Rennac Faintheart

The Endless Struggle

The Wolkar's brow furrowed at the knowledge that this man had such knowledge that he could threaten not only his own race but that of every other star-system as well. Suddenly the scales were tipped in a way he had not anticipated. "If this man is as dangerous as you say, then it is even more imperative that he not escape no matter the cost. I don't know how long you may have served under him or if you knew him personally. If it looks like he even has the slightest chance of escaping, we'll both need to take the shot. I am unsure whether your assignment was to bring him back strictly alive, but I know I cannot let a threat like that escape if it looks like he might. If it comes down to it, I hope you do not begrudge me for doing what I think is needed to save lives."

The Endless Struggle

Rennac sighed and shook his head. "I do not believe you are without honor. Quite the contrary in fact. Even with this you show more honor than I dare to say a few of my allies within the guild. Given differing circumstances and more transparency, much of this would have turned out differently in my mind. I have merely seen instances of dishonor and noted them. It is my hope that those who showed those acts are in the vast minority. If I had believed your people as a whole to be without honor, I would never have accepted this mission and Ferran would be cutting ties with your people entirely for a time no less than a decade. I almost did after Karasis nearly had me killed in that council room. It was Xiranthis who turned me around and talked me into staying. He and the other council members showed me more than enough honor to redeem the actions of Karasis, even after he nearly had me killed. For a Wolkar to change his opinion of a race that had treated him so harshly during talks of peace is... well, lets just say this will be a first. Normally when we see a race as unable to work with others, we see something that would destroy us if we ever allowed them be among us. You have been honorable, even more so now that I know you too were unaware of what the dataspike was. Seems Xiranthis keeps his own men in the dark as much as he does his enemies.. I'm just used to having all the facts that my people have upfront, no surprises that could potentially get a group killed." The wolkar went to a projector screen in the ship's lounge and brought up a hologram of the planet below, six red circles shown and a few smaller yellow ones coming up as well "For now, we have a good half dozen man made landing zones to check. No beacons active so we'll need to eyeball it. Would say split up and cover more ground, but if Klith knows we're coming it would be foolish to walk into an ambush alone. Would recommend either sticking together in a loose formation or having one examine the area in the open while the other stays hidden closeby, but still in contact with silent radio checks. Though, there is still one question.." Rennac sat silently down in one of the chairs nearby, removing his helmet with a pondering expression on his face. "With what Klith knows, how serious is a threat to your people? I only ask this because we need to face the possibility he may escape if we go easy and use non-lethal methods. He has escaped once before, and he can likely do so again. I am all for having him on trial and publicly punished, but I am not comfortable doing so if it puts a planet of people in danger. You are a part of the covert soldier unit he was previously in charge of, and I need your honest opinion on this matter: Does Klith know enough to put your world and it's people in considerable danger? Is he too dangerous to try and take in alive?"

The Endless Struggle

Rennac sighed and shook his head. "True, he could SEE us at that moment, but his ability to do so was wired through the data spike in the terminal. Shooting that would cut off his control completely." The Wolkar let out a sigh of agitation and relaxed his shoulders, trying to get the tension out. "Look, I'm sorry OK? Besides, it's not like Klith is the only one I expected to try and kill me. I take it you were not told about Karasis's actions during our first meeting? When he tried to make this just another bounty job and I told him I couldn't accept a bounty that had not been processed through the guild first, he decided to have the guards come in and threaten me. He had his guards ready to kill an unarmed diplomat, over some simple protocol I would have had to follow if he had his way.. From my understanding, you are partially under his command too. I don't know much about your honor code, but threatening one who comes unarmed as en envoy of peace is not the mark of a trustworthy society. The main reason I didn't simply walk away is because I have hope that people like Karasis do not make up the majority of your people." He paused and gathered himself, finding a place to long quickly before he punched two sets of code into his datapad and handed it to Reaper. "This is the frequency to my comms gear. The one below that, is the master override code for my armor. With that you can cause my wrist rockets to detonate in the tubes, make my fuel tank rupture, even lock my armor and leave me to starve. You said you wanted trust? I'd say this is pretty damn trusting considering you kept me in the dark about that dataspike until just now. You could have told me about it from day 1. You could have told me about it when we left Shad-noir. Instead, you kept that from me, you hid a piece of what we would need to keep in touch with those who are helping us and look at what happened. I wouldn't have freaked out if I wasn't led on to think it was planted by Klith and considered it a threat to the mission that YOU insisted to keep. That on top of everything else, just made it a little difficult to trust you since I knew clearly have not been able to trust me since the start!" Given everything the wolkar had seen about the ugly side of his people as well as all the secrets and lies, it was hard to blame him for having trouble thinking Reaper had been honest with him. Rennac had felt betrayed since the start, and it showed.

The Endless Struggle

Seems it posted the first time. Got a weird timeout glitch.

The Endless Struggle

Rennac rolled his eyes and signed. "Then why would I also have a gun pointed at the terminal at the same time? I took that possibility into account. Based on your joined reactions I would decide to either shoot you or shoot both and destroy the terminal before he could verify I had shot the bulkhead next to you. Then we could have also had the element of surprise when he realizes i hadn't killed you as he suspected. Since you suddenly jolted the ship to try and throw me off, I made the sensible conclusion you were aiming to attack me. Instead of at least trying to show you were innocent, you attacked me. Even without the whole possible traitor scenario, I would act to deal with the threat. Typically when one is accused of treason, the reaction is pleading their innocence rather than attacking an ally." As Reaper went off to the bunks he went to the cockpit, starting his analysis for possible spots the shipment of guns would have been delivered. Though at this point Rennac just wanted to find someone he could punch, burn, slice, blow up, or otherwise maim as his view on Litharians was overall growing lower.

The Endless Struggle

Rennac shook his head in exasperation at the spymasters need to be hidden even from his own allies, muttering a bit to himself. As soon as the INTCOM went off the Wolkar promptly facepalmed a second time. "That's it? Couldn't he have just said that and be done with it? And here I was hoping that there would be some vital Intel. Anyway, if this is the case then we'll need to change our tactics. There's gonna be slim to zero chance of a successful infiltration. Best shot we have is shock and awe unless you happen to have some top notch stealth gear. Another option is that one of us uses the ship to attack from overhead while the other gets Klith in the confusion. Suggestions?" He saw the Librarians scowl and shook his head. "Listen, with all that cryptic crap I was practically certain you were Kliths accomplice and when I stated that you didn't even try to defend yourself. If the situation was reversed and I insisted on keeping the dataspike and was suddenly contacted through it in such a manner by who you suspected was Klith, you would have come to the same conclusion. If you were indeed the accomplice and you knew I was aware of that, then you would have either tried to kill me or escape to inform your boss I was coming. Now that Xilanthis FINALLY informed me the dataspike was his, it clears up any suspicion."

The Endless Struggle

Rennac simply rolled his eyes and facepalmed at the spymaster's response, shaking his head as he did so. He was SO not doing another op like this unless he got all the details up front. He could imagine the master of eyes with a shit eating grin after seeing the two batter each other for no reason. "Let me get this straight. You respond to my inquiries about the dataspike I suspected was planted by Klith's men, by using said dataspike to bypass my firewall protocols and talk suspiciously to Reaper with a voice modulator which would be EXACTLY how Klith would contact us if he ever chose to do so? You, good sir, have one fucked up sense of humor. If I didn't nearly kill and/or get killed by Reaper here, I would be saluting you."

The Endless Struggle

Rennac was preparing a followup punch when he heard the INTCOM as well as what, well, wasn't quite what he was expecting, but was close enough nonetheless. "The underlined bit was more a jab at Karasis for nearly having the guards kill an unarmed diplomat, but close enough. This WHOLE thing might have been avoided if you were simply kind enough to answer when I was inquiring about the dataspike. Here I was thinking you were Klith and Reaper here was the traitor that helped him escape. Next time could you give me a bit of a heads up?" The Wolkar gave Reaper a sheepish grin, figuring he would end up owing the Litharian an apology. "Sorry bout that by the way, but given the circumstances I figured you were the one who helped Klith. Mysterious dataspike, you wanting to keep it in the system, etc."

The Endless Struggle

Rennac's growl was audible through his helm as his punch hit and dented the bulkhead. OK, less force, more speed and precision. He felt the overhead blow to his plating and was forced to one knee, balling up a fist and throwing a simple uppercut aimed right at his opponent's jaw. This was more focused on speed and less on force, likely only enough to kill or severely wound but would likely send him reeling.

The Endless Struggle

The Wolkar grunted as he felt his knee collide with his opponent's, retracting the blade into his gauntlet as he was body slammed by Reaper to force him back. However, his jetpack sprung to life and the Wolkar let loose a rocket assisted punch right where Reaper's gut was located, aiming to hit with as much force as his suit could muster.