The Fractured Empire: A Tale of Downfall

Chapter 26

After we managed to find an elevator at the end of a hallway that cut through a few gray work areas, we went straight to the last floor of the admin building. Boreas led the way as he continually referred to the holographic map before him, and he didn't slow down as we ran through the rather...exquisite halls.

"Where are we, the executive offices or something?" Alannah demanded, stopping momentarily to study a portrait of a grim-faced Federation official–presumably the administrator.

"It just so happens we are in the executive offices," Boreas confirmed, "By the looks of it, the Admin and his posse of posh assholes reside up here. If I were to take a gander, I'd say his cabinet of officials and their assistants would work on this floor."

"Well, Cylus has made it abundantly clear that he wants to help this planet and its citizens," Alannah continued while casually brandishing Betty, "I say we clean shop."

"Sounds fun to me," Damien chimed in, "Do you always kill a Federation official while you're out on a mission?"

"You tell me," I counted, drawing Sintel and bracing the combat rifle against my shoulder, "I'm a bounty hunter, and I hate the UTF."

"Eh, good point," Damien grumbled, only to raise his handgun and shoot at someone that had emerged from a nearby doorway, "Hostile ahead!"

Needing no further prompting, we opened fire. A few moments later, I hurried over to where Damien had sighted our target and found we had...effectively obliterated an individual garbed in a flawless white uniform.

"Looks like we killed someone important," I mused, idly kicking the official's head, "Shame."

Entering the room our dead friend was trying to scramble into, I raked my gaze across a rather fancy office.

"We...may have just gunned down the administrator," I breathed, only to pause when I heard Boreas grunting behind me.

I turned around to find him flopping the bloodied corpse over and studying the badge on its breast.

"Nope. The badge isn't fancy enough," Boreas mused, "The schmucks who run the UTF love to flaunt their power with a bedazzled gold emblem."

"I...don't think they bedazzle–."

"Not important, Alannah! We need to continue moving!" My partner chirped, leaving the room.

I only had time to spot and nab an old book on the Constellations of the Strohan system before my wife dragged me away from the wooden bookshelf.

"Focus, you dunce!" Ali scolded me, "Now's not the time to go book hunting!"

I sighed. Damn it...Why must the best books be owned by Federation bureaucrats?

"The world is truly rife with injustice..."

Indeed it is, Vik. Indeed it is...

I shook my head and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. We didn't stop running until Boreas stopped us before a simple dark gray door.

"From what the map says, this is the Administrator's quarters," he mused, "What do you suggest we do?"

Instead of answering normally, I kicked the door open and stormed into the room. Upon seeing a middle-aged woman rising to her feet from a desk chair, I shot her kneecap out. 

"So you're the admin," I mused, stalking up to the other person.

"Administrator Florence, at your service," she drawled, using her chair to hoist herself to her feet, "And you must be Mortifer–the Bringer of Death."