Shadow Image

[arvg]

"You are a funny man, Hermano," Alvarez said, fishing out a cigarette and lighting it, despite the fact that they were in "Church".

"You really think we would go to so much trouble if we wanted you dead, holmes?" He shook his head. "No esse, if we wanted you dead, you would be dead long before you got off of the Lithuania, si? You know what we do to traitors, and scum... did you ever think that you were being used?"

Alvarez took a long drag on his cigarette, "that your every move wasn't predicted, orchestrated, and choreographed right from the start?" he shook his head. "Hermano, you really don't know Commissar Mendel that well, do you? Psychotropic drugs in the air supply on the Lithuania, makes you locco, thinking your own men are trying to kill you. Then your convenient access to classified materials... All chosen by the Ministry of Truth, esse, all selected because once the people you ran to saw them, they'd know what they were going to be facing in combat."

Alvarez smiled faintly, "The Corsairs, they panic easily, holmes, you know that. You have hunted them with me. If they see that we have superior ships, weapons, and equipment, the moral blow to the disorganized rabble, will cause them to tremble, to flinch at the sight of a ship they know to be better than theirs, flown by a proper disciplined military pilot. No, you gave them exactly what we wanted you to give them, a reason to fear us."

"I would say that this was Mendel's idea, but it wasn't... si? I think you know who ordered this mission... and who suggested you be the one to do it..." Alvarez activated a holographic image of Colonel Ben Warner, in his uniform, looking smug.

"Say hello to yourself," Alvarez said, with a gesture. "You see, you took the precaution of recording a message for yourself, should it be time to bring you home. I think you should listen to what he has to say, it is ... interesting."

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