Joint Post with Cain & White Wolf - Getting off on the wrong paw...

Who: White Wolf & Cain.
Where: in White Wolf's living quarters.
When: After the special briefing, but before the rescue!
The huge hamster was jugging on his treadmill with a white towel over
his
shoulders when his door chimed.
"Come in." calls the bouncing hamster towards the door, while
checking his
pulse rate on the treadmills monitor and tapping the suspend button
with
his right foreclaw.
The door opened to reveal a black clad security officer that could
only
be Cain, who just merely glared at the hamster with the coldest of
expressions.
Cain glanced around White Wolf's place before actually entering the
hamster's
quarters. All this time Cain said nothing only removing his gloves,
which he pocketed into a pocket of his long coat.
"Ahh, Cain! I'm glad you came here as I requested, I've been meaning
to
speak with you in private about what you asked me in your message
earlier.
By the way, would you like something to drink?" asks the hamster,
stepping
off the treadmill while quickly drying himself and motioning towards
his
small refrigerator, "I've got a bottle of Captain Seymour Niples
favourite
wine brand chilling if you'd perhaps like a glass..."
"First of all, I have not come as you requested but merely because it
was in
my investigation parameters that had to be met." Cain said
coldly. "This
isn't a social call, this is business so you keep the swill to
yourself."
"I see..." Says the huge hamster pausing to eye Cain with a sidelong
glance
as if sizing him up for a moment before continuing, "I hope you don't
mind
if I take a seat then. Oh, and you don't need to bother with your
truth
serum and torture implements, I'll save you a bit of time and tell
you up
front what I know. Besides, I've been trained to resist far worse
than that
stuff, not to mention having already had worse done to me before."
The rotund hamster loudly exhales while sitting down in his chair and
getting
a far away look in his eyes, "It seems like a billion years ago to me
now...
But, the space core military unit I was recruited to work for as a
sharpshooter
was named 'Darkover'. It was something put together by the top brass
of
the Space core for various reasons which I'm sure your already aware
of.
At the time, I was pretty naive, and pretty much believed all their
lies
that I was using my 'special talents' to help the space core right
all the
wrongs, and such..."
The voluminous hamster pauses for a moment seemingly reliving moments
in
the past, then looking directly at Cain, he continues, "The unit's
main
function was mostly investigative, but it was also a health
alteration committee.
My last extended mission before I left the unit was to help stem the
tide
of corruption in the space cores ranks, specifically dealing with
eighteen
individuals suspected of corruption at the highest levels of the JMC,
space
core, and world governments. These people were spread throughout the
colonized
worlds, so their effect was far reaching and a big concern at the
time.
Working on each of the individuals was a long term job of studying &
casing
them and their usual places of activity, along with following up
whatever
they did and if necessary, doing the H.A.C. job. For a short time, I
headed
up the unit while our commander was working on a deep cover
assignment on
New Terra. It was then during what was supposedly a milk run, that
two of
our information gathers were captured. One was immediately
neutralized by
what we thought at the time was his own informants acting out their
revenge
for finding out they were being unwittingly used for our ends. And
while
we were attempting a rescue of the other one of our information
gathers,
we found out otherwise. I had become injured, and subsequently
ordered the
team to leave me behind to be captured by the hostiles, since it
probably
would've cost them their lives if they were slowed up by me. Anyways,
I escaped some
nine months later, with the help of some new friends - well, their
old friends
now. After I put in my stay at the Freemen's Pysch Hospital, I found
out
that Darkover was pretty much neutralized during the time period I
was MIA.
Of course, they wanted me to head up their new formed unit, But I
couldn't.
Not after I found out some of the things I did after getting out the
hospital.
Plus, I think leaving Darkover was the best decision I ever made ?
Does
that answer your question enough, Mr. Cain?"
"A question to which I already knew the answer, although it might be
of
some interest to one General, who you may have known as Lt. Anders
some
time ago, don't you think." Cain commented as he removed a case-file
from
within his coat and tossed it onto a table. "A copy of master file we
have
in our database of that period of history which you have just
detailed,
along with certain details relating to one 'Darken'. Actually I know
quite
a lot about the crew of this ship and many of their dirty little
secrets."
The huge hamster rolled his chair forward and flipped the case file
open,
reading through it a little, then looked up and replied, "So that's
why
General Anders name was so familiar sounding to me! He was one of
individuals
we were monitoring, and it seems with good reason. It makes me sorry
I didn't
complete that mission. Oh, well. I suppose, I'll have to deal with
him in
good time anyways. But, I was expecting you'd already know a lot
about me
& the Blue Dwarf from the top level spook files, Cain. On account
that one
of my own informants told me you were coming and clued me in your
level
of access. Though, I am a little surprised that Darken had left any
information
about his whereabouts around for anyone to see without completely
killing
everyone who saw it. But, I guess, that just shows a little of your
resourcefulness
in counter surveillance tactics, even if you do have a few cracks in
your
foundation in which my informant was able to sneak in and give me the
heads
up... Alright, so you already know some of the details about Darken &
Darkover.
What is it that you want from me, Cain?"
"Darkover was merely to get your attention." Cain said and then his
tone
changed, still cold but now heavily tinted with threat. "Now that I
have
it I will make myself very clear, you or anyone else try to get in
the way
of the investigation of this ship's crew and they will find
themselves being
hit so hard it will be like they never existed to begin with!"
The vasty hamster leaned back in his chair, and shook his head
pitifully
at Cain for a moment. Then, holding up three of his fore claws while
replying
and keeping his tone cool & normal as he was merely chatting about
the weather
to Cain, "Three things, Cain." as he began ticking them off, "First,
I've
already ordered all of the department heads to cooperate with you
completely
in this investigation because I think you'll find that we've got
nothing
to hide here. And second, I don't care one whit about your threats
against
my life, because death is a personal friend of mine. And just for
your information,
I've also got a real *nasty* habit of outliving all nine lives of
cats that
were stupid enough to underestimate me just because I'm a six foot,
one
inch hamster. And finally, third - as long your here dishing out
threats,
I'll give you one of mine. If you do anything to purposely sabotage
my mission,
I'll make you wish you'd met death instead of me."
The overgrown hamster paused for a moment after ticking off the last
of
his three foreclaws, then continued, "Now, are you finished, or do
you have
some more questions you'd like to ask or perhaps a few more threats
you'd
like to throw about? Because I'm getting late for my 10 o'clock
appointment
to commit several wanton acts of civil disobience, a few dozen
speeding
violations, one act of grand theft oil tanker, one prison break-in,
plus
rend a few laws of physics just to piss off the intellectuals. And if
I'm
still feeling a little peckish after all that, I thought I might set
off
a few nova cluster bombs for a nice fireworks display because this
place
could certainly use a little lightening up..."
"What your friend saw was nothing more then falsehood set-up to stop
people
learning the truth, that profile you saw and even the one your friend
saw
are both covers, my security clearance is far higher then even the
highest
ranking officers in the JMC. Where I come from, it has many faces
and not
even I know which one is the true face." Cain said. "I merely
investigate
and report back the findings, nothing more. Well, at least, without
orders
from my superiors anyway. Sabotage isn't a method we employ... For
as far
as we care, the moment anyone enters the JMC, they are given the
ropes to
hang themselves. Whether or not they stick their head through the
noose
is their decision. Should they decide to do so, we will be there to
kick the chair
from under them."
Cain removed his gloves from his pocket and pulled them back on.
"One last thing. Your threats mean nothing to me, to get this job I
had
to go though things that were far worse then death or anything than
you can
imagine." Cain stated coldly, turned and walked towards the door.
"You'd be surprised at what I could imagine, Cain. I've been to
places where I originaly thought that the only record of it exists in
here..." replies the huge hamster, pausing to tap a claw on his
forehead before continuing, "In this couple of pounds of blood soaked
dogfood, that we like to call a brain. But instead, I've found that
my 'memory' of it exists somewhere else, someplace in which I can't
define, but seems to live beyond the physical body. Because, in some
of these places, what we call 'reality' is but a happy dream, and
everyone's nightmare is a reality and even death isn't a release.
Perhaps if you stay aboard the Blue Dwarf long enough, I'll bring you
there, and then you can compare your notes with me. Oh, and before I
forgot - congratulations on removing those last three captains..."
Cain paused in midstep for a moment, and then he left.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Written by:
- Edward Cain
Investigator, Blue Dwarf Security Dept.
&
- White Wolf
Acting Captain of the Blue Dwarf