Farewell Leader...
Ruken spat blood that had built up from the cut in his mouth, and hissed a curse at the man who had all too easily made him loose some of the precious fluid.
Very few had challenged ARK and even fewer had the guts to take a swing at one. Now he knew why. The green Id tag on the ARK glowed like a beacon, residing over the bastard's cold heart, Ruken's next target.
"Neutral in all things huh?" Ruken tried to ignore the pain coming from his arm. It was most certainly broken. "The planet is under attack and you can sit back on your haunches and do nothing, that isn't nuetral, thats callous... more over that's rediculous. If I didn't know any better I would say you people WANT to loose Ka either to Omni or the Aliens, I dunno which yet."
The Ark's Eyes glowed with renewed energy.
"You only wish you knew the total depth of what is transpiring."
Another well placed fist pushed Ruken beyond the point of critical, life threatening damage. "You cannot understand from the point of a trumped up insignifigant, what has to be done to save ALL of the populace. You are not in ANY position to dictate how we should operate, Ruken. Your list of planetary offenses is as long as an NanoPylon." The man's entire body glowed as a new strength increasing Nanoprgram coursed through him
"I will no longer sit by, and let the people of Ka suffer through Omni oppression and the blind eye of the ICC and ARK. Mark my words, one day the people will take back their freedom, break free of you and Phillip Ross." Ruken nearly spat his contempt.
"Heh, Not today, Shogun Ruken, and if there is Nothing further, " The ARK raised his fist to finish what he had started, "I will bid You Good Day, Citizen." The fist of the angered ARK rocketed toward Ruken then, just as suddenly as the fight had started, it stopped mid flight.
An odd blue aura surrounded the man who would be killer.
"(Sigh) You would think, in a postion of power, one would...you know... have more Power." The Fixer chuckled and walked over to Ruken, picking him up off the ground. Slinging his Manex Submachine gun over his shoulder, the cocky young man teased his guild leader, "Boss, I gotta tell ya, you seriously need to pick yer fights better."
A new swirl of nanobots clouded the two clanners from view and in a flash they disappeared into gridspace.
Rushing and whirling around them like a torrent of water they manuevered through the busy gridstream and poped out into reality near Tir. The sky was clear and cluttered only by transports carrying God Knows What. The day was warm, for fall, and reminded Ian "Nitecloud" Freeman of a recent fishing trip he and his esteemed guild leader had taken with the rest of the governing staff.
Ruken coughed again. For some reason he was not getting any better.
"Nite..." Ruken spat another crimson stream.
"Yeah boss?" The young man carried his mentor toward the Tents in front of Fair Trade. Every major event in his life had happened here so far... and this current situation foreshadowed something ominous.
"No one else cares. The whole damn world has fallen into some complacent flock of sheep mentality." Ruken sat up and scowled, reflecting on a life hardened by combat and tribulation. "Someone has to wake them up, Nite."
"Tell me about it," the kid's face softened, letting a thin smile wax and then immediately waine over his face.
Ruken reached up and grabbed the Kid by his collar, "I am serious dammit. You know Phillip Ross is going to use these aliens as a reason to declaire Martial Law, and when he does, Omni- Black Ops is gonna..." He stopped, coughing again as his hackles rose, "Gonna.. put an end to our way of life, the Free way. They already managed to thin us out, Pandora's is all but gone. You think he won't find a way to deliver the final blow? ARK can't or won't help us. The other guilds are so wrapped up in saving thier own asses they can't see the bigger picture."
Nitecloud wasn't too terribly old but he'd seen enough of the type of warfare that made Ruken feel the way he did. The conflict on Ka was defintely deeper seated than just some political mumbo-jumbo about Notum. It had gotten personal. Almost Hatfield and McCoy personal, neither side resting until the other had been wiped out completely for reasons forgotten generations ago, and the true neutrals were attacked under su****ion for aiding and abetting one side or the other, secretly; whether there was proof of such, or not.
Ruken continued his tyraid on the evils of Omni and Alien incursions...
Somewhere in the ICC control station near Andromeda.
The Ark formed from a cloudy mist of Nanobots, as he was reconstructed in the ICC Reclaim Technology Control center. The gaurds instantly turned to halt the man, as no one outside of the ICC was permitted in these sensitve areas.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a misty ball much like the kind of virrulant energy the mad man Izgimmer used to weild formed in hands of the aggressor.
The reclaim control computer became the target for the blast, wiping out the majority of clanner reclaim data on Rubi-ka. "Ark's Darker Purpose Ruken? We'll see. In the mean time Rest in Peace you militant bastard."
One of the gaurds looked deeply at the ARK's badge it read in eery green letters "ARK DARKSTARR DEMISE, Citizen Relations Corps." A fitting name for a cold blooded killer in the same vein as Jack the Ripper, The UniBomber, and Chuck Manson.
As the madman left he winked at the gaurd who had been studying him so dutifully.
"Go ahead, look for me in the ARK databse... You won't find me. Love Kiss " The Psuedo ARK vanished as quickly as he had appeared.
Back in Tir.
Ruken's strength began to fail him, the damage to his body was too severe, though Nitecloud had tried to summon a doctor, none had come, and his Heal Over Time nanoprogram was too slow to recover rapidly failiing health.
"Boss... I guess I will get yer stuff and take it back to Pandora's City, you'' be back in a few.. it won't hurt much longer." The kid wasn't really worried but knew the excruitating pain of death and rebirth. The Reclaim system made men and women here all but immortal, but it still hurt like a bitch to pass on, have your soul snatched from mid air and slammed back into your body like a dodgeball hitting a wall.
"Not this time Kiddo." Ruken refocused on the youngest general in Pandora's," Listen to me. I want you to watch over then Nite, watch over them all. You got that?"
The kid nodded, confused, but obediant. With the last ounce of strength Ruken tapped in a command into his DataPAD. A new message popped up over Nitecloud's VDU.
"Ruken has transferred Leadership of Pandora's Gaurd to You."
When the kid looked down to inquire as to why, he noticed that Ruken would not be answering him in this life. He lowered his head and laid his former leader to rest.
Nitecloud Snapped out of his dream and shot straight up in bed. His appartment in Komodo's Hall was lush, more-so than he had ever known in days past. Sweat, like condensation on a soft drink coated the young man, making him feel more dirty than years of hard fought battle had ever made him feel before.
Next to him, a girl he had known for a long time, only recently turned more than freind stirred and opened sleepy eyes at him.
"Ian, you ok?" she yawned, raising herself up onto one arm.
He looked at her warm face, rose colored with embarassment, realizing that she was still without mare than the sheets to cover her. He was happy for a moment, then sad again. Perhaps she hadn't known the early days of this war, he forgot when it was she had really become his friend.
"Let me tell you about one of the men that made me who I am today." Nitecloud's face softened, like it had on that day, and he told a tale about what it was to be a true clansman, as he had come to understand it.
