16-06-1999 23:10									#1
	Episode Ten Put an end to popups!

Episode X: Dark Conspiracy

Somewhere below Sparta Command:

Two weeks after the bombing, when the official investigation had ended, Captain Marlo Hollis put plan “Salvage and Rescue” into action. Sparta’s Gen-Lab section was still in its infancy, and it was no easy task to slip the sample out undetected. In fact, that was harder by far than getting budgetary approval for the new project.

To be sure, the bombing had cost them. Set them back enormously. Foolish mistakes were made.

They would not be repeated.

Now, instead of pursuing a strategy of a unified Psi-College, the plan called for two distinct schools of thought. One focusing on Psi-Defense, and being termed Neural Amplification Center, and the other, centering on channeling Psi-Energy as a weapon, being code named Project Dream Twister.

Hollis was in charge of Dream Twister, which was why the sample found in the Cryo-Lab was such an astounding piece of luck.

Cloning technology was still in its infancy, and it would be years before any work in the area could be mass-produced, but now that Hollis and her project had some momentum, she found herself with a vast amount of council support, and access to almost limitless supplies of cash. Both would be needed in order to turn the genetic sample into a prototype clone.

She held her arm up to the security panel and waited the span of two heartbeats as the reader verified who she was from her array of tattoos, marking both rank and identity, slowly evolving and becoming more elaborate over time. To be sure, there were more sophisticated methods of marking and identification available in the lands of Santiago, and those were used as needed, but the marks of a Warrior were marks worn with pride. Let the other factions think what they would, the Spartans were strong, and their path was the right path.

She smiled as the door slid open and entered the lab with cat-like grace. All alone in the bowels of Sparta Command, she felt at ease. Comfortable.

Even better was the fact that only four people in all of Chiron knew this place even existed. It was completely shut off from the rest of the world. Her own private sanctuary. Her world.

She ran her hands up and down the length of the smooth glass enclosure which ran column-like, from floor to ceiling in the middle of the room. Perhaps three feet in diameter, it was filled with a clear, slightly bubbling liquid and glowing with a faint, bluish light. Suspended in it, only barely visible to the naked eye was a speck of something.

Just a tiny speck, to be sure, but when it was finished growing.....

The thought brought a smile to her lips.

Oh yes, when it was finished growing. A fine day indeed.

Letting the tips of her fingers linger on the glass a moment, she almost reluctantly turned away and made her way across the darkened lab without turning on the lights. She had not been here long, but long enough to commit the entire layout to memory. First mark of a good Warrior. Survey the lay of the land. Know your territory.

And she did.

She made her way back to the series of three rooms which served both as her office here and her living quarters. Very soon now, she would move here permanently. Soon, but not yet.

She went to her room and passed her hand across the light sensor. Setting one illumination, barely above candle light, sprang weakly to life. Suffused. Golden. It made her smile. And thinking of what was growing inside the tube in the lab expanded that smile further still.

Her child. Her son.

The closest thing she could have to it, anyway.

Santiago’s Black Guard stood at the very core of her Empire, and, as the best of the best, their personal freedoms were even more harshly restricted than most. That was the price that accompanied the pride of serving in the deadliest unit on all of Chiron. The women of the unit were forbidden to take mates, or ever have children, and the males could do so only after his potential mate underwent an exhaustive course of genetic testing.

Not that Hollis had any regrets about the choices she had made, but....there *was* a certain thrill at the prospect of circumventing the rule. Of bringing a life into the world. It put a strange tickle in her stomach and made her feel things that her training normally did not allow.

Slowly, almost seductively, she took her uniform off as she stood before the full length mirror.

Firm, toned body. Well muscled.

Long, powerful legs.

High, thrusting breasts.

It was the body of a warrior. Some would call it more handsome than beautiful. Almost chiseled. But she was proud of it, and the way she looked, her ranking tattoos spiraling in an exotic pattern up her left arm. And if this project bore fruit....

But there would be time to think of that later.

One more mission to complete, and then she could return here, to her lair.

Her smile returned and she went over to the comm panel, still nude. All part of the plan.

Sergeant Lane Curtis did a doubletake when he saw her, but recovered very quickly.

“Captain.” He said with a curt nod, trying not to stare.

“Have you found him?”

“Yes we have.”

“Excellent. You have done your job well.” Her voice was nearly a purr, and it was clear that, training or not, she was mesmerizing the young man on the other side of the viewscreen. “Tell me.”

He was silent for a few seconds, and Hollis shifted seductively in front of the camera. The shadows created in the dim lighting receded, revealing more of her. Curtis cleared his throat. “It seems he managed to make his way into Gaian Land.”

“Is he functional?”

“We believe so, but he’s not sending out response signals to the emergency transmitter you had me establish.”

The emergency transmitter. Yes. Something clearly outside her jurisdiction at present. “Dismantle it then. Shut it down. We will have to assume those links were burned out in the blast.”

“Manual extraction? If so, we’re in luck. Our contacts there have heard rumors....apparently there are some people in the Base who don’t trust him. Be easy to create a diversion.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Yes. In time. I can rely on you, Sergeant?”

He openly leered for a moment, and then nodded.

“And I can rely on your discretion?”

Another nod. “Good....then I will contact you when everything is in place.”

He smiled.

“Hollis out.” She snapped the viewer off, a small scowl crossing her features. Men. Stupid creatures, by and large. Too easily controlled, even among the disciplined Spartans.

She got dressed. Went back into the lab. Gazed into the growth tube again, and could not resist touching it. “Soon....” She whispered. “Soon....”
***

Thanks to the lockpick set they picked up at the station, they were inside his apartment in a matter of seconds.

The three of them fanned out, guided by tiny blades of light from miniaturized hand lamps. Searching. Seeking.

Several minutes later, they met back up in the living room and doused their lights.

“Anything?” Wilkes asked in a whisper.

“Nothing....bastard must have it with him.” Detrick hissed.

“I didn’t see a thing, either.” Kennerly added glumly.

Detrick took a moment to look around. “Not bad taste though...gotta give him that....even got some stuff from the kiddies....look at this pottery.”

Wilkes studied the room for a moment. The pottery. Crude. Fashioned by the children. Three pieces, on top of a high shelving unit, lined up in a row.

But not quite.

One was....slightly out of place.

He walked up to it.

Picked it up.

Heavy.

Something in there, but the opening was too small for his hand. It *might* be big enough for a shredder pistol though.

“Give me your light.” He said, turning to face Kennerly. “Shine it in here.”

He did, and they all huddled around, peering into the shadows. Straining to see.

“Jesus Christ....” Someone started to whisper. Too late.



[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited June 16, 1999).]