A Season's Change, -Time-Skip Event-

[Legacy26]

A very calm, collected, and overall apparently relaxed Kade then proceeded downwards; he had two women he was annoyed at. Two to have fall into his plan, two to have their loyalties checked, and two to have their mission given to them. The descent through the ship’s bowels was rapid, proceeding through the heavy decks and around the infirmary, then forward through two hallways before he reached the brig. Both were currently sitting in a very annoyed state in their containment cells.

Kade took an assault rifle from one of the guards, then he motioned for both of the girls to stand where they were. ”Now listen. I don’t care what you’ve done. Rina, I’ve had my trust in you for a long time. Yet when you were working with the resistance, what did I expect? I didn’t expect anything, you were unable to kill me when you had the chance.” Kade stated, ”You knew you had the ability, the gun was loaded, you simply didn’t chamber a round.”

A smile crept across Kade’s face, ”You know what you can do, I won’t say any more.” Then he turned to Sera, ”And you. You know you are a dead man, you’ve been dead for years. And yet you get up, aim your weapon at Rina when you perfectly knew you could simply escape. I saw you eye the controls, you were waiting for htat chance. So when you did, you didn’t take it.” He laughed, ”Pathetic. Both of you may be soldiers, but you certainly aren’t in the right state of mind.”

”One must be able to kill without hesitation, each live is only one against your own. Each target assists terrorism in some way, each one works against your goal in some way or manner. Without the proper state of mind, you are nothing more than another pawn.” Kade told them, letting the pawn part slip to know that they’ve both been played right into the spot. ”Sera you will act as either me or Rina’s assistant, the clothes you were are those of an officer’s assistant.”

Kade reminded her of the facts. ”You are registered dead, your identity is gone, its either this or death. Make the choice. Your quarters are with me. Rina you as well. There’s much work to prepare for tomorrow” Kade said. Each word that had come out of their captain’s mouth was almost as if he was talking of the weather, the words had huge impact, but to Kade it made both seem like pawns in his mission and plan.


This post has been edited by Legacy26 on Oct 17 2009, 03:00 AM

[Legacy26]

In essence that was what they were, simple pawns in his plan, tolls that were manipulated for the positive outcome of his mission. Yet, they were still more than that, Rina of course one of the few people he would give his life for… and Sera, she had lost everything in her life, there was no family for her to return to, there was no life, what belongings she had had long been taken and sold by the government and what little money had been given to charity since she had no will.

When things happened like that, there was no way to retrieve them, what they had was gone, distributed, given, gone. Without a working identification number, one was unable to get a job, as Sera was dead, her identification information was stated as done and gone, dead. The best she could do was to work side jobs, and even those were hard to come by. Thus she was pretty much cheated out of her life; Kade was making a small offer for a possible future.

She had nothing, another person that had nothing was going to fall back to the terrorism that she presently worked for, and that, was something Kade could not allow or at least did not want to allow. He might have been against terrorism and would do anything to eliminate it, but he wasn’t so cold blooded that he would leave someone with nothing after using them. That only promoted terrorism, giving people a reason to work against the government.

When the two nodded in agreement, the final pieces were set into place, everything had fallen into accordance with Kade’s plan. Thus far things were being manipulated with his invisible strings, energy was well spent. And if he did things correctly, they would have an additional, skilled soldier on board the ship, both assisting with things and giving her side of everything. Yet, even if he was the puppet master, Kade still felt a sort of attachment to both of them.

He wouldn’t say what it was, but it was feeling that he needed to protect, be around, and in general please them. The latter part he could easily over ride, the need to please, let others have their way was long gone from Kade. He was a captain, no matter how free or lose his commanding style, he still had to hold some sort of authority over the crew, least they step and take command of the vessel for themselves. Or the ship would simply be ineffective in time of battle, uncoordinated.


This post has been edited by Legacy26 on Oct 17 2009, 03:00 AM

[Legacy26]

Kade definitely wasn’t like that, he knew he had a promise to fulfill, a reason to be who he was, and of course, a purpose to be the captain that he was right now. In fact, Kade was probably to be a career military man, a Captain till he finally retired, or something similar to that. Kade sighed to himself before the three of them quickly (and quietly) walked away from the lower levels of the ship, back upwards through the lift and onto the the bridge level where apparently Sera would have quarters.

All the while the Aeon was sailing across the surface of the ocean, her crew staying on yellow alert, meaning that phase shift was active, weapons armed and sensors scanning to the maximum range for any targets inbound. The mobile suits were also prepped for battle, and pilots would be able to launch into battle upon alert in less than 5 minutes. Rina took one look at Kade and Sera before quickly entering her own quarters, happy that she was going to get some rest.

Kade on the other hand was unsure of where to put Sera, he had planned everything, but somehow that one tiny detail had slipped his mind. Now in his quarters, with Sera standing behind him, still silent, still a shadow, Kade thought. It was only right that she have a bed to sleep on, but Kade just the same was tired as well, he simply didn’t’ know what to do with her as of this moment. It also came up that Sera didn’t have anything to sleep in.

And while the uniforms were comfortable, they just weren’t sleep comfortable, they were designed for when one was walking through the vessel or sitting down carrying out commands and whatever else. Quickly Kade had things prepared, sure he was going to be sleeping on his bed, but he wasn’t going to be alone tonight, Sera would be joining him, she had gone and borrowed some of Rina’s clothes for the night. Although on second thought, it didn’t seem too right.

Still, there was nothing that was going to say that something was going to happen, it was large enough a bed for two and a half people. He would have plenty of room to himself. And if anything really happened, he would simply get up and prepare himself for the day ahead. If it was one thing that Kade definitely had, it was his respect and his honor. Not to mention that Sera was still pretty shocked thanks to Kade’s revelation that she was dead and had nothing left.


This post has been edited by Legacy26 on Oct 17 2009, 03:01 AM

[Legacy26]

In under two hours the Aeon would be at dock, and immediately after that they would begin loading of additional equipment for the AEF soldiers. For now however they would rest. However the doors of the vessel would remain closed until the Kade was awake, which would be in around five to six hours. So inside Rina’s own quarters, she thought about what she had done, almost following through with what she had been told in the Resistance.

It was the order to point the gun and pull the trigger that had haunted her on an almost daily basis, however now, now that she had pointed her gun and pulled the trigger in Kade’s direction, she hoped that her dreams would stop and she would be able to get a night of true rest. As if she had been getting any sleep these previous couple days anyways. Rina smiled, she had also figured out who the Sera girl was; an old friend from way back in her school days.

That didn’t matter now, she was a “fellow” soldier, albeit a dead one, but still an ally the same. She had given enough information, she had followed them, and she had even defended Kade, even if she did point a weapon at her. Rina sighed as she pulled the covers over her body, welcoming the warm embrace of the cloth and its stuffing. Wondering for a moment what Kade had done to get Sera a place to stay. She didn’t worry, he would figure something that worked anyways.

Kade patiently worked for a bit in his office while Sera got in bed and at least got comfortable, the last thing he wanted was for her to be sleep deprived. Sera had been through much, she needed the rest much more than Kade, who could go days without sleep and still remain as active and as alert as he was days before. It was just one of the things that his coordinator bloodline had benefited him, in a good way. He looked through the door of his quarters and found Sera settled and looking out the window.

The sea passed slowly by far below, the moon reflected off the wave swept surface, shimmering like the brightest night star. ”Mind if I join you?” Kade asked as bluntly and as quickly as he could muster while making it still understandable. ”stay on your side.” Sera responded, completely deadpan with her voice. Kade smiled and got in far away from her, staying on his side, the closest to the door and floor while Sera stayed by the window. ”Good night” Kade said before closing his eyes and drifting off himself.

[Legacy26]

In the silent deep night, the Aeon quietly sailed into the port, weapon systems were armed, the vessel operating as stealthily as an 108,000 ton vessel could. Which amazingly was nearly noiseless, the vessel was operating off the scale system, pushing the water rapidly yet silently, the only real noise that alerted the port that a vessel was approaching was that of water and the wake from the Aeon, that and the fact that the Aeon showed up on the base’s radar as a large moving mass.

It was around five hours after Kade had laid down to sleep that his own internal clock woke him up from his refreshing slumber. I don’t remember sleeping so close to the wall… he thought as he rolled slightly to the right, then he remembered that Sera was not one foot away from him. Her left arm had somehow managed to get itself tangled over his shoulder, so with great care, Kade removed the appendage from his person.

Then without another look, he got up, walked out of the sleeping quarters, picking up a change of clothes from the drawer on the way out. Unfortunately he couldn’t prevent the sound of the mechanism locking, the mechanical hiss as air pressurized the drawer, sucking in to open. Just the same he could not prevent the hiss as the drawer depressurized itself when he closed it, the same hiss as air was rapidly pumped out and into the room.

Kade took one quick look at Sera, seeing her in what appeared to be an unfavorable situation, he went back and moved the blanket slightly, letting it cover her entirely. He didn’t need it anymore, he was going back to work, the ship should be near the dock, but as ordered it shouldn’t be connected with anything, the ship should simply be floating awaiting Kade’s command to dock the vessel and take on the required resources.

Then they would fly off once more, using the Aeon as a base of operations for the attack on Krausman, ending all of their troubles for hopefully once and for all. Kade quickly changed into his uniform, a quick double check and then he was off, heading quickly for the bridge. The doors to the bridge rapidly slid open, the bridge crew was currently commanded by the secondary crew. Knowing that, Kade immediately opened communications with them.

[Legacy26]

All he had to do was find information about their current situation, what did the base currently look like; though through the window he would admit it was a complete mess. It had definitely seen better days, and from the signs of it one or two of the buildings looked about to fall apart. A single strong wind or even a feather would probably knock them over. Things were bad, it would appear to Kade that acquiring resources from the base would not be the best of ideas.

Instead it would appear that the Aeon and her crew would have to attack Krausman in a different manner. Kade knew for a fact the primary weapons of the security group were AR-15s, modified to fire a .468 round. Those weren’t too difficult to come by, in fact they probably had enough for the AEF squads, but they likely didn’t have enough ammo to go around for all of them. And the entire point of this run to the base was to acquire ammo, though looks were saying equipment was going to be expended.

He mentally face palmed himself, what had he been thinking, they were at war, this base was apparently just captured from the resistance. Knowing the rebels, anything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor would be gone, but also knowing the rebels, a couple things nailed to the floor would probably be gone as well. He sighed, how much sleep had he been running off of yesterday? His mind couldn’t provide a clear answer. His voice answered for him: not enough.

He said it out loud to the empty primary bridge, then he looked around, it would be a couple hours longer, probably two. IF someone didn’t decide they needed some extra beauty sleep… she did say that she needed it, it kept her sane. Now THAT was something that brought a smile to Kade, Rina sane? No one on board the Aeon was anywhere near sane, they were all completely out of their minds. Loyal fanatics determined on fixing their world.

Zealots sick and tired of the cycles of death and destruction, there was too much tension, no matter what the UESA had done to establish control at the start, it had fallen apart. Then the existence of the extremist terrorist groups, their beliefs that they were right and the rest of the world was wrong, their lack of tolerance, it was laughable. Which was exactly what Kade did, one sadistic smile with the thought of killing a terrorist leader crossed his mind. What would he do first?

[Legacy26]

Seeing that the bridge held nothing else for him, Kade quickly left, proceeding back into his quarter and sitting down at his computer. The screen brought up all the records and communications that had been sent from the Base in the past day. Hands flew over keys rapidly, becoming nothing more than shadows as they raced across, entering text at an astounding rate. Each key was carefully tapped, lowering itself downward, flying up as the pressure was removed.

A careful inspection of the keys on the computer would reveal that all of the keys had either had their lettering and coloring removed or they simply had been removed thanks to time and continuous usage from the captain. And with the careful reading of the news reports from all over the world, Kade got the one bit of information that he truly needed, a business news letter stated how the Krausman group was having a video agreement on the new contract between them and a materials provider.

An actual press conference would be two days after that one. Kade laughed when he read that line, another actual press conference. Oh yes, it would be an interesting one, the owner of the Krausman group would be dead, information that their headquarters had been smashed into nothingness would be on the news and the company in itself would have way too much on its hands. Inevitability with such stress on the corporation it would collapse into nothingness. Perhaps bought out by another or perhaps simply fall away into nothingness.

However as he looked out through one of the ship’s cameras, he noticed something very wrong, it was very quiet. There was none of the usual buzz that occurred, so this facility was still in the control of the terrorists. The depth of the water would never be enough to submerge the Aeon, but it would provide stealth. And that was exactly what he did, opening a direct channel to the secondary bridge, Kade ordered the Aeon submerged and a course rapidly plotted away.

With the same level of silence as it entered, the Aeon slipped out of the harbor, then around twenty miles out, took off cleanly lifting out of the water and flying high into the air. Operation plans were quickly altered, they would still be operating like the security company, but an elite branch of it. It was a simple task to get a set of new uniforms out and use them as the disguises. All in all, the squads that would be deployed would have the appearances of a Special Forces division.

[Legacy26]

Which was exactly who they were, special forces, not assigned to protect him but assigned to kill him in his one moment of glory. With a short sigh, Kade placed the orders for the crew to wake him when the primary bridge resumed its shift. In this situation, excessive force was already authorized; their goal was to eliminate the terrorist sponsor and likely leader that had been behind the resistance. Thus far the communications had been separated, the head been disconnected.

Yet, like some fantasy creature, the beast refused to die, it lived without the head connected to the body. It didn’t need the mind’s commands to operate, it simply caused as much chaos as it could before it was eventually killed. Thus they had to destroy the head of the beast. That firstly would prevent it from issuing any further commands. It would also kill the morale of the body, the mass; perhaps encourage them to fall into surrender or simply to fade back into the masses.

He sighed, then walked off the bridge back to his quarters, according to the navigation display, it would be a little over a hour before the vessel arrived over the target site. Of course plans had already been made to hide the Aeon, which would involve flying it higher, and in the sun. the GN-Xes and the two transports (in gunship mode) would be ready to support if requested. The transports would also be would be what transported the squads to the ground.

They would still be able to fit everyone, albeit they would be flying much slower and have lower defensive armor. However the time it took to switch armor and equip weapons to the transports would be too much. Sera would be following Kade, she would not be armed, but she would be their “guide” to operations, giving advice and letting the operation run smoother. Rina… she would be following along as well, but someone would be keeping an eye on her.

Right now Kade’s trust had run too thin, he wasn’t trusting anyone to get things right. His mind went through plan after plan, almost every possible problem that could come up was planned for. The last resort would be to simply level the building with overwhelming firepower, something that definitely was a last resort as there would be civilians inside. The door to his quarters opened, and without a second though he sat back down at his desk and leaned the chair back.

[Legacy26]

Moments later, Kade was asleep, one deep and relaxing, probably related in part to meditation, as if his body was preparing itself or because he was simply tired. It didn’t matter, as time rapidly passed, the Aeon moved across the dark sky flying rapidly to the designated position. And slowly going into a hover above the site, using the sky and the stars as masking to hide the vessel in the sky, preventing discovery from any being, the cloudbank helped.

Sera had awoken and was lying in her, no Kade’s bed, wondering what really was going on, everything she remembered was false. Was it really? The AEF didn’t follow the law to get its goals met, it simply went and made sure the mission was a success. Was that really? Her head was now comparable to a pin-ball machine, thoughts rapidly jumped from one to another, each one a different type of doubt, each one a different fear and worry.

She stretched, and noted that there was a change of clothes with her name on it sitting near the head of the bed. She opened the door to Kade’s office, and found him awake working away on the workstation before him. ”Go ahead use the shower to change, I won’t be going back there anytime soon.” Kade told her. ”Be on the hangar deck in…” Kade looked at his watch ”an hour” he noted before resuming his work on the system.

A couple moments he got up, locked the workstation, and left his office, proceeding out and down to the armory. They had about an hour and a half before the security force was supposed to be setup and awaiting the arrival of Mr. Krausman. He would likely bring a bit of his own security, likely they would be no match against the profession soldiers of the AEF. In the armory, he quickly loaded up his personal rifle, Rina would come to get her’s on her own.

He grabbed a third pistol, that one would be for Sera, if things came down to it, she would be able to fire and use it. But for now, it would be clipped to his ankle. Now dressed in his armor, Kade slowly walked to the hangar, his thoughts were on the mission ahead. This one would have to be quick, well coordinated, and communication had to be especially good. Confusion would be one of the many things that could throw everything off its tracks and bring the well oiled machine to a standstill.

[Legacy26]

Rina Lei was confused when she woke from her sleep, if it could be called that. In fact it had been filled with ideas, angry shouts at Kade, and a realization that she was never going to reach the point of being a cold killer. She would be proud of that, that was one thing that she hadn’t and likely wouldn’t descend into, Kade on the other hand had no qualms about killing, manipulating, and ruining lives to bring about a greater good. For him, and in her eyes, his means were justified by the end he was trying to achieve.

She still decided to stick with him, someone had to be reason to the chaos, to bring common logic to a manipulator’s cold controlling logic. She took a deep breath before getting up and making her way to her shower. Then it would be down to the armory to load up and finally to the hangar where they would be briefed on the mission, then deployed into the site, acting as the security assigned to Krausman. Rina would play her role well, she knew how he worked as well.

At the designated time, soldiers, crewman, and pilots poured into the hangar where the briefing was to be held. Kade watched until everyone appeared to be comfortable where they stood or where they sat, then he proceeded to speak. He issued each person’s orders; the GN-Xes were for support, acting as long range artillery if they needed such. The Aeon itself would have all weapons targeted on the facility, leveling was an option of last resort.

The pilots of the gunships had similar orders, but they also needed to pick up the soldiers and provide close range precision guided munitions support. When everyone had their orders acknowledged, they quickly split off, the AEF soldiers boarded the transports, which instead of being launched from catapult were simply launched through the rear hatch of the launch catapult. The transports then quickly descended, landing away from the actual facility, but well within walking distance.

When all the troops were deployed the transports quickly flew and landed in two clearings, activating their camouflage systems. Kade and the rest of the soldiers quickly fanned out into their ordered positions, providing what appeared to be actual security for the facility. At all times they remained in encrypted communication, never mentioning the goal of the mission and deployment and all the while speaking in a form of improvised code.

[Legacy26]

It was now only a matter of time till Krausman’s convoy showed up, when he did, they wouldn’t attack him, his security would be with him. They would wait till he was separated from his security, then the AEF would strike with quick vicious striking attacks. After he was killed, the AEF would quickly leave and disappear like they had come in. The transports were waiting in the trees not far away, they would deploy when ordered.

Kade, with Sera and two other AEF soldiers “patrolled” one of the hallways, there had been no opposition from the facility at all. They simply acknowledged them and proceeded with their work, completely ignoring the presence of all the heavily armed soldiers, each one wearing an unmarked armored vest, and in combat fatigues. Soon the sound of a motorcade was heard, and the Aeon informed Kade of the vehicle’s arrival.

He could feel the victory within his grasp, now to simply wait for things to clear out and everything to fall into place. Rina watched as Krausman’s vehicles pull up, and then twenty of his soldiers run out and provide a perimeter covering him. Krausman looked very confident, pleased with the current events, and quite proud of his achievements. He didn’t say anything to his guards, as he was the only one there, and he seemed quite… above everyone else.

The security team that Krausman brought with him split up and met up with various AEF squad members. Krausman’s guards believed them to be the hired guns that were reinforcements for the security team. Krausman was a powerful man, many wanted him dead, especially the military thanks to what he had done. Krausman with six other guards met up with Kade’s company of guards who fell into the walk behind the security team that Krausman brought.

Thus far Krausman was none the wiser, thanks in part to all the masks that all the guards were wearing. Seconds later the Krausman security team broke off to secure the auditorium, Kade and his team, moved into a closer guard position around Krausman. Directly a floor above them, a transmission blocker was quickly enacted, blocking all signals. And when the clock ticked to the appointed time, the Krausman security team dropped dead.

[Legacy26]

Krausman quickly felt cold steel pressed to his back, ”This is as far as you go.” Kade said before shoving him down to the ground. ”You have caused to many deaths, you have screwed up too many lives. You cannot be allowed to live.” Kade stated quickly. Krausman looked stunned. ”You were dead.” He stated, before realizing he had been tricked, fooled and betrayed. Kade smiled, he had come up with a fun little plan.

”Tell me, why was I to die?” Kade was curious about this. ”You. Your mother, your father. They have what I could not. They are inferior to me, I got the better grades, I made more money, I had power, and they are happy. It is my life’s work to ruin them. And you are just a pawn.” Kade laughed at him. ”Then you are the sad one. Now if you want to live. I want to hear you beg.” he told the man on the ground, the rifle was still pointed at his face. Krausman began to beg for his life.

”then how about this. Since you begged, if you can make it to the end of the hall, you live.” Kade pointed down the hall to a room labeled 703. ”But here’s the restrictions. Kade still pointing at Krausman’s head with his assault rifle, pulled out his pistol. Smiling Kade fired the rifle into Krausman’s stomach, twice. The man screamed in pain, the drugs in the bullet were designed to cause extreme pain, used for interrogations.

”Now, run down the hallway. If you reach the door there’s an antidote.” the captain of the Aeon had the brightest smile one could imagine. He got up and dragged Krausman upright. It was obvious the dying man was in great pain. He stumbled forward, clutching the wall for support, another hand holding the wounds. Somehow, Krausman made it to the end of the hallway and was fumbling around for the antidote. When he found it, he stared down the hallway in triumph.

Kade handed Sera a pistol. ”shoot if you wish.” he told her, before lining up his assault rifle. He pulled the trigger once, a red dot appeared on Krausman’s shocked body. Sera joined, and in a minute Krausman was assured dead. A grenade down the hallway ensured it. ”All AEF return to the Aeon. Mission is complete.” he stated into the radio. Kade triumphantly walked out of the building, his soldiers gathering with him as he proceeded out of the building. Revenge was his, he was one step closer to his final goal.

The Aeon’s transports came in and they began to load onto them once more. There was still more work to do.

-= End =-

This post has been edited by Legacy26 on Nov 3 2009, 01:32 AM