"She's an Elepath. Someone who can speak to and understand electronic entities." Ran spoke slowly and softly to his own reflection in his drink as the audio recorder processed his voice and his thoughts. "The most advanced case on record. She can understand and control a MS just by touching it, hack into the most powerful and secure computers, and develop new forms of technology just by studying readouts and charts. That's why they want her... dead." The young leader of the infamous merc group gathered his thoughts as small bubbles rose in his drink. With all the colas he drank, most of his crew laughingly said he was as bad as a New Type. Of course no one knew of his past involvement in the Jion Human Advancement and Development projects. No one here truly knew who he was anymore. Normally he would be down at the bar celebrating the success of another raid with his friends, but today, he was alone in the hospital ward watching over the most recent 'guest' to his ship and staring coldly at his own reflection. "A few days ago, we were hired to do a raid on some Jion scientific facilities, easy stuff. You know, something we do without Heavy Armors, no unnecessary fire. That sort of thing." Ran paused, recalling the events piece by piece. "No one was prepared for what we were to experience. Dead, everyone was dead. They were attacked a few hours before. I didn't even see the fleet leave on radar, really pro. Nothing like the skirmishes we have around here. No, they meant business. The orbital facility was wasted, literally blasted to shreds. Bodies were floating around. The airlocks must have been breached. I've seen this sort of thing before, but, never like this. They were noncombatants. Wearing lab coats and stuff. I... Things like this aren't supposed to happen, you know? But we still had a contract. I lead the team in on foot. Nothing much left though. Most of the damage was from the outside. The others didn't even board the facility. There were a few survivors, and we moved them to our ship. From what they were willing to tell us, the platform was an orbital research facility. What they researched, they wouldn't say. Jion paid them, and they researched, simple enough. We salvaged what we could. A couple of thou worth in credits anyway. I copied the remaining data files from their central computer to our remote data storage and maintenance system. Something to read through on one of those 'rainy days' anyway. We were leaving when I picked her up on my scanners. She's lucky I installed onboard scanners in my Pixie. When I got to the wasted core fighter, I could barely recognize it. Looked like a prototype or something new. Another pilot left for dead. It happens from time to time. I could never leave someone to die out here, no matter whose side they were on. When I got back to K1, I had the meds look after her. She looked pretty bad. I didn't tell anyone else." Ran paused again as he reached over to straighten a few of the carts and data files he had brought with him and began to page through them. "I found her in the databanks of the science platform. Her name is Noriko, a New Type. 19 yrs old, 5' 8", 125lbs. In the reports, she has two sides, or personalities, if you will. Her first, prominent personality is that of a child. Innocent, obedient, sweet, everything that one would want in a girl. Her second, destructive personality prefers to be called Noriko Pilot. This is the side that would be tested, sent into combat, tortured. They would keep her drugged because of the dangerous unpredictable nature of this second personality. The drug they used is code labeled 43601STK, an experimental drug, and I've never seen anything more dangerous, unstable, nor deadly. Something far more powerful than anything they used on me. It's a mental poison, a drug used to kill the mind, and it appears that it's the only thing that had any effect on her anymore. She was born... no... Bred on the platform for the sole purpose of science. The advancement and research of latent natural and enhanced New Types for the use of combat. She's a fourth generation New Type, and the reason the facility was destroyed. Before the facility was attacked, they sent a message to their Jion suppliers. In this message they claimed to have discovered the natural Elepath ability in their 'test' subject Noriko. She is the first sane living sentiment being to develop and moderately control this ability, ever. That message was intercepted by another group. And the platform was destroyed. It seems that I'm the only person who has this information now." The girl next to him started to stir slightly and then fell silent again. "When I first brought her aboard, I was afraid that moving her outside of the stasis of the core fighter might kill her, so I had the cockpit of the core fighter removed and brought here to the med labs, the rest has been sent down to my shop, where I will examine it further." Ran slowly got up and ran his hand across the shell of the cockpit. "This is the most difficult decision I have ever had to make." Ran watched the unconscious pilot's shallow breaths leave small clouds on the cockpit glass. "She is dangerous, and as long as she lives, she will be a threat to all of humanity." Ran firmly grasped the power coupling supplying energy to the frail cockpit. " I cannot allow that." Ran paused looking down upon her face, and slowly watched a tear fall across her cheek. "And yet, I am the only one here who knows. No one else but me would know of her pain and suffering." Ran shivered as he realized that at this very moment, he held her life in his hands. Not just the life of an experimental creature, but the life of another human being. Someone who has been through hell and back, and now she couldn't even defend herself with speech nor action. "I have nightmares too Noriko, but where you have succeeded beyond their wildest hopes, I am only a failure." Ran stopped for a moment, thinking back to his New Type training. Back when Jion was still a formidable political power, back before the Dark Scribes war. "If I did anything to you. I would be betraying everything I am. I cannot do this. You are just like me. I wonder if you feel it too, this bond that we all share." Ran placed his free hand over the glass cockpit window as if to wipe the tear from her cheek before slowly releasing his grip on the power cord. The girl inside the cockpit began to move again. Ran slowly reached over to the release mechanism for the door and the glass hatch slid back. The red haired girl slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times, she was looking right at Ran. "Welcome to the Klepto1, Noriko." Ran smiled as he offered her his hand. She took it and slowly pulled herself out of the cockpit. Stumbling a little, she embraced Ran warmly and began to cry uncontrollably. "Welcome home." Ran whispered softly as he held the newest member to the HouseCards in his arms.