40,275
edits
Difference between revisions of "Defending Elysium"
m
→Summary: links
m (→Notes) |
m (→Summary: links) |
||
|
As they prepare to depart, Jason notices his control disk being tapped. Sending Lanna a coded request in the form of a question Lanna responds in kind. Someone had managed to tap Jason's control disk. While Lanna could easily install a tap block, Jason doesn't order it. Strolling off the shuttle he steps to one side and apparently searches for his ID while watching the other passengers walk by, knowing the one that tapped his control disk should be there. The report of a murder on the news feed sets Jason into a hurry.
Captain [[Orson Ansed]] of the Evensong police department meets his officer, [[Ken Harris]], outside the scene of a crime in Topside's slums. They find the corpse of a missing [[Varvax]] ambassador inside a cylindrical burner. A newcomer bustles onto the scene that Orson believes is the press at first. Upon seeing the man's silver bell pin on the lapel of his suit, Orson realises his jurisdiction has come to an end with the arrival of a [[Phone Company]] (henceforth, PC) operative. Jason now has authority at the scene.
Jason begins to question the time of death of the victim and makes note of Orson's regard for him. As a member of the PC Jason is accustomed to the general annoyance at the interference, but also the relief that the PC were there to deal with an alien ambassador. Having his own mystery to solve regarding a missing scientist, Jason hands the investigation back over to Orson.
Outside, reporters have gathered but Jason isn't interested in the slightest at giving an interview. They also know this and allow him to leave without commotion, but not before Jason has had a chance to scan the crowd of people for the one that got off the same shuttle as him. Sensing the man following him, he gives Lanna the code to shut off the hack to his control disk and leads the man to a nearby cafe.
[[Coln Abrams]] observes Jason Write, trying not to look suspicious. Coln works for the [[United Intelligence Bureau]] and shows some reservations against the PC; Write in particular. Suddenly, the
At that moment Jason senses something awry, shortly before a hail of bullets tear through the window. Jason lashes out with his
[[Sonn]], the Varvax Foreign Minister converses with Jason about the recent murder of his ambassador. Meanwhile, Lanna has been running up Coln's background and it turns out he's a
Coln is showing remarkable interest in a picture of the PC's FTL communications apparatus that had been taken by the only spy to infiltrate the PC's central headquarters. Coln is of the impression that Jason had ordered a hit on him back at the cafe, oblivious to Jason's psionic abilities that had saved him. Lanna explains over the comms why she and Jason are here: Two months prior a scientist name [[Denise Carlson]] disappeared from Eversong's PC research facility. While enroute, Jason got word of Miss Carlson being located and taken to a local treatment ward for severe mental problems. Jason is here to escort her back to Jupiter Fourteen for proper treatment.
Arriving at the hospital they find a mentally unstable Denise Carlson; amnesia, says the nurse. On their way out with Denise, Jason recognizes a man from the cafe hiding behind a door with his Sense.
Coln is similarly imprisoned, but unlike Jason he can see the confines of his "prison" for the storage closet it is, with Denise sat beside him. Suddenly, Jason's intercom crackles in his ear and Jason tells Coln to cut the power. Somehow. Not sure if he can trust Jason, Coln does as he's asked anyway, finding a power jack on the wall.
Unable to escape the darkness, Jason slips further into insanity, wanting nothing more than to find bliss in unconsciousness. Then his Sense returns, only for a brief moment before the backup generators kick in and re-energise whatever was suppressing his Sense in the first place. He wouldn't allow that to happen though, lashing out with the destructive force of his mindblades and shredding apart his [[telenium]] prison and the suppressor along with it.
As Coln severs the power jack the room next to his explodes. Looking into the room he is stunned to find Jason at its epicentre. Jason only tells Coln to take Denise and go when Coln questions what he is. The same voice that had interrogated Jason comes again from a wall speaker. Jason demands that the owner show himself and punctually a man appears down the hallway outside. The man is [[Edmund]], a man Jason supposedly knows from his past. And another thing occurs to him: the shooting in the cafe had been to test his mindblades.
A battle, unseen to normal eyes, rages between Jason and Edmund, both men possessing the mindblade ability. Jason is surprised to find that Edmund has surpassed him and he gambles that the Varvax taught Edmund to use them effectively; to which Edmund discovers Jason's bluff about reading minds. Realising the potential difference in ability, Jason uses the only thing he can think of to gain the advantage. By focusing Sense in on himself he is able to step outside normal space and vanish. Reappearing moments later with his hand inside Edmund's chest, gripping the man's heart. Edmund's mindblades explode where Jason had been and Jason squeezes the man's heart, killing him.
In his last moments, Edmund reveals why the Varvax would need to learn Cytonic suppression technology, which Jason doesn't want to believe.
Using FTL, Jason transports Coln, Denise, and himself to the PC headquarters on Earth, revealing the PC do infact possess FTL technology, and that they were keeping it from humanity until they were ready. The machine Coln originally thought was the FTL drive is
Jason is contacted by the Varvax Sonn who explains how the Varvax compel their subjects into submission, including other alien races they have subjugated, as they will with humanity, all in the progress of peace. Huamnity has not been the one trying to infiltrate the Varvax to gain their technology; on the contrary it is the Varvax who have been trying to infiltrate humanity for, Jason says to Sonn, their weaponry, as it can destroy the Varvax ships with ease. The reason the Varvax and other races progressed so quickly in FTL technology was their sacrifice of technological advancements - their ships are amongst the most powerful, most advanced in the galaxy, and yet were shot down by a single human missile. Jason subtly implies this as a threat to which Sonn calls "disturbing." Jason agrees before severing the communication.
| |||