Sons of Pluto

[Astral Harmony]

Dominique awaited her next set of orders in the waiting room. She had been there for an hour already, but didn't bother to pick up one of the magazines or change the channel to see the current news about the death of Miyami Kasahiko. It was all the same, and she had read the articles and seen the stories and interviews and heard the rumors and guesses and speculations so many times that she could quote a number of them word for word.

"But aren't you the least bit curious to see if something new has come up?"

The voice of Leyna, a powerful telepath that was able to communicate with Dominique when she was close enough. The tormenting hypnotic experiments that wiped out Dominique's personality didn't produce permanent results. In order to keep her fighting without any kind of reservation up to and including the risk of civilian casualties, Leyna monitored Dominique whenever she could to determine if the cyborg needed a painful refresher to prevent free thought. Leyna could authorize such things and even make appointments to have Dominique "rehabilitated" if necessary. She learned quickly that it wasn't wise to try and think in her own way.

To answer Leyna's question, Dominique was positive something new hadn't come up. A Condition Alpha Omega proved that beyond any doubt. It meant that normal efforts to resolve the incident had not produced a single thing that could provide direction. So, the best of the best would be assembled to discover who or what exactly was responsible.

[Flarecobra]

It wasn't too long after her lunch that she got the recall message. Checking her datapad, it only had 3 letters. CAO. She knew what it ment, and headed to the spaceport. After picking up a ticket, she boarded the shuttle and was soon on her way to Pluto. Checking the news, she saw that the only person in politics that she actually liked had been killed. If she had been able to talk, she would've cursed silently to herself. But Aya, known for her silence, made a disappointed face, and settled in for the trip, taking out some small headphones and started playing some of her favorite music, hoping to relax her some before the politiking began.

[musicmage4114]

The Ultima docked in the Sons of Pluto spacedock, easily dwarfing most, if not all, of the other ships stationed there. Leaving most of his crew onboard, Garret entered the Sons of Pluto headquarters with a retinue of two: Shandra, his personal assistant, and Dane, his partner in crime, and, as it turned out, his lover.

He strode into the waiting room, but was immediately surprised to find another Pluto operative already inside. Today is just FULL of surprises, isn't it?

"Shandra, Dane, you are dismissed from your duties until further notice. Understood?" He said to the pair. This was code for "Operative business only, so make yourselves scarce." The pair nodded and strode quickly back the way they had come.

Garret sat down across from this new face. Only once in his career had he ever seen someone whom he knew without a doubt was another Pluto operative; that person was now dead. This must be bigger than I expected.

[SaigoKusunoki]

Kais considered himself a level headed person. He had been in plenty of situations that tested his nerve, and he had survived calmly and cooly. This was not one of those situations. Already in the Sons HQ, Kais paced around the waiting room, sweating profusely and flipping his dagger between his fingers. Normally his hands were steady, but the trembling in his hands caused him to drop the knife and cut himself twice, where he finally decided to sheath it and find a place to sit and calm down.

He had no real idea why he was freaking out so bad. He had no real ties to any country, and no loyalty to anyone but the Sons of Pluto. As an individual person, Kais couldnt give two shits who died in the universe, as long as he wasnt harmed in the process. A selfish ideal, but in such a cutthroat world, someone who wasnt as such would find their own throat cut. Kais realized that the President's death was more than just some high profile death...it could cause a massive war of apocalyptic proportions.

Kais' noticed the arrivals of more of his fellow agents, but he payed them no mind in his brooding. He didnt trust them, and he knew they trusted him even less, so he preferred to stay quiet and out of sight.

[TheBlindMime]

Trent sat in one of the many chairs in the waiting room, "If no one had ever built waiting rooms I doubt that humanity would have ever found a need to make others wait. Let alone wait away from everyone else." He said this as if he was speaking to the guard at the door but really he was just thinking aloud.

He had been the first to arrive and now had to wait, this was excruciating. He looked at the guard listlessly, she had a strong jaw and a mild bust and was headed into her forties. Not Trent's type at all, but he had run out of cigarettes. "Want to screw?" She made no reply. "I'll take that as a yes." Trent started undressing, he had nothing better to do then be beaten by a Son's of Pluto guard as she tried to force his clothes back on.

[Tyrazial]

Aidan sighed as he neared the room where the others waited. Many of them had assembled, and Aidan nodded to them. One of them seemed to have been recently punched, a nice rube of a bruise on his eye. A fuming guard outside allowed Aidan to piece together the basics of what must have happened.

Must be nice to be so reckless with women

He moved to the front of the room, and looked over some information. He didn't even give the group a second thought, waiting until all were there before giving any information. Nearby, a television was displaying the latest information dispatched about the murders.

Every so often he would glance up as new arrivals entered the room. There was still one more to show. After a few more moments, the final arrival entered and he moved to stand. He walked over and shut off the program, the holgraphic display blinking back to non-existence.

He turned and began addressing the group as a whole, "As of right now everything you have been assigned to or were going to be assigned to has been put on hold. Also, as of right now all of you are recalled from whatever positions you held within your respective assignments. We are one the highest level of alerts.

The assassination of the President might not affect many of you. We have all dealt with death, many of you are actually experts at dishing it out. However, this particular death will send echoes through the universe that even the Sons of Pluto may not be able to handle.

What I am about to go over with you does not leave this room. You will not discuss it unless we are alone and I authorize it. What you are about to learn was until now known only to myself and the Will. If any of you tell any other agents, or god help us anyone -outside- of the Sons of Pluto, I will shoot you myself."

Aidan took a nearby chair and pulled it in front of him, turning so he'd be sitting on it backwards.

"Okay. Now, many of you might remember from your training that the President is... er... -was- the only person who knew of our existence. What you may not know are the reasons why.

The President of the Core World Alliance only ever appears to be democratically elected. In truth, many of us arrange certain incidents, eliminate threats, whatever it takes to ensure the person we want elected gets into office. Some of you might even know that. What no one knew except the Will, is the president has always been an agent of the Sons of Pluto.

We have always needed someone in this position to ensure that our secrecy was kept, and to be in a key place should some crisis arise unexpectedly. Perhaps now you can see why it is such a shock, even to us, that the current President was assassinated. That is also why an entire team of Sons of Pluto agents are being assigned to investigate this directly. Our job is to evaluate the situation, find any clues or evidence, and try to get to the bottom of this.

Our main concern is breech of knowledge. As far as we know, no one had any reason, political or personal, to want her dead. Well... no one we haven't eliminated ourselves. It's too professional and clean to be pirates or mercenaries.

Now, the Will have arranged identities for us to get us to the scene and allow us the freedom to investigate without interference. We will be impersonating CWA government investigators. I will not be able to go on scene as I've already been there posing as a medic. I will be your outside contact, making sure any reference checks are cleared, etc.

Garrett, is it? Your ship will be returned to active service without you on board. We will need to be using a smaller vessel to conduct this operation. Your personal file will already indicate you are taking care of a personal situation and have taken a leave of absence for an undetermined amount of time.

Trent, right? You will be digging through the Alliance communications database. I want you looking for all transmission in and out of that area on the night of her assassination. I want you to scan everything from brief messages to full conversations for anything that might connect to the killer.

Aya, Dominique, and Kais? I want you guys to actually investigate the scene itself. You have all got experience in assassinations. Look for anything out of place, any sign of the killer. If there's a piece of lint from the killer's clothing, I want it. You'll all have access to the video footage of the day leading up to the time of her death. Commit it to memory.

Finally, Garett. I'm going to need you to interview anyone there that evening. Your identification will show you're nineteen. You'll need to act very spunky, like you're one of those investigators looking to rise to the top fast. I'm not going to be able to interact with any of you directly, nor even appear on the scene. So you are going to be my main eyes and ears on this operation. For all appearances, you'll be in charge, so remember to look the part.

All of these assignments were based upon your fields. I expect you all to be able to handle them with professionalism and attention to detail. This is without exaggeration the most important mission any of you will ever have. We will have various other agents on scene, but you will not be given their identities. For your safety and for theirs, we are operating within standard procedures, so no one outside of this group will know that we are agents, and you will not know the identity of our current on-scene agents.

I'll expect all of you packed and prepped in two hours. Our shuttle will be in hangar twelve. Dismissed."

[Astral Harmony]

"Understood, sir." Dominique said, rose, and promptly left.
As she walked down to the hall to go and check in with Sophia real quick, Dominique phrased her question to Leyna.
"Yes, Sapperfield. Geist has already received the notification. He was quite disappointed, too. I imagine he wanted to have a go at you today. Or maybe two."
"He still can. It would just have to be quick as I do have other things I need to take care of before departure."

There was a silence as Dominique boarded the elevator to go see Sophia.
"No, he said he'd rather wait until you return from whatever it is they have you doing."
"Understood."
Sophia was a little surprised to see Dominique return after only being away a few hours. "Did something happen to one of your parts, already?"
Dominique took a seat as Sophia began diagnostics. "No. They're sending me out on a mission for an indefinite amount of time and I think it would be best to make sure all is in working order before departure."
"Gotcha."
It was over in less than a minute. "You're green across the board, Dominique Sapperfield. Give 'em hell."
Dominique got out of the chair and left. "It's what I was custom birthed for."

[SaigoKusunoki]

Kais accepted his orders silently. Being one who plans ahead, everything he would need for the mission was on him, so he made his way to Hangar 12. He didnt need anyone to check over his equipment because, well, he put it all together with his own hands. He knew when his tools would malfunction, if they ever would; each and every gadget he carried was a work of art, painstakingly put together with attention to detail on the molecular level. Kais took immense pride in his work, and just thinking about how flawless his inventions were made him giddy.

Shaking the self praise from his mind, Kais thought about who he would be working with. They were the best, on par or better than his at their respective fields. After the briefing, he felt a little more confident that the mission would be a success. It didnt help the feeling of distrust and doubt poking at his insides. He made a mental note, to keep every agent at a distance as much as he could.

Kais, extremely early, slumped against a wall, rubbed his eyes, and fished a small glass bottle from the depths of his jacket. It was filled with a dark brown substance, and Kais wasted no time popping the cap off and taking a large swig. The brew burned as it went down but calmed him down and cleared his head. Kais figured he might as well find this time to relax, because he doubted that he would get a chance like this again for a long time.

[Flarecobra]

Aya headed over to the shuttle after packing away some clothes, and making sure that her gear was ready to go. She silently nodded at the attendents, and took a seat near the back of the shuttle.

[TheBlindMime]

"Packing hm..." Trent remarked as he passed by Aiden, as he exited the small meeting room. Though he was in a hurry Trent took the time to whistle for the guard outside the door as he passed by. She almost struck him again but managed to restrain herself, 'for the good of the cause'. Still it was a tenuous non-attack arrangement.

No more then a half-hour later Trent arrived at hanger 12 with a briefcase full of clothes and cigarettes. He held an additional two cartons under his arm. Sitting down at least ten feet from Kais he began to crack open the carton and smoke to his hearts content. Binge smoking is the best. Trent thought happily as cherry of his cig flared into existence.

But that was an interesting meeting... Trent had not been informed the President was one of their own, I'm a real data hound but that didn't even leave a scent for me. Whats worse though is that Aiden said... what was it... "no one we haven't eliminated ourselves. It's too professional and clean to be pirates or mercenaries." That was it... Trent eyed Kais for a moment before turning away casually, Keep those eyes open.