After watching the hologram Lion turned towards the hardened HarkArk NCO. "Did you know?"
At the same time Viper relayed a message of it being ready for combat. Lion replied with an order to hold and focus on the privateers.
He turned back at Folter. "I'm at a loss of words. Believe it or not but we didn't sign up to shoot civilians. In any case, you and the remaining Auditors can still stop this by surrendering. It is you we are after, not the civilians."
[I only said friendly fire to make the Archius descend to make it ambiguous on who shot it, this doesn't imply any betrayal]
A pair of hexagonal buildings several blocks north of Ébo's capitol building were uncharacteristically lit in the middle of the night. This was the headquarters of the Osch Batakya, where the chiefs of the various branches of said organization held their official offices, yet rarely met. Tonight, however, there was a high-level alert about what was internally referred to as the "HarkArk-Crimson matter" which had summoned them. Gathered around a large, angular table, they debated the implications.
"[Ah, Skyro, please sit down,]" one general, Zhu Rozel said as a young intelligence officer entered the room. "[What did they have to say for themselves? [I]All the fault of the Council again?[/I]]"
"[As always, sir. They've requested an end to inquiries about the Hanza incident and have preemptively called for restrictions against further, eh... 'harassment.' At least they've agreed to our request for a re-evaluation of Odenia.]"
"[Damn straight,]" General Zhu replied before taking a deep swig of a coffee-like drink called [I]topa[/I]. "[There's no other way of putting it; ever since that attack we've been operating under far too many assumptions. The Council did right by consulting us on HarkArk, though. If they had gone with the SS' recommendations we'd be at war right now with human factions. Could you imagine a worse quagmire?]"
Skyro rapped his fingers against his bald head and sighed. His tired, myopic eyes were magnified by the corrective lenses of his mask, but they were still difficult to read. He had mixed feelings about his role, investigating the investigators, in what was surely a breach of trust between government offices. Still, what he had discovered was already proving invaluable for his race's leaders.
To put it simply, the Collective's priorities were shifting rapidly, and the Black Fleet was now in direct competition with State Security in order to determine what course the kanad race would soon take. The SS had not been prepared to find the Archius days earlier, and in its desperate attempt to tie up loose ends using a bomb, it had instead created innumerable complications. For entirely political reasons, the Archius had escaped their grasp completely. Moreover, news of new holography and cloaking techniques had sent Bureau II into a panic, reopening "cold" case files in search of disappeared vessels which may in fact be disguised as other ships.
The result was that the agency wasn't sure whether it was HarkArk or the Crimson Son who possessed the Oracle, and, perhaps more importantly, which entity was responsible for the Odenia attack. With all of its resources overextended, the leadership of the SS committed to a concocted story that HarkArk still possessed the Oracle and had used its power to destroy Odenia. This would have made the SS appear righteous and forward-thinking in its actions at Hanza, as well as giving the Collective an excuse to target and destroy an entire human capitalistic faction.
Skyro's department, on the other hand, had encountered much stronger evidence that the remaining pieces of the Oracle had actually been recovered by Crimson Son operatives, based on sightings and movements preceding the Hanza operation. Moreover, the story presented by the SS lacked important details which seemed designed to provoke immediate action from the government without verification. In other words, by the time all of the details of the Odenia incident become available, the Collective will have already committed to war against HarkArk.
And of course, if the assertions given by State Security proved false, the Collective would then be forced to fight the Crimson Son, minus a potential ally.
"[This changes everything,]" Skyro said, looking at a holographic display of the galaxy. "[If the rumors and the evidence are true, and HarkArk and the Crimson Son are really at war, then everything they've told the Council will be rendered irrelevant and maybe even proven inaccurate.]"
"[Maybe the Council will start looking at the real issues then, rather than these damned vermin and their aspirations. The humans are leaving the UGC; has no one considered the consequences? We are about to regain our capacity on the international stage. No more challenges to our sovereignty. Just think of what we can do if we don't get tied up fighting these curs!]" General Zhu leaned back in his chair with a broad grin. "[We're too late to pick a side in this war anyway. Let the humans kill each other off, wherever it is they're fighting. I don't even care that we don't know.]"
"[Zhu, I think you'll agree,]" interjected General Bakra, "[that we should begin drafting a new footing for the new political climate. Something that puts us in position to reassert our influence over the border states...]"
"[Of course,]" Zhu said, sipping his topa. "[As soon as we're certain that the humans will mind their business, we should be ready to take Sirgas, Itara, Voyak... who knows. Maybe Rigel?]"
"[Uh, sirs?]" Skyro meekly interrupted. "[There's also the issue of the sanghvi. I've submitted a report-]"
"[Bah, as if they would be so bold. If they move on the border territory, we flex our powers at the UGC to assemble a defensive response. That should hold them at bay,]" Bakra responded.
"[And of course we should get in contact with the ayr to ensure that they haven't forgotten our ties from the last war,]" Zhu added, "[just in case.]"
---
With Neasha safely out of the way, Rask hoisted the rocket launcher Yanim had unlocked earlier and hustled away from his previous position. While Virin kept the rangers occupied with his blind fire, Rask picked a good position and endeavored to kill a few of the soldiers using an RPG.
Pippin's head was a sea of sadness and rage. He raised his carbine and looked back and forth between the auditor and harkark soldiers. "Lion?"
"Still here Pippin." Said Lion who was ready with his carbine now. He was still waiting on a response from both the HarkArk NCO and from Folter.
The NCO shrugged. "Orders are orders, have you seen what these people have done? They've blown up Odenia, they've framed us. They're terrorists, they're the enemy, citizens or not. This is the price they need to pay for what they've done to the Galaxy."
"I don't like what I'm doing but it has to be this way. I didn't even know there were citizens in the CS. There's no other way. The Crimson Son must be put down. They have the Oracle, they have weapons of mass destruction. It's either the Galaxy or them!" The NCO said still aiming his gun at Folter.
Folter simply chuckled, turning to the NCO. "Yes go ahead and yap it up." He then turned to Lion. "Unfortunately, morals aren't up to par with anyone these days. We Auditors must live to protect our people. And I won't go down. Not after all you've done. Besides, surrendering will only make things worse." Folter imprinted.
"You won't help your people by dying, or even by killing us. We can work things out, please, listen."
"This Auditor has already convinced himself to kill others and spread their terror! He's too late to be redeemed. He likes to thrive on killing and play jokes with us! Lives are going to be in vain if we don't stop them!" The NCO yelled out.
"Shut up!" Pippin spat out his words. "And remember your side's the one massacring families."
"Grow up, this is a war and you know you're in it. Many more families will die throughout the Galaxy if the CS are still active. They. Are. Not. Willing. To. Surrender. We have no choice!" The NCO responded.
"You have no choice or the gun aimed at your head by your boss isn't giving you one? You corps are all the same. Morally superior because you signed a contract, but you loose your spine the moment your morals come into question. Yes, sir. No, sir."
"what part of shut up don't you understand?"
"What the fuck are you talking about? This isn't about doing right or wrong. This is about saving billions of lives. From a galactic threat. From bombs that can shatter planets."
Folter completely guffawed at the sight of the arguing.
Pippin's eyes narrowed. "I said shut, the fuck, up."
"The creepy fuck told you himself. It's the auditors that are responsible for what has happened. Instead of focusing on the guilty, you've unleashed the galaxy's scum on people who probably have no idea what is going on. Now quit making excuses from the brochure you read and focus on him!"
"I say, it seems people can't even understand what they're actually saying." Folter pointed.
"Regardless. Once this battle is done. The people are going to want blood on everyone who invaded their homes." He narrowed his visor eyes.
"Shut up." The NCO said
"What Junior? You don't think the people know everyone involved in this operation are invading? Oh they will beg for revenge, beg for it. You my friend might have sparked a never ending war across the Galaxy already."
"You're not making any sense."
Dwan had caught up with the discussion at hand. He turned to Folter. "I have to ask; why do you house a population of people underground in a barren planet? As the Crimus is a large syndicate, I would assume that you have control of other planets too.", he asked.
"To protect them from the likes of us, probably."
"What? Syndicate? We're a Regime and I have no idea why these people call us the Crimson Son. Pfft." Folter pointed to the Privateers
"I guess people have called you a syndicate because they were unaware of the fact that you seem to actually be a regime. The name I assume might come from someone mishearing your actual name, the Crimus.", Dwan suggested. "But that doesn't answer my question. Why do you house people underground on a barren planet? A planet like this seems more like a place for a military establishment.", he asked once more.
"Well, I actually don't know the real answer to that." He scratched his helmet. "Maybe Sertum knows, he's been around for years. As in hundreds"
"This is interesting and all but it doesn't help us solve this." Lion made a nod towards the hologram and then at the marines and privateers aiming at eachother.
"Right, we need to stop this. Do you think we can get Saw to make them stand down?"
"I guess we'll ask him when he get to him.", Dwan commented.
"I will say this however; none of us in the Archius crew had any idea that..... the massacre in Sector 4 would happen. None of us were aware that there were civilians living here. We just assumed this was your large military HQ, your base of operations.", Dwan said in a sad tone, as he looked into the hologram to see if the mechs were moving out of the sector.
Iska sighed. "If you can not give answer, you are of no use."
Iska put her finger on the trigger, "Any last words?".
"That's all folks...?" Folter said
Iska raised the HMG and took aim at Folter, "Dazviditji, Mr. Folter". Iska was about to pull the trigger when she stopped and lowered it again.
"If want stop of war, but this Zertum have answer, why he not here?" She asked.
Iska was getting more annoyed by the minute, and all this back talk and deceit from what seemed like all directions was making her very frustrated.
If Iska was honest with herself, she couldn't give two shits about what the Crimus or Harken and his henchmen wanted, but she had promised Bubal to return home to bury her father and take care of the workshop, which is what she intended to do. Unfortunately, the Crimus had found themselves on the wrong end of her gun. They had killed the captain and other crew members, bombed and dismantled the UGC council and tried to blame it on Harken and they had made one of the few Kanads she had ever had any respect for abandon her life as someone good and turn to a life of crime.
No matter how many finger they point at Harken, until they could give her concrete reason to change sides they were just cowards trying to cover their past deeds and wrong doings by making a deal with the forces that had come to ransack their world.
Iska frowned when she mauled over these things.
"Iska think it will not be good answer" she said, letting the HMG rip towards Folter.
In a sudden flash Folter was gone, the bullets just shooting air.Folter jumped and gave a faded chuckle. "Fate has already determined everyone's ending. Unfortunately, I doubt we're going to like it. We both know one side has to completely kill off the other. One victor. Give it your best!" Folter gestured outwards.
"Survival at its finest! My final hour, I never thought I would see it clear."
[media]https://youtu.be/ULQgMntenO8[/media]
[b]AUDITOR FOLTER - DEATH[/b]
Viper kept it's eyes on both parties, creating and thinking of various plans of attack that either would pull if thing went south one way or another. It's main goal was that of the protection of it's crew mates above all else.
However, while deep in thought of planing. It was it's own side that made the first move, the first attack.
"Iska! Stand Dow-" Viper attempt to yell over it's team comms but was cut off by the sound of machine gun fire.
"Dammit, we don't even know what side we are on!" Viper yell towards Iska in anger but was too late to make any sort of change as Folter leap into action.
Nevertheless, the Sanghvi took an defensive stance towards the Auditor. Uneasy to fight for an side that advocates genocide in one of biggest FUBAR situations Viper has ever participated in.
[What happened to Varn's body?]
"[Shit!]", Dwan swore in Enochian, as he switched his howitzer to machine gun mode. He joined Viper in taking a defensive stance against Folter; the mess that was the battle with Zane proved that they couldn't just win by pushing in with everything they had. The proof was in Varn's corpse.
He decided to observe Folter to see what kind of weakness he could find, though if Folter approached him, he'd unleash all hell on him.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
