The Interview Part 2
06 Nov 2020RedivivusCrowd
Kamarov sweated as he analysed all of the details he had stowed away during his imprisonment on this ship and from the battle before. The other man's sidearm, a large beast with a short nasty looking barrel aimed square at his chest, not wavering or wobbling in the slightest. The man holding it, stared into Kamarov's eyes with a mixture of amusement and... anticipation?
I'll play your game a little longer, just don't get upset when I start flipping it back on you. Kamarov swallowed before he spoke.
"Do I get one guess before or after the time limit? Kamarov leaned back a little as he spoke searching for possible weapons out of his peripheral vision as he spoke.
The pen? No it's on the other side of the desk, along with the clock. It's all on his side of the desk, I'll be dead before the guards outside come into the room.
The man on the other side of the desk pondered for a moment before answering,
"At the end of the time you can have three guesses, I don't want some nebulous answering like "The Alliance".There are over a thousand systems in the Alliance, I want you to name the group I work for."
The man leaned back in his chair, mirroring Kamarov as he finished, the gun never moving an inch as did so, using his other hand to adjust the clock on his desk, shifting it an inch closer to Kamarov, a tiny smirk on his face as he did so.
Kamarov frowned at this, disregarding any plan of attacking the man, he's mocking me at this point, Kamarov thought as he eyed up the clock.
It's made of Lavian Spruce as well, it looks small and inexpensive as well, not a gaudy display item, it's personal... important to him?
"You're a long way from home, you not miss Lave these days? I'm sure you have people back there that miss you."
The other man's eyes narrowed slightly and the corners of his grew tight, other than that he didn't acknowledge or respond to Kamarov's seemingly innocuous comment, his reaction was all Kamarov needed however.
Alright, Kamarov thought, suppressing a smile. So he's from Lave but he isn't with them anymore, Lave was formerly Alliance but split off, obviously he left with the Alliance loyalists, on top of that Lave doesn't have the manpower or funds to pull off this kind of operation.
So he's definitely Alliance, and a diehard too from the fact he's in this outfit. The clock showed that five minutes had passed since had turned it.
Kamarov gritted his teeth, ignore the clock he's letting me see it to put me on edge, distract me.
Kamarov took a closer look at the man's sidearm, it looks like a Sword 54. Short range but it can put a laser through a unarmoured target at 50 metres. More than long enough for corridors on a ship or station.
Kamarov's eyes narrowed, contemplating this tidbit, those things are illegal on the civilian market, too much risk for causing a hull breach with the paper thin hulls most trade ships have. He planning on shooting somebody out in the hall behind me too?
Those aren't standard issue for Alliance regulars, way too expensive to be issued en masses. Kamarov thought back on the guards who had led him here, they had each had an identical weapon on their hips as well Bulldog Shotguns, again top shelf weapons produced by Sword armory.These guys are special forces of some sort, but who?
All of their guns are made by Sword Armory, is that meant to be a clue? I doubt it's Sword Armory themselves.
Kamarov exhaled from his nose as he came to a conclusion, this group were obscenely rich and this man wanted him to know it.
So, they're corporate then or funded by one at least.
Kamarov pieced it all together in his mind, doing his best to ignore the clock ticking on the desk.
Alliance Black ops, funded by presumably an Alliance corporate, they have spies within the Federal navy and connections to acquire Core Dynamics ships.
He said "assaults on our territory", was that part of the act or another clue? Kamarov grimaced as he agonised over it, having shed awareness of the clock from his thoughts. I don't have time to start second guessing myself, I'll just have to hope lady luck gives me a little help today.
We'll say it's a clue, so that means they are based here or nearby. What Alliance corportations operate out here at the edge of the bubble?
The first thought that entered his mind was Sword Armory which he immediately dismissed, they make top of the line guns but they're only a subsidiary of...
"I think I've waited long enough."
The words from the other side of the table ripped Kamarov from his thoughts who then looked down at the clock, frowning at the minute hand. The time had expired five minutes ago.
"Consider it a professional courtesy Mr. Kamrov", the man didn't move his weapon away from Kamarov however. "But I'll have your answer now."
Kamarov took a long breath, pondering his answers, "Sword Armory".
The other man's mouth curved into a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Very good, No."
Kamarov frowned at this, Good answer but wrong? He's telling me that I'm close but I'll need to do better. If I tell him what I really think will they let me leave? Is this a game I can win?
The man's voice had a hint of boredom in it as he spoke, "Alright you get one more answer before I shoot you, getting bored now if I'm honest."
Kamarov closed his eyes and thought back to the battle at Purusha, and the day when he deserted from the Federal Navy, thinking back on his comrades from both times, I'm sorry everyone, I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to stay behind and die with you. I'll be seeing you all shortly.
I hope.
Kamarov snarled as he leaped over the desk at the other man. "Shove your game up..."
The other man fired and hit Kamarov dead centre in the chest, sending him flying back over the desk and slamming into the ground between the desk and the door.
Within a heartbeat, the door opened and two guards rushed in the weapons levelled at the motionless figure on the ground.
The man behind the desk calmly stood up and motioned to the guards to lower their weapons and stand down, which they did however their eyes never left Kamarov, relaxed and ready to jump into action all at once.
"Should we have the doctor come in and mov..." the guard was interrupted by the officer, still intent on the man on the floor.
"Any second now..."
Kamarov gasped, hands clamouring at his chest, aside from some light burns on his coat and what felt like a couple of broken ribs he was still alive. He looked up at the man in bewilderment and no small amount of pain.
"This was a Sword 54 at one point but I had a friend make a couple of tweaks to it to convert a bunch of it to kinetic force, I tweaked the force of it down a tad but it seems like I need to fine tune it some more, didn't mean to hurt you that badly."
The man grimaced as he kneeled down beside Kamarov, motioning for one of the guards to bring a stretcher and notify the ship's doctor she would have a patient coming along shortly.
The officer then activated a commlink, and gave shirt concise instructions to return to HQ and prepare "Tammy" for a visitor.
"You passed the interview, you'll be happy to hear, hopefully." The man adopted a serious expression as he continued.
"All that's left now is for you to accept or decline, if you decline you'll be put on the nearest independent starport with 10,000 credits to your name. How far that would get you, that's up to you."
The man leaned in, eyes never leaving Kamarov's, "If you accept, I'll work you to the bone, risk your life on a daily basis and make you wish you had taken the 10,000 credits at times."
The man paused before continuing, making sure that Kamarov was still following him, "But I will give you back what you've lost, what all the other dissidents and malcontents who come to our space have lost."
"What do you have that I could possibly want more than 10,000 credits and a ticket out of here?" Kamarov spoke through gritted teeth as he fought against the pain to focus.
The man's eyes burned as he answered, "Purpose."
The ship lurched as it entered witch space, the man smiled down at Kamarov as the stretcher arrived, the medics carting him off to the infirmary.
The man calledout to him as he was leaving, "By the way, Greetings from the Sap Core Legion!"
The man's laughter echoed down the hallway as Kamarov cursed and struggled against the stretchers straps.
End of Part 3.
To be continued.