Wrack and .............. ruin?

[Stoat]

Stoat followed as Damoclass climbed into the Bottlenose and made his way to the bridge. He sat himself in the co-pilots seat, as Stoat settled into the captains chair. Stoat looked across at Damoclass.

"We'll continue this later. For the time being we've an escort to meet up with. I trust you remember how to fly one of these?" he asked, sarcasticly. Damoclass rolled his eyes and simply nodded. "Good. You take us out, while I align our systems with our escort."

The Bottlenose exited Rostock station smoothly. There, in close proximity of the station, they joined up with their escort - the cruiser Mary Poppins, The Orca's Vulcan and Grampus, and the Wasupu of Gilgamesh. Stoat opened a comms line to the ships.

"Okay, from here we're heading for Leeds, but we'll not be heading through house space. The previous attacks by the Wilde force us to take a far riskier route through Omega-41, Omega-5 and Omega-3 before we get to Bretonian space. Hence the presence of the Mary Poppins, which will leave us when we get to Cambridge. Remember, keep your eyes open for anything unusual. We'll be running through some of the most hostile territory there is. Captains, if you are ready, let's move out."

"Grampus ready, guildmaster."

"Mary Poppins ready, sir."

"Vulcan ready, sir."

"Gilgamesh acknowledged."

Stoat took control back from Damoclass, and pointed the Bottlenose towards the jumphole from Omega-15 to Omega-41. Cruise engines engaged, as the five vessels powered away from Rostock, and took a parabolic vector, avoiding the coronas of the double star system. Several wings of first Hessians and the Corsairs appeared on the scanners, but they soon veered away from the firepower that faced them. The trip to the jump hole was uneventful, and Stoat breathed easier as Gilgamesh jumped ahead and reported Omega-41 as free of hostile activity.

The rest of the ships jumped through, and re-engaged their cruise drives, angling for the hole to Omega-5.



Stoat reopened the comms link

"Gilgamesh, take the lead. The Mary Poppins will follow you approximately three clicks behind. The rest of us will be formed on her."

"Gilgamesh acknowledged." came the same clipped response. The ships fanned out as they headed towards Omega-5, and Stoat activated the autopilot, before turning back to Damoclass. He studied his fellow guildmaster intently before speaking.

"So, Damoclass, time to get back to what we were discussing earlier. I've been thinking on what you said. I've always thought of you as a paranoid megalomaniac, as I'm sure you are aware. I get the feeling I have misjudged you in that respect. You're far more dangerous than that. What, exactly, are these projects you spoke of?"

Damoclass coughed lightly, gathering himself on his seat.

"I beg to differ. I'm not that dangerous. I'm just ambitious." He leaned forward, as if about to divulge some weighty secret. "The current heading of the Core, under DeVirgo and Kyras is no good to anyone. They are so wrapped up in their self righteousness that they fail to see the bigger picture. You of all people must know, mankind is at stake."

He leaned back into his seat again. Stoat easily recognised the practised art of a man used to drawing people into his rhetoric, and smiled slightly.

"The misguided Order are not nearly capable of dealing with it. I have seen with my own eyes what is waiting for man in the future. Either we stand ready, or we all die when the time is there. I merely wish to force my own people to be ready." Damoclass started to jesture effusively as he infused more emotion into his voice. "If everyone around us is killed, so be it. It's their own fault for being ignorant. But we, of the Core, we will survive and surpass the Nomads and Wilde. And for that, I need your help. My projects are being done onboard the Eden. And only me and my trusty crew know of them. And they are none of your damn business until I know for sure you are on my side. So, are you? Or do you want to try and betray me to DeVirgo, only to get executed on the spot?"

Stoat laughed loudly.

"Am I on your side? No, of course not. Right now you're just another powerhungry nutter looking to use me for their own ends! But, given my recent experiences with DeVirgo, I am certainly not on his side. That's as good as you're going to get, for now. You want something for nothing, Damoclass, and you're not going to get it from me. I'll consider your proposal on the condition you share some infomation with me. As for betraying you to DeVirgo, no, I have nothing to gain from doing so. You're safe in that respect."

"Fine, as you wish. Here's what you need to know, and this is all I will disclose for now." Damoclass took a breath as he collected his thoughts, and selected what information he was prepared to divulge.

"Onboard the Eden, I have set up research projects. These span from genetic engineering like Kyras has undergone, to our own weapons research. We are doing quite well onboard the Eden. But the problem is that I have to keep it secret and I have a lack of workspace and nessecities. Plus, my life's work is onboard a ship meant to wage war. You understand the risk of the Eden being destroyed and me losing all my work. So I have been looking for alternatives, away from prying eyes. That's where you come in." Again he leaned forward towards Stoat, eager to draw him in. "I'll make sure DeVirgo doesn't get his way with you, if you help me. I'm fairly certain that the Wilde will not try to kill you from this point on. They want to take you alive. And that suits me just fine. I can make sure the Wilde can't fully control you. You will be able to remain yourself, more or less anyway. All I ask in return is that you spy on them for me. Steal technology from them. Make my research that much easier by helping me from the inside. I am not naive enough to try and have talks with them. I want to destroy them from the inside out, with your help, after you get me all the data I need."

Stoat shook his head at what he heard. He'd known what was coming, deep down, in spite of the hope he'd held for something different. Something that might actually be in his interests. He took a few moments, allowing Damoclass to think he was actually considering what he proposed. Finally he straightened in his seat, and looked Damoclass directly in the eye.

"And there we have it. You want to save me from the machinations of DeVirgo, and his plans for me being some kind of link to the Wilde by sacrificing me to the Wilde yourself." Stoat started to lower his voice gradually, causing Damoclass to lean forward ever so slightly. "Yeah, thanks for that Damoclass. You're really doing a good job selling this to me. And you can make sure the Wilde can't fully control me can you? How do you propose to do that? All the research gathered shows that as soon as an infested host is in a position that puts the nomad in danger you have one dead host and one dead nomad." Stoat suddenly raised his hand and slammed it onto the control panel, shouting "BANG!! That fast!"

The suddeness of the action, and the slap of Stoat's hand onto the panel made Damoclass jump. Stoat used that momentary distraction to reach for his side arm, which he quickly raised, and pointed right between Damoclass's eyes. Damoclass's eyebrow shot up as he stared, unexpectedly, down the barrel of the gun.

"So, that leaves me in a somewhat delicate situation, I fear. Hence the hardware. Thank you for your oh so generous offer, Damoclass, but I am forced to decline. I have no interest in becoming anyone elses pawn. I fancy the idea of becoming just another nomad's shell even less, so sod the Guild, sod DeVirgo and sod you too."

He took a deep breath as he came to a decision.

"I'll be going back to Leeds, packing my stuff and disappearing. As for you, well you can clamber into one of the escape pods, should you so wish, and have your goon Gilgamesh pick you up, or you can choose to retire to the hold and wait for us to reach Leeds. Either way, you'll be standing up, nice and slowly, with your hands in plain view and backing up out of that door just there."

Damoclass rose slowly from his seat, eyes glued to the muzzle pointed at him. He backed away from Stoat, until he reached the door that led off the bridge. Stoat waved the gun absently as Damoclass opened the door, and stood, framed.

"I should just shoot you right now I suppose, but I'm no murderer, and you may just be right about your research on the Eden. So you get to live. Do anything foolish though, and I won't hesitate to change that."

Damoclass stood tall in the doorway, puffing out his chest in what appeared to be pride.

"As you wish. Your loss... Guildmaster. But you will regret this. Trust me."

Stoat waved the gun again and Damoclass retreated through the door. As they slid smoothly closed, Stoat rose and moved to the door, locking the access panel. Feeling slightly safer, he returned to his seat, and proceeded to bring up internal surveillance, watching carefully as Damoclass made his way to the hold.

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