Life On Helghan.
OK chapter 12, I know how long I've been and I apologise, I hope you enjoy this one so without further ado...
Chapter 12
We landed at the depot and left the dropship, a few soldiers ran past us as we walked away from it ready to collect the prisoners and take them to the holding area on the factory floor, we entered the east block from the landing pad and headed down the hallway to the factory floor, inside we could see Stahl standing by some soldiers waiting for the prisoners to arrive, he called up to us and we went down to him.
"Well done gentlemen, these men will be useful now I'm scheduled for a meeting with the senate, prepare yourselves boys, this is the first time you'll be meeting the idiots who are supposed to be running this war, follow me."
"Sir."
We followed him out to the dropship we arrived in and took off, the trip took quite a while but eventually we landed outside the Autarch's palace, we'd both heard about Visari's death during training and were eager to find out what the senate's plan was, Stahl led us through the hallways and we eventually entered a large room with a table in the centre, Stahl sat down and we took up our positions on either side of him, a large bald admiral with a moustache spoke.
"Glad you could finally join us Stahl, we need to discuss the weapon..."
Stahl interrupted him.
"Where are the ISA? Why haven't you found them yet?"
The adjudicator answered.
"They've proven to be more tenacious than expected."
"Which was my exact point six months ago. You should've listened to me but no, you had to do it your way. You had to pound them until they surrendered.
The admiral spoke.
"The ISA will be dealt with in due time."
"Yes well, that's exactly what you said. You said hours not months, the people of Helghan want results. Not empty promises from you Orlock."
"Once again you've somehow managed to distract us from the real topic at hand. Why haven't you delivered your weapon prototypes to the military?"
He stood up.
"Because admiral, this is irradiated petrusite. And I will not place weapons of such magnitude into the hands of a total incompetent."
Orlock lunged across the table and I prepared myself, I already didn't like this guy and the captain also took a more tactical stance.
The adjudicator called for order and stood up.
"You've gone too far Stahl, the admiral has been instrumental in the negotiations with the Vektan government."
Stahl sat back down.
"Too little, too late."
He looked over to a man on the left who seemed to be giving him a knowing look, then he stood up.
"Given the admiral's continued failure to eradicate the ISA, I motion that the Helghan military be turned over to someone who will...use it more effectively, Chairman Stahl."
Orlock shouted at him.
"He's an industrialist!"
"With a sizable private army, and the technology to back it up."
The adjudicator stood up and asked.
"Do we have a second?"
The table was silent.
"Motion denied."
Stahl stood up and pointed at Orlock.
"As long as this man remains in charge, I refuse to commit my resources to your cause."
He went to leave so we followed him. as we were passing the table we heard one of the chairmen say.
"We need him."
The adjudicator called out.
"Just a moment chairman, will you give us time to reconsider?"
I heard Orlock say "What?" He sounded surprised.
Stahl turned around to face the table and started walking toward it, we followed him slowly.
"In two days time I'll be making a live broadcast to the Helghan nation."
"About what?"
"Something that will make your decision so much easier. Now gentlemen if that'll be all I'll get back to my depot, look forward to my broadcast."
We followed him out of the room and back to the dropship and we took off.
"God I can't stand that stuck-up bastard, what did you two think of him."
"Which one?" We both asked.
He laughed and said "Admiral Orlock."
The captain answered first.
"Pretty far up his own arse, I think he needs to get laid badly."
Stahl burst out laughing.
"Ha ha ha ha ha and aha ha ha ha...oh phew, and you Captain Lente?"
"Well he's definitley in need yeah but he is trying to do his best with the hand he's been dealt."
"He's an idiot man! He's had six fucking months to wipe out the ISA, I knew it'd take awhile but he said six months ago that he'd manage it in a matter of hours, I knew he was stupid back then to even think it but it shouldn't have taken six months, if Radec were still here I don't need to tell you both that he'd have managed it in a few hours, Orlock has no idea how to lead this army, why am I the only one who can see it?"
He sat back and the rest of the trip was silent, we landed at the depot and Stahl told us both to report to the labs for weapon testing, I said to him.
"But sir we're your enforcers and we're also Capture Troopers, we don't use long range weapons."
"I know that but I'm a bit short-handed on weapon testers right now and I don't have anything else for you two to be doing, my scientists need to see this thing in action and they're prohibited from testing the weapons themselves, safety reasons and besides you do know how to fire a gun don't you? Get to it, over in the weapons lab."
He turned and left us so we headed for the lab wondering what we were gonna be firing this time.
End of chapter 12.
Yep you guessed it lol, I wanted to do a callback to chapter 7 and the discussion Lente had about the irradiated petrusite launcher so the next chapter will be a bit sciencey, hope you liked this one and look forward to chapter 13.