quick, and that I'm the one that can get to the objective.” From the expression on Major Ellis's face, that didn't sit well with her as it called her competence into question.
She gave Penn a dark look as the frown between her eyes deepened. Pheromones work both ways, and Penn cursed his overly acute senses. If she thought her perfume was subtle enough to pass military protocol, she was wrong. He drew in her scent, spicy, lilac… Penn cursed himself, letting his anger take over instead.
"You have a problem with this arrangement, Mr. Penn?”
"Yes! I don't work with traitors for one, and certainly not some stiff necked, cast iron bitch, with a broom handle shoved up her ass, who sells out her own people!” For a moment Penn let the mask of calm slip, and the Tandy saw the raw hatred behind it.
"This is not open for discussion Penn, nor is it a take it or leave it deal.” He growled, red-faced as his anger got the better of him.
Penn saw the muscles of the woman's jaw working, her face coloring slightly as he spoke, seeing General Tandy getting red around the ears, but he didn't care. The more he pissed them off, the better he liked it. He quickly regained his composure, the mask slipping back into place.
“If you are so all fired up to turn this effect off, why don't you just drop a low yield nuke, or a large rock on the building? You people are good at doing that.” The thought of Nairobi, Moscow, and Peking vanishing in a blinding flash of light as the KEW struck came to mind. Only one of them was his fault, but the ghost of 1 million people still haunted him.
“We can't… We don't know for sure if whatever is controlling this gravitational effect is controlled from inside the building or not.” Penn heard the words, but the Tandy was hiding something, something vital that he didn't want to tell him.
“So, what is so damn important about this planet? Why go to all this trouble just to find out about some gravitational effect.” General Tandy gritted his teeth, his face going slightly gray. Here it was again, human's asking questions about their orders all the time.
“Christ on a crutch!" Penn continued. "With sufficient contra gravity material you could probably do the same thing…” His voice trailed seeing the expression on Tandy's face.
“That's it, isn't it? This has something to do with contra gravity material… Oh my lord, you've found another source!” All the pieces fell into place, and an intriguing thought struck him. The one thing Earth didn't have was Cg material. Without it, they were forever stuck on Earth. With it, they could build starships, and if they could…
“Damn you Penn!” The General swore bitterly, “yes we have, and you are going to get it for us, or so help me, I'll…” He bit off whatever he was about to add.
Penn nodded. No matter which way you sliced it, or how much he pissed and moaned, that motherless whore running IMPSEC was going to force him to go on the mission. Markoff knew exactly which string to pull. With a slight sigh he half turned to look out the office window composing himself before he asked the question.
"What resources would I have?” He asked as calmly as he possible.
"Anything you want... once you land.” Penn made a sound, half way between a snort and a laugh hearing that. They weren't about to let him near anything lethal until he was out of harm's way, that was a given. At last, Penn shook his head.
"I think I'm better off in my cell.” At least there he knew where he stood, and there was always the possibility of escape.
"What about a pardon? It means you'd go free, anywhere in the Empire, even back to your home world if you want.” Penn dismissed the offer of a pardon as so much bullshit. Once he'd completed this mission, Markoff would drag him back here, unless he could escape again.
She gave Penn a dark look as the frown between her eyes deepened. Pheromones work both ways, and Penn cursed his overly acute senses. If she thought her perfume was subtle enough to pass military protocol, she was wrong. He drew in her scent, spicy, lilac… Penn cursed himself, letting his anger take over instead.
"You have a problem with this arrangement, Mr. Penn?”
"Yes! I don't work with traitors for one, and certainly not some stiff necked, cast iron bitch, with a broom handle shoved up her ass, who sells out her own people!” For a moment Penn let the mask of calm slip, and the Tandy saw the raw hatred behind it.
"This is not open for discussion Penn, nor is it a take it or leave it deal.” He growled, red-faced as his anger got the better of him.
Penn saw the muscles of the woman's jaw working, her face coloring slightly as he spoke, seeing General Tandy getting red around the ears, but he didn't care. The more he pissed them off, the better he liked it. He quickly regained his composure, the mask slipping back into place.
“If you are so all fired up to turn this effect off, why don't you just drop a low yield nuke, or a large rock on the building? You people are good at doing that.” The thought of Nairobi, Moscow, and Peking vanishing in a blinding flash of light as the KEW struck came to mind. Only one of them was his fault, but the ghost of 1 million people still haunted him.
“We can't… We don't know for sure if whatever is controlling this gravitational effect is controlled from inside the building or not.” Penn heard the words, but the Tandy was hiding something, something vital that he didn't want to tell him.
“So, what is so damn important about this planet? Why go to all this trouble just to find out about some gravitational effect.” General Tandy gritted his teeth, his face going slightly gray. Here it was again, human's asking questions about their orders all the time.
“Christ on a crutch!" Penn continued. "With sufficient contra gravity material you could probably do the same thing…” His voice trailed seeing the expression on Tandy's face.
“That's it, isn't it? This has something to do with contra gravity material… Oh my lord, you've found another source!” All the pieces fell into place, and an intriguing thought struck him. The one thing Earth didn't have was Cg material. Without it, they were forever stuck on Earth. With it, they could build starships, and if they could…
“Damn you Penn!” The General swore bitterly, “yes we have, and you are going to get it for us, or so help me, I'll…” He bit off whatever he was about to add.
Penn nodded. No matter which way you sliced it, or how much he pissed and moaned, that motherless whore running IMPSEC was going to force him to go on the mission. Markoff knew exactly which string to pull. With a slight sigh he half turned to look out the office window composing himself before he asked the question.
"What resources would I have?” He asked as calmly as he possible.
"Anything you want... once you land.” Penn made a sound, half way between a snort and a laugh hearing that. They weren't about to let him near anything lethal until he was out of harm's way, that was a given. At last, Penn shook his head.
"I think I'm better off in my cell.” At least there he knew where he stood, and there was always the possibility of escape.
"What about a pardon? It means you'd go free, anywhere in the Empire, even back to your home world if you want.” Penn dismissed the offer of a pardon as so much bullshit. Once he'd completed this mission, Markoff would drag him back here, unless he could escape again.
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