Different Paths (24 page)

“Have you claimed many bounties?” asked Iaido.
Judging from Toothless’ hesitation and nervous glances at his companions, he
knew the answer and pressed his advantage. “Well, I have. And most require some
form of proof that all Galactic bounty collecting procedures were followed
before they pay out the credits. You are recording this, right?”

Toothless shook his head slightly. “No. Why?”

“If you plan on shooting me down without a
recording to prove otherwise the parties involve will probably nullify the
contract…unless of course, you take them my recording.”

“What recording?”

Iaido tapped his temple. “The one my augments are
making this very second. Of course, it will show you gunning down an unarmed
man and a citizen of the Sylvan Empire. I am unsure of their policy on murder.”

“But your bounty has been posted, dead or alive.
We should be able to just kill you and collect our reward.” The other thugs
nodded their heads in accord.

Iaido rubbed his chin as if he was thinking.
“Hmm...It does seem like you have a problem. Well, I can think of only two
options.”

“And they are?”

 “Well, of course you could let us go but then you
don’t get your reward. So, I think that option is out of the question.” All the
thugs nodded their heads. “My second thought was a duel. A challenge to the
death.”

“I’m not foolish enough to take you one on one,
not after what you did to Boog.”

Iaido shook his head. “No. You can keep the odds
twelve to one but you have to give me a fighting chance. If I’m killed during the
fight, as my memory augments would show, then they would still have to pay out
the bounty. And if I happen to kill one or more of you before you kill me, then
that is just more reward for the survivors.”

Toothless looked around at his fellow thugs and
could see that they were pleased at the thought of more reward for the
survivors. Of course, several might just blow each other away for a larger cut
of the prize but then that didn’t sound like a bad plan either.

Toothless grinned. “That sounds like a good plan.
How do we do it?”

“I have an idea. Talia will take this old can,”
Iaido said as he nudged it with his foot, “and toss it into the air. When it
lands, we all start blasting.”

Toothless looked around at his companions and
received nods from them all. “Sounds good to me. Sorry ‘bout having to kill you
Spartan, you seem like a decent fellow.”

Iaido returned the smile and reached down to pick
up the rusty can. Handing it to Talia, he leaned in as if to kiss her goodbye
but instead whispered, “When you toss this up, hit the deck and pray to your
gods that these thugs are as stupid as they appear.”

Without a word, Talia nodded and chewed on her lip
apprehensively before tossing the can high into the air. Dropping to the deck,
she didn’t witness the twelve pairs of eyes which followed the short flight of
the can.

Chapter 20

Intense combat was always a curious situation for
Iaido.

Time seemed to slow down for him in combat
situations. Logically time doesn’t change, just his perceptions of his
surroundings. His programming and combat reflexes take over. Iaido doesn’t
think, he just acts and reacts to the expanding situation. As a Myrmidon, he
was designed for combat. His reflexes and strength were faster and stronger
than any normal human before the augmentation process. Myrmidons were grown
much like clones in tubes but two embryos per tube, which were commonly known
as pods. Of course, there were several differences between Myrmidons and
clones. The former were individuals, each with their own look and DNA, while
the latter were an exact replica of the donor DNA. The scientists who worked on
the government program realized that combat was more than just strength and
reflexes. Knowledge and skills would play a big part in the success or failure
of the Myrmidons. However, that was the easiest part for the scientists. They
found the foremost experts in the areas they wanted: shooting, sniper skills,
close combat, martial arts, stealth, counter-intelligence and assassination,
just to name a few and mapped the portion of the brain which contained the
skills they desired. Then, they digitized every historical document, textbook
and treaties on warfare. Both of these skills and raw information were then
‘hardwired’ into the Myrmidons’ cortex during the formation stage while they
were still in the pods.

The soldiers assigned to oversee the project knew
that raw skills and general knowledge of combat wasn’t enough. So, with the
help of the scientists, they delved through every historical record in
existence in their effort to distill the ‘essence’ of a warrior. They found
that no matter what era or part of the globe they studied, true warriors had
several tenets in common; personal honor, courage, integrity, loyalty,
discipline and a sense of duty to friends and country being the most common.

All throughout history, two groups of warriors
stood out above the rest, the Spartans of Ancient Greece and the Samurai of
feudal Japan. Although the Spartans were the original model for the Myrmidon
Program, the scientists soon found that there was limited hard data on the
Spartans most were just stories and legends. On the other hand, there was
plenty of data and experts available concerning the Samurai which in turn
became the primary model for the Myrmidon project.

As soon as the thugs had surrounded them, Iaido’s
subconscious began calculating the angles and the odds. The longer they talked
the more precise his plan became. A cunning opponent would’ve attacked without
preamble but the thugs had wanted to gloat which gave Iaido plenty of time to
take in the whole situation. Stupidly, all the thugs were within ten steps of
him and they had him completely surrounded. Even an average un-augmented human
can close twenty-one feet before an opponent draws and fires a weapon. With his
skills and augments the thirty feet separating him from the thugs could’ve been
two feet for all the good it was going to do them. Additionally, the thugs were
armed with primitive ballistic weapons, probably manufactured in the early
twenty-first century. Primitive but still deadly to unarmed flesh.

If Iaido had been in his ARC suit, he knew their
weapons wouldn’t even scratch the finish on the suit; however he opted for a
more covert look and was only wearing basic body armor. The reinforced plates
protected his most vulnerable spots on his body and should be resistant to
their weapons but his head and groin were unprotected.

Iaido was surprised that the leader of the thugs
had agreed to the can trick. It also showed how much an amateur Toothless and
his thugs really were. When Talia tossed the can, Iaido had been watching the
eyes of his opponents. As twelve pairs of eyes followed the can’s flight, he
made his move.

Iaido drew both katanas and attacked.

Toothless was the first to feel the bite of the
Blade of Elements. The ancient blade slid through the thug’s flesh like water
through a funnel, easy and wet. Continuing his motions, Iaido began to attack
with impunity. By the time the third thug fell to his blades, they had figured
out that something was wrong and began to react. In a panic, the thugs began to
‘spray and pray’ – a term which meant firing wild shots off as fast as
possible. As often as not, the thugs hit their buddies and not Iaido. In the
mayhem of the battle, the bounty hunter was far from still. He dodged and
rolled and spun and danced, all the while his blades slashed and sliced their
way through flesh.

As the last body fell, Iaido’s perceptions snapped
back to normal and he looked around at his handiwork. Blood and body parts
littered the area. A few of the thugs still moved, slightly. It was more of the
involuntary twitching of a dying body than anything else. Iaido whipped his
blades in a fancy figure eight pattern before sheathing them; the pattern was
an ancient practice designed to fling the majority of your opponent’s blood off
of the blades.

Ignoring the dead, Iaido focused his senses and
attention to the darkness around him. As far as he could tell, he and Talia
were the only ones still living in the immediate area.

Talia.

Iaido looked around and expected to see her rise
up to chastise him for the senseless slaughter of the thugs but she didn’t. She
still lay in the fetal position near the center of the carnage. He bent down to
wake her and paused when he saw a small dart protruding from her back. Pulling
it out, he studied the strange dart. It was about an inch long and the shaft
was built out of a crystal.

Checking her pulse, it was strong but she still
wasn’t showing any signs of waking up.

Retrieving his gunbelt, Iaido lifted the elf and
once more scanned the cafeteria. Every instinct told him that he was alone with
the dead but someone had been here. Someone had set up this encounter but who?
And why?

With a shrug of his shoulders, Iaido moved back through
the corridors of Haven only pausing at Nick’s Place long enough to pay his
bill, plus tip and to collect his friend. Something told him that in the days
ahead he was going to need the help of friends like DJ.

Chapter 21

Talia was awake before they reached the hangar. She
was still a bit weak in the knees but seemed no worse for the wear.

As they approached the Nemesis, Iaido scanned the
activity of those working on his ship. There were a dozen bugs scurrying all
over the hull, patching holes and repairing damage.

Jay was waiting for them at the cargo hatch. “I
see you ran into some trouble.”

“You could say that,” said Iaido. “Someone went
through a lot of trouble to get my attention.”

“Do we know who?”

Iaido held up the crystal dart. “Not yet but they
left a calling card.”

Taking the dart, Jay nodded his head in greeting
toward DJ. “Hey there you old leatherneck, how have you been?”

DJ tossed his duffle bag to the deck. “Not bad.
Drunk and disorderly, you know…the usual.”

Jay shifted his attention back to Iaido. “Xerxes
is in the engine room completing some modifications and I finished my work on
Diana and Pax. They have changed, a bit more than I would’ve guessed but this
is uncharted territory for me.”

“Diana lives?” Iaido asked.

“Kind of…she isn’t Diana or Pax. The two AI
personalities seemed to have merged with a synergistic result. I have renamed
Diana as Athena, although Pax is still pretty much the same. She wasn’t as
damaged as Athena.”

Iaido nodded and moved through the cargo hold.
“Where is she?”

“She’s on the bridge. Now, keep in mind that she
is different. Much of her personality has been reset to her default setting
which is a bit more militaristic than before…but she’s alive. I have her working
out some glitches in my latest idea.”

“Which is what?”

“I think I have come up with a way to completely
mask our signature while effectively shielding us from view.”

“Huh?” DJ asked, “Am I the only one who didn’t
understand that?”

Iaido shook his head. “No. Jay, explain that in
simple terms.”

“A cloaking device, a way to make us virtually
invisible. You see, all we have to do is bend the light around the hull of the
ship while simultaneously redirecting the emissions of the engines…”

Iaido snapped his fingers in front of Jay’s face.
“I said simple. Don’t give me technical gobblety-gook. Will we be invisible or
not?”

“Yes but there will be some drawbacks. It is only
limited to sub-light speeds and even then, it will reduce it by about
seventy-five percent or so.”

As they stepped onto the bridge, a petite brunette
snapped to attention. “Actually Master Chief our speed will be limited to
thirteen percent of maximum. Any greater and we will cause distortions that
could be detected by active radar or seen visually.”

Iaido stopped in his tracks.

Standing before him was Diana’s twin. Logically he
knew it wasn’t her, just her body. But the crooked smile, the curve of her chin
or simply the way she held her head were all classic Diana. To help in the
separation of the two, Jay had changed her hair color to black and lengthened
it a bit. Athena had it pulled back into a UNCF regulation style ponytail which
hung loosely but was off her collar and was dressed in a form fitting blue
flight suit that was reminiscent of the NASA era.

“Welcome aboard Captain. We are operating at
eighty percent efficiency and the Master Chief’s modifications should be
complete within three hours.” Turning back to the console, Athena began to
adjust the controls. “If you will hand me the dart, I will access its contents
and display the information on the main vid-screen.”

Iaido nodded his head in greeting. “Hello Athena.
I gather that you are tied into Pax’s systems.”

Athena paused and cast a sideways glance at Iaido.
“I am not sure what you mean Captain. I am Pax or Pax is part of me if that
makes more sense.” She tapped her forehead. “Everything that was Pax and Diana
is here. I remember so much, our first hunt in Alpha Centari or the time we
went dancing in Moscow to draw out that ambassador’s aide who was wanted for
murder. Everything, well almost everything, there are some fragments in my
memory but then that is expected considering what I have been through lately.”

“Athena has become the embodiment of the Nemesis,”
Jay added. “She is the ship and the ship is her. They are now bound together. I
must admit I am unsure how far Athena can venture from the Nemesis. For now,
she must remain ship bound until I can run more tests.”

“Affirmative Master Chief,” said the ship’s voice.
It was no longer the monotone voice of Pax but neither was it Diana’s voice but
a blend of the two. “I would extrapolate that Athena is limited to one hundred
yards from the main frame. Anything more and data streams will be at risk.”