Madness in a Cadenza

[Kaze]

Entering the New London system, Dagon shut off the autopilot as they reached the Kensington Trade Lane hub. Turning the ship towards the Cambridge gate. "Where are we going? We got to warn O'Brian!" Seeley's voice rang through the cockpit, obviously still mad at the latest development. Kaze had been silent for the whole voyage since discovering Hall's supposed treachery. "Cambridge. I need to think, and to find more information." The lanes blurred as their speed increased, the ship shook and the hull plates strained against the sudden pressure. She turned the pilot chair around, and raised her charred biotic hand signalling Seeley to remain quiet. Her face was the utmost display of seriousness, her eyes displaying little to no emotion. Yet, Seeley felt that anger was below. Deep below. Layered in ice and steel. "If we allow ourselves to act blindly, and allow O'Brian the knowledge, she will be bound by the laws and rules that in this case, would protect Hall, since we have no tangible proof whatsoever. So no." Her jaw tensed. "He will play dirty, and we will loose any advantage we have. I know the man, for he cares for himself only, and would turn the attention to us with whatever lies he would weave. We would be burned as fools in eyes of our peers, and the true monster would be left to reave some more." The chair turned around to the piloting console, and for a moment, Seeley could swear that her face, cold and sculpted in marble, in that light.. felt familiar. Minutes passed and the gate to Cambridge appeared in front of the lonesome Paladin. Like a lost, broken soul waiting for the door to home to open.

During the flight to Planet Cambridge, the plan was decided, the wheels began its motion. As Seeley French left the Paladin at the Barton Spaceport, Kaze shouted to him, in the midst of engine roaring and windy conditions. "Once the wheels get traction, we cannot stop, French. We must go through this to the end." Seeley nodded at the distance and raised his hand in farewell, before disappearing into the tarmac and ships. Sitting once again in the overused pilot seat, Kaze breathed in and prepared herself for her part in this play. Priming the ship core, the energy diagram came alive and she opened the main engine security protocols, disconnecting several key locks that kept the power surges to the engine in check. Powering up the whole ship, the small Paladin left Cambridge's atmo and cruised to a position outside of the Norfolk's sensor grid.. And waited.

Two hours later, a very ashamed, and dirty, Seeley French stood in front of Hall being chastised by loosing yet another bomber. "I am truly sorry, Admiral." was all he could mutter during the barrage of verbiage thrown at him. Hall was not in a good mood, it seemed. Even before French appearance. His office was still the same, a testimony of the life of an Admiral with the taste for the finer things. Suddenly an explosion rocked the Norfolk, cutting Hall's tirade. Red klaxons went alive and the sound of running and shouting was heard in the corridors, and a trace of panic filled everyone's souls with the unknown. Hall quickly pulled a comm device out of its holder and asked what had happened. As the signal was slightly distorted, he plugged the other ear and turned towards a corner. "## ## ##ptain Dagon, Sir Hall! Her ship's engine #x##oded and half of the B-bay is burning, and our safe## #eams are still nowhere to be seen!" The panicking voice replied. Hall sighed, punching the wall, and ran off, ignoring the fact that Seeley was nowhere on sight. As he left, a small movement appeared from beneath the desk, with Seeley peeking from above it. Quickly, he lost no time to access the main console, using the password he managed to learn during his last meeting with Hall, and entered it when trying to get in the system. And there it was, the control panels to the various vital areas of the Norfolk, but what finally made French grin was the access controls to Hall's personal quarters and office. "That what she meant for distraction." Seeley thought, quickly typing and giving whatever permissions needed for Dagon and him, he closed the console and finally exited the office, disappearing in the mess of bodies running around the Norfolk corridors.

As Hall arrived to B-bay, he stood witness to a scenery of destruction and mayhem. And in the middle of it, three men trying to extinguish the fires of a beaten down Paladin. The engine was ripped off and destroyed by an explosion, meaning the landing sequence did not went as expected. The cockpit was still sealed however. Hall grabbed the side comm and punched in his main command code, to have access to the whole ship. "This is Admiral Sir Hall. Bring down the alert. I want all safety teams in B-Bay, post-haste." His voice boomed from the general PA comms, throughout the whole ship. Ten minutes later, the last fire was put out, and one of the tech crews was finishing in opening the cockpit hatch. With a pull from one of the robotic arms, the hatch gave out and was forcibly ripped out, shaking the Paladin. Not even five seconds later, Hall saw a pair of legs exiting the Paladin, and then, a raven black haired woman. The asian heritage became evident as she walked towards him, with three medics buzzing around her. Then he noticed why. A small metal pipe was protruding from under her left clavicle, while she was bleeding from her mouth and nose. Her walk was also slightly gimped, and her scorched biotic hand was clutching her ribs, obviously broken. As it were in landings, this was a rough one, without a doubt. "Captain Dagon. What were you thinking in exploding yourself inside my bay?" He asked, arrogantly. Kaze finished her walk and shooed off the medics. Straightening herself up, she saluted, obviously in pain, but her face was ever cold, still and steeled. Arrogant even, more so than he could produce, Hall thought. Attributing it to the blue blood that this woman carried, he kept looking at her like he was her better.

"Sir Hall. Mission accomplished. I am sorry for the mess. The engine blew up during the landing sequence." She said, finishing her salute, her voice filled with arrogance. Hall nodded, feigning complete indifference, and began to turn back to his office. Before taking the first step, her voice ringed once again, from his back. "However..." Her voice was eerie this time, cold enough to send a chill down Hall's spine. There was the devil. The voice of the monster he always wanted to keep in check. Hall slowly turned, trying to muster admirably all the bravado and arrogance he could to his face. "We must talk of the situation of Leeds. It has reached a new pinnacle of despair." Hall looked at her for a good couple of seconds in silence, while she looked back at him. Finally nodding in acquiescence, Hall replied. "First, you must treat your wounds. Nothing major, I hope. I would detest having you bleed all over my carpet." Kaze nodded in reply, with a fake smile. "Of course, Sir Hall. I will head to medical first. It might take a while though." She flipped a finger at the small steel pipe stuck near the left clavicle. Hall turned his back once again and waved his hand in the air. "No rush, then, Captain. Good day." With that, the medics assaulted Kaze once again. As the blast door of the elevator closed, Hall turned and saw Kaze looking at him. Then she removed the small steel pipe from her body, without flinching or turning her look on him away, and blood gushed. One of the medics frantically covered the wound with medical foam. If her voice released a chill down his spine, this action froze his very soul. He felt lucky the blast door closed when it did. Four hours later, Hall, in a more chipper mood, after reviewing the chat that the commanding general in Leeds had in his office regarding his comm, decided to call it a day and head to his quarters at last. On the mood for a good beverage and to lazily fall into stupor while hearing some Scarlatti, he paced himself to the quarters. Entering his code to enter his spacious personal quarters, the door opened and he walked in, breathing in the relaxation. As the door closed, the lights went down and a hand closed in with a big rag, covering his mouth and nose, surprising him fully. He tried to struggle, but he was quickly tackled to the ground. The figure was lithe, womanly. Even in the shadows, by the corner of his eye, he could make out the long hair and womanly features. The smell of the rag then assaulted his senses. A sleeping agent, dragging his consciousness to darkness. Bittersweet darkness. And at the edge of that murky cliff where his consciousness dawdled, a voice, libertonian by the accent, was heard in the distance, singing.

So Death is coming..
To purge this town..
I know your name..
And I'm gonna hunt you down.

.

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[08:11 PM] Dusty Lens said: Well in that case. NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE & #SAVAGE & #STORIES