Star Law File: 900ZA-DA14 – Assassination
Something I wrote in college while running Star Frontiers, it was based on the intro to one of my adventures. I have since revised it with the new names of the races.
by Ron McClung
“Gentlemen, go right in. The president is waiting for you.”
I heard the vice-president flip a small switch under the receptionist’s desk and the huge double doors opened to a presidential conference room.
I was baffled. What kind of security did this place have? I asked myself. The president of the mega-corporation Malligigg Environmental and Atmospheric Resources Company (MEAR) personally asks the presence of four corporate grunts with little or no reputation, and allows them to walk in fully armed. I gripped my MT-3B Multi-assault rifle, tempted to collect on the numerous prices on this man’s head, but then I realized that we were on the fortieth floor in the center of a major mega-corp facility. I figured I’d hear him out, especially since my contract did say any ally corp to my employer is just as much a boss as they were.
So the four of us, four of Multi-tech’s finest enforcers walked into the presence of a mortal god – a mega-corp president; a man with giga-credit in his back pocket. And the power to suck atmospheres from planets. He was a tall human with extremely expensive clothing, and a very courtly manner about him. He had a deep accent when he addressed us, probably from the Truane Star system. As we strolled in casually, I easily sensed the two heavily armed guards at the door, on the conference room side, without even turning. Both were Utoran, and most Bengradi cat-men are smart enough not to mess with the bear-men, including this Bengradi cat-man. I relaxed my grip on the strap of my shouldered rifle.
There were two mercs already in the room – one K’Dasi and the other and the other a Yazirian. I groaned inside to the thought of sharing a
mission with a K’Dasi. They may be fellow feline but they are also trouble making pranksters. Turning away from them, I relaxed in one of the sx comfortable chairs to listen to the man at the end of the table. He turned to close the curtains, covering the rainy night that we had just came in from, My fellow enforcers also sat. The Tor’Drani female Militik Mydret was very distracted by the various trinkets displayed on the walls and shelves throughout the room. Jake Milestrun, my closest human friend, sat and waited with his (illegal) EP Blaster resting on the table. I could see a full clip was in the handle and the safety was off. Jake did not trust corporate suits. He was also a very paranoid person and many times, that paranoia has gotten us in trouble. Finally, Mandin Talora the Mentalist – always quit, always aware but always asleep. He says it isn’t sleep, it’s meditation. I just leave the Wen’tri weasel alone. He always seemed to creep me out.
Finally, after a long tense five minutes, the president turned to us and spoke.
“I have a job for you that will pay in M figures.” He got right to the point. “I need you to act as security advisors to a security force on a planet that only we know about. We are excavating a fantastic archeological find… an alien combat starship … completely made of the hardest and least forgeable substance known to the Frontier, Rim and the Dominion – Federanium. It seems, on this planet, the natives …”
He went to explain some vague details of the mission, without revealing too much. I knew he was holding something back. I began to mistrust this human.
Suddenly, I felt something unidentifiable – like a bad feeling combined with a bad taste in my mouth. I was forced to give Jake an unnerving look. He always trusted my sense and screamed “Get down!”
I powered up rifle’s primary weapons I fell to the floor, and I heard the window explode louder than any thunder from the storm. Shattered transpara-steel fell all around, as other shards of it cut and shredded the body of the president. He was the first to fall and as I heard strange
and unfamiliar gun fire, the two guards also fell. The projectiles cut through their armor like butter. Right then I felt I was in serious trouble.
More shots were fired. Some from Jake and Mill, others from the Black clad assassins. I stood to return a volley, and fired a full blasts of hot white energy into one of the figures. The blasts knocked him back, out the window and forty floors down. I saw a glimpse of a customized aircar outside the window, fixed up just for this kind of job. I also saw the eight, once nine, figures now standing in the room, brandishing those double-barreled weapons I couldn’t recognize.
I heard a scream, and glanced to see Mili fall under intense fire, and Jake also took a hit. The Mentalist had gotten one beam out. I turned to run, as I saw one of the figures setting up a pretty big TD-19 timer and detonator on the wall. I jumped for the doors as I felt the incredible pain of alien bullets penetrating through my armor, and my fur, to the flesh of both my legs. I first heard the roar of the TD-19 charge as I fell through the door and blacked out. All I can say is: Now that’s an assassination.
