Forums » Role Playing
JahelaJ was lead into Vehement's office. Her head was lowered but her eyes took in everything. As she was seated in front of Vehement's desk, her foot made contact with an envelope lying under the desk.
Vehement regarded JahelaJ's posture, facial expressions and other body language to try and get a handle on what made this young woman tick. His previous contacts with her resulted in JahelaJ threatening to kidnap and kill his fiancee but also resulted in what he considered a genuine willingness to trust Vehement with sensitive information which could have made JahelaJ's life miserable, if not worthless, if it was leaked.
"JahelaJ, I understand you came here today of your own volition to make a statement concerning the assault on a TGFT Council member. Before we begin, I must inform you that stress analysis will be utilized on your replies and statements", Vehement began.
"I don't know anything about an assault but I will tell you what I know" JahelaJ replied.
"OK, why don't you begin by telling me your involvement with the chip I now have in custody."
"I received a coded, private message three days ago from Elbryon."
"Elbryon?! [Itan]'s Elbryon?
"Yes. He advised me that he could get his hands on the chip we've been looking for and would be willing to hand it over for a 5% cut of the CLM Treasure. I told him that 5% was out of the question and countered with 1%. We settled on 3% and he gave me instructions as to how we would get it to him."
"And how was that?", Vehement asked.
"We were to deposit 10 million credits into an account with the Corvus Credit Union under the name Crena Helal and after the value of the treasure was determined, either the balance would be credited or the 10 mil would be reduced."
"OK, so once those arrangements were made, what happened next?"
"I received another coded PM two days ago instructing me to go to Dau L10 and pick up a Raptor under the name Greasy John, and to disguise myself as a TGFT mechanic. I was to clear 3000 meters and jump. The coordinates for Dau C13 were already punched into the Nav Comp but I hit a storm in E12. I checked the toplist and it showed Elbryon as the only other vessel in-sector. He radioed me to proceed to the exit. I did, he dropped the chip, he jumped out and I jumped into your arms. It was a shady deal but nothing was illegal about it."
"Nothing was illegal except the facts that the Raptor was stolen and a high ranking TGFT Counsil-woman was seriously attacked and assaulted."
"I swear, Vehement, I had nothing to do with either of those two crimes except for maybe providing Elbryon the encouragement to commit them. We had no idea the chip was inside Obsidian", JahelaJ objected, staring Vehement down.
"Is there anything else you want to say on this matter?" Vehement said as he lowered his eyes.
"No, I've told you everything concerning myself in this set-up."
"So, you feel Elbryon set you up?"
"Of course I do! He doesn't want 3% or 10% or 99%. He wants it all and the Globe to boot!"
"OK, I'll keep you advised of your court date. Don't take any lengthy missions where you're out of touch for more than a couple of hours."
"Yeah, right. And you, don't take any wooden nickels."
"Huh?" Vehement said.
"Never-mind, I just don't see what Mystic sees in you. I'm out of here." JahelaJ left the office and didn't close the door knowing that Vehement hates it when his subordinates do that.
Vehement regarded JahelaJ's posture, facial expressions and other body language to try and get a handle on what made this young woman tick. His previous contacts with her resulted in JahelaJ threatening to kidnap and kill his fiancee but also resulted in what he considered a genuine willingness to trust Vehement with sensitive information which could have made JahelaJ's life miserable, if not worthless, if it was leaked.
"JahelaJ, I understand you came here today of your own volition to make a statement concerning the assault on a TGFT Council member. Before we begin, I must inform you that stress analysis will be utilized on your replies and statements", Vehement began.
"I don't know anything about an assault but I will tell you what I know" JahelaJ replied.
"OK, why don't you begin by telling me your involvement with the chip I now have in custody."
"I received a coded, private message three days ago from Elbryon."
"Elbryon?! [Itan]'s Elbryon?
"Yes. He advised me that he could get his hands on the chip we've been looking for and would be willing to hand it over for a 5% cut of the CLM Treasure. I told him that 5% was out of the question and countered with 1%. We settled on 3% and he gave me instructions as to how we would get it to him."
"And how was that?", Vehement asked.
"We were to deposit 10 million credits into an account with the Corvus Credit Union under the name Crena Helal and after the value of the treasure was determined, either the balance would be credited or the 10 mil would be reduced."
"OK, so once those arrangements were made, what happened next?"
"I received another coded PM two days ago instructing me to go to Dau L10 and pick up a Raptor under the name Greasy John, and to disguise myself as a TGFT mechanic. I was to clear 3000 meters and jump. The coordinates for Dau C13 were already punched into the Nav Comp but I hit a storm in E12. I checked the toplist and it showed Elbryon as the only other vessel in-sector. He radioed me to proceed to the exit. I did, he dropped the chip, he jumped out and I jumped into your arms. It was a shady deal but nothing was illegal about it."
"Nothing was illegal except the facts that the Raptor was stolen and a high ranking TGFT Counsil-woman was seriously attacked and assaulted."
"I swear, Vehement, I had nothing to do with either of those two crimes except for maybe providing Elbryon the encouragement to commit them. We had no idea the chip was inside Obsidian", JahelaJ objected, staring Vehement down.
"Is there anything else you want to say on this matter?" Vehement said as he lowered his eyes.
"No, I've told you everything concerning myself in this set-up."
"So, you feel Elbryon set you up?"
"Of course I do! He doesn't want 3% or 10% or 99%. He wants it all and the Globe to boot!"
"OK, I'll keep you advised of your court date. Don't take any lengthy missions where you're out of touch for more than a couple of hours."
"Yeah, right. And you, don't take any wooden nickels."
"Huh?" Vehement said.
"Never-mind, I just don't see what Mystic sees in you. I'm out of here." JahelaJ left the office and didn't close the door knowing that Vehement hates it when his subordinates do that.
[hangroy's post moved for continuity - RR]
I sat mulling over the paperwork that Lt. Foo had laid on my desk about our new mission to protect Deneb from serco invasion and from all reports it seemed to be going quite well. It was too bad I was as of yet unable to give any assistance to my guild mates as my time has been spent on figureing out how I was going to get the globe away from CLM.
I had spent most of an afternoon chaseing JahelaJ around in an ion storm to no avail. I had been very lucky to be able to stay as close to the globe as I have since the tracking devices I planted have yet to solidify any sort of lead for me.
I finally sat back in my chair and pushed the paperwork as far away as I could, 'what the hell am I going to do now' was all I could think when my personal comm buzzed at my hip....
"Councilman Elbryon?"
"Yes, this is me. Can I ask to whom I am talking?"
"My appologies, my name is Vehement, I am a member of the Vipers and I would like to talk to you about your recent involvement with certain unsavory pirates from CLM."
"Recent involvement?"
"Yes, I would prefer not to discuss this over the airwaves in case someone is listening."
"Sure, where would you like to meet?"
"Purchase a fast ship and wait for me to contact you in Latos, I will give you further instructions then."
"You have my word."
The conversation ended as quickly as it had begun. I felt that it was kind of odd that a viper would want to talk to me about CLM but I figured he had a good reason so I made my way to the docks and bought myself an x-1 and headed for Latos.
'I wonder what he wants'
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
I sat mulling over the paperwork that Lt. Foo had laid on my desk about our new mission to protect Deneb from serco invasion and from all reports it seemed to be going quite well. It was too bad I was as of yet unable to give any assistance to my guild mates as my time has been spent on figureing out how I was going to get the globe away from CLM.
I had spent most of an afternoon chaseing JahelaJ around in an ion storm to no avail. I had been very lucky to be able to stay as close to the globe as I have since the tracking devices I planted have yet to solidify any sort of lead for me.
I finally sat back in my chair and pushed the paperwork as far away as I could, 'what the hell am I going to do now' was all I could think when my personal comm buzzed at my hip....
"Councilman Elbryon?"
"Yes, this is me. Can I ask to whom I am talking?"
"My appologies, my name is Vehement, I am a member of the Vipers and I would like to talk to you about your recent involvement with certain unsavory pirates from CLM."
"Recent involvement?"
"Yes, I would prefer not to discuss this over the airwaves in case someone is listening."
"Sure, where would you like to meet?"
"Purchase a fast ship and wait for me to contact you in Latos, I will give you further instructions then."
"You have my word."
The conversation ended as quickly as it had begun. I felt that it was kind of odd that a viper would want to talk to me about CLM but I figured he had a good reason so I made my way to the docks and bought myself an x-1 and headed for Latos.
'I wonder what he wants'
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
“Cerberus, I think they took something out of me the other night…. I mean I feel different, I had a dull ache in my chest but now it’s gone. Do you think it means my nightmare is going to end soon?” she was trying to be hopeful.
He was alarmed when he heard that someone might have taken the chip but he steadied himself, pleading with his body to not let Obsidian notice. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Try to sleep Obsidian.”
“I don't remember, why can't I remember?” Obsidian spoke to the figure sitting beside her.
“ Because, Obsidian, you went to a slave trainer. The Master brainwashed you, Obsidian. That's why you don't remember. You were a perfect slave: obedient, submissive,docile. He broke you, Obsidian. Broke your spirit and your free will. I’m here to help you to pick up the pieces and put yourself back together again.”
“Great... now you think I’m Humpty-Dumpty.” She scoffed.
“No, the master bound you to him so he could have power over you. He wanted to know the depths of your powers. He needed to know how you could warp all over the universe without using wormholes. The master was hunting for the ultimate treasure, one that would allow him to be everywhere and anywhere he so desired.”
Her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes gazing off into the distance, while she chewed her lip. “I vaguely remember something about a chip. What was that thing he put into me? ”
. “Go to sleep.” He told her again as his mind was running through various scenarios that could unfold if the master found out that his puppet had been damaged and that the chip was no longer inside of her. He hoped his body would not betray him as he tried to lie to her. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“
He was alarmed when he heard that someone might have taken the chip but he steadied himself, pleading with his body to not let Obsidian notice. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Try to sleep Obsidian.”
“I don't remember, why can't I remember?” Obsidian spoke to the figure sitting beside her.
“ Because, Obsidian, you went to a slave trainer. The Master brainwashed you, Obsidian. That's why you don't remember. You were a perfect slave: obedient, submissive,docile. He broke you, Obsidian. Broke your spirit and your free will. I’m here to help you to pick up the pieces and put yourself back together again.”
“Great... now you think I’m Humpty-Dumpty.” She scoffed.
“No, the master bound you to him so he could have power over you. He wanted to know the depths of your powers. He needed to know how you could warp all over the universe without using wormholes. The master was hunting for the ultimate treasure, one that would allow him to be everywhere and anywhere he so desired.”
Her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes gazing off into the distance, while she chewed her lip. “I vaguely remember something about a chip. What was that thing he put into me? ”
. “Go to sleep.” He told her again as his mind was running through various scenarios that could unfold if the master found out that his puppet had been damaged and that the chip was no longer inside of her. He hoped his body would not betray him as he tried to lie to her. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“
JahelaJ walked into MysticRogue's office and slumped in the chair in front of her desk. "Well, the seeds are planted... any word from Everson about the chip?"
Mystic looked up from her papers. "No, and that bothers me. He's not been out of contact this long before and, given the slime we're dealing with, we may have put him in too precarious a position."
"Nah, he can take care of himself..." replied JahelaJ as she got up from the chair. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the manilla envelope she snuck from under Vehement's desk. "Here, you might find this comforting."
JahelaJ handed the envelope to MysticRogue and left the office.
Mystic looked up from her papers. "No, and that bothers me. He's not been out of contact this long before and, given the slime we're dealing with, we may have put him in too precarious a position."
"Nah, he can take care of himself..." replied JahelaJ as she got up from the chair. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the manilla envelope she snuck from under Vehement's desk. "Here, you might find this comforting."
JahelaJ handed the envelope to MysticRogue and left the office.
It wasn't easy being Red. Nolan had always been Red in the background, but it had never been his true face until very recently. And now here he was, a citizen of the Serco Dominion with only his VPR badge to protect him in Itani space. Never mind that his wife was Itani, he owned property on two of the nation's planets, or that he had a badge. When certain blue purists got wind of his visit, and intention to bring Elbryon in for questioning, all they saw was Serco aggression.
It had been two weeks since Everson had seen the stars. While the plan had originally been to bring Elbryon to him, Nolan's hosts- turned captors- had apparently 'lost' [Itan]'s number. It wasn't that Vehement was afraid... he had thrown himself toward certain death many a time before; he simply hated that others would worry about him. Further, the last thing he wanted was someone to take over where he left off. That chip couldn't just stay in the evidence locker forever...
"TWO weeks now. Two! This is boring. How about a drink you Akanese bastard?" Everson was getting impatient to say the least.
The young extremist whose turn it was to sit watch wasn't terribly disciplined. He could think of no better way to pass the time than to have a drink, and why not share with this toaster? He could always spit in the man's drink. "Eh, why not."
It was one of Vehement's favorite ploys. Even without the influence of Pancakes' drinking problem, Nolan had occasionally drunk himself to the point of falling off of chairs only to activate some custom nanites that cleared his blood of the poison in seconds. The drinking game played the guard right into Everson's hands, and a simple blow to the head was all that it took.
"Why do you drink such weak stuff?" he asked the motionless foe. Donning his VPR jacket, Nolan exited the room, almost slamming into two Itani who were about to enter.
A familiar blond haired face looked up at the Serco. "...Everson?!?"
"Arlina Solestia. Tell me this wasn't your doing." Everson really didn't want to hit that face again.
Arlina's escort, one of the men Nolan had termed 'Akanese bastards,' turned to run. Nolan's fist caught him in the back of the head, causing the man's face to ricochet off the bulkhead.
Arlina backpedaled. "They said they had a saboteur down here I didn't know honest! Everson no!"
Nolan lowered his fists. "Why did they call YOU then?"
Arlina closed her pretty blue eyes in a wince. "About the paperwork."
"You have paperwork for explaining diplomatic incidents like imprisoning Vipers?" Arlina gave a familiar frown, so Nolan continued. "Figures. I'm outta here, but I'll call you about it later." He was already walking down the hall.
"But wait, you never" the closing hatch cut her off, causing her to finish with a tone of disappointment. "..had me over to meet your wife like you promised." With a frown, she stepped over Everson's second knockout victim to head back to her mountain of papers.
"Yes sir, I think the Itani have to be our principal suspects now. That said, I can't handle the case anymore. I'm involved too personally" Vehement stated plainly to his Lieutenant.
"Very well. I'm sending you to a course on the Itani legal system. You seem to need it. Don't give me that look, you can bring your wife if you want."
"Thank you sir." Nolan left his superior's office and headed to collect his things. Among them he added the chip, and set his course for Mystic's temporary shop. He would stop there on his way home.
It had been two weeks since Everson had seen the stars. While the plan had originally been to bring Elbryon to him, Nolan's hosts- turned captors- had apparently 'lost' [Itan]'s number. It wasn't that Vehement was afraid... he had thrown himself toward certain death many a time before; he simply hated that others would worry about him. Further, the last thing he wanted was someone to take over where he left off. That chip couldn't just stay in the evidence locker forever...
"TWO weeks now. Two! This is boring. How about a drink you Akanese bastard?" Everson was getting impatient to say the least.
The young extremist whose turn it was to sit watch wasn't terribly disciplined. He could think of no better way to pass the time than to have a drink, and why not share with this toaster? He could always spit in the man's drink. "Eh, why not."
It was one of Vehement's favorite ploys. Even without the influence of Pancakes' drinking problem, Nolan had occasionally drunk himself to the point of falling off of chairs only to activate some custom nanites that cleared his blood of the poison in seconds. The drinking game played the guard right into Everson's hands, and a simple blow to the head was all that it took.
"Why do you drink such weak stuff?" he asked the motionless foe. Donning his VPR jacket, Nolan exited the room, almost slamming into two Itani who were about to enter.
A familiar blond haired face looked up at the Serco. "...Everson?!?"
"Arlina Solestia. Tell me this wasn't your doing." Everson really didn't want to hit that face again.
Arlina's escort, one of the men Nolan had termed 'Akanese bastards,' turned to run. Nolan's fist caught him in the back of the head, causing the man's face to ricochet off the bulkhead.
Arlina backpedaled. "They said they had a saboteur down here I didn't know honest! Everson no!"
Nolan lowered his fists. "Why did they call YOU then?"
Arlina closed her pretty blue eyes in a wince. "About the paperwork."
"You have paperwork for explaining diplomatic incidents like imprisoning Vipers?" Arlina gave a familiar frown, so Nolan continued. "Figures. I'm outta here, but I'll call you about it later." He was already walking down the hall.
"But wait, you never" the closing hatch cut her off, causing her to finish with a tone of disappointment. "..had me over to meet your wife like you promised." With a frown, she stepped over Everson's second knockout victim to head back to her mountain of papers.
"Yes sir, I think the Itani have to be our principal suspects now. That said, I can't handle the case anymore. I'm involved too personally" Vehement stated plainly to his Lieutenant.
"Very well. I'm sending you to a course on the Itani legal system. You seem to need it. Don't give me that look, you can bring your wife if you want."
"Thank you sir." Nolan left his superior's office and headed to collect his things. Among them he added the chip, and set his course for Mystic's temporary shop. He would stop there on his way home.
Mystic was gathering the last of her stuff together when the comm rang with the news that Everson had finally been spotted headed out of itani territory. This was the first word of him in well over two weeks . The envelope JJ had given her was still lying on her desk, as yet unopened.
She was working on getting the operation moved back to Latos, she just felt more comfortable there and this station had served its usefulness and then some. The newer recruits had been sent ahead, JJ was ready on her end, all they were waiting on at this point was for Look to be ready with those tracers feeding ITAN the wrong info, so they could get safely back to C-2 with the globe.
She had finished everything up and was kicked back examining the envelope again when the call from Everson came in.
“En route to visit with you now, make sure I don't get shot ?” Mystic laughed
“Hey you only got shot once coming to see me, its your charming ways that make people want to shoot at ya you know? So whats up and where have you been?”
“Well I don't know if I would call it charm, but I will be there soon and we can talk more.”
“You cant even give me a hint as to where you have been hiding? It has to be a good place when even CLM cant track you down”
“Aww worried about me were you?”
“About you? Not a chance, I just don't wanna deal with someone else about my property.”
Of course Mystic wasn't being honest, she had been worried, but no need to let him in on that fact.
Everson chuckled, “You never disappoint me Mystic, but you will just have to be patient a little while longer.”
With this he signed off and Mystic got another cup of coffee and sat back to wait, she was doing a lot of that lately it seemed......
She was working on getting the operation moved back to Latos, she just felt more comfortable there and this station had served its usefulness and then some. The newer recruits had been sent ahead, JJ was ready on her end, all they were waiting on at this point was for Look to be ready with those tracers feeding ITAN the wrong info, so they could get safely back to C-2 with the globe.
She had finished everything up and was kicked back examining the envelope again when the call from Everson came in.
“En route to visit with you now, make sure I don't get shot ?” Mystic laughed
“Hey you only got shot once coming to see me, its your charming ways that make people want to shoot at ya you know? So whats up and where have you been?”
“Well I don't know if I would call it charm, but I will be there soon and we can talk more.”
“You cant even give me a hint as to where you have been hiding? It has to be a good place when even CLM cant track you down”
“Aww worried about me were you?”
“About you? Not a chance, I just don't wanna deal with someone else about my property.”
Of course Mystic wasn't being honest, she had been worried, but no need to let him in on that fact.
Everson chuckled, “You never disappoint me Mystic, but you will just have to be patient a little while longer.”
With this he signed off and Mystic got another cup of coffee and sat back to wait, she was doing a lot of that lately it seemed......
ooc: one day when I am not deployed I will get you back for guilting me, mystic. assuming I make it back. at least the absences give me a chance to exercise creative writing.
<18 NOV 4435>
It was that damned time of the year when the people of Eo changed their clocks. It threw Vehement for a loop, because he'd never had to change his clock before. Who in their right mind would ever change what time it is? Time is supposed to be a constant! Vehement growled as he hurriedly changed his course. He was late. His much needed nap- floating in an empty sector of Latos- after finally getting free turned into something resembling a coma. There simply was no time for Mystic today. Nolan made a mental note to make it up to her as he cleared the last asteroid between him and the wormhole to Ukari.
<Present day>
Itani law was an intense course of study. Monks could spend hours of study without moving or a change of subject. The Itani education system was designed in the same way, leaving Vehement in a state of exasperation. His wife was able to help, but he hadn't had much in the way of flight time for weeks. When he finally got some time off, it was only with great difficulty that he bargained on Mystic's behalf. Nolan's wife wasn't eager to share precious hours of his time without good reason.
"So you're going to give them the chip?"
"It belongs to them, Red. I can't imagine why they haven't called my boss about it yet." Nolan zipped his flightsuit for the first time in weeks.
The redhead showed disappointment on her face. "Then let me come Nolan."
"I use the vulture for this you know" Vehement warned.
She responded with a shudder. Serco vessels never seemed safe to her. "Still going."
It was sheer chance that Vehement landed in Mystic's station and had no one to greet him but the queen herself. Mystic just about lost her nerve when she saw a passenger climb out of Everson's vulture, though.
"Everson who the hell is THAT?!?"
The accused removed her helmet, letting red locks spill out. "You must be MysticRogue."
"She's my wife you pirate scoundrel."
The pirate and the couple stared for a few moments. Then Mystic spoke. "Pleased to meet you Mrs. Everson. Or is it Faux?"
"I don't call him Burwell if that is what you mean." Taking a step closer, she wrapped up Nolan's nearest arm almost jealously.
"Right.. this is probably wierder for you than it is for me, and I didn't imagine anyone could make that claim."
Vehement then spoke. "We can't stay, but I know you wanted this. I won't be in the space lanes for a few months, so good luck with your search." Without another word he pressed the chip into Mystic's palm and shook her hand before turning to leave.
"Nice to meet you, even if your friends do keep shooting him."
"Answer me one question before you leave?" Mystic called after the Itani.
"Yep?"
"How often does he cuff you?"
The response was a speechless look. Mystic thought she saw a blush. Nolan answered for her as he closed the cockpit glass. "She's not the lawbreaking type."
<18 NOV 4435>
It was that damned time of the year when the people of Eo changed their clocks. It threw Vehement for a loop, because he'd never had to change his clock before. Who in their right mind would ever change what time it is? Time is supposed to be a constant! Vehement growled as he hurriedly changed his course. He was late. His much needed nap- floating in an empty sector of Latos- after finally getting free turned into something resembling a coma. There simply was no time for Mystic today. Nolan made a mental note to make it up to her as he cleared the last asteroid between him and the wormhole to Ukari.
<Present day>
Itani law was an intense course of study. Monks could spend hours of study without moving or a change of subject. The Itani education system was designed in the same way, leaving Vehement in a state of exasperation. His wife was able to help, but he hadn't had much in the way of flight time for weeks. When he finally got some time off, it was only with great difficulty that he bargained on Mystic's behalf. Nolan's wife wasn't eager to share precious hours of his time without good reason.
"So you're going to give them the chip?"
"It belongs to them, Red. I can't imagine why they haven't called my boss about it yet." Nolan zipped his flightsuit for the first time in weeks.
The redhead showed disappointment on her face. "Then let me come Nolan."
"I use the vulture for this you know" Vehement warned.
She responded with a shudder. Serco vessels never seemed safe to her. "Still going."
It was sheer chance that Vehement landed in Mystic's station and had no one to greet him but the queen herself. Mystic just about lost her nerve when she saw a passenger climb out of Everson's vulture, though.
"Everson who the hell is THAT?!?"
The accused removed her helmet, letting red locks spill out. "You must be MysticRogue."
"She's my wife you pirate scoundrel."
The pirate and the couple stared for a few moments. Then Mystic spoke. "Pleased to meet you Mrs. Everson. Or is it Faux?"
"I don't call him Burwell if that is what you mean." Taking a step closer, she wrapped up Nolan's nearest arm almost jealously.
"Right.. this is probably wierder for you than it is for me, and I didn't imagine anyone could make that claim."
Vehement then spoke. "We can't stay, but I know you wanted this. I won't be in the space lanes for a few months, so good luck with your search." Without another word he pressed the chip into Mystic's palm and shook her hand before turning to leave.
"Nice to meet you, even if your friends do keep shooting him."
"Answer me one question before you leave?" Mystic called after the Itani.
"Yep?"
"How often does he cuff you?"
The response was a speechless look. Mystic thought she saw a blush. Nolan answered for her as he closed the cockpit glass. "She's not the lawbreaking type."
(ooc)Aye it was worth the wait, but I wasn't trying to guilt you, honest! But I look forward to you 'getting' me back :P, when you get back and you will be back :)
**
"She's not the lawbreaking type."
Mystic smiled “Ye don't have to be a lawbreaker to enjoy cuffs my dear Everson” With this she waved as they started their undocking sequence. Once they were gone, Mystic headed for her own ship, “Time to get back to Latos” Everything had already been moved, except the globe. Look had taken care of the phony signals, even now the ship that was set up to have the globe and its four escorts were headed towards Pelatus. Leaving Mystic free to return to CLM Headquarters with the actual globe. The only worry she had was the wormhole itself into Latos, it was often occupied with not just fellow pirates but most anyone that was looking for some combat.
As the jump sequence ended her in Sedina B-8 her radar pinged, checking quickly she saw only kalb and yoda. Neither of which were a danger as they were friends. Yoda had left CLM again after a short stay and joined up with the Syndicate. This affected nothing, as they were all on relatively good terms, being in the same business. Her comm sounded, it was yoda “Hey red, wanna spar?” Normally Mystic was always up for a good battle with him, but today she had no time. “Sorry darlin, headed to HQ at the moment, if you would care to give me an escort we can go a few rounds after, I need to get this package safe.”
“Right, on yer wing to C-2” The best thing about flying with someone so long was very few words were needed to convey a message. He went through the wormhole first, scouting, as he gave the all clear her own ship entered Latos O-12. A quick check of the radar showed the sector empty except for the two of them. “I'm plotting empty to avoid potential storms in the area, if you can check C-2....”
She didn't finish the transmission as two itani pilots jumped into the sector, within close proximity. “Take off red, I got these clowns.”
Mystic didn't hesitate, she jumped out and jumped several empty sectors to get to C-2, as she entered the sector she saw several ship signatures, no big surprise this station got its share of traders and the like. There were two however that seemed to be moving quickly in her direction, Iry and Omega O..this could get ugly Mystic thought. She sent out a greeting through the sector airwaves,
“Greetings and welcome to CLM HQ, where all your pirating needs can be met.”
They seemed in no mood to jest as they continued bearing down on her ship, Iry was the first to get within range, Mystic spun her ship and fired a set of flares straight at him, sending his ship into a spin, giving her just enough time to get into the Xang no fire zone when Omega's neutron fire hit her hull.
“Just what I hoped would happen” Mystic smiled as she saw the Strike Force undocking. Omega continued firing at her ship and Iry had recovered and was joining the fray as Mystic raced towards the dock, her ships hull taking extensive damage. She sent out a message to CLM,
“Hey if any of you are close by, I could use a hand at C-2”
She sighed a bit as she saw Sharingan and Flag undock in their fighters headed to her aid. Knowing the situation was in good hands, Mystic made a beeline for the docking bay. Barely giving her ship time to latch in she was out and headed to the lift and safety. As the lift doors opened she was startled by a large figure, her blaster out before she realized it was Mecha Tourias standing there, though it really shouldn't have been a shock, he had hung around CLM before, but this time all she spared for him was a smile and a quick hello as she re holstered her blaster and headed to her office.
No sooner had she gotten settled than her comm rang, yoda again,
“Made it ok?”concern laced yoda's voice. Mystic smiled as she picked up on it, all these years and he still worries like I'm a green recruit.
“Yeah thank you darlin, I ran into a couple more smurfs as I reached C-2, but I'm docked and the globe is back home, now to get JJ back to work on it and hopefully finish this treasure hunt, though I'm not sure where it may lead us next.”
“Honestly hunni, there is no telling what may happen next, we weren't privy to the inner workings of it when it was first made, though it is made to change as necessary to ensure only CLM can benefit ”
“Well if it hasn't figured out by now that CLM has it, I don't know what else to do, but we will see, must run now, watch yer back”
“Always Myst, catch ya soon”
Watching the globe Mystic had to wonder again, just where WAS this thing going to lead them next. Opening her comm again, she put in a call to JJ. “Get to HQ, I'm back home and I have a nice surprise for you”.....
**
"She's not the lawbreaking type."
Mystic smiled “Ye don't have to be a lawbreaker to enjoy cuffs my dear Everson” With this she waved as they started their undocking sequence. Once they were gone, Mystic headed for her own ship, “Time to get back to Latos” Everything had already been moved, except the globe. Look had taken care of the phony signals, even now the ship that was set up to have the globe and its four escorts were headed towards Pelatus. Leaving Mystic free to return to CLM Headquarters with the actual globe. The only worry she had was the wormhole itself into Latos, it was often occupied with not just fellow pirates but most anyone that was looking for some combat.
As the jump sequence ended her in Sedina B-8 her radar pinged, checking quickly she saw only kalb and yoda. Neither of which were a danger as they were friends. Yoda had left CLM again after a short stay and joined up with the Syndicate. This affected nothing, as they were all on relatively good terms, being in the same business. Her comm sounded, it was yoda “Hey red, wanna spar?” Normally Mystic was always up for a good battle with him, but today she had no time. “Sorry darlin, headed to HQ at the moment, if you would care to give me an escort we can go a few rounds after, I need to get this package safe.”
“Right, on yer wing to C-2” The best thing about flying with someone so long was very few words were needed to convey a message. He went through the wormhole first, scouting, as he gave the all clear her own ship entered Latos O-12. A quick check of the radar showed the sector empty except for the two of them. “I'm plotting empty to avoid potential storms in the area, if you can check C-2....”
She didn't finish the transmission as two itani pilots jumped into the sector, within close proximity. “Take off red, I got these clowns.”
Mystic didn't hesitate, she jumped out and jumped several empty sectors to get to C-2, as she entered the sector she saw several ship signatures, no big surprise this station got its share of traders and the like. There were two however that seemed to be moving quickly in her direction, Iry and Omega O..this could get ugly Mystic thought. She sent out a greeting through the sector airwaves,
“Greetings and welcome to CLM HQ, where all your pirating needs can be met.”
They seemed in no mood to jest as they continued bearing down on her ship, Iry was the first to get within range, Mystic spun her ship and fired a set of flares straight at him, sending his ship into a spin, giving her just enough time to get into the Xang no fire zone when Omega's neutron fire hit her hull.
“Just what I hoped would happen” Mystic smiled as she saw the Strike Force undocking. Omega continued firing at her ship and Iry had recovered and was joining the fray as Mystic raced towards the dock, her ships hull taking extensive damage. She sent out a message to CLM,
“Hey if any of you are close by, I could use a hand at C-2”
She sighed a bit as she saw Sharingan and Flag undock in their fighters headed to her aid. Knowing the situation was in good hands, Mystic made a beeline for the docking bay. Barely giving her ship time to latch in she was out and headed to the lift and safety. As the lift doors opened she was startled by a large figure, her blaster out before she realized it was Mecha Tourias standing there, though it really shouldn't have been a shock, he had hung around CLM before, but this time all she spared for him was a smile and a quick hello as she re holstered her blaster and headed to her office.
No sooner had she gotten settled than her comm rang, yoda again,
“Made it ok?”concern laced yoda's voice. Mystic smiled as she picked up on it, all these years and he still worries like I'm a green recruit.
“Yeah thank you darlin, I ran into a couple more smurfs as I reached C-2, but I'm docked and the globe is back home, now to get JJ back to work on it and hopefully finish this treasure hunt, though I'm not sure where it may lead us next.”
“Honestly hunni, there is no telling what may happen next, we weren't privy to the inner workings of it when it was first made, though it is made to change as necessary to ensure only CLM can benefit ”
“Well if it hasn't figured out by now that CLM has it, I don't know what else to do, but we will see, must run now, watch yer back”
“Always Myst, catch ya soon”
Watching the globe Mystic had to wonder again, just where WAS this thing going to lead them next. Opening her comm again, she put in a call to JJ. “Get to HQ, I'm back home and I have a nice surprise for you”.....
It had been a long wait to get any good news from the tracking bugs that I had hit CLM with but today I finally got a little bit of what I had been waiting for. Look had made it clear that to the five pilots that were transporting the globe through Pelatus to make sure they stayed sharp or "Red" would handle them. By "Red" I could only assume that he meant Mystic. Five CLM pilots, one of them most likely Look and four others I didn't know moveing the globe meant a hard pressed battle to get the globe away from them.
Not knowing how to prepare, since I didn't know the pilots I would be up against I figured the easiest thing to start with would be to get some help so I put a call in to the rest of ITAN to see who would like to come down and help me splash a couple pirates. I knew Iry and Omega 0 were close but it sounded like they had other plans they needed to attend to in Latos so I kept trying.
"Any of you guys close to the Sedina system care to help me splash a couple pirates out in Pelatus?" was the call I sent out. Surprisingly I got a couple responses right away from Zontic, drazed, and Lord Spidey. Drazed and Lord Spidey were possibly two of the best combat pilots in ITAN and well, Zontic, he just LOVED the chance to get some good action. I told them what I knew and that we should wait for the pirates to come through the Pelatus wh and give it to them there. Not knowing what ships they were flying or what pilots were actually flying them we all played it safe and brought our X1's, fast and powerfull. We would have to make quick work of the convoy before help could arrive.
The four of us met at the Pelatus wh and waited.
drazed asked how I knew that CLM was moving the globe through Pelatus and I reminded him about the listening devices I had planted some time ago. I explained that I had gotten no transmissions since I had planted them up until now. He thought that was kind of strange to just now get information but I assured him it was most likely because they were being very careful about what they were saying and had finally just relaxed a little too much and let it slip.
We had just finished our discussion when my radar lit up, it was the pirate convoy. They were definatley ready for the fight or a run there were 3 Corv vults and 2 hogs warping into the sector. A quick scan with drazed's target system showed Alihos, cloaked, dangpp, Djin, and Lebowski all CLM but oddly no council members or any of their elite combat pilots which struck me odd that they wouldn't be moving the globe with a little better security. It didn't matter though ITAN was here to do a job and I was sure I had brought the right tools to do it.
drazed and Spidey quickly engaged the two hogs piloted by Lebowski and Djin while Zontic and myself engaged the 3 corv vults. The hogs were rather sluggish suggesting that they were loaded with flares and an agt, drazed and Spidey adjusted their approach accordingly.
Zontic was the first one to engage, dangpp spun and got a clean hit on his underbelly. Zontic recovered quickly and oriented himself for a shot back at the speedy vult and fired all three tubes of sunflares, dangpp was able to strafe to the side and avoid a direct hit but the explosion still managed to get a solid hit and spun dangpp off. Cloaked had slipped past me as I engaged Alihos and got a flare shot on Zontic giving dangpp enough time to recover. Now pinched between two vults Zontic turboed straight towards the furball between the hogs, drazed and Spidey.
I was engaged with Alihos and was unable to stop Cloaked from getting past I only hoped whoever he was gunning for would notice he was coming and be able to get clear. Alihos flew his corvvult relatively well seeing as how he was a fairly new pilot. Dodgeing most of my neut/posi fire he was able to divert my attention from the hogs that were obviously moveing the globe. I fired a barrage into his cockpit as he moved in for his own shot. All six shots landed square in his face but he was also able to hit my X1 as he slipped by. I quickly spun hopeing to catch him before he was able to turn around and unloaded everything I had into his tail. *SPLASH* one down. I turned my X1 around and headed out to see if I could get one of the vults off of Zontic before he went down. I was 4000m away from Zontic when he got spun by Cloaked's flare shot so I engaged my full turbo to try and catch up before he got in another but I could see that Zontic was headed for drazed and Spidey maybe they could help.
drazed and Spidey being as experienced as they were didn't seem to be haveing too much trouble with the hogs as they handily dodged the flares that Lebowski and Djinn were fireing. To their credit however the agt and its phenominal auto targeting capabilities were slowly ticking away hits on the two ITAN pilots. drazed spun his X1 like quarter and nailed Lebowski directly in the belly of his hog splashing another pirate just as Zontic arrived in the area. Djinn seeing an opportunity disengaged with Spidey and fired his flare and agt at the approaching Zontic. Zontic being caught in between two corvvults and a agt hog was in big trouble he was able to dodge Djinn's flare but rolled directly into a stream of fire from dangpp and Cloaked *Splash* down he went.
Djinn made a fatal mistake targeting Zontic and forgetting that he had a more deadly pilot now behind him Spidey unloaded everything that he had into Djinn's hog. Now the odds were more in our favor and the tide shifted quickly dangpp and Cloaked made an attempt to get away but three ITAN with light X1's caught them quickly and ended the chase.
I went to inspecting the debris for the globe. I was right Djinn had been carrying it in his hog. I flew over and picked it up. Putting my X1 at full stop I reached into the hold and grabbed it. Haveing seen the globe I could tell something was wrong. I slowly traced my fingers around the symbols around the outside. It began to glow.
*Boing*
Damn it!
If any of you have ever seen an old Earth Jack-in-the-Box you can imagine my surprise when the top of the globe popped open revealing a rough puppet mocked up to resemble Look. His eerie lauch accompanied by the grateing "You stupid itani, you really thought we'd let you get the globe back this easily." showed me that I had been dupped. I let drazed and Spidey know what had happened and I was sure I could hear Spidey laugh before he was able to get his comm shut off.
Just then on my private channel I heard...
"Sorry about your bad luck Smurf how did you like my surprise."
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
Not knowing how to prepare, since I didn't know the pilots I would be up against I figured the easiest thing to start with would be to get some help so I put a call in to the rest of ITAN to see who would like to come down and help me splash a couple pirates. I knew Iry and Omega 0 were close but it sounded like they had other plans they needed to attend to in Latos so I kept trying.
"Any of you guys close to the Sedina system care to help me splash a couple pirates out in Pelatus?" was the call I sent out. Surprisingly I got a couple responses right away from Zontic, drazed, and Lord Spidey. Drazed and Lord Spidey were possibly two of the best combat pilots in ITAN and well, Zontic, he just LOVED the chance to get some good action. I told them what I knew and that we should wait for the pirates to come through the Pelatus wh and give it to them there. Not knowing what ships they were flying or what pilots were actually flying them we all played it safe and brought our X1's, fast and powerfull. We would have to make quick work of the convoy before help could arrive.
The four of us met at the Pelatus wh and waited.
drazed asked how I knew that CLM was moving the globe through Pelatus and I reminded him about the listening devices I had planted some time ago. I explained that I had gotten no transmissions since I had planted them up until now. He thought that was kind of strange to just now get information but I assured him it was most likely because they were being very careful about what they were saying and had finally just relaxed a little too much and let it slip.
We had just finished our discussion when my radar lit up, it was the pirate convoy. They were definatley ready for the fight or a run there were 3 Corv vults and 2 hogs warping into the sector. A quick scan with drazed's target system showed Alihos, cloaked, dangpp, Djin, and Lebowski all CLM but oddly no council members or any of their elite combat pilots which struck me odd that they wouldn't be moving the globe with a little better security. It didn't matter though ITAN was here to do a job and I was sure I had brought the right tools to do it.
drazed and Spidey quickly engaged the two hogs piloted by Lebowski and Djin while Zontic and myself engaged the 3 corv vults. The hogs were rather sluggish suggesting that they were loaded with flares and an agt, drazed and Spidey adjusted their approach accordingly.
Zontic was the first one to engage, dangpp spun and got a clean hit on his underbelly. Zontic recovered quickly and oriented himself for a shot back at the speedy vult and fired all three tubes of sunflares, dangpp was able to strafe to the side and avoid a direct hit but the explosion still managed to get a solid hit and spun dangpp off. Cloaked had slipped past me as I engaged Alihos and got a flare shot on Zontic giving dangpp enough time to recover. Now pinched between two vults Zontic turboed straight towards the furball between the hogs, drazed and Spidey.
I was engaged with Alihos and was unable to stop Cloaked from getting past I only hoped whoever he was gunning for would notice he was coming and be able to get clear. Alihos flew his corvvult relatively well seeing as how he was a fairly new pilot. Dodgeing most of my neut/posi fire he was able to divert my attention from the hogs that were obviously moveing the globe. I fired a barrage into his cockpit as he moved in for his own shot. All six shots landed square in his face but he was also able to hit my X1 as he slipped by. I quickly spun hopeing to catch him before he was able to turn around and unloaded everything I had into his tail. *SPLASH* one down. I turned my X1 around and headed out to see if I could get one of the vults off of Zontic before he went down. I was 4000m away from Zontic when he got spun by Cloaked's flare shot so I engaged my full turbo to try and catch up before he got in another but I could see that Zontic was headed for drazed and Spidey maybe they could help.
drazed and Spidey being as experienced as they were didn't seem to be haveing too much trouble with the hogs as they handily dodged the flares that Lebowski and Djinn were fireing. To their credit however the agt and its phenominal auto targeting capabilities were slowly ticking away hits on the two ITAN pilots. drazed spun his X1 like quarter and nailed Lebowski directly in the belly of his hog splashing another pirate just as Zontic arrived in the area. Djinn seeing an opportunity disengaged with Spidey and fired his flare and agt at the approaching Zontic. Zontic being caught in between two corvvults and a agt hog was in big trouble he was able to dodge Djinn's flare but rolled directly into a stream of fire from dangpp and Cloaked *Splash* down he went.
Djinn made a fatal mistake targeting Zontic and forgetting that he had a more deadly pilot now behind him Spidey unloaded everything that he had into Djinn's hog. Now the odds were more in our favor and the tide shifted quickly dangpp and Cloaked made an attempt to get away but three ITAN with light X1's caught them quickly and ended the chase.
I went to inspecting the debris for the globe. I was right Djinn had been carrying it in his hog. I flew over and picked it up. Putting my X1 at full stop I reached into the hold and grabbed it. Haveing seen the globe I could tell something was wrong. I slowly traced my fingers around the symbols around the outside. It began to glow.
*Boing*
Damn it!
If any of you have ever seen an old Earth Jack-in-the-Box you can imagine my surprise when the top of the globe popped open revealing a rough puppet mocked up to resemble Look. His eerie lauch accompanied by the grateing "You stupid itani, you really thought we'd let you get the globe back this easily." showed me that I had been dupped. I let drazed and Spidey know what had happened and I was sure I could hear Spidey laugh before he was able to get his comm shut off.
Just then on my private channel I heard...
"Sorry about your bad luck Smurf how did you like my surprise."
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
JahelaJ jumped into C2 as "“Greetings and welcome to CLM HQ, where all your pirating needs can be met.”, came across sector chat. She thought it odd until she pulled up her toplist to see a couple of smurfs in-sector. She engaged her variable zoom and saw the blue-boys chasing MysticRogue towards the station.
As she watched, Sharingan and Flag undocked and engaged the scum. Mystic had made it to the dock.
MysticRogue -> JahelaJ: “Get to HQ, I'm back home and I have a nice surprise for you.”
JahelaJ -> MysticRogue: "I'm in-sector now, boss. I'll be there in a moment."
JahelaJ watched the two CLM aces send the smurfs running and then headed for the dock. Once she was locked in, she got her kit, now consisting of her personal comp and two full filing cabinets of papers, unloaded and up to her lab.
She looked around the room and felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Man, it's good to be back home", she mused. She then headed for Mystic's office.
En-route, she rounded a corner and bumped into Mecha Touriuas. JahelaJ's head barely came up to the huge Serco's belt. "What are you doing here, toaster?!" she blurted out.
"Can't a fellow entrepreneur visit with his friends in your hallowed halls, JahelaJ?"
"Sure, in any halls except this one. These are the CLM offices and you need a pass to get in here. Do you have one?"
"Certainly I have one. I'd not dare the wrath of such a fine organization as yours just to visit friends." He produced the pass and JahelaJ looked at it. It seemed in order but she couldn't make out the signature of the issuer.
"Are you finished with your visiting?"
"Yes, I have done all I need to do here."
"Good, let me escort you out." JahelaJ led the way to the elevator and pushed the button for the hanger deck. They rode down in silence but JahelaJ stared the Serco in the eyes as he stared right back with a smirk on his face.
The elevator arrived at the hanger deck and Mecha stepped out and turned. "Always a pleasure to see you, JahelaJ."
JahelaJ ripped the pass into little pieces and dropped them to her feet. "Sorry I can't say the same, toaster." she replied as the elevator doors closed.
She made her way to Mystic's office and stepped in. "What was Mecha doing here?"
"I don't know. I saw him in the elevator as he got off in the hanger."
"He was up here, boss. I bumped into him down the hall. He had a pass but I couldn't tell who issued it. I escorted him out and destroyed the pass. I really don't trust him."
"I'm sure he just came up to talk to Wittman or ferskingen. You know those toasters need each other's company. I'll check with them but, in the mean time..."
Mystic pointed to a table in the corner. The globe sat humming and next to it, the chip.
"How the hell..."
"Everson stopped at H5 and dropped it off. He said he was going to be out of touch for a couple of months. He finally had his wife with him. It was awkward, to say the least."
"Was she as beautiful as they say?"
"For an Itani, yes. And that hair, it's as red as a warning light. I'd hate to get on her bad side."
"OK, I'm going to take this stuff to the lab. Let's see what our next hurdle is."
"I'll be there in a minute, I have something to take care of first."
"Roger, boss. I'll wait for you."
JahelaJ hefted the globe and grabbed the chip. She smiled brightly to the hum and vibration of the globe. "Almost like carrying a baby", she thought.
Mystic sat down at her desk again and picked up the still-unopened manilla envelope JahelaJ had pilfered from Everson's office...
As she watched, Sharingan and Flag undocked and engaged the scum. Mystic had made it to the dock.
MysticRogue -> JahelaJ: “Get to HQ, I'm back home and I have a nice surprise for you.”
JahelaJ -> MysticRogue: "I'm in-sector now, boss. I'll be there in a moment."
JahelaJ watched the two CLM aces send the smurfs running and then headed for the dock. Once she was locked in, she got her kit, now consisting of her personal comp and two full filing cabinets of papers, unloaded and up to her lab.
She looked around the room and felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Man, it's good to be back home", she mused. She then headed for Mystic's office.
En-route, she rounded a corner and bumped into Mecha Touriuas. JahelaJ's head barely came up to the huge Serco's belt. "What are you doing here, toaster?!" she blurted out.
"Can't a fellow entrepreneur visit with his friends in your hallowed halls, JahelaJ?"
"Sure, in any halls except this one. These are the CLM offices and you need a pass to get in here. Do you have one?"
"Certainly I have one. I'd not dare the wrath of such a fine organization as yours just to visit friends." He produced the pass and JahelaJ looked at it. It seemed in order but she couldn't make out the signature of the issuer.
"Are you finished with your visiting?"
"Yes, I have done all I need to do here."
"Good, let me escort you out." JahelaJ led the way to the elevator and pushed the button for the hanger deck. They rode down in silence but JahelaJ stared the Serco in the eyes as he stared right back with a smirk on his face.
The elevator arrived at the hanger deck and Mecha stepped out and turned. "Always a pleasure to see you, JahelaJ."
JahelaJ ripped the pass into little pieces and dropped them to her feet. "Sorry I can't say the same, toaster." she replied as the elevator doors closed.
She made her way to Mystic's office and stepped in. "What was Mecha doing here?"
"I don't know. I saw him in the elevator as he got off in the hanger."
"He was up here, boss. I bumped into him down the hall. He had a pass but I couldn't tell who issued it. I escorted him out and destroyed the pass. I really don't trust him."
"I'm sure he just came up to talk to Wittman or ferskingen. You know those toasters need each other's company. I'll check with them but, in the mean time..."
Mystic pointed to a table in the corner. The globe sat humming and next to it, the chip.
"How the hell..."
"Everson stopped at H5 and dropped it off. He said he was going to be out of touch for a couple of months. He finally had his wife with him. It was awkward, to say the least."
"Was she as beautiful as they say?"
"For an Itani, yes. And that hair, it's as red as a warning light. I'd hate to get on her bad side."
"OK, I'm going to take this stuff to the lab. Let's see what our next hurdle is."
"I'll be there in a minute, I have something to take care of first."
"Roger, boss. I'll wait for you."
JahelaJ hefted the globe and grabbed the chip. She smiled brightly to the hum and vibration of the globe. "Almost like carrying a baby", she thought.
Mystic sat down at her desk again and picked up the still-unopened manilla envelope JahelaJ had pilfered from Everson's office...
"Roger, boss. I'll wait for you."
Mystic sat down at her desk again and picked up the still-unopened manila envelope JahelaJ had pilfered from Everson's office...
“Oh what do we have in here I wonder”, Mystic had been putting off opening it for much too long.
She had been warring with herself about it, it was possible it was nothing. So why had it been so hard to open it? “Because it feels like your betraying a friend, “she told herself. The confusion wouldn't even have entered her mind if it hadn't come from Everson's office. Separating her friend from the Viper was still hard, but having met his wife today solidified it. They might be friends, but for all intents and purposes, Everson was now the law, and Mystic knew he would uphold it. So she must do her job as well, and part of that job was having Intel no one wanted to share. With this on her mind she carefully opened the envelope and started sorting through the documents inside.
Half an hour later Mystic was still reading when JJ rang her. “Hey boss everything ok?”
“Yeah JJ everything is fine, I have been doing some interesting reading. I don't know how this envelope got into Everson's office, but it inst a Viper document, someone wanted them to have this. From the looks of the seal, it had never been opened. There is information here on several high ranking members from several organizations, including CLM.”
“Anything useful to us?”
“Aye I believe there is, but I want to do some verifying before I release any of it, and I want to see if I can trace where this came from, if it wasn't Viper, then it might bode well if we knew just who it was and what their purpose was, from what I'm seeing, there are some things here some wouldn't want the legal types to know...”
“Fingerprints maybe? Or DNA?”
“Possibly both, we just have to find the right contact to get it analyzed. But for now I will lock it up safely. Be there in a few...” With this Mystic shut off the comm and eased the papers back into the envelope and stored it safely in her desk and headed off to find out what sort of headway JJ might be making on the globe.......
Mystic sat down at her desk again and picked up the still-unopened manila envelope JahelaJ had pilfered from Everson's office...
“Oh what do we have in here I wonder”, Mystic had been putting off opening it for much too long.
She had been warring with herself about it, it was possible it was nothing. So why had it been so hard to open it? “Because it feels like your betraying a friend, “she told herself. The confusion wouldn't even have entered her mind if it hadn't come from Everson's office. Separating her friend from the Viper was still hard, but having met his wife today solidified it. They might be friends, but for all intents and purposes, Everson was now the law, and Mystic knew he would uphold it. So she must do her job as well, and part of that job was having Intel no one wanted to share. With this on her mind she carefully opened the envelope and started sorting through the documents inside.
Half an hour later Mystic was still reading when JJ rang her. “Hey boss everything ok?”
“Yeah JJ everything is fine, I have been doing some interesting reading. I don't know how this envelope got into Everson's office, but it inst a Viper document, someone wanted them to have this. From the looks of the seal, it had never been opened. There is information here on several high ranking members from several organizations, including CLM.”
“Anything useful to us?”
“Aye I believe there is, but I want to do some verifying before I release any of it, and I want to see if I can trace where this came from, if it wasn't Viper, then it might bode well if we knew just who it was and what their purpose was, from what I'm seeing, there are some things here some wouldn't want the legal types to know...”
“Fingerprints maybe? Or DNA?”
“Possibly both, we just have to find the right contact to get it analyzed. But for now I will lock it up safely. Be there in a few...” With this Mystic shut off the comm and eased the papers back into the envelope and stored it safely in her desk and headed off to find out what sort of headway JJ might be making on the globe.......
JahelaJ busied herself cleaning the chip and noting anything unusual on a microscopic level.
All the solder points looked intact and clean, all the embedded semiconductor devices in the hybrid integrated circuit appeared to be well and stable but, of note were some burn marks and pitting suggesting after-process electrochemical n doping which caused holes in the silicon lattice that are free to move. In this area, filiments were placed which appeared to interact with the nervous system of Obsidian. This was not good news. The chip had been altered and it would take some doing to restore it to it’s original function. The deeper question was, WHY?!.
She followed the circuits paths and discovered a wafer hidden under the original processor. It was successfully insulated from all other elements of the chip except the circuits from the fillaments. That would explain why the chip continued it’s normal operations and also the operations of the additional chip.
She had removed the additional chip and fillaments and un-doped the effected silicon. As soon as this was done, the globe began vibrating, emmitting a green glow and a small port opened.
JahelaJ wondered what was taking MysticRogue so long so she called her. After talking to MR for a moment, she returned to the piggy-back chip. She was still examining it when MR came in.
”Have you tried the chip yet?” Mystic asked.
“No, there was a complication. Someone piggy-backed another chip on ours. It was a pretty good job, too.”
“Why would someone do that? How did they even know the chip existed, let alone alter it?”
“Well, whoever did it, knew of the chip and it’s capabilities. It seems our chip was supposed to transmit on our ultra-channel in our ultra-code but the information it was supposed to transmit was blocked. This new chip not only supplies new information to transmit, it also transmits on a different frequency and in a different code. It also received in the new code and emitted impulses to Obsidian’s afferent neurons. Whoever did this… It must have been horrible for Obsidian.”
“What about our chip? Is it OK?”
“There were some changes but I’ve repaired what I can find. As far as I can tell, it’s broadcasting on the proper channel and in our code. If there were any other changes to it, I can’t find them.”
“Well, we might as well try it and see.”
“You’re the boss.”
JahelaJ inserted the chip into the globe. The globe stopped vibrating and started playing Itani meditation music. The green glow dimmed and a projection started from the lens. A series of numbers and letters were spinning on a line of wheels like the display of a digital clock only the wheels seemed mechanical. Each wheel had a C, D, F, I, V, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and . on it.
The spinning was getting to JahelaJ. After making note of the letters and numbers on the wheels, she pulled the chip out. The globe settled back into it’s hum and green glow.
All the solder points looked intact and clean, all the embedded semiconductor devices in the hybrid integrated circuit appeared to be well and stable but, of note were some burn marks and pitting suggesting after-process electrochemical n doping which caused holes in the silicon lattice that are free to move. In this area, filiments were placed which appeared to interact with the nervous system of Obsidian. This was not good news. The chip had been altered and it would take some doing to restore it to it’s original function. The deeper question was, WHY?!.
She followed the circuits paths and discovered a wafer hidden under the original processor. It was successfully insulated from all other elements of the chip except the circuits from the fillaments. That would explain why the chip continued it’s normal operations and also the operations of the additional chip.
She had removed the additional chip and fillaments and un-doped the effected silicon. As soon as this was done, the globe began vibrating, emmitting a green glow and a small port opened.
JahelaJ wondered what was taking MysticRogue so long so she called her. After talking to MR for a moment, she returned to the piggy-back chip. She was still examining it when MR came in.
”Have you tried the chip yet?” Mystic asked.
“No, there was a complication. Someone piggy-backed another chip on ours. It was a pretty good job, too.”
“Why would someone do that? How did they even know the chip existed, let alone alter it?”
“Well, whoever did it, knew of the chip and it’s capabilities. It seems our chip was supposed to transmit on our ultra-channel in our ultra-code but the information it was supposed to transmit was blocked. This new chip not only supplies new information to transmit, it also transmits on a different frequency and in a different code. It also received in the new code and emitted impulses to Obsidian’s afferent neurons. Whoever did this… It must have been horrible for Obsidian.”
“What about our chip? Is it OK?”
“There were some changes but I’ve repaired what I can find. As far as I can tell, it’s broadcasting on the proper channel and in our code. If there were any other changes to it, I can’t find them.”
“Well, we might as well try it and see.”
“You’re the boss.”
JahelaJ inserted the chip into the globe. The globe stopped vibrating and started playing Itani meditation music. The green glow dimmed and a projection started from the lens. A series of numbers and letters were spinning on a line of wheels like the display of a digital clock only the wheels seemed mechanical. Each wheel had a C, D, F, I, V, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and . on it.
The spinning was getting to JahelaJ. After making note of the letters and numbers on the wheels, she pulled the chip out. The globe settled back into it’s hum and green glow.
After the failed attempt to intercept the globe in transport I decided to return to the newly abandoned station in Sedina to see if I could find anything the pirates had left behind that would give me any clue as to where they had taken the globe and if they had found any new information. My first stop was the room I had been held in when I first got captured, nothing but a few blaster burns. I continued to look around at the various rooms that I could tell had been recently used by CLM.
I found only a crumpled up piece of paper lying under the corner of one desk. I picked it up to have a look. There was one thing still legible on the top of the sheet.
-Obsidian-
What would she have to do with CLM and the globe? I'm not too sure that I want to go prodding around about TGFT with concerns about CLM I might just end up buried in some roid somewhere and forgotten about. Maybe I should just go directly to CLM HQ and try my hand at getting the globe back for myself, I just don't know where to look. I think my wingmates are beginning to think I'm loseing my mind noone has ever seen the real globe but me and I'm not getting anywhere on retrieveing it. Did I really see it, hold it? Maybe I am going crazy, after all, only a crazy person trys to talk themself into going to the CLM headquarters on purpose to STEAL from them.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
I found only a crumpled up piece of paper lying under the corner of one desk. I picked it up to have a look. There was one thing still legible on the top of the sheet.
-Obsidian-
What would she have to do with CLM and the globe? I'm not too sure that I want to go prodding around about TGFT with concerns about CLM I might just end up buried in some roid somewhere and forgotten about. Maybe I should just go directly to CLM HQ and try my hand at getting the globe back for myself, I just don't know where to look. I think my wingmates are beginning to think I'm loseing my mind noone has ever seen the real globe but me and I'm not getting anywhere on retrieveing it. Did I really see it, hold it? Maybe I am going crazy, after all, only a crazy person trys to talk themself into going to the CLM headquarters on purpose to STEAL from them.
Elbryon[ITAN]
Council Member
I stumbled into JahelaJ 's office, can still in hand. "I dunno what in tarnations you're doing in here but it's messing up my tv". Mystic was the first to speak up, neither happy with my interruption nor my attire (pants ripped off at the knees, and a teeshirt minus one sleeve) "Well while you were busy irradiating yourself in front of that ancient box, JahelaJ found something, here take a look". She fiddled with some controls and a recording of what had just transpired played. "Looks broken, I've no clue off hand what it means, though it kinda resembles those old second world war encryption machines, the riddle or something like that" I got two puzzled looks, "uhh I'm going back to my radiation box now, BELCH, lemme know if I can be of use"
*"Found" sidestory* (Since Im leaving for some time I might well write an RP story about it)
Shar headed back to the abandoned sedina station. It was
a "special" mission: Log into the station´s main computer and upload certain files of high importance into his own internal memory storage implant. Then "detonate" the computer.
On the way, the only thing that Shar kept thinking about was...
"Why the hell didnt they do it before leaving?!?" or why did he had to do it...being a council, there were plenty of underlings who couldve been sent.
"The files that need to be recovered are of great importance to us, we cant just let anyone get them". That had been Mystic´s explanation...
"Then why didnt we take them before leaving?" He inquired.
"Tehe...slipped me mind" She answered, slightly blushing with her eyes closed and a broad smile while scratching the back of her head.
*sigh...
"Why are you commander again?" he asked exasperated leaning back on the chair.
"Im too sexy to be council or Lt" she said smiling
"Oho..."
"Now seriously" she said, changing her tone "With all the recent stuff thats been going on, we've all been very busy. With the globe and all that, planning its transportation and a diversion, doing research on Obsidian's chip, the tense relations with PA... Its hard to think about everything"
Oh well
At last he had arrived at the station, docked in, and took a quick look around. The station's main power plant had been shut down, so the whole place was immersed in absolute darkness. The whole hangar was a mess, big piles of junk metal decorated the setting, a thin layer of dust covered the floor, and a faint smell of rusted metal floated around. Besides the lack of any lights, nothing had changed, even the golf carts and unlit Tiki torchs were there.
The lack of light presented absolutely no problem for him, his ocular implants worked wonders, equiped with thermal vision, night vision, 20X zoom, EMF, motion sensor, and more pixels than couldbe counted.
Upon examining the hangar, he found footprints marked in the thin layer of dust covering the floor. Someone else had been there, but seeing as there were no other ships besides his in the hangar, whoever had been there, had already left.
He walked to the command room, were the main computer was, sat in the commander's chair with a slight sense of guilt combined with happiness, his half of a ton Serco body making it creak and lift a cloud of dust around him.
He jacked in the computer, transfering power to it while doing so, then in the log in screen typed:
Username: Sharingan
Password: ****************
"Alright, lets do this" He said to himself.
**INCOMING TRANSMISSION**
"Damnit, what now?!?" He thought while answering.
"Shar, you there?" Quirc spoke through the other side of the comm.
"Aye, just logged in and started uploading the files mystic wants into my internal memory storage device. Ill blow up the computer with some old plastic explosives i found"
"Awesome. But, before you do that, could you look for one more file and save it?"
"Errr...sure, whats it called?"
"Q-man's folder, its a small file, youll find it"
"Mmk...searching....Oh! here it is...wait a sec...Sweet lady serco!"
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah...well, not really, but its 2.5 petabytes!! What do you have in here?!?"
"Wait! Dont open it!!"
*click*
"What...the...hell??"
.
.
There was a long silence
"Err...shar?"
"You sick perv..."
"Oh well, would have preferred for you not to watch it, so...could you"
"Oh HELL NO!!" Shar exclaimed "I am NOT saving over 2.5PB of that into myself!! Besides...what the hell man? 2.5pb?? PBS!! Who needs that much?"
"I do"
"Arggh...Dude, I saw the archives of the whole Serco Military, they were not even that much" Shar said facepalming.
"Aww c'mon, not all of it is porn..."
"Yeah, I see .5 of all that are ferret pictures and videos"
"Could you at least save that part?? PLZZZZZ!!"
"Tch...alright, but you owe me...big time"
Sharingan finished saving the files, then proceeded to set up the plastic charges. He had just finished doing so when he heard voices and footsteps accross the corridors.
"Damn!"
"Whats wrong?"
"someone's coming...Vipers...gotta cut the link and finish this"
"Aight, good luck"
Sharingan armed the bombs, picked up the remote detonator, and left the room. He hurried towards the hangar, when crossing a corner of the corridors, 2 beams of light met him.
"HANDS UP! DONT MOVE" Strat yelled, blaster in hand, aiming at him. Right next to him were other 2 UIT VPRs he hadnt seen before, also pointing their guns at him.
"We meet yet again Strat, an awful surprise i must say, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Hush, im asking the questions here, but DUH!! What the hell do you think? A station which not so long ago was swarming with pirates, of course we would come here to check it out after you people left."
"How unfortunate of me"
"Indeed, now you are coming with us"
"JA! Not so fast" Sharingan said with a grin, raising his hand holding the detonator. "Ive set up plastic charges accross the station to blow up the central computer, one step closer and Ill blow us up"
"Nah, you are not going to do it" Strat said with a faint smile.
"What makes you think so?"
"You'll die too"
"Interesting, you see...Originally, serco changed their bodies to withstand the harshest environments and the most extreme situations. So, theres a good chance that Ill survive the explosion. Can't say the same about your simple weak human bodies though..."
The smile on Strat's face vanished, changing to a worried expression.
"So, alrighty then, lets test what i just said, shall we?" Shar said looking at the detonator.
"NO! DONT" Strat yelled stepping back along with the two other recruits. Shar pressed the detonator and all three VPRs ducked, crouching to the floor, both arms covering their heads.
*CLICK*
There was a dead silence...the only thing that could be heard was a distant *drip *drip *drip.
Nothing happened. Sharingan stood there with his thumb still pressing on the detonator.
"Ehem...well...this is awkward" Shar said with a puzzled look on his face, staring at the detonator.
"Very, now you are coming with us" Strat said pointing his gun again at him. The other 2 vprs had recovered their composture again and were also pointing their guns at him.
"You, go check on that "main computer" he was talking about" Strat told one of the recruits, who hurried down the corridor, towards the main command room.
They took Sharingan to the hangar, there was another viper waiting there, he had seem this one very often, at the abandoned station before, and at the main CLM HQ: Vehement.
The hangar was poorly illuminated by a couple of lamps set on the floor, and by the flashlights the vprs were using.
"Found anything interesting?" asked Vehement
"Yep, we found a rat sneaking around, literally speaking" answered strat pushing sharingan on the back with the tip of his gun. "Oh, and there's also a computer which may contain important clm files, could be useful to us"
"Damnit!" Shar thought to himself "I got to come up with something, if i could just get to my vulture, i could easily get away, but how..."
Just then, a loud *BOOM* resounded accross the station into the hangar, shaking the whole station, throwing everyone to the floor. The recruit which had been sent to check on the computer must have accidentally set off the explosives. This was Sharingan's opportunity. He went to his feet quickly, and ran to his vulture.
"THERE GOES THE COMPUTER" He yelled back at them laughing. When he was about 20 ft away from his vult, a crate holding tons of metal parts, shaken by the explosion fell on his vulture, smashing it.
"And there goes your vulture" Said Strat, gun in hand, approaching him.
"Oh irony, you cruel sadistic bitch, I hate you" Sharingan thought to himself while he entered the portable jail cell.
They had warped out of the sector and were on their way to VPR HQ when 6 IDF valks intercepted them.
"We have received information that you are currently transporting a prisoner, CLM pirate Sharingan, correct?" Spoke the group leader through the comm.
"That is correct, may i ask of what concern is this to you?" Vehement talked back.
"We require that you "transfer" custody of this prisoner to us, immediately" Ordered the itani.
"Im sorry, but Im afraid I cant do that, this is our prisoner, a pirate captured by us, he is of no relation to you, and his custody is of no concern to you"
"*sigh* Sharingan: Ex-SCAR member, involved in countless assaults of itani ctc convoys. Later a mercenary paid by the Serco military, had a great part in the destruction of the Itani Heavy Assault Cruiser IDV SOLA, involved in the kidnapping and delivery of a member of the the Itani Senate to Serco forces. Said Senator was later found to have been killed. And now, as a CLM council, he has information we need. We demand you give him to us"
"That matter little to us, we VPR do not care about wrong-doings involved with the Serco-Itani conflict. Such acts done in a war cannot be classified as crimes. However, we do count "Piracy" as a crime, and thats the only crime he has done so far, and since we captured him, he well remain in OUR custody, until his bail is paid"
"Which means Ill be out before lunch" Said sharingan.
"Thats BS!" yelled the itani leader.
"The bail system is perfectly fair, the total amount of the bail depends on an estimate of how much economic losses said pirate has caused to traders, plus interests. This is then returned to traders who have reported having been assaulted by the pirate, and we get to keep a small part to further sponsor or pirate hunting, its perfectly fair"
"Oh yeah, we know you take good care of pirates, I heard you people even let one be a council of your guild" said the leader sarcastically.
"That...was a special case" Said vehement, starting to get exasperated.
"Whataver, we demand you give him to us, this is NOT a request"
"Careful there, I could think you are threatening us" Said vehement calmly.
Vehement looked at the 6 IDF valks, they did not belong to ITAN nor SKV, or any other itani nationalist guild. Could they be from the itani military? He asked himself...If they were, it was very weird, they would never venture so far deep into grey, outside their borders. Anyway, they outnumbered them 2 to 1, and had better equipment, the leader was starting to get angry at them, this could end up bad for them. Finally he said:
"Ok, you can have him"
"Wait what?" Sharingan asked
"Im glad you accepted"
"Et tu, Strat?" said sharingan.
The VPRS transferred the portable cell to the Itanis, which then warped away quickly.
Vehement sat inside his vult, worried, angry...He knew this wasnt right, and also, he couldnt shake the thought of an angry MysticRogue when she found out he had given out her council to some unknown group...
Shar headed back to the abandoned sedina station. It was
a "special" mission: Log into the station´s main computer and upload certain files of high importance into his own internal memory storage implant. Then "detonate" the computer.
On the way, the only thing that Shar kept thinking about was...
"Why the hell didnt they do it before leaving?!?" or why did he had to do it...being a council, there were plenty of underlings who couldve been sent.
"The files that need to be recovered are of great importance to us, we cant just let anyone get them". That had been Mystic´s explanation...
"Then why didnt we take them before leaving?" He inquired.
"Tehe...slipped me mind" She answered, slightly blushing with her eyes closed and a broad smile while scratching the back of her head.
*sigh...
"Why are you commander again?" he asked exasperated leaning back on the chair.
"Im too sexy to be council or Lt" she said smiling
"Oho..."
"Now seriously" she said, changing her tone "With all the recent stuff thats been going on, we've all been very busy. With the globe and all that, planning its transportation and a diversion, doing research on Obsidian's chip, the tense relations with PA... Its hard to think about everything"
Oh well
At last he had arrived at the station, docked in, and took a quick look around. The station's main power plant had been shut down, so the whole place was immersed in absolute darkness. The whole hangar was a mess, big piles of junk metal decorated the setting, a thin layer of dust covered the floor, and a faint smell of rusted metal floated around. Besides the lack of any lights, nothing had changed, even the golf carts and unlit Tiki torchs were there.
The lack of light presented absolutely no problem for him, his ocular implants worked wonders, equiped with thermal vision, night vision, 20X zoom, EMF, motion sensor, and more pixels than couldbe counted.
Upon examining the hangar, he found footprints marked in the thin layer of dust covering the floor. Someone else had been there, but seeing as there were no other ships besides his in the hangar, whoever had been there, had already left.
He walked to the command room, were the main computer was, sat in the commander's chair with a slight sense of guilt combined with happiness, his half of a ton Serco body making it creak and lift a cloud of dust around him.
He jacked in the computer, transfering power to it while doing so, then in the log in screen typed:
Username: Sharingan
Password: ****************
"Alright, lets do this" He said to himself.
**INCOMING TRANSMISSION**
"Damnit, what now?!?" He thought while answering.
"Shar, you there?" Quirc spoke through the other side of the comm.
"Aye, just logged in and started uploading the files mystic wants into my internal memory storage device. Ill blow up the computer with some old plastic explosives i found"
"Awesome. But, before you do that, could you look for one more file and save it?"
"Errr...sure, whats it called?"
"Q-man's folder, its a small file, youll find it"
"Mmk...searching....Oh! here it is...wait a sec...Sweet lady serco!"
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah...well, not really, but its 2.5 petabytes!! What do you have in here?!?"
"Wait! Dont open it!!"
*click*
"What...the...hell??"
.
.
There was a long silence
"Err...shar?"
"You sick perv..."
"Oh well, would have preferred for you not to watch it, so...could you"
"Oh HELL NO!!" Shar exclaimed "I am NOT saving over 2.5PB of that into myself!! Besides...what the hell man? 2.5pb?? PBS!! Who needs that much?"
"I do"
"Arggh...Dude, I saw the archives of the whole Serco Military, they were not even that much" Shar said facepalming.
"Aww c'mon, not all of it is porn..."
"Yeah, I see .5 of all that are ferret pictures and videos"
"Could you at least save that part?? PLZZZZZ!!"
"Tch...alright, but you owe me...big time"
Sharingan finished saving the files, then proceeded to set up the plastic charges. He had just finished doing so when he heard voices and footsteps accross the corridors.
"Damn!"
"Whats wrong?"
"someone's coming...Vipers...gotta cut the link and finish this"
"Aight, good luck"
Sharingan armed the bombs, picked up the remote detonator, and left the room. He hurried towards the hangar, when crossing a corner of the corridors, 2 beams of light met him.
"HANDS UP! DONT MOVE" Strat yelled, blaster in hand, aiming at him. Right next to him were other 2 UIT VPRs he hadnt seen before, also pointing their guns at him.
"We meet yet again Strat, an awful surprise i must say, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Hush, im asking the questions here, but DUH!! What the hell do you think? A station which not so long ago was swarming with pirates, of course we would come here to check it out after you people left."
"How unfortunate of me"
"Indeed, now you are coming with us"
"JA! Not so fast" Sharingan said with a grin, raising his hand holding the detonator. "Ive set up plastic charges accross the station to blow up the central computer, one step closer and Ill blow us up"
"Nah, you are not going to do it" Strat said with a faint smile.
"What makes you think so?"
"You'll die too"
"Interesting, you see...Originally, serco changed their bodies to withstand the harshest environments and the most extreme situations. So, theres a good chance that Ill survive the explosion. Can't say the same about your simple weak human bodies though..."
The smile on Strat's face vanished, changing to a worried expression.
"So, alrighty then, lets test what i just said, shall we?" Shar said looking at the detonator.
"NO! DONT" Strat yelled stepping back along with the two other recruits. Shar pressed the detonator and all three VPRs ducked, crouching to the floor, both arms covering their heads.
*CLICK*
There was a dead silence...the only thing that could be heard was a distant *drip *drip *drip.
Nothing happened. Sharingan stood there with his thumb still pressing on the detonator.
"Ehem...well...this is awkward" Shar said with a puzzled look on his face, staring at the detonator.
"Very, now you are coming with us" Strat said pointing his gun again at him. The other 2 vprs had recovered their composture again and were also pointing their guns at him.
"You, go check on that "main computer" he was talking about" Strat told one of the recruits, who hurried down the corridor, towards the main command room.
They took Sharingan to the hangar, there was another viper waiting there, he had seem this one very often, at the abandoned station before, and at the main CLM HQ: Vehement.
The hangar was poorly illuminated by a couple of lamps set on the floor, and by the flashlights the vprs were using.
"Found anything interesting?" asked Vehement
"Yep, we found a rat sneaking around, literally speaking" answered strat pushing sharingan on the back with the tip of his gun. "Oh, and there's also a computer which may contain important clm files, could be useful to us"
"Damnit!" Shar thought to himself "I got to come up with something, if i could just get to my vulture, i could easily get away, but how..."
Just then, a loud *BOOM* resounded accross the station into the hangar, shaking the whole station, throwing everyone to the floor. The recruit which had been sent to check on the computer must have accidentally set off the explosives. This was Sharingan's opportunity. He went to his feet quickly, and ran to his vulture.
"THERE GOES THE COMPUTER" He yelled back at them laughing. When he was about 20 ft away from his vult, a crate holding tons of metal parts, shaken by the explosion fell on his vulture, smashing it.
"And there goes your vulture" Said Strat, gun in hand, approaching him.
"Oh irony, you cruel sadistic bitch, I hate you" Sharingan thought to himself while he entered the portable jail cell.
They had warped out of the sector and were on their way to VPR HQ when 6 IDF valks intercepted them.
"We have received information that you are currently transporting a prisoner, CLM pirate Sharingan, correct?" Spoke the group leader through the comm.
"That is correct, may i ask of what concern is this to you?" Vehement talked back.
"We require that you "transfer" custody of this prisoner to us, immediately" Ordered the itani.
"Im sorry, but Im afraid I cant do that, this is our prisoner, a pirate captured by us, he is of no relation to you, and his custody is of no concern to you"
"*sigh* Sharingan: Ex-SCAR member, involved in countless assaults of itani ctc convoys. Later a mercenary paid by the Serco military, had a great part in the destruction of the Itani Heavy Assault Cruiser IDV SOLA, involved in the kidnapping and delivery of a member of the the Itani Senate to Serco forces. Said Senator was later found to have been killed. And now, as a CLM council, he has information we need. We demand you give him to us"
"That matter little to us, we VPR do not care about wrong-doings involved with the Serco-Itani conflict. Such acts done in a war cannot be classified as crimes. However, we do count "Piracy" as a crime, and thats the only crime he has done so far, and since we captured him, he well remain in OUR custody, until his bail is paid"
"Which means Ill be out before lunch" Said sharingan.
"Thats BS!" yelled the itani leader.
"The bail system is perfectly fair, the total amount of the bail depends on an estimate of how much economic losses said pirate has caused to traders, plus interests. This is then returned to traders who have reported having been assaulted by the pirate, and we get to keep a small part to further sponsor or pirate hunting, its perfectly fair"
"Oh yeah, we know you take good care of pirates, I heard you people even let one be a council of your guild" said the leader sarcastically.
"That...was a special case" Said vehement, starting to get exasperated.
"Whataver, we demand you give him to us, this is NOT a request"
"Careful there, I could think you are threatening us" Said vehement calmly.
Vehement looked at the 6 IDF valks, they did not belong to ITAN nor SKV, or any other itani nationalist guild. Could they be from the itani military? He asked himself...If they were, it was very weird, they would never venture so far deep into grey, outside their borders. Anyway, they outnumbered them 2 to 1, and had better equipment, the leader was starting to get angry at them, this could end up bad for them. Finally he said:
"Ok, you can have him"
"Wait what?" Sharingan asked
"Im glad you accepted"
"Et tu, Strat?" said sharingan.
The VPRS transferred the portable cell to the Itanis, which then warped away quickly.
Vehement sat inside his vult, worried, angry...He knew this wasnt right, and also, he couldnt shake the thought of an angry MysticRogue when she found out he had given out her council to some unknown group...
Mystic was going over some long overdue paperwork, it had piled up a bit while she was spending most of her time at the abandoned station. She had just finished one of the last stacks when Jasmine came into her office. “You wanted to see me boss?” Mystic looked Jasmine over, young and eager, she seemed out of place with this crowd a lot of times, but she had something about her that reminded Mystic of herself, back when she had first started down the pirate path . Which in part explained why she was here now. “Yes I have a special assignment for you, I want you to assist JJ in her work on the globe, your first task is to go downstairs to the old offices area and do some digging.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
“Anything that might shed even a glimmer on the globe situation, we checked it out before, but I think a more thorough search is in order. I want you to go through everything, most likely it wont mention the globe specifically. Don't leave anything to chance, if it appears it might fit, grab it.”
“Will get right on it boss”
“Great whatever you find, just report it to JJ in her lab”
After the young pirate had left, Mystic contacted JJ. “Sent Jasmine on the hunt into the old offices, told her to report her findings to you.”
“Roger boss, lets hope there is something, this thing is giving me a headache and a half”
“Take a break soon and join me for some coffee and aspirin” Mystic laughed.
“Might take ya up on that soon,if we can make it rum and aspirin” JJ joked back.
They both laughed and signed off, JJ to her work and Mystic to finish her stack of papers. “I really need to get an assistant” she thought aloud.
“You would never trust them Mysti,” Quirc stated matter-of-factly as he came in, “your too hands on to let anyone else handle what you think only you can, part of your stubborn nature.”
Mystic smiled at her lieutenant, bold and brash at times, he was a good pirate and a great asset, it was a great day for CLM when he left the Phoenix Alliance to join them. She had tried wooing him away before, but he was the loyal type, which Mystic totally understood. But they had him now, and didn't intend to let go.
“I'm only stubborn when the need arises....now has Shar made it back yet? I really wanted to wrap all this up”
“Not yet, thats why I'm here, was talking to him as he was finishing up and he mentioned the Vipers had made an appearance.”
Mystic laughed, “They never give up do they? That explains why he is so late.,well I will contact our guy in Dau about posting his bail, I just hope he got the computer destroyed before they got him.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
“Anything that might shed even a glimmer on the globe situation, we checked it out before, but I think a more thorough search is in order. I want you to go through everything, most likely it wont mention the globe specifically. Don't leave anything to chance, if it appears it might fit, grab it.”
“Will get right on it boss”
“Great whatever you find, just report it to JJ in her lab”
After the young pirate had left, Mystic contacted JJ. “Sent Jasmine on the hunt into the old offices, told her to report her findings to you.”
“Roger boss, lets hope there is something, this thing is giving me a headache and a half”
“Take a break soon and join me for some coffee and aspirin” Mystic laughed.
“Might take ya up on that soon,if we can make it rum and aspirin” JJ joked back.
They both laughed and signed off, JJ to her work and Mystic to finish her stack of papers. “I really need to get an assistant” she thought aloud.
“You would never trust them Mysti,” Quirc stated matter-of-factly as he came in, “your too hands on to let anyone else handle what you think only you can, part of your stubborn nature.”
Mystic smiled at her lieutenant, bold and brash at times, he was a good pirate and a great asset, it was a great day for CLM when he left the Phoenix Alliance to join them. She had tried wooing him away before, but he was the loyal type, which Mystic totally understood. But they had him now, and didn't intend to let go.
“I'm only stubborn when the need arises....now has Shar made it back yet? I really wanted to wrap all this up”
“Not yet, thats why I'm here, was talking to him as he was finishing up and he mentioned the Vipers had made an appearance.”
Mystic laughed, “They never give up do they? That explains why he is so late.,well I will contact our guy in Dau about posting his bail, I just hope he got the computer destroyed before they got him.”
I woke up none too happy, "He did what? That son of a bitch, I'm gonna blast f*in daylight through him". JahelaJ grabbed my arm as my hand went to the cut down shotgun that hung constantly at my right knee, "Easy Look, Mystic is talking to them now, there was nothing Strat could do, Sharingan wouldn't have survived the ship getting blown up in a fire fight anyway". "All right I'll play nice, I'll go talk to them a little".
I checked the shells in my gun, just in case and walked into Mystic's office. Mystic, Strat, and Vehement stood up, Strat held his hands out as if pushing on an invisible wall, "Easy Look, I came here to help". "You can start with the access codes to your ship's sensor logs. Those weren't Itani military, they have a strict policy against acting past Edras and Deneb, except to protect Xith shipments."
Vehement spoke up,"Uhh, I'm not..", I didn't even let him finish, I grabbed my gun and jabbed him in the forehead, sitting him down in his chair, two 3/4 inch slightly bloody rings on his forehead. JJ hollered, "Dammit Look, you said you'd play nice", I looked back at JJ and shrugged. Strat spoke as Vehement recovered rubbing his forehead, "We can't give you the codes but we can give you a copy of the logs from the incident".
"And you will help me recover him?" I cocked back both hammers on the relic and took aim at Vehement's knee, "YES, OK", Vehement regained awareness of the situation. I eased down the hammers and holstered my weapon, Vehement sighed. "Yea Look, of course we will, kidnapping is still a crime, even if he was a prisoner". "Get me the logs as soon as you're done here,I've got some techs to call, I'll be in my Quarters." As I left I could hear Vehement, "That's twice I've been attacked under your protection" Quickly followed by JJ, "He's in a bad mood, be glad he didn't give you an instant double lobotomy" The chatter became inaudible as I walked down the corridor.
I called in an order to the commissary, and sat down in my hover boy to call up my head ship mechanic, he can tell where the IDF's engines were built and about how old the tooling was just by looking at the plume. Something I could never do, the model year is easy, always small style changes from year to year. With luck we could feed that info to the Vipers and let them do the cop work of tracking down who bought those ships.
I checked the shells in my gun, just in case and walked into Mystic's office. Mystic, Strat, and Vehement stood up, Strat held his hands out as if pushing on an invisible wall, "Easy Look, I came here to help". "You can start with the access codes to your ship's sensor logs. Those weren't Itani military, they have a strict policy against acting past Edras and Deneb, except to protect Xith shipments."
Vehement spoke up,"Uhh, I'm not..", I didn't even let him finish, I grabbed my gun and jabbed him in the forehead, sitting him down in his chair, two 3/4 inch slightly bloody rings on his forehead. JJ hollered, "Dammit Look, you said you'd play nice", I looked back at JJ and shrugged. Strat spoke as Vehement recovered rubbing his forehead, "We can't give you the codes but we can give you a copy of the logs from the incident".
"And you will help me recover him?" I cocked back both hammers on the relic and took aim at Vehement's knee, "YES, OK", Vehement regained awareness of the situation. I eased down the hammers and holstered my weapon, Vehement sighed. "Yea Look, of course we will, kidnapping is still a crime, even if he was a prisoner". "Get me the logs as soon as you're done here,I've got some techs to call, I'll be in my Quarters." As I left I could hear Vehement, "That's twice I've been attacked under your protection" Quickly followed by JJ, "He's in a bad mood, be glad he didn't give you an instant double lobotomy" The chatter became inaudible as I walked down the corridor.
I called in an order to the commissary, and sat down in my hover boy to call up my head ship mechanic, he can tell where the IDF's engines were built and about how old the tooling was just by looking at the plume. Something I could never do, the model year is easy, always small style changes from year to year. With luck we could feed that info to the Vipers and let them do the cop work of tracking down who bought those ships.
"That's twice I've been attacked under your protection"
“And twice you have lived to walk away, so stop complaining”, Mystic wasn't thrilled with the way look had acted but she felt the same way herself. “Look is upset, as we all are, we don't expect the Vipers to just hand over a prisoner to a bunch of unknowns, even if it is a pirate.” She gave Vehement a look that let him know just how close she herself was to violence.
“I don't suppose you would like to share what was so important on that computer Sharingan blew up?” Strat ask. “It might provide us with some clues...”
“Nice try, but the information on that was internal CLM information, nothing for anyone to worry about.” Mystic admired the Viper's fishing skill, but wasn't about to rise to the bait. She trusted Vehement, but the only reason she was even dealing with Strat was because he seemed to honestly want to help, that and Vehement promised no tricks.
“I think that concludes our business here gentlemen, as soon as you turn those logs over to look, better yet, give them to JJ, she can give them to look. Don't want anything happening to that pretty face of yours Everson” Mystic smiled. “ Just think, I have a ranking officer of Viper here and I'm about to let him walk out alive, darn my kind soul.”
Strat seemed to look a little worried until Vehement laughed. “Don't scare the guy Mystic, took a lot of courage for him to walk into this office, considering how many here would see us both dead.”
“Well I gave you my word you would be under my protection, I won't go back on it, but don't mistake my kindness for weakness, I will shoot you if I see you in space”
They had walked down to the docking bay as they talked, Strat spoke up, “It wont take long to get those logs to you, and we will track down the persons responsible, even if it is just a pirate.” Strat smiled slightly. Mystic laughed, so this one does have a sense of humor, nice to know she thought.
“Until next time Pirate Queen!” Vehement said as he jumped into his vulture. Mystic waved and headed back to her office. She passed Jasmine on the way headed into JJ's lab with a box.
“Find anything interesting?” she asked.
“Several things I think might help, I'm going to let JJ look over this while I head back down, I did find one thing that might be of some use.” Jasmine handed Mystic what appeared to be a personal journal of some kind. Flipping through a couple of pages Mystic smiled, “I will take this in, you head back downstairs to see if you can come up with anything else.”
Mystic opened the door to the lab and Jasmine smiled and headed back the way she came. JJ looked up as she walked in, “Whats up boss?”
“My friend I have something here that just might make your day, looks like our puzzle loving previous commander put his thoughts down on paper,” Mystic handed the journal over. “And there is an entire box here that Jasmine came up with so far that she thinks might be related.”
JJ took the journal and started scanning random pages, finally she looked up and smiled.
“And twice you have lived to walk away, so stop complaining”, Mystic wasn't thrilled with the way look had acted but she felt the same way herself. “Look is upset, as we all are, we don't expect the Vipers to just hand over a prisoner to a bunch of unknowns, even if it is a pirate.” She gave Vehement a look that let him know just how close she herself was to violence.
“I don't suppose you would like to share what was so important on that computer Sharingan blew up?” Strat ask. “It might provide us with some clues...”
“Nice try, but the information on that was internal CLM information, nothing for anyone to worry about.” Mystic admired the Viper's fishing skill, but wasn't about to rise to the bait. She trusted Vehement, but the only reason she was even dealing with Strat was because he seemed to honestly want to help, that and Vehement promised no tricks.
“I think that concludes our business here gentlemen, as soon as you turn those logs over to look, better yet, give them to JJ, she can give them to look. Don't want anything happening to that pretty face of yours Everson” Mystic smiled. “ Just think, I have a ranking officer of Viper here and I'm about to let him walk out alive, darn my kind soul.”
Strat seemed to look a little worried until Vehement laughed. “Don't scare the guy Mystic, took a lot of courage for him to walk into this office, considering how many here would see us both dead.”
“Well I gave you my word you would be under my protection, I won't go back on it, but don't mistake my kindness for weakness, I will shoot you if I see you in space”
They had walked down to the docking bay as they talked, Strat spoke up, “It wont take long to get those logs to you, and we will track down the persons responsible, even if it is just a pirate.” Strat smiled slightly. Mystic laughed, so this one does have a sense of humor, nice to know she thought.
“Until next time Pirate Queen!” Vehement said as he jumped into his vulture. Mystic waved and headed back to her office. She passed Jasmine on the way headed into JJ's lab with a box.
“Find anything interesting?” she asked.
“Several things I think might help, I'm going to let JJ look over this while I head back down, I did find one thing that might be of some use.” Jasmine handed Mystic what appeared to be a personal journal of some kind. Flipping through a couple of pages Mystic smiled, “I will take this in, you head back downstairs to see if you can come up with anything else.”
Mystic opened the door to the lab and Jasmine smiled and headed back the way she came. JJ looked up as she walked in, “Whats up boss?”
“My friend I have something here that just might make your day, looks like our puzzle loving previous commander put his thoughts down on paper,” Mystic handed the journal over. “And there is an entire box here that Jasmine came up with so far that she thinks might be related.”
JJ took the journal and started scanning random pages, finally she looked up and smiled.
Sharingan woke up, slowly opening his eyes. He felt dizzy and his whole body hurt. He found himself tied up to a chair, with thick metal chains restraining him. "How did I get here?" he wondered, trying to remember what had previously happened.
The last thing he remembered was being transferred to that strange group of itanis, then nothing else until he had woken up.
"They must've used some kind of oneirogenic sleeping gas" he mumbled, still recovering from the sleep. When he noticed the chains around him, he laughed to himself, wondering if those guys actually thought the chains would stop him. He tried breaking them but to his surprise, it was impossible.
"Something's wrong, I should be able to break these apart easily" he thought worried, then it him. Most of his implants had been removed. His ocular and hydraulic strength enhancing implants were gonem, leaving him with only his natural muscles, which even though were also genetically enhanced, were not strong enough to break the chains.
He looked around to where his restraining allowed him to look. He was inside a small, well lit square room. He could hear engine noises somewhere outside. Then he noticed a small surveillance camera in the upper left corner of the room.
Then, behind him, he heard a door slide, and multiple people coming in, footsteps echoing in the room.
"Ah, I see you are up already" spoke a man behind him.
"Yes, and with who do I have the misfortune of talking to?"
"You dont need to know my name"
"Could I at least know where the hell I am?"
"Sure. You're aboard the Itani HAC class ship "The Acheron""
Then the man walked around him to his front.
He was about 1.78 tall, pale white, silver hair, green eyed. He was elegantly dressed in what was probably a high ranking officer attire. In his right hand, around his middle finger, was a black ring, with a strange symbol in it which resembled an "A".
The man stared at him for a couple of seconds, then spoke.
"You know why you are here?"
"I think I do, your guy named a few of my achievements, including my involvement in the destruction of the IDV Sola, destroying itani ctc convoys, yadda yadda yadda..."
"You've done quite a lot of damage to the itani nation, yes, but thats not exactly why you are here"
"Then?"
"Being a CLM council, Im sure you must know...I want you to tell me everything you know about the globe"
"Sheesh, and here i was thinking I had been captured for my importance"
"Dont give yourself too much importance boy"
"Anyway...I dont know what the hell you are talking about"
"*sigh* we could do this all day if you want to, but it's in your best interests that you speak, for your own good"
"Why's that?"
"Not much use in keeping you alive if you dont cooperate with us. Now tell me, where is the globe?"
"There's no globe"
"Where is the globe?" said the man, this time starting to lose his patience.
"The globe is a lie"
At this point the interrogator slapped sharingan hard across his face.
"He...betcha that hurt you more than it hurt me" said sharingan shaking his head trying to shake away the pain.
"Shut up and tell me where it is!!" Yelled the man, hiding both arms behind him, though it was clear he was trying to ease the pain in his hand.
"Have you, or anyone else, besides Elbryon, even seen said globe?" Said sharingan, trying to bluff "There's no such thing as a globe, there never was. Its a lie created by a delusional ITAN member"
"Fine, if you are not gonna cooperate...then we'll do it the hard way, we are gonna hack the info out of you"
"Good luck with that..."
"GUARDS!!" Yelled the officer. Two men entered the room.
"Take this Serco scum to his cell" He ordered.
"Well, technically, Im UIT..."
"NOW!!"
The guards unchained him, first cuffing both hands behind him. Pointing rifles at him, they motioned him to go out. They walked through corridors, passing by many guards and other crew members, many doors with signs reading "ARMORY", "BRIEFING ROOM", "SLEEPING QUARTER A". They led him to an elevator, went down to the bottom level. Then walked again through another corridor, until they stopped in a door reading "CELL BLOCK C". Inside, just in front of them sat a guard behind a desk.
"Prisoner's name?" Asked the guard.
"Sharingan" Answered one of the guards.
"Ok, cell room 2" Said the guard, typing something in a computer. They walked through a corridor leading to the cell rooms. Typed a code in the one reading "2".
*SWOOSH* the door slid, and both guards pushed Sharingan inside. It was a 3x3x3m square shaped room. Apart from a window where outside space and stars could be seen, it was empty.
"Hey, wait a sec, where am I supposed to take a shit in here?"
"This cell has 4 corners, choose the one you like best" Answered one of the guards before closing the door.
The last thing he remembered was being transferred to that strange group of itanis, then nothing else until he had woken up.
"They must've used some kind of oneirogenic sleeping gas" he mumbled, still recovering from the sleep. When he noticed the chains around him, he laughed to himself, wondering if those guys actually thought the chains would stop him. He tried breaking them but to his surprise, it was impossible.
"Something's wrong, I should be able to break these apart easily" he thought worried, then it him. Most of his implants had been removed. His ocular and hydraulic strength enhancing implants were gonem, leaving him with only his natural muscles, which even though were also genetically enhanced, were not strong enough to break the chains.
He looked around to where his restraining allowed him to look. He was inside a small, well lit square room. He could hear engine noises somewhere outside. Then he noticed a small surveillance camera in the upper left corner of the room.
Then, behind him, he heard a door slide, and multiple people coming in, footsteps echoing in the room.
"Ah, I see you are up already" spoke a man behind him.
"Yes, and with who do I have the misfortune of talking to?"
"You dont need to know my name"
"Could I at least know where the hell I am?"
"Sure. You're aboard the Itani HAC class ship "The Acheron""
Then the man walked around him to his front.
He was about 1.78 tall, pale white, silver hair, green eyed. He was elegantly dressed in what was probably a high ranking officer attire. In his right hand, around his middle finger, was a black ring, with a strange symbol in it which resembled an "A".
The man stared at him for a couple of seconds, then spoke.
"You know why you are here?"
"I think I do, your guy named a few of my achievements, including my involvement in the destruction of the IDV Sola, destroying itani ctc convoys, yadda yadda yadda..."
"You've done quite a lot of damage to the itani nation, yes, but thats not exactly why you are here"
"Then?"
"Being a CLM council, Im sure you must know...I want you to tell me everything you know about the globe"
"Sheesh, and here i was thinking I had been captured for my importance"
"Dont give yourself too much importance boy"
"Anyway...I dont know what the hell you are talking about"
"*sigh* we could do this all day if you want to, but it's in your best interests that you speak, for your own good"
"Why's that?"
"Not much use in keeping you alive if you dont cooperate with us. Now tell me, where is the globe?"
"There's no globe"
"Where is the globe?" said the man, this time starting to lose his patience.
"The globe is a lie"
At this point the interrogator slapped sharingan hard across his face.
"He...betcha that hurt you more than it hurt me" said sharingan shaking his head trying to shake away the pain.
"Shut up and tell me where it is!!" Yelled the man, hiding both arms behind him, though it was clear he was trying to ease the pain in his hand.
"Have you, or anyone else, besides Elbryon, even seen said globe?" Said sharingan, trying to bluff "There's no such thing as a globe, there never was. Its a lie created by a delusional ITAN member"
"Fine, if you are not gonna cooperate...then we'll do it the hard way, we are gonna hack the info out of you"
"Good luck with that..."
"GUARDS!!" Yelled the officer. Two men entered the room.
"Take this Serco scum to his cell" He ordered.
"Well, technically, Im UIT..."
"NOW!!"
The guards unchained him, first cuffing both hands behind him. Pointing rifles at him, they motioned him to go out. They walked through corridors, passing by many guards and other crew members, many doors with signs reading "ARMORY", "BRIEFING ROOM", "SLEEPING QUARTER A". They led him to an elevator, went down to the bottom level. Then walked again through another corridor, until they stopped in a door reading "CELL BLOCK C". Inside, just in front of them sat a guard behind a desk.
"Prisoner's name?" Asked the guard.
"Sharingan" Answered one of the guards.
"Ok, cell room 2" Said the guard, typing something in a computer. They walked through a corridor leading to the cell rooms. Typed a code in the one reading "2".
*SWOOSH* the door slid, and both guards pushed Sharingan inside. It was a 3x3x3m square shaped room. Apart from a window where outside space and stars could be seen, it was empty.
"Hey, wait a sec, where am I supposed to take a shit in here?"
"This cell has 4 corners, choose the one you like best" Answered one of the guards before closing the door.
Vehement sat in his blue-green SVG watching the nearby wormhole. It was this color of ship he flew into combat, having decided long ago that the white one was only for times of truce. That had come in handy for communicating his intent more than once with less than composed would-be enemies. The RevC wasn't the right choice for this type of mission either, he had decided- leaving his true love loaded with lawneuts to be today's ship of choice.
Arrayed before Vehement was a grid pattern of proximity mines placed by one of VPR's newest recruits. This would be a standard dragnet of sorts. On paper, that is.
The past few days had yielded few leads. Whomever had snatched Sharingan was good, but not perfect. Verasi Crossroads tracked a flight of a half dozen valks headed into Edras shortly after the encounter. Valks were just too uncommon in groups of that size for the formation to belong to anyone but the Vipers' target. Unfortunately, the trail ended there; Itani sources denied any flight of six Valkyries had entered their space, and actually sounded a little worried that anyone owned that many. Distribution of Valks was still supposed to be limited.
It would take CLM a few days to learn what the Vipers already had through back doors and bribes.. assuming they tried. Sometimes it pays to be the good guys.
Next came the digging. The Vipers sought any clues they could find. Itani border logs did mention the passage of a HAC through the wormhole from Edras; the Valks could have been on board. There was always Edras and Pelatus, anyone with half a brain could hide in those two systems. None of the stations in those systems had record of even a single Valkyrie visit, though. Drawing the duty of investigating the HAC possibility fell to Vehement, probably because of proximity to his current residence. The Itani law courses that Nolan was enrolled in were about to come in handy.
"Everson, find anything yet?"
Vehement startled from his thoughts, stunned but not surprised to hear Mystic's voice. "Now now Commander, this one's official. I can't report what we find to you, but you can expect official updates from Strat."
"I don't want an official update from Strat hun, I want you to tell me where my pilot is. Can you at least tell me where you are?"
"You'll know soon enough." Vehement eyed his HUD more closely as something caught his attention.
"Just what do you mean by that? I have half a mind to give you a kick in the pants."
Vehement gave one of his thrusters a light touch to line up one of his mines in his crosshairs. "Look will tell you." Vehement's neutron burst was short, but he only needed the first shot. Eight hundred meters away sat look's vessel. The pirate was at a dead stop trying to figure out why he was trapped in a minefield, and why they hadn't gone off when he jumped in. The smarter part of him decided not to move until he came up with a decent plan. There were far too many mines on the radar for him to notice the VPR vessel off to his five o'clock. Vehement had been waiting for him even while going over some of the reports from Itani space. Revenge for the shotgun offense was sweet. For lnh, death came swiftly as the furball of mines went off in a cloud of fire.
"You can ask him in person."
It took four seconds for Mystic's mind to sync. "Damn dirty Viper!"
"Cmon Mystic, you know he had it coming. In a way, it is your fault for having him try to tail me. You and I have come further than this!"
The pirate bit her lip for a moment. "You're right Everson. I keep forgetting there are three of you in that head of yours."
"Starting to figure me out are you?"
"At least so much as to know that I have to act a certain way to get the guy I want."
"How does that help you?" Vehement was suddenly curious if she had some amount of control.
"Gotta be straight up with Everson, or that Viper scoundrel distrusts me and takes charge."
Wonder how accurate that is... "Cmon, even that part of me has a lot of respect for you."
"Oh geez, gotta go. I can hear look shouting insults at your mother from here. Everson, when Nolan goes back to sleep could you give me a call please?"
"Mystic don't talk to me like I'm a crazy person now.."
"Just kidding!" Mystic closed the connection with a laugh.
"Need to let Pancakes loose on her again, maybe." Vehement thought aloud. Oh well, back to work.
Tracking an Itani HAC wasn't hard, you could count them all on your fingers. The legit ones, anyway.
Acheron.. that one isn't on the books. Akanese maybe? Vehement pondered. Just what we don't need.
But there it was. Docked with a backwater station in Divinia, probably for resupply, was an abnormally marked HAC calling itself the Acheron. Not that there was much chance of securing a search warrant for a vessel inside Itani space. How do we link a prisoner or six valks to this thing...
Arrayed before Vehement was a grid pattern of proximity mines placed by one of VPR's newest recruits. This would be a standard dragnet of sorts. On paper, that is.
The past few days had yielded few leads. Whomever had snatched Sharingan was good, but not perfect. Verasi Crossroads tracked a flight of a half dozen valks headed into Edras shortly after the encounter. Valks were just too uncommon in groups of that size for the formation to belong to anyone but the Vipers' target. Unfortunately, the trail ended there; Itani sources denied any flight of six Valkyries had entered their space, and actually sounded a little worried that anyone owned that many. Distribution of Valks was still supposed to be limited.
It would take CLM a few days to learn what the Vipers already had through back doors and bribes.. assuming they tried. Sometimes it pays to be the good guys.
Next came the digging. The Vipers sought any clues they could find. Itani border logs did mention the passage of a HAC through the wormhole from Edras; the Valks could have been on board. There was always Edras and Pelatus, anyone with half a brain could hide in those two systems. None of the stations in those systems had record of even a single Valkyrie visit, though. Drawing the duty of investigating the HAC possibility fell to Vehement, probably because of proximity to his current residence. The Itani law courses that Nolan was enrolled in were about to come in handy.
"Everson, find anything yet?"
Vehement startled from his thoughts, stunned but not surprised to hear Mystic's voice. "Now now Commander, this one's official. I can't report what we find to you, but you can expect official updates from Strat."
"I don't want an official update from Strat hun, I want you to tell me where my pilot is. Can you at least tell me where you are?"
"You'll know soon enough." Vehement eyed his HUD more closely as something caught his attention.
"Just what do you mean by that? I have half a mind to give you a kick in the pants."
Vehement gave one of his thrusters a light touch to line up one of his mines in his crosshairs. "Look will tell you." Vehement's neutron burst was short, but he only needed the first shot. Eight hundred meters away sat look's vessel. The pirate was at a dead stop trying to figure out why he was trapped in a minefield, and why they hadn't gone off when he jumped in. The smarter part of him decided not to move until he came up with a decent plan. There were far too many mines on the radar for him to notice the VPR vessel off to his five o'clock. Vehement had been waiting for him even while going over some of the reports from Itani space. Revenge for the shotgun offense was sweet. For lnh, death came swiftly as the furball of mines went off in a cloud of fire.
"You can ask him in person."
It took four seconds for Mystic's mind to sync. "Damn dirty Viper!"
"Cmon Mystic, you know he had it coming. In a way, it is your fault for having him try to tail me. You and I have come further than this!"
The pirate bit her lip for a moment. "You're right Everson. I keep forgetting there are three of you in that head of yours."
"Starting to figure me out are you?"
"At least so much as to know that I have to act a certain way to get the guy I want."
"How does that help you?" Vehement was suddenly curious if she had some amount of control.
"Gotta be straight up with Everson, or that Viper scoundrel distrusts me and takes charge."
Wonder how accurate that is... "Cmon, even that part of me has a lot of respect for you."
"Oh geez, gotta go. I can hear look shouting insults at your mother from here. Everson, when Nolan goes back to sleep could you give me a call please?"
"Mystic don't talk to me like I'm a crazy person now.."
"Just kidding!" Mystic closed the connection with a laugh.
"Need to let Pancakes loose on her again, maybe." Vehement thought aloud. Oh well, back to work.
Tracking an Itani HAC wasn't hard, you could count them all on your fingers. The legit ones, anyway.
Acheron.. that one isn't on the books. Akanese maybe? Vehement pondered. Just what we don't need.
But there it was. Docked with a backwater station in Divinia, probably for resupply, was an abnormally marked HAC calling itself the Acheron. Not that there was much chance of securing a search warrant for a vessel inside Itani space. How do we link a prisoner or six valks to this thing...