S3E2: Hunting Party (FB) (December 19, 2098)

**Earth**

**Mercer's Apartment**

**December 19, 2098**

Felix sat on a sofa in the living room of Mercer's apartment. Mercer walked over to hand him a mug of coffee and sat in a chair next to him.

Felix: "Thanks."

Mercer: "How are you feeling?"

Felix: "Like I just woke up from a nine month coma after being shot in the head."

Mercer: "Right..."

Felix: "You didn't have to look out to me, you know?"

Mercer: "Well no one else was going to."

Felix: "I can't believe Will tried to kill me. Believe it or not we were friends once."

Mercer: "Will wasn't as good a person as he was made out to be. But now he's dead so..."

Felix: "What happened?"

Mercer: "He was killed in the battle of Rerador."

Felix: "Battle of Rerador, huh? I guess I must've missed a lot."

Mercer: "You sure did. Let's see, we got a new Governor, the Rerador revolution ended. I'm pretty sure the Imperium destroyed an entire city there but no one's talking about it."

Felix shook his head, disappointed.

Felix: "To think I fought for these people. The same people who tried to kill me so I wouldn't speak out about the Casts."

Mercer: "They've got their Cast army now. It gets bigger everyday."

Felix: "What are they like, these new Casts?"

Mercer: "You're the only Cast I've seen in person. At least as far as I know... But these new ones, I don't think they're like you. They're obedient, do whatever they're told without asking any questions."

Felix: "So they don't have free will. They can't make any decisions for themselves. I feel bad for them."

Mercer: "So what are we gonna do?"

Felix: "What do you mean?"

Mercer: "Before you were shot, you talked about getting ready for a revolution."

Felix: "I was delusional. You can't go against the Imperium, look what happened to the Rerador miners. And those guys had Aurelia backing them. We have nothing."

Mercer: "We have you. You inspired me, Felix. To see beyond myself and try to do things for the betterment of others. People will listen to you."

Felix thought quietly for a moment.

Felix: "I want to see Xion Corsair," he said changing the subject. "He made me. I think we're long overdue for a conversation."

Mercer: "He started up his company again. He makes Casts for consumers now too. Their headquarters are on Qoter."

Felix: "Then that's where I'm going."

**Soateria**

Romulus walked through the forests of Soateria before suddenly stopping when he saw something in front of him.

Romulus: "You are not here," he said to Claire.

Claire: "Then why are you talking to me?"

Romulus: "This is a trick," he said looking around. "It's those villagers."

Claire: "You killed all of them."

Claire walked towards him and pressed her hand on his helmet where his cheek would be.

Claire: "What happened to you, Will?"

Romulus: "I... You died. Pieces of me kept getting stripped away but losing you was more than I could take. And now I have become something I do not recognize."

Claire: "No. Now you are your true self. This is who you've always been. Now are you going to wallow around here or are you going to go back to the fight?"

Romulus: "There's nothing worth fighting for anymore."

Claire: "Is that right? You made a promise. Or did you forget already? What did you say you were going to do?"

Romulus: "Avenge you."

Claire: "Right. And what are you doing? Killing your own men?"

Romulus: "I showed justice to the villagers."

Claire: "They're not the only ones who needed to face justice. It was the Aurelians that gunned me down. And let's not forget who led me to them. The person who left you to die in the fires of Rerador."

Romulus: "Dino."

Claire: "You still need to get your revenge, lover."

Just then Romulus' communicator started buzzing and Claire disappeared. Romulus answered and saw Percival's image appear.

Percival: "What is your status, Romulus?"

Romulus: "I have obtained the Kepler Neos virus and am returning to Earth."

Percival: "Not yet. There is something else I need. Go to the coordinates I am sending you."

Before Romulus could ask what his task was, Percival ended the transmission. Romulus stared at the coordinates, considering whether he should just return to Earth regardless of Percival's order. But perhaps disobeying him was not wise.

Reluctantly a weary Romulus decided to travel to the coordinates, not quite sure what to expect.

Elsewhere on Soateria

Xion stood in the center of a small encampment with three rather menacing looking individuals standing around him.

Xion: "We're just waiting for two more. Shouldn't be much longer now."

Just as he said this he saw two figures in the distance, walking towards the camp.

Xion: "Ah, there they are."

 Xion: "Let me see if I've got your names," said Xion once the group had assembled.

Moving left to right, he started with a man wearing a combination of white armor and white robes.

Xion: "Zwerver Kaas. Former Collective turned hired gun."

Zwerver nodded as the information was correct. Xion moved onto the next person, a man clad in red and brown armor, wearing an intimidating helmet.

Xion: "Lam Kona. Tell me, why do they call you "the Claw"?

Lam: "Ask too many questions, boss, and you might just get the claw."

Xion: "I... Don't know what that me- You know let's just move on."

Xion looked at the man next to Lam. A warrior dressed in all black with a dark colored hood and mask that covered his face.

Xion: "Cyprus Nazeer. Bow and arrow is a bit outdated isn't it? Well whatever works for you."

Beside Cyprus stood a tall alien woman.

Xion: "Minda Stuufar. You, you're properly scary aren't you? I heard you killed a man because he was whistling too loudly."

Minda simply shrugged without denying it.

Xion: "And you. Scimitar... Everyone knows who you are. Ghanar Polmos spoke very highly about all of you. I believe the five of you should be enough for this job."

Minda: "And what exactly is the job? You were very vague about it."

Xion: "Governor Percy Thane has a new enforcer. Romulus. He's here on Soateria right now. All of you are going to try and kill him."

Lam: "Try? It's one man."

Xion: "One animal."

Lam: "Whatever he is, he's against five of us. Shouldn't be too hard."

Zwerver: "Never underestimate your adversary."

Lam: "Sounds like you're scared, Zwerver."

Scimitar: "You work with Governor Thane, don't you? Why did you hire us to take out his guy?"

Xion: "It's a test of his abilities. Defeat him and you'll all be paid generously."

Lam: "That's all you had to say. Let's do this. I'm gonna fill his lungs with fire."

Romulus had arrived at the coordinates. He looked around the forest, confused. There was nothing here. He activated his communicator to contact the Governor.

Romulus: "I am at the coordinates. I don't see any-"

Romulus stopped when he saw a figure in silver armor step out of the shadows ahead of him.

Scimitar: "It appears the game is over before it even begins."

Romulus: "Who are you?"

Scimitar unsheathed his sword from his back.
Scimitar: "Simply an assassin."

 As Romulus was processing this, Scimitar lunged towards him. With quick reflexes, Romulus pulled out his own sword and used it to parry his blows. Romulus realized that he had not been in many sword fights and was surprised at how well he was holding up.

He soon found an opportunity to break Scimitar's defense and then gave him a strong kick to the abdomen that pushed him backwards.

 Hearing a noise behind him, Romulus turned around and raised his sword to protect himself from an unexpected flash of blue light. Unfortunately this flash of blue was from a Collective plasma sword that completely melted his own blade.

Romulus tossed his useless hilt on the ground and ducked from the advancing Zwerver's swings.

Finding the right moment, Romulus grabbed Zwerver's hand and with his other elbow, smashed down hard on the bend in his arm. Zwerver dropped the blade and Romulus then grabbed him to throw him over himself. When Zwerver was on the ground Romulus pulled out his gun and shot him three times in the back.

Romulus retrieved Zwerver's plasma sword and looked at the hilt before activating the blade. It felt right in his hand. His thoughts were interrupted as several laser bolts sped towards him that had been fired from Lam's laser crossbow.

Without thinking Romulus pulled up the plasma sword to deflect some of the shots. Once again he was surprised at this ability he had never practiced before.

Lam's crossbow suddenly jammed.

Lam: "Come on!" he yelled, hitting the weapon, trying to get it to work.

Using this chance, Romulus dashed towards the bounty hunter. Lam wasn't quick enough to move before Romulus gutted him with the plasma sword.

Out of nowhere, Minda came up behind Romulus and started attacking him. Her species was flexible, something she used to her advantage to deliver rapid kicks and punches that Romulus was unable to respond to.

Growing tired of the irritant, Romulus reached out and grabbed Minda by the throat, raising her a foot above the ground. With his other hand holding the plasma sword, he sliced into her. Minda let out a yelp just before he dropped her body.

Romulus looked around the forest looking for any other attackers. For several moments, there was nothing. And then suddenly a small object flew through the air and struck Romulus' helmet, piercing through the metal and almost his right eye.

It was some sort of arrow. Just as Romulus was reaching to pull the arrow out, it exploded.

Romulus let out an agitated groan before falling to the ground on one knee. He stayed in this position with his cracked mask staring at the grass, for some time.

Cyprus dropped out of the tree he was hiding in and cautiously approached Romulus, who remained unmoving. Cyprus readied another arrow as he continued his slow approach, curious what Romulus was doing.

When Cyprus was close enough, Romulus' arm sprang forward, grabbing Cyprus' bow and pulling it towards him while with the other hand, he impaled the assassin with the plasma blade.

Just when he thought the wave of attackers was done, a rope dart took the plasma sword away from Romulus. The Imperial enforcer turned around and saw Scimitar attempting another fight.

The mercenary clutched his sword and leaped towards his target. Romulus used his armored forearms to block Scimitar's furious blows until eventually grabbing his blade with his hands and pulling it away from him. Romulus plunged the sword into the ground and punched Scimitar hard in the face, a blow that was felt even through his protective helmet.

Scimitar was stunned at this warrior's might.

Scimitar: "What are you?" he asked the animal.

Romulus: "I... Am Romulus," he said just as he grabbed Scimitar and smashed his head on the hilt of the sword.

Romulus looked around at the ground for his weapons. After picking up his gun, he went to retrieve Zwerver's plasma sword. He thought about how he had enjoyed wielding it as he hooked it to his belt. The weary Imperial hoped there were no more enemies and that the fight was over. It puzzled him as to why Percival had sent him to this ambush.

Suddenly he heard some noise nearby. Romulus turned towards it and pulled out his gun, preparing himself for another foe. When a man stumbled out of the forest, Romulus realized he recognized him. It was Xion Corsair.

Xion: "Don't shoot!" he yelled raising his hands as he walked towards Romulus. "You've already killed me once!"

Romulus: "Corsair?" he asked, stowing the gun. "What is going on?"

Xion: "You survived. I knew you would. Though I didn't expect you to kill everyone... Well at least I don't have to pay them now," he said looking at the corpses in the distance.

Romulus: "*You* sent those assassins after me?"

Xion: "On the Governor's orders. He wanted to test you. See if you were worth the investment."

Romulus was furious. This was the Governor's idea of a "test"?

He then looked up at Claire.

Claire: "They all deserve to die. It should be you sitting in the Governor's chair, ruling over the Imperium."

Xion raised his eyebrow and looked behind him to where Romulus' gaze was pointed.

Xion: "What are you looking at?"

Romulus: "It is nothing. Some sort of... Hallucination."

Xion: "Perhaps the elements in Rerador's atmosphere that you were exposed to are having an effect on your mind. I'm sure it'll go away. So anyway, how do you like the suit? I helped Q with its construction since the design was based on one of my earlier projects."

Romulus: "I hate it," he spat.

Xion: "Oh..." Xion said disappointed. "Why? Can't you feel the power it's given you? It's enhanced your strength, your endurance. Not to mention your skill. I know you like your swords but come on, you're not much of a duelist, you've never had the training. Normally I doubt you'd have survived against some of those bounty hunters. It's the combat muscle memory I gave you that helped your sword fighting."

Romulus: "You have turned me into a monster. You have desecrated my body!"

Xion: "You've been improved. You should be thanking me. I've made you invaluable to the Governor."

Romulus reached out and clutched Xion by the throat. His urge to kill him was strong.

Xion: "The... Governor won't... Like... that!" he struggled to get out.

Finally Romulus let him go and Xion dropped to the ground, rubbing his neck, gasping for air.

Romulus: "I want my body back," said Romulus as Xion picked himself back up.

Xion: "You're vain. I understand. I was too."

Romulus: "I want you to make me a Cast."

Xion: "To transfer your consciousness into? Sure. I can give you a body. But it won't be your body."

Romulus: "What do you mean?"

Xion: "My process, the way I make Casts. No two Casts are alike. I can't replicate someone else's body either. I can get close but little things will be different, things that might bother you. Not to mention consciousness transference is experimental technology. Not everyone survives. I was lucky."

Romulus looked down with frustration.

Xion: "Sorry. I can't help you."

Romulus: "Take me back to Earth."

Xion: "Alright. Come with me."

**Elsewhere**

General Convo and Captain Gallius were still aboard Azreal's ship. Convo looked at his fellow captive curiously.

Convo: "I know you. Captain Tyden Gallius, isn't it? You were fighting on Rerador.

Tyden: "Indeed I was."

Convo: "Your Imperium decimated a whole city with a black hole."

Tyden: "Something for the history books, I suppose."

Convo: "We would've had that technology. If we could've afforded it."

Tyden: "I think no one should have that technology. But better my side has it than yours."

Convo: "Is it?"

Convo paused for a moment before speaking again.

Convo: "Are you as eager to get back to the war as I am?"

Tyden: "The Rerador war? You think think there will be a war to get back to? If your people have any sense, they would have already surrendered."

Convo: "If they had any courage they would've kept fighting."

Tyden: "Well for their sake, I pray they had more sense than courage."

There was another tense silence between the two.

Tyden: "So how did this Azreal fellow manage to capture you?"

Convo: "I'm not sure. I remember a cruiser was about to crash into my command center. I was just barely able to escape before it did. But I was struck on the head by something, lost consciousness. The bounty hunter must've been patrolling the area when he found me. What about you? How did he get you?"

Tyden: "Well it was my ship that crashed into your command center. I got thrown out, somehow survived only to get kidnapped."

Convo: "It was your ship?" he asked beginning to chuckle. "That's funny."

Tyden: "I guess it is."

Suddenly there was a vibration from the floor and a audible whirring that came from underneath the ship as the landing gear came down.

Tyden: "We're landing."

Tyden and Convo waited to see what was going to happen now. A few moments after they had landed, Azreal returned to the cargo hold and stood in front of his prisoners.

Tyden: "Where are we?"

Azreal: "Qoter. I decided to turn you into the Imperium. So that means good news for you, captain. You're going home. But not so good news for you, general. Now sit tight while I talk to the officers outside."

Tyden looked at Convo once Azreal left the hold.

Tyden: "Bad luck."

Azreal walked down the boarding ramp of his ship, towards two GI officers waiting on the landing pad. He had landed at an Imperial base.

Azreal: "Evening, gentlemen."

GI 1: "You said you had some high value captives?"

Azreal: "Oh yeah. You'll never believe who one of them is. They're in my cargo hold, we can go get them."

As Azreal talked, the other officer had been looking at something on his datapad.

GI 2: "Wait a minute. This is Azreal. He was at Token Canyon."

GI 1: "This is the Token guy?" The officer turned back towards the bounty hunter. "You son of a bitch. You're blacklisted!"

Azreal: "Now listen-" he began saying nervously as the officers took out their guns.

GI 1: "Put your hands up. You're coming with us."

Azreal: "Yeah, I don't think so."

Realizing the situation had gone sour, Azreal fired his pistol from his hip, shooting both officers. He then scrambled back into his ship and fired up the engines.

Convo and Tyden looked at each other.

Convo: "We're leaving?"

The base was now on red alert. Turrets fired at Azreal's ship but he had already blasted away.

Once he was clear from danger, Azreal returned to the hold where his confused captives remained.

Tyden: "What happened?"

Azreal: "I forgot I had been blacklisted by the Imperium. A little while ago I ambushed one of their convoys at Token Canyon. Guess they're still holding a grudge for that," he chuckled.

Convo: "So you are returning me to Aurelia then?"

Azreal: "I thought about it. But Aurelia's not too wealthy these days, are they? I could've gotten two or three hundred thousand for the captain and a million for you from the Imperium. Can you tell me I would get that much from Aurelia?"

Convo looked at the floor, frustrated.

Azreal: "So we're gonna try somewhere else. Next stop is Iapra."

Convo's head shot up when he heard the name of the planet. And his concern grew.

**New York City**

**Administrative Building**

Eventually after arriving on Earth and getting his armor repaired, Romulus strode into Percival's office.

Percival: "Romulus. Was your mission successful?"

Without saying anything Romulus tossed the drive with the Kepler Neos virus stored on it, onto Percival's desk. The Governor looked at it as it slid towards him. He could tell Romulus was angry.

Percival: "The virus, good. It will help us in our invasion."

Romulus: "You sent bounty hunters to kill me."

Percival: "And instead you killed them. It was a test, to see if you are as capable as you once were. And you passed."

Romulus was angered by Percival's actions. But what could he do? He couldn't kill the most powerful man in the System. He then remembered the conversation he had had with the scientist in listening post Vando. She claimed to know about the Shift. She also said to ask Percival about Christopher Sterling.

Romulus: "What happened to Christopher Sterling?" asked Romulus after a long pause.

Percival: "My predecessor?"

Percival was becoming worried that his enforcer was going to start asking dangerous questions.

Percival: "It's tragic. He committed suicide in his apartment not long after the end of the Rerador war."

Romulus: "Is that so?" Romulus was unsure whether to believe this. After all the Governor was quite deceitful.

Percival: "It is not too surprising, I must say. The man was depressed. He lived alone, he had no family. His people had lost all faith in him and they kicked him out of office."

Romulus: "So you didn't... Kill him?"

Percival: "Why would I do such a thing?"

Romulus: "To cover something up. That's why you sent me to that base. You needed that scientist gone and you knew I would kill her. They all knew about the Shift. And so do you."

Percival: "You talked to her."

Percival had thought if he hadn't warned the listening post of Romulus' arrival they would have provoked him and he would've slaughtered them all. It seemed that plan didn't quite work. The governor leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.

Percival: "Perhaps it's time to loop you in. I didn't tell you before because I wasn't sure if I could trust you. Yes, I know about the Shift. I know what caused it, who was behind it. You and I are are part of a very small number of people who know. And that number must remain very small. It must not become public knowledge."

Romulus: "Why?"

Percival: "Because people will want to go back! Back where we came from. But there's nothing there for us. Here, there's infinite opportunity. The move of the Earth was a gift."

Romulus: "From my point of view, it's done more harm than good. The Shift started a chain of movements. Because of it, I gained so much only to lose it all. It led me to you. You've stripped me of my name, my identity. You've lied to me, manipulated me! Used me for your own gain!"

Percival: "Enough! Enough whining! Or I will finish what Dino Modena could not."

This quieted Romulus.

Percival: "I have grown tired of your complaining. Tired of you questioning and doubting me and my plan. Nothing his changed, my friend. Our mission to bring peace and order to the stars remains. And you will have all that I promised you. But I must know. Do you stand with or against me?"

Romulus remained quiet for a few moments.

Percival: "Answer!"

Romulus: "I am with you! I will do what you ask. I will help you erase all the filth that remains in our galaxy."

Percival: "Good. I am glad your sense of loyalty and patriotism has remained intact. Then it is time. Operation: Supremacy is in effect. Make your preparations. Tomorrow the ships depart for the new system."