-STORY UPDATE- Double Cross: Broadcast Bay
Posted by Aether
Posted: Jul 19, 2005 6:13 PM
Tamarin looked
back at the nine chairs of the Broadcast bay. Smoke hovered lazily over
one of the chairs. Each face, in repose, as if sleeping.
A whirl of servos, and each supine form jerked once. Seven sat up, blinking. One... didn’t.
A moment of silence, then the sound of his body sliding to the floor.
The voices began to sound.
“What the hell…”
“I was in the middle of talking to…”
“Where the…”
“Hey! What’s going on!”
“Tamarin, report.”
Sawayaka’s voice cut through the others, and Tamarin, sweating freely, took a deep breath to speak.
Just then the alarms began.
“Proximity!”
WanNi’s shout was followed by a shout from Al3xandra.
“Vashuo! Wake up!”
Tamarin cleared his throat.
“He’s not waking up, Alex, he’s the reason I pulled you out of there.”
Sawayaka closed her eyes for a moment, overwrought.
Chaos reigned as everyone tried to do something… anything.
“Listen.
Alex, you and Toorima get up to the cockpit and find out what’s out
there. Oni, you, Lelan, and Odran look after Vashuo. WanNi, you, me and
Tamarin need to talk. Now move!”
Alex strapped into her seat,
eyes filled with tears. She was still foggy from the forced jackout and
the alarms, but she couldn’t mistake the boneless sprawl of Vashuo’s
body on the floor of the Novalis II. Her friend… dead. First
Neurophyte, and now this.
Toorima, on the other hand, was coolly
efficient. Establishing a comm-link with the approaching hovercraft,
she began speaking quickly and urgently into the microphone.
Back in the Broadcast bay, Odran and Lelan began moving Vashuo’s body. Oniyuzu reported to Sawayaka.
“Captain,
it looks like a device was attached to Vashuo’s cranial jack before he
went into the Matrix today. A small electrical charge broke the
connection between his brain and the jack, killing him.”
“The body cannot survive without the mind.”
WanNi turned and punched the bulkhead.
“Captain,
this is Alex. There is another hovercraft, designated HvCFT Sedna,
about to dock with us. Zion Command confirms their authenticity.
Toorima has uploaded our server logs and comm dumps to them.”
“Acknowledged. Any word about what we should do?”
“Captain, this is Toorima. Zion Command has dropped off our comms. We’re eating static right now.”
“What? What happened?”
“Checking
now. No, Alex, forget it, I’ve got it. Just let me… yes. It looks like
the Sedna clipped our antenna coming in. They’ve linked their comms
with us until we get back.”
Novalis II abruptly stopped in mid-flight, then began descending, pushed from above.
“Captain! Sedna is cutting through our upper hull! Bulkhead twelve, next to the ventral hatch!”
“Toorima! Find out what is happening and get them to stop!”
“Sorry, Captain, they have cut off our comms. We’ll have to ask them when they get aboard.”
“Captain, this is Odran, Vashuo has been put in a safe place. What do we…”
With a click, all the internal speakers on the craft switched on at once.
“Attention
crew of the Novalis II. This is Captain Redhand of the Sedna. You are
ordered to lay upon the deck with your hands on your head, and await
our crew who will bring you into custody.”
Sawayaka stabbed the button on the ship intercom.
“On what authority? We have a medical emergency here! You can’t just come on board and detain us!”
“Zion Security, be advised the crew is resisting our boarding operation. Use tasers and restraints to detain each one.”
WanNi and Sawayaka looked at each other in shock.
Alex turned to ask Toorima what was going on, and saw her already laying on the deck of the cockpit, with her hands on her head.
“I suggest you do the same, Alex, these guys sound like they mean business.”
One
by one the crew of the Novalis II were led into the detention area of
the Sedna. First, Toorima, looking cool and comfortable despite the
restraints about her wrists.
“Captain Redhand, this is Toorima. She did not resist detainment, and promises to cooperate.”
“Put her in a bunk, keep her restraints on.”
Alex was brought in next. She was cradling her left wrist, and restraints were placed on both her arms and her legs.
“What is this! We’re loyal to Zion!”
“Captain
Redhand, this is Al3xandra. She attempted to get up while we were
putting her restraints on. I believe she has a broken wrist.”
“Put her in bunk as well. Get the doc to look at her when we can.”
Oniyuzu
and Odran were next. Both were unconscious, with taser darts sticking
out of their shoulders. A strong odor of chemicals hung around them.
“Captain Redhand, these are Oniyuzu and Odran. We found them guarding the body. They had to be… persuaded… to come aboard.
The
others were brought in. Sawayaka and WanNi were trussed up with a
number of restraints. Both sporting taser darts in their chests.
Lelan was last.
“Captain
Redhand, this is Lelan. He attempted to fight his way out of the
hovercraft. After we put a taser into his chest, he said, quote, ‘You
won’t take me down, Captain Carnage. Not after our last meeting!’ I
recognized this as a line from one of his movies, ‘Empire of Salesmen’.
We were forced to tase him four times.”
“Permanent damage?”
“Does it matter?”
“No.
But Niobe and Ghost will be here in their ‘craft in fifteen minutes.
Clean everyone up, and cut their restraints. Lock the cabins we put
them in. Move!”
“Captain Niobe! Very glad you made it. We have
put the entire crew in protective custody, locked into separate rooms.
Tamarin and our Operator are going over the operational logs of the
entire crew.”
“Good, Captain Redhand. I won’t lie to you. If
Veil is on this ship, then we will have apprehended the highest ranking
Cypherite we know. It is of the utmost importance that we find out who
killed Vashuo, and which crew member is masquerading as the Cypherite
leader in his or her spare time.”
“Pardon, Captain Niobe, but ‘Veil?’ I don’t believe I have heard that name before?”
“You
might not have, Redhand. Veil is the code-name of a Zion operative who
has risen to the very top of the Cypherite organization. Some of our
operatives have infiltrated the Cypherite ranks. Along the way Veil’s
name has been whispered as a leader to be respected and feared. Some
reports place Veil as a woman, but most have him as a tall man.”
Captain
Redhand smirked, “Well, none of these we collected today are especially
tall, but I’ll turn over interrogation to you, ma’am.”
“Captain Redhand, bring in Sawayaka. I want to talk to her first.”
“Well, Captain, I… can’t do that. Sawayaka is unconscious. She resisted the invitation to board.”
“Odd. How about WanNi? Oniyuzu? Alex?”
“Toorima is available, ma’am.”
“Bring her in.”
Toorima
walked in, eyes moist. Her reddened eyes and nose betrayed the fact
that she had been crying. Captain Redhand nodded to Niobe and left them
alone.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry for my condition. I just heard the
details about Vashuo, and what happened on our ship. You think there is
a traitor on board?”
“Yes, I do, Toorima. You’re the first I’ve
talked to. I have a few questions, then we’ll let you rest. No one is
in trouble, yet. You are all assumed to be loyal to Zion until we find
evidence to the contrary. I know its hard, because one of your friends
is a traitor, but you must know that you are innocent in my eyes unless
we find otherwise.”
“I understand, Niobe. I just, can’t… believe this has happened. I… I’m so sorry this has happened.”
“Toorima, were you on mission assignment when Vashuo died?”
“Yes
ma’am! I was performing my mission, and was talking with a friend when
Tamarin pulled me out. Oh my god! You don’t think Tamarin did it, do
you? I mean, he had the opportunity while we were jacked in, but…
Tamarin…?”
“Let’s focus on the matter at hand. Ghost reports to
me a number of fragments are strewn about your emergency jack-out
locations. We’ve never seen this phenomenon before. Do you have any
idea, as a communications specialist, what could have happened?”
Toorima
spoke through sudden tears, “It would have to be deliberate. Focused
pulses through a cell-phone would disrupt their RSIs.. I don’t know!
Who could do this! Who would!”
“Toorima, we will find out who
did this. I promise. I’ll let you go back to your room. Try to get some
rest. We’ll interview the next person.”
Niobe spoke into the intercom over Toorima’s quiet sobs.
“I’m done speaking with Toorima for now. Now tell me again why everyone else was subdued with such force?”
This
story was a team effort, a collaboration between the members of the
Live Events Team. Some of the finest people I have ever had the
opportunity to work with. Kudos team, on a job well done. -A
