? (Alias: Da'ki'lo)
"How much longer must I linger here human?" Suhass hissed venomously.
"As long as it takes." I replied to him unfazed by his tone.
"The Du'na walks the face of Agria, and you expect me to stand on ceremony just because it's not time yet?!"
"The Du'na is a dangerous target Suhass, thousands of your kind have died at his hands, would you wish to be one of them?"
"No, I wish to avenge those who've died because of him! You are obviously preventing that goal from being achieved!"
"And you are painfully unaware of just what you're really up against."
The Pe'li'mi drove his blade deep into the wall behind him, fueled through by the Dukni's building rage and impatience.
"Your superior told me you'd be more sensible than this." I chided.
"I was never given the actual estimate of how long this task would take. Now I am forced to wait pointlessly with a human who's been brainwashed several times over." the Pe'li'mi scoffed. I was upon the unwitting Pe'li'mi within seconds, my knife poised at his scaly throat ready to slice at any second. Suhass, with his blade still lodged into the wall, had no way to defend himself if I decided to end him there and then.
"Watch what you say, Pe'li'mi, you never know what'll set some people off." I whispered violently to him. I retracted my knife and placed it back into it's sheath before returning to where I was sitting. I heard the crude sound of the blade dislodging from the wall, and the hushed cursing of the alien and then there was silence once more.
"How long until that ship arrives?" he questioned.
"It'll be here tomorrow, then we'll be staying in the Nimbus system." I answered.
"Why there?"
"Because it's an outlaw system, plenty of shady characters for us to blend in with. Plus it'll be the place that gets us to Agria undetected." I further explained.
I heard the Pe'li'mi chuckle with dark delight as the sounds of him sharpening the razor sharp blade echoed in the room.
"Good, I can't wait to put the Du'na's head on a platter." he laughed. Just as he finished sharpening his weapon I received a call from his superior which I immediately took.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I have some bad news I'm afraid." the Hood spoke as though it weren't really bad news at all.
"Then out with it, give us details." I urged.
"Due to a temporal flux in the Crasis Nebula the forces that were originally going to arrive into Agrian orbit will now be unable to until the flux clears up." the Hood informed.
"And that has to do with us how?" I asked.
"It means that if Suhass goes to Agria he'll have no Dukni contacts in which to descend onto the planet and that means he cannot go through with the mission."
"That's an easy fix, my friend." I chided.
"Oh really," the Hood mocked, "how do you plan on fixing it then. Enlighten me, Da'ki'lo."
"I've already set us up to stay a while in the Nimbus system. It's a star system ruled by outlaws; pirates, bounty-heads, con artists, you name it they're there. I also have a friend there who has access to some classified technology that will allow us to travel to the Vega system completely undetected by any kind of radar, military or otherwise." I explained to him with glee.
"I see, so you've already thought about this possibility then. I applaud you human, but just how will you manage to stay hidden while in orbit. I'm afraid only us Dukni hold the secrets to cloaking." he brayed.
"See, that's where you come in..."
"What?! You don't expect me to hand over the blueprints to our cloaking systems to your friend do you?!" the Hood cried in outrage.
"I don't expect you to give them to him, I expect you to give them to me so that I know they'll be in safe hands and won't get out to anyone else." I clarified.
"How can I trust you on this Da'ki'lo? You are a traitor to your own kind after all."
"Tell you what, I'll give you something of mine to hold onto while I have your precious plans. Let's say... my class three fighter ship and my Athena class interceptor." I bargained.
"Hmm... two high class ships for the plans... May I ask if we can look into them while they are in our custody?" the Hood questioned.
"Absolutely, disassemble them and take a look, just make sure you put them back together when I get back with your plans."
"Very well Da'ki'lo, you may use our blueprints for cloaking, but I expect them to be back when this mission is over, no matter the outcome."
I was pleased with the successful bargain and leaned back in my chair.
"When can I expect the blueprints to arrive?" I inquired.
"Whenever you get into the Nimbus system, you call me and they'll be transferred to you. Do be warned, we'll be tracking that data and making sure it's with you at all times." the Hood warned.
"Of course, wouldn't want to lose your exclusive product would you." I chided.
"Goodbye, Da'ki'lo. I expect those plans to return without being leaked, or it'll be more than just your ships that will get disassembled."
Takeo
I had expected to return to Garrison without incident, natural or otherwise, but fate did not give me that luxury when I ended up having to shot two Swarmers in a hunting party. They were easy enough to spot and kill, but the fact that they had the guts to go so far as to search the Pit made me uneasy. They were either desperate for food or they were intentionally hunting down humans as prey. I would have thought the creatures would have known better by now, but they were beasts and only did what their instincts told them to do. As I took the road back to Garrison I passed by the late afternoon patrol that included Dempsey, I did not stop to talk and kept on my way to the outpost.
When I pulled up to the garage with the Duneracer I saw that Richtofen had joined Rune and Spencer in fixing the Grav-racer. I was leery at seeing the doctor there, but the feeling that I usually had around the doctor was not as strong as it had been in a while. I was convinced that Dr. Richtofen was back to his "normal" self, if normal was actually a state he could exist in.
"Did you manage to get it working yet?" I asked leaving the vehicle and grabbing my sniper rifle.
"Almost, we've got a few more finishing touches to do and then tomorrow we'll test it out for real." Rune replied happily. It looked like they were on break now, and they all looked thoroughly spent and exhausted.
"I take it you wirr sreep well tonight." I remarked on Rune's exhausted face.
"You bet." she answered.
I was happy to see that they were already nearly done, she could get her practice in and then she would be racing once more. I enjoyed getting a little time to watch her races when they were on, even back when I was still in New Tokyo I watched a little bit of Grav-racing. There were times when I still found it hard to believe that I knew someone who'd been to my ancestral homeland of Japan (who was not of that descent of course). I'd always wanted to see it for myself, but the closest I ever got to seeing the real culture was on Mars in Heian Square. I was always ashamed at myself for never taking the time to take a vacation and set up a trip to go there, I was always at the beck and call of duty. Not that I minded it at all, it felt honorable to respond and be responsible as I was, but there would always be that spiritual hole where I longed to see where my ancestors originated from.
It was doubtful that I would have any kind of relatives there, our family had long since branched out and the Masaki blood had been diluted on Earth, there would probably be only third or fourth cousins left there. At least I knew for sure that I was pure of that line, I was proud of it and that was why I carried on the way that had died centuries ago. The way of the warrior, the path of the samurai, the tradition that my father passed onto me through his father and from his father and so on. It felt right to continue on this traditional code of honor and dignity, without the moral implications of the past that would usually mean that if I brought any kind of dishonor to my family or myself I was to kill myself. Even though that was the truly traditional means I refrained from that extreme, it seemed pointless in this day and age, even if it was a bit deviant from the path.
Despite wanting to get some rest I was unable to bring myself to nap or to actually do anything of the sort. I was kept awake by some kind of gnawing curiosity in my head even after searching through my mind and finding no straight answer to what that curiosity was implying me to seek. Eventually I settled on going to the barracks, but sadly finding nothing to do there, so I wandered aimlessly around the outpost as I often did when things didn't feel right with me. As I looped around the north gate I heard raucous laughter from the garage, where Rune, Spencer, and Dr. Richtofen were still taking their break. It was eerie hearing the doctor actually laugh at something, his laughter wasn't the thing that creeped me out, it was the fact that he had laughed that got to me.
I took a peek out of the gate and saw that they looked happy and pleased with themselves, I still couldn't believe that the two would be so cheerful around someone so... "awkward".
"Hey, Takeo! Wanna join us?" Rune called from the garage beckoning me with a gesture. I saw no point in wandering alone and quietly, at least it would give me something to do and perhaps I would hear a story or too as I thought back to what Spencer had said earlier in the barracks to Dempsey. I leaned against the door frame and nodded to Rune and they continued their conversation which lead into a flurry of different would-be scenarios and, as I expected, stories. Spencer had been the instigator for getting the doctor to tell his side of the stories that mostly detailed the experiences that Ian had back in the war. I was confused for a moment, but I remembered that Dr. Richtofen had also fought in the war and in the same platoon as Ian, something I still found hard to digest.
"How many days was it Richtofen? When the platoon was trapped in the Crag." Spencer asked, he was now telling a story about how Legend platoon had found themselves stranded on Malum, a vast craggy planet filled with valuable ores and gems.
"It vas nearly eighteen days until a Terran shuttle finally came to take us back to Thesia." the doctor answered.
"Yeah, that's right. Ian had told me that you guys survived on hunting the crag beasts and rationing what little water you had." Spencer continued.
"Zhat is correct. It vas a miserable survival, but ve survived und ve live to tell ze tale to zhis day."
"It seems rike you've managed through a lot, Dr. Richtofen." I entered. He stared at me, not with anger or offense, but with a slight surprise.
"Ja, more zhan most can say zhey've been through." he replied.
"I think it suits your character," Rune added, " a scientist with a past. It's got a nice ring to it."
"Yeah, I wished I'd been able to fight alongside your father back then, but..." Spencer began, he tapped his chest where his heart was located, "medical issues and all."
"I'm sure Ian didn't think any less of you, he vas never one to hold grudges." Richtofen gestured.
"He was a good fellow he was, and I'm glad that his daughter turned out more like him than anything else." Spencer complimented Rune.
"The only thing missing is a sex change." she joked. Spencer and Richtofen laughed, I merely gave a chuckle, not that I didn't find it funny it was just that I tended to be reserved around other people, especially when I was not well acquainted with them.
After another bout of stories and a string of jokes that ended up going into the deeper end of perversion the three were all fairly finished.
"Well," Spencer said with energy as he stood up, "I guess it's time for me to head home. I'll be back tomorrow so we can get that racer up and runnin' for real."
"Right, well see ya Spencer." Rune bid. Before he left, however, he extended a hand to Richtofen and waited for a response of some sort.
"Vhat?" the doctor asked, confused at what he was wanting.
"Never done a handshake before?" Spencer questioned humorously.
Dr. Richtofen stood up from his own chair and gladly shook hands with the bearded biker man.
"Honor meeting you sir." Spencer thanked.
"Auch, nein. Zhere's no need for any of zhat. Zhat is a part of me zhat is better left alone zhese days." Richtofen waved off modestly.
"I insist, a war veteran like yourself deserves proper respect and I just wouldn't be myself if I didn't give that respect. It takes a whole different kind of courage to serve your people, especially against a threat like the Dukni." Spencer urged.
"Zhen I guess zhere's no vay of dissuading you so, danke." the doctor finally gave in.
I let Spencer pass by as he gave me a nod and I returned the gesture, with a final wave goodbye he started down the path and circled around the outpost to the road south-bound. It was now dusk as Vega was already hanging dangerously low in the darkening sky.
"Well, let's go get something to eat. I'm hungry." Rune insisted giving me a gentle push out of the door frame and onto the way back inside the outpost. Dr. Richtofen followed behind us, there was a fragile smile on his face, but I had the feeling that it was genuine one and held no dark meaning in it's revealing.