Quick warning: This post/story contains scenes of Rape, violence and death. Please do not read if this will upset of offend you. Seth
Seth was born in a dark alleyway in the city of Chrysler, on Planet Manhattan. His mother abandoned him, and he was left, shivering in a small blanket.
He was rescued before long, by the police, but that knot of anger stayed strong within him, powering him to keep going through trouble and strife.
He was placed with a single mother, in a small apartment in the center of Chrysler. She worked for the council, a secretary for the assistant mayor. Seth went to school, and found it boring as hell. He found the math’s problems easy, the English essays pointless, and thought that the science was flawed, because he wasn't being told everything about it.
So he started skipping school, ignoring his mother’s tearful pleas to return, and soon started to resent her. He started to stay round friend’s houses, neglecting to come home, and leaving his mother in the front room, curled up on the sofa, and praying that he would return soon.
He regrets it now.
He usually walked through the main park on his way home, from the area of town that no one went without police escort. He liked it there, the guys respected you if you proved you could fight (Which he seemed to have a natural talent for, he knocked a 24 year old out. He was 12 at the time) and the girls got naked often and quickly. It was good.
The park was dark, darker than it usually was, and he didn't notice that the streetlights were off. He did feel that something was wrong, his body started producing adrenaline, and his heart started beating like a race car, up from its usual family sedan speed.
He was tipsy, he had had 4 shots of vodka, which was still around, even after a huge war and a few light years. The bushes around him swayed, ever so softly in the night breeze, and his feet made no sound, as he carefully tread, one foot in front of the other, forward. Muffled moans and gasps filtered across to him, floating like paper on the wind, and he looked towards them. He saw shapes, 3, or perhaps 4, moving in the light from the nearest house, which was far away. Above him, Newark Station reflected the suns rays down towards them, the light itself desperate to be classed as moonlight, but still failing.
The resin of the trees was thick through the air, and Seth could smell something else too. Sex. It permeated his nostrils, climbing to his senses. The pond let off glitters, diamond shaped sparkles that illuminated the 4 people in front of him.
He moved closer.
There were 3 men, and one female. She had her hands tied, and was naked, the men, each of them had there trousers around there ankles, and were pounding into her like there was no tomorrow.
For them there wouldn't be.
One man stood to the side, obviously sodomy wasn't for them, as it was the only thing left that could be done to the poor woman.
Seth looked closer, and was repulsed; a wave of nausea sweeping though him, the female was young. His age, 14 ish. Each of the men had to be in there 20s, late 20s possibly.
Slowly, Seth drew his knife, you never went downtown without a knife, and crept forwards. He came up behind the guy standing off to the sides, and prepared to dispatch him.
Quickly, and silently, he reached up and slit the mans throat.
It was harder than he imagined, the bones caught, and he could feel the knife cutting though the bone, sinew, and flesh. And the blood, there was lots of blood, as the mans Jugular veins spurted crimson over Seth’s clothes.
But Seth was in a killing rage now. His vision was already red, and he moved forwards, when one of the others saw him. His eyes filled with fear, before glossing over as Seth stabbed him through the heart.
At least he though it was the heart, Seth missed, puncturing the guys lung, deflating it. The man collapsed.
The third guy tried to run, but he had his trousers around his ankles, meaning he really couldn't. He tripped, fell, and looked up to see the blood crazed teenager with the knife.
"Please..." he whispered, trying to pull his trousers up.
"Committing a sin like that is unforgivable, my friend." Seth’s words were his death sentence, the blade fell, through the mans throat.
At that point, the gun spoke.
It was loud, a bang of immense proportions, which seemed to resonate around Seth’s head. He felt nothing, but his right hand was spewing blood. He had dropped his knife.
He turned around, the adrenaline powering his muscles, ordering them to work, and saw the man with the punctured lung sitting against the tree nearby, blood pouring from his wound, with the gun in his hand. Seth took two steps forward, picked up his knife, and pushed the blade into the mans eye. The man made no move; his final act had been to shoot this boy.
Seth picked up the blaster, with his left hand, and shoved it into his waistband. Which was uncomfortable, but worked, and turned to the woman on the ground.
Girl on the ground.
He leant over, cutting her bindings and helping her up.
She shivered.
"Who are you?" He asked, looking for her clothes.
She made no sound, looking at Seth in horror. He found her clothes, and passed them to her, and when she made no move, dressed her as best he could. The clothes were ripped.
He took her by the hand, his left hand, her right, and started to walk towards his home.
He managed 5 steps before the blood loss got to him, where he collapsed.
When his eyes cracked open, the white came flooding through like a battering ram.
It even smelled White.
Seth promised that if he ever got a car he would paint it black. Just to denounce white. He started to bring his senses back online, he could see, barely, he could feel? No, no feeling.
That's not good.
He couldn't move his legs, nor his arms. He was paralyzed.
The EEG monitor beside his bed started bleeping at the increased brain activity, and a second later two armed guards ran into the room, with a nurse, a doctor and a random man in a black suit.
The man in a suit stepped forwards.
"Seth Karlo?"
Seth nodded, keeping his eyes on the guards.
"My name is Black. Yes, it is a codename. I am here to deliver some sad news"
He was slightly overweight, had a businessman look, and although he had arranged his features into a sad face, his eyes were in a different universe, he was thinking about something else entirely.
"The men you killed, there friends wanted revenge. Your house was bombed this morning; your mother was killed in the blast. I'm so sorry."
The man bowed slightly.
Seth picked his head up, and saw his ankles and wrists bound to the bed.
"They were necessary, you are a murderer"
"I was saving that girl" Seth surprised even himself, his voice was deeper, and had a slight hiss to it that made the hairs on the back of everyone's neck raise. Black's eyes became interested.
"Mr. Karlo, we're willing to do you a deal."
"If it gets these cuffs off me, I accept."
"You haven't even heard the deal yet Mr. Karlo"
Seths eyes spoke of hatred, anger and revenge.
"I don't need to hear it"
He knew that whatever it was, he could shape it to his will very easily.
***
Seth walked beside Black; they had just gotten off of a Class XII Hova-transport, Navy issue.
They were now headed towards the Spaceport.
"Ever wanted to fly Seth? See space?"
"Not really Black. I prefer to look my enemies in the eye when I kill them."
It was tough talk, but only that and both of them knew it. However, Seth at this point looked like "one deadly sonuvabitch", according to the Navy pilot who brought them to the spaceport, and he was getting some strange, and fearful, glances and given a wide berth. Not bad for a 14 year old.
Across his back he wore a special harness, holding 2 ancient swords in it, crossed over his back. Under his coat (which was black, and came down mid-leg) He had 2 Navy issue Blasters, presented to him by Black upon his acceptance of the deal. Next to his boot was the third Blaster, which he had taken from the body in the park. It was an Outcast Blaster, with modifications to make the blast all that more deadly.
They were walking towards an Armored Transport on one of the Landing Pads; in the distance the Liberty Sleeper ship could be seen.
The two of them entered the Transport, inside were leather seats, and a comfortable lounge. The navy liked to travel in style apparently. The Rug was a strange material, soft to the touch, white, fluffy. The room smelled like Leather, fresh, new, and each breath was joyous to take.
Seth drew each of the blades from his back, each glittering in the soft light thrown out by the room's subtle lamps. He had received them from his Mother, a present for completing his martial arts exam. He had no idea where they were from.
Black looked curiously at them.
"May I?" He asked, reaching out a hand.
Seth passed one of the swords over, it was incredibly light, and the blade shone with a dangerous glint, it was close to 3 and a half feet long, and just spoke of danger.
"Interesting" Black muttered, and passed it back.
"What is?" asked Seth, placing the blade next to its companion on the floor. Now that the harness was empty, he could sit down.
"Those swords are priceless. They were bought from the Kusari museum for an astonishing price. Look after them"
Seth looked at the swords, noting the large rubies in the handles, the leather and suede on the harness.
"How did my mother afford them? Did she buy them?"
"I have no idea my friend. I advise you rest. The trip to the Battleship Missouri will take about an hour."
Seth took his advice, after spending so long resting in the hospital (He had been there for 4 days) his body was used to it, and he was tired.
The ships engines started with a roar, and Black stood, left the lounge, and pulled out a personal communications device.
"Yes, I have him. Yeah, he agreed. Shouldn't take long. Don't worry. Yes, yes, thats right. As soon as he dies we'll have the right to storm the place. A shame? Hardly, the boy is a murderer. He deserves it. Yes, I understand. Black out."
Black placed the Comm. device back in his pocket, then sat down and rested as well.
The Liberty Navy had captured a Bloodhound light fighter, and needed someone to fly it into the Liberty Rogues destroyer, get some info, get out.
Simple, what could go wrong?
Seth had spent the majority of the journey on a small computer in the corner of the loungue. His nap had been nonexistent, his mind and veins filled with adrenaline and endorphins, eagerly awaiting the exitement ahead.
The computer had revealed some useful information, the 2 swords in his possetion were priceless artifacts brought from Earth with the original travellers. They were on show in the Kusari museum for several years until they were stolen. A group known as the "Blood Dragons" claimed responsiblity. No other information was available.
Seth had no idea how they had come to him, but he plenned on keeping them safe, and returning them to the Kusari government as soon as possible.
Sometimes his consiounce really needed a slap.
Slowly, the armoured transport started its mooring procedure with the Battleship Missouri. The clamps connected with a loud 'Clunk' and the doors hissed open. Black stood, picked up his briefcase and strode out of the door. Seth followed, his swords back in their harness.
Black didn't stop, and headed away from the hangars, instead leading Seth into dark, dingy, metal corridors, which just yelled of captivity and depression.
Seth swore he would never join the navy.
Black led him into a dark room, everywhere seemed dark, and sitting on one of the tables was a girl, about 14.
Seth looked closer, and recognized her as the girl he rescued in the park, those 4 days ago.
She looked back, her eyes twinkling a thousand colours. Her face was perfectly proportioned, her hair was luscious, soft looking. Her legs streched out slightly, hinting at slight muscle and long curves. Her top came down and exposed a suficent amount of cleavege, which was connected to good sized breasts, to leave Seth gawping, and he almost forgot to look at her face altogether.
She smirked, obviously knowing her power over men, and looking like she used it everyday.
Black pulled a file out of his breifcase. It was cream coloured. Boring. Bland. Typical navy.
Seth swore he would never join the navy.
Black then left the room, with nothing but a quick comment in Seths direction.
"Mission starts tomorrow. Stay here until then."
Seth picked up the file and opened it, specs for the Bloodhound light fighter he would be using. The tect was continuos prose, which put him off reading it immediatly.
Instead, he looked ta the more interesting and attractive thing in the room.
She spoke first.
"I need to thank you. You saved me."
Seth blushed. Which he never did, this girl seemed to have power over him.
"I'm uhhh...Sorry I didn't come earlier."
She smiled again, stood, and held out her hand.
"My names Neenir Fernatori. Pleased to meet you...?"
"Seth. Seth Karlo"
Seth shoved his hand out and grabbed hers, shaking and letting go. Her skin was so soft....
"So, sleeping together are we?"
Seth had turned around, and was putting his coat on the chair, at these words he span around, looking qustionatly at her amused glance.
There were 2 beds in the room.
"DAMN" he thought.
"What?" he said.
She pointed at the beds. "I have to stay here until my boyfriend arrives, your stuck with me until then."
"Bugger bugger bugger" he thought.
"Whats his name?" he said.
"Kasi, Kasi Yates."
"Ain't that a girls name?" He thought.
"Oh cool" he said.
He turned back to his file, drew his swords with a little hiss from the scabbard, (That made Neenirs eyes go wide) and placed them by the side of the bed. He sat down, opened the file and started to read.
There were some extra pieces of paper at the back, different type of paper. The navy issue paper was fine, smooth, manufactured quickly. The paper at the back (2 sheets) was rough, textured.
Handwritten.
Dear Seth, it said.
I doubt you'll get this letter until after I have died. I have asked General Black to keep it from you until I die. This is my last correspondence with you.
Firstly, you know that you have learned martial arts, and you know how to use a gun. I have been training you, secretly, without even yourself realising for years now. You shall take my place, in the Liberty Navy as an agent of peace and hope.
The swords you carry, I stole them on a mission long ago, they do not belong to the criminals that had them. They are deadly, but do not belong to you. Please, return them to their rightfuls owners as soon as you can.
Lastly, I leave you all that I had. I put my trust, and my hope in you and pray that you will not fall in duty. If you do, know that I will be waiting for you on a higher plane, I will wait for ever, my beloved.
Truly, I die when you do.
Mum.
Seth slowly folded the letter, and tucked it into his pocket. A tear was forming in his eye, and he brushed it away like a pest, as if it hurt him.
"Emotion is nothing to be afraid of." Neenir had stood, was watching him. "It shapes us, helps us, lets us make desicions in a way that benifits us most. It empowers us, makes us strong enough to keep going even though it looks like we should fall. Do not be ashamed."
Her words filtered through him, and although Seth wasn't listeningm they filtered into his skin, through his veins, past his beating heart and were absorbed into his subconcuos mind.
His black spiky hair was sweaty, and his mouth dry. He cried. Shamelessly, peacefully, he wept.
And swore revenge.
Neenir took a step back as Seths eyes took on a redish tinge, he spoke.
"My mothers killers, they will regret what they did."
"Good, take that anger, fuel it, turn it into something you can use. If something helps you, use it. If it hinders you, destroy it." A voice cam from the doorway. Seth looked up, and saw a dark haired man, large, with a very big pistol at his belt.
"I'm Kasi. Good to meet you."
The man stuck out his hand, and Seth shook it.
"Neenir, the Eagles in hangar 2. We'll leave shortly."
Kasi took Neenir by the hand, leading her out. She didn't wave, smile or say goodbye.
Seth had never felt more alone. He took out the letter, turned out the light and pulled up the blankets, and he slept hugging the letter close to his body, as if he was hoping that it could somehow be his mother holding him close again.
//Next one soon, and I promise it'll be a bit more actiony. I'm going to get some sleep after being awake for 19 hours....
//Ok, sorry that its been awhile...I might have to open up a feedback thread to stop everyone posting in here...
The cruiser LNS Houston hung lifeless in space. The lights were dead, the engines black, it seemed like a ghost ship. However, a bay door on the side of the cruiser opened slowly, and a docking arm slid out. Hanging underneath it was a strange sight for a liberty cruiser to be near. The Bloodhound light fighter had its lights on, and its engines burning.
It gave a small burst of energy from the thruster, sending the cruiser into a slight spin, and it was released. It sped into the darkness quickly, shooting like a moth towards light. Behind it the cruiser started its engines, and started to head towards West Point Military Academy.
It never made it. 4 Sabres and a Falcata spotted it starting up and shot towards it, vultures closing in for the kill. The cruiser was never expected to survive. It had dropped of the Bloodhound, and it itself was close to being decommissioned due to age.
The explosion from its destruction was seen by the Bloodhound.
Inside it, Seth wiped sweat from his brow. He had been taking Cardimine now for close to 5 hours. It was to psyche him, make him not worry, and act normally, for a rogue anyway.
He headed towards the deadly shadow looming in front of him.
"Unidentified ship. This is the Liberty Rogue Destroyer Alpha. State your Business and designation."
Seth pulled out the file with his details on it.
"This is Seth Karlo of the Bloodhound light fighter Lucifer. I am carrying some Cardimine to a friend aboard. May I have permission to land?"
He waited, cutting his engines just outside weapons range for him. Not for them.
"This is the Destroyer. Proceed to landing bay 2. You will be searched."
Seth let out his breath he had been holding. The smell of sweat and Cardimine infiltrated his clothes, and he slowly stood up, letting the autopilot do his work for him.
He picked up his jacket, it was leather, smelled of hard work, looked like it had been working for years. That was the idea.
He had taken his swords with him. Sometimes Rogues wore them apparently. And anyway, his Liberty Blasters had to stay hidden, tucked into armpit holsters under the jacket, his Outcast blaster was prominent at his belt, but it was small, Jerks werent afraid of them, so he would have to use it.
Swords needed no such demonstration.
One was still on his back, for his left hand. The other was hanging down his left hand side, loose from his leg. He would be able to grab it quickly with his right hand.
The landing clamps fell into place with a loud "Clang" noise. Outside the rust bucket he was in he could see 2 guards heading towards him. He drew a lighter from his pocket, and burned all the documents from the Navy, letting them fall into the waste chute. He drew his Outcast Blaster, and walked towards the exit, hitting the button with his free hand. The door slid open.
"Ok, easy there buddy! Lets get this over with quick-like so I can get to my business ok?"
Seths Manhattan accent had been completely wiped away with his acting skills. He sounded like a guy from the sewer now.
Perfect.
The two goons held large automatic repeating blasters. One stepped forwards and let his gun fall to the side.
"Right, stand still, lets see what you've got."
Seth showed the Blaster by pointing it straight into the guys face.
"Right, I got this here Blaster, and I also got meself these two swords. You got a problem with that?"
The guard looked puzzled. It was obviously a look that he usually had on him. Seth was frankly amazed that he could walk and talk at the same time.
"Oh, ok. What you here for?"
"Yeah!" yelled the other one.
"To drop off some cardi. Tell you what, you guys let me get my job done and you can have a packet of cardi each. 200 credits usually on the market. Free."
The guys practically dropped there weapons in their haste to agree. Seth stepped back into the ship, grabbed some of the cardi, threw it at the two of them and then left the bay, letting them slobber over the drugs.
As soon as he was sin the hallway he headed towards a computer station set into the wall. He pulled a small electronic chip from his back pocket and slid it into a socket on the side of the station.
He then walked to the bar.
On the way, 2 Outcasts were fighting with 2 Rogues. The Rogues had their backs to Seth when he walked around the corner.
"You promised me cardi you son of a bitch!"
The Rogues had their hands on their guns. The outcasts seemed to be traders; they didn't have any blasters at their belts. They seemed to be as angry as the Rogues were.
"Your crappy prices would have put us bankrupt! Go to hell! We sold it to some people in there, for good prices!"
"You *******!"
The rogue pulled out his Blaster, ignoring the slight hissing sound behind him; after all, what makes a slight hissing sound?
Once the sword touched the side of his neck, he figured it out.
Seth stood with one sword on the rogues neck, and the other held his Blaster, pointed at the second Rogue.
"Well well boys. Lets not get into a fight now shall we? I have some cardi which I'd be willing to sell. Interested?"
The outcasts had pulled large guns from behind them, surprise surprise. With a small gesture the rogues dropped their blasters to the floor, and Seth slid his sword away.
The rogues were very interested in the Cardi, and once they returned to the cargo bay, they set themselves upon it like tigers on a Wilder beast.
Seth walked away from that close to a million credits richer than he entered.
He slid back into the corridor, and checked the chip on the computer console.
Finished.
With a small sigh of relief he picked off the chip and slid it back into his pocket.
"Alright there mate?"
Seth spun around, prepared to fight his way out. It was the outcast traders from earlier.
"Umm, yeah, just you know...looking at the Computer"
"What you looking for?"
"Oh, well an ummm, new ship. Yeah, that bloody rustbuckets fallin' apart you know?"
The Outcasts nodded sympathetically.
"Well, how much have you got? We're kinda grateful for your help earlier, and I know a guy at Buffalo who could suit you out in a good ship."
Seth hesitated.
"Ummm, sure. I'll head there later."
The Outcast who had spoken grinned a bit and pulled out a communication device.
"Grish? Hey, its Laneth. Yeah, have you got any nice ships in at the moment? A friend. About a million. 1.2 million? Ok, I'll tell- What? Here? Brilliant! I'll tell him. Sure, I'll get him to pay me, and I'll pay you later. That sound Ok? Great. Thanks Grish."
He closed the comm. device.
"Well...Whats your name?"
"Oh, umm, Seth, Seth Karlo"
"Laneth. And this is Harled. We're Outcast traders. My friend Grish, he has a Sabre in docking bay 3 that you can have. Give me the million and we'll pay the rest for you helping us earlier."
Seth slowly nodded, knowing that the Navy would kill for a Sabre to examine.
"Excellent! Follow me."
Seth followed them, keeping his palm on his Blaster, and keeping wary. They arrived at docking bay 3, Seth handed over the money and the ship was his.
"Have fun in it mate. And here, take this, in case you ever need a hand."
Laneth handed over a Comms device.
"Its got my code in it. So you can contact us. Good luck mate."
With that the two of them left the docking bay.
Seth thought to himself. Why was that so easy? I'm getting out of here now.
He slowly walked to the ship, and eased himself into the cockpit. With a roar the engines engaged, the cockpit shut, and Seths hands found the controls.
The docking bay was open, and the Sabre slid through the force field, before Seth hit the cruise engines.
He set a course for Zone 21 where a Liberty dreadnought was waiting.
The Destroyer sat behind him, little did they know he had just copied all of their files, inserted a computer virus and taken one of their Sabres.
Suckers.
//Next part will come soon. Might rewrite the end of that, seems a bit rushed to me.
The Liberty Dreadnought San Francisco was waiting.
After Seth docked, he was whisked away to a medical facility on board. Scanned, probed, poked, had needles stuck into.
It was very quick, and Seth quickly forgot about what was happening. He just let the nurses continue with their work.
After the were done, the chip was taken off of him, he was bundled into a transport and left by the spaceport back on Manhattan with the quick muttered warning of "Don't tell anyone."
He had been left with his swords, blasters an an envelope containing a sirius credit card for 10 million.
He went to the nearest bank and set up a neural net account that day, depositing the 10 million.
Then he went home.
The front of the house had been repaired, but the inside was still black and burned. Seth walked slowly up the stairs, the smell of burned wood strong throughout his home. Then flesh. He could smell burned flesh.
The door to his mothers bedroom was open, and he slowly entered, the metal of the door cold as space to his touch. His eyes roamed, sliding from one end of the room to the other. The body was gone, but the smell lingered.
Seth's mind was in turmoil. Thoughts and emotions tumbled over each other, making acrobatics, creating stars.
He spent 2 weeks at that house. Sorting out things to sell, things to keep, things to put in storage, things to keep with him.
The house slowly got cleaned. The smell refused to leave though, it planted it's feet in the ground and stayed, through cleaners, replacing the wood and finally just covering it up.
After the second group of people refused to enter the house from the smell, Seth gave up on selling it. Deciding it would be a nice thing that he could come back to one day he locked up the house, and walked to the spaceport, where he had bought a ship and a small hangar. The Hawk sat on the landing pad gracefully, and he walked up to it, and opened the cargo hold, inserting the things he had decided to keep, and what he had bought: a large amount of food went in first, mainly frozen (That went in the refrigerator storage section) but some dried meat. Then he placed the 2 suitcases full of clothes into the storage racks, before topping up the water tanks and filling up the fuel.
He slowly walked to the edge of the hangar, and took one last look at Chrysler. His home.
Then he shut the hangar door, and bolted it from the inside.
Looking around, the walls were full of parts, tools for his Hawk, and he gathered up most of them and put them into the hold, then he entered the cockpit. The engine switch was begging to be pressed, it wanted to fly.
Sadness engulfed Seth as he reached for it, but excitement was also there. And it hurt to press that switch.
But press it he did.
With a roar the engines started, and the roof of the hangar opened with a smooth gesture. The sky beckoned to him.
Seth never saw himself as a good pilot, but he was an explorer, and that is what he was going to do.
First stop. Kusari.
The trip to Colorado went without a hitch.
The trip to Kepler didn't go so well.
Xenos attacked at Ames research station. Seth's hawk shook, and he didn't know what was happening until he saw laser blasts flying past the window.
His hand's shook as he grabbed the flight stick, and pulled his Hawk around. Bringing his 2 civilian Flashpoints online, he started firing back. The xeno's must have been surprised at the firepower, as one of the Starblazers used his nanobots, before swining around again to fire his weapons upon Seth.
Seth started to dodge, strafing left and right using the foot pedals, and launched a moonstalker missile as he approached the Xeno again, dropping a Tadpole mine behind him as they passed.
It worked perfectly, the Moonstalker caused enough damage for the already weakened shields to fail, and the Tadpole blew off half of his guns with explosive damage.
The Xeno's moved away slightly, wondering where this Hawk cam from.
Seth didn't hang around, he pointed his nose towards the trade lane to the Shikoku Jump gate and activated it, shooting towards the Jump Gate at close to 1000 m/s.
As he arrived, he noticed a change in the technology used around him. He was entering Kusari.
It took him another day to reach New Tokyo, where he was told that there was "No way in hell" he was allowed into the Museum to see the curator.
Typical.
Seth proceeded to Shingawa, and collapsed at a table with a strong drink, munching on some of the local delicasies. He failed to realise that brining a sword into a station bar, especially stolen ones, might draw some attention.
They grabbed him as he left the bar, 3 of them. He was bundled into the cargo hold of a small ship, and flown for close to 2 hours. He felt them jump twice.
When the cargo hold was reopened, he was pulled out by several sets of hands, had his Swords and Blaster's taken off of him, and strapped down to a chair.
Pure red hot fear coursed through him. His breath shook like a tree in high wind.
One man stepped forward.
"I am Commander Ichawa of the Blood Dragons. You are in possession of stolen artifacts. they were stolen from us. You will tell us how you stole them. Now!"
Seth looked the man in the eye, and saw fanatiscm. The man was almost senile. Crazy for his cause.
"I was given them, they were a present."
The man scoffed. "A present? Really."
He lifted his right hand, and the chair became electrified. Seth screamed as the electricity coursed through his veins.
His heart skipped a beat.
"TELL ME NOW. How did you steal these?"
"I didn't! My mother did!"
The chair erupted again, and people the other side of Kyoto looked round with mild curiousity.
"Don't worry my little friend, we can keep this going all night."
Seth groaned, his breath condensing in the air in front of him. His body ached. Moving forwards, he desprately tried to shield some of his body from the icy air. Futilely he moved his hands up and down his legs, trying to rub some warmth into his naked body.
After electrocuting him for 2 day's, the Blood Dragons left him in an offshoot from the airlock. Every now and again the air would get extremely thin, making his breaths ragged and short, and it was constantly freezing cold.
He didn't have long left to live.
He prepared to die, lying back and closing his eyes. He imagined all the girl's he wished he could have kissed. He wished that he had never watched that girl be raped that night. He wished he had never killed those men. He wished he could be stronger... He was ready to die.
Then he heard it. A slow, low chuckle. Someone was laughing at him.
He looked up, seeing one of the guards looking at him.
"Hello little one... go on then, die already... I'm bored standing here."
Seth collapsed on the ground after he had sat up, he refused to die with this freak, this thing staring at him.
"Go to hell mate, and stay there." he muttered.
The guard sneered.
"You're in no position to make threats small one... hah, I could kick your ass with one hand behind my back!"
"Then why don't you?"
The threat was veiled, low and dark, and the guard hesitated. But not for long. With a growl he slid the bolt on the door open, turning off the comm device he had been using.
"A duel?" Seth drawled, "How dull..."
The guard was carrying something, Seth's sword... with a grin the guard threw it at him.
"A duel, yes... to the death."
Seth drew his sword as the guard drew his own. Immediatly Seth saw that this fight would be difficult. He was holding a longer sword, almost 3 and a half feet in length. The guard had drawn a shorter sword, a Wazikashi. This would allow him to be quicker, and in Seth's state, that would be a great disadvantage. And of course, the guard was wearing typical stab-proof vest and head plate, Seth was naked.
They took up the classic stance, the tension thick and dense between them. Slowly it built, until suddenly the guard shot forwards, his feet moving in quick small steps to keep his center of balance correct. Seth parried his thrust quickly, moving to the side.
Within Seth's body adrenaline and endorphins started to go into overdrive, his tired and beaten muscles performing better than they had ever done while he was in a usual state. His brain, usually idling, was transformed into a fast thinking, devious machine. His arms felt light and nimble instead of heavy and lumberous, his feet felt as if he had been given wings, bearing no weight at all.
And Seth realised one thing, all this guard knew was an advanced form of the ancient sword duelling technique kendo. Kendo was to real sword fighting what Fencing was to real swashbuckling. In Kendo, if you didn't hit your opponent in the right areas, mainly the torso, you didn't get any points.
Seth really didn't give a rats ass about points. He wanted to win. So when the guard made a second pass, Seth dropped to one knee and sliced the mans legs off at the quads.
He fell to the floor screaming in pain.
"Didn't-" Seth began.
"Anyone" He cut the mans left arm off.
"Tell" He cut the mans right arm off.
"You I was a good sword fighter?" He sliced the mans head off, wiping the blade on his clothes. Quickly moving, he took the guards clothes, grabbing his second sword from the table outside his death room. He saw two more guards on the way back towards the hangar bay, and he proceeded to slice there heads off aswell, enjoying inflicting pain on those who had stood by and cheered as he was electrocuted and humiliated.
He managed to make it to the hangar bay without major incident, and spotting a small fighter seperate from the others, slid over to it. He pushed open the door to the cockpit with one hand, the other holding a blaster he had found.
It took him a minute to figure out how to bring weapons online, but it was satisfying blowing up the main fighter wings of Kyoto. Grabbing the flight yokes, he brought the ship towards one of the docking points, firing a missile into the door.
Behind him smoke billowed, and screams were heard over the radio for him to be shot.