The Rise of Jacob Keller

[Leo]

Dark clouds were bordering on the horizon, a storm was approaching from the ocean. New Berlin's winter season was coming early. That meant sub-freezing temperatures, harsh cold winds in excess of 40 knots at least, and heavy, heavy snow. Anyone caught on the leading edge of the storm would be snowed in for weeks, if not months. This was my chance to take him by force if he hadn't evacuated already...it was risky bringing in the RT under such circumstances, however...it was my only chance to take him by force.

I brought my ship in low and fast landing on a ridge just south of the good counselor's house. His house was no doubt guarded by security, I had no guess as to how many or how well they were armored, but I was sure I was going to take some serious hits from them if they were well armed, so I decided it was best if I geared up as I would on any mission. Standard leg, arm, chest, and head armor to prevent any damage to any weak spot on my body. My "Heads up Display", better known as a "HUD", inside the helmet would help significantly in identifying weapons, armor, and would prevent me from going blind in case a flash blizzard hit the shore anytime before I made inside the house. Gloves to prevent my hands from icing over completely, each with built in heaters. True, the heaters might slow me down slightly if I got into hand to hand combat, but I was willing to keep my fingers if that meant a little slower combat. I also equipped my armor plated boots, just in case I decided to slip on the cliff face, or if the snow got to deep, my feet wouldn't freeze. I put two semi-auto assault rifles on my back along with an M9 on my waist, one in my ankle holster, and several knives placed on my person.

I closed the ship's hatch and began the slow climb up the ridge face. It took the better part of thirty minutes to reach the apex of the ridge. As I climbed over the top, snow began to fall. Slow at first, and then it seemed as if the world around me was completely white. I reached to my helmet and tapped the receiver clearing the world around me as if no snow was falling. The thing about the helmet, is it would be set to any temperature reading that I so desired. The snow was falling to the ground at a temperature of 16 degrees Fahrenheit, very cold for this time of year. So I set the visor to detect a temperature range of only 40 degrees, thus, the snow was no longer visible.

As I came up on the Counselor's house, I noticed that the lights were indeed still on and functioning as they would if he were home. Just as I expected, two guards just inside the door stood watch over the mansion, a police interceptor ship sat just outside the door, powered up and ready to go in case they needed emergency transport somewhere in the Capital. I bit my lip underneath my helmet, this wasn't going to be easy. I continued scouting the house interior from outside and counted at least six more guards just from viewing outside. The house was guarded like a government facility, he wasn't taking any chances. He had probably already heard about my escape into the border worlds towards Rheinland.

I decided the best entry was through the rear french door from the large deck extending off the rear platform of the house. The front was far too guarded, and they would never expect me to be able to climb up a large flight of stairs to the deck 20 feet above my position. Slowly, I began to climb the steps, making sure not to make any noise. The snow was now reaching a height of close to one foot already, and I was sure if I didn't get this taken care of soon, I wouldn't be able to leave the house quick enough if it got much worse.

"You think this guy's really coming here?" I heard someone say and slowly crouched down, two guards standing guard outside in full weather gear.

"Nah, there's no way he's suicidal enough to come out in this storm. Even if he did, he'd be as blind as we are. I can't see my hand in front of my face right now." said the other. "It's a damned blizzard. No ship can fly in this without the risk of crashing into something."

"Yeah, you're probably right...I've just got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something bad's going to happen..."

"The only bad thing that'll happen, is if you get hit by a snowdrift off the top of this roof, and THAT would be rather hilarious."

I brought my assault rifle up slowly and shot the first guard directly in the temple and sprayed the second one as he turned to look at what had downed his comrade. He was still moving when I got to the top of the deck. He was reaching for his radio as I fired the last silenced shot into his skull and watched him lay still. I looked around silently at the area. Snow was reaching close to 0 degrees and that meant the storm was about to get much worse, if I was to get this taken care of, I had to move quickly...I quietly slid the french door back and stepped into the house. I was like a ghost...

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You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.

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Starlight Research Consortium | The Banished Legion | Astral
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