OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 145 - There Is Always A Choice.

I am full on loony, mental, insane. I thought I was writing things that are so ludicrous they defy imagination. Flights of fantasy that skew the world into almost any shape I want. Yet increasingly I'm finding that reality is out insaning me. The latest example from almost a week ago was a criminal case in the UK. Bastion of freedom, free speech and the birth place of modern democracy, allegedly. A post op transgender woman ended up in court for hate speech. Her crime? Stating in a Tweet that she was a man. Insisting that gender is biological and not a social construct. The victim of this horrendous crime a transgender rights activist. The judge dismissed the charges instantly as being without merit. In a country with soaring levels of crime, including murder, the police thought it a good idea to prosecute. To spend their valuable time investigating this. Scarce resources and a large quantity of money were pointlessly pissed away. Please reality, slow down. I'm finding it hard to keep up. Nothing I can come up with is this surreal. It's not fair. I can only go so far and no further. I have to draw the line somewhere. Why can't you?

(The copyright of this image is the property of Keep The Faith magazine.)

The captains of the fleet were gathered around the holographic display aboard the Crystal Dragon. Along with lieutenant's for want of a better word. Pengelly and Fetu were with Jake. He zoomed in on a large building that was supposed to be a home to a religious order.

"Zhen, you will strike first. As soon as you receive the go, hit them. Take the building and kill everyone inside. No survivors. Simultaneously with that your other teams should strike at the safe houses. Here, here and here." Jake swept the views to each one in turn. Zooming in on the internal structure of the orders main base. "Here you'll find their servers. There you'll find their personality storage crystals. Bring them all to me."
Zhen nodded, spun the image again. expanding the view.
"What about this one? It's the largest."
"Ellie will take that one with her detachment. Meanwhile Alain will be with us for the assault on the Artificer's HQ. Ellie I want you to leave one of the occupants alive. Give him a few non fatal wounds to make his escape seem real. Then follow him. Find out where he goes and destroy that as well. Level the entire building. Level all the buildings."
The Nordic woman gave a feral grin.
"You sure we don't need to leave one to escape? Maybe lead us to another bolt hole?"
"I'll leave that up to you. Rinse and repeat as much as you think you have to. Everyone the tactics you use are entirely up to you. Use your crews strengths, whatever they are. Santiago, Femke and Garcia you will hit the Artificer facilities and manufactories. Total destruction again. If they surrender let them live. We'll need somebody to spread the word. The assassin's are to be hit in the first wave. The others will go when the assault on the fortress commences. You've got the information on all the assets take the equipment you need. Make sure none of their airborne assets take off and that those in the air are eliminated. Again you know what to do. I'm not going to try to teach you to tie your own shoelaces. Has everybody got it?" There were nods all round. "Any questions?"
They all looked at each other. Santiago shrugged. He was becoming positively chatty. Kayzee put her hand up, looked around self consciously.
"What do you want my people to do? We aren't warrior's we're police. We'll do whatever we can though."
"You'll be responsible for taking and holding the gates to the harbor. There are three others we don't control. You can do that whenever you like. In any way you want. As long as you take them before anyone nosy shows up. Once you've secured them move out into the city for a block or so. Don't take any stupid risks. At the first sign of any resistance, crush it without mercy. There will probably be members of the Families. Take them into "protective" custody. When this is all over it will earn you some points with their grateful relatives. Sade will issue your people with some single use, shoulder launched surface to air missiles. If any one starts buzzing around up above, bring them down."
"I don't have anyone trained to use them."
"It's point and click. Pull the trigger and the fireworks are guaranteed. They'll also work on armored vehicles, but I don't think you'll encounter any."

The four of them made their way back to the Harlot. The general atmosphere had improved. There was even a bit of whistling going on. They were going to have a nice scrap with some ne'er do wells. There was an awkward bit where Jake apologized to his superior officers for bypassing the chain of command. Fetu hefted his shoulders and Pengelly slapped him on the back. It was part and parcel of the Wanderer thing. How they'd all instantly fallen in line. No wonder Scarlet was angry with him. He'd used this trick thousands of times. Leading them and sometimes sending them to their deaths. Casualties would be kept to a minimum today. Theirs at least. A lot of assassin's and artificers were going to die. The power structure of the city was going to be rocked to its core. Jake went below with Kayzee in tow. She was another debt he realized. The oath at The Well of Creation had permanently linked more than just himself and Scarlet. The ripples of his actions had spread far. Morag greeted them outside the sickbay.

"There's a long road ahead, but she'll make it." She thumped him in the shoulder. "I thought you said you didn't have any miracles left?"
"I didn't. That was Poppy. Is it okay if I see the patient?"
"Be quick. She's sedated and asleep. You don't come back from being that near death easily."
Quietly opening the door he stepped in. Tamsin nodded to him from where she sat monitoring the medibot. There were two spots of very pale pink on those cheeks. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically. There would be a price to pay for this. Whatever it turned out to be he'd pay it again gladly. He'd had an idea. Kayzee looked around the door. They exchanged smiles. Not wanting to risk waking her, he left silently.

"Kayzee, I need a place to... interrogate the prisoners. Somewhere quiet and secluded, but near here."
"I know just the place. Do you want me to come with? I have some experience interviewing suspects."
"Thank you, but no. It's best you keep your hands clean. This will be some dirty business I'm afraid."
She was about to protest. Opened her mouth to object. Looked at the door. A single affirmative jerk of the head.

Strobo backhanded Scarlet rocking her head on its shoulders, before he could control himself.
"Was that foreplay?" She jibed through bruised and bloodied lips. "Cos I'm game if you are big boy. You're going to have to be a bit firmer though. I barely felt that. This stuff is fantastic. You must give me the name of your dealer."
His anger reignited. The commander had to restrain him. Spit flew from the Chancellor's mouth as he spoke.
"How did he do that? Why can none of our automated systems get a lock on him? What technology does he use?"
"Same as you. You see the thing is, if you and him were in the same empty room, he'd barely register. You wouldn't be able to describe him. That's his real super power. Now pucker up and give me a kiss. Then kiss your ass goodbye. he's coming and she's coming with him."
Strobo's eyes lit up.
"Who is she? What's her name? Is she the one responsible for this?"
"No. You are. As soon as you snatched me this was bound to happen. You sowed the wind now you must reap the whirlwind."
"What does that mean?" He turned away at her laughter. "Commander I want as many of your men on the perimeter as you can get. Bring them in from our other facilities. Mechs, tanks, armored vehicles. I want a cordon of steel around this building. Let them come. We will kill every last one of them. Do you hear me captain? Do you hear me?"
"Of course I do. Your whining is giving me a headache."

It was dark. In the city it was actually darker than out on the ocean. The artificial lights created inky black shadows. The beams from the top of the fortress swept the surrounding area randomly. Pausing if so much as a cat passed by. The minutes and seconds ticked away. At an order from the commanding officer, the barriers were raised. A metal curtain arose from the ground to enclose the entire building. Men shifted nervously. Who would be mad enough to attack them? They'd be committing suicide. That level of craziness might take some of them with it. The troopers took their positions along the walls. Looking out over the flat, featureless ground towards the nearest buildings many meters away. A cloud of dust swirled. Their comms headsets squealed deafeningly and their visors lit up with the horrific images of two men being tortured.

Then they heard the screams. Every sound device poured them forth. Every screen displayed those pictures of men in agony. All attempts to jam it failed. It couldn't even be switched off. The displays of the officers in charge lit up as their squad members biometrics went into overload. Something arced out of the darkness landing with a wet thump five meters inside the walls. First one and then a score of weapons opened up on nothing but shapes in the swirling mist and dust or shadows. Order was restored with difficulty. The command to cease fire initially falling on deafened ears. A second object from an entirely different direction landed inside the walls. Two dead and broken bodies wearing uniforms. A human shape appeared and disappeared in the murk. The order to hold their fire worked this time. It was there. No over there. The automated systems were blind. Jerking and jumping at sprites, just like the men.

"You have one hour to release the captain of the Scarlet Harlot unharmed or suffer the consequences." The words echoed around the area. Impossible to discern from where.

The colonel up in his eerie on the roof ordered his snipers into action. One, then two more, they had a visual. No lock, but they confirmed the man was in their sights. He was about to issue the order to fire when three of the biometric displays winked out. They'd gone? They'd gone. How was that possible? The sound of whatever had hit them was like ripping cloth. Arriving after the impact. Everyone was ordered to cover. The colonel called his adjutant to him. Only to see his head explode as a round passed through the meter thick parapet. Down at the wall more men died as they hid behind their steel protection. Randomly and at every point of the compass. Small holes appeared as the barrier was breached repeatedly. Silence ensued. It lingered. No one moved or made a sound. They were out there. There had to be more than one. The strain and the stress of the next few minutes stretched nerves to breaking point. Were they still out there?

Apparently not. Every device they possessed showed there was no one there. Whoever had attacked them hadn't been detected. Eyesight was their only method. The mechs, APC's and tanks were moved up to the walls. More protection from a weapon with unknown penetrative power. Would it work? The next 59 minutes crawled by. More preparations were made. Those inside the fortress remained out of harms way. Those outside grew more and more resentful. The countdown wound their already over tight springs. Then it reached zero.

From every direction around them small arms fire erupted. Their systems were all malfunctioning. Now nothing could be detected. Not even the buildings where the incoming lead was flying from. The rest of the mechs were ordered into action. They refused to move. Inside the building the Chancellor was having a fit. Outside men were dying. Where was it coming from? The cry went up as the reality dawned. He was inside the compound. He had been for the last hour. The mechs turned on one another as their operators wrestled with the controls and one by one they all died in their protective cockpits. Three of the robotic traitors headed towards the main doors killing everyone in their path. The order went out to stop them. A flash of incandescent light, as a missile exploded into one of the lower gun ports of the building. The damage beyond belief, courtesy of Poppy. The small opening was now a gaping hole a meter across. The operators of the heavy weapon inside blown to pieces. A shadow walked over them. Moved like smoke along the corridors. Everywhere it went, death followed. The panic outside the fortress was now inside as well. Two of the protective walls around the compound erupted. A present from Morag and Sade who'd crept in under the crisscrossing fire.

Deep inside the fortress, forty meters underground, Melb Strobo felt the gripe of his own mortality fill his chest to bursting point. He screamed and yelled conflicting orders to his personnel. The general drew his firearm. Not sure where to aim it. The motion detectors in the hall outside the entrance sounded. He was in the corridor. That thing. It had to be that thing in human form. The static filled displays died. Then lit up with a single word blinking with red flames. Nemesis. Every trooper in the room leveled their weapons at the entrance. The general turned his towards Scarlet. Despite the shout from Strobo, his finger curled around the trigger. His pistol and the hand that was holding it burst. Metal, skin, blood, flesh and bone splintered into a million pieces. From up above his head, as he stared in disbelief at the stump, the sound of tearing cloth. Jake twirled as he descended from the rope he held in one hand as he fell. Sending rounds in every direction. Each of which terminated another life. The only living artificers in the room, as he touched down next to Scarlet, were Strobo and General Kantar. A slash of his blade and the straps restraining her parted.

"Hi honey I'm home." He trilled cheerfully
Scarlet brushed herself down.
"You're late. What kept you?"