed in a rapidly expanding ball of white hot plasma fire.
Ryan watched the three red blips disappear from his radar and smiled until he realized he was caught in the shock wave. Sparks flew from his control panels as his WTD spun out of control.
"Uh... guys, it looks like I'm gonna have to sit this one out... all systems are dead and I'm on back up life support."
Spedy banked his X-1 hard left, killed the engines and engaged reverse trusters so he was facing the Corvult that had been gaining on him. Eleven hundred meters and closing. Spedy let off the speed and strafed to the left narrowly avoiding a hail of energy fire, as he predicted, the Corvult pilot matched his trajectory.
"Just a little closer, c'mon... don't be shy about it." Spedy whispered. The X-1s proximity alarm sounded letting him know that the enemy was within nine hundred meters. Spedy squeezed the secondary trigger. A fraction of a second later the Corvult flew by him out of control, a geyser of blood and gore streaming into the cold vacuum of space where the rail guns slug had punched through the cockpit, leaving a pilot that ended at the neck.
A message came across channel 1800...
"This is Atice of VPR, do you require assistance?" Followed by a message broadcast to the sector... "This is Atice of VPR, to all hostiles, you are to cease and desist all criminal activities and depart immediately or you WILL be fired upon!"
Mecha keyed his comm implant...
"We do not need nor want any assistance, the situation is under control." he hissed through clenched teeth as he let loose a barrage of sunnies at the remaining enemy dispatching him gracefully.
"Actually..." Ryan cut in "... I'm running outa life support here, no rush or anything... but yeah, if anyones not busy."
"I'll be above you in a second or two Ryan, how do you feel about going for a walk?" Mecha chuckled.
Ryan pulled on his EVA helmet, secured it to his flight suit and hit the emergency eject. Nothing. He hit it again and was met with a shower of blue sparks.
"Fuck this." He muttered to himself. He reached behind his seat and grabbed his Ineubis assault blaster and emptied the full charge into his hatch leaving a hole Olga the Corpulent could have fit through. He kicked off and floated gently up towards Mechas open cargo bay.
Minutes later in the stations cargo bay Mecha, Spedy Ryan, Atice and several Viper recruits stood and watched as Dau Senate security forces brought in crated wreckage from the attack, all marked "EVIDENCE" in bright yellow lettering. They wandered among the crates aimlessly occasionally picking up a piece of scrap and examining it.
Atice stopped at a crate marked "BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE" and looked over it.
"What the hell do you suppose this is?" He asked the three Phoenix Alliance pilots. Ryan and Spedy looked at the object in question, some type of bulky hand held weapon with a xith reinforced cylinder under the barrel. He bent to pick it up. "Damn... its an ugly little bastard. You guys have any idea?"
Spedy and Ryan shook their heads, Mecha spoke up...
"I know what that is." His voice emotionless. "Its called a dissembler gun, it shoots a packet of hacked medical nanites. They're banned by all three nations but a few psycos in Grey favor them."
"Hacked medical nanites?" asked Atice, doesn't sound any worse than a mag blaster."
Mecha ignored him... "The nanites are reprogrammed to essentially disassemble a person cell by cell, while stimulating the pain centers almost to the point of over load. I saw a guy in a Coruvs bar get hit by one of these, took him five minutes to die... screaming the whole time."
Atice began taking notes. "You know anyone or any groups that use these?"
"Yeah, matter of fact I do." Mecha stated flatly.
"And they would be who?" Asked Atice tapping his finger impatiently on the data pad.
"None of yer business, snake."
"I'm getting sick of your attitude Mecha, hell I don't even know how a pirate like you weaseled your way into PA, but Im running an investigation here and you are required by law to reveal any and all information you have, even if you are a low life waste with no honor..." What ever he planned on saying was cut off by Mechas round house kick to the jaw. Atice tumbled but recovered and launched him self at Mechas knees knocking him off balance and pinning him to the floor.
He drew ineubis blaster and pressed it to Mechas temple.
"Give me a fucking excuse, you waste of implants... one fucking excuse!" It was at that point that he noticed Spedy pointing twin magblasters at him.
"You have exactly three seconds to decide if today is a good day to die." Spedy said, smiling. Atice began to relax his grip when he noticed the two Viper recruits behind Spedy each aiming Ineubis blasters at Spedys head.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to lower your weapons." The recruits spoke in unison. Atice looked at them approvingly. There was a glint of steel and the recruits faces went pale. Ryan had slipped in behind them and now had his arm around the younger recruits neck, pressing a long curved knife against the skin. His other hand held the Dissembeler gun aimed at the older recruit.
"Five minutes of screaming, right Mecha?" Mecha couldn't help but smile. "Thats right, five full minutes of intense agony."
Ryan looked at Atice and the recruits. "Drop your weapons, and I promise you all walk out of here."
"Fuck you, you drop your weapons... we have you out gunned!" Atice yelled as the doors slid open and twenty UPK shock troopers stormed in, weapons aimed at the group.
"Actually, all of you drop your weapons. Now, if you please." Captain "Nice" Hardrive said calmly, his word punctuated by the tell tale sound of lasrifle capacitors charging. Ryan slid his knife into its sheath and Spedy holstered his blasters, then helped Mecha to his feet.
"CNH, good to see you again!" Atice said as he walked over. "These men have crucial information in an investigation I'm running and..." CNH cut him off.
"The only thing your running Atice is the hell back to Grey space to play cops and robbers with CLM, unless you want to be arrested and charged with impeding an official Dau senate, UPK investigation in which case I will be more than happy to lock you up for so long that the next time you see the sun, the Itani an the Serco will have stopped fighting and made peace."
"I'm just trying to help." Atice stammered.
"Look, Atice... VPR is great at... what ever it is you guys do but, what YOU do is take care of things in Grey. What I do is handle things this side of the border."
Atice motioned to the two recruits and they fell into step behind him as he walked towards the door.
CNH turned to the Phoenix Alliance pilots.
"First, I want to extend the thanks of Dau Senate for your assistance today. Second, Atice said you had information pertinent to my investigation?" he asked, holding out a voice recorder.
Mecha stepped forward.
"Yes, the Dissembler gun Ryans holding..." he motioned to Ryan who handed it to CNH. "Its illegal in UIT, Serco and Itani space. Its also the favored weapon for THC."
CNH tapped the recorders power button.
"That fits with what we know so far..." He was interrupted by a young UPK officer.
"Sir, we have a TPG lawyer, some guy from TGFT and a bunch of salvagers all arguing over the salvage rights to the TPG Bounty, its getting ugly."
Again CNH thought of retirement. Perhaps he could go to Arta and farm cabbage. He turned to Mecha...
"Ok, gents... I don't want to keep you from your 'duties' to the Phoenix Alliance, thanks again. You're free to go."
Spedy Mecha and Ryan turned towards the door. Just before they reached it, CNH cleared his throat. The trio turned to face him.
"There was a third point, gentlemen... I want to make this crystal clear, if I find any of you involved in a potential blood bath like I walked in to here, I'll lock the three of you up just as quickly as I would have locked up Atice. Now, you are free to go.
One year later
Peytros walked slowly down the corridors of the Homicidal Cults HQ out of respect for Yoda of Borg, trying to maintain a pace that his diminutive CO could keep up with. They walked in silence, Yoda apparently lost deep in thought. At last he spoke...
"The project of your clone, going well it is?" he croaked in a high but slightly metallic voice.
Peytros entered a code on his data pad and adjusted his large black rimmed glasses.
"Very well... see for yourself..." he said enthusiastically as he handed the pad to Yoda. "...the growth process is finished, he's learning at an accelerated pace and all that'll be left is to dump the proper memories into his head. I figure six months and he'll be ready to be put in place, then a brief wait and we have a top level operative in one of the largest trading outfits in the verse."
Yoda studied the pads read out as they walked.
"Impressive this is. A perfect match in every way is your clone but, political power and financial gains, the cult seeks not these things young Peytros. Sign off on this plan, I cannot. To risky it is. Destroy the clone you must."
Peytros felt his heart and ambitions sink in his chest but he knew there was no point in debating once Yoda had made up his mind.
"Fine, I'll destroy the clone, eject him into space near a stars corona. He replied, crestfallen.
"Sorry I am young Peytros, for the best it is. When finished you are, return and kill some Free traders we will, lift your spirits it will.
Peytros forced a smile.
"Yeah, yer probably right."
Yoda looked up at him and smiled revealing mouth full of serrated bio-mechanical teeth.
"Always am I right young Peytros, Always am I right."
20 minutes later.
The labs door opened with a hiss Peytros walked in and went directly to a console near an exam pod where a pale man of indeterminate age was held in cryostasis. He punched in the code and the pod opened releasing a a spray of vapor.
"Hello dad, whats going on?" he asked, yawning as he looked at the time. "You brought me out early."
Peytros thought for a moment.
"We're going for a ride to Dau. We're going to have a day out. There are some important things we need to do."
They walked in relative silence, Peytros's mind reeling at what lay ahead for him. His "son" occasionally breaking the silence with a random thought or question. Inside the launch port Peytros opened the hatch to an Atlas X and waved his "son" in. Skipping the pre flight check, he fired the thrusters and launched them out into open space. Once they were safely away Peytros spoke.
"Take the helm, I need to sweep for bugs." Peytros said, a plan beginning to form in his mind.
"Something wrong? His "son" asked with genuine concern.
"Just take the damned helm, will ya?" Peytros snapped. "Set the course to Dau I-7, the BioCom station." A plan was starting to form in his head, if he played his cards right he might not have to kill the clone and no one would be the wiser. He scanned the ship and when he was satisfied there was no one monitoring them he returned to the helm.
"OK son, I know this is going to be hard to understand but you need to pay attention and remember everything I tell you, ok?
"Yeah, no problem dad... whats wrong?" he asked, seeing the look of concern on Peytros's face.
"Well, there may be some trouble coming and I just want to keep you away from it... keep you safe. There are really bad people out there, people that want to hurt me and even you. A group of terrorists called the Phoenix Alliance. You need to stay away from them at all costs. If they see you they WILL kill you or maybe try to use you to to get to me. They're about the lowest form of scum out there... they attack and kill anyone for no reason, they sell weapons to both sides of the Serco/Itani war, raid unarmed cargo transports and their heavy into slavery. I heard they actually kill children if they cant sell them."
"Thats terrible! But, why are they after you? Or me... what have we ever done to them?"
"Thats just it son, we've never done anything to them but they're blood thirsty killers... you need to stay clear of them. If you see them, run the other way and NEVER let them see you."
An hour later, they docked at Enistan Station.
"Ok, this is your stop...I have to leave you here son, and it may be a long time before I see you again but, you remember what I told you and you'll be fine the Phoenix Alliance sticks mostly to the Latos system and Sedina but, remember... if you see them hide or run, what ever it takes so that they don't see you. OK?"
"Why, stay with me and we can fight Phoenix Alliance together!" He exclaimed, some of his subliminal training kicking in.
"No, son... the Alliance doesn't know about you yet but if I stay, its a sure bet they'll find out... this is for the best. Anyways, the ships yours and so is this..." he handed him a Cred chip. "... it's got about a million five on it, should get you started. Remember, don't tell anyone about me or your uncle Yoda, ok?"
"No worries dad."
"Ok son, if you leave the docking bay, and walk straight for about thirty meters and take your second left, you'll find a place that serves the only food in the system that doesn't suck. I have to get going though."
"Well, see you when I see you dad... tell Uncle Yoda I said goodbye."
"I will, son."
Peytros watched as he walked off into his new life, grateful that he hadn't had to kill him. As the bay door slid shut Peytros saw an Itani Viper recruit climbing out of his Valk X-1 and walked over.
"Say, thats a nice ship." He said as he slid his hand along one of the ships pods.
"Thanks, she was a gift from Duncan..." a look of confusion and recognition took the recruits face. "... hey aren't you..." he was cut off by the muffled shot of Peytros's silenced Bolter.
"Yeah, I am." he laughed as he kicked the dead recruit into the Valks storage bay.
3 days later
The clone lay on his back under his Atlas X making adjustments to the new Screamer rocket launcher he had bought recently. When he heard people approaching.
"Look Mecha, I know how you feel about TGFT... but, the time isn't right for a trade war, it would rip the guild apart" one of the voices said sounding frustrated.
"I understand what you're saying Miex, but TGFT is making it so we can't make a profit. They're our only real competitors and in the financial sense they're crushing us. It may as well be a war already as bad as we're losing!"
"I know Mecha but, TGFT is technically our allies, at the very least they're non aggressive towards us."
"Allies? Did the definition of that word change recently? Remember when they came to us BEGGING for our support against SKAR? What happened? We fired up our combat ships and hit the front lines, what did TGFT do? they hid till it was over, while we bled to make the trade lanes safe and in the end... THEY TOOK ALL THE DAMNED CREDIT FOR THE VICTORY!"
"Look, I know how you feel and I know there are those who support your ideas but not enough, Lets just..." he stopped speaking as the clone stood and pulled down the hatch of his Atlas. "... what, to good to say hi to your CO?" he chuckled and walked towards him. The man was little confused by this strangers greeting but, he seemed friendly enough so he started towards him.
"I'm sorry..." he said "... but I think you have me mis..." His eyes fell on MiexonBionic's flight jacket, a small patch read...'MiexonBionic, Commander, Phoenix Alliance"
The smile dropped from his face. With blinding speed, his foot shot out taking Mecha by surprise and knocking the wind out of him. With a fluid movement he grabbed Miexon around the throat, clamped a hand over his mouth and placed the muzzle of his disrupter against his temple.
"STAY BACK!" he screamed as Mecha got up looking slightly confused.
"Alright..." Mecha replied. "... just stay calm, I think you're a little confused... we just want to help. OK?"
"Don't lie to me, my father told me all about the Alliance, I'm on to your tricks you lying child killing scum!" he said coldly as he backed up the ramp of his Atlas.
"Alright, just don't do anything rash... we'll figure this out."
"Figure this out scumbag!" he hissed through clenched teeth as he fired his disrupter into Miexons leg and kicked him at Mecha. Mecha bent to help his CO up. The hatch of the Atlas slammed shut and its engines hummed to life.
"Don't worry..." Mecha said. "The dock operator will never let him out after all that." They both stared as the Atlas rose and rotated towards the bays massive door. Their eyes widened as they heard the tell tale hum of power being diverted to rocket launcher. Suddenly the bay was filled with a high keening mechanical scream.
They looked at each other and yealled in unison...
"SCREAMERS....RUN!!!""
They turned and bolted for the door to the station, diving through it. Mecha jumped to his feet, pulled a phase blaster and shot the doors release mechanism. The door slammed shut, forming an airtight seal. Suddenly, the deck plates shook violently and the plasteel door warped like a bubble was forming in it. A monitor on the wall revealed that the man in the Atlas had fired a full pay load of Screamers at the bay door, destroying it and any of the smaller ships docked closest. Mostly station guards and Strike Force vultures. The contents of the bay were sucked into the void by the explosive decompression along with the Atlas X, which was now just a fading trail of plasma exhaust.
"Mecha..." Miexon gasped clutching his burned leg."... what the hell was that all about?"
Peytros walked slowly down the corridors of the Homicidal Cults HQ out of respect for Yoda of Borg, trying to maintain a pace that his diminutive CO could keep up with. They walked in silence, Yoda apparently lost deep in thought. At last he spoke...
"The project of your clone, going well it is?" he croaked in a high but slightly metallic voice.
Peytros entered a code on his data pad and adjusted his large black rimmed glasses.
"Very well... see for yourself..." he said enthusiastically as he handed the pad to Yoda. "...the growth process is finished, he's learning at an accelerated pace and all that'll be left is to dump the proper memories into his head. I figure six months and he'll be ready to be put in place, then a brief wait and we have a top level operative in one of the largest trading outfits in the verse."
Yoda studied the pads read out as they walked.
"Impressive this is. A perfect match in every way is your clone but, political power and financial gains, the cult seeks not these things young Peytros. Sign off on this plan, I cannot. To risky it is. Destroy the clone you must."
Peytros felt his heart and ambitions sink in his chest but he knew there was no point in debating once Yoda had made up his mind.
"Fine, I'll destroy the clone, eject him into space near a stars corona. He replied, crestfallen.
"Sorry I am young Peytros, for the best it is. When finished you are, return and kill some Free traders we will, lift your spirits it will.
Peytros forced a smile.
"Yeah, yer probably right."
Yoda looked up at him and smiled revealing mouth full of serrated bio-mechanical teeth.
"Always am I right young Peytros, Always am I right."
20 minutes later.
The labs door opened with a hiss Peytros walked in and went directly to a console near an exam pod where a pale man of indeterminate age was held in cryostasis. He punched in the code and the pod opened releasing a a spray of vapor.
"Hello dad, whats going on?" he asked, yawning as he looked at the time. "You brought me out early."
Peytros thought for a moment.
"We're going for a ride to Dau. We're going to have a day out. There are some important things we need to do."
They walked in relative silence, Peytros's mind reeling at what lay ahead for him. His "son" occasionally breaking the silence with a random thought or question. Inside the launch port Peytros opened the hatch to an Atlas X and waved his "son" in. Skipping the pre flight check, he fired the thrusters and launched them out into open space. Once they were safely away Peytros spoke.
"Take the helm, I need to sweep for bugs." Peytros said, a plan beginning to form in his mind.
"Something wrong? His "son" asked with genuine concern.
"Just take the damned helm, will ya?" Peytros snapped. "Set the course to Dau I-7, the BioCom station." A plan was starting to form in his head, if he played his cards right he might not have to kill the clone and no one would be the wiser. He scanned the ship and when he was satisfied there was no one monitoring them he returned to the helm.
"OK son, I know this is going to be hard to understand but you need to pay attention and remember everything I tell you, ok?
"Yeah, no problem dad... whats wrong?" he asked, seeing the look of concern on Peytros's face.
"Well, there may be some trouble coming and I just want to keep you away from it... keep you safe. There are really bad people out there, people that want to hurt me and even you. A group of terrorists called the Phoenix Alliance. You need to stay away from them at all costs. If they see you they WILL kill you or maybe try to use you to to get to me. They're about the lowest form of scum out there... they attack and kill anyone for no reason, they sell weapons to both sides of the Serco/Itani war, raid unarmed cargo transports and their heavy into slavery. I heard they actually kill children if they cant sell them."
"Thats terrible! But, why are they after you? Or me... what have we ever done to them?"
"Thats just it son, we've never done anything to them but they're blood thirsty killers... you need to stay clear of them. If you see them, run the other way and NEVER let them see you."
An hour later, they docked at Enistan Station.
"Ok, this is your stop...I have to leave you here son, and it may be a long time before I see you again but, you remember what I told you and you'll be fine the Phoenix Alliance sticks mostly to the Latos system and Sedina but, remember... if you see them hide or run, what ever it takes so that they don't see you. OK?"
"Why, stay with me and we can fight Phoenix Alliance together!" He exclaimed, some of his subliminal training kicking in.
"No, son... the Alliance doesn't know about you yet but if I stay, its a sure bet they'll find out... this is for the best. Anyways, the ships yours and so is this..." he handed him a Cred chip. "... it's got about a million five on it, should get you started. Remember, don't tell anyone about me or your uncle Yoda, ok?"
"No worries dad."
"Ok son, if you leave the docking bay, and walk straight for about thirty meters and take your second left, you'll find a place that serves the only food in the system that doesn't suck. I have to get going though."
"Well, see you when I see you dad... tell Uncle Yoda I said goodbye."
"I will, son."
Peytros watched as he walked off into his new life, grateful that he hadn't had to kill him. As the bay door slid shut Peytros saw an Itani Viper recruit climbing out of his Valk X-1 and walked over.
"Say, thats a nice ship." He said as he slid his hand along one of the ships pods.
"Thanks, she was a gift from Duncan..." a look of confusion and recognition took the recruits face. "... hey aren't you..." he was cut off by the muffled shot of Peytros's silenced Bolter.
"Yeah, I am." he laughed as he kicked the dead recruit into the Valks storage bay.
3 days later
The clone lay on his back under his Atlas X making adjustments to the new Screamer rocket launcher he had bought recently. When he heard people approaching.
"Look Mecha, I know how you feel about TGFT... but, the time isn't right for a trade war, it would rip the guild apart" one of the voices said sounding frustrated.
"I understand what you're saying Miex, but TGFT is making it so we can't make a profit. They're our only real competitors and in the financial sense they're crushing us. It may as well be a war already as bad as we're losing!"
"I know Mecha but, TGFT is technically our allies, at the very least they're non aggressive towards us."
"Allies? Did the definition of that word change recently? Remember when they came to us BEGGING for our support against SKAR? What happened? We fired up our combat ships and hit the front lines, what did TGFT do? they hid till it was over, while we bled to make the trade lanes safe and in the end... THEY TOOK ALL THE DAMNED CREDIT FOR THE VICTORY!"
"Look, I know how you feel and I know there are those who support your ideas but not enough, Lets just..." he stopped speaking as the clone stood and pulled down the hatch of his Atlas. "... what, to good to say hi to your CO?" he chuckled and walked towards him. The man was little confused by this strangers greeting but, he seemed friendly enough so he started towards him.
"I'm sorry..." he said "... but I think you have me mis..." His eyes fell on MiexonBionic's flight jacket, a small patch read...'MiexonBionic, Commander, Phoenix Alliance"
The smile dropped from his face. With blinding speed, his foot shot out taking Mecha by surprise and knocking the wind out of him. With a fluid movement he grabbed Miexon around the throat, clamped a hand over his mouth and placed the muzzle of his disrupter against his temple.
"STAY BACK!" he screamed as Mecha got up looking slightly confused.
"Alright..." Mecha replied. "... just stay calm, I think you're a little confused... we just want to help. OK?"
"Don't lie to me, my father told me all about the Alliance, I'm on to your tricks you lying child killing scum!" he said coldly as he backed up the ramp of his Atlas.
"Alright, just don't do anything rash... we'll figure this out."
"Figure this out scumbag!" he hissed through clenched teeth as he fired his disrupter into Miexons leg and kicked him at Mecha. Mecha bent to help his CO up. The hatch of the Atlas slammed shut and its engines hummed to life.
"Don't worry..." Mecha said. "The dock operator will never let him out after all that." They both stared as the Atlas rose and rotated towards the bays massive door. Their eyes widened as they heard the tell tale hum of power being diverted to rocket launcher. Suddenly the bay was filled with a high keening mechanical scream.
They looked at each other and yealled in unison...
"SCREAMERS....RUN!!!""
They turned and bolted for the door to the station, diving through it. Mecha jumped to his feet, pulled a phase blaster and shot the doors release mechanism. The door slammed shut, forming an airtight seal. Suddenly, the deck plates shook violently and the plasteel door warped like a bubble was forming in it. A monitor on the wall revealed that the man in the Atlas had fired a full pay load of Screamers at the bay door, destroying it and any of the smaller ships docked closest. Mostly station guards and Strike Force vultures. The contents of the bay were sucked into the void by the explosive decompression along with the Atlas X, which was now just a fading trail of plasma exhaust.
"Mecha..." Miexon gasped clutching his burned leg."... what the hell was that all about?"
6 months later
Gerty had been standing silently in front of Mixeons desk for the better part of an hour listening as he explained the ins and outs of the Phoenix Alliance.
"So, basically we cover a wide range of things, we have miners, traders we even have some of the best combat pilots out there. What we try to do is find what you are good at and develop it, for example Mecha is an ace pilot where as Ryan is good at recruitment. However, there is an even more present factor in both of them. They are both world class psychopaths, so basically we just took that and ran with it.
So... what is it about the Alliance that appeals to you?"
Gerty hesitated. This wasn't going anything like Ryan had said it would.
"Well..." Gerty said. "... I do a lot of mining and trading, which you guys do and I honestly could use some help with my piloting skills. Ryan says PA can help me with all that and I really like how laid back it seems around here."
"Well, we do try to have fun and some say we are more like a family than a guild. Anyway, Ryan vouched for you and you seem ok, so welcome aboard. Ryan oughta be down in the main docking bay, tell him to help you get yourself situated and maybe introduce you around, ok?"
Gerty and Ryan made their way to the crew quarters carrying Gerty's few meager belongings.
"This is really all you have?" Ryan asked astonished, looking at a simple and functional duffel bag and a crate of books.
"Well, David Henry Thoreau says, 'simplify, simplify.' and I tend to agree."
"Indeed, but if we are to wax poetic and philosophical I prefer... 'Never lose sight of the fact that all human felicity lies in man's imagination, and that he cannot think to attain it unless he heeds all his caprices. The most fortunate of persons is he who has the most means to satisfy his vagaries.'
It just seems a better way to live, if you ask me."
"Wait..." Gerty interjected. "... you get your driving principles in life from the Marquis De Sade? Thats a little morbid don't you think?"
Ryan smiled.
"Well, not all of them, just the exceptionally fun ones."
Gerty laughed nervously.
"I think the Marquis De Sade had a dangerous idea of fun but, I suppose his philosophies are just as good as anyone else's, though I'd be careful about sharing these viewpoints."
Ryan nodded and clapped Gerty on the back.
"I like you, you're gonna fit in nice here. So this is your room..." he said, indicating a room near the docking bay. "...I'm supposed to be down the hall, but I sleep in my old moth most of the time and..."
Ryan was cut off by a blaring alarm, he flipped open his comm and shouted over the noise.
"Chi, what the hell is going on?"
"Ryan, I just got a call from Gramps. He was leaving Latos when he saw a formation of HAWK corvults jump in. I'm gonna try and raise Spedy and Mecha."
"Roger that, lemme know if there's anything I can do."
Ryan jammed his free hand into his pocket and pressed a button on a small device then wrapped his fingers around a spare blaster capacitor to mask his actions.
Gerty looked at him, concern in his eyes.
"This happens a lot? I mean HAWK and pirates and such?"
"Not really, but they are a threat to the peace that PA values so much."
Gerty wondered if he had actually heard disdain in Ryans voice when he uttered the word 'peace' or if it was imagined.
Ryans comm buzzed.
"Yeah chi, whats up?"
"Ryan, our inter-system comms are down, can you get 'em workin again? we need to get some combat pilots out there."
"No can do Chi, this is too important to wait. Gerty can get the comms up, I'm hittin the void before that HAWK scum can disrupt the peace!" he dropped his comm and ran for the bay.
Gerty was certain this time he heard disdain and contempt when Ryan said peace but, Ryan was already running towards his WTD. Minutes later he was gone.
A wall comm crackled to life.
"Gerty, its Chi, I can't get Ryan. Is he still with you?"
"Nope, he took off in a combat rig, Chi... can he handle three HAWK fighters on his own?"
"No, but don't worry. Its a safe bet they aren't there anymore, and with out a course to follow he won't likely find them. Listen you think you can get the comms up?"
Gerty punched up a map and comms info on a wall console.
"It shouldn't be a problem, it looks like you're running an old Axia trans-space sub modulating pulse transmitter. Actually, I'm pretty sure I have some parts I could use back on my ship. I can grab 'em once the docking bay re-pressurizes."
"Great, gimme a holler when you've got it running."
Seventeen minutes later Gerty was in the main communications room scratching his head as he checked and rechecked every system. He keyed into the internal comm system to report to Miex but found he was a way from his desk.
"Miex, its Gerty... I'm in the comms room and everything looks fine, what ever the problem is it isn't here, I'm going to sweep the station for interference, it could just be solar radiation spiking but you can never tell. Gerty out."
Helios.
Mecha Tourius glided his SVG to a smooth stop on the runway, popped his hatch and climbed down. It was perpetually dark here but his ocular implants could see in dozens of light spectrums. He looked around at the rusting hulks of SVGs and SCPs, once proud ships, now little more than rotting corpses picked clean of their meat by treacherous UIT vultures.
He walked on through the darkness until he came to a deceptively small building, the doors blasted off their rails. He stepped inside, located a control panel and and entered a code.
The small room groaned and squealed in protest as the floor began to descend. Ten minutes later Mecha was one hundred meters below the surface of the small moon. He stepped from the lift and lights came on. He cursed loudly.
"Ai-yah. Tyen-ah! Joo ah, nee ming ming jee dao wuh shr bang nee tzwo shr, yo huh bee jao wuh ma fan nuh? I forgot about the damned lights!" He muttered as his ocular implants settled back into the visible spectrum and his eyes adjusted.
"Honey... I'm home." He said smiling as he gazed longingly at the expansive room. He lovingly wiped dust from a console and began down loading files.
"Soon..." he said to no one in particular "...soon the Hwoon dahn will suffer for what they've done to us."
Latos
Three flat black HAWK Corvults sat motionless in the empty void of Latos A-2. Their systems nearly completely shut down, any passing ships would only register an insignificant sensor echo.
Danica checked her radar for the twelfth time in as many minutes and pounded her fist down onto the comms button.
"Dammit Pey, where the hell is this chou ma niao Hwoon dahn!? I'm starting to lose my calm and forgiving sense of compassion over here!
Before Peytros could answer, Falcor chimed in...
"FAHNG-sheen Danica, Pey says the guys reliable, he'll be here. Dong le ma?"
Peytros was about to respond when his radar lit up like an explosion.
"Kao! Gwai-gwai long duh dong!..." He picked up his mike "...guys theres a ship approaching at boo yao ming duh soo doo, its probably the guy we're here ta meet, but power up yer weapons just in case."
From out of no where a white Warthog turboed less than a meter over their cock pits banked sharply and came about. The pilot keyed in the code for sector comms.
"This is Atice of VPR! Peytros, Falcor and Danica, You are bound by law! You are ordered to stand down and surrender!"
"Joo fay woo suh lah snake" Falcor yelled into his com.
"Tsai boo shr." chuckled Danica, regaining her calm and forgiving sense of compassion she hit the engines and powered up the weapons systems.
With in seconds the two Corvults were spewing guass at the Warthog, which oddly had yet to return fire.
Peytros checked the pulse beacons reading on the VPR hog, his eyes widened and he screamed into his mike...
"Danica, Falcor! DISENGAGE! It isn't Atice! I repeat, it is NOT Atice! It's our contact and he may be a bit Fong luh, but he's no good to us dead!"
The Warthog pilot settled right in front of Peytros and keyed his mike.
""Wuh de tyen, ah! That was bracing, thanks guys... you really got the old adrenaline pumping there!"
"Gwai-gwai long duh dong? You coulda been killed..." Peytros said unable to conceal his irritation. "... just what was that shen jing bing? comin in here announcing yerself as VPR?"
"Yeah, real sorry bout that Pey just ahng-tzong fung-kwong duh jeh, ya know? A fella gets bored and all of sudden like, shen jing bing starts to look appealing, speaking of appealing... Danicas lookin pretty good these days."
Danica cut in...
"You know yer still on sector don't you tyen tsai?"
"well yeah, wouldn't do much good to proposition ya if you couldn't hear me!" Ryan laughed.
"Wuh tzai chien shr ee-ding ruh dao shuh-muh run luh bah . . ." Peytros muttered as he keyed the mike. "... Ta ma de! Nimen de bizui! Ryan, try very hard to be serious for a moment. How are things going? Any major setbacks?"
"None, if all goes well then Tyen-shia TGFT soy ya duh ren. Doh goy swa. It'll be glorious!"
"Miex has agreed to my terms then? That easy?" Peytros sounded suspicious.
"Well, he's not one hundred percent on board, but I can bring him around as long as HAWK does what I said to do."
"That BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO! What exactly does he not agree with?!"
Before Ryan could answer, the space between the ships rippled and blue light exploded as a Behomoth XC plowed through them.
"Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan..." Ryan muttered as the XCs hull scraped past his cockpit. His eyes widened as he read the lettering on the side. TGFT. "...Ai ya. Women wanle! Pey, if that Hwoon dahn reports he saw us together, I'm toast and the plans dead!"
The Behemoth was frantically trying to turbo away.
"FAHNG-sheen ryan. Danica, Falcor... turn that trader into fay tyeh"
Falcor and Danica took off after the trader guass blazing.
"Ryan, Zhu yi and no more actin kwong-juh duh, the plan is going to well to fuck it up now."
"Wuh de tyen, ah, Peytros... FAHNG-sheen, that Kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn Ecka and his band of traders will never know what hit them."
"And Phoenix Alliance? You guys won't be to popular if it gets out that we waged this war together."
"FAHNG-sheen. No one will ever know. Its not like Miex is going to make this public, to anyone looking on, it'll look like TGFT is engaged in two separate wars."
THREE DAYS LATER....
CNH breathed deep and stepped through the door to the War Room. The place was dimly lit and far to loud for his tastes. This was only his second time in Sedina and the place hadn't seemed to of improved at all, it didn't help that he was in bar full of Serco traders, mercenaries and pirates.
He looked around until he spotted Chi, who rose from her table and pulled out a chair for him.
He hurried over and sat down.
"Chi... why in the hell did you pick this place to meet? UPK has arrest or kill on sight orders for nearly one third of the people here." He whispered through clenched teeth.
"Relax, this place is perfect... no one will recognize us, and no one would ever expect either of us to show up here. Theres nothing to worry about."
"Well thats a matter of opinion. Anyway... you said you had information on an open case?"
Chi handed CNH a data pad under the table.
"Yeah, open but cold case. two years and some odd months ago, the Enistan Orbital massacre. You remember it?"
CNH's eyes went wide.
"Remeber it? I still have nightmares about that one... a lot of innocent people died that day."
Chi stared at her drink.
"Yeah, I know. Maybe this will help you though. A few days before, some one broke into an Itani medical station and killed all the personal working in the Intensive Care: Severe Psychological Trauma ward. No patients were hurt, but it looks like they stole a complete psychological profile of one of the patients. It seems he wasn't Itani, rather a UIT citizen being treated under heavy sedation."
"Hmm... there was evidence that the perps made a clone after the attack, this could honestly help us out a lot. Who was the patient?"
He asked the light in his eyes making him appear twenty years younger in an instant.
Again Chi stared at her drink.
"Thats the thing, you know how the Itani government is. They wouldn't release anything more to me. I'm really surprised that they even let this out."
There was a sudden commotion by the door followed by a scream and the smell of burning hair.
"OUTA MY WAY YOU COW FUCKING SWINE! I SWEAR BY ALL THATS HOLY THE NEXT CORVUS FUCK THAT STEPS IN FRONT OF ME IS GOING TO GET A CROTCH FULL OF CATTLE PROD!!!"
Every one in the bar turned towards the door. Ryan Reign stood, or rather tried to stand, as he brandished a four foot long cattle prod in one hand and a bottle of Serco Ale in the other.
"No one will recognize us?" CNH whispered, a little amused.
"Shit!" Chi spat "this could not get any worse.
A hand clamped down on Ryans shoulder and an all to happy voice said...
"Ryan, calm down. Shar, help me get him to a table... I think he's had a bit much"
Shar nodded and he and the younger almost boyish looking man dragged him over to a table occupied by some large mercenaries.
Peytros smiled at them.
"This is your lucky day guys!"
the largest looked up at him, suspiciously.
"Whys that?"
"We're gonna give you the opportunity to leave this table alive!"
The mercenaries started to rise, looks of anger and hostility and rage upon their faces. Midway through standing, they slid back down to their seats, the looks of rage replaced with confusion and finally empty vacuous looks of the recently deceased.
"Eewww..." Ryan muttered as Shar put his silenced blaster away... "you made a mess."
Peytros turned to a group of traders at the next table.
"This is you lucky day guys!" He said with a smile as the traders jumped up and ran for the door.
Chi and CNH looked from the three of them to each other and to the door. Shar, Peytros and Ryan had chosen a table that was located closest to the door. They would definitely be seen if they left.
"Jesus Chi, any ideas on how we're gettin outa here?" He asked as he slid the data pad into his pocket and pulled his reserve laz-pistol from its holster, concealing it under his coat.
Chi noticed the beam emitter poking from beneath the coat draped over his arm and pushed his hand down to his side.
"Have you lost your mind? You fire that in here and some one is definitely going to see us, and most likely some one will recognize us."
CNH looked around with a growing sense of defeat.
"Do you have a better idea? Seriously, how the hell are we..."
CNH first felt the heat and then felt himself lifted and thrown through the air. The dimly lit bar was bathed in blinding white light. The sensation of being thrown off his feet and through the air was almost peaceful, if it were not for the terrible ringing sound.
Slowly, his eyes came back into focus and he saw a scene of pure carnage. Most of the bars patrons were either dead or dying. Having been caught in the bombs blast radius or having had shrapnel rip through their bodies. As he looked through the chaos for Chi he stepped over body after body.
"Captain!" He heard a feminine voice call out. "... over here!" Chi was dragging Ryan out from a pile of rubble and bodies, he was unconscious and badly injured by shrapnel.
Peytros and Shar stepped out of the shadows pistols drawn and aiming at Chi.
"Well well, what do we have here?" Shar asked Peytros, smiles on both their faces.
"Looks like a little birdy that strayed to far from home, I wonder if its true... that when you set a phoenix on fire they rise from the ashes?"
Chi gently laid Ryan on a relatively clear area of floor as CNH took a position next to her, aiming his laz-pistol at the two pirates.
"Gentlemen, this is clearly not the time for this. This man, not to mention a lot of others need medical attention."
Peytros looked at the scene in a casual manner.
"Fine, you two get off easy this time. You can look after the wounded, but he is coming with us." He said pointing at Ryan.
"Over my dead body. We have the best medical facilities in three systems just over in Latos."
"Peytros, is she suggesting that we don't have any physicians?"
Peytros thought for a moment.
"No, I hate to say it... she's right. the closest medics I have are in Pelatus. Let her take him."
Shar relaxed his blaster a little.
"Glad to see reason isn't completely lost on you Peytros. Help me get him to my ship and put some pressure on that gash in his neck. He's lost a lot of blood."
Peytros hooked his arms under Ryans shoulders as Chi and CNH each grabbed a leg. Shar fired his blaster over the heads of a few UIT traders that had gathered out side the bar and sent them scattering.
"We're clear for now, I'd suggest hurrying. Corvus security will be all over us in a few minutes. And they don't ask politely if ya get my meaning.
The four of them ran as fast as their injuries would allow for the cargo bay where Chi's Atlas was docked.
She looked at Peytros as they half ran, half limped to opening hatch of her atlas.
"What was he doing with the two of you any ways?" She asked as they loaded him into the Atlas and secured him to a cot, draping a blanket decorated with large headed kittens over him.
Peytros flashed her a predacious smile.
"I'm helping him, not you. Ask me a question that you could ask him and get no answer again and I'll put a round in both your knees, before I shoot you in the liver and leave you bleed out in agony."
Peytros and Shar made their way into the cargo bay as CNH started trying to treat the wounds.
Shar turned and looked at CNH.
"Next time you set foot in my back yard, you wont get so lucky. See to it that you stay in Dau from here on out.
They continued walking towards their Corvus Greyhounds.
Chi called out as she began raising the hatch.
"Peytros! Thanks for helping us get him here. We'll take good care of him."
"Yeah yeah, don't go getting all emotional on me woman... you're not alive till you're back in Latos.
29 Hours later
Gerty sat at his desk in the Phoenix Alliance's Latos base medical bay staring intently at a med screen trying to ascertain the extent of Ryans injuries. His calm was interrupted by yet another alarm, the twelfth such alarm in under an hour.
He jumped up and raced to the medical pod where Ryan lay heavily sedated. His hearts had failed. The medical bay filled with the monotonous sound of the monitors announcing he was dead.
Gerty grabbed a scalpel off the near by table and began opening Ryans chest. When he had enough room to work he looked with dismay at Ryans dual hearts both rendered nothing more than meat by shrapnel.
He quickly removed both hearts and set down the scalpel, attaching a set of bio pumps to pump the blood through his body. When he was satisfied that the pumps were working, he crossed the room and selected a pair of Serco cybernetic heart replacements and gathered the instruments he would need to install them.
The door of the medical bay slid open with a hiss and Chi walked in with Miex following close behind.
"Whoa... guys, I'm in surgery here! You need to leave or get into decon first! I mean seriously, his chest is wide open!" Gerty exclaimed.
Miex and Chi stepped into the decontamination area activating a small pulse wave of radiation eliminating any microbial threats to the sterile environment and donned surgical masks.
"Gerty, how is he? Is he going to make it?" Miex asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"It was touch and go for a while, and I'll make no promises apart from I'm going to do every thing I can to keep him alive." he replied his hands inside Ryans chest cavity activating the self adjusting aortal clamps of the replacement hearts. He began closing the incisions.
"How bad is it?" Chi asked.
"Well, when you brought him here, he'd lost about one third of his blood. Most of whats in him now is synthetic. I managed to reattach his arm, but he'll probably only have about seventy percent usage. I had to replace his liver, small intestine, bladder, kidneys, a good portion of his muscular system and as you saw, I had to replace both his hearts just now. Apart from that, I've done massive skin grafts and had to infuse most of his skeletal structure with a xithricite/heliocene compound. He'll be about seventy kilos heavier but, with the synthetic muscular system he wont notice much. You need to understand, that even with all this there are no guarantees."
"No..." Chi interupted. "... what we need to understand is why a Phoenix Alliance council member was at the scene of a terrorist attack in the company of known murderers and pirates that are wanted in all three nations. We need to understand where his allegiances are."
"Chi, Ryans loyalties are not in question. His taste in the company he keeps may be questionable, but he has never quit PA in a fit of rage." Miex stated flatly.
Gerty sensed that there may be rifts in the family of the Phoenix Alliance.
Chi recovered from Miexs reminder of her past quickly.
"well, be that as it may... the company he was keeping raises serious concerns. Concerns I will be raising at the next council meeting."
With that, she turned on her heel and left the medical bay.
Miex put a hand on Gerties shoulder and sighed.
"Gerty, I'm afraid you may have joined PA at an odd time. Theres unrest but don't worry... it wont affect you."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Just keep your head down and let me know when Ryans ready to talk."
"Will do Miex."
Miex nodded and turned to leave. Part way to the door he turned back to Gerty.
"One more thing..." He said, his face an expressionless stone mask. "... no one but me gets in here to see him. Not council, not lieutenants... no one."
TWO DAYS LATER.
Captain Nice HD relaxed in his favorite chair in UPKs general recreation room watching news feeds from around the universe on UIT Action News.
"Well Dirk it was grim day for the Propeller Group today" The news caster Dirk Steele said.
"I'll say Rick... it seems the president and CEO of the power house UIT sub faction TPG was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt Monday when a blast hit his convoy.
The full extent of his injuries are unknown but, it is certain that he suffered a severe brain concussion, fractured ribs and a ruptured liver, a TPG spokeswoman said.
The vice president who was also injured underwent minor surgery to remove shrapnel and his currently in stable but guarded condition.
The TPG convoy they were traveling in was headed to an international trade summit Monday evening, when a suicide squad attacked destroying the security escorts before turning back to attack the two TPG Tridents. After a barrage of Sunflare rockets, the assassins crashed their TPG Raptors into the bridge areas and docking bays before detonating explosives packed into the cargo holds of their ships. Witnesses claim that at least one of the Tridents was able to launch escape pods."
"Wow... well Dirk, I'm sure that UPK will hunt down the terrorists responsible for this cowardly attack and to the victims and their families, we want you to know that everyone here at UIT Action News has your well being in our hearts and minds. Stay tuned here to UIT Action News for a message from Andreas Corvinos about the bombing of the popular Serco bar in Sedina. But first a message from one of our sponsors."
CNH turned to a trooper sitting near him.
"Can you believe this? A weeks pay says that scum bag Corvinos comes on and babbles about this bombing calling it the work of UIT militants."
The trooper chuckled as he stripped and cleaned his Laz-rifle, paying particular attention to the beam emitter.
"Yeah... the guy runs the biggest organized crime outfit in the verse but when the chickens come home to roost he whines like an unarmed trader when CLM jumps in."
CNH rubbed his shoulder. The burns from the bomb had been minor but still hurt. He made a mental note to check in on Chi and Ryan, and maybe get some medical treatment from their medics.
The commercials ended and the screen was filled with the image of Andrea Corvinos.
"Good evening members of the intergalactic media. As many of you know, late last night a popular night club was the target of a brutal terrorist attack. It has been confirmed that the bombing has left thirty nine dead and many more injured. Corvus security forces are currently investigating the attack and already have suspects they would like to question..."
The image cut away from Andreas Corvinos and three images filled the screen as he continued talking.
"... The suspected terrorists, shown here have been identified as Tohasandra Chi and Ryan Reign of the Phoenix Alliance and perhaps even more disturbingly, Captain "Nice Hard Drive" of the UIT military group UPK. The three suspects were spotted leaving the scene of the attack with notorious murderers Trakus Shar and Peytros. Both known murderers and pirates. Witnesses saw the five of them fleeing the scene after shooting at a group of UIT traders who had survived the blast before they turned their blasters on Corvus security personnel and medical staff as they tried to search for survivors.
I make this plea to the UIT government, please... in the name of lawfulness and peace, turn over these heinous criminals so that they may pay for their crimes and that the families of the dead will know that justice has been served."
Gerty had been standing silently in front of Mixeons desk for the better part of an hour listening as he explained the ins and outs of the Phoenix Alliance.
"So, basically we cover a wide range of things, we have miners, traders we even have some of the best combat pilots out there. What we try to do is find what you are good at and develop it, for example Mecha is an ace pilot where as Ryan is good at recruitment. However, there is an even more present factor in both of them. They are both world class psychopaths, so basically we just took that and ran with it.
So... what is it about the Alliance that appeals to you?"
Gerty hesitated. This wasn't going anything like Ryan had said it would.
"Well..." Gerty said. "... I do a lot of mining and trading, which you guys do and I honestly could use some help with my piloting skills. Ryan says PA can help me with all that and I really like how laid back it seems around here."
"Well, we do try to have fun and some say we are more like a family than a guild. Anyway, Ryan vouched for you and you seem ok, so welcome aboard. Ryan oughta be down in the main docking bay, tell him to help you get yourself situated and maybe introduce you around, ok?"
Gerty and Ryan made their way to the crew quarters carrying Gerty's few meager belongings.
"This is really all you have?" Ryan asked astonished, looking at a simple and functional duffel bag and a crate of books.
"Well, David Henry Thoreau says, 'simplify, simplify.' and I tend to agree."
"Indeed, but if we are to wax poetic and philosophical I prefer... 'Never lose sight of the fact that all human felicity lies in man's imagination, and that he cannot think to attain it unless he heeds all his caprices. The most fortunate of persons is he who has the most means to satisfy his vagaries.'
It just seems a better way to live, if you ask me."
"Wait..." Gerty interjected. "... you get your driving principles in life from the Marquis De Sade? Thats a little morbid don't you think?"
Ryan smiled.
"Well, not all of them, just the exceptionally fun ones."
Gerty laughed nervously.
"I think the Marquis De Sade had a dangerous idea of fun but, I suppose his philosophies are just as good as anyone else's, though I'd be careful about sharing these viewpoints."
Ryan nodded and clapped Gerty on the back.
"I like you, you're gonna fit in nice here. So this is your room..." he said, indicating a room near the docking bay. "...I'm supposed to be down the hall, but I sleep in my old moth most of the time and..."
Ryan was cut off by a blaring alarm, he flipped open his comm and shouted over the noise.
"Chi, what the hell is going on?"
"Ryan, I just got a call from Gramps. He was leaving Latos when he saw a formation of HAWK corvults jump in. I'm gonna try and raise Spedy and Mecha."
"Roger that, lemme know if there's anything I can do."
Ryan jammed his free hand into his pocket and pressed a button on a small device then wrapped his fingers around a spare blaster capacitor to mask his actions.
Gerty looked at him, concern in his eyes.
"This happens a lot? I mean HAWK and pirates and such?"
"Not really, but they are a threat to the peace that PA values so much."
Gerty wondered if he had actually heard disdain in Ryans voice when he uttered the word 'peace' or if it was imagined.
Ryans comm buzzed.
"Yeah chi, whats up?"
"Ryan, our inter-system comms are down, can you get 'em workin again? we need to get some combat pilots out there."
"No can do Chi, this is too important to wait. Gerty can get the comms up, I'm hittin the void before that HAWK scum can disrupt the peace!" he dropped his comm and ran for the bay.
Gerty was certain this time he heard disdain and contempt when Ryan said peace but, Ryan was already running towards his WTD. Minutes later he was gone.
A wall comm crackled to life.
"Gerty, its Chi, I can't get Ryan. Is he still with you?"
"Nope, he took off in a combat rig, Chi... can he handle three HAWK fighters on his own?"
"No, but don't worry. Its a safe bet they aren't there anymore, and with out a course to follow he won't likely find them. Listen you think you can get the comms up?"
Gerty punched up a map and comms info on a wall console.
"It shouldn't be a problem, it looks like you're running an old Axia trans-space sub modulating pulse transmitter. Actually, I'm pretty sure I have some parts I could use back on my ship. I can grab 'em once the docking bay re-pressurizes."
"Great, gimme a holler when you've got it running."
Seventeen minutes later Gerty was in the main communications room scratching his head as he checked and rechecked every system. He keyed into the internal comm system to report to Miex but found he was a way from his desk.
"Miex, its Gerty... I'm in the comms room and everything looks fine, what ever the problem is it isn't here, I'm going to sweep the station for interference, it could just be solar radiation spiking but you can never tell. Gerty out."
Helios.
Mecha Tourius glided his SVG to a smooth stop on the runway, popped his hatch and climbed down. It was perpetually dark here but his ocular implants could see in dozens of light spectrums. He looked around at the rusting hulks of SVGs and SCPs, once proud ships, now little more than rotting corpses picked clean of their meat by treacherous UIT vultures.
He walked on through the darkness until he came to a deceptively small building, the doors blasted off their rails. He stepped inside, located a control panel and and entered a code.
The small room groaned and squealed in protest as the floor began to descend. Ten minutes later Mecha was one hundred meters below the surface of the small moon. He stepped from the lift and lights came on. He cursed loudly.
"Ai-yah. Tyen-ah! Joo ah, nee ming ming jee dao wuh shr bang nee tzwo shr, yo huh bee jao wuh ma fan nuh? I forgot about the damned lights!" He muttered as his ocular implants settled back into the visible spectrum and his eyes adjusted.
"Honey... I'm home." He said smiling as he gazed longingly at the expansive room. He lovingly wiped dust from a console and began down loading files.
"Soon..." he said to no one in particular "...soon the Hwoon dahn will suffer for what they've done to us."
Latos
Three flat black HAWK Corvults sat motionless in the empty void of Latos A-2. Their systems nearly completely shut down, any passing ships would only register an insignificant sensor echo.
Danica checked her radar for the twelfth time in as many minutes and pounded her fist down onto the comms button.
"Dammit Pey, where the hell is this chou ma niao Hwoon dahn!? I'm starting to lose my calm and forgiving sense of compassion over here!
Before Peytros could answer, Falcor chimed in...
"FAHNG-sheen Danica, Pey says the guys reliable, he'll be here. Dong le ma?"
Peytros was about to respond when his radar lit up like an explosion.
"Kao! Gwai-gwai long duh dong!..." He picked up his mike "...guys theres a ship approaching at boo yao ming duh soo doo, its probably the guy we're here ta meet, but power up yer weapons just in case."
From out of no where a white Warthog turboed less than a meter over their cock pits banked sharply and came about. The pilot keyed in the code for sector comms.
"This is Atice of VPR! Peytros, Falcor and Danica, You are bound by law! You are ordered to stand down and surrender!"
"Joo fay woo suh lah snake" Falcor yelled into his com.
"Tsai boo shr." chuckled Danica, regaining her calm and forgiving sense of compassion she hit the engines and powered up the weapons systems.
With in seconds the two Corvults were spewing guass at the Warthog, which oddly had yet to return fire.
Peytros checked the pulse beacons reading on the VPR hog, his eyes widened and he screamed into his mike...
"Danica, Falcor! DISENGAGE! It isn't Atice! I repeat, it is NOT Atice! It's our contact and he may be a bit Fong luh, but he's no good to us dead!"
The Warthog pilot settled right in front of Peytros and keyed his mike.
""Wuh de tyen, ah! That was bracing, thanks guys... you really got the old adrenaline pumping there!"
"Gwai-gwai long duh dong? You coulda been killed..." Peytros said unable to conceal his irritation. "... just what was that shen jing bing? comin in here announcing yerself as VPR?"
"Yeah, real sorry bout that Pey just ahng-tzong fung-kwong duh jeh, ya know? A fella gets bored and all of sudden like, shen jing bing starts to look appealing, speaking of appealing... Danicas lookin pretty good these days."
Danica cut in...
"You know yer still on sector don't you tyen tsai?"
"well yeah, wouldn't do much good to proposition ya if you couldn't hear me!" Ryan laughed.
"Wuh tzai chien shr ee-ding ruh dao shuh-muh run luh bah . . ." Peytros muttered as he keyed the mike. "... Ta ma de! Nimen de bizui! Ryan, try very hard to be serious for a moment. How are things going? Any major setbacks?"
"None, if all goes well then Tyen-shia TGFT soy ya duh ren. Doh goy swa. It'll be glorious!"
"Miex has agreed to my terms then? That easy?" Peytros sounded suspicious.
"Well, he's not one hundred percent on board, but I can bring him around as long as HAWK does what I said to do."
"That BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO! What exactly does he not agree with?!"
Before Ryan could answer, the space between the ships rippled and blue light exploded as a Behomoth XC plowed through them.
"Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan..." Ryan muttered as the XCs hull scraped past his cockpit. His eyes widened as he read the lettering on the side. TGFT. "...Ai ya. Women wanle! Pey, if that Hwoon dahn reports he saw us together, I'm toast and the plans dead!"
The Behemoth was frantically trying to turbo away.
"FAHNG-sheen ryan. Danica, Falcor... turn that trader into fay tyeh"
Falcor and Danica took off after the trader guass blazing.
"Ryan, Zhu yi and no more actin kwong-juh duh, the plan is going to well to fuck it up now."
"Wuh de tyen, ah, Peytros... FAHNG-sheen, that Kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn Ecka and his band of traders will never know what hit them."
"And Phoenix Alliance? You guys won't be to popular if it gets out that we waged this war together."
"FAHNG-sheen. No one will ever know. Its not like Miex is going to make this public, to anyone looking on, it'll look like TGFT is engaged in two separate wars."
THREE DAYS LATER....
CNH breathed deep and stepped through the door to the War Room. The place was dimly lit and far to loud for his tastes. This was only his second time in Sedina and the place hadn't seemed to of improved at all, it didn't help that he was in bar full of Serco traders, mercenaries and pirates.
He looked around until he spotted Chi, who rose from her table and pulled out a chair for him.
He hurried over and sat down.
"Chi... why in the hell did you pick this place to meet? UPK has arrest or kill on sight orders for nearly one third of the people here." He whispered through clenched teeth.
"Relax, this place is perfect... no one will recognize us, and no one would ever expect either of us to show up here. Theres nothing to worry about."
"Well thats a matter of opinion. Anyway... you said you had information on an open case?"
Chi handed CNH a data pad under the table.
"Yeah, open but cold case. two years and some odd months ago, the Enistan Orbital massacre. You remember it?"
CNH's eyes went wide.
"Remeber it? I still have nightmares about that one... a lot of innocent people died that day."
Chi stared at her drink.
"Yeah, I know. Maybe this will help you though. A few days before, some one broke into an Itani medical station and killed all the personal working in the Intensive Care: Severe Psychological Trauma ward. No patients were hurt, but it looks like they stole a complete psychological profile of one of the patients. It seems he wasn't Itani, rather a UIT citizen being treated under heavy sedation."
"Hmm... there was evidence that the perps made a clone after the attack, this could honestly help us out a lot. Who was the patient?"
He asked the light in his eyes making him appear twenty years younger in an instant.
Again Chi stared at her drink.
"Thats the thing, you know how the Itani government is. They wouldn't release anything more to me. I'm really surprised that they even let this out."
There was a sudden commotion by the door followed by a scream and the smell of burning hair.
"OUTA MY WAY YOU COW FUCKING SWINE! I SWEAR BY ALL THATS HOLY THE NEXT CORVUS FUCK THAT STEPS IN FRONT OF ME IS GOING TO GET A CROTCH FULL OF CATTLE PROD!!!"
Every one in the bar turned towards the door. Ryan Reign stood, or rather tried to stand, as he brandished a four foot long cattle prod in one hand and a bottle of Serco Ale in the other.
"No one will recognize us?" CNH whispered, a little amused.
"Shit!" Chi spat "this could not get any worse.
A hand clamped down on Ryans shoulder and an all to happy voice said...
"Ryan, calm down. Shar, help me get him to a table... I think he's had a bit much"
Shar nodded and he and the younger almost boyish looking man dragged him over to a table occupied by some large mercenaries.
Peytros smiled at them.
"This is your lucky day guys!"
the largest looked up at him, suspiciously.
"Whys that?"
"We're gonna give you the opportunity to leave this table alive!"
The mercenaries started to rise, looks of anger and hostility and rage upon their faces. Midway through standing, they slid back down to their seats, the looks of rage replaced with confusion and finally empty vacuous looks of the recently deceased.
"Eewww..." Ryan muttered as Shar put his silenced blaster away... "you made a mess."
Peytros turned to a group of traders at the next table.
"This is you lucky day guys!" He said with a smile as the traders jumped up and ran for the door.
Chi and CNH looked from the three of them to each other and to the door. Shar, Peytros and Ryan had chosen a table that was located closest to the door. They would definitely be seen if they left.
"Jesus Chi, any ideas on how we're gettin outa here?" He asked as he slid the data pad into his pocket and pulled his reserve laz-pistol from its holster, concealing it under his coat.
Chi noticed the beam emitter poking from beneath the coat draped over his arm and pushed his hand down to his side.
"Have you lost your mind? You fire that in here and some one is definitely going to see us, and most likely some one will recognize us."
CNH looked around with a growing sense of defeat.
"Do you have a better idea? Seriously, how the hell are we..."
CNH first felt the heat and then felt himself lifted and thrown through the air. The dimly lit bar was bathed in blinding white light. The sensation of being thrown off his feet and through the air was almost peaceful, if it were not for the terrible ringing sound.
Slowly, his eyes came back into focus and he saw a scene of pure carnage. Most of the bars patrons were either dead or dying. Having been caught in the bombs blast radius or having had shrapnel rip through their bodies. As he looked through the chaos for Chi he stepped over body after body.
"Captain!" He heard a feminine voice call out. "... over here!" Chi was dragging Ryan out from a pile of rubble and bodies, he was unconscious and badly injured by shrapnel.
Peytros and Shar stepped out of the shadows pistols drawn and aiming at Chi.
"Well well, what do we have here?" Shar asked Peytros, smiles on both their faces.
"Looks like a little birdy that strayed to far from home, I wonder if its true... that when you set a phoenix on fire they rise from the ashes?"
Chi gently laid Ryan on a relatively clear area of floor as CNH took a position next to her, aiming his laz-pistol at the two pirates.
"Gentlemen, this is clearly not the time for this. This man, not to mention a lot of others need medical attention."
Peytros looked at the scene in a casual manner.
"Fine, you two get off easy this time. You can look after the wounded, but he is coming with us." He said pointing at Ryan.
"Over my dead body. We have the best medical facilities in three systems just over in Latos."
"Peytros, is she suggesting that we don't have any physicians?"
Peytros thought for a moment.
"No, I hate to say it... she's right. the closest medics I have are in Pelatus. Let her take him."
Shar relaxed his blaster a little.
"Glad to see reason isn't completely lost on you Peytros. Help me get him to my ship and put some pressure on that gash in his neck. He's lost a lot of blood."
Peytros hooked his arms under Ryans shoulders as Chi and CNH each grabbed a leg. Shar fired his blaster over the heads of a few UIT traders that had gathered out side the bar and sent them scattering.
"We're clear for now, I'd suggest hurrying. Corvus security will be all over us in a few minutes. And they don't ask politely if ya get my meaning.
The four of them ran as fast as their injuries would allow for the cargo bay where Chi's Atlas was docked.
She looked at Peytros as they half ran, half limped to opening hatch of her atlas.
"What was he doing with the two of you any ways?" She asked as they loaded him into the Atlas and secured him to a cot, draping a blanket decorated with large headed kittens over him.
Peytros flashed her a predacious smile.
"I'm helping him, not you. Ask me a question that you could ask him and get no answer again and I'll put a round in both your knees, before I shoot you in the liver and leave you bleed out in agony."
Peytros and Shar made their way into the cargo bay as CNH started trying to treat the wounds.
Shar turned and looked at CNH.
"Next time you set foot in my back yard, you wont get so lucky. See to it that you stay in Dau from here on out.
They continued walking towards their Corvus Greyhounds.
Chi called out as she began raising the hatch.
"Peytros! Thanks for helping us get him here. We'll take good care of him."
"Yeah yeah, don't go getting all emotional on me woman... you're not alive till you're back in Latos.
29 Hours later
Gerty sat at his desk in the Phoenix Alliance's Latos base medical bay staring intently at a med screen trying to ascertain the extent of Ryans injuries. His calm was interrupted by yet another alarm, the twelfth such alarm in under an hour.
He jumped up and raced to the medical pod where Ryan lay heavily sedated. His hearts had failed. The medical bay filled with the monotonous sound of the monitors announcing he was dead.
Gerty grabbed a scalpel off the near by table and began opening Ryans chest. When he had enough room to work he looked with dismay at Ryans dual hearts both rendered nothing more than meat by shrapnel.
He quickly removed both hearts and set down the scalpel, attaching a set of bio pumps to pump the blood through his body. When he was satisfied that the pumps were working, he crossed the room and selected a pair of Serco cybernetic heart replacements and gathered the instruments he would need to install them.
The door of the medical bay slid open with a hiss and Chi walked in with Miex following close behind.
"Whoa... guys, I'm in surgery here! You need to leave or get into decon first! I mean seriously, his chest is wide open!" Gerty exclaimed.
Miex and Chi stepped into the decontamination area activating a small pulse wave of radiation eliminating any microbial threats to the sterile environment and donned surgical masks.
"Gerty, how is he? Is he going to make it?" Miex asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"It was touch and go for a while, and I'll make no promises apart from I'm going to do every thing I can to keep him alive." he replied his hands inside Ryans chest cavity activating the self adjusting aortal clamps of the replacement hearts. He began closing the incisions.
"How bad is it?" Chi asked.
"Well, when you brought him here, he'd lost about one third of his blood. Most of whats in him now is synthetic. I managed to reattach his arm, but he'll probably only have about seventy percent usage. I had to replace his liver, small intestine, bladder, kidneys, a good portion of his muscular system and as you saw, I had to replace both his hearts just now. Apart from that, I've done massive skin grafts and had to infuse most of his skeletal structure with a xithricite/heliocene compound. He'll be about seventy kilos heavier but, with the synthetic muscular system he wont notice much. You need to understand, that even with all this there are no guarantees."
"No..." Chi interupted. "... what we need to understand is why a Phoenix Alliance council member was at the scene of a terrorist attack in the company of known murderers and pirates that are wanted in all three nations. We need to understand where his allegiances are."
"Chi, Ryans loyalties are not in question. His taste in the company he keeps may be questionable, but he has never quit PA in a fit of rage." Miex stated flatly.
Gerty sensed that there may be rifts in the family of the Phoenix Alliance.
Chi recovered from Miexs reminder of her past quickly.
"well, be that as it may... the company he was keeping raises serious concerns. Concerns I will be raising at the next council meeting."
With that, she turned on her heel and left the medical bay.
Miex put a hand on Gerties shoulder and sighed.
"Gerty, I'm afraid you may have joined PA at an odd time. Theres unrest but don't worry... it wont affect you."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Just keep your head down and let me know when Ryans ready to talk."
"Will do Miex."
Miex nodded and turned to leave. Part way to the door he turned back to Gerty.
"One more thing..." He said, his face an expressionless stone mask. "... no one but me gets in here to see him. Not council, not lieutenants... no one."
TWO DAYS LATER.
Captain Nice HD relaxed in his favorite chair in UPKs general recreation room watching news feeds from around the universe on UIT Action News.
"Well Dirk it was grim day for the Propeller Group today" The news caster Dirk Steele said.
"I'll say Rick... it seems the president and CEO of the power house UIT sub faction TPG was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt Monday when a blast hit his convoy.
The full extent of his injuries are unknown but, it is certain that he suffered a severe brain concussion, fractured ribs and a ruptured liver, a TPG spokeswoman said.
The vice president who was also injured underwent minor surgery to remove shrapnel and his currently in stable but guarded condition.
The TPG convoy they were traveling in was headed to an international trade summit Monday evening, when a suicide squad attacked destroying the security escorts before turning back to attack the two TPG Tridents. After a barrage of Sunflare rockets, the assassins crashed their TPG Raptors into the bridge areas and docking bays before detonating explosives packed into the cargo holds of their ships. Witnesses claim that at least one of the Tridents was able to launch escape pods."
"Wow... well Dirk, I'm sure that UPK will hunt down the terrorists responsible for this cowardly attack and to the victims and their families, we want you to know that everyone here at UIT Action News has your well being in our hearts and minds. Stay tuned here to UIT Action News for a message from Andreas Corvinos about the bombing of the popular Serco bar in Sedina. But first a message from one of our sponsors."
CNH turned to a trooper sitting near him.
"Can you believe this? A weeks pay says that scum bag Corvinos comes on and babbles about this bombing calling it the work of UIT militants."
The trooper chuckled as he stripped and cleaned his Laz-rifle, paying particular attention to the beam emitter.
"Yeah... the guy runs the biggest organized crime outfit in the verse but when the chickens come home to roost he whines like an unarmed trader when CLM jumps in."
CNH rubbed his shoulder. The burns from the bomb had been minor but still hurt. He made a mental note to check in on Chi and Ryan, and maybe get some medical treatment from their medics.
The commercials ended and the screen was filled with the image of Andrea Corvinos.
"Good evening members of the intergalactic media. As many of you know, late last night a popular night club was the target of a brutal terrorist attack. It has been confirmed that the bombing has left thirty nine dead and many more injured. Corvus security forces are currently investigating the attack and already have suspects they would like to question..."
The image cut away from Andreas Corvinos and three images filled the screen as he continued talking.
"... The suspected terrorists, shown here have been identified as Tohasandra Chi and Ryan Reign of the Phoenix Alliance and perhaps even more disturbingly, Captain "Nice Hard Drive" of the UIT military group UPK. The three suspects were spotted leaving the scene of the attack with notorious murderers Trakus Shar and Peytros. Both known murderers and pirates. Witnesses saw the five of them fleeing the scene after shooting at a group of UIT traders who had survived the blast before they turned their blasters on Corvus security personnel and medical staff as they tried to search for survivors.
I make this plea to the UIT government, please... in the name of lawfulness and peace, turn over these heinous criminals so that they may pay for their crimes and that the families of the dead will know that justice has been served."
Two years later
The air was still and silent. Only the sounds of capacitors charging in weapons broke the silence. CNH surveyed the scene before him. In addition to his own troops there were members of guild security forces from TGFT, PA, ITAN and VPR. This had gone from a simple fugitive grab to a totally unprecedented cluster fuck in record time. If he ever figured out how these others had gotten wind of this operation, there would be hell to pay.
He keyed his mike to the loud speaker.
"Attention, you in the bar. You are completely surrounded. If you release your hostages, throw down your weapons and come out with your hands up... I promise you won't be hurt."
He put the mike down and waited. The response from inside came as a barrage of gun fire. He looked around and smiled as most members of guild security forces scrambled for cover, while his own more trained UPK troops held their ground, knowing the person inside was firing blindly.
Inside the bar Danica paced back and forth, mag blaster in one hand and data pad in the other. She walked calmly to the bar and sat.
"Bartender, you mix me up a 'suffering bastard' like they used to make on old earth... and its the best drink I've ever had, you can go."
The elderly barman began mixing with shaking hands and slid her the drink. She raised it to her lips and drank deeply, finishing the thing in one shot. She looked up at the bar tender...
"This is good... its very good in fact, could you make me one more?"
The bartender saw something in her eyes that he couldn't place. Something he'd not seen since the corporate wars. Sadness? Resignation? What ever it was, he felt a sudden pity for this woman who'd killed five people in his bar. He smiled at her as he handed her the second drink.
"You be careful young lady, drink it to fast and you'll get some mighty bad pains."
She took the drink and handed him the data pad.
"Its not true you know, HAWK isn't dead. You tell them, when you get out there... tell them HAWK will never die. now go..." she whispered. "... get outa here old man."
The old man ran as fast as he could for the door and Danica turned to the survivors.
"It'll all be over soon. I let you all live because you're prospects for the guilds that waged war on HAWK. Remember my mercy."
CNH's voice boomed outside...
"Listen, letting the barman go was good start... lets go to the next step, I need assurances that the other hostages are ok." He was interrupted as a group of PA, TGFT and VPR security forces lined the walls on opposing sides of the door.
He turned to a lieutenant...
"Who authorized this?
"Sir... I tried to stop them, but... they don't recognize UPK authority."
CNH keyed the mike again...
"Listen, I want to bring this to a peaceful resolution... just surrender now and I promise, I'll speak for you. Tell them how you cooperated."
He was met by the sounds of gunfire and people screaming.
Inside the bar, Danica laughed as the prospects squirmed in their restraints as she fired above their heads into the wall.
"Remember my kindness. Remember my mercy upon you all." she said as she dropped her rifle and lifted a pistol to her head pulling the trigger. Her head rippled for a second, distorting her beautiful features before the heavy xith slug destroyed half her head in an explosion of red and pink mist. She stood for a second, a statuesque tribute to the macabre, before her body slumped forward in a lifeless heap.
The bars doors flew off their hinges in a blast of breaching charges and guild security forces poured in. Half of them secured the scene, the other half ran towards the hostages. They never made it.
Outside the bar, the mass of people looking on would later swear the walls pulsed and constricted a split second before the building collapsed and imploded. For now they all just stood in terror. where the bar had stood, there was nothing. Just a fading light.
CNH looked at the lieutenant.
"Christ... tell me I imagined that!"
"Wish I could sir... but my scanners are reading the unique signatures of a singularity bomb"
It was several seconds before he noticed the barman holding the data pad out to him. He read it twice before opening the attachment.
Danicas face filled the screen.
"I'm sorry it came to this. I joined HAWK to fight and make you proud. For a while it went well. I fought with Serco forces in Deneb and I fought the hive in the territories. Then the war came, we tried and we fought hard but in the end, Peytros disbanded HAWK and many of us went into hiding. A few of us tried to keep the war alive. I wanted you to have this, a complete record of the war because you were not a part of it, because I'm told you are an honorable man and mostly... because I want my father to be proud of me."
The picture faded, replaced with the image of two sets of DNA. The second one was a paternal match to the first.
CNH went ghost white as he walked back to his Raptor.
He flashed back to twenty years ago, when he was just an junior officer in UPK. He had risen quickly through the ranks through an impressive amount of arrests. Soon, he was offered his first undercover assignment. He remembered it clearly.
20 Years ago
Officer Nice Hard drive stood in front of the full length mirror, inspecting his dress uniform. He wasn't certain why he was being summoned to the UPK council but he was excited all the same. There was talk amongst the grunts that some one was up for promotion.
Deciding his uniform was as straight as it was going to get, he gave his boots a final polish and began the walk to UPK council chambers.
He stood before the five members of the council as they read off a list of his most impressive arrests, they seemed impressed. To him it was just a list of his performing his duties. Finally they came too the end of the list and spoke off script.
"Officer Nice Hardrive, you have a short but distinguished career with the UPK. Yet in each operation you've been involved in, you cite your team rather than yourself for the completion of assigned goals, why is that?"
"Sir, UPK is not one person. With out every member of my team... things would have gone differently."
"You realize that this habit of yours has made you be passed over for promotion?"
"Sir, I do. Though I am confident that I will gain rank as is deserved."
"Yes, and that is why you're here today. To discuss your future in the UPK." The council member said with a slightly ominous over tone.
One by one the other council members got up and silently left.
"Now that we're alone... what do you know about the Cargo Liberation Movement?"
"Sir... I know that they are pirates led by the self styled 'pirate queen' Azumi and that they pretty much run Gray space, other than that... not much."
The councilor nodded.
"And that, is the problem. We don't know where they base, how many they are... counting classified intell, we know about as much as you. That's where you come in..."
he pressed a key and Officer Nice Hardrives face filled the screen behind him, along with his rank and record. He pressed another and the record vanished, replaced with a list of crimes ranging from theft to murder and even treason.
"...You are now, 'Radiz Torman'. You are wanted in all three system and kill on sight. There is a two hundred million credit bounty on your head and you are in exile from the territories."
"You will be going undercover in Sedina, where CLM pilots are known to congregate. Your cover story will be good all the way up to a government check, so avoid any law enforcement. You leave now."
Officer Nice HD stood stunned for a moment before replying...
"Yes sir!"
SEDINA
Two weeks later, Radiz Torman sat at the bar of a crowded Corvus pub. Whiskey failing to wash away the disgust he felt after two weeks of preying on traders bold enough to venture outside of nation space.
A few tables behind him sat Azumi, Mystic, Vskye and Bockscar. The pubs patrons kept their distance and Radiz had a pretty clear view of them in the mirror behind the bar. He sat wondering how to approach them.He had hoped that his piratical activities woud gain their attentions but thus far they had not.
He was not the only one watching them. In a far off corner he saw two Serco, whose interest seemed less than desirable. After a few minutes both Serco wandered to the bar, ordering drinks. They downed their drinks in one gulp and walked towards Azumis table.
"Azumi, MysticRouge, Vskye, Bockscar..." They yelled as he drew blasters "...you are under arrest under the authority of the Serco Dominion!"
The pirates turned to Azumi.
"They got the drop on us, no point in dying yet... its a long way to Serco space" Azumi said as she calmly put her hands up. The others followed her lead.
Radiz's hand dropped shakily to the antique the UPK had furnished him with an ancient earth Colt M1911 .45 caliber handgun. He silently cursed himself for drinking so prolifically. He raised the pistol and took careful aim at the knee of the larger Serco and squeezed the trigger.
The sound of the pistol firing was was deafening in the small pub. He stared in shock for a moment as the Sercos head exploded in a flash of sparks, gore and blood. He regained his composure and quickly aimed the gun at the remaining officer.
"Drop yer weapon, and I'll let you walk outta here." He slurred.
The remaining Serco stood impassive aiming his blaster aimed at Azumi.
"One life is a small price to pay to rid the Dominion of such villainous scum." He growled, his voice a hollow metallic whisper.
"For the honor of the Dominion!" He roared as he pulled the trigger of his blaster sending a Heliocene round tearing through Azumi's stomach and into Bockscar. Vskye was up in an instant, firing his Mag-blaster as he rose.
The Serco slumped to the floor and lay there in an expanding pool of cooling blood.
Vskye and Mystic lifted Azumi carefully to her feet and turned to Radiz who was kneeling over Bockscar.
Mystic smiled down at him.
"Thanks stranger, get her on her feet and follow us to docking bay two."
He nodded and did as he was instructed. He was in.
The air was still and silent. Only the sounds of capacitors charging in weapons broke the silence. CNH surveyed the scene before him. In addition to his own troops there were members of guild security forces from TGFT, PA, ITAN and VPR. This had gone from a simple fugitive grab to a totally unprecedented cluster fuck in record time. If he ever figured out how these others had gotten wind of this operation, there would be hell to pay.
He keyed his mike to the loud speaker.
"Attention, you in the bar. You are completely surrounded. If you release your hostages, throw down your weapons and come out with your hands up... I promise you won't be hurt."
He put the mike down and waited. The response from inside came as a barrage of gun fire. He looked around and smiled as most members of guild security forces scrambled for cover, while his own more trained UPK troops held their ground, knowing the person inside was firing blindly.
Inside the bar Danica paced back and forth, mag blaster in one hand and data pad in the other. She walked calmly to the bar and sat.
"Bartender, you mix me up a 'suffering bastard' like they used to make on old earth... and its the best drink I've ever had, you can go."
The elderly barman began mixing with shaking hands and slid her the drink. She raised it to her lips and drank deeply, finishing the thing in one shot. She looked up at the bar tender...
"This is good... its very good in fact, could you make me one more?"
The bartender saw something in her eyes that he couldn't place. Something he'd not seen since the corporate wars. Sadness? Resignation? What ever it was, he felt a sudden pity for this woman who'd killed five people in his bar. He smiled at her as he handed her the second drink.
"You be careful young lady, drink it to fast and you'll get some mighty bad pains."
She took the drink and handed him the data pad.
"Its not true you know, HAWK isn't dead. You tell them, when you get out there... tell them HAWK will never die. now go..." she whispered. "... get outa here old man."
The old man ran as fast as he could for the door and Danica turned to the survivors.
"It'll all be over soon. I let you all live because you're prospects for the guilds that waged war on HAWK. Remember my mercy."
CNH's voice boomed outside...
"Listen, letting the barman go was good start... lets go to the next step, I need assurances that the other hostages are ok." He was interrupted as a group of PA, TGFT and VPR security forces lined the walls on opposing sides of the door.
He turned to a lieutenant...
"Who authorized this?
"Sir... I tried to stop them, but... they don't recognize UPK authority."
CNH keyed the mike again...
"Listen, I want to bring this to a peaceful resolution... just surrender now and I promise, I'll speak for you. Tell them how you cooperated."
He was met by the sounds of gunfire and people screaming.
Inside the bar, Danica laughed as the prospects squirmed in their restraints as she fired above their heads into the wall.
"Remember my kindness. Remember my mercy upon you all." she said as she dropped her rifle and lifted a pistol to her head pulling the trigger. Her head rippled for a second, distorting her beautiful features before the heavy xith slug destroyed half her head in an explosion of red and pink mist. She stood for a second, a statuesque tribute to the macabre, before her body slumped forward in a lifeless heap.
The bars doors flew off their hinges in a blast of breaching charges and guild security forces poured in. Half of them secured the scene, the other half ran towards the hostages. They never made it.
Outside the bar, the mass of people looking on would later swear the walls pulsed and constricted a split second before the building collapsed and imploded. For now they all just stood in terror. where the bar had stood, there was nothing. Just a fading light.
CNH looked at the lieutenant.
"Christ... tell me I imagined that!"
"Wish I could sir... but my scanners are reading the unique signatures of a singularity bomb"
It was several seconds before he noticed the barman holding the data pad out to him. He read it twice before opening the attachment.
Danicas face filled the screen.
"I'm sorry it came to this. I joined HAWK to fight and make you proud. For a while it went well. I fought with Serco forces in Deneb and I fought the hive in the territories. Then the war came, we tried and we fought hard but in the end, Peytros disbanded HAWK and many of us went into hiding. A few of us tried to keep the war alive. I wanted you to have this, a complete record of the war because you were not a part of it, because I'm told you are an honorable man and mostly... because I want my father to be proud of me."
The picture faded, replaced with the image of two sets of DNA. The second one was a paternal match to the first.
CNH went ghost white as he walked back to his Raptor.
He flashed back to twenty years ago, when he was just an junior officer in UPK. He had risen quickly through the ranks through an impressive amount of arrests. Soon, he was offered his first undercover assignment. He remembered it clearly.
20 Years ago
Officer Nice Hard drive stood in front of the full length mirror, inspecting his dress uniform. He wasn't certain why he was being summoned to the UPK council but he was excited all the same. There was talk amongst the grunts that some one was up for promotion.
Deciding his uniform was as straight as it was going to get, he gave his boots a final polish and began the walk to UPK council chambers.
He stood before the five members of the council as they read off a list of his most impressive arrests, they seemed impressed. To him it was just a list of his performing his duties. Finally they came too the end of the list and spoke off script.
"Officer Nice Hardrive, you have a short but distinguished career with the UPK. Yet in each operation you've been involved in, you cite your team rather than yourself for the completion of assigned goals, why is that?"
"Sir, UPK is not one person. With out every member of my team... things would have gone differently."
"You realize that this habit of yours has made you be passed over for promotion?"
"Sir, I do. Though I am confident that I will gain rank as is deserved."
"Yes, and that is why you're here today. To discuss your future in the UPK." The council member said with a slightly ominous over tone.
One by one the other council members got up and silently left.
"Now that we're alone... what do you know about the Cargo Liberation Movement?"
"Sir... I know that they are pirates led by the self styled 'pirate queen' Azumi and that they pretty much run Gray space, other than that... not much."
The councilor nodded.
"And that, is the problem. We don't know where they base, how many they are... counting classified intell, we know about as much as you. That's where you come in..."
he pressed a key and Officer Nice Hardrives face filled the screen behind him, along with his rank and record. He pressed another and the record vanished, replaced with a list of crimes ranging from theft to murder and even treason.
"...You are now, 'Radiz Torman'. You are wanted in all three system and kill on sight. There is a two hundred million credit bounty on your head and you are in exile from the territories."
"You will be going undercover in Sedina, where CLM pilots are known to congregate. Your cover story will be good all the way up to a government check, so avoid any law enforcement. You leave now."
Officer Nice HD stood stunned for a moment before replying...
"Yes sir!"
SEDINA
Two weeks later, Radiz Torman sat at the bar of a crowded Corvus pub. Whiskey failing to wash away the disgust he felt after two weeks of preying on traders bold enough to venture outside of nation space.
A few tables behind him sat Azumi, Mystic, Vskye and Bockscar. The pubs patrons kept their distance and Radiz had a pretty clear view of them in the mirror behind the bar. He sat wondering how to approach them.He had hoped that his piratical activities woud gain their attentions but thus far they had not.
He was not the only one watching them. In a far off corner he saw two Serco, whose interest seemed less than desirable. After a few minutes both Serco wandered to the bar, ordering drinks. They downed their drinks in one gulp and walked towards Azumis table.
"Azumi, MysticRouge, Vskye, Bockscar..." They yelled as he drew blasters "...you are under arrest under the authority of the Serco Dominion!"
The pirates turned to Azumi.
"They got the drop on us, no point in dying yet... its a long way to Serco space" Azumi said as she calmly put her hands up. The others followed her lead.
Radiz's hand dropped shakily to the antique the UPK had furnished him with an ancient earth Colt M1911 .45 caliber handgun. He silently cursed himself for drinking so prolifically. He raised the pistol and took careful aim at the knee of the larger Serco and squeezed the trigger.
The sound of the pistol firing was was deafening in the small pub. He stared in shock for a moment as the Sercos head exploded in a flash of sparks, gore and blood. He regained his composure and quickly aimed the gun at the remaining officer.
"Drop yer weapon, and I'll let you walk outta here." He slurred.
The remaining Serco stood impassive aiming his blaster aimed at Azumi.
"One life is a small price to pay to rid the Dominion of such villainous scum." He growled, his voice a hollow metallic whisper.
"For the honor of the Dominion!" He roared as he pulled the trigger of his blaster sending a Heliocene round tearing through Azumi's stomach and into Bockscar. Vskye was up in an instant, firing his Mag-blaster as he rose.
The Serco slumped to the floor and lay there in an expanding pool of cooling blood.
Vskye and Mystic lifted Azumi carefully to her feet and turned to Radiz who was kneeling over Bockscar.
Mystic smiled down at him.
"Thanks stranger, get her on her feet and follow us to docking bay two."
He nodded and did as he was instructed. He was in.
Three days later
10 Months later
One year later
6 months later
Two years later
Three days later
What?
Anyway, the story was good.
One year later
6 months later
Two years later
Three days later
What?
Anyway, the story was good.
Thanks, all thats just so the story continues without being broken up by commentary.
im dating a punk girl? Oh and I enjoyed the story
Thanks, all thats just so the story continues without being broken up by commentary.
Ah, okay. That makes sense. Looking forward to the rest of it.
Ah, okay. That makes sense. Looking forward to the rest of it.
Holy damm.
I'll one-up you for this, peytros!!!!
I'll one-up you for this, peytros!!!!
nice. Well, not nice, but nice read
It was a dark and stormy night..
great read, i can't wait for more
I can't help but wonder when this is going to be continued...
Not to rush you or anything.
Not to rush you or anything.
hehe, in ten months:)
I demand time compression
So do I. Well, at least I kindly ask for time compression
I'm rather interested in seeing how this pans out myself, seeing as my own character has been involved from the outset in a significant way. All those years of black-ops work and covert data-mining duty are about to pay off, I think.
If you'll excuse me, I need to get my standard-issue UPK LasRifle out of the weapons locker; its open-season on peytrolls.
-CNH
If you'll excuse me, I need to get my standard-issue UPK LasRifle out of the weapons locker; its open-season on peytrolls.
-CNH
a LasRifle seriously? I'll just pull out my heavy bolter