Disposing of the Innari would be easy. All he had to do was lure them into a secluded part of the station and kill them one by one. After that, he could disappear inside the mining complex. It would be days before they could catch his tracks, and by then, he would be on his way to the no-void transition point. Yes, Donovan was confident that this was the best emergency plan. There was one single piece missing, and that was unlocking Gad’s ship. Using an escape pod was out of the question because he would die of dehydration before he reached the asteroid belt. As for the patrol boat, it could be disabled remotely before he could locate and remove the tracker. That left him with the Mo-Saa vessel as the only reasonable option. It was small, stealth-capable, stocked for prolonged drift in the void, and most important of all, it could be piloted by as few as two people. There was the small issue with the gene lock, but that could be solved with a short detour through the morgue. No, his biggest problem was convincing Monic. Despite everything, she was the only person who could watch his back if shit hit the fan.
“Wait here,” one of the Innari troopers escorting him brought Donovan back to reality.
Curse them, but they stuck to their training and protocol. One stood behind him, while another two were at the airlock separating the frigate’s brig as the last pair moved towards the cell’s door. A part of him had hoped that they would be lax, but he had to admit that this expectation was only because he had been surrounded by idiots for years now. Of course, they weren’t going to take any chances. After all, Monic was an Agent of the Commodore’s office with unknown military cybernetic augmentations.
“Step back behind the yellow line.” One of the elite soldiers barked as he connected to the small terminal next to the cell’s door.
A handful of seconds later, he nodded to his squad mate, and the steel slab popped inwards before quickly ascending towards the ceiling of the cell. Both men stepped into the small room accompanied by a fair number of inventive curses by Monic. Some of the things the insane woman suggested, although anatomically impossible, were enough to paint a smile on Donovan's face as he tried to imagine the Innari’s heads inside their asses while trying to chew their balls off. However, it disappeared the moment the woman was brought outside of the confined cell, and her madness-filled eyes stopped on him.
“Don!” Monic exclaimed as she regarded him like a hungry shrimp-hound stalking an unattended child on the virgin beeches of his homeworld. “If you’ve come to gloat, boy, do I have some bad news for you!”
“For fuck’s sake, woman! Shut up and listen.” Donovan growled at her in his best impersonation of a drill instructor before she could say anything that would damn them both. That got her attention, even if her gaze became more menacing than the Chief thought it possible. “I’m here to take you to HQ so that you can say how sorry you are and kiss some Knight Protector ass. Now, if you can’t behave yourself, the restraints stay on, and you go back into the cell. The choice is all yours.”
He was well aware that both his implied promise and threat were impotent. The Innari didn’t answer to him, nor were they under any obligation to follow his commands, but Monic didn’t know that, and Donovan hoped that the troopers would be smart enough to play along. Von Eisstahl’s orders were quite clear: they were to bring the woman to be interrogated in person regarding Neverok’s actions. Although, after what he had seen, the Chief was willing to bet that the conversation between the Knight Protector and the Agent would focus on Helix before long. As soon as that happened, Donovan was a dead man. All fingers would be pointing to him, and there was nothing he could say to save his skin this time. Too late, Rex had realised that Helix had been playing everyone. It had become painfully obvious during the charade he had performed for that idiotic bitch Alexandra. That monster was Third Empire, no matter how he looked at it. Only they and their sympathisers knew how to play on the bruised ego of former nobles. As for the reason he was on Lost Hope, Donovan had a few guesses that varied from sabotage to preparing the station as a bastion for an attack on the UR.
The Chief couldn’t help but smile as he saw Monic lift her hands quietly so that the Innari could remove the restraints. With an overexaggerated gesture, she motioned for him to lead the way while her expression promised that there would be retribution for the indignity she had suffered. Too bad for her because Donovan had other plans, and, like it or not, she was going to help him. However, they would have only one chance at escaping, and that would be on the ride to Section 01 from the docking bay. That was why he had to come up with a way to explain his plan to Monic without the Innari noticing.
“About that trip you wanted to take around the system for your vacation days,” Donovan began as they boarded the monorail cart. “A friend that travels a lot is going to lend me her small yacht while away.”
He watched expectedly to see a sign of comprehension on the woman’s face, only to observe bewilderment and suspicion. “What are you on about?”
“Remember how, before Mistress von Eisstahl arrived, you mentioned you wanted to go on a trip but couldn’t find a suitable ship?” He had to be very careful what he said unless the Innari caught wind of what he was trying to do right now.
“Yeh…” The bewilderment was gone from Monic’s face, but the suspicion remained.
“Well… I can get us a ship. Think about it. Just the two of us out there with no one to bother us for a little while. Plenty of time to sort out our grievances.”
“Not exactly in a position to make plans for the future, Don.” Monic nodded meaningfully at the Innari surrounding them.
“I disagree. Now’s the best time to make plans for the future. Are you in or out?”
Donavan could feel the first signs of panic appearing in his mind. The pan he had hatched in his head would fail in less than a minute if he missed his chance. He was still the Chief of Security on this forsaken husk of a space station, and with the mainframe down, his position wasn’t suspended or restricted. As such, he had unrestricted access to a lot of the AI-operated machinery and equipment. Including a proximity link to the monorail cart’s control system. Careful not to attract attention, Donovan wrapped his feet in the restraining mesh left on the floor. Since the cart was meant to transport cargo and not people, there were no seats – just railings, meshes and belts.
The Chief closed his eyes and began to count the remaining seconds. With or without Monic, he wasn’t going to miss his chance to escape. “Fine.” The word came at the exact same moment Donovan sent the command to the train’s AI to engage the emergency brakes. In exactly two seconds, the cart came to a full stop, sending everyone within it flying towards the reinforced steel wall at the front. It was there to prevent the cargo from tumbling out in such an event, and it wasn’t a big deal if a crate or two got bent or damaged. However, human bodies, even if encased in the best personal armour the UR could offer, were far more fragile.
With a sickening crunching sound, the Innari slammed against the thick slab of steel. The lucky ones died on the spot, and the unlucky ones were still breathing as they crumbled in heaps of broken bones on the cold metallic floor of the cart. Donovan would have met the same fate if not for the mesh holding him back. Still, he could feel sharp pain blossom in his left calf and right wrist. He didn’t need to be a medic to know that he had done some serious damage to his leg, and if he had to guess, at least three fingers in his hand were broken. But he was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“Monic?” He managed to grunt through the pain.
“Fuck. You.” Her laboured voice was lost in the sound of a coil pistol discharging several shots in quick succession.
Preparing himself for the worst, Donovan tilted his head to the side and opened his eyes. Monic was standing next to him, an expression of pure fury written on her bruised and battered face. Her right arm dangled limply, the delicate cybernetic broken in several places as thin lines of blood streamed towards the fingers. In her other hand was a compact pistol, which she undoubtedly had kept hidden in an integrated holster in either her hip or chest. With a sadistic smile spreading on her cracked lips, Monic levelled the weapon at Donovan.
“I didn’t expect that from you, Don.” She moved closer, pressing the hot barrel against the side of his head. “Almost killed me, you know? You probably should have, to be honest, ’cause you see, Commodore Neverok made me a better offer while you were busy kissing the Knight Protector’s ass.”
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Alexandra placed her hand on the hardened steel plating of the console and glared at Marcus. For his part, the tech appeared unaware of the burning fury in her eyes as he remained in a seemingly catatonic state while connected to the mainframe. She was tempted to yank the hard-link cable from his head just to be sure he wasn’t ignoring her on purpose.
“You said an hour,” the Knight hissed after a few more minutes observing the work of the team of techs that were responsible for the Scolia. “It’s been an hour, and the mainframe is still down.”
“Mistress,” the short, stocky man began with a sigh as the light returned to the optical unit he had in place of eyes, “this piece of junk is in a worse shape than I… than anyone could’ve imagined.”
If her glare could melt through steel, Marcus would be a puddle of liquid metals and ash before he could continue. Alas, it could not, and Alexandra was forced to listen to his excuses.
“All the files are corrupted. There are cache dumps within cache dumps, logic loops, and unfinished lines of code attached to major processes. Two of the three AI systems the local techs have installed have crashed and are causing a memory bleed, and the third one is stuck calculating the coordinates for a secondary no-void entry point. On top of that, there is a scrap code that is replicating itself at a frightening speed, clogging the entire mainframe.” He leaned back and rubbed the sides of his face with his hands. “To be honest, I have no idea where even to begin fixing the damned thing.”
“It’s been sabotaged then!”
She slammed her fist on the top of the console while the pounding headache continued to grow at the back of her head. Nothing was going according to her initial plans. This should have been very simple, and somehow, she managed to screw it up. All that was asked of Alexandra was to arrest Oliver Tharks and assume control of Last Hope. She had achieved neither of those tasks. On the contrary, for a reason the experienced soldier couldn’t comprehend, she had allowed Chief Rex to plant the seeds of doubt in her mind and for Helix to… Actually, she had no idea what to make of the strange man. He was competent, capable and surprisingly enough, the scion of a former noble just like herself, who also happened to share the same ideals. And contrary to all logic, she wanted to trust him from the bottom of her heart. Yet, there was also something very unsettling about him.
Alexandra replayed the conversation between them in her head, and apart from his name, the man had revealed nothing. She was the one who made all the conclusions while he just stood there smiling charmingly at her. Or was that mockery at her stupidity? The more she thought about it, the less certain she was about Helix’s expression. It all felt like a distant dream that could very well become a living nightmare if it turned out that Helix wasn’t working for the UR.
Kill him.
The Knight Protector flinched at the thought. For a brief moment, it was almost overwhelming, begging her to act upon it. If it turned out that Helix was working for a secret detachment of the Academy or the Council, she could end up as the one being branded a traitor. She had to wait for Marcus to get the mainframe back up and running. At that, her attention returned to the tech, who was in the process of explaining why the current state of the mainframe couldn’t be the result of sabotage. The man’s long lecture was cut short when the main screen in the room came to life. Turning her head around, Alexandra allowed herself a smile.
“You could have just asked for a few more minutes, you know.”
“That wasn’t me, Mistress,” Marcus squeaked behind her in surprise before his voice returned to normal as he addressed his team of techs. “Who got that bloody thing running? Send me the logs.”
This marked the beginning of a heated exchange; however, Alexandra paid no attention. She was captivated by the few seconds of video capture repeating on the screen. It was a recording from one of the security cameras in docking bay C7 if the tags could be trusted. At first, she wasn’t sure what she was watching, but it became clear after the third time the recording looped. Alexandra was witnessing Helix’s brutal efficiency. It was mesmerising. The speed, the accuracy, the lack of hesitation. They were like nothing she had seen before.
They are like nothing you’ve seen!
The thought rang in her head like an alarm siren. Even if the exact specs were kept a secret, the reaction times of Commodore Agents were frightening, and despite that, it looked as if they didn’t so much as move before they were gunned down. Alexandra had to use her cerebral implants to slow down the recording to get a proper idea of what her eyes were seeing. Whatever hardware Helix had installed in him was beyond what the Academy could master. With that, a cold numbness spread through her as she realised her mistake. Helix was an Infiltrator from the Third Empire. Their cybernetic program was still ahead of that of the UR and the other human nations. The only reason the conflict with them was limited to small-scale skirmishes was that they lacked the manpower for a full-scale war. However, that didn’t mean the imperials weren’t a dangerous foe.
A moment later, a second realisation hit her. Vergonis! Yes, that was why she had dismissed the possibility that Helix was a Kataskopoi operative. Major Khalid had convinced her that it was impossible. But that would mean that the Innari have switched sides. The very thought was lunacy; however, the evidence was right in front of her. But why? How? When?
You’re surrounded by traitors!
Kill them!
Yes. That’s exactly what she should do. Alexandra stormed out of the command centre as she shouted her orders to Markus.
“Get the no-void relay working! Now!”
“But, Mistress—” The tech began to plead with her.
“I don’t care if you have to rebuild the damn mainframe, but I want a message sent to High Command before the end of the day. Demand they send a fleet immediately! Last Hope is marked to become a Third Empie incursion staging point!”
Alexandra managed to regain some semblance of composure by the time she had reached the halfway point of the corridor separating the HQ from the rest of the mining complex. She couldn’t charge blindly. Although confident in her abilities, she was no match for an entire Innari platoon. Her only trump card was the Scolia, and the battle-frame was out of her reach. No, Alexandra would need allies and fast. The only question was, who could she trust? The local Security was out of the question both for their questionable loyalty and utter lack of skill. And with the betrayal of Commodore Neverok, that left only the miners… The Knight Protector cursed herself for an idiot. Neverok wasn’t a traitor. He was probably the only person still loyal to the UR. That’s why he had turned on the Overseer and Chief Rex’s people, and that was why Helix wanted him dead. Only one thing bothered Alexandra, and that was how she fit into all of this.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Because you are Alexandra von Eisstahl.
Instinctively, she pulled the decorative sword from its scabbard and slashed as she turned on her heels the moment the whisper sounded in her ear. The thin, electrified blade sang as it cut through the empty air. Wasting no time, Alexandra spun around, but no one else was in the corridor with her. It took her a few seconds to recognise that the voice she had heard had been her own. Taking a few breaths to calm herself down, she returned the weapon back to its scabbard and let out a hysterical chuckle. The stress was really getting to her. Yet, the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched remained. Just to be sure, Alexandra paused her frantic pacing and looked around while a plan formed in her head.
First, she would need to kill Khalid and his command squad. That, along with the inactive mainframe, would limit the Innari’s ability to communicate. Next, she would pit the remaining troopers against the guards who haven’t signed with Neverok, which shouldn’t be hard. All it would take was a single word from her to make that happen. Finally, the Knight Protector would need to establish a feed with the Commodore or speak to him face to face so that they could figure out how to deal with Helix.
Yes. Then kill Neverok.
Of course. There was no way Alexandra could allow the Commodore to survive. After all, the old man was a witness to the greatest screw-up in her life. One word from him and she would be ruined. Not just her military career but her name and that of her family would become worth less than mud. She could survive becoming a pariah; however, there was no way she could allow anything to happen to the von Eisstahl name.
“Major, what is your position?” Alexandra demanded as soon as she opened the unstable proximity feed to Khalid.
“Section 01-02, Security staff room 2. Debriefing Officer Kurtz and Officer Helix.” The crisp voice of the Innari echoed in her ear.
They are plotting against you.
Good. That meant that they weren’t aware that she had revealed their betrayal. That actually made her plan a lot easier. It also gave the elite troopers a chance to prove her wrong.
“Detain them!” Alexandra looked at the time tracker in the corner of her vision to notice that she had spent close to twenty minutes in the corridor. There had to be some mistake, and she made a note to have Marcus check her implants later as she continued. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
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“Remember, no witnesses,” Virgil spoke over the feed as their shuttle entered its designated landing bay.
“I have to say, hunting our own kind feels a bit strange,” Dorian chuckled and checked his rifle. It was loaded. “Besides, why aren’t the Eight dealing with that? They are—”
“I’ll pretend I have not heard you say that, Discharge.” Puppeteer gave the offender a long glare. “You all should remember where we are and mind your bloody manners. And keep your thoughts to yourselves. Is that clear?”
Lucas waited for his turn to give the confirmation signal. Although he would never voice it, he had to agree with Dorian. Gen 2 and Gen 3 might be of different stock and not share the same template, but they were Demons nonetheless. The two squads were supposed to work together; just like the Shayatin and Daeva were composed of the older generations mixed with the newly improved Gen 3, they too had to lean from the experience of the Gen 2. Sadly, that changed when the ordained scientists of Project Osiris that the older Demons suffered from a dangerous defect which made them unstable. That was why their squad had been released ahead of schedule so that they could dispose of the Gen 2s. Still, it was strange that the Icons of Sin weren’t mobilised for this mission. However, that was something for Virgil to worry about.
“Don’t worry, little brother, I’ll watch your back,” Carthage placed her hand on his shoulder from the adjacent seat, speaking to him directly instead of using the shared feed channel.
“What the hell are you talking about, Nia?” Lucas looked at her, knowing that there was a broad smile behind her helmet from the way she had cocked her head to one side. “You are four seconds older than me, and what is with that brother stuff?”
“She’s been watching the entertainment feed in her free time,” Athena leaned from the seat across, checking the gauges on her burst-laser autocannon. “Her fascination will pass in a day or two.”
“Are you three finished?” Virgil walked between them and gave Helix a small data pad. “I need your opinion on this.”
Lucas scanned the information on the display, making sense of the different and conflicting data readings. There was no mistaking it; the area they were heading for was flooded with a wide variety of toxins. Their physiology should be able to cope with what would pass through the filtration units in their helmets, and he had enough supplies to counter most of the negative effects. However, he still advised caution as Lucas gave the pad back to his commander.
“Helmets on and switch to internal circulation. It will be a chore to fix them afterwards, but better them than having to requisition replacement lungs for everyone after our first mission.” Helix pronounced over the squad feed.
“You trying to avoid your duty, Lucas?” Rage’s voice sounded in his ear from the mutual feed they all shared.
“What the hell is your problem, John?” Ezekiel jumped from his seat from the back of the row opposite the one where Helix was.
“No, Preacher! What is his problem? He always says stuff like that! In every bloody exercise we went through, he kept fussing over the slightest injury. Even when a few wounds could have saved us time and ammunition. Well, I have news for you, Lucas. We were designed to be wounded! There are a dozen replacements for each of our organs back at Osiris. Instead of accepting it, this coward is shackling us with caution.” That earned Rage a glare from every other squad member.
Lucas took a deep breath, reminding himself that John was mentally unstable. The priests had shared their plans to have the man returned to the vat and re-constructed. Someone had messed up when arranging the neuropathy in John’s brain, and Helix vowed that person would pay dearly for this mistake once they returned home for evaluation.
“You can’t be seriously thinking that, John!” Preacher wasn’t ready to let the insult go, yelling at the top of his voice. “It will take two, maybe three, hours at the worst to fix the filtration system. And it will take twenty hours for Helix to cut you open, scoop out the mush you’ve made of your insides and replace them with the new ones.”
“That’s enough!” Virgil bellowed. “Rage, you will keep radio silence until the end of the mission. That’s a direct order.” Puppeteer then turned to their comms operator. “And you, Ezekiel, do not engage him, understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Both Rage and Preacher saluted before returning to their seats.
As the first real deployment went, they were off to a poor start. Lucas understood they were all on edge and were, for the most part, just letting out some steam. In the end, they were not going to face some heretical rebels or tainted aliens; they were going against their own kind. People who were trained and made the same way as them. And to make matters worse, they were going to fight inside the damned Imperial Place on Terra itself while escorting both the first concubine, Marion Nettle, and His Holiness’ favourite mistress, Julia Kai. The squad couldn’t allow friction to cloud their minds or show discord in front of the two outsiders who were strapped to the seats at the very back of the shuttle.
The others could pretend that the cursed psi-witches didn’t exist all they wanted, but Helix couldn’t ignore their presence. After all, the pair of psionics would serve both as their guides and handlers so that the Demons didn’t wander into places where they weren’t supposed to. And the honour of playing babysitter for one of them fell to Helix and Carthage.
“Helix, go check on our guests. Make sure Hell’s atmosphere won’t kill them once the shuttle door opens.” Virgil placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly. It was obvious he was trying to put as much distance between Helix and Rage while the latter cooled off.
“You think the palace techs might have screwed up?” Lucas smiled behind his helmet. Entertaining such an idea was beyond heretical and went into the realm of being utterly laughable.
“No,” Virgil shook his head. “I hope they did. That way, we can leave them here for their own protection.”
“Fair enough. I’ll see what I can do.”
Puppeteer’s grip on his shoulder tightened, and he switched to a private feed. “You will do no such thing. My order is clear enough. You are not to tamper with their equipment. You are to check their rebreathers, and if you find any flaws or issues, you are to report them to me. The decision to fix them or not will be made by me. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” He managed through clenched teeth.
“Look, Lucas,” Virgil spoke with a sigh over the feed. “Both Lady Nettle and Lady Kai are sanctioned psionics, not psi-witches. You have to be able to distinguish between the two. And if you can’t, think of them as members of the royal family. After all, they are two of the Blessed Saint’s favourite toys.”
There was a lot Helix wished to say, but he knew that it would be pointless. Puppeteer just couldn’t understand that this particular mutation in humanity should have been snuffed a long time ago. It was unnatural, and all evidence suggested that it was artificially introduced into the human genome sometime during or after the First Hell. Silently, he walked to the two women at the back of the shuttle and knelt in front of them as he began to check their protection suits and rebreather masks.
“You don’t like us.” Lady Kai stated flatly as he gently tugged on one of the air hoses on the left side of her rebreather. “I don’t need my gifts to know it’s true.”
Lucas stopped himself before he said anything that would be considered an insult. Like it or not, he had to watch his words around those two lest he put the entire squad in danger. Both women were Preta class psionics, which made them extremely dangerous. From what Helix could recall from the limited information he was provided regarding them, they could influence the average person’s thoughts and minds to the point where they could erase someone’s personality with ease. Although he and the other Demons were somewhat resistant to such attacks and would be warned if either Lady Kai or Lady Nettle used their powers, any fight within the confines of the shuttle would result in death for everyone on board.
“Please excuse Julia,” Lady Nettle chimed from behind him. “Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that she used to be a very successful diplomatic envoy. It’s just that she is a little scared right now. As am I. And you… Well, you’re not what we imagined.”
“From Cardinal Zhu’s reports, we assumed that you’d be similar to Michel and the other Icons of Sin.” Marrion continued in a steady voice, hiding her discomfort behind an air of confidence while Helix moved to examine her gear. “It’s hard not to notice – and we really try our best not to intrude – but the emotions you Demons bleed are, well, surprisingly human.”
Helix’s hand froze, and he held his breath. It would be so easy to snap her neck. They weren’t human and would never be considered as such, no matter what they did. That was made abundantly clear the moment they were released from the growth vats. They were merely tools created to smite emperor Constanine’s enemies. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Hell’s atmosphere is deadly to humans. We can tolerate it for a brief while without suffering too much damage, but you cannot. As such, if you notice signs of nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath or similar, or if your suits are damaged, you are to report them immediately.”
With that, he stood up and walked back to his squad mates. He should’ve killed them for suggesting that any one of them was human. Even if that was impossible, there was nothing to stop Helix from imagining the devastation his rifle could cause to their fragile bodies. Lucas forced the thought away and issued a squad-wide bio-check to be displayed on the screen integrated into the inside of his helmet as he sat back in his seat.
< DEMON 01 PUPPETEER – H: 167; BP: 145/102; BCM: 75% >
< DEMON 02 PREACHER – H: 163; BP: 147/105; BCM: 74% >
< DEMON 03 LUCIFER – H: 120; BP: 133/87; BCM 40% >
< DEMON 04 CARTHAGE – H: 169; BP: 150/109; BCM 78% >
< DEMON 05 DISCHARGE – H: 164; BP: 145/104; BCM: 75% >
< DEMON 06 RAGE – H: 175; BP: 155/113; BCM: 80% >
< DEMON 07 HORNET – H: 165; BP: 145/103; BCM: 76% >
< DEMON 08 HELIX – H: 188; BP: 165/118; BCM: 95% >
“Athena, you have yet to enter the pre-combat state. Your battle chems levels are low. Is there a problem engaging your implants?” He spoke over the direct feed with the woman sitting in front of him.
“What? No. I’m just offering a prayer of forgiveness to His Holiness since we are about to intrude in this sacred place.” Lucifer answered and finished adjusting the settings of her weapon.
“Make sure you make it a short one. Once the door opens, I will have to report you.” It was all the time he could give her for that strange obsession of hers.
“Thank you, Lucas.” She nodded at him and leaned back in her seat.
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“It appears you were telling the truth.” The voice of the Innari commander pulled Helix out of his slumber. Pushing the memory away, the medic opened his eyes and looked at the man standing at the far end of the room.
It wasn’t the best time or place to rest, but after being active for more than three days straight, he couldn’t help but get some shut-eye. Stumbling on the group of soldiers as he and Zoë made their way back to the Control room made that possible. Usually, he would have avoided them, but Zeti had been closely observing the Knight Protector woman and notified the medic that her mental state was deteriorating fast. Contrary to what he expected, she was closer to awakening as a psi-witch. It wasn’t that surprising; after all, interacting with a Gamma-state psionic was pretty much a flip of the coin. Still, Lucas had hoped that talking to her and getting on her good side would extend the time before she entered Delta-state. This, of course, necessitated a dramatic change in his plans. No matter how optimistic he tried to be, Miss Kurtz would be of no help in her current condition. The girl was skirting a psychological abyss, and even if that could be ignored, her overall health made her just slightly more effective than a human shield. And hunting a psi-witch wasn’t something he was confident he could do on his own. That’s why Lucas and Zoë were currently sitting on a bench in one of the rooms the local guards used as a briefing room or a dining hall, surrounded by a group of Innari troopers. One way or another, he had to convince them to assist him in restraining or killing the psi-witch.
Thankfully, Miss von Eisstahl had made things easy based on what he was seeing on the display of the console behind the commander of the soldiers. The woman was pacing frantically up and down the corridor, muttering incoherently to herself, all the while the thin sword at her belt kept slicing through the air. Helix smiled to himself – this was perhaps the luckiest thing to ever happen to him.
“Doesn’t mean I trust you completely,” the veteran soldier continued, his voice making his feelings on the matter quite clear.
“I understand, Major,” Lucas nodded, not bothering to recall the man’s name. For the time being, he and his squad were expendable pawns and nothing more. “As soon as the no-void relay is back online, you will receive all the confirmation you need from the Academy.”
From the corner of his eye, the Demon could see Zoë scoff at the blatant lie, but thankfully, the girl was wise enough to keep her mouth shut.
“Still…” the trooper rubbed the back of his hand, diverting his attention to the other members of the Innari who looked similarly uneasy as him. “Knight Protector von Eisstahl a psionic. She’s a damn hero to so many…”
“That’s why Officer Kurtz and I had to be discreet about it.”
“And we are only to restrain her?” Lucas had lost count of how many times the Major had asked this question while he tried to deceive him and the other troopers present that they should assist him.
“If possible.” The medic let out a sigh as he stood up from the bench. Apparently, half an hour of sleep was all he was going to get. “I understand your reservations, Major. I really do. And between you and me – your loyalty to Mistress von Eisstahl is commendable. But,” at that, Lucas pointed at the screen where half of the live video capture was replaced by the readings Zeti was taking, “you can see it for yourself.”
The Demon stepped closer, trying his best to keep his expression and voice as calm as possible. “Major, I’m taking a risk by trusting you. My orders were very explicit – no witnesses. Word of this cannot reach the general populace.”
“I understand.” The man nodded slowly before straightening up as if he was electrocuted. “It’s the Knight Protector.”
“Let her come to us.”
“Section 01-02, Security staff room 2. Debriefing Officer Kurtz and Officer Helix.” The Innari spoke in a heavy yet crisp voice. He then turned to Lucas. “We will restrain her. And if any harm comes to her before we receive that confirmation from High Command, I will kill you.”
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