by R. E. Graham
He fired two more times to be sure he somehow didn't miss, but it had the same effect. Just then, a Republic shuttle descended onto the scene. Its ramp lowered and out jumped three Centurion power armor troopers. They were painted in the typical Corre Republic maroon scheme and looked like giant mythical men.
Besides their defensive capabilities, each came equipped with a jumper pack, chain gun fastened to their left arm and an anti-mech focus laser on their right. They stomped their way up to the Inquisitor. He placed an earpiece into his left ear and pointed over at the other pirate truck. "That is their escape vehicle."
The lead Centurion aimed his laser at it. Before the driver could peal out, he was vaporized as the purple beam easily melted through the truck and out the other side.
Two gray winged Avis ships flew overhead and stopped, hovering in place. Using their engines and rotating wings, the crafts came straight down and unloaded four fireteams of shock troopers onto the scene.
“Fireteam one, you are with me along with the Centurions. Team two, go around back. Three and four, keep the area secure and the authorities off us,” Cyrus ordered as he headed for the side door the other pirates were defending. He removed his sunglasses and slid them into a pocket on his belt. Without using his hands, the small black oblong box at the base of the back of his neck rotated and flipped to form a helmet over his head.
Both Avis lifted back off and clear of the fighting as the fireteams began to get into their positions.
“Centurions breach the door,” the Inquisitor said as his assault team moved up.
The lead armored soldier raised his huge foot and smashed the door in like it was made of thin metal. It shrieked and twisted in the doorway before he was able to yank it free with his amplified strength.
Multiple Onyx pirates within the hallway opened fire with their rifles, but the bullets could not penetrate the power armor. One of them cursed as he raised his left arm and unloaded an ear-piercing hale of rapid fire from its chain gun. Two of the thugs were killed instantly while a third took an injury to his right leg as he dove for the floor.
The team of Centurions had to twist their bodies to fit through the doorway, but they were successful.
Upon entering the building, the Inquisitor flung the face of Otto from his criminal profile to everyone in the attack force which displayed on the lower left side of their HUDs. “I want this one kept alive. Kill the rest of them.”
The fireteam leaders and Centurion squad all signaled they understood and got to work.
After fireteam one entered the teal building, Cyrus followed behind. The shock troopers got to work clearing each room while the Centurions did the heavy lifting by engaging the pirates they ran into heading for the center of the building.
Cyrus saw all of the blood and carnage that the power armor left behind in their wake. One of the pirates bleeding to death tried to crawl to safety. The Inquisitor strolled over with his gun still in hand. He used his black boot to flip the man over, and he looked him square in the eye.
“Where is Otto?”
The man winced in pain and blood gushed from a wound to his abdomen. He somehow managed to find the strength to be defiant. “Go hammer yourself!”
Cyrus smacked his lips at the insult and placed his foot on the man’s chest and pressed hard. The pirate screamed out in agony.
“Tell me where he is, and I’ll make it quick. Don’t, and well, I’ll just have to get creative.”
“He…he should be down in the basement,” he said as he tried to breathe through the pain.
“Thank you,” Cyrus said as he raised his pistol and shot the man in the head.
His bullet casing that ejected from his pistol as it fired flung across the room and clattered against the hard flooring. More gunfire erupted from somewhere else further in the building as the Centurions engaged other pirates.
“Fireteam two, we are heading to the basement,” the Inquisitor said aloud as Toya, the artificial intelligence in his gauntlet, automatically pulled up a map of the building.
He sent the information to the fireteam leader, and they led the way. Cyrus fell in line, and two of the shock troopers took up the rear of the formation.
As they headed down a different hallway, a pirate burst out from a door. "Die!" he screamed before he fired his automatic rifle from his hip.
His shots hit the shock trooper on point, and he dropped to the ground as the second in line opened up and killed the shooter with his own rifle. A different soldier rushed up and checked his comrade.
“You good?” he asked.
The first trooper stood up and nodded. “All good. I still can fight.”
Shock troopers such as the 12th DSST were the elite forces of the Corre Republic’s soldiers. They were sent on the missions that would terrify even the most hardened enemy. Fighting against pirates was hardly a challenge for them compared to battling armies that would field WarMechs.
“Sir, the local authorities have arrived along with several teams of KoPs. Please advise. Over,” said the fireteam leader for team four.
“I don’t want them to interfere with this raid. Tell them to stand down and that an inquisitor is on location.”
“Roger that.”
More shots rang out as fireteam two neared their destination. Two more pirates were gunned down as they fought to resist the shock troopers progress. One wielded a laser weapon and was able to kill one of the team members before he was killed by a grenade.
As the team made their way down the flight of stairs, they found one last door. The Inquisitor's helmet along with those worn by the shock troopers displayed five heartbeats coming from the other side. Their HUDs presented a rough idea of where they originated from, and the team was ready to go.
Instead of going through the door which was probably reinforced, they set an explosive charge on the wall. Cyrus stood in the hallway confident in the fireteam's ability. Two shock troopers stood on either side of the device, prepared to rush in. One held up a flashbang grenade in his gloved hand and primed it by pressing a button on top of the explosive.
Suddenly the wall exploded inwards, and the flash bang was tossed inside. Before the pirates even realized it, they were disoriented by the explosion of the flashbang and temporarily blinded.
The first two shock troopers rushed in as the shooting started with the one on the right unluckily getting shot in the face by a scattergun. At this close of range his head was blown off.
Four of the pirates were killed within seconds while Otto remained alive. He fired a laser rifle he carried which murdered another member of the fireteam before he was shot in the arm. The weapon he was holding dropped to the ground as he crashed into a desk sitting behind him.
Cyrus stepped in and order the team to stand down as one of the men was about to shoot their target. “He stays alive. Clear the rest of the room.”
One of the troopers nearby him punched the pirate as hard as they could which knocked a tooth out of the man’s mouth along with a mouthful of blood. He looked up as the Inquisitor stepped up to him, his eyes half shut.
Using his external speakers, Cyrus kept his helmet on just in case. "Otto the Weary. It truly is a pleasure to meet."
The pirate glared with his exhausted eyes up at the man clad in black leather and armor. He gripped his bleeding wound with his opposite hand.
“I am here because I need some information.”
“You couldn’t have just knocked?” Otto said sarcastically through the pain.
“Somehow, I don’t think you would have cooperated. I have read your file,” Cyrus said as he began to pace back and forth.
“You have been linked to a slew of criminal acts including the dismembering of a family on Starspin, gutting a man on Eden, slitting the throat of multiple citizens on Gallirae…not to mention the slew of smuggling of illegal narcotics among other things. You are what I would call a bad man.”
“Your point?” the pirate said with one eye open as he breathed hea
vily. “Why don’t you save me the part where you prattle on and just shoot me. We both know you aren’t going to let me walk out of here.”
The Inquisitor stopped pacing and faced the injured pirate. "You are correct, I can't allow you to continue to live. It is obvious that you have some sort of connections that have kept you from being executed or sent to Ash. But I do need information you may have before I send you to eternity."
“I’m not going to tell you anythin’.”
The fireteam stood by watching as the Inquisitor interrogated the prisoner. All of the shooting had now ceased as the building was successfully cleared.
Cyrus stood up straight and looked up to the ceiling in thought. “I know that you have an ex-wife and a daughter. Should I pay them a visit?”
Otto’s lip contorted. “They haven’t done nothin’ wrong.”
“Perhaps, but odds are that the wealthy home they live in was paid for by some unscrupulous means. Either you cooperate, or I do some digging that may result in them being guilty to multiple crimes.”
“You would go after a seven-cycle old child?”
The Inquisitor's head tilted to the side. "You didn't seem to have a problem assaulting the helpless throughout your career. I'm only using the judgment that seems appropriate given your history."
Otto looked down as his arm continued to bleed. He glanced back up at the Lawman and shrugged. “What do you wanna know?”
"Several rotations ago someone attacked a senator's ship near Marie. The entire crew was killed and made to look like an accident. We don't know who they were or how many there was, but I suspect that it was raiders. I figure that if it was pirates, then they may have stolen some goods from the ship before they destroyed it to cover up their crime. Thing is, with your connections I figured there was a good chance you knew of someone who had offloaded some expensive goods recently."
Otto instantly recalled the trade deal with Mikhail but didn’t want to divulge the information just yet.
“Say I did know something, maybe even where they are from, could I get a plea deal?”
“Ha, you want to negotiate now just after you gunned down one of the men that were part of my team?” Cyrus asked as he pointed his pistol at the shock trooper who had been killed by the laser rifle.
The pirate made a nasty face as he looked at the dead body then back up to the Inquisitor. He nodded anyway. “Yeah.”
"Well, I suppose that could be possible. You tell me who led the attack and where they operate out of, and your past crimes can be negotiated."
Otto smirked. “So, a captain and his crew visited me a few rotations ago. They came with all this loot that they said was hot. I asked them why they didn’t go someplace else, because Noire is a bit out of the way for them, and the guy said they didn’t want to deal with the Rubies.”
“I need a name,” the Inquisitor said coldly.
“Mikhail Tarvus. He operates out of Destiny. I’m not sure of the town though.”
A feeling of regret washed over the Inquisitor.
I knew there were more pirates there!
He shook his head in disbelief in his own skills. Otto gave him a strange look. “I’m tellin’ you the All Father’s truth.”
“I believe you. I’m just irritated,” Cyrus said as he turned his back to the pirate. He looked up and noticed the security camera pod sitting in the corner. It was probably transmitting everything they were discussing right now to some other base in the Onyx branch of the Five Skulls.
“So, I can go?”
“Well, I did say we could negotiate the terms of your past crimes…and I’m no liar.” He sighed loudly. “But that was before you committed a new offense.”
Before the words fully translated in the pirate's brain, Cyrus spun around and tossed his pistol at the injured man. He looked genuinely startled by the act and instinctively reached his hand out to catch it, but he missed, and it crashed to the floor.
“He’s got a gun!” shouted the fireteam leader.
“Wait!” the pirate blurted out just before he was riddled with holes as the shock troopers shot him repeatedly.
Cyrus shook his head. “Tisk, tisk Otto. A criminal to the end.”
He walked over and retrieved his pistol. Looking up at the surviving members of the breach team he said, “Load up the dead. We aren’t going to leave them on Noire with the likes of these thugs. We’re done here.”
As the fireteam got to work picking up their fallen comrades, the Inquisitor went topside and walked outside.
Flashing red and green lights illuminated the scene from the Keepers of Peace patrol trucks.
A large crowd had gathered in every direction of the perimeter as they watched local authorities and KoP agents get to work setting up barriers and beginning to investigate. His helmet retracted and folded back up into a small shape at the base of his neck.
The fireteam leader of team four approached him as he left a conversation with a KoP agent. “Sir, they are pretty upset about what went down here.”
“What do they think happened here?” Cyrus asked as an angry female agent entered the conversation.
“Exactly what in the void do you think you are doing here?” she asked fuming.
She was dressed in the traditional white uniform of the Keepers of Peace. Her blonde hair was tied back tightly in a bun, and she would have been attractive in appearance if it wasn't for her deep scowl. The Inquisitor had neither time nor patience for pandering to her or any of the other authorities on this crime-ridden world.
“We have concluded a raid and have brought a very dangerous group of pirates to justice.”
“Who do you think you are just launching a raid in my city without getting clearance?” the agent asked as she cocked her head up.
Cyrus itched the back of his head.
Are these agents getting dumber as time passes?
“Agent, do you not know how an inquisitor’s investigation always supersedes KoP jurisdiction? I feel you would be as it is the law.”
That made her even more pissed. "This is a border world, Inquisitor, you can't just come barreling through the streets guns blazing. That may work on inner worlds with their petty criminals, but on the edges of the Republic there is a certain decorum that must be maintained."
“I see...Well, thanks anyway,” he said as he left the conversation behind and the agent to soak in her bitterness.
Before he got too far, he stopped and turned back to her. “Oh, and I do apologize for the mess inside. We weren’t exactly subtle in doing our job.”
“You’re a piece of work!” she called out as the Inquisitor waved and left the scene.
The Avis returned to the scene, and the 12th's troops loaded the dead first then everyone else back up. Dust blew in every direction as the engines from the dropships hovered in place. The female KoP agent continued to burn internally as she watched the gray colored ships lift off and fly above the city.
Chapter 25
Cycle: 434 Month: 2 Rotation: 21
Corre Republic Space
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Noire
Location: In orbit
Cyrus entered the bridge aboard the Silverbolt with excitement in his steps. The bridge crew was busy with their duties, but Milo Aries nodded at the sight of the Inquisitor from across the room.
“Did the pirates cooperate?” the Tribune asked as the Lawman stepped up and joined him at the holotable.
“They did. Otto has provided us with our next destination…Destiny.”
Aries didn’t say anything, but his face certainly did.
“It seems that a group of raiders operate from there and they came to this slimy world to offload the loot they stole from the Senator’s vessel.” The Inquisitor used the table to pull up the database of citizens. He typed away and pulled up a man’s profile.
“This right here is Mihail Tarvus. He seems to be the leader of this ragtag group.”
The Tribune began to read the file as
the Inquisitor did the same.
“Largo?”
Cyrus nodded. “I would venture to guess that our dear Colonel Felix truly is dirty. There is no way that we can confirm two pirate groups operate out of Destiny and he has no inclination about it.”
“What is your orders, sir?” the Tribune asked as he placed his arms behind his back.
“Set a course for Largo. We need to bring a conclusion to all of this and quickly.”
Aries began issuing orders to his officers, and the bridge crew got to work. Before the Inquisitor left the bridge, he turned back to the commanding officer. "Tribune, I am sorry about your men that died during the raid."
It was easily visible that Aries appreciated the mention of his fallen soldiers. “Thank you, sir. They died honorably to maintain the Republic.”
“Now it’s on us to make sure their death counts for something,” the Lawman said as he nodded solemnly and exited the bridge.
He made his way to his quarters. As the door slid open, he was greeted by the sight of his room. It was the standard size of an officer’s space, which was pretty small. Carina’s were designed for troop transport and combat, not comfort. This didn’t bother the Inquisitor as he was accustomed to being on the road and living out of a duffle bag.
To his right was his tight bunk, a lovely chair was bolted to the floor before him, and he had a desk to his right. Since they had been so busy traveling, he hadn't really settled in, and most of his personal affects that he carried around with him were still in his luggage.
The door slid shut behind him as he entered. He rolled his sore neck then removed his duty belt. He drew his sidearm then cleared it by removing the mag and the slide back to eject the round in the chamber. After loading the single bullet back into its home in the magazine, he set the gun down on the desk. Its hefty weight gave it a distinct thud as it impacted the metal desktop.
He removed both of his gloves and set them down beside his bed. Each knuckle on his hand and fingers had an old scar on them. You would never hear him complain, but his hands ached terribly from his life in the order.
