Copy of A Psycho: Part 3, WAR GODS

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Upon entering the meeting room of the Maraikhom Alliance’s starbase, the contrast could not be greater. While the rest of the facility has colorful, brightly lit hallways, the room I’m stepping into is dark, cold, and has an odd coziness to it. The massive table in the middle is surrounded with the inhabitants of various organizations, each one protruding a dark shadow along the walls like a children story gone hideously wrong.

However, these are alliance representatives from, and I can only assume, their respective corporations. The hologram in the middle of the massive rectangular table starts the presentation. The faces illuminated by the blue glow of a massive star map no longer show dark shadows, but the usual suspects. Judging from their clothes, most of them look like a mix of Caldari and Gallente business men. Generally speaking, the old guard looks at least a decade older than our CEO Namir Serr, and present themselves as one.

"Have a seat Ms. Serr, we're honored to make your acquaintance," says a white-haired Caldari man at the far end of the table, he motions with his hand towards an empty seat.

My squad and I move to stand against the wall behind her seat, as the other guards have done. I watch as she walked confidently towards her seat with the eyes of the room glancing at her. She takes her seat next to an elderly bald man with an overly stern face. He looks like he hasn't smiled in years.

Next to me stands the squad leader, Malleo Horn, with the rest of the squad spread out along the wall. Horn nudges me and motions to the other side of the room. I spot it immediately – a Forge Gun. Damn. I check out the other corporations and they’re traveling light like us. I look back to the group across from us. Despite the dark helmets making it impossible to see their eyes, it still feels like they’re fixed on us.

"Ms Serr, based on the rapid growth and successful management of your corporation, we've concluded that Stateless Society would be a valued addition to the Maraikhom Alliance." said the same white-haired Caldari.

"Was the decision to accept us unanimous?” Our CEO stares down at the Caldari man.

He faints a laugh with surprise and disbelief. It seems like he foresaw this question. "Ms. Serr, you're in, what does it matter..."

She stands and stares coldly into his eyes "I want to know who voted against us." The tension in the room can cut steel. Even the bored guards are interested in the meeting now. All of the representatives look to the white haired Caldari man as one.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Horn whispers loudly over the squad channel.
He needs to keep a cool head, but continues anyway. "She's always been very direct as long as we’ve known her, but this seems like the kind of situation where you should just be thankful."

"This is actually kind of funny- look at their reactions," chuckles a Gallente in our squad. He was right, I never seen such silent outrage.

"It’s not fucking funny you asshole! She's making us look like arrogant ingrates!"

The guards to the left and right of us start looking over at us. Horn complained so loudly that it could hardly be considered a whisper anymore. If this room wasn't so damn big his loudness would be noticed by the representatives too. Luckily, they didn’t. Horn does have a point though; I could see at least three squads on the other side just looking at her. Others are starting to motion toward us, pointing fingers, and shaking their heads. Fuck'em; we could take them all out. Well, maybe, if we're lucky… The urges are back, I want to stab the guards across from us in the eyes, they're creeping me out. Plus I would use their Forge Guns, shove it up their asses, and make some fireworks. It would provide some much needed illumination to the room, while at the same time eliminating the enemy - corporate efficiency. I think I would need a smaller gun though.

A smug looking CEO breaks the silence. "While I understand the wanting to know where you stand with everyone, we have a policy of confidentiality when it comes to these matters to prevent possible... hostilities. I'm sure you understand. You will be receiving a memo of formal guidelines shortly."

I could tell he was one of those who voted against us. I would feel better if I could rip out his spine and slap his guards in the face with it, but I guess this is why everyone has guards. Violent thoughts get harder to control when I'm doing nothing but standing against a wall. Damn I need my meds. I have to be better; I trained myself for this. I have to keep myself from doing anything impulsive until I get a refill on anti-psychotics.

"In addition, regardless of who might have voted against you, I assure you the inclusion of your corporation is of vital importance to our new strategy. Stateless Society holds the territories bordering, or those of close proximity to, several systems under control of the Razdalek Renegades who, as you know, we are currently at war with. With the usage of your territory, we can finally finish the Razdaleks," adds an Amarr member with what looks like the insanely expensive monocle all of the elite are talking about. Miss Serr seems to accept this explanation and sits down.

I don’t know why, but the monocle looks so damn silly I want to laugh snobbishly while I wear it, and open fire into a crowd of poor people while yelling, "Let the poor proletariat eat plasma rounds! Look at how rich I am! HAHAHAHA," I always did love the word proletariat. I would probably make a terrible rich person. Imagine my massive forest for hunting humans… wait, that’s already done. Screw it, I’ll just order really expensive human flesh and feed it to poor people and lobby for tax cuts for my income level. Damn, that last one is already done too. Ah well, I really should focus...

Monocle man presses a button a his remote control, and the hologram of the star map zooms into the new Maraikhom Alliance’s territory. Different regions are color coded according to who owns them within the alliance. A new red section is added; Stateless Society. Territories of the Razdalek Renegades are shown in blue next to ours. Monocle man starts to present the new order of territories, alliances, and missions. The tattoo-faced sniper of our squad, who’s been silent the entire time, finally ends his silence with, "That monocle, I've seen that before! It's fucking expensive." I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed.

After a couple minutes, our CEO interrupts the geography lesson. "Forgive the interruption, but I am aware of the situation. What really needs to be discussed is Stateless Society’s payment for allowing you to use our territory for this war.” She suddenly stands up again, but this time all the weapons in the room are pointed at her. Guess someone wants to make a point. We level our weapons at the closest guards. I hear the release of grenade pins from behind me. I smile while I sight my rifle on Forge man’s head. I almost pull trigger. Almost.

"Everyone put your guns down. I am unarmed. I'm just making a point.” our CEO says in a calm, but firm voice. We slowly lower our weapons and plug our grenades as the other guards get the go ahead to do the same from their respective reps. She resumes talking as she walks next to us. She raises her open hand while pointing it towards us, and proclaims the most flattering lie about me... about us, that anyone has ever said in New Eden.

"These are the finest marines you will ever find. This squad alone has wiped out entire regiments of Heavy Attack Vehicles on their own. Each time these men suffered a death in battle, the death has been analyzed by battlefield researchers coordinating with top geneticists to upgrade the their clones to fit the user better. and thus decrease their deaths. They come back stronger, deadlier, more resilient, and overall better killing machines. Having died thousands of times they are the most battle-hardened, experienced, and efficient marines in this whole region, not even to mention this room. My Elite Guard could wipe out all 5 other guard squads if they wanted to in the blink of an eye, and that Forge Gun," she nods her head in the direction it, "will not even slow them down." I have to say, I feel pretty good.

"Is this true?!" says the smug Monocle Man in disbelief. Other representatives start yelling from their chairs, "this is an outrage," "of course not!" "why the hell are we listening to her?!" Their guards don't look too happy either...

"It does make sen that further  innovation to the system would arise... I would much like to see these War Gods," says the white-haired Caldari.

Mr. Monocle won't be fooled so easily, and neither will some of the other reps.  As if on cue..

A younger Gallente rep adds "I have to side on Stalez on this one, we have no reason to believe her. Perhaps we should let her 'War Gods'..." he glances disapprovingly over to the Caldari man,  "fight all five of our squads and let them prove they are indeed as formidable as she claims." The rep laughs to himself and shakes his head.

That last part was clearly a joke, but judging by the way these guards are holding their weapons while all looking right at us, it appears a lot of these guards think that is indeed a good way to test her claim... or maybe they can just tell we're nowhere near as tough as she would have them believe. You can tell they want to speak out and proclaim how full of shit we are, but all they can do is wait for an order.

The monocle man clearly doesn't catch the humor either, "That is an absurd idea! we shall not have unnecessary violence. Surely if she is speaking the truth, then she can show us some genetic files on these men as proof." I quickly ponder the possibility of falsifying documents of genetic records when there are over 300 million chemical nucleotides in human DNA... maybe it could be done in a realistic way if the focus was on key genes relevant to combat situations, or master control genes that direct the actions of countless other genes. Would that be enough?
Our beloved, lying CEO quickly comes up with another lie; lying seems so effortless to her. Miss Serr rightly objects to the request for genetic files, "You don't expect me to reveal such valuable data after only our first meeting, do you? Perhaps your concerns may be alleviated if someone from the alliance accompanies us to a battle, and observe my Elite Guard in action" she allows herself a private smile, "you can watch their work from the Mobile Command Center with me."

"This is a satisfactory solution. I would personally love to see these... marines in action" says the monocle-man. Other reps are nodding their heads in agreement.

Wait, some of these people actually believe her? Is something in water on this station? And seriously, we're gonna to have to prove we're "War Gods." There is nothing else to do but smile and laugh. Always an interesting day with our CEO.

"What the fuck is she doing?!" exclaims a Gallente squadmate guy. With a tinge of fear, Horn whispers in his mic, "Everyone just shut up and look badass." Across the table, I could almost see the hatred on their faces, even with their black helmets.

Monocle-man, who I assume is the one named Stalez, says, "Besides, even if your ridiculous claim turns out to be true, so what?! Did you just try to show off your toy soldiers, or is there a point to your little show."

With a smile Miss Serr replies, "Actually, I was making the point that in light of my superior marines, I don't need this alliance to defend our territories. It is you that must convince us to let you use our territory to launch your attacks on the Razdalek. Gentlemen, what I'm offering you is more than a favorable deal. We demand 33.33% of all planets this alliance takes from the Razdalek. In exchange we will devote the most military power in the conquest of planets, and you will get to use our territory for military purposes... that is, after you give us a chance to prove the might of our superior soldiers," she says this with a sort of confident grin that would lead one to believe she really did believe the things she said. "Just give us a chance to prove it in battle, and if you're satisfied, then you let us do most of the work, and keep a third of the territory," she reiterates.

Stalez looks frustrated, as if he is the only one who can see through the lies. With one last salvo of proving us liars, he yells, "This is an outrage! there is no way in hell we will agree to these ludacris demands! They only leave each of our corps with less 14% for each! How can you expect us to agree with that?!"

Two hours later, after seemingly nonstop arguing, they've agreed to all of her ludacris demands. Yep, she won. How, I will never know even though I was in the wrong. I swear she had them all in a trance. Also, our squad is being renamed from Elite Guard to War Gods - she does have an interesting sense of humor. We're deploying to attack the Razdalek soon, and we're training like crazy to live up to this insane, bullshit hype. I think I may need some more anti-psychotics...

Sneak Peak: Part 4

A couple days later I find myself on a war barge as we enter the atmosphere of a Razdalek controlled ice planet. I'm suppose to be listening to a battle plan, something about key installments to target, which squads will attack what, but this will all be reiterated later so it's ok. I'm still kind of excited and dreading that this battle will be monitored by our new friends a the Maraikhom Alliance from the MCC. All those way dangerous missions where the casualty rate is zero? Yep, we got those. Extremely challenging combat doesn't even cover it. Yet, we have trained almost nonstop, so it's time to test ourselves. We've all come to one conclusion, to live up to this incredible, bullshit hype we have to become masters of battlefield massacre. I always did want a chance at mass murder.