It's a family curse.

[Cannonshop]

Hue, Kowloon...

...was probably the most architecturally beautiful city on the planet, at least, conventional city.  Elements of pseudo-French colonial elements and elements of arabic stylings mixed along the streets of old-town, while the view of Ia Drang Falls, just across the river, and 'The Balcony' of the almost-an-arcology up there added backdrop to the west and north, while the dense rainforests of the Iron Hills region swathed a riot of chemical green, black, and brilliant red to the east.

To the south, of course, was the perpetual mist of the massive Golden Lake, perpetually warm water feeding the massive river system that was the anchor for Hue county and the power cable for the central lowlands dividing the continent.

Victor was having lunch with Evelynn Mosovich today, doing the 'tourist' thing while his transport was readied for the journey back to Tharkad.

"Okay, this place is amazing, why in hell is your capital out in the middle of the continental plains back east when you've got a site like this?"

"Hue used to be a provincial capital-under the Rim Worlds, Milord.  My ancestors dangled the last Rimjob governor off the bridge-right over there." Evelynn pointed at a spectacular relic of Star League Era engineering, the Highway One bridge from Hue to a midpoint up the two kilometer cliff of the Ia Drang Plateau-a slender, unsupported span more than five kilometers long whose highest point above ground was nearly level with the Plateau itself before arcing down to meet the four lane highway that was the main land link from the Plateau to the rest of the continent.

"WHy'd they move?" he asked.

"Too easy for escaped slaves to fade into the forests, or slip through the waterways to freedom.  The Rim Worlds, remember, practiced chattel slavery and it's easier to spot escapees on a flat plain, than in this sort of landscape-so they had House Cameron build Nha Tranh back around 2740.  The Communications Ministry put the HPG site near the new capital, and it's easier on dropships to approach, so most of the necessary infrastructures went in out there on the flats."

"Why didn't you move it back?"

"Ever got Comstar to do anything they didn't already want to do??  The Earthers preferred their reinforced bunker on the continental overlap, Nha Tranh is the most stable ground in this hemisphere, we're right next to a subsurface spreading fault line, 'kay? in a few million years, this continent will be two continents, and Golden Lake will be an ocean, instead of a near-freshwater inland sea.  Planetologists say that in about ten million years or so, Brigham and Provo will be crashing into the Phuket continent to form a new landmass, by then the Plateau will have eroded down, might even be a set of islands, it's already got some spectacular canyons up there."

"OH, so politics."

"Politics." she agreed, "See, the other reason is because of dropship and shuttle travel-only about two thirds of the Kowloon system lives here on Kowloon itself."

"I've been briefed, you've got a...what...Belter? population?"

"Rockjacks.  Rokkahjakkah.  If Pat had lived, Lizzie would be their baron alone.  most of those are folk who've seen habitable worlds in media, or through a telescope.  they use point gravity source moons for childbirth, or spin stations, some of the bigger burrow complexes are tethered spinners, using dynamic equilibrium and rotation to make the kind of gees we take for granted.  It's a third of the population and around eighty percent of the exports out there."

"So the real wealth isn't down here."

Evelynn shook her head, "nope. NOT down here.  Kowloon's more 'kept' for them, a source of food, some luxuries you can't make in space, and clean genetics to keep the families intact up there-lots of intermarriage agreements and exchange between the surface and the Burrows.  It's why we have the jump-ferry system, and why she's building short-jump gunships to protect her people with."

"Dropships aren't enough?"

"Patrol range would need to be listed in years and we'd need more dropships than the federated suns HAS on patrol to police the distances." she explained, "Think a population density of one person per million cubic kilometers, and travel distances where the short ones are measured in AU.  Kowloon-the-Planet is easier to defend than the rest of the system, I can patrol it with conventional vehicles and the occasional dropship, but out there? you need to be able cross light-minutes in seconds, or you might as well not have a patrol force at all.  Drop ship combat vessels are either for deploying against other systems, or point defense for known targets here at home.  They just don't have the combination of speed and range needed to do system security at newtonian speeds...the proposal to buy Claymores is to give the Ferry Service some immediate protection on fixed routes-they can be docked to a ferry with a collar, moved from point to point, and used at the arrival...but they're not fit to patrol deep space, especially between burrows or mining sites."

"You were a tanker, how-?"

"Alicia Li is Her Grace's brilliant naval mind, and Alicia is very good at educating a maimed tank officer on the intricacies of keeping peace and progress in the outer system." Evelynn stated, "She used models and showed me hard data, I'm still not stupid enough to discount someone who picked up a Commonwealth Medal of Honor for getting a company of men out of a Drac Ambush that included losing most of their transports in the war of '39, she flew a Union with the flight deck torn open to space out of the ambush and back to the dropships wearing a vac-suit while her passengers got what was left of the on-board air, ergo, I do not argue with Alicia Li about much of anything when it comes to flying in space, I simply listen, nod, and learn."

"She's who we're meeting then?" Victor asked.

Evelynn shook her head, "She's who YOU are meeting at the Rabbit Moon transfer point.  Li is terrified of planets, she's born Rockjack and did her five for the Commonwealth before her phobia got too bad."

[Cannonshop]

an arrangement was made...

...and it was too late for Katherine to back out. 

to her credit, she tried.

"How is she?" 

"Your mother is going to make it, Milady." the doctors said.

"What about her companion-"

"we only got the Archon, and yourself, and Archon Melissa's out of surgery and out of danger.   If there was somebody else when the bomb went off, they weren't brought here."

Katherine couldn't explain the bad feeling she was getting, but her memory brought it up-the moment that Ryan went through with it after she'd tried to back out.  seeing her mother flying back, slamming into her, as the flash began.

the face of what tossed Melissa Steiner-Davion backward was imprinted every time Katherine closed her eyes, because she saw something inhuman where Elizabeth Ngo had been a moment before.

Red eyes, claws, and teeth.  Intellectually, Katherine could dismiss the repeated mental image as some insecurity, some illusion of trauma.

She could do it right up to the moment that Galen showed her the security footage.

showed her Duchess Ngo, that frail, sickly girl, throwing the Archon like a sawdust dummy back away from the bomb, blocking the worst of the shockwave at the door, then...running away.

Impossibly intact, and bare-ass naked from the blast.

"Lohengrin, City Police, and Royal Guardsmen are still looking for her." Galen said, "The footage doesn't lie-she took that and got up, and ran away, and that's not something normal.  We're keeping it from the press for now, we're treating her as a possible casualty and still officially looking for her."

"What's the unofficial?" Katherine asked.

"Unofficially, your mother's orders are to contain her when she's found, and keep an eye out for more violence."

[Cannonshop]

"Someone tried to kill your mother...

...and now, we both have a problem."  The thing sitting across from Victor wasn't Alicia Li.  It looked...well...like a dessicated mummy of a man, black-red pits for eyes that still managed to gleam, sunk cheeks, sparse hair, pale, yellowed, twisted skin.

"Who...what are you?"

"Tranh Truk Ngo. You might have heard of me.  Your mother certainly knew about some things."  the creature's fingers ended in slick, black finger-like claws, or clawed fingers.  "The data sent from Tharkad included video.  Lizzie needs to be brought in, preferably before she gets too hungry.  some stupid jackass gave her transformation a little push."

Victor had stayed awake through Milliken's Military History 401 class.  "THE Tranh Truk Ngo? that's what you're claiming?"

"I can prove it if you want, or I can help you contain a Ghoul who's just popped her shell saving your mother from a bomb.  I don't think the girl's going to be strong enough to resist the urge to feed for very long, and Triad City's got a HUGE population."

so many things started to make sense.  "The blood bank packages..."

"Yeah, she's going to want more than donated blood.  count on it.  When the Amaris Mako operatives set off the bomb on Elbar, I was lost for days, only there are no Amaris troops for our girl to be going after in the Commonwealth's capital city, so unless there's another target, innocent people are going to get hurt once her reasoning slips too far, I'd prefer for my best descendant not to turn into another mindless revenant for the rest of her existence, do you have the authority to call for a command circuit?"

"Yes."

"I suggest doing so, we can bring her in and stop her if we get to her fast enough."

[DragonKhan55]

Ah yes. A classic film is on display.

"A Kowloonese Ghoul in Tharkad"

[Daryk]

I think "vampire" fits better, but it's not my story... ;)

[mikecj]

Sung to the tune of a "Werewolf in London"...

[glitterboy2098]

Ghoul fits pretty well, in terms of the mythological version of the type. or the Lovercraft depiction.
another term that might fit is Wendigo.

given the south east asian ties of Kowloon, i could see Preta being used. or alternately, given the large jewish population, perhaps a Dybbuk (a kind of posessing spirit, which in some forms of the mythology, will animate a corpse)

[Cannonshop]

The Daylight...

...hurt.  at the same time, she could feel her blood freezing in her veins, and the penetrating hunger.  everything smelled of food.
no.  it would be so easy, but no, dammit, I am in control here!

The aches were still there from the [event/incident/explosion?] and they weren't going away.  I'm not safe.

she pulled deeper into the debris in the alley, clothing stolen from a dumpster itched, but it was too damn bright in the open.

The hunger gnawed at her.

Not a monster yet damn you.  she could still understand and she could still be disciplined.

Elizabeth Ngo, wrapped in garbage in an alley in the shadow of The Triad, clutched for her humanity, as her body screamed for fresh meat and hot blood.

[Cannonshop]

"So, who pissed her...

...off most recently?"  The dropship had to wait-the next relay wasn't ready yet.

"Excuse me?"

Victor Ian Steiner-Davion had had a day and a half to digest the documentation from the Kowloonese Archives, and he was on his way home to stop a monster from going apeshit.

a monster that happened to also be a vassal, and she'd been loyal enough to save his mother's life from a bomb.

In a sense, there's a duty there-when someone is sent to the brink on your behalf you don't just put them down.

"I'm wondering aloud." He said, "Your 'Colonel' Ngo suggested something-the Elbar incidents after Running Deer mountain, the bombing. He went after Amaris troops while he was insensate.  Assuming similar damage to your Duchess, there's still volition there, so who would be the most likely target?"

"What's your thinking?"  he had one of the 'specialists' from the Kowloon Coast Guard here, someone trained in handling 'old veterans' who woke up on the wrong side of the reason barrier.  Her name was Linda Sithers, and she was officially just what amounted to a jumped up cop...and she was completely human.

"Well...animosity, right? she's trying to control a biological urge, like a powerful addiction, addicts sometimes make excuses, or conditions where they can slip, then find those conditions."  Victor speculated.  "So...rivals? personal enemies?"

"You're trying to think like a Revenant.  Yeah, that's how she'd prioritize if she slips-and slipping seems likely.  I don't know, most of the people she really doesn't like are either in the periphery march, or on Terra. I suppose the Brewers would be in trouble if she were on or near Hesperus...but on Tharkad?"

"Profile your Duchess for me, Hauptmann." Victor said, "What's her priority, how does she think when she's not in a blood maddened state?"

"She's a problem-solver."  Linda said, "I did her detail for a while two years ago.  Miss Liz spends eighteen to twenty hours a day digging for problems and trying to solve them-that's out of a thirty hour planetary rotation day, since the incident with her mother she doesn't sleep, but she does 'rest', sort of."

"What kind of problems?"

"You saw it.  Supply chains, economic development, organization.  She's constantly talking about how we're in a dark age, so she's big on insisting on more education material, even with personal service personnel, I think she had a plan to put up a university in the old Ducal Palace, open it to the public, to 'cure this ignorance epidemic'."

"I saw the site, Hauptmann, how is it you didn't?" Victor asked.

"I don't go surface-side very often, or for very long since I got transferred off her detail."  Sithers mused, "Funny about that, I'm still on her detail at the Spider Moon residence, but since she had to take the ducal seat, she's relied on people from the Ranches.  Evelynn Mosovich's people mostly, the Grange association and Li's surface duty coasties."

"any bitterness over that?"

"Hell no, I get actual sleep now!"  Sithers said with a short laugh.  "NO, seriously, did that packet show any interactions in the days before? Her Grace despises people who misuse their authority..."

it clicked for Victor.  "Shit."

"What?"

he brought up a report.  "Mom had her present a position on reform to the High Command at Mount Asgard, it...didn't go well."

"Aw shit. she's going to go after senior military staff!!"

"That's quick, why?" Victor asked.

"because one of the reasons Jim Stonecipher needed a closed casket, was he was abusing his position as regent."

"She didn't shoot him?"

"She tore his throat and and drank his blood! I was there, he tried to threaten her and she lost it! if she's out of her mind and looking for someone to eat? she's going to be looking for corrupt officers, officials who've been abusing their access, politicians who take backhanders, and anyone with rank she thinks is a complete incompetent!"

"how are you going to get her under control?" he asked.

"Silver nitrate." she said, "In solution, the concentration's are pretty high and the stuff would drop you or me like a sack, but you get it into her circulatory system and it's like knock-out-drops.  High voltage can work, if she's not too far along, but silver's like a roofie on Revenants, something about how the element interacts with the biological changes.  small doses helps them stay rational, large doses and their body remembers it's dead and lays down for a while."

"you learned this..."

"MOS course of study for working the Archive, we all get to review the experiments the Revenants did on Amaris versions made at Running Deer.  Silver works to slow 'em down-temporarily, Qua's theory is that this might be the root of old vampire stories about how silver worked as well as wood for paralyzing them...except it doesn't really paralyze as much as it slows 'em down, interferes somehow with whatever the mad scientists who created 'em did to their nervous systems.  It works like a mild paralytic, but it makes them slow down, the problem is getting it distributed throughout their body, which is why a silver blade won't work, but..." she pulled out and laid down a tranq pistol, "injector darts with liquid solution and silver nitrate? works."

"what would a blade do?" he asked.

"Make where ever you left it really stiff, like any other sharp thing would.  to get the effects you have to get it distributed.  a Revenant in freak out mode takes about two minutes after a dart to slow down. they'll stay slowed until their immune system expels the pollutant, by then? we can either have a flamethrower in place or blood baggies."

"What about silver bullets?" Victor asked.

"well, I'd mix 'em with a flamethrower because once they fall out? that revenant won't care who it eats. go silver bullets and you might as well finish it off by reducing to ash, especially if you damage the thinking meat." she tapped her head, "So consider that one a lethal solution.  body hits aren't as bad and they can be settled down back to rationality once it's expelled if you feed 'em quick."

he felt a little bit ill, "Feed them what?" he asked.

"well, it's better if it's someone who really deserves it.  Serial killers maybe, or sex murderers, or kid-diddlers, especially the predatory ones who hurt their victims-key being they're alive and aware when the Revenant gets them, and you don't put up someone who actually deserves to live."

"have you done that?"

"Two diddlers and a Pirate and we got Colonel Trung rational after more than a century in sleep." she shrugged, "I mean, as execution methods it's not ideal,  not exactly in keeping with humanitarian urges, but what's needed is what's needed.  Major Qua hated what he'd become, which is why he took a shuttle into one of the suns."

[Daryk]

*furiously takes notes* ;)

[Cannonshop]

One of the benefits...

...of having an organized government, is that people talk to one another. 

Unfortunately, that's not one of the benefits of a neofeudal system.  While Victor was learning the ins-and-outs for containing a Revenant/Ghoul who's become a possible danger to the public, and stability and order, Katherine was discovering that Regency isn't as pleasant as making inspiring speeches and giving orders.

Seeing strange reports from Police, and patrols, and even Lohengrin for example.

A few kilometers closer to the Triad itself, between the Palace and Mount Asgard's bunker complex, a traumatized fourteen year old girl was testifying to confused police-her pimp had been beating her for reasons, when a monster came out of the alleyway, and ripped through 125 kilograms of brutal three time offender.

"...s-sh-she sa-said I-I-I should call my MOTHER!!!"

"and then?"

"And then she started eating him!!"  The under-age prostitute started wailing.

Animal control was called, clearly someone's zoo or smuggling operation had lost track of an armorbear and it was rabid.

Citizens were warned in the low-rent districts to stay in their homes until the wild beast could be captured or put down.

A gang member near Marsdenstrasse was found dismembered, body partially drained of blood, torn apart by another wild frenzy of the loose animal.

witness testimony here, was also discounted, the shopkeeper he was robbing swearing that he'd been attacked by a small woman with black eyes, despite the obvious animal claws.

another gang member was found a few doors down, his illegally obtained, stolen, Sternsacht pistol half empty and still hot from firing, his face was torn off, whatever had attacked him had ripped him from chin to crotch open, and parts of his internal organs were eaten.

an exotic dancer who was being mugged reported 'something horrifying' had attacked her attackers.  Three men had been torn to shreds and partially consumed.

a plot on a map of Triad City would show the timing of the attacks-between midnight and 4 AM, showed a defined course.

the animal was fleeing toward Mount Asgard, and tearing its way through the Capital's criminal underbelly in the process.

"Is it her, mother?" Katherine asked.

"yes.  I think it might be.  She's rational enough to avoid traffic cameras and monitoring stations, and she's selective about her prey.  the intelligence is still present." Melissa noted, "You're asking because you know I knew."

"Yes.  what is she? some kind of super-soldier gone wrong? one of Dad's projects from NAIS?"

"no, an older project.  Her grandfather didn't have this much control when he was being held at Blackgate."  Melissa regarded her eldest daughter, "it's a state secret, Katherine...or it was, anyway.  I'm not sure I can manage to cover this up as well as my mother did. there are angry things in the galaxy, reasons to be cautious with how much direct intervention you allow-because they're often very useful things, properly contained. I expect Victor will be getting a loyalty oath from Evelynn Mosovich soon, however this little drama that bomb plot triggered plays out."

"Why?"

"because sooner or later someone will get a picture of her, and after that, it will get out, and with the descriptions? she won't be able to pass for human anymore, we'll have to kill her or contain her.  Increase the guard force at Mount Asgard, focus on protecting this list of field and flag grade officers-she's going to be rational enough to want to kill them for their greed, incompetence, and corruption, and I made the mistake of letting her see them in person long enough to learn their scent."

"you did that on purpose."

Melissa sighed, and shook her head, "No, it was a mistake, one of many that have convinced me to abdicate early in favor of your brother- I knew what Elizabeth Ngo is and I didn't take the necessary precautions to keep her from going on a rampage."

"What is she?"

"The unfortunate result of a Star League super-soldier program that was poorly conceived, poorly run, and all too effective-they must have achieved what they were after without realizing what it would result in-they forgot that the means you use, decide what ends you have to live with-and so did I."

[Daryk]

Abdication seems a little extreme at this juncture...

[Cannonshop]

Der Rosenhaus, Tharkad...

"...of course, the girl had such silly ideals!"  Generallmajor Alexander Witten scoffed, "the idea of sacrificing technical advantages to turn Warriors into common Soldiers!"

His companion was a paid lady, paid once by the General, and once by her home agency.  "Oh go on..."

"Naturally we had to put the poor girl in her place, and in front of the Archon, it was almost hilarious!" he was drunk.

"Not quite the way I remember it."  a third voice interrupted whatever he was about to spill, and they both looked up-the Privacy he'd paid good Kroner for should have kept visitors away.

His jaw went slack.  "y-you?"

"Guten Tag Herr General, though my german is rather poorer than to greet you with the right time of day, we periphery rats are simply uncultured...Miss, if you start running now, I won't chase you.  The General and I, we have business."  she left a streak of red on the balcony door, as she closed it, "though I suppose I could include you in our talks."

"They're very worried about you, Your grace!" he stammered, trying to regain some composure.

"I'm sure they are.  They'll really be looking for me in a moment.  Does your wife know you're here? Never mind." she shook her head, "Not really my concern...a shame though.  A soldier's pension should not include his widow's disgrace.  You're an obstacle to progress, Herr General, your existence compromises the security of the Lyran Commonwealth, so...you have to go, I wonder if you'll taste differently than pimps and criminals?  The Old Colonel never said..."

"If you're offering services-"

she smiled, and then, her smile widened and her teeth...

so many teeth.

The lady of hte evening screamed, and quailed back-she wasn't drunk, or drugged, she was stone cold sober, and processing something that should not be.

Elizabeth crossed the large suite in the time it would take a normal person to take a step, and raked her fingers across the unfortunate senior staffer's chest, leaving parallel marks deep enough that the blood welled immediately through layers of fat.

"ooh, you should run dear, I might not catch you.  so, is it going to be better taste, or more filling?"

He finally tried to fight back.

it did him no good at all.

[Daryk]

Well, that's two less obstacles to progress... ::)

[Liam's Ghost]

Or it could make things worse.

If Liz's killing spree doesn't stop, then even if they successfully cover up her nature, it's going to look like a bunch of problems for the realm just got extra-judiciously terminated.

Without tempting the wrath of mod too much, just hypothetically imagine how it looks for an organization when publicly known problems for that organization suddenly start dying mysteriously.

And if Liz's true nature is revealed, that doesn't really change the opposition's narrative. It just adds the idea that Mellissa has a monster on her payroll to conduct her extra-judicial killing.

Bottom line, there are very powerful people in the commonwealth invested in keeping things the way they are that aren't likely to see this as anything other than a deliberate attack on their interests.

[Cannonshop]

"My god you predicted...

...it."   They were one jump from Tharkad now.  "you know this is going to make things so much worse."

Sithers nodded. "yeah.  She's capable of executing rationally, but she's not rational in this state.  Who did she kill?"

"A well-connected General officer suspected of being compromised...no, that's too nice." Victor said, "She killed a guy LIC was hoping to use to reveal a foreign spy network-there's good cause to believe the Dracs got Black-Boxes through penetrations in Mount Asgard.  The guy she killed was on the suspect list for that, and for being a sock-puppet for a couple of military contractors."

"Unless your mother cleared her for high-level intelligence work, I'm going to guess she did him for the contracting corruption." Sithers finished what she was working on, and set her hand-tools aside in their box. "One thing about being everyone's toolbox, is you know who's got puppets in the government contracting, and who just wishes they did."

Victor gave her a puzzled look, "What?"

"alright, Highness, I'm a Rockjack from Sithers-Deen, alright? we sell raw materials, and kids who want to go out among the Dirtyfeet learn business when we start learning to walk in onegee.  Corruption is a staple in the Lyran system.   It's been an open secret that military contractors maintain military officers at a level above and beyond what those senior officers could possibly afford on their salary.  Field troops get small bribes, Office pukes get the big, fancy bribes-this can be semilegit stuff like a promised no-work-job on retirement or a position in a corporate office for someone's umby nephew, usually some job that is utterly meaningless, but drops six figures straight salary minimum.  Knowing that, you know how much slack the customer actually has in their negotiation...but!" she locked the box to the bulkhead, "BUT, there are some forms that are more acceptable than others-even her Grace will tolerate a small amount of tit-for-tat, as long as the end product is more beneficial than the potential harm...because as a noble she has to."

"Okay..."

"Now, see, that's not much different from the central government-they can't get everyone who's dirty, so they'll tolerate some minor stuff if it's not too damaging.  Your dead officer couldn't have been doing anyihing serious, or Lohengrin would've made him disappear, but he was probably serious enough Her Grace knew his name, knew what he was up to, and in her current state? saw him as a viable food source...because she's hurt, and she's angry and worst of all, being hurt means she's hungry."

"You're a spacer? you don't- I mean, I didn't expect..."

"I don't look like a spacer?" Sithers asked with a cocked eybrow, "Yah, well, I never liked the tats and never saw a reason for them, I do like having hair because it makes the helmet more comfortable than rubbing bare skin on support foam, and piercings are stupid...oh, and I spent a lot of my childhood studying planets through telescopes.  My first Surface-side tour was getting all my founding day presents at once...for about five minutes...but I learned how to blend, so that the damn Dirtfoot landlords and merchants would stop trying to sucker me."

"How did you end up wrangling uahmm..'revenants'?"

"Someone has to, and dirtyfeet can't keep their damn mouths shut.  Only reason I've told you as much as I have, is because I'm under orders to do so."

The alarm for the last jump sounded.  "Seats, Highness, we're about to go into your native land."

[Daryk]

The "revenant" name is growing on me... :)

[Cannonshop]

Victor brought...

...well, she wasn't a guest, per-se.  An expert.  Curiatis studied her as she carried her gear down the ramp.

"Who is she?"  he asked.

Victor shrugged, "Expert, good at wrangling revenants."

"What?"

Victor turned, "Miss Sithers?"

"Sir." she came over.

"This is my security chief, Mister Curiatis.  he WAS security cheif for my mother..."

"Sir." she said.

"I want you to brief him."

"can we do it somewhere not-public, sir?" she asked, "also, daylight's burning, she'll be on the move as soon as the sun sets, and I still haven't got the number of possible hides she's using worked out."

***

"If I didn't know what was going on, Miss Sithers, I'd say  you are utterly insane." Curiatis commented, looking at the tools she laid out.

"Well, bullets ain't worked for anyone so far., have they?" she asked rhetorically.

He lifted a lenght of wood with a brased metal cap on the blunt end and a sharpened point on the other.  "Stakes?"

"If she's too far gone, it'll put her in torpor-she'll be about as dangerous as any other dead body until you pull it out again.  the base-cap is so I can fire it with a twenty two millimeter shotshell blank.  the preferred method is to slow her down so I don't have to do that."

"These...what are they?"

"Like a paintball, but a little tougher, the launcher spits them out at around three hundred meters a second, and they break against bone, the liquid inside is a silver nitrate solution, if I can't get a good shot with the dart gun, the paintballer should do the trick."

"The flamer?"

"last resort, if she's brain damaged enough to be addled, burning to monatomic ash works pretty well to end the suffering-not that there won't be, it's incredibly painful way to die, but they don't regenerate from that, so we've  got an escalating set of tools here, Mister Curiatis.  Darts with voltage and darts with solution, paintballer if the darts don't get through her clothes, spikes from a gun if she's feral but maybe saveable, and the flamer for if everything else fails."

"Will any wood work?"

"Nope. Elbar Bluewood, or there's a shrub that grows on Hood IV that has similar metallic irregularities in the grain-the wood makes it hard for her modified rejection to push the metals out of contact, it's the metallics that do the immobilizing, you could do it with silver bullets if you're real good but they'll eventually get pushed out while she's...asleep."

"Which metals?"

"Silver works, most of the silver-group metals work, iridium for some odd reason works,  I think there were some experiments with gold but they didn't work out so good.  the trick with the solution is, it distributes widely, slows down the...everything really, like giving someone a mickey."

"what about after?"

"If she hasn't mutated too far, there are restraints that will hold her until she's in her right mind, or proven she can't get there...which is why we have the flamer.  if she can't recover her identity, you don't leave a feral ghoul to get loose."

"what about detection?" Curiatis asked.

"Got a couple dog-handlers?  Being what she is, doesn't mean she doesn't leave a scent trail.  aside from that, it's the usual chase-the-fugitive only in our case, it's a fugitive that can tear through thin metal with her fingers and drain a man's blood in under a minute, who can out-sprint a motorcycle, jump over an APC from a standing start, and swarm-climb a sheer cliff like she's walking on level ground."

"What's your experience level, is this all classroom to you, or have you done it?"

"I was on the team that put down her Grandfather-the Old Duke lost his marbles and had to be stopped, and no, nobody told her about it and I'd call  it a mercy if you held your lips closed on that subject.  These are techniques the 171st worked out at and before Elbar in case more of them lost their humanity too far and turned pure predator-only humans who don't have linked genes get the training because the policy is that something has to work as a check on supersoldiers who don't die by ordinary means."

"So prayer won't work."

"I'd still advise praying, Mister Curiatis.  It might not work, but anything including the intervention of god is possible-and it doesn't hurt to do it."

[Cannonshop]

"but...she's your Duchess!!

...doesn't that factor in?"

Sithers regarded the Fedsuns officer who was, based on new information, the most likely next target for Elizabeth Ngo.

"She's my duchess, but I'm paid by Kowloonese Taxpayers, and my rank and warrant are issued by an elected civilian government that is only partially under Ducal authority, and only there, because of imposed interference from Tharkad-the Coast Guard is not Her Grace's private army-that's what the Militia division is, which is by intent, to account for situations like this, only at home.  The sole and only reason I was sent here to save your ass, is because the Speaker of the Assembly was advised to support the National Government, and did so as a courtesy.  We don't swear 'loyalty' or 'fealty' to any family line or individual in The Coast Guard, we swear it only to the people and system of Kowloon under the Charter Constitution and relevant treaties of incorporation.  Victor Ian Steiner-Davion can give me orders, General, you can't.  now sit still where I can see you and don't go outside until this danger is past."

"Can she?" he asked worriedly.

"Not in her present condition, no.  Legally she is not acting in her right mind and not rational, therefore any orders from the Duchess are null and void unless or until she can be restored to a rational mental condition.  She wants you dead, sir, probably because you're an idiot and deserve it, but it's not her place, or mine, to fix your habit of wasting life-giving oxygen that could be sustaining an innocent child instead."

"what happens if she doesn't come?" he asked.

"Then I was wrong about who she's after, or she spotted the ambush and went after a secondary target." Sithers shrugged, "As for what happens to you? I don't give a shit, you're not my responsibility beyond preventing my duchess from killing you in her Leige Lord's property.  Given what we have on you, I'd happily take you up to orbit and let you walk home without a suit-but it's not my job to make that happen unless or until his majesty the Archon Prince tells me it's okay to do it."

[Daryk]

*takes more notes* :)

[Cannonshop]

Crime statistics in that part...

...of Triad City shifted for the next week, and a lot of violent criminals decided to either stay home, or get out of town.

at least, the organized ones.

"We need better bait."  Sithers said after another fruitless night keeping the worst of the AFFC's procurement personnel among the living.

The wild animal attack story was wearing quite thin by this point.

"why doesn't she come in on her own?" Katherine pointed out the obvious as the team leaders gathered to revisit their planning.

"If she's mostly rational at this point, she knows she's in deep shit-een the Colonel would buy off on a tour of the deep archives until people forgot what she looked like over this mess." Sithers explained, "It's a balancing act, it's why we've got most of them staked in torpor in vaults and only a few get to surface for a few years at a time to keep up with what's going on and current in the outside world."

"There are more."

"Obviously." Sithers stated, "Where do you think I learned how to capture one? what kills them?  what the symptoms are and we were ready with pre-manufactured means?  I mean, come on, there's pop-media and it gets everything bass-ackwards, this stuff didn't come out of some fantasist's imaginings...we need better bait."

"What would suffice?"

"The bomber, or whoever put them up to it.  THAT would draw her out." Sithers said, "Her Grace has more family traits than the dietary restrictions and the weird cosmetics-she's a Ngo, and being a Ngo, means she's going to want the assassin whose action tripped her off, especially if she's rational at this point.  'Revenge is a moral imperative' and all that."

"but how would she believe it?" Victor asked, "I met Liz Ngo more than once, and Mother, would she just fall for it?"

"Not without proof." Melissa said, "Elizabeth is very aware of deception operations, as she should be given her business role..."

Katherine heard the leading tone, and she noticed how her Brother was looking, not at their mother, but at her.

"Hey, it's noon, I've got a long night tonight, Your Highnesses..." Sithers didn't look at her.  "...so if I may be excused to get some rest?"

"Go ahead." Victor said firmly.  "Get some sleep, we'll maybe have something for you by sundown."

"What are you implying, Victor??"

"Nothing." Victor said and smiled.  "We're kind of fortunate though-Free Skye tried to hit Duchess Ngo a few weeks before the bombing, and LIC finally got enough proof of Ryan Steiner's involvement-he's saying some extraordinary things."

Curiatis chimed in, "apparently, the suggestion that he might be a target, and pictures of her previous confirmed kills was enough to rattle his aplomb."

"Wh-what?"

"You're a target now, so we're going to keep the revenant from getting to you." Victor told her, "But you're also going to get some Help, sane people don't conspire with Free Skye to kill their parents, and the action is so unlike the little sister I grew up with, that having the documentation still makes it feel surreal...so you're getting mental health treatment, and hopefully, that's where it ends.  I'm not going to let the monster eat you, Katie.  Gonna keep you safe."

'YOu have Ryan, what about the assassin himself?" she inquired.

"oh...well...he's been detained." Curiatis stated, "We'll let Warrant Sithers know where, she can manage the ambush there, I think...once we're sure Her Grace has stumbled across the necessary clues, and hopefully if she puts them together properly."

[Daryk]

That was a particularly satisfying way to put Katherine on notice... >:D

[paulobrito]

They identified Kat this time? Nice.

[Cannonshop]

The guards on Simon Gallagher's...

...residence were regular military-at least, on the outside.  It didn't take Elizabeth much to get past them, they were relying on thermal optics and night vision.

"Hello, Simon." she squatted on the end of his bed.  "Don't scream, not yet."

"You're her-the 'wild animal' that killed General Witten." he said uneasily.

"Yep...he was a lousy meal and I had to eat and go, not much to learn from that man-he didn't know what I wanted to know."

"What do you want to know?"

"Who set us up the bomb, Simon?  He gave that much out-you know something, not sure what, but something.  If you share generously, I'll go eat a drug dealer, domestic abuser, serial killer...rapist maybe? big cities have lots of options, and while I was semi-insensate I pretty much ****** over any chance of a normal life-they brought a specialist in, or they will, probably someone who knows the old me and knows what I am now-so my time's getting limited again."

"and?"

"AND, there's someone, probably more than one, who needs to stop abusing their oxygen access so that some innocent child can live a fuller, healthier life.  Help me find the guys who need to stop breathing, 'kay??"

"There's a terminal on the nightstand." he told her, "believe me, I wish I could convince them to hire you for this job-for all these jobs. You're doing god's work and it's the first time I've seen a born noble who did."

"Heartbeat says you're...not lying? interesting.  Reformer?"

"Yes. and a Patriot." he told her.  "I can't tell you who was directly involved in the bombing, but I can tell you that there are a list of suspects who, if they weren't, would have given the opportunity, people untouchable for a man like me."

she sniffed the air, "Still not lying. wow..."

"Save the Commonwealth by any means necessary, that end justifies any means!!" he asserted.

"Even turning an undead horror loose on your colleagues?"

"Even that."

she smiled closed-lipped, "I like you, Simon, you're a believer...so let's take a look at who needs to die."

[Luciora]

All of a sudden, I'm hearing, "Renfield, you !!!-!!!!!"

[Cannonshop]

"There's a risk...

...that we might need to account for." Victor observed.

"What risk?" Curiatis asked.

"She's attacking violent criminals, and corrupt officials, people who've been untouchable, or nearly so, or beneath the notice of security forces.  some of our people might sympathize.  How does this sound; what if she's getting, or can get, willing help?"

"What kind of 'help'?" Curiatis asked, "We're pretty sure she's not in with any of the various revolutionary movements-"

"No, willing help, from Patriots.  That's the nightmare right there." Victor clarified.   "Tell me you didn't get a thrill finding out Witten was dead, even though he was only free and ignored to help uncover a nest of foreign agents? how many of your colleagues have wanted that incompetent son of a bitch out, or in a cell, or dead?"

Curiatis frowned, "HOw many officers have quietly wished for a housecleaning in Mount Asgard, how many have fantasized about getting rid of superiors who are completely inferior in every way except their influence in the Estates General and their massive financial holdings? lots."

"I'm thinking aloud how I'd do it, in her position, she's going to make allies, because she has to, the further she mutates, the more vulnerability she has in daily life, the harder it is for her to pass as human."

"Uhm, how do you know that?  I mean, your expert's-"

"I met Tranh Truk Ngo.  The thing he's become is horrifying to look at and even the electric lights had to be kept dimmed and red-shifted."  Victor clarified, "That old monster told some stomach turning stories about the amaris war-from personal experience, and he was the one who suggested we bring Warrant Sithers to trap her and bring her back-and he suggested that I get started on transferring the Ducal titles to Baroness Mosovich, who is, at least, completely human, because Elizabeth on a rampage can't be returned to her previous position and still retain the illusion of a rule of law."

"So she's going to need support, and it can't be support we already know about..."

"She's going to find it if she can-fanatics, reformers who're dissatisfied, the kind of guys Dad loved to use when he needed to make major moves." Victor said with a nod, "The kind of people we need."

"How do you want me to handle that?"

"Open a new file heading, title it 'Renfield'.  We're going to need to identify potential Renfields in the ranks of the government, people who are going to be....okay with her methods if it gets the result they think they want."

"Renfield?"

"Classical ancient Earth Literature, the book's title is 'Dracula', Renfield was a human who switched sides to collaborate with the vampire in the title.  I get the feeling we're going to need to identify potential 'Renfields' before our hunter can find the Duchess for real."

"Right away sir."

[Cannonshop]

"The profile you're going to...

...be looking for, is what's called a 'political sociopath'-the kind of person who honestly believes that a noble end, justifies any means."  Linda Sithers had spent the last week camping on the containment of a mercenary assassin nicknamed 'the Dancing Joker'-with no sign of Her Grace coming to kill the bomber, or even question him.  "That's what your potential 'Renfield' type is-they're dissatisfied, they're ruthless, but they're also hampered by rules they hate, with enough self-control and awareness not to break the law because they think they believe in it."

"You're familiar with the type then?"

"yeah, I work for one." Linda said bluntly, "Commodore Li will do literally anything to uphold what she sees as the 'meaning' of the law, even when it's disturbing as ******.  she'll charge a guard with no hesitation for beating a prisoner, only to feed the prisoner to a Revenant later on, and feel no remorse about it, because the rules were...well, not really followed so much as acknowledged."

"So, a kind of inflexible moral flexibility?" Curiatis asked.

"Yeah.  You could say that.  I do it too, it's why I can work the Crypt beat, but self-awareness is kinda necessary or your illusions and delusions can make trouble.  Main thrust is, your suspect list are people who want to make the world make sense, by force if necessary."

"So...in your case..."

"The Charter Constitution." she said, "My oath as a member of the Coast Guard, and my oath as a keeper of the laws-an officer of the court, comes into conflict with being what amounts a zookeeper for flesh-eating immortal monsters, the way to resolve it, is to not resolve it, which is part of what I'm suggesting-she's going to be leaning on someone who can believe two mutually contradicting things simultaneously without being paralyzed by the conflict."

"Intelligence.  she's going to get her 'renfield' from Intel branch!"

[Daryk]

Curiatis caught on disturbingly fast... I wonder if he can look himself in the mirror for the next hour or two... :D

[Grognard]

Screw the "one ping only", Mr. Jones...
STAND ON THAT BUTTON!

[Cannonshop]

"Sometimes you have to...

...burn the infection out.  It leaves a nasty scar, but it's better than being eaten by gangrene or blood poisoning."  Elizabeth said, "speaking of blood..."

Generalleutnant Bhailovic flinched, because the "Archon's Pet" that had bored his colleagues with a plan that would do savage things to his own portfolio crossed the sitting room in an eyeblink.  "I think yours wants out, what do you think, Herr General?"

"W-what do you want??"

"I want to drink your blood, but I'm open to other options."  she said, he noted the slim girl was holding all 120 kilograms of him off the floor one-handed.  Her balance was a bit difficult, their difference in mass was visible-but what was also quite evident was the pain his uniform pants were inflicting on the flesh between his legs-because she'd lifted him by his belt-buckle.  "Do you respect strength and violence, then?" she asked him, "because I was there when you failed to respect Archon Melissa's wisdom, intelligence, and tact, Herr General...cheer up, your pants are choking it off so you can't soil yourself like this...I think?" she dropped him against his desk.

"so, Let's hear the options from you, that let you walk through That door at the end of this little chat, with all your pieces still attached, Hmm?"

"This...the Archon Prince could NOT have approved!!"

"Right.  Victor is a good man, a kind man, so he didn't authorize this little visit, and I'm sure we can spend a few minutes going over how many laws i'm about to break if you don't start with the well-reasoned options that don't include me drinking your life's blood before your guards can get in here to fail to stop me."

"wh-what do you want??"

"I want my nation intact, Herr General, I want the invaders driven from every scrap of Lyran Soil, I want every Lyran citizen to be freed from bondage, especially foreign bondage by the Clans, I want a Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces worthy of the term 'Armed Forces', for no soldier to go without food, ammunition, medicine, and the kind of comforts that make a soldier's life in the field tolerable. I want the best of our soldiers to stop seeing the Mercenary market as a better option than patriotism...and I want the general staff to do their ****** jobs to make this happen."

"We-, wE ARE!!" he bleated.

"no, you're not. forty percent of the Commonwealth is occupied and the best military assets to protect what's left? are foreigners from the Federated Suns!!"

His hand found a sternsacht, and he fired it, the first shot wild.

she took his pistol hand, pistol in it, and pressed the muzzle, "No wonder we're in trouble, you can't even shoot a woman holding your junk!!"  She scowled up at him, and he could see her eyes were red-tinged black pools, not whites in evidence.  "AGAIN!! FIRE IT AGAIN!! How can you Miss at this range??"

He fired.

Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!!
BANG!!
BANG!!

he could see how the bullets punched through her body, but that relentless, cold hand was a grip of iron.

"Now you've made me hungry." she said to him.  "I find your argument unconvincing."

His bladder let go, as did his bowels, in a wave of destroyed dignity and real fear, as she opened her mouth, showing fangs like hooked razors.

"Try. Again." she said, and broke his hand to take his hold-out pistol.  "Why should I let you live, Herr General?  Tell me a good reason not tear out your throat and drink your life's blood?"

"You...you're..." he babbled.

"An undead abomination? a monster? Ja, Herr General, I'm an unnatural thing right out of the stories your mutti told you as a tiny child.  The important and relevant thing, is that I am less than a meter from your carotid artery, less than a meter from plunging these fingers-" she showed him fingers tipped in black, sharp claws, "-into your chest to show you your heart as you die...or, you can try to convince me not to do that, that your life is worth more than my calories.  pull yourself together, and convince me."

He stared at her with wide eyes, shaking. 

For her part, Elizabeth held out her other hand, and Simon handed her a warmed bag of fluid.

she drank the preserved whole blood while the General marshalled himself, or had a heart attack, she wasn't sure which would be more likely.

"I..I deserve to live! I can help!!"

"See? was that so difficult, Herr General?" she asked him, "There are a list of failed programs, you will see to it that funding is cut to those failed programs, and the proceeds from that are directed to properly equipping and paying good Lyran soldiers...and our foreign allies, you will make it a priority that all the money goes where the paperwork says it is supposed to go...minus your two percent. If you take more than two percent, ever again? I won't give you the chance to redeem yourself-they can't kill me, Herr General, and you can't be certain that containment will hold if I have to return to visit you, your wife and heirs will profit, but you won't be alive to see it.  Any other backhanders involved will be taken from your two percent, and you will actively pursue anyone who gets greedy, am I understood, ja?"

"You're letting me steal two percent?"

"I'm allowing a maximum of two percent, total.  If you cannot maintain enough discipline in your subordinates? I will be back and then I'll have this talk with your replacement, probably after your funeral." she told him.  "THink of this as a 'reminder' that while Graft is inevitable, it is the duty of those entrusted with National Funds to prioritize the nation over their other concerns."

she reached up, and caressed his cheek with cold, clammy, dead fingers.  "Do we understand, Herr Generalleutnant?  the good of the nation supersedes pride, it supersedes tradition, it supersedes personal interests...and if you can't do that, your replacement can learn."

"I-I don't have that much power!!"

"So tell me who I need to eat, to make sure you can do your job." she told him.  "We serve the public, whether officially or not.  who can make you mind, if the Archon cannot and your life in peril cannot.  Who am I going to remove?"

***

"She was HERE!!" Generalleutnant Bhailovic insisted, "Your little Duchess, what the hell is she??"

Victor sighed, surveying the disrupted sitting room.  "Not very subtle, I think." he turned to the older man, "So...she was here, and you're still alive...what did she say she wanted?"

Here, the older man hung his head in shame.

"She wanted you to do your job, ja?" Victor asked, "because she does not feel you were doing your best at it, ja?"

the old man nodded silently, swiftly.

"She let you live with a warning of some sort, and tried a sweetener to make it tolerable." Victor continued, "Didn't she?"

"ja Mein Archon."

"and you promised, with some guarantee, to do it.  so she let you live."

"I can't even resign!!"  Bhailovic whined, "She told me this was for my redemption and if I did not 'carry the ball' she would eat me!!"

Victor sighed.  "I see.  well, a man's life in danger, if he doesn't do his duty-not unusual in our business, ja?" he turned with false jocularity to regard the elderly general officer.  "I don't feel you should die, Bhailovic, can you do what she asked?"

"I can try."

"That's all I would ask." Victor told him, "until she's...contained or eliminated then, you have a job for the Realm to do-I suggest you get to work, she's managed to slip past several teams of agents, but her...her heart? seems to be in the right place for the time being, which will make it easier to end this threat."

"Milord, I confessed-"

"So you did.  and if this were an earlier era, I would give you a pardon and let you resign with your dignity, but until this threat is over, until Frau Ngo is under control again, I guess our compromise, is that you will do as you were directed, that is, your duty, and once she's in custody, I will graciously let you resign and enter civilian life with your dignity."

"thank you Milord."

"I can't very well hold it against you when you confessed and begged me for help, now can I?"  Victor added, "It's honorable to confess and submit to your lawful lord, but I wish you'd come forward without the coercion. It poisons the whole thing...get cleaned up, do your duty."

"thank you milord."