A New Purpose

"Eli." It was the Operators new name, but it felt old. Trezlan had settled on it after hours of him just asking inane questions and ignoring the obvious ones. The AI of the operator's ship liked it, Eli felt the AI had contributed in someway and Eli was it's former name. Still better than the Operator as in previous operations it was hard to understand orders as everyone in the group was named Operator. They used to have numbers to go along with the Operators, Eli once went by Operator 5 on most operations, which felt even more dehumanizing than being an a conscience in a machine.

"I find it a wonderful name Eli." The ship had no name, it wanted no name, Eli felt it was best to never personalize the craft for fear of its destruction, which almost happened prior to being discovered by Trezlan on his ghost run.

"Focus on the task at hand." The task at hand was infiltration. Trezlan not one to trust had given Eli a task. He wanted some information from Morlatech to confirm what Eli had told him, so without much more than some minor covenience repairs on Eli's ship and person, Eli was back in the thick of things, hacking in to the Morlatech database. It wasn't difficult, even with decades gone by the protection Morley used on his data was old, because he didn't expect someone to access it within the actual Relay like Eli had. It was a thrill to break into something again, even if it was an unguarded relay station in the middle of nowhere. It was nice to feel useful to someone.

"Information retrieved give me a minute to verify." Eli didn't have a minute, something tripped upon retrieval and the room which it was in started to fill with gas. Not an issue for Eli because of no respiratory system, but the gas would be one phase of a lot of different traps from what Eli could recall of Morlatech security. Getting out was simple enough, even in haphazard state, Eli had more control and abilities than normal people did. As an Operator that was the bonus, you weren't as tough as a warbot, but you could do things no regular person. It was freedom while being a slave, a dichotomy that didn't bother Eli until the isolation had let madness in. Still with relatively little effort, Eli emerged at the docking port, boarded it's ship and disembarked. Morlatech none the wiser hopefully, the security problem to be written off as a glitch in a long abandoned relay.

"What did we get anyway?"

"Technical schematics on the operator program, Trezlan is well informed to know to even look for this data."

"Trust but verify is apparently his motto, we too should be leery of him, he puts on an almost amusing lack of tact or diplomacy, but he is a murderer and worse, and he's lived a long time, and unlike Morley is not wasting away, caution with our interactions."

"Yes Op, Eli, though I do like his Ai companions they are so polite."

"Set a course for Trezlan, inform him we have his information, but we do seek payment."

"Yes Eli."

Good Days Are Gone For Good

"You know we are called the Shit Squad I didn't realize it meant we'd have days like this." Rem was not liking his change in career at the moment. The facility was in partial lockdown, Carut was doing his best to try and keep the corporate goons out, but it was their facility and so they knew avenues he did not. Rolando also found out the entire facility was anti magical, he didn't even notice it until he tried to shift and came up blank. Carut was working on that as well, but wasn't having any luck in disabling it, if it can be disabled.

"Ammo running low." Rolando actually found himself wishing he had stuck with his father, the height of lunacy for him.

"Hold tight, if we're running low they have to be as well." It was a lie that Therod knew was wrong, but she still had to tell it. The corporation didn't even give them a warning shot, they just hit the ground firing. Probably because they had seen Therod and crew wandering around like idiots for a few days.

"Rem can you see if Dad can lend a hand?"

"No he's blocking me somehow, its the oddest thing really."

"So you have a mind link and he can block it?"

"Years of experience is what he told me, your dad is crazy Rolando." Rolando couldn't disagree with that statement.

"It's not like he would help us anyway, he would come up with some bullshit excuse why he can't help and we'd be screwed all the same, we'd just be more screwed."

"You know you have a very ne NYAH!" Rem was cut off from what he was going to say by an electrical charge frying his synapses. Therod and Rolando were hit by the same thing.

"Guys? GUYS?!" Carut was panicking the life signs of the team had dropped to barely alive and he feared the worse. Then the signal went dead and he was left staring at his monitors unable to figure out what just happened.

Yep We still Exist

"I still recommend you guys leave." Carut had tried to be the voice of reason, but no one who was listening to him was being reasonable. He was losing patience with the whole exercise. Therod and crew had been there for two days attempting to discern what happened, and had come up with nothing, eventually Ronerawth was going to intervene and that's when things would really turn to shit for the shit squad.

"As I've said I need something to tell the people who hired us Carut, shouldn't you be making with your tech skills and finding something."

"It's all wiped out Therod, I told you whoever did it had some serious access. So either someone is not dead who should be..."

"Or we just got gods damned played..." Therod could see the landing craft coming, they weren't Ronerawth, they had a corporate logo and it was that point she noticed there had been no indicators any of the dead were from Ronerawth, only the corp logo of the ships just landing. She had written that off as it being a joint venture, but she just now put together it wasn't a joint venture. Her people with their anti magical capabilities had become the fall guys to a massacre Ronerawth had executed.

"So leaving?"

"Probably, though its not up to us right now." Rem and Rolando saw the ships too and it hit them about the same time. The shit squad was now truly in the shit now.

Not as Terrifying as Warned

"Trezlan Lorentino." Trezlan was looking at the creature that called itself the "operator" he knew Morley stripped names from his bots, he basically stripped them of mostly what they were, but it still made him sad to hear it. It was his first interaction with one of the bots other than one shooting at him and he having to kill it. Though he knew right away the Operator was not the standard Morley Bot. The body was all weird, looking more human than death machine, fully functioning regular limbs with hands and everything. The operator also looked like a miss match of a bunch of different parts, one limb was longer than the other, the legs looked like they came from a different frame and the head had been clearly repaired from a battle but done so poorly. Whoever the Operator was, they had been effectively left to their own devices for a long time.

"I'm aware of who you are." They were seated in what Trezlan thought of as the forward lounge, it was a part that overlooked space despite his robots telling him it was dangerous for a window port to be where he wanted it to, and even more so for him to be in front of it, he needed something that wasn't practically created.

"And yet I haven't a clue what you are Operator, do you have a name?"

"Not anymore, no names, once we transfer over identity is stripped, one of the things you're not told when you agree to the transition." The transition and the way the Operator said it put a chill down Trezlan's spine.

"Well you have to have a name." The Operator sighed, or at least the robot equivalent.

"Fine Mr. Lorentino, what would you want to call me." Trezlan lit up like a kid about to open a present.

"I was thinking of Frago! Because you're like a fragment from the whole and you're the operator."

"No."

"You didn't even consider it."

"I will not go by Frago, can't you think of anything else you'd want to discuss, like what I am or where I came from?"

"In due time we need the name thing settled." The operator suddenly recalled all the times it had been afraid of Trezlan Lorentino and how stupid it would be to be afraid of someone who obviously caught by in life by accident. Trezlan made Morley look worse for not being able to kill him, and that at least brought some happiness to the Operator. And It needed it because the other names Trezlan suggested were worse than Frago by far.

Contained, But Not Forever

The Operator sat in his silence as the remaining fragment of its ship were hauled into the docking bay. It knew that all kinds of security procedures were put into place. The AI had informed it of all the demands it was expected to agree to. And it did, there was no reason to fight back at this point, it was content to let things play out. The operator did take a certain smile to the idea the ship was run by machines, It half heartedly wondered if machines had taken over the galaxy, but it knew the ship had a human master, the name one burned into all of Morlatech's creations as the enemy. Trezlan Lorentino, the great destroyer.

Years before being stuck floating outside of New Lork, the Operator had been tasked as had the rest, with finding and eliminating Lorentino. It was actually the reason It had been near New Lork in the first place. Once early one while floating near the remnants of the Morlatech fleet, the Operator had fantasies of what it would do to Lorentino, blaming him for what had happened though he had not nor most likely ever been to New Lork. Over time that hatred faded replaced by a hatred at It's creator, Morley, the one who had promised immortality but had not fully explained what that meant. What it meant to never be of flesh ever again.

The ship touched down on the deck and immediately security robots were rapping on the outer door. The AI let them in. They were a mixed much like the Operators own body. The operator was amused at the menagerie. Most of them looked like a mix between construction and maintenance bots armed with weapons meant for people. The operator inferred with the bots and the way the ship seemed slapped together from several, that Trezlan was not running his own corporation. And was still most likely on the run. It waited while they looked over what remained of his vessel, taking a look through the weapon lockers and reporting back to whoever was in charge. It didn't say anything, preferring to just welcome the change of pace. When they had finished, the lead amonger their number a headless maintenance bot with one regular hand, and one multi purpose tool addressed the operator.

"You are to be brought to holding, your ship will be repaired if you want, though there is a cost for such things."

"Everything had a cost." It felt weird for the operator to speak, having not done it in decades, though speaking is hardly what it did since much like the bots searching It's ship it wasn't human, not anymore.

"The master would like to see you."

"Is that what he calls himself?"

"It is what we call him, he is our charge."

"Can't wait to meet him." The operator allowed the bots to surround it, and begin the escort up stairs. Not like they could stop it should the operator choose to attack, but it let them believe they had security, if it made them feel better.

Patience At a Premium

"As soon as we entered close enough to the planet it pinged us." Trezlan was staring at the display screen. On it was what looked like a fragment of a larger ship, he was getting read outs from all sorts of scans that showed no life signs, but all kinds of other examples of activity. SiC had stopped the ship immediately upon realizing they were being scanned.

"And what do we know of this little fragment?"

"Morlatech, old though, probably from the end of the conflict, damaged but still functioning, most likely AI on board, and seeing as its Morlatech possible bots." The scans had shown minimal power, Trezlan wasn't that concerned, though it was a Morley ship and so that had Trezlan leery of what might actually be inside.

"Let me guess you guys want to blow it up." It seemed to be the only solution his AI companions liked, which either spoke poorly of Trezlan or the over protective nature of the bots, he wanted to think of it more the later and not the former.

"Actually no, we're intrigued by the idea of a morlatech ship this far out and abandoned, the potential for a destabilized AI is there, but in a way this fragment is one of us to an extent and much like you wouldn't want to kill someone without knowing if they are dangerous we'd like to extend the same courtesy." Trezlan ignored the obvious that he would in fact kill someone before he knew they were dangerous.

"Fair enough, lets first drop off the ghosts, but make contact with the ship, establish security protocols and such and lets see what's going on, but above all else..."

"The sanctity of the ship is paramount."

"Correct, if it looks off we blow it up and call it a day."

"Understood sir, thank you sir."

"You're welcome, thank the collective, now if you would please restart the engines get us to the planet, I'm going to prep our ghostly patrons for their next final journey." Trezlan walked to the cargo hold and he felt the gentle tug of the engines as the ship resumed course. He smiled to himself before he got ready, there were a lot of preparations to offload ghosts and he wanted to make sure he did it mostly correct. Mostly I mean they were ghosts what was the worst that could happen?

Better than Drifting All Day

"Detecting a new reading, do you want me to display?" The ship was drifting in wreckage, and if the operator was honest it was basically wreckage itself. Weapons weren't functional, engines, and power systems operating on tertiary back ups not intended for the long term use they were on, and any hope of being rescued had long faded. The operator instead waited, the ship in a low powered state, hoping to find someone, anyone who can drag it back to civilization. Revenge the blade that slaked thirst.

"Pull it up, but I swear if its another long range probe I'm going to just turn off and never turn back on." It was an empty threat the operator and its AI knew that, but it had to say it all the same, just the the idea of shutting down after all of this seemed like a waste, sunk cost of survival all that remained, hatred having given way to simply living.

"Not a probe, a ship, very large, and it will be passing within orbit, close enough for communication." A ship was surprising, both the AI and the Operator was confused, the New Lork wasteland had been abandoned for some time. After the last war and the pull out nothing alive remained there. The operator was quite convinced It was all that was left of life and It barely considered itself alive.

"Communications?"

"Not within range yet, I could amplify it but..."

"But that would risk what little power we have, no, we'll wait, they are coming and when they get close enough we'll send the signal, preload the message."

"Yes operator, do you think its possible we are saved?"

"After twenty five years of drifting here I'll entertain anything, but lets not get over joyed yet, could just be Morley coming back to finish us off."

"Had not considered that Operator."

"Verify its not before sending the message, didn't stay alive to be vaped later on."

"Yes operator." Satisfied orders were given the operator waited watching the sensor data the ship could pull up. It was patient, It had been patient, a few more hours wouldn't kill it.

Hauling Ghosts

"Sir?" Trezlan didn't think of the robots as having any specific rank in his crew, but the one that always seemed to go with him everywhere he considered his second in command. He actually called him SiC for that specific reason.

"Yes SiC?" They had completed the transfer of ghosts to his ship, it took several shuttle visits from the surface, during which Trezlan was slightly worried his wards wouldn't hold the ghosts in check, but he seemed to have collected them, or he hadn't heard any complaints yet he had not. It did warm the cockles of his heart to be the last resort of people asking for his help, and a Therod at that, there is some cosmic payback he is currently getting in the form of people having to eat shit for asking him for help.

"I'm just wondering if..."

"Taking on all these ghosts is a good idea? Yes the thought had occurred, though don't worry I'm a master ghost killer." Master was stretching it, but the robots on board had come to appreciate Trezlan's assurances no matter how dangerous situations had gotten, so he had to keep up that optimism. It was funny to Trezlan, they had locked him up to keep him safe, and now they looked to him to keep them safe, such was the universe.

"Well that and how viable it is to drop them off at their preferred destinations."

"I'd be more concerned if I didn't have all the time in the world and a bunch of fuel, also most of the ghosts are from the same place if I'm reading my reports right. New Lork, which rings a bell in my head for some reason, but I can't recall why. I'm sure it'll come to me later." SiC seemed nodded even though as a robot he didn't need to or barely had a head on his little body, but Trezlan appreciated the human gestures the bots did, made him feel like dealing with real people.

"Of course sir, as always I'm sure things will work out for us, so what can you tell me about New Lork?"

"I'm trying to recall why I remember it, was a battle there or something..."

Not At All Related

Eventually the ghosts calmed down. Eventually being three hours of shouting later. It was like the worst concert ever. Therod had no idea when she named her crew the shit squad how closely they would follow the moniker. The strangest thing was none of the ghosts were involved in the killings. They actually were a part of the experiment originally at the facility and thus when everyone involved died got stuck in a state of being there, but unable to talk to anyone. They mostly just wanted to return to where they had been taken from, but had no idea how to accomplish that.

"This is the worst situation." Carut had finally caught up to everything and he had a headache.

"Yep, I don't even know if ghosts can get on ships or whatever, I'm going to guess from what you just said you can't get a hold of Ronerawth."

"You got it, suddenly they aren't taking our calls."

"Shit." Rolando held his hand up and Therod felt a shiver go down her back.

"No Rolando, just no."

"But he knows..."

"We are not bringing in your father..."

"He has a ship."

"No." But even then she got the sense that despite her best wants in the universe Trezlan Lorentino was suddenly involved in this mess. Even worse, there was still the mystery of who killed everyone in the facility and why. But the worst part would be the smug look on Lorentino's face, she could see it already and it made her blood boil.

Ghostly Complaints

They were surrounded. The ghosts were more amorphous blob type than an actual defined, but there were hundred of them, all talking at once. It was maddening, so many voices, languages, and tones all being said at once. Instead of being afraid everyone was more annoyed. Therod attempted to talk to the closest ghost to her, but instead only got more and more of the ghosts yelling and making noises. The noise was so loud no one in the team could even talk to each other. Carut tried in vain to get what was going on, but all he could hear was the sounds of the ghosts.

"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!!!!" Therod couldn't take it anymore, she upped the volume on her speaker to drown out the noise. She didn't expect it to work, but the shout apparently quieted them all down. "Now that you are quiet, what do you want?" And then the cacophony started again, every ghost talking at once. Rolando and Rem sat down like over burdened teachers in a classroom of children, they knew this was going to take a long time.

Situation Completely Dead

"Clear." Everyone was dead, and not by their own hand. Therod and her crew had checked the entire complex over, not a single soul was alive. Hostages and magic users were both dead. It looked like someone else had already come threw and done the job, but there wasn't any shell casing indication of a fight. Just dead bodies.

"Yeah I'm not liking this one bit, everything is turned off over here." Rem gripped his shotgun tight, something was wrong here, a lot of somethings, he felt nothing magical either.

"That would explain why I can't connect to anything, can someone turn some stuff on or something?" Carut was watching through the on board cameras each person was wearing and he didn't like what he was seeing at all.

"Not yet, I don't us to touch shit until we've established what happened here." Therod looked at the other two and she could see they were both jumpy. Whatever had happened, they had now just stepped into it.

"I want to say I told you so, but at the same point, I want to live long enough for that to not be the last thing I said." Rolando was still magic locked, though looking at the bodies he almost felt it was a good thing, the magical seemed to have gotten it worse than everyone else.

"I want you both to shut up, something is still here with us." The bodies were too fresh, whatever had killed them had to still be there.

"What makes you say th..." Rem was cut off as the room was suddenly awash in ghosts. There had been no one and suddenly they were surrounded by hundreds of ghosts. "That, boy now don't I feel like an idiot."

So You're Saying We Can't Say No?

"So that's the situation." The room was in stunned silence. Rolando didn't like it, Rem thought the mission was a cross between suicide and a sick joke, and Carut was glad his leg was still messed up so he wouldn't be in the thick of things. Therod did not like the looks she was getting.

"So they want us with just the three of us, to assault a compound of magic users, subdue not kill them, and also make sure that no hostage dies in the process?" Rolando was the first one to speak, he felt like he was missing something.

"Don't forget not to cause too much collateral damage to the facility." Rem added the part Rolando left off.

"You two finished?"

"No I'm just getting started, on top of the bullshit they want us to do, this is the group that excommunicated us for saving their sorry asses. So forgive me if I don't find the desire really great to jump back in that fire." Rolando was mainly speaking of himself, but the anger was still there. He joined with Trezlan to save the galaxy and got screwed.

"And if we do this for them maybe they'll do something for us."

"Or maybe they'll kill you as soon as the job is over, Ronerawth ain't exactly an honest group of people." Carut didn't want to get into it, but he had reason to suspect that was the case more than everyone else in the room.

"Enough, we're doing the job, keep your stupid mouths shut and gear up." Everyone was unhappy with the way the briefing went, but they considered themselves professionals, so they did as they were told. "For Now," was pretty much the subtext that ended the conversation.

Machine Army? You Say That So Negatively

"Dad we need to talk about your machine army." Rolando didn't want to have to make the call, but Rem said he should, he wouldn't explain why, but he said it was up to Rolando to "Do the right thing." Clearly Rem didn't know the Lorentino legacy, because in Rolando's mind the right thing was self preservation above all else. Which a robot army would accomplish, probably, Rolando was a little worried what his father would do with one.

"You say army, I say conflict averse group of lovable miscreants who help me with daily tasks." Trezlan wasn't surprised Rolando had contacted him about the machines, he was actually kind of surprised it took him this long to ask.

"And these daily tasks don't involve murder?"

"I'm not going to say no to that, you know it might come up."

"Dad, please I'm asking you do not use your robot army for bad."

"I can't promise that either son." Rolando sighed.

"Ok well can you promise me you won't like blow up the galaxy or something, I'm asking very little here."

"That I'll commit to, no galactic destruction." Trezlan's voice annoyed Rolando, it rang like it was an actual concession not to wipe out all life.

"Ok is there anything else you'd like to mention? How was your trip?"

"Uneventful, though it was nice to use that fake legal license." Rolando was about to ask another question when he got an alert he was needed.

"I have to go dad, it was nice talking with you, even if a little frustrating."

"I get that a lot."

"I'm sure you do, well I'll make a better effort next time."

"Don't beat yourself up if you don't, later." And the screen blanked out, Rolando was left melancholy a bit before he could hear Therod's yell then he got moving. She apparently had a hot job that needed done and Rolando needed something to get over his feelings.

A Problem Of Someone Elses Choosing

"Nice to see you again Sergeant." Captain Chalm was a balding man with half a cybernetic face. Therod knew him from the mechanics office they both had their gear worked on at the same time. Chalm had earned his "upgrade" as he called it from a malfunctioning weapon that almost blew him in half, other than the face most of the right side of his body was made up of machines.

"It's Captain now." Therod smiled as warmly as she could manage, she never dealt with Chalm directly, but she had heard not pleasant things about him when she'd brought up his name.

"Right you lead that little company 'Shit Squad?' isn't that a little vulgar."

"We're more than a little vulgar." She smiled at that, it was her usual response to people talking about the name of the company. Most people were taken a back by it, but to her getting upset that hired killers liked to go by a swear word was getting hung up on the wrong detail.

"Right, and you have the former Lieutenant Lorentino among your group?"

"I do not. I do have a man named Rowland Quick who bares a stark resemblance..."

"Sure sure the Lorentino's aren't popular so he's hiding I get that. Well all the same Ronerawth needs your help." Therod wanted to pump her fist at them asking for her after what had happened, but at the same time she knew, just knew this was not the welcome home she expected.

"Ronerawth does realize I do things for money right."

"Compensation will be in the contract yes."

"Fantastic, so what can I do for the boys in purple." Chalm laid it out for Therod, and it was as she suspected a complete screw job, and just the kind of thing she named the Shit Squad for.

"We'll accept." She knew if she wanted better jobs, she had to do the really awful ones first, and this one would be really really awful.

I'm Sorry Work Came Up at Work

Therod sat alone in her office, Rolando has finally taken a break for the evening so she was reviewing her actual work. The company was doing all right financially so far, but recruiting was still crap and she felt she wasn't getting a fair shake at the actual paying jobs. Which was to be expected with how the hierarchy of things worked, but she wasn't happy about it. Looking at her recent requests it was the same low level protection work they'd been doing since she took over and she wanted more. Something more exciting! She had the company as being able to magical situations, but so far no one had called her on that at all! Therod was in the process of writing out a lengthy complaint to the Mercenary council that her group was being blacklisted for some reason when a message came in from Ronerawth.

The message was brief, included contact information and a request for her to get back to them soon. it was curious to her. At first she thought maybe all was forgiven and she'd be brought back in the fold. But this came in on the official channel for recruitment, so it appeared she was going to get a job from Ronerawth which was confusing since they didn't normally sub contract out for work, least of all former members of their military to the best of her knowledge. She was about to get further into it when Rolando showed up with a huge printed map.

"Ok so I think for the next part I'll have to explain..."

"Sorry I've got work to do Rolando." He looked crestfallen at the news.

"But you said..."

"Yeah if we didn't have work, you know a job to do that thing we do here when we aren't listening to stories of your mom that was going to explain something that hasn't explained anything yet."

"I told you I was getting to that."

"And I'm telling you we have work to do, so you're little story will have to wait." Rolando frowned again.

"Fine fine I guess we'll work at work."

"Yes this something we should do. Now if you don't have anything else?" Rolando did not and he slinked out of her office. Therod felt bad, she did enjoy the story, but the office was a work place and not a place for telling stories. She quickly moved on and to the pressing matter at hand, that being what in the gods name did the RIG want with her.

The Beginning of the End of New Lork Part 17

“What did you put in those bullets?” Kyriac was all set to run from the truck when all four morlatech bots exploded. He only heard one shot, a loud booming sound, and then its resulting explosion seemed almost as big despite Kyriac knowing that was not feasibly possible from just the one explosive round.

“Well I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t cook them a bit, but no way can one round do that kind of damage. I have to assume I hit some kind of ordinance within the thing and then it triggered and exploded causing some kind of cascade explosion among the other bots.” It seemed a plausible explanation, though Deliah did not know how true it actually was, but it sounded nice. Kyriac started laughing at it all, in one minute he was ready to get killed and now suddenly everything looked fine. Deliah herself started laughing, she was still laughing when Riobeck walked up bewildered to find two people standing near a truck in the middle of the desert just laughing. Riobeck was about to ask them for help until he saw Deliah standing there.

“Well hello Riobeck good of you to com all the way over here so I didn’t have to go all the way to you, you slimy bastard.” Deliah pointed the long shot at him and he put his hands up, he knew he’d just gone from saved to screwed in record fashion.

The Beginning of The End of New Lork Part 16

Morlatech war machines don’t have names anymore. They did at one point, they were even people. But over the years, the training, and the rest strips them of identity. They only have the goal, whatever it is for the day. The bots encroaching on Riobeck’s shuttle had one mission. Elimination. They were tasked with annihilated anyone from the rival corporation, and to put down any resistance they might encounter.

The machines lacked emotions, merely existing as organic ai. But it would be a safe assessment the four of them could be considered confident as they marched on the downed shuttle. They had one scan of a life form that was not armed, the shuttle itself had no on board weaponry and they were miles from any military force. With confidence came lack of discipline even among the machines. In anticipation of destroying the shuttle with ordinance they had preloaded the missiles into their firing apparatus, normally not done because of the danger of the unloaded ordinance exploding under fire. Which is exactly what happened when Deliah’s long shot round collided with the ordinance. All four bots exploded in a fiery mess of parts.

Interruptions

"Not to say it's not riveting." Therod had fully engaged in the conversation, she was pouring over the old battle plans and news reports with the rest of them, trying to piece together the last days of New Lork was confusing. On top of that Deliah's narrative as given by Rolando seemingly put her in the thick of it without mentioning her at all in any of the official communications, which made sense, but didn't.

"I'm getting to a good part."

"I get that, I'm just confused how your mother knew all these other parts, like she seemed to have some kind of god like recollection of events here."

"She did research, talked with survivors, read logs that kind of thing." Therod shrugged.

"It just seems she knows more than she should is all I'm saying."

"Would you let the man tell the story Therod?" Carut had weighed in, Therod's interruptions had been numerous since she had returned from jail, in a way Carut wished she was still there. Rem had given up on listening and gone to sleep, which was fine to Carut the magic eater bothered him a little bit and he didn't want to make it a big thing.

"Fine fine, I thought asking questions is fine."

"It is fine, just you know let me tell the story." Rolando looked at both of the remaining people in the room and they both gave him their blessing. "Ok so as I was saying she racked the slide and took aim..."

The Beginning of the End of New Lork Part 15

“Well that guy is fucked.” Deliah had the long shot out and with the new scope on it she was able to look at the crashed shuttle. She saw someone briefly near a hole, but then they ducked back in when the Morlatech bots came tromping up.

“You’ve got range on those things you can shoot them.” Deliah looked at Kyriac with a sour look. They were in the bed of the truck, just looking over the side so as to minimize their profile.

“I take if you’ve never fought one of those things before. They aren’t people, they are machines. No real easy place to shoot or hit that instantly disable them. Best I could do is use some of my explosive rounds and hope the damage is enough that it limits the return fire.” Deliah only had one magazine of explosive rounds and she was saving it for a special occasion, or if things went really bad, to blow herself up. She saw the shuttle’s occupant again. She used the best zoom the scope had and noticed something. “Fucking Riobeck.”

“Who?”

“The dumb shit trapped in that wreckage is my former handler, that slimy bastard.” She almost wanted to shoot him herself just for the joy of it. She then cursed realizing that Riobeck was her best chance off the dust ball. The damnable luck, the one man she wanted to kill she now needed to save. Deliah unloaded the normal slugs from her long shot and slammed in the explosive rounds, racking the slide to put the first one in. There were four of the morlatech bots, they were stomping in two by two rows, which for any other combat squad would be a bad idea, but for them it wasn’t really an issue normally. Deliah took aim at the one in the back, she pointed at the shoulder hoping to blow off its arm causing some kind of failure. She wasn’t sure it would even work, and with only 8 shots to do it wasn’t too confident this wasn’t about to be the saddest assisted suicide.

“So what do you want me to do?” Kyriac was on edge as she took her aim.

“Get ready to run from the return fire.”

“Come on I’m useful in a fight.”

“As a distraction sure, but your aim combined with the fact your rifle won’t hurt them means its best to just run.” Kyriac said something under his breath she didn’t catch. Deliah focused on the shot, she knew the first rounds would have to be perfect, so she controlled her breath, visualized the shot and its follow ups, and pulled the trigger.

The Beginning of the End of New Lork Part 14

Riobeck felt blood running down his face. At first he thought it was his own until he looked up and saw the remains of the pilot suspended above him impaled. Freeing himself from the harness, he quickly left the mangled cockpit area, having to crawl to the back on his hands and knees. The shuttle was screwed, he could see that clear as day. Even if it were not crashed into the ground, there were several gaping holes in the side.  He had to escape the craft, but he felt his heart drop into his stomach when he saw the Morlatech war machines stomping up to the shuttle.

He knew the end of his life was near. No way would the corporation attacking his now, allow him to live. His hope of somehow getting away from New Lork was fading fast with each metallic crunch. It made him sad for it to have come to this. Resigned to his fate Riobeck figured it was best to stay in the shuttle. Go down with the ship like he should have up above. It seemed Nobler some how even if no one was there to see it.

The Beginning of the End of New Lork Part 13

“That looks like a ship of some kind.” Kyriac had noticed it at first, something tumbling from orbit that wasn’t on a controlled flight path. They were half way back to the city proper and Deliah already felt like things were about to get worse.

“Probably a shuttle from the ships overhead, look’s damaged to me, best to just ignore it.” She knew they wouldn’t ignore it, knew it after Kyriac had opened his mouth.

“You just want to ignore everyone don’t you?”

“Do you want to live or not? Hard choices have to be made, I make them all the time, and you better start making them.” Kyriac was quiet and Deliah thought she won the point. They drove in silence, She could see from the smoke the wreck was coming up on their right, it appeared like Morlatech already had their metal men on the ground near it.

“So you’re just going to leave them to die to horrible metal men…” Kyriac said it like a child asking his mother why she’s ignoring the world and Deliah knew it would only get worse from here.

“Gods damn it.” She swung the truck left so hard Kyriac got jostled in his seat. She at least took joy in that for the brief moment of him being off balanced. She knew things had just gotten worse and it hadn’t even taken that long to get there.