It became apparent to the council that the plan was now in effect officially FUBAR when Ecka's face appeared alongside the CNN reporter. Not ones to believe in throwing good money after bad, they voted and decided to end the plan immediately. When Ardon did not respond, they started investigating how they could cancel the last act that was supposed to push the ruling council of Remley Orbital to ask for permanent Corvus protection and status. However much they searched, they could find no contact information on the free agent known as The Anarchist, and so the hunt for Ardon intensified. All favours were being called to stop the most horrifying act yet.
The pancakes at the Soggy's Pancakes and Waffles house were the best thing Hortan had eaten in at least five days. They happened to be the only thing too, but that was a coincidence. Miharu were slowly getting Hortan to talk, mostly about the John Eldritch action figure, where he had bought it and the like.
Chi recognised what Miharu was doing, she was comforting him by speaking of things he felt secure about, and thus paving the way for Chi to ask some of the less pleasant questions. She had to admire the subtleness with which she was luring him further and further out into unknown territory. It would make Chi's work easier. They had turned to talk about ships, a topic Hortan was very interested in.
"I must admit that I like flying a Warthog Mk II once in a while, the continuous acceleration makes it very nice for fast moves" Mihary said innocently. Chi looked closely at Hortan to see if there would be a reaction. Not really.
"I admit it is nice, but in reality you could do the same with an Atlas" he said, "and that is what I do the one or two rare times I need to hurry." He munched another pancake making it his number seventeen. Chi decided to risk it.
"Wasn't it a Warthog that was the main ship in destroying the convoy?" she asked causally.
Hortan swallowed and looked at her with while answering with unease in his voice. "Yes, it was. A black Hog Mk II actually." As his reaction had not been that severe, Chi decided to go all out.
"All black or did it have any markings or names or anything?" She made sure not to look too focused on Hortan's face and skimmed the surroundings while sipping her latte.
"All black," he grabbed another pancake, "with only the PA mark on the bow. It wasn't pretty made as on your craft Ms. Chi, but looked like it had been made hastily." He took a bite and chewed slowly a bit. "Come to think of it, when the craft turned, it had some spotty places that you couldn't see to start with" He ate the last of his pancake and smiled brightly as he took his mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows.
"And what colour was beneath? Or did you by any chance see a logo or anything?" A young couple was entering the place along with a single man. This place was quite popular.
"Now that you mention it, I do believe it was red, and there may have been a name or something like that. But I am not too sure of that." Chi was just about to find her 1000 watt lamp and turn it on, point it at Hortans head and pull the information out. She needed what he knew, and he was obviously completely oblivious to the fact that it was needed sooner than later.
"And that name was?" Chi asked with infinite patience. The young couple had gotten their waffles and were sharing at one of the rear tables. The lone man was sitting at the window observing the life outside while drinking coffee. He had unpacked an expensive looking laptop and was slowly typing.
"Mmh, the last of it was painted over, but I believe the first part was Elos Dreade." Chi sighed, at last something. She smiled to Hortan and padded his hand. She excused herself and went to the back of the room where she found her secure small PDA that linked directly to the secure SSCU she had in her room. She texted the information immediately to NP. She knew how significant this information would be, so she staid in the back waiting for an answer. While she was pacing, she observed the young couple that were completely lost amongst themselves, Miharu and Hortan, equally lost in some small talk, and the lone man that was working. She knew that it was terribly impolite to look at what other people were doing on their computers, but her covert ops training almost forced her. The structual drawing with of the Dau K-10 station was ringed at several junctions with green rings, and at two locations with yellow rings with counters set at 06:00. The man pointed at one of the green rings and clicked it. A password prompt came on, and he entered the password. It slowly turned yellow, and a counter appeared.. He then moved to another green ring. Her PDA beeped, and she opened the call.
"Chi, are you in a secure location?" NP's worried face peered at her.
"Somewhat, I am having pancakes" she replied not sure what to say.
"I have information from a most secure source that the K-10 station is the most likely target for the next attack. I want you to warn TGFT immediately and evacuate." Chi looked at the lone man with the PC. All the circles were now yellow. A central prompt were in the middle with the words INITIATE YES/NO.
"Make sure you..." She never heard what NP said. The lone man moved the mouse to YES and clicked just as Chi figured out what the schematics meant, and she shouted NO.
He turned and looked at her with a crooked smile. The counter was at 5:59 and counting. Chi did the only thing she could think of. She jumped him.
The Anarchist looked with amusement at the small brown haired slender girl. How she had guessed that he had just killed the station, he did not know, and neither did it matter. She could not do anything anyway. She started moving towards him, and he rose to meet her. His much larger size and strength would soon decide the outcome, and then he would have to leave. A shame, he had fancied seeing the destruction from in here. However, it had been a long time since he had fought with his fists, and with this girl it might even be fun.
Chi moved quickly towards him. A bit larger than John she thought, much less bulky though. She weighed her options and decided she had none. She moved into his range, and he swung his right arm at her. Parrying with her left arm in an up going parade, she moved in closely and hammered him in the face with the thick of her right fist three times, not enough to hurt him as such, but enough for him to loose concentration. He put his left arm up in front of his head, and Chi folded her arm and connected solidly with her elbow directly into his sternum at full force. She felt him loose his breath, and used the momentum to slide her left arm up and over his right arm, thus locking it against her chest. He tried to get her away by pushing at her head, but she ducked and swung her lower right arm forwards between his legs. Impact. A small grazing with a feather swung with tender care in that exact region, has about the same effect on a grown man as the Dinosaur killer of the Cretaceous had on Earth. Chi had swung her arm as hard as she could. The gasping man fell to the floor, and she dropped a knee with her full weight on his chest, making sure he was not going to run away anytime soon. Then she looked up at the stunned pancake and waffle restaurant. Hortan and Miharu were watching her with open mouths.
"Hortan, come over here and sit on him. Don't worry, he is a bad guy of the worst sort." Hortan did as he was told, and sat on the writhing man's legs. She got up and grapped the laptop. 5:18, it had taken her 41 seconds to get him down. John would be proud she thought irrationally. She clicked on one of the yellow rings. It opened a password prompt. Swearing internally, she tried another one, same. She kneeled down to the man.
"What is the password?" He didn't reply. Chi was a firm believer in not using torture, but if she couldn't get him to talk, the station and everyone on it, would die.
"What password?" Miharu had gotten up from her chair and was now standing in front of the laptop.
"We need the password to deactivate whatever it is he has planned. And we only have 4 and a half minute." Miharu looked at the man, and realising that they were never going to make him talk.
"Mind if I have a go?" Miharu asked, looking at Chi for permission. Chi looked sceptic, but nodded for her to go on.
"Mor Isil used to lock himself out all the time. And then he would need my help to reset the password for him. I was a bit slow at the beginning, until I realised he was doing it to make me be in his office." She frowned and pushed some more keys. "Not working. Ok, I will have to get the toys out." She took a memstick and pushed it into the interface. Chi looked out of the window at the station security that was running towards the restaurant. Great, the cavalry, and late as always. She got up and found he diplomatic credentials, knowing that they were going to be needed if she wanted to avoid the stun guns.
"Almost there...yes. Entering password. Disamed. Next," Miharu frowned. "That rotten bastard, he has separate passwords for all. I hope I make it" she mumbled.
Chi looked at the rent-a-cops approaching the place, and then down at Hortan.
"Hort, I need for you to do me a favour." He looked up at her and nodded. "I need that you take credit for getting this guy down, ok? You recognised him as a terrorist and incapacitated him?"
Hortan looked confused. No way were these cops going to believe that he had put this guy on the floor. He looked up at the slender woman standing in front of him with the piercing eyes that always seemed to fix him in place. As if they were going to believe that it had been Ms. Chi. He nodded. Chi turned and looked over Miharu's shoulder. She only needed one now, and with more than a minute to go it could be done.
"Ha, the last code is Dau." Miharu entered the name, and it turned green. No counters were active. Chi allowed herself to sigh a deep breath of relief. She put her left trembling hand in her pocket and grasped her diplomatic credentials harder with the right . Miharu got up and looked at Chi, and then went and gave Hortan a hug, as much for his sake as for her own. She was shaking with the realisation that they had been seconds away from death. She saw Chi present her ID to the guards and be allowed to leave. She looked at Hortan that was sitting all flustered and decided to tell his story. He wasn't able to right now anyway.
