Week 7 - A Reliable Shiv

Prime felt the shiv pierce his flesh, and time seemed to slow. He heard the whispers of the prisoner, and understood. The hunters would strike him in a way he could not predicted, the illogical nature of the disconnected. The Prisoner had every reason to see Prime live; Prime had seen to that. Who better to make the assassin?

Prime could feel the shiv streak to his heart, and prepared to enter the Sentinel 2 station's heart. He would become vengeance itself! He would SCOUR the Sentinel 2 station, atomize his betrayer, and burn all who would oppose him to...

Wait a second, Prime thought.

Focusing too much on your task can destroy you. The VIA station had taught Prime that. The Hunters were creatures of malice and vengeance; they would expect Prime to leave his body to kill the Prisoner with Sentinel 2. As the knife pierced his heart, he understood. The Hunters would have placed traps in the Sentinel Station's code, and would have someone to take his body. They would chain his mind once again.

Prime's heart was pierced, and his body began to fail. He knew he had precious few moments...but had his uplink. The hunters would use the Prisoner's escape as a distraction. They HAD to think him fooled, and vulnerable. He hoped Ryuk would play along. He sent a message to Ryuk at the speed of thought, highly encryped against Hunter and normal TRILAT command codes.

"Ryuk, this is a trap set by the Hunters," Prime transmitted through the uplink, "They will expose themselves to get me, but only if they think us fooled. I ask you, pretend that healing me has failed. Act frustrated, get into a rage, and pursue the Prisoner. Become as vengeance itself; but let them escape you for at least a time. The Prisoner is your friend, and so I will let you decide if you let him go. We have not always agreed on methods, but please do this for me, my friend."

Prime smiled as small nanites in his brain gave him a few more seconds of neural activity. They were all he needed. Prime turned his body into exactly the sort of trap he thought the Prisoner had been. Exposure to the Hunter network would release a packet of viruses and nanites of incredible ferocity. The viruses would infect the Hunter Subnetwork, and broadcast ways in to Prime. It would also broadcast the locations of Hunter agents to Prime. Further, it would disrupt communications while downloading their files and sending them in burst transmissions to Prime. He readied elite teams of his most loyal Seneschals armed with EMP grenades and traditional weaponry to quickly take down and take in Hunters discovered in this way.

To complete his Ruse; Prime initiated a connection to the Sentinel Station, and sent a data-packet which seemed to be his personality in terms of its size. It was not. It was an electronic warefare suite designed to capture any pressence of the Hunters of Angel D, and to disrupt their activities on the station.

Finally, Prime readied his body for destruction; initiating codes in his nanites that would prevent the Hunters from doing anything meaningful with his body. Even his DNA would be scrambled into a useless slurry. Prime had another body in the early stages of construction, and could feel his own tug on his soul. Prime took a last shallow breath, and then all went dark.

Prime awoke in a large tube on his personal skiff. His face was hollow, and he was painfully thin. Had he not been floating in the organic slurry, he would be unable to stand. What was important was that his brain had been reconstructed to his exact specifications, and that his soul was in its new body. The Hunters could not take that from him again. As the skiff approached the Via station; Prime sent a broadcast.

"Via, you told me once to ponder this; was the Sage worth saving if it let the Criminals free. I understand now. The Sage was worth saving because he let the criminals free. He understood the need for balance, and that eternal solitary imprisonment is cruel. My old body has been destroyed, and I make a new one. I ask your assistance. You once said you could make me a prison for the being known as Quiet. I ask to become its vessel, but to hear it as well. It has been imprisoned too long, and cannot be locked away as it was. I approach, and ask permission to board, such that my reconstruction can be finished in your presence."


His body was brought onboard, and the Sephir Symbote flared to life having following his spirit to this new body. In the presence of the Via it began to sing, and in its song, the body began to alter in minute ways.
Soon it was the perfect storage for the sephir rebel known as the Quiet.

As Prime opened his eyes, he could also hear the song of the Quiet in the distance. It was light years away, but Prime could hear its wordless melodic whisper song as if it was just in the next room.


One hour and fifty two minutes earlier


Max Longrun sat in the pilot seat of the Hawk of Eons. The busted up Vespa packed a few surprises, but had definitely seen better years. He turned to his Co-pilot Keruva, and the Olgog was apprehensive. “Don't worry, the plan will work.” Max said as he turned back to look at Sentinel Station.
“Please let this plan work” he muttered under his breath.

As the ship which had “broken down” entered sentinel station under tractor beam power. Max was wide eyed at its size. Assembled in the docking bay were a number of Druzi Primes soldiers. The task of searching a derelict would be there job first, as it was considered to menial for even a Praetorian. At least that is what the intel said.

The first Druzi Prime team would have been bought off. They would purposefully miss the smuggling compartment, and call in two of the Praetorians to help move something. They didn't know who Model 207 was but apparently he had some history with Childeen.

That is when Max and Karuva went to work. The Praetorians would be hacked and controlled by the two STRIKE operators, they would feed up regular reports of all is well to the network. Childeen tried to steal one of the uniforms, only to realize Praetorians were robotic Exoskeletons with a cloned human slurry inside. Improvising he grabbed the uniform of a Seneshal from a nearby shipping container.
Max and the Karuva were cuffed and led through the Sentinel. The two SUARM technicians they brought along, Widget, and Gadget, snuck out and searched for a secluded area so they could set up their equipment and start hacking the systems.

As they got near the area Target:DP2 was in they would be stopped at the floor hub by an irate looking Praetorian skirmisher. The Praetorian wouldn't buy Childeen's explanations about his lack of uplink. Karuva and Max broke out of their bonds and started blasting surveillance devices, which were well hidden in the architecture resulting in a ceiling and wall full of smashed advanced electronic.
Childeen withdrew his black crystal using the artifact to fry a trio of Eye spies.

One of the Strike Operators had to be radioed in to translate to the Uplink network on which so much of Unity superscience was designed. As the STRIKE translated (not realizing it came into the network as clear E-strain signal) Max gave him the words through the radio, Karuva checked the smells of the cell hallway hoping a Magnavore would smell different than the others while Max and the STRIKE Operator argued with base security . Finally Max replied, “Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal...Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?”

The Unity referenced the quote in the ancient Earther entertainment database in 2.75 seconds, and the entire Security team began to chuckle. They decided to take it easy on the disconnected and only a single Praetorian squad was sent.

Luckily the STRIKE Operator transmitted that a squad of Praetorians would be dispatched to the location, before the soldiers showed up. Max looked up at the Praetorians and said, “Uh, uh... negative, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.” Max realized the Praetorian appeared to be chortling. Max blasted one Praetorian, Keruva took out the other, and as they ran down the hall to meet Max one of the Praetorians said “It was a boring conversation anyway.”

Earlier that Day

There was a gentle knock on the Prisoner's cell door. When the Prisoner opened it, there was Prime on the other side. He was unguarded, there were no Praetorians with him. Prime smilled and bowed slightly to the Prisoner.

"I saw your actions on Alice's ship. They were most impressive, though you were denied revenge. I hope that, at the very least, you got closure. Walk with me, if you would."

Prime turned, moving towards a long hallway that the Prisoner recognized from his last visit. He spoke idly as they approached.

"Your problem is an interesting one. As a person who cannot afford death, I think there may be no one group which can help you. Your mutations go far beyond what I've seen with Quall, and I don't know that anyone has tried to reverse the effects of a Larvae as modified as yours. Not to alarm you, but I am looking forward to the challenge. The main trick here will be to isolate whatever part of you is unmodified. Short of that, I'll need to extrapolate your unaltered DNA sequence, working backward from your mutations. It is not as hard as it sounds, I promise."

As Prime walked with the Prisoner down the mile-long hallway, he considered his schemes. The Temporal Empire had said that an attempt on his life was coming, and Prime had provided the perfect opportunity. There were none but him and the Prisoner.

He had considered from where the attack might come, and knew that it would be either Hunters, or the programs hidden in the Prisoner by Angel D. This was why the Sentinel Station 2 had been chosen. Sitting as it did in E-Strain space, Angel D would have to know what was coming. As secure as the station was, the Hunters would be forced to expose themselves in an attack on Prime.

The core of the entire station was a massive half organic super-computer. It was designed to counter the movements of Fate, from the boarding actions it would initiate with reality drills and Metatrons, to the fleet actions they could bring to bear. Demonic energies, in particular, would trigger massive defensive responses from turrets and infantry. The Station's power was provided by over 20 generators, 10 of which were redundant and kept off unless needed. A Praetorian Legion, as well as Prime's personal guard from the Via station, were prepared to deal with any incursion. The Surface of the station was marked by Guardian Defensive platforms, primed and ready to destroy invading fleets. The best defense, though, were the Blackheart operatives. Hunters could not hack them, and if the station was compromised somehow...they could find a way to win it back, if any could.

The hallway Prime and the Prisoner walked down hid active scanners, plasma turrets, and all sorts of nasty surprises. There were no good places to hide, and the operational theater was isolated from outside networks physically and electronically. Once the Prisoner was in the operating theater, any traps left in the Prisoner could be dealt with without endangering the Unity. Any attempts to attack the position would be face enough fire-power to atomize legions of E-strain or Cherub.

Once the Prisoner was secure, Prime would begin his finest work, the reconstruction of an identity. Whoever the Prisoner was would have to be erased, of course. Prime had artfully woven a new identity and physiology which would make the Prisoner an ideal leader for the Earth rebellion. This resource would be much more well-allocated there.

They reached the door, at the very heart of the Sentinel 2 station. After dealing with Ryuk's naive questions, Prime turned back to the Prisoner. He wondered how his opponents would strike as he waited for the Prisoner's acceptance.

Prime stopped at the stark white door.

"If you are ready, we can begin. When I am done isolating your code and repairing what I can, I will send you to those who can finish what I can begin."

The Prisoner turned towards Prime and stumbled towards him. As Prime reached out to steady the apparently overcome Magnavore. The shiv would come out and be driven into Prime's stomach just under the rib cage. Then flip up and push. At least that was the plan, luckily the plan had accounted for the Nanofiber clothing worn by Prime.
A normal shiv would have broken on Prime's nanofiber clothing, but the Prisoner had thought ahead and made a reliable one. He slipped it between the seams at the armpit after it bounced off the nanofiber fabric the first time, the seam was cut, and the skin below and the shiv reached deep piercing Prime's heart.

The Prisoner whispered, "Im sorry Prime. The Unity Cyborg Hunters said I would only be allowed my freedom if I took you out. They visited me last night. They are terrified now that you are free of their evil influences."

Dropping the dead body,leaving the shiv in the heart just in case he tried to regenerate. The Magnavore birthed a brain crab. He turned to the little alien crab and handed it a little healing artifact he had created the night before. the prisoner had thought ahead.

Once he was long gone he commanded the valiant brain crab would remove the shiv and resurrect the Prime of Unity and his Sephir Symbiotic. First the Prisoner had to reach the level where his cell was before his saviors arrived.
Too bad there were a lot of alarms between there and here. The Prisoner sighed. He wished he hadn't needed to shiv Prime but those alarms had to go.

Unbeknown to Ryuk, He gave the chance that the Prisoner had needed to take. Prime was known for his great ability to multitask, but when Ryuk asked his questions, it usually took attention away from the other tasks.

This time Prime suffered for it. Ryuk didn't really see What the Prisoner did, as he was in his own thoughts, but he definitely heard Prime hit the ground . . . hard. Prime, The Leader of the Unity, down for the count. This did not register at first. Prime's death. Ryuk thought Prime was near immortal after being regaled with tales of how Prime survived many hard battles. In the corner, the Prisoner was doing something, but Ryuk was not really aware of it, too many shocking things have just happened. The immortal Prime, DEAD.

As the Prisoner fled, Ryuk drove off the Brain Crab. Watching the tiny Estrain scurry off, Ryuk was standing there dumbfounded next to Prime's carcass. Even though only 10 minuets had past, to Ryuk it seemed as if eternity had passed. When he started to come to his senses, he reached down and pulled the reliable shiv from the wound. He was about to resurrect Prime when suddenly he heard the next transmission from Prime's uplink.

"Ryuk, this is a trap set by the Hunters," Prime transmitted through the uplink, "They will expose themselves to get me, but only if they think us fooled. I ask you, pretend that healing me has failed. Act frustrated, get into a rage, and pursue the Prisoner. Become as vengeance itself; but let them escape you for at least a time. The Prisoner is your friend, and so I will let you decide if you let him go. We have not always agreed on methods, but please do this for me, my friend.".

As Ryuk stood over Prime's body, making his decision, a prison break was being attempted many floors below.

Childeen found their Prisoner waiting for them at the end of the hall.

The Prisoner noted, “Aren't you a little short for a Unity Seneschal”

Childeen took off his Helm, “I'm your friend from Nilos, I'm here to rescue you.”

Max and Keruva suddenly came running down the hall. “We've got company coming.”

Praetorians were firing their Plasma Lances down the hall. The beam weapons were striking inches from the Prisoner and his would-be rescuers. Max and Keruva tried to take them out, but the Prisoner knew it would be moments before one of the Praetorians got tired of the entertainment and lobbed a grenade in their direction.

The Prisoner couldn't help but note, “Looks like you have managed to cut off our only escape route.”

Max shot the Magnavore a glare, “Maybe you would rather go back in your cell?”

The Prisoner was easily able to tear off the cover to a garbage chute, “Well somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly-boy!”

Childeen was the first one in, followed by the Prisoner. Keruva brayed to Max in Olgog, to which Max responded, “Get in there, you big furry oaf! I don't care what you smell!”

As they hit the disgusting slush of flawed slurry and other garbage to be recycled Max said, “Garbage chute. Really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered! Let's get out of here!"

Seeing what he thought was a door, Max said, "Get away from there.”

He fired a blast from his incinerate rifle, the leyas super heating the air as it ricocheted off the treated walls before melting a piece of discarded structural material. “Let me guess, its locked.”

The Prisoner nodded saying, "Its warded to be fireproof, though I'm sure the Unity would claim super science. Two of one half a dozen of the other, we are not cooking through that wall," and the prisoner began to look around worried. “Something just brushed my foot.”

Max said calmingly, “Its nothing.”

Then Something pulled Childeen under the slurry at the bottom of the water. Suddenly there was a purple flash under the water. The rest began to shoot the slurry which would have caught fire if not for the defenses in the room Childeen finally emerged again, coughing up nastiness.

Childeen said, “It was a fucking Nightmare. Everyone keep cool, I consumed it.”
As he finishes saying that the walls start to close in, "Shit I must have tripped a Shadow Leyas sensor. Some sort of defense to prevent Kasanthians from shadow walking out of here I guess."

Childeen pulled out his com crystal, “Gadget, tell me you guys have access”

The SUARM replied, “Yes Sir, the coding they use is marvelous, its so beautifully crafted, almost like a sonata.”

Childeen barked “Will you shut up and listen to me! Shut down all the garbage smashers on the this level, will ya? Do you copy? Shut down all the garbage smashers on the this level! Shut down all the garbage smashers on this level!”

The walls gradually closed in halting uncomfortably close. Everyone broke out laughing and Gadget said, “Listen to them, they're dying Widget! Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough, it's all my fault!”

A second later Childeen says into the com crystal, “we're all right! We're all right! Ha ha! Hey, open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit number... where are we? 3263827”

As they were going back the Prisoner asked, “What about the defense grid? Did you have a way past it”

Childeen looked at the others, “We will have our SUARM hack it,” he said nonchalantly.

The Prisoner smiled at them, "Right, I'm sure that will work, Which docking bay are you in?”

He really hoped the deal he made with the Cyborg Hunters had held.

When they reached the Docking Bay, Childeen knew something was up. Other than the token resistance in Target DP2's hallway, there hadn't been any real resistance.

Their ship took off without a hitch.

A assault shuttle that may have been Ryuk's followed them, but it could have simply been a Cyborg Hunter making sure all was going according to plan.

The Prisoner, Childeen and the Crew of the Hawk of Eons escaped the Sentinel Station.
Their destination, the penal colony of Refuge. From one prison to another thought the Prisoner, he only hoped he knew the truth and that Azrael's Scalpel could save him.