A Damaged Soul

[Stefan.Pomerov]

**Mactan Base - Magellan System**

An empty passageway, fulled with nothing but the 'hum' of electricity and the subtle 'beeps' and 'boops' from the computer equipment spread about every few meters...
A loud 'Thump' is heard as a young Lane Hacker strikes the bulkhead before him.

'What the hell have you got yourself into?'
'Why did you even work so hard for?'
'What the hell did you expect what would happen?'
'Why did you even talk to them in the first place?'
'You had Purpose. You had Meaning.
'You had a ...

Images of a former Liberty Naval Intelligence Officer flash behind his eyes of what was once was...
A Wife,..
A new born girl.
A promising career in the Liberty Navy...
And most of all... A proud Admiral for a father to keep you from 'faltering'...

Then the Images, once again of 'The Nomad' appeared in his mind.
The weapons fire. Again and again. And the hull of her transport....
... HER Transport, with My Baby Girl

Booom.. Booom... Booom!

*A Flash of an image of being in front of the Liberty Naval Council.. Screaming as loud as he could..*
'Where was the rest of the fleet?!'

Booom.. Booom... Booom!

*A Flash of an Image of standing in-front of an Admiral, a Familiar one...*
'Evidence says that you miss-appropriated your authority on Intelligence Gathering. And devoting resources to pointless endeavors. She's gone son. Both of your girls are gone...'

Booom.. Booom... Booom!

* A communications channel erupts with screams and Klaxon alarms echoing in the background.*

Spoiler

*That Haunting sound echoing in his ears even if not actually bellowing...*

*The Lane Hacker swings his hand to his belt, he grabs his Cardimine injection Vaporizor and almost knocks his own jaw off 'slapping' it over his mouth...*

***ssskkkkkkkkkert!!!!!! BISSSSSSSSSSSSHT***

*The sound of inhaling the vaporized Cardimine as it finds its way into his system, the Lane Hacker's mind clears of what happened nearly a decade ago...*

'But that's right, I'm at Mactan base...'
The Lane Hacker to himself, he wasn't 'young' any more. If you could count mid-thirties has 'not young' anymore.

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Stefan Pomerov;

(Former) Lieutenant LNS - Intelligence Division
Son to a recently deceased Liberty Navy Admiral Thomas Curry Pomerov.

Charged with Co-conspiracy with fellow Liberty Naval Intelligence personnel with gathering unauthorized intelligence gathering of targets of interest for personal reasons.
Discharged the same year.

Applied to counter-intelligence division of Ageira.
Used Ageira Industries' resources to continue investigations on 'minor Nomad infactions'
Terminated from Ageira same year..

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'This is important... Get yourself together..' (thinking to himself)
*Stefan wipes his tears from his eyes, collecting himself...*

'I haven't gone this far with out giving up on everything. BUT, this is IT.'

*He knows he followed the path,..*
*The route..*
*The end to a seemingly empty hallway...*

*Stefan presses his hand on the wall, and an invisible control panel now visible 'Beams' into life. Scanning Stefan's hand and finger prints.
...A laser scanner shoots its horizontal beam into Stefan's eye confirming his identity...
A electronic voice sounds out:
"Welcome Interruptor Pomerov"
...as the wall in-front of him 'slides inward and off to the right.'
Stefan is a bit cautious with this, but he reminds himself with what he wants to say, just ringing in his mind like an "Old Earth 'broken record' "*

'I want to be a Diplomat... I want to be a Diplomat.. I want to be a Diplomat... Am I just scared of fighting...? Who am I kidding? I'm scared of most of everything, I can't fight! But I can talk to people, I've WORKED with people,... I can plan operations,... I can collect intelligence,... What if...'

*Then sudden realization occurred to Stefan, like finding oneself in the pull of gravity, This is the office of thee Professor Moriarty himself. But he told himself that '99 times out of a hundred', he's not going to be there...
But.
Stefan wanted to make 'his case'.

But what if... Stefan doubted himself...

...was he truly a coward...?