“HK. Go White Rabbit.” Hahukum’s neural net informed him of the priority incoming message. At that moment he’d been packing away anything he didn’t need right away, and Nikolai had gone off somewhere.

He abruptly froze. The emergency signal! “Are you sure, Rob?”

“Yes. Just do it now!”

He snapped his bag shut and barreled out of the room, pelting down the hallways breathlessly. The spaceport wasn’t far away. He paged Nikolai and Travis, bellowing “Go White Rabbit!” into his handheld comm unit.

He bumped into Nikolai on the way, and the two ran together into the hangar to prep the Humpback for emergency takeoff.

As the doors swung open, Konn and Nikolai looked around and heard a wham! as a crate fell. They whipped their heads towards the sound, and then scoped out the hangar carefully. After a few seconds, they decided it was okay, and cautiously made their way to the Humpback’s access door.

At that precise point, men appeared out of nowhere, and a voice bellowed, “Put your hands in the air! Put them up now! Stop moving or we’ll shoot!”

Not good. Not good! Hahukum whipped out his pocket blaster and began firing. He noticed the men were wearing nonstandard uniforms, but not much else identified them. He darted for the cockpit as Nikolai laid down covering fire, but just as he was about to get in, he saw Nikolai go down with a shot in the shoulder.

Torn between staying with Nikolai and the need for escape, that split second of indecision cost Konn his freedom.

---

They were escorted aboard a Liberty gunboat. At some point in the maze of hallways, a man who was tall, thin and brown-haired, appeared and said “Hold on! I need Mr. Konn with me, please!” He took Konn to the interrogation room. The room was a dull gray, with a single light hanging from the ceiling and a chair with bindings on the armrests in the center of the room.

The man motioned for Konn to sit down, and then motioned to a guard. After he did this, he bound Hahukum’s arms and legs to the chair. Sweat began to form on his hands as he realized what might be coming. This isn’t exactly what I bargained for, but as we said in the BAF, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Konn heard the guard return, pushing a metal cart with a variety of large, sharp needles and tools on it. Konn grimaced as Jake took the cart and pushed it in front of his face.

“Now, Hahukum Konn, you will tell me everything I want to know about the recent activities of Rob Schaefer and Tanya Ramirez, or you will suffer the consequences.”

Before the man began, Konn could see another man in the shadows. He seemed of medium height, perhaps blond-haired. He guessed that man was the boss, who’d stand and watch while his flunky interrogated Konn. He took a deep breath, and tried to relax as he remembered the instructions he’d been given in resisting interrogation techniques.

Which way should I go? If I tell the truth, I could imperil Rob and Tanya’s mission. If I resist, well… heaven only knows what those implements are for. Time for loyalty over expediency.

“I can’t tell you.”

A sharp, stinging slap on his face told him all he needed to know.

“We don’t have to do this, Mr. Konn. If you tell me what we need to know, you can be released from this chair in just a few seconds.”

“Let me rephrase that. I won’t tell you.”

The man picked up a device that was then clamped to Konn’s wrist. He said, “I will give you one last chance. This will apply as much pressure as I desire, even to the point of breaking your wrist if I choose. Now, what have Rob and Tanya been doing in the last few weeks?”

“I think you know what my answer will be, so I suggest we end this charade now and you can have me escorted to my cell. I give my word I won’t say a thing about what’s happened here.”

“Bad move, Mr. Konn.”

A sudden, searing pain shot through Hahukum’s arm as he felt the pressure on his wrist solidify and bear down. When he could stand the pain no longer, he screamed.

---

After what seemed like an eternity of different implements being used to stress Konn’s body to nearly the breaking point, Konn’s thighbone abruptly snapped under the force of one of the devices, sending him into a blurring pain punctuated by screaming sobs. He barely noticed the man in the shadows had left.

As soon as the brown-haired man saw the door shut, he gestured at the guard and said, “I want some water.” Konn knew, barely focusing, that this was a standard technique. Consuming something desired strongly by the victim was a trick you could use to loosen lips.

As soon as the door slammed again, Konn slowly became aware that something wasn’t right. The man was holding a datapad in front of his eyes. What he saw on it inspired disbelief, even as the words blurred and danced in front of his eyes.

---

PLAY ALONG. After this, you will PRETEND to be tortured. I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.

---

“What the.. whatkindajokeisthis?” Konn spoke slurringly through the pain.

“Shut up!” The man slapped Konn on the face again, and hissed, “We don’t have much time before the guard gets back. I didn’t want to have to do this.”

I’m going to pass out, and he wants me to pretend?

The door slammed again, and Konn heard footsteps. The man held the water out and said, “Ah. How refreshing!”

He gulped the water down, and his Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed nearly half the glass. He then moved the leg-breaking device to the left thigh.

“We don’t have to continue this, Mr. Konn. I can get you another glass right away, and then get a doctor in here.”

“Gof*ckyourself.” Konn gasped as his broken leg shot another bolt of pain through him, but froze in shock as he realized this time, the device on his left leg had not applied almost unbearable pressure. It hadn’t even been activated!

He let loose what he hoped sounded like a convincing scream anyway. It wasn’t all that hard to try.

---

After the pain in his leg became intolerable, Hahukum abruptly passed out.

Several hours later, he woke up, groggy. His leg was encased in some kind of regen unit, and his hands were handcuffed together as he lay on the bed in the sickbay.

The doctors had relieved him of his normal clothes, outfitting him in a cotton T-shirt a size too large for him, and loose-fitting cotton shorts. The first thing he was aware of was that everything hurt. His arms, his legs, his feet and his torso. He saw ugly-looking bruises on both of his wrists and arms, and saw similar angry bruises on his left leg.

That son of a… Every curse imaginable went through Konn’s head as he thought about what had been done to him in the name of convincing some high muckity-muck that the flunky wasn’t being squeamish.

At least the bastard had the decency to put me in a regen unit instead of letting my leg get permanently disfigured. What the hell did he mean by torturing me, and then telling me to pretend? He think that’s gonna make me spill the beans? Fat chance.

A doctor came in, saying, “Your vitals were showing you’d woken up. Water?”

“Please.”

The proffered water was consumed in a flash, and Konn felt much better.

“Your leg’s fine now. We got you into one of these quick-regen units that can knit the bones properly in just a couple of hours. You may feel a bit light-headed due to aftereffects from the sedative I injected to keep you asleep while the regen unit worked. Otherwise it tends to make your leg itch.”

Now that the doctor mentioned it, there was a funny tingling feeling in his right leg. That must be due to the aftereffects of the healing process, thought Hahukum.

The doctor looked at the regen unit’s console, nodded, and pressed a button. The tingling stopped, and the unit parted to reveal a leg that looked almost brand-new. No ugly skin bruises, even.

“Mr. Talon wants you escorted back to your cell the moment you’re released, so that’s why the handcuffs. You’ll be escorted back whether or not you feel like walking, so you should get into this wheelchair.”

The doctor whispered into Konn’s ear. “Those apes will drag you through the halls otherwise. I’m a doctor, not a sadist.”

Konn nodded, and sat very still in the chair as the guards flanked the doctor. He was wheeled back to the cell block. One of the guards unlocked Konn’s handcuffs, and then said, “Get out of the chair and get into your cell.”

Hahukum braced his hands on the arms of the wheelchair, and slowly stood up. His body ached terribly as he did so, and he hobbled into the cell. His clothes were thrown in after him, and the cell force field came back down. The guards stomped away, and the doctor quietly left.

Thank whatever fates there are that Nikolai hasn’t been harmed, thought Konn as the latter seemed to notice him for the first time. He was in the opposite cell.

The expression of fury on Nikolai’s face spoke volumes, and he looked sorely confused when Konn grinned and winked, then collapsed onto the stiff cell bunk. Hahukum, mindful that the cells might be bugged, said just loud enough, “I hope next time we’re together that neither of us fakes it, Nikolai.”

The other man, confused, nevertheless grinned as he remembered that night in the hotel room. “But I didn’t fake it, and neither did you. Why would we fake it?”

“I’m just sayin’, that’s all. Fake fun is no good.”

The other man’s eyes twinkled as he realized the message Konn was trying to give him, and said, “Don’t worry about that. Go to sleep, you need it.” Konn’s eyes closed, and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

-----

Summary: The duo get busted and Konn gets to experience the seamy side of Liberty Security Force interrogation techniques. He tries to get a message to Nikolai that not all the screaming was for real.

OOC: Yes, they faked part of it, but that doesn't let Jake off the hook... completely. Also edited for dialog consistency and minor word revisions.

Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 11/7/2005 8:19:41 PM

They sprinted down the stairs as fast as they were able, and then exploded into a full sprint once they hit the flat surface of the hall. As the walls ground ever closer together, it became impossible for Tanya and Rob to run side-by-side. Tanya put on an extra burst of speed and moved ahead of Rob, pulling him along slightly.

“We're going to make it!” Rob shouted between deep breaths as he and Tanya neared the end of the hall. Then, Rob heard an ominous thud. Then another. And another. Each one came more quickly than that which came before. Rob glanced behind himself momentarily and was horrified to see the walls slowly but surely closing behind him. We're not going to make it.

Rob flung Tanya's hand out of his own. “Go! Go! Go!” Tanya inched away from the freelancer as she sped towards the exit, and safety.

The sound of the pillars colliding came with ever increasing volume and frequency. Rob gritted his teeth and called upon every last ounce of his strength. Legs pistoning furiously he had almost made it out of the hall when one of the spikes raked across his back. It punched through his diving suit and tore a swath of flesh from his back. Rob grunted, the pain dulled by so much adrenaline already coursing through his system. With one final shout, he leapt from the hallway and flew past the final pillars just before they slammed shut, sealing the way to the now empty platform.

Rob stood up and unzipped the top of his diving suit. “Tanya, one of those spikes got me. Could you please take a look, and maybe patch me up a bit?”

Tanya looked over at Rob icily. “I really shouldn't, you know. Someone needs to teach you a lesson about taking unnecessary risks.”

Rob scowled and pointed to his back, “Look, I'm the one bleeding here. You got out okay. I don't see what the problem is.”

“Lie down on your stomach,” Tanya ordered after mulling something over for a few seconds.

Rob did as he was told. “How does it look?”

“Nasty.” Tanya said. Rob could hear her sifting through her first-aid kit. “You're definitely going to need stitches.”

“Yeah, well don't enjoy this too much.” Rob said. “I still think that artifact will come in handy. Ow!”

“Hold still.” Tanya said. “I'm going to try to reattach as much of your skin as I can.”

“Wonder - ow! - ful.” Rob said. He lay rigidly on his front as Tanya quickly and deftly stitched him up. There was a short pause while Tanya cut away the excess skin, then a few more sharp jabs as she finished her needlework.

“Let me tie this up, and we can go on our way.” Tanya said. “There. Done.”

Rob pushed off the ground and stood. His back felt tight where Tanya had sewed him back up, but that was understandable. “Thanks.”

“Just don't do it again.” Tanya said. She smiled. “I happen to like you without scars.”

Rob grinned and walked up to Tanya, so close that their noses brushed against one another. He slipped an arm around her waist. “Well, if you put it that way...” He tilted his head, leaned forward and they kissed for a short time.

After pulling away Tanya asked, “What's out next move? Try another symbol?”

“Sure.” Rob said. He walked up to the lift and pressed the call button. The door slid open and Rob stepped inside, with Tanya close behind.

“Any ideas?” Rob asked once the door had slid shut and the myriad symbols reappeared.

Tanya studied the options for about a minute before pointing to one of the symbols near the center of the door. It was a series or concentric rings; all but the two innermost rings were connected by a varying pattern of spokes. “What about this one?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Go for it.”

Tanya pressed the symbol and, as expected is lit up and expanded. It occurred to Rob that there was no sensation of movement throughout the trip. I wonder how this thing works anyway.

“I think we might have another problem, Rob.” Tanya said.

“What's that?”

“Your suit,” Tanya began. “I don't think we can patch it with the materials we have at hand. And you can't survive the swim back to the Tunis without it.”

“Damn.” Rob said. “That is a problem.”

“Call Gabriel.” Tanya suggested. “I know we have a few spare suits on the Tunis, he can bring us one.”

“Okay, good idea.” Rob put a call out to the submarine floating near the temple entrance. “Schaefer to the Tunis, come in Gabriel. We need you down here.”

No response.

“Gabriel, do you read me?” Rob asked.

No response.

“Goddammit Urran, this is no time for games! Respond!” Rob shouted angrily.

Nothing.

“Son of a b*tch!” Rob swore. “He's done it. Left us behind or something. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. I knew it! Now what are we going to do? Even if I could patch my suit, we can't just swim to the surface. And even if we could do that we still need a way to get offplanet. This is great. This is just fan-goddamn-tastic.”

Tanya frowned. She had always been willing to give Gabriel the benefit of the doubt, but this latest development left her wondering. “Try calling him again.”

“Fine.” Rob opened a channel to the Tunis once again. “Gabriel come in, do you read me?”

Still nothing.

Tanya sighed. “We'll take this one step at a time. Right now, out priority has to be getting our hands on the artifact. We can worry about leaving once that's done.”

Rob grunted angrily.

“Don't worry,” Tanya tried to reassure Rob. “We'll think of something.”

“Easy for you to say.” Rob snorted. “You're not the one with a ruined diving suit.”

Tanya scowled and pinched Rob's shoulder hard, eliciting a surprised yelp from the freelancer. “Stop it.”

“Ow.” Rob said. “What, I'm not allowed to moan and complain now?”

Tanya smiled sweetly. “No.”

Rob muttered something unintelligible under his breath. He noted that the glowing symbol on the door had begun to pulse rapidly. “Get ready, we're almost there.”

Tanya nodded and stood with her guns raised and back to the side wall of the lift. Rob took up a similar position opposite Tanya. The symbol again disappeared in a flash of light and the door slid open.

After a moment Rob said, “This looks like the right place.”

“That it does.” Tanya agreed. The lift had opened to reveal a cavernous, semicircular chamber, easily two kilometers in diameter. Water was everywhere. It cascaded down from the top of the dome and drained into a pool that covered nearly the entire surface of the chamber. A narrow, pebble-lined path encircled the entire chamber as far as Rob could see. Then, about 100 meters from the center of the chamber Rob thought he could see another circular path. Finally, at the center there stood a large platform. Upon it there rested... something. Rob could barely look at the platform; whatever it held glowed with such constant intensity that it was painful to look at. Even his shades' adaptive optics barely helped.

Rob stepped out of the elevator and surveyed the chamber. The water was still, smooth and almost glass-like in appearance.

“Are we swimming?” Tanya asked, moving to unhook her helmet.

“Hold on.” Rob put his hand out. “I don't think that would be a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Watch.” Rob said. He knelt down and sifted through the pebbles on either side of the path. After a few seconds of searching he found a small, flat and roughly circular stone and picked it up. Rob pulled his arm back and, with a flick of his wrist, sent the stone skimming across the water's surface. With each bounce, ripples radiated outwards, disturbing the otherwise calm water. After the third splash the water began to churn and boil. Just as the stone was about to land a fourth time two large grey shapes, all teeth and flailing tentacles, exploded from the surface.

“Still want to go for a dip?” Rob asked as the sea creatures disappeared beneath the waves.

Summary: Tanya and Rob escape the trap, but not before Rob gets injured. Rob's suit is also damaged so they call Gabe to ask him to bring another suit over. No response. (This because the material that the temple is made from interferes with the transmission. But nobody in game knows that.) The couple discovers what is most likely the artifact chamber. The guardians are revealed.

OOC: I hope everyone is paying attention here. This is how's it's done!

Edited by - Codename on 11/7/2005 7:32:51 PM

OOC: Don't much feel like waiting anymore. Where is everybody?

---------

“Maybe swimming isn't such a good idea.” Tanya said. “But what are we going to do?”

“The symbol seemed to indicate that there is a way to get at least as far as that ring there,” Rob said, pointing to the path that circled the center of the chamber. There's got to be some sort of mechanism to raise it or something. Let's take a walk around and see if we can't find anything.”

“Okay,” Tanya said. “I'll go left, you go right. We'll meet at the other end.”

“I think we'd be better off sticking together, myself.”

Tanya grinned mischievously, “You do need all the help you can get.”

Rob chuckled. “Just for that, you can take point.”

“I wouldn't want it any other way.” Tanya smiled and winked as she walked past Rob.

Rob left the examination of the walls and floor to Tanya. He kept a close watch for any creatures or other guardians that might have been lying in wait below the water's surface.

Tanya and Rob walked slowly and silently along the circular pathway for a few minutes before Tanya came to a stop.

“Found something?” Rob asked.

“I think so,” Tanya said. “Look just beneath the surface of the water by my feet.”

Rob did, and was surprised to see, only a few centimeters underwater, a path leading towards the center of the chamber. “Great. Now we just need to find a way to raise it. Can you see anything on the wall, Tanya?”

“No, nothing.” Tanya said. She reached out with one hand and ran it across the wall. Water poured over her hand and dripped off her arm but there was no sign of any way to raise the path above the water.

“Maybe there is no way to raise it.” Rob mused aloud. “I mean, why have it so close to the surface otherwise? And why bother with those swimming beasties if people can avoid them by walking on a raised path? The more that I think about it, the more I'm sure we're going to have to walk the path as-is. I don't like it, but that's how I see it nonetheless.”

“Okay. Well, those sea creatures your rock attracted was drawn to the splashes, right?” Tanya said. “So if we step very softly, we might be able to get to the artifact without attracting any attention.”

Rob considered this for a second. “Unlikely,” he said.

“Why?”

“Those things are guardians. I'll bet they're bred to be hyper-sensitive to any disturbance in the water. We can't sneak past them.” Rob explained.

“But if they're so sensitive,” Tanya asked, “why didn't they catch the rock after the first or second splash?”

“Stalking,” Rob responded. “They were stalking it, getting into position, arranging themselves so their quarry couldn't escape.”

“Okay, so let's say you're right.” Tanya said. “Let's say that those creatures are what you say they are. How can we hope to get past them?”

“Oh, that's easy.” Rob said, grinning. “We book it. And just blow the hell out of anything that tries to kill us.”

Tanya regarded Rob with a raised eyebrow. “That's the best plan you can come up with?”

“Well, yeah. Something wrong with it?”

“A bit lacking in the stealth department,” Tanya said.

“I just don't think this is the time or place for that approach. And I don't think it'll work.” Rob said. “The only other idea I had was to climb up and along the wall and then bungee down to grab the artifact. But I left my climbing equipment in my other submarine, I don't know about you.”

“You really think we can't just sneak by?” Tanya asked.

“No.” Rob said.

“Okay,” Tanya said. “You know more about that sort of thing than I do, so I'll trust you. But if this turns out as well as the last time I listened to you, you're not making any more decisions.”

“Oooh! That's a bit harsh, isn't it?” Rob feigned shock. “Look, just keep your eyes peeled and guns ready and we'll be fine.”

Tanya shook her head, smiling despite herself. “Let's get going.”

“Wait,” Rob said, kneeling and sifting through the pebbles again. “A few things to do first.”

Tanya crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

“First,” Rob stood, “we'll see how tough these guys are.” Rob slung the pebble he had picked across the water. Then, guns ready, he waited for the churning water. It came quickly and was soon followed by two of the guardian creatures leaping from the water. Rob squeezed two high-energy shots off in quick succession as was rewarded with the sight of the creatures exploding as the energy bolts smashed into their flanks.

“Good. So we can kill them without too much trouble.” Rob said. He opened up his supply pack and pulled out two bandoleers adorned with all sorts of grenades. “Now, let's give ourselves a bit of a distraction.”

Rob pulled a grenade from both of the bandoleers. He fiddled with the grenade timers for a second before handing one to Tanya, as well as a bandoleer.

“Here's the plan. We each toss one grenade off in opposite directions. I've set a fairly long timer for the both of those, so they should attract a decent crowd of nasties before going off. When they go off, we get running. Drop a grenade in the water every 30 or so seconds while we're running. That should help keep our tails clear, and it'll be much easier if we don't need to constantly watch our six.” Rob slipped his bandoleer over one shoulder and prepared to prime his grenade. Tanya did the same. “Ready?”

“Ready.” Tanya nodded.

In unison Rob and Tanya pulled the pins from their grenades and hurled them in opposite directions. The explosives sailed through the air, arcing towards separate points on the still calm surface. Rob's grenade splashed down an instant before Tanya's. Tensed and ready to start running, Tanya and Rob waited, first for the churning, bubbling water, and then the explosion.

They did not have long to wait. The water quickly became a frothing mass then swelled and erupted as the grenades went off.

Tanya and Rob were in motion before the bits and pieces of exploded sea monster fell back into the water. They ran along the submerged path as fast as they were able given the slick, slippery surface. Rob's stayed on his toes as he ran, kicking up very little water with each footfall. He could see Tanya doing the same a few feet in front.

Rob reached up and yanked at one of his grenades the explosive came away in his hand, leaving the pin behind. Rob quickly dropped the grenade into the water and it exploded a moment later, showering the area in salty spray.

Tanya had done the same and hers exploded right in front of Rob, sending a large wave crashing over the path that threatened to knock the freelancer into the water.

“Tanya!” Rob shouted and pulled a second grenade. “Try to throw the grenades a bit farther from the path next time!”

By way of confirmation Tanya ripped another grenade from her bandoleer and threw it well away from where she and Rob were running.

The water around the pathway began to roil, and not simply because of the explosions.

“Here they come!” Tanya shouted. Rob tightened his hold on his pistols and dropped two more grenades into the water.

Two thrashing grey blurs flew out of the water on either side of Rob. Up close he saw the the creatures were nearly twice the size of an average man, and easily ten times nastier, with long, suction-tipped tentacles and a maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Rob whipped his pistols around and pulled the trigger rapidly, filling the air around him with pulses of energy. Bolts collided with the sea monsters and vaporized their flesh.

Up ahead, Tanya was methodically blasting away at the seemingly endless stream of guardians that leapt out of the water at her. They fell back into the water headless or in two pieces. She wasn't able to maintain a steady rhythm with her grenades, however, so Rob was forced to pick up the slack. This didn't prove too difficult for the freelancer as he only had to blast the odd monster that tried to grab Tanya from behind.

“Rob!” Tanya cried. “The path! It ends!”

Rob squeezed off another few shots and dropped a grenade into the water. “Turn Tanya! Turn!”

Tanya ducked as five of the tentacled monsters rose in front of her and tried to wrap their tendrils around her legs. She jumped into the air, sailing diagonally away from the path, and blasting everything that moved. At the highpoint of her leap, Tanya brought her hands to her chest and threw two grenades into the water beneath her. She landed with a splash on a circular path that she and Rob hoped would lead to another spoke, and then the raised ring close to the platform.

As he rounded the corner behind Tanya, Rob saw her struggle to keep her balance on landing, straighten and begin to run again. More guardians leapt from the water, this time at both runners. Rob let out a surprised cry as a tentacle wrapped around his right arm. Instinctively he discharged the gun in his right hand and was rewarded by the tentacle slackening its grip and then sinking back under the waves.

Another cluster of tendrils tried to ensnare Rob's ankles but Rob vaulted over the writhing mass of tentacles, dropping a grenade behind himself for good measure.

Up ahead, Tanya had turned onto the path leading away from the submerged ring and towards the hopeful safety of the dry path. She blasted away at the guardians that tried to snag her arms or legs, dropping the odd grenade when she had a chance.

Rob rounded the corner faster than he should have, and his left foot slipped off the path and nearly sent Rob tumbling into the water. Arms flailing, Rob somehow managed to regain his balance before anything got a hold of him. He accelerated down the final stretch of water-covered track, hopping over a still quivering corpse one of Tanya’s shots had left sprawled across the path.

Just then Rob heard Tanya scream and saw that she had managed to reach the dry, raised ring, but one of the guardian creatures had thrown itself on her and was trying to drag her into the murky water. Rob was about to try to shoot the monster when Tanya delivered a vicious blow to one of its eyes. Her fist punched right through the guardian's cornea, spraying thick clear fluid everywhere. The creature fell still and with a grunt Tanya pushed it from her. She shot to her feet and spun to blast another guardian bent on dragging her into the depths.

Rob's feet hit the solid, dry ring and he turned to join Tanya.

“Watch it!” Tanya yelled. Rob ducked and rolled onto his back. The grey body of yet another guardian flew overhead. Rob raised his pistols and pumped two full power shots into the creature's exposed underbelly, exploding it in a shower of gore.

Rob stood and, wiping bits of creature guts from his face, turned to smile at Tanya. “There. Wasn't that fun?”

“You are unbelievable sometimes.” Tanya shook her head.

“Comes from years of practice, sweetheart.” Rob said with a wink.

Tanya started walking around the dry ring, looking for a way to cross into the center. Neither Rob nor Tanya were about to risk a swim.

“See anything?” Rob asked.

“Nothing.” Tanya replied. “No path, no control panels. Nothing.”

“Damn. There has to be some way to get across...” Rob sat down and rested his chin on his left fist, pondering.

“Maybe not.” Tanya said. “Remember the symbol? The path it showed stopped at this ring. Maybe we just have to swim it.”

Rob shook his head. “I really don't think so. If this place is anything like the pyramid back on Primus, then I expect there's something in that pool, and it'll be much nastier than those shark-squid things. Let's just take some time to think this out.”

“Fine, but we can't spend too much time just sitting here.” Tanya said.

“In that case,” Rob stood, “I'll pace.”

Tanya stomped her foot. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me an hour, okay?” Rob said as he walked past Tanya. “If I still haven't figured anything out, we'll chance a swim.”

“One hour.” Tanya said.

“Got it.” Rob began to walk slowly around the circle.

- - - -

Rob had been walking and thinking for quite some time when he felt a hand close around his arm and pull him down. He whipped around to see Tanya crouched low to the ground, and motioning for him to follow suit.

“Get down!” She hissed.

Rob dropped to his knees and then lay flat on his stomach when Tanya did. “What is it?”

“Someone else is in the chamber.” Tanya whispered. “I saw him come in but I don't think he saw us.”

“Where?” Rob asked. He scanned the area slowly.

“You won't be able to see him from here.” Tanya answered. “The platform is in the way.”

“Think I can risk a look?”

“Just keep low.”

Rob nodded and inched around the circle until he caught sight of the newcomer. He was tall and broad-shouldered. Son of a - is that Gabriel? Rob fiddled with his shades' magnification settings for a moment and zoomed in.

Oh, that bastard.

“What do you see, Rob?” Tanya asked.

“It's Gabriel!” Rob growled through clenched teeth.

“Are you sure?”

“The glasses don't lie.” Rob replied. He heard the sound of Tanya creeping closer so she could take a look herself.

“Oh my, it is him, isn't it?” She said soon after.

“Yeah. He hasn't seen us yet. Let's keep it that way. He might give up and go back.” Rob said.

The two of them watched in silence as Gabriel began to stroll around the outer circle of the chamber. After a while, the Ta'Gue'Led agent stopped in his tracks and knelt down. He reached down and began to swish and splash the water lightly with his one hand.

“Oh man,” Rob said, not at all concealing his anticipation. “This is gonna be good.”

The moment the water began to churn, Gabriel drew back in surprise. Almost at the same time a pair of guardians flew out of the water and towards the large man. Gabriel's eyes flashed a bright yellow-orange and two long blades sprung from his arms. A brief blur of motion, and the creatures fell onto the pebbled path, each sliced neatly in half.

“Well, well.” Rob said. “That certainly is interesting.”

“Certainly.” Tanya agreed.

Gabriel stepped back from the water's edge to consider this new development.

“What do you think he's going to do now?” Rob asked.

“Looks like he might have found one of the paths.” Tanya said. “He'll probably end up doing what we did.”

“Think so?”

“Wait and see,” Tanya said, “wait and see.”

With the magnification of his shades turned to maximum Rob could almost see the gears in Gabriel's brain turning, slowly trying to decide what his next course of action would be. After about a minute, Gabriel took a deep breath, spun his blades in a sweeping pattern, and exploded into a run.

Rob decreased the zoom on his shades and watched intensely as Gabriel shot down the water-covered trail. As expected, the water around the trail began to churn and bubble. Gabriel clearly noticed this – not that it was hard to notice – and brought his blades in close, one low and pointed at the path, the other held across his chest, ready to fillet any fish the tried to grab him.

The first guardian burst from the water and was neatly cleaved by Gabriel's rising blade. Another creature leapt from the water on the opposite side. Gabriel swung his arm out and parted the creature's head from the rest of its body.

More and more guardians shot out of the depths, only to be cut down by Gabriel's rapidly windmilling blades. Despite himself, Rob couldn't help but admire the man's skill as he sliced and diced his way towards the safety of the dry ring.

Pulling his eyes away from the impressive display for swordsmanship momentarily, Rob turned to Tanya. “I need you to head about 100 meters back toward where you were before. Looks like Urran might make it here, and I want to have him covered from two angles.”

Tanya nodded and began to crawl towards the point Rob had suggested. Rob turned his attention back to the tall fighter. Gabriel was just coming up on the first turn, still running at breakneck pace. Suddenly four of the guardians burst from the water directly in front of the agent. Gabriel, fully occupied by the creatures assailing his flanks, and not expecting a frontal attack was unprepared for this and taken by surprise.

Rob saw Gabriel hesitate momentarily and, quick as a flash whipped his guns out and let loose a volley of shots that burned down Urran's new attackers. This cat's mine.

Gabriel's eyes flashed momentarily and, as he turned the corner, he scanned the area for his mystery saviour. His attention was soon drawn back to the more pressing issue of a series of sea-creatures trying to entangle his arms and legs. Once again, Urran's blades began to spin and whirl, leaving behind a trail of hacked-up guardians.

Rob tensed and rose to a crouch as Gabriel turned onto the final stretch of submerged path leading to the raised ring. Looking over to where Tanya was waiting Rob saw the she had done the same. Rob kept his guns trained on the Ta'Gue'Led's head, and waited for Gabriel to set foot on dry ground.

No sooner did Gabriel reach the inner ring that Rob leapt to his feet and, blasting a creature rising behind the man, shouted, “Freeze, Urran!”

Gabriel spun a full 360 degrees, as sensations from all around bombarded him. His eyes settled on Rob and he tensed, a look of extreme confusion on his face.

“You!? What the hell!?”

The sharp report of Tanya's own weapons and a snap-hiss of a bullet ricocheting off the ground near Gabriel's feet stopped him fast.

“He said freeze.” Tanya said coldly.

Gabriel's head snapped between Tanya and Rob. He grunted and raised his hands.

“There's a good man,” Rob said. “Now, drop the swords. Do it slowly. Any sudden moves and I will blow your head off.”

Gabriel slowly swung the blades so they crossed his chest and knelt down. Rob narrowed his eyes, ready for any surprises. None came. Gabriel simply laid his swords on the platform and then stood slowly.

“Right, now.” Rob glared at the Ta'Gue'Led. “You have 10 seconds to explain exactly why the hell you're here.”

“What's - ”

“Ten... nine...”

“YoudisappearedandwhenItriedtocontactoyoufromtheshiptherewasnoresponsesoIthoughtyouweredead.” Gabriel said quickly.

Rob looked over at Tanya and shrugged. “What do you think?”

“I think I'd like to hear more.” Tanya said. “How did you get here? And where's the Tunis?”

“After I saw you two absorbed by that black thing I spent about five minutes trying to get you on the comms but I didn't get any response. I brought the Tunis in closer and tried to scan for lifesigns but the sensors couldn't penetrate the temple's surface.

“I had to assume you two were dead. Which meant retrieval of the artifact was, as far as I could tell, my responsibility. While searching for another way in, I found a large overhang and stashed the Tunis there. I powered down all systems except the remote activation sequencer. Nobody will be able to find it unless they look good and hard.”

“And how did you get in here?” Rob pressed.

“I – look, can I put my hands down? My arms are a bit sore.”

“Hey! No you can't!” Rob barked. “Again, how did you get in here? Presumably not the same way Tanya and I did.”

“No, I swam up some sort of drainage pipe. The path I took led me to this giant aquarium room. I climbed out of the tank and spent a little while looking around.”

“And then?” Tanya asked.

“Figured out how these lift things work and I explored the temple a bit. It's really a marvel, don't you think?”

“Know what I think? It doesn't matter what I think.” Rob said. “You still have some explaining to do. I don't know too many people with that sort of blade mastery. And fewer still who have eyes that glow yellow. Care to explain that?”

Gabriel blanched visibly. “I...”

“Before you say anything else, you should know that we already know about the Ta'Gue'Led.” Tanya said.

“Aw, jeez Tanya.” Rob rolled his eyes. “Did you really have to go and say that? I had this scene all worked out in my head and everything. Urran here was going to lie and then I was going to say 'sorry, wrong answer'. And blow him to smithereens. Man, it was great.”

Tanya looked at Gabriel, her face blank. “You heard Rob. He's just itching to shoot you. And I don't think I could stop him even if I wanted to. So I highly suggest you come clean. Now.”

Gabriel stood, stony-faced while Tanya and Rob waited for a response.

“He's not talking,” Rob said. “Can't I just shoot him already?”

Tanya sighed. “Fine.”

Rob grinned maniacally. “Bye.”

“Wait!” Gabriel shouted. “You want me to talk? I'll talk.”

“Oh, sure. Spoil my fun.” Rob grumbled.

“What is it you want to know?” Gabriel asked

“Let's start from the beginning,” Tanya suggested. “Who, and what, are you?”

Rob and Tanya listened carefully to the story of Jamison Truax, and the events that led to his transformation into Gabriel Shi'Xiosa Urran.

“And what is your interest in these artifacts?” Rob asked. “Why do the Ta'Gue'Led want them?”

“I don't know.” Gabriel said.

“You're going to have to do better than that if you want your head to remain attached to your shoulders.” Rob said threateningly.

“I don't know!” Gabriel protested. “I'm just a watcher.”

“And what about that parasite inside you?” Rob pressed. “He know anything?”

Gabriel flushed red and bellowed, “Shi'Xiosa is no parasite!”

“Yeah, okay.” Rob scoffed. “Does he know anything? You better hope so.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment. “He does not know much.”

“But he knows something?” Tanya asked.

“Yes,” Gabriel said. He paused briefly before speaking. Rob listened and quickly realized that he had heard everything before from Tanya and Larius. He paid close attention to everything Gabriel said, waiting for a mistake or inconsistency. But Gabriel finished speaking without once slipping up.

“Shi'Xiosa says that he was never assigned to monitor the artifacts. Larius – he is our leader – has overseen that are personally with the help of another high-ranking member, Garibald.”

“And they would know more about the artifacts?” Tanya asked.

“Oh, most assuredly.” Gabriel answered.

“That is interesting.” Rob said. “Because our meetings with those two left us only with the stuff you just said.”

“You met with Garibald and Larius?” Gabriel asked in surprise.

“I met with Garibald,” Tanya said. “Both Rob and I met Larius, yes. He gave us the information that led us here.”

“Well why didn't you say - ?” Gabriel suddenly fell silent.

“Why didn't we say so?” Rob rolled his eyes. “I have no idea. Now that I think about it, we really should have said so since you were so open with everybody – oh. Wait.”

“Nobody would have trusted me.” Gabriel said.

“And with good reason it seems.” Rob spat. “Know what? I'm done. And so are you.”

Gabriel's eyes flashed as he sprang into action. In the time it took Rob to pull the trigger, Gabriel had lunged forward and kicked his swords into the air. The beams of energy hit the blades as they flew upwards, blasting them in opposite directions away from Gabriel and deflecting the energy. Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl as the blades spun off towards the water. One blade rotated end over end as it flew towards the central platform, reflecting the light off the artifact in flashes before splashing into the calm pool.

“You've got some slick moves, I'll grant you that.” Rob said. “But I'm still holding the guns and – what was that?”

A low rumble began to fill the chamber. Rob could feel the ground beneath his feet begin to vibrate.

“You son of a...” Rob growled. “Gone and woken up a real nasty now, haven't you?”

Gabriel smiled grimly. “I can help you.”

“Ha!” Rob barked out a harsh laugh. “I suppose all you'll need is a weapon then?”

“No.” Gabriel replied. Before Rob could react, he dove headfirst into the water.

Rob shook his head in disbelief and looked over at Tanya who could only shrug her shoulders. The rumble had by that time become a roar and the vibrations so intense that the previously calm water was full of waves and splashes. Rob turned towards the water and readied his pistols and Tanya did the same. They both knew that whatever was coming, it would be big.

They did not have long to wait. With an ear-splitting shriek, a giant, green, three headed serpent burst from beneath the water's surface and slithered up onto the platform, coiling part of it's massive body around the artifact. Each of its three heads bobbed up and down on necks of almost fifty meters.

Immediately, Rob and Tanya opened fire on the snake, aiming for its heads. The snake howled in fury and all heads turned to Rob and Tanya. Its great bulk belied the speed at which the creature could move. In a flash the snake whipped its heads towards the two humans shooting at it.

Rob and Tanya ducked, dove, and rolled to avoid the snapping great maws, lined with meter long poisonous fangs, that shot towards them.

“Use your grenades!” Rob shouted to Tanya as he sidestepped to avoid the nearest head. “Down their throats, if you can manage it!”

Given the speed with which the heads could move, Rob found himself wondering why their strikes weren't coming more quickly. He looked up to see that something – no, someone – on the middle head was acting as a distraction.

Gabriel.

Rob watched as the Ta'Gue'Led agent jumped and swung around the middle head, using the beast's scales as handholds. He had no weapons with which to pierce the serpent's thick hide but, with each passing moment the other heads passed nearer and neared to the middle, until they were almost grazing the skin with their fangs. The rightmost head whipped around and shot towards Gabriel who had clambered onto the middle head's crown. Gabriel stood still as the giant serpent's head bore down on him. At the last possible moment, Gabriel rolled forwards. The right head's jaws snapped shut in an attempt to swallow Gabriel and its fangs sunk deep into the middle head.

The middle head let out a great scream and turned on the exposed neck of the right head. With its last remaining strength the middle head clamped its jaws around its attacker and held fast. The two heads spasmed and fell to the dry ring with a fantastic crash.

Rob and Tanya opened fire once more on the surviving head, peppering it with stinging shots. It wailed and turned to Tanya, who was nearer. Moving with no less quickness, it darted towards the young woman. Tanya narrowed her eyes and stopped firing long enough to prime a grenade. The serpent opened its mouth wide, ready to swallow Tanya in one gulp. She heaved the grenade as hard as she could towards the creature's gaping maw and dove to the side. The grenade flew straight and true, right down into the snake's throat.

Before the last head was able to swing around and make another pass for Tanya, the grenade went off. It blasted a huge hunk of flesh out from the monster's neck, and snapped its spine. The head flopped over to the side and splashed limply into the water. The final guardian was dead.

Tanya walked over to Rob. “Any sign of Gabriel?”

Rob shook his head. “No. I think the one head got him. I gotta say, I didn't expect him to do that.”

“Neither did I.” Tanya said. “Maybe he was trustworthy after all.”

“Maybe.” Rob nodded.

“I would appreciate it if you would stop speaking about me in third person.” There came a slightly winded voice from behind Tanya and Rob.

“How in the blue Sigma blazes!?!?” Rob spun around and looked at a slime-covered Gabriel in shock.

“I am glad you're finally willing to trust me though.” Gabriel smiled.

“But you... swallowed... the snake ate you for space's sake!” Rob blurted out.

“It died before it had a chance to swallow,” Gabriel said. “I just held my breath and forced my way out.”

“Unbelievable.” Rob shook his head. “Just unbelievable.”

“Best believe it,” Gabriel said. “Now, were you serious when you said you trust me?”

“I said maybe.” Rob answered.

“So did I.” Tanya said.

Gabriel scowled and mumbled something under his breath.

“I'm willing to give you another chance,” Tanya said. She turned to Rob. “Rob?”

Rob sighed. “Yeah, okay. Fine. But on one condition. No more of this cagey BS. If you're going to be part of this team, you have to be honest with everybody else. As soon as we all join up again, you're coming clean.”

Gabriel shrugged. “No need to. It seems everybody has worked my secret out. Before the hotel exploded, I was attacked by that Rheinlander, Nikolai. He knew somehow.”

“Ah. Very good. Now, let's get that artifact.” Rob said. He began to make for the water.

“Don't!” Gabriel shouted.

“What?” Rob turned. “Guardian's dead. What's the risk?”

“Look,” Gabriel pointed to where the serpent's body lay across the surface of the water. It was quickly dissolving. “Acid. No way we would be able to swim across.”

Tanya sighed. “Great. Now what?”

There were no quick, easy solutions. Gabriel, Rob, and Tanya all stood silently as they tried to work out some way, any way, to cross the deadly pool.

“Aha!” Rob yelled suddenly. He removed his supply pack and began to dig around inside.

“What?” Tanya asked. “What are you doing?”

Rob stood up suddenly, beaming and brandishing the artifact he had swiped earlier. It was still cold to the touch, even through the thermal blanket.

“A thermal blanket?” Gabriel regarded Rob with a raised eyebrow.

“No, what's inside. I have a hunch here.” Rob unwrapped the artifact and held it in the palms of his hands. Then, with a deep breath, he pitched the artifact up into the air.

“Rob!” Tanya yelled. “What in Sirius are you thinking?!”

The crystal arced slowly and gracefully through the air. “Trust me.” Rob said just before it splashed down.

Droplets of acid sprayed out in all directions before falling back to the rapidly freezing surface of the pool. Gabriel and Tanya stared, open-mouthed as the acid transformed from liquid to solid. The freezing spread outwards from where the artifact had landed until the entire pool was covered in a thick layer of ice.

“I love it when I'm right.” Rob said with more than a hint of smugness in his tone. “Shall we?”

Summary: Tanya and Rob fight their way to the inner ring. They see Gabriel come in and do the same. Rob confronts Gabriel about his secrets. The big guardian awakes. Tanya, Rob and Gabriel defeat it. Rob uses the artifact he swiped to freeze the pool.

Edited by - Codename on 11/20/2005 4:02:25 PM

OOC- I'll post this now and edit if there are any problems.

After the unsuccessful interrogation with Mr. Konn, Jake Talon had returned to his cabin aboard the ship to wait until he could interrogate one of the other prisoners. He was sitting at the small table next to the bed, one of the few furnishings in the room, and he was working with the pirate laptop that he had grown so fond of using.

He had already done the grunt work, getting official dossiers of the prisoners from their respective houses, and then filing the necessary custody and crime reports so everything was official. It wouldn’t make him look good at all if another house discovered that Liberty was holding one of its citizens hostage. Especially the ex-military types like Konn.

Fortunately, Jake had managed to slip the important papers into the humdrum processes of the bureaucratic houses, so that they wouldn’t be noticed and cause a commotion. He had used his past experience in pubic service and diplomacy well to word the papers in a way that no one would suspect the nature of the arrests. And by the time anyone would be missing these people, they would all be long gone; out of Liberty space, hopefully.

Now he was trying to dig up more info on the harder-to-access areas that he could use in his questioning. He was especially looking for weaknesses in these people that he could exploit.

He opened up the dossier of the next prisoner to be interrogated. Nikolai van Haalein.

The interesting thing that Jake had noticed was that the man was found most often in bars and nightclubs. Jake and his department had contacts all over Rheinland who had reported that van Haalein had been seen in a variety of bars, usually drinking liquor as well.

Jake quickly jumped to the conclusion that the man liked to drink, and was probably a borderline alcoholic at the very least. Jake even had dug up some police reports of public drunkenness on occasion.

And that was his opportunity.

After reaching that conclusion, Jake was about to schedule an interrogation with the man when his room door hissed open.

Kress stood in the hallway.

“May I come in and have a word?” he inquired.

“Of course, sir,” Talon replied.

Kress walked in the room and took a seat opposite Jake.

“Mr. Talon, I am here to inform you that I am leaving for the surface in one hour. While I am away, I will place you in charge of all operations here. You are to extract as much information from the prisoners as possible. I expect to return in a few days, if things run smoothly down there.”

“Certainly, sir. I’ll do my job here.”

“Good, I expecting nothing else from an agent of your caliber, Mr. Talon. I’ll be expecting a report on your findings when I return.”

“Naturally, sir. I’ll have it ready.”

“Thank you, Mr. Talon. Now, I must prepare to depart. I wish you the best of luck in your work here.”

“And I wish the best of luck to you on the surface, sir.”

With that, Kress walked out of the room at a brisk pace.

Jake breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he would get a chance to work without Kress’s watchful eye over his shoulder. Now, perhaps he could get these people out of here. He knew he would feel better away from this place.


* * *

An hour and a half later, Jake met Nikolai in the interrogation room. With Kress away, Jake was finally able to do some interrogation his style. He had never had any intention to hurt Konn, but Kress’s presence required him to put on a good show. Sadly, that had been at Konn’s expense.

However, he wouldn’t be too lenient. He deserved some answers too, and he would have to coax them out of these people by playing to their weaknesses rather than assuming pain was a weakness. As Konn’s interrogation proved, pain wasn’t a weakness for everyone.

Nikolai was far thinner than when he had been captured. Jake had been “softening up” the prisoners by taking away their food and water for the last two days. He could tell that Nikolai was thirsty, just by looking at his face.

“Nikolai, where is Rob Schafer?”

“You think I’ll tell you? Liberty scum!”

“Where is Tanya Ramirez?”

“Piss off, you son of a b*tch!”

Jake sighed. But he had expected this from the man, even with the deprivation.

He held out his hand to his right, and he felt a guard pass him the bottle of water that he had set aside. Jake opened it and lifted it up to his mouth, drinking half of it even though he wasn’t particularly thirsty.

“Ah, so good. Fresh water, fresh from springs on Planet Denver. Nice and cold, and fresh, and refreshing,” Jake said.

He watched Nikolai salivate uncontrollably.

He set the water down in front of Nikolai. He would have been able to grab it if it weren’t for the bounds on his wrists.

Then, he waited and watched. He watched Nikolai begin to drool, and gaze at the water.

Jake waited for a full twenty minutes and then decided that it had been long enough. He reached out and took another long drink from the water. And then he waited again.

Jake repeated the process until the bottle was empty. Nikolai watched with pain as Jake gave the empty bottle to his assistant who then walked out.

When the assistant returned with an even bigger bottle, Nikolai watched as Jake took a sip from it and returned it to its place in front of Nikolai.

“I’m going to ask you one last time. Where are they?”

Nikolai barely managed to toss a curse at Jake through his dry lips.

”Fine then, drink.”

Nikolai was shocked as Jake undid one of the bracers and passed him the bottle. Shock and suspicion vanished when he snatched up the bottle as if it would vanish in a moment and began to drink.

He was so obsessed in chugging away at the bottle that he failed to notice Jake’s smile or the way the water tasted until half the bottle was gone and he had to breath.

After his senses returned, he sat there for a second, looking at Jake, before the realization set in.

“This… this… this… isn’t water! What is it? Poison? What have you done?”

Jake smiled again. His words were slurring already.

“You are correct, Mr. Nikolai. You have just drunk half of a bottle of the finest Rheinland vodka there is. A real shame to have to waste such good liquor on a prisoner, but I’m not a vodka drinker anyways.”

Nikolai gasped, but didn’t seem to mind too much.

Ohhh, I was so right. He’s an alcoholic if I ever saw one.

“Now, where are they? Where are Rob and Tanya?”

Nikolai considered it, then glared at Jake and remained silent.

Stronger than I thought.

Jake snatched the bottle from Nikolai’s hand.

“Now, Mr. Nikolai. If you give me a truthful answer to this question, you’ll get some more of this delicious vodka. If you lie or refuse to talk, then I’ll keep the vodka for myself or perhaps send it to one of my friends in Kusari as a gift.”

Nikolai gasped. “You can’t give good vodka to a Kusari! They can’t appreciate that kind of liquor! It would be a crime!” he shouted.

“Then answer this question. What house are you a citizen of?”

Seeing no problem in answering this, Nikolai responded truthfully, even with a touch of pride, “I am a citizen of the great, sovereign house of Rheinland!”

“Good, good.”

Jake held out his hand and the aide put a shot glass into it. Jake filled the shot glass with the potent liquor and offered it to Nikolai. Nikolai grabbed it and drained it.

Jake watched as he struggled to keep his mind from become too far awash in the vodka.

Jake poured another glassful and held it out towards Nikolai.

“How long have you been in Liberty now?”

“Only a few days.”

Jake handed him the shot glass, it was drained, and then handed back to Jake.

“Where were you before that?” Jake asked while pouring the next glass.

So, Nikolai answered truthfully. Just as had been planned, Nikolai grew less and less suspicious after each glass. Finally, he cracked and gave Jake everything he needed.

Jake found out about everything Nikolai had done since he had been captured by Mason. Even better, he found that Tanya and Rob were supposed to be hunting for a new artifact, on the oceans of Planet Los Angeles.

After Nikolai could tell no more, Jake sent him back to his cell, with the rest of the vodka as a gift for his cooperation.

Nikolai had passed out before he even reached the cell, and his guards had to drag him the rest of the way.

Summary: Jake meets with Kress and finds out that Kress is going down to the surface to do some work. (He's really going to hunt for the artifact, but Jake doesn't know that yet.) Jake then interrrogates Nikolai. Using more "humane" but less "conventional" methods, he manages to break Nikolai and get a lot out of him.

Fun stuff.


Edited by - ww2jacob on 11/25/2005 6:35:40 PM

Edited by - ww2jacob on 11/26/2005 12:09:03 PM

The guards had escorted a sullen-looking Travis and a nervous-looking Dr. Tomsons to cells down the hall from Hahukum’s and Nikolai’s.

Earlier, the guards had brought Nikolai back from interrogation laughing about how drunk the man had been when the interrogator – Mr. Talon? – had released him. Indeed, he’d heard the Rheinlander mutter something in his sleep that sounded like “vodka”.

Suspicion fed on itself as he wondered if Nikolai had given up all in exchange for the proverbial thirty gulps of alcohol. When Nikolai woke up, Hahukum shot him a disgusted look and limped over to the other end of the cell, staring at the walls.

He could hear Nikolai’s slightly slurred voice. “What’s wrong?”

Hahukum waited for a full minute, and then turned his head sideways to make his voice heard. “You should know what’s wrong. You were drunk. I could smell it a kilometer away!” Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, granted.

“Come on, look at me, won’t you?”

“Why should I? I bet all the guards had to do was plunk down a bottle and let you run your mouth off! Look. I’m still a citizen of Liberty, and they can throw me into Sugarland for the rest of my life. You’ll get sent back to Rheinland, and with the way things are over there they might never get around to actually putting you in jail. So I’ll rot while you go free. Yeah, I’m bitter.”

Konn’s leg began to throb, and he had to turn around so his back was against the far corner of the cell, and then ease himself to the floor. The hurt look on Nikolai’s face almost made him wish he could take back what he said, but the memory of the guards laughing as they mocked the ease with which the interrogator had gotten everything out of Nikolai kept him fuming.

----

OOC: As you can see, things are happening.

Edited by - Hahukum Konn on 12/27/2005 10:38:06 PM

Gabriel, Rob and Tanya made their way, quickly and carefully, over the frozen pool of acid. None of them wanted to linger too long. Rob's artifact had frozen the surface, but nobody knew how long the freezing would last. That the challenge of actually retrieving the artifact still lay ahead only made everyone move more quickly. If it weren't for the fact that a spill could have resulted in burning away any exposed skin as the acid melted, the three adventurers would have torn towards the platform at full tilt.

A few slippery moments later Tanya, Rob and Gabriel arrived at the platform. When their feet touched the solid, and far less perilous ground, the artifact suddenly ceased to emit the powerful light that had lit up the entire cavern. Beyond the inner circle everything turned pitch black.

“Cosy.” Rob observed dryly.

Both Gabriel and Tanya were transfixed on the artifact hovering a few inches above the surface of the platform.

“It's...”

“...Beautiful.”

Rob had to admit, it definitely was different. And it would not be easy to transport either. For starters, the roughly spherical artifact didn't look like it was solid. This didn't come as a particularly big shock to Rob, given that the artifact was meant to represent water. It was a deep royal blue in color and ever changing ripples coursed in random directions. Light sparkled from within the fluid globe though no source was evident.

Another problem was its size. At half a meter across, the artifact would prove a bulky package, assuming they could figure out how to get a hold of it in the first place. Something told Rob that they wouldn't just be able to bottle the artifact and be done with it.

Rob looked over at Tanya and was shocked to see a look of almost sheer bliss on her face. Under other circumstances this would have made Rob perfectly happy, but the way in which Tanya seemed to be transfixed upon the artifact was nothing if not disquieting.

“Tanya!” Rob hissed.

She didn't respond.

Grabbing the young woman's upper arm, Rob said forcefully, “Snap out of it!”

Tanya turned to look at Rob. She smiled. “It's singing. Can you hear the voices?”

“Say what?” Rob was confused and beginning to worry. He shot a look over at Gabriel.

The Ta'Gue'Led agent could only shrug his shoulders. “I don't hear anything.”

“Tanya.” Rob said. “Gabriel and I don't hear a thing.”

“Oh, it's so beautiful.” Tanya turned away from Rob and looked again at the artifact.

“Something's not right here.” Rob muttered. “I don't like this one bit.”

“Wrong?” Tanya said, her tone puzzled. “No. Nothing is wrong. Everything is going to be just fine.”

“Okay, that's it,” Rob tugged on Tanya's arm. “We're leaving. That thing is seriously messed up.”

Tanya resisted Rob's pull. “No! We can't leave! Not now. The voices...”

“There aren't any voices!” Rob shouted. Something was definitely wrong, something Rob couldn't explain, and it was affecting Tanya. She began to struggle against Rob's grip.

“But I can hear them.” Tanya insisted. “I can hear them singing. The artifact... it's trying to tell me something.”

“What!?” Rob's tightened his grip on Tanya's arm. “Gabriel! Get over here! We need to get Tanya out!”

“No, Rob.” Gabriel didn't move and Tanya continued to try and shake her arm free.

“I need your help, dammit!”

“Let her go, Rob.” Gabriel said. “We can't leave here without the artifact, and it looks like Tanya is our best hope at figuring out what to do.”

Still keeping a firm grip Rob looked at the artifact, then at Tanya. He hated to admit it, but Gabriel was right.

“It's the only way.” Gabriel said.

“Please, Rob. Let me go.” Tanya said.

Rob grimaced but released Tanya's arm. He unholstered his pistols and powered one down to stun mode. The other, he pointed at Gabriel. “If anything goes wrong, I'm shooting you, and getting Tanya out of here.”

Tanya had begun to slowly walk up the steps towards the hovering blue globe. “It wants me to come closer.” She explained without looking back.

Rob stepped forward to follow Tanya up the staircase. As he was about to take his first step up, Tanya spun around. “I have to do this alone.”

Rob scoffed. “Oh, like hell you do.” He began to ascend to where Tanya stood. Tanya sighed and turned back around. As Rob came closer he could hear her whispering. It wasn't any sort of language Rob could identify though.

What the hell? She's speaking in tongues now? I have a bad feeling about this.

“Rob. You have to let me do this alone.” Tanya said once Rob was one step behind her.

“Not a goddamn chance.” Rob said. When Tanya began to whisper in her incomprehensible language once more Rob said, “So you're talking to the voices now?” He tried not to sound too ironic.

“I'm trying to explain what you're doing.” Tanya nearly snarled. “The artifact doesn't want you here.”

“Well, I am sorry.” Rob said. “But there are some issues I'm having trouble with. My lover is under the thrall of an ancient alien artifact. She's hearing strange voices that nobody else can, and she's speaking in tongues. These are very real problems from where I'm standing!”

“I am not under any thrall!” Tanya burst out. “And if you're talking to me, don't talk about me in third person.”

“Oh... I, er...” Rob stammered.

Tanya laughed. “Your concern is very sweet and touching, Rob. Really. But I have to do this alone. The artifact won't accept me if I'm with anyone else.”

“Won't 'accept' you?” Rob repeated. “What's that supposed to mean? Ah, it doesn't matter. Look, I am not going to watch from afar so that when something goes wrong I can't do anything. It's just not going to happen.”

“Nothing is going to go wrong.” Tanya insisted.

“Well, then there's no reason for me not to stay close then. Look, just tell the artifact that we're two parts of a greater whole. Um, we complement each other, something along those lines. It's not like you'd be lying, right?”

Tanya sighed, but smiled as well. “You're incorrigible. I'll try to explain.”

“Great.” Rob finally felt able to relax and smile.

“Could you two please get a move on?” Gabriel shouted from the bottom of the steps. Time is wasting.”

“Keep your pants on!” Rob shouted back. “Things are complicated.”

Gabriel muttered something not quite under his breath, but Rob didn't catch it. Probably not important anyway.

Tanya had turned around and was whispering in the strange language. Rob could only wait, impatiently, for the impenetrable discourse to finish. Impulsively, Rob reached forwards and held Tanya's hands lightly in his own.

After a few more moments Tanya spoke. “You can come with me. But as an observer only. Do not try to interact with the artifact. It will reject you.”

“And what does that mean?” Rob asked, though he had a pretty good idea of the answer.

“I don't know exactly. But we can both guess that it won't be good.”

“Believe me, that thing is way too creepy for me to want to fiddle around.” Rob assured Tanya. “And, uh, you can tell it I said that. If it'll help.”

“Probably won't.” Tanya said. “Just don't do anything stupid.” She stepped up off the last stair and slowly approached the artifact.

Rob climbed the last few steps himself and was about to keep following Tanya when she raised her hand. “That's far enough, Rob. I can't convince the artifact to let you any closer.”

Rob stopped and considered his position. Tanya was only a few steps away, so if anything went wrong Rob figured he was easily close enough to tackle her out of harms way.

“Fine.” Rob stood still. “As long as nothing goes wrong, I won't move an inch.”

“Thank you.” Tanya said softly.

“What now?” Rob asked.

“I have to get even closer.” Tanya answered. “The artifact wants me to touch it.”

“That sounds like a bad idea.” Rob said.

“You have a better one?” Tanya asked.

“No.” Rob grumped.

“Well, in that case...” Tanya trailed off and stepped ever closer to the orb. With each step she took the ripples increased in size and frequency as if it sensed Tanya's approach. Tanya was little more than a foot away and the artifact had become a churning mass of liquid. Rob balled his fists but stood stone still.

“It's... so... beautiful.” Tanya said tremblingly and extended her hand towards the artifact. Suddenly, the orb became still. For a moment Rob thought it had solidified and that they were done. As it turned out, he was wrong. The part of the globe nearest to Tanya began to warp and bulge outwards towards the young woman. Rob tensed as the bulge resolved itself into a tendril, glowing at its tip. The filament slowly reached towards Tanya's outstretched hand. The glowing tip rotated and swiveled about, as if it were examining Tanya. It moved past her hand, and towards her chest before stopping. Then, it reared back.

...And plunged into nothing. Rob had sprung forwards and knocked Tanya down, and out of the path of the “probe” or whatever the hell it was. He and Tanya rolled one on top of the other once before coming to rest. Tanya had Rob's arms pinned against the floor and her knee pressed painfully into his sternum.

“Why did you do that!?” She yelled.

“Ow! Sorry!” Rob winced. “Look, I don't know what that thing is telling you, but it didn't look like it was behaving in a very friendly way from where I stood. And if you get hurt because I didn't do everything in my power to keep that from happening, well, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself.”

Tanya lessened the pressure on Rob's chest. “I can take care of myself.”

“Yes. But that doesn't make it any easier for me.” Rob replied. “And I am sorry. Look, if this were a situation I could understand then we wouldn't have a problem. But this is just too much for me. I have no idea what is going on and that's really bothering me.”

Tanya stood up and, holding Rob's hands, pulled the freelancer off the floor. “Rob, you - ”

“You two need to get done up there, and fast!” Gabriel interrupted. “We have company, and I don't think they're friendly!

Rob and Tanya looked at each other for a second. “You have to let me go.”

“No.” Rob said. “We're doing this together.”

“Rob!”

“Hurry up!” Gabriel roared.

Rob gritted his teeth and set his jaw. “Together or not at all.”

Tanya could see that Rob wouldn't be budged. “Fine. Together.” She slipped one of her hands out of Rob's grip and dashed towards the blue globe, pulling Rob behind her. She stopped just short of the artifact.

Energy blasts began to light up the cavern as the new arrivals opened fire on the platform.

Tanya looked back at Rob who just nodded once. She quickly slid her free hand into the blue liquid.

Time stood still.

Summary: Bah! Just read the damn thing. It wouldn't kill ya.

OOC: IT LIVES! I have some ideas for what might happen next so expect more from me sooner or later. Especially if this damned cold weather holds up. I want my unseasonably warm January back.

Edited by - Codename on 1/16/2006 9:35:42 PM

Rob was torn between turning around to face the new threat announced by Gabriel and subsequent energy blasts and keeping an eye on Tanya.

Tanya plunged the fingers of her right hand deep into the surface of the globe. Her left hand, firmly enclasped in Rob's own right hand flexed tighter and instinctively he held on tighter too.

"Rob?" called out Gabriel. The freelancer heard the agent sprinting up the ramp, but continued to watched entranced as Tanya's fingers slipped deeper into the artefact, currently her entire hand was submerged and hadn't appeared from the other side.

"Rob! Are you there?" shouted Gabriel, he zig-zagged his way up the ramp shortly before a number of blasts scathed the air where he was. "We have company!"

"Tanya! We need to move!" yelled Rob, gripping her hand even harder and now trying to tug her away from the artefact. Tanya wouldn't be moved, she was stuck by some kind of immovable force to the swirling blue object that now seemed to pulse brighter than before. Further to Rob's increasing aggravation, Tanya's eyes were totally transfixed on the artefact and clearly wasn't paying attention to the fact that a new group of aggressors had entered the temple, hell bent on their destruction. A sudden chill wind blew across them all, Tanya's visage suddenly changed as her long, dark hair blew out around her.

Rob moved in closer just as Gabriel reached the top of the ramp and adroitly turned on his heel and began shooting back down the way he had come. Rob let go of her hand, noting it had remained in a clasped position, and raised both to her face, cupping her cheeks. Her skin was cold to the touch and her eyes had turned an icy blue, quite different from their usual shade of jade green.

"What's happening to you, my love?" he whispered. He heard Gabriel behind him but was too absorbed in Tanya's frozen state to do anything. A stifled cry and clatter of guns falling to the stony ground made him turn around. Gabriel was lying on his back twitching for a moment, then becoming still a heartbeat later. Rob saw a cluster of glowing pulses still emanated from his chest, indicating he'd been shot with an energy weapon on stun, rather than killing power.

A group of fully armoured and closed helmed troopers were marching their way from the base of the ramp towards them. Each man wore a similar outfit, white armour emblazoned with grey sections across the shoulders, waist and joints. Behind them stood a man Rob took to be their leader. He wore armour similar in size and shape but bore a slightly different design of helm. He also wore a cloak, that was sopping wet and was still dripping water leaving pools at his booted feet. Rob had never encountered this faction before. At least they weren't intent on killing them, yet.

The group of about a dozen men marched until they were about ten paces away from Rob, who still had his weapon out and faced them, a calm, unworried expression upon his face. The troopers levelled their rifles at him, faces hidden by their opaque masks and the leader stepped forwards.

"Drop your weapon," he ordered. The voice was male, metallic and cold. "Do it now, or die where you stand."

Without a word, the troopers adjusted the power settings on their rifles and low hums increased in pitch to a sound beyond hearing. Rob smirked at the threat.

"Well. You could try shooting me and it's possible you'd take me out. I'll stake my life that you," said Rob pointing at the leader with his gun and making the troopers flinch just a bit. "Would die for sure. I mean. You can't hit both of us."

The troopers including the leader seemed to pause, Rob wasn't sure if they were hesitating or communicating on a medium he couldn't hear.

"Your companion lies disabled," said the leader nodding towards the prone Gabriel. "I think we are more than a match for you. Last chance. Drop it or die."

Rob blanched, but remained calm.

"Tanya," he whispered. "We can do this. I'll hit the leader and dive right. You take out the rest, okay babe?"

He waited for a reply.

"Babe?" he glanced over his shoulder..

..but Tanya had vanished .

Rob dropped the gun, though it wasn't because of the threat. The leader nodded at one of his troopers who re-adjusted his rifle and fired it square into Rob's chest. He didn't even feel the second or third pulse that brought him to his knees. His vision swam, then fell into unconsciousness.


***

OOC: More later!

ttfn

x

Edited by - athena on 1/19/2006 6:09:37 AM

Tanya watched the procession leave until she was satisfied they had safely retreated from the temple.

Her instinct was to act and immediately attempt a rescue of Rob, and perhaps Gabriel, but her training and experience advised her against it. Somehow, the leader of the armed and clearly well drilled troop, seemed extremely dangerous. Perhaps even he had sensed her presence, for he lingered for a few moments after the prone forms of Rob and Gabriel were roughly dragged away, carefully surveying the altar chamber for reasons unknown.

She crept out from her hiding position, merely the other side of the large altar and blinked a few times.

Her eyes had returned to their usual green, although slight motes of blue particles swam at the front of her iris. Tanya knew something wasn't right as soon as she touched the artefact. She knew her heart skipped a beat and her whole body froze, though she remained conscious.

Then something surreal occured, time seemed to freeze. Was it the artefact? she thought to herself. What's happening here?

The young woman turned around to look at Rob who had a look of total concern on his face. She wanted to reach out and embrace him but it didn't feel right . It was like looking at a perfect replica of the freelancer except he was totally statue-still, even a bead of sweat making its way down the side of his face had startlinglystopped just below the ear.

"Rob? Can you hear me?" Tanya asked softly. "My love?"

She waited a few moments but when no response came, she stifled a sob and moved her foot shuffling it slowly to the left. When she found she could move herself fully without causing any major repercussions, she took a stride and came up behind Rob and looked down the ramp. The frozen form of Gabriel mid-leap nearly shocked Tanya into submission. Not only was Rob petrified, but so was Gabriel. And that wasn't all she saw.

Behind the Ta'Gua'Led agent were a troop of around a dozen men Tanya didn't recognise dressed in dark-grey fully contained armour, some had rifles aimed at Gabriel generally so she assumed they were hostile. She stepped back and returned to Rob, her emotions straining as she saw his emotive plight and wondered what Rob was going through right now, wherever now was. Tanya placed her index finger to her lips then gently touched Rob's own with it and swiftly made her way behind the altar. If what she suspected was true, then the last few minutes would be unseen and unknown by anyone.

Tanya closed her eyes and focused..

..footsteps, a rush of air, Rob span around to face the newcomers.

"Drop your weapon," ordered a cold, metallic and distinctly unfriendly voice. "Do it now, or die where you stand."

She thought she heard power settings from energy weapons increased in pitch to a deadly level. Tanya held her breath and strained to keep herself still. Did the troopers know she was there?

"Well. You could try shooting me and it's possible you'd take me out. I'll stake my life that you," said Rob. Tanya grinned childishly. Ever the brave one , she thought. "You would die for sure. I mean. You can't hit both of us," the freelancer added.

The troopers including the leader seemed to pause. Tanya went pale, clearly Rob thought she was still standing there.

"Your companion lies disabled," said the troop leader. "I think we are more than a match for you. Last chance. Drop it or die."

"Tanya," he whispered. "We can do this. I'll hit the leader and dive right. You take out the rest, okay babe?"

He waited for a reply.

"Babe?"

Tanya closed her eyes shut. She couldn't help. Just couldn't.

Whatever had happened, the water artefact was within her now, at least, so she thought. Until she understood what this meant and how to retrieve it, dying in a battle here when the odds weren't in their favour would result in this unknown enemy claiming one artefact for themselves. Who could they be? she thought. Covenanters, at last? How did they know where to find them?

Tanya waited until the troop had left, then crept out from her hiding place and stood still reflecting on what had just happened, then set about planning her future.

Chances are whoever these people that abducted Rob and Gabriel were well connected, financed and equipped. Sending no less than a platoon of heavily-armed guards spoke volumes about their preparations already. All of these led to one thing, somehow, they were infiltrated. Or at least, their ability to perform in a clandestine fashion was now over.

Tanya frowned in thought, feeling some kind of old, dormant energy flare into life once more. Her eyes narrowed as one name appeared in her mind. Somehow, this man had repeatedly interfered in her life, their lives and now, Rob's dislike of him had found its way to her too. He clearly knew too much and if was in any way responsible for harming an inch of Rob's hair, he'd pay for it with his life. The visages of Travis and Konn flashed into her mind quickly. Are they in danger too? she thought.

She clenched her fists until the knuckles became white.

"Jake Talon," she hissed.

Sweat dripped down his body as he sprinted through the Presidential Office Building on Planet Manhattan. What a day it had been. First his promotion to governor, and now this.

This can’t be happening.

He sped up, dodging workers in the crowded halls, trying to reach the exit. Hopefully they hadn’t noticed the bounty yet.

He blasted through the final throng of people and blew through the doors. Now in open space, his legs reached as he fluidly ran faster and faster. He was running for his life, after all.

Across a bridge over a dark chasm between buildings, along a walkway, he continued, never letting up, never slowing. He knew the route well; he walked it every night on his way home.

Manhattan at night was a sight to behold: the giant buildings all lit up, the shadows where the cardamine dealers made their transactions, the gleaming spaceport that was the center of the world. But Jake Edwards had no time to stop and look. He knew them by heart anyways.

He ran over the last bridge to the apartment complex where his family lived. He sprinted inside and entered the lift.

This can’t be happening. Not again.

The lift seemed to crawl towards the penthouse where his family was. They had to be safe. He had to be here to protect them.

He drew his weapon as the lift slowed, and readied it.

The door opened.

He looked at a sight that he would never be able to forget. His beautiful wife and brilliant young son were sprawled on the floor, their blood flowing all over it. Mason had beaten him here.

Jake stood for a moment, staring down in disbelief as his life came down around him.

They’re gone. Gone. It’s all gone.

As he stood there in misery, and wished that he could just pull his sidearm and finish it all, he heard the whoosh of an aircar launch from the balcony. It took all of his strength and training to tear himself away, but he managed to run into his bedroom and to the balcony. He got outside only to see the tail end of a brightly-painted aircar vanish around a corner.

He turned and hurried inside. SOP for the BHG was to wipe all the evidence, which meant a bomb.

It only took him a moment to find it, slapped onto the major support of his house, the timer at just under three standard minutes. It only took a glance to realize that a defusing attempt would be pointless. Three minutes weren’t enough time for that.

He ran into his office and activated the secret door, which opened into a private room where he kept important, secret things. He snatched the hard drive out of his private infoserver in the room and began loading a few weapons into his emergency aircar, housed in the room as well.

This can’t be happening again.

He jumped into the car and powered it up. He opened the secret exit hatch and blasted away from the building at top speed.

The building exploded.


* * *

Jake Talon awoke with a start, his body soaked in sweat.

It all came back to him with a flash.

Just a dream. Just a nightmare, that’s all.

Same one that had been bothering him ever since that actual night. It was the sort of thing that even he would never be able to escape. He still was trying to forget it, but deep down he knew it was futile. And the only thing that could ease his loss was to kill Mason and all those connected to him.

And now he had found he was working for Mason’s boss.

After he had realized that Kress was an Outcast, he had begun using his computer hacking talents to search for more answers on his spare time. What he had found still made him shudder.

Kress was very high in the conspiracy that was the Covenant. Jake’s evidence seemed to suggest that Kress was placed somewhere right underneath the mysterious “Abbot” who was the suspected leader of the group. He was probably the Covenant’s chief man in the Order itself.

Which meant that Jake would have to kill Kress personally.

He glanced at the chronometer on the wall and noticed that his eight hour break was nearly up. He got out of the bed, threw on a casual uniform, and walked over to his desk. He had two messages waiting for him.

The first one was from a junior officer:

---

Lt. Colonel Talon:

It has come to my attention that the Rheinland government has petitioned our government for the release of one of their prisoners, a Nikolai van Haalein. We understand that this prisoner is controlled by you and your agency.

Rheinland has dispatched an officer to come pick up their man, and the president has given a direct order for his release. When he arrives at 1500 MST, I expect you to have the prisoner processed and ready to hand off. He will meet you in Bay 5.

Thank you,

Lt. William Burkes
Offices of Fleet Admiral Harrison
Liberty Navy

---

Jake tried to keep himself from exploding.

WHAT THE HELL DO THE RHEINLANDERS WANT HIM BACK FOR!? IT’S NOT LIKE HE IS AN IMPORTANT MILITARY MAN OR ANYTHING!

Jake quickly regained his composure and took a deep breath. The man had already cracked and told him everything. Perhaps it was good that the Rheinlanders were taking Nikolai off his hands.

Jake opened the second message, hoping it would be better.

Instead, it was far worse.

---

Colonel Talon,

Meet me in Bay 4A at 1530.

-Kress

---

Oh sh*t, what the hell does that mean?

He glanced at the chrono and noticed that it was 1430.

He quickly ran all the release papers for Nikolai on his computer and then briskly walked to the holding area. He and a pair of guards removed a surprised Nikolai from his cell and marched him down to Bay 5. They arrived at 1505 to find an angry Rheinland officer waiting for them.

“You are late! What were you doing, getting a last torture session in with him or something? You Liberty dogs are an embarrassment to all of Sirius!” he yelled in a gruff voice. His accent was very strong.

He was eager to go, so the paperwork was very quick. Custody was officially changed from the Liberty government to the Rheinland government and then the officer took Nikolai and departed with haste.

Jake was actually somewhat glad to see both of them gone.

Now to prepare for whatever Kress is going to dish out. This might be nasty.

On Battleship Yukon, Bay 4A had a reputation for almost always being quiet, as it contained only service craft that were seldom used except for emergency repairs.

Not wanting to consider what that might mean, Jake hopped on a nearby lift and headed for the bay.


* * *


He arrived in the bay a few minutes early, but as he started to get acquainted with his surroundings, Kress’s shuttle entered the bay. It set down in the center and its engines quietly died.

The hatch opened, and Kress stepped out. He glared at Talon, and then another man stepped out as well.

Oh my God. No, no, no. He can’t have…

Rob Schafer looked at Talon with intense hatred. He was wearing a state-of-the-art restraining collar and cuffs, but he looked dangerous.

Rob was followed by another man, on a stretcher, who Jake had never seen before. He looked fairly beat-up, but he drew Jake’s eyes because of his ethereal pale white skin. Jake had never seen anyone looking like that before.

Kress walked forward with the prisoners, as other men exited the shuttle, wearing strange body armor. Kress ignored them.

Kress stepped up to Jake, and said, “Colonel Talon, you have failed me.”

Jake simply stiffened and readied himself for the tirade of attacks.

But when he spoke again, Kress’s voice was level and quiet, yet it gleamed with venom. “Talon, you told me they were dead, yet one of them is here. He was even trying to interrupt my business. I told you these people were a danger to our society, and I was right. They tried to kill me.”

He paused.

“Colonel, you are to escort them to the holding cells and then you are to return with haste to receive your new assignment.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jake walked over to the stretcher, floating a few feet off the deck due to its antigrav lifts, and punched an order into the small control box on the front of it. It began to follow him and remained three feet behind him.

Next, Jake walked over to Rob, and grabbed the small leash attached to his cuffs. He pulled the leash and dragged Rob, with the stretcher behind him, out of the docking bay.


* * *

Once they had left the bay behind, Jake pulled Rob up beside him. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small tool.

“I’m sure you’ve seen one of these before,” he whispered. “Use it well.”

Rob simply looked at him, his face expressionless.

“Look, Rob… I didn’t mean for this to happen, but I’m gonna get all of you out of here okay, no matter what. And if I don’t come back to get you guys, I know you can get them out okay. Please Rob, trust me.”

Rob’s expression never changed, and Jake sighed. They had reached the cells. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a small control card, deactivating the containment fields on two of the cells, one of which Nikolai’s former cell, and put each man in one. He resealed the cells, and informed the medical division that there was a wounded man in one of the cells.

Seeing no way to delay longer, Jake decided he had no choice but to return to Kress and meet his fate.

He headed back towards the bay, despair slowly setting in.

Summary: Jake gets two messages. One is from the Navy, telling him that Nikolai is to be released. The second is from Kress, telling Jake to meet him. Jake releases Nikolai and meets Kress. Kress has Jake escort his prisoners (Rob and Gabe) to the cells. Jake tries to help Rob by giving him a tool to escape and a promise to come rescue him after he finishes with Kress. This obviously isn't Jake's best day, eh?

Edited by - ww2jacob on 2/28/2006 6:49:35 PM

A couple of days after Konn had excoriated Nikolai, he decided the silent treatment routine happening between both sides to have gone quite far enough. Staring at the other man’s cell, he piped up and said, “Nikolai?”

A sharp glare was his answer.

“I’m sorry about blowing up at you. It wasn’t exactly your fault, anyway.”

Nikolai still didn’t say anything, but Hahukum noticed the ghost of a smile on the other man’s face.

- - -

Some time later – possibly a day or two, but the sameness of the ritual of waking up, eating bland prisoner-issue food and in general having nothing to do tended to blur events together – the guards came in, but this time they walked to Nikolai’s cell, cancelling the force field.

Konn rushed up to his cell’s force field and blurted, “Where are you taking him?!”

One guard lazily said, “Oh, nowhere. Just back to Rheinland. Say goodbye to your loverboy.”

This can’t be happening. Sh*t.

Konn raised his hand, pressing it against the force barrier. Nikolai, eyes gazing back into his, pressed his hand against the other side of the force barrier as though the two could actually press palms and fingers together.

Thickly, Konn said, “Goodbye, Nikolai. Thanks for what we had together.”

Again the slight ghost of a smile, along with a reply. “Likewise, dear Konn. Goodbye.”

The guards took the Rheinlander away, and Hahukum sat on his cell’s bunk, morosely staring at the wall opposite.

- - -

The melancholy was broken an hour later when the guards brought in Rob Schaefer, an unconscious Gabriel, and the interrogator, Talon. Rob was clearly trying not to let loose with his formidable vocabulary, as the guards unlocked what seemed to be way too many restraints, then left along with Mr. Talon. Hahukum had stared, gaping at the multifarious restraints on Rob.

Once the guards had left, Konn asked, uncertainly, “What happened? Are you okay? Where's Tanya?”

Rob’s reply was succinct. “Lots. No. Not ****ing here.”

Well, isn’t that just brill? thought Konn.

“Nikolai was in your cell until an hour ago. Rheinland wanted him back, so the guards sent him on his way.”

“Sh*tsticks. Rough on you, I guess.”

“We had fun,” said Konn, falsely cheerful.

Rob smirked at the implications of that, and Konn couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed about it. He walked back to his bunk and sat down, but before he could turn in for a nap, Rob said, “Why the limp?”

Bloody hell. I’d forgotten how observant the guy is. I barely notice the twinges from my leg these days.

“My leg was broken… involuntarily, you might say.”

Rob’s very dark expression on hearing that portended doom of the likes which Hahukum didn’t think he wanted to imagine. And there’s no way to tell him that Mr. Talon had to make it look real, he thought.

At least the fireworks should be amusing to watch.

-----

Summary: Nikolai departs, Rob enters. Rob's just been informed in not-so-many words that Mr Talon is about to be torn a new one, metaphorically (or literally? ) speaking.

Tanya closed her eyes for a moment took a deep breath, relaxing her mind and allowing herself to think through various scenarios.

If all was well, Gabriel would have done a sound job of concealing their submersible craft where only the most diligent of people would find it. Should this be true, it would be a quick trip back to the surface with the Tunis and from there about three hours to the Los Angeles main aquapolis.

She hoped Rob and to some extent Gabriel were safe. Tanya zipped up her diving outfit, sighing dissatisfied with how she 'nearly' struggled with the size and secretly vowing to lose some weight. She placed her newly refreshed rebreather in her mouth then stepped out from the hiding place that had served her so well behind the altar and began to run back to the temple entrance.

While sprinting over the ice pool somewhat recklessly, she noted with more than a little irony that time wasn't on her side. Rob and Gabriel's captors clearly had a headstart, especially if they had a craft capable of leaving the planet's gravity nearby on the surface of the ocean. Tanya saw the strange liquid portal ahead and as she pushed through it she considered the details of their latest encounter. The soldiers used state-of-the-art weaponry and armour. A high level of military training and confidence. Massive resources capable of dropping a ten-man squad out of orbit directly onto a single location hundreds of feet underwater. Her mind boggled at the kind of enemy they now faced.

Within seconds her body felt a cool chill embrace her and slowly opening her eyes, found herself gazing upon the waterscape she had left hours ago.

Strange how much has happened since then, Tanya thought.

The temple was still beautiful from the outside, smooth stone walls albeit covered with coral, numerous plants and the fish and fauna that habited them were still a wondrous sight. Tanya pushed herself high over the temple looking for their craft. She reached the temple roof and tried to search the area surrounding it but found the dark, green-blue depths difficult to see through. Tanya panicked a little when she thought of Rob's captors discovering their craft and sinking it or taking it with them. She quelled the emotion savagely and decided Gabriel must have done a really good job of hiding it instead.

She dove down further into the gloom, slowly scanning the terrain for any sign of the Tunis.

A glint of metal caught her eye and Tanya swam closer to check. As she drew nearer to her amazement, it became apparent the Tunis was almost completely submerged under what looked like an entire reef of coral. More incredible, the coral seemed completely natural and untampered with, as though hundreds of years of coral growth had taken place in mere hours.

Did Gabriel do this? she thought.

Tanya moved herself closer to the airlock and spent a few minutes clearing the coral away from the entrance, somewhat surprised at how easily the coral came away. She eventually cleared enough of the growth then opened the airlock door and swam inside.

She waited patiently for the pressure levels to equalise then a little more for the water to be expelled before opening the inner door. Tanya climbed up the ladder wondering how it was still wet but glad there were rubber pads on the rungs and hauled herself through to the equipment room. She quickly unzipped the diving suit and after letting the sodden garment fall at her feet, stepped over to the shower for a brisk, and cold she complained to herself, refreshing wash. The water heated up just in time for her to untie her hair and given more time, would have love to spend longer under the powerful jets getting rid of the salty smell.

Tanya turned off the water and pushed another button, shivering slightly as a blast of hot air blew over her. She grabbed a robe from a rack nearby, Rob thought of everything she mused, then slipped her feet into a pair of light trainers. At least she'd found the Tunis, returning to L.A. and finding a means of getting off-world was a strong possibility instead of nearly a miracle. She left the equipment room and ran upstairs to the main control deck humming a tune...

...where she nearly ran straight into someone. A man dressed in the same armour as the men who abducted Rob and Gabriel before.

He was calmly sitting in the control chair. Any hope Tanya had this was a friend dissipated both with the drawn gun pointed at her chest and the glint of malice in his eyes that sent a chill through her body.

"Kress was right," he said thickly, clearly admiring his new 'guest'. "He said someone might return to this craft."

Tanya realised her mid-stride stance on the steps up meant her robe was partly opened. It wasn't revealing everything but allowed enough of her neck and thigh to be exposed that it made her extremely uncomfortable. Her left hand slowly came up in an attempt to make herself more discrete but was halted by a short bark from the interloper.

"No," he ordered. "Stay your hand. I like you the way you are," said the man crisply. He had an accent, though Tanya couldn't place it exactly where.

"What do you want?" asked Tanya, her eyes narrowing. A quick review of her surroundings meant one conclusion. She was in serious trouble. He was less than ten feet away, she had no cover other than back down the stairs and there was no way of dodging a bullet, noting the kinetic handgun in her aggressor's hand, in this confined space.

"Not your concern, lady. From now, I ask the questions. And I give the orders. Who are you? Is this your ship?"

Tanya waited for a moment, deliberating over her choices limited, as they were. A shot from the gun interrupted her thoughts and made her jump slightly with a start. A hole appeared in the door away above her, causing dust and bits of wood to fall lightly on her head.

"I am not a patient man," he said. His Caucasian features were creased now into an expression of anger. He was in his mid-thirties, slightly tanned skin and dark eyes. Tanya originally placed him from Liberty but perhaps closer to Rheinland. Or the Omega systems. "The next shot will strike somewhere much softer," he chuckled. "Who are you? Is this your ship?"

Tanya nodded.

"My name is Tanya," she added slowly. "But this is not my ship," she answered truthfully.

The man frowned even deeper than before and leaned forwards.

"But you must know who this ship belongs to, correct? Otherwise, you would not expect to find it. Nor would you know how to get in," he added. "Perhaps you are dangerous. Perhaps I should shoot you now and be done with this and return to my ship!" he said, voice rising a little. "Why are you here? Were you searching for the temple?"

Tanya tried to remain expressionless.

"I know who owns this ship," she answered, again carefully.

The man snarled and leapt forwards until he was only a few feet from her, causing Tanya to look up sharply but remain where she was staring up at him defiantly. There was still nothing she could do while that gun was pointed at her.

"I tire of this game!" he yelled. "Tell me everything you know! Or you will die on this ship, but not before I am finished with you!"

Tanya waited for a moment, then spoke through clenched teeth.

"My name is Tanya," she repeated. "The man who owns this vessel is Rob Schaefer. We were looking for an ancient temple."

"Hah!" he barked again. "Then Kress will be pleased."

"Kress?" asked Tanya, and was rewarded with a stinging slap across her cheek that left blood trickling down her lips and her face smarting.

"I ask the questions," repeated the man placing an emphasis on 'I', with more than a little smugness. "Turn around."

Tanya obeyed, annoyed now. She felt a rough hand on her as inevitably, her robe was tugged off leaving her standing naked on the steps down to the equipment room. Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders in a light-brown cascade, still wet.

"I'm glad to see you have no concealed arms. Put your hands above your head," he ordered again.

At least he could see only see her behind, for now. That needs work , she reminded herself.

"Go down the steps to the airlock," he said and shoved the barrel of his gun painfully between her shoulder blades. She did as she was told and slowly padded down the steps to the room she had just left.

"I can't survive outside in the water for long without breathing equipment," said Tanya expecting to be struck again, surprised when none came.

There was a pause before he replied and facing the wall as she was, Tanya was frustrated in his lack of response. She heard something fall to the ground, then something else. Her heart beat a little faster.

"Don't worry, my ship isn't far. But we are not going just yet. Turn around," he said. Tanya stood facing the wall still. She heard the hammer being pulled back on the gun. "Turn around, I said," ordered the man once more.

Tanya slowly turned to face him and saw his chest was bare, the armour plates unclipped and lay on the ground beside him. His eyes grew as he drank in the sight of her awesome beauty.

"Amazing," his whispered.

"And the last thing you'll ever see!" she hissed sharply causing his expression to change from one of pure lust to self-protective horror. Tanya saw the world in slow-motion, his voice had ground down to a low, stretched almost painful tone. She thought he was starting to say, No . Several drops of water sprayed out from her hair as she whirled and spun, a single drop of water fell from her hair and made its way down to the ground with infinite slowness. Her hand came up before her as she leapt towards him, fingers outstretched and close together.

He fired once and Tanya grimaced as the bullet grazed her shoulder. The shell moved through the air causing a vortex of mini-cyclones in the tepid air behind it and punched through a portal window with the sound of a thousand glasses breaking. Fragments of glass moved inwards as slowly as the droplets of water swirled out from her hair. The fingers of her right hand slammed into the man's sternum and as he closed-up in nerve-punished pain, her left hand gripped his wrist that held the gun like iron jaws and forced it upwards and backwards. With a sharp snap, his wrist broke and with equal, blistering speed the man found the weapon barrel pushing into the soft fleshy part under his palette, her hand was over his own and her finger was on the trigger.

The droplet of water that fell from her hair seconds ago hit the ground with a gentle splash, a sedate end to the moment of explosive violence that just ensued.

"You're right," whispered Tanya into his ear, as the man groaned numbed by the pain from his chest and broken wrist. "I'm more dangerous than you know," she added, her glistening flesh pressed close against his arm. She pulled the trigger and closed her eyes as her face was sprayed by blood. The top of the man's head blew upwards covering the roof of the equipment room with brain matter. She let the dead man fall and ran to her diving outfit.

A stream of ocean water burst through into the equipment room, the hardened glass surface becoming more fractured by the second.

Tanya knew time wasn't on her side in this case.


***


Tanya blew out the airlock and held onto a handrail for a few moments allowing the ocean water to sweep inside the Tunis and fully embrace her. After donning her suit once more, she grabbed her mask and as many rebreathers as she could then allowed herself to be pulled out into the ocean.

Once more she ventured out beyond the temple, this time searching a little further afar for her dead assailant's ship. Tanya swam confidently, knowing the half-dozen rebreathers attached safely to her belt allowed for a much slower, careful search.

So, this Kress is diligent too , she thought.

Not only did they find the Tunis, but Kress left someone behind just in case. The fact it was a single man determined they severely underestimated any added opposition. Or that they didn't expect anyone else besides Rob and Gabriel. If Talon put this Kress onto their search for the artefact, perhaps he didn't infer just how well-trained their group were. Or how many they were in full.

Tanya swam in a slow circle around the Tunis, increasing it's radius whenever she passed by the now completely submerged and inoperable Tunis.

Thus, credit to Talon. Or perhaps he's just incompetent. She dismissed this idea. Talon knew how capable Rob's team was given his last attempt resulted in the death of one of his men, the destruction of an entire hotel floor and ultimately, still not catching them. Tanya frowned.

How did Talon, or whoever that tipped Kress off, know where we were then? The only other people who knew were Konn and Nikolai.

Tanya paled. Her first point of contact would be to get in touch with the affable trader. She hoped the emergency signal would provide the Bretonian man enough time and means to get offworld. But failing this, if Kress's men had found and extracted vital information from Konn and his friend, it made sense how their temple excursion was interrupted so quickly and with such precision.

She hated how they always seemed to be on the reactive. Perhaps now was their chance to turn things around. Tanya guessed that the man left behind wasn't really expecting anyone else to make it back to the Tunis. He probably had some timescale, say three hours, the most on any standard rebreather before returning to his homeship somewhere in orbit above L.A.

This meant Tanya had almost two hours left to find his ship and do something.

Her heart leapt when she found what she was looking for. A dark-grey tail fin poked itself above a field of coral, two hundred yards north of the temple. She swam closer and grinned as she passed over the coral reef found a dark-grey Rheinland Banshee light fighter, clearly modified for submersive manoeuvres sitting in a slight dip in the ocean floor. It wasn't concealed at all.

***

(cont'd)

Summary: I don't write these enough do I? Tanya escapes the temple. She finds the Tunis. She also finds unwanted company in the form of Kress's man. Tanya deals with him, learns his ship is nearby and during her search joins a few threads together. Over to you, guys

Rob awoke just as the transport he was in broke atmosphere and promptly proceeded to retch all over the deck. At first, he wasn't sure if the nausea he felt was a side-effect of the stun blasts, or a reaction to Tanya's sudden disappearance. That line of thought left Rob feeling hollow and empty. As bad as it was to know that she was gone, it wasn't as bad as not knowing what had happened, not knowing what had gone wrong. The one second he had been holding her hand and then... nothing. Tanya was just gone.

Gone.

Dead?

Rob's stomach heaved again, but there was nothing left and he could only gag. The security collar around his neck dug into Rob's skin.

“I would have expected one as troublesome as you to have more intestinal fortitude, Mr. Schaefer.” A voice, snakelike and dripping with venom hissed in Rob's ear.

Rob clenched his teeth but kept his eyes fixed on the floor. He knew that voice. Kress, a high-ranking member of The Order. What's his part in all this? He must be the one who ordered the hit on me and Tanya.

“Of course, your days of getting in my way are now at an end, aren't they? And the rest of your days are numbered as well. But if you tell me where Tanya Ramirez is, and where she has hidden the artifact, then I will not make you suffer. Much.”

Help you? I'd just as soon kiss a Nomad.

“I have to say though, I'd quite like it if you didn't cooperate. I've just returned from some time with the Outcasts, and I have to say, they have the most wonderful methods of interrogation. It will be interesting to see which work against you.”

Right. Because I'm just going to stick around.

“It's a bit of a pity though. You're very talented. I could have used you.”

No. You'll find I don't take well to being used.

The transport shuddered abruptly as it came to a stop.

“Ah,” Kress said and stood. “We've arrived. There should be someone you know waiting for us. Jake Talon. I imagine he won't be happy to see you either. He told me you were dead.”

I seem to be good at disappointing people who say that about me.

“Get up.” Kress commanded.

Enjoy this while you can. These will be the only orders I follow.

“Out.”

Rob did as he was told. He exited the transport and regarded a horrified Jake Talon with equal parts fury and contempt. Spoiled your day, have I? Get used to it. Things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Kress went up to speak to Talon and Rob looked around. Immediately he recognized the interior of a Liberty battleship. Turning around slightly he noticed Gabriel for the first time. The tall, pale man was unconscious on a stretcher. You can rot for all I care. You probably knew that the artifact would do whatever it did. You knew and you encouraged Tanya to touch it. Bastard! I hope you suffer.

Rob saw Talon walk by and punch a code into the stretcher and it beeped once. Seconds later, Rob felt a tug at his wrists as Jake pulled on the cord attached to Rob's cuffs. Rob shuffled along behind Jake towards the ship's brig.

The trip was silent but for the ambient noise of the mighty warship. This proved to be a problem for Rob as he could not help but think of Tanya. He tried to concentrate on considering escape options, but every train of thought led back to her. Evidently, Kress and the rest thought she was still alive. Rob wasn't so sure and that thought alone threatened to overwhelm him. Even if she is alive, there's no telling what that artifact did. She might be halfway across the galaxy, or trapped in some alien prison or space only knows what. I'll probably never see her again.

At about the halfway point to the brig, Jake slowed until he was walking beside Rob. The LSF agent reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black cylinder and said, “I'm sure you've seen one these before. Use it well.”

Rob regarded the laser cutter with no small amount of suspicion. What the f*ck is this all about then? You want me to escape?

The answer hit Rob suddenly.

Oh, you want me to try to escape. I'm supposed to cause a diversion for you so that you can escape whatever fate Kress has in store. Very sneaky. And, guess what? You're in luck. 'Cause I'm busting out of here with or without any help. But you'd be better off dealing with Kress.

“Look, Rob... I didn't mean for this to happen, but I'm gonna get all of you out of here okay, no matter what. And if I don't come back to get you guys, I know you can get them out okay. Please Rob, trust me.”

Why are you still talking? I don't trust you, I won't trust you, and I'm going to get off this damn ship and kill a whole lot of people. Though not necessarily in that order.

After Jake had deactivated the forcefields of two cells, Rob stepped into the one and watched as Gabriel's stretcher floated into the other. He heard Jake call for a medic and then watched as the LSF agent left.

Some time passed before Rob heard a familiar and friendly voice. It was Konn and he sounded genuinely concerned. Rob didn't much feel like talking and spat out answers to the questions. It wasn't until he looked up and noticed Hahukum walk over to his bed with a slight limp that Rob started paying attention.

“Why the limp?”

Konn paused a moment before answering, “My leg was broken… involuntarily, you might say.”

Rob's face darkened. Yep. People are going to die today.

All the angry thoughts in the world weren't going to help Rob out of his cell though. The freelancer considered his status. Somewhat wounded, handcuffed, and wearing a collar that would probably garrote him if anything untoward happened. Not the easiest set of circumstances. Still, Rob had a plan.

Before he could do anything else, Rob knew he would have to deal with the collar. Removal wasn't an option given his circumstances at the time so Rob instead worked to disable the parts of the collar that would incapacitate, maim, or kill him.

To do this, Rob needed small, thin bits of metal, like the cutlery placed next to a tepid bowl of prison slop which Rob quickly drained. He did need to keep up his strength, after all. Under more relaxed circumstances Rob would have taken his time to heat, bend, and eventually snap the utensils into the parts he needed. But time was of the essence so Rob decided to risk using the cutting laser Jake had provided. The forcefields offered no privacy at all, and there was no saying when a guard might wander through the brig. It did occur to Rob that the LSF agent might have intended the device as a trap, but there were few risks Rob wasn't willing to take at the time.

When Rob depressed the activator on the small tube an invisible beam shot out and began to quickly melt through the spoon. Working quickly, Rob soon had reduced a knife, fork, and spoon to eight thin strips of metal of differing sizes.

Slowly and carefully, Rob slid the strips between the collar and his neck. The result was anything but comfortable, but protected the most sensitive parts of Rob's neck. His jugular and carotids were armored against pressure, puncture and cutting as was his spine and windpipe. Of course, if the collar had an integrate stun system the metal wouldn't help at all, indeed it might only make it worse.

To combat that possibility, Rob tore a few small swatches of fabric from his shirt and put the cloth in between the metal and his skin. Rob hoped that the material would retain at least some of its energy-dissipating properties.

It's also more comfortable, Rob thought, and that's a win for me.

The sound of approaching voices made Rob fling himself onto the cell's cot and quickly cover his neck with the blanket. He couldn't afford to let anyone see his progress thus far. Despite the fact that he was hiding, Rob was able to move his escape preparations forward. Using his tongue, Rob began to apply very gradual pressure to the base of his rearmost left top molar.

The tooth was, of course, a fake. Mounted inside a thin but strong enamel shell was a minuscule shaped charge. It hardly looked powerful enough to blow out a candle, let alone cause any real damage. In reality, the MOX charge was enough to disintegrate hull plating half a meter thick. That sort of destructive potential meant that Rob was extra careful when removing the explosive.

The tooth came free with a barely audible pop. Rob caught it in his hands and peeked out over the covers just in time to see a medic and two guards walk past his cell and towards Gabriel's.

I guess this means I wait.

As it turned out, Rob didn't have long to wait at all. After no more than a few seconds one of the men in Gabriel's cell exclaimed, “Jamison!”

Then, hushed voices. Rob couldn't tell what was being said.

Gabriel could, however, as could the symbiote inside him. And the symbiote did not like what it was hearing. Gabriel's eyes snapped open, glowing with an unnatural yellow light. The Ta'Gue'Led let out a great bellow and shot up from the stretcher.

Rob heard a series of sickening thuds and crunches, and for a moment everything was still. Then with an almighty crash, Gabriel plowed out of his cell and tore down the nearest hallway.

If ever there was a perfect diversion, this was it. Rob wasn't about to miss the opportunity. He threw the covers off and leapt from the cot. The forcefield that kept him in was maintained by a series of emitters placed evenly along the exit's perimeter. Rob knew that he would only have to disrupt a few to bring the field down. He held the shaped charge against the wall near the floor and with one blow from his knee, drove it into the wall. The blow also set a 10 second timer counting down.

In order to protect himself, Rob dashed to the back of the cell, upended his cot and dove underneath. He tried his best to cover his ears between his arms. The explosion was every bit as powerful as Rob knew it would be. A great noise roared in Rob's ears and the bed jammed painfully against Rob's side for a split second before tipping over with a crash.

Rob stood up and couldn't help but chuckle at the carnage. The front wall of his cell was gone, replaced by a rather large hole, it's edges still glowing white hot from the heat. There was no smoke though. Needless to say, the forcefield was down.

Briefly Rob toyed with the idea of trying to melt his cuffs off but soon decided not to risk it. He blew out of the hole and was about to run off in the opposite direction as Gabriel when Rob remembered Hahukum.

The ex-military man was sitting bolt upright in his bed. A small trickle of blood ran down from his ear and into his shirt.

Oops.

“Hey, Konn? Sorry about that.” Rob said. “Listen, you sit tight, I'll come back for you once I've got these damn cuffs and collar off.”

“WHAT?” Hahukum yelled.

“Sh*t.” Rob swore under his breath before repeating himself at a much higher volume.

“WHAT?” Hahukum yelled again.

Rob sighed, shrugged, and waved his hands at Konn in a way he hoped would tell the trader that he did plan on coming back. Konn nodded and pointed to the floor of his own cell. Flashing a quick thumbs up, Rob ran out of the brig. He still had a lot to do.

Summary: Rob is taken to the Battleship Yukon. He sees Kress and then Talon. Talon takes Rob and Gabe to their cells and slips Rob a laser cutter. Rob makes preparations to escape. Gabriel's "true identity" is revealed, causing the symbiote to go into self-preservation mode. Gabe busts out of his cell, giving Rob the opportunity to do the same. Rob uses a small explosive device disguised as a tooth to blast away his cell (deafening Konn in the process, whoopsie) and then makes a break for it.

Edited by - Codename on 3/2/2006 7:02:56 PM

OOC: Poor Konn. Leg broken. Beaten. Ship impounded. Lover taken away. Locked in a cell for ages. And now temporarily deafened?

*comforts*

It would be some autobiography hehe

ttfn

x

Tanya climbed into the cargo bay of the submerged Banshee, locked down the hold and after searching for an activation switch, expelled the water from the area which took an agonisingly long amount of time to complete.

A few small puddles on the floor were all that remained of the salty water, Tanya removed her rebreather from her mouth and sniffed the air of the spartan cargo bay interior, scenting seaweed and fish. She climbed up a ladder and entered the cockpit from behind the higher of two pilot's chairs where she promptly began flicking buttons and checking read-outs. The Banshee was in good working order and Tanya sat herself in one of the chair's, turning on the HUD and placing a headset over her still dripping wet hair. The chair was soaked through, not that she cared too much.

She studied the flight log and grinned when she found what she was looking for.

Moments later, the Banshee hummed and the seabed shook as the powerful light fighter's engines burst into life, Tanya steered the nose of the craft upwards, then ushered the throttle slowly increasing the power until her back was pressed deep into the chair. She saw nothing but the deep blue ocean before her, startled undersea creatures scattering as her ship gained speed causing a powerful wake behind. Tanya almost cheered in delight as the brightness of the medium-white sun of California system shone across her canopy and the Banshee cut through the surface of the water like a javelin, sending a spray of water and hissing steam in all directions as the powerful engines evaporated the sea water on contact.

Tanya altered the trajectory and flight path until a single purple arrow on the HUD blinked almost directly ahead, a distance counter ticked rapidly downwards. The young woman's eyes narrowed coldly and the smile on her lips never quite reached her eyes.


***

"Yukon-CAP-dash-zero-niner, you are cleared for landing," announced a clear voice over the comms.

Tanya pushed a button to the side of her headset and heard a sharp ping sound echo over the soundwaves. She had already sent a message ahead detailing her ship was experiencing communications problems and could only respond via pings .

The Banshee was flying well above sea level and clearly in radar range. Tanya didn't want to alarm the mobile platform and decided maintaining the pretence of needing repair would serve her better, at least for now. Besides, she had no idea where Kress took Rob and Gabriel, perhaps someone on the platform would know.

Above her, the clear blue skies of Planet Los Angeles were dotted with the occasional slip of a white cloud. The sun continued to beat down across the ocean mercilessly. She sped across the sea until a small black dot in the distance became a much larger and clearer object. The mobile platform was standard Liberty Navy issue. Twice the size of a gunboat, it hovered in position about twenty feet above the waves.

A large, flat surface atop the platform was used as a take-off and landing area for light fighter craft. Tanya counted two sitting on top of the platform in a ready position. There might be a couple more in hangars below deck, she assumed. Her confidence grew as observed all the ships carried the same colours and markings as her own Banshee, although they were different ships.

Two men clad in dark uniforms waving large, orange signal-sticks were beckoning her to land her Banshee on a large landing pad. Tanya brought her Banshee closer and closer..

..then unleashed a punishing barrage from her Stealthblade laser cannons and missiles at both stationary ships, that each quickly buckled and exploded under the sustained fire, given they were without active shields. She spun her ship in a slow arc, targeting the hangar bay and communications array with several missiles, the control tower with another rapid-fire volley of missiles and all the while keeping the control stick trigger of her Stealthblade laser battery depressed. A series of explosions ripped through the mobile platform and it lurched violently to one side at a severe angle, making some of the crew fall into the sea below. A few guards tried to return fire with small arms but a couple of laser pulses kept them quiet.

Tanya waited until all her missiles were depleted then stopped firing the green-coloured lasers. Gouts of flame and smoke billowed out from the surface of the platform, most of the crew were now trying to jump off the sinking platform and she noticed several inflatable dinghies were floating nearby, probably ejected from the craft automatically.

She smiled when she saw one crewman, the signaller from before vainly holding onto the rung of a ladder and gently steered the Banshee to within mere feet of him. The deadly weapons mounted on the light fighter's wings and under the nose gleamed menacingly. The crewman swallowed, then gasped in shock as the canopy hummed open.

Tanya waved at him with a broad smile and stood up, an energy blaster in hand that she had found in the emergency locker earlier.

"Hey! I can shoot you now, or you can climb aboard and direct me to Kress' operating base. You decide," she stated while staring at him unflinchingly.

The crewman who was still clinging to the ladder gaped for a moment at this beautiful stranger, who had caused so much damage in such a swift space of time.

"I'll show you where it is," he called out in a strong Liberty accent after a moment's thought. "Just don't shoot me!"

Tanya stifled a laugh.

"Jump on-board and strap yourself in!" she replied, nearly smirking as the crewman leapt onto Banshee's nose and tried to steady himself as the hovering fighter dipped and swayed for a moment, auto-adjusting thrusters keeping the hovering craft level.

The man did as he was told and swiftly strapped himself, clicking the belt into place over his grey uniform.

"Don't be a hero and you'll make it out alive," advised Tanya coldly. She pressed a button to lower the canopy and it hissed and locked into place. Tanya rapped the inside pane with the barrel of her blaster. "To remind you I have this in my hand all the time."

The man nodded in silent response.

She gave power to the thrusters and felt the fighter accelerate hard and brought the nose up as the ship pushed towards escape velocity. Her back was pushed deeper into the chair and her cheeks flattened from the g-force pressure. The Banshee shot higher into the atmosphere leaving the smoking wreckage of the mobile platform behind, wisps of puffy white clouds flew by and the sky before them began to lighten, then darken until within the space of a few heartbeats, the twinkling of distant stars and glowing nebulae where everywhere.

A long beep followed by a soft, Rheinland-origin female voice announced; "Outer atmosphere orbit achieved".

Tanya took several deep breaths.

"Okay. Where is his base?" she asked looking down at the crewman sat in the forward pilot's chair. She steadied the blaster and adjusted the settings to stun power, avoiding a deadly power surge or worse, hull fracture in case she missed. Tanya didn't want to kill him out of hand, but she had to find Kress and fast.

The man replied without looking back, although Tanya noticed his eyes avert as their gazes met in the canopy reflection.

"He's aboard the Liberty Battleship Yukon. It's in stationary orbit on the dark side of Los Angeles," he said. "There's no way you'll get aboard," he added quickly.

Tanya considered this. Without knowing any landing protocols, and presuming that it wouldn't take long for the Yukon to learn of the mobile platform's destruction feigning damage would be harder this time around.

"I need to board the Yukon. Can you help?" she asked, immediately hating the slight desperation in her tone that was completely unintended. The man raised an eyebrow at her urgency but didn't say anything to betray that understanding.

"Well, there's a couple of ways," he began, trying to keep from looking at the barrel of the gun in the canopy reflection. "We, you, could fly the ship to a low-use hangar, one used for storage or maintenance. I doubt we, they, monitor every hold all of the time."

Tanya thought for a moment.

"How do we approach without raising the alarm?"

The man was silent in thought. The Banshee altered course subtly and both occupants felt the cruise engines powering up, then the familiar sensation of rapid acceleration as the Banshee built up to maximum cruise speed.

"I could announce us," he suggested.

"That would mean I'd have to trust you," remarked Tanya glibly. The man nodded.

"I have a wife and kids. I'd like to see them again," he replied with more than a little feeling.

Tanya said nothing for a while staring at the back of his head intensely, almost to the point where the man could feel her eyes boring into his skull searching for deception.

"Fine. But if you say anything, and I mean, anything I could interpret as a warning in code you're a dead man," she warned.

"Alright. I swear I won't mess around," he replied.

"Name?" she asked him.

"What?" he asked incredulous.

"What's your name?" she asked again.

"Jason. Jason Schwartz," he answered slowly.

"Well, Jason. The Yukon is twenty five klicks away. We'll be there in a few minutes. You'd better pray this works.."


***

ttfn

xx