Retribution

Yalith

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Retribution

« on: January 27, 2008, 02:29:40 PM »

((I wrote this quite some time ago but never got around to actually posting it. This ties up the storyline of my first character Yalith. The precursor to this story can be found in the story Of Paths.
-Rei))

Retribution

Part I

The Hovercraft Agnitio slipped silently through the barren wasteland of the surface, gliding like a wraith through a minefield of debris, the skeletal remains of what was once a proud, ancient city. A dense fog obscured the worst of the wreckage on the ground like a spectral tribute to the countless souls who's light once permeated the landscape, but had long since been snuffed out. The pale, whitish blue glow from the crafts hoverpads, gave the area around it an almost surreal appearance and the mist billowed out in the wake of the passing ship, as if affronted that the living should dare disturb this place of ruin and death.

The running lights and the windows of the craft were dark, and all save one of the windows were empty. A young woman with raven black hair stood gazing out at the desolate landscape, her careworn eyes flicking about constantly.

“You think he's out there Yali?” A female voice from inside the room asked and the woman turned around to face the Captain of the ship, her back to the bleakness behind her.

“Without a doubt.. but I'd be surprised if they don't know we're here also.”

“Well.. we'll find out soon enough. We've got about half an hour till they're supposed to show... Everything good an ready?”

Yalith pulled a heavy, dark gray hooded shirt over hear head and nodded. “As ready as we'll ever be. You're sure no one knows I'm here Nav?”

“Only the three of us in this crew and your old Captain know this is the ship you transferred to.. They don't have a clue.”

Yalith nodded and returned to looking out the window. “Have the sensors picked up anything yet?”

“No yet.. but between this damn fog and the quantity of different metal and alloys in the area, I'm not surprised we're finding it hard to detect anything. I doubt we'll pick up their electrical signal before we're right on top of 'em... or vice versa.”

“No surprise there.. probably why they picked the area.” Yalith's eyes continued probing the eerie landscape and she noticed a faint disturbance in the mist a few hundred yards ahead and to the right of the ship. “I think I see...... it's them.. they're heading towards us.” She bent down and picked up a dark colored pack and slipped it onto her back.

“We'll set 'er down here and make them come to us. It'll give you time to get out and away from the ship..... Watch your six, Yal'.”

“Always do..” Yalith gave her friend a faint, reassuring smile and turned to leave the bridge, making her way down to the rear hatch as the ship descended and settled on the ground with a grating bump.


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Yalith

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Re: Retribution

« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2008, 11:52:37 AM »

Part II

About a half hour later, the Captain of the Agnitio stood silhouetted in the light spilling out from the same open hatch which illuminated a man standing on the ruined ground below her. He looked up and met her gaze, his steely blue eyes piercing in their intensity. Silence stretched for a minute before he cleared his throat and spoke in a rough voice.
“Captain Salara Nell, I assume........ May I be permitted to speak with you aboard your craft?”

Navitas eyed him a moment. “If you'll tell me what can be so important to warrant coming aboard my ship, in person, to speak about?.. Your transmission was fairly.. candid.”

He looked up at her and flashed a disarming smile. “You can call me Kurt. And to answer your question, I find any other way of communicating other then face to face, too open to being intercepted or overheard. Especially for topics of a more.. delicate nature.”

Her eyes narrowed but she nodded finally and backed into the door, turning as she went and he moved to followed her in. Five minutes later found them sitting across from each other at a steel table in what served jointly as the mess hall and meeting room.

Kurt took a moment and looked around the room“Good to see your ship seems to be doing well.. You know, you're a hard woman to track down... almost impossible infact..”

“It's intentional... She paused and looked into his eyes. “Though I think we can do away with the small talk. You're obviously here for a reason.. cut to it shall we?”

He looked at her a moment, not at all taken back by her directness. “There aren't many machinist ships that fly as far.. how shall I say, under the radar as the Agnitio seems to. Your apparent lack of.. visibility, I guess, is what made me seek you out in the first place. I may have a proposition for you.. if you're interested.”

She raised an eyebrow but otherwise kept her expression blank. “I'm listening.. but beyond that I'm not making any guarantees.”

“Well.. I know you are more.. sympathetic with some of the more extreme views of those who seek only to protect the simulation and it's inhabitants.. more so I think, then you would have others believe. I'm sure you're aware of the increasing amount of chaos and violence that is marring the lives of everyone, reds and blues alike. Both within, and in growing numbers outside the Matrix.. The reason for this is quite simple.. There are far too many, that for varying reasons should never have been allowed outside the sim. They are less able to deal with the truth and realities now, then they ever were before, living their happy, worry free lives... I'm sure you realize this.” His eyes, never leaving hers, looked almost gray, reflecting the cold metal of the surrounding room.

She nodded once. “I'm aware of the problem.. though at this point, I don't see what can be done about it.”

“We have ways to...” He paused as if searching for the right word. “..encourage people to remember the benefits of a simpler life. Once they do, they have no qualms about helping us achieve our goals until such a point when the memory, can once again can become a reality. But this cannot happen until there is no one left on the outside to wake everyone back up to continue this pointless war.. Or else this whole cycle will keep repeating itself... There's a place for you with us.. if you care as much as I think you do about this world and want to help us protect it from further damage and strife.”

“And by encourage you'd mean to force that choice on the many who would not make it freely?”

Kurt bowed his head in acquiesce. “If that need be the case... but I'm sure you agree my dear, the needs of the whole, far out weigh those of the selfish few.”

Navitas paused for a minute, as if weighing something out in her mind.. “You know there would be intense opposition to something like this.. I can think can think of a couple groups in particular, who could make things... difficult to say the least.. The Syndicate alone is capable of causing more problems then I'd rather consider.”

His eyes returned to hers. “Matters like that are easily dealt with.. and plans have already been made to do just that when the time comes. I wouldn't put too much thought in it.”

Her face otherwise expressionless, Navitas nodded slightly. “To be so confident you must have some strength in your fleet.. how many ships have currently allied with yours?”

“Yours would be the third... though we need not have great numbers behind us in order to be effective in our cause.. In fact it makes things easier. The less you have, the less visible you are.. and all the more easier to carry out what needs to be done. He stood up and stretched slightly before smiling down at her. “But I think I've imposed on you for long enough.. Think it over. I'm sure you know how to contact me.”

Nodding, she stood up. “I do.. and I'm sure I will..” and with a sly smile, added while walking him back out to the rear hatch. “You'll hear from me shortly.” She watched him fade gradually into the fog, before closing the hatch and returning to the bridge.


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Yalith

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Re: Retribution

« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2008, 02:36:34 PM »

Part III

About forty-five minutes later, at the sound of footsteps echoing through the ship and coming up behind her, she looked up from the computer she'd been working at.
“Any problems?”

Yalith walked over to the same window she had been at earlier and looked out, rubbing her hands together briskly. “None.... It's cold out there..” She shook her head as if to clear it. “..You?”

“Well.. it's as you suspected... though you're sure you want to go through with this Yali?.. I know you used to be close..”

“My friend died along time ago Nav... I'm not about to let what happened to him, happen to others.”

Navitas nodded and turned back to the computer where she keyed up a program. Looking at the screen for a moment, she entered a command and watched as an open window started blinking.

A few kilometers away, an indicator light on a small device nestled between the main, right and left hoverpads of a craft moving in the opposite direction, blinked twice then turned off. Thirty seconds later, a small explosion set off a massive chain reaction within the ships electrical systems. The resulting blast sending debris from both the ship and it's surroundings, flying in every direction.

Half an hour later, the Agnitio glided slowly by the area. Though a few fires still burned, wreckage from the ship was nearly indistinguishable from the twisted metal and debris that already littered the land. Even now, a heavy mist had begun to reform, mixing with the lingering smoke of the area and obscuring everything in it's density.

Yalith stood looking intently out out the window, watching from a distance how the fog hid the worst of the rubble, leaving only the odd, broken and twisted towers of long forgotten buildings to rise out of the mist like islands from an ocean. In a quite and somber voice she said, though to no one in particular..

Pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth. For we, though ye meek and gentle, were thy butchers.


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