Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 18

Director Gottlieb watched as the remaining Resistance ships either fled the system, or were obliterated by the GDF blockade's lasers. Satisfied with the destruction, he turned back towards the rest of the soldiers on the bridge. The Nirvana Alpha had been one of the first ships on the scene, and was already cleaning up the remaining ships that the fleet had left behind. The Resistance was running. The AU Prerogative was still in effect, and the dropship that contained it and the Slingers had disappeared. He had no way of knowing where they were, as they could have easily have used their cloaking device. "Director, the remaining Resistance forces on the ground have been defeated." Gottlieb turned to see that Marston was reporting in. "Prepare my shuttle. I'll be heading down to the planet myself." Marston nodded and typed in several commands on his main console. Gottlieb walked through the bridge and took the lift down to the hangar. His private shuttle was waiting, along with a small detachment of his own personal Shock Trooper squad. The shuttle flew out of the hangar and down through the atmosphere. As Gottlieb flew over the scene, he saw the several Resistance fighters that had been shot down, and the craters from explosions.

The shuttle landed in the hangar of the main facility. Gottlieb stepped out and saw some GDF soldiers dragging out Caligulus Hendro and his remaining security team. Hendro's face paled when he saw Gottlieb's unflinching face. Hendro stuttered slightly before speaking. "D-Director Gottlieb! Listen, I can explain how this all happened. They infiltrated our base, they didn't take any information, and everything in the mines were undamaged, except for a lift. I swear, I'll fix all this!" The soldiers made him kneel as Gottlieb looked down at him. "No...you won't." Gottlieb drew the pistol from his holster, and fired twice into Hendro's skull, killing him instantly. He put away the pistol, and motioned to the soldiers to dispose of the rest of the security team and the bodies. "Round up every Resistance member still alive. Put the ones that are able enough into camps. Execute the others." The Shock Troopers nodded. Gottlieb looked over at the entrance to the hangar and saw a man in armour with a half-broken mask, and spiky blonde hair walk in, bleeding, but appeared to not mind it. He walked up to Gottlieb. Gottlieb stared down at him. "They escaped." The man nodded. "Did they have it?" He nodded again. Gottlieb motioned for the man to come with him. He would have to report back to the Council how Project EO failed. The two men walked onto the shuttle, and Gottlieb sat down across from him. The man took off his helmet and stared down at Gottlieb with his intimidating yellow eyes. "I still have use for you. Do not disappoint me again." The man nodded.

Nolun and Andress sat in the office of General Kovak. Nolun was quite intimated by the stoic man in front of them. His stare seemed to bore right into Nolun's forehead. He had seen Killopian Death Bats with less fearsome glares. Andress seemed to be calm in the situation, so he kept a steady posture. The silver haired boy that Andress had introduced as Koil also appeared to be intimidating, but had a sense of ease and friendliness to him. Andress had briefly explained that she and Koil had known each other previously, which Nolun found interesting. He kept a close eye on him. Something about his friendliness seemed misleading, especially his friendliness towards Andress. Dealing in gambling rings had taught Nolun never to trust someone like that. Nolun realized what he was doing. Why did he care who this guy was or what relationship he had to Andress? He found his mind kept going back to the image of her leaning over him, her beautiful red hair draping around him..."Mr. Metreo?" Nolun realized he had been daydreaming and looked around to see Kovak, Andress and Koil were all staring at him. He sat up quickly and cleared his throat. "Yes, General?" Kovak looked at him again. "I was asking what you knew about the Dorado Pieces." Nolun focused more. He had to return to the matter at hand. "Well...the Pieces have been theorized since the discovery of the Tablet to be part of a bigger puzzle. The several translations of the Tablet vary in determining their exact locations, but the common consensus is that there are a total of eight Pieces. And also, that when all eight are assembled, the location of the Marker's Tomb will be revealed." Kovak leaned forward. "The Marker's Tomb?" Nolun nodded. "It's the supposed last burial place of the Markers. If all eight Pieces are brought to the Tomb, the Markers will reveal themselves and give you the Choice. Either give the power of the Pieces back to them, and receive untold riches, or take the power for yourself and become the most powerful being in the universe."

Kovak sat back in the chair. "And you're certain that all this is true?" Nolun looked over at Andress. Andress looked down at Nolun's bag and nodded. Nolun lifted the Piece onto Kovak's desk, the golden sphere lighting up the room. Kovak looked at it with intrigue, touching it hesitantly, then inspecting the symbols adorning it. Nolun looked at Kovak. "Well, you've asked some questions, so I think it's only right that I do too. One, how exactly did you guys know we'd be on the planet? Two, why was the GDF there? And three, why do you guys want the Pieces?" Kovak looked up at Nolun, then sighed. "We didn't know you'd be on the planet. You see, we've done our research on the Pieces as well. We've looked at several possible locations, and when we found out there was a mining operation there, we put the pieces together, so to speak. We organized a raid, and found that you got there before us. The GDF was there because they were the ones who ran the operation, which leads us to believe that they are after the Pieces as well. As for your last question...the Resistance has always believed in living in peace in natural Wild Space. It was what we were founded on. With the Pieces, that dream could become achievable. The Pieces are, in short, our only hope. We simply want to find them, as you do. We can help you." Nolun looked at the General, folding his arms. "And if we refuse?" Koil and Andress looked at Nolun. The General didn't flinch, and leaned forward. "We'd have to...renegotiate your stay here." Nolun looked at him, indecision running through his mind. He looked over at Andress, and she looked back at him, a worried expression on her face. "The power that you could be playing with...you have no idea of it's extent." Kovak looked unimpressed. "Power isn;t what I'm concerned about, Mr. Metreo. It's order." The room was silent, then Nolun spoke again. "What do we have to do?"