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 Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:49 pm
He suddenly realized he had closed his eyes (fear? of a feien?) and opened them to find Burgundia there; clawing at his shield, nearly weeping with vexation - as if she ever wept over anything else - and held her hands out flat to obviously try her magic once more; Autry suddenly felt a mild stinging pain in his eyeball, as if a cold wind had blown into it, but nothing more. It was solved by blinking.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:55 pm
Autry stood there, not knowing what to do. This was not only outside of his training, it was outside of his personal experience. Terrorists and cops he could deal with. Large explosions and eighteen-wheelers he knew. But assault by fairy? Where was the page in the manual for this?
Even if he had wanted to hurt Burgundia, it would probably only result in trouble from Feien Services, Adomital, and Central. If he could get through this without being demoted out of Security completely he would write that damn manual page himself. Autry frowned and said in what he hoped was an authoritative tone: "Knock it off."
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:58 pm
Burgundia was so furious she nearly shook in mid-air. Then, lacking ideas, she gave him an upturned middle-finger.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:00 pm
The finger, being the size of a pin, was unimpressive. Autry was utterly unperturbed. "Are you done?" he asked, annoyed. "You realize I'm not letting you out of my sight unless I get what I want." And even not then, if the Security team underneath Wakefield was willing to cooperate.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:05 pm
Unfortunately, Burgundia knew in this instance that she was not Marne; she was about as speedy as a snail who had been sick recently. Her cheeks were bright red with anger, eyes blazing. "<******** you. I ain't lettin' you near Rose; we're goin' nowhere! You son of a b***h!"
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:10 pm
"Well then what say we go visit one of your little friends?" Autry deactivated the shield. He always felt a little uncomfortable inside it, since it neutralized breezes just as well as energy bolts. "Who do you want to visit first? Ruby, Marne, or Galatea?"
It was not as if Autry needed Burgundia to take him to Wakefield, anyway. He was just keeping an eye on her, and if they stood here in this field from here until eternity, that suited him fine.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:14 pm
"Like ********!" Burgundia raised her chin stubbornly. "We ain't goin' nowhere, and you sure as hell know it, buster; I guess we're just gonna be standin' here for <********' ever. See them? Hah! Over my dead body."
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:19 pm
"Only if you do the honors," said Autry wryly, reaching into his cuff for the device Dr. M had given him. The display came to life at his touch, showing the surrounding area and two very clearly marked dots: "Burg" and "S A".
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:24 pm
Burgundia's anger - if not appeased, momentarily packed away - was replaced with stark curiosity as she stared at the cuff. And also a little horror. "How the hell - have I been chipped? Or what?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:29 pm
"Yeah," said Autry, "with nanites. What did you think, if you left Central you'd be leaving the Fleet? Come on, we both know no one leaves the Fleet." No matter how hard they tried. Even death itself did not constitute a reprieve. "Now, you wanna pick one of your little friends or shall I? Or you can start telling me everything you know."
A little voice in Autry's head sang, Pro-mo-tion!
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:34 pm
She couldn't say 'God have mercy on you', because Autry's God was not the God of feien; and she was starting to question the idea that God gave mercy to anyone. So she said the next best thing. "<******** you. You're just some goddamned low-level toady lickin' up the s**t off someone else's boot. My old bond was General Paxton. You ain't worth half of what he is; you're just somebody's lackey. Go to hell."
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:39 pm
"And if Paxton cared anything about you at all you'd still be bonded to him. Let's try... Locate Galatea." The display flashed. The readout with the dots disappeared and was replaced by a three-dimensional compass, and arrow pointing towards Galatea's presumed location and a distance reading in kilometers below.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:42 pm
"Bullshit. Captain Rabik would kick your goddamn a** from here to Antarctica." That meant they could find Marne; whether they'd put the nanites on Ruby as a bloom was another matter entirely. They hadn't chipped Silva and Aleric; that was something. But still - "Just try to interrogate her."
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:49 pm
"Are you saying she's involved in your conspiracy?" asked Autry, arching an eyebrow. Central would just love that. He thought it unlikely, though, since Rabik was personally recommended by Admiral Durris, and Durris was de facto second-in-command of the Fleet. Anyone with his stamp of approval was not only guaranteed to not be a traitor, their loyalty to the Fleet would be unquestionable.
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:52 pm
"The conspiracy is mine," Burgundia hissed. "Brought on by Dr. M. And this stupid, stupid investigation! Who gives a damn where the lost Feien are? They're probably anti-Fleet sympathisers! I hope they have a goddamned militia out in the mountains!"
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