Gabatrix: The Pirates of Palora

Chapter 13: Preparation

"Who is Morathi?" Shira asked Stone.

"Engh..," Stone grunted.

It had been about an hour since the interrogation with Torrin. Ioren, Stone, Javier, and Shira were in the CO and XO's stateroom, debriefing the information that had just been acquired. Javier stood by Shira as she sat down, smoking another cigarette. The captain was completely relaxed, leaning back as she questioned the master sergeant. Stone and Ioren stood next to each other, overlooking the commanding officers.

Ioren reached up and tugged Stone's shirt, almost as if she were begging him to explain. The master sergeant rolled his eyes and relented.

"Fine....," Stone said in annoyance. "He's a nobody, but....supposedly, to some, he is more of a myth."

"The Unending Arrow?" Shira remarked.

Stone shook his head. "Morathi is just a man. A thug for hire who worked for the Dragon's Eye Syndicate. He was sniping our officers back on Oshun before I killed him."

"Yet, Torrin believes otherwise and supposedly worked for him just recently."

"His corpse would disagree with that statement. It's still there in Oshun's morgue."

"How long did you analyze the body?" Javier asked.

"I was there for a minute to confirm the kill. Everything was how I remembered it before I had to tend to other things. The wound and the shot pattern were a perfect match. My bullet was recovered and embedded through the right eye where it supposedly stopped just past the rear portion of the skull."

"Explain the myth of the Unending Arrow," Shira stated as she took a drag of her small cigarette. "No matter how irrelevant it may seem."

"It was his nickname," Stone explained. "Something that the other criminal exiles made up when I was in Dragon's Eye. They claimed that Morathi had mastered the art of immortality, that he could never be killed and would seek out the ones that bring harm to him. Others claimed that he was over eighty years old. I would just tell them that he's dead."

"Is it possible that someone is impersonating him?" Javier asked. "Trying to keep the myth alive by claiming he's him?"

"Maybe," Stone said.

"But you didn't seem entirely convinced," Shira stated. "This gets into another question. Why didn't your round do more damage to your sniper?"

The master sergeant seemed to think for a few seconds. Javier looked at Stone's sidearm. It was a big handgun capable of firing more powerful rounds than typical UHN handguns. The master sergeant had an answer.

"It was claimed that the window glass and the scope's alloy and material slowed down the bullet enough that when it penetrated into his skull, it didn't blow through the other end of his head," Stone explained as he sighed in aggravation.

"The caliber of your gun is quite powerful," Shira explained. "You sacrifice capacity for sheer penetration."

"I make sure that the perps don't get back up."

"But, in this case, this one did. He was one step ahead of you." Shira began to interface the computer panel where the main display turned on. She switched one of the other room displays to what she was looking at for the others to see.

The face of a man appeared on the screen. It showed that of an individual with a dark complexion, a typical man of Oshun. He was bald, in his mid-thirties, and carried a short stubby beard. Stone walked up to the display and pointed at it.