The FSS Chevelle had been
docked for nearly a week before Havoc squad was given approval for restricted
shore leave. With all the data Ebony had gathered, it was standard for that
having been sorted through before they were allowed to do anything else.
Thankfully, in Taylor’s opinion, they were not the ones who had to do the
sorting.
That gave Taylor the opportunity
to spend most of his time in the Research and Development Department aboard the
Chevelle. It was a good way for him to avoid being ogled by Ebony.
However, now he actually got
to stretch his legs and explore the Federal Dock Station Santana. During their
raid of the CoU frigate, apparently one of the escort destroyers managed to get
in some good hits against the Chevelle, which led them to require docking for
repairs and rearming.
The Santana was a bustling
trade port that double as a repair dock for most classes of Federation ships or
even private ships that would be willing pay for the outrageous costs for
repair. Coming from a family of mechanics, he knew private customers were
getting ripped off left and right.
As they stepped out into the
terminal section of the spaceport, Ebony snapped her fingers to garner
everyone’s attention. “The boss lady gave me these,” she said as she held out five
personal data-drives. “Our paychecks.”
Everyone but Taylor and
Jackson jumped to grab theirs from her. Both of them shared an amused glance at
each other as Henry, Aleksei and Stephanie shoved and elbowed one another to
get their money.
“Rosa says we’re also
restricted to the market district and the barracks thanks to the big idiot
here,” she thumbed over to Aleksei.
He scoffed in
outrage, “you throw stun grenade in one of the training halls and all of sudden
you’re bad person, that’s whole point of training!” he complained as he
childishly sulked at being caught committing his own brand of hijinks.
A thought occurred to
Taylor, “why are we being paid?”
Henry and Aleksei giggled to
themselves at Taylor’s “rookiness”.
Ebony however, answered him
smoothly with a hint of mischief in her eye, “Rosa doesn’t care how we get our
job done, however, everything she gets us is tracked so if we require some…
unconventional products, she cuts us a check for us to buy ourselves. That way
it’s our asses on the line and not hers.”
Taylor found that logic
flawed but if it got him some spending money who was he to complain as he took
the data-drive from Ebony. They were small, about the size of a pistol clip
with a small digital display. On it read the number 40,000. He assumed that
meant the amount of credits that were on the drive, however, despite the large
amount of digital currency, he knew better than to celebrate. By the look on
the squad’s faces, it was either not a lot when it came to the prices on the
port, or they've had larger sums in the past, though he was leaning towards the
prior.
Stephanie had already
started sauntering off towards the market. “We also have a curfew! 1900!” Ebony
called out. Only to be blatantly flipped off without given a second thought.
Everyone chuckled, including Ebony, “remember, don't get caught,” she told the
rest of the squad before heading her own direction. That left the guys to
figure out what to do.
“Going to find some
supplies,” Jackson said before the awkwardness could settle in and took off
towards the market.
Henry snorted at the boring option
and wrapped his arm comically over Aleksei’s shoulders, “I plan on getting
drunk and committing all sorts of adultery, you in?” he asked Taylor. Taylor
had no clue what to do or where to go so he figured sticking with some of the
squad was his best bet.
The fact that it was the two
of the most mischievous of the squad was an existential question of whether it
was a benefit or his own doom, however, it could be worse.
“Sure, why not. I could go
for some revelry,” Taylor shrugged.
Henry howled as a cheer,
even more amusing was that Aleksei did too as if it were a ritual.
“Hide your husbands, hide
your wives! Henry is back in town!” Henry roared as they headed off to the
market. Taylor just shook his head, wondering what sort of trouble he had just
gotten himself into.
Later that night Taylor
stumbled into his private barracks quarters designated by the master chief. The
entire night was a blur to him as he stumbled across the room and nearly
tripped over the storage trunk at the end of the small bed that was provided.
He plopped into the bed
which, even in his drunken state, was still rather uncomfortable yet just comfy
enough to be bearable.
He recalled the possibility
of a bar brawl, which may have been why the side of his face felt funny. He
vaguely remembered Henry hitting on a group of girls who were cadets from
another ship in port.
Taylor sputtered in laughter
as he remembered Henry casually moving from hitting on the girls to hitting on
the one of the guys who was trying to get him to leave them alone. There was
something about a body being thrown over a table by Aleksei and Henry getting
kicked in the balls by one of the girls, but aside from that, all Taylor could
do was remember the mass amount of hard liquor they had drank.
Taylor laughed in hysterics that
nearly sent him rolling off the bed as he briefly remembered Henry head butting
a bar served taco after Aleksei told him to shut up and eat.
There was a knock on the
door. Taylor let out a loud grunt letting who ever it was know that he was
still awake. The door opened, “you know, you were supposed to be back three
hours ago,” came Ebony’s voice.
Taylor had his
forearm across his eyes, but he could hear her step inside and close the door.
“Is it still the same day?” he asked with an amused snort. Though when she
didn't respond he started to get annoyed by her presence.
“What do you want?” he
gruffed. Shifting his shoulders and hips so he can settle into the bed better.
After a moment
passed she said, “there’s something I need to tell you…well show you actually.”
He noticed her voice was softer and more tentative than usual as if she was
unsure of what it was she wanted to say. He realized it was pretty
uncharacteristic of her.
“Can it wait till morning?”
he mumbled as he felt his body start to go fuzzy.
“Well…” She started before
pausing, “I’ve put it off all week already because you were squirreled away in
R and D…”
Taylor let out a grunt, not
quite believing what she was saying. “It’s about the girl you're always talking
about…” She interjected before he could argue.
That was something that got
his attention, as he lifted his arm and focused his blurry vision on a timid
looking Ebony. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Ebony rolled her eyes at his
drunken hostility and took out her data-slate. She finished selecting what she
wanted and thrust it towards him, “just read this.”
Annoyed, Taylor sat up and
swung his legs off the bed as he snatched the device from her. It took a second
for his eyes to focus but once he saw the picture of Morrigan, he sobered up
quite a bit. “Where did you find this!?” he demanded in shock.
“I found it in the CoU
database…” She said as she took a seat next to him but leaving a healthy enough
space between them.
That was when Taylor started
reading the document she had found.
“No…” he let out as he read
on further, his hands tightening around the device.
“I’m so sorry Taylor,” Ebony
managed to say before the screen cracked in his hands. “Hey what the fuck?!”
she exclaimed.
“Get out…” he said softly.
She didn't listen as she tried to pry the device from his hands.
“I said get out!” he roared
as he stood, yanking the device away from her and throwing it at the door.
She stood herself taller
despite being shorter than him, “don’t be an asshole just because I found you answers,
sure as hell beats sitting around wondering for the rest of your life!” She yelled
into his face. However, she shrank and backed away as he loomed over her now,
menacingly.
“There is no way that is real,
no way!” he said through grit teeth, pointing at the data-slate that was likely
broken beyond repair now.
“You said she was
conscripted with you… it’s entirely possible…” Ebony squeaked out, visibly
shaken by the level of anger he was displaying. She had a bad feeling showing
him would poke the proverbial bear.
“Get. Out. Before I throw
you out.” He growled. It was far less of a request.
Ebony scurried and grabbed
her data-slate and slipped through the door in a hurry as Taylor kicked the
door shut.
He turned and threw the
storage chest against the wall, then flipping the bed and shattering the small
desk that was in the room.
He was in a torrential rage
as he found and broke every little thing he could find and punched more holes in
the wall than he could’ve if he had not been drunk.
“It can’t be real…” he
murmured to himself as his energy burned out like a fading star. His mind
recalled every detail of the document labeled “Confirmation of Execution”. It
stated that Morrigan, his Mori, was captured by the CoU as a prisoner of war
and executed for terrorism, grievous crimes against humanity, war crimes and serial
murder in the 1st degree dated back four months prior. That she had
been sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Taylor slumped on the floor,
crying, unable to hold back the tidal wave of grief and disbelief as his mind
could no longer bear trying to deny the apparent legitimacy of the file Ebony
had found. Nothing could stop him now from bawling his eyes out into the
bittersweet peace of total exhaustion.
ΩΩΩ
Mo’Emori and Helen worked diligently
in their office with Torvil while Jennifer lounged on the couch she had dragged
into the room. One could see it as offensive that Jen did nothing while the
others worked however, she was
significantly better with a gun than a computer.
“I really need a beer,
anyone want one?” Jen chirped with a sigh. Her extensive boredom clearly
showing as she twirled a throwing knife between her fingers.
Mo’Emori raised her hand in
childish excitement, flourishing her delicately slender hand as she typed
furiously with her other hand.
Helen caught a glimpse of
Torvil's eye roll as she caught the adorable Eskarii bouncing in her seat with
her hand still raised. She snorted and sighed in amusement, “you know honey,
you're not supposed to drink while working,” she said mildly.
Mo’Emori turned to look at
her pseudo mother and stuck her tongue out playfully, “it’s okay Mem, Yuma
doesn't need to know!” she said in a loud, excited whispered despite the room
being entirely sound proof.
“Yeah! Come on, aren't you
supposed to be the cool mom or something?” Jen jabbed as she sat up and went to
stand up.
Helen gave her friend an
amused look as she eyed Jen’s figure. The tank top and yoga pants combined with
her messy hair made it seem like Jen had just rolled out of bed.
“I’m pretty sure you're
supposed to be the cool aunt and I'm supposed to be the tough but lovable
mother,”
“Well duh! I supply the
contraband and the cool mom lets the kids have it!” Jen said with a shit eating
grin flourishing two thumbs up.
“Does this mean I have a mo’dyrb?”
Mo’Emori asked with wide eyes as she looked between each of them.
Torvil grunted in his usual
passive demeanor, “Di, Ti hael un nyd chwaeda,” he grunted to his sister.
Mo’Emori’s eyes went as wide
as saucers as tears subtly formed in her eyes. She stood and shifted between
three desks and nearly tackled Jen in an emotionally charged hug. All the while
Helen shook her head with a soft smile.
Jen clasped her arms around
the excitable alien and tried to remain balanced as she gave the room a
confused look, “um, I missed that completely…” she stated in the hope that
someone would explain why Mo’Emori was clinging her to like a koala.
Helen could not help but
chuckle as she eyed Torvil, “he more or less called you her sister-in-law,
well, her sister. I don’t think they have in-laws in Eskarii families.”
Mo’Emori squeaked as she danced
on her toes as Jen’s arms tightened around her in a proper, more familial hug. The
smile on Jen’s was one of pure happiness while her eyes reflected her surprise
in the blatant announcement, which she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant in
its entirety.
Once Jen let the
girl go, she shifted over and wrapped her arms around Torvil’s neck from
behind, “aweee, you big softy!” she teased as she gave him a hard kiss on the cheek.
“I am not soft,” Torvil
deadpanned.
“Right, how could I forget
you’re such a stick in the ass,” Jen retorted as she nuzzle her cheek against
his.
The comment caused Torvil to
pause as his brain tried to filter what she said. “Is the saying not ‘stick in
the mud’?” he queried cautiously as he watched her out of the corner of his
eye.
She grinned as she tugged
him closer, “not the way I use them!” she said shamelessly which caused Helen
to laugh as Torvil turned seven shades of red.
Without any warning, Torvil
turned his head and dragged his tongue across her cheek.
Jen sputtered and jumped
back, “fuck! Damn it…ugh! I guess I deserved that,” she complained as she tried
to wipe all the saliva off her cheek. All the while Torvil chuckled in triumph
and his little sister giggled like a 12 year old as she watched their
interaction.
Torvil went straight
back into working as Jen stepped behind him, kissing him on the top of the
head. “So, do you want anything while I'm…wait what's that?” she asked as she
got distracted by something on Torvil’s computer.
It was an incoming missive
from the CoU intelligence center in old Russia labeled “Verification required”.
Mo’Emori tried to peek over
their shoulders however, the spare tiny laptop was difficult to see, so she
shifted over to Helen’s desk and pointed at the notification she had as well.
“No shit…” Jen announced,
Torvil having opened the missive. Helen too opened it and gasped in surprise.
Torvil and Mo’Emori looked
between the two women, “what is it?” Torvil finally asked as he noticed Helen
start to tear up.
Helen was beside herself as
she stared at the set of pictures of a large ginger bearded man sitting inside
a bar with his hair grown into a shaggy length in one of the photos. The rest
of the photos were candid shots of some sort of bar fight, all focusing on the
man.
“That there, is Mori’s
man-meat.” Jen stated firmly as she got over her initial surprise and
commandeered Torvil’s computer.
Torvil groaned as she
bounced into his lap, “what does that even mean? What is a man-meat?”
“Don’t ask questions you
don’t want the answer to babe,” Jen quipped as she focused on the information
in the file.
Mo’Emori glanced between the
screen and Helen, “is this Taylor?” she asked softly, failing to recognize the
man she once saw a picture of. Helen nodded and let out a haggard breath.
“I would recognize that boy
anywhere…”
Like a flip of a switch,
Mo’Emori went into work mode as she sidled over to her computer and started
working with her own copy of the missive.
Jen slammed her hands on the
desk in a huff, “why the hell do you guys have your own files encrypted or
ciphered or whatever the fuck you call it! I can’t make heads or tails of this
crap!”
Torvil chuckled as he pulled
Jen into his chest while she grumbled to herself, “for precisely this reason fy
aarden cys’wyr.”
“Awe!” Mo’Emori adored
before quickly returning to the document. “It says that suspected APB Taylor R.
Briggs was last seen in the “Davenport Tap” bar on the Federal Dock Station Santana…”
she read as her memory sorted through anything she knew about the Santana.
“We have spies imbedded on
the Santana, four dock workers, an administrator and a bar owner who goes by
the name of Charles,” Mo’Emori said almost mechanically.
Helen and Jen gave Mo’Emori a
surprised look, though Jen’s look was more disturbed than surprised.
“How the hell?” Jen
questioned awkwardly.
Torvil snorted, “Mo’Emori
has an eidetic memory,” he said as if it were common knowledge as he watched
his sister work with heated fervor.
“But, what good does this do
us? I mean… I'm glad to see him well but how does this help us?” Helen asked,
having never been drawn into something so productive in their personal missions
yet.
“If he is still on the
station… then we may get the chance to talk to him,” the quirky alien girl said
with a hint of hope as she smashed her finger into the send button on her
computer.
“Are you serious?!” both
Helen and Jen asked simultaneously. Even Torvil leaned forward as much as he
could in intrigue.
Mo’Emori turned and gave
Helen her happiest of grins, “Yes!”
ΩΩΩ
Taylor managed to grieve on
his own for two days before Henry managed to corner him. He knew he could not
avoid his squad forever, though he did wish for more time to himself.
Henry hovered obnoxiously
close while Taylor ate at a booth in one of various diners within the market
district, chewing through some sort of beef on a stick that was good enough to
pique Taylor’s starving stomach’s interest.
“Tough man to find eh? At
least we didn’t ruin you from a good time,” Henry said staring directly at the
beer Taylor had been sipping.
Taylor eyed the beer before
turning his attention back to his food with a shrug, “just been wanting some
time to myself.”
Henry bobbed his head casually,
though the look on his face told Taylor he didn’t quite believe him, “right,
right sure. Everyone needs a bit of ‘me time’, hell even I do,” the man
shrugged before sneering, “granted, my time is usually napping somewhere no one
can usually find me, you got lucky finding me underneath the freight elevator
in Bay 12!”
Henry gave Taylor a charming
smile. Taylor, despite his reservations, could not resist but find the humor in
Henry’s ability to sleep anywhere, snorting into a subtle smile.
“Haha! There he is,” Henry
flourished enthusiastically at getting his squad mate to crack a smile.
Taylor casually flipped him
the bird before taking another bite of food. “So, what’s going on?” he asked in
a tone that told Henry he knew that he had been seeking him out.
“Eh, well, you know… squad
is getting together over at Daven’s tonight. Figured you might wanna join the
party.”
Taylor took a sip of his
beer feeling deflated. “I don’t know man…”
“Ah come on! You’re skulking
about the station like some kinda ghost. No one knows what you’re up to, gone
all hours of the day, people are beginning to think you’re some kind of fuckin’
sex weirdo-that’s my fucking title by the way!” Henry jokingly grieved in
exaggeration.
His argument was beyond
ridiculous except Taylor wouldn’t put it past him to start spreading the
weirdest of rumors around if he ignored him.
Besides, if he’s going to be
in such a bad mood he might as well get drunk too.
“Fine, fine sure.
I'll be there,” he said reluctantly.
“Good, lets go!” Henry
ushered him.
Taylor looked up in
annoyed bewilderment, “what? Now?”
Henry checked his watch that
did not exist, “yeah right now, party started 20 minutes ago. Come on, up and
at em!”
Taylor groaned while cursing
under his breath as he grabbed the remainder of his food and beer and followed
the exuberant asshole to the bar. At least thankful that he paid ahead of time
before Henry’s interruption.
As the night dragged on,
Taylor’s attitude became well adjusted enough to hide his misery around his
squad mates. He even began sharing in the laughter and hijinks Havoc squad was
prone to though he did opt out of the challenge to drink Aleksei under the
table. After the first day on leave he learned pretty quickly that the Martian
could put away alcohol like a tank.
Henry became his
usual perverted self except apparently he had an overdrive when he drank.
Jackson appeared to be someone who did not turn down a challenge once everyone
got him going. It turned out the reserved medic was pretty hilarious when he
learned to relax.
Ebony still
irritated Taylor however, when she drank, she seemed to have open eyes to just
anyone which sucked her attention away from him though she also became
extremely confrontational, having to require someone to drag her away from a
fight she was aiming to start up.
Stephanie was still the
saint of the group, silent as ever against her own will, though everyone nearly
died from laughter every time she felt inclined to say something. Taylor did
notice she sported a freshly split lip and several new bruises.
Turned out Steph had spent
the majority of her shore leave in the training arena on the far side of the
barracks, challenging every marine on base that was foolish enough to spar with
the woman.
That did give Taylor some
ideas on how to occupy the rest of his time before venturing back out into space.
“Drinks! Now!” Aleksei drunkenly
roared as a way of getting Taylor’s attention.
“Baby needs his bottle!”
Jackson chortle, which had Taylor chuckling himself.
“Yeah, yeah I’m on it!” Taylor
announced over their laughter before sliding the half drunk bottle of beer to
Aleksei who was fiending enough to not even care that it was Taylor’s.
Taylor walked up to the bar
and knocked on the counter to get the bartender’s attention.
What was odd was a man
stepped out of the back room and sent the bartender away while he grabbed two
full handfuls of drinks. Three of them being mixed drinks.
Taylor watched the man
studying his squad. Taylor took a curious glance back to see they were not
acting out of the ordinary, if ordinary was brushing the edge of civility.
When he turned back around,
the man behind the bar was directly in front of him, calmly setting down the
drinks as he looked Taylor in the eyes.
Taylor didn’t know whether
to greet him or punch him in the face but the man glanced down at the drinks
and gave a subtle nod.
He found one of the bottles
was sitting on a napkin, which said,
Call from H.C. tonight.
Taylor’s eyes widened as his
brain tried to process who H.C. could be, but before he could say anything the
man leaned in, “be here after closing,” he said, just loud enough for Taylor to
hear him before the man knocked one of the beers over, spilling directly on the
note.
“Oh! I’m sorry sir that was
my fault,” the guy exclaimed as Taylor backed away quickly to try and avoid
having beer spilt on him. Meanwhile, the mystery man was using the napkin as
well as several others to clean the spill, effectively destroying the evidence.
It took a minute for
Taylor’s brain to register what was going on. He switched into high gear and held
up his hands in passive defeat. “No worries man, shit happens,” he stated in a
friendly manner.
The man grabbed two more
beers and popped the cap off one of them and set both with the rest of the
drinks, “One on the house mate,” he said before turning back and heading back
into the office.
Taylor stuck the sealed beer
in his pocket and grabbed the rest, carrying them all back to the obnoxiously
rowdy table his team had claimed.
Time passed by slowly as
Taylor anxiously waited for the bar to close. Thankfully, the rest of his squad
were well beyond an unhealthy level of intoxication and eventually funneled out
of the bar back to the barracks or to which ever crawlspace they deemed fit
enough to collapse into.
Eventually, Taylor was
forced to wait nearby as the bar closed. Once the bartender left for the night,
the mystery man from the office waved for him to come in.
“I hope you keep
your mouth shut about this. My ass is on the line,” the man said gruffly.
“Considering I don't even
know what's going on…I'm pretty sure your secret is safe,” Taylor noted as they
walked behind the bar. The man reached up behind one of the shelves and hit
something, causing a hidden door in the wall to open across from the office.
“You have someone back on
Earth who wants to talk to you,” the guy said as he motioned to the room.
Taylor gave the man a
curious look before stepping into the room to find a rather high tech computer
as well as all the equipment needed for espionage.
Before Taylor could ask the
man stepped up behind him and said, “I already set it up, just push call and
don’t worry the room is sound proof. You have 30 minutes.”
The door closed behind him
leaving Taylor stupefied. He took a seat in the chair in front of the desk and
pushed the call button on the screen, looking forward to finding out what this
was about.
He watched as his face
appeared on a tiny screen in the corner as the call went through. When the
screen revealed who was on the other end made him feel like an idiot for not
guessing sooner.
“Mrs. Clarke…” he let out in
a surprised gasp.
Helen smiled at him as she
studied him acutely. Before she could say anything, a teal haired Eskarii girl video
bombed the call with an exuberant hello.
Helen couldn’t contain her
laughter as she pat the girl on the head, “Sorry, how are you Taylor?”
Taylor studied the alien
girl as the color of her hair jogged his memory, “that’s…that’s Mo’Emori isn’t
it?”
“Awe! He knows my name!” the
girl cheered somewhere off screen.
Helen nodded with a smile
though her face turned into a look of expectation from a mother. He knew right
away that she could see how exhausted he was.
“I’ve been…okay,” his voice
had done nothing to hide the lie.
Helen pursed her lips, her
eyes hinting at sorrow. It made him wonder if she already knew of Morrigan’s
fate.
Thinking about it again
caused his heart to tighten as if in a vise.
“I heard about your
transfer…” she started.
He waved that off,
“honestly, I’m far better off than I was fighting in the middle east. More
dangerous but I have a team who is actually good at what they do. Believe it or
not we have a pretty good amount of freedom.”
Helen furrowed her eyebrows
in confusion, “but you do know what a death squad is right?”
He nodded, “yeah… I do, but
Havoc squad is keeping me alive until I figure something else out.”
The conversation was in a
direction Taylor had not expected, regardless, it felt amazing to him to be
able to speak to anyone from his past.
“Have you spoken to my
parents?” He asked.
Helen nodded, “I have, I
told them as much truth as I felt necessary. That you were put into a combat
unit but you were alive and well. I didn't tell them about your sentencing to a
death squad though…I don't think your mother could've taken that.”
He nodded in agreement. “What
about Mr. Clarke? How’s he holding up?”
The look of sorrow returned
over her face, “James was… arrested.”
“What?” he exclaimed.
Another voice came from the
background as Helen looked away sullenly, “yeah those fucking bastards charged
James and Rigo for trying to hide Mori from the military! Fucking assholes! Those
cunts are lucky I don't have a way to get to Mars and destroy that fucking
prison!”
The voice and
mannerisms instantly clicked in his head. “Is that Simmons?” he asked while
trying to catch his brain up the more things started to not make sense.
Her face flashed in
front of the camera, “hey breed stock, don't worry we’ve been looking for you
and your girly since you left.”
The look of confusion and
pain on Taylor’s face drew their own curiosity. “What is it kid?” Jen asked.
“I um…came across a report
the other day… it was a um… Helen, Mori is gone…” he forced out through the
pain of having to say it out loud. Four voices sputtered in disbelief on the
other end of the call.
“What did you find?” Helen
asked as she snapped her fingers demanding silence. The fierceness in her eyes
was that of an enraged mother.
“I don’t know, it was a
certificate of some sort, stating that the CoU had executed Mori as capital
punishment for so many different charges…” he stammered as he saw the disbelief
on their faces. Even the white haired Eskarii in the background did not seem to
believe it.
“Honey… I work for the CoU
now,” Helen stated only to be interrupted by Mo’Emori.
“Yeah! The CoU does not even
have capital punishment. The strongest penalty we have is life imprisonment!
What ever you read was a fake.”
“But… it was found on a CoU
frigate we boarded recently…” the confusion in his voice was deep as his mind
tried to piece together what was going on.
“I heard about that, you
stranded a lot of good people…” Mo’Emori said edging the limit of vehemence.
“Wait, something is wrong here,”
he demanded.
Helen sighed and waved
everyone away. She explained the full story of how Morrigan disappeared after
the attempted escape. How the CoU in its entirety as well as even some sects of
Eskarii were on the look out for the both of them as requested by both Helen
and Mo’Emori.
She further explained how
and why she switched sides, catching Taylor up to date with the current events
they were aware of.
Taylor was left with more
questions than answers. He knew he was running out of time though, so he had to
ask the difficult question, “so, what in the hell do I do?”
Torvil, the white haired
Eskarii who turned out the be Mo’Emori’s older brother and had tried assisting Morrigan
in escaping, chimed in, “someone, somewhere does not want the young swyn’wyr found.
Likely the Federation seeing as the conscription was a ruse to get her. There
has been no sign of her since we crashed meaning they have squirreled away the
girl and left false evidence to throw you off the trail, or in this case keep
you from looking any further.”
Helen nodded, “yes, you need
to be careful who you trust. That document was obviously fake. Regardless, we
won’t stop looking. I know our time is about up. Be careful Taylor. If we ever
get the opportunity to send a strike team to extract you, know that we will.
Until then though, stay safe…” Helen said as she cut the connection of the
call, just as the door opened to the tiny room.
Taylor’s mind was in
shambles, what little of his world had just been turned upside down and now he
had to suspect everybody in the Federation, especially the upper echelon of the
military.
He even believed Rosa could
be in on the ruse as well as his team. He tried to discern as to why Morrigan
was such a big deal.
He recalled Helen and Torvil
mentioning that Morrigan had developed some new, never before seen mage
abilities which was a biological impossibility. However, if she had, it was
entirely possible her new powers were what the Federation was after.
Despite being stuck serving
them, he was not a fool to think that the Federation were the good guys.
Morrigan taught him that.
