I looked at the watch for a brief second before looking back to the being.
"A key? I'm assuming this will get me back through to where I need to go." I said aloud. "Alright then. I just hope I don't wake up on the bridge of Nemesis. I'd be right back here in a few seconds if that were to happen. So, now what? Do I wait here until I suddenly wake up?"
The being began fading out of existence, or I was fading out...I couldn't tell.
"Wait! What's your name? When will I know what to do? Argh! I hate going into contracts blind!"
The world around me slowly began to fade back to black as soon as it had appeared to me...
Pain...lots of it. It felt like my entire body was coming apart around me.
Critical plasma leak. Sub-panel D. Warning, atmospheric entry detected.
I struggled to open my eyes, but saw nothing but darkness. I could feel my body being tossed around like a rag doll in whatever vessel I was in. From the computer system screaming about entering an atmosphere, I knew I was in for a landing that would quite possibly...
Wait a damn second. I was supposed to be dead. What happened? The last thing I remembered was...Nemesis.
Naturally, I panicked a small bit. The last thing I had remembered was overloading my implants to stop Nemesis from making her way into New York to wreak havoc on the civilian population...now I was in a ship entering an unknown atmosphere. I opened my mouth to try to ask the computer my location, but found no voice...or rather, extreme pain where my voice box should have been. I screamed in silent pain.
Pilot: Leonardo, landing pad approaching in 5000 meters. Please slow approach for auto landing pattern. Warning. 3000 meters. Warning...
I closed my eyes, even though I couldn't see anything with them open. So this is how I would go out, crashing into a landing pad at Mach III. What a way to go. I felt the ship lurch forward turn and slam into the landing pad. The ships warning system stopped suddenly and I felt the ship skidding to a halt next to a wall. I reached up, feeling for the cockpit latch. I found it and pulled.
The door violently exploded outward into the warm air that rushed into the cockpit. I tried to stand, but found my implants unable to maintain my balance and fell out to the ground. I groaned, I was in pain all over. The implants had torn free from their anchors in my nervous system and bones. I was on deaths door. I stopped crawling and rolled over to my back, opening my eyes and seeing blurry shapes of ships fast approaching my location.
How the hell did I appear in a ship, hurling towards this unknown planet, after being on Nemesis' main deck overloading my implants?
What happened?
The pain was too much and the world succumbed to darkness...
*------
|:Omicron Kappa System
|:Planet Gammu Orbit
|:5/24/818
>Operation TEMPLE MOUNT<
Far above the skies of the planet called Gammu, shapes floated listlessly and silently, though the electronic chatter emanating from them could be plainly heard by those with the right equipment. The black ships were not those of Zoners nor Corsairs. Their hulls modified with new structures and weapons, with a dark gray and blue striping, and most of the serial numbers erased and replaced with cryptic hieroglyphics.
*------
|:Raider taskforce 66.7, Kwantung Armada
|:Under temporary assignment to Blackwatch
|:Mission; Secure, Contain, Recover
Within the ships, men and what were once men, worked as they were told, often as forced. Consortium ships were always highly automated, with most menial work replaced by AI controlled machines and repair droids, necessitating a minimum of crew overhead and allowing vital personnel to be sent to more important places.
Aside from the Ship Director, a nominal bridge crew who's task it was to oversee the AI, a few technicians, and Marines, the ship was essentially remote controlled. Therefore, a larger-than-normal crew of passengers was of concern, especially as the crew had not been informed what exactly they were here to recover.
"<::Raider-21 actual, report; we are in position at drop-point 1-7. Geosynchronous orbit at coordinate, holding position." Spoke the emotionless voice of the man in charge. A Ship Coordinator by the name of Marcus Slade. A Libertonian man who seemed out of place among a predominantly Kusari crew.
"<::Confirm, Raider-36 in formation. We have negative orbital contacts and are scanning the surface." came another voice over the comms.
Slade paid little attention to it, as it was only confirming what he already knew. He was, as would be most men of his rank, a cyborg. Involuntarily, but a cyborg none the less, he could 'feel' the position of his ship and those around him.
The two raiders, both heavily rebuilt former passenger Liners, as well as a small Blackwatch comms ship, stood in formation over Gammu. Slade could feel this but he still watched the large holo-tank displaying the ship's positions in 3D. Also displayed were the sensor coverage of the microdrones deployed to ensure no 'surprises' would creep up.
"<::I still want to know why exactly we are here." Slade spoke, his communication directed to a comm-line to an unseen individual.
"<::We already told you. "Recovery". You will see of what, later." Another voice spoke coldly. The Comm signature indicating the Blackwatch overseer of the operation. A woman without a name. "<::Prepare to deploy a surface team. There is a wrecked ship on the surface. Find it and land near it. Take all precautions. Recover all survivors 'alive'."
The Dragon-lady's words were cruel yet clear. Typical Blackwatch, stretching their authority. Yet they did have authority, and it was not Slade's place to argue. "<::Troops are preparing to land."
In the cramped hangar bay of the Liner, the Naval Infantry stood, wearing full contact hardsuits and loaded for bear. Directed EMP rifles, portable antitank railguns, fuel-air flamethrowers, and smart rifles. Sufficient equipment to take on military battlemechs, abiet nescessary considering the assumed threat of the thing they sought to recover. The troops stood unwavering before the boarding hatch of the shuttle.
Beyond them stood GUARDIAN robots. Large, bulky, haunched war machines, much larger than a human but still small enough to fit into the shuttlecraft. Even further well armed then the Marines themselves, with large metal shields and autocannons built into their massive arms.
Infront of the team, a man stood on a platform. Distinct by his combination of dress uniform and tactical armor. A man in a cape. But a man who would be listened to.
<::Your target today is the crashed vessel we have identified on the surface. We have been told there is a survivor, a non-standard para-hybrid. This man is to be recovered. There is to be only one man. Bring him back aboard, alive. Anything else, man, machine, or otherwise, is to be killed on sight, the bodies burned, and any recording devices destroyed.
<::The Man's name is Leonardo. Bring him to us. Failure is not an option. The officer spoke in Kusarian
A loud 'Hai!' rose from the troops in unison, thoughtlessly accepting their orders. Other than that, they did not speak. It was not their place to. The Troops and their Robotic escorts filed onto the shuttlecraft quickly, taking their seats and donning their restraining devices. Point Atmospheric entry was always a bumpy ride.
---
Within ten minuets each of the two liners had launched a shuttle pod, descending on wings of fire through the thin atmosphere of Gammu, firing thrusters to correct their course and aiming for the downed ship. First contact was to be made aggressively...
My old enemy, the darkness, did not last long. I became aware again as the ships began to land around me...I stifled an agonizing groan as I felt the engines heat and buffering effect moved my broken body hither and to.
Several ships laded. From the sounds of the engines and the struts hitting the ground, the implants that were working identified them as transport vessels. More than likely soldier transports. A few moments later, the implants suggestion was confirmed as I began to hear troops and battle mechs coming down the ramps.
"Check the ship." said a man speaking in Kusarian. My implants automatically translated his speech, even though I could speak fluent Kusarian. It was obvious, they were looking for me...but who? Both Nemesis and Shade were both destroyed by my hand...whom else would be after me in such a way...and for what?
"Negative findings in the ship, sir." reported a soldier, also speaking in Kusarian. My implants no longer translated, they were repairing at a rate even I was surprised at.
"Damnit. Keep searching." he replied.
They must not notice my broken body near the edge of the ramp. I hazarded a look and noticed that the man in charge was clearly augmented with tech. Not much, but just enough to get an edge, similar to what I had done before I learned of my true parentage. I began, at that moment, to test my implants durability from the crash and from my extent from what I had decided had to have been a hibernation.
Each implant was tested as the men searched the wreckage. I learned that many of the critical systems has repaired themselves to an extent that would suffice for me to manage to survive...fighting however, was not an option. Slowly, I began to stand up...that's when one of the soldiers noticed my presence and began hollering to the others.
Wincing, I ran to the edge of the landing pad and dove over the edge just as several soldiers, including the augmented leader, had made it to the edge. As I fell towards the snow covering the ground, I saw the look of hesitation on his face. I smiled knowing that he was kept in the dark about what he was here to get.
The snow rushed up to meet me as I fell through it's cold embrace and disappeared in the the white.
The man called "Slade" watched through a tac-com screen. The men and their machines combed the area, as a red dot representing an unknown life form ran from cover, fleeing the troops.
"<::Bushi One-Sixteen, we have a runner. This our guy?"
The soldiers had seen the man bolt from cover, already a few flier drones had begun their pursuit.
"<::Just make sure."
"Non-standard para-hybrid", he thought. Estimating the capabilities of an individual without prior intelligence was always a risky proposition. Hence why D-level marines were being sent. These were men who could be relied on under pressure... and could be easily written off should things go bad.
It had been a few days running and my implants were almost fully repaired. Already, I had encountered several unknown soldiers and dismantled them; including one "Mech", which was the best description I could give for the giant machine. Yet, even though I had killed several dozen of the soldiers that were after me, they didn't give up...and they continued to haunt my every move.
The soldiers weren't from any military that I could discern. A third party mercenary group was my best guess. I'd had enough of that when I was running the Children of Conviction during my false life as Jacob Keller. Too many memories rattled around in my head of those days and I wasn't even sure if half of them were true or false anymore...it's a wonder I wasn't insane yet. Thankfully for the implants, I think they prevented that.
"I know you." said a voice in the back of my mind. I brought up the rifle I had "confiscated" from one of the soldiers that was stalking me and started scouting the area around my area. My implants already searching for any heat signatures that were off in the area. "Your past...your future."
I recognized that voice....
"Nemesis." I said with cold hate.
"You're being hunted." she said with idle amusement.
"I killed you." I began checking the weapon for charges among the other things I had scavenged from the soldiers. Preparing for one of her drones attacks on my location. "How are you still alive?"
"I was never alive...I'm an AI. As for the answer to your question, it's been 893 days since you tried to destroy me. Naturally, I managed to repair most of my functions. The mass of my critical systems were destroyed however, thanks to you...meatbag."
I laughed.
"Good, then at least I crippled you long enough to not do any damage to mankind."
893 days, eh? So that means I was dead in the cold of space for nearly three years before I mysteriously came back to life.
"I'd really like to know how you survived overloading all of your implants and causing an EMP burst. You're the one that should be dead, Leo."
"I know..."
"You're being hunted...as am I. I figured a friendly warning would be enough to get you to open up to me. Face it, Leo. You're not Human...there's no reason we can't help one another in this situation."