Hunted: Chapter 8

A Lose-Lose-Lose Situation

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'I am delighted to inform you that the imitator is no more,' Shogun sauntered up to the man and pressed the lasrifle's muzzle against the vertebrae of his neck. 'Not even body armour underneath your shirt, you're very confident. Foolishly so.' Trent hurried in and relieved the man of his sidearm. The commander remained calm as he regarded Shogun's choice apparel.

Padoan and Raun hurried in and sealed the door behind them. Trent placed the keycard in the scanner, preventing it from being opened from outside. 'Now, sit down and order whatever men you have left to surrender,' Padoan found a metal chair and set it in the middle of the room. He held his right arm clamped to his side, any movement caused a nauseating wave of pain. He gestured for the commander to sit.

A single massive terminal dominated one corner, a single keyboard with hundreds and hundreds of buttons sat before three screens all showing energy flow, trajectory, and various other information pertinent to the ion cannons. 'That's the control panel we need,' Trent said.

'Do you know how it works?' Padoan asked.

'I'll figure it out,' Trent planted himself on the stool and began tapping away.

Raun used cable ties to secure the commander to the chair. Grayson didn't so much as tug away, allowing his wrists and ankles to be bound, all the while silently smiling. 'Order your men to surrender.' Padoan overstretched and a sharp pain rippled out from his shoulder. The skin was burning and the warmth had reached the bone, tears came to his eyes as he endured.

'Why?'

'I'll kill you if you don't,' Padoan forced the words out as he swallowed the worst of the pain.

Grayson's eyes lingered on Shogun, a passing recognition that twisted into confusion, 'If I die, you die,' he refocussed on Padoan.

'How'd you figure that one?' Padoan searched the commander's pockets, with his good hand, and discovered a keycard, he slid it into the other door's scanner to seal them in. It would take the mercenaries some time to hack the door open, he hoped.

'My heartbeat is monitored and if it goes flat then a series of bombs go off, levelling this facility and another a few miles away. Standard precautions.'

'What about your men?'

'They've signed waivers, big bonus to families if such an event occurred, blahblahblah, standard stuff. All very boring. Far more interesting is why you are here, Padoan of the Firethorn? And do tell me before that injury takes you.'

Padoan frowned, 'How do you know who I am?' He hobbled behind the Commander to watch Grayson's hands, though really it was to hide his injury and the pain it was causing.

'Many VPIC soldiers know who you are. Your little team of guns-for-hire are responsible for damage and lost opportunities valued in quadrillions, maybe even quintillions. We have had assets hunting you down for months, yet here you are wandering into certain death without a worry, why?'

Padoan walked a slow circle around the room stepping over mouldy boxes of paperwork, loose cabling, spent flasks of some potent alcohol, and discarded cigarette cartons with a scantily clad maid on the label, Raun watched him with a concerned glare. 'These bombs...'

'Oh that's dull. No you can't deactivate them. No you can't remove the heart rate monitor. Yes they are all over the base, one even in this room. Why have you come to die, Padoan?' Commander Grayson smiled. His skin was tanned and smooth, his hair well combed, his chin without a millimetre of stubble.

'I didn't know it was Varis Peak hunting us.'

'Figures, unmarked ships, third party and third-rate assassins. You're right, of course, we are hunting all of your crew but that just meant anyone travelling with you. Your droid is a recent addition but will be destroyed all the same.'

Shogun charged up to Grayson, 'You've failed four times by my count, I see no reason why you would succeed now.'

Grayson merely shrugged, as much as his bindings would allow. 'What now, Captain? Anything your tech does can be undone when you leave. Kill me and you all die. Don't kill me and you all die. You're in a lose-lose-lose situation.'

'Raun, can you have a look at this for me,' Trent asked, scratching his head. Padoan looked over but the screens were a mess of numbers, electrical grid outlines, and other assorted gobbledegook that meant something to someone but not him. Raun wandered over and leaned in close. 'I've connected with the cannons and all the other terminals but there's no obvious way to disable them,' he failed to whisper.

'I'll have a look,' Raun ushered Trent off the stool and took his place.

'Resident expert stumped?' Grayson offered a beaming grin to them all.

'May I suggest some gentle torture to make this meatbag talk?' Shogun chimed. 'Perhaps something under the fingernails or behind the eyeballs? I know a great deal of methods I'd be happy to show you.'

Padoan, to his horror, considered it for a second. He wasn't above some firm interrogation, but torture turned his stomach. Especially anything like the droid suggested, perhaps it was why combat droids were made in the first place, a lack of inhibitions and squeamishness. 'No, thank you, Shogun.'

'Shogun... interesting name,' Grayson cocked an eyebrow. 'Means, Conqueror of the Barbarians, or something close to that I believe. Who named you?'

'Close enough, I prefer the titles Lord of Battle, God of War, King of Violence, or Destroyer of Meatbags. Your translation has a certain... romantic flourish, I suppose,' Shogun paced behind the commander. 'Information on my creator is a closely guarded and classified secret I'm afraid, though I would relish the opportunity to meet him.'

'As would I,' Commander Grayson said. 'Did you know Ixion?'

'Thankfully not and if there are any other imitators out there I will hunt them down and destroy them. Having shoddy copies ruins my reputation as the finest and deadliest assassin in the galaxy.'

'Well I'm in that business and I can think of at least four names that I would hire before you,' Grayson quipped. He glanced at Padoan, a shine in his eye.

'That simply means you have failed in your research,' Shogun said. 'Captain, clock is ticking, shall I shoot him? Or are we kidnapping him?' Gruff shouting echoed from the stairwell leading deeper into the base. An error ping sounded from the lock, the door remained sealed but it wouldn't hold forever.

'Raun, how goes the deactivation?' Padoan dried his palm on his trousers and blamed the mugginess of the jungle, along with the searing pain in his shoulder. He tried to remember if the medkit had enough compresses and painkillers left.

'Just a moment, drastic consequences require drastic actions,' Raun typed and clicked furiously.

'Tick-tock, Captain,' Grayson imitated Shogun's voice. 'My men will be coming through that door any moment, in fact, I think they're there now. Shoot me and die, stay and die, leave and die. Your choice.'

'Got it!' Raun announced. He slammed a button and the room went dark. The computer whined and shut off with a spark, an alarm blared out as all the doors unlocked. Padoan could make out Shogun's orange eyes but little else in the velvet shadow.

'Go, go, go!' a VPIC merc yelled as he stormed into the room, 'Rescue the Commander!'

'I think not,' Shogun chirped and fired indiscriminately into the doorway. The cries and laments of men dying piled up and clattered into one another. 'Truly an advantage to be able to see in the dark.'

A figure slumped to the floor and with a faint swish Padoan found himself on his back, reeling in pain. 'You're not getting away,' Commander Grayson hissed, hands around Padoan's neck.

'Careful, Commander,' Shogun said. There was a blaze of lasfire and Grayson toppled over, a hole in his skull. 'He moved...' the droid sounded disappointed. 'Fool.'

There was a faint click somewhere in the walls. Yellow emergency lights flared above each of the doors, one with an arrow pointing down, the other up. The walls began to tick.

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