New Elysium: Breakout

Sacrifices Part 47

The past surfaces at the strangest of times. The battle looming and Red drew the small score of Tiburon fighters forward and they poured out of the underbelly of the Aphelion in a swarm. They had other fighters, but they were a motley crew of various ships stolen from various places. 

Red had uses for them all. But even as he did so the past loomed up at him again. The same past that he'd struggled to remember in the confines of Helion 7. It came up at him again when he least needed it be there.

"Captain, do you not find it strange that we'd have a communication blackout after a sudden recall?"

"I do, I'm sure they will let us know what's happened," Captain Scott had responded then, resplendent in his uniform. He'd pressed it himself before arriving.  Nodding a greeting to the personnel, who'd flown the shuttle for him, on his way out he'd moved confidently, sure of his faith in the government. 

Lars followed his large metallic body, clinking against the gangplank as they made their way down off the small craft that had carried them from the Aphelion to the Neo-Tokyan Outyards. The Outyards were one of the places the non-elites were allowed to go. You still had to have the rank to be here. Captain Scott had never been fond of it, but others had homes here, bragging about being just outside the elite society. As if they hung around the table long, the Neo-Tokyans would let them in. The Captain even then had found them repugnant enough that he'd kept his own quarters on his ship. No need to maintain a home that he would rarely visit.

He ended at the bottom of the steps and saluted the officer standing there. "At ease," he commanded the young man. But something was off as the young man did not listen, in fact, he trembled slightly. When he started to ask him what was wrong, Lars grabbed his arm.

"Captain."

Glancing behind the others who were clearly not officials that he'd remembered Captain Scott noticed the strange uniforms they wore. They were not regulation Navy at all. 

They all carried guns. Guns were not usually allowed here by anyone who was not a commanding officer. Now he understood the unease of the man in front of him. 

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, stepping forward. 

A blonde man with icy blue eyes carrying one of the largest guns, he'd ever seen stepped forward, his smile was sinister but it conveyed the message clearly. He enjoyed this part of his job. 

Red's augments went into full fight mode. He had no idea what the gun did so his augments shifted to the surrounding soldiers taking into account their positioning and their weaponry. Their gray uniforms with black stripes across the shoulders were foreign to him, for a second he believed there'd been a coup. 

"You've been demoted, Captain. You're an augment, correct?"

Taken back, Captain Scott's jaw dropped open. "Yes, what does that have to do with anything?"

"And the AI is your second?"

He could feel his body warnings going off as the soldier turned his attention to Lars. 

"You're fully autonomous?"

"Yes, Sir," Lars straightened, his attention on his Captain.

Captain Scott's jaw began to tick, this wasn't what was supposed to happen. Even as his augments were warning him of an impending fight, his mind was trying to put it together. Why would they do this? "What is going on?" He finally got out.

The man hefted his gun. "I love this part the most," he said before shifting it to fire at Lars.

Captain Scott reacted without thinking.