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The Attempt
The outside sounds became more clear as Clovis was waking up, returning from his vision. The morning light gave the room an unique look: every piece of precious metal in the room was sparkling as a diamond. Clovis went to the window to see military units out on the streets, strange aircrafts flying around, patrolling the perimeter. In the distance alarms could be heard, easily jammed by the aircrafts’ engines. These aircrafts… a combination between helicopters and airplanes. Their wings could flap thus resembling an insect. Clovis was eager to take one for a ride, but this wasn’t the moment. He quickly puts on his uniform, arms himself with his gun and army knife and exits the room. On the corridor there were some soldiers. He knew some of them, so he asked what happened. - There has been an assassination attempt against the Emperor. We’re currently looking for the assassin. Probably a Tleilaxu Face-Dancer assassin. One of the soldiers answered. “Even a computer could have used more words…” The Sardaukars gave Clovis the impression of organic robots: people that only obeyed orders without thinking – brainwashed. - Well, I’ll head towards the Guild quarters, I think I’ll be safer there than alone in my room. Bye… - SIR! the soldiers saluted . The Imperial Guests’ palace was huge and Clovis often got lost while walking its long hallways. Again the labyrinth got him. Unfortunately the labyrinth got another person… While walking Clovis saw a dead Sardaukar on a side hallway. He stopped and analyzed the body: it wasn’t dead for too long… the killer had to be around… Light footsteps caught his attention. Someone a few meters away was trying to sneak his way out of the building. Clovis grabbed his gun and ran towards the position where he thought the killer might be. As he entered a second side hallway he saw a person all dressed in black with lots of accessories attached. The killer heard Clovis as well and now he saw him he prepared for a fight. His right hand held a large knife and his left hand quickly pressed some buttons on his belt and all of a sudden a light-blue transparent force field surrounded him. Clovis tried his luck and fired a bullet at the killer. The force field held and the bullet was rejected. The killer charged with his knife and Clovis barely had time to draw his own. He tried a fast attack to the neck but his hand was deviated by the force field. On the other hand the assassin managed to wound Clovis in several places. These were not fatal wounds, but they were enough to disable him. The fighters watched each other a few moments. Clovis was aware he wouldn’t survive a second attack. His right arm was wounded and the left arm wasn’t dexterous enough to fight the knife, so he grabbed his gun again. He was determined to penetrate that shield with the gun and fire from within. The assassin charged. In the last moment Clovis ducked stretching his left arm and pressed the trigger when the gun’s barrel was inside the shield. The gun’s noise couldn’t be well heard from within the shield, but nevertheless, the bullet did its job – went straight through the killer’s liver thus disabling him… The noise of the battle had attracted some soldiers. Their boots could be heard hitting the hard, brown, cold marble floor as they approached the place of the battle. Clovis was caring his wounds when they arrived: there were five of them, one holding on of those expensive laser-guns Clovis heard about. They took the dieing assassin into custody for questioning and when they were preparing to disarm and arrest Clovis one of the soldiers recognized him as being part of the Guild delegation. Nevertheless he was disarmed, but the soldiers restricted their duties, so they only questioned him on the spot. After the interrogation took place he was taken to a clinic inside the Emperor’s Palaces’ Compound. He was to be received by the Emperor later… As the evening descended over the besieged capital, the Guild quarters were ravaged by a rumor: “Merkab’s protégée was arrested in an assassination matter regarding the Emperor.” That seems to be the human nature: to distort the truths and to speculate over the deeds of others. Merkab believed all of this as he panicked, and he was already making plans to get rid of Clovis… As usual he was in a hurry to make decisions, and as usual he was making decisions using only partial truths, so, as usual, he was making a huge mistake. Merkab was obviously betraying Clovis to save his own skin, even if he wasn’t guilty of anything. Or was he? He must have done something if he was so afraid. |