Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or mentioned in this draft, and am most certainly not making any profit off of it.
Chapter 12
Jess was surprised at just how much of Seymour's interest she had attracted. She wondered why he never said anything to her. He must have had his reasons; still it would have been nice if she had known this a lot sooner. Well, that's two things she had looked at that had come up inconclusive of both this "Raven" she had heard about, and the location of his home. She then decided to take a look at the gun case. She set it up on her desk and opened it. Another magnum revolver was sitting in the case her. Geez, he sure likes big guns. It must be a guy thing. She pulled it out of its case and looked it over. This one was a .454 magnum, and it had the same coat of arms that the .44 magnum. However, there was something different about the emblem. It looked as if it could be removed. So she looked for a space where she could pry it off. She finally found a spot where she could fit a pen under the emblem. The emblem came off the gun handle. Looking the emblem over, she found a small button on the side of it. When she pressed it, a strip of metal with key-like teeth on it popped out the other side. With a smile, she suddenly realized what she had in her possession. She overheard one of Seymour's aides talking about a strange room that Seymour went into every now and then. The door had his family's coat of arms on the front. No one really knew what was in there, but there were plenty of rumors. Some claimed that it was a secret weapons lab where he developed technological terrors. Others claimed that it was a secret base in which he conducted wars halfway across the planet. One last rumor said that it was a secret interstellar radio where he contacted extraterrestrial life forms. Now she would be able to see what was in that room with her own eyes. She was excited about what she would find in there.
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As the elevator came to a stop, Hawke placed his hand on his holster to make sure the strap was undone so that he could draw his weapon quickly if he had to. He stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened and found himself in the middle of a seaplane hangar. There was a catwalk going across the waterway that lead to a large steel door. What lay beyond that was a mystery, but Hawke wasn't there to explore. He began to walk forward checking behind the many steel crates lying around the airport. He sure does know how to pick a good spot. Everything in life is location, location, location. He looked behind various crates and checked for the elusive TA. Either Hawke missed his guess, and the TA was not here, or he was damn good a sneaking around. The floor was composed of steel panels; the kind that no matter how quiet you are, you can't help but make a clanging sound with every step. This would make sneaking up on the TA difficult.
"You are late."
Behind him, Hawke heard a clicking sound: the sound of a gun being cocked. Despite being startled, Hawke swung around, pulling his gun out in the process, and found himself looking down the barrel of a silver Luger pistol. He aimed his gun up to the TA's face as he finished his quick 180 turn. Hawke knew that he had blown his chances of stopping Seymour, but at least he could get some information before he was shot dead.
"Why are you doing this? What has Black Hole done to you?"
"Nothing; and they never will if I have anything to do with it."
"What do you mean? Why do you want Sturm to win?"
"Sturm won't win. I won't allow it."
"But if you don't want him to win, why are you betraying us? We want to defeat Sturm too."
"Do you now. Then why did you and Sturm have a discussion concerning my execution if you want to defeat him? And don't insult my intelligence by saying that you were talking to Von Bolt. I have irrefutable evidence to the contrary."
"But that was Von Bolt. I heard his voice, his wheezing, and his hacking. It was him for sure."
"I don't need to tell you that Lord Sturm has a voice manipulator. It would have taken him little time or effort to simulate Von Bolt's voice and chronic respiratory failures. It may be enough to fool Henson, but not I."
"I'm telling the truth. I don't care whether you believe me or not. It was Bolt; I know him well enough to recognize his voice."
"How well do you know him? The only time that I recall you spending time with him was when Henson picked you for this assignment. So just how well acquainted are you?"
"Well, I…"
"As I thought."
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Henson had deactivated the security cameras to the hangar and had cut the power to the elevator. That stupid little brat wouldn't be able to get to her mentor. He wanted to leave the cameras on, so she could get a good look at his bullet ridden corpse, but then there would be evidence of this occurrence that could make life difficult. His plan was simple. Let Hawke and Seymour battle it out. Seymour would more than likely win because Hawke, with all his skill and knowledge, had very little combat training or experience. That is because he was trained with the new methods. Commanders are just that. They need to sit in a nice comfortable chair safely behind reinforced glass and armored plating with an ice cold drink or a hot cup of coffee and send countless men and women to their deaths. Seymour, however, was trained in the older methods. Just because you're a commander doesn't mean you can't pick up a gun and pick a few enemies off. Seymour had some combat training and some marksmanship training. Henson had spent some years as a Black Marine before transferring back to the Navy for his Admiralty. This is going to be a fun fight between Seymour and I. Henson reached into his boot and pulled out his old field knife. He thought about the best way to kill Seymour: a bullet between the eyes, a knife in the heart, or a saber through the chest, pinning him to the wall.
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"I overheard your discussion," Hawke said. "With Lash concerning the unmanned monitor station. You said that Sturm felt threatened by Henson."
"No, I said that Sturm felt that Henson was a threat. There is a difference."
"What did you mean by that?"
"The statement is self explanatory. The logic should be as well."
"How can Henson be a threat if Henson is working for Sturm?"
"A threat can be many things: a danger, a liability, a loose end, the list goes on. Sturm feels that Henson isn't truly on his side anymore than he is on Von Bolt's side. That sector fleet that we 'accidentally' ran into was no accident. We were supposed to meet up with them. However, Henson arrived earlier than expected and the sector fleet mistook us for another landing force. They were just as surprised to see us as we were with them. However, it was not surprise like we were launching a surprise attack. No, it was more like we were not expected that early. Henson was supposed to meet up with the sector fleet a day later than he did. He would exchange 'pleasantries' and trade blows with them for a day. He would then fall back to a safe position and wait for reinforcements. By the time he had licked his wounds and returned to the field, Sturm would have many units in hiding to capture us all as soon as you captured the citadel. But Henson is keeping his options open by working for Bolt part time and working for Sturm part time so that no matter who wins, Henson has a place to go. He secures his future by fighting for the winning side."
"Then it would seem that Henson is the traitor. Look me in the eyes: are these the eyes of a liar? Don't look at me with those sunglasses. Look at me eye to eye."
Seymour sighed and hesitated, but the dark sunglasses were slowly and reluctantly removed. Hawked felt a slight wave of shock when the TA looked at him. The TA had a gaze that stared into your soul. His heterochromia iridium didn't help in the slightest: Seymour's right eye stared at him with a cool blue, while his left eye shone with a fiery red that burned in to Hawke's soul.
"What's the matter, Hawke?"
Hawke returned his gaze and said again that he had nothing to do with the whole mess. The TA seemed to believe him, oddly enough. A look of realization suddenly came across his face. "Then that must mean…blast! I have never made a mistake in my life and I pick now to break that tradition!"
"Wait, now you believe me? I'm not complaining, but just like that?"
"There many who can decieve with thier demeanor, but there are few who have 'liar's eyes'. I do not have them, so I wear these sunglasses to keep people from knowing what I am thinking. At any rate, I do apologize for suspecting you."
"Don't worry. I suspected you of treason as well. It is Henson that we should look for."
"Not Henson. Blue Moon."
"Blue Moon?"
"We had scout check the area out for troops, correct? And they reported no Black Hole activity, correct?"
"Yes."
"No Black Hole activity. They never said anything about other factions that may be in the area, correct? Now tell me: whose scouts where those?"
"They were part of Henson's Advanced Recon and Special Ops. Force."
"So if they were Henson's ARSOF troopers, who would they report to? Henson. And who manipulated the reports? The one and only. Which means he is probably expecting us to tear each other apart. Well, we shall just play along for a little while. Here are my ideas."