"END GAME"

BY: Fenris Wulf

A converted Fox Armored Car pulled up to the checkpoint outside of MacCarran Space Port. The guard sleepily walked to the side window and motioned for the driver to open the window. The driver opened the window hatch, and the guard requested the driver's credentials. The driver handed the guard his forged credentials and a thousand C-Bill voucher. The guard looked at the voucher, and then handed the credentials back to the driver and raised the checkpoint gate. The armored car pulled into the spaceport without incident, and disappeared into the distance, its tail lights barely visible in the deepening night. The guard placed the voucher in his pocket, walked back to his office, sat back in his chair and promptly went back to sleep.

Fenris and crew waited until the Armored Car pulled into the hanger they had "obtained." Once they had powered down the lift-fans, he opened the rear hatch and motioned for everyone to get out. Bravo stretched again to his full height, happy to be free of the tight confines of the hover-vehicle. Fenris too stretched, and motioned for Tanistal, Aidan and Bear to remove the unconscious "guest" from the transport.

Velasquez had become inquisitive during the two-hour trip from the extraction point. He began questioning the men, and didn't seem to be getting the answers he was expecting. Fenris knew he was no idiot, and with Velasquez's experience as an intelligence officer, he knew it was time to lose the façade and be straight with the Major.

Fenris explained about how they were really Mercenaries and that their
contract was to rescue him from the TPFA: Terrorists. When Velasquez had questioned why his government hired mercenaries instead of sending their own Elite Infantry, Fenris armed his stunner, and answered his question succinctly...

"Who said your government hired us?" Then Major Fernando Velasquez was rendered unconscious, by more than 20,000 volts of electricity.

Now, they pulled his limp carcass from the transport. Tanistal and Bravo
went to secure the door, while Aidan and Bear dragged Velasquez behind Fenris, as he made his way to the office in the rear of the hangar.

...

Major Fernando Velasquez awoke to a dull pressure on his right arm. He
groggily raised his head and looked at the source of his discomfort. To his horror, four inches of his skin had been peeled back, and the bloody wound on his right arm was held open by a surgical spreader. He sat, bound to a chair by leather restraints. He gasped, and looked around at the room. The room was dark save a hanging light directly above where he sat. Across from him sitting by a large steel desk was a man he knew. It occurred to his that he didn't know this man's name. On the desk sat surgical instruments, medical supplies and a large gauze pad with a small, bloody microchip like object resting on it. Velasquez knew it was his sub-dermal processor. On it was stored the NOC list he had paid heavily to obtain.

"Wh-Wh-Where am I?" he asked, he heard his voice and thought it sounded funny. He instantly figured out he was drugged, but couldn't bring himself to care.

"You are at McCarran Space Port, Major Velasquez. You have been given Sodium Amatol, and a chemical known as "Anuba Caniva" a native narcotic from the world of Huntress. Mixed, these two chemicals form a highly potent truth serum. You have been given double the normal dose to ensure your cooperation. You can make this easy on yourself by simply telling me what I want to hear. Do you want to answer my questions honestly?

Groggily the Major lolled his tongue about in his head trying to form the
words, he slurred his speech badly and answered truthfully...

"N...No."

Fenris smiled evilly, knowing that the drugs would bring the truth from
Velasquez.

"So, major, where did you get the NOC list?"

Velasquez' conscious mind screamed! DON'T TELL HIM! But his subconscious was laid open, and in a talkative mood.

"I bought it...from a man, a mercenary..." he said, slurring his speech
heavily, "I don't know ...what his name was, though." Fenris sat back
and contemplated the situation as it stood now. The Dragoons had another problem. This would mean that every Dragoon agent would have to be extracted. The unknown variable in the equation was this Mercenary, and the NOC list he possessed. Velasquez had bought the information, not the List.

"What Unit was he a part of, did he say?" Fenris asked, interested in this
additional information because the Dragoons would pay well to have it.

"Umm...I don't know...I think it was... was some kind of name...like Taurus...Something. I never met him, he used...dead drops."

Fenris frowned, he really would have liked more information about the seller, but he did not have time to bring Velasquez down from the serum. The current contract was to secure the Hostage, and to obtain the NOC list and identify any copies he had made. The seller was not mentioned in the contract so it was doubtful that the Dragoons new of his existence.

"How many copies of the NOC list have you made?" Fenris asked moving closer to judge his reaction on the crucial question.

"Two." The Major answered looking lazily around the room. Fenris figured that he was truthful, but thought that he needed to back off of the dosage in the future, Velasquez was acting like he was about to go unconscious.

"Where are they? Where are the copies?" Fenris asked, feeling his voice take on an edge of urgency, and rightfully so, as the Major's head lolled to the side. Fenris straightened his head, and backhanded the Major violently. Blood erupted from Velasquez' mouth, and his eyes snapped open, and rolled around in his head. The serum would do little to dull pain.

"Where are the copies of the NOC list?" Fenris asked again, his volume
increasing.

"One is on... the terminal in my home." He answered, moving in and out of conscious thought.

"The Other?" Fenris was growing agitated. He needed to make sure that all the copies were accounted for.

"In my office... at the Planetary Defense Administration Building... in New
Century City."

The Contract was completed. Fenris left the office and the major sitting is his own stupor. He crossed the hanger to where Bravo, Tanistal, Aidan and Bear were securing the weapons and equipment for transport. Fenris walked to the table and picked up his pistol, loaded it and tucked it in his waistband. He turned to the assembled group and motioned to all the
equipment.

"Get everything to The Redemption; we are leaving within the hour. Tanistal, secure the Lamprey. Bravo, take Aidan and Bear and secure the rest of the equipment. We leave as soon as possible."

Fenris picked up the communicator array from the table and took everything to the office and closed the door. He then closed the blinds and disappeared from view.

Aidan turned to Bravo with a questioning look in his eyes, "What is he
going to do?"

Bravo just smiled, shook his head and said, "The Dirty Work. Let's get this equipment in the transport, and get back to the Redemption."

"What about the Sergeant Major? We aren't waiting for him?" Aidan asked.

"No. He'll walk back to the Dropship...and trust me; we had better be ready to lift off." Bravo answered grimly.

...

Fenris sat the notebook computer on the table, knocking the surgical
instruments behind the desk. He plugged the Communications Array into the computer and typed in the designated encryption keys. After three minutes of waiting for a response, Fenris heard the digital sound of a secure communication connection. The Dragoon logo appeared on the wait screen, and then a young woman appeared on the vid-display.

"Good evening Sergeant Major Kane, I take it you have completed your mission?" It was Lieutenant Rianna Allarus. She was Fenris' point of contact according to the contract brief. Had he not had other things on his mind, he would have thought her beautiful, but he had other things on his mind.

"Subject has been extracted from the TPFA: Terrorist camp. Micro-processor, obtained. NOC list extracted...transmitting now." Fenris said, as he plugged the bloody microprocessor into the data port on his notepad computer. The NOC list transmission was complete. Lieutenant Allard reviewed the information...

"It is authentic. Any other copies?" She asked. She was visually
disappointed that the list was authentic and that the danger was real and
not perceived.

"The Major made two copies. One on his Home Terminal, and his office
Terminal in New Century City."

"Understood, those copies have already been located and destroyed by our operatives already on Addicks. Good work Sergeant Major!"

"There is more, Lieutenant, it appears that the Subject did not come by the list electronically. It was sold to him by an individual." Fenris watched as the pretty young Lieutenant visibly squirmed in her seat.

"Are you sure? Has this individual been identified?" She asked.

"No," Fenris stated. "The Major never got a name, and they never met in
person. So it appears as if the NOC list operatives are compromised and you should extract your personnel as soon as possible. If necessary the Armored Cavalry Elite can arrange for transport from Addicks on the Redemption, if necessary."

For a nominal fee... Fenris thought.

"No we are capable of extracting our personnel. You services are appreciated Sergeant Major. The additional information you obtained about the Ghost Operative who sold the NOC list will entitle you to a bonus, as per our contract for additional information obtained that will help us sort this matter out. I am also invoking Employment clause Omega: Subject Termination. Good work Sergeant Major Kane, Allard Out."

And the Vid-Display went dark, as did Fenris' mood. This part, he hated. But the bonus was a good one, and his men had earned it. He stood and pulled the Pistol from his holster...

...

Tanistal picked up the Key Card for the Lamprey and shouldered his
equipment. He walked out the hanger's side door as Bravo and Bear
finished loading the equipment into the Fox Armored Car.

The young soldier walked to the rear of the Hanger to the small
heli-pad and glanced over his shoulder, watching, as the rest of the unit
took off toward the Dropship Redemption in the distance. He had just closed his hand around the cockpit door latch when he was startled by a gunshot inside the hanger. Then after about three seconds, two more shots followed.

"And that my friends," he said to himself, as he settled into the Pilot's seat and smiled... "is the sound of money."