Reading the report brought a smile to Brubaker's face. It was an incident report at one of the sanitation facilities his company owned. The kind of place no one thought about until something bad had happened there. Two separate incidents, one a group of anarchist kids, the other a coordinated mercenary assault that had been put down by on staff security. It wasn't exactly a smile worthy document aside from seeing Therod's name in it. Brubaker hadn't given her much thought since they'd separated. He hoped she would find her way and from seeing the report she mostly had. True she had been guarding a sanitation plant, but people have to start somewhere. It was almost enough for Brubaker to feel ok about what happened.
Almost, he was angry because he had personally set those mercenaries to blow up that plant, and he had seen in his mind it was successful. But now it hadn't been, and he hadn't seen the negative there. His vision wasn't as clear as it had been once, and now he was worried what else he wasn't seeing and why he wasn't seeing it. Brubaker had gotten used to using the sight again, but if it was going to fail him it was almost better not to see things. That was the last thought on his mind as the bullet blew his brains against the wall. The shot boomed after his body crumpled, the high rise window giving way under the new stress and blowing out scaring everyone on the floor.
Brubaker's killed dropped the rifle up top, something for the authorities to find and ultimately decide it wasn't worth pursuing. She made one call to her client and then hung up, having to leave the area lest she have to answer awkward questions to the authorities.
****
"Thank you." Trezlan hung up his phone and Rolando looked at him with the same hurt expression he usually wore when he felt Trezlan was being dishonest with him.
"Why? Why did he have to die?"
"Because he was dangerous, the sight is like that, it shows you what you want to see without seeing consequences or other failings. Brubaker would eventually do something bad, or worse so I stopped him."
"You just assume because you're awful everyone is like you, and that's not true, you're just a terrible person." Trezlan let that go, Rolando hadn't gotten over being possessed and he hadn't seen the world like Trezlan had, he was hurt and lashing out. But Trezlan already knew Brubaker was bad, he had known as soon as the man wound up in a corp instead of just winning the lottery, he had chosen to do awful things to get ahead and Trezlan knew that was a path that would ultimately be the worse for the galaxy.
"I know what I know, now why don't you leave me alone son only so much I can stand with your righteousness." Father and son glared at each other, and the galaxy relaxed as things had returned to normal.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
In The Shit
Gunshots hit all around the factory. Shit was leaking from a variety of pipes as Therod and Carut moved towards the sound of gun fire they had become coated in the foul grey liquid. Therod knew no amount of showering would ever make her clean again. Carut seemed not to put off by the crap, but she figured he was putting on a show, as each extra geyser of filth hit them from another pipe she could tell he was feeling worse and worse for it. Carut and Therod had locked up the young terrorists in what was left of their guard station. Therod suggested they just shoot them, Carut decided he didn't want to commit murder based on people being dumb. Therod thought it wasn't murder so much as helping what will eventually come anyway, Carut was unconvinced with the argument.
The gun ship attackers didn't seem to have much of a plan. They were rounding up workers and shooting shit pipes, but that was all Therod could see they had done. The damage to the plant wasn't irreparable it was just superficial and disgusting. That they were incompetent only seemed par for the course for Therod, the job was crap and the people attacking the plant equally crap. Eventually the two of them came upon the group as they were lining up plant workers for an execution, there were six of them from what she could make out. They had their backs to Carut and Therod she looked at him, and then he at her and then they opened fire. Their weapons cut down the attackers without much issue what body armor they had on did not have much rear protection. Therod was going to ask what of the ship overhead when she heard a horrific noise somewhere else in the plant and then an explosion shortly thereafter.
"This job is shit." Carut sounded so crest fallen.
"Shit that pays." It was all Therod had left, the plant workers were happy, but she knew in her heart that no matter how many people thought she was cool, the stink of shit would not wash out of her clothes.
Friday, December 25, 2015
And then the Shit Hit the Fan
"Another day at the shit factory." They had been there a week. On top of being boring Therod could swear the smell was getting through the masks and she was literally breathing it in. On top of all the extra long showers to remove the stink from herself. Carut said it wasn't that bad, but wouldn't elaborate on what would be worse. Nothing in Therod's mind could be worse, but she didn't want to tempt the universe by saying that.
"Of all the places in the universe Trezlan Lorention at least won't come here." Therod had never really told Carut about her issue with Trezlan. It had just become a common enough theme for the man to be seen as the ultimate agent of chaos.
"There is that." Therod was about to start reading a book she'd purchased to speed up the boredom when she saw a van coming down the road pretty fast. It didn't look like a work van for the company, and it was going way faster than it should be.
"Whoa look at these assholes." Carut had stood up from where he was sitting and unslung his rifle. The building had a fortified gate, so no matter how hard they hit it, it wouldn't actually go down, but apparently the van driver was not aware of that, or the van was loaded with explosives, which didn't make Therod feel safer sitting next to the gate.
"Should we shoot them?"
"Nah gate should be fine, I want to be amused by this." Therod didn't feel that way, but the van accelerated and crashed in a metal screeching cacophony of noise. It was one of the loudest things Therod had ever heard. Out of the crash stumbled three long haired males dressed in jump suits and masks and staggering around because they just got in a major collision. Carut and Therod made a move toward the group when they pulled pisols shakily from their suits and pointed at them.
"Stay back and open the, gods damn it my neck hur..." Therod rushed forward, disarming the first of the three. Carut followed suit grabbing one of them in a choke hold and pointing his little crossbow at the last one who put his hands up.
"Whoa aren't you guys supposed to be drunks?"
"Nah that shift left an hour ago, who put you up this dumb ass?" Before the kid could answer a gun ship emerged overhead and laid into the front gate with missiles, exploding it in shrapnel and fire.
"This is all your fault Therod." Everyone was huddled near the wreck of the gate. Therod shrugged her shoulders.
"Look just because I say I want excitement, doesn't make this shit my fault." Both of them got up and collected their weapons, the gun ship was dropping off men in the plant and it looked like their day was just starting.
"Shall we?" Carut had his arm out towards the fire and sounds of gun fire.
"Sure what's the worst that can happen?"
"STOP SAYING THAT!"
"Of all the places in the universe Trezlan Lorention at least won't come here." Therod had never really told Carut about her issue with Trezlan. It had just become a common enough theme for the man to be seen as the ultimate agent of chaos.
"There is that." Therod was about to start reading a book she'd purchased to speed up the boredom when she saw a van coming down the road pretty fast. It didn't look like a work van for the company, and it was going way faster than it should be.
"Whoa look at these assholes." Carut had stood up from where he was sitting and unslung his rifle. The building had a fortified gate, so no matter how hard they hit it, it wouldn't actually go down, but apparently the van driver was not aware of that, or the van was loaded with explosives, which didn't make Therod feel safer sitting next to the gate.
"Should we shoot them?"
"Nah gate should be fine, I want to be amused by this." Therod didn't feel that way, but the van accelerated and crashed in a metal screeching cacophony of noise. It was one of the loudest things Therod had ever heard. Out of the crash stumbled three long haired males dressed in jump suits and masks and staggering around because they just got in a major collision. Carut and Therod made a move toward the group when they pulled pisols shakily from their suits and pointed at them.
"Stay back and open the, gods damn it my neck hur..." Therod rushed forward, disarming the first of the three. Carut followed suit grabbing one of them in a choke hold and pointing his little crossbow at the last one who put his hands up.
"Whoa aren't you guys supposed to be drunks?"
"Nah that shift left an hour ago, who put you up this dumb ass?" Before the kid could answer a gun ship emerged overhead and laid into the front gate with missiles, exploding it in shrapnel and fire.
"This is all your fault Therod." Everyone was huddled near the wreck of the gate. Therod shrugged her shoulders.
"Look just because I say I want excitement, doesn't make this shit my fault." Both of them got up and collected their weapons, the gun ship was dropping off men in the plant and it looked like their day was just starting.
"Shall we?" Carut had his arm out towards the fire and sounds of gun fire.
"Sure what's the worst that can happen?"
"STOP SAYING THAT!"
Thursday, December 24, 2015
A Real Shit Job
"You know when you said this can be a real shit job I should have known you meant literally." Carut and Therod were stationed outside of a waste processing plant. It was apparently a target for chemical warfare or something, really it seemed like it was a Sun Star client specifically for punishment duty. The people they had replaced had previously been busted to the job for drinking, Therod felt it unfair for her to be there but she had screwed up along with Carut and so they had to have their punishment.
"I want to thank you for this, I have never actually gotten assigned to guard shit before, and this is a new low." Carut was in better spirits than Therod. They both had to wear breathing masks so as to not die from the fumes.
"I aim to set the bar low Carut. Honestly who would attack a shit factory?"
"Shitty terrorists."
"I hate you, even though I know I should have seen that coming."
****
"So once we get the shit what do we do with it?" Anarchists were rarely smart, the group planning their assault on the sanitation plant set that already low bar even lower. There were three of them, all under the age of twenty and living off their parents but wanting to disrupt the system they felt was keeping them down.
"We turn into a bomb dumb ass that's why they guard it, I read some stuff on the net, just apply some chemicals and boom!"
"Won't it be guarded?" Each one of them were really hard to tell apart, all long hair and teen age angst.
"Nah just a couple drunks, I chatted with them the other day, neither one will really stop us, but we have guns, you know what they say can't make an omlette without shooting people."
"Who says that?"
"Shut up and get in the van!"
****
"Unguarded, couple drunks really, should be easy to stage an assault on." The pros were better armed then the anarchists, there were also six of them and they had a better plan than get shit and make shit into bomb.
"And why are we doing this again?"
"Bosses want to build a new treatment plant, can't do that while the other one is still in operation."
"Makes sense, but won't we be suspected?"
"Nah I have a couple idiot anarchists I can blame this, been talking it up to them online."
"Excellent." And thus the least guarded shit factory in the galaxy came under assault by two completely related/unrelated parties.
"I want to thank you for this, I have never actually gotten assigned to guard shit before, and this is a new low." Carut was in better spirits than Therod. They both had to wear breathing masks so as to not die from the fumes.
"I aim to set the bar low Carut. Honestly who would attack a shit factory?"
"Shitty terrorists."
"I hate you, even though I know I should have seen that coming."
****
"So once we get the shit what do we do with it?" Anarchists were rarely smart, the group planning their assault on the sanitation plant set that already low bar even lower. There were three of them, all under the age of twenty and living off their parents but wanting to disrupt the system they felt was keeping them down.
"We turn into a bomb dumb ass that's why they guard it, I read some stuff on the net, just apply some chemicals and boom!"
"Won't it be guarded?" Each one of them were really hard to tell apart, all long hair and teen age angst.
"Nah just a couple drunks, I chatted with them the other day, neither one will really stop us, but we have guns, you know what they say can't make an omlette without shooting people."
"Who says that?"
"Shut up and get in the van!"
****
"Unguarded, couple drunks really, should be easy to stage an assault on." The pros were better armed then the anarchists, there were also six of them and they had a better plan than get shit and make shit into bomb.
"And why are we doing this again?"
"Bosses want to build a new treatment plant, can't do that while the other one is still in operation."
"Makes sense, but won't we be suspected?"
"Nah I have a couple idiot anarchists I can blame this, been talking it up to them online."
"Excellent." And thus the least guarded shit factory in the galaxy came under assault by two completely related/unrelated parties.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Land of The Screw Up
"I don't even want to look at you two right now." The captain of the sun stars was an older lady that went by Ross, Therod figured it was her last name, but she never knew if she had a name other than Ross. It was always Captain Ross in her limited interaction with her. Ross has dirty grey hair and a variety of scars on her face and other parts of her visible body. She also had a lot of cybernetics. Her entire chest was a bunch of whirring blinking computers, when she got angry they went from a neutral green to a flashing red. They were flashing red at Carut and Therod.
"Sir it was my fault I didn't check." Carut was accepting blame even though neither he nor Therod had foreseen the attack, and the ship they were in couldn't possibly have fought it off, even if they had.
"Out of here both of you, you're both on shit detail until I figure out how to like you again." They left her office and heard something getting smashed on the way out. The rest of the Sun Stars didn't say anything as they slinked off to the back of barracks. Therod just breathed out, she was glad she hadn't gotten kicked off her first job, but was mad this blew back on her despite doing everything she could.
"You know I thought we already were on shit detail."
"Oh it gets worse, what we were on before was new person detail, shit details involve actual shit like you would not believe."
"I made the correct life decision Carut I can feel it." The old man smiled and laid back on his bunk.
"Don't worry about Ross, she'll forgive us for being screws up and then we'll go back into her good graces just long enough to make another error and start it all over again."
"I'm hearing the reason I failed is because you're bad luck Carut." The old man laughed and Therod just laid down in her own bunk. All she really knew is that this was all Lorentino's fault and that at least made her feel better. Because at least she had someone to blame.
"Sir it was my fault I didn't check." Carut was accepting blame even though neither he nor Therod had foreseen the attack, and the ship they were in couldn't possibly have fought it off, even if they had.
"Out of here both of you, you're both on shit detail until I figure out how to like you again." They left her office and heard something getting smashed on the way out. The rest of the Sun Stars didn't say anything as they slinked off to the back of barracks. Therod just breathed out, she was glad she hadn't gotten kicked off her first job, but was mad this blew back on her despite doing everything she could.
"You know I thought we already were on shit detail."
"Oh it gets worse, what we were on before was new person detail, shit details involve actual shit like you would not believe."
"I made the correct life decision Carut I can feel it." The old man smiled and laid back on his bunk.
"Don't worry about Ross, she'll forgive us for being screws up and then we'll go back into her good graces just long enough to make another error and start it all over again."
"I'm hearing the reason I failed is because you're bad luck Carut." The old man laughed and Therod just laid down in her own bunk. All she really knew is that this was all Lorentino's fault and that at least made her feel better. Because at least she had someone to blame.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Better Than Bored
A combination of bullets and energy weaponry slammed into the bulkhead in front of her. Therod was crouched waiting for her attackers. Carut was behind her watching the rear. They were surrounded, what had seemed like a simple transport mission had turned into a fire fight almost immediately, the client was dead, Carut and Therod the only survivors as it stood and she didn't think their chances were looking great.
"Well this is exciting." Carut was armed with only a rifle and some weird crossbow contraption he had on his wrist "just in case". Therod had thought the crossbow weapon was stupid, but she'd seen him kill two people with it already, so it had its uses.
"I'd say I'd want to be bored over possibly being killed, but you know I'd rather die in excitement over live in boredom." She was running out of ammunition, the attackers did not seem to be running out of men, and last she heard they had an hour before support could reach them on the rock their ship had touched down on.
"We aren't dying here, most likely you know, I mean I don't even know why these dick holes are trying to kill us, they got the VIP, what more can we do?" They could talk which is why people were after them, not like Therod knew anything, but its hard to tell people that when they are shooting at you.
"Complete the set I guess." Therod figured the other team had to be running out of ammunition as well, a strike team only has so much ammo, and they couldn't have planned for the protracted fire fight they found themselves in.
"How you doing on bang bangs?"
"Screwed, you?"
"About to have to resort to bad language and my genitalia."
"So less than screwed."
"That hurts Therod." The enemy fire had stopped, Carut and Therod looked at each other, things were about to get better or worse depending on why the firing had stopped. Therod peaked around her corner and didn't see anyone. Carut also came up empty.
"I guess the threat of your dick was too much for them."
"Or your caustic personality."
"Well we're back to being bored."
"You're always looking on the bright side here." There wasn't much bright side, they had failed in their mission and hopefully their distress signal had been heard. And not by whoever had killed their VIP.
"Well this is exciting." Carut was armed with only a rifle and some weird crossbow contraption he had on his wrist "just in case". Therod had thought the crossbow weapon was stupid, but she'd seen him kill two people with it already, so it had its uses.
"I'd say I'd want to be bored over possibly being killed, but you know I'd rather die in excitement over live in boredom." She was running out of ammunition, the attackers did not seem to be running out of men, and last she heard they had an hour before support could reach them on the rock their ship had touched down on.
"We aren't dying here, most likely you know, I mean I don't even know why these dick holes are trying to kill us, they got the VIP, what more can we do?" They could talk which is why people were after them, not like Therod knew anything, but its hard to tell people that when they are shooting at you.
"Complete the set I guess." Therod figured the other team had to be running out of ammunition as well, a strike team only has so much ammo, and they couldn't have planned for the protracted fire fight they found themselves in.
"How you doing on bang bangs?"
"Screwed, you?"
"About to have to resort to bad language and my genitalia."
"So less than screwed."
"That hurts Therod." The enemy fire had stopped, Carut and Therod looked at each other, things were about to get better or worse depending on why the firing had stopped. Therod peaked around her corner and didn't see anyone. Carut also came up empty.
"I guess the threat of your dick was too much for them."
"Or your caustic personality."
"Well we're back to being bored."
"You're always looking on the bright side here." There wasn't much bright side, they had failed in their mission and hopefully their distress signal had been heard. And not by whoever had killed their VIP.
Monday, December 21, 2015
For the Service and The Inconvenience
The relic fell out of Rolando, leaving the young man back to himself, if only feeling naked and confused. Barnes collected it in a small sack he brought for the purpose. He hadn't had to do much to dislodge it, just knowing the proper phase to free it, which Trezlan in all his random shit apparently never figured it out. Barnes had to laugh a little bit that for all his knowledge he couldn't have figured out this simple thing.
"Who are you?"
"Ray Barnes, you're welcome." Barnes left and Rolando collapsed. Trezlan who never really left rushed to the boys side.
"Will he be..."
"Alright, yes he will be, I'm taking the artifact, its worth nothing to you and I have a use for it." Trezlan just waved him off, and Barnes didn't force the issue. The voice in his head was confused.
"We have a use for this?"
"We do, someday we'll use this for an important purpose." Barnes shrugged. The voice had gotten increasingly cryptic as of late, but he was Barnes's passenger, and he had to believe the voice had his best interest in heart, it had previously but Barnes was worrying maybe it didn't. But as the old saying went, in for a little, in for a lot.
****
"Who was that?"
"You know its funny I'm pretty sure that was the guy who paid me to get that relic in the first place, strange he didn't seem to recognize me at all."
"Well lets not do that again ok, I think I became a vegetarian." Trezlan laughed and clapped Rolando on his shoulder which caused the younger Lorentino to wince. But Trezlan didn't care he had his son back.
"Who are you?"
"Ray Barnes, you're welcome." Barnes left and Rolando collapsed. Trezlan who never really left rushed to the boys side.
"Will he be..."
"Alright, yes he will be, I'm taking the artifact, its worth nothing to you and I have a use for it." Trezlan just waved him off, and Barnes didn't force the issue. The voice in his head was confused.
"We have a use for this?"
"We do, someday we'll use this for an important purpose." Barnes shrugged. The voice had gotten increasingly cryptic as of late, but he was Barnes's passenger, and he had to believe the voice had his best interest in heart, it had previously but Barnes was worrying maybe it didn't. But as the old saying went, in for a little, in for a lot.
****
"Who was that?"
"You know its funny I'm pretty sure that was the guy who paid me to get that relic in the first place, strange he didn't seem to recognize me at all."
"Well lets not do that again ok, I think I became a vegetarian." Trezlan laughed and clapped Rolando on his shoulder which caused the younger Lorentino to wince. But Trezlan didn't care he had his son back.
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