Firebrand

Moralez let his arms fall to his sides, balling his fists as he felt that old tremor return, his hands shaking almost imperceptibly.

"On the way out of that maze of Bug-infested tunnels, a combination of close air support and some rather careless handling of grenades resulted in your injuries," Boyd added. "I don't know who you blame for that one."

"What of it?" Moralez demanded. "I should be angry that you went behind my back, rather than asking me about my history directly, but being underhanded is part of your job..."

"What of it?" Boyd repeated, turning to face him and planting his hands in the pockets of his long coat. "There's someone else who had the opportunity to plant that tracking device on Korbaz. Someone else with the motivation to sabotage the conference and to implicate an Equatorial."

"You're implying that I could have had something to do with this?" Moralez demanded, his anger getting the better of him for a moment before he reigned it back in. "After everything that you've seen? Why the fuck would I put my own job, my own reputation on the line to satisfy old grudges?"

"You'd stop the Bugs from being admitted to the Coalition, and you'd sabotage relations with the Rask, which means a few less Mad Cats stalking your station. That might be worth the risk."

"And how the hell did I shoot at the ambassador from inside the conference room?" Moralez scoffed.

"You might not have been working alone," Boyd replied with a shrug, "you're popular on the station. You said it yourself, most people here hate the Bugs with a passion. It wouldn't be hard to find someone who would pull that trigger for you if it meant averting what some might see as a future genocide from within the Coalition itself. Maybe Lorza is right, and Edwards is telling the truth. Maybe you set him up, gave us just enough evidence to pin the crime on him. We still have no weapon, no motive, and only your assurances that his encounter with Korbaz went down the way you say."

"Let me tell you what holding grudges gets you," Moralez snarled as he pointed an accusing finger at the agent. He took a couple of steps closer, rage furrowing his brow, Lorza glancing between the two of them as though preparing to intervene. "When I came back from that planet, I was a wreck, and I'm not just talking about my missing limbs. I felt like my personality had been scrambled, I didn't recognize myself anymore. I was angry, pessimistic, I felt guilt for being the only one to make it out. You can't imagine what it's like to wake up every day wondering why you're still alive, why you alone were chosen to keep going on, sometimes finding yourself wishing that whatever cruel God might be responsible had made a better choice."

Moralez took another step closer, Lorza moving in to place a hand on his chest, her sharp claws pricking him through the fabric of his uniform as she gently urged him back.

"Yeah, I hated the Borealans for what they did to me," he snapped. "When the woman who I later fell in love with appeared at my bedside, the woman who would make me whole again, I turned her away. To this day, I still can't believe how close I came to sabotaging myself, all because of my own prejudice. I told her that I wanted to see a human doctor, I judged her because of her species, not because of her character. She stuck with me, helped me through months of emotional and physical therapy, it's because of her that I'm standing here now."

Boyd watched with a neutral expression as the Chief continued his rant, Lorza keeping him from getting any closer to her partner.

"I know something about revenge, too," he continued. "Here's something that you won't have read in your report. I found the Equatorial who assaulted me. She visited the station, and I let my rage rule me. I was seeing red, I was ready to commit a murder. I tracked her down, fought her in an alley, only pulled through thanks to my prosthetics. I had her bleeding on the ground, I could have killed her there and then. Do you know what I felt at that moment?"

Boyd didn't reply, so Moralez answered the question for him.

"Nothing," he said, "not a damned thing. There was no closure, no satisfaction, no relief. Once again, I put everything that I had in jeopardy. My job, my relationship, all at risk because of my own hatred. I know from first-hand experience how pointless revenge is, and the last time I judged someone for the actions of their species, I almost ruined my own life without even realizing it. So no, I don't hate the Bugs from Jarilo because of what the other hives have done, and I don't have any grudges to settle with the Borealans. You can cram your little theory right up your self-righteous ass."

He had said his piece, and he calmed down somewhat, Lorza releasing him once she was sure that he wasn't going to close the distance and punch through Boyd's head like an out-of-date Halloween pumpkin. The thought had crossed his mind...

"What do you think, Lorza?" Boyd asked nonchalantly. "That enough of an emotional reaction for you to work your Polar magic?"

"He tells the truth, malish," he replied tersely. "It would be hard to fake a reaction such as that..."

"Sorry for riding your ass so much, Chief, but you're a hard nut to crack," Boyd added with a satisfied grin. He reached up and removed his visor for the first time, revealing a pair of green eyes. "Had to rule you out, you understand. Gotta follow every lead, no matter how trivial or unlikely it might seem."

"So that's why you've been such an asshole?" Moralez asked, unable to stop himself from chuckling as he shook his head in disbelief. "You Ninnies sure play the long game, don't you?"

"Take it from me," Lorza added, "he is just as much of a mudak under normal circumstances."

They began to walk again, Moralez feeling a little more confident in the company of the two agents now. It had taken this long, but he felt as though he had finally earned their trust, and he no longer had to question their real motives. Was it time to voice his concerns about Vos and his SWAR lackeys? They were still working for the man, after all. But if what Lorza had said about Edwards telling the truth was accurate, then they might only have one day left to follow this last lead. It was now or never.

"There is one more possibility," Moralez said cryptically, the agents turning to look at him. "I've been suspicious of Admiral Vos ever since the attack took place. He had foreknowledge of the Bug's visit to the station, and he always seems to be at odds with the rest of the Admiralty. He told me that he foresaw security issues during the council meeting and brought SWAR aboard for that reason, but it's a little too convenient. He voted yes on the motion, but that was on behalf of the UN as a whole, it had likely already been decided. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that he was somehow responsible and that his SWAR contacts were the ones who took the shot. They arrived on the station in a stealth ship that refused to identify itself, and I doubt they went through customs. It's a good way for them to smuggle a weapon of sufficient power onto the Pinwheel."

"I was wondering when you were going to implicate Vos," Boyd chuckled, "you've been conspicuously quiet about him. Nobody is above suspicion, and whether he assigned us to the case or not, we'll look into every possible lead. That said, I think we're onto something with Edwards. More specifically, with the engineer who bumped into Korbaz on the hub, if Edwards is indeed just another patsy. Admiral Vos may have orchestrated that in some way. Maybe he fudged the records to cover the real culprit's tracks, but it's too much of a stretch without more evidence to go on."

"Would you recognize the engineer from the hub if you saw him again?" Lorza asked, Moralez shaking his head.

"I see a thousand new faces every day, and there are no cameras in that area of the hub to check for an ID. He was male, average height, Caucasian, dark hair that might have been black or maybe brown. That's all I got. Edwards meets those criteria, but so do half of the humans on the station."

"Perhaps the Vice Admiral would recognize his scent?" Lorza suggested.

"If you want to ask her for help, be my guest," Boyd muttered. "I'm still not convinced that Edwards isn't our man. He was in the right place at the right time, he had access to all of the secure areas, we're just missing a motive-"

As the end of the tunnel of trellises came into view, the trio stopped, three shadowy figures pushing through the plant matter ahead of them to block their path. Lorza swiveled around, her ears pricking up as three more came in from behind, sandwiching them in. It was an ambush, a pincer attack. Beneath the dimming sunlamps and within the tunnel, it was hard to make out their features, but their build and stature suggested Borealans.

One of the strangers to their front stepped closer, a dim ray of light that made it through the leaves above them illuminating their face. It was a male, his dark complexion and his sandy-blonde hair giving him away as a Rask. His dusky skin was crisscrossed with pink scars, and it looked as though a claw had split his lips at one point, leaving an indent that had never fully healed. His pupils were dilated into dark circles, locked onto Moralez.

"Metal man," he snarled, "you have dishonored our Vice Admiral."

"My name is Security Chief Moralez," he replied, his voice carrying through the tunnel. "Who are you, and what's the meaning of this?"

"You are the metal man who took our Vice Admiral into captivity," the Rask snarled, baring his pearly teeth. "She speaks with the authority of the Matriarch, an insult against her is an insult against all Rask. You will release her immediately."

"Ambassador Korbaz was taken into custody as part of an ongoing investigation," Moralez replied tersely, "she will be released when I deem it appropriate. If you must know, she has been cleared of all charges, and she will be released tomorrow morning."

"And what of the insult?" the stranger snapped. "What will be our remedy?"

"There was no insult intended," Moralez replied, "it's standard procedure to take suspects into custody for questioning."

"Is it standard procedure to walk a Vice Admiral through a public space in chains, with her head bowed?" another asked from somewhere behind the first. "Our people's dignity must be restored."

"The Vice Admiral resisted arrest," Moralez explained, "we would have been happy to afford her every comfort and dignity available if she had cooperated."

"And yet you say that she has done no wrong?" the ringleader asked. "You admit that you were in error?"

"Yes, but that's not how our legal system works," he added as his frustration began to mount. "If the Vice Admiral has any complaints about her treatment, then she's free to take it up with my superiors. They will decide if I have followed protocol to the best of my abilities."

The aliens were bristling, they hadn't come here to talk protocol, they had come looking for a fight. It looked as though Boyd had already come to that conclusion, one hand slipping his visor back on, while the other crept beneath his coat. Lorza's ears were flat against her head, her claws at the ready. She might have had no problem subduing Korbaz, but against a whole pack, they couldn't rely on her brute strength alone.

Moralez looked his opponents up and down. None of them were wearing their UNN blues. If they were auxiliaries serving in the Coalition, then they had chosen not to represent the organization tonight. They were wearing the civilian clothing of the Rask, all dark leather and studded belts, padded for protection like a stab vest. Although he knew that the Rask were always laden with weapons, they had not drawn them. Indeed, if this was to be a matter of honor and status, then they would fight only with their claws. That was considered non-lethal by Borealan standards, but a good claw swipe could easily see a human bleeding to death or permanently disfigured.

Moralez knew how to deal with an angry Borealan, it called for dominance, assertiveness.

"Now you listen to me," Moralez snapped, the alien's round ears flicking. "This is my station, I have authority over you. You'd better step the fuck down if you don't want to be on the first jump freighter back to Borealis with your ass in a goddamned sling."

"We will have restitution," one of the Rask who was standing behind them snarled.

"Are you guys auxiliaries?" Moralez demanded. "If so, then your Matriarch has ordered you to obey the Coalition's chain of command. I'm ordering you to back off, I have jurisdiction here."

"Their minds are already made up," Lorza muttered. "They will not listen to you, Chief."

He flexed his prosthetic arms, taking up a defensive posture.

"I don't want to have to fill out a casualty report tonight," he muttered, "don't send anyone to the morgue if you don't have to."

Boyd removed his gloves and shrugged off his leather coat, letting it fall about his boots, revealing his skin-tight bodysuit. It was a grey-blue in color, covered in a network of electrical wiring that looked liked veins, along with blocky components that might be batteries or other devices. Whatever purpose it served, he wanted it exposed during the fight.

They stared the Rask pack down for a moment, Lorza turning to face those at their rear, the silence dragging. It was broken by a snarl, the ringleader lunging forwards, his black claws flashing as he raised them above his head. Moralez blocked his downward swipe with his forearm, the wicked talons digging into the polymer housing, the servos whirring as they withstood the impact. The shock traveled up through his limb, translating into the bones in his shoulder and making him wince.

The alien was momentarily confused, perhaps anticipating the sensation of his claws sinking into soft flesh, Moralez taking the opportunity to make his move. He tore his forearm away, breaking a couple of the alien's claws in the process, and took hold of his furry wrist. His grip was like iron, the Rask unable to escape in time as the Chief dragged him down to his level. He balled his left hand into a fist and drove it towards his assailant's face with all of the strength that the motors would allow.

He struck the Rask square in his dull snout, blood spewing from his feline nose, Moralez feeling what might be teeth or bones cracking beneath his fist. It all happened in the space of a second, the Chief's prosthetics affording him inhuman speed and strength, leaving the Rask dazed.

Before his opponent could recover, he darted in and delivered another savage punch to the alien's gut, his rock-hard abdominal muscles providing little protection from the hammer blow. The Rask doubled over, clutching his stomach, the breath driven from his lungs. Moralez finished him off with an uppercut that sent the five-hundred-pound creature crashing to the floor, the thud shaking the leaves on the trees that had wound around the trellises.

Moralez stood over him, breathing heavily, pulling a broken claw from his forearm and tossing it to the ground defiantly as he glared at the other pack members. He no longer had the element of surprise, but taking out their Alpha might make the rest of them think twice.

No such luck. The other five closed in, the tunnel filling with the sound of their bestial growling. Moralez narrowly dodged another swipe, his reaction times were still woefully human, dancing away from the aggressor as it spat and hissed. The second one went for Boyd, and to Moralez's bemusement, the agent ran straight at him. He reached out as though attempting to tackle the creature, but it weighed far more than he did, impacting it like he had run into a brick wall. The alien stopped, just as confused as Moralez was, wrapping his arms around Boyd in an attempt to crush him. The agent muttered something inaudible, his voice muffled by the leather jacket, and then the Rask went as stiff as a statue.

Every muscle in his body seemed to tense, his arms shooting straight to his sides, an expression of pain and surprise etched onto his feline face. Like someone toppling a store mannequin, Boyd gave him a gentle push, the Rask making no attempt to cushion his fall as he dropped to the floor. He lay there for a moment before his muscles relaxed again, his body sagging, no longer conscious.

Moralez heard a thud from behind him as Lorza slammed into an approaching Rask, knocking him to the floor, using her sheer mass and girth to prevent the assailants from slipping past her. She was facing three of them at once, however, one of the aliens managing to catch her upper arm with a claw swipe. His talons tore through the fabric of her grey jumpsuit, the area immediately beginning to soak with dark, red blood. She yowled in a blend of pain and surprise, striking back with an open-palmed blow to the offender's face, snapping his head back and sending him staggering backwards.

"Help Lorza!" Moralez shouted, Boyd giving him a nod. "I got this last guy."

The agent swiveled to face their rear, knocking his fists together in anticipation, a bright arc of electricity bridging his knuckles. So that was his trick, his environment suit was able to discharge electricity, enough to put an adult Borealan on their ass.

The last of the three Rask to their front charged in, Moralez intercepting her, the female loosing a battle cry that sounded like the roar of a tiger as she swung at his face with her claws. He blocked her swipe, but only narrowly, her claws brushing his cheek so closely that he could feel them tickle the hairs on his skin. She had witnessed the fate of her predecessor, and she wasn't going to fall for the same trick, wrenching her arm from the Chief's grasp before he could take hold.

She swung again, but this time, the Chief ducked under her arm and closed in. Her long reach was a hindrance rather than an advantage as he began to harry her torso with punches, his arms moving faster than any human could have mustered, impacting with greater force. Even her chiseled Rask muscles were no match for his mechanical fists, the alien buckling under the assault. Moralez used his prosthetic leg to sweep one of her feet out from under her, knocking her off-balance, the female reaching out to grip the nearby wall of foliage in an attempt to catch herself. She stopped her fall, but now she was in range of the shorter human, the Chief dispatching her with a sharp blow to the face that made her crumple.

He turned to see Lorza and Boyd engaging the two remaining pack members in the tunnel behind him. The Polar trapped one of them in a bear hug as he closed in, pinning his arms at his sides as she wrapped her powerful limbs around him like a Sumo wrestler, throwing him to the ground with enough force that Moralez felt the impact shake the deck beneath his feet.

Boyd was dancing like a boxer, keeping out of range of his opponent, but the Rask was far faster than he could ever hope to be. The alien succeeded in making contact, reaching out to grab him by the shoulder, immediately pulling his hand away as the agent's suit sparked. His long tail puffed up like a frightened housecat, a yowl escaping his lips, Boyd taking advantage of his pain and confusion to step in and plant his palms on the Rask's chest as though he was delivering a shock with a defibrillator. Electricity crackled across the wiring on his arms and shoulders, channeling into his hands, where it was discharged into his target. The Rask stiffened, his tail standing up as straight as a board, the beginnings of a yelp petering out as he clenched his teeth involuntarily.

Boyd released him, the alien was still conscious, but the shock had been enough of a deterrent to send him packing. He turned tail and ran, the one that Lorza had body-slammed picking himself up and following after his packmate with a pronounced limp, the two vanishing down the tunnel of trellises.