CHAPTER 19: THE STORM APPROACHES
Lieutenant Natasha of the Liandri Angels had been ordered by the Lady herself to see to it that the Truthsayers were made extinct, and she would see it done or die trying. It was such a pity though, for the Truthsayers were promising material for the tournaments. They were already a big hit. They should have minded their own business instead of breaking into the Liandri laboratories. There was a high possibility that the Truthsayers had found out about the various illegal experiments and weapons development the Liandri were conducting. Who were they working for, Natasha pondered.
The Axon Corporation? Maybe. Despite the treaties and collaboration between the Liandri and Axon, they were still after all, competitors in weapons developing. Maybe Edmund was sent in as a spy to steal weapons technology from the Liandri? If that was true, Lieutenant Natasha had to admit that Edmund was the most inept spy she had ever seen. Spies used stealth, not force when they wanted to infiltrate an enemy's base.
Or maybe it was the Emperor, with his dreaded Vigilance Force? There were already many of them here, Lieutenant Natasha had herself killed nearly six. If the Emperor managed to get proof of the illegal experiments the Liandri conducted, he could easily confiscate the Liandri's assets.
Well, whoever Edmund was spying for, it hardly mattered. He couldn't really inscribe it on his tomb stone. If there was anything left to bury when the Liandri were done with him.
Natasha studied the screen attentively, thinking of her next course of action. Alone in the Unreal Tournament match organization room, she was left to her devices. The screen contained various names of Unreal teams, with numbers beside each one. Rankings. The top four of the highest ranking team would enter the semi finals. Every time a team won a match, their ratings would increase by a certain percent.
She searched for the Truthsayers, and found it. They were ranked 2056. They were in fifth position. She quickly selected the team's folder and clicked it. A list of the matched they had fought and won came on screen. Impressive. The Truthsayers had certainly proven themselves to be one of the best and showed a lot of potential. Nevertheless, Natasha had a job to do.
She searched for the Truthsayers next match, and found it. Invasion. Invasion
In
this game type, participants band together to defend against 5 waves of
incoming monsters and creatures, including Skaarj Zealots and Warlords.
Participants cannot respawn if they die during a wave, but as long as
one player makes it to the end of a wave alive; everyone respawns for
the next wave.
Points would be awarded according to how many waves the team manages to beat back before they are overwhelmed. So far, the record was three waves, by the teams Thunder Crash and The Corrupt, both led by Malcolm and Xan Kriegor respectively.
A sinister smile crept unto the face of Lieutenant Natasha. Perfect, she thought. The Invasion match would be the perfect place to arrange an accident. Scrolling down the screen, she quickly entered the company's password. The screen immediately glowed red, and an alert popped up. It read,
"Doing so would switch off all respawning in the Invasion match. Fallen participants in the match would not be able to be revived. Are you sure you wish to do this?"
Yes, I am. Natasha then switched off the terminal. Her job was done. The Truthsayers could be considered dead. The now five man team would walk proudly into the arena, but none of them would return...
Arthur was still mulling over his last conversation with the Lady Stacie Liandri.He felt that the lady was hiding something dark and secretive from him. Perhaps this Soun Rill was really a myth, a practical joke of someone with high powers within the Liandri? If so, then why was she so concerned about the information from leaking out? After all, rumors were rumors, and if it held no strong evidence, it would not affect the corporation.
Or would it? What if indeed there was evidence to the existence of such a creature? Arthur's eyebrows went up. If so, then what was it?
Was it the unreal core program gone renegade? After all, the Core was still an ancient alien artifact. Who knew exactly how old it was? Could it have developed a personality during its eons of seclusion? It was possible, Arthur knew, for it had happened before. Xan Kriegor was a fine example. If so, then was the High Templar business a veil of lies the renegade program had created? Just like a human, a computer program with a personality could psyche itself into believing something.
No, it could not be. Stacie seemed to have long known about this problem. She could have easily reformatted the entire Unreal system and reboot it, thus destroying the personality the program had developed. So a program gaining independent thinking was out of the question.
That only left one fact. High Templar Soun Rill was real.
Arthur could not help but shudder at the thought he was dealing with a ghost from the ancient past. But it did not matter.
She had commanded him to create a virus to destroy the so called High Templar Soun Rill. How he would do it, he had absolutely no idea. All he knew was that he had to find a way soon, or Lady Liandri would probably feed him to the dogs. He had heard rumors of what happened to Liandri personnel who had failed her.
First things first, Arthur reached for his personal communication device or PCD in short. He waited for the other end to answer. There was a burst of static then a gruff voice came online. "What do you want?" It came out was "Whaddaya want?"
"A quick transport out of the planet as soon as possible."Arthur needed the transport ready in case the virus, if he was able to develop it, went wrong. The Unreal Tournament Semi Finals were already coming up within the week and the finals the next. The Liandri would be busy, and that would be the best time to make his run.
"It will cost you.... Exactly Three million Imperiums."
"WHAT?? That's day light robbery!"
"Get your own transport then."
"Alright, alright. Let's not be hasty friend."
The bargaining began.
High up in the orbit of New Earth, ten huge warships exited hyperspace in the cover of the planet's moon's shadow. Bristling with heavy weaponry capable of blasting the planet to molten rock a thousand times over, the ships remained hidden from prying sensors and scouts. Inside each of the warships, hundreds of troop transport ships waited to be launched. Each troopship could carry a thousand soldiers.
The entire fleet then shut down their conventional drive systems and switched to passive sensors. They were now completely invisible. Their weapons were aimed at the planet. Their troops were itching for battle. They were all built for one purpose only...... xenocide.
The Kulgans had arrived.
