I woke up in my office and let out a tired sigh before sitting up from my desk and immediately felt shoots of pain in all my muscles as they protested. I checked the clock on my tablet and nodded, I had gotten about two hours of sleep, which considering the previous day was to be expected.
There was a knock on the door, and I surmised what had broken my rest was a first attempt at my door. “Enter,” I called out while ordering my body to suppress the need for a yawn. There was more work to be done, and the next forty-eight hours would be critical to my plans.
My yeoman opened the door and said, “Pardon ma’am, but you asked me to grab you at 0600 sharp.”
I nodded while I got a good look at his physique, giving myself time to appreciate his broad shoulders. There were worse things to be woken too, and considering how he had handled himself yesterday, I knew he was my most useful subordinate. Best to keep him happy then. “Thank you. How are you handling everything?”
“Ma’am?”
I smiled kindly and got up so that I could walk around and get closer to him so I could whisper, “I can’t express how much what you did yesterday means to me. You’re the only man I can trust.” After all, how many people were so broken and lonely that they were willing to beat the Five Star to death with his fists, just so I could pin it on someone else? Luck had been on my side when his partner had died, and my unit had to take him into custody after attempting to kill himself. He had only just turned eighteen, and had been desperate for anything to latch onto for attention. I was more than willing to oblige.
“I’m handling myself well,” his voice shook, but he held firm. I brushed his cheek, and he whispered to me, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I lied and then walked back to my desk and sat back down.
“What’s today’s schedule?”
He nodded as he regained his bearings. He knew I valued professionalism over everything else. “The morning is free, since most everyone is still recovering from yesterday. This should free you up for your interrogation of Alloy.” I nodded, I needed to handle him early, and find out what he knew and if he had told anyone else about me. He likely didn’t trust anyone besides himself with the information, but one could never be too sure.
“This afternoon?”
“The six corporations want a report from the military at 1300 and a plan for moving forward. The auditors are in shambles, and have also requested a meeting at 1500. 1600 you had scheduled for Ulysses to come over with his partner, I assume you still intend to proceed with that meeting?”
“I do. Anything else?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good. Send an email out summoning all the commanders to the war room at 1800. Inform the Alpha units to prepare for mobilization in the meantime. Soon, the enemies of the Crossroads will be no more.”
I allowed myself to feel satisfaction as he left the room. Things were finally going to be as they should be, after almost a decade of planning and laying down the groundwork. A new age of humanity would rise, and at its helm would be someone who actually knew what was best for it.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Alloy glared at the one-way window as I rapped upon the glass, his eyes managing to meet mine despite only being able to see his own reflection. I made my way into the room and had a seat at the table. “Have a seat.” Alloy looked at one of the turrets aimed at his head before begrudgingly taking his place, his eyes narrowing as he calculated whether or not he could break my neck before dying. He could not.
That’s his problem, he’s always willing to give up so much for that subjective view of morality of his, even his life. Sometimes it amazed me how smart he could be, and then he would do something needlessly reckless at his own cost to help with the first problem he saw. He never stepped back and considered the bigger picture. Ultimately, his emotions had become his downfall. It made him a fierce pilot, but when Atlantis was sunk, and Olympus crumbled to the ground, there would be no use for an old war dog like him.
“I swear if you fucking start tapping I’ll punch you in your smug, bitch face.” Pleasant.
Tap. His eye twitched, but I knew he had too much self control to go for it. “That’s what I thought, Alloy of Justice. Personally, I’d be more than happy if you got yourself shot by the turrets. It’d be less paperwork.” I was bluffing of course, the city was in a panic and needed something to direct its rage. A public execution was the only thing on the table for Alloy.
“If you think you’re going to get away with this, then think again.”
“Get away with what?”
“Fuck you, that’s what.”
I shrugged, since I didn’t think it’d be that easy. “Things won’t get better if you don’t at least talk to me.”
“Bull shit. You must be sticking GEL up your ass if you think I’m that dumb. We both know even if I said anything you’d wipe the cameras.” Bold of him to think the cameras were even recording right now. “No, you're a murderous dick-pasted Echo and can shove your entire Alpha up your ass!”
He was not going to make this easy, fine. I’d play into his emotions then. “Alright, besides your unhelpful fixation with things up my ass, let’s just consider this therapy. You’ve been out to get me for a while, and you’re right, no one will hear a word of your false allegations because they’re a waste of everyone’s time.”
“Excuse me? False allegations!?” His eyes widened with fury as his voiced pitched high into indignation, “Don’t bullshit me! Before you made rank you were in charge of Unit Forty-three, the exact unit in charge of the area where we found El Dorado. I pulled up the trade records and you know what I found a decade ago? That we traded the exact statue that contained the information about El Dorado that the Atlanteans opened up. I even had Kristoff verify the photo and you should have seen the look of shock on his face. He thought it was funny that we hadn’t realized it was a time capsule, except that’s the thing isn’t it? You fucking screwed the thing in its ass personally! Who do I find signed off the trade order than your fucking name? You discovered El Dorado! You spent resources behind the city’s back to renovate and excavate the location, and then you made sure that Atlantis found out! Then you made sure that when they sent their little raid party that we had Unit One in place so that we could destroy Atlantis. Do you even care how many people live there? Have you even asked Kristoff? Double the population of ours! You’d wipe out half a million people, half of humanity, and for what? No, as soon as I saw El Dorado’s renovation, I knew you had something to do with it. And when I came back I knew you weren’t going to stop, because your master plan to murder an entire city was only stopped by the decency of upper command. You even had the foresight to groom a new commander for your old unit to keep them under your thumb with 90. He knew, didn’t he? That’s why you weren’t hung up on his death was it? No loose end to tie up. There was an oddity in his record, his first mission on patrol his unit was attacked by Atlantis, and they wiped everyone but his Alpha. But I think that’s a damned lie. He spent his first mission on your orders wiping out everyone involved in renovating El Dorado, so that no one could rat your ass out!”
The man had completely lost all self-control much to my surprise. I must have underestimated how close he was to a break, as his rant was telling me everything I needed to know. He did have one aspect of my plan wrong. Atlantis was supposed to have secured the resources that day. With us having located them finally, and them having gained access to the ability to outgun us finally, I could have forced the Five Star to blow a hole into the hull of Atlantis and flooded them out. As it was, Kristoff’s untimely capture had thrown everything into disarray, and my damage control of the scenario was not enough to get things back on track. Still, Alloy’s deductions had been close enough to the truth that he would have had no issues convincing the Five Star if I hadn’t eliminated the evidence.
“Damn it!” Alloy crossed his arms in frustration, “I was so close to finally stopping your charade.”
A little more prompting, I already knew most of the rest, but I had to be sure he had no accomplices. “You’re delusional,” I responded dryly, but with the slightest trace of pity. If that didn’t rile him up, I wasn’t sure what would.
His stare became frigid, and his next words hissed vehemently like venom, “Don’t. You. Dare. Play. Dumb. Fucking. Bitch.”
He was still talking, but if I said the wrong thing he was going to clam up. In that case a bait. “Then suppose I did do all that. So what? No one was harmed. We even have a peace unlike any seen before. Why destroy all that?” So, the man took the bait again as he rambled onto his second rant.
“Destroy it? The only one working to destroy it is you! I wouldn’t have even known anything was amiss if it wasn’t for the protests. But you couldn’t let it get out that you were actually blackmailing people, could you? Unfortunately, the people didn’t realize how dangerous a shithead like you is. So, they set up a rally. But you, oh you are a blackmailing, manipulating bitch! I don’t know if you planted false actors, or just lied in the reports, but you made sure those riots turned violent so you would have an excuse to shoot into the crowd. A dozen people died in those riots, but you want to know the funny part? Almost half of them turned out to be the exact eye witnesses who had brought your crimes to light. More evidence buried, but at this point it had become clear to you that your little empire of control was crumbling like the dried shit it was. Too many witnesses, too many people you couldn’t keep from talking. I don’t know if it was then you started your little plan, or if it was already in the making. All I know was that you were making moves again, and that somebody needed to expose you.”
The riots had indeed been a problem for me. I should have needed another six months before I was ready to enact my plan, but the fools had prioritized their grievances over the greater good. If each of them had taken my offers in the first place, many of their partners would still be alive.
“A week after I started investigating though, that damned video of me surfaced, and my movements became limited. I bet it was you having me followed, and once you knew I was checking into the riots you made sure no one would be willing to cooperate with me by making me out as violent and corrupt as you are in reality. You already had half the work done for you, the protestors were convinced I was part of the problem for negotiating away the alcohol.”
Looks like he wasn’t aware that was my doing as well. When Alloy asked me the day he came back from El Dorado if I used to be in charge of Unit Forty-three, it was a declaration he knew what I had been up to. I needed contingencies to ensure I could keep control over his movements, and if he made top-three-pilot his celebrity status would have made him difficult to touch. Unfortunately, I had already recommended him for rank one, and he was being sung and praised as a hero shortly after. I had needed to sow the seeds of distrust enough to keep him as rank four. One of the top three being accused of corruption was one thing, but two? The Five Star would never have allowed it.
“Despite that bullshit, I still managed to find a lead, see you missed one of those eyewitnesses. And that was all I needed. I had a pattern, and I had a witness, but somehow you must have found out I was going to be briefing the Five Star on my report.” He shook his head in disgust, “And I underestimated just how much work you’d been up to. I’m still piecing it together, but let me try my shot at your machinations. Unit Two does final check ups on the twin dogs before they get sent out throughout the city, standard security shit. Somehow, in the process, you find out how to change their voice commands, and so you figure yourself out a word that no one in the Crossroads could ever accidentally say. Something shrouded in myth that only a foreigner like Adonis would know, and then finally you-” he finally stopped himself and paused to think. I couldn’t say I wasn’t impressed, he had pieced things together quite well, though he had yet to come up with motivation, an important factor when accusing people of crimes. Still, besides that, I had what I needed. The eyewitness was the only person I had missed at the riots, and though I had already addressed the issue it was good to know that Alloy in his overly emotional zeal had let slip their existence. It meant he likely would have slipped up anyone else he had been in contact with over this.
The man finally stopped his pondering, “I suppose I still don’t know how you got Adonis to speak into the PA system, do I?” He paused and looked at me.
Was he asking me to tell him how I had completed my operation? I’m not a fool, I’ll deny any liability to the end. “You tell me, it’s your conspiracy.”
“Yeah, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I fucking know or have proof of that part at all, does it? Regardless, the fact remains you used the PA to send the city into a panic. It was a bloody coup, and you could pin it all on the Olympian. You wiped out the brigadier generals, and the Five Star was supposed to be there as well. Tell me, were you planning to do this yesterday, or did my report force your hands? Regardless he stepped away for his meeting, and you had to think fast. The problem was you weren’t fast enough. You sent that yeoman of yours, Jason, to do your dirty work. Beat the man to death with his bare fists, and when you combine that with video evidence of me assaulting 33, you now have your pattern of violence for me. I saw the writing on the wall, however, and I thought maybe I could get Adonis out of this alive even if I was screwed. But I was too late, you had already tied up your final loose end. Well congratu-fucking-lations bitch, now you’re the damned Five Star, like you always wanted! Was rank one being on mission part of the plan too, or was that just the icing on top of your rotten, corpse-filled cake?”
I didn’t engage with him, instead it was time to take away his last hope, and let him wallow in the pit of despair he had forced me to put him in. “Ulysses, come in.”
A look of confusion crossed his face, and he looked at the door as the man stepped in. “Why the hell do you have my engineer here?”
“The tablet, Ulysses,” I gestured for him to place Alloy’s tablet in front of me. I didn’t need to turn around to know the man couldn’t muster the ability to look his commander in the eye.
“I-I’m sorry, sir. You really need to stop having other people write your reports.”
That was unnecessary dialogue, and Alloy’s eyes widened as he realized the implied betrayal and stared finally speechless at Ulysses, then at me, and back again. “That is all Ulysses, you’re dismissed.”
“Sir, I can exp-”
“Dismissed!” I said sternly. An explanation wasn’t needed. Alloy would not be afforded the comfort of any closure.
The door shut behind Ulysses after he left, and Alloy finally found his voice, “You blackmailed my own men…” There was a sound of defeat, like the life leaving the body of a fighter who had scraped their last.
“As per standard procedure for arrested tablets, the data has been wiped from it. In addition, the eyewitness you mentioned I regret to inform you has passed away.”
“What?”
“Unfortunately, she was with Ulysses when the Olympian uprising began, and he was unable to protect her from the twin dogs.”
“There’s no way… he wouldn’t…”
Finally, I had my broken man. I didn’t need him trying some epic escape and getting killed by accident. No, in a day or two, he would be executed, and I had taken away any hope of getting out of this. His evidence was gone. He had been betrayed, and as long as I kept Logan away from him, he would die without even believing he had a friend. The city he loved would hate him, and while I was sure there would be those who questioned his fall from heroism, a simple story of declining mental health, a fake story of alcohol abuse, and a temperamental man were all I needed to brush his death under the tragedy of the Olympian uprising. It was one thing I had learned as part of my tenure in charge of policing. If you wanted to hide a crime, do it in the shade of a louder injustice.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Alloy, if it’s any condolence to you, you should never have placed your faith in other people. You can never trust anyone but yourself.” A harsh truth, but never the less an empowering one.
“You’re such a bitch.”
“You used to call me the ice bitch,” I said while getting up to leave.
“I used to respect you,” he mumbled, but it had none of the usual fire in his voice.
The six corporations were integral to the smooth operation of the city, and I had the CEO from each in the meeting room reserved for the Five Star, which was now me. First was Jerimiah of N.O. Technologies, 65 of MSS, Patches of Primary Manufactures, 27 of Cradles, Precious of Public Services, and finally Herbert of H&P.
“With that being said,” I finished my explanation of yesterday, “we believe that the perpetrator has been eliminated and all automata in the city have been destroyed.”
Jerimiah spoke first, he was a vocal, yet well thought out man, “That’s all good and all, ma’am, but that still raises the issues of the unrest in the city. The people,” he paused as he tended to do when he was collecting his thoughts, “have taken to the streets.” He lifted his hand and directed it at me, with his thumb jutting out slightly so that it was clear he was directing it at me, “Much of our industries have ground to a halt, and with almost twenty-two thousand people dead, we need them to return to work sooner rather than later, otherwise the effect on the supply chain could drastically be impacted.” I smiled politely while I prepared my response. Jerimiah didn’t actually care about the supply chain for his corporation, they dealt in advancing technologies and research. The military worked closest with N.O. Technologies due to their ability to improve our weapons and armor. Their bigger concern was ensuring no one else starved or died as a direct result of the loss in manpower as that would lead to a cascading effect.
65 chimed in at this point, “The attacks had no effect on our stores, and we are able to provide the necessary sustenance for the next eight months, even if we didn’t have our plants running.” MSS, or Medical Services and Solutions, oversaw determining and meeting the needs of its citizens in terms of food, shelter, and medical services. They were perhaps the strongest corporation, as they had their hands actively affecting everyone’s lives daily. As a result, though, the contractors were merciless in stripping them of their power which kept them in check. Still, their contracts normally stated that contractors would provide services in exchange for continued free services from MSS. 65, like many members in MSS however, was dedicated to helping the city anyway she could.
Patches was the next to speak up, an old frail man with a nasally voice, “Speak for yourself 65. Juliet just said they lost almost a fifth of their forces suppressing the terrorist attack. How the hell am I going to get materials, process them, and sell them when my primary source lost a fifth of its manpower?” An obvious issue, but one I already had a solution for. I was glad he brought it up, however. Primary Manufactures was an important step in the supply chain, refining and distributing out purified resources for everyone in the city to use.
“Well I for one…” Precious began to speak, but she was quickly interrupted.
“No one gives a damn what you have to say, woman,” Patches said in irritation. “There is no risk that the elevators will shut down, the electricity goes out, or the plumbing fails anytime soon.” He wasn’t wrong either. Yes Public Services was disrupted, but their wasn’t any risk of major failure anytime soon as most of their work involved upkeep maintenance in cases of emergency like this.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” 27, CEO of the Cradles, interjected, “In these trying times lets allow level-headedness and civility to prevail.” He was the youngest of the CEOs, and in many ways an absolute prodigy. I was very curious to hear what he had to say, “If we’re being honest, however, our priority for now is restoring Primary Manufactures to full operational capacity, which in order to do that we need to ensure that the military is restored. Afterwards we can put equal emphasis on MSS, N.O. Technologies, and Public Services to restore them. Within three quarters we should be back in the black, but in the meantime we should be ready to be in the red for the next few months. Finally, once the economy has stabilized, we can begin moving people back into H&P, who will in the meantime have to weather the brunt of this storm.”
Herbert nodded in agreement, and spoke in a gravelly voice, “It pains me to admit it, but 27 is correct. My company is the least important for recovering. I am curious on how it affects the Cradles however.” Herbert oversaw Humanities and Progress, shortened to H&P, and was the oldest and wisest of the people assembled at the table. H&P were the ones who wrote up contracts, provided administrative and legal documentation, and supported the caretakers, who were the contractors in charge of raising the citizens of the Crossroads. They were important, yes, but in times of crisis they were frequently put on the backburner.
27 answered Herbert’s question, “Cradles have felt little impact from the attack, though we are still documenting and updating databases to reflect the changes from yesterday’s terrorism.” I was pleased to hear that. Without our databases and computers, our ability to calculate and track the large amount of information of the city would be severely hampered and make society so inefficient that in just a few years mankind would die out. I had been certain the twin dogs wouldn’t attack any of the servers, but you never knew what could be damaged in the fog of war.
I finally saw my chance to speak, “In that case ladies and gentlemen, I do believe I have a plan that would allow us to recover swiftly. First, I would like permission to place the city under martial law so that we can mobilize the workforce immediately. Second, I would like Cradles to calculate who I can have and from where to restore the military back to full strength, if you could 27? Finally, for the sake of streamlining through red tape, I ask that for the duration of however long the city must remain under martial law that all matters of running the Crossroads be routed through the Five Star’s office.”
There was several more minutes of debate and discussion, but eventually they unanimously agreed my plan was the best course of action, even if a centralized seat of power and martial law was unprecedented for our city since the days of its foundation. I chose not to smile as I solemnly swore not to abuse my newfound power. The only thing that I had been dishonest about was that I would give up my power as soon as the city had recovered. I would be foolish to do so, as the city needed a shepherd to ensure it stayed the best course.
I looked at the disheveled and baggy eyed man, who had the slightest wisp of grey teasing in his beard, while still having a vibrantly dirty blonde full head of hair that I had climbed several flights up the pillar just to meet with, apparently. “And you are?”
“Kevin, miss Five Star, ma’am,” he said while scratching his head abashedly. He looked like he was going to say more, but I cut him off.
“Just Five Star will suffice, or ma’am.”
“Ah yes. I’m the current senior auditor.”
I raised an expectant eyebrow and made a point to look him up and down while tilting my head back and lowering my eyes to maintain my gaze. My disdain was palpable, I knew, but it was nothing but a façade, as I had planned for most the auditors to have been wiped out by yesterday’s attack. “And where is… the bull?” The bull was the senior contractor for each of the different union of contractors around the city. While the bull didn’t necessarily speak for everyone in their field, they were highly influential. In the case of the auditors, the bull did coordinate and divide jobs out to all of their independents.
“I… I am, ma’am. The previous bull, she…. Uh… she was killed yesterday by one of the…” His voice trailed off and he shuddered.
“One of the automata,” I finished, and the fool flinched at the word. I would need to find a replacement for him than if he couldn’t bring his own fear under control. I already knew the bull would be dead, as well as almost every single auditor. It had been by my recommendation that they bring the twin dogs with them so that if anyone became belligerent to their inspections they would no longer be reliant on Unit Two to provide them protection. With the auditors in shambles, there would be no useless checks and balances to get in the way of my take over. “Kevin, why am I here? There are many other more important issues at hand as I’m sure you are aware of that need my attention.” He was inexperienced, and by being dismissive I was sure he would likely cave and be unable to stand up for the auditors, a group in the city which while necessary, needed drastically overhauled and replaced with people loyal to me to insure the future of the Crossroads.
“Uh… well Ma’am, Five Star, ma’am…” he stumbled through his words as he struggled to regain his composure.
Tap. He flinched.
Tap. He stared sullenly at my finger upon the table between us.
Tap. “I’m sorry,” he muttered in a pathetic voice.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. The man had devolved to a blubbering mess, as he started to cry. He really was completely consumed by fear and sorrow. “Kevin, if you are going to be the auditor bull, you need to act like the auditor bull.”
The man took several shaky breaths before finally gasping, “I know you’re right… Just everyone I knew is… You’re right.” The man took several more breaths, each becoming steadier and stronger than the last. “Ma’am, ninety percent of the auditors passed away in yesterday’s…” he took another deep breath, “terrorist attack. As things are, we are unable to provide the QA requirements to maintain the city’s efficiency, and standards are likely to drop in the coming months, and likely in a way that will take years to recover from.”
“Get to the point.”
“Yes, ma’am. In lieu of current social strife, I believe that to prevent this it will require support from the military to take over some of our duties until things restabilize,” he looked like a haggard mess, but he had managed to get out what he wanted, and to my satisfaction it actually played into my hands.
“You want the military to take over audits?”
“Yes ma’am. I know you all are probably stretched thin right now, but you are the only ones who operate smoothly enough through your chains of command that I believe that this is the best course of action to minimize the impact of the city’s losses. I’m sorry, it was probably a bad idea, but we’re desperate.”
What an unexpected boon this was. I had expected the corporations to flounder and had planned to manipulate them to give up some of their power and autonomy, but for the auditors to give up theirs so willingly and without any extra shoving was quite the welcomed surprise. I looked at the man, placed one hand on his shoulder, and spoke first professionally, before allowing some sympathy to seep into my voice to incur favor in the man, “Its an excellent idea, and I think with some time you’ll find that you will make an excellent bull, so keep your chin up.” Unfortunately, my words failed to perk him up, but hopefully the small touch of compassion would be enough to keep him loyal to my cause. Afterall, anyone who realized that I was the best one to control the city was certainly wiser than many of the previous leaders had been.
“Ulysses, its good to see you and your partner,” I said behind my new desk. The damaged window made things a little breezy, but I enjoyed the larger size of the office.
“Cut the crap, Juliet-”
“Five Star. You’ll address me as the Five Star,” I corrected him while getting up from my desk.
He hesitated nervously, and then collected himself, “Fine. Five Star, I’m here to ensure you followed through on your end of the deal.”
“Of course. If you check my tablet and search your partner’s name, you’ll see that their criminal record has been completely expunged and wiped clean. If she keeps herself on the right side of the law, we won’t have an issue again.”
He picked up my tablet from the top of the desk and quickly searched through it before breathing a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness.”
“So how did it feel to betray your own commander?”
“Excuse me?” he asked in disbelief, while his partner quietly looked at him and then back at me.
“Did I stutter? How did it feel to betray someone who trusted you?”
He glared at me, and his partner tugged at his arm, “What are you getting at?”
“What I’m ‘getting at’ is that you cannot be trusted.” I pulled my gun out from my holster and placed one bullet square between the man’s eyes as his partner screamed in panic and turned away. A second bullet punctured her neck as I failed to address her change in posture and she fell over on her side, bleeding onto the carpet and creating a wet sucking sound through the fresh hole while she struggled on the ground. A third bullet left her dead. I stared at my gun, which was an upgraded high caliber gauss pistol specially ordered two years ago in response to the Atlantean gaining his citizenship. The bullets were powerful enough that they could even pierce the cyber-enhanced man’s skin. The only issue was it only had three bullets. I reloaded, and then went out and called Jason into my office.
He looked at the two bodies on the ground and then back to me and asked, “Ma’am?”
“Yes, defenestrate the bodies and clean up the blood. I’m going to head to my final meeting for the day.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said cooly while picking up the dead woman, putting her over his shoulder, taking her to the window, and tossing her out. “Do you need anything else?”
“No, Jason, that’ll be all.,” I walked up and breathed on his neck before taking my leave. He seemed quite pleased by the interaction. If only everyone was as easy to control as him.
The war room had room for every commander, brigadier general, and the Five Star who was now me, though six of the commanders had died during the chaos of yesterday many of which were present in vicinity to the automata when my plan had gone into action.
With only forty-four commanders remaining, the most important of which were my Alpha pilots, I had them gathered around the table. I directed those who were not pilots that they would be on security and defense detail for the city in the meantime and would serve as the police while instating martial law. Then I dismissed them while having my pilots remain.
“So as you all can see, this is what remains of our Alphas following yesterday’s terrorist attack.” I glanced at Logan, who had his arms crossed and his normal jovial grin missing. His eyes were furrowed in frustration, and I knew he was likely the most crossed about what had happened to his friend.
“Commander Logan, I know you probably have questions, now is the time to ask them.”
He looked at me, down at his tablet placed on the table, and then back at me before saying, “I’m sorry, Five Star, ma’am. I just have trouble believing that Alloy would kill the previous Five Star.”
I nodded and smiled sadly, “I know, it surprised me too. I should’ve seen the signs though. I knew he had been becoming more volatile and aggressive in the last few weeks, I assume in response to the accusations from the protestors. I regret to admit that I found evidence that he had been taking alcohol for his own use as well. I tried confronting him about it, but he denied it.”
Logan looked at her incredulously, “He had been drinking!?”
“I believe so, yes. Yesterday the Five Star called him to his office on short notice to inform him he knew, as I had briefed him on the missing evidence from the locker. This wasn’t even the first time Alloy had taken evidence for personal use either, as he had done the same with the Atlantean a couple years ago. I believe the Five Star also told him that he wouldn’t be getting rank one as a result, though he would be allowed to continue serving as an Alpha pilot albeit under restrictions. I believe that Alloy lost his head in that moment and in an overwhelming burst of emotional weakness attacked and beat the Five Star to death.”
Logan shook his head somberly, “I can’t believe he didn’t talk to me about him struggling. I thought I was his friend.”
I got up from my seat and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, “You still are, Logan. This wasn’t your fault. Alloy was in over his head and didn’t reach out for help. There’s nothing you could have done.” Logan shook in my hand for a bit, but than steadied himself and placed his opposite hand over mine.
“I’m sorry, thank you. I just needed a moment.”
“I know.” I returned to my seat at the head of the table and addressed the group, “Let this be a moral lesson for all of you. When I arrested Alloy, he kept swearing that he was the hero of the Crossroads and deserved rank one. He even made his way down to the terrorist and killed him claiming that he was a hero and should be praised, not condemned for his actions. In our line of work we can’t afford to get emotional. Humanity can’t afford for us to get emotional. Every day we survive off nothing but our intellectual might. All other animals have died off because they could not shed the illogical aspects of themselves, but mankind survives because we are better. We can grow to be better.”
I felt satisfaction as the assembly acknowledged my statement with, ‘yes ma’am.’ Finally, after years of planning, I was at the helm. The one man who was in my way was nullified, and all that was left were a few bastions of the city’s enemies.
“Rank one is currently deployed on mission to locate Atlantis once again. We were able to get sounding data on them the last time we located them, and pairing this with Olympus’s data we believe we will be able to pinpoint them shortly. With that in mind, we have a more pressing issue to address.
“According to evidence collected by my men, we believe that Adonis was acting alone. He showed a lack of a clear plan, and we were able to check all his correspondence with Olympus since his arrival and found no signs of collusion. We believe from his notes that he had come to the conclusion that he found our way of life offensive, and believed we needed to be purged as he became more extremist in his thoughts over the past few months.
“Its difficult to say without an interrogation, but Alloy deprived us of the opportunity to get more information out of the terrorist due to his knee-jerk reaction. Regardless, we are forced to act from the actions of a single rogue Olympian. Adonis was the son of the diplomat Vitruvius Alexanders, who was only on speaking terms with Alloy of Justice. We believe once it is found out that we killed his son without first holding a trial or returning him, it will cause our relationship with Olympus to devolve into open war. Before this happens, we must act.
“Luckily Olympus is in a state of vulnerability, as hurricane season has begun. They are currently fueling their steam engines via waterspout out in the ocean and have sent most of their airships that would normally be used in defense out on scavenging missions. In addition, while I regret to take advantage of their treaty in such an underhanded way, we have been informed exactly what Olympus’s flight path will be for communication, so we will have no problem locating them in the storm.
“Despite this, we expect heavy resistance once they realize we are on the offensive. To ensure mission success, we will be deploying all Alphas to provide cover for rank three’s Leviathan, which has a range of a hundred kilometers while airborne. Once within range, its laser weaponry should be able to shoot the hydrogen tanks of the flying city, causing a domino effect as each detonation will help fuel the next one. Our goal is to shoot Olympus out of the sky rapidly, and then intercept Unit One on their return path to turn around and eliminate Atlantis, as they will likely have better equipment for scavenging the resources from El Dorado from the ocean floor, while we will be forced to wait for the hurricane to pass.
After the dust settles, we should be able to at our leisure locate and retrieve all the resources we gave Olympus and begin making our own preparations to clear the atmosphere and travel to one of our neighboring planets for humanity’s continued survival. Now are there any questions, or are we ready to start putting together the details of our battle plan?”
There were a few, but they were taken care of in short order. Afterwards we moved to the plan, and to my surprise the new commander, 33, took a strong leadership role as she began proposing what would be needed. I had figured she would be, like Logan, too caught up in the shock of what happened to her former commander, but she instead seemed undeterred by the sudden betrayal. Perhaps, she, like me, viewed the man as overly emotional. Indeed, she seemed quite fixated on our mission success.
“That about wraps things up,” I declared. “Following 33’s proposed plan, we will be contacting Olympus and informing them we have discovered intel that Atlantis is planning an attack to recover El Dorado assets while they are vulnerable and in close proximity to the ocean’s surface. We’ll use the fact we deployed Unit One already to justify this sudden discovery Under this guise we’ll be deploying all eight of our available Alphas to provide ‘aid’ while in actuality we’ll be preparing for their destruction. Unfortunately, as we approach they’ll likely require that we set up a perimeter outside the range of the Leviathan to protect the city, but we will need to get closer. We’ll deploy our other Alphas first and make moves as if to comply, but as soon as Leviathan is in position we will all converge on its spot to protect it while we make the final stretch. Mission starts tomorrow at 0400. I want everyone to get adequate sleep tonight. Failure will not be an option.”