Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Kay swallowed. "Hello. I see you know my name. I don't know yours." She was bold, it was true, but something about this man scared her nonetheless. She felt that he was dangerous.

"And while I can speak with you, I want to ask: why was I brought here? I have no connection with whoever you're seeking. I've even supported your government." Kay resisted the urge to add, 'up till today', and continued. "I've been treated like a dangerous criminal. You don't even have any proof to keep me here. I know, because there is none."

She swallowed again and waited. Would it work? Would justice work?

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"First, to answer your question, names are not important in the scream of things, however, my title is the chairman, you may know me by it" The Chairman replied sneeringly.

"And to counter your statement, in fact we do have evidence of your being involved in a rebelion against the Senate, you are a close friend of Cale Benedict. Leader of the rebelion forces, therefore you must know something of his plans" he continued.

"Now for buisness, tell me what you know about Mr. Benedict as a person"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Kay stifled a gasp. Cale? The leader of the rebellion forces? True, he hated the Senate and had some weird friends and meetings, but the leader of the entire rebellion?

"I did work with Cale. But we didn't talk very much. We completely stayed off the subject of politics because we fought about it. But...I don't know." She stopped speaking, suspicious of the Chairman's motives. "Anyone who knew him could tell you just what I know-- which is barely anything. I've only been working for a few months. He wouldn't tell me of all people any of his plans."

There. That was what she knew. But then...how did they know that Cale was a rebellion leader? "If you knew that Cale was the leader of the rebellion, why didn't you just capture him? It's not like he hid." Kay was becoming suspicious of this strange court. "And anyways, I think if I'm under suspicion, I deserve a proper trial. With lawyers." She would have crossed her arms, but for the cuffs.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"Shut up" The Chairman growled at Kay "All we knew about Cale was that his was a avarage citizen, we also had a mysterious maniac killer on the loose, this was up until one of our soldier who was at both skirmishes recognised him and connected the dots" He said.

He then stood up, picking up a glass of Pinta wine as he did "Now answer my question, what was Cale like as a person, where did he by his pizza. Stuff like that. We need to know more about him to effectivly combat him

---

Cale picked up his comlink "Zakk, this is Cale-" Zakk cut him off "Cale! Buddy! You seem to be having a bit of fun down there in Ditto Town" Cale laughed and said "A bit" Zakk then said "Well you clearly need me for something, what is it"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"His pizza?!?" Kay burst out, flabberghasted. "Who do you think I am, his mother? I have absolutely no idea! We worked. Sometimes he was distant. He was nice to customers. Smart. Handsome. Charming. Well-versed in politics. He worked with me. The end." She was getting angry now. "And quite frankly, your judging system stinks. I'd like a proper trial."

Usually Kay could work with people. She could talk with them and make them understand her, and she could understand them; but with this Chairman guy, there was some kind of block. She didn't understand and couldn't start to.

ROFF

"Missy, this isn't a trial. This is an interrogation, and a very nice one at that, if you want we can turn it into a real one, tourture machines and the whole nine yards. Now we have on record that he often hung out with certain friends; who are they?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

---

Cale replied "Well, as you guessed a rebelion has been started, but we are in need of men. We were wondering whether or not you knew of any mercs who had a particular hate for the senate"

Zakk grined "I've just the people"A few minutes later Zakk flew onto CYG's speeder "Hello old chaps, Boy have I got a job for you" he said as he removed his helmet.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Piper sat quietly for a few minutes, listening to everyone and trying to think things through. Having more people who knew what they were doing would help, she thought, especially if any kind of attack was needed, but there was still the problem of simply getting inside the building. That could get even more difficult the more people who were involved. The entry they found would work perfectly, but it was almost too perfect to be trusted. Suddenly Piper had an idea. She turned towards Cale and Stretch "What if we use the entrance point as an exit?" she suggested, after Cale was done talking on the comlink.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

For some reason, the idea that meeting the Chairman would be for an interrogation session had not occurred to Kay. She was speechless for a few moments. "But...but that's not...fair." She said, almost whispering.

Then she recovered herself and looked up at the Chairman. "There was one named Stretch. That's all I know. He didn't include me in his meetings." A spark of defiance kindled in her eyes. "And I wouldn't tell you what happened even if I had. I'm not going to hand over people to you just because you tell me to." A glare began on her face, "If they're fighting someone like you who is ready to torture someone without proof that they know anything, I support them. I don't care if you kill me."

And she didn't care. For some reason, Kay was ready to die rather than help this man. Everything about him repelled her.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"There's a brave girl" said as he walked over and patted her on the head, he then clapped his hands together, a sign for for his guards to come. Frank opened the door and walked into the room.

The Chairman looked down at her "You are fighting powers which you do not understand. Be carefull" he said with a wink "Take her to her cell Sargeant. You, boy, whats your rank?" he asked of Ace, even though he was likely younger than the soldier.

---

Stretch turned to Piper "What do you mean?" he asked.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Kay was confused. He was treating her like a benevolent uncle now. She had just defied him, and he was winking at her. "I understand that I don't like you." She managed to say as she was led away by the Sergeant.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"Well, what if we got in another way. Any other way, if it's possible." Piper explained, turning back towards the hologram. "Then, when we need to get out," she traced the line of the ventilation shaft with her finger "We can use this as an escape route. Since it leads out onto the roof, we could have someone wait for our signal, then pick us up once we're out."

ROTFF

((OOC: much shorter than my last.))

Ace had assisted Sergeant Fred in escorting the girl into the council chambers, and then had dutifully waited with him outside when he had been ordered to. He didn't really want to be waiting around with the Sergeant, but he really had no choice since he hadn't been dismissed.

The girl had intrigued him, why had they caught her of all people and brought her here to question. Since he was waiting around, he tried his hardest to listen through the door, without seeming like he was. For once, he wished he had worn his helmet, with it's sound enhancement.

After a little while, the doors were opened and Sergeant Fred was summoned inside again, Ace followed and watched as the Sergeant was ordered to take the girl away. She looked frightened and confused... then the Chairman turned to him and asked for his rank, Ace tried not to show any sort of emotion on his face, this was a dangerous man. He asked what his rank was, using the term, 'boy' to refer to him, "Second Staff Sergeant" he stated, standing at attention, and trying not to roll his eyes.

~~~~~~~~

The air transport swept through the streets, flying low and employing all of it's anti-detection gear. Liminata was at the controls, and banked it into and around another set of large buildings, before brining the speed down and melding into the rest of the traffic.

They had been lucky to grab this particular speeder, because it was a converted heavy transport, and had not been completely repainted, refitted and refinished to sport the MESS colors, insignia, and weapons. Therefore, it melted easily into the flow of traffic as they began to trace their way back to Merc headquarters.

They were almost there, CYG was in the back, tending to Shalen's wounds and she was grunting as he tried to remove the larger pieces of shrapnel from her torn clothes and body. She was bleeding quite a bit from various wounds, even though He had tried to apply patches to them.

It was at this point that Liminata screeched a warning, and a figure rocketed into the back of the transport, landing next to CYG and Shalen.

CYG reacted almost instantly, raising his spinner laser and charging it. Shalen flattened herself against the floor, a vibro-knife clutched in her hand, ready to fight if needed.

The figure that landed began to speak almost immediately, and their minds were put at ease when he did. It was Zakk, a fellow mercenary that they had all seen and talked to on numerous occasions. He was one of their fellows that also believed that the MESS needed to be stopped and had undertaken several missions in that regard.

Shalen sat up painfully and put a hand on CYG's arm, which he promptly dropped. CYG Spoke first, a tinge of anger in his voice, "Zakk! you scared the crap out of us, don't do that, I could have blown your head off!"

Shalen sighed in relief, "You scared us half to death... the MESS may still be on our tail... or haven't you heard of our latest exploit?" As she moved, her wounds oozed a bit more.

Liminata appeared overhead, from a ceiling projector, she was the picture of annoyance, and her voice spoke it, "Another Job?"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"Good, I'm promoting you to First Lieutenant, I want you to have field command as we take down this rebelion, we seem to have a problem on our hands in Monsteropolis as well as in Ditto Town.

apparently three mercs blew up a research building, but never mind that. I want you to hand pick a squad that will leave for Ditto Town within a week, hear that soldier?" he said with a small smile "You are dismissed"

---

As soon as they reached the out side hallway Frank injected a knock out serem into Kale's neck "That should do it" he said then instructed his men to carry her away.

---

Zak laughed and said "Not only heard, I saw your incident on live holovision" he said with a grin "There were reporters swarming the scene after you left" he continued.

"And this isn't really a job, I got a call from an old buddy of mine, used to be a Jedi. Say's he's starting a rebellion and asked if I knew anyone who would be willing to help" He said taking off his helmet.

---

"Sounds good to me" Stretch said before Cale stated an obvious fact "Well, as far as we can tell there is no other plasible way to get in and out of that place without clearance from the Senate"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Kay was walking along, wondering if she would be put in a nice prison or tortured, when she felt a sharp pain in her neck. For some reason she felt too tired to reach up to try to touch it, even cuffed. It felt like a bee sting....it felt like a bite...it felt like...

Kay collapsed and sank into oblivion.

ROTFF

Ace waited for the chairman to tell him why he had asked him his rank, he could only think of a few reasons, and most of them were not good. As he waited, his eyes followed the sergeant as he took the girl away, I have to find out what's going on with her... i've seen enough innocents tortured over nothing...

He snapped back to attention when the chairman began speaking again, and he nearly fell over when he told him that he was promoting him to First Lieutenant. His rank insignia on his shoulder changed from that of Second Staff sergeant to First Lieutenant almost instantly, adapting to the Chairman's orders. He realized that he now outranked all the men in his detachment, and even that sergeant that had been barking orders at him all morning.

The Chairman then informed him of something that made his stomach clench, he wanted him to hand pick some men for a team that would be leaving for DittoTown in a week. This meant that he would be forced to enforce the horrible laws of the MESS, capture innocents, and do other things that he hated. Still, he couldn't refuse, not to the head of the council. He nodded stiffly, "Yes sir, Thank you Sir" and he spun on his heel, heading out the main doors.

Once back outside of the tight confines of the halls, and into the open entry hall, he sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. He shook his head, He knew that he couldn't do what the chairman asked... well, not that he couldn't. He had every confidence in his ability to lead a hand picked team of men into combat or anything else. His conscious told him NO!

As he began walking again, he noticed that some of the other soldiers began to salute him, and step aside as he walked, it felt wierd. He returned to the front steps, watching the speeder traffic some distance away. There was a sudden cry and below, across the street, a woman lay in the shadow of a MESS soldier. With his enhanced vision, Ace could readily see the marks on her face and on her arms where she had been trying to defend herself.

The man that was hitting her was ranked a Captain. Normally, Ace would have been unable to do anything about this, but with his new rank, he marched down the steps, across the street, and up to the back of the man. He tapped him on the shoulder.

The soldier whirled and raised his weapon, "Stand Down soldier, get back to your post!" he ordered. The woman cowered backwards, afraid that Ace had come to join the other soldier.

Ace squinted at him, his anger boiling at this man both for his beating of the woman, and his back-talk, "Who exactly are you giving that order to?" he demanded.

"You, you worthless scumbag, You are not to interfere with a higher rank..." he trailed off, staring at Ace's new rank, "Um... Well... Sir..."

Ace growled, "Helmet off, soldier"

The man stared as if he were insane, then slowly unsnapped the helmet from his armor, and lifted it off. The man's green eyes blinked in the sudden light from the sun. The next thing he knew, Ace's fist blocked out the sunlight, and broke his nose. Ace barked, "HELMET ON SOLDIER! GET BACK TO YOUR POST!"

The soldier reeled, looked as if he was about to come back at him with his own attack, then stuck the helmet back on his head, and jogged off. Ace bent to the woman and lifted her, "it's ok... i don't care what you did, or he thought you did... go on home." She was clearly terrified and confused.

Her eyes blinked in great surprise as he gently let her go, and then turned and walked away. The other soldiers on guard stared straight ahead, like they hadn't seen anything. Alright... Ace thought, That's it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cyg, Shalen and Liminata listened as Zakk informed them that this wasn't an ordinary mission, one that they would usually get from a client... it was a favor for one of his friends, starting a rebellion against the mess.

Shalen looked at CYG and raised her eyebrows, as if inquiring. Liminata just hovered, not saying anything or reacting. They had all known Zakk for a while, he was one of the few mercenaries that dared to take open action against the MESS, like themselves. It seemed logical that they would help him, but it wasn't just him, it was someone else, that they didn't know.

CYG nodded slowly, "We have to dump the data from our last mission..."
Shalen finished, "And we want to talk with your friend before we accept anything..."

Liminata nodded, "Most likely we'll accept, but we can't be too careful,
you know that. If the MESS got any surveillance data on us during the raid, we'll be in a heap of trouble... I say that the odds are..." she trailed off, not finishing.