"Are you kidding?" Beaky laughed bitterly. "'Being similar to her?' You're a pirate. She's a child. And do you honestly think I'll deliver my daughter into the hands of the very people Scio Kio hired to get her back? Even if you are telling the truth, it doesn't matter; You think you can take on Greskel? You couldn't handle one hyper-intelligent combat conditioned nine-year old, you think you can stand up to an arm of twenty Chipi adults just like her? Not everyone on the Terikapta program was tricked. From what Kaya told me, a great deal of the subjects are volunteers." "It's true," the child added. "Scio Kio played off my father's desire to give me a normal life. The others, however, have been tempted by promises of being... better. Superior beings. Most of them are loyal to Greskel, and they'll kill you without blinking an eye. None of them are as skilled as me, but they're all far more skilled than you." Beaky stepped between the pirate and his daughter. "I'm not leaving my girl behind. I'll come with you if you're offering protection, but she won't be a prisoner. again. I only need a place to lie low until I can find a way to get back at Greskel." "Hold on," Aaron said, the name Beaky had given catching for the first time. "When you say Greskel, you mean the gang leader? The Schloran crime lord?" "It was something I uncovered when I was trying to break out Kaya. Scio Kio has some... unsavory connections." Beaky said solemnly. "Greskel is hiring them to work on the program. I don't know what he wants with the warriors he's building - it could be one of a million things - but I know I can't stop until I've found out. I want to leave it alone, but I just can't..." Glancing at the Farbian... Longtail, was her name, no? he asked, "You understand, don't you?" He was taking a guess, but it was a confident one. Longtail had been the first to sympathize with Kaya. When his daughter spoke, he noticed that the Farbian's eyes changed, grew softer. She had skeletons in her closet, to be sure. Shiro could claim to have been through the same situation, but he could see that Longtail knew his daughter's pain far better, in her own way.
Looking up at the captain, then at his daughter, she simply nodded. 'I have a bunk on my ship you can share with your daughter if you want, I have the feeling that you don't want to bunk with a bunch of pirates. No offense, Shino, but your crew isn't the most sanitary of pirates. Also, less people for your daughter to kill if she has another episode. We should clean up in here, then head back and notify the crews of the situation, in terms that they would understand.' She got up from her crouch, and threw one of the dead men over her shoulder. 'Beaky, do you want to take the other one?'
Staring down at the corpse on the floor, he frowned. "I'll get him." he said grimly, heaving the heavy body up. Sticky blue blood coated his fingers and dripped onto the ground. Kaya gasped and looked away when she saw it. It's not fair, he thought. Not fair that she should have to deal with this. Nine years old and she's killed three people, and it's all my fault. "Walk with me, Kaya." Longtail seemed trustworthy, but he didn't want to leave his daughter alone with Aaron, Shiro, or the Kerrik. It wasn't safe. Not for them, anyway; Kaya could kill them in a heartbeat. "Okay, Dad." She said with a slight sniffle. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had learned over the past few weeks how to tell when Kaya was herself and when she was... well, not. The real Kaya called her Dad. The modifications made to her brain called him Father. He wanted to be with her, not the thing that she shared a mind with. He followed Longtail down the hall as she carried the dead Katamain. She was strong, being able to carry the larger man like that. "Excuse me, Mabi, I just need to say," He paused awkwardly. "Thank you. Thanks for doing this. There's not many people that would risk Greskel's rage to help out a police officer, and I wasn't expecting sympathy when we were attacked." He thought for a moment. "Not to change the subject, but where are we taking the bodies?"
Not looking at the captain, she walked at his pace and said, 'We are taking these two back to Shiro's crew, we can let them dispose of the bodies how they see fit.' She stopped talking for a second, then looked into Beaky's center eye and said, 'I am helping you because of this.' She motioned towards her missing tail. 'One of Greskel's ships raided the mining company that my family owns. I was the only survivor. They decided to have some "fun" with me, and took my tail of piece by piece. They killed my dad in front of me, and took my mom. Satisfied, Aaron?' She said, looking back at the Katamain trailing behind.
Shiro shrugged. Its not every day you get your ass handed to you by a nine year old, but its not every day you fins someone with ties to a famous crime lord and a person fueled by vengeance to take him down. "Allright. Excuse made, you were attacked by a hit-and-run group of people under command of Greskel. I came in, fired at them, they returned fire and then ran away. I think that should be an adequate report no?" She said as she looked around "I mean, its not that far from the truth. I can get you a place to stay, then wipe your daughter off the grid, and for a finally see what my fathers fleet knows about him" She shrugged "But that's if you want to go that far." Her eyes now looked at the captain "Now, if I find you tell your superiors of the location we're takeing you, I will not hesitate to find you and remind you of this day" Her amber eyes narrowed "But I don't think you're that un-wise. After all, you managed to smuggle that daughter out without attracting too much attention. As a matter in fact," She started "I only got the contract six hours ago starting at the time of the attack" She shrugged "But to be honest its kinda hard to find me. Unless he had oppratives working within mine or my fathers crew, it would have been hard for him to get to me."
Beaky glared over his shoulder at the pirate who had followed him into the hall. "If you think you can hide us from Greskel, I'm willing to give it a shot. But just keep in mind that if you have any intention of betraying us, it doesn't matter whether you manage to turn us in to him, Kaya will kill you effortlessly before you can collect the reward." He knew it was stupid, but he found himself trusting the pirates - at least a little. Apparently his hunch about Longtail had been correct, unless she was a very good actor. All the same, if the whole thing was just a trick, he wanted to make it abundantly clear that it would not work. As he walked down the hall, pulling Kaya's victim along with him, he bumped into his daughter for a moment, then moved away. "Sorry, Kaya." "S'okay, Father." A chill ran down his spine. If it was a choice between having Kaya or Not Kaya on his team, he knew he'd want the one that could help him save his daughter. It was an uncomfortable thought, realizing that what Scio Kio had done to his daughter's brain might actually be useful to him, but as long as he had this advantage, he may as well use it. --==||==-- Not Kaya didn't smile as Beaky bumped into her, slipping a small metal object into her hand, but she felt satisfied, knowing that if worst came to worst, she had a contingency plan. She slipped the modified gps tracker into her pocket, and allowed herself a moment to explain to Real Kaya what had just happened. Kaya, Amari, are you there? Sometimes when Not Kaya took control, Real Kaya would hide someplace for a while, and it would take her a few seconds to find the girl. This time, however, the quiet little presence approached her mind curiously. What did Daddy just give you? It's complicated. Not Kaya felt the slightest twinge of guilt, sensing the innocence of the young girl whose brain she shared. You remember how Father told us he would never let Greskel take us back to the lab? Yeah... The curiosity changed to fear. That's where they put you in here. I never want to go back there - No offense. None taken. Not Kaya was aware of her place in the Chipi girl's mind as an intruder, but also as a prisoner. The device Father gave us... It will stop that from happening. It will stop us from being taken back. There was no need to worry Real Kaya about the devices' true purpose. It was enough for her to know the general idea. For now, Not Kaya retreated into the depths of her mind and occupied herself by running through imaginary combat scenarios. If the Farbian pulls a gun... If the human pirate has a grenade... If Mabi Daake turns traitor... It was her only form of entertainment, but for now, as Real Kaya walked carefully at Father's side, Not Kaya figured that it was enough.
Heck walked beside longtail, thinking about the events that just happened. "I think it's time for the crew to know. This chain of events made me remember a little bit more." He was talking about project mechanic. "Tricked, like me..." He was turning the thought over in his head, thinking before they would send him away, but due to kaya, he didn't think that anymore. "i'll tell shiro first. Then we can see if telling the crew is a option." When he snapped out of it, the were nearing the meridian.
Shiro threw up her hands, mockingly in surrender "You got me Beaky, I was going to sell you and your daughter out to the only person inhibiting mine and my fathers business and as a result increase his business" She said as she put her hands down "I wouldn't do that, believe me. But then again, in your eyes, all pirates are dishonest and have no honor or loyalties" She said with a hint of venom, however hard it was to notice. "Besides, that little girl of yours packs one helluva punch, even just throwing a sidearm" She said with a chuckle Shiro pulled her handgun out slightly from its holster, turning the safety on the bullets to 'on' but keeping the voltage available incase she needed the taser.
"I'm not going to argue ethics with you, since you're helping me out," Beaky said to the pirate. "But I am a tad bit curious as to how you consider yourself honest and loyal when you attack innocent people and steal from them for a living." They were approaching the docking port, and as the two crews waited by the entrance, pirate and GMPF, both were shocked by the scene before them; Two bloody corpses, dragged by the Chipi and the Farbian. "Tarrak! A human pirate exclaimed at the sight. "What did you chorpins do to Eli?" The room exploded with overlapping conversations. "Oh, God: Tris!" "What happened?" "Jesus Christ!" "Murderer!" One voice, louder than all the others, attracted all the eyes in the room. "You dare call our captain a murderer?" One of the soldiers had jumped in, getting to his feet and standing even with the accuser, a battle-scarred Chipi. "I say, these were pirates; they got what was coming to them!" "Eli was a good man!" The arguments began again. "Eli was a robber and a mercenary!" "Beaky would never do anything like this!" "I say, we kill the Chipi and the Katamain cops! A life for a life!" "Yeah!" "Just try raising a hand against our captain!" --==||==-- Not Kaya's mind raced, trying to keep pace with the discussion. Kaya, step aside! She ordered. Kaya, stunned by the ferocity of the fight, willingly gave her mind over to the other identity. 93% probability: Unless someone interferes, this fight will escalate to violence within the next 10.3 seconds. Her mind raced with calculations. If the GMPF attacks first, it will be that Farbian in the center. 87% probability. If the pirates attack first; the Chipi with the missing eye. 96% probability. Priorities, in order of importance: Protect self, protect Father, protect Daake, protect GMPF soldiers, protect pirates. Probability of self being targeted: 12%. Probability of injury due to collateral damage: 78%. Probability of Father being targeted: She paused. 99% What's happening? A terrified thought flitted past her mind, brushing briefly and distracting her. Not now, Kaya - There's danger. She pushed the young mind aside, continuing her calculations, preparing for every situation... Did you just say they're going to hurt Dad? Nobody will hurt Father. I'll kill them. But even as she tried to calm Real Kaya, she wondered whether she would be able to hold back the tide of violence that was seconds from breaking out. Somebody had to interfere, and it couldn't be her; she was busy assembling a contingency plan.
Longtail dropped the body sje was carrying and jumped into the midst of the two fighting groups and shouted out, 'EVERY BODY SHUT UP AND CALM YOUR ASSES DOWN!' Once she had gotten their attention, she said in a normal voice, 'These two killed each other. They both set there eyes on a weapon in the hold. They started fighting over it, and killed each other. We are leaving the item on the ship, we don't want to cause any more bloodshed between comrades. We hid it, so don't go looking for it, or else you all will do the same thing these two did. Now will you all just shut up and listen to your captains? Thank you.' She walked back and picked up the body, then passed it of to the biggest pirate she could find, saying, 'You can deal with this from here.'
Shiro was growing tired of the accusations moving from person to person, enraged at how disorderly her men were reacting. "Tris and Eli failed to put the safety on their guns, and they did disobey orders. Its sad to see them pass away like this, but now is not the time to be pointing fingers at each other" She said "Now, I don't think this is a good time but after much deliberation I have decided we are to take the captain and the girl to a remote facility, outside GMPF and IPSF territory. Hemlock and I shall then ready forces to move against the Schloran crime lord known as Greskel." She said as she leaned against a crate "The man who is ruining my fathers business and my own as well." Shiro turned her head to Beaky "We aren't pirates, we're mercenaries. There's a huge difference, but my father is in command of a pirate fleet." She said to Beaky with a smile "SO don't worry, you're safe. My father trusts my judgement"
"Woah, what?" One of the soldiers, a Shorman on the sidelines, laughed aloud. "You poor idiots are going against Greskel? That's cute." A few of the other GMPF troops laughed. Shiro's men did not. "I bet the chorpins last ten seconds." "Nah, five." None of the mercenaries answered the soldier's jests. Instead, they stared, wide-eyes, at their captain. "Sorry, Captain," One of them approached Shiro; A Kerrik, looking terrified. "But are we really going against Greskel? The guy has a private army. He'll kill us all."
"Yeah shiro, we won't stand a minute against greskel. He's got a bunch of guys which have better gear than us." heck said, slight fear in his voice. Was shiro insane?
"If I might interject," Not-Kaya stepped forward to address both crews. "Your captain has very generously offered to shelter our party while she attempts to combat Greskel. In light of this, I believe it is only fair that we contribute the soldiers of the Darasis-Ali to the attack on Greskel." "What?" A shout from one of the GMPF officers. "Who the hell is this kid, and why do they think they can tell us what to do?" "This," Beaky took his place at his daughter's side. "Is Kaya. She is my daughter, and she is why we are here." A wave of confused murmurs ran through the crowd of mercenary and soldier alike. The two crews were mingled together now, and though Beaky could pick out individual members, there was no longer any clear border between the them. He stood up straight and tried his best to look imposing and authoritative. It was something he was good at. "Mabi of the Darasis-Ali, and those serving under captain Shiro, I'm afraid I've lied to you. We are not ferrying a secret cargo. Our cargo is this young girl. We are not serving under the GMPF. I cut communication with the GMPF under the pretense of a secret mission. The mercenaries who have attacked this ship have been hired by Scio Kio emergent technologies. And, if you'll permit me some time, I will explain exactly what is going on." And that's what he did. Together, Beaky, Kaya, Shiro, and Longtail wove the pieces of the story together. Beaky provided the facts, but also a touch of pathos, with a tear-inducing story of how his daughter was deceived and taken from him, experimented on. Shiro and Longtail offered the other side of the tale, filling in the blanks. By the time they were finished, both crews were staring in amazement at the four orators. "Let me make something clear;" Beaky said with a heavy sigh. "By rescuing my daughter, I have angered some very, very powerful people. They will stop at nothing to bring her back and see that I don't live long enough to spread the word of what they've done. There's nowhere I - Nowhere we can run. Nowhere we can hide. Greskel will find anyone involved with this little 'incident' and kill them." "So we take the fight to him." Shiro nodded solemnly. "It won't be expected, and if we play it right, this could actually work." "How?" A soldier demanded. "How the hell do you expect to march up to Greskel and put a slug in his head? He is unbeatable." "From the outside, yes." Kaya said, the faint hint of a smile on her otherwise expressionless face. "But we're not attacking from the outside. Shiro has connections to Greskel already. With my interior knowledge of the situation, and her resources, we stand a decent chance of doing this. All we need is some volunteers to infiltrate Greskel's gang and help us take him down." A long silence. A cough from the audience, an awkward shuffling of feet. Then, "I'll go." Aaron raised his hand suddenly. "I want to help in any way I can." "Good," Shiro smiled. "We need one or two more, please."
'I can go.' Longtail put her hand on Shiro's shoulder, 'I think that you can take care of yourself well enough. If I can't succeed in infiltrating the gang, then I can at least make one hell of a distraction with my ship. I'll be nimble enough to not get hit. Besides that, I believe that the crew that raided my home and killed my family is one of Greskels.'
We are screwed. Not-Kaya was not optimistic. There were lots of ways to hide from a murderous crime syndicate secretly pulling strings at the most powerful technology company in the galaxy. Attacking them was not one of them. But the mercenary, Shiro, seemed to have her heart set on bringing Greskel down, so Not-Kaya would find a way. Not-Kaya? A soft thought poked at the edge of Not-Kaya's mind. She exhaled sharply as she redirected a small part of her mind to speaking with Kaya. Amari, listen, I have a job to do. It's going to take a while to come up with a plan, so please take a moment and- No, no, I have a plan. A way we could get to Greskel. Oh? Skepticism crept into her thought, and the little girl shrunk back slightly, embarrassed. No, it's okay; tell me your plan. If she was going to be living in Kaya's mind, she had to remain a civil guest. It would make things easier for both of them. Not-Kaya listened, faintly amused, as the little girl described her plan. Thoughts and images flashed by like fireflies, a delicate dance weaving Kaya's plan. Slowly, without even noticing at first, Not-Kaya began to add to the plan. The more the idea grew and took shape, the more the two of them added to it. The tiny part of her mind she had allocated for Kaya stole more and more processing power as it weaved alongside Kaya. Details, specifications, ruses... And when the two of them stepped back to admire their handiwork, Not-Kaya was absolutely amazed. She didn't even know she could feel amazement. She thought she was just a set of behavior conditioning installed in Kaya that had inadvertently developed an identity, but this plan was so perfect, she couldn't help but feel shocked... and proud. It could work. She realized suddenly. This could actually work. Dad won't like it. Screw him, we've got a king to dethrone. --==||==-- "Ladies and Gentlemen," Kaya stood up straight, and Beaky glanced at her with a frown on his face. "I have a plan." He didn't want to talk to Not-Kaya now. It had been bad enough working side by side with the thing in his daughter's head as they recounted the events that had brought them here. He resented the other personality. It had stolen his daughter from him, and seemed to be the one in control increasingly often. "Well, that's awful convenient, little girl," Shiro gave a slight condescending smile. "Because a plan's exactly what we need." She's humoring Kaya, Beaky thought, holding back a slight smile. She doesn't know just how smart that thing in her brain is. "It's really rather simple," Kaya - or Not-Kaya - began. "Shiro and her crew are here to bring us in. The second she fails to deliver, Greskel will suspect something's wrong. So we let her take myself and Beaky-" "What?" Beaky roared. "Do you actually intend for me to send my daughter back to Greskel? She'll never make it!" "Please be quiet, Father," the Chipi said coldly. "I share a brain with the girl, remember? The basis of this plan is hers, not mine. Now, you turn us in, Captain Shiro, but you give us a means to escape; If you permit me a few hours in the galley, I can make a substance that Father and I can eat. A non-toxic plastic explosive from the materials aboard our ship. We're brought in, and once we... retrieve... the explosives, we can break our way out. I remember the holding cages. They're strong, but they won't stand up to this. Once we blow the locks, we silence the alarm and disguise ourselves; Beaky becomes one of the scientists, and I go back to being a lab rat. We make our way out of the labs, into the Commons. where Longtail and Daake will be waiting. They will assist us as we move to the building's control room, disable every system we can, and make room for Hemlock's fleet to move in. Once we've captured the research firm, we restore communications under our watch, and make our move from there." "That's it?" Beaky eyed the girl carefully. "Wow," Shiro blinked in surprise. "That was... impressive." "We can discuss the rest of the plan later. I have an idea, but for now; we start with the capture of the facility."
'Well, lets get on the move, then. I want to get this finished with as soon as we can, I don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder.' She looked at the girl, Kaya, she thought it was, and the captain. 'So, are you two gonna be berthing in my ship, yours, or the pirate vessel. Of all of them, wine is the safest and most secure.' She then looked at Shiro, 'You know, if I were you, I would get your ship fixed up asap.'
"Hold on, hold on," Beaky stepped forward. "We aren't seriously-" "Father," Kaya interrupted. "Please, I know you want to keep me safe. But we need to act fast, and for now, this is the best plan we have. Are you in or not?" "But we can't deliver you back to Scio Kio! It's the whole reason I brought you out here!" "I know." She said. "The best way to keep me from them is to destroy them, and the best way to destroy them is to deliver me to them. It's a paradox, I'm well aware, but we have to do it." Beaky heaved a heavy sigh. "I... Okay, fine. We try your plan." He glanced over at Longtail. "I'd like to stay on your ship, but this is Shiro's contract." "That's right." Shiro nodded. "If you were just here as a contingency plan, we'd be better off if I returned the Beakys to Greskel. That way, he doesn't suspect something went wrong." "A solid plan." Kaya nodded, starting towards the airlock. "Your engineers should be able to make sufficient repairs en route to any damage your ship sustained." "Wait," Daake stepped forward. "What about us? What about the Darasis-Ali? What do we do?" "Simple; Hide. Shiro can say she picked us up when we landed on the planet's surface, and was unable to recover your ship. It's plausible, it give your crew an out, and it will allow you to help us out in the assault on Scio Kio." With the plan in motion, things moved quickly. Within hours, they were ready to return to Scio Kio, and Greskel. Only final checks remained. "Longtail," Kaya addressed the Farbian. "You should probably stay on Shiro's ship. Your vessel can dock with hers and travel to Scio Kio's building together. Sound good?"
'Sounds like the only plan we got. My ship is small enough, I can probably just park it in her hold. Then, it wont be exposed. You want a ride over there, or are you just gonna go with the crew, maybe familiarize yourself with them?' Longtail raised her ears imploringly at Kaya, then looked around at the crews.
Not-Kaya considered this for a moment. "I think I'd be more comfortable sticking with you." Following behind Longtail, she boarded the small fighter vessel. In her pocket was a tiny firearm she had plucked out of one of the crates in the cargo room. She obviously didn't trust the Farbian, but if she had to fight, she trusted her abilities with the single Farbian over her odds against the whole crew. Not-Kaya hoped it wouldn't come to that. She would rather use the short transit time back to Shiro vessel to get to know Longtail a little better. If Not-Kaya was casting her lot in with mercenaries, she wanted to know everything she could learn. "So." Not-Kaya was terrible at smalltalk. "You don't strike me as the kind of chorpin who makes a living killing. How'd you end up as a mercenary?" --==||==-- The Shorman on the screen looked grumpy. Shiro didn't blame him. It was the middle of the night in his part of Menta. Vex was their contact in Scio Kio, the one who had gotten them their contract hunting Captain Beaky. "Captain Shiro." "Mabi Vex." She nodded slightly. "You didn't tell me the cargo was alive." "Ah, so you found Kaya Beaky?" Vex smiled, the tip of his white fangs poking out. "I apologize for the secrecy, but we had to know we could trust you before we told you the truth about Kaya." "That you've been torturing her?" Shiro was playing a risky game, but she hoped it would pay off. If Vex could be tricked into giving something away. " "Oh, Tarrak, don't tell me you believe the captain's story? He volunteered his daughter for the program. We haven't done anything illegal... Or immoral, for that matter. Kaya wanted to participate as well." "Whatever you say. I just expect to be payed when I haul them back there. I lost two men subduing the girl." "Only two? I'm impressed." "Yeah, well the crew isn't thrilled. They feel like you set up Tris and Eli by not warning us about Kaya." "We'll see to it that you're well compensated when you return Kaya to us. Bring Beaky as well. We'll process him and hand him over to the GMPF." "You hold up your end," Shiro let a warning tone slip into her voice. "And I'll hold up mine. Until I see you again..." With that, she clicked off the comms panel, sat back, and sighed. "This will be fun."
