Chapter 43: Abduction
Location: Backwater Station
Seventy minutes later...
Despite being quite literally a hop, skip, and a jump from the Prime Minister's residence, it had taken an hour to reach her destination. Traffic had been unusually heavy for that time of day, which had been the primary contributor to her delayed arrival. As the automobile pulled to a stop in front of a building, she beheld a holographic image of a scantily clad woman dancing on the rooftop.
"Classy," she muttered, emerging from the vehicle.
Paying the driver, she watched as the cab pulled away from the curb and headed back in the direction of the city. Gazing across the settlement, she discovered that there was little activity was going on in the town. The bar shared property with a small gas station located nearby with several liquid Vespene canisters that seemed to ruin the view. Concentrating on the task at hand, she immediately headed around to the rear of the building. Sally found that the area behind the building was completely deserted leaving her slightly annoyed that she had travelled all the way from the capital only for Tarro not to show. She began to wonder if it was because she had been late, and removed NICOLE from the pouch at her hip, intent on contacting him, when she heard approaching footsteps.
"I was afraid you were going to be late," she said as she turned to find a Terran standing behind her, dressed in a hooded black robe.
Before she could even open her mouth to speak, the man slapped NICOLE's handheld from her grasp, sending it bouncing across the asphalt. She heard the audible crack as the handheld impacted the ground, causing Sally to flinch in response. NICOLE's components were one-of-a-kind, and manufacturing replacements would be a time-consuming process. Watching as NICOLE disappeared into the grass of a nearby field, Sally realized far too late that she had been distracted. Attempting to scream, the man jabbed a taser against her ribs, sending several hundred volts of electricity to shoot through her body. In an instant, her muscles seized up, leaving her unable to prevent herself from collapsing to the ground in a heap, her body trembled from the aftereffects of the electrical shock. Sally could only watch helplessly as the man approached, reaching into the pocket of his coat and removed a device. It resembled a voice synthesizer; one he held up to his mouth and produced Tarro's voice as he spoke into it.
"Hello, Princess," the man said.
There was a squeal of car tires as a black van barrelled around the corner and roared past and pulled to a stop next to them allowing the man to pick her up and toss her inside.
Location: Unknown
Four hours later...
Feeling like someone was taking a jackhammer to her brain, Sally harboured reluctance on opening her eyes. Eventually, she managed to force herself to do so, which caused the headache to immediately intensify.
"Uh…, what did they hit me with?" she groaned, pushing herself into a seated position.
The room she discovered herself in was little more then an alcove, retrofitted to serve as a prison cell. It was blocked off by a field of energy, while a filthy mattress lay on the metal flooring. It even contained a small metal sink a metal toilet, the latter of which was thankfully partitioned to provide her with some privacy.
"I should have listened to my gut."
Something hadn't seemed right during Tarro's communication, but she had foolishly dismissed it with terrible results. She needed to call for help, but as she reached down for NICOLE, she quickly remembered that she no longer had her. She considered using her Ring Blades to facilitate Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, she watched as a man of approximately forty stopped before her cell. He short gray hair that was parted in the middle, dressed in a red suit with gold fabric on the shoulders and black leather boots.
"Hello, Ambassador," the man said cheerfully, but in such a way that unnerved her.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Tamsen Cauley; Director of the Internal Security Division," he introduced.
"And What? You a part of Humanity First?"
The accusation didn't seem to phase him, in fact, the sinister grin appearing on his face outright confirmed it.
"Say nothing, Cauley," another voice ordered.
Cauley turned to the newcomer; a figure dressed in a long black leather trench coat with a hood that covered his head. Standing beside him were two individuals dressed bulky yet formfitting red armour with a full-face helmet that had a green Y-shaped Plexiglas visor and armed with 2nd generation C-14 Impaler gauss rifle.
"Uh...my-my apologizes, Sir. I did not mean to overstep my authority," the weaselly man said, nervousness creeping into his voice.
"Leave," the man ordered coldly, "I have personal business with the Ambassador."
She watched as the ISD Director nodded and immediately exited the room, slipping past the two motionless troopers. Removing a cardkey from the pocket, the newcomer slid it in the electronic lock and punched in a few buttons that caused the energy field to deactivate. Sally contemplated making a break for it, but quickly decided against it because the two troopers that had escorted this mysterious individual. In all likeliness, she wouldn't even reach the door before they managed to gun her down.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Like you're in any position to be making demands. Very well. If nothing else, I'll get to enjoy the look on your face."
The man lifted his hands to his face and drew back his hood back causing Sally to fail to stifle a gasp when she realized who it was.
"NO! It can't be!" Sally cried out.
"Oh yes, Princess...it is," General Mendenhall said with a wide grin.