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"We already did..." muttered Smittens.
"What?" asked Lecter, a bit surprised. "How could you have any idea what we're doing!? It was rhetorical."
"No, I mean, we gave him immunity. Or at least I think we did. It was clearly labeled 'Executive Order #3' when I took over...we just didn't announce it to the public for fear of feeding the fire. There was still some debate about whether or not I had the power to undo a previous commander's decision, but in my mind Mogul was always pardoned."
"So now that Smitty's done with his unnecesary and completely ommitable tangent, what were you saying, Lecter?" chimed in Leber
"What?" asked Lecter, a bit surprised. "How could you have any idea what we're doing!? It was rhetorical."
"No, I mean, we gave him immunity. Or at least I think we did. It was clearly labeled 'Executive Order #3' when I took over...we just didn't announce it to the public for fear of feeding the fire. There was still some debate about whether or not I had the power to undo a previous commander's decision, but in my mind Mogul was always pardoned."
"So now that Smitty's done with his unnecesary and completely ommitable tangent, what were you saying, Lecter?" chimed in Leber
Mogul reeked like urine and rotting fruit juice.
LeberMac's nose, swollen and bloodied from the impact with the warthog's L port, could thankfully only pick up the faintest whiff of the scent from Mogul's limp body. He tossed the rag-doll-like body into the corner near the door with all the care of tossing away a cigarette butt. Mogul Velaio crumpled against the wall, content in whatever delerium he was experiencing at the moment.
Leber turned to face Lecter and spoke, "So now that Smitty's done with his unnecesary and completely ommitable tangent, what were you saying, Lecter? Amnesty! You can't be serious, you've committed crimes far worse than the ones we've charged you with. I'm sure there are even darker crimes you've perpetrated that we've never heard about. You're a corrupt soul that has no place in itani society."
He turned to face Smittens, "And you. You were the business partner of this sociopath, and here you are, willing to let Mogul regain entry into the light of Itan in exchange for what, less guilt on your conscience? And now you're considering granting Lecter immunity?"
LeberMac scowled and pointed at the NSI device, which sat menacingly and still, cradled in Lecter's arms."... and this monstrosity. It can't be allowed to exist in anyone's hands. Least of all yours, Lecter, no matter how much you claim to have abandoned your old allegiances."
Lebermac backed toward the wall between the door and Mogul, keeping both Lecter and Smittens in his field of view. His hand moved slowly towards his blaster...
LeberMac's nose, swollen and bloodied from the impact with the warthog's L port, could thankfully only pick up the faintest whiff of the scent from Mogul's limp body. He tossed the rag-doll-like body into the corner near the door with all the care of tossing away a cigarette butt. Mogul Velaio crumpled against the wall, content in whatever delerium he was experiencing at the moment.
Leber turned to face Lecter and spoke, "So now that Smitty's done with his unnecesary and completely ommitable tangent, what were you saying, Lecter? Amnesty! You can't be serious, you've committed crimes far worse than the ones we've charged you with. I'm sure there are even darker crimes you've perpetrated that we've never heard about. You're a corrupt soul that has no place in itani society."
He turned to face Smittens, "And you. You were the business partner of this sociopath, and here you are, willing to let Mogul regain entry into the light of Itan in exchange for what, less guilt on your conscience? And now you're considering granting Lecter immunity?"
LeberMac scowled and pointed at the NSI device, which sat menacingly and still, cradled in Lecter's arms."... and this monstrosity. It can't be allowed to exist in anyone's hands. Least of all yours, Lecter, no matter how much you claim to have abandoned your old allegiances."
Lebermac backed toward the wall between the door and Mogul, keeping both Lecter and Smittens in his field of view. His hand moved slowly towards his blaster...
LeberMac had barely finished his frenzied tirade when Doctor Lecter shrugged and mashed the secondary fire control with his left fist. The near-instantaneous blast from an iceflare turning the suite’s exterior door to shrapnel threw those still standing violently to the floor.
The Doctor jumped out of the open canopy, clear of the warthog’s matte hull, and landed inches from Leber’s head. With his right boot, Lecter kicked the Itani hard in the already shattered nose, while he used the left to apply several thousand pounds of force to the wrist of Lebermac’s gun hand. The crushed shards of carpal bone severed the tendons controlling the fingers, rendering him even more harmless than normal. Smittens lay in a heap, unconscious from his sudden collision with the bulkhead, crumpled next to Mogul.
Lecter was aware that, for the few moments of consciousness Leber had left in the immediate future, he had his full attention. “Bastard!” he growled down at the bleeding face below him, “Months of work to arrange this meeting, and all of a sudden you’re afflicted with the inability to see past what's left of your own nose! If there wasn’t the possibility of you coming to your senses, I’d finish you right here and now.” The Itani started babbling incoherently, drifting away from the conversation.
The Doctor ground the left boot viciously into Leber’s wrist, ensuring he remained awake: “You listen to me. IF you continue with this course of action I will, I promise, go ahead and deal with the Akanese. However, that would mean the deaths of far, far more Serco than I care to contemplate, and the end of your civilization as you like to think of it.
Another twist of the boot's toe brought Leber back to the current, excruiating, reality: "All you had to do was be reasonable: we both know I can subsist, under the radar, in Itani space for as long as necessary. This is HAPPENING, one way or the other. Our interests happen to align: I hope you realize that in time. Oh, and let me know what Jandis Bosh has to say for himself.”
A final boot to the skull put Leber down and out for the count. At a run, Lecter scooped him up and flung him through the door into the next room. Then he grabbed Smittens with one hand and Mogul with the other, likewise giving them the heave-ho through the door. Pulling it shut and locked, he set up the portable field generator he’d used earlier, sealing them and their atmosphere inside.
Working fast, the Doctor scooped up the casket and stuffed it in the Warthog’s cargo bay, along with his NSI research data and prototype. Pausing at the table, he reactivated the shaped charge beneath the blue agave cactus plant, grabbing the last vial of DNA samples and stuffing them into his flight suit. After setting an “X” shaped cord charge against the vismetal of the main window, he stuck a note to the sill. It read “So sorry about the cactus, Leebs… if you reconsider, though, I still have some DNA with your name on it. Ta!”
Climbing into the cockpit and sealing the canopy over his head, Lecter checked the position of the ships outside. “Perfect,” he grinned: “they’re all formed up on the undocking bay.” He thumbed the remote, and the shaped charge beneath the table blew upwards, turning the cactus into nothing but irradiated molecules—the precious DNA scrambled beyond retrieval by the radioactive material he’d integrated into the explosive device.
Powering up the maneuvering thrusters, he lifted off the floor and swung the Hog around to face the window. A second mash of the remote blew the vismetal window apart, cutting it neatly into four triangular sections. They, everything else inside the room not somehow secured, and most of the hallway decorations on that deck were instantly sucked out into the freezing vacuum.
Pulled outside by the decompression, Dr. Lecter fired up the rest of the warship’s systems and swung around behind the cluster of black ships, their weapons still trained on the undocking bay. “Say CHEESE!”, he called over the sector channel, before unloading a tube of flares into the cluster. A flurry of massive positron blasts finished the job, destroying all but one of the craft in a series of explosions. He saw the remaining badly damaged ship swing away and start to make an attempt to flee.
Rotating 180 degrees, Lecter gave chase. As he cut across his quarry’s tail, he pumped a single positron burst into the primary power coupling feeding the engines. As the craft slowed to a halt, utterly adrift, he flew upside down over its cockpit. To his amusment, he found that it was piloted by none other than Jandis Bosh, Leber’s former campaign manager.
Over the sector channel, Lecter called out some parting words before engaging his turbo drive and heading into the galactic North: “Bosh, I think I’ll leave you here to explain yourself: whether to Lebermac, or to your actual boss… but either way, I look forward to hearing how it works out.
“Though, somehow… I don’t think you’ll be able to tell me about it in person.”
With mocking smile, Dr. Lecter waggled his fingers at the desperate figure in the disabled ship, and blasted out of the sector at high speed.
The Doctor jumped out of the open canopy, clear of the warthog’s matte hull, and landed inches from Leber’s head. With his right boot, Lecter kicked the Itani hard in the already shattered nose, while he used the left to apply several thousand pounds of force to the wrist of Lebermac’s gun hand. The crushed shards of carpal bone severed the tendons controlling the fingers, rendering him even more harmless than normal. Smittens lay in a heap, unconscious from his sudden collision with the bulkhead, crumpled next to Mogul.
Lecter was aware that, for the few moments of consciousness Leber had left in the immediate future, he had his full attention. “Bastard!” he growled down at the bleeding face below him, “Months of work to arrange this meeting, and all of a sudden you’re afflicted with the inability to see past what's left of your own nose! If there wasn’t the possibility of you coming to your senses, I’d finish you right here and now.” The Itani started babbling incoherently, drifting away from the conversation.
The Doctor ground the left boot viciously into Leber’s wrist, ensuring he remained awake: “You listen to me. IF you continue with this course of action I will, I promise, go ahead and deal with the Akanese. However, that would mean the deaths of far, far more Serco than I care to contemplate, and the end of your civilization as you like to think of it.
Another twist of the boot's toe brought Leber back to the current, excruiating, reality: "All you had to do was be reasonable: we both know I can subsist, under the radar, in Itani space for as long as necessary. This is HAPPENING, one way or the other. Our interests happen to align: I hope you realize that in time. Oh, and let me know what Jandis Bosh has to say for himself.”
A final boot to the skull put Leber down and out for the count. At a run, Lecter scooped him up and flung him through the door into the next room. Then he grabbed Smittens with one hand and Mogul with the other, likewise giving them the heave-ho through the door. Pulling it shut and locked, he set up the portable field generator he’d used earlier, sealing them and their atmosphere inside.
Working fast, the Doctor scooped up the casket and stuffed it in the Warthog’s cargo bay, along with his NSI research data and prototype. Pausing at the table, he reactivated the shaped charge beneath the blue agave cactus plant, grabbing the last vial of DNA samples and stuffing them into his flight suit. After setting an “X” shaped cord charge against the vismetal of the main window, he stuck a note to the sill. It read “So sorry about the cactus, Leebs… if you reconsider, though, I still have some DNA with your name on it. Ta!”
Climbing into the cockpit and sealing the canopy over his head, Lecter checked the position of the ships outside. “Perfect,” he grinned: “they’re all formed up on the undocking bay.” He thumbed the remote, and the shaped charge beneath the table blew upwards, turning the cactus into nothing but irradiated molecules—the precious DNA scrambled beyond retrieval by the radioactive material he’d integrated into the explosive device.
Powering up the maneuvering thrusters, he lifted off the floor and swung the Hog around to face the window. A second mash of the remote blew the vismetal window apart, cutting it neatly into four triangular sections. They, everything else inside the room not somehow secured, and most of the hallway decorations on that deck were instantly sucked out into the freezing vacuum.
Pulled outside by the decompression, Dr. Lecter fired up the rest of the warship’s systems and swung around behind the cluster of black ships, their weapons still trained on the undocking bay. “Say CHEESE!”, he called over the sector channel, before unloading a tube of flares into the cluster. A flurry of massive positron blasts finished the job, destroying all but one of the craft in a series of explosions. He saw the remaining badly damaged ship swing away and start to make an attempt to flee.
Rotating 180 degrees, Lecter gave chase. As he cut across his quarry’s tail, he pumped a single positron burst into the primary power coupling feeding the engines. As the craft slowed to a halt, utterly adrift, he flew upside down over its cockpit. To his amusment, he found that it was piloted by none other than Jandis Bosh, Leber’s former campaign manager.
Over the sector channel, Lecter called out some parting words before engaging his turbo drive and heading into the galactic North: “Bosh, I think I’ll leave you here to explain yourself: whether to Lebermac, or to your actual boss… but either way, I look forward to hearing how it works out.
“Though, somehow… I don’t think you’ll be able to tell me about it in person.”
With mocking smile, Dr. Lecter waggled his fingers at the desperate figure in the disabled ship, and blasted out of the sector at high speed.
Smittens woke up groggily, noticing that he was entangled with both LeberMac and Mogul. "What a party..." he muttered, backing away quickly. He looked around, and found himself in an unrecognizable hallway. "Where am I...?" he wondered quietly. The memory of everything that had happened rushed back suddenly. "LECTER! Where is he!?" Smittens pounded on the door, but it was obviously locked. So Lecter was still in there? Or did he get out without them? "Dammit Leebs..." thought Smittens, neither for the first nor last time. "If it weren't for Jandis, Lecter would've handed it over! And who're you, criticizing my decisions. Mogul did a service for the guild, and we spat him out like a traitor!"
Smittens continued to rant and rave at Leber's unconscious (or for all he knew, dead) body. It was nice not having insults come back at him.
As Mogul stirred, Smittens turned to see what he was going to do.
Smittens continued to rant and rave at Leber's unconscious (or for all he knew, dead) body. It was nice not having insults come back at him.
As Mogul stirred, Smittens turned to see what he was going to do.
Mogul woke up with a different kind of headache. Surely his customary headache was omnipresent but this time it felt worse and closer to the forehead.
The incredible amount of expletive in the room meant one thing. His old pal was there and quite pissed off. Mogul felt a big lump on his forehead which he didn't remember feeling previously. He tried to get up but his legs were hurting bad. Like someone had kicked him on the kneecaps.
Not a light to be seen in the room meant Mogul had to feel his way up to something to lean on. His path led him through the room, over his bag, over LeberMac who didn't seem to mind and finally up to a small table.
Groggily too, attuned to the general feeling in the room, Mogul adressed himself to Commander Smittens for the first time on a long while.
"Hey... Smitty... can you reach the light?"
Smittens looked at Mogul in disbelief. No. Actually he was getting accustomed to Mogul looking so bad but this time he was surprised at his behavior.
"What, you mean off? Jeeze, that must be a nice big bump you've got."
Mogul paused for a moment. Smittens looked at him and he could imagine all the gears in Mogul's head grind to a halt.
"What do you mean off? There's not a light in the room. Are you here with me or are we on vox??" said Mogul.
Smittens muttered "I see you juuuust fine. You are standing about 4 meters away from me, wearing your old IDF jacket on which some infant drew up your new guild's logo and acronym. You're [NUTS], you know that?" Smittens sniggered at his own joke that everyone else had made before.
Mogul paused and then replied "No no no. You can't be here with me it's pitch black here."
Smittens checked his pockets for a lighter and threw it on Mogul's chest "That's a lighter. Flip it on. Then feel the flame. Lights are still out?"
Mogul bent down and, clumsily feeling around, eventually grabbed the lighter. Smittens observed the scene with a mix of worry and amusement, and wondered how long Mogul would keep the act.
Mogul stood up and flicked the lighter with his left thumb. Slowly bringing his hand dangerously close to the flame, Mogul whispered "Shit!" and started crying.
Smittens could see at the dancing flame on front of Mogul's eyes, that his pupils were completely dilated.
The incredible amount of expletive in the room meant one thing. His old pal was there and quite pissed off. Mogul felt a big lump on his forehead which he didn't remember feeling previously. He tried to get up but his legs were hurting bad. Like someone had kicked him on the kneecaps.
Not a light to be seen in the room meant Mogul had to feel his way up to something to lean on. His path led him through the room, over his bag, over LeberMac who didn't seem to mind and finally up to a small table.
Groggily too, attuned to the general feeling in the room, Mogul adressed himself to Commander Smittens for the first time on a long while.
"Hey... Smitty... can you reach the light?"
Smittens looked at Mogul in disbelief. No. Actually he was getting accustomed to Mogul looking so bad but this time he was surprised at his behavior.
"What, you mean off? Jeeze, that must be a nice big bump you've got."
Mogul paused for a moment. Smittens looked at him and he could imagine all the gears in Mogul's head grind to a halt.
"What do you mean off? There's not a light in the room. Are you here with me or are we on vox??" said Mogul.
Smittens muttered "I see you juuuust fine. You are standing about 4 meters away from me, wearing your old IDF jacket on which some infant drew up your new guild's logo and acronym. You're [NUTS], you know that?" Smittens sniggered at his own joke that everyone else had made before.
Mogul paused and then replied "No no no. You can't be here with me it's pitch black here."
Smittens checked his pockets for a lighter and threw it on Mogul's chest "That's a lighter. Flip it on. Then feel the flame. Lights are still out?"
Mogul bent down and, clumsily feeling around, eventually grabbed the lighter. Smittens observed the scene with a mix of worry and amusement, and wondered how long Mogul would keep the act.
Mogul stood up and flicked the lighter with his left thumb. Slowly bringing his hand dangerously close to the flame, Mogul whispered "Shit!" and started crying.
Smittens could see at the dancing flame on front of Mogul's eyes, that his pupils were completely dilated.
"What happened?" Bosh thought. The stream of angry thoughts and condescencions poured in on him from the other side of the neural spike. He tried to shut it off, but could not do so. He was trapped in his own mind with the rest of the so-called "volunteers" that his master had assembled deep in the akanese base. Not even his own mind was a refuge. The designers of the neural spike had obviously never thought about THIS.
He had felt the presence of the others leave for an instant, and then return in haste, anxious and panicked, right before he had felt the massive explosions and instinctively mashed the turbo. Too late, as it turned out. His ship, now adrift in the emptiness away from the station, was losing life support, had no propulsion, and his choice of a black vulture made it impossible to spot in the inky blackness of Bractus.
Bosh realized that he had one chance to survive this, therefore he focused his energy on the one person in ths sector whom he had the slightest chance of influencing. The others in his mind screamed their disapproval and scorn from across the galaxy, while he reached out tentatively to his former client in the vain hope that he might be rescued...
He had felt the presence of the others leave for an instant, and then return in haste, anxious and panicked, right before he had felt the massive explosions and instinctively mashed the turbo. Too late, as it turned out. His ship, now adrift in the emptiness away from the station, was losing life support, had no propulsion, and his choice of a black vulture made it impossible to spot in the inky blackness of Bractus.
Bosh realized that he had one chance to survive this, therefore he focused his energy on the one person in ths sector whom he had the slightest chance of influencing. The others in his mind screamed their disapproval and scorn from across the galaxy, while he reached out tentatively to his former client in the vain hope that he might be rescued...
LeberMac felt like someone was poking his wrist.
He awoke with a start and realized that his wrist was shattered, and nothing was poking it, although several bone shards were poking OUT. He tried to move his hand but then the intense pain barged in and advised against it. LeberMac listened to his screaming nerve endings and decided to use his left hand to push himself to his feet.
Suddenly he had the urge to get out of the station. The pain from his shattered nose and splintered facial bones distracted from Smittens, who was apparently yelling at him. Mogul was staring at a lighter blankly, they were in a different room and he suddenly recalled how he had come to be in here.
He'd had another of those sudden-onset headaches, went woozy there for a bit, and came to with Lecter's boot on his head and a ringing in his ears, as if someone had set off an iceflare indoors.
The headache worsened suddenly and he immediately had the urge to get in his Valk and leave the station. Ignoring Smittens, who was gesturing wildly at him, he hit the exit button on the room's only door, but it wouldn't open. The safety interlock had engaged due to "Adverse Environmental Conditions" on the other side of the door. He wondered what that meant, and looked around for another means of egress.
"Aha!" he said, and shuffled over to the ceiling Jeffries tube. The tube opened to the central core of the station, and most likely led to the docking bay as well as other critical areas of the station. He moved poor Mogul underneath the open tube, arranged him in a seating position, stepped onto his shoulders and heaved himself into the tube with his one good hand.
"...ck are you DOING!" he heard from behind him in Smittens' voice. Oh good, his hearing was coming back.
"I'll be right back, Smitty. Gotta take care of something. I'll return to help you with Mogul, now that we've finally found him."
[ITAN]'s reluctant lieutenant gave a quick salute, pushed off with his remaining good hand and slid down the jeffries tube, landing back in the lobby and knocking over the poor concierge that he had assaulted earlier. A few quick leaps and he was back through the docking bay's airlock and into the Valk's cockpit. The corvus dockhands gave him a wide berth as he exited the docking bay and towards the familiar voice calling him from outside.
He awoke with a start and realized that his wrist was shattered, and nothing was poking it, although several bone shards were poking OUT. He tried to move his hand but then the intense pain barged in and advised against it. LeberMac listened to his screaming nerve endings and decided to use his left hand to push himself to his feet.
Suddenly he had the urge to get out of the station. The pain from his shattered nose and splintered facial bones distracted from Smittens, who was apparently yelling at him. Mogul was staring at a lighter blankly, they were in a different room and he suddenly recalled how he had come to be in here.
He'd had another of those sudden-onset headaches, went woozy there for a bit, and came to with Lecter's boot on his head and a ringing in his ears, as if someone had set off an iceflare indoors.
The headache worsened suddenly and he immediately had the urge to get in his Valk and leave the station. Ignoring Smittens, who was gesturing wildly at him, he hit the exit button on the room's only door, but it wouldn't open. The safety interlock had engaged due to "Adverse Environmental Conditions" on the other side of the door. He wondered what that meant, and looked around for another means of egress.
"Aha!" he said, and shuffled over to the ceiling Jeffries tube. The tube opened to the central core of the station, and most likely led to the docking bay as well as other critical areas of the station. He moved poor Mogul underneath the open tube, arranged him in a seating position, stepped onto his shoulders and heaved himself into the tube with his one good hand.
"...ck are you DOING!" he heard from behind him in Smittens' voice. Oh good, his hearing was coming back.
"I'll be right back, Smitty. Gotta take care of something. I'll return to help you with Mogul, now that we've finally found him."
[ITAN]'s reluctant lieutenant gave a quick salute, pushed off with his remaining good hand and slid down the jeffries tube, landing back in the lobby and knocking over the poor concierge that he had assaulted earlier. A few quick leaps and he was back through the docking bay's airlock and into the Valk's cockpit. The corvus dockhands gave him a wide berth as he exited the docking bay and towards the familiar voice calling him from outside.
It was getting hard to breathe. Bosh thought his push had reached LeberMac, the only other person in this quadrant that could be affected by the Neural Spike. He couldn't be sure. The voices in his head had turned into a cacophony, as if they were panicked on their end regarding something terrifying.
Something tapped into his ship and he realized that LeberMac had been susceptible to the suggestion after all, and had located him based solely on the instinctual draw of the Neural Spike. Ship-to-ship comm was out, but Leber's status in [ITAN] apparently came with some perks after all, as a remote tether line attached to the disabled & smoking black vulture from Leber's gleaming blue and white IDF Valkyrie. Internal comm links glowed to life.
"What's up.... buddy." LeberMac said in a dark tone. He sounded pissed.
Bosh choked out the words, "Aha" *cough* "Yes, I knew it would work..." *cough* " Please, LeberMac you must understand that there are powers at work behind the scenes which required our methods..."
LeberMac spat out, "What methods are those, Bosh? Who are you working for? How are you able to do this? Don't tell me you're in league with Lecter!"
"Hahahaaaa." *cough* Jandis hacked, "Lecter! No, unfortunately he and I do not see eye-to-eye, so to speak.." *wheeze* "LeberMac, you know of the Akanese, yes? They are my masters, and they are the true power in itani space. Through their subtle manipulations of people who were participants in the original Neural Spike program, they have amassed great political strength. I admit to being one of them..." *cough* "Please, LeberMac, could you also enable the life support feed from your tether?"
"No." LeberMac said coldly. "Tell me more."
"Very well..." *hack* "You are not as affected as some others, apparently your tequila-laced brain provides some sort of partial immunity from the Neural Spike's effects. Yes... I see it's dawning on you. The Akanese planned the original strike on the facility to possess the device, but we were unknowingly thwarted by that Sarken sonofabitch. To make matters worse, the plans and the existing prototype fell into the hands of some lowly Serco in our plant's attempt to flee Itani space. But you know this part of the story..." *cough*
"The headaches," LeberMac said, "They're not from the tequila, are they?"
Bosh was having trouble breathing now, *wheeze* "No, no of course not, those were the signs of us attempting to co-opt you and your guild for use in our own plans. Smittens was never exposed to the device enough to be useful, you see. We pushed you to win the election, but in the end due to blind luck, you lost out, which caused me a great deal of disgrace within the order."
"Well I'm sure sorry for you, "LeberMac said with mock sincerity, "But why tell me all this now? Lecter is in league with the akanese?"
"No, no, but he possesses the knowledge and abilities to recreate the prototype. He's quite intelligent, you know..." *cough* "... not quite as smart as he thinks he is, but certainly the prototype NS Mk. II which he carries is functional, perhaps more than the one the akanese managed to cobble together. Your latest headache was our last-ditch attempt at preventing Lecter from giving you the Spike. By manipulating you for that instant, rejecting Lecter's proposal, we almost bought enough time. Alas, Lecter did not give us enough time and fired off an iceflare indoors, the crazy bastard. In our confusion of your terminated link to the spike, Lecter got the jump on us, killing my team but leaving me to drift. I am as good as dead, having failed my masters twice in spectacular fashion. And I need you LeberMac... we need" *cough* "to work together..."
Bosh wiped some spittle from the corners of his mouth and continued, "... Lecter may now attempt to contact the akanese and bargain with THEM directly for his safety, and undoubtedly he will offer up his NS Mk. II device in trade. That must not be allowed to happen..." *gag... cough* "...for I have experienced the full effects of the Neural Spike, LeberMac. It is not a nirvana, but a prison."
"How so?" LeberMac asked. "I thought it gave you communal one-ness, the 'singularity' that the itani have always sought. All itani minds, linked in an exponential flourishing of knowledge and culture."
Bosh gagged again as he laughed evilly. "Haaaaaa..." *cough* "No. It never was. It was merely a control device for my masters to finally and decisively assert their control over the entire itani population in one masterstroke. It would have worked beautifully. Ironically, you can thank [ST6] for saving the Itani race from mental enslavement." *cough* "Now, please... some air?"
"Standby, Jandis." LeberMac was forming an idea through the pain of his shattered nose and wrist. "Could Lecter's NS Mk. II device be used to combat the akanese NS? Theoretically?"
Bosh was startled at the sudden clever display of logic from LeberMac, and promptly had a coughing fit.. *cough* *wheeeeeze* *cough cough cough* "Splttthhht!" *cough* "Of course, yes... it could be done. In fact, you could do it easily, you could interface Lecter's Neural spike with Deep Blue and use it to dynamically cancel out any thoughtwave patterns generated by the akanese one...." *cough*
"That's all I needed, Bosh." LeberMac's tone hardened and he glared at Bosh through the canopy, unblinking. He attached one of the Valkyrie's 6 life support sensors to the underside exterior of Bosh's black BioCom Vulture. It would be just enough.
"LeberMac.. " *cough* Bosh wheezed, "What are you doing? Just give me a tow to the station and we can work together to end this menace..."
"I've seen what you call 'working togther', Bosh." LeberMac stated icily. "And to be quite honest, your poll numbers aren't looking that good..." LeberMac fired three quick blasts from his small Phase Blaster, sealing the cockpit shut on the vult.
"LeberMac?" *cough* "LEBER! What are you DOING? I know we've bee-----............." Bosh's sentence abruptly ended as LeberMac disconnected the comm tether and began remotely programming the lone life support sensor on Jandis Bosh's severely damaged black vulture.
Programming it for indefinite-duration cryonic hibernation.
Jandis Bosh pounded on his nigh-indestructible vismetal cockpit windows, silently screaming in rage as LeberMac gave the powerless vulture a gentle push in the direction out of the galactic plane...
Something tapped into his ship and he realized that LeberMac had been susceptible to the suggestion after all, and had located him based solely on the instinctual draw of the Neural Spike. Ship-to-ship comm was out, but Leber's status in [ITAN] apparently came with some perks after all, as a remote tether line attached to the disabled & smoking black vulture from Leber's gleaming blue and white IDF Valkyrie. Internal comm links glowed to life.
"What's up.... buddy." LeberMac said in a dark tone. He sounded pissed.
Bosh choked out the words, "Aha" *cough* "Yes, I knew it would work..." *cough* " Please, LeberMac you must understand that there are powers at work behind the scenes which required our methods..."
LeberMac spat out, "What methods are those, Bosh? Who are you working for? How are you able to do this? Don't tell me you're in league with Lecter!"
"Hahahaaaa." *cough* Jandis hacked, "Lecter! No, unfortunately he and I do not see eye-to-eye, so to speak.." *wheeze* "LeberMac, you know of the Akanese, yes? They are my masters, and they are the true power in itani space. Through their subtle manipulations of people who were participants in the original Neural Spike program, they have amassed great political strength. I admit to being one of them..." *cough* "Please, LeberMac, could you also enable the life support feed from your tether?"
"No." LeberMac said coldly. "Tell me more."
"Very well..." *hack* "You are not as affected as some others, apparently your tequila-laced brain provides some sort of partial immunity from the Neural Spike's effects. Yes... I see it's dawning on you. The Akanese planned the original strike on the facility to possess the device, but we were unknowingly thwarted by that Sarken sonofabitch. To make matters worse, the plans and the existing prototype fell into the hands of some lowly Serco in our plant's attempt to flee Itani space. But you know this part of the story..." *cough*
"The headaches," LeberMac said, "They're not from the tequila, are they?"
Bosh was having trouble breathing now, *wheeze* "No, no of course not, those were the signs of us attempting to co-opt you and your guild for use in our own plans. Smittens was never exposed to the device enough to be useful, you see. We pushed you to win the election, but in the end due to blind luck, you lost out, which caused me a great deal of disgrace within the order."
"Well I'm sure sorry for you, "LeberMac said with mock sincerity, "But why tell me all this now? Lecter is in league with the akanese?"
"No, no, but he possesses the knowledge and abilities to recreate the prototype. He's quite intelligent, you know..." *cough* "... not quite as smart as he thinks he is, but certainly the prototype NS Mk. II which he carries is functional, perhaps more than the one the akanese managed to cobble together. Your latest headache was our last-ditch attempt at preventing Lecter from giving you the Spike. By manipulating you for that instant, rejecting Lecter's proposal, we almost bought enough time. Alas, Lecter did not give us enough time and fired off an iceflare indoors, the crazy bastard. In our confusion of your terminated link to the spike, Lecter got the jump on us, killing my team but leaving me to drift. I am as good as dead, having failed my masters twice in spectacular fashion. And I need you LeberMac... we need" *cough* "to work together..."
Bosh wiped some spittle from the corners of his mouth and continued, "... Lecter may now attempt to contact the akanese and bargain with THEM directly for his safety, and undoubtedly he will offer up his NS Mk. II device in trade. That must not be allowed to happen..." *gag... cough* "...for I have experienced the full effects of the Neural Spike, LeberMac. It is not a nirvana, but a prison."
"How so?" LeberMac asked. "I thought it gave you communal one-ness, the 'singularity' that the itani have always sought. All itani minds, linked in an exponential flourishing of knowledge and culture."
Bosh gagged again as he laughed evilly. "Haaaaaa..." *cough* "No. It never was. It was merely a control device for my masters to finally and decisively assert their control over the entire itani population in one masterstroke. It would have worked beautifully. Ironically, you can thank [ST6] for saving the Itani race from mental enslavement." *cough* "Now, please... some air?"
"Standby, Jandis." LeberMac was forming an idea through the pain of his shattered nose and wrist. "Could Lecter's NS Mk. II device be used to combat the akanese NS? Theoretically?"
Bosh was startled at the sudden clever display of logic from LeberMac, and promptly had a coughing fit.. *cough* *wheeeeeze* *cough cough cough* "Splttthhht!" *cough* "Of course, yes... it could be done. In fact, you could do it easily, you could interface Lecter's Neural spike with Deep Blue and use it to dynamically cancel out any thoughtwave patterns generated by the akanese one...." *cough*
"That's all I needed, Bosh." LeberMac's tone hardened and he glared at Bosh through the canopy, unblinking. He attached one of the Valkyrie's 6 life support sensors to the underside exterior of Bosh's black BioCom Vulture. It would be just enough.
"LeberMac.. " *cough* Bosh wheezed, "What are you doing? Just give me a tow to the station and we can work together to end this menace..."
"I've seen what you call 'working togther', Bosh." LeberMac stated icily. "And to be quite honest, your poll numbers aren't looking that good..." LeberMac fired three quick blasts from his small Phase Blaster, sealing the cockpit shut on the vult.
"LeberMac?" *cough* "LEBER! What are you DOING? I know we've bee-----............." Bosh's sentence abruptly ended as LeberMac disconnected the comm tether and began remotely programming the lone life support sensor on Jandis Bosh's severely damaged black vulture.
Programming it for indefinite-duration cryonic hibernation.
Jandis Bosh pounded on his nigh-indestructible vismetal cockpit windows, silently screaming in rage as LeberMac gave the powerless vulture a gentle push in the direction out of the galactic plane...
The vulture drifted off, headed into an eternal journey in the emptiness between galaxies. LeberMac plotted a parallel course with the vulture and casually watched Jandis Bosh, who was pressed against the cockpit glass as the cryo system lowered the oxygen content and the temperature in the vulture's cabin.
LeberMac stared unemotionally into the crazed eyes of Jandis as he settled into oblivion, succumbing to the cryonic procedures as well as the incoherent chatter he was receiving from the akanese neural spike. Jandis Bosh would drift forever through space, neither respawning nor truly dying, in an eternal dreamlike state of hell caused by the garbled random mental inputs of the akanese neural spike.
"Sayonara, motherfucker..." LeberMac said as he lifted the tequila bottle for a swig before headed back to the station. "The void awaits... Heh."
He had to get back to the station to help Smittens and Mogul, and quickly find Lecter and either capture or negotiate for the Neural Spike Mk. II. Oh, and he should visit the autodoc once the station's atmosphere was replenished. Oh, and he really should see about that blue agave DNA. After all of this, he was DEFINITELY going to need a drink.
He guided the valk into the dock and noticed that after his forcible entry the first time, the station looked pretty much abandoned. Good. He raced past the terrified concierge, up the jeffries tube to the room where Smittens and Mogul were still yapping about something. He poked his head through the tube in the ceiling in the room, saying "Hey guys... miss me? Come on, we gotta go catch Lecter."
He noticed Mogul was holding a lighter to his hand. "Um... Mogul you crazy moron, let's get you back to an Itani medical facility NOW."
LeberMac stared unemotionally into the crazed eyes of Jandis as he settled into oblivion, succumbing to the cryonic procedures as well as the incoherent chatter he was receiving from the akanese neural spike. Jandis Bosh would drift forever through space, neither respawning nor truly dying, in an eternal dreamlike state of hell caused by the garbled random mental inputs of the akanese neural spike.
"Sayonara, motherfucker..." LeberMac said as he lifted the tequila bottle for a swig before headed back to the station. "The void awaits... Heh."
He had to get back to the station to help Smittens and Mogul, and quickly find Lecter and either capture or negotiate for the Neural Spike Mk. II. Oh, and he should visit the autodoc once the station's atmosphere was replenished. Oh, and he really should see about that blue agave DNA. After all of this, he was DEFINITELY going to need a drink.
He guided the valk into the dock and noticed that after his forcible entry the first time, the station looked pretty much abandoned. Good. He raced past the terrified concierge, up the jeffries tube to the room where Smittens and Mogul were still yapping about something. He poked his head through the tube in the ceiling in the room, saying "Hey guys... miss me? Come on, we gotta go catch Lecter."
He noticed Mogul was holding a lighter to his hand. "Um... Mogul you crazy moron, let's get you back to an Itani medical facility NOW."
He tore the heart out of the helpless Spike-connected akanese disciple and crushed it in his hand. "The price of failure is high, brother..." he said as the disciple fell from the Neural Spike immersion chair, gushing volumes of blood from his gaping chest, the color draining from his body in a spilled pool of crimson.
Half of the team of over one hundred NSI communal participants lay dead on the floor, victims of his rage. The panicked screams and pleadings of the remaining immobile Spike-conected disciples filled the wireless net around the control chamber. The fear in the room was a living thing, touching every heart but one.
His operatives had failed to bring the glory of Akan to light. The price was high, but there was still hope. The fool Lecter could possibly trade his version of the Neural Spike device for protection. A paltry price, ultimately shortsighted.
Patience would serve him as it had so many times before. He had but wait for the events to unfold. The likelihood of Lecter trusting any of those [ITAN] bumblers now was almot laughable.
The dark figure sat upon his command chair and draped his bloodied arms over the control-packed armrests. The blood of his sacrificed followers dripped from his fingertips in time with the seconds that ticked by on the enormous old fashioned timekeeping device behind his position.
He had waited this long for his return to power. He could stand to wait a little more.
Half of the team of over one hundred NSI communal participants lay dead on the floor, victims of his rage. The panicked screams and pleadings of the remaining immobile Spike-conected disciples filled the wireless net around the control chamber. The fear in the room was a living thing, touching every heart but one.
His operatives had failed to bring the glory of Akan to light. The price was high, but there was still hope. The fool Lecter could possibly trade his version of the Neural Spike device for protection. A paltry price, ultimately shortsighted.
Patience would serve him as it had so many times before. He had but wait for the events to unfold. The likelihood of Lecter trusting any of those [ITAN] bumblers now was almot laughable.
The dark figure sat upon his command chair and draped his bloodied arms over the control-packed armrests. The blood of his sacrificed followers dripped from his fingertips in time with the seconds that ticked by on the enormous old fashioned timekeeping device behind his position.
He had waited this long for his return to power. He could stand to wait a little more.
I guess you could say I was more pissed off then any thing else at being left out of the loop. I guess deep down it was a sort of pride, I always liked to know just about every thing that was going on, that is of course provided I was not involved in some way. This was how ever different, Lecter had gone off solo seemingly against the Serco nation. Now knowing Lecter as I do I doubt he would fight his own nation, but then at the same time I could see it happening. regardless he should have checked things with me, I mean I'm not going to say he owes me or any thing but I did play a large role in his rescue from the Itani, and well I liked to think we where friends, so is a little good bye note that hard to ask for?
I had been feeding all information I could find even remotely related to Lecter, ITAN and SKV that I could find directly to my internal computers 24/7. As of date nothing had come of it, till Smittens was reported landing on Bractus, not really a place for him I thought, no one is there so he has no way to boost his ego making abnormal.
Then shortly after some one remotely matching the crazed description of Mogul the former ITAN commander docked at the same station. Now maybe it was just a commanders meeting or some thing right? I doubted it, again it was abnormal.
And then Leber and a small fighter squad of black ships landed again on the same station. No considering Leber hates Mogul, and Smittens dislikes Leber, and well the black fighters, it was all just to odd not to check up on. So off I went, the trip from GR was long and at times I doubted if I would make it before they all left, sadly the ion storms where bad on the way down so I was unable to get live feed from the station again pissing me off due to lack of intel.
After what seemed to be a life time of travel I hit the warp button. Entering the sector I noted right away the station had well lacked a chunk, calling into the station I learned it only contained three pilots still docked, Smittens, Leber, and Mogul.
"Good." I muttered to my self as I pulled into the docking bay wondering what all I had missed. Regardless they needed to stay around until I was ready to leave I figured as the sun-flares shot out from my ship landing with a large explosion into the closely packed three ships reducing them to nothing more then scrap and rocking the whole station in the process.
I activated the remote self distract on my ship and plugged the detonator in to my neural system, should the signals stop for what ever reason I thought it would be a good idea for no one to get to fly my ship out. On the way in I saw Alta Torrese, the station dock master and bar keep, it's not really a busy place so it has a very small crew running it of which he is the head of. He was hiding in what was a disguised large caliber turret, I only knew this because he had used it once when a BLAK party got kinda rowdy, it was very effective.
"Alta my bro! Howzit go'n man?" He grunted some thing noncommittal as he motioned to the station around him.
"Yeah I love what you've done with the place, hey I was thinking just as a favor to your old buddy do you think you could use that gun on any one who comes into the docking bay with out me?" I said as I pressed a 2 mil cred stick into the cooling vents of his gun.
"Enjoy your stay in Bractus." He said grinning. I grinned to as I pulled out a vintage riot shotgun and slammed a large box mag into it, racking the slide with a loud Ca-Chunk-Chunk, I chuckled slightly while I started walking to the room my thermal scanners had last seen life on.
I had been feeding all information I could find even remotely related to Lecter, ITAN and SKV that I could find directly to my internal computers 24/7. As of date nothing had come of it, till Smittens was reported landing on Bractus, not really a place for him I thought, no one is there so he has no way to boost his ego making abnormal.
Then shortly after some one remotely matching the crazed description of Mogul the former ITAN commander docked at the same station. Now maybe it was just a commanders meeting or some thing right? I doubted it, again it was abnormal.
And then Leber and a small fighter squad of black ships landed again on the same station. No considering Leber hates Mogul, and Smittens dislikes Leber, and well the black fighters, it was all just to odd not to check up on. So off I went, the trip from GR was long and at times I doubted if I would make it before they all left, sadly the ion storms where bad on the way down so I was unable to get live feed from the station again pissing me off due to lack of intel.
After what seemed to be a life time of travel I hit the warp button. Entering the sector I noted right away the station had well lacked a chunk, calling into the station I learned it only contained three pilots still docked, Smittens, Leber, and Mogul.
"Good." I muttered to my self as I pulled into the docking bay wondering what all I had missed. Regardless they needed to stay around until I was ready to leave I figured as the sun-flares shot out from my ship landing with a large explosion into the closely packed three ships reducing them to nothing more then scrap and rocking the whole station in the process.
I activated the remote self distract on my ship and plugged the detonator in to my neural system, should the signals stop for what ever reason I thought it would be a good idea for no one to get to fly my ship out. On the way in I saw Alta Torrese, the station dock master and bar keep, it's not really a busy place so it has a very small crew running it of which he is the head of. He was hiding in what was a disguised large caliber turret, I only knew this because he had used it once when a BLAK party got kinda rowdy, it was very effective.
"Alta my bro! Howzit go'n man?" He grunted some thing noncommittal as he motioned to the station around him.
"Yeah I love what you've done with the place, hey I was thinking just as a favor to your old buddy do you think you could use that gun on any one who comes into the docking bay with out me?" I said as I pressed a 2 mil cred stick into the cooling vents of his gun.
"Enjoy your stay in Bractus." He said grinning. I grinned to as I pulled out a vintage riot shotgun and slammed a large box mag into it, racking the slide with a loud Ca-Chunk-Chunk, I chuckled slightly while I started walking to the room my thermal scanners had last seen life on.
Mogul was practically burning his hand, repeating the improvised blindness lighter test.
The flame was slowly eating through his glove when the Sympathetic Eo hallucination, more radiant than ever, looked Mogul right in the eyes and said "Now, you can meditate on things past and present. No more will you travel through space and bring destruction to the Serco and humans alike. So what if they kill Itanis in their own rampage? They fear us as much as you them. And they will eventually reach spiritual heights that will make them see how blind they were. As you are now."
Mogul examined the Eo apparition carefully and realized a few things. First, being blind and not distracted by the sights of the world, the Eo apparition looked way more realistic than previously as was the rest of his Council. Second, that neither of them seemed to have feet. In fact, they all looked like historical holograms and busts. History rarely records one's shoes he thought.
But most importantly, Mogul realized that he could see them. Mogul wiped off his tears with the back of his glove and looked at them very carefully. It didn't add up. Mogul was blind. Weither permanently or not didn't matter. The fact that he was blind but seeing a dozen Eo and Akan figures dancing in front of him gave him quite a jolt.
"You're not blind for sure." said the Talkin Placebo-Xin bottle.
Mogul approached this last one and, trying not to trip on things in the room, reached out to touch the bottle apparition. How could a 1.7m tall bottle be there talking to him? And how could he see it, if he was blind?
As Mogul's hand approached the bottle cap, the Talkin Placebo-Xin Bottle disappeared. That bottle was the only source of light in that direction and made Mogul feel like he got shrouded.
But he was, he realized. "I've been shrouded and deceived by illusions all this time." he muttered.
He reached down for his bag, pulled out a small ceramic gun. One of those ancient chemical explosion projectile guns with an extra ammunition clip taped on it.
Mogul turned around to face his Council and aimed at the Evil Akan hallucination who didn't seem frightened for one bit. "I'm already dead you idiot!" it said.
Mogul fired the pistol and the council member vanished. The room seemed to darken some more but this time Mogul knew it was all just an illusion. It couldn't get any darker: he was blind.
"Die you apparitions!" Mogul screamed, turning around and shooting at the apparitions as they flea around the room for cover, totally oblivious to the presence of Smittens and LeberMac.
The flame was slowly eating through his glove when the Sympathetic Eo hallucination, more radiant than ever, looked Mogul right in the eyes and said "Now, you can meditate on things past and present. No more will you travel through space and bring destruction to the Serco and humans alike. So what if they kill Itanis in their own rampage? They fear us as much as you them. And they will eventually reach spiritual heights that will make them see how blind they were. As you are now."
Mogul examined the Eo apparition carefully and realized a few things. First, being blind and not distracted by the sights of the world, the Eo apparition looked way more realistic than previously as was the rest of his Council. Second, that neither of them seemed to have feet. In fact, they all looked like historical holograms and busts. History rarely records one's shoes he thought.
But most importantly, Mogul realized that he could see them. Mogul wiped off his tears with the back of his glove and looked at them very carefully. It didn't add up. Mogul was blind. Weither permanently or not didn't matter. The fact that he was blind but seeing a dozen Eo and Akan figures dancing in front of him gave him quite a jolt.
"You're not blind for sure." said the Talkin Placebo-Xin bottle.
Mogul approached this last one and, trying not to trip on things in the room, reached out to touch the bottle apparition. How could a 1.7m tall bottle be there talking to him? And how could he see it, if he was blind?
As Mogul's hand approached the bottle cap, the Talkin Placebo-Xin Bottle disappeared. That bottle was the only source of light in that direction and made Mogul feel like he got shrouded.
But he was, he realized. "I've been shrouded and deceived by illusions all this time." he muttered.
He reached down for his bag, pulled out a small ceramic gun. One of those ancient chemical explosion projectile guns with an extra ammunition clip taped on it.
Mogul turned around to face his Council and aimed at the Evil Akan hallucination who didn't seem frightened for one bit. "I'm already dead you idiot!" it said.
Mogul fired the pistol and the council member vanished. The room seemed to darken some more but this time Mogul knew it was all just an illusion. It couldn't get any darker: he was blind.
"Die you apparitions!" Mogul screamed, turning around and shooting at the apparitions as they flea around the room for cover, totally oblivious to the presence of Smittens and LeberMac.
LeberMac's head was poking though the ceiling's Jeffries Tube entrance when Mogul pulled out an old-style Glock firearm and began shooting randomly.
"Holy HELL! Mogul, knock that crazy crap off!" LeberMac barked as a round whizzed inched from his head. He retreated back into the tube overhead and hoped that the ceiling was at least a little armor-plated.
"Holy HELL! Mogul, knock that crazy crap off!" LeberMac barked as a round whizzed inched from his head. He retreated back into the tube overhead and hoped that the ceiling was at least a little armor-plated.
- CLICK! - out of ammo.
"Damnit!" Mogul shouted. He fell to his knees and started looking for his bag. "Damn height-shot pistols." he mumbled. "WHERE IS MY AMMO PACK?!"
As Mogul reached for an object on the ground, he'd grab it and attempt a throw at either of the remaining apparition, without much success.
"Where is thee?!" he shouted while circling around his bag.
"Damnit!" Mogul shouted. He fell to his knees and started looking for his bag. "Damn height-shot pistols." he mumbled. "WHERE IS MY AMMO PACK?!"
As Mogul reached for an object on the ground, he'd grab it and attempt a throw at either of the remaining apparition, without much success.
"Where is thee?!" he shouted while circling around his bag.
"Over heeeeeeere" muttered Smittens in his best ghosty voice. If Mogul was going to become sane again, Smittens knew this was his last chance to screw with him!
As I heard the gun fired I wondered what was going on, after running a few scenarios though my head while I made my way down the hall and to the wall adjacent to the room in question I came to the conclusion that Leber and Smittens where attempting to kill Mogul and a gun fight had ensued. Thinking this would be a good chance for me to get in good with one side or the other I set a quick charge on the wall and stood back as I waited for it to cut a nice homemade door for me.
*Zizzt boom*
Grinning I quickly chucked a flash bang into the gaping hole where my new door was and turned on my IR implants.
*Bang*
I always loved that sound. I thought to my self with a giddy smile as I jumped over the downed wall and took a quick assessment of things, ally with Smitty and Leber or a crazy guy I quickly thought as I picked my targets and opted to help the crazy man.
Mogul was bent over and looked wounded and disoriented though the IR scanners, Smittens was cowering behind some thing making what sounded like ghost sounds, what I could only assume was Leber due to the gut was rolling around on the floor near my new door with what seemed to be a firearm of some sort.
He finally seemed to find his feet as my eyes met his, I quickly fired a shot off in smittens general direction to keep him down incase he had a weapon, then taking a step forward I kicked the gun out of Lebers hand before he could fully get to his feet. He reacted quickly to this how ever and with his left hand punched me hard in the calf forcing me to lose my balance and drop my shotty.
Rolling as I hit the ground I kipped back up with little effort to find Leber squaring off with me. I loudly laughed as I recognized the stance.
"Drunken Kung Fu, of course Leber. Hahahaha! When did you ever have the time to learn it?"
"Oh well back in..."
I'm an evil little street fighter and the question was a ploy, I knew Leber was a nice polite guy and he would answer the question, when all really wanted to do was pull out another Flash Bang and roll it at his feet.
*Bang*
This time I only heard the first part of it and then every thing went fuzzy, my ocular implants shut out the light but I had forgot to insert my audio implants and the sound was not filtered out, looking I saw leber was on his about to run right into me trying to find cover, thinking fast I quickly rammed the whole of my forehead into the bridge smiling with satisfaction as I felt it give underneath the pressure and Leber fall back in a clear daze.
With Leber down and Smittens still cowering behind an overturned table I quickly made my way to Mogul and attempted to subdue him. He was stronger then I thought he would be as he started to struggle, it was the last thing I needed as I felt a sharp pain in my bicep as Leber started shooting again. Thinking fast I hit mogul hard in the gut and chucked another bang towards Leber.
*Bang*
It was my last one so I knew my time to make an exit was now, quickly I hefted Mogul up on to my back and started running out of the room, he was strangely passive for the first time and I thought I may get out of their with minimal effort after all till some thing hit me square in the back knocking me to one knee. I quickly pulled out my holstered .45 with one hand and blindly opened fired over my shoulder as I ran out the door and down too my ship. Waving by to Alta I shoved Mogul into my cargo hold as I turned off the IR gear, jumped into my ship and undocked.
Looking down from my cockpit I came to the realization that Leber had managed to graze the side of my arm with a lucky shot, the pain in my back was slowly fading away, I can only assume Smittens grew some balls for once in his life and threw some thing at me as I had my back to him. After my assessment of my self I grew concerned for the well being of Mogul. Setting my ship to auto pilot for Odia I walked down into the hold to see if I could get to the bottom of things.
Opening the hold I walked right into the barrel of a small ceramic gun. So that's why he was so passive I thought to my self as I tried to assess the situation better.
*Zizzt boom*
Grinning I quickly chucked a flash bang into the gaping hole where my new door was and turned on my IR implants.
*Bang*
I always loved that sound. I thought to my self with a giddy smile as I jumped over the downed wall and took a quick assessment of things, ally with Smitty and Leber or a crazy guy I quickly thought as I picked my targets and opted to help the crazy man.
Mogul was bent over and looked wounded and disoriented though the IR scanners, Smittens was cowering behind some thing making what sounded like ghost sounds, what I could only assume was Leber due to the gut was rolling around on the floor near my new door with what seemed to be a firearm of some sort.
He finally seemed to find his feet as my eyes met his, I quickly fired a shot off in smittens general direction to keep him down incase he had a weapon, then taking a step forward I kicked the gun out of Lebers hand before he could fully get to his feet. He reacted quickly to this how ever and with his left hand punched me hard in the calf forcing me to lose my balance and drop my shotty.
Rolling as I hit the ground I kipped back up with little effort to find Leber squaring off with me. I loudly laughed as I recognized the stance.
"Drunken Kung Fu, of course Leber. Hahahaha! When did you ever have the time to learn it?"
"Oh well back in..."
I'm an evil little street fighter and the question was a ploy, I knew Leber was a nice polite guy and he would answer the question, when all really wanted to do was pull out another Flash Bang and roll it at his feet.
*Bang*
This time I only heard the first part of it and then every thing went fuzzy, my ocular implants shut out the light but I had forgot to insert my audio implants and the sound was not filtered out, looking I saw leber was on his about to run right into me trying to find cover, thinking fast I quickly rammed the whole of my forehead into the bridge smiling with satisfaction as I felt it give underneath the pressure and Leber fall back in a clear daze.
With Leber down and Smittens still cowering behind an overturned table I quickly made my way to Mogul and attempted to subdue him. He was stronger then I thought he would be as he started to struggle, it was the last thing I needed as I felt a sharp pain in my bicep as Leber started shooting again. Thinking fast I hit mogul hard in the gut and chucked another bang towards Leber.
*Bang*
It was my last one so I knew my time to make an exit was now, quickly I hefted Mogul up on to my back and started running out of the room, he was strangely passive for the first time and I thought I may get out of their with minimal effort after all till some thing hit me square in the back knocking me to one knee. I quickly pulled out my holstered .45 with one hand and blindly opened fired over my shoulder as I ran out the door and down too my ship. Waving by to Alta I shoved Mogul into my cargo hold as I turned off the IR gear, jumped into my ship and undocked.
Looking down from my cockpit I came to the realization that Leber had managed to graze the side of my arm with a lucky shot, the pain in my back was slowly fading away, I can only assume Smittens grew some balls for once in his life and threw some thing at me as I had my back to him. After my assessment of my self I grew concerned for the well being of Mogul. Setting my ship to auto pilot for Odia I walked down into the hold to see if I could get to the bottom of things.
Opening the hold I walked right into the barrel of a small ceramic gun. So that's why he was so passive I thought to my self as I tried to assess the situation better.
"Aw that was SWEET!" cried Smittens as Borb made his escape.
"Smitty, he's got Mogul! Why the hell does he want Mogul!?"
"Who cares? He was all like 'You can not stop me this time, Smittens. You've never been able to!' and then he started running and I totally lunged for that table leg, which I snapped in two and threw all at once. And he's so hurt! I'm awesome!"
"Uh...one, Borb didn't say anything, two, from the moment he walked in here you were working on that leg, and only through blind luck snapped it in time to chuck it at him."
Deciding to let his story live on the way he had told it, Smittens threw the other half of the leg at LeberMac, knocking him out. As the other Itani's body slid down out of the tube, Smittens crouched down by his ear and began whispering "Borb taunt...Smitt awesome...Borb taunt...Smitt awesome"
This was gonna be one helluva PR boost.
"Smitty, he's got Mogul! Why the hell does he want Mogul!?"
"Who cares? He was all like 'You can not stop me this time, Smittens. You've never been able to!' and then he started running and I totally lunged for that table leg, which I snapped in two and threw all at once. And he's so hurt! I'm awesome!"
"Uh...one, Borb didn't say anything, two, from the moment he walked in here you were working on that leg, and only through blind luck snapped it in time to chuck it at him."
Deciding to let his story live on the way he had told it, Smittens threw the other half of the leg at LeberMac, knocking him out. As the other Itani's body slid down out of the tube, Smittens crouched down by his ear and began whispering "Borb taunt...Smitt awesome...Borb taunt...Smitt awesome"
This was gonna be one helluva PR boost.
Mogul's holding cell door reopened. He knew it to be a hard sealed door when he heard it's lock grinding open. Although he couldn't see it, he could feel the light coming at him. Or perhaps it was the warmer air coming through the door.
Back on his feet, Mogul held up the gun to the door with the fresh ammunition clip poped in, waiting for the door to stop grinding.
Moments earlier, as he was screaming his discontent for being blind and not finding his way back to his bag where the bulk of his ammunition was, Mogul realized he had an extra clip taped on the gun.
Mogul had stopped screaming when his belly collided with his spine, deflating both his lungs in the process. The belly had been forced inward by his jacket, itself pressed hard against Mogul's skin by some external force wich could only mean all that kung fu nonsense he had just heard was no hallucination: a large clump of hardened flesh bored through his gut and definitely halted any screaming that was taking place.
Then, that large something picked him up and bean-bagged Mogul over it's shoulder. Mogul was being taken for a joyride by someone larger than most humans. He tried to fight it off but decided after a few good jabs that inhaling again was a more pressing affair than acrobatics. Mogul tried to calm himself and regain his breath so he could resume his protesting but every step his assailant made nudged his shoulder back into Mogul's guts, only to be dumped in a holding cell or, perhaps, a cargo bay.
The door stopped grinding and Mogul could only imagine someone standing at the door. He could think of only one who would have had the force to pick him up like that.
"The void awaits, Lecter!" he said, as he wound up the firing mechanism.
Back on his feet, Mogul held up the gun to the door with the fresh ammunition clip poped in, waiting for the door to stop grinding.
Moments earlier, as he was screaming his discontent for being blind and not finding his way back to his bag where the bulk of his ammunition was, Mogul realized he had an extra clip taped on the gun.
Mogul had stopped screaming when his belly collided with his spine, deflating both his lungs in the process. The belly had been forced inward by his jacket, itself pressed hard against Mogul's skin by some external force wich could only mean all that kung fu nonsense he had just heard was no hallucination: a large clump of hardened flesh bored through his gut and definitely halted any screaming that was taking place.
Then, that large something picked him up and bean-bagged Mogul over it's shoulder. Mogul was being taken for a joyride by someone larger than most humans. He tried to fight it off but decided after a few good jabs that inhaling again was a more pressing affair than acrobatics. Mogul tried to calm himself and regain his breath so he could resume his protesting but every step his assailant made nudged his shoulder back into Mogul's guts, only to be dumped in a holding cell or, perhaps, a cargo bay.
The door stopped grinding and Mogul could only imagine someone standing at the door. He could think of only one who would have had the force to pick him up like that.
"The void awaits, Lecter!" he said, as he wound up the firing mechanism.
"Lecter..."
I said my voice trailing off, I'd been call many names in my life but this was a new one, and based on the three words proceeding the name it was not meant in a "Oh hey Borb your so cool" kind of way.
"Mogul, it's Borb, your safe." I said softly hoping he would decide not to knock holes in the face I had come to love.
"Borb, Borb, Borb.... No!"
I was starting to think it would have been a better idea to lug Lebers over sized body outta the station when he shoved the gun at me, well passed me, he had been aiming for my general direction ever sense I walked in but now he was attempting to I guess press the gun to my head except he was pointing it about a foot past my head. Then I looked closely at his eyes.
"Mogul can you see me?"
Bad move on my part while his eye sight was questionable his hearing was quite fine and by talking he was able to find my head with a thonk his gun hand hit me. Wondering what the extent of his eye sight was I ducked down.
"Mogul Lecter is dead you killed him back in the room, every thing is safe."
The gun pointed down as I quickly moved to the side of his arm and quickly disarmed him.
"Good Lady Serco you are blind."
He slumped down to the ground and started sobbing, for once in my life I felt pity for an Itan commander, I bent down and put my hand on his shoulder.
"It's ok now. What's going on man, I can help."
I said my voice trailing off, I'd been call many names in my life but this was a new one, and based on the three words proceeding the name it was not meant in a "Oh hey Borb your so cool" kind of way.
"Mogul, it's Borb, your safe." I said softly hoping he would decide not to knock holes in the face I had come to love.
"Borb, Borb, Borb.... No!"
I was starting to think it would have been a better idea to lug Lebers over sized body outta the station when he shoved the gun at me, well passed me, he had been aiming for my general direction ever sense I walked in but now he was attempting to I guess press the gun to my head except he was pointing it about a foot past my head. Then I looked closely at his eyes.
"Mogul can you see me?"
Bad move on my part while his eye sight was questionable his hearing was quite fine and by talking he was able to find my head with a thonk his gun hand hit me. Wondering what the extent of his eye sight was I ducked down.
"Mogul Lecter is dead you killed him back in the room, every thing is safe."
The gun pointed down as I quickly moved to the side of his arm and quickly disarmed him.
"Good Lady Serco you are blind."
He slumped down to the ground and started sobbing, for once in my life I felt pity for an Itan commander, I bent down and put my hand on his shoulder.
"It's ok now. What's going on man, I can help."
Mogul crouched down, sobbing and grabbing his head.
"Arrhhh! My head! It's going to explode! he muttered.
-You have quite a bump on your forehead. Like a second forehead growing out of the first.
-No. Not that. Like an axe, driven through my skull. I can't stand it anymore. It's driving me mad!" Mogul said.
Borb looked at him for a second and couldn't resist "Yeah, I think we noticed that but for a while I thought you were just being human. You're crazy!
-Did you know Akan's dead?
-Well, yeah. That terrorist of yours died in the 27th century. Been a while you know?
-And Eo? Is he dead too?
-Died in the late 28th if I remember correctly.
-I... I've been... seeing things... I see dead people!!
-Cliché, Mogul. We got to get you fixed. You've definitely got a loose hamster in the head!
-They kept me company... guided me for a while.
-I dont know how you managed the paperwork but we've all seen the guild registry. You're definitely [NUTS]" chuckled Borb as the joke he had just made. "You know... you know you're the only member of that Nut House Bound guild, right?
-No no. There's Eo and Akan. And... Akan again and... Eo...
-And what the hell is a bottle of Placebo-Xin? You have that in your council too!"
Mogul reached down in his pocket and pulled a bottle. A small caplet bottle with an hand-etched "X" across it's cap. "That's the thing, he said. It's been keeping me straight for a while now
-Without much success I should add", Borb said as he reached for the bottle. Reading in, Borb started laughing. "Do you know what this is?
-My sanity anchor.
-It's nothing! You dont know what a placebo is, do you?"
And then, as if hit by a clue stick (or a table leg), Mogul looked up. He could see a casket but it was all in his head. That little hamster in his head would do anything to avoid the caplet discussion.
"Toine! I have to recover Toine! Where are we? Bring me back in the room! Toine's casket is there!"
And then Mogul grabbed his head again and yelled, obviously in pain.
"Arrhhh! My head! It's going to explode! he muttered.
-You have quite a bump on your forehead. Like a second forehead growing out of the first.
-No. Not that. Like an axe, driven through my skull. I can't stand it anymore. It's driving me mad!" Mogul said.
Borb looked at him for a second and couldn't resist "Yeah, I think we noticed that but for a while I thought you were just being human. You're crazy!
-Did you know Akan's dead?
-Well, yeah. That terrorist of yours died in the 27th century. Been a while you know?
-And Eo? Is he dead too?
-Died in the late 28th if I remember correctly.
-I... I've been... seeing things... I see dead people!!
-Cliché, Mogul. We got to get you fixed. You've definitely got a loose hamster in the head!
-They kept me company... guided me for a while.
-I dont know how you managed the paperwork but we've all seen the guild registry. You're definitely [NUTS]" chuckled Borb as the joke he had just made. "You know... you know you're the only member of that Nut House Bound guild, right?
-No no. There's Eo and Akan. And... Akan again and... Eo...
-And what the hell is a bottle of Placebo-Xin? You have that in your council too!"
Mogul reached down in his pocket and pulled a bottle. A small caplet bottle with an hand-etched "X" across it's cap. "That's the thing, he said. It's been keeping me straight for a while now
-Without much success I should add", Borb said as he reached for the bottle. Reading in, Borb started laughing. "Do you know what this is?
-My sanity anchor.
-It's nothing! You dont know what a placebo is, do you?"
And then, as if hit by a clue stick (or a table leg), Mogul looked up. He could see a casket but it was all in his head. That little hamster in his head would do anything to avoid the caplet discussion.
"Toine! I have to recover Toine! Where are we? Bring me back in the room! Toine's casket is there!"
And then Mogul grabbed his head again and yelled, obviously in pain.