Aelyn raised a brow. “Hmmh? I simply meant that they’re all countries on Earth. I’ve never known anyone outside of the direct descendants who had any idea what the smaller divisions of Earth were.”
A pause. At last he took his hand from the ‘surrender’ position and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His other hand still rested firmly on Alex’s shoulder. Judging by the glare she was shooting at CL it seemed that hand was the only thing keeping her from doing something immensely stupid.
“At any rate, I maintain the offer for a personal ship and immediate release of your person. I will not force you to work for us, but your continued assistance would be most appreciated. You’ve already proven indispensable and I can only imagine what sort of trouble we’re going to face taking that android’s lead…I suspect it will take Volo some time to get the thing back into working order – or hooked up to that temporary host, or whatever he’s doing. In the meantime, if you do choose to stay with us, I’d suggest you get brought back up to full capacity. I’ve also instructed for some food to be available, including roasted potato and a few varieties of Benoslovanian spud-salad…”
If there was no more to discuss, events would proceed as planned. The Ranger would be re-armed, re-supplied and re-paired by Harkahn, Gaelan and – in place of Drakis – Tiana, who was much less irritating than her husband.
General Sanders slammed the communicator down onto the receiver. He couldn’t remember a time when he was so furious. His old, thin face was twisted with hate for the man – or robot, or whatever he was – who held lives in such contempt that, that…
To think he had supported them! Sanders had wanted nothing more than the ability to disband the military within his lifetime. The opportunity had come and perhaps it was still there, but at this rate there was going to be no military left to disband and no citizens left to enjoy the peace among united nations!
But, it occurred to him, it was not Kampfer who had ordered this resurgence of slaughter. Kampfer was not directly overseeing this operation, that was the man on the big boat moored off the eastern coast of the city. Omega.
Just like that, General Oliver D. Sanders knew what he had to do. He began making preparations and was finished within minutes. It had been surprisingly easy to acquire what he needed.
Even despite which side he was on, Sanders’ rank allowed him many privileges among the ranks – one of them was very little resistance when he demanded immediate audience with Admiral Omega. He was not questioned when he insisted that the meeting not be announced even over the most secure channels due to the top-secret nature of what he needed to discuss.
One way or another, General Sanders would eventually find himself boarding the Champion, stepping with distinct dignity. He was completely unarmed. (Apologies if I got the name of Omega’s carrier ship wrong~) Before long he was rapping on the door to Omega’s chambers – or the control room, or wherever the top-dog happened to be at the time…
Ketin looked again with that half-blank stare he seemed to give everyone. Looking like some curious, but instinctively cautions youngling animal. How bright were his eyes! They seemed to shimmer no matter what light they immersed within.
He seemed to think things over for a moment – weigh his odds – yet at the same time, it was questionable whether he was actually thinking about anything at all. He seemed so…out of it. Disconnected. Cognitive, but dreamlike.
The moment passed and he shrugged, stepping toward Kampfer and allowing him to do his work. The boy winced once and accompanied it with a low whimper, but after that there was little pain.
And sure enough, when the man was done Kete felt at his still tender ear with some impression. He could feel a sore little scar running along where the open wound had been before.
“Wow, bang-up job y’did there, Doc.” Kete said, looking impressed. “And here I thought I was gonna’ start having to wear gauges. Wouldn’t that look just awful…” A shake of the head, imagining the shame it would be for a halfie to be wearing gauges, putting big holes in their ears… Sticking pencils through them.
The boy was still a little pale and certainly he looked as though he had been running himself ragged for a while, but he was definitely better now without the fiery pain in his ear. That out of the way, he hopped up to sit on the table just beside Kampfer, legs dangling off the side, hands gripping the edge and leaning just a tad on fingers.
“So, what’d y’wanna’ talk about? I’ll warn you I’m not much for politics, just in case that’s what you had in mind. Why I don’t even vote.”
A pause. At last he took his hand from the ‘surrender’ position and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His other hand still rested firmly on Alex’s shoulder. Judging by the glare she was shooting at CL it seemed that hand was the only thing keeping her from doing something immensely stupid.
“At any rate, I maintain the offer for a personal ship and immediate release of your person. I will not force you to work for us, but your continued assistance would be most appreciated. You’ve already proven indispensable and I can only imagine what sort of trouble we’re going to face taking that android’s lead…I suspect it will take Volo some time to get the thing back into working order – or hooked up to that temporary host, or whatever he’s doing. In the meantime, if you do choose to stay with us, I’d suggest you get brought back up to full capacity. I’ve also instructed for some food to be available, including roasted potato and a few varieties of Benoslovanian spud-salad…”
If there was no more to discuss, events would proceed as planned. The Ranger would be re-armed, re-supplied and re-paired by Harkahn, Gaelan and – in place of Drakis – Tiana, who was much less irritating than her husband.
General Sanders slammed the communicator down onto the receiver. He couldn’t remember a time when he was so furious. His old, thin face was twisted with hate for the man – or robot, or whatever he was – who held lives in such contempt that, that…
To think he had supported them! Sanders had wanted nothing more than the ability to disband the military within his lifetime. The opportunity had come and perhaps it was still there, but at this rate there was going to be no military left to disband and no citizens left to enjoy the peace among united nations!
But, it occurred to him, it was not Kampfer who had ordered this resurgence of slaughter. Kampfer was not directly overseeing this operation, that was the man on the big boat moored off the eastern coast of the city. Omega.
Just like that, General Oliver D. Sanders knew what he had to do. He began making preparations and was finished within minutes. It had been surprisingly easy to acquire what he needed.
Even despite which side he was on, Sanders’ rank allowed him many privileges among the ranks – one of them was very little resistance when he demanded immediate audience with Admiral Omega. He was not questioned when he insisted that the meeting not be announced even over the most secure channels due to the top-secret nature of what he needed to discuss.
One way or another, General Sanders would eventually find himself boarding the Champion, stepping with distinct dignity. He was completely unarmed. (Apologies if I got the name of Omega’s carrier ship wrong~) Before long he was rapping on the door to Omega’s chambers – or the control room, or wherever the top-dog happened to be at the time…
Ketin looked again with that half-blank stare he seemed to give everyone. Looking like some curious, but instinctively cautions youngling animal. How bright were his eyes! They seemed to shimmer no matter what light they immersed within.
He seemed to think things over for a moment – weigh his odds – yet at the same time, it was questionable whether he was actually thinking about anything at all. He seemed so…out of it. Disconnected. Cognitive, but dreamlike.
The moment passed and he shrugged, stepping toward Kampfer and allowing him to do his work. The boy winced once and accompanied it with a low whimper, but after that there was little pain.
And sure enough, when the man was done Kete felt at his still tender ear with some impression. He could feel a sore little scar running along where the open wound had been before.
“Wow, bang-up job y’did there, Doc.” Kete said, looking impressed. “And here I thought I was gonna’ start having to wear gauges. Wouldn’t that look just awful…” A shake of the head, imagining the shame it would be for a halfie to be wearing gauges, putting big holes in their ears… Sticking pencils through them.
The boy was still a little pale and certainly he looked as though he had been running himself ragged for a while, but he was definitely better now without the fiery pain in his ear. That out of the way, he hopped up to sit on the table just beside Kampfer, legs dangling off the side, hands gripping the edge and leaning just a tad on fingers.
“So, what’d y’wanna’ talk about? I’ll warn you I’m not much for politics, just in case that’s what you had in mind. Why I don’t even vote.”
Kampfer grinned as he sat back on the chair admiring his handiwork on Ketin's ear. He raised his hands behind his head and tested his boots on the table and said "Vell it's a little bit political but no too much though, it's about your predicament vith ze Galactic Empire"
After a brief pause he continue "I have looked over your files, ze charges zey placed on you and ze bounty for your head...let's say now you have a friend in a very high place. In ze matter of hours zis planet shall be under my control and from zere and now you have protection against ze galactic empire and its forces. No doubt you have had encounters vith your archenemy Kellenger, she a crafty little dog now is she? But don't you vorry about her, she vill be taken care of soon. So I give you zis choice, I shall either kill Kellenger or I shall have her extradited back to ze Empire and she won't come for you again" He said to him looking at him wondering his response would be.
Back on board the tsunami(not the champion) Omega became furious that sanders boarded his ship without his notifaction. Omega was resting in his chambers for a bit until he heard the knock from sanders. He opened up the door his face said he was really mad that he was on board the experimental ship and said "What hell are you doing here?! You better have an excellent explanation before I toss you overboard!" the knuckles on his fists turned white while all of his muscles on his body tensed up in anger
After a brief pause he continue "I have looked over your files, ze charges zey placed on you and ze bounty for your head...let's say now you have a friend in a very high place. In ze matter of hours zis planet shall be under my control and from zere and now you have protection against ze galactic empire and its forces. No doubt you have had encounters vith your archenemy Kellenger, she a crafty little dog now is she? But don't you vorry about her, she vill be taken care of soon. So I give you zis choice, I shall either kill Kellenger or I shall have her extradited back to ze Empire and she won't come for you again" He said to him looking at him wondering his response would be.
Back on board the tsunami(not the champion) Omega became furious that sanders boarded his ship without his notifaction. Omega was resting in his chambers for a bit until he heard the knock from sanders. He opened up the door his face said he was really mad that he was on board the experimental ship and said "What hell are you doing here?! You better have an excellent explanation before I toss you overboard!" the knuckles on his fists turned white while all of his muscles on his body tensed up in anger
Harlan lowers his weapon after hearing the plight of the other soldiers. "Well, let's hope your country ain't like this." He gestures to the fiery landscape of the city. He stops and ponders for a moment. "You fellas don't happen to know of any transports that we could use? We might be able to rally what's left of our armies and get the hell out of here before the military is wiped out forever. Don't know where we'd go though..." He pauses. "And if we can't find any means of escape, I'd sure as hell rather go down and take some of those tin-can assholes with me than sit around and be captured." He looks at the other soldiers. "Well, whaddaya say?"
How very casual the two of them looked! It was so sharp a contrast to the gloomy little room. Ketin’s eyes were curious. Big and curious. “The Galactic Empire, huh?” he repeated to himself, quietly. Then he broke out into a smile, laughed with some strain and scratched at the back of his head. “Oh yeah, all that stuff.” He said, “Boy they’ve sure been making a big deal out of that huh? I gotta’ admit though it’s a pretty crazy coincidence. Personally I think the jerk did it on purpose, y’know? Made himself look like me so he could get away. Well it worked.” Kete pouted for a moment, crossing his arms, looking thoughtful. He always looked thoughtful – but a paradoxical sort of thoughtful which mirrored the apparent absence of thought. He was virtually impossible to read, even though he didn’t seem all that complex. “That guy must be a hell of a jerk if he really committed all those terrible crimes. Tsk tsk.” A disappointed shake of the head.
He perked up at the notion of being protected from the GE. Naturally he was suspicious about this. He was going to comment on it, but was cut off by another reaction. He looked as though he had just been informed that his highest paying client was dropping out. Ears went down expressively. “Wh-…nono, I don’t want anyone to get hurt~” He said, with one wheezy half-laugh. “Y-you don’t have to go killing anyone now, I’m sure a few stern words’ll set her on the right track huh?” A nod as he willed the man to agree with his perspective.
There was concern in Kete’s big eyes now. He had yet to be worried about anything – about himself, where he was, perhaps he had been slightly anxious about having his wounded ear prodded at, but certainly he hadn’t exhibited this sort of look. This concern for the life of another.
Since Kampfer had offered Kete the choice, the Fox would be sated with the reply. He smiled lightly. “So, taking over the whole planet huh?” He said after a moment. “That must be quite a project! That mechanical hand of yours is real neat. What’s the blue lightbulb for?”
He switched topics so suddenly, so drastically, it was almost childlike. Leaning to the side from his seat upon the table, he’d try to peer for a better look at the hand which had so recently subdued him via the neck. It did not hold his attention long though – for a moment later, possibly even before Kampfer could reply – he was leaning in much closer, looking at the eyepiece. Much too close. Very uncomfortable. Zero regard for the alien concept of ‘personal space’. “Hey, is that an eyePal? Must be a new model or somethin’, I’ve never seen one like that!”
Was he intentionally trying Kampfer’s patience? No, it did not seem likely. Perhaps it could be taken that way, but that was in the eye of the beholder considering the genuineness of his…irritating qualities.
General Oliver D. Sanders stood coolly before the infuriated Admiral Omega, hands behind his back, back straight, uniform immaculate. The ideal picture of a military officer of such high command.
Once more, the fascinating psychological phenomenon would show itself – the effectiveness of calm and collectedness on further infuriating an angry individual to new heights of hatred.
“Admiral Omega, it is good to finally meet you in person. I have scarcely had the privilege of being in the presence of a man with so great a tactical mind…”
He let the words take their effect for a short moment. Then he changed his tune.
“But Admiral, I am not here this evening to make your acquaintance. I am here to deliver a message – a message which only I could deliver, and only in person.”
He looked so puny next to Omega. Tall, but thin and wiry, old but not hunched over. Omega could snap him in half like a twig, and yet the fool spoke this way to his face?
“My message is to inform you that you have failed. You have proven to be inadequate for the position of which you serve. Sir, I have lived for a long, eighty eight years. I spent seventy of those years serving my people as best I could. Surely this is not nearly as long a span as you have existed – yet still I have been leading men since before you even knew what a man was.”
“Because you do not know what a man is. You have never lead men, only machines. Those which are unthinking and enact your vile will without the slightest hesitation. You have conquered worlds, but you have never lead men…And you never will, sir. You will never be a leader of men because you will never comprehend the value of life. I wouldn’t expect you to – you are a machine yourself and therefore can never match the truth of what it is to be a human being. And what is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets? Perhaps…
“But the point I aim to make is that what you have been doing here has been worthless and a miserable excuse for leadership. The goal of a military invasion is to take and retain control of a people – not to destroy them all when given the chance. You had the opportunity, Admiral. You could have ordered the Giants to ceasefire, sent riot squads into the streets, and stopped the violence. But when faced with the choice, you chose to perpetuate it. You chose to kill when there was no need. You could have been the bigger man – except that you are not a man. You are no leader, you are a psychopath. A scourge. A cancer on the face of a world that you could have brought together under a single flag. And you were so close, too. So very close…But when the time came, you allowed your ego to get the better of you.
“I will put my trust in the will of your leader. I believe his goals are just and righteous. I will support Lord Kampfer and his empire to my dying day in the aspiration of ending conflict, ending war on this beautiful world of ours. You never wanted to end this war, did you? Did you?. You wanted to exert your own power over life and death. And I can think of nothing more despicable than a worm aspiring to be a god.”
General Oliver Sanders waited for a long moment, allowing the Admiral a reaction. He seemed to pay very close attention, and yet his eyes – old, weary, proud eyes – looked straight through the furious creature.
Then, with an entirely shocking gall, Oliver Sanders interrupted whatever tirade the Admiral had gone on. His words were loud and clear – so loud and clear in fact, that the tiny microphone relay device pinned to his jacket – right between a few of the medals and badges so as to be inconspicuous – picked up every word that the both of them said. The words went from the General’s chest to the Alabaster Office, where they were relayed across the city at maximum volume. All radio bands were usurped. The loudness of it was great enough that every person in the city would hear it, and for that one, brief moment, the fighting would stop.
Everyone was listening. This was different than the president making some speech. This was something. Both sides had their respective leader to listen to. How could they ignore it? Silence fell over the city…
The words were charged with emotion. Intensity beyond comprehension. The intensity of an eighty eight year old man who had spent his life fighting and killing, sinning at his own accord in the pursuit of peace. The intensity of that man at last realizing that dream, completing his purpose in life.
“I, General Oliver D. Sanders,”His voice rang through the city. His eyes were welled with tears but his voice did not reflect it. "support Kampfer, the Lord of Technology. I believe he will bring peace to this country and to this world. I believe that submission to his rule will bring only liberty and justice to all. I believe he will end the war. Admiral Omega, you do not know how to end a war.
This is how you end a war!!”
It was a sound beyond deafening. It was indescribable – incomprehensible to the human ear. Impossible. Therewas no sound at all.
It was like the birth of the Universe – the bringing of light into the world of darkness – whiteness where there had been nothingness, and yet nothingness once more. For one silent moment, Earth was bearer to a second sun.
The second sun morphed into a band of light more brilliant than all the stars in the heavens. And then the shockwave hit, and the city trembled.
-
The detonation of an atomic bomb – even a small one – is very different on land than in space. When Petrovalyc’s warship detonated itself earlier, it was barely noticed by the people. It was a big explosion in the sky and resulting power outages.
But within the atmosphere even a small example of mankind’s deadliest creation was as inconceivably jarring as would be opening the very gates of Hell itself.
General Oliver D. Sanders, Admiral Omega, the entire crew of the Tsunami and the Tsunami itself – gone in an instant. Death came before realization – many of them didn’t realize they had been wiped from existence until after the fact. More non-existent even than the Not.
When the light faded, when the low, rumbling thunder of air rushing back into the vacuum what had been created from the detonation growled across the landscape, there was nothing left of the invasion flagship save for some scattered bits that bobbed in the water.
Because it had been a small bomb, there was no city-wide destruction. Death tolls would not reach to hundreds of thousands. A large portion of the naval assault fleet would be decimated or damaged almost beyond repair. There would be high casualties along the coastline, including the ruination of some of the recovery camps that had been set up. Those on both sides were wiped away simultaneously. Enemies brought together by swift death.
It was not nearly enough to stop the invasion. Perhaps the structure of command would take a hit but it was nothing they could not easily recover from. It was a good hit but so very far from victory, even from planting the seed to victory – that it almost seemed pointless. A great death, but not nearly great enough to call it a victory. Hardly a dent. 9,353 casualties of Kampfer’s forces. 3,548 casualties among ECN soldiers and civilians. Still the power of Kampfer’s army loomed over the world, relentless, indestructible.
The suddenly furious sea was quick to calm once more. There was a warm breeze that softly sang its’ lofty tune as it wandered along.
And the fighting stopped.
“I am feel the worst for it.” One of the Hitzen soldiers said, solemnly. “This Technology Lord, he aspire for whole world, not satisfied until lord of all.”
Another smiled half-devilishly at Ducote’s suggestion. “We do, actually.” He said, pressing some button or something on his wrist. From nowhere materialized – starting with a distortion of space, so it seemed – a small, barely-armored troop carrier. It was fit for twelve, just the bare bones, designed for stealth.
“Our ticket in, our ticket out. We waiting for comrades, though we not waiting very much longer. Leaving city, going to outskirts town or something. War is over, we all lose, best to just disappear for some time I think.”
“I hate t’say it but I’m starting to agree with the Hitzen guy.” Dallen grumbled, with some regret. “I can’t imagine this @#$% getting much w-“
The world trembled. A second sun blossomed on the horizon, hanging over the harbor, glowing in iridescent death. It melted out of itself, spread across the sky, and then it was gone.
Nobody had anything to say for a long moment after watching that. Such an excellent vantage point they’d had. What could they say?
Royanna Kallenger’s eyes shot open wide, as though her looking to Christofer was suddenly the most shocking thing she had ever experienced. Then, without warning, she dove and positively body-slammed him. They went to the ground, into the grass. There was the distant, thunderous rumble. A distinct, indescribable force shot through the both of them. Trees rustled with the energy. The shockwave from the detonation had definitely been felt.
Royanna stayed defensively atop Christofer for a long moment, face contorted in agony from having done a football maneuver with her increasingly wounded shoulder.
Seconds turned into a minute, and at last she rolled off of him, sat up in the short cropped grass. She felt immeasurably stupid.
“I'm...sorry about that.” She apologized, voice low and flat. “That was a…big bomb. Not as big as I thought it was I guess.” Incredibly, the fact that she felt like an idiot was actually all over Royanna’s face. Usually devoid of expressions not revolving around the various forms of frustration, and now it was painfully obvious that the Woman with the Steel Mind felt absolutely humiliated.
In the streets of Earth City and around the world, the fighting stopped.
The mobs of citizens began to drop their weapons. Soldiers who had continued fighting began to surrender. Hands in the air. Makeshift white flags. Lord Kampfer had done it – he had conquered the world. He had succeeded. Far off in Siberia, sitting in a gloomy little interrogation room, talking with some kid, he conquered a planet.
The mobs assaulting the Alabaster Office halted their attack. Men who had turned on fellow men realized the stupidity of their craze.
In one fatal blow, the war was over. The invasion was over. There would be no resistance on any meaningful scale across the entirety of the planet. Kampfer's soldiers might have continued to attack, but all resistance had been wiped away in a heartbeat.
Kampfer owned the planet Earth.
He had won.
He perked up at the notion of being protected from the GE. Naturally he was suspicious about this. He was going to comment on it, but was cut off by another reaction. He looked as though he had just been informed that his highest paying client was dropping out. Ears went down expressively. “Wh-…nono, I don’t want anyone to get hurt~” He said, with one wheezy half-laugh. “Y-you don’t have to go killing anyone now, I’m sure a few stern words’ll set her on the right track huh?” A nod as he willed the man to agree with his perspective.
There was concern in Kete’s big eyes now. He had yet to be worried about anything – about himself, where he was, perhaps he had been slightly anxious about having his wounded ear prodded at, but certainly he hadn’t exhibited this sort of look. This concern for the life of another.
Since Kampfer had offered Kete the choice, the Fox would be sated with the reply. He smiled lightly. “So, taking over the whole planet huh?” He said after a moment. “That must be quite a project! That mechanical hand of yours is real neat. What’s the blue lightbulb for?”
He switched topics so suddenly, so drastically, it was almost childlike. Leaning to the side from his seat upon the table, he’d try to peer for a better look at the hand which had so recently subdued him via the neck. It did not hold his attention long though – for a moment later, possibly even before Kampfer could reply – he was leaning in much closer, looking at the eyepiece. Much too close. Very uncomfortable. Zero regard for the alien concept of ‘personal space’. “Hey, is that an eyePal? Must be a new model or somethin’, I’ve never seen one like that!”
Was he intentionally trying Kampfer’s patience? No, it did not seem likely. Perhaps it could be taken that way, but that was in the eye of the beholder considering the genuineness of his…irritating qualities.
General Oliver D. Sanders stood coolly before the infuriated Admiral Omega, hands behind his back, back straight, uniform immaculate. The ideal picture of a military officer of such high command.
Once more, the fascinating psychological phenomenon would show itself – the effectiveness of calm and collectedness on further infuriating an angry individual to new heights of hatred.
“Admiral Omega, it is good to finally meet you in person. I have scarcely had the privilege of being in the presence of a man with so great a tactical mind…”
He let the words take their effect for a short moment. Then he changed his tune.
“But Admiral, I am not here this evening to make your acquaintance. I am here to deliver a message – a message which only I could deliver, and only in person.”
He looked so puny next to Omega. Tall, but thin and wiry, old but not hunched over. Omega could snap him in half like a twig, and yet the fool spoke this way to his face?
“My message is to inform you that you have failed. You have proven to be inadequate for the position of which you serve. Sir, I have lived for a long, eighty eight years. I spent seventy of those years serving my people as best I could. Surely this is not nearly as long a span as you have existed – yet still I have been leading men since before you even knew what a man was.”
“Because you do not know what a man is. You have never lead men, only machines. Those which are unthinking and enact your vile will without the slightest hesitation. You have conquered worlds, but you have never lead men…And you never will, sir. You will never be a leader of men because you will never comprehend the value of life. I wouldn’t expect you to – you are a machine yourself and therefore can never match the truth of what it is to be a human being. And what is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets? Perhaps…
“But the point I aim to make is that what you have been doing here has been worthless and a miserable excuse for leadership. The goal of a military invasion is to take and retain control of a people – not to destroy them all when given the chance. You had the opportunity, Admiral. You could have ordered the Giants to ceasefire, sent riot squads into the streets, and stopped the violence. But when faced with the choice, you chose to perpetuate it. You chose to kill when there was no need. You could have been the bigger man – except that you are not a man. You are no leader, you are a psychopath. A scourge. A cancer on the face of a world that you could have brought together under a single flag. And you were so close, too. So very close…But when the time came, you allowed your ego to get the better of you.
“I will put my trust in the will of your leader. I believe his goals are just and righteous. I will support Lord Kampfer and his empire to my dying day in the aspiration of ending conflict, ending war on this beautiful world of ours. You never wanted to end this war, did you? Did you?. You wanted to exert your own power over life and death. And I can think of nothing more despicable than a worm aspiring to be a god.”
General Oliver Sanders waited for a long moment, allowing the Admiral a reaction. He seemed to pay very close attention, and yet his eyes – old, weary, proud eyes – looked straight through the furious creature.
Then, with an entirely shocking gall, Oliver Sanders interrupted whatever tirade the Admiral had gone on. His words were loud and clear – so loud and clear in fact, that the tiny microphone relay device pinned to his jacket – right between a few of the medals and badges so as to be inconspicuous – picked up every word that the both of them said. The words went from the General’s chest to the Alabaster Office, where they were relayed across the city at maximum volume. All radio bands were usurped. The loudness of it was great enough that every person in the city would hear it, and for that one, brief moment, the fighting would stop.
Everyone was listening. This was different than the president making some speech. This was something. Both sides had their respective leader to listen to. How could they ignore it? Silence fell over the city…
The words were charged with emotion. Intensity beyond comprehension. The intensity of an eighty eight year old man who had spent his life fighting and killing, sinning at his own accord in the pursuit of peace. The intensity of that man at last realizing that dream, completing his purpose in life.
“I, General Oliver D. Sanders,”His voice rang through the city. His eyes were welled with tears but his voice did not reflect it. "support Kampfer, the Lord of Technology. I believe he will bring peace to this country and to this world. I believe that submission to his rule will bring only liberty and justice to all. I believe he will end the war. Admiral Omega, you do not know how to end a war.
This is how you end a war!!”
It was a sound beyond deafening. It was indescribable – incomprehensible to the human ear. Impossible. Therewas no sound at all.
It was like the birth of the Universe – the bringing of light into the world of darkness – whiteness where there had been nothingness, and yet nothingness once more. For one silent moment, Earth was bearer to a second sun.
The second sun morphed into a band of light more brilliant than all the stars in the heavens. And then the shockwave hit, and the city trembled.
-
The detonation of an atomic bomb – even a small one – is very different on land than in space. When Petrovalyc’s warship detonated itself earlier, it was barely noticed by the people. It was a big explosion in the sky and resulting power outages.
But within the atmosphere even a small example of mankind’s deadliest creation was as inconceivably jarring as would be opening the very gates of Hell itself.
General Oliver D. Sanders, Admiral Omega, the entire crew of the Tsunami and the Tsunami itself – gone in an instant. Death came before realization – many of them didn’t realize they had been wiped from existence until after the fact. More non-existent even than the Not.
When the light faded, when the low, rumbling thunder of air rushing back into the vacuum what had been created from the detonation growled across the landscape, there was nothing left of the invasion flagship save for some scattered bits that bobbed in the water.
Because it had been a small bomb, there was no city-wide destruction. Death tolls would not reach to hundreds of thousands. A large portion of the naval assault fleet would be decimated or damaged almost beyond repair. There would be high casualties along the coastline, including the ruination of some of the recovery camps that had been set up. Those on both sides were wiped away simultaneously. Enemies brought together by swift death.
It was not nearly enough to stop the invasion. Perhaps the structure of command would take a hit but it was nothing they could not easily recover from. It was a good hit but so very far from victory, even from planting the seed to victory – that it almost seemed pointless. A great death, but not nearly great enough to call it a victory. Hardly a dent. 9,353 casualties of Kampfer’s forces. 3,548 casualties among ECN soldiers and civilians. Still the power of Kampfer’s army loomed over the world, relentless, indestructible.
The suddenly furious sea was quick to calm once more. There was a warm breeze that softly sang its’ lofty tune as it wandered along.
And the fighting stopped.
“I am feel the worst for it.” One of the Hitzen soldiers said, solemnly. “This Technology Lord, he aspire for whole world, not satisfied until lord of all.”
Another smiled half-devilishly at Ducote’s suggestion. “We do, actually.” He said, pressing some button or something on his wrist. From nowhere materialized – starting with a distortion of space, so it seemed – a small, barely-armored troop carrier. It was fit for twelve, just the bare bones, designed for stealth.
“Our ticket in, our ticket out. We waiting for comrades, though we not waiting very much longer. Leaving city, going to outskirts town or something. War is over, we all lose, best to just disappear for some time I think.”
“I hate t’say it but I’m starting to agree with the Hitzen guy.” Dallen grumbled, with some regret. “I can’t imagine this @#$% getting much w-“
The world trembled. A second sun blossomed on the horizon, hanging over the harbor, glowing in iridescent death. It melted out of itself, spread across the sky, and then it was gone.
Nobody had anything to say for a long moment after watching that. Such an excellent vantage point they’d had. What could they say?
Royanna Kallenger’s eyes shot open wide, as though her looking to Christofer was suddenly the most shocking thing she had ever experienced. Then, without warning, she dove and positively body-slammed him. They went to the ground, into the grass. There was the distant, thunderous rumble. A distinct, indescribable force shot through the both of them. Trees rustled with the energy. The shockwave from the detonation had definitely been felt.
Royanna stayed defensively atop Christofer for a long moment, face contorted in agony from having done a football maneuver with her increasingly wounded shoulder.
Seconds turned into a minute, and at last she rolled off of him, sat up in the short cropped grass. She felt immeasurably stupid.
“I'm...sorry about that.” She apologized, voice low and flat. “That was a…big bomb. Not as big as I thought it was I guess.” Incredibly, the fact that she felt like an idiot was actually all over Royanna’s face. Usually devoid of expressions not revolving around the various forms of frustration, and now it was painfully obvious that the Woman with the Steel Mind felt absolutely humiliated.
In the streets of Earth City and around the world, the fighting stopped.
The mobs of citizens began to drop their weapons. Soldiers who had continued fighting began to surrender. Hands in the air. Makeshift white flags. Lord Kampfer had done it – he had conquered the world. He had succeeded. Far off in Siberia, sitting in a gloomy little interrogation room, talking with some kid, he conquered a planet.
The mobs assaulting the Alabaster Office halted their attack. Men who had turned on fellow men realized the stupidity of their craze.
In one fatal blow, the war was over. The invasion was over. There would be no resistance on any meaningful scale across the entirety of the planet. Kampfer's soldiers might have continued to attack, but all resistance had been wiped away in a heartbeat.
Kampfer owned the planet Earth.
He had won.
Before Harlan had time to react to the suddenly materializing stealth transport thing, every sound around him seems to disappear, before being replaced by a loud rumble. The flash on the horizon sears his eyes and his jaw drops. "Dear... God..." He snaps back into reality, "Did- was- was that an A-Bomb?" , and before waiting for an answer from the stunned platoon, he continues, "We need to get the hell out of here. Where are your comrades? If they aren't getting here soon, they can consider themselves left behind because if we don't get out of here quick, I don't know what will kill us first, the fallout from that effing nuke or the murderous robots."
Bravo, or what was left of him, had rung back to life "A higher purpose... what higher purpose is there than to live only to die?" Bravo asked as his motor rotated his neck to look at the man "Believe me, your world had burned to a crisp for a reason, there is no higher purpose to discuss here" He quoted and began looking around the room roughly rotating his head as sparks shot out of his metal shell. "I watched as it burned before my transport had launched, there is nothing left of your dead homeworld, all that remains, is nothing but a shell of what used to be" Bravo said then shortly a spike of electricity shot through his systems which cause him to twitch.
In the debire ridden water, the mangled body of Admiral Omega floated on the surface, exposijg the metal insides of what was left of his body. "Heh, Heh, Heh" he laughed in a very robotic voice. Staring into the mushroom cloud filled sky Omega said in a very basic robotic voice "Not bad...for a human" He grinned and contiued "General Sander's, what little have you known...what little have you known...I wasn't the one to issue the order...that was Kampfer's protocol that we follow and we saw the successful results of it...you maybe true, that I am not a man, but I do know how to lead and you were a foolish old man, who knew nothing...who knew nothing" he said as he finally short-circuited and sank to the bottom of the ocean, a fitting end for the Admiral...and a reason for Kampfer's rage.
Seeing that the entire Earth surrendered and the resistance stopped, the army went into rebuilding the city's that where damaged by the fighting. The experimentals retreated everywhere to there respective bases and the ones from Earth City started to retreat into the sea, possible undersea base may be located there. The Doc-bots where oulled back, and the fabricator bots came and started to repair buildings, roads and homes., that where damaged. The Z-bots went around helping the injured and helping others, with various tasks. Soon the entire Earth was slowly being repaired, but under the banner of Kampfer.
"Vell zis is no eyepal, zat hunk of chunk is nothing compared to zis. Zis just helps me do my experiments with precise accuracy" he said smiling despite in the back of his mind he was able to receive all the battle network news from the fronts, the complete conquest of Earth...and the death of one of his prized bots, Admiral Omega. In Kampfer's mind, the pigggy president will suffer the wrath of Kampfer's rage, and he's going to show it to Ketin. But before he went to teleport to get the president Kampfer said "Alright I won't kill Kellenger, I'll just have her captured so you can say some vords to her" He then looked at his mechanical hand and said "Vell it's better if i showed you" he then teleported out of the room for a minute and teleported back in, with the president in binds and gagged so he wont' speak, and had him kneel on the floor. "Alright Ketin, zis blue bulb produces intense antimatter radiation, it can be used as a shield against projectiles and physical attacks but if used to a target, if they are mechanical they bubble up and explode, but if ze opponent is organic like zis criminal right here, zen observe" he said as his mechanical hand squeezed the top president's head covering most of his it and the blue bulb started to glow and blue sparks are spitted out by it, inducing him to very large amount of radiation into his body, basically cooking him from the inside out. "Don't vorry about ze radiation affecting you, because it von't since it's being induced directly into ze person" he said as he looked at Ketin. The atttack should just last only a couple of seconds.
Seeing that the entire Earth surrendered and the resistance stopped, the army went into rebuilding the city's that where damaged by the fighting. The experimentals retreated everywhere to there respective bases and the ones from Earth City started to retreat into the sea, possible undersea base may be located there. The Doc-bots where oulled back, and the fabricator bots came and started to repair buildings, roads and homes., that where damaged. The Z-bots went around helping the injured and helping others, with various tasks. Soon the entire Earth was slowly being repaired, but under the banner of Kampfer.
"Vell zis is no eyepal, zat hunk of chunk is nothing compared to zis. Zis just helps me do my experiments with precise accuracy" he said smiling despite in the back of his mind he was able to receive all the battle network news from the fronts, the complete conquest of Earth...and the death of one of his prized bots, Admiral Omega. In Kampfer's mind, the pigggy president will suffer the wrath of Kampfer's rage, and he's going to show it to Ketin. But before he went to teleport to get the president Kampfer said "Alright I won't kill Kellenger, I'll just have her captured so you can say some vords to her" He then looked at his mechanical hand and said "Vell it's better if i showed you" he then teleported out of the room for a minute and teleported back in, with the president in binds and gagged so he wont' speak, and had him kneel on the floor. "Alright Ketin, zis blue bulb produces intense antimatter radiation, it can be used as a shield against projectiles and physical attacks but if used to a target, if they are mechanical they bubble up and explode, but if ze opponent is organic like zis criminal right here, zen observe" he said as his mechanical hand squeezed the top president's head covering most of his it and the blue bulb started to glow and blue sparks are spitted out by it, inducing him to very large amount of radiation into his body, basically cooking him from the inside out. "Don't vorry about ze radiation affecting you, because it von't since it's being induced directly into ze person" he said as he looked at Ketin. The atttack should just last only a couple of seconds.
She was speaking the truth. If the wound wouldn't get taken proper care of, the wound could get infected and there is a possibility they'd need to ambutate it. Christofer didn't want to be the reason that got the arm ambutated, he'd die of guilt. The expression on Kallenger's face was enough to him.
"Here, uh, I'll support you" The boy would move to Kallenger's side and hold a bit around her while he allowed her to take support from him with her healthy arm. They might be a bit easier target like this, but let's be honest; if someone or something were to notice them, they'd both most likely be shot down, regardless of their positions.
The loudspeaker caused the boy to go deaf for a moment, his ears started ringing and he couldn't even hear the yelp he himself let out. The boy couldn't really tell much of what was happening, his head was spining again and vision went between blurry and black. He'd have to rely on Kallenger's directions. I guess the two really did need each other...
He couldn't really tell what was going on. There was slightly more light as they got out of the jungle - or so the boy assumed. The city was just a big pile of mashed greyscales. Surely he should have been seeing some streetlights too, right? Those were colorful...
"... What happened..?" He'd ask weakly and quietly, not sure if he could even talk any louder than that, or if he should. His hearing was still a bit on the bad side, staticky sound still echoing within them. He couldn't hear the noises from far away all that clearly, only some faint sounds.
"... Everyone is probably sleeping already if they've turned the lights off... ... We should go see if the hospital is still open, maybe they have free rooms..." Toffi would speak tiredly, most of his speach was just assumptioptions...
He wasn't prepared for what came next. The sudden tackle caught him off-guard and caused him to curl up a bit and yelp in surprise. Before he could even ask her what was going on, Kallenger was already off of him. The boy would slowly sit up, keeping his confused eyes on the woman as she explained
"Here, uh, I'll support you" The boy would move to Kallenger's side and hold a bit around her while he allowed her to take support from him with her healthy arm. They might be a bit easier target like this, but let's be honest; if someone or something were to notice them, they'd both most likely be shot down, regardless of their positions.
The loudspeaker caused the boy to go deaf for a moment, his ears started ringing and he couldn't even hear the yelp he himself let out. The boy couldn't really tell much of what was happening, his head was spining again and vision went between blurry and black. He'd have to rely on Kallenger's directions. I guess the two really did need each other...
He couldn't really tell what was going on. There was slightly more light as they got out of the jungle - or so the boy assumed. The city was just a big pile of mashed greyscales. Surely he should have been seeing some streetlights too, right? Those were colorful...
"... What happened..?" He'd ask weakly and quietly, not sure if he could even talk any louder than that, or if he should. His hearing was still a bit on the bad side, staticky sound still echoing within them. He couldn't hear the noises from far away all that clearly, only some faint sounds.
"... Everyone is probably sleeping already if they've turned the lights off... ... We should go see if the hospital is still open, maybe they have free rooms..." Toffi would speak tiredly, most of his speach was just assumptioptions...
He wasn't prepared for what came next. The sudden tackle caught him off-guard and caused him to curl up a bit and yelp in surprise. Before he could even ask her what was going on, Kallenger was already off of him. The boy would slowly sit up, keeping his confused eyes on the woman as she explained
You could say the albino and his troops were quite surpriced at Kampfer appearing and dissapearing as soon as they'd get a hold of the situation.
The lead blinked.
"The government and their dirty tricks... Whatever..." He turned to face his troops. "Men, we are leaving."
And as simple as that, they'd make their way out of the area, leaving the ATT there to face Nirix alone. With the main focus gone, the group wouldn't allow themselves to be revealed for nothing. They'd come back some other time
The lead blinked.
"The government and their dirty tricks... Whatever..." He turned to face his troops. "Men, we are leaving."
And as simple as that, they'd make their way out of the area, leaving the ATT there to face Nirix alone. With the main focus gone, the group wouldn't allow themselves to be revealed for nothing. They'd come back some other time
He was so close. Nirix had him, spoke with him even. She followed closely, seen the large ATT going after Ketin and waited patiently for something to happen. But then, like always it seemed when she dealt with this particular Da'len, trouble followed him, trouble and utter chaos. Kete was standing just a few feet away from her perch, taunting the machine. Yet, like some ill fated dream, a man had appeared from the thin air. He had grabbed him by the throat, something Nirix was really get sick of seeing happen to Kete, before once again disappearing to who knows where.
It was frustrating, something Nirix had tracked with the upmost caution and consideration, only to be taken away from her. She hadn't even answered his question nor had he truly accepted her offer. It was rude and whomever had took Nirix's now special Da'len would feel her wrath.
The assassin had committed his appearance to memory, etched it into her brain. A tall, thin man. The most noticeable feature of his, was the giant mechanical claw on his right hand. It wasn't much but, Nirix had developed a skill for finding people with vague descriptions. It was part of her profession, after all. For now she blocked out everything else, the smell of smoke and distant sirens and sounds of the city were to be ignored. Gripping the handle of her sword, she decided to make a move on the ATT in front of her. Maybe it could provide the information that she needed.
It was frustrating, something Nirix had tracked with the upmost caution and consideration, only to be taken away from her. She hadn't even answered his question nor had he truly accepted her offer. It was rude and whomever had took Nirix's now special Da'len would feel her wrath.
The assassin had committed his appearance to memory, etched it into her brain. A tall, thin man. The most noticeable feature of his, was the giant mechanical claw on his right hand. It wasn't much but, Nirix had developed a skill for finding people with vague descriptions. It was part of her profession, after all. For now she blocked out everything else, the smell of smoke and distant sirens and sounds of the city were to be ignored. Gripping the handle of her sword, she decided to make a move on the ATT in front of her. Maybe it could provide the information that she needed.
"Sir the unknowns have disappeared from the sensors, their not there anymore" the driver said to the commander. "Dammit...aw well it looks like that other dot by our target is still there and is looking straight at us...point the ATT at her" the commander said he looked out of at the digital camera that was hidden on the vehicle. The ATT once again shifted its position to face Nirix. "Don't like the way she holding that sword, best we still stay inside" the commander uttered as he looked at Nirix through the screen. On the loudspeaker and in a reasonable volume the commander said "If our target was your friend, I don't worry he won't be harmed, our leader has taken to talk to him...if you have questions can answer for you" seeing no point in hiding there existence since they now control the entire planet.
Back at Earth City and near Kellenger and Toffi's position, another ATT came upon there position. As it stopped, one can clearly see a Red Cross blazen across the side and soon Z-bots came out of it wearing Red Cross arm bands despite being still armed. One slowly approached the two and said "Hey! If your injured, we can treat you here in our vehicle we have an excellent medical bot and equipment to help you" the order of Kellenger to be captured or even her presence was not known to the any bots besides high command, so Kellenger can go through the bots without having to be in fear...not yet anyway
Back at Earth City and near Kellenger and Toffi's position, another ATT came upon there position. As it stopped, one can clearly see a Red Cross blazen across the side and soon Z-bots came out of it wearing Red Cross arm bands despite being still armed. One slowly approached the two and said "Hey! If your injured, we can treat you here in our vehicle we have an excellent medical bot and equipment to help you" the order of Kellenger to be captured or even her presence was not known to the any bots besides high command, so Kellenger can go through the bots without having to be in fear...not yet anyway
It was by far the most expressive expression Aelyn had ever made. It was made that much more humorous by what kind of expression it was. He’d jumped practically out of his boots.
In his talking with the Ranger, delving deep into the details of ancient Earth and the like, the two had begun walking again. He did not realize, however, that they had made it to the mechanics’ bay, where the hilarious looking little temporary host body had zapped to life and begun talking behind him.
Recovering with a look vaguely indignant, Aelyn made a point to pay more attention to these things. Dear Lord.
Recomposing himself quickly, he spun to face the…severely handicapped Bravo with a mild scowl – but more in thought than anger. “That…that is a possibility, yes.” He said, after a long moment. It was not something A.P. liked to admit, considering he had spent eons working on finding it. “However even if there’s only a burnt husk of what it had once been, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. To be entirely honest I never expected there to be anyone left alive on Earth or any of the other worlds anyway….And my homeworld was Mars, dammit. I keep telling everyone that.”
He paused, arms crossed, looking at the ridiculous little machine that Bravo was now existing within.
“That said, I want you working with us on this. If you know anything about Earth, Sol, the Not or ‘Supervoid-‘(He still patiently awaited CL’s elaboration on that, unless they had already spoken about it on the walk over) you need to share it. All of it, whether you think it’s relevant or not. Scan me, Alexa and the ship if you must, that will be proof enough that we are allied to your creators. If you refuse to cooperate I’ll save myself the trouble, extract the data and have Volo reprogram you to be more useful.”
It all happened so fast. There was barely time to react at all.
The ‘Kampfer’ guy – whoever he was – had disappeared suddenly. Kete found this to be very strange, simply popping in and out of existence like that. It was something he had never seen before – and Kete had seen a lot of things.
Idly, he scratched at his neck, which was rather sore. He wondered what made his neck such a good target. Maybe he should get some kind of armor or something.
Wandering thoughts snapped back to the present. Things happened.
Intention. Hot. Hand. Use. Forward. Show. Reach. Hate. Kill. Arm. Hate. Anger. AngerHatePrideAngerGetReachHandKill.
A mind ‘extension’ appeared in the back of his head again. Thoughts sprung from it. Thoughts that, If he didn’t know any better, would seemed to have been conjured up from his own brain. The ideas were simple as always, and inference was required to decipher what it all came together as. They were the most basic forms of 'thought', that which was fundamentally present in all sentient, free-thinking life, without exception. The most primal emotions, concepts, intentions from which all further complex thought was derived. Hard-coded.
This time it was pretty clear. It was actually clear before Kampfer began his attack on the incapacitated President Eisenglower – which gave him better odds.
Kampfer had been expecting Kete to pull something the entire time. The split-second Kete moved to fling himself from the table, it would be clear that he was going to try and strike Kampfer while his hand was occupied. That would most likely be what the Doctor would prepare to defend against, assuming his reflexes were up to par.
But instead of doing the obvious thing, Kete did probably the most stupid thing anyone could have imagined. “W-wait!!”He dove, body-slammed into the fat man, impacting with enough force to knock him over even despite the difference in mass. It would put him directly in the line of radiation-application, and depending on the specifics of exactly how it worked, he might have ended up taking a hard hit from it.
Presently the boy looked frightened out of his mind, yet it seemed not to be an inward emotion. He stood now between the Doctor and the ‘patient’, half-leaning on the girth of the man behind him, arms out to either side in a protective gesture.
“D-don’t hurt him!” Kete demanded, pitifully, his voice small and vaguely trembling. Big, big eyes were imploring and looked as though they could begin to well with tears any moment. “P…Please don’t hurt anyone, please.” he begged, ears down flat. It seemed for all the world as though this fat man whom he had clearly never seen before in his life was a dearly close relative.
How Kampfer reacted to this was likely going to have a significant impact on his relationship with Ketin.
(I’ll do the other parts later~)
In his talking with the Ranger, delving deep into the details of ancient Earth and the like, the two had begun walking again. He did not realize, however, that they had made it to the mechanics’ bay, where the hilarious looking little temporary host body had zapped to life and begun talking behind him.
Recovering with a look vaguely indignant, Aelyn made a point to pay more attention to these things. Dear Lord.
Recomposing himself quickly, he spun to face the…severely handicapped Bravo with a mild scowl – but more in thought than anger. “That…that is a possibility, yes.” He said, after a long moment. It was not something A.P. liked to admit, considering he had spent eons working on finding it. “However even if there’s only a burnt husk of what it had once been, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. To be entirely honest I never expected there to be anyone left alive on Earth or any of the other worlds anyway….And my homeworld was Mars, dammit. I keep telling everyone that.”
He paused, arms crossed, looking at the ridiculous little machine that Bravo was now existing within.
“That said, I want you working with us on this. If you know anything about Earth, Sol, the Not or ‘Supervoid-‘(He still patiently awaited CL’s elaboration on that, unless they had already spoken about it on the walk over) you need to share it. All of it, whether you think it’s relevant or not. Scan me, Alexa and the ship if you must, that will be proof enough that we are allied to your creators. If you refuse to cooperate I’ll save myself the trouble, extract the data and have Volo reprogram you to be more useful.”
It all happened so fast. There was barely time to react at all.
The ‘Kampfer’ guy – whoever he was – had disappeared suddenly. Kete found this to be very strange, simply popping in and out of existence like that. It was something he had never seen before – and Kete had seen a lot of things.
Idly, he scratched at his neck, which was rather sore. He wondered what made his neck such a good target. Maybe he should get some kind of armor or something.
Wandering thoughts snapped back to the present. Things happened.
Intention. Hot. Hand. Use. Forward. Show. Reach. Hate. Kill. Arm. Hate. Anger. AngerHatePrideAngerGetReachHandKill.
A mind ‘extension’ appeared in the back of his head again. Thoughts sprung from it. Thoughts that, If he didn’t know any better, would seemed to have been conjured up from his own brain. The ideas were simple as always, and inference was required to decipher what it all came together as. They were the most basic forms of 'thought', that which was fundamentally present in all sentient, free-thinking life, without exception. The most primal emotions, concepts, intentions from which all further complex thought was derived. Hard-coded.
This time it was pretty clear. It was actually clear before Kampfer began his attack on the incapacitated President Eisenglower – which gave him better odds.
Kampfer had been expecting Kete to pull something the entire time. The split-second Kete moved to fling himself from the table, it would be clear that he was going to try and strike Kampfer while his hand was occupied. That would most likely be what the Doctor would prepare to defend against, assuming his reflexes were up to par.
But instead of doing the obvious thing, Kete did probably the most stupid thing anyone could have imagined. “W-wait!!”He dove, body-slammed into the fat man, impacting with enough force to knock him over even despite the difference in mass. It would put him directly in the line of radiation-application, and depending on the specifics of exactly how it worked, he might have ended up taking a hard hit from it.
Presently the boy looked frightened out of his mind, yet it seemed not to be an inward emotion. He stood now between the Doctor and the ‘patient’, half-leaning on the girth of the man behind him, arms out to either side in a protective gesture.
“D-don’t hurt him!” Kete demanded, pitifully, his voice small and vaguely trembling. Big, big eyes were imploring and looked as though they could begin to well with tears any moment. “P…Please don’t hurt anyone, please.” he begged, ears down flat. It seemed for all the world as though this fat man whom he had clearly never seen before in his life was a dearly close relative.
How Kampfer reacted to this was likely going to have a significant impact on his relationship with Ketin.
(I’ll do the other parts later~)
Bravo let out a prerecorded chuckle "You wouldn't know the first thing to reprogramming me, I'm no human machine, not even close to it, I came before you humans even started building tents across open plains" Bravo said as a grid came flashing out of his eye swiping over the man and Aelyn "I cannot cooperate directly, except tell you that what you seek hides in the shadows of the angel moon" another prerecorded chuckle played again. Eventually Bravo began taking spare parts and removing pieces from within himself replacing the ones he could see and welding them in place with an attachment that replaced one of his hands and Bravo began singing "There are no strings... to hold... me down" over and over again as he made the repairs he could make, not everything on him was able to be replaced easily.
Even thought it slightly remained into his stomach, the Ranger's hunger was foreshadowed by the options given by Aelyn. No matter what kind of story he tried to pull, CL still saw himself as a disposable elite hitman, albeit the most expensive of them in the universe.
"Heh, for a time-space lord like that you assumed to be, it seems you're pretty naive when we're talkin' 'bout Earth." - Though the Ranger felt like he was just a money grubbing, two faced liar of a mercenary, the overconfidence on his tone, and noticeable lack of stuttering, made apparent that he, in fact, knew a thing or two about the old Pale Blue Dot. "Hell, I didn't even knew there's someone in the known universe that doesn't acknowledge the existence of the Supervoid."
There were many other details that the Ranger could go on about that so called 'Supervoid', but most info about it could be scattered around certain data search engines across the galaxy, such as Goggles. Somehow, the mere thought about the Eridanus Supervoid could bring a chill down to CL's spine. Not about the numerous galaxies into it's 'shore' region, but the depths itself.
It didn't take too long before the trio had arrived at the mechanics bay. "And there he is, spatting ******** from his speakers."
Stories about the Old Earth - as it was known in some regions of the universe - being burnt into an unhabitable desert planet were not uncommon from where the Ranger came from. Just laying his eyes unto the fabled Sun was enough guarantee to the success of his 'mission'... But if there was something he couldn't stand were AI that had self-developed some sort of personality.
"We'll discuss my services soon, Cap'n, but, ****, did you REALLY had to order this thing to be repaired?"
"Heh, for a time-space lord like that you assumed to be, it seems you're pretty naive when we're talkin' 'bout Earth." - Though the Ranger felt like he was just a money grubbing, two faced liar of a mercenary, the overconfidence on his tone, and noticeable lack of stuttering, made apparent that he, in fact, knew a thing or two about the old Pale Blue Dot. "Hell, I didn't even knew there's someone in the known universe that doesn't acknowledge the existence of the Supervoid."
There were many other details that the Ranger could go on about that so called 'Supervoid', but most info about it could be scattered around certain data search engines across the galaxy, such as Goggles. Somehow, the mere thought about the Eridanus Supervoid could bring a chill down to CL's spine. Not about the numerous galaxies into it's 'shore' region, but the depths itself.
It didn't take too long before the trio had arrived at the mechanics bay. "And there he is, spatting ******** from his speakers."
Stories about the Old Earth - as it was known in some regions of the universe - being burnt into an unhabitable desert planet were not uncommon from where the Ranger came from. Just laying his eyes unto the fabled Sun was enough guarantee to the success of his 'mission'... But if there was something he couldn't stand were AI that had self-developed some sort of personality.
"We'll discuss my services soon, Cap'n, but, ****, did you REALLY had to order this thing to be repaired?"
Kampfer grinned at Ketin's attmept to save the pig president, despite of the damage already done to him. Lucky for Ketin he didn't get a healthy dose since it only works for direct contact. Kamfper looked down at Ketin with a smile, that a mad scientist would only have. "For a boy, vho committed so many atrocities against ze Galactic Empire, has compassion in protecting individuals it seems...a facade of innocence hiding under the true evil of your nature. You and me are not so different, a powerful arm and your powerful eye, ve both do horrible ze zings to fellow man, but ze clear difference between you and me, is zat you don't embrace ze self zat can kill men in minutes and destroy armies, you are a interesting specimen in zat and I do commend you in defending an individual you don't even know despite it being too late to save him" Kampfer explained to Ketin as he paced around the room looking at him and at his own hand occasionally. "So I ask you zis Ketin vhat is it zat you truly seek...do you wish ze destruction of others or do you vish to live a quiet peaceful life?" he asked him as he bend down to get a closer look at Ketin's face
Nirix stayed silent for a while, listening to the voice coming from the loudspeaker. She would listen then judge, it only seemed fair for her to do. But as she listened, Nirix heard nothing of interest for her. It was information, it gave her a slight motive as to why Ketin was gone but definitely not what she wanted to hear.
"Take me to him," She muttered, barely intelligible from her low tone of voice. Her sword had left it's sheath and with a strong grip, Nirix pointed it directly at the large machine in front of her.
"Take me to Ketin, right now! Tell me where he is!" She moved fast; Her blade making quick work of the ATT in front of her. With a flick of her wrist, the ATT was split in two and the assassin stood high and mighty next to it, staring at the inflicted damage she had caused with careful eyes.
The Eoclu knew her mission, her attended target. She would protect the Fox half breed and give him a chance at freedom. Nothing would stand in her way and anything that did would be aptly cut down.
This would be the path that she would take.
"Take me to him," She muttered, barely intelligible from her low tone of voice. Her sword had left it's sheath and with a strong grip, Nirix pointed it directly at the large machine in front of her.
"Take me to Ketin, right now! Tell me where he is!" She moved fast; Her blade making quick work of the ATT in front of her. With a flick of her wrist, the ATT was split in two and the assassin stood high and mighty next to it, staring at the inflicted damage she had caused with careful eyes.
The Eoclu knew her mission, her attended target. She would protect the Fox half breed and give him a chance at freedom. Nothing would stand in her way and anything that did would be aptly cut down.
This would be the path that she would take.
The ATT being split in half by the blade cause a reaction since it one of the fuel cells causing an explosion, killing the crew. The commander laid on the burned ground, himself burned and his advance circuitry exposed, it seemed pretty clear that he won't have much time to live. He looked at Nirix and said in a dying tone "You didn't have to do this...we we're willing to answer your questions since we assumed you were his friend...but I see now who you truly are...an unstable woman assassin with unknown reasons in protecting that boy...well you'll never find him, our lord has taken him to an unknown location to talk to him...and until he's finish talking to him you'll won't see him until then" he looked at her with eyes that told the truth. He took a deep breath and looked at her with determination as he lay dying and said "You are an Eoclu, the way you look, the way you hold you sword...we have encountered your people before and soon your planet will fall into our dominion just like this one did...I'll now get nothing from us and you'll never be able to get close to our Lord" and with that he passes way intented for Nirix to be mad and let her emotions guide her choices and actions, an easy thing for Kampfer to
manipulate if he ever encounters her.
manipulate if he ever encounters her.
A 3 dimensional star map holographic shot out of Bravos chest with coordinates leading to what Bravo referred to as the Angel Moon then the star map zoomed in on the Angel Moon and it showed a large desolate ball of rock with a large trench circling the entire equator of the moon "This is where you shall find the key to finding you Earth" he emphasized the term Earth as if it were cryptic or falsified term that was never official for the planet "Believe me or not, your home is out there waiting for its inhabitants to return" he said and continued to repair himself to the best of his own ability.
Maria soon arrived to Kampfer's HQ finally. As she entered the command center, she was only greeted by the operator at the console. She turns towards him and asks "Where's my father?" The operator turned around and said "Well that's a nice way of saying hello, but anyway he's interrogating a prisoner at the moment so you know how long that's gonna take" Maria rolled her eyes and realized that the operator was a more busy with some things than usual. "Stephen, what are you doing" she asks him curious and what he's doing(Yes, all this time the operator's name is Stephen). "Well I am preparing everything for Colonel Pyrus's arrival to take over Admiral Omega's work ever since his untimely death" he said looking at the console and typing information in. "Yeah I'm sorry to hear the Omega passing...who is this Colonel Pryus anyway" she asked him not knowing who this mysterious person was. Stephen stopped and turned around and looked at Maria and said "Well, Colonel Pyrus is the Head of-" he was cut off by a voice coming from the hallway entering the command center and it said "Head of the Deaths Head unit". The Colonel entered but it wasn't what MAria had thought who Pyrus was or looked like. Colonel Pyrus, was woman wearing full black, black trench coat, pants, boots, gloves, a black Nazi like helmet and a black soviet style gas mask with glowing eye sockets, similar to the eyes on the Mad Ranger's mask. She is imposing and stern. She turned to Maria and said "Well Maria, you have failed in your job in securing the droid, I would have thought you would have turned tail and run" her breathing seemed similar to a tall man with a mask who existed a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Maria scoffed at the Colonel and said "Well I'm here to follow up a lead of information from the droid and if I don't leave now soon the Stella will be after it too". Colonel tilted her head slightly and said "I can't wait to see you fail once more, bounty hunter...Stephen notify me when Kampfer is finish" she turn towards the operator and then left the command center. "Wow, what a *****, I thought Z-bots were loyal to the family" Maria said as she looked at Stephen. "Uh news flash, the colonel isn't a Z-bot, she's quote on quote human, one of his Lordships many experiments and very successful one too. She pledges her loyalty to Kampfer only. I think she may be madly in love with him" he said looking at Maria as try's to recall the things about the Colonel. "Well, Stephen, notify me too when my father is finished I'm gonna get my ship ready to leave" Maria said as she also left the command center for her ship
“Yes, I may be naïve on these matters.” Aelyn replied, seeming slightly irritated at CL’s condescension. Like I told you, anything relating to the destruction of Earth has been purged from my memory. I’m aware of the circumstances, I’m aware of the threat of total nuclear nullification. That will not stop me from continuing to search for it.”
As he spoke, A.P.’s people were sending him everything they could find on the Supervoid. He realized that the name had come up long, long ago, but for one reason or another he had decided against pursuing it further. The wrong decision, apparently.
Presently, he pinched the bridge of his nose, closing momentarily the inky eyes as though to drown away the ridiculousness of his surroundings.
“I didn’t order him repaired.” A finger lightly to the ear, with the other hand still occupied at his nose. “Volo MechBay, now please.”
Much to the disappointment of the general public, Drakis Volo was not long to appear. He entered from the far side of the room, goggles around his forehead – the initial stupid-happy look on his face gradually melted to something incredibly perplexed as he got closer – and for the first time (possibly in the history of the Universe) the Chief Mechanic wasn’t annoying.
“What in the goddamn…?” He mumbled, looking at the partial robot who was gradually repairing itself. “I…Cap’n I didn’t do that.”
He seemed serious. Aelyn gave him a look.
“Really, I didn’t.” Volo insisted, “I hooked the stuff up to a host body, nothin’ but an audio output and an LED screen. How the hell did it…?”
“Was the sapient copied into a secure location?”
“Yes, that was the first thing I did. There’s a complete backup of the thing, defects and all, set up where it won’t be able to go doing anything…weird.”
There was an almost unreal quality about it, to hear Volo talking like a normal human being. The same scratchy voice, yet not so very much of it.
“I’d been working on a new body for it, if it decided to comply. A real high-tech deal, more humanoid with all sorts of neat features. Guess he’s not interested?” Volo continued.
In a sudden change of heart, without warning Aelyn drew the gaudy, gold-plated, long-barreled revolver with the red velvet grip from the holster at the rear of his hip. He cocked the hammer and aimed it point-blank at Bravo’s head.
“CD-Bravo, this weapon is capable of discorporating you in your entirety.” He began, using the official sort of tone one might expect from a military officer. Despite the fact that (as far as anyone knew) A.P. had never been in any sort of official military position, he made it work well enough. “It fires adaptive projectiles which maximize effectiveness on a target’s vital systems. In this case it will adapt automatically to explosive rounds, generating EMP to neutralize you both hardware and software. You will halt your repairs immediately, or I will fire. I’m not going to have some ridiculous robot on my ship not obeying orders.”
The idea here was that since Volo had created a duplicate of Bravo which had been stored in the computer equivalent of a lead safe, the robot could be rebuilt from scratch down to the minutest detail – including a perfect recreation of the data contained therein. Apparently the insolence and general irritation of the bot had gotten on the Captain’s nerves.
As such, if Bravo did not halt his repairs and divert all his attention to Aelyn within a few seconds, he would indeed proceed to blow the thing’s vital systems to infinitesimal bits.
“Any and all entities relating in any way to Sol and Earth are by default obligated to report to my authority. Any entities hindering the process of locating Sol and Earth – including those withholding information on the subject – must be made to comply or eliminated. My mechanics will have no trouble at all getting whatever you know out of your disembodied brain. If you have any intention of proceeding with your programming or directives and such are related in any way to Sol or Earth, cooperation with myself is the only way of doing so. Now once more, cease your self-repairs immediately or I will promptly proceed with your permanent deactivation.”
Royanna allowed, with great appreciation, Christofer to help her once again back to her feet after the little ordeal of tackling him to the ground.
“Kid, I don’t think anyone’s sleeping in that city. Look.” She nodded toward a billow of smoke, rising from somewhere a block or two away. It was barely visible against the night sky, save for the eerie glow that the whole of the city seemed to retain due to the slowly dying chaos of earlier – not to mention things like small fires, flares, and other similar sources of light. Power was out all over the city by now, there were no lights in the windows.
“Something serious is happening in that city. Some kind of large scale assault. Those people aren’t sleeping Kid, it looks like there’s no power around the grid. @#$%.” She hissed a curse to herself under her breath, merely working at coming to terms with what was going on, cursing the complexity of it all, the open-endedness of their position. They needed a goal, something to work toward – get feeling better, but then what?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of another armored vehicle – this one bore the universal symbol of the Red Cross. A military force – foreign. She had done a small amount of research on the planet and could recognize that they were not Earth City troops.
Despite her injury and lack of a firearm, it was she who stepped forward protectively, putting Christofer behind her. It had the bonus effect of hiding her revolver which was probably still in his hand – that part had not actually occurred to her.
“No, but thank you.” She said to the medical Z-Bot, with some haste. “I’ve got a small injury but it’s been treated, we won’t require any other assistance.” Level eye contact, tense like a spring and ready to move, even despite the reduction in effectiveness and general exhaustion from the injury that was so much worse than she was letting on.
“We’re just making our way home, we’ll be fine. I heard some kind of scuffle going on back in the jungle to the south, if you want to look into that.”
With nothing more to say, Royanna Kallenger stood, waited and watched. She was not going to trust these people, or bots, or whatever they were. It might be the more difficult course of action, but she was insistent on her and Christofer being left to their own devices. If the kid did try to say anything to the contrary, he would get the hard, but subtle jab of the heel of Kallenger’s boot to shut him up. Seemed she was going to be doing the talking, if she had anything to say about it.
The kid was too eager to trust those in any given position of authority. She hoped now that his loyalty to her would outweigh the insistence.
It was a long moment – perhaps too long – that the wounded soldier hung his head in thought. “They…they are not coming.” He said finally, a grave inflection in his voice. “It is been too long. We must go.”
One of the others helped him to his feet – he leaned heavily on them, for his wound was apparently quite dire. It had been treated to the best of their competent ability, but a shot to the gut was never easy to take.
“I am Captain Leng-Tze. These are Corporals Hds’zra-Sen and Osan-Tsuan.” The wounded man introduced his comrades as he limped toward the flying machine. “It is best that we know each other’s names, if now we are siblings of circumstance.”
Dallen and Sands introduced themselves. Sands introduced the still silent Reltakov. It did not take long for the soldiers to board the little stealth craft.
The thing was hardly a frame – one solid spine that ran the length of it, and all the other parts seemed to be just added on, as though held together by dowels. Incredibly flimsy, but virtually impossible to detect, especially with cloaking activated.
The ship – piloted by Hdz’ra – lifted silently off the rooftop, wobbled, then tilted toward their intended direction – in this case to the north. They had been centralized within the city, and would have a good ways to travel over potentially hostile ground before leaving city limits. Flying high, silent and invisible however would keep them from appearing to all but the most sophisticated technology – and even then, one would have to be looking for a tiny stealth craft in order to find it. Broad scans would turn up nothing. The ship’s innovative fuel system could keep them moving for days.
The soldiers looked morosely down at the ruined Earth City. Only this morning things had been so well.
It would be Ducote’s decision as to where they went now that they were safely in the little craft.
Still his breathing was hard and heavy, still he looked frightened and much more so when the madman leaned in closer...
There was that eye of his. That inorganic red and gold. Old, mysterious technology. Technology that was linked in the distant past with the Stella, linked with Bravo, linked with the mysterious Paeryc Petrovalyc – yet in so insignificant a manner. Just over three hundred years ago when the late Doctor Aller finally unlocked some of the secrets of the ancient, alien city of Isandril, he had tapped into the vastness of the conspiracy and connection, linked with Bravo, linked with the Stella – yet he would never live to see it all come to the full potential. Ketin’s miraculous eye would be snubbed – stunted, cut off before further development could be made. How little Duros Aller had known.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” He said, trying his best to sound brave. It worked only so much that it was obvious how hard he was trying. “I don’t want to hurt anyone…T-take him back!”
The last words there were spoken louder, more harshly, and with a much more bite to them. He wanted to sound like he meant business!
“Take him back and I’ll talk. J-just put him back wherever you got him from and leave him. Don’t kill him. I’ll know if you do.”
Since Ketin had known preemptively what Kampfer had planned, he had managed to intervene before a deadly dose of radiation could be delivered. As such, the incapacitated president Eisenglower had been left, as of now, with a searing headache, but no permanent damage.
His eye was ever going, ever reading, probing. There was no way to tell where he was looking, given the fundamental nature of the eye. It was like a lens which one could look through and comprehend the minds of others, bringing them into the back of his own mind, making them as though they were his own thoughts, forcing him to determine which were and were not his own. The eye itself had no effect on anything outside of Kete’s mind, in relation to the mind-reading portion of his abilities.
As such, Kampfer would be unable to determine for certain that Kete was ‘reading his mind’, if the theory had even occurred to him in the first place. (The electronic manipulation was obvious since the effects could be directly observed) Kete did know why Kampfer hated Eisenglower. He knew the whole thing, poking and prodding with subconscious deftness. He would know if Kampfer took Eisenglower and finished the job, of if he let him go.
It would be this moment that would determine Kete’s interactions with Kampfer. Mercy would grant an audience, while vengeance would shut him down. Indeed, where vengeance would turn Kete away from Kampfer for good, mercy would likely have the opposite effect.
After all, it was an affectionate father figure who had last convinced him to act as a tool of destruction. It was not out of the question that, with persistence and tact, a similar end could not be reached once again…
As he spoke, A.P.’s people were sending him everything they could find on the Supervoid. He realized that the name had come up long, long ago, but for one reason or another he had decided against pursuing it further. The wrong decision, apparently.
Presently, he pinched the bridge of his nose, closing momentarily the inky eyes as though to drown away the ridiculousness of his surroundings.
“I didn’t order him repaired.” A finger lightly to the ear, with the other hand still occupied at his nose. “Volo MechBay, now please.”
Much to the disappointment of the general public, Drakis Volo was not long to appear. He entered from the far side of the room, goggles around his forehead – the initial stupid-happy look on his face gradually melted to something incredibly perplexed as he got closer – and for the first time (possibly in the history of the Universe) the Chief Mechanic wasn’t annoying.
“What in the goddamn…?” He mumbled, looking at the partial robot who was gradually repairing itself. “I…Cap’n I didn’t do that.”
He seemed serious. Aelyn gave him a look.
“Really, I didn’t.” Volo insisted, “I hooked the stuff up to a host body, nothin’ but an audio output and an LED screen. How the hell did it…?”
“Was the sapient copied into a secure location?”
“Yes, that was the first thing I did. There’s a complete backup of the thing, defects and all, set up where it won’t be able to go doing anything…weird.”
There was an almost unreal quality about it, to hear Volo talking like a normal human being. The same scratchy voice, yet not so very much of it.
“I’d been working on a new body for it, if it decided to comply. A real high-tech deal, more humanoid with all sorts of neat features. Guess he’s not interested?” Volo continued.
In a sudden change of heart, without warning Aelyn drew the gaudy, gold-plated, long-barreled revolver with the red velvet grip from the holster at the rear of his hip. He cocked the hammer and aimed it point-blank at Bravo’s head.
“CD-Bravo, this weapon is capable of discorporating you in your entirety.” He began, using the official sort of tone one might expect from a military officer. Despite the fact that (as far as anyone knew) A.P. had never been in any sort of official military position, he made it work well enough. “It fires adaptive projectiles which maximize effectiveness on a target’s vital systems. In this case it will adapt automatically to explosive rounds, generating EMP to neutralize you both hardware and software. You will halt your repairs immediately, or I will fire. I’m not going to have some ridiculous robot on my ship not obeying orders.”
The idea here was that since Volo had created a duplicate of Bravo which had been stored in the computer equivalent of a lead safe, the robot could be rebuilt from scratch down to the minutest detail – including a perfect recreation of the data contained therein. Apparently the insolence and general irritation of the bot had gotten on the Captain’s nerves.
As such, if Bravo did not halt his repairs and divert all his attention to Aelyn within a few seconds, he would indeed proceed to blow the thing’s vital systems to infinitesimal bits.
“Any and all entities relating in any way to Sol and Earth are by default obligated to report to my authority. Any entities hindering the process of locating Sol and Earth – including those withholding information on the subject – must be made to comply or eliminated. My mechanics will have no trouble at all getting whatever you know out of your disembodied brain. If you have any intention of proceeding with your programming or directives and such are related in any way to Sol or Earth, cooperation with myself is the only way of doing so. Now once more, cease your self-repairs immediately or I will promptly proceed with your permanent deactivation.”
Royanna allowed, with great appreciation, Christofer to help her once again back to her feet after the little ordeal of tackling him to the ground.
“Kid, I don’t think anyone’s sleeping in that city. Look.” She nodded toward a billow of smoke, rising from somewhere a block or two away. It was barely visible against the night sky, save for the eerie glow that the whole of the city seemed to retain due to the slowly dying chaos of earlier – not to mention things like small fires, flares, and other similar sources of light. Power was out all over the city by now, there were no lights in the windows.
“Something serious is happening in that city. Some kind of large scale assault. Those people aren’t sleeping Kid, it looks like there’s no power around the grid. @#$%.” She hissed a curse to herself under her breath, merely working at coming to terms with what was going on, cursing the complexity of it all, the open-endedness of their position. They needed a goal, something to work toward – get feeling better, but then what?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of another armored vehicle – this one bore the universal symbol of the Red Cross. A military force – foreign. She had done a small amount of research on the planet and could recognize that they were not Earth City troops.
Despite her injury and lack of a firearm, it was she who stepped forward protectively, putting Christofer behind her. It had the bonus effect of hiding her revolver which was probably still in his hand – that part had not actually occurred to her.
“No, but thank you.” She said to the medical Z-Bot, with some haste. “I’ve got a small injury but it’s been treated, we won’t require any other assistance.” Level eye contact, tense like a spring and ready to move, even despite the reduction in effectiveness and general exhaustion from the injury that was so much worse than she was letting on.
“We’re just making our way home, we’ll be fine. I heard some kind of scuffle going on back in the jungle to the south, if you want to look into that.”
With nothing more to say, Royanna Kallenger stood, waited and watched. She was not going to trust these people, or bots, or whatever they were. It might be the more difficult course of action, but she was insistent on her and Christofer being left to their own devices. If the kid did try to say anything to the contrary, he would get the hard, but subtle jab of the heel of Kallenger’s boot to shut him up. Seemed she was going to be doing the talking, if she had anything to say about it.
The kid was too eager to trust those in any given position of authority. She hoped now that his loyalty to her would outweigh the insistence.
It was a long moment – perhaps too long – that the wounded soldier hung his head in thought. “They…they are not coming.” He said finally, a grave inflection in his voice. “It is been too long. We must go.”
One of the others helped him to his feet – he leaned heavily on them, for his wound was apparently quite dire. It had been treated to the best of their competent ability, but a shot to the gut was never easy to take.
“I am Captain Leng-Tze. These are Corporals Hds’zra-Sen and Osan-Tsuan.” The wounded man introduced his comrades as he limped toward the flying machine. “It is best that we know each other’s names, if now we are siblings of circumstance.”
Dallen and Sands introduced themselves. Sands introduced the still silent Reltakov. It did not take long for the soldiers to board the little stealth craft.
The thing was hardly a frame – one solid spine that ran the length of it, and all the other parts seemed to be just added on, as though held together by dowels. Incredibly flimsy, but virtually impossible to detect, especially with cloaking activated.
The ship – piloted by Hdz’ra – lifted silently off the rooftop, wobbled, then tilted toward their intended direction – in this case to the north. They had been centralized within the city, and would have a good ways to travel over potentially hostile ground before leaving city limits. Flying high, silent and invisible however would keep them from appearing to all but the most sophisticated technology – and even then, one would have to be looking for a tiny stealth craft in order to find it. Broad scans would turn up nothing. The ship’s innovative fuel system could keep them moving for days.
The soldiers looked morosely down at the ruined Earth City. Only this morning things had been so well.
It would be Ducote’s decision as to where they went now that they were safely in the little craft.
Still his breathing was hard and heavy, still he looked frightened and much more so when the madman leaned in closer...
There was that eye of his. That inorganic red and gold. Old, mysterious technology. Technology that was linked in the distant past with the Stella, linked with Bravo, linked with the mysterious Paeryc Petrovalyc – yet in so insignificant a manner. Just over three hundred years ago when the late Doctor Aller finally unlocked some of the secrets of the ancient, alien city of Isandril, he had tapped into the vastness of the conspiracy and connection, linked with Bravo, linked with the Stella – yet he would never live to see it all come to the full potential. Ketin’s miraculous eye would be snubbed – stunted, cut off before further development could be made. How little Duros Aller had known.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” He said, trying his best to sound brave. It worked only so much that it was obvious how hard he was trying. “I don’t want to hurt anyone…T-take him back!”
The last words there were spoken louder, more harshly, and with a much more bite to them. He wanted to sound like he meant business!
“Take him back and I’ll talk. J-just put him back wherever you got him from and leave him. Don’t kill him. I’ll know if you do.”
Since Ketin had known preemptively what Kampfer had planned, he had managed to intervene before a deadly dose of radiation could be delivered. As such, the incapacitated president Eisenglower had been left, as of now, with a searing headache, but no permanent damage.
His eye was ever going, ever reading, probing. There was no way to tell where he was looking, given the fundamental nature of the eye. It was like a lens which one could look through and comprehend the minds of others, bringing them into the back of his own mind, making them as though they were his own thoughts, forcing him to determine which were and were not his own. The eye itself had no effect on anything outside of Kete’s mind, in relation to the mind-reading portion of his abilities.
As such, Kampfer would be unable to determine for certain that Kete was ‘reading his mind’, if the theory had even occurred to him in the first place. (The electronic manipulation was obvious since the effects could be directly observed) Kete did know why Kampfer hated Eisenglower. He knew the whole thing, poking and prodding with subconscious deftness. He would know if Kampfer took Eisenglower and finished the job, of if he let him go.
It would be this moment that would determine Kete’s interactions with Kampfer. Mercy would grant an audience, while vengeance would shut him down. Indeed, where vengeance would turn Kete away from Kampfer for good, mercy would likely have the opposite effect.
After all, it was an affectionate father figure who had last convinced him to act as a tool of destruction. It was not out of the question that, with persistence and tact, a similar end could not be reached once again…
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