64.
want to ask some questions. We'll need atherzene, some recording equipment, and some back-up people. I can supply the drug and an expert in how to use it. Next time, it may be one of us they decide to kill. I don't particularly care for assassin's guilds, or, people that hire them!"
"I guess we haven't got any choice," North gave in.
Two days later they beamed down to Haven. The Commandant hadn't brought two men, but four. He also had acquired swords, body shields, and a good quantity of thermal grenades that could blast trhough just about anything unshielded. North had gathered twenty more people. He'd wanted to use some of his cadets, but the Commandant had refused. That many cadets off station would create questions. Officially they weren't even leaving. They were supposed to be having an all day conference with him, going over cadet progress. In civilian clothes, they made their way to an office on the top floor of a large building. They had men on every exit. As North, Morn and the Commandant walked into the office, the young woman taking calls and receiving visitors was an oddity.
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" she asked.
"Yes," North told her, "you can put your hnands flat on the top of that desk and don't try to touch any buttons."
A look of horror came on the girl's face when she saw the dagger in his hand. She obeyed quickly. North went around the desk and looked at the button board. The one marked O.D. was the one he wanted. After two more men came in to watch the girl, he prassed the button and they walked in through the open office door. The man behind the desk tried to reach into a drawer but when he saw two swords pointed at him, he changed his mind.
Morn reached over the desk, seized the front of the man's shirt, and hauled him over the top, holding him in front of him with ease.
"You can tell me," he said, "the easy way who hired you to kill my mother, or, we can do it the hard way. Which will it be?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" said the man when he saw the recorder in North's hand.
"Very well," Morn told him. Pushing the man down on top of the desk with one hand, he ripped away the sleeve of his shirt with the other. The Medic put an injector to the man's arm and it hissed. The man's breathing became very heavy and his eyes glazed. "Now," Morn instructed him, "who hired you, and who did the job?"
Though it was evident the man was resisting, he slowly poured out all the information they wanted. When they were done, Morn laid him on top of the desk. He took one of the thermal grenades from his belt, sat it for two minutes, and pulled the pin. Everyone scattered from the office, dragging the girl with them. North beamed the lock mechanism. It would take them hours to free the door, but as they were clearing the building, the office and part of the roof disappeared in a bright flash.