The dissatisfied middle-aged man was looking from the screen, clearly trying to battle a good amount of alcohol, constant yawns, and his awful mood from the unwanted attention. However, it appeared to be hard as after the noticeable effort his sight focused again before he spoke with a hoarse voice.
“Andrew, say it again. Why the hell are calling me during my first day of the vacation when I celebrating twenty years of my marriage? Are you so incompetent that I will need to replace you the moment I return? Or maybe… just maybe… will you do the job by yourself without my help wiping your ass as if you were a dumb recruit? So, what do you choose?”
The irritated tone was loud and clear, making everyone present pretend that they didn’t hear anything. Andrew, on the other hand, didn’t have such luxury. Carefully choosing his next words as his own destiny depended on it, the younger man once again tried to explain himself before his boss.
“Captain, I am very sorry to interrupt your well-deserved rest, just we have a situation…”
“Say clearly, God damn it! We all have the situation! I have the situation with the dumb subordinates who can’t act on their own! My wife has the situation with me, who instead of going to bed and using all effects from the pack of pills that I swallowed, is speaking to a moron. What the fuck do you have there?”
The head of the guards roared like a beast, who was barely holding himself from lunging at the prey. Considering that it wasn’t just the act, Andrew was covered with sweat. The captain was infamous for harsh decisions and using violence against his guards. However, in return his other actions made their ranks to be desirable places for the elites even among top mercenaries. Discipline, limited bureaucracy, protection from the Council’s members, high salaries – everything made their work truly effective… if they could manage their own chief who was like the head of a family. Not just a random family, but a criminal dynasty with strict rules, hierarchy, and personal responsibility.
There was a rumor that the captain was once a member of such a group, but up to this point there was definite evidence of that. Moreover, being de-jure a part of the Defensive Consul’s team, de-facto he had his own standing, resulting in respect and fear toward such a heavy-impactful figure. Therefore, Andrew’s reaction was justified, and if he could, the man would do everything to avoid even the tiny dissatisfaction of his chief. However, the situation was too huge to try to cover it up.
“Five minutes ago a terranoid, which was hired directly by the Resource Consul, tried to get the bomb inside the Arena. His colleague noticed it and managed to warn everyone before being killed on the spot. There were around ten mercs in the crowd with non-lethal weapons who tried to stop the suspect but failed. All dead. Two patrol groups joined their force with the local guards – the result was the same…”
“Crap. Casualties?”
All the rage and boiling emotions disappeared without a trace, putting the captain into a working mood. Andrew immediately felt a heavy cold gaze coming from the chief, but that only made him sigh with relief. He knew his captain. Now all his attention would go toward the bigger problem, saving Adrew’s ass from possible problems.
“At this point – seven our men. Five from the Arena guards. Around twenty of their fighters, with half of them just heavily injured from the bullets. Six civilians dead, fifteen wounded,” the young officer tried to be as fast as possible in his report, waiting for the command what to do.
“Where the hack did the fucking TERRANOID got the weapons?!” The captain's obvious reaction was an angry shout.
“Sir, in fact, he doesn’t have one. Even the report about the bomb still needs to be confirmed as the short search had shown no signs of it,” Andrew explained briefly, before adding, “The wounds from bullets were caused by our people firing at the suspect in an attempt to stop him.”
“Fucking idiots. So, not only you potentially have lost the bomb, but you actually shot a lot of innocents… Wonderful, just wonderful! You all definitely need more training! Okay, send me his profile and show the records of the initial fight,” The captain commanded, typing something on the screen. Turning his attention to the side, he asked, “So, why did you call me? Just block him somewhere. Create a big group. Kill him. The end.”
“Well, sir, if you watch the video from the cameras, you can see that the suspect has hidden modification that wasn’t found by our scanners. He can create some kind of energy weapon that simply melts the metal of partitions with no effort. Our standard weapons aren’t powerful enough to penetrate his shields, so we need permission to use heavy equipment to stop him from entering more crowded sectors.”
“What a mess… Even worse it has a political aspect in it. Crap! Michel would be happy to see how his political opponent dug a deep hole for herself. No chance he wouldn’t use it… Fuck! The balance would be broken for a long… And it took just a single Terranoid to cause it. Okay, let me think, Andrew,” the captain ordered, going silent. The young man nodded in return while looking at the situation from the mentioned perspective. For these five stressful minutes, all his attention was focused on the suspect, but not the consequences of the event. However, now he finally saw it, and the picture wasn’t looking good.
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The Council, baked by the biggest shareholders, consisted of three members with each having a dedicated role. The defense that included both patrol guards, cooperation with mercenary groups, the small fleet, and all stationary weaponry of the city. The resources that controlled the stream of potential employees, supplies, and others. The entertainment part focused on making money through setting taxes, selling permissions, and attracting guests. They balanced each other, depending on the effectiveness of the work. However, that didn’t mean there were no clashes over the authority. Still, the power struggles were kind of in balance until now.
It wasn’t the secret about the Resources Consul being born on Earth. This fact influenced her greatly, making her politics quite tolerable to anyone who could have any value to Fantasy City, no matter where they were from. It increased the stream of working labor but made a part of investors quite dissatisfied with it. Maybe it was the reason why she placed a bet on the Terranoid, trying to show that even the most hated group of humans may find their place in Fantasy City. However, her bet appeared to be a huge loss that would be capitalized on by the Defensive Consul without a single doubt. The last member of the triumvirate never aimed for leadership, thus taking the side with the most influence. Therefore, it would be a matter of time before the shareholders would change the Resources Consul, and from what Andre heard, the potential candidate was basically Michel Wright’s man.
Such thoughts led to an obvious conclusion – the situation would cause a change in the guard’s position on the power ladder. With all respect to the captain, there was no chance that he could save the independence of law enforcement in the following months. And if so, maybe it would be better for Andrew to leave the service and get into merc’s company, as his position was too high to be ignored with potential cleaning but too low to have any means to save himself from being labeled as one of the scapegoats. Alas, it was a problem for the future, as the chief was already opening his mouth.
‘Okay, tell all our patrol groups to head back, keeping the distance from the suspect. For now, just make them focus on preventing civilians from getting into a battle zone. We need to lower the overall casualties. Avoid any attempts of direct confrontation with him. In the meantime, I will connect with Michel to ask him to send mercs to neutralize the target. After the job is done, we will officially thank them for their invaluable help, while stressing the important role of the Defensive Consul in the resolution of the event. Yes, that may work,” nodding to his own words, the captain concluded.
Andrew’s idea to get out of his job only strengthened after hearing it as the iron-willed chief resolutely decided to bow down to save his position. If such a man gave up, no way Andrew himself had any better options. Still, reminding the report, he chose to ask another question.
“Sir, the Arena fighters said that the suspect asked for the dialogue, and even spared the lives of those who didn’t attack him…”
“No, it’s too late. Oh, well, there was no chance of negotiations from the start. His role is already decided, no matter what caused the situation. Forbid anyone to speak with him. Cut all connections from the sector where he is. We need to paint him in the worst light ever… And don’t you fucking dare to mess things up! I need to remind you that he killed our men. My men! He is a wild beast that has to be eliminated. We will see how he can deal with properly geared soldiers… Just an infantry my ass! He is definitely from special forces with such an insane level of modification!”
“And bomb, sir? We haven’t found one…,” Andrew’s weak voice was interrupted by another loud shout from the angered captain.
“Wasn’t I clear, moron? He is guilty by default. If there is no bomb, then put one there with your own fucking hands! Moreover, there is information that he was studying to become a shielder on the ship. We can use it too… Add to the report that the Terranoid aimed to destroy the main shield of Fantasy City. Shove some random schematics in his room, so we can “find” some evidence. Nobody will check it properly. Do you understand? I don’t hear you, Andrew. And don’t think I forgot who the messenger of this news was. Be ready for it.”
Cutting off the connection without waiting for a response, the captain lightly smiled from the terrified expression painted on his subordinate’s face before his face returned to a deadly serious expression because of the “hot potato” situation. Nothing was good about it. Knowing Michel, the man would blow out of proportion the whole event. The guards would be getting a part of the blame because of failing in their duties to prevent it from happening. His guards. Thus, he could forget about saving his post at all if he didn’t act now. Therefore, his only way out of the mess was to sell his ass to Michel. He would still get his portions of criticism, but with few demonstrative demotions, and several fired men, the damage might be undone. Or at least minimized to the degree, where he can tolerate the loss.
The same couldn’t be said about the Resources Consul. The woman would get it all without doubts. However, he didn’t care that if you aim high, you need to be prepared for the fall from the top. It was the main reason why he stopped at this position and never tried to get the position in the triumvirate. Too dangerous as even a single mishap was enough to nullify years of a hard work. Such an example was right in front of him, strengthening this conviction. Even the persons who did everything to become knights in shining armor for others, the owners of the savior complex, all those philanthropists – each of them could fall from their spot, getting their reputation tarnished without any way to recover. No one gave a damn about the former good deeds if the current one caused a scandal. And the Terranoid on the killing spree was such a scandal.
Making a few deep breaths to calm his mind, the captain quickly found the number of the most odious man he had ever known. Power-hungry, and ready to do anything to achieve his goal, Michel was dangerously smart. Without restrictions from moral principles, with an absolute belief in his own right to be the leader, the man had a quite specific hobby that could scare any normal person. Michel Wright was a collector… And with that man, the chief had not only to communicate but to follow his orders from now on.
“Well, I tried to delay the inevitable, but the bigger predator always wins… Greetings, Michel. I am flattered that you answered my call almost immediately. How do I start? I think my guards can’t work properly without an iron grip of someone with true leader’s qualities…”.