Fragment of Destiny

Samuel stood at attention inside High Inquisitor Dolan’s office. The space was bare aside from the standard issue desk and chair. He had been waiting for nearly ten minutes before Dolan addressed him.

“Impressive work with the interrogation,” Dolan said, glancing up from his desk. His eyes were cold and distant as he spoke.

“Thank you, sir,” Samuel said trying to keep the ice like calm Dolan always emanated from rupturing his barrier.

“I know you have been wondering about my decision. Have a seat,” Dolan said indicating to a small metal chair in front of the desk. “Reginald Andrews will be discharged from the enforcers and demoted to lower caste citizen status.”

Samuel sighed inwardly with relief, and his barrier wavered under the strain of it. Dolan had ordered Samuel to interrogate every enforcer who had been on duty the day of the attack. One touch was all Samuel needed and any loyalty the person held to family, friends, or faction no longer existed. Instead, they were wholly loyal to him. In seconds he had each one of them falling all over themselves to tell him everything they knew. After hearing the extent of Reginald’s betrayal, Samuel knew he had just ordered the man’s execution. As a traitor, the execution was justly deserved. Yet Samuel could not help but feel grateful to Reginald for being an instrumental part in Demetrius' miraculous rescue. Because of this, Samuel had pleaded for Dolan to reconsider, on grounds that the empathic manipulation of the man’s loyalties made him a completely different person. And by virtue of that, Reginald the traitor was already dead and gone.

“I am authorizing a new mission,” Dolan said as two images appeared on the desk view screen. “The objectives are twofold. Capture Larry Renkofski code name “Slobber-pot” and retrieve this device.” Dolan indicated to the first picture. It was of a black spherical device that looked to have tiny blue fractures running along it at random. The other was a massively large man in awkward looking clothing. He had a coiled piece of fabric around his neck that came up and covered the bottom portion of his face.

“This device will allow us to access Slobber-pot’s memories and extract the information we need. Information that will likely be inhibited should he be captured. This is the first key step to bringing down Corwin and putting an end to the malravian threat.”

Samuel nodded, Dolan had already briefed him regarding the information recovered from Demetrius' terminal. He knew that Demetrius was not working with the Corwin faction, even if no one else did. But this Larry Renkofski guy was a high ranking of the Corwin faction. Dolan believed his capture would be the linchpin to bringing down the entire operation.

“I am placing you into a preexisting squad under the command of Marshal Fin. You will infiltrate the insurgent facility in Crescent and retrieve the memory device. Simultaneously I will be leading the team to capture Slobber-pot.”

“Yes, sir,” Samuel said snapping a crisp salute.

“Marshal Fin and his team are already standing by at the airfield. You will leave immediately.”

Samuel placed a fist over the enforcer’s insignia once more before promptly exiting the room. He knew that the information from Reginald had to be correct and that there was no time to waste, yet everything seemed to be happening too fast.

At least Dolan had left Demetrius' recapture off the agenda and for that he was grateful, But the decision to place him in a squad under the command of Fin was absurd. Fin was the most Halsinion phobic officer in the entire Imperium. To Fin, it didn’t matter that Samuel had been right about Shallows Point, and they were all alive because of it. The only thing that mattered was Samuel was a Halsinion and an insubordinate.

Exiting the HQ Samuel noticed a thin sheet of frost that clung to everything except the silver skimmer which pinged a waiting tag with his name on it. Samuel’s face darkened at the sight. It seemed Dolan’s decision to send him had been a last minute one. But why send him at all? Until now Dolan had gone to great lengths to protect him but now, he was throwing him into combat under the command of a man who wanted him dead. Was this really such a desperate mission that he was throwing all available enforcer's at the opportunity or was it a test of his loyalty. It would be foolish to think Dolan was unaware of his personal interest in Raiden’s den. The question bothered Samuel all the way to the airfield.

Arriving at the security gate they entered in tandem with a line of cargo haulers. Samuel nodded as he looked them over. They would be no good in a firefight but they should allow the infiltration team to slip into Crescent unnoticed.

From the moment Samuel exited the skimmer the air around him was thick with contempt. The neat rows of enforcers who stood waiting to board a hauler bore no love for his race.

“Sr. Novice Spector, get down to the armory and gear up, and make it fast Hali we can’t be waiting on you all day!” Fin shouted shooing Samuel away.

Samuel placed a fist over his insignia and moved off towards the armory lift at a jog. Taking the elevator down to sub-level three Samuel was surprised to find the place crawling with enforcers. One of the faceless enforcers turned and saluted him as he entered the armory.

“You know I am not an officer Seth. You are going to get us both in trouble if you keep that up,” Samuel said with a smile.

“Maybe so, but you should be the one running this op instead of that twit-”

Samuel held up a hand to silence Seth before he said something he would regret. “Dolan put Marshal Fin in charge of this operation. Just hurry up and get ready.”

Seth saluted again before grabbing the last of his gear a scatter gun and two extra grenades. Samuel sighed as he watched Seth disappear into the elevator. Ever since Shallows Point, Seth had developed serious insubordination issues with everyone except Samuel. He had already been busted back down to recruit and was likely to be discharged if things kept up.

Samuel surveyed what was left of the armory stock, mostly heavy weapons which were either too bulky or too dangerous to use in close combat. Looking over the empty racks he would have preferred an M-2 light rifle or a scattergun. Instead, he settled on the standard V-2 model. It was a little bulky for tight spaces but it would have to do.

Donning a suit of combat armor Samuel filled the four grenade rings with two fragment and two flash before giving his V-2 a quick once over. Satisfied his weapon would not become a liability Samuel ripped open a fresh ammo box and began filling three magazines with standard rounds. Setting the standards aside his hand wavered over a box of modified puncher rounds. MPR’s were far more powerful but could be potentially hazardous in a confined area.

His mind went back to the raid on Central only a few days earlier. It wasn’t just some scrappy militia that had gotten lucky. They had been heavily armed and well trained. Better to take the MPR’s and not need them, then the other way around. Dumping one of the spare mags of standards for MPR’s Samuel headed back to the lift.

The lift door slid open even before Samuel got his hand on the scanner as another squad entered the armory. Several of them he recognized from training and one of them he knew well.

“Elroy? What are you doing here?” Samuel asked.

“I was told I would be riding with the support team for this operation. So here I am,” Elroy said the displeasure plain on his face.

Under normal circumstances, Elroy would be doing all of his supporting from the safety of a bunker.

“Glad to have you along all the same,” Samuel said.

Elroy shrugged and turned his attention to an enforcer who was attempting to hand him a sidearm. He looked at the weapon with disgust but took it anyway. Samuel smiled to himself as he rode the lift back to the surface. If things reached the point that Elroy needed to use a gun, this mission would be a complete failure.

“Hali get over here and get your ass on board, and you can take your damn pet with you!” Fin shouted the moment Samuel arrived on the surface.

By now there was only one hauler still on the tarmac. Besides Fin, only a single enforcer stood waiting, and likely as a direct violation of Fin’s orders.

“Seth, dammit man what did I tell you about not getting us in trouble.” Samuel hissed opening a direct link. Seth’s aura was wistful-insubordination strong enough to make Samuel cringe as they took their place in the hauler. With the hatch shut and the mission clock started Fin began the pre-mission run down.

“Our primary objective is to recover this device,” Fin said and an image of the black sphere appeared in Samuels HUD. “The rules of engagement are as follows. You are not allowed to open fire unless first fired upon. There will be civilians in the building who are not part of the insurgent group. I want minimal collateral damage and absolutely no civilian casualties. There is one caveat, however, the tech-heads have added a weapons scanner in the top right corner of your HUD. All persons you encounter are to be scanned before moving on. Anyone found with a weapon is to be considered a threat. At which point you are privileged any action necessary for the integrity of the mission and safety of your team. Am I clear?”

“Sir yes, sir!” Everyone shouted in unison.

“Good, now the facility itself is a large network of tunnels. It does not follow a traditional floor by floor pattern. As such you will be fragmented into two-man teams. Once the device is located all other teams will move to assist and escort to the extraction point,” Fin said then began assigning teams.

“…Spector, you and your pet, Recruit Coramoth will be a team. You will stay out of our way and let the real soldiers work. I don’t need a damn Hali and his pet messing up my op.”

Samuel drew his barrier tight around him blocking out the hate that pressed in on him like corrosive gas. He had tuned Fin out some time ago knowing he would be partnered with Seth. Regardless it was the best he could have hoped for. Unlike some of his former squad members, Seth was calm in the face of danger and would not threaten Samuel with a barrier-shattering shock of fear, the way Elias had during their first encounter with malravians. The only thing to worry about would be Seth’s battle rage. It hadn’t worried Samuel before the empathic manipulation but now, Seth’s profound lack of self-preservation could be a problem.

The trip to Crescent would take just over an hour so Samuel decided to spend what time he could reviewing the grid of Raiden’s Den. It was likely that the device would not be found on any of the registered floors. It was a good thing Dolan had decided to drag Elroy along. They would need him to get any reliable intel on the true layout of this place.

Samuel could feel the tension in the hold start to rise as the hauler began to slow. They were entering the normal flow of traffic around Crescent. The com’s crackled to life and Elroy came on over the global channel.

“I have just finished infiltrating the security network for Raiden’s Den, your enforcers will have free reign over all access points in the building, as well as surveillance, feeds. The safe house, however, is old fashion. Everything is hard line and closed network. The only thing on broadcast, are short wave coms and the occasional wireless temp signal. Aside from that, you will be going in blind… but if you can get a transmitter into any networked terminal, I can make myself an entrance. Last thing, I have also picked up mounting seismic activity in the area, and have cross-referenced it with the malravian attack on Shallows Point. It is my estimation that a malravian presence in Crescent is imminent.”

“Understood. All units proceed with the mission as planned. Dolan out.”

Samuel fingered the pouch containing the single mag of MPR’s, damn but he should have brought more. At the mention of malravians, a thick fear settled over the cabin. They were not afraid of gunning down militia fighters, but malravians were different. Everyone who had been at Shallows Point remembered fighting wave after wave of those monsters. They had soaked up bullets like sponges refusing to die even as their blood ran like a tap. If Elroy was right about Malravians he hoped he was not the only one who had a mind to bring some MPR’s.

The hauler came to a stop. His heads-up display showed them right outside Raiden’s Den. The other Hauler had moved to a lower level inside a docking bay. He could see skimmers and pedestrians passing by from an adjacent security camera.

The mission start countdown flickered in his heads-up display and the back hatch rolled up as it hit zero. Like a sweeping tide, the enforcers fell upon the building. Someone called for everyone to get on the ground with their hands over their heads. Frightened men and women dropped to the floor as Samuel, and his squad rushed past. Peoples outlines changed from fluorescent green to a dull blue as his weapon scanner went to work. All civilians. An awestruck child still stood amid the tide, his mouth gaping before a woman tugged him to the ground.

From the entryway, the squad split down several different halls which in turn splintered into even more passageways. Soon it was just Samuel and Seth sweeping each room. In the upper left corner of his, HUD Samuel could see sections of the map turning blue showing the rest of the squad’s progress as they searched for the device. The first few rooms they entered were empty offices. Then the crack of gunshots rang out and a red marker pinged the map three passages back, reminding Samuel that not everyone was a civilian.

Samuel tried the next door, but It wouldn’t open. He was about to page Elroy when Seth ripped it from its hinges, depositing it in a heap inside the room. Fifteen or so frightened men and women huddled under desks or behind overturned tables. Through the fear, Samuel could feel someone trying to mount up the courage to fight back. Near the back of the room, a short man had his hands concealed behind the side of a desk. Samuel immediately leveled his rifle at him.

“Everyone on the floor hands on your heads!” Samuel heard himself shout. “You, hands where I can see them,” He yelled addressing the man who still attempted to conceal a weapon.

The man tried to pull the gun free, but Seth was already there catching the man’s arm with surprising speed. The sound of bones breaking could be heard as a stray shot nearly hit a frightened woman. The man screamed in pain before passing out from shock. Seth stripped the gun down to its various components crushing parts with his hands as he went. With the man disarmed they focused on the task at hand. They made a quick search of the room but found nothing, just another program design lab. It didn’t take long for Samuel’s suspicions to be confirmed, the device would not be found in any of the reported levels of this facility.

“Can you punch a hole in the floor?” Samuel asked Seth as they reached the bottom level.

It took him a good minute, but Seth with his monstrous strength cut away a good size chunk of the floor revealing another room below. “Sir, Seth and I have found a subfloor, not on the grid. I am marking it now,” Samuel said doing a quick sweep of the room. In minutes the hidden floor was swarming with enforcers. Here on the lower floor, unlike the levels above, they ran into real armed resistance. Soon the sounds of scattered firefights could be heard from nearly every direction.

Pausing at the end of a hall Samuel snuck a peek around the corner in time to see several well-armed insurgents dash down an adjacent passage. Samuel pinged the location on the grid. A moment later an explosion tossed dust and debris out into the crossway from the direction the enemy troops had gone.

Then the ground started to rock and sway as if the entire structure was about to collapse on them. The coms hissed and Elroy sent a broadcast over the global channel.

“Increased seismic activity, I recommend immediate mission abort. Another minute and malravians could be coming up through the floor.”

“Copy that. We have Slobber-pot in our custody and are heading to the extraction point. Fin pull your team out now.” Dolan said.

“Sir we have yet to locate the device.”

“If shallows point was any indication your squad is not currently equipped to handle a confrontation with malravians, you are to withdraw immediately.”

“Understood sir. All teams return to the surface.” Fin ordered.

“Alright Seth you heard him, let’s get out of here,” Samuel said as the wall beside them burst apart.