24/03/2018

Thank you to Pax Humana and Daisy Duck 39 for beta-ing.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest! Sorry for the delay. (I am privately chuffed too! If you sort the ME fics by review count, Synthesis and Catalyst are together :D Yay! Thank you.)

Part 4 Empire
Chapter 54: Death and Other Inconveniences

-cfr-

45847 Years after Human Ascension, 792 Years after the Rebirth of Humanity in the LMC

LMC Galaxy, Planet: Ganges, Unknown Location

When Harper awoke, he knew immediately that something was wrong.

He was strapped, rather tightly into a sitting position. That would have been alright if the restraints were crash webbing and he was in his shuttle but wherever he was sure as hell didn't smell like his shuttle and the restraints weren't crash webbing. They were designed to keep him immobilized and upright in a sturdy, straight backed chair. It felt like it was made of metal, but despite the ambient air temperature, wasn't cold, which meant he had to have been sitting there for a while.

He listened but whoever had put him here was silent and Harper could feel that there was no one close from the absence of feeling. After having bodyguards watch his every move, waking or sleeping for the last couple of centuries, the absence of eyes felt wrong.

Surreptitiously, Harper tested the bonds. He didn't advertise the fact but he did possess several enhancement implants. His eyes were the most obvious but he did enjoy enhanced strength as well. Not to the extent of one of Williams' Special Forces or even one of his bodyguards but enough to get him out of trouble should the need arise. Apparently they weren't enough to get him out of this. The bonds didn't even give, though he did feel them cut into his flesh. They'd hold through whatever strength he could muster to break them. Maybe if he had the newest implants, he mused.

This body was only seven or so years from retirement and he hadn't bothered with upgrades in the last few years. He had a whole platoon, or he was meant to, of bodyguards for the heavy lifting.

"Te grat Phonex Empor is awark." The voice came from behind him and while Harper sharpened his senses as much as he could, honing in on the voice, he didn't try to turn to face them. With the restraints, that would just make him look like an idiot.

"Ah know ew r awarke," the voice continued. "So tere's no nued to jst siat tere."

Harper sighed to himself. Great, it was a comedian. "Someone I don't know," Harper said. "Male, fairly young, from one of the lesser parts of Oberon, who should have paid more attention in class with that atrocious accent," Harper replied, making sure he clipped his words in the most precise way.

Truly if this was what was happening in the colonies he needed to oversee the language curriculum more closely.

"Bravarde," the voice spoke again but Harper's sharp ears could detect a note of frustration. "T's niice to saa thaat al maen r equa in sume hings."

"In some," Harper agreed, after mentally translating, "But in others you will find that I am as far above you as an eagle is to a field mouse." He remained calm even though he knew where this was going, but as Harper focused his senses he couldn't help but wonder how this was happening. No doubt he'd be told why but the specifics on how would be interesting. It was meant to be close to impossible to kidnap him.

He had been touring the colonies, which did mean that he was away from his fortress like palace on Home. That had no doubt given whoever this was the opportunity. They didn't have to break through the layers of security which would have normally surrounded him. So they'd taken that opportunity but some specifics as to how would be nice. It wasn't like his travelling security was slack. As for the specifics of the why, that didn't really matter. Once he got out of here, and he would be getting out of here, whoever the speaker was wouldn't be caring about their cause either. Well, not for long. They would be far, far too busy screaming. It was a nice thought.

"Ew'd leke tou bolierve thaat, weuldn't ew? Ew'd leke oll of uas to bolierve thaat buet wi bofth know ew r jeust a maan buet ew r a maan wiffout te benoforts of braedin."

"Ugh, please! Try to make sense," Harper lamented. "I can barely understand you with that atrocious accent." And he'd made such efforts to keep the language pure!

The man looked at him before sniffing. "Alright, Your Majesty, if it makes it easier for you," he said, clearing enunciating each word, as if showing off his education.

"Much appreciated," Harper replied. "Without comprehension, there can be no understanding."

"You, Emperor, are an original."

"Pft! Yes!" Where was the news in that?

"You created our society, you molded and built it and you set us on the path of physical and mental improvement."

Now, that statement was more helpful. He was obviously dealing with one of those anti-genetic engineering nutjobs who cropped up from time to time. What was worrying about this one was that he obviously had support and funding.

"All governments strive to improve their people," Harper replied. "Just as all strive to eradicate disease," he added, fishing for a response. Most of the genetic engineering had been geared towards that. Even without needing end of life care adding to his health expenses, the health care budget was still large. The eradication of many diseases kept it down but they still had to deal with the occasional exotic disease and of course broken bones and other issues from accidents.

Still Harper considered it a good thing that a fair proportion of the health care budget went towards implants and other enhancements.

"No, Emperor, you show your primitive nature with your comprehension," the voice spoke again and Harper could tell the man had gotten closer.

"Or more likely," he countered, "you display your lack of education with your inability to be concise."

The voice chuckled and this time Harper did hear a foot step. It was soft but had a slight ringing echo to it. The person was walking over metal plating. Combined with the smell, Harper guessed they were in an abattoir.

"Your attempts to anger me are amusing, Emperor, and simply confirm to me your inability to expand your vision. You see, when you rebirthed Humanity, we were all original but over the centuries we have changed. We have grown. We have evolved. The average speed and endurance has improved and the general intelligence level has increased and will continue to increase." The voice said as if they were reading from some notes and Harper recognized the phrasing as something he'd read in one of Williams' reports.

Was this crackpot military? Williams had a lot to answer for then.

"But you haven't."

Harper could imagine the breath on his ear at that whispered statement.

"For the age of your body, you have impressive physical implants but that's hardly surprising given you would have gotten the best available but mentally-" Harper's head jerked at the tap to his temple. "-you haven't changed."

"So," Harper said, "you aren't an anti-genetic engineering crackpot, you're just a crackpot."

The blindfold was ripped off, jerking his head forward but allowing him to see. He'd been correct in his surmise, they were in a slaughterhouse, explaining the metal floors and the smell. The speaker extended his arm, deliberately rattling some of the chains. They clinked ominously in the silence.

"Lovely wind chime," Harper murmured as he examined the speaker.

Male, medium build, relatively finely muscled, if his arms were an indication. He was dressed simply in black slacks and a white shirt and oh… not combat boots but rubber shoes of some sort. Brown hair and brown eyes formed part of an unremarkable face. Even as Harper took in all that, he understood the implications and carefully committed his observations to memory. If he was allowed to see, this man had no intentions of letting him go, however Harper was pragmatic and while he was still alive, there were other possibilities.

The entire Empire would be looking for him and thanks to the GPS in his implants, finding him should be a simple matter. Then Williams would actually earn her keep for once.

"You're thinking that all you need to do is keep me talking," the man said, drawing up another chair and settling himself into it.

The metal scraped against the floor and Harper winced as the noise jarred his enhanced hearing. It was an unpleasant sound.

"Usually, you'd be right. Actually, according to my initial simulations, you should have woken up in a secure military facility with several squads of Special Forces on guard, with me in a very uncomfortable situation. But," the man shrugged, "our situation is reversed and the Special Forces are running around aimlessly trying to find you."

"So there's shielding," Harper scoffed.

Shielding would eat power and that could be tracked. It would just take a little longer.

"Yes, there's a shield powered by my personal power plant," the man smiled. "So they won't be finding you that way. But rather than speculating why don't we just agree that if I haven't thought of everything, Special Forces will come through the door at any second. And if I have, well, we won't be disturbed until long after you will cease to care."

The fact that the man hadn't announced his name was slightly confusing but Harper concluded that while he might be sure about his ability to block tracking, the man wasn't sure about his ability to truly kill him. The implants were almost pure Ascended tech so the signal at death would punch through shielding. He did want to try to avoid that. In the very worst case, he'd lose this life's memories, which would be annoying but not a complete disaster. He'd have to tell Lawson to come up with some way of backing up their memories each night. He was currently working on the Project so would probably appreciate the diversion.

"Of course," Harper agreed, "but you must agree that every second I am here adds time to your suffering."

The man sighed heavily, ignoring the putrid smell. "Yes, it is a strain to be in the presence of such a lesser being," he replied. "But you know what they say, never attempt to argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience, so I think we have concluded all discussion on your chance of rescue." He smiled at Harper, only to falter at the flat stare directed his way. Harper chuckled. He still had it.

"So what would you like to discuss, descendant?" he asked.

Given that no one had just put a bullet through his head, there had to be something the man wanted to rant about.

"I suppose it would be too much to expect the Emperor to quiver in fear. Still, you will be screaming soon enough."

"I'm obviously going to have to cut funding to the arts, if this is the level of dramatics they think is appropriate," Harper muttered, pleased when the man tensed.

"Oh yes, your precious system that churns out perfectly compliant, unthinking sheeple for the Empire. Thankfully I'm not a product of that system."

"The underworld," Harper mused. It was amusing how often they thought themselves separate. They weren't under his direct control but their actions were accounted for in his plans. They formed part of the system, just like everything else. "This is a rather bold move," he noted, letting the statement act as his lure and the man bit with pre-school level predictability.

"We are the only area that is free but we know Emperor, we know how you try to control us, how you send other originals to watch us. The purge begins now!"

Harper blinked, half expecting the statement to be met with the clang of the door as others were dragged in but it was met with silence and he just watched the man. He was glaring but… oh… Harper realized and chuckled. "You expect me to tell you?" he asked, playing along for now.

"No, I have already purged our area," the man replied and Harper just chuckled again.

Kai had not said anything lately and had not been back to Cerberus since he downloaded about two years back. If this idiot had truly purged the Underworld then they would have killed Kai and he wouldn't be having this conversation.

"If you say so," Harper said. "Though you expect to purge society of all originals?" he asked.

"You are just the first," the man agreed. "With your lesser intelligence it will be easy to locate you all."

Harper frowned lightly. He was easy to find but he was meant to be harder to get at. Williams was also easy but she might be much harder to target. Military HQ was almost as well protected as the Palace and she knew the other ranking officers personally. No Underworld idiot would be able to get her while she was in the office. She also spent a lot of time Ascended, transferring her mind back and forth between her body and Cerberus. It allowed to her better control the Empire's full military forces. Lawson was overseeing the project and the production of avatars. He spent a lot of time in the Underworld system. That system might bear the name of the criminal elements' designation but it was impregnable.

As for the others, and there were always others out and about, unless he had a need for them, they were mostly involved with construction for the Project. They generally took a few weeks holiday when they downloaded before working a year or two on the Project then uploading again. Their bodies were usually recycled.

"And how are you going to do that?" Harper asked. "I don't even know where all of them are," he added with a little grin.

"You give yourselves away," the man said pompously.

"Do we?"

"With your intelligence, it is inevitable."

Internally Harper breathed a sigh of relief. Whoever this man was, he was an idiot. He knew enough to block the signal from the implants but hadn't figured out how to track them. Harper had been worried that this crank had the smarts Montoya had. Someone able to track and willing to kill the originals with the resources of the Underworld… That was not something Harper wished to consider.

As it was, he would be purging the Underworld as soon as he got out of this. He'd put every last one of them down for letting this wacko exist. They, like the rest of the community, had a job to do and they had failed miserably.

"Ah…" Harper said. "So I'm to be the first?"

"I thought it a fitting tribute, ancestor. Make no mistake, I do respect you, for without you there would not be a Humanity but when you designed society, you designed for self-improvement, which meant you designed yourself to become obsolete. You belong in the past and that is where I will put you."

"All this because of that? Because you think I'm obsolete?"

There was something missing. You didn't kidnap the Emperor because you thought he was obsolete, or because he was an original when that was well known throughout the Empire.

"I suppose I should have anticipated that you would have a fair intelligence. The relegation of the originals to their Ascended forms is just beginning. You will be honoured but your time has passed. Once the originals are gone, the Empire can move on. The Project will of course be abandoned and its materials redistributed. A proper hierarchy will be established to guide Humanity and we will take our rightful place as the rulers of this galaxy."

Harper had gone cold at the thought of discontinuing the Project and had to remind himself that he had no intention of doing that. Still, he couldn't help but admit that the man had the right idea, even if he was completely insane. "With a few noticeable exceptions, I approve," Harper said. "And I find it hard to believe that you have not already seen my plans for accomplishing that." If insults got him nowhere, then perhaps flattery would. He was still playing for time.

"You do not have the foresight."

Harper laughed. "Youngling, you have so much to learn," he shook his head. "Everything I have done is to see Humanity in their rightful place but I have been intelligent about it. There is no need to chance a war when everything will come with patience."

"You treat the aliens as equals!"

"Do I?" Harper again challenged. "The Attori are already looking to us for guidance. The more intelligent ones realise the Phoenix Empire dominates them already but there is nothing they can do. They are already too reliant on our eezo and the Fedochi have missed their opportunity. They might have had a chance if they'd had the courage to engage when they met the Attori but now that opportunity has gone. A war now will end in their defeat but I see no reason to make an assault that is unnecessary. So no, little one, Humanity will take its rightful place. It just requires time."

"That is a lovely fiction," the man said, clapping his hands. "One I'm sure you believe. One I'm sure those in the system would believe if you had the courage to tell them but it is not one those of us who are enlightened believe."

"Enlightened?" Harper asked skeptically. "You believe the Underworld to be enlightened?"

"We've gone over this, Your Majesty. We are the only ones free of the system, so we are those who can see the truth."

"You are thugs," Harper said flatly. "You lie, cheat, steal and murder because that is the only life you know and you have no aspirations to do better." Harper deliberately ignored the irony of his words. Truth was relative. "You are mired in old customs which you dare to call traditions, ignoring how they hold you back. Enlightened? Ha! Inbred, backward maggots clinging to the fringes of a society that tolerates you only because you provide a place to hide for those too stupid to live in my Empire, because you provide a place for those who should not pass on their genes to survive but I assure you, that service will soon be ended." Harper glared as he finished, as if daring the man to contradict him. He would, of course, because he was a pleb but he could do so over Harper's displeasure.

"Ah, a feeble attempt at bravado but I'm afraid we should get on with this."

"Then do it," Harper said, almost wishing he could spread his arms for effect.

"Your Majesty, I know full well you are immortal, which is why I can't just put a bullet through your head. I'm afraid I'm going to have to be a little more…" the man paused, sighing heavily for effect, "vicious."

"It won't matter," Harper replied. "You should already be counting the seconds until your demise."

"Now, that's where you are wrong, Emperor. You see, when I thought about this, I realized I'd have to come up with some way of countering your immortality. I kill you, you come back. I do it again, you come back again and so on. It achieves nothing and I admit, coming up with something to counter your immortality was a challenge, even for my evolved intellect."

"That's where you are wrong," Harper retaliated. "You can kill me and I kill you and everyone you've ever known and everyone who has so much as nodded to you in passing on the street, and that is the end of that," he spat.

"That was a possibility but it was one I quickly guarded against and eventually I did find a counter for your immortality. I actually have to thank you for it, because without the Empire's Public Records Office, while I'm sure I would have arrived at a solution eventually, I wouldn't have known how effective this would be."

"There's nothing in the Records Office that would assist you," Harper said with a frown. The Public Records Office's job was to preserve culture, all culture in the Empire, including the stuff he thought was shit. That was their job and they did it very well. Never again would he have to endure the nightmare that was the Journey.

"There is nothing contemporary, I agree. You've probably forgotten there was a time when the Public Records Office was more than just a repository for every would-be film maker. There was a time when it truly did handle records of importance. It is to that time I refer."

"And what did you find that was of such importance?"

"Death feedback," the man purred with a smile. "Now I know your implants protect against it, storing your memories until they can be uploaded so that the experience does not overwhelm either you or Cerberus. If you dig deep enough into those records you can find some very interesting information. I must say that Director Lawson is a meticulous note keeper. All those tests that he ran to make sure you were truly immortal. Very, very thorough. Which is why I know this will work."

"And what is this?"

"This, Your Majesty, is the overwhelming of your senses with nothing but pain. You will scream, and scream, and scream and you will wish to die but it will not happen. And then, if you are capable of it, you will scream some more. All of that pain, all of that anguish will be building up in your implants and when death does finally come, you will carry that to your Ascended form and the feedback loop will begin.

"It may even loop down to those in their avatars which would save me some work but if not, then no matter. You, Your Majesty, will defeat yourself.

"Though I must say, I did find it amusing that such organic means would be required to kill an AI. Because that's all you've become, isn't it? An AI. Cleverly disguised with your organic body, of course, but strip that back, and you are just the memory of your original self. It was a template for you. No wonder you reject the creation of other AIs. They'd give you away. But not reliably enough for me to have created one."

Harper was silent for a few moments as he thought. He dismissed the rambling about him being an AI. It was an infant's description of the process of immortalisation and correcting it was not something he needed to do. He also deliberately avoided pre-empting the pain. He would carry the memory of torture into his Ascended form but after that, the memory could be disassociated and that would be the end of that. It would not render him or Cerberus comatose because they had put in some safeguards to avoid Nazara's fate. On an early version of the implants, it might have worked but all this was going to do was hurt. Except… Harper frowned.

The idiot hadn't said what he'd do yet and while Harper did not wish to be tortured there was no point in him attempting to educate this moron about the reality of ascension. He'd find out soon enough when Harper issued a personal invitation for him to join him on Cerberus. Then Harper fully intended to have fun.

"Your silence tells me your fears," the man crowed.

"My silence should tell you that you have still not said whatever this is," Harper returned and was pleased to see a slight stain on the man's features.

"I have been remiss," the man said finally. "I'll put it down to some last attempt by my early education in the system to protect you. It, Your Majesty, is acid. Nothing terribly strong. In fact you probably won't even notice it at first but it will slowly take effect and the pain will grow and grow until that is all you know. It should form a rather impressive death feedback loop and if my calculations are correct, and they are, it will wipe the memory of this conversation. It is rather sad but it is a price I'm prepared to pay."

"Idiot," Harper muttered. It did not work like that but this inbred moron had made the assumption, even after reading Lawson's notes, that the Originals were too soft to thoroughly test things on each other. That had most definitely not been the case. Not that he had had many anyway but, after going through ascension, you lost a lot of morals when it came to dealing with organic forms. You understood then exactly how much punishment the body could take. This, acid, in the crudest analogy was similar to the process of ascension. It would break his organic form into component parts.

This was going to hurt.

"That may be, Your Majesty, but I am the idiot who is going to kill you, in such a way that you will be very reluctant to return. So I think it's time we got on with this. It has been somewhat interesting speaking to you. While you are original, as expected, you are one at the upper echelons of intelligence. You could almost keep up."

Yes, Harper decided. Not only was this idiot going to die but so was all his bloodline, and the entire Underworld, not just on the nitwit's homeworld but on every world in the Empire, all 66 planets worth. He didn't care what disruption it caused to the Empire. It didn't matter that Harper didn't know the name, he knew the face and that would be enough.

While the buffoon had been speaking, he'd also been hauling grates off the floor, sliding them back with a grinding noise. For all his supposed improved strength, it did not appear to be easy and Harper didn't think the plating was that heavy. Or maybe the twit didn't have decent strength enhancements.

"Do you want a hand with that?" Harper asked sarcastically as the man breathed hard.

"You no longer appreciate the purity of form, do you?" the man asked as he heaved the last one up.

Underneath was a largish vat filled with some cloudy liquid. Harper's nose twitched as a sharp smell overwhelmed the stench of putrefaction. The man pulled a mask out and fitted it over his face.

"I don't want to get you in my lungs, amongst other things," he said and Harper could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Safety first," Harper agreed with a snarl.

"Indeed. Now, in you go, Your Majesty," he said, walking over to a set of controls Harper had seen earlier.

The chain behind him rattled and went taut as engines began to whir. Harper felt the chair go light as he, and it was lifted into the air. It made him jerk against the restraints and Harper hissed. He was as averse to pain as any other man and this promised to be more than a little unpleasant.

Where the hell was Williams? She should have been through the door earlier.

"Your Majesty, I did tell you that they would not find you until I was ready," the man said earnestly. "It will be a few hours yet."

Harper thought about giving some pithy pointed reply along the lines of 'Fuck you' but with admirable restraint, he decided to save his breath. The vat began to show eddies after the man threw a switch.

"It's only low grade acid and we wouldn't want the process to stop," he explained as Harper dangled above the liquid. "No last words?" he prompted.

Harper considered it before setting his features into a sadistic smile. "Just remember," he said mockingly. "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm. And I have been dealing with youth and enthusiasm for one thousand years. You aren't going to stand a chance."

"Yet youth and enthusiasm are the future," the man countered, jabbing his finger on the control panel.

It would have been extremely ironic if the mechanism failed but after the initial jolt there was a rhythmic clank as the chain holding the back of the chair passed through the winch teeth, slowly lowering Harper towards the vat. He spent the moments settling his breathing so that when the tip of his shoe dipped into the liquid, he was prepared.

There was no hiss or exothermic reaction and as he continued down the liquid soaked through his socks and pants on to his skin. It felt wet and cold but that was all.

"Patience, Your Majesty. The acid will work but it is a low concentration so it will take time."

"You mean it's going to take hours?"

"Yes."

Harper rolled his eyes. "Hours in your presence," he muttered. "After that long, I will be welcoming death."

"Joke while you can, because you will soon have no breath left for anything except to scream."

Harper didn't pay attention as the chain continued to lower him. The liquid was freezing on his genitals and he actually shivered as it lapped at his stomach. But lower down, on his ankles, he could feel his skin prickling. It was almost as if there were air bubbles against his skin but they were like little pinpricks as they moved.

The acid might be of a low concentration but it was already working and Harper could feel the pinpricks travelling up his legs as his ankles began to burn and the chain stopped, leaving him immersed, except for his head.

This was going to hurt.

-cfr-

"Where the hell is he?" Williams demanded.

She was currently pacing around a hastily appointed comm room on the Ascended Tharos. She was so agitated she didn't even notice the pressure on her mind that came from being on an Ascended form not her own. She was on Tharos because while the Empire's dreadnoughts did travel much faster than those of the Milky Way, they still could not compete with an Ascended going all out. The added advantage was that Tharos could communicate with the other Ascended over Ganges who were already looking for the Emperor.

She should be on Cerberus. If she was, there wouldn't be a pressure on her mind but the population knew that all the originals came from Cerberus, and if they knew, it was a short reach to realise that if you destroyed Cerberus, you would kill everyone in charge. Granted, Cerberus was a two kilometre long, armor plated, kinetic shielded dreadnought, and was the definition of hard to destroy but why offer anyone a target? Cerberus was in Dorado, with the majority of the Ascended fleet, creating eezo, so even if anyone got there, they'd first have to work out which one was Cerberus, and then fight their way through the entire fleet.

Still, it would have been better. To most of the Ascended fleet, she was Cerberus and she could have spoken directly to them, rather than relaying the signal. She sometimes wondered how long it was before Harper realised that but that was a thought for another day.

In an effort to keep the population contained and the cost of building ships down, only specially designated ships had onboard quantum entanglement comms, and even they didn't know they could connect to the Ascended fleet. Normal ships had to connect into the network for comms, and the network extended only so far as Harper allowed the network to go, which covered their settlements but not much more. Most military ships had quantum comms but they just weren't fast enough.

"We do not know, Sir," the Governor of Ganges said timidly. Usually, Huynh would be far more assertive but having the Emperor go missing on his planet, well… there was only one punishment for that and already Williams' military assigned to the planet were standing behind him. She assumed they'd taken Harper's bodyguards into custody as well but would check on that shortly.

"Then at least tell me how it happened?" Williams snarled. She could see the way Huynh chewed on his lip but felt no sympathy.

"The Emperor was scheduled to attend a ballet," Huynh began.

"Yes, I know," Williams said as Tharos pulled up Harper's schedule.

Harper actually enjoyed ballet, not for any artistic merit but for the conversation he had during the intermissions. He found it amusing that the citizens expected him to like toffy, supposedly refined pastimes but he went along with it because those who thought themselves upper class were far more open at such events and that made manipulating them both pleasurable and easy.

"It was a relatively private event," Huynh continued.

"A fund raiser, yes, I know this as well," Williams snapped. "Move on to things I do not know," she ordered.

Harper always used such events to liberate cash from the system. The yearly screenings of BB were still insanely popular.

Huynh's hands visibly shook as he lifted a data pad. "It was a small theatre, one hundred people, self-contained for better acoustics. Only those attending were allowed within a two block radius. The staff, ballet dancers and orchestra were all cleared through the checkpoints a minimum of five hours earlier." Huynh gulped as he finished.

"Yes, go on," Williams nodded. Now she was getting somewhere.

A schematic of the theatre appeared on another screen and Williams narrowed her eyes as she looked at Harper's indicated position. It was within tolerances, barely.

"We think it was gas," Huynh said.

"Gas?" Williams questioned.

"Yes, Sir. Some sort of knock out gas was released into the air conditioning."

"And no one noticed something wrong?" Williams growled.

"It was very quick. The security cam indicates that the audience collapsed at the same time as the dancers."

Williams nodded. That was interesting. The dancers were presumably breathing harder so should have succumbed first. If it was simultaneous then the active agent was both potent and very fast acting. She left that for now. There would already be teams examining the residue.

"So how was the Emperor smuggled out?"

Harper's location was her prime concern.

"A team of masked men carried him out and after that the cams have been compromised so we have been unable to track his Majesty." Huynh actually cringed at his pronouncement.

As well he should, Williams reflected. This was not going to end well. Ganges was already on lockdown and the routes of all ships were being checked so they were confident that Harper was still on Ganges, just that their scans could not find him, which meant he had to be in a shielded location. But shielding would mean power consumption.

"Major," Williams spoke to the officer on screen. She vaguely recognized her but the combined military forces of the Empire had long ago become far too large for her to know all but the most senior echelons and a few from the units she got assigned to when she went through basic training and Special Forces training each re-birth. Still, Major Lessard had done well so far in this crisis so it was entirely possible she would be getting to know the other woman better, very soon.

"Sir!" Lessard's salute was precise.

"Get a team to look at power consumption. Somewhere is using more power than they should."

Lessard nodded her understanding and snapped several orders to someone off screen.

"You have permission to use immortalized processing," Williams added.

Lessard's eyes widened but the situation warranted it. It wasn't often that those who were not immortalized got to see the abilities of the Empire's hidden fleet. "Also, I want everyone in that theatre in custody. Attendees, staff, dancers, everyone. No exceptions."

"We are already holding them, Sir," Lessard reported.

"Collect all the staff who were not in attendance. I want everyone and anyone who should have noticed something wrong."

"Teams are picking up the extras now, Sir. I am holding the Emperor's bodyguards but I am uncertain what you want me to do with them."

"How many are still alive?" Williams asked. In this situation, they knew what failure meant and if they were smart, they would already have taken any opportunity to avoid the Empire's ire.

"We believe one was killed by the kidnappers and we were unfortunately not quick enough to prevent one suicide but all others are currently restrained and sedated in isolation cells."

An image flashed up, showing well-muscled but naked men, who were heavily restrained.

"Very good," Williams praised Lessard. Losing only one to suicide was a very good result and the one killed by the kidnappers would be honoured as having done their job. Full, immediate ascension for his entire family, with immediate rebirth if they desired it. Those bodyguards currently not on duty would be questioned and, barring involvement, they would be returning to duty. The fate of those currently restrained would rest on Harper's decision about their culpability. "Keep them restrained but question them," Williams instructed. "Offer them quicker death if they have anything of use," she added, pre-empting Harper's decision, though if the gas was that fast acting it was entirely possible he would let them live. He hated breaking in new sets of bodyguards.

"Sir!" Lessard nodded. "We have three Attori ships and one Fedochi ship on planet," the Major added, reading from a data pad.

"Keep them on planet," Williams ordered. "I don't care what their governments say. Tell them outright that they will be fired upon if they attempt to break the cordon," she added. "Keep looking, Major, and do whatever you think is necessary. I will authorize it when I get there."

"Sir!" Lessard saluted again.

Williams returned it before closing the comm.

Tharos immediately indicated that it would be another five hours before they reached Ganges.

This was a fucking disaster! There was no other way of putting it and Williams sighed heavily as she forced herself to calm and sat down. She needed to attempt to sleep while she could because she felt it in her bones. This was not over yet.

-cfr-

45847 Years after Human Ascension, 792 Years after the Rebirth of Humanity in the LMC

LMC Galaxy, Planet Oberon

Kai knew something was up when Special Forces burst into his establishment and, without so much as a by-your-leave, and definitely without due process, shot him in the head.

When he awoke, several hours later, in his Ascended form, he got the full story and understood the sheer brutality that had been displayed. One of the idiot underworld people had taken a shot at Harper, killing him in a very painful way and in retaliation the Phoenix Emperor had decided to show the Underworld exactly how little power they had. Or maybe it was how much power he had. It was the same either way.

That's why he was now initiating a comm link to Lawson. If Harper was going to do this right, then he'd need his help. Williams would be a poleaxe when a scalpel would be more efficient.

Thankfully, calls from Cerberus were answered quickly, even by those who came from Cerberus.

"Kai?" Lawson's voice was surprised.

"How fast can you get me a body?" he demanded. Greetings took up too much time and if he wanted to salvage this situation, Leng knew he had to get back out there.

"It's nice to see you, too, Leng," Lawson said conversationally before he moved on to important matters. "If someone is willing to give up theirs, about an hour. If not, a week or two. Though you haven't asked me for an avatar for centuries. What's happened?"

Kai growled, though since he was currently Ascended, he put out a call to see if anyone would let him use their avatar. This really couldn't wait. "I got caught in Harper's little purge," he explained.

"Oh," Lawson said, understanding colouring his tone. "What one?"

The question prompted Kai to look at a list of planets. The Emperor was really cracking down on the Underworld. "Oberon," he replied.

"That gambling… er...I'm not sure what to call it," Lawson said as he flicked through several reports. He had much the same clearances as Harper. "Prostitution, drugs, and ew… you were busy, weren't you?" Lawson observed.

"It filled up the time," Kai dismissed Lawson's assessment. Most came to his establishment for a relatively tame night of drinks and gambling but Kai was a good host and could accommodate literally any request, for a price. There were rules of course. Russian roulette, one of the ultimate gambles in a society which offered immortality, was only to be played in the room set up for it. Cleaning blood out of the carpet was just an unnecessary expense, after all. Drugs ranged from everything the Empire offered to anything else you could imagine, and some you probably couldn't and for those wishing a more private time, Kai had several rooms which were serviced by men and women willing to do whatever you wanted, however you wanted it. Truly, his establishment had been very well stocked.

Of course, with the raid, it meant the Empire now owned his merchandise. Harper would probably appreciate some of the whiskey but they were going to have fun getting rid of the Fedochi Emelth, especially as his supply was Kratos grade and Fedochi control on that stuff was stricter than the Empire on its drug supplies. Explaining it was going to be a diplomatic nightmare. Not that Kai cared. A bullet to the head on what was no doubt an officially sanctioned raid didn't make you too sympathetic to the problems you had just caused the government.

"Nestor Lantz says I can use his avatar," Kai told Lawson before the man could comment further on his business. Really, how did they think you got ahead in the Underworld? "How fast can you have it ready?"

Lawson tapped his data pad, bringing up the information about Lantz's body. "About an hour," he replied. "But you will probably want to clear this with Harper."

"I'll call him next," Kai dismissed the scientists concern.

"Don't bother, I've added him," Lawson said as Kai felt another comm link enter theirs.

"Leng," Harper greeted him.

"Harper."

"You got taken out?" The Emperor asked after his eyes flicked over the comm link information to ascertain that Kai was calling from Cerberus.

"Bullet to the brain," Kai replied.

"He was on Oberon," Lawson supplied the extra information.

Harper's eyes seemed to light up further and he tapped a data pad. "Chas Wisniewski?" he asked finally after skimming the reports.

"Yes," Kai sighed. That had been his name.

Harper laughed, looking at the data pad again. "You have been busy," he said. "Though," a frown entered the Emperor's voice, "where did you get the money? You've only been down for two years and you can't have gotten that established that quickly without help."

Kai sighed again. Sometimes Harper was too perceptive. "I leave myself a small start up fund," he explained.

Harper nodded. "So what did you want to talk about?" he asked, getting back on topic.

"This purge," Kai said. "If you want it done right, you'll put me in charge."

Harper frowned. "You were only down for two years, you haven't had time to work your way through the ranks."

"It's not about rank," Kai rejected the concern, "Williams will just attack. She'll be like a sword or an axe. She'll cut them out," he acknowledged, "but there will be a lot of collateral." Harper wouldn't care about that. If a few thousand civilians died, that was just a risk but Kai knew what would make him care. "And she won't get them all."

"And you will?" Harper was skeptical.

Kai flashed a mental grin. "I know how they think and how they'll react. I also know who all the Heads are. Two years was more than enough to get that information even if I hadn't gotten into those ranks."

Understanding crossed Harper's features. "Future targets," he muttered and while it could have been a question, it was more a statement. The Emperor knew how Leng operated after all.

"Open my memory files. I want him," Harper said firmly.

Kai opened the files, focusing on Harper's latest death. "Blaine Matheny?" Kai asked.

"You know him?"

"He's the son of the Head of Ganges," he replied. "Certified genius and due to inherit any day."

"I wouldn't say that," Harper disagreed. "Intelligent perhaps, but not a genius. Can you get him?"

"I can pick him up in the next few days."

"Good. I want him," Harper said.

"I'll get him."

"I'll give you a special commission for the purpose of putting down the underworld. I want it finished within two years, but I want Blaine Matheny in a week."

"That's plenty of time," Kai said. He'd been half afraid Harper would say two months. That would have been pushing it, even with his talents.

"You'll report to me, via Williams. You will use her forces for assaults, not some scum you picked up off the street," Harper ordered firmly.

Kai growled at that. "What can I offer as inducement?" he asked.

"Inducement?" Lawson returned, obviously seeking clarification.

"For informers or turncoats. Despite my knowledge, I am going to need to bribe people to get this done properly," he explained.

Harper frowned. "If they are officials, tell them I won't cut their heads off," he growled. No, he'd just cut their bodies off. "Otherwise… I won't revoke their immortalisation rights," the Emperor finished.

Kai nodded. That was about the only thing Harper had to bargain with as the penalty of acting or even being perceived to act against the Empire was death. Not execution but the refusal of the Empire to immortalise your mind. It kept most of the citizens honest. Since most of the people Kai was dealing with would already be on the lists, or their names would be soon, once the information from Williams' initial raids was collated, taking them off the list, giving them back immortality would be enough to purchase their services.

"But if any of them renege, or provide less than they should," Harper continued. "Deal with them," he ordered, "and be creative," he added.

Kai grinned mentally. Oh, he could do that.

"Well," Lawson said before they could conclude. "Now that you've got that sorted out, there's only one more detail."

"One more?" Kai asked.

"Just the one of importance," Lawson said and Kai felt his non existent stomach clench at the scientist's tone. It did not bode well.

"What?" Harper asked. "Payment? I'll pay Kai at an Admiral's rate for this."

Lawson laughed. "No, nothing that simple," he dismissed Harper's concerns. "You now have to work out which of you gets to tell Williams."

"Oh shit!" Harper snarled. "You can…" he said before realising that Lawson had dropped out of the call, leaving him alone with Kai.

"You'd better tell her," Kai said calmly, though he understood Harper's concern and felt a vague admiration for Lawson's speedy retreat.

Williams was going to bitch about this for centuries and if she caught him in future… that would hurt. He had kept up his skills but in the Underworld he couldn't always get the best implants. Williams would capitalise on that.

Harper sighed heavily. "When will you be back down?" he asked.

"In a couple of hours," Kai replied after conferring with Nestor.

"I'll tell her then," Harper said. "She can give you a report on the raids and manpower," he added, obviously forgetting that since Kai was within Cerberus, he had access to all the information. He wouldn't need the briefing but Harper would. Since this had come about because someone had taken a shot at him, he would want to be kept well informed.

"I will see you then," Kai said as he cut the comm, sending his senses towards the chrono before he smiled mentally.

He had enough time to watch the extended edition of The Blues Brothers before he downloaded, so perhaps today wasn't a total loss.

-cfr-

It was a good theory but under estimated how thorough Lawson has been in testing those implants... and the fact that they are Ascended Tech. Since the Ascended don't really care about organic comfort just functionality their gear will work regardless of the state of the organic.

Next time we are back to our regular programming of dealing with the LMC aliens.

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