"Omni-Pol protects, now and forever." Barely a second passed from the words leaving his mouth to his body pixelating, digitising and disappearing into thin air. He'd given a customary salute the moment he threw the nanoprogram at his feet, leaving the former Omni-Pol soldiers behind.

The familiar blue hue met his eyes as he sped across the grid steam, Borealis would be the quickest route, the least amount of distance between the terminal and the whompah. He'd done this route a thousand times, but couldn't help but think something was wrong.

Borealis' stormy skies were bombarding its grey permacrete structure with a warm, uncomfortable rain. Craig had made a conscious choice to deck out in grid armour, rather than his usual Omni-Pol uniform. At the speed he left the grid terminal, his body was still reforming by the time he hit the whompah, the door hung open a little while longer as the remaining digitised pixels chased him through.

"Ivan, open the damned door!" He bashed his gun on it, peering up and down the plaza. It was far too quiet for this time of the day, he was already on edge from being chased out of Rome by the Omni-AF squad after refusing to disarm. He swung back round the corner to look down towards the entry rings to the plaza, they'd just finished an activation sequence and he swallowed nervously.

"Ivan." Craig tossed his gun over to his other hand and held onto it by the trigger guard, he took hand to the entry panel to Ivan's apartment and started yanking at the edge of it to get at the electronics beneath.

"You are wrecking my welcome mat," the heavily accented voice glared down at the former officer. "Craig Fairbank,"

The slender opifex looked up with a smile, "this, might seem like a bad time..." He said, a handful of control units and wiring from Ivan's door.

"In the past few days, this is nothing. Come in, and stop ruining my door." Ivan had already turned and waved the guy in.

There was a brief hiss as the Jobe lux apartment door closed, "sir, we need to get you out of here. The new CEO has disbanded Omni-Pol"

Ivan was at the edge of his kitchen, gazing out over a starlit Jobe. He had his hands clasped behind him and remained silent, Craig felt it fell upon him to fill the silence.

"Sir. She's taken over. Removed all our access codes, denied use of our uniforms, Omni-Pol is gone. She's brought in those damned Riot Specialists to take over." Craig put a hand on the former directors shoulder. "Sir, are you eve-.

"She'd already said she was going to do it. The board meeting the other day was to detail Omni-Pol's repeated failure to defend and protect Borealis and finally Tarkhan." Ivan still didn't make eye contact. "She told me, hand over Omni-pol and the charges of negligence will be dropped."

"Negligence? The dish detonated based on a bomb beneath it that no one could find. You did the best you could." Craig latched his guns to his thighs.

"She's a war machine. Designed to remember every battle that's ever taken place, every tactical scenario. When she's not in a battle, she'll find one." Ivan looked down towards the Market. "She'll use the knowledge she's got, and the weapons she can find to create the war she always wanted."

Craig looked out the window as well, Ivan had changed his tone when'd he looked down at the market, and sure enough, it was crowded with familiar black armour clad individuals with riot shields and batons. "Now, thanks to you and the death of Rosuma, Lonare and Zora she's got the entire company's planetary resources to track us do-."

There was an almighty bang at the front door. Ivan turned and looked, "Bathroom, hide. Now!" Ivan went for the door as Craig went across the apartment, casting a nanoprogram on the way.

Before Ivan could reach the door, two hands bust through the seam and pulled it wide open. "Ivan, good evening." The familiar voice came forth from beneath a helmet. There were six of them, all armoured in exactly the same way. "May we come in?"

"Do I, have a choice?" He asked, crossing his arms in the doorway.

"We at Omni-Tek respect our retirees, but we must ensure that you are...ever loyal." She and the other six unclasped their helmets to reveal the same face, the same hair and the same wicked smile. "After all, what's undying loyalty if it can't be tested every once in a while."

The Riot Specialists made their way into the apartment and scoured it. "We've found him," came the unanimous words from all six of them as their heads turned towards the bedroom, only one of them had actually seen him with their eyes. The others simply experienced the success vicariously.

Craig Fairbank was on his knees behind the bed, his hands behind his back. He was shaking at shoulder length slightly, out of sight, knitting his hands together and then pulling them apart, stitching together code from a nanoprogram.

"Excellent work Mr Sergeyich, it would seem you have already apprehended him." The lead Riot Specialist thanked him as they stood in the doorway to the bedroom.

Craig slid himself up to his feet against the bedroom glass, which drew the eyes of the Riot Specialists.

"Mr Fairbank, as a safety measure to ensure your compliance, the CEO has ordered your reclaimation pattern discontinued. Resistance may...accidentally result in your termination." The Riot Specialists said in perfect harmony.

"I'd like to make one final request, before you take me in." Craig sunk his head low, looking up below the horizon of his eyebrows. "I'd like to shake Ivan's hand. It's been an honour sir."

All bar one of the Riot Specialists looked at Ivan, he shrugged, "it is, a reasonable request." Ivan closed the distance across the room.

"I am sorry sir, for what it's worth, I did my best." Craig clenched his face, still keeping his hands behind his back.

"I know, commander, you did what you could." Ivan reached out a hand towards Craig.

"Only enough for one, I" Craig paused, "I haven't had enough time for both of us."

The Riot Specialists turned a curious head. "What are you talking about?" They drew closer.

"Fly safe, Ivan. Omni-Pol protects, now and forever." Craig pulled his hands out from his behind his back, swinging them round infront of him into an almighty clap on Ivan's hand. The stitched code took to Ivan like a duck to water and he ashed into a billion digitised pieces, turning blue and falling through the floor towards Rubi-Ka.

Barely a second passed before the Riot Specialists turned vengeful and began throwing together the same nanoprogram. Craig went for his guns and offloaded the clips into the nearest one. She went down hard and he grabbed the riot shield, wedging it up against the headrest of the bed.

He looked out over the shield as he reloaded his guns, sighed and stood proud. "Do your wo-" An almighty bang echoed through the apartment as the Specialists cast the nano at the bed, the carpet scorched, the wardrobes exploded and the bed, the shield, the fixtures, the windows and Craig blew outwards into Jobe Airspace.

The fall felt slower than normal, Craig looked around himself at the descending debris in his final moments, turning in mid air a gleaming object caught his eye; a small Omni-Pol badge.

Craig reached out, his middle finger tapping it and knocking it away. He huffed, smiled slightly and breathed his last breath as he, the badge and the contents of Ivan's decimated apartment met the land of Rubi-Ka for one last time.