"First of all, wipe that smirk off your face, Ian Swatch." She pulled the trigger and there was a hollow click. "Hmph. Lucky." She spun the barrel again and put it back against the recruit's head. "Where are you from?"
"Go below Zad's Bar", Jorn had said, "and tell them that you are a friend of Ben's."
Unfortunately for Kain, those had been Jorn's last words, as the blood leaked out from his body over the cold, hard deck.
That last sliver of guidance had Kain crawling through a ventilation shaft, deep in the bowels of Bautzen. He didn't really know what he would find. He merely hoped he would like what he found.
Several uncomfortable and sweaty minutes later, Kain reached a hatch. Twisting his body around in the close confines, he levered his mag-tool against the hatch bolts. With a heave, the rusted old bolts twisted apart, and the maintenance hatch clanged to the floor below. Returning the tool to his belt, Kain edged towards the opening. Seeing no one in the dimly lit room below, he lowered himself down, landing with a thump on the floor.
Kain paused for a moment to gain his bearings. The corridor, lit by a few weak lamps, seemed to have more shadows than light. The place had a curious, uncomfortable smell of industrial lubricant and sterilising agents. A low rumble echoed throughout the place, evidence of the machinery active on higher decks.
He proceeded down the corridor briskly. He could not be caught by the guards in an off-limits zone.
At the end of the passageway, Kain reached a door locked by a keypad. Consulting his datapad, he pressed quickly at the glowing keys.
6-3-8-4-#
-DOOR.UNLOCKED
The door hissed open on pneumatics, and Kain stepped through the threshold. In the room before him was a plain metal desk with a single light-globe suspended above it. Behind the desk sat a bald man, wearing a dark coat. Kain could not quite make out his face in the gloom.
The man behind the desk looked up suddenly as the door slid shut. "Who," he spat, "are you?"
Kain paused in front of the desk and put the datapad back in his satchel. "Uh, I am Kain Finnegan. I am a friend of Ben's."
The man behind the desk shifted slightly. "Indeed? I have not spoken to Jorn in some time. He did not tell me there would be someone coming."
Kain hesitated, choosing his next words carefully. "Well, that would be because he... he is no longer with us."
The man considered Kain's implications for a moment. "In that case..." He raised his hand into the air. "Gregor..." Kain heard footsteps behind him and began to turn, but too late.
A sudden blow turned his world black.
* * *
"...think... coming around." Kain opened his eyes quickly, and then wished he hadn't. The back of his head hurt as if someone had dropped a building on it. He felt his arms and legs uncomfortably bound by thick cords to the chair he was sitting in. He groggily looked about and saw the bald man again.
"We shall now do this my way. You know, it is rather impolite to enter another man's office without permission." Kain's heart skipped a beat as he heard the distinctice click of a charging blaster behind his head. "If I were you, I would not make any sudden movements..."
Kain gulped. "Please! Don't kill me! I am here to join you people!"
Kain's heart raced. This was definitely not the kind of greeting he was expecting. "No! Please, you've got it all wrong! My name is Kain Finnegan. Really, I am no spy!" No response from the man behind him.
"I am being honest! I cam here to escape, to be free of the hidden shackles of house society." Kain swallowed. His mouth was dry, and a bead of sweat rolled off his brow. "Perhaps if I tell you my story, you will understand."
"You see, I was born on Planet Houston, in Liberty. I grew up in a working class family. Shortly after completing schooling, I was forced to work, to help support my family. I worked as a mechanic in a small repair yard on the outskirts of the capital city."
Kain paused, as old memories came back to him...
"It was hard work there, but I made enough money to survive. Over time, I tried to save my meagre earnings to try and move up in life. It was... two and a.. half, yes, two and a half years later when that repair shop was closed down. Our small shop, which had been faithfully serving its customers for years, was overtaken by one of the giant planetary corporations."
"The company utilised robotics-assisted labour, which greatly reduced costs for them, but put me and many of the others out of jobs. Infuriated and depressed at the loss of what little we had, I and some of my fellow workers stole an air-truck and crashed it into one of the company's office buildings, and we began to trash the place. Needless to say, the police were onto us faster than we realised."
"We tried to escape, but the coppers drew weapons. One of my friends was killed instantly - a laser bolt to the head. The rest of us were locked away. Soon, we were led onto a transport headed for a remote prison station, to serve our sentences."
Stopping for a moment, Kain prepared to continue his story...
Ling picks the sword out of the table and walks around the recruit.
"No, I'm sure you wouldn't if you're dead. Perhaps I should not give you that opportunity to "sell us out" as you put it."
Ling swirls the sword around in his right hand.
"It is such a beautiful blade isn't it? It has saved my life on countless occasions. Now, you can tell much about a person by staring into their eyes. What could you tell from mine?"
Sitting for a while was making Koos' ass go numb, but he would not let his concentration waver.
While he was sitting there, the commissar came out of his office to get some coffee, and some poor sod was dumb enough to get in his way. Koos cringed as he brained the young man with his mug sending him to the floor.
The man Koos had been waiting with earlier seemed to have done well in his interview and came out to finish his paperwork.
So true is it that unnatural generally means only uncustomary, and that everything which is usual appears natural.
Rivera didn't actually believe that eyes tell a lot about a man.. But this guy wanted from him to say something smart, and Rivera didn't really want to get a knife in his throat.
"I see that you are happy.. Happy to be a part of the Revolution, and to prove what you are worth to the Coalition, and what it stands for.. "
Rivera never had confidence in himself. He expected a knife at the back of his head.
Awesome sigz by Cabulb
[20:44] Avalanche (Greg/Pharos): Yeah, I ****ing know serbian.
[20:45] Domjan1911: YUGOSLAVIAN YUGOSLAVIAN!
"If you cannot read a man by his posture, his body language by the flickers in his eyes and face then what use are you?! How could you tell if a spy had infiltrated the Coalition?"
Ling kicked the chair over and pushed the recruit to the floor, the sword raised above his head.
"Happiness is weakness. Do you think you would survive the trials on JiangXi just by being "happy" that you are part of the Coalition?! Of course you wouldn't! You need drive, determination and a strong will... I see none of that in you. You lack confidence, you lack belief."
Ling mulled over whether he should plunge the sword into the man's heart.
"You find a transport full of Cardimine flying through the Omega's. After you have successfully stopped it, the captain is reasonable. He pays you 10 million as a donation towards the revolution. What would you do next?"
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