The Curse of the Lorentino

Lyn was unhappy once again. His assassin had failed, there would be no knew emperor and it was all Trezlan Lorentino's fault. He had briefly met the man once many years ago, didn't have much of a sense of him then, he was just another gun peddler albeit one with an interesting if not all together made up back story. And yet here Lyn was having to deal with the fact his assassin failed because of a gods damned Lorentino. He was so angry he couldn't even form sentences as he watched footage of the young Lorentino murdering his assassin. Devor had been loyal and more importantly very good at his job, and now he was dead.

"GET ME LORENTINO!" He bellowed at his bald assistant, the man visibly shook at his shout. Shockingly for a man who is supposedly on the run and difficult for the authorties to even prove he exists he was very easy to get a hold of for Lyn.

"This is Lorentino." His bald face was infuriating to Lyn, he was so mad at the family he wanted to murder Trezlan just for looking like he had no idea what his son had done.

"Do you know what your son did to me?"

"Rolando? No I have no idea your assistant just woke me up from a pleasant dream, who is this?"

"Vitor Lyn I will make your life..."

"Oh right Lyn, right right, anyway no idea what he did to you, don't care, boy is in the service of his empire now." Trezlan hung up and Vitor was even more mad, he shouted at his assistant to get Lorentino back, and despite the man's best efforts he was unable to, so Lyn had the man executed he didn't want to deal with anymore incompetence.

***

"Do you have any idea what that idiot was talking about?" Trezlan looked over at Valrym who was an early riser and usually checked the news feeds.

"Rolando stopped an assassination attempt on Emperor Justin, dropped the assassin from about a mile up." Trezlan got an amused look on his face.

"Oh man I wish he could tell me that story I'm sure it was interesting."

"There are no end of things wrong with you Trezlan."

"This is correct Valrym and yet you stick around."

"I have to if only because despite every awful thing happening in this universe you manage to persevere, you're like a lightning rod of keeping bad shit away from me."

"So you think Lyn can hurt us?"

"I do believe he'll try Trezlan."

"Well maybe its time we do a little bit more than defense..." Trezlan had a plan, but he needed assistance and he knew exactly who to go to for that.

Quantity Over Quality

"This rim sounds really entertaining." The Emperor was still without pants, it unnerved Rolando. Like he thought of himself as an open kind of guy, live and let live, but he also believed in wearing pants. It was just alarming that no one told Emperor Justin pants is normally not optional.

"Did you really hear me tell a story about wading through shit to catch a guy and say it was interesting?"

"Compared to being locked in this room everyday and having to see the world through holo nets and videos of places, so yes extremely interesting." Rolando hadn't thought of it like that, he was about to apologize to Justin for his transgression when he saw a man appear behind the young man with a short sword of some type. Rolando didn't question how the man got there, or why he was dressed with a bunch of tubes connected to him, he just acted. He shifted to the man and then shifted him out of the emperor's chamber. He didn't think about where he shifted him, so showing up in the middle of the space port was a bit of a surprise, it was not a short journey.

"Impressive, you really are extremely powerful." Rolando could see the tubes were some type of blood transfusion system. The man's outfit was confusing. Rolando didn't really get to question the outfit because the other shifter made a stabbing slash with his sword and Rolando had to get out of the way. The sword slashed missed his shoulder by a slight bit, Rolando grabbed hold of him to possibly roll and throw him to the ground, when they were suddenly ten feet from where was, and then fifteen feet. The other shifter had started rapid fire shifting all over the place, Rolando held on as the man moved them around the space port, and then onto the street amongst a bunch of onlookers.

"Stop you idiot you'll go corrupt." Rolando didn't care about the man so much as what happened when the blood corruption overtook him. Almost as in response he saw the blood appartus pumping the into the other man.

"I can do this all day thanks to my apparatus. You may go farther, I can go longer, and eventually I'll be able to get back and kill the emperor you can't stop me." Rolando looked up to the sky, he could sense the other man was about to shiv him with that weird sword of his, but he was too slow and Rolando had a plan already. Rolando shifted into space, just outside of the atmosphere, the other shifter looked at him in panic before Rolando let go and was back on the ground. He waited, half expecting the other man to be standing right next to him or around him, or come at him from another angle. Instead he heard a scream, and then at the last minute the other shifter attempted to shift to the ground, but shifting doesn't ignore physics, his force was still with him and he impacted in a bloody splat scaring the crap out of everyone around them. Rolando looked at the mangled body in a mixture of horror and amusement.

"Quantity does not beat gravity." Rolando didn't know of his fathers habit of having to literally have the last word, but he did get a vague sense of satisfaction at his quip.

The Lyn Family

"Captain Chalmers is everything as you said it would be?" Vitor Lyn was not a man of patience, he expected people to do as they said they would and to do it on time. Chalmers had failed him in the past, and he was losing patience with the man everyday over it.

"Not exactly." Chalmers hated Emperor Justin, ever since the child had been put in charge he'd worked to get him removed, Lyn was the latest attempt. To Chalmers mind, that he was able to almost openly appeal for someone to murder the emperor was proof enough that someone else should be in charge of the Empire.

"Explain." Lyn was very close to killing Chalmers, he wanted to do it anyways to close up loose ends, but with every second passing by the urge was there just for the annoyance.

"The shifter is in there, but he's unshackled." Chalmers didn't have much faith in the young Lieutenant to stop whatever plan Lyn had, but still he thought it was worth mentioning he could in theory do something.

"And?"

"And that could prove a problem?" Lyn laughed.

"No you moron it will not, if anything it proves a solution to an issue I was having, just tell my man he's good to go and then wait for the next coronation." Lyn turned off the display and left Chalmers to wonder what he meant.

"So do you still want Chalmers to die sir?" The bald man knew his place, and so he had waited for the conversation to be over to ask his question.

"Yes tell Devor to shank Chalmers on the way in, tell him to make it go slow for all the annoyance he has given me."

"Yes sir."

"You're dismissed." Lyn needed time to himself, he had to pick out the next emperor after all.

The Emperors New Toy

Rolando was completely overwhelmed. Just a few days earlier he was on board Rim being bored out of his mind, and now he was on Ronerawth prime in the company of the emperor's personal guard. At first he figured he had been collected to be put to death, but to his complete amazement he was to be brought before the emperor. Ronerawth Prime was about a week journey from the Rim, and the security checkpoints were massive and almost unending. He had been scanned, analyzed, and prodded for half the transit. He'd also been scrubbed and his hair cut, a new formal uniform was procured as well. He felt out of place in the empty golden hallways.

He was shocked the palace was so empty, aside from guards and heavy doors with triplicate security, there was no one else. This was nothing like the movies involving daring emperors and their hidden liaisons made the palace out to be. It was sanitized military hive, probably a result of the red war as history called it. And they did have an emperor recently assassinated which probably lead to the increased security. Still it was a bit crushing to Rolando that his romantic vision of the palace was just like everything else a child hood dream. Eventually he arrived outside the throne room, the thickest of thick doors guarded by men who looked like the next time they felt joy would be the first. They authorized him and the door swung open the emperor leaping up from his golden throne to greet him.

"Lieutenant Lorentino!" The young emperor was of a light brown skin tone, he was dressed in a light robe with no underwear so Rolando got to see all there was to see of the man. He had a golden head of hair that fell to just below his ass. The emperors throne room at least was a lot more warm and welcoming than the rooms that preceded it.

"My lord." The emperors guard six of them in total were in the room with Rolando they all tensed as the young emperor approached.

"That will be all captain, I'm sure I'll be save with a member of my own military."

"My lord that is not wise this man is entirely dangerous..." Captain Chalmers had dealt with the emperor ever since he ascended and every time Justin did anything it infuriated Chalmers, he seemingly took actions with that in mind.

"That will be all Captain Chalmers, I am your emperor and I command you to leave, also give me the mans shackles key." Chalmers was aghast, leaving the emperor with Lorentino was one thing, releasing a magical being in the palace that could in theory skip through security at will? Insanity.

"My lord that..."

"They key please or should I have someone else assume your position?"

"Yes my lord here you are, please do not release him I have a report about."

"I'm aware of your report and the runes  you are dismissed Chalmers shut the door on the way out." The door slammed shut and the emperor turned to Lorentino. "Hold out your hands no need to have you locked up like an animal."

"Emperor..."

"Justin call me Justin, maybe I call you Rolando?"

"Sure, Rolando is fine, I just don't know if you want me to..."

"Be free? Of course I do, this whole business of shackling the magical is not my policy and no man in my presence should be treated like an animal, there now that that's done, tell me Rolando, what's it like on the rim..." And so Rolando did, and much to his own amazment the Emperor listened.

Aftermath Part 3

"I'm sorry to trouble you my lord but I must discuss the events on the rim." Emperor Justin was only twenty three, it wasn't a natural ascension for the emperor, his father had been assassinated by some kind of poison three years prior leaving Justin in charge of the Ronerawth Empire. He hated the power, hated how everyone was seemingly afraid of him, and hated how the throne felt as much as a prison as it did anything else.

"Oh yes that incident with assassins and I believe some of our military personnel?" Someone had briefed Justin on it, but it didn't seem all that interesting, just more bullshit in the day.

"Yes my lord, the young Lieutenant..."

"Lorentino right? Son of a suspected necromancer, a highly powered shifter correct?" The aid was kind of astonished Justin had remembered, Justin himself only remembered because the idea of being able to just imagine being somewhere else and then being there was intoxicating.

"Yes my lord, what do you want us to do with him?"

"Do with him? Is he not a Lieutenant in our military? Does he not have some kind of task he could be doing?" Justin was confused by the aid, his implication was the man was a prisoner of some sort, but he hadn't seen any conduct detrimental from the man. His actions had worked out swimmingly for the empire.

"Emperor he's a powerful magic user that could do a lot of harm to our citizenry." Justin sighed.

"So you want me to put a man to death for doing his job because you people are afraid of what he might do with his power?"

"You're father understood his dangerous nature sir, that's why he was on the rim, but now that he's caused an incident out there."

"An incident that benefited us, and he helped retrieve a lost sergeant as I recall, my father was many things but a thinker was not among them, I understand your concerns, but I do not share them, in fact have this Lorentino brought to me, I'd like to size him up in person, and do not even open your stupid mouth with a statement about the danger of it."

"Yes my lord."

"Dismissed, contact me when the young Lieutenant is here." The aid left with a look of horror on his face and Emperor Justin was pleased. He didn't know what he'd ask of Lorentino, or even why he wanted to see him, but the look of horror on his aid's face was enough for the Emperor. Maybe he'd ask Lorentino to shift him somewhere else, anywhere else. The emperor sighed and turned back to the holo feeds he was perusing before the aid showed up, slightly disgusted how boring that day would be.

Aftermath Part 2

Brubaker was gone, he had been transfered off station. Wyse and Darla had been reassigned and the new garrison were not under Hound control, so that left Lorentino on the station in charge of just Therod who Imperial command had not figured out how to deal with. It was an odd feeling to sit in an almost empty office you're in charge of, but have no real authority over. Rolando was treated like a martyr despite hearing from the scuttlebut that his actions had worked out exceptionally well for command. So he mostly just sat around asking Therod about her prior service, and she robotically answered with very little emotion, the conversations were enough to drive him to drink. Which is what he was doing when he saw the lady in red again. She was sitting much like Hanlon had been with food across from her, and once again the patio area was empty, so he knew most likely he wasn't probably on the station anymore, or at least not in mind there.

"What are you?" She smiled, behind her teeth he saw a bit of fire licking the back of her throat as if she had eaten it and it was trying to escape.

"No hello? No how are you doing? Straight to the what are yous? Insulting I expected better manners from a Lorentino, sit and understand that is not a request." Her voice was all power, not like a mother, more like a ruler. He sat down and said nothing, he did not eat the food before him.

"Should I ask again?"

"No you should stop being an idiot, you know what I am, your father did and I can assume his son at least has the wits to know when he's sitting in front of a god, the Fire God." Rolando had assumed as much but that just lead to more questions, so many more questions.

"So you can see the future?"

"I can see a version of it, all versions of it, in fact there was a version where you stood instead of sitting and another one where you died, all versions at all times, the future and time are malleable its much to much for your small little mind just know that the future is never set in stone, but never unknowable for those who want to know it." Rolando whistled.

"I feel stupider for asking."

"As you should, but know that I arranged for the events that I did because that is how I am, if not for my intervention there was no future for you, so know that I saved you, and you now owe me, and I am not one to not collect a debt." Her smile again and this time the fire licked beyond her teeth a little, she stood up as to leave.

"Now I do have a question of you."

"Oh boy let me guess."

"Where have you been?" And then she was gone and Therod was in his ears practically screaming that question at him.

"I hate gods." Rolando said it under his breath as he got up from the chair among bewildered restaurant patrons.

Aftermath

"They view it as an act of war sir." Ambassador Forlein did not like his job, he didn't like working for Morlatech, but he was born into their service and it was his job to serve. Being in Morley's chambers made him feel more than uncomfortable, he had heard several tales of people speaking to Morley and never returning he did not want to be one of those.

"Of course they do, the damned fools." Morley had seen the reports watched the video, those damnable Morderes, he'd attempted to wipe them out over several hundred years but they persisted like an infection you could never cure.

"They want reparations for the offense."

"What will it take for them to go away?"

"The Zanatoni sector." Morley growled though it was hard to hear over his implants, Zanatoni had a lot of promising materials and relics to plumb, but not promising enough to go to war over.

"Fine, fine give it to the damned fools we'll just wait until they overextend themselves and beg for our help, but Ambassador if they request something else it will go badly for you."

"You're very generous sir, thank you sir." Forlein walked out and Morley was left alone with his rage.

"LORENTINO!!!!!!!" He knew this was Trezlan, somehow that clown had arranged his son to wind up on his ship and get saved and he knew that Morley would pursue the child all the way into imperial space. Somehow he had arranged this and that pissed Morley off because Trezlan was an idiot and no way should ever get one over on Morley not now not ever! Morley resolved to send someone to kill Trezlan again, maybe this time it will be successful.

***

"You ever get the feeling you've pissed someone off for something you didn't do?" Trezlan was standing in front of a table full of guns the sketchy character in front of him looked at him oddly.

"No? Can we just finish this deal and get out of this cave I don't like it." The cave had at one time been the lair of a group of spiders, but Trezlan had killed the spiders, mostly he was pretty sure he got all of them.

"Sure sure, just let me savor this for a moment." He didn't know why, he didn't know how, but he knew somewhere Morley was very angry and that brought a smile to his face.

Final Negotiations

Dubois waited as the docking bay filled with combat robots. He'd seen them before, a type of front line soldier that Morlatech used. They were an unholy combination of man and machine, technically they were people, imbued with the soul of some poorer person that had taken the ultimate deal in living forever, but Dubois had never known the machines to have much of a will, they always just followed orders and were very much machine and not man. There were twenty of them when they finished coming up the way. Dubois shifted his feet and held up a hand, the lead machine came forward and a holographic display showed Director Wix.

"Stand aside shop keeper." Dubois chuckled to himself, he had been called many things in his life, never that.

"This station is under my protection Director, you were supposed to come here to negotiate, instead I see war machines, did you come to make war?" Dubois had his left hand on his pistol, the polished wood grip always felt good when he was about to do bad, his right hand had drifted to his spare ammunition as it always did right before it was time for killing.

"You have an old implant, and a simple slug throwing pistol, you couldn't even harm one of my bots, let alone all of them, stand aside I don't want to have to..." Dubois drew fast, the warbot that was displaying Wix didn't even raise its own weapon before he had holed the creature. This was the sign for the rest of the Mordere's to drop their optical camo and unleash destruction. The "combat" as it were lasted a few seconds, the bots fell to the station deck weapons unused. Dubois and his people had killed them before, they knew they'd kill them again. Wix attempted to leave, but Dubois had made sure to tell the dock supervisor to lock his craft down upon entry.

"Mr. Wix." The door locks had provided no difficulty for the old assassin, he had a program that could cut just about any electronic lock. The director attempted to grab a back up rifle in the cabin, but he was no fighter, and his reflexes were slow the bullet took his arm off at the shoulder, a side effect of the explosive rounds he was using to kill the bots.

"They'll come for me." Dubois shook his head.

"Doubtful Mr. Wix, no you'll be wrote off as a lone crazy who had gone to war for no reason, corporate policy. And Mr. Morley I know you will be listening so hear me and know I speak for my order, we have not forgotten, we have not forgiven." When Dubois finished talking he put a final bullet into Wix's head and the man was no more. Behind him the Mordere's loaded an explosive device into the shuttle and Dubois worked the controls to return the ship to the warship. Dubois exited the vehicle and waved to the dock supervisor to send the ship off. Upon it's return it exploded and destroyed the Morlatech warship. Brubaker rushed down to the docking ring as the Mordere's were picking over the remains of the warbots.

"Some negotiation."

"We are efficient General Brubaker."

"I'm a Colonel."

"Not for much longer I figure, we're done here, no cost necessary our reward will come from a higher power and no not your government." The Mordere's as fast as they had arrived left a day later, their "vacation" over, it was all good for Brubaker because in the wake of the incident at Rim shit hit the fan on a major scale.

We'll Take it From Here

Brubaker didn't want to meet this Director Wix, he didn't want to have to walk down to the docking bay with only two soldiers (the rest were still guarding Roberts from the Mordere's despite him clearly telling Roberts that they were about to be overrun). Brubaker considered briefly asking the Sergeant that showed up with Lorentino for her help, but one more gun wouldn't make much of a difference. Brubaker scanned the transport ship and it was just Wix on board, but there are ways around their scanners, especially for a modern transport versus the ancient technology aboard Rim. He took his time just strolling down the hallways of the station he assumed would be doomed soon enough. When he got to the docking ring he ran into Dubois the defacto leader of the vacationing assassins.

"Come to ship off before the fighting starts?" Dubois was armed fully, his large old style cylinder pistol was handing from just underneath his right shoulder implying he was a lefty though Brubaker suspected he was ambidextrous as most assassins tended to be.

"No transports currently here, and no I am actually here to take over for you Colonel your services are no longer required." Brubaker was taken back, he knew that this group was hiding why they were there, but this part was extremely confusing.

"You'll have to repeat that I think you just told me you don't need me."

"I don't, we don't, we can take care of things from here, its why we are here actually." It was like being in a crappy dream, Brubaker knew what this guy was saying was the same language, but he didn't understand any of it.

"You're here to negotiate with some prick from the corporate sector?"

"Oh I'm sure he's not here to negotiate, don't worry you won't lose the station Colonel, go back to your office." Brubaker wanted to fight the one eyed killer, but he knew ultimately that would be pointless, and so he did as instructed and he left, he sensed it was a bad idea to leave, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do anyway. Whatever fate had cast for Rim the players were in place and all he could do was wait it out in his office, which seemed to be what he often did. Still he felt good that ruthless killers were going to negotiate with someone from the corporate sector, at least they were on even footing.

Sounds Completely Reasonable, Means It's a Trap

"Colonel Brubaker, my name is Director Wix and I'm here to demand you hand over two terrorists." Wix was in his nicest suit trying to mug for the view screen at a very annoying looking Brubaker who was hadn't showered in two days and his uniform had very clear sweat stains around his arm pits because the station heating system had gone haywire.

"You'll have to forgive me Director Wix, but are you shitting me? You're asking me to turn over two of the imperial military to face corporate justice while you sit just outside of our defense grid range with weapons powered up?" Brubaker didn't have time for this shit, he didn't have time for any shit, he wanted to be in the medical section questioning Lorentino and Therod, but instead he was stuck here talking to a corporate suit sweating like a pig.

"We are outside your defense grid because you armed it and we armed our weapon in response, what I propose as a gesture of good faith is for me to land on the station and have this meeting in person, so I can level the charges against your personnel and you can remand them to my custody."

"Alright Director that sounds fine, you do that." Brubaker turned off the screen before Wix could respond, Wyse was there looking sheepish.

"Do you believe he's going to come by himself."

"Not at all, he's entirely too reasonable, means he's going to screw us at the first opportunity, but by law I have to let him on the station and he knows that."

"So we're screwed?"

"Yep." Brubaker didn't have the men or weapons to oppose Morlatech's armed invasion, all he could hope for was to hold them off long enough to come up with a better plan. What that better plan was, he didn't have a clue.

Who? What? WHY?!

Brubaker had made his way down to the docks. He was fuming. Two ships had gone out with around sixteen people on them, one ship had returned with four. They were all his people except one, which was just going to lead to more pissing and moaning from imperial command, he could already hear his direct supervisors nasally voice complaining about the loss of life already and finding a way to blame this on the hounds. On top of that there was a gods damned Morlatech warship sitting outside the defense grid with its own weapons charged demanding to speak with the imperial commander in charge. Thankfully Roberts had once again defaulted to him, but he didn't have a damned clue on what was going on, why Darla and Wyse had gone off on a mission he could not find in any database and are now coming back mysteriously without the prisoner they claimed to have had in the first place! It was all he could do to not explode on the spot when his people exited their ship.

"I don't even know where to begin." Was all Brubaker could say.

"Ask Lorentino." Was all Darla and Wyse said as they moved past Brubaker both deciding it best to leave it up to their superior to explain what happened.

"And you are?" Therod holding on to the young Lieutenant who was feeling better, but still not up to moving around yet.

"Sergeant Theord exploration division." Her voice was clipped.

"Right, and Rolando you have an explanation for all of this bullshit or are you going to hand wave at me and tell me you'll explain later?"

"Would you allow me to do that?"

"No you idiot, I want to know where this lady in red went, why there is a warship out there demanding they talk to me about an incident you may or may not have caused, and what you want me to do about all this shit!"

"Would deal with it be too much to ask?"

"When I kill you Rolando it will be the best thing I ever did." Brubaker did not kill Rolando though he desperately wanted to, instead he helped the man to their limited medical facility and then went up to command to see what this asshole who was asking for him really wanted. If only because someone had to be an adult on Rim station.

Lady In Red

Rolando could taste blood in his mouth. The sudden cut had thrown him toward the feet of Darla and Wyse's prisoner. She didn't seem perturbed to have him at her feet, but from the look of her in fancy silks and almost auburn looking skin nothing could perturb her. She had a regal look of sophistication even cramped into the back of a small transport with shackles on her wrists.  Other than the blood in his mouth and the uncomfortable position Rolando felt better, he didn't know if it was the injection or the shackles or even the touch from the lady, but he was himself again. Which was good because he had so many questions.

"How did you idiots find me?" It might seem strange to lead off with an insult, but that was Rolando's way.

"Gee thanks Darla, I was in trouble and you rescued my stupid ass, but no I'm an idiot, I sure am Rolando I guess we should have left you to die on that ship."

"I'm not saying I'm not thankful its just confusing."

"It's not confusing red back there was on the run, she's some kind of fortune teller and so when we caught her she told us we had to get to those coordinates or you were a dead man. We didn't believe her, but I figured it couldn't hurt and here we are."

"That's not exactly how it happened," The lady in red spoke with a voice that commanded attention, "You didn't catch me, I turned myself in, and you didn't question me at all dear girl, you took me at my word and here we are because my word is as good as gold."

"Well there is that Darla." Wyse had a bit of a snark to his voice, but Rolando could also hear a hint of fear, were they really afraid of the woman in red? He was about to ask when the ship left cut and Rim station came into view, and then all the warnings on the ship blew up because the Morlatech warship came out just behind them.

"And here I thought we left them behind." Darla knew they wouldn't, the jump ship they were in was at best fifty years older than the corper that was following.

"They won't beat us to the station, but that's not saying much, tell the station to bring up the defense grid." Lorentino had taken charge even if he didn't feel like himself. He knew the station might be able to hold the ship off, but if they sent a boarding party they were screwed as the majority of the station's compliment of soldiers were back dead on the other ship.

"And then what?" Darla didn't sound too convinced this was a great plan.

"Pray." The Red Lady chuckled, the blackness of space said nothing.

In For The Save

"I should simply allow you to shut the power off, it won't blow the ship up, you'd need explosives which you most likely do not possess. No you'd disengage the door locks which would let my creatures kill you thus saving my experiment. Alas Morley has decreed you to die and so you shall, we could overload the reactor, but where's the fun in that? I've been dying to see these new high impact warheads in action and well they should more than do the job." Wix was quite satisfied, while he felt bad his experiment was about to be wiped off the map, he at least got to do the exploding, and enamor himself to Morley at the same time, it was win win. His ship was barely a spec on the horizon, space being the vast empty place it was didn't require his ship to be anywhere near the one he was going to blow up. Despite the way that contemporary medium keep showing space "battles" most of the ones Wix was aware of ended with ships never really coming into any kind of visual range, let alone right along side each other as popularly portrayed. Lorentino and Subject 13 looked disheartened, 13 kept fidgeting with the power despite his warning, he guessed she did not want to give up. Lorentino looked like crap, most likely a result of the corruption so prevalent with shifters or so Wix had read up since they identified him as one.

"Morley?" Lorentino's breathing was ragged, his voice hoarse like he had run a mile, "So this comes from the top?"

"Of course it comes from the top, I would not blow up my own experiment for the fun of it Mr. Lorentino, but we're done here, we have a seven point lock and you're out of time, you have twenty seconds, enjoy." Wix gave the order and their warheads fired, there wasn't even a noise, space was devoid of anything except blackness.

"I guess this is..." Lorentino was resolved to being exploded. He thought for a moment to try and shift to the man's ship wherever it was, but he couldn't tell if he could even make it, or if he did if he wouldn't just be crazy and end up killing everyone, but then the screen flipped to Darla and Wyse who were shouting at him.

"SHIFT LORENTINO DO IT NOW!" He grabbed a hold of Therod with his right hand, looked at the ship Darla and Wyse were in and shifted. And then he emerged in their ship, it was small and cramped, along with Darla and Wyse was a woman in all red who was locked in shackles. His blood was on fire, his mind was cracking, he felt Darla slap on shackles and then inject him with something, most likely blood it was thought if you gave someone who was going corrupt blood it could help, it didn't, he could feel the madness blowing in his mind, but his compatriots were more concerned with the Morlatech warship.

"It's arming missiles and cannons Wyse get us out of here."

"On it, but plotting a cut ain't exactly like ordering dinner, who's the red head?"

"I'll introduce myself later, we need to get out of here, I think Lorentino is dying as well." Therod had settled into a seat, the ship was fairly small, Lorentino was lucky he hadn't shifted them through it, but it was the kind of jump ship he and the hounds used all the time for short range pick ups, so he knew vaguely where to land. He could feel his mind fading and he was about to warn his compatriots when a warm hand touched his arm.

"Be at peace Lorentino." The woman in red had touched him and his mind cleared, her hand print on his arm left a redness like a first degree burn, he was about to ask her something when the ship made it's cut and Lorentino drifted into blackness.

Power Plant Showdown

The plan as much as it could be called a plan was pretty simple. Get to the power plant of the ship, damage it in a way so as to cause catastrophic failure, wait to die. Rolando didn't exactly like the plan, he felt it lacked that certain "And then we lived" aspect that plans should have, but seeing the inevitable death at the hands of a robot creature was also not a great idea either. It was the best choice of bad choices available to him and Therod. The issue was a logistic one. The power room was locked down and had been since the incident that released the monsters. Therod had tried in vain over six months to get in, the door was impossible to cut through and the monsters swiftly found her when she attempted other methods to get in. Rolando knew he could shift through it, but he could feel the corruption surging in his veins so it would likely be one of his last ones, which seeing as he was going in there to blow up the ship, made sense.

They made good time, only a few hours of crawling down various corridors and slimey places getting to the power core. It was the standard fusion type used on most larger ships, Rolando remembered having to study its function as part of his officers exam, even though he barely passed that portion. He hoped Therod had an idea on how to disable the ship, because he sure didn't.

"Does it hurt?" He had Therod's huge hand in his own and was looking to see if he could find a way to see through to the other side of the door.

"It doesn't hurt me, I guess it could hurt you? I wouldn't be worried about it." Rolando realized telling her it might hurt her, but not to worry about it wasn't the best thing to say, but its not like he had a lot of options she had to shift with him there was no way he could blow up the ship without her. She was about to say something else when he spotted a way in and shifted.

"That didn't hurt at all!" She was happy, Rolando was in pain, he could feel the corruption coursing through his vains, his mind was starting to get wracked with murderous thoughts. Therod didn't even extend a hand down to help him, she knew she only had so much time, she didn't know a way through the door, but she didn't doubt the creatures would, and Rolando and her would be dead soon enough anyway. She had started to cut the power to one of the failsafes when the screen in the room lit up.

"Rolando Lorentino, I suspect that is you, this is Administrator Wix." Rolando stirred from his misery to look at the screen, the man in the suit with the bad hair cut looking back at him smiled.

"Wix, I hate to tell you but by the Imperial authority we're going to have to blow your ship up." Rolando's voice was ragged, Therod could see his vains through his light dark skin, they were all strained like he was flexing really hard.

"Well isn't that a coincidence, that's exactly what we were here to do as well."

Those Who Work In The Dark

Dubois was waiting in the dark of the station, he didn't hear her approach, but felt the gun barrel press against his spine. A smile spread across his scarred lips, he continued to stare out the window to the vast blackness of space, it comforted him, reminded him of home. The planet he lived on was the leftover of a mining operation, the surface too hot to stay on an entire civilization was built underground, it made it easier on him with his skin condition. And there was always work, always one baron wanting someone else to be put in their place, and the work was good most of the time, kept him prepared for missions like the current one he was on.

"Getting sloppy in your old age."

"I knew you were coming, I figured you'd either kill me or converse with me, I hoped the conversation, but its been years Jan maybe hate has taken up the place where affection used to be." She withdrew the pistol, and hugged her old friend.

"I was surprised when you called, Rim station? You do have a quirky sense of adventure."

"I did not pick the location, she did." Jan pulled back and smiled.

"And you're sure it was a true vision?"

"It wasn't a vision, she visited me directly like the old texts speak of her, but it could simply have been a malfunction in my eye, I do have the older version and I have never upgraded." The newer cybernetics were less obvious and more human looking, Dubois's had a blue hue to the iris and if you were close enough you could hear the motors in it adjusting to track visuals.

"And you believe her?"

"I called all of you here did I not? I do not know what she wants, or why we are here, she simply told me to bring a group of you here and that it will become obvious why we are here when the time comes."

"Well I passed up a lucrative contract to get here, I hope you aren't just having a mental breakdown in your old age."

"Your trust is what keeps me going Jan, just tell the others to be ready, I have a feeling we'll be needed soon." They hugged again and Jan left, Dubois watched out the window, his eye tracking the emptyness of space looking for something, he couldn't explain what, but he felt he should keep watching all the same.

The Numbers Scenario

Morley's office was huge. Wix had dealt with having a bag over his head and being knocked out to arrive in the position he was in, and the first thing he noticed was the size of the office. He couldn't even see the ceiling it was so high up. The walls were lined with computers and tech all doing one thing or another. In the center was a massive throne and on it sat Morley, the founder of the company and supposed immortal. He looked awful, a combination of cybernetic enhancement and rotting flesh. Wix could see several generations of enhancements built into Morley, probably too redudant to remove. He looked nothing like all of his portraits, and talked with a raspy voice that would have been hard to hear if not for the sound system in the room reverberating his message. Wix was alone with Morley, the guards who had brought him there waited outside.

"Lorentino." The voice called it out like a painful memory.

"Yes sir the shifter has been identified as an Imperial officer, Rolando Lorentino." Morley didn't hardly move on the throne, he just sat and stared, Wix felt it extremely unnerving.

"Any relation to Trezlan?"

"Son sir, though we don't know if its..."

"His son, and he's on my ship, perfect, blow it up." Morley laughed.

"The experiment sir."

"Is a failure, the biomechanicals are too random to be useful, and other data we have extracted will do, blow the ship up, kill the Lorentino, do not fail me." Morley's chair turned around and his guards arrived to escort Wix out, they had his black bag and sedative ready.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." And then the world went black for Wix.

Biological, Mostly Lethal

Rolando was following the large female down dark corridors, she hadn't said anything since she snatched him in the darkness. Just lead him deeper into the ship. He could see she too was at one point imperial military, the remains of her patchwork uniform still sort of had her unit on it. She didn't have a traditional weapon, instead she had some kind of spear that was cobbled together from the creatures best Rolando could tell. She was also huge, pushing seven feet and almost double Rolando's size. She was terrifying to Rolando. They eventually came to an alcove. It looked like some kind of maintenance station. Rolando could see most of the vents leading in were secure with a variety of make shift tools and welding. Inside the room was a limited group of supplies with tools and other cobbled together weaponry.

"No one else?" She was standing in front of him now, looking at him with suspicion. He could see metal slightly above her right eye, it didn't look recent, so she may have been augmented prior to whatever brought her here.

"Only survivor, Rolando Lorentino." She paused for a moment eyeing him.

"Lieutenant, hounds, magical specialist."

"Creepy."

"I have a database of all imperial military files, though I admit its out of date, if you've been promoted since then I'm sorry sir. Sergeant Therod exploration division." She extended her hand and Rolando could see the legacy of pain already on it. Therod had a lighter skin tone with red hair a legacy of her family.

"Exploration? Isn't that a?"

"Shit assignment for rejects? Yes sir, you've been assigned to the Rim, so I'm sure you're well aware of shit assignments."

"Noted Therod, so how screwed am I?"

"Completely boned sir, these creatures are relentless, I've been here 6 months and I've had to move locations at least six times, they find ways in, they track you through smell or something I haven't determined. Also someone is watching, that's why I'm in these tunnels, this is an experiment sir, and we're the test subjects."

"Well I'm thankful for the honest no shit assessment. Options?"

"Blow the ship up."

Ten Times Too Many Coincidences

Brubaker was willing to possibly concede, one maybe two Mordere's arriving on rim was a coincidence, maybe some kind of strange co vacation tradition they engaged in. By the time the tenth arrived he suspected something was up. This was one older than the others and clearly the one in charge if they had such a thing. Brubaker had gotten used to his little meetings, Roberts had barricaded his office with most of the active personnel left on the station he refused to even open the door while the Mordere's were still there, they had taken to feeding him through a slot in the door.

"What will I be drinking today?" He didn't know if this was the standard thing this group did, or something they were humoring him.

"It's very rare, from the old world pre apocalypse." This man talked with a bit of hush to his voice he had a scar over his voice box from some trauma.

"Old doesn't mean good." He poured the fluid it came out in a sludge.

"It does mean expensive, and I'm told everyone else took the really good stuff." He took a seat and held the glass up, took a sip and passed it to Brubaker as if to show him it was not poisoned.

"Could just mean the poison was on your lips, or perhaps this is a combo poison, ten elements over a day for me to get it all in, this is the cap and it kills me." The man smiled, the manifest said his name was J. Dubois.

"I'll have to remember that one, but I'm sure as my colleagues said poisoning is not our style, we don't carry the iron for show you see." They had informed Brubaker, several times, but he liked the dance each one had about the drinks.

"So are you going to claim that horse shit about vacation?" Dubois smiled again, the other ones did not smile, apparently he felt more open to smile than his compatriots, he also had an unearthly hew to his skin, the kind you only get from not seeing the sun very often.

"You don't believe us Colonel?"

"Your people are not known for their honesty."

"Words that wound, but you are correct we are not actually here on vacation, but I assure you we are also not here to harm anyone, least of all your cowardly station commander."

"Than what are you here for?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." And that's all J. Dubois would say on the matter and since it was against the law to congregate on the station Brubaker could not compell him to say anything further.

Freedom to Fail

Rolando could feel the corruption creeping up on him. In the past his father had warned him about the blood disease every magical person carries, had warned him specifically about shifters being more likely to fall prey to it specifically because the act of shifting was an intense magical ability and thus corrupted you faster than any other. How Trezlan knew this was in dealing with Rolando's mother who was also a shifter though of a lesser ability to Rolando himself. Her best shift was less than a block from her current location where as Rolando still had no idea on what his limit was. All of that was academic though, the bio humans were hunting him and he was losing his ability to get away from them with non standard means. He was also running out of bullets but the damned creatures weren't running out of themselves.

He was down to his pistol and knife, what he had started with back on the ship, but all the high tech fire power he had left behind either because the shift had shorted it out, or it had run out of ammunition. He had killed twenty of the creatures by his count, with small arms, explosives, and his knife and they kept coming. The initial ones had just bull rushed him, trying to him with numbers or their ability to surround, but the shifting kept those ones at bay. Now they had gotten craftier, he could hear them moving around him, but he hadn't seen one for hours. Which left him to explore the interior of the ship which looked like some kind of science lab gone wrong.

There were labs all over, each one more ruined and destroyed than the last. He figured the creatures must have been created here, and then got loose somehow? But what he couldn't figure is how the people on the freighter had died on the ship,but none of the creatures had been on the ship, or how the freighter had clearly landed, but been able to escape. Or how his ship had been locked in? Someone or something was still in charge, but he knew he didn't have much time, the creatures were hunting him. Rolando was passing by a dark lab when something snagged him, he was about to risk the shift when he heard a voice in his ear.

"Don't move, don't talk, come with me." He did as the voice commanded and disappeared into the dark.

****

"Gods damn it!" The technician pulled away from his console in frustration. He was a young man who knew his career had probably just gone down in flames.

"What?" Wix was still in the room, he had lived in the room since the arrival of the shifter, and they definitely knew he was a shifter now he'd done it several times over large gaps to escape the creatures.

"I lost him sir, he was there I was tracking him and five of the bio's pursuing him and then nothing. I thought maybe they had gotten him, but they weren't close enough and they themselves seem completely confused by where he is as well."

"SUBJECT 13!!!!"

Morley Must Be Informed

Wix didn't want to go to his boss. As much as Walters hated him, he hated Clark even more. Clark was a handsome young man who has seemingly risen in the company on the strength of his looks alone, including being hand picked to lead the bio weapons division, when it seemed the only bio weapon he knew about were the std's he'd given several male and female staff members. Clark knew less about the project than any junior technician working on it, but still he was Wix's superior and he had to report to him whether he wanted to or not. When Wix arrived at Clark's office the young man was just staring at the painting of Morley.

"Sir."

"Come in Wix, do you think I look like Morley? I think I do, we have the same strong chin." Clark tried to take on the same pose as Morley, and Wix thought for a monent he looked similar.

"Not at all sir." Not that Wix would admit it of course. Clark clearly annoyed by his subordinate sat down in his chair with a slump.

"What do you want Wix, do your creatures need more test subjects or something?"

"No sir, we have two active subjects, and that's one of the issues, one of the new ones managed to kill three with relative ease and the biometrics have some discrepancies." Clark's face of annoyance did not change.

"What?"

"He seemingly appeared and disappeared, the only thing that would explain it is if he's a shifter, but the Imperial military would never use a shifter in a combat situation." Clark frowned.

"A shifter?" Wix wanted to kill the moron, he didn't understand literally anything, he wondered again how he ever got to be in charge of anything.

"Just please, please pass this along to senior management." Wix handed the data drive to Clark who took it with as much drive as someone who was handed garbage. Wix left and Clark scrunched his face up.

"I'd shift you, you asshole, maybe I'll feed you to those things you love so much." Clark was going to just disregard the data drive and tell Wix no one in mangement cared, but he decided to forward it to his boss, an icey lady in a business suit he never heard her name, most of the directors simply called her mother for some odd reason. Within minutes of sending the data Mother was storming into his office.

"Where did you get this Clark?" Clark was caught off guard he never saw the woman down on his floor, let alone in such a mood.

"I uhh one of my underlings brought it to me."

"Clark you're such a mistake you don't even know what this is do you?" Clark cowed like a dog wanted to be somewhere else.

"Its a video of a guy Wix said he was possibly a shifter."

"He's a shifter and a Lorentino good gods you're an idiot, Morley must be informed." And with that Mother left and Clark felt the need to evacuate all of his bowels.

Not Having This Conversation

The creatures hadn't emerged into the hanger bay, but Stevens and Rolando knew they were coming, they had to be the noise would bring them out.  Neither man got a good look at the biomen that had killed the soldiers, but what they had seen was terrifying enough. Stevens unlocked what was left of the armory and armed himself, but did not give anything to Rolando, instead he locked it again.

"Come on man don't do this, we're on the same side." Rolando really tired of being suspected of being a bad person, or really just suspected of being dangerous by his ability. He knew he was dangerous, but in this case it was dangerous to the enemy, not to Stevens.

"You're an adviser, advise."

"Stevens I advise you unlock my shackles and give me a gun before I strangle you to death." Stevens pointed his pistol at Rolando.

"Maybe I'll just say the cre HWUH!" A mechanical appendage shot through Stevens neck, his blood spattered in the small cabin compartment. The appendage locked itself around Stevens and started to pull him out of the cabin through the hole it had made. Rolando ran to the man and frantically searched for his keys as the creature kept splattering him in the remains of Stevens blood, just before the rest of Stevens was wrenched through the cabin Rolando snagged his shackle keys. He worked fast applying the double lock to free his wrists and feel the magic rush back in. No sooner had he finished unshackling himself when front door of the ship blew open. There were two creatures in front, which made three in the hangar at least. Rolando first shifted into the armory to snag his pistol and combat knife and that move alone confused the creatures. Which gave him an advantage, they obviously couldn't track his magical movements. He shifted again behind the creatures, gutting one with his knife and shooting the other one through its head. They both collapsed to the ground proving they could die. Which left just the one that had killed Stevens. He went outside and put a bullet through the creatures head and it slumped to the ground Steven's half grotesquely pulled corpse still clutched in its tendril.

"Soldiers can't kill shit, takes a Lorentino to kill shit! IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT SHIP!?" Rolando felt triumphant, but he could hear more of the things coming and he knew, just knew he had to move or he'd be dead sooner rather than later.

****

Wix couldn't believe it, most tests ended with almost a hundred percent combat effiency, and here was one man who somehow killed three of the creatures. He copied the video of him shouting and immediately made for his office. Morley had to be informed.