Chapter 34 Only one survived the brutal retaliation from the Warlock Veldoran and the Lone Wanderer.
The duo left Rivet City and headed in the direction of Megaton once again, their limbs sore from the constant walking. Within two days, more Talon company mercenaries had tried their luck at killing them, a notably difficult task considering the distinct combat prowess displayed by both of them.
***
Sergeant Gerald Collins, the sole survivor of Hunting Party 7, out of fifteen parties sent out by Talon Company to hunt down Lyra Kendal, limped back to the dilapidated remains of the shopping mall known as Paradise Falls. It was an ironic name for a truly horrific place, where slavery met with decadence and debauchery. At the center of it all, Eulogy Jones, and the man he knew only as Mr. Burke.
Trudging towards the gate of the slaver camp, he gave up and collapsed into the dust, staring dazedly into the sky, which was wreathed in wispy clouds of fine white.
He closed his eyes, thinking back to his encounter with the two monsters Burke had sent him to hunt.
***
It had been seven days since they departed from Talon HQ, seven days without a proper bed to rest in, seven days without a decent meal. Sergeant Gerald Collins sat in the shadow of a large rock, his squad huddled together around a fire for warmth.
"Sergeant, can't we go back for a resupply soon? I'm sick of eating rations," one of his trooper's, a young-ish looking man of 22, asked. He had not bothered remembering his name, must have been John or James or Jones or something.
"Fuck that, don't you remember if we fail our supplies come out of our pay?" Collins snarled.
Chagrined, the trooper fell silent. Truth was, Collins felt the same way. They had been on station for nearly four days, subsisting on hard rations washed down with metallic-tasting water. The men were tired and on edge, their senses dulled by the tedium.
Also, they had heard about the destruction of Hunting Party 12 at the hands of this "Lyra" girl they had been sent to hunt. The only survivor had been found, nearly dead from exposure. He would never walk again, at any rate. The damage to his legs had been aggravated by the days spent without medical attention.
They were tired, hungry and scared, the worst condition in which to undertake a search and destroy mission.
For now, they were safe. The arrangement of rocks around their campsite was a natural deterrent to snipers. Precisely so, considering their target's penchant for sniper rifles.
"Well, I'm bushed," Collins said after a while. "Kieran, take the first watch, settle the rest amongst yourselves."
The dark-skinned corporal nodded, patting his rifle gently and climbing out of their hidey-hole.
As Collins closed his eyes, he heard a faint gurgle and a sudden feeling of warm dampness upon his face. Seconds later, he had the wind knocked out of him by Kieran's falling body.
He opened his eyes, pushing his XO out of the way. "The fuck is going on?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a blue flash illuminated the camp. A bolt of lightning struck two of his men, exploding them into bloody giblets that showered him with blood, gore, and excrement.
Too horrified to scream, and with the taste of blood in his mouth and the sharp stink of bile and blood in his nostrils, he tried looked down at his XO.
Kieran was dead, his throat slit. His glassy, lifeless eyes stared up at him in mute accusation.
As he looked up from Kieran, he saw a man in ornate robes which seemed to double as battle armour. With a single slash, the man disembowelled the Jones boy, his entrails spilling like refuse upon the dusty, blood streaked ground. The fact that he had only just remembered the boy's name tickled irreverently in his mind, despite the gravity of the situation.
In desperation, Collins raised his weapon to fire, but the feeling of cold metal against his throat stopped him dead.
Suddenly, a combat knife's edge shimmered into existence in front of his eyes. The arm that held it was slender, feminine. "Drop the weapon now."
He did so, sending the rifle clattering to the ground.
The man in robed armour turned to face him, the red slits in his helm glowing in the dim light.
Collins wailed in terror as the man raised his large fluted blade, the tip pointed at his forehead.
"More of these Talon company fools," he pronounced, his voice dripping with scorn. "I tire of dealing with them."
"Who are you people?" he wailed.
"Don't you recognize me?" the owner of the combat knife walked slowly to his front, the blade never wavering for a second. "I'm the person you were sent to kill."
Sharp grey-green eyes stared at him, framed by a mane of dark hair, the faintest of freckles upon her face.
"I also tire of having to introduce ourselves to these fools time and again," the man's voice sounded almost amused. "I would have expected the leader to be more competent than this."
In a normal situation, Collins would have reacted violently. Now, he merely whimpered.
"So… What… shall… we… do…. With… you…" the girl pondered. She looked over at the man. "An example again, Vel?"
"They did not learn from our earlier example," he replied. "I doubt sparing this one will be of any use to us."
"N-no! I'll tell Burke to stop hunting you!" Collins said desperately. "Please, don't kill me!"
"Burke? I thought it was Tenpenny?" she raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"No… Burke's taken over Tenpenny's operation," he replied, trying to buy his life with information. "Since Tenpenny died, he's been trying even harder to get a-hold of both of you."
"Shit," she hissed. "Again? Why?"
"You guys are the only ones who can actively threaten his power. He wants you two dead, and he wants the technology in his suit," Collins gestured toward the man.
"Tell us where he is now," she frowned, pressing the tip of the combat knife against the bare flesh of his throat.
"Are you fucking kidding me? He'll kill me-"
"I'll kill you if you don't tell me. That's simple, isn't it?" she ran the blade over the side of his neck, drawing blood.
He flinched.
"But he'll kill me…" he protested weakly.
The man took a few quick steps toward him, placing a gauntleted hand upon his face. "You will reveal your secrets to me…"
Immediately, he felt his vision swim, a strong tingling engulfing his extremities. "I-I… What are you doing...?"
Memories came unbidden to the surface of his mind, clear as day despite everything.
"Burke…" the man whispered, his gravelly voice echoing within the confines of his mind. "Show him to me…"
"Fuck…" Collins rasped, flecks of spittle upon his lips. "You…"
The man's grip tightened, the pointed metal tips of the gauntlet breaking flesh. "I will rip them from your mind if you resist… and discard your body as a feast for your carrion birds…"
Collins opened his mouth in a soundless scream as the presence within his mind strengthened. It was too strong, too powerful to resist.
"Paradise… Falls…" he intoned, relaxing his grip somewhat. "Quick, Lyra. Give me your mapping device."
The girl held out her Pipboy. He tapped the controls a few times with his free hand before returning his attention to Collins.
"They sent the assassin after us," he whispered again. "That boy... his name… he does not remember… His master… a man… Dark-skinned… His name is… Eulogy… Eulogy Jones… His father…? What manner of human would do such a thing?"
"We've always been a little on the barbaric side," she agreed ruefully. "Anything else?"
"Only that if we choose to visit Paradise Falls, the battle will undoubtedly be difficult," the man let go of Collins' face. "There are many more of his kind there."
Collins slumped to the ground, his breathing laboured and painful.
"Go back to your master," the man addressed him with disdain. "Tell him to stop hunting us if he values his life."
Collins shuddered, curling into a ball, drool snaking down the side of his mouth.
***
Collins opened his eyes again, feeling the echoes of the mental violation that man had visited upon him. Despite everything, he still did not know his name. Was he the alien that he had heard about on the radio? Three Dogg had a reputation for being a Brotherhood sympathizer… but what if he was right?
"Oi, mano, you all right there?" he heard someone call out in a distinctly Latin-American accent. It was undoubtedly one of the slavers manning the gate. "You one of them Talon Company guys, right? Your boss is inside with our boss right now…"
"What's wrong with him, Chavez?" he heard a rougher sounding voice, a lot closer this time.
"I dunno, Jimmy, I ain't no doctor or physical-sician, man," Chavez replied. "Maybe he's hungry or something…"
"Fuck, aren't you a right stupid spic. Let's just get him inside first," the rough-voiced slaver walked over to him. Collins caught a glimpse of his craggy, bearded face before he passed out again.
***
Collins awoke again soon after, his vision blurry and unfocused. Bright light shone into his eyes, eclipsed by a person's head.
"He's awake, Mr. Burke," a female voice issued from the silhouette of the head. He frowned, his eyes tearing from the light. "He'll be all right, he's just a little dehydrated."
"Let me talk to him," the gravelly voice of Burke sent a chill down his spine.
"Sir," he managed force from his parched throat. "It was her…"
"They did this to you?" Burke hissed. "You had four men with you!"
"The one who travels with her…" he croaked. "He does… things... I'm not even sure he's human…"
"What things?" Burke demanded. "The hell are you going on about?"
Collins laughed weakly. "You won't believe me…"
"Just tell me, damnit!" he seized Collins' hair and lifted him up.
"He… he shot a bolt of lightning… I'm not sure how… but it killed two of my men. He killed the last guy with his sword… I swear… I've never seen anyone so goddamned fast…" he coughed a little. "The girl… she had a stealth-boy… she snuck up on Kieran and slit his throat… Woulda done the same to me if she wanted me dead."
"You told them where I was…" Burke's voice was seething barely-controlled anger.
"I didn't… he… ripped it from my mind…" Collins replied.
"That's preposterous!" Burke exclaimed harshly. "You expect me to believe you?"
"I told him that you'd kill me if I told. He made it so that I had no choice," Collins closed his eyes and shuddered. "I tried to resist him, sir… I tried…"
"You're just a fucking weakling!" Burke released him, his head slamming into the metal examination table he lay on. "Don't you realize what you've done?"
"They said… if you valued your life, you'd stop hunting them," Collins saw that Burke's back was turned, but it was obvious he had heard him. "Sir… you gotta understand… they'll kill us all."
"I've paid for your services… I'll spend your lives however I see fit," Burke glared at Collins. "And there is nothing that that upstart girl can say to change my mind."
"I know you're going to kill me, sir," Collins sighed. "But there's one thing that makes me really happy at this point of time."
Burke narrowed his eyes as he reached into his well-tailored suit for his pistol. "And what might that be?"
"That you'll be joining me soon enough, you son of a bitch," Collins summoned what spittle he could and spat at Burke. "I'll see you in hell, sir."
Enraged, Burke drew his pistol and shot the sergeant in the head.
***
"He's dead," Veldoran pronounced as Lyra watched Paradise falls through the scope of her sniper rifle. "The tracer I placed within his mind is no more."
"Well, I can't say that that was unexpected," Lyra replied. "What do we do now?"
"We may attempt to wait for him to leave," Veldoran pointed out. "We still have a few days worth of supplies… However, I do believe your refusal to hide explosives on his person was rather naïve."
"There are too many innocent people inside the compound. Those slaves don't deserve to die, even though the slavers do," Lyra replied.
"In any case, our options are limited. A full frontal assault on the compound would be extremely risky and would likely result in our deaths," Veldoran noted. "A stealth approach would be best if we wish to resolve this quickly and cleanly."
"And those slaves would continue to suffer," Lyra murmured. "I'd like to help them out if I can."
"Again with your schemes of magnanimity," Veldoran sighed. "It is extremely tiresome to be your travelling companion, do you know that?"
"Have you got ANYTHING better to do?" she pointed out exasperatedly. "Look, you Eldar believe that every action has a consequence in the future. Imagine, if you will, we get ourselves into trouble-"
"Like we usually do?" Veldoran retorted sarcastically.
"And one of those slaves happens to help us out," Lyra ignored him and continued. "Which he or she wouldn't be able to do if he was still trapped in Paradise Falls."
"But Eldar actually see the future," Veldoran said. "Your action might even cause a negative consequence and you might never even realize it until the thread of fate is completed."
"Look, I believe in Karma. One day, if we keep doing good deeds, it's all gonna come around for us. The world is a dark place, there's no sense in making it darker, right?" she replied. "And besides, can't you look into the future and see where this leads us?"
"It takes a full Seer Council with their minds in concert to break the veil of Time," he shook his head. "One Seer would only be able to glimpse small fragments at different junctures, with use of the rune stones."
"Then cast them now," she insisted. "Anything is better than floundering in the dark."
Veldoran sighed, before reaching into his satchel to withdraw the wraithbone slivers. Empowering them, he saw the rune of Slaanesh glow brightly in the area where location would be depicted. He waved it aside,moving onto the next one.
The rune of action floated to the fore, aligned with the rune of consequence, whereas the rune of inaction was aligned with the rune of destruction.
"That does not aid us…" he whispered to himself.
To take no action was to court destruction. Waiting for him to leave counted as inaction, he realized. They would likely not be able to catch him as he left, especially if he stayed longer than their supplies would last. Leaving Burke to his own devices also counted as inaction, and so… their choice was clear. Either way, they would have to act now to clear Burke from the fold, or face destruction at his hands.
The rune of Humanity glowed brightly with the rune of consequence, but it had no follow up, no good or evil, not even a neutral outcome.
Veldoran gritted his teeth. "Reveal yourself to me!"
With a jolt of power, the wraithbone slivers ceased their orbits and clattered to the ground.
"Inaction… we cannot remain here and do nothing," he announced, retrieving the runes and placing them within his satchel. "Deal with him and free the slaves or leave them to their fate. Either way, we must deal with Burke. We court destruction by doing nothing."
"I still prefer to free the slaves," she replied. "I'll do it alone if I have to."
"You foolish, stubborn girl," Veldoran cursed. "Again you charge headlong into fate as if the Gods themselves had spoken in favour of you. Bear in mind that Ilrissa will not always be able to protect you."
"I know," she closed her eyes. "But in pursuit of my goals, if I were to sacrifice my own humanity…"
"Eldar sacrifice their identities when they become Exarchs to protect the-," Veldoran reminded her, and realized his own circular logic and sighed. "… Very well. I shall treat this as a challenge to hone my skills with. Do what you must."
"Thanks, Vel," she said, before turning back to her observations. "We'll rest till night-time, and come up with a solid plan along the way."
Veldoran was silent. The only other person who had been able to talk him down had been his wife, and often in a way that trapped him in the very same words and thoughts he sought to convince her with.
"Very well," he answered her curtly. "I will apprise you if anything else occurs to me."