Pirate Assassin

Page 32

There was an almost undiscernable pop sound in the breeze but the newly formed hole at the sternum of the dummy said volumes. Curuthers clapped softly as Zack jogged towards him from the shadows of the tree he was leaning on casually. "Very well done Mr. Ying, extremely well if I say so!" he praised, "Never before have I seen the skills picked up so easily!" He turned his mechanical wheelchair around and examined the shot. "Very inventive Ying. Waiting till the breeze stirred the leaves and the sound would have made the silenced shot almost unheard. You also shot at the vital T," this being the chest area, and narrowing to the gut which a wound would be fairly lethal, "Good choice, since the wind would have made a riskier head, neck or heart shot." Then he eased his wheechair round to look at Zack, who had his hand casually on the strap of his slung sniper rifle. It was longer than Zack was with the end of the barrel reaching a head and a half above Zack if he had not unscrewed it. "But remember," he said as he wagged a warning finger at him, "These are just dummies. Real people are much, much harder. They are unpredictable and random. To be the best, you must KNOW your enemy, know his psychology. Then once you know how he moves, how he shoots, how he hides, to the very core of how he PERCEIVES, only then, is your victory 100% assured." Zack nodded. Curuthers was a man who had no use for formality and Zack shook his hands. "Thank you Professor Curuthers." but he shook his head. "If you are even seen in the tournament, I will disown you as a student," Zack chuckled. "Don't worry. Even my own team-mates won't see me."

"Remember Zack, you must know what your teammates are capable of," Jarc murmured as he moved one of his long range cannons forward a step. Zack responded by moving a shock troop to destroy a tank, "Yup, I know." Corby and Carvin had already gone through a strategy session with Jarc. "There is one critical problem you have," and he moved another tank forward. Zack examined the board carefully. For some reason, Jarc kept moving his tanks forward trying unsuccessfully to make an armored line. He was also moving his long range cannons back in a haphazard sequnce. Puzzled, he moved his tank to take out Jarc's, making a hole in the armored barricade. "One who observes can easily take advantage of it," he said with his eyes twinkling. Another cannon back. Zack pushed his units in the hole and almost decimated Jarc's foot soldiers and tanks when he realised it. "You see?" Zack had made a grave error bottling up his units on the second tier. Vulnerable to an orbital bombardment. Jarc swiftly destroyed his armored units - tanks, APCs, jeeps - and rushed his protected shock troops to his long range cannons. Zack tried to retaliate but Jarc shot down his ships; Zack only then realised the haphazard arrangement was lining them up to fire on his orbiting ships. "Look at the bigger picture, Zack Ying," he said as he reached for his pipe, "There is always more to things as they seem."

"Even the Government?" Zack asked teasingly.

"I daresay so," Jarc replied as he blew out a stream of green herbal smoke. Zack looked at him.

"Wait, are you saying that the Government is bad or something,"

"Like I said, the bigger picture."

"Then what, pirates are good?" When Jarc was silent, Zack spoke up in outrage, "You can't mean that, Jarc! They're lawless; no respect for rules. They do what they want without knowing the effect it has on others!"

"Can you say that the Government is as noble and steadfast as you put it?" Zack stopped. He was all too familiar with their blatant racism. "Well, I guess not." Jarc blew another stream of smoke. "Listen Zack, before you make decisions, always get the whole story. To your questions, there are always the good and the bad, even among the pirates, let alone the Government! So be careful, just because you were helped by these people, don't think that they are all noble and just." Jarc opened his eyes, "Speak no more of this, my friend. You will know what I mean when the time comes." Zack nodded and walked out and he was quite honestly confused.

They got together at the comm room that night because Carvin d to call his parents. They had a tip off that he was seen 'furthering his interests in a career that results in no honour'. Zack thought differently. Without mechanics or deckhands, there would be no ships. Without ships, the entire GGPU would be crippled. Carvin had to denounce the tipper as a liar (if there even was one) on evidence that he was tagging with Zack the entire time (quite true in fact) and was seen at the time stated by Corby at the training area (a blatant lie) but since the tipper was not in attendance, (to which Zack would snort later and say, "If there even was one!") they had to accept that the person had made an error. They proceeded to the cafeteria after that episode, talking all the while about the upcoming tournament. "Let's face it," Corby said sadly as he clattered his tray onto the table, "If we can't find a fourth member soon, no matter how hard we've trained, it'll be for nothing," There was a moment of silence as the words sunk in. Corby continued to pull down the group's morale by reminding them that it had to be a scout as well since he agreed with Sgt Troffs. "Well, it's not like we'd even have a chance to attract another swordsman. Everyone's scared of.... What the heck is going on over there??" Zack and Carvin looked up to see a crowd of boys and girls rushing to the cafeteria entrance. The place was suddenly filled with people talking, shouting and at one point screeching. "Whalor's fart!" Corby cursed. A Whalor was a huge manta ray looking creature and its farts were toxic on account of the gases they absorbed, "Can't they just shut up while we're here in mourning??" he growled. Carvin chuckled, "I wouldn't say its that bad, but I do wonder what's happening...." As he said that, Zack noticed a girl extract herself from the crowd. She was evidently the cause of the commotion. He noted her most curious feature: long, waist length, wavy sky blue hair and green eyes. She moved with the grace of a dancer and she was moving towards their table. Zack knew he did not imagine the girl looking directly at him with a dazzling smile. He knew who she was and Carvin confirmed his guess when he squeeled while blushing profusely and Corby had his mouth hanging open, "Its Elyss Masters!"