Project - Prometheus Ch. 40

The sound of gunshots rang out through the alleyway as Cahlayn, a councilor of the town of Tanith's Gully, ran away from them. Her lungs heaved with the effort of breathing as she tried to outdistance her pursuers. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but could feel the power in them fading fast. While she had taken some initiative to stay in shape, it was in running where she fell short.

Cahlayn cursed the fact that she hadn't seen the obvious trap that had been laid out for her. She supposed that her concern for her merchandise had overridden any good sense in that moment. Because of that lack of foresight, she was now on the run from these... machines that were hunting her down. The very thought of facing these things was terrifying, as they were fast, efficient and showed no compassion, like real life Terminators.

She'd heard of these 'Sentries' from some of her sources, but had dismissed the claims of these robots as little more than errant fantasy. Now, she was regretting having taken such a stance in the first place. Cahlayn tugged at the firearm that was in the waistband of her pants and pointed it over her shoulder, squeezing off a few rounds.

The woman hoped that such shots might be lucky enough to damage these robots, but it was a fool's hope. She'd seen some of these Sentries up close before she crafted a distraction so she could make a break for it. With armor plating protecting all the vital areas, there was no way she could hope to even make a ding in their armor! If she had a heavy caliber machine gun, maybe, but not with the pistol she clutched in her grip.

Regardless, she grasped at whatever stray thought of hope that entered her head. Cahlayn prayed that whatever she did, it would be enough to escape those relentless machines, and those who commanded them. She'd already left behind their owners several blocks back and believed she had evaded them at least.

Thinking she was far enough away, she thought she might be able to hide from them. Turning the corner, Cahlayn started to glance around, searching for a hiding spot, until she heard the cocking of a gun behind her. The woman would have turned around, were it not for the feeling of cold steel pressed to the base of her skull.

"Drop it! Try anything funny, bitch, and I'll put holes in some very obvious places to where even a vat job and mod overhaul won't fix it," a feminine voice told her.

"I'd do as she says! You've already invoked our ire! Do you really want to piss off the likes of Deputy Parks?" Inari asked, her hand cannon pointed straight at her heart.

"You got a good line on her?" the deputy asked as she pulled out her cuffs. In response, a shot hit the street just an inch away from the councilor's feet. The woman hopped and yipped in warning, then saw a laser dot show up at the spot where her heart was. The laser dot then migrated to the corrupt councilor's head, resting right between her eyes.

"Yup! She even tries moving, she'll lose her head," Priya stated into the comms, letting everyone know.

"I'm sure you know where the sniper is pointing her rifle, yeah?" the deputy questioned as she moved in to detain the woman.

"I'm not stupid! Just take me in and off the street, please! I can't stay out here!" Cahlayn pleaded.

"Why not? Maybe we should let the people of Tanith's Gully know just how much of a traitor you really are!" Daved suggested.

"You don't understand! They'll kill me!" she argued, sounding like she was on the verge of panic.

"Once we're done with you, maybe we should let them!" Daved scoffed.

"It won't get that far! They won't let me live long enough!" she cried. Just then, a laser sight sat on Deputy Parks' chest, dancing for a moment.

"Pree, quit dicking around!" Inari scoffed over the comms.

"That's not me! Get everyone down!" the woman screamed just as a sniper's bullet hit the deputy in the chest.

"Enemy sniper!" Inari cried out as the deputy went down with a scream. The rest of the group got down, taking the corrupt councilor with them as several shots whizzed right by her head.

"I got eyes on the bastards! There's two of them!" Priya called out, as she locked onto the first one.

She had him sighted in and fired just as he noticed her. It was too late for him, as his head exploded a second later while Priya searched out the second sniper. Priya found the woman on an adjacent rooftop, but she was already moving. It was clear that she'd seen what happened to her friend and was getting out while she still could. While she didn't have a clean kill shot, Priya settled for another target on her and fired.

"You're clear to get up!" Priya responded over the comms as an ear-splitting shriek pierced the air.

"What the fuck was that?" Inari asked as she climbed to her feet.

"I didn't have a kill shot, so I wounded the bitch who was shooting at everyone," Priya told her.

"Where did you hit her? Her leg?" Daved asked, as he knew such wounds could often be painful.

"Too much of a risk in hitting any arteries. I settled for a cheek shot. Lots of meat there," Priya chuckled.

"Really, Pree? A shot in her butt cheek?" Inari replied, trying to sound like she was reprimanding the woman, all while giggling out the side of her mouth.

"One; it will slow her down, as you need your ass muscles to walk upright. Two; it was the best non-lethal shot I had so we could try to catch her and three; there's still a lot we don't know about who could be an infiltrator here. So, the more operatives we catch, the better our chances of getting them all," Priya replied, defending her actions.

"Where is she now?" Inari questioned, already on her feet and moving.

"She hopped off the roof of a two story home just a moment ago, about a hundred meters in front of you. You should catch her easily enough, given how much she's hobbling," Priya snickered.

Inari rolled her eyes and headed in the direction her girlfriend directed her. Sure enough, she spotted the woman who Priya had shot, not even ten meters away. She was trying to run, but accomplishing something more along the lines of a shambling walk as she tried to get away. Inari scoffed as she drew her shotgun and loaded a beanbag round before she cocked the weapon, aimed, and opened fire.

A piercing wail split the air as the woman went down in a heap, the round catching her in the small of her back. Inari trotted over as a couple of deputies, including Parks, found her and her target in short order. They all hustled over, eager to get their hands on the woman who was believed to have almost ended Deputy Parks.

"You OK there, deputy?" Inari asked as the trio of law enforcement officials moved to apprehend the wounded woman.

"The round hit my armor jacket at an angle, so most of it was stopped," the deputy replied with a wince. "What's wrong with her? She's squirming more than a caged devilcat."

"That's because I bean bagged her at around eight meters. Hit the small of her back. Combine that with the ass shot..." Inari replied with a gesture.

"That'll be a fuckton of pain! Let's get her up and to the station. Hopefully, she'll be talkative after we get her looked after," the deputy said.

"Maybe we don't heal her. Not yet. Let the bitch suffer a bit more for trying to off some deputies," Parks said scornfully.

"That's against the law, which you and yours are bound to uphold. Therefore, you cannot be allowed to do shit like that," Inari replied seriously. Parks and the other deputies looked about ready to object until Inari continued.

"Me, on the other hand, I can do shit like that, as I am not bound by any codes of conduct or laws of the town of Tanith's Gully. I can get away with that shit and not suffer any blowback," Inari finished, earning grins and nods from the deputies.

"Can we watch at least?" one of the other deputies, a young man, enquired.

"I don't see why not, as long as you lot don't have any duties to attend to," Inari chuckled.

"I don't care if the boss orders me to head off on patrol. I want to see this bitch suffer!" Parks growled.

"I... didn't... shoot you..." the woman ground out through the pain. "Josh... did..."

"We'll be the ones who decide that. Having a loaded weapon pointed at the deputies of Tanith's Gully earns you some serious jail time," Inari told her.

"Aiming... at... councilor. Orders..." she breathed as she grunted in agony.

"Orders? From who?" Parks demanded.

"Take me... out... of here," she pleaded, her head darting around for a brief second.

"Might want to do that. At least until you lot are out of range of the cameras I've located in this area. I'm good, but there's only so much I can do, even with Jaesa's help," Taal'ani broke in over the comms.

"Much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Let's get them all to the station and sort it out there," Daved said as he ambled up.

"But, sir..." Parks began to argue.

"No buts! You want to do something? Then go help process the corpse and weapons of that sniper that Priya offed. Raen has already checked his gun, and it looks like he was the one who shot you," Daved offered. Parks looked down at the writhing woman and sighed, knowing that this woman had told the truth. Maybe it would be worth bringing her in after all.

"All right. I'll go give him a hand," Parks stated, and she was off to help.

"Let's patch her up quick, then! We need to gather everyone and everything and clear out! From what Talon has told us, we have the advantage on Sargol and any other Confed spy! Let's keep it that way!" Daved ordered.

Everyone then exploded into motion, with the group gathering up anything that was related to their arrest and cleaning up the streets. While Taal'ani's program had masked their actions over the vids, they wanted to ensure that nothing was noticed on the feeds once the program went down. If Sargol was monitoring them, as the Fel'caan woman had said, then they needed to hurry and leave the zones exactly as they found them.

It didn't take long, and once they had secured the councilor and the sniper, along with cleaning up the mess of the dead one, the group moved along back to the Sheriff's station. Having taken screenshots of how everything looked before the group had traipsed through in their chase, Taal'ani had guided everyone through the steps of resetting everything, so nothing was amiss.

There were some new pockmarks from the various gunshots, but there were such marks everywhere. New ones usually showed up at least every week. They were usually patched up by the owner of the home or building, then forgotten about. At least, until new shots found their way into the walls. Once Taal'ani had given the green light, they all vacated the area, moving towards the Sheriff's station with their prisoners.

Taal'ani covered the retreat and advance to the station, ensuring that their group wasn't picked up by the cameras. Once they were in the station, is when she halted the program and let the cameras resume their normal function. Now that everyone was safe in the station and away from prying eyes, they could start questioning their new 'guests.' After booking the pair of women, the group met up in one of the conference rooms.

"All right. So, what do we know about the operation that the Confeds are running here?" Daved asked, closing the door behind him once everyone was there.

"Well, sir, it seems like your educated guess was correct. Sargol is indeed a Confederate spy. The first councilor you brought in was very... talkative. So far, he's revealed that he's just one of many around the town that keep tabs on the daily goings on," one of the deputies answered.

"I'd say he's co-operating just so no one invokes the Purge Law on his ass," Parks scoffed.

The Purge Law was a law that had been put into place since the earliest days of Tanith's Gully, just after the Bombardment. It was a law that allowed anyone in the town to bring the full weight of mob justice on those who were deemed to be a threat to the safety and well-being of the townsfolk. 'Purging' such undesirables from the town was necessary in order for the town to survive.

"Yeah! Lohrek has been here long enough to know that the people here are very... vindictive to people who are seen as a threat to the town's wellbeing. I remember him even participating in a few of these purges," Daved agreed.

"Lohrek also gave us a critical piece of info, which concerns you, Inari," the young man stated.

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He told us flat out that not only was Sargol a Confed spy from day one, but that he was the one who set you up all those years ago. With the video file and everything," the deputy stated.

"What?!? Sargol was the one who set my ass up?" Inari breathed through clenched teeth. "How does Lohrek know this?"

"He's pretty high up in the chain of spies here. Says that the only one above him is Sargol, and how he knows just as much as that weasel bastard. Apparently, getting you off Prodosia, by death or banishment, was part of his job. Having an ex-Federation poster girl helping people out on Prodosia made the Federation look good. We all know how the Confederacy likes such things to be in their favor only," Daved told her.

"The fucking asshole!" Inari ground out, rage suffusing her entire being. "I want his head!!!"

"I think we all want that shitbag's head," Daved replied, making light of her comment.

"No. You don't understand. I. Want. His. Head! On a platter!!!" Inari growled menacingly.

"Inari, you really don't mean..." Priya asked, looking concerned for her girlfriend.

"Oh, I mean it, Pree!! That fuckhead ruined me! He fucked with my life in such a direct way that there can be no forgiveness!! I want his head, and I want to be the one to cut it off!!" Inari fumed, baring her gritted teeth.

"You can't have it. Not yet. Not until we capture him and learn about everything that he's been up to and why the Confeds are so interested in Prodosia after so long. After we've drained him dry of everything he knows, then you can have him. Hell, we might even make a public spectacle of you killing the rat bastard!" Daved offered.

"Fine! As long as I get him in the end, I don't care! Too many people have fucked with me over the course of my life. It's about fucking time that I get myself some payback!" Inari rumbled, nodding in Daved's direction.

"Good! We've also learned from Lohrek that Sargol kept a pretty tight net over information. Any agents were only permitted to know what they need to know to carry out their jobs. Anything beyond that, they weren't told, if they didn't need to be told," Daved went on.

"There's also something else that Lohrek said, sir, which he mentioned," the young deputy piped up.

"Which is?"

"That a standby order was given to him and to the others who we caught. It apparently came from Sargol himself and was meant for everyone to see," the deputy stated.

"A standby order?" Daved questioned.

"Fuck! That's not good!" Priya groaned.

"Why is that?" the sheriff asked.

"A standby order is usually only sent if there is a bigger game afoot. Usually, for everyone to be ready for an attack order, reinforcements, things like that! This shit might just be getting started!! We need to find Sargol, now! Did any of them know what the order meant?" Inari asked the deputy.

"No, ma'am. It was a signal for them to be ready for whatever order came down for them next. I got the impression that it was an order they had been waiting on for a while," the deputy replied.

"Fuck! If this means what I fear it does, then we need then we need to find the fucker and find him now!!" Inari nearly yelled.

"What was the standby order? Did Lohrek mention the wording about it?" Taal'ani asked over the comms, which was patched into the conference room.

"Something about an Operation Endgame! He was told if he heard those two words, that he was to standby for his final orders before he and every other operative was to break cover. He said that they'd all know when to do this, as shit would be obvious," the deputy replied.

"Fuck!!" Taal'ani cursed.

"Talon? What is it?" Priya questioned.

"Jaesa picked up an encoded transmission a few hours ago. We weren't sure what it was or who it was meant for, but we knew it must have been important! We caught this message that was sent with it, which reads as follows," Taal'ani stated as she sent them the transmission.

All operatives move to final readiness phase! Operation Endgame is about to commence! Repeat, Operation Endgame is about to commence!

"Did Lohrek say what this was exactly?" Daved demanded, as the implications of such a message were not good at all!

"No, sir! Just that he was to have himself ready to make his final plays when this message was sent!" the deputy reiterated.

"But... that's not the worst part," Taal'ani went on.

"What's the worst part?" Inari asked, almost dreading the answer.

"The worst part is the fact that the encoded message that was sent with it delivered out of system! It reached the old relay system that was left behind by the Federation and was relayed out of the Abandoned Frontier! Where exactly it was sent to and what was in the message, I don't know yet," Taal'ani admitted.

"Please tell me you and Jaesa are working on it!" Inari almost begged.

"We've been chipping away at it and have made significant progress. Maybe an hour or so more and we'll know what was sent and who it was sent to," the Fel'caan woman replied.

"All right. What about Sargol? Any progress made on finding him yet?" Daved questioned, eager to have answers as much as the rest of them.

"The algorithm is still working, on top of whatever Jaesa is doing to help me with optimizing its effectiveness! It's a top end piece of software, but it's not magic! It needs time!" Taal'ani rebuffed.

"Time happens to be something that we are starting to run in short supply of! The nanosecond you have something definitive, call in!" Inari stated vehemently.

"Copy that, boss! You'll get your revenge, don't worry!" the Fel'caan woman replied, moments before she killed the line.

"So, what do we do now?" Priya wondered.

"Maybe you two could head out on patrol with some of the deputies?" Daved offered. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind the extra company."

"Probably a good idea! It will help me with staying calm! Being idle and in a state like this, I'm liable to do something stupid!" Inari admitted.

"That's putting it mildly," Priya fired off-handedly.

Inari shot her girlfriend a dirty look, to which Priya just shrugged, as to her, it was common knowledge. Rolling her eyes, Inari then got to her feet as Daved started assigning patrol groups. The two lovers were assigned to the third patrol group that would head through the Garden District. It was a relatively safe zone, but one which had seen a lot more activity that usual lately.

Once everyone had their assignments, they were off to make their rounds, which made Daved breathe a sigh of relief. While these were troubling times, it was good to see that everyone could still work together with little issue. Daved only hoped that Taal'ani was keeping an eye on these patrols, hoping she could mask their actions on the fly if she needed to.

Daved hoped that the patrols he sent would chase down whatever leads they had and come up with at least a few more infiltrators. It had been one hell of a head spinner for sure, but Daved always had his suspicions. He just couldn't prove much until recently, all thanks to Inari's return.

Some people were still demanding that she be punished according to the law. But the amount of help she had given so far overshadowed what she had supposedly done. On top of which, with Taal'ani showing him what was what and walking him through how things were pieced together in the vid. He admitted to himself that he could see the discrepancies in it, now that he was taught to spot them.