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M.A.L.T: Bringing Order To Chaos Ch1. The introduction My footsteps echoed through the long corridor, the granite stone floor was polished to perfection. You could almost see your own reflection in it. The fluorescent lighting along the walls gave it a gloomy look. Between the pillars supporting the massive construction were pictures of old senators. Their faces looked grim and lacked the joyous aura that usually surrounds people being photographed. Most of these faces were unknown to me, some however made gave me a faint recollection of their deeds, which were not always commendable. As we came closer to the enormous double doors at the end of the corridor more faces became familiar to me, the portraits had been arranged chronologically. I felt a sudden prod in the ribs. Glaring over to my left I see one of my escorts turn his pulserifle back into normal position. Making a mental note to kill the escort as soon as I get the chance I bite my lip. ‘Wait here’ the captain of the escorts commands, while he opens the double doors and enters the next room. A silence falls and all that is audible is the heavy breathing of the rookie escort to my left. Perhaps it was the thrill of entering the senates bastion for the first time, or the fear of messing up this important mission, either way you could tell by his posture and nervous attitude he was not entirely comfortable with the situation he had been put in. Seconds pass, but they seem like minutes. The tension rises as we hear faint footsteps nearing the other side of the door. The large chrome doors swing open and bright light fills the corridor. Covering my eyes to let them adjust to the sudden change in luminosity I hear a voice ordering our entrance. The voice sounds slow and deep and echoes through the corridor until it finally dies out. A firm prod in the ribs abides me to move forward. Entering the room I opened my eyes and let my eyes wander. The room made up of a gigantic cylinder, with several floors and balconies overlooking the central plateau. Various flags and banners hung from flagpoles neatly arranged on the walls. The flags bore the crest of the house to which each of the senators belonged. At the bottom of the cylinder a huge semicircle towered from the floor, the legislators seats placed on top of it, making it necessary for those standing on the floor to look up, a typical sign of vanity of which many leaders suffer. Slowly I entered the alabaster ring of power, treading on the emblem of the senate etched into the floor. The voice began: “You are a difficult man to track down mister Lawsons. However the senates resources stretch very far if it comes to something we really want.” While the voice paused briefly I caught a hint of the speakers face, covered in the shadows of a black hooded cape. The face looked grim and old, markings of stress and anger were clearly visible within the wrinkles that ran through his forehead. “You have committed various crimes against the Senate. Attempts to sabotage our research, grand theft of equipment and illegal distribution of classified information. Now is the time this comes to an end !” The voice sounded slightly amused while reading the allegations on which I was captured. “Although it is not our custom to deal with common criminals ourselves, we believe that executing you would be …” The voice paused as if he was searching for words to express the torment I would suffer for having a go at the Senate. “A shame…” My mouth fell open upon hearing these last words, could it be that the senate had mercy, that they admired my rebellious nature, or were they just making fun of me before sentencing me to death. A female voice took over, and I noticed a hint of amusement in her voice. “Mister Lawsons, I see you are amazed by the words of our wise senator. Let me explain them to you.” The female senator sounded young and frisk, she was probably one of the newer additions to the Senate and I could not recollect any information about her. I peered over to the grey hooded female sitting to my right, her posture was proud and emitted an aura that demanded respect. “The Senate has many enemies.” She continued “Major conspiracies are being forged this very moment… This must come to an end. However the Senate cannot risk an all out war against the large corporations dominating the lands as it would result in the downfall of all order and turn world into an instrument of chaos and anarchy.” She paused as to let her words sink in. “That is why the Senate has set up a special project to fight these conspiring corporations. The name is Mean and L33Thal Tactics or in short MALT.” She allowed me to pick up my jaw from the ground after her revelation before she continued. “You have been selected out of a select group of ‘specialists’ to become part of this project and carry out the missions of the Senate… Any questions?” A pause fell as I contemplated my next few words. Finally I spoke: “What if I don’t want to work for the Senate?” The echo of my voice died out and a covered snickering was heard. “Then you will be executed on the spot mister Lawsons!” It was again the voice of the middle Senator that spoke loudly. “And since you are known to value your life above anything else, we are quite certain that you will be joining this project without the need of encouragement” The enjoyment was now clearly audible in his voice, I bet he secretly wished I would turn down the offer. “So what you are saying is that I will be part of a special team, equipped by the Senate, to take down all who oppose you?” “Exactly!” “Sounds cool enough…. Where do I sign up?” I said with a grin on my face. “You just did… Guards, escort mister Lawsons to the transport, he will be taken to the MALT base immediately!” With that order, I received a new prod in the ribs forcing me to move out of the circle. I quickly turned around and addressed the Senator again : “One more question” I asked sheepishly. “Yes, what is it?” “If I am an important part of this team, that means that you will not come down on me for mere futilities righ?” “As a member of MALT you will enjoy certain privileges, yes” “Ok, that’s what I wanted to know” I spoke as I turned around facing my escort. Before he even knew what was coming the palm of my hand struck his nose at the base, sending the little bone right up his brains, killing the escort instantly. As I grinned and turned towards my other escort I saw him shivering with fear. Calmly I spoke “Shall we go now?” Nodding hesitantly and glancing one last time at the corpse of his fellow escort he uttered: ”shh shsh sure … ff f follow me please” as he led me through the large double doors. “He sure is feisty, isn’t he ?” the black senator spoke once the doors had closed. “Just the way I like it… Just the way” the woman responded, folding her hands in satisfaction. Ch2. Unusual Allies The night was pitch black, the absence of the moon made navigating through these mountain ranges a really though job. Luckily the guidance systems of the shuttle had every inch of the canyon mapped and displayed on the HUD. Red interior lighting combined with the gentle repeating bleeps of the navigation systems made me doze off a couple of times during the 8 hour trip. Conversation was not something the senate guards were accustomed to apparently and that made snoozing a whole lot easier. Besides, I was not really in a talkative mood anyway. Looking back on recent events I still couldn’t quite figure out how the senate managed to capture me, it had all gone so incredibly fast, one minute I was buying plans to a remote research facility belonging to a major corporation, the next minute the bar had been stormed by senate troopers. It had all seemed like a regular raid on a lowlife bar, but when they only held me captive the question marks started arising. There were multiple guys in there that had done more serious crimes against the senate than me; they could easily have detained all of them. Instead I was taken into a shuttle and transported to an unknown location without the usual questioning. Later I found thanks to a persuasive left fist that they were taking me to the senate headquarters for questioning, after that I was put to sleep for the duration of the trip, I guess they didn’t like the bruises I caused when they dared to look away for a mere second. A grin was noticeable on my face in the dim red light as I caught sight of a red flashing dot on the navigation screen. We were finally coming close to our destination. The icy mountain wind struck me in the face as my boots touched the dark landing platform. Pulling up the collar of my leather jacket I observed my surroundings. The landing platform was hanging on the side of a steep canyon, upwards I could see the dark clouds that obscured the stars and the moon, downwards all I could see was darkness. The platform led into a small cave that concealed the armored blast doors that marked the entrance to the base. A senate guard approached the platform and instructed me to follow him into the cave. Silently I obeyed while shielding my face from the cold wind. Inside, the temperature was a lot more bearable but still cold enough to see my own breath. Behind the blast doors lay a small sentry post with a few auto-track turrets to prevent any unauthorized access to the base. The turrets are triggered by entering a wrong pass code at the door, when you set foot on the pressure sensitive floor the barrels of the sentry gun will start belching shells, effectively ripping every moving target apart. The guard smiled as he finished his small anecdote on base security. I just nodded absently, base security had never been a problem for me, since I had evaded most systems with ease in the past without even scratching my armor. After clearing the remaining security checks with another guard in a booth we entered a large industrial looking elevator. From the control panel I gathered that we were on level 46 of the base with 4 levels up remaining. The guard set the lift to take us down to level 25 and with a shock we started moving. A red screen displaying the current level started counting down slowly but soon picked up in speed, arriving at level 25 within seconds. A well lit corridor was revealed when the doors slid open. The guard started walking past some doors that were marked ‘storage’ and I followed closely, making mental notes of everything I saw. After a few corners the guard stopped in front of a large double door. The plaque next to the door said ‘Briefing Room 1’. ‘We’re here. They’re expecting you inside.’ He said while he ran his security card through the slot. A soft ‘ping’ was heard while the doors slid open in a fluid motion. Cautious I stepped into the room. A large blue oval table covered almost the entire room, judging from reflections of the light on the table I could make out it was made of polished marble, a very rare and expensive commodity in this day and age. 11 seats surrounded the table, 5 on each side and one at the head, facing the door. 4 seats were already taken. ‘Ah mister Lawsons, so nice of you to finally join us, please have a seat.’ The man at the head of the table said while he pointed to an empty seat next to scruffy looking guy who was cleaning his glasses with a small cloth. Slowly I approached the seat and let my gaze wander over the other members of the table. From behind thick eyebrows a mean glare was following my every move. Inspecting the guys attire a bit closer I noticed the emblem of the Senate Black Viper squadron, an elite crack team that was notorious amongst the underground dwellers, few had confronted them and lived to tell the tale, fortunately I was one of those few lucky ones - The Black Viper had been hot on my tail one time when I broke into a senate research facility to steal the plans of an experimental gun. Bad intel on base security had caused the alarm to go off before I could get my hands on the mainframe terminal. It had been a hard fight and barely alive I managed to escape. - A hint of recognition was noticeable when our eyes met, but the cold stare returned almost instantly. To his right sat a big man, I estimated his age to be late 40’s, judging from the grey in his hair. He seemed a bit preoccupied with something he had on his notepad and didn’t even bother to look up at me as I was greeted by the obvious leader of the group, he just kept scribbling stuff on the pad. As I sat down the leader continued : ‘Let me introduce you to the members of M.A.L.T. I am Justerini Brooks, leader of this project. I report directly to the senate and I can act well beyond the boundaries of their power.’ pointing to the man on my left he said: ’This is Jack Daniels, he is our computer expert, you want information? He’ll get it for you’ letting his hand flow across the table he continued: ‘Glen Fiddich, expert droidpilot and capable of killing people with everything except his eyes’ a grin appeared on around his mouth while saying the last part of the sentence. “Finally we have Chivas Regal, wizzkid in the field of science, many inventions of his have resulted in profitable merchandise for droids” When Chivas heard his name mentioned, he briefly tore his eyes from the notepad to give me a nod, but dove back into his work before I could acknowledge it. ‘I am sure you will get to know these guys a lot better in the time you are here. Now let me briefly outline the reason why we are here.’ Justerini paused for a second while he weighed his words. ‘MALT has been created to do what the senate can’t do without losing whatever respect and power they have left. The power of the corporations is growing, while the influence of the senate is diminishing. We are here to shift that balance back into the Senates Favour. To do this we can use whatever means necessary, even if it means destroying entire corporations. We have access to whatever technology the Senate has, as well as their nearly unlimited funds, whatever we gain in the process is ours to keep. Any questions?’ A long silence fell over the room as everyone, except Chivas, seemed to be pondering what just had been said. Finally Jack broke the silence: ‘Who decides what missions we do? I mean, is the senate giving us orders or can we choose what we do ourselves?’ ‘The Senate will only suggest certain missions. The rest is up to us. If the Senate is pleased with our results, they keep the project running, if not then we are canceled.’ Another silence fell and Justerini saw this as a valid means to end this briefing “I suggest you all get a good night sleep now. You will be informed of any upcoming missions. Dismissed” With that all members stood up and headed towards the door The guard escorted me to my quarters that were located on floor 23. During our little walk he explained to me that all my personal belongings had been transferred to my quarters, and that I would find all info I needed on the terminal there. Entering the room I was amazed by all the luxury that was provided, but being exhausted I collapsed on the bed falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. Written by Bart