Nulion's Journey

[omniteksnipe]

OOC: Wow bro, known you for years, didnt know you were cooking a story like this up. Its fantastic. More More!

[Nulion]

((Why thank you! ....I really need to start up writing again!))

[Gustavis]

((Bump, for great justice.))

[whatsinaname]

I aint RP'er but must say Im glad I scanned through the Forums. I like your writing style and enjoyed the story.

[Nulion]

((Thank you! I actually just typed up another two or so chapters ....Coming very soon! I'm writing again! YAAAY! ))

[Nulion]

What can I say? The Cup is the best damned coffee in the northern territories. The place has had its fair share of controversy, but despite it all, the coffee has never changed…I don’t know where they get the beans, and I don’t know what kind of equipment they use to squeeze a healthy 30% more flavor out of every bean (Or so they claim!), but there really isn’t a better cup of joe anywhere else.

I’d just sat down to a fresh, steaming cup, in the usual corner of the place. The hot cup’s warmth bled through the protection of my gloves, my hands enjoying such a soothing warmth…It was the exact thing I’d needed, considering how blustery and inhospitable it was outdoors.

Just as I was about to take a sip though, a HV-set that was propped up in the far corner of the bar sprung to life from what was otherwise a drab, run of the mill session of commercials and daytime programming. The Omni-Tek logo flashed across the projection, each piece of the logo spinning and whirling until the pieces locked together to form the full image. The words “special report” flittered across, to stop beneath the logo. I wonder how long it took them to churn that little bit of visual flare out, and exactly how necessary it was to make each briefing to come from the corporation look like it was a message from God.

The projection faded out into an image captured directly from some Omni-Tek city, apparently live, of a large gathering of people. I couldn’t even tell which city it was, considering the amount of people crowding the area, and also considering the fact that Omni-Tek cities tended to look the same…aside from Rome, that is. Whoever was running the show wasted no time, zooming up to a decorative podium, approached by a bald, ghastly man. His eyes were sunk into his skull, the skin pulled taut over his grim face. Despite his corpse-like appearance, he was awfully well-kempt and clean…all business, no pleasure. It was Tarkhan Zora himself, and the moment he spoke, the audience fell mute.

“Employees of Omni-Tek! We are at WAR, and it is in my best interests to protect what we hold dear!” His voice boomed, and the stomachs of an entire planet tightened.

“In the past few months, our technological advancements are coming along in leaps and bounds thanks to an increased ability to harness both what this planet owes us, and what we take from those who seek to oppose us. Our skies are getting darker, but we are working with the ICC to sanction the use of advanced military hardware on Rubi-Ka.”

His voice sounded so proud…so firm, and so authoritative, despite the insanity spewing from that hole of his. I could barely believe what I was watching, my fingers twitching from each word that left his mouth. He was actually doing it…he was setting the powder keg aflame.

He continued, boasting of the power and capability of all this new ‘advanced military hardware’ that, even as he babbled about doomsday, was headed to Rubi-Ka…

“These stations will last a hundred years, and when we renew our lease in forty-nine years we will ensure that these stations are operational and once again, under our control. The future of Omni-Tek is in safe hands, the future of Omni-Tek is in Unicorn hands and we will press forth under a banner of strength, integrity and an unyielding iron fist against all who oppose us.”

One hundred years..? I’ve heard somewhere that the only people who enjoy war are those who have never experienced it. How would that make sense though, when you have a man like Tarkhan Zora, an experienced veteran in God knows how many skirmishes and conflicts, advocating the very thing that he should be hating? How exactly does a person come to find war as acceptable, as a means to some kind of glorious end? I have my theories of course, most of which involve a healthy dose of insanity…but to start a full-fledged war on a planet as unstable as Rubi-Ka…That goes beyond insanity.

“Phillip Ross, one of the most influential men in Omni-Tek's history has shown little progress out of his coma as a result of the attempt on his life. As a result, Omni-Med Command on Omni-Prime requested his transfer back to his home planet and subsequently he was moved at 0600 on Friday.”

Phillip Ross was one of this world’s great hopes…a reasonable, respectable man in a position of power; civilization could benefit from more men with those qualities in his former position. Ross and Radiman were both to be Rubi-Ka’s ticket out of the trenches, the first step of a long and arduous healing process toward a unified and peaceful Rubi-Ka…but neither of them are in the picture anymore. I did sincerely hope that somehow, Ross might recover…If only because I felt in the slightest way that I could understand his pain.

After he was shot, and fell into that coma as a result of whatever disease he’d contracted, I’d come down with those very same symptoms….and I know all too well where that ended up taking me. Chances are, the disease Ross contracted and the disease I continue to fend off aren’t the same thing…but considering the early symptoms, I just couldn’t help but imagine him in a bed in his old home, far, far away from Rubi-Ka, never able to wake up again. That might be a blessing for someone in his position…to sleep forever with no awareness of what might have become of his body. Were his disease at all like mine, that blessing would become all the more true; I just cannot imagine how far gone he might be, after so long without the proper treatment.

“Under jurisdiction from Omni-Prime and Omni-Admin, my interim leadership has hereby been upgraded to complete Chief Executive Officer status of Omni-Tek's operations on Rubi-Ka for an indefinite period of time. While I wish former CEO Ross a speedy recovery, he will not be coming back to oversee Omni-Tek's interest in Rubi-Ka.”

Life can be such a conspiracy theory, can’t it? It all depends on who you ask, and what their perspective is. Ask a corporate man what he might think about Zora actually usurping Ross’s former position, and he might tell you that it’s history in the making; it’s progress in motion. If you’d ask me what I thought of it, the instant I heard the words come from that pale hole in his face, I thought that Ross was entirely too much of a peacenik for Omni-Tek’s needs. The corporation takes care of its own alright, and the way I mean it, there is not a hint of caring about it. Ross was an obstacle to Omni-Tek’s full occupation of Rubi-Ka, and a thorn in the side of every warmonger maniac in the board room that would love nothing more than to have every clan citizen either dead or reformed. They removed Ross…they took good care of him, and left a ruthless, pale shell of a man in his stead.

“As a result of this, I hereby remind all Omni-Tek employees that we are at war with the clans. Any fraternization of your colleagues or conversations that aren't done via a series of bullets or attacks must be reported to your nearest Omni-Reform officer so that said individuals can be corrected for their behavior and sent down the right path. It is imperative that we draw a line between friend and foe. Omni-Tek is your friend; the Clans are your foe.”

I know at that point, my gut tightened considerably more…Omni-Tek cracking down on Clan fraternization? I might’ve been a Councilman, but my relations with Omni-Tek go far beyond fraternization; my doctor was closely tied to Omni-Med. Even if she was back here on Rubi-Ka, what kind of chance did I have of trying to get treatment now? If the world was in a full blown war, what kinds of awful things might happen to her if Omni-Tek found out that she had been secretly keeping a Clan citizen, and a prominent one at that, alive and well with Omni-Med and Omni-Prime resources?

She’d be sent to Reform, or worse…and I know first-hand, there are worse things than Reform. Much worse.

Zora continued….speaking of battle stations and warfare….weaponry and tactics, a call for arms against the northern hemisphere of the planet and any non-human being in orbit up above, all six million of them…or so he said.

The knot in my gut twisted harder as he returned to the subject of fraternization….of treason.

“I for one will not support assisting the Clans or the Neutrals. In fact, Omni-Tek employees found to be assisting them will be tantamount to betrayal; the only allowance of conversation between you and them is either in an attempt to get them to the nearest Omni-Reform station, or to give them a head start to run away before you shoot them.

Betrayers of Omni-Tek will be dealt in the same way as those who oppose us; warrant for arrest, reformation, and depending upon severity, permanent death. Consider it within your own interests to stay loyal to the company that has looked after you for so long or find yourself faced against the iron fist.”

I have so much to owe Dr. Burke for all she’s done for me….for literally trekking across the galaxy to find the keys to my salvation, to live up to her doctor’s oath even considering the possible backfiring of all she’d worked for. This was entirely too much though…Just for helping me, she could be facing perma-death.

Should it come to that….it won’t have been the first time. I was responsible for the permanent death of a man years ago, and the guilt still weighs me down. I hadn’t even seen the man’s face, hidden behind the guise of an Omni-AF helmet. He was undercover, working for Jacobi…and after Ross was shot, was the one responsible for freeing me from a prison block deep within Omni-HQ. I ran, but the man stayed behind, awaiting capital punishment for his crimes against Omni-Tek…and just two days afterward, while on a guilt-fueled attempt to pull him back into the safe arms of the north, I watched as perma-kill weapons discharged into his body. I heard the thud of his lifeless body, and smelled the blood as it stained the cement…I can still remember screaming at the top of my lungs, just before the grid-transport took me away.

I just couldn’t let the same thing happen…and this time, I had a face; I knew her well. I was her friend…and friends don’t put one another at such risks.

What was my alternative though? If I couldn’t have her to help me with my condition, then who *could* I have? I didn’t know any other doctors, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist.

“The time is now for our rise, our success and our ultimate domination of all opposition. The fate of Omni-Tek is in your hands. Since Omni-Tek's acquisition of this planet, our profits have seen an increase of over five hundred percent in the exportation of resources.

Notum is THE resource of the corporation, one which we will ensure that we have a complete grasp over. Once the Four Holes mining facilities have been reclaimed, we will resume full exportation of the notum resources available on this planet. Our outpost here is increasing in power; Omni-Prime's realization of this has meant that they are further creating space stations closer and closer to this position. It won't be long before this planet will be deep within Omni-Tek territory and we can call upon the company to flood this planet with Omni-Tek personnel and outnumber our enemies one thousand to one.”

He never needed to actually say it…everybody knew what Omni-Tek would attempt. I’ve had nightmares of it, neck-deep in Omni-Tek soldiers, the entire planet surrounded by innumerable groups of military personnel ordered to commit nothing less than genocide on the Clan people. That moment in time was the embryo of a holocaust…

I might not look so much like it, and even at times I do not act like it, but I cannot stress it enough that I am still human; I still get scared. There are a lot of people spread around Rubi-Ka I know who…seem immune to the fear. Somewhere out there, I know Silverstone is watching his holo and laughing his ass off. Sometimes, I truly envy that man…

Zora, on the other hand…he stared directly at the camera…stared directly at me, and at every other non-corporate citizen on the planet…

“I can guarantee, that even as we stand here, there are people recording this conversation, ready to pass on to their Neutral and Clan masters. So know this, Neutrals and Clans; seek employment with Omni-Tek, or seek termination. That is all.”

[Nulion]

((..Gotta bump this! Yeesh, I need to write more >.< ))

[SrslyNotEyo]

(( I has heard a rumor that Nulion uses hax to write his stories... Can someone confirm this? ))

(( PS... Write more >.< ))