Pilot profile: Zeck Arrow

[Zeck]

Part 11.8, The moment of truth

There was something very strange going on between Sandatüruk and Val Rosel that Zeck Arrow didn't quite yet comprehend. However he remembered the card diviner woman Uruna Luna telling that there's a man of considerable influence, who Zeck interpreted to be Sandatüruk, but at the same time that man was said to be hiding something, according to the divination. Could the divination be true and could the ongoing rhetoric tension between Rosel and Sandatüruk relate to that?
"As I a moment ago thanked you for your loyalty to me, Osman, I want also to express my most sincere and deepest admiration for your dedication and persistence on your mission, I really do. But now is the moment of truth. Which one will prove stronger: your loyalty to your true master and your dedication to your lifetime mission, or the bonds that your staying in the Bazaar of the Stars have created, including your loyalty to me?
"I...uh...", Sandatüruk said.
"What is this all about?" Zeck tried to involve and understand.
"Patience, Zeck", Rosel said. "Osman, I didn't expect you to hesitate at all, so the whole situation is very confusing and fascinating at the same time. Honestly I will appreciate any decision you will choose in the forthcoming moments, minutes or milleseconds. The way I exist nowadays is such that it's almost irrelevant for me whether I exist or not. I even prepared a data packet for Zeck in case you would have pulled your shot right away. But we've come already this far. And since we have, I ask you to delay the completion of your task at least for some more time, for Zeck's sake. He has the right to hear the answers to his questions directly from me, doesn't he?"
"Yes, sir..." Sandatüruk agreed.
"No need to be ashamed, Osman. You do what ever you find to be the right thing to do. Cease hesitating, pull your gun and pick your target any time you want, but think carefully which target you choose. Choose me, you propably will have time to pull trigger sufficient number of times to kill my brain. But my bodyguard might be hyperwired and might have time to react and leap in front of me and shield me from your bullets or...well, maybe not after all. But she would definitely be able to blast your head off afterwards.
On the other hand, Zeck, standing so close to you at the moment, could stop you while you were still taking your gun out of it's holster. He is, by the recorded information, highly trained in close quarters combat too. But it remains unknown whether Zeck remembers those skills or not - and no, don't answer to this, Zeck, we want to keep it this way for the extra thrill it brings to the situation. So, Osman, you might want to take couple of evading steps away from Zeck, keeping him between you and my bodyquard so that she couldn't open fire at you with Zeck blocking her aim. From your tactical cover position you could then try to shoot first Zeck, then immediately my bodyguard and finally me. We can't but guess the outcome of the firefight between you and my bodyguard - unless of course you choose and try the scenario described and we'll see how it all turns out? But, since I've still kept my life and thus am able to continue, let me tell you something about 3-Solveig, my bodyguard."
"3-Solveig. She's a clone?" Zeck interrupted.
"Solveig. You mean that Solveig?" Sandatüruk said in awe.
"The very one", Rosel answered. "You see, you aren't the first and only assassin sent to cut me out of this world. Some two decades ago the legendary bounty hunter of that era Solveig was hired to assassinate me. Her methods weren't even nearly as sophisticated as your's, Osman, but she made her way to me, eliminated my previous bodyguard in a fight where she herself was rendered incapable to kill me right away, so I had time to speak to her. And she was soon bought of her mission only by paying her three times the amount she was promised to earn by killing me for leaving me alive instead. You should never hire a bounty hunter for there is a too big chance he or she is more interested in the bounty than in the hunt. On the top of the deal I made with Solveig I offered her some information carrying very personal value for her in exhange for exactly three clones of her. As you know, or maybe you don't, the clones of our technology have only a seven years lifespan, so the 1-Solveig and 2-Solveig have already passed away making the present one the last of our deal. And even she has no more than two months left. But untill then she carries all the traits, reflexes and characteristics that the original Solveig had. 3-Solveig also wears a thick armor underneath her garbs so she wouldn't be an easy one to take down, even for a superior shooter like you, Osman.
So, here I am, at the point-blank distance and the exitement is at it's highest!"

 

[Zeck]

Part 11.9, The moment of truth

The suspense was tingly. Everyone was waiting for Osman Sandatüruk's next move, including himself. Then he spoke.
"Master Rosel, your reasoning only complicated the situation and my decision making", he said. "But you forgot to mention there is actually a fourth target too."
"A new thrill! But I hope you don't do it, Osman", Rosel said.
"Shoot myself?"
"Yes, don't choose that."
"How can you hope me not to shoot myself but feel indifferent if I shoot you, sir?
"Well, I have a suggestion for you and...wait. Ah, yes, there is a paradox. A transhuman being like me tends to have kognitive dissonance every now and then, especially when emotions run on overdrive."
"Are you really here to kill Val, Osman?" Zeck asked.
"Yes. That is the mission I was given twenty years ago."
"By the FICE?"
"Hah, not the FICE, mister Arrow. But I will never reveal my true client."
"Again I have to admire your loyalty, Osman", Rosel said.
"The hell with loyalty! It's worth nothing! I've lost my life for that. I have to kill you, sir...but I can't do it anymore. And once they'll find out I've missed my long waited opportunity I'm done for, so I can as well do it myself, here and now."
"If you can't live with the fact you might miss your opportunity now, you'd better follow your mission and try to complete your task, but think about this: what will happen to the Bazaar of the Stars? Zeck propably doesn't know this yet, but this throne and that big block above me are an Yggdrasil-unit. It is a computer controlling and taking care of the main functions of this ship. At the same time it provides lifesupport for it's human operator, that being me, and it doesn't function without it's human part. I don't survive without it, and if I'm cut off the whole ship will be endangered. I am the very heart, brain and soul of this ship. It will, however, go on without me via the crew taking control, but for how long? How long does it take that someone inside or outside finds out the soul upholding the balance and harmony is gone? Insiders begin quarreling about who should step in charge. Outsiders might want to take over the ship to secure the precious information stored in the secret chambers of this vessel. The merchant alley would turn to a street riot. There will be violence, killing; a war will erupt inside the ship in no time. Do you find our creation, this ship and the way of life it carries worth conserving, Osman? You've already raised a small family here. If you kill me what will happen to them? Should you survive the attempt of my assassination alive, would you desert your family or take them with you back to your old home? What will wait you back there anyways? Would you be happier there or here?"
"The fourth target starts to sound like the only option now", Sandatüruk said.
"No. There is an alternative. Should my existence continue, I'm going to need you by my side, here in my court", Rosel said.
"Here?" Sandatüruk asked.
"Yes. I just told you my current bodyguard is running out of time. I offer you her place as my bodyguard, but the contract demands you must never leave...I was about to say 'this room', that's what the deal has been with the previous bodyguards, but we might find a solution where you could temporarily leave the court, but never this ship. Because of the way this meeting has progressed, my trust in you is even greater it has ever been before, Osman."
"What a tempting suggestion. But they would find out..."
"No they won't. And what if they would? Let them send another assassin. It is important for our survival that our security is constantly under test."
"I...uh, have to think..."
"Don't think too long, Osman. It should be an easy decision to make", said a female voice in the speaker on the side wall.
"Falma!" Sandatüruk shouted. "Wha- you knew...I mean...!?"
"I contacted your wife years ago, Osman", Rosel said.
"I feel so ashamed."
"No need for you to be ashamed. I'm the one who should be", Falma said.

***

"Now that you've heard what I have to offer for your future, should you choose life over death, we can proceed to Zeck's issues while I still breath and talk", Val Rosel stated leaving Osman Sandatüruk to consider whether he should or should not try to complete his mission.
"Don't you want me to leave?" Sandatüruk asked.
"Please, stay if you wish. So, Zeck, where should we start?" Rosel asked.
"What happened to you, Val?" Zeck said.
"What happened to me is a mere side story in the main story concerning you and Kielo. Oh, how I wish she was here too, I've missed both of you so much. A day hasn't passed without me running a virtual recording of our flying operations of the old times, and I thank this technology making it possible to revisit those moments. Do you remember it, Zeck, us flying together?"
"Some way. Remotely."
"We worked for the FICE of that era, about 80 years ago. We three formed the so called FOX squad, that is; FICE offensive execution squad."
"Wouldn't that abbreviate as FOE?"
"I guess FOE had a kind of vile clang in it so X was chosen instead of E for the last letter."
"Who was the third pilot again?"
"Are you not listening? Kielo of course."
"Hah, sure, that was a good one. No way."
"I would laugh if I could", Rosel said. "I would laugh but not for the same reason you are laughing for. She was ranked first in her year class of Nation Fleet Federation pilot academy and the ace pilot of our squad."

 

[Zeck]

Part 13, Academy days 2

Again we jump backwards in the main story for a short flashback. The part 11 has already quite many pieces, but it'll get even more after this one.

The following took place about 85 years before the first alien artifact was found in Vega.

A ball was organized at the mid point of every year class's training at the Nation Fleet Federation Defence Force Academy. Medals were given and promotions declared, there were some boring speeches and of course dancing all night long. Though it happened in military context it was the night everyone was allowed to wear civilian suits and dresses, and what a sight it was. The ball was held in a great congress hall at the current flag ship of NFF, Hespereia.
This was the night Zeck Arrow first time met Kielo. As soon as her long emerald green dress caught his eyes he couldn't help searching her slender vase like figure over and over again to his eyes from the sea of people. For some unknown reason no one had asked the lady for a dance in the whole evening. There was a certain aura of integrity around her making other people keeping their distance, but Zeck decided to be the one to ask her for a waltz or two. So he went and bowed like a gentleman and he wasn't rejected. From the first step on they moved together as one, elegantly and easy, not one leading another or one following anothers lead.
"Beautiful dress you have", Zeck said before even introducing himself to the lady.
"Oh, really. I bet most people find it a bit...how should I put it...stupid or something."
"Why?"
"I've dressed as myself."
"What are you, an emerald?"
"No. A lily-of-the-valley. Can't you see, I even have the little flowers on my dress."
There were little white pearls woven in delicate stripes on the silky textile.
"I see, now that you mentioned it's obvious, but what does all this botany have to do with you?"
"You're funny. It's my name, Kielo. It's finnish for lily-of-the valley."
Suddenly they found out they were both finnish speaking citizens of NFF.
"How come haven't we ever met before?" Zeck wondered.
"It's a big fleet, though it's made of leftovers of Terran nations. But I think I've seen you couple of times at the lecture room and hangar area."
"It could be that the uniforms we usually wear give us a totally different outlook. I mean I've had hard times even recognizing my closest comrades tonight."

***

Later that night, after some two or three songs danced, Zeck met one of his fellows, Rockford, at the bar counter.
"Are you suicidal or something, o' Zeck, my buddy?" Rockford asked half joking, half serious.
"Maybe, why so, Rockford?"
"The lady you danced with, she's a crazy one."
"What do you mean? Mental disorder? Or she didn't just want to dance with you?" Zeck said laughing.
"Ouch. No, not like that. She is the craziest pilot of this bunch of people, a wild one. No one can match her manoeuvres. She flies fearlesly like she had a deathwish or something."
"I knew she's a good pilot. I could tell it by the way she moves when dancing."
"Aw come on! Are you a pilot or a poet?"
"I'm just saying the truth."
"Well you two surely looked like a pair of ships circling around each other, as one, leaving the rest of the world outside your unity..."
"Who's the poet now, Rockford?" Zeck laughed.

 

[Zeck]

Part 11.10, The moment of truth

Back to the main story again:

"I still don't remember it very well, Kielo being the ace of our FOX squad. Are you sure about it, Val?" Zeck Arrow asked from Val Rosel.
"As sure as I remember me being the brainy mastermind directing our tactics and strategy, and you being the sharp shooter who wrecked the enemies distracted by Kielo. You know, we were also called the Flora trio as a joke, for my surname reminded of rose and her name translated as a flower too."
"How did I fill my - should I say - flowerpot?"
"We had to made up something for you and since your humour was somewhat stingy we named you Nettle."
"Nettle?"
"Yes. But that didn't remain just a joke, it was your code name in FOX. Mine was Petal and Kielo's was Berry."
"Enough for the names, what was FOX's purpose?"
"Secret missions, raids on pirates, focused strikes in larger battles, saying it short, we were a special unit. We also carried out investigations for the FICE in between special operations."
"What, we were detectives? Agents?"
"Sort of."
"You know, at this point, after all the previous mind blowing revelations, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me next that I'm in a fact an android myself."
"But you aren't?"
"That was supposed to be sarcasm - do you still understand such a concept as sarcasm at your current transhuman state?"
"Sure I do. And to mention, you are related to androids in such a way that you, out of all FICE operators, deleted the biggest number of illegal androids on your duty in the year...What was that year...I can't remember the year."
"Is this 'blade runner of the year' statistics important?"
"Oh, I guess it's not."
"What happened to FOX squad?" Zeck asked.
"We were separated. It all started as our mentor and chief, colonel Inosanto went missing in most shady circumstances with a ship full of crew. From where ever he was, he took direct contact to you and Kielo, avoiding all the official procedures. He was in some sort of distress and needed your help, but he gave you no exact details at that point. I know these things only because, well... At the time I was upset, furious and jealous for you two, because I wasn't summoned on the mission. Therefore, when you were already on your way to your secret mission destination, I hacked my way to the top secret information about the operation. But unfortunately that was too long afterwards so I couldn't make contact to you to warn you about what I had found out.
Before your departure you were granted to harness a two manned prototype Vorp-CT turret fighter. Kielo was the pilot, you were the gunner. You were only given couple of waypoints that took you to the outer reaches of the space known to humans that time. And as you flew farther our tracking system lost you out of it's reach. Actually it was Vorp's transmitter that lacked the power to cast signal to our receivers."
"You don't know where we ended up to?" Zeck asked.
"Not then, but now I do. The situation was a NFF expedition and scout ship Ubasti, under the command of colonel Inosanto, had made contact with an alien race."
"The mantis?"
"Yes."
"That was the first contact?"
"No. Not the one in the history writings. This contact remains classified because it ended up being a total disaster. As you entered the operational sector colonel Inosanto told you to land on mantis occupied location and you did as commanded. So far you had believed there was a load of goods in your Vorp's gargo hold to trade with the mantis to release colonel from their captivity. But it turned out the colonel had made a totally different deal with the mantis, a deal in which you two were the actual merchandise."
"We?"
"The mantis had captured Inosanto and demanded samples of human pilots for who knows what reasons. Obviously the pilots on Ubasti were already handed over to the mantis scientists."
"Oh god."
"Yes, it was a disaster as I said. Inosanto needed a deal that would release him from his captors so he offered the mantis a special bargain; two adult expert pilots and their unborn child for his freedom to go."
"He couldn't have done that!"
"But he did. And he was of course betrayed immediately as you two arrived. The mantis removed the embryo right away and put you two into cryosleep capsules in case there would be some further use for your bodies or your breed. As Inosanto was to witness what kind of fate his deeds had brought on two of his own students he began to regret. He managed to escape somehow, took your Vorp, blasted a hole on the wall of the citadel you were kept and collected your cryocapsules into Vorp's cargo hold. He made it back to Ubasti waiting on the orbit and soon realized the whole human crew was gone, most likely mutilated or enslaved by the mantis down on the surface. He activated Ubasti's automatic defence systems as mantis fighters were surely coming after him. Then he placed your cryocapsules to Ubasti and ensured the capsules's functions. He programmed Ubasti to travel on autopilot towards the closest sector of humanized space. To secure Ubasti's safe departure he organized a diversion by launching all the fighters onboard to fly and fight in autopilot mode along his Vorp. He knew the diversion would claim his life, but he was ready to sacrifice himself for your escape. He had only a short time to contact his wife and then me, but while talkin to me he was shot to pieces. Ubasti made it's escape as he had planned. According to log records it used 95% of it's fuel total in an amplified thruster boost to make enough distance from the mantis swarm. The rest of the fuel kept the drifting hulk on it's course and away from threats.

 

[Zeck]

Part 11.11, The moment of truth

Val Rosel continued his story.
"So, there I was in the safety of our beloved Nation Fleet Federation's floating fortress formation, while my mentor got killed in a sacrificial manner somewhere in the operational horizon of mankind, and two of my best friends were left drifting through the vastness of the galaxy in some unknown location towards an unknown direction. I couldn't leave you to that kind of fate, but there was very little I could do, especially because I had no time to mobilise the tiny resources I had to locate you."
"The imperial attack against NFF?" Zeck Arrow said.
"Yes. It couldn't have happened in any worse timing, but there was even more to it. Someone high in ranks of the FICE had actually made an agreement with the imperial forces that obligated us to take part in the attack. Most of the FICE people that had origins in NFF couldn't naturally accept such an order so the battle wasn't just the imperials' attack on NFF but also a mutiny which broke the FICE in two."
"Why did the Empire attack NFF in the first place?"
"They propably had just figured that a fleet of such a nature as the NFF had, was a protest against their superiority as the order for humans. They didn't expect much resistance and they were surprised as in the beginning of the battle it was them who seemed to become the ones leaving the sector losers. But they changed their tactics and began to warp after NFF's civilian ships that were already at evacuation distance. Their destruction killed our fighting spirit though many pilots continued fighting till the end, that being their death, for there was nothing left for them after their home fleet was already gone. As the last laser cannons of NFF went silent the imperials just departed, hyperjumped away as if nothing had happened. The corrupted FICE operators patrolled for a while in the remains of the fleet to seek for us, the rebellious agents and staff. There was a bunch of us hiding in a burning wreck hoping it not to collapse before we could move out of the area. It took two days before the FICE lost it's interest in the debris and hulks. They had captured many others that were hiding in the rubble, but there were also many that they hadn't found. Later we found out that some of the civilian ships were left intact after all. Us ex-FICEs started to loot the debris for anything useful. One of the Orca class carriers had it's hull only moderately damaged and we decided to repair it to a shape that we could travel away with. And there was naturally a lot of spare parts left from the battle."
"Why didn't you just use the civilian ships that were left intact?" Zeck asked.
"We were afraid they would have been recognized too easily. And we wanted the sense of security that a carrier class ship brought, no matter how badly it was damaged. But our technicians made use of the civilian ships too. They were connected to the broken hull of our main project and later masked with scrap parts and metal plates as if they were a part of the same structure. And if you wonder where that kind of ship might be today, the answer is all around you. It became the Bazaar of the Stars."
"Oh, I thought this would be a much older ship than that", Zeck said.
"Older than what? In a way, this is very old, for many of it's elements are from centuries ago. Some parts are brand new."
"So it's a many aged ship then."
"Or ageless."
"But how did you end up sitting there, to be the heart, soul and brain of the ship?"
"The main reason why I survived the battle was my attitude that forced me to survive; I had to live to rescue you, no matter how long it would take. Luckily me and the bunch of good ex-FICEs around me made a contact with late colonel's widow, Mrs Inosanto, a rich heir of a merchant house. She was eager to support our cause to reveal what really had happened in 'Secret Operation of the Third Kind' , as we called the operation her man was killed in. She also wanted us to save you two. Colonel Inosanto had said to her in his last contact that for his memory she should try to continue the rescue he could only give a start.
Since we needed a lot of information, investigation and intelligence it was only a result of an organic progress that today the main merchandise of the Bazaar of the Stars is information, as Osman has already told you. The Yggdrasil unit structure you see me sitting on, or in, is a fruit of our intelligence machinery development. It turned out to be like this, me living an artificially prolonged life as part of the device and the vessel, because after 6 years of hard work we coulnd't still have located you two drifting in space. That made me think many things, for example that it might take my whole life to find you, even more. Thus my transhuman afterlife existence."
At this point Rosel went silent for a pause that felt longer than it actually was. Then it seemed as if a smile flashed on his bleak face.
"Are you all right, sir?" Osman Sandatüruk asked.
"I just understood...I finally made it. There's no more purpose for me to exist. My task is fulfilled. I'll die in peace now if you still wish to shoot me, Osman..."
"No! You're existence, sir, has other purposes too. You must exist for the ship", Sandatüruk said.
"And I have to get Kielo back from the FICE. I mean, I'm not expecting you to open handedly help me with that, but since you are the information wizard, your help would be appreciated", Zeck said.
"Yes, it seems I still have much to do. We haven't got new information about Kielo's whereabouts for a while, but last report stated her being just fine. Zeck, you have all the support we can provide."

 

[Zeck]

Part 11.12, The moment of truth

"Agents Papillon and Darcy", Osman Sandatüruk started as the two FICE agents entered The Bazaar of the Stars. "I can read your businesses from your faces."
"Yes, we are looking for Zeck Arrow again", the scarfaced agent Emory Papillon responsed.
"What makes you think I can help you any better than the previous time?" Sandatüruk asked.
"Look, mister Sandatüruk, we know he has been onboard on Bazaar, so you can put a stop on your theatre piece", the red heared agent Owen Darcy said. He was seemingly tense for some reason. "You know, we'll catch him sooner or later. The FICE has already raided the workshop his brother has so well kept hidden to this day. The iCT guild is now pronounced under embargo in all FICE regulated systems, for it's actions are breaching several commercial and other regulations and laws."
"Oh really, such as?" Sandatüruk asked.
"They have no legal permission to assemble any equipment based on alien technology let alone gather profit by selling such products", agent Papillon declared.
"So you think this Arrow will come to you now that his guild's businesses have been interrupted?" Sandatüruk said.
"Not exactly. At least not any more after his latest actions out there", agent Darcy said nodding his head towards the space behind the window.
"What do you mean?" Sandatüruk asked, he really didn't know what agent Darcy referred to.
"You still want to play ignorant, do you, Sandatüruk? Well, have it your way if it amuses you, but it really annoyes me. Zeck Arrow slipped out of our hands just a quarter of an hour ago at that near by moon out there!" agent Darcy shouted not only his hair red but also his face turning red by the anger he tried to control and keep inside, not quite succeeding. "Now, he might have of course traveled through the galaxy to this remote part of space just to land on that satellite to fill his tanks with that particular moon's somewhat poor energy orbs, not giving even a slightest thought paying a visit to your marvellous Bazaar. Do you really find this hypothesis believable, mister Sandatüruk? Yeah, I didn't think so..."
"I have no idea what you are talking about or what makes you so upset. You met someone, that Arrow person, on the moon out there?" Sandatüruk asked.
"I'm not sure if 'meeting' is a proper word to describe a dozen of our fighter ships being blasted wingless!" agent Darcy grunted.
"We are currently trying to track Arrow's escape route so if there is anything you can tell us about his staying in Bazaar, please share such knowledge with us. We have very urgent news for him about his wife. We only try to help him", agent Papillon said.

What Sandatüruk had heard so far gave him a lot to think about. According to his own knowledge Zeck was still onboard on The Bazaar of the Stars, so either this was some nasty plot by the FICE agents to make Sandatüruk reveal Zeck's whereabouts on this ship or then the agents were telling what really had happened outside.

"You know very well we have always honored our relations with the FICE and we wish this co-existence to continue", Sandatüruk started and continued: "Many ships come and go in our hangars, so it is possible the man you're looking for might have been here. I will look on to this issue right away and will inform you immediately if I find out anything about this Arrow. You know, sometimes pilots come here with false identities and such."
"Yes, we know all about smugglers, murderers and pirates hiding disguised in remote starbases and ships", agent Darcy said.
"Thank you, Sandatüruk. We must go now", agent Papillon said.

Osman Sandatüruk was more than relieved to get rid of the FICE agents. He was anxious to check if Zeck had really left the ship without anyone noticing his departure.

"Oh, and before we leave", agent Papillon suddenly continued: "We have a proposition to deliver to you. The FICE would like to establish a local post here on your ship to endorse our collaboration."
"Oh, how generous of FICE", Sandatüruk said hiding his true attitude for the suggestion that could only mean more problems with the FICE. "I will take this proposition to our so called 'council' to be pondered."
"Fine. Well, see you next time, Sandatüruk", Papillon said and the agents left.
Next time you come to this ship I might already have taken my final post aside my one and only master, Val Rosel, as his bodyguard, thus I think we won't meet again, Sandatüruk thought.

***

"It really seems Zeck has left our ship", Val Rosel stated. "Too bad I didn't notice his departure at all. I guess I was so drifted away running on a beach..."
"Running? On a beach? Sir?" Sandatüruk wondered.
"It's a virtual construction of one of my favourite childhood memory. Since I'm no longer able to even smile, I mean physically - my limbic and muscular systems being 'offline' - I treasure memories reminding me of the happines of my bygone way of existence. Sometimes those virtual experience sessions take me so far, so deep away, I don't even hear the call of Heimdall's horn."

Heimdall was the name of the AI firewall of Rosel's Yggdrasil unit. Sandatüruk didn't understand the whole nature and extension of the Yggdrasil network, but he had some knowledge or intuition about the unit Rosel was connected to being only one terminal in a larger network constructed of similar terminals connected with highly secured long range connection called Bifrost. Sandatüruk recalled Rosel calling this particular Yggdrasil unit by a name 'Asgård', which hinted that the other layers of 'the World Tree' existed in the forms of other terminal units somewhere else.

"Zeck doesn't answer to our calls, sir", Sandatüruk said.
"Let's have a look on his moves before his departure", Rosel said and a hovering screen emerged before Osman Sandatüruk's eyes.
"Last time I saw him was only an hour ago or less", Sandatüruk said and continued: "He was on his way to the shooting range."
"Oh, so it became a hobby for him after all", Rosel commented.
"Yes. We went there together almost every morning last week, but today I was too busy with other things."

Image of the survaillance camera recording from the shooting range came visual on the screen. The camera was positioned behind Zeck so all they could see was his back.

"There he is. His skills with the gun have increased hugely during his stay here", Sandatüruk said.
"Improved or just recovered", Rosel said.
"True. Wait! What's that? Can you play that again, sir?"
"Sure. There. He just ceased fire. Empty gun?" Rosel said.
"No. Something else made him stop."
"What does his body language tell you, Osman?"
"An inner impulse, a thought in his mind. Please, put it on repeat loop on screen, sir."

They studied the looped clip carefully for a moment.

"Yes, definitely he remembered something or got a new idea or otherwise figured something out there in his mind. Let's see what happened next", Sandatüruk said.

The recording continued showing Zeck placing his gun on the counter before him and leaving the range in a haste. It was easy to follow anyone onboard the ship via different surveillance cameras's recordings. They showed Zeck walking directly towards the hangar bay area and entering his fighter ship cockpit without wearing his pilot suit, which meant he hadn't left right away.

"What is he doing there?" Rosel wondered.
There was a light flashing inside the open cockpit.
"He's watching something on the computer screen. See the light flickering around the ship interior and on his face", Sandatüruk said.
"Yes, that's what he's doing. Communicator messages, perhaps?"
"Most likely, sir. He looks surprised. Upset. Angry, like he wanted to punish himself. My wild guess: he's looking at something that he should have reacted before. We have to take a deeper look on that. Do we have an unofficial backup of his ship's data?"
"Naturally, Osman. You should know by now we secure all data we can", Rosel said.
"I wasn't sure if you made an exception with him, sir."
"No exceptions. We have all the data he brought on his ship, but I don't want us to browse through all his private messages to find out what he possibly could have been looking at that surveillance recording."
"It's true. We have no clue what message he is watching there. What can we do then?" Sandatüruk asked.
"The Yggdrasil unit will make a signal figure from the flashing light sequence on Zeck's face there. We run a comparison procedure that browses through the backup data mass to find similar sequences there", Rosel said.
"That might work", Osman said.
"Meanwhile, let's see what Zeck did next", Rosel said.

On the recorded surveillance material Zeck Arrow went to his set of rooms and quickly gathered his stuff. Then he revisited the shooting range, took his old gun and a pocketful of ammunition with him. Then he went back to his ship and this time he prepared for space travelling and soon boosted out of the hangar.

"The FICE must have kept their eye on us being so fast around here", Sandatüruk reasoned.
"Propably. Oh, I'm getting results for possible matches within the backup data. The best one is a 78% match with our somewhat poor reference sequence. Of the suggested message recordings it's also the one received last, so it's the newest..."
"Well bring it on the screen already! Sir..." impatient Sandatüruk said.

It was a message Zeck had received while he was struggling his way through the Sol system, fighting on the surface of the planet Mars. He had actually watched it when it had arrived but because of exhaustion and his, to a certain extent, delirious state at that time he had confused the message to be just another of his restless nightmares. It was a message from his wife Kielo piloting a fighter somewhere in unknown coordinates of space.

"THE MESSAGE BEGINS", said the communicator's automatic voice.
"Zeck! It's me, Kielo. I know this might be hard to believe unless you didn't get your memories back like I did. I hope you get this message...I've got problems transmitting anything -kzzzzz-zzrrrt- yeah, just like that racket there. I don't know your current status but if you don't understand how I can pilot a ship seek information about 'The secret mission of the third kind', but try to avoid all contacts with the FICE. They already got me, well, at least for a moment. Some of them might really wanted to help me, but the reason why I'm in this blaster fire carved piece of fighter junk is someone in the FICE tried to gain benefit of me, and most likely you too, again by handing me back over to those bugs. They were already secretly taking me to mantis scientists -zrrrt- hello? Oh, it's working again. So, I was already on route to be taken back to mantis scientists's custody as the FICE trasporter convoy was attacked by someone. Zeck, it was only one mantis fighter! One pilot, one fighter and one a hell of a massacre. The FICE escort fighters were not even close to a challenge for the attacker. Before we all were shot to pieces I asked the FICE to grant me a fighter so I could help them fight back and help at least some of us out alive. They -khhhhh-zzrrrt-khh- ok, I try to finish the message before the transmitter goes wild again: they gave me this fighter, but the attacker killed everyone else. It was that close it didn't get me too, but I was able to disarm it of it's weapons. I was already about to blast it to pieces as the enemy ace opened a communication line. It looked like a young female human but sounded like a mantis, like it was some kind of hybrid lifeform or something. And...I didn't have time to answer it's words before -zzzhrrrt-quiiirzzzt- before it hyper jumped away, but I'm one hundred percent sure that being called me 'mother'. Zeck -khhhhhh- I'm going to seek for a hideout -zzrrrt- somewhere in -zhh-wriiiut-zrrrt- system. Zeck, I love you. I love you."
"THE MESSAGE ENDS"

Obviously Val Rosel's Yggdrasil unit had found the very message that had provoked Zeck Arrow to take action. The FICE that seemed to have many various motives was again after Zeck and Kielo. And a new enigmatic character claiming to be the Arrows's offspring had entered the play. Val Rosel and Osman Sandatüruk could once again but wait till Zeck Arrow would contact them somewhere in the future. But for now, the man was gone.

This was the final piece of the part 11. The moment of truth, and this also concludes the whole story arc I've got in my mind since I started the writing process. Thanks for reading and for feedback.

 

[pbhuh]

I finaly read everything, but when is there coming more? ^^