1. Is it possible? Can it be? More Omegas? Yes! Your eyes do not deceive you!
2. For crying out loud, the last one was posted in March. I had to put up -something- to let y'all know I's not ded 'n stuff.
3. So, yeah, other than the fact that it's been an eternity since I put up an Omega chapter, I have nothing else to say. Enjoy. Or try to. If you still remember what the hell's happening in this piece.
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“Damn it. Stupid bastards. Stupid, arrogant bastards.” In her gloved hand, Falynn held a cylindrical shaped canister, constructed of lightweight metal and perhaps about two feet in length. A large, yellow warning label with a biohazard symbol emblazoned on it stretched across the canister’s middle. She placed the canister back in its holding crate… next to the hundreds of others that were stacked there, as well.
Seeing the research documents was one thing. Reviewing the research notes the scientists kept on their projects was much the same… but seeing hundreds upon hundreds of actual deployable weapons – that was something else entirely. Jaheira’s mouth tightened into an angry snarl – one that was clearly visible even through the faceplate of her hazard suit’s helmet. “Why would the Confederation sanction the development of such weapons?”
Imoen sighed over her comlink. “I don’t think they did, Jaheira. They might not have even known about it.”
“I find that hard to believe, Lieutenant,” Nalia said, cutting in over the squad-wide communications channel. “A facility this big needs a lot of funding, a lot of logistical support. You can’t just hide the expenditures of a base this size on a single line in the Confederation R&D budget.”
“Why not?” asked Imoen. “If whoever’s responsible for this had friends high-up enough, they might be able to slip that much money through the cracks. Confed’s trying to fight a war, Nalia, and they went into deficit spending a couple of years back. I get the feeling they’re not looking too hard at balancing their books.”
Nalia’s face quirked into a skeptical frown at that. “No offense, but don’t you think that’s a little naďve?”
“No more naďve than assuming that the Confederation civilian government is in a position to monitor every single thing that happens under its auspices, Ensign.” Valygar commented.
“Not the time to be debating politics, kids,” Falynn chimed in, trying almost desperately to keep her unit focused on more immediate concerns.
“I would disagree with you, Falynn.”
Raven smirked. Her expression came across as weary, but not angry. “You and me disagreeing, Jaheira? Say it isn’t so.” She managed a small smile, hoping to make it clear that she was only teasing her older friend.
Jaheira responded with a small smirk of her own, having not taken offense. “Falynn, the implications of this are… disturbing. You do realize that.”
Falynn certainly did. She nodded sadly. “I know. Guys, look… I’m gonna lay this all out, all right? And I want you to really listen to me. So let me say my piece and then you can talk. Cool?”
The other six members of Omega Squad gave her affirming nods.
“I’m not gonna lie to you. This looks bad. We’ve found incontrovertible evidence that the Confederation has been developing illegal weaponry. You can’t deny that’s what this stuff is. But that being said, let me also say this: folks, there is exactly one thing that stands between the Dominion and our homeworlds – and that is the Confederation. And for good or for ill, it’s united a whole bunch of races under one common goal: survival. Now I’m not saying that excuses…” She pointed at the weapons canisters, “this… but without Confed, think of what kind of mess we’d all be in right now. Do you really think the Elven Alliance on its own could have held back that advance into Gemini Sector two years ago? And what about when those three Consuls of the Dwarven Combine were assassinated a while back? Without Confed, those two governments might have toppled, and if they had, the Dominion would probably be walking on Toril right now. I’m not saying they’re right, and I’m not saying that we should just let whoever’s responsible for this off the hook, but we -need- the Confederation.” She was silent just long enough for everyone to assume she was finished.
“I’m not arguing that, Major,” said Nalia with a weary sigh. Though she considered herself an idealist at heart, she also liked to think she wasn’t stupid and naďve enough to go around dismissing practical concerns out of hand. “But I do have to wonder about serving a government that would lie to its people… would go behind its backs, breaking treaties and building stuff like… like this.”
“For all we know, Ensign, this is a BlackOps project, without official government knowledge or backing.”
“Respectfully, Major. Seriously. Do you really believe that?”
Falynn couldn’t lie to herself, and she wasn’t about to lie to the rest of them, either. She truly wasn’t sure what she believed, and she felt they needed to hear that – right from her own mouth. “Honestly, I don’t know. No offense, Cipher, but I hope you’re wrong. Like I said, Confed’s all we’ve got… and if it’s compromised, then we’re in deeper trouble than we all thought. Maybe it’s stupid… maybe… but I have to believe that the people in charge, the real people who run this government, aren’t complicit in this… because if they are, we -are- screwed, good and proper.”
The Naval officer nodded in agreement. “Well, for what it’s worth, I hope I’m wrong, too.” She chuckled softly. “If only because my father would be pretty annoyed if he found out that someone in Confed’s higher ranks thought this was a good idea.”
“What do the rest of you think?”
The “rest” in question traded glances amongst themselves, as if not sure who should speak first, or even what they should say when it was their turn.
Most of them figured it would be Imoen who spoke up first, and she didn’t disappoint. “I don’t want to believe Confed could do this,” she said. “What I do want to believe is that some people, maybe even some people high-up, as scary as that might be, thought they needed to do this, and thought they could get away with it. I want to believe that the people who could do this sort of thing are in the minority… and most importantly, I want to believe that we can stop them… and that no matter how bad things with the Dominion get, we won’t ever need their kind of help.”
Jaheira nodded her head. “Agreed. As you said, Falynn, if the government has been compromised as deeply as what we’ve found here suggests, then we have much to be concerned about. But if these crimes have been perpetrated by rogue elements within the Confederation, then perhaps Confed itself can still be saved. I pray that is the case. Our peoples stand little chance of survival without the unifying force and direction provided by the Confederation.”
Falynn nodded. “Minsc? Boo?”
Minsc shook his head. “Ohhh… this chicanery is making Minsc’s head spin.” From atop his shoulder, Boo merely shrugged. It… wasn’t exactly clear how hamsters -could- shrug, but Boo had had plenty of time to ponder those kinds of riddles… and certainly plenty of time (and, don’t forget processor cycles) to construct effective solutions to them.
“Duly noted, big guy,” said Raven, trying to find some manner of humor in the situation, and not meeting with much success. “How about you, Jan?”
“Well-“
“In ten words or less!” Falynn hastened to interject.
Jan closed his mouth, opened it, then closed it again. “I think we’re buggered. But you’re the boss.” He grinned, and held up two fingers in a “V” shape. “Two words to spare!”
“Actually, not really,” said Harlequin, with a shrug. She began ticking off points on her fingers, as if to help herself straighten her thoughts. “‘We’re’ and ‘You’re’ should probably count as two words each. Which means you used exactly ten.”
The gnome stroked his beard (or rather, would have, if he could have reached it through his helmet) and looked thoughtful for several seconds before finally speaking up. “Well, that is an interesting point you raise, my dear… since contractions are a way of shortening two words, should they be considered one word, or two? Does the number of syllables actually spoken have any bearing on the matter whatsoever? This will require a good bit of thought, oh yes, indeed. Why, it’s positively a conundrum. It’s like my fifth cousin from a fourth marriage thrice removed used to say…”
Falynn was tempted to slap a hand across her forehead and just drag it down her face. She would have done exactly that were it not for the clunky helmet she was wearing over her head. Instead, she merely groaned into her comlink. “Immy! Couldn’t leave well enough alone!”
Imoen looked just a tiny bit shamefaced as her older sister chided her. “Sorry.”
Completely ignoring Jan’s rambling (which was standard operating procedure,) the impromptu poll moved on to the two newest members of Omega Squad. Both the Army ranger and the junior Navy officer were looking thoughtful.
“Spectre? Cipher?” Falynn asked, breaking into their thoughts.
Valygar took a breath and let it out slowly. “I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I think I agree with the gnome. Though not about the turnip-lime pie.”
Nalia smirked wryly. “Well, it’s been clearly established I’m a member of the radical left and I shower in rampant conspiracy theories.” She shrugged. “But I’d very much like someone to prove me wrong.”
Everyone had had a chance to voice their opinions, but few seemed to understand what purpose their speaking out had actually served. Imoen watched her older sibling’s face, searching for the slightest hint of intent, but finding nothing. Her lack of success in reading Falynn distressed her. The two sisters were normally open books to each other. “Where are you going with this, Lynn?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Falynn said with a sigh, realizing that her loyalties were more divided than she really felt comfortable with.
She was not naďve. She knew that people had flaws and that any government, no matter what the intent behind its formation, was flawed, as well. The simple fact that governments were formed by imperfect groups of people meant that the organizations themselves were imperfect. And yet, the Confederation had stood for so long, and been such a… presence in the lives of its citizens for time almost immemorial. For those reasons alone, she was almost… desperate… to reassure her squadmates that Confed was worth saving. “I wish I could simply tell you guys that Confed knows what it’s doing… reassure you that we’re not out here fighting for a corrupt government. I’m sure that’d make things a whole lot easier,” she told them, and indeed, her words were met with several affirming nods.
“But I can’t make that kind of a promise, and I won’t blow sunshine up your asses, either. This is how things are. They’re… fluid,” she said, wincing at the vague term. “We don’t know exactly what the hell is going on… yet… so I guess what I’m asking is for you all to reserve judgment for now. Stick to the mission. We’ll dig deeper, see what we can see, find whatever we can find. And if it looks like some of us are right and this was all just the doing of a handful of bad apples, then great. Those bastards will get theirs eventually, and we might even get the chance to help with the clean-up. Either that, or… well, if it looks like Confed really is trying to screw us all in the ear, then we’ll deal with that if… or… when… it comes. Ok?”
Imoen reached out, putting a gentle, reassuring hand on Falynn’s forearm. “Look. Politics are one thing. I’m not saying they’re not important, but you’re right that we have to look at the smaller picture for the time being. We’ve still got a job to do, and we’ll do it. You’re still in charge, and we still trust you. Or, at least… I do…” The corner of her mouth rose into a wry smirk. “But you knew that, already.”
Ever the non-com, Valygar nodded in agreement. “You lead, Major. We’ll follow.”
