Monday, September 21, 2009

Chapter 121: Untenable

~ The slight unrest that the look in Cmd. Tucker's eye had given Jaden was growing more concrete by the second. He caught himself nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot and forced it to stop. Thankfully Andrew was already on the issue.

"Commander, just who are the Caltens?" he asked.

"They are the enemy."

"And what did this...other race is it? What did they do to start this war you're fighting?" At that the commander turned around once again.

"They exist." The commander stared Andrew down, cold fervor marking his features. "For now." Andrew held the man's gaze for a few moments and then lowered his eyes. As soon as the commander turned away Andrew glanced pointedly at Takyle.

"We have to do something," he whispered, keeping his face pointed straight ahead so that the officers behind them couldn't see his mouth moving. Takyle looked around hesitantly.

"Who's to say we're supposed to interfere?"

"This is genocide we're talking about, Takyle! And we made it possible with those codes. I'm going to do something." Andrew glanced over at Jaden.

"I'm in!" Jaden whispered. Takyle nodded.

"Ok, you're right. What can we do?" Andrew took a quick look over his shoulder to place the two other officers. They still stood stoically on either side of the door. Andrew lowered his voice even further.

"We have to get that chip back. I don't know if the commander is armed, but the other three definitely are, so we need to take them out first."

"The two behind us are watching for something to happen," Jaden warned.

"And if we allow too much noise others might come in here. We need to make this fast and quiet."

"I've still got the thing I found in that desk," murmured Takyle without taking her eyes from the screens across the room. "If I can get it out..."

"Ta," said Andrew aloud. "Do you have any more of the pain tabs the medic gave me in your pack? My stomach is getting pretty sore." Takyle had never carried any of Andrew's medicine and it only took a split second for her to catch on.

"Uh, yeah I think so... Let me look." As Takyle slipped her backpack off and began to unzip it Andrew glanced at Jaden and made a quick motion to indicate what he needed to do. Jaden gave one minuscule nod in response. He felt his heart rate begin to increase and his legs tense in anticipation. ~

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