(Do we know that Saw isn't responsible for the massacring?)
[Don't think that the crew have talked to him directly about it. The only ones who know for sure, or think they know for sure are the commanders on the surface.]
"Now that is something I agree on. Now if you'll excuse me, I have troops that needs tending to. Pleasure to meet you."
"Same," Yanim replied with a nod. Kaspar then left to manage his duties, allowing Seth to continue speaking. The latter, now aware of Yanim's involvement with the Archius mission, finally seemed to trust her word. He welcomed her to take a specially-crafted knife, one of a set made as gifts to address the Archius crew's actions on Duroma. She took the one closest to her and examined it.
"It's nice," she said softly as she turned the blade over in her hands. She remembered the day she was promoted to chief engineer, and how Lion had presented her with a similar gift to commemorate it. The memory still felt warm, even if her friendship with Lion had been misplaced. "One more thing," she said as she put her new weapon away. "My crew is stranded here without a ship. Can I make an arrangement with you to secure an exit for us?"
---
"Two kanads and a serek, huh? I've only met a handful of kanads before and you, Neasha, must be the first serek I've come across. Seems like the three of you are a long way from home?"
"<Aren't we all?>" Gataska replied, unintentionally snotty.
"Well, not exactly," Neasha rebutted. "I always considered the ship to be my home, you know, because that's where I've been living for years. I'm hoping the next ship is a bit more cozy though, the Belladonna always felt empty when I managed it myself."
"Are you joking? That rig we crashed was pathetic," Rask said as the group finished attending to his health. "We need a bigger ship. Keh, if you felt lonely before then what you need is a damned crew. But... I like that you're ready to move on. You did a good job piloting today, it would have been rough to see [I]you[/I] go."
Gataska picked up on the shade Rask was throwing her way. "<And where are you from, Miss Davis?>" she asked in order to maintain her poise.
Davis smirked as Rask spoke his mind. "If it's to any use of you, I could refer you to my brother. He works within a special group of the SDF that auctions off seized items that used to belong to criminals of the Sol system, this includes ships."
She then turned to Gataska. "Oh, me? I grew up on Luna. Small family of four, went to medical school on Terra. During the unification I was a combat medic deployed to Mars."
Davis paused briefly as she did a quick scan on Rask. "So as you can imagine I'm not too unfamiliar with all of this."
"Noble, get in here." After a few seconds, Noble walked in with a slight grin on his face. "Why are you..nevermind. Our friends here need a way off this rock. What's the status of that Orca?"
"The one you wanted to use as an improvised battering ram?"
"Yes. And it was your idea."
"Still haven't used it. We just need to unload all the explosives and fix the engine to make sure it works." Noble looked at Yanim. "Orca's don't have weapon's systems in them so you will be at a disadvantage if the Sun turns this around and you make a run for it. We got 2 fighters that are still operational and can guard your flanks, but that's no insurance."
Seth interrupted Noble "That's one option we can give you. The other is we take you on our ship and drop you off the nearest space port. Or we help you find a ship for yourselves from all those crews that will never come back to reclaim them."
"Warlord has come" Iska said in a monotone voice while fishing out a cigarette.
Iska continued, "Maybe now captain can get answers" Iska said while lighting the cigarette.
Viper gave an simple nod toward while it stood partly in cover with it's weapons at the ready and aimed towards their upcoming guests.
"Let's hope so."Viper let out towards Iska in an tired tone as it stood up to to get closer view of Saw and his armed colleagues from an higher point within the ruins of an nearby building.
"Sir, It appears that Saw along with quite the number of his men has taken to the field." Viper reported over the squad's comms towards Lion while trying keep itself out of sight.
"Oh..It's seems to have already met them...And right ahead of them too." Viper said in a surprised and slightly uncertain tone as it's eyes found that Lion had unsuspectingly stumbled upon them in the open street below.
Viper stood there above the sight in the mid floor of an slowly crumbling building for an moment in thought before thinking of it's next course of action.
Pippin narrowed his eyes at Saw. "What are we going to do about him?"
"We're going to talk to him. Viper, you're on overwatch. Don't want anyone shooting us in the back."
Lion then moved towardsnSaw and his assistant, Vara.
"Mr Saw, Ms Vara. Surprised to see you down here."
Gataska nodded sympathetically. "<This is my first time in a real warzone, and hopefully the last. I usually deal with occupational injuries, industrial accidents, and so on.>"
Rask grinned in response to Davis' earlier offer. A ship which was once involved in illegal business would be likely to have plenty of interesting features which the company could use in the future. "That auction thing, it sounds like a decent proposition, dear," he said. "You should give the details to the serek; the boss wants me over at the grownups' table you see, and uh, she's not the type to keep waiting. Keh." Rask gave a quick and shallow bow as he walked backwards. "Thanks."
Once the former SS officer was out of earshot, Gat visibly relaxed. "<Rask and the boss are both such creeps,>" she lamented. "<I can't wait to get out of here, away from them. If we can get a ride right now I say we take it, before they do anything else with us. You're with me, right, Nea?>
"What, just cut and run? Before they've even paid us?" Neasha hesitated for a moment, before deciding against it. "I need that money, Gat. I've got nothing, literally nothing. There's nowhere I can go."
"<After everything they put you through, you're seriously still with them? I thought you were in this against your will, going by what you said earlier,>" Gataska protested.
"Once I have my share I'll think it over, but... you have to remember that I wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen out there before Yanim came along with her [I]kadaren[/I]. Chances are, if I don't fall in somewhere I'm just going to get locked up somewhere. And then what's money gonna do?"
Gat sighed, exasperated, before remembering that Davis was in earshot. She sneered to cover her embarrassment. "<How long have you been there?>" she joked.
"I'd appreciate those contact details," Neasha said. "Some combination of the four of us are going to wind up buying a ship sometime real soon."
---
Rask shuffled over just in time to hear about the options for leaving Zeruel.
"...Or we help you find a ship for yourselves from all those crews that will never come back to reclaim them," Seth said as he finished explaining.
Yanim turned to see Rask approaching and beckoned him closer. "You get all that?" she asked.
"Huh? Yeah. The first one's a no-go, s'far as I'm concerned. There's too much risk once we get out of the atmosphere," he elaborated. "We can go with either of the other two options. The serek's taking down some leads on some kind of auction program where we can pick up a real banshee if we're not too strapped for cash. If we take the third option, we could hock whatever we pick up here and use the proceeds toward something more, uh, personalized."
Yanim shrugged. "Money isn't an issue," she replied. "What do you mean, 'hock?' I haven't heard that word-"
"Never mind that. D-do you mean we got paid!?" Rask sputtered as Yanim nodded in the affirmative. "[Well spit it out, girl, what are we talking here?]"
"[I'll tell you what your share is once we warp out,]" she replied sternly. "[But I meant what I said before. [I]Money is no object.[/I]]"
Rask suppressed his sneering and tapped his feet, almost doing a little dance in his excitement. "Alright, alright fine. As I see it, the second option is the safest, but we'll need a plan once we get to the spaceport."
"Then we'll go with the second plan and ride with the Boomes. We'll decide what to do at the next point once we get there. Until then, let's just focus on keeping everyone else alive. That's... That's all I want right now."
Rask frowned as Yanim turned away, entrenched in her sadness. Sure, Virin drew the short stick, but it was bound to happen with all the crazy shit the crew was pulling. Couldn't she just be happy for a moment? Couldn't she appreciate that they were going to be rich after all? His mood turned sour as he also realized that flying with the Boomes meant spending some quality time around a bunch of men with the same face, one he was constantly tempted to throw punches at. But suddenly, another thought crossed his mind as he took in Yanim's desire for what it was.
"[Well, if survival is what you want, I think you ought to ditch little Gataska before we go any further,]" he told her quietly."[I heard her say some nasty things about you, keh, like she'd be willing to watch you die rather than save you, if it comes to that...]"
"Rask," Yanim replied distantly, "[she's heartbroken over Virin. I knew she blamed me for it after the way she looked at me. It's okay.]"
"Vok? [No, it isn't! She's supposed to be our lifeline-]"
"Rask," Yanim repeated, visibly agitated, "[[I]I said it's okay.[/I] She'll be dismissed after we get her to safety, alright, but until then we're going to be surrounded by allies, and they brought their own doctors. And before you ask, she's getting her full share.]"
Rask bit his tongue as he realized that Yanim had read his intentions and did his best to hide his embarrassment. Luckily, Seth interjected to confirm that the team would in fact be riding with the Boomes.
"So that's your call? You're hitching along with us?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rask answered almost too quickly before double checking Yanim, who nodded. "By the way," he continued in an attempt to change the subject, "have you thought about what might be left over in that mech? That bomb must have cleared the field of Crimson soldiers too, so it wouldn't be too risky to go over and take a peek, don't you think?"
Mordecai spoke up. "Seth, you have done enough for these scavengers. I'll take it from here." He took a few steps closer to Yanim and Rask. "I will give you your answer shortly. I only ask for you to be patient ."He turned on his wrist communicator and put it on loud speaker. "Vulture 1, report on your findings."
"Yes, executor. We're going through the wreckage now. We also managed to capture a few Crimson soldiers who didn't escape with the others. Although extracting information from them is hard."
"Anything useful?"
"We're currently gathering what's left executor. A lot of it is just hunks of metal and wiring that wen't flying when it detonated. Don't know how much information or use we can get from it."
"Any amount would be valuable to the right people. Carry on Vulture 1. Bring it to me." He turned off the communicator and looked at Rask. "I'm sorry my boy. But the answer is no. You are free to poke and prod through whatever gets left behind. I'm sure that our friends from Sol can look the other way in your case, being big heroes and all."
Davis smiled. "Don't worry, as a doctor I'm obliged to keep anything my patients say confidential. Word of advice though, don't rush any decisions you do."
She started doing something on her datapad. "As for the auction info..." A click could be heard as she removed a small storage device.
"This chip contains the contact information and the location where the hold the auctions. Just mention my name and you'll get a small percentage off even."
-----
"You fool! You'd doom us all!" Yelled one councilor loudly accross the chamber towards another councilor who proposed that the Sol Government would remain loyal to the UGC.
Quint nodded towards one of the interior guards next to him who promptly slammed his vibrostaff three times into the floor. "Silence! Order in the chamber!"
High Councilor Wayford stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please, we're here to discuss the future of Sol. Not to throw dirt at eachother, I beg you to remain calm!" He sat down.
A young councilor stood up with his hand raised.
Quint nodded towards him. "Councilor Clark has the word."
The councilor, obviously a bit nervous, nodded. "My fellow councilors, despite our feelings for the UGC we must agree that the community won't last forever. I want to remind you all that we have all been chosen to protect the interest of Sol. With that said, I motion for Sol to step down from our membership status and have a trade agreement instead, this will allow us to become more independent while also keeping a foot in, so to say. Thank you."
Cuncilor Clark sat down and the chamber remained relatively silent as the councilors whispered between. Suddenly one of the older members, Councilor Farid, rose up. "I second this motion on behalf of Mars." Sixteen councilors around him all nodded approvingly before he sat down.
Another councilor rose up. "Luna seconds this motion." Said Councilor Yvette while her fellow councilors nodded.
Quint nodded. "It seems that a majority is for this motion, it is time for a vote: Green marks [i]for[/i], red marks [i]against[/i]. Let us begin." The High Councilor nodded towards a technician who initiated the vote. It didn't take long for all of the councilors to vote as the motion itself was very simple.
One of the interior guards approached the technician and collected a small datapad which had to be unlocked by the High Councilor. He then returned to the podium and gave it to Wayford before returning to his post.
As the High Councilor put his hand on the datapad it was unlocked, revealing the result. He looked at the chamber. "Fellow councilors, it appears we have reached a decision: Out of the seventyone votes three votes are neutral, twelve are against and the remaining fiftysix votes are for. With these results confirmed I, High Councilor Quint Wayford, approve of the UGC Trade Motion. This decision cannot be overruled untill one year has passed or unless all seventyone councilors agree to hold a emergency vote on the matter."
Per protocol all of the four interior guards slammed their vibrostaffs three times to declare that the decision was official and that the session was now over.
All of the councilors stood up and began to leave the chamber, forming small groups outside in the corridor where they discussed the motion.
Wayford joined Keith and Talwin who were waiting for him at the door. "I want to make this decision public as fast as possible and I trust you will make the transition as smooth as you can, Keith."
Keith nodded. "Of course Quint, I'll get to it." The administrator then left them and was joined by two suited bodyguards.
The High Councilor, his assistant and the director for the SSOID went through a separate hallway untill they reached a door guarded by two guardsmen. They entered and reached the communications room which was used to communicate primarily with the planetary administrations of Luna, Mars and the colonial authorities on Phobos. However it was also used to communicate with allied human colonies and the UGC.
"Dial the UGC." Said Quint as he stepped up on a holographic platform. A technician nodded and began to set up a link with the UGC representative responsible for this sector of the galaxy.
After a while a blurry image appeared on a large screen infront of Wayford. A human-like man behind a desk looked up.
"Ralan Tivak, I'm sorry to interrupt but I have a urgent message to deliver."
The UGC representative looked tired and worn as the past weeks had been a mess following the attack on the UGC council.
"High Councilor Wayford, it is good to hear from you." Said the man with a heavy accent. He put down a datapad he had been working with.
"Judging by your face it is not good news you bring, no?"
Quint shook his head. "Unfortunately not, I have come to message you and the rest of the UGC that Sol is stepping down as members of the community. We wish to remain simply as trading partners. To make sure you understand we have no hostile intentions, we will repay most of the symbolic entry fee."
The latter made Talwin raise an eyebrow as it had not been decided during the session earlier.
Ralan nodded. "I am ad to hear you are leaving but we do appreciate your kindness, Sol will always be welcome back if they want to. Good luck and take care Wayford."
"Likewise Tivak, we'll stay in touch."
The call ended and Quint stepped down from the platform. "That was a bold move, Quint. It was probably the only thing that made him satisfied with that call."
"People like money and by the sound of it the UGC could use some extra credits to keep everything going..."
Harken Saw stood silently and narrowed his eyes. "There's always a surprise waiting for all of us." Harken Saw responded. He sighed and tapped his foot. "We know of this power source. We know what it's capable of. We must destroy it at once."
"And how do we do that?"
Harken Saw placed his hands on his hips. "I'm going to find it and close it off. You on the other hand will find the Auditor. Since I'm here, he wants me dead as soon as possible. You can probably wait for him." He closed his eyes and chuckled. He turned away and gestured Vara to follow.
"Don't worry, you have back-up all around you. As soon as he's dead the job is done." Harken Saw waved off before walking to an aircraft.
"It's a pleasure working with all of you. I consider you all "heroes." in my book." he concluded.
Dwan rushed over to Saw. "Saw, before you leave, I must tell you something.... in private.", he said in a serious tone.
[QUOTE=Damian0358;49499904]Dwan rushed over to Saw. "Saw, before you leave, I must tell you something.... in private.", he said in a serious tone.[/QUOTE]
Harken Saw turned. After a few seconds he blinked and nodded.
"You heard the man, restock and form up! We've got one auditor left." Said Lion, ignoring the instinct to punch Saw for his disregard.
Dwan got closer towards Saw, to ensure no one heard them. "During our battle with Auditor Mariahlus, we... no, I... found out many a thing about this power source.", he said. "It is called the Conduit. Dimensional energy, it is. The Crimus had managed to somehow harness the power of the dimensions for its own use..... and it seems to be linked to the people here in a much more intimate way.... for destroying it would kill everyone that is a part of the Crimus, possibly even the civilians, at least according to Mariahlus.", he told him.
"How do I know this? Well, Mariahlus used its power on me. For my powers are always trumped by dimensional powers, she managed to possess me.... and thus, she managed to see everything. My memories, my experiences. She found out my secret....", Dwan paused. "....and yours too.", he added. "That building may have collapsed on top of her, but even I know people like her don't die that easily.", he stated. "Get your Privateers to search the area and make sure she's dead. We can never be too sure.", he told Saw.
Harken Saw nodded and turned to Vara. Then he pressed something the side of his head and ordered multiple Privateer platoons to search the entire building and order bombing runs.
"Thank you, but there's no such thing as a link between this conduit and the people. Why? Because Vara knows more about it than all of us." Harken Saw answered.
Dwan looked at Vara, before looking back to Saw. "What does she know?", he asked him.
[QUOTE=Damian0358;49500024]Dwan looked at Vara, before looking back to Saw. "What does she know?", he asked him.[/QUOTE]
"She's... with me. Before all this happened Erminglad happened. I don't remember much but maybe this connects to us in a way." Harken Saw attempted to connect the pieces together. He looked at Dwan and narrowed his eyes. "She isn't human."
Dwan looked at Saw with a raised eyebrow, before taking another gander at Vara.
"Well..... considering how many species there are that look similar to humans, I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise?", Dwan told Saw. "I mean, I'm not a human either. I'm a dwarf. Yet, I look like a human midget.", he said to him.
"That's beside the point. Her race is involved with this Conduit and admitted it herself she sensed something here." He tapped on the concrete of the foundation.
Dwan put his hand on his chin. "That's very curious. If she could sense it just like I did....", Dwan wondered. "Could she sense if it was dimensional or did she just sense its presence?", he asked Saw.
"I don't know and frankly I will eventually find out one way or another." Harken Saw said as he turned to the soldiers searching and ultizing their time wisely.
"My time is thinning out I'm afraid. Is there anything else before I leave?" He folded his arms.
Dwan thought for a second before answering. "I don't think so. Thank you for lending your time.", Dwan said. "I hope your men find Mariahlus... or her corpse.", he stated seriously. He gave a two fingered salute to Saw before returning to the group.
"I'm sorry my boy. But the answer is no. You are free to poke and prod through whatever gets left behind. I'm sure that our friends from Sol can look the other way in your case, being big heroes and all."
Rask listened to Mordecai with blank expression. "...What the hell is a vulture anyway?"
Yanim piped up, "I read about them once; they're some kind of Terran creature that eats dead bodies. So they're scavengers too, I suppose."
"You mean like a brikkat?"
"No, they're smaller than brikkats, and ugly as hell."
"[Keh, that's funny,]" Rask said as he eyed Mordecai sidelong, "[kind of fitting, don't you think?]"
Yanim rolled her eyes as she turned away, patting Rask on the shoulder so he would follow. "[Now's not the time for new enemies,]" she mumbled.
---
"This chip contains the contact information and the location where the hold the auctions. Just mention my name and you'll get a small percentage off even."
Neasha took the device from Davis and thanked her.
"<So what now?>" Gataska asked.
"I suppose we wait until boss and Rask tell us what's going on."
"How did this happen?"
"(I'm old, not deaf, you arrogant runt!)" Mordecai said with a raised voice. He noticed that it caught Rask by surprise. "(And yes, I can speak your language. One of the benefits of not having limitations for your fighting force.)" He looked at Yanim and started to calm down. "I'll let this slide my dear, since your companion is obviously new to negotiations. But I advice putting a muzzle on him. He may get you killed."
Seth was looking at Mordecai with an annoyed look on his face. "Are you done?"
"Yes, yes, I'm quite finished."
---
Mercury checked every last piece of equipment of his squad. When he made sure they were ready, he signaled Lion that they were ready to move.
Yanim froze as Mordecai chastised them, her tail emitting a sharp hiss as the metal heated itself by reflex. Somehow, until that exact moment, his condescension hadn't bothered her whatsoever. But now as the old man issued his empty threats, he had made the mistake of addressing Yanim in a way she had never been addressed.
For all her life, she had grown used to the sort of callous disdain that the strong display toward the weak ones which serve them. Mordecai was no different than Vorokar or the leaders of Kanadys, or Harken Saw for that matter. But even as she led her crew and occasionally issued orders to Rask she never considered him, or anyone else on her crew, to be weak or deserving of disdain. She was nobody's master. To be told to "put a muzzle" on Rask drew the same distinction between the two of them that Mordecai saw between himself and his own subordinates.
Even if the relativism of the situation meant that difference between Rask and Yanim was to Mordecai equivalent to the difference between a worker ant and its queen, the comparison [I]disgusted her.[/I] Yanim was wrong; this was the perfect time to make an enemy. But this was not the time, nor the place, to mount a stand against anything. She reasoned that it wouldn't be long before she would have chances to strike at hierarchy [I]everywhere.[/I] To attack the structures which facilitate the rise of men like Mordecai, Vorokar, and Saw in ways which would wound them more than any verbal attack could.
"I'll keep that in mind," she responded darkly with her back still turned on the aging patriarch. She then guided Rask away, grinning madly and without a shred of happiness in her soul.
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