With a grunt of effort Kador and the Caldarian managed to heft the heavy Laser Cannon from the display table, even in its compacted form as Doctor Thaira had indicated and clad in the bulky form of his Commando class dropsuit, the weapon was heavy enough to send sharp jolts of pain down his back.

As the pair lowered the weapon onto the cart Kador felt the weapons weight shift as it turned side ways to lie flat upon the bed of the cart. He tried desperately to adjust his grip but the barrel slipped out of his grasp , but fortunately only dropped onto the cart below.

With the weapon now resting comfortably on its side he could see its intended design features. It was designed to be carried by a much heavier and stronger class of dropsuit, connecting the energy feeds into the dropsuits own internal systems.

Rising he took the handle of the cart and rolled it towards the laboratory's main portal. Noting as Crownrule entered, providing a polite nod of acknowledgement, was not wearing his helm.

"I can have this connected to one of the vehicles within the hour if it please you." He said, directing his voice towards the Doctor. " My apologies but I will either need you to accompany me down to the garage or for one of the others to take my watch."

Alaxander sighed after lifting the weapon. His suit wasn't made to move such heavy objects. He hears Crownrule ask him if he wanted to gaurd the doctor. He beamed on the inside.

"Sure, i'll gaurd the doctor. You guys can bring B2 with you, he'll help install the weapon."

The drone hovers over to the Templars, a small welding device appearing from his frame.

"I'd be most delighted to assist you Templars." Said the drone

Emergency lights were flashing everywhere. Alaxander went into combat mode, grabbing his commlink and checking screens for security information.

"B2, Templars! We have a breach in the north wing. Scramble defense systems, I'll get the doctor to safety."

Alaxander grabbed his Rail Rifle, he didn't expect an attack but that didn't mean he wasn't ready for one. He moved over to a security console and began locking down the north wing. After he had activated security, he moved over to the doctor and put his hand on her shoulder. He said in his kindest but most serious voice.

"Doctor, we have to leave."

After the Doctor collected her things, Alexander led her into the main corridor. His goal was to get her to the testing room deep in the compound and Alexander was willing to do anything to get her there safe. He heard gunfire, it was fairly close. He motioned to the doctor to slow down. He crept forward slowly and carefully. He looked into the other hall, seeing nothing he motioned to the doctor to follow

At the end of the hall was the entrance to the testing room. As they moved towards the door, the gunfire grew louder. Alexander turned around and was met with the sight of three hostile troops. They opened fire on him and the doctor. Alexander threw himself between the bullets and the doctor. The rounds hit Alexander in the stomach the pain was unbearable, but he raised his rail riffle and blasted two of the three attackers. His vision became blurry, he had lost a lot of blood. The third attacker raised his gun and Alexander knew it was over. But before the attacker could fire, B2 flew in, his normal blue light replaced by a blood red glow.

"Protect the Master!" shrieked the drone

He blasted the attacker with his laser. Alexander and the doctor ran into the testing room, B2 close behind. The three entered the room and Alexander slammed the lockdown control and the door closed He walked over to the corner and removed his helmet, drooping it to the floor. His hand moved to his stomach, he had lost a lot of blood. His strength in his legs failed and he crumbled to the floor.

B2 hovered over to Alexander. "Master! Your hurt!"

"No **** B2"

Alexander looked to the doctor and said

"Am I doing my job better Doc?"

He coughed a little blood

"Being held hostage by a mad immortal."

A series of datacards are ejected from the computer. Alaxander takes them and walks toward the door

"We need to find your Commander, find the immortal, then get to my ship, let's go."

Alaxander rushes into the hall

Alexander powers up the dropship.

"I need you to take the Doctor to the hanger, my ship will be waiting for you."

The ship begins to launch.

"I'm not letting him take this information, get to my ship and get her off world."

The ship launches

((Redacted, wrong thread))

Galm shutters when the weapon hits the ground, pausing for a long moment as he loosens the pressure against the scientist.

"You'd... Risk yourself for another? It's one thing to fight for the person you protect, but to willingly accept that she is more important than you. Now there is a rarity I haven't seen in New Eden for a long time."

He not-laughs again, but his icey tone slowly trains off until it becomes a warm chuckle. It hangs on his lips like an old memory, and he finds himself smiling.

"So of all the people here it finally takes him to understand all this? Is that it? Not the star-eyed loverboy here, not some noble knight fighting for his empire... But the Templar sworn to defend. Now that is something."

---

He was hoping this would be an easy assignment. Above all else, he was hoping this would be an easy assignment. That he could get back into the mercenary world and have one more eventful mission where everything ended out okay. But the world was rarely so kind. His first sob came out unexpectedly, shaking Fae to his core as he madly tried to assess what had happened to him. Was he shot? Did someone stab him? No, his shields were reading fine. The second one was even more powerful than the last, enough cause him to double over and remove his boot from the doctor to support his weight.

When he looked up he didn't say anything. He didn't scream, shutter, or shout. To an outside observer, it would look like nothing happened at all. But behind his eyes and in his head Galm came face to face with his own brutality. He wasn't just holding the doctor hostage, he was holding his mother hostage. She stared back at him with the same fear in her eyes behind the barrel of his rail rifle. He shook his head and the figure shifted once again, becoming his father. He shook again and again, each time the figure shifting to a different familiar face. Gideon, Pavlov, Morgan, Bishop, before at last coming to rest.

Niina was staring right back in his face. The world reflected in her eyes, casting a glimpse of Galm in front of her. He saw himself in those sad, frightened eyes looming over her. The same soldier that had fought for the Templis, and the same soldier that had wrought terror for the Taskforce Command. The same soldier he had hoped to never see again.

He wondered, did she know that man? Would she recognize him?

To everyone else, Galm had gone mad. He was shivering now from head to toe, remaining completely silent as he backed away slowly from the doctor. His next words were horribly disjointed, coming out in chunks at a time rather than sentences as he begged for forgiveness.

"Th-- Rifle isn'-- No bullets in it! See-- Th-- Wasn't loaded! I would never-- Please! Please believe me, I wouldn't wa-- Wa-- This wasn't for me. Believe me, it was for us! This was always for us!"

He pulled the magazine from his weapon and held it out to her, eagerly attempting to force it on her. At first she recoiled, backing as far away from him as he could. Then it became apparent that he wasn't lying. The magazine had been completely empty the entire time he was holding her hostage. He had spent his last bullet on the team of rebels that were about to abduct her before having to resort to melee combat. She looked back at the crumbled mess of the person he had viciously bashed against a wall, asking herself how she could have been so stupid.

Galm looks down at the floor, incessantly shaking his head back and fourth.

"Please. Someone kill me. I don't want to watch this anymore. Please. Make it go away."