Thank you, it is good to be back.
And now, without further ado, the next section of The Revisionist. Please note that the story has undergone a massive rewriting so there might be some discrepancies. Please let me know if any jump out at you, since I would really like to fix them and preserve the consistency of the story. Thank you.
Previous SectionChapter Nineteen The new day had dawned red across the Rosin Sphere, almost as if the computers in charge of the sun screens knew what was to happen this day as darkness came once more. Even now as dusk approached, preparations were being finished in one of the lower levels of the monolithic Central Forum, the massive combined supercomputer and government building that housed the virtual Senate Halls of the Rosin Sphere as well as the Judicial Branch and a whole host of other government offices. Including this hidden warehouse containing over one thousand Harbinger-class warmachines, nasty mechanical killing machines that the Iodat had designed for use in the wars of conquest the Union had once fought in. Based off their ancient golems, the warmachines were based around what the Iodat termed an 'artificial psyche,' which was some form of artificial intelligence as far as Jalr could tell. Physically, the machines resembled a large dome with two cylinders attached to the bottom and an odd crystal held in some kind of recessed area between the cylinders by several metal tines. All in all they looked like some kind of legless beetle and were not particularly threatening. Until one read about their combat capabilities that is... The Iodat had designed the machines to use the very best weapons and defensive systems available at the time, from the warp-space shields provided by the humans to the entropic cascade siege cannon developed by the Abyssals and Ferals, everything about this machine was dangerous, especially considering its absolute loyalty and ability to assess combat situations. It was really the epitome of overkill to be sending so many of these machines in support of the ground Inspectors raiding Bastion, considering that one hundred of these machines were supposedly enough to conquer an entire planet, but the government had wanted this threat eliminated.
He shook his head as he watched the maintenance drone crews finishing up the check list of items that needed to be done to ensure optimal functionality. True, it was still a couple hours until the operation began, but the crews needed to have their memory files edited to preserve the secrecy of this facility and its contents. Not that it would necessarily remain so for much longer, depending on how the upcoming assault against the Bastion building went. Beyond that of course, there would be plenty of work to do, namely in deciding what to do with the people they would be taking captive. Then again, the government might be subtly hinting that there would be no captives by deploying the Harbinger units. Either way it would be a mess he concluded as he entered his command office and pulled up the checklist of things that still needed to be done before the operation began. One item in particular he was not looking forward to was having to contact Az'traal one last time to see if there was anything more he remembered about the Bastion building. Considering how thorough the Iodat's description had been last time he doubted it very much, Az'traal had been focusing more on using his psionic abilities to prevent them from finding him rather than observing the layout of the building around him. In his opinion they were better off simply flooding the area with sensor sweeps just before the attack, but it was not his decision to make in this case. He was simply the field officer there to assist and observe the actual commander, he was not in charge of strategy.
"I trust everything is in readiness Jalr?" Commander Klac asked, startling Jalr, who had not seen the security officer enter the office. A former military tactician, Klac was at least a few thousand years old and had, according to records, been the last military vetern to transfer to civilian life. Not that his decision to become commander of the government Undercover Protection Agency was really anything more than a lateral move as far as Jalr was concerned. Klac still commanded the same warmachines he had in the military, the only difference was that they were now a 'security agency,' secret government organizations created in case of emergency. Like the one they faced now.
"Almost sir..." Jalr said quietly as he turned back to his reports. Truthfully, he resented the fact that Klac was the one in charge of this mission. After all, Klac had not been the one to initially investigate the incident, had not been the one to uncover the existence of the Four Guards. True, this operation needed someone with tactical finesse to run the raid on Bastion, but Jalr had been reading up on police raiding tactics from the era when they had needed police and he was certain he could have done just as good a job as Klac. Instead, he had been regulated to being an observer and assistant, a humiliating demotion in his opinion. At least once the raid itself was over he would be in charge of the investigation again, questioning suspects and collecting evidence. Provided there were any suspects left to question... Harbingers were not exactly known for their ability to leave people alive in their wake, only a trail of devastation and unnatural silence. Perhaps it would be best to just ask now and find out exactly what Klac intended. "Pardon me Commander, but I'm curious as to whether or not I should bring along stasis units for prisoner containment."
"Well, you certainly could, but if they're gonna resist I don't see much point." Klac replied with a surprising amount of calm, tossing the answer over his shoulder as he walked out. To Jalr, the thought of actually killing another living being was abhorrent, but maybe Klac's military training had prepared him for such circumstances. In any case it was still unsettling to see such a callous attitude towards others, it was not something he would have expected to find within the government.
After leaving Jalr's office Klac made his way to his own private office and closed the door, activating the security fields around his office as he did so. As far as he could tell, this Jalr was the typical Inspector the government employed; excellent at his job, but still with a hint of the bureaucratic bluster that made them seem more important than they really were. Of course, in this case Jalr really was quite important, but probably not for the reasons the man thought. In truth, Jalr was a very important resource that Ico hoped to use in order to determine how close the government was to finding out about the Pandemonium Enforcers as well as how thoroughly the Four Guards had been eradicated. He had managed to convince the government that the Four Guards were extremely dangerous and would resist, giving him the leeway he needed to massacre the Four Guards remaining in the Bastion building, but Ico believed that the Four Guards might have had an emergency evacuation plan. Hence why Jalr had a reason to be in this little venture and would need to be protected during the assault. In other circumstances Klac would have arranged for the governmental lackey to have an accident during the attack, but this man was apparently quite skilled at tracking down the Four Guards. After all, he had managed to make the connection between Bastion and the weather incident in a matter of only a couple days, an impressive feat considering how little concrete evidence had been provided. Certainly his deductive and observational skills surpassed Klac's and so he would unwittingly serve as the Enforcer's bloodhound, hunting down and eliminating the remnants of the Guards. As Klac smiled smugly the communication monitor beeped softly, indicating an incoming encrypted data feed.
"Report Klac." Ico demanded as he appeared on the screen without further prompting. "I want to know how long until the attack begins so our agents can monitor the perimeter and eliminate any stragglers."
"Just a couple hours master, the technicians are just finishing the last of the maintanence now and reporting to the memory rewriting center by the looks of things. In one hour and fifty four minutes the sun screens will've cycled through the dusk phase into the night phase and that's when we'll launch, provided Jalr has his precious stasis units. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes before we arrive at Bastion afterwards, provided we don't encounter anything unexpected."
"You're joking right? With few exceptions, nothing unexpected ever happens here." Ico said with a digusted snort, "But that means we're looking at two hours basically before the attack actually begins?"
"Yes, although we'll need to be careful since my knowledge of the Bastion facility is both a boon and a bane in this case. I know that we can't run sensor sweeps without alerting them that we're coming, but we need some source of information or it'll look suspicious. I presented this to the planning commitee as a precaution, expecting they would send in observers. Instead, they turned to Jalr and ask him to use his resources to find out as much as he could about the building." Klac said hesitantly, uncertain as to how Ico would respond to this news.
"Does Jalr have some kind of informer?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but he keeps his secrets fairly well. For all I know he's just looking up the official schematics for the building or possibly he went and cased the place himself. Wouldn't be that unusual for a government inspector to show up at Bastion wanting a statement about the weather incident, considering that Bastion employees were killed. They probably wouldn't think anything of it, especially since they have no way of knowing that you left a Four Guards badge at the scene of the crime. Unless Jalr is working for them."
"Let's not overthink this Klac. Paranoia is a healthy thing to have in moderation, but the Four Guards couldn't possibly have orchastrated everything so neatly, not with the damage they've taken to their organization since Silv died. Besides, I watched the monitors and I know the Bastion building was hit pretty badly by that storm, they wouldn't have had time to pull together anything so delicate. And even if they had, no way would they have let the government track them down, unless Jalr is completely incompetent at cover-ups, a conclusion your own observations don't support." Ico explained patiently. "No, I suspect the first two options are more likely, all things considered. If that's the case, I suspect the first two options are likely how he acquired information on the target. But, if he does have an informer... It might be too late, but we'll need to eliminate him to prevent him from aiding Jalr any further."
"Understood sir."
Hath suppressed an involuntary shudder that ran down her spine as she walked into the Bastion building, the facility she and the other members of the underground had been told they could not return to. She had not wanted to come back here either, but the Keeper's words had bothered her ever since they had talked and this was the only place associated with the Guards that had enough access to allow her to examine various trends throughout the Rosin Union. Not that she intended to actually conduct her analysis here, she just needed enough time to install a programming shunt that would allow her to remotely access the supercomputers here from the hidden base Lunos was operating out of. As with all Four Guard programs the little shunt would normally be undetectable unless someone ran the computer through a total program diagnostic and such an invasive procedure would trigger the programs erase function. The end result was that even if someone did find it they would just know that it existed and nothing further. It would raise suspicion, but it was a little too late to be worrying about that. All it would take is an hour or two to properly install the software into the mainframe without limiting its functionality and she could be on her way.
"Oh, greetings Ms. Hath, what brings you here this evening?" one of the functionaries at the door greeted her, curiosity evident on his face.
"Just quickly installing a deadman's program in the mainframe to ensure that if there is something left to lead them to the underground we can trigger a remote virus to wipe out their database." Hath explained as she waved a datacard in front of the functionary. "Shouldn't take too long considering my level of access, but I really need to hurry."
"Of course." the man said as he stepped out of her way, allowing Hath to enter. Making her way across the lobby, Hath felt a sudden surge of guilt about lying to the doorman about why she was here. Then again, if she had told him the real reason she was here it would only lead to them asking her uncomfortable questions that she did not have the time to deal with right now.
Within a few minutes she had reached the core computing station used the access the mainframe programming and had pulled out everything she needed in order to insert her program. The main problem with inserting any new program into a core processor was that one needed to synchronize the prgramming languages. Since each central processor randomly rewrote itself in its own programming language once it was brought online, it was nearly impossible to make actual changes to the central programming unless one had a key processor that could serve as a translation matrix. Fortunately, as an assistant to Lunos she had enough authority to merit having such a vital piece of equipment without having to procure it through unorthodox means. True, she had needed to check it out of the equipment locker and would have to answer for that later, but by then she would already have accomplished her mission.
With a contented yawn Az'traal slumped back into a chair in his living room, grabbing a stylus and sheet of glyph crystal as he did so. The past day at the Infinium Facility had been productive, if slightly frustrating. On the one hand, the scientists working on the project had begun to develop an experimental model relating the mathematical equations of science to the actual behavior of the universe around them. The only problem was that there was nothing that allowed them to make that final transition from model to physical law. At least when they entered all of their equations into the mainframe modeler it produced a virtual universe almost identical to their own. Still, a virtual universe was a far cry from the real thing and they were still no closer to actually accomplishing that feat. Which was exactly what he was working on now he considered as he began etching equations into the crystalline sheet. After a minute of work though, he realized that his equations were becoming circular in nature, with one equation running through a series of permutations and other formulae to equal itself. Shaking his head, he ran his hand over the sheet, causing the crystal material to reform itself, returning the sheet to its original blank state.
Just as he was about to begin once more, a loud chime sounded from his visual communications console, indicating an incoming urgent call. Tossing his fruitless work aside with an irritated grunt, he levitated himself out of his chair and strode over to the unit, hitting the 'receive' button as he did so.
"Ah, Inspector Jalr... What an unexpected surprise." he said flatly as the inspector appeared on the screen. Truth be told he did not dislike the inspector, it was just that this call likely meant that he was not going to accomplish anything meaningful tonight and would instead be spending most of his evening answering questions relating to the Four Guards.
"You're surprised to see me Mr. Traal? Your psychic powers must be slipping for you not to have forseen this." Jalr said blandly as he shuffled together some papers just visible at the bottom of the screen.
"Iodat do not see the future per se, we can only see what others are thinking. Should that apply to an action they are about to take, then I guess you could call it forseeing the future since Iodat reflexes are slightly faster than the majority of races out there. Since I am not about to over-exert myself by trying to read your mind from my home, I am certainly not going to know everything you are going to do." Az'traal explained in a weary voice, noting with concern the thoughtful expression on Jalr's face. This certainly did not bode well, best to end this quickly. "Now, if you called me for a good reason I would very much like to hear it. If you simply called to voice your dislike of me for the situation I put you in I can let you go to the recording machine. That way whenever I feel the need to have someone chastize me I can simply play back you message."
"No need for that, and it's not that I dislike you, I just dislike the thought of you reading other's minds. Perfectly normal I should think, all things considered. Moving onto business though... I was going to ask for any further information you might remember about the Bastion building, but I have a better idea now. I'd like you to come down to my office here and assist us in further investigating the Bastion building. Shouldn't take more than a couple hours or so."
"Well I-"
"Of course, any further assistance you gave us would look good for you when the time came to present your case to the courts. In much the same way as refusing to help would likely be seen in a negative light." Jalr interrupted suddenly, an odd little smirk on his face.
"Are you blackmailing me?" Az'traal asked increduously.
"I would never do that, blackmailing is illegal after all." Jalr said, his smile growing as he continued. "I'm simply reminding you of the likely consequences or benefits of any action you may choose to take, nothing more."
"At the most opportune moment of course..." Az'traal commented as he rolled his eyes. At the same time, he was very glad that he had not told Jalr about his fight with Silv, if he had who knew what the inspector might use that information for? "Fine, I will help you, and my first bit of advice is this: let me make a decision first before you threaten me. It does not matter how subtle you make it, it still is insulting that you feel the need to threaten me. I know you are new at dealing with actual criminals, but remember that I willingly came to you, there is no need to coerce me."
"Okay, lesson learned." Jalr said apologetically, "I still want you to come down to my office tonight to assist my investigation further."
"It cannot wait until a more convenient time like tomorrow?" Az'traal asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not, this really can't wait." Jalr said earnestly. "I need you here within the hour, and when you arrive use same door you used to get to my office before."
"Fine, I will be there."
Chapter Twenty Despite his initial reluctance to be involved in the investigation at this time of day, Az'traal made good time, reaching Jalr's office in less than forty minutes. When he had arrived, he had been surprised to find that Jalr was waiting for him at the entrance instead of in his office like he had expected. Something more was going on here, Az'traal was certain of it, the only question was what the other thing was. Likely Jalr would tell him soon enough, the man did tend to be rather forthright with his intentions and other information. Sure enough, as he landed Jalr raced over to him and pulled him aside.
"Okay, I need to know if you're able to prevent others from seeing you with your telepathy. And I'm not talking about individuals, I'm talking about entire buildings of people." Jalr asked in a hushed, conspiratorial tone.
"Well, yes I can do that, but why-"
"Okay, good. At the same time, can you also sense where people are and what their intent might be?"
"I think so, but why-"
"Excellent, can you also operate a com-link and carry on a decent conversation?"
"Hold up." Az'traal interjected, holding up a hand to silence Jalr so he could speak. "Why the sudden interest in the extent of my telepathic abilities?"
"Okay, we're going to raid the Bastion building and I need you to act as reconnaissance for us, let us know where the suspects are and what they're planning. At the same time, I need to make sure that no one knows you're there; I'm not supposed to be involving you in any actual operations for security reasons, but the man in charge of planning this raid is making a lot of mistakes and I want to be certain that I live through this. Furthermore, they're sending in Harbinger warmachines, so I doubt there'll be anyone left to talk to unless I take proactive steps to ensure that there are survivors."
"You want me to find an isolated group of Four Guards and keep them out of harm's way correct?" Az'traal asked, more as a rhetorical exercise rather than as an actual inquiry.
"And without even reading my mind I hope." Jalr said, wringing his hands together nervously. "Now we really need to go before Klac finds out that I'm gone."
"Lead on, but you need to know that even if I can do what you ask of me, and there is no certain guarentee of that, I do not know how long I will be able to do so. The last time I infiltrated their headquarters I only had to use my latent empathy to sense any hostile emotions and use my telepathy to hide myself from them. What you are asking of me, actually reading their minds as well as hiding myself... That is much more difficult to accomplish and I do not know if my telepathic abilities are potent enough, it is not as if I have good cause to use them on a daily basis." Az'traal added as he began following Jalr deeper into the building.
"Well, can't you just bend the light around you or something?"
"It does not work that way, telekinesis generally manipulates physical matter and some particles with a wave-like nature such as electrons. Light is more wave-like than particle-like, it would take a true master of telekinesis to affect it here in the physical world." Az'traal explained as they entered a lift and began descending deep into the heart of the structure. He looked over at the inspector, silently chastizing himself for hinting at the existence of the Astral Plane, but the man was simply nodding as if lost deep in thought. It was just as well, he really did not feel like explaining about the Astral Plane right now. At long last, the lift stopped at a level far below the street levels he was used to using, probably on the lowest level of the building where it was merged together with buildings from the surrounding blocks. There was no way to tell for certain however, as this floor appeared to be unlabeled. From what he could sense however, this level of the building had... something on it, a great many somethings in fact. Az'traal shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to forstall the headache he felt coming on or at least lessen the pain he felt from it.
"Are you all right?" Jalr asked suddenly, his voice booming in Az'traal's ears.
"Just a headache, nothing to be concerned about I think." Az'traal replied after taking a moment to focus past his headache. Whatever was causing this, it was getting worse as they walked forward, but at least he could begin to get a sense of what his empathic senses were picking up, like a telescope coming into focus. What had before been a kind of blanket static with certain areas of denser interference became individual points of 'blinding' static. There was something familiar about it...
"These Harbingers you spoke of, they use Iodat artificial psyches?" he asked suddenly, turning to Jalr.
"Yes."
"You are not supposed to turn off machines or golems with artificial psyches, it damages their telepathic links to the others of their collective."
"Pardon?"
"Artificial psyches were constructed in mass groups according to task. They are not meant to operate alone, they need their minds to remain linked together in order to remain stable and coordinate tasks. When you turn them off, they grow isolated and the telepathic links decay, producing a kind of psychic interference that not only decreases their effectiveness and stability but also causes headaches in nearby psychics. From what I sense, these psyches are in need of a lot of repair or they will fall apart soon... although it seems something is accelerating the process." Az'traal explained as they entered Jalr's office overlooking the Harbinger hanger. "Before you ask though, I do not have the skills to do that, it takes a fully trained Founder to repair or create an artificial psyche."
"What about your headache though? Won't it prevent you from focusing enough to do as I asked?"
"Yes... meaning that we will need to modify your plan somewhat. If I go on ahead, I can make my way to one of their security centers and tell you about their actions from there. That way I will only have to worry about concealing myself until a reach the center and I can avoid the headaches these Harbingers will cause."
"Not quite what I had in mind, but it'll work I suppose." Jalr agreed in a subdued tone. "At least you're willing to help still and haven't used this as an excuse to bow out."
"Well, it would hardly be fair of me to come all this way simply to disappoint." Az'traal said with a slight bow. "Besides, I am not as stone-souled as you might think, despite traditional views of the Iodat."
"You're the last of them aren't you?" Jalr asked suddenly, as if Az'traal's mention of the Iodat had jarred loose some memory. "That's what has been bothering me from the day we met, something important about the Iodat and that's it isn't it?"
"I see that the other Rosin races have covered up our departure quite well. Not that it probably required much effort to hide that event and downplay its significance considering the rather insular nature of my people." Az'traal noted flatly, glad that he had resolved his previous issues on the topic earlier. "It does not matter though, we have other business to deal with that is more immediate in nature. Now, how long until you launch your little attack?"
"About thirty minutes or so I would guess, I won't be sure until Klac begins the countdown." Jalr said as he shuffled through some papers to confirm his answer.
"Okay, well then, I better be on my way." Az'traal said suddenly as he turned to leave.
"Wait!" Jalr shouted as he grabbed the Iodat's hand, pulling him backwards. "What are you doing?" he hissed as Az'traal freed himself from the man's grasp.
"I am going to find a more covert means of entering the Bastion building. Surely you did not intend for me to simply ride along with your little attack group? That would be an excellent way to ensure I end up being shot."
"I... hadn't considered that."
"Understandable, you have probably been quite busy as of late and you probably thought this up on the spur of the moment. I should have explained myself before trying to leave." Az'traal commented apologetically as he moved toward the door again. By the time Jalr had realized what the Iodat was doing, Az'traal had already vanished. He quickly rushed to the door and looked out over the hanger, trying unsuccessfully to find the Iodat. After looking for a minute longer, he returned to his desk and slumped down into his chair, contemplating exactly what he was doing. If Az'traal was able to cloak himself so effectively while distracted by a headache, he shuddered to think of what he might be capable of if he were able to completely focus on a task. In that case, Az'traal might simply disappear once all this was over, vanishing like his people had to avoid the legal repercussions of his actions. If it came to that... Jalr was not quite sure what he would do, but there had to be something. For now though, he was glad that Az'traal seemed to be on their side, a very unfortunate fact for the people they were about to attack.
Using more conventional means to travel to the Bastion building, it had only taken Az'traal about fifteen minutes to arrive, leaving him precious little time to find a covert means of entering the building. Still, it was more time than he would have had if he had simply flown here via telekinesis. Quickly moving around the exterior of the building though, Az'traal could not help but sense the presense of several others surrounding the building, their focus centered fully on the structure and its occupants, hostility evident in their emotional states above any other feeling. Immediately suspicious, he focused on one of them, easily infiltrating the woman's mind due to her intense focus on other issues. As soon as he infiltrated however, he reeled backward in shock and surprise, immediately breaking his connection. Whoever these people were, they were dedicated to eliminating everyone inside the building who managed to escape the oncoming assault.
For a second, Az'traal froze, looking in-between the Bastion building and the surrounding structures. To save these people's lives by warning them of the ambush outside would doom the upcoming raid to failure but to do nothing would be to condemn them all to death, Jalr had made it clear that whoever was in charge of the raid intended to eliminate the Four Guards completely. Surely not everyone in that building was working against the Rosin Union, some likely were convinced that what they did actually benefitted the Union, ensnared by the web the Four Guards had woven. Then again, with these elimination squads surrounding the building, Hath's story of a splinter faction looked more likely now. If he had been wrong he had a duty to fix his mistake, even though doing so could threaten the future security of the Rosin Union. No... the needs of the majority outweighed the needs of the miniority, this raid had to take place, he would just have to save as many of the people inside as possible; being arrested was still better than being dead. He just needed to find a way to rescue them. This was going to hurt...
He would worry about that later though, he first needed to find a way inside he reminded himself as he continued looking at the exterior of the building. It only took a few more minutes of searching before he found a potential entry route: an exterior walkway located about halfway up the central tower that curved around between two of the supporting towers. Unlike other entrances, this one was not likely to be well-guarded given how far above street level it was. Taking a steadying breath, Az'traal telekinetically lauched himself upward, landing safely on the walkway a moment later. Without hesitation he quickly made his way to the nearer of the two doors leading back inside and hit the door control. To his pleasant surprise the door slid open without any request for authorization or a security code, revealing a curving hallway lined with computer access terminals beyond. Apparently the tower he had entered was some kind of computing tower meant for accessing information and data processing if the chairs at each station were any indication. These terminals would not have any of the information he needed though, he needed to find a processing center and quickly. Fortunately people in such places tended to be rather intensively focused on their tasks, and that focus stood out like a flare to psychics who were looking for it.
As he searched the building however, he was surprised by the utter lack of personnel in eivdence, it seemed as though the Four Guards had been reduced to a paltry band rather than the dying but numerous organization he had detected during his last visit. Even more telling, there seemed to be only a couple dozen people working in processing centers instead of the hundreds he had been expecting. As he contemplated this however, he suddenly picked up something that he should have expected but had not been for some reason: a dull psychic presense, one that he could not read beyond knowing it was there. That had to be Hath, but she must have been concentrating on something fairly hard or in a great deal of emotional turmoil for him to even pick up on her presense. Nonetheless, this presented him with an opportunity, Hath would know where he could find a processing center he could use to access the security feeds. Not only that, but she could warn the others without Az'traal having to use his telepathy to call them together or mass influence them, meaning he could avoid the inevitable pain that came with trying to telepathically influence large numbers of people. Knowing time was of the essence, he quickly raced down the corridor toward where he could sense the Raani.
With a satisfied grin, Hath unplugged her equipment from the central computer core and began packing it away. She had finally installed the program just as her frustration and worry was reaching its peak, but now that she was done she could leave before the raid came. After all, what were the chance it would happen during the three minutes it would take for her to ride the lift all the way down to the ground floor of the building and escape into the shadows? Still, it would be best not to delay she concluded as she snapped her briefcase shut and walked toward the door. As she expected, the hallway outside was quiet, with no one in sight. She quickly glanced at one of the equipment panels on the wall and, seeing that it was still flashing the code for 'All Clear,' proceeded down the corridor towards the nearest lift. As she neared her destination however, she heard the distinctive sound of someone runing down the hall toward her, prompting her to pick up her pace. Before she ran very far however, she heard a familiar voice echo up the corridor toward her.
"Hath! Wait up!" Az'traal repeated as he raced into sight, heading straight for her with a look of subdued relief on his face. "I need your help."
"I think we've helped you plenty." Hath replied, trying but failing to keep the edge out of her tone. "After all, you told the government exactly where to find us. Why shouldn't I kill you where you stand or sound the alarm?"
"Can you blame me? Your organization has not really been all that proficient at cultivating my trust so far. In fact, the only reason I even have cause to believe you now is the fact that there apparently are snipers setting up camp all around this place and the government certainly did not dispatch them!" Az'traal shot back.
"Wait... snipers are surrounding this place?" Hath said, her voice laced with concern.
"Oh yes, they are waiting for anyone who escapes the government raids to run outside so they can pick them off. Not that there are likely to be many survivors, what with the government sending Harbinger warmachines as the raiding force." Az'traal explained, sweeping his hand off in the general direction that the raid would be coming from.
"Oh..." Hath began before she realized that she could not think of any words to properly express how bad this situation was.
"Look, that all was going to happen anyway sooner or later. What I need now is for you to help me figure out how to convince your people to surrender to Inspector Jalr. They will be arrested, but that is better than being killed."
"Okay, okay. I'll work on figuring out a way to do that, but you owe me some answers for helping you to clean up this mess!" Hath said fiercely as she grabbed Az'traal's hand and pulled him back towards the mainframe room, thoughts on how she could use this situation rushing through her mind. "And the first one is this: why is the government sponsoring Project Infinium?"
"Why do you need to know? I thought your group was trying to protect it." Az'traal asked with just a hint of sarcasm in his tone. At his comment Hath hesitated, trying to remember exactly what she had told him when they had last met. Unfortunately nothing was forthcoming, leaving her with only one good fallback option.
"I don't think that's really the issue here now is it? I just want to know because let's face it, the idea of creating another universe is pretty radical isn't it?"
"It has to be done." Az'traal replied as they arrived at the doors of the computer center and entered. As Hath sat down at one of the terminals she looked up at Az'traal quizzically before she began to pull out a variety of equipment. As she began plugging the equipment into various ports, Az'traal considered how much he should tell her. On the one hand, even if he did tell her, she had no solid evidence to prove what he said. On the other hand, the information he knew was vitally important and supposed to be kept secret, plus the law was on his side if he said nothing.
"Look Az'traal, I've already heard that there has to be a reason for Project Infinium, but I want to know what that reason is and it's not like I have a lot of time to find out." Hath said, her eyes flashing with irritation at his recalcitrance.
"You do not understand, I have been sworn to silence with regards to this matter. I cannot reveal anything to you under penalty of law."
"Okay, I've sent out messages to all the guard stations alerting them to the presense of Rinth's agents outside. Now then..." Hath managed to say before alarms throughout the building announced that the attack had begun. "Oh f... We're too late! If the attack has started everyone is going to be fighting the invaders rather than incoming messages!"
"I can do something, but if I do this you have to protect me while I help your comrades and you have to agree not to ask me any more questions about Project Infinium." Az'traal said hesitantly as he prepared himself for the task ahead. "Oh, you will also need to grab a medical kit and seal this room." he added as he sat down on the cold metal floor and assumed his normal meditation pose. Knowing how the most Iodat warmachines worked, he knew that if their opponents were not moving and were not carrying weapons then they would ignore them as non-combatants. If he were to save them, he needed to force them into non-hostile positions and make them drop their weapons.
"I'll agree to those conditions, but I want to ask one more question." Hath offered as she grabbed a medical kit from a nearby storage compartment. "But only because I'll share with you what I know before I ask." He could not believe she was trying to negotiate with lives in the balance, particularly the lives of her comrades. As much as he hated it, he had to agree with her demands since he refused to let those people die due to his mistake, to say nothing of the fact he would need her to treat the injuries he was about to sustain.
"Fine, now I need quiet for this!" Az'traal said grumpily as he closed his eyes. If Hath said anything further, he did not hear it as he concentrated fully on the minds around him. He felt the desperate determination of the remaining Four Guards as they fought to protect their comrades in hiding, the quiet frustration of Jalr as he felt his chances of interrogating survivors diminish and the painful static that emanated from the Harbingers. He quickly shifted his focus, narrowing it down to encompass only the minds of the defenders, felt the flow of energy through their neurons, the mental reactions of muscle memory that came with movement. Steadily he forged links between his own mind and the neurons of his targets, feeling out how he could hijack control from the conscious minds of the Guards, finding the weak point in the chain of command. Finally finishing his task, Az'traal paused, focusing himself for the task ahead. With a sudden surge of energy, he quickly overwhelmed the voluntary muscle control of everyone he was connected to, forcing each to drop their weapons before commanding their muscles to make them kneel on the ground with their hands behind their necks. They resisted; each trying to stand and continue fighting, but Az'traal was in full control of their muscles and none of them had psionic abilities, they had no means to break his control. Nonetheless, controlling so many at once was rapidly depleting his strength and he still had to make them surrender. Shifting a little bit more focus onto a squad leader near Jalr and tapped into the man's senses in preparation for the next part of this puppetshow. He forced the man to pick up his comlink and key it onto the frequency used by general address system, pausing a moment to fight off the darkness creeping in at the edges of his psionic sight. Regaining focus, he connected the speech centers of his brain to the voicebox of the team leader, using the man as his voice and forcing him to order all the remaining Four Guards to surrender. As he did so, he felt a great wave of relief mixed with frustration and confusion wash over him, carrying him into darkness.
"What the-" Hath shouted as Az'traal suddenly slumped over, crimson blood staining the fur around his nose and just beginning to dribble out of his mouth. Although she stared in confusion at his prone form before reacting, she quickly snapped out of her stupor and ripped open the first aid kit, pulling on gloves as soon as she found them. Next, she found the coagulant spray in the kit and quickly sprayed it up each of Az'traal's nostrils, hoping to stop or slow the flow of blood while she completed her preliminary survey to find anything else that might be wrong with the Iodat. Quickly checking his pulse and breathing, she was releived to find that both were still fairly normal, although his breathing was a little congested due to the blood running down his throat from his nose. That would clear itself up with enough time once the coagulants started working though she concluded as she pulled out a spectral scope and aimed it at the Iodat's face, examining the blood vessels in his nose to see where they were ruptured and determine if the treatments were effective. As she adjusted the scope however, she recoiled in shock as she accidently shifted the scope into the frequencies used to examine muscles. Whatever Az'traal had done, it had torn up muscles throughout his face and body, almost as if they had been overstressed.
"Shoot, you crazy psychic, what did you do?" Hath muttered as she pulled out a small alioquat of medical nanomachines and sprayed them into Az'traal's nose. The nanites would seek out the injured muscles throughout the Iodat's body and begin mending them back together using available protein fragments. As she began scanning his body again to see if there was any further damage, Hath wondered at what Az'traal had done.
Chapter Twenty-One "You can't attack them now Commander, they've surrendered!" Jalr shouted as he slammed his hand down on a nearby console. "Once that happens the government ordered you to turn command of the operation over to me!"
"You're a fool!" Klac thundered back, "They'll attack as soon as they see an opportunity, it's better to kill them all now than to wait until they have the chance to cause greater harm!"
"I find your attitude most unbecoming of a keeper of the peace, particularly in our utopian world." Jalr said, his tone suddenly becoming ominously quiet. "These people aren't cold-blooded murderers or manipulative masterminds, at least not until the due process of law determines otherwise. So unless you have some ulterior motive for simply wanting to gun them down where they stand I suggest you reassess your position on dealing with the prisoners. If you can't reconcile those differences, too bad, but keep it to yourself and follow my orders."
"You're making a mistake." Klac protested, his tone cooler due to the threat implied by Jalr's response.
"And you're dangerously close to insubordination." Jalr retorted coolly, unwilling to waste any more time dealing with Klac's issues. Seeing as the commander was now apparently content to skulk in his chair, Jalr turned his attention to addressing the assembled prisoners. "Members of the Four Guards, I am sorry that it has come to this, but your activities have been deemed dangerous to the safety of the citizens of the Rosin Union. The list of charges is as follows: conspiracy, infringement on personal privacy, conspiracy to commit murder and murder. Unfortunately, these last two charges result in your rights as citizens being revoked. You no longer have any rights beyond those of attorney, the right to a trial by your peers, and the right of humane treatment. Cooperate with us peacefully and truthfully, I can assure you that you'll be treated fairly."
After his announcement, a ripple of whispered conversation swept through the crowd before him. It seemed that most of the people were nodding in agreement, albeit reluctantly. For the time being at least, it seemed that everything was under control, but he would need to keep a close eye on Klac. The commander's almost rabid insistence on killing every last one of the prisoners was disturbing, and not simply because it was a gross violation of the First Unbreakable Guarantee, which stated that all beings should be allowed to live as long as possible provided they were not actively endangering the lives of others. No, something in Klac's manner suggested that this was either some kind of personal vendetta or duty that he had been entrusted with. If either were true, then he would need to be careful.... Klac would likely use any excuse to open fire, any resistance would be met with lethal force. There was a simple solution to that problem however, and as an added bonus this solution would keep Klac from finding out about Az'traal.
"Klac, I'm sure I can handle the clean up here. Why don't you go report back to headquarters? There's a lot of paperwork to fill out and I'm sure the Senatorial Archon will be eagerly awaiting your reports on this evenings events." Jalr said calmly.
"Oh course, sir..." Klac ground out before heading off to his vehicle.
"Rargh!" Klac screamed as he slammed his fist through the chair in front of him, the memory gel inside spilling out onto the floor of his auto-vehicle as he wrested it free. Thankfully his vehicle was driven by an autopilot or else he would have trouble explaining the damaged seat, not to mention the reason behind it. And unfortunately, although punching through the seat had made him feel better, it was not a conducive to accomplishing anything of import he conceded as he dialed in Ico's address. After a second the Abyssal appeared, a look of consternation on his shark-like face.
"Klac? I wasn't expecting to hear from you for some time... The remaining Four Guards we're that pathetic were they?" Ico asked.
"Actually, they surrendered within a few minutes of our arrival, all of them throwing down their weapons and giving up. And I couldn't even kill them thanks to that hesten Inspector who ordered me from the area 'cuz of the grannach governments' edicts! I can't do anything without alerting the government that I'm a double agent and Jalr's having those prisoners shipped out in stasis units, I haven't a doubt that he'll know if one goes missing or one suddenly turns up dead so our snipers are useless." Klac explained, trying his best to sound respectful rather than irritated. "And, as an added bonus, there's no way that all the Four Guards were there. I mean we eliminated a lot of them, but not enough where there only are a couple thousand left!"
"Only a couple thousand?" Ico interjected suddenly, his wide-set eyes narrowing with suspicion. "That can't be right... which means that most of them either fled or they went underground. And if those they left behind surrendered, Lunos must have some plot in the works, possibly to throw the governments off his trail and onto ours. I bet everyone in the groups they've captured has been instructed on what to say in order to ensure that Jalr comes after us next."
"So what do we do? Should I expose myself claiming to be a Guard and kill the survivors? I'd be killed, but they'd have nothing."
"No, I need you in your position for a later operation." Ico said before pausing to consider for a moment. "Besides, I don't think we have anything to fear from Lunos's little plan. Even if they do tell the government about us, it'll just be hearsay, an attempt by criminals to cast suspicion on someone other than themselves. The government will never believe there's another secret order, at least not until it's too late to do anything about it. Just cooperate with Jalr for now. Ico out."
"I always get the tough assignments..." Klac grumbled to himself as the screen went black, indicating that the connection had been terminated.
He knew he was not dead, despite the inky darkness that encompassed him. Or at least he hoped he was not dead seeing as he had always hoped that if he did die there would be more to it than just an unending... nothingness. It was rather anti-climactic actually Az'traal admitted as he held up a translucent arm and looked through it into infinity. After gazing through his arm a second longer he sighed heavily and sat down, although he ended up floating in a sitting position since there was nothing to actually sit on. At least he had somewhat confirmed that he was not dead, he was just suffering from psionic flackback, a kind of coma that only Iodat experienced that could be brought on by overtaxing one's telepathic abilities. Since they had a presense on the Astral Plane, Iodat could never be truly unconscious; when they slept they resided within the Shared Dream and if knocked into a coma or simply knocked unconscious they entered this state. Instead of simply being completely unaware like most races, the Iodat remained aware of themselves but were trapped in this state in-between the Astral Plane and the waking world, unable to do anything but float there and possibly examine their injuries with morbid fascination. So he was basically helpless.
"I really hope Hath is taking care of my injuries in the physical world." he said aloud suddenly, his voice echoing off into the distance. Given what he had been doing prior to this, his nerves had probably fried a good number of muscles throughout his body, a result of simulating muscle movement in order to force others to move as he commanded. Only a Founder like himself would be able to accomplish it on such a massive scale, but not without consequences if they did so without the support of several other Founders. Hopefully he had not injured his heart or diaphram during his little performance otherwise he would get to experience the unique joy of needing cardiopulminary resusitation.
"Actually, I wonder if I would feel that considering where I am..." he mused idly as he began pacing back and forth. Of course, it would be really strange for him if he could and he was not sure he wanted to find out for certain anyways, much less live with that memory for the rest of his life.
He looked around again, hoping to find something to distract him, but unfortunately this place seemed to be devoid of anything interesting, just this strangely lit darkness. If he wanted to contemplate the meaning of life though, at least here he would free of distractions, which explained why Iodat who suffered extended periods of flashback usually emerged as great philosophers. Well, either that or half-insane and in desperate need of companionship and therapy he ammended with a shudder. It would be best to spend his time productively no doubt, probably consider what he knew of the Four Guards and piece together the parts of the puzzle before him.
To begin, he knew that the Four Guards were a secret organization operating within the Rosin Union and dedicated to protecting the Union in general, and Project Infinium in particular. However, apparently a splinter faction had developed dedicated to destroying the Union and thus the two were engaged in a shadow war of sorts over Project Infinium; with one trying to destroy it and the other... he was not sure. Hath had said previously that the Four Guards understood how important Infinium was to the future of the Union, but just now she had seemed desperate to learn why the government was sponsoring it. This left him with quite the conundrum of what to believe. He had no doubt now that the splinter faction existed and, if what he had felt before was any indication, they were likely the ones responsible for the storm. However, from there things became rather muddled, particularly since it dealt with motivations, goals and trust, something which no one involved with this mess seemed interested in. While it was rather evident that the splinter group was more interested in outright destruction, the actual Guards... well, they had claimed to be interested in protecting the project. Truth be told though, Az'traal was not certain he believed that, it was too perfect and sounded more like they were telling him something that he wanted to hear. In fact, it was likely that they were either using him to find and destroy Infinium or find it so they could capture it and use it for their own gain. Considering this, he had to question whether he should inform Jalr about the members of the Four Guard who were in hiding. If he did, Jalr would certainly hunt them down and that might lead to both groups being arrested. By the same token however, if he did tell Jalr and the hunt continued, the Four Guards might break off their war against the splinter faction and focus on escape, allowing the rogues to focus on spreading more chaos. Even if he told Jalr about both groups, the inspector might decide to operate by the old adage stating that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and focus solely on the Four Guards.
He ran his hands through his mane-hair in frustration, at a loss for what to do next. He would certainly have to deal with Hath's question soon enough, so perhaps it was best to consider his options there. He could cooperate with her and tell her what he knew, but by implication he had been sworn to secrecy regarding the project and all things related to it in order to avoid a public riot. The most legal solution would be to simply tell her what she already knew, but Hath was probably perceptive enough to notice such chicanery and suspicious enough where she would suspect that he was witholding information. Perhaps a compromise... depending on what she knew he could give her a vague hint, something that would satisfy her without actually revealing anything important. For now at least, that seemed to be the best solution.
For some time now Hath had been sitting quietly in the processing center, watching the progress of the investigators on the security monitors and unsure of what to do. She really could not afford to be discovered here since that would ruin everything Lunos had worked towards, but she could not simply leave Az'traal here in his current condition, especially considering that he may have just sacrificed his own life to save her friends' lives. True, his betrayal had put them in danger in the first place and they were still being arrested, but as Lunos had said, he had merely hastened the inevitable along. She could bear him no malice, particularly considering what he had done to try and correct his mistake as much as possible, it would be heartless to simply leave him here to die.
With a quiet sigh she stood up and walked over to the Iodat, checking his pulse and breathing again before she scanned him with the spectral scope. Though none of his vital signs had chaged as far as she could tell, the nanomachines were not repairing his muscles nearly as fast as they should have, and the damage seemed to be slowly spreading. It was almost as if something in his body were breaking down the nanites she thought to herself as she drew out a larger allotment of the medical micromachines and administered them.
"At least your bloody nose stopped before you became a crimson Iodat." she joked weakly as she sat back down at the security terminal. There was no one to laugh at her joke though and Hath shivered slightly as she hugged her knees to her chest. This all was something she was fundamentally unfamiliar with: death, actual battle and other similarly negative subjects were things she had heard about but never experienced. True, she had been involved with Rinth's rebellion and the super-storm, but she had been insulated from those events, hidden in a safe zone by Lunos. Espionage, manipulation and analysis, those were her areas of expertise. Right now, she would have preferred to be engaged in such activities, but she had to wait and see if Az'traal would give her the answers she sought.
"I wish you would tell me what you knew." Hath said quietly to Az'traal's prone form.
"Interesting, I was just thinking the same thing about both of you." Jalr said suddenly as he walked into the processing center, putting away a universal decrypter as he did so.
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