"Can we get verification on those Oracles?"
"No, sir. The warzone is--"
"I didn't think so. Are our assets in place?"
"Tac teams are in position ready to move on your command, and the station is clear of witnesses. Sir."
"Lieutenant, get the Admiral on deck. He'll want to watch this."
"Sir."
"Alrighty ladies and gents, this is your Commander speaking. We all know what the stakes are today, but I know each and every one of you will do your duty today; for yourself, for the men and women next to you, and for your King above all. Operation Iscariot is a go, I repeat, Operation Iscariot is a go. Time to dustoff is twenty minutes and counting. Let's grab us a podjockey, people!"
"Lieutenant, get me that feed back up, NOW."
"Sir, the neural strain on the subject is nearing critical levels as it is--"
"Do it. Now."
"Sir."
>>BEGIN SURVEILLANCE<<
Akai gasped in blinding pain as another 'disconnect' struck, and his world shattered into jagged splinters and white noise. The servomotors in his arm, previously maintaining an iron grip on the Doctor’s labcoat, shrieked in electromagnetic agony as it short-circuited. As quickly as it had come, the pain and neural shock dissipated almost at once; but as always, the disconnect never lasted longer than ten heartbeats.
Akai’s vision swam into focus slowly, but his hand no longer held the Doctor off the ground, instead it (as well as his arm) had partially fused and was a completely ruined mess of scorched ceramics. Dazed and in still in neural shock, he tried to walk towards the edge of the room in search of something to lean on, staggering for a few steps until his knees gave out. ‘What the hell is happening to me?’ Akai thought, as his brain kept trying to make his right arm move, even an inch.
“Look at me, Commander.” The Doctor’s atonal voice boomed in Akai’s ears, snapping his mind into something resembling awareness. Lifting his head became an epic struggle, only to be rewarded with the grim visage of the Doctor’s lifeless eyes.
“Understand that I had no choice. What I did to you the last time you were here, it is unforgivable nonetheless. But you must know, I did what I did for the Kingdom. I do not regret this.”
“I...d-don’t,” Akai managed to say, “I don’t un-understand.”
“I have little time to explain, Commander. In ten minutes, everything will be out of my hands. Don’t trust anyone, not even the Royal Navy; this is bigger than the empires could’ve possibly realized, but they’ve realized it too late.” The Doctor spoke quickly, quietly, and with a passion Akai had never before seen in so dispassionate a man. “Follow the money; Modern Finances, Samarkand Financial--”
“Doc, what in the devil are you talking about?” Akai said, managing to sit up. It was a start.
“Tukoss’s reemergence, of course! Ah, but I forget you don’t read about anything that isn’t exploding,” the Doctor said. “The wormholes, the Sleepers, nano-fullerene polymers, C3-FTMs, TCMC’s...it’s all connected; but Tukoss’s reappearance can only mean one thing: the Sleepers have awoken.”
“OK Doc, you lost me after the exploding bit--”
“There is no more time, Akai,” the Doctor said, looking up over Akai’s shoulder. “I will almost certainly not survive what is about to happen, but Ms. Oni will contact you once she is safe. I am sorry about your men, Commander. None of them deserv--”
Whatever the Doctor was about to expound upon, poignant though it may have been, was utterly lost in the cacophony of noise that erupted from the door into the office.
A bright light, like the birth of a sun, briefly illuminated the room in a ghastly white before shattering what was left of Akai’s eardrums with the sound of God’s fury.
Shadows. Blood.
Agony.
>>END SURVEILLANCE<<
>>SURVEILLANCE FEED TERMINATED:SUBJECT//ZERO
>>STATUS:INCAPACITATED/COMATOSE
>>LOADING: TRACER-RR...
>>TRACER ACTIVE
++“Command, this is Talon-One-One. Target is in custody, enroute to transport. ETA five minutes.”++
“Talon-One-One, this is Command. Roger that. Casualties?”
++“Zero KIA, Command. HVT also in custody; HVT had restrained himself prior to infil. Orders, Command?”++
“Proceed to exfil, Talon-One-One. Talon-One-Three will be on grid as support. Rendezvous is Arzieh V.”
++“Roger that Command, Talon-One-One out.”++
“Lieutenant, any comms traffic from the Imperial Navy in Ordion?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Let’s just hope it stays that way, the last thing we need is an international incident right now--”
“Sir! I’m picking up multiple cynos on scan...three, five, thirteen cyno signatures detected and counting.”
“Idents?”
“None. Sir. All sub-cap.”
“Blood Raiders, then.”
“Should I alert Talon-One, sir?”
“No. Let’s see what they are after first. Talon-One can improvise.”
“Sir. Amarr High Command is asking for you.”
“Tell them… Tell them Admiral Kvaesir is bringing his son back home.”
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