Peace(s) of Eight - DiD [TC 3.0] (Inactive - Saves Lost)

[Kirlack]

[Triaxx2]

I'm also reading and enjoying, but I have a million other things going that I'm working on at the same time. So I forget to mention how awesome I think you're doing. So I'm mentioning it now.

Awesome work.

[Coupaholic]

Good stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with Sark when the time comes. I shall continue to lurk.

*moves gracefully back into the shadows*

[Libelnon]

Y'know, when I mentioned about the lurkers enjoying the story, it wasn't intended to force you all to speak up...

Kirlack's finished writing the next chapter guys, so you'll be pleased to hear it'll be up later. It's a big 'un, too, so polish those reading glasses while you wait!

To help you contain your excitement, though, here's another tale from Huritas' past, about three years before Kirlack's Fujin bounced off the Elysium of Light gate...


Hidden in the shady corner of a popular rookery, Huritas sat awaiting her newest client. He had messaged her about the item that Huritas had been working on, and intended to meet him here at 1800 on the dot to discuss the price. He was late.

Huritas took a long drag from her spliff, blowing sickly-smelling spaceweed fumes through her nose. She saw another patron enter the bar, although his exact identity was difficult to tell from this distance, as he was wearing some kind of hooded shirt with a long black pair of trousers. His shape looked Argon though, but that didn't narrow it down much - being inside Argon space meant it was mainly Argon pirates through here.

The newcomer headed over to the bartender, who greeted him. A short conversation ensued, and the barkeeper gestured in Huritas' direction. The hooded figure nodded, and strode towards her. Huritas felt herself both perk up at the sight of a potential client, but her hand reflexially clutched the grip of her pistol.

The Argon approached her. "You are the Huntress, no?"

Huritas nodded silently.

"Come, I have much to show you."

* * *

"Right, listen up you dogs!" called the marine commander, who was drumming on a Teladianium crate to get everyone's attention. The jabbering of twenty-odd different voices around the Magnetar's holding area dimmed, and everyone's attention focused on the Argon commander who had stood up. There was a real mix of marines here, but in what little breifing Huritas had on this operation, every one of them was a veteran of at least 5 operations, and at least three of them had boarded more ships than Huritas had bullets for her gauss pistol. "We've only got ten minutes ETA, so I'm only going to say this once!"

"As you may have already realised, this is a high-profile mission, and we've not had much time to organize. This is the biggest strike the Crimson Skulls have ever made on the Argon, let alone the Argon Military, so we've gotten the best-of-the-best here to make sure things don't go bastu-up. Some of you may have already noticed our old friend Brick-" numerous marines turned to the Argon mercenary the commander had gestured towards, "-who has been hired to join us on this mission. Eron's also sent one of his lapdogs to organize tactics. She's his go-to when he wants someone dead, so nobody get on her bad side."

Brick. Huritas'd heard of him before. He was a mercenary and a self-proclaimed bounty hunter, and one of the Crimson Skulls' top guns. The two of them had exchanged glances before embarking on the Magnetar, and the look she got told her that he already had a burning hatred of her for some reason - even if she wasn't skilled in recognizing Argon expression, he had a glare that could kill an Argnu. In teladianium plate barding. Apparently, he'd been a member of the Crimson Skulls' elite marine squad before he took to his career as an independant, and still often worked with them.

"Huritas Galos Yayasois, I trust you have your tactics prepared for us?" the commander asked her. All eyes in the room turned to face her, apart from Brick, who hovered on the other side of the room, just within earshot.

"I do, commander." she replied. Her mind flickered through images of the reports she had been given about the operation they were to carry out. It was certainly a gamble, especially by Eron Gale's standards. She had learned him to be such a careful planner and tactician. "Ass you may already know, thiss sship wass captured thiss morning by a patrol in the Farnham'ss Legend ssector. The recordss showed that it wass to carry a crucially important piece of equipment to the Elona'ss Fortune Military Basse, where one of Eron'ss chief ssmugglerss hass been captured and held. Our job iss to get him out - that man is in charge of almost all of our military tech ssupply in Argon sspace."

A few of the marines nodded as she spoke, with the odd comment shared between them. There was quite a menagerie of different species among the gathered marines - she could make out at least two Argon, not counting the commander or Brick, numerous Split warriors who were wearing the Crimson Skulls' colours as warpaint, at least three Paranid, who were at least as wide across the shoulders as Huritas was tall, and a Boron, who looked quite plain to the eye, but Huritas could see how experienced he was purely by how he gripped his rifle. A lone Teladi sat in the middle of them, who had been spurting jokes the entire journey - she was the greenest of the marines, but she had that spark of ambition in her eye. Huritas almost felt that she was an older reflection of the newcomer.

"The plan iss as followss. Once we dock, the Argon will incite a cargo check, ass iss common in the military, where they will have a ssmall team board the sship and ssearch the cargo bay for any threats. We are going to wait ssilently aboard the Magnetar, and jump them ass they board, then fight out into the docking bayss and clear the immediate area. Team Gamma will protect the docking bay at all cosstss while Teams Alpha and Beta move into the sstation. Team Beta, le-"

"Excuse split," one of the marines interrupted her. Huritas felt the collective gaze of the assembled marines shift onto him. "How will Argon Military not detect marines onboard ship?"

"The sship had a sshielded cargo bay," Huritas responded. "We have ssimply added more sshielding to it to sstop them sseeing that there are any personel onboard." The split nodded in approval, and Huritas scanned the room for additional questions before continuing. "Team Beta, lead by Brick, will make their way to the sstation'ss control room and releasse docking clamps, and allow our resscue to arrive. Team Alpha will go with me and break into the brig, where we will extract both the target and any other potentially useful perssonel. Any other questionss?"

The Teladi spoke. "Will the ressscue be firssst classssss?"

Her question was met with assorted laughter and a grim look from Huritas. Now is not the time for games, Huritas thought.

The marines slowly returned to their conversations while they gathered around the weapon racks and crates scattered around the holding area. Huritas glanced at Brick, who was watching her from the other side of the room, his eyes blazing with Argnu-slaying flames. Huritas made no attempt to return his silent threat, and instead just hissed "make ssure you get thesse boyss home alive" as she passed him. He snorted with laughter as she made her way to the cockpit.

Pok Gusta was a real runt, even by Teladi standards. He was weedy, shorter than Huritas, and looked as if he'd break if he weighed more than 40 kilos, but he was a good pilot and an even better actor. He'd been elected to fly the rust bucket of a Magnetar into the Argon installation without rousing suspicion, and Huritas had arrived just in time to see his handiwork.

"Yes, sir, I was just about to request docking permission."..." Yes, sir, I'm aware we're late with the shipment. There were some complications en route."..."No, not paranid, sir. Pirates."..."It was a large patrol, sir. We didn't have time to reac- No, I'm aware we didn't send a distress message sir. There was some kind of interference with the message system."..."Is it feasable that the Pirates have invented some form of communications blocking?"..."But with all the new technology they've gotten their hands on, especially the new capital ship desig-"..."Could they have bought it or stolen it from one of the other races, sir?"..."Yes, sir, I said bought. I thought the Teladi were known for selling technology to the pirates?"..."That's just a rumour? Oh right, sorry, sir. Heard it on one of the Aladna Hill stations years ago, always assumed-"..."Yes sir, bringing her in to dock now."

He reached out and held a button down on the comms panel to close the channel. He then heaved a sigh, turned around and faced Huritas. "Right, he bought it, and I've gotten us docking permission. But that admiral guy did sound a little skeptical, so I'd suggest you be careful."

Huritas turned to look out of the cockpit, seeing the docking clamp of the military base creep into view. An odd feeling of dread washed over her. "I'm alwayss careful, it'ss how I sstay alive."

The docking clamps slowly grew larger and more detailed as the Magnetar approached. Huritas was vaguely aware of the figures moving that she could see through the window partitions of the arm that swung down overhead. There was a rumble as the station's docking clamp attached to the ship, and the stations shields flickered briefly as they engulfed the ship.

Pok put a hand to his ear and turned to face the console again. "Yessir?"..."The airlock is open, awaiting the docking crew."..."Aye sir, Magnetar out." He turned to Huritas, who was staring out the cockpit again. "The docking crew will be here shortly. They said they'd stepped up security though, so there'll be a small group of marines with them."

"We're prepared," Huritas mumbled, halfheartedly. Her attention was instead focused on the flashes she could see a short distance from the ship. Spaceflies?

Pok paused for a moment, then sat forwards. "Hold on," he said. "That's odd..." Huritas glanced at him. "They've lowered shields. The station, I mean. They've just cut their own shields."

Huritas continued staring at the dancing lights as they zipped across space. Realization struck her like a Paranid's fist. She grabbed for her earpiece. "Commander!"

"Something wrong?"

"They're onto uss, there'ss a boarding party moving acrossss sspace towardss the sship right now. Prepar-" Huritas was cut off by a dreadfully loud static noise. She cringed as she turned the earpiece's volume down. She and Pok both glanced at the hull indicator, which was flashing along the panelling on the side of the holding bay. Both of them glanced at each other, shocked.

Huritas pulled away, and dashed over to the doorway of the cockpit. "Closse the holding bay doorss," she hissed over her shoulder. "And make ssure to jam yoursself in here."

"Why? Where are you going?" Pok called after her. She stopped and turned to look at him.

"I'm going to go free our friend." Huritas looked him in they eye for a moment. "Keep yoursself alive, Pok. You're a good man."

Pok smiled at her, and she heard the cockpit door slide shut as she left.

Her brain slipped into the mindset of the Huntress.

* * *

"It's stolen ATF technology, like I said. It was found on the body of one of their operatives. Smuggling it out to you wasn't just a big risk, it's a direct violation of Argon law, and I'm pretty lucky I made it out alive. You'd better compensate me well for this."

"I told you, there are thirty five million creditss awaiting you once I have it."

"I know, you've said. But I've been thinking - you are an assassin, after all, and that's a pretty intimidating thing to have on your resume. How do I know you won't stab me in the back and not pay me?"

"I have my honour."

"I'd believe that from a Split. Not from a Teladi. I want ten million up front. To make sure."

"Five million."

"Five million's not enough. I want ten."

"Five million'ss the besst I can offer. Otherwisse, how can I trust you won't jusst take my creditss and leave?"

...

"Alright, fine. But I want the thrity million as soon as the modifications are complete. And I'm charging extra for any hired help, too."

* * *

"Report!" the marine commander's voice barked into Huritas' ear. A thought about how obvious it was he was ex-military flashed across her mind.

"Nothing," Huritas replied. "They've jammed the airlock door on the docking clampss. I'm trying to hack it, but with no luck."

"I've lost six good soldiers, Huntress. You'd better not fluff things up."

"Ssix?" Huritas thought for a moment. "How many left in Team Alpha?"

"Three. Almankasset, Tasha and Juranos. One of the marines managed to puncture Bufi's suit, it's now plastered across the walls of the holding bay."

"Tell them to join Team Beta."

"You're going at it alone? You crazy?"

"I'm an assassin, commander, remember that. Tell Brick and his men to create a diversion, draw the guards away from the brig. I'm going to attempt to open the outer airlock from the insside, but you lot are going to have to sspacewalk here."

"Affirmative."

Huritas focused herself back on her hacking. The pad she had managed to connect to the door's control device was scrolling through a long list of variables, which she began scanning in search of one that would unjam - or even better, open - the airlock's door, without disengaging the docking clamp. All she seemed to be getting was random pointers from the core CPU. Frakking Argon engineering. Never made anything straightforward.

A pattern seemed to emerge in the data, though, and Huritas found the variable that controlled the door. She plugged a hackerchip into the console, which gave her a short window in which to make her amendments, and as soon as it saved itself to the core CPU, the door hissed and slid open. Huritas heaved a sigh of relief. Where the hell's the hacker when you want him?

The conduit was quite small, only containing a control panel for the airlock and some scattered clutter. It was obvious the Argon had been expecting them - the panels were locked out, and there was no evidence of anyone having come through into the conduit recently to release or change the airlock status. Not even a cleaner.

Huritas took her pistol from her belt and tapped the command panel for the inner door. Amazingly, the doors slid apart, revealing the innards of the docking area to her. This area seemed lifeless as well, but signs of people being here were more recent - a half eaten meatsteak had been left in a lunchbox next to the main maintenance column.

The console here was fully responsive, and Huritas had no trouble opening the airlock. Team Beta entered, lead by Brick, who was wearing an angular helmet with a blacked out visor. He was even more intimidating when you couldn't see his eyes. He didn't stop to look at her for a second, and went about ordering his men to take positions as they prepared to push deeper into the installation. Huritas couldn't help but notice some of the scorch marks on the marines' armour, which filled her with the feeling of dread again. She shook it off.

The door deeper into the complex slid aside with ease, and the corridor beyond came into view. Empty. There was a dull silence as the assorted marines waited to spot any sign of the enemy beyond.

Nothing.

"Tasha, Uladumankett, move up." Brick ordered. He turned his back completely on Huritas as Team Beta moved deeper into the station. Huritas glanced down at the pad she held in her hands and reviewed her route to the brig. She followed the last marines into the corridors of the station, then turned the other way at the first junction to head for the incarceration area.

The corridors were deathly silent, and Huritas made sure they stayed that way as she darted between corners, checking that the coast was completely clear. She passed doorways and signs, labelled with the location of different meeting rooms and waiting areas for different things. She found herself following the signs labelled 'restricted access and criminal transport', which lead her through the seemingly vast yet cramped empty spaces of the docking areas. Finally she found her way to an access shaft, which was a small air-duct-esque tunnel that linked all parts of the station together. She prized the grating away from the front.

Someone shouted from down the corridor, followed by the faint noise of a plasma rifle powering up. Huritas dashed back towards the column she'd passed, but was too slow - the bolt of plasma just caught her leg. She felt herself fall to the floor.

* * *

Huritas was sat in the dark corner of the rookery once again, scrying the people who entered. She knew who to look for now, and no doubts he did too. The Argon refused to tell her his name in case she reported him to the Argon officials, but he seemed to have honour in what he was doing. He was even prepared to keep her up to date with his progress, even if he was charging an extortionate amount for his work.

Huritas thought for a moment. It probably made sense though. Not many people were willing to steal top-secret military intel from under the nose of the Argon Government, then run it almost the entire length of the known universe. He had better make it worth her while, though.

Movement at the door caught her eye. Her supplier appeared, with a case in hand. He was still wearing the hooded shirt though. He seemed to have a fixation on it.

"I assssume you're making good progressss?" Huritas asked him as he approached.

"Yes, I am. Very much so." He sounded incredibly proud of himself, but also exited. "I've read into some of the ATF files I downloaded from the protected database in the Argon high-security labs, and came across something interesting. The suit, originally, was made of some form of reflective polymer manufactured by the ATF secret labs, which is capable of refracting focused light with incredible efficiency."

Huritas looked at him blankly for a moment. "It reflectss lasserss?"

"Refracts. Breaks them up. It's also highly insulative, and the underlayer is resistant to heat, which means it could protect you from a plasma blast, provided it didn't meet you head on."

Huritas looked at him. "What about making it fit me?"

"Ah, yes, I've had a bit of a discovery on that one. We've discovered that the material responds to heat, and so we can effectively 'mould' it at high temperatures. Here," he handed Huritas a datapad. "I've put some pictures and information files on there for you. I want to test the 'moulding' first using some of the parts we shouldn't need, like the leg, then I'll have them fitted to you properly."

* * *

"Got her!"

There was a silence, followed by cautious footsteps. Huritas pulled herself to her feet, and grinned.

"You sure, private? Don't see a corpse or anythin'. She's not screaming, so I'm assuming that blast vapourised her lower body or summin', but I can't see either the corpse or the scorch mark."

"Nah, I'm sure. Saw her go down and everythin'. Hit 'er clean in the upper leg. Best shot I ever made, I bet."

There was a snicker.

"What? Like to see you do better. Movin' target an-" His sentence was cut short by Huritas' clawed hand as it shot around the column and grabbed one of the two guards by the throat. He struggled against her as his partner dived for cover. "I... tho-... thought... you were..."

"Dead?" Huritas finished for him. The guard nodded. "Ssorry, you'll have to do better than that." She clasped her claws in a vice like grip around his throat, choking him. His partner poked his head out from a doorway closeby, watching her. She then tossed the unconcious guard to the ground, and fired her gauss pistol at the second one, and slid into the maintenance duct.

She didn't wait for the howl of pain - she'd not even aimed the pistol before she knew she'd hit the guard in the leg. The thought of him slowly bleeding out while he sat alone in the corridor woke an unnatural pride in Huritas. She didn't try to hide it. It was what being an assassin was about.

The access shaft was cramped, and for a moment Huritas wondered how anyone would be able to navigate it as she shuffled along, especially an Argon - which just about every one of was larger than her. The suit didn't exactly make it easy either - it was very slightly rubbery, which just caused it to stick to the metal surfaces of the shaft as she crawled along.

It was a good ten mizuras before she reached her first junction - or moreso, fell into. It was a vertical access shaft, which she had fallen over the edge of and tumbled down a good three levels before finally getting a grip on the ladder. Fortunately, she wanted to go down, but she felt too clumsy cramped together in the tiny access shafts. Once she was comfortably clamped to the ladder, she made the mistake and had a sudden case of vertigo.

Good thing I didn't fall much further...

With a sigh, she started climbing. It was going to be a long trip.

"How're we all doing out there?" She muttered into the earpiece. There was a faint crackle as Brick and the commander tuned back into the radio.

"Twelve 'o' clock and all's well," the commander joked. "Only had minimal resistance here. Our rescue's radioed in to request la-" he was cut off by what sounded like gunfire. "Sut! Get the door! Hynt, cover m-" There was silence as the commander's channel closed.

"Diversion's dealt with like you requested, runt. Hope it does you some good, my pay's on your shoulders." Brick hissed. It seemed just about everything about Brick was intimidating. Even over the local area comms, his voice had that 'I want you dead' quality.

Huritas smiled to herself. He probably didn't need a gun. He could just glare people to death.

Upon finally reaching the right level of the shaft, Huritas crawled back into the access tunnels. They were just as narrow and cramped as eight decks up...

* * *

"How much longer do I have to sstand here looking like a sunrise flowercane?"

"Hush! I'm almost done. I'm a scientist, you know, not a bloody tailor. There. How does that fit around the leg?"

"Little bit loosse. Can you tighten it more?"

"Yess, but you'll need to look like a 'flowercane' for a bit longer."

Huritas sighed. As much as the suit was to be the ultimatum in assassin gear, it was turning into a right nightmare to fit it. Why couldn't the ATF have made it in a 'Teladi' size? Or at least, could they have made it so that it didn't have to be boiled before it could be fitted? Huritas'd never been in a sauna before - it always seemed like an Argon hype - and she was pretty sure she never wanted to after this.

"There, it's fitted. That better?"

"Yess, that's much tighter."

"Good." The Argon rubbed his hands together. He'd still refused to give Huritas his name, he'd only mentioned the fact he had a 'PHd' in something or other. "I think I'm getting the hang of this. Right, I want to leave the final armour plates you asked for until last, since we've got some extra bits to add in now. The other equipment you asked for has arrived, and I've taken the liberty of condensing them a little, so that they fit the suit better."

Huritas felt pleased. This may be turning into a forty million credit investment, but it almost felt worth it. Once the suit had been fitted and cooled off, it was actually extremely comfortable, lightweight, and was even liquid cooled, meaning that she felt fine, even in the extremely steamy lab. She almost felt sorry for the doctor, who had to put up with the heat and the steam and appeared to be sweating more than a Boron in an oven.

"Here's the first one you asked for." He produced a large bracer-like device, which had a small monitor on the top and a length of flexible piping attaching it to a chestplate-shaped piece. "I've shaved off the orignal weight from the end, and replaced it with a more dense material that fits better with the shape of the wristpiece. Should only weigh half a kilo, so don't expect it to be much good as a weapon without the cable. I've also extended the cable and changed the mechanism, so you should only have to **** your wrist to activate it. Try it!"

Huritas slipped it over a clawed hand and felt the control spikes digging against her wrist. She dropped her arm and cocked her wrist slightly, and felt the bottom of the bracer slip off and into her hand, followed by what felt like a strong yet delicate wire. She took the wire in hand and swung the weight slightly - it made a satisfying 'whooshing' noise as the wire cut through the air. Razor wire. She suddenly felt glad she'd decided to wear her fingerless gloves.

"It'ss excellent. What'ss the monitor for?"

"Ah, that's a little addition I came up with. It's like a wrist-sized datapad, but I want to add some remote functionality to it as well. So you can control your ships remotely using it."

Huritas nodded. "Ssounds good."

He handed her a second one, with a breastplate that appeared to fit the other side. It was much slimmer than the first. "I've gotten a second one as well. This one has a grappling attachment as well, so you can use that to get yourself out of tough situations. Uses the same accelleration method as your pistol."

Huritas pulled it onto her wrist. It felt strange at first, as the two combined made her feel like she had very heavy arms, but she could feel herself growing used to it.

"Anyway. Next bit, I've done the modifications of your pistol as you asked. It's still the same firing mechanism, it should just feel a lot lighter and I've dampened the recoil a bit. Oh, and I've done this:" He took a magnet from the workbench, and dropped it above the pistol. It dropped about halfway, before leaping onto the pistol and attaching itself. "Neat, eh?"

"How'ss that ssuppossed to be usseful?"

"I magnetised the belt as well. So you should be able to holster the pistol by just dropping it at your side."

Huritas nodded again. She was trying to fight the wave of pride that was welling up inside her. Part of her wanted to go and kill something, just to make sure it was worth the money.

"Is that all then?" the scientist asked her. "For today, anyway. I'll fit the plates tomorrow, and you'd better have those credits ready."

"That'ss all," Huritas assured him. "For now. And they will be waiting."

* * *

Argon brigs are even more dreary and technologically complex than the rest of the entire ship. Once Huritas had actually managed to locate an access vent close enough to enter, she found herself in a large, open, corridor-like room filled with large holding cells, which were essentially large, glass-like boxes with fields of some kind of electicity running around them. The consoles that controled them had more monitors than a Teladi Buzzard had for the entire ship, and enough buttons and knobs that you could sit there all day and still have no clue as to what the hell you were doing with them.

Oh, and they were swarming with guards. As of now, they weren't aware of Huritas scrying the chamber from her vantage point atop one of the girders across the roof. There was at least six of them in here, and there could probably be more if anyone thought things were getting suspicious. She hoped that no matter what fate decided to do with her in here, it was going to involve the distraction that Brick had mentioned working.

As quietly as she could, she twisted her left wrist and watched the grappling hook fly gracefully across the room, black cord trailing behind it. It attached itself to the ceiling with a quiet 'thunk' and she swung gracefully between them. It felt so good to be out in the open again.

When she landed atop the opposite girder, she had an idea. The grapple! If she used the grapple, she could quietly eliminate them one by one without revealing herself. One of the guards was alone on a catwalk overtop the cages - he could easily be knocked off into the electric field. That'd do some hurt. And when the others run over to see what's happened, then she can cause some distractions elsewhere...

The ideas ran through her mind like terrified rodents. How she could single them out and scare them. How she could make them [i]suffer. That inexplicable pride welled up inside her again.

She swung over above the lone guard and waited for a moment when nobody was looking, in which she embedded the grapple into the girder below her and jumped off the side of the girder. The line grew taught, swinging her in a perfect arc, cannonballing straight into the side of the guard, who screamed as he tumbled into the electrified glass cage below him. Huritas sailed on in a full circle, returning to the top of the girder with a perfect landing. The room suddenly turned to chaos.

Both of the guards on the floor level dropped their weapons and ran over to try and help their friend, and one of the guards who was in the central operating room wandered out to see what the noise was about, and then ran over to help him as he screamed "Turn it off! Turn if off!" from atop the glass cage. Huritas grinned. One down, five to go.

With the three gathered on the floor, the doorway side of the room was completely unguarded, and Huritas used the opportunity to rappel down the wall from the girders in the cieling onto the catwalk section, and into the control room. The guard in there was far too distracted watching his comrade being electrified below and trying desperately to cut the cage's power from the console in front of him. Creeping up behind him was a doddle, and Huritas incapacitated him easily with a sharp blow to the neck. She released the razorwire from her right wrist, and wrapped it around the guard's legs and then all the way across his body - she then hauled the unconcious guard out onto the catwalk and unceremoniously dumped him over the edge.

He fell about two meters before the limp razorwire tightened and dug deep into his flesh, before unravelling and snapping back to Huritas' bracer. He made no sound as his body was shredded by the sudden impact of gravity against a thousand tiny barbs and blades, landing on the floor of the brig with a squelch. One of the guards on the lower level screamed as she realised what had happened, and the final guard abandoned his post to see if the corpse was still breathing.
Huritas attached the grapple to the catwalk and jumped over the railing. She fell just far enough to land with a heavy thud ontop of the guard who was checking the corpse below, knocking him to the floor and winding him. She grabbed her pistol in the other hand and planted a gauss slug through the back of his head, before letting go of the grappel line and zipping back up to the catwalk above her. She dashed into the control room just in time to see the flash of a disintegrator rifle hit the catwalk behind her. She peered out of the window to see the three remaining guards gathered together in the centre of the room, pointing their weapons at the darkness and cowering from everything that moved. Huritas watched them silently and unseen for a moment. It just felt so good to have done that to people, reduce them to quivering wrecks.

Huritas crept out onto the catwalk with extreme caution, and took her gauss pistol in hand. Taking careful aim, she made just two shots - the first one struck one of the guards in the base of the neck, and exited on the other side and tore through the hip of the guard behind him, and the second struck the disintegrator rifle of the third guard, which exploded in a spectacular fashion, sending all three of them flying across the room. Only one remained animate afterwards, bleeding profusely from her hip, who dragged herself to her knees to beg for her life when Huritas approached her.

"Please don't kill me," she begged. "Please, please, please don't kill me."

"Sorry," Huritas tried to give a confiding look for a moment, but it was swallowed by a grin of purest malice. "I don't do sympathy."

She raised her pistol, and was met with a whimper by the guard. She didn't pull the trigger. Instead, she simply kicked her in the chin, sending her sprawling with a loud crack. Yes, it probably wouldn't kill her. But she'd probably wish she was afterwards.

Huritas glanced around for a moment, admiring her handiwork. Parts of the floor were now awash with blood, and the entire brig smelled of burning flesh, but it was cleared of guards, in the least. She turned her attention to the cages.

To her dismay, the only one with anyone in, had a corpse.

* * *

The next morning, the armour was finished and waiting. The doctor had constructed it partially around a mannequin, and had made it simple enough that it could just be strapped on atop the suit and removed when unneccesary. It fitted nearly perfectly, apart from some minor adjustments, and weighed almost as little as a feather. Huritas hadn't even finished putting it on when she wired the doctor his payment. He had done a tremendous job.

"I'm glad to help," he said. "I've enjoyed working on it. It's been a suitable challenge, which is what I've nver had with the Argon government."

"What will you do now?" Huritas asked him.

"I'm not sure. Explore the universe, I suppose. Take on a new identity, keep the Argon government off my back. Perhaps I can find some use for my skills."

"I'm ssure I could usse your help with equipment in the future."

"Heh, perhaps. I've had enough of this for a while. I think I'm going to go make sure I can get to sleep at night without waking up thinking there's a government assassin at my door. I've had enough nightmares for a lifetime."

"Well, good luck to you, in whatever you choosse to do."

"And to you, friend. And here." He produced a small card, and thrust it into Huritas' hand. He took the last of his equipment, and stepped through the door, never to be heard from again.

Huritas looked at the card he'd given her.

We'll meet again. Find me when you need me.

Fancy that. A business card.

* * *

"Brick."

"What, runt?"

"We've got a sslight problem down here."

"I don't like the sound of that. You'd better not be telling me bad news, or I'm going to cream you."

"Like to see you try. Target'ss dead."

There was silence.

"Brick?"

Brick's voice sounded over the LAC, but not directed at Huritas. "Get this thing outta here. Boss' lapdog's screwed up, we're le-"

"Brick!?"

Huritas checked the channels on her earpiece. Nothing.

"Commander?"

Frak! If anyone's still alive on the station who isn't Military, then they're not in contact with the commander or herself. Brick hadn't just hijacked the mission, he's probably hijacked all chance of es-

Huritas checked her bracer. The Goshawk! She brought up the remote console that the doctor had installed, and set the Goshawk on course for the station. With the central control out, she could probably get out via an airlock and spacewalk to the Goshawk, but it was going to be a very risky trip. Not that she had any choice.

She brought up the station schematics on her bracer. There was an airlock on the brig level, but it was the other side of the marine barracks, and that really did feel like tempting fate. There was an airlock two decks above her, though, which is in the primary hangar - escaping from there would be easy, hopefully.

It did mean a long climb up the access shaft though, and she didn't have the time. She didn't have a spacesuit either - the one thing her suit didn't seem to be suitable for is space travel.

Main airlock it was.

Taking a gamble, Huritas decided that she'd only be able to get to the Goshawk II in time via the central elevator tunnel, which appeared to be a quick walk from the brig. Perhaps as a viable method of transporting criminals? She wasn't going to question it. All she knew is that she wanted to get out. Fast. Turboshafts are good at that.

The corridors of the level were quite packed, but mainly with off-duty staff who were more worried about Huritas' claws than anything else. Security officers who still had weapons on hand tried to fire after her, but usually missed, or had their shots absorbed by the suit. Huritas didn't feel she had the time to worry about them. All that mattered was escape.

With all the guards around, the Turboshaft felt like a deathtrap - but by some bizzare stroke of luck, she managed to dive into one as two off duty officers left, slamming the doors shut behind her. She punched the console to go to the main hangar as hard as she dared, and felt the capsule lurch as it moved. She propped herself up against the wall as she caught her breath.

The situation seemed pretty dire. She was now in a turboshaft headed for the main hangar, where likely most of the guards are, in a race against time to get to her own ship as it sped across the sector, to which she would have to spacewalk to with a stolen suit, and then escape with probably the entire military presence in the sector bearing down on her.

But it was the only way.

She summoned her resolve the second that the doors opened, and sped down the corridors as fast as she could. Signs, signs... where were the signs? She saw one as it flashed past pointing to 'primary airlock'. That sounded like the right way to go.

She changed direction just soon enough to feel a phase bolt flash past her. She took off down the corridor, with two guards hot on her heels. One had a phase pistol and a triggerhappy attitude, but fortunately had the aim of a blind Paranid. Huritas' legs bought her just long enough to get into the airlock chamber and shoot the control panel for the door behind her. The door slid shut, but one of the guards behind it, who sounded kind of official, wanted it open again. Huritas, for the first time in her career, panicked. There was a spacesuit in one of the lockers - she didn't hesitate, she grabbed it as fast as she could, only being careful enough not to damage it severely.

The door slid open behind her. Phase shots filled the room, and Huritas' reflexes caused her to dive for cover.

Straight into the open airlock.

One of the guards slammed the button behind her, and the doors of the airlock slammed shut. The guards gathered to watch and mock her as the airlock depressurised. To this day, Huritas Galos Yayasois II has never managed to put on a space suit so quickly. Right up until she managed to seal the helmet and activate the life support, she could feel the sense of impending doom, coupled with the thinning air and the feeling that her eyeballs wanted to explode. She glanced over at the glass partition and waved the guards behind her farewell as the airlock door opened, sucking her into space.

There it was, the Goshawk II, waiting for her just five hundred meters away. It might as well have been kilometers - it seemed to take forever to reach, and Huritas was constantly aware of the fact that one stray blast from an IRE would spell doom for her. The suit's thrusters were knackered, and so slowed her down even more. The Blastclaw's top hatch slid back as she approached.

She entered through the airlock, panting. "Ivor," she ordered.

"INPUT COMMAND"

"Take me home."

* * *

The doors to Eron's meeting hall slid open with a slight squeak, as they always had. Huritas entered somewhat sheepishly, as she recited the apology she had spent so long perfecting. "Listen," she said. "I know this is going to take a lot of explaining, as I'll bet that Brick's come along already and told you that I screwed up the mission, so I've come to set the rec-"

She stopped.

Slumped over the desk was the corpse of Eron Gyal.

Carved in his forehead was Huritas' circular mark.

Frak...

[Kirlack]

[Libelnon]

Okay, okay... Treasure Chest -> Elysium of Light. Still is an 'Elysium of Light' gate in my eye

[Kirlack]

Nope. Try again

Black Hole Sun -> Treasure Chest

What was that about polishing reading glasses?

[Triaxx2]

Awesome name for your Cobra. I think Unsuspected Gains has it beat though.

[Coupaholic]

Ah, so I see Mr Rossi has introduced himself - I was getting curious as to how you would bring him in.

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble you get him into

[Triaxx2]

Oooh, PBG bait.

[Kirlack]

[Coupaholic]

[Kirlack]

[Coupaholic]

Don't kick yourself...it was um, meant to be a joke.

I too jumped the gun a bit, I should have used '' but the thought didn't occur to me.

Oh well, no harm no foul.

[Triaxx2]

Cool chapter. You're a lucky bugger. It took me a week of scanning return missions before I found Unsuspected, and you get two. Yeesh.