The Departed

[guitarguy]

The holovisual showed the same thirty seconds of footage over and over again. Each time Jack leaned a bit closer as if he was fixed on some unknown and invisible detail, until Mack flipped it off. "Kid, you've already seen everything, so get your head back to the present!" Jack's head snapped up towards Mack's and for what seemed almost an eternity, no one bothered to move, not a single noise was made, they both stood in utter silence. Mack sat down on the small, metal chair, and Jack finally did the same. "Look, you know what happened, now you have to make a choice, nobody knows you saw this, so you can be smart and pretend like you never saw this, live a good life, and be a successful, outstanding Liberty citizen." Mack said, somewhat sympathetically.

Jack pondered this for a moment. Logically, the commander was right, but he'd seen people get so wrapped up in reason that they forgot what really mattered. He looked around his sparse apartment, the plain bed, the living space, and the restroom. He had a nostalgic feeling, because he knew he'd never see them again. "No, I won't betray Liberty by living a lie."

Mack turned, and a mile cracked across his face. "That's just what I was hoping you'd say."


Lt. Collins sat at the Missouri's bar and ordered some drinks. He wanted to forget he ever saw that weird stuff out in Alaska. He didn't care and didn't want to got involved with someone else's problems. "Look, jus' gimme something strong." He said half-heartedly. "Oh, we'll give you something strong" a man said as a needle went into his neck.
"Poor guy's had too much to drink...let's get him to his room" An LSF agent said to another quite loudly. Watson helped the other agent drag him to their private room in a remote part of the ship.
Collins began waking up and was startled by the two. "Calm down" Watson said quietly "we're here to make a deal. You saw something in Alaska, and we're willing to give you...a bonus...to keep quiet about it."
Collins was almost about to thank the men, but he supposed he should act honorable about it.
"Why shouldn't I inform my comrads of your betrayal, I have rights, you know!"
Watson chuckled "That's exactly what your wingman said, and you're right, but he was unfortunately killed by a Lane Hacker yesterday. For your own safety, please accept this...gift."
Collin's face turned deathly pale. "Uh...yeah...I'll..uh...take it."
"It's good to now there are some reasonable people in the navy, goodnight." Another needle put out Collins, and he awoke with a million credit "bonus" in his account.

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