#62 The Pied Piper/How it began

Posted on Mon Sep 13th, 2021 @ 6:47pm by Captain Sean Silk

Mission: Mission Guardian Shield
Location: planet
Timeline: current

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Second Lieutenant Sean Silk came to suddenly, ready to react and kill anything meaning him harm. Once his brain acknowledged there was no threat he then began to cough up the dust in his throat from the crashing wall he had ridden down to the turf. He had been in a hostel, enjoying leave from the embassy and his sentry duties, staying in a second floor suite. The next thing he knew there were air raid type sirens going off and then the photon mortars began to fall. Several shots had clustered against the base of a wall for his hostel, weaking it. As it fell outward, from the top falling out, it pulled Sean's floor with it, which thankfully had angled and slid to create a large ramp to tumble and slide down and not get crushed by falling debris, cinderblocks and roofing. Of course, as he impacted the ground he was thrown forward and smacked his head on something and blackness had overtaken him.

Groaning lightly as he sat up, dust falling from his torso and head to his lap and the turf, Silk began to swipe his face and rid himself of anymore rubbish. Getting to his feet and slapping dust away from his body Sean then began to search for his duffle, which had been fairly close to him when the floor became a ramp. After shuffling debris around for a few minutes he found it, taking it and slapping it down and unzipping it quickly. Digging inside he found what he sought, his marine k-bar. He gave the hilt a kiss and then strapped the blade on his left hip with his belt, tying it down on the thigh loosely. Now, he had the best weapon any good marine could ever have. The k-bar was life, a constant companion through the toughest of times. There to protect you and aid you in a variety of tasks. Any marine who thought of a knife as old school and foolish was an idiot who didn't deserve the marine crest.

***

Thirty six hours later, having made his way through the city during both daylight and night time hours, Sean had gathered a small group of seven embassy staff. They to had been enjoying the city and all it had to offer when the surprise attack came. Silk, in his travels and before he became the Pied Piper, had found a small squad of soldiers, none of them anyone he recognized. He shadowed them for a while, seeing what they were about. He observed them enter building after building and search them, seeking anyone who had not scrambled to leave the area. That was always followed by the sounds of particle weapons fire. As he had sat back and heard them do this twice, Silk's head dropped and he closed his eyes, trying to keep down his anger and twisted moral compass. It took effort but he was gaining control over his impulse to go forth and kill. Until he heard a female scream and a shot. The scream was silenced abruptly in compliance with the shot.

Silk moved quickly and quietly, every ounce of his body now in stealth and attack mode. The soldiers were not expecting opposition and it showed. They casually moved from building to building, not really being very cautious about it. Following them into a small hotel, the lobby shadowed by various leaning beams and broken roof, the light streaming in in pools upon the floor.

The squad leader thought he heard a hmph and spun around as he stopped, his eyes seeking the source of the sound. The private who had been behind him was gone, nowhere to be seen. That's when he realized that none of his men were around him any longer, his eyes growing wider with fear. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind, a strong arm wrapping over his chest from behind as he felt a knife blade pressed to his throat.

"Drop it, dirtbag!" Silk ordered in a low, gruff tone. He was covered in blood...none of it his. The squad leader complied far easier than anticipated. These were thugs pretending to be soldiers, and Sean hated these types of assholes. "Move with me to right." They shuffled over a few feet from the phaser rifle. "On your knees." Silk provided him with a knee blow to the lumbar, then a heel into one knee to drop him hard onto his legs. "You move, you die! Put your hands on the back of your head and lace your fingers!" Sean let go of the man and stepped away, watching carefully. The man complied. Walking over Silk scooped up the phaser rifle and gave it a quick inspection. "Nice weapon. You should maintain it better." Sean glared at the man, his eyes boring into the other's. "Who the fuck are you? I won't ask twice. The less I get, the more you get."

"What?" The squad leader was confused by that.

Sean walked forward, rifle held in one arm from the hip as he put the barrel under the man's chin. "The less information I get, the more pain you receive. I believe the Klingons call it 'choosing your pain'."

"I didn't know there were Klingons here. Look, we were ordered to sweep and clear, and that's what we're doing." The man looked desperate, knowing he was about to die. "Please, I have a family. I beg you not to kill me. My son is only tw..." The rest was cut short as Silk pulled the trigger and vaporized the man's head. The body fell over unceremoniously. Sean stood there a moment, glancing around as if collecting his thoughts, then gave himself a slight shrug and began to walk off. That's three enemies he wouldn't have to deal with later.

***

As this man led the group through the city, using nightfall as cover along with the fractured city, one of the women had been looking at their rescuer. He was covered in dust, grime and blood, yet it didn't seem to slow him down. He always made them stop and then went forward as point, and when he found all was clear, he then came back and got them. It was a long trek to the embassy but if they kept up this pace and weren't discovered then they would be back safely within its walls in short order.

Doing what he always does, Sean Silk led his troupe through hell to find heaven.

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