Red Dust
Rick, Sasha, Olsen and Alastar all exited the cabin at a brisk pace. It was about mid-morning now, the sky was brightening, and hardly a cloud in the sky. The air was cool, and a gentile breeze whisked through the threes.
Sasha still didn't have anything on her that she'd brought, nothing but the clothes on her back. Rick and Olsen had a couple smaller bags they'd packed beforehand. Alastar on the other hadnd looked exactly like a tourist in these parts, complete with a comically large backpack dangling with camping supplies.
"We've gotta get moving, we don't have much time," Rick said over his shoulder in a rushed tone.
"You're in a hurry all of a sudden," Sasha commented obviously.
"Moreau will backup nearby," the old raccoon explained. "They'll be here soon to investigate, since Moreau's been out of contact."
"Backup?" Sasha asked. "And you spent that much time explaining things to me?"
"You should thank whatever god or gods you believe in that we're bothering to bring you along at all," Olsen grumbled as he shuffled past." If I had my way, we wouldn't have dragged you into all this in the first place, so you and your skanky lesbian whore can–"
"That's enough of that, Olsen!" Alastar snapped, cutting him off, and standing between him and Sasha.
"Don't even get me started on you," the owl spat, turning on the scruffy mercenary. "You naïve, overly sentimental, googly-eyed buffoon."
A flash of anger washed over Alastar's usually blank face, and his hand quietly formed a fist at his side. Just as he moved, about to say or do something, Rick stepped in, placing a hand on both Olsen's and Alastar's shoulders.
"Al, get to work on Moreau's ride, we'll be taking that." He looked over to the hovercar Sasha and Moreau came arrived in, and Alastar started toward the vehicle in silence. "Olsen, keep an eye on the road." Rick handed the aged owl a pair of binoculars, which he took, and did as instructed.
Sasha simply watched, as Alastar set down the gigantic hiking backpack and rummaged through it, as Cadan Olsen reluctantly found a comfortable spot and looked up and down the road. Sasha was left alone for a moment with Richard Cooney, the ghost, who looked all too comfortable given the tense circumstances.
"If that molting geezer ever speaks that way about Maya again," Sasha growled, looking toward Olsen, "I will punch his beak through the back of his skull."
"I don't doubt it," the raccoon agreed, rubbing his throat. "Still, try to cut him some slack. Olsen's not used to being in these high-risk, high-stress situations like you, Alastar and I are. He means well, he's just... buckling under the pressure."
"How does he know about Maya anyway?" the husky demanded as she turned to Rick.
"We all know, Alastar filled me in on you and Maya a long time ago," Rick confessed with what sounded like regret. As far as Sasha knew though, he could be faking it, as it seemed he'd done many times before. "For what it's worth, Sasha, I am very, very sorry that I screwed things up as much as I have for you, and for her. Maya seems like a really nice girl."
"She is, and she deserves better than this..." the husky confirmed with a disgruntled sigh. "I suppose getting in contact with her is out of the question. It'd only bring Venom Intelligence down on her."
"Yeah... you got that right," Rick agreed quietly.
There was an awkward moment between them, both Sasha thinking, and Rick also by the looks of it with his furrowed brow. The husky ended the moment though when she spoke first. "When this is all over, I'm going to find a way to get back with her, and you're going to help me," Sasha stated as fact, very sure of herself.
"I am?" Rick asked, a quizzical and curious expression forming on his weathered face.
"You destroyed my life to make this happen, Rick. The least you can do in return is help me salvage something from the mess you've made," Sasha proposed. "If you want my full cooperation in this little caper of yours, my help, that's my price."
Sasha held her gaze as the older raccoon, watching as Rick puzzled over her proposal. He kept very calm about it, but she could see the wheels turning and gears clicking in his head. Rick's thoughts were interrupted when the hovercar started up, its engine core whining up and droning on in the background. Soon after, Alastar came jogging back toward the two.
"We're all set, let's go!" the scruffy schnauzer mix called out as he approached.
Olsen was already moving toward the humming vehicle, while Rick watched him go. Sasha kept her gaze on the raccoon though, still silently demanding an answer.
After a few moments being drilled into by the husky's eyes, Cooney finally gave a response, saying, "talk with Olsen during the drive, hear what he has to say. I'll have your answer once you've heard him out."
"Talk, with that..." the husky paused a second, deciding which word to use to describe Cadan Olsen, "asshole!?"
"That asshole, Captain Sasha Zura, is the reason all of this is happening!" Rick snapped back in a suddenly cold and bitter voice, shooting an icy glare at Sasha. "That asshole is the key to preventing a slew of planetary genocides!"
"Genocide?" Sasha asked, taken aback.
"Look, just... talk with Olsen, ask him about Red Dust," Rick said as he gave a nod toward the hovercar waiting for them.
With a final relenting sigh, Sasha conceded, "fine, alright, I'll hear what he has to say."
"That's all I ask." the raccoon said with a note of relief, and started toward the waiting hovercar.
Alastar was still there there though, waiting for Sasha, again with those helpless glassy puppy-eyes of his. Sasha paid little attention to him, simply walking past with no eye-contact whatsoever. Just as she passed by though, the husky stopped just long enough to fling a sharp, venomous glare at the mercenary, and continue right on walking toward the waiting vehicle.
"I'm gonna be getting a lot of that, I'm guessing?" she heard Alastar groan behind her.
"Get used to it," Sasha pitilessly confirmed over her shoulder, then opened the rear driver-side door and entered the hovercar.
In a few moments, everyone had gotten into the vehicle. Alastar had the driver's seat, Rick on the passenger side, with Sasha and Olsen awkwardly sharing the back seat. The older owl in particular seemed edgy, nervous, constantly checking around him, and apparently breathing a little more heavily than he should be. Sasha figured it was just his nerves getting to him, like Rick had explained earlier.
The hovercar and was soon driving off down the road, with Rick saying something to Alastar in hushed tones. Try as the husky might though, Sasha couldn't quite make out what was being said.
"I'd, um... like to apologize, for being rather terse and unfair toward you earlier," Olsen said, looking down, vaguely toward Sasha. "I'm not normally like that, I–"
"It's the stress of it, I understand," the husky said dryly over his stumbling words.
"Yes, the stress... If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..." the old owl suggested shyly.
This was as good a time as any, Sasha figured. She looked up to Cadan Olsen, and addressed him, "Rick tells me you know something about a 'Red Dust'."
The mention of Red Dust got a very worried look from Olsen, even more-so than he was already. At the same time, Rick looked back into the back seat, and gave a reassuring nod to the owl. It wasn't much, but it was enough to calm Olsen somewhat, enough for him to respond to what Sasha brought up.
"Right. Red Dust. Yes..." the owl said, taking a deep preparatory breath. "How much do you know about Venom? The planet, I mean, and the history of the Venom project."
"I know it started out as a major terraforming project," Sasha answered easily enough. It was common knowledge.
"Correct, but do you know how the planet was meant to be terraformed?"
"Something about the atmosphere," she replied, "but I never really looked into the details."
"It was nanites: microscopic, self-replicating, programmable dronelets," the owl revealed, growing more excited about the subject as he explained, "I don't think anyone's told you, but I was actually one of the early research and development project leaders for nanite technology. I later joined Axiom Tech, where I developed a line of medical nanites, which are already in use at high-end hospitals, with field-kit variations under development before... well, you were there that day on Zoness."
"What does this have to do with terraforming Venom?" Sasha asked, getting back on topic.
"Ah, yes. Well..." Olsen began, as he rerouted his train of thought, "before I made the medical nanites under Axiom, I worked closely with Andross on the Venom project when it was still a terraforming project. Similar nanites were being used on Venom much the same way medical nanites are used on a patient, but on a much larger scale. Immense swarms of these miniature machines were deployed into Venom's atmospere, and were able to forcibly alter the toxic chemical composition of the air and acidic oceans, molecule by molecule, to tolerable livable levels. Even now, you can walk on Venom's surface and breathe, where before you'd need an advanced environment suit. Granted, it wasn't a very comfortable atmosphere, but real progress was occurring, and we were almost ready to begin transplanting plant life onto Venom's surface."
"That doesn't sound like Red Dust though," Sasha said, shaking her head. "Rick said it was some kind of planetary-scale genocide device."
"On the contrary, Miss Zura. That is exactly what Red Dust is," Olsen corrected, suddenly becoming very grim in his tone. "Red Dust was the name given to the weaponized variation of these atmosphere-altering nanites, or rather, the weaponized programing for these nanites. It's precisely the same technology that was being used to make Venom habitable, but the technology can operate both ways. Instead of altering a toxic atmosphere into a healthy one, the nanites can be used to alter a healthy atmosphere into a toxic one."
"And, that can work against an entire planet?" Sasha asked, gradually becoming more interested in this new information. She wasn't even watching the scenery outside the hovercar as it passed, or listening in on Rick and Alastar's hushed conversation. All her focus was on Cadan Olsen, who still seemed to be breathing more deeply and heavily than he should have been. Still, it didn't seem to impede the owl's capacity to speak.
"It can work against a planet, a starship, an ocean, a small group of people, or even a single individual. It can be concentrated for maximum instant effect, or spread out over a vast area; anywhere the Red Dust nanites can get to, they can go to work. A concentrated mass could be injected into a starship's atmospheric systems, suffocating the crew in a matter of minutes. A small dose can be specially targeted to a single person, asphyxiating the victim in their own lungs and leave no trace. A large-scale swarm could be released onto a lush world where, over time, the atmosphere would decay as it became more toxic day by day as the nanites worked."
"I don't think Andross would go that far," the husky said, shaking her head. "I've met him: he's more a scholar than a war zealot."
"You're not wrong, to an extent," Olsen agreed, but only halfheartedly. "You were there, leading the team that captured me on Zoness, on behalf of Venom. That was Andross's rather rude way of... 'encouraging' me to return to Venom, and work on the nanites for him again. Strange thing is though, they already had my technology, my notes; they really didn't need me per-se. I may be the foremost expert on my nanite technology, but there are several less scrupulous colleagues of mine who've worked on my nanites enough to pick up the project and run with it. But Andross is kind, or so he believes, and he's been trying to entice me to commit to Venom, to work for his vaunted Cause." the owl drawled, rolling his eyes at the term, "That's part of the reason I was able to get as far out in the open as I have, 'enjoying a relaxing vacation', albeit with a tight surveillance leash."
Olsen's breaths were only getting deeper and more drawn-out, like he'd been running a footrace.
"Are you alright?" Sasha asked, with some concern. "You seem a little short of breath."
"It's this damnable high-altitude mountain air," the owl insisted with a wave of his hand, and continued with his explanations. "You may have met him, but don't let Dr. Andross's niceties and politeness fool you. Beneath all that, Andross is cold, calculating, and absolutely ruthless. I'm almost certain his reasons for trying to persuade me to work with Venom are because of my knowledge and skills, but not the way you might think. It's not that he needs my knowledge of nanite technology to get Red Dust to work, it's that he doesn't want my knowledge and skills with the nanites to end up, well, exactly where we're going now."
"And where's that?" Sasha asked.
"Corneria, of course," Olsen answered, almost surprised that the husky didn't know. "War with Corneria is inevitable now, and Andross is going to use Red Dust to win it."
"I can see why this intelligence would be valuable for Corneria," Sasha mused. "If a countermeasure can be developed, losses in combat with Red Dust in use would significantly decrease, or be mitigated completely–"
"No, you don't understand," Olsen interrupted, a great sense of urgency filling his voice now. "Red Dust won't simply be used on 'military' targets, Venom will unleash Red Dust over entire worlds, on civilian populations. The military commanders of Venom's forces know they can't win a straight head-to-head fight against Corneria, not with their ingrained military-industrial complex. Knowing this, Andross means to quietly uproot the entire economic, societal, and political structure of Corneria by targeting its very foundation: the people themselves, by turning the fresh air of Corneria into poison. When the people of Corneria choke with each breath they take –when they become sick, suffer, and die by the hundreds of millions– the gears and cogwheels that drive Corneria's industry and infrastructure will grind to a halt, and ultimately collapse on itself."
"But... why?" Sasha asked, utterly baffled at the idea. "Such a deliberate, heinous act would only enrage the Cornerian population, motivate them that much further to fight. You can't just break their spirit like that, not so easily, not without stoking the flames."
"But only if the devastating effects of Red Dust can be traced back to Venom," the owl informed. "Even then, Corneria may have the fire for vengeance burning in them, but it will do them no good if the industry their relentless war machine relies on is destroyed, and the people who would offer resistance are dying in droves in the comfort of their homes."
An understanding was setting in for Sasha now –entire worlds choking on poisonous atmospheres– and it was grim: Tactically, it may kill many, but military forces are usually trained to work under toxic atmospheric conditions with a variety of NBC defenses. And even then, most planetary governments had some form of emergency response that could address a catastrophe of that scale, or could they?
If the Red Dust nanites were that small, that effective, and could be released covertly, the effects could match what Cadan Olsen was describing. Atmosphere monitoring stations might pick up on it, and they may even work to suppress the alterations, but with no knowledge and no countermeasure, it would simply delay the inevitable.
"That, Sasha Zura,is why I am defecting to Corneria," Olsen concluded.
Something clicked in Sasha's mind. She recalled certain details, certain conversations from earlier.
"Rick, why exactly are you helping Olsen with this?" the husky asked, turning to the older raccoon with more than a little suspicion pulling at her words. "You're not CSB, or CDF military intelligence, or really anything anymore; you're a rogue. Connor Griffion specifically mentioned how you barely escaped, when your old headquarters was attacked by Cornerian soldiers."
Both Rick and Alastar winced at hearing this, but Rick seemed far more concerned, and looked back toward Sasha.
"So, what the hell is really going on here?" the husky demanded.
There was long awkward moment of silence, but it wasn't exactly silent. Olsen's breathing had accelerated to a rapid fever-pitch, gasping uncontrollably. Then he suddenly fell silent, and slumped forward in his seat, unconscious...
"Alastar! Stop the car and get a respirator from the first-aid kit ready!" Rick ordered.
"Aye!" the merc barked in response, and the hovercar slowed to a stop at the side of the road.
"Sasha, search him," the raccoon directed the husky. "Go through Olsen's pockets and remove any metallic items or electronics."
"What for–"
"Just do it!" Rick snapped, and turned back forward on some other task.
Sasha did as directed, rummaging through the owl's person. There were keys, a wallet, a small comm unit, and a smattering of other items. Interestingly though, as the husky searched, she noticed that none of the fastenings or fitting of Olen's clothes were metal: it was all plastic, or some wood...
"Did you get everything?" Rick suddenly asked.
"I think so..." the husky answered, quickly padding through the limp form in front of her.
"Don't think, know: are you sure?" he asked again. A high-pitched electronic whine started building up, getting louder as the pitch raised to an irritating squeal.
"That's everything," Sasha said, turning back to Rick, and saw the source of the noise. He was holding an odd disc-shaped device, about the size of dinner plate, attached by a cable to a power outlet inside the hovercar. "What is–"
Before she could finish the question, Rick had already planted the the disc-shaped device on Olsen's chest and flipped a switch, causing the ear-splitting whine to jump down to a low rumbling hum.
"It's a very powerful electromagnet," the raccoon answered tersely.
"Why do you need one of those?" Sasha asked, very confused. "What happened to Olsen?"
The door next to Olsen opened, and Alastar was there with a first-aid respirator in-hand. A few seconds later, Rick pulled the electromagnet away, and the respirator went into place over the owl's beak, to the sound of a small hiss as the oxygen went in.
"It's some kind of asphyxia, that much is certain," Rick answered while Alastar worked. "My guess is carbon monoxide."
"Are we in danger?" the husky asked, and she instinctively checked her own breathing for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, or other oxygen deficiency.
"Not from the carbon monoxide," Alastar said with a shake of his head.
"And the giant magnet?" Sasha asked again. "How exactly does that help?"
In that instant Cadan Olsen woke up, slowly at first, but quickly took in a number of terrified gasps while Alastar pulled the respirator away.
"How are you feeling?" Alastar asked, still helping Olsen out. "You okay?"
"Well, I can breathe again, but I feel like such a damned fool," the owl said, chastising himself. "I should have stopped the second I felt lightheaded."
"No, you were smart to inform us beforehand this might happen," Rick reassured Olsen, placing the electromagnet in a bag at his feet. "We knew this was a possibility, we were prepped for it, and nobody's dead. You did good." He directed his attention to Alastar now, saying "Al, pack everything up and get us moving again."
The scruffy canid merc gave a nod, and soon took his place at the driver's seat again. In a few moments, the vehicle was on the move again, just as it was before. Only then, once the threat seemed to have passed, did Rick finally turn to Sasha, who was still in a state of shocked confusion.
"That, Sasha Zura, was Red Dust in action," Rick said with a relieved sigh, and gestured to Olsen. "There was a dose inside Olsen's lungs, probably planted there a while ago as a precaution, as a leash to keep him in check. The little nanites' programing was likely on an automated timed release, since we're scrambling any incoming signals. What the Red Dust did was alter some of the carbon dioxide present in Olsen's lungs into carbon monoxide, enough to give him acute carbon monoxide poisoning."
"That's like Andross: a little 'poetic justice'," the owl scoffed, still working to recover, taking controlled breath just in case. "Having me killed off by the very machines I created."
"That's where the magnet comes in: it's how you kill Red Dust, or any concentrated mass of nanites really," Rick continued, and held up the bag at his feet. "You toss a powerful enough magnetic field at the little bugs, and all of a sudden those teeny tiny microscopic-sized components that make nanites so effective become a serious problem for their survival. It's the same reason you're not supposed to put sensitive electronics near a powerful magnet: it scrambles their circuitry and data storage systems. In fact, these Red Dust nanites have such minuscule components, that even a little magnet like I rigged up here can literally rip them apart." the raccoon set his bag down again with a dull thunk, "If we hadn't been prepared, if we didn't know what was coming and how to stop it, Olsen could easily be dead by now. The nanites would've scattered afterward, leaving no evidence whatsoever to trace..."
Sasha only half-grasped what the old raccoon was explaining. She squinted back at the babbling spy with a furrowed brow, while her mind still lingered on the question of 'why?'. Why was Rick doing this? What did he expect to gain from the Cornerians? Who was he going to try and blackmail?
Maybe Rick saw that she wasn't paying too much attention to the details he was explaining. Being the spy he was, maybe he'd guessed what Sasha was thinking, the questions she still had, because Rick stopped his technical rambling, took a verbal step back, and started again on a different subject.
"You asked me why we're going to Corneria, Sasha," the raccoon began, hitting a more somber tone in his words. "It's true, I don't approve of what Corneria has done in the recent past, but I don't approve of what Venom's been doing either. Andross's Cause is founded on good intentions, I'll grant him that, but everything is setting up to pan out in absolute carnage, for everyone– you yourself claimed that using Red Dust would only infuriate Corneria, embolden them to fight. As a born-and-raised Cornerian myself, I agree with that sentiment. It doesn't matter how much Red Dust would potentially weaken Corneria, it would only make them lust that much more for vengeance, and pave the way for even greater atrocities to follow in a bloody cycle of revenge. So my plan is to have Red Dust removed from the table entirely, to eliminate this catalyst of utter bloodshed from ever having the chance of being used."
"But to what end?" the husky asked, "What's your aim in all this?"
"My aim is as it ever was while I was apart of Lylat Central Intelligence: to protect the peoples of Lylat by whatever means necessary, even against themselves."
"Taking away Red Dist won't stop the war," Sasha insisted, with a rightly cynical tone dragging at her words. "You take away one weapon, they'll just pick up another."
"Maybe it won't prevent war, but then again, maybe it might," Rick posited. "With the ace up their sleeve gone, Venom will think twice about fighting a war they can't win; these people are supposed to be 'Lylat's thinkers' for goodness sake! Then maybe, once the testosterone and the political machismo bullshit has a chance to settle, the leadership of Venom and Corneria can sit down at a table, and negotiate for peace like mature goddamn grown-ups!" he finished, nearly shouting as he hammered a fist on the dashboard.
By the somewhat cynical, desperate tone he finished with, it didn't seem like Rick truly believed in that fairy-tale of an ending either, but then something in him changed. There was a haunted, distant look in his eyes now, and he took on a tired, world-weary demeanor that made him seem decades older than he already was.
"But... even if it doesn't stop war..." the raccoon said, his voice wavering with an old terror that matched his face, "I've seen what nanite technology is capable of in the wrong hands. It's... well it's not pretty, and I don't ever want that to happen again if I can help it."
Rick turned forward, away from Sasha, and it suddenly grew very quiet, with only the low background hum of the hovercar to make any noise for a time.
In the silence, the husky reached up, and laid a hand on his shoulder, nearly whispering in his ear, "It's okay old man, you sold me, I'm in. I'll help you kill Red Dust."
The raccoon looked back over his shoulder, offering her a weak smile, "And I'll see what I can do to get you back with Maya."
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Author Notes:
Ooooookay! The titular chapter for the whole story, and most of it was in-character exposition, ugh. I'm sorry I made you sit through that much info-dump dialog. I know I sometimes critique others here for doing similar things, but I hope it was at least a little interesting to read, and there was a little sudden drama thrown in for good measure.
As always, thank you for reading! And thank you even more for the review!
(Seriously, let me know if it's working for you or not. You guys are my yardstick here.)
