An Attractive Proposition

An unmarked train, leaving a station near Caviru

The drone of the diesel engine was soothing for a guy like Nyl Rostinaru. The week had been somewhat of a drain on his psyche - do this, do that, transfer this to there, approve of this and send it down the chain of command. The life of a governmental employee in Vekaiyu wasn’t a cushy job by any stretch of the imagination, but in his own little microcosm, he felt like he was making a difference. Soon he’d be back in his little apartment in Soveri, next to the L-train that hummed him to sleep every night.

He settled in his seat, the tension slowly melting the iceball in his stomach. It wasn’t every day he was trusted with government documents, but the deduction given to him by his superior was reasonable: the papers needed to go to Soveri, he was done with his work in Caviru, he lived in Soveri, so it all seemed to fit in place perfectly well. But it wasn’t like he had no idea what he was carrying. He knew exactly what it was, because he had followed this project closely. It started in Skendia, moved to The Levenasi when they obtained / fine-tuned the tech needed for it, and was currently being built in Soveri.

He wasn’t a scientist, but he knew it was important and special. That’s all he really was to know on his particular duty anyway.

The fact that guards were with him put him at ease. He slowly moved his briefcase to the floor next to him after he decided watching the silhouettes of the guards outside of his cabin was enough to make him feel safe. Plus, who would know? He grabbed the paper next to his left and quickly turned to the game section where he could finally work on the day’s Sudoku and crosswords. It wouldn’t be enough to keep him entertained for the five-hour journey, but it would be a good start.

Life in the Special Operations Unit, the military’s intelligence branch, was just that. Special. It took you to exotic locations, let you meet exotic people, let you use exotic weapons and gave your free reign to murder, maim and steal. It was the greatest career, exhilarating, dangerous and good medical coverage. As an inductee into the SOU, you never knew what you would be doing for an assignment. Some agents were outfitted with the most advanced augmentations, they had their all their limbs and a few internals switched out for machine parts, to the point of almost considering them non-human, these were bruisers, meant to kill large swaths of enemy and destroy top secret enemy projects. You then had the hotshot snipers, light, quick and nimble, they could pick off a targets over one thousand meters away with ease, any thing closer than that was dead meat. Last but not least, the infiltrators, they were given the minimum in augs, sometimes none at all. They would immediately set out to their target country and live there for years waiting to be called upon, they were the most dangerous, some went rouge. Rouges never lived much past the day they betrayed their nation. Other infiltrators carried out their missions, passing whatever secrets they found, no matter how small it was.

In a cabin not far from the target sat one of these infiltrators, her hair was a deep brown color, the same for her eyes, her clothes were typical of the fashion of upper middle class humans in Vekaiyu. For five years she had lived, breathed and ate Vekaiyun culture. She became a part of it naturally through training from SOU charm schools. SOU infiltrators were always picked from inductees who had a uncommon appreciation for another culture,they could emulate accents, speak other languages fluently and they were always naturally attractive. These things were necessary for their jobs as spies; societies always valued the attractive over the ugly, no matter how progressive. All of these things were true for her, she had been top of the class, the best of the best in the charm school.

Back in Allegheny she had a regular culturally Alleghenian name, after Charm School training for Vekaiyu, she had a Vekaiyun name, but the name itself was not important and neither was her past name. She had been living a farcical life for so long she had mostly forgotten her old name; all she could remember was that her first name was Emma and that was all she needed to remember. She stared at the wood paneling of the train, for what had seemed like an hour before she moved. Suddenly standing she left her cabin, the feeling of a blade hidden in her waist band reminded her of her purpose. Getting the blade in had been easy, her luck had given her a human security guard, he was so easily manipulated he had forgotten how to properly check for weapons or notice that the metal detector had suddenly stopped working as she stepped through.

The train itself was mostly quiet, everyone stuck to their cabins for the late trip. She walked quietly through the train car’s hallway and entered into the adjoining car. She immediately spotted the two guards blocking entry to her target’s cabin. She kept her movements slow, flashing a smile at one of the guards when his attention turned to her.

“Excuse me gentlemen, would either of you two know which way the drinks car would be?” Her voice was smooth as she asked, but neither of the two guards began to show interest her.

That was the trouble with vulpines, not many showed interest in humans sexually, it would have to be the hard way.

“You’ve come the wrong way ma’am, its in the other direction.” The guard simply answered, turning his gaze away from her.

Emma simply smiled at his response nodding her head. With blinding speed her knife was drawn, removing it from her waistband and slashing the guards throat in one swift movement. The guard for one milli second did not react as it easily cut his skin, he then grabbed at his throat, dropping his weapons while doing so. His attempted screams only elicited gurgles as the infiltrator quickly focused on the next guard. The other guard finally realizing what happened only a half second after her attack brought his sub machine gun to bear, however, the infiltrator, trained for confined quarters combat was able to kick it out of his hands with a vertical kick. He grabbed at his hands as she closed the short distance with her blade, burying it deep up under his chin, severing vital veins and spinal connections. The screams of the second guard could only be heard in his head in the last second before he departed the world of the living.

Blood drenched her blade and her hand as she wiped it on the clothes of the dead guard. Returning it to it’s sheath under the waistband of her pants, she opened the door to find the her target surprised at her entry.

“Hello there,” the words were spoken softly in an almost nonchalant manner. She quickly pulled the bodies into the cabin and grabbed the guns. She sat across from the target and smiled, opening a window she threw the extra sub machine gun out.

“Now, I think you have something for me.” Emma eyed his briefcase as she kept her stolen weapon trained upon him.

The only sound emanating from the cabin was the quick clacking of the wheels against the rails as the car roared across the Vekaiyun countryside en route to Soveri.

Nyl was frantic. While he had witnessed blood before back in the civil war, he wasn’t prepared to see two countrymen dead in front of him. He knew very well what she wanted, but her request was impossible. The moment he’d leave the train without the documents, he’d be convicted of treason, become property of the state, and therefore become fodder to whatever program he was assigned to, be it marching in a minefield, worked to death in the Burdek Lowlands, become some crude experiment, or rot in the Sanakun or another jail if he was lucky. But if there was one thing Vekaiyu was efficient at, it was shedding undesirables. And Vekaiyun secrets were more important than lives.

Worse for him, he forgot the procedure of destroying the documents. There was a way to render the documents useless… some type of procedure that would cause the briefcase to saturate the papers in ink… but his mind froze. He couldn’t think straight. He probably couldn’t even do simple addition if the lady asked of it. No, it was too late for that. Maybe he could dive out the window… it was partly open… but what if he got caught on something and was dragged under by the wheels… that’d be pretty painful. Then again, two guards had just been killed with very little commotion. This lady, whoever she was, meant business.

“No!” he shouted in Unonian. “I have nothing for you!”

Did he even say that? He couldn’t remember. All he could do was nab the briefcase and clutch it with shaking hands. Was this all really happening? Why couldn’t he just close his eyes and be in his small apartment in the city? This was so unfair. Why did it always have to be him?

The infiltrator laughed, a demeaning, snide laugh. Everything about him was humorous at that moment, but the moment passed quickly and her face became deadly serious. She took a moment to listen to her surroundings; nothing, not a trace of movement from any other possible guards. She stood up, gun still pointed at Nyl. Nyl pressed his body into the corner of his seat as if he was wishing he would phase out of existence. As she observed his fear, she pitied him for a moment. The air rushing in from the opened window mitigated the smell of fresh blood in the room, she sat down on his side of the cabin inching ever closer to him. Wrapping her arm around him and jamming the barrel of the gun into his ribs, she could feel his fear through his trembling body.

For the next few moments all was quiet and then she chuckled quietly before softly speaking in perfect Unonian, “This country is ugly and beautiful to me, it shows both of those faces quiet often, don’t you think?”

Nyl did not answer, his eyes squeezed shut as he waited for whatever her next move would be.

“I know what you are going through right now, you want to have never have been involved in this, you want to be cuddled into your warm bed, fast asleep. You can’t betray your country! How dare I ask you of that! Only the gods know what the consequences will be for a betrayal of your home nation.”

She let her words sink in, her grip on his shoulder increasing every passing moment. “You poor thing,” the infiltrator now feigning sympathy, “We have two options, the first is to tell me the codes for the case and I end your life with as little pain as possible or you can keep being stubborn and lie to me about having nothing or whatever excuse you can give to stall and I cut out your eyes and leave you to your government friends. It is your choice.”

The infiltrator relieved some of the pressure she had put on his shoulder, but kept the gun jammed into his ribs. She brought her lips close to his ear and whispered, “I promise it will be painless, choose now.”

He remembered made-for-tv shows he used to watch as a kid, how they’d always seem to teach how Vekaiyuns would sacrifice themselves for the greater good, because they were like that and knew the greater good was more important than the self. Countless examples in the classroom on the “great heroes” of Vekaiyu, how they sacrificed themselves to secure the safety and sanctity of the nation, of their culture, of their beliefs. How very important it was to think of the collective numbers of the Vekaiyun people as a single entity and a hero as a scab that prevents the body from bleeding to death. Who knows where that idea came from. All that mattered was most Vekaiyuns believed it.

Or at least, that’s what everyone seemed to think. Nyl bowed his head and extended the briefcase to her. “Please, just don’t harm me.” He didn’t know what would happen after this. Maybe he could have enough time to jump the train and avoid the authorities. Either way, a chance at a delayed death was better than an immediate one.

The Infiltrator relinquished the small vulpine and took the case from him. Before examining the case she couldn’t help but look over him in disgust. The case itself was of metal construction and required a code to unlock. She delivered a quick, strong horizontal kick to Nyl’s chest.

“Last chance mongrel. What’s the code?”

She demanded the information from him hoping getting that information would be as easy as getting him to give up the case itself.

Nyl squawked as he was kicked in the side. “No code,” he coughed. “You’ll die… diamine vials… deterrence.” He sat up slowly and adjusted his glasses. He then placed his wrist on the code input interface, and the briefcase opened slowly, revealing sensitive documents inside the compartment.

Building 38, Soveri Defense Zone Complex
“Reading on Informant AV-212,” a control operator relayed in a monotonous tone. He adjusted his headphones and watched as a red light blinked in front of him. Below the light was a screen that relayed the position of the disturbance. Others who sat near him paid little heed to the atypical occurrence - their jobs were important too.

“This was not planned,” someone said on the other end. “No reports of suspicious activity?” A chorus of ‘no sirs’ followed. “The contents of that briefcase must not be disclosed to any unauthorized personnel. Report on the hazard status.”

“It’s an older case. Benzidine derivative. Not active, not deployed.”

“Something is awry,” the commanding officer replied as another alarm went off. “Have DMW take care of that, this is more important. Guards?”

“No response from the guards to give clearance.”

“There is a situation. Order the train to be stopped at the next junction. I wand Neutralization Officers and armed men to greet them stat.”

“Station in Ushkigovaru has been ordered to intercept train! Conductor will be notified of emergency procedure TI-124!”

“125!”

“Correction, 125!”

“Train to reach station in nine minutes!”

“Neutralization Officers on their way! Estimated time of arrival four minutes!”

“Ushkigovaru police and quartered soldiers are being notified of incident!”

“Imlevoy airfield on alert! Fighters available if needed. Can strike if needed.”

“Relay all information to Vekaiyun Security Committee immediately. They should be informed of any developments and allowed appropriate opportunity to assist. Notify Caviru Defense Zone of developments.”

Slowly the sound of orders was drowned out over the sounds of various channels clicking on and off and the typing of dozens of keyboards in the room.

Ushkigovaru Station, Ushkigovaru
The train was greeted by a group of Vekaiyuns clad in police uniforms, firefighter garb, military coats, and various other uniforms typical of Vekaiyun enforcement. The station had quickly been quarantined due to reports of an injured incoming train. As the train reeled to a halt, the sound of grinding metal from the wheels locking on the rails was loud enough to hide the barking orders from officer to common soldier.

The first to board the train were neutralization officers. Charged with removing any threats, they were quick to follow their credo of “quickly restoring balance to the pH of the social environment”: their duty was to act as fast and as clean as possible to return the station to normal operating conditions and send the train back on its way. They quickly began filing people out of the train as the conductor informed the passengers the train had engine problems and needed to stop at the station for a quick repair while at the same time watching for the signal and any sign of suspicious activity. Officers began escorting passengers to safety away from the vehicle in case of fire or explosion while work was being done. Engineers boarded the train in the front to diagnose what would be a perfectly functioning engine. The conductor would have to stall them until he was given the all-clear in accordance to the warning code he was issued.

The infiltrator smiled at the documents revealing. “Thats a good dog.” She said, making sure to get one last insult in. She remembered him begging not to kill him once the exhilaration of obtaining the documents wore off. She almost let him go, but she changed her mind when the train began to pull into the station. “Sorry boy, looks like I can’t help you, don’t want you to blow my cover just yet.”

The infiltrator took her knife and slashed his throat before he could realize what was about to happen. The blood stained his clothes and the floor as it rushed out of the gaping wound. He sat there holding his neck as he attempted to yell, but the blood and cut vocal cords stopped him from making more than a gurgled yelp as he quickly bled out. She wiped her blade clean and returned it to it’s hiding spot.

Stuffing the documents into the waistband of her pants, she covered them up with her shirt and exited the cabin. The soldiers turned the corner just as she had finished closing door. Standing there her hands stained with the blood of three dead people she quickly fell to her knees and put on the waterworks, she screamed out in Unonian her accent trained to that of a human born in the Vekaiyu. “The murderer he escaped! How could he have done this?” she cried out.

The neutralization officer who was closest to the human, his long slate gray coat with red collar waving slightly with his gate, was quick to act. Without speaking, two soldiers near him drew their guns and trained them on the blood-stained individual. More soldiers from the back end of the train began to close in, attempting to figure out just what had happened. When they noticed two dead soldiers, they halted, which prompted another officer to inspect the scene.

“Why are your hands soaked in blood?” the first officer asked slowly. He knew no murderer could have escaped the station given the circumstances - the occupants were in the process of being accounted for outside and any suspicious characters would be held for questioning, or at least relayed across their network via the ear piece in his right ear. Suspicious was not a pleasant condition in Vekaiyu.

“We will get to the bottom of this.” He pointed to one of the other neutralization officers behind her. “Search her.”